UC-NRLF 
 
THE , 
 
 FORTUNES OF NIGEL 
 
 SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. 
 
 LINKBOY OF OLD LONDON. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK. 
 
^A^it's ^fo^,eU 
 
 \1-. 
 
 THE : ■ ■ 
 
 FORTUNES OF NIGEL- 
 
 BY 
 
 SIE WALTER SCOTT, Bart. 
 
 Kni/egrmder. Story? Lord bless you! I have none to tell, sir. 
 
 or THE AnTI JACOBIU. 
 
 Library. 
 
 EDINBURGH 
 
 ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK 
 
 1863 
 

 z/7 
 
Pi? 53/7 
 
 n 
 
 r44TH 
 
 INTRODUCTION TO THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 
 
 But why Bhould lordllngs all our praise engross ? 
 Rise, honest muse, and sing the Man of Ross* 
 
 Pope. 
 
 Having, in the tale of the Heart of Mid-Lothian, succeeded in some 
 degree in awakening an interest in behalf of one devoid of those accomplish- 
 ments which belong to a heroine almost by right, I was next tempted to 
 choose a hero upon the same unpromising plan ; and as worth of character, 
 goodness of heart, and rectitude of principle were necessary to one who 
 laid no claim to high birth, romantic sensibility, or any of the usual accom- 
 plishments of those who strut through the pages of this sort of composition, 
 I made free with the name of a person who has left the most magnificent 
 proofs of his benevolence and charity that the capital of Scotland has to 
 display. 
 
 To the Scottish reader little more need be said than that the man alluded 
 to is George Heriot. But for those south of the Tweed, it may be necessary 
 to add, that the person so named was a wealthy citizen of Edinburgh, and 
 the King's goldsmith, who followed James to the English capital, and was 
 so successful in his profession, as to die, in 1624, extremely wealthy for that 
 period. He had no children ; and after making a full provision for such 
 relations as might have claims upon him, he left the residue of his fortune 
 to establish an hospital, in which the sons of Edinburgh freemen are gratui- 
 tously brought up and educated for the station to which their talents may 
 recommend them, and are finally enabled to enter life under respectable 
 auspices. The Hospital in which this charity is maintained is a noble quad- 
 rangle of the Gothic order, and as ornamental to the city as a building, as 
 the manner in which the youths are provided for and educated renders it 
 useful to the community as an institution. To the honour of those who 
 have the management (the Magistrates and Clergy of Edinburgh), the funds 
 of the Hospital have increased so much under their care, that it now sup- 
 ports and educates one hundred and thirty youths annually, many of whom 
 have done honour to their country in different situations. 
 
 The founder of such a charity as this may be reasonably supposed to have 
 walked through life with a steady pace, and an observant eye, neglecting 
 no opportunity of assisting those who were not possessed of the eKperience 
 necessary for their own guidance. In supposing his efforts directed to the 
 benefit of a young nobleman, misguided by the aristocratic haughtiness of hia 
 
IV INTKODUCTIOiS" TO THE FORTUKES OF NIGEL. 
 
 own time, and the prevailing tone of selfish luxury which seems more peculiar 
 to ours, as well as the seductions of pleasure which are predominant in all, 
 some amusement, or even some advantage, might, I thought, be derived from 
 the manner in which I might bring the exertions of this civic Mentor to bear 
 in his pupil's behalf. I am, I own, no great believer in the moral utility to 
 be derived from fictitious compositions ; yet, if in any case a word spoken in 
 season may be of advantage to a young person, it must surely be when it 
 calls upon him to attend to the voice of principle and self-denial, instead of 
 that of precipitate passion. I could not, indeed, hope or expect to represent 
 my prudent and benevolent citizen in a point of view so interesting as that 
 of the peasant girl, who nobly sacrificed her family affections to the integrity 
 of her moral character. Still, however, something I hoped might be done 
 not altogether unworthy the fame which George Heriot has secured by the 
 lasting benefits he has bestowed on his country. 
 
 It appeared likely, that out of this simple plot I might weave something 
 attractive ; because the reign of James I., in which George Heriot flourished, 
 gave unbounded scope to invention in the fable, while at the same time it 
 afforded greater variety and discrimination of character than could, with 
 historical consistency, have been introduced, if the scene had been laid a 
 century earlier. Lady Mary Wortley Montague has said, with equal truth 
 and taste, that the most romantic region of every country is that where the 
 mountains unite themselves with the plains or lowlands. For similar reasons, 
 it may be in like manner said, that the most picturesque period of history 
 is that when the ancient rough and wild manners of a barbarous age are just 
 becoming innovated upon, and contrasted, by the illumination of increased 
 or revived learning, and the instructions of renewed or reformed religion. 
 The strong contrast produced by the opposition of ancient manners to those 
 which are gradually subduing them, affords the lights and shadows necessary 
 to give effect to a fictitious narrative ; and while such a period entitles the 
 author to introduce incidents of a marvellous and improbable character, as 
 arising out of the turbulent independence and ferocity, belonging to old 
 habits of violence, still influencing the manners of a people who had been so 
 lately in a barbarous state ; yet, on the other hand, the characters and senti- 
 ments of many of the actors may, with the utmost probability, be described 
 with great variety of shading and delineation, which belongs to the newer 
 and more improved period, of which the world has but lately received the 
 light. 
 
 The reign of James I. of England possessed this advantage in a peculiar 
 degree, fcjome beams of chivalry, although its planet had been for some time 
 set, continued to animate and gild the horizon, and although probably no one 
 acted precisely on its Quixotic dictates, men and women still talked the 
 chivalrous language of Sir Philip Sydney's Arcadia ; and the ceremonial of 
 the tilt-yard was yet exhibited, though it now only flourished as a Flacc de 
 Can-ousel. Here and there a high-spirited Knight of the Bath — witness the 
 too scrupulous Lord Herbert of Cherbury — was found devoted enough to the 
 vows he had taken, to imagine himself obliged to compel, by the sword's- 
 point, a fellow-knight or squire to restore the top-knot of ribbon which he 
 had stolen from a fair damsel ;* but yet, while men were taking each other's 
 lives on such punctilios of honour, the hour was already arrived when Bacon 
 was about to teach the world that they were no longer to reason from autho- 
 rity to fact, but to establish truth by advancing from fact to fact, till they 
 fixed an indisputable authority, not from hypothesis, but from experiment. 
 
 The state of society in the reign of James I. was also strangely disturbed, 
 and the liceose of a part of the community was perpetually giving rise to 
 
 J See Lord Herbert of Chevhury's Memoirs. 
 
INTRODUCTIOX TO THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. V 
 
 acts of blood and violence. The bravo of the Queen's day, of -whom Shak- 
 speare has given us so many varieties, as Bardolph, Nym, Pistol, Peto, and 
 the other companions of Falstaflf, men who had their humours, or their parti- 
 cular turn of extravaganza, had, since the commencement of the Low 
 Country wars, given way to a race of sworders, who used the rapier and 
 dagger, instead of the far less dangerous sword and buckler; so that a historian 
 says on this subject, " that private quarrels were nourished, but especially 
 between the Scots and English ; and duels in every street maintained ; divers 
 sects and peculiar titles passed unpunished and unregarded, as the sect_ of 
 the Roaring Boys, Bonaventors, Bravadors, Quarterors, and such like, being 
 persons prodigal, and of great expense, who, having run themselves into 
 debt, were constrained to run next into factions, to defend themselves from 
 danger of the law. These received countenance from divers of the nobility, 
 and the citizens, through lasciviousness consuming their estates, it was like 
 that the number [of these desperadoes] would rather increase than diminish ; 
 and under these pretences they entered into many desperate enterprises, and 
 scarce any durst walk in the street after nine at night."^ 
 
 The same authority assures us farther, that " ancient gentlemen, who had 
 left their inheritance whole and well furnished with goods and chattels 
 (having thereupon kept good houses) unto their sons, lived to see part con- 
 sumed in riot and excess, and the rest in possibility to be utterly lost;_tlie 
 holy state of matrimony made but a May-game, by which divers families 
 had been subverted ; brothel houses much frequented, and even great per- 
 sons prostituting their bodies to the intent to satisfy their lusts, consumed 
 their substance in lascivious appetites. And of all sorts, such knights and 
 gentlemen, as either through pride or prodigality had consumed their sub- 
 stance, repairing to the city, and to the Intent to consume their virtue also, 
 lived dissolute lives ; many of their ladies and daughters, to the intent to 
 maintain themselves according to their dignity, prostituting their bodies in 
 shameful manner. Alehouses, dicing-houses, taverns, and places of iniquity 
 I beyond manner abounding in most places." 
 
 I Nor is it only in the pages of a puritanical, perhaps a satirical writer, 
 I that we find so shocking and disgusting a picture of the coarseness of the 
 I beginning of the seventeenth century. On the contrary, in all the comedies 
 I of the age, the principal character for gaiety and wit is a young heir, who 
 i has totally altered the establishment of the father to whom he has succeeded, 
 ; and, to use the old simile, who resembles a fountain, which plays off in idle- 
 ness and extravagance the wealth which its careful parents painfully had 
 assembled in hidden reservoirs. 
 
 And yet, while that spirit of general extravagance seemed at work over a 
 whole kingdom, another and very different sort of men were gradually form- 
 ing the staid and resolved characters, which afterwards displayed themselves 
 during the civil wars, and powerfully regulated and affected the character 
 of the whole English nation, until, rushing from one extreme to another, 
 they sunk in a gloomy fanaticism the splendid traces of the reviving 
 fine arts. 
 
 From the quotations which I have produced, the selfish and disgusting 
 conduct of Lord Dalgarno will not perhaps appear overstrained ; nor will 
 the scenes in AVhitefriars and places of similar resort seem too highly coloured. 
 This, indeed, is far from being the case. It was in James I.'s reign that vice 
 first appeared affecting the better classes in its gross and undisguised depra- 
 vity. The entertainments and amusements of Elizabeth's time had an air of 
 that decent restraint which became the court of a maiden sovereign ; and, in 
 
 1 History of the First Fourteen Years of King James's Reign. See Somers's Tmcta 
 edited by Scott, vol. ii. p. 266. 
 
VI INTRODUCTION TO THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 that earlier period, to use the words of Burke, rice lost half its evil by being 
 deprived of all its grossness. In James's reign, on the contrary, the coarsest 
 pleasures were publicly and unlimitedly indulged, since, according to Sir 
 John Harrington, the men wallowed in beastly delights ; and even ladies 
 abandoned their society, and rolled about in intoxication. After a ludicrous 
 account of a mask, in which the acturd had got drunk, and behaved themselves 
 accordingly, he adds, " I have much marrelled at these strange pageantries, 
 and they do bring to my recollection what passed of this sort in our Queen's 
 days, in which I was sometimes an assistant and partaker : but never did I 
 see such lack of good order and sobriety as I have now done. The gunpowder 
 fright is got out, of all our heads, and we are going on hereabout as if tho 
 devil was contriving every man should blow up himself by wild riot, excess, 
 and devastation of time and temperance. The great ladies do go well 
 masked ; and, indeed, it be the only show of their modesty to conceal their 
 countenance ; but, alack, they meet with such countenance to uphold their 
 strange doings, that I marvel not at aught that happens."* 
 
 Such being the state of the court, coarse sensuality brought along with it 
 its ordinary companion, a brutal degree of undisguised selfishness, destructive 
 alike of philanthropy and good breeding; both of which, in their several 
 spheres, depend upon the regard paid by each individual to the interest as 
 well as the feelings of others. It is in such a time that the heartless and 
 shameless man of wealth and power may, like the supposed Lord Dalgarno, 
 brazen out the shame of his villanies, and affect to triumph in their con- 
 sequences, so long as they were personally advantageous to his own pleasures 
 or profit. 
 
 Alsatia is elsewhere explained as a cant name for "Whitefriars, which, pos- 
 sessing certain privileges of sanctuary, became for that reason a nest of those 
 mischievous characters who were generally obnoxious to the law. These 
 privileges were derived from its having been an establishment of the Car- 
 melites, or White Friars, founded, says Stow, in his Survey of London, by Sir 
 Patrick Grey in 1241. Edward I. gave them a plot of ground in Fleet Street 
 to build their church upon. The edifice then erected was rebuilt by Courtney, 
 Earl of Devonshire, in the reign of Edward. In the time of the Reformation 
 the place retained its immunities as a sanctuary, and James I. confirmed and 
 added to them by a charter in 1608. Shadwell was the first author who made 
 some literary use of Whitefriars, in his play of the Squire of Alsatia, which 
 turns upon the plot of the Adelphi of Terence. 
 
 In this old play, two men of fortune, brothers, educate two young men 
 (sons to the one and nephews to the other), each under his own separate sys- 
 tem of rigour and indulgence. The elder of the subjects of this experiment, 
 who has been very rigidly brought up, falls at once into all the vices of the 
 town, is debauched by the cheats and bullies of Whitefriars, and, in a word, 
 becomes the Squire of Alsatia. The poet gives, as the natural and congenial 
 inhabitants of the place, such character'? as the reader will find in the note.* 
 
 1 ILarrington's Nugfe Antiqure, vol. ii. p. 352. For the gross det)aucliery of the 
 period, too much encouraged by the example of the monarch, who was, in other 
 respects, neither without talent nor a good-natured disposition, see Winwood's Memo- 
 rials, Howel's Letters, and other Memorials of the time; but, particularly, consult tho 
 Private Letters and Correspondence of Steenie, alias Buckingham, with his reverend 
 Dad and Gossip, King James, wliich abound with the grossest as well as the most 
 childish language. The learned Mr D'Israeli, in an attempt to vindicate the character 
 of James, has only succeeded in obtaining for himself the character of a skilful and 
 ingenious advocate, without much advantage to his royal client. 
 
 2 " Cheatly, a rascal, who by reason of debts dares not stir out of Wliitefriars, but 
 there inveigles young heirs of entail, and helps them to goods and money upon great 
 disadvantages, is bound for them, and shares with them till he undoes them. A lewd, 
 Impudent, debauched fellow, very expert in the cant about town. 
 
 " Shamwell, cousin to the Belfords, who, being ruined by Clieatly, is made a decoy- 
 
INTRODUCTION TO THE FORTUNES OF NIGEI/. Vli 
 
 The play, as we learn from the dedication to the Earl of Dorset and Middle- 
 sex, was successful above the author's expectations, " no comedy these many 
 years having filled the theatre so long together. And I had the groat hon- 
 our,** continues Shadwell, " to find so many friends, that the house was never 
 so full since it was built as upon the third day of this play, and vast numbers 
 went away that could not be admitted."* From the Squire of Alsatia, the 
 author derived some few hints, and learned the footing on which the bullies 
 and thieves of the Sanctuary stood with their neighbours, the fiery young 
 students of the Temple, of which some intimation is given in the dramatic 
 piece. 
 
 Such are the materials to which the author stands indebted for the com- 
 position of the Fortunes of Nigel, a novel which may be perhaps one of tho^e 
 that are more amusing on a second perusal, than when read a first time for 
 the sake of the story, the incidents of which are few and meagre. 
 
 The Introductory Epistle is written, in Lueio's phrase, " according to the 
 trick," and would never have appeared had the writer meditated making his 
 avowal of the work. As it is the privilege of a mask or incognito to speak 
 in a feigned voice and assumed character, the author attempted, while in dis- 
 guise, some liberties of the same sort ; and while he continues to plead upon 
 the vai'ious excuses which the introduction contains, the present acknowledg- 
 ment must serve as an apology for a species of " hoity toity, whisky frisky '"' 
 pertness of manner, which, in his avowed character, the author should have 
 considered as a departure from the rules of civility and good taste. 
 
 duck for others, not daring to stir out of Alsatia, where he lives. Is bound with Cheatly 
 for heirs, and lives upon them a dissolute debauched life. 
 
 " Captain Ilackum, a blockheaded bully of Alsatia, a cowardly, impudent, blustering 
 leliow, formerly a sergeant in Flanders, Avho has run from his colours, and retreated 
 into Whitefriars for a very small debt, where by the Alsatians he is dubb'd a captain, 
 marries one that lets lodgings, sells chei-ry-brandy, and is a bawd. 
 
 '■'■ Scrapeall, a h>T)0critical, repeating, praying, psalm-singing, precise feUow, pre- 
 tending to great piety ; a godly knave, who joins with Cheatly, and supplies young 
 heirs with goods and money." — Dramatis Personce to the Squire of Alsatia^ SHADWELL'e 
 Works, vol. iv 
 
 1 Dedication to the Squire of Alsatia, Shadwell's Works, voL iv. 
 
 Abbotsfosd, l$t JtHy 1831. 
 
Tiii INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 CAPTAIN CLUTTERBUCK TO THE REVEREND DR DRYASDUST. 
 
 Dear Sir, — I readily accept of, and reply to the civilities with which you 
 have been pleased to honour me in your obliging letter, and entirely agree 
 with your quotation, of " Quam bonum et quamjucundum ! " We may indeed 
 esteem ourselves as come of the same family, or, according to our country 
 proverb, as being all one man's bairns ; and their 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 curiosity. The inter- 
 view which you allude 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 me a sort of character in 
 the literature of our Scottish metropolis. I no longer stand in the outer-shop 
 of our bibliopolists, bargaining for the objects of my curiosity with an unre- 
 speotive shop-lad, hustled among boys who come to buy Corderies and copj'- 
 books, and servant-girls cheapening a penniworth of paper, but am cordially 
 welcomed by the bibliopolist himself, with, " Pray, walk into the back-shop, 
 Captain. Boy, get a chair for Captain Clutterbuck. There is the newspaper, 
 Captain — to-day's paper;" or, " Here is the last new work — 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 of you, sir: you shall have it at trade-price." 
 Or, perhaps, if it is the worthy trader's own publication, his liberality may 
 even extend itself to — " Never mind booking such a trifle to you, sir — it is 
 an over-copy. Pray, mention the work to your reading friends." I say no- 
 thing 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 — nay, perhaps, of his best blue, 
 to quicken our talk about old books, or our plans for new ones. All these 
 are comforts reserved to such as are freemen of the corporation of letters, 
 and I have the advantage of enjoying them in perfection. 
 
 But all things change under the sun ; and it is with no ordinary feelings of 
 regret that, in my annual visits to the metropolis, I now miss the social and 
 warm-hearted welcome of the quick-witted and kindly friend who first intro- 
 duced me to the public ; who had more original wit than would have set up 
 a dozen of professed sayers of good things, and more racy humour 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 bibliopolioal friend, 
 whose vigorous intellect and liberal ideas have not only rendered his native 
 country the mart of her own literature, but established there a Court of 
 Letters, which must command respect, even from those most inclined to dis- 
 sent from many of its canons. The effect of these changes, operated in a 
 great measure by the strong sense and sagacious calculations of an indivi- 
 dual who knew how to avail himself, to an unhoped-for extent, of the various 
 kinds of talent which his country produced, will probably appear more clearly 
 to the generation 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 
 
INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. IX 
 
 abated the rigour of the symptoms of his disorder. Availing myself, 
 then, of the privileges to which I have alluded, I strolled onward in that 
 labyrinth of small dark rooms, or crypts, io speak our own antiquarian lan- 
 guage, which form the extensive back-settlements of that celebrated publishing 
 house. Yet, as I proceeded from one obscure recess to another, filled, some 
 of them with old volumes, some with such as, from the equality of their rank 
 on the shelves, I suspected to be the less saleable modern books of the con- 
 cern, I could not help feeling a holy horror creep upon me, when I thought 
 of the risk of intruding on some ecstatic bard giving vent to his poetical fur}'- ; 
 or, it might be, on the yet more formidable privacy of a band of critics, in 
 the act of worrying the game which they had just run down. In such a sup- 
 posed case, I felt by anticipation the horrors of the Highland seers, whom 
 their gift of deuteroscopy compels to witness things unmeet for mortal eye ; 
 and who, to use the expression of Collins, 
 
 "heartless, oft, like moody madness, stare, 
 
 To see the phantom train their secret work prepare." 
 
 Still, however, the irresistible impulse of an undefined curiosity drove me 
 on through this succession of darksome chambers, 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 representative Vision, of the Author cf Waverley ! 
 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 salutation of, Salve, magne parens / 
 The vision, however, cut me short, by pointing to a seat, intimating at the 
 same time that my presence was not unexpected, and that he had something 
 to say to me. 
 
 I sat down with humble obedience, and endeavoured to note the features 
 cf him with whom I now found myself so unexpectedly in society. But on 
 this point I can give your reverence no satisfaction : Ur, besides the obscurity 
 of the apartment, and the fluttered state of my own nerves, I seemed to my-« 
 self overwhelmed 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. Indeed, his figure was so closely veiled and wimpled, either 
 with a mantle, morning-gown, or some such loose garb, that the verses of 
 Spenser might well have been applied — 
 
 " Yet, certes, by her face and physnomy, 
 Whether she man or woman only were, 
 That could not any creature well descry." 
 
 I must, however, go on as I have begun to apply the masculine gender ; 
 for, notwithstanding very ingenious reasons, and indeed something like po- 
 sitive evidence, have been offered to prove the Author of AVaverley to be two 
 ladies of talent, I must abide by the general opinion, that he is of the rougher 
 sex. There are in his writings too many things 
 
 " Quae maribus sola tribmintur," 
 
 to permit me to entertain any doubt on that subject. I will proceed, in the 
 manner of dialogue, to repeat as nearly as I can what passed betwixt us, only 
 observing, that in the course of the conversation, my timidity imperceptibly 
 gave way under the familiarity of his address ; and that, in the concluding 
 part of our dialogue, I perhaps argued with fully as much confidence as was 
 beseeming. 
 Author of Waverlty. I was willing to see you, Captain Clutterbuck, being 
 
 1 The uninitiated must he informed that a second proof-sheet is so callecL 
 
X INTllOPUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 the person of my family whom I have most regard for, since the death of 
 .Tedediah Cleishbotham ; and I am afraid I may have done you some wrong 
 in as-signing to you The Monastery as a portion of my effects. I have some 
 thoughts of making it up to you, by naming you godfalher to this yet un- 
 born babe — (he indicated the proof-sheet with his finger) — But first touch- 
 ing The Monastery — How says the world — you are abroad and can learn ? 
 
 Captain ClutUrbuck. Hem ! hem !— The inquiry is delicate — I have not 
 heard any complaints from the Publishers. 
 
 Author. That is the principal matter ; but yet an indifferent work is some- 
 times towed on by those which have left harbour before it, with the breeze in 
 their poop. — What ^&j the Critics ? 
 
 Captain. There is a general— feeling — that the "White Lady is no favourite. 
 Author. I think she is a failure myself; but rather in execution than 
 conception. Could I have evoked an esprit jfolkt, at the same time fantastic 
 and interesting, capricious and kind ; a sort of wildfire of the elements, bound 
 by no fixed laws or motives of action ; faithful and fond, yet teasing and un- 
 certain 
 
 Captain. If you will pardon the interruption, sir, I think you are describ- 
 ing 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-drawn for the 
 present taste of the public. 
 
 Captain. They object, too, that the object of your Nixie ought to have 
 been more uniformly noble — Her ducking the priest was no Naiad-like 
 amusement. 
 
 Author. Ah ! they ought to allow for the capriccios of what is, after all, 
 but a better sort of goblin. The bath into which Ariel, the most delicate 
 creation of Shakspeare'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 general amusement; and^ 
 though I never will aim at popularity by what I think unworthy means, I 
 will not, on the other hand, be pertinacious in the defence of my own errors 
 against the voice of the public. 
 
 Captain. You abandon, then, in the present work — (looking, in my turn, 
 towards the proof-sheet) — the mystic, and the magical, and the whole system 
 of signs, wonders, and omens ? There are no dreams, or presages, or obscure 
 allusions to future events ! 
 
 Author. Not a Cock-lane scratch, my son — not one bounce on the drum 
 of Tedworth — not so much as the poor tick of a solitary death-watch in the 
 wainscot. All is clear and above board — a Scots metaphysician might be- 
 lieve every word of it. 
 
 Cajjtain. And the story is, I hope, natural and probable ; commencing 
 strikingly, 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, never pausing, never precipitating its course, visiting, 
 as it were, by natural instinct, whatever worthy subjects of interest are 
 presented hj 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 haven, where ships of all kind strike sail and yard ? 
 
 Author. Hey ! hey ! what the deuce is all this ? Why, 'tis Ercles' vein, 
 and it would require some one much more like Hercules than I to produce 
 a story which should gush, and glide, and never pause, and visit, and widen, 
 and deepen, and all the rest on't. I should be chin-deep in the grave, man, 
 before I had done with my task ; and, in the meanwhile, all the quirks and 
 quiddities which I might have devised for my reader's amusement would lie 
 rotting in my gizzard, like Sancho's suppressed witticisms, when he was 
 
INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. Xl 
 
 under his master's displeasure. — There never was a novel written on this 
 plan while the world stood. 
 
 Captain. Pardon rae — Tom Jones. 
 
 Author. Thie, and perhaps Amelia also. Fielding had high notions of 
 the dignity of an art which he may be considered as having founded. He 
 challenges a comparison between the Novel and the Epic. Smollett, Le Sage, 
 and others, emancipating themselves from the strictness of the rules he has 
 laid down, having written rather a history of the miscellaneous adventures 
 which befall an individual in the course of life, than the plot of a regular and 
 connected epopeia, where every step brings us a point nearer to the final 
 catastrophe. These great masters have been satisx^ed if they amused the 
 reader upon the road ; though the conclusion only arrived because the tale 
 must have an end — ^just as the traveller alights at the inn because it is evening. 
 
 Captain. A very commodious mode of travelling, for the author at least. 
 In short, sir, you are of opinion with Bayes — "What the devil does the plot 
 signify, except to bring in fine things?" 
 
 Author. Grant that I were so, and that I should write with sense and 
 spirit a few scenes, unlaboured and loosely put together, but which had suffi- 
 cient 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 interrupted the discharge of serious 
 duties, to furnish harmless amusement, — might not the author of such a work, 
 however inartificially executed, plead for his errors and negligences the 
 excuse of the slave, who, about to be punished for having spread the false 
 report of a victory, saved himself by exclaiming — "Am 1 to blame, O Athe- 
 nians, who have given you one happy day ? " 
 
 Captain. Will your goodness permit me to mention an anecdote of my 
 excellent grandmother? 
 
 Author. I see little she can have to do with the subject. Captain Clutter- 
 buck. 
 
 Captain. It may come into our dialogue on Bayes's plan. — The sagacious 
 old lady — rest her soul ! — was a good friend to the church, and could never 
 hear a minister 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 protege — it was so soon as she had learned he had preached 
 a regular sermon against slanderers and backbiters. 
 
 Author. And what is that to the purpose ? 
 
 Captain. Only that I have heard engineers say, that one may betray the 
 weak point to the enemy by too much ostentation of fortifying it. 
 
 Author. And, once more I pray, what is that to the purpose? 
 
 Captain. Nay, then, without farther metaphor, I am afraid this new pro- 
 duction, in which your generosity seems willing to give me some concern, 
 will stand much in need of apology, since you think proper 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, Ave 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 as a very ingenious, able, and 
 experienced friend, being counsel for the notorious Jem MacCoul, replied to 
 the opposite side of the bar, when they laid weight on his client's refusing to 
 
XU INTEODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 answer certain queries, which they said any man vrho had a regard for hia 
 reputation would not hesitate 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 uncandidly 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 author is nothing better — can cast no shade. 
 
 Captain. You are not now, perhaps, so impersonal as heretofore. These 
 Letters to the Member for the University of Oxford 
 
 Author. Show the wit, genius, and delicacy of the author, which I heartily 
 wish to see engaged on a subject of more importance ; and show, besides, that 
 the preservation of my character of incognito has engaged early talent in the 
 discussion of a curious question of evidence. But a cause, however ingeni- 
 ously pleaded, is not therefore gained. You may remember the neatly- 
 wrought chain of circumstantial 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 reasoning 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 one 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 undeserving the noise 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 
 reputation, 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, which 
 has received you so kindly, and to the critics, who have treated you so leni- 
 ently, ought to induce you to bestow more pains on your story. 
 
 Author. I do entreat you, my son, as 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 breaking." 
 
 1 am their humble jackal, too busy in providing food for them to have time 
 for considering whether 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 disagree 
 able, if it comes from a dun or from a bore, the correspondent is cursed, the 
 letter ie thrown into the fire, and the expense of postage is heartily regretted; 
 while all the time the bearer of the despatches is, in either case, as little 
 thought on as the snow of last Christmas. The utmost extent of kindness 
 between the author and the public which can really exist is, that the world 
 are disposed to be somewhat indulgent 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 of their taste, who have 
 so liberally applauded his productions. But I deny there is any call for gra- 
 titude, properly so called, either on one side or the other. 
 
 Captain. Respect to yourself, then, ought to teach caution. 
 
 Author. Ay, if caution could augment the chance of my success. But, to 
 
INTROPUCTOBY EPISTLE. Xlll 
 
 confess to you the truth, the works and passages in which I have succeeded 
 have uniformly been written with the greatest rapidity ; and when I have 
 seen some of these placed in opposition with others, and commended 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 eflfect 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 keep not the stage, another instantly 
 takes his ground. If a writer lie by for ten yea*"s ere he produces a second 
 work, he is superseded by others : or, if the age is so poor of genius that this 
 does not happen, his own reputation becomes his greatest obstacle. The 
 public will expect the new work to be ten times better than its predecessor ; 
 the author will expect it should be ten times more popular, and 'tis a hundred 
 to ten that both are disappointed. 
 
 Captain. This may justify a certain degree 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 precautions. I have repeatedly laid 
 down my future work to scale, divided it into volumes and chapters, and 
 endeavoured to construct a story which I meant should evolve itself gradually 
 and strikingly, maintain suspense, and stimulate curiosity ; and which, finally, 
 should terminate in a striking catastrophe. But I think there is a demon 
 who seats himself on the feather of my pen when I begin to write, and leads 
 it astray from the purpose. Characters expand under my hand ; incidents 
 are multiplied ; the story lingers, while the materials increase ; my regular 
 mansion turns out a Gothic anomaly, and the work is closed long before I 
 have attained the point I proposed. 
 
 Captain. Resolution and determined forbearance might remedy that evil. 
 
 Author. Alas ! my dear sir, you do not know the force of paternal affec- 
 tion. When I light on such a character as Bailie Jarvie, or Dalgetty, my 
 imagination brightens, and my conception becomes clearer at every step which 
 I take 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 the temptation, as you advise me, my thoughts 
 become prosy, flat, and dull ; I write painfully to myself, and under a con- 
 sciousness 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 author I was in my better 
 mood, 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 unrestrained 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 reason for not writing a play, that I 
 cannot form a plot. But the truth is, that the idea adopted by too favour- 
 able judges, of my having some aptitude for that department of poetry, has 
 been much founded on those scraps of old plays, which, being taken from a 
 source inaccessible to collectors, they have hastily considered the offspring «f 
 my mother-wit. Now, the manner in which I became possessed of these 
 fragments is so extraordinary, that I cannot help telling it to you. 
 
 You must know that, some twenty years since, I went down to visit an 
 old friend iu WoroestersMre, who had served with me in the Dragoons. 
 
XIV INTBODUCTORT EPISTLE. 
 
 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, and, as usual, was condemned — the mansion 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 chequered 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 
 
 Captain. The White Lady of Avenel, I suppose ? — You have told the very 
 story before. 
 
 Author. No — I beheld a female form, with mob-cap, bib, and apron, 
 sleeves tucked up to the elbow, a dredging-box in the one hand, and in the 
 other a sauce-ladle. I concluded, of course, that it was my friend's cook- 
 maid walking in her sleep ; and as I knew he had a value for Sally, who 
 could toss a pancake with any girl in the country, 1 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 circum- 
 stances, that I should not have much minded them, bad 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-coachman," thought I ; " this 
 is a proper spot of work !" — " Of that unhappy Elizabeth or Betty Barnes, 
 long cook-maid to Mr Warburton, the painful collector, but ah 1 the too 
 careless custodier, of the largest collection of ancient plays ever known — of 
 most of wliich the titles only are left to gladden the Prolegomena of the 
 Variorum Shakspeare. Yes, stranger, it was these ill-fated hands that con- 
 signed 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, Massinger, 
 Jonson, Webster — what shall I say ? — even of Shakspeare himself!'* 
 
 Like every dramatic antiquary, my ardent curiosity after some play named 
 in the Book of the Master of Revels, had often been checked by finding the 
 object of my research numbered amongst the holocaust of victims which this 
 unhappy woman had sacrificed to the God of Good 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 
 opportunity I yet have to imlemnify the woVld for the errors of my ignorance. 
 In yonder coal-hole, not used for many a year, I'epose the few greasy and 
 blackened fragments of the elder Drama which were not totally des-troyed. 
 Do thou then" — Why, what do you stare iit. Captain? By my soul it is 
 true ; as my friend Major Longbow says, " What should I tell you a lie for ?" 
 
 Captain. Lie, sir I Nay, Heaven forbid I should apply the word to a 
 person so veracious. You are only inclined to chase your tail a little this 
 morning, that's all. Had you not better reserve this legend to form an in- 
 troduction to " Three Recovered Dramas," or so ? 
 
 Author. You are quite right — habit's a strange thing, my son. I had for- 
 got whom I was speaking to. Yes, -Plays for the closet, not for the stage — — 
 
 Captain. Right, and so you are sure to be acted ; for the managers, while 
 thousands of volunteers are desirous of serving them, are wonderfully partial 
 to pressed men. 
 
INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. XV 
 
 Author. I am a living witness, having been, like a second Laberius, made 
 a dramatist whether I would or not. I believe my muse would be Terri/fied 
 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 therefore should you change your style, I will advise a volume of dramas 
 like Lord Byron's. 
 
 Author. No, his lordship is a cut above me — I won't run my horse against 
 his, if I can help myself. JBut 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 murdering, 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 animation in par- 
 ticular passages, and such a vein of poetry through the whole, as I dearly 
 wish I could infuse into my Culinary Remains, should I ever be tempted to 
 publish them. With a popular impress, people would read and admire the 
 beauties 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 
 fastidious since Catalani visited the Abbey. My " Poortith Cauld " has been 
 received both poorly and coldly, and " The Banks of Bonnie -Doon" have 
 been positively coughed down — Tempora mutantur. 
 
 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 proceed, then, in your own system ? Are 
 you aware that an unworthy motive may be assigned for this rapid succes- 
 sion of publication ? You will be supposed to work merely for the lucre of 
 gain. 
 
 Author. Supposing that I did permit the great advantages which must be 
 derived from success in literature to join with other motives in inducing me 
 to come more frequently before the public, — that emolument is the voluntary 
 tax which the public pays for a certain species of literary amusement — it is 
 extorted from no one, and paid, I presume, by those only who can afford it, 
 and who 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 indulgence only ? or can I not say to hundreds, from 
 honest Duncan the paper-manufacturer, to the most snivelling of the printer's 
 devils, " Didst thou not share ? Hadst thou not fifteen pence ?" I profess 
 I think our Modern Athens much obliged to me for having established 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 
 artificers connected Avith literature. 
 
 Captain. This would be called the language of a calico-manufacturer. 
 
 AutJwr. Cant again, my dear son — there is lime in this sack, too — nothing 
 but sophistication in this world ! I do say it, in spite of Adam Smith and 
 his followers, that a successful author is a productive labourer, and that his 
 works constitute as effectual a part of the public wealth, as that which is 
 
XVIU INTRODUCTORY EPISTLE. 
 
 " Where as she look'd about, she did behold 
 How over that same door was likewise writ, 
 Bt Bold— Be, Bold, and everywhere Be Bold. 
 Whereat she mused, and could not constnie it ; 
 At 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 princi- 
 ples. 
 
 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 oui dialogue terminated ; for a little sooty-faced Apollyon from the 
 Canongate came to demand the proof-sheet 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 penetrate so far into 
 the 2yenetraUa of their temple. 
 
 I leave it to you to form your own opinion concerning the import of this 
 dialogue, 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. 
 
 CUTHBEET CLUTTERBnOK, 
 
 EamTiLQUHAiK, Ut AprU 1822. 
 
 • 
 
THE 
 
 FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Now Scot and English are agreed, 
 
 And Saunders hastes to cross the Tweed, 
 
 Where, such the splendours that attend him, 
 ^ Hia very mother scarce had kend him. 
 |[[P His metamoi-phosis 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 separated the 
 south and the north divisions of the Island of Britam, had been happily 
 terminated by the succession of the pacific James I. to the English 
 Crown. But although the imited 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 generation, ere the inveterate national 
 prejudices which had so long existed betwixt the sister kingdoms were 
 removed, and the subjects of eitlier side of the Tweed brought to regard 
 those upon the opposite bank as friends and as brethren. 
 
 These prejudices were, of course, most inveterate during the reign 
 of King James. The English subjects accused him of partiality to 
 those of his ancient kingdom ; while the Scots, with equal injustice, 
 charged him with having forgotten the land of his nativity, and with 
 neglecting those early friends to whose allegiance he had been so mucli 
 indebted. 
 
 The temper of the King, peaceable even to timidity, inclined him 
 perpetually to interfere as mediator between the contending factions, 
 whose brawls disturbed the court. But, notwithstanding all his pre- 
 cautions, historians have recorded niariy instances, where the mutual 
 hatred of two nations, who, after being enemies for a thousand years, 
 had been so very recently united, broke forth with a fury which menaced 
 a general convulsion ; and spreading from the highest to the lowest 
 classes, as it occasioned debates in council and parliament, factions in 
 the court, and duels among the gentry, was no less productive of riots 
 and brawls amongst the lower orders. 
 
2 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 While these heart-burnings were at the highest, there flomislied in the 
 city of London an ingenious, but whimsical and self-opinioned mechanic, 
 much devoted to abstract studies, David Ramsay by name, who, whether 
 recommended by his great skill in his profession, as the courtiers alleged, 
 or, as was murmured among his neighbours, by his birthplace, in the 
 good town of Dalkeith, near Edinburgh, held in James's household the 
 post of maker of watches and horologes to his majesty. He scorned 
 not, however, 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 different from those we now see in the same 
 locality. The goods were exposed to sale in cases, only defended from 
 the weather by a covering of canvass, and the whole resembled the 
 stalls and booths noAv erected for the temporary accommodation of 
 dealers at a country fair, rather than the established emporium of a 
 respectable citizen. But most of the shopkeepers of note, and David 
 Kamsay amongst others, had their booth connected with a small apart- 
 ment 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 Ramsay 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. When thus engaged, he left the outer posts of his 
 commercial establishment 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 r accompanied with the appropriate recommendations 
 of the articles in which they dealt. This direct and personal applica- 
 tion for custom to those who chanced to pass by, is now, we believe, 
 limited to Monmouth Street (if it still exists even in that repository 
 of ancient garments), under the guardianship of tlie scattered remnant 
 of Israel. But at the time we are speaking of, it was practised alike 
 by 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 excellence of the goods, 
 which they ofiered to sale upon such easy terms, that it might fairly 
 appear that the venders had rather a view to the general service of ths 
 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 appearance 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 digression.] This direct and personal 
 mode of invitation to customers became, however, a dangerous tempta^ 
 tion to the young wags who were employed in the task of solicitation 
 during the absence of the principal person interested in the traffic ; 
 and, confiding in their numbers and civic union^ the 'prentices of 
 London were often seduced into taking liberties with the passengers. 
 
THE roRTujsrts or nigel. 3 
 
 and exercising their wit at the expense of those whom they had no 
 hopes of converting into customers by their eloquence. If this Avere 
 resented by any act of violence, the imiiates of each shop were ready 
 to pour forth m 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 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 occasions, bare steel was 
 frequently opposed to the clubs of the citizens, and death sometimes 
 ensued 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 nimibers, 
 as the Capulets and Montagues are separated upon the stage. 
 
 At the period when such was the universal custom of the most respect- 
 able, as well as the most inconsiderable, shopkeepers in London, David 
 Ramsay, on the evening to which we solicit the attention of the reader, 
 retiring to more abstruse and private labours, left the administration 
 of his outer shop, or booth, to the aforesaid sharp-witted, active, able- 
 bodied, and well- voiced apprentices, namely, Jenkin Vincent and Frank 
 Tunstall. 
 
 Vincent had been educated at the excellent foundation of Christ' s- 
 Chui'ch Hospital, and was bred, therefore, as well as born, a Londoner, 
 with all the acuteness, 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 foot-ball, and other gymnastic exercises ; scarce 
 rivalled in the broadsword play, though hitherto 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 aftairs, and in his own adventures of fun and mischief ; and so 
 managed matters, that the credit he acquired by the former bore him 
 out, or at least served for his apology, mien 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, endeavom-ed to reduce 
 to regular order when he discovered them, and others which he winked 
 at — supposing them to answer the purpose of the escapement of a watch, 
 which disposes of a certain quantity of the extra power of that mecha- 
 nical impulse which puts the whole in motion. 
 
 The physiognomy of Jin Vin — by which abbreviation he was fami- 
 liarly known through the ward — corresponded with the sketch we have 
 given of his character. His head, upon which liis 'prentice's flat cap 
 was generally flung in a careless and oblique fashion, was closely 
 covered with thick hair of raven black, which curled naturally and 
 closely, and would have grown to great length, but for the modest cus- 
 tom enjoined by his state of life, and strictlv enforced by his mastxjr, 
 which compelled him to keep it short-cropped, — not unreluctantly, as 
 he looked with envy on the flowing ringlets, in which the coiutiers and 
 
4 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 aristocratic students of the neighbouring Temple began to indulge 
 themselves, as marks of superiority and of gentility. Vincent's eyes 
 were deep set in Ms head, of a strong vivid black, full of fire, roguery, 
 and intelligence, and conveying 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 commonplaces. 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 in- 
 telligence and civility, when he thought civility necessary, made him a 
 universal favourite with his master's customers. His features were far 
 from regular, for his nose was flattish, Ms mouth tending to the larger 
 size, and his complexion inclining to be more dark than was then 
 thought consistent with masculine beauty. But, in despite of his hav- 
 ing always breathed the air of a crowded city, his complexion had the 
 ruddy and manly expression 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 lips, 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, Memory's Monitor, 
 watchmaker, and constructor of horologes, to his most Sacred Majesty 
 James I. 
 
 Jenkin's companion was the younger apprentice, 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 Tunstall was of that 
 ancient and proud descent who claimed the style of the "unstamed ;" 
 because, amid the various chances of the long and bloody wars of the 
 Roses, they had, with undeviating faith, followed the House of Lan- 
 caster, to which they had originally attached themselves. The mean- 
 est sprig of such a tree attached importance to the root from which it 
 derived itself ; and Tunstall was supposed to nourish in secret a pro- 
 portion of that family pride, which had extorted tears from his widowed 
 and almost indigent mother, when she saw herself obliged to consign 
 him to a line of life inferior, as her prejudices suggested, to the course 
 held by his progenitors. Yet, with all this aristocratic prejudice, his 
 master found the well-born youth more docile, regular, and strictly at- 
 tentive to Ms duty, than his far more active and alert comrade. Tun- 
 stall also gratified his master by the particular attention which he 
 seemed disposed to bestow on the abstract principles of science con- 
 nected 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 companion beyond the distance-post, in everything 
 like the practical adaptation of thorough practice, in the dexterity of 
 hand necessaiy to execute the mechanical branches of the art, and 
 double-distanced him in all respecting the commercial affairs 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 acquainted 
 with the principles on which it ought to be done ; and he sometimes 
 objected to the latter, that he knew critical excellence too "well ever to 
 be satisfied with practical mediocrity. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 5 
 
 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 tlu'ough the duties of the shop. He was tall and hand- 
 some, with fan- hair, and well-formed limbs, good featm-es, well opened 
 light blue eyes, a straight Grecian nose, and a countenance which ex- 
 pressed both good-hmnour and intelligence, but qualilied by a gravity 
 unsuitable to his years, and which ahnost amounted to dejection. He 
 lived on the best terms with his companion, and readily stood by him 
 whenever he was engaged in any of the frequent skirmishes, which, as 
 we have already observed, often disturbed the city of London about 
 this period. But though Tunstall was allowed to understand quarter- 
 staff (the weapon of the North country) in a superior degree, and 
 though he was natm-ally both strong and active, his interference in 
 such alfrays seemed always matter of necessity ; and, as he never volun- 
 tarily 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 Jm 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 excluded from the society of his con- 
 temporaries of the same condition, who called him, in scorn, the Cava- 
 liero 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 was formerly accustomed, while the 
 inhabitant of liis native mansion, lost gradually the freshness of his 
 complexion, and, mthout showing any symptoms of disease, grew more 
 thin and pale as he grew older, and at leng-th exhibited the appearance 
 •af indifferent health, without anything of the habits and complaints of 
 an invalid, excepting a disposition to avoid society, and to spend his 
 leisure time in private study, rather than mingle in tlie sports of his 
 companions, or even resort to the theatres, then the general rendezvous 
 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 mornmg till night, as their 
 peculiarities 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-natm-ed, though an absent and whimsical man, was 
 scarce less so to them ; and, Avhen a little warmed mth wine at an 
 occasional junketing, he used to boast, in his northern dialect, of his 
 "twa bonny lads, and the looks that the com't ladies threw at them, 
 whop visiting his ishop 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 
 gray eye, that there might be more faces m Fleet-Street worth looking 
 at than those of Frank and Jenkin. His old neighbour. Widow Sim- 
 mons, the sempstress, who had served, in her day, the very tip-top 
 levellers of the Temple with rufis, culfs, and bands, distingiiished more 
 deeply the sort of attention paid by the females of quality, who so 
 
6 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 regularly visited David Ramsay's shop, to its inmates. "The boy 
 Frank," she admitted, "used to attract the attention 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 gibes and his jeers, and so 
 willing, and so ready, and so serviceable, and so mannerly all the while, 
 with a step that sprung Uke a buck's in Epping Forest, and his eye that 
 twinkled as black as a gipsy's, that no woman who knew the world 
 would make a comparison betwixt the lads. As for poor neighbour 
 Pvamsay himself, the man," she said, " was a civil neighbour, 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, neighbour Ram- 
 say was nothing of a bad man, but he was so constantly grimed with 
 smoke, gilded with brass filings, and smeared with lamp-black and oil, 
 that Pame Simmons judged it would require his whole shopful of 
 watches to induce any feasible woman to touch the said neighbour 
 Ramsay with anything save a pan- of tongs." 
 
 A still higher authority. Dame Ursula, wife to Benjamin Shiddlechop, 
 the barber, was of exactly the same opinion. 
 
 Such w-ere, in natural qualities and public estimation, the two youths, 
 who, in a fine April day, having first rendered their dutiful service and 
 attendance on the table of their master and his daughter, at their 
 dinner at one o'clock, — Such, ye lads of London, was tlie severe 
 discipline undergone by your predecessors ! — and having regaled them- 
 selves upon the fragments, in company with two female domestics, 
 one a cook and maid of all work, the other called Mistress Margaret's 
 maid, now relieved their master in the duty of the outward shop ; and, 
 agi-eeably to the established custom, were soliciting, by their entreaties 
 and recommendations of their master's manufactm-e, the attention and 
 encouragement of the passengers. 
 
 In this species of service it may be easily supposed that Jenkin 
 Vincent left his more reserved and bashfid 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 establish- 
 ed words of form— "What d'ye lack ?— What d'ye lack ?— Clocks- 
 watches — barnacles ? — What d'ye lack ? — Watches— clocks — barnacles 1 
 —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 recom- 
 mendatory 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, m a tone at once bold and soothing, Avhich 
 often was so applied as both to gratify the persons addressed, and to 
 excite a smile from other hearers. — "God bless your reverence," to a 
 beneficed clergyman; "the Greek and Hebrew have harmed your 
 reverence's eyes — Buy a pair of David Ramsay's barnacles. The King 
 — God bless his Sacred Majesty ! — never reads Hebrev/ or Greek with- 
 out them." 
 
 "Are you well advised of that ?" said a fat paa'son from the Vale of 
 Evesham. "Nay, if the Head of the Church wears them,— God bless 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 7 
 
 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. Choose me a 
 pair of his most Sacred Majesty's own wearing, my good youth." 
 
 "Tliis is a pair, and please your reverence, said Jenkins, producing 
 a pair of spectacles which he touched with an air of great deference 
 and respect, "which his most blessed Mai esty 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 yom* reverence sees, of the 
 pui-est jet, was, as his Sacred Majesty Avas pleased to say, fitter for a 
 bishop, than for a secidar prince." 
 
 "His Sacred Majesty the King," said the worthy divine, "was ever 
 a very Daniel in his judgment. Give me the barnacles, my good youth, 
 and Avho can say what nose they may bestride in two years hence i — 
 om- 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 impoi-tant step than that which had paused to enter it. 
 
 "For shame," said Tunstall to his companion; "these glasses T\ill 
 never suit one of liis years." 
 
 "You are a fool, Frank," said Yincent, in reply; "had the good 
 doctor wished glasses to read with, he woidd have tried them before 
 buying. He does not want to look tlnrough them himself, and tiiese 
 will serve the purpose of bemg looked at by other folks, as well as the 
 best magnifiers in the shop. — What d'ye lack T he cried, resmning 
 his sohcitations. " Mirrors for yom- toilette, my pretty madam ; your 
 head-gear is something a^^Ty — pity, since it is so well fancied." The 
 woman stopped and bought a mnror. — "What d'ye lack? — a watch, 
 Master Sergeant — a watch that will go as long as a lawsuit, as steady 
 and true as your own eloquence ?" 
 
 "Hold youj' peace, sir," answered the Knight of the Coif, who was 
 distm'bed by Vin's address whilst in deep consultation with an eminent 
 attorney ; "hold your peace ! You are the loudest-tongued varlet be- 
 twixt the Devil's Tavern and Guildhall." 
 
 "A watch," reiterated the midamited Jenkin, "that shall not lose 
 thirteen minutes in a thirteen years' lawsuit. — 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 vrill en- 
 dure 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 yom's 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 cm-tain shall smoke for it." 
 
 "I^ow, 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 radishes, he will only dine a day the sooner ^vith 
 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 his own pot of beer ; 
 I will drink his tester for him, to save liini from such shame ; and when 
 
8 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 his third night comes round, he shall have penniworths for his coin I 
 promise you. — But here comes another-guess customer. Look at that 
 strange fellow — see how he gapes at every shop, as if he v/ould swallow 
 the wares. — Oh ! Saint Dunstan has caught his eye ; pray God he 
 swallow not the images. See how he stands astonished, as old Adam 
 and Eve ply theu: 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 show he's of gentle blood,- God wot — liis gTey eyes, his yellow 
 hair, Ms sword with a ton of iron in the handle— his gray thread-bare 
 clock — his step like a Frenchman — his look like a Spaniard — a book 
 at his girdle, and a broad dudgeon-dagger on the other side, to show 
 him half-pedant, half-bully. How call you that pageant, Frank V 
 
 " A raw Scotsman," said Tunstall ; " just come up, I suppose, to 
 help the rest of his countrymen to gnaw old England's bones ; a palm- 
 erworm, 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 !" said Tunstall ; " remember our master." 
 
 " Pshaw !" answered his mercurial companion ; " he knows on which 
 side his bread is buttered, and I warrant you has not Hved so long 
 among Englishmen, and by Englishmen, to quarrel with us for bearing 
 an English mind. But see, our Scot has done gazing at Saint Dun- 
 stan' s^ and comes our way. By this light^ a proper lad and a sturdy^ 
 in spite of freckles and sun-bmiiing. — 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 yom- threat," said Vincent, and instantly addressed the 
 stranger. " Buy a watch, most noble northern Thane — buy a watch, to 
 count the hours of plenty since the blessed moment you left Berwick 
 behind you. — Buy barnacles, to see the Enghsh gold lies ready for yoiu- 
 gripe. — Buy what you will, you shall have credit for tlu-ee (iays ; for, 
 were your pockets as bare as Father Fergiis's, you are a Scot in Lon- 
 don, and you will be stocked in that time." The stranger looked 
 sternly at the waggish apprentice, and seemed to grasp his cudgel in 
 rather a menacing fashion. " Buy physic," said the undaunted Vin- 
 cent, " if you will buy neither time nor light — physic for a proud 
 stomach, sir ; — there is a 'pothecary's shop on the other side of the way." 
 
 Here the probationary disciple of Galen, who stood at his master's 
 door in his flat cap and canvass sleeves, with a large wooden pestle in 
 his hand, took up the ball which was flung to him by Jenkins, Avith, 
 " What d'ye lack, sir ? — Buy a choice Caledonian salve, Flos .sid2)hvr. 
 cum butyro quant. suffP 
 
 " 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 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 9 
 
 indignation, 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 see his own blood," said Tunstall, 
 whom his north of England extraction had made familiar with all 
 manner of proverbs against those who lay yet farther north than liim- 
 self. 
 
 " Faith, I know not," said Jenkin ; " he looks dangerous that fel- 
 low — he will hit some one over the noddle before he goes far. Hark ! 
 — hark ! — they are rising." 
 
 Accordingly, the well-known cry of, " 'Prentices — 'prentices — Clubs 
 —clubs !" now rang along Fleet Street ; and Jenkin snatching up his 
 weapon, 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 affray, echoing the cry as he ran, and elbowing, or shoving 
 aside, whoever stood in his way. His comrade, first calling to his mas- 
 ter to give an eye to the shop, followed Jenliin's example, and ran after 
 hhn as fast as he could, but with more attention to the safety and con- 
 venience of others ; while old David Kamsay,^ with hands and eyes 
 uplifted, a green apron before him, and a glass which he had been 
 
 Eolishing thi-ust into his bosom, came forth to look after the safety of 
 is 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. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 This, sir, is one among the Seignory, 
 
 Has wealth at will, and will to use his wealth. 
 
 And wit to increase 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 itpon them. 
 
 The Old Couple. 
 
 The ancient gentleman bustled about his shop, in pettish displeasm-e 
 at being summoned hither so hastily, to the interruption of his more 
 abstract studies ; and, miwiUmg to renounce the train of calculation 
 which he had put in progi'ess, he mingled whimsically with the frag- 
 ments of the arithmetical operation his oratoiy to the passengers, and 
 aiLgiy reflections on his idle apprentices. " What d'ye lack, sir I 
 jMadam, what d'ye lack — clocks for hall or table — niglit- watches — day- 
 watches I — Locking wheel being 48 — the poiver of retort 8 — the striking 
 pins are 48 — What d'ye lack, honom'ed sir 1—The quotient — the multi- 
 plicand — That the knaves should have gone out at this blessed minute ! 
 — the acceleration bei^ig at the rate of 5 minutes^ 55 seconds, 53 thirds j 
 b^ fourths— 1 will switch them both when tliey come back — I will, by 
 the bones of the immortal Napier !" 
 
 * See Note A. David Ramsay. 
 
10 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 Here the vexed philosopher Avas interrupted by the entrance of a 
 ^rave citizen of a most respectable appearance, who, saluting him 
 familiarly by the name " 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, rather richer than usual. 
 His paned hose were of black velvet, lined with piu-ple silk, which 
 garniture appeared at the slashes. His doublet was of pm'ple cloth, 
 and his short cloak of black velvet to correspond with his hose ; and 
 both were adorned with a great number of small silver buttons richly 
 wrought in filigree. A triple chain of gold hung romid his neck ; and, 
 in place of a sv/ord or dagger, he wore at his belt an ordinary knife for 
 the purpose of the table, with a small silver case, which appeared to 
 contain writing materials. He might have seemed some secretary or 
 clerk engaged ni 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-humom- ; and tl^ air of respectability which 
 his dress announced was well supported by his clear eye, ruddy cheek, 
 and gray 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 
 OAvn 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, 
 JMaster George ? Why, evervthing ails me ! I profess to you that a 
 man may as well live in Fairyland as in the Ward of Farringdon- 
 Vvithout. My apprentices are turned into mere goblins — they appear 
 and disappear like spunkies, and have no more regularity in them than 
 a watch Avithout a scapement. 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 TunstaU 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, altogether " 
 
 " AVell," interrupted Master George, " but Avhat is all this to the 
 present case?" 
 
 " Why," replied Ramsay, " here has been a cry of thieves or mur- 
 der (I hope that will prove the least of it amongst these English pock- 
 pudding 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 
 pleasure ; you, of all the Avorld, have least reason to complain, if a 
 little of it be lost noAv and then. — But here come your boys, and bring- 
 ing 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- 
 
Tn#FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 11 
 
 maker. " I am blithe, though, tliat it's neither of the twa loons 
 themselves. — What are ye bringing a corpse here for, ye fause villains <" 
 he added, addressing the two apprentices, who, at the head of a con- 
 siderable mob of their o"\vn class, some of whom bore evident marks of 
 a recent fray, were carrying the body betwixt them. 
 
 " He is not dead yet, su'," answered Tunstall. 
 
 " Carry him into the apothecary's, then/' replied his master. " D'ye 
 think I can set a man's life in motion agam, as if he were a clock or a 
 time-piece?" 
 
 " For godsake, old friend," said his acquaintance, " let us have him 
 here at the nearest — he seems only in a swoon," 
 
 " A swoon?" said Ramsay ; " and what business had he to swoon in 
 the streets 1 Only, if it will oblige my friend Master George, I would 
 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 identical Scotsman who had 
 passed a short time before amidst the jeers of the apprentices* Avas 
 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 
 gentleman, as sometimes happens to those of the learned professions, 
 had rather more lore than knowledge, and began to talk of the sinciput 
 and occiput, and cerebrum and cerebellum, until he exhausted David 
 Ramsay s brief stock of patience. 
 
 " Bell-um ! bell-ell-um !" he repeated, with great indignation ; 
 " What signify all the bells in London, if you do not put a jDlaster on 
 the chield's crown?" 
 
 Master George, with better-directed zeal, asked the apothecary 
 whether bleeding might not be useful ; when, after humming and haw- 
 ing for a moment, and being unable, upon the spur of the occasion, to 
 suggest anjrthing else, the man of pharmacy observed, that it would, at 
 all events, relieve the brain or cerebrum, in case there was a tendency 
 to the depositation of any extravasated blood, to operate as a pressure 
 upon that delicate organ. Fortunately he was adequate to performing 
 this operation ; and, being powerfully aided by Jenkin Vincent (who 
 was learned in all cases of broken heads) with plenty of cold water, and 
 a little vinegar, applied according to the scientific method practised by 
 the bottle-holders in a modern ring, the man began to raise himself on 
 his chair, draw his cloak tightly around him, and looked about like one 
 who struggles to recover sense and recollection. 
 
 "He had better lie down on the bed in the little back closet," said 
 Mr Ramsay's visitor, who seemed perfectly familiar Avith the accom- 
 modations which the house aftbrded. 
 
 "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 comiter." 
 
 "So can I," said Tunstall, "and the poor fellow can have the bed 
 all night." 
 
 _ "Sleep," said the apothecary, "is in the opinion of Galen a restora- 
 tive and febrifuge, and is most naturally taken in a truckle-bed." 
 
 "Where a better cannot be come by," said Master George; "but 
 these are two honest lads, to give up their beds so willingly. Come, 
 
12 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 off with his cloak, and let us bear Mm to his couch— I will send for 
 Dr Irving the king's chmirgeon — he does not live far off, and that 
 shall be my share of the Samaritan's duty, neighbour Ramsay." 
 
 "Well, sir," said the apothecary, "it is at yoiu* pleasiu-e to send for 
 other advice, and I shall not object to consult with Dr Irving or any 
 other medical person of skill, neither to continue to furnish such drugs 
 as may be needful from my pharmacopeia. However, whatever Dr 
 Ir\dng, who, I think, hath had his degrees in Edinburgh, 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 English, far more intelligible than his Latin, that 
 he would look to him as his paymaster for medicines, care, and atten- 
 dance, fm-nished, or to be furnished, to this party imknown. 
 
 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 to make reimbursement, had no sooner seen 
 his case espoused by a substantial citizen, than he showed some reluc- 
 tance to quit possession of it, and it needed a short and stern hint 
 from Master George, which, with all his good-humom-, he was capal3le 
 of expressing when occasion required, to send to his own dwelling 
 this Esculapius of Temple- bar. 
 
 When they were rid of Mr Raredrench, the charitable efforts or 
 Jenkin and Francis to divest the patient of his long gray clock 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 sat before them in his under garments, the 
 looped and repaired 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 appomtment, he made an 
 effort to rise and leave the shop, which was easily prevented by Jenkin 
 Vincent and his comrade, 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 
 langiiage — "What sort of usage ca' ye this, gentlemen, to a stranger, 
 a sojourner in your town ? Ye hae broken my head — ye hae riven 
 my cloak, and now ye are for resti-aining my personal liberty ! They 
 were wiser than me," he said, after a moment's pause, "that coun- 
 selled me to wear my warst claithing in the streets of London ; and, 
 if I could have got ony things warse than these mean garments" — 
 ("which would have been very difficidt," said Jin Vin, in a whisper 
 to his companion), — " they would have been e'en ower ^de for the 
 giips o' men sae little acquented with the laws of honest civility." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 13 
 
 "To say the truth," said Jeukin, unable to forl^ear any longer, 
 although the discipline of the times prescribed to those m his situation 
 a degree of respectful distance and humility in the presence of parents, 
 masters, or seniors, of which the present age has no idea — "to say the 
 truth, the good gentleman's clothes look as if they would not brook 
 nuich handSng." 
 
 "Hold your peace, yoimg man," said Master George, with a tone 
 of authority; "never mock the stranger or the poor— the black ox 
 has not trod on youi- foot yet — you know not what lands you may 
 travel in, or what clothes you may wear, before you die." 
 
 Vincent held do^vn 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 certain ; though, metliinks, 
 that, being such, I have been somewhat familiarly treated in this town 
 of yours ; — but, as for my being poor, I think I need 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 
 arithmetic, from the simple unit to millions, billions, and trillions, 
 neither heard nor answered the observation of his friend, who, seeing 
 his abstraction, turned again to the Scot. 
 
 "I fancy now. Jockey, if a stranger were to ofier you a noble, you 
 would chuck it back at his head ?" 
 
 " JSTot 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 honom- 
 able house, and may be said to be in a sort indifferently weel provided 
 for." 
 
 "Ay!" said the interrogator, "and what house may claim the 
 honour of your descent r 
 
 "An ancient coat belongs to it, as the play says," whispered Vincent 
 to his companion. 
 
 " Come, Jockey, out with it," continued Master George, observing 
 that the Scot, as usual with his countrymen, when asked a blunt, 
 straightforward question, took a little time before answering it. 
 
 'Vf am no more Jockey, sir, than you are John," said the stranger, 
 as if offended at being addressed by a name, which at that time was 
 used, as SaT\Tiey 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 kend 
 at the West-Port of Edinbiu-gh." 
 
 "What is that you call the West-Port?" proceeded the interrogator. 
 
 "Why, an it like your honour," said Richie, who now, having re- 
 covered 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 White- 
 hall form the entrance of the King's palace here, only that the West- 
 Port is of stonem work, and mair decorated with architecture and the 
 policy of bigging." 
 
 "Nouns, man, the Whitehall gateways were planned by the great 
 
14 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 Holbein," answered Mr 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 shipping?" 
 
 ''The Thames!" exclaimed Richie, in a tone of ineffable contempt 
 — "God bless your honour's judgment, we have at Edinburgh the 
 Water-of-Leith and the Nor-loch !" 
 
 "And the Pow-Burn, and the Quarry-holes, and the Gusedub, 
 fause loon !" answered Master George, speaking Scotch with a strong 
 and natural emphasis ; "it is such landloupers as you that, with your 
 falset and fair fashions, bring reproach on our whole country." 
 
 "God forgie me, sir," said Richie, much surprised at finding the 
 supposed Southron converted 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 credit in a strange land, where all men cry 
 her down." 
 
 "Do you call it for your country's credit to show 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 have found 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 Moniplies, 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 
 muckle of an Earl of Warwick in these southern parts, — Guy, I 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, tlian the haill Baronage of England." 
 
 "Go to! you are a shrewd knave," said Master George; "charm 
 your tongue, and take care of saucy answers. Yom: father was an 
 honest burgher, and the deacon of his craft : I am sorry to see his sou 
 in so poor a coat." 
 
 "Indifferent, sir," said Richie Moniplies, looking down on his gar- 
 ments — "very indiff'erent : 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 Grassmarket. There is as much grass grows where 
 my father's stall stood as might haye 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 families 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," answered Moniplies. 
 "I was coming along the street here, and ilk ane was at me with their 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 15 
 
 jests and roguery. So I thought to mysell, ye are OTver mony for me 
 to mell with ; but let me catch ye in Barford's Park, or at the fit of 
 the Vennel, I could gar some of ye sing another sang. Sae ae auld 
 hirpHng deevil of a potter behoved just to step in mjr 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 devil couped ower 
 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, 
 murdered I should hae been, without remeid. And as it was, just 
 v.-hen they got hand of my arm to have me out of the fray, I got the 
 lick tliat donnerit me from a left-handed lighterman." 
 
 JMaster 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 kemiing of a Scot." 
 
 "^Vell, no matter what they said, you Avere an honest fellow to help 
 the weaker side — And you, sirrali," continued Master George, address- 
 ing his countryman, "will call at my house to-morrow morning, agree- 
 able to tliis direction." 
 
 " I will wait upon your honour," said the Scot, bowing very low ; 
 " that is, if my honourable master will permit me." 
 
 " Thy master j" said George, — " Hast thou any other master save 
 Want, whose livery 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 
 beldam, whom we thought to show our heels to by coming off 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 T said George _; and observing 
 that Richie hesitated, he added, " Nay, do not tell me if it is a secret." 
 
 " A secret that there is little use in keeping," said Richie ; " only 
 ye ken that our northern stomachs are ower proud to call in vritnesses 
 to om- distress. No that my master is in mair than present pinch sir," 
 he added, lookmg towards the two English apprentices, " having a 
 large sum in the Royal Treasury — that is," he continued, in a 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 yomig Lord Glenvarloch." 
 
 Master George testified surprise at the name. — " You one of the 
 young Lord Glenvarloch's followers, and in such a condition !" 
 
 " troth, and I am all the followers he has, for the present that is ; 
 and bhthe 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 T 
 
 c 
 
16 THli rOKTUNES OF KIGEL. 
 
 " Bravely, sir," said Richie ; " it was but a 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 V 
 
 " We pit up, an it like your honour," replied the Scot, "in a sraa' 
 house at the fit of ane of the wynds that gang down to the water-side, 
 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 keep- 
 ing ourselves retired for the present, though m 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 JMoni- 
 plies's hand, he bade him hasten home, and get into no more affrays. 
 
 " I will take care of that now, sir," said Richie, with a look of im- 
 portance, " having a charge about me. And so wussing ye a' weel, 
 with special thanks to these twa young gentlemen " 
 
 " I am no gentleman," said Jenkin, flinging his cap on his head ; 
 "I am a tight London 'prentice, and hope to be a freeman one day. 
 Frank may write himself gentleman if he will." 
 
 " I was a gentleman once," said Tmistall, " and I hope I have done 
 nothing to lose the name of one." 
 
 " Weel, weel, as ye list," said Richie Moniplies ; " but I am mickle 
 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. — Gudenight to you, my 
 kind countryman." So saying, he thrust out of the sleeve of his ragged 
 doublet a long bony hand and arai, on which the muscles rose like whip- 
 cord. Master George shook it heartily, while Jenkin and Frank ex- 
 changed 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, "scribling on his bit 
 bookie, as if he were demented," he contented his politeness with 
 " giving him a hat," touching, that is, his boimet, in token of salu- 
 tation, and so left the shop. 
 
 " Now, there goes Scotch Jockey, with all his bad and good about 
 him," said Master George to Master David, who suspended, though 
 unwillingly, the calculations with which he was engaged, and keeping 
 his pen within an inch of the tablets, gazed on his friend with great 
 lack-lustre eyes, which expressed anything rather than intelligence or 
 interest in the discom-se addressed to him. — " That fellow," proceeded 
 Master George; without heeduig his friend's state of abstraction, " shows, 
 with great liveliness of colouring, how our Scotch pride and poverty make 
 liars and braggarts of us ; 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 himself walked i;h 
 cuerpo, as the Don says. — Strange ! that courage and fidelity — for I 
 will warrant that the knave is stout — should have no better companion 
 than this swaggering braggadocio humour. — But you mark me not, 
 friend Davie." 
 
THE FORTUNES Oi NIGEL. 17 
 
 " I do — I do, most heedfiilly," said Davie.—" For as the sun goeth 
 round tlie dial-plate in 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-fom-, as tifty-nine 
 to twenty-four hom-s, fifty minutes and a half, or very nearly, — I crave 
 your forgiveness. Master Geor^, and heartily wish you good- even." 
 
 " Good-even !" said Master George ; " why, you have not mshed me 
 good-day yet. Come, old friend, lay by these tablets, or you will crack 
 the inner machinery of your 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-hours' nunchion from you, 
 man, iDesides 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, 'tis " 
 
 " Lucky that you deal in small ones," said his friend ; as, awakened 
 from his reveries and calculations, Ramsay led the way uj) a little back- 
 stau' to the first storey, occupied by his daughter, and his little house- 
 hold. 
 
 The apprentices resumed their places in the front-shop, and relieved 
 Sam Porter ; when Jenkin said to Timstall— " Didst see, Frank, how 
 the old goldsmith cottoned in with his beggarly countryman '^ When 
 would one of his wealth 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 di-OA\Ti- 
 ing. And yet Master George is but half-bred Scot neither in that re- 
 spect ; for I have known him do many a kind thing to the English too." 
 
 " But hark ye, Jenkin," said Tuustall, " I tliink you are but half- 
 bred EngHsh yom'self. How came you to strike on the Scotsman's side 
 after all r 
 
 " 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 tongiie, 
 which I think sweeter— sweeter than the last toll of St Dimstan's Avill 
 Bomid, on the day that I am shot of my indentm:es.— 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 drjiy. 
 
 A flash of anger, not unmingled with suspicion, shot from Jenkin's 
 keen black eyes. 
 
 " Umph !— and what sigiiifies umph ? I am not the first 'prentice 
 has manied his master's daughter, I think ?" 
 
18 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 they 
 
 Tliey kept their own secret, I fancy," said Tunstall, " at least till 
 r were out of their time." 
 
 I tell you what it is, Frank," answered Jenkin, sharply, " that may 
 be the fashion of you gentlefolks, that are taught from your biggin 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 
 INIrs 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 mil take my own time ; and all the Counts in Cumber- 
 laud 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.^ 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Bohadil. I pray you, possess no gallant of your acquaintance 'U'ith a knowledge of 
 my lodging. 
 Master Matthew. Who, I, sir?— Lord, sir I 
 
 Ben Jonson. 
 
 The next morning found Nigel Olifaunt, the young Lord of Glenvar- 
 loch, seated, sad and solitary, 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 sup- 
 port, appeared 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 in- 
 tricate and narrow lanes, which, until that part of the city was swept 
 away by the great fire in 1666, constituted an extraordinary labyi'inth 
 of small, dark, damp, and unwholesome streets and alleys, in one corner 
 or other of which the plague was then as surely found lurking as in the 
 obscure corners of Constantinople in oiu* OAvn time. But John Christie's 
 house looked out upon the river, and had the advantage, therefore, of 
 free air, impregnated, however, with the odoriferous fumes of the articles 
 in which the ship-chandler dealt, with the odour of pitch, and the natu- 
 ral scent of the ooze 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 stranded with the ebb, the yoimg lord was nearly 
 as comfortably accommodated as he was while on board the little trading 
 brig from the long town of Kirkaldy, 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 preserve his master's incog- 
 nito so_ completely, but that the honest ship-chandler could form a guess 
 that his guest's quality was superior to his appearance. As for Pame 
 1 See Note B George Hcriot. 
 
THE rOIlTUK2S OF NIGEL. 19 
 
 Nelly, his wife, a round, biixom, laughter-loving dame, with black eyes, 
 a tight well-laced bodice, a green apron, and a red petticoat edged with 
 a slight silver lace, and judiciously shortened so as to show that a short 
 heel, and a tight clean anlde, rested upon a well-burnished shoe, — she, 
 of course, felt interest in a young man, who, besides being very hand- 
 some, good-humoured, and easily satisfied with the accommodations her 
 house afibrded, was evidently of a rank, as well as manners, highly supe- 
 rior to the skippers (or Captains as they called themselves) of merchant 
 vessels, 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 into use), and her best curtains 
 impregnated with the odour of Geneva and strong waters, to Dame 
 Nelly's great indignation ; for, as she tmly said, the smell of the shop 
 and warehouse was bad enough without these additions. 
 
 But all Mr Olif aunt's habits were regular and cleanly, and his ad- 
 dress, though frank and simple, showed so much of the courtier and 
 gentleman, as formed a strong contrast Avith the loud halloo, coarse j ests, 
 and boisterous impatience of her maritime inmates. Dame Nelly saw 
 that her guest was melancholy also, notwithstanding his efforts to seem 
 contented and cheerful ; and, in short, she took that sort of interest in 
 liim, without being herself aware of its extent, which an unscrupulous 
 gallant might have been tempted to improve to the prejudice of honest 
 Johu, who Avas 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 ungi-ateful encroachment upon the laws of hospitality, 
 his religion having been by his late father formed upon the strict prin- 
 ciples erf 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 this pride of family was well sub- 
 dued, and in general ahnost entirely concealed, by his good sense and 
 general courtesy. 
 
 Such as we have described him, Nigel Olifaunt, or rather the young 
 Lord of Glenvarloch, was, when our narrative takes him up, under great 
 perplexity respecting the fate of his trusty and only follower, Richard 
 Moniplies, who had been despatched by his young master, early the pre- 
 ceding morning, as far as the court at Westminster, but had not yet 
 retm-ned. 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 tA^enty-four hours. Dame Nelly Christie, in the mean- 
 time, regarded her guest with some anxiety, and a great desire to com- 
 fort hun if possible. She placed on the breakfast-table a noble piece of 
 cold powdered beef, with its usual guards of turnip and carrot, recom- 
 mended her mustard as coming direct from her cousin at Tewksbury, 
 and spiced the toast with her OAvn hands — and with her own hands, also, 
 drew a ju^ of stout and nappy ale, all of which were elements of the 
 substantial breakfast of the period. 
 
 When she saw tliat her guest's anxiety prevented him from doiug 
 
20 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 justice to the good cheer which she set before hini, she commenced her 
 career of verb^ consolation with the usual volubility of those women in 
 her station, who, conscious of good looks, good intentions, and good 
 lun^s, entertain no fear either of wearying themselves or of fa.tiguing 
 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 goodman'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 bareheaded 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 
 1 hope I have not oflended you for my little joke — and I hope the ale 
 is to your honour's liking, — and the beef— and the mustard i " 
 
 " All excellent — all too good," answered Olifamit ; ^' you have every 
 thing so clean and tidy, dame, that I shall not know how to live 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-doAvered English lady, 
 as some of your comitryfolk have d(}ne. I assure you some of the best 
 of the city have married Scotsmen. There was Lady Trebleplunib, Sir 
 Thomas Treblephmib the great Turkey merchant's widow, married Sir 
 Awley Macauley, whom your honour knows, doubtless ; and pretty 
 Mistress Doublefee, old Sergeant Doublefee's daughter, 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 liaving a 
 Scotsman for lodger, meaning your honour, I tell them they are afraid 
 of their daughters and their mistresses ; and sure I have a right to stand 
 up for the Scots, since John Christie is half a Scotsman, and a thriving 
 man, and a good husband, though there is a score of years between us ; 
 and so I would have your honom- cast care away, and mend your break- 
 fast with a morsel and a draught." 
 
 " At a word, my kmd hostess, I cannot," said Olifaunt ; " I am 
 anxious about this knave of mine, who has been so long absent in this 
 dangerous town of yom's." 
 
 It may be noticed in passing that Dame Nelly's ordinary mode of 
 consolation was to disprove the existence of any cause for distress ; and 
 she is said to have carried this so far as to comfort a neighbour, Avho 
 had lost her husband, with the assm^ance that the dear defunct would be 
 better to-morrow, which perhaps mi^ht not have proved an appropriate, 
 even if it had been a possible mode ot rehef. On this occasion she denied 
 stoutly that Richie had been absent altogether twenty hours ; and as 
 for people being killed in the streets of London, to be sure two men 
 had been found m Tower-ditch last week, but that was far to the east, 
 and the other poor man, that had his throat cut in the fields, had met 
 his mishap near by Islington ; and he that was stalibed by the young 
 Templar in a dnmken frolic, by St Clement's m the Strand, was an 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 21 
 
 Irishman. All which evidence she produced to show that none of these 
 casualties had occui'red in a case exactly parallel with that of Richie, a 
 Scotsman, and on his return from V/estminster. 
 
 " My better comfort is, my good dame," answered Olifaunt, " that 
 the lad is no brawler or quarreller, unless strongly m^ged, and that he 
 has nothing valuable about him to any one but me." 
 
 " 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 uphold Master Moniplies to 
 be neither reveller nor brawler, for if he liked such things he might be 
 visiting and junketing with the young folks about here in the neigh- 
 bom-hood, and he never dreams of it ; and when I asked the yomig 
 man to go as far as my gossip's. Dame Drinkwater, to taste a glass of 
 aniseed and a bit of the gi'oaning cheese, — for Dame Drinkwater has 
 had twins, as I told yoiu: honom-, sir— and I meant it quite civilly to 
 the young man, but he chose to sit and keep hoiLse 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 otheE. I asked John Christie, but he bid me go to 
 sleep." 
 
 " If he comes not soon," said liis 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 papei-s of importance abont him." 
 
 " Oh ! your honour may be assm-ed he will be back in a quarter of an 
 hour," said Dame jSTelly ; "he is not the lad to stay out twenty-foitf 
 hours at a stretch, xind for the papers, I am sm-e your honom- wiU 
 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 waters, to 
 fortify his stomach against the damps, and it was directeil to the 
 King's Most Excellent Majesty; and so, doubtless, his Majesty has 
 kept Richie out of civility to consider of your honom-' s letter, and send 
 back a fitting reply." 
 
 Dame Nelly here hit by chance on a more available topic of con- 
 solation than those she had hitherto touched upon ; for the youthful 
 lord had himseh^ some vague hopes that his messenger might have been 
 delayed at Court imtil a fitting and favoiu-able answer should be de- 
 spatched back to Mm. Inexperienced, however, in public affairs asi he 
 certainly was, it required oiily a moment's consideration to convince 
 him of the improbability of an expectation so contrary to all he had heard 
 of etiquette, as weU as the dilatory proceeding in a court suit, and he 
 answered the good-natm-ed hostess with a sigh, that he doubted whether 
 tlie King woiild even look on the paper addressed to him, far less take 
 it into his immediate consideration. 
 
 " Now, out upon vou for a faint-hearted gentleman !" said the good 
 dame ; " and why sliould he not do as much for us as our gracious 
 Queen Elizabeth i Many people say this and that about a queen and 
 a king, but I think a king comes more natural to us English folks ; 
 and this good gentleman goes as often down by water to Greenwich, 
 and employs as many of the bargemen and watermen of .sU kinds ; and 
 maintains, in his royal grace, John Taylor, the water-poet, who keeps 
 both a sculler and a pair of oars. And lie has made a comely Coiu-t at 
 
22 THE FORTUNES OE NIGEL. 
 
 Wliiteliall, j list by tlie river ; and since the King is so good a friend to 
 tire Thames, I cannot see, if it please your honour, why all his subjects, 
 and your honour in specialty, 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 Deen 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 tliere is 
 the sitting alderman, that is always at the Guildhall, which is close by 
 Paul's, and so I warrant you he puts all to rights in the city that 
 wisdom can mend ; and for the rest there 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 Moniplies on the stair, and 
 then that faithful emissary's appearance in the chamber, put the matter 
 beyond question. Dame Nelly, after congratulating Lloniplies on his 
 return, and paying several compliments to her own sagacity for having 
 foretold it, was at length pleased to leave the apartment. The truth 
 v\'as, that, besides some instinctive feelings of good-breeding which com- 
 bated her curiosity, she saw there w^as 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 secret out of one or other 
 of the young men, when she should have either by himself. 
 
 " Now, in Heaven's name, Avhat is the matter /" 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 deil a thing's broken 
 but my head. It's not made of iron, I wot, nor miy claithes of chenzie- 
 mail ; so a club smashed the tane, and a claught damaged the tither. 
 Some misleard rascals abused my country, but I think I cleai-ed 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 kenning, to a sma' booth at the Temple-Port, where they sell the 
 whirlygigs and mony-go-rounds that measure out time as a man ^v\id 
 measure a tartan web ; and then they bled me, wold I nold I, and ^vere 
 reasonably civil, especially an auld countryman of ours, of whom moi-e 
 hereafter." 
 
 " And at what o'clock might this be ?" said Nigel. 
 
 " The twa iron carles yonder, at the kirk beside the Port, were just 
 banging out sax o' the clock." 
 
 " And why came you not home as soon as you recovered ?" sai<l 
 Nigel. 
 
 " In troth, my lord, every why has its wherefore, and this has a gude 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 23 
 
 ane," answered liis folloAver. " To come hame, I beho\ed to ken -wliare 
 hame was ; now I had clean tint the name of the wynd, and the mair 
 I asked, the mair the folk lengh, and the farther they sent me wrang ; 
 sae I gave it iip till God should send daylight to help me ; and as I saw 
 my sell near a kirk at the lang run, I e'en crap in to take up my night's 
 quarters in the kirkyard." 
 
 " In the churchyard !" said Nigel—" But I need not ask what drove 
 you to such a pinch." 
 
 " It wasna sae much the want o' siller, my Lord Nigel," said Richie, 
 with an air of mysterious 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 saucy chamberlains at a hostelry, sae 
 lanij as I could sleep fresh and fine in a fair, dry, spring night. Mony 
 a tune when I hae come hame ower late, and faund the "West-Port 
 stcekit, and the waiter ill-willy, I have garr'd the Sexton of Saint 
 Cuthbert's calf-ward serve me for my quarters. But then there are 
 dainty green grafts in Saint Cuthbert's kirkyard, where ane may sleei), 
 as if they were in a down-bed, till they hear the lavi'ock singing up in tiie 
 air as high as the Casl^ ; whereas, and behold, these London kirk- 
 yards are causeyed with rorough-stanes, panged hard and fast thegither ; 
 and my cloak being something threadbare, 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 deil haet else. 
 
 " And what became of you next?" said his 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 sleepit as sound as if I was in a castle. Not but I was dis- 
 turbed with some of the night-walking queans and swaggering billies, 
 but when they fomid 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 morn- 
 ing, 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' jMile-End, though it is mair 
 like sax-mile-end." 
 
 " Well, Richie," answered Nigel, " I am glad all tliis has ended so 
 well — go get something to eat. I am sure you need it." 
 
 " In troth do I, sk," replied Moniplies ; " but, with yom- Lordship's 
 leave " 
 
 " Forget the lordship for the present, Richie, as I have often told 
 'you before." 
 
 " Faith," replied Richie, " I could weel forget that your honour 
 was a lord, but then I behoved 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 forefingers of his right hand, thrust out 
 after the fashion of a bird's claw, while the little finger and the ring- 
 finger were closed upon the palm, " to the Court I wQut, 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 have 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 
 
24 THE FORTUNES OF NIOEL. 
 
 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 a' in free awmous. — But I see," he added, stopping sliort, " that 
 yum- honour waxes impatient." 
 
 " By no means, Richie," said the young nobleman, with an air of 
 resignation, for he well knew his domestic would not mend his pace for 
 goading ; " you have suffered enough in the embassy to have a right to 
 tell the story in your o^ti 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 Majesty's own hand.-?, 
 since those sent heretofore, I 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 Goiut by warn- help. It was just Laurie Linklater, one of the 
 yeomen of the kitchen, that was my father's apprentice langsyne." 
 
 " A yeoman of the kitchen — a scullion !" exclaimed Lord Nigel, 
 pacing the room in displeasure. 
 
 " But consider, sir,^' said Richie, composedly, " that a' your great 
 friends hung back, and shunned to o^vn you, or to advocate your peti- 
 tion ; and then, though I am sure I wish Laurie a hig^her "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 
 j^eoman of the King's most royal kitchen may be called a scullion — 
 may weel rank with a master-cook elsewhere ; being, that king's cauff, 
 as I said before, is better than " 
 
 " You are right, and I was wrong," said the young nobleman. " I 
 have no choice of means of making my case knovm, so that they be 
 honest." 
 
 " Laurie is as honest a lad as ever lifted a ladle," said Richie ; " not 
 Out what I dare to say he can lick his fingers like other folk, and reason 
 good. But, in fine, for I see your honour is waxing impatient, he 
 brought me to the palace, where a' was astir for the King going out to 
 hunt or hawk on Blackheath, I think they ca'd it. And there y,t.s a 
 horse stood with all the quarries about it, a bonny gray as ever was 
 foaled ; and the saddle and the stirrups, and the curb and bit, o' burn- 
 ing 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 do^n the back-stairs of auld Holyrood- 
 House, in giit fear, having your breeks in your hand without time to 
 put them on, and Frank Stewart, the mid Earl of Bothwell, hard at 
 your haunches ; and if auld Lord Glenvarloch 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 saymg, I could 
 not but think your lordsliip's Siffiication could not be less than most 
 acceptable ; and so I banged in among the crowd of lords. Laurie 
 tliouglit me mad, and held me by the cloak-lap till the cloth rave in 
 
THE FORTUXES OF XIGEL. 25 
 
 his hand ; and so I banged in right before the King just as he mounted, 
 and crammed the Sifflication into his hand, and he opened 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 jaiid o' a beast on the nose 
 with my hat, and scaur the creatiu-e, and slie 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 mi^jht have cost my craig a 
 raxing — and he flung down the paper amang the beast's feet, and cried, 
 * Away wi' the fause'loon that brought it !' And they grippit me, and 
 cried I'reason ; and I thought of the Ruthvens that were dirked in their 
 ain 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 the tawse 
 on my back, and I was crying mercy as loud as I coidd ; and the King, 
 when he had righted himsell on the saddle, gathered his breath, cried 
 to do me nae harm ; for, said he, he is ane of oiu- 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 Vode a' sniggering^ laughing, and rounding in ilk 
 ithefs lugs, A sair life I had wi' Lamie Linklater ; for he said it would 
 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 scauding for you, 
 because he minded the brave old Lord, your father. And then he 
 showed 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 h(Drse-graith the- 
 gither had casten the glaiks in my een, and mair jackanape tricks I suld 
 hae played, instead of offering the Sifflication, he said, as if I had been 
 bringing guts to a bear.^ ' For,' said he, ' Richie, the King is a v.'eel- 
 natured and just man of his ain kindly nature, but he has a whin mag- 
 gots 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 yoinsell, but 
 the King has them about him wad cr>rrupt an angel from iieaven ; but 
 I could have gi'en you avisement how to have guided him, but now it's 
 like after meat mustard.' — * Aweel, aweel, Lamie,' said I, ' it may lie 
 as you say ; but since I am clear of the tawse and the porter s lodge, 
 sifiiicate wha Uke, deil hae Richie Moniplies if he come sifflicating hei'e 
 again.' — And so away I came, and I wasna far by the Temple-Port, or 
 Bar, or whatever they ca' it, when I met with the misadventure that I 
 tauld you of l^efore." " 
 
 "Well, my honest Richie," said Lord Nigel, "yom- attempt was 
 well meant, and not so ill con4ucted, I think, as to have deserved so 
 bad an issue ; but go to your beef and mustard, and we'll talk of the 
 rest aftei-wards." 
 
 " There is nae mair to be sx)oken, sir," said his follower, " except 
 that I met ane very honest, fair-spoken, weel-put-on gentleman, or 
 
 1 I am ceitain this prudential advice is not original on Mr Linklater's part, but I am 
 not at present able to produce my authority. 1 think it amounted to this, that James 
 ilung down a petition presented by some supplicant who paid no compliments to his 
 horse, and expressed no admiration at the splendour of his furniture, sa3'ini2:, "ShuU 
 a king cumber himself about the petition of a beggar, -while the beggar disregards the 
 king's splendour?" It is, I think. Sir John Han-ington 'vho recommends, as a sure 
 mode to the king's favour, to praise the paces of the royal palfrey 
 
2G THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 nitlier burgher, as I think, that was in the whigmaleery man's back- 
 shop ; and when he learned wha I was, behold he was a kindly Scot 
 himsell, and, what is more, a town's-bairn o' the glide town, and he be- 
 hoved to compel me to take this Portugal piece, to drink forsooth — My 
 certie, thought I, we ken better, for we Avill 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 
 Edinburg'h come to gaze on mv distress, and pay a shilling for having 
 seen the Motion ^ of the Poor Noble." 
 
 '' Tell him where you lived V said Richie, evading the c[uestion ; 
 " How could I tell him what I kendna mysell ? If I had minded the 
 name of the wynd, I need not have slept in the kirkyard yestreen." 
 
 " See, then, that you give no one notice of our lodging," said the 
 young nobleman ; " those with wliom I have business I can meet at 
 Paul's, or in the Court of Requests." 
 
 " This is steeking the stable-door when the steed is stolen," thought 
 Ricliie 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 lie, "your lordship well knows I ken nought about it but 
 tlie grand blazon at the tap — tne lion has gotten a claught of our auld 
 Scottish shield now, but it was as weel upheld when it had a unicorn 
 on ilk side of it." 
 
 Lord Nigel read the Proclamation, and he coloured deep with shame 
 and indignation as he read ; for the purport was, to his injured feel- 
 ings, like the poming of ardent spirits upon a recent Avound. 
 
 " What deil's in the paper, my lord '/" said Richie, unable to sup- 
 press his curiosity as he observed his master change colour ; " I wadna 
 ask such a thing, only the Proclamation is not a private thing, but is 
 meant for a' men's hearing." 
 
 " 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 Olifaunt, " in this paper the Lords of 
 tlie Comicil set forth, that ' in consideration of the resort of idle persons 
 of low condition forth from his Majesty's kingdom of Scotland to his 
 English Court — filling the same with their suits and supplications, and 
 dishonouring the royal presence v,dth their base, poor, and beggarly 
 persons, to "the disgrace of their country in the estimation of the 
 English ; these are to prohibit the skippers, masters of vessels, and 
 others, in every part of Scotland, from fermgiiig 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 back to Scotland at his Majesty's expense, and pun- 
 ished for then* audacity with stripes, stocking, or incarceration, accord- 
 1 J/bfwrt— Puppet-show. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 27 
 
 ing to theii- demerits — that is to say, I suppose, according to the degree 
 of their poverty, for I see no other demerit specified." 
 " This will scarcely," said Richie, " square with oiu' old proverb— 
 
 ' A King's face 
 Sliould give grace — ' 
 
 But what says the paper fui'ther, my lord ?" 
 
 " Oh, only a small clause which especially concerns us, making some 
 still heavier denunciations against those suitors Avho shall be so bold 
 as to approach the Court, under pretext of seeking payment of old debts 
 due to tiiem by the King, Avhich, the paper states, is, of all species of 
 importunity, that which Is most odious to his lilajesty." ^ 
 
 " 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." 
 
 Then' conversation was here interrupted by a knocking at the door. 
 Olifaunt looked out at the window, and saw an elderly respectable 
 person whom he knew not. Richie also peeped, and recognised, but, 
 recognising, chose not to ackno"\vledge, 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 j)retext of going to his break- 
 fast ; and left their landlady the task ot ushering Master George into 
 Lord Nigel's apartment, which she performed with much courtesy. 
 
 CHAPTER ly. 
 
 Ay, sir, the clouted shoe hath offctimcs 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 ofttimes a brain 
 
 Wiser than burns beneath the cap and feather, 
 
 Or seethes within the statesman's velvet nightcap. 
 
 Eead me my Riddle. 
 
 The young'Scottish nobleman received the citizen with distant no- 
 liteness, expressing that sort of reserve by which those of the higher 
 ranks are sometimes willing 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 deference to liis respectable 
 appearance. Lord Nigel offered to him, and said, after a moment's 
 pause, during which he liad looked attentively at the young man, with 
 respect, not mimingled with emotion — " You will forgive me for this 
 rudeness, my lord ; but I was endeavouring to trace in yom- youthful 
 countenance the featm-es of my good old lord, yoiu- excellent father." 
 
 There was a moment's pause ere yomig Glenvarloch 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 
 natiu*e, and ^" 
 
 "I understand the hint, my lord," said Master George, "and would 
 1 See Note C. ProcJamaUQn agaimt-ihe Scots coming to England^ 
 
28 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 not be guilty of long detaining you from business, or more agreeable 
 conversation. My errand is almost done when I have said that my 
 name is George Heriot, warmly befriended, 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 
 yom's that your lordship was in this city in prosecution of some biLsiness 
 of importance, it is my duty — it is my pleasm-e — 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 such aid in the furthering 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 travel 
 and military service. I may add, that the suddenness of my departure 
 occasions my having little time at my disposal." 
 
 Master Heriot did not take the hint, but sat fast, with an embarrassed 
 countenance, however, like 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, mj lord, in having so soon despatched your 
 business at court. Your talking landlady inform.s 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 brevity which was intended 
 to stop fiu-ther discussion, "was summarily despatched." 
 
 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 attempt- 
 ing to sustain the conversation, "to visit the places of amusement, — 
 the playhouses, 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 Dehtsr 
 
 JMaster Heriot stooped down, saying, "Ah ! my old acquaintance, 
 Philip Massinger ;" but, having opened the paper and seen the purport, 
 he looked at Lord Nigel Olifaunt with surprise, saying, "I trust your 
 lordship does not think this prohibition can extend either to ijour 
 person or your claims V 
 
 "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 
 Su])plication for the repayment of large loans advanced by my father 
 for the service of the state, in the King s utmost emergencies." 
 
 "It is impossible !" said the citizen — "it is absolutely impossible ! — 
 If the King could forget what was due to yoiu- father s memory, still 
 he would not have wished — would not, I may say, have dwed— to b© 
 1 Meaning, prolaablj, playbills. 
 
THE iOKTL'JSfES OF NIGEL. 29 
 
 SO fla^"antly unjust to the memory of such a man as yom- father, who, 
 dead in the body, will long hve in the memory of the Scottish people." 
 
 "I should have been of your opinion," answered Lord Nigel, in the 
 same tone as before ; ''but there is no fightnig with facts." 
 
 "What was the tenor of tliis Supplication'.^" said Herict ; "or by 
 whom was it presented i Something strange there must have been iii 
 the contents, or " 
 
 " You may see my original draught," said the young lord, taking 
 it out of a small travelling stroug-box ; " the teclmical part is by my 
 la^vyer in Scotland, a skilful and sensible man ; the rest is my owii, 
 dra,wn, I hope, witli due deference and modesty." 
 
 Master Heriot hastily cast his eye over the draught. *' Fotiiing," 
 he said, "can be more well-tempered and respectful. Is it possible 
 the King can have treated this petition with contempt '/" 
 
 " He tiirew it down on the pavement," said the Lord of Glenvarloch, 
 " and sent me for ansT\^er 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 fortmie, he might never have seen the 
 Court of England himself." 
 
 "But by whom was this supplication presented, my lord T' said 
 Eeriot ; " for the distaste taken at the messenger will sometimes ex- 
 tend itself to tbe message." 
 
 " By my servant," said the Lord Nigel ; " by the man you saw, and, 
 I think, were kind to." 
 
 "By your servant, my lord T' said the citizen ; "he seems a shrewd 
 fellow, and doubtless a iaithful ; 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 at- 
 tempt I had made to lay my case before the King had miscarried, an.-i 
 my petitions got no farther than the budgets of clerks and secretaries ; 
 this fellow pretended he hail a friend in the household that would bring 
 him to the King's presence, — and so " 
 
 " I understand," said Heriot ; " but, my lord, why should you not, in 
 right of your rank and birth, have appeared at court, and requu-ed an 
 audience, which could not have been denied to you V' 
 
 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. 
 
 " 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 expenses which I can- 
 not 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 in- 
 terest you take in my misfortunes seems sincere, and therefore" He 
 
 stamped on the floor, and in a feA? seconds afterwards Moniplies ap- 
 
oV THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 peared, wiping from his beard and mustaches the crumbs of bread, and 
 tlie froth of the ale-pot, which plainly showed how he had been em- 
 ployed. — " Will your lordship grant permission," said Heriot, " that I 
 ask your groom a few questions V 
 
 " His lordship's page, JMaster George," answered Moniplies, with a 
 nod of acknowledgment, " 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 he asked." 
 
 " And triUy, 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, somewhat embarrassed, in 
 spite of his effrontery — "though I think tliat the sort of truth tliat 
 serves my master may weel serve ony ane else." 
 
 " Pages lie to their masters by right of custom," said the citizen ; 
 " and you ■write yourself in tliatband, 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 given to understand that 
 you yesterday presented to his Majesty's hand a supplication, or peti- 
 tion, from this honourable lord, your master." 
 
 " Troth, there's nae gainsaying that, sir," replied Moniplies ; " there 
 was enow to see it besides me." 
 
 " And you pretend that his Majesty flung it from him with contempt ?" 
 said the citizen. " Take heed, for I have means of knowing the truth ; 
 and you were better up to the neck in the Nor-Loch, which you like so 
 well, 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 Ohfaunt,_ addressing Heriot. 
 
 " Hush ! " said the sagacious citizen ; "this fellow 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 sham- 
 ble towards the door, " answer me this further question — When you 
 gave your master's petition to his Majesty, gave you nothing with it .^" 
 
 " Ou, what should I give wi' it, ye ken. Master George '?" 
 
 " That is what I desire and insist to know," replied his interrogator. 
 
 "Weel, then — I am not free to say, that maybe I might not just slip 
 into the King's hand a wee bit sifliication 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 
 siffiications as weel as their betters." 
 
 "And, pray, what might your worshipful petition import?" said 
 Master Heriot. — " Nay, for Heaven's sake, my lord, keep your patience, 
 or we shall never learn the truth of this strange matter. Speak out, 
 Bin'ah, and I will stand your friend with my lord/' 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 31 
 
 " It's a lang story to tell — but the upshot is, that it's a scrape of an 
 auld accompt due to my father's yestate by her Majesty the King's maist 
 gracious mother, when she lived in the Castle, and had sundry provid- 
 ings and furnishings forth of om' booth, whilk nae doubt was an iionour 
 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 Jolm Knox spoke," said Richie ; "here's 
 the bit double of the sifflication." 
 
 JNIaster George took a crumpled paper from the fellow's hand, and 
 said, muttering betwixt his teeth — "'Humbly showeth — um — um — 
 his Majesty's maist gracious mother — um — um — justly addebted and 
 
 owing the sum of fifteen merks— the compt whereof followeth 
 
 Twelve nowte's feet for jillies — ane lamb, being Christmas — ane roasted 
 capin in grease for the privy chalmer, when my Lord of Bothwell 
 suppit with her Grace.' — I thnik, my lord, you can hardly be surprised 
 that the King gave this petition a brisk reception; and I conclude, 
 Master Page, that vou took care to present yom- own supplication 
 before yoiu- master's'.'" 
 
 "Troth did I not," answered Moniplies; "I thought to have given 
 my lord's lirst, as was reason gude; and besides that, it wad have 
 redd the gate for my ain little bill. But what wi' the dirdum an' con- 
 fusion, an' the loupin here and there of the skeigh brute of a horse, 
 I believe I crammed them baith into his hand cheek by jowl, and 
 maybe my ain was bunemost ; and say there was aught ^vrang, I -am 
 sure I had a' the fright and a' the risk " 
 
 "And shall have all the beating, you rascal knave," said Nigel; 
 ' am I to be insulted and dishonoured by yoiu" pragmatical insolence, 
 in blending your base concerns with mine ?" 
 
 "Nay, nay, nay, my lord," said the good-humoured citizen, inter- 
 posing, "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 angry, but still I think the knave mis- 
 took more out of conceit than of purpose ; and I judge you will have 
 the better service of him another tune, if you overlook this fault — 
 Get you gone, sirrah — I'll make your peace." 
 
 "isTa, na," said Moniplies, keeping his gTound firmly, "if he likes 
 to strike a lad that has followed liim for pure love, for I think there 
 has been little servant's fee between us, a' the way 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, JNIaster George) stand by a lick 
 I of his baton, than it suld e'er be said a stranger came betAveen us." 
 
 "Go, then," said his master, "and get out of my sight." 
 
 "Aweel I wot that is sune done," said Moniplies, 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 Maister George 
 keepit me to answer his interrogation, forsooth, and that has made a' 
 this stir." 
 
 And so he made his gi'umbling exit, with the tone much rather of 
 one Avho has sustained an injurj^, than who has done wrong. 
 
 D 
 
:.2 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEI/. 
 
 "Tliere never was a man so plagued as I am with a malapert 
 knave! — The felloAv 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 sm-e to make as loud complaints as if the 
 whole error lay with me, and in no degree with himself." 
 
 " Cherish him, and maintain him, nevertheless," said the citizen ; 
 "for believe my gray hairs, that affection and fidelity are now rarer 
 qualities in a servitor, than wlien the world was younger. Yet, trust 
 him, my good lord, with no commission above his birth or breeding, 
 for you see yom'self 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 employ the rest of my means to carry Moniplies 
 and myself to some counterscarp, and die in the battle-front like my 
 ancestors." 
 
 "It were better to live and serve your coimtry like your noble 
 father, my lord," replied Master George. "Nay, nay, never look 
 down or shake your head — the King has not refused your Supplica- 
 tion, for he has not seen it — ^vou ask but justice, 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 wi'ongs, but my country hath many that 
 are unredressed." 
 
 "My lord," said Master Heriot, "I speak of my royal master, not 
 only with the respect due from a subject — the gi'atitude 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 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 acquaintance, talk as if you were familiarly 
 acquainted Avith my affairs." 
 
 "My lord^" replied the goldsmith, "the nature 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 coiu-se, 
 when I choose to seek such intelligence, I know the sources in which 
 it is to be traced. I have told jou why I was interested in your lord- 
 ship's fortunes. It was last night only that I knew you were in this 
 city, yet I have been able, in coming hither this morning, to gain for 
 you some information respecting the impediments to your suit." 
 
THE FORTU.NES OF KIGEL. 33 
 
 " Sir, I am obliged by yoiir zeal, however little it may be merited," 
 answered Ni^el. still with some reserve ; " yet I hardly know how 1 
 have deserved tnis interest." 
 
 " First let me satisfy you that it is real," said the citizen ; " I blame 
 you not for being imwillin^ 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 mortgage over your 
 father's extensive estate to the amount of 40,000 merks, due osten- 
 sibly to Peregrine Peterson, the Conservator of Scottish Privileges at 
 Campvere." 
 
 " I know nothing of a mortgage," said the young lord ; " but there 
 is a wadset for such a sum, which, if um-edeemed, wiU occasion the 
 forfeiture of my whole paternal estate for a simi not above a fourth of 
 its value — and it is for that very reason that I press the King's govern- 
 ment for a settlement of the debts due to my father, that I may be able 
 to redeem my laud 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 
 creditor. The Conservator Peterson only lends his name to sliroud no 
 less a man than the Lord Chancellor of Scotland, who hopes, under 
 cover of this debt, to gain possession of the estate nimself, or perhaj)s 
 to gratify a yet more powerful third party. He will probably sutfer his 
 creature Peterson to take possession, and when the odium of the trans- 
 action shall be forgotten, the property and lordship of Glenvarloch will 
 be conveyed to the great man by his obsequious instrument, ujider 
 cover of a sale, or some similar device." 
 
 "Can this be possible?" said Lord Nigel; "the Chancellor wept 
 when I took leave of huu — called me his cousin — even his son — fur- 
 nished me with letters, and, though I asked him for no pecuniary 
 assistance, excused himself unnecessarily for not pressing it on me, 
 alleging the expenses of his rank and his large family. iNo, I cannot 
 believe a nobleman would carry deceit so far." 
 
 " I am not, it is true, of noble blood," said the citizen ; " but once 
 more I bid you look on my gray hairs, and think what can be my 
 interest in dishonouring them with falsehood in affahs 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 letters ?" 
 
 " None," said Nigel Olifaimt, " except cold deeds and fair words. 
 I have thought for some tune their only object was to get rid of me— 
 one 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 you fled not, they would them- 
 selves 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 lordship a service, 
 I think you would hardly wish me to come by damage, when it can be 
 of no service to you." 
 
34 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 The word s1iop_ sounded harshly in the ears of the young nobleman, 
 who replied hastily — " Damage, sir ?— so far am I from wishing you to 
 incur damage, that I would to Heaven you would cease your fruitless 
 ofi'ers of serving one whom there is no chance of ultimately assisting !" 
 
 " Leave me alone for that," said the citizen ; " you have erred nov/ as 
 far on the bow-hand. Permit me to take this Supjjlication — I will have 
 it suitably engrossed, and take mv 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 fAvill not give up the good cause." 
 
 " Sir," said the young nobleman, " your speech is so friendly, and my 
 own state so helpless, that I know not how to refuse your kind, proffer, 
 even while I ])lush to accept it at the hands of a stranger." 
 
 " We are, I trust, no longer such," said the goldsmith ; " and for my 
 guerdon, when my mediation 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 — methinks it makes you look still more like the good 
 old lord your father ; and it eml)oldens me, besides, to bring out a small 
 request — that you would take a homely dinner with me to-morrow. 1 
 lodge hard by 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 o^vn loving countrymen — and maybe my 
 housewife may find out a bonny Scots lass or so." 
 
 " I would accept your courtesy, Master Heriot," said Nigel, " but 
 I. hear the city ladies of 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 lord- 
 ship looks at me so fixedly, I shall never tell my story — and, to speak 
 plainly, for I never could carry a lie well through in my life — 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 ambitious to 
 put an hundred pounds to be at interest in your hands till your affairs 
 are settled." 
 
 " And if ther are never favourably settled T' said Nigel. 
 
 " Then, my lord," returned the citizen, " the miscarriage of such a 
 sum will be of little consequence to me, compared with otiier subjects 
 of regret." 
 
 " 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 burden to me, by persuading me to 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 35 
 
 incur debts which I am not likely to discharge, I will therefore take 
 your money, under the hope and tnist that you will enable me to repay 
 you punctually." 
 
 " I will convince you, my lord," said the goldsmith, " that I mean 
 to deal with you as a creditor 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 materials, and, TVTiting 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 intimating that this was 
 an unnecessary^ ceremonial, and that he woidd take the bag of gold on 
 the word of his obliging creditor ; but this was repugnant 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 money 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 nmle ; for I must Westward Hoe. Put your monies 
 aside, my lord ; it is not well to be seen with such goldfinches chirping 
 about one in the lodgings 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 Faithfid Frugai's ; — his 
 spendthrift son sold the shell when he had eaten the kernel — and there 
 is the end of a city-fortune," 
 
 " 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 — ' therewithal 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 ! Avoe 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 farther escort, 
 the old citizen made his escape. 
 
 As, in going down stairs, he passed the shop where dame Clu'istie 
 stood becking,! he made civil inquiries after her husband. The dame 
 of course regTetted his absence ; but he was down, she said, at Dept- 
 ford, to settle with a Dutch ship-master. 
 
 " Our way of business, sir," she said, "takes 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 Street's remembrances 
 — to yom- goodman. I have dealt with him — he is just and punctual — 
 truo to time and engagements ; — be kind to yoiu- noble guest, and see 
 
 ' Curtsying. 
 
36 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 lie wants nothing. Though it be his pleasure at present to lie pnvate 
 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, now 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 1" 
 
 " He will, dame," answered Heriot, " to the Parliament of Scotland, 
 which is his own country." 
 
 " Oh ! he is but a Scots lord, then," said the good dame ; " and 
 that's the thing makes him ashamed to take the title, as they say." 
 
 " Let liim 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 anything, I would wait upon him myself, 
 and come as far as Lombard Street to wait upon your worship too." 
 
 " Let your husband come to me, good dame," said tlie goldsmith, 
 who, with all his experience and worth, was somewhat of a formalist 
 and disciplinarian. " 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 adviser was out of hearing, was ungracious enough 
 to mutter, in contempt of his counsel, "Marry quep of yom- advice, for 
 an old Scotch tinsmith, as you are ! My husband is as wise, and very 
 near as old, as yourself ; if I please him, it 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 
 hnn, as well as they do." 
 
 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 tliroats by whispers ; 
 Wherefore come ye not to court? 
 Skelton swears 'tis glorious sport. 
 
 Skelton Skeltonizeth, 
 
 It was not entirely out of parade that the benevolent citizen was 
 mounted and attended in that maimer, wliich, as the reader has been 
 informed, excited a gentle de^'ee of spleen on the part of Dame Christie, 
 which, to do her justice, vanished in the little soliluquy which we have 
 recorded. The good man. besides the natural desire to maintain the 
 exterior of a maT* of worsliip, was at present N^^nd to Whitehall in 
 
THE i'OHTUJJES OF NIGEL. 37 
 
 order to exhibit a piece of valuable workmanship to King James, which 
 he deemed liis Majesty might be pleased to view, or -even to purchase. 
 He himself was therefore mounted upon his caparisoned mule, that he 
 might the better make his way through the narrow, dkty, and crowded 
 streets ; and while one of his attendants carried 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 beset, usually endeavoui'ed, 
 if their estate admitted such expense, to secure themselves by the at- 
 tendance of armed followers. And this custom, which was at first 
 limited to the nobility and gentry, extended by degrees to those citizens 
 of consideration, who, being unclerstood to travel with a charge, as it 
 was called, might otherwise have been selected as safe subjects of plun- 
 der by the street-robber. 
 
 As Master George Heriot paced forth westward with this gallant at- 
 tendance, he paused at 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 
 master ; in consequence of which summons the old Time-meter came 
 forth from his den, his face hke a bronze bust, darkened with dust, and 
 glistening here and there "with copper filings, and his senses so bemused 
 in the intensity of calculation, that he gazed on his friend the goldsmith 
 for a minute before he seemed perfectly to comprehend who he was, aiKl 
 heard him 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 yomig countiyman, A\ithout retm-ning any answer. 
 
 "I'll make thee speak, with a mm-rain to thee," muttered Heriot to 
 himself; and suddeidy changing his tone, he said aloud, — '^I pray ycu, 
 neighbour David, when are you and I to have a settlement for the 
 bullion wherewith I supplied you to mount yonder hall-clock at Theo- 
 bald's, and that other whirligig that you made for the Duke of Buck- 
 ingham ? I have had the Spanish house to satisfy for the ingots, and 
 I must needs put you in mind that you have been eight months behind- 
 hand." 
 
 There is something s<5 sharp and aigre in the demand of a peremptory 
 dmi, that no human tympanum, however inaccessible to other tones, can 
 resist the application. David Ramsay started at once from his reverie, 
 and answered in a pettish tone, " Wow, George, man, v/hat needs a' 
 this din about sax score o' pounds ? A' the world kens I can answer 
 a' claims on me, and you proifered yourself fair time, till his maist 
 gracious Majesty and the noble Duke suld make settled acconipts wi' 
 me ; and ye may ken, by your ain experience, that I canna gang rowt- 
 ing like an mmiannered Highland stot 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 Margaret my god-daughter with vou. to meet with our noble 
 young countryman, the Lord of Glenvarloch V 
 
38 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 " The young Lord of Glenvarloch !" said the old mechanist ; " wi' 
 a' my heart, and bhthe I will be to see him again. We have not met 
 these forty years — he was twa 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 goldsmitn. "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 ever 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 housewife had the sheep's-head 
 and the cock-a-leeky boiling for you as late as two of the clock after- 
 noon." 
 
 " She had the more credit by her cookery," answered David, now 
 fully awake ; " a sheep's-head, over-boiled, were poison, according to 
 our savin." 
 
 " 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 foregather with your friend. Sir 
 Mungo Malagi'owther, for I purpose to ask his worship ; so, be sure 
 and bide tryste, Davie." 
 , " That will I— I will be true as a chronometer," said Ramsay. 
 
 " I will not trust you, though," replied Heriot. — " Hear you, Jenkin 
 boy, tell Scots Janet to tell pretty IMistress 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 errands which they do not like, or hear opinions 
 to which they must not enter a dissent. 
 
 " Umph !" repeated Master George — who, as we have already noticed, 
 was something of a martinet in domestic discipline — "what does umph 
 mean ? Will you do mine errand, or not, sirrah ?" 
 
 " Sure, Master George Heriot," said the apprentice, touching his 
 cap, " I only meant that Mistress Margaret Avas not likely 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 j ill-flirt. — And, hark ye, Jenlcin, 
 you and your comrade had best come with yom- clubs, to see your master 
 and her safely home ; but first shut shop, and loose the bull-dog, aiid 
 let the porter stay in the fore-shop till your return. I will send two of 
 ray 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 mutter." 
 
 " Or, if need be," said Tunstall, " we have swords as well as the 
 Templars." 
 
 " Fie upon it — fie upon it, young man," said the citizen ; — " an 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 39 
 
 apprentice v^ith a sword !— Marry, Heaven forfend ! 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 crash a cup of wine to the health of 
 tlie Fathers of the city. I have my eye on both of you— you are 
 tlu'iving 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 importance, and put liis pedes- 
 trian followers to no inconvenience to keep up with him. 
 
 At the Temple gate he again paused, dismounted, and sought his 
 way into one of the small booths occupied by scriveners in tlie neigh- 
 bourhood. A young man, Avith lank smooth hair 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, witli much demonstration of reverence, to the goldsmith's 
 question of, " How goes business, AndreAv?" "A' the better for your 
 worship's kind countenance 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 too high, it's a wast- 
 rife course in your trade, Andrew — they that do not mind corn pickles 
 never come to forpits. 1 have known a learned man wTite a thousand 
 pages with one quill ."^ 
 
 "Ah! sir," said the lad, who listened to the goldsmith, though 
 mstructing him in his own trade, with an an- of veneration and acqui- 
 escence, " how sune ony puir creature like mysell may rise in the world, 
 ^Yi' the instruction of sucn a man as your worship !" 
 
 "My instructions are few, Andrew, soon told, and not hard to 
 practise. Be honest — be industrious — be fnigal — 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, mitil the task was finished to Ms employer's satisfaction. 
 The citizen then gave the young scrivener an ano-el ; and bidding him, 
 on his life, be secret in all business intrusted to Mm, again mounted Ms 
 mule, and rode on westward along the Strand. 
 
 It may be worth wMle 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 palisade, 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 begmning already to assume that character. It still 
 might be considered as an open road, along the south side of Avhich stood 
 various houses and hotels belonging to the nobility, having gardens 
 behind them down to the water-side, Avith stairs to the river, for the con- 
 venience of taking boat ; Avhich mansions have bequeathed the names 
 of their lordly owners to many of the streets leading from the Strand 
 
 1 See Note D. One QuiU. 
 
40 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 to the Thames. The north side of the Strand was also a long line of 
 houses, behind which, as in Saint Martm's Lane, and other points, 
 buildings were rapidly arising ; but Covent-Garden was still a garden 
 in the literal sense of the word, or at least but beginning to be studded 
 with iiTegidar buildings. All that was passing around, however, marked 
 the rapid increase of a capital which had long enjoyed peace, wealtli, 
 and a regidar government. Houses Avere rising in every direction ; and 
 the slirewd eye of oui' citizen already saw the period not distant Avhich 
 should convert the nearly open highway on which he travelled into a 
 connected and regular 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, but began to resemble the artery thjrough which, 
 to use Johnston's expression, " pom-s the full tide of London popula- 
 tion." 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 desigiied by Holbein, and composed of tesselated 
 brick- work, being the same to which Moniplies haa profanely likened 
 the West- Port of Edmbm-gh, and entered the ample precincts of the 
 palace of Whitehall, now full of all the confusion attending improve- 
 ment. 
 
 It was just at the tune when James, little suspecting that he was 
 employed in constructing a palace, from the window of which his only 
 son was to pass in order that he might die upon a scaffold before it,— 
 was busied m removing the ancient and ruinous buildings of De Burgh, 
 Hemy 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 liis royal apartments at Whitehall, 
 amidst the rubbish of old buildings, and the various confusion attend- 
 ing the erection of the new pile, which formed at present a labyrinth 
 not easily traversed. , 
 
 The goldsmith to the Royal Houshold, and who, if fame spoke true, 
 oftentimes acted as their banker, — for these professions were not as yet 
 separated from each other, — was a person of too much importance to 
 receive the slightest interruption from sentinel or porter ; and, leaving 
 his mule and two of his folloAvers in the outer court, he gently knocked 
 at a postern-gate of the building, and was presently adnntted, wliile 
 the most tmsty of his attendants followed him closely with the piece 
 of plate under his arm. This m^an also he left behind him in an ante- 
 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 admit, were playing at dice and draughts, 
 or stretched upon benches, and slumbering with half-shut eyes. A 
 corresponding gallery, Avhich opened from the anteroom, was occupied 
 by two gentlemen-ushers of the chamber, Avho gave each a smile of 
 recognition as the Avealthy goldsmith entered. 
 
 Is Avord 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, Avhich 
 
I THE FORTUNES 0¥ NIGEL. 41 
 
 seemed to say^ as plain as a look conld, "Lies 3'oiu' biisiuess that 
 way r The citizen nodded ; and the comt-attendant, moving on tip- 
 toe, 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 
 Lone. The broad Scottish accent of King James Avas heard in reply, — 
 " Admit him instanter. Maxwell. Have you hairboured sae lang at 
 the Com*t, and not learned that gold and silver are ever welcome ?" 
 
 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 wliich 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 pictm-es and valuable orna- 
 □lents ; but they were arranged in a slovenly manner, covered with dust, 
 ■md lost hr.K their value, or at least their eflect, from the manner in 
 which they were presented to the eye. The table was leaded with huge 
 folios, amongst which lay light books of jest and ribaldry ; and, amongst 
 notes of umuercifully long orations, and essays on king-craft, AYere 
 mingled miserable romidels and ballads by the Royal 'Prentice, as he 
 styled himself, in the art of poetry, and schemes for the general pacifi- 
 cation of Em-ope, with a list of the names of the King's hounds, and 
 remedies against canine madness. 
 
 The Kmg's dress was of gi-een velvet, quilted so full as to be dagger- 
 proof— which gave him the appearance of clumsy and ungaiiily pro- 
 tuberance ; while its being buttoned awry communicated to his figure 
 m air of distortion. Over his green doublet he wore a sad-coloured 
 fiightgown, out of the pocket of wliich peeped his hunting-horn. His 
 liigli-crowned gi'ay hat lay on the floor covered with dust, but encircled 
 by a carcanet of large balas rubies ; and he wore a blue velvet nigiit- 
 3ap, in the front of which was placed the plume of a heron, which had 
 been struck down by a favomite hawk in some critical moment of the 
 flight, in remembrance of which the Kmg wore this highly-honom-ed 
 feather. 
 
 But such inconsistencies in dress and appointments were mere outward 
 types of those which existed in the royal character ; renderiiig ita sub- 
 ject of doubt amongst his contemporaries, and bequeathing it as a 
 problem to futm-e historians. He was deeply learned, without possess- 
 ing useful knowledge ; sagacious in many individual cases, without 
 having real wisdom ; fond of liis poAver, and desirous to maintain and 
 augment it, yet Avilling to resign the direction of that, and of liimself, 
 to the most unworthy favourites ; a big and bold assertor of his rights 
 in words, yet one wlio tamely saAV them trampled on in deeds ; a lover 
 of negociations, m which he Avas ahvays outwitted ; and one Avho feared 
 war, Avhere conquest might have been easy. He Avas fond of his dignity, 
 while he Avas perpetually degradmg it by undue familiarity ; capable of 
 much public labour, yet often neglectmg it for the meanest amusement ; 
 a Avit, though a pedant ; and a scholar, though fond of the conversation 
 of the ignorant and imeducated. Even his timidity of temper Avas uot 
 uniform ; and there were moments of his life, and those critical, in which 
 lie shoAved the spirit of his ancestors. He was laborious in trifles, and a 
 trifler v/here serious labour Avas required ; devout in his sentiments, and 
 yet too often profane in his language ; just and beneficent by natm'e, he 
 
42 THE FOllTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 yet gave wajr to the iniquities and oppression of otlieis. lie was penu- 
 rious respecting money which lie 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 compre- 
 hensive to regulate his general conduct ; and, showing themselves iis 
 they occasionally did, only entitled James to the character bestovred 
 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 Stewarts, succeede^l 
 peaceably to that kingdom, against the power of Avhich his prede- 
 cessors had, with so much difficulty, defended his native throne ; and 
 lastly, although his reign appeared calculated to ensure to Great 
 Britain that lasting tranquillity and internal peace wdiich so much 
 suited the King's disposition, yet, during that very reigii, were soavu 
 those seeds of dissension, Avliich, like tlie teeth of the fabulous dragon, 
 had their harvest in a bloody and universal civil war.^ 
 
 Such was the monarch, who, saluting Heriot by the name of Jing- 
 ling Geordie (for it was his well-known custom to give nicknames to 
 all those with whom he Avas on terms of familiarity), inquired what 
 new clatter-traps he had brought with him to cheat his la-wful 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 show to your 
 most gracious Majesty, Avhich, both for the subject and for the work- 
 manship, I were loath to put into the hands of any subject until I 
 knew your Majesty's i)leasure anent it." 
 
 "Body o' me, man, let's see it, Heriot; though, 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 expense 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 Avhom economy was only a transient and 
 momentary twinge of conscience, became immediately afterwards desir- 
 ous to see the piece of plate which the goldsmith proposed to exhibit, 
 and despatched Maxwell to bring it to his presence. In the meantime 
 he demanded of the citizen Avhence he had procured it. 
 
 "From Italy, may it please your Majesty," replied Heriot. 
 
 "It has naething in it tending to papestriei" said the King, look- 
 ing graver than his wont. 
 
 1 See Note E. King James. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 43 
 
 *' Surely not, please your Majesty," said Heriot; "I were not wise 
 to bring anything to your presence that had the mark of the beast." 
 
 "You Avould be the mair beast yourself to do so," said the King ; 
 "it is weel kend that I wrestled Avi' Dagon in my youth, and smote 
 him on the ground-sill 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 burden 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 liglit 
 favourable 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 chalmer ; ami the subject, as you say, 
 jMaster 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 mucti — hath ever overtaken." 
 
 "Hand your tongue for a fause fleeching loon !" said the King, but 
 with a smile on his face that showed the flattery had done its part. 
 "Look at the bonny piece of workmanship, and baud your clavering 
 tongue. — And whase handiwork may it be, Geordie?" 
 
 "It was AATOught, sir," replied the goldsmith, "by the famous 
 Florentine, Bevenuto 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 
 Cellini mad, had he never done ony tiring else out of the gate. Francis ! 
 — why, he was a fighting fule, man, — a mere fighting fule, — got himsell 
 ta'en at Pavia, like oiu- 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 tlie King, in con- 
 tinuation ; " but yet, metliinks, the carnifex, or executioner there, is 
 brandishing his gulley ower near the King's face, seeing he is within 
 reach of his weapon. I think less wisdom than Solomon's wad have 
 taught him that there was danger in edge-tools, and that he wad have 
 bidden the smaik either sheath his shabble, 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 perspective should be 
 allowed for. 
 
