CalvinU/project-gutenberg · Datasets at Hugging Face

book_id int64 19 72.2k	title stringlengths 2 416	sentence string
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Considering the illiterate education of his father, and the rough-spun humours and character of his mother, this was singularly fortunate; for the old lady had, in her youth, been deemed destined for a more refined sphere than the householdry of the Laird of Plealands.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Her father was by profession an advocate in Edinburgh, and had sat in the last assembly of the States of Scotland.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Having, however, to the last, opposed the Union with all the vehemence in his power, he was rejected by the Government party of the day; and in consequence, although his talents and acquirements were considered of a superior order, he was allowed to hang on about the Parliament-house, with the empty celebrity of abilities, that, with more prudence, might have secured both riches and honours.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	The leisure which he was thus obliged to possess was devoted to the cultivation of his daughter's mind, and the affection of no father was ever more tender, till about the period when she attained her twentieth year.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Her charms were then in full blossom, and she was seen only to be followed and admired.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	But, in proportion as every manly heart was delighted with the graces and intelligence of the unfortunate girl, the solicitude of her father to see her married grew more and more earnest, till it actually became his exclusive and predominant passion, and worked upon him to such a degree, that it could no longer be regarded but as tinctured with some insane malady; insomuch, that his continual questions respecting the addresses of the gentlemen, and who or whether any of them sincerely spoke of love, embittered her life, and deprived her of all the innocent delight which the feminine heart, in the gaiety and triumph of youth, naturally enjoys from the homage of the men.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	At this juncture Malachi Hypel was in Edinburgh, drinking the rounds of an advocate's studies; for he had no intention to practise, and with students of that kind the bottle then supplied the place of reviews and magazines.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	He was a sturdy, rough, hard-riding and free-living fellow, entitled by his fortune and connexions almost to the best society; but qualified by his manners and inclinations to relish the lowest more joyously.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Unluckily he was among the loudest and the warmest admirers of the ill-fated girl, and one night after supper, flushed with claret and brandy, he openly, before her father, made her a tender of his hand.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	The old man grasped it with an avaricious satisfaction, and though the heart of the poor girl was ready to burst at the idea of becoming the wife of one so coarse and rugged, she was nevertheless induced, in the space of little more than a month after, to submit to her fate.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	The conduct of her father was at that time quite inexplicable, but when he soon afterwards died, unable to witness the misery to which he had consigned his beloved child, the secret came out.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	His circumstances were in the most ruinous condition; his little patrimony was entirely consumed, and he acknowledged on his death-bed, while he implored with anguish the pardon of his daughter, that the thought of leaving her in poverty had so overset his reason, that he could think of nothing but of securing her against the horrors of want.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	A disclosure so painful should have softened the harsh nature of her husband towards her, but it had quite a contrary effect.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	He considered himself as having been in some degree overreached, and although he had certainly not married her with any view to fortune, he yet reviled her as a party to her father's sordid machination.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	This confirmed the sadness with which she had yielded to become his bride, and darkened the whole course of her wedded life with one continued and unvaried shade of melancholy.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	The death of her husband was in consequence felt as a deliverance from thraldom.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	The event happened late in the day, but still in time enough to allow the original brightness of her mind to shine out in the evening with a serene and pleasing lustre, sufficient to show what, in happier circumstances, she might have been.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	The beams fell on Charles with the cherishing influence of the summer twilight on the young plant, and if the tears of memory were sometimes mingled with her instructions, they were like the gracious dews that improve the delicacy of the flower, and add freshness to its fragrance.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Beneath her care, his natural sensibility was exalted and refined, and if it could not be said that he was endowed with genius, he soon appeared to feel, with all the tenderness and intelligence of a poet.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	In this respect his ingenuous affections served to recall the long vanished happiness of her juvenile hopes, and yielding to the sentiments which such reflections were calculated to inspire, she devoted, perhaps, too many of her exhortations in teaching him to value Love as the first of earthly blessings and of human enjoyments.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	'Love', she often said to the wondering boy, who scarcely understood the term, 'is like its emblem fire; it comes down from Heaven, and when once kindled in two faithful bosoms, grows brighter and stronger as it mingles its flames, ever rising and pointing towards the holy fountain-head from whence it came.