CHAPTER THIRD.
--It strikes an awe And terror on my aching sight; the tombs And monumental caves of death look cold, And shoot a chillness to the trembling heart. Mourning Bride.
Notwithstanding the impatience of my conductor, I could not forbear topause and gaze for some minutes on the exterior of the building, renderedmore impressively dignified by the solitude which ensued when itshitherto open gates were closed, after having, as it were, devoured themultitude which had lately crowded the churchyard, but now, enclosedwithin the building, were engaged, as the choral swell of voices fromwithin announced to us, in the solemn exercises of devotion. The sound ofso many voices united by the distance into one harmony, and freed fromthose harsh discordances which jar the ear when heard more near,combining with the murmuring brook, and the wind which sung among the oldfirs, affected me with a sense of sublimity. All nature, as invoked bythe Psalmist whose verses they chanted, seemed united in offering thatsolemn praise in which trembling is mixed with joy as she addressed herMaker. I had heard the service of high mass in France, celebrated withall the _e'clat_ which the choicest music, the richest dresses, the mostimposing ceremonies, could confer on it; yet it fell short in effect ofthe simplicity of the Presbyterian worship. The devotion in which everyone took a share seemed so superior to that which was recited bymusicians as a lesson which they had learned by rote, that it gave theScottish worship all the advantage of reality over acting.
As I lingered to catch more of the solemn sound, Andrew, whose impatiencebecame ungovernable, pulled me by the sleeve--"Come awa', sir--come awa';we maunna be late o' gaun in to disturb the worship; if we bide here thesearchers will be on us, and carry us to the guard-house for being idlersin kirk-time."
Thus admonished, I followed my guide, but not, as I had supposed, intothe body of the cathedral. "This gate--this gate, sir," he exclaimed,dragging me off as I made towards the main entrance of thebuilding--"There's but cauldrife law-work gaun on yonder--carnalmorality, as dow'd and as fusionless as rue leaves at Yule--Here's thereal savour of doctrine."
So saying, we entered a small low-arched door, secured by a wicket, whicha grave-looking person seemed on the point of closing, and descendedseveral steps as if into the funeral vaults beneath the church. It waseven so; for in these subterranean precincts,--why chosen for such apurpose I knew not,--was established a very singular place of worship.
Conceive, Tresham, an extensive range of low-browed, dark, and twilightvaults, such as are used for sepulchres in other countries, and had longbeen dedicated to the same purpose in this, a portion of which was seatedwith pews, and used as a church. The part of the vaults thus occupied,though capable of containing a congregation of many hundreds, bore asmall proportion to the darker and more extensive caverns which yawnedaround what may be termed the inhabited space. In those waste regions ofoblivion, dusky banners and tattered escutcheons indicated the graves ofthose who were once, doubtless, "princes in Israel." Inscriptions, whichcould only be read by the painful antiquary, in language as obsolete asthe act of devotional charity which they employed, invited the passengersto pray for the souls of those whose bodies rested beneath. Surrounded bythese receptacles of the last remains of mortality, I found a numerouscongregation engaged in the act of prayer. The Scotch perform this dutyin a standing instead of a kneeling posture--more, perhaps, to take asbroad a distinction as possible from the ritual of Rome than for anybetter reason; since I have observed, that in their family worship, asdoubtless in their private devotions, they adopt, in their immediateaddress to the Deity, that posture which other Christians use as thehumblest and most reverential. Standing, therefore, the men beinguncovered, a crowd of several hundreds of both sexes, and all ages,listened with great reverence and attention to the extempore, at leastthe unwritten, prayer of an aged clergyman,* who was very popular in thecity.
* I have in vain laboured to discover this gentleman's name, and theperiod of his incumbency. I do not, however, despair to see these points,with some others which may elude my sagacity, satisfactorily elucidatedby one or other of the periodical publications which have devoted theirpages to explanatory commentaries on my former volumes; and whoseresearch and ingenuity claim my peculiar gratitude, for having discoveredmany persons and circumstances connected with my narratives, of which Imyself never so much as dreamed.