 " Gang to the deil wi' your prospective, man," said the King ; " there 
 canna be a waur prospective for a lawfu' king, wha wishes to reign in 
 luve, and die in peace and honour, than to have naked swords flash- 
 ing in his een. I am accounted as brave as maist folks ; and yet I 
 profess to ye I could never look on a bare blade without blinking and 
 vvinking. But a'thegither it is a brave piece ;— arid what is the price 
 of it, man ^" 
 
4-i THE FORTUNES OF laGJtL. 
 
 The goldsmith replied by observing, that it was not his own property, 
 but that of a distressed countryman. 
 
 " Whilk you mean to mak your excuse for asking the double of its 
 worth, I warrant !" answered the King. " I ken the tricks of you 
 burrows-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 present payment." 
 
 A hundred and fiftv punds, man ! and as mony witches and warlocks 
 to raise them!" said the irritated Monarch. "My saul, Jingling 
 Geordie, ye are minded that your purse shall jingle to a bonny tune ! — 
 How am I to tell you down a hundred and fifty punds for what will 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 liis ground against all this objurgation, being 
 what he was well accustomed to, and only answered that, if his Majesty- 
 liked the piece, and desired to possess it, the price could be easily settled. 
 It was true that the party required the money, but he, George Heriot, 
 would advance it on his Majesty's account, 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," saia James, " and that is speaking like an honest 
 and reasonable tradesman. 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 Geordie, 1 do truly opine, that, speaking of Solomon 
 and ourselves, the haill wisdom in the country left Scotland when we 
 took our travels to the Southland here." 
 
 George Heriot was courtier enough to say, that " the wise natm-ally 
 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 thj^self, for example, are allowed by the English, for as self-opin- 
 ioned as they are, to pass for reasonable good wits ; but the brains of 
 those we have left behind are all astir, and run clean hirdie-girdie, like 
 sae mony warlocks and witches on the Devil's Sabbath-e'en." 
 
 " I am sorry to hear this, my hege," said Heriot. " May it please 
 your Grace to say what our countrymen have done to deserve such a 
 character ?" 
 
 " Thev 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 
 thorough Edinburgh gutterblood — a ragged rascal, every dud upon 
 whose back was bidding good-dav to the other, with a coat and hat that 
 would have served a pease-bogle, and, without havings or reverence, 
 tlinists into our hands, like a sturdy beggar, some Supplication about 
 debts owmg by our gracious mother, and siclike trasli ; vv^hereat 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^ 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 45 
 
 in Europe. I promise you we would have been laid endlang on the 
 causeway. 
 
 " Your Majesty," said Heriot, "is then common father, and there- 
 fore they are the bolder to press into your gracious presence." 
 
 " I ken I am pat-er patrice well enough," said James ; " but one 
 would think they had a mind to squeeze my puddings out, that they 
 may di\'ide the inheritance. Ud's death, Geordie, there is not a loon 
 among them can deliver a Supplication, as it suld be done in the face 
 of majesty." 
 
 " I woidd I knew the most fitting and beseeming mode to do so," 
 said Heriot, " were it but to instruct om- poor countrymen in better 
 fashions." 
 
 " By my halidome," said the King, " ye are a ceevileezed fellow, 
 Geordie, and I carena if I fling awa as much time as may teach ye. 
 And, first, see you, sir — ye shall approach the presence of Majesty thus, 
 — shadowing yom eyes with yom- hand, to testify that you are in the 
 presence of the Vicegerent of Heaven. — Vera weel, George, that is done 
 in a comely manner. — Then, sir, ye sail kneel, and make as if you would 
 kiss the hem of our garment, the latch of om' shoe, or such like. Vera 
 weel enacted — whilk we, as being 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 yom* hand into 
 your pouch, bring forth yoiu- supplication, and place it reverentially in 
 our open palm." The goldsmith, who had complied with gTeat 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 V said he, 
 reddenmg and sputtering ; " hae I been teaching you the manual exer- 
 cise, that ye suld present your piece at oin ain royal body ? — Now, by 
 this light, I had as lief 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 warn-— so much the 
 warn-, I tell vou. If it had been something to do yoursell good, there 
 would have been some sense in it, and some chance that you wad not 
 have come back on me in a hurry ; but a man may have a hmidred 
 friends, and petitions for every ane of them ilk ane after other." 
 
 "Your Majesty, I trust," said Heriot, "will judge me by former 
 experience, and will not suspect 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, were't any thing for thy own behoof, 
 man, thou shouldst not ask twice. 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 ante-chamber wi' your lang lugs.— In con- 
 science, Geordie, I think that as thou hast been mine ain auld fiduciary, 
 and wert my goldsmith when I might say with the Ethnic poet— iN^o^i 
 
46 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 medreniclet in domo lacunar — for, faith, they had pillaged my mither's 
 aiild house sae, that beechen bickers, and treen trenchers, and latten 
 ])latters, were whiles the best at our board, and glad we were of some- 
 thing 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- 
 cot and poultry-yard, and what an awfu' plaint the poor dame made 
 against Jock of Milch, and the thieves of Annandale, wha were as sack- 
 less of the deed as I am of the sin of murder ?" 
 
 " It was the better for Jock," said Heriot ; " for, if I remember weel, 
 it saved him from a strapping up at Dumfries, which he had weel de- 
 served for other misdeeds." 
 
 " Ay, man, mind ye that ?" said the King ; " but he had other vir- 
 tues, for he was a tight huntsman, moreover, that Jock of Milch, and 
 could hollow to a hound till all the woods rang again. But he came to 
 an Annandale end at the last, for Lord Torthorwald run his lance 
 out through him. — Cocksnails, man, when I think of these wild pas- 
 sages, in my conscience, I am not sure but we lived merrier in auld Holy- 
 rood in these shifting days, than now when we are dwelling at heck and 
 manger. Gantabit vacuus — we had but little to care for." 
 
 " And if your Majesty please to remember," said the goldsmith, *Hhe 
 awful task we had to gather silver-vessail and gold-work enough to 
 make some show before 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 
 liad in his house, that his native Prince might have some credit in the 
 eyes of them that had the Indies at their beck." 
 ' " I think, if your Majesty," said the citizen, " will cast your eye on 
 the paper in your hand, you will recollect his name." 
 
 " Ay !" said the King, " say ye sae, man ! — Lord Glenvarloch, that 
 was his name indeed — Justus et tenax 2yropositi — A just man, but as 
 obstinate as a baited bull. He stood whiles against us, that Lord Ran- 
 dal 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 weel 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 Ruthven." 
 
 * 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 cro"\vned Kin^ should need sic a petty sum. 
 But what need he dun us for it, man, like abaxter at the breaking? 
 We aught him the siller, and will pay him wi' our convenience, or make 
 it otherwise up to him, whilk is enow between prince and subject— We 
 are not in meditatione fugce, 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 moiiey, and that 
 briefly, to discharge a debt due to Peregrine Peterson, Conservator of 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 47 
 
 t1ie Privileges at Campvere, or his liaill hereditary barony and estate of 
 Glenvarloch will be evicted in virtue of an unredeemed wadset." 
 
 " How say ye, man— how 'say ye ! " exclaimed the King, impatiently; 
 " the carle of a Conservator, the son of a Low-Dutch skipper, evict 
 the aukl estate and lordship of the house of Olifiiunt?— God's bread, 
 man, that maun not be— Ave maun suspend the diligence by writ of 
 favour, or otherwise." 
 
 "I doubt that may hardly be," answered the citizen, "if it please 
 your Majesty ; your learned counsel in the law of Scotland advise, that 
 there is no remeid but in paying the money." 
 
 "Ud's fish," said the King, "let him keep hand 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 bv, unless lust within the bounds 
 
 of the Highlands." 
 
 I " Weel— weel— weel, man/' said tlie perplexed monarch, whose 
 
 I ideas of justice, expedience, and convenience became on such occasions 
 
 ' strangely embroiled ; "just it is we should pay our debts, that the 
 
 i young man may pay his ; and he must be paid, and t?i verho regis he 
 
 \ shall be paid— but how to come bv the siller, man, is a difhcidt chapter 
 
 |; —ye mami try the city, Geordie.''^ 
 
 : "" To say the truth," answered Heriot, "please your gi'acious Majesty, 
 i what betwixt loans, and benevolences, and subsidies, the city is at this 
 
 I present " 
 
 "Donna tell me of what the city is," said King James ; "om* Ex- 
 chequer is as dry as Dean Giles's discoimses on the penitentiary psalms 
 — Ex nihilo nihil 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 mami try, Heriot ; and donna think to l)e called Jingling 
 Geordie for nothing — and in verbo regis I will pay the lad if yoii get 
 me the loan — I wonnot haggle on the terms ; and, between you 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 Heriot ; "but " 
 
 "Ay, I understand ye," said his Majesty — "I understand ye — Res 
 angusta domi — 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 aidd Levite tliat ye are. Keej^ 
 them in gage, till I gie ye back the siller out of the next subsidy." 
 
 "If it please your majesty to give me such du-ections in crating," 
 said the cautious citizen. 
 
 " The deil is in yoiu* nicety, George," said the King ; "ye are as 
 preceese as a Puritan in form, and a mere Nullifidian in the mairow 
 of the matter. jMay not a King's word serve you for advancing your 
 pitiful twa hundred pounds V 
 
 " But not for detaining the crown jewels," said George Heriot. 
 And the King, who from long experience was inuj-ed to dealing will 
 
 E 
 
48 THE rORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 suspicious creditors, wrote an order upon George lleriot, liis well-belovevi 
 goldsmith and jeweller, for the sum of two hundred pounds, to he paid 
 presently to Nigel Olifaunt, Lord of Glenvarloch, to he imputed as so 
 much debts due to him by the crown ; and authorizing the retention 
 of a carcanet of balas rubies, with a gi-eat diamond, as described in a 
 Catalogue of his Majesty's Jewels, to remain in possession of the said 
 George Heriot, advancer of the said sum, and so forth, until he was 
 lawfiSly contented and paid thereof. By another rescript, his Majesty 
 gave the said George Heriot directions to deal with some of the 
 moneyed men, upon equitable terms, for a sum of money for his 
 Majesty's present use, not to be under 50,000 merks, but as much 
 more as could conveniently be procured. 
 
 "And has he ony lair, this Lord Nigel of ours V said the King. 
 
 George Heriot could not exactly answer tliis question ; but believed 
 "the young lord had studied abroad." 
 
 "He shall have our own advice," said the King, "how to carry on 
 his studies to maist advantage ; 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 kend of tliis matter we have 
 been treating anent. Propera pedem, Geordie. Clap your mule 
 between your hough, and god-den with you." 
 
 Thus ended the conference betwixt the gentle King Jamie and liis 
 benevolent jeweller and goldsmith. 
 
 CHAPTER YL 
 
 Oh, I do know him — 'tis the mouldy lemon 
 Which our court -nits will wet their lips withal, 
 Wlieii they would sauce their honeyed conversation 
 With somewhat sharper flavour. — Marry, sir, 
 That virtue's well-nigh left him — all the juice 
 That was so shai"p and poignant, is squeezed out ; 
 \^^iile the poor rind, although as sour as ever. 
 Must season soon the draff we give onr grunters, 
 For two-legged things are weary on't. 
 
 The Chamberlain, — A Comedrj. 
 
 The good company invited by the hospitable citizen assem])Ied at his 
 house in Lombard Street at the "hollow and hungry hour" of noon, to 
 partake of that meal which divides the day ; being al)Out the time 
 when modern persons of fashion, turning themselves upon their pillow, 
 begin to think, not without a gi'eat many doubts and much liesitation, 
 that they will Dy-and-by commence it. Thither came the young Nigel, 
 arrayed plainly, but in a dress, nevertheless, more suitable to his age 
 and quality than he had formerly worn, accompanied by his servant 
 Moniphes, whose outside 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 tongh 
 coat of English blue broad-cloth, which, unlike liis former vestment. 
 
?rHE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 49 
 
 would have stood tlie tug of all the apprentices 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 ])uttery, 
 not a little pleased to find his attendance upon the table in the hall was 
 likely to be rewarded with his share of a meal such as he had seldom 
 partaken of. 
 
 Mr iJavid Ramsay, that profound and ingenious mechanic, was safely 
 conducted to Lombard Street, according to promise, well washed, 
 brushed, and cleaned from the soot of the furnace and the forge. His 
 daughter, who came with him, was about twenty years old, very pretty, 
 very demure, yet with lively black eyes, that ever and anon contra- 
 dicted the expression of sobriety, to which silence, reserve, a plain velvet 
 hood, and a cambric ruff, had condemned Mistress Marget, as the 
 daughter of a quiet citizen. 
 
 There were also two citizens and merchants of London, men ample in 
 cloak, and many-linked golden chain, well to pass in the world, and 
 experienced in their craft of merchandise, 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 plain- 
 ness of the citizens amongst whom he had his cm-e. 
 
 These may be dismissed with brief notice ; but not so Sir Mungo 
 i Malagrowther, of Girnigo Castle, who claims a little more attention, as 
 j an original character of the time in which he flourished. 
 
 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 
 Barcastic observations on all who came later than himself, iiot to men- 
 tion a few rubs at the expense of those who had been so superfluous as 
 to appear earlier. 
 
 Having little or no property save his bare designation, Sir Mungo 
 had been early attached to Court in the capacity of whipping-boy, as 
 the office was then called, to King James the Sixth, and, with his 
 Majesty, trained to all polite learning by his celebrated preceptor, George 
 Buchanan. The ofiice of whipping-boy doomed its unfortunate occupant 
 to undergo all tlie coi^poreal punishment which the Lord's Anointed, 
 whose proper person was of course sacred, might chance to incur, in the 
 com'se of travelling through his grammar and prosody. Under the stern 
 rule, indeed, of George Buchanan, who did not approve of the vicarious 
 mode of punishmenir, 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 youthfrJ King ])y the floggings which he bestowed 
 on the whipping-boy, when the royal task was not suitably performed. 
 And be it told to Sir Mungo' s praise, that there were points about h-im 
 in the highest respect suited to his official situation. He had even in 
 youth a naturally irregular and grotesque set of features, which, when 
 disorted l^y fear, pain, and anger, looked like one of the whimsical faces 
 r*^hich present themselves in a Gothic cornice. His voice also was high- 
 pitched and querulous, so that when smarting under Master Peter 
 Vouujr's unsparing inflictions, the expression of his gxotesque physiog- 
 
50 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 nomy, and tlie superhuman 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 another and an innocent individual 
 suffering for his delict. 
 
 Sir Mungo Malagrowther, for such he became, thus got an early foot' 
 ing 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 malici- 
 ous wit, and an envy of others more prosperous than the possessor of 
 such amiable qualties, have not, indeed, 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 ran riot, his envy could not conceal itself, and it was not long 
 after his majority till he had as many quarrels upon his hands as would 
 have required a cat's nine lives to answer. In one of these rencontres 
 he received, perhaps we should say fortunately, 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 wi'itten some satirical verses 
 upon the Lady Cockpen, he received 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 which he 
 hobbled to his grave. The lameness of his leg and hand, besides that 
 they added considerably to the grotesque appearance of this original, 
 procured him in future a personal immunity from the more dangerous 
 consequences of his own humour ; and he gradually grew old in the 
 service of the Court, in safety of life and limb, though without either 
 making friends or attaining preferment. Sometimes, indeed, the King 
 ^fa,& amused with his caustic sallies, but he had never art enough to 
 improve the favom-able opportunity ; and his enemies (who were for 
 that matter the whole Court) always found means to throw him out of 
 favom- again. The celebrated Archie Armstrong offered Sir JMungo, in 
 his generosity, a skirt of his own fool's coat, proposing thereby to com- 
 municate to him the i)rivi]eges and immunities 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 wliich 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 formerly ani- 
 mated his strictiu-es — and was barely endured by James, who, though 
 himself nearly as far stricken in years, retained, to an unusual and even 
 an absurd degree, the desire to be surrounded by young people. ,i. 
 
 Sir Mungo, thus fallen into the yellow leaf of years and fortune, f, 
 showed his emancipated form and faded embroidery at Com-t as seldom '' 
 as his duty permitted ; and spent his tim.e in indulging his food for sa- 
 tire in the public walks, and in the aisles of Saint Paul's, which were 
 then the general resort of newsmongers and characters of all descriptions, 
 associating himself chiefly with such of his countrymen as he accounted 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIOEL. 51 
 
 of inferior birth and rank to himself. In this manner, hating and con- 
 temning commerce, and those who pnrsued it, he nevertheless lived a 
 good deal among the Scottish artists and merchants, who had followed 
 the Court to London. To these he could show his cynicism without 
 much offence _; for some submitted to his jeers and ill-humour in defer- 
 ence to his birth and knighthood, which in those days conferred 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 carry aristocratical feelings to a degree which 
 would now be thought extravagant, had too much spirit and good sense 
 to permit himself "to be intruded upon to an unauthorized excess, or 
 used with the slightest improper freedom, by such a person as Sir 
 Mmigo, to whom he was, nevertheless, not only respectfully civil, but 
 essentially kind, and even generous. 
 
 Accordingly, this appeared from the manner in which Sir Muno-o 
 .Malagrowther conducted himself upon entering the apartment. He 
 paid his respects to Master Heriot, and a decent, elderly, somewhat 
 severe-looking female, in a coif, who, by the name of Aunt Judith, did 
 the honour of his house and table, with little or no portion of the su- 
 percilious acidity which his singular physiognomy assumed when he made 
 his bow successively to David Ramsay and the two sober citizens. He 
 thrust himself into the conversation of the latter, to observe he had 
 heard in Paul's, that the bankrupt concerns of Pindivide, a great mer- 
 chant, — who, as he expressed it, had given the crows a pudding, and on 
 whom he knew, from the same authority, each of the 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 gi'inned at each other ; but, too prudent to make 
 their private affairs the subject of public discussion, drew their heads 
 together, and evaded farther conversation by speaking in a whisper. 
 
 The old Scots knight next attacked the watchmaker with the same 
 disrespectful familiarity. — " Davie," he said — " Davie, ye donnard auld 
 idiot, have ye no gane mad yet, with applying yom- mathematical sci- 
 ence, as ye call it, to the Book of Apocalypse ? I expected 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 
 recall to his recollection what had been said to him, and by whom, " it 
 may be that ye are nearer the mark than ye are yoursell aware of ; for, 
 taking the ten horns o' the beast, ye may easily estimate by yoiu- digi- 
 tals " 
 
 "My digits! you d — d auld, rusty, good-for-nothing timepiece!" 
 exclaimed Sir Mmigo, while, betwixt jest and earnest, he laid on his 
 hilt his hand, or rather his claw (for Sir Rullion's broadsword had 
 abridged it into that form), — " D'ye mean to upbraid me with my muti- 
 lation/" 
 
 Master Heriot interfered. " I cannot persuade our friend David," 
 he said, " that scriptural prophecies are mtended to remain in obscurity, 
 until their unexpected accomplislnnent shall make, as in former days, 
 
62 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 that fulfilled which was written. But you must not exert your knightly 
 valour on him for all that." 
 
 " By my saul, and it would be throwing it away," said Sir JNIungo, 
 laughing. " I would as soon set out, with hound and horn, to hunt a 
 sturdied sheep ; for lie is in a doze again, and up to the chin in nume- 
 rals, quotients, and dividends. — Mistress Margaret, my pretty honey," 
 for the beauty of the young citizen made even Sir JNIimgo Malagrow- 
 ther's grim featm-es relax themselves a little, "is youi' father always 
 as entertaining as he seems just now ! " 
 
 Mistress Margaret simpered, bridled, looked to either side, then 
 straight before her ; and, having assumed all the airs of bashful em- 
 barrassment and timidity which were necessary, as she thought, to cover 
 a certain slirewd readiness which really belonged to her character, at 
 len.gth replied, " That indeed her father was veiy thoughtful, but she 
 liad heard that he took the habit of mind from lier grandfather." 
 
 " Your grandfather ! " said Sir Mungo, — after doubting if he had 
 heard her aright, — ' ' Said she her grandfather 1 The lassie is distraught ! 
 — 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 Mungo," said George Heriot, 
 again interfering ; " and I hope you will allow Mm interest enough 
 witli you to request you wiU not put his pretty godchild to so deep a 
 blush." 
 
 " The better — the better," said Sir Mungo. " It is a credit to her, 
 that, bred and born within the sound of Bow-bell, she can blush for 
 anything ; and, by my saul. Master George," he 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 caiuiot call the 
 porridge-pot — — ' ' 
 
 The damsel blushed, but not so angi-ily as before. Master George 
 Heriot hastened to interrupt 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, what say ye, man V' 
 
 Upon the name of Nigel Olifaunt, Lord Glenvarloch, being again 
 hollowed into liis ear, he drew up, and, regarding his entertainer with 
 some austerity, rebuked him for not making persons of quality ac- 
 quainted with each other, that they might exchange courtesies before 
 they mingled with other folks. He then made as handsome and courtly 
 a cougee to his new acquaintance as a man maimed in foot and hand 
 could do ; and, observing he had knoAvn my lord, his father, bid liim 
 welcome to London, and hoped he should see him at Com-t. 
 
 Nigel in an instant comprehended, as well from Sir Mungo's manner. 
 as from a strict compression of their entertainer's lips, which intimated 
 the suppression of a desire to laugh, that he was dealing with an original 
 of no ordinary description, and, accordingly, retm-ned his courtesy with 
 suitable punctiliousness. Sir Mungo, in the meanwhile, gazed on him 
 with nuich earnestness ; and, as the contemplation of natural advan- 
 tages was as odious to him as that of wealth, or other adventitious 
 benefits, he had no sooner completely perused the handsome form and 
 
TUE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 53 
 
 good features of tlie young lord, than, like one of the comforters of the 
 man of Uz, he drew close up to him, to enlarge Oii the former grandeur 
 of the Lords of Glenvarloch, and the regret with which he had heard 
 that their rei^resentative was not likely to possess the domains of his 
 ancestry. Anon, he enlarged upon the beauties of the principal man- 
 sion of Glenvarloch — the commanding site of the old castle — the noble 
 expanse of the lake, stocked with wild-fowl for hawking — the com- 
 manding screen of forest, terminatmg in a mountain-ridge abounding 
 with deer — and all the other advantages of that fine and ancient barony, 
 till Nigel, in spite of every effort to the contrary, was imwillingly obliged 
 to sigh. 
 
 Sir Mungo, skilful in discerning when the withers of those he con- 
 versed with were wrung, observed that his new acquaintance winced, 
 and would Avillingly have pressed the discussion ; but the cook's im- 
 patient 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, suimnoning, at the same time, the serving-men to place the 
 dinner upon the taole, and the giiests to partake of it. 
 
 Sir JMungo, 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 somid, and left Nigel and the other 
 guests in peace, mitil his anxiety to arrange 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 of yet 
 higher honom* on the right, dividing that matron from pretty Mistress 
 ]\Iargaret ; but he saw this with the more patience, that there stood 
 betwixt him and the yoimg lord a superb-larded capon. 
 
 The dinner proceeded according to the form of the times. All was 
 excellent of the kind ; and, besides the Scottish cheer promised, the 
 board displayed 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 oblique 
 sneer from Sir Mungo, as intimating the owner's excellence in his own 
 mechanical craft. 
 
 " I am not ashamed of the workmanship. Sir IMungo," 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 fm-nished 
 half the cupboards in broad Britain, should have my own covered with 
 paltry pewter." 
 
 The blessing of the clergyman now left the guests at liberty to attack 
 what was placed before them ; and the meal went forward with great 
 decorum, until Aunt Judith, in farther recommendation of the capon, 
 assured her company, that it was of a celebrated breed of poultry, which 
 she had herself brought from Scotland. 
 
 " Then, like some of his countrymen, madam," said the pitiless Sir 
 Mungo, not Avithout a glance towards his landlord, "he has been Avell 
 larded m 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 ; 
 
54 THE FOKTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 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 confections, and wine of the higliest 
 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 osten- 
 tatious, or which seemed inconsistent with the degree of an opulent 
 burgher. 
 
 While the collation proceeded, Nigel, according to the good-breeding 
 of the time, addressed his discourse principally to Mrs Judith ; whom 
 he found to be a w^oman of a strong Scottish understanding, more in- 
 clined towards the Puritans than was her brother George (for in that 
 rektion she stood to him, though lie always called her aunt), attached 
 to him in the strongest degree, and sedulously attentive to all his com- 
 forts. As the conversation of this good dame was neither lively nor 
 fascinating, the young lord naturally addressed himself next to the old 
 horologer's very pretty daughter, who sat upon his left hand. From her, 
 however, there was no extracting any reply beyond the measure of a 
 monosyllable ; 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. 
 
 Nickel was beginning to tire of his companyj for the old citizens were 
 speaking Avith his host of commercial matters in language to him totally 
 unintelligible, when Sir Mungo Malagrowther suddenly summoned 
 their attention. 
 
 That amiable personage had for some time withdrawn from the com- 
 pany 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 preferred by Sir Mungo on account of the num- 
 ber of objects which the streets of the metropolis usually offer, of a kind 
 congenial to the thoughts of a splenetic man. What he had hitherto 
 seen passing there was probably of little consequence ; but now a 
 trampling of horse Avas heard without, and the knight suddenly ex- 
 claimed, — " By my faith. Master George, you had better go look to 
 shop : for here comes Knighton, the Duke of Buckingham's groom, and 
 two fellows after him, as if he were my Lord Duke himself." 
 
 " My cash-keeper is below," said Heriot, without disturbing him- 
 self, "and he will let me know if his Grace's commands require my 
 immediate attention." 
 
 " Umph !— cash-keeper ! " muttered Sir Mungo to himself; " he wad 
 have had an easy office when I first kend ye. — But," said he, speaking 
 aloud, " will you not come to the Avindow, at least ? for Knighton has 
 trundled a piece of sih^cr- plate into your house — ha! ha! ha!— trundled 
 it upon its edge, as a callan' Avould drive a hoop. I cannot help 
 laughing — ha ! ha ! ha! — at the felloAv'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. 
 " Oui friend is not a goldsmith for nothing — he hath no leaden Avit. 
 But I Avill go doAAii and see Avhat comes on't," 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 Heriot, as he descended the stairs, met his cash-keeper coming up, 
 with some concern in his face. — " Why. how now, Roberts," said the 
 goldsmith, " what means all this, man f" 
 
 "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 pewter 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 compting-room, Roberts, — Sir Mungo," he added, 
 bowing to the knight, who had joined, and was preparing to follow them, 
 " I pray your forgiveness for an instant." 
 
 In virtue of this prohibition, Sir Mungo, Avho, 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 woidd have endeavom-ed to slake his eager curiosity by 
 questioning Knighton ; but that emissary of greatness, after having 
 added to the uncivil message of his master some rudeness of his own, 
 liad again scampered westward, with his satellites at his heels. 
 I In the meanwhile, the name of the Duke of Buckingham, the omni- 
 ; potent favourite both of the King and the Prince of Wales, had struck 
 some anxiety into the party which remained in the gi-eat parlom-. He 
 was more feared than beloved, and if not absolutely of a tyrannical 
 disposition, was accomited haughty, violent, and vindictive. It pressed 
 on Nigel's heart, that he himself, though he could not conceive how 
 nor why, might be the original cause of the resentment of the Duke 
 against his benefactor. The others made their comments in whispers, 
 until the somids reached Ramsay, who had not heard a word of what 
 "' had previously passed, but, plunged in those studies with which he con- 
 nected every other incident and event, took up only the catcli-word, and 
 replied,—" The Duke— the Duke of Buckingham— George Vilhers— ay 
 —I have spoke with Lambe about him." 
 
 " Our Lord and our Lady ! Now, how can you say so, father?" said 
 I his daughter, who had slu'ewdness 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 Satmii — the apparent or true time of wliich, 
 •reducing the calculations of Eichstadius made for the latitude oi 
 Oranienbm'gh to that of London, gives seven hours, fifty-five minutes, 
 and forty-one seconds " 
 
 " Hold your peace, old soothsayer," said Heriot, who at that instant 
 entered the room with a calm and steady countenance ; " your calcula- 
 tions are true and undeniable when they regard brass and wire, and 
 mechanical force ; but futm-e 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 con- 
 Icurrence of signs at this gentleman's birth, which showed his course 
 I would be a strange one. Long has it been said of him, lie was born at 
 ithe very meeting of night and day, and under crossing and contending 
 * influences that may aflect both us and him. 
 
56 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 ' Full moon and high sea, 
 Great man shalt thou he ; 
 Red dawning, stormy sky, 
 Bloody death shalt thou die.'" 
 
 " It is not good to speak of such things," said lleriot, " especially of 
 tlie great ; stone Avails have ears, and a bird of the air shall carry the 
 matter." 
 
 Several of the guests seemed to be of their host's opinion. The two 
 merchants took brief leave, as if under consciousness that something 
 was wrong. Mistress Margaret, her body-guard of 'prentices being in 
 readiness, plucked her father by the sleeve, and, rescuing him from a 
 brown study (whether referring to the Avheels of Time, or to that of 
 Fortune, is uncertain), wished good night to her friend Mrs Judith, and 
 received her godfather's blessing, who, at the same time, put upon her 
 slender finger a ring of much taste and some value ; for he seldom 
 suffered her to leave liim without some token of his affection. Thus 
 honourably dismissed, and accompanied by her escort, she set forth on 
 her return 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 sanctorimi, to see how Master 
 Roberts was employed. The knight found the cash-keeper busy in 
 making extracts from those huge brass-clasped, leathern-bound manu- 
 script folios, which are the pride and trust of dealers, and the dread of 
 customers whose year of gTace is out. The good knight leant his elbows 
 on the desk, and said to the functionary, in a condohng 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, like Sir Mungo himself, was a little 
 deaf, and, like Sir IMmigo, knew also how to make the most of it ; so 
 that ae answered at cross pm-poses, — " I humbly crave your pardon, Sir 
 Mungo, for not having sent in yom' bill of charge sooner, but my master 
 bade Jiie not disturb you. I will bring the items together in a moment." 
 So saj ng, he began to tm-n over the leaves of his book of fate, mur- | 
 muring, " Repairing ane silver seal — new clasp to his chain of office — } 
 ane over-gilt brooch to his hat, being a Saint Andi-ew's cross, with 
 thistles — a copper gilt pair of spm-s, — this to Daniel Driver, we not | 
 dealing in the article." ■' 
 
 He woidd 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 bookkeeper^ cavalierly, good- 
 night, and left the house without farther ceremony. The clerk looked 
 after him with a civil city sneer, and immediately resumed the more 
 serious labours which Sir Mungo' s intrusion had interrupted.^ 
 
 1 See Note F. Sir Mungo Malagrowther 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIQEL. 57 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Things needful we have thought on ; but the thing 
 Of all most needful— that which Scripture terms, 
 As if aloue it merited regard, 
 The ONE thing needful — that's yet unconsider'd. 
 
 The Chamberlain. 
 
 When the rest of the company had taken their departm-e from 
 Master Heriot's house, the yoimg Lord of Glenvarloch also offered to 
 cake leave ; but his host detained him for a few minutes, imtil all were 
 gone excepting the clergyman. 
 
 " My lord," then said'the worthy citizen, "we have had our permittetl 
 hour of honest and hospitable pastime, and now I would fain delay you 
 for another and graver purpose, as it is our custom, when we have 
 tlie benefit of good Mr Windsor's company, that he reads the prayers 
 of the church for the evening before we separate. Your excellent 
 father, my lord, would not have departed before family worship — I hope 
 the same from your lordship." 
 
 "With pleasure, sir," answered Nigel ; "and you add in the invita- 
 tion an additional obhgation 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 circumstance was 
 trivial, Nigel was induced to notice it, because, when about to occupy 
 that seat, he was prevented by a sign from the old gentleman, 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 Moniplies, attended with great 
 gravity, and were accommodated with benches. 
 
 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 immediately crossed the chamber, opened the door, 
 and led into the apartment a beautiful creatm'e, whose sudden and 
 singular appearance might have made her almost pass for an appari- 
 tion. 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 Avithout 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 liiding all her 
 person excepting the throat, face, and hands. Her form was rather 
 
58 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 beneath tlian above the middle size, but so justly proportioned and 
 elegantly niade that the spectator's attention was entirely withdrawn 
 from her size. In contradiction of the extreme plainness of all the rest 
 of her attire, she wore a necklace which a duchess might have envied, 
 so large and lustrous were the brilliants of which it wa-s composed ; 
 and around her waist a zone of rubies of scarce inferior value. 
 
 "When this singular figiu-e entered the apartment, she cast her eyes on 
 Nigel, and paused, as if uncertain whither to advance or retreat. The 
 glance which she took of him seemed to be rather one of uncertainty and 
 hesitation, than of bashfulness or timidity. Aunt Judith took her by 
 tlie hand, and led her slowly forward— her dark eyes, however, continued 
 to be fixed on Nigel Avith an expression of melancholy by which he felt 
 strangely 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. 
 
 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 although Nigel's attention to the service was so much disturbed by 
 this extraordinary apparition that he looked towards her repeatedly in 
 tlie course of the service, he could never observe that her eyes or her 
 thoughts strayed so much as a single moment from the task in which 
 she was engaged. Nigel himself was less attentive, for tlie appearance 
 of this lady seemed so extraordinary, that, strictly as he had been bred 
 up by his father to pay the most reverential attention during perform- 
 ance 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. Y/hen the service was 
 concluded, and each had remained, according to the decent and edi- 
 fying 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 knee to Heriot, who seemed 
 to bless her with his hand laid on her head, and a melancholy solemnity 
 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 departure, 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 mantle as she left the apartment. 
 
 The domestics then arose and dispersed themselves — wine, and fruit, 
 and spices were ofi'ered to Lord Nigel and to the clergyman, and the 
 latter took his leave. The young lord would fain have accompanied 
 him, in hope to get some explanation of the apparition which he had 
 beheld, but he was stopped by his host, who requested to speak with 
 him in his comptino--room. 
 
 " I hope, my lord," said the citizen, " that your preparations for air 
 tending 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 all who have pretensions by birth, rank, 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. SD 
 
 or office to attend upon him. On the subsequent day he goes to Theo- 
 bald's, -where he is so much occupied 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 youn^ 
 nobleman, "yet I have little heart to do it. The friends from whom I 
 ought to have found encouragement and protection, have proved cold 
 and false — I certainly AviU not trouble them for their countenance on 
 this occasion— and yet I must confess my cliildish unwillingness to enter 
 quite alone upon so new a scene." 
 
 "It is bold of a mechanic like me to make such an otter to a noDJe- 
 man," said Heriot ; " but I must attend at Court to-morrov/. I can 
 accompany you as far as the presence-chamber, from my privilege as 
 being of the hoiLsehoId. I can facilitate your entrance, should you find 
 difficulty, and I can point out the proper manner and time of approach- 
 ing the King. But I do not know," he added, smiling, " whether these 
 little advantages will not be overbalanced by the incongiiiity of a noble- 
 man receiving them from the hands of an old smith." 
 
 " From the hands rather of the only friend I have found in London," 
 said Nigel, ottering his hand. 
 
 " Nay, if you tliink of the matter in that way," replied the honest 
 citizen, "there is no more to be said — I will come for you to-morrow, 
 witli 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 oppor- 
 tunity 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 Y.^hat remains, most truly happy shall I be in proving 
 of service to the son of my ancient patron." 
 
 The style of conversation led so far from the point which had inter- 
 ested the young nobleman's curiosity, that there was no returnmg to it 
 that night. He therefore exchanged thanks and greeting with George 
 Ueriot, and took his leave, promising to be equipped and in readi- 
 ness to embark with liim on the second successive morning at ten 
 o'clock. 
 
 Tlie generation of linkboys, celebrated by Count Anthony Hamilton, 
 as pecidiar to London, had ah'eady, in the reigii of James I., begim 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 lodgings, which, though better acquainted than formerly with tlie 
 city, they might in the dark have run some danger of missing. This 
 gave the ingenious ]\Ir jMoniplies an opportunity of gathering close up 
 to liis master, after he had gone through the form of slipping his left 
 arm into the handle 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 wliich we have had 
 in yonder old man's house, my lord," said the sapient follower, " and 
 that I ken him by report to be a just living man in many respects, and 
 a real Edinburgh gutter-blood, I should have been well pleased to have 
 Been 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 km-ily 
 
60 THE FORTUNES OP NiaEL. 
 
 treated, and now that you have filled your ravenous stomach, you are 
 railing on the good gentleman that relieved you." 
 
 " Under favour, no, my lord," said Moniplies, — " I would only like 
 to see something mair about him. I have eaten 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, brosc 
 and a bear bannock— I have drunk his wine, too." 
 
 " I see yon have," replied his master, " a great deal more than you 
 should have done." 
 
 " Under your patience, my lord," said Moniplies, " you are pleased 
 to say that, because I crushed a quart with that jolly ])oy Jenkin, as 
 they call the 'prentice boy, and that was out of mere acknowledgment 
 for his former kindness— I own that I, moreover, sung the good old song 
 of Elsie Marley, so as they never heard it chanted in their lives " 
 
 And withal (as John Bunyan says) as they went on their way he sung— 
 
 " Oh, do ye ken Elsie Marley, honey — 
 The wife that sells the barley, honey! 
 For Elsie Mai-ley's grown sae fine, — 
 She winna get up to feed the swine. — 
 Oh, do ye ken " 
 
 Here in mid-career was the songster interrupted by the stern gripe of 
 his master, who threatened to baton 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 1 
 think of that Jen Win, as they call him, I can hardly help humming 
 — ' Oh, do ye ken' — Bnt I crave your honom^'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 pretence of holding yourpeace, than when yon 
 get an unbridled license. How is it, then ^ What have you to say 
 against Master Heriot T 
 
 It seems more than probable, that in permitting this license, the 
 young lord hoped his attendant would stiunble 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 Moni- 
 plies should utter in a subdued and under- tone of voice, those spirits 
 which might otherwise have vented themselves in obstreperous song, it 
 is certain he pennitted his attendant to proceed with his story in his 
 own way. 
 
 " And therefore," said the orator, availing himself of his immunity, 
 " I would like to ken Avhat sort of a carle this Maister Heriot is. lie 
 hath supplied your lordship with walth of gold, as I can understand ; 
 and if he has, 1 make it for certain he hath had his ain end in it, accord- 
 ing to the fashion 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 — wad be glad to exchange 
 so many pounds of African dust, by whilk I understand gold, against 
 so many lair acres, and hundreds of acres, of broad Scottish land." 
 
 " 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 obliged 
 for — I think you need not have reminded me of that." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 61 
 
 " True, my lord, most true ; and, as your lordship says, open to 
 the meanest capacity, without any unnecessary expositions. Now, 
 therefore, my lord, unless Maister George Heriot has something mair 
 to allege as a motive for his liberality, vera different from the posses- 
 sion of your estate— and, moreover, as he could gain little hy the 
 3aptm-e of your body, wherefore should it not be your soul that he is in 
 Ipursuit of?" 
 
 " My soul, you rascal !" said the young lord ; " what good should my 
 soul do him /" 
 
 ' What do I ken about that ?" said Moniplies ; " tliey go about roar- 
 ing and seeking whom they may devour — doubtless, they like the food 
 that they rage so much about — and, my lord, they.say," added Moniplies, 
 drawmg up still closer to his master's side, '' they say that Master 
 Ileriot has one spirit in his house already." 
 
 "How or what do you mean V said Nigel ; "I will break your head, 
 you dninken knave, if you palter with me any longer." 
 
 "Dnmken ?" answered his trusty adherent, "and is this the story ? — 
 'why, how could I but drink your lordship's health on my bare knees, 
 I when Master Jenkin began it to me i — hang them that would not ! — 
 I would have cut the impudent knave's hams with my broadsword that 
 should make scmple of it, and so have made him kneel when he should 
 have found it difficult to rise again. But touching the spirit," he proceed- 
 ed, 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 in to 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 T 
 
 "No, indeed," answered Nigel; "some relation of the family, I 
 suppose." 
 
 " Deil a bit — deil a bit," answered Moniplies, 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 choose 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 Ohfauut, 
 "since she chooses such a time to visit her friends ?" 
 
 " For that I kenna, 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 a chance time when the Com't, which my father supplied Avith 
 
 butcher-meat, was against him. But yon divine has another airt from 
 
 powerful Master Bollock, and Mess Da\4d Black, of North Leith, and 
 
 8ic like. — Alack-a-day ! wha can ken, if it please yoiu' lordship, whether 
 
 I sic prayers as the Soutliron read out of their auld blethern black mess- 
 
 I book there may not be as powerful to invite fiends, as a red-het i)rayer 
 
 1; 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 Rasn^iel ? As to whilk story, never- 
 
62 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL, 
 
 tlicless, 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, impatiently, " we are now near 
 home, and I have permitted you to speak of this matter for once, that 
 we may have an end of your prying folly, and your idiotical supersti- 
 tions, for ever. For whom do you, or your absurd authors or informers, 
 take this lady?" 
 
 "I can say naething preceesely as to that," answered Moniplics; 
 "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 
 Maister Heriot'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 peculiar 
 family. They say she has a row of apartments of her own, anteroom, 
 parlour, and bedroom; but deil 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 day-light from entering ; and then she d^vells by torch- 
 light " 
 
 " To what purpose, if she be a spirit T said Nigel Olifaunt. 
 
 "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 Avhat 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 creature, so young and so 
 beautiful, have already habitually to contemplate her bed of last long 
 rest ?" 
 
 " In troth, I kenna, my lord," answered Moniplies ; " 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 tlu'ee-piled damask, might 
 serve a princess to rest in." 
 
 " Singular," said Nigel, whose brain, like that of most active young 
 spirits, was easily caught by the singular and the romantic ; " does she 
 not eat with the family '/" 
 
 "Who ! — she !" — exclaimed Moniplies, as if surprised at the ques- 
 tion ; " they would need a lang spoon would sup with her, I trow. 
 Always there is something put for'her into the Tower, as they call it, 
 whilk is a whigmaleery of a whirling-box, that turns round half on the 
 tae side o' the wa' half on the tother." 
 
 "I have seen the contrivance in foreign nunneries," 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," re- 
 plied the attendant ; " but it's no to be supposed she would consume it, 
 ony mair than the images of Eel and the Dragon consumed the dainty 
 vivers that were placed before them. There are stout yeomen and 
 chamber-queans in the house enow to play tlie part of Lick-it-up-a', 
 as Avell as the threescore and ten priests of Bel, besides their wives and 
 children." 
 
 " And she is never seen in the family but when the hour of prayer 
 arrives T said the master. 
 
 "Never, that I hear of," replied the servant. 
 
 " It is singular," said Nigel Olifaunt^ piusing. " Were it not for the 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIOEL. Go 
 
 ornaments which she wears, and still more for her attendance upon the 
 service of the Protestant Ohm-ch, T should 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 mihappy 
 Popish devotee, who was in the course of undergomg a dreadful pen- 
 ance. As it is, I know not what to deem of it." 
 
 His reverie was interrupted by the linkboy 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. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Ay! mark the matron -n-ell— 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 discontented murmurs 
 
 Of his poor hondraen — Even so doth Martha 
 
 Drink up, for her o-mi puii:)0se, -ill 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 
 
 For your advantage, so that you can make 
 
 Your profit jump -^Tith hers. 
 
 TJie Conspiracy. 
 
 We miLst now introduce to the reader's acquaintance anotlier character, 
 busy and important far beyond her ostensible situation in society — in 
 a word. Dame Ursula Suddlechop, wife of Benjamin Suddlechop, the 
 most renowied barber in all Fleet Street, This dame had her own 
 particular merits, the principal part of Avhich was (if her o-\\m report 
 coidd be trusted) an infinite desire to be of service to her fellow-crea- 
 tures. Leaving to her thin half-starved partner 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 flayed 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 respects to contradict itself. 
 
 Its highest and most important duties were of a very secret and 
 confidential natm-e, and Dame Ursula Suddlechop was never knoT\m to 
 betray any transaction intrusted to her, unless she had either been 
 indifierently paid for her seiTice, or tliat 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 miimpeached as that for honesty and benevo- 
 lence. 
 
 In fact, she was a most admirable matron, and could be useful to the 
 impassioned and the frail in the rise, progi-ess, and consequences of 
 their passion. She could contrive an interview for lovers who could 
 show proper reasons for meeting privately ; she could reheve the frail 
 fair one of the burden of a g\iilty passion, and perhaps establish th$ 
 
 F 
 
04 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 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 pupil of Mrs Tiu-ner, 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 
 show 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 neighbom's, and the many petty arts by which she could recom- 
 mend 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 
 plumped out, and her face somewhat colom-ed by good cheer, had a 
 joyous expression of gaiety and good-humour, which set off the remains 
 of beauty in the wane. Marriages, births, and christenings were 
 seldom thought to be performed with sufficient ceremony, for a con- 
 siderable 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 which the hospitality of 
 our ancestors assembled together on such occasions, so that her presence 
 was literally considered as indispensable in the family of all citizens of 
 ordinary rank on such joyous occasions. So much also was she sup- 
 posed to know of life and its labyiinths, that she was the willing 
 confidant of half the loving couples in the vicinity, most of Avhom used 
 to communicate their secrets to, and receive their counsels from. Dame 
 Ursley. The rich rewarded her services Avith rings, owches, or gold 
 pieces, which she liked still better ; and she very generously gave her 
 assistance to the poor, on the same mixed principles as young prac- 
 titioners in medicine assist them, partly from compassion, and partly to 
 keep her hand in use. 
 
 Dame Ursley's reputation in the city was the gi'eater that her practice 
 liad 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 degi'ee 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 be fashionable ; not to mention drags 
 of various descriptions, cliiefly for the use of the ladies, and partly by 
 other services, more or less connected with the esoteric branches of her 
 profession heretofore alluded to. 
 
 Possessing such and so many various modes of thriving. Dame Ursley 
 was nevertheless so poor, 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 Ursula was luxu- 
 rious and genial w her habits, and could no more have endured the 
 
 ( 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 65 
 
 stinted economy of Benjamin's board, than she could have reconciled 
 herself to the bald chat of his conversation. 
 
 It was on the evening of the day on which Lord Nigel Olifaimt dined 
 with the wealthy goldsmith that we must introduce Ursula Suddlechop 
 upon the stage. She had that morning made a long toiu: to West- 
 minster, was fatigued, and had assumed a certain large elbow-chair, 
 rendered smooth hy^ frequent use, placed on one side of her chimney, in 
 which there was ht a small but bright fire. Here she observed, be- 
 twixt 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, 
 wliile a httle mulatto girl watched, still more attentively, the process of 
 dressing a veal sweetbread, in a silver stewpan which ocoupied the other 
 side of the chimney. With these viands, doubtless. Dame Ursula pro- 
 posed 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 technically, the lamb's- wool, was fitted 
 for drinking, and the little dingy maiden intimated that the sweetbread 
 was ready to be eaten, the thin cracked 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 dra\7 the razor across thy windpipe, thou 
 bawling ass !" said the dame to herself, in the first moment of irrita- 
 tion, against her clamorous helpmate ; and then called aloud, — " Why, 
 what is the matter. Master Suddlechop ! I am just going to slip into 
 bed ; I have been daggled to and fro the whole day." 
 
 "Nay, sweetheart, it is not me," said the patient Benjamin, "but 
 the Scots 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 ste^v[)an, and then replied, with a 
 sigh,— "Bid Scots Jenny come up, Master Suddlechop. I shall be 
 very happy to hear what 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 Scots witch before her !" 
 
 The Scots laundress entered accordingly, and having heard nothing 
 of the last kind Avish of Dame Suddlechop, made her reverence with con- 
 siderable respect, and said her young mistress had retm-ned home un- 
 well, and wished to see her neighbour. 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 Whitehall to-day already, and 
 I am well-nigh worn off my feet, my good woman." 
 
 " Aweel !" answered Jenny, with great composm-e, " and if that sae 
 be sae, 1 maun take the langer tramp mysell, and maun gae down the 
 water-side for auld Mother Redcap, at the Hungerford Stairs, that 
 deals in comforting young creatures e'en as you do yom'sell, hinny ; for 
 aue o' ye the bairn maun see before she sleeps, and that's a' that I 
 ken on't." 
 
 So saying, the old emissary, without farther intreaty, turned on her 
 heel, and was about to retreat, when Dame Ursley exclaimed,-;-" No, 
 no— if the sweet child, your mistress, has any necessary occasion for 
 
GG THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 good advice and kind tendance, you need not go to Mother Redcap, 
 Janet. She may do very well for skippers' wives, chandlers' daughters, 
 and such like ; but nolDody 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 choppins and my cloak, and put on 
 my muffler, and cross the street to neighbour Ramsay'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 V 
 
 " In troth, not I," said the patient drudge, " unless it may be when 
 she is a wee fashions about washing her laces ; but I have been her 
 keeper since she was a bairn, neighbour Scuddlechop, 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 Scots- 
 woman ; " and to a daintier lassie she could not have bequeathed it." 
 
 " Very true, very true, mistress ; for with all her little whims, I 
 have ahvays 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 bemg 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 MacGavin's, 
 to see a friend frae Scotland. 
 
 " As was very natural, Mrs Janet," said Dame Ursley, who found 
 her interest in assenting 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 pretty JMistress 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 posset- 
 cup with the ale into Jenny's hand, and assuming her mantle with the 
 alacrity of one determined to sacrifice inclination to duty, she hid the 
 stewpan under its folds, and commanded Wilsa, the little mulatto girl, 
 to light them across the street. 
 
 "Whither away so late V 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, Gafi"er," said the dame, with most contemp- 
 tuous coolness, " I do not think you could do my errand, so I will e'en 
 keep it to myself." Benjamin was too much accustomed to his wife's 
 independent mode of conduct to pursue his inquiry further ; nor did 
 the dame tarry for father question, but inarched 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 Ursley leisure enough, while she 
 strode along with high-tucked petticoats, to imbitter it by the following 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIQEIi. 67 
 
 grumbling reflections — " I wonder what I have done tliat I must needs 
 trudge at every old beldam's bidding, and eyevj young minx's maggot ! 
 I have been marched from Temple- JJar to Whitechapel on the matter 
 of a piiunaker's wife having pricked her fingers — marry, her husband 
 that made the Aveapon might have salved the wound. — And here is this 
 fantastic ape, pretty jMistress Market, forsooth— such a beauty as I 
 could make of a dutch doll, and as fantastic, and humorous, and con- 
 ceited as if she were a duchess. I have seen her in the same day 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, cal- 
 culating 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 chuif, 
 though a fanciful — he is our landlord besides, and she has begged a late 
 day from him for our rent ; so. Grod help me, I nuist be conformable — 
 besides, the little capricious clevil is my only key to get at IMaster 
 George Ileriot's secret, and it concerns my character to find that out ; 
 and so, audiamos, as tlie lingua franca hath it." 
 
 Thus pondering, she moved forward with hasty strides until she ar- 
 rived at the watchmaker's habitation. The attendant admitted them by 
 means of a pass-key. Onward glided Dame Ursula, now in glimmer 
 and now in gioom, 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 ingenuity, either in a broken 
 or half-finished shape, the apartment of the fanciful though ingenious 
 mechanist was continually lumbered. 
 
 At length they attained, by a very narrow staircase, pretty Mistress 
 Margaret's apartment, where she, the cynosure of the eyes of every bold 
 young bachelor in Fleet Street, sat 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 dimpled 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 expiring in a small grate. She scarce turned her 
 head when Dame Ursula entered, and when the presence of that esti- 
 mable matron was more precisely announced in words by the old Scots- 
 woman, Mistress Margaret, without changing her posture, muttered 
 some sort of answer that was wholly unintelligible. 
 
 "Go your wsljs down to the kitchen with Wilsa, good Mistress 
 Jenny," said Dame Ursula, who was used to all sorts of freaks on tho 
 part of her patients or clients, whichever they might be termed ; " put 
 the stewpan and the porringer by the fireside, and go down below — I 
 must speak to my pretty love. Mistress Margaret, 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 ste^vi^an to the best ad- 
 vantage, drew herself as close as she could to her patient, and began, in 
 a low, soothing, and confidential tone of voice, to inquire what ailed 
 her pretty flower of neighbours. 
 
 "Nothing, dame," said Margaret, somewhat pettishly, and changing 
 her posture so as rather to turn her back upon the kind inquu'er. 
 
68 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 " Nothing, lady-bird ! " answered Dame Suddlechop ; " 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," said the malcontent maiden. 
 
 " And who was it, then," said tJrsula ; " for if I had not been sent 
 for, I had not been here at this time of nighty I promise you ! " 
 
 " It was the old Scotch fool, Jenny, who did it out of her own head, 
 I suppose," said Margaret, " for she has been stunning me these two 
 hours about you and Mother Redcap," 
 
 " Me and Mother Redcap ! " said Dame Ursula, " an old fool indeed, 
 that couples folks up so. — But come, come, my sweet little neighbour, 
 Jenny is no such fool after aU ; she knows young folks want more and 
 better advice than their 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 find- 
 ing out a cure." 
 
 "Nay, an ye be so wise. Mother Ursula," replied the girl, "you may 
 guess what I ail without my telling you." 
 
 "Ay, ay, child," answered the complaisant matron ; "no one can play 
 better than I at the good old game of What is my thought like 'I Now 
 I'll warrant that little head of yours is ruiming on a new head-tire a 
 foot higher than those our city dames wear— or you are all for a trip 
 to Islington or Ware, and your father is cross and will not consent—- 
 or " 
 
 " Or you are an old fool. Dame Suddlechop," said Margaret, peevishly, 
 "and must needs trouble yourself about matters you know nothing of." 
 
 "Fool as much as you will, mistress," said Dame Ursula, off"ended 
 in her tm-n, "but not so 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 Isling- 
 ton ?" 
 
 "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 midnight 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 supper 
 —I never heard you utter a cross word after you had finished your little 
 morsel. — Here, Janet, a trencher and salt for Dame Ursiila ; — and 
 what have you in that porringer, dame ! — Filthy clammy ale, as I would 
 live — Let Janet fling it out of the Avindow, or keep it for my father's 
 morning draught ; and she shall bring you the pottle of sack that was 
 'iet ready for him — good man, he will never find out the difference, for 
 ftle will wasn 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 despatch, with good ajipetite, 
 the little delicate dish which she had prepared for herself. She did 
 not, however, fail in the duties of civility^ and earnestly, but in vain, 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 69 
 
 pressed Mistress Margaret to partake her dainties. The damsel de- 
 clined the invitation. 
 
 "At least pledge me in a cup of sack," said Dame Ursula ; " I have 
 heard my grandame say, that before the gospellers came in, the old 
 Catholic father confessors and their penitents always had a cup of sack 
 together before confession ; and you are my jieniteiit." 
 
 "I shall drink no sack, I am sure," said Margaret ; "and I told you 
 before, that if you camiot find out what ails me, I shall never have the 
 heart to teUit^ 
 
 . So-STtymg^HShe turned away from Dame Ursula once more, and 
 resumed her musing postm-e, with her hand on her elbow, and her back, 
 at least one shoulder, tiuned towards her confidant. 
 
 "ISTay, then," said Dame Ursula, "I must exert my skill in good ear- 
 nest. — You must give me this pretty hand, and I will tell you by palm- 
 istry, as well as any gipsy of them all, what foot it is you halt upon." 
 
 "As if I halted upon any foot at all," said Margaret, something 
 scornfully, but yielding her left hand to Ursula, and continuiug at the 
 same time her averted position. 
 
 " I see bra\"e lines here," said Ursula, "and not ill to read neither 
 — pleasure and wealth, and merry nights and late mornings to my 
 Beauty, and such an equipage as shall shake Whitehall. Oh, have I 
 touched you there ? — and smile you now, my pretty one ? — for why 
 should not he be Lord Mayor, and go to com-t in liis gilded caroch, as 
 others have done before him V 
 
 "Lord Mayor ? pshaw !" replied Margaret. 
 
 "And why pshaw at my Lord Mayor, sweetheart ? 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 mider it, 
 hath not its match in the Ward of Farringdon-Without," 
 
 "Whom do you mean, dame ?" said Margaret, coldly. 
 
 "Whom shoidd I mean," said Dame Ursula, "but the jirince of 
 'prentices, and kmg of good company, Jenkin Vincent ?" 
 
 "Out, woman — Jenkin Vincent ? — a cloTvii— a Cockney !" exclaimed 
 the indignant damsel. 
 
 "Ay, sets the wind in that quarter. Beauty !" quoth the dame ; 
 "why, it has changed something since we spoke together last, for tlien 
 I would have sworn it blew fairer for poor Jin Vin ; and the poor lad 
 dotes on you, too, and woidd rather see your eyes than the first glimpse 
 of the sun on the great holiday on IVIay-day." 
 
 "I would my eyes had the power of the sun to blind his, then," said 
 Margaret, "to teach the drudge his place." _p 
 
 "Nay," said Dame Ursula, "there be some who say that Frank ' 
 Tunstall is as proper a lad as Jin Vin, and of sm-ety he is third cousin 
 to a knighthood, and come of a good house ; and so mayhap you may 
 be for northward ho 1" 
 
 "Maybe I may," answered Marcjaret, "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 trymg to shoe a filly that is eternally wincing 
 and shifting ground 1" 
 
70 THE FOllTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " Hear me, then," said IMargaret, " and mind what I say.-— This day 
 1 dined abroad " 
 
 " I can tell you where," answered her counsellor, — " with your god- 
 father, the rich goldsmith — 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 colouring up to the eyes. 
 
 "With old Sir IMungo Malagrowther," said the oracular dame, — 
 " he was trimmed in my Benjamin's shop in his way to the city." 
 
 " Pshaw ! the frightfid old mouldy skeleton !" said the damsel. 
 
 "Indeed you say true^ my dear," replied the confidant, — "it is a 
 shame to him to be out ot Saint Pan eras' 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," in- 
 terrupted Margaret. " I miLst speak, then. — There dined with us a 
 nobleman ^" 
 
 " A nobleman ! the maiden's mad !" said Dame Ursula. 
 
 " There dined with us, I say," continued Margaret, without regard- 
 ing the interruption, " a nobleman — a Scottish nobleman." 
 
 " Now Our Lady keep her !" said the confidant, " she is quite fran- 
 tic ! — heard ever any one of a watchmaker's daughter falling in love 
 with a nobleman — and a Scots nobleman, to make the matter complete, 
 who are all as proud as Lucifer, and as poor as Job 'I — A Scots noble- 
 man, quotha ? I had as lief you told me of a Jew pedlar. I would 
 have you think how all this is to end, pretty one, before you jump in 
 the dark." 
 
 " That is nothing to you, Ursula— it is your assistance," said Mis- 
 tress Margaret, " and not your advice, that I am desirous to have, and 
 you know I can make it worth your Avhile." 
 
 " Oh, 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 Margaret, " but our blood 
 is not so. I have heard my father say that we are descended, at a dis- 
 tance 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 ye call it, from some great house or other ; and 
 a piteous descent it often is — and as for the distance 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 tm-ning away to liide her blushes. 
 
 "Marry, Heaven forefend !" exclaimed Dame Suddlechop ; "this is 
 the very devil, and something worse !" 
 
 1 The head of the ancient and distinguished house of Kanisay, and to whom, as thcif 
 chief, the individuals of that name look as their origin and source of gentry. Ailaji 
 Ramsay, tL^ pastoral poet, in the same manner, malies 
 
 " DalhouBie, of an auld descent, 
 . My chief, aiy stoup, my ornament. " 
 
TUB FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 71 
 
 " IIow mean you ?" said tlie 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 blisters on my tongue, it rmis too fast 
 for my wit— enough to say, that you had better make voiu- bridal-bed 
 under a falling house than think of young Glenvarloch. 
 
 " He is unfortunate^ then f said Margaret ; " I knew it — I divined 
 it— there was sorrow m his voice when he said even what was gay- 
 there was a touch of misfortune in his melancholy smile — he had not 
 thus clung to my thoughts had I seen him in all the midday glare of 
 prosperity." 
 
 "Jxomauces have cracked her brain I" said Dame Ursula ; "she is 
 a castaway girl— utterly distraught — loves a Scots lord— and lilves him 
 the better for being unfortunate ! Well, mistress, I am sorry this_ is a 
 matter I cannot aid you in — it goes agahist my conscience, and it is an 
 affair above my condition, and beyond my management ; but I will 
 keep yoiu: counsel." 
 
 " You will not be so base as to desert me, after having drawn my 
 secret from me V^ said Margaret, indignantly ; "if you do, I know liow 
 to have my revenge ; and if you do not, I will reward you well. Re- 
 member the house your husband dAvells in is my father's property." 
 
 " I remember it but too well, JMistress IMargaret," said Ursula, after 
 a moment's reflection, " and I would serve you in anything in my con- 
 dition ; but to meddle with such high matters— I shall never forget 
 poor Mistress Turner,^ my honoured patroness, peace be with her ! — 
 slie had the ill-luck to meddle in the matter of Somerset and Overbmy, 
 and so the great earl and his 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 standing on the scaffold with the ruff round 
 her pretty neck, atl done up v.ith 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 their handling." 
 
 " Out, you fool !" answered Mistress Margaret ; " am I one to speak 
 to you about such criminal 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 Avill it avail 
 you, sweetheart .'—and yet I woidd do yoiu: errand, if you coidd do as 
 much for me." 
 
 " And what is it you would have of me V said Mistress Margaret. 
 
 "' Wliat you have been angry Avith me for asking before," answered 
 Dame Ursula. " I Avant to have some light about the story of your 
 godfather's ghost, that is only seen at prayers." 
 
 " Not for the Avorld," said Mistress JNlargaret, " Avill I be a spy_ on 
 my kind godfather's secrets —No, Ursula— that I will never pry into 
 Avliich he desires to keep hidden. But thou knoAvest that I have a 
 fortune of my OAvn, Avhich must at no distant day come under my own 
 management — think of some other recompense." 
 
 " Ay, that I Avell knoAv," said the counsellor—" it is that tAYO hun- 
 1 See Note G Mrs Arme Turner. 
 
72 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 dred per year, with yoiir 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 tliroat in peril, I am sure I cannot risk 
 it for a friend more generous than you ; and I would not think of more 
 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 wlmt 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 wilt learn 
 more of it ; for it will be a dim print that I will not read for your sake, 
 prett^r Mistress Margaret. Know you where this gallant dwells ?" 
 
 *' 1 heard by accident," said Margaret, 'as if ashamed of the minute 
 particularity of her memory upon such an occasion, — " he lodges, I 
 think — atone 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, Mis- 
 tress Margaret — if he bas come up a caterpillar, like some of his country- 
 men, he may cast his slough like them, and 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 commend you to your pilloy>^, my pearl of pearls, and 
 Marguerite of Marguerites ! " 
 
 So saying, she kissed the reluctant cheek of her young friend or 
 patroness, and took her departure with th^ light and stealthy pace of 
 one accustomed to accommodate her footsteps to th-e purposes of despatch 
 and secrecy. 
 
 Margaret Ramsay looked after her for some time in anxious silence. 
 " I did ill," she at length murmured, " to let her wring this out of me ; 
 Imt 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 hopeless work. For 
 what has he said to me to warrant my meddling in his fortunes ? — 
 Nothing but words of the most ordinary import — inere table-talk, and 
 terms of course. Yet who knows — " she said, and then broke off, look- 
 ing at the glass 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 Avithal. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 73 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 So pitiful a thing is suitor's state! 
 Most miserable man, wliom widicd fate 
 Hatli brouglit to Court, to sue for Had I wist, 
 That fe-w have found, and many a one hath miss'd! 
 Full little knowest thou, that hast not tried, 
 What hell it is, in sueing long to hide : 
 To lose good days that might he 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, j-et wait many years; 
 To fret thy soul with crosses and with cares — 
 To eat thy heart through comfortless despairs. 
 To fawTi, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run. 
 To spend, to give, to vrant, to be undone. 
 
 Mother HuhharcTs TaJe^ 
 
 On the morning of the day on which George Heriot had prepared to 
 escort the young Lord of Glenvarloch to the Com-t 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 uncommon care, and being enabled, 
 by the generosity of his more plel^eian countryman, to set out a very 
 handsome person to the best advantage, he obtained a momentaiy ap* 
 probation from himself as he glanced at the mirror, a loud and distinct 
 
 Elaudit from his landlady, who declared at once, that, in her judgment, 
 e 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 metaphors 
 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 cipher, 
 and the arms of his company, painted thereupon. 
 
 The young Lord of Glenvarloch received the friend, who had evincetl 
 such disinterested attachment, with the kind courtesy which well became 
 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 liimself formerly advanced to him. Nigel felt all the gratitude 
 which the citizen's disinterested friendship had deserved, and was not 
 wanting in expressing it suitably. 
 
 Yet, as the young and higli-born nobleman embarked to go to the 
 
 Sresence of his Prince, under the patronage of one whose best or most 
 istinguished qualification was his being an eminent member of the 
 Goldsmiths' Incoiiwration, he felt a little suiprised, if not al )ashed, at 
 liis OAvn situation ; 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 changed day betwixt Master Heriot and his honest father in 
 the Krremes ; — but, doubtless, there was a difference between clinking 
 on gold and silver, and clattering upon pewter." 
 On tliey glided, by the assistance of the oars of four stout watermen, 
 
74 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 along the Thames, which then served for the principal highroad betwixt 
 London and Westminster ; for few ventured on horseback through the 
 narrow and crowded streets of the city, and coaches were then a luxury 
 reserved 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 nobility descended from 
 their hotels, in many places, down to the water's edge, was pointed out 
 to Nigel by his kind conductor, and was pointed out in vain. The 
 mind ot 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 anxicty^ ot 
 those in such a situation, framing imaginary questions from the Kuig, 
 and over-toiling his spirits in devising answers to them. 
 
 His conductor saw the labour of Nigel's mind, and avoided increasing 
 it by further conversation ; so that, when he had explained to him 
 briefly the ceremonies observed at Court on such occasions of presenta- 
 tion, tlie rest of tlieir voyage was performed in silence. 
 
 Tliey landed at Whitehall Stans, and entered the Palace after an- 
 nouncing their names — the guards paying to Lord Glenvarloch tho 
 respect and honours due to his rank. 
 
 The young man's heart beat high and thick within him as he came 
 into the royal apartments. His education abroad, conducted, as it had 
 been, on a narrow and limited scale, had given him but imperfect ideaa 
 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, inefiectiial, at the moment they 
 were weighed against the impression naturally made on the mind of an 
 inexperienced youth, by the unusual magniftcence of the scene. The 
 splendid apartments through which they passed, the rich apparel of 
 the grooms, guards, and domestics in. waiting, and the ceremonial at- 
 tending their passage through the long suite of apartments, had some- 
 thing in it, trifling and commonplace as it might appear to practised 
 courtiers, embarrassing, and even alarming, to one who went through 
 these forms for the first time, and who was doubtful what sort of re- 
 ception was to accompany his first appearance before his Sovereign. 
 
 Heriot, in anxious attention to save his young friend from any 
 momentary awkwardness, had taken care to give the necessary password 
 to the warders, grooms of the chambers, ushers, or by whatever name 
 they were designated ; so they passed on without interruption. 
 
 In this manner they passed several anterooms, filled chiefly with 
 guards, attendants of the Couii;, and their acquaintances, male and 
 female, who, dressed in their best apparel^ and with eyes rounded bv 
 eager cm-iosity to make the most of then* opportunity, stood, with 
 beseeming modesty, ranked against the wall, in a manner which indi- 
 cated that they were spectators, not performers, m the comlly exhibi- 
 tion. 
 
 Through these exterior apartments, Lord Glenvarloch and his city 
 friend advanced into a large and splendid withdrawing-room, communi- 
 cating with the presence-chamber, into which anteroom were admitted 
 those only who, from birth, their posts in the state or household, or by 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 75 
 
 the particiilfir ^-ant of the King, had right to attend tlie Court, as men 
 entitled to pay their respects to their Sovereign. 
 
 Amid tliis ftivom-ed and selected company, Nigel observed Sir IMnvrgo 
 Malagrowther, who, avoided and discountenanced by those who knew 
 how low he stood in Court interest and favour, was but too happy in 
 tlie opportunity of hooking himself upon a person of Lord Glenvarloch's 
 rnnk, 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 patronising nod to George Ileriot, accompanied 
 with an aristocratic wave of the hand, which intimated at once^ superi- 
 ority and protection, he laid aside altogether the honest citizen, to 
 M'hom 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 Glenvarloch, since the absolute and somewhat constrained silence 
 of his good friend Ileriot, which left him at liberty to retii'e painfully 
 || to his own agitating reflections, was now relieved ; while, on the other 
 j hand, he could not help feeling interest in the sharp and sarcastic 
 i information poured upon him by an observant, thougli discontented 
 I courtier, to wliom a patient auditor, and he a man of title and rank, 
 : was as much a prize, as his acute and communicative disposition rendered 
 ■ him an entertainmg companion to Nigel Olifaunt. Heriot, in the 
 meantime, neglected by Sir Mungo, and avoiding every attempt by 
 which the grateful politeness of Lord Glenvarloch strove to bring him 
 , into the conversation, stood by, with a kind of half smile on his counte- 
 1 nance ; but whether excited by Sir Mungo' s wit, or arising at his 
 I expense, did not exactly appear. 
 
 I In the meantime, the trio occupied a nook of the anteroom, next to 
 
 j the door of the presence-chamber, which was not yet tlu'own open, 
 
 I when ]Maxwell, with his rod of office, came bustling into the apartment, 
 
 where most men, excepting those of liigh rank, made way for him. lie 
 
 I stopped beside the party in Avhich we are interested, looked for a moment 
 
 I at the yomig Scots nobleman, then made a slight obeisance to Heriot, 
 
 I and lastly, addressing Sir Mungo MalagTowther, began a huiTied 
 
 I complaint to him of the misbehaviour of the gentlemen-pensioners and 
 
 ' warders, who suffered all sort of citizens, suitors, and scriveners to 
 
 sneak into the outer apartments, without either respect or decency. 
 
 —"The English," he said, "were scandalized, for such a thing durst 
 
 I not be attempted in the Queen's days. In her time, there was then tlie 
 
 court-yard for the mobility, and the apartments for the nobility ; 
 
 and it reflects on your place. Sir Mungo," he 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 occa- 
 sions, 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 little better in blood and havings than themselves." 
 
 " You are right, sir— quite right," said Maxwell, putting his hand 
 on the tarnished embroidery on the old knight's sleeve ;— " when such 
 
76 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 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 embroidery, 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, having been made by your mother's father, 
 auld James Stitchell, a master-fasMoner of honest repute, in Merlin's 
 Wynd, whom I made a point to employ, as I am now happy to re- 
 member, seeing your father thought fit to intermarry with sic a person's 
 daughter." ^ 
 
 Maxwell looked stern ; 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 ridiculous, and make 
 
 Eublic a mis-alliance of which he had no reason to be proud, he covered 
 is resentment with a sneer ; and, expressing his regret that Sir Mungo 
 was become too deaf to understand 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 perform 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 
 farther with you. Fail not to present yourself boldly, according to your 
 birth, and oner your Supplication ; Avhich the Kmg will not refuse te 
 accept, c.i\d, as I hope, to consider favourably." 
 
 As he spoke, the door of the presence-chamber opened accordingly 
 and, as is usual on such occasions, the courtiers began to advance to- 
 wards it, and to enter in a slow, but continuous and uninterrupted 
 stream. 
 
 As Nigel presented himself in his turn at the entrance, and mentionea 
 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 unkno^vn to me, unless upon tlie woitl 
 of a responsible person." 
 
 "I came with Master George Heriot," said Nigel, in some embar- 
 rassment attliis unexpected interruption. 
 
 "Master Heriot' s name will pass current for much gold and silver, 
 my lord," replied Maxwell, with a civil sneer, "but not for birth ani 
 rank. I am compelled by my office to be peremptory. — The entrance 
 is impeded — I am much concerned to say it — your lordship must stand" 
 oack." 
 
 "What is the matter ?" said an old Scottish 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 Maxwell," said Sir Mungo 
 Malagrowther, "expressmg his joy to see Lord Glenvarloch at Court, 
 whose father gave hmi 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 
 1 See Note F. Sir Mungo Malagrowther. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 77 
 
 stepped still more forward, saying, — "What ! — the son of my gallant 
 old opponent, Ochtred Olifaunt ? — I will introduce him to the presence 
 myseK" 
 
 So saying, he took Nigel by the arm, without farther ceremony, and 
 was about to lead him forward, when Maxwell, still keeping his rod 
 across the door, said, but with hesitation and embarrassment, — " My 
 lord, this gentleman is not known, and I have orders to be scrupulous," 
 
 " Tutti-taiti, man," said the old lord, " I -^ill be answerable he is 
 his father's son, from the cut of his eyebrow— and tnou. Maxwell, 
 j knew' St 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 presence-room, still holding the young nobleman by the 
 arm. 
 
 " Why, I must know you, man," he said — " I must know you. I 
 knew yoiu: 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 besides, that had come down from father to son, with 
 our seal-rings, two-handed broadswords, and plate-coats, and the crests 
 on our burgonets." 
 
 " Too loud, my Lord of Huntinglen," whispered a gentleman of the 
 chambei\ — " 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 favourite courtiers, or officers 
 of the household, stood around him, to whom he addressed himself 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 readers ; 
 but there was a natural aYv'kwardness about his figine which ]3revented 
 his clothes from sitting handsomely, and the pnidence or timidity of his 
 disposition had made him adopt the custom, already noticed, of wearing 
 a dress so thickly quilted as might withstand the stroke of a dagger, 
 which added an ungainly stifihess to his whole appearance, contrasting 
 oddly with the frivolous, migraceful, and fidgeting motions with which 
 he accompanied his conversation. And yet, though the King's deport- 
 ment was very undignified, he had a maimer so kind, familiar, and good- 
 humoured, was so little apt to veil over or conceal his own foibles, and 
 had so much indulgence and sympathy for those of others, that his 
 address, joined to his learning, and a. certain proportion of shrewd 
 mother-wit, failed not to make a favoiurable impression on those who 
 approached his person. 
 
 When the Earl of Huntinglen had presented Nigel to his Sovereign, 
 a ceremony which the good peer took upon himself, the King received 
 the yomig lord very gTaciously, and observed to his introducer, that he 
 '' was fain to see them twa stand side by side ; for' I trow, my Lord 
 Huntinglen," continued he, " yom' ancestors, ay, and e'en your lord- 
 ship's self and this lad's fatner, 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 
 
78 THE FORTUNES OF NIOEL. 
 
 all the noljles that were at feud together, and made them joui hands in 
 your presence " 
 
 " I mind it weel," said the King ; " I mind it wcel — 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 gTumed as they 
 clapped hoofs together. By my saul, I thought some of them, mair 
 special the Hieland chiels, wad have broken out in our own presence ; 
 but we caused them to march hand in hand to the Cross, ourselves 
 leading the way, and there drink a blithe cup of kindness with ilk other, 
 to the stanching of feud, and pei-petuation of amity. Auld John 
 Anderson was Provost that year— the carle grat for joy, and the 
 Bailies and Councillors 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 pretermitted 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 
 amount you," he said, looking round him, " or my gTeat-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 inaudible tone, " we should 
 have had a man to our sovereign, though he were but a Scotsman." 
 
 " And now, my young springald," said the King to Lord Glenvar- 
 loch, " where have you been spending your calf-time T 
 
 " At Leyden, of late, may it please your Majesty," 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 conformably." 
 
 Then drawing himself up, couching slightly, and looking around him 
 with the conscious importance ol superior learning, while all the cour- 
 tiers who understood, or understood not, Latin, pressed eagerly forward 
 to listen, the sapient monarch prosecuted his inquiries as follows : — 
 
 " Hem ! hem ! 2alve his.quaterque salve, Gleiwarlochides noster ! 
 Niiperum7ie ah Lugduno Batavorum Britanniam rediisii /" 
 
 The young nobleman replied, bowing low — 
 
 " Imo, Rex augustissime — hiennmmfere apud Lugdunenses mora- 
 tus suon." 
 
 James proceeded — 
 
 ^'Biennium dicis? bene, hem, ophime factum est — Non unodie, quod 
 dicunt, — intelligisti, Donmu Glenvaiiochiensis ? Aha ! " 
 
 Nigel replied Iby a reverent bow, and the King, turning to those be- 
 liind him, said — 
 
 '' Adolescents quidem ingenui vultus ingenuique pudorisP Then 
 resumed his learned queries. " Et quid hodie Lugdenenses loquuntur 
 — Vossius vester nihilne novi scripsit ? — nihil certe, quod doleo, typis 
 recenter edidit." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIQEL. 79 
 
 " Valet quulem Vossius, Rex benevole,'" replied Nigel, ast sene.x 
 veneratissimus annum agit, nifallor, septuacjedmumP 
 
 " Virum, mehercle, vix tarn granda^vum crediderim,^^ replied the 
 monarch. ^' Et Vorstius iste? — Armi7iiiimprobi successor ceque ac 
 sectator — Herosne aclhuc, ict cum Homero loquar, Zaos la-ri xm iTti ^^ovi 
 
 Nigel, by good fortune, remembered that Vorstius, 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 Avhich the 
 King had taken so deep an interest, as at length to hmt in his public 
 correspondence with the United States that they would do well to ap- 
 ply the secular arm to stop the progress of heresy by violent measures 
 against the Professor's person — a demand which their Mighty Mighti- 
 nesses' principles of universal toleration induced them to elude, though 
 i with some difficulty. Knowing all this. Lord Glenvarloch, though a 
 I corn-tier of only five-minutes' standing, had address enough, to reply — 
 li " Vivum quidem, haucl diu est, hominem videbam — vigere autem 
 \ quis dicat qui sub fidminibus eloqueiitice tuce, Rex magne,jamdu~ 
 dum promts jacet, et prostratusV'^ 
 
 This last tribute to his polemical powers completed James's happi- 
 ness, which the trimnph of exhibiting his erudition had already raised 
 to a considerable height. 
 
 He rubbed his hands, snapped his fingers, fidgeted, chuckled, e^- 
 claimed— " i!i'^i^e / belle! optimeP^ and tiurning to the Bishops of Exe- 
 ter and Oxford, who stood behind him, he said — "Ye see, my lords, no 
 bad specimen of our Scottish Latinity, with which language we would all 
 ovir subjects of England were as well imbued as this, and other youths 
 of honourable birth, in our auld kingdom ; also, Ave keep the genuine 
 and Roman pronunciation, like other learned nations on the continent, 
 sae that we hold commmiing with any scholar in the universe Avho can 
 but speak the Latin tongue ; whereas ye, om- learned subjects of Eng- 
 land, have introduced into your universities, otherwise most learned, a 
 fashion of pronouncing like mito the ' nippit foot and clippit foot ' oi 
 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 the earth 
 saving yourselves ; whereby Latin, quoad Anglos, ceaseth to be com- 
 munis lingua, the general dragoman, or interpreter between all the wise 
 men of the earth." 
 
 The Bishop of Exeter boAved, as in acquiescence to the royal censiure ; 
 ibut he of Oxford stood upright, as mindful over v/hat subjects his see 
 lextended, and as being equally Avilling to become food for fagots in de- 
 jfence of the Latinity of the university, as for any article of his religious 
 
 IjCreed. 
 I The King, without awaiting an answer from either prelate, proceeded 
 |to question Lord Nigel, but in the vernacular tongue, — "Weel, my 
 likely Almunus of the Muses, and what make you so far from the 
 north ]" 
 
 1 Lest any lady or gentleman should suspect there is aught of mystery concealed 
 'under the sentences printed in Italics, tl\ey will be pleased to understand that they 
 icontain only a few commonplace Latin phrases, relating to the state of letters iu Hot« 
 iland, which neither deserve, nor would endure, a litertU translation. 
 
 G 
 
80 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 "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 King James 
 more, but could (setting apart the fright) hardly have been more uu- 
 pleasing to his indolent disposition. 
 
 "And is it even so, man i" said he ; "and can no single man, were 
 it but for the rarity of the case, ever come up frae Scotland, excepting 
 ex proposito— on set purpose, to see what he can make out of his lov- 
 ing Sovereign 1 It is but three days syne that we had well-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 noAV 
 we are beset by the like inpediment in om- very Court. To our Secre- 
 taiy with tliat gear, my lord— to our Secretary with that gear." 
 
 "I have already oflered my humble Supplication to your Majesty's 
 Secretary of State," said Lord Glenvarloch — " but it seems " 
 
 "That he would not receive it, I warrant ?" said the King, inter- 
 rupting him ; by my saul, our Secretary kens that point of king-craft 
 called refusing better than we do, and mil look at nothing 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 tm-n your neb nortn- 
 ward as soon as ye like, and settle yoursell for a while at Saint Andrews, 
 and we will be right glad to hear that you prosper in yom: studies. — 
 Incumbite remisfortiterr 
 
 While the King spoke, he held the petition of the young lord, care- 
 lessly, like one who only delayed till the supplicant's back was tiu-ned, 
 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 mdifferent looks, and in the 
 manner 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 Huntinglen, who stood by 
 him, checked his intention by an almost inperceptible touch upon the 
 skirt of his cloak, and Nigel, taking the hint, retreated only a few steps 
 from the royal presence, and then made a pause. In the meantime, 
 Lordlluntinglen kneeled before James, in his turn, and said — " JMay it 
 please your Majesty to remember, 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 lUithven's 
 fangs from about our royal throat, and drove your dirk into him like a 
 true subject. We did then, as you remind us (wliilk Avas 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 menseful possession of om* royal faculties, we did confirm, restrictive 
 always and conditionaliter, that your lordship's demand should be such 
 as we, in our royal discretion, should think reasonable." 
 
 " 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 ?" 
 
 1 See Note H. Lord Euntingkn. 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 81 
 
 " J3y my word, man, no !" said the King ; " I camiot remember you 
 have asked much for yourself ^il" it be not a dog, or a hawk, or a buck 
 out of our park at Theobald's, or such like. But to what serA'es this 
 preface ?" 
 
 " To the .boon which I am now to ask of your Grace," said Lord 
 Huntuigien ; "which is, that your Majesty would be pleased, on the 
 instant, to look at the iilacet of Lord Glenvarloch, and do upon it what 
 your own just and royal natm'e shall thirds meet and just, withoui xe- 
 ference to your Secretary or any other of yovu- Council." 
 
 ■'By my saul, my lord, this is strange," said the King; "ye are 
 pleading for the son of your enemy !" 
 
 " Of one who was my enemy till your Majesty made liim my friend," 
 answered Lord Hmitinglen, 
 
 " Weel spoken, my lord !" said the King ; " and Avith a true Chris- 
 tian spirit. And, respecting the Supplication of this young man, I partly 
 guess Avhere 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 yoiu- own son, 
 my lurd ; and so, methinks, he had better go down to Scotland before 
 he comes to ill luck by them," 
 
 ' My son, an it please yom- Majesty, so far as he is concerned, shall 
 inot direct my doings," said the Earl, " nor any wild-headed young man 
 of them all." 
 
 " Why, neither shall they mine," replied the ]\Ionarch ; " by my 
 ifather's saul, none of them all shall play Rex with me — I "will do -what 
 I will, and what I ought, like a free Kuig." 
 
 ' Your Majesty will then gi-ant me my boon ?" said the Lord Hunt- 
 dnglen. 
 
 " 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 Hmitinglen, with rather a hurried step, tlu-ougli the 
 3ourtiers, all of whom gazed earnestly on this unwonted scene, as is the 
 fashion of all com'ts on similar occasions. The King passed into a little 
 cabinet, and bade, in the fii'st moment. Lord Iluntinglen lock or bar 
 'the door ; but countermanded his du'ection in the next, saying, — " No, 
 |iio, no — bread o' life man, I am a free King — will do what I will and 
 jivhat I should — I om. Justus et tenax propositi^ man — nevertheless, keep 
 jy the door. Lord Huntinglen, in case Steenie should come in with Ids 
 :nad himiour." 
 
 " Oh, my poor master !" groaned the Earl of Iluntinglen. "When 
 ■>rou were in yom- own cold coimtry, you had warmer blood in yom: 
 /eins." 
 
 The King hastily looked over the petition or memorial, every now 
 ind then glancing his eye towards the door, and then sinlcing it hastily 
 )n the paper, ashamed that Lord Himtinglen, whom he respected, 
 should suspect him of timidity. 
 
 " To grant the truth," he said, after he had finished his hasty per- 
 |isal, " tliis 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 Avants pay- 
 aient of the siller due from us, in order to reclaim liis paternal estate 'i 
 [But then, Huntinglen, the lad will have other debts— and why burden 
 
82 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 I 
 
 liimsell with sae moiiy acres of barren woodland ? let the land gang, 
 man, let the land gang ; Steenie has the promise of it from our Scot- 
 tish Cliancellor — it is the best hunting-ground in Scotland — and Baby 
 Charles and Steenie 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 youug man plack and bawbee, and he may have the spend- 
 ing of it at our Court ; or, if he has such an eard hunger, wouns ! man, 
 we'll stuff his stomach with English land, which is worth twice as much, 
 ay, ten times as much, as these accursed liills 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 uncertainty, which was made more ridiculous by his 
 shambling circular mode of managing his legs, and his ungainly fashion 
 on such occasions of fiddling with the bunches of ribbons which fastened 
 the lower part of his dress. 
 
 Lord Huntinglen listened with great composure, and answered, " An 
 it please your Majesty, there was an answer yielded by Naboth Avhen 
 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 
 mounteil 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 nian ; and, since your lorilship will give me no help to take 
 lip this man in a more peaceful manner — whilk, methinks, would be 
 better for the young man, as I said before, — why— since it maun be so — 
 'sdcath, I am a free King, man, and he shall have his money, and re- 
 deem his land, and make a kirk and a miln of it, an he will." So 
 Kay'ng, he hastily wrote an order on the Scottish Exchequer for the 
 sum in question, and then added, " How they are to pay it, I see not ; 
 but I warrant he will find money on the order among the goldsmiths, 
 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 favourites 
 and counsellors at their pleasure. I think you will grant now that I 
 am none of those V 
 
 " 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 ov/n heart." 
 
 "Ay, ay," said the King, laughing good-naturedly, as he raised his 
 faithful servant from the ground, " that is Avhat ye all say when I do 
 anything to please ye. There — there, take the sign-manual, 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, forseeing a seene at 
 which he was unwilling to be present, but Avhich sometimes occurred 
 when James roused himself so far as to exert his own free-will, of which 
 he boasted so much, in spite of that of his imperious favourite Steenie, 
 as he called the Duke of Buckingham, from a supposed resemblance 
 betwixt his very handsome countenance, and that with which the Italian 
 artists represented the protomartyr Stephen. In fact, the haughty 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 8.1 
 
 favourite, who had the imusual good foiiime to stand as high in tlie 
 opinion of the heir-apparent as of the existing monarch, had consider - 
 aoly diminished in his respect towards the hotter ; and it Avas apparent, 
 to the more shrewd courtiers, that James endured liis domination 
 rather from habit, timidity, and a dread of encountering his stormy 
 i passions, than from any heartfelt continuation of regard towards him, 
 I whose greatness had been the work of his oaa^i 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 humiliation whicli the 
 i presence of such a witness nuist have occasioned, the Earl left the 
 |ca])inet as speedily as possible, having first carefully pocketed the im- 
 ) portant sign-manual. 
 
 ' No sooner had he entered the presence-room than he hastily sought 
 ; Lord Glenvarloch, who had withdrawn into the embrasure 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 cmiosity, and, 
 taking him by the arm, without speaking, led him out of the presence- 
 chamber into the first anteroom. Here they found the worthy gold- 
 i smith, who approached tliem with looks of curiosity, which were check- 
 ed by the old lord, who said hastily, " All is well. — Is your barge in 
 waitnig ?" Heriot answered in the afiirmative. " Then," said Lord 
 liuntinglen, "you shall give me a cast in it, as the Avatermen say, and 
 I, in requital, will give you both your dinner ; for we nmst have some 
 ; conversation together." 
 
 ' They both followed the Earl without speaking, and were in the 
 , second anteroom when the important annunciation of the ushers, and 
 the hasty murmur with which all made ample way as the company re- 
 ! peated to each other, — " The Duke— the Duke !" made them aware of 
 '• the approach of the omnipotent favom-ite. 
 
 I He entered, that mihappy minion of court favom*, sumptuously 
 ^ dressed in the picturesque attire which will live for ever on the canvass 
 i of Vandyke, and which marks so well the proud age, Avhen aristocracy. 
 I though undermined and nodding to its fall, still, by external show ana 
 ! profuse expense, endeavom-ed to assert its paramount superiority over 
 !the inferior orders. The handsome and cummanding countenance, 
 ' stately form, and graceful action and manners of the Duke of Buck- 
 ingham, made him become that picturesque dress beyond any man of 
 liis 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 aff'ected no 
 extraordinary haste on the occasion, with his companions, who could 
 not, if they would, have decently left him, remained as it were by 
 themselves in the middle of the room, and in the very path of the angiy 
 favourite. He touched his cap sternly as he looked on Hmitingien, but 
 unbonneted to Heriot, and sunk his beaver, with its shadowy plume, 
 as low as the floor, with a profound air of mock respect. In retm-ning 
 ! his gi-eeting, which he did simply and unaffectedly, the citizen only 
 said, — " Too much courtesy, my lord duke, is often the reverse of kind- 
 |i nessk" 
 
84 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " I giievQ joii should think so, Master Heriot," answered the Duke ; 
 " I only meant, by my homage, to claim your protection, sir— your 
 patronage. You are become, I understand, a solicitor of suits— a pro- 
 moter—an undertaker— a fautor of court suitors of merit and quality, 
 wlio chance to be pennyless. I trust your bags will bear you out in 
 your new boast." 
 
 " TJicy will bear me the farther, my lord duke," answered the gold- 
 smith, "that my boast is but small." 
 
 "Oh, you do yom-self less than justice, my good Master Heriot," con- 
 tinued the Duke, in the same tone of irony ; "you have a marvellous 
 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 hon- 
 oured and advantaged by your patronage." 
 
 "Tliat shall ho' my task," said Lord Huntinglen, with emphasis. 
 " My lord duke, I desire you to know Nigel Olifaunt, Lord Glenvar- 
 loch, representative of one of the most ancient and powerful baronial 
 liouses 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." 
 
 Tlie Duke coloured still more high as he bowed 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 tlie young 
 nobleman whicli merited more serious notice than the bitter raillery 
 with which he commenced — "we know each other — and you know me, 
 my lord, for yoiu- enemy." ^ 
 
 " I thank you for your plainness, my lord duke," replied Nigel ; 
 "an open enemy is better than a hollow friend." 
 
 "For you, my Lord Huntinglen," said the Duke, "methinks you 
 have but now overstepped the limits of the indulgence permitted to you, 
 as the father of the Prince's friend, and my own," 
 
 " By my word, my lord duke," replied the Earl, " it is easy for any 
 one to outstep boundaries, of the existence of which he was not aware. 
 It is neither to secure my protection nor approbation that my son 
 keeps such exalted company." 
 
 "Oh 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 careless and scornful toss of the head. They 
 parted thus ; the Duke walking onwards tlirough the apartments, and 
 the others leaving the palace and repairing to Whitehall stairs, where 
 they embarked on board the barge of the citizen. 
 
 I See Note L Buckingham. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIQEL. 86 
 
 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 brinim'd wine-cnp. 
 
 These are the arts, Lothario, which shrink acres 
 
 Into brief yards — bring sterling pounds to farthings, 
 
 Credit to infamy ; and the poor gull, __y^ 
 
 Who might have lived an honour'd, easy life, ^""""^^ 
 
 To ruin, and an unregarded grave. 
 
 The. Chat 
 
 When tliey were fairly embarked on the Thames, the Earl took from 
 his pocket the Supplication, and, pointing out to George Ileriot the 
 royal warrant indorsed thereon, asked him, if it were in due and regular 
 form ? The worthy citizen hastily read it over, tlmist forth his hand 
 as if to congratulate the Lord Glenvarloch, then checked himself, pulled 
 out his barnacles (a present from old David Ramsay), and again per- 
 used the warrant with the most business-like and critical attention. 
 "It is strictly correct and formal," he said, looking to the Earl of 
 J Huntinglen ; " and I sincerely rejoice at it." 
 
 |: " I doubt nothing of its fomality," said the Earl ; '^ the King under- 
 I stands business well, and, if he does not practise it often, it is only 
 I because indolence obscures parts which are naturally well quaUfied for 
 the discharge of affairs. But what is next to be done for our young 
 ji friend. Master Heriot i You know how I am circumstanced. Scottish 
 - lords living at the English Cem-t have seldom command of money ; yet 
 ! imless a sum can be presently raised on this warrant, matters standing 
 ; as you hastily liinted to me, the mortgage, wadset, or whatever it is 
 I called, will be foreclosed." 
 
 " It is true," said Heriot, in some embarrassment ; "there is a large 
 sum wanted in redemption — yet, if it is not raised, there mil 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 up my cause so un- 
 deservedly, so unexpectedly," said Nigel, "do not let me be a bm-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 me puzzle this scent out. He is about to open — liark 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 Bucking- 
 ham, he is a Peg-a- Ramsay — 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 honour that it can. But then, in order 
 to secure the lender, he must come in the shoes of the creditor to wliom 
 he advances payment." 
 
86 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " Come in his shoes !" replied the Earl ; " Why, what have boots or 
 shoes to do with this matter, my good friend ?" 
 
 " It is a law phrase, my lord. My experience has made me pick up 
 a few of them," said Heriot. 
 
 " Ay, and of better things along with them, Master George," replied 
 Lord Himtingien ; " but what means it ?" 
 
 " Simply this," resumed the citizen ; that the lender of this money 
 will transact with the holder of the mortgage, or wadset, over the estate 
 of Glenvarloch, and obtain from him such a conveyance to his riglit as 
 shall leave the lands pledged for the debt, in case the warrant upon the 
 Scottish Exchequer should prove unproductive. I fear, in this un- 
 certainty of public credit, that, without some such counter-security, it 
 wiir«be very difficult to find so large 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 mortgage." 
 
 The citizen laughed. "I will engage," he said, "that the keenest 
 sportsman to v\^hom I may apply on this occasion shall not have a 
 thought beyond the Lord IMayor's Easter-hunt, in Epping-Forest. 
 But your Lordship's caution is reasonable. The creditor must be bound 
 to allow Lord Glenvarloch sufficient time to redeem his estate by means 
 of the royal warrant, and must waive in his favour the right of instant 
 foreclosure, 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. " II my old friend Sir John Skene of Halyards 
 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 dra\7 deeds Doth after the English and Scottish 
 fashion, and I have ti'usted him often in matters of weight and of im- 
 portance. 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 lordship readily assented ; and, as they 
 now landed upon the private stairs leading down to the river from the 
 gardens of the handsome hotel which he inhabited, the messenger was 
 despatched without loss of time. 
 
 In igel, who had sat almost stupified while these zealous friends volun- 
 teered for him in arranging the measures by Avhich his fortune was to 
 be disembarrassed, now made another eager attempt to force upon them 
 liis broken expressions of thanks and gratitude. But he was again 
 silenced by Lord Huntinglen, who declared he would not hear a word 
 on that topic, and proposed instead that they shoidd take a turn in 
 the pleached alley, or sit upon the stone bench which overlooked the 
 Thames, until his son's arrival should give the signal for dimier. 
 
 " 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 
 
I THE FORTUNES OE NIQEL. 87 
 
 miles betwixt tlie castles, and the turrets of the one are visible from the 
 battlements of the other." 
 
 The old Earl was silent for a moment, and appeared to muse upon 
 the recollections which the vicinity of the castles had summoned up. 
 
 " Does Lord Dalgarno follow the Com-t to Newmarket next week ]" 
 said Heriot, by way of removing the conversation. 
 
 " He proposes so, I think," ans^vered Lord Iluntinglen, relapsed into 
 his reverie for a minute or two, and then addressed Nigel somewhat 
 abruptly — 
 
 " My 3^oung friend, when you attain possession of your inheritance, 
 as I hope you soon will, I trust you will not add one to the idle follow- 
 ers of the Court, but reside on your patrimonial estate, cherish your 
 ancient tenants, relieve and assist your poor kinsmen, protect the poor 
 against subaltern oppression, and do what our fathers used to do, ^vith 
 fewer lights and with less means than we have." 
 
 " And yet the advice to keep the country," said Heriot, " comes from 
 an ancient and constant ornament of the Court." 
 
 " From an okl courtier, indeed," said the Earl, "and the first of my 
 family that could" so write himself— my gTay beard falls on a cambric 
 ruff, and a silken doublet — ^my father's descended upon a buff coat and 
 a breastplate. 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 amongst 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 will be where you desire to be — what is there to prevent you i" 
 
 " ilabits, I\Laster George, habits," replied the Earl, " which to young 
 men are like tlu-eads of silk, so lightly are they worn, so soon broken ; 
 but which hang on oiu: old limbs as if time had stiffened them into 
 gyv'es 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 myself to leave 
 my old jMaster, to wdiom I fancy myself sometimes useful, and wliose 
 weal and woe 1 have shared for so many years. But Dalgarno sliall be 
 a Scottish noble." 
 
 " Has he visited the North ?" said Heriot. 
 
 " He was there last year, and made such a report of the country 
 that the Prince has expressed a longing to see it." 
 
 " Lord Dalgarno is in high gTace with his Highness and the Duke 
 of Buckingham ]" observed 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, aiid 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^m, may perchance be corrected 
 by the society in which he moves. — See, here he comes." 
 
 Lord Dalgarno accordingly advanced from the fui'ther end of the 
 
88 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 alley to the bench on -which liis father and his guests were seated, so 
 that Nigel had Ml leisure to peruse his coimtenance and figure. lie 
 was dressed point-device, and almost to extremity, in the splendid 
 fasliion of the time, which suited well with his age, probably about five- 
 and-twenty, with a noble form and fine countenance, in which last could 
 easily be traced the manly features of his father, but softened by a 
 more liabitual air of assiduous courtesy than the stubborn 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 forward impetuosity ; and so far his father had 
 justly freed him from the marked faults Avhich he ascribed to the man- 
 ners of the Prince and his favourite Buckingham. 
 
 While the old Earl presented his young acquaintance Lord Glenvar- 
 loch to his son, as one whom he would have him love and honour, Nigel 
 marked the countenance of Lord Dal^arno closely, to see if he coidd 
 detect aught of that secret dislike which the King had, in one of Iris 
 broken expostulations, seemed to intimate, as arising from a clasliing 
 of interests betwixt his new friend and the gi-eat Buckingham. But 
 nothing of this was visible ; on the contrary. Lord Dalgarno received 
 his new acquaintance with the open frankness and courtesy which 
 makes conquest at once, when addressed to the feelings of an ingenuous 
 young man. 
 
 It need hardly be told that his open and friendly address met equally 
 ready and cheerfid acceptation from Nigel Olifaunt. For many months, 
 and while a youth not much above two-and-twenty, he had been re- 
 strained by circumstances from the conversation of his equals. When, 
 on his father's sudden death, he left the Low Countries for Scotland, 
 he had found himself involved, to all appearance inextricably, with the 
 details of the law, all of which threatened to end in the alienation of 
 the patrimony which should support his hereditary rank. His term of 
 sincere mourning, joined to injured pride, and the swelling of the heart 
 under unexpected and undeserved misfortune, together with the un- 
 cei-tainty attending the issue of his aflfairs, had induced the young Lord 
 of Glenvarloch to live, while in Scotland, in a very private and reserved 
 manner. How he had passed his time in London the reader is ac- 
 quainted with. But tliis melancholy and secluded course of life was 
 neither agreeable to his age nor to his temper, 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, 
 ^vhen he had exchanged with Lord Dalgarno some of those words and 
 signals by which, as surely as by those of free-masonry, young people 
 recognise a mutual wish to be agreeable to each other, it seemed as if the 
 two noblemen had been acquainted for some time. 
 
 Just as this tacit intercourse had been established, one of Lord Hunt- 
 inglen's attendants came down the alley, marshalling onwards a man 
 dressed in black buckram, who followed him with tolerable speed, con- 
 sidering 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 re- 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIQEL. 89 
 
 tained the keen appetite and impatience of a Scottish Baron even during 
 a long alienation from his native country ; " and why does John Cook, 
 with a murrain to him, keep hack dinner T 
 
 " I believe we are ourselves responsible for this person's intrusion," 
 isaid George Heriot ; " this is the scrivener whom we desired to see. — 
 Look up, man, and see us in the face as an honest man should, instead 
 jof bearing thy noddle charged against us thus like a battering-ram." 
 
 The scrivener did look up accordingly, with the action of an auto- 
 maton which suddenly obeys the impulse of a pressed spring. But, 
 trange to tell, not even the haste he nad made to attend his patron's 
 Imandate, a business, as Master Heriot's message expressed, of weight 
 and importance — nay, not even the state of depression in which, out of 
 isheer humility, doubtless, he had his head stooped to the earth, from 
 ;the moment he had trod the demesnes of the Earl of Huntinglen, 
 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 
 las before ; nay, what seemed stranger, his very hair, when he raised 
 ills head, hung down on either cheek as straight and sleek and undis- 
 turbed as it was when we first introduced him to om' readers, seated at 
 his quiet and humble desk. 
 
 Lord Dalgarno could not forbear a stifled laugh at the ridiculous and 
 pm'itanical fiOTre 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 hlack, thou cream-faced loon, 
 Where got'st thou that goose-look ? " 
 
 Nigel was too little acquainted with the English stage, to understand 
 a quotation which had already gi'o-uTi matter of common allusion in 
 London. Lord Dalgarno saw that he was not understood, and con- 
 itinued, " That fellow, by his visage, should either be a saint, or a most 
 hypocritical rogue — and such is my excellent opinion of human natm-e 
 I always suspect the worst. But thev seem deep in business. Will that 
 you take a turn with me in the garden, my lord, or will you remain a 
 member of the serious conclave V 
 
 'With you, my lord, most willingly," said Nigel ; and they were 
 turning away accordingly, when George Heriot, with the formality be- 
 longing to his station, observed, that, "as their business 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 
 nothing the better for cumbering you with my ignorance in these 
 matters ; and can only say at the end, as I noAv 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 shall better learn by a brief explana- 
 tion from Master Heriot, if he will bestow so much trouble in my behalf, 
 than by a thousand learned words and laAV terms from this person of 
 skill." 
 
90 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " He is right," said Lord Himtinglen ; " our young friend is right — 
 in confiding these matters to you and me, Master George Heriot, he 
 not has 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 Avell 
 and truly says — but nevertheless, he is not in the right path ; for it be 
 hoves every man to become acquainted with his own aftairs, so soon as 
 he hath any that are worth attending to." 
 
 When he had made this observation, they applied tliemselves 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 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 reim- 
 bursement from the Scottish Exchequer, or otherwise. It is needless 
 to enter into those details. But it is not unimportant to mention, as 
 an illustration of character, that Heriot went into the most minute 
 legal details with a precision which showed that experience had made 
 liim 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 business to pass over until he had attained a 
 general but distinct idea of its import and its propriety. 
 
 They seemed to be admirably seconded in their benevolent inten- 
 tions 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 Avere moreover agitated in his presence 
 betweeii an actual earl, and one whose wealth and character niiglit 
 entitle him to be alderinan of his ward, if not to be lord mayor, in his 
 turn. 
 
 While they v.^ere 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 instructions, and 
 that all was rightly weighed and considered before dismissing him to 
 engross the necessary deeds, the two young men walked together 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 attending a court life ; and 
 Lord Dalgarno expressed much surprise at understanding that Nigel 
 proposed an instant return to Scotland. 
 
 '' You are jesting with me," he said. "All the Court rings — it is 
 needless to mince it — with the 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, Avho is this young Scottish lord who has stepped so far 
 in a single day i 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 oatmeal cakes, l)aked 
 upon a peat-fire, have your hand shaken by every loon of a blue-bonnet 
 
THE FORTU^^ES OF NIGEL. 91 
 
 who chooses to dub you cousin, though yoiu' relationship 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 Avorthy lord." 
 
 There is no great gaiety in the prospect before me, I confess," said 
 Lead Gienvarloch, " even if your father and good Master Heriot should 
 
 j succeed in putting my affairs on some footing of plausible hope. And 
 yet I trust to do something for 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 Providence." 
 
 i Lord Dalgamo, after having once or twice stilled 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 sympathy swept Nigel 
 along with him, and, despite of himself, he coidd not forbear to join in 
 abm-st of laughter, 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 V Lord Dalgarno only 
 
 1 answered him with redoubled peals of laughter, and at length held by 
 
 \ Lord Gienvarloch' s cloak, as if to prevent his falling down on the ground, 
 
 I in the extremity of his convulsion. 
 
 I At length, wiiile Nigel stood half abashed, half angry, at becoming 
 thus the subject of his new acquaintance's ridicule, and was only re- 
 strained from expressing liis resentment against the son by a sense of 
 
 I the obligations he owed the father. Lord Dalgarno recovered himself, 
 
 land spoke in a half-broken voice, his eyes still running with tears. " I 
 
 'crave your pardon, my dear Lord Gienvarloch — ten thousand times do 
 
 III crave your pardon. But that last pictm-e of rm-al dignity, accom- 
 panied by yom* gi'ave and angry sm-prise at my laughing at what would 
 have made any court-bred hound laugh, that had but so much as bayed 
 the moon once from the com't-yard at Whitehall, totally overcame mc. 
 AVhy, 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 yoiu' fii'st starting as makes your farther progress scarce 
 matter of doul^t, if you know how to improve it — for the King has 
 already said you are a ' braw lad, and well studied in the more humane let- 
 
 I ters' — you, too, whom all the women, and the very marked beauties of the 
 court, desh-e to see, because you came from Leyden, were born in Scot- 
 land, and have gained a hard-contested suit in Engiand-^you, I say, 
 with a person like a prince, an eye of fire, and a Avit as quick, to think 
 of throwing your cards on the table when the game is in yoiu' veiy hand, 
 limning back to the frozen north, and marrying— let me see — a tall, 
 stalking, blue-eyed, fair-skinned, bony wench, with eighteen quarters 
 in her scutcheon, a sort of Lot's wife, newly descended from her pedes- 
 tal, and with her to shut yourself up in your tapestried chamber ! >\XJh, 
 
 I gad ! — Swouns, I shall never sm*vive the idea ! " 
 
 ; It is seldom that youth, however liigh-minded, is able, from mere 
 
 fstrength of character and principle, to support itself against the force of 
 
 Jridicme. Half angry, half mortified, and, to say truth, half ashamed 
 
92 THE FOllTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 of his more manly and better pm-pose, Nigel was unable, and flattered 
 himself it was unnecessaiy, to play the part of a rigid moral patriot, in 
 presence of a young man whose current lluency of lan^iage, as well as 
 his experience in the highest circles of society, gave liim, in spite of 
 Nigel's better and firmer thoughts, a temporary ascendancy over him. 
 He sought, therefore, to compromise the matter, and avoid fm-ther 
 debate, by frankly owning, that, if to retm-n to his own country were 
 not his choice, it was at least a matter of necessity. " His afiairs," 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 Com-t ?" said 
 Lord Dalgarno ; " all are either losing or winning. Those who have 
 wealth, come hither to get rid of it, while the happy gallants who, like 
 vou 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 Nigel, " 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 o\m ; 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 DaJgamo. " But, 
 Lord ! that you should have g.one to a Avealthy goldsmith for your habit 
 — why, I could have brought you to an honest, confiding tailor, who 
 should have fiurnished 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 piu-se 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 lord," said Nigel, his dis- 
 pleasm-e mastering his shame ; " were I to attend the Com-t of my Sove- 
 reign, it shoidd be when I could maintain, without shifting or borrowing, 
 the dress and retinue which my rank requires." 
 
 " Which my rank requires !" said Lord Dalgarno, 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, followed by a round score of 
 old blue-bottles, with white heads and red noses, with bucklers and 
 broadswords, which their hands, trembling betwixt age and strong wa- 
 ters, can make no use of — as many huge silver badges on their arms, to 
 show whose fools they are, as would furnish forth a com-t cupboard of 
 plate — rogues fit for nothing but to fiJl our antechambers with the fla- 
 vour of onions and genievre — pah ! " 
 
 " The poor knaves ! " said Lord Grlenvarloch ; "they have served your 
 father, it may be, in the wars. What woidd become of them were he 
 to tmn them off" ! " 
 
 " Why, let them go to the hospital," said Dalgarno, " or to the bridge- 
 end, to sell switches. The Kmg is a better man than my father, and 
 you see those who have served in his wars do so every day ; or, when 
 their blue coats were well worn out, they woidd make rare scarecrows. 
 Here is a fellow, now, comes down the walk ; the stoutest raven dai-ed 
 not come within a vard of that copper nose. I tell you, there is more 
 service, as you will soon see, in my valet of the chamber, and such a 
 lither lad as my page Lutin, than there is in a score of these old memo- 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 93 
 
 rials of the Douglas Wars,^ where they cut each other's throats for the 
 chance of finding twelve pennies Scots on the person of tlie slain. 
 Marry, my lord, to make amends, they will eat mouldy victuals, and 
 drink stale ale, as if their bellies were puncheons — But the dinner-bell 
 is gouig to sound — hark, it is clearing its rusty throat with a prelimi- 
 naiy jowl. That is another clamorous relic ot antiquity, that, Avere I 
 master, should soon be at the bottom of the Thames. How the foul 
 fiend can it interest the peasants and mechanics 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 grace, or we shall be in dis- 
 gi'ace, 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 saucers abroad, I mn ashamed you should witness om- larded ca- 
 pons, om- mountains of beef, and oceans of brewis, as large as Highland 
 hills and lochs ; but you shall see better cheer to-moiTOw. Where lodge 
 you i I Avill call for you. I must be your guide thi'ough the peopled 
 desert to certain enchanted lands, which you will scarce discover Avitli- 
 out chart and pilot. Where lodge you ?" 
 
 "I mil meet you in Paul's," said Nigel, a good deal embarrassed, 
 "at any horn- you please to name." 
 
 "Oh, 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 gi'oau not under it." 
 
 They had indeed arrived in the diiiing-parlour of the mansion, where 
 the table was superabimdantly loaded, and where the number of at- 
 tendants, to a certain extent, vindicated the sarcasms of the young 
 nobleman. The chaplain and Sir IMungo MalagroAvther Avere of the 
 
 Earty. The latter complimented Lord Glenvarloch upon the impression 
 e 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 fire- 
 brand of wliilk Althea was delivered, and that she had lain-in in a barrel 
 of gunpowder ; for the King, and the Prince, and the Duke, have been 
 by the lugs about ye, and so have many more, that kendua before this 
 blessed day that there Aras such a man living on the face of the earth." 
 "Mind your victuals, Sir Mmigo," said the Earl; "they get cold 
 while you talk." 
 
 "Troth, and that needsna, my lord," said the Knight ; "your lord- 
 ship's dinners seldom scald one's mouth — the sersing-men are turning 
 auld, like oursells, my lord, and it is far between the kitchen and the 
 ha'." 
 
 With this little explosion of his spleen, Su- Mungo remained satisfied, 
 until the dishes were removed, when, fixing liis eyes on the brave new 
 doublet of Lord Dalgarno, he complimented him on his economy, pre- 
 tending to recognise it as the same which liis father had worn in 
 Edinburgh in tlie Spanish ambassador's time. Lord Dalgarno, too 
 much a man of the world to be moved by anything from such a quarter, 
 proceeded to crack some nuts with great deliberation, as he rephed, 
 that the doublet was in some sort liis father's, as it was likely to cost 
 
 1 The cruel civil wars waged by the Scottish barons during tlie minority of James VI. 
 had this name from the figure made in them by the celebrated James Douglas Earl of 
 Morton. Both sides executed their Drisonera >nthout mercy or favoui-. 
 
94 THE rORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 him fifty pounds some clay soon. Sir Mungo forthwith proceeded in 
 his own way to convey this agreeable intelligence to the Earl, observing 
 that his son was a better maker of bargains than his lordship, for he 
 bad bought a doublet as rich as that his lordship wore when the Spanish 
 ambassador was at Holyrood, and it had cost him but fifty pounds 
 Scots ; — that was no fool's bargain, my_ lord." 
 
 "Pounds sterling, if you please. Sir Mungo," answered the Earl, 
 calmly ; '^and a fool's bargain it is, in all the tenses, Dalgarno was a 
 fool wlien he bought — I wul be a fool when I pay — and you, Sir Mungo, 
 craving your pardon, are a fool in prcsserdi, 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 
 hilarity, but rather threatened the temperance, of the company, until 
 tlieir joviality was interrupted by the annunciation that the scrivener 
 had engrossed such deeds as required to be presently executed. 
 
 George Ileriot rose from the table, observing that wine-cups and 'i 
 legal documents were unseemly neighbours. The Earl asked the i 
 scrivener if they had laid a trencher and set a cup for him in the 
 buttery ? and received the respectful answer, that Ileaven forbid he 
 should be such an ungracious beast as to eat or drink until his lordshiij's 
 pleasure was performed. 
 
 "Thou shalt eat before thou goest," said Lord Huntinglen ; "and 
 I Avill have thee try, moreover, whether a cup of sack cannot bring ' 
 some colour into these cheeks of thine. It were a shame to my house- 
 hold thou shouldst 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." 
 
 Lord Dalgarno gave directions that the man should be attended to. | 
 Lord Glenvarloch and the citizen, in the meanwliile, signed and inter- i 
 changed, and thus closed a transaction, of which the principal party 
 concerned understood little, save that it was under the management of 
 a zealous and faithful friend, Avho undertook tliat the money should l^e 
 forthcoming, and the estate released from forfeiture, by payment of the 
 Btipulated sum for which it stood pledged, and that at the term of 
 Lambmas, and at the hour of noon, and beside the tomb of tlie regent 
 Earl of Murray, in the High Kirk of Saint Giles, at Edinburgh, being 
 tiie day and place assigned for such redemption. ^ 
 
 When tiiis business was transacted, the old Earl would fain have re- 
 newed 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 refused to return to table, but carried with him 
 to his barge Lord Glenvarloch, who might, perhaps, have been other- 
 wise found more tractable. 
 
 When they were seated in the boat, and fairly once more afloat in 
 the river, George Heriot looked back seriously on the mansion they had 
 left — " There live," he said, " the old fashion and the new. The lather 
 is like a noble old broadsword, but harmed with rust, from neglect and 
 
 * As eacli covenant in those days of accuracy had a special place nominated for exe- 
 ctition, the tomb of the Regent Earl Of Murray in Saint Criles's Cliurch was frequently 
 aasijfned for tlie purpose. >■ 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 93 
 
 inactivity ; tlie son is your modern rapier, well-mounted, fairly gilt, 
 and fashioned to the taste of time— and it is time must evince if the 
 metal be as good as the show. God gi-ant it prove so, says an old friend 
 to the family." 
 
 [ Nothing of consequence passed betwixt them, until Lord Glenvarloch, 
 I landing at Paul's Wharf, took leave of his friend the citizen, and re- 
 I tired to his own apartment ; where his attendant, Ricliie, not a little 
 ' elevated with the events of the day, and with the hospitality of Lord 
 i Ilmitinglen's housekeeping, gave a most splendid account of them to 
 I the buxom Dame Nelly, Avho rejoiced to hear that the sun at length 
 was shining upon Avhat llicliic called the right side of the hedge. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 You are not for the manner nor the times. 
 They have their vices now most like to virtue 
 You cannot know them apart by any difference! 
 They wear the same clotlies, eat tlie same inea; 
 Sleep i' the self-same beds, ride in those coaches, 
 Or very like four horses in a coach, 
 As the best men aud woiaen. 
 
 Ben Jonson. 
 
 On the following morning, wliile Nigel, his breakfast finished, was 
 thinking how he should employ the day, tliere was a little bustle upon 
 
 the stairs which attracted his attention, and presently entered 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 saucy — a young nobleman, sir, to aAvait on you 1" 
 
 And she was followed into the little cabin by Lord Dalgarno, gay, 
 easy, disembarrassed, and apparently as much pleased to rejoin his new 
 acquaintance as if he had found him in the apartments of a palace. 
 Nigel, on the contrary (for youth is slave to such circumstances), was 
 discountenanced and mortified at being surprised by so splendid a gal- 
 lant in a chamber, which, at the moment the elegant and high-dressed 
 cavalier appeared in it, seemed to its inhabitant yet lower, narrower, 
 darker, and meaner than it had ever shown before. He would have 
 ,tmade some apology 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 Glenvarloch 
 
 " Nay, nay, make no Avords 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 
 lie had adopted seemed to put Lord Glenvarloch' s gallantry on so re- 
 Ispectable a footing, that Nigel ceased to try to undeceive him ; and 
 "less ashamed perhaps (for such is human weakness) of supposed vice 
 
 H 
 
96 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 than of real poverty, changed the discourse to sometliing else, and left 
 poor Dame Nelly's reputation and his own at the mercy of the young 
 courtier's misconstruction. 
 
 He offered refreshments with some hesitation. Lord Dalgarno had 
 long since breakfasted, but had just come from playing a set of tennis, 
 he said, and would willingly taste a cup of the pretty hostesses single 
 beer. This was easily procured, was drunk, was commended, and, as 
 the hostess failed not to bring the cup herself, Lord Dalgarno profited 
 by the opportunity to take a second and more attentive view of her, 
 and then gravely d.rank to her husband's health, with an almost imper- 
 ceptible nod to Lord Glenvarloch. Dame Nelly was much honom-ed, 
 smoothed her apron down with her hands, and said — '■' Her John was 
 gi'eatly and tmly_ 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." 
 
 She would liave 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 Daigarno loolted after her, then looked at Glenvarloch, shook 
 his head, and repeated the well-known lines — 
 
 " My lord, 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 another for Loyd Glenvar- ] 
 loch, in spite of his anxious haste to anticipate this act of courtesy, he 
 proceeded in the same tone of easv familiarity : — 
 
 "We are neighboiu-s, my lord, and are just made known, to each ,t 
 other. Now, I know enough 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-point ; 
 so I choose the hand-in-hand, unless you should reject my proffer." 
 
 " How were it possible, my lord," said Lord Glenvarloch, " to refuse 
 what is offered so frankly, even if your father had not been a second 
 father to me ?" And, as he took Lord Dalgarno' 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 Dalgarno, " for your just 
 opinion ; but, my dear Glenvarloch — or rather^ for titles are too formal 
 between us of the better file — what is your Chi'istian name '.'" " Nigel," 
 replied Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 " Then we will be Nigel and Malcolm 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 Buck- 
 ingham." 
 
 " You dream ! What could possess you with such an opinion ?" said 
 Palgamo. , 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 97 
 
 RO doing, 
 
 " He told me so himself," replied Glenvarloch ; " and, in 
 dealt frankly and honom-ably with me." 
 
 " Oh, you know liim not yet," said his companion ; "the Duke^ is 
 moulded of an hmidred noble and fiery qualities, that prompt him, like 
 a generous 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 firmly, and with some 
 haughtiness, " the Duke of Buckingham, without the least offence, de- 
 clared himself my enemy in the face of the Coiu-t ; 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 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 
 Phsedrus. 
 
 Arripiens geminas, ripis cedentibus, oUas— 
 
 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 encomiter, 
 by getting ashore out of the cm-rent — I mean to go no more to Court." 
 
 " Oh, to Court you necessarily must go ; you will find your Scottish 
 suit move ill without it, for there is both patronage and favour neces- 
 sary to enforce the sign-manual you have obtained. Of that we will 
 speak more hereafter ; but tell me in the meanwliile, my dear Nigel, 
 whether you did not wonder to see me here so early V 
 
 " I am sm-prised 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." 
 
 " I hope he waits not now in the street, my lord," said Nigel ; "I will 
 send my servant to seek him." 
 
 " Do net concern yourself— he is by this time." said Lord Dalgarno, 
 " playing at hustle-cap and chuck-farthing witn the most blackguard 
 imps upon the wharf, unless he hath foregone his old customs." 
 
 "Are you not afraid," said Lord Glenvarloch, "that in such com- 
 pany his morals may become depraved '/" 
 
 " Let his company look to their own," answered 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 
 looking after his moralities, for nothmg 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." 
 
98 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 " He may be an orphan," said Lord Nigel ; " but surely, being a page 
 in 5^our lordship's family, his parents must be of rank." 
 
 " Of as high rank as the gallows could exalt them to," replied Lord 
 Dalgarno, with the same indifference ; " they were both hanged, I be- 
 lieve — at least the gipsies, from whom I bought him five years ago, inti- 
 mated 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 see that he washed his hands and face, said his prayers, 
 learned his accidens, spoke no naughty words, brushed his hat, and 
 wore his best doublet only of Sunday, — that, instead of such a Jacky 
 Goodchild, I should have something like this F' 
 
 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 
 heiglit 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 visage, which marked his gipsy descent, and a pair of spark- 
 ling 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 command, good, bad, or indifferent — umnatchea in his 
 tribe, as rogue, thief, and liar." 
 
 " All which qualities," said the undaunted page, " have each in turn 
 stood your lordship in stead." 
 
 " Out, ye imp of Satan !" said his master ; "vanish — begone — or my 
 conjuring rod goes about your ears." The boy turned, and disappeared 
 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 antechamber of pages, though they were descended 
 from Kings and Kaisers." ^ 
 
 " I can scarce think that a nobleman should need the offices of such 
 an attendant as yom* goblin," said Nigel ; "you are but jesting with 
 my inexperience." 
 
 " Time will show whether I jest or not, rny dear Nigel," replied Dal- 
 garno ; " in the meantime, I have to propose to you to take the advan- 
 tage of the flood-tide, to run up the river for pastime ; and at noon I 
 trust you will dine with me." 
 
 Nigel acquiesced in a plan which promised so much am«usement ; 
 and his new friend and he, attended by Lutin and Moniplies, who 
 greatly resembled, when thus associated, the conjunction 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 lively conversation of Lord Dalgarno added zest to the pleasm-es 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 anecdote, political innuendo, and personal scandal ; if he had not 
 very much wit, he was at least completely master of the fashionable 
 1 See Note K. Pages in the ScvmUenth Century, 
 
THE rORTUNES OF NIGEL. S9 
 
 tone which, in that time as hi om-s, more than amply supplies any de- 
 ficiency of the kind. 
 
 It was a style of conversation entirely new to his companion, as was 
 the world whicli Lord Dalgarno opened to his observation ; and it is no 
 wonder that Nigel, notwithstanding his natural good sense and high 
 spirit, admitted, more readily than seemed consistent with either, the 
 tone of authoritative instruction which his nevv^ friend assumed towards 
 him. There would, indeed, have been some difficulty in making a stand. 
 To attempt a high and stubborn tone of morality, in answer to the light 
 strain of Lord Dalgarno's conversation, which kept on the frontiers be- 
 tween jest and earnest, would have seemed pedantic and ridiculous; 
 and every attempt which Nigel made to combat his companion's pro- 
 positions, by reasoning as jocose as his own, only showed his inferiority 
 in that gay species of controversy. And it must be owned, besides, 
 thoug-h internally disapproving much of what he heard. Lord Glenvar- 
 loch, young as he was in society, became less alarmed by the language 
 land manners of his new associate, than in prudence he ought to have 
 ■"been. 
 