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	'--These romantic lessons were ill calculated to fit him to perform that wary part in the world which could alone have enabled him to master the malice of his fortune, and to overcome the consequences of that disinheritance which his father had never for a moment ceased to meditate, but only waited for an appropriate opportunity to carry into effect.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	CHAPTER XIV Charles, in due time, was sent to College, and while attending the classes, formed an intimate friendship with a youth of his own age, of the name of Colin Fatherlans, the only son of Fatherlans of that Ilk.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	He was at this time about eighteen, and being invited by his companion to spend a few weeks at Fatherlans House in Ayrshire, he had soon occasion to feel the influence of his grandmother's lectures on affection and fidelity.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Colin had an only sister, and Charles, from the first moment that he saw her, felt the fascinations of her extraordinary beauty, and the charms of a mind, still more lovely in its intelligence than the bloom and graces of her form.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Isabella Fatherlans was tall and elegant, but withal so gentle, that she seemed, as it were, ever in need of protection; and the feeling which this diffidence of nature universally inspired, converted the homage of her admirers into a sentiment of tenderness, which, in the impassioned bosom of Charles Walkinshaw, was speedily warmed into love.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	For several successive years, he had the gratification of spending some weeks in the company of Isabella; and the free intercourse permitted between them soon led to the disclosure of a mutual passion.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	No doubt at that time clouded the sunshine that shone along the hopes and promises in the vista of their future years.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Every thing, on the contrary, was propitious.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	His lineage and prospects rendered him acceptable to her parents, and she was viewed by his father as a match almost beyond expectation desirable.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Time alone seemed to be the only adversary to their affection; but with him Fortune was in league, and the course of true love never long runs smooth.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	The father of Isabella was one of those unfortunate lairds who embarked in the Mississippian project of the Ayr Bank, the inevitable fate of which, at the very moment when the hopes of the lovers were as gay as the apple boughs with blossoms in the first fine mornings of spring, came like a nipping frost, and blighted their happiness for ever.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Fatherlans was ruined, and his ruin was a sufficient reason, with the inflexible Claud, to command Charles to renounce all thoughts of that fond connexion which he had himself considered as the most enviable which his son could hope to obtain.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	But the altered fortunes of Isabella only served to endear her more and more to her lover; and the interdict of his father was felt as a profane interference with that hallowed enthusiasm of mingled love and sorrow with which his breast was at the moment filled.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	'It is impossible,' said he; 'and even were it in my power to submit to the sacrifice you require, honour, and every sentiment that makes life worthy, would forbid me.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	No, sir; I feel that Isabella and I are one; Heaven has made us so, and no human interposition can separate minds which God and Nature have so truly united.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	The very reason that you urge against the continuance of my attachment, is the strongest argument to make me cherish it with greater devotion than ever.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	You tell me she is poor, and must be penniless.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Is not that, sir, telling me that she has claims upon my compassion as well as on my love?
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	You say her father must be driven to the door.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Gracious Heaven!
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	and in such a time shall I shun Isabella?
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	A common stranger, one that I had never before known, would, in such adversity and distress, be entitled to any asylum I could offer; but Isabella--in the storm that has unroofed her father's house--shall she not claim that shelter which, by so many vows, I have sworn to extend over her through life?'
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	'Weel, weel, Charlie,' replied the old man, 'rant awa, and tak thy tocherless bargain to thee, and see what thou'll mak o't.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	But mind my words--when Poverty comes in at the door, Love jumps out at the window.'
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	'It is true,' said the lover, a little more calmly, 'that we cannot hope to live in such circumstances as I had so often reason to expect; but still, you will not refuse to take me into partnership, which, in the better days of her father, you so often promised?'
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	'We'll hae twa words about that,' replied the father; 'it's ae thing to take in a partner young, clever, and sharp, and another to take a needful man with the prospect o' a family.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	But, Charlie, I'll no draw back in my word to you, if ye'll just put off for a year or twa this calf-love connexion.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Maybe by and by ye'll think better o' my counsel; at ony rate, something for a sair foot may be gathered in the meantime; and neither you nor Bell Fatherlans are sae auld
