lawful, though exiled sovereign, and taking the oaths to an alien; a
concession which her grandfather, Sir Nigel Waverley, refused to make, either to
the Roundhead Parliament or to Cromwell, when his life and fortune stood in the
utmost extremity. She hoped her dear Edward would follow the footsteps of his
ancestors, and as speedily as possible get rid of the badge of servitude to the
usurping family, and regard the wrongs sustained by his father as an admonition
from Heaven, that every desertion of the line of loyalty becomes its own
punishment. She also concluded with her respects to Mr. Bradwardine, and begged
Waverley would inform her whether his daughter, Miss Rose, was old enough to
wear a pair of very handsome ear-rings, which she proposed to send as a token of
her affection. The good lady also desired to be informed whether Mr. Bradwardine
took as much Scotch snuff, and danced as unweariedly, as he did when he was at
Waverley-Honour about thirty years ago.
    These letters, as might have been expected, highly excited Waverley's
indignation. From the desultory style of his studies, he had not any fixed
political opinion to place in opposition to the movements of indignation which
he felt at his father's supposed wrongs. Of the real cause of his disgrace,
Edward was totally ignorant; nor had his habits at all led him to investigate
the politics of the period in which he lived, or remark the intrigues in which
his father had been so actively engaged. Indeed, any impressions which he had
accidentally adopted concerning the parties of the times, were (owing to the
society in which he had lived at Waverley-Honour) of a nature rather
unfavourable to the existing government and dynasty. He entered, therefore,
without hesitation, into the resentful feeling of the relations who had the best
title to dictate his conduct; and not perhaps the less willingly, when he
remembered the tedium of his quarters, and the inferior figure which he had made
among the officers of his regiment. If he could have had any doubt upon the
subject, it would have been decided by the following letter from his
commanding-officer, which, as it is very short, shall be inserted verbatim: -
 
        »Sir,
            Having carried somewhat beyond the line of my duty, an indulgence
        which even the lights of nature, and much more those of Christianity,
        direct towards errors which may arise from youth and inexperience, and
        that altogether without effect, I am reluctantly compelled, at the
        present crisis, to use the only remaining remedy which is in my power.
        You