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diff --git a/23739-h/23739-h.htm b/23739-h/23739-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b2a00c --- /dev/null +++ b/23739-h/23739-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9078 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>The Life of Mansie Wauch</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.headingsummary { margin-left: 5%;} + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: left; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + color: gray;} + + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">The Life of Mansie Wauch, by D. M. Moir</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Life of Mansie Wauch, by D. M. Moir, +Illustrated by Charles Martin Hardie + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Life of Mansie Wauch + tailor in Dalkeith + + +Author: D. M. Moir + + + +Release Date: December 5, 2007 [eBook #23739] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF MANSIE WAUCH*** +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>Transcribed from the 1911 T. N. Foulis edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p0b.jpg"> +<img alt="One of the Duke’s huntsmen" src="images/p0s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h1>THE LIFE OF<br /> +MANSIE WAUCH<br /> +<span class="smcap">tailor in dalkeith written</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">by himself and edited by</span><br /> +D. M. MOIR<br /> +<span class="smcap">illustrated in colour by</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">charles martin hardie</span>, <span +class="smcap">r.s.a.</span></h1> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">t.n.foulis</span><br /> +London & Edinburgh<br /> +1 9 1 1</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page iv--><a name="pageiv"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. iv</span><i>October</i> 1911</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Turnbull & Spears</i>, +<i>Printers</i>, <i>Edinburgh</i></p> +<p style="text-align: center"><!-- page v--><a name="pagev"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. v</span><span class="smcap">to</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">JOHN GALT</span>, <span class="smcap">Esq.</span>,<br +/> +<span class="smcap">author of</span> “<span class="smcap">annals of +the parish</span>,” “<span class="smcap">the +provost</span>,”<br /> +“<span class="smcap">ayrshire legatees</span>,” <span +class="smcap">etc.</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">the following +sketches</span>,</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">principally of humble +scottish character</span>,</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">are dedicated</span>,</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">by his sincere friend and +admirer</span>,</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">the editor</span>.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p1b.jpg"> +<img alt="Mansie’s shop door" src="images/p1s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h2><!-- page vii--><a name="pagevii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +vii</span>PRELIMINARIES TO THIS VOLUME</h2> +<p>Having, within myself, made observation of late years, that all notable +characters, whatsoever line of life they may have pursued, and to whatever +business they might belong, have made a trade of committing to paper all +the surprising occurrences and remarkable events that chanced to happen to +them in the course of Providence, during their journey through +life—that such as come after them might take warning and be +benefited—I have found it incumbent on me, following a right example, +to do the same thing; and have set down, in black and white, a good few +uncos, that I should reckon will not soon be forgotten, provided they make +as deep an impression on the world as they have done on me. To this +decision I have been urged by the elbowing on of not a few judicious +friends, among whom I would particularly remark James Batter, who has been +most earnest in his request, and than whom a truer judge on anything +connected with book-lear, or a better neighbour, does not breathe the +breath of life: both of which positions will, I doubt not, appear as clear +as daylight to the reader, in the course of the work: to say nothing of the +approval the scheme met with from the pious Maister Wiggie, who has now +gone to his account, and divers other advisers, that wished either the +general good of the world, or studied their own particular profit.</p> +<p>Had the course of my pilgrimage lain just on the beaten track, I would +not—at least I think so—have <!-- page viii--><a +name="pageviii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. viii</span>been o’ercome +by ony perswasions to do what I have done; but as will be seen, in the +twinkling of half-an-eye, by the judicious reader, I am a man that has +witnessed much, and come through a great deal, both in regard to the times +wherein I have lived, and the out-o’-the-way adventures in which it +has been my fortune to be engaged. Indeed, though I say it myself, +who might as well be silent, I that have never stirred, in a manner so to +speak, from home, have witnessed more of the world we live in, and the +doings of men, than many who have sailed the salt seas from the East Indies +to the West; or, in the course of nature, visited Greenland, Jamaica, or +Van Diemen’s Land. The cream of the matter, and to which we +would solicit the attention of old and young, rich and poor, is just this, +that, unless unco doure indeed to learn, the inexperienced may gleam from +my pages sundry grand lessons, concerning what they have a chance to expect +in the course of an active life; and the unsteady may take a hint +concerning what it is possible for one of a clear head and a stout heart to +go through with.</p> +<p>Notwithstanding, however, these plain and evident conclusions, even +after writing the whole out, I thought I felt a kind of a qualm of +conscience about submitting an account of my actions and transactions to +the world during my lifetime; and I had almost determined, for +decency’s sake, not to let the papers be printed till after I had +been gathered to my <!-- page ix--><a name="pageix"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. ix</span>fathers; but I took into consideration the duty +that one man owes to another; and that my keeping back, and withholding +these curious documents, would be in a great measure hindering the +improvement of society, so far as I was myself personally concerned. +Now this is a business, which James Batter agrees with me in thinking is +carried on, furthered, and brought about, by every one furnishing his share +of experience to the general stock. Let-a-be this plain truth, +another point of argument for my bringing out my bit book at the present +time is, that I am here to the fore bodily, with the use of my seven +senses, to give day and date to all such as venture to put on the +misbelieving front of Sadducees, with regard to any of the accidents, +mischances, marvellous escapes, and extraordinary businesses therein +related; and to show them, as plain as the bool of a pint stoup, that each +and everything set down by me within its boards is just as true, as that a +blind man needs not spectacles, or that my name is Mansie Wauch.