 Lord Dalgarno Avas unwilling to startle his proselyte by insisting 
 upon any topic which appeared particularly to jar with his habits or 
 i principles ; and he blended his mirth and his earnest so dexterously, 
 , that it w\as impossible for Nigel to discover how far he was serious iii 
 1 his propositions, or how far they flowed from a Avild 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 woukl prove some- 
 I thing very different 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 Glenvarloch remarked that 
 
 ' the boat passed the mansion of Lord Huntingien, and noticed the cir- 
 
 ;cumstance to Lord Dalgarno, observing, that he thought they Avere to 
 
 .have dined there. " Surely no," said the young nobleman, "I have 
 
 I more mercy on you than to gorge you a second time with raw beef and 
 
 canary Avine. I i)ropose something better for you, I promise you, than 
 
 such a second Scythian festivity. And as for my father, he proposes to 
 
 dine to-day Avith my gTave, ancient Earl of Northampton, whilome that 
 
 celebrated putter-doAvn of pretended prophecies. Lord Henry Howard."^ 
 
 " And do you not go Avith liim ?" said his companion. 
 
 '' To Avhat purpose V said Lord Dalgarno. " To hear his wise lord- 
 
 sliip speak musty politics in false Latin, Avhich the old fox ahvays uses, 
 
 that he may give the learned Majesty of England an opportunity of 
 
 correcting his slips in grammar ? That were a rare employment !" 
 
 "Nay," said Lord Nigel, "but out of respect, to Avait on my lord 
 your father." 
 
 " My lord my father," replied Lord Dalgarno, " has blue-bottles 
 enough to AA^ait on him, and can well dispense with such a butterfly as 
 myself. He can lift the cup of sack to his head Avithout my assistance ; 
 and, should the said paternal head turn something giddy, there be men 
 enough to guide his right honourable lordship to his lordship's right 
 honourable couch.— Noav, do not stare at me, Nigel, as if my words 
 I Sec Note L. Lonl Jlenry Howard, 
 
100 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 were to sink the boat 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 broadsword by a loop of leather. But what 
 then 'i 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 gi'eater will be the honour and respect — that, I think, is the pro- 
 per phrase — I say, the respect in which we shall hold each other. Being 
 apart, each of us is himself, such as natm-e 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 landmg-place at Bkckfriais. 
 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 gaUants," he said ; " and, if we walk thus muffled, we 
 shall look like yoiu* tawny-visaged Don, who wraps him close in his 
 cloak, to conceal the defects of his doublet." 
 
 " I have known many an honest man do that, if it please your lord- 
 ship," said Ricliie Moniplies, who had been watching for an opportunity 
 to nitrude himself on the conversation, and probablv remembered what 
 had been his own condition, in respect to cloak 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 show 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 ojff the embossed 
 hilt, and the silver work of the mounting. — Give yom- familiar your 
 sword, Ni^el," he continued, addressing Lord Glenvarloch, ''that he 
 may practise a lesson in an art so necessaiy." 
 
 "Is it altogether prgdent," said Nigel, unclasping his weapon, and 
 giving it to Richie, " to walk entirely unarmed V 
 
 " And wherefore not ? " said his companion. " You are thinking now 
 of Auld Reekie, as my father fondly calls your good Scottish capital, Avhere 
 there is such bandying of private feuds and public factions, that a man 
 of anv note shall not cross your High Street twice without endangering 
 his life thrice.^ Here, sir, no brawling in the street is permitted. Your 
 bull-headed citizen takes up the case so soon as the sword is dra^Ti, and 
 clubs is the word." 
 
 " And a hard word it is," said Richie, " as my brain-pan kens at this 
 blessed moment." 
 
 .." Wei-e I your master, sirrah," said Lord Dalgdirao, "I would make 
 your braui-pan, as you call it, boil over, were you to speak a word ia 
 my presence before you were spoken to." 
 
 Richie murmured some indistinct answer, but took the hint, and 
 ranked hhnsclf behind his master 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 unobserved by Richie, liis stitf and upriglit 
 stalking gait and discontented physiognomy. 
 
 1 See Note M. Skirmishes in the Public Streets. 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 101 
 
 " Aud tell me noAv, my dear Malcolm," said Nigel, "where we are 
 
 ^ bending our course, and whether we shall dine at an apartment of yom's." 
 
 "An apartment of mine— yes, sm-ely," answered Lord Dalgarno, "you 
 
 shall dine at an apartment of mine, and an apartment of yoms, and 
 
 of twenty gallants besides ; and where the board shall present better 
 
 cheer, better wine, and better attendance, than if om- whole united 
 
 I exhiljitions went to maintain it. "We are going to the most noted ordi- 
 
 ■ nary of London." 
 
 " That is, in common language, an inn or a tavern," said Nigel. 
 " An iim or a tavern, my most gi-een and simple friend ! " exclaimed 
 Lord Dalgarno. No, no,— these are places where greasy citizens take 
 
 1 pipe and pot, where the knavish pettifoggers of the law spunge on their 
 most unhappy victims — where Templars crack jests as empty as their 
 nuts, and where small gentry imbibe such thin ^jotations, that they get 
 dropsies instead of getting drunk. An ordinary is a late-invented insti- 
 tution, sacred to Bacchus and Comus, where the choicest noble gallants 
 of the time meet with the first and most etherial wits of the age, — where 
 the wine is the very soul of the choicest grape, refined as the genius of 
 the poet, and ancient and generous as the blood of the nobles. And then 
 tlie fare is something beyond your ordinary gi-oss 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 eiiliance, the exquisite quality of the materials." 
 
 " By all which rhapsody," said Lord Glenvarloch, " I can only under- 
 stand, as I did before, that Ave are going to a choice tavern, where we 
 shall be handsomely entertained, on paying probably as handsome a 
 reckoning." 
 
 " Reckoning ! " exclaimed Lord Dalgarno in the same tone as before, 
 " perish tlie peasantly phrase ! What profanation ! Monsieur le Che- 
 
 I' valier de Beaujeu, pink of Paris and flower of Gascony — he who can tell 
 the age of his wine by the bare smell, who distils his sauces in an alem- 
 bic by the aid of Luily's philosophy, — who carves with such exquisite 
 
 I precision, that he gives to noble, knight, and squire the portion of the 
 idieasant wliich exactly accords Avith 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 hair's- 
 breadth, or the twentieth part of a drachm, yet you talk of hhn and of 
 a reckoning in the same breath ! Why, man, he is the well-knoAvn and 
 general referee in all matters aifecting the mysteries of Passage, Hazard, 
 In-and-in, Penneeck, and Verquu-e, and Avhat not — why, Beaujeu is 
 King of the Card-])ack, and Dulce of the Dice-box — he call a reckoning, 
 
 [ like a green-aproned, red-nosed son of the \ailgar spigot! Oh, my 
 dearest Nigel, Avhat-u word you have spoken, and of what a person ! 
 That you know him not is yom- only apology for such blasphemy, and 
 
 I yet I scarce hold it adequate, for to have been a day in London and 
 
 I 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 horror for 
 the enormities you have uttered." 
 
 "Well, but mark you," said Nigel, "this worthy chevalier keeps 
 not ail this good cheer at his own cost, does he 1" 
 "No, no," answered Lord Dalgarno; " there is a sort of ceremony 
 
102 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 which my chevtalier's friends and intimates understand, but with which 
 you have no business at present. There is, as majesty miglit say, a 
 symbolum to be disbm'sed— in other words, a mutual exchange of 
 courtesies takes place betwixt Beauieu 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 princess 
 of sublunary affairs, the Diva Fortuna, 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 remem- 
 ber old Tom Tally played a hand at put for a wager with Quinze le Va, 
 the Frenchman, during morning prayers in Saint Paid's ; the morning 
 was misty, and the parson drowsy, and the whole audience consisted 
 of themselves and a blind woman, and so they escaped detection." 
 
 "For all this, Malcolm/' said the young lord, gravely, "I cannot 
 dine with you to-day at this same ordinary." 
 
 "And Avherefore, "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 Dalgarno ; "it is but, in plain 
 terras, an eating-house, arranged on civiler 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 
 Avas 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 public reception of any kind ; for there is no such place of public 
 resort but where your eyes may be 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 ordinary houses you will meet bullies and shai-pers, 
 who will strive either to cheat or to swagger you out of your money." 
 
 "I am sure you would not willingly le'ad me to do what is wrong," 
 said Nigel ; "but my father had a horror of games of chance, religious 
 I believe, as well as prudential. Pie judged, from I knoAv not Avhat 
 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 you think I myself game '/ Good faith, my 
 
TUE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 103 
 
 |fiitlicr's 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 vdiole 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 
 I use it to game in, it is their fault, but neither that of the house nor 
 ours." 
 
 Unsatisfied with this reasoning, Nigel still insisted upon the promise 
 he had given to his father, until his companion appeared rather dis- 
 I pleased, and disposed to impute to him injurious and unhandso)ue 
 suspicions. Lord Glenvarloch could not stand this change of tone. He 
 recollected that much was due from him to Lord Dalgarno, on accomit 
 of his father's ready and efiicient friendship, and something also on 
 account of the frank manner in which the young man himself had 
 oftbred him his intimacy. He 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 father's prohibition referred ; and, 
 finally, he was strong in his own resolution to resist every temptation to 
 join m games of chance. He therefore pacified Lord Dalgarno, by 
 intimating his willingness to go along with him, and, the good humour 
 of the young courtier instantaneously returning, he again ran on in a 
 grotesque and rodomontade account of the host, JMonsieiu" de Beaujen, 
 which he did not conclude until they had reached the temple of Hospi- 
 tality over which that eminent professor presided. 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 This is the very barn-yard, 
 
 Where muster daily the prime coclis o' the game, 
 Rutfle their ijinions, crow till they are hoarse, 
 And spar about a l)arleycorn. Here two chickens, 
 The callow, unfledged brood of forward folly. 
 Learn first to rear the crest, and aim the spur, 
 And tune their note like full-plumed chanticleer. 
 
 The Bear-Gardm. 
 
 The Ordinary, now an ignoble sound, was, in the days of James, a 
 new institution, as fashionable among the youth of that age as the first- 
 rate modern club-houses are amongst those of the present day. It 
 diftered chiefiv in being open to all whom good clothes and good assur- 
 ance combined to introduce there. The company usually dined together 
 at an hour fixed, and the manager of the establishment presided as 
 master of the cermonies. 
 
 Monsieur Le Chevalier (as he qualified himself) Saint Priest de 
 Beaujeu was a sharp, thin Gascon, about sixty years old, banished 
 from his own country, as he said, on account of an aftair of honour, in 
 I which he had the misfortune to kill his antagonist, though the best 
 I swordsman in the south of France. His pretensions to quality; were 
 [ supported by a feathered hat, a long rapier, and a suit of embroidered 
 I taffeta, not much the worse for wear, m the extreme fasliion of the 
 
104 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 Parisian coiu't, and fluttering like a Maypole with many knots of ribbon, 
 of wliich it was computed lie bore at least five hundred yards about his 
 person. But, notwithstanding this profusion of decoration, there were 
 many who thought Monsieur le Chevalier so admirably calculated for 
 his present situation, that nature could never have meant to place Mm 
 an inch above it. It was, however, part of the amusement of the place 
 for liord Dalgarno and other yomig men of quality to treat Monsieur 
 de Beaujeu with a great deal of mock ceremony, which being observed 
 by the herd of more ordinary and simple gulls, they paid him, in chmisy 
 imitation, much real deference. The Gascon's natural forwardness 
 being much enhanced by these circumstances, he was often guilty of pre- 
 suming beyond the limits of his situation, and of com'se had sometimes 
 the mortification to be disagreeably driven back into them. 
 
 When Nigel entered the mansion of this eminent person, which had 
 been but of late the residence of a gi'eat Baron of Queen Elizabeth's 
 com-t, who had retired to his manors in the countiy on the death of that 
 princess, he was surprised at the extent of the accomimdation which it 
 afforded, and the number of guests who Avere already assembled. Fea- 
 tlieis Avaved, spurs jingled, lace and embroidery glanced everywhere ; 
 and, at first sight at least, it certainly made good Lord Dalgarno' s en- 
 comium, who represented the company as composed almost entirely of 
 youth of the first quality. A more close review Avas not quito so favour- 
 able. Several individuals might be discovered Avho Avere not exactly at 
 their ease in the splendid dresses which they Avore, and who, therefore, 
 might be supposed not habitually familiar Avith such finery. Again, 
 there Avere others, AA'hose dress, though on a general view it did not seem 
 inferior to that of the rest of the company, displayed, on bein^ obserA'ed 
 more closely, some of those petty expedients by wnich A^anity endea- 
 voiu's to disguise poverty. 
 
 Nigel had very little time to make such observations, for the entrance 
 of Lord Dalgarno created an immediate bustle and sensation among the 
 company, as his name passed from one mouth to another. Some stood 
 forward to gaze, others stood back to make Avay — those of his OAvn rank 
 b.astened to Avelcome him — those of inferior degi-ee endeavom-ed to catch 
 some point of Ms gesture, or of his dress, to be Avorn and practised upon 
 a future occasion, as tlie ncAvest and most authentic fashion. 
 
 The Genius Loci, the Chevalier himself, Avas not the last to AA-elcome 
 this prime stay and ornament of his establishment. He came shuffling 
 forAvard with a hmidred apish conges and chers milors, to express his 
 happiness at seeing Lord Dalgarno again. — "I hope you do bring back 
 the sun Avith you, milor — You did carry aAvay the sun and moon from 
 your pauvre Chevalier Avhen you leave him for so long. Pardieu, I be- 
 lieve you take tliem aAvay in your pockets." 
 
 " That must haA^e been because you left me nothing 'else in them, 
 Chevalier," answered Lord Dalgarno ; " but Monsieiu- le Chevalier, I 
 pray you to know my countryman and friend Lord Glenvarloch." 
 
 " Ah, ha ! trds honors — Je m'en souviens, — oui. J'ai connu autrefois 
 un ^Rlilor Kenfarloque en Ecosse. Yes^ I have memory of Mm — le p^re 
 de milor apparemment — Ave Avere A'era intimate when I was at Oly Root 
 with Monsieur de la Motte — I did often play at tennis vit Milor Ken- 
 farloque at L'Abbaie d'Oly Root— il etoit meme plus fort que moi — 
 
I THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 105 
 
 Ah le beaucoup de revers qu'il avoit ! — I have memorv, too, that he 
 was among the pretty girls — ah, un vrai diable d^chaine — Aha ! I have 
 memory " 
 
 ^' Better have no morememory of the late Lord Glenvarloch," said Lord 
 jDalganio, mterrupting the Chevalier Avithoiit ceremony ; who perceived 
 |that the encomium which he was about to pass on the deceased was 
 likely to be as disagreeable to the son as it v>'as totally undeserved by 
 tlie father, 'who, far from being either a gamester or hbertine, as the 
 Chevalier's reminiscences falsely represented him, was, on the contrary, 
 !strict and severe in his com'se of life, almost to the extent of rigour, 
 
 " You have the reason, milor," answered the Chevalier, " you have the 
 riglit — Qu'est ce que nous avons a faire avec le tems passe i — the time 
 passed did belong to om- fathers — our ancetres — very well — the time 
 present is to us — they have their pretty tombs, with their memories and 
 armorials, all in brass and marbre — Ave have the petits plats exquis, 
 and the soupe-a-Chevalier, which I will cause to mount up immediately." 
 
 So saying, he made a pirouette on his heel, and put his attendants 
 in motion to place dinner on the table. Dalgarno lauglied, and, 
 observing his young friend looked grave, said to him, in a tone of 
 reproach — "Why, what ! — you are not gull enough to be angiy with 
 such an ass as that r 
 
 "I keep my anger, I trust, for better pm*poses," said Lord Glenvar- 
 loch ; "but I confess I was moved to hear such a fellow mention my 
 father's name — and you, too, who told me this was no gaming-house, 
 talked to him of having left it with emptied pockets." 
 
 "Pshaw, man !" said Lord Dalgarno, "I spoke but according to the 
 trick of the time ; besides, a man must set a piece or two sometimes, 
 or he would be held a cullionly niggard. But here comes diimer, and 
 we will see whether you like the Chevalier's good cheer better than his 
 conversation." 
 
 Dinner was announced accordingly, and the two friends, being seated 
 in the most honourable station at the board, were ceremoniously 
 attended to by the Chevalier, who did the honours of his table to them 
 and to the other guests, and seasoned the whole with his agi-eeable 
 conversation. The dinner was really excellent, in that piquant style 
 of cookery which the French had already introduced, and which the 
 home-bred young men of England, when they aspired to the rank of 
 connoisseurs and persons of taste, were under the necessity of admiring. 
 The wine was also of the first quality, and circulated in great variety, 
 and no less abundance. The conversation among so many young men 
 was, of course, light, lively, and amusing ; and Nigel, whose mind had 
 been long depressed by anxiety and misfortune, natui'ally found himself 
 at ease, and his spirits raised and animated. 
 
 Some of the company had real wit, and could use it botli politely 
 and to advantage ; others were coxcombs, and were laughed at without 
 discovering it ; and, agam, others were originals, who seemed to have 
 no objection that the company should be amused with their folly instead 
 of their wit. And almost all the rest who played any prominent part 
 in the conversation, had either the real tone of good society which 
 belonged to the period, or the jargon which often passes current for it. 
 
 In short, the company and conversation was so agreeable that Nigel's 
 
106 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 rigour was softened by it, even towards the master of ceremonies, and 
 he listened with patience to various details which the Chevalier de 
 }5eaujeu, seeing, as he said, that milor's taste lay for the "curieux and 
 I'utile," chose to address to him in particular on the subject of cookery. 
 To gratify, at the same time, the taste for antiquity, which he somehow 
 supposed that his new ^uest possessed, he launched out in commendation 
 of the great artists of former days, particularly one whom he had known 
 in his youth, "Maitre de Cuisine to the Marechal Strozzi — tres bon 
 gentilhomme pourtant ; who had maintained his master's table with 
 twelve covers every day during the long and severe blockade of le petit 
 Leyth, although he had nothing better to place on it than the quarter 
 of a carrion-horse now and then, and the grass and weeds that grew on 
 the ramparts. Despardieux c'etoit un homme superbe ! With on 
 tistle-head, and a nettle or two, he could make a soupe for twenty guests 
 — an haunch of a little puppy-dog made a roti des plus excellens ; but 
 his coup de maitre was Avhen the rendition— what you call the sin-render, 
 took place and appened ; and then, dieu me damme, he made out of 
 the hind quarter of one salted horse, forty-five converts ; that the 
 English and Scottish officers and nobility, who had the honour to dine 
 with Monseigneur upon the rendition, could not tell what the devil any 
 one of them were made upon at all," ^ 
 
 The good wine liad by this time gone so merrily round, and had such 
 genial effect on the guests, that those of the lower end of the table, 
 wlio had hitherto been listeners, began, not greatly to their own credit 
 or that of the ordinary, to make innovations. 
 
 " You speak of the siege of Leith," said a tall, raw-boned man, with 
 thick mustaches turned up with a military twist, a broad buff belt, a 
 long rapier, and other outward symbols of the honoured profession, 
 which lives by killing other people, — "you talk of the siege of Leith, 
 and I have seen the place — a pretty kind of a hamlet it is, Avith a plain 
 wall or rampart, and a pigeon-house or so of a tower at eveiy angle. 
 Uds daggers and scabbards, if a leaguer of our days had been twenty- 
 four hours, not to say so many months, before it, without carrying the 
 place and all its cocklofts, one after another, by pure storm, they would 
 have deserved no better grace than the provost-marshal gives when 
 his noose is reeved." 
 
 "Saar," said the Chevalier, "Monsieur le Capitaine, I vas not at the 
 siege of the petit Leyth, and I know not what you say about the cockloft ; 
 but I will say for Monseigneur de Strozzi, that he understood the grand 
 guerre, and was grand Capitaine — plus grand— that is more great, it 
 may be, than some of the Capitaines of Angleterre, who do speak very 
 lou'd — tenez, JNIonsieur, car c'est a vous !" 
 
 "0 Monsieur," answered the swordsman, "Ave know the Frenchman 
 will fight well behind his barrier of stone, or when he is armed with 
 back, breast, and pot." 
 
 "Pot!" exclaimed the Chevalier, "what do you mean by pot — do 
 you mean to insult me among my noble guests '( Saar, I have done 
 my duty as a pauvre gentilhomme under the Grand Henri Quatre, both 
 at Courtrai and Yviy, and, ventre saint gris ! we had neither pot nor 
 marmite, but did always charge in our shirt." 
 
 1 See Note N. French Cookery. 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 107 
 
 'Which refutes anotlier base scandal," said Lord Dalgarno, laughing, 
 
 ■* alleging that linen was scarce among the French gentlemen-at-arms." 
 
 " Gentlemen out at arms and elbows both, you mean, my lord," said 
 
 the captain, from the bottom of the table. "Craving yom* lordship's 
 
 pardon, I do know something of these same gens-d'armes." 
 
 "We will spare your knowledge at present, captain, and save your 
 aiodesty at the same time the trouble of telling us how that knowledge 
 tvas acquired," answered Lord Dalgarno, rather contemptuously. 
 
 ' I need not speak of it, my lord," said the man of war ; " the world 
 [knows it — all, perhaps, but the men of mohair — the poor sneaking citi- 
 zens of London, who would see a man of valour eat his very hilts for 
 lumger, ere they would draw a farthing from their long purses to relieve 
 them. Oh, if a band of the honest fellows I have seen were once to 
 come near that cuckoo's nest of theirs !" 
 
 " A cuckoo's nest ! — and that said of the city ef London !" said a 
 'gallant who sat on the opposite side of the table, and who, wearing a 
 splendid and fashionable dress, seemed yet scarce at home in it — "I 
 will not brook to hear that repeated." ^ 
 
 " What !" said the soldier, bending a most terrific frown from a pair 
 of broad black eyebrows, handling the hilt of his weapon Avith one hand, 
 and twirling with the other his huge mustaches ; " will you quarrel for 
 yom' city ?" 
 
 "Ay, marry will I," replied the other. "I am a citizen, I care not 
 who knows it ; and he who shall speak a word in dispraise of the city 
 is an ass and a peremptory gull, and I will break his pate to teach liiiii 
 sense and manners." 
 
 The company, who probably had their reasons for not valuing the 
 captain's courage at the high rate which he himself put upon it, v:ere 
 )nuch entertained at the manner in which the quarrel was taken up by 
 the indignant citizen ; and they exclaimed on all sides, " Well rung, 
 Bow-bell!" — "W^ell crowed, the cock of Saint Paul's!" — "Sound a 
 , charge there, or the soldier will mistake his signals, and retreat when 
 ihe should advance." 
 
 " You mistake me, gentlemen," said the captain, looking round with 
 an air of dignity. " I will but inquire whether this cavaliero citizen is 
 of rank and degree fitted to measure swords with a man of action (for, 
 conceive me, gentlemen, it is not with every one that I can match my- 
 self mthout loss of reputation) ; and in that case he shall soon hear 
 from me honourably, by way of cartel." 
 
 " You shall feel me most dishonourably in the way of cudgel," said 
 the citizen, starting up, and taking his sword, which he had laid in a 
 corner. " Follow me." 
 
 " It is my right to name the place of combat, by all the rules of the 
 sword," said the captain ; "and I do nominate the Maze, in Tothill- 
 . Fields, for place — two gentlemen, who shall be indifferent judges, for 
 j witnesses ; — and for time — let me say this day fortnight, at daybreak." 
 j "Audi," said the citizen, "do nominate the bowling-alley behind 
 I the house for place, the present good company for witnesses, and for 
 j time the present moment." 
 
 ! So saying, he cast on his beaver, struck the soldier across the shoulders 
 I 1 3ee Note 0. Cudoo's Nest. 
 
I 
 
 108 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 with his sheathed sword, and ran down stairs. The captain showed no 
 instant alacrity to follow him : yet, at last, roused by the laugh and 
 sneer around him, he assured the company that what he did he would 
 do deliberately, and, assuming his hat, which he put on with the air of 
 Ancient Pistol, he descended the stairs to the place of combat, where t 
 his more prompt adversary was already stationed, with his sword un- | 
 sheathed. Of the company, all of whom seemed highly delighted with i 
 the approaching fray, some ran to the windows which overlooked the ■ 
 bowling-alley, and others followed the combatants down stairs. Nigel 
 could not help asking Dalgarno whether he would not interfere to pre- 
 vent mischief. 
 
 " It would be a crime against the public interest," answered his friend ; 
 " there can no mischief happen between two such originals, which will 
 not be a positive benefit to society, and particularly to the Chevalier's 
 establishment, as he calls it. I have been as sick of that captain's buff 
 belt and red doublet for this month past, as e'er I was of aught ; and 
 now I hope this bold linendraper will cudgel the ass out of that filthy 
 lion's hide. See, Nigel, see the gallant citizen has ta'en his ground 
 about a bowl's-cast forward, in the midst of the alley — the very model 
 of a hog in armour. Behold how he prances with his manly foot, and 
 brandishes his blade, much as if he were about to measure forth cam- 
 bric with it — See, they bring on the reluctant soldado, and plant him 
 opposite to his fiery antagonist, twelve paces still dividing tliem — Lo, 
 the captain draws his tool, but, like a good general, looks over his 
 shoulder to secure his retreat, in case the worst come on't. — Behold the 
 valiant shopkeeper stoops his head, confident, doubtless, in the civic 
 helmet with which his spouse has fortified his skuU — Why, this is 
 the rarest of sport. By Heaven, he will nm a tilt at him like a ram." 
 
 It was even as Lord Dalgarno had anticipated ; for the citizen, who 
 seemed quite serious in his zeal for combat, perceiving that the man of 
 war did not advance towards him, rushed on with as much good fortune 
 as coiu-ao-e, beat down the Captain's guard, and pressing on, thrust, as it 
 seemed, his sword clear through the body of his antagonist, who, with 
 a deep groan, measured his length on the ground. A score of voices 
 cried to the conqueror, as he stood fixed in astonishment at his own, 
 feat, " Away, away with you ! — fly, fly — fly by the back-door ! — get 
 into the Whitefriars, or cross the water to the Bankside, while we keep 
 off" the mob and the constables." And the conqueror, leaving his van- 
 quished foeman on the groimd. fled accordingly with all speed. 
 
 " By Heaven," said Lord Dalgamo, " I could never have believed 
 that the fellow would have stood to receive a thrust — he has certainly 
 been arrested by positive terror, and lost the use of his limbs. See, they 
 are raising him." 
 
 Stiff and stark seemed the corpse of the g^Tordsman, as one or two of 
 the guests raised him from the ground ; but when they began to open 
 his waistcoat to search for the wound which nowhere existed, the man 
 of war collected his scattered spirits, and, conscious that the ordinary 
 was no longer a stage on which to display his valour, took to his heels 
 as fast as he could run, pursued by the laughter and shouts of the com- 
 pany. 
 
 " By my honour," said Lord DaJgamo, " he takes the same course 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 109 
 
 with his conqueror. I trust in Heaven he will overtake him, and tlien 
 the valiant citizen will suppose himself haunted by the ghost of him he 
 has slain." 
 
 " Despardieux, milor," said the Chevalier, "if he had stayed one 
 moment, he should have had a torchon — what you call a dishclout, 
 pinned to him for a piece of shroud, to show he be de ghost of one grand 
 fanfaron." 
 
 " In the meanwhile," said Lord Dalgarno, " you will oblige us. Mon- 
 sieur le Chevalier, as well as maintain your own honoured reputation, 
 by letting your drawers receive the man-at-arms with a cudgel in case 
 he should venture to come this way again." 
 
 " Ventre saint giis, milor," said the Chevaher, " leave that to me. — 
 Begar, the maid shall throw the wash-sud upon the grand poltron !" 
 
 When they had laughed sufficiently at this ludicrous occurrence, the 
 party began to divide themselves into Uttle knots — some took possession 
 of the alley, late the scene of combat, and put the field to its proper use 
 of a bowling-ground, and it soon resoimded with all the terms of the 
 game, as " Run. rim — rub, rub — hold bias, you infernal trundling 
 timber !" thus making good the saying, that three things are thromi 
 away in a bowling-green, namely, time, money, and oaths. 
 
 In the house, many of the gentlemen betook themselves to cards or 
 dice, and parties were formed at Ombre, at Basset, at Gleek, at Primero, 
 and other games then in fashion ; while the dice were used at various 
 games, both with and without the tables, as Hazard, In-and-in, Passage, 
 and so forth. The play, however, did not appear to be extravagantly 
 deep ; it was certainly conducted with great decorum and fairness ; nor 
 did there appear anything to lead the younger Scotsman in the least 
 to doubt liis companion's assurance, that the place was frequented by 
 men of rank and quality, and that the recreations they adopted were 
 conducted upon honourable principles. 
 
 Lord Dalgarno neither had proposed play to his friend, nor joined 
 in the amusement himself, but sauntered from one table to another, 
 remarking the luck of the different players, as well as their capacity to 
 avail themselves of it, and exchangmg conversation with the highest 
 and most respectable of the guests. At length, as if tired of wliat in 
 modern phrase would have been termed lounging, he suddenly remem- 
 bered that Burbage was to act Shakespeare's King Richard at the 
 Fortune that afternoon, and that he could not give a stranger in Lon- 
 don, like Lord Glenvarloch, a higher entertaimnent than to carry him 
 to that exhibition ; " unless, indeed," he added, in a whisper, " there 
 is a paternal mterdiction of the theatre, as well as of the ordinary." 
 
 " I never heard my father speak of stage-plays," said Lord Glen- 
 varloch, " for they are shows of a modem date^ and unknown in Scot- 
 land. Yet, if what I have heard to their prejudice be true, I doubt 
 much whether he would have approved of them." 
 
 " Approved of them !" exclaimed Lord Dalgarno—" why, George 
 Buchanan wrote tragedies, and his pupil, learned and wise as himself, 
 goes to see them, so it is next door to treason to abstain ; and the 
 cleverest men in England write for the stage, and the prettiest women 
 in London resort to the playhouses, and I have a brace of nags at the 
 door which will carry us along the streets like wildfire, and the ride 
 
110 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 will digest our venison and ortolans, and dissipate the fumes of the wine, , 
 and so let's to horse— Godd' en to you, gentlemen — Godd'en, Chevalier : 
 de la Fortune." 
 
 Lord Dalgarno's grooms were in attendance with two horses, and the '. 
 young men mounted, the proprietor upon a favourite barb, and Nigel i 
 upon a high-dressed jennet, scarce less beautiful. As they rode towards : 
 the theatre, Lord Lalgarno endeavoured to discover his friend's opinion ■ 
 of the company to which he had introduced him, and to combat the 
 exceptions which he might suppose him to have taken. " And where- 
 fore lookest thou sad," he said, " my pensive neophyte ? Sage son of 
 the Alma Mater of Low-Dutch learning, Avhat aileth thee ? Is the 
 leaf of the living Avorld which we have turned over in company, less 
 fairly written than thou hadst been taught to expect ? Be comforted, 
 and pass over one little blot or two ; thou wilt be doomed to read through 
 many a page, as black as Infamy, with her sooty pinion, can make them. 
 Remember, most immaculate Nigel, that we are in London, not Leyden 
 — that we are studying life, not lore. Stand buff against the reproach 
 of thine over-tender conscience, man, and when thou summest up, like 
 a good arithmetician, the actions of the day, before you balance the 
 account upon your pillow, tell the accusing spirit, to his brimstone 
 beard, that if thine ears have heard the clatter of the devil's bones, thy 
 hand hath not troAvled them — that if thy eye hath seen the brawling 
 of two angrv boys, thy blade hath not been bared in their fray." 
 
 " Now, all this may be wise and witty," replied Nigel ; " yet I own 
 I cannot think but that yom* lordship, and other men of good quality 
 with whom Ave dined, might have chosen a place of meeting free from 
 the intrusion of bullies, and a better master of your ceremonial than 
 yonder foreign adventurer." 
 
 "All shall be amended, Sancte Nigelle, when thou shalt come forth 
 a neAV Peter the Hermit, to preach a crusade against dicing, drabbing, 
 and company-keeping. We will meet for dinner in Saint Sepulchre's 
 Church ; Ave will dine in the chancel, drink our jflask in the vestry, the 
 parson shall draAV every cork, and the clerk say amen to every health. 
 Come, man, cheer up, 'and get rid of this sour and unsocial humour. 
 Credit me, that the Puritans Avho object to us the follies and the frailties 
 incident to human nature, have themselves the vices of absolute devils, 
 privy malice and backbiting hypocrisy, and spiritual pride in all its 
 presumption. There is much, too, in life Avhich we must see, were it 
 onlv to learn to shun it. Will Shakespeare, Avho lives after death, 
 and who is presently to afford thee such pleasm-e as none but himself 
 can confer, has described the gallant Falconbridge as calling that man 
 
 ' a bastard to the time, 
 
 That (loth not smack of observation ; 
 AVhich, though I will not practise to deceive, 
 Yet to avoid deceit, I mean to learn.' 
 
 But here we are at the door of the Fortune, where AA^e shall have match- 
 less Will speaking for himself. — Goblin, and you other lout, leave the 
 horses to the grooms, and make way for us through the press." 
 
 They dismounted, and the assiduous efforts of Lutin, elbowing, 
 bullying, and proclaiming his master's name and title, made way 
 through a crowd of murmuring citizens, and clamorous apprentices, to 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. Ill 
 
 the door, where Lord Dalgarno speedily procured a brace of stools upon 
 the stage for liis companion and himself, where, seated among other 
 gallants of the same class, they had an opportunity of displaying their 
 fair dresses and fashionable maimers, while they criticised the piece 
 during its progi'ess ; thus forming, at the same time, a conspicuous 
 part of the spectacle, and an important proportion of the audience. 
 
 Kigel Olifaunt was too eagerly and deeply absorbed in the mterest 
 of the scene, to be capable of playing his part as became the place 
 where he was seated. He felt all the magic of that sorcerer, who had 
 displayed, within the paltry circle of a Avooden booth, the long wars of 
 York and Lancaster, compelling the heroes of either line to stalk across 
 the scene in language and fashion as they lived, as if the grave had 
 given up the dead for the amusement and instruction of the living. 
 Jbm'bage,^ esteemed the best Richard until Garrick arose, played the 
 tyrant and usurper with such truth and liveliness, that when the 
 Battle of Bosworth seemed concluded by his death, the ideas of reality 
 and deception were sti'ongly contending in Lord Glenvarloch's imagina- 
 tion, and it required him to rouse himself from his reverie, so strange 
 did the proposal at first sound when his companion declared King 
 Richard shoidd sup with them at the JMermaid. 
 
 They were joined, at the same time, by a small party of the gentlemen 
 with whom they had dined, which they recruited by inviting two or 
 three of the most accomplished wits and poets, who seldom failed to 
 attend the Fortune Theatre, and were even but too ready to conclude 
 a day of amusement Avitli a night of pleasure. Thither the whole party 
 adjom-ned, and betwixt fertile cups of sack, excited spirits, and the 
 emulous wit of their lively companions, seemed to realize the joyous 
 iboas't of one of Ben Jonson's contemporaries, when reminding the bard of 
 
 " Those lyric feasts, 
 Where men such clusters had, 
 As made them nobly wild, not mad ; 
 While yet each verse of thine 
 Outdid the meat, outdid the frolic wine." 
 
 CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 Let the proud salmon gorge the feather'd hook. 
 Then strike, and then you have him— He will wince; 
 Spin out your line that it shall whistle from you 
 Some twenty yards or so, yet you shall have him — 
 Marry ! you must have patience — the stout rock, 
 Which is his trust, hath edges something sharp ; 
 And the deep pool hath ooze and sludge enough 
 To mar your fishing— 'less you are more careful. 
 
 Albion, or (he Double Kings. 
 
 It is seldom that a day of pleasure, upon review, seems altogether 
 so exquisite as the partaker of the festivity may have felt it while 
 passing over him. JNigel Olifaunt, at least, did not feel it so, and it 
 1 See Note P. Eurbage. 
 I 
 
112 THE FOKTUNES OF KIGEL. 
 
 required a visit from his new acquaintance, Lord Dalgarno, to reconcile i 
 him entirely to himself. But this visit took place early after breakfast, ' 
 and his friend's discom-se was prefaced with a question, " How he hked 
 the company of the preceding evening T 
 
 "Why, excellently well," said Lord Glenvarloch ; "only I should 
 have liked the wit better had it seemed to flow more freely. Every 
 man's invention seemed on the stretch, and each extravagant simile 
 seemed to set one half of yom- men of wit into a brown study to produce 
 something which should out-herod it." 
 
 "And wherefore not?" said Lord Dalgarno, "or what are these 
 fellows fit for, but to play the intellectual gladiators before us ? He of 
 them who declares himself recreant should, d— n him, be restricted 
 to muddy ale, and the patronage of the waterman's company. I promise 
 you, that many a pretty fellow nas been mortally wounded with a quibble 
 or a carwitchet at the Mermaid, and sent from thence, in a pitiable 
 estate, to Wit's Hospital in the Vintry, where they langiiish to this day 
 amongst fools and aldermen." 
 
 " It may be so," said Lord Nigel ; "yet I could swear by my honour, 
 that last night I seemed to be in company with m.ore than one man 
 whose genius and learning ought either to have placed him higher in 
 our company, or to have withdrawn him altogether from a scene, where, 
 sooth to speak, his part seemed unworthily subordinate." 
 
 " Now, out upon your tender conscience," said Lord Dalgarno ; " and 
 the fico for such outcasts of Parnassus ! Why. these are the veiy leavings 
 of that noble banquet of pickled herrings ana Rhenish, which lost Lon- 
 don so many of her principal wtmongers and bards of misrule. What 
 would you have said had you seen Nash or Green, when you interest 
 yourself about the poor mimes you supped with last night f Suffice it, 
 they had their drench and' their dose, and they drank and slept as much 
 as may save them from any_ necessity of eating till evening, when, if 
 they are industrious, they will find patrons or players to feed them.^ 
 For the rest of their wants, they can be at no loss for cold water while 
 the Nev/ River head holds good ; and your doublets of Parnassus are 
 eternal in duration." 
 
 " Virgil and Horace had more efficient patronage," said Nigel. 
 
 "Ay," replied liis countryman, "but these fellows are neither Vir- 
 gil nor Horace ; besides, we have other spirits of another sort, to whom 
 I will introduce you on some early occasion. Our Swan of Avon hath 
 sung his last ; but we have stout old Ben, with as much learning and 
 genius as ever prompted the treader of sock and buskin. It is not, how- * 
 ever, of him I mean now to speak ; but I come to pray you, of dear love, 
 to row up with me as far as Richmond, where two or three of the gal- 
 lants whom you saw yesterday mean to give music and syllabubs to a 
 set of beauties, with some cmious bright eyes among them— such, I 
 ])romise you, as might -^vin an astrologer from his worship of the galaxy. 
 JMy sister leads the bevy, to whom I desu'e to present you. She hath 
 her admirers at Com^t ; and is regarded, though I might dispense with 
 sounding her praise, as one of the beauties of the time." 
 
 There was no refusing an engagement, where the presence of the 
 party invited, late so low in his own regard, was demanded by a lady 
 1 Seo Note Q. Fate of Gmius in the Seventeenth Century. 
 
THE rOETUNES OP NIGEL. 113 
 
 of quality, one of the choice beauties of the time. Lord Glenvarloch 
 ^accepted, as was inevitable, and spent a lively day among the gay and 
 the fair. He was the gallant in attendance, for the day, upon his friend's 
 sister, the beautifid Countess of Blackchester, who aimed at once at su- 
 periority in the realms of fashion, of power, and of wit. 
 
 She was, indeed, considerably older than her brother, and had pro- 
 bably completed her six lustres ; but the deficiency in extreme youth 
 was more than atoned for in the most precise and curious accm'acy in 
 attire, an early acquaintance with every foreign mode, and a pecidiar 
 gift in adapting the knowledge which she acquired to her own parti- 
 cular features and complexion. At Court, she knew as well as any 
 lady in the cu'cle the precise tone, moral, political, learned, or jocose, 
 in which it was proper to answer the Monarch, according to his prevail- 
 ing himiour ; and was supposed to have been very active, by her personal 
 interest, in prociu-ing her husband a liigh situation, which the gouty 
 old viscount could never have deserved by any merit of his own com- 
 monplace conduct and understanding. 
 
 It was far more easy for tliis lady than for her brother to reconcile 
 so young a courtier as Lord Glenvarloch to the customs and habits of a 
 sphere so new to him. In all civilized society, the females of distin- 
 guished rank and beauty give the tone to manners, and, through these, 
 even to morals. Lady Blackchester had, besides, interest either in the 
 Com-t, or over the Court (for its source could not be well traced), which 
 created friends, and overawed those who might have been disposed to 
 play the part of enemies. 
 
 At one tkne, she was understood to be closely leagued with the Buck- 
 ingham family, with whom her brother still maintained a great in- 
 timacy ; and, although some coldness had taken place betwixt the Coun- 
 tess and the Duchess of Buckingham, so that they were little seen to- 
 gether, and the former seemed considerably to have withdraw^l herself 
 into privacv, it was whispered that Lady Blackchester's mterest with 
 the gi-eat favourite was not diminished in consequence of her breach 
 with his lady. 
 
 Our account of the private Court intrigues of that period, and of the 
 persons to whom they were intrusted, are not full enough to enable us 
 to pronounce upon the various reports which arose out of the circum- 
 stances we have detailed. It is enough to say, that Lady Blackchester 
 Eossessed great influence on the circle aroiuid her, both from her beauty, 
 er abilities, and her reputed talents for Court intrigue ; and that Nigel 
 ' Olifaunt was not long of experiencing its power, as he became a slave 
 in some degree to that species of habit, which carries so many men into 
 a certain society at a certain hour, -^vithout expecting or receiving any 
 particidar degree of gratification, or even amusement. 
 
 His life for several weeks may be thus described. The ordinary was 
 no bad introduction to the business of the day ; and the young lord 
 quickly found, that if the society there was not always irreproachable, 
 stUl it formed the most convenient and a^-eeable place of meeting with 
 the fashionable parties, with whom he visited Hyde Park, the theatres, 
 and other places of public resort, or joined the gay glittering circle 
 which Lady Blackchester had assembled aromid her. JSTeither did he 
 entertain the same scrupulous horror which led hmi originally even to 
 
114 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 hesitate entering into a place where gaming was permitted ; hut, on the 
 contrary, began to admit the idea, that as there could be no harm in 
 beholding such recreation when only indulged in to a moderate degree, 
 so, from a parity of reasoning, there could be no objection to joining in 
 it, always under the same restrictions. But the young lord was a Scots- 
 man, habituated to early reflection, and totally unaccustomed to any 
 habit which inferred a careless risk or profuse waste of money. _ Pro- 
 fusion was not his natural vice, or one likely to be acquired in the 
 course of his education ; and, in all probability, while his father anti- 
 cipated with noble horror the idea of his son approaching the gaming 
 table, he was more startled at the idea of his becoming a gaining than 
 a losing adventurer. The second, according to his principles, had a 
 termination, a sad one, indeed, in the loss of temporal fortune — the 
 first quality went on increasing the evil which he dreaded, and perilled 
 at once both body and soul. 
 
 However the old lord might ground his apprehension, it was so far 
 verified by his son's conduct, that, from an observer of the various 
 games of chance which he witnessed, he came, by degrees, by moderate 
 hazards, and small bets or Avagers, to take a certain interest in them. 
 Nor could it be denied that his rank and expectations entitled him to 
 hazard a fev/ pieces (for his game went no deeper) against persons who, 
 from the readiness with which they staked their money, might be sup- 
 posed well able to afford to lose it. 
 
 It chanced, or, perhaps, according to the common belief, his evil 
 genius had so decreed, that Nigel's adventures were remarkably success- 
 ful. He was temperate, cautious, cool-headed, had a strong memory, 
 and a ready power of calculation ; was, besides, of a daring and intrepid 
 character, one upon whom no one that had looked even slightly, or 
 spoken to though but hastily, would readily have ventured to practise 
 anything approaching to trick, or Avhich required to be supported by 
 intimidation. While Lord Glenvarloch chose to play, men played with 
 him regularly, or, according to the phrase, upon the square ; and, as 
 he found his luck change, or wished to hazard his good fortune no 
 farther, the more professed votaries of fortune, who frequented the 
 house of Monsieur le Chevalier de Saint Priest Beaujeu, did not venture 
 openly to express their displeasure at his rising a winner. But when 
 this happened repeatedly, the gamesters murmured amongst themselves 
 equally at the caution and the success of the young Scotsman ; and he 
 became far from being a popular character among their society. 
 
 It was no slight inducement to the continuance of this most evil 
 habit, when it was once in some degree acquired, that it seemed to 
 place Lord Glenvarloch, haughty as he naturally was, beyond the 
 necessity of subjecting himself to farther pecuniary obligations, which 
 his prolonged residence in London must otherwise have rendered neces- 
 sary. He had to solicit from the ministers certain forms of office, 
 which were to render his sign-manual effectually useful ; and these, 
 though they could not be denied, were delayed in such a manner, as to 
 lead Nigel to believe there was some secret opposition, which occasioned 
 the demur in his business. His own impulse Avas, to have appeared at 
 Court a second time, Avith the King's sign-manual in his pocket, and 
 to have appealed to his Majesty himself, Avhetlier the delay of the 
 
THE FORTU^'ES OF NIGEL. 115 
 
 public officers ought to render his royal generosity unavailing. But 
 the Lord Huntinglen, that good old peer, who had so frankly interfered 
 in his behalf on a former occasion, and whom he occasionally visited, 
 greatly dissuaded him from a similar adventure, and exhorted him 
 
 Kiuietly to await the deliverance of the ministers, wliich should set him 
 ree from dancing attendance in London. 
 
 ' Lord Dalgarno joined his father in deterring his young friend from 
 a second attendance at Court, at least till he was reconciled with the 
 Duke of Buckingham — "a matter in which," he said, addressing his 
 father, "I have oifered my poor assistance, without being able to prevail 
 on Lord Nigel to make any — not even the least — submission to the 
 Duke of Buckingham." 
 
 "By my faith, and I hold the laddie to be in the right on't, Malcolm !" 
 answered the stout old Scots lord. — "What rigjht hath Buckingham, 
 or, to speak plainly, the son of Sir George Villiers, to expect homage 
 and fealty from one more noble than himself, by eight quarters ? I 
 heard him myself, on no reason that I could perceive, term lord Nigel 
 his enemy ; and it will never be by my coimsel that the lad speaks soft 
 word to him, till he recalls the hard one." 
 
 "That is precisely my advice to Lord Glenvarloch," answered Lord 
 Dalgarno ; "but then you will admit, my dear father, that it would be 
 the risk of extremity for our friend to return into the presence, the 
 Duke being his enemy — better to leave it with me to take oif the heat 
 of the distemperature with which some pickthanlvs have persuaded the 
 Duke to regard our friend." 
 
 " If thou canst persuade Buckingham of his error, Malcolm," said 
 his father, "for once I will say there hath been kindness and honesty 
 in Court service. I have oft told your sister and yom*self that in the 
 general I esteem it as lightly as may be." 
 
 " You need not doubt my doing my best in Nigel's case," answered 
 Lord Dalgarno ; " but you must think, my dear father, I must needs 
 use slower and gentler means than those by which you became a 
 favourite twenty years ago," 
 
 "By my faith, I am afraid thou wilt," answered Ms father. — "I tell 
 thee, Malcolm, I would sooner wish myself in the grave, than douljt 
 thine honesty or honour ; yet somehow it hath chanced, that honest, 
 ready service hath not the same acceptance at Court which it had in 
 my younger time — and yet you rise there." 
 
 " Oh, the time permits not your old world service," said Lord Dal- 
 garno ; "Ave have now no daily insm'rections, no nightly attempts at 
 assassination, as were the fashion in the Scottish Court. Your prompt 
 and uncourteous sword-in-hand attendance on the Sovereign is no longer 
 necessary, and would be as unbeseeming as your old-fashioned serving- 
 men, with their badges, broadswords, and bucklers, would be at a court- 
 masque. Besides, father, loyal haste hath its inconvenience. I have 
 heard, and from royal lips too, that when you struck your dagger into 
 the traitor Ruthven, it was with such little consideration, that the 
 I point ran a quarter of an inch into the royal buttock. The King never 
 
 ' talks of it but he rubs the injured part, and quotes his ^ infandum 
 
 renovare dolorem' But this comes of old fashions, and of wearing a 
 long Liddesdale whinger insl^pad of a poniard of Parma. Yet this, my 
 
116 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 dear father, you call prompt and valiant service. The King, I am told, 
 could not sit upright for a fortnight, though all the cushions in Falk- 
 land were placed in his chair of state, and the Provost of Dunferm- 
 line's borrowed to the boot of all." 
 
 "It is a lie," said the old Earl, "a false lie, forge it who list ! — It is 
 true I wore a dagger of service bv my side, and not a bodkin like yours, 
 to pick one's teeth withal — and for prompt service — odds nouns ! it 
 should be prompt to be useful, when kings are ciying treason and mur- 
 der with the screech of a half-throttled hen. But you young coiutiers 
 know nought of these matters, and are little better than the green 
 geese they bring over from the Indies, whose only merit to their mas- 
 ters is to repeat their own words after them — a pack of mouthers, and 
 flatterers, and ear-wigs. — Well, I am old and unable to mend, else I 
 would break all off, and hear the Tay once more flinging himself over 
 the Campsie Linn." 
 
 "But there is your dinner-bell, father," said Lord Dalgarno, " which, 
 if the venison I sent you prove seasonable, is at least as sweet a sound." 
 
 " Follow me, then, youngsters, if you hst," said the old Earl ; and 
 strode on from the alcove in which this conversation was held towards 
 the house, followed by the two young men. 
 
 In their private discourse. Lord Dalgarno had little trouble in dis- 
 suading Nigel from going immediately to Court ; while, on the other 
 hand, tne offers he made him of a previous introduction to the Duke of 
 Buckingham were received by Lord Glenvarloch with a positive and 
 contemptuous refusal. His friend shrugged his shoulders, as one who 
 claims the merit of having given to an obstinate friend the best counsel, 
 and desires to be held free of the consequences of his pertinacity. 
 
 As for the father, his table indeed, and his best liquor, of whicli lie 
 was more, profuse than necessary, were at the command of his young 
 friend, as well as his best advice and assistance in the prosecution of 
 his affairs. But Lord Huntinglen's interest was more apparent than 
 real ; and the credit he had acquired by his gallant defence of the 
 King's person was so carelessly managed by himself, so easily eluded 
 by the favourites and ministers of the Sovereign, that, except upon one 
 or two occasions, when the King was in some measure taken by sur- 
 prise, as in the case of Lord Glenvarloch, the royal bounty was never 
 efficiently extended, either to himself or to his friends. 
 
 "There never was a man," said Lord Dalgarno, whose shrewder 
 knowledge of the English Court saw where his father's deficiency lay, 
 " that had it so perfectly in his power to have made his way to the 
 pinnacle of fortune as my poor father. He had acquired a right to 
 build up the staircase, step by step, slowly and surely, letting every 
 boon, which he begged vear after year, become in its turn the resting- 
 place for the next annual gi'ant. But yom- fortunes shall not shipwreck 
 upon the same coast, Nigel," he would conclude. " If I have fevv^er 
 means of influence than my father has, or rather had, till he threw them 
 away for butts of sack, hawks, hounds, and such carrion, I can, far bet- 
 ter than he, improve that which I possess ; and that, my dear Nigei, is 
 all engaged in your behalf. Do not be sm-prised or offended that you 
 now see me less than formerly. The sta^-hunting is commenced, and 
 the Prince looks that I should attend hun more frequently. 1 must 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 117 
 
 also maintain my attendance on the Duke, that I may have an oppor- 
 tunity of pleading your cause when occasion shall permit." 
 
 "I have no cause to plead before the Duke," said Nigel, gravely; 
 " I have said so repeatedly." 
 
 " Why, I meant the plirase no otherwise, thou churlish and suspicious 
 disputant," answered Dalgarno, " than as I am now pleading the Duke's 
 cause with thee. Sm-ely I only mean to claim a share in our royal 
 master's favourite benediction, Beati pacifici.'^ 
 
 Upon several occasions. Lord Glenvarloch's conversations, both with 
 the old Earl and his son, took a similar turn, and had a like conclusion. 
 He sometimes felt as if, betwixt the one and the other, not to mention 
 the more unseen and unboastedj but scarce less certain influence of 
 Lady Blackchester, his aflfair, simple as it had become, might have 
 been somehow accelerated. But it was equally impossible to doubt the 
 rough honesty of the father, and the eager and officious friendship of 
 Lord Dalgarno ; nor was it easy to suppose that the countenance of the 
 lady, by whom he was received with such distinction, would be wanting, 
 could it be effectual in his service. 
 
 Nigel was farther sensible of the truth of what Lord Dalgarno often 
 pointed out, tbat the favourite being supposed to be his enemy, eveiy 
 petty officer, through whose hands his affair must necessarily pass, 
 would desire to make a merit of throwing obstacles in his way, which he 
 could only surmoimt by steadiness and patience, unless he preferred 
 closing the breach, or, as Lord Dalgarno called it, making his peace 
 with ttie Duke of Buckingham. 
 
 Nigel might, and doubtless would, have had recourse to the advice 
 of his friend George Heriot upon this occasion, having found it so 
 advantageous formerly ; but the only time he saw him after their visit 
 to Court, he found the worthy citizen engaged in hasty preparation for 
 a journey to Paris, upon business of great importance in the way of his 
 profession, and by an especial commission from the Court and the Duke 
 of Buckingham, which was likely to be attended with considerable 
 profit. The good man smiled as he named the Duke of Buckingham. 
 He had been, he said, pretty sure that his disgrace in that quarter 
 would not be of long duration. 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch expressed himself rejoiced at tlieir reconciliation, 
 observing, that it had been a most painful reflection to him that 
 Master Heriot should, in his behalf, have incurred the dislike, and 
 perhaps exposed himself to the ill offices, of so powerful a favourite. 
 
 "My lord," said Heriot, "for your father's son I would do much; 
 and yet, tmly, if I know myself, I would do as much and risk as much, 
 for the sake of justice, in the case of a much more insignificant person, 
 as I have ventm-ed for yours. But as we shall not meet for some time, 
 I must commit to your own wisdom the farther prosecution of this 
 matter." 
 
 And thus they took a kind and affectionate leave of each other. 
 
 There were other changes in Lord Glenvarloch's situation which 
 require to be noticed. His present occupations, and the habits of 
 amusement which he had acquired, rendered his living so far in the 
 city a considerable inconvenience. He may also have become a little 
 ashamed of his cabin on Paul's Wharf, and desirous of being lodged 
 
118 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 somewhat more according to his quality. For this purpose, he had 
 hired a small apartment near the Temple. He was, nevertheless, 
 almost sorry for what he had done, when he observed that his removal 
 appeared to give some pain to John Christie, and a great deal to his 
 cordial and officious landlady. Tlie former, who was grave and satur» 
 nine in everything he did, only hoped that all had been to Lord Glen- 
 varloch's mind, and that he had not left them on account of any 
 unbeseeming negligence on their part. But the tear twinkled in Dame 
 Nelly's eye, while she recounted the various improvements she had 
 made in the apartment, of express purpose to render it more convenient 
 to his lordship. 
 
 "There was a great sea-chest," she said, "had been taken up stairs 
 to the shopman's garret, though it left the poor lad scarce eighteen 
 inches of opening to creep betwixt it and his bed ; and Heaven knew 
 — she did not — whether it could ever be brought down that narrow 
 •stair again. Then the turning the closet into an alcove had cost a 
 matter of twenty round shillings ; and, to be sure, to any other lodger 
 but his lordship, the closet was more convenient. There was all the 
 linen, too, which she had bought on purpose — But Heaven's will be 
 done — she was resigned." 
 
 Everybody likes marks of personal attachment; and Nigel, whose 
 neart really smote him, as if in his rising fortunes he were disdaining 
 the lowly accommodations and the civilities of the humble friends 
 which had been but latelv actual favours, failed not by every assurance 
 in his power, and by as liberal payment as thev could be prevailed upon 
 to accept, to alleviate the soreness of their feelings at his departure ; 
 and a parting kiss from the fair lips of his hostess sealed his forgiveness. 
 
 Richie Moniplies lingered behind his master, to ask whether, in case 
 of need, John Christie could help a canny Scotsman to a passage back 
 to his own. country ; and receiving assiu-ance of John's interest to tliat 
 effect, he said, at parting, he would remind him of his promise soon.— 
 "For," said he, "if my lord is not weary of this London life, I ken 
 one that is, videlicet, mysell ; and I am weel determined to see Arthur's 
 Seat again ere I am many weeks older." 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Bingo, why, Bingo ! hey, hoy — here, sir, here— 
 He's gone and off, hut he'll he home before iis;^ 
 "lis the most wayward cur e'er mumbled bone, 
 Or dogg'd a master's footstep. — Bingo loves me 
 Better than ever beggar loved his alms ; 
 Yet, when he takes such humour, you ma}^ coax 
 Sweet Mistress Fantasy, your worship's mistress, 
 Out of her sullen moods, as soon as Bingo. 
 
 The Dominie and his Dog. 
 
 Richie Moniplies was as good as his word. Two or three mornings 
 after the young lord had possessed himself of his new lodgings, he 
 appeared before Nigel, as he was prepared to dress, having left his 
 pillow at an hour much later than had formerly been his custom. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIOEL. 119 
 
 As Nigel looked upon his attendant, he observed there was a gather- 
 ing giooni upon his solemn features, which expressed either additional 
 importance, or superadded discontent, or a portion of both, 
 
 " How now," he said, "what is the matter this morning, Richie, 
 that you have made your face so like that grotesque mask on one oi 
 the spouts yonder T pointing to the Temple Church, of which Gothic 
 building they had a view from the window. 
 
 Richie swivelled his head a little to the right with as little alacrity 
 as if he had the crick in his neck, and instantly resuming his posture, 
 replied, — "j\Iask here, mask there — it were nae such matters that I 
 have to speak anent." 
 
 "And what matters have you to speak anent, then?" said his master, 
 whom circumstances had inured to tolerate a good deal of freedom from 
 his attendant. 
 
 " My lord," — said Richie, and then stopped to cough and hem, as if 
 what he had to say stuck somewhat in his throat. 
 
 " I guess the mystery," said Nigel, " you want a little money, 
 Richie ; will five pieces serve the present turn T 
 
 " My lord," said Richie, " I may, it is like, want a trifle of money ; 
 and I am glad at the same time, and sorry, that it is mair plenty Avitli 
 your lordship than formerly." 
 
 " Glad and sorry, man!" said Lord Nigel, " why, you are reading 
 riddles to me, Richie." 
 
 " My riddle will be briefly read," said Richie ; " I come to crave of 
 your lordship your comi^ands for Scotland." 
 
 " For Scotland ! — why, art thou mad, man ?" said Nigel ; " canst 
 thou not tarry to go down with me ?" 
 
 " I could be of little service," said Richie, " since you purpose to hire 
 another page and groom." 
 
 " Why, thou jealous ass," said the young lord, " will not thy load 
 of duty lie the lighter ? — Go, take thy breakfast, and drink thy ale 
 double strong, to put such absurdities out of thy head — I could be angry 
 with thee for thy folly, man — but I remember how thou hast stuck to 
 me in adversity." 
 
 " Adversity, my lord, should never have parted us," said Richie ; 
 " methinks, had the warst come to warst, I could have starved as gal- 
 lantly as your lordship, or more so, being in some sort used to it ; fi^r, 
 though I was bred at a flesher's stall, I have not through my life had a 
 constant intimacy with collops." 
 
 " Now, what is the meaning of all this trash ?" said Nigel ; " or has 
 it no other end than to provoke my patience ? You know well enougli, 
 that, had I twenty serving-men, I would hold the faithful follower that 
 stood by me in my distress the most valued of them all. But it is 
 totally out of reason to plague me with your solemn capriccios." 
 
 " My lord," said Richie, " in declaring your trast in me, you have 
 done what is honom^able to yourself, if I may with humility say so mucli, 
 and in no way undeserved on my side. Nevertheless, we must part." 
 
 " Rody of me, man, why ?" said Lord Nigel ; " what reason can there 
 be for it, if we are mutually satisfied ?" 
 
 " My lord," said Richie Moniplies, " yoiu: lordship's occupations arc 
 such as I cannot omi or countenance by my presence." 
 
120 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " How now, sirrah !" said his master, angrily. 
 
 " Under favour, my lord," replied his domestic, " it is unequal 
 dealing to be equally offended by my speech and by my silence. If 
 you can hear witii patience the grounds of my departure, it may be, for 
 aught I know, the better for you here and hereafter— if not, let me have 
 my license of departm-e in silence, and so no more about it." 
 
 " Go to, sir !" said Nigel ; " speak out yom' mind — only remember 
 to whom you speak it." 
 
 " Weel, weel, my lord— I speak it with humility (never did 
 Richie look with more starched dignity than when he uttered the word) ; 
 " but do you think tliis dicing and card-shuffling, and haunting of 
 taverns and playhouses, suits your lordship — for I am siu-e it does not 
 suit me?" 
 
 " Why, you are not turned precisian or pm-itan, fool ?" said Lord 
 Glenva,rloch, laughing, though, betwixt resentment and shame, it cost 
 hira some trouble to do so. 
 
 " My lord," replied the follower, " I ken the purport of your query. 
 I am, it may be, a little of a precisian, and I wish to Heaven I was 
 mair worthy of the name ; but let that be a pass-over. — I have stretched 
 the duties of a serving-man as far as my northern conscience will permit, 
 I can give my gude word to my master, or to my native country, when 
 I am in a foreign land, even though I should leave downrigiit"^ truth a 
 wee bit behind me. Ay, and I will take or give a slash with ony man 
 that speaks to the derogation of either. But this chambering, dicing, 
 and play-haunting is not my element — I caijnot draw breath in it— 
 and when I hear of your lordship winning the siller that some pooi 
 creature may fidl sairly miss — by my saul, if it would seiwe your neces- 
 sity, rather than you gained it from him, I wad tak a jump over the 
 hedge with your lordship, and cry ' Stand !' to the first gi'azier we met 
 that was coming from Smithfield with the price of his Essex calves in 
 his leathern pouch !" 
 
 " You are a simpleton," said Nigel, who felt, however, much con- 
 science-struck ; " I never play but for small sums." 
 
 " Ay, my lord," replied the unyielding domestic, " and — still with 
 reverence— it is even sae much the waur. If you played with your 
 equals, there might be like sin, but there wad be mair warldly honour 
 in it. Your lordship kens, or may ken, by experience of your ain, whilk 
 is not as yet mony weeks auld, that small sums can ill be missed by 
 those that have uane larger ; and I maun e'en be plain with you, that 
 men notice it of yoiu: lordship, that yc play wi' nane but the niisguided 
 creatures that can but afford to lose bare stakes." 
 
 " No man dare say so !" replied Nigel, very angiily, " I play with 
 whom I please, but I will only play for what stake I please." 
 
 " That is just what they say, my lord," said the unmerciful Richie, 
 whose natm'al love of lecturing, as well as his bluntness of feeling, pre- 
 vented him from ha\ing any idea of the pain which he was inflicting 
 on his master ; " these are 'even their own very Avords. It wa,s but 
 yesterday your lordship was pleased, at that same ordinary, to win from 
 yonder young hafHins gentleman, with the crimson velvet doublet, and 
 the cock's feather in his beaver — him, I mean, who fought with the 
 ranting captain — a matter of five Dounds, or thereby. I saw him come 
 
I THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 121 
 
 t]irongli the hall ; and, if he was not cleaned out of cross and pile, I 
 never saw a ruined man in my life." 
 
 " Impossible !" said Lord Glenvarloch — " why, who is he ? he looked 
 like a man of substance." 
 
 "All is not gold that glistens, my lord," replied Richie ; "'broidery 
 and bullion buttons make bare pouches. And if you ask who he is — 
 maybe 1 have a guess, and care not to tell." 
 
 "At least, if I have done any such fellow an injury," said the Lord 
 Nigel, "let me know how I can repau- it." 
 
 " Never fash your beard about that, my lord, — with reverence al- 
 ways," said Ricliie, — " he shall be suitably cared after. Think on him 
 but as ane wha was running post to the devil, and got a shouldering 
 from yom- lordship to help Iiim on his joui-nev. But I will stop him, 
 if reason can ; ana so your lordship needs ask nae matr about it, for 
 there is no use in yom* knowing it, but much the contrair." 
 
 " Hark you, sirrah," said his master, " I have borne with you thus 
 far, for certain reasons ; but abuse my good-nature no farther — and 
 since you must needs go, why, go a God's name, and here is to pay 
 your jom-ney." So saying, he put gold into his hand, which Richie 
 told over, piece by piece, vdth. the utmost accuracy. 
 
 " Is it all right — or are they wanting in weight — or what the devil 
 Keeps you, when your hurry was so gi-eat five mmutes since '?" said the 
 young lord, now thoroughly nettled at the presumptuous precision with 
 wliich Richie dealt forth his canons of morality. 
 
 " The tale of coin is complete," said Ricliie, with the most imper- 
 . turbable gi'avity; "and, for the weight, though they are sae scrupulous 
 I in this town, as make mouths at a piece that is a wee bit hght, or that 
 i: has been cracked within the ring, my sooth, they will jump at them in 
 Edinbm'gh like a cock at a grosart. Gold pieces are not so plenty there, 
 1 the mair the pity !" 
 
 i " The more is your folly, then," said Nigel, whose anger was only 
 
 [ momentary, "that leave the land where there is enough of them." 
 
 j " My lord," said Richie, " to be round with you, the grace of God is 
 
 I better than gold pieces. When Goblin, as you call yonder Monsieiu* 
 
 I Lutin, — and you might as well call him Gibbet, since that is what he 
 
 ! is like to end in, — shall recommend a page to you, ye will hear little 
 
 such doctrine as ye have heard from me. And if they were my last 
 
 words," he said, raising his voice, " I would say you are misled, and 
 
 ! are forsaking the paths which your honourable father trode in ; and, 
 
 I what is more, you are going — still under correction — to the devil with 
 
 a dishclout, for you are laughed at by them that lead you into these 
 
 disordered bypaths." 
 
 " Laughed at !" said Nigel, who, like others of his age, was more 
 sensible to ridicule than to reason — " Who dares laugh at me V " My 
 lord, as sure as I live by bread — nay, more, as I am a true man — and, 
 I think, your lordship never fomid Richie's tongue bearing aught but 
 the truth—unless that your lordship's credit, my coimtry's profit, or, it 
 may be, some sraa' occasion of my ain, made it unnecessary to promul- 
 gate the haill veritie, — I say then, as I am a true man, when I saw 
 that puir creature come through the ha', at that ordinaiy, whilk is ac- 
 curst (Heaven forgive me for swearing !) of God and man, with liis teeth 
 
122 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 set, and his hands clenched^ and his bonnet drawn over his brows like 
 a desperate man, Goblin said to me, ' There goes a dunghill chicken, 
 that your master has plucked clean enough ; it will be long ere his lord- 
 ship ruffle a feather with a cock of the game.' And so, my lord, to speak 
 it out, the lackeys, and the gallants, and more especially your sworn 
 brother. Lord Dalgarno, call you the sparrow-hawk. I had some 
 thought to have cracked Lutin s pate for the speech, but after a', the 
 controversy was not worth it." 
 
 " Do they use such terms of me ?" said Lord Nigel. " Death and 
 the devil !" 
 
 "And the devil's dam, my lord," answered Richie; "they are all 
 three busy in London. And, besides, Lutin and his master laughed at 
 you, my lord, for letting it be thought that — I shame to speak it — that 
 ye were over well with the wife of the decent honest man Avhose house 
 you have but now left, as not sufficient for your new bravery, whereas 
 they said, the licentious scoffers, that you pretended to such favour 
 when you had not courage enough for so fair a quarrel, and that the 
 sparrow-hawk was too craven-crested to fly at the wife of a cheese- 
 monger." He stopped a moment, and looked fixedly in his master's 
 face, which was inflamed with shame and anger, and then proceeded. 
 " My lord, I did you justice in my thought, and myself too ; for, thought 
 I, lie would have been as deep in that sort of profligacy as in others, if 
 it hadna been Richie's four quarters." 
 
 " What new nonsense have you got to plague me with ?" said Lord 
 Nigel. " But go on, since it is the last time I am to be tormented with 
 your impertinence, — go on and make the most of your time." 
 
 "In troth," said Richie, "and so will I even do. And as Heaven 
 has bestowed on me a tongue to speak and to advise " 
 
 " Which talent you can by no means be accused of suffering to remain 
 idle," said Lord Glenvaiioch, interrupting him. 
 
 " True, my lord," said Richie, again waving his hand, as if to bespeak 
 his master's silence and attention ; "so, I trust, you will think some 
 time hereafter. And, as I am about to leave your service, it is proper 
 that ye suld know the truth, that ye may consider the snares to which 
 your youth and innocence may be exposed, when aulder and doucer 
 lieads are withdrawn from beside you. There has been a lusty, good- 
 looking kimmer, of some forty, or bygane, making mony speerings about 
 you, my lord." 
 
 " Well, sir, what did she want with me ?" said Lord Nigel. 
 
 "At first, my lord," rephed his sapient follower, "as she seemed 
 to be a well-fashioned woman, and to take pleasure in sensible company, 
 I was no way reluctant to admit her to my conversation." 
 
 "I daresay no^," said Lord Nigel; "nor unwilhng to tell her about 
 my private affairs." 
 
 "Not I, truly, my lord," said the attendant; "for, though she 
 asked me mony questions about your fame, your fortune, your business 
 here, and such like, I did not think it proper to tell her altogether the 
 truth thereanent." 
 
 "I see no call on you whatever," said Lord Nigel, "to tell the woman 
 either truth or lies upon what she had nothing to do with." 
 
 " I thought so too, my lord," replied Richie, "and so I told her neither." 
 
TUE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 123 
 
 "And what did j^ou tell her, then, you eternal babbler?" said his 
 master, impatient of his prate, yet curious to Ivnow wliat it was all to 
 3nd in. 
 
 "I told her," said Richie, "about your warldly fortune, and sae 
 forth, something whilk is not truth just at this time ; but whicli hath 
 been trath formerly, suld be truth now, and ^vill be truth again,— and 
 that was that you were in possession of yom- fair lands, whilk ye are 
 but in right of as yet. Pleasant communing we had on that and other 
 'topics, until she showed the cloven foot, beginning to confer Avith me 
 about some wench that she said had a good- will to your lordship, and 
 fain she would have spoken with you in particular anent it ; but when 
 il heard of such inklings, I began to suspect she was little better than 
 
 whew !" Here he concluded his narrative with a low but very 
 
 expressive whistle. 
 
 "And what did your wisdom do in these cu'cumstances ?" said Lord 
 Nigel, who, notwitlistanding his former resentment, could noAV scarcely 
 
 I forbear laughing. 
 
 "I put on a look, my lord," replied Richie, bending his solemn brows, 
 "that suld give her a heart-scald of walking on such errands. I laid 
 her enormities clearly before her, and I tlu'eatened her, in sae mony 
 
 : words, that I would have her to the ducking-stool ; and she, on the 
 contrair part, misca'd me for a frov/ard northern tyke — and so we parted 
 
 ' never ta meet again, as I hope and trust. And so I stood between 
 
 ; your lordship and that temptation, which might have been worse than 
 the ordinary, or the playhouse either ; since you wot well what Solomon, 
 
 } King of the Jews, sayeth of the strange woman ; for, said I to mysell, 
 we have taken to dicing already, and if we take to drabbing next, the 
 
 I Lord kens what we may land in." 
 
 "Your impertinence deserves correction, but it is the last which, 
 for a time at least, I shall have to forgive — and I forgive it," said Lord 
 Glenvarloch; "and, since we are to part, Richie, I will say no more 
 respecting your precautions on my account, than that I think you 
 might have left me to act according to my own judgment." 
 
 "Mickle better not," answered Richie — "mickle better not; we are 
 a' frail creatures, and can judge better for ilk ither than in our ain 
 cases. And for me, even myself, saving that case of the sifflication, 
 v.'hich might have happened to any one, 1 have always observed myself 
 to be much more prudential in Avhat I have done in your lordship's 
 behalf, than even m what I have been able to transact for my own 
 interest — whilk last^ I have, indeed, always postponed, as in duty I 
 ought." 
 
 "I do believe thou hast," said Lord Nigel, "having ever fomid thee 
 true and faitlifid. And since London pleases you so little, I will bid 
 you a short farewell ; and you may go down to Edinbm-gh mitil I come 
 thither myself, when I trust you will re-enter into my service." 
 
 "Now, Heaven bless you, my lord," said Richie Moniplies, witli 
 uplifted eyes; "for that word sounds more like grace than ony has 
 come out of your mouth this fortnight. I give you godd'en, my lord." 
 So saying, he thrust forth his immense bony hand, seized on that 
 of Lord Glenvarloch, raised it to his lips, then tm-ned short on his 
 heel, and left the room hastily, as if afraid of showing more emotion 
 
124 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 than was consistent with his ideas of decoram. Lord Nigel, ratlier 
 surprised at his sudden exit, called after him to know whether he was 
 sufficiently provided with money ; but- Richie, shaking his head, with- 
 out making any other answer, ran hastily down stairs, shut the street- 
 door heavily behind him, and was presently seen striding along the 
 Strand. 
 
 His master ahnost involuntarily watched and distinguished the tall 
 raw-boned figure of Ms late follower, from the window, for some time, 
 until he was lost among the crowd of passengers. Nigel's reflections 
 were not altogether those of self-approval. It was no good sign of his 
 course of life (he coidd not help acknowledging this much to himself), 
 that so faithful an adherent no longer seemed to feel the same prid.e 
 in his service, or attachment to his person, which he had formerly 
 manifested. Neither could he avoid experiencing some twinges of 
 conscience, wliile he felt in some degree the charges which Richie had 
 preferred against him, and experienced a sense of shame and mortifica- 
 tion, arising from the coloiu- given by others to that which he himself 
 would have called his caution and moderation in play. He had only 
 the apology, that it had never occurred to himself in this light. 
 
 Tlien his pride and self-love suggested, that, on the other hand, 
 Richie, with all his good intentions, was little better than a conceited 
 pragmatical domestic, who seemed disposed rather to play the tutor 
 than the lackey, and who, out of sheer love, as he allege^, to his 
 master s person, assumed the privilege of interfering with, and control- 
 ling, his actions, besides rendering him ridiculous in tne gay world, 
 from the antiquated formality and intrusive presumption of his 
 maimers. 
 
 Nigel's eyes were scarce turned from the window, when his new 
 landlord entering, presented to him a shp of paper, carefully bound 
 round mth. a string of flox-silk and sealed ; it had been given in, he 
 said, by a woman, who did not stop an instant. The contents harped 
 upon the same string which Richie Moniplies had already jarred. The 
 epistle was in the following words : 
 
 " For the Ri^ht Honourable hands of Lord Glenvarloch, 
 
 " These, from a friend unknomi i- 
 " My Lord, 
 " You are trusting to an unhonest friend, and diminishing an honest 
 reputation. An unknown but real friend of your lordship will speak in 
 one word what you would not learn from flatterers in so many days as 
 should suffice for your utter ruin. He whom you think most true — I 
 say your friend Lord Dalgarno— is utterly false to you, and doth but 
 seek, under pretence of worship, to mar your fortune, and diminish the 
 good name by which you might mend it. The kind coimtenance which 
 he shows to you is more dangerous than the Prince's froAvn ; even as 
 to gain at Beaujeu's ordinary is more discreditable than to lose. Be- 
 ware of both.— And this is all from yom- true but nameless friend, 
 
 " Ignoto." 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch paused for an instant, and crushed the paper to- 
 gether — then again unfolded and read it with attention—bent This brows 
 
— mused for a moment, and then tearing it to fragments, exclaimed — 
 
 " Begone for a vile calinmiy ! But I will watch — I vdll observe " 
 
 Thought after thought rushed on him ; but, upon the whole, Lord 
 [Glenvarloch was so little satisfieif with the result of his o^vn reflections, 
 that he resolved to dissipate tliem by a wallc in the Park, and, taking 
 I his cloak and beaver, went thither accordingly. 
 
 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 125 
 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 'Twas vrhen fleet Snowball's head was woxen graj^. 
 A luckless lev'ret met him on his way: — ' 
 
 Who knows not Snowball — he, whose race reno' 
 Is still victorious on each coursing gri'ound ? 
 Swaffham, Newmarket, and the Roman camp, 
 Have seen them victors o'er each meaner stamp. 
 In Tain the youngUng sought, Avith doubling wileji 
 The hedge, the hill, the thicket, or the stile. 
 Experience sage the lack of speed supplied, 
 And in the gap he sought the victim died. 
 So was I once, in thy fair street, Saint James, 
 Through walking cavaliers and car-home dames 
 Descried, pursued, tum'd o'er again, and o'er, 
 Coursed, coted, mouth'd by an unfeeling bore. 
 
 <&c., &c., 
 
 The Park of Saint James's, though enlarged, planted with verdant 
 alleys, and otherwise decorated by Charles II., existed, in the days of his 
 grandfather, as a public and pleasant promenade ; and, for the sake of 
 exercise or pastime, was much frequented by the better class. 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch repaired thither to dispel the unpleasant reflections 
 which had been suggested by his parting with his trusty squire, Richie 
 Moniplies, in a manner which was agreeable neither to his pride nor 
 Ms feelings ; and by the corroboration which the hints of his late at- 
 tendant had received from the anonymous letter mentioned in the end 
 of the last chapter. 
 
 There was a considerable number of company in the Park when he 
 entered it, but his present state of mind inducing him to avoid society, 
 he kept aloof from the more frequented walks towards Westminster 
 and Whitehall, and drew to the north, or, as we should now say, the 
 Piccadilly verge of the enclosm-e, believing he might there enjoy, or 
 rather combat, his own thoughts unmolested. 
 
 In this, however, Lord Glenvarloch was mistaken ; for, as he strolled 
 slowly along with his arms folded in his cloak, and his hat drawn over 
 his eyes, he was suddenly pounced upon by Sir Mungo Malagi'owther, 
 who, either shunning or shunned, had retreated, or had been obliged to 
 retreat, to the same less frequented corner of the Park. 
 
 Nigel started when he heard the high, sharp, and querulous tones Oi 
 the knight's cracked voice, and was no less aJarmed when he beheld 
 his tall thin figui*e hobbling towards him, wi'apped in a threadbare cloak, 
 on whose sm-face ten th®usand varied stains ecUpsed the original scar- 
 let, and having his head surmounted with a weU-worn beaver^, bearing 
 
126 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. » 
 
 a black velvet band for a chain, and capon's feather for an ostrich i 
 plume. 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch would fain have loade his escape, but, as om* motto ' 
 intimates, leveret had as little chance to free herself of an experienced 
 greyhound. Sir Mungo, to continue the simile, had long ago learned I 
 to run cunning, and make sm-e of mouthing his game. So Nigel found 
 himself compelled to stand and answer the hackneyed question, " What 
 news to-day ?" 
 
 " Nothing extraordinary, I believe," answered the young nobleman, 
 attempting to pass on. 
 
 " Oh, ye are ganging to the French ordinary belive," replied the 
 knight ; " but it is early day yet — we will take a turn in the Park in 
 the meanwhile— it will sharpen your appetite." 
 
 So saying, he quietly slipped his arm under Lord Glenvarloch's in 
 spite of all the decent reluctance Avhich his victim could exhibit, by 
 keeping his elbow close to his side ; and having fauiy grappled the 
 prize, he proceeded to take it in tow. 
 
 Nigel was sullen and silent, in hopes to shake off his unpleasant com- 
 panion ; but Sir Mungo was determined, that if he did not speak, he 
 should at least hear. 
 
 " Ye are bound for the ordinary, my lord ;" said the cjmic— " weel, 
 ye canna do better — there is choice company there, and peculiarly 
 selected, as I am tauld, being, dootless, sic as it is desirable tliat 
 young noblemen should herd withal ; and your noble father Vv^ad ha^'e 
 Deen blithe to see you keeping such worshipful society." 
 
 " I believe," said Lord Glenvarloch, thinking himself obliged to say 
 something, " that the society is as good as generally can be found in 
 such places, where the door can scarcely be shut against those who come 
 to spend their money." 
 
 " Right, my lord — vera right," said his tormentor, bursting out into 
 a chuckling but most discordant laugh. ''These citizen chuffs and 
 clowns will press in amongst us, when there is but an inch of a door 
 open. And what remedy i — Just e'en this^ that as their cash gives 
 them confidence, we should strip them of it. Flay them, my lord- 
 singe them as the kitchen wench does the rats, and then they winna 
 long to come back again. — Ay. ay— pluck them, plume them— and then 
 the larded capons will not be for flymg so high a wing, my lord, among 
 the goss-hawks and sparrow-hawks, and the like." 
 
 And, therewithal, Sir Mungo fixed on Nigel his quick, sharp, gray 
 eye, watching the efiect of his sarcasm as keenly as the sm-geon, in a 
 delicate operation, remarks the progi-ess of his anatomical scalpel. 
 _ Nigel, however willing to conceal his sensations, could not avoid gi\a- 
 tifylng nis tormentor by wincing mider the operation. He coloured 
 with vexation and anger ; but a quarrel with Sir Mungo IMalagrowther 
 would, he felt, be unutterably ridiculous ; and he only muttered to him- 
 self the words " Impertinent coxcomb !" which, on this occasion. Sir 
 Mungo' s imperfection of organ did not prevent him from hearing and 
 replymg to. 
 
 ^ " Ay, ay — vera true," exclaimed the caustic old courtier — " Imper- 
 tinent coxcombs they are, that thus intrude themselves on the society 
 of their betters ; but your lordship kens how to gar them as gude—yp 
 
TUE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 127 
 
 liave the trick on't. — They had a braw sport in the presence last Friday, 
 liow ye suld have routed a young shopkeeper, horse and foot, ta'en his 
 spolia opima, and a' the specie he had about him, down to the very 
 silver buttons of his cloak, and sent him to graze with Nebuchadnezzar, 
 King of Babylon. JMuckle honour redounded to your lordship thereby. 
 — We were tauld the loon threw himsell into the Thames in a tit of des- 
 peration. There's enow of them behind — there was mair tint on Flod- 
 den-edge." 
 
 " You have been told a budget of lies, so far as I am concerned, Sir 
 Mungo," said Nigel, speaking loud and sternly. 
 
 " Vera likely — vera likely," said the unabashed and undismayed Sir 
 Mungo ; " naething but lies are current in the circle. — So the chield is 
 not drowned, then / — the mair's the pity. — But I never believed that 
 pai-t of the story— a London dealer has mair wit in his anger. I dare 
 swear the lad has a bomiy broom-shank in his hand by this time, and 
 is scrubbing the kennels in quest after rusty nails, to help him to begin 
 his pack again. — He has three bairns, they say ; they will help him 
 bravely to gi'ope in the gutters. Your good lordship may have the 
 ruining of him again, my lord, if they have any luck in strand-scoiu- 
 iiig." 
 
 "This is more than intolerable," said Nigel, micertain whether to 
 make an angry vindication of his character, or to fling the old tor- 
 mentor from his arm. But an instant's recollection convinced him, 
 : that to do either would only give an air of truth and consistency to the 
 scandals which he began to see were affecting his character, both in the 
 hidier and lower circles. Hastily, therefore, he formed the wiser re- 
 solution, to endure Sir Mungo' s studied impertinence, under the hope 
 of ascertaining, if possible, from what source those reports arose which 
 were so prejudicial to his reputation. 
 
 Sir Mungo, in tlie meanwhile, caught up, as usual, Nigel's last word,?, 
 or rather the sound of them, and amplified and interpreted them in his 
 OT\ii way. " Tolerable luck !" he repeated ; " yes, truly, my lord, I am 
 told that you have tolerable luck, and that ye "ken weel how to use that 
 jilting quean. Dame Fortune, like a canny douce lad, willing to warm 
 yourself in her smiles, without exposing yom'self to her frowns. And 
 that is Avhat I ca' having luck in a bag." 
 
 " Sir Mungo JMalagrowther," said Lord Glenvarloch, turning towards 
 him seriously, "have the goodness to hear me for a moment." 
 
 "As weel as I can, my lord — as weel as I can," said Sir Mungo, 
 shaking his head, and pomting the finger of his left hand to his ear. 
 
 " I will try to speak very distinctly," said Nigel, arming himself witli 
 patience. " You take me for a noted gamester ; I give you my word 
 that you have not been rightly informed — I am none such. You owe 
 me some explanation, at least, respecting the source from which you 
 have derived such false information." 
 
 ' I never heard ye Avere a ^-eat gamester, and never thought or said 
 you were such, my lord," said Sir Mun§-o, who fomid it impossible to 
 avoid hearing what Nigel said mth peculiarly deliberate and distinct pro- 
 nunciation. " I repeat it— I never heard, said, or thought, that you 
 were a ruffling gamestei\— such as they call those of the first head.— 
 Look yoUj my lord, I call Az»i a gamester, that plays with equal stakes 
 
 K 
 
128 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 and equal skill, and stands by the fortune of the game, good or bad ; 
 and I call him a ruffling gamester, or ane of the first head, who ven- 
 tures frankly and deeply upon such a wager. But he, my lord, who 
 has the patience and prudence never to venture beyond small game, 
 such as, at most, might crack the Christmas-box of a grocer's 'prentice, 
 who vies with those that have little to hazard, and who therefore, hav- 
 ing the larger stock, can always rook them by waiting for his good for- 
 tune, and by rising from the game when luck leaves hun— such a one 
 as he, my lord^ I do not call a great gamester, to whatever other name 
 he may be entitled." 
 
 " And such a mean-spirited, sordid wretch, you would infer that I 
 am," replied Lord Glenvarloch ; " one who fears the skilful, and preys 
 upon the ignorant — who avoids playing with his equals, that he may 
 make siu-e of pillaging his inferiors ? — Is this what I am to understand 
 has been reported of me 1" 
 
 " Nay, my lord, you will gain nought by speaking big with me," 
 said Sir Mimgo, who, besides that ms sarcastic humour was really 
 supported by a good fund of animal courage, had- also full reliance on 
 the immunities which he had derived from the broadsword of Sir 
 Rullion Rattray, and the baton of the satellites employed by the Lady 
 Cockpen. " And for the truth of the matter," he continued, " your 
 lordship best knows whether you ever lost more than five pieces at a 
 time since you frequented Beaujeu's — whether you have not most com- 
 monly risen a winner — and whether the brave young gallants who fre- 
 quent the ordinary— I mean those of noble rank, and means conform- r 
 ing — are in use to play upon these terms ?" 
 
 " My father was right," said Lord Glenvarloch, in the bitterness of 
 his spirit ; " and his curse justly followed me when I first entered that 
 place. There is contamination m the air, and he whose fortune avoids ' 
 ruin, shall be blighted in his honour and reputation." 
 
 Sir Mungo, who watched his victim with the delighted yet wary eye 
 of an experienced angler, became now aware, that if he strained the 
 line on him too tightly, there was every risk of his breaking hold. In j 
 order to give him room, therefore, to play, he protested that Lord Glen- 
 varloch "should not take his free speech in malam partem. If you 
 were a trifle ower sicker in your amusement, my lord, it canna be 
 denied that it is^the safest course to prevent farther endangerment of 
 your somewhat "dilapidated fortunes ; and if ye pla;^ with your in- 
 feriors, ye are relieved of the pain of pouching the siller of your friends 
 and equals ; forbye, that the plebeian knaves have had the advantage. 
 tecum certdsse, as Ajax Telamon sayeth, apud Metamorphoseos ; anci 
 for the like of them to have played with ane Scottish nooleman, is an 
 honest and honourable consideration to compensate the loss of their 
 stake, whilk, I dare say^ moreover, maist of the churls can weel afford." 
 
 "Be that as it may. Sir Mungo,' said Nigel, "I would fain know " 
 
 "Ay, ay," intemipted Sir Mungo; "and, as jou say, who cares 
 whether the fat buUs of Bashan can spare it or no / gentlemen are not 
 to limit their sport for the like of them." 
 
 "I wish to know. Sir Mungo," said Lord Glenvarloch, "in what 
 company you have learned these offensive particulars respecting me ? ' 
 
 " jDootless — dootless, my lord," said Sir Mungo ; " I have ever heard 
 
 'I 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 129 
 
 and I have ever reported, that your lordship kept the hest of company 
 
 in a private way. — There is the fine Countess of Blackchester, but I 
 
 think she stirs not much abroad since her affair with his Grace of 
 
 Buckingham ; and there is the gude auld-fashioned Scottish nobleman, 
 
 Lord Iluntinglen, an undeniable man of quality — it is pity but he 
 
 could keep caup and can frae his head, whilk now and then doth minish 
 
 his reputation. And there is the gay young Lord Dalgarno, that 
 
 carries the craft of grey hairs under his curled love-locks— a fair race 
 
 they are, father, daughter, and son, all of the same honoiu-able family. 
 
 I think we neediia speak of George Heriot, honest man, when we have 
 
 , nobility in question. So that is the company I have heard of your 
 
 ' keeping, my lord., out-taken those of the ordinary." 
 
 ; "My company has not, indeed, been much more extended than 
 
 amongst those you mention," said Lord Glenvarloch ; " but in short — " 
 
 ;' "To Court. V said Sir Mungo, "that was just what I was going to 
 
 •■ say — Lord Dalgarno says he cannot prevail on ye to come to Coui't, and 
 
 ' that does ye prejudice, my lord— the King hears of vou by others, when 
 
 1 he should see you in person — I speak in serious friendship, my lord. 
 
 I His Majesty, when you were named in the circle a short while since. 
 
 j was heard to say, ' Jacta est alea ! Glenvarlochides is tm-ned dicer and 
 
 drinker.' — My Lord Dalgarno took your part, and it was e'en borne 
 
 I down by the popular voice of the courtiers, who spoke of you as one who 
 
 I had betaken yourself to living a town life, and risking your baron's 
 
 ! coronet amongst the flatcaps of the city." 
 
 ; "And this was publicly spoken of me," said Nigel, "and in the 
 \ King's presence T' 
 
 " SpoKen openly T repeated Sir Mungo j\Lalagi'Owther ; " ay, by my 
 
 troth was it — that is to say, it was whispered privately — whUk 'is as 
 
 open promulgation as the tiling permitted ; for je may think the Com-t 
 
 [ is not like a place where men are as sib as Simmie and his brother, 
 
 .) and roar out their minds as if they were at an ordinary." 
 
 " A curse on the Court and the ordinary both !" cried Nigel im- 
 patiently. 
 
 "With all my heart," said the knight, "I have got little by a 
 knight's service in the Court ; and the last time I was at the ordinary 
 I lost four angels." 
 
 " May I pray of you. Sir Mungo, to let me know," said Nigel, " the 
 i names of those who thus make free with the character of one who can 
 I be but little known to them, and who never injured any of them 1" 
 
 "Have I not told you already," answered Sir Mungo, "that the 
 King said sometMng to that effect — so did the Prince too ; — and such 
 being the case, ye may take it on your corporal oath, that every man 
 in the circle wno was not silent, sung the same song as they did." 
 
 "You said but now," replied Glenvarloch, "that Lord Dalgarno 
 interfered in my behalf." 
 
 "In good troth did he," answered Sir Mungo, with a sneer; "but 
 the young nobleman was soon borne down— by token, he had somethmg 
 of a catarrh, and spoke as hoarse as a roopit raven. Poor gentleman, 
 if he had had his full extent of voice, he would have been as well 
 listened to, dootless, as in a cause of his ain, whilk no man kens better 
 bow to plead to nurpose.— And let me ask you, by the way," continued 
 
130 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 Sir Mun^o, ** whether Lord Dalgarno has ever introduced your lordship 
 to the Prince or the Duke of Buckingham, either of whom might soon 
 carry through your suit ?" 
 
 "I have no claim on the favour of either the Prince or the Duke of 
 Buckingham," said Lord Glenvarloch. — "As you seem to have made 
 my affairs your study. Sir Mungo, although perhaps something unne- 
 cessarily, you may have heard that I have petitioned my Sovereign for 
 payment of a debt due to my family. I cannot doubt the King's 
 desire to do justice, nor can I in decency employ the solicitation of his 
 Highness the Prince, or his Grace the Duke of Buckingham, to obtain 
 from his Majesty what either should be granted me as a right, or 
 refused altogether." 
 
 Sir Mungo twisted his whimsical features into one of his most gro- 
 tesque sneers, as he replied — 
 
 "It is a very clear and parspicuous position of the case^ my lord; 
 and in relying thereupon, you show an absolute and unmiprovable 
 acquaintance with the King, Court, and mankind in general. — But 
 whom have we got here 1 — Stand up, my lord, and make way — by my 
 word of honour, they are the very men we spoke of— talk of the devil, 
 and — humph !" 
 
 It must be here premised, that, during the conversation. Lord Glen- 
 varloch, perhaps in the hope of shaking himself free of Sir Mungo, had 
 directed their walk towards the more frequented part of the Park ; 
 while the good knight had stuck to him, being totally indifferent which 
 way they went, provided he could keep his talons clutched upon his 
 companion. They were still, however, at some distance from the livelier 
 part of the scene, when Sir Mungo' s experienced eye noticed the 
 appearances Avhich occasioned the latter part of his speech to Lord 
 Glenvarloch. 
 
 A low respectful mm-mur arose among the numerous groups of persons 
 which occupied the lower part of the Park. They first clustered to- 
 gether, with their faces turned towards Whitehall, then fell back on 
 either hand to give place to a splendid party of gallants, who, advancing 
 from the Palace, came onward through the Park ; all the other company 
 drawing off the pathway, and standing uncovered as they passed. 
 
 Most of these com-tly gallants were dressed in the garb which the 
 pencil of Vandyke has made familiar even at the distance of nearly 
 two centuries ; and which was just at this period beginning to supersede 
 the more fluttering and frivolous dress which had been adopted from 
 the French court of Henry Quatre. 
 
 The whole train were uncovered excepting the Prince of Wales, 
 afterwards the most unfortunate of British monarchs, who came on- 
 ward, having his long curled auburn tresses, and his comitenance, 
 which, even in early youth, bore a shade of anticipated melancholy, 
 shaded by the Spanish hat and a single ostrich feather which drooped 
 from it. On his right hand was Buckingham, whose commanding, and 
 at the same time graceful, deportment, threw almost into shade the 
 personal demeanour and majesty of the Prince on whom he attended. 
 The eye, movements, and gestures, of the great courtier, were so 
 composed, so regularly observant of all etiquette belonging to his situa- 
 tion, as to form a marked and strong contrast with the forward gaiet)/ 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 131 
 
 I and frivolity by which he recommended himself to the favour of his 
 j ''dear dad and gossip," King James. A singular fate attended this 
 i accomplished corn-tier, in being at once the reigning favom-ite of a 
 i father and son so very opposite in manners, that, to ingratiate himself 
 I with the youthful Prince, he was obliged»to compress within the sti'ict- 
 I est limits of respectful observance the frolicsome and free humour 
 ' which captivated his aged father. 
 
 It is true, Buckingham well knew the different dispositions both of 
 
 1 James and Charles, and had no difficulty in so conducting himself as 
 
 ! to maintain the highest post in the favour of both. It has mdeed been 
 
 I supposed, as we before hinted, that the Duke, when he had completely 
 
 I possessed himself of the affections of Charles, retained his hold in those 
 
 I of the father only by the tyranny of custom ; and that James, could he 
 
 I have brought himself to form a vigorous resolution, was, in the latter 
 
 i years of his life especially, not unlikely to have discarded Buckingham 
 
 [ from his counsels and favom-. But if ever the King indeed meditated 
 
 ! such a change, he was too timid, and too much accustomed to the 
 
 I influence which the Duke had long exercised over him, to summon up 
 
 resolution enough for effecting such a purpose ; and at all events it is 
 
 ' certain^ that Buckingham, though siurviving the master by whom he 
 
 was raised, had the rare chance to experience no wane of the most 
 
 splendid court favour during two reigns, until it Avas at once eclipsed 
 
 in his blood by the dagger of his assassin Felton. 
 
 To return from this digression. The Prince, with his train, advanced , 
 
 and were near the place where Lord Glenvarloch and Sir Mungo had 
 
 stood aside, according to form, in order to give the Prince passage, and 
 
 j to pay the usual marks of respect. Nigel could now remark that Lord 
 
 Dalgarno walked close behind the Duke of Buckingham, and, as he 
 
 thought, whispered something in his ear as they came onward. At any 
 
 rate, both the Prince's and the Duke of Buckingham's attention seemed 
 
 I to be directed by some circumstance towards Nigel, for they turned 
 
 I their heads in that direction and looked at him attentively— the Prince 
 
 ' with a countenance, the grave, melancholy expression of which was 
 
 ' blended with severity; while Buckingham's looks evinced some degree 
 
 of scornful triumph. Lord Dalgarno did not seem to observe his friend, 
 
 perhaps because the sunbeams fell from the side of the walk on which 
 
 ' Nigel stood, obliging Malcolm to hold up his hat to screen his eyes. 
 
 As the Prince passed. Lord Glenvarloch and Sir Mungo bowed, as 
 
 respect required ; and the Prince, returnmg their obeisance v\ith that 
 
 grave ceremony which paid to every rank its due, but not a tittle beyond 
 
 \ it, signed to Sir Mungo to come forward. Commencing an apology for 
 
 ; his lameness as he started, which he had just completed as his hobbling 
 
 I gait brought him up to the Prince, Sir j\Iungo lent an attentive, and, 
 
 as it seemed, an intelligent ear, to questions asked in a tone so low 
 
 that the knight would certainly have been deaf to them had they been 
 
 put to liim by any one under the rank of Prince of Wales. After about 
 
 a minute's conversation, the Prince bestowed on Nigel the embarrassing 
 
 notice of another fixed look, touched his hat slightly to Sir Mungo, and 
 
 ! walked on. 
 
 ; " It is even as I suspected, my lord," said Sir Mungo, with an air 
 which he designed to be melancholy and sympathetic, but which, in 
 
132 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 fact, resembled the grin of an ape when he has mouthed a scalding 
 chestnut — " Ye have back-friends, my lord, that is, unfriends — or, to 
 be plain, enemies — about the person of the Prince." 
 
 " I am sorry to hear it," said Nigel ; " but I would I knew what they 
 accuse me of. 
 
 " Ye shall hear, my lord " said Sir Mungo, " the Prince's rera words 
 — ' Sir Mmigo,' said he, ' I rejoice to see you, and am glad your rheu- 
 matic troubles permit you to come hither for exercise.' — I bowed, as 
 in duty bound — ye might remark, my lord, that I did so, whilk formed 
 the first branch of our conversation. — His Highness then demanded of 
 me, ' if he with whom I stood Avas the young Lord Glenvarloch.' I 
 answered, * that you were such, for his Highness' s service ;' whilk was 
 the second branch. — Thirdly, his Highness, resuming the argument, 
 said, that 'truly he had been told so,' (meaning that lie had been told 
 you were that personage,) ' but that he could not beheve that the heir 
 of that noble and decayed house could be leading an idle, scandalous, 
 and precarious life, in the eating-houses and taverns of London, while 
 the King's drums were beating and colours flying in Germany in the 
 cause of the Palatme, his son-m-law.' — I could, your lordship is aware, 
 do nothing but make an obeisance ; and a gracious ' Give ye good-day, 
 Sir Mmigo Malagi-owther,' licensed me to fall back to your lordship. 
 And now, my lord, if yoiu: business or pleasure calls you to the or- 
 dinaiy, or any where in the direction of the city — wliy, have with you ; 
 for, dootless, ye will think ye have tarried lang enough in the Park, as 
 they will likely turn at the head of the walk, and return this way — and 
 you will have a broad hint, I think, not to cross the Prince's presence 
 in a huny." 
 
 " You may stay or go as you please, Su- Mungo," said Nigel, with 
 an expression of calm, but deep resentment ; " but for my own part, 
 my resolution is taken. I will quit this public walk for pleasure of no 
 man — still less will I quit it like one unworthy to be seen in places of 
 public resort. I trust that the Prince and his retmue will return this 
 way as you expect ; for I will abide, Su' Mmigo, and beard them." 
 
 "Beard them !" exclamied Sir Mungo, in the extremity of surprise, 
 — " Beard the Prince of Wales— the heir-apparent of the kingdoms ! — 
 By my saul, you shall beard him yom-sell then." 
 
 Accordingly, he was about to leave Nigel very hastily, when some 
 unwonted touch of good-natm-ed interest in his youth and inexperience 
 seemed suddenly to soften his habitual cynicism. 
 
 '" The devil is in me for an aidd fule !" said Sir Mungo ; "but I 
 must needs concern mysell — I that owe so little either to fortune or my 
 fellow-creatures, must, I say, needs concern mysell — with this springald, 
 whom I will warrant to be as obstinate as a pig possessed vdth a devil, 
 for it's the cast of liis family ; and yet I maun e'en fling away some 
 sound advice on him. — My dainty young Lord Glenvarloch, understand 
 me distinctly, for this is no bairn's play. When the prince said sae 
 much to me as I have repeated to you, it was equivalent to a command 
 not to appear again in his presence ; wherefore, take an auld man's ad- 
 vice that Avishes you weel, and maybe a wee thing better than he has 
 reason to wish ony body. Jouk, and let the jaw gae by, like a camiy 
 bairii— gang hanie to your lodgings, keep your foot frae taverns, and 
 
THE POKTUNES OF NIGEL. 133 
 
 your fingers fnae the dice-box ; compound your affairs quietly wi' sorao 
 ane that has better favour than yours about Court, and you will get a 
 round spell of maney to carry you to Germany, or elsewhere, to push 
 your fortime. It was a fortunate soldier that made your famOy four 
 or five hundred years syiie, and, if you are brave and fortunate, you 
 may find the way to repair it. Eut, take my word for it, that in this 
 Court you Avill never thrive." 
 
 When Sir Mungo had completed Ms exhortation, in which there was 
 more of sincere sympathy with another's situation than he had been 
 heretofore known to express in behalf of any one. Lord Glenvarloch re- 
 plied, "I am obliged to you, Sii* JMungo— you have spoken, I think, 
 with sincerity, and I thanli you. But in retm-n for your good advice, 
 I heartily entreat you to leave me ; I observe the Prince and his train 
 are retiu-ning down the walk, and you may prejudice yourself, but can- 
 not help me, by remaining with me."* 
 
 " And that is true," said Sir Mimgo ; "' yet, were I ten ye^rs yomiger, 
 I would be tempted to stand by you, and gie them the meeting. But 
 at threescore and upward, men's courage turns cauldrife ; and they that 
 canna win a living, must not endanger the small sustenance of their 
 age. I wish you weel through, my lord, but it is an unequal fight.'' 
 So saying, he turned and limped away ; often looking back, however, 
 as if his natural spirit, even m its present subdued state, aided by his 
 love of contradiction and of debate, rendered him unwilling to adopt 
 the com'se necessary for Ms own secmity. 
 
 Thus abandoned by his compamon, whose departure he graced with 
 better thoughts of Mm than those Avhich he best(Dwed on Ms appearance 
 Nigel remained with his arms folded^ and reclining against a solitary 
 tree which overhimg the path, making up his mind to encounter a 
 moment which he expected to be critical of his fate. But he was mis- 
 taken in supposing that the Prince of Wales would either addi-ess him, 
 or admit him to expostulation, in such a public place as the Park. He 
 did not remain unnoticed, however, for, when he made a respectful but 
 haughty obeisance, intimating in look and manner that he was possessed 
 of, and undaunted by, the unfavom-able opinion which the Prince had 
 so lately expressed, Charles retm-ned his reverence with such a frown 
 as is only given by those whose fro^vn is authority and decision. The 
 train passed on, the Duke of Buckingham not even appearing to see 
 Lord Glenvarloch ; while Lord Dalgarno, though no longer mcommoded 
 by the simbeams, kept Ms eyes, wMch had perhaps been dazzled by 
 their former splendour, bent upon the groimd. 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch had difficulty to restrain an indignation, to wMch, 
 in the circumstances, it would have been madness to have given vent. 
 He started from his reclimng postm-e, and followed the Prince's train so 
 as to keep them distinctly in sight ; which was very easy, as they walked 
 slowly. Nigel observed them keep their road towards the Palace, 
 where the Prince turned at the gate and bowed to the noblemen in attend- 
 ance, in token of dismissing them, and entered the Palace, accom- 
 pamed only by the Duke of Buckingham, and one or two of Ms ec[ueiTies. 
 The rest of the train, having returned in all dutiful humility the 
 farewell of the Prince, began to disperse themselves tMough the Park 
 
 AU this was carefully noticed by Lord Glenvarloch, who, as he ad 
 
134 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 justed his cloak, and drew his sword-belt round so as to bring the hilt 
 closer to his hand, muttered — " Dalgarno shall explain all this to nie, 
 for it is evident that he is in the secret !" 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Give way— give way— I must and -will have justice. 
 
 And tell me not of privilege and place ; 
 
 Where I am injured, there I'll sue redress. 
 
 Look to it, every one who bars my access ; 
 
 I liavc a heart to feel the injury, 
 
 A hand to right myself, and, by my honour. 
 
 That hand shall grasp what gray-beard Law denies mc. 
 
 The Chamhcrlain. 
 
 IT was not long ere Nigel discovered Lord Dalgarno advancing to- 
 wards him hi the company of another young man of quality of the 
 Prince's train ; and as they directed their course towards the south- 
 eastern corner of the Park, he concluded they were about to go to Lord 
 Huiitinglen's. They stopped, however, and turned up another path 
 leading to the north ; and Lord Glenvarloch conceived that this change 
 of direction was owing to their having seen him, and their desire to 
 avoid him. 
 
 Nigel followed them without hesitation by a path which, winding 
 around a thicket of shrubs and treePj, once more conducted hmi to the 
 less frequented part of the Park. He observed which side of the thicket 
 was taken by Lord Dalgarno and his companion, and he himself, walking 
 hastily round the other verge, was thus enabled to meet them face to 
 face. 
 
 " Good-morrow, my Lord Dalgarno," said Laid Glenvarloch, sternly. 
 
 " Ha ! my friend Nigel," answered Lord Dalgarno, in his usual care- 
 less and indifferent tone, '^ my friend Nigel, with business on his 
 brow 1 — but you must wait till we meet at Beaujeu's at noon — Sir Ewes 
 Haldimund and I are at present engaged in the Prince's seiTice." 
 
 " If you were engaged in the King's, my lord," said Lord Glenvar- 
 loch, " you must stand and answer me." 
 
 " Iley-day !" said Lord Dalgarno, with an air of great astonishment, 
 " what passion is this 1 Why, Nigel, this is King Cambyses' vein ! — 
 You hare frequented the theatres too much lately. Away with this folly, 
 man ; go, dine upon soup and salad, drink succory-water to cool your 
 blood, go to bed at sundown, and defy tliose foul fiends, Wrath and 
 Misconstruction." 
 
 " I have had misconstruction enough among you," said Glenvarloch 
 In the same tone of determined displeasure, " and from you, my Lord 
 Dalgarno, in particular, and all under the mask of friendsliip." 
 
 " Here is a proper business !" said Dalgarno, turning as if to appeal 
 to Sir Ewes Haldimund ; " do you see this angry ruffler. Sir Ewes / A 
 month since, he dared not have looked one of yonder sheep in the face, 
 and now he is a prince of roisterers, a pluck er of pigeons, a controller of 
 players and poets — and in gratitude for my having shown him the way 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 135 
 
 to the eminent character -which he holds upon town, he comes hither 
 to quarrel "\\ith his best friend, if not his only one of decent station." 
 
 " I renounce such hollow friendship, my lord," said Lord Glenvar- 
 loch ; " I disclaim the character which, even to my very face, you la- 
 bour to fix upon me, and ere we part I will call you to a reckoning for it." 
 j " My lords both," interrupted Sir Ewes Haldimmid, " let me remind 
 i you that the Royal Park is no place to quarrel in." 
 I " I will make my quarrel good," said Kigel, who did not know, or in 
 j his passion might not have recollected, tiie privileges of the place, 
 " wherever I find my enemy." 
 
 " You shall find quarrelling enough," replied Lord Dalgarno, calmly, 
 *' so soon as you assign a sufficient cause for it. Sir Ewes Ilaldimund, 
 who knows the Court, will warrant you that I am not backward on such 
 occasions. — But of what is it that you now complain, after having ex- 
 perienced nothing save kindness from me an^ my family f 
 
 " Of yom- family I complain not," replied Lord Glenvarloch ; "they 
 have done for me all they could, more, far more, than I could have ex- 
 pected ; but you, my lord, have suffered me, while you called me your 
 friend, to be traduced, where a word of yom- mouth would have placed 
 my character in its true colom's — and hence the injurious message whicli 
 I just now received from the Prince of Wales. To permit the misre- 
 presentation of a friend, my lord, is to share in the slander," 
 
 " You have been misinformed, my Lord Glenvarloch," said Sir Ewes 
 Ilaldimund ; " I have myself often heard Lord Dalgarno defend your 
 character, and regret that yom- exclusive attachment to the pleasiu-es 
 of a London life prevented yom- paying your duty regularly to the King 
 and Prince." 
 
 "While he himself," said Lord Glenvarloch, "dissuaded me from 
 presenting myself at Court." 
 
 " I will cut this matter short," said Lord Dalgarno, with haughty 
 coldness. " You seem to have conceived, my lord, that you and I were 
 Pylades and Orestes— a second edition of Damon and Pythias — Theseus 
 and Pirithous at the least. You are mistaken, and have given the 
 name of Eriendship to what, on my part, was mere good-nature and 
 compassion for a raw and ignorant countryman, joined to the ciunber- 
 some charge which my father gave me respecting you. Your character, 
 my lord, is of no one's drawing, but of your OAvn making, I introduced 
 you where, as in all such places, there was good and indifferent company 
 to be met Avith — your habits, or taste, made you prefer the Avorse. 
 Your holy horror at the sight of dice and cards degenerated into the 
 cautious resolution to play only at those times, and Avith such persons, 
 as might ensure you rising a A\inner — no man can long do so, and con- 
 tinue to be held a gentleman. Such is the reputation you have made 
 for yourself, and you liave no right to be angry that I do not contradict in 
 I society what yourself knoAV to be true. Let us pass on, my lord ; and if 
 you want farther explanation, seek some other time arj-d fitter place." 
 
 " No time can be better than the present," said Lord Glenvarloch, 
 whose resentment AA^as now excited to tlie uttermost by the cold-blooded 
 and insulting manner in Avhich Dalgarno vindicated himself, — " no place 
 fitter than the place Avhere Ave now stand. Those of my house have 
 ever avenged iusidt at the moment, and on the spot where it was offered, 
 
136 THE FOKTUJSES OF NIGEL. 
 
 were it at the foot of the throne. — Lord Dalgamo, you are a vilhin ! 
 draw and defend yourself.' ' At the same time he unsheathed his rapier. 
 
 " Are you mad i " said Lord Dalgarno, stepping back ; " we are in 
 the precincts of the Court ! " 
 
 " The better," answered Lord Glenvarloch ; " I will cleanse them 
 from a calumniator and a coward." lie then pressed on Lord Dalgarno, 
 and struck liim with the flat of the sword. 
 
 The fray had now attracted attention, and the cry went round, " Keep 
 the i)eace— keep the peace — swords drawn in the Park ! — What, ho ! 
 guards ! — keepers ! — yeoman rangers ! " and a number of people came 
 rusliing to the spot from all sides. 
 
 Lord Dalgarno, who had half drawn liis sword on receiving the blow, 
 returned it to his scabbard when he observed the crowd thicken, and, 
 taking Sir Ewes Haldimund by the arm, walked hastily away, only 
 saying to Lord Glenvarloch as they left hmi, "You shall dearly abye 
 tliis insult — we will meet again:" 
 
 A decent-looking elderlj man, who observed that Lord Glenvarloch 
 remained on the spot, takmg compassion on his youthful appearance, 
 said to him, " Are you aware this is a Star-Chamber business, young 
 gentleman, and that it may cost you your right hand ? — Sliift for your- 
 self before the keepers or constables come up — Get into Whitefriars or 
 somewhere, for sanctuary and concealment, till you can make friends 
 or quit the city." 
 
 The advice was not to be neglected. Lord Glenvarloch made hastily 
 towards the issue from the Park by Saint James's Palace, then Saint 
 James's IIosi)ital. The hubbub increased behind him ; and several 
 peace-officers of the Royal Household came up to apprehend the de- 
 linquent. Fortunately for Nigel, a popular eclition of the cause of the 
 affray had gone abroad. It was said that one of the Duke of Bucking- 
 ham's companions had insidted a stranger gentleman from the country, 
 and that the stranger had cudgelled him soundly. A favourite, or tlie 
 companion of a favomite, is always odious to Jolm Bull, who has, besides, 
 a partiality to those disputants who proceed, as lawyers term it, ^^ar voye 
 dufait, and both prejudices were in Nigel's favour. The officers, there- 
 fore, wlio came to apprehend them, could learn from the spectators no 
 particulars of his appearance, or information concerning the road he 
 liad taken ; so that, for the moment, he escaped being arrested. 
 
 What Lord Glenvarloch heard among the crowd as he passed alon^ 
 was sufficient to satisfy him, that, in his impatient passion, he had 
 placed himself in a predicament of considerable danger. He was no 
 stranger to the severe and arbitrary proceedings of the Court of Star- 
 Chamber, especially in cases of breach of priyilege, which made it the 
 terror of all men ; and it wa^ no farther back than the Queen's time 
 tliat the punishment of mutilation had been actually awarded and exe- 
 cuted, for some offence of the same kind which he had just committed. 
 He had also the comfortable reflection, that, by his violent quarrel 
 with Lord Dalgarno, he must now forfeit the friendship and good 
 offices of that nobleman's father and sister, almost the only persons of 
 consideration in whom he coidd claim any mterest ; while all the evil 
 reports which had been put in cu'culation concerning liis character, 
 were certain to weigh heavily against him in a case where much nuist 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. ]37 
 
 I necessarily depend on the reputation of the accused. To a youthful 
 imagination, the idea of siich a punishment as mutilation seems more 
 ghastly than death itself ; and every word which he overheard among the 
 groups which he met, mingled with, or overtook and passed, announced 
 tliis as the penalty of his offence. He dreaded to increase his pace for 
 fear of attracting suspicion, and more than once saw the Ranger's 
 officers so near him that his wrist tingled as if already under the blade 
 of the dismembering knife. At length he got out of the Park, and had 
 a little more leisure to consider what he was next to do. 
 
 Wliitefriars, adjacent to the Temple, then well known by the cant 
 name of Alsatia, had at this time, and for nearly a century afterAvards, 
 the privilege of a sanctuary, unless against the writ of the Lord Chief 
 Justice, or of the Lords of the Privy-Council. Indeed, as the place 
 abounded wit]i desperadoes of every description, — bankrupt citizens, 
 ruined gamesters, UTeclaimable prodigals, desperate duellists, bravoes, 
 homicides, and debauched profligates of every description, all lea^aied 
 together to maintain the immunities of their asylum, — it was both 
 difficidt and unsafe for the officers of the law to execute warrants, 
 emanatmg even from the highest authority, amongst men whose safety 
 was inconsistent with warrants or authority of any kind. This Lord 
 Glenvarloch well knew ; and odious as the place of refuge was, it 
 seemed the only one where, for a space at least, he might be concealed 
 and secure from the immediate grasp of the law, until he should have 
 leisiure to provide better for his safety, or to get this unpleasant matter 
 in some shape accommodated. 
 
 Meanwhile, as Nigel walked hastily forward towards the place of 
 sanctuary^ he bitterly blamed himself for suffering Lord Dalgarno to 
 lead him into the haunts of dissipation ; and no less accused his intem- 
 perate heat of passion, which now had driven him for refuge into the 
 purlieus of profane and avowed vice and debauchery. 
 
 " Dalgarno spoke but too truly in that," were his bitter reflections ; 
 " I have made myself an evil reputation by acting on his insidious 
 counsels, a.nd neglecting the wholesome admonitions which ought to 
 have claimed implicit obedience from me, and which recommended 
 abstinence even from the slightest approach to evil. But if I escape 
 from the perilous labyiinth in which folly and inexperience, as well as 
 violent passions, have involved me, I will find some noble way of re- 
 deeming the lustre of a name which was never sullied until I bore it." 
 
 As Lord Glenvarloch formed these prudent resolutions, he entered 
 the Temple Walks, whence a gate at that time opened into White- 
 friars, by which, as by the more private passage, he i)roposed to betake 
 himself to the sanctuary. As he approached the entrance to that den 
 of infamy, from which his mind recoileJ even Avhile in the act of taking 
 shelter there, his pace slackened, while the steep and broken stairs re- 
 minded him of thefacilis descensus Averni, and rendered liim doubtful 
 whether it were not better to brave the worst which could befall him 
 in the public haunts of honourable men, than to evade punishment 
 by secluding himself in those of avowed vice and profligacy. 
 
 As Nigel hesitated, a young gentleman of the Temple advanced to- 
 wards him, whom he had often seen, and sometimes conversed with, at 
 the ordinaiy, where he was a frequent and welcome guest, being a wild 
 
138 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 young gallant, indifferently well provided with money, who spent at 
 the theatres and other gay places of public resort the time wliich his 
 father supposed he Avas employing in the study of the law. But Regi- 
 nald Lowestoffe, such was the young Templars name, was of opinion 
 that little law was necessary to enable him to spend the revenues of 
 the paternal acres which were to devolve upon him at his father's de- 
 mise, and therefore gave himself no trouble to acquire more of that 
 science than might be imbibed along with the learned air of the region 
 in which he had his chambers. In other respects, he was one of the 
 , -vvits of the place, read Ovid and Martial, aimed at quick repartee and 
 pun (often very farfetched), danced, fenced, played at tennis, and per- 
 formed sundry tunes on the fiddle and French horn, to the great 
 annoyance of old Counsellor Barratter, who lived in the chambei-s 
 immediately below liim. Such was Reginald Lowestoffe, shrewd, alert, 
 and well acquainted with the town through all its recesses, but in a 
 sort of disrespectable way. This gallant, now approaching the Lord 
 Glenvarloch, saluted him by name and title, and asl^ed if his lordship 
 designed for the Chevalier's this day, observing it was near noon, and 
 the woodcock Avould be on the board ere they could reach the ordinary. 
 
 " I do not go there to-day," answered Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 " Which way, then, my lord ?" said the young Templar, wlio was 
 perhaps not undesirous to parade a part at least of the street in company 
 with a lord, though but a Scottish one. 
 
 " I — I — " said Nigel, desiring to avail himself of this young man's 
 local knowledge, yet unwilling and as-hamed to acknowledge his inten- 
 tion to take refuge in so disreputable a quarter or to describe the situa- 
 tion in which he stood — " I havd some curiosity to see Whitefriars." 
 
 " What ! your lordship is for a frolic into Alsatia?" said Lowestoffe. 
 — " Have with you, my lord — you cannot have a better guide to the in- 
 fernal regions than myself. I promise you there are bona-robas to be 
 found there — good wine too, ay, and good fehoAvs to drink it with, tliough 
 somewhat suffering under trie frowns of Fortune. But your lordsliip Avill 
 pardon me — you are the last of our acquaintance to whom I would have 
 proposed such a voyage of discovery." 
 
 " I am obliged to you, Master Lowestoffe, for the good opinion you 
 have expressed in the observation," said Lord Glenvarloch ; " but my 
 present circumstances may render even a residence of a day or two in 
 the sanctuarv a matter of necessity." 
 
 " Indeed ! said Lowestoffe, in a tone of great surprise ; " I thought 
 your lordship had alwavs taken care not to risk any considerable stake — 
 1 beg pardon, but if the bones have proved perfidious, I know just so 
 much law as that a peer's person is sacred from arrest ; and for mere 
 impecuniosity, my lord, better shift can be made elsewhere than in 
 W^hitefriars, where all are devouring each other f^r very poverty." 
 
 " My misfortune has no connection with want of money," said Nigel. 
 
 " Wtiy, then, I suppose," said Lowestoffe, ''you have been tilting, 
 my lord, and have pinked yom- man ; in which case, and with a purse 
 reasonably fmnished, you may lie perdu in Whitefriars for a twelve- 
 month—Marry, but you must be entered and received as a member of 
 their worshipful society, my lord, and a frank burgher of Alsatia — so far 
 you must condescend ; there will be neitlier peace nor safety for you else." 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 139 
 
 "My fault is not in a degree so deadly, Master LowestofFe/' answered 
 Lord Glenvarloch, "as you seem to conjecture— I have stricken a 
 gentleman in the Park, that is all." 
 
 " By my hand, my lord, and you had better have struck your sword 
 through him at 13arns Elms," said the Templar, " Strike Avithin the 
 verge of the Court ! You will find that a weighty dependence upon 
 your hands, especially if your party be of rank and have favom- ." ^ 
 
 "I will be plain with you. Master Lowestoffe," said Nigel, "since I 
 have gone thus far. The person whom I struck was Lord Dalgarno, 
 whom you have seen at Beaujeu's." 
 
 "A follower and favomite of the Duke of Buckingham ! — It is a 
 most unhappy chance, my lord ; but my heart was formed in England, 
 and cannot bear to see a young nobleman borne down, as you are like 
 to be. We converse here greatly too open for your circumstances. The 
 Templars would suffer no bailili" to execute a wit, and no gentleman 
 to be arrested for a duel, within their precincts ; but in such a matter 
 between Lord Dalgamo and your lordship, there might be a party on 
 either side. You must away with me instantly to my poor chambers 
 here, hard by, and undergo some little change of dress, ere you take 
 sanctuary ; for else you will have the whole rascal rout of the Friars 
 about you, like crows upon a falcon that strays into their rookery. ^Ve 
 must have you aiTayed somethnig more like the natives of Alsatia, or 
 there will be no life there for you." 
 
 While Lowestoffe spoke, he pulled Lord Glenvarloch along with him 
 into his chambers, where he had a handsome library, filled with all the 
 poems and play-books which were then in fashion. The Templar then 
 despatched a boy, who waited upon him, to procure a dish or two from 
 the next cook's shop ; "and this," he said, "must be your lordship's 
 dinner, Avith a glass of old sack, of which my grandmother (the heavens 
 requite her !) sent me a dozen bottles, with charge to use the liquor 
 only with clarified whey, when I felt my breast ache with over study. 
 Marry, we will drink the good lady's health in it, if it is your lordship's 
 pleasure, and you shall see how we poor students eke out our mutton- 
 commons in the hall." 
 
