The avenue was cruelly wasted. Several large trees were felled and left
lying across the path; and the cattle of the villagers, and the more rude
hoofs of dragoon horses, had poached into black mud the verdant turf
which Waverley had so much admired.
Upon entering the court-yard, Edward saw the fears realised which these
circumstances had excited. The place had been sacked by the King's
troops, who, in wanton mischief, had even attempted to burn it; and
though the thickness of the walls had resisted the fire, unless to a
partial extent, the stables and out-houses were totally consumed. The
towers and pinnacles of the main building were scorched and blackened;
the pavement of the court broken and shattered, the doors torn down
entirely, or hanging by a single hinge, the windows dashed in and
demolished, and the court strewed with articles of furniture broken into
fragments. The accessaries of ancient distinction, to which the Baron, in
the pride of his heart, had attached so much importance and veneration,
were treated with peculiar contumely. The fountain was demolished, and
the spring which had supplied it now flooded the court-yard.
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