Old Mortality

outh! — it is

leaguer’d — hast

Redcross banne

nour’d death

es

erved, repulsive in the manner of the stranger, which prevented Morton from opening the conversation, and he himself seemed to have no desire to

harmless recreations according to my own p

ilderness as if it had been water? or is it a lawful recreation to waste time in shooting at a bunch of feathers, and close your evening with wineb

per to stand out against the government. I must remind you that you are unnecessarily using dangerous lan

or thee, and when he calls, thou must obey. Well wot I thou hast not heard the call of

certain regulations, were licensed to preach without interruption from the government. This indulgence, as it was called, made a great schism among the presbyterians, and those who ac

and the false prelates, and ye call that hearing the word! Of all the baits with which the devil has fished for souls in these days of blood and darkness, that Black Indulgence has been the most destructive. An awful dispensat

f conscience under the indulged clergymen, and I must necessarily be guided b

the whole Christian flock. He is one that could willingly bend down to the golden-calf of Bethel, and would have fish

nt man. And you may have heard, sir, that he fought for th

ir cause. But more of this hereafter — I promise thee full surely that thy hour will come, and t

woman wrapped in a red cloak, who was sitting by the cross-way, arose, and approaching him, said, in a mysterious tone of voice, “If ye be of our ain folk, gangna up the pass the night for your lives. There

awn to any head among themse

aid the old dame; “but, ewhow! they are pu

id the horseman. “Which way

Ye maun take shelter somegate for the night before ye get to the muirs, and keep yoursell in hiding till the grey o’ the morning, and then you may find your way through the Drake Moss. When I heard the awfu’ thr

” said the stranger; “and ca

l, called dragoons, are lodged therein, to spoil my household goods at their pleasure, because I will no

thanks for thy counsel,” said

n you,” returned the old dame; “m

where to hide my head this nigh

the utmost rigour of the law rather than leave you in such a strait. But my uncle is so alarmed at the pains and penalties denounced by the laws a

thout his knowledge; — a barn, a hay-loft, a cart-shed — any place where I could stretch

wood without my uncle’s consent and knowledge; nor, if I could do so, would I think myself justifi

one word to say. Did you ever hear you

life, with almost the loss of his own, in the b

ake thy choice, young man; to shrink from the side of thy father’s friend, like a thief in the night, and to leave him exposed to the bloody death from which he rescued thy father, or to expose thin

esolutioners and Protesters; the former of whom adhered to Charles II. after his father’s death upon the scaffold, while the Protesters inclined rather to a union with the triumphant republicans. The stern fanaticism of Burley had attached him to this latter party, and the comrades had parted in displea

om a distance the sullen sound of a kettle-drum, which, seeming to approac

urn back towards the borough-town, you are in no less danger from Cornet Grahame’s party. — The path to the hill is beset. I must shelter you at Miln

esolution with great composur

the size of the estate, but, since the accession of this owner, it had been suffered to go considerabl

while,” he whispered, “until I can

f, or on the next grey stone, than upon either wool or down. A draught of ale, a morsel of bread, to say

or domestic had occupied until dismissed by his uncle in one of those fits of parsimony which became more rigid from day to day. In this untenanted loft Morton left his companion, with a caution so to shade his light that no reflection might be seen from the window, and a promise that he would presently return with such refreshments as he might be able to procure at that late hour. This

e house of Milnwood. It was a sort of hesitating tap, which carried an acknowledgment of transgression in its very sound, and seemed rather to solicit than command attention. After it had been repeated again and again, the housekeeper, grumbling betwixt her teeth as she rose from the c

ight and a bonny, to disturb a peaceful house in, and to keep quiet folk out o’ their beds waiting for you. Your uncle’s been in his maist thre

further evidence of the egregious i

you, Alison, and

son, and Milnwood himsell is the only ane about this town thinks o’ ca’i

Morton, “I really am sorry to have

ak up your candle and gang to your bed? and mind ye dinna let the candle sweal as ye gang

e something to eat, and a draug

hae shot a’ the wild-fowl that we’ll want atween and Candlemas — and then ganging majoring to the piper’s Howff wi’ a’ the idle loons in the country, and sitting there birli

entment, and good-humouredly assured Mrs Wilson, that he was really both hungry and thirsty; “and as for the shooting

’ the outside, if the inside be conforming. But I mind, when I was a gilpy of a lassock, seeing the Duke, that was him that lost his head at London — folk said it wasna a very gude ane, but it was aye a sair loss to him, puir gentleman — Aweel, he wan the popinjay, for few cared to win it ower his Grace’s head — weel, he had a comely presence, and when a’ the gentles mounted to s

, such as she now placed before him. In fact, the principal object of her maundering was to display her consequence and love of power; for Mrs Wilson was not, at the bottom, an illtempered woman, and certainl

hter’s a silly thing — an unco cockernony she had busked on her head at the kirk last Sunday. I am doubting that there will be news o’ a’ thae braws. But my auld een’s drawing thegither — dinna hurry yoursell, my bonny man, tak mind about the putting out the candle, and t

rrange him for the night. Mrs Wilson then retreated, and Morton, folding up his provisions, was about to hasten to his guest, when the nodding head of the old housekeeper was again

ibility of such a thing as dismissal to be within the chances of their lives, they were, of course, sincerely attached to every member of it. 7 On the other hand, when spoiled by the indulgence or indolence of their superiors, they were very apt