 The outward door of the chambers was barred so soon as the boy had 
 re-entered with the food ; the boy was ordered to keep close watch, 
 and admit no one ; and Lowes tofte, by example and precept, pressed 
 his noble guest to partake of his hospitality. His frank and forAvard 
 manners, though much dittering from the courtly ease of Lord Dalgarno, 
 were calculated to make a favourable impression ; and Lord Glenvar- 
 loch, though his experience of Dalgarno' s perfidy had taught him to be 
 cautious of reposing faith in friendly professions, coidd not avoid testi- 
 fying his gratitude to the young Templar, who seemed so anxious fur 
 his safety and accommodation. 
 
 • " You may spare your gratitude any great sense of obligation, my 
 lord," said the Templar. " No doubt, I am willing to be of use to any 
 gentleman that has cause to sing Fortune my foe, and particularly 
 proud to serve your lordship's tm-n ; but I have also an old pudge, to 
 speak Heaven's truth, at your opposite. Lord Dalgarno." 
 
 "May I ask upon what accomit, Ma,ster Lowestoffe?" said Lord 
 Glenvarloch. 
 
140 THE FORTUNES 0¥ NIGEL, 
 
 " Oh, my lord," replied the Templar, " it was for a hap that chanced 
 after you left the ordinary, one evening about three weeks since — at 
 least I think you were not by, as your lordship always left us before 
 deep play began— I mean no offence, but such was your lordship's cus- 
 tom — when there were words between Lord Dalgarno and me concerning 
 a certain game at gleek, and a certain mourn ival of aces held by his lord- 
 ship, which went for eight — tib, which went for fifteen— twenty- three in 
 all. Now I held king and queen, being three — a natural towser, making 
 fifteen — and tiddy, nineteen. We vied the ruff, and revied, as your 
 lordship may suppose, till the stake was equal to half my yearly ex- 
 hibition, fiftj as fair yellow canary birds as e'er chirped in the bottom 
 of a green silk pm'se. Well, my lord, I gained the cards, and lo you ! 
 it pleases his lordship to say that we played without tiddy ; and as the 
 rest stood by and backed him, and especially the sharking Frenchman, 
 why, I was obliged to lose more than I shall gain all the season. — So 
 judge if I have not a crow to pluck with his lordship. Was it ever 
 heard there was a game at gleek at the ordinary before, without count- 
 ing tiddy ? — marry q^uep upon his lordship ! — every man who comes 
 there with his purse m his hand is as free to make new laws as he, I 
 hope, since touch pot touch penny makes every man equal." 
 
 As Master Lowestoffe ran over this jargon of the gaming-table. Lord 
 Glenvarloch was both ashamed and mortified, and felt a severe pang of 
 aristocratic pride, when he concluded in the sweeping clause, that the 
 dice, like the grave, levelled those distinguishing points of society, to 
 which Nigel's early prejudices clung perhaps but too fondly. It was 
 impossible, however, to object anything to the learned reasoning of the 
 young Templar^ and therefore Nigel was contented to turn the conver- 
 sation, by making some inquiries respecting the present state of White- 
 friars. There also his host was at home. 
 
 " You know, my lord," said Master Lowestoffe, "that we Templars 
 are a power and a dominion within ourselves, and I am proud to say 
 that I hold some rank in our republic — was treasurer to the Lord of 
 Misrule last year, and am at this present moment in nomination for 
 that dignity myself. In such circiunstances, we are under the necessity 
 of maintaining an amicable intercourse with our neighbours of Alsatia, 
 even as the Christian States find themselves often, in mere policy, 
 obliged to make alliance with the Grand Turk, or the Barbary States." 
 
 " I should have imagined you gentlemen of the Temple more inde- 
 pendent of your neighbours," said Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 " You do us something too much honour, my lord," said the Templar ; 
 " the Alsatians and we have some common enemies, and we have, under 
 the rose, some common friends. AVe are in the use of blockinj^ all bai- 
 liffs out of our bounds, and we are powerfully aided by our neighbours, 
 who tolerate not a rag belonging to them within theirs. Moreover, the 
 Alsatians have — I beg you to understand me— the power of protecting 
 or distressing our friends, male or female, who may be obliged to seek 
 sanctuary within their boimds. In short, the two commimities serve 
 each other, though the league is between states of unequal quality, and 
 I may myself sayj that I have treated of sundry weighty affairs, and 
 have been a negotiator well approved on both sides. — But hark — hark 
 —what is that V 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 141 
 
 The sound by which JNIaster Lowestoffe was interrnpted was that of 
 a distant hom, winded loud and keenly, and followed by a faint and re- 
 mote huzza. 
 
 " There is something doing," said Lowestoffe, "in the Whitefriars at 
 this moment. That is the signal when their privileges are invaded by 
 tipstaff or bailiff ; and at the blast of the horn they all swarm out to 
 the rescue, as bees when their hive is disturbed. — Jump, Jem," he said, 
 calling out to the attendant, " and see what they are doing in Alsatia. 
 
 -That bastard of a boy," he continued, as the lad, accustomed to the 
 precipitate haste of his master, tiunbled rather than ran out of the apart- 
 ment, and so down stairs, " is worth gold in this quarter — he serves six 
 masters — four of them in distinct Numbers, and you would tliink him 
 present like a fairy at the mere wish of him that for the time most 
 needs his attendance. No scout in Oxford, no gip in Cambridge, ever 
 matched him in speed and inteUigence. He knows the step of a dun 
 from that of a chent, when it reaches the veiy bottom of the staircase ; 
 can tell the trip of a pretty wench from the step of a bencher, when at 
 the upper end of the court ; and is, take him all in all — But I see your 
 lordship is anxious — May I press another cup of my kind grandmother's 
 cordial, or will you allow me to show you my wardi'obe, and act as your 
 valet or groom of the chamber ?" 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch hesitated not to acknowledge that he was painfully 
 sensible of his present situation, and anxious to do what must needs be 
 done for his extrication. 
 
 The good-natured and thoughtless young Templar readily acquiesced, 
 an3 led the way into his little bed-room, where, from bandboxes, port- 
 manteaus, mail-trimks, not forgetting an old walnut-tree wardrobe, he 
 began to select the articles which he thought more suited effectually to 
 disguise his guest in venturing into the lawless and turbulent society of 
 Alsatia. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIL 
 
 Come hither, yotlng one.— Mark me! Thou art now 
 'Mongst men o' the sword, that live by reputation 
 More than by constant income — Single-suited 
 They are, I grant you ; yet each single suit 
 Maintains, on the rough guess, a thousand followers— 
 And they be men, who, hazarding their all, 
 Needful apparel, necessary income, 
 And human body, and immortal soul, 
 Do in the very deed but hazard nothing— 
 So strictly is that all bound in reversion ; 
 Clothes to the broker, income to the usurer — 
 And body to disease, and soul to the foul fiend; 
 Who laughs to see Soldadoes and Fooladoes, 
 Play better than himself his game on earth. 
 
 Tilt MohocKS. 
 
 " Your lordship," said Reginald Lowestoffe, "must be content to 
 exchange your decent and coiut-beseeming rapier, which I will retain 
 1 in safe keeping, for this broadsword with an hundredweight of rusty 
 
142 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 iron about the hilt, and to wear these hiige-paned slops, instead of your 
 civil and moderate hose. We allow no cloak, for your ruffian always 
 walks in cuerpo ; and the tarnished doublet of bald velvet, with its dis- 
 coloured embroidery, and — I grieve to speak it — a few stains from the 
 blood of the grape, will best suit the garb of a roaring boy. I will leave 
 you to change your suit for an instant, till I can help to truss you." 
 
 Lowestoffe retired, while slowly, and with hesitation, Nigel obeyed 
 his instructions. lie felt displeasure and disgust at the scoundrelly 
 disguise which he was under the necessity of assuming ; but, when he 
 considered the bloody consequences Avhich law attached to this rash 
 act of violence, the easy aud indifferent temper of James, the prejudices 
 of his son, the overbearing influence of the Duke of Buckingham, which 
 was sure to be thrown into the scale against him ; and, above all, when 
 he reflected that he must now look upon the active, assiduous, and 
 insinuating Lord Dalgarno as a bitter enemy, reason told him he was 
 in a situation of peril which authorized all honest means, even the 
 most unseemly in outward appearance, to extricate himself from so 
 dangerous a predicament. 
 
 While he was changing his dress, and musing on these particulars, 
 liis friendly host re-entered the sleeping apartment. — "Zounds!" he 
 said, "my lord, it was well you went not straight into that same 
 Alsatia of ours at the time you proposed, for the hawks have stooped 
 upon it._ Here is Jem come back with tidings, that he saw a pursuivant 
 there with a privy-council warrant, and half a score of yeomen assist- 
 ants, armed to the teeth, and the horn which we heard was sounded to 
 call out the posse of the Friars. Indeed, when old Duke Ilildebrod 
 saw that the quest was after some one of whom he knew nothing, he 
 perniitted, out of courtesy, the man-catcher to search through his 
 dominions, quite certain that they would take little by their motions ; 
 for Duko Ilildebrod is a most judicious potentate. — Go back, you 
 bastard, and bring us word when all is quiet. ' 
 
 "And who may Duke Ilildebrod be?" said Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 "Nouns ! my lord," said the Templar, "have you lived so long on 
 the town, and never heard of the valiant, and as wise and politic as 
 valiant, Duke Ilildebrod, grand protector of the liberties of Alsatia \ 
 I thought the man had never whirled a die but was familiar with his 
 fame." 
 
 " Yet I have never heard of him. Master Lowestofl'c," said Lord 
 Glenvarloch ; "or, what is the same thing, I have paid no attention to 
 anght that may have passed in conversation respecting him." 
 
 " Wliy, then," said Lowestoff'e — "but, first, let me have the honour 
 of trussing you. Now, observe, I have left several of the points untied, 
 of set purpose : and if it please you to let a small portion of your shirt 
 be seen betwixt yom' doublet and the band of yom- upper stock, it will 
 have so much the more rakish, effect, and Avill attract you respect in 
 Alsatia, where linen is something scarce. Now, I tie some of the points 
 carefully asqumt, for yoiu- ruffianly gallant never appears too accurately 
 trussed — so." 
 
 "Arrange it as you will, sir," said Nigel ; "but let me hear at least 
 something of the conditions of the unhappy district into wliich, with 
 Other wretches, I am compelled to retreat. 
 
THE FOUTUXES OP NIGEL. 143 
 
 "Why, my lord," replied the Templar, "our neighbomiug state of 
 Alsatia, which the law calls the Sanctuary of Whitefriars, has had its 
 mutations and revolutions like greater kingdoms ; and, being in some 
 sort a lawless, arbitrary government, it follows, of course, tliat these 
 have been more frequent than oiu' own better regulated commonwealth 
 of the Templars, that of Gray's Imi, and other similiar associations, 
 have had the fortune to witness. Our traditions and records speak of 
 twenty revolutions within the last twelve years, in which the aforesaid 
 state has repeatedly changed from absolute despotism to republicanism, 
 not forgetting the nitermediate stages of oligarchy, limited monarchv, 
 and even gynocracy ; for I myself remember Alsatia governed for nearly 
 ^ nine months by an old fishwoman. Then it fell under the dominion 
 of a broken attoi-ney, who was dethroned by a reformado captain, who, 
 l)roving tyrannical, was deposed by a hedge-parson, Avho was succeeded, 
 upon resignation of his power, by Duke Jacob Hildebrod, of that name 
 the first, whom Heaven long preserv^e." 
 
 "And is this potentate's government," said Lord Glenvarloch, forc- 
 ing himself to take some interest in the conversation, "of a despotic 
 character?" 
 
 "Pardon me, my lord," said the Templar; "this said sovereign is 
 too wise to incur, like many of his predecessors, the odium of wielding 
 so important an authority ])y his own sole will. He has established a 
 council of state, who regularly meet for their morning's draught at 
 seven o'clock ; convene a second, time at eleven for their ante-meridiem, 
 or whet ; and, assembling in solemn conclave at the hour of two after- 
 noon, for the purpose of consulting for the good of the commonwealth, 
 »re so prodigal of their labour in the service of the state that they 
 seldom separate before midnight. Into this worthy senate, composed 
 partly of Duke Hildebrod' s predecessors in his high office, whom he 
 has associated with him to preA^ent the envy attending sovereign and 
 sole authority, I must presently introduce yom- lordship, that they 
 may admit you to the immunities of the Friars, and assign you a place 
 of residence." 
 
 "Does their authority extend to such regulation ?" said Lord Glen- 
 varloch. 
 
 "The council account it a main point of their privileges, my lord," 
 answered Lowestoflfe; "and, in fact, it is one of the most powerful 
 means by which they support their authority. For, when Duke Hilde- 
 brod and his senate find a topping householder in the Friars becomes 
 discontented and factious, it is but assigning him, for a lodger, some 
 fat bankrupt, or new residenter, Avhose circumstances require refuge, 
 and whose purse can pay for it, and the malcontent becomes as tract- 
 able as a lamb. As for the poorer refugees, they let them shift as they 
 can ; but the registration of their names in the Duke's entry-book, and 
 the payment of garnish conforming to their circimistances, is never 
 dispensed with ; and the Friars would be a very unsafe residence for 
 the stranger who should dispute these points of jm-isdiction." 
 
 " Well, Master Lowestoft'e," said Lord Glenvarloch, " I must be con- 
 trolled by the circumstances which dictate to me this state of conceal- 
 ment — of course I am desirous not to betray my name and rank." 
 
 " It win be higlily advisable, my lord," said Lowestoffe ; " and is a 
 
 L 
 
144 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 case thus provided for in the statutes of the republic, or monarchy, or 
 whatsoever you call it. — He who desires that no questions shall be asked 
 him concerning his name, cause of refuge, and the like, may escape the 
 usual interrogations upon payment of double the garnish otherwise be- 
 longing to his condition. Complying with this essential stipulation, 
 your lordship may register yourself as King of Bantam if you will, for 
 not a question will be asked of you. — But here comes our scout, with 
 news of peace and tranquillity. Now, I will go with your lordship my- 
 self, and present you to the council of Alsatia, with all the influence 
 which I have over them as office-bearer in the Temple, which is not 
 elight ; for they have come halting off upon all occasions when we have 
 taken part against them, and that they well know. The time is pro- 
 pitious, for as the council is now met in Alsatia, so the Temple walks 
 are quiet. Now, my lord, throw your cloak about you, to hide your 
 present exterior. You shall give it to the boy at the foot of the stairs 
 that go down to the Sanctuary ; and as the ballad says that Queen 
 Eleanor sunk at Charing-Cross and rose at Queenhithe, so you shall 
 sink a nobleman in the Temple Gardens, and rise an Alsatian at 
 Whitefriars." 
 
 They went out accordingly, attended by the little scout, traversed 
 the gardens, descended the stairs, and at the bottom the young Templar 
 exclaimed,—" And now let us sing, with Ovid, 
 
 ' In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas — ' 
 
 dS, off, ye lendings !" he continued.an the same vein. " Yia, the cur- 
 tain that shadowed Borgia !— But now now, my lord ?" he continued, 
 when he observed Lord Glenvarloch was really distressed at the de- 
 grading change in his situation, " I trust you are not offended at my 
 rattling folly 1 I would but reconcile you to your present cu:cumstances, 
 and give you the tone of this strange place. Gome, cheer up ; I tmst 
 it will only be your residence for a very few days." 
 
 Nigel was omy able to press his hand, and reply in a whisper, " I am 
 sensible of your kindness. I know I must diink the cup which my own 
 folly has filled for me. Pardon me, that, at the first taste, I feel its 
 bitterness." 
 
 Reginald Lowestoffe was bustlingly officious and good-natured ; but, 
 used to live a scrambling, rakish course of life himself, he had not the 
 least idea of the extent of Lord Glenvarloch's mental sufferings, and 
 thought of his temporaiy concealment as if it were merely the trick of 
 a wanton boy, who plays at hide-and-seek with his tutor. With the 
 appearance of the place, too, he was familiar— but on his companion it 
 produced a deep sensation. 
 
 The ancient Sanctuary at Whitefriars lay considerably lower than 
 the elevated terraces and gardens of the Temple, and was therefore 
 generally involved in the damps and fogs arising from the Thames. The 
 brick buildings by which it was occupied crowded closely on each other, 
 for, in a place so rarely privileged, eveiy foot of ground was valuable ; 
 but, erected in many cases by persons whose funds were inadequate to 
 their speculations, the houses were generally insufficient, and exhibited 
 the lamentable signs of having become ruinous while they were yet new. 
 The wailing of children, the scolding of their mothers, the miserable 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 145 
 
 exhibition of ragged linens hung from the windows to dry, spoke the 
 wants and distresses of the wretched inhabitants ; while the sounds of 
 complaint were mocked and overwhelmed in the riotous shouts, oaths, 
 profane songs, and boisterous laughter that issued from the ale-houses 
 and taverns, which, as the signs indicated, were equal in number to all 
 the other houses ; and, that the full character of the place might be 
 evident, several faded, tinselled, and painted females looked boldly 
 at the strangers from their open lattices, or more modestly 'seemed 
 busied with the cracked flower-pots, filled with mignonette and rose- 
 mary, which were disposed in front of the windows, to the gi-eat risk of 
 the passengers. 
 
 " Semi-reduda Venusp said the Templar, pointing to one of these 
 nymphs, who seemed afraid of observation, and partly concealed herself 
 behind the casement, as she chii*ped to a miserable blackbird, the ten- 
 ant of a wicker prison, which hung outside on the black brick wall. — 
 " I know the face of yonder waistcoateer," continued the guide ; " and I 
 \ could wager a rose-noble, from the postm-e she stands in, that she has 
 clean head-gear, and a soiled night-rail.— But here come two of the 
 male inhabitants, smoking like moving volcanoes ! These are roaring 
 blades, whom Nicotia and Trinidado serve, I dare swear, in lieu of iDeef 
 and pudding ; for be it known to j^ou, my lord, that the King's counter- 
 blast against the Indian weed will no more pass current in Alsatia, 
 than will his writ of capias." 
 
 As he spoke, the two smokers approached; shaggy, uncombed 
 
 . ruffians, whose enormous mustaches were turned back over their ears, 
 
 and mingled witli the wild elf-locks of their hair, much of which was seen 
 
 under the old beavers which they wore aside upon their heads, while 
 
 some straggling portion escaped through the rents of the hats aforesaid. 
 
 ; Their tarnished plush jerkms, large slops, or trunk-breeches, their broad 
 
 * greasy shoulder-belts, and discoloured scarfs, and above all, the ostenta- 
 
 I tious manner in which the one wore a broadsword, and the other an ex- 
 
 I travagantly long rapier and poniard, marked the true Alsatian bully, 
 
 I then, and for a hundred years afterwards, a well-known character. 
 
 I " Tour out," said the one ruffian to the other ; " tour the bien mort 
 
 11 twiring at the gentry cove !"^ 
 I "■ I smell a spy," replied the other, looking at Nigel. " Chalk him 
 j; across the peepers with your cheery." 2 
 \ " Bing avast, bing avast !" replied his companion ; " yon other is 
 jf rattling Reginald Lowestoffe of the Temple — I know him ; he is a 
 .: good boyj and free of the province." 
 
 So saying, and enveloping themselves in another thick cloud of smoke, 
 they went on without farther gTeeting. 
 
 " Crasso in acre /" said the Templar. " You hear what a character 
 the impudent knaves give me ; but, so it serves your lordship's turn, I 
 care not. — And, now, let me ask your lordship what name you will as- 
 sume, for we are near the ducal iDalace of Duke Hildebrod." 
 " I will be called Grahame," said Nigel ; " it was my mother's name." 
 "Grime," repeated the Templar, "will suit Alsatia well enough— 
 both a grmi and grimy place of refuge." 
 
 » Look sharp; see ho-w the girl is coquetting with the strange gallants 1 
 ' Slash him over the eyes with your dagger. 
 
146 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " I said Graliame, sir, not Grime," said Nigel, something shortly, 
 and laying an emphasis on the vowel — for few Scotsmen understand 
 raillery upon the subject of their names. 
 
 " I beg i)ardon, my lord," answered the undisconcerted punster ; "but 
 Graam will suit the circumstance, too — it signifies tribulation in the 
 High Dutch, and your lordship must be considered as a man under 
 trouble." 
 
 Nigel laughed at the pertinacity of the Templar ; who, proceeding to 
 point out a sign representing, or believed to represent, a dog attacking 
 a bull, and ranning at his head, in the true scientific style of onset, — 
 " There," said he, "doth faitliful Duke Hildebrod deal forth laws, as 
 well as ale and strong waters, to his faithful Alsatians. Being a de- 
 termined champion of Paris Garden, he has chosen a sign corresponding 
 to his habits ; and he deals in giving drink to the thirsty, that he him- 
 self may drink without paying, and receive pay for what is drunken by 
 others. — Let us enter the ever-open gate of this second Axylus," 
 
 As they spoke, they entered the dilapidated tavern, which was, never- 
 theless, more ample in dimensions, and less ruinous, than many houses 
 in the same evil neighbourhood. Two or three haggard, ragged drawers 
 ran to and fro, whose looks, like those of owls, seemed only adapted for 
 midnight, when other creatm-es sleep, and who by day seemed bleared, 
 stupid, and only half awake. Guided by one of these blinking Gany- 
 medes, they entered a room, where the feeble rays of the sun were al- 
 most wholly eclipsed by volumes of tobacco-smoke, rolled from the tubes 
 of the company, while out of the cloudy sanctuary arose the old chant ^ 
 
 of— ^ ,T 
 
 " Old Sir Simon the king, 
 And old Sir Simon the king, 
 With his malmsey nose. 
 And his ale-dropped hose, 
 And sing hey ding-a-ding-ding." 
 
 Duke Hildebrod, who himself condescended to chant this ditty to his 
 loving subjects, was a monstrously fat old man, with only one eye, and 
 a nose which bore evidence to the frequency, strength, and depth of his 
 potations. He wore a murrey-colom-ed plush jerkin, stained with the 
 ovei-flowings of the tankard, and much the worse for wear, and un- 
 buttoned at bottom for the ease of his enormous paunch. Behind him ? 
 lay a favomite bull-dog, whose round head and single black glancing j 
 eye, as well as the creature's great corpulence, gave it a biulesque re- \ 
 semblance to its master. ] 
 
 The well-beloved counsellors who surrounded the ducal throne, in- | 
 censed it with tobacco, pledged its occupier in thick, clammy ale, and 
 echoed back his choral songs, were Satraps worthy of such a Soldan. 
 The buff jerkin, broad belt, and long sword of one, showed him to be a 
 Low Country soldier, whose look of scowling importance, and drunken 
 impudence, were designed to sustain liis title to call himself a Roving 
 Blade. It seemed to Nigel that he had seen this fellow somewhere or 
 other. A hedge-parson, or buckle-beggar, as that order of priesthood 
 has been irreverently termed, sat on the Duke's left, and was easily 
 distinguished by his torn band, flapped hat, and remnants of a rusty 
 cassock. Beside the parson sat a most wretched and meagi-e -looking 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 147 
 
 old man, with a threadbare hood of coarse kersey upon his head, and 
 buttoned about his neck, while his x)inched features, like those of old 
 Paniel, were illmninated by 
 
 an eye, 
 
 Through the last look of dotage still cunning and sly," 
 
 On his left was placed a broken attorney, who, for some mal-practices, 
 had been struck from the roll of practitioners, and who had nothing left 
 of his profession excepting its roguery. One or two persons of less 
 figure, amongst whom there was one face, which, like that of the soldier, 
 seemed not unknown to Nigel, though he could not recollect where he 
 had seen it, completed the council-board of Jacob Duke Hildebrod. 
 
 The strangers had full time to observe all this ; for his grace the 
 Duke, whether irresistibly carried on by the full tide of harmony, or 
 whether to impress the strangers Avith a proper idea of his consequence, 
 \ chose to sing his ditty to an end before addressing them, though, during 
 ji the whole time, he closely scrutinized them "nith his single optic. 
 ' When Duke Hildebrod had ended his song, he informed his peers 
 ; that a worthy officer of the Temple attended them, and commanded 
 ' the captain and parson to abandon their easy-chairs in behalf of the 
 ! two strangers, whom he placed on his right and left hand. The worthy 
 • representatives of the army and the church of Alsatia went to place 
 '' themselves on a crazy form at the bottom of the table, which, iU cal- 
 culated to sustain men of such weight, gave way mider them, and the 
 man of the sword and man of the gown were rolled over each other on 
 I the floor, amidst the exulting shouts of the company. They arose in 
 I wrath, contending which should vent his displeasure in the loudest and 
 I deepest oaths, a strife in which the parson's superior acquaintance with 
 theology enabled him greatly to excel the captain, and Avere at length 
 1 with difficulty tranquillized by the arrival of the alarmed waiters with 
 j more stable chairs, and by a long draught of the cooling tankard. 
 I When this commotion was appeased, and the strangers courteously ac- 
 [ commodated with flagons, after the fashion of the others present, the 
 I Duke drank prosperity to the Temple in the most gracious manner, 
 I together with a cup of welco^me to JNIaster Reginald Lowestoff"e ; and, 
 I this com'tesy having been thankfully accepted, the party honom-ed 
 ' prayed permission to call for a gallon of Rhenish, over which he pro- 
 posed to open his business. 
 
 The mention of a liquor so supeiior to their usual potations had an 
 instant and most favourable efi'ect upon the little senate ; and its im- 
 mediate appearance might be said to secure a favourable reception of 
 Master Lowestoife's proposition, which, after a romid or two had cir- 
 culated, he explained to be the admission of his friend Master Nigel 
 Grahame to the benefit of the Sanctuary and other immunities of Al- 
 satia, in the character of a grand compounder ; for so were those termed 
 who paid a double fee at their matriculation, in order to avoid laying 
 before the senate the peculiar circumstances which compelled them to 
 
 take refuge there. ••■.«• ^f •.., ^ ..• 
 
 The worthy Duke heard the proposition with glee, which glittered 
 in his single eye ; and no wonder, as it was a rare occurrence, and of 
 peculiar advantage to his private revenue. Accordingly, he commanded 
 
148 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 his ducal register to be brought him, a huge book, secui'ed with brass 
 clasps like a merchant's ledger, and whose leaves, stained with wine, 
 and slabbered with tobacco juice, bore the names probably of as many 
 rogues as are to be found in the Calendar of Newgate. 
 
 Nigel was then dkected to lay down two nobles as his ransom, and 
 to clami privilege by reciting the following doggerel verses, which were 
 dictated to him by the Duke : — 
 
 " Your puppliant, by name 
 Nigel Graharae, 
 In fear of mishap 
 From a slioulder-tap ; 
 And dreading a claw 
 From the talons of law, 
 
 That are shai-per than briers; 
 His freedom to sue, 
 And rescue by you — 
 Through weapon and wit, 
 < Fi'om warrant and writ, 
 
 From bailiff's hand, 
 From tipstaff's wand, 
 
 Is come hither to Whitefriars." 
 
 As Duke Hildebrod with a tremulous hand began to make the entry, 
 and had already, with superfluous generosity, speUed Nigel with two 
 g's instead of one, he was inten-upted by the parson.^ This reverend 
 gentleman had been whispering for a minute or two, not with the cap- 
 tain, but with that other individual who dwelt imperfectly, as we have 
 already mentioned, in Nigel's memory, and being, perhaps, still some- 
 thing malcontent on account of the late accident, he now requested to 
 be heard before the registration took place. 
 
 "The person," he said, "who hath noAV had the assurance to pro- 
 pose himself as a candidate for the privileges and immunities of this 
 honom-able society, is, in plain terms, a beggarly Scot, and we have 
 enough of these locusts in London abeady — if we admit such palmer- 
 worms and caterpillars to the Sanctuary, we shall soon have the whole 
 nation." 
 
 " We are not entitled to inquire," said Duke Hildebrod, " whether 
 he be Scot, or French, or Engksh ; seeing he has honourably laid down 
 his garnish, he is entitled to our protection." 
 
 " Word of denial, most Sovereign Duke," replied the parson, " I ask 
 him no questions — ^his speech beivi-ayeth liim — he is a Galilean — and 
 his garnish is forfeited for his assurance in coming within this our realm ; 
 and I call on you. Sir Duke, to put the laws in force against him !" 
 
 The Templar here rose, and was about to interrupt the deliberations 
 of the coui't, when the Duke gravely assm-ed him that he should be 
 heard in behalf of his friend so soon as the council had finished their 
 deliberations. 
 
 The attorney next rose, and, intimating that he was to speak to the 
 
 * This curious register is stiU in existence, being in possession of that eminent 
 antiquary, Dr Dryasdust, who liberally offered the author pei-mission to have the 
 autograph of Duke Hildebrod engraved as an illustration of this passage. Unhappily, 
 being rigorous as Ritson himself in adhering to the very letter of his copy, the worthy 
 Doctor clogged his munificence with the condition that we should adopt tlic Duke's 
 orthography, and entitle the work "The Fortunes of Niggle," with which stipulation 
 we did not i^^k it necessary to comply 
 
THE FOSTUNES OF NIGEL. 149 
 
 point of law, said — " It was easy to be seen that this gentleman did 
 not come here in any civil case, and that he believed it to be the story 
 they had already heard of, concerning a blow giving mthiii the verge 
 of the park — that the Sanctuary would not bear out the offender in 
 such case — and that the queer old Chief would send down a broom 
 which should sweep the streets of Alsatia from the Strand to the Stairs ; 
 and it was even policy to think what evil might come to their republic 
 by shelteruig an alien in such circumstances." 
 
 The captain, who had sat impatiently while these opinions were ex- 
 pressed, now sprung on his feet with the vehemence of a cork bouncing 
 from a bottle of brisk beer, and, turning up his mustaches with a 
 martial air, cast a glance of contempt on the lawyer and churchman, 
 while he thus expressed his opinion, 
 
 " Most noble I)uke Hildebrod ! When I hear such base, skeldering, 
 coistril propositions come from the counsellors of yoiu* grace, and when 
 I remember the HuJffs, the JMims, and the Tityretus by whom your 
 I) grace's ancestors and predecessors were advised on such occasions, I be- 
 gin to think the spirit of action is as dead in Alsatia as in my old 
 grannam ; and yet who tliinks so tliinks a lie, since I vdW find as many 
 roaring boys in the Friars as shall keep the liberties against all the 
 scavengers of Westminster. And if we should be overborne for a turn, 
 death and darkness ! have we not time to send the gentleman off by 
 water, either to Paris Garden or to the bankside ? and, if he is a gallant 
 of true breed, will he not make us full amends for all the trouble we 
 have ? Let other societies exist by the law, I say that we brisk boys of 
 the Fleet live in spite of it, and thrive best when we are in right op- 
 position to sign and seal, writ and warrant, sergeant and tipstaff, catch- 
 poll and bum-bailey." 
 
 This speech was followed by a murmur of approbation, and Lowestoffe, 
 
 striking in before the favourable sound had subsided, reminded the 
 
 Puke and his council how much the security of their state depended 
 
 [i upon the amity of the Templars, who, by closmg then- gates, could at 
 
 pleasure shut against the Alsatians the commimication betwixt the 
 
 Friars and the Temple, and that as they conducted themselves on this 
 
 occasion, so would they secm-e or lose the benefit of his interest with 
 
 his own body, which they knew to be not inconsiderable. " And, in 
 
 j respect of my friend being a Scotsman and alien, as has been observed 
 
 : by the reverend divine and learned lawyer, you are to consider," said 
 
 :| Lowestoffe, " for what he is pursued hither — why, for giving the bas- 
 
 i tinado, not to an Englishman, but to one of his o^vn countrymen. And 
 
 j for my OAvn simple part," he continued, touching Lord Glenvarloch at 
 
 the same time, to make him midei-stand he spoke but in jest, " if all 
 
 the Scots in London were to fight a Welch mam, and kill each other 
 
 J to a man, the smwivor would, in my humble opinion^ be entitled to 
 
 : our gratitude, as having done a most acceptable service to poor Old 
 
 I England." 
 
 A shout of laughter and applause followed this ingenious apology for 
 
 the client's state of alienage ; and the Templar followed up his plea 
 
 with the following pithy proposition : — "I know well," said he, "it is 
 
 the custom of the fathers of this old and honourable republic, ripel^^ 
 
 ■ and well to consider all their proceedings over ^ nroper allowance of 
 
150 THE FORTUNES OV NIGEL, 
 
 liquor ; and far be it from me to propose the breach of so laudable a 
 custom, or to pretend that sucli an affair as the present can be well and 
 constitutionally considered during the discussion of a pitiful gallon of 
 sack. But, as it is the same thing to tliis honourable conclave whether 
 they drink first and determine afterwards, or whether they determine 
 first and drink afterwards, I propose your grace, with the advice of your 
 wise and potent senators, shall pass your edict, granting to mine 
 honourable friend the immunities of the place, and assigning him a 
 lodging, according to your wise forms, to which he will presently retire, 
 being somewhat spent with this day s action ; whereupon I will pre- 
 sently order you a rundlet of Rhenish, with a corresponding quantity 
 of neats' tongues and pickled herrings, to make you all as glorious as 
 George-a-Green." 
 
 This overture was received with a general shout of applause, which 
 altogether drowned the voice of the dissidents, if any there were 
 amongst the Alsatian senate who could have resisted a proposal so 
 popular. The words of, " Kind heart! — noble gentleman ! — generous 
 gallant !" flew from mouth to mouth ; the inscription of the petitioners 
 name in the gi'eat book was hastily completed, and the oath administered 
 to him by the worthy Doge. Like the Laws of the Twelve Tables, of 
 the ancient Cambro-Britons, and other primitive nations, it wa& 
 couched in poetry, and ran as follows : — 
 
 •' By spigot and barrel, 
 
 By bilboe and buff; 
 Thou art sworn to the quarrel 
 
 Of the blades of the huff. 
 For Whitefriars and its claims 
 
 To be champion or martyr, 
 And to fight for its dames 
 
 Like a Knight of the Garter." 
 
 Nigel felt, and indeed exliibited, some disgust at this mummery; 
 but the Templar reminding him that he was too far advanced to draw 
 back, he repeated the words, or rather assented as they were repeated 
 by Duke Hildebrod, who concluded the ceremony by allowing him the 
 privilege of sanctuary, in the following fonn of prescriptive doggerel : — 
 
 " From the touch of the tip, 
 
 From the blight of the warrant, 
 From the watchmen who skip 
 
 On the Harman Beck's errand ; 
 From the bailiff's cramp speech, 
 
 That makes man a thrall, 
 I charm thee from each. 
 
 And I charm thee from all. 
 Thy freedom's complete 
 
 As a Blade of the Huff. 
 To be cheated and cheat, 
 
 To be cuff'd and to cuff; 
 To stride, swear, and swagger 
 To drink tiU you stagger, 
 , ^ To stare and to stab. 
 
 And to brandish your dagger 
 
 In the cause of your drab ; 
 To walk wool-ward in winter, 
 
 Drink brandy, and smoke. 
 And go fresco in summer 
 
 For want of a cloak- 
 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 151 
 
 To eke out your living 
 
 By the wag of your elbow, 
 By fiilham and gourd. 
 
 And by baring of bilboe ; 
 To live by your shifts, / 
 
 And to swear by your honour,— 
 Are the freedom and gifts 
 
 Of which I am the donor." i 
 
 This homily being performed, a dispute arose concerning the special 
 
 residence to be assigned the new brother of the Sanctuary ; for, as the 
 
 Alsatians held it a maxim in their commonwealth, that ass's milk 
 
 fattens, there was usually a competition among the inhabitants which 
 
 i; should have the managing, as it was termed, of a new member of the 
 
 ;: society. 
 
 The Hector who had spoken so warmly and critically in Ni^^el's be- 
 
 i half, stood out now chivalrously in behalf of a certain J31owselinda, or 
 
 \\ Bonstrops, who had, it seems, a room to hire, once the occasional 
 
 jj residence of Slicing Dick of Paddington, who lately suffered at Tyburn, 
 
 and whose untimely exit had been liitherto moiurned by the damsel in 
 
 solitary widowhood, after the fashion of the turtle-dove. 
 
 I The captain's interest was, however, overruled in behalf of the old 
 
 " gentleman in the kersey hood, who was believed, even at his extreme 
 
 age, to understand ihe plucking of a pigeon, as well, or better, than 
 
 ' anv man of Alsatia. 
 
 'riiis venerable personage was an usurer ef some notoriety, called 
 Trapbois, and had very lately done the state considerable service in 
 advancing a subsidy necessary to secure a fresh importation of liquors 
 to the Duke's cellars, the wine-merchant at the Vintry being scrupulous 
 to deal with so great a man for anything but ready money. 
 
 When, therefore, the old gentleman arose, and, with much cough- 
 ing, reminded the Duke that he had a poor apartment to let, the 
 I claims of all others were set aside, and Nigel was assigned to Trapbois 
 as his guest. 
 
 No sooner was this arrangement made than Lord Glenvarloch ex- 
 pressed to Lowestoffe his impatience to leave this discreditable 
 assembly, and took his leave witn a careless haste, which, but for the 
 rundlet of Rhenish wine that entered just as he left the apartment, 
 might have been taken in bad part. The young Templar accompanied 
 liis friend to the house of the old usurer, with the road to which he and 
 some other youngsters about the Temple were even but too well ac- 
 quainted. On the way, he assured Lord Glenvarloch that he was going 
 to the only clean house in Whitefriars ; a property which it owed solely 
 to the exertions of the old man's only daughter, an elderly damsel, ugly 
 enough to frighten sin, yet likely to be wealthy enough to tempt a 
 Puritan, so soon as the devil had got her old dad for his due. As 
 Lowestoffe spoke thus, they knocked at the door of the house, and the 
 sour stern countenance of the female by whom it was opened lully con- 
 firmed all that the Templar had said of the hostess. She heard, with 
 an ungracious and discontented air, the young Templar's information, 
 
 » Of the cant words used in this inauguratory oration, some are obvious in their 
 meaning; others, as Harman Beck (constable), and the like, derive their source from 
 that ancient piece of lexicography, the Slang Dictionary. 
 
152 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 that the gentleman, his companion, was to be her father's lodger, 
 muttered something about the trouble it was likely to occasion, but 
 ended by showing the stranger's apartment, which was better than 
 coiid have been augured from the general appearance of the place, and 
 much larger in extent than that which he had occupied at Paul's Wharf, 
 though inferior to it in neatness. 
 
 Lowestoffe, having thus seen his friend fairly installed in his new 
 apartment, and having obtained for hmi a note of the rate at which he 
 could be accommodated with victuals from a neighbouring cook-shop, 
 now took his leave, offering, at the same time, to send the whole, or 
 any part of Lord Glenvarloch's baggage, from his former place of 
 residence to his new lodging. Nigel mentioned so few articles, that 
 the Templar could, not help observing, that his lordship, it would seem, 
 did not intend to enjoy his new privileges long. 
 
 " They are too little suited to my habits and taste that I should do 
 so," replied Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 "You may change your opinion to-morrow," said Lowestoffe ; "and 
 so I wish you good even. To-morrow I will visit you betime." 
 
 The morning came, but, instead of the Templar, it brought only a 
 letter from him. The epistle stated, that Lowestoffe's visits to Alsatia 
 had drawn down the animadversions of some crabbed old pantaloons 
 among the benchers, and that he judged it wise not to come hither at 
 present, for fear of attracting too much attention to Lord Glenvarloch's 
 place of residence. He stated, that he had taken measures for the 
 safety of his baggage, and would send him, by a safe hand, his money- 
 casket, and what articles he wanted. Then followed some sage advices, 
 dictated by Lowestoffe's acquamtance with Alsatia and its manners. 
 He advised him to keep the usurer in the most absolute uncertainty 
 concerning the state of his funds — never to throw a main with the 
 captain, who was in the habit of playing dry-fisted, and paying his 
 losses with three vowels ; and, finally, to beware of Duke Hildebrod, 
 who was as sharp, he said, as a needle, though he had no more eyes 
 than are possessed by that necessary implement of female industry. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIIL 
 
 Mother. What 1 dazzled by a flash of Cupid'a min'or. 
 With which the boy, as mortal urchins wont, 
 Flings back the sunbeam in the eye of passengers — 
 Then laughs to see them stumble ! 
 
 Daughter. Mother! no — 
 It was a lightning-flash ■which dazzled me, 
 And never shall these eyes see true again. 
 
 Beef and Pudding. — An old English ComWy. 
 
 It is_ necessary that we should leave our hero Nigel for a time, 
 although in a situation neither safe, comfortable, nor creditable, in order 
 to detail some particulars which nave hnmediate connection with liis 
 fortunes. 
 
 It was but the thii'd day after he had been forced to take refuge in 
 
THE FORTUNES OF ly'iaEL. 153 
 
 the house of old Trapbois, the noted usurer of Whitefriars, commonly 
 called Golden Trapbois, when the pretty daughter of old Ramsay, the 
 watchmaker, after having piously seen her father finish his breaKfast 
 (from the fear that he might, in an abstrase fit of thought, swalloTV the 
 salt-cellar instead of a crust of the brown loafj, set forth from the house 
 as soon as he was again plunged into the depth of calculation, and, 
 accompanied only by that faithful old drudge, Janet, the Scots laun- 
 dress, to whom her whims were laws, made her way to Lombard Street, 
 and disturbed, at the unusual hour of eight in the morning, Aunt 
 Judith, the sister of her worthy godfather. 
 
 The venerable m.aiden received her yoimg visitor with no great com- 
 placency ; for, naturally enough, she had neither the same admn-ation 
 of her very pretty countenance, nor allowance for her foolish and girlish 
 impatience of temper, which Master George Heriot entertained. Still 
 Mistress JMargaret was a favourite of her brother's, whose will was to 
 Aunt Judith a supreme law ; and she contented herself with asking 
 her mitimely visitor " what she made so early with her pale, chitty 
 face in the streets of London ?" 
 
 "I would speak with the Lady Hermione," answered the almost 
 breathless girl, while the blood ran so fast to her face as totally to 
 remove the objection of paleness which Aunt Judith had made to her 
 complexion. 
 
 ''With the Lady Hermione?" said Aunt Judith— "with the Lady 
 Hermione ? and at this time of the morning, when she will scarce see 
 any of the family, even at reasonable hours 'i You are crazy, you silly 
 wench, or you abuse the indulgence which my brother and the lady 
 have shown to you." 
 
 "Indeed, indeed I have not," repeated Margaret, struggling to retain 
 the unbidden tear wliich seemed ready to biu-st out on the slightest 
 occasion, "Do but say to the lady that your brother's god-daughter 
 desires earnestly to speak to her, and I know she will not refuse to 
 see me." 
 
 Aunt Judith bent an earnest, suspicious, and inquisitive glance on 
 her young visitor. "You might make me yom: secretary, my lassie," 
 she said, "as well as the Lady Hennione. I am older, and better 
 skilled to advise. I live more in the world than one who shuts herself 
 up within four rooms, and I have the better means to assist you." 
 
 "Oh! no — no — no," said Margaret, eagerly, and with more earnest 
 sincerity than complaisance ; "there are some thino's to which you 
 cannot advise me, xlmit Judith. It is a case — pardon me, my dear 
 aunt — a case beyond your counsel." 
 
 " I am glad on't, maiden," said Aunt Judith, somewhat angi'ily ; 
 "for I think the follies of the young people of this generation would 
 I drive mad an old brain like mine. Here you come on the viretot, 
 ' through the whole streets of London, to talk some nonsense to a lady, 
 I who scarce sees God's sun but when he shines on a brick wall. But I 
 ( will tell her you are here." 
 
 I She went away, and shortly retm-ned with a diy — "Mistress Marget, 
 the lady will be glad to see you ; and that's more, my young madam, 
 than you had a right to count upon." 
 
 Mistress Margaret hmig her nead in silence, too much perplexed by 
 
154 THE FORTUNES OF XIGEL. 
 
 the train of her own embarrassed thoughts, for attempting either to 
 oonciliate Aunt Judith's kindness, or, wliich on other occasions would 
 have been as congenial to her own humour, to retaliate on her cross- 
 tempered remarks and manner. She followed Aunt Judith, therefore, 
 in silence and dejection, to the strong oaken door which divided the 
 Lady Hermione's apartments from the rest of George Heriot's spacious 
 house. 
 
 At the door of this sanctuary it is necessary to pause, in order to 
 correct the reports with which Uichie Moniplies had filled his master's 
 ear, respecting the singular appearance of that lady's attendance at 
 prayers, whom we now own to be by name the Lady Hermione. Some 
 part of these exaggerations had been communicated to the worthy 
 Scotsman by Jenkin Vincent, who was well experienced in the species 
 of wit which has been long a favourite in the city, under the names of 
 crossbiting, giving the dor, bamboozling, cramming, hoaxing, humbug- 
 ging, and quizzing ; for which sport Richie Moniplies, with his solemn 
 gravity, totally unapprehensive of a joke, and his natural propensity 
 to the marvellous, formed an admirable sul:)ject. Farther ornaments 
 the tale had received from Richie himself, Avhose tongue, especially 
 when oiled with good liquor, had a considerable tendency to amplifica- 
 tion, and who failed not, while he retailed to his master all the wonderful 
 circimistances narrated by Vincent, to add to them many conjectures 
 of his own, which his imagination had over-hastily converted into facts. 
 
 Yet the life which Lady Hermione had led for two years, during which 
 she had been the inmate of George Heriot's house, was so singular as 
 almost to sanction many of the wild reports which went abroad. The 
 house which the worthy goldsmith inhabited, had in former times be- 
 longed to a powerful and wealthy baronial family, which, during tlie 
 reign of Henry VIH., terminated in a dowager lady, very wealthy, very 
 devout, and most inalienably attached to the Catholic faith. The chosen 
 friend of theHonoiu-able Lady Foljambe was the Abbess of Saint Roque's 
 Nunnery, like herself a conscientious, rigid, and devoted Papist. When 
 the house of Saint Roque was despotically dissolved by tbe^'a^ of the 
 impetuous monarch, the Lady Foljambe received her friend into her 
 spacious mansion, together with two vestal sisters, who, like their Abbess, 
 were determined to follow the tenor of their vows, instead of embracing 
 the profane liberty wdiich the Monarch's will had thrown in their choice. 
 For their residence, the Lady Foljambe contrived, with all secrecy — for 
 Henry might not have relished her interference— to set apart a suite of 
 four rooms, with a little closet fitted up as an oratory, or chapel ; the 
 whole apartment fenced by a strong oaken door to exclude strangers, 
 and accommodated with a turning-Avheel to receive necessaries, ac- 
 cording to the practice of all nunneries. In this retreat, the Abbess 
 of Saint Roque and her attendants passed many years, communicating 
 only with the Lady Foljambe, who, in virtue of their prayers, and of 
 the support she afforded them, accounted herself little less than a saint 
 on earth. The Abbess, fortunately for herself, died before her muni- 
 ficent patroness, who lived deep in Queen Elizabeth's time, ere she was 
 summoned by fate. 
 
 The Lady Foljambe was succeeded in this mansion liy a sour fanatic 
 knight, a distant and collateral relation. Avho claimed the same merit 
 
TUE FOETUNES OF NIGEL. 155 
 
 for expelling the priestess of Baal which his predecessor had founded 
 •on maintaining the votai'esses of Heaven. Of the two unhappy nuns, 
 i driven from their ancient refuge, one went beyond sea ; tlie other, 
 unable from old age to undertake such a journey, died under the roof 
 of a faithful Catholic widow of low degree. Sir raul Crambagge, hav- 
 ing got rid of the nuns, spoiled the chapel of its ornaments, and had 
 thoughts of altogether destroying the apartment, imtil checked by the 
 
 i reflection that the operation would be an mmecessary expense, since he 
 only inliabited three rooms of the large mansion, and had not therefore 
 the slightest occasion for any addition to its accommodations. His son 
 proved a w^aster and a prodigal, and from him the house ^Yas bought by 
 I our friend George Heriot, who, finding, like Sir Paul, the house more 
 ■ than sufficiently ample for his accommodation, left the Foljambe apart- 
 ij nient, or Saint Koque's rooms, as they were called, in the state in which 
 I he found them. 
 
 I About two years and a half before our history opened, when Heriot 
 was absent upon an expedition to the Continent, he sent special orders 
 to his sister and his cash-keeper, directing that the Foljambe apart- 
 ment should be fitted up handsomely, though plainly, for the reception 
 of a lady who would make it her residence for some time, and who 
 would live more or less "with his own family according to her pleasure. 
 He also directed that the necessary repairs should be made with 
 secrecy, and that as little should be said as possible upon the subject 
 of his letter. 
 
 When the time of his return came nigh, Aunt Judith and the house- 
 hold Avere on the tenter-hooks of impatience. Master George came, as 
 he had intimated, accompanied by a lady, so eminently beautiful, that, 
 had it not been for her extreme and uniform paleness, she might have 
 ])een reckoned one of the loveliest creatures on earth. She had w^ith 
 i her an attendant or humble companion, whose business seemed only to 
 ' wait upon her. This person, a reserved woman, and by her dialect a 
 foreigner, aj^ed about fifty, was called by the lady Monna Paula, and 
 by Master Heriot, and others. Mademoiselle Pauline. She slept in the 
 same room with her patroness at night, ate in her apartment, and was 
 scarcely ever separated from her during the day. 
 
 These females took possession of the nunnery of the devout Abbess, 
 ; and, without observing the same rigorous seclusion, according to the 
 . letter, seemed well-nigh to restore the apartment to the use to which 
 : it had been originally designed. The new inmates lived and took their 
 meals apart from the rest of the family. With the domestics Lady 
 j Hermione, for so she was termed, held no communication, and Made- 
 j moiselle Pauline only such as was indispensable, which she despatched 
 f as briefly as possible. Frequent and liberal largesses reconciled the 
 i servants to this conduct ; and they were in the habit of observing to 
 I each other, that to do a service for Mademoiselle Pauline was like- 
 I finding a fairy treasure. 
 
 \ To Aunt Judith the Lady Hermione was kind and civil, but their 
 intercourse was rare ; on which account the elder lady felt some pangs 
 both-of curiosity and injured dignity. But she knew her brother so well, 
 and loved him so dearly, that 1iis will, once expressed, might be truly 
 said to become her own. The wortliy citizen was not without a spice 
 
15G THE rOETUNES OP KIGEL. 
 
 of the dogmatism which grows on the best disposition, when a word is 
 a law to all around. Master George did not endure to be questioned 
 by his family, and when he had generally expressed his will, that the 
 Lady Hermione should live in the way most agreeable to her, and that 
 no inquiries should be made concerning her history, or her motives for 
 observing such strict seclusion, his sister well knew that he would have 
 been seriously displeased with any attempt to pry into the secret. 
 
 But, though Heriot's servants were bribed, and his sister awed into 
 silent acquiescence in these arrangements, they were not of a nature to 
 escape the critical observation of the neighbourhood. Some opined that 
 the wealthy goldsmith was about to turn Papist, and re-establish Lady 
 Foljambe's nunnery — others, that he was going mad— others, that he 
 was either going to marry, or to do worse. Master George's constant 
 appearance at chiu-ch, and the knowledge that the supposed votaress 
 always attended when the prayers of the English ritual were read in the 
 family, liberated him from the first of these suspicions ; those who had 
 to transact business with him upon 'Change could not doubt the sound- 
 ness of Master Heriot's mind ; and, to confute the other rumours, it 
 was credibly reported by such as made the matter their particular 
 interest, that Master George Heriot never visited his giiest but in 
 presence of Mademoiselle Pauline, who sat with her work in a remote 
 part of the same room in which they conversed. It was also ascer- 
 tained that these visits scarcely ever exceeded an hour in length, and 
 were usually only repeated once a- week, an intercourse too brief and 
 too long interrupted to render it probable that love was the bond of 
 their imion. 
 
 The inciuirers were therefore at fault, and compelled to rehnguish 
 the pursuit of Master Heriot's secret, wliile a thousand ridiculous tales 
 were circulated amongst the ignorant and superstitious, with some 
 specimens of which our friend Richie IMoniplies had been crammed, 
 as we have seen, by the malicious apprentice of worthy David Ramsay. 
 
 There was one person in the world who, it was thought, could (if she 
 would) have said more- of the Lady Hermione than any one in London, 
 except George Heriot himself; and that was the said David Ramsay's 
 only child, Margaret. 
 
 This girl was not much past the age of fifteen when the Lady Her- 
 mione first came to England, and was a very frequent visitor at her 
 godfather's, who was much amused by her childish sallies, and by the 
 wild and natural beauty with which she sung the airs of her native 
 country. Spoilt she was on all hands ; by the indulgence of her god- 
 father, and the absent habits and indifference of her father, and the 
 deference of all aroimd to her caprices, as a beauty and as an heiress. 
 But though, from these circumstances, the city beauty had become as 
 wilful as capricious, and as affected as unlimited indulgence seldom 
 fails to render those to whom it is extended ; and although she exhi- 
 bited upon many occasions that affectation of extreme shyness, silence, 
 and reserve which misses in their teens are apt to take tor an amiable 
 modesty ; and, upon others, a considerable portion of that flippancy, 
 which youth sometimes confoimds with wit, Mistress ]^L1rgal•et had 
 much real shrewdness and judgment, which wanted only opportunities 
 of observation to refine it— a Uvely, good-hum om-ed, playful disposition, 
 
TEE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 157 
 
 and an excellent heart. Her acquired follies were much increased by 
 reading plays and romances, to T\hich she devoted a great deal of her 
 time, and from which she adopted ideas as different as possible from 
 those which she might have obtained from the invaluable and affection- 
 ate instructions of an excellent mother ; and the freaks of which she 
 was sometimes giiilty rendered her not unjustly liable to the charge of 
 affectation and coquetry. But the little lass had sense and shrewdness 
 enough to keep her failings out of sight of her godfather, to whom she 
 was sincerely attached ; and so high she stood in his favour that, at 
 his recommendation, she obtained permission to visit the recluse Lady 
 Hermione. 
 
 The singular mode of life which that lady observed ; her great beauty, 
 
 rendered even more interesting by her extreme paleness ; the conscious 
 
 pride of being admitted farther than the rest of the world into the 
 
 society of a person who was wrapped in so much mystery, made a deep 
 
 impression on the mhid of Margaret Ramsay ; and though their con- 
 
 I versations were at no time either long or confidential, yet, proud of the 
 
 trust reposed in her, jMargaret was as secret respecting_ their tenor as if 
 
 every word repeated had been to cost her life. No inquiiy, however 
 
 artfully backed by flattery and insinuation, whether on the part of 
 
 Dame Ursula, or any other person equally inquisitive, could wring from 
 
 the little maiden one word of what she heard or saw, after she entered 
 
 i these mysterious and secluded apartments. The slightest question con- 
 
 I cerning Master Heriot's ghost Avas sufficient, at her gayest moment, to 
 
 ! check the current of her communicative prattle, and render her silent. 
 
 We mention this chiefly to illustrate the early strength of Margaret's 
 I character — a strength concealed under a hundred freakish whims and 
 humom's, as an ancient and massive buttress is disguised by its fantastic 
 covermg of ivy and wild-flowers. In truth, if the damsel had told all 
 she heard or saw within the Foljambe apartments, she would have said 
 but little to gratify the curiosity of inquirers. 
 
 At the earlier period of their acquaintance, the Lady Hermione was 
 wont to reward the attentions of her little friend with small but elegant 
 presents, and entertain her by a display of foreign rarities and curiosi- 
 ties, many of them of considerable value. Sometimes the time was 
 passed in a way much less agreeable to Margaret, by her receiving- 
 lessons from Paifline in the use of the needle. But, although her pre- 
 ceptress practised these arts with a dexterity then only known in 
 foreign convents, the pupil proved so incorrigibly idle and awkward, that 
 the task of needle- work was at length given up, and lessons of music 
 
 ! substituted in then' stead. Here, also, Pauline was excellently qualified 
 ■: as an instructress, and Margaret, more successful in a science for which 
 Nature had gifted her, made proficiency both in vocal and instrumental 
 music. These lessons passed in presence of the Lady Hermione, to 
 whom they seemed to give pleasure. She sometimes added her own voice 
 to the performance, in a pure, clear stream of liquid melody ; but this 
 was only when the music was of a devotional cast. As Margaret became 
 older, her communications with the recluse assumed a different cha- 
 racter. She was allowed, if not encouraged, to tell whatever she had 
 remarked out of doors, and the Lady Hermione, while she remarked 
 the quick, sharp, and retentive powers of observation possessed by her 
 
158 THE rOIlTUKZS OF NIGEL. 
 
 young frienil, often found sufficient reason to caution her against rash- 
 ness in forming opinions, and giddy petulance in expressing them. 
 
 The habitual awe with which she regarded this singular personage 
 induced Mistress Margaret, though by no means delighting in contra- 
 diction or reproof, to listen Avith patience to her admonitions, and to 
 3nake full allowance for the good intentions of the patroness by whom 
 they were bestowed ; although in her heart she could hardly conceive 
 how Madame Hermione, who never stirred from the Foljambe apart- 
 ments, should think of teaching knowledge of the world to one who 
 walked twice a-week between Temple-Bar and Lombard Street, besides 
 
 Sarading in the park every Sunday that proved to be fair weather. In- 
 eed, pretty Mistress Margaret was so little inclined to endure such 
 remonstrances, that her intercourse Avith the inhabitants of the Fol- 
 jambe apartments would have probably slackened as her circle of ac- 
 quaintance increased in the external world, had she not, on the one 
 hand, entertained an habitual reverence for her monitress, of which she 
 could not divest herself, and been flattered, on the other, by being, to 
 a certain degree, the depositary of a confidence for which others thirsted 
 in vain. Besides, although the conversation of Hermione was uniform- 
 ly serious, it was not in general either formal or severe ; nor was the 
 lady offended by flights of levity which Mistress Margaret sometimes 
 ventured on in her presence, even when they were such as made Monna, 
 Paula cast her eyes upwards, and sigh Avith that compassion which a 
 devotee extends towards the votaries of a trivial and profane world. 
 Thus, upon the whole, the little maiden was disposed to submit, though 
 not Avithout some wincing, to the grave admonitions of the Lady Her- 
 mione ; and the rather that the mystery annexed to the person of her 
 monitress was in her mind early associated with a vague idea of Avealth 
 and importance, which had been rather confirmed than lessened by 
 many accidental circumstances Avhich she had noticed since she Avas 
 more capable of observation. 
 
 It frequently happens, that the counsel which we reckon intrusive 
 when offered to us unasked, becomes precious in our eyes when the 
 pressm'e of difficulties renders us more diffident of our OAvn judgment 
 than Ave are apt to find ourselves in the hom-s of ease and indifference ; 
 and this is more especially the case if Ave suppose that our adviser may 
 also possess power and inclination to back his counsel with effectual 
 assistance. Mistress Margaret was now in that situation. She Avas, 
 or believed herself to be, in a condition where both advice and assist- 
 ance might be necessary ; and it was, therefore, after an anxious and 
 sleepless night, that she resolved to have recourse to the Lady Her- 
 mione, who she knew Avould readily afford her the one, and, as she 
 hoped, might also possess means of giving her the other. The conver- 
 satiou between them will best explam the purport of the A^isit. 
 
THE rORTUNES OF NIGEL. 15D 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 By this good light, a ■wench of matchless mettle ! 
 This were a leaguer-lass to love a soldier, 
 To bind his wounds, and kiss his bloody brow, 
 And sing a roundel as she help'd to arm him, 
 Though the rough foeman's drums were beat so nigh, 
 They seemed to bear the burden. 
 
 Old Play. 
 
 Whex Mistress Margaret entered the Foljambe apartment, she found 
 the inmates employed in their usual manner ; the lady in reading, and 
 her attendant in embroidering a large piece of tapestry, whicli had oc- 
 cupied her ever since Margaret had been first admitted within these 
 secluded chambers. 
 
 Hermione nodded kindly to her visitor, but did not speak ; and Mar- 
 garet, accustomed to tliis reception, and in the present case not sorry 
 for it, as it gave her an interval to collect her thoughts, stooped over 
 Monna Paula's frame, and observed, in a half whisper, " You were 
 just so far as that rose, Monna, when I first saw you — see, there is the 
 mark where I had the bad luck to spoil the flower in trying to catch 
 the stitch — I was little above fifteen then. These flowers make me an 
 old woman, Monna Paula." 
 
 "I wish they could make you a mse one, my child," answered 
 Monna Paula, in whose esteem pretty Mistress JMargaret did not stand 
 quite so high as in that of her patroness ; partly owing to her natural 
 austerity, which was something intolerant of youth and gaiety, and 
 partly to the jealousy with whicli a favourite domestic regards any one 
 ■whom she considers as a sort of rival in the affections of her mistress. 
 
 " What is it you say to Monna, little one ?" asked the lady. 
 
 "Nothing, madam," rephed Mistress Margaret, "but that I have 
 seen the real flowers blossom tlu-ee times over since I first saw Monna- 
 Paula working in her canvass garden, and her violets have not budded 
 yet." 
 
 " True, ladj^-bird," replied Hermione ; " but the buds that are long- 
 est in blossoming will last the longest in flower. You have seen them 
 in the garden bloom thrice, but you have seen them fade tlu-ice also ; 
 now, Monna Paifla's will remain in blow for ever — they will fear neither 
 frost nor tempest." 
 
 " True, madam," answered Mistress Margaret ; " but neither have 
 they life or odom'." 
 
 " That, little one," replied the recluse, " is to compare a life agitated 
 by hope and fear^ and chequered with success and disappointment, and 
 fevered by the effects of love and hatred, a life of passion and of feeling, 
 saddened and shortened by its exhausting alternations to a calm and 
 tranquil existence, animated but by a sense of duties, and only em- 
 ployed, dming its smooth and quiet course, in the unwearied discharge 
 of thera. Is that the moral of your answer ?" 
 
 "I do not know, madam," answered JMistress ^Margaret; "but, of 
 all birds in the air, I woidd rather be the lark that sings while he is 
 
 M 
 
160 THE rORTITNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 drifting down the summer breeze, than the weather-cock that sticks 
 fast yonder upon his iron perch, and just moves so much as to discharge 
 his duty, and tell us which way the wind blows." 
 
 "Metaphors are no arguments, my pretty maiden," said the Lady 
 Hermione, smiling. 
 
 "I am sorry for that, madam," answered Margaret; "for they are 
 such a pretty indirect way of telling one's mind when it differs from 
 one's betters — ^besides, on this subject there is no end of them, and 
 they are so civil and becoming withal." 
 
 "Indeed?" replied the lady; "let me hear some of them, I pray 
 you." 
 
 "It would be, for example, very bold in me," said Margaret, "to 
 say to your ladyship, that, rather than live a quiet life, I would like a 
 little variety of hope and fear, and liking and disliking — and — and — and 
 the other sort of feelings which your ladyship is pleased to speak of ; 
 but I may say freely, and without blame, that I like a butterfly better 
 than a beetle, or a trembling aspen better than a grim Scots fir, that 
 never wags a leaf— or that of all the wood, brass, and wire that ever 
 my father's fingers put together, I do hate and detest a certain huge 
 old clock of the German fashion, that rings hours and half-hours, and 
 quarters and half-quarters, as if it was of such consequence that the 
 world should know it was wound up and going. Now, dearest ladj^, I 
 wish you would only compare that cliunsy, clanging, Dutch-looking 
 piece of lumber, with the beautiful timepiece that Master Heriot 
 caused my father to make for your ladyship, which uses to play a 
 hundred merry times, and turns out, when it strikes the hour, a whole 
 band of morrice-dancers, to trip the hays to the measm'e." 
 
 "And which of these timepieces goes the truest, Margaret ?" said the 
 lady. 
 
 "I must confess the old Dutchman has the advantage in that," said 
 Margaret. " I fancy you are right, madam, and that comparisons are 
 no arguments ; at least mine has not brought me tlii'ough." 
 
 "Upon my word, maiden Margaret," said the lady smiling, "you 
 have been of late tmnking very much of these matters." 
 
 " Perhaps too much, madam," said Margaret, so low as only to be 
 heard by the lady, behiiid the back of whose chair she had now placed 
 herself. The words were spoken very gravely, and accompanied by a 
 half sigh, which did not escape the attention of her to whom they were ; 
 addressed. The Lady Hermione turned immediately round, and looked 
 earnestly at Margaret, then paused for a moment, and finally com- ' 
 manded Monna Paula to carry her frame and embroidery into the 
 ante-chamber. When they were left alone, she desired her young' 
 friend to come from behind the chau', on the back of which she still 
 rested, and sit down beside her upon a stool. 
 
 " I will remain thus, madam, under your favour," answered Margaret, 
 without changing her postiu:e ; "I would rather you heard me without 
 seeing me." 
 
 "In God's name, maiden," retm-ned her patroness, "what is it you 
 can have to say, that may not be uttered face to face, to so true a 
 friend as I am V^ 
 
 Without making any direct answer, Margaret only replied, "You 
 
 i 
 
THE J!'UKl(Ji^£S on- -XIGEL. ICl 
 
 were right, dearest lady, when you said, I had suffered my feelings too 
 much to engross me of late. I have done very wrong, and you will be 
 angry with me— so will my godfather, but I cannot help it— he must 
 be rescued." 
 
 '^He?" repeated the lady, with emphasis; "that brief little word 
 does, indeed, so far explain your mystery ; — but come from behind the 
 chair, you silly popinjay ! I vnll wager you have suffered yonder gay 
 young apprentice to sit too near your heart. I have not heard you 
 mention young Vincent for many a day — perhaps he has not been out 
 of mouth and out of mind both. Have you been so foolish as to let 
 hun speak to you seriously 1 — I am told he 'is a bold youth." 
 
 "Not bold enough to say anything that could displease me, madam," 
 said Margaret. 
 
 "Perhaps, then, you were not displeased," said the lady ; "or perhaps 
 he has not spoken, which would be wiser and better. Be open-hearted, 
 my love — your godfather ^vill soon return, and we will take hira into 
 our consultations. If the young man is industrious, and come of honest 
 parentage, his poverty may be lio such insurmountable obstacle. But 
 you are both of you very young, Margaret — I know yoiu' godfather will 
 expect that the youth shall fii-st serve out his apprenticesliip." 
 
 Margaret had hitherto suffered the lady to proceed, under the mis- 
 taken impression which she had adopted, simply because she could not 
 tell how to interrupt her ; but pure despite at heai'mg her last words 
 gave her boldness at length to say, "I crave your pardon, madam ; but 
 neither the youth you mention, nor any apprentice or master within 
 tlie city of London " 
 
 "Margaret," said the lady, in reply, "the contemptuous tone with 
 which you mention those of your own class (many hundreds, if not 
 thousands of whom are in all respects better than yourself, and would 
 ,£;Teatly honour you by thinking of you), ih, methinks, no warrant for 
 the wisdom of your choice — for a choice, it seems, there is. Who is it, 
 maiden, to whom you have thus rashly attached youi-self ? — rashly, I 
 fear it must be." 
 
 '•It is the young Scottish Lord Glenvarloch, madam," answered 
 JMargaret, in a low and modest tone, but sufficiently firm, considering 
 the subject. 
 
 " The young Lord of Glenvarloch !" repeated the lady, in great sui'- 
 
 ^e — " Maiden, you are distracted in your vdts," 
 
 " I knew you would say so, madam," answered Margaret. "--It is 
 what another person has already told me — it is, perhaps, what all the 
 world would teU me — it is what I am somethnes disposed to tell myself. 
 But look at me, madam, for I wiU now come before you, and tell me if 
 there is madness or distraction in my look and word, when I repeat to 
 you again that I have fixed my affections on this yoimg nobleman." ^ 
 
 " If there is not madness in yom- look or word, maiden, there is in- 
 finite folly in what you say," answered the Lady Hermione, sharply. 
 " When did you ever hear that misplaced love brought anything out 
 wi-etchedness 1 Seek a match among yoiu: equals, Margaret, and escape 
 the countless kinds of risk and misery that must attend an affection 
 beyond youi- degree.— Why do you smile, maiden ? Is there aught to 
 Ciiuse scorn in wliat I say V 
 
162 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " Surely no, madam," answered Margaret. " I only smiled to think 
 how it should nappen, that, while rank made such a wide difference be- 
 tween creatures formed from the same clay, the wit of the vulgar should, 
 nevertheless, jump so exactly the same length with that of the accom- 
 plished and the exalted. It is but the variation of the phrase which 
 divides them. Dame Ursley told me the very same thing which your 
 ladyship has but now uttered ; only you, madam, talk of countless 
 misery, and Dame Ursley spoke of the gallows, and Mistress Turner, 
 who was hanged upon it." 
 
 " Indeed T answered the Lady Hermione ; " and who may Dame 
 Ursley be, that your wise choice has associated with me in the difficult 
 task of advising a fool ?" 
 
 " The barber's wife at next door, madam," answered Margaret, with 
 feigned simplicity, but far from being sorry at heart that she had found 
 an indirect mode of mortifying her monitress. " She is the wisest 
 woman that I know, next to your ladyship." 
 
 " A proper confidant," said the lady, " and chosen with the same 
 delicate sense of what is due to yourself and others ! — But wdiat ails 
 you, maiden — where are you going V 
 
 " Only to ask Dame Ursley's advice," said Margaret, as if about to 
 depart ; " for I see your ladyship is too angry to give me any, and the 
 emergency is pressing." 
 
 " What emergency, thou simple one ?" said the lady, in a kinder 
 tone. — " Sit down, maiden, and tell me your tale. It is true you are 
 a fool, and a pettish fool to boot ; but then you are a child — an amiable 
 child, with all your self-willed folly, and we nmst help you, if we can. — 
 Sit down, I say, as you are desired, and you will find me a safer and 
 ^nseY counsellor than the barber- woman. And tell me how you come to 
 suppose that you have fixed your heart unalterably upon a man whom 
 you have seen, as I think, but once." 
 
 " I have seen him oftener," said the damsel, looking down ; " but I 
 have only spoken to him once. I should have been able to get that 
 07ice out of my head, though the impression was so deep that I could 
 even now repeat every trilling word he said ; but other things have 
 since riveted it in my bosom for ever." 
 
 " Maiden," replied the lady, " for ever is the word which comes 
 most lightly on the lips in such circumstances, but which, not the less, 
 is almost the last that we should use. The fashion of this world, its 
 passions, its joys, and its sorrows, pass away like the winged breeze — 
 there is nought for ever, but that which belongs to the world beyond 
 the ^'ave." 
 
 "You have corrected me justly, madam," said Margaret, calmly ; 
 "I ought only to have spoken of my present state of mind, as what 
 will last me for my lifetime, which unquestionably may be but short." 
 
 " And what is there in this Scottish lord that can rivet what con- 
 cerns him so closely in your fancy ?" said the lady. " I admit him a 
 personable man, for I have seen him ; and I will suppose him com-teous 
 and agi-eeable. But what are his accomplishments besides, for these 
 surely are not uncommon attributes ?" 
 
 " He is unfortunate, madam— most unfortunate — and surrounded 
 by snares of different kinds, ingeniously contrived to ruin liis character, 
 
THE F0KTUXE3 OF iMGEL. 163 
 
 destroy his estate, and, perhaps, to reach even his hfe. These schemes 
 
 I have been devised by avarice originally, but they are now folloAved close 
 
 I by vindictive ambition, animated, I think, by the absolute and concen- 
 
 I trated spuit of malice ; for the Lord Dalgarno " 
 
 " Here, Monna Paula — Monna Paula !" exclaimed the Lady Her- 
 mione, interrupting her young friend's narrative. " She hears me not," 
 she answered, rising and going out ; " I must seek her — I will return 
 instantly." She returned accordingly very soon after. " You men- 
 tioned a name which I thought was familiar to me," she said ; " but 
 
 i Monna Paula has put me right. I know nothing of your lord — how 
 was it you named him ]" 
 
 " Lord Dalgarno " said Margaret,—" the wickedest man who lives. 
 Under pretence of friendship, he introduced the Lord Glenvarloch to a 
 gambling-house, with the purpose of engaging him in deep play ; but 
 he with whom the perfidious traitor had to deal was too virtuous, moder- 
 
 I ate, and cautious, to be caught in a snare so open. What did they 
 next but turn his own moderation against him, and persuade others 
 that, because he would not become the prey of wolves, he herded with 
 them for a share of their booty ! And, while this base Lord Dalgarno 
 was thus undermining his unsuspecting countryman, he took every mea- 
 sure to keep him surrounded by creatures of his own, to prevent him 
 from attending Court, and mixmg with those of his proper rank. Since 
 the Gunpowder Treason, there never was a conspiracy more deeply laid, 
 more basely and more deliberately pursued." 
 
 The lady smiled sadly at Margaret's vehemence, but sighed the next 
 
 moment, while she told her young friend how little she knew the world 
 
 she was about to live in, since she testified so much surprise at finding 
 
 it full of villainy. 
 
 "But by what n*eans," she added, "could you, maiden, become 
 
 \ possessed of the secret views of a man so cautious as Lord Dalgarno — 
 
 j as villains in general are ?" 
 
 " Permit me to be silent on that subject," said the maiden ; " I could 
 not tell you without betraying others— let it sufiice that my tidings are 
 as certain as the means by which I acquired them are secret and sm-e. 
 But I must not tell them even to you." 
 
 ' "You are too bold, Margaret," said the lady, "to traffic in such 
 matters at your early age. It is not only dangerous, but even unbe- 
 
 L coming and unmaidenly." 
 
 "I knew you would say that also," said Margaret, with more meek- 
 ness and patience than she usually showed on receiving reproof; "but, 
 God knows, my heart acquits me of every other feeling save that of the 
 wish to assist this most innocent and betrayed man. — I contrived to 
 send him warning of his friend's falsehood ;— alas ! my care has only 
 hastened his utter ruin, unless speedy aid be found. He charged his 
 false friend with treachery, and drew on him in the Park, and is now 
 liable to the fatal penalty due for breach of privilege of the King's 
 palace." 
 
 "This is indeed an extraordinary tale," said Hermione; "is Lord 
 Glenvarloch then in prison?" 
 
 "Ko, madam, thank God, but in the Sanctuary at Whitefriars— it 
 is matter of doubt whether it will protect him in such a case— they 
 
164 THE FORTUNES 0^ NIGEL. 
 
 speak of a warrant from the Lord Chief-Justice.— A gentleman of the 
 Temple has been arrested, and is in trouble, for having assisted him in 
 his flight. — Even his taking temporary refuge in that base place, though 
 from extreme necessity, will be used to the farther defaming him. All 
 tliis I know, and yet I cannot rescue him— cannot rescue him save by 
 your means." 
 
 "By ray means, maiden?" said the lady— "you are beside yourself! 
 — What means can I possess in this secluded situation of assisting this 
 unfortunate nobleman ?" 
 
 "You have means," said Margaret, eagerly ; "you have those means, 
 unless I mistake greatly, which can do anything — can do everything, 
 in this citj, in this world— you have wealth, and the command of a 
 small portion of it will enable me to extricate him from his present 
 danger. He will be enabled and directed how to make his escape — 
 and I" she paused, 
 
 "Will accompany him, doubtless, and reap the fruits of your sage 
 exertions in his behalf," said the Lady Hermione, ironically. 
 
 "May Heaven forgive you the unjust thought, lady," answered 
 Margaret. "I will never see him more — but I shall have saved him, 
 and the thought will make me happy." 
 
 "A cold conclusion to so bold and warm a flame," said the lady, 
 with a smile which seemed to intimate incredulity. 
 
 "It is, however, the only one which I expect, madam — I could 
 almost say the only one which I wish — I am sure I will use no efi"orts 
 to brin^ about any other ; if I am bold in his cause, I am timorous 
 enough in my own. During our only interview I was "unable to speak 
 a word to him. He knows not the sound of my voice — and all that I 
 have risked, and must yet risk, I am doing for one, who, were he asked 
 the question, would say he has long since forgotten that he ever saw, 
 spoke to, or sat beside, a creatm-e of so little signification as I am." 
 
 "This is a strange and unreasonable indulgence of a passion equally 
 fanciful and dangerous," said the Lady Hennione. 
 
 "You will not assist me, then?" said Margaret; "have good-dav 
 then, madam — my secret, I trust, is safe in such honourable keeping." 
 
 "Tarry yet a Httle," said the lady, "and tell me what resource you 
 have to assist this youth, if you were supplied with money to put it in 
 motion." 
 
 "It is superfluous to ask me the question, madam," answered 
 Margaret, " unless you purpose to assist me ; and, if you do so purpose, 
 it is still superfluous. You could not understand the means I must 
 use, and time is too brief to explain." 
 
 "But have you in reahty such means?" said the lady. 
 
 "I have, with the command of a moderate sum," answered Margaret 
 Ramsay, "the power of bafiiing all his enemies — of eluding the passion 
 of the irritated King — the colder but more determined displeasm-e of 
 the Prince — the vindictive spiiit of Buckingham^ so hastily directed 
 against whomsoever crosses tlie path of his ambition — the cold, con- 
 centrated malice of Lord Dalgarno — all, I can baflie them all !" 
 
 "But is this to be done without your own personal risk, Margaret ?" 
 replied the lady; "for, be your purpose what it wiU, you are not to 
 peril your own reputation or person in the romantic attempt of semng 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 165 
 
 another; and I, maiden, am answerable to yoiu' godfather — to your 
 benefactor, and my own — not to aid you in any dangerous or unworthy 
 enterprise." 
 
 "Depend upon my word, — my oath, — dearest lady," replied the sup- 
 plicant, "that I will act by the agency of others, and do not myself 
 design to mingle in any enterprise in which my appearance might be 
 either perilous or unwomanly." 
 
 "I know not what to do," said the Lady Hermione; "it is perhaps 
 incautious and inconsiderate in me to aid so wild a project ; yet the end 
 seems honourable, if the means be sme. — What is the penalty, if he fall 
 into their power V 
 
 "Alas, alas ! the loss of his right hand !" replied Margaret, her voice 
 almost stifled Avith sobs. 
 
 " Ai'e the laws of England so cruel 1 Then there is mercy in Heaven 
 alone," said the lady, "since, even in this free land, men are wolves to 
 each other. — Compose yourself, Margaret, and tell me what money is 
 necessary to secure Lord Glenvarloch's escape." 
 
 " Two hundred pieces," replied Margaret ; " I would speak to you 
 of restoring them — and I must one day have the power — only that I 
 know — that is, I thmk — your ladyship is indifferent on that score." 
 
 " Not a word more of it," said the lady ; "call Monna Paula hither." 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Credit me, friend, it hath been ever thus. 
 
 Since the ark rested on Mount Ararat. 
 
 False man hath sworn, and -woman liath believed — 
 
 Repented and reproach'd, and then believed once more. 
 
 The New World. 
 
 By the time that Margaret returned with Monna Paula, the Lady 
 Hermione was rising from the table at which she had been engaged in 
 writing something on a small slip of paper, which she gave to her 
 attendant. 
 
 " Monna Paulaj" she said, " carry this paper to Roberts the cash- 
 keeper ; let him give you the money mentioned in the note, and bring 
 it hither presently." 
 
 Monna Paula left the room, and her mistress proceeded. 
 
 " I do not know," she said, " Margaret, if I have done, and am 
 doing, well in this affair. My life has been one of strange seclusion, 
 and I am totally unacquainted with the practical ways of this world — 
 an ignorance which I know cannot be remedied by mere reading. — I 
 fear I am doing wi'ong to you, and perhaps to the laws of the countiy 
 which affords me refuse, by thus Indulging you ; and yet there is some- 
 thing in my heart which cannot resist your entreaties." 
 
 " Oh, listen to it — listen to it, dear generous lady !" said Margaret, 
 tlirowing herself on her knees and gi'asping those of her benefactress, 
 and looking in that attitude like a beautiful mortal in the act of sup- 
 plicating her tutelary angel ; "the laws of men are but the injujictions 
 
166 THE FOETUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 of mortality, but what the heart prompts is the eclio of the voice from 
 Heaven "within us." 
 
 " Rise, rise, maiden," said Hermione ; " you affect me more than I 
 thought I could have been moved by aught that should approach me. 
 Eise, and tell me whence it comes, that, in si3 short a time, your 
 thoughts, your looks, your speech, and even your slightest actions, are 
 changed from those of a capricious and fanciful girl, to all this energy 
 and impassioned eloquence of word and action V 
 
 " I am sure I know not, dearest lady," said Margaret, looking down ; 
 *^ but I suppose that, when I was a trifier, I was only thinking of 
 trifles. What I now reflect is deep and serious, and I am thankful 
 if my speech and maimer bear reasonable proportion to my thoughts." 
 
 " It must be so," said the lady ; "yet the change seems a rapid and 
 strange one. It seems to be as if a childish girl had at once shot up 
 into a deep-thinking and impassioned woman, ready to make exertions 
 alike, and sacrifices, with all that vain devotion to a favourite object of 
 affection which is often so basely rewarded." 
 
 The Lady Hermione sighed bitterly, and Monna Paula entered ere 
 the conversation proceeded farther. She spoke to her mistress in the 
 foreign language in which they frequently conversed, but which was 
 miknown to Margaret. 
 
 " We must have patience for a time," said the lady to her visitor ; 
 " the cash-keeper is abroad on some business, but he is expected home 
 in the course of half an hoiu-." 
 
 Margaret wrung her hands in vexation and impatience. 
 
 " Minutes are precious," continued the lady, " that I am well aware 
 of ; and we will at least suffer none of them to escape us. Monna 
 Paula shall remain below, and transact om- business the very instant 
 that Roberts returns home." 
 
 She spoke to her attendant accordingly, who again left the room. 
 
 "You are very kind, madam — very good," said the poor little 
 Margaret, while the anxious trembling of her lip and of her hand 
 showed all that sickening agitation of the heart which arises from hope 
 deferred. 
 
 " Be patient, Margaret, and collect yom-self," said the lady ; "you 
 may, you must, have much to do to carry through this your bold pur- 
 pose — reseiTe yom* spirits, which you may need so much — be patient 
 — it is the only remedy against the evils of life." 
 
 " Yes, madam," said Marg;aret, wiping iier eyes, and endeavouring in 
 vain to suppress the natm-al impatience of her temper, — "I have heard 
 so — very often indeed ; and I daresay I have myself, Heaven forgive 
 me, said so to people in perplexity and afHiction ; but it was before I 
 had suffered perplexity and vexation myself, and I am sure I will never 
 preach patience to any human being again, now that I know how much 
 the medicine goes against the stomach." 
 
 " You will think better of it, maiden," said the Lady Hermione ; 
 " I also, when I first felt distress, thought they did me wrong who 
 spoke to me of patience ; but my sorrows have been repeated and con- 
 tinued till I have been taught to cling to it as the best, and— religious 
 duties excepted, of which, indeed, patience forms a part— the only 
 alleviation which life can afford them." 
 
THE rOKTU^'ES OF r:ioEL. 167 
 
 Llargaret, "v\'ho neither wanted sense nor feeling, wiped her tears 
 hastily, and asked her patroness's forgiveness for her petulance. 
 
 "I might have thought," she said, "I onght to have reflected, 
 tliat even from the manner of yoiu- life, madam, it is plain you must- 
 have suffered sorrow ; and yet, God knows, the patience which I have 
 ever seen you display well entitles you to recommend your own ex- 
 anijile to others." 
 The lady was silent for a moment, and then replied — _ 
 ' • Margaret, I am about to repose a high confidence in you. Yon 
 are no longer a child, but a thinking and a feeling woman. You have 
 , told me as much of your secret as you dared— I will let you knoAV as 
 ! much of mine as I may venture to tell. You will ask me,^ perhaps, 
 why, at a moment when your own mind is agitated, I should force upon 
 you the consideration of my sorrows ? and I answer, that I cannot 
 , withstand the impulse which now iiiduces me to do so. Perhaps from 
 j having witnessed, for the first thne these three years, the natiu:al effects 
 of human passion, my own sorrows have been awakened, and are for 
 I the moment too big for my own bosom — perhaps I may hope that you, 
 who seem driving full sail on the very rock on which I was wrecked 
 for ever, will take warning by the tale I have to tell. Enough, if you 
 are wiUing to listen, I am willing to tell you who the melancholy in- 
 habitant of the Foljambe apartment really is, and why she resides here. 
 It will serve, at least, to while away the time until Monna Paula shall 
 bring us tlie reply from Roberts." 
 
 At any other moment of her life, Margaret Ramsay would have 
 heard with undivided interest a communication so flattering in itself, 
 and referring to a subject upon which the general curiosity had been 
 so strongly excited. And even at this agitating moment, although she 
 ceased not to listen with an anxious ear and throbbing heart for the 
 somid of jMonna Paula's returning footsteps, she nevertheless, as 
 
 fratitude and policy, as well as a portion of curiosity dictated, composed 
 erself, in appearance at least, to the strictest attention to the Lady 
 Hermione, and thanked her with humility for the high confidence she 
 was pleased to repose in her. The Lady Hermione, with the same 
 calmness wliich always attended her speech and actions, thus recounted 
 her story to her young friend : 
 
 " Mj father," she said, " was a merchant, but he was of a city whose 
 merchants are princes. I am the daughter of a noble house in Genoa, 
 whose name stood as high in honour and in antiquity as any inscribed 
 in the Golden Register of that famous aristocracy. 
 
 " My mother was a noble Scottishwoman. 8he was descended — do 
 not start— and not remotely descended, of the house of Glenvarloch — 
 no wonder that I was easily led to take concern in the misfortunes of 
 this young lord. He is niy near relation, and my mother, who was 
 more than sufficiently proud of her descent, early taught me to take au 
 interest in the name. My maternal grandfather, a cadet of that house 
 of Glenvarloch, had followed the fortmies of an unhappy fugitive, 
 Francis Earl of Bothwell, who, after showing his miseries in many a 
 foreign court, at length settled in Spain upon a miserable pension, 
 which he earned by conforming to the Oatliolfc faith. Ralph Olifaunt, 
 mv grandfather, separated from him in disgust, and settled at Barcelona, 
 
168 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 where, b^ the friendship of the governor, his heresy, as it was termed, 
 was connived at. My father, in the course of his commerce, resided 
 more at Barcelona than in his native country, though at tunes lie 
 visited Genoa. 
 
 " It was at Barcelona that he became acquainted with my mother, 
 loved her, and married her ; they differed in faith, but they agreed in 
 affection. I was their only cliild. In public I conformed to the 
 doctrines and ceremonial of the Church of Rome ; but my mother, by 
 whom these were regarded with horror, privately trained me up in 
 those of the reformed religion ; and my father, either indifferent in 
 the matter, or unwilling to distress the woman whom he loved, over- 
 looked or connived at my secretly joining in her devotions. 
 
 " But when, imhappily, my father was attacked, while jet in the 
 
 Erime of life, by a slow wasting disease, which he felt to be incurable, 
 e foresaw the hazard to wliich his widow and orphan might be exposed, 
 after he was no more, in a country so bigoted to Catholicism as Spam. 
 He made it Ms business, diu-ing the two last years of his life, to realize 
 and to remit to England a large part of his fortune, which, by the faith 
 and honour of his correspondent, the excellent man under whose roof I 
 now reside, was employed to gi'eat advantage. Had my father lived to 
 complete his purpose, by withdrawing his whole fortune from commerce, 
 he himself would have accompanied us to England, and would have 
 beheld us settled in peace and honour before his death. But Heaven 
 had ordained it otherwise. He died, leaving several sums engaged in 
 the hands of his Spanish debtors ; and, in particular, he had made ? 
 large and extensive consignment to a certain wealthy society of mer- 
 chants at Madrid, who showed no willingness after his death to account 
 for the proceeds. Would to God we had left these covetous and wicked 
 men in possession of their booty, for such they seemed to hold the 
 property of their deceased correspondent and friend ! We had enough 
 for corofort, and even splendour, already seciu-ed in England ; but 
 friends exclaimed upon the folly of permitting these unprincipled men 
 to plunder us of our rightful property. The sum itself was large, and 
 the claim having been made, my mother thought that my father's 
 memory was interested in its being enforced, especially as the defences 
 set up for the mercantile society went, in some degree, to impeach the 
 fairness of his transactions. 
 
 " We went therefore to Madrid. I was then, my Margaret, about 
 your age, young and thoughtless, as you have hitherto been. — We went, 
 I say, to Madrid, to solicit the protection of the Court and of the King, 
 without which we were told it would be in vain to expect justice 
 against an opulent and powerful association. 
 
 " Our residence at the Spanish metropoHs drew on from weeks to 
 months. For mv part, my natural sorrow for a kind, though not a fond 
 father, having abated, I cared not if the lawsuit had detained us at 
 Madrid for ever. My mother permitted herself and me rather more 
 liberty than we had been accustomed to. She found relations among 
 the Scottish and Irish officers, many of whom held a high rank in the 
 kSpanish armies ; their wives and daughters became our friends and 
 cornpanions, and I had perpetual occasion to exercise my mother's 
 native language, wbich I had learned from my infancy. By degrees. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 169 
 
 as my mothers spirits -v^ere low and her health indifferent, she was in- 
 duced, by her partial fondness for me, to suffer me to mingle occasion- 
 ally in society which she herself did not frequent, under the guardian- 
 ship of such ladies as she imagined she could trust, and particularly 
 under the care of the lady of a general officer, whose weakness or false- 
 hood was the original cau^e of my misfortune. I was as gay, Margaret, 
 and thoughtless — I again repeat it — as you were but lately, and my 
 attention, like yours, became suddenly riveted to one object, and to 
 one set of feelings. 
 
 " The person by whom they were excited was young, noble, hand- 
 some, accomplished, a soldier, and a Briton. So far our cases are nearly 
 parallel ; but, may Heaven forbid that the parallel should become com- 
 plete ! This man, so noble, so fairly formed, so gifted, and so brave — this 
 villain, for that, Margaret, was his fittest name, spoke of love to me, 
 and I listened — Could I suspect his sincerity i If he was wealthy, 
 noble, and long-descended, I also was a noble and an opulent heiress. It 
 is true that he neither knew the extent of my father's wealth, nor did 
 I commimicate to him (I do not even remember if I myself knew it at 
 the time) the important circumstance, that the gi'eater part of that 
 wealth was beyond the grasp of arbitrary power, and not subject to the 
 precarious award of arbitrary judges. My lover might think, perhaps, 
 as my mother was desirous 'the world at large should believe, that al- 
 most our whole fortmie depended on the precarious suit which we had 
 come to Madrid to prosecute — a belief which she had countenanced out 
 of policy, being well aware that a knowledge of my father's having re- 
 mitted such a large part of his fortime to England would in no shape 
 aid the recovery of farther sums in the Spanish courts. Yet, with no 
 more extensive views of my fortune than were possessed by the public, 
 I believe that he of v/hom I am speaking was at first sincere in his 
 pretensions. He had liimself interest sufficient to have obtained a de- 
 cision in our favom- in the comi;s, and my fortune, reckoning only what 
 was in Spain, would then have been no inconsiderable sum. To be 
 brief, whatever might be his motives or temptation for so far commit- 
 ting himself, he applied to my mother for my hand, with my consent 
 and approval. My mother's judgment had become weaker, but her 
 passions had become more in-itable, during her increasing illness. 
 
 " You have heard of the bitterness of the ancient Soottish feuds, of 
 which it may be said, in the language of Scriptiure, that the fathers eat 
 som' grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge. Unhappily, 
 — I should say happily, considering what this man has now shown 
 himself to be, — some such strain of bitterness had divided his house 
 from my mother's, and she had succeeded to the inheritance of hatred. 
 When he asked her for my hand, she was no longer able to command 
 her passions — she raked up every injury which the rival families had 
 inflicted upon each other during a bloody feud of two centmies — heaped 
 Mm with epithets of scorn — and rejected his proposal of alliance, as if 
 it had come from the basest of mankind. 
 
 " jVIy lover retired in passion ; and I remained to weep and murmur 
 against fortune, and — I will confess my fault — against my affectionate 
 parent. I had been educated with different feelings, and the traditions 
 of the feuds and quarrels of my mother's family in Scotland, which were 
 
170 THE F0RTU^'E3 OF NIGEL. 
 
 to her monuments and chronicles, seemed to me as insignificant and iin- j 
 meaning as the actions and fantasies of Don Quixote ; and I blamed 
 my mother bitterly for sacrificing my happiness to an empty dream of 
 family dignity. 
 
 " While I was in this humour, my lover sought a renewal of our 
 intercoui'se. We met repeatedly in the house of the lady whom I have 
 mentioned, and who, in levity, or in the spirit of intrigue, countenanced 
 our secret correspondence. At length Ave were secretly married— so far 
 did my blinded passion hurry me. My lover had secured the assistance 
 of a clergyman of the English Church. Monna Paula, who had been 
 my attendant from infancy, was one witness of our union. Let me do 
 the faithfid creature justice. — She conjured me to suspend my purpose 
 till my mother's death should permit us to celebrate our marriage 
 openly ; but the entreaties of my lover, and my own wayward passion, 
 j)revailed over her remonstrances. The lady I have spoken of Avas 
 another witness, but whether she Avas in full possession of my bride- 
 groom's secret I had never the means to learn. But the shelter of her 
 name and roof afforded us the means of frequently meeting, and the 
 love of my husband seemed as sincere and as unbounded as my OAvn. 
 
 " He Avas eager, he said, to gratify his pride, by introducing me to 
 one or two of his noble English friends. This could not be done at 
 Lady D 's ; but by his command, Avhich I Avas noAV entitled to con- 
 sider as my laAV, I contrived tAAdce to visit him at his own hotel, accom- 
 panied only by Monna Paula. There Avas a very small party, of tvfo 
 ladies and two gentlemen. There Avas music, mirth, and dancing. I 
 had heard of the frankness of the English nation, but I could not help 
 thinking it bordered on licence during these entertainments, and in the 
 course of the collation Avhich folloAved ; but I imputed my scruples to 
 my inexperience, and would not doubt the propriety of Avhat Avas ap- 
 proved by my husband. 
 
 " I Avas soon summoned to other scenes. My poor mother's disease 
 drcAV to a conclusion — Happy I am that it took place before she dis- 
 covered Avhat would have cut her to the soul. 
 
 "In Spain you may have heard hoAv the Catholic priests, and par- 
 ticularly the monks, besiege the beds of the dying, to obtain bequests 
 for the good of the church. I have said that my mother's temper Ava.s 
 irritated by disease, and her judgment impaired in proportion. She 
 
 fathered spirits and force from the resentment Avhicli the priests around 
 er bed excited by their importunity, and the boldness of the stern sect 
 of Reformers, to Avhich she had secretly adhered, seemed to animate her 
 dying tongue. She avoAved the religion she had so long concealed ; re- 
 nounced all hope and aid Avhich did not come by and through its dictates ; 
 rejected Avith contempt the ceremonial of the Romish Church ; loaded 
 the astonished priests Avith reproaches for their greediness and hypocrisy, 
 and commanded them to leave her house. They Avent in bitterness and 
 rage, but it was to return Avith the inquisitorial poAver, its Avarrants, and 
 its officers ; and they found only the cold corpse left of her on Avhom 
 they had hoped to Avork their vengeance. As I was soon discovered to 
 have shared my mother's heresy, I Avas draoged from her dead body, 
 imprisoned in a solitary cloister, and treated Avith severity, Avhich the 
 Abbess assured me Avas due to the looaeuess of my life, as Avell as mj 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 171 
 
 spiritual errors. I avowed my marriage, to justify the situation in which 
 I foimd myself— I implored the assistance of the#Superior to communicate 
 my situation to my husband. She smiled coldly at the projDOsal, and told 
 me the church had provided a better spouse for me ; advised me to se- 
 cure myself of divine gi'ace hereafter, and deserve milder treatment here, 
 by presently taking the veil. In order to convince me that I had no 
 other resource, she showed me a royal decree, by Avhich all my estate 
 was hypothecated to the convent of Saint Magdalen, and became their 
 :omplete property upon my death, or my taking the vows. As I was, 
 joth from religious principle and affectionate attachment to my hus- 
 band, absolutely immovable in my rejection of the veil, I believe — 
 may Heaven forgive me if I wrong her ! — that the Abbess was desirous 
 to make sure of my spoils, by hastening the former event. 
 
 " It was a small and a poor convent, and situated among the moun- 
 tains of Guadarrama. Some of the sisters Avere the daughters of neigh- 
 boming Hidalgoes, as poor as they were proud and ignorant ; others 
 were women immured there on account of their vicious conduct. The 
 Superior herself was of a high family, to Avhich she owed her situation ; 
 but she was said to have disgi-aced her connections by her conduct 
 during youth, and now, in advanced age, covetousness and the love of 
 power, a spirit of severity and cruelty, had succeeded to the thirst after 
 licentious pleasure. I suffered much under this woman — and still her 
 dark, glassy eye, her tall, shrouded form, and her rigid features, haunt 
 my slumbers. 
 
 " I was not destined to be a mother. I was very ill, and my re- 
 icovery was long doubtful. The most violent remedies were applied, if 
 ■remedies they mdeed were. My health Avas restored at length, against 
 my own expectation and that of all around me. But, when I first again 
 beheld the reflection of my OAvn face, I thought it was the visage of a 
 ghost. I was wont to be nattered by all, but particularly by my hus- 
 band, for the fineness of my complexion — it was now totally gone, and 
 what is more extraordinary, it has never returned. I have observed 
 that the few who now see me look upon me as a bloodless phantom — 
 Such has been the abiding effect of the treatment to which I was sub- 
 ijected. jMay God forgive those who were the agents of it ! — I thank 
 "Heaven I can say so with as sincere a wish as that with which I pray 
 for forgiveness of my own sins. They now relented somewhat towards 
 me — moved perhaps to compassion by my singular appearance, which 
 bore witness to my sufferings ; or afraid that the matter might attract 
 attention during a visitation of the bishop, which was apjDroaching. One 
 day, as I Avas walking in the convent-garden, to which Ihad been lately 
 admitted, a miserable old Moorish slave, who Avas kept to cultivate the 
 little spot, muttered as I passed him, but still keeping his Avi'inkled 
 face and decrepit form in the same angle with the earth — ' There h 
 Heart's Ease near the postern.' 
 
 " I kneAv something of the symbolical language of floAvers, once 
 carried to such perfection among the Moriscoes of Spain ; but, if I had 
 I'cen ignorant of it, the captive would soon have caught at any hint 
 t]iat seemed to promise liberty. With all the haste consistent with the 
 utmost circumspection — for I might be observed by the Abbess or some 
 of the sisters from the window— I hastened to the postern. It Avas 
 
172 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 closely barred as usual, but when I coughed slightly, I was answered 
 from the other side — and, Heaven ! it was my nusband's voice which 
 said, ' Lose not a moment here at present, but be on this spot when 
 the vesper bell has tolled.' 
 
 "I retired in an ecstacy of joy. I was not entitled or pennitted to 
 assist at vespers, but was accustomed to be confined to my cell wliile 
 the nuns were in the choir. Since my recoveiy, they had discontinued 
 locking the door ; though the utmost severity was denounced against 
 me if I left these precincts. But, let the penalty be what it would, I 
 hastened to dare it. — No sooner had the last toll of the vesper bell 
 ceased to sound, than I stole from my chamber, reached the garden un- 
 observed, hurried to the postern, beheld it open with rapture, and in 
 the next moment Avas in my husband's arms. He had with him another 
 cavalier of noble mien— both were masked and armed. Their horses, 
 with one saddled for my use, stood in a thicket hard by, with two other 
 masked horsemen, who seemed to be servants. In less than two minutes 
 we were mounted, and rode off as fast as we could through rough and 
 devious roads, in which one of the domestics appeared to act as guide. 
 
 " The hurried pace at which we rode, and the anxiety of the moment, 
 kept me silent, and prevented my expressing my surprise or my joy 
 save in a, few broken words. It also served as an apology for my hus- 
 band's silence. At length we stopped at a solitary hut— the cavaliers 
 
 dismounted, and I was assisted from my saddle, not by M M 
 
 my husband, I would say, who seemed busied about his horse^ but by 
 the stranger. 
 
 " ' Go into the hut,' said my husband, ' change your dress with the 
 speed of lightning — you will find one to assist you — we must forward 
 instantly when you have shifted your apparel.' 
 
 " I entered the hut, and was received in the arms of the faithful 
 Monna Paula, who had waited my arrival for many hours, half dis- 
 tracted with fear and anxiety. With her assistance I speedily tore off 
 the detested garments of the convent^ and exchanged them for a travel- 
 ling suit, made after the English fashion. I obseiTed that Monna Paida 
 was in a similar dress. I had but just huddled on my change of attire 
 when we were hastily summoned to mount, A horse, I found, was 
 provided for Monna Paula, and we resiuned our route. On the way," 
 my convent garb, which had been wrapped hastily together around a 
 stone, was thrown into a lake, along the verge of which we were then 
 passing. The two cavaliers rode together in front, my attendant and I 
 followed, and the servants brought up the rear. Monna Paula, as we 
 rode on, repeatedly entreated me to be silent upon the road, as our lives 
 depended on it. I was easily reconciled to be passive, for, the first fever 
 of spirits which attended the sense of liberation and of gratified affec- 
 tion having passed away, I felt as it were dizzy with the rapid motion ; 
 and my utmost exertion was necessary to keep my place on the saddle, 
 until we suddenly (it was now very dark) saw a strong light before us. 
 
 " My husband reined up liis horse, and gave a signal by a low 
 whistle twice repeated, which was answered from a distance. The 
 whole party then halted under the boughs of a large cork-tree, and my 
 husband, drawing himself close to my side, said, in a voice which I 
 then thought was only embarrassed by fear for my safety, — ' We must 
 
THE FORTUNES OS NIGEL. 173 
 
 now part. Those to whom I commit you are contrahandists, who only 
 know you as Englishwomen, but who, for a high bribe, have under- 
 taken to escort you thi'ough the passes of the Pyrenees as far as Saint 
 Jean de Luz.' 
 
 " And do you not go with us?" I exclaimed with emphasis, though in 
 a whisper. 
 
 " ' It is impossible,' he said, ' and would ruin all. — See that you 
 speak in English in these people's hearing, and give not the least sign 
 of understanding what they say in Spanish — your life depends on it ; 
 for, though they live in opposition to, and evasion of, the laws of Spain, 
 they woidd tremble at the idea of violating those of the church — I see 
 them coming — farewell — farewell.' 
 
 " The last words were hastily uttered — I endeavoured to detain him 
 yet a moment by my feeble grasp on his cloak. 
 
 " ' You will meet me, then, I trust, at Sauit Jean de Luz V 
 
 " * Yes, yes,' he answered hastily, * at Saint Jean de Lii,- you will 
 meet your protector.' 
 
 " He then extricated his cloak from my grasp, and was .ost in the 
 darkness. His companion approached — kissed my hand, which in the 
 agony of the moment I was scarce sensible of, and followed my husband, 
 attended by one of the domestics." 
 
 The tears of Hermione here flowed so fast as to threaten the inter- 
 ruption of her narrative. When she resiuned it, it was with a kind of 
 apology to Margaret. 
 
 " Every circumstance," she said, "occurring in these moments, when 
 I still enjoyed a delusive idea of happiness, is deeply imprinted in my 
 remembrance, which, respecting all that has since happened, is waste 
 and imvaried as an Arabian desert. But I have no right to inflict on 
 you, Margaret, agitated as you are with your own anxieties, the un- 
 availing details of my useless recollections." 
 
 ]\Iargaret's eyes were full of tears — it was impossible it could be 
 otherwise, considering that the tale was told by her sufi"ering bene- 
 factress, and resembled, in some respects, her own situation ; and yet 
 she must not be severely blamed, if, while eagerly pressing her patron- 
 ess to continue her narrative, her eye involuntarily sought the door, as 
 if to chide the delay of Monna Paiila. 
 
 The Lady Hermione saw and forgave these conflicting emotions ; and 
 she, too, must be pardoned, if, in her turn, the minute detail of her 
 narrative showed, that, in the discharge of feelings so long locked in 
 her o\m bosom, she rather forgot those which were personal to her 
 auditor, and by which it must be supposed Margaret's mind was princi- 
 paUy occupied, if not entirely engrossed. 
 
 " I told you, I think, that one domestic followed the gentlemen," 
 thus the lady continued her story, " the other remained with us for 
 
 the piu-pose, as it seemed, of mtroducingus to two persons whom M y 
 
 I say, whom my husband's signal had brought to the spot. A word or 
 two of explanation passed between them and the servant, in a sort of 
 2Mtois, which I did not understand ; and one of the strangers taking 
 hold of my bridle, the other of Monna Paula's, they led us towards the 
 light, which I have already said was the signal of om- halting. I touched 
 Momia Paula, and was sensible that she trembled very much, which 
 
174 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEI^ 
 
 surprised me, because I knew her character to be so strong and bold as 
 to border upon the masculine. 
 
 " When we reached the fire, the gipsy figures of those who surrounded 
 it, with their swarthy features, large Sombrero hats, girdles stuck full 
 of pistols and poniards, and all the other apparatus of a roving and 
 perilous life, would have terrified me at another moment. But then I 
 only felt the agony of having parted from my husband almost in the 
 very nioment of my rescue. The females of the gang — for there were 
 four or five women amongst these contraband traders — received us with 
 a sort of rude courtesy. They were, in dress and manners, not ex- 
 tremely difterent from the men with whom they associated — were 
 almost as hardy and adventurous, carried arms like them, and were, as 
 we learned from passing circumstances, scarce less experienced in the 
 use of them. 
 
 " It Avas impossible not to fear these wild people ; yet they gave us 
 no reason to complain of them, but used us on all occasions with a kind 
 of clumsy courtesy, accommodating themselves to our wants and our 
 weakness during the journey, even Avhile we heard them grumbling to 
 each other against om^ efteminacy, — like some rude carrier, who, in 
 charge of a package of valuable and fragile ware, takes every precaution 
 for its preservation, while he curses the unwonted trouble which it 
 occasions him. Once or twice, when they were disappointed in their 
 contraband traffic, lost some goods in a rencontre with the Spanish 
 officers of the revenue, and were finally pursued by a military force, 
 their murmurs assumed a more alarming tone, in the terrified ears oi 
 my attendant and myself, when^ without daring to seem to understand 
 them, we heard them curse the msular heretics, on whose account God, 
 Saint James, and Our Lady of the Pillar, had blighted their hopes of 
 profit. These are dreadful recollections, Margaret." 
 
 " Why, 'then, dearest lady," answered I\largaret, " will you thus 
 dwell on them?" 
 
 " It is only," said the Lady Hennione, " because I linger like a 
 criminal on the scaffold, and would fain protract the time that must 
 inevitably bring on the final catastrophe. Yes, dearest Margaret, I rest 
 and dwell on the events of that journey, marked as it Avas by fatigue 
 and danger, though the road lay througli the wildest and most desolate 
 deserts and mountains, and though our companions, both men and 
 women, were fierce and laAvless themselves, and exposed to the most 
 merciless retaliation from those with whom they Avere constantly ; 
 engaged — yet Avould I rather dAvell on these hazardous events than tell 
 that which awaited me at Saint Jean de Luz." 
 
 " But you arrived there in safety ?" said Margaret. 
 
 " Yes, maiden," replied the Lady Hermione ; " and were guided ■ 
 by the chief of our outlaAved band to the house which had been assigned 
 for our reception Avith the same punctilious accuracy Avith Avhich he 
 would hav^ delivered a bale of uncustomed goods to a correspondent. 
 I was told a gentleman had expected me for tAvo days— I rushed into ' 
 the apartment, and, Avhen I expected to embrace my husband — I found 
 myself in the arms of his friend !" 
 
 " The villain !" exclaimed Margaret, whose anxiety had, in spite of 
 herself, been a moment suspended by the narrative of the lady. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. i75 
 
 " Yes," replied Ilermione Ccalmly, though her voice somewhat faltered, 
 " it is the name that best — that well befits him. He, Margaret, for 
 whom I had sacrificed all — whose love and whose memory were dearer 
 to me than my freedom, vv^hen I was in the convent— than my life, 
 when I was on my perilous journey — had taken his measures to shake 
 me off, and transfer me, as a privileged wanton, to the i^rotection of 
 his libertine friend. x\t first the stranger laughed at my tears and my 
 jigony, as the hysterical passion of a deluded and overreached wanton, 
 or the wily afi"ectation of a courtezan. I\Iy claim of marriage he laughed 
 at, assuring me he knew it was a mere farce required by me, and sub- 
 mitted to by his friend to save some reserve of delicacy ; and expressed 
 liis sui-prise that I should consider in any other light a ceremony which 
 could be valid neither m Spain nor England, and insultingly offered to 
 remove my scruples by renewing such a union with me himself. My 
 exclamations brought Monna Paula to my aid — she was not, indeed, far 
 distant, for she had expected some sucli scene." 
 
 "Good Heaven!" said Margaret, " vras she a confidant of your base 
 husband?" 
 
 " No," answered Hermione, " do her not that injustice. It was her 
 persevering inquiries that discovered the place of my confinement — it 
 was she who gave the information to my husband, and who remarked 
 even then that the news was so much more interesting to his friend 
 than to him, that she suspected from an early period it was the pur- 
 pose of the villain to shake me ofi". On the journey, her suspicions 
 were confirmed. She had heard him remark to his companion, with a 
 cold sarcastic sneer, the total change which my prison and my illness 
 had made on my complexion ; and she had heard the otlier reply, that 
 the defect might be cured by a touch of Spanish red. This and other 
 circumstances having prepared her for such treachery, IMonna Paula 
 now entered, completely possessed of herself, and prepared to support 
 me. Her calm representations went farther with the stranger than the 
 expressions of my despair. If he did not entirely believe oiu' tale, he 
 at least acted the part of a man of honour, who would not intrude him- 
 self on defenceless females, whatever was their character ; desisted from 
 Eersecuting us with his presence ; and not only directed Monna Paula 
 ow we should jom-ney to Paris, but furnished her with money for the 
 pm-pose of oirr jom-ney. From the capital I m'ote to Master Heriot, 
 my father's most trusted correspondent ; he came instantly to Paris on 
 
 receiving the letter ; and But here comes Monna Paula, with more 
 
 than the sum you desired. Take it, my dearest maiden — serve this 
 youth if you will. But, Margaret, look for no gratitude in return !" 
 
 The Lady Hermione took the bag of gold from her attendant, and 
 gave it to her young friend, who threw herself into her arms, kissed 
 her on both the pale cheeks, over which the sorrows so newly awakened 
 by her narrative had drawn many tears, then spmng up, wiped her 
 own overflowing eyes, and left the Foljambe apartment with a hasty 
 and resolved step. 
 
176 TUB FORTUNES OF KIQEL. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Rove not from pole to pole— the man lives here 
 Whose razor's only equall'd by his beer ; 
 And where, in either sense, the cockney-put 
 May, if he pleases, get confounded cut. 
 
 On the zign of an Alehouse kept by a Barber. 
 
 We are under the necessity of transporting our readers to the habi- 
 tation of Benjamin Suddlechop, the husband of the active and efficient 
 Pame Ursula, and who also, in his own person, discharged more offices 
 than one. For besides trimming locks and beards, and turning whiskers 
 upward into the martial and swaggering curl, or downward into the 
 drooping form which became mustaches of civil policy ; besides also 
 occasionally letting blood either by cupping or by the lancet, extracting 
 a stump, and performing other actions of petty pharmacy, very nearly 
 as well as his neighbour Raredrench, the apothecary; he could, on 
 occasion, draw a cup of beer as well as a tooth, tap a hogshead as well , 
 as a vein, and wash, with a draught of good ale, the mustaches which I 
 liis art had just trimmed. But he carried on these trades apart from 
 each other. 
 
 His barber's shop projected its long and mysterious pole into Fleet 
 Street, painted parti-colom^ed-wise, to represent the ribbons with which, 
 in elder times, that ensign was garnished. In the window were seen 
 rows of teeth displayed upon strings like rosaries — cups with a red rag 
 at the bottom, to resemble blood, an mtimation that patients might be 
 bled, cupped, or blistered, with the assistance of "sufficient advice ;" 
 while the more profitable but less honourable operations upon the hair 
 of the liead and beard were briefly and gravely amiounced. Within I 
 was the Avell-worn leathern chair for customers, the guitar, then called 
 a ghittern or cittern, with which a customer miglit amuse himself tUl 
 his predecessor was dismissed from under Benjamin's hands, and which, 
 therefore, often flayed the ears of the patient metaphorically, while his 
 oliin sustained from the razor literal scarification. All, therefore, in 
 this department, spoke the chirurgeon-barber, or the barber-clui-m-geon. 
 
 But there was a little back-room, used as a private tap-room, which ^ 
 had a separate entrance by a dark and crooked alley, which communi-; 
 cated with Fleet Street, after a cu'cuitous passage tlu'ough several by- * 
 lanes and com-ts. This retired temple of Bacchus had also a connection 
 with Benjamin's more public shop hj a long and narrow entrance, 
 conducting to the secret premises in which a few old topers used to take 
 their morning draught, and a few ^1-sippers their modicum of strong 
 ■waters, in a bashful way, after havmg entered the barber's shop under 
 pretence of being shaved. Besides, this obscure tap-room gave a sepa- 
 rate admission to the apartments of Dame Ursley, which she was 
 believed to make use of in the course of her multifarious practice, both 
 to let herself secretly out, and to admit clients and employers who 
 cared not to be seen to visit her in public. Accordingly, after the 
 hour of noon, by which time the modest and timid whetters, who were 
 Benjamin's best customers, had each had his di-aught, or his thunbleful. 
 
THE FOllTUNES OF NIGEL. 177 
 
 the business of the tap was in a manner end&d, and the charge of 
 attending the back-door passed from one of the barber's apprentices to 
 the httle mulatto girl, the dingy Iris of Dame Suddlechop. Then came 
 mystery thick upon mystery ; muffled gallants, and masked females, in 
 disguises of different fashions, were seen to glide through the intricate 
 mazes of the alley ; and even the low tap on the door, which frequently 
 demanded the attention of the little Creole, had in it something that 
 expressed secrecy and fear of discovery. 
 
 It was the evening of the same day when Margaret had held the 
 long conference with the lady Hermione that Dame Suddlechop had 
 directed her little portress to "keep the door fast as a miser's i3ui'se- 
 
 strings ; and, as she valued her saffron shin, to let in none but " 
 
 the name she added in a whisper, and accompanied it with a nod. The 
 little domestic blinked intelligence, went to her post, and in brief time 
 thereafter admitted and ushered into the presence of the dame that 
 very city-gallant whose clothes sat so awkwardly upon him, and who 
 had behaved so doughtily in the fray which befell at Nigel's first visit 
 to Beaujeu's ordinary. The mulatto introduced him — "Missis, fiiie 
 young gentleman, all over gold and velvet" — then muttered to herself 
 as she shut the door, "fine yomig gentleman, he! — apprentice to him 
 who makes the tick- tick." 
 
 It was indeed — we are sorry to say it, and trust out readers will 
 sympathize with the interest we take in the matter — it was indeed 
 honest Jin Vin, who had been so far left to his own devices, and 
 abandoned by his better angel, as occasionally to travesty himself in 
 this fashion, and to visit, in the dress of a gallant of the day, those 
 places of pleasure and dissipation in which it would have been ever- 
 lasting discredit to him to have been seen in his real character and 
 condition ; that is, had it been possible for him in his proper shape to 
 have gained admission. There was now a deep gloom on his brow, his 
 rich habit was hastily put on, and buttoned awry ; his belt buckled in 
 a most disorderly fashion, so that his sword stuck outwards from his 
 side, instead of hanging by it with graceful negligence ; wliile his poniard, 
 though fairly hatched and gilded, stuck in his gu'dle like a butcher's 
 steel in the fold of his blue apron. Persons of fashion had, by the way, 
 the advantage formerly of being better distinguished from the ^allgar 
 than at present ; for, what the ancient farthingale and more modern 
 hoop were to court ladies, the sword was to the gentleman ; an article 
 of dress, which only rendered those ridiculous who assumed it for the 
 nonce, without being in the habit of wearing it. Vincent's rapier got 
 between his legs, and, as he stumbled over it, he exclaimed — "Zounds ! 
 'tis the second time it has served me thus — I believe the damned trinket 
 knows I am no true gentleman, and does it of set purpose." 
 
 " Come, come, mine honest Jin Vin — come, my good boy," said the 
 dame, in a soothing tone, " never mind these trankums — a frank and 
 hearty London 'prentice is worth all the gallants of the inns of court." 
 
 " I was a frank and hearty London 'prentice before I knew you. 
 Dame Suddlechop," said Vincent ; " what your advice has made me, 
 you may find a name for ; since, 'fore George ! I am ashamed to think 
 about it myself." 
 
 " A-well-a-day," quoth the dame, "and is it even so with thee?— 
 
178 THE FOR. 1.NES OP NIGEL, 
 
 nay, then, I know but one cure;" and with that, going to a little 
 corner cupboard of carved wainscot, she opened it by the assistance of 
 ji key, which, with half-a-dozen besides, hung in a silver chain at her 
 girdle, and produced a long flask of thin glass cased with wicker, 
 bringing forth at the same time two Flemish rummer glasses, with 
 long stalks and capacious wombs. She filled the one brimful for her 
 guest, and the other more modestly to about two-thirds of its capacity 
 for her own use, repeating, as the rich cordial trickled forth in a smooth 
 oily stream — " Right Rosa Solis, as ever washed mulligrubs out of a 
 moody brain." 
 
 But^ though Jin Vin tossed oif his glass without scruple, while the 
 lady sipped hers more moderately, it did not appear to produce the ex- 
 pected amendment upon his humour. On the contrary, as he threw 
 himself into the great leathern chair, in which Dame Ursley was wont 
 to solace herself of an evening, he declared himself " the most miserable 
 dog within the sound of Bow-bell." 
 
 " And why sliould you be so idle as to think yourself so, silly boy ?" 
 said Dame Suddlechop ; " but 'tis always thus — fools and children never 
 knoAV when they are Avell. Why, there is not one that walks in Saint 
 Paul's, whether in flat cap or hat and feather, that has so many kind 
 glances from the wenches as you, when ye swagger along Fleet Street 
 vrith your bat under your arm, and your cap set aside upon yom- head. 
 Thou knowest well, that, from Mrs Deputy's self down to the waist- 
 coateers in the alley, all of them are twiring and peeping betwixt their 
 fingers when you pass ; and yet you call yourself a miserable dog ! and 
 I must tell you all this over and over again, as if I were v/histhng the 
 chimes of London to a pettish child, in order to bring tlie pretty baby 
 into good humour !" 
 
 The flattery of Dame Ursula seemed to have the fate of her cordial — 
 it was swallowed, indeed, by the party to whom she presented it, and 
 that with some degree of relish, but it did not operate as a sedative on I 
 the disturbed state of the youth's mind. He laughed for an instant, | 
 half in scorn, and half in gi-atified vanity, but cast a sullen look on 
 Dame Ursley as he replied to her last words — 
 
 " You do treat me like a child indeed, when you sing over and over 
 to me a cuckoo song that I care not a copper filing for." 
 
 " Aha !" said Dame Ursley ; " that is to say, you care not if yon 
 please all, unless you please one — You are a true lover, I warrant, and 
 care not for all the city, from here to Whitechapel, so you could write 
 yourself first in your pretty Peg-a-Ramsay's good-will. "Well, well, 
 take patience, man, and be guided by me, for I will be the hoop will | 
 bind you together at last." 
 
 " It is time you were so," said Jenkin, " for hitherto you have , 
 rather been the wedge to separate us." 1 
 
 Dame Suddlechop had by this time finished her cordial— it was not ' 
 the first she had taken that day ; and though a woman of strong brain, 
 and cautious at least, if not abstemious, in her potations, it may never- ■ 
 theless be supposed that her patience was not improved by the regimen 
 which she observed. 
 
 "Why, thou ungracious and ingrate knave," said Dame Ursley, 
 "have I not done everythin^c to put thee in thy mistress's good 
 
I THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 179 
 
 I 
 
 graces ? She loves gentry, the proud Scottish minx, as a Welshman 
 ' loves cheese, and has her father's descent from that Duke of Daldevil, 
 > or whatsoever slie calls him, as close in her heart as gold in a miser's 
 I chest, though she as seldom shows it — and none she will think of, or 
 have, hut a gentleman — and a gentleman I have made of thee, Jin 
 { Vin, the devil caimot deny that." 
 
 i " You have maae a fool of me," said poor Jenkm, looking at the 
 ! sleeve of his jacket. 
 
 " Never the worse gentleman for that," said Dame Ursley laughing. 
 
 " And what is worse," said he, turning his back to her suddenly, and 
 writhing in his chau-, " you have made a rogue of me." 
 
 " Never the worse gentleman for that neither," said Dame Ursley, 
 in the same tone ; " let a man bear his folly gaily and his knavery 
 stoutly, and let me see if gTavity or honesty will look him in the face 
 now-a-days. Tut, man, it was only in the time of King Arthur or 
 King Lud, that a gentleman was held to blemish his scutcheon by a 
 leap over the line of reason or honesty — It is the bold look, the ready 
 hand, the fine clothes, the brisk oath, and the wild brain, that makes 
 the gallant now-a-days." 
 
 ''I know what you have made me," said Jin Vin; "since I have 
 given up skittle and trap-ball for tennis and bowls, good English ale for 
 thin Bourdeaux and som' Rhenish, roast-beef and pudding for wood- 
 cocks and kickshaws, — my bat for a sword, my cap for a beaver, my 
 forsooth for a modish oath, my Cln-istmas-box for a dice-box, my re- 
 ligion for the devil's matins, and mine honest name for Woman, I 
 
 could brain thee, when I think whose advice has guided me in all this !" 
 
 " Whose advice, then ? whose advice, then ? Speak out, thou poor, 
 petty cloak-brusher, and say who advised thee !" retorted Dame Ursley, 
 flushed and indignant — " Marry come up, my paltry companion — say 
 by whose advice you have made a gamester of yoiuself, and a thief 
 besides, as yoiu: w^ords would bear — The Lord deliver us from evil !" 
 and here Dame Ursley devoutly crossed herself. 
 
 " Hark ye. Dame Ursley Suddlechop," said Jenkin, starting up, his 
 dark eyes flashing with anger ; " remember I am none of your husband 
 — and, if I were, you would do well not to forget whose threshold was 
 swept when they last rode the Skimmington^ upon such another scold- 
 ing jade as yourself." 
 
 " I hope to see you ride up Holborn next," said Dame Ursley, pro- 
 voked out of all her holiday and sugar-plum expressions, " with a nose- 
 gay at yom- breast and a parson at your elbow." 
 
 " That may well be," answered Jin Vin bitterly, '' if I walk by your 
 counsels as I have begun by them ; but, before that day comes, you shall 
 know that Jui Vin has the brisk boys of Fleet Street still at his wink. 
 —Yes, you jade, you shall be carted for bawd and conjm-er, double- 
 dyed in grain, and bing ofi" to Bridewell, and every brass basin betwixt 
 the Bar and Paul's beating before you, as if the devil were banging them 
 with his beef-hook." 
 
