, with more than silvan license, both
the castle and its inhabitants. Bucklaw, with many qualities which would have
made him a man of worth and judgment in more favourable circumstances, had been
so utterly neglected in point of education, that he was apt to think and feel
according to the ideas of the companions of his pleasures. The praises which had
recently been heaped upon himself he contrasted with the general abuse now
levelled against Ravenswood - he recalled to his mind the dull and monotonous
days he had spent in the Tower of Wolf's Crag, compared with the joviality of
his usual life - he felt, with great indignation, his exclusion from the castle,
which he considered as a gross affront, and every mingled feeling led him to
break off the union which he had formed with the Master of Ravenswood.
    On arriving at the change-house of the village of Wolf's Hope, he
unexpectedly met with an old acquaintance just alighting from his horse. This
was no other than the very respectable Captain Craigengelt, who immediately came
up to him, and, without appearing to retain any recollection of the indifferent
terms on which they had parted, shook him by the hand in the warmest manner
possible. A warm grasp of the hand was what Bucklaw could never help returning
with cordiality, and no sooner had Craigengelt felt the pressure of his fingers
than he knew the terms on which he stood with him.
    »Long life to you, Bucklaw!« he exclaimed; »there's life for honest folk in
this bad world yet!«
    The Jacobites at this period, with what propriety I know not, used, it must
be noticed, the term of honest men as peculiarly descriptive of their own party.
    »Ay, and for others besides, it seems,« answered Bucklaw; »otherways, how
came you to venture hither, noble Captain?«
    »Who - I? - I am as free as the wind at Martinmas, that pays neither
land-rent nor annual; all is explained - all settled with the honest old
drivellers yonder of Auld Reekie - Pooh! pooh! they dared not keep me a week of
days in durance. A certain person has better friends among them than you wot of,
and can serve a friend when it is least likely.«
    »Pshaw!« answered Hayston, who perfectly knew and thoroughly despised the
character of this man, »none of your cogging gibberish - tell me truly, are you
at liberty and in safety?«
    »Free and safe as a whig bailie on the causeway of his own borough, or a
