on the
right foot, then exchanged that supporter to advance in the same manner on the
left, and then putting his feet close together, he hopped upon both at once. His
attire, also, was antiquated and extravagant. It consisted in a sort of grey
jerkin, with scarlet cuffs and slashed sleeves, showing a scarlet lining; the
other parts of the dress corresponded in colour, not forgetting a pair of
scarlet stockings, and a scarlet bonnet, proudly surmounted with a turkey's
feather. Edward, whom he did not seem to observe, now perceived confirmation in
his features of what the mien and gestures had already announced. It was
apparently neither idiocy nor insanity which gave that wild, unsettled,
irregular expression to a face which naturally was rather handsome, but
something that resembled a compound of both, where the simplicity of the fool
was mixed with the extravagance of a crazed imagination. He sung with great
earnestness, and not without some taste, a fragment of an old Scottish ditty: -
 
False love, and hast thou played me thus
In summer among the flowers?
I will repay thee back again
In winter among the showers.
Unless again, again, my love,
Unless you turn again;
As you with other maidens rove,
I'll smile on other men.16
 
Here lifting up his eyes, which had hitherto been fixed in observing how his
feet kept time to the tune, he beheld Waverley, and instantly doffed his cap,
with many grotesque signals of surprise, respect, and salutation. Edward, though
with little hope of receiving an answer, to any constant question, requested to
know whether Mr. Bradwardine were at home, or where he could find any of the
domestics. The questioned party replied, - and, like the witch of Thalaba,
»still his speech was song,« -
 
The Knight's to the mountain
His bugle to wind;
The Lady's to greenwood.
Her garland to bind.
The bower of Burd Ellen
Has moss on the floor,
That the step of Lord William
Be silent and sure.
 
This conveyed no information, and Edward, repeating his queries, received a
rapid answer, in which, from the haste and peculiarity of the dialect, the word
»butler« was alone intelligible. Waverley then requested to see the butler; upon
which the fellow, with a knowing look and nod of intelligence, made a signal to
Edward to follow, and began to dance and caper down the alley up which he had
made his approaches. - A strange guide this, thought Edward, and not much unlike
one of