 Dame Ursley colom-ed like scarlet, seized upon the half-emptied fl.ask 
 of cordial, and seemed, by her first gesture, about to hurl it at the head 
 of her adversary ; but suddenly, and as if by a strong internal eftbrt, she 
 ^ See Note R. The Skimmingion. 
 
180 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 checked her outrageous resentment, and, putting the bottle to its more 
 legitimate use, filled, with wonderful composiu-e, the two glasses, and, 
 taking up one of them, said, with a smile, which better became her 
 comely and jovial coimtenance than the fury by which it was animated 
 the moment before — 
 
 " Here is to thee, Jin Vin, my lad, in all loving kindness, whatever 
 spite thou bearest to me, that have always been a mother to thee." 
 
 Jenkin's English good nature could not resist this forcible appeal ; 
 he took up the other glass, and lovingly pledged the dame in her cup of 
 reconciliation, and proceeded to make a kind of grumbling apology for 
 his own violence — 
 
 " For you know," he said, "it was you persuaded me to get these fine 
 things, and go to that godless ordinary, and ruffle it with the best, and 
 bring you home all the news ; and you said, I, that was the cock of the 
 ward, would soon be the cock of the ordinary, and would win ten times 
 as much at gleek and primero as I used to do at put and beggar-my- 
 neighbour — and tiurn up doublets with the dice, as busily as I was wont 
 to trowl down the ninepins in the skittle-gi'ound — and then you said I 
 should bring you such news out of the ordinary as should make us all, 
 when used as you knew how to use it — and now you see what is to come 
 of it all !" 
 
 " 'Tis all true thou sayest, lad," said the dame ; " but thou must 
 have patience. Rome was not built in a day — you cannot become used 
 to your court suit in a month's time, any more than when you changed 
 your long coat for a doublet and hose ; and in gaming you must expect 
 to lose as well as gain — 'tis the sitting gamester sweeps the board," 
 
 "The board has swept me, I know," replied Jin Vin, "and that 
 pretty clean out. — I would that were the worst ; but I owe for all this ' 
 finery, and settling-day is coming on, and my master will find my ac- ; 
 compt worse than it should be, by a score of pieces. My old father will * 
 be called in to make them good ; and I — may save the hangman a ^ 
 labom- and do the job myself, or go the Vir^nia voyage." i 
 
 " Do not speak so loud, my dear boy," said Dame Ursley ; " but tell 
 me why you borrow not from a friend to make up your arrear. You 
 could lend him as nuich when his settling-day came around." 
 
 " No, no — I have had enough of that work," said Vincent. " Tunstall 
 would lend me the money, poor fellow, an he had it ; but his gentle, 
 beggarly kindred plunder him of all, and keep him as bare as a birch 
 at Christmas. No — my fortune may be spelt in four letters, and these 
 read, ruin." | 
 
 " Now hush, you simple craven," said the dame ; " did you never \ 
 hear, that when the neect is highest the help is nighest ? We may find 
 aid for you yet, and sooner than you are aware of. I am sure I would 
 never have advised you to such a com'se, but only you had set heart i 
 and eye on pretty Mistress Marget, and less would not serve you — and I 
 what could I do but advise you to cast your city-slough, and try your I 
 luck where folks find fortune T ' 
 
 " Ay, ay — I remember your counsel well," said Jenkin ; " I was to ■ 
 be introduced to her by you when I was perfect in my gallantries, and 
 as rich as the King ; and then she was to be surprised to find I was 
 poor Jin Vin, that used to watch, from matin to curfew, for one glance 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIOEL. 181 
 
 of her eye ; and now, instead of that, she lias set her soul on that 
 Scottish spaiTOw-hawk of a lord that won my last tester, and be cursed 
 to him ; and so I am bankrupt in love, fortune, and character, before 
 I am out of my time, and all along of you. Mother Midnight." 
 
 "Do not call me out of my own name, my dear boy, Jin Vin," 
 answered Ursula, in a tone betwixt rage and coaxing, — " do not ; be- 
 cause I am no saint, but a poor sinful woman, with no more patience 
 than she needs to carry her through a thousand crosses. And if I have 
 done you wrong by evil counsel, I must mend it, and put you right by 
 good advice. And for the score of pieces that must be made up at 
 settling-day, why, here is, in a good green purse, as much as will make 
 that matter good ; and we will get old Orosspatch, the tailor, to take a 
 long day for your clothes ; and " 
 
 " Mother, are you serious T said Jin Vin, unable to trust either his 
 eyes or his ears. 
 
 " In troth am I," said the dame ; " and will you call me Mother 
 Midnight now, Jin Vin ?" 
 
 " Mother Midnight !" exclaimed Jenkin, huggmg the dame in his 
 transport, and bestowing on her still comely cheek a hearty and not 
 unacceptable smack, that sounded like the report of a pistol, — " Mother 
 Mid-day, rather, that has risen to light me out of my troubles— a mother 
 more dear than she who bore me ; for she, poor soul, only brought me 
 into a world of sin and sorrow, and yoiu: timely aid has helped me out 
 of the one and the other." And the good-natured fellow threw himself 
 back in his chair, and fairly di-ew his hand across his eyes. 
 
 " You would not have me be made to ride the Skimmington then," 
 said the dame ; " or parade me in a cart with all the brass basins of 
 the ward beating the march to Bridewell before me?" 
 
 " I would sooner be carted to Tyburn myself," replied the penitent. 
 
 " Why, then, sit up like a man, and wipe thine eyes ; and, if thou 
 art pleased with what I have done, I ^viU show thee how thou mayest 
 requite me in the highest degree." 
 
 "How?" said Jenkin Vincent, sitting straight up in his chair. — 
 " You would have me, then, do you some service for this friendship of 
 yours." 
 
 " Ay, marry, would I," said Dame Ursley ; " for you are to know, 
 that though I am right glad to stead you with it, this gold is not mine, 
 but was placed in my hands in order to find a trusty agent for a certain 
 
 purpose ; and so But what's the matter with you ? — are you fool 
 
 enough to be angry because you cannot get a purse of gold for nothing ? 
 I would I knew where such were to come by. I never could find them 
 lying in my road, I promise you." 
 
 " Nc, no, dame," said ^oor Jenkin, "it is not for that ; for look 
 you, I would rather work these ten bones to the knuckles, and live by 
 my labour ; bub " (and here he paused). 
 
 " But what, man ?" said Dame Ursley. " You are willing to work 
 for what you want ; and yet, when 1 ofler you gold for the winning, you 
 look on me as the devil looks over Lincoln." 
 
 " It is ill talking of the devil, mother," said Jenkin. " I had him 
 even now in my head — for, look you, I am at that pass, when they say 
 he "will appear to wretched ruined creatures, and profler them gold for 
 
182 THE F011TUNE3 OF NIGEL. 
 
 the fee-simple of tlieir salvation. But I have been trying these two 
 days to bring my mind strongly up to the thought, that I will rather 
 sit down in shame, and sin, and. sorrow, as I am like to do, than hold 
 on ill courses to get rid of my present straits ; and so take care, Dame 
 Ursula, how you tempt me to break such a good resolution." 
 
 " I tempt you to nothing, young man," answered Ursula ; " and, as 
 I perceive you are too wilful to be wise, I will e'en put my purse in my 
 pocket, and look out for some one that will work my turn with better 
 will, and more thankfulness. And you may go your own course, — 
 break your indenture, ruin your father, lose your character, and bid 
 pretty Mistress Margaret farewell, for ever and a day." 
 
 " Stay, stay," said Jenkin ; " the woman is in as great a hurry as a 
 brown baker when his oven is overheated. First, let me hear that 
 which you have to pro]30se to me." 
 
 " Why, after all, it is but to get a gentleman of rank and fortune, 
 who is in trouble, carried in secret down the river, as far as the Isle or 
 Dogs, or somewhere thereabout, Avhere he may lie concealed until he 
 can escape abroad. I know thou knowest every place by the river's side 
 as well as the devil knows an usurer or the beggar knows his disb." 
 
 " A plague of your similes, dame," replied the apprentice, '' for the 
 devil gave me that knowledge, and beggary may be the end on't. — But 
 what has this gentleman done, that he should need to be under hiding ( 
 No Papist, I hope— no Catesby and Piercy business— no Gunpowder 
 Plot!" 
 
 r " Py, fy, ! — what do you take me for ?" said Dame Ursula. " I am as 
 good a churchwoman as the parson's wife, save that necessary business 
 will not allow me to go there oftener than on Christmas-day, Heaven 
 help me! — No, no— this is no Popish matter. The gentleman hath 
 but struck another in the Park " 
 
 "Ha ! what ?" said Vincent, interrupting her with a start. 
 
 " Ay, ay, I see you guess whom I mean. It is even he we have spoken 
 of so often— just Lord Glenvarloch, and no one else." 
 
 Vincent sprung from his scat, and traversed the room with rapid and 
 disorderly steps. 
 
 " There, there it is now — you are always ice or gimpowder. You sit 
 in the great leathern arm-chair, as quiet as a rocket hangs upon the 
 frame in a rejoicing night till the match be fired, and then, whiz ! you 
 are in the third heaven, beyond the reach of the human voice, eye, or 
 brain. — When you have wearied yom-self with padding to and fro across 
 the room, will you tell me your determination, for time presses ? Will 
 you aid me in this matter, or not'/" 
 
 " No— no— no— a thousand times no," replied Jenkin. " Have you 
 not confessed to me that Margaret loves him ?" 
 
 " Ay," answered the dame, " that she thinks she does ; but that will 
 not last long." 
 
 " And have I not told you but this instant," replied Jenkin, " that 
 it was this same Glenvarloch that rooked me, at the ordinary, of every 
 penny I had, and made a knave of me to boot, by gaining more than 
 was my own '( — that cursed gold, which Shortyard, the mercer, paid 
 rae that morning on accompt, for mending the clock of Saint Stephen's ! 
 If had I not, by ill chance, had that about me, I could but have beg- 
 
] THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 183 
 
 gared my purse, without blemishing my honesty ; and, after I had been 
 ' rooked of all the rest amongst them, 1 must needs risk the last five 
 ■ pieces with that shark among the minnows ! " 
 
 j " Granted," said Dame Ursula. " All this I know ; and I own, that 
 as Lord Gleuvarloch was the last you played with, you have a right to 
 I charge your ruin on his head. Moreover, I admit, as already said, that 
 i Margaret has made him yom' rival. Yet surely, now he is in danger 
 ! to lose his hand, it is not a time to remember all this ? " 
 i "By my faith, but it is, though," said the young citizen. " Lose his 
 hand, indeed ? They may take his head, for what I care. Head and 
 hand have made me a miserable Avretch ! " 
 
 " Now, were it not better, my prince of flat-caps," said Dame Ursula, 
 ^ " that matters were squared between you ; and that, through means 
 of the same Scottish lord, who has, as you say, deprived you of your 
 money and your mistress, you should in a short time recover both T' 
 
 " And how can yom- wisdom come to that conclusion, dame ?" said 
 the apprentice. " My money, indeed, I can conceive — that is, if I com- 
 ply with your proposal ; but — my pretty Margaret ! — how serving this 
 I lord, whom she has set her nonsensical head upon, can do me good with 
 her, is far beyond my conception." 
 
 [ "That is because, in simple plu-ase," said Dame Ursula, "thou 
 iknowest no more of a woman's heart than doth a Norfolk gosling. 
 [Look you, man. Were I to report to Mistress Marget tliat the young 
 lord has miscarried through thy lack of courtesy in refusing to help him, 
 ;why, then, thou wert odious to her for ever. She will loathe thee as 
 (She will loathe the very cook who is to strike off Glenvarloch's hand 
 iwith his cleaver— and then slie will be yet more fixed in her affections 
 towards this lord. London will hear of nothing but him — speak of no- 
 thing but him — think of nothing but him, for three weeks at least, and 
 all that outcry will serve to keep him uppermost in her mind ; for no- 
 I thing pleases a girl so much as to bear relation to any one who is the 
 ;talk of the whole world around her. Then, if he sutlers this sentence 
 of the law, it is a chance if she ever forgets him. I saw that handsome, 
 proper young gentleman, Babington, suffer in the Queen's time myself, 
 and though I was then but a girl, he was in my head for a year after 
 he was hanged. But, above all, pardoned or punished, Glenvarloch 
 will probably remain in London^ and his presence will keep up the silly 
 
 girl's nonsensical fancy about hmi. Whereas if he escapes " 
 
 " Ay, show me how that is to avail me 1 " said Jenkin. 
 " If he escapes," said the dame, resuming her argument, " he must 
 resign the Court for years, if not for life ; and you know the old saying, 
 ' out of sight, and out of mind.' " 
 
 " True — most true," said Jenkin : " spoken like an oracle, most wise 
 Ursula." 
 
 " Ay, ay, I knew you would hear reason at last," said the wily dame ; 
 " and then, when this same lord is off and away for once and for ever, 
 who, I pray you, is to be pretty pet's confidential person, and who is to 
 fill up the void in her affections /—why, who but thou, thou pearl of 
 'prentices ! And then you will have overcome your own inclinations to 
 comply with hers, and every woman is sensible of that— and you will 
 have iim some risk, too, iu carrying her desires into effect— and what 
 
184 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 is it that woman likes better than bravery, and devotion to her v^'iU 'i 
 Then you have her seCTct, and she must treat you with favour and ob- 
 servance, and repose confidence in ycRT, and hold private intercourse 
 with you, till she weeps with one eye for the absent lover wliom she is 
 never to see again, and blinks with the other blithely upon him who is 
 in presence ; and then if you know not how to improve the relation in 
 which you stand with her, you are not the brisk lively lad that all the , 
 world takes you for — Said 1 well ?" 1 
 
 " You have spoken like an empress, most mighty Ursula," said Jen- 
 kin Vincent ; " and your will shall be obeyed." 
 
 " You know Alsatia well i " continued his tutoress. 
 
 " Well enough, well enough," replied he with a nod ; " I have heard 
 the dice rattle there in my day, before I must set up for gentleman, and 
 go among the gallants at the Shavaleer Bojo's, as they call him, — the 
 worse rookery of the two, though the feathers are the gayest." 
 
 " And they will have a respect for thee yonder, I warrant ?" 
 
 " Ay, ay," replied Vin, " when I am got into my fustian doublet again, 
 with my bit of a trunion under my arm, I can walk Alsatia at midnight 
 as I could do that there Fleet Street in mid-day — they will not one of 
 them swagger with the prince of 'prentices, and the king of clubs — they 
 know I could bring every tall boy in the ward down upon them." 
 
 " And you know all the watermen, and so forth ?" 
 
 " Can converse with every sculler in his own language, from Richmond 
 to Gravesend, and know all the water cocks, from John Taylor the 
 Poet to little Grigg the Grinner, who never pulls but he shows all his 
 teeth from ear to ear, as if he were grimacing through a horse-collar." 
 
 " And you can take any dress or character upon you well, such as a 
 waterman's, a butcher s, a foot-soldier's," continued Ursula, "orthelike." 
 
 " Not such a mummer as I am within the walls, and thou knowest 
 that well enough, dame," replied the apprentice. " I can touch the 
 players themselves, at the Ball and at the Fortune, for presenting any 
 thing except a gentleman. Take but this d— d skin of frippery off 
 me, which I think the devil stuck me into, and you shall put me into 
 nothing else that I will not become as if I were born to it." 
 
 " Well, we will talk of your transmutation by and by," said the dame, 
 " and find you clothes withal, and money besides ; for it will take a 
 good deal to carry the thing handsomely through." 
 
 " But where is that money to come from, dame ?" said Jenkin ; " there 
 is a question I would fain have answered before I touch it." 
 
 " Why, what a fool art thou to ask such a question ! Suppose I am 
 content to advance it to please young madam, what is the harm then?" 
 
 " I will suppose no such thing," said Jenkin hastily ; " I know that 
 you, dame, have no gold to spare, and maybe would not spare it if you 
 had — so that cock will not crow. It must be from Margaret herself." 
 
 " Well, thou suspicious animal, and what if it were?" said Ursula. 
 
 " Only this," replied Jenkin, " that I will presently to her, and 
 learn if she has come fairly by so much ready money ; for sooner than 
 connive at her getting it by any indirection, I would hang myself at 
 once. It is enough what I have done myself, no need to engage poor 
 JMargaret in such villainy- I'll to her, and tell her of tlie danger— I 
 will, by Heaven !" 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 185 
 
 " You are mad to tliink of it," said Dame Suddlechop, considerably 
 alarmed — " hear me but a moment. I know not precisely from whom 
 she got the money ; but sure I am that she obtained it at her god- 
 father's." 
 
 '•' Why, Master George Heriot is not returned from France," said 
 Jenkin. 
 
 '•' No," replied Ursula, " but Dame Judith is at home — and the 
 strange lady, whom they call Master Heriot' s ghost — she never goes 
 abroad." 
 
 •' It is veiy true, Dame Suddlechop," said Jenkin ; " and I believe 
 you have guessed right — they say that lady has coin at will ; and if 
 Marget can get a handfid of fairy gold, why, she is free to throw it away 
 at wiU." 
 
 " Ah, Jin Vin," said the dame, reducing her voice almost to a 
 whis]..er, " we should not want gold at will neither, could we but read 
 tlie riddle of that lady !" 
 
 I " They may read it that list," said Jenkin ; " I'll never pry into 
 what concerns me not — Master George Heriot is a worthy and brave 
 citizen, and an honour to London, and has a right to manage his own 
 household as he likes best. — There was once a talk of rabbling him the 
 fifth of November before the last, because they said he kept a nunnery 
 in his house, like old Lady Foljambe ; but Master George is well loved 
 among the 'prentices, and we got so many brisk boys of us together as 
 should have rabbled the rabble, had they had but the heart to rise." 
 
 ■' Well, let that pass," said Ursula ; " and now, tell me how yon 
 will manage to be absent from shop a day or two, for you must think 
 that this matter will not be ended sooner." 
 
 ■' Why, as to that, I can say nothing," said Jenkin ; " I have always 
 served duly and truly ; I have no heart to play truant, and cheat my 
 master of his time as well as his money." 
 
 " Nay, but the point is to get back his money for him," said Ursula, 
 " which he is not likely to see on other conditions. Could you not ask 
 ! leave to go down to yom- uncle in Essex for two or three days ? He may 
 ' be ill, you know." 
 
 " Why, if I must, I must," said Jenkin, with a heavy sigh ; " but I 
 will not be lightly caught treading these dark and crooked paths again." 
 
 " Hush thee, then^" said the dame, " and get leave for this very 
 
 evening ; and come back hither, and 1 will introduce you to another 
 
 I implement, who must be employed in the matter. — Stay, stay ! — the lad 
 
 . is mazed — you woidd not go into your master's shop in that guise, 
 
 I sm-ely ? Your trunk is in the matted chamber with your 'prentice 
 
 things — go and put them on as fast as you can." 
 
 "I think I am bewitched," said Jenkin, giving a glance towards his 
 ■ dress, " or that these fool's trappings have made as great an ass of me 
 ' as of many I have seen wear them ; but let me once be rid of the har- 
 ness, and if you catch me putting it on again, I will give you leave to 
 sell me to a gipsy, to caiTy pots, pans, and beggar's oantlings, all the 
 rest of my life. ' 
 
 So saying, he retired to change his apparel. 
 
1S6 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. j 
 
 Chance will not do the M'orlc— Chance sends the breeze 
 
 But if the pilot slumber at the helm, 
 
 The very wind that wafts \is towards the port 
 
 May dash us on the shelves.— The steersman's part is vigilance, 
 
 Blow it or rough or smooth. 
 
 Old Play. 
 
 We left Nigel, whose fortunes we are bound to tnace by the engage- 
 ment contracted in our title-page, sad and solitary in the mansion of 
 Trapbois the usurer, having just received a letter instead of a visit 
 from his friend the Templar, stating reasons why he could not at that 
 time come to see him in Alsatia. So that it appeared his intercourse 
 with the better and more respectable class of society was, for the present, 
 entirely cut off. This was a melancholy, and, to a proud mind like that 
 of Nigel, a degrading reflection. 
 
 He went to the window of his apartment, and found the street en- 
 veloped in one of those thick, dingy, yellow-coloured fogs, which 
 often invest the lower part of London and Westminster. Amid the 
 darkness, dense and palpable, were seen to wander like phantoms a 
 reveller or two, whom the morning had surprised Avhere the evening 
 left them ; and wlto noAv, with tottering steps, and by an instinct which 
 intoxication could not wholly overcome, were gToping the way to their 
 own homes, to convert day into night, for the purpose of sleeping off 
 the debauch which had turned night into day. Although it was broad 
 day in the other parts of the city, it was scarce dawn yet in Alsatia ; 
 and none of the sounds of industry or occupation were there heard, 
 wliich had long before aroused the slumberers in every other quarter. 
 Tbe prospect was too tiresome and disagreeable to detain Lord Glen- 
 varloch at his station ; so, turning from the window, he examined with 
 more interest the fmiiiture and appearance of the apartment which he 
 tenanted. 
 
 Much of it had been in its time rich and ciu-ious — there was a huge 
 four-post bed, with as much carved oak about it as would have made 
 the head of a man-of-war, and tapestry hangings ample enough to have 
 been lier sails. There was a huge mirror with a massy frame of gilt 
 brass-work, Avhich was of Venetian manufacture, and must have been 
 worth a considerable sum before it received the tremendous crack, 
 which, traversing it from one corner to the other, bore the same pro- 
 portion to the surface that the Nile bears to the map of Egypt. Tlie 
 chairs were of different forms and shapes ; some had been carved, some 
 gilded, some covered with damasked leather, some with embroidered 
 work, but all were damaged and worm-eaten. There was a picture of 
 Susanna and the Elders over the chimney-piece, which might have been 
 accounted a choice piece, had not the rats made free with the chaste 
 fair one's nose, and with the beard of one of lier reverend admirers. 
 
 In a word, all that Lord Glenvarloch saw seemed to have been 
 articles carried off by appraisement or distress, or bought as penny wortlis 
 at some oljscure broker's, and huddled together in tlie apartment, as in 
 a sale-room, witliout regard to taste or congruity. 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 187 
 
 The place appeared to Nigel to resemble the houses near the sea- 
 coast, -which are too often furnished with the spoils of wrecked vessels, 
 as this was probably fitted up with the relics of ruined profligates.— 
 My ovai SKiff is among the breakers," thought Loi'd Glenvarloch, 
 though my wreck will add little to the profits of the spoiler." 
 He was chiefly interested in the state of the grate, a huge assemblage 
 of rusted iron bars which stood in tlie chimney, unequally supported by 
 three brazen feet, moulded into the form of lion's claws, while the fourtli, 
 which had been bent by an accident, seemed proudly uplifted as if to 
 paw the gi'ound ; or as if the whole article had nourished the ambitious 
 
 l[)urpose of pacing forth into the middle of the apartment, and had one 
 toot ready raised for the journey. A smile passed over Nigel's face as 
 tliis fantastic idea presented itself to his fancy. — " I miLst stop its march. 
 
 however," he tliought, "for this morning is chill and raw enough to 
 demand some fire." 
 
 He called accordingly from the top of a large staircase, with a heavy 
 oaken balustrade, which gave access to his own and other apartments, 
 for the house was old and of considerable size ; but, receiving no answer 
 to his repeated simmions, he was compelled to go in search of some one 
 who might accommodate him witli what he wanted. 
 
 Nigel had, according to the fashion of the old world in Scotland, 
 received an education which might, in most particulars, be termed 
 simple, hardy, and unostentatious ; but he had, nevertheless, been 
 accustomed to much personal deference, and to the constant attendance 
 and ministry of one or more domestics. This was the universal cus- 
 tom in Scotland, where wages were next to nothing, and where, indeed, 
 a man of title or influence might have as many attendants as he pleased, 
 for the mere expense of food, clothes, and countenance. Nigel was 
 therefore mortified and displeased when he found himself without 
 notice or attendance ; and the more dissatisfied, because he was at 
 the same time angry with himself for sufi'ering such a trifle to trouble 
 him at all, amongst matters of more deep concernment. _ " There 
 must surely be some servants in so large a house as this," said he, as 
 he wandered over the place, through which he was conducted b^ a 
 passage which branched off from the gallery. As he went on, he tried 
 the entrance to several apartments, some of which he found were locked 
 and others unfurnished, all apparently unoccupied ; so that at length 
 he returned to the stau'case, and resolved to make his way down to the 
 lower part of the house, where he supposed he must at least find the 
 old gentleman and his ill-favoured daughter. With this purpose he 
 first made liis entrance into a little low, dark parloui', containing a 
 i well-worn leathern easy-chair, before which stood a pair of slippers, 
 I while on the left side rested a crutch-handled staff; an oaken table 
 stood before it, and supported a huge desk clamped with iron, and a 
 massive pewter inkstand. Around the apartment were shelves, cabinets, 
 and other places convenient for depositing papers. A sword, musket- 
 toon, and a pair of pistols, hung over the chimney, in ostentations dis- 
 play, as if to intimate that the proprietor would be prompt in the de- 
 fence of his premises. 
 
 " This must be the usurer's den," thought Nigel ; and he was about 
 to call aloud, when the old man, awakened even by the slightest noise, 
 
188 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 for avarice seldom sleeps soundj soon was heard from the Inner room 
 speaking in a voice of irritability, rendered more tremulous by his 
 morning cough. 
 
 " Ugh, ugh, ugh — who is there ? I say — ugh, ugh — who is there I 
 Why, Martha!— ugh, ugh— Martha Trapbois — here be tliieves in tne 
 house, and they wiU not speak to me — why, Martha ! — thieves, thieves 
 —ugh, ugh, ugh !" 
 
 Nigel endeavoured to explain, but the idea of thieves had taken 
 possession of the old man's pineal gland, and he kept coughing and 
 screaming, and screaming and coughing, until the gracious Martha 
 entered the apartment ; and, having first outscreamed her father, in 
 order to convince him that there was no danger, and to assure him that 
 the intruder was their new lodger, and having as often heard her sire 
 ejaculate — " Hold him fast — ugh, ugh — hold him fast till I come," she 
 at length succeeded in silencing his fears and his clamoui-, and then 
 coldly and dryly asked Lord Glenvarloch what he wanted ui her father's 
 apartment. 
 
 Iler lodger had, in the meantime, leisure to contemplate her appear- 
 ance, which did not by any means improve the idea he had formed of 
 it by candlelight on the preceding evening. She was dressed in what 
 was called a Queen Marys ruff and farthingale ; not the falling ruff 
 with which the mifoilunate Mary of Scotland is usually painted, but 
 tiiat which, with more than Spanish stiffness, surrounded the throat, 
 and set off the morose head of her fierce namesake, of Smithfield 
 memory. This antiquated dress assorted well with the faded com- 
 l)lexion, gray eyes, tnin lips, and austere visage of the antiquated 
 maiden, which was, moreover, enhanced by a black hood, worn as her 
 head-gear, carefully disposed so as to prevent any of her hair from 
 escaping to view, probably because the simplicity of the period knew 
 no art of dis^ising the colour with which time liad begim to grizzle 
 her tresses. Her figure was tall, thin, and flat, with skinny arms and 
 hands, and feet of the larger size, cased in huge high-heeled shoes, 
 which added height to a stature already ungairdy. Apparently some 
 art had been used by the tailor to conceal a slight defect of shape occa- 
 sioned by the accidental elevation of one shoulder above the other ; but 
 tlie praiseworthy efforts of the ingenious mechanic had only succeeded 
 in calling the attention of the observer to his benevolent purpose, 
 without demonstrating that he had been able to achieve it. 
 
 Sucli was Mrs Martha Trapbois, whose dry " What were you seeking 
 here, sir V fell again, and with reiterated sharpness, on the ear of Nigel, 
 as he gazed upon her presence, and compared it internally to one of the 
 faded and grim figures in tlie old tapestry Avliich adorned his bedstead 
 It was, however, necessary to reply, and he answered, that he came in 
 search of the servants, as he desired to have a fire kindled in his apart- 
 ment on accomit of the rawness of the morning 
 
 " The woman who does om- char- work," answered Mistress Martha, 
 " comes at eight o'clock — if you want fire sooner, there are fagots and 
 a bucket of sea-coal in the stone-closet at the head of the stair — and 
 there is a flint and steel on tlie upper shelf — you can light fii'e for 
 yourself if you will." 
 
 " No — no — no, Martha," ejaculated her father, who, having donned 
 
THE POKTUKES OF KIQEL. 189 
 
 his rusty tunic, with his hose all ungirt, and his feet slip-shod, hastily 
 came out of the inner apartment^ with his mind probably full of robbers, 
 for he had a naked rapier in his hand, which still looked formidable, 
 though rust had somewhat marred its shine. — What he had heard at 
 entrance about lighting a fire had changed, however, the current of his 
 ideas. " No — ^no— no, he cried, and each negative was more emphatic 
 than its predecessor — " The gentleman shall not have the trouble to put 
 on a fire — ugh, ugh. I'll put it on myself, for a con-si-de-ra-tion." 
 
 This last word was a favomite expression with the old gentleman, 
 which he pronounced in a peculiar manner, gasping it out syllable by 
 syllable, and laying a strong emphasis upon the last. It was, indeed, a 
 sort of protecting clause, by which he guarded himself against all in- 
 conveniences attendant on the rash habit of offering service or civility 
 of any kind, the which, when hastily snapped at by tnose to whom they 
 are uttered, give the profferer sometimes room to repent his prompti- 
 tude." 
 
 " For shame, father," said Martha ; " that must not be. Master 
 Grahame wiU kindle his own fire, or wait tiU the char- woman comes to 
 do it for him, just as likes him best." 
 
 ' " No, cliila— no, child. Child Martha, no," reiterated the old miser 
 
 — " no char- woman shall ever touch a grate in my house ; they put — 
 
 ugh, ugh — the fagot uppermost, and so the coal kindles not, and the 
 
 flame goes up the chimney, and wood and heat are both tliro^n away. 
 
 j Now, I will lay it properly for the gentleman, for a consideration, so 
 
 ' that it shall last — ugh, ugh — last the whole day." Here his vehemence 
 
 i increased his cough so violently, that Nigel could only, from a scattered 
 
 (1 word here and there, comprehend that it was a recommendation to his 
 
 . daughter to remove the poker and tongs from the stranger's fireside, 
 
 ' with an assurance that, when necessary, his landlord would be iu 
 
 I attendance to adjust it himself, " for a consideration." 
 
 I IMartha paid as little attention to the old man's injunctions as a pre- 
 
 I dominant dame gives to those of a henpecked husband. She only re- 
 
 I peated, in a deeper and more emphatic tone of censure, — " For shame, 
 
 t father — for shame !" then, turning to her guest, said, with her usual 
 
 ' ungi-aciousness of manner, — " Master Grahame — it is best to be plain 
 
 I with you at first. My father is an old, a very old man, and liis wits, 
 
 i as you may see, are somewhat weakened — though I would not advise 
 
 • you to make a bargain with him, else you may nnd them too sharp for 
 
 yom- own. For myself, I am a lone woman, and, to say truth, care 
 
 i little to see or converse with any one. If you can be satisfied with 
 
 ' house-room, shelter, and safety, it will be your own faidt if you have 
 
 them not, and they are not always to be found in this imhappy quarter. 
 
 But, if you seek deferential observance and attendance, I tell you at 
 
 once you will not find them here." 
 
 " I am not wont either to thrust myself upon acquaintance, madam, 
 or to give trouble," said the guest ; " nevertheless I shall need the 
 assistance of a domestic to assist me to dress— Perhaps you can recom- 
 mend me to such? " 
 
 "Yes, to twenty," answered Mistress Martha, "who will pick your 
 purse while they tie your points, and cut your throat while they smooth 
 your pillow." 
 
190 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " 1 will be his servant myself," said the old man, whose intellect, 
 for a moment distanced, had again, in some measure, got up vdtli tlie 
 conversation. " I ^"ill brush his cloak —ugh, ugh — and tie his points— 
 ugh, ugh — and clean his shoes — ugh — and run on his errands with speed 
 and safety — ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh — for a consideration." 
 
 " Good-morrow to you, sir," said Martha to Nigel, in a tone of direct 
 and positive dismissal. " It cannot be agreeable to a daughter that a 
 stranger should hear her father speak thus. If you be really a gentle- 
 man, you will retire to yom* own apartment." 
 
 " I will not delay a moment," said Nigel, respectfully, for he was 
 sensible that circumstances palliated the woman's rudeness. '' I would 
 but ask you, if seriously there can be danger in procuring the assistance 
 of a serving-man in this place ?" 
 
 " Young gentleman," said Martha, "you must know little of White- 
 friars to ask the question. We live alone in this house, and seldom has 
 a stranger entered it ; nor should you, to be plain, had my will been 
 consulted. Look at the door — see if that of a castle can be better 
 secured ; the windows of the first floor are grated on the outside, and 
 within, look to these shutters." 
 
 She pulled one of them aside, and showed a ponderous apparatus of 
 bolts and chains for securing the window-shutters, while her father, 
 pressing to her side, seized her gown with a trembling hand, and said, 
 in a low whisper, " Show not the trick of locking and undoing them. 
 Show him not the trick on't, Martha — ugh, ugh — on no consideration." 
 Martha went on without paying him any attention. 
 
 " And yet, young gentleman, we have been more than once like to 
 find all these defences too weak to protect "ur lives ; such an evil effect 
 on the wicked generation around us hatL £)een made by the unhappy 
 report of my poor father's wealth." 
 
 " Say nothing of that, housewife," said the miser, his irritability 
 increased by the very supposition of his being wealthy — " Say nothing 
 of that, or I will beat thee, housewife — beat thee with my staff, for 
 fetching and carrying lies that will procure our throats to be cut at last 
 — ugh, ugh. — I am but a poor man, he continued, turning to Nigel^ 
 " a very poor man, that am willing to do any honest turn upon earth, 
 for a modest consideration." 
 
 " I therefore warn you of the life you must lead, young gentleman," 
 said Martha ; " the poor Avoman who does the char- work will assist you 
 so far as is in her power, but the wise man is his own best servant and 
 assistant." 
 
 " It is a lesson you have taught me, madam, and I thank you for it— 
 I will assuredly study it at leisure." 
 
 " You will do well," said Martha ; " and, as you seem thankful for 
 advice, I, though I am no professed counsellor of others, will give you 
 more. Make no intimacy with any one in Whitefriars — borrow no 
 money on any score, especially from my father, for, dotard as he seems, 
 he will make an ass of you. Last, and best of all, stay here not an in- 
 stant longer than you can help it. Farewell, sir.' 
 
 '' A gnarled tree may bear good fruit, and a harsh nature may give 
 good counsel," thoug-ht the Lord of Glenvarloch, as he retreated to his 
 own apartment, where the same reflection occurred to him again and 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. ' 191 
 
 again, while, unable as yet to reconcile himself to tlie thoughts of be- 
 coming his own fire-maker, he walked up and down his bedroom, to 
 warm himself by exercise. 
 
 At length his meditations arranged themselves in the following 
 soliloquy — by which expression I beg leave to observe, once for all, that 
 I do not mean that Nigel literally said aloud, with his bodily organs, 
 the words which follow in inverted commas (while pacing the room by 
 himself), but that I myself choose to present to my dearest reader the 
 pictm-e of my hero's mind, his reflections and resolutions, in the form 
 of a speech, rather than in that of a narrative. In other words, I have 
 put his thoughts into language ; and this I conceive to be the purpose 
 of the soliloquy upon the stage as well as in the closet, being at once 
 the most natural, and perliaps the only way of comnumicating to the 
 spectator what was supposed to be passing in the bosom of the scenic 
 personage. There are no such soliloquies in natm-e, it is true ; but, 
 unless they were received as a conventional medium of communication 
 betwixt the poet and the audience, we should reduce dramatic authors 
 to the recipe of Master Puff, who makes Lord Burleigh intimate a long 
 train of political reasoning to the audience by one comprehensive shake 
 of his noddle. In narrative, no doubt, the writer has the alternative of 
 telling that his personages thought so and so, inferred thus and thus, 
 and arrived at such and such a conclusion ; but the soliloquy is a more 
 concise and spirited mode of communicating the same information ; and 
 therefore thus communed, or thus might have commmied, the Lord of 
 Glenvarloch with his o^vn mind. 
 
 " She is right, and has taught me a lesson I will profit by. I have 
 been, through my whole life, one who leant upon others for that assist- 
 ance which it is more truly noble to derive from my own exertions. I 
 am ashamed of feeling the paltry inconvenience which long habit has 
 led me to annex to the want of a servant's assistance — I am ashamed 
 of that ; but far, far more am I ashamed to have suffered the ,?ame 
 habit of throvfing my own burden on others, to render me, since I came 
 to this city, a mere victim of those events, which I have never even 
 attempted to influence— a thing never acting, but perpetually acted 
 upon — protected by one friend, deceived by another ; but in the ad- 
 vantage wliich I received from the one, and the evil I have sustained from 
 the other, as passive and helpless as a boat that drifts Avithout oar or 
 rudder at the mercy of the winds and waves. I became a courtier, 
 because Heriot so advised it — a gamester, because Dalgarno so con- 
 trived it — an Alsatian, because Lowestoffe so willed it. AYhatever of 
 , good or bad has befallen me hath arisen out of the agency of others, 
 not from my own. My father's son must no longer hold this facile and 
 puerile course. Live or die, sink or swim, Nigel Olifaunt, from this 
 moment, shall owe his safety, success, and honour to his own exertions, 
 I or shall fall with the credit of having at least exerted his o^n free 
 ag^ency. I will m-ite it down in my tablets, in her very words, — * The 
 wise man is his own best assistant.' " 
 
 He had just put his tablets in his pocket when the old char- woman. 
 ' who, to add to her efficiency, was sadly crippled by rheumatism, hobbled 
 into the room, to try if she could gam a small gratification by waiting 
 on the stranger. She readily undertook to get Lord Glenvarloch' s break- 
 
 o 
 
192 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 fast, and, as there was an eating-house at the next door, she succeeded 
 in a shorter time than Nigel had augured. 
 
 As his solitary meal was finished, one of the Temple porters, or inferior 
 officers, was announced, as seeking Master Grahame, on the part of his 
 friend. Master Lowestoffe ; and, being admitted by the old woman to 
 his apartment, he delivered to Nigel a small mail-trunk, with the 
 clothes he had desired should be sent to him, and then, with more 
 mystery, put into his hand a casket, or strong-box, which he carefully 
 concealed beneath his cloak. ^' I am glad to be rid on't," said the 
 fellow, as he placed it on the table. 
 
 "Why, it IS surely not so very heavy," answered Nigel, "and you 
 are a stout young man." 
 
 " Ay, sir.'*' replied the fellow ; " but Sampson himself would not have 
 carried sucn a matter safely through Alsatia had the lads of the Huff 
 known what it was. Please to look into it, sir, and see all is right — 
 I am an honest fellow, and it comes safe out of my hands. How long 
 it may remain so afterwards will depend on your own care. I would 
 not my good name were to suffer by any after-clap." 
 
 To satisfy the scruples of the messenger, Lord Glenvarloch opened 
 the casket in his presence, and saw that his small stock of money, with 
 two or tlu'ee valuable papers which it contained, and particularly the 
 original sign-manual which the King had granted in his favom-, were in 
 the same order in which he had left them. At the man's further in- 
 stance, he availed himself of the writing materials which were in the 
 casket, in order to send a line to Master Lowestoffe, declaring that his 
 
 })roperty had reached him in safety. He ^dded some grateful acknow- 
 ed^ments for Lowestoffe' s services, and, just as he was sealing and 
 delivering his billet to the messenger, his aged landlord entered the 
 apartment. His threadbare suit of black clothes was now somewhat 
 better arranged than they had been in the dishabille of his first appear- 
 ance, and his neiwes and intellects seemed to be less fluttered ; for, 
 without much coughing or hesitation, he iirvited Nigel to partake of a 
 morning draught of wholesome single ale, which he brought in a large 
 leathern tankard, or black-jack, carried in the one hand, while the other 
 stirred it round with a sprig of rosemary, to give it, as the old man said, 
 a flavour, 
 
 Nigel declined the courteous proffer, and intunated by his manner, 
 while he did so, that he desired no intrusion on the privacy of his own 
 apartment ; which, indeed, he was the more entitled to maintain, 
 considering the cold reception he had that morning met with when 
 straying from its precincts into those of his landlord. But the open 
 casket contained matter, or rather metal, so attractive to old Traj)- 
 bois, that he remained fixed, like a setting-dog at a dead point, his 
 nose advanced and one hand expanded like the lifted fore-pawj by 
 wliich that sagacious quadruped sometimes indicates that it is a 
 hare which he has in the wind. Nigel was about to break the charm 
 which had thus arrested old Trapbois, by shutting the lid of the 
 casket, when his attention was withdrawn from him by the question of 
 the messenger, who, holding out the letter, asked whether he was to 
 leave it at Mr Lowestoffe's chambers in the Temple, or carry it to the 
 Marshalsea ? 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 193 
 
 "The Marshalsea?" repeated Lord Glenvarlochj "what of the 
 Marshalsea ? " 
 
 " Why, sir," said the man, " the poor gentleman is laid up there in 
 lavender, because, they say, his own kind heart led him to scald his 
 fingers with another man's broth." 
 
 Nigel hastily snatched back the letter, broke the seal, joined to the 
 contents his earnest entreaty that he might be instantly acquainted 
 with the cause of his confinement, and added, that, if it arose out of 
 his own unhappy affair, it would be of brief duration, since he had, even 
 before hearing of a reason which so peremptorily demanded that he 
 should surrender himself, adopted the resolution to do so, as the man- 
 liest and most proper com'se which his ill fortime and imprudence had 
 left in his own power. He therefore conjured Mr Lowestofi'e to have 
 no dehcacy upon this score, but, since his surrender was what he had 
 determined upon as a sacrifice due to his own character, that he would 
 have the frankness to mention in what manner it could be best arranged, 
 so as to extricate him, Lowestofie, from the restraint to which the writer 
 could not but fear his friend had been subjected, on account of the gene- 
 rous interest which he had taken in his concerns. The letter concluded, 
 that the wiiter would suffer twenty-four hours to elapse in expectation of 
 hearing from him, and, at the end of that period, was determined to 
 put his purpose in execution. He delivered the billet to the messenger, 
 and, enforcing his request with a piece of money, urged him, without 
 a moment's delay, to convey it to the hands of Master Lowestoffe. 
 
 "I — I — I — will caiTv it to him myself," said the old usurer, "for 
 half the consideration.' 
 
 The man, who heard this attempt to take his duty and perquisites 
 over his head, lost no time in pocketing the money, and departed on 
 his errand as fawt as he could. 
 
 "Master Trapbois," said Nigel, addressing the old man somewhat 
 impatiently, "had you any particular commands for me ?" 
 
 "I — I— came to see if yon rested well," answered the old man; 
 "and — if I could do anything to serve you, on any consideration." 
 
 "Sir, I thank you," said Lord Glenvarloch— " I thank you;" and, 
 ere he could say more, a heavy footstep was heard on the stair. 
 
 "My God!" exclaimed the' old man, starting up — "Why, Dorothy 
 —char-woman — why, daughter,— di'aw bolt, I say, housewives — the 
 door hath been left a-latch !" 
 
 The door of the chamber opened wide, and in strutted the portly 
 bulk of the military hero whom Nigel had on the preceding evening in 
 vain endeavoured to recognise. 
 
 
194 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEU 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Swash-BucUer. Bilboe's the word — 
 
 Pierrot. It liath been spoke too often, 
 The spell hath lost its charm. I tell thee, friend, 
 The meanest cur that trots the street will turn 
 And snarl against your proffer'd bastinado. 
 
 Swash-Buckler. 'Tis art shall do it, then — I will dose the mongrels ; 
 Or, in plain terms, I'll use the private knife 
 'Stead of the brandish'd falchion. 
 
 Old Play. 
 
 The noble Captain Colepepper or Peppercull, for he was known by 
 botli these names, and some others besides, had a martial and a 
 swashing exterior, which, on tlie present occasion, was rendered yet 
 more peculiar by a patch covering his left eye and a part of the cheek. 
 The sleeves of his thickset velvet jerkin were polished and shone with 
 grease — his buff gloves had huge tops, which reached almost to the 
 elbow ; his sword-belt, of the same materials, extended its breadth from 
 his haunch-bone to his small-ribs, and supported on the one side his 
 large black-hilted back-sword, on the other a dagger of like proportions. 
 He paid his compliments to Nigel with that air of predetermined 
 effrontery which announces that it will not be repelled by any coldness 
 of reception, asked Trapbois how he did, by the familiar title of old 
 Peter Pillory, and then, seizing upon the black-jack, emptied it off at 
 a draught, to the health of the last and youngest freeman of Alsatia, 
 the noble and loving Master Nigel Grahame. 
 
 When he had set down the empty pitcher and drawn his breath, he 
 began to criticise the liquor which it had lately contained. — "Sufficient 
 single beer, old Pillory — and, as I take it, brewed at the rate of a nut- 
 shell of malt to a butt of Thames — as dead as a corpse, too, and yet it 
 went hissing dovm my throat— bubbling, by Jove, like water upon hot 
 iron. — You left us early, noble Master Grahame, but, good faith, we 
 liad a carouse to your honour — we heard hutt ring hollow ere we parted; 
 Ave were as loving as inkle-weavers — we fought, too, to finish off the 
 gawdy. I bare some marks of the parson about me, you see — a note 
 of the sermon or so, which should have been addressed to my ear, but 
 missed its mark, and reached my left eye. The man of God bears my 
 sign-manual too, but the Duke made us friends again, and it cost me 
 more sack than I could carry, and all the Pvheiiish to boot, to pledge 
 the seer in the way of love and reconciliation — But, Caracco ! 'tis a 
 vile old canting slave for all that, whom I will one day beat out of his 
 devil's livery into all the colours of the rainbow. — Basta! — Said I well, 
 old Trapbois ? Where is thy daughter, man ? — what says she to my 
 suit? — 'tis an honest one — wilt have a soldier for thy son-in-law, old 
 Pillory, to mingle the soul of martial honour with thy thieving, mich- 
 ing, petty -larceny blood, as men put bold brandy into muddy ale?" 
 
 "My daughter receives not company so early, noble Captain," said 
 the usurer, and concluded his speech with a dry, emphatical " ugh, 
 ugh." 
 
 "What, upon no con-si-de-ra-ti-on ?" said the captain; "and where- 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIOEL. 195 
 
 fore not, old Truepenny ? she lias not much time to lose in driving her 
 bargain, methinks." 
 
 : "Captain," said Traphois, "I was upon some little business with 
 oiu* noble friend here, Master Nigel Green — ngh, ngh, ugh — ^" 
 
 "And you would have me gone, I warrant youT' answered the 
 bully; "but patience, old Pillory, thine hom is not yet come, man — 
 You see," he said, pointing to the casket, "that noble Master Grahame, 
 whom you call Green, has got the decitses and the smelts^ 
 
 "Which you would wiUingly rid him of, ha! ha ! — ugh, ugh," answer- 
 ed the usurer, "if you knew how — but, lack-a-day! thou art one of 
 those that come out for wool, and art sm-e to go home shorn. Why 
 now, but that I am sworn against laying of wagers, I would risk some 
 consideration that this honest guest of mnie sends thee home penniless, 
 if thou darest venture with him — ugh, ugh — at any game which gentle- 
 men play at." 
 
 " Marry, thou hast me on the hip there, thou old miserly cony- 
 catcher !" answered the captain, taking a bale of dice from the sleeve of 
 his coat ; " I must always keep company with these damnable doctors, 
 and they have made me every "baby's cully, and purged my purse into 
 an atrophy ; but never mind, it passes the time as well as aught else 
 — How say you. Master Grahame f 
 
 The fellow paused ; but even the extremity of his impudence could 
 hardly withstand the cold look of utter contempt with which Nigel 
 received his proposal, returning it with a simple, " I only play where 
 I know my company, and never in the morning." 
 
 " Cards may be more agreeable," said Captain Colepepper ; " and, 
 for knowing yom company, here is honest old Pillory will tell you Jack 
 Colepepper plays as truly on tlie square as e'er a man that trowled a 
 die. — j\Ien talk of high and low dice, Fulhams and bristles, topping, 
 knapping, slurring, stabbing, and a hundred vfays of rooking besides ; 
 but broil me like a rasher of bacon, if I could ever learn the trick on 
 'em !" 
 
 " You have got the vocabulary perfect, sir, at the least," said Nigel, 
 m the same cold tone. 
 
 " Yes, by mine honour have I," returned the Hector ; " they are 
 phrases that a gentleman learns about town. — But perhaps you would 
 like a set at tennis, or a game at balloon — we have an indifferent good 
 court hard by here, and a set of as gentlemanlike blades as ever banged 
 leather against brick and mortar." 
 
 " I beg to be excused at present," said Lord Glenvarloch ; " and, to 
 be plain, among the valuable privileges your society has conferred on 
 me, I hope I may reckon that of being private in my own apartment 
 when I have a mind." 
 
 " Your humble servant, sn," said the Captain ; " and I thank you 
 for your civility — Jack Colepepper can have enoudi of company, and 
 thrusts himself on no one. — But perhaps you will like to make a match 
 |at skittles ?" 
 
 " I am by no means that way disposed," replied the young nobleman. 
 
 " Or to leap a flea— run a snail — nVatch a wherry, eh ?" 
 
 '* No — I will do none of these," answered Ni^el. 
 
 Here the old man, who had been watching with his little peery eyes, 
 
196 THE FOKTUNES Of NIGEL. 
 
 pulled the bulky Hector by the skirt, and whispered. " Do not vapour 
 him the huff, it will not pass — ^let the trout play, ne will rise to the 
 hook presently." 
 
 But the bully, confiding in his own strength, and probably mistaking 
 for tmiidity the patient scorn with which Nigel received his proposals, 
 incited also by the open casket, began to assume a louder and more 
 threatening tone. He drew himself up, bent his brows, assumed a look 
 of professional ferocity, and continued, " In Alsatia, look ye, a man 
 must be neighbourly and companionable. Zouns ! sir, we would slit 
 any nose that was turned up at us honest fellows. — Ay, su', we would 
 slit it u]D to the gristle though it had smelt nothing all its life but musk, 
 ambergris, and court-scented water — Rabbit me, I am a soldier, and 
 care no more for a lord than a lamplighter." 
 
 " Are you seeking a quarrel, sir T said Nigel calmly, having in 
 truth no desire to engage himself in a discreditable broil in such a place, 
 and with such a character. 
 
 " Quarrel, sir V said the Captain ; " I am not seeking a quarrel, 
 though I care not how soon I find one. Only I wish you to understand 
 you must be neighbourly, that's all. What if we should go over the 
 water to the garden, and see a bull hanked this fine morning — 'sdeath, 
 mil you do nothing ?" 
 
 " Something I am strangely tempted to do at this moment," said 
 Nigel. 
 
 " Videlicet," said Colepepper, with a swaggering air, 'Met us hear 
 the temptation." 
 
 " I am tempted to throw you headlong from the window, unless you 
 presently make the best of your way down stairs." 
 
 " Throw me from the window ? — hell and furies !" exclaimed the 
 Captain ; " I have confronted twenty crooked sabres at Buda with my 
 single rapier, and shall a chitty-faced, beggarly Scots lordling speak 
 of me and a window in the same breath ? — Stand off, old PHloiy, let 
 me make Scots collops of him — he dies the death." 
 
 " For the love of Heaven, gentlemen," exclaimed the old miser, throw- 
 ing himself between them, " do not break the peace on any consider- 
 ation ! Noble guest, forbear the Captaui — he is a very Hector of Troy 
 —Trusty Hector, forbear my guest, he is like to prove a very AchOles 
 — ugh — ugh " 
 
 Here he was interrupted by his asthma, but, nevertheless, continued 
 to interpose his person between Colepepper (who had unsheathed his 
 whinyard, and was making vain passes at his antagonist) and Nigel, 
 who had stepped back to take his sword, and noAV held it undrawn in 
 his left hand. 
 
 " Make an end of this foolery, you scoundrel !" said Nigel — " Do 
 you come hither to vent your noisy oaths and your bottled-up valour on 
 me ? You seem to know me, and I am half-ashamed to say I have at 
 length been able to recollect you— remember the garden behind the 
 ordniary, you dastardly ruffian, and the speed with which fifty men saw 
 you run from a drawn sword. — Get you gone, sir, and do not put me to 
 the vile labour of cudgelling such a cowardly rascal down stairs." 
 
 ^ The bully's countenance grew dark as night at this unexpected recog- 
 nition ; for he had undoubtedly thought himself secui-e in his chajige 
 
THE rOBTUNES OF NIGEL. 197 
 
 of dress, and his black patch, from being discovered by a person who 
 had seen him but once. He set his teetn, clenched his hands, and it 
 seemed as if he was seeking for a moment's com-age to fly upon his an- 
 tagonist. But his heart failed, he sheathed his sword, turned his back 
 in gloomy silence, and spoke not until he reached the door, when, 
 turning round, he said, with a deep oath, " If I be not avenged, of you 
 for this insolence ere many days go by, I would the gallows had my 
 body and the devil my spirit !" 
 
 So saying, and with a look where determined spite and malice made 
 his features savagely fierce, though they could not overcome his fear, 
 he turned and left the house. Nigel followed him as far as the gallery 
 at the head of the staircase, with the purpose of seeing him depart, and 
 ere he retiurned was met by Mistress Martha Trapbois, whom the noise 
 of the quan'el had summoned from her own apartment. He could not 
 resist saying to her, in his natui'al displeasure — " I would, madam, you 
 could teach your father and his friends the lesson which you had the 
 goodness to bestow on me this morning, and prevail on them to leave 
 me the unmolested privacy of my own apartment." 
 
 " If you come hither for quiet or retirement, young man," answered 
 she, " you have been advised to an evil retreat. You might seek mercy 
 in the Star Chamber, or holiness in hell, with better success than quiet 
 in Alsatia. But my father shall trouble you no longer." 
 
 So saying, she entered the apartment, and, fixing her eyes on the 
 casket, she said with emphasis—" If you display such a loadstone, it 
 ■will draw nianv a steel knife to your throat." 
 
 While Nigel hastily shut the casket, she addressed her father, up- 
 braiding him ^vith small reverence for keeping company with the 
 cowardly, hectoring, murdermg villain, John Colepepper. 
 
 " Ay, ay, child," said the old man, with the cimning leer which in- 
 timated perfect satisfaction ^^'ith his own superior address — " I know 
 • — I know — ugh — but I'll cross-bite him — I know them all, and I can 
 manage them — ay, ay — I liave the trick on't — ugh, ugh." 
 
 " Yo2c manage, father," uaid the austere damsel ; " you will manage 
 to have yom- tln-oat cut, and that ere long. You cannot hide from them 
 your gains and your gold as formerly." 
 
 " My gains, wench 1 my gold ?" said the usurer ; " alack-a-day, few 
 of these and hard got — few and hard got." 
 
 "This will not serve you, father, any longer," said she, "and had 
 not served you thus long, but that Bully Colepepper had contrived a 
 cheaper way of plundering yoiu: house, even by means of my miserable 
 self. — But why do I speak to him of all this," she said, checking herself, 
 and sln'ugging her shoulders with an expression of pity which did not 
 fall much short of scorn. "He hears me not — he tliiuks not of me.— 
 Is it not strange that the love of gathering gold should sur\4ve the care 
 to preserve both property and life T' 
 
 " Your father," said Lord Glenvarloch, who could not help respecting 
 the strong sense and feeling shown by this poor woman, even amidst all 
 her rudeness and severity, "your father seems to have liis faculties sutfi- 
 ciently alert when he is in the exercise of his ordinary pursuits and 
 functions. I wonder he is not sensible of the weight of your argiunents." 
 
 " Nature made him a man senseless of danger, and that insensibility 
 
198 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 is the best thing I have derived from hun," said she ; " age has left him 
 shrewdness enough to tread his old beaten paths, but not to seek new 
 courses. The old blind horse will long contniue to go its rounds in tho 
 mill, when it would stumble in the open meadow." 
 
 " Daughter ! — why, wench — why, housewife !" said the old man, 
 awaltening out of some dream, in which he had been sneering and 
 chuclding in imagination, probably over a successful piece of roguery, 
 ■ — "go to chamber, wench — ^go to chamber — draw bolts and chain — 
 look sharp to door — let none in or out but worshipful Master Grahame 
 ■ — I must take my cloak, and go to Duke Hildebrod — ay, ay, time has 
 been, my own warrant was enough ; but the lower we lie, the more are 
 we under the wind." 
 
 And, with his wonted chorus of muttering and coughing, the old man 
 left the apartment. His daughter stood for a moment looking after 
 him, with her usual expression of discontent and sorrow. 
 
 "You ought to persuade your father," said Nigel, "to leave this 
 evil neighbourhood, if you are in reality apprehensive for his safety." 
 
 " He would be safe in no other quarter," said the daughter ; " I 
 would rather the old man were dead than publicly dishonom-ed. In 
 other quarters he Avould be pelted and pursued like an owl which ven- 
 tures into sunshine. Here he was safe, while his comrades could avail 
 themselves of his talents ; he is now squeezed and fleeced by them on 
 every pretence. They consider him as a vessel on the strand, from 
 Tt'hich each may snatch a prey ; and the very jealousy which they en- 
 tertain respecting him as a common property may perhaps induce them 
 to guard hnn from more private and daring assaults." 
 
 " Still, methinks, you ought to leave this place," answered Nigel, 
 "since you might find a safe retreat in some distant country." 
 
 "In Scotland, doubtless," said she, looking at him with a sharp and 
 suspicious eye, "and enrich strangers Avith our rescued wealth — Ha ! 
 young man V 
 
 "Madam, if you knew me," said Lord Glenvarloch, "you would 
 spare the suspicion implied in your words." 
 
 "Who shall assure me of that ?" said Martlia, sharply. " They say 
 you are a brawler and a gamester, and I know how far these are to be 
 trusted by the unhappy." 
 
 " They do me wrong, by Heaven !" said Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 " It may be so," said Martha ; " I am little interested in the degTee 
 of your vice or your folly ; but it is plain, that the one or the other 
 has conducted you hither, and that your best hope of peace, safety, and 
 happiness is to be gone, with the least possible delay, from a place 
 which is always a sty for swine, and often a shambles." So saying, 
 she left the apartment. 
 
 Thorre Avas something in the ungi'acious manner of this female, 
 amounting almost to contempt of him she spoke to— an indignity to 
 which Gleiwarloch, notwithstanding his poverty, had not as yet been 
 I)ersonally exposed, and which, therefore, gave him a transitory feeling 
 of painful surprise. Neither did the dark hints Avhich Martha thrcAV 
 out concerning the danger of this place of refuge sound by any means 
 agreeably to his ears. The bravest man, placed in a situation in Avhicli 
 he is surrounded by suspicious persons, and removed from all counsel 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 199 
 
 and assistance, exce;^t those afforded by a valiant heart and a strong 
 ram, experiences a smking of the heart, a consciousness of abandon- 
 ment, -oliich for a moment chills his blood, and depresses his natural 
 gallantry of disposition. 
 
 But, if sad reflections arose in Nigel's mind, he had not time to in- 
 duk^e them ; and, if he saw little prospect of finding friends in Alsatia, 
 he found that he was not likely to be solitary for lack of visitors. 
 
 He had scarcely paced his apartment for ten minutes, endeavouring 
 ' to arrange his ideas on the course which he was to pursue on quitting 
 Alsatia, when he was interrupted by the Sovereign of that quarter, the 
 gTeat Duke Hildebrod himself, before whose approach the bolts and 
 j chains of the miser's dwelling fell, or withdrew, as of their own accord ; 
 and both the folding leaves of the door were opened, that he might roll 
 himself into the house like a huge butt of liquor, a vessel to which he 
 bore a considerable outward resemblance, both in size, shape, com- 
 plexion, and contents. 
 
 " Good-morrow to your lordship," said the greasy puncheon, cocking 
 ,liis single eye, and rolling it upon Nigel with a singular expression of 
 I familiar impudence ; whilst his grim bull-dog, which was close at his 
 heels, made a kind of giu'ghng in his throat, as if saluting, in similar 
 ! fashion, a starved cat, the only living thing in Trapbois' liouse which 
 ; we have not yet enumerated, and which had flown up to the top of the 
 1 tester, where she stood clutching and grinning at the mastiff, whose 
 , greeting she accepted with as much good- will as Nigel bestowed on that 
 ^of the dog's master. 
 
 j " Peace, Belzie ! — D — n thee, peace !" said Duke Hildebrod. " Beasts 
 and fools will be meddling, my lord," 
 
 " I thought, sir," answered Nigel, with as much haughtiness as was 
 consistent with the cool distance which he desired to preserve, "I had 
 'told you, my name at present was Nigel Grahame," 
 ! His eminetice of Whitefriars on this burst out into a loud, chuckling, 
 I impudent laugh, repeating the word, till his voice was almost inarticu- 
 !late, — "Niggle Green — Niggle Green — Niggle Green ! — why, mylord, 
 ' you would be queered in the drinking of a penny pot of Malmsey, if you 
 cry Ijefore you are touched. Why, you have told me the secret even 
 nijw, had I not had a shrewd guess of it before. Why, Master Nigel, 
 since that is the word, I only called you my lord, because we made you 
 a peer of Alsatia last night, when the sack was predominant. — How 
 you look now ! — Ha ! ha ! ha !" 
 
 Nigel, indeed, conscious that he had unnecessarily betrayed himself, 
 replied hastily, — " He was much obliged to him for the honours con- 
 ferred, but did not propose to remain in the Sanctuary long enough to 
 enjoy them." 
 
 " Why, that may be as you will, an you will walk by wise counsel," 
 answercLl the ducal poqDoise ; and, although Nigel remained standing, 
 in hopes to accelerate his guest's departure, he threw himself into one 
 of the old tapestry-backed easv-chairs, which cracked under his weight, 
 and began to call for old Trapbois. 
 
 The crone of all work appearing instead of her master, the Duke 
 cursed her for a careless jade, to let a strange gentleman, and a brave 
 ; guest, go without his morning's draught. y 
 
200 . THE FORTUNES OF KiaEL. I 
 
 " I never take one, sir," said Glenvarloch. s 
 
 "Time to begin — time to begin," answered the Duke. — "Here, ■ 
 you old refuse of Sathan, go to our palace, and fetch Lord Green's 
 morning draught. Let us see — what shall it oe, my lord ?— a hmnming 
 double pot of ale, with a roasted crab dancing in it like a wherry above 
 bridge ? — or, hum — ay, young men are sweet-toothed — a quart of burnt 
 sack, with sugar and spice 1 — good against the fogs. Or, what say you 
 to sipping a gill of right distilled waters ? Come, we will have them 
 all, and you shall take your choice. — Here, you Jezabel, let Tim send 
 the ale, and the sack, and the nipperkin of double-distilled, with a bit 
 of diet-loaf, or some such trinket, and score it to the new comer." 
 
 Glenvarloch, bethinking himself that it might be as well to endiu'e 
 this fellow's insolence for a brief season, as to get into farther discredit- 
 able quarrels, suffered him to take his own way, without interruption, 
 only observing, " You make yourself at home, sir, in my apartment ; 
 but, for the time, you may use your pleasure. Meantime, I would fain 
 know what has procured me the honour of this unexpected visit V 
 
 "You shall know that when old Deb has brought the Hquor— I 
 never speak of business dry-lipped. Why, how she di'umbles— I warrant 
 she stops to take a sip on the road, and then you will think you have 
 had uncluistian measure. — In the meanwhile, look at that dog there — 
 look Belzebub in the face, and tell me if you ever saw a sweeter beast — 
 never flew but at head in his life." 
 
 And, after this congenial panegyric, he was proceeding with a tale 
 of a dog and a bull, which threatened to be somewhat of the longest, 
 when he was interrupted by the return of the old crone, and two of his 
 own tapsters, bearing the various kinds of drinkables which he had de- 
 manded, and which probably was the only species of interruption he 
 would have endured with equanimity. 
 
 When the cups and cans were duly arranged upon the table, and 
 when Deborah, whom the ducal generosity honoured with a penny 
 farthing in the way of gratuity, had withdrawn with her satellites, the 
 worthy potentate, having first slightly invited Lord Glenvarluch to 
 jiartake of the liquor which he was to pay for, and after having ob- 
 served that, excepting three poached eggs, a pint of bastard, and a 
 cup of clary, he was fasting from everything but sin, set himself 
 seriously to reinibrce the radical moisture. Glenvarloch had seen 
 Scottish lairds and Dutch burgomasters at their potations ; but their 
 exi)loits (though each might be termed a thirsty generation) were 
 nothing to those of Duke Hildebrod, who seemed an absolute sand- 
 bed, capable of absorbing any given quantity of liquid, witliout being 
 either vivified or overflowed. lie drank off the ale to quench a thirst 
 which, as he said, kept him in a fever from morning to night, and 
 night to morning ; tippled off the sack to correct the crudity of the 
 ale ; sent the spirits after the sack to keep all quiet, and then "declared 
 tliat, i)robably, he shoidd not taste liquor till post meridiem, unless 
 it was in compUment to some especial friend. Finally, he intimated 
 that he was ready to proceed on the business wliich brought him from 
 home so early, a proposition which Nigel readily received, though he 
 could not help suspecting that the ntost important pm-pose of Duke 
 Hildebrod' s visit W'i.'=i a'i-cady transacted, 
 
TUE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 201 
 
 In this, however, Lord Glenvarloch proved to be mistaken. Hil- 
 
 debrod, before opening what he had to say, made an accm-ate sur- 
 vey of the apartment, laying, from time to time, his finger on his 
 nose, and winking on Nigel with his single eye, while he opened and 
 shut the doors, lifted the tapestry, which concealed, in one or two 
 places, the dilapidation of time upon the wainscoted walls, peeped 
 into closets, and, finally, looked under the bed, to assure himself 
 that tlie coast was clear of hsteners and mterlopers. He then resumed 
 his seat, and beckoned confidentially to Nigel to draw his chair close 
 to him, 
 
 "I am well as I am. Master Hildebrod," replied the young lord, 
 little disposed to encom-age the familiarity which the man endeavom'ed 
 to fix on him ; but the undismayed Duke proceeded as follows : — 
 
 "You shall pardon me, my lord — and I now give you the title right 
 seriously — if I remind you that our waters may be watched ; for though 
 old Trapbois be as deaf as Saint Paul's, yet his daughter has sharp 
 ears, and sharp eyes enough, and it is of them that it is my business 
 to speak." 
 
 " Say away, then, sir," said Nigel, edging his chair somewhat closer 
 to the Quicksand, "although I cannot conceive what business I have 
 either with mine host or his daughter." 
 
 "We will see that in a twinkling of a quart-pot" answered the 
 gracious Duke ; "and first, my lord, you must not think to dance in 
 a net before old Jack Hildebrod, that has thrice yom- years o'er his 
 head, and was born, like King Richard, with all ms eye-teeth ready 
 cut." 
 
 "Well, sir, go on," said Nigel. 
 
 "Why, then, my lord, I presume to say, that if you are, as I believe 
 you ai-e, that Lord Glenvarloch whom all the world talk of —the Scotch 
 gallant that has spent all, to a thin cloak and a light purse — be not 
 movedj my lord, it is so noised of you — men call you the sparrow-hawk, 
 who will fly at all — ay, were it in the very Park — be not moved, my 
 lord." 
 
 "I am ashamed, shrah," replied Glenvarloch, "that you should 
 have power to move me by yom- insolence — but beware — and, if you 
 indeed guess who I am, consider how long I may be able to endure 
 your tone of insolent familiarity," 
 
 "I crave pardon, my lord," said Hildebrod, with a sullen, yet apolo- 
 getic look; "I meant no harm in speaking my poor mind. I know 
 not what honom' there may be in being familiar -with your lordship, 
 but I judge there is little safety, for Lowestofie is laid up in lavender 
 only for Imving shown you the way into Alsatia ; and so, what is to 
 come of those who maintain you when you are here, or whetlier they 
 will get most honour or most trouble by doing so, I leave with your 
 lordship's better judgment." 
 
 "I ^-ill brmg no one into trouble on my account," said Lord Glen- 
 varloch. "I will leave Whitefriars to-morroAv. Nay, by Heaven! I 
 will leave it this day." 
 
 "You will have more wit in your anger, I trust," said Duke Hilde- 
 brod ; "listen first to what I have to say to you, and, if honest Jack 
 Hildebrod puts you not in the way of nicking them all, may he never 
 
202 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 cast doublets, or giill a greenhorn again ! And so, my lord, in plain 
 words, you must wap and win." 
 
 " Yoiu: words must be still plainer before I can understand them," 
 said Nigel. 
 
 "What the devil— a gamester, one who deals with the devil's bones 
 and the doctors, and not understand pedlar's French ! Nay, then, I 
 must speak plain English, and that's the simpleton's tongue." 
 
 "Speak, then, sir," said Nigel; "and I pray you be brief, for I 
 have little more time to bestow on you." 
 
 " Well, then, my lord, to be brief, as you and the lawyers call it — I 
 miderstand you have an estate in the north, which changes masters 
 for want of the redeeming ready. — Ay, you start, but you cannot 
 dance in a net before me, as I said before ; and so the King runs the 
 frowning humour on you, and the Court vapours you the go-by ; and 
 the Prince scowls at you from under his cap ; and the favourite serves 
 you out the puckered brow and the cold shoulder ; and the favourite's 
 favourite " 
 
 "To go no farther, sir," interrupted Nigel, "suppose all this true — 
 and what follows?" 
 
 " What follows ?" returned Duke Ilildebrod. " Marry, this fol- 
 lows, that you will owe good deed, as well as good- will, to him who 
 shall put you in the way to walk with your beaver cocked in the presence, 
 as an ye were Earl of Kildare ; bully the corn-tiers ; meet the Prince's 
 blighting look with a bold brow ; confront the favourite ; baffle .his de- 
 puty, and " 
 
 " This is all well," said Nigel ; "but how is it to be accomplished ?" 
 
 " By making tliee a Prince of Peru, my lord of the northern lati- 
 tudes; propping thine old castle with ingots, — fertilizing thy failing 
 fortunes with gold-dust— it shall but cost thee to put thy baron's coronet 
 for a day or so on the brows of an old Caduca here, the man's daughter 
 of the house, and thou art master of a mass of treasure that shall do all 
 I have said for thee, and " 
 
 " What, you would have me marry this old gentlewoman here, the 
 daughter of mine host T' said Nigel, surprised and angry, yet unable to 
 suppress some desire to laugh. 
 
 " Nay, my lord, I would have you marry fifty thousand good sterling 
 pounds; for that, and better, hath old Trapbois hoarded; and thou 
 shalt do a deed of mercy in it to the old man, who will lose his golden 
 smelts in some worse v.^ay — for now that he is well-nigh past his day of 
 work, his day of payment is like to follow." 
 
 " Truly, this is a most courteous offer," said Lord Glenvarloch ; 
 " but may I pray of your candour, most noble duke, to tell me why you 
 dispose of a ward of so much wealth on a stranger like me, who may 
 leave you to-morrow 1" 
 
 " In sooth, my lord," said the Duke, " that au^^fition smacks more 
 of the wit of Beaujeu's ordinary, than any word I have yet heard your 
 lordship speak, and reason it is you should be answered. Touching my 
 peers, it is but necessary to say, that Mistress Martha Trapbois will 
 none of them, whether clerical or laic. The captain hath asked her, so 
 hath the parson, but she will none of them — she looks higher than 
 either, and is, to say truth, a woman of sense and so forth, too profound, 
 
TUB FOETUS' ES Or NIGEL. 203 
 
 and of spii'it something too high, to put up with gi'ea.ny buff or rusty 
 prunella. For oiu'selves, we need but liint that v»'e have a consort in 
 the land of the living, and, what is more to purpose, Mrs Martlia 
 knows it. So, as she will not lace her kersey hood save witli a quality 
 I binding, you, my lord, must be the man, and must carry off fifty 
 I thousand decuses, the spoils of five thousand bidlies, cutters, and spend- 
 ' thrifts,— always deducting from the main sum some five thousand pounds 
 , for our princely advice and comitenance, without which, as matters stand 
 ■in Alsatia, you would find it hard to win the plate." 
 ' " But has your wisdom considered, sir," replied Glenvarloch, " how 
 jthis wedlock can serve me in my present emergence /" 
 
 "As for that, my lord," said Duke Hildebrod, " if, with forty or 
 j fifty thousand pounds in your pouch, you cannot save yourself, you will 
 ('deserve to lose yoiu: head for your folly, and youi' hand for being close- 
 ,!fi.sted." 
 
 ' J3ut since yom* goodness has taken my^ matters into such serious 
 consideration," continued Ni^el, who conceived there was no prudence 
 in breaking with a man who, in his way, meant him favom- rather than 
 offence, " perhaps you may be able to tell me how my kindi'ed will be 
 likely to receive such a bride as you recommend to me ?" 
 
 ■' Touching that matter, my lord, I have always heard your country- 
 men knew as well as other folks on which side their bread was buttered. 
 And, truly, speaking from report, I know no place where fifty thousand 
 pounds — fifty thousand pounds, I say, will make a woman more welcome 
 than it is likely to do in your ancient kingdom. And, truly, saving 
 |the slight twist in her shoidder, ]\Irs Martha Trapbois is a person of 
 jvery a^vfld and majestic appearance, and may, for aught I know, be 
 'conie of better blood than any one wots of ; for old Trapbois looks not 
 lover like to be her father, and her mother was a generous, liberal sort 
 bf woman." 
 
 " I am afraid," ansyrered Nigel, " that chance is rather too vague to 
 lassure her a gi'acious reception into an honourable house." 
 ; " Why, then, my lord," repHed Hildebrod, " I think it like she will 
 be even with them ; for I will venture to say, she has as much ill-nature 
 as will make her a match for your whole clan." 
 
 " That may inconvenience me a little," replied Nigel. 
 
 " Not a whit — not a whit," said the Duke, fertile in expedients ; 
 •' if she should become rather intolerable, which is not unlikely, your 
 lionom-able house, wliich I presume to be a castle, hath, doubtless, 
 fboth turrets and dmigeons, and ye may bestow your bomiy bride in 
 'either the one or the other, and then you know you will be out of hear- 
 :lng of her tongue, and she will be either above or below the contempt 
 *'jf your friends." 
 
 '' It is sagely counselled, most equitable sir," replied Nigel, " and 
 ijuch restraint would be a fit need for her folly that gave me any power 
 over her." 
 I " You entertain the project then, my lord ?" said Duke Hildebrod. 
 
 " I must turn it in my mind for twenty-four hom-s," said Nigel ; 
 I'* and I will pray you so to order matters that I be not further inter- 
 l^ipted by any visitors." 
 
 ^^ ^Ye vrill utter an edict to secure your privacy," said the Duke ; 
 
204 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " and you do not think," he added, lowering his voice to a commercial 
 whisper, " that ten thousand is too much to pay to the Sovereign, in 
 name of wardship ?" 
 
 " Ten thousand ! " said Lord Glenvarloch ; " why, you said five 
 thousand but now." 
 
 " Aha! art avised of that?" said the Duke, touchmg the side of his 
 nose with his finger ; " nay, if you have marked me so closely, you are 
 thinking on the case more nearly than I believed, till you trapped me. 
 Well, well, we will not c[uarrel about the consideration, as old Trapbois 
 would call it — do you win and wear the dame ; it will be no hard mat- 
 ter with yoiu: face and figure, and I will take care that no one interrupts 
 you. I will have an edict from the Senate as soon as they meet for 
 their meridiem." 
 
 So saying, Duke Hildebrod took his leave. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 This is the time — Heaven's maiden sentinel 
 Hath quitted her high watch — the lesser spangles 
 Are paling one by one; give me the ladder 
 And the short lever — bid Anthony 
 Keep with his carabine the M'icket-gate; 
 And do thou bare thy knife and follow me, 
 For we will in and do it. Darkness like this 
 Is dawning of our fortunes. 
 
 Old Play. 
 
 When Duke Hildebrod had withdrawn, Nigel's first impulse was an 
 irresistible feeling to laugh at the sage adviser, who would have thus 
 connected him with age, ugliness, and ill-temper ; but his next thought 
 was pity for the unfortunate father and daughter, who, being the only 
 persons possessed of wealth in this unhappy district, seemed like a 
 wreck on the sea-shore of a barbarous countryj only secured from 
 plunder for the moment by the jealousy of the tribes among whom it 
 had been cast. Neither could he help^ being conscious that his own 
 residence here was upon conditions equally precarious, and that ho was 
 considered by the Alsatians in the same light of a godsend on the Cor- 
 nish coast, or a sickly but wealthy caravan travelling through the wildsl 
 of Africa, and emphatically termed by the nations of despoilers through 
 whose regions it passes, DummoZafonrj^ which signifies a thing given 
 to be devom-ed— a common prey to all men. 
 
 Nigel had akeady formed his own plan to extricate himself, at what- 
 soever risk, from his perilous and degrading situation ; and, in order 
 that he might carry it into instant execution, he only awaited the re- 
 turn of Lowestofie's messenger. He expected him, however, in vain, 
 and could only amuse himself by looking through su»h parts of his 
 baggage as had been sent to him from his former lodgings, in order to 
 select a small packet of tlie most necessary articles to take with him, in 
 the event of his quitting his lodgings secretly and suddenly, as speed 
 and privacy would, he foi-esaw, be particidarly necessary, if he meant 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL, 205 
 
 to obtain an interview with the King, which was the course his spirit 
 and his interest alike determined him to pursue. 
 
 "While he was thus engaged, he found, greatly to his satisfaction, 
 that jMaster Lowestoffe had transmitted, not only his rapier and poniard, 
 but a pair of pistols, which he had used in travelling ; of a smaller ana 
 more convenient size than the large petronels, or horse-pistols, which 
 were then in common use, as being made for wearing at the girdle or in 
 the pockets. Next to ha\^ng stout and friendly comrades, a man is 
 chiefly imboldened by finding himself well armed in case of need, and 
 Nigel, who had thought with some anxiety on the hazard of trusting 
 his life, if attacked, to the protection of the clumsy weapon with which 
 Lowestoffe had equipped him, in order to complete Ms disguise, felt an 
 emotion of confidence approacliing to triumph, as, drawing his own 
 ^ood and well-tried rapier, he wiped it with his handkerchief, examined 
 its point, bent it once or twice against the ground to prove its well- 
 known metal, and finally replaced it in the scabbard, the more hastily 
 that he heard a tap at the door of his chamber, and had no mind to be 
 found vapom-ing in the apartment with his sword drawn. 
 
 It was his old host who entered, to tell him, with many cringes, that 
 the price of his apartment was to be a crown per diem ; and that, 
 according to the custom of Whitefriars, the rent was always payable per 
 advance, although he never scrupled to let the money lie till a week or 
 fortnight, or even a month, in the hands of any honom-able guest like 
 Master Grahame, always upon some reasonable consideration for the 
 use. Nigel got rid of the old dotard's intrusion, by throwing down two 
 pieces of gold, and requesting the accommodation of his present apart- 
 ment for eight days, adding, liowever,Jie did not think he should taiTj 
 so long. 
 
 The miser, with a sparkling eye and a trembling hand, clutched fast 
 the proffered coin, and, having balanced the pieces with exquisite 
 pleasure on the extremity of his witliered finger, began almost instantly 
 to show that not even the possession of gold can gratify for more than 
 an instant the very heart that is most eager in the pursuit of it. First 
 the pieces might be light — with hasty hand he drew a small pair of 
 scales from his bosom and weighed them, first together, then separately, 
 arid smiled with glee as he saw them attain the due depression in the 
 balance— a circmnstance which might add to his profits, if it were true, 
 as was currently reported, that little of the gold coinage was current in 
 Alsatia in a perfect state, and that none ever left the Sanctuary in that 
 condition. 
 
 Another fear then occurred to trouble the old miser's pleasure. He 
 had been just able to comprehend that Nigel intended to leave the 
 Friars sooner than the arrival of the term for which he had deposited 
 the rent. This might imply an expectation of refunding, which, as a 
 Scotch wag said, of all species of funding jumped least in the old gentle- 
 man's humom-. He was beginning to enter a hypothetical caveat on 
 this subject, and to quote several reasons why no part of the money 
 once consigned as room-rent could be repaid back on any pretence, 
 without great hardship to the landlord, when Nigel, growing impatient, 
 told hun that the money was his absolutely, and without any intention 
 on his part of resuming any of it — all he asked in return was the liberty 
 
206 THE FOETDNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 of eiijoyino in private tlie apartment he had paid for. Old Trapbois,| 
 who had still at his tongue's end much of the smooth language by which, I 
 in his time, he had hastened the ruin of many a youn.g spendthrift, 
 began to laiuich out upon the noble and generous disposition of his new 
 guest, until Nigel, growing impatient, took the old gentleman by the 
 hand, and gently, yet irresistibly, leading him to the door of his cham- 
 ber, put him out, but with such a decent and moderate exertion of his J 
 superior strength as to render the action in no shape indecorous, and I 
 fastening the door, be^-an to do that for his pistols which he had done I 
 for his favourite sword, examining with care the flints and locks, and ] 
 reviewing the state of his small provision of ammunition. ^ 
 
 In this operation he was a second time interrupted by a knocking at 
 his door — he called upon the person to enter, having no doubt that it 
 was Lowestoflfe's messenger at length arrived. It was, however, the 
 ungracious daughter of old Trapbois, who, muttering something about 
 her father's mistake, laid down upon the table one of the pieces of gold 
 which Nigel had just given to him, saying, that what she retained was 
 the full rent for the term he had specified. Nigel replied, he had paid 
 tlie money, and had no desire to receive it again. 
 
 " Do as you will with it, tlien," replied his hostess, " for there it lies, 
 and shall lie for me. If you are fool enough to pay more than is reason, 
 my father shall not be knave enough to talvc it." 
 
 "But your father, mistress," said Nigel, "yoiu: father told me " 
 
 " Oh, my father, my father," said she, interrupting him, — " my 
 father managed these affairs while he was able — I manage them now, 
 and that may in the long run be as well for both of us." 
 
 She then looked on the table, and observed the weapons. 
 
 " You have arms, I see," she said ; "do you know how to use them ? " 
 
 " I should do so, mistress," replied Nigel, " for it has been my occu- 
 pation." 
 
 " You are a soldier, then ?" she demanded. 
 
 "No farther as yet, than as every gentleman of my country is a 
 soldier." 
 
 " Ay, tliat is your point of honour — to cut the throats of the poor — 
 a proper gentleman-like occupation for those Avho should protect them ! " 
 
 " I do not deal in cutting throats, mistress," replied Nigel ; " but I 
 carry arras to defend myself, and my country if it needs me." 
 
 " Ay," replied Martha, " it is fairly w^orded ; but men say you are as 
 prompt as others in petty brawls, where neither your safety nor your 
 country is in hazard ; and that, had it not been so, you would not have 
 been in the Sanctuary to-day." 
 
 " Mistress," returned Nigel, " I should labour in vain to make you 
 understand that a man's honom-, which is, or shoidd be, dearer to him 
 than his life, may often call on and compel us to hazard our own lives, 
 or those of others, on what would otherwise seem trifling contingencies." 
 
 " God's law says nought of that," said the female ; " I have only 
 read there, that thou shalt not kill. But I have neither time nor incli- 
 nation to preach to you — you will find enough of fighting here if you 
 like it, and well if it come not to seek you when you are least prepared. 
 Farewell for the present— the char- woman will execute your commands 
 for your me£ils." 
 
THE FOllTUNES Oi' NIGEL. 207 
 
 She left the room, just as Nigel, provoked at her assuming a superior 
 tone of judgment and of censure, was about to be so superfluous as to 
 enter into a dispute with an old pa^Tibroker's daughter on the subject 
 of the point of lionour. He smiled at himself for the folly into which 
 the spirit of self- vindication had so nearly hurried him. 
 I Lord Glenvarloch then applied to old Deborah the char-woman, by 
 i' whose intermediation he w^as provided with a tolerably decent dinner ; 
 and the only embarrassment which he experienced was from the almost 
 forcible entry of the old dotard his landlord, who insisted upon giving 
 his assistance at laying the cloth. Nigel had some difficulty to prevent 
 him from displacing his arms and some papers which were lying on the 
 small table at which he had been sitting ; and nothing short of a stern 
 and positive inj miction to the contrary could compel him to use another 
 board (though there were two in the room) for the purpose of laying 
 the cloth. 
 
 Having at length obliged him to relinquish his pm'pose, he could not 
 help observing that the eyes of the old dotard seemed still anxiously 
 fixed upon the small table on wliich lay his sword and pistols ; and 
 that, amidst all the little duties which he seemed officiously anxious to 
 render to his guest, he took every opportunity of looking towards and 
 approaching these objects of his attention. At length, when Trapbois 
 thought he had completely avoided the notice of his guest, Nigel, 
 through the obseiTation of one of the cracked mirrors, on which channel 
 of communication the old man had not calculated, beheld Mm actually 
 extend his hand towards the table in question. He thought it unne- 
 cessary to use farther ceremony, but telling his landlord, in a stern 
 voice, that he permitted no one to touch his arms, he commanded him 
 to leave the apartment. The old usm^er commenced a maundering sort 
 of apology, in which all that Nigel distinctly apprehended was a frequent 
 iiepetition of the word consideration, and which did not seem to him 
 to require any other answer than a reiteration of his command to him 
 to leave the apartment, upon pain of worse consequences. 
 
 The ancient Hebe who acted as Lord Glenvarloch' s cup-bearer took 
 his part against the intrusion of the still more antiquated Ganymede, 
 and insisted on old Trapbois leaving the room instantly, menacing him 
 at the same time with her mistress's displeasure if he remamed there 
 f;any longer. The old man seemed more under petticoat government 
 than any other, for the threat of the char- woman produced greater 
 
 ! effect upon him than the more formidable displeasure of Nigel. He 
 withdrew grumbling and muttering, and Lord Glenvarloch heard liim 
 _bar a large door at the nearer end of the gallery, which served as a 
 division betwixt tlie other parts of the extensive mansion, and the 
 apartment occupied by his guest, wdiich, as the reader is aware, had its 
 access from the landing-place at the head of the grand stahcase. 
 
 Nigel accepted the carefid sound of the bolts and bars as they were 
 severally drawn by the trembling hand of old Trapbois, as an omen 
 that the senior did not mean again to revisit him in the coiurse of the 
 evenuig, and heartily rejoiced that he was at length to be left to unin- 
 terrupted solitude. 
 
 The old woman asked if there was aught else to be done for his accom- 
 modation ; and, indeed, it had hitherto seemed as if the pleasure of 
 
208 THE rORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 serving him, or more properly, the reward which she expected, had re- 
 newed her youth and activity. Nigel desired to have candles, to have 
 a fire liglited in his apartment, and a few fagots placed beside it, that 
 he might feed it from time to time, as he began to feel the chilly effects 
 of the damp and low situation of the house, close as it was to the 
 Thames. But while the old woman was absent upon his errand, he 
 began to think in what way he should pass the long solitary evening 
 with which he was tlireatened. 
 
 His own reflections promised to Nigel little amusement, and less 
 applause. He had considered his own perilous situation in every light 
 in which it could be viewed, and foresaw as little utility as comfort in 
 resuming the survey. To divert the current of his ideas, books were, 
 of course, the readiest rcsoOTce ; and although, like most of us, Nigel 
 had, in his time, sauntered through large libraries, and even spent a 
 long time there without greatly disturbing their learned contents, he 
 was now in a situation where the possession of a volume, even of very 
 inferior merit, becomes a real treasure. The old house-wife returned 
 shortly afterwards with fagots, and some pieces of half-bm-nt wax- 
 candles, the perquisites, probably, real or usurped, of some experienced 
 groom of the chambers, two of which sho placed in large brass candle- 
 sticks, of different shapes and patterns, and laid the others on the table, 
 that Nigel might reneV tliem from time to time as they burnt to the 
 socket. She heard with iiiterest Lord Glenvarloch's request to have a 
 book — any sort of book — to pass away the night withal, and returned 
 for answer, that she knew of no other books in the house tha.n her 
 young mistress's (as she always denominated Mistress Martha Trapbois) j 
 Bil)le, which the owner would not lend ; and her j\Iaster's Whetstonej 
 of Witte, being the second part of Arithmetic, by Robert Record, with'' 
 the Cossike Practice and Rule of Equation ; which promising volume 
 Nigel declined to borrow. She offered, however, to bring some oooks i 
 from Duke Hildebrod — "who sometimes, good gentlem.an, gave aj 
 glance at a book when the State affairs of Alsatia left him as much? 
 leisure." 
 
 Nigel embraced the proposal, and his unwearied Iris scuttled away 
 on this second embassy. She returned in a short time witli a tattered 
 quarto volume under her arm, and a pottle of sack in her hand ; for 
 the Dulce, judging that mere reading was dry work, had sent the wine 
 by way of sauce to help it down, not forgetting to add the price to the; 
 morning's score, which he had already run up against the stranger in' 
 the Sanctuary. 
 
 Nigel seized on the book, and did not refuse the wine, thinking thav 
 a glass or two, as it really proved to be of good quality, would be nq' 
 bad interlude to his studies. He dismissed, with thanks and assurance,* 
 of reward, the poor old drudge who had been so zealous in his service ; ■ 
 trimmed his fire and candles, and placed the easiest of the old arm- : 
 chairs in a convenient posture betwixt the fire and the table at which i 
 he had dined, and which now supported the measure of sack and the 
 lights ; and thus accompanying his studies with such luxurious ap^li-^ 
 ances as were in his power, he began to examine the only volume witl^| 
 which the ducal library of Alsatia had been able to supply him. 
 
 The contents, though of a kind generally interesting, were not well 
 
 6; 
 
THE FORTU^^ES OF NIGEL. 209 
 
 calculated to dispel tlie gloom by which he was surrounded. The book 
 was entitled, " God's Revenue against Miu-ther ;" not, as the biblio- 
 manical reader may easily conjecture, tlie work which Reynolds pub- 
 lished under that imposing name, but one of a much earlier date, printed 
 and sold by old Wolfe ; and which, could a copy now be found, would 
 sell for nmch more than its weight in gold.^ 
 
 Nigel had soon enough of the doleful tales which the book contains, 
 and attempted one or two other modes of killing the evening. He 
 looked out at window, but the night was rainy, with gusts of wind ; he 
 tried to coax the fire, but the fagots wei-e gi-een, and smoked without 
 burning ; and as he was naturally temperate, he felt his blood some- 
 what heated by the canary sack which he had akeady drunk, and had 
 no further inclination to that pastime. He next attempted to compose 
 a memorial addi'essed to the King, in which he set forth his case and 
 his grievances ; but, speedily stung with the idea that his supplication 
 would be treated with scorn, he flung the scroll into the fire, and, in a 
 sort of desperation, resumed the book which he had laid aside. 
 
 Nigel became more interested in the volume at the second than at 
 the first attempt which he made to peruse it. The narratives, strange 
 and shocking as they were to human feeling, possessed yet the interest 
 of sorcery or of fascination which rivets the attention by its avraken- 
 ing horrors. Much was told of the strange and horrible acts of blood 
 by which men, setting nature and' humanity alike at defiance, had, 
 for the thirst of revenge, the lust of gold, or tiie cravings of irregidar 
 ambition, broken into the tabernacle of life. Yet more sm-prising and 
 mysterious tales were recounted of the mode in which such deeds of 
 blood had came to be discovered and revenged. Animals, irrational 
 animals, had told the secret, and birds of the air had carried the 
 matter. The elements had seemed to betray the deed which had 
 polluted them — earth had ceased to support the miu-derer's steps, fire 
 to warm his frozen limbs, water to refresh liis parched lips, ah to re- 
 lieve Ms gasping lungs. All, m short, bore e^ddence to the homicide's 
 guilt. In other circumstances, the criminal's otmi awakened conscience 
 piursued and brought him to justice; and in some narratives the grave 
 was said to have yawned, that the ghost of the sufferer might call for 
 revenge. 
 
 It was now wearing late in the night, and the book was still in 
 Nigel's hands, when the tapestry which hung behind him flapped 
 against the wall, and the wind 'produced by its motion waved the 
 flame of the candles by which he was reading. Nigel started and 
 turned roimd, in that excited and irritated state of mind wliich arose 
 from the nature of his studies, especially at a period when a certain 
 degree of superstition was inculcated as a point of religious faith. It 
 was not without emotion that he saw the bloodless countenance, 
 meagre form, and ghastly aspect of old Trapbois, once more in the 
 very act of extending his withered hand towards the table which sup- 
 ported his arms. Convinced by this untimely apparition that somethiug* 
 evil was meditated towards him, Nigel sprung up, seized bis sword, ch'ew 
 
 1 Only three copies are known to exist ; one in the library at Kennaquhair, and two 
 —one foxed and cropped, the other tall and in good condition — both in the possession 
 of an eminent member of the Roxburgh Ciub. — Note, by Captain Cluttbrbuok. 
 
210 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 it, and, placing it at the old man's breast, demanded of hiin what he 
 did in his apartment at so untimely an hour. Trapbois showed 
 neither fear nor surprise, and only answered by some imperfect expres- 
 sions, intimating he would part with his life rather than with his 
 property ; and Lord Glenvarloch, strangely embarrassed, knew not 
 what to think of the intruder's motives, and still less how to get rid of 
 him. As he again tried the means of intimidation, he was surprised 
 by a second apparition from behind the tapestry, in the person of the 
 daughter of Trapbois, bearing a lamp in her hand. She also seemed 
 to possess her father's insensibility to danger, for, coming close to 
 Nigel, she pushed aside impetuously his naked sword, and even at- 
 tempted to take it out of his hand. 
 
 "For shame," she said ; "your sword on a man of eighty years and 
 more! — this the honour of a Scottish gentleman! — give it to me to 
 make a spindle of !" 
 
 "Stand back," said Nigel; "I mean your father no injury— but I 
 will know what has caused him to prowl this whole day, and even at 
 this late hour, around my arms." 
 
 "Your arms!" repeated she; "alas! young man, the whole arms 
 in the Tower of London are of little value to him, in comparison of 
 this miserable piece of gold Avhich I left this morning on the table of 
 a young spendthrift, too careless to put what belonged to him into his 
 own purse." 
 
 So saying, she showed the piece of gold, which, still remaining on 
 the table where she had left it, had been the bait that attracted old 
 Trapbois so frequently to the spot ; and which, even hi the silence of 
 the night, had so dwelt on his imagination, that he had made use of 
 a private passage long disused to enter his guest's apartment, in 
 order to possess himself of the treasure dming his slumbers. He now 
 exclaimed, at the highest tones of his cracked and feeble voice — 
 
 "It is mine — it is mine! — he gave it to me for a consideration — I 
 will die ere I part with my property !" 
 
 "It is indeed his own, mistress," said Nigel, "and I do entreat you 
 will restore it to the person on whom I have bestowed it, and let me 
 have my apartment in quiet." 
 
 "I will account with you for it, then," said the maiden, reluctantly 
 giving to her father the morsel of Mammon, on which he darted as if 
 his bony fingers had been the talons of a hawk seizing its prey ; and 
 then making a contented muttering and mumbling, like an old dog 
 after he has been fed, and just when lie is wheeling himself thrice round 
 for the purpose of lying down, he foUoAved his daughter behind the 
 tapestry, through a little sliding-door, Avhich was perceived Avh^n the 
 hangings were drawn apart. 
 
 "This shall be properly fastened to-morrow," said the daughter to 
 Nigel, speaking in such a tone that her father, deaf, and engrossed by 
 his acquisition, could not hear her; "to-night I will continue to 
 watch him closely— I wish you good repose." 
 
 These few words, pronounced in a tone of more civility than she had 
 yet made use of towards her lodger, contained a wish which was not 
 to be accomplished, although her guest, presently after her departiu-e, 
 rethred to bed. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 211 
 
 There was a slight fever in Nigel's blood, occasioned by the various 
 events of the evening, which put him, as the phrase is, beside his 
 rest. Perplexing and painful thoughts rolled on his mind like a 
 troubled stream, and the more he labom-ed to lull himself to slumber, 
 the farther he seemed from attaining his object. He tried all the re- 
 
 sourcesi^immon in such cases ; kept counting from one to a thousand, 
 
 '" 1^ head was giddy- 
 his eyes were dazzled — lie listened to the dull moaning of the wind, 
 
 until a^ head was giddy — he watched the embers of the wood fire till 
 
 the swinging and creaking of signs which projected from the houses, 
 and the baying of here and there a homeless dog, till his very ear was 
 weary. 
 
 Suddenly, however, amid this monotony, came a sound which startled 
 him at once. It was a female shriek. He sat up in his bed to listen, 
 then remembered he was in Alsatia, where brawls of every sort were 
 current among the unridy inhabitants. But another scream, and an- 
 other, and another, succeeded so close, that he was certain, though the 
 noise was remote and sounded stifled, it must be in the same house 
 with himself. 
 
 Nigel jumped up hastily, put on a part of his clothes, seized his sword 
 and pistols, and ran to the door of his chamber. Here he plainly heard 
 the screams redoubled, and, as he thought, the sounds came from the 
 usurer's apartment. All access to the gallery was effectually excluded 
 by the intermediate door, v\-hich the brave young lord shook with eager 
 but vain impatience. But the secret passage occurred suddenly to his 
 
 1 recollection. He liastened back to his room, and succeeded with some 
 
 ■^ ditticulty in lighting a candle, powerfully agitated by hearing the cries 
 repeated, yet still more afraid lest they should sink into silence. 
 
 lie rushed along the narrow and winding entrance, guided by the 
 noise, which now burst more wildly on his ear ; and, while he descended 
 a narrow staircase which terminated the passage, he heard the stifled 
 voices of men, encouraging, as it seemed, each other. — " D — n her, 
 
 j strike her down— silence her— beat her brains out !" — while the voice 
 of his hostess, though now almost exhausted, was repeating the cry of 
 " mm'der," and " help." At the bottom of the staircase was a small 
 door, which give way before Nigel as he precipitated himself upon the 
 scene of action, — a cocked pistol in one hand, a candle in the other, and 
 
 1 his naked SAVord under his arm. 
 
 Two rulhans had, with great difficulty, overpowered, or, rather, were 
 on the point of overpowering, the daughter of Trapbois, whose resist- 
 ance appeared to have been'most desperate, for the floor was covered 
 with fragments of her clothes and handfuls of her hair. It appeared 
 that her life was about to be the price of her defence, for one villain 
 
 f had drawn a long clasp-knife, when they were surprised by the entrance 
 
 , of Nigel, who, as they tm-ned towards him, shot the fellow with the 
 knife dead on the spot, and, when the other advanced to him, hurled 
 
 ■ the candlestick at his head, and then attacked him with his sword. It 
 was dark, save some pale moonlight from the windcnv ; and the ruffian, 
 after firing a pistol without effect, and fighting a traverse or two ^ith 
 his sword, lost heart, made for the window, leaped over it, and escaped. 
 Nigel fired his remaining pistol after him at a venture, and then called 
 
 I for lipht 
 
>12 THE FOKTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 " There is light in the kitchen," answered Martha Trapbois, with 
 more presence of mind than could have been expected. " Stay, you 
 know not the way ; I will fetch it myself.— Oh ! my father — my poor 
 father !— I knew it would come to this — and all along of the accursed 
 gold ! — They have murdered him !" 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Death finds us 'mid our playthings — snatches us, 
 As a ci'oss nurse might do a wayward child, 
 From all our toys and baubles. His rough call 
 Unlooses all our favourite ties on earth ; 
 And well if they are such as may be answer'd 
 In yonder world, where all is judged of trulv. 
 
 Old Play. 
 
 It was a ghastly scene which opened upon Martha Trapbois' return 
 with a light. Her owii haggard and austere features were exaggerated 
 by all the desperation of grief, fear, and passion — but the latter was 
 predominant. On the floor lay the body of the robber, who had expired 
 without a gi'oan, while his blood, flowing plentifully, had crimsoned all 
 around. Another body lay also there, on which the unfortunate woman 
 precipitated herself in agony, for it was that of her unhappy father. In 
 the next moment she started up, and exclaiming—" There may be life 
 yet !" strove to raise the body. Nigel went to her assistance, but not 
 without a glance at the open window ; which Martha, as acute as if 
 undisturbed either by passion or terror, failed not to interpret justly. ^; 
 
 " Fear not," she cried, " fear not ; they are base cowards, to wlioni' 
 courage is as much mikno'^s'n as mercy. If I had had ^veapons, I could 
 have defended myself against them without assistance or protection. — 
 Oh ! my poor father ! protection comes too late for this cold and stiff 
 cori3se. — He is dead — dead !" . . 
 
 While she spoke, they were attempting to raise the dead body of the 
 old miser ; but it was evident, even from the feeling of the inactive 
 weight and rigid joints, that life had forsaken her station. Nigel looked 
 for a wound, but saw none. The daughter of the deceased, with more 
 presence of mind than a daughter could at the time have been supposed 
 capable of exerting, discovered the instrument of his murder — a sort of 
 scarf, which had been drawn so tight round his throat as to stifle his 
 cries for assistance in the first instance, and afterwards to extingTush 
 life. 
 
 She undid the fatal noose ; and, laying the old man's body in the 
 arms of Lord Glenvarloch, she ran for water, for spirits, for essences, in 
 the vain hope that life might be only suspended. That hope proved 
 indeed vain. She chafed his temples, raised his head, loosened his 
 night-gown (for it seemed as if he had arisen from bed upon hearing 
 tlie entrance of the villains), and, finally, oiiened, with dilliculty, his 
 fixed and closely-clenched hands, from one of which drujmed a key, 
 IVoni the other the very jiicce of gold il)v\:Ji wliich the unhappy man 
 had been a little before so anxious, and which probably, in tlie impaired 
 
TUE FORTUNES OB IS'lOEL. 213 
 
 state of his mental facilities, he was disposed to defend Avith as desper-i'/ 
 ate energy as if its amount had been necessary to his actual existence. '• 
 
 "It is in vain — it is in vain," said the daughter, desisting from her 
 fruitless attempts to recaU the spirit which had been effectually dis- 
 lodged, for the neck had been twisted by the violence of the murderers ; 
 " It is in vain— he is miu'dered — I ah»'ays knew it would be thus ; and 
 now I witness it !" 
 
 She then snatched up the key and the piece of liioney, but it was 
 only to dash them again on the floor, as she exclaimed, " Accui'sed bSij 
 ye both, for you are the causes of this deed !" 
 
 Nigel would have spoken — would have reminded her, that measures 
 shouJd be instantly taken for the pursuit of the mm-derer who had 
 escaped, as well as for her own security against Ms retui^n ; but she 
 interrupted him sharply. 
 
 "Ee silent," she said, "be silent. Think you, the thoughts of my 
 ovm heart are not enough to distract me, and with such a sight as this 
 before me ? I say, be silent," she said again, and in a yet sterner tone 
 — " Can a daughter listen, and her father's niui'dered corpse lying on 
 her knees !" 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch, however overpowered by the energy of her griet' 
 felt not the less the embaiTassment of his own situation. He had 
 discharged both his pistols — the robber might retiu-n — he had probably 
 other assistants besides the man who had fallen, and it seemed to him, 
 indeed, as if he had heard a muttering beneath the windov^'s. He ex- 
 plained hastily to his companion the necessity of procming ammunition. 
 
 "You are right," she said somewhat contemptuously, "and have 
 ventured already more than ever I expected of man. Go and shift for 
 yourself, since that is yom' purpose — leave me to my fate." 
 
 Without stopping for needless expostulation, Nigel hastened to 
 his ovm room through the secret passage, furnished himself with the 
 ammunition he sought for, and returned with the same celerity ; wonder- 
 ing himself at the acciuracy With wliich he achieved, in the dark, all 
 the meanderings of the passage which he had traversed oidy once, and 
 that in a moment of such violent agitation. 
 
 He foimd, on his retm-n, the unfortunate woman standing like a 
 statue by the body of her father, wliich she had laid straight on the 
 floor, having covered the face with the skirt of his gown. She testified 
 neither siu'prise nor pleasure at Nigel's retm-n, but said to him calmly 
 — " ]My moan is made — my sorrow — all the sorrow at least that man 
 shall ever have noting of, is gone past ; but I will have justice, and the 
 base villam who mindered this poor defenceless old man, when he had 
 not, by the course of natm-e, a twelvemonth's life in him, shall not 
 cumber the earth long after him. Stranger, whom Heaven has sent to 
 forward the revenge reserved for this action, go to Hildebrod's— there 
 they are awake all night in their revels — bid him come hither — he is 
 bound by his duty, and dare not, and shall not, refuse his assistance^ 
 Tfhich he knows well I can reward. Why do ye tarry / — go instantly.' 
 
 "I would," said Nigel, "but I am fearful of leaving you alone; the 
 villains may retm-n, and " 
 
 "True, most true," answered Martha, "he may return ;and, though 
 I care little for his murdering me, he may possess himself of what has 
 
214 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL, 
 
 most tempted him. Keep this key and this piece of gold ; they are 
 l3oth of importance— defend your life if assailed, and if you kill the 
 villain I will make you rich. I go myself to call for aid." 
 
 Nigel would have remonstrated with her, but she had departed, and 
 in a moment he lieard the house-door clank behind her. For an instant 
 he thought of following her ; but upon recollection that the distance 
 was but short betwixt the tavern of Hildebrod and the house of 
 Trapbois, he concluded that she knew it better than he— incurred little 
 danger in passing it, and that he would do well in the meanwhile to 
 remain on the watch as she recommended. 
 
 It was no pleasant situation for one unused to such scenes to remain 
 in the apartment with two dead bodies, recently those of living and 
 breathing men, who had both, within the space of less than half an 
 hour, suffered violent death ; one of them by the hand of the assassin, 
 the other, whose blood still continued to flow from the wound in his 
 throat, and to flood all around him, by the spectator's o^vn deed of 
 violence, though of Justice. He turned his face from those wretched 
 relics of mortality with a feeling of disgust, mingled Avith superstition ; 
 and he found, when he had done so, that the consciousness of the 
 presence of these ghastly objects, though unseen by him, rendered him 
 more uncomfortal^le than even when he had his eyes fixed upon, and 
 reflected by, the cold, staring, lifeless eyeballs of the deceased. Fancy 
 also played her usual sport with liim. He now thought he heard the 
 Avell-worn damask night-goTNii of the deceased usurer rustle ; anon, that 
 he heard the slaughtered bravo draw up his leg, the boot scratching the 
 floor as if he was about to rise ; and again he deemed he heard the 
 footsteps and the whisper of the returned rufiian under the window 
 from which he had lately escaped. To face the last and most real 
 danger, and to parry the terrors which the other class of feelings were 
 like to impress upon him, Nigel went to tlie window, and was much 
 cheered to observe the light of several torches illuminating the street, 
 and followed, as the murmur of voices denoted, by a number of persons, 
 armed, it Avould seem, with firelocks and halberds, and attendant on 
 Hildebrod, who (not in his fantastic office of duke, but in that which 
 he really possessed, of bailift' of the liberty and sanctuary of Whitefriars) 
 v\^as on his way to inquire into the. crime and its circumstances. 
 
 It was a strange and melancholy contrast to see these debauchees, 
 disturbed in the very depth of their midnight revel, on their anival 
 at such a scene as this. They stared on each other, and on the bloody 
 work before them, with lack-lustre eyes ; staggered with uncertain 
 steps over boards slippery with blood ; their noisy brawling voices sunk 
 into stammering whispers ; and, with spirits quelled by what they saw, 
 while their brains were still stupified by the liquor which they had 
 drunk, they seemed like men walking in their slee]x 
 
 Old Hildebrod was an exception to the general condition. That 
 seasoned cask, however full, was at all times capable of motion, when 
 there occurred a motive sufiiciently strong to set him a-rolling. He 
 seemed much shocked at what he beheld, and his proceedings, in conse- 
 quence, had more in them of regularity and propriety than he might 
 have been supposed capable of exhibiting upon any occasion whatever. 
 The daughter was first examined, and stated, with wonderful accm-acy 
 
TUE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 215 
 
 and distinctness, the manner in -wliicli she liad been alarmed witli a 
 noise of struggling and violence in her father's apartment, and that 
 the more readily, because she was watching him on account of some 
 alarm concerning his health. On her entrance, she had seen her father 
 sinking under the strength of two men, upon whom she rushed with all 
 the fury she was capable of. As their faces were blackened, and their 
 figiu'es disguised, she could not pretend, in the hurry of a moment so 
 dreadfully agitating, to distingaiish either of them as persons whom she 
 had seen before. She remembered little more except the firing of shots, 
 until she found herself alone with her guest, and saw that the ruffians 
 had escaped. 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch told his story as we have given it to the reader. 
 The direct evidence thus received, Hildebrod examined the premises. 
 He found that the villains had made their entrance by tlie window out 
 of which the survivor had made his escape ; yet it seemed singular that 
 they should have done so, as it was secured with strong iron bars, which 
 old Trapbois was in the habit of shutting with his own hands at night- 
 fall. He minuted down, with great accuracy, the state of everything 
 in the apartment, and examined carefully the features of the slain 
 robber. He was dressed like a seaman of the loAvest order, but his face 
 was known to none present. Hildebrod next sent for an Alsatian sur- 
 geon, whose vices, undoing what his skill might have done for him, 
 had consigned him to the wretched practice of tbis place. He made him 
 examine the dead bodies, and make a proper declaration of the manner 
 in which the sufferers seemed to have come by their end. The circum- 
 stance of the sash did not escape the learned judge, and, having listened 
 to all that could be heard or conjectured on the subject, and collected 
 all particulars of evidence which appeared to bear on the bloody trans- 
 action, he commanded the door of the apartment to be locked until 
 next morning ; and carrying the unfortunate daughter of the murdered 
 man into the kitchen, Avhere there was no one in presence but Lord 
 Glenvarloch, he asked her gravely whether she suspected no one in 
 particular of having committed the deed. 
 
 "Do you suspect no one/" answered Martha, looking fixedly on 
 him. 
 
 "Perhaps I may, mistress ; but it is my pari to ask questions, yours 
 to answer them. That's the rule of the game." 
 
 " Then I suspect him who wore yonder sash. Do not you know whom 
 i I mean T' 
 
 " Why, if you call on me for honours, I must needs say I have seen 
 Captain Peppercull have one of such a fashion, and he was not a man 
 to change his suits often." 
 
 " Send out, then," said Martha, "and have him apprehended." 
 
 " If it is he, he will be far by this time ; but I will conmiunicate 
 1 with the higher powers," answered the judge. 
 
 "You would have him escape," resumed she, fixing her eyes on liim 
 sternly. 
 
 "By cock and pie," replied Hildebrod, "did it depend on me, the 
 murdering cut-throat should hang as high as ever Haman did — but let 
 me take my time. He has friends among us, that you wot well ; and 
 all that should assist me are as drunk as fiddlers." 
 
216 THE rOKTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " I will have revenge— I will have it," repeated she ; " and take 
 heed you tritie not witli me." 
 
 " Trifle ! I would sooner tritie with a she-bear the minute after they 
 had baited her. I tell you, mistress, be but patient, and we will have 
 him. I know all his haunts, and he cannot forbear them long ; and I 
 will have trajj-doors open for him. You cannot want justice, mistress, 
 for you have the means to get it." 
 
 "■ They who help me in my revenge," said Martha, " shall share these 
 means." 
 
 *'' Enough said," replied Hildebrod ; "and now I would have you go 
 to my house, ana get somethmg hot — you will be but dreary here by 
 yourself." 
 
 "I will send for the old char- woman," replied Martha, "and we 
 have the stranger gentleman, besides." 
 
 " Umph, umph — the stranger gentleman !" said Hildebrod to Nigel, 
 whom he drew a little apart. " I fancy the captain has made the 
 stranger gentleman's fortune "when he was making a bold dash for his 
 awn.. I can tell your honour— I must not say lordship — that I tliink 
 my having chanced to ^ive the greasy buff-and-iron scoundrel some hint 
 cf what I recommended to you to-day, has put him on this rough game. 
 The better for you — you will get the cash without the father-in-law. — 
 You will keep conditions, I trust T 
 
 " I wish you had said nothing to any one of a scheme so absurd," 
 said Nigel. 
 
 " Absm'd ! — Why, think you she will not have thee ? Take her 
 with the tear in her eye, man — take her with the tear in her eye. Let 
 me hear from you to-morrow. Good-night, good- night — a nod is as 
 good as a wink. I must to my business of sealing and locking up. By 
 the way, this horrid work has put all out of my head — Here is a fellow 
 from Mr Lowestoflfe has been asking to see you. As he said his busi- 
 ness v;as express, the Senate only made him drink a couple of flagons, 
 and he was just coming to beat up your quarters when this breeze blew 
 up, — Ahey, friend ! there is Master Nigel Grahame." 
 
 A young man, dressed in a green plush jerkin, with a badge on the 
 sleeve, and having the appearance of a waterman, approached and took 
 Nigel aside, while Duke Hildebrod went from place to place to exercise 
 his authority, and to see the windows fastened, and the doors of the 
 apartment locked up. The news commmiicated by Lowestoffe's mes- 
 senger were not the most pleasant. They were intimated in a courteous 
 whisper to Nigel, to tlife follov/ing effect : — That Master Lowestofle 
 prayed him"to consult his safety by instantly leaving Whitefriars, for 
 that a warrant from the Lord Chief- Justice had been issued out for 
 apprehending him, and would be put in force to-morrow, hj the assist- 
 ance of a party of musketeers, a force which the Alsatians neither 
 would nor dared to resist. 
 
 "And so, squire," said the aquatic emissary, "my wherry is to wait 
 you at the Temple Stairs yonder, at five this morning, and, if you 
 would give the blood-hounds the slip, why, you may." 
 
 " Why did not Master Lowestotfe write to me ?" said Nigel. 
 
 " Alas ! the good gentleman lies up in lavender for it himself, and 
 has as little to do with pen and ink as if he were a parson." 
 
TUE ITORTUNES OF NIGEL. 217 
 
 " Bid he send any token to me 1" said Nigel. 
 
 " Token ! — ^ay, marry did he — token enough, an I have not forgot 
 it," said the fellow ; then, giving a hoist to the waistband of Iiis 
 breeches, he said, — "Ay, I have it — you v/ere to believe me, because 
 yom- name was written with an 0, for Grahame. Ay, that was it, I 
 thinlc. — Well, shall we meet in two houi-s, when tide tmiis, and go 
 down the river like a twelve-oared barge T 
 
 "Where is the King just now, knowest thou?" answered Lord 
 Glenvarlock 
 
 "The King ? why, he went dovm to Greenwich yesterday by water, 
 like a noble sovereign as he is, who ^viU always float where he can. Ke 
 was to have hunted this week, but that pmiDOse is broken, they say ; 
 and the Prince, and the Dul^e, and all of them at Greenwich, are as 
 merry as minnows." 
 
 " Well," replied Nigel, '^ I will be ready to go at five ; do thou come 
 hither to carry my baggage." 
 
 "Ay, ay, master," rephed the fellow, and left the house, mixmg 
 himself with the disorderly attendants of Duke Hildebrod, who were 
 now retiring. The potentate entreated Nigel to make fast the doors 
 behind him, and, pointing to the female Avho sat by the expiring fire 
 with her limbs outstretched, like one whom the hand of Death had 
 already arrested, he whispered, " Mind your hits, and mind your bar- 
 gain, or I will cut yom: bow-string for you before you can draw 
 it." 
 
 Feeling deeply the inefi"able brutality which could recommend the 
 prosecuting such views over a wretch in silcii a condition, Lord Glen- 
 varloch yet commanded his temper so far as to receive the advice in 
 silence, and attend to the former part of it, by barring the door care- 
 fully behind Duke Hildebrod and his suite, with the tacit hope that he 
 shoidd never a^ain see or hear of them. He then returned to the 
 kitchen, in wliich the unhappy woman remained, her hands still 
 clenched, her eyes fixed, and her Imibs extended like those of a person 
 in a trance. Much moved by her situation, and with the prospect 
 which lay before her, he endeavoured to awaken her to existence by 
 every means in his poAver, and at length apparentlv succeeded in dis- 
 pelhng her stupor, and attracting her attention. He then explained 
 to her that he was in the act of leaving "Whitefriars in a few hours— 
 that his future destination was imcertain, but that he desired anxiously 
 to know whether he could contribute to her protection by apprizing any 
 fiiend of lier situation, or other\Aise. With some difiiculty she seemed 
 to comprehend his meaning, and thanked him with her iLsual short un- 
 gi-acious manner. " He might mean well," she said, " but he ought 
 to knoAV that the miserable had no friends." 
 
 Nigel said, "*He would not ^vUlingly be importunate, but, as he was 
 about to leave the Friars " She interrupted him — 
 
 " You are about to leave the Friars ? I will go with you." 
 
 " You go wath me !" exclaimed Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 " Yes " she said ; " I will persuade my father to leave this murder- 
 ing deii. But, as she spoke, the more perfect recollection of what had 
 passed crowded on her mind. She liid her face in her hands, and bm-st 
 out into a dreadful fit of sobs, nloanS, and lamentations, which terminated 
 
218 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 in liysterics, violent in proportion to the uncommon strength of her body 
 and mind. 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch, shocked, confused, and inexperienced, was about 
 to leave the house in quest of medical, or at least female, assistance ; i 
 but the patient, when the paroxysm had somewhat spent its force, lield j 
 him fast by the sleeve with one hand, covering her face with the other, ■ 
 while a copious flood of tears came to relieve the emotions of grief by 
 which she had been so violently agitated. 
 
 "Do not leave me," she said — "do not leave me, and call no one. 
 I have never been in this way before, and would not now," she said, / 
 sitting upright, and v/iping her eyes with her apron, — "would not now ■ 
 —but that— but that he loved me, if he loved nothing else that was 
 human — To die so, and by such liands !" 
 
 And again the unhappy woman gave way to a paroxysm of sorrow, r 
 mingling her tears with sobbing, wailing, and all the abandonment of 
 female grief when at its utmost height. At length, she gradually re- 
 covered the austerity of her natural composure, and maintained it as if 
 by a forcible exertion of resolution, repelling, as she spoke, the repeated 
 returns of the hysterical afiection by such an effort as that by which 
 epileptic patients are known to suspend the recurrence of their fits. 
 Yet her mind, however resolved, could not so absolutely overcome the 
 affection of her nerves, but that she was agitated Ijy strong fits of 
 trembling, which, for a minute or two at a time, shook her whole frame 
 in a manner frightful to witness. Nigel forgot liis own situation, and, 
 indeed, everything else, in the interest inspired by tlie unhappy 
 woman before him— an interest whicli aftected a proud spirit tiie more 
 deeply, that she herself, with correspondent highness of mind, seemed 
 determined to owe as little as possible either to the humanity ^or the 
 pity of others. 
 
 " I am not Avont to be in this way," she said, — "but — but— Natarc 
 will have power over the frail beings it has made. Over you, sir^ I have 
 some right ; for, without you, I had not survived this awful night. I 
 wish your aid had been either earlier or later — but you have saved my 
 life, and you are bound to assist in making it endurable to me." 
 
 " If you will shoAv me how it is possible," answered Nigel. 
 
 " You are going hence, you say, instantly— carry me with yon," said 
 the unhappy woman. " By my own efforts, I shall never escape from 
 this wilderness of guilt and misery." 
 
 " Alas ! what can I do for you i" replied Nigel. "_My own way, and 
 I must not deviate from it, leads me, in all probability, to a dungeon. 
 1 might, indeed, transport you from hence with me, if you coidd after- 
 wards bestow yourself with any friend." 
 
 " Friend 1" she exclaimed — " I have no friend — they have long since 
 discarded us, A spectre arising from the dead were more welcome than 
 I should be at the doors of those who have disclaimed us ; and, if they 
 were willing to restore their friendshijD to me now, I would despise it, 
 because they withdrew it from him — Irom him" — (here she underwent 
 strong but suppressed agitation, and then added firmly)—" from him 
 who lies yonder. — I have no friend." Plere she paused ; and then 
 suddenly, as if recollecting herself, added, " I have no friend, but I 
 liave that will purchase many— I nave that which will purchase both 
 
THE rOllTUNES OF NIGEL. 219 
 
 j friends and cavengers. — It is Tvell thought of; I must not leave it for a 
 i| prey to cheats and ruffians.— Stranger, you must retm-n to yonder room. 
 I Pass through it boldly to his — tliat is, to the sleeping apartment ; push 
 i the bedstead aside ; beneath each of the posts is a brass plate, as if to 
 I support the weight, but it is that upon the left, nearest to the wall, which 
 ■' must serve your tiu:n — press the corner of the plate, and it will spring 
 I up and show a key-hole, which this key will open. You will then lift 
 i a concealed trap-door, and in a cavity of the floor you will discover 
 
 1a small chest. Bring it hither; it shall accompany our journey, and 
 it will be hard if the contents camiot purchase me a place of refuge." 
 " But the door commmiicatmg with the kitchen has been locked by 
 these people," said Nigel. 
 
 True, I had forgot ; they had their reasons for that, doubtless," 
 answered slie. " But the secret passage from yom- apartment is open, 
 and you may go that way." 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch took the key, and, as he lighted a lamp to show 
 him the way, she read in his comitenance some miwillingness to the task 
 imposed. 
 
 "You fear," she said — "there is no cause; the murderer and his 
 victim are both at rest. Take courage, I will go with you myself— you 
 camiot know the trick of the spring, and the chest will be too heavy 
 for you." 
 
 No fear, no fear," answered Lord Glenvarloch, ashamed of the 
 construction she put upon a momentary hesitation, arising from a 
 dislike to look upon what is horrible, often connected with those high- 
 AM'ought minds which are the last to fear what is merely dangerous— 
 " I will do yom* errand as you desire ; but, for you, you must not — cannot 
 I' go yonder." 
 
 " I can — I will," she said. " I am composed. You shall see that I 
 am so." She took from the table a piece of unfinished sewing-work, 
 and,, with steadiness and composure, passed a silken thread into the eye 
 of a fine needle. — " Could I have done that," she said^ with a smile yet 
 more ghastly than her previous look of fixed despair, " had not my 
 heart and hand been both steady ?" 
 
 She then led the way rapidly up-stairs to Nigel's chamber, and pro- 
 seded through the secret passage with the same haste, as if she nad 
 feared her resolution might have failed her ere her purpose was executed. 
 
 At the bottom of the stairs she paused a moment, before entering the 
 fatal apartment, then hurried tlu'ough with a rapid step to the sleeping 
 chamber beyond, followed closely by Lord Glenvarloch, whose reluctance 
 to approach the scene of butchery was altogether lost in the anxiety 
 which he felt on account of the survivor of the tragedy. 
 
