new the use of the company, to have a
carouse to the health of a new comrade.

"True," said the old leader, "I had forgot the occasion. I will send a
few stoups of wine to assist your carouse; but let it be over by sunset.
And, hark ye--let the soldiers for duty he carefully pricked off; and
see that none of them be more or less partakers of your debauch."

"Your Lordship shall be lawfully obeyed," said Ludovic, "and your health
duly remembered."

"Perhaps," said Lord Crawford, "I may look in myself upon your
mirth--just to see that all is carried decently."

"Your Lordship shall be most dearly welcome;" said Ludovic; and the
whole party retreated in high spirits to prepare for their military
banquet, to which Lesly invited about a score of his comrades, who were
pretty much in the habit of making their mess together.

A soldier's festival is generally a very extempore affair, providing
there is enough of meat and drink to be had; but on the present
occasion, Ludovic bustled about to procure some better wine than
ordinary; observing that the old Lord was the surest gear in their
aught, and that, while he preached sobriety to them, he himself, after
drinking at the royal table as much wine as he could honestly come by,
never omitted any creditable opportunity to fill up the evening over the
wine pot.

"So you must prepare, comrades," he said, "to hear the old histories of
the battles of Vernoil and Beauge [in both these battles the
Scottish auxiliaries of France, under Stewart, Earl of Buchan, were
distinguished.... S.]."

The Gothic apartment in which they generally met was, therefore, hastily
put into the best order; their grooms were dispatched to collect green
rushes to spread upon the floor; and banners, under which the Scottish
Guard had marched to battle, or which they had taken from the enemies'
ranks, were displayed, by way of tapestry, over the table and around the
walls of the chamber.

The next point was, to invest the young recruit as hastily as possible
with the dress and appropriate arms of the Guard, that he might appear
in every respect the sharer of its important privileges, in virtue of
which, and by the support of his countrymen, he might freely brave the
power and the displeasure of the Provost Marshal--although the one was
known to be as formidable as the other was unrelenting.

The banquet was joyous in the highest degree; and the guests gave vent
to the whole current of their national p