'^m^. 
 
 !mm 
 
 !K 
 
 l^ 
 
 hM 
 
 m/m
 
 • ^ fViis material is re- 
 ^P°"l' I i as withdrawn on or befor 
 
 for discipltnary «> 
 
 OCT 15 1981
 
 Digitized by the Internet Arciiive 
 
 in 2010 witii funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/fortunesofnigel01scott
 
 THE 
 
 FORTUNES OF NIGEL, 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF " WAVERLEY, 
 KENILWORTH," &c. 
 
 Knifegrindcr. Story ? Lord bless you ! I have none to tell, sir. 
 Poetry of the Anti-jacobi.n. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 EDINBURGH : 
 
 PRINTED FOR ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND CO. EDINBURGH 
 
 AND HUllST, ROBINSON, AND CO., 
 
 LONDON. 
 
 1822.
 
 INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 CAPTAIN CLUTTERBUCK, TO THE 
 REV. DR DRYASDUST. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 I READILY accept of, and reply to the ci- 
 vilities with which you have been pleased 
 to honour me in your obliging letter, and 
 entirely agree with your quotation, of 
 " Quam honum et quamjucundum" We 
 may indeed esteem ourselves as come of 
 the same family, or, according to our coun- 
 try proverb, as being all one man's bairns ; 
 and there needed no apology on your part, 
 reverend and dear sir, for demanding of 
 me any information which I may be able 
 to supply respecting the subject of your 
 VOL. I. a
 
 11 INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 curiosity. The interview which you al- 
 lude to took place in the course of last 
 winter, and is so deeply imprinted on my 
 recollection, that it requires no effort to 
 collect all its most minute details. 
 
 You are aware that the share which I 
 had in introducing the Romance, called 
 The Monastery, to public notice, has 
 given measort of character in the literature 
 of our Scottish metropolis. I no longer 
 stand in the outer shop of our biblio- 
 polists, bargaining for the objects of my 
 curiosity with an unrespective shop-lad, 
 hustled among boys who come to buy 
 Corderies and copy-books, and servant- 
 girls cheapening a penny-worth of paper, 
 but am cordially welcomed by the biblio- 
 polist himself, with, " Pray, walk into the 
 back-shop. Captain. Boy, get a chair for 
 Captain Clutterbuck. There is the news- 
 paper. Captain — to-day's paper — or here
 
 INTROPUCTORY EPiSf LE. HI 
 
 is the last new work-r-there is a folder, 
 make free with the leaves, or put it in 
 your pocket and carry it home ; or we will 
 make a bookseller gf you, sir, yoii shall 
 have it at trade price." Or, perhaps, if it 
 is the worthy trader's own publication, 
 his liberality may even extend itself to-rr 
 " Never mind booking such a trifle to 
 you, sir— it is an overrcopy. Pray, men- 
 tion the work to your literary friends," 
 I say nothing of the snug well-selected 
 literary party arranged around a turbot, 
 leg of five-year-old mutton, or some such 
 gear, or of the circulation of a quiet bottle 
 of Robert Cockburn's choicest black — or 
 perhaps of his best blue, to quicken our 
 talk about old books, or our plans for new 
 c«ies. All these are comforts reserved to 
 such as are freemen of the corporation of 
 letters, and I have the advantage of enjoy- 
 ing them in perfection.
 
 IV INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 But all things change under the sun ; 
 and it is with no ordinary feelings of re- 
 gret, that, in my annual visits to the me- 
 tropolis, I now miss the social and warm- 
 hearted welcome of the quick-witted and 
 kindly friend who first introduced me to 
 the public, whohadmore original wit than 
 would have set up a dozen of professed 
 sayers of good things, and more racy hu- 
 mour than would have made the fortune 
 of as many more. To this great deprivation 
 has been added, I trust for a time only, the 
 loss of another bibliopolical friend, whose 
 vigorous intellect, and liberal ideas, have 
 not only rendered his native country the 
 mart of her own literature, but establish- 
 ed there a Court of Letters, which must 
 command respect, even from those most 
 inclined to dissent from many of its ca- 
 nons. The effect of these changes, opera- 
 ted in a great measure by the strong sense
 
 INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. V 
 
 and sagacious calculations of an individual, 
 who knew how to avail himself, to an un- 
 hoped-for extent, of the various kinds of 
 talent which his country produced, will 
 probably appear more clearly to the gene- 
 ration which shall follow the present. 
 
 I entered the shop at the Cross, to 
 inquire after the health of my worthy 
 friend, and learned with satisfaction that 
 his residence in the south had abated 
 the rigour of the symptoms of his disor- 
 der. Availing myself, then, of the privi- 
 leges to which I have alluded, I strolled 
 onwards in that labyrinth of small dark 
 rooms, or crypts, to speak our own an- 
 tiquarian language, which form the ex- 
 tensive back-settlements of that celebra- 
 ted publishing house. Yet, as I proceed- 
 ed from one obscure recess to another, 
 filled, some of them with old volumes, 
 some with such as, from the equality of
 
 Vl INTllOfiUCTOllY liris'tLE. 
 
 their r&nk on the shelves, I suspected to 
 be the less Saleable modern books of the 
 concertt, I could not help feeling a holy 
 hofl-or Gi*eep upon me, when I thought of 
 the tisk of intruding on some ecstatic bard 
 giving vent to his poetical fury ; or, it 
 might be, on the yet more formidable 
 privacy of a band of critics, in the act of 
 Wortying the game which they had just 
 run down. In such a supposed case, I felt 
 by anticipation the horrors of the High- 
 knd seers, whom their gift of Deuteros- 
 copy compels to witness things unmeet 
 for mortal eye ; and who, to use the ex- 
 pi*ession of Collins, 
 
 — " heartless, oft, like moody madness, stare. 
 To see the phantom train their secret work prepare.'* 
 
 Still, however, the in^sistible impulse 
 of an undefined curiosity drove me on 
 through this succession of darksome cham-
 
 INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. VU 
 
 bers, till, like the jeweller of Delhi in the 
 house of the magician Bennaskar, I at 
 length reached a vaulted room, dedicated 
 to secrecy and silence, and beheld, seated 
 by a lamp, and employed in reading a 
 blotted revise, the person, or perhaps I 
 should rather say the Eidolon, or Repre- 
 sentative Vision, of the Author of Wa- 
 verley ! You will not be surprised at the 
 filial instinct which enabled me at once to 
 acknowledge the features borne by this 
 venerable apparition, and that I at once 
 bended the knee, with the classical salu- 
 tation of, Salve, magne parens ! The vi- 
 sion, however, cut me short, by pointing 
 to a seat, and intimating that my pre- 
 sence was not unexpected, and that he 
 had something to say to me. 
 
 I sate down with humble obedience, 
 and endeavoured to note the features of 
 him with whom I now found myself so
 
 Vlll INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 unexpectedly in society. But on this 
 point I can give your reverence no satis- 
 faction ; for, besides the obscurity of the 
 apartment, and the fluttered state of my 
 own nerves, I seemed to myself over- 
 whelmed by a sense of filial awe, which 
 prevented my noting and recording what 
 it is probable the personage before me 
 might most desire to have concealed. In- 
 deed, his figure was so closely veiled and 
 wimpled, either with a mantle, morn- 
 ing-gown, or some such loose garb, that 
 the verses of Spenser might well have 
 been applied — 
 
 " Yet, certes, by her face and physnomj^. 
 Whether she man or •woman only were. 
 That could not any creature well descry." 
 
 I must, however, proceed as I have be- 
 gun, to apply the masculine gender ; for, 
 notwithstanding very ingenious reasons,
 
 IXTRODUCTORV EPISTLK. IX 
 
 and indeed something like positive evi- 
 dence, have been offered to prove the Au- 
 thor of Waverley to be two ladies of ta- 
 lent — I abide by the general opinion, that 
 he is of the rougher sex. There are in 
 bis writings too many things 
 
 " Quae maribus sola tribuuntur," 
 
 to permit me to entertain any doubt on 
 that subject. I will proceed, in the man- 
 ner of dialogue, to repeat as nearly as I 
 can what passed betwixt us, only obser- 
 ving, that in the course of the conversa- 
 tion, my timidity imperceptibly gave 
 way under the familiarity of his address ; 
 and, latterly, I perhaps argued with fully 
 as much confidence as was beseeming. 
 
 Author of Wavei^ley. I was willing to 
 see you. Captain Clutterbuck, being the 
 person of my family whom I have most 
 regard for, since the death of Jedediah
 
 X INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 Cleishbotham ; and I am afraid I may 
 have done you some wrong, in assigning 
 to you the ^Monastery as a portion of my 
 effects. I have some thoughts of making 
 it up to you, by naming you godfather to 
 this yet unborn babe— (he indicated the 
 proof-sheet with his finger) — But first, 
 touching The Monastery — How says the 
 world — you are abroad, and can learn ? 
 
 Captain Clutterhuck. Hem ! hem ! The 
 inquiry is delicate — I have not heard any 
 complaints from the Publishers. 
 
 Autlior. That is the principal matter ; 
 but yet an indifferent work is sometimes 
 towed on by those w^hich have left har- 
 bour before it, with the breeze in their 
 poop. What say the Critics ? 
 
 Captain. There is a general — feeling — 
 that the White Lady is no favourite. 
 
 Autlior, I think she is a failure myself; 
 but rather in execution than conception.
 
 INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. XI 
 
 Could I have evoked an esprit follet^ at 
 the same timefantastic and interesting, ca- 
 pricious and kind ; a sort of wildfire of the 
 elements, bound by no fixed laws, or mo- 
 tives of action ; faithful and fond, yet teaz- 
 ing and uncertain 
 
 Captain. If you will pardon the inter- 
 ruption, sir, I think you are describing a 
 pretty woman. 
 
 Author, On my word, I believe I am. 
 I must invest my elementary spirits with 
 a little human flesh and blood — they are 
 too fine-draw^n for the present taste of the 
 public. 
 
 Cajitaiu. They object too, that the ob- 
 ject of your Nixie ought to have been 
 morc uniformly noble — ^her ducking the 
 priest was no naiad-like amusement. 
 
 Author. Ah ! they ought to allow for 
 the capricios of what is after all but a bet- 
 ter sort of goblin. The bath into which 
 
 19
 
 Xll INTRODUCTOKY EPISTLE. 
 
 Ariel, the most delicate creation of Shake- 
 speare's imagination, seduces our jolly- 
 friend Trinculo, was not of amber or rose- 
 water. But no one shall find me rowing 
 against the stream. I care not who knows 
 it — I write for the public amusement ; 
 and though I never will aim at popular- 
 ity by what I think unworthy means, I 
 will not, on the other hand, be pertina- 
 cious in the defence of my own errors 
 against the voice of the public. 
 
 Captain, You abandon then, in the pre- 
 sent work — (looking in my turn towards 
 the proof-sheet) — the mystic, and the ma- 
 gical, and the whole system of signs, won- 
 ders, and omens ? There are no dreams, 
 or presages, or obscure allusions to future 
 events ? 
 
 AutJior, Not a Cock-lane scratch, my 
 son — not one bounce on the drum of 
 Tedworth — not so much as the poor tick
 
 INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. xiii 
 
 of a solitary death-watch in the wains- 
 coat. All is clear and above board — a 
 Scotch metaphysician might believe every 
 word of it. 
 
 Captain, And the story is, I hope, na- 
 tural and probable ; commencing striking- 
 ly, proceeding naturally, ending happily, 
 like the course of a famed river which 
 gushes from the mouth of some obscure 
 and romantic grotto — then gliding on, ne- 
 ver pausing, never precipitating, visiting, 
 as it were by natural instinct, whatever 
 worthy subjects of interest are presented 
 by the country through which it passes — 
 widening and deepening in interest as it 
 flows on ; and at length arriving at the 
 final catastrophe as at some mighty ha- 
 ven, where ships of all kinds strike sail 
 and yard. 
 
 Author. Hey ! hey ! what the deuce is 
 all this ? Why 'tis Ercles' vein, and it
 
 XVi INTRODUCTOIIY EPISTI.E. 
 
 ther, but which had sufficient interest in 
 them to amuse in one corner the pain of 
 body ; in another, to relieve anxiety of 
 mind; in a third place, to unwrinkle a 
 brow bent with the furrows of daily toil ; 
 in another, to fill the place of bad thoughts, 
 or to suggest better ; in yet another, to 
 induce an idler to study the history of his 
 country ; in all, save where the perusal in- 
 terrupted the discharge of serious duties, 
 to furnish harmless amusement, — might 
 not the author of such a work, however 
 in artificially executed, plead for his errors 
 and negligences the excuse of the slave 
 who was about to be punished for having 
 spread the false report of a victory, — 
 " Am I to blame, O Athenians, Avho have 
 given you one happy day ?" 
 
 C«ptoV^. Will your goodness permit me 
 to mention an anecdote of my excellent 
 grandmother ?
 
 INTllODUCTORY EPISTLE. XVll 
 
 Author. I see little she can have to do 
 with the subject, Captain Clutterbuck. 
 
 Captain. It may come into our dia- 
 logue on Bayes's plan. The sagacious old 
 lady, rest her soul, was a good friend to 
 the church, and could never hear a mi- 
 nister maligned by evil tongues, without 
 taking his part warmly. There was one 
 fixed point, however, at which she always 
 abandoned the cause of her reverend pro- 
 tege — ^it was so soon as she learned he had 
 preached a regular sermon against slan- 
 derers and backbiters. 
 
 Author. And what is that to the pur- 
 pose ? 
 
 Captain. Only that I have heard engi- 
 neers say, that one may betray the weak 
 point to the enemy, by too much osten- 
 tation of fortifying it. 
 
 Author. And, once more I pray, what 
 is that to the purpose ? 
 
 VOL. I. b
 
 XVlll INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 Captain. Nay then, without farther me- 
 taphor, I am afraid this new production, 
 in which your generosity seems willing to 
 give me some concern, will stand much 
 in need of apology, since you think pro- 
 per to begin your defence before the case 
 is on trial. The story is hastily huddled 
 up, I will venture a pint of claret. 
 
 Author. A pint of port, I suppose you 
 mean ? 
 
 Captain. I say of claret — good claret of 
 the Monastery. Ah, sir, would you but 
 take the advice of your friends, and try 
 to deserve at least one-half of the public 
 favour you have met with, we might all 
 drink Tokay ! 
 
 Author. I care not what I drink, so 
 the liquor be wholesome. 
 
 Captain. Care for your reputation then 
 —for your fame. 
 
 Author. My fame? — I will answer you
 
 INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. XIX 
 
 as a very ingenious, able, and experienced 
 friend, when counsel for the notorious 
 Jem JNIacCoul, replied to the opposite 
 side of the bar, when they laid weight on 
 his client's refusing to answer certain 
 queries, which they said any man who had 
 a regard for his reputation would not he- 
 sitate to reply to. " My client," said he — 
 by the way, Jem was standing behind him 
 at the time, and a rich scene it was — " is so 
 unfortunate as to have no regard for his 
 reputation ; and I should deal very uncan- 
 didly with the Court, should I say he had 
 any that was worth his attention." I am, 
 though from very different reasons, in 
 Jem's happy state of indifference. Let 
 fame follow those who have a substantial 
 shape. A shadow — and an impersonal au- 
 thor is nothing better — can cast no shade. 
 Captain. You are not now, perhaps, 
 so impersonal as heretofore. These Let-
 
 XX INTRODUCTOllY EPISTLE. 
 
 ters to the Member for the University of 
 
 Oxford 
 
 Author. Shew the wit, genius, and deli- 
 cacy of the author, which I heartily wish 
 to see engaged on a subject of more im- 
 portance ; and shew, besides, that the pre- 
 servation of my character of incogJiito has 
 engaged early talent in the discussion of 
 a curious question of evidence. But a 
 cause, however ingeniously pleaded, is 
 not therefore gained. You may remem- 
 ber, the neatly-wrought chain of circum- 
 stantial evidence, so artificially brought 
 forward to prove Sir Philip Francis's title 
 to the Letters of Junius, seemed at first 
 irrefragable ; yet the influence of the rea- 
 soning has passed away, and Junius, in 
 the general opinion, is as much unknown 
 as ever. But on this subject I will not be 
 soothed or provoked into saying one word 
 more. To say who I am not, would be
 
 ISTRODUCTOIIY ETISTLE. XXI 
 
 oiie step towards saying who I am ; and 
 as I desire not, any more than a certain 
 justice of peace mentioned by Shenstone, 
 the noise or report such things make in 
 the world, I shall continue to be silent on 
 a subject, which, in my opinion, is very 
 undeservino: the rout that has been made 
 about it, and still more unworthy of the 
 serious employment of such ingenuity as 
 has been displayed by the young letter- 
 writer. 
 
 Captain. But allowing, my dear sir, 
 that you care not for your personal repu- 
 tation, or for that of any literary person 
 upon whose shoulders your faults may 
 be visited, allow me to say, that common 
 gratitude to the public, who have received 
 you so kindly, and to the critics, who have 
 treated you so leniently, ought to induce 
 you to bestow more pains on your story. 
 
 Author. I do entreat you, my son, as
 
 XXU IXTllODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 Dr Johnson would have said, " free your 
 mind from cant." For the critics, they 
 have their business, and I mine ; as the 
 nursery proverb goes — 
 
 *' The children in Holland take pleasure in making 
 What the children in England take pleasure in break- 
 ing." 
 
 I am their humble jackall, too busy in 
 providing food for them, to have time for 
 considering Vv'hether they swallow or reject 
 it. — To the public, I stand pretty nearly 
 in the relation of the postman who leaves 
 a packet at the door of an individual. If it 
 contains pleasing intelligence, a billet from 
 a mistress, a letter from an absent son, a 
 remittance from a correspondent supposed 
 to be bankrupt, — the letter is acceptably 
 welcome, and read and re-read, folded up, 
 filed, and safely deposited in the bureau. 
 If the contents are disagreeable, if it comes 
 from a dun or from a bore, the correspond-
 
 INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. XXUl 
 
 ent is cursed, the letter is thrown into the 
 fire, and the expence of postage is hearti- 
 ly regretted ; while all the while the bear- 
 er of the dispatches is, in either case, as 
 little thought on as the snow of last 
 Christmas. The utmost extent of kind- 
 ness between the author and the pub- 
 lic which can really exist, is, that the 
 world are disposed to be somewhat in- 
 dulgent to the succeeding works of an 
 original favourite, were it but on account 
 of the habit which the public mind has 
 acquired ; while the author very naturally 
 thinks well oi their taste, who have so li- 
 berally applauded his productions. But I 
 deny there is any call for gratitude, pro- 
 perly so called, either on one side or the 
 other. 
 
 Cajdain. Respect to yourself, then, 
 ought to teach caution. 
 
 Author. Ay, if caution could augment
 
 XXIV TNTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 the chance of my success. But, to confess 
 to you the truth, the works and passages 
 in which I have succeeded, have uniform- 
 ly been written with the greatest rapidi- 
 ty ; and when I have seen some of these 
 placed in opposition with others,and com- 
 mended as more highly finished, I could 
 appeal to pen and standish, that the parts 
 in which I have come feebly off, were 
 by much the more laboured. Besides, I 
 doubt the beneficial effect of too much 
 delay, both on account of the author and 
 the public. A man should strike while 
 the iron is hot, and hoist sail while the 
 wind is fair. If a successful author keeps 
 not the stage, another instantly takes his 
 ground. If a writer lies by for ten years 
 ere he produces a second work, he is su- 
 perseded by others ; or, if the age is so 
 poor of genius that this does not happen, 
 his own reputation becomes his greatest
 
 INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. XXV 
 
 obstacle. The public will expect the new 
 work to be ten times better than its pre- 
 decessor ; the author will expect it should 
 be ten times more popular, and 'tis a hun- 
 dred to ten that both are disappointed. 
 
 Captain. This may justify a certain de- 
 gree of rapidity in publication, but not 
 that which is proverbially said to be no 
 speed. You should take time at least to 
 arrange your story. 
 
 Author, That is a sore point with me, 
 my son. Believe me, I have not been 
 fool enough to neglect ordinary precau- 
 tions. I have repeatedly laid down my fu- 
 ture work to scale, divided it into volumes 
 and chapters, and endeavoured to con- 
 struct a story which I meant should evolve 
 itself gradually and strikingly, maintain 
 suspense, and stimulate curiosity ; and 
 which, finally, should terminate in a stri- 
 king catastrophe. But I think there is a
 
 XXVI INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 daemon who seats himself on the feather of 
 my pen when I begin to write, and lends it 
 astray from the purpose. Characters ex- 
 pand under my hand ; incidents are mul- 
 tiplied ; the story lingers, while the mate- 
 rials increase ; my regular mansion turns 
 out a Gothic anomaly, and the work is 
 complete long before I have attained the 
 point I proposed. 
 
 Cajitain, Resolution and determined 
 forbearance might remedy that evil. 
 
 Author. Alas, my dear sir, you do not 
 know the force of paternal affection. — 
 When I light on such a character as Bai- 
 lie Jarvie, or Dalgetty, my imagination 
 brightens, and my conception becomes 
 clearer at every step which I make in his 
 company, although it leads me many a 
 weary mile away from the regular road, 
 and forces me to leap hedge and ditch to 
 get back into the route again. If I resist
 
 INTHOmJCTOllY EPISTLE. XXVli 
 
 tlie temptation, as you advise me, my 
 thoughts become prosy, flat, and dull ; I 
 write painfully to myself, and under a 
 consciousness of flagging which makes me 
 flag still more ; the sunshine with which 
 fancy had invested the incidents, departs 
 from them, and leaves every thing dull 
 and gloomy. I am no more the same au- 
 thor, than the dog in a wheel, condemned 
 to go round and round for hours, is like 
 the same dog merrily chasing his own tail, 
 and gambolling in all the frolic of unre- 
 strained freedom. In short, sir, on such 
 occasions, I think I am bewitched. 
 
 Captain. Nay, sir, if you plead sorcery, 
 there is no more to be said — he must 
 needs go whom the devil drives. And 
 this, I suppose, sir, is the reason why you 
 do not make the theatrical attempt to 
 which you have been so often urged ? 
 
 Author. It may pass for one good rea-
 
 XXviii INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 son for not writing a play, that I cannot 
 form a plot. But the truth is, that the 
 idea adopted by too favourable judges, of 
 my having some aptitude for that depart- 
 ment of poetry, has been much founded 
 on those scraps of old plays, which, being 
 taken from a source inaccessible to collec- 
 tors, they have hastily considered the off- 
 spring of my mother- wit. Now, the man- 
 ner in which I became possessed of these 
 fragments is so extraordinary, that 1 can- 
 not help telling it to you. 
 
 You must know, that some twenty years 
 since, I went down to visit an old friend 
 in Worcestershire, who had served with 
 me in the Dragoons. 
 
 Captain. Then you have served, sir ? 
 
 Author, I have — or I have not, which 
 signifies the same thing — Captain is a good 
 travelling name. — I found my friend's 
 house unexpectedly crowded with guests,
 
 INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. Xxix 
 
 and, as usual, was condemned — the man- 
 sion being an old one — to the haunted 
 apartment. I have, as a great modern said, 
 seen too many ghosts to believe in them, 
 so betook myself seriously to my repose, 
 lulled by the wind rustling among the 
 lime-trees, the branches of which chequer- 
 ed the moonlight which fell on the floor 
 through the diamonded casement, when, 
 behold, a darker shadow interposed itself, 
 and I beheld visibly on the floor of the 
 apartment 
 
 Capabu The White Lady of Avenel, 
 I suppose?— You have told the very story 
 before. 
 
 Author, No— I beheld a female form 
 with round mob-cap, bib, and apron, 
 sleeves tucked up to the elbow, a dredg- 
 ing-box in the one hand, and in the other 
 a sauce-ladle. I concluded, of course, 
 that it was my friend's cook-maid walk-
 
 XXX IXTUODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 ing in her sleep \ and as I knew he had 
 a value for Sally, who could toss a pan- 
 cake with any girl in the county, I got 
 up to conduct her safely to the door. But 
 as I approached her, she said — " Hold, 
 sir ! I am not what you take me for ;" — 
 words which seemed so apposite to the 
 circumstances, that I should not have 
 much minded them, had it not been for 
 the peculiarly hollow sound in which they 
 were uttered. — " Know then," she said in 
 the same unearthly accents, " that I am 
 the spirit of Betty Barnes."—" Who 
 hanged herself for love of the stage-coach- 
 man," thought I ; " this is a proper spot 
 of work." — " Of that unhappy Elizabeth 
 or Betty Barnes, long cook-maid to JNlr 
 Warburton the painful collector, but ah ! 
 the too careless custodier of the largest 
 collection of ancient plays ever known — 
 
 3
 
 INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. XXxi 
 
 of most of which the titles only are left 
 to gladden the Prologomena of the Va- 
 riorum Shakespeare. Yes, stranger, it 
 was these ill-fated hands that consigned 
 to grease and conflagration the scores of 
 small quartos, which, did they now exist, 
 would drive the whole Roxburghe Club 
 out of their senses — it was these unhappy 
 pickers and stealers that singed fat fowls 
 and wiped dirty trenchers with the lost 
 works of Beaumont and Fletcher, Mas- 
 singer, Jonson, Webster — what shall I 
 say ? — even of Shakespeare himself." 
 
 Like every dramatic antiquary, my ar- 
 dent curiosity, after some play named in 
 the Book of the Master of Revels, had of- 
 ten been checked by finding the object of 
 my research numbered amongst the holo- 
 caust of victims which this unhappy wo- 
 man had sacrificed to the God of Good
 
 XXXU INTRODUCTOKY EPISTLE. 
 
 Cheer. It is no wonder then, that, like 
 the Hermit of Parnell, 
 
 I broke the bands of fear, and madly cried, 
 
 ^ You careless jade!' — But scarce the words began. 
 
 When Betty brandish'd high her saucing-pan. 
 
 " Beware," she said, " you do not, by 
 your ill-timed anger, cut off the opportu- 
 nity I yet have to indemnify the world 
 for the errors of my ignorance. In yon- 
 der coal-hole, not used for many a year, 
 repose the few greasy and blackened frag- 
 ments of the elder Drama which were not 
 totally destroyed. Do thou then" — Why, 
 what do you stare at. Captain ? By my 
 soul, it is true ; as my friend Major Long- 
 bow says, " what should I tell you a lie 
 for ?" 
 
 Captain, Lie, sir ! Nay, heaven forbid I 
 should apply the word to a person so ve- 
 racious. You are only inclined to chase 
 your tail a little this morning, that's all.
 
 INTIIODUCTORY EPISTLE. XXXlll 
 
 Had you not better reserve this legend to 
 form an introduction to " Three recover- 
 ed Dramas," or so ? 
 
 Author, You are quite right — habit's a 
 strange thing, my son. I had forgot whom 
 I was speaking to. Yes, Plays for the clo- 
 set, not for the stage — 
 
 Captain. Right, and so you are sure to 
 be acted ; for the managers, while thou- 
 sands of volunteers are desirous of ser- 
 ving them, are wonderfully partial to 
 pressed men. 
 
 Author. I am a living witness, having 
 been, like a second Laberius, made a dra- 
 matist whether I would or not. I be- 
 lieve my muse would be TVr/^^ed into 
 treading the stage, even if I should write 
 a sermon. 
 
 Captain. Truly, if you did, I am afraid 
 folks might make a farce of it ; and, there- 
 fore, should you change your style, I still 
 
 VOL. I. c
 
 XXXIV INTRODUCTOllY EPISTLE. 
 
 advise a volume of dramas like Lord By- 
 ron's. 
 
 Author. No, his lordship is a cut above 
 me — I won't run my horse against his, if 
 I can help myself. But there is my friend 
 Allan has written just such a play as I 
 might write myself, in a very sunny day, 
 and with one of Bramah's extra patent- 
 pens. I cannot make neat work without 
 such appurtenances. 
 
 Captain. Do you mean Allan Ramsay? 
 
 Author. No, nor Barbara Allan either. 
 I mean Allan Cunningham, who has just 
 published his tragedy of Sir Marmaduke 
 Maxwell, full of merry-making and mur- 
 dering, kissing and cutting of throats, 
 and passages which lead to nothing, and 
 which are very pretty passages for all 
 that. Not a glimpse of probability is 
 there about the plot, but so much anima- 
 tion in particular passages, and such a
 
 INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. XXXV 
 
 vein of poetry through the whole, as I 
 dearly wish I could infuse into my Culi- 
 nary Remains, should I ever be tempted 
 to publish them. With a popular impress, 
 people would read and admire the beau- 
 ties of Allan — as it is, they may perhaps 
 only note his defects — or, what is worse, 
 not note him at all. But never mind 
 them, honest Allan ; you are a credit to 
 Caledonia for all that. — There are some 
 lyrical effusions of his too, which you 
 would do well to read. Captain. " It's 
 hame, and it's hame," is equal to Burns. 
 Captain, I will take the hint. The 
 club at Kennaquhair are turned fastidi- 
 ous since Catalani visited the Abbey. My 
 " Poortith Cauld" has been received both 
 poorly and coldly, and " the Banks of Bon- 
 nie Doon" have been positively coughed 
 down — Tempora mutantur.
 
 XXXVl INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 Author. They cannot stand still, they 
 will change with all of us. What then ? 
 
 " A man's a man for a' that" 
 
 But the hour of parting approaches. 
 
 Captain, You are determined to pro- 
 ceed then in your own system ? Are you 
 aware that an unworthy motive may be 
 assigned for this rapid succession of pub- 
 lication ? You will be supposed to work 
 merely for the lucre of gain. 
 
 Author, Supposing that I did permit 
 the great advantages which must be de- 
 rived from success in literature, to join 
 with other motives in inducing me to 
 come more frequently before the pub- 
 lic, — that emolumeht is the voluntary 
 tax which the public pays for a certain 
 species of literary amusement — it is ex- 
 torted from no one, and paid, I presume, 
 by those only who can afford it, and who
 
 INTllODUCTOUY EPISTLE. XXXVIl 
 
 receive gratification in proportion to the 
 expense. If the capital sum which these 
 volumes have put into circulation be a 
 very large one, has it contributed to my 
 indulgences only ? or can I not say to 
 hundreds, from honest Duncan the pa- 
 per manufacturer, to the most snivelling 
 of the printer's devils, " Didst thou not 
 share? Hadst thou not fifteen pence?" 
 1 profess I think our modern Athens 
 much obliged to me for having establish- 
 ed such an extensive manufacture ; and 
 when universal suffrage comes in fashion, 
 I intend to stand for a seat in the House 
 on the interest of all the unwashed artifi- 
 cers connected with literature. 
 
 Captain, This would be called the lan- 
 guage of a calico-manufacturer. 
 
 Author. Cant again, my dear son — there 
 is lime in this sack too — nothing but so- 
 phistication in this w^orld ! I do say it, 
 in spite of Adam Smith and his follow-
 
 XXXVlll INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 ers, that a successful author is a produc- 
 tive labourer, and that his works consti- 
 tute as effectual a part of the public 
 wealth, as that which is created by any 
 other manufacture. If a new commodity, 
 having an actually intrinsic and commer- 
 cial value, be the result of the operation, 
 why are the author's bales of books to be 
 esteemed a less profitable part of the pub- 
 lic stock than the goods of any other ma- 
 nufacturer ? I speak with reference to 
 the diffusion of the wealth arising to the 
 public, and the degree of industry which 
 even such a trifling work as the present 
 must stimulate and reward, before the vo- 
 lumes leave the publisher's shop. With- 
 out me it could not exist, and to this ex- 
 tent I am a benefactor to the country. 
 As for my own emolument, it is won by 
 my toil, and I account myself answer- 
 able to Heaven only for the mode in 
 which I expend it. The candid may hope
 
 INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. XXXix 
 
 it is not all dedicated to selfish purposes ; 
 and, without much pretensions to merit 
 in him who expends it, a part may " wan- 
 der, heaven-directed, to the poor." 
 
 Captain. Yet it is generally held base 
 to write, from the mere motive of gain. 
 
 Author. It w^ould be base to do so ex- 
 clusively, or even to make it a principal 
 motive of literary exertion. Nay, I will 
 venture to say, that no work of imagina- 
 tion, proceeding from the mere consider- 
 ation of a certain sum of copy-money, 
 ever did, or ever will, succeed. So the 
 lawyer who pleads, the soldier who fights, 
 the physician who prescribes, the clergy- 
 man — if such there be — who preaches, 
 without any zeal for their profession, 
 or without any sense of its dignity, and 
 merely on account of their fee, pay, or 
 stipend, degrade themselves to the rank 
 of sordid mechanics. Accordingly, in the 
 
 2
 
 Xl INTRODUCTOKY EPISTLE. 
 
 case of two of the learned faculties at 
 least, their services are considered as un- 
 appreciable, and are acknowledged not 
 by any exact estimate of the services ren- 
 dered, but by a honorarium, or voluntary 
 acknowledgment. But let a client or pa- 
 tient make the experiment of omitting 
 this little ceremony of the honorarium, 
 which is cense to be a thing entirely out 
 of consideration between them, and mark 
 how the learned gentleman wdll look 
 upon his case. Cant set apart, it is the 
 same thing with literary emolument. T^o 
 man of sense, in any rank of life, is, or 
 ought to be, above accepting a just re- 
 compence for his time, and a reasonable 
 share of the capital which owes its very 
 existence to his exertions. When Czar 
 Peter wrought in the trenches, he took 
 the pay of a common soldier ; and nobles, 
 statesmen, and divines, the most distin-
 
 INTllODUCTORY EPISTLE. xli 
 
 guished of their time, have not scorned 
 to square accounts with their bookseller. 
 Captain. {Sings.) 
 
 O if it were a mean thing. 
 The gentles would not use it ; 
 
 And if it were ungodly, 
 The clergy would refuse it. 
 
 Author. You say well. But no man of 
 honour, genius, or spirit, would make the 
 mere love of gain the chief, far less the 
 only, purpose of his labours. For myself, 
 I am not displeased to find the game a 
 winning one ; yet while I pleased the pub- 
 lic, I should probably continue it merely 
 for the pleasure of playing ; for 1 have felt 
 as strongly as most folks that love of 
 composition, which is perhaps the strong- 
 est of all instincts, driving the author to 
 the pen, the painter to the pallet, often 
 without either the chance of fame or the 
 prospect of reward. Perhaps I have said 
 too much of this. I might perhaps, with
 
 xlii INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 as much truth as most people, exculpate 
 myself from the charge of being either of 
 a greedy or mercenary disposition ; but I 
 am not, therefore, hypocrite enough to 
 disclaim the ordinary motives, on account 
 of which the whole world around me is 
 toiling unremittingly, to the sacrifice of 
 ease, comfort, health, and life. I do not 
 affect the disinterestedness of that inge- 
 nious association of gentlemen mentioned 
 by Goldsmith, who sold their magazine 
 for sixpence a-piece, merely for their own 
 amusement. 
 
 Captain, I have but one thing more to 
 hint. — The world say you will run your- 
 self out. 
 
 Author, The world say true ; and what 
 then? When they dance no longer, I 
 will no longer pipe ; and I shall not want 
 flappers enough to remind me of the apo- 
 plexy.
 
 INTllODUCTOllY EPISTLE. xliii 
 
 Captain, And what will become of vis 
 then, your poor family ? We shall fall in- 
 to contempt and oblivion. 
 
 Author. Like many a poor fellow, al- 
 ready overwhelmed with the number of 
 his family, I cannot help going on to in- 
 crease it — " 'Tis my vocation, Hal." — 
 Such of you as deserve oblivion — perhaps 
 the whole of you — may be consigned to 
 it. At any rate, you have been read in 
 your day, which is more than can be said 
 of some of your contemporaries, of less 
 fortune and more merit. They cannot 
 say but what you had the crown. As for 
 myself, I shall always deserve, at least, the 
 unwilling tribute which Johnson paid to 
 Churchill, when he said, though the fel- 
 low's genius was a tree which bore only 
 crabs, yet it was prolific, and had plenty 
 of fruit, such as it was. It is always some- 
 thing to have engaged the public atten-
 
 Xliv INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 tion for seven years. Had I only written 
 AVaverley, I should have long since been, 
 according to the established phrase, " the 
 ingenious author of a novel much admi- 
 red at the time." I believe, on my soul, 
 that the reputation of Waverley is sustain- 
 ed very much by the praises of those, who 
 may be inclined to prefer that tale to its 
 successors. 
 
 Captain, You are willing, then, to bar- 
 ter future reputation for present popu- 
 larity ? 
 
 Author. Meliora spero. Horace him- 
 self expected not to survive in all his 
 works — I may hope to live in some of 
 mine ; — non om7iis moriar. It is some con- 
 solation to reflect, that the best authors 
 in all countries have been the most volu- 
 minous ; and it has often happened, that 
 those who have been best received in their 
 own time, have also continued to be ac- 
 
 18
 
 INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. xlv 
 
 ceptable to posterity. I do not think so 
 ill of the present generation, as to sup- 
 pose that its present favour necessarily in- 
 fers future condemnation. 
 
 Captain, Were all to act on such prin- 
 ciples, the public would be inundated. 
 
 Author, Once more, my dear son, be- 
 ware of cant. You speak as if the public 
 were obliged to read books merely because 
 they are printed — your friends the book- 
 sellers would thank you to make the pro- 
 position good. The most serious grie- 
 vance attending such inundations as you 
 talk of is, that they make rags dear. The 
 multiplicity of publications does the pre- 
 sent age no harm, and may greatly ad- 
 vantage that which is to succeed us. 
 
 Captain. I do not see how that is to 
 happen. 
 
 Author, The complaints in the time 
 of Elizabeth and James, of the alarmins^
 
 xlvi INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 fertility of the press, were as loud as they 
 are at present — yet look at the shore over 
 which the inundation of that age flowed, 
 and it resembles now the Rich Strand of 
 the Faery Queen — 
 
 Bestrew'd all with rich aray. 
 
 Of pearl and precious stones of great assay ; 
 And all the gravel mix'd with golden ore. 
 
 Believe me, that even in the most ne- 
 glected works of the present age, the next 
 may discover treasures. 
 
 Captain. Some books will defy all al- 
 chemy. 
 
 Author. They will be but few in num- 
 ber ; since, as for writers, who are possess- 
 ed of no merit at all, unless indeed they 
 publish their works at their own expense, 
 like Sir Richard Blackmore, their power 
 of annoying the public will be soon limit- 
 ed by the difficulty of finding undertaking 
 booksellers.
 
 IXTUODUCTORY EPISTLE. xlvii 
 
 Captain. You are incorrigible. Are 
 there no bounds to your audacity ? 
 
 Author. There are the sacred and eter- 
 nal boundaries of honour and virtue. My 
 course is like the enchanted chamber of 
 Britomart — 
 
 Where as she look*d about, she did behold 
 How over that same door was likewise writ, 
 Be Bold — Be Bold, and every where Be Bold, 
 Whereat she mused, and could not construe it ; 
 A.t last she spied at that room's upper end 
 Another iron door, on which was writ— 
 Be not too Bold. 
 
 Captain. Well, you must take the risk 
 of proceeding on your own principles. 
 
 Author. Do you act on yours, and take 
 care you do not stay idling here till the 
 dinner hour is over. — I will add this work 
 to your patrimony, valeat quantum. 
 
 Here our dialogue terminated; for a 
 little sooty-faced ApoUyon from the Ca- 
 nongate came to demand the proof-sheet
 
 Xlviii INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 on the part of Mr M'Corkindale ; and I 
 heard Mr C. rebuking Mr F. in another 
 compartment of the same labyrinth I have 
 described, for suffering any one to pene- 
 trate so far into the penetralia of their 
 temple. 
 
 I leave it to you to form your own opi- 
 nion concerning the import of this dia- 
 logue, and I cannot but believe I shall 
 meet the wishes of our common parent 
 in prefixing this letter to the work which 
 it concerns. 
 
 I am, reverend and dear Sir, 
 
 Very sincerely and affectionately 
 Yours, &c. &c. 
 
 CUTHBERT ClUTTERBUCK. 
 
 Kennaquhair, Ist Ajwil, 1822.
 
 THE 
 
 FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 VOL. 1. A
 
 THE 
 
 FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Now Scot and English are agreed, 
 
 And Savinders hastes to cross the Tweed, 
 
 Where, such the splendours that attend him, 
 
 His very mother scarce ha.^ kenn'd him. 
 
 His metamorphosis behold. 
 
 From Glasgow frieze to cloth of gold ; 
 
 His back-sword with the iron hilt, 
 
 To rapier fairly hatch'd and gilt ; 
 
 Was ever seen a gallant braver ! 
 
 His very bonnet's grown a beaver. 
 
 The Reformation. 
 
 The long-continued hostilities which had for 
 centuries divided the south and the north divi- 
 sions of the Island of Britain, had been happily 
 terminated by the succession of the pacific James 
 I. to the English crown. But although the uni- 
 ted crown of England and Scotland was worn by 
 the same individual, it required a long lapse of 
 time, and the succession of more than one gene-
 
 4 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 ration, ere the inveterate national prejudices 
 which had so long existed betwixt the sister 
 kingdoms were removed, and the subjects of ei- 
 ther side of the Tweed brought to regard those 
 upon the other bank as friends and as brethren. 
 
 These prejudices were, of course, most inve- 
 terate during the reign of King James. The 
 EngHsh subjects accused him of partiaUty to 
 those of his ancient kingdom ; while the Scots, 
 with equal injustice, charged him with having 
 forgotten the land of his nativity, and with ne- 
 glecting those early friends to whose allegiance 
 he had been so much indebted. 
 
 The temper of the King, peaceable even tb ti- 
 midity, inclined him perpetually to interfere as 
 mediator amongst the contending factions, whose 
 brawls disturbed the court. But notwithstand- 
 ing all his precautions, historians have recorded 
 many instances where the mutual hatred of two 
 nations, who, after being enemies for a thou- 
 sand years, had been so very recently united, 
 broke forth with a fury which menaced a ge- 
 neral convulsion ; and, spreading from the high- 
 est to the lowest classes, as it occasioned de- 
 bates in council and parliament, factions in the
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. O 
 
 court, and duels among the gentry, was no less 
 productive of riots and brawls amongst those of 
 the lower orders. 
 
 While these heart-burnings were at the high- 
 est, there flourished in the city of London an in- 
 genious, but whimsical and self-opinioned me- 
 chanic, much devoted to abstract studies, David 
 Ramsay by name, who, whether recommended 
 by his great skill in his profession, as the court- 
 iers alleged, or, as was murmured among his 
 neighbours, by his birth-place, in the good town 
 of Dalkeith, near Edinburgh, held in James's 
 household the post of maker of watches and ho- 
 rologes to his Majesty. He scorned not, how- 
 ever, to keep open shop within Temple-Bar, a 
 few yards to the eastward of Saint Dunstan's 
 Church. 
 
 The shop of a London tradesman at that time, 
 as it may be supposed, was something very dif- 
 ferent from those we now see in the same loca- 
 lity. The goods were exposed to sale in cases, 
 only defended from the weather by a covering of 
 canvas, and the whole resembled the stalls and 
 booths now erected for the temporary accommo- 
 dation of dealers at a country fair, rather than the
 
 G THE FORTUNES OF XIGKf-. 
 
 established emporium of a respectable citizen. But 
 most of the shopkeepers of note, and David Ram- 
 say amongst others, had their booth connected 
 with a small apartment which opened backward 
 from it, and bore the same resemblance to the 
 front shop that Robinson Crusoe's cavern did 
 to the tent which he erected before it. To this 
 Master Ramsaj was often accustomed to retreat 
 to the labour of his abstruse calculations ; for he 
 aimed at improvement and discoveries in his own 
 art, and sometimes pushed his researches, like 
 Napier, and other mathematicians of the period, 
 into abstract science. AVhen thus engaged, he 
 left the outer posts of his commercial establish- 
 ment to be maintained by two stout-bodied and 
 strong-voiced apprentices, who kept up the cry 
 of, " What d'ye lack ? what d'ye lack ?" accom- 
 panied with the appropriate recommendations of 
 the articles in which they dealt. This direct and 
 personal application for custom to those who chan- 
 ced to pass by, is now, we believe, limited to Mon- 
 mouth Street, (if it still exists even in that reposi- 
 tory of ancient garments,) under the guardianship 
 of the scattered remnant of Israel. But, at the 
 time we are speaking of, it was practised ahke by
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 7 
 
 Jew and Gentile, and served, instead of all our 
 present newspaper pufFs and advertisements, to 
 solicit the attention of the public in general, and 
 of friends in particular, to the unrivalled excel- 
 lence of the goods, which they offered to sale upon 
 such easy terms, that it might fairly appear that 
 the venders had rather a view to the general ser- 
 vice of the public, than to their own particular 
 advantage. 
 
 The verbal proclaimers of the excellence of 
 their commodities, had this advantage over those 
 who, in the present day, use the public papers 
 for the same purpose, that they could in many 
 cases adapt their address to the peculiar appear- 
 ance and apparent taste of the passengers. [This, 
 as we have said, was also the case in Monmouth 
 Street in our remembrance. We have ourselves 
 been reminded of the deficiencies of our femoral 
 habiliments, and exhorted upon that score to fit 
 ourselves more beseemingly ; but this is a digres- 
 sion.] This direct and personal mode of invita- 
 tion to customers became, however, a dangerous 
 temptation to the young wags who were employed 
 in the task of solicitation during the absence of the 
 principal person interested in the traffic; and, con-
 
 O THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 fiding in their numbers and civic union, the 'pren- 
 tices of London were often seduced into taking 
 liberties with the passengers, and exercising their 
 wit at the expence of those whom they had no 
 hopes of converting into customers by their elo- 
 quence. If this was resented by any act of vio- 
 lence, the inmates of each shop were ready to 
 pour forth in succour ; and, in the words of an 
 old song which Dr Johnson was used to hum, — 
 
 ** Up then rose the 'prentices all 
 Living in London, both proper i 
 
 proper and tall.** 
 
 Desperate riots often arose on such occasions, 
 especially when the Templars, or other youths 
 connected with the aristocracy, were insulted, or 
 conceived themselves to be so. Upon such oc- 
 casions, bare steel was frequently opposed to the 
 clubs of the citizens, and death frequently en- 
 sued on both sides. The tardy and inefficient 
 police of the time had no other resource than 
 by the Alderman of the ward calling out the 
 householders, and putting a stop to the strife by 
 overpowering numbers, as the Capulets and Mon- 
 tagues are separated upon the stage. 
 
 At the period when such was the universal
 
 THE FORTUNES OF TsTGEL. \) 
 
 custom of the most respectable, as well as the 
 most inconsiderable shopkeepers in London, Da- 
 vid Ramsay, upon the evening to which we so- 
 licit the attention of the reader, retiring to more 
 abstruse and private labours, left the admini- 
 stration of his outer shop, or booth, to the 
 aforesaid sharp, active, able-bodied, and well- 
 voiced apprentices, namely, Jenkin Vincent and 
 Frank Tunstall. 
 