 Her first action was to pull aside the cm-tains of her father's bed. 
 The bed-clothes were thro'wn aside in confusion, doubtless in the action 
 of his starting from sleep to oppose the entrance of the villains into the 
 next apartment. The hard mattress scarcely showed the slight pressure 
 ! where the emaciated body of the old miser had been deposited. His 
 daughter sank beside the bed, clasped her hands, and prayed to Heaven, 
 in a short and affecting manner, for support in her afliiction, and for 
 vengeance on the villains Avho had made her fatherless. A low-muttered 
 and still more brief petition, recommended to Heaven the soul of the 
 
220 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 sufferer, and invoked pardon for his sins, in virtue of the great 
 Christia.n atonement. 
 
 This duty of piety performed, she signed to Nigel to aid her ; and, 
 having pushed aside the heavy bedstead, they saw the brass plate which 
 Martha had described. Slie pressed the spring, and, at once, the plate 
 starting up showed the keyliole, and a large iron ring used in lifting 
 the trap-cfoor, which, when raised, displayed the strong-box, or small 
 chest, she had mentioned, and which proved indeed so very weighty, 
 that it might perhaps have been scarcely possible for Nigel, though a 
 very strong man, to have raised it without assistance. 
 
 Having replaced everything as they had found it, Nigel, with such 
 help as his companion was able to afford, assumed his load, aiul made 
 a shift to carry it into the next apartment where lay the miserable 
 owner, insensible to sounds and circumstances, which, if anything could 
 have broken his long last slumber, would certainly have doiie so. 
 
 ilis imfortunate daughter went up to his body, and had even the 
 courage to remove the sheet which had been decently disposed over it. 
 She put her hand on the heart, but there was no throb — held a feather 
 to the lips, but there was no n'lotion— then kissed with deep reverence 
 the starting veins of the pale forehead, and then the ejnaciated hand, 
 
 " I would you could hear me," she said, — " Father ! I wuuld you 
 could hear me swear, that, if I now save what you most valued on earth, 
 it is oidy to assist me in obtaining vengeance for your death !" 
 
 She replaced the covering, and, without a tear, a sigh, or an addi- 
 tional word of any kind, renewed her efforts, until they conveyed the 
 strong-box betwixt them into Lord GlenvarloclVs sleeping-apartment. 
 " It must pass," she said, " as part of your baggage. I will be in readi- 
 ness so soon as the waterman calls." 
 
 She retired ; and Lord Glenvarloch, who saw the hour of their de- 
 parture approach, tore down a part of the old hanging to make a cover- 
 mg, which he corded upon the trunk, lest the peculiarity of its shape, 
 and the care with which it was banded and coimterbanded with bars of 
 steel, might afford suspicions respecting the treasiu-e which it contained. 
 Having taken this measure of precaution, he changed the rascally dis- 
 guise, which he had assumed on entering AVhitefriars, into a suit 
 becoming his quality, and then, unable to sleep, though exhausted with 
 the events of the night, he threw himself on his bed to await the sum- 
 mons of the waterman. 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 CHAPTER XXVL 
 
 Give ns pood royajje, lercntle stream — -we stnn not 
 Thy sober ear -with sounds of revelry; 
 Wake not the sliimberinK echoes of thy banks 
 "With voice of fiute and horn — we do but seek 
 On the broad patliway of thy swelling bosom 
 
 To glide in silent safety. /i 
 
 The Double Bridal j 
 
 Gray, or rather yellow light was beginning to twinkle through the 
 fogs of Wbitefriars, when a low tap at the door of the unhappy miser 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 221 
 
 aniioiiiiced to Lord Glenvarlocli the smnmons of the boatman. He 
 found at the door the man -whom he had seen the night before, with a 
 
 companion. 
 
 " Gome, come, master, let us get afloat," said one of them, in a rough 
 impressive whisper, " time and tide wait for no man." 
 
 " They shall not wait for me," said Lord Glenvarloch ; " but I have 
 some things to carry with me." 
 
 "Ay, ay — no man will take a pair of oare now, Jack, unless he means 
 to loali tlie wheny like a six-horse waggon. W hen they don't want to 
 shift the whole kitt, they take a skuller, and be d — d to them. — Come, 
 come, where be your rattle-traps T' 
 
 One of the men was soon sufficiently loaded, in his own estimation 
 at least, with Lord Glenvarloch's mail and its accompaniments, with 
 which biu-den he began to trudge towards the Temple Stairs. His 
 comrade, who seemed the principal, began to handle the trunk which 
 contained the miser's treasm^e, but pitched it down again in an instant, 
 cTeclaring, with a great oath, that it v;as as reasonable to expect a man 
 to carry Paul's on his back. The daughter of Trapbois, who had by 
 this time joined them, muffled up in a long dark hood and mantle, ex- 
 claimed to Lord Glenvarloch — "Let them leave it if they will — let 
 them leave it all ; let us but escape from this horrible place." _ 
 
 We have mentioned somewhere that Nigel was a very athletic young 
 man, and, impelled by a strong feeling of compassion and indignation, 
 he showed his bodily strength singularly on this occasion by seizing on 
 the ponderous strong-box, and, by means of the rope he had cast aromid 
 it, throwing it on his shoulders, and marching resolutely forward under 
 J a weight which would have sunk to the earth three youn^ gallants, at 
 the least, of our degenerate day. The waterman followed him in amaze- 
 ment, calling out, " Why, master, master_, you might as well gie me 
 t'other end on't !" and anon offered his assistance to support it in some 
 ■ degree behind, which after the first minute or two Nigel was fain to 
 accept. His strength was almost exhausted when he reached the 
 wherry, which was lying at the Temple Stairs according to appoint- 
 ment ; and, when he pitched the trunk into it, the weight sank the 
 bow of the boat so low in the water as well-nigh to overset it, 
 
 " We shall have as hard a fare of it," said the waterman to his com- 
 panion, "as if we were ferrying over an honest bankrupt with all his 
 secreted goods— Ho, ho ! good woman, wliat are you stepping in for— 
 our gunwale lies deep enough in the water without live lumber to boot." 
 
 " This person comes with me," said Lord Glenvarloch ; "she is for 
 the present under my protection." 
 
 " Come, come, master," rejoined the fellow, "that is out of my com- 
 mission. You must not double my frei^jht on me — she may go *by the 
 land— and, as for protection, her face will protect her from Berwick to 
 the Land's End." 
 
 " You will not except at my doubling the loading, if I double the 
 fare'/" said Nigel, determined on no account to relinquish the pro- 
 tection of this imhappy woman, for which he had already devised some 
 sort of plan, likely now to be" baffled by the characteristic rudeness of 
 the Thames watermen. 
 
 " Ay, by G— , but I will except, though," said the fellow with the 
 
222 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 green plush jacket; "I will overload my -wherry neither for love nor 
 2iioney — I love my boat as well as my wile, and a thought better." 
 
 "In ay, nay, comradeV' said his mate, "that is speaking no true 
 water language. For double fare we are bound to roAv a witch in her 
 eggshell if she bid us ; and so pull away, Jack, and let us have no 
 more prating." 
 
 They got into the stream- way accordingly, and, although heavily 
 laden, 'began to move down the river with reasonable speed. 
 
 The lighter vessels which passed, overtook, or crossed them in their 
 course, failed not to assail them with the boisterous raillery, which was 
 then called water- wit; for which the extreme plainness of Mistress 
 Martha's features, contrasted with the youth, handsome figure, and 
 good looks of Nigel, furnished the principal topics _; while the circum- 
 stance of the boat being somewhat overloaded did not escape their 
 notice. They Avere hailed successively as a gTocer's wife upon a party 
 of pleasure with her eldest apprentice — as an old woman carrying her 
 grandson to school — and as a young strapping Irishman, conveying 
 an ancient maiden to Dr Rigmarole's at Reariffe, who buckles beggars 
 for a tester and a dram of Geneva. All this abuse was retorted in a 
 Bimilar strain of humour by Green-jacket and his companion, who 
 maintained the war of wit with the same alacrity with which they 
 were assailed. 
 
 Meanwhile, Lord Glenvarloch asked his desolate companion if she 
 had thought on any place where she could remain in safety with lier 
 property. She confessed in more detail than formerly, that her father's 
 character had left her no friends ; and that, from the time he had be- 
 taken himself to AYhitefriars, to escape certain legal consequences of 
 his eager pursuit of gain, she had lived a life of total seclusion ; not 
 associating with the societv which the place afforded, and, by her 
 residence there, as well as her father's parsimony, effectually cut off 
 from all other companv. What she now wished was, in the first 
 place, to obtain the shelter of a decent lodging, and the countenance 
 of honest people, however low in life, until she should obtain legal 
 advice as to the mode of obtaining justice on her father's murderer. 
 She had no hesitation to charge the guilt upon Colepepper (commonly 
 called PeppercuU), whom she knew to be as capable of any act of 
 treacherous cruelty, as he was cowardly where actual manhood was 
 required. He had been strongly suspected of two robberies before, 
 one of which was coupled with an atrocious murder. He had, sho 
 intimated, made pretensions to her hand as the easiest and safest way 
 ■ of obtaining possession of her father's wealth, and, on her refusing his 
 addresses, if they could be termed so, in the most positive terms, he 
 had thrown out such obscure hints of vengeance, as, joined with some 
 imperfect assaults upon the house, had kept her in frequent alarm, 
 both on her father's account and her own. 
 
 Nigel, but that his feeling of respectful delicacy to the unfortunate 
 woman forbade him to do so, could here have commmiicated a circum- 
 stance corroborative of her suspicions which had already occmTed to 
 liis own mind. He recollected the hint that old Hildebrod threw 
 forth on the preceding night, that some communication betwixt him- 
 self and Colepepper had hastened the catastrophe. As thi^ commuiii- 
 
THE FOrvTUNES OF NIGEL. 223 
 
 cation related to the plan which Hildebrod had been pieased to form, 
 of promoting a marriage betwixt Nigel himself and the rich heiress of 
 Trapbois, the fear of losing an opportunity not to be regained, together 
 with the mean malignity of a low-bred ruffian, disappointed in a 
 favomite scheme, was most likely to instigate the bravo to the deed 
 of violence which had been committed. The reflection that his own 
 name was in some degree implicated with the causes of tliis horrid 
 tragedy doubled Lord Glenvarloch's anxiety in behalf of the victim 
 whom he had rescued, while at the same time he formed the tacit 
 resolution, that, so soon as his own affairs were put upon some footing, 
 he would contribute all in his power towards the investigation of ttiis 
 bloody affair. 
 
 After ascertaining from his companion that she could form no better 
 plan of her own, he recommended to her to take up her lodging for 
 the time at the house of his old landlord, Clnistie, the ship-chandler, 
 at Paul's Wharf, describing the decency and honesty of that worthy 
 couple, and expressing his hopes that they would receive her into 
 their own house, or recommend her at least to that of some person for 
 whom they would be responsible, until she should have time to enter 
 upon other arrangements for herself. 
 
 The poor woman received advice so grateful to her in her desolate con- 
 dition with an expression of thanks, brief indeed, but deeper than any- 
 thing had yet extracted from the austerity of her natural disposition. 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch then proceeded to inform Martha that certain 
 reasons, connected with his personal safety, called him immediately 
 to Greenwich, and, therefore, it would not be in his power to accom- 
 pany her to Christie's house, wdiich lie would otherwise have done with 
 f)leasm-e ; but, tearing a leaf from his tablet, he "vvrote on it a few 
 ines, addressed to his landlord, as a man of honesty and humanity, 
 in which he described the bearer as a person v/ho stood in singidar 
 necessity of temporary protection and good advice, for which her 
 circumstances enabled her to make ample acknowledgment. He, 
 therefore, requested John Christie, as his old and good friend, to 
 afford her the shelter of his roof for a short time ; or, if that might 
 not be consistent with his convenience, at least to direct her to a 
 proper lodging — and, finally, he imposed on him the additional, and 
 somewhat more difficult commission, to recommend her to the counsel 
 and services of an honest, at least a reputable and skilful attorney, 
 I for the transacting some law business of importance. This note he 
 subscribed with his real name, and delivering it to his protegee^ who 
 received it with another deeply uttered "I thank you," which spoke 
 the sterling feelings of her gratitude better than a thousand combined 
 phrases, he commanded the waterman to pull in for Paul's Wharf, 
 which they were now approaching. 
 
 " We have not time," said Green-jacket ; " we camiot be stopping 
 every instant." 
 
 But, upon Nigel insisting upon his commands being obeyed, and 
 adding, that it was for the purpose of putting the lady ashore, the 
 waterman declared he would rather have her room than her company, 
 and put the wherry alongside of the wharf accordingly. Here two of 
 the porters, who ply in such places, were easily induced to undertake 
 
 Q 
 
224 THE EOKTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 tlie charge of the ponderous strong-box, and at the same time to guide 
 the owner to the well-known mansion of John Christie, with whom all 
 who lived in that neighbourhood were perfectly acquainted. 
 
 The boat, much lightened of its load, went down the Thames at a 
 rate increased in proportion. But we must forbear to pursue her in 
 lier voyage for a few minutes, since we have previously to mention the 
 issue of Lord Glenvarloch's recommendation. 
 
 3Iistress Martha Trapbois reached the shop in perfect safety, and 
 was about to enter it, when a sickening sense of the uncertainty of her 
 situation, and of the singularly painlul task of telling her story, came 
 over her so strongly, that she paused a moment at the very threshold 
 of her proposed place of refuge, to think in what manner she could best 
 second the recommendation of the friend whom Providence had raised 
 up to her. Had she possessed that knowledge of the world from which 
 . her habits of life had completely excluded her, she might have known 
 that the large sum of money which she brought along with her might, 
 judiciously managed, have been a passport to her into the mansions of 
 nobles and the palaces of princes. But, however conscious of its 
 general power, which assumes so many forms and complexions, she was 
 so inexperienced as to be most unnecessarily afraid that the means by 
 which the wealth had been acquired might exclude its inheritrix from 
 shelter even in the house of an humble tradesman. 
 
 While she thus delayed, a more reasonable cause for hesitation arose, 
 in a considerable noise and altercation within the house, which grew 
 louder and louder as the disputants issued forth upon the street or lane 
 before the door. 
 
 The first who entered upon the scene was a tall, raw-boned, hard- 
 favoured man, who stalked out of the shop hastily, with a gait like 
 that of a Spaniard in a passion, who, disdaining to add speed to his 
 locomotion by running, only condescends, in the utmost extremity of .^ 
 his angry haste, to add length to his stride. He faced about, so soon f 
 as he was out of the house, upon his pursuer, a decent-looking, elderly, 
 plain tradesman — no less than John Christie himself, the owner of the 
 shop and tenement, by whom he seemed to be follo\^ed, and who was 
 in a state of agitation more than is usually expressed by such a person. 
 
 " I'll hear no more on't," said the personage who first appeared on 
 the scene. — " Sir, I will hear no more on it. Besides being a most 
 false and impudent figment, as I can testify— it is Scandaaluon Mag- 
 naatum, sir — ScandaahLrji Magnaatum,^^ he reiterated with a broad 
 accentuation of the first vowel, well known in the Colleges of Edin- 
 burgh and Glasgow, which we can only express in print by doubling 
 the said first of letters and of vowels, and which would have cheered 
 the cockles of the reigning monarch had he been witliin hearing, — as 
 he was a severer stickler for what he deemed the genuine pronunciation 
 of the Eoman tongue than for any of the royal prerogatives, for which 
 he was at times disposed to insist so strenuously in his speeches to 
 Parliament. 
 
 " I care not an ounce of rotten cheese," said John Christie in reply, 
 " what yon call it — but it is true ; and I am a free Englishman, and 
 have right to speak the truth in my own concerns ; and yom- master is 
 little 1 ottw than a villain^ and you no more than a staggering coxcomb. 
 
THE FOJtlTUNES 01? NIGEL. 225 
 
 whose head I will presently break, as I have known it well broken 
 before on lighter occasion." 
 
 And. so saying, he flourished the paring-shovel wliich usually made 
 clean the steps of his little shop, and which he had caught un as the 
 readiest weajDon of working his foeman damage, and advancea there- 
 with upon him. The cautious Scot (for such our readers must have 
 already pronounced him, from his language and pedantry) drew back 
 as the enraged ship-chandler approached, but in a surly manner, and 
 bearing his hand on his sword-hilt rather in the act of one who was 
 losmg habitual forbearance and caution of deportment, than as alarmed 
 by the attack of an antagonist inferior to himself in youth, strength, 
 and weapons. 
 
 "Bide back," he said, "Maister Christie — I say bide back, and 
 consult your safety, man. I have evited striking you in your ain house 
 under muckle provocation, because I am ignorant how the laws here 
 may pronoimce respecting burglary and hamesucken, and such matters ; 
 and, besides, I would not willingly hurt ye, man, e'en on the causeway, 
 that is free to us baith, because I mind yoiu- kindness of lang syne, and 
 partly consider you as a poor deceived creature. But deil d — n me, sir, 
 and I am not wont to swear, but if you touch my Scotch shouther with 
 that shule of yours, I will make six inches of my Andrew Eerrara 
 deevilish intimate with your ^uts, neighbour." 
 
 And therewithal, though stiU retreating from the brandished shovel, 
 he made one-thhd of the basket-hilted broadsword which he wore 
 visible from the sheath. The wrath of John Christie was abated, 
 either by his natural temperance of disposition, or perhaps in part by 
 the glimmer of cold steel, which flashed on him from his adversary's 
 last action. 
 
 " I would do well to cry clubs on thee, and have thee ducked at the 
 wharf," he said, groimdmg his shovel, however, at the same time, 
 *'for a paltry swaggerer^ that would draw thy bit of iron there on an 
 honest citizen before his own door; but get thee gone, and reckon 
 on a salt eel for thy supper if thou shouldst ever come near ray house 
 again. I wish it had been at the bottom of Thames when it first gave 
 the use of its roof to smooth-faced, oily-tongiied, double-minded Scots 
 thieves ! " 
 
 " It's an ill bird that fouls its own nest," replied his adversary, not 
 perhaps the less bold that he saw matters were taking the turn of a 
 pacific debate ; "' and a pity it is that a kindly Scot should ever have 
 married in foreigai parts, and given life to a purse-proud, pudding- 
 headed, fat-gutted, lean-brained Southron, e'en such as you, Maister 
 Christie. But fare ye weel — fare ye weel, for ever and a day ; and, if 
 you quarrel wi' a Scot again, man, say as mickle ill o' himsell as you 
 like, but say nane of his patron or of his countrymen, or it will scarce 
 be your flat cap that will keep your lang lugs from the sharp abridg- 
 fhent of a Highland whinger, man." 
 
 " And if you continue your insolence to me before my own door, 
 were it but two minutes longer," retorted John Christie, " I will call 
 the constable, and make your Scottish ankles acquainted with an 
 English pair of stocks." 
 
 So sayiDg, he turned to retire into his shop mth some show of victory ; 
 
22G THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 for his enemy, whatever might be his innate valour, manifested no 
 desire to drive matters to extremity — conscious, perhaps, that whatever 
 advantage he might gain in single combat with John Christie, would 
 be morethan overbalanced by incurring an affair with the constituted 
 authorities of Old England, not at that time apt to be particulai;ly 
 favourable to their new fellow-subjects, in the various successive broils 
 which were then constantly taking place between the individuals of two 
 proud nations, who still retained a stronger sense of their national ani- 
 mosity diu-ing centuries, than of their late union for a few years under 
 the government of the same prince. 
 
 Mrs Martha Trapbois had dwelt too long in Alsatia to be either sur- 
 prised or terrified at the altercation she had witnessed. Indeed, she 
 only wondered that the debate did not end in some of those acts of 
 violence by which they were usually terminated in the Sanctuary. As 
 the disputants separated from each other, she, who had no idea that the 
 cause of the quarrel was more deeply rooted than in the dailv scenes of 
 the same nature which she had heard of or witnessed, did not hesitate to 
 stop Master Christie in his return to his shop, and present to him the 
 letter which Lord Glenvarloch had given to her. Had she been better 
 acquainted with life and its business, she would certainly have waited 
 for a more temperate moment ; and she had reason to repent of her 
 precipitation, mien, without saying a single word, or taking the trouble i 
 to gather more of tlie information contained in the letter tlian was ex- 
 pressed in the subscription, the incensed ship-chandler threw it down 
 on the ground, trampled it in high disdain, and, without addressing a 
 single word to the bearer, except, indeed, something much more like a 
 hearty curse than was perfectly consistent with his own grave appear- 
 ance, he retired into his shop, and shut the hatch-door. 
 
 It was with the most inexpressible anguish that the desolate, 
 friendless, and unhappy female thus beheld her sole hope of succour, 
 countenance, and protection vanish at once, without being able to con- 
 ceive a reason ; for, to do her justice, the idea that her friend, whom 
 she knew by the name of Nigel Grahame, had imposed on her— a solu- 
 tion which might readily have occurred to many in her situation — never 
 once entered her mind. Although it was not her temper easily to bend 
 her mind to entreaty, she could not help exclaiming after the ireful and 
 retreating ship-chandler, — " Good Master, hear me but a moment ! for 
 mercy's sake, for honesty's sake ! " 
 
 "Mercy and honesty from him, mistress!" said the Scot, who, 
 though he essayed not to interrupt the retreat of Jiis antagonist, still 
 kept stout possession of the field of action, — " ye might as weel expect 
 brandy from bean-stalks, or milk from a crag of blue whunstane. The 
 man is mad, horn mad to boot." 
 
 " I must have mistaken the person to whom the letter was addressed 
 then ;" and as she spoke, Mistress Martha Trapbois was in the act of 
 .stooping to lift the paper which had been so uncourteously received. 
 Her companion, with natural civility, anticipated her purpose ; but 
 wliat was not quite so much in etiquette, he took a sly glance at it as 
 he was about to hand it to her, and his eye having caught the subscrip- 
 tion, he said, with surprise, " Glenvarloch — Nigel Olifaunt of Glenvar- 
 loch 1 Do you knoAV the Lord Glenvarloch, mistress ?" 
 
THE FOETUNES OF NIGEL. 227 
 
 " I know not of Avhoni you speak," said Mrs Martha, peevislily. ^' I 
 had that paper from one Master Nigel Gram." 
 
 " Nigel Grahame !— umph. — On, ay, very true — I had forgot," said 
 the Scotsman, " A tall, Avell-set young man, about my height ; bright 
 bhie eyes like a hawk's ; a pleasant speech, something leaning to the 
 kindly north-country accentuation, but not much, in respect of his 
 having been resident abroad V 
 
 " All this is true— and what of it all ?" said the daughter of the miser, 
 
 " Hair of my complexion V 
 
 " Yours is red," replied slie. 
 
 " I pray you, peace," said the Scotsman. '^ I was going to say — of 
 my complexion, but with a deeper shade of the chestnut, Weel, mis- 
 tress, if I liave guessed the man aright, he is one with whom I am, and 
 have been intimate and familiar, — nay, I may truly say I have done 
 him much service in my time, and may live to do liim more. I had 
 indeed a sincere good-will for him, and I doubt he has been much at a 
 loss smce we parted ; but the fault is not mine. Wherefore, as this 
 letter will not avail you with him to whom it is directed, you may 
 believe that Heaven hath sent it to me, who have a special regard for 
 the writer — I have, besides, as much mercy and honesty within me as 
 a man can weel make his bread with, and am willing to aid any dis- 
 tressed creatm-e, that is my friend's friend, witli my comisel, and other- 
 wise, so that I am not put to much charges, being in a strange country. 
 like a poor lamb that has wandered from its ain native hirsel, ana 
 leaves a tait of its woo' in every d — d Southron bramble that conms 
 across it." While he spoke thus, he read the contents of the letter, 
 without waiting for permission, and then continued, — " And so this is 
 all that you are wanting, my dove ? nothing more than safe and honoiu"- 
 able lodging, and sustenance upon your o-oai charges ?" 
 
 "Nothing more," said she. *'If you are a man and a Christian, you 
 will help me to what I need so much," 
 
 "A man I am," replied the formal Caledonian, e'en sic as ye see me ; 
 and a Christian I may call myself, though unworthy, and though I have 
 heard little pure doctrine since I came hither — a' polluted xnth men's 
 devices — ahem ! Weel, and if ye be an honest woman" (here he 
 peeped under her muffler), "as an honest woman ye seem likely to be 
 — though, let me tell you, they are a kind of cattle not so rife in the 
 streets of this city as I would desire them — I was almost strangled with 
 my ovm. band by twa rampallians, wha wanted yestreen, nae farther 
 
 fane, to harle me into a change-house — however, if ye be a decent, 
 onest woman" (here he took another peep at features certainly bear- 
 ing no beauty which could infer suspicion), "as decent and honest ye 
 seem to be, why, I will advise you to a decent house, where you will 
 get douce, quiet entertainment, on reasonable terms, and the occasional 
 benefit of my ovm counsel and direction — that is, from time to time, as 
 my other avocations may permit," 
 
 "'•May I venture to accept of such an offer from a stranger?" said 
 lilartha, with natural hesitation. 
 
 "Troth, I see nothing to hinder you, mistress," replied the bony 
 Scot ; "ye can but see the place, and do after as ye think best. Besides, 
 we are nae such strangers, neither ; for I knoV yoiu' friend, and you, 
 
228 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEI/. 
 
 it's like, know mine, whilk knowledge, on either hand, is a medium of 
 communication between ns, even as the middle of the string connecteth 
 its twa ends or extremities. But I will enlarge on this farther as we 
 pass along, gin je list to bid your twa lazy loons of porters there lift 
 up your little kist between them, whilk ae true Scotsman might carry 
 under his arm. Let me tell you, mistress, ye will soon make a toom 
 pock-end of it in Lonon, if you hire twa knaves to do the work of ane." 
 So saying, he led the way, followed by Mistress IMartha Trapbois, 
 whose sin^ar destiny, though it had heaped her with wealth, had left 
 her, for the moment, no wiser counsellor, or more distinguished pro- 
 tector, than honest Richie Moniplies, a discarded serving-man. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 This vraj He safety and a sure retreat; 
 
 Yonder lie danger, shame, and punishment. 
 
 Most welcome dansccr then; nay, let me say. 
 
 Though spoke with swelling heart — welcome e'en shame; 
 
 And welcome punishment. — for, call me guilty, 
 
 I do hut pay the tax that's due to justice; 
 
 And call me guiltless, then that punishment 
 
 Is shame to those alone who do inflict it. 
 
 The Tribunal 
 
 Wt: left Lord Glenvarloch, to whose fortunes our story chiefly attaches 
 itself, gliding swiftly dovm the Thames. He was not, as the reader 
 may have observed, very affable in his disposition, or apt to enter into 
 conversation with those into whose company he wns casually thrown. 
 This was, indeed, an error in his conduct, arising less from pride, 
 though of that feeling we do not pretend to exculpate him, than from 
 a sort of bashful reluctance to mix in the conversation of those with 
 whom he was not familiar. It is a fault only to be cured by experience 
 and knowledge of the world, which soon teaches every sensible and 
 acute person the important lesson, that amusement, and, what is of 
 more consequence, that information and increase of knowledge, are to 
 be derived from the conversation of every individual wjiatsoever, with 
 whom he is thrown into a natural train of communication. For our- 
 selves, we can assiu-e the reader — and perhaps, if we have ever been 
 able to afford him amusement, it is owing m a great degree to this 
 cause — that we never found ourselves in company with the stupidest of 
 all possible companions in a post-chaise, or with the most arrant 
 cumber-corner that ever occupied a place in the mail-coach, Avithout 
 finding, that, in the course of our conversation with liim, we had some 
 ideas suggested to us, either grave or gay, or some information com- 
 mimicated in the coirrse of our journey, which we should have regretted 
 not to have learned, and which we should be sorry to have immediately 
 forgotten. But Nigel was somewhat immured within the Bastile of his 
 rank, as some philosopher (Tom Paine, we think) has happily enough 
 expressed that sort of .<^hyness which men of dignified situations are 
 apt to be beset with, rather from not exactly l^nowing how far, or with 
 
THE FORTUNES OF JflGEJi. 229 
 
 whom, tliey ought to be familiar, than from any real touch of aristo- 
 cratic pride. Besides, the immediate pressure of our adventurer's own 
 affairs was such as exclusively to engross his attention. 
 
 He sa.t, therefore, wrapt in his cloak, in the stern of the hoat, with 
 his mind entneiy bent upon the probable issue of the interview with 
 his Sovereign, which it was his purpose to seek ; for which abstraction 
 of mind he may be fully justified, although perhaps, by questioning the 
 watermen who were transporting him down the river, he might have 
 discovered matters of high concermnent to him. 
 
 At any rate, Nigel remained silent till the Avherry approached the 
 town of Greenwich, when he commanded the m.en to pnt in for tne 
 nearest landing-place, as it was his piu^ose to go ashore there, and dis- 
 miss them from farther attendance. 
 
 " That is not possible," said tlie fellow with the gjeen jacket, who, 
 as we have already said, seemed to tal^e on himself ttie charge of pilot- 
 age. " We must go," he continued, " to Gravesend, where a Scottish 
 vessel, which dropt down the river last tide for the very purpose, lies 
 Avith her anchor-a-peak, waiting to carry you to your own dear northern 
 countrv. Your hammock is slung, and all is ready for you, and you 
 talk of going ashore at Greenwich as seriously as if such a tiling were 
 possible !" 
 
 " I see no impossibility," said Nigel, " in your landing me where I 
 desire to be landed ; but very little possibility of your carrying me any 
 where I am not desirous of going." 
 
 " Why, whether do you manage the wherry, or we, master?" asked 
 Green-jacket, in a to;ie betwixt jest and earnest; " I take it she will 
 go the way we row her." 
 
 " Ay," retorted Nigel, "hut I take it you w-ill row her on the course 
 I direct you, otherwise your chance of pa3'-ment is but a poor one." 
 
 " Suppose we are content to risk that," said the undaunted water- 
 man, " 1 wish to know how you, v/ho talk so big — I mean no offence, 
 master, but you do talk big— would help yourself in such a case '/" 
 
 " Siuiply thus," answered Lord Glenvarloch — " You saw me, an hour 
 since, bring down to the boat a trunk that neither of you could lift. If 
 we are to contest tlie destination of our voya.^e, the same strength which 
 tossed that chest into the wherry will suffice to fling you out of it ; 
 wherefore, before we begin tlie scuffle, I pray you to remember, that 
 whither I would go, there I will oblige you to carry me." 
 
 " Gramercy for your kindness," said Green-jacket ; '^ and now mar]? 
 me in return." My comrade and I are two men— and you, wei'e you as 
 stout as George-a-Green, can pass but for one; and two, you will 
 allow, are more than a match for one. You mistake your reckoning, 
 my friend." 
 
 '^ It is you who mistake," answered Nigel, who began to grow warm ; 
 " it is I who am three to two, sirrah— I cany two men's Jives at my 
 girdle." 
 
 So saying, he opened his cloak and showed the two pistols wdnch lie 
 had disposed at his girdle. Green-jacket Avas unmoved at tlie display. 
 
 "I have got," said he, "a pair' of barkers that Vv- ill match yours," 
 and he showed that he also was armed wdth pistols ; " so ye may begin 
 as snon as ye list." 
 
230 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 " Then," said Lord Glenvarloch, drawing forth and cocking a pistol, 
 " the sooner the better. Take notice, I hold you as a ruffian, who have 
 declared you will put force on my person ; and that I will shoot you 
 through the head if you do not instantly put me ashore at Greenwich." 
 
 The other waterman, alarmed at Nigel s gestm-e, lay upon his oar ; 
 but Green-jacket replied coolly — "Look you, master, I should not care 
 a tester to ventm-e a life with you on this matter ; but the truth is, I 
 am employed to do you good, and not to do you harm." 
 
 " By whom are you employed V said the Lord Glenvarloch ; " or who 
 dare concern themselves in me, or my affairs, without my authority T' 
 
 " As to that," answered the waterman, in the same tone of indiffer- 
 ence, " I shall not show my commission. For mvself, I care not, as I 
 said, whether you land at Greenwich to get yourself hanged, or go down 
 to get aboard the Royal Thistle, to make your escape to your own 
 country ; you will be equally out of my reach either way. But it is fair 
 to put the choice before you." 
 
 " My choice is made,'^ said Nigel. '' I have told you thrice already 
 it is my pleasure to be landed at Greenwich." 
 
 " Write it on a piece of paper," said the Avaterman, " that such is your 
 positive will ; I must have something to show to my employers, that 
 the transgression of their orders lies with yourself, not with me." 
 
 " I choose to hold this trinket in my hand for the present," said 
 Nigel, showing his pistol, " and will write you the acquittance when 
 I go ashore." 
 
 " I won Id not go ashore with you for a hundred pieces," said the 
 waterman. " 111 luck has ever attended you, except ni small gaming ; 
 do me fair justice, and give me the testimony I desire. If you are 
 afraid of foul play while you write it, you may hold my pistols, if you 
 will." lie offered the weapons to Nigel accordingly, who, while they 
 were under his control, and all possibility of his being taken at advan- 
 tage was excluded, no longer hesitated to give the Avaterman an acknow- 
 ledgment, in the following terms : — 
 
 " Jack in the Green, with his mate, belonging to the wherry called 
 the Jolly Raven, have done their duty faitlifully oy me, landing me at 
 Greemvich by my express command ; and being themselves willing and 
 desirous to ca.rry me on board the Royal Thistle, presently lying at 
 Gravesend." Having finished this acknowledgment, which he signed 
 with the letters N. 0. G. as indicating his name and title, he again re- 
 quested to know of the Avaterman, to Avhom he delivered it, the name 
 of his employers. 
 
 " Sir," replied Jack in the Green, " I have respected your secret, 
 do not you seek to pry into mine. It would do you no good to knoAV 
 for Avhom I am taking this present trouble ; and, to be brief, you shall 
 not know it — and, if you will fight in the quarrel, as you said even 
 now, the sooner Ave begin the better. Only this you may be cock-sure 
 of, that Ave designed you no harm, and that, if you fall into any, it Avill 
 be of your oaa^u Avilful seeking." As he spoke, they approached the 
 landing-place, where Nigel instantly jumped ashore. The Avaterman 
 placed his small mail-trunk on the stairs, observing that there were 
 plenty of spare hands about, to carry it Avhere he would. 
 
 "We part friends, I hope, my lads," said the young nobleman, 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 231 
 
 ottering at the same time a piece of money, more than double the usual 
 fare, to the boatmen. 
 
 "We part as we met," answered Green-jacket; "and, for your 
 money, I am paid sufficiently with this bit of paper. Only, if you owe 
 me any love for the cast I have given you, I pray you not to dive so 
 deep into the pockets of the next apprentice that you find fool enough 
 to play the cavalier. — And you, you greedy swine," said he to his com- 
 panion, who still had a longing eye fixed on the money which Nigel 
 continued to offer, " push ofl", or, if I take a stretcher in hand, I'll 
 break the kjiave's pate of thee." The fellow pushed off, as he Avas 
 commanded, but still could not help muttering, " This was entirely out 
 of watermen's rules." 
 
 Glenvarloch, though mtliout the devotion of the "injured Thales" 
 of the moralist, to the memory of that great princess, had now attained 
 
 "The hallow'd soil which gave Eliza birth," 
 
 whose halls were now less respectably occupied by her successor. It 
 was not, as has been well shown by a late author, that James was void 
 either of parts or of good intentions ; and his predecessor was at least as 
 arbitrary in effect as he was in theory. But while Elizabeth possessed 
 a sternness of masculine sense and determination which rendered even 
 her weaknesses, some of which were in themselves sufiiciently ridiculous, 
 in a certain degree respectable, James, on the other hand, was so utterly 
 devoid of " firm resolve," so well called by the Scottish bard, 
 
 " The stalk of carle-hemp in man," 
 
 that even liis virtues and his good meaning became laughable, from the 
 wiiiiusical uncertainty of his conduct ; so tliat the wisest things he ever 
 said, and the best actions he ever did, were often touched with a strain 
 of the ludicrous and fidgety character of the man. Accordingly, though 
 at different periods of his reign he contrived to acquire with his people 
 a certain degree of temporary popularity, it never long outlived the 
 occasion which produced it ; so true it is, that the mass of mankind 
 will respect a monarch stained vvith actual guilt, more than one whose 
 foibles render him only ridiculous. 
 
 To return from this digi-ession, Lord Glenvarloch soon received, as 
 Green-jacket had assured him, the offer of an idle bargeman to transport 
 his baggage where he listed ; but that lohere was a question of momen- 
 tary doubt. At length, recollecting the necessity that his hair and beani 
 should be properly arranged before he attempted to enter the royal pre- 
 sence, and desirous, at the same time, of obtaining some information of 
 the motions of the Sovereign and of the Court, he desired to be guided 
 to the next barber's shop, which we have already mentioned as the 
 place where news of every kind circled and centred. He was speedily 
 shown the way to such an emporium of intelligence, and soon found b.e 
 was likely to hear all he desired to know, and much more, while his head 
 was subjected to the art of a nimble tonsor, the giibness of Avhose tongue 
 j kept pace with the nimbleness of his fingers, Avhile he run on, without 
 stint or stop, in the following excm-sive manner : — 
 
 " The Court here, master Y — yes, master — much to the advantage of 
 trade— good custom stirring. His Majesty loves Greenwich— himts 
 
232 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 every raorning in the Park — all decent persons admitted that have the 
 entries of the Palace— no rabble— frightened the King's horse with 
 their hallooing, the uncombed slaves. — Yes, sir, the beard more peaked 1 
 Yes, master, so it is worn. I know the last cut — dress several of the 
 courtiers — one valet-of-the-chamber, two pages of the body, the clerk 
 of the kitchen, tliree running footmen, two dog-boys, and an honour- 
 able Scottish knight. Sir Munko Malgrowler," 
 
 " Malagi'owther, I suppose V said Nigel, thrusting in his conjectural 
 emendation, with infinite difficulty, betwixt two clauses in the barber's 
 text. 
 
 " Yes, sir— Malcrowder, sir, as you say, sir— hard names the Scots 
 have, sir, for an English mouth. Sir Munko is a handsome person, sir 
 — perhaps you know him — bating the loss of his fingers, and the lame- 
 ness of his le,^, and the length of bis chin. Sir, it takes me one minute 
 twelve seconds more time to trim that chin of his than any chin that 
 I know in the town of Greenwich, sir. But he is a very comely gentle- 
 man, for all that ; and a pleasant — a very pleasant gentleman, sir — and 
 a good-humoured, saving that he is so deaf he can never hear good of 
 any one, and so "svise, tliat he can never believe it ; but he is a very 
 good-natured gentleman for all that, except when one speaks too low, 
 or when a hair tmiis awry.— Did I gi'aze you, sir / ^Ve shall put it to 
 riojhts in a moment, with one drop of styptic — my sty}3tic, or rather my 
 Avife's, sir — She makes the water herself. One drop of the styptic, sir, 
 and a bit of black taffeta patch, just big enougli to be the saddle to a 
 flea, sir — Yes, sir, rather improves than otherwise. The Prince had a 
 paich the other day, and so had the Duke ; and, if you will believe me, 
 there are seventeen yards three quarters of black taffeta already cut 
 into patches for the courtiers." 
 
 "But Sir Mungo Malagrowther !" again interjected Nigel, with 
 difficulty. 
 
 " Ay," ay, sir— Sir Munko, as you say ; a pleasant, good-humoured « 
 gentleman as ever — To be spoken with, did you say / Oh, ay, easily to 
 be spoken withal, that is, as easily as his Infirmity will permit. He 
 will presently, unless some one hath asked him forth to breakfast, be 
 taking his bone of broiled beef at my neigh])0ur Ned Kilderkin's yon- 
 der, removed from over the way. Ned"" keeps an eating-house, sir, 
 famous for v)ork-griskins ; but Sir jMunko cannot abide pork, no more 
 than the Kmgs most Sacred Majesty,^ nor my Lord Duke of Lennox, 
 nor Lord Daigarno, — nay, I am "sure, sir, if I touched you this time, 
 it was your fault, not mine. — But a single drop of the styptic, another 
 little patch that would malce a doublet" for a flea, just under the le^ 
 moustache ; it will become you when you smile, sir, as v.'ell as a 
 dimple ; and if you would salute your fair mistress — but I beg pardon, 
 you are a grave gentleman, very grave to be so young. — Hope I have 
 given no offence ; it is my duty to entertain customers — my duty, sir, 
 and my pleasure — Sir Munko Malcrowther / — yes, sir, I dare say he is 
 
 ' The Scots, till within the last pencrjition, dislilted s'm'ne's flesh as an ai*ticle of food 
 fts much as the Hifrhlanrters do at present. Tt -was remarked as extraordinary rapacity, 
 w}ien the Border depredators condescended to make prey of the accursed race, whom 
 the fiend made his habitation. Ben Jonson, in drawing James's character, says, lie 
 loved "no part of a swine." 
 
 
THE FORTUNES OF KiaEL, 233 
 
 at this moment in Ned's eating-house, for few folks ask him out, now 
 Lord Huntinglen is gone to London. Yoii will get touched again— 
 yes, sir — there you shall find him with his can of single ale, stirred with 
 a sprig of rosemary, for he neyer drinks strong potations, sir, unless to 
 oblige Lord Huntmglen — take heed, sir — or any other person who asks 
 liim forth to breakfast — but single beer he always drinks at Ned's with 
 his broiled bone of beef or mutton — or, it may be, lamb at the season 
 —but not pork, though Ned is famous for his ^-iskins. But the 
 Scots never eat pork — strange that ! some folks think they are a sort 
 of Jews. There is a rasemblance, sir — Do you not tliink'so ? Then 
 they call our most gracioiLS Sovereign the second Solomon, and Solo- 
 mon, you know, was King of the Jews ; so the thing bears a face, you 
 see. I believe, sir, you vv'ill find yourself trimmed now to your con- 
 tent. I will be judged by the fair mistress of yoiu: affections. Crave 
 pardon — no offence, I trust. Pray, consult the glass — one touch of the 
 crisping tongs, to reduce this straggler. — Thank yom- munificence, su' — 
 hope your custom while you stay in Greenwich. Would you have a tune 
 on that gliittem, to put yom' temper in concord for the day ? — Twang, 
 twang — twang, twang, dillo. Something out of tune, sir — too many 
 hands to touch it — we cannot keep these things like artists. Let me 
 help you with your cloak, sir — yes, sir — You would not play yourself, 
 sir, would you ? — Way to Sir 'JMunko's eating-house ? — Yes, sir ; but 
 it is Ned's eating-house, not Sir jMunko's.— The knight, to be sure, 
 eats there, and that makes it his eating-house in some sense, sir— ha. 
 ha ! Yonder it is, removed from over the way, new whitewashed 
 posts, and red lattice — fat man m his doublet at the door — Ned him- 
 self, sir — worth a thousand pounds, they say— better singeing pig's 
 faces than tiimraing corn-tiers- but ours is the less mechanical vocation. 
 — Farewell, sh ; hope your custom." So saying, he at length per- 
 mitted Nigel to depart," whose ears, so long tormented with his con- 
 tinued baljble, tingled when it had ceased, as if a bell had been rung 
 close to them for the same space of time. 
 
 Upon his arrival at the eating-house, where he proposed to meet 
 with Sir jMungo Malagi'owther, from whom, in despair of better advice, 
 he trusted to receive some information as to the best mode of intro- 
 ducing liimself into the royal presence. Lord Glenvarloch found, in the 
 host with whom he communed, the consequential tacitmnity of an 
 Englishman well to pass in the world, Ned Kilderkin sj)oke as a 
 banker writes, only touching the needful. Being asked if Sir jMungo 
 J^LalagroAvther was" there ? he replied. No. Being interrogated, whether 
 he was expected ? he said. Yes. And, being again required to say 
 ii'hen he was expected, he answered, Pra<'ently. As Lord Glenvarloch 
 next inquired, whether he himself could have any breakfast.' the 
 landlord wasted not even a syllable in reply, but, ushering him into a 
 neat room where there were several tables," he placed one of theinbe- 
 fore an arm-chair, and beckoning Lord Glenvarloch to take possession, 
 he set before him, in a very few minutes, a substantial repast of roast- 
 beef, together with a. foanung tankard, to which refreshment the keen 
 air of the river disposed him, notinthstanding his mental embarrasa- 
 raents,_ to do much honour. 
 
 While Nigel was thus engaged in discussing his commons, but rais- 
 
234 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 ing his head at the same time whenever he heard the door of the apart- 
 ment open, eagerly desiring the arrival of Sir Mungo Malagrowther 
 (an event which had seldom been expected by any one with so much 
 anxious interest), a personage, as it seemed, of at least equal import- 
 ance with the kniglit, entered into the apartment, and began to hold 
 earnest colloquy with the publican, who thought proper to carry on the 
 conference on his side mibonneted. This important gentleman's oc- 
 cupation might be guessed from his dress. A milk-white ierkin, and 
 hose of white kersey ; a white apron twisted around his body in the 
 manner of a sash, m which, instead of a warlike dagger, was stuck 
 a long-bladed knife, liilted with buck's horn ; a white nightcap on his 
 head, under which his hair was neatly tucked, sufficiently portrayed 
 him as one of those priests of Comus whom the vulgar call cooks ; and 
 the air with wliich he rated the publican for having neglected to send 
 some provisions to the Palace, showed that he ministered to royalty 
 itself. 
 
 ''This will never answer," he said, "Master Kilderkin — the King 
 twice asked for sweetbreads and fricasseed coxcombs, which are a 
 favourite dish of his most Sacred Majesty, and they were not to be had, 
 because Master Kilderkin had not supplied them to the clerk of the 
 kitchen, as by bargain bound." Here Kilderkin made some apology, 
 brief, according to his own natm-e, and muttered in a lowly tone, after 
 the fashion of all who find themselves in a scrape. His superior replied 
 in a lofty strain of voice, " Do not tell me of tlie carrier and his wain, 
 and of the hen-coops coming from Norfolk with the poultry ; a loyal 
 man v,'ould have sent an express— he would have gone upon liis stump?, 
 like Widdrington, What if the King had lost his appetite, jMaster 
 Kilderkin 1 AVhat if his most Sacred Majesty had lost his dinner ] 
 Master Kilderkin, if you had but the just sense of the dignity of our 
 profession, which is told of by the witty African slave, tor so the King's 
 most excellent Majesty desigiiates him, Publius Terentius, Tanquam 
 in speculo — in patinas insjAcere juheoP 
 
 "You are learned, Master Linkiater," replied the English publican, 
 compelling, as it weie with difiiculty, his mouth to utter tlu'ee or four 
 words consecutively. 
 
 " A poor smatterer," said Mr Linkiater ; " but it would be a shame 
 to us, who are his most excellent Majesty's countrymen, not in some 
 sort to have cherished those arts wherewith he is so deeply embued — 
 Kegis ad exemplary Master Kilderkin, totus comp)omtur orhis — which 
 is as much as to sav, as the King quotes the cook learns. In brief, 
 Master Kilderkin, having had the luck to be bred where humanities 
 may be had at the matter of an English five groats by the quarter, I, 
 
 like others, have acquired— ahem — hem !" Here, the speaker's eye 
 
 having fallen upon Lord Glenvarloch, he suddenly stopped in his learned 
 harangue, with such symptoms of embarrassment as induced Ned Kil- 
 derkin to stretch his taciturnity so far as not only to ask him what he 
 ailed, but whether he would take anything. 
 
 " Ail nothing," replied the learned rival of the philosophical Syrus ; 
 
 Nothing— and yet I do feel a little giddy. I could taste a glass of 
 
 your dame's aqica mirabilis." 
 " I will fetch it " 
 
 said Ned, giving a nod ; and his back was no sooner 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 235 
 
 turned, than the cook walked near the table where Lord Glenvar- 
 loch was seated, and regarding him with a look of significance, wliere 
 more was meant than met the ear, said — "You are a stranger in 
 Greenwich, sir. I advise you to take the opportunity to step into 
 the Park— the western wicket was ajar when 1 came hither; 1 think 
 it will be locked presently, so you had better make the best of your 
 way — that is, if you have any curiosity. The venison are coming into 
 season just now, sir, and there is a pleasure in looking at a hart of 
 grease. I always think, when they are bounding so blithely past, 
 what a pleasure it would be to broach their plump haunches on a spit, 
 and to embattle their breasts in a noble fortification of pufi-paste, with 
 plenty of black-pepper." 
 
 He said no more, as Kilderkin re-entered with the cordial, but edged 
 off from Nigel without waiting any reply, only repeating the same look 
 of intelligence with which he had accosted him. 
 
 Nothing makes men's wits so alert as personal danger. Nigel took 
 the first opportunity which his host's attention to the yeomen of the 
 royal kitchen permitted to discharge his reckoning, and readily ob- 
 tamed a direction to the wicket in question. He found it upon the 
 latch as he had been taught to expect ; and perceived that it admitted 
 him to a narrow foot-path, which traversed a close and tangled thicket, 
 designed for the cover of the does and the young fawns. He conj ectured 
 it would be proper to wait ; nor had he been stationary above five min- 
 utes when the cook, scalded as much with heat of motion as ever lie had 
 ibeen at his huge fire-place, arrived almost breatliless, and v>ith his pass- 
 key hastily locked the wicket behind him. 
 
 Ere Lord Glenvarloch had time to speculate upon this action, the 
 man approached with anxiety, and said — " Good lord, my Lord Glen- 
 varloch ! — why will you endanger yourself thus V 
 
 " You know me then, my friend,?" said Nigel. 
 
 '• Not much of that, my lord— but I know your honour's noble house 
 well. — My name is Lam'ie Linklater, my lord." 
 , "Linklater!" repeated Nigel. " I should recollect " 
 
 " Under your lordship's favour," he continued, " I was 'prentice, my 
 lord, to old Mungo Moniplies, the flesher at the wanton West-port of 
 Edinburgh, which I wish I saw again before I died. And your honour's 
 noble father having taken Richie Moniplies into his house to wait on 
 yom: lordship, there was a sort of connection, your lordship sees." 
 
 " Ah ! " said Lord Glenvarloch, " I had almost forgot yom^ name, 
 but not your kind purpose. You tried to put Richie in the way of pre- 
 senting a supplication to his Majesty ?" 
 
 " Most true, my lord," replied the King's cook. " I had like to have 
 come by mischief in the job ; for Ricliie, who was always wilful, ' wadna 
 be guided by me,' as the sang says. But nobody amongst these brave 
 English cooks can kittle up his Majesty's most sacred palate with our 
 own gusty Scottish dishes. So I e'en betook myself to my craft, and 
 concocted a mess of friar's chicken for the soup, and a savoury hachis, 
 that made the whole cabal coup the crans ; and, instead of disgrace, I 
 came by preferment, I am one of the clerks of the kitchen now, make 
 me thankful— with a finger in the purveyor's office, and may get my 
 wbole hand in by and by," 
 
236 THE FORTUNES OF NIQEL. 
 
 " I am truly glad," said Nigel, " to hear that you have not suffered 
 on my account,— still more so at your good fortune." 
 
 " You bear a kind heart, ray lord," said Linklater. " and do not 
 forget poor people ; and, troth, I see not why they should be forgotten, 
 since the King's errand may sometimes fall in the cadger's gate. I 
 have followed your lordship in the street, just to look at such a stately 
 shoot of the old oak-tree ; and my heart jumped into my thi'oat, when 
 I saw you sitting openly in the eating-house yonder, and knew there was 
 such danger to your person." 
 
 "What ! there are warrants agajnst me, then ?" said Nigel. 
 
 "It IS even true, my lord ; and there are those are willing to blacken 
 you as much as they can. — God forgive them, that would sacrifice an 
 honourable house for their own base ends !" 
 
 "Amen," said Nigel. 
 
 " For, say your lordship may have been a little Wild, like other young 
 gentlemen " 
 
 " We have little time to talk of it, my friend," said Nigel. " The 
 point in question is, how am I to get speech of the King '/" 
 
 "The King, my lord !" said Linklater, in astonishment; "why, will 
 not that be rushing wilfully into danger i— scalding yourself, as i m^y 
 say, with your own ladle V 
 
 "My good friend," answered Nigel, "my experience of the Court, 
 and my knowledge of the circumstances in which I stand, tell me, that 
 the manliest and most direct road is, in my case, the surest and the 
 safest. The King has both a head to apprehend, what is just, and a 
 heart to do what is kind." 
 
 "It is e'en true, my lord, and so we, his old servants, know," added 
 Linklater ; " but, wo's me, if you knew how many folks make it their 
 daily and nightly purpose to set his head against his heart, and liis 
 heart against his head — to make him do hard things because they are 
 called just, and unjust things because they are represented as kind. 
 Wo's me ! it is with his Sacred Majesty, and the favourites who work 
 upon him, even according to the homely proverb that men taunt my 
 calling with, — ' God sends good meat, but the devil sends cooks.' " 
 
 "It signifies not talkmg of it, my good friend," said Nigel, " I must 
 take my risk — my honoiu- peremptorily demands it. They may maim 
 me, or beggar me, but they shall not say I fled from my accusers. My 
 peers shall hear my vindication." 
 
 " Yom- ])eers V exclaimed the cook — " Alack-a-day, my lord, we are 
 not in Scotland, where the nobles can bang it out bravely, were it even 
 with the King himself, now and then. This mess must be cooked in 
 the Star-Cuiiiiiber, and that is an oven seven times heated, my lord ; — 
 and yet, if you are determined to see the King, I will not say but you 
 may find some favour, for he likes v^'^ell anything that is appealed 
 directly to his own wisdom, and sometimes, in the like cases, I have 
 known him stick by his own opinion, which is always a fair one. Only 
 mind, if you will forgive me, my lord — mind to spice high with Latin ; 
 a cum or two of Greek Avould not be amiss ; and, if you can bruig in 
 anything about the judgment of Solomon, in the original Hebrew, and 
 season with a merry jest or so, the dish will be the more palatable. — 
 Truly, I think, that, besides my skill in art, I owe much to the stripes 
 
TilE FOllTUNES OF NIQEL. 287 
 
 6f the Rector of the High School, who iinimnted on my mind tluit 
 cooking scene in the Heautontimormnenos." 
 
 "Leaving that aside, my friend," said Lord Glenvarloch, "can you 
 inform me which way I shall most readily get to the sight and speech 
 of the King f' 
 
 " To the sight of liim readily enough," said Linklater ; "he is gallop- 
 ing about these alleys, to see them strike the hart, to get him an 
 appetite for a nooning — and that reminds me I should be in the 
 kitchen. To the speech of the King you will not come so easily, unless 
 you could either meet him alone, which rarely chances, or wait for 
 Kim among the crowd that go to see him ahght. — And now, farewell, 
 my lord, and God speed ! — if I could do more for you, I would oflFer it." 
 
 "You have done enough, perhaps, to endanger yom-self," said Lord 
 Glenvarloch ; "I pray you to be gone, and leave me to my fate." 
 
 The honest cook lingered, but a nearer bm-st of the horns apprised 
 him that there was no time to lose ; and, acquaintmg Nigel that lie 
 would leave the postern-door on the latch to secinre his retreat in that 
 direction, he bade God bless him, and farewell. 
 
 In the kindness of tliis humble comitryman, flowing partly fron\ 
 national partiality, partly from a sense of long-remembered benefits, 
 Avhich had been scarce thought on by those who had bestowed them, 
 Lord Glenvarloch thought he saw the last touch of sympathy which he 
 was to receive in this cold and courtly region, and felt that he must 
 now be sufficient to himself, or be utterly lost. 
 
 He traversed more than one alley, guided by the sounds of the chase, 
 and met several of the inferior attendants upon the King's sport, who 
 regarded him only as one of the spectators who were sometimes per- 
 mitted to enter the Park by the concurrence of the officers about the 
 Court. Still there was no appearance of James, or any of his principal 
 courtiers, and Nigel began to think whether, at the risk of incurring 
 disgrace similar to that which had attended the rash ex])loit of Richie 
 Moniplies, he should not repair to the Palace-gate, in order to address 
 the King on his return, when Fortune presented him the opportunity 
 of doing so, in her own way. 
 
 He was in one of those long walks by Avhich the Park was traversed, 
 when he heard, first a distant rustling, then the rapid approach of 
 hoofs shaking the firm earth on which he stood ; then a distant halloo, 
 warned by which he stood up by the side of the avenue, leaving free 
 room for the passage of the chase. The stag, reeling, covered with 
 foam, and blackened Avith sweat, his nostrils expanded as he gasped for 
 breath, made a shift to come up as far as where Nigel stood, and, 
 without turning to bay, was there pulled down by two tall gi-eyhounds 
 of the breed still used by the hardy deer-stalkers of the Scottish High- 
 lands, but which has been long unknown in England. One dog struck 
 at the buck's thi'oat, another dashed his sharp nose and fangs, I might 
 almost say, into the animal's bowels. It would have been natural for 
 Lord Glenvarloch, himself persecuted as if by hunters, to have thought 
 upon the occasion like the melancholy Jacques ; but habit is a strange 
 naatter, and I fear that his feelings on the occasion were rather those 
 of the practised huntsman than of the moralist. He had no time, 
 however, to indulge them, for mark what befell. 
 
I 
 
 S:38 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 A single horseman followed the chase, upon a steed so thoroughly 
 subjected to the rein, that it obeyed the touch of the bridle as if it had 
 been a meclianical impulse operating on the nicest piece of machinery ; 
 so that, seated deep in his demi-pique saddle, and so trussed up there 
 as to make falling almost impossible, the rider, without either fear or 
 hesitation, might increase or diminish the speed at which he rode, 
 which, even on the most animating occasions of the chase, seldom ex- 
 ceeded three-fourths of a gallop, the horse keeping his haunches under 
 him, and never stretching forward beyond the managed pace of the 
 academy. The security with which he chose to prosecute even this 
 favourite, and, in ordinary case, somewhat dangerous amusement, as 
 well as tne rest of his equipage, marked King James. No attendant 
 was within sight ; indeed, it was often a nice strain of flattery to per- 
 mit the Sovereign to suppose he had outridden and distanced all the 
 rest of the chase. 
 
 " Weel dune, Bash — weel dune, Battle !" he exclaimed, as he came 
 up. " By the honour of a king, ye are a credit to the Braes of Bal- 
 wliither !— Hand my horse, man," he called out to Nigel, without stop- 
 ping to see to whom he had addressed himself — " Hand my naig, and 
 elp me doun out o' the saddle — deil ding your saul, sirra, canna ye 
 mak haste before these lazy smaiks come up ? — hand the rein easy — 
 dinna let him swerve — now, baud the stirrup — that will do, man, and 
 now we are on terra firma." So saying, Avithout casting an eye on his 
 assistant, gentle Kin^ Jamie, unsheathing the short, sharp hanger 
 {couteau cle chasse), wliich was the only thing approaching to a sword 
 that he could willingly endure the sight of, drew the blade with great 
 satisfaction across the throat of the buck, and put an end at once to its 
 struggles and its agonies. 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch, who knew well the silvan duty which the occasion 
 demanded, hun^ the bridle of the King's palfrey on the branch of a 
 tree, and, kneelmg duteously down, turned the slaughtered deer upon 
 its back, and kept the quarHe in that position, while the King, too 
 intent upon his sport to observe anything else, drew his couteau down 
 the breast of the animal, secundum artem ; and, having made a cross 
 cut, so as to ascertain the depth of the fat upon the chest, exclaimed, 
 in a sort of raptm-e, " Three mches of white fat on the brisket ! — prime 
 — prime, as I am a crowned sinner — and deil ane o' the lazy loons in 
 but mysell ! Seven — aught — aught tines on the antlers. By G— d, a 
 hart of aught tines, and the first of the season ! Bash and Battle, bless- 
 ings on the heart' s-root of ye 'i Buss me, my bairns, buss me." The 
 dogs accordingly fawned upon him, licked him with bloody jaws, and 
 soon put him in such a state that it might have seemed treason had 
 been doing its full work upon his anointed body. " Bide doun, with a 
 mischief to ye — bide doun, with a wanion," cried the King, almost 
 overturned \>y^ the obstreperous caresses of the large stag-hounds. 
 "But ye are just like other folks, gie ye an inch and ye take an ell. — 
 And wha may ye be, friend ?" he said, iiow finding leisure to take a 
 nearer view of Nigel, and observing what in his first emotion of silvan 
 delight had escaped him, — " Ye are nane of our train, man. In the 
 name of God, what the devil are ye ?" 
 
 " An unfortunate man, sire/' replied Nigel. 
 
THE FOaTUNES OP NiaEL, 239 
 
 " I dare say that," answered the King, snappishly, '' or I vrad have 
 seen naething of you. My lieges keep a' their happiness to themselves ; 
 but let bowls row wi'ang wi' them, and I am sure to hear of it." 
 
 " And to whom else can we carry our complaints but to your Majesty 
 who is Heaven's vicegerent over us T answered Nigel. 
 
 " Right, man, right — very weel spoken," said the King ; " but you 
 should leave Heaven's vicegerent some quiet on earth, too." 
 
 " If your JMajesty will look on me" (for hitherto the King had been 
 so busy, first with the dogs, and then Avith the mystic operation of 
 brealdnrf, in vulgar phrase, cutting up the deer, that he had scarce 
 given his assistant above a transient glance), " you will see whom neces- 
 sity makes bold to avail himself of an opportunity which may never 
 again occm\" 
 
 Kin^ James looked ; his blood left his cheek, though it continued 
 stained with that of the animal Avhich lay at his feet, he dropped the 
 knife from his hand, cast behind him a faltering eye, as if he either 
 meditated flight or looked out for assistance, and then exclaimed, — 
 *' Glenvarlochides ! as sure as I was christenea James Stewart. Here 
 is a bonny spot of work, and me alone, and on foot too !" he added, 
 bustling to get upon his horse. 
 
 " Forgive me that I interrupt you, my liege," said Nigel, placing 
 himself between the King and the steed ; " hear me but a moment." 
 
 " I'll hear ye best on horseback," said the Kin^. "I canna hear a 
 I word on foot, man, not a word ; and it is not seemly to stand cheek-for- 
 j chowl confronting us that gate. Bide out of our gate, sir, we charge you, 
 on yom' allegiance. — The deil's in them a', what can they be doing ?" 
 ■ "By the crown which you wear, my liege," said Nigel, " and for 
 which my ancestors have worthily fought, I conjure you to be composed, 
 and to hear me but a moment !" 
 
 That which he asked was entirely out of the monarch's power to 
 grant. The timidity which he showed was not the plain downright 
 cowardice wliich, like a natural impulse, compels a man to flight, and 
 which can excite little but pity or contempt, but a much more ludicrous, 
 i as well as more mingled sensation. The poor King was frightened at 
 once and angry, desirous of securing his safety, and at the same time 
 ashamed to compromise his di.gnity ; so that, without attending to what 
 Lord Glenvarloch endeavoured to explain, he kept making at his horse, 
 and repeating, " We are a free King, man — we are a free King — 
 we will not be controlled by a subject. — In the name of God, what 
 keeps Steenie? And, praised be his name, they are coming — Hillo, 
 ho — here, here — Steenie, Steenie !" 
 
 '! The Duke of Buckingham galloped up, followed by several courtiers 
 ,. and attendants of the royal chase, and commenced with his usual fami- 
 t liarity, — " I see Fortune has graced our dear dad, as usual. — But what's 
 'thisT 
 
 "What is it ? It is treason, for Avhat I ken," said the King ; "and 
 a' your wyte, Steenie. Your dear dad and gossip might have been 
 .murdered, for what you care." 
 
 ["Murdered? Seciu-e the villain !" exclaimed the Duke. "By 
 Heaven, it is Olifaunt himself !" A dozen of the hunters dismounted 
 /at once, letting their horses run wild thi'ough the park. Some seized 
 I R 
 
2-iO . Til?; FOUTUNrS OF NTGEL. 
 
 roii^lily on Lord Glenvarlocb, who thought it folly to offer resistance, 
 while others busied therasel^^es with the King. " Are you wounded, 
 my liege — are you vrounded '?" ^ 
 
 "Not that I ken of," said the King, in the paroxysm of his appre- 
 hension (which, by the way, might be pardoned in one of so timorous 
 a temper, and who, in his time, had been exposed to so many strange 
 attempts)—" Not that I ken of— but search him — search him. I am 
 sure I saw fire-arms under his cloak. I am sure I smelled powder — I 
 am dooms sure of tliat." 
 
 Lord Glenvarloch's cloak being stripped off, and his pistols discovered, 
 a shout of wonder and of execration on the supposed criminal piu-pose 
 arose from the crowd, now thickening every moment. Not that cele- 
 brated pistol, which, though resting on a bosom as gallant and as loyal 
 as Nigel's, spread such causeless alarm among knights and dames at a 
 late high solemnity— not that very pistol caused more temporary con- i 
 steruation than was so groundlessly excited by the arms which were 
 taken from Lord Glenvarloch's person ; and not Mluc-Allastar-More 
 Minself could repel with greater scorn and indignation the insinuations 
 that they were worn for any sinister purposes.' 
 
 " Away with the wretch— the parricide— the bloody-minded villain !" 
 was echoed on all hands ; and the King, who natrjally enough set the 
 same value on his own life at which it' was, or seemed to be, rated by 
 others, cried out, louder than all the rest, " Ay, ay — away with him. 
 I have had enough of him, and so has the country. But do him no 
 bodily harm— and, for God's sake, sirs, if ye are sure that ye have 
 thoroughly disarmed him, put up your swords, dirks, and skenes, for 
 you will certainly do each other a mischief." 
 
 There was a speedy sheathing of weapons at the King's commands ; 
 for those who had hitherto been brandishing them in loyal bravado, 
 began thereby to call to mind the extreme dislike which his Majesty 
 nourished against naked steel, a foible wliich seem.ed to be as consti- f 
 tutional as his timidity, and was usually ascribed to the brutal murder 
 of Rizzio having been perpetrated in Ms unfortunate mother's presence 
 before he yet saw the light. 
 
 At this moment, the Prince, who had been hunting in a different 
 part of the then extensive Park, and had recei»ved some hasty and con- 
 fused information of what was going forward, came rapidly up, with one 
 or two nol^leraen in his train, and amongst others Lord Dalgamo. He 
 sprung from his horse, and asked eagerly if his father were wounded. 
 
 " Not that I am sensible of. Baby Charles — but a wee matter ex- 
 hausted with struggling single-handed vrith the assassin. — Steenie, fiil 
 us a cup of wine — the leathern bottle is hanging at om- pommel. — Buss 
 me, then. Baby Charles," continued the monarch, after he had taken 
 this cup of conifort ;" " man, the Commonwealth and you have had 
 a fair escape from the heavy and bloody loss of a dear father ; for we 
 &TQ pater patrice, as weel tis. paterfamilias. — Quis desiderio sU pudor 
 aut modiis tain cari ca2ntis ! — Wo is me, black cloth would have been 
 dear in England, and dry een scarce !" 
 
 1 See Note S. Mhic-AMstnr-Morf, 
 
 2 !Se9 Note T. King Jama's Hunting Bottle. 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 24] 
 
 And, at the very idea of the general ^ief wliich must have attended 
 his deathj the good-natured monarch cried heartilj^ himself. 
 
 *' Is tins possible ?" said Charles, sternly ; for his pride was hurt at 
 his fathers demeanour on the one hand, while, on the other, he felt the 
 resentment of a son and a subject at the supposed attempt on the 
 Kings life. " Let some one speak who has seen what happened — My 
 Lorcl of Buckingham ?" 
 
 "I cannot say, my lord/' replied the Duke, "that I saw any actual 
 violence offered to his JMajesty, else I should have avenged him on the 
 spot." 
 
 " You would have done wrong, then, in your zeal, George," answered 
 the Prince " - ' .r- -, , , ., 
 
 laws. 
 
 faults, would have disdained an untruth ; " he seemed to desire to de- 
 tain liis Majesty, who, on the contrarv, seemed to wish to mount his 
 horse ; but they have found pistols on his person, contrary to the pro- 
 clamation, and, as it proves to be Nigel Olifaunt, of whose ungoverned 
 disposition ^our Royal Highness has seen some samples, we seem to 
 be justified in apprehending the worst." 
 
 " Nigel Olifamit !" said the Prince ; "can that unhappv man so soon 
 have engaged in a new trespass ? Let me see those pistols." 
 
 " Ye are not so unwise as to meddle with such snap-haunches. Baby 
 Charles?" said James—" Do not give him them, Steenie— I command 
 you on your allegiance. They may go off of their own accord, whilk 
 often befalls. — You will do it, then ? — Saw ever man sic wilful bairns 
 as we are cumbered with !— Havena we guardsmen and soldiers enow 
 but ye must unload the weapons yoursell — you, the heir of our body and 
 dignities, and sae mony men around that are paid for ventiu-ing life in 
 our cause ?" 
 
 But, without regarding his father's exclamations. Prince Charles, 
 with the obstinacy which characterized him in trifles as well as matters 
 of consequence, persisted in unloading the pistols with Ms own hand, 
 of the double bullets with which each was charged. The hands of all 
 aroimd were held up in astonishment at the horror of the crime sup- 
 posed to have been intended, and the escape which was presumed so 
 narrow. 
 Nigel had not yet spoken a word— he now calmly desu-ed to be heard. 
 "To what purpose?" answered the Prince, coldly. "You kne^ 
 yourself accused of a heavy offence, and, instead of rendering yourself 
 tup to justice in terms of the proclamation, you are here found intruding 
 ■yourself on his Majesty's presence, and armed witli unlawful weapons." 
 J " jMay it please you, sir," answered Nigel, " I wore these mihappy 
 [weapons for my own defence ; and not very many hours since, they 
 I were necessary to protect the lives of others.'"^ 
 
 j " Doubtless, my lord," answered the Prince, still calm and unmoved, 
 1 — " your late mode of life, and the associates with whom you have lived, 
 have made you familiar with scenes and weapons of violence. But it is 
 not to me you are to plead your cause." 
 
 " Hear me— hear me, noble Piince !" said Nigel eagerly, " Hear me ! 
 You — even you yourself— may one day ask to be heard, and i» -^ain." 
 
242 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 3 
 
 " How, sir," said the Prince, haughtily — " how am I to construe 
 that, my lord !" 
 
 "If not on earth, sir," replied the prisoner, "yet to Heaven we 
 must all pray for patient and favom'able audience." 
 
 " True, my lord," said the Prince, bending his head with haughty 
 acquiescence ; " nor would I now refuse such audience to you coiild it 
 avail you. But you shall suffer no wrong. We will ourselves look into 
 your case." 
 
 "Ay, ay," answered the King; "he hath made appellatio ad 
 Ccesarwm — we will interrogate Glenvarlochides ourselves, time and 
 j^)lace fitting ; and in the meanwhile, have him and his weapons away, 
 lor I am weary of the sight of them." 
 
 In consequence of du:ections hastily given, Nigel was accordingly re- 
 moved from the presence, where, however, his words had not altogether 
 fallen to the ground.* " This is a most strange matter, George," said 
 the Prince to the favourite ; " this gentleman hath a good countenance, 
 a happy presence, and much calm firmness in his look and speech. I 
 cannot think he would attempt a crime so desperate and useless." 
 
 "I profess neither love nor favour to the young man," answered Buck- 
 ingham, whose high-spirited ambition bore always an open character ; 
 "but I cannot but agree with your highness, that our dear gossip hath 
 been something hasty in apprehending personal danger from him."^ 
 
 " By my saul, Steenie, ye are not blate to say so," said the King. 
 " Do I not ken the smell of pouther, think ye 1 Who else nosed out 
 the Fifth of November, save our royal selves 1 Cecil, and Suffolk, and 
 all of them, were at fault, like sae mony mongrel tikes, when I puzzled 
 it out ; and trow ye that I cannot smell pouther ? Why, 'sblood, man, 
 Joannes Barclaius thought my ingine was in some measure inspiration, 
 and terms his liistory of the plot. Series patefacti divinitus parricidii ; 
 and Spondanus, in Uke manner, saith of us, Divinitus evasitP 
 
 " The land was happy in your Majesty's escape," said the Duke of 
 Buckingham, " and not less in the quicl: wit which tracked that laby- 
 rinth of treason by so fine and almost invisible a clew." 
 
 " Saul, man, Steenie, ye are right ! There are few youths have sic 
 true judgment as you respecting the wisdom of their elders ; and, as 
 for this fause traitorous smaik, I doubt he is a hawk of the same nest. 
 Saw ye not something papistical about him ? Let them look that he 
 bears not a cruchix, or some sic Roman trinket, about him." 
 
 " It would ill become me to attempt the exculpation of this unliappy 
 man," said Lord Dalgarno, " considering the height of his present 
 attempt, which has made all true men's blood curdle in their veins. 
 Yet I cannot avoid intimating, with all due submission to his Majesty's 
 infallible judgment, in justice to one who showed himself formerly only 
 my enemy, though he now displays himself in much blacker colours, 
 that this Olifaunt always appeared to me more as a Puritan, than as a 
 Papist." 
 
 "Ah, Dalgarno, art thou there, man?" said the King. "And ye 
 behoved to keep back, too, and leave us to our own natm-al strength 
 and the care of Providence, when we were in grips with the villain?" • 
 
 1 See Note U. Seme, in Greenwich Park. 
 3 See Note X. Kitig James's Timidity, 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 243 
 
 '* Providence, may it please your most gracious Majesty, would not 
 fail to aid, in such a strait, the care of three weeping kingdoms," said 
 Lord Dakarno. 
 
 " Surely, man — surely," replied the King — " but a sight of your 
 father, with his long whinyard, would have been a blithe matter a short 
 while syne ; and m future we will aid the ends of Providence in our 
 favour, by keeping near us two stout beef- eaters of the guard. — And so 
 this Olifaunt is a Puritan 1 — not the less like to be a Papist, for all that 
 — for extremities meet, as the scholiast proveth. There are, as I have 
 proved in my book, Puritans of papistical principles— it is just a new 
 tout on an auld horn." 
 
 Here the King was reminded by the Prince, who dreaded perhaps 
 that he was going to recite the whole Basilicon Doron, that it Avould 
 be best to move towards the Palace, and consider what was to be done 
 for satisfying the public mind, in whom the morning's adventm'e was 
 likely to excite much speculation. As they entered the gate of the 
 Palace, a female bowed and presented a paper, which the King received, 
 and, with a sort of groan, thrust it into his side-pocket. The prince 
 expressed some curiosity to know its contents. " The valet in waiting 
 will tell you them," said the King, " when I strip off my cassock. D'ye 
 think, Baby, that I can read all that is thrust into my hands ? See to 
 me, man" — (he pointed to the pockets of his gTeat trunk breeches, which 
 were stuffed with papers) — " We are like an ass — that we .should so 
 . speak — stooping betwixt two burdens. Ay, ay, A sinus fortis accum- 
 li hens inter terminos, as the Vulgate hath it — Ay, ay, Vidi terram 
 } quod esset optima, et stq^posui liumerwm ad portandum, et f actus 
 sum tributis serviens — I saw this land of England, and became an over- 
 bm-dened kmg thereof." 
 
 " You are indeed well loaded, my dear dad and gossip," said the Duke 
 of Buckingham, receivmg the papers which King James emptied out of 
 I his pockets. 
 
 " Ay, ay," continued the monarch ; " take them to you per aver- 
 sionem, bairns — the one pouch stuffed with petitions, t'other with pas- 
 quinadoes ; a fine time we have on't. On my conscience, I believe the 
 tale of Cadmus was hieroglyphical, and that the dragon's teeth wliilk he 
 sowed were the letters he invented. Ye are laughing, Baby Charles i 
 — Mind what I say. — When I came here first frae our ain country, 
 where the men are as rude as the weather, by my conscience, England 
 was a bieldy bit ; one would have thought the King had little to do but to 
 walk by quiet waters, p)^^' aquam refectionis. But, I kenna how or why, 
 the place is sair changed — read that libel upon us and on our regimen. 
 The dragon's teeth are sown. Baby Charles ; I pray God they bearna 
 their armed harvest in yom- day, if I sidd not live to see it. God forbid 
 I should, for there will be an awful day's kemping at the shearing of them." 
 
 " I shall know how to stifle the crop in the blade,— ha, George ?" said 
 the Prince, tmning to the favourite with a look expressive of sonie con- 
 tempt for his father's apprehensions, and full of confidence in the 
 superior firmness and decision of his o^vn counsels. 
 
 While this discourse was passing, Nigel, in charc^e of a pursuivant- 
 at-arms, was pushed and dragged thi'ough the small town, all the in- 
 habitants of which, having been alarmed by the report of an attack on 
 
244 THE i-OKTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 the King's life, now pressed forward to see the supposed traitor. Amid 
 the confusion of the moment, he could descry the face of the victualler, 
 arrested into a stare of stolid wonder, and that of the barber grhining 
 betwixt horror and eager ciu:iosity. He thought that he also had a 
 glimpse of his waterman in the green jacket. 
 
 He had no time for remarks, heing placed in a boat with the pm-sui- 
 vant and two yeomen of the guard, and rowed up the river as fast as 
 the arms of six stout watermen could pull against the tide. They passed 
 the gi'oves of masts which even then astonished the stranger with the 
 extended commerce of London, and now approached those low and 
 blackened walls of curtain and bastion, which exhibit here and there 
 a piece of ordnance, and here and there a solitary sentinel under arms, 
 but have other^^dse so little of the liiilitary terrors of a citadel. A pro- 
 jectuig low-browed arch, wliich had loured over many an innocent and 
 many a guilty head, in similar circumstances, now spread its dark 
 frowns over that of Nigel.^ The boat was put close up to the broad 
 steps against which the tide was lapping its lazy wave. The warder on 
 duty looked from the wicket, and spoke to the pursuivant in whispers. 
 In a few minutes the lieutenant of tlie Tower appeared, received, and 
 granted an acknowledgment for the body of Nigel, Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIIL 
 
 Ye towers of Julius ! London's lasting shame ; 
 With many a foul and midnight murder fed 1 
 
 Gray. 
 
 Such is the exclamation of Gray. Bandello, long before him, has 
 said something like it ; and the ^ame sentiment must, in some shape 
 or other, have frequently occurred to those, who, remembering the fiite 
 of other captives in that memorable state-prison, may have had but too 
 much reason to anticipate their own. The dark and low arch, which 
 seemed, like the entrance to Dante's Hell, to forbid hope of regress — 
 the muttered sounds of the warders, and petty formalities observed in 
 opening and shutting the grated wicket— the cold and constrained salu- 
 tation of the Lieutenant of the fortress, who sho^ved his prisoner that 
 distant and measm-cd respect which authority pays as a tax to decorum, 
 all struck upon Nigel's heart, impressmg on him the cruel consciousness 
 of captivity. 
 
 " I am a prisoner," he said, the words escaping from him almost un- 
 awares ; " I aili a prisoner, and in the Tower f 
 
 The Lieutenant bowed — " And it is my duty," he said, " to show 
 yoTU" lordsliip to your chamber, where, I am compelled to say, my orders 
 are to place you under some restraint, I will make it as easy as my 
 duty permits." 
 
 Isigel only bowed in return to this compliment, and followed the 
 Lieutenant to the ancient buddings on the western side of the parade, 
 
 > See Note Y. Traitor's Gate. 
 
TUE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 245 
 
 and adjoining to the chapel, used in those days as a state- prison, but 
 in ours as the mess-room of the officers of the guard upon duty at the 
 fortress. The douiile doors ^vere unloclved, the prisoner ascended a few 
 steps, followed by the Lieutenant, and a warder of the higher class. 
 They entered a large, but irre<5ular, iow-roofed, and dark apartment, 
 exhibiting a very scanty proportion of furniture. The warder had orders 
 to light a fh'e, and attend to Lord Glenvarloch's commands in all things 
 consistent with his duty ; and the Lieutenant, having made his rever- 
 ence with the customary compliment, that he trusted his lordship would 
 not long remain under his guardianship, took his leave. 
 
 Nigel would have asked some questions of the warder, who remained 
 to put the apartment into order, but the man had caught the spirit of his 
 office. He seemed not to hear some of the prisoner's questions, though 
 of the most ordinary kind, did not reply to others, and when he did speak, 
 it was in a short and sidlen tone, which, though not positively disrespect- 
 ful, was such as at least to cncoui-age no farther communication. 
 
 Nigel left him, therefore, to do liis work in silence, arid proceeded to 
 amuse himself with the melancholy task of deciphering the names, 
 mottoes, verses, and hieroglyphics with wliich his predecessors in cap- 
 tivity had covered the walls of their prison-house. There he saw the 
 names of many a forgotten sufferer mingled with others which will con- 
 tinue in remembrance until EngUsh history slmll perish. There were 
 the pious effusions of the devout Catholic, pom-ed forth on the eve of 
 his sealing his profession at Tyburn, mingled with those of the firm 
 Protestant, about to feed the fires of Smithfield. There the slender 
 hand of the unfortunate Jane Gray, whose fate was to draw tears from 
 future generations, might be contrasted with the bolder touch wMch 
 impressed deep on the wails the Bear and Ragged Staff, the i)roud em- 
 blem of the proud Dudleys. It was like the rolTof the prophet, a record 
 of lamentation and mourning, and yet not unmixed with brief inter- 
 jections of resignation, and sentences expressive of the firmest resolu- 
 tion.i 
 
 In the sad task of examining the miseries of his predecessors in cap- 
 tivity, Lord Glenvarloch was interrupted by the sudden opening of the 
 door of his prison-room. It was the warder, who came to inform him, 
 that, by order of the Lieutenant of the Tower, his lordship was to have 
 the society and attendance of a fellow-prisoner in his place of confine- 
 ment. Nigel replied hastily, that he wished no attendance, and would 
 rather be left alone ; but the warder gave him to understand, with a 
 kind of grumbling civility, that the Lieutenant was the best judge hov/ 
 his prisoners should be accommodated, and that he would have no trouble 
 with the boy, who was such a slip of a thing as was scarce worth turning 
 a key upon. — "Thercj Giles," he said, " bring the child in." 
 
 Another warder put the " lad before hini " into the room, and, both 
 withdramn^, bolt crashed and chahi clanged d,s they replaced these 
 ponderous obstacles to freedom. The boy was clad in a gray suit of the 
 
 1 These memorials of ilUistrious criminals, or of innoceut persons who had the fate 
 of such, are still preser^'cd, though at one time, in tiio coarse of repuiriug the rooiii*, 
 they were in some danper of being whitewashed. They are preserved at present with 
 becoming respect, and have most of them been engraved- — See BATLar's History and 
 Antiduities of the Toicer uf London. 
 
246 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 finest cloth, laid do^vn with silver lace, with a buff-coloured cloak of 
 the same pattern. His cap, which was a Montero of black velvet, was 
 pulled over his brows, and, with the profusion of his long ringlets, al- 
 most concealed his face. He stood on the very spot where the warder 
 had quitted his collar, about two steps from the door of the apartment, 
 his eyes fixed on the ground, and every joint trembling with confusion 
 and terror. Nigel could well have dispensed with his society, but it was 
 not in his nature to behold distress, whether of body or mmd, without 
 endeavouring to relieve it. 
 
 " Cheer up," he said, "my pretty lad. We are to be companions, it 
 seems, for a little time — at least I trust yom* confinement will be short, 
 since you are too young to have done aught to deserve long restraint. 
 Come, come — do not be discouraged. Your hand is cold and trembles ! 
 the air is warm too— but it may be the damp of this darksome room. 
 Place you bv the fire — What ! weeping-ripe, my little man ? I pray 
 you, do not be a child. You have no beard yet, to be dishonoured by 
 your tears, but yet you should not cry like a girl. Think you are only 
 shut up for playing truant, and you can pass a day without weeping, 
 surely. 
 
 The boy suffered himself to be led and seated by the fire, but, after 
 retaining for a long time the very posture which he assumed in sitting 
 down, he suddenly changed it in order to wring his hands with an air 
 of the bitterest distress, and then, spreading them before his face, we])t 
 so plentifully that the tears found their way in floods through his 
 slender fingers. 
 
 Nigel was in some degree rendered insensible to his own situation, by 
 his feelings for the intense agony by which so young and beautifid a 
 creature seemed to be utterly overwhelmed ; and, sitting down close 
 beside the boy, he applied the most soothing terms which occurred to 
 endeavour to alleviate his distress ; and with an action which the differ- 
 ence of their age rendered natural, drew his hand kindly along the 
 long hair of the disconsolate child. The lad appeared so shy as even 
 to shrink from this slight approach to familiarity— yet, when Lord Glen- 
 varlocli, perceiving and allowing for his timidity, sat down on the far- 
 ther side of the fire, he appeared to be more at his ease, and to hearken 
 Avith some apparent interest to the arguments which from time to time 
 Nigel used, to induce him to moderate, at least, the violence of his 
 grief. As the boy listened, his tears, though they contiimed to flow 
 freely, seemed to escape from their source more easily, his sobs were 
 less convulsive, and became gradually changed into low sighs, which 
 succeeded each other, indicating as much sorrow, perhaps, but less 
 alarm than his first transports had shown. 
 
 " Tell me who and what you are, my pretty boy," said Nigel. " Con- 
 sider me, child, as a companion, who wishes to be kind to you, would 
 you but teach him how he can be so." 
 
 " Sir — my lord, I mean," answered the boy, very timidly, and in a 
 voice which could scarce be heard even across the brief distance which 
 divided them, "you are very good — and I — am very unhappy " 
 
 A second fit of tears interrupted what else he had intended to say, 
 and it required a renewal of Lord Glenvarloch's good-natured expos- 
 tulations and encouragements to bring him once more to such com- 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 247 
 
 posiire as rendered the lad capable of expressing himself intelligibly. 
 At length, however, he was able to say—" I am sensible of your good- 
 ness, my lord — and gi'ateful for it — but I am a poor unhappy creature, 
 and, what is worse, have myself only to thank for my mislortunes." 
 
 j "We are seldom absolutely miserable, my young acquaintance," said 
 Nigel, "without being ourselves more or less responsible for it — I may 
 well say so, otherwise I had not been here to-day — but you are very 
 young, and can have but little to answer for." 
 
 "Oh, sir! I wish I could say so — I have been self-willed and ob- 
 stinate — and rash and migovernable — and now— now, how dearly do I 
 pay the price of it !" 
 
 "Pshaw, my boy," replied Nigel ; "this must be some childish frolic 
 —some breaking out of bounds — some truant trick — And yet how 
 should any of these have brought you to the Tower ? — There is some- 
 thing mysterious about you, young man, which I must inquire into." 
 
 "Indeed, indeed, my lord, there is no harm about me," said the boy, 
 more moved it would seem to confession by the last words, by which he 
 seemed considerably alarmed, than by all the kind expostulations and 
 arguments which Nigel had previously used. "I am innocent — that 
 is, I have done wrong, but nothing to deserve being in this frightful 
 place." 
 
 "Tell me the truth, then," said Nigel, in a tone hi which command 
 
 mino-led with encouragement ; "you have nothing to fear from me, and 
 
 as lit*tle to hope, perhaps— yet, placed as I am, I would know with 
 
 whom I speak." 
 
 "With an unhappy — boy, sir — and idle and truantly disposed, as 
 
 ; your lordship said," answered the lad, looking up, and showing a 
 countenance in which paleness and blushes succeeded each other, jis 
 fear and shamefacedness alternately had influence. " I left my father's 
 house without leave, to see the King hunt in the Park at Greenwich ; 
 there came a cry of treason, and all the gates were shut — I was fright- 
 ened, and hid myself in a thicket, and I was found by some of the 
 rangers and examined — and they said I gave no good account of myself 
 —and so I was sent hither." 
 
 "I am an unhappy, a most unhappy being," said Lord Glenvarloch, 
 rising and walking through the apartment; "nothing approaches me 
 but shares my own bad fate ! Death and imprisonment dog my steps, 
 and involve all who are found near me. let this boy's story sounds 
 
 ! strangely. — You say you were examined, my young friend — Let mo 
 
 I pray you to say whether you told your name, and your means of gain- 
 ing admission into the Park — if so, they surely would not have detained 
 you !" 
 
 "Oh, my lord," said the boy, "I took care not to tell them tlie 
 name of the friend that let me in ; and as to my father — I would not 
 he knew where I now am for all the ^vealth in London !" 
 
 "But you do not expect," said Nigel, "that they will dismiss you 
 till you let them know who and what you are'/" 
 
 "^What good will it do them to keep so useless a creature as myself/" 
 Baid the boy ; "they must let, me go, were it but out of shame." 
 
 "Do not trust to that — tell me your name and station — I will com- 
 immicate them to the Lieutenant— he is a man of quality and honour, 
 
24S Tlia iO'vTU-N'ES OF NIGEL. 
 
 and Avill not only be wiling to procure your liberation, but a!t;o, I have 
 no doubt, will intercede with your father. I aiu jxirtly auswerabJe for 
 such poor aid as I can afford, to get you out of this embarrassment, 
 since I occasioned the alarm owing to wliich you were arrested ; so tell 
 me your name, and your father's name." 
 
 "My name to you? Oh, never, never !" answered the boy, in a tone 
 of deep emotion, the cause of which Nigel could not comprehend. 
 
 "Are you so much afraid of me, youn^^ man," he replied, "because 
 I am here accused and a prisoner ? Consider, a man may be both, and 
 deserve neither suspicion nor restraint. Why should you distrust me '/ 
 You seem friendless, and I am myself so much in the same circum- 
 stances that I cannot but pity your situation when I reflect on my 
 own. Be wise ; I have spoken kindly to you — I mean as kindly as I 
 speak." 
 
 "Oh, 1 doubt it not, I doubt it not. iny lord," said the boy, "and I 
 could tell you all — that is, almost all. 
 
 " Tell me notliing, my young friend, excepting Avhat may assist me 
 in being useful to you," said Nigel. 
 
 " You are generous, my lord," said the boy ; " and I am siu-e — Oh, 
 sm'e, I miglit safely trust to your honour — But yet — but yet — I am so 
 sore beset — I have been so rash, so unguarded — I can never tell you of 
 my folly. Besides, I have already told too much to one whose heart I 
 thought 1 had moved — yet I find myself here." 
 
 " To whom did you make this disclosui'e /" said Nigel. 
 
 " I dare not tell," replied the youth. 
 
 "There is something sin^dar about yoUj my young friend^" said 
 Lord Glenvarloch, withdraiMug with a gentle degree of compidsion the 
 hand with which the boy had agaui covered his eyes; "do not pain 
 yourself with thinking on yom- situation just at ])resent— your pidse is 
 high and yom* hand feverish — lay yourself on yonder pallet, £ind try to 
 compose yourself to sleep. It is the readiest and best remedy for the 
 fancies with which you are Avorrying yourself." 
 
 " 1 thank you for y(»ur considerate khidness, my lord," said the boy ; 
 " with your leave I will remain for a little space quiet in this cliau- — I 
 am better thus than on the couch. I can think undisturbedly on what 
 I have done, and have still to do ; and if God sends slumber to a creature 
 so exhausted, it shall be most welcome." 
 
 So saying, the boy drew his hand from Lord Nigel's, and, drawing 
 around him an^l partly over his face the folds of his ample cloak, he 
 resigned himself to sleep or meditation, while his comi)anion, notwith- 
 standing the exhaustuig scenes of this and the precedmg day, continued 
 his pensive walk up and down the apartment. 
 
 Eveiy reader has experienced, that times occur, when, far from being 
 lords of external circuhistances, man is unable to rule even the wayward 
 realm of his own thoughts. It was Nigel's natural wish to consider his 
 OAra situation coolly, and fix on the coui-se which it became him as a man 
 of sense and courage to adopt ; and yet, in spite of himself, and not- 
 withstanding the deep interest of the critical state in Avhich he Avas 
 placed, it did so happen that his fellow-prisoner's situation occupied 
 more of liis thoughts than did his own. There was no accounting iov 
 this wandering of the iijiagiuation, but also there Avas no jitrivliii: with 
 
THJB rOETUNES Off NIGEL. 249 
 
 it. The pleading tones of one of the sweetest voices he had ever heard 
 still nmg in his ear, though it seemed that sleep had now fettered the 
 tongue of the speaker. He drew near ou tip-toe to satisfy himself 
 whether it were so. The folds of the cloak hid the lower- part of his 
 face entirely ; hut the bonnet, which had fallen a httle aside, ])ermitted 
 him to see the forehead streaked with blue veins, the closed eyes, and 
 the long silken eyelashes. 
 
 " Poor child," said Nigel to himself, as he looked on hiiii, nestled up 
 as it were in the folds of nis mantle, "the dew is yet on thy eyelashes, 
 and thou hast fairly wept thyself asleep. Sorrow is a rough nurse to 
 one so young and delicate as thou art. Peace be to thy slumbers, I 
 win not distui'b them. ^ly OAvn misfortunes requns my attention, iuid 
 it is to their contemplation that I must resign myself." 
 
 He attempted to do so, but was crossed at every turn by conjectures 
 which mtruded themselves as before, and which ail regarded the sleeper 
 rather than himself. He was angry and vexed,_ and expostiilated with 
 himself concerning the overweening interest which he took in the con- 
 cerns of one of Avhom he knew nothing, saving that the boy v/as forced 
 into his company, perhaps as a spy, by those to whose custody he v/as 
 committed — but the spell could not be'broken, and the thoughts which 
 he struggled to dismiss continued to haunt him. 
 
 Thus passed half-an-hour or more ; at the conclusion of which the 
 harsh soimd of the revolving bolts was again heard, and the voice of the 
 warder announced that a man desired to speak with Lord Glenvarloch. 
 "A man to speak with me under my present circumstances! — Who 
 can it be ? " And John Chiistie, his landlord of Paul's Wharf, resolved 
 his doubts by entering the apartment. " Welcome — most vrelcoine, 
 ]nine honest landlord ! " said Lord Glenvarloch. '•' How could I have 
 dreamt of seeing you in my present close lodgings 1 " And at the same 
 time, with the frankness of old kindness, he walked up to Clu'istie,_and 
 offered his hand ; but John started back as from the look of a basilisk. 
 
 " Keep your comtesies to yomself, my lord," said he grutHy j "I have 
 had as many of them already as may serve me for my life." 
 
 " Why, blaster Clnistie," said Nigel, " what means this ? I trust 
 I have not offended you." 
 
 "Ask me no questions, my lord," said Christie, bluntly. " I am a 
 man of peace — I came not hither to A^rangle with you at this place and 
 season. Just suppose that I am well uiformed of all the obiigements 
 from your honour's nobleness, and then acquaint me, in as few words 
 as may be, where is the unhappy woman — What have you done Avith 
 her ? " 
 
 " What have I done with her ! " said Lord Glenvarloch — " Done 
 with whom ? I know not what you are speaking of." 
 
 " Oh, yes, my lord," said Chiistie ; " play sm-prise as well as yuu 
 will, you must have some guess that I am speaking of the poor fool that 
 was my wife, till she became your lordship's hght-o'-love." 
 
 " Your wife ! Has your wife left you ] and, if she has, do you come 
 to ask her of me?" 
 
 " Yes, my lord ; smgular as it may seem," returned Christie, in a 
 tone of bitter irony, and with a sort of grin widely discording from clie 
 discomposm-e of his features, the gleam of his eye, and the froth which 
 
250 THE FOKTUNES OF NIOEL. 
 
 stood on his lip, " I do come to make that demand of your lordship. 
 Doubtless, you are surprised I should take the trouble ; but, I cannot 
 tell, great men and little men think differently. She has lain in my 
 bosom, and drunk of my cup ; and, such as she is, I cannot forget that 
 — though I will never see her again — she must not starve, mv lord, or 
 do -worse, to gain bread, though I reckon your lordship may think I am 
 robbing the public in trying to cliange her courses." 
 
 "By my faith as a Christian, by mv honour as a gentleman," said 
 Lord Glenvarloch, "if aught amiss nas chanced with your wife, I 
 know nothing of it. I trust in Heaven you are as much mistaken in 
 imputing guilt to her, as in supposing me her partner in it." 
 
 " Fie ! fie ! my lord," said Cliristie ; " why will you make it so 
 tough '/ She is but the wife of a clod-pated old chandler, who was 
 idiot enough to marry a wench twenty years younger than himself. 
 Your lordship cannot have more glory by it than you have had already ; 
 and, as for advantage and solace, I take it Dame Nelly is now un- 
 necessary to your gratification. I should be sorry to interrupt the 
 course of your pleasure ; an old wittol should have more consideration 
 of his condition. But, your precious lordship bein^ mewed up here 
 among other choice jewels of tne kingdom, Dame Nelly cannot, I take 
 
 it, be admitted to share the hours of dalliance which " Here the 
 
 incensed husband stammered, broke off his tone of irony, and proceeded, 
 striking his staff against the ground — " Oh that these false limbs of 
 yours, which I wish had been hamstrung when they first crossed my 
 honest threshold, were free from the fetters they have well deserved ! 
 I would give you the odds of your youth, and your weapon, and would 
 bequeath my soul to the foul fiend if I, with this jjiece of oak, did not 
 make, you such an example to all ungrateful, pick-thank courtiers, 
 that it should be a proverb to the end of tune how John Cln-istie 
 swaddled his wife's fine leman !" 
 
 " I understand not your insolence," said Nigel, " but I forgive it, 
 because you labour under some strange delusion. In so far as I can 
 comprehend your vehement charge, it is entirely undeserved on my 
 part. You seem to impute to me the seduction of your wife — I trust 
 she is innocent. For me, at least, she is as innocent as an angel in 
 bliss. I never thouglit of her — never touched her hand or cheek, save 
 in honourable courtesy." 
 
 " Oh, ay — courtesy ! — that is the veiy word. She always praised 
 your lordsnip's honourable courtesy. Ye have cozened me between 
 ye, with yoiu: courtesy. My lord — my lord, you came to us no very 
 Avealthy man — you know it. It was for no lucre of gain I took you 
 and your swash-buckler, your Don Diego yonder, under my ]30or roof. 
 I never cared if the little room were let or no ; I could live without it. 
 If you coidd not have paid for it, you should never have been asked. 
 All the wharf knows John Christie has the means and spirit to do a 
 kindness. When you first darkened my honest door-way, I was as 
 happy as a man need to be, who is no youngster, and has the rheuma- 
 tisai. Nelly was the kindest and best-humoured wench — we miglit 
 have a word now and then about a gown or a ribbon, but a kinder soul., 
 on the whole, and a more careful, considering her years, till you came 
 — and what is she now ! But I will not be a fool to cry if I can lielp 
 
THE rORTUNES OF NIGEL. 251 
 
 it. What slic is, is not the question, but cohere she is ; and that I 
 must learn, sh', of you." 
 
 "How can you, when I tell you," replied Ni^cl, "that I am as 
 ignorant as yourself, or rather much more so ? Till this moment, I 
 never heard of any disagreement betwixt your dame and you." 
 
 " That is a lie," said John Christie, blmitly. 
 
 "How, you base villain !" said Lord Glenvarloch — "do you presume 
 on my situation ? If it were not that I hold you mad, and perhaps 
 made so by some wrong sustained, you should 'find my being weapon- 
 less were no protection. I would beat your brains out against the wall." 
 
 "Ay, ay," answered Christie, " bully as ye list. Ye have been at the 
 ordinaries, and in Alsatia, and learned the ruffian's rant I doubt not. 
 But I repeat, you have spoken an untruth, when you said you knew 
 not of my wife's falsehood ; for, when you were twitted with it among 
 your gay mates, it was a common jest among you, and your lordship 
 took all the credit they would give you for yom- gallantry and gratitude." 
 
 There was a mixture of truth in this part of the charge, which dis- 
 concerted Lord Glenvarloch exceedingly ; for he could not, as a man of 
 honour, deny that Lord Dalgarno, and. others, had occasionally jested 
 with him on the subject of Same Nelly, and that, though he had not 
 played exactly lefanfaron des vices qiCil n'avoit pas, he had not at 
 least been sufficiently anxious to clear himself of the suspicion of sucli 
 a crime to men who considered it as a merit. It was therefore with 
 some hesitation, and in a sort of qualifying tone, that he admitted that 
 some idle jests had passed upon such a supposition, although without 
 the least foundation in truth. John Cliristie would not listen to his 
 vindication any longer. " By your own account," he said, " j^ou per- 
 mitted lies to be told of you in jest. How do I know you are speaking 
 truth, now you are serious ? You thought it, I suppose, a fine tiling 
 to wear the reputation of having dishonoured an honest family, — who 
 will not think that you had real grounds for your base bravado to rest 
 upon ? I will not believe otherwise for one, and therefore, my lord, 
 mark what I have to say. You are now yourself in trouble — As you 
 hope to come through it safely, and without loss of life and property, 
 tell me where this unhappy woman is. Tell me, if you hope for heaven 
 — tell me, if you fear hell — tell me, as you would not have the cm-se of 
 an utterly ruined woman, and a broken-hearted man, attend you through 
 life, and bear witness agamst you at the Great Day, which shall come 
 after death. You are moved, my lord, I see it. I cannot forget the 
 wrong you have done me. I cannot even promise to forgive it — but — 
 tell me, and you shall never see me again, or hear more of my re- 
 proaches." 
 
 " Unfortunate man," said Lord Glenvarloch, "you have said more, 
 far more than enough to move me deeply. Were I at liberty, I would 
 lend you my best aid to search out him who has wronged you, the rather 
 that I do suspect my having been your lodger has been in some degree 
 the remote cause of bringing the spoiler into the sheepfold." 
 
 "I am glad your lordship grants me so much," said John Christie, 
 resuming the tone of imbittered irony with which he had opened the 
 singular conversation ; " I will spare you farther reproach and remon- 
 strance — ^your mind is made up and so is mine. — So, ho, warder !" 
 
252 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 The warder entered, and John "\vent on, — " I want to get out, brother. 
 Look well to your charge— it were better that half the wild beasts in 
 theu' dens yonder were turned loose upon Tower Hill, than that this 
 same smoothfaced, civil-spoken gentleman were again returned to 
 honest men's company." 
 
 So saying, he hastily left the apartment ; and Nigel had full leisure 
 to lament the wajnvardness of his fate, which seemed never to tire of 
 
 Persecuting him for crimes of which he was innocent, and investing 
 im with the appearances of ^ilt which his mind abhorred. He could 
 not, however, help acknowledging to himself, that all the pain which 
 he might sustain from the present accusation of John Christie was so 
 far deserved, from his having suffered himself, out of vanity, or rather 
 an unwillingness to encounter ridicule, to be supposed capable of a base 
 inhospitable crime, merely because fools called it an affair of gallantry^ ; 
 and it was no balsam to the wound, when he recollected what Richie 
 had told him of his having been ridiculed behind his back hj the gal- 
 lants of the ordinary, for affecting the reputation of an intrigue which 
 he had not in reality spirit enough to have carried on. His simulation 
 had, in a word, placed him in the unlucky predicament of being rallied 
 as a braggart amongst the dissipated youths, with whom the reality of 
 the amour would have given him credit ; whilst, on the other hand', he 
 was branded as an inhospitable seducer by the injured husband, who 
 was obstinately persuaded of his guilt. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 How fares the man on whom good men would look 
 With eyes where scorn and censure combated, 
 But that kind Christian love hath taught the lesson- 
 That they who merit most contempt and hate, 
 
 Do most'desei-ye our pity. 
 
 OMPlav. 
 
 It might have seemed natural that the visit of John Christie should 
 have entirely diverted Nigel's attention from his slumbering companion, 
 and, for a time, such was the immediate effect of the chain of new ideas 
 which the incident introduced ; yet, soon after the injured man had de- 
 parted. Lord Grlenvarloch began to think it extraordinary that the boy 
 should have slept so soundly, while they talked loudly m his vicinity. 
 Yet he certainly did not appear to have stirred. Was he well — was he 
 only feigning sleep. He went close to him to make his observations, 
 and perceived that he had wept, and was still weeping, though his eyes 
 were clossd. He touched him gently on the shoulder — the boy shrunk 
 from his touch, but did not awake. He pulled him harder, and asked 
 hira if he was sleeping. 
 
 " Do they waken folks in yom- country to know whether they are 
 asleep or no ?" said the boy, in a peevish tone. 
 
 "No, my young sir," answered Nigel ; " but when they weep in the 
 maimer you do in yomr sleep, they awaken them to see what ails them." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 253 
 
 " It signifies little to any one what ails rae," said the boy. 
 " True," replied Lord Glenvarlocb ; " but you knew before you went 
 to sleep how little I could assist you in your difficulties, and you seemed 
 disposed, notwithstanding, to put some" confidence in me." 
 " If I did, I have changed my mindj" said the lad, 
 " And wiiat may have occasioned this change of mind, I trow ?" said 
 Lord Glenvarloch^ — " Some men speak tlirough their sleep — perhaps 
 I; you bave the gift of hearing in it ?" 
 
 [ " Ko, but tb e Patriarch Joseph never dreamt tmer dreams than I do." 
 ; "Indeed !" said Lord Glenvarlocb. "And, pray, what dream have 
 I you had that has deprived mc of your good opinion ; for that, I thmk, 
 I seems the moral of tbe matter T' 
 
 " You shall judge yourself," answered the boy. "I dreamed T was 
 I in a wild forest, wbere there was a cry of hounds, and winding of horns, 
 exactly as I heard in Greenwich Park." 
 
 " Tbat was because you were in the Park this morning, you simple 
 child," said Nigel. 
 
 " Stay, my lord," said the youth. " I went on in my dream, till, at 
 the top of a broad green a]]ej, I saw a noble stag which had fallen into 
 I the toils ; and methought I knew that he was the very stag which the 
 i whole party were hunting, and that if the chase came up, the dogs 
 j would tear liira to pieces, or the hunters would cut his throat ; and I 
 I had pity on the gallant stag, and thoucjti I was of a different kind from 
 him, and thongli I was somewhat afraiil of him, I thought I would ven- 
 ture sometMng to free so stately a creature ; and I pulled out my knife, 
 [ and just as I was beginning to" cut the meshes of the net, the animal 
 \ started up in my face in the likeness of a tiger,-much larger and fiercer 
 than any you may have seen in the ward of the wild beasts yonder, and 
 was just about to' tear me limb from limb, when you awaked me." 
 
 "Methinks," said Nigel, "I deserve more thanks than I have got 
 for rescuing you from such a danger by waking you. But, my pretty 
 master, methinks all this tale of a tiger and a stag has little to do with 
 yoiu- change of temper towards me." 
 
 "I know not whether it has or no," said the lad; "but I wiU not 
 tell you who I am." 
 
 1 "You will keep your secret to yourself then, peevish boy," said 
 ' Nigel, tm-ning from him, and resuming his walk tnrough the room ; 
 ! then stopping suddenly, he said— "And yet you shall not escape from 
 \ me without knowing that I penetrate your mystery." 
 
 "i\Iy mystery!" said the youth, at once alarmed and irritated, — 
 "what mean you, my lord ?" 
 
 " Only that I can read your dream without the assistance of a Chal- 
 dean interpreter, and my exposition is — that my fair companion does 
 I not wear the dress of her sex. 
 
 ! "And if I do not, my lord," said his companion, hastily starting up, 
 I and folding her cloak tight around her, "my dress, swh as it is, covers 
 I one Wiio will not disgrace it." 
 
 I "Many would call that speech a fair challenge," said Lord Glenvar- 
 I'loch, looking on her fixedly; "women do not masquerade in men's 
 
 clothes, to make use of men's weapons." 
 " I have no such purpose," said the 
 
 seeming boy; "I have other 
 
254 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 means of protectioiij and powerful— but I would first know what is 
 your purpose." 
 
 "An honourable and a most respectful one," said Lord Glenvarloch ; 
 "whatever you are — whatever motive may have brought you into this 
 ambiguous situation, I am sensible — every look, word, and action of 
 yours, makes me sensible — that you are no proper subject of impor- 
 tunity, far less of ill-usage. What circumstances can have forced yoii 
 into so doubtful a situation, I know not ; but I feel assured there is, and 
 can be, nothing in them of premeditated Avrong, which should expose 
 you to cold-blooded insult. From me you have nothing to dread." 
 
 "I expected nothing less from your nobleness, my lord," answered 
 the female. "My adventure, though I feel it was both desperate and 
 foolish, is not so very foolish, nor my safety here so utterly unprotected, 
 as at first sight, and in this stroange dress, it may appear to be. I 
 have suffered enough, and more than enougli, by the degradation of 
 having been seen in this unfeminine attire, and the connnents you 
 must necessarily have made on my conduct — but I thank God tliat I 
 am so far protected, that I could not have been subjected to insult 
 unavenged. 
 
 >Vhen this extraordinary explanation had proceeded thus far, the 
 warder appeared, to place before Lord Glenvarloch a meal which, for 
 his present situation, might be called comfortable, and v.hich, if not 
 equal to the cookery of the celebrated Chevalier Beaujeu, was much 
 superior in neatness and cleanliness to that of Alsatia. A warder 
 attended to do the honours of the table, and made a sign to the 
 disguised female to rise and assist him in his functions. But Nigel 
 declared that he knew the youth's parents, interfered, and caused his 
 companion to eat along with him. She consented with a sort of em- 
 barrassment, which rendered her pretty features yet more interesting. 
 Yet she maintained with a natural grace that sort of good-breeding 
 which belongs to the table ; and it seemed to Nigel, Avhether already 
 prejudiced in her favour by the extraordinary circumstances of their 
 meeting, or whether really judging from what was actually the fact, 
 that he had seldom seen a yomig person comport herself with more 
 decorous propriety, mixed with ingenuous simplicity ; while the con- 
 sciousness of the peculiarity of her situation threw a singular colouring 
 over her whole demeanour, which could be neither said to be formal, 
 nor easy, nor embarrassed, but was compounded of, and shaded with, 
 an interchange of all these three characteristics. Wine vfas placed on 
 the table, of wdiich she could not be prevailed on to taste a glass. Their 
 conversation was, of course, limited by the presence of the warder to 
 the business of the table ; but Nigel had, long ere the cloth was removed, 
 formed the resolution, if possible, of making himself master of this 
 young person's history, the more especially as he now began to think 
 that the tones of her voice and her features w^ere not so strange to him 
 as he had originally supposed. This, however, was a conviction which 
 he adopted slowly, and only as it dawned iipon him from particular 
 circumstances during the course of the repast. 
 
 At length the prison-meal was finished, and Lord Glenvarloch began 
 to think how he might most easily enter upon the topic bo meditated, 
 when the warder announced a visitor. 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NiaEL, 255 
 
 " Soil !" said Nigel, something displeased, "I find even a prison does 
 not save one frc>m importunate visitations." 
 
 He prepared to receive liis guest, however, while his alarmed com- 
 panion flew to the large cradle-shaped chair which had first served her 
 as a place of refuge, di'ew her cloak around her, and disposed herself as 
 much as she could to avoid observation. She had scarce made her 
 arrangements for that purpose when the door opened, and the worthy 
 citizen, George Heriot, entered the prison-chamber. 
 
 He cast around the apartment his usual sharp, quick glance of ob- 
 servation, and, advancing to Nigel, said — "My lord, I wish I could 
 say I was happy to see you." 
 
 " The sight of those who are unhappy themselves, jMaster Heriot, 
 seldom produces happiness to theu' friends — I, however, am glad to see 
 you." 
 
 He extended his hand, but Heriot bowed with much formal com- 
 plaisance, instead of accepting the coui'tesy, which in those times when 
 the distinction of ranks -^vas much guarded by etiquette and ceremony, 
 was considered as a distinguished favour. 
 
 " You are displeased with me. Master Heriot," said Lord Glenvarloch, 
 reddening, for he was not deceived by the worthy citizen's affectation 
 of extreme reverence and respect. 
 
 " By no means, my lord," replied Heriot ; " but I have been in France, 
 and have thought it as well to import, along with other more substantial 
 articles, a small sample of that good-breeding which the French are so 
 renowned for." 
 
 " It is not kind of you," said Nigel, " to bestow the first use of it on 
 an old and obhged friend." 
 
 Heriot only answered to this observation with a short dry cough, and 
 then proceeded. 
 
 " Hem ! hem ! I say, ahem ! My lord, as my French politeness may 
 not cany me far, I would willingly know whether I am to speak as a 
 friend, since your lordship is pleased to term me such ; or whether I am, 
 as befits my condition, to confine myself to the needful buiimess which 
 must be treated of between us." 
 
 " Speak as a friend by all means, Master Heriot," said Nigel ; " I 
 ; perceive you have adopted some of the numerous prejudices against me, 
 ^ if not all of tliem. Speak out, and frankly — what I cannot deny I will 
 at least confess." 
 
 " And I trust, my lord, redress," said Heriot. 
 
 " So far as is in my power, certainly," answered Nigel. 
 
 " Ah ! my lord," continued Heriot, " that is a melancholy, though a 
 necessary restriction; for how lightly may any one do an hundred times 
 more than the degi'ee of evil which it may be within his power to repair 
 to the sufferers and to society ! But we are not alone here," he said, 
 stopping, and darting liis shrewd eye towards the muflied figm-e of the 
 I disguised maiden, whose utmost efforts had not enabled her so to ad- 
 'just her position as altogether to escape observation. More anxious to 
 prevent her being discovered than to keep his own affairs private, Nigel 
 nastily answered — 
 
 "'Tis a page of mine ; yon may speak freely before him. He is of 
 France, and knows no English." 
 
 s 
 
250 THE rORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 '' I am then to speak freely," said Heriot, after a second glance at 
 tlie chair ; " perhaps my words may be more free than welcome." 
 
 " Go on, sir," said Nigel ; " I have told you I can bear reproof." 
 
 " In one word, then, my lord — why do I find you in this place, and 
 whelmed with charges which must blacken a name rendered famous by 
 ages of virtue V 
 
 " Simply then, you find me here," said Nigel, " because, to begin 
 from my original error, I would be wiser than my father." 
 
 " It was a difficult task, my lord," replied Heriot ; " your father was 
 voiced generally as the wisest and one of the bravest men of Scotland." 
 
 " He commanded me," continued Nigel, "to avoid all gambling, and 
 I took upon me to modify this injunction into regidating my play ac- 
 cording to my skill, means, and the course of my luck." 
 
 " Ay, self-opinion, acting on a desire of acquisition, my lord—you 
 hoped to touch pitch and not to be defiled," answered Heriot, "Well, 
 my lord, you need not say, for I have heard, with much regret, how far 
 this conduct diminished yom- reputation. Your next error I may with- 
 out scmple remind you of — My lord, my lord, in whatever degree Lord 
 Dalgamo may have failed towards you, the son of his father should have 
 been sacred from your violence." 
 
 " You speak in cold blood. Master Heriot, and I Avas smarting under 
 a thousand wrongs inflicted on me under the mask of friendship." 
 
 " That is, he gave yom- lordshi]3 bad advice, and you " said Heriot 
 
 "Was fool enough to follow his counsel," answered Nigel — " But we 
 will pass this. Master Heriot, if you please. Old men and young men, 
 men of the sword and men of peaceful occupation, always have thought, 
 always will think, diflferentljr on such subjects." 
 
 "Igi-ant," answered Heriot, " the distinction between the old gold- 
 smith and the young nobleman— still you should have had patience for 
 Lord Huntuiglen's sake, and pmdence for your OAvn. Supposing your 
 quarrel just " 
 
 " I pray you to pass on to some other charge," said Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 " I am not your accuser, my lord ; but I trust in Heaven, that your 
 own heart has already accused you bitterly on the inhospitable wi'ong 
 which your late landlord has sustained at yom- hand." 
 
 " Had I been guilty of what you allude to," said Lord Glenvarloch, 
 — "' had a moment of temptation hui-ried me away, I had long ere now 
 most bitterly repented it. But whoever may have wronged the unhappy 
 woman, it was not I — I never heard of her folly until Avithin this hour." 
 
 " Come, nw lord," said Heriot Avith some severity, " tMs sounds too 
 much like aflectation. I know there is among our modern youth a new 
 creed respecting adultery as well as homicide — I would rather hear you 
 speak of a revision of the Decalogue, Avith mitigated penalties in favour 
 of the privileged orders — I would rather hear you do this, than deny a 
 fact in which you have been known to glory." 
 
 " Glory ! — I never did, never would have taken honour to myself from 
 such a cause," said Lord Glenvarloch. " I could not preyent other idle 
 tongues and idle brains from making false inferences.' 
 
 " You Avould have known well enough how to stop their mouths, my 
 lord," replied Heriot, " had they spoke of you what was unpleasing to 
 youi- cars, and what the truth did not AA^arrant.— Come, my lord, i-eiiicm- 
 
TUE i'OKTU:{£S OP NIGEL. 2G7 
 
 ber your promise to confess ; and, indeed, to confess is, in this case, in 
 some slight sort to redress. I will grant you are young — the woman 
 handsome — and, as I myself have observed, lightheaded enough. Let 
 me know where she is. Her foolish husband has still some compassion 
 for her — will save her from infamy — perhaps, hi time, receive her back ; 
 for we are a good-natured generation we traders. Do not, my lord, 
 emulate those who work mischief merely for the pleasure of domg so — 
 it is the veiy devil's worst quality." 
 
 " Your grave remonstrances will drive me mad," said Nigel. "There 
 is a show of sense and reason in what you say ; and yet it is positively 
 insisting on my telling the retreat of a fugitive of whom I know nothing 
 earthly." 
 
 " It is well, my lord," answered Heriot coldly. " You have a right, 
 such as it is, to keep yom- own secrets ; but, since my discourse on ihese 
 points seems so totally unavailing, we had better proceed to business. 
 Yet your fathei-'s image rises before me, and seems to plead that I should 
 go on." 
 
 " Be it as you ^7ill, sir," said Glenvarloch ; " he who doubts my Avord 
 shall have no additional security for it." 
 
 " Well, my lord. — In the Sanctuary at Whitefriars — a place of refuge 
 so unsuitable to a young man of quality and character — I am told a 
 murder was committed." 
 
 " And you believe that I did the deed, I suppose ? " 
 
 *' God forbid, my lord ! " said Heriot. " The coroner's inquest hath 
 sat, and it appeared that your lordship, under your assumed name of 
 Grahame, behaved with the utmost bravery." 
 
 " No compliment, I pray you," said Nigel ; *' I am only too happy 
 to find that I did not murder, or am not believed to have muixlered, the 
 old man." 
 
 "True, my lord," said Heriot; " but even in this affair there lacks 
 explanation. Your lordship embarked this morning in a wherry with a 
 female, and, it is said, an immense sum of money in specie and other 
 valuables — but the woman has not since been heard of." 
 
 " I parted with her at Paul's Wharf," said Nigel, " where she went 
 ashore with her charge. I gave her a letter to that very man, John 
 Christie." 
 
 " Ay, that is the waterman's story ; but John Christie denies that 
 he remembers anything of the matter." 
 
 " I am sorry to hear this," said the yoimg nobleman ; " I hope in 
 Heaven she has not been trepanned for the treasiure she had with her." 
 
 " I hope not, my lord," replied Heriot ; " but men's minds are much 
 disturbed about it. Our national character suffers on all hands. Men 
 remember the fatal case of Lord Sanquhar, hanged for the murder of 
 a fencing-master ; and exclaim, thej^ will not have their wives whored 
 and their property stolen by the nobility of Scotland." 
 
 "And all this is laid to my door ?" said Nigel. " My excidpation is easy." 
 
 " I trust so, my lord," said Heriot ; — " nay, in this particular, I do 
 not doubt it. — But why did you leave Whitefriars under such circum- 
 stances/" 
 
 " Master Reginald Lowestoffe sent a boat for me, with intimation to 
 i provide for my safety." 
 
258 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " I am sorry to say," replied Heriot, " that he denies all knowledge 
 of 5^our lordship's motions, after having despatched a messenger to you 
 Avith some baggage." 
 
 " The watermen told me they were employed by him." 
 
 " Watermen ! " said Heriot ; " one of these proves to be an idle ap- 
 prentice, an old acquaintance of mine — the other has escaped ; but the 
 fellow who is in custody persists in saying he was employed by your 
 lordship, and you only." 
 
 " He lies ! " said Lord Glenvarloch hastily ; — " He told me Master 
 LowestofFe had sent him — I hope that kind-hearted gentleman is at 
 liberty?" 
 
 " He is," answered Heriot ; " and has escaped with a rebuke from 
 tlie benchers for interfering in such a matter as your lordship's. The 
 Court desire to keep well Avitli the young Templars in these times of 
 commotion, or he had not come off so Avell." 
 
 " That is the only word of comfort I have heard from you," replied 
 Nigel. " But this poor woman, — she and her trunk were committed to 
 the charge of two porters." 
 
 " So said the pretended waterman ; but none of the fellows who ply 
 at the wharf will acknowledge the employment. — I see the idea makes 
 you uneasy, my lord ; but every cflbrt is made to discover the poor 
 Avo man's place of retreat — if, indeed, she yet lives. — And now, my lord, 
 my errand is spoken, so far as it relates exclusively to your lordship ; 
 what remains is matter of business of a more formal kind." 
 
 " Let us proceed to it without delay," said Lord Glenvarloch. " I 
 would hear of the affairs of any one rather than of my own." 
 
 " You cannot have forgotten, my lord," said Heriot, " the transac- 
 tion Avliich took place some weeks smce at Lord Huntinglen's — by which 
 a large sum of money Avas advanced for the redemption of your lordship's 
 estate ?" 
 
 " I remember it perfectly," said Nigel ; "and yom- present austerity 
 cannot make me forget your kindness on the occasion." 
 • Heriot boAved gravely, and went on. — "That money was advanced 
 under the expectation and hope that it might be replaced by the 
 contents of a grant to your lordship, under the royal sign-manual, in 
 pajanent of certain moneys due by the CroAvn to your father, — I trust 
 your lordship understood the transaction at the time — I trust you now 
 understand my resumption of its import, and hold it to be correct V 
 
 "Undeniably correct," ansAA^ered Lord Glenvarloch. "If the sums 
 contained in the Avarrant cannot be recovered, my lands become the 
 property of those Avho paid off the original holders of the mortgage, 
 and now stand in their right." 
 
 "Even so, my lord," said Heriot. "And your lordship's unhappy 
 circumstances having, it Avould seem, alarmed these creditors, they are 
 noAV, I am sorry to say, pressing for one or other of these alternatives 
 —possession of the land, or payment of their debt." 
 
 "They have a right to one or other," ansAA^ered Lord Glenvarloch; 
 "and as I cannot do the last in my present condition, I suppose they 
 must enter on possession." 
 
 "Stay, my lord," replied Heriot; "if you have ceased to call me a 
 friend to your person, at least you shall see I am Aviliing to be such to 
 
THE FOllTUNES OF NIGEL. 259 
 
 voiir father's house, were it but for the sake of j'oiu' father's memory. 
 if you will trust me with the warrant under the sign-manual, I beheve 
 circumstances do now so stand at Court, that I may be able to recover 
 the money for you." 
 
 "I woidd do so gladly," said Lord Glenvarloch, "but the casket 
 which contains it is not in my possession. It was seized when I was 
 arrested at Greenwich." 
 
