CHAPTER XLVIII
AN UNEXPECTED EMBARRASSMENT
When the battle was over, and all things coming into order, theBaron of Bradwardine, returning from the duty of the day, andhaving disposed those under his command in their proper stations,sought the Chieftain of Glennaquoich and his friend EdwardWaverley. He found the former busied in determining disputes amonghis clansmen about points of precedence and deeds of valour,besides sundry high and doubtful questions concerning plunder. Themost important of the last respected the property of a gold watch,which had once belonged to some unfortunate English officer. Theparty against whom judgment was awarded consoled himself byobserving, 'She (i.e. the watch, which he took for a livinganimal) died the very night Vich lan Vohr gave her to Murdoch';the machine, having, in fact, stopped for want of winding up.
It was just when this important question was decided that theBaron of Bradwardine, with a careful and yet important expressionof countenance, joined the two young men. He descended from hisreeking charger, the care of which he recommended to one of hisgrooms. 'I seldom ban, sir,' said he to the man; 'but if you playany of your hound's-foot tricks, and leave puir Berwick beforehe's sorted, to rin after spuilzie, deil be wi' me if I do notgive your craig a thraw.' He then stroked with great complacencythe animal which had borne him through the fatigues of the day,and having taken a tender leave of him--' Weel, my good youngfriends, a glorious and decisive victory,' said he; 'but theseloons of troopers fled ower soon. I should have liked to haveshown you the true points of the pralium equestre, or equestriancombat, whilk their cowardice has postponed, and which I hold tobe the pride and terror of warfare. Weel--I have fought once morein this old quarrel, though I admit I could not be so far BEN asyou lads, being that it was my point of duty to keep together ourhandful of horse. And no cavalier ought in any wise to begrudgehonour that befalls his companions, even though they are orderedupon thrice his danger, whilk, another time, by the blessing ofGod, may be his own case. But, Glennaquoich, and you, Mr.Waverley, I pray ye to give me your best advice on a matter ofmickle weight, and which deeply affects the honour of the house ofBradwardine. I crave your pardon, Ensign Maccombich, and yours,Inveraughlin, and yours, Edderalshendrach, and yours, sir.'
The last person he addressed was Ballenkeiroch, who, rememberingthe death of his son, loured on him with a look of savagedefiance. The Baron, quick as lightning at taking umbrage, hadalready bent his brow when Glennaquoich dragged his major from thespot, and remonstrated with him, in the authoritative tone of achieftain, on the madness of reviving a quarrel in such a moment.
'The ground is cumbered with carcasses,' said the old mountaineer,turning sullenly away; 'ONE MORE would hardly have been kenn'd uponit; and if it wasna for yoursell, Vich lan Vohr, that one shouldbe Bradwardine's or mine.'
The Chief soothed while he hurried him away; and then returned tothe Baron. 'It is Ballenkeiroch,' he said, in an under andconfidential voice, 'father of the young man who fell eight yearssince in the unlucky affair at the mains.'
'Ah!' said the Baron, instantly relaxing the doubtful sternness ofhis features, 'I can take mickle frae a man to whom I haveunhappily rendered sic a displeasure as that. Ye were right toapprise me, Glennaquoich; he may look as black as midnight atMartinmas ere Cosmo Comyne Bradwardine shall say he does himwrang. Ah! I have nae male lineage, and I should bear with one Ihave made childless, though you are aware the blood-wit was madeup to your ain satisfaction by assythment, and that I have sinceexpedited letters of slains. Weel, as I have said, I have no maleissue, and yet it is needful that I maintain the honour of myhouse; and it is on that score I prayed ye for your peculiar andprivate attention.'
The two young men awaited to hear him, in anxious curiosity.
'I doubt na, lads,' he proceeded, 'but your education has been saeseen to that ye understand the true nature of the feudal tenures?'
Fergus, afraid of an endless dissertation, answered, 'Intimately,Baron,' and touched Waverley as a signal to express no ignorance.
'And ye are aware, I doubt not, that the holding of the barony ofBradwardine is of a nature alike honourable and peculiar, beingblanch (which Craig opines ought to be Latinated blancum, orrather francum, a free holding) pro servitio detrahendi, seuexuendi, caligas regis post battalliam.' Here Fergus turned hisfalcon eye upon Edward, with an almost imperceptible rise of hiseyebrow, to which his shoulders corresponded in the same degree ofelevation. 'Now, twa points of dubitation occur to me upon thistopic. First, whether this service, or feudal homage, be at anyevent due to the person of the Prince, the words being, perexpressum, caligas REGIS, the boots of the king himself; and Ipray your opinion anent that particular before we proceedfarther.'
'Why, he is Prince Regent,' answered Mac-Ivor, with laudablecomposure of countenance; 'and in the court of France all thehonours are rendered to the person of the Regent which are due tothat of the King. Besides, were I to pull off either of theirboots, I would render that service to the young Chevalier tentimes more willingly than to his father.'
