The Bride of Lammermoor

untsmen wind t

overt starts t

youth's blood in

ifeless clod, o

all the fair c

Act I.

e fare which Caleb's conscience, or his necessity, assuming, as will sometimes happen, that

is host's apartment with a loud hall

een this month; and you lie here, Master, on a bed that has little to recommend it, e

Mr. Hayston; it is really no pleasure to lose the very short repose which I had just begun

b was calling for grooms and lackeys, and would never have proceeded without two hours' apology for the absence of men th

slowly, "that nothing can concern me

d of Bucklaw into his master's bedroom, "and truly I ken nae title they have to be yowling

ht both the lands and the right of forestry, and may think themsel

ome here and exercise such-like right, and your lordship living at your ain castle

ing. "But reach me my cloak, Caleb, and I will indulge Bucklaw with a sigh

his master making the least concession in deference to any one-"sacrifice, indeed!

; my wardrobe, I suppose

on Hew Hildebrand, your outrider; and the French velvet that went with my lord your father-be gracious

only dress we have any chance to come at, except that I wo

ourning; nevertheless, I have never tried on the drap-de-Berry-ill wad it become me-and your honour ha

venswood; "and wh

rden's Tower, I could but see them glent by wi' their bridles r

lp me on with my cloak, and hand me my sword

rough the window, "as if there werena men eneugh in the castle, or as

tle if your ability were equal t

he family as weel as things will permit of,-only Bucklaw is aye sae frank and sae forward. And there he has brought out your l

ng from him and descending the narrow and stee

peevishly; "but if your lordship wad tarry a bi

avenswood, impatiently, bu

lordship wad but please to cast yoursell in the way of dining wi' Lord Bittlebrains, I'se warrand I wad cast about brawly for the morn; or if, stead o' that, ye wad but dine wi' t

r of the family." And, throwing himself on his horse, he followed Bucklaw, who, at the manifest risk of his neck, had

rce more moderate in his pace, for his was a mind unwillingly roused from contemplative inactivity, but which, when once put into motion, acquired a spirit of forcible and violent progression. Neither was his eagerness proportioned in all cases to the motive of impulse, but might be compared to the sped of a stone, which rushes with like fury down the hill w

asses; and, above all, the feeling of his own rapid motion, animated the Master of Ravenswood, at last for the moment, above the recollections of a more painful nature by which he was surrounded. The first thing which recalled him to those unpleasing circumstances was feeling that his horse, notwithstanding all the advantages which he received from his rider's knowledge

omplaisance seldom used in a hunting-field. "

d at such a proposal. "I really do not know how I

host and entertainer. "Take the goods the gods provide you, as the great John Dryden says; or stay-here, my friend, lend me that horse; I see you have

h the stranger resigned to him, and continued his career at full speed. "Was ever so thought

ho will make your honour, or any of your honourab

s name is--?" a

ease to take your friend's horse, and leave me your galloway, I will mee

Ravenswood; and mounting the nag of his friend Bucklaw, he made all the haste in his power to

os of the olden hunting-field, to which the impatient yelling of the hounds, now close of the object of their pursuit, gave a lively and unr

th some advantage, which, in such circumstances, can only be done with caution. The dogs stood aloof and bayed loudly, intimating at once eagerness and fear, and each of the sportsmen seemed to expect that his comrade would take upon him the perilous task of assaulting and disabling the animal. The ground, which was a hollow in the common or moor, afforded little advantage for approaching the stag unobserved; and general was the shout of triumph when Bucklaw, with the de

ig

in a boisterous sport, and attended by a promiscuous company. The richness of her dress, however, as well as the mettle and form of her palfrey, together with the silvan compliment paid to her by the huntsman, pointed her out to Bucklaw as the principal person in the field. It was not without a feeling of pity, approaching even to contempt, that this enthusiastic hunter observed her refuse the huntsman's knife, presented to her for the p

f the day, and trust that her sport had answered her expectation. Her answer was very courteously and modestly expressed, and testified some g

have hunted at force five hundred times, madam; and I never yet saw the stag at bay, by land or water, but I durst have gone roundly in on him. It is all use and wont, madam; and I'll tell you, madam, for all that, it must be done with good heed

smile was scarce concealed by her vizard, "I sh

harangue with no small edification; "and I have heard my father say, who was a forester at the Cabrach, that a