 Vincent had been educated at the excellent 
 foundation of Christ's Church Hospital, and was 
 bred, therefore, as well as bom, a Londoner, 
 with all the peculiar acuteness and address, and 
 audacity, which belong peculiarly to the youth 
 of a metropolis. He was now about twenty years 
 old, short in stature, but remarkably strong 
 made, eminent for his feats upon holidays at the 
 foot-ball, and other gymnastic exercises ; scarce 
 rivalled in the broad-sword play, though hither- 
 to only exercised in the form of single-stick ; he 
 knew every lane, blind alley, and sequestered 
 court of the ward, better than his Catechism ; 
 was alike active in his master's affairs, and in his 
 own adventures of fun and mischief : and so ma-
 
 10 THE FORTUNES OF XIGJIL. 
 
 naged matters, that the credit he acquired by 
 the former bore him out, or at least served for 
 his apology, when the latter propensity led him 
 into scrapes, of which, however, it is but fair to 
 state, that they had hitherto inferred nothing 
 mean or discreditable. Some aberrations there 
 were, which David Ramsay, his master, endea- 
 voured to reduce to regular order when he dis- 
 covered them, and others which he winked at, 
 supposing them to answer the purpose of the 
 escapement of a watch, which disposes of a cer- 
 tain quantity of the extra power of that mecha- 
 nical impulse which puts the whole in motion. 
 
 The physiognomy of Jin Vin, by which ab- 
 breviation he was familiarly known through the 
 ward, corresponded with the sketch we have 
 given of his character. His head, upon which 
 his prentice'*s flat cap was generally flung in a 
 careless and oblique fashion, was closely covered 
 with thick hair of raven black, which curled na- 
 turally and closely, and would have grown to 
 great length, but for the modest custom enjoin- 
 ed by his state of life, and strictly enforced by 
 his master, which compelled him to keep it short- 
 4>
 
 THE yORTL'X>:S OF NIGEL. 11 
 
 cropped, — not unreluctantlj, as he looked with 
 envy on the flowing ringlets, in which the courtiers 
 and aristocratical students of the neighbouring 
 Temple began to indulge themselves, as marks 
 of superiority and of gentility. Vincent's eyes 
 were deep set in his head, of a strong vivid black, 
 full of fire, roguery, and intelligence, and con- 
 veying a humorous expression, even while he was 
 uttering the usual small-talk of his trade, as if 
 he ridiculed those who were disposed to give any 
 weight to his common-places. He had address 
 enough, however, to add little touches of his 
 own, which gave a turn of drollery even to this 
 ordinary routine of the booth ; and the alacrity 
 of his manner — his ready and obvious wish to 
 oblige — his intelligence and civihty, when he 
 thought civihty necessary, made him a universal 
 favourite with his master's customers. His fea- 
 tures were far from regular, for his nose was 
 flattish, his mouth tending to the larger size, 
 and his complexion inclining to be more dark 
 than was then thought consistent with mascu- 
 line beauty. But then, in despite of his ha- 
 ving always breathed the air of a crowded city,
 
 1^ THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 his complexion had the ruddy and manly expres- 
 sion of redundant health ; his turned-up nose 
 gave an air of spirit and raillery to what he said, 
 and seconded the laugh of his eyes, and his wide 
 mouth was garnished with a pair of well-formed 
 and well-coloured hps, which, when he laughed, 
 disclosed a range of teeth strong and well set, 
 and as white as the very pearl. Such was the 
 elder apprentice of David Ramsay, watch-maker, 
 and constructor of horologes, to his Most Sacred 
 Majesty James I. 
 
 Jenkin''s companion was the younger appren- 
 tice, though, perhaps, he might be the elder of 
 the two in years. At any rate he was of a much 
 more staid and composed temper. Francis Tun- 
 stall was of that ancient and proud descent, who 
 claimed the style of the " unstained ;*" because, 
 amid the various chances of the long and bloody 
 wars of the Roses, they had, with undeviating 
 faith, followed the House of Lancaster, to which 
 they had originally attached themselves. The 
 meanest sprig of such a tree attached importance 
 to the root from which he derived himself ; and 
 Tunstall was supposed to nourish in secret a pro-
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 13 
 
 portion of that family pride, which had extorted 
 tears from his widowed and almost indigent mo- 
 ther, when she saw herself obliged to consign him 
 to a line of life, inferior, as her prejudices sug- 
 gested, to the course held by his progenitors. 
 Yet, with all this aristocratic prejudice, his mas- 
 ter found the well-born youth more docile, regu- 
 lar, and strictly attentive to his duty, than his 
 far more active and alert comrade. Tunstall also 
 gratified his master by the particular attention 
 which he seemed disposed to bestow on the ab- 
 stract principles of science connected with the 
 trade which he was bound to study, the limits 
 of which were daily enlarged with the increase 
 of mathematical science. Vincent beat his com- 
 panion beyond the distance-post, in every thing 
 like the practical adaptation of thorough practice 
 in the dexterity of hand necessary to execute the 
 mechanical branches of the art, and double-dis- 
 tanced him in all respecting the commercial af- 
 fairs of the shop. Still David Ramsay was wont 
 to say, that if Vincent knew how to do a thing 
 the better of the two, Tunstall was much better
 
 14 THE FOllTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 acquainted with the principles on which it ought 
 to be done ; and he sometimes objected to the lat- 
 ter, that he knew critical excellence too well ever 
 to be satisfied with practical mediocrity. 
 
 The disposition of Tunstall was shy, as well as 
 studious ; and though perfectly civil and obliging, 
 he never seemed to feel himself in his place while 
 he went through the duties of the shop. He was 
 tall and handsome, with fair hair, and well-formed 
 limbs, good features, light blue eyes, well open- 
 ed, a straight Grecian nose, and a countenance 
 which expressed both good humour and intelli- 
 gence, but qualified by a gravity unsuitable to 
 his years, and which almost amounted to dejec- 
 tion. He lived on the best terms with his com- 
 panion, and readily stood by him whenever he 
 was engaged in any of the frequent skirmishes, 
 which, as we have already observed, often dis- 
 turbed the city of London about this period. But, 
 though Tunstall was allowed to understand quar- 
 ter-staff, (the weapon of the North country,) in 
 a superior degree, and though he was naturally 
 both strong and active, his interference in such 
 affrays seemed always matter of necessity ; and,
 
 THE FOUTUNES OF NIGEL. 15 
 
 as he never voluntarily joined either their brawls 
 or their sports, he held a far lower place in 
 the opinion of the youth of the ward than his 
 hearty and active friend Jin Vin. Nay, had it 
 not been for the interest made for his comrade 
 by the intercession of Vincent, Tunstall would 
 have stood some chance of being altogether ex- 
 cluded from the society of his contemporaries of 
 the same condition, who called him, in scorn, the 
 Cavaliero Cuddy, and the Gentle Tunstall. On 
 the other hand, the lad himself, deprived of 
 the fresh air in which he had been brought up, 
 and foregoing the exercise to which he had been 
 formerly accustomed, while the inhabitant of his 
 native mansion, lost gradually the freshness of 
 his complexion, and, without exhibiting any 
 formal symptoms of disease, grew more thin and 
 pale as he grew older, and at length exhibited 
 the appearance of indifferent health, without any 
 thing of the habits and complaints of an invalid, 
 excepting a disposition to avoid society, and to 
 spend his leisure timein private study, rather than 
 mingle in the sports of his companions, or even 
 resort to the theatres, then the general rendezvous
 
 16 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 of his class ; where, according to high authority, 
 they fought for half-bitten apples, cracked nuts, 
 and filled the upper gallery with their clamours. 
 
 Such were the two youths who called David 
 Ramsay master, and with both of whom he used 
 to fret from morning till night, as their peculiari- 
 ties interfered with his own, or with the quiet and 
 beneficial course of his traffic. 
 
 Upon the whole, however, the youths were 
 attached to their master, and he, a good-natu- 
 red, though an absent and whimsical man, was 
 scarce less so to them ; and, when a little warm- 
 ed with wine at an occasional junketting, he 
 used to boast, in his northern dialect, of his 
 " twa bonnie lads, and the looks that the court 
 ladies threw at them when visiting his shop in 
 their caroches, when on a frolic into the city.^ 
 But David Ramsay never failed at the same 
 time to draw up his own tall, thin, lathy skeleton, 
 extend his lean jaws into an alarming grin, and 
 indicate, by a nod of his yard-long visage, and a 
 twinkle of his little grey eye, that there might 
 be more faces in Fleet-Street worth looking at 
 than those of Frank and Jenkin. His old neigh-
 
 THE rOIlTUyES OF XIGEL. 1 i 
 
 bour, Widow Simmons the sempstress, who had 
 served in her day the very tip-top revellers of 
 the Temple, with ruffs, cuffs, and bands, dis- 
 tinguished more deeply the sort of attention paid 
 by the females of quaHty who so regularly visit* 
 ed David Ramsay's shop to its inmates. " The boy 
 Frank,*' she admitted, '' used to attract the atten- 
 tion of the young ladies, as having something 
 gentle and downcast in his looks ; but then he 
 could not better himself, for the poor youth had 
 not a word to throw at a dog. Now Jin Vin 
 was so full of his jibes and his jeers, and so will- 
 ing, and so ready, and so serviceable, and so 
 mannerly all the while, with his step that sprung 
 like a buck's in Epping Forest, and his eye that 
 twinkled as black as a gipsey's, that no woman 
 who knew the world would make a comparison 
 betwixt the lads. As for poor neighbour Ramsay 
 himself, the man," she said, " was a civil neigh- 
 bour, and a learned man, doubtless, and might 
 be a rich man, if he had common sense to back 
 his learning ; and doubtless, for a Scot, neigh- 
 bour Ramsay was nothing of a bad man ; but 
 he was so constantly grimed with smoke, gilded 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 18 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 with brass filings, and smeared with lamp-black 
 and oil, that Dame Simmons judged it would re- 
 quire his whole shop full of watches to induce 
 any feasible woman to touch the said neighbour 
 Ramsay with any thing save a pair of tongs." 
 
 A still higher authority, Dame Ursula, wife 
 to Benjamin Suddlechops the barber, was of 
 exactly the same opinion. 
 
 Such were, in natural qualities and pubhc es- 
 timation, the two youths, who, in a fine April 
 day, having first i*endered their dutiful service 
 and attendance on the table of their master and 
 his daughter, at their dinner at one o'clock — 
 Such, O ye lads of London, was the severe dis* 
 cipline undergone by your predecessors — and 
 having regaled themselves upon the fragments, 
 in company Avith two female domestics, one a 
 cook, and maid of all work, the other called 
 Mistress Margarets maid, now relieved their 
 master in the duty of the outward shop ; and, 
 agreeable to the established custom, were solicit- 
 ing, by their entreaties and recommendations of 
 their master*'s manufacture, the attention and en- 
 couragement of the passengers.
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 19 
 
 In this species of service it may be easily sup- 
 posed that Jenkin Vincent left his more reserved 
 and bashful comrade far in the back-ground. 
 The latter could only articulate with difficulty, 
 and as an act of duty which he was rather 
 ashamed of discharging, the established words of 
 form—" What d ye lack ?— What d'ye lack ?— 
 Clocks — watches — barnacles ? — What d''ye lack ? 
 — Watches — clocks — barnacles ? — What d'ye 
 lack, sir? What d'ye lack, madam? — barnacles, 
 watches, clocks ?'^ 
 
 But this dull and dry iteration, however varied 
 by diversity of verbal arrangement, sounded flat 
 when mingled with the rich and recommenda- 
 tory oratory of the bold-faced, deep-mouthed, 
 and ready-witted Jenkin Vincent. " What d'ye 
 lack, noble sir ? — What d'ye lack, beauteous 
 madam .?" he said, in a tone at once bold and 
 soothing, which often was so applied as both 
 to gratify the persons addressed, and to ex- 
 cite a smile from other hearers. " God bless 
 your reverence," to a beneficed clergyman ; " the 
 Greek and Hebrew have blinded your reve- 
 rence's eyes — Buy a pair of David Ramsay's bar-
 
 20 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 nacles ? The King, God bless his Sacred Ma- 
 jesty, never reads Hebrew or Greek without 
 them/' 
 
 '' Are you well avised of that ?**' said a fat 
 parson from the Vale of Evesham. " Nay, if 
 the Head of the Church wears them, God bless 
 his Sacred Majesty, I will try what they can do 
 for me ; for I have not been able to distinguish 
 one Hebrew letter from another, since — I cannot 
 remember the time — when I had a bad fever. 
 Chuse me a pair of his most Sacred Majesty**s 
 own wearing, my good youth."*' 
 
 " This is a pair, and please your reverence,'' 
 said Jenkins, producing a pair of spectacles which 
 he touched with an air of great deference and re- 
 spect, " which his most blessed Majesty placed 
 this day three weeks on his own blessed nose, 
 and would have kept them for his own sacred 
 use, but that the setting being, as your reve- 
 rence sees, of the purest jet, was, as his Sacred 
 Majesty was pleased to say, fitter for a bishop 
 than for a secular prince." 
 
 "His Sacred Majesty the King,'"said the wor- 
 thy divine, " was ever a very Daniel in his
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 21 
 
 judgment ; give me the barnacles, my good 
 youth, and who can say what nose they may be- 
 stride in two years hence. Our reverend brother 
 of Gloucester waxes in years.*" He then pulled 
 out his purse, paid for the spectacles, and left 
 the shop with even a more important step than 
 that which had paused to enter it. 
 
 ** For shame," said Tunstall -to his compa- 
 nion ; " these glasses will never suit one of his 
 years."*' 
 
 " You are a fool, Frank," said Vincent in re- 
 ply ; " had the good doctor wished glasses to 
 read with, he would have tried them before buy- 
 ing. He does not want to look through them 
 himself, and these will serve the purpose of being 
 looked at by other folks, as well as the best mag- 
 nifiers in the shop. — What d'ye lack ?" he cried, 
 resuming his solicitations. " Mirrors for your 
 toilette, my pretty madam ; your head-gear is 
 something awry — pity, since it is so well fan- 
 cied.*" The woman stopped and bought a mir- 
 ror. — " What d'ye lack ? — a watch. Master Ser- 
 jeant — a watch that will go as steady and true as 
 your own eloquence P"
 
 22 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " Hold your peace, sir," answered the Knight 
 of the Coif, who was disturbed by Vin's address 
 whilst in deep consultation with an eminent at- 
 torney ; *'• hold your peace ! You are the loudest- 
 tongued varlet betwixt the Devil's Tavern and 
 Guildhall." 
 
 " A watch," reiterated the undaunted Jen- 
 kin, " that shall not lose thirteen minutes in a 
 thirteen years' law-suit. — He's out of hearing— 
 A watch with four wheels and a bar-movement—. 
 a watch that shall tell you, Master Poet, how long 
 the patience of the audience will endure your next 
 piece at the Black Bull." The bard laughed, and 
 fumbled in the pocket of his slops till he chased 
 into a corner, and fairly caught, a small piece of 
 coin. 
 
 " Here is a tester to cherish thy wit, good 
 boy," he said. 
 
 " Gramercy," said Vin ; " at the next play of 
 yours I will bring down a set of roaring boys 
 that shall make all the critics in the pit, and the 
 gallants on the stage, civil, or else the curtain 
 shall smoke for it."
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. ^3 
 
 " Now, that I call mean,''' said Tunstall, " to 
 take the poor rhymer's money, who has so little 
 left behind;' 
 
 " You are an owl, once again," said Vincent ; 
 " if he has nothing left to buy cheese and ra- 
 dishes, he will only dine a day the sooner with 
 some patron or some player, for that is his fate 
 five days out of the seven. It is unnatural that a 
 poet should pay for liis own pot of beer ; I will 
 drink his tester for him, to save him from such 
 shame ; and when his third night comes round, 
 he shall have pennyworths for his coin, I pro- 
 mise you. — But here comes another guess-cus- 
 tomer. Look at that strange fellow — see how he 
 gapes at every shop, as if he would swallow the 
 wares. — O ! Saint Dunstan has caught his eye ; 
 pray God he swallow not the images. See how he 
 stands astonished, as old Adam and Eve ply their 
 ding-dong ! Come, Frank, thou art a scholar; 
 construe me that same fellow, with his blue cap 
 with a cock''s feather in it, to shew he's of gentle 
 blood, God wot — his grey eyes, his yellow hair, 
 his sword with a ton of iron in the handle — his 
 grey thread-bare cloak— his step like a French-
 
 24 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 man — his look like a Spaniard — a book at his 
 girdle, and a broad dudgeon-dagger on the other 
 side, to shew him half-pedant, half-bully. How 
 call you that pageant, Frank ?" 
 
 '^ A raw Scotsman,"*"* said Tunstall ; " just 
 come up, I suppose, to help the rest of his coun- 
 trymen to gnaw old England's bones ; a palmer- 
 worm, I reckon, to devour what the locust has 
 spared." 
 
 " Even so, Frank,"*"* answered Vincent; '^ just 
 as the poet sings sweetly, — 
 
 In Scotland he was born and bred. 
 And, though a beggar, must be fed." 
 
 ^* Hush f"* said Tunstall, " remember our mas- 
 ter.'' 
 
 "Pshaw !" answered his mercurial companion ; 
 " he knows on which side his bread is buttered, 
 and I warrant you has not lived so long among 
 Englishmen, and by EngHshmen, to quarrel with 
 us for bearing an English mind. But see, our Scot 
 has done gazing at Saint Dunstan's, and comes 
 QUI way. By this light, a proper lad and a sturdy,
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 9r^ 
 
 in spite of freckles and sun-burning.-^He comes 
 nearer still, I will have at him." 
 
 " And if you do," said his comrade, " you 
 may get a broken head — he looks not as if he 
 would carry coals." 
 
 " A fig for your threat," said Vincent, and in- 
 stantly addressed the stranger. " Buy a watch, 
 most noble northern Thane — buy a watch, to 
 count the hours of plenty since the blessed mo- 
 ment you left Berwick behind you. — Buy bar- 
 nacles, to see the English gold lies ready for your 
 gripe. — Buy what you will, you shall have credit 
 for three days ; for, were your pockets as bare 
 as Father Fergus's, you are a Scot in London, 
 and you will be stocked in that time." The 
 stranger looked sternly at the waggish appren- 
 tice, and seemed to grasp his cudgel in rather a 
 menacing fashion. " Buy physic," said the un- 
 daunted Vincent, '' if you will buy neither time 
 nor light — physic for a proud stomach, sir; — 
 there is a Apothecary's shop on the other side of 
 the way." 
 
 Here the probationary disciple of Galen, who 
 ^tood at his master's door in his flat cap and can-
 
 SiO THE FOllTUNES OF XIGEL. 
 
 vas sleeves, with a large wooden pestle in his hand, 
 took up the ball which was flung to him by Jen- 
 kin, with, " What d'ye lack, sir ? — Buy a choice 
 Caledonian salve^'FIos sulphvr. cum hutyro quant. 
 
 suffr 
 
 " To be taken after a gentle rubbing-down 
 with an English oaken towel," said Vincent. 
 
 The bonny Scot had given full scope to the 
 play of this small artillery of city wit, by halting 
 his stately pace, and viewing grimly, first the 
 one assailant, and then the other, as if menacing 
 either repartee, or more violent revenge. But 
 phlegm or prudence got the better of his indig- 
 nation, and tossing his head as one who valued 
 not the raillery to which he had been exposed, 
 he walked down Fleet Street, pursued by the 
 horse-laugh of his tormentors. 
 
 '< The Scot will not fight till he sees his own 
 blood,'' said Tunstall, whom his north of Eng- 
 land extraction had made familiar with all man- 
 ner of proverbs against those who lay yet farther 
 north than himself. 
 
 " Faith, I know not,'' said Jenkin ; " he looks 
 dangerous that fellow — he will hit some one over
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 27 
 
 the noddle before he goes far. Hark ! — hark ! 
 — they are rising.'" 
 
 Accordingly, the well-known cry of, '* 'Pren- 
 tices — ''prentices — Clubs— clubs! ""now rang along 
 Fleet Street ; and Jenkin, snatching up his wea- 
 pon, which lay beneath the counter ready at the 
 slightest notice, and calling to Tunstall to take 
 his bat and follow, leaped over the hatch-door 
 which protected the outer shop, and ran as fast 
 as he could towards the aiFray, echoing the cry 
 as he ran, and elbowing, or shoving aside, 
 whomsoever stood in his way. His comrade, 
 first calling to his master to give an eye to the 
 shop, followed Jenkin's example, and ran after 
 him as fast as he could, but with more attention 
 to the safety and convenience of others ; while 
 old David Ramsay, with hands and eyes uplift- 
 ed, a green apron before him, and a glass which 
 he had been polishing thrust into his bosom, 
 came forth to look after the safety of his goods 
 and chattels, knowing, by old experience, that 
 when the cry of " Clubs" once arose, he would 
 have little aid on the part of his apprentices.
 
 28 THE I'OllTUNES OF KIGEL. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 This, sir, is one among the Seignory, 
 Has wealth at will, and will to use his wealth. 
 And wit to encrease it. Marry, his worst folly 
 Lies in a thriftless sort of charity, 
 That goes a gadding sometimes after objects, 
 Which wise men will not see when thrust upon them. 
 
 The Old Couple. 
 
 The ancient gentleman bustled about his shop 
 in pettish displeasure, at being summoned hither 
 so hastily, to the interruption of his more abstract 
 studies ; and, unwilling to renounce the train of 
 calculation which he had put in progress, he 
 mingled whimsically with the fragments of the 
 arithmetical operation, his oratory to the passen- 
 gers, and angry reflections on his idle apprentices. 
 '' What d'ye lack, sir ? Madam, what d'ye lack 
 — clocks for hall or table — night-watches — day- 
 watches ? — LocMng xcheel being 48 — tlie poiccr of 
 retofi, 8 — the siriking pins are 48 — What d'ye
 
 THE FORTUNES OF XI GEL. 29 
 
 lack, honoured sir ? — The quotient — the multiplU 
 cand — That the knaves should have gone out at 
 this blessed minute ! — the acceleration being' at the 
 rate of 5 minutes, 55 seconds, 53 thirds, 5djbu?'ths 
 — I will switch them both when they come back — 
 I will, by the bones of the immortal Napier !" 
 
 Here the vexed philosopher was interrupted 
 by the entrance of a grave citizen of a most re- 
 spectable appearance, who, saluting him famihar- 
 ly by the name of " Davie, my old acquaintance,*' 
 demanded what had put him so much out of 
 sorts, and gave him at the same time a cordial 
 grasp of his hand. 
 
 The stranger's dress was, though grave, ra- 
 ther richer than usual. His paned hose were 
 of black velvet, lined with purple silk, which 
 garniture appeared at the slashes. His dou- 
 blet was of purple cloth, and his short cloak of 
 black velvet to correspond with his hose ; and 
 both were adorned wdth a great number of small 
 silver buttons richly wrought in filigree. A 
 triple chain of gold hung round his neck ; and in 
 place of a sword or dagger, he wore at his belt 
 an ordinary knife for the purpose of the table,
 
 30 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 with a small silver case, which appeared to con- 
 tain writing materials. He might have seemed 
 some secretary or clerk engaged in the service of 
 the public, only that his low, flat, and unadorned 
 cap, and his well-blacked shining shoes, indicated 
 that he belonged to the city. He was a well-made 
 man, about the middle size, and seemed firm in 
 health though advanced in years. His looks ex- 
 pressed sagacity and good humour ; and the air 
 of respectability which his dress announced was 
 w^ell supported by his clear eye, ruddy cheek, 
 and grey hair. He used the Scottish idiom in 
 his first address, but in such a manner that it 
 could hardly be distinguished whether he was 
 passing upon his friend a sort of jocose mockery, 
 or whether it was his own native dialect, for his 
 ordinary discourse had little provincialism. 
 
 In answer to the queries of his respectable 
 friend, Ramsay groaned heavily, answering by 
 echoing back the question, " What ails me, Mas- 
 ter George.'' Why, everything ails me ! I pro- 
 fess to you that a man may as well live in Fairy- 
 land as in the Ward of Faringdon-Without. 
 My apprentices are turned into mere goblins —
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 31 
 
 they appear and disappear like spiinkies, and 
 have no more regularity in them than a watch 
 without a scaptment. If there is a ball to be 
 tossed up, or a bullock to be driven mad, or a 
 quean to be ducked for scolding, or a head to be 
 broken, Jenkin is sure to be at the one end or 
 the other of it, and then away skips Francis Tun- 
 stall for company. I think the prize-fighters, 
 bear-leaders, and mountebanks, are in a league 
 against me, my dear friend, and that they pass 
 my house ten times for any other in the city. 
 Here's an Italian fellow come over too, that they 
 call Punchinello ; and, all together '''* 
 
 " Well," interrupted Master George, '' but 
 what is all this to the present case ?'' 
 
 " Why,*" replied Ramsay, " here has been a 
 cry of thieves or murder, (I hope that will prove 
 the least of it amongst these English pock-pud- 
 ding swine !) and I have been interrupted in the 
 deepest calculation ever mortal man plunged into. 
 Master George."" 
 
 " What, man !""' replied Master George, " you 
 must take patience — You are a man that deals 
 in time, and can make it go fast and slow at plea-
 
 32 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 sure; you, of all the world, have least reason to 
 complain if a little of it be lost now and then. But 
 here come your boys, and bringing in a slain man 
 betwixt them, I think — ^here has been serious mis- 
 chief, I am afraid." 
 
 " The more mischief the better sport," said the 
 crabbed old watch-maker. " I am blithe, though, 
 that it's neither of the twa loons themselves. — 
 What are ye bringing a corpse here for, ye fause 
 villains.^" he added, addressing the two appren- 
 tices, who, at the head of a considerable mob of 
 their own class, some of whom bore evident marks 
 of a recent fray, were carrying the body betwixt 
 them. 
 
 " He is not dead yet, sir," answered Tunstall. 
 
 " Carry him into the apothecary's then," replied 
 his master. " D'ye think I can set a man's life in 
 motion again, as if he were a clock or a time-piece T"" 
 
 " For godsake, old friend," said his acquaint- 
 ance, " let us have him here at the nearest — he 
 seems only in a swoon." 
 
 " A swoon T"" said Ramsay, " and what busi- 
 ness had he to swoon in the streets ? Only, if it 
 will oblige my friend Master George, I would 
 15
 
 THE FOIITUNES OF NIGKL. 33 
 
 take in all the dead men in St Dunstan^s parish. 
 Call Sam Porter to look after the shop." 
 
 So saying, the stunned man, being the identi- 
 cal Scotsman who had passed a short time before 
 amidst the jeers of the apprentices, was carried 
 into the back shop of the artist, and there placed 
 in an armed chair till the apothecary from over 
 the way came to his assistance. This gendeman, 
 as sometimes happens to those of the learned pro- 
 fessions, had rather more lore than knowledge, 
 and began to talk of the sinciput and occiput, 
 and cerebrum and cerebellum, until he exhaust- 
 ed David Ramsay's brief stock of patience. 
 
 " Bell-um ! bell-ell-um !" he repeated, with great 
 indignation ; " What signify all the bells in Lon- 
 don, if you do not put a plaister on the chield'*s 
 crown P'' 
 
 Master George, with better directed zeal, asked 
 the apothecary whether bleeding might not be 
 useful ; when, after humming and hawing for a 
 moment, and being unable, upon the spur of the 
 occasion, to suggest anything else, the man of 
 pharmacy observed, that it would, at all events, 
 relieve the brain or cerebrum, in case there was a 
 
 VOL. I. c
 
 '04 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 tendency to the depositation of any extravasated 
 blood, to operate as a pressure upon that dehcate 
 organ. Fortunately he was adequate to perform- 
 ing this operation ; and being powerfully aided 
 by Jenkin Vincent, (who was learned in all cases 
 of broken head,) with plenty of cold water, and a 
 little vinegar, applied according to the scientific 
 method practised by the bottle-holders in a mo- 
 dern ring, the man began to raise himself on his 
 ehair, draw his cloak tightly around him, and 
 look about like one who struggles to recover 
 sense and recollection. 
 
 '' He had better he down on the bed in the 
 little back closet," said Mr Ramsay's visitor, who 
 seemed perfectly familiar with the accommoda- 
 tions which the house afforded. 
 
 " He is welcome to my share of the truckle," 
 'said Jenkin, — for in the said back closet were the 
 two apprentices accommodated in one truckle- 
 bed, — " I can sleep under the counter." 
 
 " So can I," said Tun stall, "and the poor fel- 
 low can have the bed all night." 
 
 " Sleep," said the apothecary, " is, in the opi- 
 nion of Galen, a restorative and febrifuge, and is 
 most naturally taken in a truckle-bed."
 
 THK rOUTrXES OF NIGFt.. 35 
 
 " Where a better cannot be come by — "" smd 
 Master George ; " but these are two honest lads, 
 to give up their beds so willingly. Come, off 
 with his cloak, and let us bear him to his couch — 
 I will send for Dr Irving the king's chirurgeon — 
 he does not live far oft*, and that shall be my share 
 of the Samaritan's duty, neighbour Ramsay." 
 
 '* Well, sir,"" said the apothecary, " it is at 
 your pleasure to send for other advice, and I 
 shall not object to consult with Dr Irving or any 
 other medical person of skilly neither to continue 
 to furnish such drugs as may be needful from 
 my pharmacopeia. However, whatever Dr Ir- 
 vine, who, I think, hath had his degrees in Edin 
 burgh, or Dr Any-one-beside, be he Scottish or 
 English, may say to the contrary, sleep, taken 
 timeously, is a febrifuge or sedative, and also a 
 restorative." 
 
 He muttered a few more learned words, and 
 concluded by informing Ramsay's friend in Eng- 
 hsh far more intelligible than his Latin, that he 
 would look to him as his paymaster, for medi- 
 cines, care, and attendance, furnished, or to be 
 furnished, to this party unknown.
 
 8b THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 Master George only replied by desiring him to 
 send his bill for what he had already to charge, 
 and to give himself no farther trouble unless he 
 heard from him. The pharmacopolist, who, from 
 discoveries made by the cloak falling a little aside, 
 had no great opinion of the faculty of this chance 
 patient tomakereimbursement,had no sooner seen 
 his case espoused by a substantial citizen, than he 
 shewed some reluctance to quit possession of the 
 case, and it required a short and stern hint from 
 Master George, which, with all his good humour, 
 he was capable of expressing when occasion ser- 
 ved, to send to his own dwelling this Esculapius 
 of Temple Bar. 
 
 When they were rid of Mr Raredrench, the 
 charitable efforts of Jenkin and Francis, to di- 
 vest the patient of his long grey cloak, were firmly 
 resisted on his own part. — *' My life suner — my 
 life suner," he muttered in indistinct murmurs. In 
 these efforts to retain his upper garment, which 
 was too tender to resist much handling, it gave way 
 at length with a loud rent, which almost threw the 
 patient into a second syncope, and he sate before 
 them in his under garments, the looped and re-
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 37 
 
 paired wretchedness of which moved at once pity 
 and laughter, and had certainly been the cause 
 of his unwillingness to resign the mantle, which, 
 like the virtue of charity, served to cover so many 
 imperfections. 
 
 The man himself cast his eyes on his poverty- 
 struck garb, and seemed so much ashamed of the 
 disclosure, that, muttering between his teeth, that 
 he would be too late for an appointment, he made 
 an eflPort to rise and leave the shop, which was 
 easily prevented by Jenkin Vincent and his com- 
 rade, who, at the nod of Master George, laid 
 hold of and detained him in his chair. The 
 patient next looked round him for a moment, 
 and then said faintly in his broad northern lan- 
 guage — " What sort of usage ca' ye this, gen- 
 tlemen, to a stranger and a sojourner in your 
 town ? Ye hae broken my head — ye hae riven 
 my cloak, and now ye are for restraining my per- 
 sonal liberty ! They were wiser than me,'' he said, 
 after a moment's pause, " that counselled me to 
 wear my warst claithing in the streets of London ; 
 and if I could have got any things worse than 
 these mean garments," — (" Which would have 
 been very difficult,'' said Jin Vin, in a whisper
 
 38 THE FOllTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 to his companion,) " they would have been e'en 
 ower guid for the grips o' men sae httle acquent- 
 ed with the laws of honest civility." 
 
 " To say the truth," said Jenkin, unable to 
 forbear any longer, although the discipline of the 
 times prescribed to those in his situation a degree 
 of respectful distance and humility in the presence 
 of parents, masters, or seniors, of which the pre- 
 sent age has no idea — " To say truth, the good 
 gentleman's clothes look ^s if they would not brook 
 much handling." 
 
 '* Hold your peace, young man," said Master 
 George, with a tone of authority ; " never mock 
 the stranger, or the poor — the black ox has. not 
 trode on your foot yet — you know not what lands 
 you may travel in, or what clothes you may wear, 
 before you die." 
 
 Vincent held down his head and stood rebuked, 
 but the stranger did not accept the apology which 
 was made for him. 
 
 " I am a stranger, sir," said he, " that is cer- 
 tain ; though methinks, that being such, I have 
 been somewhat familiarly treated in this town of 
 yours ; — but as for my being poor, I think I need
 
 THE FORTUS'ES OF NIGEL. 39 
 
 not. be charged with poverty, till I seek siller of 
 somebody.*' 
 
 " The dear country all over," said Master 
 George in a whisper to David Ramsay, " pride 
 and poverty." 
 
 But David had taken out his tablets and silver 
 pen, and, deeply immersed in calculations, in 
 which he rambled over all the terms of arithme- 
 tic, from the simple unit to millions, billions, and 
 trillions, neither heard nor answered the observa- 
 tion of his friend, who, seeing his abstraction, 
 turned again to the Scot. 
 
 "I fancy now. Jockey, if a stranger were to 
 offer you a noble, you would chuck it back at his 
 head?" 
 
 " Not if I could do him honest service for it, 
 sir," said the Scot ; ''I am willing to do what 
 I may to be useful, though I come of an honour- 
 able house, and may be said to be in a sort in- 
 differently weel provided for." 
 
 " Ay !" said the interrogator, " and what house 
 may claim the honour of your descent .?" 
 
 " An ancient coat belongs to it, as the play 
 says," whispered Vincent to his companion. 
 
 " Come, Jockey, out with it," continued Master
 
 40 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 George, observing that the Scot, as usual with his 
 countrymen, when asked a blunt, straight-for- 
 ward question, took a httle time before answer- 
 ing it. 
 
 " I am no more Jockey, sir, than you are John,"" 
 said the stranger, as if offended at being address- 
 ed by a name, which at that time was used, as 
 Sawney now is, for a general appellative of the 
 Scottish nation. " My name, if you must know 
 it, is Richie Moniplies ; and I come of the old 
 and honourable house of Castle Collop, weel 
 kenn'd at the West Port of Edinburgh." 
 
 " What is that you call the West Port .?" pro- 
 ceeded the interrogator. 
 
 " Why, an it hke your honour," said Richie, 
 whonow having recovered his senses sufficiently to 
 observe the respectable exterior of Master George, 
 threw more civility into his manner than at first, 
 " the West Port is a gate of our city, as yonder 
 brick arches at Whitehall form the entrance of 
 the King's palace here, only that the West Port 
 is of stonern work, and mair decorated with ar- 
 chitecture and the policy of bigging." 
 
 " Nouns, man, the Whitehall gateways were 
 planned by the great Holbein," answered Master
 
 THE KORTUXKS OF Is'IGEL. 41 
 
 George, " I suspect your accident has jumbled 
 "your brains, my good friend. I suppose you 
 will tell me next, you have at Edinburgh as fine a 
 navigable river as the Thames, with all its ship- 
 ping/' 
 
 " The Thames !" exclaimed Richie, in a tone 
 of ineffable contempt — " God bless your honour's 
 judgment, we have at Edinburgh the Water-of- 
 licith and the Nor-loch !" 
 
 " And the Pow-Burn, and the Quarry-holes, 
 and the Gusedub, fause loun," answered Master 
 George, speaking Scotch with a strong and na- 
 tural emphasis ; " it is such land-loupers as you 
 that, with your falset and fair fashions, bring re- 
 proach on our whole country.*" 
 
 ** God forgie me, sir," said Richie, much sur- 
 prised at finding the supposed southern convert- 
 ed into a native Scot, " I took your honour for 
 an Englisher ! But I hope there was naething 
 wrang in standing up for ane's ain country's cre- 
 dit in a strange land, where all men cry her down." 
 " Do you call it for your country's credit, to 
 shew that she has a lying puffing rascal for one of 
 her children .^'' said Master George. " But come, 
 man, never look grave on it, — as you liave found
 
 42 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 a countryman, so you have found a friend if you 
 deserve one — and specially if you answer me 
 truly." 
 
 " I see nae gude it wad do me to speak ought 
 else but truth," said the worthy North Briton. 
 
 " Well then — to begin," said Master George, 
 " I suspect you are a son of old Mungo Moni- 
 plies, the flesher, at the West-Port." 
 
 " Your honour is a witch, I think," said 
 Richie, grinning. 
 
 '' And how dared you, sir, to uphold him for 
 a noble ?" 
 
 " I dinna ken, sir," said Richie, scratching 
 his head ; " I hear mickle of an Earl of War- 
 wick in these southern parts,- — Guy 1 think his 
 name was, — and he has great reputation here for 
 slaying dun cows, and boars, and such like ; and I 
 am sure my father has killed more cows and boars, 
 not to mention bulls, calves, sheep, ewes, lambs, 
 and pigs, than the hail Baronage of England." 
 
 *' Go to ! you are a shrewd knave," said 
 Master George ; " charm your tongue, and take 
 care of saucy answers. Your father w^as an ho- 
 nest burgher, and the deacon of his craft : I am 
 sorry to see his son in so poor a coat."
 
 THE FORTUNES OF JJIGEL. 4S 
 
 '' Indifferent, sir," said Kichie Moniplies, look- 
 ing down on his garments — " very indifferent ; 
 but it is the wonted livery of poor burghers' sons 
 in our country — one of Luckie Want's bestowing 
 upon us — rest us patient. The King's leaving 
 Scotland has taken all custom frae Edinburgh ; 
 and there is hay made at the Cross, and a dainty 
 crop of fouats in the Grass-market. There is as 
 much grass grows where my father's stall stood, 
 as might have been a good bite for the beasts he 
 was used to kill." 
 
 " It is even too true," said Master George ; 
 " and while we make fortunes here, our old 
 neighbours and their famiUes are starving at 
 home. This should be thought upon oftener.— 
 And how came you by that broken head, Richie ? 
 — tell me honestly." 
 
 " Troth, sir, I'se no lee about the matter," anr 
 swered Moniplies. " I was coming alang the street 
 here, and ilk ane was at me with their jests and 
 roguery. So I thought tomysell,ye are owermony 
 for me to mell w ith ; but let me catch ye in Bar- 
 ford's Park, or at the fit of the Vennel, I could 
 gar some of ye sing another sang. Sae ae auld
 
 44 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 hirpling deevil of a potter behoved just to step in 
 my way and offer me a pig, as he said, just to put 
 my Scotch ointment in, and I gave him a push, 
 as but natural, and the tottering deevil couped 
 ewer amang his ain pigs, and damaged a score 
 of them. And then the reird raise, and hadna 
 these twa gentlemen helped me out of it, mur- 
 dered I suld hae been, without remeid. And as 
 it was, just when they got baud of my arm to 
 have me out of the fray, I got the lick that 
 donnerit me from a left-handed hghter-man." 
 
 Master George looked to the apprentices as if 
 to demand the truth of this story. 
 
 " It is just as he says, sir,*" replied Jenkin; 
 " only I heard nothing about pigs. — The people 
 said he had broke some crockery, and that — I beg 
 pardon, sir — nobody could thrive within the ken- 
 ning of a Scot." 
 
 " Well, no matter what they said, you were 
 an honest fellow to help the weaker side — And 
 you, sirrah,'"' continued IMaster George, address- 
 ing his countryman, " will call at my house to- 
 morrow morning, agreeable to this direction.*" 
 
 " I will wait upon your honour," said the
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 45 
 
 Scot, bowing very low ; " that is, if my lionour- 
 able master will permit me." 
 
 *' Thy master ?" said George, — " Hast thou 
 any other master save "Want, whose liverv you 
 say you wear ?"' 
 
 " Troth, in one sense, if it please your honour, 
 I serve twa masters," said Richie; "for both my 
 master and me are slaves to that same beldame, 
 whom we thought to shew our heels to by coming 
 oflP from Scotland. So that you see, sir, I hold in 
 a sort of black ward tenure, as we call it in our 
 country, being the servant of a servant." 
 
 " And what is your master's name ?" said 
 George; and observing that Richie hesitated, 
 he added, '^ Nay, do not tell me, if it is a se- 
 cret." 
 
 " A secret that there is little use in keeping," 
 said Richie ; " only ye ken that our northern sto- 
 machs are ower proud to call in witnesses to our 
 distress. No that my master is in mair than present 
 pinch, sir," he added, looking towards the two 
 EngHsh apprentices, " having a large sum in the 
 Royal Treasury — that is," he continued, in a
 
 46 THE FORTUNES OF XIGEL. 
 
 whisper to Master George, — " the King is owing 
 him a lot of siller ; but it's ill getting at it it's 
 like. — My master is the young Lord Glenvar- 
 loch." 
 
 Master George testified surprise at the name.-^^ 
 " You one of the young Lord Glenvarloch's fol- 
 lowers, and in such a condition !'" 
 
 " Troth, and I am all the followers he has, for 
 the present that is ; and blithe wad I be if he 
 were muckle better afF than I am, though I were 
 to bide as I am." 
 
 <' I have seen his father with four gentlemen 
 and ten lackeys at his heels," said Master George, 
 " rustling in their laces and velvets. Well, this 
 is a changeful world, but there is a better beyond 
 it. — The good old house of Glenvarloch, that 
 stood by king and country five hundred years !'' 
 
 " Your honour may say a thousand," said the 
 follower. 
 
 " I will say what I know to be true, friend," 
 said the citizen, " and not a word more. — You 
 seem well recovered now, can you walk ?" 
 
 " Bravely, sir," said Richie ; " it was but a
 
 THK FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 47 
 
 bit dover. I was bred at the West Port, and my 
 cantle will stand a clour wad bring a stot down." 
 
 " Where does your master lodge f"^ 
 
 " We pit up, an it like your honour," replied 
 the Scot, " in a sma' house at the fit of ane of the 
 wynds that gang down to the waterside, with a 
 decent man, John Christie, a ship-chandler, as 
 they ca't. His father came from Dundee. I wotna 
 the name of the wynd, but it's right anent the 
 mickle kirk yonder ; and your honour will mind 
 that we pass only by our family-name of simple 
 Mr Nigel Olifaunt, as keeping ourselves retired 
 for the present, though in Scotland we be called 
 the Lord Nigel;' 
 
 " It is wisely done of your master,*" said the 
 citizen. " I will find out your lodgings, though 
 your direction be none of the clearest." So say- 
 ing, and slipping a piece of money at the same 
 time into Richie Moniplies's hand, he bid him 
 hasten home, and get into no more aifrays. 
 
 " I will take care of that now, sir," said Richie, 
 with a look of importance, " having a charge 
 about me. And so, wussing ye a' weel, with spe- 
 cial thanks to these twa young gentlemen " 
 
 12
 
 48 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " I am no gentleman," said Jenkin, flinging his 
 cap on his head. — " I am a tight London 'pren- 
 tice, and hope to be a freeman one day. Frank 
 may write himself gentleman, if he will."" 
 
 " I was a gentleman once,'' said Tunstall, 
 '' and I hope I have done nothing to lose the 
 name of one." 
 
 '' Weel, weel, as ye list," said Richie Moni- 
 plies ; " but I am muckle beholden to ye baith 
 — and I am not a hair the less like to bear it in 
 mind that I say but little about it just now. — 
 Gude night to you, my kind countryman." So 
 saying, he thrust out of the sleeve of his ragged 
 doublet a long bony hand and arm, on which the 
 muscles rose like whip-cord. 
 
 Master George shook it heartily, while Jenkin 
 and Frank exchanged sly looks with each other. 
 Richie Moniplies would next have addressed his 
 thanks to the master of the shop, but seeing him, 
 as he afterwards said, " scribbling on his bit 
 bookie as if he were demented," he contented his 
 pohteness with " giving him a hat," and so left the 
 shop.
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 49 
 
 " Now there goes Scotch Jockey, with all his 
 bad and good about him," said Master George 
 to Master David, who suspended, though unwil- 
 lingly, the calculations with which he was enga- 
 ged, and, keeping his pen within an inch of the 
 tablets, gazed on his friend with great lack-lustre 
 eyes, which expressed any thing rather than in- 
 telligence or interest in the discourse addressed to 
 him. " That fellow," proceeded Master George, 
 without heeding his friend's state of abstraction, 
 " shews, with great liveliness of colouring, how 
 our Scotch pride and poverty makes liars and 
 braggarts of us j and yet the knave, whose every 
 third word to an Englishman is a boastful lie, 
 will, I warrant you, be a true and tender friend 
 and follower to his master, and has perhaps parted 
 with his mantle to him in the cold blast, although 
 he walked himself i;i cuerpo^ as the Don says. 
 Strange, that courage and fidelity — for I ^v^ll war- 
 rant that the knave is stout — should have no better 
 companions than this swaggering braggadochio 
 humour. But you mark me not, friend Davie." 
 
 " I do—I do, most heedfully," said Davie ; 
 " for as the sun goeth round the dial-plate in 
 
 VOL. I. J)
 
 50 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 twenty-four hours, add for the moon fifty minutes 
 and a half '' 
 
 " You are in the seventh heavens, man," said 
 his companion. 
 
 " I crave your pardon,**' replied Davie ; " let 
 the wheel A go round in twenty-four hours — I 
 have it — and the wheel B in twenty-four hours, 
 fifty minutes and a half — fifty-seven being to 
 fifty-four as fifty-nine to twenty-four hours fifty 
 minutes and a half, or very nearly, — I crave your 
 forgiveness. Master George, and heartily wish 
 you good-even.'' 
 
 " Good-even?" said Master George ; " why, 
 you have not wished me good-day yet. Come, 
 old friend, lay by these tablets, or you will crack 
 the inner machinery of 7/our skull, as our friend 
 yonder has got the outer case of his damaged. — 
 Good-night, quotha ! I mean not to part with 
 you so easily ; I came to get my four-hour's 
 nuncheon from you, man, besides a tune on the 
 lute from my god-daughter, Mrs Marget." 
 
 " Good faith ! I was abstracted. Master George 
 — but you know me — whenever I get amongst 
 the wheels," — said Mr Ramsay, " why "
 
 THE FORTrXES OF NIGEL. 51 
 
 " Lucky that you deal in small ones,'' said his 
 friend, as, awakened from his reveries and calcu- 
 lations, Ramsay led the v>ay up a Httle back- 
 stair to the first story, occupied by his daughter 
 and his httle household. 
 
 The apprentices resumed their places in the 
 front shop, and relieved Sam Porter, when Jen- 
 kin said to Tunstall — '' Didst see, Frank, how 
 the old goldsmith cottoned in with his beggarly 
 countryman ? when would one of his having 
 have shaken hands so courteously with a poor 
 Englishman ? Well, I'll say that for the best 
 of the Scots, that they will go over head and ears 
 to serve a countryman, when they will not wet a 
 nail of their finger to save a Southron, as they 
 call us, from drowning. And yet Master George 
 is but half-bred Scot neither in that respect ; for 
 I have known him do many a kind thing to the 
 Enghsh too." 
 
 " But hark ye, Jenkin," said Tunstall, " I 
 think you are but half-bred English yourself;— 
 how came you to strike on the Scotsman's side 
 after all .?" 
 
