Peveril of the Peak

PEVERIL OF THE PEAK BY SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. An Electronic Classics Series Publication Peveril of the Peak by Sir Walter Scott is a publication of The Electronic Classics Series. This Portable Document file is furnished free and without any charge of any kind. Any person using this document file, for any purpose, and in any way does so at his or her own risk. Neither the Pennsylvania State Uni- versity nor Jim Manis, Editor, nor anyone associated with the Pennsylvania State University assumes any responsibility for the material contained within the document or for the file as an electronic transmis- sion, in any way. Peveril of the Peak by Sir Walter Scott, The Electronic Classics Series, Jim Manis, Editor, PSU-Hazleton, Hazleton, PA 18202 is a Portable Document File produced as part of an ongoing publication project to bring classical works of literature, in English, to free and easy access of those wishing to make use of them. Jim Manis is a faculty member of the English Department of The Pennsylvania State University. This page and any preceding page(s) are restricted by copyright. The text of the following pages are not copyrighted within the United States; however, the fonts used may be. Cover Design: Jim Manis Copyright © 2010 - 2013 The Pennsylvania State University is an equal opportunity university. Sir Walter Scott CHAPTER I When civil dudgeon first grew high, And men fell out, they knew not why; When foul words, jealousies, and fears, PEVERIL OF Set folk together by the ears— THE PEAK —BUTLER. BY WILLIAM, THE CONQUEROR of England, was, or supposed himself to be, the father of a certain William Peveril, SIR WALTER SCOTT, who attended him to the battle of Hastings, and there BART. distinguished himself. The liberal-minded monarch, who assumed in his charters the veritable title of Gulielmus Bastardus, was not likely to let his son’s illegitimacy be any bar to the course of his royal favour, when the laws of England were issued from the mouth of the Norman victor, and the lands of the Saxons were at his unlim- ited disposal. William Peveril obtained a liberal grant 3 Peveril of the Peak of property and lordships in Derbyshire, and became In Charles the Second’s time, the representative of this the erecter of that Gothic fortress, which, hanging over ancient family was Sir Geoffrey Peveril, a man who had the mouth of the Devil’s Cavern, so well known to tour- many of the ordinary attributes of an old-fashioned ists, gives the name of Castleton to the adjacent village. country gentleman, and very few individual traits to From this feudal Baron, who chose his nest upon the distinguish him from the general portrait of that wor- principles on which an eagle selects her eyry, and built thy class of mankind. He was proud of small advan- it in such a fashion as if he had intended it, as an tages, angry at small disappointments, incapable of Irishman said of the Martello towers, for the sole pur- forming any resolution or opinion abstracted from his pose of puzzling posterity, there was, or conceived them- own prejudices—he was proud of his birth, lavish in his selves to be, descended (for their pedigree was rather housekeeping, convivial with those kindred and acquain- hypothetical) an opulent family of knightly rank, in the tances, who would allow his superiority in rank—con- same county of Derby. The great fief of Castleton, with tentious and quarrelsome with all that crossed his pre- its adjacent wastes and forests, and all the wonders tensions—kind to the poor, except when they plundered which they contain, had been forfeited in King John’s his game—a Royalist in his political opinions, and one stormy days, by one William Peveril, and had been who detested alike a Roundhead, a poacher, and a Pres- granted anew to the Lord Ferrers of that day. Yet this byterian. In religion Sir Geoffrey was a high-churchman, William’s descendants, though no longer possessed of of so exalted a strain that many thought he still nour- what they alleged to have been their original property, ished in private the Roman Catholic tenets, which his were long distinguished by the proud title of Peverils of family had only renounced in his father’s time, and that the Peak, which served to mark their high descent and he had a dispensation for conforming in outward obser- lofty pretensions. vances to the Protestant faith. There was at least such 4 Sir Walter Scott a scandal amongst the Puritans, and the influence which ments, Peveril of the Peak fought on for several rough Sir Geoffrey Peveril certainly appeared to possess years of civil war, and performed his part with suffi- amongst the Catholic gentlemen of Derbyshire and cient gallantry, until his regiment was surprised and cut Cheshire, seemed to give countenance to the rumour. to