and confused appearance of waving
tartans and floating plumes, and of banners displaying the proud
gathering word of Clanronald, Ganion Coheriga (Gainsay who dares),
Loch-Sloy, the watchword of the MacFarlanes; Forth, fortune, and fill the
fetters, the motto of the Marquis of Tullibardine; Bydand, that of Lord
Lewis Gordon, and the appropriate signal words and emblems of many other
chieftains and clans.

At length the mixed and wavering multitude arranged themselves into a
narrow and dusky column of great length, stretching through the whole
extent of the valley. In the front of the column the standard of the
Chevalier was displayed, bearing a red cross upon a white ground, with
the motto Tandem Triumphans. The few cavalry, being chiefly Lowland
gentry, with their domestic servants and retainers, formed the advanced
guard of the army; and their standards, of which they had rather too many
in respect of their numbers, were seen waving upon the extreme verge of
the horizon. Many horsemen of this body, among whom Waverley accidentally
remarked Balmawhapple and his lieutenant, Jinker (which last, however,
had been reduced, with several others, by the advice of the Baron of
Bradwardine, to the situation of what he called reformed officers, or
reformadoes), added to the liveliness, though by no means to the
regularity, of the scene, by galloping their horses as fast forward as
the press would permit, to join their proper station in the van. The
fascinations of the Circes of the High Street, and the potations of
strength with which they had been drenched over night, had probably
detained these heroes within the walls of Edinburgh somewhat later than
was consistent with their morning duty. Of such loiterers, the prudent
took the longer and circuitous, but more open, route to attain their
place in the march, by keeping at some distance from the infantry, and
making their way through the inclosures to the right, at the expense of
leaping over or pulling down the drystone fences. The irregular
appearance and vanishing of these small parties of horsemen, as well as
the confusion occasioned by those who endeavoured, though generally
without effect, to press to the front through the crowd of Highlanders,
maugre their curses, oaths, and opposition, added to the picturesque
wildness what it took from the military regularity of the scene.

While Waverley gazed upon this remarkable spectacle, rendered yet more
impressive by the occasion