Ringan Gilhaize, or, The Covenanters

  CHAPTER LXXXIII

  As soon as those of the Privy Council had, with their attendants, leftthe house, and proceeded to join the Duke of York in the palace, thecharitable damsel came to me, and conveyed me, undiscovered, through thehall and into the Cowgate, where she had provided a man, a friend of herown, one Charles Brownlee, who had been himself in the hands of thePhilistines, to conduct me out of the town; and by him I was guided insafety through the Cowgate, and put into a house just without the same,where his mother resided.

  "Here," said he, "it will be as well for you to bide out the daylight,and being now forth the town-wall, ye'll can gang where ye likeunquestioned in the gloaming." And so saying he went away, leaving mewith his mother, an ancient matron, with something of the remnant ofladyness about her, yet was she not altogether an entire gentlewoman,though at the first glimpse she had the look of one of the very highestdegree.

  Notwithstanding, however, that apparition of finery which was about her,she was in truth and in heart a sincere woman, and had, in the betterdays of her younger years, been, as she rehearsed to me, gentlewoman tothe Countess of Argyle's mother, and was on a footing of cordiality withdivers ladies of the bedchamber of what she called the three nobilities,meaning those of Scotland, England, and Ireland; so that I saw theremight by her be opened a mean of espial into the camp of theadversaries. So I told her of my long severe malady, and the shock I hadsuffered by what I had seen of my martyred son, and entreated that shewould allow me to abide with her until my spirits were more composed.

  Mrs Brownlee having the compassion of a Christian, and the tenderness ofher gentle sex, was moved by my story, and very readily consented.Instead therefore of going forth at random in the evening, as I was atone time mindet, I remained in her house; where indeed could I at thattime flee in the hope of finding any place of refuge? But although thiswas adopted on the considerations of human reason, it was nevertheless alink in the chain of providential methods by which I was to achieve thefulfilment of my vow.

  The house of Mrs Brownlee being, as I have intimated, nigh to the gateof the city, I saw from the window all that went into and came outtherefrom; and the same afternoon I had visible evidence of the temperwherewith the Duke of York and his counsellors had been actuated thatday at Holyrood, in consequence of the manner in which we had beendelivered from prison;--for Jack Windsor, the poor sentinel who was onguard when we escaped by the window, was brought out, supported by twoof his companions, his feet having been so crushed in the torturousboots before the Council, during his examination anent us, that he couldscarcely mark them to the ground; his hands were also bound in cloths,through which the blood was still oozing, from the pressure of thosedreadful thumbikins of iron, that were so often used in those days toscrew accusations out of honest men. A sympathizing crowd followed thedestroyed sufferer, and the sight for a little while afflicted me withsore regret. But when I considered the compassion that the people showedfor him, I was filled with a strange satisfaction, deducing therefromencouraging persuasions, that every new sin of the persecutors removed aprop from their own power, making its overthrow more and moreinevitable.

  While I was peering from the window in these reflections, I saw QuintinFullarton, the grandson of John Fullarton of Dykedivots, in the street,and knowing that from the time of Bothwell-brigg he had been joined withthat zealous and martyred youth, Richard Cameron, and was, as RobinBrown told me, among other acquaintances at Airsmoss, I entreated MrsBrownlee to go after him and bid him come to me,--which he readily did,and we had a mournful communing for some time.

  He told me the particulars of my gallant Joseph's death, and that it wasby the command of Claverhouse himself that the brave stripling's headwas cut off and sent in ignominy to Edinburgh; where, by order of thePrivy Council, it was placed on the Netherbow.

  "What I hae suffered from that man," said I, "Heaven may pardon, but Ican neither forget nor forgive."

  "The judgment time's coming," replied Quintin Fullarton; "and your partin it, Ringan Gilhaize, assuredly will not be forgotten, for in theheavens there is a Doer of justice and an Avenger of wrongs."

  And then he proceeded to tell me, that on the following afternoon therewas to be a meeting of the heads of the Cameronian societies, with MrRenwick, in a dell of the Esk, about half a mile above Laswade, toconsult what ought to be done, the pursuit and persecution being so hotagainst them, that life was become a burden, and their minds desperate.

  "We hae many friens," said he, "in Edinburgh, and I am entrusted to warnthem to the meeting, which is the end of my coming to the town; andmaybe, Ringan Gilhaize, ye'll no objek yoursel to be there?"

  "I will be there, Quintin Fullarton," said I; "and in the strength ofthe Lord I will come armed, with a weapon of more might than the swordand more terrible than the ball that flieth unseen."

  "What mean you, Ringan?" said he, compassionately; for he knew of myinfirmity, and thought that I was still fevered in the mind. But I toldhim, that for some time, feeling myself unable for warlike enterprises,I had meditated on a way to perplex our guilty adversaries, the whichwas to menace them with retaliation, for resistance alone was no longerenough.

  "We have disowned Charles Stuart as our king," said I, "and we must wagewar accordingly. But go your ways and execute your purposes; and by thetime you return this way I shall have a paper ready, the sending forthof which will strike terror into the brazen hearts of our foes."

  I perceived that he was still dubious of me; but nevertheless hepromised to call as he came back; and, having gone away, I set myselfdown and drew up that declaration, wherein, after again calmly disowningthe royal authority of Charles Stuart, we admonished our sanguinarypersecutors, that, for self-preservation, we would retaliate accordingto our power, and the degree of guilt on such privy counsellors, lordsof justiciary, officers and soldiers, their abettors and informers,whose hands should continue to be imbrued in our blood. And on thereturn of Quintin Fullarton, I gave the paper to him, that it might beseen and considered by Mr Renwick and others, previous to offering it tothe consideration of the meeting.

  He read it over very sedately, and folded it up and put it in the crownof his bonnet without saying a word; but several times, while he wasreading, he cast his eyes towards me, and when he rose to go away hesaid, "Ringan Gilhaize, you have endured much; but verily, if this thingcan be brought to pass, your own and all our sufferings will soon berichly revenged."

  "Not revenged," said I; "revenge, Quintin Fullarton, becomes notChristian men. But we shall be the executioners of the just judgments ofHim whose ministers are flaming fires, and pestilence, and war, andstorms, and perjured kings."

  With these words we parted; and next morning, by break of day, I rose,after the enjoyment of a solacing sleep, such as I had not known formany days, and searched my way across the fields towards Laswade. I didnot, however, enter the clachan, but lingered among the woods till theafternoon, when, descending towards the river, I walked leisurely up thebanks, where I soon fell in with others of the associated friends.