[Waverley by Sir Walter Scott]@TWC D-Link bookWaverley CHAPTER XI 2/9
Indeed it must be owned, that he himself, though at heart a keen partisan of the exiled family, had kept pretty fair with all the different turns of state in his time; so that Davie Gellatley once described him as a particularly good man, who had a very quiet and peaceful conscience, THAT NEVER DID HIM ANY HARM. When the dinner was removed, the Baron announced the health of the King, politely leaving to the consciences of his guests to drink to the sovereign DE FACTO or DE JURE, as their politics inclined. The conversation now became general; and, shortly afterwards, Miss Bradwardine, who had done the honours with natural grace and simplicity, retired, and was soon followed by the clergyman.
Among the rest of the party, the wine, which fully justified the encomiums of the landlord, flowed freely round, although Waverley, with some difficulty, obtained the privilege of sometimes neglecting the glass.
At length, as the evening grew more late, the Baron made a private signal to Mr.Saunders Saunderson, or, as he facetiously denominated him, ALEXANDER AB ALEXANDRO, who left the room with a nod, and soon after returned, his grave countenance mantling with a solemn and mysterious smile, and placed before his master a small oaken casket, mounted with brass ornaments of curious form.
The Baron, drawing out a private key, unlocked the casket, raised the lid, and produced a golden goblet of a singular and antique appearance, moulded into the shape of a rampant bear, which the owner regarded with a look of mingled reverence, pride, and delight, that irresistibly reminded Waverley of Ben Jonson's Tom Otter, with his Bull, Horse, and Dog, as that wag wittily denominated his chief carousing cups.
But Mr.Bradwardine, fuming towards him with complacency, requested him to observe this curious relic of the olden time. 'It represents,' he said, 'the chosen crest of our family, a bear, as ye observe, and rampant; because a good herald will depict every animal in its noblest posture; as a horse SALIENT, a greyhound CURRANT, and, as may be inferred, a ravenous animal IN ACTU FEROCIORI, or in a voracious, lacerating, and devouring posture.
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