horn of hart, it brin

l leeches heal, there

the head of the stag should be cabaged in order to reward them; and if I may presume to speak, the huntsman, who is to break up the stag, ought to drink

d, all acceptation from the huntsman, who, in requital, offered to bu

elf from the circle, "that my father, for whose amusement Lord Bittlebrain's hounds have been

aying his woodcraft to care about man or woman either, paid little attention; but was soon stript to his doublet, with tucked-up sleeves, and naked arms up to the elbows in blood and grease, slashing, cutting, hacking, and hewing, with the precision of Sir

n. The chase, with all its train of excitations, has ever since feudal times been accounted the almost exclusive privilege of the aristocracy, and was anciently their chief employment in times of peace. The sense that he was excluded by his situation from enjoying the silvan sport, which his rank assigned to him as a special prerogative, and the feeling that new men were now exercising it over the downs which had been jealously reserved by his ancestors for their own amusement, while he, the heir of the domain, was fain to hold himself at a distance from their pa

the weather. His horse, a strong and steady palfrey, was calculated for a rider who proposed to witness the sport of the day rather than to share it. An attendant waite

"and yet appear as indifferent to this brave sport

Master; "at present, late events in my family must be my apology; and besides

of my attendants had the sense to a

will be sure to find in the thick of the keenest sportsmen. He will return your servant's horse, and take my pony in exchange;

not so to be shaken off. He turned his horse at the same time, and rode in the same direction, so near to the Master that, without outriding him, which the forma

g to the old tower, then darkening under the influence of a stormy cloud, that formed its background; for at the distance of a short mile, the chase, h

as, as I have heard," continued the stranger, unabashed by his coldness, "

," answered the Master, "a

; "Scotland knows what she owes to this ancient family, and remembers their frequent and honourable achievements. I have little doubt that, were it properly repr

of that unfortunate house-I am the Master of Ravenswood. And you, sir, who seem to be a gentleman of fashion and educa

not know-I am sensible I ought not to have mentioned-not

wood, "for here, I suppose, our roads separate, and I as

, he directed his horse

approach to Wolf's Cra

he words of the

ew was the gras

r of deer and t

s that enci

nion, the young lady we have already mentioned cam

to the unmasked damsel, "thi

im absolutely mute. At this moment the cloud which had long lowered above the height on which Wolf's Crag is situated, and which now, as it advanced, spread itself in darker and denser folds both over land and sea, hiding the distant objects and obscuring those which were nearer, turning the sea to a leaden complexion and the heath

leman observed that the storm seemed to increase; that they were far from Lord Bittlebrains's, whose guests they were for the present; and that he would be obliged to the Master of Ravenswood to point him the way to the nearest place of refuge from the storm. At the same time he cast a wistful and embarrassed look towards the Tower of Wolf's Crag, which seemed to render it almost i

s Crag has nothing to offer beyond the shelter of its roof, but if that can be acceptable at such a moment--" he paused, as if the rest of the invitation stuck in his throat

uffered much from a recent alarm; he trusted their intrusion on the Master of Ravenswood's hospitality would not be

as the riding-mask left exposed, gave place to a deep and rosy suffusion; and he felt with embarrassment that a flush was by tacit sympathy excited in his own cheeks. The stranger, with watchfulness which he disguised under apprehensions of the safety of his daughter, continued to observe the expression of the Master's countenance as they ascended the hill

held this accession of guests to the castle, and reflected that the dinner hour was fast approaching. "Is he daft?" he muttered to himself;-"is he clean daft a'thegither, to bring lords and leddies, and a host of folk behint them, and twal o'clock chap

man, and a yet older and more imbecile female domestic, form my whole retinue. Our means of refreshing you are more scanty than even so

rhaps not altogether unmoved by the grave and determined voice in which their host addressed them, looked round him anxiously, as if he half repented the r

razor for six days, "He's daft-clean daft-red wud, and awa' wit! But deil hae Caleb Balderstone," said he, collecting his powers of invention and resource, "if the family shall lose credit, if he were as mad as the sev

ter, sternly; "put the horses into the stable,

," said Caleb; "nevertheless, as for the sack and tokay

raying of horns with which it mingled, announced that he was scaling the path

a crew here, that will expect to find brandy as plenty as ditch-water, and he kenning sae absolutely the case in whilk we stand for the present! But I trow, could

e this dauntless resolution, the rea