 UBRARY 
 
 mVERSiTY OF iLUNn,T
 
 52 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " Why, you did so too," answered Vincent. 
 
 " Ay, because I saw you begin ; and, besides, 
 it is no Cumberland fashion to fall fifty upon 
 one," replied Tunstall. 
 
 " And no Christ-Church fashion neither," said 
 Jenkin. " Fair play and old England for ever. 
 Besides, to tell you a secret, his voice had a 
 twang in it — in the dialect I mean — reminded 
 me of a little tongue which I think sweeter- 
 sweeter than the last toll of St Dunstan's will 
 sound, on the day that I am shot of my inden- 
 tures — ha ! — ^you guess who I mean, Frank ?" 
 
 " Not I, indeed," answered Tunstall. " Scotch 
 Janet, I suppose, the laundress." 
 
 " Off with Janet in her own bucking basket ! 
 —no, no, no !— -You blind buzzard, — do you 
 not know I mean pretty Mrs Marget !" 
 
 " Umph !" answered Tunstall, drily. 
 
 A flash of anger, not unmingled with suspi- 
 cion, shot from Jenkin's keen black eyes. 
 
 " Umph ! — and what signifies umph ? I am 
 not the first 'prentice has married his master's 
 daughter, I think ?"
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 53 
 
 " They kept their own secret, I fancy," said 
 Tunstall, " at least till they were out of their 
 time.'' 
 
 " I tell you what it is, Frank,*" answered Jen- 
 kin, sharply, " that may be the fashion of you 
 gentle-folks that are taught from your biggen to 
 carry two faces under the same hood, but it shall 
 never be mine." 
 
 " There are the stairs then," said Tunstall, 
 coolly ; " go up and ask Mrs Marget of our 
 master just now, and see what sort of a face he 
 will wear under his hood." 
 
 " No, I wonnot," answered Jenkin ; " I am 
 not such a fool as that neither ; but I will take 
 my own time, and all the Counts in Cumberland 
 shall not cut my comb, and this is that which you 
 may depend upon." 
 
 Francis made no reply ; and they resumed 
 their usual attention to the business of the shop, 
 and their usual solicitations to the passengers.
 
 54 THE FORTUNES OF NJGEL. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 BohadU. I pray you possess no gallant of your acquaintance 
 with a knowledge of my lodging. 
 Master Matthexv. Who, I, sir ? — Lord, sir ! 
 
 Bex Joxson. 
 
 The next morning found Nigel Olifaunt, the 
 young Lord of Glenvarloch, seated, sad and soli- 
 tary, in his little apartment in the mansion of John 
 Christie, the ship-chandler, which that honest 
 tradesman, in gratitude perhaps to the profession 
 from which he derived his chief support, seemed 
 to have constructed as nearly as possible upon 
 the plan of a ship's cabin. 
 
 It was situated near to Paul's Wharf, at the 
 end of one of those intricate and narrow lanes, 
 which, until that part of the city was swept away 
 by the great fire in 1666, constituted an extra- 
 ordinary labyrinth of small, dark, damp, and un-
 
 THE FORTUNES OF XIGEL. 55 
 
 wholesome streets and alleys, in one corner or 
 other of which the plague was then as surely found 
 lurking, as in the obscure corners of Constanti- 
 nople in our own time. But John Christie's house 
 looked out upon the river, and had the advan- 
 tage, therefore, of free air, — impregnated, how- 
 ever, with the odoriferous fumes of the articles 
 in which the ship-chandler dealt, with the odour 
 of pitch, and the natural scent of the ouze and 
 sludge left by the reflux of the tide. 
 
 Upon the whole, except that his dwelling did 
 not float with the flood-tide, and become strand- 
 ed with the ebb, the young lord was nearly as 
 comfortably accommodated as he was while on 
 board the little tradino; brio^ from the longr town 
 of Kirkcaldy, in Fife, by which he had come 
 a passenger to London. He received, however, 
 every attention which could be paid him by 
 his honest landlord, John Christie ; for Richie 
 Moniplies had not thought it necessary to pre- 
 serve his master''s incognito so completely, but 
 that the honest ship-chandler could form a 
 guess that his guest's quality was superior to 
 his appearance. As for Dame Nell, his wife»
 
 56 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 a round, buxom, laughter-loving dame, with 
 black eyes, a tight well-laced boddice, a green 
 apron, and a red petticoat edged with a slight 
 silver lace, and judiciously shortened so as to 
 shew that a short heel, and a tight clean ancle, 
 rested upon her well-burnished shoe, — she, of 
 course, felt interest in a young man, who, be- 
 sides being very handsome, good-humoured, and 
 easily satisfied with the accommodations her house 
 afforded, was evidently of a rank, as well as man- 
 ners, highly superior to the skippers, (or Cap- 
 tains, as they call themselves,) of merchant ves- 
 sels, who were the usual tenants of the apartments 
 which she let to hire ; and at whose departure 
 she was sure to find her well-scrubbed floor soiled 
 with the relics of tobacco, (which, spite of King 
 James's Counterblast, was then forcing itself in- 
 to use,) and her best curtains impregnated with 
 the odour of Geneva and strong waters, to Dame 
 Nelly's great indignation ; for, as she truly said, 
 the smell of the shop and warehouse was bad 
 enough without these additions. 
 
 But all Mr Olifaunt's habits were regular 
 and cleanly, and his address, though frank and
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 57 
 
 simple, shewed so much of the courtier and 
 gentleman, as formed a strong contrast with the 
 loud halloo, coarse jests, and boisterous impa- 
 tience, of her maritime inmates. Dame Nelly 
 saw that her guest was melancholy also, not- 
 withstanding his efforts to seem contented and 
 cheerful ; and in short she took that sort of in- 
 terest in him, without being herself aware of its 
 extent, which an unscrupulous gallant might have 
 been tempted to improve to the prejudice of 
 honest John, who was at least a score of years 
 older than his helpmate. Olifaunt, however, 
 had not only other matters to think of, but would 
 have regarded such an intrigue, had the idea ever 
 occurred to him, as an abominable and ungrate- 
 ful encroachment upon the laws of hospitahty, 
 his religion having been by his late father formed 
 upon the strict principles of the national faith, 
 and his morality upon those of the nicest honour. 
 He had not escaped the predominant weakness 
 of his country, an overweening sense of the pride 
 of birth, and a disposition to value the worth and 
 consequence of others according to the number 
 and the fame of their deceased ancestors ; but
 
 58 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 this pride of family was well subdued, and in ge- 
 neral almost entirely concealed, by his good sense 
 and general courtesy. 
 
 Such as we have described him, Nigel Olifaunt, 
 or rather the young Lord Glenvarloch, was, when 
 our narrative takes him up, under great perplex- 
 ity respecting the fate of his trusty and only fol- 
 lower. Richard Moniplies had been dispatched 
 by his young master, early in the preceding morn- 
 ing, as far as the court at Westminster, but had 
 not yet returned. His evening adventures the 
 reader is already acquainted with, and so far 
 knows more of Richie than did his master, who 
 had not heard of him for twenty-four hours. 
 Dame Nelly Christie, in the meantime, regarded 
 her guest with some anxiety, and a great desire 
 to comfort him if possible. She placed on the 
 breakfast-table a noble piece of cold powdered 
 beef, with its usual guards of turnip and carrot, 
 recommended her mustard as coming direct from 
 her cousin at Tewksbury, and spiced the toast 
 with her own hands — and with her own hands, 
 also, drew a jug of stout and nappy ale, all of 
 which were elements of the substantial breakfast 
 of the period.
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 59 
 
 When she saw that her guest's anxiety prevent- 
 ed him from doing justice to the good cheer which 
 she set before him, she commenced her career of 
 verbal consolation with the usual volubility of 
 those women in her station, who, conscious of 
 good looks, good intentions, and good lungs, en- 
 tertain no fear either of wearying themselves or 
 of fatio^uinff their auditors. 
 
 " Now, what the good year ! are we to send you 
 down to Scotland as thin as you came up ? — I am 
 sure it would be contrary to the course of nature. 
 There was my good man's father, old Sandie 
 Christie, I have heard he was an atomy when he 
 came up from the North, and I am sure he died. 
 Saint Barnaby was ten years, at twenty stone 
 weight. I was a bare-headed girl at the time and 
 lived in the neighbourhood, though I had little 
 thought of marrying John then, who had a score 
 of years the better of me — but he is a thriving 
 man and a kind husband — and his father, as I was 
 saying, died as fat as a churchwarden. Well, 
 sir, but I hope I have not offended you for my 
 little joke — and I hope the ale is to your honour's 
 liking, — and the beef — and the mustard .?"
 
 eO THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 <* All excellent — all too good," answered Oli- 
 faunt ; " you have every thing so clean and tidy, 
 dame, that I shall not know how to hve when I 
 go back to my own country — if ever I go back 
 there." 
 
 This was added as it seemed involuntarily, and 
 with a deep sigh. 
 
 " I warrant your honour go back again if you 
 like it," said the dame ; " unless you think rather 
 of taking a pretty, well-dowered English lady, as 
 some of your country-folks have done. I assure 
 you, some of the best of the city have married Scots- 
 men. There was Lady Trebleplumb, Sir Tho- 
 mas Trebleplumb the great Turkey merchant's 
 widow, married Sir Awley Macauley, whom 
 your honour knows, doubtless ; and pretty Mis- 
 tress Doublefee, old Serjeant Doublefee's daugh- 
 ter, jumped out of window, and was married at 
 May-fair to a Scotsman with a hard name ; and 
 old Pitchpost the timber-merchant's daughters 
 did little better, for they married two Irishmen ; 
 and when folks jeer me about having a Scotsman 
 for lodger, meaning your honour, I tell them they 
 are afraid of their daughters and their mistresses ;
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 61 
 
 and sure I have a right to stand for the Scotch, 
 since John Christie is half a Scotchman, and a thri- 
 ving man, and a good husband, though there is 
 a score of years between us ; and so I would have 
 your honour cast care away, and mend your 
 breakfast with a morsel and a draught." 
 
 " At a word, my kind hostess, I cannot," said 
 Olifaunt ; " I am anxious about this knave of 
 mine, who has been so long absent in this dan- 
 gerous town of yours." 
 
 It may be noticed in passing, that Dame 
 Nelly''s ordinary mode of consolation was to dis- 
 prove the existence of any cause for distress ; 
 and she is said to have carried this so far as to 
 comfort a neighbour, who had lost her husband, 
 with the assurance that the dear defunct would 
 be better to-morrow, which perhaps might not 
 have proved an appropriate, even if it had been a 
 possible, mode of rehef. On this occasion she 
 denied stoutly that Richie had been absent alto- 
 gether twenty hours ; and as for people being 
 killed in the streets of London, to be sure two 
 men had been found in Tower-ditch last week, 
 but that was far to the east, and the other poor
 
 C2 THE FORTUNES OF XIGEL. 
 
 man that had his throat cut in the fields, had met 
 his mishap near by Islington ; and he that was 
 stabbed by the young Templar in a drunken 
 frolic, by Saint Clement's in the Strand, was an 
 Irishman. All which evidence she produced to 
 shew that none of these casualties had occurred 
 in a case exactly parallel with that of Richie, a 
 Scotsman and on his return from Westminster. 
 
 " My better comfort is, my good dame," an- 
 swered Olifaunt, " that the lad is no brawler or 
 quarreller, unless strongly urged, and that he 
 has no charge about him excepting papers of some 
 moment.'*'* 
 
 " Your honour speaks very well,"''* retorted the 
 inexhaustible hostess, who protracted her task 
 of taking away, and putting to rights, in order 
 that she might prolong her gossip. " I'll up- 
 hold IMaster Moniplies to be neither reveller nor 
 brawler, for if he liked such things he might be 
 visiting and junketting with the young folks about 
 here in the neighbourhood, and he never dreams 
 of it ; and when I asked the young man to go 
 as far as my gossip's. Dame Drinkwater, to taste
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. G^ 
 
 a glass of aniiiseed, and a bit of the groaning 
 cheese, — for Dame Drink water has had twins, as 
 I told your honour, sir — and I meant it quite 
 civilly to the young man, but he chose to sit and 
 keep house with John Christie ; and I dare say 
 there is a score of years between them, for your 
 honour's servant looks scarce much older than I 
 am. I wonder what they could have to say to each 
 other. I asked John Christie, but he bid me go 
 to sleep.^ 
 
 " If he comes not soon,*" said his master, '' I 
 will thank you to tell me what magistrate I can 
 address myself to ; for, besides my anxiety for 
 the poor fellow's safety, he has papers of impor- 
 tance about him.'' 
 
 '' O ! your honour may be assured he will be 
 back in a quarter of an hour," said Dame Nelly ; 
 " he is not the lad to stay out twenty-four hours 
 at a stretch. And for the papers, I am sure 
 your honour will pardon him for just giving me 
 a peep at the corner, as I was giving him a small 
 cup, not so large as my thimble, of distilled wa- 
 ters, to fortify his stomach against the damps, 
 and it was directed to the King's Most Excellent 
 14
 
 04 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 Majesty ; and so doubtless his Majesty has kept 
 Richie out of civility to consider of your honour's 
 letter, and send back a fitting reply." 
 
 Dame Nelly here hit by chance on a more 
 available topic of consolation than those she had 
 hitherto touched upon; for the youthful lord 
 had himself some vague hopes that his messen- 
 ger might have been delayed at Court until a 
 fitting and favourable answer should be dispatch- 
 ed back to him. Inexperienced, however, in 
 public affairs as he certainly was, it required only 
 a moment's consideration to convince him of the 
 improbability of an expectation so contrary to all 
 he had heard of etiquette, as well as the dila- 
 tory proceeding in a court-suit, and he answer- 
 ed the good-natured hostess with a sigh, that he 
 doubted whether the King would even look on 
 the paper addressed to him, far less take it into 
 his immediate consideration. 
 
 " Now, out upon you for a faint-hearted gen- 
 tleman," said the good dame ; " and why should 
 he not do as much for us as our gracious Queen 
 Elizabeth ? Many people say this and that about 
 a queen and a king, but I think a king comes 
 10
 
 1KT. FOHTUNKS OF NIGEL. G5 
 
 more natural to us Englisli folks ; and this good 
 gentleman goes as often down by water to Green- 
 wich, and employs as many of the barge-men and 
 ■water-men of all kinds; and maintains, in his royal 
 grace, John Taylor the water-poet, who keeps 
 both a sculler and a pair of oars. And he has made 
 a comely Court at Whitehall, just by the river ; 
 and since the King is so good a friend to the 
 Thames, 1 cannot see, if it please your honour, 
 why all his subjects, and your honour in special- 
 ty, should not have satisfaction by his hands." 
 
 " True, dame — true, — let us hope for the 
 best ; but I must take my cloak and rapier, and 
 pray your husband in courtesy to teach me the 
 way to a magistrate." 
 
 " Sure, sir,"" said the prompt dame, " I can 
 do that as well as he, who has been a slow man 
 of his tongue all his life, though I will give him 
 his due for being a loving husband, and a man 
 as well to pass in the world as any betwixt us 
 and the top of the lane. And so there is the 
 sitting alderman, that is always at the Guild- 
 hall, which is close by Paul's, and so I warrant 
 
 voii. I. E
 
 66 THE FORTUNES OF XIGEL. 
 
 you he puts all to rights in the city that wisdom 
 can mend ; and for the rest tliere is no help but 
 patience. But I wish I were as sure of forty 
 pounds, as I am that the young man will come 
 back safe and sound." 
 
 Olifaunt, in great and anxious doubt of what 
 the good dame so strongly averred, flung his 
 cloak on one shoulder, and was about* to belt on 
 his rapier, when first the voice of Richie Moni- 
 plies on the stair, and then that faithful emis- 
 sary's appearance in the chamber, put the matter 
 beyond question. Dame Nelly, after congratu- 
 lating IMoniplies on his return, and paying seve- 
 ral comphments to her own sagacity for having 
 foretold it, was at length pleased to leave the 
 apartment. The truth was, that, besides some 
 instinctive feelings of good breeding which com- 
 bated her curiosity, she saw there was no chance 
 of Richie's proceeding in his narrative while she 
 was in the room, and she therefore retreated, 
 trusting that her own address would get the se- 
 cret out of one or other of the young men, when 
 she should have either by himself. 
 
 ^' Now, in Heaven's name, what is the matter ?"
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGFI.. G7 
 
 said Nigel Olifaunt. — " Where have you been, 
 or what have you been about ? You look as pale 
 as death. There is blood on your hand, and your 
 clothes are torn. What barns-breaking have you 
 been at ? You have been drunk, Richard, and 
 fighting." 
 
 " Fighting I have been," said Richard, "in a 
 small way ; but for being drunk, that^s a job ill 
 to manage in this town, without money to come 
 by liquor; and as for barns-breaking, the dell a 
 thing's broken but my head. It''s not made of 
 iron, I wot, nor my claithes of chenzie-mail ; so 
 a club smashed the tane, and a claucht damaged 
 the tither. Some misleard rascals abused my 
 country, but I think I cleared the causey of 
 them. However, the haill hive was ower mony 
 for me at last, and I got this eclipse on the 
 crown, and then I was carried, beyond my ken- 
 ning, to a sma' booth at the Temple Port, whare 
 they sell the whirly-gigs and mony-go-rounds 
 that measure out time as a man wad measure a 
 tartan web ; and then they bled me, wold I nold 
 I, and were reasonably civil, especially an auld 
 countryman of ours, of whom more hereafter.'*'
 
 68 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " And at what o'clock might this be ?""" said 
 Nigel. 
 
 " The twa iron carles yonder, at the kirk be- 
 side the Port, were just banging out sax o' the 
 clock." 
 
 " And why came you not home so soon as you 
 recovered ?"' said Nigel. 
 
 " In troth, my lord, every zcJit/ has its iclicre- 
 Jhre, and this has a gude ane," answered his fol- 
 lower. " To come hame, I behoved to ken whare 
 hame was ; now, I had clean tint the name of the 
 wynd, and the mair I asked, the mair the folk 
 leugh, and the farther they sent me wrang ; sae 
 I gave it up till God should send daylight to help 
 me, and as I saw mysell near a kirk at the lang 
 run, I e''en crap in to take up my night's quarters 
 in the kirk-yard."" 
 
 ^* In the church-yard ?"" said Nigel; " but I 
 need not ask what drove you to such a pinch." 
 
 " It wasna sae much the want o" siller, m}^ 
 Lord Nigel," said Richie, with an air of myste- 
 rious importance, " for I was no sae absolute 
 without means, of whilk mair anon ; but I thought 
 I wad never ware a saxpence sterling on ane of their
 
 THE FORTUNK8 OF NIGEL. 69 
 
 saucy chamberlains at a hostelry, saelang as I could 
 sleep fresh and fine in a fair, dry, spring night. 
 Mony a time whan I hae come hame ower late, 
 and faund the West Port steekit, and the waiter 
 ill-willy, I have garr'd the sexton of Saint Cuth- 
 bert's calf-ward serve me for my quarters. But 
 then there are dainty green grafFs in Saint Cuth- 
 bert's kirk-yard, whare ane may sleep as if they 
 were in a down-bed, till they hear the lavrock 
 singing up in the air as high as the Castle ; where- 
 as, and behold, these London kirk-yards are cau- 
 seyed with through-stanes, panged hard and fast 
 thegither ; and my cloak being something thread- 
 bare, made but a thin mattress, so I was fain to 
 give up my bed before every limb about me was 
 crippled. Dead folks may sleep yonder sound 
 enow, but de'il haet else."" 
 
 " And what became of you next ?"*" said liis 
 master. 
 
 " I just took to a canny bulk-head, as they ca' 
 them here ; that is, the boards on the tap of their 
 bits of outshots of stalls and booths, and there I 
 sleeped as sound as if I was in a castle. Not but 
 I was disturbed with sonic of the night-walking
 
 73 THE lOIlTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 queans and billies, but when tbey found there 
 was nothing to be got by me but a slash of my 
 Andrew Ferrara, they bid me good-night for a 
 beggarly Scot ; and I was e^en weel pleased to be 
 sae cheap rid of them. And in the morning, I 
 cam daikering here, but sad wark I had to find 
 the way, for I had been east as far as the place 
 they ca' Mile-End, though it is mair like sax- 
 mile-end."" 
 
 " Well, Richie," answered Nigel, " I am glad 
 all this has ended so well — go get something to 
 eat. I am sure you need it." 
 
 "In troth do I, sir," replied Moniplies ; " but, 
 with your lordship's leave " 
 
 " Forget the lordship for the present, Richie, 
 as I have often told you before." 
 
 " Faith," replied Richie, " I could weel for- 
 get that your honour was a lord, but then I be- 
 hoved to forget that I am a lord's man, and that's 
 not so easy. But, however," he added, assisting 
 his description with the thumb and the two fore- 
 fingers of his right hand, thrust out after the fa- 
 shion of a bird's-claw, while the little finger and 
 ring-finger were closed upon the palms, " to the
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NTGEL. 71 
 
 Court I went, and my friend that promised me 
 a sight of his Majesty's most gracious presence, 
 was as gude as his word, and carried me into the 
 back offices, where I got the best breakfast I 
 liave had since we came here, and it did me gude 
 for the rest of the day ; for as to what I have 
 eaten in this accursed town, it is aye sauced with 
 the disquieting thought that it maun be paid for. 
 After a', there was but beef banes and fat brose ; 
 but king''s caufF, your honour kens, is better than 
 ither folk's corn ; at ony rate, it was aw in free 
 awmous. But I see,'"* he added, stopping short, 
 '' that your honour waxes impatient." 
 
 " By no means, Richie," said the young no- 
 bleman, with an air of resignation, for he well 
 knew his domestic would not mend his pace for 
 goading ; " you have suffered enough in the em- 
 bassy to have got the right to tell the story in 
 your ov/n way. Only let me pray for the name 
 of the friend who was to introduce you into the 
 King's presence. You were very mysterious on 
 the subject, when you undertook, through his 
 means, to have the Supplication put into his Ma- 
 jesty's own hands, since those sent heretofore, I
 
 12 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 have every reason to think, went no farther than 
 his secretary''s.'" 
 
 " Weel, my lord,'" said Richie, " I did not 
 tell you his name and quality at first, because I 
 thought you would be affronted at the like of him 
 having to do in your lordship's affairs. But mony 
 a man climbs up in Court by waur help. It was 
 just Laurie Linklater, one of the yeomen of the 
 kitchen, that was my father's apprentice lang 
 syne." 
 
 " A yeoman of the kitchen — a scullion !"" ex- 
 claimed Lord Nigel, pacing the room in displea- 
 sure. 
 
 " But consider, sir,'' said Richie, composedly, 
 '^ that a' your great friends hung back, and shun- 
 ned to own you, or to advocate your petition ; 
 and then, though I am sure I wish Laurie a 
 higher office, for your lordship's sake and for 
 mine, and specially for his ain sake, being a 
 friendly lad, yet your lordship must consider, 
 that a scullion, if a yeoman of the King's most 
 royal kitchen may be called scullion, may weel 
 rank with a master-cook elsewhere ; being that 
 king's cauff, as I said before, is better than — <--'*
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 73 
 
 " You are right, and I was wrong," said the 
 young nobleman. " I have no choice of means 
 of making my case known, so that they be ho- 
 nest." 
 
 " Laurie is as honest a lad as ever lifted a 
 ladle," said Richie ; " not but what I dare to say 
 he can lick his fingers like other folks, and reason 
 good. But in fine, for I see your honour is wax- 
 ing impatient, he brought me to the palace, where 
 a' was astir for the Kins: «]:oino: out to hunt or 
 hawk on Blackheath, I think they ca'd it. And 
 there was a horse stood with all the quarries 
 about it, a bonny grey as ever was foaled ; and 
 the saddle and the stirrups, and the curb and bit, 
 o' burning gowd, or silver gilded at least ; and 
 down, sir, came the King, with all his nobles, 
 dressed out in his hunting-suit of green, doubly 
 laced, and laid down with gowd. I minded the 
 very face o' him, though it was lang since I saw 
 him. But, my certie lad, thought I, times are 
 changed since ye came fleeing down the back 
 stairs of auld Holyrood-Housc, in grit fear, 
 having your brceks in your hand without time 
 to put them on, and Frank Stuart, the wild
 
 74 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 Earl of Bothwell, hard at your hanches ; and if 
 auld Lord Glcnvarloch hadna cast his mantle 
 about his arm, and taken bluidy wounds mair 
 than ane in your behalf, you wald not have 
 craw'd sae crouse this day ; and so saying, I 
 could not but think your lordship's Sifflicatioa 
 could not be less than most acceptable ; and so 
 I banged in among the crowd of lords. Laurie 
 thought me mad, and held me by the cloak-lap 
 till the cloth rave in his hand ; and so I banged 
 in right before the King just as he mounted, 
 and cram"'d the Sifflication into his hand, and he 
 openM it like in amaze ; and just as he saw the 
 first line, I was minded to make a reverence, and 
 I had the ill luck to hit his jaud o** a beast on 
 the nose with my hat, and scaur the creature, and 
 she swarved aside, and the King, that sits na 
 mickle better than a drafF-pock on the saddle, 
 was like to have gotten a clean coup, and that 
 might have cost my craig a raxing — and he 
 flung down the paper amang the beast's feet, and 
 cried, Av/ay wi' the fause loon that brought it. 
 And they grippit me, and cried Treason ; and I 
 thought of the Kuthvens that were dirked in
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 7^ 
 
 their aiii house, for it may be as small a forfeit. 
 However, they spak only of scourging me, and 
 had me away to the porter''s lodge to try tlie 
 tawse on my back, and I was crying mercy as 
 loud as I could ; and the King, when he had 
 righted himsell on the saddle, and gathered his 
 breath, cried to do me nae harm ; for, said he, 
 he is ane of our ain Norland stots, I ken by the 
 rowt of him, — and they a' laughed and rowted 
 loud eneugh. And then he said, gie him a copy 
 of the Proclamation, and let him go down to the 
 North by the next light collier, before waur come 
 o't. So they let me go, and rode out aw snigger- 
 ing, laughing, and rounding in ilk ithers lugs. 
 A sair life I had wi' Laurie Linklater ; for he 
 said it wad be the ruin of him. And then, when 
 I told him it was in your matter, he said if he 
 had known before he would have risked a scaud- 
 ing for you, because he minded the brave old 
 Lord, your father. And then he shewed how I 
 suld have done, — and that I suld have held up 
 my hand to my brow, as if the grandeur of the 
 King and his horse-graith thcgither had castcn 
 the glaiks in my een, and mair jack-an-ape tricks
 
 76 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL, 
 
 I suld hae played, instead of offering the Siffli- 
 cation as if I had been bringing guts to a bear. 
 ' For,' said he, ^ Richie, the King is a weel-na- 
 tured and just man of his ain kindly nature, but 
 he has a whin maggots that maun be cannily 
 guided ; and then, Richie,' says he, in a very 
 laigh tone, ' I would tell it to nane but a wise 
 man like yoursell, but the King has them about 
 him wad corrupt an angel from heaven ; but 
 I could have gi'en you avisemcnt how to have 
 guided him, but now it'*s like after meat mus- 
 tard.' — ' Aweel, aweel, Laurie,' said I, ' it 
 may be as you say ; but since I am clear of the 
 tawse and the porter's lodge, sifflicate wha like, 
 de'il hae Richie Moniplies if he come siiHicating 
 here again.' — And so away I came, and I wasna 
 far by the Temple Port, or Bar, or wdiatever they 
 ca' it, when I met with the misadventure that I 
 tauld you of before." 
 
 " Well, my honest Richie," said Lord Nigel ^ 
 " your attempt was well meant, and not so ili 
 conducted, I think, as to have deserved so bad ai* 
 issue ; but go to your beef and mustard, and 
 w e'll talk of the rest afterwards."
 
 THE FORTUNES OF N'IGEL, T< 
 
 " There is nae niair to be spoken, sir," said his 
 follower, ** except that I met ane very honest, 
 fair-spoken, weel put-on gentleman, or rather 
 burgher, as I think, that was in the whigmaleery 
 man'*s back-shop, and when he learned wha I 
 was, behold he was a Scot himsell, and what Is 
 more, a town^s-bairn o' the gude town, and he 
 behoved to compel me to take this Portugal piece, 
 to drink, forsooth — my certie, thought I, we ken 
 better, for we will eat it — and he spoke of paying 
 your lordship a visit." 
 
 " You did not tell him where I lived, you 
 knave ?" said the Lord Nigel angrily. " 'Sdeath, 
 I shall have every clownish burgher from Edin- 
 burgh come to gaze on my distress, and pay a 
 shilling for having seen the Motion* of the Poor 
 Noble." 
 
 ^' Tell him where you lived ?" said Richie, 
 evading the question, " How could I tell him 
 what I kenn'd na mysell ? If I had minded the 
 name of the wynd, I need not have slept in the 
 kirk-yard yestreen." 
 
 " See then that you give no one notice of our 
 
 * Motion — Piippet-sliew.
 
 78 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 lodging,"*^ said the young nobleman ; " those with 
 whom I have business I can meet at Paurs, or in 
 the Court of Requests." 
 
 *' This is steeking the stable-door when the 
 steed is stolen," thought Richie to himself; " but 
 I must put him on another pin." 
 
 So thinking, he asked the young lord what was 
 in the Proclamation which he still held folded in 
 his hand ; " for, having little time to spell at it," 
 said he, " your lordship well knows I ken nought 
 about it but the grand blazon at the tap — the lion 
 has gotten a claught of our auld Scottish shield 
 now, but it was as weel upheld when it had an 
 unicorn on ilk side of it." 
 
 Lord Nigel read the Proclamation, and he co- 
 loured deep with shame and indignation as he 
 read ; for the purport was, to his injured feelings, 
 like the pouring of ardent spirits upon a recent 
 wound. 
 
 " What deiPs in the paper, my lord ?" said 
 Richie, unable to suppress his curiosity as he ob- 
 served his master change colour, '^ I wadna ask 
 such a thing, only the Proclamation is not a pri- 
 vate thing, but is meant for a"* men^s hearing."
 
 THE FORTUNES OF XIGEL. 79 
 
 " It is indeed meant for all men's hearing,'' 
 replied Lord Nigel, " and it proclaims the shame 
 of our country, and the ingratitude of our Prince,"" 
 
 " Now the Lord preserve us, and to publish 
 it in London too !" ejaculated Moniplies. 
 
 "^ Hark ye, Richard," said Nigel OHfaunt, 
 " in this paper the Lords of the Council set 
 forth, that, ' in consideration of the resort of idle 
 persons of low condition forth from his Majesty's 
 kingdom of Scotland tohisEnglish Court — filling 
 the same with their suits and supplications, and 
 dishonouring the royal presence with their base, 
 poor, and beggarly persons, to the disgrace of 
 their country in the estimation of the Enghsh ; 
 these are to prohibit the skippers, masters of ves 
 sels, and others, in every part of Scotland, from 
 bringing such miserable creatures up to Court, 
 under pain of fine and imprisonment.' " 
 
 " I marie the skipper took us on board,"' said 
 Richie. 
 
 " Then you need not marvel how you are to 
 
 get back again,'' said Lord Nigel, " for here is a 
 
 clause which says, that such idle suitors are to be 
 
 transported ba:k to Scotland at his Majesty's ex 
 
 11
 
 80 THE FORTUXKS OF NIGEL. 
 
 pence, and punished fortheiraudacity with stripes, 
 stocking, or incarceration, according to their de- 
 merits — that is to say, I suppose, according to 
 the degree of their poverty, for I see no other 
 demerit quahfied." 
 
 " This will scarcely,"' said Richie, *' square with 
 our old proverb — 
 
 A King's face 
 Should give grace ; 
 
 But what says the paper further, mv lord ?" 
 
 " O, only a small clause which especially con- 
 cerns us, making some still heavier denunciations 
 against those suitors who shall be so bold as to 
 
 o 
 
 approach the Court, under pretext of seeking pay- 
 ment of old debts due to them by the King, which, 
 the paper states, is of all species of importunity 
 that which is most odious to his Majesty." 
 
 " The King has neighbours in that matter," 
 said Richie ; " but it is not every one that can 
 shift off that sort of cattle so easily as he does."" 
 
 Their conversation was here interrupted by a 
 
 knocking at the door. Olifaunt looked out at the 
 
 window, and saw an elderly respectable person 
 13
 
 THK FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 81 
 
 whom he knew not. Richie also peeped, and re- 
 cognized, but recognizing, chose not to acknow- 
 ledge, his friend of the preceding evening. Afraid 
 that his share in the visit might be detected, he 
 made his escape out of the apartment under pre- 
 text of going to his breakfast ; and left their land- 
 lady the task of ushering Master George into 
 Lord NigePs apartment, which she performed 
 with much courtesy. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Ay, sir, the clouted shoe hath oft tfmes craft in't, 
 
 As says the rustic proverb ; and your citizen, 
 
 In's grogram suit, gold chain, and well-black'd shoes, 
 
 Bears under his flat cap oft times a brain 
 
 Wiser than burns beneath the cap and feather. 
 
 Or seethes within the statesman's velvet night-cap. 
 
 Read me my Riddle, 
 
 The young Scottish nobleman received the 
 citizen with distant politeness, expressing that 
 sort of reserve by which those of the higher 
 ranks are sometimes wiUing to make a plebeian 
 sensible that he is an intruder. But Master 
 George seemed neither displeased nor discon- 
 certed. He assumed the chair, which, in defe- 
 rence to his respectable appearance. Lord Nigel 
 offered to him, and said, after a moment's pause, 
 during which he had looked attentively at the 
 young man, with respect not unmingled with 
 emotion — " You will forgive me for this rude-
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 83 
 
 ness, my lord ; but I was endeavouring to trace 
 in your youthful countenance the features of my 
 good old Lord, your excellent father." 
 
 There was a moments pause ere young Glen- 
 varloch replied, still with a reserved manner, — 
 " I have been reckoned like my father, sir, — 
 and am happy to see any one that respects his 
 memory. But the business which calls me to 
 this city is of a hasty as well as a private nature, 
 and " 
 
 " I understand the hint, my lord," said Master 
 George, " and would not be guilty of long detain- 
 ing you from business, or more agreeable conver- 
 sation. My errand is almost done when I have said, 
 that my name is George Heriot, warmly befrienfi- 
 ed, and introduced into the employment of the 
 royal family of Scotland, more than twenty years 
 since, by your excellent father ; and that, learning 
 from a follower of yours that your lordship was 
 in this city in prosecution of some business of im- 
 portance, it is my duty — it is my pleasure — to 
 wait on the son of my respected patron ; and, 
 as I am somewhat known both at the court and 
 in the city, to offer him sucli aid in the further-
 
 84 THE FOUTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 ing of his affairs, as my credit and experience 
 may be able to afford."*' 
 
 " I have no doubt of either, Master Heriot," 
 said Lord Nigel, " and I thank you heartily for 
 the good-will with which you have placed them 
 at a stranger's disposal ; but my business at 
 court is done and ended, and I intend to leave 
 London, and, indeed, the island, for foreign tra- 
 vel and military service. I may add that the sud- 
 denness of my departure occasions my having lit- 
 tle time at my disposal." 
 
 Master Heriot did not. take the hint, but sat 
 fast, with an embarrassed countenance however, 
 like that of one who had something to say that 
 he knew not exactly how to make effectual. At 
 length he said, with a dubious smile, " You are 
 fortunate, my lord, in having so soon dispatched 
 your business at court. Your talking landlady 
 informs me you have been but a fortnight in 
 this city. It is usually months and years ere the 
 Court and a suitor shake hands and part." 
 
 " My business," said Lord Nigel, with a bre- 
 vity which was intended to stop further discus- 
 sion, " was summarily dispatched."
 
 THE JORTUNES OF NIGEL. 85 
 
 Still Master Heriot remained seated, and 
 there was a cordial good-humour added to the 
 reverence of his appearance, which rendered it 
 impossible for Lord Nigel to be more explicit in 
 requesting his absence. 
 
 " Your lordship has not yet had time," said 
 the citizen, still attempting to sustain the con- 
 versation, " to visit the places of amusement, — 
 the play-houses, and other places to which youth 
 resort. But I see in your lordship'*s hand one 
 of the new-invented plots of the piece, which they 
 hand about of late — May I ask what play ?" 
 
 '' Oh ! a well-known piece," said Lord Nigel, 
 impatiently throwing down the Proclamation, 
 which he had hitherto been twisting to and fro 
 in his hand, — " an excellent and well-approved 
 piece — A New Way to Pay Old Debts.'''' 
 
 Master Heriot stooped down, saying, " Ah ! 
 my old acquaintance, Philip Massinger ;" but, 
 having opened the paper and seen the purport, 
 lie looked at Lord Nigel Olifaunt witli surprise, 
 saying, " I trust your lordship docs not think 
 this prohibition can extend either to your person 
 or your claims ?'^
 
 86 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " I should scarce have thought so myself," 
 said the young nobleman ; " but so it proves. 
 His Majesty, to close this discourse at once, has 
 been pleased to send me this Proclamation, in 
 answer to a respectful Supplication for the re- 
 payment of large loans advanced by my father for 
 the service of the state, in the King's utmost emer- 
 gencies.*" 
 
 " It is impossible !*" said the citizen — " it is 
 absolutely impossible i — If the King could for- 
 get what was due to your father's memory, still 
 he would not have wished — would not, I may 
 say, have dared — to be so flagrantly unjust to the 
 memory of such a man as your father, who, dead 
 in the body, will long live in the memory of the 
 Scottish people." 
 
 " I should have been of your opinion,"" an- 
 swered Lord Nigel, in the same tone as before ; 
 " but there is no fighting with facts." 
 
 " What was the tenor of this Supplication ?" 
 said Heriot ; " or by whom was it presented ? 
 Something strange there must have been in the 
 contents, or ^"
 
 THE F DETUNES OF NIGEL. 87 
 
 " You may see my original draught," said the 
 young Lord, taking it out of a small travelling 
 strong-box ; ** the technical part is by my law- 
 yer in Scotland, a skilful and sensible man ; the 
 rest is my own, drawn, I hope, with due deference 
 and modesty.'" 
 
 Master Heriot hastily cast his eye over the 
 draught. " Nothing," he said, " can be more 
 well-tempered and respectful. Is it possible tlie 
 King can have treated this petition with con- 
 tempt ?'' 
 
 *' He threw it down on the pavement," said 
 the Lord of Glenvarloch, " and sent me for an- 
 swer that Proclamation, in which he classes me 
 with the paupers and mendicants from Scotland, 
 who disgrace his court in the eyes of the proud 
 English — that is all. Had not my father stood 
 by him with heart, sword, and fortune, he might 
 never have seen the Court of England himself." 
 
 " But by whom was this Supplication present- 
 ed, my lord ?" said Heriot ; " for the distaste 
 taken at the messenger will sometimes extend 
 itself to the message."
 
 88 THE FORTUNES OF NTGEL. 
 
 " By my servant," said the Lord Nigel ; " by 
 the man you saw, and, I think, were kind to."" 
 
 " By your servant, my lord ?" said the citizen ; 
 " he seems a shrewd fellow, and doubtless a faith- 
 ful ; but surely ^" 
 
 « You would say,'' said Lord Nigel, " he is 
 no fit messenger to a King's presence ? — Surely 
 he is not ; but what could I do ? Every attempt 
 I had made to lay my case before the King had 
 miscarried, and my petitions got no farther than 
 the budgets of clerks and secretaries ; this fellow 
 pretended he had a friend in the household that 
 would bring him to the King's presence, — and 
 
 " I understand," said Heriot; " but, my 
 lord, why should you not, in right of your rank 
 and birth, have appeared at court, and required 
 an audience, which could not have been denied 
 to you ?" 
 
 The young lord blushed a little, and looked 
 at his dress, which was very plain ; and, though 
 in perfect good order, had the appearance of 
 having seen service.
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 89 
 
 " I know not why I should be ashamed of 
 speaking the truth/' he said, after a momentary 
 hesitation, — " I had no dress suitable for ap- 
 pearing at court. I am determined to incur no 
 expences which I cannot discharge ; and I think 
 you, sir, would not advise me to stand at the 
 palace-door in person, and deliver my petition, 
 along with those who are in very deed pleading 
 their necessity, and begging an alms." 
 
 " That had been, indeed, unseemly,'' said the 
 citizen ; " but yet, my lord, my mind runs 
 strangely that there must be some mistake. — 
 Can I speak with your domestic .'^"" 
 
 " I see little good it can do,'' answered the 
 young lord, " but the interest you take in my 
 
 misfortunes seems sincere, and therefore ^ 
 
 He stamped on the floor, and in a few seconds 
 afterwards Moniplies appeared, wiping from his 
 beard and moustaches the crumbs of bread, and 
 the froth of the ale-pot, which plainly shewed 
 how he had been employed. — " Will your lord- 
 ship grant permission," said Heriot, " that I ask 
 your groom a few questions ?"
 
 90 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " His lordship's page, Master George,'' an- 
 swered ]\Ioniplies, with a nod of acknowledg- 
 ment, " if you are minded to speak according 
 to the letter." 
 
 " Hold your saucy tongue," said his master, 
 " and reply distinctly to the questions you are to 
 be asked." 
 
 " And truly ^ if it like your pageship," said the 
 citizen, " for you may remember I have a gift 
 to discover falset." 
 
 " Weel, weel, weel," replied the domestic, some- 
 what embarrassed, in spite of his effrontery — 
 " though I think that the sort of truth that serves 
 my master, may weel serve ony ane else." 
 
 " Pages lie to their masters by right of cus- 
 tom," said the citizen ; " and you write yourself 
 in that band, though I think you be among the 
 oldest of such springalds ; but to me you must 
 speak truth, if you would not have it end in the 
 whipping-post." 
 
 " And that's e'en a bad resting-place," said the 
 well-grown page; " so come away with your 
 questions. Master George." 
 
 " Well, then," demanded the citizen, " I am
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 91 
 
 given to understand that you yesterday presented 
 to his Majesty's hand a Supplication, or j)etition, 
 from this honourable Lord, your master." 
 
 " Troth, there's nae gainsaying that, sir," re- 
 plied Moniplies ; " there were enow to see it be- 
 sides me." 
 
 " And you pretend that his Majesty flung 
 it from him with contempt," said the citizen. 
 " Take heed, for I have means of knowmg the 
 truth ; and you were better up to the neck in 
 the Nor-Loch, which you like so weU, than tell a 
 leasing where his Majesty's name is concerned." 
 
 ** There is nae occasion for leasing-making 
 about the matter," answered Moniplies, firmly ; 
 " his Majesty e'en flung it frae him as if it had 
 dirtied his fingers." 
 
 " You hear, sir," said Olifaunt, addressing 
 Heriot. 
 
 " Hush !" said the sagacious citizen ; " this fel- 
 low is not ill named — he has more plies than one 
 in his cloak. — Stay, fellow," for Moniplies, mut- 
 tering somewhat about finishing his breakfast, 
 was beginning to shamble towards the door, 
 ** answer me this further question — When you
 
 92 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 gave your master's petition to his Majesty, gave 
 you nothing with it P'*^ 
 
 '' Ou, what should I give wi' it, ye ken. Mas- 
 ter George ?" 
 
 " That is what I desire and insist to know,**' 
 replied his interrogator. 
 
 " Weel then — I am not free to say, that may 
 be, I might not just slip into the King's hand a 
 wee bit sifflication of mine ain, along with my 
 lord's — just to save his Majesty trouble — and 
 that he might consider them baith at ance." 
 
 " A supplication of your own, you varlet !" 
 said his master. 
 
 " Ou, dear ay, my lord," said Richie — " puir 
 bodies hae their bits of sifflications as weel as 
 their betters." 
 
 ** And pray, what might your worshipful pe- 
 tition import ?" said Mr Heriot. — " Nay, for 
 heaven's sake, my lord, keep your patience, or 
 we shall never learn the truth of this strange 
 matter. — Speak out, sirrah, and I will stand your 
 friend with my lord." 
 
 " It's a lang story to tell — but the upshot is, 
 that it's a scrape of an auld accompt due to my
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 93 
 
 father's yestate by her Majesty the King's maist 
 gracious mother, when she hved in the Castle, 
 and had sundry providings and furnishings forth 
 of our booth, whilk nae doubt was an honour 
 to my father to supply, and whilk, doubtless, it 
 will be a credit to his Majesty to satisfy, as it 
 will be grit convenience to me to receive the 
 saam.'' 
 
 " What string of impertinence is this ?"" said 
 his master. 
 
 " Every word as true as e'er John Knox spoke,*" 
 said Richie ; " here's the bit double of the siffli- 
 cation." 
 
 Master George took a crumpled paper from 
 the fellow's hand, and said, muttering betwixt 
 his teeth — " ' Humbly sheweth — um — um — his 
 Majesty's maist gracious mother — um — um — 
 justly addebted and owing the sum of fifteen 
 
 merks — the compt whereof folio weth Twelve 
 
 nowte's feet for jiUies — ane lamb, being Christ- 
 mas — ane roasted capin in grease for the privy 
 chalmer, when my Lord of Bothwell suppit with 
 her grace/ — I think, my lord, you can hardly be 
 sui-prised that the King gave this petition a brisk
 
 94 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 reception ; and I conclude, Master Page, that 
 you took care to present your own supplication 
 before your master's." 
 
 " Troth did I not," answered Moniplies, " I 
 thought to have given my lord's first, as was rea- 
 son gude ; and besides that, it wad have red the 
 gate for my ain little bill. But what wi' the dir- 
 dum an confusion, an the loupin here and there 
 of the skeigh brute of a horse, I believe I cram- 
 med them baith into his hand cheek by jowl, and 
 maybe my ain was boonmost ; and say there was 
 aught wrang, I am sure I had a' the flight and 
 a' the risk " 
 
 <' And shall have all the beating, you rascal 
 knave," said Nigel ; " am I to be insulted and 
 dishonoured by your pragmatical insolence, in 
 blending your base concerns with mine ?" 
 
 " Nay, nay, nay, my lord," said the good-hu- 
 moured citizen, interposing ; " I have been the 
 means of bringing the fellow's blunder to light — 
 allow me interest enough with your lordship to 
 be bail for his bones. You have cause to be an- 
 gry, but still I think the knave mistook more out 
 of conceit than of purpose ; and I judge you will
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 95 
 
 have the better service of him another time, if 
 you overlook this fault. — Get you gone, sirrah 
 — Ill make your peace." 
 
 " Na, na," said Moniplies, keeping his ground 
 firmly, " if he likes to strike a lad that has foU 
 lowed him for pure love, for I think there has 
 been little servant's fee between us, aw the w^ay 
 frae Scotland, just let my lord be doing, and see 
 the credit he will get by it — and I would rather 
 (mony thanks to you though. Master George,) 
 stand by a lick of his batton, than it suld e'er be 
 said a stranger came between us.'' 
 
 " Go then," said his master, " and get out of 
 my sight." 
 
 " Aweel I wot that is sune done," said Moni- 
 plies, retiring slowly ; " I did not come without 
 I had been ca'd for — and I wad have been away 
 half an hour since with my gude will, only Mais- 
 ter George keepit me to answer his interrogation, 
 forsooth, and that has made aw this stir." 
 
 And so he made his grumbling exit, with the 
 tone much rather of one who has sustained an 
 injury, than who has done wrong. 
 
