No sooner had he gained Waverley's consent to
lengthen his visit for a few days than he laboured to remove the grounds
upon which he conceived he had meditated a more early retreat. 'I would
not have you opine, Captain Waverley, that I am by practice or precept an
advocate of ebriety, though it may be that, in our festivity of last
night, some of our friends, if not perchance altogether ebrii, or
drunken, were, to say the least, ebrioli, by which the ancients designed
those who were fuddled, or, as your English vernacular and metaphorical
phrase goes, half-seas-over. Not that I would so insinuate respecting
you, Captain Waverley, who, like a prudent youth, did rather abstain from
potation; nor can it be truly said of myself, who, having assisted at the
tables of many great generals and marechals at their solemn carousals,
have the art to carry my wine discreetly, and did not, during the whole
evening, as ye must have doubtless observed, exceed the bounds of a
modest hilarity.'
There was no refusing assent to a proposition so decidedly laid down by
him, who undoubtedly was the best judge; although, had Edward formed his
opinion from his own recollections, he would have pronounced that the
Baron was not only ebriolus, but verging to become ebrius; or, in plain
English, was incomparably the most drunk of the party, except perhaps his
antagonist the Laird of Balmawhapple.
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