pieces by Poyntz, Cromwell’s enterprising and suc- Such was Sir Geoffrey, who might have passed to his cessful general of cavalry. The defeated Cavalier escaped grave without further distinction than a brass-plate in from the field of battle, and, like a true descendant of the chancel, had he not lived in times which forced the William the Conqueror, disdaining submission, threw most inactive spirits into exertion, as a tempest influ- himself into his own castellated mansion, which was ences the sluggish waters of the deadest mere. When attacked and defended in a siege of that irregular kind the Civil Wars broke out, Peveril of the Peak, proud from which caused the destruction of so many baronial resi- pedigree, and brave by constitution, raised a regiment dences during the course of those unhappy wars. for the King, and showed upon several occasions more Martindale Castle, after having suffered severely from capacity for command than men had heretofore given the cannon which Cromwell himself brought against it, him credit for. was at length surrendered when in the last extremity. Even in the midst of the civil turmoil, he fell in love Sir Geoffrey himself became a prisoner, and while his with, and married, a beautiful and amiable young lady liberty was only restored upon a promise of remaining of the noble house of Stanley; and from that time had a peaceful subject to the Commonwealth in future, his the more merit in his loyalty, as it divorced him from former delinquencies, as they were termed by the ruling her society, unless at very brief intervals, when his duty party, were severely punished by fine and sequestration. permitted an occasional visit to his home. Scorning to But neither his forced promise, nor the fear of farther be allured from his military duty by domestic induce- unpleasant consequences to his person or property, could 5 Peveril of the Peak prevent Peveril of the Peak from joining the gallant Earl Moultrassie Hall, was but two miles distant from of Derby the night before the fatal engagement in Martindale Castle, and the young Bridgenorth attended Wiggan Lane, where the Earl’s forces were dispersed. the same school with the heir of the Peverils. A sort of Sir Geoffrey having had his share in that action, escaped companionship, if not intimacy, took place betwixt with the relics of the Royalists after the defeat, to join them, which continued during their youthful sports— Charles II. He witnessed also the final defeat of Worces- the rather that Bridgenorth, though he did not at heart ter, where he was a second time made prisoner; and as, admit Sir Geoffrey’s claims of superiority to the extent in the opinion of Cromwell and the language of the which the other’s vanity would have exacted, paid def- times, he was regarded as an obstinate malignant, he erence in a reasonable degree to the representative of a was in great danger of having shared with the Earl of family so much more ancient and important than his Derby his execution at Bolton-le-Moor, having partaken own, without conceiving that he in any respect degraded with him the dangers of two actions. But Sir Geoffrey’s himself by doing so. life was preserved by the interest of a friend, who pos- Mr. Bridgenorth did not, however, carry his complai- sessed influence in the councils of Oliver.—This was a sance so far as to embrace Sir Geoffrey’s side during the Mr. Bridgenorth, a gentleman of middling quality, whose Civil War. On the contrary, as an active Justice of the father had been successful in some commercial adven- Peace, he rendered much assistance in arraying the mi- ture during the peaceful reign of James I.; and who had litia in the cause of the Parliament, and for some time bequeathed his son a considerable sum of money, in held a military commission in that service. This was addition to the moderate patrimony which he inherited partly owing to his religious principles, for he was a zeal- from his father. ous Presbyterian, partly to his political ideas, which, The substantial, though small-sized, brick building of without being absolutely democratical, favoured the 6 Sir Walter Scott popular side of the great national question. Besides, he given her and her family shelter in Martindale Castle, was a moneyed man, and to a certain extent had a when Moultrassie Hall was threatened with pillage by a shrewd eye to his worldly interest. He understood how body of Prince Rupert’s ill-disciplined Cavaliers. This to improve the opportunities which civil war afforded, acquaintance had been matured by frequent walks to- of advancing his fortune, by a dexterous use of his capi- gether, which the vicinity of their places of residence tal; and he was not at a loss to perceive that these were suffered the Lady Peveril to have with Mrs.

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