Educated in the same religious persuasion, I seriously bent my mind tojoin in the devotion of the day; and it was not till the congregationresumed their seats, that my attention was diverted to the considerationof the appearance of all around me.
At the conclusion of the prayer, most of the men put on their hats orbonnets, and all who had the happiness to have seats sate down. Andrewand I were not of this number, having been too late of entering thechurch to secure such accommodation. We stood among a number of otherpersons in the same situation, forming a sort of ring around the seatedpart of the congregation. Behind and around us were the vaults I havealready described; before us the devout audience, dimly shown by thelight which streamed on their faces through one or two low Gothicwindows, such as give air and light to charnel-houses. By this were seenthe usual variety of countenances which are generally turned towards aScotch pastor on such occasions, almost all composed to attention, unlesswhere a father or mother here and there recalls the wandering eyes of alively child, or disturbs the slumbers of a dull one. The high-boned andharsh countenance of the nation, with the expression of intelligence andshrewdness which it frequently exhibits, is seen to more advantage in theact of devotion, or in the ranks of war, than on lighter and morecheerful occasions of assemblage. The discourse of the preacher was wellqualified to call forth the various feelings and faculties of hisaudience.
Age and infirmities had impaired the powers of a voice originally strongand sonorous. He read his text with a pronunciation somewhatinarticulate; but when he closed the Bible, and commenced his sermon, histones gradually strengthened, as he entered with vehemence into thearguments which he maintained. They related chiefly to the abstractpoints of the Christian faith,--subjects grave, deep, and fathomless bymere human reason, but for which, with equal ingenuity and propriety, hesought a key in liberal quotations from the inspired writings. My mindwas unprepared to coincide in all his reasoning, nor was I sure that insome instances I rightly comprehended his positions. But nothing could bemore impressive than the eager enthusiastic manner of the good old man,and nothing more ingenious than his mode of reasoning. The Scotch, it iswell known, are more remarkable for the exercise of their intellectualpowers, than for the keenness of their feelings; they are, therefore,more moved by logic than by rhetoric, and more attracted by acute andargumentative reasoning on doctrinal points, than influenced by theenthusiastic appeals to the heart and to the passions, by which popularpreachers in other countries win the favour of their hearers.
Among the attentive group which I now saw, might be distinguished variousexpressions similar to those of the audience in the famous cartoon ofPaul preaching at Athens. Here sat a zealous and intelligent Calvinist,with brows bent just as much as to indicate profound attention; lipsslightly compressed; eyes fixed on the minister with an expression ofdecent pride, as if sharing the triumph of his argument; the forefingerof the right hand touching successively those of the left, as thepreacher, from argument to argument, ascended towards his conclusion.Another, with fiercer and sterner look, intimated at once his contempt ofall who doubted the creed of his pastor, and his joy at the appropriatepunishment denounced against them. A third, perhaps belonging to adifferent congregation, and present only by accident or curiosity, hadthe appearance of internally impeaching some link of the reasoning; andyou might plainly read, in the slight motion of his head, his doubts asto the soundness of the preacher's argument. The greater part listenedwith a calm, satisfied countenance, expressive of a conscious merit inbeing present, and in listening to such an ingenious discourse,
althoughperhaps unable entirely to comprehend it. The women in general belongedto this last division of the audience; the old, however, seeming moregrimly intent upon the abstract doctrines laid before them; while theyounger females permitted their eyes occasionally to make a modestcircuit around the congregation; and some of them, Tresham (if my vanitydid not greatly deceive me), contrived to distinguish your friend andservant, as a handsome young stranger and an Englishman. As to the restof the congregation, the stupid gaped, yawned, or slept, till awakened bythe application of their more zealous neighbours' heels to their shins;and the idle indicated their inattention by the wandering of their eyes,but dared give no more decided token of weariness. Amid the Lowlandcostume of coat and cloak, I could here and there discern a Highlandplaid, the wearer of which, resting on his basket-hilt, sent his eyesamong the audience with the unrestrained curiosity of savage wonder; andwho, in all probability, was inattentive to the sermon for a verypardonable reason--because he did not understand the language in which itwas delivered. The martial and wild look, however, of these stragglers,added a kind of character which the congregation could not have exhibitedwithout them. They were more numerous, Andrew afterwards observed, owingto some cattle-fair in the neighbourhood.
