The Waverley novels, by Sir Walter Scott, complete in 12 vol., printed from the latest English ed., embracing the author's last corrections, prefaces & notes.

420 WAVERLEY NOVELS.
a shadow of liberty remained," he said, "' domestic rights were last invaded;
and, therefore, men disposed upon their cupboards and tables the wealth
which in these places would remain longest, though not perhaps finally,
sacred from the grasp of a tyrannical government. But let there be a demnand for capital to support a profitable commerce, and the mass is at once
consigned to the furnace, and, ceasing to be a vain and cumbrous ornament
of the banquet, becomes a potent and active agent for furthering the prosperity of the country."
"In war, too," said Peveril, "plate has been found a ready resource."
" But too much so," answered Bridgenorth. " In the late times, the plate
of the nobles and gentry, with that of the colleges, and the sale of the
crown-jewels, enabled the King to make his unhappy stand, which prevented
matters returning to a state of peace and good order, until the sword had
attained an undue superiority both over King and Parliament."
He looked at Julian as he spoke, much as he who proves a horse offers
some object suddenly to his eyes, then watches to see if he starts or blenches
from it. But Julian's thoughts were too much bent on other topics to manifest any alarm. His answer referred to a previous part of Bridgenorth's
discourse, and was not returned till after a brief pause. " War, then," he
said, "war, the grand impoverisher, is also a creator of the wealth which
it wastes and devours?"
"Yes," replied Bridgenorth, " even as the sluice brings into action the
sleeping waters of the lake, which it finally drains. Necessity invents arts
and discovers means; and what necessity is sterner than that of civil war?
Therefore, even war is not in itself unmixed evil, being the creator of impulses and energies which could not otherwise have existed in society."
" Men should go to war, then," said Peveril, "that they may send their
silver plate to the mint, and eat from pewter dishes and wooden platters?",
"Not so, my son," said Bridgenorth. Then checking himself as he observed the deep crimson in Julian's cheek and brow, he added, "I crave
your pardon for such familiarity; but I meant not to limit what I said even
now to such trifling consequences, although it may be something salutary
to tear men from their pomps and luxuries, and teach those to be Romans
who would otherwise be Sybarites. But I would say, that times of public
danger, as they call into circulation the miser's hoard and the proud man's
bullion, and so add to the circulating wealth of the country, do also call
into action many a brave and noble spirit, which would otherwise lie torpid,
give no example to the living, and bequeath no name to future ages. Society knows not, and cannot know, the mental treasures which slumber in
her bosom, till necessity and opportunity call forth the statesman and the
soldier from the shades of lowly life to the parts they are designed by Providence to perform, and the stations which nature had qualified them to
hold. So rose Oliver —so rose Milton - so rose many another name which
cannot be forgotten.- even as the tempest summons forth and displays the
address of the mariner."
" You speak," said Peveril, "as if national calamity might be, in some
sort, an advantage."
"And if it were not so," replied Bridgenorth, "it had not existed in
this state of trial, where all temporal evil is alleviated by something good
in its progress or result, and where all that is good is close coupled with
that which is in itself evil."
" It must be a noble sight," said Julian, "to behold the slumbering energies of a great mind awakened into energy, and to see it assume the authority which is its due over spirits more meanly endowed."
"I once witnessed," said Bridgenorth, "something to the same effect;
and as the tale is brief, I will tell it you, if you will:"Amongst my wanderings, the Transatlantic settlements have not escaped
me; more especially the country of New England, into which our native