Volume Ii Part 19 (2/2)
”After all, I cannot help being amazed at the rascally crew. Do not you see how suspicion and distrust are stamped on every countenance? Every man makes a bargain with apparent reluctance, and with a dread that his neighbour is going to cheat him; and he is never mistaken. Such is the country, and such are the people to whom you have now come, and such must they ever continue to remain. It is in their nature to be so, and they cannot be otherwise. Here am I, their master and benefactor, who have spent my life in teaching them the n.o.blest of all sciences, without which they could not have defended their country. I have taught every chief in the country, and every one of their va.s.sals, and how am I requited? Ill-clothed, worse fed, and not a bodle in my purse. All my recompense is the freedom of living a life of fatigue and wretchedness.”
”I will not stay another night in the country of such a parcel of rogues,” said I.
”You are wrong,” answered he: ”It is the best country you can be in. You have nothing to lose, and you may gain much. Experience is a man's greatest riches; and of that you will gain abundance. You will here learn hourly how to oppose cunning to cunning; and I will teach you the n.o.ble art of opposing masterly skill to brutal force, until you may haply be established as my a.s.sistant and successor.”
”I would rather dispense with the honour,” said I: ”You are too lean for me to think of being your successor. Were you a fat full-fed man, I would not say what I might do to attain the distinction; but I have made up my mind to one thing, which is, always to have my meat, honestly if I can, but at all events to have it.”
”You are so far right in your principle,” said he: ”For when we consider of it, a man can have very little more than his meat in this world, for all the struggling and strife there is in it. But since you set so high a value on good living, I can, if I please, a.s.sist you to it; for, poor and wretched as I appear, and as I am, I have a right to call for and command the best in every house. I could likewise take their clothes, for money they have none; but it would be like tearing the hearts out of the dogs,--so I content myself with the meanest fare, rather than humble myself to ask ought of them.”
”You are an extraordinary man,” said I: ”But when I look at you, I cannot conceive this privilege of yours to exist in aught but in theory.”
”You shall see,” said he. ”What sort of meat would you prefer?”
”Fat flesh at all times and all seasons,” said I: ”There is nothing like that. Whether it be the flesh of bullock, hog, or wedder, the fattest is always the best.”
”What a kite! What a raven! What a dog!” exclaimed he: ”Well, you shall have it, if it were but to kill you of a surfeit.”
We were lying in a barn when this discourse occurred, and I could not but wonder what the old fellow would do. It was customary for us to take our breakfast at the place where we lodged, and if I might judge from our supper, the place where we then were gave no prospect of very rich fare.
The breakfast was produced; a quant.i.ty of black brochen and lentiles.
The master of defence wist not how to break the ice by introducing a refusal of the proffered meal! but he considered himself as pledged to me, and his haughty spirit would not succ.u.mb. His looks were particularly embarra.s.sed and amusing, and I saw that he would gladly have been free of his engagement, as he began a long palaver of general remarks. I kept up my good hopes, and gave him always an expecting look now and then, to make him hold to his resolution. The people of the house paid little attention to his harangue, till at length he concluded with these words:
”Such being the case, and such the state of the country, I am obliged now to claim all my rights, privileges, and dues from every va.s.sal of my lord of Galloway, as well as from every subject of our liege lord the king, whose commission I bear. Goodman Latchie, I accept no more of black croudy and lentiles for breakfast: I claim, order, and command the best that is in this house. In place of that hog's meat, let us have a rasher on the coals, if you so please.”
”The muckle fiend be atween your teeth, then, to choak you wi' the first bite!” said the goodwife.
”Farmer Latchie, I contend not with women,” said the man of the sword: ”Are you aware of my rights, or do you know and dispute them?”
”I consider yours as merely a nominal right,” said he, ”which no man is bound to fulfil, because no man does it. All my lord's va.s.sals treat you with common fare. Why should I do more?”
With that a raw-boned young man stepped forward, with a black beard and a ruffian look. He was the farmer's eldest son, and his name was John.
”What is all this din about,” said he: ”Let me speak, will ye, Master Gorb? Either take that which is set before you, or go away without it. I say that.”
”You say that? Do you, sir?” said my master.
”Yes; sure I do,” said he: ”I says that, and I'll say it again too, to be sure I will.”
”Then there is my gage, sir. Do you know to what you have subjected yourself?” said my master, pulling out his sword, and laying it on the board: ”You have given the king's ordained swordsman the denial; you must fight him, or find one on the instant to do it for you. If he kills you, he is ent.i.tled to take off your head and send it to the king; and if you kill him, you lose your head, and all the goods and chattels of your house are to be confiscate. Rescue or no rescue? Draw, craven! or yield me up the keys of your pantry, your chest, and your sunken cellar, you dog.”
”I does nae see the sense o' that, Master Gorb,” said John, with a countenance right sorely altered: ”that a man maunna say his awn's his awn, or what's his father's is his father's, but that he maun tak up sword and swordsman. I does nae fear thee. It's no to say that I fears thee; but I winna be bullied intil aught; and I just tells thee, that I'll neither fight thee nor suffer thee to get a sc.r.a.p o' aught better than is set afore thee; and gang and seek thy mends. Now I says that.”
”Thou art a craven and a nincomp.o.o.p,” said my master, with the highest indignation; ”and I lift my pledge, and will report thee to thy betters.”
”Do if thou mayest,” cried old Latchie, running to an armour chest, and taking from thence a sword and buckler. ”Disgrace of my house! To give the challenge, and then to flinch. Have with thee, Bellwether! I will give you to know, that old masons are the best barrowmen.”
<script>