 " There never was a man so plagued as I am
 
 96 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 with a malapert knave ! — The fellow is shrewd, 
 and I have found him faithful — I believe he loves 
 me too, and he has given proofs of it — but then 
 he is so uplifted in his own conceit, so self-willed, 
 and so self-opinioned, that he seems to become 
 the master and I the man ; and whatever blunder 
 he commits, he is sure to make as loud complaints, 
 as if the whole error lay with me, and in no degree 
 with himself." 
 
 " Cherish him, and maintain him, neverthe- 
 less," said the citizen ; " for believe my grey hairs, 
 that affection and fidelity are now rarer qualities 
 in a servitor, than when the world was younger. 
 Yet trust him, my good lord, with no commission 
 above his birth or breeding, for you see yourself 
 how it may chance to fall." 
 
 " It is but too evident. Master Heriot," said 
 the young nobleman ; " and I am sorry I have 
 done injustice to my sovereign, and your master. 
 But I am, like a true Scotsman, wise behind hand 
 — the mistake has happened — my Supplication 
 has been refused, and my only resource is to em- 
 ploy the rest of my means to carry Moniplies and 
 s
 
 THK FORTUNES OF N'IGEL. 97 
 
 myself to some counterscarp, and die in the bat- 
 tle-front like my ancestors."" 
 
 *' It were better to live and serve your country 
 like your noble father, my lord," replied Master 
 George. " Nay, nay, never look down or shake 
 your head — the King has not refused your Sup- 
 plication, for he has not seen it — you ask but jus- 
 tice, and that his place obliges him to give to his 
 subjects — ay, my lord, and I will say that his 
 natural temper doth in this hold bias with his 
 duty.'' 
 
 " I were well pleased to think so, and yet "^ 
 
 said Nigel Olifaunt, — '* I speak not of my own 
 wrongs, but my country hath many that are un- 
 redressed."" 
 
 " My lord,'' said Master Heriot, " I speak of 
 my royal master, not only with the respect due 
 from a subject — the gratitude to be paid by a 
 favoured servant, but also with the frankness of 
 a free and loyal Scotsman. The King is himself 
 well disposed to hold the scales of justice even ; 
 but there are those around him who can throw 
 without detection their own selfish wishes and 
 
 VOL. r. G
 
 98 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 base interests into the scale. You are already a 
 sufferer by this, and without your knowing it." 
 
 " I am surprised, Master Heriot," said the 
 young lord, " to hear you, upon so short an ac- 
 quaintance, talk as if you were familiarly ac- 
 quainted with my affairs." 
 
 " My lord," replied the goldsmith, *' the na- 
 ture of my employment affords me direct access 
 to the interior of the palace ; I am well known 
 to be no meddler in intrigues or party affairs, so 
 that no favourite has as yet endeavoured to shut 
 against me the door of the royal closet ; on the 
 contrary, I have stood well with each while he 
 was in power, and I have not shared the fall of 
 any. But I cannot be thus connected with the 
 Court, without hearing, even against my will, 
 what wheels are in motion, and how they are 
 checked or forwarded. Of course, when I chuse 
 to seek such intelligence, I know the sources in 
 which it is to be traced. I have told you why I 
 was interested in your lordship''s fortunes. It was 
 la£.t night only that I knew you were in this city, 
 yet I have been able, in coming hither this morn-
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 99 
 
 ing, to gain for you some information respecting 
 the impediments to your suit." 
 
 " Sir, I am obliged by your zeal, however lit- 
 tle it may be merited,'*'' answered Nigel, still with 
 some reserve ; " yet I hardly know how I have 
 deserved this interest." 
 
 " First let me satisfy you that it is real," said 
 the citizen ; " I blame you not for being unwill- 
 ing to credit the fair professions of a stranger in 
 my inferior class of society, when you have met 
 so little friendship from relations, and those of 
 your own rank, bound to have assisted you by so 
 many ties. But mark the cause. There is a mort- 
 gage over your father's extensive estate, to the 
 amount of 40,000 merks, due ostensibly to Pere- 
 grine Peterson, the Conservator of Scottish Pri- 
 vileges at Campvere.'" 
 
 " I know nothing of a mortgage," said the 
 young lord ; " but there is a wadset for such a 
 sum, which, if unredeemed, will occasion the for- 
 feiture of my whole paternal estate, for a sum not 
 above a fourth of its value — and it is for that 
 very reason that I press the King's government 
 for a settlement of the debts due to my father.
 
 100 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 that I may be able to redeem my land from this 
 rapacious creditor." 
 
 " A wadset in Scotland,'' said Heriot, " is the 
 same with a mortgage on this side of the Tweed ; 
 but you are not acquainted with your real cre- 
 ditor. The Conservator Peterson only lends his 
 name to shroud no less a man than the Lord 
 Chancellor of Scotland, who hopes, under cover 
 of this debt, to gain possession of the estate him- 
 self, or perhaps to gratify a yet more powerful 
 third party. He will probably suffer his creature 
 Peterson to take possession, and when the odium 
 of the transaction shall be forgotten, the property 
 and lordship of Glenvarloch will be conveyed to 
 the great man by his obsequious instrument, un- 
 der cover of a sale, or some similar device.*" 
 
 " Can this be possible ?'*'' said Lord Nigel ; " the 
 Chancellor wept when I took leave of him — call- 
 ed me his cousin — even his son — furnished me 
 with letters, and, though I asked him for no pe- 
 cuniary assistance, excused himself unnecessarily 
 for not pressing it on me, alleging the expences 
 of his rank and his large family. No, I cannot 
 believe a nobleman would carry deceit so far.*"
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 101 
 
 " I am not, it is true, of noble blood,"*' said the 
 citizen ; " but once more I bid you look on my 
 grey hairs, and think what can be my interest in 
 dishonouring them with falsehood in affairs in 
 which I have no interest, save as they regard the 
 son of my benefactor. Reflect also, have you had 
 any advantage from the Lord Chancellor'*s let- 
 ters r 
 
 " None,'' said Nigel Olifaunt, " save cold deeds 
 and fair words. I have thought for some time, 
 their only object was to get rid of me — there was 
 one who yesterday pressed money on me when I 
 talked of going abroad, in order that I might not 
 want the means of exiling myself." 
 
 " Right,"" said Heriot ; " rather than ycm fled 
 not, they would themselves furnish wings for you 
 to fly withal." 
 
 '' I will to him this instant," said the incensed 
 youth, " and tell him my mind of his baseness." 
 
 " "Under your favour," said Heriot, detaining 
 him, " you shall not do so. By a quarrel you 
 would become the ruin of me your informer ; and 
 though I would venture half my shop to do your
 
 102 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 lordship a service, I think you would hardly wish 
 me to come by damage, when it can be of no ser- 
 vice to you." 
 
 The word shop sounded harshly in the ear of 
 the young nobleman, who replied hastily — " Da- 
 mage, sir? — so far am I from wishing you to incur 
 damage, that I would to heaven you would cease 
 your fruitless offers of serving one whom there 
 is no chance of ultimately assisting."" 
 
 " Leave me alone for that," said the citizen ; 
 " you have now erred as far on the bow-hand. 
 Permit me to take this Supplication — I will have 
 it suitably engrossed, and take my own time, (and 
 it shall be an early one,) for placing it, with more 
 prudence I trust than that used by your follower, 
 in the King's hand — I will almost answer for his 
 taking up the matter as you would have him^ 
 but should he fail to do so, even then I will not 
 give up the good cause." 
 
 " Sir," said the young nobleman, " your speech 
 is so friendly, and my own estate so helpless, that 
 I know not how to refuse your kind proffer, even 
 while I blush to accept it at the hands of a stran- 
 ger."
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 103 
 
 " Weare, I trust, no longer such,'^ said the gold- 
 smith ; " and for my guerdon, when my media- 
 tion proves successful, and your fortunes are re- 
 established, you shall order your first cupboard 
 of plate from George Heriot.'"' 
 
 " You would have a bad paymaster, Master 
 Heriot,*" said Lord Nigel. 
 
 " I do not fear that,'^ replied the goldsmith ; 
 " and I am glad to see you smile, my lord — me- 
 thinks it makes you look still more like the good 
 old lord your father ; and it emboldens me beside 
 to bring out a small request — that you would take 
 a homely dinner with me to-morrow. I lodge 
 hard beside, in Lombard street. For the cheer, 
 my lord, a mess of white broth, a fat capon well 
 larded, a dish of beef collops for auld Scotland's 
 sake, and it may be a cup of right old wine, that 
 was barrelled before Scotland and England were 
 one nation — Then for company, one or two of our 
 own loving countrymen — and may be my house- 
 wife may find out a bonny Scots lass or so." 
 
 " I would accept your courtesy. Master He- 
 riot," said Nigel, " but I hear the city ladies of
 
 104' THE 1 OPaUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 London like to see a man gallant — I would not 
 like to let down a Scottish nobleman in their ideas, 
 as doubtless you have said the best of our poor 
 country, and I rather lack the means of bravery 
 for the present."" 
 
 " My lord, your frankness leads me a step 
 farther,'' said Master George. " I — I owed your 
 father some monies ; and — nay, if your lordship 
 looks at me so fixedly I shall never tell my story 
 —and, to speak plainly, for I never could carry 
 a he well through in my Ufe — it is most fitting, 
 that, to solicit this matter properly, your lordship 
 should go to court in a manner beseeming your 
 quality. I am a goldsmith, and live by lending 
 money as well as by selling plate. I am ambi- 
 tious to put an hundred pounds to be at interest 
 in your hands, till your affairs are settled.'' 
 
 " And if they are never favourably settled ?^ 
 said Nigel. 
 
 " Then, my lord," returned the citizen, " the 
 miscarriage of such a sum will be of little conse- 
 quence to me, compared with other subjects of 
 regret."
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 105 
 
 " Master Heriot,"" said the Lord Nigel, '' your 
 favour is generously offered, and shall be frankly 
 accepted. I must presume that you see your 
 way through this business, though I hardly do ; 
 for I think you would be grieved to add any 
 fresh burthen to me, by persuading me to incur 
 debts which I am not Hkely to discharge. I will, 
 therefore, take your money, under the hope and 
 trust that you will enable me to repay you punc- 
 tually."" 
 
 " I will convince you, my lord," said the gold- 
 smith, " that I mean to deal with you as a cre- 
 ditor from whom I expect payment ; and, there- 
 fore, you shall, with your own good pleasure, 
 sign an acknowledgment for these monies, and 
 an obligation to content and repay me."" 
 
 He then took from his girdle his writing ma- 
 terials, and writing a few lines to the purport he 
 expressed, pulled out a small bag of gold from a 
 side-pouch under his cloak, and, observing that 
 it should contain an hundred pounds, proceeded 
 to tell out the contents very methodically upon 
 the table. Nigel Olifaunt could not help inti-
 
 106 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 mating that this was an unnecessary ceremonial, 
 and that he would take the bag of gold on the 
 word of his obUging creditor ; but this was re- 
 pugnant to the old man's forms of transacting 
 business. 
 
 " Bear with me,'' he said, " my good lord,— 
 we citizens are a wary and thrifty generation; 
 and I should lose my good name for ever within 
 the toll of Paul's, were I to grant quittance, or 
 take acknowledgment, without bringing the mo- 
 ney to actual tale. I think it be right now — 
 and, body of me,'' he said, looking out at the 
 window, " yonder come my boys with my mule ; 
 for I must Westward Hoe. Put your monies 
 aside, my lord ; it is not weU to be seen with 
 such gold-finches chirping about one in the lodg- 
 ings of London. I think the lock of your casket 
 be indifferent good ; if not, I can serve you at an 
 easy rate with one that has held thousands ; — 
 it was the good old Sir Faithful Frugal's ; — his 
 spendthrift son sold the shell when he had eaten 
 the kernel — and there is the end of a city-for- 
 tune."
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 107 
 
 " I hope yours will make a better termination. 
 Master Heriot," said the Lord Nigel. 
 
 " I hope it will, my lord," said the old man, 
 with a smile ; " but," to use honest John Bunyan's 
 phrase — ' there>v'ithal the water stood in his eyes,"* 
 ** it has pleased God to try me with the loss of 
 two children ; and for one adopted child who lives 
 — ah ! woe is me ! and well-a-day ! — But I am 
 patient and thankful ; and for the wealth God 
 has sent me, it shall not want inheritors while 
 there are orphan lads in Auld Reekie. — I wish 
 you good morrow, my lord." 
 
 " One orphan has cause to thank you already,*" 
 said Nigel, as he attended him to the door of 
 his chamber, where, resisting further escort, the 
 old citizen made his escape. 
 
 As, in going down stairs, he passed the shop 
 where Dame Christie stood becking, he made 
 civil inquiries after her husband. The dame of 
 course regretted his absence ; but he was down, 
 she said, at Deptford, to settle with a Dutch ship- 
 master. 
 
 " Our way of business, sir," she said, " takes
 
 108 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 him much from home, and my husband must be 
 the slave of every tarry jacket that wants but a 
 pound of oakum."" 
 
 «' All business must be minded, dame," said 
 the goldsmith. " Make my remembrances — 
 George Heriot of Lombard-streefsremembrances, 
 to your good man. I have dealt with him — he 
 is just and punctual — true to time and engage- 
 ments ; — be kind to your noble guest, and see 
 he wants nothing. Though it be his pleasure at 
 present to lie private and retired, there be those 
 that care for him, and I have a charge to see 
 him supplied ; so that you may let me know by 
 your husband, my good dame, how my lord is, 
 and whether he wants aught.*" 
 
 " And so he is a real lord after all ?^ said the 
 good dame. " I am sure I always thought he 
 looked like one. But why does he not go to 
 Parliament then ?'^ 
 
 " He will, dame," answered Heriot, " to the 
 Parliament of Scotland, which is his own coun- 
 try.**' 
 
 *' Oh ! he is but a Scots lord, then," said the
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 109 
 
 good dame ; " and that's the thing makes him 
 ashamed to take the title, as they say." 
 
 '* Let him not hear you say so, dame,"" replied 
 the citizen. 
 
 " Who, I, sir ?■" answered she ; " no such 
 matter in my thought, sir. Scot or English, he 
 is at any rate a likely man, and a civil man ; and 
 rather than he should want any thing, I would 
 wait upon him myself, and come as far as Lom- 
 bard-street to wait upon your worship too."" 
 
 " Let your husband come to me, good dame," 
 said the goldsmith, who, with all his experience 
 and worth, was somewhat of a formalist and dis- 
 ciplinarian. " The proverb says, ' House goes 
 mad when women gad ;'' and let his lordship's 
 own man wait upon his master in his chamber — 
 it is more seemly. God give ye good-morrow." 
 
 " Good-morrow to your worship," said the 
 dame, somewhat coldly ; and so soon as the ad- 
 viser was out of hearing, was ungracious enough 
 to mutter, in contempt of his counsel, " Marry 
 quep of your advice, for an old Scotch tinsmith, 
 as you are ! My husband is as wise, and very 
 near as old, as yourself; and if I please him, it
 
 110 THK FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 is well enough ; and though he is not just so rich 
 just now as some folks, yet I hope to see him 
 ride upon his moyle, with a foot-cloth, and have 
 his two blue-coats after him, as well as they do."
 
 THE FORTUNES OF \'TGEL. Ill 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Wherefore come ye not to court ? 
 Certain 'tis the rarest sport ; 
 There are silks and jewels glistening, 
 Prattling fools and wise men listening, 
 Bullies among brave men justling. 
 Beggars amongst nobles bustling; 
 Low-breath'd talkers, minion lispers, 
 Cutting honest throats by whispers ; 
 Wherefore come ye not to court ? 
 Skelton swears 'tis glorious sport- 
 
 Skelton Skeltonizeth. 
 
 It was not entirely out of parade that the be- 
 nevolent citizen was mounted and attended in 
 that manner, which, as the reader has been in- 
 formed, excited a gentle degree of spleen on the 
 part of Dame Christie, which, to do her justice, 
 vanished in the little soliloquy which we have 
 recorded. The good man, besides the natural 
 desire to maintain the exterior of a man of wor- 
 ship, was at present bound to Whitehall in or-
 
 112 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 der to exhibit a piece of valuable workmanship 
 to King James, which he deemed his Majesty 
 might be pleased to view, or even to purchase. 
 He himself was therefore mounted upon his ca- 
 parisoned mule, that he might the better make 
 his way through the narrow, dirty, and crowd- 
 ed streets ; and while one of his attendants car- 
 ried under his arm the piece of plate, wrapped 
 up in red baize, the other two gave an eye to its 
 safety ; for such was the state of the police of 
 the metropolis, that men were often assaulted in 
 the public street for the sake of revenge or of 
 plunder ; and those who apprehended being be- 
 set, usually endeavoured, if their estate admitted 
 such expense J to secure themselves by the attend- 
 ance of armed followers. And this custom, which 
 was at first limited to the nobility and gentry, 
 extended by degrees to those citizens of consi- 
 deration, who being understood to travel with 
 a charge, as it was called, might otherwise have 
 been selected as safe subjects of plunder by the 
 street-robber. 
 
 As Master George Heriot paced forth west- 
 ward with this gallant attendance, he paused at
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 113 
 
 the shop- door of his countryman and friend, the 
 ancient horologer, and having caused Tunstall, 
 who was in attendance, to adjust his watch by 
 the real time, he desired to speak with his mas- 
 ter ; in consequence of which summons, the old 
 Time-meter came forth from his den, his face 
 Hke a bronze bust, darkened with dust, and glis- 
 tening here and there with copper filings, and 
 his senses so bemused in the intensity of calcu- 
 lation, that he gazed on his friend the goldsmith 
 for a minute before he seemed personally to com- 
 prehend who he was, and heard liim express his 
 invitation to David Ramsay, and pretty Mistress 
 Margaret, his daughter, to dine with him next 
 day at noon, to meet with a noble young coun- 
 tryman, without returning any answer. 
 
 " I'll make thee speak, with a murrain to thee," 
 muttered Heriot to himself; and suddenly chan- 
 ging his tone, he said aloud, — " I pray you, 
 neighbour David, when are you and I to have a 
 settlement for the bullion wherewith I supplied 
 you to mount yonder castle's hall-clock at Theo- 
 bald's, and that other whirligig that you made for 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 114 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 the Duke of Buckingham ? I have had the Spa- 
 nish house to satisfy for the ingots, and I must 
 needs put you into mind that you have been 
 eight months behind hand/'* 
 
 There is something so sharp and aigi'e in the 
 demand of a peremptory dun, that no human 
 tympanum, however inaccessible to other tones, 
 can resist the appHcation. David Ramsay start- 
 ed at once from his reverie, and answered in a 
 pettish tone, " Wow, George, man, what needs 
 aw this din about sax score o' pounds ? Aw the 
 world kens I can answer aw claims on me, and 
 you proffered yoursell fair time, till his maist 
 gracious Majesty and the noble Duke suld make 
 settled accompts wi' me ; and ye may ken, by 
 your ain experience, that I canna gang rowtmg 
 like an unmannered Highland slot to their doors, 
 as ye come to mine."" 
 
 Heriot laughed, and replied, " Well, David, I 
 see a demand of money is like a bucket of water 
 about your ears, and makes you a man of the 
 world at once. And now, friend, will you tell 
 me, like a Christian man, if you will dine with 
 me to-morrow at noon, and bring pretty Mistress
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 115 
 
 Margaret, my god-daughter, with you, to meet 
 with our noble young countryman, the Lord of 
 Glenvarloch ?" 
 
 " The young Lord of Glenvarloch f said the 
 old mechanist ; " wi' aw my heart, and blithe I 
 will be to see him again. We have not met these 
 forty years — he was two years before me at the 
 humanity classes — he is a sweet youth." 
 
 " That was his father — his father — his father 
 —you old dotard Dot-and-carry-one that you 
 are,"" answered the goldsmith. " A sweet youth 
 he would have been by this time, had he lived, 
 worthy nobleman. This is his son, the Lord 
 Nigel.^ 
 
 " His son !" said Ramsay ; " maybe he will 
 want something of a chronometer, or watch — 
 few gallants care to be without them now-a- 
 days.'' 
 
 " He may buy half your stock-in-trade, if evei 
 he comes to his own, for what I know,"" said his 
 friend ; " but Davie, remember your bond, and 
 use me not as you did when my housewif? had 
 the sheep's-head and the cock-a-leek boiling for 
 you as late as two of the clock, afternoon.'*
 
 116 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " She had the more credit by her cookery ,'' 
 answered David, now fully awake ; " a sheep's 
 head, over-boiled, were poison, according to our 
 saying.*" 
 
 " Well," answered Master George, " but as 
 there will be no sheep's-head to morrow, it may 
 chance you to spoil a dinner which a proverb 
 cannot mend. It may be you may forgather with 
 your friend Sir Mungo Malagrowther, for I pur- 
 pose to ask his worship ; so, be sure and bide 
 tryste, Davie."" 
 
 " That will I — I will be true as a chronome- 
 ter," said Ramsay. 
 
 " I will not trust you though," replied He- 
 riot. — " Hear you, Jenkin boy, tell Scots Janet 
 to tell pretty Mistress Margaret, my god-child, 
 she must put her father in remembrance to put 
 on his best doublet to-morrow, and to bring him 
 to Lombard Street at noon. Tell her they are 
 to meet a brave young Scots lord." 
 
 Jenkin coughed that sort of dry short cough 
 uttered by those who are either charged with er- 
 rands which they do not like, or hear opinions 
 to which they must not enter a dissent.
 
 THB FORTUUKS OF NIGEL. 117 
 
 " Umph r repeated Master George, who, as 
 we have already noticed, was something of a mar- 
 tinet in domestic discipline ; " what does umph 
 mean ? Will you do mine errand, or not, sir- 
 rah?" 
 
 " Sure, Master George Heriot," said the ap- 
 prentice, touching his cap. " I only meant that 
 Mistress Margaret was not hkely to forget such 
 an invitation." 
 
 " Why, no," said Master George, " she is a 
 dutiful girl to her god-father, though I sometimes 
 call her a jill-flirt. And, hark ye, Jenkin, you and 
 your comrade had best come with your clubs, to 
 see your master and her safely home ; but first 
 shut shop, and loose the bull-dog, and let the por- 
 ter stay in the fore-shop till your return. I will 
 send two of my knaves with you, for I hear these 
 wild youngsters of the Temple are broken out 
 worse and lighter than ever.*" 
 
 " We can keep their steel in order with good 
 handbats," said Jenkin ; " and never trouble 
 your servants for the matter.*" 
 
 " Or, if need be," said Tunstall, " we have 
 swords as well as the Templars."
 
 118 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " Fye upon it — fye upon it, young man,"" said 
 the citizen — ^" An apprentice with a sword !— 
 Marry, Heaven forefend. I would as soon see 
 him in a hat and feather." 
 
 " Well, sir,"" said Jenkin — " we will find arms 
 fitting to our station, and will defend our master 
 and his daughter, if we should tear up the very 
 stones of the pavement."" 
 
 " There spoke a London 'prentice bold," said 
 the citizen ; ^' and, for your comfort, my lads, 
 you shall crush a cup of wine to the health of the 
 fathers of the city. I have my e}'e on both of 
 you — ^you are thriving lads, each in his own 
 way. — God be wi' you, Davie. Forget not to- 
 morrow, at noon." And so saying, he again 
 turned his mule's head westward, and crossed 
 Temple-Bar, at that slow and decent amble 
 which at once became his rank and civic im- 
 portance, and put his pedestrian followers to no 
 inconvenience to keep up with him. 
 
 At the Temple Gate he again paused, dis- 
 mounted, and sought his way into one of the 
 small booths occupied by scriveners in the neigh- 
 bourhood. A young man with lank smooth hair,
 
 THE FORTUNES OF XIGKL. 119 
 
 combed straight to his ears, and then cropped 
 short, rose with a cringing reverence, pulled off a 
 slouched hat, which he would, upon no signal, 
 replace on his head, and answered, with much 
 demonstration of reverence, to the goldsmith's 
 question of, " How goes business, Andrew ?' 
 " Aw the better for your worship's kind counte- 
 nance and maintenance.*' 
 
 " Get a large sheet of paper, man, and make 
 a new pen, with a sharp neb and fine hair-stroke 
 — do not slit the quill up sae high, its a wastrife 
 course in your trade, Andrew ; they that do not 
 mind corn-pickles, never come to forpits. I have 
 known a learned man write a thousand pages with 
 one quill/'' 
 
 " Ah ! sir," said the lad, who listened to the 
 goldsmith, though instructing him in his own 
 trade, with an air of veneration and acquies- 
 cence, " how sune ony puir creature like myseU 
 may rise in the world, wi^ the instruction of such 
 a man as your worship !'" 
 
 " My instructions are few, Andrew, soon told, 
 and not hard to practise. Be honest — be indus-
 
 120 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 trious — be frugal, and you will soon win wealth 
 and worship. — Here, copy me this Supplication 
 in your best and most formal hand. I will wait 
 by you till it is done."" 
 
 The youth lifted not his eye from the paper, 
 and laid not the pen from his hand, until the task- 
 was finished to the employer'^s satisfaction. The 
 citizen then gave the young scrivener an angel, 
 and bidding him, on his life, to be secret in all bu- 
 siness entrusted to him, again mounted his mule, 
 and rode on westward along the Strand. 
 
 It may be worth while to remind our readers, 
 that the Temple-Bar which Heriot passed, was 
 not the arched screen, or gateway, of the present 
 day, but an open railing, or pahsade, which at 
 night, and in times of alarm, was closed with a 
 barricade of posts and chains. The Strand also, 
 along which he rode, was not, as now, a continued 
 street, although it was beginning already to as- 
 sume that character. It still might be consi- 
 dered as an open road, along the south side of 
 which stood various houses and hotels belonging 
 to the nobility, having gardens behind theni
 
 THE I'ORTLNKS OF NIGEL. }2\ 
 
 down to the water-side, with stairs to the river 
 for the convenience of taking boat, which man- 
 sions have bequeathed the names of their lordly 
 owners to many of the streets leading from the 
 Strand to the Thames. The north side of the 
 Strand was also a long line of houses, behind 
 which, as in Saint Martinis Lane, and other 
 points, buildings were rapidly arising ; but Co- 
 vent-Garden was still a garden, in the literal 
 sense of the word, or at least but beginning to 
 be studded with irregular buildings. All that was 
 passing around, however, marked the rapid in- 
 crease of a capital which had long enjoyed peace, 
 wealth, and a regular government. Houses were 
 arising in every direction, and the shrewd eye of 
 our citizen already saw the period not distant 
 which should convert the nearly open highway 
 on which he travelled, into a connected and regu- 
 lar street, uniting the court and the town with the 
 city of London. 
 
 He next passed Charing Cross, which was no 
 longer the pleasant solitary village at which the 
 judges were wont to breakfast on their way to 
 Westminster Hall ; and began to resemble the ar-
 
 1^2 THE lORTUXES OF NIGEL 
 
 tery through which, to use Johnson''s expression, 
 " pours the full tide of London population."" The 
 buildings were rapidly increasing, yet scarcely 
 gave even a faint idea of its present appearance. 
 At last Whitehall received our traveller, who 
 passed under one of the beautiful gates designed 
 by Holbein, and composed of tesselated brick- 
 work, being the same to which Moniplies had 
 profanely likened the West-Port of Edinburgh, 
 and entered the ample precincts of the palace of 
 Whitehall, now full of all the confusion attend- 
 ing improvement. It was just at the time when 
 James, little suspecting that he was employed in 
 constructing a palace, from the window of which 
 his only son was to pass to die upon a scaffold be- 
 fore it, was busied in removing the ancient and 
 ruinous buildings of De Burgh, Henry VIII., 
 and Queen Elizabeth, to make way for the superb 
 architecture on which Inigo Jones exerted all his 
 genius. The King, ignorant of futurity, was now 
 engaged in pressing on his work, and for that 
 purpose still maintained his royal apartments at 
 Whitehall, amidst the rubbish of old buildings, 
 and the various confusion attendinc: the erection
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 123 
 
 of the new pile, which formed at present a laby- 
 rinth not easily to be traversed. 
 
 The goldsmith to the Royal Household, and 
 "who, if fame spoke true, oftentimes acted as their 
 banker, (for these professions were not as yet se- 
 parated from each other,) was a person of too 
 much importance to receive the slightest inter- 
 ruption from centinel or porter ; and leaving his 
 mule and two of his followers in the outer court, 
 he gently knocked at a postern-gate of the build- 
 ing, and was presently admitted, while the most 
 trusty of his attendants followed him closely with 
 the piece of plate under his arm. This man also 
 he left behind him in an anti-room, where three 
 or four pages in the royal livery, but untrussed, 
 unbuttoned, and dressed more carelessly than the 
 place and nearness to a King'*s person seemed to 
 admitjwereplayingatdiceand draughts, or stretch- 
 ed upon benches, and slumbering with half-shut 
 eyes. A corresponding gallery, w^hich opened 
 from the anti-room, was occupied by two gentle- 
 men-ushers of the chamber, who gave each a smile 
 of recognition as the wealthy goldsmith entered.
 
 124 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 No word was spoken on either side, but one of 
 the ushers looked first to Heriot, and then to a 
 little door half-covered by the tapestry, which 
 seemed to say as plain as a look could — " Lies 
 your business that way ?" The citizen nodded, 
 and the court-attendant, moving on tiptoe and 
 with as much caution as if the floor had been 
 paved with eggs, advanced to the door, opened 
 it gently, and spoke a few words in a low tone. 
 The broad Scottish accent of King James was 
 heard in reply — " Admit him instanter. Max- 
 well. Have ye hairboured sae lang at the court, 
 and not learned that gold and silver is ever wel- 
 come ?" 
 
 The usher signed to Heriot to advance, and 
 the honest citizen was presently introduced into 
 the cabinet of the Sovereign. 
 
 The scene of confusion amid which he found 
 the King seated, was no bad picture of the state 
 and quality of James's own mind. There was 
 much that was rich and costly in cabinet pictures 
 and valuable ornaments, but they were slovenly 
 arranged, covered with dust, and lost half their
 
 THE FORTCXFS OF NIGEL. 125 
 
 value, or at least their effect, from the manner in 
 which they were presented to the eye. The table 
 was loaded with huge folios, amongst which lay 
 light books of jest, and ribaldry ; and amongst 
 notes of unmercifully long orations, and essays on 
 king-craft, were mingled miserable roundels and 
 ballads by the royal Trentice, as he styled him- 
 self, in the art of poetry, and schemes for the ge- 
 neral pacification of Europe, with a list of the 
 names of the King's hounds, and remedies against 
 canine madness. 
 
 The King's dress was of green velvet, quilted 
 so full as to be dagger-proof, which gave him 
 the appearance of clumsy and ungainly protube- 
 rance ; while its being buttoned awry communi- 
 cated to his figure an air of distortion. Over his 
 green doublet he wore a sad-coloured night-gown, 
 out of the pocket of which peeped his hunting- 
 horn. His high-crowned grey hat lay on the floor, 
 covered with dust, but encircled by a carkanet 
 of large balas rubies ; and he wore a blue velvet 
 night-cap, in the front of which was placed the 
 plume of a heron, which had been struck down 
 bv a favourite hawk in some critical moment of
 
 126 THE FOllTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 the flight, in remembrance of which the King 
 wore this highly honoured feather. 
 
 But such inconsistencies in dress and appoint- 
 ments were mere outward types of those which 
 existed in the royal character, rendering it a sub- 
 ject of doubt amongst his contemporaries, and 
 bequeathing it as a problem to future historians. 
 He was deeply learned, without possessing use- 
 ful knowledge; sagacious in many individual 
 cases, without having real wisdom ; fond of his 
 power, and desirous to maintain and augment it, 
 yet willing to resign the direction of that and 
 of himself, to the most unworthy favourites; 
 a big and bold assertor of his rights in words, 
 yet one who tamely saw them trampled on in 
 deeds ; a lover of negociations, in which he was 
 always outwitted; and a fearer of war, where 
 conquest might have been easy. He was fond of 
 his dignity, while he was perpetually degrading 
 it by undue familiarity ; capable of much public 
 labour, yet often neglecting it for the meanest 
 amusement ; a wit, though a pedant ; and a scho- 
 lar, though fond of the conversation of the igno-
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NKJEL. 127 
 
 rant and uneducated. Even his timidity of tem- 
 per was not uniform, and there were moments of 
 his hfe, and those critical, in which he shewed 
 the spirit of his ancestors. He was laborious in 
 trifles, and a trifler where serious labour was re- 
 quired ; devout in his sentiments, and yet toa 
 often profane in his language ; just and benefi- 
 cent by nature, he yet gave way to the iniquities 
 and oppression of others. He was penurious re- 
 specting money which he had to give from his 
 own hand, yet inconsiderately and unboundedly 
 profuse of that which he did not see. In a word, 
 those good qualities which displayed themselves 
 in particular cases and occasions, were not of a 
 nature sufficiently firm and comprehensive to re- 
 gulate his general conduct ; and, shewing them- 
 selves as they occasionally did, only entitled James 
 to the character bestowed on him by Sully — that 
 he was the wisest fool in Christendom, 
 
 That the fortunes of this monarch might be 
 as little of a piece as his character, he, certainly 
 the least able of the Stuarts, succeeded peace- 
 ably to that kingdom, against the power of which
 
 128 THE FOllTUNES OF KIGEL. 
 
 his predecessors had, with so much difficulty, de- 
 fended his native throne. And, lastly, although 
 his reign appeared calculated to ensure to Great 
 Britain that lasting tranquillity and internal 
 peace which so much suited the King''s disposi- 
 tion, yet, during that very reign, were sown 
 those seeds of dissension, which, like the teeth of 
 the fabulous dragon, had their harvest in a 
 bloody and universal civil war. 
 
 Such was the monarch, who, saluting Heriot 
 familiarly by the name of Jingling Geordie, (for 
 it was his well-known custom to give nick-names 
 to all his familiars,) inquired what new clatter- 
 traps he had brought with him, to cheat his law- 
 ful and native Prince out of his siller. 
 
 " God forbid, my liege," said the citizen, 
 " that I should have any such disloyal purpose. 
 I did but bring a piece of plate to shew to your 
 most gracious Majesty, which, both for the subject 
 and for the workmanship, I were loth to put into 
 the hands of any subject until I knew your Ma- 
 jesty's pleasure anent it." 
 
 " Body o' me, man, let's see it, Heriot ; though, 
 2
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 129 
 
 by my saul, Steenie"*s service o' plate was sae dear 
 a bargain, I had 'maist pawned my word as a 
 Royal King, to keep my ain gold and silver in 
 future, and let you, Geordie, keep yours." 
 
 " Respecting the Duke of Buckingham's 
 plate," said the goldsmith, " your Majesty was 
 pleased to direct that no expence should be 
 spared, and " 
 
 " What signifies what I desired, man ? when 
 a wise man is with fules and bairns, he maun 
 e'en play at the chucks. But you should have 
 had mair sense and consideration than to gie 
 Babie Charles and Steenie their ain gate ; they 
 wad hae floored the very rooms wi' silver, and 
 I wonder they didna." 
 
 George Heriot bowed, and said no more. He 
 knew his master too well to vindicate himself 
 otherwise than by a distant allusion to his order ; 
 and James, with whom economy was only a tran- 
 sient and momentary twinge of conscience, be- 
 came immediately afterwards desirous to see the 
 piece of plate which the goldsmith proposed to 
 exhibit, and dispatched Maxwell to bring it to 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 130 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 his presence. In the meantime he demanded of 
 the citizen whence he had procured it. 
 
 " From Italy, may it please your Majesty,*" 
 replied Heriot. 
 
 " It has naething in it tending to papestrie .^" 
 said the King, looking graver than his wont. 
 
 " Surely not, please your Majesty," said He- 
 riot ; " I were not wise to bring any thing to 
 your presence that had the mark of the beast.'' 
 
 " You would be the mair beast yourself to 
 do so,"" said the King ; " it is well kenn'd that 
 I wrestled wi' Dagon in my youth, and smote 
 him on the groundsill of his own temple ; a gude 
 evidence that I should be in time called, however 
 unworthy, the Defender of the Faith. — But here 
 comes Maxwell, bending under his burthen, like 
 the Golden Ass of Apuleius."*' 
 
 Heriot hastened to relieve the usher, and to 
 place the embossed salver, for such it was, and 
 of extraordinary dimensions, in a light favour- 
 able for his Majesty's viewing the sculpture. 
 
 " Saul of my body, man," said the King, '^ it 
 is a curious piece, and, as I think, fit for a King's
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 131 
 
 chalmer; and the subject, as you say. Master 
 George, vera adequate and beseeming — being, 
 as I see, the judgment of Solomon — a prince in 
 whose paths it weel becomes a' leeving monarchs 
 to walk with emulation."" 
 
 *' But whose footsteps,"*' said Maxwell, " only 
 one of them — if a subject may say so much — 
 hath ever overtaken.'^ 
 
 " Haud your tongue, for a fause fleeching 
 loun," said the King, but with a smile on his 
 face that shewed the flattery had done its part. 
 '' Look at the bonnie piece of workmanship, and 
 haud your clavering tongue. — And whase handy- 
 work may it be, Geordie .^" 
 
 " It was wrought, sir,"" replied the goldsmith, 
 *' by the famous Florentine, Benvenuto Cellini, 
 and designed for Francis the First of France ; 
 but I hope it will find a fitter master." 
 
 " Francis of France !" said the King ; " send 
 Solomon, King of the Jews, to Francis of France ! 
 — Body of me, man, it would have kythed Cel- 
 lini mad, had he never done ony thing else out of 
 the gate. Francis ! — why, he was a fighting fule, 
 man — a mere fighting fule, — got himsell ta'en at
 
 13S THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 Pavia, like our ain David at Durham lang syne;— 
 if they could hae sent him Solomon's wit, and love 
 of peace and godliness, they wad hae dune him 
 a better turn. But Solomon should sit in other 
 gate company than Francis of France." 
 
 " I trust that such will be his good fortune," 
 said Heriot. 
 
 " It is a curious and vera artificial sculpture," 
 said the King, in continuation ; " but yet, me- 
 thinks, the crucifix, or executioner there, is 
 brandishing his gulley ower near the King's face, 
 seeing he is within reach of his weapon. I think 
 less Avisdom than Solomon's wald have taught 
 him that there was danger in edge-tools, and that 
 he wald have bidden the smaik either sheath his 
 shable, or stand farther back," 
 
 George Heriot endeavoured to alleviate this 
 objection, by assuring the King that the vicinity 
 betwixt Solomon and the executioner was nearer 
 in appearance than in reality, and that the per- 
 spective should be allowed for. 
 
 " Gang to the de'il wi' your prospective, man," 
 said the King ; " there canna be a waur prospec- 
 tive for alawfu' king, wha wishes to reign in luve,
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 133 
 
 and die in peace and honour, than to have na- 
 ked swords flashing in his een. I am accounted 
 as brave as malst folks ; and yet I profess to ye 
 I could never look on a bare blade without blink- 
 ing and winking. But a' thcgether it is a brave 
 piece ; — and what is the price of it, man ?" 
 
 The goldsmith replied by observing, that it 
 was not his own property, but that of a distress- 
 ed countryman. 
 
 " Whilk you mean to mak your excuse for 
 asking the double of its worth, I warrant,"" an- 
 swered the King. " I ken the tricks of you bur- 
 rows-town merchants, man."" 
 
 " I have no hopes of baffling your Majesty's 
 sagacity,"" said Heriot ; " the piece is really what 
 I say, and the price a hundred and fifty pounds 
 sterling, if it pleases your Majesty to make pre- 
 sent payment." 
 
 " A hundred and fifty punds, man ! and as 
 mony witches and warlocks to raise them f said 
 the irritated ^lonarch. " J\Iy saul. Jingling 
 Geordie. ye are minded that your purse shall 
 jingle to a bonuie tune ! — How am I to tell you 
 down a hundred and fifty punds for what will
 
 134 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 not weigh as many merks ? and ye ken that my 
 very household servitors, and the officers of my 
 mouth, are sax months in arrear !'' 
 
 The goldsmith stood his ground against all 
 this objurgation, as being what he was well ac- 
 customed to, and only answered, that, if his Ma- 
 jesty liked the piece, and desired to possess it, the 
 price could be easily settled. It was true that the 
 party could not want the money, but he, George 
 Heriot, would advance it on his Majesty ""s ac- 
 count, if such were his pleasure, and wait his 
 royal conveniency for payment, for that and 
 other matters ; the money, meanwhile, lying at 
 the ordinary usage. 
 
 " By my honour," said James, '* and that is 
 speaking like an honest and reasonable trades- 
 man. We maun get another subsidy frae the 
 Commons, and that will make ae compting of it. 
 Awa wi' it. Maxwell — awa wi"* it, and let it be 
 set where Steenie and Babie Charles shall see 
 it as they return from Richmond. — And now 
 that we are secret, my good auld friend Geor- 
 die, I do truly opine, that speaking of Solomon 
 and ourselves, the hail wisdom in the country
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 1^5 
 
 left Scotland, when we took our travels to the 
 Southland here." 
 
 George Heriot was courtier enough to say, 
 *' that the wise naturally follow the wisest, as 
 stags follow their leader." 
 
 " Troth, I think there is something in what 
 thou sayest," said James; " for we ourselves, 
 and those of our court and household, as thou 
 thyself, for example, are allowed by the English, 
 for as self-opinioned as they are, to pass for rea- 
 sonable good wits ; but the brains of those we 
 have left behind are all astir, and run clean hir- 
 die-girdie, hke sae mony warlocks and witches 
 on the Devil's Sabbath- e'en." 
 
 " I am sorry to hear this, my liege," said He- 
 riot. " May it please your grace to say Avhat 
 our countrymen have done to deserve such a 
 character .?" 
 
 " They are become frantic, man— -clean brain- 
 crazed," answered the King. " I cannot keep 
 them out of the Court by all the proclamations 
 that the heralds roar themselves hoarse with. 
 Yesterday, nae farther gane, just as we were 
 mounted, and about" to ride forth, in rushed a
 
 136 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 thorough Edinburgh gutterblood — a ragged ras- 
 cal, every dud upon whose back was bidding 
 good-day to the other, with a coat and hat that 
 would have served a pease-bogle, and, without 
 havings or reverence, thrusts into our hands, 
 like a sturdy beggar, some Supplication about 
 debts owing by our gracious mother, and sic- 
 like trash ; whereat the horse spangs on end, and, 
 but for our admirable sitting, wherein we have 
 been thought to excel maist sovereign princes, as 
 well as subjects, in Europe, I premise you we 
 v/ould have been laid endlang on the causeway." 
 
 " Your Majesty," said Heriot, " is their com- 
 mon father, and therefore they are the bolder to 
 press into your gracious presence." 
 
 " I ken I am pater patrice well enough," said 
 James ; " but one would think they had a mind 
 to squeeze my puddings out, that they may di- 
 vide the inheritance. Ud's death, Geordie, there 
 is not a loon among them can deliver a Supplica- 
 tion, as it suld be done in the face of majesty." 
 
 '*' I would I knew the most fitting and be- 
 seeming mode to do so," said Heriot, " were it 
 but to instruct our poor countrymen in better fa- 
 shions."
 
 THE FORTUNES OF XIGEL. 137 
 
 " By my halidome,'" said the King, " ye are 
 a ceevileozed fellow, Geordie, and I care ua if I 
 fling awa as much time as may teach ye. And, 
 first, see you, sir — ye shall approach the pre- 
 sence of majesty thus, — shadowing your eyes with 
 your hand, to testify that you are in the presence 
 of the Vicegerent of Heaven. — Varaweel, George, 
 that is done in a comely manner. — Then, sir, ye 
 sail kneel, and make as if ye would kiss the hem 
 of our garment, the latch of our shoe, or such 
 like. — Vara weel enacted — whilk we, as bein"- 
 willing to be debonair and pleasing towards our 
 lieges, prevent thus, — and motion to you to rise ; 
 — whilk, having a boon to ask, as yet you obey 
 not, but, gliding your hand into your pouch, 
 bring forth your Supplication, and place it re- 
 verentially in our open palm."" The goldsmith, 
 M ho had comphed with great accuracy with all 
 the prescribed points of the ceremonial, here 
 completed it, to James's no small astonishment, 
 by placing in his hand the petition of the Lord 
 of Glenvarloch. " What means this, ye fause 
 loon .?"" said he, reddening and sputtering ; " hae 
 I been teaching you the manual exercise, that ye
 
 138 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 suld present your piece at our ain royal body ? — 
 Now, by this light, I had as hef that ye had 
 bended a real pistolet against me, and yet this 
 hae ye done in my very cabinet, where nought 
 suld enter but at my ain pleasure." 
 
 " I trust, your Majesty ,"" said Heriot, as he 
 continued to kneel, " will forgive my exercising 
 the lesson you condescended to give me in the 
 behalf of a friend ?" 
 
 " Of a friend !" said the King ; " so much the 
 waur — so much the waur, I tell you. If it had 
 been something to diO yoursell good, there would 
 have been some sense in it, and some chance that 
 you wald not have come back on me in a hurry ; 
 but a man may have a hundred friends, and pe- 
 titions for every ane of them, ilk ane after other." 
 
 " Your Majesty, I trust," said Heriot, " will 
 judge me by former experience, and will not sus- 
 pect me of such presumption.*" 
 
 " I kenna," said the placable monarch ; " the 
 world goes daft, I think — sed semel insanivimus 
 omnes — thou art my old and faithful servant, 
 that is^ the truth ; and, wer't any thing for thy 
 own behoof, man, thou shouldest not ask twice.
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 139 
 
 But, troth, Steenie loves me so dearly, that he 
 cares not that any one should ask favours of me 
 but himself. — Maxwell, (for the usher had re- 
 entered after having carried off the plate,) get 
 into the anti-chamber wi"* your lang lugs. — In 
 conscience, Geordie, I think as that thou hast 
 been mine ain auld fiduciary, and wert my 
 goldsmith when I might say with the Ethnic 
 poet — Non mea 7'enidet in domo lacunar — for, 
 faith, they had pillaged my mither''s auld house 
 sae, that beechen bickers, and treen trenchers, 
 and latten platters, were whiles the best at our 
 board, and glad we were of something to put on 
 them, without quarrelling with the metal of the 
 dishes. D'ye mind, for thou wert in maist of our 
 complots, how we were fain to send sax of the 
 Blue-banders to harry the Lady of Loganhouse's 
 dow-cote and poultry-yard, and what an awfu' 
 plaint the poor dame made against Jock of 
 Milch, and the thieves of Annandale, wha were 
 as sackless of the deed as I am of the sin of 
 murther .''"" 
 
 "It was the better for Jock,^' said Heriot; " for 
 if I remember weel, it saved him from a strap-
 
 140 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 ping up at Dumfries, which he had weel deserved 
 for other misdeeds.'' 
 
 " Ay, man, mind ye that ?" said the King ; 
 " but he had other virtues, for he was a tight 
 huntsman, moreover, that Jock of Milch, and 
 could hollow to a hound till all the woods rang 
 a<Tain. But he came to an Annan dale end at 
 
 o 
 
 the last, for Lord Torthorwald run his lance out 
 through him. — Cocksnails, man, when I think 
 of these wild passages, in my conscience, I am not 
 sure but we lived merrier in auld Holyrood in 
 these shifting days, than now when we are dwell- 
 ing at heck and manger. Cantabit vacuus — we 
 had but little to care for."" 
 