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	but ye can afford to bide a while.'
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	This was said in the old man's most reflective and sedate manner, and after some further conversation, Charles did consent to postpone for that time his marriage, on condition of being immediately admitted into partnership, with an understanding, that he should be free to marry at the end of twelve months, if he still continued so inclined.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Both parties in this arrangement calculated without their host.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	The father thought that the necessary change in the exterior circumstances of Isabella would, in the course of the year, have a tendency to abate the ardour of her lover, and the son gave too much credit to his own self-denial, supposing, that, although the ruin of Fatherlans was declared, yet, as in similar cases, twelve months would probably elapse before the sequestration and sale of his estate would finally reduce the condition of his family.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	From the moment, however, that the affairs of the banking company were found irretrievable, Mr. Fatherlans zealously bestirred himself to place his daughter above the hazards of want, even while he entertained the hope that it might not be necessary.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	He carried her with him to Glasgow, and, before calling at Claud's shop, secured for her an asylum in the house of Miss Mally Trimmings, a celebrated mantua-maker of that time.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	When he afterwards waited on the inexorable pedlar, and communicated the circumstance, the latter, with unfeigned pleasure, commended the prudence of the measure, for he anticipated that the pride of his son would recoil at the idea of connecting himself with Isabella in her altered state.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	What the lover himself felt on hearing the news, we shall not attempt to describe, nor shall we so far intrude beyond the veil which should ever be drawn over the anxieties and the sorrows of young affection, under darkened prospects, as to relate what passed between the lovers when they next met.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	The resolution, however, with which they both separated, was worthy of the purity of their mutual affections, and they agreed to pass the probationary year in a cheerful submission to their lot.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	CHAPTER XV When Charles parted from Isabella, he returned thoughtfully towards Grippy, which was situated on the south side of the Clyde, at the foot of the Cathkin hills.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	His road, after passing the bridge, lay across the fields as far as Rutherglen, where it diverged towards the higher ground, commanding at every winding a rich and variegated prospect.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	The year was waning into autumn, and the sun setting in all that effulgence of glory, with which, in a serene evening, he commonly at that season terminates his daily course behind the distant mountains of Dumbartonshire and Argyle.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	A thin mist, partaking more of the lacy character of a haze than the texture of a vapour, spreading from the river, softened the nearer features of the view, while the distant were glowing in the golden blaze of the western skies, and the outlines of the city on the left appeared gilded with a brighter light, every window sparkling as if illuminated from within.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	The colour of the trees and hedges was beginning to change, and here and there a tuft of yellow leaves, and occasionally the berries of the mountain ash, like clusters of fiery embers, with sheaves of corn, and reapers in a few of the neighbouring fields, showed that the summer was entirely past, and the harvest time begun.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	The calm diffused over the face of the landscape--the numerous images of maturity and repose everywhere around--were calculated to soothe the spirit, to inspire gentle thoughts, and to awaken pleasing recollections; and there was something in the feelings with which the lovers had separated, if not altogether in unison with the graciousness of the hour, still so much in harmony with the general benignity of nature, that Charles felt his resolution and self-denial elevated with a sentiment of devotion, mingled with the fond enthusiasm of his passion.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	'It is but a short time--a few months--and we shall be happy,' he exclaimed to himself; 'and our happiness will be the dearer that we shall have earned it by this sacrifice to prudence and to duty.'
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	But Charles and Isabella had estimated their fortitude too highly.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	They were both inexperienced in what the world really is; and her tender and sensitive spirit was soon found incapable of withstanding the trials and the humiliation to which she found herself subjected.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	It was part of her business to carry home the dresses made up for Miss Mally's customers; and although the Glasgow ladies of that time were perhaps not more difficult to please with the style or fashion of their gowns and millinery than those of our own day, yet some of them were less actuated by a compassionate consideration for the altered fortunes of Isabella than all our fair contemporaries would undoubtedly have been.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	The unfortunate girl was, in consequence, often obliged to suffer taunts and animadversions, which, though levelled against the taste or inattention of her mistress, entered not the less painfully into her young and delicate bosom.