Such was the group of countenances, rising tier on tier, discovered to mycritical inspection by such sunbeams as forced their way through thenarrow Gothic lattices of the Laigh Kirk of Glasgow; and, havingilluminated the attentive congregation, lost themselves in the vacuity ofthe vaults behind, giving to the nearer part of their labyrinth a sort ofimperfect twilight, and leaving their recesses in an utter darkness,which gave them the appearance of being interminable.
I have already said that I stood with others in the exterior circle, withmy face to the preacher, and my back to those vaults which I have sooften mentioned. My position rendered me particularly obnoxious to anyinterruption which arose from any slight noise occurring amongst theseretiring arches, where the least sound was multiplied by a thousandechoes. The occasional sound of rain-drops, which, admitted through somecranny in the ruined roof, fell successively, and splashed upon thepavement beneath, caused me to turn my head more than once to the placefrom whence it seemed to proceed, and when my eyes took that direction, Ifound it difficult to withdraw them; such is the pleasure our imaginationreceives from the attempt to penetrate as far as possible into anintricate labyrinth, imperfectly lighted, and exhibiting objects whichirritate our curiosity, only because they acquire a mysterious interestfrom being undefined and dubious. My eyes became habituated to the gloomyatmosphere to which I directed them, and insensibly my mind became moreinterested in their discoveries than in the metaphysical subtleties whichthe preacher was enforcing.
My father had often checked me for this wandering mood of mind, arisingperhaps from an excitability of imagination to which he was a stranger;and the finding myself at present solicited by these temptations toinattention, recalled the time when I used to walk, led by his hand, toMr. Shower's chapel, and the earnest injunctions which he then laid on meto redeem the time, because the days were evil. At present, the picturewhich my thoughts suggested, far from fixing my attention, destroyed theportion I had yet left, by conjuring up to my recollection the peril inwhich his affairs now stood. I endeavoured, in the lowest whisper I couldframe, to request Andrew to obtain information, whether any of thegentlemen of the firm of MacVittie & Co. were at present in thecongregation. But Andrew, wrapped in profound attention to the sermon,only replied to my suggestion by hard punches with his elbow, as signalsto me to remain silent. I next strained my eyes, with equally badsuccess, to see if, among the sea of up-turned faces which bent theireyes on the pulpit as a common centre, I could discover the sober andbusiness-like physiognomy of Owen. But not among the broad beavers of theGlasgow citizens, or the yet broader brimmed Lowland bonnets of thepeasants of Lanarkshire, could I see anything resembling the decentperiwig, starched ruffles, or the uniform suit of light-brown garmentsappertaining to the head-clerk of the establishment of Osbaldistone andTresham. My anxiety now returned on me with such violence as to overpowernot only the novelty of the scene around me, by which it had hithertobeen diverted, but moreover my sense of decorum. I pulled Andrew hard bythe sleeve, and intimated my wish to leave the church, and pursue myinvestigation as I could. Andrew, obdurate in the Laigh Kirk of Glasgowas on the mountains of Cheviot, for some time deigned me no answer; andit was only when he found I could not otherwise be kept quiet, that hecondescended to inform me, that, being once in the church, we could notleave it till service was over, because the doors were locked so soon asthe prayers began. Having thus spoken in a brief and peevish whisper,Andrew again assumed the air of intelligent and critical importance, andattention to the preacher's discourse.
While I endeavoured to make a virtue of necessity, and recall myattention to the sermon, I was again disturbed by a singularinterruption. A voice from behind whispered distinctly in my ear, "Youare in danger in this city."--I turned round, as if mechanically.