 " And if your Majesty please to remember," 
 said the goldsmith, " the awful task we had to 
 gather silver-vcssail and gold-work enough to 
 make some shewbefore the Spanish Ambassador." 
 
 '•' Vera true," said the King, now in a full tide 
 of gossip, " and I mind not the name of the right 
 leal lord that helped us with every unce he had 
 in his house, that his native Prince might have 
 some credit in the eyes of them that had the In- 
 dies at their beck."
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGF.L. 141 
 
 " I think if your Majesty,"" said the citizen, 
 '•' will cast your eye on the paper in your hand, 
 you will recollect liis name."" 
 
 " Ay !"" said the King, " say ye sae, man ? — 
 Lord Glenvarloch, that was his name indeed — 
 Justus et tenax propositi — A just man, but as 
 obstinate as a baited bull. He stood whiles against 
 us, that Lord Randal Olifaunt of Glenvarloch, 
 but he was a loving and a leal subject in the 
 main. But this supplicator maun be his son — 
 Randal has been long gone where king and lord 
 must go, Geordie, as well as the like of you— 
 and what does his son want with us ?"" 
 
 " The settlement,"" answered the citizen, " of 
 a large debt due by your Majesty "s treasury, for 
 money advanced to your Majesty in great state 
 emergency, about the time of the Raid of Ruth- 
 ven."' 
 
 " I mind the thing weel,"" said King James — 
 " Od"s death, man, I was just out of the clutches 
 of the Master of Glamis and his complices, and 
 there was never siller mair welcome to a born 
 Prince, — the mair the shame and pity that crown- 
 ed King should need sic a petty sum. But what
 
 142 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 need he dun us for it, man, like a baxter at the 
 breaking ? We aught him the siller, and will pay 
 him vrC our convenience, or mak it otherwise up 
 to him, whilk is enow between prince and sub- 
 ject — We are not in meditatione Jugcc, man, to 
 be arrested thus peremptorily."" 
 
 *' Alas ! an it please your Majesty,"" said the 
 goldsmith, shaking his head, " it is the poor 
 young nobleman's extreme necessity, and not his 
 will, that makes him importunate ; for he must have 
 money, and that briefly, to discharge a debt due 
 to Peregrine Peterson, Conservator of the Privi- 
 leges at Campvere, or his haill hereditary barony 
 and estate of Glenvarloch will be evicted in vir- 
 tue of an unredeemed wadset/"* 
 
 '' How say ye, man — how say ye ?'^ exclaimed 
 the King impatiently ; " the carle of a Conserva- 
 tor, the son of a Low-Dutch skipper, evict the 
 auld estate and lordship of the house of Olifaunt ? 
 — God"'s bread, man, that maun not be — we maun 
 suspend the diligence by writ of favour, or other- 
 wise."" 
 
 " I doubt that may hardly be,'"* answered the 
 citizen, <' if it please your Majesty ; your learn-
 
 THE FORTUNES OF XIGEL. 143 
 
 ed counsel in the law of Scotland advise, that there 
 is no remeid but in paying the money/' 
 
 " Uds fish,"'* said the King, " let him keep 
 baud by the strong hand against the carle, until 
 we can take some order about his affairs.*" 
 
 " Alas !" insisted the goldsmith, " if it like 
 your Majesty, your own pacific government and 
 your doing of equal justice to all men, has made 
 main force a kittle line to walk by, unless just 
 within the bounds of the Highlands.*" 
 
 " Weel — weel — weel, man," said the perplexed 
 monarch, whose ideas of justice, expedience, and 
 convenience, became on such occasions strangely 
 embroiled ; " just it is we should pay our debts, 
 that the young man may pay his ; and he must 
 be paid, and in verho regis he shall be paid — 
 but how to come by the siller, man, is a difficult 
 chapter — ye maun try the city, Geordie.^ 
 
 " To say the truth,"" answered Heriot, " please 
 your gracious Majesty, what betwixt loans and 
 benevolences, and subsidies, the city is at this 
 present -"" 
 
 " Donna tell me of what the city is,'** said King 
 James ; " our Exchequer is as dry as Dean Giles's
 
 144 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 discourses on the penitentiary psalms — Exnihilo 
 nil id Jit — It's ill taking the breeks afF a wild 
 Highlandman — they that come to me for siller, 
 should tell me how to come by it — the city ye 
 maun try, Heriot ; and donna think to be called 
 Jingling Geordie for nothing — and in verho regis 
 I will pay the lad if you get me the loan — I 
 wonnot haggle on the terms ; and between 3'OU 
 and me, Geordie, we will redeem the brave auld 
 estate of Glenvarloch. — But wherefore comes not 
 the young lord to Court, Heriot — is he comely 
 — is he presentable in the presence ?'*' 
 
 " No one can be more so,'"' said George He- 
 riot ; '' but " 
 
 " Ay, I understand ye," said his jMajesty — 
 *' I understand ye — Res angusta chml — puir lad 
 — puir lad ! — and his father a right true leal 
 Scots heart, though stiff in some opinions. Hark 
 ye, Heriot, let the lad have twa hundred pounds 
 to fit him out. And, here — here — (taking the 
 carcanet of rubies from his old hat) — ye have 
 had these in pledge before for a larger sum, ye 
 auld Levite that ye ai'e. Keep^them in gage, till 
 I gie ye back the siller out of the next subsidy." 
 13
 
 TTTK FOBTUXF.S OF XICET.. 145 
 
 " If It please your Majesty to give me such 
 directions in writing," said the cautious citizen. 
 
 " The de'il is in your nicety, George," said 
 the King ; " ye are as preceese as a Puritan in 
 form, and a mere Nullifidian in the marrow of 
 the matter. May not a King's word serve you 
 for advancing your pitiful twa hundred pounds ?" 
 
 " But not for detaining the crown jewels^" 
 said George Heriot. 
 
 And the King, who from long experience was 
 inured to dealing with suspicious creditors, wrote 
 an order upon George Heriot, his well-beloved 
 goldsmith and jeweller, for the sum of two hun- 
 dred pounds, to be paid presently to Nigel Oli- 
 fauDt, Lord of Glenvarloch, to be imputed as so 
 much debts due to him by the crown ; and autho- 
 rizing the retention of a carcanet of balas rubies, 
 with a great diamond, as described in a Cata- 
 logue of his Majesty''s Jewels, to remain in pos- 
 session of the said George Heriot, advancer of 
 the said sum, and so forth, until he was lawfully 
 contented and paid thereof. By another rescript, 
 his Majesty gave the said George Heriot direc- 
 tions to deal with some of the moneyed men, upon 
 
 vol.. I. K
 
 146 THE FORTUNES OF NIGKL. 
 
 equitable terms, for a sum of money for his Ma- 
 jesty's present use, not to be under 50,000 merks, 
 but as much more as could conveniently be pro- 
 cured. 
 
 " And has he ony lair, this Lord Nigel of 
 ours ?" said the King. 
 
 George Heriot could not exactly answer this 
 question ; but beheved " the young lord had 
 studied abroad." 
 
 *' He shall have our own advice,"' said the 
 King, " how to carry on his studies to maist ad- 
 vantage ; and it may be we will have him come to 
 court, and study with Steenie, and Babie Charles. 
 And, now we think on't, away — away, George — 
 for the bairns will be coming hame presently, 
 and we would not as yet they kenned of this mat- 
 ter we have been treating anent. Propera pe- 
 dem, Geordie. Clap your mule between your 
 houghs, and god-den with you." 
 
 Thus ended the conference betwixt the gentle 
 King Jamie and his benevolent jeweller and gold- 
 smith.
 
 THE FORTU>JES OF NIGEL. 14*1 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 O I do know him— -lis the mouldy lemoH 
 Which our court wits will wet their lips withal, 
 When they would sauce their honied conversatioa 
 With somewhat sharper flavour. — Marry, sir. 
 That virtue's well nigh left him — all the juice 
 That was so sharp and poignant, is squeezed out ; 
 While the poor rind, although as sour as ever. 
 Must season soon the draff we give our grunters, 
 For two-legg'd things are weary on't. 
 
 The Chamherlain — A Comedy. 
 
 The good company invited by the hospitable 
 citizen assembled at his house in Lombard-street 
 at the " hollow and hungry hour"'* of noon, to 
 partake of that meal which divides the day; beiug 
 about the time when modern persons of fashion, 
 turning themselves upon their pillow, begin to 
 think, not without a great many doubts and much 
 hesitation, that they will by and by commence it.
 
 148 THE foutVxks of xtoel. 
 
 Thither came the young Nigel, arrayed plainly, 
 but in a dress, nevertheless, more suitable to his 
 age and quality than he had formerly worn, ac- 
 companied by his servant Moniplies, whose out- 
 side also was considerably improved. His solemn 
 and stern features glared forth from under a blue 
 velvet bonnet, fantastically placed sideways on his 
 head — he had a sound and tough coat of English 
 blue broad-cloth, which, unlike his former vest- 
 ment, would have stood the tug of all the appren- 
 tices in Fleet-street. The buckler and broadsword 
 he wore as the arms of his condition, and a neat 
 silver badge, bearing his lord's arms, announced 
 that he was an appendage of aristocracy. He sat 
 down in the good citizen's buttery, not a little 
 pleased to find his attendance upon the table in 
 the hall was like to be rewarded with his share of 
 a meal such as he had seldom partaken of. 
 
 Mr David Ramsay, that profound and inge- 
 nious mechanic, was safely conducted to Lom- 
 bard-street, according to promise, well washed, 
 brushed, and cleaned, from the soot of the fur- 
 nace and the forge. His daughter came with 
 him, a girl about twenty years old, very pretty,
 
 THK I'ORTUNKS OF XIGilL. 149 
 
 very demure, yet with lively black eyes, that ever 
 and anon contradicted the expression of sobriety, 
 to which silence, reserve, a plain velvet hood, 
 and cambric ruff, had condemned Mistress Mar- 
 get, as the daughter of a quiet citizen. 
 
 There were also two citizens and merchants 
 of London, men ample in cloak, and many-hnk- 
 ed golden chain, well to pass in the world, and 
 experienced in their craft of merchandize, but 
 who require no particular description. There 
 was an elderly clergyman also, in his gown and 
 cassock, a decent venerable man, partaking in his 
 manners of the plainness of the citizens amongst 
 whom he had his cure. 
 
 These may be dismissed with brief notice ; but 
 not so Sir Mungo Malagrowther, of Girnigo 
 Castle, who claims a Uttle more attention, as an 
 original character of the time in which he flou- 
 rished. 
 
 That good knight knocked at Master Heriot'*s 
 door just as the clock began to strike twelve, 
 and was seated in his chair ere the last stroke 
 had chimed. This gave the knight an excellent 
 opportunity of making sarcastic observations on
 
 150 THE FORTUNES OF Nie£L. 
 
 all who came later than himself, not to mention 
 a few rubs at the expence of those who had been 
 so superfluous as to appear earlier. 
 
 Having little or no property save his bare de- 
 signation, Sir Mungo had been early attached to 
 Court in the capacity of whipping-boy, as the 
 oiice was then called, to King James the Sixth, 
 Mid, with his Majesty, trained to all polite learn- 
 ing by his celebrated preceptor, George Bucha- 
 nasn. The office of whipping-boy doomed its un- 
 fortunate occupant to undergo all the corporeal 
 punishment which the Lord's Anointed, whose 
 proper person was of course sacred, might chance 
 to incur, in the course of travelling through his 
 grammar and prosody. Under the stem rule, in- 
 deed, of George Buchanan, who did not approve 
 of the vicarious mode of punishment, James 
 bore the penance of his own faults, and Mungo 
 Malagrowther enjoyed a sinecure ; but James's 
 other pedagogue. Master Patrick Young, went 
 more ceremoniously to work, and appalled the 
 very soul of the youthful king by the floggings 
 which he bestowed on the whipping-boy, when 
 the royal task ^vas not suitably performed. And
 
 THE l-ORTUXliS OF NIGEL. 151 
 
 be it told to Sir Mungo's praise, that there were 
 points about him in the highest respect suited 
 to his official situation. He had even in youth 
 a naturally irregular and grotesque set of fea- 
 tures, which, when distorted by fear, pain, and 
 anger, looked like one of the whimsical faces 
 which present themselves in a Gothic cornice. 
 His voice also was high-pitched and querulous, so 
 that, when smarting under Master Peter Young'*s 
 unsparing inflictions, the expression of his gro- 
 tesque physiognomy, and the super-human yells 
 which he uttered, were well suited to produce all 
 the effects on the monarch who deserved the lash, 
 that could possibly be produced by seeing ano- 
 ther and an innocent individual suffering for his 
 delict. 
 
 Sir Mungo Malagrowther, for sach he became, 
 thus got an early footing at court, which another 
 would have improved and maintained. But when 
 he grew too big to be whipped, he had no other 
 means of rendering himself acceptable. A bitter, 
 caustic, and backbiting humour, a malicious wit, 
 and an envy of others more prosperous than the 
 possessor of such amiable qualities, have not in-
 
 152 THE roiiTUNEfci or nigel. 
 
 deed always been found obstacles to a courtier's 
 rise ; but then they must be amalgamated with a 
 degree of selfish cunning and prudence, of which 
 Sir Mungo had no share. His satire run riot, 
 his envy could not conceal itself, and it was not 
 long after his majority till he had as many quar- 
 rels upon his hands as would have required a 
 cat's nine lives to answer. In one of these ren- 
 contres he received, perhaps we should say for- 
 tunately, a wound, which served him as an excuse 
 for answering no invitations of the kind in future. 
 Sir Rullion Rattray, of Ranagullion, cut off, in 
 mortal combat, three of the fingers of his right 
 hand, so that Sir Mungo never could hold sword 
 again. At a later period, having written some 
 satirical verses upon the Lady Cockpen, he recei- 
 ved so severe a chastisement from some persons 
 employed for the purpose, that he was found half 
 dead on the spot where they had thus dealt with 
 him, and one of his thighs having been broken, 
 and ill set, gave him a hitch in his gait, with w hich 
 he hobbled to his grave. The lameness of his leg 
 and hand, besides that they added considerably 
 to the grotesque appearance of this original,
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. lo3 
 
 procured him in future a personal immunity from 
 the more dangerous consequences of his own hu- 
 mour ; and he gradually grew old in the service 
 of the court, in safety of life and limb, though 
 without either making friends or attaining pre- 
 ferment. Sometimes, indeed, the King was amu- 
 sed with his caustic sallies, but he had never art 
 enough to improve the favourable opportunity ; 
 and his enemies, (who were upon the matter the 
 whole court,) always found means to throw him 
 out of favour again. The celebrated Archie 
 Armstrong offered Sir Mungo, in his generosity, 
 a skirt of his own fool's coat, proposing thereby 
 to communicate to him the privileges and immu- 
 nities of a professed jester — " For," said the man 
 of motley, " Sir Mungo, as he goes on just now, 
 gets no more for a good jest than just the King's 
 pardon for having made it.*" 
 
 Even in London, the golden shower which fell 
 around him, did not moisten the blighted fortunes 
 of Sir Mungo Malagrowther. He grew old, deaf, 
 and peevish — lost even the spirit which had for- 
 merly animated his strictures, and was barely en- 
 dured by James, who, though himself nearly as 
 far stricken in years, retained, to an unusual and
 
 154 THE FORTUNES OF NIGKL. 
 
 even an absurd degree, the desire to be surround- 
 ed by young people. Sir Mungo, thus fallen in- 
 to the yellow leaf of years and fortune, shewed 
 his emaciated form and faded embroidery at 
 court as seldom as his duty permitted ; and spent 
 his time in indulging his food for satire, in the 
 public walks and in the aisles of Saint Paul's, 
 which were then the general resort of newsmong- 
 ers and characters of all descriptions, associ- 
 ating himself chiefly with such of his country- 
 men as he accounted of inferior birth and rank to 
 himself. In this manner, hating and contemning 
 commerce and those who pursued it, he never- 
 theless lived a good deal among the Scottish art- 
 ists and merchants who had followed the court 
 to London. To these he could shew his cyni- 
 cism without much offence, for some submitted 
 to his jeers and ill-humour in deference to his 
 birth and knighthood, which in those days con- 
 ferred high privileges ; and others, of more sense, 
 pitied and endured the old man, unhappy alike 
 in his fortunes and his temper. 
 
 Amongst the latter was George Heriot, who, 
 though his habits and education induced him to
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 155 
 
 carry aristocratical feelings to a degree which 
 would now be thought extravagant, had too much 
 spirit and good sense to permit himself to Jje in- 
 truded upon to an unauthorized excess, or used 
 with the slightest improper freedom, by such a 
 person as Sir Mungo, to whom he was, neverthe- 
 less, not only respectfully civil, but essentially 
 kind and even generous. 
 
 Accordingly this appeared from the manner 
 in which Sir Mungo iVIalagrowther conducted 
 himself upon entering the apartment. He paid 
 his respects to Master Heriot, and a decent, el- 
 derly, somewhat severe-looking female, in a coif, 
 who, by the name of Aunt Judith, did the ho- 
 nours of his house and table, with little or no 
 portion of the supercilious acidity which his sin- 
 gular physiognomy assumed when he made his 
 bow successively to David Ramsay and the two 
 sober citizens. He thrust himself into the con- 
 versation of the latter, to observe, he had heard 
 in Paul's that the bankrupt concerns of Pindi- 
 vide, a great merchant, who, as he expressed it, 
 had given the crows a pudding, (and on whom 
 9
 
 156 THE FOllTUNES OF KICEL. 
 
 he knew, from the same authority, each of tlic 
 honest citizens had some unsettled claim,) was 
 like to prove a total loss — " stock and block, ship 
 and cargo^ keel and rigging, all lost, now and for 
 ever/' 
 
 The two citizens grinned on each other, but, 
 too prudent to make their private affairs the 
 subject of public discussion, drew their heads 
 together, and evaded further conversation by 
 speaking in a whisper. The old Scotch knight 
 next attacked the watchmaker with the same un- 
 respective familiarity. " Davie,'*'' he said, — " Da- 
 vie, ye donnard auld ideot, have ye no gane mad 
 yet with applying your mathematical science, as 
 ye call it, to the Book of Apocalypse ? I expect- 
 ed to have heard ye make out the sign of the 
 beast as clear as a tout on a bawbee whistle."" 
 
 *' Why, Sir Mungo,**"' said the mechanist, after 
 making an effort to recal to his recollection what 
 had been said to him, and by whom, " it maybe 
 that ye are nearer the mark than ye are yoursell 
 aware of — ^for taking the ten horns o** the beast, 
 ye may easily estinjate by your digitals '"'
 
 THE FOUTUyr.S OF N'lCEL. 157 
 
 " My digits ! you d — d auld rusty good-for- 
 nothing time-piece T exclaimed Sir Mungo, while 
 betwixt jest and earnest, he laid on his hilt his 
 hand, or rather his claw, (for Sir Rullion''s broad- 
 sword had abridged it into that form,) — ''' D'ye 
 mean to upbraid me with my mutilation ?" 
 
 Master Heriot interfered. *' I cannot per- 
 suade our friend David," he said, " that scrip- 
 tural prophecies are intended to remain in ob- 
 scurity, until their unexpected accomplishment 
 shall make, as in former days, that fulfilled which 
 was written. But you must not exert your knight- 
 ly valour on him for all that." 
 
 " By my saul, and it would be throwing it 
 away," said Sir Mungo, laughing. ^ I would as 
 soon set out with hound and horn to hunt a stur- 
 died sheep, for he is in a doze again, and up to 
 the chin in numerals, quotients, and dividends. 
 — Mistress ^largaret, my pretty honey," for the 
 beauty of the young citizen made even Sir Mun- 
 go Malagrowther's grim features relax themselves 
 a little, " Is your father always as entertaining 
 as he seems just now ?"
 
 J 58 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 Mistress Margaret simpered, bridled, looked 
 to either side, then straight before her, and ha- 
 ving assumed all the airs of bashful embarrass- 
 ment and timidity which were necessary, as she 
 thought, to cover a certain shrewd readiness 
 which really belonged to her character, at length 
 replied, " that indeed her father was very 
 thoughtful, but she had heard that he took the 
 habit of mind from her grandfather.'*' 
 
 " Your grandfather !" said Sir Mungo, after 
 doubting if he had heard her aright, — " said she 
 her grandfather ! The lassie is destraught. I 
 ken nae wench on this side of Temple Bar that 
 is derived from so distant a relation." 
 
 " She has got a godfather, however, Sir Mun- 
 go,'''' said George Heriot, again interfering ; " and 
 I hope you will allow him interest enough with 
 you to request you will not put his pretty god- 
 child to so deep a blush." 
 
 " The better — the better,"' said Sir Mungo. 
 " It is a credit to her, that, bred and born with- 
 in the sound of Bow-bell, she can blush for any 
 thing ; and, by my saul, Master George,*" he
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 159 
 
 continued, chucking the irritated and reluctant 
 damsel under the chin, " she is bonny enough to 
 make amends for her lack of ancestry, at least 
 in such a region as Cheapside, where, d'ye 
 mind me, the kettle cannot call the porridge- 
 pot "" 
 
 The damsel blushed, but not so angrily as be- 
 fore. Master George Heriot hastened to inter- 
 rupt the conclusion of Sir Mungo"'s homely pro- 
 verb, by introducing him personally to Lord 
 Nigel. Sir Mungo could not at first understand 
 what his host said. " Bread of heaven, wha say 
 ye, man ?" 
 
 Upon the name of Nigel Olifaunt, Lord Glen- 
 varloch, being again hollowed into his ear, he 
 drew up, and, regarding his entertainer with some 
 austerity, rebuked him for not making persons 
 of quality acquainted with each other, that they 
 might exchange courtesies before they mingled 
 with other folks. He then made as handsome 
 and courtly a congee to his new acquaintance as 
 a man maimed in foot and hand could do ; and 
 observing he had known my lord, his father, bid
 
 IGO THE FORTUNES OF XK.TIL. 
 
 him welcome to London, and hoped he should 
 see him at court. 
 
 Nigel in an instant comprehended, as well 
 from Sir Mungo's manner, as from a strict com- 
 pression of their entertainer's lips, which intima- 
 ted the suppression of a desire to laugh, that he 
 was dealing with an original of no ordinary de- 
 scription, and accordingly returned his courtesy 
 with suitable punctiliousness. Sir Mungo, in the 
 meanwhile, gazed on him with much earnestness ; 
 and, as the contemplation of natural advantages 
 was as odious to him as that of wealth, or other 
 adventitious benefits, he had no sooner complete- 
 ly perused the handsome form and good features 
 of the young lord, than, like one of the comfort- 
 ers of the Man of Uzz, he drew close up to him 
 to enlarge on the former grandeur of the Lords 
 of Glenvarloch, and the regret with which he 
 had heard that their representative was not hkely 
 to possess the domains of his ancestry. Anon, 
 he enlarged upon the beauties of the principal 
 mansion of Glenvarloch ; the commanding site 
 of the old castle ; the noble expanse of the lake, 
 
 8
 
 TITE FOrtTUNTlS OF XTGEL. . 161 
 
 stocked witli wild-fowl for liawkinG: ; the com- 
 manding screen of forest, terminating in a moun- 
 tain-ridge abounding witli deer, and all the other 
 advantages of that fine and ancient barony, till 
 Nigel, in spite of every effort to the contrary, was 
 un>villingly obliged to sigh. 
 
 Sir Mungo, skilfid in discerning when the wi- 
 thers of those he conversed with were wrung, ob- 
 served that his new acquaintance winced, and 
 would willingly have pressed the discussion ; but 
 the cook'^s impatient knock upon the dresser with 
 the haft of his dudgeon-knife, now gave a signal 
 loud enough to be heard from the top of the house 
 to the bottom, summoning, at the same time, the 
 serving-men to place the dinner upon the table, 
 and the guests to partake of it. Sir Mungo, who 
 was an admirer of good cheer, (a taste which, by 
 the way, might have some weight in reconciling 
 his dignity to these city visits,) was tolled off by 
 the sound, and left Nigel and the other guests 
 in peace, until his anxiety to place himself in his 
 due place of pre-eminence at the genial board was 
 duly gratified. Here, seated on the left hand of 
 Aunt Judith, he beheld Nigel occupy the station 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 162 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 of yet higher honour on the right, dividing that 
 matron from pretty Mistress Margaret ; but he 
 saw this with the more patience, that there stood 
 betwixt him and the young lord a superb larded 
 capon. 
 
 The dinner proceeded according to the form of 
 the times : All was excellent of the kind, and be- 
 sides the Scottish cheer promised, the board dis- 
 played beef and pudding, the statutory dainties 
 of Old England. A small cupboard of plate, very 
 choicely and beautifully wrought, did not escape 
 the compliments of some of the company, and an 
 obhque sneer from Sir Mungo, as intimating the 
 owner's excellence in his own mechanical craft. 
 
 " I am not ashamed of the workmanship, Su' 
 Mungo," said the honest citizen. *' They say a 
 good cook knows how to lick his own fingers, and 
 methinks it were unseemly that I, who have fur- 
 nished half the cupboards in broad Britain, should 
 have my own covered with paltry pewter." 
 
 The blessing of the clergyman now set the 
 guests at liberty to attack what was placed before 
 them ; and the meal went forward with great de- 
 corum, until Aunt Judith, in further recom-
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 163 
 
 mendation of the capon, assured her company that 
 it was of a celebrated breed of poultry, which she 
 had herself brought from Scotland. 
 
 " Then, Hke some of his countrymen, madam,'' 
 said the pitiless Sir Mungo, not without a glance 
 towards his landlord, " it has been well larded 
 in England."" 
 
 " There are some others of his countrymen,'' 
 answered Master Heriot, " to whom all the lard 
 in England has not been able to render that good 
 office." 
 
 Sir Mungo sneered and reddened, the rest of 
 the company laughed ; and the satirist, who had 
 his reasons for not coming to extremity with 
 Master George, was silent for the rest of the 
 dinner. The dishes were exchanged for confec- 
 tions, and wine of the highest quality and flavour ; 
 and Nigel saw the entertainments of the wealthi- 
 est burgomasters which he had witnessed abroad, 
 fairly outshone by the hospitality of a London 
 citizen. Yet there was nothing ostentatious, or 
 which seemed inconsistent with the degree of an 
 opulent burgher. 
 
 While the collation proceeded, Nigel, accord-
 
 164' THE F0RTU^'P:S of NIGEL. 
 
 ing to the good breeding of the time, addressed 
 his discourse principally to Mrs Judith, whom 
 he found to be a woman of a strong Scottish un- 
 derstanding, more inclined towards the Puritans 
 than was her brother George, (for in that rela- 
 tion she stood to him, though he always called 
 her aunt,) attached to him in the strongest de- 
 gree, and sedulously attentive to all his comforts. 
 As the conversation of this good dame was nei- 
 ther lively nor fascinating, the young lord natu- 
 rally addressed himself next to the old horo]oger"'s 
 very pretty daughter, who sate upon his left 
 hand. From her, however, there was no ex- 
 tracting any reply beyond the measure of a mo- 
 nosyllable ; and when the young gallant had said 
 the best and most complaisant things which his 
 courtesy supplied, the smile that mantled, upon 
 her pretty mouth was so slight and evanescent, 
 as scarce to be discernible. Nigel was beginning 
 to tire of his company, for the old citizens were 
 speaking with his host of commercial matters in 
 language to him totally unintelligible, when Sir 
 Mungo Malagrowther suddenly summoned their 
 attention.
 
 THE FOKTUNEb OF NIGEL. 165 
 
 That amiable personage had for some time 
 withdrawn from the company into the recess of 
 a projecting window, so formed and placed as to 
 command a view of the door of the house, and 
 of the street. This situation was probably pre- 
 ferred by Sir Mungo on account of the number 
 of objects which the streets of a metropolis usu- 
 ally offer, of a kind congenial to the thoughts of 
 a splenetic man. What he had hitherto seen pass- 
 ing there, was probably of little consequence, but 
 now a trampling of horse was heard without, and 
 the knight suddenly exclaimed, — " By my faith. 
 Master George, you had better go look to shop ; 
 for here comes Knighton, the Duke of Bucking- 
 ham's groom, and two fellows after him, as if he 
 were my Lord Duke himself."*' 
 
 " My cash-keeper is below,^ said Heriot, 
 without disturbing himself, " and he will let me 
 know if his Grace's commands require my im- 
 mediate attention." 
 
 " Umph ! — cash-keeper P'' muttered Sir Mun- 
 go to himself; " he would have had an easy of- 
 fice when I first kcnn'd ye. But,'' said he, speak- 
 ing aloud, '"' Will you not come to the window.
 
 166 THE FOllTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 at least ? for Knighton has trundled a piece of 
 silver plate into your house — ha ! ha ! ha ! — trun- 
 dled it upon its edge as a callan' would drive a 
 hoop. I cannot help laughing — ha ! ha ! ha ! — 
 at the fellow's impudence.'" 
 
 " I believe you could not help laughing," 
 said George Heriot, rising up and leaving the 
 room, " if your best friend lay dying." 
 
 " Bitter that, my lord — ha !"" said Sir Mungo, 
 addressing Nigel. " Our friend is not a gold- 
 smith for nothino: — he hath no leaden wit — ^but 
 I will go down and see what comes on't." 
 
 Heriot, as he descended the stairs, met his 
 cash-keeper coming up, with some concern in his 
 face. " Why, how now, Roberts," said the gold- 
 smith, " what means all this, man ?" 
 
 " It is Knighton, Master Heriot, from the 
 court ; Knighton, the Duke's man. He brought 
 back the salver you carried to Whitehall, flung 
 it into the entrance as if it had been an old pew- 
 ter platter, and bade me tell you the King would 
 have none of your trumpery." 
 
 " Ay ! — indeed," said George Heriot — " none 
 of my trumpery ! — Come hither into the compt-
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 167 
 
 ing-room, Roberts — SirMungo," he added, bow- 
 ing to the knight, who had joined, and was pre- 
 paring to follow them, " I pray your forgive- 
 ness for an instant." 
 
 In virtue of this prohibition. Sir Mungo, who, 
 as well as the rest of the company, had overheard 
 what passed betwixt George Heriot and his cash- 
 keeper, saw himself condemned to wait in the outer 
 business-room, where he would have endeavour- 
 ed to slake his eager curiosity by questioning 
 Knighton ; but that emissary of greatness, after 
 having added to the uncivil message of his mas- 
 ter some rudeness of his own, had again scam- 
 pered westward, with his satellites at his heels. 
 
 In the meanwhile, the name of the Duke of 
 Buckingham, the omnipotent favourite both of 
 the King and the Prince of Wales, had struck 
 some anxiety into the party which remained in 
 the great parlour. He was more feared than be- 
 loved, and, if not absolutely of a tyrannical dis- 
 position, was accounted haughty, violent, and vin- 
 dictive. It pressed on NigePs heart, that he him- 
 self, though he could not conceive how, nor why, 
 might be the original cause of the resentment of 
 
 10
 
 168 THE lORTUNK* OF NlGKL. 
 
 the Duke against his benefactor. The others 
 made their comments in whispers, until the sounds 
 refiched Ramsay, who had not heard a word of 
 what had previously passed, but, plunged in those 
 studies with which he connected every other in- 
 cident and event, took up only the catchword, and 
 replied, — " The Duke — the Duke of Bucking- 
 ham — George Villiers — ay — I have spoke with 
 Lambe about him."'' 
 
 " Our Lord and our Lady ! Now how can you 
 say so, father?" said his daughter, who had 
 shrewdness enough to see that her father was 
 touching upon dangerous ground. 
 
 " Why, ay, child," answered Ramsay ; " the 
 stars do but incline, they cannot compel. But 
 well you wot, it is commonly said of his Grace, 
 by those who have the skill to cast nativities, 
 that there was a notable conjunction of Mars and 
 Saturn — the apparent or true time of which, re- 
 ducing the calculations of Eichstadius made for 
 the latitude of Oranicnburgh to that of London, 
 gives seven hours, fifty-five minutes, and forty= 
 one seconds — — "
 
 TlIK I'OliTl'NKS Oy XIC.EL- IGO 
 
 *' Hold your peace, old soothsayer,^' said Hc- 
 riot, who at that instant entered the room with a 
 cahu and steady eountenance ; '• your calcula- 
 tions are true and undeniable when they regard 
 brass and wire, and mechanical force ; but future 
 events are at the pleasure of Him who bears the 
 hearts of kings in his hands." 
 
 *' Ay, but, George," answered the watchmaker, 
 " there was a concurrence of signs at this gentle- 
 man's birth, which shewed his course would be a 
 strange one. Long has it been said of him, he was 
 born at the very meeting of night and day, and 
 under crossing and contending influences that may 
 affect both us and him. 
 
 Full moon and high sea. 
 Great man shalt thou be ; 
 Red dawning, stormy sky, 
 Bloody death shalt thou die." 
 
 *' It is not good to speak of such things,"' said 
 Ileriot, " especiallyof the great; stonewalls have 
 ears, and a bird of the air shall carry the matter." 
 
 Several of the guests seemed to be of their 
 host'b opinion. The two merchants took brief
 
 170 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 leave, as if under consciousness that something 
 was wrong. Mistress Margaret, her body-guard 
 of 'prentices being in readiness, plucked her fa- 
 ther by the sleeve, and rescuing him from a 
 brown study, (whether referring to the wheels of 
 Time, or to that of Fortune, is uncertain,) wish- 
 ed good-night to her friend Mrs Judith, and 
 received her god-father's blessing, who, at the 
 same time, put upon her slender finger a ring of 
 much taste and some value ; for he seldom suf- 
 fered her to leave him without some token of his 
 affection. Thus honourably dismissed, and ac- 
 companied by her escort, she set forth on her re- 
 turn to Fleet Street. 
 
 Sir Mungo had bid adieu to Master Heriot as 
 he came out from the back compting-room, but 
 such was the interest which he took in the affairs 
 of his friend, that, when Master George went up 
 stairs, he could not help walking into that sanctum 
 sanctorum, to see how Master Roberts was em- 
 ployed. The knight found the cash-keeper busy 
 in making extracts from those huge brass-clasped 
 leathern-bound manuscript folios, which are the 
 pride and trust of dealers, and the dread of cus-
 
 THK FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 171 
 
 tomers whose year of grace is out. The good 
 knight leant his elbows on the desk, and said to 
 the functionary, in a condoling tone of voice,— 
 " What ! you have lost a good customer, I fear. 
 Master Roberts, and are busied in making out 
 his bill of charges ?'' 
 
 Now it chanced that Roberts, hke Sir Mungo 
 himself, was a little deaf, and, like Sir Mungo, 
 knew also how to make the most of it ; so that he 
 answered at cross purposes,—" I humbly crave 
 your pardon. Sir Mungo, for not having sent in 
 your bill of charge sooner, butm} master bade me 
 not disturb you. I will bring the items together 
 in a moment." So saying, he began to turn 
 over the leaves of his book of fate, murmuring, 
 " Repairing ane silver seal — new clasp to his 
 chain of office — ane over-gilt brooch to his hat, 
 being a Saint Andrew's cross, with thistles — a 
 copper gilt pair of spurs, — this to Daniel Driver, 
 we not dealing in the article." 
 
 He would have proceeded ; but Sir Mungo, not 
 prepared to endure the recital of the catalogue 
 of his own petty debts, and still less willing to 
 satisfy them on the spot, wished the book-keeper,
 
 172 THE FOr.TUMES OF NIGEL. 
 
 cavalierly, good-niglit, and left the house without 
 further ceremony. The clerk looked after him 
 with a civil city sneer, and immediately resumed 
 the more serious labours which Sir Mungo's in- 
 trusion had interrupted.
 
 THE FOnTUN^ES OF XTGCT,. 173 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Things neeilful we have thought on ; but the thing 
 Of all most neeilful — that which Scripture terms, 
 As if alone it merited regard. 
 The ONE thing needful — that's yet unconsider'd. 
 
 The Chamberlain. 
 
 When the rest of the company had taken their 
 departure from Master IIeriot'*s house, the young 
 Lord of Glenvarloch also offered to take leave ; 
 but his host detained him for a few minutes, un- 
 til all were gone excepting the clergyman. 
 
 " i\Iy lord," then said the worthy citizen, '' we 
 have had our permitted hour of honest and hos- 
 pitable pastime, and now I would fain delay you 
 for another and graver purpose, as it is our cus- 
 tom, when we have the benefit of good ]Mr Wind- 
 sor's company, that he reads the prayers'of the 
 church for the evening before we separate. Your 
 excellent father, my lord, would not have depart-
 
 174 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 ed before family worship — I hope the same from 
 your lordship/' 
 
 " With pleasure, sir," answered Nigel ; " and 
 yo\i add in the invitation an additional obligation 
 to those with which you have loaded me. When 
 young men forget what is their duty, they owe 
 deep thanks to the friend who will remind them 
 of it.'' 
 
 While they talked together in this manner, the 
 serving-men had removed the folding-tables, 
 brought forward a portable reading-desk, and 
 placed chairs and hassocks for their master, their 
 mistress, and the noble stranger. Another low 
 chair, or rather a sort of stool, was placed close 
 beside that of Master Heriot; and though the cir- 
 cumstance was trivial, Nigel was induced to no- 
 tice it, because, when about to occupy that seat, 
 he was prevented by a sign from the old gentle- 
 man, and motioned to another of somewhat more 
 elevation. The clergyman took his station behind 
 the reading-desk. The domestics, a numerous 
 family both of clerks and servants, including Mo- 
 niplies, attended with great gravity, and were ac- 
 commodated with benches.
 
 THE FORTUNP:s of NIGEL. 175 
 
 The household were all seated, and, externally 
 at least, composed to devout attention, when a low 
 knock was heard at the door of the apartment ; 
 Mrs Judith looked anxiously at her brother, as if 
 desiring to know his pleasure. He nodded his head 
 gravely, and looked to the door. Mrs Judith im- 
 mediately crossed the chamber, opened the door, 
 and led into the apartment a beautiful creature, 
 whose sudden and singular appearance might have 
 made her almost pass for an apparition. She was 
 deadly pale — there was not the least shade of vital 
 red to enliven features, which were exquisitely 
 formed, and might, but for that circumstance, 
 have been termed transcendently beautiful. Her 
 long black hair fell down over her shoulders and 
 down her back, combed smoothly and regularly, 
 but without the least appearance of decoration or 
 ornament, which looked very singular at a period 
 when head-gear, as it was called, of one sort or 
 other, was generally used by all ranks. Her dress 
 was of pure white, of the simplest fashion, and hi- 
 ding all her person excepting the throat, face, and 
 hands. Her form was rather beneath than above 
 the middle size, but so justly proportioned and
 
 ItG TrfF FORTUNES OF NTGEL. 
 
 elegantly made, that tlie spectator's attention -was 
 entirely withdrawn from her size. In contradic- 
 lion of the extreme plainness of all the rest of her 
 aittire, she wore a necklace which a duchess might 
 have envied, so large and lustrous were the bril- 
 liants of which it was composed ; and around 
 her waist a zone of rubies of scarce inferior va- 
 lue. 
 
 When this singular figure entered the apart- 
 ment, she cast her eyes on Nigel, and paused, as 
 if uncertain whether to advance or retreat. The 
 glance which she took of him seemed to be one ra- 
 ther of uncertainty and hesitation, than of bash- 
 fulness or timidity. Aunt Judith took her by the 
 hand, and led her slowly forward — her dark eyes, 
 however, continued to be fixed on Nigel, with an 
 expression of melancholy by which he felt strange- 
 ly affected. Even when she was seated on the 
 vacant stool, which was placed there probably for 
 her accommodation, she again looked on him more 
 than once with the same pensive, lingering, and 
 anxious expression, but without either shyness or 
 embarrassment, not even so much as to call the 
 slightest degree of complexion into her cheek.
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 177 
 
 So soon as this singular female had taken up 
 the prayer-book, which was laid upon her cushion, 
 she seemed immersed in devotional duty ; and al- 
 though NigeFs attention to the service was so much 
 disturbed by this extraordinary apparition, that 
 he looked towards her repeatedly in the course of 
 the service, he could never observe that her eyes 
 or her thoughts strayed so much as a single mo- 
 ment from the task in which she was engaged. 
 Nigel himself was less attentive, for the appear 
 ance of this lady seemed so extraordinary, that, 
 strictly as he had been bred up by his father to 
 pay the most reverential attention during per- 
 formance of divine service, his thoughts in spite 
 of himself were disturbed by her presence, and he 
 earnestly wished the prayers were ended, that his 
 curiosity might obtain some gratification. When 
 the service was concluded, and each had remained, 
 according to the decent and edifying practice of 
 the church, concentrated in mental devotion for 
 a short space, the mysterious visitant arose ere 
 any other person stirred ; and Nigel remarked 
 that none of the domestics left their places, or 
 even moved, until she had first kneeled on one 
 VOL. I, M
 
 178 THE FOIITUXES OF NIGEL. 
 
 knee to Heriot, who seemed to bless her with his 
 hand laid on her head, and a melancholy solem- 
 nity of look and action. She then bended her 
 body, but without kneeling, to Mrs Judith, and 
 having performed these two acts of reverence, she 
 left the room ; yet just in the act of her depar- 
 ture, she once more turned her penetrating eyes 
 on Nigel with a fixed look, which compelled him 
 to turn his own aside. When he looked towards 
 her again, he saw only the skirt of her white man- 
 tle as she left the apartment. 
 
 The domestics then rose and dispersed them- 
 selves — wine, and fruit, and spices, were offered 
 to Lord Nigel and to the clergyman, and the lat- 
 ter took his leave. The young lord would fain 
 have accompanied him, in hope to get some ex- 
 planation of the apparition which he had beheld, 
 but he was stopped by his host, who requested 
 to speak with him in his compting-room. 
 
 " I hope, my lord," said the citizen, " that 
 your preparations for attending court are in such 
 forwardness that you can go thither the day after 
 to-morrow. It is perhaps the last day, for some 
 time, that his Majesty will hold open court for
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 1T9 
 
 all who have pretensions by birth, rank, or office, 
 
 to attend upon him. On the subsequent day he 
 goes to Theobala's, where he is so much occu- 
 pied with hunting and other pleasures, that he 
 cares not to be intruded on.'*'' 
 
 " I shall be in all outward readiness to pay 
 my duty,'^ said the young nobleman, " yet I have 
 little heart to do it. The friends from whom I 
 ought to have found encouragement and protec- 
 tion, have proved cold and false — I certainly will 
 not trouble them for their countenance on this 
 occasion — and yet I must confess my childish 
 unwillingness to enter quite alone upon so new a 
 scene.*" 
 
 " It is bold of a mechanic hke me to make such 
 an offer to a nobleman,"" said Heriot ; " but I must 
 attend at court to-morrow. — I can accompany 
 you as far as the presence-chamber, from my pri- 
 vilege as being of the household. I can facihtate 
 your entrance, should you find difficulty, and I 
 can point out the proper manner and time of ap- 
 proaching the King. But I do not know,"" he 
 added, smiling, '' whether these little advantages 
 will not be overbalanced by the incongruity of a
 
 180 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 nobleman receiving them from the hand of an old 
 smith." 
 
 " From the hands rather of tlie only friend I 
 have found in London/' said Nigel, offering his 
 hand. 
 
 " Nay, if you think of the matter in that way,'' 
 replied the honest citizen, " there is no more to 
 be said — I will come for you to-morrow, with a 
 barge proper to the occasion. — But remember, 
 my good young lord, that I do not, like some 
 men of my degree, wish to take opportunity to 
 step beyond it, and associate with my -superiors 
 in rank, and therefore do not fear to mortify my 
 presumption, by suffering me to keep my distance 
 in the presence, and where it is fitting for both of 
 us to separate ; and for what remains, most truly 
 happy will I be in proving of service to the son 
 ©f my ancient patron." 
 
 The style of -conversation led so far from the 
 point which had interested the young nobleman's 
 curiosity, that there was no returning to it that 
 night. He therefore exchanged thanks and greet- 
 ing with George Heriot, and took his leave, pro- 
 mising to be equipped and in readiness to em-
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 181 
 
 bark with him oa the second successive morning 
 at ten o'clock. 
 
 The generation of link-boys, celebrated by 
 Count Anthony Hamilton, as peculiar to London, 
 had already, in the reign of James I. begun their 
 functions, and the service of one of them, with his 
 smoky torch, had been secured to light the young 
 Scottish lord and his follower to their own lod- 
 gings, which, though better acquainted than for- 
 merly with the city, they might in the dark have 
 run some danger of missing. This gave the in- 
 genious Mr Moni plies an opportunity of gather- 
 ing close up to his master, after he had gone 
 through the form of slipping his left arm into the 
 handles of his buckler, and loosening his broad- 
 sword in the sheath that he might be ready for 
 whatever should befall. 
 
 " If it were not for the wine and the good 
 cheer which we have had in yonder old man's 
 house, my lord,*" said this sapient follower, " and 
 that I ken him by report to be a just hving man 
 in many respects, and a real Edinburgh gutter- 
 blood, I should have been well pleased to have
 
 182 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 seen how his feet were shaped, and whether he 
 had not a cloven cloot under the braw roses and 
 cordovan shoon of his/' 
 
 " Why, you rascal," answered Nigel, " you 
 have been too kindly treated, and now that you 
 have filled your ravenous stomach, you are rail- 
 ing on the good gentleman that relieved you." 
 
 " Under favour, no, my lord," said Moni- 
 plies, — " I would only like to see something mair 
 about him. I have eat his meat, it is true — more 
 shame that the like of him should have meat to 
 give, when your lordship and me could scarce 
 have gotten, on our own account, brose and a 
 bear bannock — I have drank his wine too." 
 
 " I see you have," replied his master, " a great 
 deal more than you should have done." 
 
 '^ Under your patience, my lord," said Moni- 
 plies, " you are pleased to say that, because I 
 crushed a quart with that jolly boy Jenkin, as 
 they call the 'prentice boy, and that was out of 
 mere acknowledgment to his former kindness — 
 1 ov/n that I, moreover, sung the good old song 
 of Elsie Marley, so as they never heard it chaunt- 
 ed in their lives "
 
 THE FORTUNES OF XTGET.. 185 
 
 And \iithal (as John Bunyan says,) as ihey 
 went on their way, he sung — 
 
 " O, do ye ken Elsie Marley, honey — 
 The wife that sells the barley, honey ? 
 For Elsie Marley 's grown sae fine. 
 She winna get up to feed the swine. — 
 O, do ye ken ." 
 
 Here in mid career was the songster interrupted 
 by the stern gripe of his master, who threatened 
 to batton him to death if he brought the city- 
 watch upon them by his ill-timed melody, 
 
 " I crave pardon, my lord — I humbly crave 
 pardon — only when I think of that Jen Win, as 
 they call him, I can hardly help humming — < O 
 do ye ken."* — But I crave your honour's pardon, 
 and will be totally dumb, if you command me 
 so.'' 
 
 " No, sirrah !" said Nigel, " talk on, for I well 
 know you would say and suffer more under pre- 
 tence of holding your peace, than when you get 
 an unbridled licence. How is it, then ? What 
 have you to say against Master Heriot .?"" 
 