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Still, however, she struggled against the harsh circumstances to which she was exposed; but her sensibilities were stronger than her courage, and her beauty betrayed what she felt, and soon began to fade.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Charles was in the practice of accompanying her in the evenings when she commonly performed her disagreeable errands, and relieved her of the burden of her band-box, joyfully counting how much of the probationary year was already past, and cheering her with the assurance that her misfortunes had only endeared her to him the more.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	It happened, however, that, one Saturday, being late of reaching the place of rendezvous--the foot of the staircase which led to Miss Mally's dwelling--Isabella had gone away before he arrived, with a new dress to Mrs. Jarvie, the wife of the far-famed Bailie Nicol, the same Matty who lighted the worthy magistrate to the Tolbooth, on that memorable night when he, the son of the deacon, found his kinsman Rob Roy there.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Matty at this time was a full-blown lady; the simple, modest, bare-footed lassie, having developed into a crimson, gorgeous, high-heeled madam,--well aware of the augmented width and weight of the bailie's purse, and jealous a little too much of her own consequence, perhaps, by recollecting the condition from which she had been exalted.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	The dress made up for her was a costly _negligée_; it not only contained several yards of the richest brocade more than any other Miss Mally Trimmings had ever made, but was adorned with cuffs and flounces in a style of such affluent magnificence, that we question if any grander has since been seen in Glasgow.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Nor was it ordered for any common occasion, but to grace a formal dinner party, which Provost Anderson and his lady intended to give the magistrates and their wives at the conclusion of his eighth provostry.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	It was therefore not extraordinary that Mrs. Jarvie should take particular interest in this dress; but the moment she began to try it on, poor Isabella discovered that it would not fit, and stood trembling from head to heel, while the bailie's wife, in great glee and good humour with the splendour of the dress, was loud in her praises of the cut of the ruffle-cuffs and the folds of the flounces.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Having contemplated the flow of the _negligée_ on both sides, and taken two or three stately steps across the room, to see how it would sweep behind, Mrs. Jarvie took the wings of the body in her hands, and, drawing them together, found they would not nearly meet.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Isabella, with a beating heart and a diffident hand, approached to smooth the silk, that it might expand; but all would not do.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Mrs. Jarvie stood a monument of consternation, as silent as Lot's wife, when she looked back, and thought of the charming dresses she had left behind.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	'O Chrystal!' were the first words to which the ci-devant Matty could give utterance.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	'
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	O Chrystal!
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	My God, is nae this moving?
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Your mistress, doited devil, as I maun ca' her, ought to be skelpit wi' nettles for this calamity.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	The goun's ruin't--my gude silk to be clippit in this nearbegaun way--past a' redemption.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Gang out o' the gait, ye cutty, and no finger and meddle wi' me.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	This usage is enough to provoke the elect!
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	as am a living soul, and that's a muckle word for me to say, I'll hae the old craighling scoot afore the Lords.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	The first cost was mair than five and twenty guineas.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	If there's law and justice atween God and man, she shall pay for't, or I'll hae my satisfaction on her flesh.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Hither, maiden, and help me off wi' it.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Siccan beauty as it was!
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Tak it wi' you; tak it to you; out o' the house and my presence.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	How durst ye dare to bring sic a disgrace to me?
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	But let me look at it.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Is't no possible to put in a gushet or a gore, and to make an eik?'
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	'I'll take it home and try,' said Isabella, timidly folding up the gown, which she had removed from Mrs. Jarvie.
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	'Try,' said the bailie's wife, relapsing; 'a pretty like story, that sic a gown should stand in the jeopardy o' a try; but how could Miss Mally presume to send a silly thing like t'ee on this occasion?
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	Lay down the gown this precious moment, and gae hame, and order her to come to me direkilty: it's no to seek what I hae to say.'
44,573	The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy	The trembling and terrified girl let the unfortunate _negligée_ fall, and hastily, in tears, quitted the room, and, flying from the house, met, in the street, her lover, who, having learnt where she was, had followed her to the house.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