One or two starched and ordinary-looking mechanics stood beside andbehind me,--stragglers, who, like ourselves, had been too late inobtaining entrance. But a glance at their faces satisfied me, though Icould hardly say why, that none of these was the person who had spoken tome. Their countenances seemed all composed to attention to the sermon,and not one of them returned any glance of intelligence to theinquisitive and startled look with which I surveyed them. A massive roundpillar, which was close behind us, might have concealed the speaker theinstant he uttered his mysterious caution; but wherefore it was given insuch a place, or to what species of danger it directed my attention, orby whom the warning was uttered, were points on which my imagination lostitself in conjecture. It would, however, I concluded, be repeated, and Iresolved to keep my countenance turned towards the clergyman, that thewhisperer might be tempted to renew his communication under the idea thatthe first had passed unobserved.
My plan succeeded. I had not resumed the appearance of attention to thepreacher for five minutes, when the same voice whispered, "Listen, but donot look back." I kept my face in the same direction. "You are in dangerin this place," the voice proceeded; "so am I--meet me to-night on theBrigg, at twelve preceesely--keep at home till the gloaming, and avoidobservation."
Here the voice ceased, and I instantly turned my head. But the speakerhad, with still greater promptitude, glided behind the pillar, andescaped my observation. I was determined to catch a sight of him, ifpossible, and extricating myself from the outer circle of hearers, I alsostepped behind the column. All there was empty; and I could only see afigure wrapped in a mantle, whether a Lowland cloak, or Highland plaid, Icould not distinguish, which traversed, like a phantom, the drearyvacuity of vaults which I have described.
I made a mechanical attempt to pursue the mysterious form, which glidedaway and vanished in the vaulted cemetery, like the spectre of one of thenumerous dead who rested within its precincts. I had little chance ofarresting the course of one obviously determined not to be spoken with;but that little chance was lost by my stumbling and falling before I hadmade three steps from the column. The obscurity which occasioned mymisfortune, covered my disgrace; which I accounted rather lucky, for thepreacher, with that stern authority which the Scottish ministers assumefor the purpose of keeping order in their congregations, interrupted hisdiscourse, to desire the "proper officer" to take into custody the causerof this disturbance in the place of worship. As the noise, however, wasnot repeated, the beadle, or whatever else he was called, did not thinkit necessary to be rigorous in searching out the offender, so that I wasenabled, without attracting farther observation, to place myself byAndrew's side in my original position. The service proceeded, and closedwithout the occurrence of anything else worthy of notice.
As the congregation departed and dispersed, my friend Andrew exclaimed,"See, yonder is worthy Mr. MacVittie, and Mrs. MacVittie, and Miss AlisonMacVittie, and Mr. Thamas MacFin, that they say is to marry Miss Alison,if a' bowls row right--she'l
l hae a hantle siller, if she's no thatbonny."
My eyes took the direction he pointed out. Mr. MacVittie was a tall,thin, elderly man, with hard features, thick grey eyebrows, light eyes,and, as I imagined, a sinister expression of countenance, from which myheart recoiled. I remembered the warning I had received in the church,and hesitated to address this person, though I could not allege to myselfany rational ground of dislike or suspicion.
I was yet in suspense, when Andrew, who mistook my hesitation forbashfulness, proceeded to exhort me to lay it aside. "Speak tillhim--speak till him, Mr. Francis--he's no provost yet, though they sayhe'll be my lord neist year. Speak till him, then--he'll gie ye a decentanswer for as rich as he is, unless ye were wanting siller fraehim--they say he's dour to draw his purse."
It immediately occurred to me, that if this merchant were really of thechurlish and avaricious disposition which Andrew intimated, there mightbe some caution necessary in making myself known, as I could not tell howaccounts might stand between my father and him. This consideration camein aid of the mysterious hint which I had received, and the dislike whichI had conceived at the man's countenance. Instead of addressing myselfdirectly to him, as I had designed to have done, I contented myself withdesiring Andrew to inquire at Mr. MacVittie's house the address of Mr.Owen, an English gentleman; and I charged him not to mention the personfrom whom he received the commission, but to bring me the result to thesmall inn where we lodged. This Andrew promised to do. He said somethingof the duty of my attending the evening service; but added with acausticity natural to him, that "in troth, if folk couldna keep theirlegs still, but wad needs be couping the creels ower through-stanes, asif they wad raise the very dead folk wi' the clatter, a kirk wi' achimley in't was fittest for them."