' Ay, but I talk not of personal predilections. However, yourauthority is of great weight as to the usages of the court ofFrance; and doubtless the Prince, as alter ego, may have a rightto claim the homagium of the great tenants of the crown, since allfaithful subjects are commanded, in the commission of regency, torespect him as the King's own person. Far, therefore, be it fromme to diminish the lustre of his authority by withholding this actof homage, so peculiarly calculated to give it splendour; for Iquestion if the Emperor of Germany hath his boots taken off by afree baron of the empire. But here lieth the second difficulty--the Prince wears no boots, but simply brogues and trews.'
This last dilemma had almost disturbed Fergus's gravity.
'Why,' said he, 'you know, Baron, the proverb tells us, "It's illtaking the breeks off a Highlandman," and the boots are here inthe same predicament.'
'The word caligae, however,' continued the Baron, 'though I admitthat, by family tradition, and even in our ancient evidents, it isexplained "lie-boots," means, in its primitive sense, rathersandals; and Caius Caesar, the nephew and successor of CaiusTiberius, received the agnomen of Caligula, a caligulis sinecaligis levioribus, quibus adolescentior usus fuerat in exercituGermanici patris sui. And the caligae were also proper to themonastic bodies; for we read in an ancient glossarium upon therule of Saint Benedict, in the Abbey of Saint Amand, that caligaewere tied with latchets.'
'That will apply to the brogues,' said Fergus.
'It will so, my dear Glennaquoich, and the words are express:Caligae, dicta sunt quia ligantur; nam socci non ligantur, sedtantum intromittuntur; that is, caligae are denominated from theligatures wherewith they are bound; whereas socci, which may beanalogous to our mules, whilk the English denominate slippers, areonly slipped upon the feet. The words of the charter are alsoalternative, exuere seu detrahere; that is, to undo, as in thecase of sandals or brogues, and to pull of, as we say vernacularlyconcerning boots. Yet I would we had more light; but I fear thereis little chance of finding hereabout any erudite author de revestiaria.'
'I should doubt it very much,' said the Chieftain, looking aroundon the straggling Highlanders, who were returning loaded withspoils of the slain,'though the res vestiaria itself seems to bein some request at present.'
This remark coming within the Baron's idea of jocularity, hehonoured it with a smile, but immediately resumed what to himappeared very serious business.
'Bailie Macwheeble indeed holds an opinion that this honoraryservice is due, from its very nature, si petatur tantum; only ifhis Royal Highness shall require of the great tenant of the crownto perform that personal duty; and indeed he pointed out the casein Dirleton's Doubts and Queries, Grippit versus Spicer, anent theeviction of an estate ob non solutum canonem; that is, for non-payment of a feu-duty of three pepper-corns a year, whilk weretaxt to be worth seven-eighths of a penny Scots, in whilk thedefender was assoilzied. But I deem it safest, wi' your goodfavour, to place myself in the way of rendering the Prince
thisservice, and to proffer performance thereof; and I shall cause theBailie to attend with a schedule of a protest, whilk he has hereprepared (taking out a paper), intimating, that if it shall be hisRoyal Highness's pleasure to accept of other assistance at pullingoff his caligae (whether the same shall be rendered boots orbrogues) save that of the said Baron of Bradwardine, who is inpresence ready and willing to perform the same, it shall in nowise impinge upon or prejudice the right of the said Cosmo ComyneBradwardine to perform the said service in future; nor shall itgive any esquire, valet of the chamber, squire, or page, whoseassistance it may please his Royal Highness to employ, any right,title, or ground for evicting from the said Cosmo ComyneBradwardine the estate and barony of Bradwardine, and others heldas aforesaid, by the due and faithful performance thereof.'
Fergus highly applauded this arrangement; and the Baron took afriendly leave of them, with a smile of contented importance uponhis visage.
'Long live our dear friend the Baron,' exclaimed the Chief, assoon as he was out of hearing, 'for the most absurd original thatexists north of the Tweed! I wish to heaven I had recommended himto attend the circle this evening with a boot-ketch under his arm.I think he might have adopted the suggestion if it had been madewith suitable gravity.'
'And how can you take pleasure in making a man of his worth soridiculous?'
'Begging pardon, my dear Waverley, you are as ridiculous as he.Why, do you not see that the man's whole mind is wrapped up inthis ceremony? He has heard and thought of it since infancy as themost august privilege and ceremony in the world; and I doubt notbut the expected pleasure of performing it was a principal motivewith him for taking up arms. Depend upon it, had I endeavoured todivert him from exposing himself he would have treated me as anignorant, conceited coxcomb, or perhaps might have taken a fancyto cut my throat; a pleasure which he once proposed to himselfupon some point of etiquette not half so important, in his eyes,as this matter of boots or brogues, or whatever the caliga shallfinally be pronounced by the learned. But I must go toheadquarters, to prepare the Prince for this extraordinary scene.My information will be well taken, for it will give him a heartylaugh at present, and put him on his guard against laughing whenit might be very mal-a-propos. So, au revoir, my dear Waverley.'