Considering the illiterate education of his father, and the rough-spun humours and character of his mother, this was singularly fortunate; for the old lady had, in her youth, been deemed destined for a more refined sphere than the householdry of the Laird of Plealands.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

Her father was by profession an advocate in Edinburgh, and had sat in the last assembly of the States of Scotland.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

Having, however, to the last, opposed the Union with all the vehemence in his power, he was rejected by the Government party of the day; and in consequence, although his talents and acquirements were considered of a superior order, he was allowed to hang on about the Parliament-house, with the empty celebrity of abilities, that, with more prudence, might have secured both riches and honours.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

The leisure which he was thus obliged to possess was devoted to the cultivation of his daughter's mind, and the affection of no father was ever more tender, till about the period when she attained her twentieth year.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

Her charms were then in full blossom, and she was seen only to be followed and admired.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

But, in proportion as every manly heart was delighted with the graces and intelligence of the unfortunate girl, the solicitude of her father to see her married grew more and more earnest, till it actually became his exclusive and predominant passion, and worked upon him to such a degree, that it could no longer be regarded but as tinctured with some insane malady; insomuch, that his continual questions respecting the addresses of the gentlemen, and who or whether any of them sincerely spoke of love, embittered her life, and deprived her of all the innocent delight which the feminine heart, in the gaiety and triumph of youth, naturally enjoys from the homage of the men.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

At this juncture Malachi Hypel was in Edinburgh, drinking the rounds of an advocate's studies; for he had no intention to practise, and with students of that kind the bottle then supplied the place of reviews and magazines.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

He was a sturdy, rough, hard-riding and free-living fellow, entitled by his fortune and connexions almost to the best society; but qualified by his manners and inclinations to relish the lowest more joyously.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

Unluckily he was among the loudest and the warmest admirers of the ill-fated girl, and one night after supper, flushed with claret and brandy, he openly, before her father, made her a tender of his hand.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

The old man grasped it with an avaricious satisfaction, and though the heart of the poor girl was ready to burst at the idea of becoming the wife of one so coarse and rugged, she was nevertheless induced, in the space of little more than a month after, to submit to her fate.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

The conduct of her father was at that time quite inexplicable, but when he soon afterwards died, unable to witness the misery to which he had consigned his beloved child, the secret came out.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

His circumstances were in the most ruinous condition; his little patrimony was entirely consumed, and he acknowledged on his death-bed, while he implored with anguish the pardon of his daughter, that the thought of leaving her in poverty had so overset his reason, that he could think of nothing but of securing her against the horrors of want.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

A disclosure so painful should have softened the harsh nature of her husband towards her, but it had quite a contrary effect.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

He considered himself as having been in some degree overreached, and although he had certainly not married her with any view to fortune, he yet reviled her as a party to her father's sordid machination.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

This confirmed the sadness with which she had yielded to become his bride, and darkened the whole course of her wedded life with one continued and unvaried shade of melancholy.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

The death of her husband was in consequence felt as a deliverance from thraldom.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

The event happened late in the day, but still in time enough to allow the original brightness of her mind to shine out in the evening with a serene and pleasing lustre, sufficient to show what, in happier circumstances, she might have been.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

The beams fell on Charles with the cherishing influence of the summer twilight on the young plant, and if the tears of memory were sometimes mingled with her instructions, they were like the gracious dews that improve the delicacy of the flower, and add freshness to its fragrance.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

Beneath her care, his natural sensibility was exalted and refined, and if it could not be said that he was endowed with genius, he soon appeared to feel, with all the tenderness and intelligence of a poet.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

In this respect his ingenuous affections served to recall the long vanished happiness of her juvenile hopes, and yielding to the sentiments which such reflections were calculated to inspire, she devoted, perhaps, too many of her exhortations in teaching him to value Love as the first of earthly blessings and of human enjoyments.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

'Love', she often said to the wondering boy, who scarcely understood the term, 'is like its emblem fire; it comes down from Heaven, and when once kindled in two faithful bosoms, grows brighter and stronger as it mingles its flames, ever rising and pointing towards the holy fountain-head from whence it came.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

'--These romantic lessons were ill calculated to fit him to perform that wary part in the world which could alone have enabled him to master the malice of his fortune, and to overcome the consequences of that disinheritance which his father had never for a moment ceased to meditate, but only waited for an appropriate opportunity to carry into effect.

