CHAPTER XVIII.

WALTER FENTON AND THE KING.

To daunton me, and me sae young, And guid King James's auldest son! Oh, that's the thing that never can be, For the man is unborn that'll daunton me! O set me once upon Scottish land, With my guid braid-sword into my hand, My bannet blue aboon my bree, Then shew me the man that'll daunton me! JACOBITE RELIQUES.

His confessor had just withdrawn, and King James was sitting in his closet involved in gloomy and distracting reverie--immersed in thoughts which even the mild exhortations of the priest had failed to soothe, and with his eyes intently fixed on the morning sun as it rose red and unclouded in the east, he gave way to the sadness that oppressed him.

Alternately he was a prey to a storm of revengeful and bitter political reflections, or to a gloomy fanaticism, which impaired the courage and lessened the magnanimity for which he had once been distinguished. On discovering that he was constantly conferring with the Jesuits upon abstruse theology, the ribald Louis spoke of him in terms of pity mingled with contempt. The French ridiculed, the Romans lampooned him, and, while the Sovereign Pontiff supplied him liberally with indulgences, the Archbishop of Rheims said ironically--"There is a pious man who hath sacrificed three crowns for a mass!"

And this was all the unfortunate and mistaken James had gained, by his steady and devoted adherence to a falling faith.

Bestowing a glance of undisguised hostility, not unmingled with contempt, at the follower of St. Ignatius Loyola as he withdrew, the Earl of Dunbarton, clad in his old uniform as a Scottish general, entered the apartment of the King. The green ribbon of St. Andrew was worn over his left shoulder, the star with its four silver points sparkled on his left breast, and around his neck hung the red ribbon of the Bath, and the magnificent collar of the Garter.

"Good morning, my Lord Dunbarton; you look as if you had something to communicate. Any news from Flanders? Is my dutiful son-in-law still playing at long bowles with Luxembourg? Has Sir Walter Fenton arrived?"

"He awaits your Majesty's pleasure in the ante-chamber."

"Let him be introduced at once! Why all this etiquette?"

"Because, please your Majesty, it is all that is left to remind me of other days."

"True," said the King thoughtfully.

"Welcome, my brave and faithful soldier!" he exclaimed, as Walter was introduced by the gentlemen in waiting, and kneeled to kiss his hand. "Welcome from Flanders, that land of fighting and fertility. My poor Sir Walter, you look very pale and emaciated."

"I was wounded at Steinkirke, please your Majesty; and with those unfortunate gentlemen, my comrades, have undergone such hardships and humiliations as no imagination can conceive."

Walter's eyes suffused with tears; his voice and his heart trembled. He felt a gush of loyalty and ardour swelling within his breast, that would have enabled him cheerfully to lay his life at the feet of the King. The remark of a celebrated modern writer is indeed a true one. "Unfortunate and unwise as were the Stuart family, there must have been some charm about them, for they had instances of attachment and fidelity shewn them of which _no other line of Kings could boast_."

"You have indeed undergone sufferings which God only can reward," said the King, laying a hand kindly on his shoulder; "and your ill requited valour is a striking example of the falsehood and flattery of the Court of Versailles."

"When I consider our achievements," replied Walter, "my soul fires with pride and ardour; but when I think of the friends that have fallen, my heart dies away within me. To the last of my blood and breath I will serve your majesty; but, notwithstanding this gift of the Cross of St. Louis, I will follow the banner of the donor no more."

"Louis is a noble prince," said the Earl of Dunbarton, "and one who hath raised his realm to the greatest pitch of human grandeur."

"Oh, say not so, my Lord! When I remember the cruel persecution of his subjects after the Treaty of Nimguen, his repealing the edict of Nantes, his tyranny over the noblesse and the parliament, his unjust wars and usurpations, in which he pours forth so prodigally the blood and the treasures of his people; his blasphemous titles and lewd life; I can only remember with shame that I have served in his army, and from this hour renounce his service for ever. And were it not that this cross hung once on the breast of the gallant Luxembourg, I would hurl it into the Seine."

"The remembrance of your sufferings doubtless animates this unwise train of thought, Sir Walter," said the King, slightly piqued. "But permit me to remark, that to indulge your opinions thus in France, is to run your head into the lion's mouth. How goes the war in Flanders?"

"Still doubtfully, please your Majesty; but the recent arrival of the Duke of Leinster at Ostend, with fresh troops for William, may turn the fortune of the war against Henri of Luxembourg, and consequently please the people of England, who are not very favourably disposed towards this expensive and unnecessary war for the Dutch interests of the usurper."