 It seems more than probable, that in permit-
 
 184 THE FORTUNES OF MIGEL. 
 
 ting this licence, the young lord hoped his attend- 
 ant would stumble upon the subject of the young 
 lady who had appeared at prayers in a manner 
 so mysterious. But whether this was the case, 
 or whether he merely desired that Moniplies 
 should utter, in a subdued and under tone of 
 voice, those spirits which might otherwise have 
 vented themselves in obstreperous song, it is cer- 
 tain he permitted his attendant to proceed with 
 his story in his o>vn way. 
 
 "And therefore,'' said the orator, availing him- 
 self of his immunity, " I would Hke to ken what 
 for a carle this Master Heriot is. He hath sup- 
 plied your lordship with wealth of gold, as I can 
 understand ; and if he has, I make it for certain 
 he hath had his ain end in it, according to the fa- 
 shion of the world. Now had your lordship your 
 own good lands at your guiding, doubtless this 
 person, with most of his craft — goldsmiths they 
 call themselves — I say usurers — wald be glad to 
 exchange so many pounds of African dust, by 
 whilk I understand gold, against so many fair 
 acres and hundreds of acres of broad Scottish 
 land."
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 185 
 
 '' But you know I have no land,'' said the 
 young lord, " at least none that can be affected 
 by any debt which I can at present become obli- 
 ged for — I think you need not have reminded me 
 of that." 
 
 " True, my lord, most true ; and as your lord- 
 ship says, open to the meanest capacity, without 
 any unnecessary expositions. Now therefore, my 
 lord, unless Master George Heriot has something 
 mair to allege as a motive for his liberality, vera 
 different from the possession of your estate — and 
 moreover, as he could gain little by the capture 
 of your body, wherefore should it not be your 
 soul that he is in pursuit of .?" 
 
 " My soul, you rascal r said the young lord ; 
 " What good should my soul do him ?'' 
 
 " What do I ken about that ?" said Moniplies ; 
 " they go about roaring and seeking whom they 
 may devour— doubtless, they hke the food that 
 they rage so much about — and, my lord, they 
 say," added Moniplies, drawing up still closer to 
 his master's side, " they say that Master Heriot 
 has one spirit in his house already." 
 
 " How, or what do you mean ?^ said Nigel ;
 
 18G THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL, 
 
 «* I will break your head, you drunken knave, if 
 you palter with me any longer/' 
 
 " Drunken ?" answered his trusty adherent, 
 " and is this the story ? — why, how could I but 
 drink your lordship's health on my bare knees, 
 when Master Jenkin began it to me ? — hang them 
 that would not — I would have cut the impudent 
 knave's hams with my broad-sword, that should 
 make scruple of it, and so have made him kneel 
 when he should have found it difficult to rise 
 again. But touching the spirit," he proceeded, 
 finding that his master made no answer to his 
 valorous tirade, " your lordship has seen her 
 with your own eyes." 
 
 " I saw no spirit," said Glenvarloch, but yet 
 breathing thick as one who expects some singular 
 disclosure, " what mean you by a spirit ?" 
 
 *' You saw a young lady come into prayers, 
 that spoke not a word to any one, only made 
 becks and bows to the old gentleman and lady of 
 the house — ken ye wha she is .^" 
 
 " No indeed," answered Nigel ; " some relation 
 of the family, I suppose." 
 
 " De'il a bit — de'il a bit," answered Moniplies, 
 
 12
 
 THE rORTUNFS OF XIGEL. 18'7 
 
 hastily, " not a blood-drop's kin to them, if she 
 had a drop of blood in her body — I tell you but 
 what all human beings allege to be truth, that 
 dwell within hue and cry of Lombard-street— 
 that lady, or quean, or whatever you chuse to call 
 her, has been dead in the body these many a year, 
 though she haunts them, as we have seen, even 
 at their very devotions." 
 
 " You will allow her to be a good spirit at 
 least," said Nigel Olifaunt, " since she chuses 
 such a time to visit her friends." 
 
 " For that I ken nae, my lord," answered the 
 superstitious follower ; " I ken no spirit that 
 would have faced the right down hammer blow 
 of Mess John Knox, whom my father stood by 
 in his very warst days, bating when the court 
 was against him, which my father supplied with 
 butcher-meat. But yon divine has another airt 
 from powerful Master Rollock, and Mess David 
 Black, of North Leith, and sic like. — Alack-a- 
 day ! wha can ken, if it please your lordship, 
 whether sic prayers as the Southron read out of 
 their auld blethering black mess-book there, may 
 not be as powerful to invite fiends, as a right
 
 188 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 red-het prayer warm frae the heart, may be 
 powerful to drive them away, even as the Evil 
 Spirit was driven by the smell of the fish's liver 
 from the bridal-chamber of Sara, the daughter 
 of Raguel ? As to whilk story, nevertheless, I 
 make scruple to say whether it be truth or not, 
 better men than I am having doubted on that 
 matter." 
 
 " Well, well, well," said^ his master, impa- 
 tiently, " we are now near home, and I have per- 
 mitted you to speak of this matter for once, that 
 we may have an end of your prying folly, and 
 your ideotical superstitions, for ever. For whom 
 do you, or your absurd authors or informers, 
 take this lady ?'' 
 
 '' I can say naething preceesely as to that,*"* 
 answered Moniplies; " certain it is her body 
 died and was laid in the grave many a day since, 
 notwithstanding she still wanders on earth, and 
 chiefly amongst Master Heriof s family, though 
 she hath been seen in other places by them that 
 well knew her. But who she is, I will not warrant 
 to say, or how she becomes attached, like a 
 Highland Brownie, to some pecuhar family.
 
 THK FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 189 
 
 They say she has a row of apartments of her 
 own, anti-room, parlour, and bed-room ; but 
 de"*!! a bed she sleeps in but her own coffin, and 
 the walls, doors, and windows are so chinked 
 up, as to prevent the least blink of daylight from 
 entering ; and then she dwells by torch-light — *" 
 
 " To what purpose, if she be a spirit ?" said 
 Nigel Ohfaunt. 
 
 '' How can I tell your lordship ?"" answered 
 his attendant. " I thank God, I know nothing 
 of her likings, or mislikings — only her coffin is 
 there ; and I leave your lordship to guess what 
 a live person has to do with a coffin. As little 
 as a ghost with a lantern, I trow." 
 
 '* What reason,"" repeated Nigel, " can a crea- 
 ture so young and so beautiful, have already ha- 
 bitually to contemplate her bed of last long rest .^" 
 
 " In troth, I kenna, my lord,'^ answered Mo- 
 
 niplies ; " but there is the coffin, as they told me 
 
 who have seen it : It is made of heben-wood, 
 
 with silver nails, and lined all through with 
 
 three-piled damask, might serve a princess to rest 
 
 in." 
 
 " Singular," said Nigel, whose brain, like that 
 1
 
 190 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 of most active young spirits, was easily caught 
 by the singular and the romantic ; " does she 
 not eat with the family ?'' 
 
 *' Who ! — she r — exclaimed MonipHes, as if 
 surprised at the question ; " they would need a 
 lang spoon would sup with her, I trow. Ahvays 
 there is something put for her into the Tower, as 
 they call it, whilk is a whigraaleery of a whirling- 
 box, that turns round half on the tae side o' the 
 wa', half on the t'other."' 
 
 " I have seen the contrivance in foreign nun- 
 neries," said the Lord of Glenvarloch. " And 
 is it thus she receives her food ?" 
 
 " They tell me something is put in ilka day, 
 for fashion's sake,'' replied the attendant ; " but 
 it's no to be supposed she would consume it, ony 
 mair than the images of Baal and the Dragon 
 consumed the dainty vivers that were placed be- 
 fore them. There are stout yeomen and cham- 
 ber-queans in the house, enow to play the part 
 of Lick it up a', as well as the threescore and 
 ten priests of Bel, besides their wives and child- 
 ren." 
 
 " And she is never seen in the family but
 
 THK FORTUNES OF NIGEL. IQl 
 
 when the hour of prayer arrives ?" said the mas- 
 ter. 
 
 *' Never, that I hear of,'*"' replied the servant. 
 
 " It is singular," said Nigel Olifaunt, musing. 
 " Were it not for the ornaments which she 
 wears, and stiU more for her attendance upon the 
 service of the Protestant Church, I would know 
 what to think, and should believe her either a 
 Catholic votaress, who, for some cogent reason, 
 was allowed to make her cell here in London, or 
 some unhappy Popish devotee who was in the 
 course of undergoing a dreadful penance. As it 
 is, I know not what to deem of it." 
 
 His reverie was interrupted by the link-boy 
 knocking at the door of honest John Christie, 
 whose wife came forth with " quips, and becks, 
 and wreathed smiles," to welcome her honoured 
 guest on his return to his apartment.
 
 192 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Ay ! mark the matron well— and laugh not, Harry, 
 At her old steeple hat and velvet guard— 
 I've call'd her like the ear of Dionysius ; 
 I mean that ear-form'd vault built o'er his dungeon, 
 To catch the groans and oiscontented murmurs 
 Of his poor bondsmen. — Even so doth Martha 
 Drink up for her own purpose all that passes, 
 Or is supposed to pass in this wide city — 
 She can retail it too, if that her profit 
 Shall call on her to do so; and retail it too 
 For your advantage, so that you can make 
 Your profit jump with hers. 
 
 The Conspiracy. 
 
 We must now introduce to the reader's ac- 
 quaintance another character, busy and impor- 
 tant far beyond her ostensible situation in so- 
 ciety, in a word, Dame Ursula Suddlechop, wife 
 of Benjamin Suddlechop, the most renown^ 
 ed barber in all Fleet-street. This dame had 
 her own particular merits, the principal part of 
 which was (if her own report could be trusted,)
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 193 
 
 an infinite desire to be of service to her fellow- 
 creatures. Leaving to her thin half-starved part- 
 ner the boast of having the most dexterous snap 
 with his fingers of any shaver in London, and 
 the care of a shop where starved apprentices flay- 
 ed the faces of those who were boobies enough 
 to trust them, the dame drove a separate and 
 more lucrative trade, which yet had so many odd 
 turns and windings, that it seemed in many re- 
 spects to contradict itself. 
 
 Its highest and most important duties were of 
 a very secret and confidential nature, and Dame 
 LTrsula Suddlcchop was never known to betray 
 any transaction intrusted to her, unless she had 
 either been indifferently paid for her service, or 
 that some one found it convenient to give her a 
 double douceur to make her disgorge the secret ; 
 and these contingencies happened in so few cases, 
 that her character for trustiness remained as un- 
 impeached as that for honesty and benevolence. 
 
 In fact, she was a most admirable matron, and 
 could be useful to the impassioned and the frail 
 in the rise, progress, and consequences of their 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 194 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 passion. She could contrive an interview for lo- 
 vers who could shew proper reasons for meeting 
 privately; she could relieve the frail fair one of the 
 burthen of a guilty passion, and perhaps establish 
 the hopeful offspring of unlicensed love as the 
 heir of some family whose love was lawful, but 
 where an heir had not followed the union. More 
 than this she could do, and had been concerned 
 in deeper and dearer secrets : She had been a pu- 
 pil of Mrs Turner, and learned from her the secret 
 of making the yellow starch, and, it may be, two 
 or three other secrets of more consequence, though 
 perhaps none that went to the criminal extent of 
 those whereof her mistress was accused. But all 
 that was deep and dark in her real character, was 
 covered by the shew of outward mirth and good- 
 humour, the hearty laugh and buxom jest with 
 which the dame knew well how to conciliate the 
 elder part of her neighbours, and the many petty 
 arts by which she could recommend herself to the 
 younger, those especially of her own sex. 
 
 Dame Ursula was, in appearance, scarce past 
 forty, and her full, but not overgrown form, and 
 still comely features, although her person was
 
 THE FOPiTUXES OF NIGEL. 195 
 
 plumped out, and her face somewhat coloured by 
 good cheer, had a joyous expression of gaiety and 
 eood humour, which set off the remains of beau- 
 tv in the wane. Marriages, births, and christen- 
 ings, were seldom thought to be performed with 
 sufficient ceremony, for a considerable distance 
 round her abode, unless Dame Ursley, as they 
 called her, was present. She could contrive all 
 sorts of pastimes, games, and jests, which might 
 amuse the large companies whom the hospitality 
 of our ancestors assembled together on such occa- 
 sions, so that her presence was literally considered 
 as indispensable in the family of all citizens of or- 
 dinary rank, on such joyous occasions. So much 
 also was she supposed to know of life and its laby- 
 rinths, that she was the willing confidant of half 
 the loving couples in the vicinity, most of whom 
 used to communicate their secrets, and receive their 
 counsel from Dame Ursley. The rich rewarded 
 her services with rings, owches, or gold pieces, 
 which she liked still better ; and she very gene- 
 rously gave her assistance to the poor on the 
 same mixed principles as young practitioners in
 
 196 THE FORTUNES OF NIOEL. 
 
 medicine assist them, partly from compassion, and 
 partly to keep her hand in use. 
 
 Dame Ursley's reputation in the city was the 
 greater that her practice had extended beyond 
 Temple-Bar, and that she had acquaintances, 
 nay, patrons and patronesses, among the quality, 
 whose rank, as their members were much fewer, 
 and the prospect of approaching the courtly sphere 
 much more difficult, bore a degree of consequence 
 unknown to the present day, when the toe of the 
 citizen presses so close on the courtier'^s heel. 
 Dame Ursley maintained her intercourse with this 
 superior rank of customers, partly by driving a 
 small trade in perfumes, essences, pomades, 
 head-gears from France, dishes or ornaments 
 from China, then already beginning to become 
 fashionable ; not to mention drugs of various 
 descriptions, chiefly for the use of the ladies, and 
 partly by other services, more or less connected 
 with the esoteric branches of her profession here- 
 tofore alluded to. 
 
 Possessing such and so many various modes of 
 thriving, Dame Ursley was nevertheless so poor,
 
 THE FORTUNKS OF XIGEL. 197 
 
 that she might probably have mended her own 
 circumstances, as well as her husband's, if she had 
 renounced them all, and set herself quietly down 
 to the care of her own household, and to assist 
 Benjamin in the concerns of his trade. But Ur- 
 sula was luxurious and genial in her habits, and 
 could no more have endured the stinted economy 
 of Benjamin's board, than she could have recon- 
 ciled herself to the bald chat of his conversa- 
 tion. 
 
 It was on the evening of the day on which 
 Lord Nigel Olifaunt dined with the wealthy gold- 
 smith, that we must introduce Ursula Suddlechop 
 upon the stage. She had that morning made a 
 long tour to Westminster, was fatigued, and had 
 assumed a certain large elbow-chair, rendered 
 smooth by frequent use, placed on one side of her 
 chimney, in which there was lit a small but bright 
 fire. Here she observed, betwixt sleeping and 
 waking, the simmering of a pot of well-spiced ale, 
 on the brown surface of which bobbed a small 
 crab-apple, sufficiently roasted, while a little mu- 
 latto girl watched, still more attentively, the pro-
 
 198 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 cess of dressing a veal sweet-bread, in a silver 
 stew-pan Avhich occupied the other side of the 
 chimney. AVith these viands, doubtless. Dame 
 Ursula proposed concluding the well-spent day, 
 of which she reckoned the labour over, and the 
 rest at her own command. She was deceived, 
 however ; for just as the ale, or, to speak techni- 
 cally, the lamb's-wool, was fitted for drinking, 
 and the little dingy maiden intimated that the 
 sweet-bread was ready to be eaten, the thin crack- 
 ed voice of Benjamin was heard from the bottom 
 of the stairs. 
 
 " Why, Dame Ursley — why, wife, I say — 
 why, dame — why, love, you are wanted more 
 than a strop for a blunt razor — why, dame ! ''"' 
 
 *' I would some one would draw the razor 
 across thy wind-pipe, thou bawhng ass,"' said the 
 dame to herself, in the first moment of irritation, 
 against her clamorous helpmate ; and then called 
 aloud, — " Why, what is the matter. Master 
 Suddlechop ? I am just going to shp into bed ; 
 I have been daggled to and fro the whole day." 
 
 " Nay, sweetheart, it is not me," said the 
 14
 
 THE f OnXUNES OF NIGEL. 199 
 
 patient Benjamin, " but the Scotch laundry- 
 maid from neighbour Ramsay's, who must speak 
 with you incontinent." 
 
 At the word, sweetheart, Dame Ursley cast a 
 wistful look at the mess which was stewed to a 
 second in the stew-pan, and then replied, with a 
 sigh, — " Bid Scotch Jenny come up. Master Sud- 
 dlechop. I will be very happy to hear Avhat she 
 has to say ;"" then added in a lower tone, " and I 
 hope she will go to the devil in the flame of a tar- 
 barrel, like many a Scotch witch before her." 
 
 The Scotch laundress entered accordingly, and 
 having heard nothing of the last kind wish of Dame 
 Suddlechop, made her reverence with considera- 
 ble respect, and said, her young mistress was re- 
 turned home unwell, and wislied to see her neigh- 
 bour. Dame Ursley, directly. " And why will it 
 not do to-morrow, Jenny, my good woman ?" said 
 Dame Ursley ; " for I have been as far as White- 
 hall to-day already, and I am well nigh worn off 
 my feet, my good woman." 
 
 " Aweel !" answered Jenny, with great com- 
 posure, " and if that sae be sae, I maun take the 
 lauger tramp my sell, and maun gae down the
 
 900 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 waterside for auld Mother Redcap, at the Hun- 
 gerford Stairs, that deals in comforting young 
 creatures, e'en as you do yoursell, hinny ; for ane 
 of ye the bairn maun see before she sleeps, and 
 that's a' that I ken on't." 
 
 So saying, the old emissary, without further 
 entreaty, turned on her heel, and was about to 
 retreat, when Dame Ursley exclaimed, — " No, 
 no — if the sweet child, your mistress, has any ne- 
 cessary occasion for good advice and kind ten- 
 dance, you need not go to Mother Redcap, Ja- 
 net. She may do very well for skippers' wives, 
 chandlers' daughters, and such like ; but no- 
 body shall wait on pretty Mistress Margaret, the 
 daughter of his most Sacred Majesty's horologer, 
 excepting and saving myself. And so I will but 
 take my chopines and my cloak, and put on my 
 muffler, and cross the street to neighbour Ram- 
 say's in an instant. But tell me yourself, good 
 Jenny, are you not something tired of your young 
 lady's frolics and change of mind twenty times 
 a-day.?" 
 
 " In troth, not I," said the patient drudge, 
 " unless it may be when she is a wee fashions
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. ^201 
 
 about washing her laces ; but I have beeu her 
 keeper since she was a bairn, neighbour Suddle- 
 chop, and that makes a difference."" 
 
 *' Ay,*" said Dame Ursley, still busied putting 
 on additional defences against the night air; 
 " and you know for certain that she has two 
 hundred pounds a-year in good land, at her own 
 free disposal ?'" 
 
 " Left by her grandmother. Heaven rest her 
 soul,"" said the Scotchwoman ; " and to a dain- 
 tier lassie she could not have bequeathed it."" 
 
 " Very true, very true, mistress ; for, with all 
 her little whims, I have always said Mistress 
 Margaret Ramsay was the prettiest girl in the 
 ward ; and, Jenny, I warrant the poor child has 
 had no supper."' 
 
 Jenny could not say but it was the case, for 
 her master being out, the twa 'prentice lads had 
 gone out after shutting shop, to fetch them home, 
 and she and the other maid had gone out to Sandy 
 MacGiven"'s, to see a friend frae Scotland. 
 
 " As was very natural, Mrs Janet,"*"* said 
 Dame Ursley, who found her interest in assent-
 
 202 THE FORTUNE.s OF NIGEL. 
 
 ing to all sorts of propositions from all sorts of 
 persons. 
 
 " And so the fire went out, too — ," said Jenny. 
 
 " Which was the most natural of the whole," 
 said Dame Suddlechop ; " and so, to cut the 
 matter short, Jenny, I'll carry over the little bit 
 of supper that I was going to eat. For dinner I 
 have tasted none, and it may be my young pret- 
 ty Mistress Marget will eat a morsel with me ; 
 for it is mere emptiness, Mistress Jenny, that 
 often puts these fancies of illness into young 
 folk's heads.*" So saying, she put the silver pos- 
 set-cup with the ale into Jenny's hands, and as- 
 suming her mantle with the alacrity of one de- 
 termined to sacrifice inclination to duty, she hid 
 the stew-pan under its folds, and commanded 
 Wilsa, the little mulatto girl, to light them across 
 the street. 
 
 " Whither away, so late .?" said the barber, 
 whom they passed seated with his starveling 
 boys round a mess of stock-fish and parsnips, in 
 the shop below. 
 
 " If I were to tell you, Gaffie," said the dame, 
 with most contemptuous coolness, " I do not
 
 THE lORTUNES OF NIGEL. f^^i 
 
 think you could do my errand, so I will c'cn keep 
 it to myself." Benjamin was too mucli accus- 
 tomed to his wife's independent mode of con- 
 duct, to pursue his inquiry farther ; nor did the 
 dame tarry for farther question, but marched 
 out at the door, telling the eldest of the boys 
 " to sit up till her return, and look to the house 
 the whilst." 
 
 The night was dark and rainy, and although 
 the distance betwixt the two shops was short, it 
 allowed Dame Ursle}^ leisure enough, while she 
 strode along with high-tucked petticoats, to em- 
 bitter it by the following grumbling reflections — 
 " I wonder what I have done, that I must needs 
 trudge at every old beldame''s bidding, and every 
 young minx's maggot ! I have been marched from 
 Temple-Bar to Whitechapel, on the matter of a 
 pin-maker's wife having pricked her finger — mar- 
 ry , her husband that made the weapon might have 
 salved the wound. — And here is this fantastic 
 ape, pretty Mistress Marget forsooth — such a 
 beauty as I could make of a Dutch doll, and as 
 fantastic, and humorous, and conceited, as if she 
 were a duchess. I have seen her in the same day
 
 30:i THE FORTUNES OF Nl(iEL. 
 
 as changeful as a marmozet, and as stubborn as 
 a mule. I should like to know whether her little 
 conceited noddle, or her father''s old crazy, calcu- 
 lating jolter-pate, breeds most whimsies. But then 
 there'*s that two hundred pounds a-year in dirty 
 land, and the father is held a close chuff, though 
 a fanciful — he is our landlord beside, and she has 
 begged a late day from him for our rent ; so God 
 help me, I must be conformable — besides, the lit- 
 tle capricious devil is my only key to get at Master 
 George Heriof s secret, and it concerns my cha- 
 racter to find that out ; and so, cmdiumos, as the 
 lingua franca hath it." 
 
 Thus pondering, she moved forward with 
 hasty strides until she arrived at the watch-ma- 
 ker'^s habitation. The attendant admitted them 
 by means of a pass-key. Onward glided Dame 
 Ursula, now in glimmer and now in gloom, not 
 like the lovely Lady Cristabelle through Gothic 
 sculpture and ancient armour, but creeping and 
 stumbling amongst relics of old machines, and 
 models of new inventions in various branches of 
 mechanics, with which wrecks of useless ingenui- 
 ty, cither in a broken or half-finished shape, the
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGKL. f-20-j 
 
 apartment of the fanciful though ingenious me- 
 chanist was continually lumbered. 
 
 At length they attained, by a very naiTow 
 stair-case, pretty Mistress Margaret's apartment, 
 where she, the cynosure of the eyes of every bold 
 young bachelor in Fleet-street, sate in a posture 
 which hovered between the discontented and the 
 disconsolate. For her pretty back and shoulders 
 were rounded into a curve, her round and dim- 
 pled chin reposed in the hollow of her little palm, 
 while the fingers were folded over her mouth ; 
 her elbow rested on a table, and her eyes seemed 
 fixed upon the dying charcoal, which was expi- 
 rinor in a small cerate. She scarce turned her head 
 when Dame Ursula entered, and when the pre- 
 sence of that estimable matron was more precisely 
 announced in words by the old Scotch-woman, 
 Mistress Margaret, without changing her posture, 
 muttered some sort of answer that was wholly un- 
 intellisdble. 
 
 " Go your ways down to the kitchen with Wi- 
 lia, good Mistress Jenny,'' said Dame Ursula, 
 who was used to all sorts of freaks on the part of 
 her patients or cHentr., whichever they might be
 
 20G THE rOETUNES OF NIGET.. 
 
 termed ; " put the stew-pan and tlie pomnger by 
 the fire-side, and go down below — I must speak 
 to my pretty love. Mistress jMargaret, by myself 
 — and there is not a bachelor betwixt this and 
 Bow but will envy me the privilege." 
 
 The attendants retired as directed, and Dame 
 Ursula, having availed herself of the embers of 
 charcoal, to place her stew-pan to the best advan- 
 tage, drew herself as close as she could to her pa- 
 tient, and began in a low, soothing, and confiden- 
 tial tone of voice, to inquire what ailed her pretty 
 flower of neighbours. 
 
 " Nothing, dame," said IMargaret, somewhat 
 pettishly, and changing her posture so as rather 
 to turn her back upon the kind inquirer. 
 
 " Nothing, lady-bird !" answered Dame Sud- 
 dlechop ; " and do you use to send for your 
 friends out of bed at this hour for nothing ?" 
 
 *' It was not I who sent for you, dame," replied 
 the malcontent maiden. 
 
 " And who was it, then ?" said Ursula ; " for 
 if I had not been sent for, I had not been here 
 at this time of night, I promise you !" 
 
 "' It was the old Scotch fool Jenny, who did
 
 TTTE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. . 207 
 
 it out of her own head, I suppose,"*' said ]Margi\- 
 ret ; " for she has been stunning me these two 
 hours about you and ]\Iother Redcap.*' 
 
 " Me and jMother Redcap !*' said Dame Ur- 
 sula, " an old fool indeed, that couples folk up 
 so. — But come, come, my sweet httle neighbour, 
 Jenny is no such fool after all ; she knows young 
 folks want more and better advice than her own, 
 and she knows too where to find it for them ; so 
 you must take heart of grace, my pretty maiden, 
 and tell me what you are moping about, and then 
 let Dame Ursula alone for finding out a cure." 
 
 " Nay, an ye be so wise. Mother Ursula," re- 
 phed the girl, '* you may guess what I ail with- 
 out my telling you." 
 
 " Ay, ay, child," answered the complaisant ma- 
 tron, " no one can play better than I at the good 
 old game of What is my thought like ? Now 
 I"*}} warrant that little head of yours is running 
 on a new head-tire, a foot higher than those our 
 city dames wear — or you are all for a trip to 
 Islington or AVare, and your father is cross and 
 will not consent^-or "
 
 208 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " Or you are an old fool, Dame Suddlechop," 
 said Margaret, peevishly, " and must needs trou- 
 ble yourself about matters you know nothing of.^ 
 
 " Fool as much as you will, mistress," said 
 Dame Ursula, offended in her turn, " but not 
 very many years older than yourself, mistress." 
 
 " Oh we are angry, are we ?"" said the beauty ; 
 " and pray, Madam Ursula, how come you, that 
 are not so many years older than me, to talk about 
 such nonsense to me, who am so many years 
 younger, and who yet have too much sense to 
 care about head-gears and Islington ?" 
 
 " Well, well, young mistress," said the sage 
 counsellor, rising, " I perceive I can be of no 
 use here ; and methinks, since you know your 
 own matters so much better than other people do, 
 you might dispense with disturbing folks at mid- 
 mght to ask their advice." 
 
 " Why, now you are angry, mother," said 
 Margaret, detaining her ; " this comes of your 
 coming out at even-tide without eating your sup- 
 per — I never heard you utter a cross word after 
 you had finished your little morsel. — Here Ja- 
 U
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. . 209 
 
 net, a trencher and salt for Dame Ursula ; — and 
 what have you in that porringer, dame ? — Filthy 
 clammy ale, as I would live — Let Janet fling it 
 out of the window, or keep it for my father's 
 morning draught ; and she shall bring you the 
 pottle of sack that was set ready for him — ^good 
 man, he will never find out the difference, for 
 ale will wash down his dusty calculations quite 
 as well as wine." 
 
 " Truly, sweetheart, I am of your opinion,'' 
 said Dame Ursula, whose temporary displeasure 
 vanished at once before these preparations for 
 good cheer ; and so, settling herself on the great 
 easy-chair, with a three-legged table before her, 
 she began to dispatch, with good appetite, the 
 little delicate dish which she had prepared for 
 herself. She did not, however, fail in the duties 
 of civiHty, and earnestly, but in vain, pressed 
 Mistress Margaret to partake her dainties. The 
 damsel declined the invitation. 
 
 " At least pledge me in a glass of sack," said 
 Dame Ursula; " I Lave heard my grandame say, 
 that before the gospellers came in, the old Ca^ 
 
 VOL. I. o
 
 310 THE FORTUNES OF ^"IGEL. 
 
 tholic father confessors and their penitents always 
 had a cup of sack together before confession ; and 
 you are my penitent." 
 
 " I shall drink no sack, I am sure,"" said Mar- 
 garet ; ^' and I told you before, that if you can- 
 not find out what ails me, I shall never have the 
 heart to tell it."" 
 
 So saying, she turned away from Dame Ur- 
 sula once more, and resumed her musing pos- 
 ture, with her hand on her elbow, and her back, 
 at least one shoulder, turned towards her confi- 
 dante. 
 
 "Nay then,"" said Dame Ursula, " I must ex- 
 ert my skill in good earnest. — You must give me 
 this pretty hand, and I will tell you by palmistry, 
 as well as any gipsey of them all, what foot it is 
 you halt upon." 
 
 " As if I halted on any foot at all,*" said Mar- 
 garet, something scornfully, but yielding her left 
 hand to Ursula, and continuing at the same time 
 her averted position, 
 
 " I see brave lines here," said Ursula, " and 
 not ill to read neither — pleasure and wealth, and 
 merry nights and late mornings to my Beauty,
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. Sll 
 
 and such an equipage as shall shake Whitehall. 
 O, have I touched you there ? — and smile you 
 now, my pretty one ? — for why should not he be 
 Lord Mayor, and go to court in his gilded ca- 
 roch, as others have done before him ?' 
 
 " Lord Mayor ? pshaw !" replied Margaret. 
 
 " And why pshaw at my Lord Mayor, sweet- 
 heart ? or perhaps you pshaw at my prophecy ; 
 but there is a cross in every one's line of life as 
 well as in yours, darling. And what though I 
 see a 'prentice's flat cap in this pretty palm, yet 
 there is a sparkling black eye under it, hath not 
 its match in the Ward of Farringdon- Without." 
 
 " Whom do you mean, dame .?" said Marga- 
 ret, coldly. 
 
 " Whom should I mean,'' said Dame Ursula, 
 •' but the prince of 'prentices, and king of good 
 company, Jen kin Vincent .?" 
 
 "Out, woman — Jenkin Vincent — a clown — a 
 cockney !" exclaimed the indignant damsel. 
 
 " Ay, sets the wind in that quarter. Beauty !" 
 quoth the dame ; " why, it has changed some- 
 thing since we spoke together last, for then I
 
 212 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 would have sworn it blew fairer for poor Jin 
 Vin; and the poor lad doats on you too, and 
 would rather see your eyes than the first glimpse 
 of the sun on the great holiday on May-day.*" 
 
 " I would my eyes had the power of the sun 
 to blind his then," said Margaret, " to teach the 
 drudge his place." 
 
 " Nay," said Dame Ursula, " there be some 
 who say that Frank Tunstall is as proper a lad 
 as Jin Vin, and of surety he is third cousin to a 
 knighthood, and come of a good house ; and so 
 mayhap you may be for northward ho !" 
 
 " Maybe I may"-— answered Margaret, " but 
 not with my father's 'prentice — I thank you, Dame 
 Ursula." 
 
 '* Nay then, the devil may guess your thoughts 
 for me," said Dame Ursula ; " this comes of try- 
 ing to shoe a filly that is eternally wincing and 
 shifting ground !" 
 
 " Hear me then," said Margaret, " and mind 
 what I say. — This day I dined abroad "" 
 
 " I can tell you where," answered her coun- 
 sellor, — "with your god-father the rich goldsmith
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 213 
 
 — ay, you see I know something — nay, I could 
 tell you an I would, with whom too." 
 
 " Indeed !" said Margaret, turning suddenly 
 round with an accent of strong surprise, and co- 
 louring up to the eyes. 
 
 ** With old Sir Mungo Malagrowther," said 
 the oracular dame, — " he was trimmed in my 
 Benjamin's shop in his way to the city."" 
 
 " Pshaw ! the frightful old mouldy skeleton !" 
 said the damsel. 
 
 " Indeed you say true, my dear," replied the 
 confidante, — " it is a shame to him to be out of 
 Saint Pancras's charnel-house, for I know no 
 other place he is fit for, the foul-mouthed old 
 railer. He said to my husband ^" 
 
 " Somewhat which signifies nothing to our 
 purpose, I dare say," interrupted Margaret. " I 
 miLst speak then. — There dined with us a noble- 
 man—" 
 
 " A nobleman ! the maiden'^s mad !" said 
 Dame Ursula. 
 
 " There dined with us, I say," continued Mar- 
 garet, without regarding the interruption, " a 
 nobleman — a Scottish nobleman."
 
 214 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 "Now Our Lady keep her," said the confidante, 
 " she is quite frantic ! — -heard ever any one of a 
 watchmaker's daughter faUing in love with a no- 
 bleman — and a Scotch nobleman, to make the 
 matter complete, who are all as proud as Lucifer, 
 and as poor as Job? A Scotch nobleman, quotha ? 
 I had as lief you told me of a Jew pedlar. I 
 would have you think how all this is to end, pret- 
 ty one, before you jump in the dark." 
 
 " That is nothing to you, Ursula— it is your 
 assistance," said Mistress Margaret, " and not 
 your advice that I am desirous to have, and you 
 know I can make it worth your while." 
 
 " O, it is not for the sake of lucre. Mistress 
 Margaret," answered the obliging dame ; " but 
 truly I would have you listen to some advice- 
 bethink you of your own condition." 
 
 " My father's calling is mechanical," said Mar- 
 garet, " but our blood is not so. I have heard 
 my father say that we are descended, at a distance 
 indeed, from the great Earls of Dalwolsey." 
 
 *' Ay, ay," said Dame Ursula ; " even so — I 
 never knew a Scot of you but was descended, as
 
 THE FOKTUXES OF NIGEL. ^15 
 
 ye call it, from some great house or other ; and 
 a piteous descent it often is — and as for the dis- 
 tance you speak of, it is so great as to put you 
 out of sight of each other. — Yet do not toss your 
 pretty head so scornfully, but tell me the name 
 of this lordly northern gallant, and we will try 
 what can be done in the matter." 
 
 ** It is Lord Glenvarloch, whom they call Lord 
 Nigel Olifaunt," said Margaret in a low voice, 
 and turning away to hide her blushes. 
 
 " Marry, heaven forefend !" exclaimed Dame 
 Suddlechop ; " this is the very devil, and some- 
 thing worse r 
 
 " How mean you ?""* said the damsel, surprised 
 at the vivacity of her exclamation. 
 
 " Why, know ye not,'' said the dame, " what 
 powerful enemies he has at court ? know ye not 
 — but bUsters on my tongue, it runs too fast for 
 my wit — enough to say, that you had better make 
 your bridal-bed under a falling house, than think 
 of young Glenvarloch."" 
 
 " He is unfortunate then," said Margaret ; " I 
 knewit — I divinedit — there was sorrow in his voice 
 when he said even what was gay — there was a
 
 216 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL* 
 
 touch of misfortune in his melancholy smile — he 
 had not thus clung to my thoughts had I seen 
 him in all the mid-day glare of prosperity/'* 
 
 ** Romances have cracked her brain !'' said 
 Dame Ursula ; " she is a castaway girl — utterly 
 distraught — ^loves a Scotch lord — and likes him 
 the better for being unfortunate ! Well, mistress, 
 I am sorry this is a matter I cannot aid you in — 
 it goes against my conscience, and it is an affair 
 above my condition, and beyond my manage- 
 ment ; — but I will keep your secret." 
 
 " You will not be so base as to desert me, after 
 having drawn my secret from me !" said Marga- 
 ret indignantly ; " if you do, I know how to have 
 my revenge ; and if you do not, I will reward 
 you well. Remember the house your husband 
 dwells in is my father's property." 
 
 " I remember it but too well. Mistress Mar- 
 garet," said Ursula, after a moment's reflection, 
 " and I would serve you in any thing in my con- 
 dition ; but to meddle with such high matters — 
 I shall never forget poor Mistress Turner, my ho- 
 noured patroness, peace be with her ! — she had 
 the ill luck to meddle in the matter of Somerset
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. J^IT 
 
 and Overbury, and so the great earl and lAs lady 
 slipt their necks out of the collar, and left her 
 and some half dozen others to suffer in their 
 stead. I shall never forget the sight of her stand- 
 ing on the scaffold with the ruff round her pretty 
 neck, all done up with the yellow starch which I 
 had so often helped her to make, and that was 
 so soon to give place to a rough hempen cord. 
 Such a sight, sweetheart, will make one loth to 
 meddle with matters that are too hot or heavy 
 for your handling." 
 
 " Out, you fool !" answered Mistress Marga- 
 ret ; " am I one to speak to you about such cri- 
 minal practices as that wretch died for ? All I 
 desire of you, is to get me precise knowledge of 
 what affair brings this young nobleman to Court."" 
 
 " And when you have his secret," said Ursula, 
 " what will it avail you, sweetheart ? — and yet I 
 would do your errand, if you could do as much 
 for me.**' 
 
 " And what is it you would have of me ?" said 
 Mistress Margaret. 
 
 " What you have been angry with me for 
 asking before," answered Dame Ursula. " I
 
 5218 THE FOUTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 want to have some light about the story of your 
 god-father's ghost, that is only seen at prayers.*" 
 
 " Not for the world,"" said Mistress Margaret, 
 " will I be a spy on my kind god-father's secrets 
 — No, Ursula — that I will never pry into, which 
 he desires to keep hidden. But thou knowest 
 that I have a fortune of my own, which must at 
 no distant day come under my own manage- 
 ment — think of some other recompence.""" 
 
 " Ay, that I well know,'' said the counsellor 
 — " it is that two hundred per year, with your 
 father's indulgence, that makes you so wilful, 
 sweetheart." 
 
 " It may be so," — said Margaret Ramsay ; 
 " meanwhile, do you serve me truly, and here is 
 a ring of value in pledge, that when my fortune 
 is in my own hand, I will redeem the token with 
 fifty broad pieces of gold." 
 
 " Fifty broad pieces of gold !" repeated the 
 dame ; " and this ring, which is a right fair one, 
 in token you fail not of your word ! — Well, 
 sweetheart, if I must put my throat in peril, I 
 am sure I cannot risk it for a friend more gene- 
 rous than you ; and I would not think of more
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 219 
 
 than the pleasure of serving you, only Benjamin 
 gets more idle every day, and our family "" 
 
 " Say no more of it," said Margaret ; " we 
 understand each other. And now, tell me what 
 you know of this young man's affairs, which 
 made you so unwilling to meddle with them ?" 
 
 " Of that I can say no great matter, as yet," 
 answered Dame Ursula; " only I know the 
 most powerful among his own countrymen are 
 against him, and also the most powerful at the 
 court here. But I will learn more of it, for it 
 will be a dim print that I will not read for your 
 sake, pretty Mistress Margaret. Know you 
 where this gallant dwells ?"" 
 
 " I heard by accident," said Margaret, as if 
 ashamed of the minute particularity of her memo- 
 ry upon such an occasion, — " he lodges, I think 
 —at one Christie's — if I mistake not — at Paul's 
 Wharf, a ship-chandler's." 
 
 " A proper lodging for a young baron ! — 
 Well, but cheer you up, Mistress Margaret — if he 
 has come up a caterpillar, like some of his coun- 
 trymen, he may cast his slough like them, and
 
 2^ THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 come out a butterfly. So I drink good-night, and 
 sweet dreams to you, in another parting cup of 
 sack ; and you shall hear tidings of me within 
 four-and-twenty hours. And once more, I com- 
 mend you to your pillow, my pearl of pearls, 
 and Marguerite of Marguerites.*" 
 
 So saying, she kissed the reluctant cheek of 
 her young friend, or patroness, and took her de- 
 parture with the light and stealthy pace of one 
 accustomed to accommodate her footsteps to the 
 purposes of dispatch and secrecy. Margaret 
 Ramsay looked after her for some time, in an- 
 xious silence. " I did ill," she at length mur- 
 mured, " to let her wring this out of me ; but she 
 is artful, bold, and serviceable — and I think 
 faithful — or if not, she will be true at least to her 
 interest, and that I can command. I would I 
 had not spoken, however — I have begun a hope- 
 less work. For what has he said to me, to war- 
 rant my meddling in his fortunes .^ — Nothing but 
 words of the most ordinary import — mere table- 
 talk and terms of course. Yet who knows — ^" she 
 said, and then broke off, looking at the glass
 
 THE FOllTUNKS OF NIGEL. 221 
 
 the while, which, as it reflected back a face of 
 great beauty, probably suggested to her mind a 
 more favourable conclusion of the sentence than 
 she cared to trust her tongue withal.
 
 222 THE rOKTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 So ])itiful a thing is suitor's state ! 
 Most miserable man, whom wicked fate 
 Hath brought to Court to sue, for Had I wist. 
 That few liare found, and many a one hath miss'd I 
 Full little knowest thou, that hast not tried, 
 What hell it is, in sueing long to bide : 
 To lose good days, that might be better spent; 
 To waste long nights in pensive discontent ; 
 To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow ; 
 To feed on hope, to pine with fear and sorrow ; 
 To have thy Prince's grace, yet want her Peers', 
 To have thy asking, yet wait many years ; 
 To fret thy soul with crosses and with cares — 
 To eat thy heart through comfortless despairs. 
 To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run. 
 To spend, to give, to want, to be undone. 
 
 Mother HuhhercTs Tale. 
 
 On the morning of the day on which George 
 Heriot had prepared to escort the young Lord of 
 Glenvarloch to the court at Whitehall, it may 
 be reasonably supposed that the young man, 
 whose fortunes were likely to depend on this cast, 
 felt himself more than usually anxious. He rose 
 early, made his toilette with unusual care, and, 
 
 2
 
 THE rOllTUNES OF NIGKL. ^2o 
 
 being enabled, by the generosity of his more ple- 
 beian countryman, to set out a very handsome 
 person to the best advantage, he obtained a mo- 
 mentary approbation from himself as lie glanced 
 at the mirror, and a loud and distinct plaudit from 
 his landlady, who declared at once that in her 
 judgment, he would take the wind out of the sail 
 of every gallant in the presence; so much had 
 she been able to enrich her discourse with the me- 
 taphors of those with whom her husband dealt. 
 
 At the appointed hour, the barge of Master 
 George Heriot arrived, handsomely manned and 
 appointed, having a tilt, with his own cypher, and 
 the arms of his company painted thereupon. 
 
 The young Lord of Glenvarloch received the 
 friend who had evinced such disinterested at- 
 tachment, with the kind courtesy which well be- 
 came him. 
 
 Master Heriot then made him acquainted with 
 the bounty of his Sovereign, which he paid over 
 to his young friend, declining what he had him- 
 self formerly advanced to him. Nigel felt all the 
 gratitude which the citizen''s disinterested friend- 
 ship had deserved, and was not wanting in ex- 
 pressing it suitably.
 
 224 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 Yet as the young and high-born nobleman em- 
 barked to go to the presence of his Prince, under 
 the patronage of one whose best, or most distin- 
 guished quahfication, was his being an eminent 
 member of the Goldsmith''s Incorporation, he felt 
 a little surprised, if not abashed, at his own situa- 
 tion ; and Richie Moniplies, as he stepped over 
 the gang-way to take his place forward in the 
 boat, could not help muttering, — " It was a chan- 
 ged day betwixt Master Heriot and his honest 
 father in the Kraemes ; — but, doubtless, there was 
 a difference between clinking on gold and silver, 
 and clattering upon pewter.'" 
 
 On they glided, by the assistance of the oars 
 of four stout watermen, along the Thames, which 
 then served for the principal high-road betwixt 
 London and Westminster ; for few ventured on 
 horseback through the narrow and crowded streets 
 of the city, and coaches were then a luxury re- 
 served only for the higher nobility, and to which 
 no citizen, whatever was his wealth, presumed to 
 aspire. The beauty of the banks, especially on 
 the northern side, where the gardens of the no- 
 bility descended from their hotels, in many places, 
 down to the water's edge, was pointed out to
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 2^ 
 
 Nigel by his kind conductor, and was pointed 
 out in vain. The mind of the young Lord of 
 Glenvarloch was filled with anticipations not the 
 most pleasant, concerning the manner in which 
 he was likely to be received by that monarch, in 
 whose behalf his family had been nearly reduced 
 to ruin ; and he was, with the usual mental anx- 
 iety of those in such a situation, framing imagi- 
 nary questions from the King, and over-toiling 
 his spirit in devising answers to them. His con- 
 ductor saw the labour of Nigel's mind, and avoid- 
 ed increasing it by farther conversation ; so that 
 when he had explained to him briefly the cere- 
 monies observed at court on such occasions of pre- 
 sentation, the rest of their voyage was perform- 
 ed in silence. 
 
 They landed at Whitehall-Stairs, and entered 
 the Palace after announcing their names, the 
 guards paying to Lord Glenvarloch the respect 
 and honours due to his rank. The young man's 
 heart beat high and thick within him as he came 
 within the royal apartments. His education 
 abroad, conducted as it had been on a nar- 
 
 VOL. I. P
 
 226 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 row and limited scale, had given him but imper- 
 fect ideas of the grandeur of a court ; and the 
 philosophical reflections which taught him to set 
 ceremonial and exterior splendour at defiance, 
 proved, like other maxims of mere philosophy, 
 ineffectual at the moment they were weighed 
 against the impression naturally made on the 
 mind of an inexperienced youth, by the unusual 
 magnificence of the scene. The splendid apart- 
 ments through which they passed, the rich ap- 
 parel of the grooms, guards, and domestics in 
 waiting, and the unusual ceremonial attending 
 their passage through the long suite of apart- 
 ments, had something in it, trifling and common- 
 place as it might appear to practised courtiers, 
 embarrassing, and even alarming, to one, who, for 
 the first time, went through these forms, and 
 who was doubtful what sort of reception was to 
 accompany his first appearance before his Sove- 
 reign. 
 
 Heriot, in anxious attention to save his young 
 friend from the least momentary embarrassment, 
 had taken care to give the necessary pass-word
 
 THK PORTU^NES OF KIGEL. 2S7 
 
 to the warders, grooms of the chambers, ushers, 
 or by whatever name they were designated ; so 
 they went onward without interruption. 
 
 In this manner they passed several anti-rooms, 
 filled chiefly with guards, attendants of the court, 
 and their acquaintances, male and female, who, 
 dressed in their best apparel, and with eyes 
 rounded by eager curiosity to make the most of 
 their opportunity, stood, with beseeming mo- 
 desty, ranked against the wall, in a manner which 
 indicated that they were spectators, not perform- 
 ers, in the courtly exhibition. 
 
 Through these exterior apartments Lord Glen- 
 varloch and his city friend went onward into a 
 large and splendid withdra wing-room, communi- 
 cating with the presence-chamber, into which anti- 
 room were admitted those only, who, from birth, 
 their posts in the state or household, or by the 
 particular grant of the King, had right to attend 
 the court, as men entitled to pay their respects to 
 their Sovereign. 
 