44,573

The Entail; or, The Lairds of Grippy

CHAPTER XIV Charles, in due time, was sent to College, and while attending the classes, formed an intimate friendship with a youth of his own age, of the name of Colin Fatherlans, the only son of Fatherlans of that Ilk.

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He was at this time about eighteen, and being invited by his companion to spend a few weeks at Fatherlans House in Ayrshire, he had soon occasion to feel the influence of his grandmother's lectures on affection and fidelity.

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Colin had an only sister, and Charles, from the first moment that he saw her, felt the fascinations of her extraordinary beauty, and the charms of a mind, still more lovely in its intelligence than the bloom and graces of her form.

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Isabella Fatherlans was tall and elegant, but withal so gentle, that she seemed, as it were, ever in need of protection; and the feeling which this diffidence of nature universally inspired, converted the homage of her admirers into a sentiment of tenderness, which, in the impassioned bosom of Charles Walkinshaw, was speedily warmed into love.

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For several successive years, he had the gratification of spending some weeks in the company of Isabella; and the free intercourse permitted between them soon led to the disclosure of a mutual passion.

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No doubt at that time clouded the sunshine that shone along the hopes and promises in the vista of their future years.

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Every thing, on the contrary, was propitious.

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His lineage and prospects rendered him acceptable to her parents, and she was viewed by his father as a match almost beyond expectation desirable.

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Time alone seemed to be the only adversary to their affection; but with him Fortune was in league, and the course of true love never long runs smooth.

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The father of Isabella was one of those unfortunate lairds who embarked in the Mississippian project of the Ayr Bank, the inevitable fate of which, at the very moment when the hopes of the lovers were as gay as the apple boughs with blossoms in the first fine mornings of spring, came like a nipping frost, and blighted their happiness for ever.

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Fatherlans was ruined, and his ruin was a sufficient reason, with the inflexible Claud, to command Charles to renounce all thoughts of that fond connexion which he had himself considered as the most enviable which his son could hope to obtain.

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But the altered fortunes of Isabella only served to endear her more and more to her lover; and the interdict of his father was felt as a profane interference with that hallowed enthusiasm of mingled love and sorrow with which his breast was at the moment filled.

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'It is impossible,' said he; 'and even were it in my power to submit to the sacrifice you require, honour, and every sentiment that makes life worthy, would forbid me.

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No, sir; I feel that Isabella and I are one; Heaven has made us so, and no human interposition can separate minds which God and Nature have so truly united.

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The very reason that you urge against the continuance of my attachment, is the strongest argument to make me cherish it with greater devotion than ever.

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You tell me she is poor, and must be penniless.

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Is not that, sir, telling me that she has claims upon my compassion as well as on my love?

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You say her father must be driven to the door.

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Gracious Heaven!

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and in such a time shall I shun Isabella?

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A common stranger, one that I had never before known, would, in such adversity and distress, be entitled to any asylum I could offer; but Isabella--in the storm that has unroofed her father's house--shall she not claim that shelter which, by so many vows, I have sworn to extend over her through life?'

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'Weel, weel, Charlie,' replied the old man, 'rant awa, and tak thy tocherless bargain to thee, and see what thou'll mak o't.

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But mind my words--when Poverty comes in at the door, Love jumps out at the window.'

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'It is true,' said the lover, a little more calmly, 'that we cannot hope to live in such circumstances as I had so often reason to expect; but still, you will not refuse to take me into partnership, which, in the better days of her father, you so often promised?'

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'We'll hae twa words about that,' replied the father; 'it's ae thing to take in a partner young, clever, and sharp, and another to take a needful man with the prospect o' a family.

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But, Charlie, I'll no draw back in my word to you, if ye'll just put off for a year or twa this calf-love connexion.

