Chapter 2

Well, lord, we have not got that which we have;
'Tis not enough our foes are this time fled,
Being opposites of such repairing nature.

Henry VI. Part II.

IN the gorge of a pass or mountain glen, ascending from the fertile
plains of East Lothian, there stood in former times an extensive castle,
of which only the ruins are now visible. Its ancient proprietors were
a race of powerful and warlike carons, who bore the same name with the
castle itself, which was Ravenswood. Their line extended to a remote
period of antiquity, and they had intermarried with the Douglasses,
Humes, Swintons, Hays, and other families of power and distinction
in the same country. Their history was frequently involved in that of
Scotland itself, in whose annals their feats are recorded. The Castle of
Ravenswood, occupying, and in some measure commanding, a pass betweixt
Berwickshire, or the Merse, as the southeastern province of Scotland is
termed, and the Lothians, was of importance both in times of foreign
war and domestic discord. It was frequently beseiged with ardour, and
defended with obstinacy, and, of course, its owners played a conspicuous
part in story. But their house had its revolutions, like all sublunary
things: it became greatly declined from its splendour about the middle
of the 17th century; and towards the period of the Revolution, the last
proprietor of Ravenswood Castle saw himself compelled to part with the
ancient family seat, and to remove himself to a lonely and sea-beaten
tower, which, situated on the bleak shores between St. Abb's Head and
the village of Eyemouth, looked out on the lonely and boisterous
German Ocean. A black domain of wild pasture-land surrounded their new
residence, and formed the remains of their property.

Lord Ravenswood, the heir of this ruined family, was far from bending
his mind to his new condition of life. In the civil war of 1689 he
had espoused the sinking side, and although he had escaped without the
forfeiture of life or land, his blood had been attainted, and his title
abolished. He was now called Lord Ravenswood only in courtesy.

This forfeited nobleman inherited the pride and turbulence, though not
the forture, of his house, and, as he imputed the final declension of
his family to a particular individual, he honoured that person with his
full portion of hatred. This was the very man who had now become, by
purchase, proprietor of Ravenswood, and the domains of which the heir of
the house now stood dispossessed. He was descended of a family much less
ancient than that of Lord Ravenswood, and which had only risen to wealth
and political importance during the great civil wars. He himself
had been bred to the bar, and had held high offices in the state,