 "It ynl\ be no longer withheld from you," said Heriot ; " for, I mider- 
 stand, my Master's natural good sense, and some information^ which 
 he has procured, I know not how, has induced him to contradict the 
 Avhole charge of the attempt on his person. It is entirely hushed up ; 
 and 3^ou will only be proceeded against for yom* violence on Lord Dal- 
 ^arno, committed within the verge of the Palace — and that you will 
 hnd heavy enough to answer." 
 
 "I Aviil not shrink under the weight," said Lord Glenvarloch. " But 
 
 that is not the present point. — If I nad that casket ^" 
 
 "Your baggage stood in the little anteroom, as I passed," said the 
 citizen; "the casket caught my eye. I think you had it of me. — It 
 
 was my old friend Sir Faitliful Frugal's. Ay ; he, too, had a son " 
 
 Here he stopped short, 
 
 "A son who, like Lord Glenvarloch' s, did no credit to his father. — 
 Was it not so you would have ended the sentence. Master Heriot T' 
 said the young nobleman. 
 
 "i\Iy lord, it was a word spoken rashly," answered Heriot. "God 
 may niend all in his own good time. This, however, I will say, that I 
 have sometimes envied my friends their fair and flourishing families ; 
 and yet have I seen such changes when death has removed the head, 
 so many rich men's sons pemiiless, the heirs of so many knights and 
 nobles acreless, tliat I think mine own estate and memoiy, as I shall 
 order it, has a fair chance of outliving those of greater men, though 
 God has given me no heir of my name. But this is from the purpose. 
 — Ho! Avarder, bring in Lord Glenvarloch's baggage." The officer 
 obeyed. Seals had been placed U])on tiie trunk and casket, but Avere 
 now removed, the warder said, in consequence of the subsequent orders 
 from Com-t, and the whole was placed at the prisoner's free disposal. 
 
 Desirous to bring this painful visit to a conclusion. Lord Glenvarloch 
 opened the casket, and looked through the papers which it contained, 
 first hastily, and then more slowly and accurately ; but it was all in 
 vain. The Sovereign's signed warrant had disappeared. 
 
 " I thou^-ht and expected nothing better," said George Heriot bitterly. 
 "The beginning of evil is the letting out of water. Here is a fair 
 heritage lost, I dare say, on a foul cast at dice, or a conjuring- trick at 
 cards ! — My lord, your surprise is well played. I give you lull joy of 
 Aour accomplishments. I have seen many as young brawlers and 
 ^Spendthrifts, but never so young and accomplished a dissembler. — Nay, 
 man, never bend your angry brows on me. I speak in bitterness of 
 heart, from what*^I remember of your worthy father ; and if his son 
 hears of his degeneracy from no one else, he shall hear it from the old 
 goldsmith." 
 
 This new suspicion drove Nigel to the very extremity of Ms patience; 
 yet the motives and zeal of the good old man, as well as the ciremu- 
 
2G0 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 stances of suspicion which created his displeasure, were so excellent 
 an excuse for it, that they formed an absolute curb on the resentment 
 of Lord Glenvarloch, and constrained him, after two or tliree hasty 
 exclamations, to observe a proud and sullen silence. At length, 
 Master Heriot resumed his lecture. 
 
 "Hark you, my lord," he said, "it is scarce possible that this most 
 important 'paper can be absolutely assigned away. Let me know in 
 what obscure corner, and for what petty sum, it lies pledged — some- 
 thing may yet be done." 
 
 "Your efforts in my favour are the more generous," said Lord Glen- 
 varloch, "as you offer them to one wh-om you believe you have cause 
 to think hardly of — but they are altogether unavailing. Fortune has 
 taken the field against me at every point. Even let her win the battle." 
 
 "Zouns!" exclaimed Heriot, impatiently, — "you would make a 
 saint swear ! Why, I tell you, if this paper, the loss of which seems 
 to sit so light on you, be not found, farewell to the fair lordship of 
 Glenvarloch — firth and forest — lea and furrow — lake and stream — all 
 that has been in the house of Olifaunt since the days of William the 
 Lion." 
 
 " Farewell to them, then," said Nigel, — "and that moan is soon made." 
 
 "'Sdeath ! my lord, you will make more moan for it ere you die," 
 said Heriot, in the same tone of an^ry impatience. 
 
 "Not I, my old friend," said Nigel. "If I moimi, Master Heriot, 
 it will be for having lost the good opinion of a worthy man, and lost it, 
 as I must say, most undeservedly." 
 
 "Ay, ay, young man," said Heriot, shaking his head, "make me 
 believe that, if you can. — To sum the matter up," be said, rising from 
 jiis seat, and walking towards that occupied by tbe disguised female, 
 "for our matters are now drawn into small compass, you shall as soon 
 make me believe that this masquerading mummer, on whom I now lay 
 the hand of paternal authority, is a French page, who understands no 
 English." 
 
 So saying, he took hold of the supposed page's cloak, and, not with- 
 out some gentle degree of violence, led into the middle of tbe apartment 
 the disguised fair one, wbo in vain attempted to cover her face, first 
 with her ma.ntle, and afterwards with her bands ; both which impedi- 
 ments Master Heriot removed, something unceremoniously, and^gave 
 to view the detected daughter of the old chronologist, his own fair god- 
 daughter, Margaret Ramsay. 
 
 " Here is goodly gear !" he said ; and, as he spoke, he could not 
 prevent himself from giving ber a slight shake, for we have elsewhere 
 noticed that he was a severe disciphnarian. — "How comes it, minion, 
 that I find you in so shameless a dress, and so unworthy a situation l 
 Nay, your modesty is now mistimed — it should have come sooner. 
 Speak, or I will " 
 
 "Master Heriot," said Lord Glenvarloch, "whatever right ;^ou may 
 Jiave over tliis maiden elsewhere, while in my apartment she is under 
 my protection." 
 
 " Your protection, my lord ! — a proper protector ! — And how long, 
 mistress, hsve you been under my lord's protection'/ Speak out, 
 forsooth." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF KIQEL. 261 
 
 "For the matter of two hours, godfather," answered the maiden, 
 with a countenance bent to the ground, and covered with blushes, ''but 
 it was r.gainst my will." 
 
 ''Two'hoiu's!" repeated Heriot, — "space enough for mischief. — My 
 I'^rd, tliis is, I suppose, another victim offered to your character of 
 gallantry — another adventm'e to be boasted of at Beaujeu's ordinary? 
 Methinks, the roof under wliich you first met this silly maiden should 
 have seciu-ed her at least from such a fate." 
 
 "On my honour. Master Heriot," said Lord Glenvarloch, "you 
 remind me now, for the first time, that I saw this young lady in your 
 family. Her features are not easily forgotten, and yet I was trying in 
 vain to recollect where 1 had last looked on them. For your suspicions, 
 they are as false as they are injurious botli to her and me. I had but 
 discovered her disguise as you entered. I am satisfied, from lier whole 
 behaviour, that her presence here in this dress was involuntary ; and 
 God forbid that I had been capable of taking advantage of it to her 
 prejudice." 
 
 "It is well mouthed, ray lord," said Master Heriot ; "but a cunning 
 clerk can read the Apocrypha as loud as the Scripture. Franldy, my 
 lord, you are come to that pass, where your words will not be received 
 without a warrant." 
 
 "I should not speak, perhaps," said Margaret, the natural vivacity 
 of whose temper could never be long suppressed by any situation, how"- 
 ever disadvantageous, " but I cannot be silent. Godfather, you do me 
 wi-ong — and no less wrong to this young nobleman. You say his words 
 want a warrant. I know where to find a warrant for some of them, 
 and the rest I deeply and devoutly believe without one." 
 
 "And I thank you, maiden," replied Nigel, "for the good opinion 
 you have expressed. I am at that point, it seems, thougli Iiow I have 
 been driven to it I know not, where every fair construction of my 
 actions and motives is refused me, I am the more obliged to her who 
 
 f-ants me that right which the world denies me. For you, lady, were 
 at liberty, I have a sword and arm should know how to guard your 
 reputation." 
 
 "Upon my word, a perfect Amadis and Oriana!" said George Heriot. 
 "I should soon get my tlu-oat cut betwixt the knight and the princess, 
 I suppose, but that the beef-eaters are happily within halloo. — Come, 
 come. Lady Light-o'-ljove — if you mean to make your way '5\ith me, 
 it must be by plain facts, not by speeches from romauats and play-books. 
 How, in Heaven's name, rame you here ?" 
 
 "Sir," answered Margaret, "since I must speak, I went to Green- 
 wich this morning with Monna Paula, to present a petition to the King 
 on the part of the Lady Henuione." 
 
 " Mercy-a-gad !" exclaimed Heriot, "is she in the dance, too ? Could 
 she not have waited my retm'u to stir in her affairs ? 13ut I su])pose 
 the intelligence I sent her bad rendered her restless. Ah! woman, 
 woman — he that goes partner with you. had need of a double shpre of 
 patience, for you will bring none into the common stock. — Well, but 
 what on earth had this embassy of Monna Paula s to do with your 
 absurd disguise? Speak out." 
 
 "Monna Paula was frightened," answered Margaret, "and d».<? lot 
 
262 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 know how to set about the errand, for you know she scarce ever goes 
 out of doors— and so— and so — I agreed to go with her to give her 
 courage ; and, for the dress, I am sure you remember I wore it at a 
 Christmas mumming, and you thought it not unbeseeming." 
 
 "Yes, for a Christmas parlour," said Heriot, "but not to go a- 
 masking through the country in. I do remember it, minion, and I 
 knew it even now ; that and your httle shoe there, hnked with a hint 
 I had in the morning from a friend, or one who called himself such, led 
 to your detection." — Here Lord Glenvarloch could not help giving a 
 glance at the pretty foot, which even the staid citizen thought worth 
 recollection — it was but a glance, for he saw how much the least degree 
 of observation added to Margaret's distress and confusion. "And tell 
 me, maiden," continued Master Heriot, for what we have oliserved was 
 by-play, — "did the Lady Hermione know of this fair work'/" 
 
 " I d.ared not have told her for the world," said Margaret—" she 
 thought one of our apprentices went with Monna Paula." 
 
 It may_ be here noticed, that the words " our apprentices," seemed 
 to have in them something of a charm to break the fascination with 
 which Lord Glenvarloch had hitherto listened to the broken, yet inter- 
 esting details of Margaret's history. 
 
 " And wherefore went he not ? — he had been a fitter companion for 
 Monna Paula than you, I wot," said the citizen. 
 
 " He was otherwise employed," said ]Margaret, in a voice scarcely 
 audible. 
 
 Master George darted a hasty glance at Nigel, and when he saw his 
 features betoken no consciousness, he muttered to himself^ — " It must 
 be better than I feared. — And so this cursed Spaniard, with her head 
 full, as they all have, of disguises, trap-doors, rope-ladders, and masks, 
 was jade and fool enough to take you with her on this wild-goose 
 errand ? — And how sped vou, I pray V 
 
 " Just as we reached tlie gate of the Park," replied Margaret, " the 
 cry of treason was raised. I know not Avhat became of Monna. but I 
 ran till I fell into the arms of a very decent serving-man, called. Link- 
 later ; and I Avas fain to tell him I was yom- god-daughter, and so he 
 kept the rest of them from me, and got me to speech of his Majesty, 
 as I entreated him to do." 
 
 " It is the only sign you showed in the Avhole matter that common sense 
 had not utterly deserted your little skull," said Heriot. 
 
 " liis Majesty," continued the damsel, " was so gracious as to receive 
 me alone, though the courtiers cried out against the danger to his per- 
 son, and would have searched me for arms, God help me, but the Kin^ 
 forbade it. I fancy he had a hint from Linklater how the truth stood 
 with me." 
 
 " Well, maiden, I ask not what passed," said Heriot ; " it becomes 
 not me to pry into my Master's secrets. Had you been closeted with 
 his grandfather the lied Tod of Saint Andrews, as Davie Lindsay used 
 to call him, by my faith, I should have had my own thoughts of the 
 matter ; but our Master, God bless him, is douce and temperate, and 
 Solomon in everything save in the chapter of wives and concubines." 
 
 " I know not what you mean, sir," answered JMargaret. " His Ma- 
 jesty was moiii kind and compassionate^ but said I must be sent hither. 
 
"JHE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 263 
 
 and that the Lieutenant's lady, the Lady Mansel, would have a charge 
 of uie, and see that I sustained, no wrong ; and tlie King promised to 
 send me in a tilted barge, and under conduct of a person well known 
 to you ; and thus I come to be in the Tower." 
 
 " But how, or why, in this apartment, nymph ?" said George Heriot — • 
 " Expound that to me, for I tliink the riddle needs reading." 
 
 " I cannot explain it, sir, farther than that the Lady Mansel sent 
 me here, in spite of my earnest prayers, tears, and entreaties. I was 
 not afraid of anything, for I knew I should be protected. But I could 
 have died then — could die now — for very shame and confusion." 
 
 " Well, well, if yoiu- tears are genuine," said Heriot, " thevmay the 
 sooner wash out the memory of yoiu: fault. — Knovrs your father aught 
 of this escape of yours '?" 
 
 " I would not for the world he did," replied she ; " he bcheves me 
 with the Lady Hermione." 
 
 " Ay. honest Davy can regulate his horologes better tlian his family. 
 Come, damsel, now I will escort joii back to the Lady Mansel, and pray 
 her, of her kindness, that when she is again trusted with a goose, she 
 will not give it to the fox to keep. — The warders will let us pass to my 
 lady's lodgings, I trust." 
 
 " Stay but one moment," said Lord Glenvarloch. " Whatever hard 
 opinion you may have formed of me, I forgive you, for time will show 
 that you do me wrong ; and you yourself, I think, will be the first to 
 regret the injustice you have done me. But involve not in yom- sus- 
 X>icions this young person, for whose purity of thought angels themselves 
 should be vouchers ; I have marked every look, every gesture, and, 
 whilst I can drav; breath, I shall ever think of her with " 
 
 " Think not at all of her, my lord," answered George Heriot, inter- 
 rupting him ; "^t is, I have a notion, the best favour you can do her ;— 
 or think of her as the daughter of Davy Ramsay, the clock-maker, no 
 proper subject for fine speeches, romantic adventures, or high-flown 
 Arcadian compliments. I give you god-den, my lord.. I think not 
 altogether so harshly as my speech may have spoken. If I can help — 
 that is, if I saw my way clearly through this labyiinth — but it avails 
 not talking now. I give your lordship god-den. — Here, warder ! Per- 
 mit us to i^ass to the Lady Mansel's apartment." 
 
 The warder said he nmst have orders from the Lieutenant ; and as 
 he retired to procure them, the parties remained standing near each 
 other, but witliout speaking, and scarce looking at each other save by 
 stealth, a situation which, in two of the party at least, was sufliciently 
 I embarrassing. The diiference of rank, though in that age a considera- 
 tion so serious, could not i^revent Lord Glenvarloch from seeino- that 
 IMargaret Ramsay was one of the prettiest voung women he had ever 
 beheld — from suspecting, he could scarce tell why, that lie himself Avas 
 not indifferent to her— from feehng assured that he had been the cause 
 of much of her present distress — admiration, self-love, and generosity, 
 acting in favour of the same object ; and when the yeoman returned 
 with permission to liis guests to v/ithdraw, Nigel's obeisance to the 
 beautiful daughter of tlie mechanic v/as marked with an expression 
 which called up in her cheeks as much colour as any incident of the 
 eventful day had hitherto excited. She returned the coiurtesy timidly 
 
2G4 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEt;. 
 
 fiinl irresolutely— clung to her godfather's arm, and left the apartment, 
 wliich, dark as it was. Iiad never yet appeared so obscure to Nigel as 
 when the door closed oehind her. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 Yet tlioiigli thou Bliouldst bo dragg'd In Bcorn 
 
 To yonder j^ominious tree, 
 Thou'shalt not want one faithful fr5cnd 
 
 To share the cruel fates' decree. 
 
 Ballad of Jemmy Dmrsm. 
 
 Master George Heriot and his ward, as she might justly be 
 termed, for his affection to Margaret imposed on him all tlie cares of a 
 guardian, were ushered by the yeoman of the guard to tlie lodging of 
 the Lieutenant, where they founa him seated witJi his lady. Tliey were 
 received by both with tliat decorous civility which Master Hcriot's 
 character and supposed influence demanded, even at the hand of a 
 punctilious old soldier and courtier like Sir Edward Mansel. Lady 
 Man?.el received Margaret with like courtesy, and informed I\Iaster 
 George that she was now only her guest, and no longer her prisoner. 
 
 " She is at liberty," she^said, " to return to her friends under your 
 chorge — such is his' Majesty's pleasure." 
 
 " I am glad of it, madam"," answered Heriot, "but only I could have 
 wished her freedom had taken place before her foolish interview with 
 tliat singular young man ; and I marvel your ladyship permitted it." 
 
 " My'good Master Heriot," said Sir Edward, " we^ct according to 
 the commands of one better and wiser tlian ourselves— our orders from 
 his Majesty must be strictly and literally obeyed ; and I need not say 
 that tlie wisdom of his Majesty doth more than ensure " 
 
 " I know his Majesty's wisdom well," said Heriot ; " yet there is an 
 old proverb about lire and flax — well, let it pass." 
 
 " I see Sir Mungo Malagrowther stalking towards the door of the lodg- 
 ing," said the Lady Mansel, " witli the gait of a lame crane— it is his 
 second visit this morning." 
 
 " He brouglit the warrant for discharging Lord Glenvarloch of the 
 charge of treason," said Sir Edward. 
 
 " And from him," said Heriot, " I heard much of wliathad befallen ; 
 for I came from France only late last evening, and somewhat unex- 
 pectedly." 
 
 As they spoke, Sir Mungo entered the apartment— saluted the 
 Lieutenant of the Tower and his lady with ceremonious civility- 
 honoured Geor^ft Heriot with a patronizing nod of acknowledgment, 
 and accosted Margaret with — " Hey ! my young charge, you have not 
 doffed your masculine attire yet ?" 
 
 " She does not mean to lay it aside. Sir Mungo," said Heriot, speak- 
 ing loud, " until she has had satisfaction fi'om you, for betraying her 
 disguise to me, Hke a false knight— and in verj^ deed, Sir Mungo, I 
 tliink when you told rae she was rambling about in so str.wge a dress, 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 2^5 
 
 you might have said also tliat she was under Lady Mansel's pro- 
 tection." 
 
 "That was the King's secret, Master Heriot/' said Sir INIungo, 
 throwing himself into a chair with an air of atrabilarions importance ; 
 " the other was a well meaning hint to yourself as the girl's triend." 
 
 "Yes," rephcd Heiiot, "it was done like yom'self— enough told to 
 make me unhappy about her — not a word which could relieve my un- 
 easiness." 
 
 " Sir Mungo will not hear that remark," said the lady ; "we must 
 change the subject.— Is there any news from Court, Sir Mango? you 
 have been to Greenwich ?" 
 
 " You might as well ask me, madam," answered the Knight, "whether 
 there is any news from hell." 
 
 " How, Sir Mun^o, how !" said Sir Edward, " measure your words 
 something better— You speak of the Court of King James." 
 
 " Sir Edward, if I spoke of the Court of the twelve Kaisers, I would 
 say it is as confused for tlie present as the infernal regions. Courtiers of 
 forty years' standing, and such I may write mj^self, are as far to seek 
 in tlie matter as a ramnow in the ]\IaeIstrom. Some folks say the King 
 has frowned on the Prince — some that the Prince has looked grave on 
 the Duke — some that Lord Glenvarloch will be hanged for liigli treason 
 — and some that there is matter against Lord Dalgarno that may cost 
 him as much as his head's worth." 
 
 " And what do you, that are a courtie]' of forty years' standing, think 
 of it all ?" said Sir Edward Mansel. 
 
 " Nay, nay, do not ask liim, Sir Edward," said the lady, with an ex- 
 pressive look to her husband. 
 
 " Sir Mungo is too witty," added Mast^er Heriot, " to remember 
 that he who says au^bt that may be repeated to his own prejudice, 
 does but load a piece tor any of the company to shoot him dead with at 
 their pleasure and convenience." 
 
 " What !" said the bold knight, "you think I am afraid of the tre- 
 pan ? Why, now^ what if I should say that Dalgarno has more wit than 
 honesty, — the DuKe more sail than ballast, — the Prince more pride than 
 
 prudence,— and that the King " The Lady Mansel held up her 
 
 finger in a warning manner-" that the King is my very good master, 
 who has given mc, for forty years and more, dog's wages, videlicet, 
 bones and beating. — Why now, all this is said, and Archie Armstrong' 
 says worse than tliis of the 1:)est of them every day." 
 
 " The more fool he," said George Ileriot ; " yet he is not so utterly 
 wi'ong, for folly is his best wisdom. But do not you. Sir Mungo, set 
 your wit against a fool's, though he be a Court fool." 
 
 " A fool, said ^ou ?" replied Su" Mungo, not having fully heard what 
 I\Laster Heriot said, or not choosing to have it thought so,— "I have been 
 a fool indeed, to hang on at a close-fisted Court here, when men of un- 
 derstanding and men of action have been making fortunes in every other 
 ])lace of Europe. But here a man comes indifferently off unless he gets 
 a great key to turn" (looking at Sir Edward), " or can beat tattoo with 
 a Jiammer on a pewter plate. — Well, sirs, I must make as much haste 
 back on mine errand as if I were a fee'd messenger. — Sir Edward and 
 
 1 The celebrated Court Jester 
 
266 TUE FOllTUiNES Off NIGEL. 
 
 my lady, I leave my commendations with you — and my good-will witli 
 you, Master Ileriot— and for this breaker of bounds, if you will act by 
 my counsel, some maceration by fasting, and a gentle use of the rod, 
 is the best cure for her giddy fits." 
 
 " If you propose for Greenwich, Sir Mungo," said the Lieutenant, 
 '^ I can spare you the labour — the King comes immediately to Yf liite- 
 hall." 
 
 " And that must be the reason the council arc summoned to meet in 
 such hurr}^," said Sir Mungo. " Well— I Avill, with your permission, 
 go to the poor lad Glenvarloch, and bestow some comfort on him." 
 
 The Lieutenant seemed to look up, and pause for a moment as if in 
 doubt. 
 
 " The lad will want a pleasant companion, who can tell him tbe 
 nature of tlie punishment which he is to suffer, and other matters ('f 
 concernment. I will not leave him until I shoAv him how absolutely 
 he hath ruined himself from feather to spur, how deplorable is his 
 present state, and how small his chance of mending it." 
 
 "Well. Sir Mungo," replied the Lieutenant, "if you really think 
 all this likely to be very consolatory to the party concerned, I Avill send 
 a warder to conduct you." 
 
 "And I," said George Heriot, "will humbly pray of Lady Mansel, 
 that she Avill lend some of her handmaidens apparel to this giddy- 
 brained girl ; for I shall forfeit my reputation if 1 walk up Tower-hiil 
 ^vith her in that mad guise— and yet the silly lassie looks not so ill in 
 it neither." 
 
 "I will send my coach with you instantly," said the obliging lady. 
 
 " Faith, madam, and if you will honour us with such courtesy, I vdll 
 gladly accept it at your hands," said the citizen, " for business presses 
 hard on me, and the forenoon is already lost, to little purpose." 
 
 The coach being ordered accordingly, transported the v/orthy citizen 
 and his charge to his mansion in Lombard Street. There he found his 
 presence was anxiously expected by the Lady Hermione, who had just 
 received an order to be in readiness to attend upon the Royal Privy 
 Council in the course of an hour ; and upon whom, in her inexperienc'e 
 of business, and long retirement from society and the ^vorld, the intima- 
 tion had made as deep an impression as if it had not been the necessary 
 consequence of the petition which she had presented to the King by 
 Monna Paula. George Ileriot gently blamed her for taking any steps 
 in an affair so important until his return from France, especially ns he 
 had requested her to remain quiet, in a letter which accompanied the 
 evidence he had transmitted to her from Paris. She could only plead 
 in answer the influence which her immediately stirring in the matter 
 was likely to have on the affair of her kinsman Lord Glenvarloch, for 
 she was ashamed to acknowledge how much she had been gained on by 
 the eager importunity of her youtliful companion. The motive of Mar- 
 garet's eagerness was, of course, the safety of Nigel ; but we nmst 
 leave it to time to show in what particulars that came to be connected 
 with the petition of the Lady Hermione. Meanwhile, we retm-n to 
 the visit with which Sir Mungo Malagi'owther favoured the afflicted 
 young nobleman in his place of captivity. 
 
 The Knight, after the usual salutations, and having prefaced his 
 
THE FORTUlN'LS OF NIGEL. 267 
 
 discourse ^vith a gi'eat deal of professed regret for NigeVs situation, sat 
 down beside him, and, composing his grotesque features into the most 
 lugubrious despondence, began his raven-song as folloT^■s : — 
 
 " I bless God, my lord, that I was the person who hdd Tne pleasur;! 
 to bring his Majesty's mild message to the Lieutenant, discharging the 
 higher prosecution against ye, for anything meditated aganist liis 
 Majesty's sacred person ; for, admit you be prosecuted on the lesser 
 offence, or breach of privilege of the palace and its precincts, iisque ad 
 muiilationem, even to dismemberation, as it is most likely you will, 
 yet the loss of a member Ls nothing to being hanged and drawn quick, 
 after the fashion of a traitor. 
 
 " I should feel the shame of having deserved such a punishment," 
 answered Nigel, " more than the pain of undergoing it." 
 
 " Doubtless, my lord, the having, as you say, deserved it, must be 
 an excruciation to your own mind,^' replied his tormentor ; " a kind of 
 mental and metaphysical hanging, drawing, and quartering, which may 
 be in some measure equipollent with the external application of hemp, 
 iron, fire, and the like, to the outer man." 
 
 " I say. Sir JMungo," repeated Nigel, " and beg you to understand 
 my words, that I am unconscious of any error, save that of having arms 
 on my person when I chanced to approach that of my Sovereign." 
 
 "Ye are right, my lord, to acknowledge nothing," said Sir jMungo. 
 " We have an old proVerb,— Confess, and — so forth. And, indeed, as to 
 the weapons, liis iMajesty has a special ill-will at all arms whatsoever, 
 and more especially pistols ; but, as I said, there is an end of that 
 matter.^ I wish you as well tlu'ough the next, wliich is altogether un- 
 likely." 
 
 " Siu-ely, Sir Mungo," answered Nigel, " you yourself miglit say 
 something in my favour concerning the affair in the Park. None knows 
 better than you that I was at that moment m-ged by wrongs of the most 
 heinous nature, offered to me by Lord Dalgarno, many of which were 
 reported to me by yourself, much to the inflammation of my passion." 
 
 " Alack-a-day !— alack-a-day ! " rephed Sir Mungo, " I remember 
 but too well how mucli yom- choler was inflamed, in spite of the various 
 remonstrances wliich I made to you respecting the sacred uatm-e of the 
 place. Alas ! alas ! you caimot say you leaped mto the mire for want 
 of warning." 
 
 " I see. Sir Mungo, you are determined to remember nothing which 
 can do me service," said Nigel. 
 
 " Blitliely would I do ye service," said the Knight ; " and the best 
 ■whilk I can think of is, to tell you the process of the punishment to the 
 whilk you will be indubitably subjected, I having had the good fortune 
 to behold it performed in the Queen's time, on a chield that had ^\Titten 
 a pasquinade. I was then in my Lord Gray's train, who lay leaguer here, 
 and being always covetous of pleasing and profitable sights, I could not 
 dispense with being present on the occasion." 
 
 " I should be surprised indeed," said Lord .Glenvarloch, " if j^ou 
 Iiad so far put restrauit upon your benevolence, as to stay away from 
 such an exhibition." 
 
 " Hey ! was yoiu' lordship praying me to be present at your own 
 » See Note Z. PUtoU. 
 
203 THE l^OllTUA'ES OP KIGEL. 
 
 execution ?" answered the Knight. " Troth, my lord, it will be a pain- 
 ful sight to a friend, but 1 will rather punish myself than baulk you. 
 It is a pretty pageant in the main — a very pretty pageant. The fallow 
 came on with such a bold face, it was a pleasure to look on him. He 
 was dressed all in white, to signify harmlessness and innocence. The 
 thing was done on a scaffold at Westminster — most likely yours will be 
 at Charing. There were the Sheriffs and the Marshal's men, and what 
 not — the executioner, with liis cleaver and mallet, and his man, with a 
 pan of hot charcoal, and the irons for cautery. He was a dexterous 
 fallow that Derrick. This man Gre^oiy is not tit to jipper a joint with 
 him ; it might be worth your lordship's while to have tne loon sent to 
 a barber-surgeon's, to learn some needful scantUng of anatomy — it may 
 be for the benefit of yoiuself and other unliappy sufferers, and also a 
 kindness to Gregory." 
 
 " I will not take the trouble," said Nigel. — " If the laws will demand 
 my hand, the executioner may get it off as he best can. If the King 
 leaves it where it is, it may chance to do him better service." 
 
 " Vera noble — vera gi-and indeed, my lord," said Sir Mungo ; " it is 
 pleasant to see a brave man suffer. This fallow whom I spoke of— this 
 Tubbs, or Stubbs, or whatever the plebeian was called, came forward as 
 bold as an emperor, and said to the people, * Good friends, I come to 
 leave here the hand of a true Englishman,' and clapped it on the 
 dressing-block with as much ease as if he had laid it on his sweetheart's 
 shoulder, whereupon Derrick the hangman, adjusting, d'ye mind me, 
 the edge of his cleaver on the very jomt, hit it with the mallet with 
 such force, that the hand flew off as far from the owner as a gauntlet 
 which the challenger carts down in the tilt-yard. Well, sir, Stubbs or 
 Tubbs lost no whit of countenance, until the fallow clapped the hissing- 
 hot iron on his raw stump. My '^rd, it fizzed like a rasher of bacon, 
 and the fallovr set up an elritch screech, which made some think his 
 courage was abated ; but not a whit, for he plucked off his hat with his 
 left hand, and waved it, crying, ' God save the Queen and confound 
 all evil counsellors ! ' The people gave him three cheers, which he de- 
 served for liis stout heart ; and, truly, I hope to see your lordship suffer 
 with the same magnanimity."^ 
 
 " I thank you, Sir Mungo," said Nigel, who had not been able to 
 forbear some natural feelings of an unpleasant nature during this lively 
 detail, — " I have no doubt the exhibition will be a very engaging one 
 to you and the other spectators, whatever it may prove to the party 
 principally concerned." 
 
 " Vera engaging," answered Sir Mungo, " vera interesting — very 
 interesting indeed, though not altogether so much so as an execution 
 for high treason. I saw Digby, the vVinters, Fawkes, and the rest of 
 the gunpowder gang suffer for that treason, whilk was a very gi'and 
 spectacle, as well in regard to their sufferings, as to their constancy in 
 enduring." 
 
 " I am the more obliged to your goodness, Sir Mungo," rephed Nigel, 
 " that has induced you, although you have lost the sight, to congratu- 
 late me on my escape from the hazard of making the same edifying 
 appearance." 
 
 ^ See Note A A. Funishment o/, Stubbs by Mi^UatU/n. 
 
TUB rOKTUKES OV KIQEL. 269 
 
 '* As you say, my lord," answered Sir Mungo, "the loss is chiefly 
 in appearance. Katiu-e has been very bountiful to us, and has given 
 duplicates of some organs, that we may endure the lo?-S of one of them, 
 shoidd some such ckcurnstance chance in our pilgrimage. See my poor 
 dexter, abridged to one thumb, one finger, and a stump, — by the blow 
 of my adversary's weapon, however, and not by any carnificial kiiife. 
 Weel, sir, this poor maimed hand doth me, in some soi-t, as nmch 
 service as ever ; and, admit yoiu:s to be taken off by the wrist, you 
 have still your left hand for your service, and are better off than the 
 little Dutch dwarf here about town, Avho threads a needle, limns, 
 writes, and tosses a pike, merely by means of his feet, without ever a 
 hand to help him." 
 
 "Well, Sir IMungo," said Lord Glenvarloch, "this is all no doubt 
 very consolatory ; but I hope the King will spare my hand to fight 
 for him in battle, where, notwithstanding all your kind encourage- 
 ment, I could spend my biood much more cheerfidly than on a scaffold." 
 
 "It is even a sad truth," replied Sir Mungo, "that your lordship 
 was but too like to have died on a scaffold— not a soul to speak for 
 you but that deluded lassie, Maggie Ramsay." 
 
 "Whom mean you," said Nigel, with more interest than he had 
 hitherto shown in the Knight's communications. 
 
 "Nay, who shoidd I mean, but that travestied lassie whom we 
 dined with when wehonom'ed Heriot the goldsmith? Ye ken best 
 how you have made interest with her, but 1 saw her on her knees to 
 the King for you. She was committed to my charge, to bring her up 
 hither in honom- and safety. Had I had my o^vn will, I vv'ould have 
 had her to Bridewell, to flog the wild blood out of her— a cutty quean, 
 to think of wearing the breeches, and not so much as married yet I" 
 
 "Hark ye. Sir Mungo Malagrowther," answered Nigel, "I vrould 
 have jou talk of that young person with fitting respect." 
 
 "Av'ith all the respect that befits your lordship's paramour, and 
 Davy Ramsay's daughter, I shall certainly speak of ner, my lord," 
 said Sir jMungo, assuming a dry tone of irony. 
 
 Nig^el was greatly disposed to have made a serious quarrel of it, but 
 with fcir Mungo such an affau* would have been ridiculous. He smothered 
 his resentment, therefore, and conjiu-ed him to teH what he had heard 
 and seen respecting this young person. 
 
 "Simply, that I was in the anteroom when she had audience, and 
 heard the King say, to my gTeat perplexity, ^ Pulchra sane puellaf 
 and iMaxwell, who hath but indifferent Latin ears, thought that his 
 Majesty called on him by his own name of Sawney, and tlnrist into 
 the presence, and there I saw our Sovereign James, with his o\vn 
 hand, raising up the lassie, who, as I said lieretofore, was travestied 
 in man's attne. I should have had my own thoughts of it, but our 
 gracious Master is auld, and was nae great giiiravager amang the 
 queans even in his youth ; and he was comforting her in his own way, 
 and saying, — 'Ye needna greet about it, my bomiie woman, Glenvar- 
 lochides shall have fair play; and, indeed, when the hurry was off our 
 sph'its, we could not believe that he had any design on oiu* person. 
 And touching his other offences, we will look wisely and closely into 
 the matter.' So I got charge to take the young fenco-louper to the 
 
270 THE rORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 Tower here, and deliver her to the charge of Lady Mausel ; and his 
 Majesty charged me to say not a v/ord to her about your offences, for, 
 said he, the poor thing is breaking her heart for him." 
 
 "And on this you charitably have founded tlie opinion to the preju- 
 dice of this young lady, which you have now thought proper to ex- 
 press ?" said Lord'Glenvarloch. 
 
 "In honest truth, my lord," replied Sir Mungo, "what opinion 
 would you have me form of a wench who gets into male habiliments, 
 and goes on her knees to the King for a wild young nobleman ? I wot 
 not what the fashionable word may be, for the phrase changes, though 
 the custom abides. But truly I must needs think this young leddy — 
 if you call Watchie Ramsay's daughter a youn^ leddy — demeans her- 
 self more like a leddy of pleasure than a leddy of honoiu*." 
 
 "You do her egregious wrong. Sir Mungo," said Nigel; "or rather 
 you have been misled by appearances." 
 
 "So will all the world be misled, my lord," rephed the satirist, 
 "unless you were doing that to disabuse them which your father's son 
 will hardly judge it fit to do." 
 
 "And what may that be, I pray you?" 
 
 "E'en marry the lass — make her Leddy Glenvarloch. — Ay, ay, ye 
 may start — but it's the course you are drivmg on. Rather marry than 
 do worse, if the worst be not done already." 
 
 "Sir JMungo," said Nigel, "I pray you to forbear this subject, and 
 rather return to that of the mutilation, upon which it pleased you to 
 enlarge a short while since." 
 
 "I have not time at present," said Sir Mungo, hearing the clock 
 strike four ; "but so soon as you shall have received sentence, my lord, 
 you may rely on my giving you the fullest detail of the whole solemnity ; 
 and I give you my word, as a knight and gentleman, that I will myself 
 attend you on the scaffold, whoever may cast sour looks on me for doing 
 so, I bear a heart, to stand by a friend in the worst of times." 
 
 So saying, he wished Lord Glenvarloch farewell ; who felt as heartily 
 rejoiced at "his departure, though it may be a bold word, as any person 
 who had ever undergone his society. 
 
 But, Avhen left to his own reflections, Nigel could not help feeling 
 solitude nearly as irksome as the company of Sir Mungo Malagrowther. 
 The total ^vreck of his fortune, — which seemed now to be rendered 
 unavoidable by the loss of the royal warrant, that had afforded him 
 the means of redeeming his paternal estate, — was an unexpected and 
 additional blow. When he had seen the warrant he could not precisely 
 remember ; but was inclined to think it was in the casket when he took 
 out money to pay the miser for his lodgings at Whitefriars. Since then, 
 the casket had been almost constantly under his own eye, except during 
 the short time he was separated from his baggage by the arrest in 
 Greenwich Park. It might, indeed, have been taken out at that time, 
 for he had no reason to think either his person or his property was in 
 the hands of those who wished him well ; but, on the other hand, the 
 locks of the strong-box had sustained no violence that he could observe, 
 and, being of a particular and complicated construction, he tliought 
 they could scarce be opened without an instrument made on pmi^ose, 
 adapted to their peculiarities, and for this there had been no time, 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 271 
 
 Biitj speculate as he T\^ould on the matter, it Avas clear that this im- 
 portant document was ^one, and probable that it had passed into no 
 friendly hands. "Let it be so," said Nigel to himself; "I am scarcely 
 worse off respecting my prospects of fortune than when I first reached 
 this accursed city. But to be hampered with cniel accusations, and 
 stained with foul suspicions — to be the object of pity of the most de- 
 grading kind to yonder honest citizen, and of the malignity of that 
 envious and atrabilarious corn-tier, who can endure the good fortune 
 and good qualities of another no more than the mole can brook sun- 
 shine — this is indeed a deplorable reflection; and the consequences 
 must stick to my future life, and impede whatever my head, or my 
 hand, if it is left me, might be able to execute in my favour." 
 
 The feeling, that he is the object of general dislike and dereliction, 
 seems to be one of the most unendm*ably painful to which a human 
 being can be subjected. The most atrocious criminals, whose nerves 
 have not shrunk trom pei-petrating the most horrid cruelty, suffer more 
 from the consciousness that no man will sympathize with their suffer- 
 ings^ than from apprehension of the personal agony of their impending 
 punisliment ; and are known often to attempt to palhate their enor- 
 mities, and sometimes altogether to deny what is established by the 
 clearest proof, rather than to leave life under the general ban of himian- 
 ity. It was no wonder that Nigel, laboming under the sense of general, 
 though unjust suspicion, should, while pondering on so painful a theme, 
 recollect tliat one, at least, had not only believed him iimocent, but 
 hazarded herself, with all her feeble power, to interpose in his behalf. 
 
 " Poor girl !" he repeated, "poor, rash, but generous maiden! your 
 fate is that of her in Scottish story, who tlirust ner arm into the staple 
 of the door, to oppose it as a bar against the assassins who threatened 
 the murder of her sovereign. The deed of devotion was useless ; save 
 to give an immortal name to her by whom it was done, and whose 
 blood flows, it is said, in the veins of my house." 
 
 I cannot explain to the reader, whether the recollection of this 
 historical deed of devotion, and the lively effect which the comparison, 
 a little overstrained perhaps, was likely to produce in favour of Margaret 
 Ramsay, was not qualified by the concomitant ideas of ancestry and 
 ; ancient descent with which that recollection was mingled. But the 
 I contending feelings suggested a new train of ideas. — " Ancestry," he 
 thought, " and ancient descent, what are they to me ?— My patrimony 
 ; alienated — my title become a reproach, for what can be so absurd as 
 titled beggary? — my character subjected to suspicion, — I will not re- 
 main in this country ; and should I, at leaving it, procure the society 
 of one so lovely, so brave, and so faithful, who shqiUd say that I dero- 
 gated from the rank which I am virtually renouncing ?" 
 
 There was something romantic and pleasing, as he pursued this 
 pictiu-e of an- attached and faithful pair, becoming all tlie world to each 
 other, and stemming the tide of fate arm in arm ; and to be linked thus 
 vrith a creature so beautiful, and who had taken such devoted and dis- 
 interested concern in his fortunes, formed itself into such a vision as 
 romantic youth loves best to dwell upon. 
 
 Suddenly his dream was painfully dispelled by the recollection, that its 
 very basi.s rested uDon the most selfish ingratitude on his own part. Lord 
 
 T 
 
272 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 of his castle and his towers, his forests and fields, his fair patrimony 
 and noble name, his mind would have rejected, as a sort of impossibility, 
 the idea of elevating to his rank the daugliter of a mechanic ; hiit, when 
 deg):aded from his nobility, and plunged into poverty and difficulties, 
 he was ashamed to feel himself not unwilling, that this poor girl, in the 
 blindness of her affection, should abandon all the better prospects of her 
 own settled condition, to embrace the precarious and doubtful course 
 which he himself was condemned to. The generosity of Nigel's mind 
 recoiled from the selfishness of the plan of happiness which he pro- 
 jected ; and he made a strong effort to expel from his thoughts for the 
 rest of the evening this fascmating female, or, at least, not to permit 
 them to dwell upon the perilous circumstance, that she was at i)resent 
 the only creature living who seemed to consider him as an object of 
 kindness. 
 
 He could not, however, succeed in banishing her from his slumbers, 
 when, after having spent a weary day, he betook himself to a perturbed 
 couch. The fonn of Margaret mingled with the wild mass of dreams 
 which his late adventures had suggested ; and even when, copying the 
 lively narrative of Sir IMungo, fancy presented to him the blood 
 bubbling and hissing on the heated iron, Margaret stood behind him 
 like a spirit of light, to breathe healing on the wound. At length 
 nature was exhausted by these fantastic creations, and Nigel slept, and 
 slept soundly, until awakened in the morning by the sound of a well- 
 known voice, which had often broken his slumbers about the same hour. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Marry, come up, sir, with your gentle blood ! 
 Here's a red stream beneath this coarse blue doublet 
 That warms the heart as kindly as if drawn 
 From the far source of old Assyrian kings, 
 Who first made mankind subject to their sway. 
 
 Old Play. 
 
 The sounds to which we alluded in oiu" last were no other than the 
 grumbling tones of Richie Moniplies's voice. 
 
 This worthy, like some other persons who rank high m their own opin- 
 ion^ was very apt, when he could have no other auditor, to hold conver- 
 sation with one who was sure to be a willing listener — I mean with him- 
 self. He was now brushing and arranging Lord Glenvarloch's clothes, 
 with as much composiu-e and quiet assiduity as if he had never been out 
 of his service, and grumbling betwixt whiles to the foDowing purpose ; — 
 "Hupiph — ay, time cloak and jerkin were tlii'ough my hands — I 
 question if horse-hair has been passed over them since they and I last 
 parted. The embroidery finely fi-ayed too— and the gold buttons of the 
 cloak— By my conscience, and as I am an honest man, there is a round 
 dozen of them gane ? This comes of Alsatian frolics— God keep us 
 with his grace, and not give us over to oiu- own devices ! — I see no 
 sword— but that will be in respect of present circumstances." 
 
^ THE FORTU^'ES OF NIGEL. 273 
 
 Nigel for some time could not help believing that he was still in a 
 dream, so improbable did it seem that his domestic, whom he supposed 
 to be in Scotland, should have found him out, and obtained access to 
 him in his present circimistances. Looking tlirough the curtains, how- 
 ever, he became well assm-ed of the fact, when he beheld the stiff and 
 bony length of Richie, with a visage charged with nearly double its 
 ordinary degree of importance, employed sedulously in brushing his 
 Blaster's cloak, and retreshing himself with whistling or humming, from 
 interval to interval, some snatch of an old melancholy Scottish ballad- 
 tune. Although sufficiently convinced of the identity of the party. Lord 
 Glenvarloch could not help expressing his surprise in the supei^uous 
 question — " In the name of Heaven, Richie, is this you V 
 
 " And wha else suld it be, my lord ?" answered Richie ; " I dreamna 
 that your lordship's levee in this place is like to be attended by ony that 
 are not bounden thereto bv duty. 
 
 " I am rather sm-prised ''^ answered Nigel, "that it should be attended 
 by any one at all — especially by vou, Richie ; for jrou know that we parted, 
 and i thought you had reached Scotland long since." 
 
 " I crave your lordship's pardon, but we have not parted yet, nor are 
 soon likely so to do ; for there gang twa folk's votes to the unmaking of 
 a bargain, as to the making of ane. Though it was your lordship's 
 pleasure so to conduct yourself that we were like to have parted, yet it 
 was not, on reflection, my will to be gone. To be plain, if your lord- 
 ship does not ken when you have a good seiwant, I Ken when I have a 
 kind master ; and to say truth, you vnll be easier served now than ever, 
 for there is not much chance oi your getting out of your bounds." 
 
 " I am indeed bound over to good behaviour," said Lord Glenvarloch 
 with a smile ; " but I hope you will not take advantage of my situation 
 to be too severe on my follies, Richie ?" 
 
 " God forbid, my lord —God forbid," repHed Richie, with an expression 
 betwixt a conceited consciousness of superior wisdom and real feeling — 
 " especially in consideration of your lordship's having a due sense of 
 them. I did indeed remonstrate, as was my humble duty, but I scorn 
 to cast that up to your lordship now — Na, na, I am myself an erring 
 creature— very conscious of some small weaknesses — there is no per- 
 fection in man." 
 
 " But, Richie," said Lord Glenvarloch, " although I am much ob- 
 liged to you for your proffered service, it can be of little use to me here, 
 and may be of prejudice to yourself." 
 
 " Your lordship shall pardon me again," said Richie, whom the rela- 
 tive situation of the parties had invested with ten times liis ordinary 
 dogmatism ; " but as I will manage the matter, your lordship shall be 
 greatly benefited by my service, and I myself no whit prejudiced." 
 
 "I see not how that can be, my friend," said Lord Glenvarloch, 
 " since even as to your pecuniary affairs " 
 
 " Touchmg mv pecuniars, my lord," replied Richie, " I am indiffer- 
 ently weel provided • and as it chances my hving here will be no bm-den 
 to your lordship, or distress to myself. Only I crave permission to annex 
 certain conditions to my servitmie with your lordship." 
 
 " Annex what you will," said Lord Glenvarloch, " for you are pretty 
 Bure to take your own way whether you make any conditions or not 
 
Sli Tntl rORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 Since you will not leave me, which were, I think, your wisest course, 
 you must, and I suppose will, serve me only on such terms as you like 
 yourself." 
 
 " All that I ask, my lord," said Richie gravely, and with a tone of 
 great moderation, " is to have the uninterrupted command of my own 
 motions, for certain important purposes which I have now in hand, 
 always giving your lordship the solace of my company and attendance 
 at such times as may be at once convenient for me, and necessary for 
 your service." 
 
 " Of which, I suppose, you constitute yourself sole judge," replied 
 Nigel smiling. 
 
 '' Unquestionably, my lord," answered Richie gravely ; " for your 
 lordship can only know what yourself want ; whereas I, who see both 
 sides of the picture, ken both what is the best for your affairs, and what 
 is the most needful for my own." 
 
 " Richie, my good friend," said Nigel, " I fear this aiTangement, 
 which places the master much under the disposal of the servant, would 
 scarce suit us if we were both at large ; but a prisoner as I am, I may 
 be as well at your disposal as I am at that of so many other persons ; 
 and so you may come and go as you list, for I suppose you will not take 
 my advice to return to your own country, and leave me to my fate." 
 
 " The deil be in my feet if I do," said Moniplies, — " I am not the 
 lad to leave your lordship in foul weather, when I followed you and fed 
 upon you through the whole summer day. And besides, there may be 
 brave days behind for a' that has come and gane yet ; for 
 
 "It's hame, and it's hame, and it's liame we fain would he, 
 Though the cloud is in the lift, and the wind is on the lea; 
 For the sun through the mirk blinks blithe on mine e'e, 
 Says, — 'I'll shine on ye yet in your ain country I ' " 
 
 Having sung this stanza in the manner of a ballad-singer, whose 
 voice has been cracked by matching his windpipe against the bugle of 
 the north blast, Richie Moniplies aided Lord Glenvarloch to rise, 
 attended his toilette with every possible mark of the most solemn and 
 deferential respect, then waitecl upon him at breakfast, and finally 
 withdrew, pleading that he had business of importance, which would 
 detain him for some hours. 
 
 Although Lord Glenvarloch necessarily expected to be occasionally 
 annoyed by the self-conceit and dogmatism of Richie Moniplies' s char- 
 acter, yet he could not but feel the greatest pleasure from the firm and 
 devoted attachment which tliis faithful follower had displayed in the 
 present instance, and indeed promised himself an alleviation of the 
 ennui of his imprisonment, in having the advantage of his ser\1ce.?. It 
 was therefore with pleasm-e that he learned from the warder, that his 
 servant's attendance would be allowed at all times when the general 
 rules of the fortress permitted the entrance of strangers. 
 
 In the meanwhile, the magnanimous Richie Moniplies had ah'eady 
 reached Tower Wharf. Here, after looking with contempt on several 
 scullers by whom he was plied, and whose services he rejected mth a 
 wave of his hand, he called with dignity, "First oars!" and stirred 
 into activity several lounging Tritons of the higher order, who had not, 
 on his first appearance, thought it worth while to accost him with 
 
THE FORTUXES OF NIGEL. ' 275 
 
 proffers of service. He now took possession of a wherry, folded liis 
 arms within his ample cloak, and sitting down in the stern with an air 
 of importance, commanded them to row to Whitehall stairs. Having 
 reached the palace in safety, he demanded to see Master Linklater, 
 the under-clerk of his Majesty's kitchen. The reply was, that lie was 
 not to be spoken withal, being then employed in cooking a mess of 
 cock-a-leekie for the King's own mouth. 
 
 "Tell him," said Moniplies, "that it is a dear countryman of his, 
 who seeks to converse with him on matter of high import." 
 
 "A dear countryman?" said Linklater, when this pressing message 
 
 was delivered to hmi. " Well, let liim come in and be d d, that I 
 
 should say sae! This now is some red-headed, long-legged, gillie- 
 white-foot frae the West Port, that, hearing of my promotion, is come 
 up to be a turn-broche, or deputy scullion, through my interest. It is 
 a gTeat liinderance to any man who would rise in the world to have 
 such friends to hang by his skirts, in hope of being towed up along 
 with him. — Ha ! Richie Moniplies, man, is it thou ? And what has 
 brought ye here ? If they should ken thee for the loon that scared 
 the horse the other day ! " 
 
 "Ko more o' that, neighbour," said Richie, — "I am just here on the 
 auld errand — I maun speak Avith the King." 
 
 "The King ? Ye are red Avud," said Linklater ; then shouted to his 
 assistants in the kitchen, "Look to the broches, ye knaves— ^isc^s 
 pwrga — Salsamenta fac macerentur pulchre — I v/ill make you under- 
 stand Latin, ye knaves, as becomes the scullions of King James." 
 Then in a cautious tone, to Richie's private ear, he continued, "know 
 ye not how ill your master came off the other day ! — I can tell you that 
 job made some folks shake for their office." 
 
 "Weel, but Laurie, y;e maun befriend me this time, and get this wee 
 bit sifflication slipped into his Majesty's ain most gracious hand. I 
 promise you the contents will be most grateful to him." 
 
 "Richie," answered Linklater, "you have certainly sworn to say 
 your prayers in the porter's lodge, with your back bare ; and twa grooms, 
 with dog- whips, to cry amen to you." 
 
 "Na, na, Laurie, lad," said Richie, "I ken better what belangs to 
 sifflications than I did yon day ; and ye will say that yom-sell, if ye will 
 but get that bit note to the King's hand." 
 
 "I will have neither hand nor foot in the matter," said the cautious 
 Clerk of the Kitchen ; "but there is his jNIajesty's mess of cock-a-leekie 
 just going to be served to him in his closet — I cannot prevent you from 
 putting the letter between the gilt bowl and the platter ; his sacred jMa- 
 jesty will see it when he lifts the bowl, for he aye drinks out the broth." 
 
 "Enough said," replied Richie, and deposited the paper accordingly, 
 just before a page entered to carry away the mess to his Majesty. 
 
 "A weel, aweel, neighbour," said Lawrence, when the mess was taken 
 away, "if ye have done onything to bring yoursell to the withy, or the 
 scourging post, it is your ain wihul deed." 
 
 " I will blame no other for it," said Richie ; and with that undismayed 
 pertinacity of conceit which made a fundamental part of his character, 
 he abode the issue, which was not long of arriving. 
 
 In a few minutes Maxwell himself arrived in the apartment, and 
 
276 TH3 FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 demanded hastilv who had placed a writing on the King's trencher. 
 Linklater denied all knowledge of it ; but Richie Moniplies, stepping 
 boldly forth, pronounced the emphatical confession, "I am the man." 
 
 "Follow me, then," said Maxwell, after regarding him with a look 
 of great cm-iosity. 
 
 They went up a private staircase, — even that private staircase, the 
 privilege of which at Comt is accoimted a nearer road to power than 
 the grandes entrees themselves. An-iving in what Richie cfescribed as 
 an "ill redd-up" anteroom, the usher made a sign to him to stop,'while 
 he went into the King's closet. Their conference was short, and as 
 Maxwell opened the door to retire, Richie heard the conclusion of it. 
 
 "Ye are sure he is not dangerous ? — I was caught once. — Bide within 
 call, but not nearer the door than within tlu:ee geometrical cubits. If 
 I speak loud, start to me like a falcon— If I speak loun, keep your lang 
 lu^ out of ear-shot— and now let him come in." 
 
 Richie passed forward at Maxwell's mute signal, and in a moment 
 found himself in the presence of the King. JMost men of Richie's birth 
 and breeding, and many others, would nave been abashed at finding 
 themselves alone with their Sovereign. But Ricliie Moniplies had an 
 opinion of hunself too high to be controlled by any such ideas ; and 
 having made his stiff reverence, he arose once more into his perpen- 
 dicular height, and stood before James as stiff as a hedge-stake. 
 
 " Have ye gotten them, man ? have ye gotten them r said the King, 
 in a fluttered state, betwixt hope and eagerness, and some touch of 
 suspicious fear. " Gie me them — gie me them — before ye speak a word, 
 I charge you. on your allegiance." 
 
 Richie tooK a box from Ms bosom, and, stooping on one knee, pre- 
 sented it to his Majesty, who hastily opened it, and having ascertained 
 that it contained a certain carcanet of rubies, with which the reader 
 was formerly; made acquainted, he could not resist falling into a sort 
 of rapture, kissing the gems, as if they had been capable of feeling, and 
 repeating again and again with childish delight, " Onyx cum prole, 
 sitexque — Oyiyx cum prole ! Ah, my bright and bonny sparklers, my 
 heart lou^s light to see you again." He then turned to Richie, upon 
 whose stoical countenance his Majesty's demeanour had excited some- 
 thing like a ^'im smile, which James interrupted his rejoicing to re- 
 prehend, saymg. " Take heed, sir, you are not to laugh at us — we are 
 your anointed Sovereign." 
 
 " God forbid that I should laugh !" said Richie^ composing his coun- 
 tenance into its natui'al rigidity. " I did but smile to bring my visage 
 into coincidence and conformity with your Majesty's physiognomy." 
 
 " Ye speak as a dutiful subject, and an honest man," said the King; 
 " but what deil's your name, man T 
 
 " Even Richie Moniplies, the son of auld Mungo Moniplies. at the 
 West Port of Edinburgh, wlio had the honom- to supply your Majesty's 
 mother's royal table, as well as your Majesty's, with flesh and other 
 vivers, when time was." 
 
 " Aha !" said the King laughing, — for he possessed, as a useful 
 attribute of his situation, a tenacious memory, which recollected every 
 one with whom he was brought into casual contact, — " Ye are the self- 
 same traitor who had well-nigh coupit us end-lang on the causey of our 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 277 
 
 ain court-yard ? but we stuck by our mare. Equam memento rebus 
 in arduis servare. Weel, be not dismayed, Riclue ; for, as many have 
 turned traitors, it is but fail' that a traitor, now and then, suld prove 
 to be, coTUra expectanda, a true man. How cam ye by our jewels, 
 man /—cam ye on the part of George Heriot ?" 
 
 " In no sort," said Richie. " May it please your Majesty, I come 
 as Harry Wynd fought, utterly for my own hand, and on no man's 
 errand ; as, indeed, 1 call no one master, save Him that made me, your 
 most gracious Majesty who governs me, and the noble Nigel Olifaunt, 
 Lord of Glenvarloch, who maintained me as lang as he could maintain 
 himself, poor nobleman !" 
 
 "^ Glenvarlochides again!" exclaimed the King; "by my honour, 
 he lies in ambush for us at every corner ! — Maxwell knocks at the door. 
 It is George Heriot come to tell us he cannot find these jewels. — Get 
 thee behmd the aiTas, Richie — stand close, man — sneeze not — cough 
 not — breathe not ! — Jinghng Geordie is so damnably ready with his 
 gold-ends of wisdom, and sae ciursedly backward with his gold-ends of 
 siller, that, by our royal said, we are glad to get a hah in his neck." 
 
 Richie got beliind the arras, in obedience to the commands of the 
 good-natured King, while the Monarch, who never allowed his dignity 
 to stand in the way of a frolic, having adjusted, with his own hand, 
 the tapestry, so as to complete the ambush, commanded Maxwell to 
 tell him what Avas the matter without. Maxwell's reply was so low as 
 to be lost by Richie Moniphes, the peculiarity of whose situation by no 
 means abated his curiosity and deshe to gi'atify it to the uttermost. 
 
 " Let Geordie Heriot come in," said the King ; and, as Richie could 
 observe through a slit in the tapestry, the honest citizen, if not actually 
 agitated, was at least discomposed. The King, whose talent for 
 wit or humour was precisely of a kind to be gratified by such a scene 
 as ensued, received his homage with coldness, and began to talk to him 
 with an air of serious dignity, very difi"erent from the usual indecorous 
 levity of his behaviour. " Master Heriot," he said, " if we aright re- 
 member, we opignorated in your hands certain jewels of the Crown, for 
 a certain sum of money — Did we, or did we not ]" 
 
 " My most gi-acious Sovereign," said Heriot, " indisputably your 
 Majesty was pleased to do so." 
 
 " The property of which jewels and cimelia remained with us," con- 
 tinued the King, in the same solemn tone, " subject only to your claim 
 of advance thereupon ; which advance being repaid, gives us right to 
 repossession of the thing opignorated, or pledged, or laid in wad. 
 Voetius, Vinnius, Groenwigeneus, Pagenstecherus, — all who have 
 treated de Contractu Opignerationis, consentiunt in eu7idem, — gree 
 on the same point. The Roman law, the English common law, and the 
 municipal law of our ain ancient kingdom of Scotland, though they 
 split in mair particulars than I could desire, unite as strictly m this as 
 the three strands of a twisted rope." 
 
 " May it please your Majesty," replied Heriot, " it requires not so 
 many learned authorities to prove to any honest man that his interest 
 in a pledge is determined when the money lent is restored." 
 
 " Weel, SU-, I profi"er restoration of the sum lent, and I demand to 
 be repossessed, of the jewels pledged with you. I gave ye a hint, brief 
 
278 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 while since, tliat this would be essential to my service, for, as approach- 
 ing events are like to call us into jDublic, it would seem strange if 
 we did not appear with those ornaments which are heir-looms of the 
 Crown, and the absence whereof is like to place us in contempt and 
 suspicion Avith our liege subjects." 
 
 Master George Ileriot seemed much moved by this address of his 
 Sovereign, and replied with emotion " I call Heaven to witness that 
 I am totally harmless in this matter, and that I would willingly lose 
 the sum advanced, so that I could restore those jewels, the absence of 
 which your Majesty so justly laments. Had the jewels remained with 
 me, the account of them would be easily rendered ; but your JMajesty 
 will do me tlie justice to remember that, by your express order, I 
 transferred them to another person, who advanced a large sum, just 
 about the time of my departure for Paris. The money was pressingly 
 wanted, and no other means to come by it occurred to me. I told your 
 Majesty, when I brought the needful supply, that the man from whom 
 the moneys were obtained was of no good repute; and your most 
 princely answer was, smelling to the gold — Non olet, it smells not of 
 the means that have gotten it." 
 
 ''Weel, man," said the King, "but what needs a' this din? If ye 
 gave my jewels in pledge to sucli a one, suld ye not, as a liege subject, 
 have taken care that the redemption was in our power ? And are we 
 to sufier the loss of our cimelia by your neglect, besides being exposed 
 to the scorn and censure of our lieo-es, and of the foreign ambassadors 1 " 
 
 " My Lord and liege King," said Ileriot, " God knows^ if my bearing 
 blame or shame in this matter would keep it from your Majesty, it were 
 my duty to endure both, as a servant grateful for many benefits ; but 
 when your Majesty considers the violent death of the man himself, the 
 disappearance of his daughter, and of his wealth, I trust you Avill re- 
 member that I warned your Majesty, in humble duty, of the possibility 
 of such casualties, and prayed you not to urge me to deal with him on 
 your behalf." 
 
 " But you brought me nae better means," said the King — " Geordie, 
 ye brought me nae better means. I was like a deserted man ; what 
 could I do but grip to the first siller that offered, as a drowning man 
 grasps to the willow-wand that comes readiest ? — And now, man, what 
 for have ye not brought back the jewels ? they are surely above ground, 
 if ye wad make strict search." 
 
 " All strict search has been made, may it please your Majesty," re- 
 plied the citizen ; "hue and cry has been sent out everywhere, and it 
 has been found impossible to recover them." 
 
 " Difficult, ye mean, Geordie, not impossible," replied the King ; 
 " for that wliilk is impossible, is either naturally so, exeii^M gratia, 
 to make two into three ; or morally so, as to make what is truth false- 
 hood ; but what is only difficult may come to pass, with assistance of 
 wisdom and patience ; as, for example. Jingling Geordie, look here ! " 
 And he displayed the recovered treasure to the eyes of the astonished 
 jeweller, exclaiming, with great triumph, "What say ye to that, 
 Jingler '/ — By my sceptre and crown, the man stares as if he took his 
 native prince for a warlock ! us, that are the very malleus maleficanim 
 the contunding and contritm-ating hammer of all witches, sorcerers, 
 
THE FOETUNES OF NIGEL. 279 
 
 magicians, and the like ; he thinks we are taking a touch of the black 
 art ourselLs ! — But gang thy way, honest Geordie ; thou art a good 
 plain man, but nane of the seven sages of Greece ; gang thy way, and 
 mind the soothfast v/ord which you spoke, small time syne, that there 
 is one in this land that comes near to Solomon, King of Israel, in all 
 his gifts, except in his love to strange women, forbye the daughters 
 of Pharoah," 
 
 If Heriot was surprised at seeing the jewels so unexpectedly produced 
 at the moment the King was upbraiding him for the loss of them, this 
 allusion to the reflection which had escaped him while conversing with 
 Lord Glenvarloch, altogether completed his astonishment ; and the 
 King was so delighted with the superiority which it gave him at the 
 moment, that he rubbed his hands, chuckled, and, finally, his sense of 
 dignity giving way to the full feeling of trimnph, he threw himself into 
 his easy-chair, and laughed with unconstrained violence till he lost his 
 breath, and the tears ran plentifully down his cheeks as he strove to 
 recover it. Meanwhile, the royal cachinnation was echoed out by a 
 discordant and portentous laugh from behind the arras, like that of one 
 Y*'ho, little accustomed to give way to such emotions, feels himself at 
 some particular impulse unable either to control or to modify his ob- 
 streperous mirth. Heriot turned his head with new surprise towards 
 the place, from which sounds so unfitting the x)resence of a monarch 
 seemed to burst with such emphatic clamour.^ 
 
 The King, too, somewhat sensible of the indecorum, rose up, wiped 
 liis eyes, and calling, — " Todlo-v\Tie, come out o' your den," he produced 
 from behind the arras the length of Richie Moniplies, still laughing 
 with as unrestrained mirth as ever did gossip at a country christening. 
 " Whisht, man, whisht, man," said the King ; " ye needna nicher that 
 gait, like a cusser at a caup o' corn, e'en though it was a pleasing jest, 
 and our ain framing. And yet to see Jingling Geordie, that hands 
 ! himself so much the wiser than other folks — to see him, ha ! ha ! ha ! 
 — in the vein of Euclio apud Plautum, distressing himself to recover 
 what was lying at his elbow — 
 
 'Peril, interii, occidi — quo curram? quo non curram?— 
 Teue, tene — quem? quls? nescio — nihil video.' 
 
 Ah ! Geordie, your een are sharp enough to look after gowd and silver, 
 
 ; gems, rubies, and the like of that, ancl yet ye kenna how to come by 
 them when they are lost. Ay, ay — look at them, man — look at theni 
 
 — they are a' right and tight, sound and round, not a doublet crept in 
 
 ; amongst them." 
 
 George Heriot, when his first siu-prise'was over, was too old a courtier 
 
 ' to interrupt the King's imaginary triumph, although he darted a look 
 of some displeasure at honest Richie, who still continued on what is 
 usually termed the broad giin. He quietly examined the stones, and 
 finding them all perfect, lie honestly and sincerely congratulated his 
 ;Majesty on the recovery of a treasm-e wliich could not have been lost 
 \\-ithout some dishonour to the crown ; and asked to Avhom he^ himself 
 was to pay the sums for which they had been pledged, observing that 
 he had the money by him in readiness. 
 
 * .See 2'Tots B B. Richie JWonipUes hchind the Arras. 
 
280 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " Ye are in a deevil of a hurry when there is paying in the case, 
 Geordie," said the King. — "What's a' the haste, man/ The jewels 
 were restored by an honest, kindly coimtryman of om-s. There he 
 stands, and wha kens if he wants the money on the nail, or if he might 
 not be as weel pleased wi' a bit rescript on our treasmy some six 
 months hence ? Ye ken that our Exchequer is even at a low ebb just 
 now, and ye cry pay, pay, pay, as if we had all the mines of Ophir." 
 
 " Please your Majesty," said Heriot, " if this man has the real 
 right to these moneys, it is doubtless at his will to gTant forbearance, 
 if he will. But when I remember the guise in which I first saw him, 
 with a tattered cloak and a broken head, I can hardly conceive it. — 
 Are not you Richie Moniplies, with the King's favour?" 
 
 " Even sae. Master Heriot — of the ancient and honourable house of 
 Castle Collop, near to the West Port of Edinburgh," answered Richie. 
 
 "Why, please youi' Majesty, he is a poor servmg-man," said Heriot. 
 " This money can never be honestly at his disposal." 
 
 " What for no ?" said the King. " Wad ye have naebodjr spraickle 
 up the brae but yom-sell, Geordie ? Your ain cloak was thin enough 
 when ye cam here, though ye have hued it gey and weel. And for 
 serving-men, there has monv a red-shank come over the Tweed wi' his 
 master's wallet on his shoulders, that now rustles it wi' his six followers 
 behind him. There stands the man himsell ; speer at him Geordie." 
 
 " His may not be the best authority in the case," answered the 
 cautious citizen. 
 
 " Tut, tut, man," said the King, " ye are over scrupulous. The 
 knave deer-stealers have an apt phrase, Non est inquirendum wide 
 venit VENISON. He that brings the gudes hath sm*ely a right to dispose 
 of the gear. — Hark ye, friend, speak the truth and shame the deil. 
 Have ye plenary powers to dispose on the redemption-money as to delay 
 of payments or the like, ay or no 1" 
 
 " Full power, an it hke your gracious Majesty," answered Richie 
 MonipUes ; " and I am maist willing to subscrive to whatsoever may in 
 ony wise accommodate your Majesty anent the redemption-money, trust- 
 ing your Majesty's grace will be kind to me in one sma' favour.' 
 
 " Ey, man," said the King, " come ye to me there ? I thought ye 
 wad e'en be like the rest of them. — One would think om* subjects' lives 
 and goods were all our ain, and holden of us at our free-will ; but when 
 we stand in need of ony matter of siller from them, which chances more 
 frequently than we would it did, deil a bodle is to be had, save on the 
 aula terms of giff-gaff. It is j ust nifier for nifi"er — A weel, neighbour, 
 what is it that ye want— some monopoly, I reckon ? Or it may be a 
 grant of kirk-lands and teinds, or a knighthood, or the like '/ Ye maun 
 be reasonable, unless ye propose to advance more money for our present 
 occasions." 
 
 " My liege," answered Richie Moniphes, " the owner of these moneys 
 places them at your Majesty's command, free of all pledge or usage as 
 long as it is your royal pleasure, pro\iding yom' Majesty will condescend 
 to show some favour to the noble Lord Glenvarloch, presently prisoner 
 in your royal Tower of London." 
 
 " How, man — how, man — how, man !" exclaimed the King, redden- 
 ing and stammering, but with emotions more noble than those by which 
 
THE F0KTD^'E3 OF >'IQEL. 2S1 
 
 he Tvas sometimes agitated — " What is that you dare to say to us ? — 
 Sell our justice ! — sell oui- mercy !— and we a crowned King, sworn to 
 do justice to our subjects in the gate, and responsible for our steward- 
 ship to Him that is over all kings /" — Here lie reverently looked up, 
 touched his bonnet, and continued with some sharpness, — " We dare 
 not traffic in such commodities, sir ; and, but that ye are a poor ignorant 
 creatm'e, that have done us this day some not impleasant service, we 
 wad have a red iron di'iven tlirough your tongue, m terrorem of others. 
 — Awa with him, Geordie, — pay him, plack and bawbee, out of oiu* 
 moneys in yoiu* hands, and let them care that come ahint." 
 
 Richie, who had counted with the utmost certainty upon the success 
 of this master-stroke of policy, was like an architect whose whole 
 scaflfoldin^ at once gives way under him. He caught, however, at 
 what he thought might break his fall. " Not only the sum for which 
 the jewels were pledged," he said, •' but the double of it, if required, 
 should be placed at his Majesty's command, and even without hope or 
 condition of repayment, if only " 
 
 But the King did not allow him to complete the sentence, crying out 
 with gi-eater vehemence than before, as if he di'eaded the stability of 
 his own good resolutions, — " Awa wi' him — swith awa wi' him ! it is 
 time he were gane, if he doubles his bode that gate. And, for yoiu- 
 life, letna Steenie, or ony of them hear a word from liis mouth ; for 
 wha kens what trouble that might bring me into! — Ne inducas in 
 teyitationem — Vade retro, Sathanus ! — AmenP 
 
 In obedience to the royal mandate, George Heriot huiTied the abashed 
 petitioner out of the presence, and out of the Palace ; and, when they 
 were in the Palace-yard, the citizen remembering, with some resent- 
 ment, the airs of equaUty which Ricliie had assumed towards him in 
 the commencement of the scene which had just taken place, could not 
 forbear to retaliate, by congi-atulating him with an ii'omcal smile on his 
 favour at Court, and his improved grace in presenting a supplication. 
 
 " Never fash your beai'd about that, Master George Heriot," said 
 Richie, totally midismayed ; " but tell me when and where I am to 
 sifficate you for eight hundred pounds sterling, for which these jewels 
 stood engaged ?" 
 
 " The instant that you brin^ with you the real owner of the money," 
 replied Heriot ; " whom it is important that I should see on more ac- 
 coimts than one." 
 
 " Then will I back to his Majesty," said Richie Moniplies, stoutly, 
 " and get either the money or the pledge back again. I am fully com- 
 missionate to act in that matter." 
 
 " It may be so, Richie," said the citizen, " and perchance it may 
 not be so neither, for ^oxm tales are not all gospel ; and, therefore, be 
 assured I wiU see that it is so, ere I pay you tliat large simi of money. 
 I shaU give you an acknowledgment for it, and I will keep it prestable 
 at a moment's waniing. But, my good Richard Moniplies, of Castle 
 Collops, near the West Port of Edinbm-gh, in the meantime I am 
 bound to return to his Majesty on matters of weight." So speaking, 
 and moimting the stair to re-enter the palace, he added, by way ot 
 summing up the whole,— " George Heriot is over old a cock to be 
 caught with chaff." 
 
2S2 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 Richie stood petrified when he beheld him re-enter the Palace, and 
 found himself, as he supposed, left in the lurch. — " Now, plague on ye," 
 he muttered, " for a cunning auld skin-flint ! that, because ye are an 
 honest man yoursell, forsooth, must needs deal with all the world as if 
 they were knaves. But deil be in me if ye beat me yet ! — Gude guide 
 us ! yonder comes Laurie Linklater next, and he will be on me about 
 the sifflication. — I wimia stand him, by ^aint AndreAv !" 
 
 So saying, and changing the haugh^ stride with which he had that 
 morning entered the precincts of the ralace, into a skulking shamble, 
 lie retreated for his wherry, which was in attendance, with speed which, 
 to use the approved phrase on such occasions, greatly resembled a flight. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 Benedict. This looks not like a nuptial. 
 
 Much Ado about Nothing. 
 
 Master George Heriot had no sooner returned to the King's 
 apartment, than James inquired of Maxwell if the Earl of Huntinglen 
 ■vvas in attendance, and, receiving an answer in the affirmative, desired 
 that he should be admitted. The old Scottish Lord having made his 
 reverence in the usual manner, the King extended his hand to be 
 kissed, and then began to address him in a tone of grave sympathy. 
 
 " We told your lordship in our secret epistle of this morning, WTitten 
 with our ain hand, in testimony we have neither pretermitted nor for- 
 gotten your faithful service, that we had that to communicate to you 
 that would require both patience and fortitude to endure, and there- 
 fore exhorted you to peruse some of the most pithy passages of Seneca, 
 and of Boethius de Consolatione, that the back may be, as we say, 
 fitted for the bm*den — This we commend to you from our ain experience. 
 
 ' Non ignara niali, miseris succurrere disco,' 
 
 sayeth Dido, and I might say in my own person, non ignarus ; but to 
 change the gender Avould aff"ect the prosody, whereof our southern sub- 
 jects are tenacious. So, my Lord of Huntinglen, I trust you have 
 acted by our advice, and studied patience before ye need it — venietiti 
 occurrite moi'bo— mix the medicament when the disease is coming on." 
 
 '' May it please your Majesty," answered Lord Huntinglen, " I am 
 more of an old soldier than a scholar — and if my own rough nature will 
 not bear me out in any calamity, I hope I shall have grace to try a 
 text of Scripture to boot." 
 
 " Ay, man, are you there with your bears ?" said the King ; " the 
 Bible, man" (touching his cap), "is indeed principucm et fons — but 
 it is pity your lordship cannot peruse it in the original. For although 
 we did ourselves promote that work of translation, — since ye may read, 
 at the beginning of eA'ery Bible, that when some palpable clouds of 
 darkness were thought like to have oversliadowed the land, after the 
 
THE FOETUNES OF NIGEL. 2S3 
 
 setting of that bright occidental star, Queen Elizabetli ; yet oiir ap- 
 pearance, like that of the sun in his strength, instantly; dispelled these 
 surmised mists, — I say, that although, as therein mentioned, we coun- 
 tenanced the preaching of the gospel, and especially the translation of 
 the Scriptm-es out of the original sacred tongues ; yet, nevertheless, 
 we oiu'selves confess to have found a comfort in consulting them in tlie 
 origmal Hebrew, wliilk we do not perceive even in the Latin version 
 of the Septuagint, much less in the English traduction." 
 
 "Please yom* Majesty," said Lord Huntinglen, "if yom* Majesty 
 delays communicating the bad news with which youi- honom-ed letter 
 threatens me, imtil I am capable to read Hebrew like your Majesty, 
 I fear I shall die in ignorance of the misfortime wliich hath befallen, 
 or is about to befall, my house." 
 
 "You will learn it "but too soon, my lord," replied the King ; "I 
 grieve to say it, but your son Dalgarno, whom I tnought a very saint, 
 as he was so much with Steenie and Baby Charles, hath tui-ned out a 
 veiy villain." 
 
 1^ "Villain!" repeated Lord Huntinglen; and though he instantly 
 checked himself, and added, "but it is your Majesty speaks the word," 
 tlie effect of his first tone made the Kin^ step back as if he had received 
 a blow. He also recovered himself again, and said, in the pettish way 
 which usually indicated his displeasm-e — "Yes, my lord, it was we that 
 said it — non surclo canis — we ai'e not deaf— we pray you not to raise 
 your voice in speech with us — there is the bonny memorial — read, and 
 judge for yourself." 
 
 The King then thrust into the old nobleman's hand a paper, contain- 
 ing the story of the Lady Hermione, with the evidence by which it 
 was supported, detailed so briefly and clearly, that the infamy of Lord 
 Dalgarno, the lover by whom she had been so shamefully deceived, 
 ; seemed imdeniable. But a father yields not up so easily the cause of 
 1 his son. 
 
 "May it please your Majesty," he said, "why was this tale not 
 
 sooner told? This woman hath been here for years — wherefore was 
 
 the claim on my son not made the instant she touclied English ground?" 
 
 "Tell Mm how that came about, Geordie," said the King, addressing 
 
 Heriot. 
 
 "I grieve to distress my Lord Huntinglen," said Heriot; "but I 
 must speak the truth. For a long time the Lady Hermione could not 
 ■ brook the idea of making her situation public ; and when her mind 
 j became changed in that particular, it was necessaiy to recover the 
 I evidence of the false marriage, and letters and papers connected with 
 ( it, which, when she came to Paris, and just before I saw her, she had 
 \ deposited with a correspondent of her father in that city. He became 
 \ afterwards bankrupt, and in consequence of that misfortune the ladys 
 papers passed into other hands, and it was only a few da};s since I 
 I traced and recovered them. Without these documents of evidence, it 
 I would have been imprudent for her to have preferred her complaint, 
 I favoured as Lord Dalgarno is by powerful friends." 
 I "Ye are saucy to say^sae," said the King; "I ken what ye mean 
 j weel eneugh— ye think Steenie wad hae putten the weight of his foot 
 ! into the scales of justice, and garr'd them whomle the bucket — ye 
 
284 THE rORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 forget, Geordie, wlia it is whose hand uphaulds them. And ye do poor 
 Steenie the mair wi'ang, for he confevssed it ance before us and our 
 privy council that Dalgarno would have put the quean aff on him, the 
 puir simple bairn, making him trow that she was a light-o'-love ; in 
 wliilk mind he remained assured even when he parted from her, albeit 
 Steenie mio;ht hae weel thought ane of thae cattle wadna hae resisted 
 the like of mm." 
 
 • "The Lady Hermione," said George Heriot, "has always done the 
 utmost justice to the conduct of the Duke, who, although strongly pos- 
 sessed with prejudice against her character, yet scorned to avail liimself 
 of her distress, and on the contrary supplied her with the means of 
 extricating herself from her difficulties." 
 
 " It was e'en like himsell — blessings on his bonny face !" said the 
 King; "and I beheved this lady's tale the mair readily, my Lord 
 Himtinglen, that she spake nae ill of Steenie— and to make a laug 
 tale short, my lord, it is the opinion of our council and ourself, as weel 
 as of Baby Charles and Steenie, that your son maun amend his wrong 
 by wedding this lady, or undergo such disgrace and discountenance as 
 we can bestow." 
 
 The person to whom he spoke was incapable of answering him. He 
 stood before the King motionless, and glaring mth eyes of which even 
 the lids seemed immovable, as if suddenly converted into an ancient 
 statue of the times of chivalry, so instantly had his hard features and 
 strong limbs been arrested into rigidity by the blow he had received — 
 And in a second afterwards, like the same statue when the lightning 
 breaks upon it^ he sunk at once to the groimd with a heavy groan. 
 The King was in the utmost alarm, called upon Heriot and Maxwell 
 for help, and, presence of mind not being his forte, ran to and fro in 
 liis cabinet, exclaiming — " My ancient and beloved servant — who saved 
 our anointed self! Vae atque dolor! My Lord of Huntinglen, look 
 up — look up, man, and your son may marry the Queen of Sheba if he 
 will." 
 
 By this time Maxwell and Heriot had raised the old nobleman, and 
 placed him on a chair ; while the King, observing that he began to 
 recover himself, continued his consolations more methodically. 
 
 _ " Hand up your head — hand up yom- head, and listen to your ain 
 kind native Prmce. If there is shame, man, it comesna empty-handed 
 — there is siller to gild it — a gude tocher, and no that bad a pedigree ; 
 — if she has been a loon, it was your son made her sae, and he can 
 make her an honest woman again." 
 
 These suggestions, however reasonable in the common case, gave no 
 comfort to Lord Huntinglen, if indeed he fully comprehended them ; 
 but the' blubbering of his good-natured old master, which began to 
 accompany and interrupt his royal speech, produced more rapid effect. 
 The large tear gushed reluctantly from his eye, as he kissed the withered 
 hands, which the King, weeping with less dignity and restraint, aban- 
 doned to him, first alternately and then both together, until the feelings 
 of the man getting entirely the better of the Sovereign s sense of dignity, 
 he gi-asped and shook Lord Huntinglen's hands with the sympathy of 
 an equal and a familiar friend. 
 
 ''Compone lachrymas" said the monarch; "be patient, man, be 
 
THE FOETUNES OF NIGEL. 265 
 
 patient ; — the council, and Baby Charles, and Steenie, may a' gang to 
 the deevil— he shall not marry her since it moves you so deeply." 
 
 "He shall marry her, by God !" answered the Earl, drawing himself 
 up, dashing the tear from his eyes, and endeavoiuring to recover liis 
 composm'e. "I pray yoiu: Majestj'^s pardon, but he shall marry her, 
 with her dishonom- for her dowry, were she the veriest courtezan in 
 all Spain — If he gave his word, he shall make his word good, were it to 
 the meanest creatm-e that haunts the streets— he shall do it, or my 
 own dagger shall take the life that I gave him. If he could stoop to 
 use so base a fraud, though to deceive infamy, let him wed infamy." 
 
 " No, no !" the monarch continued to insinuate, " things are not so 
 bad as that — Steenie himself never thought of her being a street- walker, 
 even when he thought the worst of her." 
 
 "If it can at all console my Lord of Huntmglen," said the citizen, 
 "I can assure him of this lady's good birth, and most fair and un- 
 spotted fame." 
 
 " I am sorry for it," said Lord Huntinglen — then interrupting him- 
 self, he said — " Heaven forgive me for being ungj-ateful for such com- 
 fort ! — but I am well-nigh sorry she should be as you represent her, so 
 much better than the villain deserves. To be condemned to wed 
 beauty, and innocence, and honest birth " 
 
 "Ay, and wealth, my lord — wealth," insinuated the King, "is a 
 better sentence than his i)erfidy has deserved." 
 
 " It is long," said the imbittered father, "since I saw he was selfish 
 and hard-hearted ; but to be a perjm-ed liar — I never dreaded that 
 such a blot would have fallen on my race ! I will never look on him 
 again." 
 
 " Hoot av, my lord, hoot ay," said the King ; "ye maun tak him to 
 task roundly. I grant you should speak more in the vein of Demea 
 than Mitio, vi nempe et via pervulgata patrum ; but as for not seeing 
 
 him agam, and he your only son, that is altogether out of reason. I 
 tell ye, man (but I would not for a boddle that Baby Charles heard 
 me), that he might gie the glaiks to half the lasses of Lonnun, ere I 
 could find in my heart to speak such harsh words as you have said of 
 this deil of a Dalgarno of yours." 
 
 "May it please your Majesty to permit me to retire," said Lord 
 Huntinglen, "and dispose of the case according to your own royal 
 sense of justice, for I desire no favour for him." 
 
 " Aweel, my lord, so be it ; and if yoiu: lordship can think," added 
 the monarch, "of anything in our power which might comfort you " 
 
 "Your Majesty's gi'acious sjTnpathy," said Lord Huntmglen, "has 
 already comforted me as far as earth can ; the rest must be from the 
 King of Kings." 
 
 "To Him I commend you, my auld and faithful servant," said 
 James with emotion, as the Earl' withdrew from his presence. The 
 King remained fixed in thought for some time, and then said to Heriot, 
 " Jingling Geordie, ye ken all the privy doings of om* Com-t, and have 
 dune so these thu-tv years, though, like a wise man, ye hear, and see, 
 and say nothing. Now, there is a thing I fain wad ken, m the way of 
 philosophical inquiry — Did you ever hear of the uraquhile Lady Huntin- 
 glen, the departed Countess of this noble Earl, ganging a wee bit gleed 
 
2S6 THE FOUTUNES OF UflGEL. 
 
 in her v/alk through the worltl ; I mean in the way of slipping a foot, 
 casting a legHn-gu'th/ or the like, ye understand me V 
 
 " On my word as an honest man," said George Heriot, somewhat 
 surprised at the question, "I never heard her wronged by tlie slightest 
 breath of suspicion. She was a worthy lady, very circumspect in her 
 walk, and lived in great concord with her husband, save that the good 
 Countess was sometliing of a puritan, and kept more company with 
 ministers than was altogether agreeable to Lord Huntingien, who is, 
 as your Majesty well knows, a man of the old rough world, that will 
 drink and swear." 
 
 " Geordie !" exclaimed the King, "these are auld-warld frailties, 
 of whilk we dare not pronounce even ourselves absolutely free. But 
 the warld gTows worse from day to day, Geordie. The juveniles of this 
 age may weel say with the poet— 
 
 '^tas parentum, pejor avis, tulit 
 Nos nequiores' — 
 
 This Dalgarno does not drink so much, or swear so much, as his father ; 
 but he wenches, Geordie, and he breaks his word and oath baith. As 
 to wliat you say of the leddy and the ministers, we are a' fallible 
 creatures, Geordie, priests and kings, as weel as others ; and wha kens 
 but Avhat that m^ account for the difference between this Dalgarno 
 and his father ? The Earl is the vera soid of honom-, and cares nae 
 mair for warld's gear than a noble hound for the quest of a foulmart ; 
 but as for his son, he was like to brazen us a' out — om'selves, Steenie, 
 Babv Charles, and om* council — till he heard of the tocher, and then, by 
 my kingly crown, he lap like a cock at a grossart ! These are discre- 
 pancies betwixt parent and son not to be accounted for naturally, accord- 
 ing to Baptista Porta, Michael Scott de secretis, and others. — Ah, 
 Jingling Geordie, if your clouting the cauldron, and jingling on pots, 
 pans, and veshels of all manner of metal, hadna jingled a' your grammar 
 out of your head, I could have touched on that matter to you at mair 
 length." 
 
 ^ Heriot was too plain-spoken to express much concern for the loss of 
 Lis grammar learning on tliis occasion ; but after modestly hinting that 
 he had seen many men who could not fill their father's bonnet, though 
 no one had been suspected of wearing their father's nightcap, he in- 
 quired " whether Lord Dalgarno had consented to do the Lady Her- 
 mione justice." 
 
 " Troth, man, I have small doubt that he will," quoth the King ; 
 '^I gave him the schedule of her worldly substance, which you delivered 
 to us in the council, and we allowed him half an houi' to chew the cud 
 upon that. It is rare reading for bringing him to reason. I left Baby 
 Chai'les and Steenie laying his duty before him ; and if he can resist 
 doing what they desire him — why, I wish he would teach me the gate 
 of it. Geordie, Jinglmg Geordie, it was grand to hear Baby Charles 
 
 ^. A leglin-girth is the lowest hoop upon a kglin, or milk-pail. Allan Ramsay applies 
 phrase in the same metaphorical sense : 
 
 ^ * Or bairna can read, they first maun spell, 
 I learn' d this frae my mammy, 
 And cant a leglin-girth myseli, 
 XdMUg ere I ciarried Tain'mie." 
 
 Chritfi Kirk em the Oreta, 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 287 
 
 laying down the guilt of dissimulation, and Steenie lecturing on the 
 turpitude of incontinence !" 
 
 " I am afraid," said George Heriot, more hastily than prudently, 
 " I might have thought of the old proverb of Satan reproving sin." 
 
 " Deil hae our saul, neighbour," said the King, reddening, " but ye 
 are not blate. I gie ye license to speak freely, and, by our saul, ye do 
 not let the privilege become lost non utendo — it will sufler no negative 
 prescription in your hands. Is it fit, think ye, that Baby Charles slioidd 
 let his thoughts be publicljr seen '\ — No — no — princes' thoughts are 
 arcana imperii — Qui nescit dissi7nulare nescit regnare. Every 
 liege subject is bound to speak the whole truth to the King, but there 
 is nae reciprocity of obligation — and for Steenie having been whiles a 
 dike-louper at a time, is it for you, who are his goldsmith, and to whom, 
 I doubt, he awes an uncomatable sum, to cast that up to him ?" 
 
 Heriot did not feel himself called on to play the part of Zeno, and 
 sacrifice tiimself for upholding the cause of moral truth ; ho did not 
 desert it, however, by disavowing his words, but simply expressed 
 sorrow for having offended his Majesty, with which the placable King 
 was sufficiently satisfied. 
 
 " And now, Geordie, man," quoth he, " we will to this culprit, and 
 hear what he has to say for himself, for I will see the job cleared this 
 blessed day. Ye mami come wi' me, for your evidence may be wanted." 
 
 The King led the way, accordingly, into a larger apartment, where 
 i the Prince, the Duke of Buckingham, and one or two privy counsellors, 
 were seated at a table, before which stood Lord Dalgarno, in an atti- 
 tude of as much elegant ease and indifierence as could be expressed, 
 considering the stifi" dress and manners of the times. 
 
 All rose and bowed reverently, while the King, to use a north country 
 word, expressive of his mode of locomotion, toddled to his chair or 
 
 I throne, making a sign to Heriot to stand behind him. 
 
 " We hope," saidhis Majesty, " that Lord Dalgarno stands prepared 
 to do justice to this unfortmiate lady, and to liis own character and 
 honour ?" 
 
 " May I humbly inquire the penalty," said Lord Dalgarno, " in case 
 
 I I should, unhappily find compliance with yoiu: Majesty's demands im- 
 possible ?" 
 
 " Banishment frae our Court, my lord," said the King ; " frae our 
 Court and our countenance." 
 
 " Unhappy exile that I may be !" said Lord Dalgarno, in a tone of 
 subdued ii'ony — " I will at least cany yoiu* Majesty's pictm-e with me, 
 for I shall never see such another King." 
 
 " And banishment, my lord," said the Prince, sternly, " from these 
 our dominions." 
 
 " That must be by form of law, please yom- Royal Highness," said 
 
 I Dalgarno, with an affectation of deep respect : " and I have not heard 
 
 I I that there is a statute, compelling us, under such penalty, to marry 
 »! -every woman we mav play the fool with. Perhaps his Grace of Buck- 
 t ingham can tell me f" 
 
 " You are a villain, Dalgarno," said the haughty and vehement 
 favourite. 
 
 i '' Fie, my lord, fie ?— to a prisoner, and in presence of your royal 
 
 u 
 
288 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 and paternal gossip ;" said Lord Dalgarno. " But I will cut this de- 
 liberation short. I have looked over this schedule of the goods and 
 effects of Erminia Pauletti, daughter of the late noble — yes, he is called 
 the noble, or I read wrong, Giovanni Pauletti, of the House of San- 
 sovino, in Genoa, and of the no less noble Lady IMaud Olifaunt, of the 
 House of Glenvarloch — Well, I declare that I was pre-contracted in 
 Spain to this noble lady, and there has passed betwixt us some certain 
 prwlibatio matrimonii ; and now, what more does this grave assembly 
 require of me ?" 
 
 " That you should repair the gross and infamous wrong you have 
 done the lady, by marrying her within this hour," said the Prince. 
 
 " Oh, may it please your Royal Highness," answered Dalgarno, " I 
 have a trifling relationship with an old Earl, who calls himself my father, 
 who may claim some vote in the matter. Alas ! every son is not blessed 
 with an obedient parent." He hazarded a slight glance towards the 
 throne, to give meaning to his last words. 
 
 " We have spoken ourselves with Lord Huntinglen," ^said the King, 
 ** and are authorized to consent in his name." 
 
 " I could never have expected this intervention of a proxaneta. 
 which the vulgar translate blackfoot, and of such eminent dignity," said 
 Dalgarno, scarce concealing a sneer. " And my father hath consented 1 
 He was wont to say, ere we left Scotland, that the blood of Himtinglea 
 and of Glenvarloch would not mingle, were they poured into the same 
 basin. Perhaps he has a mind to try the expernnent V 
 
 " My lord," said James, " we will not be longer trifled with — Will 
 you instantly, and sine mora, take this lady to yoiu- wife, in oui- chapel ?" 
 
 " Statim atque instanter^'' answered Lord Dalgarno ; " for, I per- 
 ceive, by doing so, I shall obtain power to render great services to the 
 commonwealth — I shall have acquired wealth to sui^ply the wants of 
 your Majesty, and a fair wife to be at the command of his Grace of 
 iBuckingham." 
 
 The Duke rose, passed to the end of the table where Lord Dalgarno 
 was standing, and whispered in his ear, " You have placed a fair sister 
 at my command ere now." 
 
 This taunt cut deep through Lord Dalgarno' s assumed composure. 
 He started as if an adder had stung him, but instantly composed him- 
 self, and, fixing on the Duke's still smiling countenance an eye which 
 spoKe unutteraole hatred, he pointed the forefinger of his left hand to 
 the hilt of his sword, but in a manner which could scarce be observed 
 by any one save Buckingham. The Duke gave him another smile of 
 bitter scorn, and returned to his seat, in obedience to the commands 
 of the King, who continued calling out, " Sit down, Steenie, sit down, 
 I command ye — we will hae nae barns-breaking here." 
 
 "Your Majesty needs not fear my patience," said Lord Dalgarno; 
 '*and that I may keep it the better, I will not utter another word in 
 this presence, save those enjoined to me in that happy portion of 
 the Prayer-Book, which begins with Dearly Beloved^ and ends with 
 amazementr 
 
 *' You are a hardened villain, Dalgarno," said the King ; "and were 
 I the lass, by my father's saul, I womd rather brook the stain of having 
 been your concubine, than run the risk of becoming your wife. But 
 
THE FOilTU:SES OF NIQZL, 269 
 
 she shall be under our special protection. — Come, my lords, we will 
 ourselves see this blithesome bridal." He gave the signal oy rising, 
 and moved to\\'ards the door, followed by the train. Lord Dalgamo 
 attended speaking to none, and spoken to by no one, yet seeming as 
 easy and unembarrassed in his gait and manner as if in reality a happy 
 bridegi'oom. 
 
 They reached the Chapel by a private entrance, which communicated 
 from the royal apartment. The liishop of Winchester, in his pontifical 
 dress, stood beside the altar ; on the other side, supported by Monna 
 Paula, the colourless, faded, half-lifeless form of the Lady Hermione, 
 or Ermhiia, Pauletti. Lord Dalgarno bowed profoundly to her, and 
 the Prince, observing the horror with which she regarded him, walked 
 up, and said to her, with much dignity, — "Madam, ere you put your- 
 self imder the authority of this man, let me inform you, he hath in the 
 fullest degree vindicated your honoui", so far as concerns your former 
 intercourse. It is for you to consider whether you will put your fortune 
 and happiness into the hands of one who has shown himself unworthy 
 of aU tnist." 
 
 The lady, with much difficulty, found words to make reply. "I 
 owe to his Majesty's goodness," she said, "the care of providing me 
 some reservation out of mv owa fortune, for my decent sustenance. 
 The rest cannot be better disposed than in buying back the fair fame 
 of which I am deprived, and the Kberty of ending my life in peace and 
 seclusion." 
 
 "The contract has been drawn up," said the King, "under our own 
 eye, specially discharging the potestas maritalis, and agreemg they 
 shall live separate. So buckle them, my Lord Bishop, as fast as you 
 can, that they may sunder again the sooner." 
 
 The Bishop accordingly opened his book and commenced the mar- 
 riage ceremony, under circumstances so novel and so inauspicious. The 
 responses of the bride were only expressed by inclinations of the head 
 and body; while those of the bridegroom were spoken boldly and 
 distinctly, with a tone resembhng levity, if not scorn. When it was 
 conclude'd. Lord Dalgamo advanced as if to salute the bride^ but seeing 
 that she drew back in fear and abhorrence, he contented himself with 
 making her a low bow. He then drew up his fonn to its height, and 
 stretched himself as if examining the power of his limbs, but elegantly, 
 and without any forcible change of attitude. "I could caper yet," he 
 said, "though I am in fetters — but they are of gold, and lightly worn, 
 — Well, I see all eyes look cold on me, and it is time I should withdraw. 
 ; The sun shines elsewhere than in England ! But first I must ask how 
 , this fair Lady Dalgamo is to be bestowed. Metliinks it is but decent 
 I should know. Is she to be sent to the haram of my Lord Duke ? Or 
 
 is tliis worthy citizen, as before " 
 
 I " Hold thy base ribald tongue !" said his father, Lord Huntinglen, 
 ; "who had kept in the backgroimd during the ceremony, and now stepping 
 ! suddenly forward, caught the lady by the arm, and confronted her 
 ' unworthy husband. — "The Lady Dalgamo," he continued, "shall re- 
 j main as a widow in my house. A widow I esteem her, as much as if 
 '. the grave had closed over her dishonoured husband." 
 [ Lord Dalgamo exhibited momentary symptoms of extreme confusion, 
 
•290 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 and said, in a submissive tone, "If you, my lord, can wdsii me dead, I 
 cannot, though your heir, return the compliment. Few of the first- 
 born 01 Israel," he added, recovering himself from tlie single touch of 
 emotion he had displayed, "can say so much with tmth. But I will 
 convince you ere I ^o, that I am a true descendant of a house famed for 
 its memory of injimes." 
 
 "I marvel your Majesty will listen to him longer," said Prince 
 Charles. "Methinks we have heard enough of his daring insolence." 
 
 But James^ who took the interest of a true gossip in such a scene as 
 was now passing, could not bear to cut the controversy short, but im- 
 posed silence on his son, with "Whisht, Baby Charles — there is a good 
 bairn, whisht ! — I want to liear what the frontless loon can say." 
 
 "Only, sir," said Dalgarno, "that but for one single line in this 
 schedule, aU else that it contains could not have bribed me to take that 
 woman's hand into mine." 
 
 "That line maun have been the summa totalis" said the King. 
 
 "Not so, sire," replied Dalgamo. "The sum total might indeed 
 have been an object for consideration even to a Scottish King, at no 
 very distant period ; but it would have had little charms for me, save 
 that I see here an entry which gives me the power of vengeance over 
 the family of Glenvarloch ; and learn from it that yonder pale bride, 
 ■when she put the wedding-torch into my hand, gave me the power of 
 burning her mother's house to ashes !" 
 
 " How is that T said the King. " What is he speaking about, Jing- 
 ling Geordie ?" 
 
 " This friendly citizen, rav liege " said Lord Dalgarno, "hath expended 
 a sum belonging to my lady, and now, I thank Hea-ven, to me, in ac- 
 quiring a certain mortgage, or wadset, over the estate of Glenvarloch, 
 which, if it be not redeemed before to-morrow at noon, will put me in 
 possession of the fair demesnes of those who once called themselves our 
 iiouse's rivals." 
 
 " Can this be true ?" said the King. 
 
 " It is even but too true, please your Majesty," answered the citizen. 
 "The Lady Hermione having advanced the money for the original 
 creditor, I was obliged, in honour and honesty, to take the rights to 
 her ; and, doubtless, they pass to her husband." 
 
 " But the warrant, man," said the King — "the warrant on our Ex- 
 chequer — Couldna that supply the lad wi' the means of redemption ?" 
 
 "Unhappily, my liege, he has lost it, or disposed of it — It is not to 
 be found. He is tne most unlucky youth !" 
 
 " This is a proper spot of work !" said the King, beginning to amble 
 about and play with the points of his doublet and hose, in expression 
 of dismay. " We cannot aid him without paying our debts twice over, 
 and we have, in the present state of our Exchequer, scarce the means 
 of paying them once." 
 
 " You have told me news," said Lord Dalgamo, " but I will take no 
 advantage." 
 
 " Do not," said his father ; " be a bold villain, since thou must be 
 one. and seek revenge with arms, and not with the usurer's weapons." 
 
 "Pardon me, my lord," said Lord Dalgamo. "Pen and ink are 
 BOW my surest means of vengeance j and more land is won by the law- 
 
THE rOKTU^^ES OF ^-IGEL. 291 
 
 yer with the ram-skin, than by the Andrea Ferrara Tvith his sheeps- 
 head handle. But, as I said before, I will take no advantages. I will 
 await in town to-morrow, near Covent Garden ; if any one will pay the 
 redemption-money to my scrivener, with whom the deeds lie, tne bet- 
 ter for Lord Glenvarloch ; if not, I will go forward on the next day, and 
 travel with all despatch to the north, to take possession." 
 
 " Take a father's malison with you, unhappy wretch !" said Lord 
 Huntinglen. 
 
 "And a King's, who is pater pairice," said James. 
 
 " I trust to bear both lightly," said Lord Lalgarno ; and bowing 
 around him, he withdrew ; wnile all present, oppressed, and, as it were, 
 overawed by his determined effrontery, found they could draw breath 
 more freely when he at length relieved them of his society. Lord 
 Huntinglen, applying himself to comfort his new daughter-in-law. with- 
 drew with her also ; and the Kin^, with his privy-council, whom ne had 
 not dismissed, again returned to his council-chamber, though the hour 
 was unusually late. Heriot's attendance was still commanded, but for 
 what reason was not explained to him. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIIL 
 
 — I'll play the eavesdropper. 
 
 Richard III. Act Y. Seem 3. 
 
 James had no sooner resumed his seat at the council-board than he 
 began to hitch in his chair, cough, use his handkerchief, and make 
 other intimations that he meditatea a long speech. The council com- 
 posed themselves to the beseeming degree of attention. Charles, as 
 strict in his notions of decorum as his father was indifferent to it, fixed 
 himself in an attitude of rigid and respectful attention, while the 
 haughty favourite, conscious of his power over both father and son, 
 stretched himself more easily on his seat, and in assuming an appear- 
 ance of listening, seemed to pay a debt to ceremonial rather than to duty. 
 
 " I doubt not, my lords," said the Monarch, "that some of you may 
 be thinking the hour of reflection is past, and that it is time to ask 
 with the slave in the comedy — Quid de symholo ? — Nevertheless, to 
 do justice and exercise judgment is our meat and druik ; and now we 
 are to pray yom* wisdom to consider the case of this unhappy youth. Lord 
 Glenvarloch, and see whether, consistently with our honom-, anything 
 can be done in his favour." 
 
 " I am surprised at your Majesty's wisdom making the inquiry," said 
 the Duke ; " it is plain tliis Dalgarno hath proved one of the most in- 
 solent villains on earth, and it must therefore be clear, that if Lord 
 Glenvarloch had run him through the body, there would but have been 
 out of the world a knave who had lived in it too long. I tliink Lord 
 Glenvarloch hath had much wi'ong ; and I regret that, by the persua- 
 sions of this false fellow, I have myseK had some hand in it." 
 
 " Ye speak Uke a child, Steenie— I mean my lord of Buckingham," 
 
292 THE rORTUXES OF NIGEL. 
 
 answered the King, "and as one that does not understand the logic of 
 the schools ; for an action may be inconisequential, or even meritorious. 
 quoad hominem, that is, as touching him upon ichom it is acted ; and 
 yet most criminal, quoad locum, or considering the place wherein it is 
 done, as a man may lawfully dance Chrighty Beardie or any other 
 dance in a tavern, but not inter parietes ecclesice. So that, though 
 it may have been a good deed to have sticked Lord Dalgarno, being 
 such as he has shown himself, anywhere else, yet it fell under the 
 plain statute, when violence was offered witliin the verge of the Comi;. 
 For, let me tell you, my lords, the statute against striking would be 
 of small use in our Coiui;, if it could be eluded by justiiying the person 
 stricken to be a knave. It is much to be lamented that I ken nae 
 Court in Christendom where knaves are not to be found ; and if men are 
 to break the peace under pretence of beating them, why, it will rain Jed- 
 dart staves^ in our very antechamber." 
 
 "What your Majesty says," rephed Prince Charles, " is marked with 
 your usual wisdom — the precincts of palaces must be sacred as well as 
 the persons of kmgs, which are respected even in the most barbarous 
 nations, as being one step only beneath their divinities. But your 
 Majesty's will can control the severity of this and every other law, and 
 it is in your power, on consideration of his case, to grant this rash young 
 man a free pardon." 
 
 ^'Eem acu tetigisti, Carole, mi puerule,^^ answered the King ; "and 
 know, my lords, that we have, by a shrewd device and gift of our own, 
 already sounded the very depth of this Lord Glenvarloch's disposition. 
 I trow there be among you some that remember my handling in the 
 ciuious case of my Lady Lake, and how I trimmed, them about the 
 story of hearkening behind the arras.^ Now this put me to cogitation, 
 and I remembered me of having read that Dionysius, King of Syracuse, 
 whom historians call Tvoawss, which signifieth not in the Greek tongue, 
 as in ours, a truculent usurper, but a royal king who governs, it may 
 be something more strictly than we and other lawful monarchs, whom 
 the ancients termed BocffiXus — Now tliis Dionysius of Syracuse caused 
 cunning workmen to build for himself a lugg — D'ye ken what that 15, 
 my Lord Bishop ?" 
 
 " A cathedral, I presume to guess," answered -the Bishop. 
 
 "What the deil, man — I crave your lordship's pardon for swearmg — 
 but it was no cathedral — only a lurking-place called the King's hcgq, 
 or ear, where he could sit undescried, and hear the converse of his 
 prisoners. Now, sirs, in imitation of this Dionysius, whom I took for 
 my pattern, the rather that he was a great Imguist and grammarian, 
 and taught a school with good applause after his abdication (either 
 he or his successor of the same name, it matters not whilk) — 1 have 
 caused them to make a lugg up at the state-prison of the Tower yon- 
 der, more like a pulpit than a cathedral, my Lord Bishop — and com- 
 municating with tlie arras beliind the Lieutenant's chamber, where 
 we may sit and privily hear the discom-se of such prisoners as are 
 
 * The old-fashioned weapon called the Jeddart staff was a species of battle-axe. Of 
 a very great tempest, it is said, in the south of Scotland, that it rains Jeddart staffs, aM 
 in England the common people talk of its raining cats and dogs. 
 
 * See Note C C. Lad)/ Lake. 
 
TEE rORTUNES OF NIGEL. 283 
 
 pent up there for state-offences, and so creep into the very secrets of 
 our enemies." 
 
 The Prince cast a glance towards the Duke, expressive of great vexa- 
 tion and disgust. Buckingham shrugged his shoulders, but the motion 
 was so slight as to be almost imperceptible. 
 
 " Weel, my lords, ye ken the fray at the hunting this morning — I shall 
 not get out of the trembling exies until I have a soimd night's sleep— just 
 after that, they bring ye in a pretty page that had been found in the 
 Park. We are warned against examimng him ourselves by the anxious 
 care of those aromid us ; nevertheless, holding oiu: life ever at the ser- 
 ■\dce of these kingdoms, we commandea all to avoid the room, the rather 
 that we suspected this boy to be a girl. What think ye, my lords ? — 
 few of you would have thought I had a hawk's eye for sic gear ; but we 
 thank God, that though we are old, we know so much of such toys as 
 may beseem a man of decent gravity. Weel, my lords, we questioned 
 this maiden in male attire oui-selves, and I profess it was a very pretty 
 interrogatory, and well followed. For, though she at first professed that 
 she assmned this disguise in order to coimtenance the woman who should 
 present us with the Lady Hermione's petition, for whom she professed 
 entire affection ; yet when we, suspecting anguis in herba, did put her 
 to the veiy question, she was compelled to own a virtuous attachment 
 for Glenvarlochides, in such a pretty passion of shame and fear, that 
 we had much ado to keep om' own eyes from keeping company with hers 
 in weeping. Also, she laid before us the false practices of this Dalgamo 
 towards Glenvarlochides, inveigling him into houses of ill-resort, and 
 giving liim evil counsel under pretext of sincere friendship, whereby the 
 inexperienced lad was led to do what was prejudicial to himself, and 
 offensive to us. But, however prettily she told her tale, we determined 
 not altogether to tmst to her narration, but rather to try the experiment 
 whilk we had devised for such occasions. And having ourselves speedily 
 passed from Greenwich to the Tower, we constituted ourselves eaves- 
 dropper, as it is called, to observe what should pass between Glenvar- 
 lochides and this page, whom we caused to be admitted to his apartment, 
 well judging that if they were of coimsel together to deceive us, it coidd 
 not be but something of it would spunk out — And what think ye we 
 saw, my lords ? — Naethmg for you to sniggle and laugh at, Steenie — 
 for I question if you could have played the temperate and Chi'istian- 
 like part of this poor lad Glenvanoch. He might be a Father of the 
 Church in comparison of you, man. — And then, to try his patience yet 
 farther, we loosed on him a courtier and a citizen, that is Su' Mungo 
 Malagi'owther and our servant George Heriot here, wha dang the poor 
 lad about, and didna gi-eatly spare om- royal selves. — You mind, Geordie, 
 what ye said about the wives and concubines ! but I forgie, man — nae 
 need of kneeling, I forgie ye — the readier that it regards a certain par- 
 ticular, whilk, as it added not much to Solomon's credit, the lack of it 
 caimot be said to impinge on om's. Aweel, my lords, for all temptation 
 of sore distress and evil ensample, this poor lad never loosed his ton^e 
 on us to say one unbecoming word — which inclines us the rather, actmg 
 always by your wise advice, to treat this affair of the Park as a thing 
 donS in the heat of blood, and imder strong provocation, and therefore 
 to confer our free pardon on Lord Glenvarloch." 
 
294 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 "I am happy your gi-acious Majesty," said the Duke of Bucking- 
 ham, "has arrived at that condusion, though I could never have 
 guessed at the road hj which you attained it." 
 
 " I trust," said Prince Charles, " that it is not a path which your 
 Majesty will think it consistent with youi* high dignity to tread fre- 
 quently." 
 
 " Never wliile I live again, Bahy Charles, that I give you my royal 
 word on. They say that hearkeners hear ill tales of themselves — by 
 my saul, my veiy ears are tingling wi' that auld sorrow Sir Mungo's 
 sarcasms. He called us close-fisted, Steenie — I am sure you can con- 
 tradict that. But it is mere envy in the auld mutilated sinner, because 
 he himself has neither a noble to hold in his loof, nor fingers to close 
 on it if he had." Here the King lost recollection of Sir Mungo's 
 irreverence in chuckling over his o^ii wit, and only farther alluded to 
 it by saying — " We must give the auld maunderer bos in linguam — 
 something to stop his mouth, or he will rail at us from Dan to Beer- 
 sheba. — And now, my lords, let our warrant of mercy to Lord Glen- 
 varloch be presently expedited, and he put to his freedom ; and as his 
 estate is likely to go so sleeveless a gate, we will consider what means 
 of favour we can show him. — My lords, I wish you an appetite to an 
 early supper — for our labours have approached that term— Baby Charles 
 and Steenie, you will remain till our couchee. — My Lord Bishop, you 
 will be pleased to stay to bless our meat.— Geordie Heriot, a word with 
 you apart." i 
 
 His Majesty then drew the citizen into a comer, while the counsellors, 
 those excepted who had been commanded to remain, made their obei- 
 sance, and withdrew. "Geordie," said the King, "my good and 
 trusty servant" — Here he busied his fingers much with the points and 
 ribands of his dress — "Ye see that we have granted, from our own 
 natiu-al sense of right and justice, that which yon long-backed fallow, 
 Moniplies I think they ca' him, proff"ered to purchase from us with a 
 mighty bribe ; whilk we refused, as being a cro^vned King, who wad 
 neither sell oui' justice nor our mercy for pecuniar consideration. Now, 
 vrhat think ye should be the upshot of this ?" 
 
 "My Lord Glenvarloch's freedom, and his restoration to your 
 Majesty's favour," said Heriot. 
 
 " I ken that," said the King, peevishly. " Ye are very dull to-day. 
 I mean, what do you think this fallow Moniplies should think about 
 the matter." 
 
 " Surely that youi' Majesty is a most good and gi-acious sovereign," 
 answered Heriot. 
 
 " We had need to be gude and gracious baith," said the King, still 
 more pettishly, "that have idiots about us that cannot understand 
 what we mint at, unless we speak it out in braid Lowlands. See this 
 chield Moniplies, sir, and tell him what we have done for Lord Glen- 
 varloch, in whom he takes such part, out of our own gracious motion, 
 though we refused to do it on ony profi"er of private advantage. Now, 
 you may put it till him as if of your own mind, whether it will be a 
 gracious or a dutiful part in him, to press us for present payment of the 
 two or three hundred miserable pounds for whilk we were obliged to 
 opignorate our jewels ? Indeed, mony men may thmk ye wad do the 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 295 
 
 part of a good citizen, if you took it on yoiu'self to refuse him paymrat^ 
 seeing he hath had what he professed to esteem full satisfaction, and 
 considering, moreover, that it is evident he hath no pressing need of 
 money, whereof we have much necessity." 
 
 George Heriot sighed internally. " Oh, my Master," thought he — 
 " my dear Master, is it then fated you are never to indulge any kingly 
 or noble sentiment, without its bemg sulhed by some after-thought of 
 interested selfisliness ?" 
 
 Tlie King troubled hunself not about what he thought, but taking 
 him by the collar, said, — " Ye ken my meaning now, Jmgler — awa wi' 
 ye. You are a wise man — manage it your ain gate — but forget not our 
 present straits." The citizen made his obeisance, and withdrew. 
 
 " And now, bairns," said the King, " what do you look upon each 
 other for ? — and what have you got to ask of your dear dad and gossip T 
 
 "Only," said the Prince, "that it would please your Majesty to 
 command the lurking-place at the prison to be presently built up — the 
 groans of a captive should not be brought in evidence against him." 
 
 " What ! build up my lugg, Baby Charles ?— And yet, better deaf 
 than hear ill tales of oneself. So let them build it uj), hard and fast, 
 without delay, the rather that my back is sair with sitting in it for a 
 whole hour. — And now let us see what the cooks have been doing for 
 US, bonny bairns." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV, 
 
 To this brave man the knigl»repaiML ^^^■^ 
 
 For counsel in his law affairs ; l\ ^^ ^r\ 
 
 And found him mounted in his pew, 
 With hoolis and money placed for sho 
 Like nest-eggs to make clients lay, 
 And for his false opinion pay. '^*^^C*^i^>/ 
 
 Eudihras. ^*s^O^^. 
 
 <yy< 
 
 ^" *>. 
 
 Our reader may recollect a certain smooth-tongued, lank-hairedy 
 buckram-suited, Scottish scrivener, who, in an earlypart of this history, 
 appeared in the character of a protege of George Heriot. It is to his 
 house we are about to remove, but times have changed with him. The 
 petty booth hath become a chamber of importance — the buckram suit 
 IS changed into black velvet ; and although the wearer retains his 
 
 {)uritanical humility and politeness to clients of consequence, he can now 
 ook others broad in the face, and treat them with a full allowance of 
 superior opulence, and the insolence arising from it. It was but a short 
 period that had achieved these alterations, nor was the party himself 
 as yet entirely accustomed to them, but the change was becoming" less 
 emban-assing to him with every day's practice. Among other acquisitions 
 of wealth, you may see one of Davy Ramsay's best timepieces on the table, 
 and his eye is frequently observing its revolutions, while a boy, whom 
 he employs as a scribe, is occasionally sent out to compare its progress 
 with the clock of Saint Dunstan. 
 The scrivener himself seemed considerably agitated. He took from 
 
296 THE FOllTUKES OF NIGEL». 
 
 a strong box a bundle of parchments, and read passages of them with 
 great attention ; then began to soliloquize — " There is no outlet which 
 faw can suggest — no back-door of evasion — none — if the lands of Glen- 
 varlocli are not redeemed before it rings noon, Lord Dalganio has them 
 a cheap pennyworth. Strange, that he should have been at last able to 
 set his patron at defiance, and achieve for himself the fair estate, with 
 the prospect of which he had long flattered the powerful Buckingham. — 
 Might not Andrew Skmiiewhitter nick hun as neatly ? He hath been 
 ray patron — true — not more than Buckingham was his ; and he can be 
 so no more, for he departs presently for Scotland. I am glad of it — I 
 hate him, and I fear him. He knows too many of my secrets — I know 
 too many of his. But, no — no — no — I need never attempt it, there are 
 no means of overreaching him — Well, Willie, what o'clock ?" 
 
 " Ele'en hours just chappit, sir." 
 
 " Go to your desk without, child," said the scrivener. " What to 
 do next— I shall lose the old Earl's fair business, and, what is worse, 
 his son's foul practice. Old Heriot looks too close into business to per- 
 mit me more than the paltry and ordinaiy dues. The Whitefriars 
 business was profitable, but it has become unsafe ever since — pah ! — 
 what brought that in my head just now '( I can hardly hold my pen — 
 if men should see me in this way !— Willie," (calling aloud to the boy), 
 ^' a cup of distilled waters— Soh ! — now I could face the devil." 
 
 He spoke the last words aloud, and close by the door of the apartment, 
 which was suddenly opened by Richie Moniplies, followed by two gentle- 
 men, and attended by two porters bearing money-bags. " If ye can 
 face the devil, Maister Skurliewhitter," said Richie, " ye will be the 
 less likely to turn your back on a sack or twa o' siller, which I have 
 ta'en the freedom to bring you, Sathanas and Mammon are near akin." 
 The porters, at the same time, ranged their load on the floor. 
 
 " I — I" — stammered the surprised scrivener — " I cannot guess what 
 you mean, su-." 
 
 " Only that I have brought you the redemption-money on the part 
 of Lord Glenvarloch, in discharge of a certain mortgage over his family 
 inheritance. And here, in good time, comes Master Reginald Lowe- 
 stoffe, and another honom-able gentleman of the Temple, to be witnesses 
 to the transaction." 
 
 "I — I incline to think," said the scrivener, " that the term is expired." 
 
 "You will j)ardon us, Master Scrivener," said Lowestoffe. " You will 
 not baffle us — it wants three-quarters of noon by every clock in the city." 
 
 " I must have time, gentlemen," said Andrew, " to examine the 
 gold by tale and weight." 
 
 " Do so at your leism-e, Master Scrivener," replied Lowestoflfe again. 
 " We have already seen the contents of each sack told and weighed, 
 and we have put our seals on them. There they stand in a row, twenty 
 in number, each containing three hundred yellow-hanmiers — we are 
 witnesses to the lawful tender." 
 
 _" Gentlemen," said the scrivener, " this security now belongs to a 
 mighty lord. I pray you, abate your haste, and let me send for Lord 
 Dalgarno, — or rather I will run for him myself." 
 
 So_ saying, he took up his hat ; but Lowestoffe called out, — " Friend 
 Moniplies, keep the door fast, an thou be'st a man ! he seeks but to 
 
THE rORTU:SES OF NIGEL. 297 
 
 put off the time. — In plain terms, Andrew, you may send for the devil, 
 if you will, who is the mightiest lord of my acquaintance, but from 
 hence you stir not till you have answered our proposition, by rejecting 
 or accepting the redemption-money fairly tendered— There it lies — take 
 it, or leave it. as you will. I have skill enough to know, that the law 
 is mightier than any lord in Britain — I have learned so much at the 
 Temple^ if I have learned nothing else. And see that you trifle not with 
 it, lest it make your long ears an inch shorter, Master Skurliewhitter." 
 
 " Nay, gentlemen, if you threaten me," said the scrivMier, " I can< 
 not resist compulsion." 
 
 " No threats — no threats at all, my little Andrew," said Lowestoffe ; 
 "a little friendly advice only — forget not, honest Andrew, I have seen 
 you in Alsatia." 
 
 Without answering a suigle word, the scrivener sat down, and drew 
 in proper form a full receipt for the money proffered. 
 
 " I take it on your report^ Master Lowestoffe," he said ; *^ I hope 
 you will emember I have insisted neither upon weight nor tale — I have 
 been civil — if there is deficiency I shall come to loss." 
 
 " Fillip his nose with a gold piece, Richie/' quoth the Templar. 
 " Take up the papers, and now wend we merrily to dine thou wot'st 
 where." 
 
 " If I might choose," said Richie, " it should not be at yonder 
 roguish ordinary ; but as it is vour pleasure, gentlemen, the treat shall 
 be given wheresoever you will nave it." 
 
 " At the ordinary," said the one Templar. 
 
 "At Beaujeu's," said the other ; "it is the only house in London 
 for neat wines, nimble drawers, choice dishes, and " 
 
 " And high charges," quoth Richie Moniplies. " But, as I said be- 
 fore, gentlemen, ye have a right to command me in this thing, having 
 so frankly rendered me your service in this small matter of business, 
 without other stipulation than that of a slight banquet." 
 
 The latter part of this discourse passed in the street, where, imme- 
 diately afterwards, they met Lord Dalgamo. He appeared in haste, 
 touched his hat slightly to Master Lowestoffe, who returned his 
 reverence with the same negligence, and walked slowly on with his 
 companion, while Lord Dalgarno stopped Richie Moniplies with a 
 commanding sign, which the instinct of education compelled Moniplies, 
 though indignant, to obey. 
 
 " Whom do you now follow, sirrah ?" demanded the noble. 
 
 " Whomsoever goeth before me, my lord," answered JMoniplies. 
 
 " No sauciness, you knave — I desire to kaow if you still serve Nigel 
 Olifaunt ?" said Dalgarno. 
 
 " I am friend to the noble Lord Glenvarloch," answered Moniplies, 
 with dignity. 
 
 " Tme," replied Lord Dalgarno ; "that noble lord has sunk to seek 
 friends among lackeys — Nevertheless, — hark thee hither, — neverthe- 
 less, if he be of the same mind as when we last met, thou mayst show 
 him, that, on to-morrow at four afternoon, I shall pass northward by 
 Enfield Chase — I will be slenderly attended, as I design to send my 
 train through Barnet. It is my purpose to ride an easy pace through 
 the forest, and to linger a while by Camlet Moat— he knows the place ; 
 
293 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 and, if lie be auglit but an Alsatian bully, will think it fitter for some 
 purposes than the Park. He is, I understand, at liberty, or shortly to 
 be so. If he fail me at the place nominated, he must seek me in Scot- 
 land, where he will find me possessed of his father's estate and lands." 
 " Humph !" muttered Richie ; " there go twa words to that bargain." 
 He even meditated a joke on the means which he was conscious he 
 possessed of baffling Lord Dalgarno's expectations ; but there was 
 something of keen and dangerous excitement in the eyes of the young 
 nobleman, which prompted his discretion for once to rule his wit, ana 
 he only answered,- 
 
 added 
 
 not the lad to put him in such hazard.' 
 