 Amid this favoured and selected company, 
 Nigel observed Sir Mungo Malagrowther, who, 
 shaken off and discountenanced by those who 
 knew how low he stood in court interest and fa-
 
 ^S8 THE FORTCTNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 vour, was but too happy in the opportunity of 
 hooking himself upon a person of Lord Glenvar- 
 loch's rank, who was, as yet, so inexperienced as 
 to feel it difficult to shake off an intruder. 
 
 The knight forthwith framed his grim features 
 to a ghastly smile, and after a preliminary and 
 patronizing nod to George Heriot, accompanied 
 with an aristocratic wave of the hand, which inti- 
 mated at once superiority and protection, he laid 
 aside altogether the honest citizen, to whom he 
 owed many a dinner^ to attach himself exclusively 
 to the young lord, although he suspected he might 
 be occasionally in the predicament of needing one 
 as much as himself. And even the notice of this 
 original, singular and unamiable as he was, was 
 not entirely indifferent to the Lord Glenvar- 
 loch, since the absolute and somewhat constrain- 
 ed silence of his good friend Heriot, which left 
 him at liberty to retire painfully to his own agi- 
 tating reflections, was now relieved ; while, on 
 the other hand, he could not help feeling interest 
 in the sliarp and sarcastic information poured 
 upon him by an observant, though discontented 
 courtier, to whom a patient auditor, and he a man 
 of title and rank, was as much a prize, as his acute
 
 THE FOEtUNES OF NIGEL. ^9 
 
 and communicative disposition I'endered him an en- 
 tertaining companion to Nigel Olifaunt. Heriot, 
 in the mean time, neglected by Sir Mungo, and 
 avoiding every attempt by which the grateful po- 
 liteness of Lord Glenvarloch strove to bring hira 
 into the conversation, stood by, ^nth a kind of 
 half smile on his countenance ; but whether ex- 
 cited by Sir IMungo's wit, or arising at his ex- 
 pence, did not exactly appear. 
 
 In the mean time, the trio occupied a nook of 
 the anti-room, next to the door of the presence- 
 chamber, wliich was not yet thrown open, when 
 -Maxwell, with his rod of office, came bustling 
 into the apartment, where most men, excepting 
 those of high rank, made way for him. He 
 stopped beside the party in which we are in- 
 terested, looked for a moment at the young 
 Scotch nobleman, then made a shght obeisance 
 to Heriot, and, lastly, addressing Sir ]\Iungo 
 Malagrowther, began a hurried complaint to him 
 of the misbehaviour of the gentlemen pensioners 
 and warders, who suffered all sort of citizens, suit^ 
 ors, and scriveners, to sneak into the outer apart- 
 ments, without either respect or decency. " The
 
 ^SO THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 English,'" he said, " were scandahzed, for such a 
 thing durst not be attempted in the Queen's days. 
 In her time there was then the court-yard for the 
 mobihty, and the apartments for the nobility ; and 
 it reflects on your place, Sir Mungo," be added, 
 *' belonging to the household as you do, that 
 such things should not be better ordered." 
 
 Here Sir Mungo, afflicted, as was frequently 
 the case on such occasions, with one of his usual 
 fits of deafness, answered, " It was no wonder 
 the mobility used freedoms, when those whom 
 they saw in office were so httle better in blood 
 and havings than themselves." 
 
 " You are right, sir^-quite right," said Max- 
 well, putting his hand on the tarnished embroi- 
 dery on the old knight's sleeve, — " when such 
 fellows see men in office dressed in cast-off suits 
 like paltry stage-players, it is no wonder the 
 court is thronged with intruders." 
 
 " Were you lauding the taste of my embroi- 
 dery, Maister Maxwell ?'''' answered the knight, 
 who apparently interpreted the deputy-chamber- 
 lain's meaning rather from his action than his 
 words ; — " it is of an ancient and liberal pattern,
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 231 
 
 having been made by your mother''s father, auld 
 James Stitchell, a master-fashioner of honest re- 
 pute, in Merhn's W}Tid, whom I made a point 
 to employ, as I am now happy to remember, see- 
 ing your father thought fit to intermarry with sic 
 a person's daughter." 
 
 Maxwell looked stem, but conscious there was 
 nothing to be got of Sir Mungo in the way of 
 amends, and that prosecuting the quarrel with 
 such an adversary would only render him ridicu- 
 lous, and make public a mis-alliance of which he 
 had no reason to be proud, he covered his re- 
 sentment with a sneer ; and expressing his regret 
 that Sir Mungo was become too deaf to under- 
 stand or attend to what was said to him, walked 
 on, and planted himself beside the folding-doors 
 of the presence-chamber, at which he was to per- 
 form the duty of deputy-chamberlain, or usher, 
 so soon as they should be opened. 
 
 " The door of the presence is about to open,** 
 said the goldsmith, in a whisper, to his young 
 friend ; " my condition permits me to go no far- 
 ther with you. Fail not to present yourself bold- 
 ly, according to your birth, and offer your Sup-
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 plication, which the King will not refuse to ac- 
 cept, and, as I hope, to consider favourably." 
 
 As he spoke, the door of the presence-chamber 
 opened accordingly, and, as is usual on such oc- 
 casions, the courtiers began to advance towards 
 it, and to enter in a slow, but continuous and un- 
 interrupted stream. As Nigel presented himself 
 in his turn at the entrance, and mentioned his 
 name and title, Maxwell seemed to hesitate. " You 
 are not known to any one," he said ; " it is my 
 duty to suffer no one to pass to the presence, my 
 lord, whose face is unknown to me, unless upon 
 the word of a responsible person." 
 
 " I came with Master George Heriot,*" said 
 Nigel, in some embarrassment at this unexpect- 
 ed interruption. 
 
 " Master Heriot's name will pass current for 
 much gold and silver, my lord," replied Max- 
 well, with a civil sneer, ''but not for birth and 
 rank. I am compelled by my office to be pe- 
 remptory. The entrance is impeded — I am much 
 concerned to say it — your lordship must stand 
 back." 
 
 " What is the matter ?" said an old Scottish
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 233 
 
 nobleman, who had been speaking with George 
 Heriot, after he had separated from Nigel, and 
 who now came forward, observing the altercation 
 betwixt the latter and Maxwell. 
 
 *• It is only Master Deputy-Chamberlain Max- 
 well," said Sir Mungo Malagrowther, ''express- 
 ing his joy to see Lord Glenvarloch at court, 
 whose father gave him his office — at least I think, 
 he is speaking to that purport — for your lordship 
 kens my imperfection." A subdued laugh, such 
 as the situation permitted, passed round amongst 
 those who heard this specimen of Sir Mungo's 
 sarcastic temper. But the old nobleman stepped 
 still more forward, saying, — " What ! — the son 
 of my gallant old opponent, Ochtred Ollfaunt? 
 — I will introduce him to the presence myself." 
 
 So saying, he took Nigel by the arm, without 
 farther ceremony, and was about to lead him for- 
 ward, when Maxwell, still keeping his rod across 
 the door, said, but with hesitation and embar- 
 rassment, — " My lord, this gentleman is not 
 known, and I have orders to be scrupulous." 
 
 " Tutti-taiti, man," said the old lord, " I will 
 be answerable he is his father's son, from the cut
 
 234 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 of his eye-brow — and thou. Maxwell, knew his 
 father well enough to have spared thy scruples. 
 Let us pass, man."" So saying, he put aside the 
 deputy-chamberlain's rod, and entered the pre- 
 sence-room, still holding the young man by the arm. 
 
 " Why, I must know you, man,'' he said ; " I 
 must know you. I knew your father well, man, 
 and I have broke a lance and crossed a blade with 
 him ; and it is to my credit that I am living to 
 brag of it. He was king's-man, and I was queen's- 
 man, during the Douglas wars — young fellows 
 both, that feared neither fire nor steel ; and we 
 had some old feudal quarrels beside, that had 
 come down from father to son, with our seal- 
 rings, two-handed broad-swords, and plate-coats, 
 and the crests on our burgonets." 
 
 " Too loud, my Lord of Huntinglen," whisper- 
 ed a gentleman of the chamber, — " The King ! 
 ^the King !" 
 
 The old Earl (for such he proved,) took the 
 hint, and was silent ; and James, advancing from 
 a side-door, received in succession the compli- 
 ments of strangers, while a little group of fa- 
 vourite courtiers, or officers of the household,
 
 THK FORTUNES OF NlUEL. 235 
 
 stood around him, to whom he addressed hmiself 
 from time to time. Some more pains had been 
 bestowed on his toilette than upon the occasion 
 when we first presented the monarch to our read- 
 ers ; but there was a natural awkwardness about 
 his figure which prevented his clothes from sit- 
 ting handsomely, and tlie prudence or timidity of 
 his disposition had made him take the custom, al- 
 ready noticed, of wearing a dress so thickly quilted 
 as mio^ht withstand the stroke of a dao:£:er, which 
 added an ungainly stiiFness to his whole appear- 
 ance, contrastingoddly with the frivolous, ungrace- 
 ful, and fidgetting motions with which he accom- 
 panied liis conversation. And yet, though the 
 King's deportment was very undignified, he had 
 a manner so kind, familiar, and good-humoured, 
 was so little apt to veil over or conceal his own 
 foibles, and had so much indulgence and sym- 
 pathy for those of others, that his address, joined 
 to his learning, and a certain proportion of shrewd 
 mother-wit, failed not to make a favourable im- 
 pression on those who approached his person. 
 When the Earl of Huntinglen had presented
 
 236 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 Nigel to his Sovereign, a ceremony which the 
 good peer took upon himself, the King received 
 the young lord very graciously, and observed to 
 his introducer, that he " was fain to see them twa 
 stand side by side ; for I trow, my Lord Hunt- 
 inglen," continued he, " your ancestors, ay, and 
 e'*enyour lordship's self and this lad's father, have 
 stood front to front at the sword's point, and that 
 is a worse posture." 
 
 '' Until your Majesty," said Lord Huntinglen, 
 *' made Lord Ochtred and me cross palms, upon 
 the memorable day when your Majesty feasted 
 all the nobles that were at feud together, and 
 made them join hands in your presence " 
 
 " I mind it weel," said the King ; '' I mind 
 it weel — it was a blessed day, being the nineteen 
 of September, of all days in the year — and it was 
 a blithe sport to see how some of the carles girn- 
 ed as they clapped loofs together. By my saul, I 
 thought some of them, niair special the Hieland 
 chiels, wad have broken out in our own presence ; 
 but we caused them to march hand in hand to the 
 Cross, t)urselves leading the way, and there drink
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 237 
 
 a blithe cup of kindness with ilk other, to the 
 staunching of feud, and perpetuation of amity. 
 Auld John Anderson was Provost that year — 
 the carle grat for joy, and the Bailies and Coun- 
 cillors danced bare-headed in our presence like 
 five-year-auld colts, for very triumph.''"* 
 
 " It was indeed a happy day,"" said Lord 
 Huntinglen, "• and will not be forgotten in the 
 history of your Majesty's reign."'"' 
 
 " I would not that it were, my lord," replied 
 the Monarch — " I would not that it were praeter- 
 mitted in our annals. Ay, ay — Beati pacifici. 
 My English lieges here may weel make much 
 of me, for I would have them to know, they have 
 gotten the only peaceable man that ever came 
 of my family. If James with the Fiery Face had 
 come amongst you," he said, looking round him, 
 " or my great grandsire, of Flodden memory !"""* 
 
 " We should have sent him back to the north 
 again,"" whispered one English nobleman. 
 
 " At least," said another, in the same inau- 
 dible tone, " we should have had a man to our 
 sovereign, though he were but a Scotchman."
 
 238 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " And now, my young springald/"* said the 
 King to Lord Glenvarloch, " where have you 
 been spending your calf-time ?" 
 
 " At Leyden, of late, may it please your Ma- 
 jesty,*" answered Lord Nigel. 
 
 " Aha ! a scholar," said the King ; " and, by 
 my saul, a modest and ingenuous youth, that 
 hath not forgotten how to blush, like most of our 
 travelled Monsieurs. We will treat him con- 
 formably." 
 
 Then drawing himself up, coughing slightly, 
 and looking around him with the conscious im- 
 portance of superior learning, while all the cour- 
 tiers who understood, or understood not Latin, 
 pressed eagerly forward to listen, the sapient mo- 
 narch prosecuted his inquiries as follows. — 
 
 " Hem ! hem ! Salve bis, quaterque salve, Glen- 
 vai'hchidcs noster ! Nuperumne ah Lugduno 
 Batavorum Britanniam rediisti f 
 
 The young nobleman replied, bowing low — 
 
 " Lino, Rex augustissime — hienniumfire apud 
 Lugdunenses moratus sum.'''' 
 
 James proceeded —
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 239 
 
 " Biennium dicis ? bene, bene, optumejactum 
 est — Non nno die quod diciint, — intelligtsti, Do- 
 mine Glenvarlocliiens'is ? Aha!'"* 
 
 Nigel replied by a reverent bow, and the King, 
 turning to those behind him, said — 
 
 ^^ Adoleseens quidem ingenui vultus ingenulque 
 pudorhy Then resumed his learned queries. 
 " Et quid hod'ie Lugdunenses loquuntur — Vos- 
 s'lus vesfer nihil ne novi scripsit? — nihil certe, 
 quod doleo, typis recenter edidit"^ 
 
 " Valet quidem Vossius, Rex benevole^^ replied 
 Nigel, " ast senex veneratissimus annum agit, 
 ni Jailor, septuagcsimum.''^ 
 
 '^ Virum, mehercle, vix tarn grandwvum credi- 
 derim^'' replied the monarch. " Et Vorstius iste ? 
 — Arminii improbi successor oeque ac sectator — 
 Herosne adhuc, ut cum Homero hquar, Zacg urn 
 
 Nigel, by good fortune, remembered that Vors- 
 tius, the divine last mentioned in his Majesty's 
 queries about the state of Dutch literature, had 
 been engaged in a personal controversy with 
 
 James, in which the King had taken so deep an 
 
 1
 
 240 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 interest, as at length to hint in his pubHc corre- 
 spondence with the United States, that they would 
 do well to apply the secular arm to stop the pro- 
 gress of heresy by violent measures against the 
 Professor''s person — a demand which their Mighty 
 Mightinesses principles of universal toleration in- 
 duced them to elude, though with some difficul- 
 ty. Knowing all this, Lord Glenvarloch, though 
 a courtier of five minutes standing, had address 
 enough to reply— 
 
 " Vivum quidem, liaud d'lu est, hominem vide- 
 bam — vigere autem quis dicat qui suhfulminibus 
 eloquently tuce, Rex Qiiagne, jamdudum promts 
 Jacet, et prostratus .^"* 
 
 This last tribute to his polemical powers com- 
 pleted Jameses happiness, which the triumph of 
 
 * Lest any lady or gentleman should suspect there is 
 aught of mystery concealed under the sentences printed in 
 Italics, they will be pleased to understand that they con- 
 tain only a few common-place Latin phrases, relating to 
 the state of letters in Holland, which neither deserve, nor 
 would endure, a hteral translation. 
 7
 
 THE foutunes of XT gel. 241 
 
 exliibiting his erudition had already raised to a 
 considerable height. 
 
 He rubbed his hands, snapped his fingers, fid- 
 getted, chuckled, exclaimed — " Euge! belle ! op- 
 ilme r and turning to the Bishops of Exeter and 
 Oxford, who stood behind hira, he said, — " Ye 
 see, my lords, no bad specimen of our Scottish 
 Latinity, with which language we would all our 
 subjects of England were as well erabued as this, 
 and other youths of honourable birth, in our auld 
 kingdom ; also, we keep the genuine and Roman 
 pronunciation, like other learned nations on the 
 continent, sae that we can hold communing wuth 
 any scholar in the universe, who can but speak 
 the Latin tongue ; whereas ye, our learned sub- 
 jects of England, have introduced into your uni- 
 versities, otherwise most learned, a fashion of 
 pronouncing like unto the " nippit foot and clip- 
 pit foot," of the bride in the fairy tale, whilk 
 manner of speech, (take it not amiss that I be 
 round with you,) can be understood by no nation 
 on earth saving yourselves; whereby Latin, quoad 
 Anglos, ceaseth to be comjnimi.t lingua, the ge- 
 
 VOL. 1. Q
 
 242 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 neral dragoman, or interpreter, between all the 
 wise men of the earth. "^ 
 
 The Bishop of Exeter bowed, as in acquies- 
 cence to the royal censure; but he of Oxford 
 stood upright, as mindful over what subjects his 
 see extended, and as being equally willing to be- 
 come food for faggots in defence of the Latinity 
 of the university, as for any article of his religious 
 creed. 
 
 The King, without awaiting an answer from 
 either prelate,' proceeded to question Lord Nigel, 
 but in the vernacular tongue, — " Weel, my like- 
 ly Alumnus of the Muses, and what make you 
 so far from the north T 
 
 " To pay my homage to your Majesty," said 
 the young nobleman, kneeling on one knee, " and 
 to lay before you," he added, " this my humble 
 and dutiful Supplication." 
 
 The presenting of a pistol would certainly have 
 startled Kirig.J^mes i^tiore, but could (setting 
 apart the fright): J^ardly have been more unplea- 
 sing to his indolent disposition. 
 
 " And is it even ^so, man .?" said he ; " and can 
 no single man, were it but for the rarity of the
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 243 
 
 case, ever come up frae Scotland, excepting ex 
 proposifo— on set purpose, to see what he can 
 make out of his lo\ino: Sovereign? It is but 
 three days syne that we had weel nigh lost our 
 life, and put three kingdoms into dule-weeds, 
 from the over-haste of a clumsy-handed peasant, 
 to thrust a packet into our hand, and now we 
 are beset by the like impediment in our very 
 court. To our Secretary with that gear, my lord 
 — to our Secretary with that gear."" 
 
 " I have already offered my humble Supplica- 
 tion to your Majesty's Secretary of State,"" said 
 Lord Glenvarloch— " but it seems "^ 
 
 " That he would not receive it, I warrant ?'"" 
 said the King, interrupting him ; " by my saul, 
 our Secretary kens that point of king-craft, called 
 refusing, better than we do, and will look at no- 
 thing but what he likes himsell — I think I wad 
 make a better Secretary to him than he to me. — 
 Weel, my lord, you are welcome to London ; and, 
 as ye seem an acute and learned youth, I advise 
 ye to turn your neb northward as soon as ye like, 
 and settle yoursell for a while at Saint Andrews, 
 and we will be right glad to hear that you pros- 
 per in your studies. — Inaimhite remis for titer."''
 
 244 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 While the King spoke thus, he held the peti- 
 tion of the young lord carelessly, like one who 
 only delayed till the supplicant's back was turned, 
 to throw it away, or at least lay it aside to be no 
 more looked at. The petitioner, who read this 
 in his cold and indifferent looks, and in the man- 
 ner in which he twisted and crumpled together 
 the paper, arose with a bitter sense of anger and 
 disappointment, made a profound obeisance, and 
 was about to retire hastily. But Lord Hunt- 
 inglen, who stood by him, checked his intention 
 by an almost imperceptible touch upon the skirt 
 of his cloak, and Nigel, taking the hint, retreat- 
 ed only a few steps from the royal presence, and 
 then made a pause. In the meantime. Lord 
 Huntinglen kneeled before James in his turn, 
 and said — " May it please your Majesty to re- 
 member, that upon one certain occasion you did 
 promise to grant me a boon every year of your 
 sacred life." 
 
 " I mind it weel, man," answered James, 
 " I mind it weel, and good reason why — it was 
 when you unclasped the fause traitor Ruthven's 
 fangs from about our royal throat, and drove 
 your dirk into him like a true subject. We did
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 215 
 
 then, as you remind us, (whilk was unnecessary,) 
 being partly beside ourselves with joy at our 
 liberation, promise we would grant you a free 
 boon every year ; whilk promise, on our coming 
 to mensefull possession of our royal faculties, we 
 did confirm, restrictive always and conditionally 
 ter, that your lordship's demand should be such 
 as we, in our royal discretion, should think rea- 
 sonable." 
 
 " Even so, gracious Sovereign," said the old 
 Earl, " and may I yet farther crave to know, if 
 I have ever exceeded the bounds of your royal 
 benevolence ?" 
 
 '• By my word, man, no !" said the King ; " I 
 cannot remember you have asked much for your- 
 self, if it be not a dog, or a hawk, or a buck out 
 of our park at Theobald's, or such like. But to 
 what serves this preface ?" 
 
 " To the boon which I am now to ask of your 
 grace," said Lord Huntinglen ; " which is, that 
 your Majesty would be pleased, on the instant, to 
 look at the placet of Lord Glenvarloch, and do 
 upon it what your own just and royal nature shall 
 think meet and just, without reference to your 
 Secretary or anv other of vour Council. **
 
 246 THE FORTUNES OF XTGEL. 
 
 " By my saul, my lord, this is strange," said 
 the King ; " ye are pleading for the son of your 
 enemy !" 
 
 " Of one who wa^ my enemy till your Majesty 
 made him my friend,*" answered Lord Huntin- 
 glen. 
 
 *' Weel spoken, my lord!'' said the King ; "and 
 with a true Christian spirit. And, respecting 
 the Supplication of this young man, I partly guess 
 where the matter lies ; and in plain troth I had 
 promised to George Heriot to be good to the lad 
 — But then, here the shoe pinches. Steenie and 
 Baby Charles cannot abide him — neither can your 
 own son, my lord ; and so methinks he had bet- 
 ter go down to Scotland before he comes to ill 
 luck by them " 
 
 " My son, an it please your Majesty, so far as 
 he is concerned, shall not direct my doings," said 
 the Earl, " nor any wild-headed young man of 
 them all." 
 
 " Why, neither shall they mine," replied the 
 Monarch ; " by my father^s saul, none of them 
 all shall play Rex with me — I will do what I 
 will, and what I aught, like a free king."
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 247 
 
 " Your Majesty will then grant me my boon ?'' 
 said the Lord Huntinglen. 
 
 " Ay, marry will I — marry will I," said the 
 King ; " but follow me this way, man, where we 
 may be more private." 
 
 He led Lord Huntinglen with rather a hurried 
 step through the courtiers, all of whom gazed 
 earnestly on this unwonted scene, as is the fashion 
 of all courts on similar occasions. The King 
 passed into a little cabinet, and bade, in the first 
 moment. Lord Huntinglen lock or bar the door ; 
 but countermanded his direction in the next, say- 
 ing, — " No, no, no — bread o"* life, man, I am a 
 free King — will do what I will and what I should 
 —I am Justus et tenax propositi, man — neverthe- 
 less, keep by the door. Lord Huntinglen, in case 
 Steenie should come in with his mad humour." 
 
 " O my poor master," groaned the Earl of 
 Huntinglen. " When you were in your own cold 
 country, you had warmer blood in your veins." 
 
 The King hastily glanced over the petition or 
 memorial, every now and then glancing his eye 
 towards the door, and then sinking it hastily on 
 the paper, ashamed that Lord Huntinglen, whom 
 lie respected, should suspect him of timidity.
 
 248 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " To grant |the truth," he said, after he had 
 finished his hasty perusal, " this is a hard case ; 
 and harder than it was represented to me, though 
 I had some inkling of it before. And so the lad 
 only wants payment of the siller due from us, in 
 order to reclaim his paternal estate ? But then, 
 Huntinglen, the lad will have other debts — and 
 for what burthen himsell with sae mony acres of 
 barren woodland ? let the land gang, man, let the 
 land gang ; Steenie has the promise of it from 
 our Scottish Chancellor — it is the best hunting 
 ground in Scotland — and Baby Charles and Stee- 
 nie want to kill a buck there this next year — they 
 maun hae the land — they maun hae the land ; 
 and our debt shall be paid to the young man 
 plack and bawbee, and he may have the spend- 
 ing of it at our court ; or if he has such an card 
 hunger, wouns ! man, we'll stuiFhis stomach with 
 English land, which is worth twice as much, ay, 
 ten times as much, as these accursed hills and 
 heughs, and mosses and muirs, that he is sae keen 
 after." 
 
 All this while the poor King ambled up and 
 down the apartment in a piteous state of uncer- 
 tainty, which was made more ridiculous by his
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. $249 
 
 shambling circular mode of managing his legs, 
 and his ungainly fashion of fiddling on such oc- 
 casions with the bunches of ribbands which fas- 
 tened the lower part of his dress. 
 
 Lord Huntinglen listened with great compo- 
 sure, and answered, " x\n it please your Majesty, 
 there was an answer yielded by Naboth when 
 Ahab coveted his vineyard — ' The Lord forbid 
 that I should give the inheritance of my fathers 
 unto thee/ " 
 
 " Ey, my lord — ey, my lord !" ejaculated 
 James, while all the colour mounted both to his 
 cheek and nose ; " I hope ye mean not to teach 
 me divinity ? Ye need not fear, my lord, that I 
 will shun to do justice to every man ; and, since 
 your lordship will give me no help to take up 
 this in a more peaceful manner — whilk, methinks, 
 would be better for the young man, as I said be- 
 fore, — why — since it maun be so — 'sdeath, I 
 am a free king, man, and he shall have his money 
 and redeem his land, and make a kirk and a 
 miln of it, an he will." So saying, he hastily 
 wrote an order on the Scottish Exchequer for 
 the sum in c^ucstion, and then added, " How
 
 250 THE KOKTUXES OF NIGEL. 
 
 they are to pay it I see not ; but I warrant he 
 will find money on the order among the gold- 
 smiths, who can find it for every one but me. — 
 And now you see, my Lord of Huntinglen, that 
 I am neither an untrue man, to deny you the 
 boon whilk I became bound for, nor an Ahab, 
 to covet Naboth'*s vineyard ; nor a mere nose-of- 
 wax, to be twisted this way and that, by favou- 
 rites and councillors at their pleasure. I think 
 you will grant now that I am none of those ?^ 
 
 " You are my own native and noble Prince,'^ 
 said Huntinglen, as he knelt to kiss the royal 
 hand — "just and generous, whenever you listen 
 to the workings of your own heart." 
 
 '* Ay, ay," said the King, laughing good-na- 
 turedly, as he raised his faithful servant from the 
 ground, " that is what ye all say when I do 
 any thing to please ye. There — there, take the 
 sign-manuaJ, and away with you and this young 
 fellow. I wonder Steenie and Baby Charles have 
 not broken in on us before now." 
 
 Lord Huntinglen hastened from the cabinet, 
 foreseeing a scene at which he was unwilling to 
 be present, but which sometimes occurred when
 
 THE FOETUNES OF NIGEL. ^51 
 
 James roused himself so far as to exert his own 
 free wil], of which he boasted so much, in spite 
 of that of his imperious favourite Steenie, as he 
 called the Duke of Buckingham, from a suppo- 
 sed resemblance betwixt his very handsome coun- 
 tenance, and that with which the Italian artists 
 represented the proto-martyr Stephen. In fact, 
 the haughty favourite, who had the unusual good 
 fortune to stand as high in the opinion of the 
 heir-apparent as of the existing monarch, had 
 considerably diminished his respect towards the 
 latter ; and it was apparent, to the more shrewd 
 courtiers, that James endured his domination ra- 
 ther from habit, timidity, and a dread of encoun- 
 tering his stormy passions, than from any heart- 
 felt continuation of regard towards him, whose 
 greatness had been the work of his own hands. 
 To save himself the pain of seeing what was 
 likely to take place on the Duke's return, and to 
 preserve the King from the additional humilia- 
 tion which the presence of such a witness must 
 have occasioned, the Earl left the cabinet as speed- 
 ily as possible, having first carefully pocketed the 
 important sign-manual.
 
 252 THE FORTUNES OF KIGEL. 
 
 No sooner had he entered the presence-room, 
 than he hastily sought Lord Glenvarloch, who 
 had withdrawn into the embrazure of one of the 
 windows, from the general gaze of men who 
 seemed disposed only to afford him the notice 
 which arises from surprise and curiosity, and ta- 
 king him by the arm, without speaking, led him 
 out of the presence-chamber into the first anti- 
 room. Here they found the worthy goldsmith, 
 who approached them with looks of curiosity, 
 which were checked by the old lord, who said 
 hastily, — " All is well. — Is your barge in wait- 
 ing?" Heriotanswered in the affirmative. "Then," 
 said Lord Huntinglen, " you shall give me a cast 
 in it, as the watermen say, and I, in requital, will 
 give you both your dinner ; for we must have 
 some conversation together." 
 
 They both followed the Earl without speak- 
 ing, and were in the second anti-room when the 
 important annunciation of the ushers, and the 
 hasty murmur with which all made ample way as 
 the company repeated to each other, — " The 
 Duke — the Duke !" made them aware of the ap- 
 proach of the omnipotent favourite.
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. . 253 
 
 He entered, that unhappy minion of court fa- 
 vour, sumptuously dressed in the picturesque at- 
 tire which will live for ever on the canvas of Van- 
 dyke, and which marks so well the proud age, 
 when aristocracy, though undermined and nod- 
 ding to its fall, still, by external show and pro- 
 fuse expence, endeavoured to assert its paramount 
 superiority over the inferior orders. The hand- 
 some and commanding countenance, stately form, 
 and graceful action and manners of the Duke of 
 Buckingham, made him become that picturesque 
 dress beyond any man of his time. At present, 
 however, his countenance seemed discomposed, 
 his dress a little more disordered than became the 
 place, his step hasty, and his voice imperative. 
 
 All marked the angry spot upon his brow, and 
 bore back so suddenly to make way for him, that 
 the Earl of Huntinglen, who affected no extra- 
 ordinary haste on the occasion, with his compa- 
 nions, who could not, if they would, have decent- 
 ly left him, remained as it were by themselves in 
 the middle of the room, and in the very path of 
 the angry favourite. He touched his cap sternly 
 as he looked on Huntinglen, but unbonnetted to
 
 S54 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 Heriot, and sunk his beaver, with its shadowy 
 plume, as low as the floor, ^^ith a profound air of 
 mock respect. Tn returning his greeting, which 
 he did simply and unaffectedly, the citizen only 
 said, — '' Too much courtesy, my lord duke, is 
 often the reverse of kindness." 
 
 " I grieve you should think so. Master He- 
 riot," answered the Duke ; " I only meant, by 
 my homage, to claim your protection, sir — your 
 patronage. You are become, I understand, a 
 sohcitor of suits — a promoter — an undertaker — 
 a fautor of court suitors of merit and quality, 
 who chance to be pennyless. I trust your bags 
 will bear you out in your new boast." 
 
 " They will bear me the farther, my lord 
 duke," answered the goldsmith, " that my boast 
 is but small." 
 
 '' O, you do yourself less than justice, my 
 good Master Heriot," continued the Duke, in 
 the same tone of irony ; " you have a marvel- 
 lous court-faction, to be the son of an Edinburgh 
 tinker. Have the goodness to prefer me to the 
 knowledge of the high-born nobleman who is ho- 
 noured and advantaged by your patronage."
 
 THE FORTUNES OF XTGEL. . 255 
 
 " That shall be my task,'"* said Lord Hunlin- 
 glen, with emphasis. " INIy Lord Duke, I de- 
 sire you to know Nigel Olifaunt, Lord Glenvar- 
 loch, representative of one of the most ancient 
 and powerful baronial houses in Scotland. — Lord 
 Glenvarloch, I present you to his Grace the 
 Duke of Buckingham, representative of Sir 
 George Villiers Knight, of Brookesby, in the 
 county of Leicester."" 
 
 The Duke coloured still more high as he bow- 
 ed to Lord Glenvarloch scornfully, a courtesy 
 which the other returned haughtily, and with re- 
 strained indignation. " We know each other, 
 then,*" said the Duke, after a moment's pause, 
 and as if he had seen something in the young no- 
 bleman which merited more serious notice than 
 the bitter raillery with which he had commenced. 
 " We know each other — and you know me, my 
 lord, for your enemy." 
 
 " I thank you for your plainness, my lord 
 duke,"" replied Nigel ; *' an open enemy is bet- 
 ter than a hollow friend.'' 
 
 " For you, my Lord Huntinglen/' said the
 
 256 THE FORTUNES OV NIGEL. 
 
 Duke, " methinks you have but now overstep- 
 ped the limits of the indulgence permitted to jou, 
 as the father of the Prince's friend, and my own.*" 
 
 " By my faith, my lord duke^" replied the 
 Earl, " it is easy for any one to outstep bound- 
 aries, of the existence of which he was not aware. 
 It is neither to secure my protection nor ap- 
 probation, that my son keeps such exalted com- 
 pany/' 
 
 *' O, my lord, we know you, and indulge 
 you,'' said the Duke ; " you are one of those who 
 presume for a life-long upon the merit of one 
 good action." 
 
 '•' In faith, my lord, and if it be so," said the 
 old Earl, " I have at least the advantage of such 
 as presume more than I do, without having done 
 any action of merit whatever. But I mean not 
 to quarrel with you, my lord — we can neither 
 be friends nor enemies — you have your path, and 
 I have mine." 
 
 Buckingham only replied by throwing on his 
 bonnet, and shaking its lofty plume with a care- 
 less and scornful toss of the head. They parted 
 
 15
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 257 
 
 thus ; the Duke walking onwards through the 
 apartments, and the others leaving the palace and 
 repairing to Whitehall stairs, where they embark- 
 ed on board the barge of the citizen. 
 
 vor. I.
 
 ^58 THli FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Bid not thy fortune troll upon the wheels 
 Of yonder dancing cubes of mottled bone ; 
 And drown it not, like Egypt's royal harlot. 
 Dissolving her rich pearl in the brimm'd wine-cup. 
 These are the arts, Lothario, which shrink acres 
 Into brief yards — bring sterling pounds to farthings, 
 Credit to infamy ; and the poor gull 
 Who might have lived an honour'd, easy life, 
 To ruin, and an unregarded grave. 
 
 The Changes, 
 
 When they were fairly embarked on the 
 Thames, the Earl took from his pocket the Sup- 
 plication, and pointing out to George Heriot the 
 royal warrant indorsed thereon, asked him, if it 
 were in due and regular form ? The worthy ci- 
 tizen hastily read it over, thrust forth his hand 
 as if to congratulate the Lord Glenvarloch, then 
 checked himself, pulled out his barnacles, (a pre- 
 sent from old David Ramsay,) and again peru- 
 sed the warrant with the most business-like and
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 259 
 
 critical attention. " It is strictly correct and 
 formal," he said, looking to tlie Earl of Huntin- 
 glen ; " and I sincerely rejoice at it."" 
 
 " I doubt nothing of its formality,'"' said the 
 Earl ; " the King understands business well, 
 and if he does not practise it often, it is only be- 
 cause indolence obscures parts which are natu- 
 rally well qualified for the discharge of affairs. 
 But what is next to be done for our young friend, 
 Master Heriot ? You know how I am circum- 
 stanced. Scottish lords livine^ at the Enghsh 
 court have seldom command of money ; yet, un- 
 less a sum can be presently raised on this war- 
 rant, matters standing as you hastily hinted to 
 me, the mortgage, wadsett, or whatever it is 
 called, will be foreclosed."" 
 
 " It is true," said Heriot, in some embarrass- 
 ment ; " there is a large sum wanted in redemp- 
 tion — ^}et, if it is not raised, there will be an ex- 
 piry of the legal, as our lawyers call it, and the 
 estate will be evicted."" 
 
 '^ My noble — my worthy friends, who have 
 taken my cause up so undeservedly, so unex- 
 pectedly,"" said Nigel, " do not let me be a bur-
 
 260 
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 den on your kindness. You have already done 
 too much where nothing was merited." 
 
 " Peace, man, peace," said Lord Huntinglen, 
 ''• and let old Heriot and I puzzle this scent out. 
 He is about to open— hark to him !" 
 
 " My lord," said the citizen, " the Duke of 
 Buckingham sneers at our city money-bags ; yet 
 they can sometimes open, to prop a falling and a 
 noble house." 
 
 " We know they can," said Lord Huntinglen 
 — " mind not Buckingham, he is a Peg-a-Ram- 
 say — ^and now for the remedy." 
 
 " I partly hinted to Lord Glenvarloch already," 
 said Heriot, " that the redemption-money might 
 be advanced upon such a warrant as the present, 
 and I will engage my credit that it can. But then, 
 in order to secure the lender, he must come in 
 the shoes of the creditor to whom he advances 
 payment." 
 
 " Come in his shoes !" replied the Earl; " Why, 
 what have boots or shoes to do with this matter, 
 my good friend V 
 
 " It is a law phrase, my lord. My experience 
 has made me pick up a few of them," said Heriot.
 
 THK FOllTUyES OF XIGEL. 2G1 
 
 " Ay, and of better things alongst with them, 
 Master George,"" replied Lord Huntinglen; " but 
 what means it ?" 
 
 " Simply this," resumed the citizen ; " that the 
 lender of this money will transact with the holder 
 of the mortgage, or wadsett, over the estate of 
 Glenvarloch, and obtain from him such a convey- 
 ance to his right as shall leave the lands pledged 
 for the debt, in case the warrant upon the Scottish 
 Exchequer should prove unproductive. I fear, 
 in this uncertainty of public credit, that, without 
 some such counter-security, it will be very diffi- 
 cult to find so lai-ge a sum." 
 
 " Ho la !" said the Earl of Huntinglen, " halt 
 there ! a thought strikes me. — What if the new 
 creditor should admire the estate as a hunting- 
 field, as much as my Lord Grace of Buckingham 
 seems to do, and should wish to kill a buck there 
 in the summer season ? It seems to me, that on 
 your plan. Master George, our new friend will be 
 as well entitled to block Lord Glenvarloch out of 
 his inheritance as the present holder of the mort- 
 
 The citizen laughed. " I will engage," he
 
 262 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 said, ** that the keenest sportsman to whom I 
 may apply on this occasion, shall not have a 
 thought beyond the Lord Mayor's Easter-hunt, 
 in Epping-Forest. But your lordship's caution 
 is reasonable. The creditor must be bound to 
 allow Lord Glenvai'loch sufficient time to redeem 
 his estate by means of the royal warrant — they 
 must waive in his favour the right of in slant fore- 
 closure, which may be, I should think, the more 
 easily managed, as the right of redemption must 
 be exercised in his own name." 
 
 " But where shall we find a person in London 
 fit to draw the necessary writings?" said the 
 Earl. " If my old friend Sir John Skene of Hal- 
 yards had lived, we should have had his advice ; 
 but time presses, and " 
 
 " I know," said Heriot, " an orphan lad, a 
 scrivener, that dwells by Temple-Bar ; he can 
 draw deeds both after the EngUsh and Scotch 
 fashion, and I have trusted him often in things 
 of weight and of importance. I will send one of 
 my serving-men for him, and the mutual deeds 
 may be executed in your lordship's presence ; for 
 as things stand, there should be no delay." His
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 2G3 
 
 lordship readily assented ; and, as they now land- 
 ed upon the private stairs leading down to the 
 river from the gardens of the handsome hotel 
 which he inhabited, the messenger was dispatch- 
 ed without loss of time. 
 
 Nigel, who had sate almost stupified while 
 these zealous friends volunteered for him in ar- 
 ranging the measures by w^hich his fortune was 
 to be disembarrassed, now made another eager 
 attempt to force upon them his broken expres- 
 sions of thanks and gratitude. But he was again 
 silenced by Lord Huntinglen, who declared he 
 would hear no word on that topic, and proposed 
 instead, that they should take a turn in the pleach- 
 ed alley, or sit upon the stone bench which over- 
 looked the Thames, until his son's arrival should 
 give the signal for dinner. 
 
 " I desire to introduce Dalgarno and Lord 
 Glenvarloch to each other," he said, " as two who 
 will be near neighbours, and I trust will be more 
 kind ones than their fathers were formerly. There 
 is but three Scots miles betwixt the castles, and 
 the turrets of the one are visible from the battle- 
 ments of the other."'
 
 ^64? THE FOUTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 The old Earl was silent for a moment, and ap- 
 peared to muse upon the recollections which the 
 vicinity of the castles had summoned up. 
 
 " Does Lord Dalgarno follow the court to 
 Newmarket next week?" said Heriot, by way 
 of removing the conversation. 
 
 *' He proposes so, I think,'' answered Lord 
 Huntinglen, relapsed into his reverie for a mi- 
 nute or two, and then addressed Nigel somewhat 
 abruptly — 
 
 *« My young friend, when you attain possession 
 of your inheritance, as I trust you soon will, I 
 trust you will not add one to the idle followers of 
 the court, but reside on your patrimonial estate, 
 cherish your ancient tenants, relieve and assist 
 your poor kinsmen, protect the poor against sub- 
 altern oppression, and do what our fathers used 
 to do, with fewer lights and with less means than 
 we have." 
 
 " And yet the advice to keep the country," 
 said Heriot, " comes from an ancient and con- 
 stant ornament of the court." 
 
 " From an old courtier indeed," said the Earl, 
 " and the first of my family that could so write
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 2(>5 
 
 himself — my grey beard falls on a cambric ruff, 
 and a silken doublet — my father's descended up- 
 on a buff coat and a breast-plate. I would not 
 that these days of battle returned ; but I should 
 love well to make the oaks of my old forest of 
 Dalgarno ring once more with halloo, and horn, 
 and hound, and to have the old stone-arched hall 
 return the hearty shout of my vassals and tenants, 
 as the bicker and the quaigh walked their rounds 
 amono[st them. I should like to see the broad 
 Tay once more before I die — not even the Thames 
 can match it, in my mind.'' 
 
 " Surely, my lord,'' said the citizen, " all this 
 might be easily done — it costs but a moment's 
 resolution, and the journey of some brief days, 
 and you would be where you desire to be — what 
 is there to prevent you f'^ 
 
 " Habits, Master George, habits," replied the 
 Earl, " which to young men are like threads of 
 silk, so lightly are they worn, so soon broken ; but 
 which hang on our old limbs as if time had stif- 
 fened them into gyves of iron. To go to Scotland 
 for a brief space were but labour in vain ; and 
 when I think of abiding there, I cannot bring
 
 2G6 THE FORTUNES OF KIGEL. 
 
 myself to leave my old Master, to whom I fancy 
 myself sometimes useful, and whose weal and woe 
 I have shared for so many years. But Dalgarno 
 shall be a Scottish noble." 
 
 " Has he visited the North ?^ said Heriot. 
 
 " He was there last year, and made such a re- 
 port of the country, that the Prince has expressed 
 a longing to see it.'' 
 
 " Lord Dalgarno is in high grace with his 
 Highness, and the Duke of Buckingham ?'^ ob- 
 served the goldsmith. 
 
 '' He is so," answered the Earl, — " I pray it 
 may be for the advantage of them all. The Prince 
 is just and equitable in his sentiments, though cold 
 and stately in his manners, and very obstinate in 
 his most trifling purposes ; and the Duke, noble 
 and gallant, and generous and open, is fiery, 
 ambitious, and impetuous. Dalgarno has none 
 of these faults, and such as he may have of his 
 o^vn, may perchance be corrected by the society 
 in which he moves. — See, here he comes." 
 
 Lord Dalgarno accordingly advanced from the 
 farther end of the alley to the bench on which his 
 father and his guests were seated, so that Nigel
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 267 
 
 had full leisure to peruse his countenance and fi- 
 gure. He Mas dressed point-device, and almost 
 to extremity, in the splendid fashion of the time, 
 which suited well with his age, probably about 
 five-and-twenty, with a noble form and fine coun- 
 tenance, in which last could easily be traced the 
 manly features of his father, but softened by a 
 more habitual air of assiduous courtesy than the 
 stout old Earl had ever condescended to assume 
 towards the world in general. In other respects, 
 his address was gallant, free, and unencumbered 
 either by pride or ceremony — far remote certainly 
 from the charge either of haughty coldness or for- 
 ward impetuosity ; and so far his father had justly 
 freed him from the marked faults which he ascri- 
 bed to the manners of the Prince and his favou- 
 rite Buckingham. 
 
 While the old Earl presented his young ac- 
 quaintance Lord Glenvarloch to his son, as one 
 whom he would have him love and honour, Nigel 
 marked the countenance of Lord Dalgarno close- 
 ly, to see if he could detect aught of that secret 
 dishke which the King had, in one of his bro- 
 ken expostulations, seemed to intimate, as ari-
 
 ^6S THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 sing from a clashing of interests betwixt his new 
 friend and the great Buckingham. But nothing 
 of this was visible ; on the contrary. Lord Dal- 
 garno received his new acquaintance with the 
 open frankness and courtesy which makes con- 
 quest at once, when addressed to the feelings of 
 an ingenious young man. 
 
 It need hardly be told that his open and friend- 
 ly address met equally ready and cheerful accep- 
 tation from Nigel Olifaunt. For many months, 
 and while a youth not much above two-and-twen- 
 ty, he had been restrained by circumstances from 
 the conversation of his contemporaries. When, 
 on his father**s sudden death, he left the Low Coun- 
 tries for Scotland, he had found himself involved, 
 apparently inextricably, with the details of the law, 
 all of which threatened to end in the alienation of 
 the patrimony which should support his heredi- 
 tary rank. His term of sincere mourning, joined 
 to injured pride and the swelling of the heart un- 
 der unexpected and undeserved misfortune, toge- 
 ther with the uncertainty attending the issue of 
 his affairs, had induced the young Lord Glenvar- 
 loch to lead, while in Scotland, a very private and
 
 ^HE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 269 
 
 reserved course of life. How he had passed his 
 time in London, the reader is acquainted with. 
 But this melancholy and secluded course of life 
 was neither agreeable to his age nor to his tem- 
 per, which was genial and sociable. He hailed, 
 therefore, with sincere pleasure, the approaches 
 which a young man of his own age and rank made 
 towards him ; and when he had exchanged with 
 Lord Dalgarno some of those words and signals 
 by which, as surely as by those of free-masonry, 
 young people recognize a mutual wish to be agree- 
 able to each other, it seemed as if the two noble- 
 men had been acquainted for some time. 
 
 Just as this tacit intercourse had been establish- 
 ed, one of Lord Huntinglen's attendants came 
 down the alley, marshalling onwards a man dress- 
 ed in black buckram, who followed him with con- 
 siderable speed, considering that, according to 
 his sense of reverence and propriety, he kept his 
 body bent and parallel to the horizon from the 
 moment that he came in sight of the company to 
 which he was about to be presented. 
 
 *• Who is this, you cuckoldy knave,"^ said the 
 old lord, who had retained the keen appetite and
 
 J^70 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 impatience of a Scotish Baron even during a long 
 alienation from his native country ; " and why 
 does John Cook, with a murrain to him, keep 
 back dinner ?" 
 
 " I believe we are ourselves responsible for 
 this person^s intrusion,'" said George Heriot; 
 " this is the scrivener whom we desired to see. — 
 Look up, man, and see us in the face as an ho- 
 nest man should, instead of bearing thy noddle 
 charged against us thus like a battering-ram." 
 
 The scrivener did look up accordingly, with 
 the action of an automaton which suddenly obeys 
 the impulse of a pressed spring. But, strange to 
 tell, not even the haste he had made to attend his 
 patron's mandation, a business, as Master He- 
 riot's message expressed, of weight and impor- 
 tance — nay, not even the state of depression in 
 which, out of sheer humility doubtless, he had 
 his head stooped to the earth from the moment he 
 had trode the demesnes of the Earl of Huntin- 
 glen, had called any colour into his countenance. 
 The drops stood on his brow from haste and toil, 
 but his cheek was still pale and tallow-coloured as 
 before ; nay, what seemed stranger, his very hair,
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 271 
 
 when he raised his head, hung down on either 
 cheek as straight and sleek and undisturbed as it 
 was when we first introduced him to our readers, 
 seated at his quiet and humble desk. 
 