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Maybe by and by ye'll think better o' my counsel; at ony rate, something for a sair foot may be gathered in the meantime; and neither you nor Bell Fatherlans are sae auld

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but ye can afford to bide a while.'

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This was said in the old man's most reflective and sedate manner, and after some further conversation, Charles did consent to postpone for that time his marriage, on condition of being immediately admitted into partnership, with an understanding, that he should be free to marry at the end of twelve months, if he still continued so inclined.

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Both parties in this arrangement calculated without their host.

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The father thought that the necessary change in the exterior circumstances of Isabella would, in the course of the year, have a tendency to abate the ardour of her lover, and the son gave too much credit to his own self-denial, supposing, that, although the ruin of Fatherlans was declared, yet, as in similar cases, twelve months would probably elapse before the sequestration and sale of his estate would finally reduce the condition of his family.

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From the moment, however, that the affairs of the banking company were found irretrievable, Mr. Fatherlans zealously bestirred himself to place his daughter above the hazards of want, even while he entertained the hope that it might not be necessary.

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He carried her with him to Glasgow, and, before calling at Claud's shop, secured for her an asylum in the house of Miss Mally Trimmings, a celebrated mantua-maker of that time.

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When he afterwards waited on the inexorable pedlar, and communicated the circumstance, the latter, with unfeigned pleasure, commended the prudence of the measure, for he anticipated that the pride of his son would recoil at the idea of connecting himself with Isabella in her altered state.

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What the lover himself felt on hearing the news, we shall not attempt to describe, nor shall we so far intrude beyond the veil which should ever be drawn over the anxieties and the sorrows of young affection, under darkened prospects, as to relate what passed between the lovers when they next met.

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The resolution, however, with which they both separated, was worthy of the purity of their mutual affections, and they agreed to pass the probationary year in a cheerful submission to their lot.

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CHAPTER XV When Charles parted from Isabella, he returned thoughtfully towards Grippy, which was situated on the south side of the Clyde, at the foot of the Cathkin hills.

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His road, after passing the bridge, lay across the fields as far as Rutherglen, where it diverged towards the higher ground, commanding at every winding a rich and variegated prospect.

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The year was waning into autumn, and the sun setting in all that effulgence of glory, with which, in a serene evening, he commonly at that season terminates his daily course behind the distant mountains of Dumbartonshire and Argyle.

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A thin mist, partaking more of the lacy character of a haze than the texture of a vapour, spreading from the river, softened the nearer features of the view, while the distant were glowing in the golden blaze of the western skies, and the outlines of the city on the left appeared gilded with a brighter light, every window sparkling as if illuminated from within.

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The colour of the trees and hedges was beginning to change, and here and there a tuft of yellow leaves, and occasionally the berries of the mountain ash, like clusters of fiery embers, with sheaves of corn, and reapers in a few of the neighbouring fields, showed that the summer was entirely past, and the harvest time begun.

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The calm diffused over the face of the landscape--the numerous images of maturity and repose everywhere around--were calculated to soothe the spirit, to inspire gentle thoughts, and to awaken pleasing recollections; and there was something in the feelings with which the lovers had separated, if not altogether in unison with the graciousness of the hour, still so much in harmony with the general benignity of nature, that Charles felt his resolution and self-denial elevated with a sentiment of devotion, mingled with the fond enthusiasm of his passion.

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'It is but a short time--a few months--and we shall be happy,' he exclaimed to himself; 'and our happiness will be the dearer that we shall have earned it by this sacrifice to prudence and to duty.'

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But Charles and Isabella had estimated their fortitude too highly.

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They were both inexperienced in what the world really is; and her tender and sensitive spirit was soon found incapable of withstanding the trials and the humiliation to which she found herself subjected.

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It was part of her business to carry home the dresses made up for Miss Mally's customers; and although the Glasgow ladies of that time were perhaps not more difficult to please with the style or fashion of their gowns and millinery than those of our own day, yet some of them were less actuated by a compassionate consideration for the altered fortunes of Isabella than all our fair contemporaries would undoubtedly have been.