 Lord Dalgarno looked at him sharply for a moment, as if to i)enetrate 
 the meaning of the dry ironical tone, which, in spite of Richie's awe, 
 mingled witli his answer, and then waved his hand, in signal he should 
 pass on. He himself walked slowly till the trio were out of sight, then 
 turned back with hasty steps to the door of the scrivener, which he had 
 passed in his progress, knocked, and was admitted. , 
 
 Lord Dalgarno found the man of law with the money-bags still 
 standing before him ; and it escaped not his penetrating glance, that 
 Skurliewhitter was disconcerted and alarmed at his approach. 
 
 " How now, man," he said ; " what ! hast thou not a word of oily 
 comi)liment to me on my happy marriage ? — not a word of most philo- 
 sophical consolation on my disgrace at Court ? — Or has my mien, as a 
 wittol and discarded favourite, the proj)erties of the Gorgon's head, the 
 turhatce Palladis arma, as Majesty might say ?" 
 
 " My lord, I am glad — my lord, I am sorry,"— answered the tremb- 
 ling scrivener, who, aware of the vivacity of Lord Dalgarno' s temper, 
 dreaded the consequence of the communication he had to make to him. 
 
 " Glad and sorry !" answered Lord Dalgarno. " That is blowing 
 hot and cold, with a witness. Hark ye, you picture of petty-larceny 
 personified — if you are sorry I am a cuckold, remember I am only 
 mine own, you knave— there is too little blood in her cheeks to have 
 sent her astVay elsewhere. Well, I will bear mine antler'd honours as 
 I may — gold shall gild them ; and for my disgrace, revenge shall 
 sweeten it. Ay, revenge — and there strikes the happy hour !" 
 
 The hour of noon was accordindy heard to peal from Saint Dunstan's. 
 *' Well banged, brave hammers ! said Lord Dalgarno, in triumph. — 
 **The estate and lands of Glenvarloch are crushed beneath these clang- 
 ing blows. If my steel to-morrow prove but as true as yoiu- iron maces 
 to-day, the poor landless lord will little miss what your peal hath cut 
 him out from. — The papers — the papers, thou varlet ! I am to-morrow 
 northward, ho ! At four, afternoon, I am bound to be at Camlet Moat, 
 in the Enfield Chase. To-night most of my retinue set forward. The 
 papers ! — Come, despatch." 
 
 ^' My lord, the — the papers of the Glenvarloch mortgage--! — I have 
 them not." 
 
 " Have them not !" echoed Lord Dalgarno, — "hast thou sent them 
 to my lodging, thou varlet ? Did I not say I was coming hither ?— 
 
THE rORTUXES OF NIGEL. 299 
 
 ' What mean you by pointing to that money ? What villany have you 
 done for it ? It is too large to be come honestly by." 
 
 " Your lordship knows best," answered the scrivener, in gi-eat per- 
 turbation. " The gold is youi* own. It is — it is " 
 
 " Not the redemption-money of the Glenvarloch e.state !" said Dal- 
 garno. " Dare not say it is, or I will, upon the spot, divorce j^om- pet- 
 tifogging soul from yom* carrion carcass !" So saying, he seized the 
 scrivener by the collar, and shook him so vehemently, that he tore it 
 from the cassock. 
 
 "My lord, I must call for help," said the trembling caitiff, who felt 
 at that moment all the bitterness of the mortal agony — "It was the 
 law's act, not mine. What could I do '/" 
 
 "Dost ask ( — why, thou snivelling dribblet of damnation, were all thy 
 oaths, tricks, and lies spent '{ or do you hold yourself too good to utter 
 them in my service? Thou shouldst have lied, cozened, out-sworn 
 truth itself, rather than stood betwixt me and my revenge ! But mark 
 ine," he continued ; " I know more of your pranks than would hang 
 thee. A line from me to the Attorney-General, and thou art sped." 
 
 "What would you have me to do, my lord?" said the scrivener. 
 "All that art and law can accomplish, I will tiy." 
 
 "Ah, are you converted ? do so, or pity of yom- life !" said the lord ; 
 "and remember I never fail mv word. Then keep that acciused gold," 
 he continued. " Or, stay, I will not trust you — send me this gold home 
 presently to my lodging. I will still forward to Scotland, and it shall 
 go hard "but that I hold out Glenvarloch Castle against the owner, by 
 means of the ammmiition he has himself furnished. Thou art ready- 
 to serve me ?" The scrivener professed the most implicit obedience. 
 
 "Then remember, the hour was past ere payment was tendered — 
 and see thou hast witnesses of trusty memory to prove that point." 
 
 "Tush, my lord, I will do more," said Andi'ew, reviving — "I will 
 prove that Lord Glenvarloch's friends threatened, swaggered, and drew 
 swords on me. — Did your lordship think I was migrateful enough to 
 have suffered them to prejudice yom' lordship, save that they had bare 
 swords at my throat ?" 
 
 "Enough said," replied Dalgarno ; "you are perfect— mind that you 
 continue so, as you would avoid my fmy. I leave my page below — get 
 porters, and let them follow me instantly with the gold. 
 
 So saying. Lord Dalgarno left the scrivener's habitation. 
 
 Skurliewhitter, having despatched his boy to get porters of trust for 
 transportmg the money, remained alone and in dismay, meditatmg by 
 what means he could shake himself free of the ^ndictive and ferocious 
 nobleman, who possessed at once a dangerous knowledge of his cha- 
 racter, and the power of exposing him, where exposure would be ruin. 
 He had indeed acquiesced in the plan, rapidly sketched, for obtaining 
 possession of the ransomed estate, but his experience foresaw that thia 
 would be impossible ; wliile, on the other hand, he could not anticipate 
 the various consequences of Lord Dalgarno' s resentment, without fears, 
 from which his sordid soul recoiled. To be in the power, and subject 
 both to the humours and the extortions of a spendthrift young lord, 
 just when his industry had shaped out the means of fortune,— it was 
 the most cruel trick which fate could have played the incipient usurer. 
 
300 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. ' 
 
 "WTiile the scrivener was in this fit of anxious anticipation, one 
 knocked at the door of the apartment ; and, being desired to enter, 
 appeared in the coarse riding-cJoak of uncut Wiltshhe cloth, fastened 
 by a broad leather belt and brass buckle, which was then generally 
 worn by graziers and countrymen. Skmiiewhitter, believmg he saw 
 in his visitor a countiy client who might prove profitable, had opened 
 his mouth to request him to be seated, when the stranger, throwing 
 back his frieze hood which he had drawn over liis face, snowed the 
 scrivener features well imprinted in his recollection, but which he never 
 saw without a disposition to swoon. 
 
 "Is it you T he said, faintly, as the stranger replaced the hood which 
 concealed his features. 
 
 " Who else should it be ?" said his visitor. 
 
 "Thou son of parchment, got betwixt the inkhorn 
 And the stufif 'd process-bag — that mayest call 
 The pen thy father, and the ink thy mother, 
 The wax thy brother, and the sand thy sister, 
 And the good pilloiy thy cousin allied — 
 Else, and do reverence unto me, thy better 1" 
 
 "Not yet down to the country," said the scrivener, "after every 
 warning ? Do not think your grazier's cloak will bear you out, captain 
 — no, nor your scraps of stage-plays." 
 
 "Why, what would you have me to do?" said the captain — "Yfould 
 you have me starve ? If I am to fly, you must eke my wings with a 
 few feathers. You can spare them, I tmnk." 
 
 "You had means already — you have had ten pieces — What is become 
 of them?" 
 
 " Gone," answered Captain Colepepper — " Gone, no matter where — 
 I had a mind to bite, and I was bitten, that's all— I think my hand 
 shook at the thought of last night's work, for I trowled the doctors like 
 a very baby." 
 
 "And you have lost all, then? — Well, take this and be gone," said 
 the scrivener. 
 
 "What, two poor smelts ! Marry, plague of your bounty !— But re- 
 member, you are as deep in as I." 
 
 "Not so, by Heaven!" answered the scrivener; "I only thought of 
 easing the old man of some papers and a trifle of his gold, and you took 
 his hfe." 
 
 "Were he living," answered Colepepper, "he would rather have lost 
 it than his money. — But that is not the question. Master Skurliewhitter 
 — you undid the private bolts of the wmdow when you visited him 
 about some aff'airs on the day ere he died— so satisfy yourself, that, if I 
 am taken, I wiU not swing alone. — Pity Jack Ilempsfield is dead ; it 
 spoils the old catch, 
 
 ' And three merry men, and three merry men, 
 And three merry men are we, 
 As ever did sing three parts in a string, 
 All under the triple tree.' " 
 
 "For God's sake, speak lower," said the scrivener; "is this a place 
 or time to make your midnight catches heard ? — But how much will seiTe 
 your turn ? I tell you I am but ill provided." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 301 
 
 " You tell me a lie, then," said the biilly — " a most palpable and 
 
 fross lie. — How much, d'ye say, will serve my turn ? Why, one of these 
 ags will do for the present." 
 
 " I swear to you that these bags of money are not at my disposal" 
 
 " Not honestly, perhaps," said the captam, " but that makes little 
 difference betwixt us." 
 
 " I swear to you," continued the scrivener, " they are in no way at 
 my disposal— they have been dehvered to me by tale — I am to pay 
 them over to Lord Dalgamo, whose boy waits for thera, and I could not 
 sk elder one piece out of them, without risk of hue and ciy." 
 
 " Can you not put off the delivery ?" said the bravo, his huge hand 
 still fumbling with one of the bags, as if his fingers longed to close on it. 
 
 " Impossible," said the scrivener, " he sets forward to Scotland to- 
 morrow." 
 
 " Ay !" said the bully, after a moment's thought—" Travels he the 
 north road with such a charge V 
 
 " He is well accompanied," added the scrivener ; "but yet ^" 
 
 " But yet— but what T said the bravo. 
 
 " Nay, I meant nothing," said the scrivener. 
 
 " Thou didst — thou hadst the wind of some good thing," replied 
 Colepepper ; I saw thee pause like a setting-dog. Thou wilt say as 
 little, and make as sm'e a sign, as a well-bred spaniel." 
 
 " All I meant to say, captain, was, that his servants go by Barnet, 
 and he himself, with his page, pass through Enfield Chase ; and he 
 spoke to me yesterday of riding a soft pace." 
 
 " Aha ! — Comest thou to me there, my boy ?" 
 
 " And of resting " — continued the scrivener — " resting a space at 
 Camlet Moat." 
 
 " Why, this is better than cock-fighting !" said the captain. 
 
 " I see not how it can advantage you, captam," said the scrivener. 
 " But, however, they cannot ride fast, for his page rides the sumpter- 
 horse, which carries all that weight," pointing to the money on the table. 
 "Lord Dalgarno looks sharp to the world's gear." 
 
 " That horse will be obliged to those who may ease him of his burden," 
 said the bravo ; " and, egad, he may be met with. — He hath still that 
 page — that same Lutin — that goblin ? Well, the boy hath set game 
 for me ere now. I will be revenged, too, for I owe him a grudge for 
 an old score at the ordinary. Let me see — Black Feltham, and Dick 
 Shakebag — we shall want a fourth — I love 'to make sure, and the booty 
 will stand parting, besides what I can bucket them out of. Well, 
 scrivener, lend me two pieces. — Bravely done — nobly imparted ! Give ye 
 good-den." And wi'appiug his disguise closer around him, away he went. 
 
 When he had left the room, the scrivener wi'ung his hands, and ex- 
 claimed, " More blood — more blood ! I thought to have done with it, 
 but tliis time there was no fault with me — none — and then I shall have 
 all the advantage. If this ruffian falls, there is truce with his tugs at 
 my piu"se-strings ; and if Lord Dalgarno dies — as is most hkely, for 
 though as much afraid of cold steel as a debtor of a dun, this fellow is 
 a deadly shot from behind a bush, — then I am in a thousand ways safe 
 — safe — safe." 
 
 We willingly drop the curtain over him and his reflections. 
 
3U2 THE FOKTUM^S ur KIGEL 
 
 CHAPTER XXXY. 
 
 We are not worst at once — the course of evil 
 Begins so slowly, and from such slight source, 
 An infant's hand might stem its breach with clay; 
 But let the stream get deeper, and philosophy- 
 Ay, and religion too — shall strive in vain 
 To turn the headlong torrent. 
 
 OldPlmj. 
 
 The Templars had been regaled by our friend Richie Moniplies in a 
 private chamber at Beaujeu's, where he might be considered as good 
 company ; for he had exchanged his serving-man's cloak and jerkin for 
 a grave yet handsome suit of clothes, in the fashion of the times, but 
 £uch as might have befitted an older man than himself He had posi- 
 tively declined presenting himself at the ordinary, a point to which his 
 companions were very desirous to have brought him, for it will be 
 easily believed that such wags as LowestofFe and his companion were 
 not indisposed to a little merriment at the expense of the raw and pe- 
 dantic Scotsman ; besides the chance of easing him of a few pieces, of 
 which he appeared to have acquired considerable command. But not 
 even a succession of measures of sparkling sack, in which the little 
 brilliant atoms circulated like motes in the sun's rays, had the least 
 effect on Richie's sense of decorum. He retained the gravity of a 
 jud^e, even while he drank like a fish, partly from his own natural 
 inclination to good liquor, partly in the way of good fellowship towards 
 his guests. When the wine began to make some iimovation on their 
 heads. Master LowestofFe, thed, perhaps, of the humours of Richie, 
 who began to become yet more stoically contradictory and dogmatical 
 than even in the earlier part of the entertainment, proposed to his friend 
 to break up their debauch and join the gamesters. 
 
 The drawer was called accordingly, and Richie discharged the reckon- 
 ing of the party, with a generous remuneration to the attendants, which 
 was received with cap and knee, and many assurances of — " Kindly 
 welcome, gentlemen." 
 
 " I grieve we should part so soon, gentlemen," said Richie to his 
 companions,—" and I would you had cracked another quart ere you 
 went,_ or staid to take some slight matter of supper, and a glass of 
 Rhenish. I thank you, however, for having graced my poor collation 
 thus far ; and I commend you to fortune in your own courses, for the 
 ordinary neither was, is, nor shall be, an element of mine." 
 ^ " Fare thee well then," said Lowestofi"e, " most sapient and senten- 
 tious Master Moniplies. May you soon have another mortgage to 
 redeem, and may I be there to witness it ; and may you play the good 
 fellow as heartily as you have done this day." 
 
 " Nay, gentlemen, it is merely of your grace to say so — but, if you 
 would but hear me speak a few words of admonition respecting this 
 wicked ordinary '^ 
 
 "Reserve the lesson, most honourable Richie," said LowestoflfCj "until 
 1 have lost all my money," showing, at the same time, a purse indiff"er- 
 cntlywellprovided, "ana then the lecture is • •■ - <• 
 
 is likely to have some weight.' 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 303 
 
 " And keep my share of it, Ricliie," said the other Templar, showing 
 an ahnost empty piirse in his turn, " till this be full again, and then I 
 will promise to hear you with some patience." 
 
 " Ay, ay, gallants," said Richie, " the full and the empty gang a' ae 
 gate, and that is a gray one — but the time will come." 
 
 " Nay, it is come already," said Lowestoffe ; " they have set out the 
 hazard table. Since you will peremptorily not go with us, why, fare- 
 well, Richie." 
 
 "And farewell, gentlemen," said Richie, and left the house, into 
 which they returned. 
 
 Moniplies was not many steps from the door, when a person whom, 
 lost in his reflections on gaming, ordinaries, and the manners of the 
 age, he had not observed, and who had been as negligent on his part, 
 ran full against him; and when Richie desired to know whether he 
 meant " ony incivility," replied by a curse on Scotland and all that 
 belonged to it. A less round reflection on his country would, at any 
 time, have provoked Richie, but more especially when he had a double 
 quart of Canary and better in his pate. He was about to give a very 
 rough answer, and to second his word by action, when a closer view of 
 his antagonist changed his purpose. 
 
 " You are the very lad in the warld," said Richie, " whom I most 
 wished to meet." 
 
 " And you," answered the stranger, "- or any of yom- beggarly coun- 
 trymen, are the last sight I should ever wish to see. You Scots are ever 
 fair and false, and an honest man cannot thrive within eye-shot of you." 
 "As to our poverty, friend," replied Richie, "that is as Heaven 
 pleases ; but touching our falset, I'll prove to you that a Scotsman bears 
 as leal and true a heart to his friend as ever beat in English doublet." 
 
 " I care not whether he does or not," said the gallant. Let me go — 
 ' why keep you hold of my cloak ? Let me go, or I will thi'ust you int' 
 I the kennel." 
 
 " I believe I could forgie ye, for you did me a good turn once, in 
 plucking me out of it," said the Scot. 
 
 " Beshrew my fingers, then, if they did so," replied the stranger. 
 " I would your whole country lay there aloil^ with you ; and Heaven's 
 curse blight the hand that helped to raise them ? Why do you stop 
 my way/" he added fiercely. 
 
 ' "Because it is a bad one, JMaster Jenkin," said Ricliie. "Nay, 
 ! never start about it, man — you see you are kno^vn. Alack-a-day ! that 
 ' an honest man's son should live to start at hearing himself called by his 
 ! own name." Jenkin struck his brow violently with his clenched fist. 
 ! "Come, come," said Richie, "this passion availeth nothing. Tell 
 I me what gate you go V 
 \ " To the devil !" answered Jin Vin. 
 
 " That is a black gate, if you speak according to the letter," answered 
 Richie ; " but if metaphorically^ there are worse places in this great 
 city than the Devil Tavern ; and I care not if I go thither with you, 
 and bestow a pottle of burnt sack on you — it will correct the crudities 
 ; of my stomach, and form a gentle preparative for the leg of a cold 
 j pullet." 
 j " I pray you, in good fashion, to let me go," said Jenkin, " You 
 
 X 
 
:iO t THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 may mean me kindly, and I wish you to have no wi'ong at my hand ; 
 but I am in the humour to be dangerous to .myself, or any one." 
 
 " I will abide the risk," said the Scot, " if you will but come with 
 me ; and here is a place convenient, a howff nearer than the DevO, 
 whilk is but an ill-omened drouthy name for a tavern. This other of 
 the Saint Andrew is a quiet place, where I have ta'en my whetter now 
 and then when I lodged in the neighbourhood of the Temple with Lord 
 Glenvarloch. — What the deil's the matter wi' the man, gan'd him gie sic 
 a spang as that, and almaist brought himself and me on the causeway ?" 
 
 " Do not name that false Scot's name to me," said Jin Vin, "if you 
 would not have me go mad ! — I was happy before I saw him — he has 
 been the cause of all the ill that has befallen m.e — he has made a knave 
 and a madman of me !" 
 
 " If you are a knave," said Richie, " you have met an officer — if you 
 are daft, you have met a keeper ; but a gentle officer and a kind keeper. 
 Look you, my gude friend, there has been twenty things said about 
 this same lord, in which there is no more truth than in the leasings 
 of Mahound. The warst they can say of him is, that he is not always 
 so amenable to good advice as I would pray him, you, and every young 
 man to be. Come wi' me— just come ye wi' me ; and if a little spell of 
 siller and a great deal of excellent counsel can relieve your occasions, all 
 I can say is, you have had the luck to meet one capable of giving you 
 both, and maist willing to bestow them." 
 
 T'he pertinacity of the Scot prevailed over the sullenness of Vincent, 
 who was indeed in a state of agitation and incapacity to think for him- 
 self, which led him to yield the more readily to the suggestions of 
 another. He sujBfered himself to be dragged into the small tavern 
 which Richie recommended, and where they soon found themselves 
 seated in a snug niche, with a reeking pottle of bmut sack, and a paper 
 of sugar betAvixt them. Pipes and tobacco were also provided, but 
 were only used by Richie, who had adopted the custom of late, as 
 adding considerably to the gravity and importance of his manner, and 
 affording, as it were, a bland and pleasant accompaniment to the words 
 of wisdom which flowed from his tongue. After they had filled their 
 glasses and drunk them in silence, Ricliie repeated the question, whither 
 his ^uest was going when they met so fortunately. 
 
 "I told you," said Jenkin, "I was going to destruction — I mean to 
 the gaming-house. I am resolved to hazard these two or three pieces, 
 to get as much as will pay for a passage with Captain Sharker, whose 
 ship lies at Graveseud, bound for America— and so eastward, ho ! — I 
 met one devil in the way already, who would have tempted me from 
 my purpose, but I spurned him from me — you may be another for what 
 I know. — W hat de^ee of damnation do you propose for me," he added 
 wildly, " and what is the price of it?" 
 
 "I would have you to Know," answered Richie, "that I deal in no 
 such commodities, whether as buyer or seller. But if you will tell me 
 honestly the cause of your distress, I will do what is in my power to 
 help you out of it, — not being, however, prodigal of promises, until I 
 know the case ; as a learned physician only gives advice when he has 
 observed the diagnostics." 
 
 "No one has anything to dp with my aflfairs," said the poor lad; 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 305 
 
 and, folding his arms on the table, he laid his head down on them, with 
 the sullen dejection of the overburdened lama, when it thi'ows itself 
 down to die in desperation. 
 
 Richie Moiiiplies, like most folks who have a good opinion of them- 
 selves, was fond of the task of consolation, which at once displayed his 
 superiority (for the consoler is necessarily, for the time at least, superior 
 to the afflicted person), and indulged his love of talking. He inflicted 
 on the poor penitent a harangue of pitiless length, stuffed full of the 
 usual topics of the mutabihty of human affairs — the eminent advantages 
 of patience under affliction — the folly of grieving for what hath no 
 remedy — the necessity of taking more care for the future and some 
 gentle rebukes on account of the past, which acid he threw in to assist 
 in subduing the patient's obstinacy, as Hannibal used vinegar in cutting 
 his way through rocks. It was not in human nature to endiure this 
 flood of commonplace eloquence in silence ; and Jin Vin, whether de- 
 sirous of stopping the flow of words crammed thus into his ear, "against 
 the stomach of his sense," or whether confiding in Richie's protestations 
 of friendship, which the wretched, says Fielding, are ever so ready to 
 believe, or whether merely to give his sorrows vent in words, raised his 
 head, and tm-ning his red and swollen eyes to Richie — 
 
 " Cocksbones, man, only hold thy tongue, and thou shalt know all 
 about it, — and then all I ask of thee is to shake hands and part. — This 
 Margaret R^imsay, — you have seen her, man ?" 
 
 "OncC;" said Richie, "once, at Master George Heriot's in Lombard 
 Street— I was in the room when they dined." 
 
 "Ay, you helped to shift their trenchers, I remember," said Jin Vin. 
 "Well, that same pretty girl — and 1 will uphold her the prettiest 
 betwixt Paul's and the bar — she is to be wedded to your Lord Glenvar- 
 loch, with a pestilence on him !" 
 
 "That is impossible," said Richie; "it is raving nonsense, man — 
 they make April gouks of you cockneys every month in the year — 
 The Lord Glenvarloch marry the daughter of a Lonnon mechanic ! I 
 would as soon believe the great Prester John would marry the daughter 
 of a Jew packman." 
 
 " Hark ye, brother," said Jin Vin, " I will allow no one to speak 
 disregardfully of the city, for all I am in trouble." 
 
 "I crave your pardon, man— I meant no offence." said Richie; "but 
 as to the marriage, it is a thing simply impossible.' 
 
 "It is a thing that will take place, though, for the Duke and the 
 Prince, and all of them, have a finger in it ; and especially the old fool of a 
 Kin^, that makes her out to be some great woman in her own country, 
 as ail the Scots pretend to be, you know." 
 
 "Master Vincent, but that you are under affliction," said the con- 
 soler, offended in his turn, "I would hear no national reflections." 
 
 The afflicted youth apologized in his turn, but asserted, "it was 
 true that the King said Peg-a-Ramsay was some far-off sort of noble- 
 woman ; and that he had taken a ^eat interest in the match, and had 
 run about like an old gander, cacklmg about Peggie ever since he had 
 seen her in hose and doublet — and no wonder," added poor Vin, with 
 
 is may be aU true," said Richie, "though it sounds strange in 
 
306 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 my ears ; but, man, you should not speak evil of dignities— Curs© not 
 the King, Jenkin ; not even in thy bedchamber — stone walls have ears 
 — no one has a right to know that better than I." 
 
 *'I do not curse the foolish old man," said Jenkin; "but I would 
 have them carry things a peg lower. — If they were to see on a plain 
 field thirty thousand such pikes as I have seen in the artilleiy gardens, 
 it would not be their long-haired courtiers would help them, I trow." ^ 
 
 "Hout tout, man," said Richie, "mind where the Stewarts come 
 frae, and never think they would want spears or claymores either ; but 
 leaving sic matters, whilk are perilous to speak on, I say once more, 
 what is your concern in all this matter ? " 
 
 " What is it ? " said Jenkin ; " why, have I not fixed on Peg-a-Ram- 
 say to be my true love from the day I came to her old father's shop ? 
 and have I not carried her pattens and her chopines for three years, and 
 borne her prayer-book to church, and brushed the cushion for her to 
 kneel down upon, and did she ever say me nay ?" 
 
 " I see no cause she had " said Richie, " if the like of such small 
 services were all that ye proffered. Ah, man ! there are few — very few, 
 either of fools or of wise men, ken how to guide a woman." 
 
 " Why, did I not serve her at the risk of my freedom, and very nigh 
 at the risk of my neck 1 Did she not— no, it was not her neither, but 
 that accursed beldam whom she caused to work upon me — persuade me 
 like a fool to turn myself into a waterman to help my lord, and a plague 
 to him, down to Scotland ; and instead of going peaceably down to the 
 ship at Gravesend, did not he rant and bully, and show his pistols, and 
 maKe me land him at Greenwich, where he played some swaggering 
 pranks, that helped both him and me into the Tower ?" 
 
 " Aha ! " said Richie, tlirowing more than his usual wisdom into his 
 looks ; " so you were the green-jacketed waterman that rowed Lord 
 Glenvarloch down the river V 
 
 "The more fool I, that did not souse him in the Thames," said 
 Jenkin ; "and I was the lad that would not confess one word of who 
 or what I was, though they threatened to make me hug the Duke of 
 Exeter's daughter." ^ 
 
 "Wha is she, man'/" said Richie; "she must be an ill-fashioned 
 piece, if you're so much afraid of her, and she come of such high 
 kin." 
 
 " I mean the rack — ^the rack, man," said Jenkin. " Where were you 
 bred that never heard of the Duke of Exeter's daughter ? But all the 
 dukes and duchesses in England could have got nothing out of me— so 
 the truth came out some other way, and I was set free. — Home I ran, 
 thinking myself one of the cleverest and happiest fellows in the ward. 
 And she— she— she wanted to pay me with moneij for all my true ser- 
 vice ! and she spoke so sweetly and so coldly at the same time, I wished 
 myself in the deepest dungeon of the Tower — I wish they had racked 
 
 1 Clarendon remarks, that the Importance of the military exercise of the citizens was 
 severely felt by the cavaliers during the civil war, notwithstanding the ridicule that 
 had been showered upon it by the dramatic poets of the day. Nothing less than habi- 
 tual practice could, at the battle of Newbury and elsewhere, have enabled the Lon- 
 doners to keep their ranks as pikemen, in spite of the repeated charge c' the fier7 
 Prince Rupert and his gallant cavaliers. 
 
 » A particular snecies of rack, used at the Tower of London was so called. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 307 
 
 me to death before I heard this Scottishman was to chouse me out of 
 my sweetheart !" 
 
 '''But are ye sure'ye'have"'lost her ?" said Richie ; "it sounds strange 
 in my ears that my Lord Glenvarloch should marry the daughter of a 
 dealer, though there are uncouth marriages made in London, I'll allow 
 that." 
 
 " Why, I tell you this lord was no sooner clear of the Tower than 
 he and Master George Heriot came to make proposals for her, with the 
 King's assent, and what not ; and fine fair-day prospects of Court favour 
 fur this lord, for he hath not an acre of land." 
 
 "Well, and what said the auld watchmaker ?" said Richie ; "was 
 he not, as might weel beseem him, ready to loup out of his skin-case for 
 very joy?" 
 
 " He multiplied six figures progressively, and reported the product — 
 tlien gave his consent." 
 
 "And what did you do ?" 
 
 " I rushed into the streets," said the poor lad, " with a burning heart 
 and a bloodshot eye— and where did I first find myself, but with that 
 beldam. Mother Suddlechop — and what did she propose to me, but to 
 take the road !" 
 
 " Take the road, man ? in what sense ? " said Richie. 
 
 " Even as a clerk to Samt Nicholas — as a highwayman, like Poins 
 and Peto, and the good fellows in the play— and who think you was to 
 be my captain ? — for she had the whole out ere I could speak to her — I 
 fancy she took silence for consent, and thought me damned too unutter- 
 ably to have one thought left that savoured of redemption— who Avas to be 
 my captain, but the knave that you saw me cudgel at the ordinary, when 
 you waited on Lord Glenvarloch, a cowardly, sharking, thievish bully 
 about town here, whom they call Colepepper." 
 
 " Colepepper — umph — I know somewhat of that smaik," said Richie ; 
 " ken ye by ony chance where he may be heard of. Master Jenkin ? 
 —ye wad do me a sincere service to tell me." 
 
 " Why, he lives something obscm^ely," answered the apprentice, "on 
 account of suspicion of some villainy — I believe that horrid murder in 
 AVhitefriars, or some such matter. But I might have heard all about 
 him from Dame Suddlechop, for she spoke of my meeting him at Enfield 
 Chase, with some other good fellows, to do a robbery on one that goes 
 northward with a store of treasure." 
 
 " And you did not agTee to this fine project ?" said Moniplies. 
 
 " I cursed her for a hag, and came away about my business," an- 
 swered Jenkin. 
 
 " Ay, and what said she to that, man ? That would startle her," said 
 Richie. 
 
 " Not a whit. She laughed, and said she was in jest," answered Jen- 
 kin ; "but I know the she-devil's jest from her earnest too well to be 
 taken in that way. But she knows I would never betray her." 
 
 " Betray her ! No," replied Richie ; " but are ye in any shape bound 
 to this bhkie Peppercull or Colepepper, or whatever they call him, that 
 ye suld let him do a robbery on the honest gentleman that is travelling 
 to the north, and may be a kindly Scot for what we know ?" 
 
 "Ay— going home with a load of English money," said Jenkin. 
 
308 THE FOBTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " But be he who he will, they may rob the whole world an they list, 
 for I am robbed and mined." 
 
 Richie filled up his friend's cup to the brim, and insisted that he 
 should drink what he called " clean caup out." " This love," he said, 
 " is but a bairnly matter for a brisk young fellow like yourself, Master 
 Jenkin. And if ye must needs have a whimsy, though I think it would 
 be safer to venture on a staid womanly body, why, here be as bonny 
 lasses in London as this Peg-a- Ramsay. Ye need not sigh sae deeply, 
 for it is very true — there is as good fish in the sea as ever came out of 
 it. Now wherefore should you, who are as brisk and trig a young fel- 
 low of your inches as the sun needs to shine on — wherefore need you sit 
 moping this way, and not try some bold way to better your fortune ?" 
 
 " I tell you, Master Moniplies," said Jenkin, " I am as poor as any 
 Scot among you — I have broke my indenture, and I think of running 
 my country." 
 
 " A-well-a-day !" said Richie ; " but that maunna be, man — I ken 
 weel, by sad experience, that poortith takes away pith, and the man 
 sits full still that has a rent in his- breeks.^ But courage, man ; you 
 have served me heretofore, and I will serve you now. If you will but 
 bring me to speech of this same Captahi, it shall be the best day's work 
 you ever did." 
 
 "I guess where you are, Master Richard — you would save your 
 countryman's long purse," said Jenkin. " I cannot see how that should 
 advantage me, but I reck not if I should bear a hand ; I hate that brag- 
 
 firt, that bloody-minded, cowardly bully. If you can get me mounte* 
 care not if I snow you where the dame told me I should meet him— 
 but you must stand to the risk, for though he is a coward himself, I 
 know he will have more than one stout fellow with him." 
 
 " We'U have a warrant, man," said Richie, " and the hue and cry 
 to boot." 
 
 " We will have no such thing," said Jenkin, " if I am to go with 
 you. I am not the lad to betray any one to the harmanbeck. You 
 must do it by manhood if I am to go with you. I am sworn to cutter's 
 law. and will sell no man's blood." 
 
 " Aweel," said Richie, "a wilful man must have his way ; ye must- 
 think that I was born and bred where cracked crowns were plentier 
 than whole ones. Besides, I have two noble friends here. Master 
 Lowestoffe of the Temple, and his cousin Master Ringwood, that will 
 blithely be of so gallant a party." 
 
 " Lowestoflfe and Ringwood !" said Jenkin ; " they are both brave 
 gallants — they will be sure company. Know ye where they are to be 
 found ?" 
 
 " Ay, marry do I," replied Richie. " They are fast at the cards and 
 dice, till the sma' hours, I warrant them." 
 
 " They are gentlemen of trust and honour," said Jenkin ; " and if 
 they advise it, I will try the adventure. Go, tiy if you can bring them 
 hither, since you have so much to say with them. We must not be 
 
 » This elegant speech was made hy the Earl of Douglas, called Tlneman, after being 
 wounded and made prisoner at the battle of Shrewsbury, where 
 
 " His wcU-litboiirlng girnd 
 H«d thr«e times slain the semblance of the Kinf." 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. "309 
 
 seen abroad together. — I know not how it is, Master Moniplies," con- 
 tinued he, as his countenance brightened up, and while, in his turn, he 
 filled the cups, " but I feel my heart something lighter since I have 
 thought of tliis matter." 
 
 " Thus it is to have counsellors. Master Jenkin," said Richie, " and 
 tiTdy I hope to hear you say that your heart is as light as a lavrock's, 
 and that before you are many days aulder. Never smile and shake 
 your head, but mmd what I tell you — and bide here in the meanwhile, 
 till I go to seek these gallants. I warrant you, cai-t-ropes would not 
 hold them back from such a ploy as I shall propose to them." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 The thieves have bound the true men— Now, could thou and I rob the thieves, and 
 go merrily to London. 
 
 Hmry IV. Part I. 
 
 The sun was high upon the glades of Enfield _ Chase, and the deer, 
 with which it then aboimded, were seen sporting in picturesque groups 
 among the ancient oaks of the forest, when a cavalier and a lady on 
 foot, although in riding apparel, sauntered slowly up one of the long 
 alleys which were cut through the park for the convenience of the 
 hunters. Their only attendant was a page, who, riding a Spanish 
 jennet, which seemed to bear a heavy cloak-bag, followed them at a 
 respectful distance. The female, attu-ed in all the fantastic finery of 
 the period, with more than the usual quantity of bugles, flounces, and 
 trimmings, and holding her fan of ostrich feathers in one hand, and her 
 riding-mask of black velvet in the other, seemed anxious, by all the 
 little coquetry practised on such occasions, to secure the notice of her 
 companion, who sometimes heard her prattle without seeming to attend 
 to it, and at other times inteiTupted his train of graver reflections to 
 reply to her. 
 
 " Nay, but, my lord — my lord, you walk so fast, you will leave me 
 behind you. — Nay, I will have hold of yoiu: arm, but how to manage 
 with my mask and my fan ? Why would you not let me bring my 
 waiting-gentlewoman to follow us, and hold my things ? But see, I 
 will put my fan in my girdle, soli ! — and now that I have a hand to 
 hold you with, you shaU not run away from me." 
 
 " Come on, then," answered the gallant, " and let us walk apace, 
 since you would not be persuaded to stay with your gentlewoman, as 
 you call her, and with the rest of the baggage. — You may perhaps see 
 that., though, you will not like to see." 
 
 She took hold of his arm accordingly ; but as he continued to walk 
 at the same pace, she shortly let go her hold, exclaiming that he had 
 hvjt her hand. The cavalier stopped, and looked at the pretty hand 
 and arm which she showed him, with exclamations against his cruelty. 
 " I dare say," she said, barmg her wi'ist and a part of her arm, " it is 
 ail black and blue to the very elbow." 
 
 " I dare say you are a silly little fool," said the cavalier carelessly 
 
310 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 kissing the aggrieved arm ; " it is only a pretty incarnate wliich sets 
 off the blue veins." 
 
 " Nay, my lord, now it is you are silly," answered the dame ; "but 
 I am glad I can make you speak and laugh on any terms this morning. 
 I am sure, if I did insist on following you into the forest, it was aU for 
 the sake of diverting you. I am better company than your page, I trow. 
 — And now, tell me, these pretty things with horns, be they not deer?" 
 
 " Even such they be, Nelly," answered her neglectful attendant. 
 
 " And Avhat can the gTeat folks do with so many of them, forsooth ?" 
 
 " They send them to the city, Nell, where wise men make venison 
 
 Sisties of their flesh, and wear their horns for trophies," answered Lord 
 algarno, whom our reader has already recognised. 
 
 " Nay, now you laugh at me, my lord," answered his companion ; 
 ^' but I know all about venison, whatsoever you may think. 1 always 
 tasted it once a-year when we dined with Mr Deputy," she continued, 
 sadly, as a sense of her degradation stole across a mind bewildered with 
 mnity and folly, " though he would not speak to me now, if we met 
 in the narrowest lane in the Ward !" 
 
 " I warrant he would not^" said Lord Dalgarno, " because thou, Nell, 
 ■wouldst dash him with a smgie look ; for I trust thou hast more spirit 
 than to throw away words on such a fellow as he ?" 
 
 " Who, I !" said Dame Nelly. " Nay, I scorn the proud princox too 
 much for that. Do you know, he made all the folks in the Ward stand 
 cap in hand to hun, my poor old John Christie and all?" Here her 
 recollection began to overflow at her eyes. 
 
 " A plague on your whimpering," said Dalgarno, somewhat harshly. 
 — " Nay never look pale for the matter, Nell. I am not angry witli 
 you, you simple fool. But what would you have me think, when 3^ou 
 ?ire eternally looking back upon your dungeon VDnder by the river, which 
 janelt of pitch and old cheese worse than a Welshman does of onions, 
 and all this when I am taking you down to a castle as fine as in Fairy 
 Land !" 
 
 " Shall we be there to-night, my lord ?" said Nellv, drying her tears. 
 
 " To-night, Nelly 1 — no, nor this night fortnight. 
 
 " Now the Lord be Avith us, and keep us ! — But shall we not go by 
 sea, my lord? — I thought everybody came from Scotland by sea. I 
 am sure Lord Glenvarloch and Richie Moniplies came up by sea." 
 
 "There is a Avide difterence between coming up and going domi, 
 Nelly," answered Lord Dalgarno. 
 
 " And so there is, for certain," said his simple companion. " But 
 yet I think I heard people speaking of going down to Scotland by sea, 
 as well as coming up. Are you vv^ell avised of the way ? — Do you think 
 it possible we can go by land, my sweet lord ?" 
 
 " It is but trying, my sweet lady," said Lord Dalgarno. " Men say 
 England and Scotland are in the same island, so one would hope there 
 may be some road betwixt them by land." 
 
 " I shall never be able to ride so far," said the lady. 
 
 " We will have your saddle stufi"ed softer," said the lord. " I tell 
 you that you shall mew your city slough, and change from the cater- 
 pillar of a paltry lane into the butterfly of a prince's garden. You 
 shall have as many tires as there are hours in the day — as many hand- 
 
THE FORTU:!(ES OF NIGEL. 311 
 
 maidens as there are days in the week- -as many menials as there are 
 ^veeks in the year — and you shall ride a-hunting and hawking with a 
 lord, instead of waitmg upon an old shiiD-chandler, who could do nothing 
 but hawk and spit." 
 
 " Ay, but will you make me your lady ?" said Dame Nelly. 
 
 " Ay, surehr — what else ?" replied the lord — " My lady-love." 
 
 " Ay, but I mean your lady- wife," said Nelly. 
 
 " Truly, Nell, in that I cannot promise to oblige you. A lady-wife," 
 continued Dalgarno, " is a very different thing from a lady-love." 
 
 " I heaard from Mrs Suddlechop, whom you lodged me with since 1 
 left poor old John Christie, that Lord Glenvarloch is to marry David 
 Ramsay the clockmaker's daughter." 
 
 " There is much betwixt the cup and the lip, Nelly. I wear some- 
 thing about me may break the bans of that hopeful alliance, before the 
 day is much older, answered Lord Dalgarno. 
 
 " Well, but my father was as good a man as old Davy Ramsay, and 
 as well to pass in the world, my lord ; and, therefore, why should you 
 not marry me ? You have done me harm enough, I trow — wherefore 
 should you not do me this justice ?" 
 
 " For two good reasons, Nelly. Fate put a husband on you, and the 
 King passed a wife upon me," answered Lord Dalgarno. 
 
 " Ay, my lord," said Nelly, " but they remain in England, and we 
 go to Scotland." 
 
 " Thy argument is better than thou art aware of," said Lord Dal- 
 garno. " I have heard Scottish lawyers say the matrimonial tie may 
 be unclasped in our happy country by the gentle hand of the ordinary 
 course of law, whereas in England it can only be bm'st by an act of 
 Parliament. Well, Nelly, we will look into that matter ; and whether 
 we get married again or no, we will at least do our best to get unmarried," 
 
 " Shall we indeed, my honey-sweet lord '/ and then I will think less 
 about John Christie, for he will marry again, I warrant you, for he is 
 well to pass ; and I would be glad to think he had somebody to take 
 care of him, as I used to do, poor loving old man ! He was a Kind man, 
 though he was a score of years older than I ; and I hope and pray he 
 will never let a young lord cross his honest threshold again !" 
 
 Here the dame was once more much inclmed to give way to a passion 
 of tears ; but Lord Dalgarno conjured doTVTi the emotion, by saying, 
 with some asperity — " I am weary of these April passions, my pretty 
 mistress, and I think you will do well to preserve yoiu: tears for some 
 more pressing occasion. Who knows what turn of fortune may in a few 
 minutes call for more of them than you can render V 
 
 " Goodness, my lord ! what mean you by such expressions ? John 
 Christie (the kind, heart !) used to keep no secrets from me, and I hope 
 your lordship will not hide your coimsel from me V 
 
 " Sit down beside me on this bank," said the nobleman ; "I am 
 bound to remain here for a short space, and if you can be but silent, 
 I should like to spend a part of it in considering how far I can, on the 
 present occasion, follow the respectable example which you recom- 
 mend to me." 
 
 The place at which he stopped was at that time little more than a 
 mound, partly siuTomided by a ditch, from w^hich it derived the name 
 
312 THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 of Camlet Moat. A few hewn stones there were, which had escaped 
 the fate of many others that had been used in building different loctges 
 in the forest for the royal keepers. These vestiges, just sufficient to 
 show that " here in former times the hand of man had been," marked 
 the ruins of the abode of a once illustrious but long-forgotten family, 
 the Mandevilles, Earls of Essex, to whom Enfield Chase and the ex- 
 tensive domains adjacent had belonged in elder days. A wild wood- 
 land prospect led the eye at various points through broad and seem- 
 ingly interminable alleys, which, meeting at this point as at a common 
 centre, diverged from each other as they receded, and had, therefore, 
 been selected by Lord Dalgamo as the rendezvous for the combat, 
 which, through the medium of Richie Moniplies, he had offered to his 
 injured friend Lord Glenvarloch. 
 
 " He will surely come ?" he said to himself ; " cowardice was not 
 wont to be his fault— at least he was bold enough in the Park. — Per- 
 haps yonder churl may not have carried my message ? But no — he is 
 a sturdy knave — one of those would prize their master's honour above 
 their life. — Look to the palfrey, Lutin, and see thou let him not loose, 
 and cast thy falcon glance down every avenue to mark if any one comes. 
 — Buckingham has undergone my challenge^ but the proud minion 
 pleads the King's paltry commands for refusmg to answer me. If I 
 can baffle this Glenvarloch, or slay him — if I can spoil him of his 
 honour or his life, I shall go down to Scotland with credit sufficient to 
 gild over past mischances. I know my dear countrymen — they never 
 quarrel with any one who brings them home either gold or martial 
 glory, much more if he has both gold and lam-els." 
 
 As he thus reflected, and called to mind the disgrace which he had 
 suffered, as well as the causes he imagined for hating Lord Glenvarloch, 
 his countenance altered under the influence of his contending emotions, 
 to the terror of Nelly, who, sitting unnoticed at his feet, and looking 
 anxiously in his face, beheld the cheek kindle, the mouth become com- 
 pressed, the eye dilated, and the whole countenance express the des- 
 perate and deadly resolution of one who awaits an instant and decisive 
 encounter with a mortal enemy. The loneliness of the place, the 
 scenery so different from that to which alone she had been accustomed, 
 the dark and sombre air which crept so suddenly over the countenance 
 of her seducer, his command imposing silence upon her, and the appa- 
 rent strangeness of his conduct in idling away so much time without 
 any obvious cause, when a jom-ney of such length lay before them, 
 brought strange thoughts into her Aveak brain. She had read of women, 
 seduced from their matrimonial duties by sorcerers allied to the hellish 
 powers, nay, by the Father of Evil himself, who, after conveying his 
 victim into some desert remote from human kind, exchanged the pleas-* 
 ing shape in which he gained her affections, for all his natiural horrors. 
 She chased this wild idea away as it crowded itself upon her weak and 
 bewildered imagination ; yet she might have lived to see it realized 
 allegorically, if not literally, but for the accident which presently 
 followed. 
 
 The page, whose eyes were remarkably acute, at length called out to 
 his master, pointing with his finger at the same time down one of the 
 alleys, that horsemen were advancing in that direction. Lord Dal- 
 
THE FOKTU^'ES OF NIGEL. 313 
 
 earno started up, and, shading his eyes with his hand, gazed eagerly 
 down the alley ; when, at the same instant, he received a shot, which, 
 grazing his hand, passed right through his brain, and laid him a lifeless 
 corpse at the feet, or rather across the lap, of the unfortunate victim 
 of his profligacy. The countenance, whose varied expression she had 
 been Avatching for the last five minutes, was convulsed for an instant, 
 and then stiffened into rigidity for ever. Tlu'ee ruffians mslied from the 
 brake from which the shot had been fired, ere the smoke was dispersed. 
 <Jiie, with many imprecations, seized on the page ; another on the 
 female, upon whose cries he strove by the most violent threats to im- 
 
 Eose silence ; while the third began to undo the bm-den from the page's 
 orse. But an instant rescue prevented their availing themselves of 
 the advantage they had obtained. 
 
 It may easily be supposed that Richie Moniplies, having secured the 
 assistance of the two Templars, ready enough to join in anytliing which 
 promised a fray, with Jin V in to act as their guide, had set ofi", gallantly 
 momited and well armed, under the belief that they would reach Cam- 
 let Moat before the robbers, and apprehend them in the act. They 
 had not calculated that, according to the custom of robbers in other 
 comitries, but contrary to that of the English highwaymen of those days, 
 they meant to ensure robbery by previous murder. An accident also 
 happened to delay them a little while on the road. In riding tkrough 
 one of the glades of the forest, they found a man dismounted and sitting 
 under a tree, groaning with such bitterness of spirit, tliat Lowestoff'e 
 could not forbear asking if he was hurt. In answer, he said he was an 
 unhappy man in pursuit of his wife, who had been carried ofi" by a 
 villain : and as he raised his countenance, the eyes of Richie, to his great 
 astonishment, encountered the visage of John Christie. 
 
 " For the Almighty's sake, help me. Master Moniplies !" he said ; 
 " I have learned my wife is but a short mile before, with that black 
 villain Lord Dalgarno." 
 
 " Have liim forward by all means," said Lowestoff'e ; " a second 
 Orpheus seeking his Eurydice ! — Have him forward— we will save Lord 
 Balgarno's purse, and ease him of his mistress — Have hun with us, were 
 it but for the variety of the adventure. I owe his lordship a grudge for 
 rooking me. We have ten mmutes good." 
 
 But it is dangerous to calculate closely in matters of life and death. 
 In all probability the minute or two which was lost in mounting John 
 Christie behind one of their party, might have saved Lord Dalgarno 
 from his fate. Thus his criminal amour became the indirect cause o* 
 his losing his life ; and thus " om' pleasant vices are made the whips 
 to scourge us." 
 
 The riders arrived on the field at full gallop the moment after the 
 shot was fired ; and Richie, who had his own reasons for attaching 
 himself to Colepepper, who was bustling to untie the portmanteau from 
 tlie page's saddle, pushed against him with such violence as to overthrow 
 him, his own horse at the same time stumbling and dismounting his 
 rider, who was none of the first equestrians. The undaunted Richie 
 immediately arose, however, and grappled with the ruffian with sucli 
 good-will, that, though a strong fellow, and though a coward now ren- 
 dered desperate, Moniplies got him unaer, wrenched a long knife from 
 
314 THE FORTUNES OP KIQEL. 
 
 his hand, dealt him a desperate stab with his own weapon, and leaped 
 on his feet ; and, as the wounded man struggled to follow his example, 
 he struck him upon the head with the butt-end of a musketoon, which 
 last blow proved fatal. 
 
 " Bravo, Richie !" cried Lowestoffe, who had himself engaged at 
 sword-point with one of the ruffians, and soon put him to flight,— 
 " Bravo ! why, man, there lies Sin, struck down like an ox, and Ini- 
 quity's throat cut like a calf." 
 
 " I know not why you should upbraid me with my up-bringing. 
 Master Lowestoffe," answered Richie, with great composure ; " but I 
 can tell you, the shambles is not a bad place for training one to this 
 work." 
 
 The other Templar now shouted loudly to them, — " If ye be men, 
 come hither — here lies Lord Dalgarno, murdered !" 
 
 Lowestoffe and Richie ran to the spot, and the page took the oppor- 
 tunity, finding himself now neglected on all hands, to ride ofl" in a differ- 
 ent direction ; and neither he, nor the considerable sum with which 
 his horse was burdened, was ever heard of from that moment. 
 
 The third ruffian had not waited the attack of the Templar and Jin 
 Vin, the latter of whom had put down old Christie from behind him 
 that he might ride the lighter ; and the whole five now stood gazing 
 with horror on the bloody corpse of the young nobleman, and the wild 
 sorrow of the female, who tore her hair and shrieked in the most dis- 
 consolate manner, until her agony was at once checked, or rather 
 received a new direction, by the sudden and unexpected appearance of 
 her husband, who, fixing on her a cold and severe look, said, in a tone 
 suited to his manner — " Ay, woman ! thou takest on sadly for the loss 
 of thy paramour." — Then, looking on the bloody corpse of him from 
 whom he had received so deep an mjury, he repeated the solemn words 
 of Scripture,—" ' Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, and I will repay 
 it.' — I, whom thou hast injured, will be first to render thee the decent 
 offices due to the dead." 
 
 So saying, he covered the dead body with his cloak, and then looking 
 on it for a moment, seemed to reflect on what he had next to perform. 
 As the eye of the injured man slowly passed from the body of the seducer 
 to the partner and victim of his crime, who had sunk down to his feet, 
 which she clasped without venturing to look up, his features, naturally 
 coarse and saturnine, assumed a dignity of expression which overawed 
 t^he young Templars, and repulsed the officious forwardness of Richie 
 Moniplies, who was at first eager to have thrust in his advice and opin- 
 ion. " Kneel not to me, woman," he said," but kneel to the God thou 
 hast offended, more than thou couldst offend such another worm as thy- 
 self. How often have I told thee, when thou wert at the gayest and 
 the lightest, that pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit 
 before a fall 1 Vanity brought folly, and folly brought sin, and sin 
 hath brought death, his original companion. Thou must needs leave 
 duty, and decency, and domestic love^ to revel it gaily with the wild 
 and with the wicked ; and there thou best, like a crushed worm, writh- 
 ing beside the lifeless body of thy paramom-. Thou hast done me 
 much wrong — dishonoured me among friends— driven credit from my 
 house, and peace from my fireside — But thou wert my first and only 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 315 
 
 love, and I will not see thee an utter castaway, if it lies with me to pre- 
 vent it. — Gentlemen, I render ye such thanks as a broken»'hearted man 
 can give. — Richard, commend me to your honourable master. — I added 
 gall to the bitterness of his affliction, but I was deluded. — Rise up, 
 woman, and follow me." 
 
 He raised her up by the arm, while, with streaming eyes, and bitter 
 sobs, she endeavoured to express her penitence. She kept her hands 
 spread over her face, yet suffered him to lead her away ; and it was 
 only as they turned round a brake which concealed the scene they had 
 left, that she turned back, and casting one wild and hurried glance 
 towards the corpse of Dalgarno, uttered a shriek, and clinging to her 
 husband's arm, exclaimed wildly, — " Save me — save me ! They have 
 murdered him !" 
 
 Lowestoffe was much moved by what he had witnessed ; but he was 
 ashamed, as a town gallant, of his own unfashionable emotion, and did 
 a force to his feelings when he exclaimed, — "Ay, let them go — the 
 kind-hearted, believing, forgiving husband — the liberal, accommodating 
 spouse. Oh, what a generous creature is your true London husband ! 
 — Horns hath he, but, tame as a fatted ox, he goreth not. I should 
 jfike to see her when she has exchanged her mask and riding-beaver for 
 her peaked hat and muffler. We will visit them at Paul's Wharf, coz 
 —it will be a convenient acquaintance." 
 
 " You had better think of catching the gipsy thief, Lutin," said 
 Richie Moniplies ; " for, by my faith, he is off" with his master's 
 baggage and the siller." 
 
 A keeper, with his assistants, and several other persons, had now 
 come to the spot, and made hue and ciy after Lutin, but in vain. To 
 their custody the Templars surrendered the dead bodies, and after 
 going through some formal investigation, they returned with Richard 
 and Vincent to London, where they received great applause for their 
 gallantry. — Vincent's errors were easily expiated, in consideration of 
 his having been the means of breaking up this band of villains ; and 
 there is some reason to think, that what would have diminished the 
 credit of the action in other instances, rather added to it in the actual 
 circumstances, namely, that they came too late to save Lord Dalgarno. 
 
 George Heriot, who suspected how matters stood with Vincent, re- 
 quested and obtained permission from his master to send the poor young 
 fellow on an important piece of business to Paris. We are unable to 
 trace his fate farther, but believe it was prosperous, and that he entered 
 into an advantageous partnership with his fellow-apprentice, upon old 
 Davy Ramsay retiring from business, in consequence of his daughter's 
 marriage. That eminent antiquary, Dr Dryasdust, is possessed of an 
 antique watch, with a silver dial-plate, the mainspring being a piece of 
 catgut instead of a chain, which bears the names of Vincent and Tun- 
 stall, Memory-Monitors. 
 
 Master Lowestoffe failed not to vindicate his character as a man of 
 gaiety, by inquiring after John Christie and Dame Nelly ; but greatly 
 to his surprise (indeed to his loss, for he had wagered ten pieces that 
 he would domesticate himself in the family), he found the good- will, as 
 it was called, of the shop, was sold, the stock auctioned, and the late 
 proprietor and his wife gone, no one knew whither. The prevailing 
 
316 THE FOKTUNES OF NIGBL. 
 
 belief was, that they had emigrated to one of the new settlements in 
 America. 
 
 Lady Dalgarno received the news of her unworthy husband's death 
 with a variety of emotions, among which, horror that he should have 
 been cut off in the middle career of his profligacy was the most pro- 
 minent. The incident greatly deepened her melancholy, and injured 
 her health, already shaken by previous circumstances. Repossessed of 
 her owa fortune by her husband's death, she was anxious to do justice 
 to Lord Glenvarloch, by treating for the recovery of the mortgage. 
 But the scrivener, having taken Iright at the late events, had left the 
 city and absconded, so that it was impossible to discover into whose 
 hands the papers had now passed. Richard Moniplies was silent, for 
 his own reasons ; the Templars, who had witnessed the transaction, 
 kept the secret at his request, and it was universally believed that the 
 scrivener had carried off the writings along with him. We may here 
 observe, tliat fears similar to those of the scrivener freed London for 
 ever from the presence of Dame Suddlechop, who ended her career in 
 the Rasp-haus (viz. Bridewell), of Amsterdam. 
 
 The stout old Lord Himtinglen, with a haughty carriage and un- 
 moisbenod eye, accompanied the funeral procession of his only son to 
 its last abode ; and perhaps the single tear which fell at length upon 
 the coffin, was given less to the fate of the individual, than to the ex- 
 tinction of the last male of his ancient race. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIL 
 
 Jacques. There is, sure, another flood toward, and these couples are coming to the 
 ark I — Here comes a pair of very strange beasts. 
 
 As Tou Like It. 
 
 The fashion of such narratives as the present changes like other 
 earthly things. Time was that the tale-teller was obliged to wind up 
 his story by a circumstantial description of the wedding, bedding, and 
 throwing the stocking, as the grand catastrophe to which, through so 
 many cncumstances of doubt and difficulty, he had at length happily 
 conducted his hero and heroine. Not a cncumstance was then omitted, 
 from the manly ardour of the bridegroom, and the modest blushes of 
 the bride, to the parson s new surplice, and the silk tabinet mantua of 
 the bridesmaid. JBut such descriptions are now discarded, for the same 
 reason, I suppose, that public marriages are no longer fashionable, and 
 that, instead of calling together their friends to a feast and a dance, 
 the happy couple elope in a solitary post-chaise, as secretly as if they 
 meant to go to Gretna- Green, or to do worse. I am not ungrateful for 
 a change which saves an author the trouble of attempting in vain to 
 give a new colour to the commonplace description of such matters ; 
 but, notwithstanding, I find myself forced upon it in the present in- 
 stance, as circumstances sometimes compel a stranger to make use of 
 an old road which has been for some time shut up. The experienced 
 reader may have already remarked, that the last chapter was employed 
 
THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 317 
 
 in sweeping out of the way all the unnecessary and less-interesting 
 characters, that I might clear the floor for a blithe bridal. 
 
 In truth, it would be unpardonable to pass over slightly what 
 so deeply interested our prnicipal personage, King James. That 
 learned and good-humoured monarcli made no great figure in the 
 politics of Europe ; but then, to make amends, he was prodigiously 
 busy, when he could find a fair opportunity of intermeddling with the 
 private affairs of his loving subjects ; and the approaching marriage of 
 Lord Glenvarloch was matter of great interest to him. He had )3een 
 much struck (that is, for him, who was not very accessible to such 
 emotions) with the beauty and embarrassment of the pretty Peg-a- 
 Ramsay, as he called her, when he first saw her. and he glorified him- 
 self ^eatly on the acuteness which he had displayed in detecting her 
 disguise, and in carrying through the whole inquiry which took place 
 in consequence of it. 
 
 He labom'ed for several weeks, while the courtship was in progress, 
 with his own royal eyes, so as well-nigh to wear out, he declared, a pair 
 of her father's best barnacles, in searching tlurough old books and docu- 
 ments, for the purpose of establishing the bride's pretensions to a noble, 
 though remote descent, and thereby remove the only objection which 
 envy might conceive against the match. In his own opinion, at least, 
 he was eminently successful ; for, when Sir Mungo JMalagTowther one 
 day, in the presence-chamber, took upon him to grieve bitterly for the 
 bride's lack of pedigree, the monarch cut him short with, " Ye may 
 save your grief for your ain next occasions. Sir Mungo ; for, by our 
 royal saul, we will uphauld her father, Davy Ramsay, to be a gentle- 
 man of nine descents, whase great gude-sire came of the aidd martial 
 stock of the House of Dalwolsey, than whom better men never did, and 
 better never will, draw sword for King and country. Heard ye never 
 of Sir William Ramsay of Dalwolsey;, man, of whom John Fordoun 
 saith, — * He was bellicosissimus, nobilissimus V — His castle stands to 
 witness for itsell, not three miles from Dalkeith, man, and within a 
 mile of Baimockrigg. Davy Ramsay came of that auld and honoured 
 stock, and I trust he hath not derogated from his ancestors by his pre- 
 sent craft. They all wrought wi' steel, man ; only the auld knights 
 drilled holes wi' their swords in their enemies' corslets, and he saws 
 nicks in his brass wheels. And I hope it is as honourable to give eyes 
 to the blind as to slash them out of the head of those that see, and to 
 show us how to value our time as it passes, as to fling it away in drink- 
 ing, brawling, spear-splintering, and such-like unchristian doings. 
 And you maun understand, that Davy Ramsay is no mechanic, but 
 follows a liberal art^ which approacheth almost to the act of a creating^ 
 a living being, seemg it may be said of a watch, as Claudius saith of 
 the sphere of Archimedes, the Syracusan — 
 
 ' Inclusus variis famulatur spiritus astris, 
 Et vivum certis motibus urget opus.' " 
 
 "Your Majesty had best give auld Davy a coat-of-arms, as well as a 
 pedigree," said Sir Mungo. 
 
 "It's done, or ye bade. Sir Mungo," said the King ; "and I tmst 
 we who are the fountain of aU earthly honour, are free to spirt a few 
 
318 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 drops of it on one so near our person, without oflfence to the Knight of 
 Castle Girnigo. We have ahready spoken with the learned men of the 
 Herald's College, and we propose to grant him an augmented coat-of- 
 arms, being his paternal coat, charged with the crown-wheel of a watch 
 in chief, for a difference ; and we purpose to add Time and Eternity, 
 for supporters, as soon as the Garter King-at-Arms shall be able to 
 devise how Eternity is to be represented," 
 
 " I would make him twice as muckle as Time,"^ said Archie Arro- 
 strong, the Court fool, who chanced to be present when the King 
 stated this dilemma. 
 
 _" Peace, man— ye shall be whippet," said the King, in retm-n for 
 this hint; "and you, my liege subjects of England, may Aveel take a 
 hint from what we have said, and not be in such a hurry to laugh at 
 our Scottish pedigrees, though they be somewhat long derived, and 
 difficult to be deduced. Ye see that a man of right gentle blood may, 
 for a season, lay by his gentry, and yet ken whare to find it, when he 
 has occasion for it. It would be as unseemly for a packman, or pedlar, 
 as 3^e call a travelling-merchant, whilk is a trade to which our native 
 subjects of Scotland are specially addicted, to be blazing his genealo^ 
 in the faces of those to whom he sells a bawbee's worth of ribbon, as it 
 would be to him to have a beaver on his head, and a rapier by his side, 
 when the pack was on his shoulders. Na, na — he hin^s his sword on 
 the cleek, lays his beaver on the shelf, puts his pedigree into his pocket, 
 and gangs as doucely and cannily about his pealing craft as if his blood 
 was nae better than ditch-water ; but let our pedlar be transformed, as 
 I have kend it happen mair than ance, into a bein thriving merchant, 
 then ye shall have a transformation, my lords, 
 
 ' In nova ferfc animus mutatas dicere formas — — ' 
 
 Out he pulls his pedigi-ee, on he buckles his sword, gives his beaver a 
 brush, and cocks it in the face of all creation, we mention these 
 things at the mair length, because we would have you all to know, 
 that it is not without due consideration of the circumstances of all 
 parties, that we design, in a small and private way, to honour with oiu: 
 own royal presence the marriage of Lord Glenvarloch with Margaret 
 Ramsay, daughter and heiress of David Ramsay, our horologer, and a 
 cadet only thrice removed from the ancient house of Dalwolsey. We 
 are grieved we cannot have the presence of the noble Chief of that House 
 at the ceremony; but where there is honour to be won abroad, the 
 Lord Dalwolsey is seldom to be found at home. Sicfuit, est, et erit. — 
 Jingling Geordie, as ye stand to the cost of the marriage-feast, we look 
 for good cheer." 
 
 Heriot boAved, as in duty bound. Li fact, the King, who was a 
 gi'eat politician about trifles, had manoeu\Ted greatly on this occasion, 
 and had contrived to get the Prince and Buckingham despatched on 
 an expedition to Newmarket, in order that he might find an oppor- 
 tunity in their absence of indulging himself in his own gossipnig, 
 coshering habits, which were distasteful to Charles, whose temper 
 
 ^ Chaucer says, there is nothing new but what it has been old. The reader lias 
 here the original of an anecdote which has since been fathered on a Scottish chief of 
 our own time. 
 
THE FORTUNES Of NIQEL. 319 
 
 inclined to formality, and with which even the favourite, of late, had 
 not thought it worth while to seem to syinpathize. When the levee 
 was dismissed, Sir Mungo l\Ialagrowther seized upon the worthy citizen 
 in the court-yard of the Palace, and detained him, in spite of all his 
 efforts, for the purpose of subjecting him to the following scrutiny: — 
 
 "This is a sair job on you. Master George — the King must have 
 had little consideration — this will cost you a bonny penny, this wedding- 
 dinner ?" 
 
 "It will not break me, Sir Mungo," answered Heriot; "the King 
 hath a right to see the table which his bounty hath supplied for years 
 weU covered for a single day." 
 
 " Vera true, vera true — we'll have a' to pay, I doubt, less or mair — 
 a sort of pemiy-wedding it will prove, where all men contribute to the 
 young folk's maintenance, that they may not have just four bare legs 
 in a bed thegether. What do you purpose to give, Master George? — 
 ■vve begin with the city when money is in question." ^ 
 
 "Only a trifle. Sir JMungo — I gave my goddaughter the marriage- 
 ring ; it is a cmious jewel — I bought it m Italy ; it belonged to Cosmo 
 de Medici. The bride will not need my help — she has an estate which 
 belonged to her maternal grandfather," 
 
 "The auld soap-boiler," said Sk Mungo; "it will need some of his 
 suds to scour the blot out of the Glenvarloch shield — I have heard that 
 estate was no great things." 
 
 "It is as good as some posts at Coiu:t, Sir Mungo, whicTi are coveted 
 by persons of liigh quality," rephed George Heriot. 
 
 "Coiu-t favour, said ye? Com't favour, Master Heriot?" replied 
 Sir Mmigo, choosing then to use his malady of misapprehension ; 
 "Moonshuie in water, poor thing, if that is all she is to be tochered 
 with — I am truly solicitous about them." 
 
 "I will let you into a secret," said the citizen, "which will relieve 
 yom- tender anxiety. The dowager Lady Dalgahio gives a competent 
 fortune to the bride, and settles the rest of her estate upon her nephew 
 the bridegi'oom." 
 
 "Ay, say ye sae ?" said Sir Mungo, "just to show her regard to her 
 husband that is in the tomb — ^lucky that her nephew did not send him 
 I there ; it was a strange story that death of poor Lord Dalgarno — some 
 folk think the poor gentleman had much wrong. Little good comes of 
 marrying the daughter of the house you are at feud with ; indeed, it 
 was less poor Dalgarno's fault, than theu-s that forced the match on 
 him ; but I am glad the young folks are to have something to live on, 
 come how it like, whether by charity or inheritance. But if the Lady 
 Dalgarno were to sell aU she has, even to her very wylie-coat, she canna 
 gie them back the fair Castle of Glenvarloch— that is lost and gane — 
 lost and gane.' 
 
 " It is but too truCj" said George Heriot ; "we cannot discover what 
 has become of the villain Andrew Skurliewhitter, or what Lord Pal- 
 garno has done with the mortgage." 
 
 1 The penny-wedding of the Scots, now disused even among the lowest ranks, was a 
 pectdiar species of merry-making, at which, if the wedded pair were popular, the 
 guests who convened contributed considerable sums under pretence of paying for th© 
 bridal festivity but in reality to set the roamed folk afloat in the world. 
 
320 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 "Assigned it away to some one. that his wife might not get it after 
 he was gane ; it would have disturbed him in his grave, to think Glen- 
 varloch should get that land back again," said Sir Mungo; "depend 
 on it, he will have taen sure measures to keep that noble lordship out 
 of her grips or her nevo/s either." 
 
 "Indeed it is but too probable. Sir Mungo," said Master Heriot; 
 **but as I am obliged to go and look after many things in consequence 
 of this ceremony, I must leave you to comfort yoiurself with the re- 
 flection." 
 
 " The bride-day, you say, is to be on the thirtieth of the instant 
 month ?" said Sir Mungo, holloing after the citizen ; " I will be with 
 you in the hour of cause." 
 
 "The King invites the guests," said George Heriot, without turning 
 back. 
 
 "The base-born, ill-bred mechanic!" soliloquized Sir Mungo, "if it 
 were not the odd scoie of pounds he lent me last week, I would teach 
 him how to bear himself to a man of quality ! But 1 will be at the 
 bridal banquet in spite of him." 
 
 Sir Mungo contrived to get invited, or commanded, to attend on the 
 bridal accordingly, at which there were but few persons present ; for 
 James, on such occasions, preferred a snug privacy, which gave him 
 liberty to lay aside the encumbrance, as he felt it to be, of his regal 
 dignity. The company was very small^ and indeed there were at least 
 two persons 'absent whose presence might have been expected. The 
 first of these was the Lady Dalgarno, the state of whose health, as well 
 as the recent death of her husband, precluded her attendance on the 
 ceremony. The other absentee was Kichie Moniplies, whose conduct 
 for some time past had been extremely mysterious. Regulating his 
 attendance on Lord Glenvarloch entirely according to his own will and 
 pleasure, he had, ever since the rencounter in Enfield Chase, appeared 
 regularly at his bedside in the morning to assist him to dress, and at 
 his wardrobe in the evening. The rest of the day he disposed of at his 
 own pleasure, without control from his lord, who had now a complete 
 establishment of attendants. Yet he was somewhat curious to know 
 how the fellow disposed of so much of his time; but on this subject 
 Richie showed no desire to be communicative. 
 
 On the morning of the bridal-day, Richie was particularly attentive 
 in doing all a valet-de-chambre could, so as to set oflF to advantage the 
 veiy handsome figure of his master ; and when he had arranged his 
 dress with the utmost exactness, and put to his long curled locks what 
 he called " the finishing touch of the redding-kaim," he gravely kneeled 
 down, kissed his hand, and bade him farewell, saying that he humbly 
 craved leave to discharge himself of his lordship's service. 
 
 "Why, what humour is this ?" said Lord Glenvarloch ; "if you mean 
 to discharge yourself of my service, Richie, I suppose you intend to 
 enter my wife's ?" 
 
 " I wish her good ladyship that shall soon be, and your good lord- 
 ship, the blessings of as good a servant as myself, in Heaven's good 
 time," said Richie ; "but fate hath so ordained it, that I can henceforth 
 only be your sei-vant in the way of friendly com-tesy." 
 
 "Well, Richie," said the yomig lord, "if you are tired of service, we 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIOEL, 321 
 
 will seek some better provision for you ; but you will wait on me to the 
 church, and partake of the bridal dinner ?" 
 
 "Under favour, my lord," answered Richie, "I must remind you of 
 our covenant, having presently some pressing business of mine own, 
 whilk will detain me during the ceremony ; but I will not fail to prie 
 Master George's good cheer, in respect he has made very costly fare, 
 whilk it would be unthankful not to partake of." 
 
 " Do as you list," answered Lord Glenvarloch ; and having bestowed 
 a passing thought on the whimsical and pragmatical disposition of his 
 foDower, he dismissed the subject for others better suited to the day. 
 
 The reader must fancy the scattered flowers which strewed the path 
 of the happy couple to cniu-ch — the loud music which accompanied the 
 procession — the marriage service performed by a Bishop — the King, 
 who met them at Saint Paul's, giving away the bride, — to the great 
 relief of her father, who had thus time, during the ceremony, to cal- 
 culate the just quotient to be laid on the pinion of report in a time- 
 piece which he was then putting together. 
 
 When the ceremony was fimshecl, the company were transported in 
 the royal carriages to George Heriot's, where a splendid collation was 
 provided for the marriage-guests m the Foljambe apartments. The 
 King no sooner fomid himself in this snug retreat, than, casting from 
 him his sword and belt with such haste as if they burnt his fingers, 
 and flinging his plumed hat on the table, as who should say^ Lie there, 
 authority ! he swallowed a hearty cup of wine to the happmess of the 
 married couple, and began to amble about the room, mumping, laugh- 
 ing, and cracking jests, neither the wittiest nor the most delicate, but 
 accompanied and applauded by shouts of his o-wn mirth, in order to 
 encoiurage that of the company. Whilst his Majesty was in the midst 
 of tliis gay hiunour, and a call to the banquet was anxiously expected, 
 a servant whispered Master Heriot forth of the apartment. When he 
 re-entered, he walked up to the King, and, in his turn, whispered 
 something, at which James started. 
 
 "He is not wanting his siller?" said the King, shortly and sharply. 
 
 "By no means, my liegCj" answered Heriot. "It is a subject he 
 states liimself as quite indifferent about, so long at it can pleasure your 
 Majesty." 
 
 " Body of us, man !" said the King, " it is the speech of a true man 
 and a loving subject, and we will grace him accordmgly — what though 
 he be but a carle — a twopenny cat may look at a King. Swith. man 1 
 have him— pajidite fores. — Moniplies ? — They should have called the 
 chield Monypennies, though I sail warrant you English think we have 
 not such a name in Scotland." 
 
 " It is an ancient and honourable stock, the Monypennies," said Sir 
 Mungo Malagi-owther ; "the only loss is, there are sae few of the name." 
 
 " Tlie famUy seems to increase among your countrymen. Sir Mungo," 
 said Master Lowestoffe, whom Lord Glenvarloch had invited to be pre- 
 sent, "since his Majesty's happy accession brought so many of you 
 here." 
 
 " Right, sir— right," said Sir Mungo, nodding and looking at George 
 1 Heriot ; " there have some of ourselves been the better of that great 
 I blessing to the English nation." 
 
322 THE FORTUJS^ES OF NIGEL. 
 
 As he spoke, the door flew open, and in entered, to the astonishment 
 of Lord Glenvarloch, his late serving-man, Richie Moniphes, now 
 sumptuously, nay, gorgeously, attired in a superb brocaded suit, and 
 leading in his hand the tall, thin, withered, somewhat distorted form 
 of Martha Trapbois, arrayed in a complete dress of black velvet, which 
 suited so strangely with the pallid and severe melancholy of her counte- 
 nance, that the King himself exclaimed, in some perturbation, " What 
 the deil has the fallow brought us here '^ Body of our regal selves ! it 
 is a corpse that has run off with the mort-cloth !" 
 
 "May I sifflicate your Majesty to be gracious unto her? said 
 Richie ; " being that she is, in respect of this morning's wark, my ain 
 wedded wife, Mrs Martha Moniplies by name." 
 
 " Saul of our body, man ! but she looks wondrous grim," answered 
 King James. "Art thou siu-e she has not been in her time maid of 
 honour to Queen Mary, our kinswoman, of red-hot memory ?" 
 
 " I am sure, an it like yom* Majesty, that she has brought me fifty 
 thousand pounds of good siller and better ; and that has enabled me to 
 pleasure your Majesty and other folk." 
 
 " Ye need have saidnaething about that, man," said the King ; "Ave 
 ken our obligations in that sma' matter, and we are glad this nidas 
 spouse of thine hath bestowed her treasure on ane wha kens to put it 
 to the profit of his King and comitry.— But how the deil did ye come 
 by her, man ?" 
 
 " In the auld Scottish fashion, my liege. She is the captive of my 
 bow and my spear," answered Moniplies. " There was a convention 
 that she shoidd wed me when I avenged her father's death — so I slew 
 and took possession." 
 
 " It is the daughter of old Trapbois, who has been missed so long," 
 said Lowestofie.— " Where the devil could you mew her up so closely, 
 friend Richie ?" 
 
 " Master Richard, if it be yoiu- will," answered Richie, " or Master 
 Richard Moniplies, if you like it better. For mewing of her up, I 
 found her a shelter, in all honom- and safety, under the roof of an 
 honest countryman of my own — and for secrecy, it was a point of pru- 
 dence, Avhen wantons like you were abroad. Master Lowestofie." 
 
 There was a laugh at Richie's magnanimous reply, on the part of 
 every one but his bride, who made to him a signal of impatience, and said, 
 with her usual brevity and sternness, — " Peace, peace. I pray you, 
 peace. Let us do that which we came for." So saying, she took out 
 a bundle of parchments, and delivering them to Lord Glenvarloch, she 
 said aloud, — " I take this royal presence, and all here, to witness, that 
 I restore the ransomed lordship of Glenvarloch to the right OAvner, as 
 free as ever it Avas held by any of his ancestors." 
 
 "I Avitnessed the redemption of the mortgage," said Lowestofi'e ; "but 
 I little dreamt by whom it had been redeemed." 
 
 " No need ye should," said Richie ; " there would have been small 
 wisdom in crying roast-meat." 
 
 " Peace," said his bride, " once more.— Tliis paper," she continued, 
 delivering another to Lord Glenvarloch, " is also your property — take 
 it, but spare me the question how it came into my custody." 
 
 The King had bustled forAvard beside Lord Glenvarloch, and fixing 
 
THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 323 
 
 an eager eye on the writing, exclaimed—" Body of ourselves, it is our 
 royal sign-manual for the money which was so long out of sight ! — How 
 came you by it, Mistress Bride T' 
 
 " It is a secret," said Martha dryly. 
 
 " A secret whicli my tongue shall never utter," said Richie, reso • 
 lutely, — " imless the King commands me on my allegiance." 
 
 " I do — I do command you," said James, trembling and stammering 
 with the impatient curiosity of a gossip ; while Sir Mmigo, with more 
 malicious anxiety to get at the bottom of the mystery, stooped his long 
 thin form forward like a bent fishing-rod, raised liis tliin grey locks from 
 liis ear, and cm-ved his hand behind it to collect every vibration of the 
 expected intelligence. Martha in the meantime fro^vned most omin- 
 ously on Ritchie, who went on undauntedly to inform the Kin^, "that 
 his deceased father-in-law, a good careful man in the main, had a touch 
 of worldly wisdom about him, that at times marred the uprightness of 
 his walk ; he liked to dabble among his neighbour's gear, and some of 
 it would at times stick to his fingers in the handling." 
 
 "For shame, man, for shame !" said Martha ; " since the infamy of 
 the deed must be told, be it at least briefly — Yes, my lord," she added, 
 addressing Glenvarloch, " the piece of gold was not the sole bait which 
 brought the miserable old man to yom' chamber that dreadful night — 
 his object, and he accomplished it, was to purloin this paper. The 
 wretched scrivener was with him that morning, and, I doulDt not, urged 
 the doting old man to this villamy, to ofi"er another bar to the ransom 
 of your estate. If there was a yet more powerful agent at the bottom 
 of the conspiracy, God forgive it to him at this moment, for he is now 
 where the crime must be answered !" 
 
 " Amen !" said Lord Glenvarloch, and it was echoed by all present. 
 
 " For my father," continued she, with her stern features twitched 
 by an involuntary and convulsive movement, " his guilt and folly cost 
 liim his life ; and my belief is constant, that the wretch, who counselled 
 him that morning to pmioin the paper, left open the window for the 
 entrance of the mmxlerers." 
 
 Everybody was silent for an instant ; the King was first to speak, 
 commanding search instantly to be made for the guilty scrivener. _ " /, 
 lictor,'^ he concluded, " colliga manus — caput ohnuhito — infelici sus- 
 pendite arboriP 
 
 Lowestoff"e answered with due respect, that the scrivener had ab- 
 sconded at the time of Lord Dalgarno's murder, and had not been heard 
 of since. 
 
 " Let him be sought for," said the King. " And now let us change 
 the discourse — these stories make one's very blood grew,^ and are alto- 
 gether unfit for bridal festi\ity. Hymen, Hymenee !" added he, 
 snapping his fingers, " Lord Glenvarloch, what say you to Mistress 
 Moniplies, this bonny bride, that has brought you back your father's 
 estate on your bridal day ?" 
 
 " Let Mm say nothing, my liege," said jMartha ; " that will best suit 
 his feelings and mine." 
 
 " There is redemption-money, at the least, to be repaid," said Lord 
 Glenvarloch ; " in that I cannot remain debtor." 
 
 » ThrilL or curdle. 
 
324 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 " We will speak of it hereafter." said Martha ; " my debtor you can- 
 not be." And she shut her moutn as if determined to say nothing more 
 on the subject. 
 
 Sir Mungo, however, resolved not to part with the topic, and avail- 
 ing himself of the freedom of the moment, said to Richie — " A queer 
 story that of your father-in-law, honest man ; methinks your bride 
 thanked you little for ripping it up." 
 
 " I make it a rule, Sir Mungo," replied Richie. " always to speak 
 any evil I know about my family myself, having observed, that if I do 
 not, it is sure to be told by ither folks." 
 
 " But, Richie," said Sir Mungo, " it seems to me that this bride of 
 yours is like to be master and mair in the conjugal state." 
 
 " If she abides by words, Sir Mimgo," answered Richie, " I thank 
 Heaven I can be as deaf as any one ; and if she comes to dunts, I have 
 twa hands to paik her with." 
 
 " Weel said, Richie, again," said the King ; " you have gotten it on 
 baith haffits, Sir Mungo. — Troth, Mistress Bride, for a fule, your gude- 
 man has a pretty turn of wit." 
 
 " There are tools, sire," replied she, " who have wit, and fools who 
 have courage — ay, and fools who have learning, and are gi'eat fools not- 
 withstanding.— I chose this man because he was my protector when I 
 was desolate, and neither for his wit nor his wisdom. He is truly hon- 
 est, and has a heart and hand that make amends for some folly. Since 
 I was condemned to seek a protector through the world, which is to me 
 a wilderness, I may thank God that I have come by no worse." 
 
 " And that is sae sensibly said," replied the King, " that by my saul, 
 I'll try whether I canna make him better. Kneel down, Richie — some- 
 body lend me a rapier — yours, Mr Langstaff (that's a brave name for 
 a lawyer) ; — ye need not flash it out that gate, Templar fashion, as if ye 
 were about to pink a bailiff !" 
 
 He took the drawn sword, and with averted eyes, for it was a sight 
 he loved not to look on, endeavoured to lay it on Richie's shoulder, but 
 nearly stuck it into his eye. Richie, starting back, attempted to rise, 
 but was held down by Lowestoffe, while Sir Mungo, guiding the royal 
 weapon, the honour-bestowing blow was given and received : Surge, 
 camiftx — Rise up, Sir Richard Moniplies, of Castle-Collop ! — And, my 
 lords and lieges, let us all to our dinner, for the cock-a-leekie is cooliiig." 
 
 JTfTD OF TUB 
 
 Library. 
 
 ^t CalifC'tii^*:, 
 
NOTES TO THE FOETMES OF NIGEL. 
 
 Note A, p. 9. Datid Rausat. 
 
 Da\id Ramsay, watchmaker and horologer to James I., was a real person, though 
 the author has taken the liberty of pressing him into tlie service of fiction. Although 
 his profession led him to cultivate the exact sciences, like many at this period he min- 
 gled then-, with pursuits which were mystical and fantastic. The truth was, that th6 
 boundaries between truth and falsehood in mathematics, astronomy, and similar pur- 
 suits, were not exactly known, and there existed a sort of terra incognita between them, 
 in which the wisest men bewildered themselves. David Ramsay risked his money on 
 the success of the vaticinations which his researches led him to form, since he sold 
 clocks and watches under condition, that their value should not become payable till 
 King James Avas crowned in the Pope's chair at Rome. Such wagers were common 
 in that day, as may be seen by looking at Jonson's Every Man out of his Humour. 
 
 David Ramsay was also an actor in another singular scene, in which the notorious 
 astrologer Lilly was a performer, and had no small expectation on the occasion, since he 
 hrought with him a half-quartern sack to put the treasure in. 
 
 "David Ramsay, his Majesty's clock-maker, had been informed that there was a 
 great quantity of treasure buried in the cloister of Westminster Abbey. He acquamts 
 Dean Withnam there-svith, who was also then Bishop of Lincoln. The Dean gave him 
 liberty to search after it, with this proviso, that if any was discovered, his church 
 should have a share of it. Davy Ramsay tinds out one John Scott, who pretended the 
 use of the Mosaical rods, to assist him herein.^ I M^as desired to join with him, unto 
 which I consented. One winter's night, Davy Ramsay, with several gentlemen, myself, 
 and Scott, entered the cloisters. We played the hazel rods round about the cloistera. 
 Upon the west end of the cloisters the rods turned one over another, an argument that 
 the treasure was there. The labourers digged at least six feet deep, and then we met 
 with a coflSn ; but which, in regard it was not heavy, M^e did not open, which we after- 
 wards much repented. 
 
 " From the cloisters we went into the abbey church, where, upon a sudden (there 
 being no wind when we began), so fierce and so high, so blustering and loud a wind 
 did rise, that we verily believed the west end of the church would have fallen upon us. 
 Our rods would not move at all; the caudles and torches, also, but one, were extinguished, 
 or burned very dimly. John Scott, my partner, was amazed, looked pale, knew not 
 what to think or do, until I gave directions and command to dismiss the demons; 
 ■which, when done, all was quiet again, and each man retuiiied unto his lodging late, 
 about twelve o'clock at night. I could never since be induced to join with any such 
 like actions. 
 
 " The true miscarriage of the business was by reason of so many people being present 
 at the operation; for there was about thirty, some laughing, others deriding us; so 
 that, if we had not dismissed the demons, I believe most part of the abbey church 
 would have been bloNvn down. Secrecy and intelligent operators, with a strong con- 
 fidence and knowledge of what they are doing, are best for the work. "—Lilly's Life 
 and Times, p. 46. 
 
 David Ramsay had a son called WilUam Ramsay, who appears to have possessed all 
 his father's credulity. He became an astrologer, and in 1G51-2 published "Fox Stel- 
 larum, an Introduction to the Judgment of Eclipses and the Annual Revolutions of 
 the World," The edition of 1652 is inscribed to his father. It would appear, as indeed 
 it might be argued from his mode of disposing of his goods, that the old horologer had 
 omitted to make hay while the sun shone ; for his son, in his dedication, has this excep- 
 tion to the paternal virtues : " It's true your carelessness in laying up while the sun 
 
 1 The same now called, I believe, the Divining Rod, and applied to the discgvery of water not obvioat to the ey«. 
 
326 NOTES TO THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 shone for the tempests of a stormy day, hath given occasion to some Inferior-spirited 
 people not to vahxe you according to what you are hy nature and in yourself, for such 
 look not to a man longer than he is in prosperity, esteeming none but for their wealth, 
 not wisdom, power, nor virtue." From these expressions it is to be apprehended, that 
 while old David Ramsay, a follower of the Stewarts, sunk under the Parliament go- 
 vernment, his son, William, had advanced from being a dupe to astrology to the dig- 
 nity of being himself a cheat. 
 
 Note B, p. 18. Geoege Heeiot. 
 
 This excellent person was but little known by his actions when alive, but we may 
 well use, in this particular, the striking phrase of Scripture, " that being dead he yet 
 speaketh." We have already mentioned, in the Introduction, the splendid charity of 
 which he was the founder ; the few notices of his personal history are slight and meagre. 
 
 George Heriot Avas born at Trabroun, in the parish of Gladsmuir ; he was the eldest 
 son of a goldsmith in Edinburgh, descended from a family of some consequence in 
 East Lothian. His father enjoyed the confidence of his fellow-citizens, and was their 
 representative in Parliament. He was, besides, one of the deputies sent by the inhabi- 
 tants of the city to pi'opitiate the King, when he had left Edinburgh abruptly, after 
 the riot of 17th December, 1596. 
 
 George Heriot, the son, pursued his father's occupation of a goldsmith, then pecu- 
 liarly lucrative, and much connected with that of a money-broker. He enjoyed the 
 favour and protection of James, and of his consort, Anne of Denmark. He married, 
 for his first wife, a maiden of his own rank, named Christian Marjoribanks, daughter 
 of a respectable burgess. This was in 1586. He was afterwards named jeweller to 
 tlie Queen, whose account to him for a space often yeai's amounted to nearly L.40,009. 
 George Heriot, having lost his wife, connected himself vnth the distinguished house 
 of Roseberry, by marrying a daughter of James Primrose, Clerk to the Privy Council. 
 Of this lady he was deprived by her dying in chDd-birth in 1612, before attaining her 
 twenty-first year. After a life spent in honourable and successful industry, George 
 Heriot died in London, to which city he had followed his royal master, on the 12th 
 February 1624, at the age of sixty-one years. His picture (copied by Scougal from a 
 lost original), in which he is represented in the prime of life, is thus described: "His 
 fair hair, which overshades the tlioughtful brow and calm calculating eye, with the 
 cast of humour on the lower part of the countenance, are all indicative of the genuine 
 Scottish character, and well distinguish a person fitted to move steadily and wisely 
 tlirough the world, with a strength of resolution to ensure success, and a disposition to 
 enjoy it." — Historical and Descriptive Account of HerioVs Hospital, with a Memoir oftlit 
 Founder, by Messrs James and John Johnstone. Edinburgh, 1827. 
 
 I may add, as everything concerning George Heriot is interesting, that his second 
 wife, Alison Primrose, was interred in Saint Gregory's Church, from the register of 
 which parish the Rev. Mr Barham, Rector, has, in the kindest manner, sent me the 
 following extract :—" Mrs Alison, the wife of Mr George Heriot, gentleman, 20th 
 April 1612." Saint Gregory's, before the great fire of London which consumed the 
 cathedral, formed one of the towers of old Saint Paul's, and occupied the space of 
 ground now filled by Queen Anne's statue. In the south aisle of the choir Mrs Heriot 
 reposed under a handsome monument, bearing the following inscription : — 
 
 ^'Sanctissimce et charissimce conjugi Alison.^ Heriot, Jacobi Primrosii, Regice Majes- 
 tatis in Sanctiori Concilio RegniScotice Amanuensis, filice, feminoE omnibus turn animi turn 
 corporis dotibvs, acjno cidtuinstrtictissimce mcestissimus ipsius maritus Georgius Heriot, 
 AEMiGER, Regis, Regince, Principum Henrici et Caroli Gemmarius, bene merenti, non 
 sine lachrymis, hoc JMonumentum pie posuit. 
 
 " Obiit Mensis Aprilis die 16, anno salutis 1612, cetatis 20, in ipso flore juventoe, et mihi, 
 parentibus, et amicis tristissimum sui desiderium reliquit. 
 
 Hie Alicia Primrosa Quum gravida, heu! mmquam 
 
 Jacet crudo abrutafato, Mater, decessit, et inde 
 
 Intempestivas Curadolorq: Patrt 
 
 Ut rasa pressa manus. Curadolorq: viro. 
 
 Nondum bisdenos Non sublata tamen 
 
 Annorum impleverat orbes, Tantum translata recesssit ; 
 
 Pulchra, pudica, Nunc Rosa prima Poll 
 
 Patris delicium atque viri: Qucefuit aritea soli." 
 
 The loss of a yoimg, beautiful, and amiable partner, at a period so interesting, was 
 the probable reason of her husband devoting his fortune to a charitable institution. 
 The epitaph occurs in Strype's edition of Stowe's Survey of London, Book iii. page 22a 
 
NOTES TO THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 327 
 
 Note C, p. 27. Pkoclasiation against the Scots coinNG to England. 
 
 The English agreed in nothing more unanimously than in censuring James on ac- 
 count of the beggariy rabble wliich not oiJly attended the King at his coming first 
 out of Scotland, "but," says Osborne, "which, through his whole reign, like a fluent 
 spring, were found still crossing the Tweed." Yet it is certain, from the number of 
 proclamations published by the Privy Council in Scotland, and bearing marks of the 
 King's own diction, that he was sensible of the whole inconveniences and unpopularity 
 attending the importimate crowd of disrespectable suitors, and as desirous to get rid 
 of them as his southern subjects could be. But it was m vain that his Majesty argued 
 with his Scottish subjects on the disrespect they were bringing on their native country 
 and sovereign, by causing the English to suppose there were no well-nurtured or in- 
 dependent gentry in Scotland, they who presented themselves being, in the opinion 
 and conceit of all beholders, "birt idle rascals, and poor miserable bodies." It was 
 even in vain that the vessels which brought up tins imwelcome cargo of petitioners 
 were threatened with fine and confiscation ; the undaunted suitors continued to press 
 forward, and, as one of the proclamations says, many of them imder pretence of requiring 
 payment of "auld debts due to them by the King," which, it is observed with great 
 naivete, "is, of all kinds of importrmity, most unpleasing to his Majesty." The expres- 
 sions in the text are selected from these curious proclamations. 
 
 Note D, p. 39. One Quill, 
 
 A biblical commentary by Gill, which, if the writer's memory serves him, occupies 
 between five and six hundred printed quarto pages, and must therefore have filled more 
 pages of manuscript than the number mentioned in the text, has this quatrain at the 
 end of the volume — 
 
 ■•■ With on« lood ptn I wrot« thii book, 
 Made of a jrny goo«e quiU ; 
 
 Note E, p. 42. Kino Jamei. 
 
 The dress of this Monarch, together with his personal appearance, is thus described by 
 a contemporary : — 
 
 " He was of a middle stature, more corpulent through [i. e. by means of] his clothes 
 than in his body, yet fat enough. His legs were very weak, having had, as was thought, 
 some foul play in his youth, or rather before he was born, that he was not able to 
 stand at seven years of age. That weakness made him ever leaning on other men's 
 shoulders. His walk was even circular; his hands are in that walk ever fiddling 
 
 about [a part of dress now laid aside.] He would make a great deal too bold 
 
 with God in his passion, both with cursing and swearing, and a strain higher, verging 
 on blasphemy ; but would, in his better temper, saj^ he hoped God would not impute 
 them as sins, and lay them to his charge, seeing they proceeded from passion. He 
 had need of great assistance, rather than hope, that would daily make thus bold with 
 God." — Dalzell's Sketches of Scottish History, p. 86. 
 
 Note F, p. 56, 76. Sir Mdngo Malagrowtheb. 
 
 It will perhaps be recognised by some of my countrymen, that the caustic Scottish 
 knight, as described in Chapter VI., borrowed some of his attributes from a most 
 worthy and respectable baronet, who was to be met with in Edinburgh society about 
 twenty-five or thirty years ago. It is not by any means to be inferred, that the living 
 person resembled the imaginary one in the course of life ascribed to him, or in his per- 
 sonal attributes. But his fortune was little adequate to his rank and the antiquity of 
 his family; and, to avenge himself of this disparity, the worthy Baronet lost no oppor- 
 tunity of making the more avowed sons of fortune feel the edge of his satire. This he 
 had the art of disguising under the personal infirmity of deafness, and usually intro- 
 duced his most severe things by an affected mistake of whatxwas said around him. 
 For example, at a public meeting of a certain county, this worthy gentleman had 
 chosen to display a laced coat, of such a pattern as had not been seen in society for 
 the better part of a century. The yoimg men who were jrresent amused themselves 
 with rallying him on his taste, when he suddenly sing't-L out one of the party: — 
 "Auld d'ye think my coat— auld-lashioned ? — indeed it CAnna be new; but it was tha 
 wark of a braw tailor, and that was your grandfather, who was at the head of the trade 
 
32 :> NOTES TO THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
 in Edinburgh about the beginning of last century." Upon another occasion, when 
 this type of Sir Mnngo Malagrowther happened to hear a nobleman, the high chief of 
 one of those Border clans who were accused of paying very little attention in ancient 
 times to the disttnctlons of Meum and Tuum, addressing a gentleman of the same name, 
 as if conjecturing there should be some relationship between them, he volunteered to 
 ascertain the nature of the connection by saying, that the "chiefs ancestors had stolen 
 the cows, and the other gentleman's ancestors had killed them,"— fame ascribing the 
 origin of the latter family to a butcher. It may be well imagined, that, among a 
 people that have been always punctilious about genealogy, such a person, who had a 
 general acquaintance with all the flaws and specks in the shields of the proud, the pre- 
 tending, and the nouveaux riches, must have had the same dcope for amusement as a 
 monkey in a china shop. 
 
 Note G, p. 71. Mrs Anne Tdknbb. 
 
 Mrs Anne Turner was a dame somewhat of the occupation of Mrs Suddlechop in the 
 text ; that is, half miUiner, half procuress, and secret agent in all manner of proceedings. 
 She was a trafficker in the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury, for which so many sub- 
 ordinate agents lost their lives, while, to the great scandal of justice, the Earl of Somer- 
 set and liis Countess were suffered to escape, upon a threat of Somerset to make public 
 some secret which nearly affected his master, King James. Mrs Turner introduced 
 into England a French custom of using yellow starch in getting up bands and cuffs, 
 and, by Lord Coke's orders, she appeared in that fashion at the place of execution. 
 She was the widow of a physician, and had been eminently beautiful, as appears 
 from the description of her in the poem called Overbury's Vision. There was produced 
 in court a parcel of dolls or puppets belonging to this lady, some naked, some dressed, 
 and which sne used for exhibiting fashions upon. But, greatly to the horror of the 
 spectators, who accounted these figures to be magical devices, there was, on their being 
 shown, "heard a crack from the scaffold, which caused great fear, tumult, and confu- 
 sion among the spectators and throughout the halL, every one fearing hurt, as if the 
 devU had been present, and gro-wm angry to have his workmanship showed to such as 
 were not his own scholars." Compare this curious passage in the History of King 
 James for the First Fourteen Years, 1651, with the Aulicus Coquinarius of Dr Heylia 
 Both works are published in the secret History of King James. 
 
 Note H, p. 80. Lord Htjntingles. 
 
 The credit of having rescued James I. fi-ora the dagger of Alexander Ruthven is 
 here fictitiously ascibed to an imaginary Lord Huntinglen. In reality, as may be 
 read in every history, his preserver was John Ramsay, afterwards created Earl of Hol- 
 derness, who stabbed the younger Ruthven ^\^th his dagger while he was stniggling 
 with the King. Sir Anthony Weldon informs us, that, upon the annual return of the 
 day, the King's deliverance was commemorated by an anniversary feast. The time 
 was the fifth of August, "upon which," proceeds the satirical historian, "Sir John 
 Ramsay, for his good service in that preservation, was the principal guest, and so did 
 the King grant him any boon he Avould ask that day. But he had such limitation 
 made to his asking, as made his suit as improfitable, as the action for which he asked 
 it for was unserviceable to the King." 
 
 Note I, p. 84. Buckingham. 
 
 Buckingham, who had a frankness in his high and irascible ambition, was always 
 ready to bid defiance to those by whom he was thwarted or opposed. He aspired to 
 be created Prince of Tipperary in Ireland, and Lord High Constable of England. Co- 
 ventry, then Lord Keeper, opposed what seemed such an unreasonable extent of power 
 as was annexed to the office of Constable. On this opposition, according to Sir An- 
 thony Weldon, "the Duke peremptorily accosted Coventry, 'Who made you Lord 
 Keeper, Coventry?" He replied, 'The King.' Buckingham replied, ' It's false ; 'twas I 
 did make you, and you shall know that I, who made you, can and will unmake you.' 
 Coventry thus answered him, ' Did I conceive that I held my place by your favour, I 
 would presently unmake myself, by rendering up the seals to his Majesty.' Then 
 Buckingham, in a scorn and fury, flung from him, saying, 'You shall not keep it long:' 
 and surely, had not Felton prevented him, hehad^nade good his word."— Weldon'S 
 Court of King James and C'' T'/e*. 
 
NOTES TO THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 329 
 
 Note K, p. 98. Paoss in thb Ssviktbinth Cbnturt. 
 
 About this time the ancient customs arising from the long prevalence of chivalry 
 began to be grossly varied from the original purposes of the institution. None -was 
 more remarkable than the change -which took place in the breeding and occupation of 
 pages. This peculiar species of menial originally consisted of youths of noble birth, 
 ■>vho, that they might be trained to the exercise of arms, were early removed from 
 their paternal homes, where too much indulgence might have been expected, to 
 be placed in the family of some prince or man of rank and military renown, where 
 they served, as it were, an apprenticeship to the duties of chivalry and courtesy. 
 Their education was severely moral, and pursued with great strictness in respect to 
 useful exercises, and what were deemed elegant accomplishments. From being pages, 
 they were advanced to the next gradation of squires ; from squires, these candidates 
 for the honoxrrs of knighthood were frequently made knights. 
 
 But in the sixteenth century the page had become, in many instances, a mere 
 domestic, who sometimes, by the splendour of his address and appearance, was ex- 
 pected to make up in show for the absence of a whole band of retainers with swords 
 and bucklers. We have Sir John's authority when he cashiers part, of his train. 
 
 " PaltUff will leain the humour of the «ae, " 
 French thrift, you rogues, myielf and skirted pag«." 
 
 Jonson, in a high tone of moral indignation, thus reprobated the change. The host 
 of the New Inn repUes to Lord Lovel, who asks to have his son for a page, that he 
 would, with his own hands, hang him, sooner 
 
 ** Than damn him to this desperate course of life. 
 
 Lovel. Call you that des-perate, which, by a Una 
 Of institution, from our ancestors 
 Hath been derived down to ns, and received 
 In a succession for the noblest way 
 Of brushing up our youth, in letters, anui^ 
 JFair mien, discourses civil, exercise. 
 And all the blazon of a gentleman i 
 Where can be learn to vault, to ride, to fences 
 To move his body gracefully, to speak 
 The language pure, or to turn his mind 
 
 Or manners mure to the harmony of nature^ . 
 
 Than in these nvirseries of nobility f 
 
 Host. Ay, that was when the nursery's ielf WM Dobl*, 
 And only virtue made it, not the market. 
 That titles were not vended at the drum 
 And common outcry ; goodness gave the greatness, 
 And greatness worship ; every house became 
 An academy, and those parts 
 We see departed in the practice now 
 Quite from the institution. 
 
 LoveL Why tlo you say so. 
 Or think so enviously f do they not BtE. 
 Learn thus the Centaur's skill, the art of Thrace. 
 To ride? or Pollux' mystery, to fence? 
 The Pyrrhick gestures, both to stand and spring. 
 In armour; to be active for the wars; 
 To study figures, numbers, and proportions, 
 May yield them great in counsels and the arte | 
 To make their English sweet upon their tongue 
 As reverend Chaucer eavs. 
 
 Host. Sir, you mistake; 
 To play Sir Pandarus, my copy hath it, 
 And carry messages to Madam Cresaid; 
 Instead of backing the brave steed o' mornings. 
 To kiss the chambermaid, and for a leap 
 C the vaulting horse, to ply the vaulting house; 
 For exercise of arms a bale of dice. 
 And twe or three packs of cards, to show the cheat 
 And nimbleuess ot hand; mis-take a cloak 
 From my lord's back, and pawn itj ease'hia pockets 
 Of a superfluous watch, or geld a jewel 
 Of an odd stone or so i twinge three er four buttons 
 From off my lady's gown : These are the arts, 
 Or seven liberal deadly sciences, 
 Of pagery, or rather paijanism. 
 As the tides run ; to which, if he apply him, 
 He may, perhaps, take a degree at Tyburn, 
 A year the earlier eome to read a lecture 
 Upoa Aquinas, at Saint Thomas-a-Watering'st 
 Aad so go forth a laureate in hemp-eircla." 
 
 The Nev Inn, ^ct. I. 
 
 Note L, p. 99. Lord Henet Howard. 
 
 Lord Henry Howai'd was the second son of the poetical Earl of Surrey, and possessed 
 considerable parts and learning. He wrote, in the year 1-583, a book called 'A Defen- 
 eative against the Poison of supposed Prophecies." He gained the favour of Queen 
 
330 NOTES TO THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL, 
 
 Elizabeth, by having, he says, directed his battery against a sect of prophets and pre- 
 tended soothsayers, ■whom he accounted infesti regibus, as he expresses it. In the last 
 years of the Queen, he became James's most ardent partisan, and conducted with great 
 pedantry, but much intrigue, the correspondence betwixt the Scottish king and the 
 younger Cecil. Upon James's accession, he was created Earl of Northampton, and 
 Lord Privy Seal. According to De Beaumont the French Ambassador, Lord Henry 
 Howard was one of the greatest flatterers and calumniators that ever lived. 
 
 Note M, p. 100. Skirmishes in the Public Streets. 
 
 Edinburgh appears to have been one of the most disorderly towns in Europe during 
 the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth century. The Diary of the honest 
 citizen Birrel repeatedly records such incidents as the following:— "The 24 of Novem- 
 ber [1567J, at two afternoon, the Laird of Airth and the Laird of Weems met on the 
 High Gate of Edinburgh, and they and their followers fought a very bloody skirmish, 
 where there were many hurt on both sides with shot of pistol." Those skirmishes also 
 took place in London itself. In Shadwell's play of the Scowrers, an old rake thus 
 boasts of his early exploits: — "I knew the Hectors, and, before them, the Muns, and 
 the Tityretus; they Avere brave fellows indeed! In these days a man could not go 
 from the Rose Garden to the Piazza once, but he must venture his life twice, my dear 
 Sir Willie." But it appears that the affi-ays, which, in the Scottish capital, arose out 
 of hereditary quarrels and ancient feuds, were in London the gro^v-th of the licentious- 
 ness and arrogance of young debauchees. 
 
 Note N, p. 106. Frbjtch Cookery. 
 
 The exertion of French ingenuity mentioned in the text is noticed by some autho- 
 rities of the period ; the siege of Leith was also distinguished by the protracted obsti- 
 nacy of the besieged, in which was displayed all that the age possessed of defensive 
 war, so that Brantome records that those who witnessed this siege, had, from that very 
 circumstance, a degree of consequence yielded to their persons and opinions. He tells 
 a, story of Strozzi himself, from which it appears that his jests lay a good deal in the 
 line of the cuisine. He caused a mule to be stolen from one Brasqiiet, on whom he 
 wished to play a trick, and served up the flesh of that unclean animal so well disguised 
 that it passed with Bnisquet for venison. 
 
 Note 0, p. 107. CtJCKoo's Nest. 
 The quarrel in Chapter XII. between the pretended captain and the citizen of Lon- 
 don is taken from a burlesque poem called The Counter Scuffle, that is, the Scuffle in 
 the Prison at Wood Street, so called. It is a piece of low humour, which had at the 
 time very considerable vogue. The prisoners, it seems, had fallen into a dispute 
 among themselves " which calling was of most repute," and a lawyer piit in his claim 
 to be most highly considered. The man of war repelled his pretence with much arro- 
 gance. 
 
 " ' Wer't not for us, thou sw»d,' quoth he,' 
 
 ' Whfre wouldit thou fay to get a fee? 
 
 But to defend such things as thee 
 
 •TUpity; : 
 
 For such as you este*m as least, , 
 
 Who eTer have been ready prest 
 
 To guard you and your cuckoo's neat, ' 
 
 The City.' " 
 
 The offence is no sooner given than it is caught up by a gallant citizen, a goldsmith, 
 named Ellis. 
 
 " ' Of London city I am free. 
 
 And there I first my wife did ue, 
 And for that very cause,' said he, 
 
 ' I loTe it. 
 And he that calls it cuckoo's nett. 
 Except he say ha spsaks in jest, 
 Ha is a villain and a baait,— 
 , I'll prove it 1 
 
 For though I am a man of trade, 
 And free of London city made. 
 Yet can I use gun, bill, and blade, 
 
 In battle. 
 And citiiens, if need require, 
 Themselves can force the foe retire, 
 Whatever this low country squire 
 
 May prattle. " 
 
 The dispute terminates in the scuffle, which is the subject of the poem. The whola 
 may be found in the second edition of Dryden's Miscellany. 12mo, vol. ill., 1716. 
 
NOTES TO THE FORTUNES OF NIGEI*. 331 
 
 Note P, p. 111. BURBAGE. 
 Burbage, whom Camden terms another Roscius, was probably the original represen- 
 tative of Richard III., and seems to have been early almost identified with his proto- 
 type. Bishop Corbet, in his Iter Boreale, tells us that mine host of Market Bosworth 
 was full of ale and history. 
 
 " He»r him, See you yon wood ? there Richard lay 
 With his whole army ; look the other way, _^ 
 
 And lo, where Richmond, in a field of gorse, 
 Encaiup'd himself in might and all his force. 
 Upon this hill they met. Why, he could tell 
 The inch where Richmond stoodL where Richard fell, 
 Besides, what of his knowledge he could say, 
 He had authentic notice from the play, 
 Which I might guess by's mustering up the ghosts 
 And policies not incident to hosts. 
 But chiefly by that one perspicuous thing. 
 Where he mistook a player for a kin^', 
 For when he would have said, that Richard died, 
 And called, a horse! ahorse) he Burbage cried." 
 
 Richard Corbet's Poems, Edition 1815 p. 193. 
 
 Note Q, p. 112. Fate of Genius in the Seventeenth CENTusr. 
 
 The condition of men of wit and talents was never more melancholy than about this 
 period. Their lives were so irregular, and their means of living so precarious, that 
 they were alternately rioting in debauchery, or encountering and struggling with the 
 meanest necessities. Two or three lost their lives by a surfeit brought on by that fatal 
 banquet of Rhenish wine and pickled herrings, which is familiar to those who study 
 the lighter literature of that age. The whole history is a most melancholy picture of 
 genius, degraded at once by its own debaucheries and the patronage of heartless rakes 
 and profligates. 
 
 Note R, p. 179. The Skimmington. 
 
 A species of triifmphal procession in honour of female supremacy, when it rose to 
 such a height as to attract the attention of the neighbourhood. It is described at full 
 length in Hudibras (Part II., Canto II.) As the procession passed on, those who 
 attended it in an offlcial capacity were wont to sweep the threshold of the houses in 
 which Fame afiflnned the mistresses to exercise paramount authority, which was given 
 and received as a hint that their inmates might, in their turn, be made the subject of 
 a similar ovation. The Skimmington, which in some degree resembled the proceeding 
 of Mumbo Jumbo in an African village, has been long discontinued in England, appa- 
 rently because female rule has become either milder or less frequent than among our 
 ancestors. 
 
 Note S, p. 240. Mhic-Axlastar-Mohk. 
 
 This is the Highland patronymic of the late gallant Chief of Glengarry. The allusion 
 in the text is to an unnecessary alarm taken by some lady, at the ceremonial of the 
 coronation of George IV., at the sight of the pistols which the Chief wore as a part of 
 his Highland dress. The circumstance produced some confusion, which was talied of 
 at the time. All who knew Glengarry (and the author knew him well) were aware 
 that his principles were of devoted loyalty to the person of his sovereign. 
 
 Note T, p. 240. King James's Hunting Bottle. 
 
 Roger Coke, in his Detection of the Court and State of England, London, 1697, p. 70, 
 observes of James I., "The King was excessively addicted to himting, and drinking, 
 not ordinary French and Spanish wines, but strong Greek wines, and thought he would 
 compound his hunting with these wines ; and to that pui-pose he was attended by a 
 special officer, who was, as much as he could be, always at hand to fill the King's cup 
 in hunting, when he called for it. I have heard my father say, that, hunting with the 
 King, after the King had drank of the wine, he also drank of it ; and though he was 
 young, and of a healthful disposition, it so deranged his head that it spoiled his pleasure 
 and disordered him for three days after. Whether it was fi-om drinking these wines, 
 or from some other cause, the King became so lazy and so unwieldy that he was 
 trussed on horseback, and as he was set, so would he ride, without stirring himself ia 
 the saddle ; nay, when his hat was set upon his head he would not take the trouble to 
 alter it, but it sate as it was put on." 
 
 The trussing, for which the demipique saddle of the day afforded particular facility, 
 is alluded to in the text ; and the author, among other nicknacks of antiquity, possesses 
 a leathern flask, like thosQ carried by sportsmen, which is labelled, "King James's 
 
332 NOTES TO THE FORTUNES OF NiaSL. 
 
 Hunting Bottle," with what authenticity Is uncertain. Coke seems to hare cxagg©- 
 rated James's taste for the bottla Weldon says James was not intemperate in his 
 drinking ; " However, in his old age, Buckingham's jovial suppers, when he had any 
 turn to do with him, made him sometimes overtaken, which he would the next day 
 remember, and repent with tears. It is true he drank very often, which was rather 
 out of a custom than any delight ; and his drinks were of that kind for strength, as 
 Frontinlack, Canary, high country wine, tent wine, and Scottish ale, that had he not 
 had a very strong brain, he might have been daily overtaken, though'he seldom drank 
 at any one time above four spoonfuls, many times not above one or two."— Secref 
 History (^ King James, voL iL p. 8. Edin. 1811, 
 
 Note U, p. 242. Scknb in Greenwich Park. 
 I cannot here omit mentioning, that a painting of the old school is in existence, hav- 
 ing a remarkable resemblance to the scene described in Chapter XXVII., although it 
 he nevertheless true that the similarity is in all respects casual, and that the author 
 knew not of the existence of the painting till it was sold, amongst others, with the 
 following description attached to it in a well-drawn-up catalogue:— 
 
 " Fkbdkrigo Zucchero. 
 *^ Scene as represmtedin the Fortunes of Nigel, byFrederigo Zucchero, the King's Painter. 
 "This extraordinary picture, which, independent of its pictorial merit, has been 
 esteemed a great literary curiosity, represents most faithfully the meeting, in Green- 
 wich Park, between King James and Nigel Oliphaunt, as described in the Fortunes of 
 Nigel, showing that the author must have taken the anecdote from authenticated facts. 
 In the centre of the picture sits King James on horseback, very erect and stiffly. 
 Between the King and Prince Charles, who is on the left of the picture, the Duke of 
 Buckingham is represented riding a black horse, and pointing- eagerly towards the 
 culprit, Nigel Oliphaunt, who is standing on the right side of the picture. He grasps 
 with his riglit hand a gun, or cross-bow, and looks angrily towards the King, who seems 
 somewhat confused and alarmed. Behind Nigel, his servant is restraining two dogs, 
 which are barking fiercely. Nigel and his sei-vant are both clothec[in red, the livery 
 of the Oliphaunt family, in which, to this day, the town-offlcers of Perth are clothed, 
 there being an old charter, granting to the Oliphaunt family the privilege of dressing 
 the public officers of Perth in their livery. The Duke of Buckingham is in all respects 
 equal in magnificence of dress to the King or the Pi-ince. The only difference that is 
 marked between him and royalty is, that his head is uncovered. The King and the 
 Prince wear their hats. In Letitia Aikin's Memoirs of the Reign of King James will 
 he found a letter from Sir Thomas Howard to Lord L. Harrington, in which he recom- 
 mends tlie latter to come to court, mentioning that his Majesty has spoken favourably 
 of him. He then proceeds to give him some advice, by which he is likely to find favour 
 in the King's eyes. He tells him to wear a bushy ruff, well starched ; and, after various 
 other directions as to his dress, he concludes, ' but, above all things fail not to praise 
 the roan jennet whereon the king doth daily ride.' In this picture King James is 
 represented on the identical roan jennet. In the background of the picture are seen 
 two or three suspicious-looking figures, as if watching the success of some plot. These 
 may have been put in by the painter to flatter the King, by making it be supposed 
 that he had actually escaped, or successfully combated, some serious plot. The King 
 is attended by a numerous band of courtiers and attendants, all of whom seem moving 
 forward to arrest the defaulter. The painting of this picture is extremely good, but 
 the drawing is veiy Gothic, and there is no attempt at the Iceeping of perspective. 
 The picture is veiy dark and obscure, which considerably adds to the interest of the 
 scene." 
 
 Note X, p. 242. King James's Timidity. 
 The fears of James for his personal safety were often excited without serious grounds. 
 On one occasion, having been induced to visit a coal-pit on the coast of Fife, he was 
 conducted a little way under the sea, and brought to daylight again on a small island, 
 or what was such at full tide, down which a shaft had been sunk. James, who con- 
 ceived his life or liberty aimed at, when he found himself on an islet smTOunded by the 
 sea, instead of admiring, as his cicerone hoped, the unexpected change of scene, cried 
 Treason with all his might, and could not be pacified till he was rowed ashore. At 
 Lochmaben he took an equally causeless alai-m from a still slighter circumstance. 
 Some vendisses, a fish peculiar to the loch, were presented to the royal table as a deli- 
 cacy ; but the King, who was not famiUar with their appearance, concluded they were 
 poisoned, and broke up the banquet " with most admired disorder." 
 
NOTES TO THE TORTUNES OF JXKOIIa. 833 
 
 Note Y, p. 224. Tbaitob's Gatb. 
 
 Traitor's Gate, which opens from the Tower of London to the Thames, wa^ as its 
 name implies, that by which persons accused of state offences were conveyed to their 
 prison. When the tide is making, and the ancient gate is heheld from within the 
 buildings, it used to be a most striking part of the old fortress ; but it is now much 
 injured in appearance, being half built up with masonry to support a steam-engine, or 
 something of that sort 
 
 Note Z, p. 267. Pistoia 
 
 "Wilson informs us, that when Colonel Grey, a Scotsman who affected the buff dress 
 even in the time of peace, appeared in that military garb at court, the King, seeing 
 him with a case of pistols at his girdle, which he never greatly liked, told him, 
 merrily, " he was now so fortified, that, if he were but weU victualled, he would be 
 Impregnable."— Wilson's Lifi and Reign of James VI., apud Kenxkt's History of 
 England, vol. iL p. 389. In 1612, the tenth year of James's reign, there was a 
 rumour abroad that a shipload of pocket-pistols had been exported from Spain, with a 
 view to a general massacre of the Protestants. Proclamations were of consequence 
 sent forth, prohibiting all persons from carrying pistols under a foot long in the 
 barrel"— i&idL p. 690. 
 
 Note A A, p. 268. Pdwishmbnt of Stubbs bt MtrriLAXiON. 
 
 This execution, which so captivated the imagination of Sir Mungo Malagrowther, 
 was really a striking one. The criminal, a furious and bigoted Puritan, had published 
 a book in very violent terms against tbe match of Elizabeth with the Duke of Alen<;on, 
 which he teiToed an imion of a daughter of God with a son of Antichrist. Queen 
 Elizabeth was greatly incensed at the freedom assumed in this work, and caused the 
 author Stubbs, with Page the pubUsher, and one Singleton the printer, to be tried on 
 an act passed by Philip and Mary against the wi-iters and dispersers of seditious pub- 
 lications. They were convicted, and although there was an opinion strongly enter- 
 tained by lawyers, that the act was only temporary, and expired with Queen Mary, 
 Stubbs and Page received sentence to have their right hands stnick off. They accord- 
 ingly suffered the punishment: the wrist being divided by a cleaver driven through 
 the joint by force of a mallet. The printer was pardoned. "I remember," says the 
 historian Camden, "being then present, that Stubbs, when his right hand was cut 
 off, plucked off his hat with the left, and said, with a loud voice, ' God save the Queen !' 
 The multitude standing about was deeply silent, either out of horror of this new and 
 unwonted kind of punishment, or out of commiseration towards the man, as being of 
 an honest and unblameable repute, or else out of hatred to the marriage, which most 
 men presaged would be the overthrow of religion."— Camdkm's Annals for the Fear 1581. 
 
 Note B B, p. 279. Richie Mohiplies behind thb Akbas. 
 
 The practical jest of Richie Moniplies going behind the arras to get an opportunity 
 of teazing Heriot, was a pleasantry such as James might be supposed to approve o£ 
 It was customary for those who loiew his humour to contrive jests of this kind for his 
 amiisement. The celebrated Archie Armstrong, and another jester called Drummond, 
 moimted on other people's backs, used to charge each other like knights in the tilt- 
 yard, to the monarch's great amusement The following is an instance of the same 
 kind taken from Webster upon Witchcraft The author is speaking of the faculty 
 called ventriloquism. 
 
 " But to make this more plain and certain, we shall add a story of a notable im- 
 postor, or ventriloquist, from the testimony of Mr Ady, which we have had confiraied 
 from the mouth of some courtiers, that both saw and knew him, and is this : — It hath 
 been (saith he) credibly reported, that -here was a man in the court in King James 
 his days, that could act this imposture so lively, that he could call the King by name, 
 and cause the King to look round about him, wondering who it was that called him, 
 whereas he that called him stood before him in his presence, vrith his face towards him. 
 But after this imposture was known, the King, in his merriment, would sometimes 
 take occasionally this impostor to make sport upon some of his courtiers, as, for in- 
 stance : 
 
 "There was a knight belonging to the com't, whom the King caused to come before 
 him in his private room (where no man was but the King and this knight and tlia 
 impostor), and feigned some occasion of serious discourse with the knight • but when 
 
334 NOTES TO THE FORTUNES OP NIGEL. 
 
 ttie King begin to speak, and the kniglit bending his attention to the King, suddenly 
 there came a voice as out of anotlier room, calling the knight by name, ' Sir John, Sir 
 John ; come away, Sir John ;' at which the King began to frown that any man sliould 
 be so unmannerly as to molest the King and him ; and still listening to !lie King's 
 discourse, the voice came again, ' Sir John, Sir John; come away, and drink off your 
 sack.' At that. Sir John began to swell with anger, and looked into the next rooms 
 to see who it was that dared to call him so importunately, and could nob find out who 
 it was, and having chid with whomsoever he found, he returned again to the King. 
 The King had no sooner begun to speak as formerly, but the voice came again, ' Sir 
 John, come away; your sack stayeth for you.' At that Sir John began to stamp witlx 
 madness, and looked out and returned several times to the King, but could not be 
 quiet in his discourse with the King, because of the voice that so often troublai him, 
 till the King had sported enough."— -WEBaTER on Witchcraft, p. 124. 
 
 Note C C, p. 292. Lady Lake. 
 
 Whether out of a meddling propensity common to all who have a gossiping disposi- 
 tion, or from the love of justice, which ought to make part of a prince's character, 
 James was very fond of inquiring personally into the causes celebres which occurred 
 during his reign. In the imposture of the Boy of Bilston, who pretended to be pos- 
 sessed, and of one Richard Haydock, a poor scholar, who pretended to preach during 
 his sleep, the King, to use the historian Wilson's expression, took delight in sounding 
 with the line of his understanding the depth of these brutish impositions, and in doing 
 so showed the acuteness with which he was endowed by nature. Lady Lake's story 
 consisted in r clamorous complaint against the Countess of Exeter, whom she accused 
 of a purpose to put to death Lady Lake herself, and her daughter, Lady Ross, the wife 
 of the Countess's own son-in-law. Lord Ross ; and a forged letter was produced, in 
 which Lady Exeter was made to acknowledge such a purpose. The account given of 
 the occasion of obtaining this letter was, that it had been written by the Countess at 
 Wimbledon, in presence of Lady Lake and her daughter, Lady Ross, being designed 
 to procure their forgiveness for her mischievous intention. The King remained still 
 unsatisfied, the writing, in his opinion, bearing strong marks of forgery. Lady Lake 
 and her daughter then alleged, that, besides their own attestation, and that of a con- 
 fidential domestic, named Diego, in Avliose presence Lady Exeter had written the con- 
 fession, their story might also be supported by the oath of their waiting-maid, who 
 had been placed behind the hangings at the time the letter was wiitten, and heard the 
 Countess of Exeter read over the confession after she had signed it. Determined to be 
 at the bottom of this accusation, James, while hunting one day near Wimbledon, the 
 scene of the alleged confession, suddenly left his sport, and, galloping hastily to 
 Wimbledon, in order to examine personally the room, discovered, from the size of the 
 apartment, that the alleged conversation could not have taken place in the manner 
 sworn to ; and that the tapestry of the chamber, which had remained in the same 
 state for thirty years, was too short by two feet, and, therefore, could not have con- 
 cealed any one behind it. This matter was accounted an exclusive discovery of the 
 King by his own spirit of shrewd investigation. The parties were punished in the 
 Stai- Chamber by fine and imprisonmenL 
 
 END OF NOTES TO FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 
 
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