"The best proof of this new sentiment, is the discontent of the Cameronians in the western districts of Scotland. What dost think, Sir Walter? They have engaged to muster 5000 horse and 20,000 infantry for my complete restoration, provided Louis will give them only one month's subsidy, beside other supplies, and these he hath solemnly promised me."

"From my soul I thank Heaven that again it is turning the hearts of your subjects towards you. If such is the spirit of the Cameronians, oh, what will be the energy and the ardour of the Cavaliers! But trust not in Louis; he has ruined every prince with whom he has been allied, in war or in politics, and assuredly he will shipwreck the interests of your Majesty, as he has done those of others."

"Still judging hardly of his most Christian Majesty," said James, smiling. "But I have the pledged words of better men. From the noble Drummonds', the gallant Keiths', the Hays', from the Lord Stormont and the Murrays', the gay Gordons and Grahames, I have received the most solemn promises of adherence and loyalty; and I know that the glorious clans of the northern shires will all rush to my standard the moment it is unfurled upon the Highland hills. Oh, yes!" continued the King, while his dark eyes flashed with joyous enthusiasm; "once again as in my father's days the war-cry of the Gael will ring from Lochness to Lochaber."

"But where is now Montrose, and where Dundee?" said Lord Dunbarton in a low voice.

"God will raise up other champions for those who have suffered so much in his service as the Princes of the House of Stuart," replied the King with Catholic fervour and confidence. "Meantime, Sir Walter, I would have you to set out for Scotland forthwith, to negotiate with those distinguished cavaliers, while the minds of my people are still inflamed by the memory of that fiend-like massacre at Glencoe, the defeat of Steinkirke, the slaughter of their soldiers, and all the disgusts incident to the Flemish campaign abroad and William's administration at home. My Lord Dunbarton avers that he will pledge his honour for the loyalty of his old regiment and the Scottish Guards, both horse and foot, for his Countess has questioned every man of them. You will not fail to visit Drummond of Hawthorndon; he comes of a leal and true race, and his house, with its deep caverns and secret outlets, is a noble place of rendezvous and security. You will be liberally supplied with money and letters of credit and compliment. You may promise, in my name, everything that seems requisite--titles, honours, pensions,--I will trust to your discretion, from what the Lord Dunbarton has told me of you. Flatter the vain, conciliate the stubborn, secure the wavering, and fire the loyal. Leave nothing undone, and remember that, perhaps on the success of your mission depend the fortune of the prince, my son, the ancient liberties of Scotland, the honour of her people, and the fate of her regal line."

The King ceased, and Walter was so overwhelmed by the magnitude of the diplomacy entrusted to him, and the joy at returning to Scotland, that he remained silent for some moments.

"Oh, with what a mission does your Majesty honour me!" he exclaimed, glowing with ambition, gratitude and joy. "How can I express my thanks for this great confidence reposed in one so poor, so friendless?"

"These are good qualities, Sir Walter, for a Jacobite agent; you may (being friendless and unknown) make your way through Scotland in safety, when a coroneted baron, or the chief of a powerful sept, would soon be discovered and committed to the Castle of Edinburgh or the Tower of London. Go, Sir Walter; Lord Dunbarton and my secretary will arrange the matters you require, and in addition to my holograph letters to the Lowland lords and Highland chiefs, will give you others to Mr. Brown, my English agent, and Father Innes, President of the Scots' College at Paris, who acts for me in Scotland. Go, Sir Walter, and prosper! If ever we meet again, let us hope it will be under very different circumstances. May God and his thrice-blessed mother keep their hands over you, and inspire you for the sake of my dear little son and the people over whom he is to rule! Farewell--I have in some sort rewarded your courage in the field, but if your talent in diplomacy equals it, I swear by the sceptre that my sires have borne for ages, you shall be Earl of Dalrulion in the north, and cock your beaver with the best peer in all broad Scotland. Farewell! may we meet again at the head of a loyal and faithful army, or part to meet no more!"

Again Walter Fenton kneeled, and after kissing the hand of James, was hurried away by the Earl of Dunbarton.

Furnished with a great number of letters addressed to the principal nobles and chiefs in Scotland, Walter artfully sewed them into the lining of his hat and the stiff buckram skirts of his coat, after which, without an hour's delay, he departed on his arduous and dangerous mission--to overturn the established governments of two kingdoms--to hurl down one dynasty and restore another.

Already he had gained a title which formerly he had possessed only in his day-dreams of success and glory; but now decorated by Louis with his new and famous military order, promised a peerage by his King, fired by loyalty, ardour, and love, he seemed to occupy a giddy eminence, from which he viewed distinctly a long and happy future.

It was a far-stretching and glorious vista of triumph and success; the restoration of the king by his means, and oh, far above all,--the exultation of placing a Countess's coronet on the bright tresses of Lilian Napier.