 Lord Dalgarno could not forbear a stifled 
 laugh at the ridiculous and puritanical figure 
 which presented itself like a starved anatomy to 
 the company, and whispered at the same time 
 into Lord Glenvarloch's ear— 
 
 " The devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loun^ 
 Where got'st thou that goose look ?" 
 
 Nigel was too little acquainted with the Eng- 
 lish stage, to understand a quotation which had 
 already grown matter of common allusion in Lon- 
 don. Lord Dalgarno saw that he was not un- 
 derstood, and continued, " That fellow, by his 
 visage, should either be a saint, or a most hypo- 
 critical rogue — and such is my excellent opinion 
 of human nature, that I always suspect the 
 worst. But they seem deep in business. Will 
 you make a turn with me in the garden, my lord, 
 or will you remain a member of the serious con-
 
 272 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " With you, my lord, most willingly,'' said 
 Nigel ; and they were turning away accordingly, 
 when George Heriot, with the formality belong- 
 ing to his station, observed, that, " as their busi- 
 ness concerned Lord Glenvarloch, he had better 
 remain, to make himself master of it, and witness 
 to it;' 
 
 " My presence is utterly needless, my good 
 lord ; — and, my best friend. Master Heriot," said 
 the young nobleman, " I shall understand no- 
 thing the better for cumbering you with my ig- 
 norance in these matters ; and can only say at 
 the end, as I now say at the beginning, that I 
 dare not take the helm out of the hand of the 
 kind pilots who have already guided my course 
 within sight of a fair and unhoped-for haven. 
 Whatever you recommend to me as fitting, I 
 shall sign and seal ; and the import of the deeds 
 I will better learn by a brief explanation from 
 Master Heriot, if he will bestow so much trou- 
 ble in my behalf, than by a thousand learned 
 words and law terms from this person of skill." 
 
 " He is right," said Lord Huntinglen ; " our
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 273 
 
 young friend is right, in confiding these matters 
 to you and me, Master George Heriot — he has 
 not misplaced his confidence." 
 
 Master George Heriot cast a long look after 
 the two young noblemen, who had now walked 
 down the alley arm in arm, and at length said, 
 " He hath not indeed misplaced his confidence, 
 as your lordship well and truly says — but, ne- 
 vertheless, he is not in the right path ; for it be- 
 hoves every man to become acquainted with his 
 own affairs, so soon as he hath any that are worth 
 attending to."" 
 
 AVhen he had made this observation, they ap- 
 plied themselves, with the scrivener, to look into 
 various papers, and to direct in what manner 
 writings should be drawn, which might at once 
 afford sufficient security to those who were to 
 advance the money, and at the same time to pre- 
 serve the right of the young nobleman to redeem 
 the family estate, provided he should obtain the 
 means of doing so,* by the expected reimburse- 
 ment from the Scottish Exchequer, or otherwise. 
 It is needless to enter into these details. But it is 
 not unimportant to mention, as an illustration of 
 
 VOL. I. s
 
 S74 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 character, that Heriot entered into the most mi- 
 nute legal details with a precision which shewed 
 that experience had made him master even of the 
 intricacies of Scottish conveyancing ; and that the 
 Earl of Huntinglen, though far less acquainted 
 with technical detail, suffered no step of the bu- 
 siness to pass over, until he had attained a ge^ 
 neral but distinct idea of its import and its pro- 
 priety. 
 
 They seemed to be admirably seconded in 
 their benevolent intentions towards the young 
 Lord Glenvarloch, by the skill and eager zeal 
 of the scrivener, whom Heriot had introduced 
 to this piece of business, the most important 
 which Andrew had ever transacted in his life, 
 and the particulars of which were moreover agi- 
 tated in his presence between an actual earl, and 
 one whose wealth and character might entitle 
 him to be alderman of his ward, if not to be lord 
 mayor, in his turn. 
 
 While they were thus in eager conversation on 
 
 business, the good Earl, even forgetting the calls 
 
 of his appetite, and the delay of dinner, in his 
 
 anxiety to see that the scrivener received proper 
 
 I
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 275 
 
 instructions, and that all was rightly weighed and 
 considered, before dismissing him to engross the 
 necessary deeds, the two young men walked to- 
 gether on the terrace which overhung the river, 
 and talked on the topics which Lord Dalgarno, 
 the eldest, and the most experienced, thought 
 most likely to interest his new friend. 
 
 These naturally regarded the pleasures at- 
 tending a court life; and Lord Dalgarno ex- 
 pressed much surprise at understanding that Ni- 
 gel proposed ai"^ instant return to Scotland. 
 
 "You are jesting with me," he said. " All the 
 court rincrs — it is needless to mince it — with the 
 
 o 
 
 extraordinary success of your suit — against the 
 highest interest, it is said, now influencing the 
 horizon at Whitehall. Men think of you — talk 
 of you — fix their eyes on you — ask each other, 
 who is this young Scotch lord, who has stepped so 
 far in a single day ? They augur, in whispers 
 to each other, how high and how far you may 
 push your fortune — and all that you design to 
 make of it, is to return to Scotland, eat raw oat- 
 meal cakes, baked upon a peat-fire, have your
 
 276 THE FOIITUXES OF NTGEL. 
 
 hand shaken by every loon of a blue-bonnet who 
 chooses to dub you cousin, though your relation- 
 ship comes by Noah ; drink Scots twopenny ale, 
 eat half-starved red-deer venison, when you can 
 kill it, ride upon a galloway, and be called my 
 right honourable and maist worthy lord." 
 
 " There is no great gaiety in the prospect be- 
 fore me, I confess,^' said Lord Glenvarloch, "even 
 if your father and good Master Heriot should 
 succeed in putting my affairs on some footing of 
 plausible hope. And yet I trust to do something 
 tor my vassals, as my ancestors before me, and 
 to teach my children, as I have myself been 
 taught, to make some personal sacrifices, if they 
 be necessary, in order to maintain with dignity 
 the situation in which they are placed by Provi- 
 dence." 
 
 Lord Dalgarno, after having once or twice 
 stifled his laughter during this speech, at length 
 broke out into a fit of mirth, so hearty and so 
 resistless, that, angry as he was, the call of sym- 
 pathy swept Nigel along with him, and, despite 
 of himself, he could not forbear to join in a burst
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 277 
 
 of lauo'htcr, which he thought not only causeless, 
 but almost impertinent. 
 
 He soon recollected himself however; and 
 said, in a tone qualified to allay Lord Dalgarno's 
 extreme mirth, " This is all well, my lord ; but 
 how am I to understand your merriment ?'''' liord 
 Dalgarno only answered him with redoubled 
 peals of laughter, and at length held by Lord 
 Glenvarloch's cloak, as if to prevent his falling 
 down on the ground, in the extremity of his 
 convulsion. 
 
 At length, while Nigel stood half abashed, 
 half angry, at becoming thus the subject of his 
 new acquaintance's ridicule, and was only re- 
 strained from expressing his resentment against 
 the son, by a sense of the obligations he owed 
 the father, Lord Dalgarno recovered himself, 
 and spoke in a half-broken voice, his eyes still 
 running with tears. *' I crave your pardon, my 
 dear Lord Glenvarloch — ten thousand times do 
 I crave your pardon. But that last picture of ru- 
 ral dignity, accompanied by your grave and 
 angry surprise at my laughing at what would
 
 278 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 have made any court-bred hound laugh, that 
 had but so much as bayed the moon once from 
 the court-yard at Whitehall, totally overcame me. 
 Why, my liefest and dearest lord, you, a young 
 and handsome fellow, with high birth, a title, 
 and the name of an estate, so well received by 
 the King at your first starting, as makes your 
 further progress scarce matter of doubt, if you 
 know how to improve it — for the King has al- 
 ready said you are * a braw lad, and well studied 
 in the more humane letters'* — ^you, too, whom all 
 the women, and the very marked beauties of the 
 court, desire to see, because you came from Ley- 
 den, were born in Scotland, and have gained a 
 hard contested suit in England — you, I say, 
 with a person like a prince, an eye of fire, and a 
 wit as quick, to think of throwing your cards on 
 the table when the game is in your very hand, 
 running back to the frozen north, and marrying — 
 let me see — a tall, stalking, blue-eyed, fair-skin- 
 ned bonny wench, with eighteen quarters in her 
 scutcheon, a sort of Lot's wife, newly descended 
 from her pedestal, and with her to shut yourself
 
 THE FORTUNES OF KIGEL. 279 
 
 up in your tapestried chamber ! Uh, gad !— 
 Swouns, I shall never survive the idea !'^ 
 
 It is seldom that youth, however high-minded, 
 is able, from mere strength of character and prin- 
 ciple, to support itself against the force of ridi- 
 cule. Half angry, half mortified, and, to say 
 truth, half ashamed of his more manly and bet- 
 ter purpose, Nigel was unable, and flattered him- 
 self it was unnecessary, to play the part of a ri- 
 gid moral patriot, in presence of a young man 
 whose current fluency of language, as well as 
 his experience in the highest circles of society, 
 gave him, in spite of Nigel's better and firmer 
 thoughts, a temporary ascendancy over him. He 
 sought, therefore, to compromise the matter, and 
 avoid farther debate, by frankly owning, that if 
 to return to his own country were not his choice, 
 it was at least a matter of necessity. "His affairs," 
 he said, " were unsettled, his income precarious.'' 
 
 " And where is he whose affairs are settled, or 
 whose income is less than precarious, that is to 
 be found in attendance on the court ?" said Lord 
 Dalgarno ; *' all are either losing or winning.
 
 280 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 Those who have wealth, come hither to get rid 
 of it, while the happy gallants who, like you 
 and I, dear Glenvarloch, have little or none, 
 have every chance to be sharers in their spoils.'"* 
 
 " I have no ambition of that sort^'' said Ni- 
 gel, " and if I had, I must tell you plainly. 
 Lord Dalgarno, I have not the means to do so. 
 I can scarce as yet call the suit I wear my own ; 
 I owe it, and I do not blush to say so, to the 
 friendship of yonder good man."" 
 
 " I will not laugh again, if I can help it,*" said 
 Lord Dalgarno. '* But, Lord ! that you should 
 have gone to a wealthy goldsmith for your habit 
 —why, I could have brought you to an honest 
 confiding tailor, who should have furnished you 
 with half a dozen, merely for love of the little 
 word, 'lordship,' which you place before your 
 name ; — and then your goldsmith, if he be really 
 a friendly goldsmith, should have equipped you 
 with such a purse of fair rose-nobles as would 
 have bought you thrice as many suits, or done 
 better things for you." 
 
 " I do not understand these fashions,, my
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 281 
 
 lord,'' said Nigel, his displeasure mastering his 
 shame ; " were I to attend the court of my So- 
 vereign, it should be when I could maintain, 
 without shifting or borrowing, the dress and re- 
 tinue which my rank requires." 
 
 " Which my rank requires !" said Lord Dal- 
 garno, repeating his last words ; " that, now, is 
 as good as if my father had spoke it. I fancy 
 you would love to move to court like him, fol- 
 lowed by a round score of old blue-bottles, with 
 white heads and red noses, ^vith bucklers and 
 broadswords, which their hands, trembling be- 
 twixt age and strong waters, can make no use of 
 — as many huge silver badges on their arms, to 
 shew whose fools they are, as would furnish forth 
 a court cupb<iard of plate — rogues fit for nothing 
 but to fill our anti-chambers with the flavour of 
 onions and genievre — pah !" 
 
 " The poor knaves !" said Lord Glenvarloch ; 
 *' they have ser\ed your father, it maybe, in the 
 wars. What would become of them were he to 
 turn them off?" 
 
 " Why, let them go to the hospital," said Dal- 
 garno, " or to the bridge-end, to sell switches.
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 The King is a better man than my father, and 
 you see those who have served in Ms wars do so 
 every day ; or, when their blue coats were well 
 worn out, they would make rare scare-crows. 
 Here is a fellow, noWj conies down the walk ; 
 the stoutest raven dared not come within a yard 
 of that copper nose. I tell you, there is more ser- 
 vice, as you will soon see, in my valet of the 
 chamber, and such a hther lad as my page Lutin, 
 than there is in a score of these old memorials of 
 the Douglas"* wars, where they cut each others 
 throats for the chance of finding twelve pennies 
 Scots on the person of the slain. Marry, my 
 lord, to make amends, they will eat mouldy vic- 
 tuals, and drink stale ale, as if their bellies were 
 puncheons. — But the dinner-bell is going to sound 
 — hark, it is clearing its rusty throat, with a pre 
 liminary jowl. That is another clamorous re- 
 lique of antiquity, that, were I master, should 
 soon be at the bottom of the Thames. How the 
 foul fiend can it interest the peasants and me- 
 chanics in the Strand, to know that the Earl of 
 Huntinglen is sitting down to dinner ? But my 
 father looks our way — we must not be late for
 
 THE FORTUNES OF XIGEL. 283 
 
 the grace, or we shall be in dis-grace, if you 
 ■will forgive a quibble which would have made 
 his Majesty laugh. You will find us all of a 
 piece, and having been accustomed to eat in sau- 
 cers abroad, I am ashamed you should witness 
 our larded capons, our mountains of beef, and 
 oceans of brewis, as large as Highland hills and 
 lochs ; but you shall see better cheer to-morrow. 
 Where lodge you ? I will call for you. I must 
 be your guide through the peopled desert, to 
 certain enchanted lands, which you will scarce 
 discover without chart and pilot. Where lodge 
 you 'r 
 
 " I will meet you in Paul's,'*' said Nigel, a 
 good deal embarrassed, " at any hour you please 
 to name."" 
 
 " O, you would be private," said the young 
 lord ; " nay^ fear not me — I will be no intruder. 
 But we have attained this huge larder of flesh, 
 fowl, and fish. I marvel the oaken boards groan 
 not under it."" 
 
 They had indeed arrived in the dining-par- 
 lour of the mansion, where the table was super-
 
 284 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 abundantly loaded, and where the number of at- 
 tendants, to a certain extent, vindicated the sar- 
 casms of the young nobleman. The chaplain, and 
 Sir Mungo Malagrowther, were of the party 
 The latter complimented Lord Glenvarloch upon 
 the impression he had made at court. " One 
 would have thought ye had brought the apple of 
 discord in your pouch, my lord, or that you were 
 the very lire-brand of whilk Althea was deliver- 
 ed, and that she had lain-in in a barrel of gun- 
 powder ; for the King, and the Prince, and the 
 Duke, have been by the lugs about ye, and so 
 have many more, that kenned na before this 
 blessed day that there was such a man living on 
 the face of the earth.'" 
 
 " Mind your victuals. Sir Mungo," said the 
 Earl ; *' they get cold while you talk." 
 
 '' Troth, and that needs na, my lord," said 
 the knight; " your lordship's dinners seldom 
 scald one's mouth^the serving-men are turnino- 
 auld, like oursells, my lord, and it is far between 
 the kitchen and the ha\" 
 
 With this httle explosion of his spleen, Sir
 
 THE FOIITUXES OF NIGEL. 285 
 
 Mungo remained satisfied until the dishes were 
 removed, when, fixing his eyes on the brave new 
 doublet of Lord Dalgarno, he complimented him 
 on his economy, pretending to recognize it as the 
 same which his father had worn in Edinburgh in 
 the Spanish ambassador's time. Lord Dalgarno, 
 too much a man of the world to be moved by 
 any thing from such a quarter, proceeded to 
 crack his nuts with great deliberation, as he re- 
 plied, that the doublet was in some sort his fa- 
 ther's, as it was likely to cost him fifty pounds 
 some day soon. Sir !MungQ forthwith proceeded 
 in his own way to convey this agreeable intelli- 
 gence to the Earl, observing, that his son was a 
 better maker of bargains than his lordship, for 
 he had boucrht a doublet as rich as that his lord- 
 ship wore when the Spanish ambassador was at 
 Holyrood, and it had cost him but fifty pounds 
 Scots ; that was no fooPs bargain, my lord."*' 
 
 " Pounds sterling, if you please, my lord," 
 answered the Earl, calmlv, " and a fooPs bargain 
 it is, in all the tenses. Dalgarno icci^s a fool when 
 he bought — I will be a fool when I pay. And 
 you, Sir Mungo, craving your pardon, are a fool
 
 286 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 in prcesent^ for speaking of what concerns you 
 not." 
 
 So saying, the Earl addressed himself to the 
 serious business of the table, and sent the wine 
 around with a profusion which increased the hi- 
 larity, but rather threatened the temperance of 
 the company, until their joviality was interrupt- 
 ed by the annunciation, that the scrivener had 
 engrossed such deeds as required to be presently 
 executed. George Heriot rose from the table, 
 observing, that wine-cups and legal documents 
 were unseemly neighbours. The Earl asked the 
 scrivener if they had laid a trencher and set a 
 cup for him in the buttery, and received the re- 
 spectful answer, that Heaven forbid he should be 
 such an ungracious beast as to eat or drink until 
 his lordship's pleasure was performed. 
 
 " Thou shalt eat before thou goest," said Lord 
 Huntinglen, " and I will have thee try, more- 
 over, whether a cup of sack cannot bring some 
 colour into these cheeks of thine. It were a 
 shame to my household, thou should glide out 
 into the Strand after such a spectre-fashion as 
 thou now wearest. — Look to it, Dalgarno, for the 
 honour of our roof is concerned."
 
 THE FORTUNES OF XIGEL. 287 
 
 Lord Dalcrarno gave directions that the man 
 should be attended to. Lord Glenvarloch and 
 the citizen, in the meanwhile, signed and inter- 
 changed, and thus closed a transaction, of which 
 the principal party concerned understood little, 
 save that it was under the management of a zea- 
 lous and faithful friend, who undertook that the 
 money should be forthcoming, and the estate 
 released from forfeiture, by payment of the sti- 
 pulated sum for which it stood pledged, and that 
 at the term of Lambmas, and at the hour of 
 noon, and beside the tomb of the Regent Earl 
 of Murray, in the High Kirk of Saint Giles, at 
 Edinburgh, being the day and place assigned 
 for such redemption. 
 
 When this business was transacted, the old 
 Earl would fain have renewed his carouse ; but 
 the citizen, alleging the importance of the deeds 
 he had about him, and the business he had to 
 transact betimes the next morning, not only re- 
 fused to return to table, but carried with him to 
 his barge Lord Glenvarloch, who might, per- 
 haps, have been otherwise found more tractable. 
 
 When they were seated in the boat, and fairly 
 once more afloat in the river, George Heriot
 
 288 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 looked back seriously on the mansion they had 
 left. " There live," he said, " the old fashion 
 and the new. The father is like a noble old broad- 
 sword, but harmed with rust, from neglect and 
 inactivity ; — the son is your modern rapier, well 
 mounted, fairly gilt, and fashioned to the taste of 
 the time, and it is time must shew if the metal be 
 as good as the show. God grant it prove so, 
 says an old friend to the family." 
 
 Nothing of consequence passed betwixt them, 
 until Lord Glenvarloch, landing at Paul's Wharf, 
 took leave of his friend the citizen, and retired 
 to his own apartment, where his attendant, Ri- 
 chie, not a little elevated with the events of the 
 day, and with the hospitality of Lord Huntin- 
 glen's house-keeping, gave a most splendid ac- 
 count of them to the buxom dame Nelly, who 
 rejoiced to hear that the sun at length was shi- 
 ning upon what Richie called the right side of 
 the hedge.
 
 THE FOIUL^NESOF NIGKL, 289 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 You are not for the manner nor the times. 
 They have their vices now most like to virtues ; 
 You cannot know them apart by any difference. 
 They wear the same clothes, eat the same meat — 
 Sleep i'the self-same beds, ride in those coaches, 
 Or very like four horses in a coach, 
 As the best men and women. 
 
 Bev Jonsox. 
 
 On the next morning, while Nigel, his break- 
 fast finished, was thinking how he should employ 
 the day, there was a little bustle upon the stairs 
 which attracted his attention, and presently en- 
 tered Dame Nelly, blushing like scarlet, and 
 scarce able to bring out — " A young nobleman, 
 sir — no one less,'' she added, drawing her hand 
 slightly over her lips, " would be so saucy — a 
 young nobleman, sir, to wait on you !'' 
 
 And she was followed into the little cabin by 
 Lord Dargarno, gay, easy, disembarrassed, and 
 apparently as much pleased to rejoin his new ac- 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 290 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 quaintance as if he had found him in the apart- 
 ments of a palace. Nigel, on the contrary, (for 
 youth is slave to such circumstances,) was dis- 
 countenanced and mortified at being surprised by 
 so splendid a gallant in a chamber, which at the 
 moment the elegant and high-dressed cavalier ap- 
 peared in it, seemed yet lower, narrower, darker, 
 and meaner to its inhabitant, than it had ever 
 shewn before. He would have made some apo- 
 logy for the situation, but Lord Dalgarno cut 
 him short — 
 
 " Not a word of it,'" he said, " not a single 
 word — I know why you ride at anchor here — but 
 I can keep counsel — so pretty a hostess would 
 recommend worse quarters." 
 
 " On my word — on my honour,''' said Lord 
 Glen var loch 
 
 " Nay, nay, make no words of the matter," 
 said Lord Dalgarno ; " I am no tell-tale, nor 
 shall I cross your walk ; there is game enough 
 in the forest, thank heaven, and I can strike a 
 doe for myself." 
 
 All this he said in so significant a manner, 
 and the explanation which he had adopted seem-
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 291 
 
 ed to put Lord Glenvarloch's gallantry on so re- 
 spectable a footing, that Nigel ceased to try to un- 
 deceive him ; and less ashamed, perhaps, (for such 
 is human weakness,) of supposed vice than of real 
 poverty, changed the discourse to something else, 
 and left poor Dame Nelly's reputation and his 
 own at the mercy of the young courtier's miscon- 
 struction. 
 
 He offered refreshments with some hesitation. 
 Lord Dalgarno had long since breakfasted, but 
 had just come from playing a sett of tennis, he 
 said, and would willingly taste a cup of the pretty 
 hostess's single beer. This was easily procured, was 
 drank, was commended, and, as the hostess failed 
 not to bring the cup herself. Lord Dalgarno pro- 
 fited by the opportunity to take a second and 
 more attentive view of her, and then gravely 
 drank to her husband's health, with an almost 
 imperceptible nod to Lord Glenvarloch. Dame 
 Nelly was much honoured, smoothed her apron 
 down with her hands, and said — " Her John was 
 greatly and truly honoured by their lordships — 
 he was a kind, pains-taking man for his family, 
 as was in the alley, or indeed as far north as 
 Paul's Chain."
 
 292 Till-: FOllTUN'l^S OF NIGEL. 
 
 She would have proceeded probably to state 
 the difference betwixt their ages, as the only alloy 
 to their nuptial happiness ; but her lodger, who 
 had no mind to be farther exposed to his gay 
 friend's raillery, gave her, contrary to his wont, 
 a signal to leave the room. 
 
 Lord Dalgarno looked after her, then looked 
 at Glenvarloch, shook his head, and repeated the 
 well-known lines — 
 
 " My lordj beware of jealousy — 
 
 It is the green-eyed monster which doth make 
 
 The meat it feeds on." 
 
 " But come," he said, changing his tone, " I 
 know not why I should worry you thus — I who 
 have so many follies of my own, when I should 
 rather make excuse for being here at all, and tell 
 you wherefore I came." 
 
 So saying he reached a seat, and placing ano- 
 ther for Lord Glenvarloch, in spite of his anxious 
 haste to anticipate this act of courtesy, he pro- 
 ceeded in the same tone of easy familiarity : — 
 
 " We are neighbours, my lord, and are just 
 made known to each other. Now, I know enough
 
 THE F0RTL:NES OF XIGF.L. 293 
 
 of the dear North, to be well aware that Scottish 
 neighbours must be either dear friends or deadly 
 enemies — must either walk hand in hand, or stand 
 sword-point to sword-poi n ; so I chuse the hand 
 in hand, unless 3'ou should reject my proffer/" 
 
 " How were it possible, my lord,"' said Lord 
 Glenvarloch, " to refuse what is offered so frank- 
 ly, even if your father had not been a second fa- 
 ther to me ?*" — And as he took Lord Dalgamo''s 
 hand, he added — " I have, I think, lost no time, 
 since, during one day's attendance at court, I have 
 made a kind friend and a powerful enemy."" 
 
 " The friend thanks you,"' replied Lord Dal- 
 gamo, " for your just opinion ; but, my dear 
 Glenvarloch— or rather, for titles are too formal 
 between us of the better file^what is your Chris- 
 tian name ?"" 
 
 " Nigel,"" replied Lord Glenvarloch. 
 " Then we will be Nigel and jNIalcolm to each 
 other,'" said his visitor, " and my lord to the 
 plebeian world around us. But I was about to 
 ask you whom you supposed your enemy ?"' 
 
 " No less than the all-powerful favourite, the 
 great Duke of Buckingham.""
 
 294 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " You dream ! What could possess you with 
 such an opinion ?" said Dalgarno. 
 
 " He told me so himself," replied Glenvarloch ; 
 " and, in so doing, dealt frankly and honourably 
 with me." 
 
 " O, you know him not yet," said his compa- 
 nion ; " the Duke is moulded of an hundred no- 
 ble and fiery qualities, that prompt him, like a ge- 
 nerous horse, to spring aside in impatience at the 
 least obstacle to his forward course. But he means 
 not what he says in such passing heats — I can do 
 more with him, I thank heaven, than most who 
 are around him ; you shall go visit him with me, 
 and you will see how you shall be received." 
 
 " I told you, my lord," said Glenvarloch firm- 
 ly, and with some haughtiness, " the Duke of 
 Buckingham, without the least offence, declared 
 himself my enemy in the face of the court ; and 
 he shall retract that aggression as publicly as it 
 was given, ere I will make the slightest advance 
 towards him." 
 
 " You would act becomingly in every other 
 case," said Lord Dalgarno, " but here you are 
 wrong. In the court horizon, Buckingham is
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 295 
 
 Lord of the Ascendant, and as he is adverse or 
 favouring, so sinks or rises the fortune of a suitor. 
 The King would bid you remember your Phaed- 
 rus, 
 
 Arripiens geminas, ripis cedentibus, ollas, 
 
 and so forth. You are the vase of earth ; beware 
 of knocking yourself against the vase of iron." 
 
 " The vase of earth,'" said Glenvarloch, " will 
 avoid the encounter, by getting ashore out of the 
 current — I mean to go no more to court.""* 
 
 ^' O, to court you necessarily must go ; you 
 will find your Scotch suit move ill without it, for 
 there is both patronage and favour necessary to 
 enforce the sign-manual you have obtained. Of 
 that we will speak more hereafter ; but tell me 
 in the meanwhile, my dear Nigel, whether you 
 did not wonder to see me here so early ?"" 
 
 " I am surprised that you could find me out 
 in this obscure corner,*" said Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 " My page Lutin is a very devil for that sort 
 of discovery," replied Lord Dalgarno ; " I have 
 but to say, ' Goblin, I would know where he or 
 she dwells,' and he guides me thither as if by art 
 magic."
 
 J296 THE FORTUNKS OF NIGEL. 
 
 *' I hope lie waits not now in the street, my 
 Jord,"" said Nigel ; " I will send my servant to 
 seek him." 
 
 *' Do not concern yourself — he is by this time,'* 
 said Lord Dalgarno, " playing at hustle-cap and 
 chuck-farthing with the most blackguard imps 
 upon the wharf, unless he hath foregone his old 
 customs."" 
 
 " Are you not afraid,"" said Lord Glenvarlocb, 
 *' that in such company his morals may become 
 depraved ?"*' 
 
 " Let his company look to their own," an- 
 swered Lord Dalgarno coolly ; '' for it will be a 
 company of real fiends in which Lutin cannot 
 teach more mischief than he can learn : he is, I 
 thank the gods, most thoroughly versed in evil 
 for his years. I am spared the trouble of look- 
 ing after his moralities, for nothing can make 
 them either better or worse." 
 
 " I wonder you can answer this to his parents, 
 my lord," said Nigel. 
 
 " I wonder where I should find his parents," 
 replied his companion, " to render an account 
 to them."
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NI(;EI.. ^97 
 
 " He may be an orplian,"" said Lord Nigel ; 
 *' but surely, being a page in yoar lordsbip*s 
 family, his parents must be of rank." 
 
 " Of as liigh rank as the gallows could exalt 
 them to,"' replied Lord Dalgarno with the same 
 indifference; "they were both hanged, I believe 
 — at least the gipsies, from whom I bought him 
 five years ago, intimated as much to me.— !-You 
 are surprised at this, now. But is it not better, 
 that instead of a lazy, conceited, whey-faced slip 
 of gentility, to whom, in your old-world idea of 
 the matter, I was bound to stand Sir Pedagogue, 
 and seq that he washed his hands and face, said 
 his prayers, learned his accidcns, spoke no naugh- 
 ty words, brushed his hat, and wore his best dou- 
 blet only of Sunday,^ — that instead of such a 
 Jacky Goodchild, I should have something like 
 this?^^ 
 
 He whistled shrill and clear, and the page he 
 spoke of darted into the room, almost with 'the 
 effect of an actual apparition. From his height 
 he seemed but fifteen, but, from his face, might 
 be two or even three years older, very neatly 
 made, and richly dressed ; with, a thin bronzed
 
 298 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 visage, which marked his gipsey descent, and a 
 pair of sparkhng black eyes, which seemed almost 
 to pierce through those whom he looked at. 
 
 " There he is,**' said Lord Dalgarno, "fit for 
 every element — prompt to execute every com- 
 mand, good, bad, or indifferent — unmatched in 
 his tribe, as rogue, thief, and liar.'" 
 
 " All which quahties,'' said the undaunted 
 page, " have each in turn stood your lordship 
 in stead."" 
 
 " Out, you imp of Satan !'' said his master ; 
 " vanish — begone— or my conjuring rod goes 
 about your ears." The boy turned, and disap- 
 peared as suddenly as he had entered. " You 
 see," said Lord Dalgarno, " that in choosing my 
 household, the best regard I can pay to gentle 
 blood, is to exclude it from my service — that very 
 gallows-bird were enough to corrupt a whole anti- 
 chamber of pages, though they were descended 
 from Kings and Kesars." 
 
 " I can scarce think that a nobleman should 
 need the offices of such an attendant as your 
 goblin," said Nigel ; •' you are but jesting with 
 my inexperience."
 
 THK FORTUXtS OF XIGF.L. i^99 
 
 " Time will shew whether I jest or not, my 
 dear Nigel/' replied Dalgarno ; " in the mean 
 time, I have to propose to you to take the advan- 
 tage of the flood-tide, to run up the river for pas- 
 time ; and at noon I trust you will dine with me."" 
 
 Nigel acquiesced in a plan which promised so 
 much amusement; and his new friend and he, 
 attended by Lutin and IMoniplies, who greatly 
 resembled, when thus associated, the conjunc- 
 tion of a bear and a monkey, took possession of 
 Lord Dalgarno's wherry, which, with its badged 
 watermen, bearing his lordship's crest on their 
 arms, lay in readiness to receive them. The 
 air was delightful upon the river ; and the live- 
 ly conversation of Lord Dalgarno added zest 
 to the pleasures of the little voyage. He could 
 not only give an account of the various public 
 buildings and noblemen's houses which they 
 passed in ascending the Thames, but knew how to 
 season his information with abundance of anec- 
 dote, political inuendo, and personal scandal : 
 if he had not very much wit, he was at least 
 completely master of the fashionable tone, whidi
 
 300 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 in that time, as in ours, more than, amply sup- 
 plies any deficiency of the kind. 
 
 It was a style of conversation entirely new to 
 his companion, as was the world which Lord 
 Dalgarno opened to his observation ; and it is no 
 wonder that Nigel, notwithstanding his natural 
 good sense and high spirit, admitted, more rea- 
 dily than seemed consistent with either, the tone 
 of authoritative instruction which his new friend 
 assumed towards him. There would, indeed, 
 have been some difficulty in making a stand. To 
 attempt a high and stubborn tone cf morality, in 
 answer to the light strain of Lord Dalgarno's 
 conversation, v/hich kept on the frontiers between 
 jest and earnest, would have seemed pedantic and 
 ridiculous ; and every attempt which Nigel made 
 to combat his companion's propositions, by rea- 
 soning as jocose as his own, only shewed his in- 
 feriority in that gay species of controversy. And 
 it must be owned, besides, though internally dis- 
 approving much of what he heard. Lord Glen- 
 varloch was less alarmed by the language and 
 manners of his new associate, than in prudence 
 he ought to have been.
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL." 801 
 
 Lord Dalgarno was unwilling to startle his 
 proselyte, by insisting upon any topic which ap- 
 peared particularly to jar with his habits or prin- 
 ciples ; and he blended his mirth and his earnest 
 so dexterously, that it was impossible for Nigel 
 to discover how far he was serious in his propo- 
 sitions, or how far they flowed from a wild and 
 extravagant spirit of raillery. And, ever and 
 anon, those flashes of spirit and honour crossed 
 his conversation, which seemed to intimate, that 
 when stirred to action by some adequate motive. 
 Lord Dalgarno would prove something very dif- 
 ferent from the court-haunting and ease-loving 
 voluptuary, which he was pleased to represent as 
 his chosen character. 
 
 As they returned down the river, Lord Glen- 
 varloch remarked, that the boat passed the man- 
 sion of Lord Huntinglen, and noticed the cir- 
 cumstance to Lord Dalgarno, observing, that he 
 thought they were to have dined there. " Sure- 
 ly no," said the young nobleman, " I have more 
 mercy on you than to gorge you a second time 
 with raw beef and canary wine. I propose some- 
 thing better for you, I promise you, than such a
 
 302 THE FORTUNES OF NIGKL. 
 
 second Scythian festivity. And as for my fa- 
 ther, he proposes to dine to-day with my grave, 
 ancient Earl of Northampton, whilome that cele- 
 brated putter-down of pretended prophecies. Lord 
 Hemy Howard."" 
 
 " And do you not go with him ?"" said his 
 companion. 
 
 '' To what purpose .^" said Lord Dalgarno. 
 " To hear his wise lordship speak musty politics 
 in false Latin, which the old fox always uses, that 
 he may give the learned Majesty of England an 
 opportunity of correcting his slips in grammar .f* 
 That were a rare employment !" 
 
 " Nay,"" said Lord Nigel, " but out of respect, 
 to wait on my lord your father." 
 
 " My lord my father," rephed Lord Dalgarno, 
 «' has blue-bottles enough to wait on him, and 
 can well dispense with such a butterfly as myself. 
 He can lift the cup of sack to his head without 
 my assistance ; and should the said paternal head 
 turn something giddy, there be men enough to 
 guide his right honourable lordship to his lord- 
 ship's right honourable couch. Now, do not stare 
 at me, Nigel, as if my words were to sink the boat 
 
 10
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL, 303 
 
 with US. I love my father — I love him dearly — 
 and I respect him too, though I respect not many 
 things ; a trustier old Trojan never belted a broad- 
 sword by a loop of leather. But what then ? He 
 belongs to the old world, I to the new. He has 
 his follies, I have mine ; and the less either of us 
 sees of the other's peccadilloes, the greater will 
 be the honour and respect — that, I think, is the 
 proper phrase, — I say, the respect m which we 
 shall hold each other. Being apart, each of us 
 is himself, such as nature and circumstances have 
 made him ; but couple us up too closely together, 
 you will be sure to have in your leash either an 
 old hypocrite or a young one, or perhaps both 
 the one and t'other. 
 
 As he spoke thus, the boat put into the land- 
 ing-place at Blackfriar's. Lord Dalgarno sprung 
 ashore, and flinging his cloak and rapier to his 
 page, recommended to his companion to do the 
 like. " We are coming among press of gallants," 
 he said ; " and if we walk thus muffled, we shall 
 look like your tawney-visaged Don, who wraps 
 him close in his cloak, to conceal the defects of 
 his doublet.''
 
 304 THE foiitu:nk.s of xigel. 
 
 " I have known many an honest man do th^tf 
 if it please your lordship," said Richie MonipHes, 
 who had been watching for an opportunity to 
 intrude himself on the conversation, and proba- 
 bly remembered what had been his own condi- 
 tion, in respect to cloth and doublet, at a very 
 recent period. 
 
 Lord Dalgarno stared at him, as if surprised 
 at his assurance; but immediately answered, 
 " You may have known many things, friend; 
 but, in the meanwhile, you do not know what 
 principally concerns your master, namely, how 
 to carry his cloak, so as to shew to advantage 
 the gold-laced seams, and the lining of sables. 
 See how Lutin holds the sword, with the cloak 
 cast partly over it, yet so as to set off the emboss- 
 ed hilt, and the silver work of the mounting. 
 — Give your familiar your sword, Nigel,*'"* he con- 
 V tinned, addressing Lord Glenvarloch, " that he 
 may practise a lesson in an art so necessary." 
 
 *' Is it altogether prudent," said. Nigel, un- 
 clasping his weapon, and giving it to Richie, " to 
 walk entirely unarmed ?^'' 
 
 "And wherefore not?" said his companion. 
 " You are thinking now of Auld Reekie, as my
 
 THE FORTUXES OF NIGEL. 80-5 
 
 father fondly calls your good Scotch capital, 
 where there is such bandying of private feuds and 
 public factions, that a man of any note shall not 
 cross your High Street twice, without endanger- 
 ing his life thrice. Here, sir, no brawhng in the 
 street is permitted. Your bull-headed citizen 
 takes up the case so soon as the sword is drawn, 
 and duhs is the word." 
 
 " And a hard word it is,*" said Richie, " as my 
 brain-pan kens at this blessed moment." 
 
 " Were I your master, sirrali,'' said Lord Dal- 
 garno, " I would make your brain-pan, as you 
 call it, boil over, were you to speak a word to me 
 before you were spoken to." 
 
 Richie murmured some indistinct answer, but 
 took the hint, and ranked himself behind his mas- 
 ter along with Lutin, who failed not to expose 
 his new companion to the ridicule of the passers- 
 by, by mimicking, as often as he could do so un- 
 observed by Richie, his stiff and upright stalk- 
 ing gait and discontented physiognomy. 
 
 " And tell me now, my dear Malcolm,'' said 
 Nigel, " where we are bending our course, and 
 whether we shall dine at an apartment of yours.*^ 
 
 VOL. I. u
 
 306 THE FORTUNES OF NIGTEL. 
 
 " An apartment of mine — yes, surely," an- 
 swered Lord Dalgarno, " you shall dine at an 
 apartment of mine, and an apartment of yours, 
 and of twenty gallants beside ; and where the 
 board shall present better cheer, better wine, and 
 better attendance, than if our whole united exhi- 
 bitions went to maintain it. We are going to the 
 most noted ordinary of London." 
 
 '* That is, in ordinary language, an inn or a 
 tavern," said Nigel. 
 
 '' An inn or a tavern, my most green and sim- 
 ple friend !" exclaimed Lord Dalgarno. " No, 
 no — these are places where greasy citizens take 
 pipe and pot, where the knavish pettifoggers of 
 the law sponge on their most unhappy victims 
 — ^where Templars crack jests as empty as their 
 nuts, and where small gentry imbibe such thin 
 potations, that they get dropsies instead of get- 
 ting drunk. An ordinary is a late invented in- 
 stitution, sacred to Bacchus and Comus, where 
 the first noble gallants of the time meet with 
 the first and most ethereal wits of the age, — 
 where the wine is the very soul of the choicest 
 grape, refined as the genius of the poet, and an- 
 cient and generous as the blood of the nobles.
 
 THE FORTUNES OF KI6EL. 307 
 
 And then the fare is something beyond your 
 ordinary gross terrestrial food ! Sea and land are 
 ransacked to supply it ; and the invention of six 
 ingenious cooks kept eternally upon the rack to 
 make their art hold pace with, and if possible en- 
 hance, the exquisite quality of the materials." 
 
 " By all which rhapsody,"" said Lord Glenvar- 
 loch, " I can only understand, as I did before, 
 that we are going to a choice tavern, where we 
 shall be handsomely entertained, on paying pro- 
 bably as handsome a reckoning." 
 
 " Reckoning !" exclaimed Lord Dalgamo in 
 the same tone as before, " perish the peasantly 
 phrase ! What profanation ! Monsieur le Cheva* 
 lier de Beaujeu, pink of Paris and flower of Gas- 
 cony — he who can tell the age of his wine by the 
 bare smell, who distils his sauces in an alembic 
 by the aid of LuUie's philosophy, — who carves 
 with such exquisite precision, that he gives to 
 noble knight and squire the portion of the phea* 
 sant which exactly accords with his rank — nay, he 
 who shall divide a becafico into twelve parts with 
 such scrupulous exactness, that of twelve guests 
 not one shall have the advantage of the other in a
 
 308 THE FOKTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 h^'s breadth, or the twentieth part of a drachm, 
 yet you talk of him and of a reckoning in the 
 same breath ! Why, man, he is the well-known 
 and general referee in all matters affecting the 
 mysteries of Passage, Hazard, In and In, Pen- 
 neeck and Verquire, and what not — why, Beau- 
 jeu is King of the Card-pack, and Duke of the 
 Dice-box — hecall a reckoning like a green-apron- 
 ed, red-nosed, son of the vulgar spiggot I Oh, my 
 dearest Nigel, what a word you have spoken, and 
 of what a person ! That you know him not, is your 
 only apology for such blasphemy; and yet I scarce 
 hold it adequate, for to have been a day in Lon- 
 don and not to know Beaujeu, is a crime of its 
 own kind. But you shall know him this blessed 
 moment, and shall learn to hold yourself in hor- 
 ror for the enormities you have uttered." 
 
 " Well, but mark you," said Nigel, " this 
 wjotthy chevalier keeps not all this good cheer at 
 nis own cost, does he ?" 
 
 ** No, no,*" answered Lord Dalgarno ; '* there 
 is a sort of ceremony which my chevalier^s friends 
 and intimates understand, but with which you 
 have no business at present. There is, as ma-
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 309 
 
 jesty might say, a symholum to be disbursed — 
 in other words, a mutual exchange of courtesies 
 takes place betwixt Beaujeu and his guests. He 
 makes them a free present of the dinner and 
 wine, as often as they choose to consult their 
 own felicity by frequenting his house at the 
 hour of noon, and they, in gratitude, make the 
 chevalier a present of a Jacobus. Then, you 
 must know, that besides Comus and Bacchus, 
 that princ€ss of sublunary affairs, the Diva For- 
 tuna, is frequently worshipped at Beaujeu's, and 
 he, as officiating high-priest, hath, as in reason 
 he should, a considerable advantage from a share 
 of the sacrifice." 
 
 " In other words," said Lord Glenvarloch, 
 '* this man keeps a gaming-house." 
 
 " A house in which you may certainly game,^ 
 said Lord Dalgarno, " as you may in your own 
 chamber, if you have a mind ; nay, I remember 
 old Tom Tally played a hand at putt for a wa- 
 ger with Quinze le Va, the Frenchman, during 
 morning prayers in Saint Paul's; the morning 
 was misty, and the parson drowsy, and the 
 whole audience consisted of themselves and a
 
 310 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 blind old woman, and so they escaped detect- 
 tion." 
 
 *' For all this, Malcolm," said the young lord, 
 gravely, *' I cannot dine with you to-day, at this 
 same ordinary." 
 
 " And wherefore, in the name of Heaven, 
 should you draw back from your word ?" said 
 Lord Dalgarno. 
 
 '' I do not retract my word, Malcolm ; but I 
 am bound, by an early promise to my father, 
 never to enter the doors of a gaming-house." 
 
 '' I tell you this is none," said Lord Dalgar- 
 no ; " it is but, in plain terms, an eating-house, 
 arranged on civiller terms, and frequented by 
 better company, than others in this town ; and if 
 some of them do amuse themselves with cards 
 and hazard, they are men of honour, and who 
 play as such, and for no more than they can 
 well afford to lose. It was not, and could not 
 be, such houses that your father desired you to 
 avoid. Besides, he might as well have made you 
 swear you would never take the accommodation 
 of an inn, tavern, eating-house, or place of pub- 
 lic reception of any kind ; for there is no such
 
 THE FOUTUNES OF NIGEL. 311 
 
 place of public resort but what your eyes may 
 be therein contaminated by the sight of a pack 
 of pieces of painted pasteboard, and your ears 
 profaned by the rattle of those little spotted 
 cubes of ivory. The difference is, that where we 
 go, we may happen to see persons of quality 
 amusing themselves with a game ; and in the or- 
 dinary houses you will meet bullies and sharp- 
 ers, who will strive either to cheat or to swagger 
 you out of your money." 
 
 " I am sure you would not willingly lead me 
 to do what is wrong," said Nigel ; " but my fa- 
 ther had a horror of games of chance, religious 
 I believe, as well as prudential. He judged from 
 I know not what circumstance, a fallacious one 
 I should hope, that I had a propensity to such 
 courses, and I have told you the promise which 
 he exacted from me." 
 
 " Now, by my honour," said Dalgarno, " what 
 you have said, affords the strongest reason for my 
 insisting that you go with me. A man who would 
 shun any danger, should first become acquainted 
 with its real bearing and extent, and that in the 
 company of a confidential guide and guard. Do
 
 SI 2 THE FOUTUXES OF NIGEL. 
 
 you think I myself game ? Good faith, my fa- 
 therms oaks grow too far from London, and stand 
 too fast rooted in the rocks of Perthshire, for me 
 to troll them down with a die, though I have 
 seen whole forests go down like nine-pins. No, 
 no— these are sports for the wealthy Southron, 
 not for the poor Scottish noble. The place is an 
 eating-house, and as such you and I will use it. 
 If others use it to game in, it is their fault, but 
 neither that of the house nor ours.'"* 
 
 Unsatisfied with this reasoning, Nigel still in- 
 sisted upon the promise he had given to his fa- 
 ther, until his companion appeared rather dis- 
 pleased, and disposed to impute to him injurious 
 and unhandsome suspicions. Lord Glenvarloch 
 could not stand this change of tone : He recol- 
 lected that much was due from him to Lord 
 Dalgarno, on account of his father*'s ready and 
 efficient friendship, and something also on ac- 
 count of the frank manner in which the young 
 man himself had offered him his intimacy. Le 
 had no reason to doubt his assurances that the 
 house where they were about to dine did not 
 fall under the description of places to which his 
 9
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 313 
 
 father's prohibition referred ; and, finally, he was 
 strong in his own resolution to resist every tempt- 
 ation to join in games of chance. He therefore 
 pacified Lord Dalgamo, by intimating his will- 
 ingness to go along with him ; and the good hu- 
 mour of the young courtier instantaneously re- 
 turning, he again ran on in a grotesque and rho- 
 domontade account of the host, Monsieur de 
 Beaujeu, which he did not conclude until they 
 had reached the Temple of Hospitality over 
 which that eminent professor presided. 
 
 END OF VOLUME FIRST. 
 
 Edinburgh ; 
 Printed by James Ballantyne ^ Co.
 
 #u.^ 
 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 3 0112 042022704 
 
 ^z