OSBALDISTONE HALL. "How melts my beating heart, as I behold SOMERVILLE. [Rob Roy, Vol. I. p. 65. "One of the young men (Thorncliff Osbaldistone) whom we had seen, approached us, waving the brush of a fox in triumph, as if to upbraid my fair companion. I see, she (Diana Vernon) replied, I see; but make no noise about it: if Phoebe,' she said, patting the neck of the beautiful animal on which she rode, had not got amongst the cliffs, you would have had little cause for boasting.' 66 They met as she spoke, and I observed them both look at me, and converse a moment in an under tone, the young lady apparently pressing the sportsman to do something, which he declined, shily, and with a sort of sheepish sullenness. She instantly turned her horse's head towards me, saying, 'Well, well, Thornie, if you wont, I must, that's all-Sir,' she continued, addressing me, 'I have been endeavouring to persuade this cultivated young gentleman to make inquiry of you, whether, in the course of your travels in these parts, you have heard anything of a friend of ours, one Mr. Francis Osbaldistone, who has been for some days expected at Osbaldistone Hall?" The noble seat of his ancestors, which Frank Osbaldistone had now approached, and where the first interview occurred between Miss Vernon and himself, was at the base of the Cheviot hills, which rose in frowning majesty above it; not with that sublime variety of cliff and rock which characterises primitive mountains, but huge, roundheaded, and clothed with a dark robe of russet, gaining by their extent and desolate appearance an influence upon the imagination, as a desert district possessing a character of its own. The hall of Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone was situated in a glen or narrow valley, which ran up among the hills; and although the vast estates which once belonged to the family had been dissipated by the misfortunes or misconduct of the proprietors, enough was still attached to the old mansion to give the occupier the title of a man K of property. The Hall itself, a large antiquated edifice, peeped out from a druidical grove of huge oaks, just rose in the distant prospect of the young visitor of the house of his forefathers, and occasioned a desire to reach it more speedily than was agreeable to his tired steed, when a vision passed, that interrupted his reflections. This was a young lady, the loveliness of whose very striking features was enhanced by the animation of the chase and the glow of the exercise-mounted on a beautiful horse, jet black, unless where he was flecked by spots of the snow-white foam which embossed his bridle. She wore a coat, vest, and hat, resembling those of a man, which fashion has since called a riding-habit: her long black hair streamed in the breeze, having in the hurry of the chase escaped from the ribbon that bound it. Some broken ground, through which she guided her horse with the most admirable address and presence of mind, retarded her course, and served as an apology to Frank Osbaldistone for riding up to the fair Amazon, and making a tender of his assistance; a proposal acknowledged by a smile, that encouraged him to put his horse to the same pace, and keep in the immediate neighbourhood of the fair huntress, until she was able to recover her companions in the chase. They crossed the stream which divided the little valley, when the headmost hounds, followed by the rest of the pack in full cry, burst from the coppice, followed by the huntsman, and three or four riders. The dogs pursued the trace of reynard with unerring instinct; and the hunters followed with reckless haste, regardless of the broken and difficult nature of the ground. They were tall, stout young men, well-mounted, and dressed in green and red, the uniform of a sporting association formed under the auspices of old Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone. My cousins, thought Frank, as they swept past. His next reflection was, what kind of recreation he was likely to find amongst these sons of Nimrod? and how improbable it was, that he, knowing nothing of rural sports, should find himself at ease, or happy in his uncle's family. These sombre reflections were interrupted by the appearance of Miss Vernon, whose conclusion as to the place in society to which his cousins were entitled, may be ascertained from her character of Thornie. "There he goes, the prince of grooms and cockfighters, and blackguard horse-coursers." The Miss Vernon of real life, whose animated portrait our author has painted in this novel, was a scion of the noble house of Cranstoun, and sister of one of the most eminent of the lords of the session. She married the Austrian Count Purgshall, and never revisited her native country after, though she seems up to the last moment of her existence to have been impressed with the strongest attachment for the land of her fathers, as well as for the circle of early friends she left behind. FRANK OSBALDISTONE'S UNEXPECTED VISIT TO SQUIRE INGLEWOOD. [Rob Roy, Vol. I. p. 114. "Tired of waiting for some one to announce me, and finding my situation as a listener rather awkward, I (Frank Osbaldistone) presented myself to the company just as my friend Mr. Morris, for such it seems was his name, was uplifting the fifth stave of his doleful ballad. The high tone, with which the tune started, died away in a quaver of consternation, on finding himself so near one whose character he supposed to be little less suspicious than that of the hero of his madrigal, and he remained silent, with a mouth gaping, as if I had brought the Gorgon's head in my hand. The justice, (Squire Inglewood,) whose eyes had closed under the influence of the somniferous lullaby of the song, started up in his chair as it suddenly ceased, and stared with wonder at the unexpected addition which the company had received while his organs of sight were in abeyance. Mr. Jobson was also commoved, for, sitting opposite to Mr. Morris, that honest gentleman's tenor communicated itself to him, though he wotted not why." FRAY IN JEANIE MAC ALPINE'S PUBLIC-HOUSE. [Rob Roy, Vol. II. p. 170. "I (Frank Osbaldistone) put myself in a posture of defence, and, aware of the superiority of my weapon, a rapier or small sword, was little afraid of the issue of the contest. The Bailie behaved with unexpected mettle: as he saw the gigantic Highlander about to confront him with his weapon drawn, he tugged for a second or two at the hilt of his shabble, as he called it; but finding it loth to quit the sheath, to which it had long been secured by rust and disuse, he seized, as a substitute, on the red-hot coulter of a plough, which had been employed in arranging the fire by way of a poker, and brandished it with such effect, that at the first pass he set the Highlander's plaid on fire, and compelled him to keep a respectful distance, till he could get it extinguished. Andrew Fairservice, who ought to have faced the Lowland champion, vanished at the very commencement of the fray; but his antagonist, crying fair play! seemed courteously disposed to take no share in the scuffle. Osbaldistone's aim was to possess himself of his antagonist's weapon, but he declined from closing with him through fear of a dirk which he held in his left hand. The Bailie, notwithstanding the success of his first onset, was sorely bested. The weight of his weapon, the corpulence of his person, the very effervescence of his own passion, were rapidly exhausting his strength and his breath, and he was almost at the mercy of his antagonist, when up started the sleeping Highlander, with his naked sword and target in his hand, and threw himself between the discomfited magistrate and his assailant, exclaiming, Her nainsell has eaten the town bread at the cross o' Glasgow, and by her troth sh'll fight for Bailie Sharvie at the clachan of Aberfoil.'" |