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The unfortunate girl was, in consequence, often obliged to suffer taunts and animadversions, which, though levelled against the taste or inattention of her mistress, entered not the less painfully into her young and delicate bosom.

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Still, however, she struggled against the harsh circumstances to which she was exposed; but her sensibilities were stronger than her courage, and her beauty betrayed what she felt, and soon began to fade.

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Charles was in the practice of accompanying her in the evenings when she commonly performed her disagreeable errands, and relieved her of the burden of her band-box, joyfully counting how much of the probationary year was already past, and cheering her with the assurance that her misfortunes had only endeared her to him the more.

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It happened, however, that, one Saturday, being late of reaching the place of rendezvous--the foot of the staircase which led to Miss Mally's dwelling--Isabella had gone away before he arrived, with a new dress to Mrs. Jarvie, the wife of the far-famed Bailie Nicol, the same Matty who lighted the worthy magistrate to the Tolbooth, on that memorable night when he, the son of the deacon, found his kinsman Rob Roy there.

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Matty at this time was a full-blown lady; the simple, modest, bare-footed lassie, having developed into a crimson, gorgeous, high-heeled madam,--well aware of the augmented width and weight of the bailie's purse, and jealous a little too much of her own consequence, perhaps, by recollecting the condition from which she had been exalted.

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The dress made up for her was a costly _negligée_; it not only contained several yards of the richest brocade more than any other Miss Mally Trimmings had ever made, but was adorned with cuffs and flounces in a style of such affluent magnificence, that we question if any grander has since been seen in Glasgow.

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Nor was it ordered for any common occasion, but to grace a formal dinner party, which Provost Anderson and his lady intended to give the magistrates and their wives at the conclusion of his eighth provostry.

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It was therefore not extraordinary that Mrs. Jarvie should take particular interest in this dress; but the moment she began to try it on, poor Isabella discovered that it would not fit, and stood trembling from head to heel, while the bailie's wife, in great glee and good humour with the splendour of the dress, was loud in her praises of the cut of the ruffle-cuffs and the folds of the flounces.

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Having contemplated the flow of the _negligée_ on both sides, and taken two or three stately steps across the room, to see how it would sweep behind, Mrs. Jarvie took the wings of the body in her hands, and, drawing them together, found they would not nearly meet.

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Isabella, with a beating heart and a diffident hand, approached to smooth the silk, that it might expand; but all would not do.

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Mrs. Jarvie stood a monument of consternation, as silent as Lot's wife, when she looked back, and thought of the charming dresses she had left behind.

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'O Chrystal!' were the first words to which the ci-devant Matty could give utterance.

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'

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O Chrystal!

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My God, is nae this moving?

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Your mistress, doited devil, as I maun ca' her, ought to be skelpit wi' nettles for this calamity.

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The goun's ruin't--my gude silk to be clippit in this nearbegaun way--past a' redemption.

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Gang out o' the gait, ye cutty, and no finger and meddle wi' me.

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This usage is enough to provoke the elect!

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as am a living soul, and that's a muckle word for me to say, I'll hae the old craighling scoot afore the Lords.

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The first cost was mair than five and twenty guineas.

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If there's law and justice atween God and man, she shall pay for't, or I'll hae my satisfaction on her flesh.

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Hither, maiden, and help me off wi' it.

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Siccan beauty as it was!

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Tak it wi' you; tak it to you; out o' the house and my presence.

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How durst ye dare to bring sic a disgrace to me?

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But let me look at it.

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Is't no possible to put in a gushet or a gore, and to make an eik?'

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'I'll take it home and try,' said Isabella, timidly folding up the gown, which she had removed from Mrs. Jarvie.

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'Try,' said the bailie's wife, relapsing; 'a pretty like story, that sic a gown should stand in the jeopardy o' a try; but how could Miss Mally presume to send a silly thing like t'ee on this occasion?

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Lay down the gown this precious moment, and gae hame, and order her to come to me direkilty: it's no to seek what I hae to say.'

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The trembling and terrified girl let the unfortunate _negligée_ fall, and hastily, in tears, quitted the room, and, flying from the house, met, in the street, her lover, who, having learnt where she was, had followed her to the house.