</p> +<p>Perhaps as a person willing and anxious to give every man his due, it is +necessary for me explicitly to mention, that, in the course of this book, I +am indebted to my friend James Batter, for his able help in assisting me to +spell the kittle words, and in rummaging out scraps of poem-books for +headpieces to my different chapters which appear in the table of +contents.</p> +<h2><!-- page xi--><a name="pagexi"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xi</span>LIST OF CONTENTS</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">Preliminaries</span></p> +<p>I. <span class="smcap">Our Old Grandfather</span>,</p> +<p>II. <span class="smcap">My Own Father</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>The weaver he gied up the stair,<br /> + Dancing and singing;<br /> +A bunch o’ bobbins at his back,<br /> + Rattling and ringing.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Old Song</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>III. <span class="smcap">Coming Into The World</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>—At first the babe<br /> +Was sickly; and a smile was seen to pass<br /> +Across the midwife’s cheek, when, holding up<br /> +The feeble wretch, she to the father said,<br /> +“A fine man-child!” What else could they expect?<br /> +The father being, as I said before,<br /> +A weaver.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Hogg’s</span> +<i>Poetic Mirror</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>IV. <span class="smcap">Calf-Love</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>Bonny lassie, will ye go, will ye go, will ye go,<br /> +Bonny lassie, will ye go to the Birks of Aberfeldy?</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Burns</span>.</p> +<p>For a tailor is a man, a man, a man,<br /> +And a tailor is a man.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Popular Heroic Song</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>V. <span class="smcap">Cursecowl</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>From his red poll a redder cowl hung down;<br /> +His jacket, if through grease we guess, was brown;<br /> +A vigorous scamp, some forty summers old;<br /> +Rough Shetland stockings up his thighs were roll’d;<br /> +While at his side horn-handled steels and knives<br /> +Gleam’d from his pouch, and thirsted for sheep’s lives.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Odoherty’s</span> +<i>Miscellanea Classica</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page xii--><a name="pagexii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xii</span>VI. <span class="smcap">Pushing my Fortune</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>Oh, love, love, lassie,<br /> + Love is like a dizziness,<br /> +It winna let a puir bodie<br /> + Gang about their business.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">James Hogg</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>VII. <span class="smcap">The Forewarning</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>I had a dream which was not all a dream.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Byron</span>.</p> +<p>Coming events cast their shadows before.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Campbell</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>VIII. <span class="smcap">Letting Lodgings</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>Then first he ate the white puddings,<br /> + And syne he ate the black, O;<br /> +Though muckle thought the Gudewife to hersell,<br /> + Yet ne’er a word she spak, O.<br /> +But up then started our Gudeman,<br /> +And an angry man was he, O.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Old Song</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>IX. <span class="smcap">Benjie’s Christening</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>We’ll hap and row, hap and row,<br /> + We’ll hap and row the feetie o’t.<br /> +It is a wee bit weary thing,<br /> + I dinnie bide the greetie o’t.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Provost Creech</span>.</p> +<p>An honest man, close button’d to the chin,<br /> +Broad-cloth without, and a warm heart within.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Cowper</span>.</p> +<p>This great globe and all that it inherits shall dissolve,<br /> +And, like the baseless fabric of a vision,<br /> +Leave not a rack behind.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Shakespeare</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page xiii--><a name="pagexiii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xiii</span>X. <span class="smcap">The Resurrection Men</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p> How then was the Devil drest!<br /> + He was in his Sunday’s best;<br /> + His coat was red, and his breeches were blue,<br /> + With a hole behind where his tail came thro’.<br /> +Over the hill, and over the dale,<br /> + And he went over the plain:<br /> +And backward and forward he switch’d his tail,<br /> + As a gentleman switches his cane.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Coleridge</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>XI. <span class="smcap">Taffy with the Pigtail</span>,</p> +<p>Song,</p> +<p>Song of the South,</p> +<p>School Recollections,</p> +<p>Elegiac Stanzas,</p> +<p>Dirge,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>In the sweet shire of Cardigan,<br /> + Not far from pleasant Ivor-hall,<br /> +An old man dwells, a little man;<br /> + I’ve heard he once was tall.<br /> +A long blue livery-coat has he,<br /> + That’s fair behind and fair before;<br /> +Yet, meet him where you will, you see<br /> + At once that he is poor.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Wordsworth</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>XII. <span class="smcap">Volunteering</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>Come from the hills where your hirsels are grazing,<br /> + Come from the glen of the buck and the roe;<br /> +Come to the crag where the beacon is blazing,<br /> + Come with the buckler, the lance, and the bow:<br /> + Many a banner spread<br /> + Flutters above your head,<br /> + Many a crest that is famous in story;<br /> + Mount and make ready then,<br /> + Sons of the mountain glen,<br /> +Fight for the <i>King</i>, and our old Scottish glory.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Sir Walter +Scott’s</span> <i>Monastery</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page xiv--><a name="pagexiv"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xiv</span>XIII. <span class="smcap">The Chincough +Pilgrimage</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>Man hath a weary pilgrimage<br /> + As through the world he wends:<br /> +On every stage from youth to age<br /> + Still discontent attends.<br /> +With heaviness he casts his eye<br /> + Upon the road before,<br /> +And still remembers with a sigh<br /> + The days that are no more.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"> <span +class="smcap">Southey</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>XIV. <span class="smcap">My Lord’s Races</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>Aff they a’ went galloping, galloping;<br /> +Legs and arms a’ walloping, walloping;<br /> +De’il take the hindmost, quo’ Duncan M’Calapin,<br /> +The Laird of Tillyben, Joe.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Old Song</i>.</p> +<p>He went a little further,<br /> + And turn’d his head aside,<br /> +And just by Goodman Whitfield’s gate,<br /> + Oh there the mare he spied.<br /> +He ask’d her how she did,<br /> + She stared him in the face,<br /> +Then down she laid her head again—<br /> + She was in wretched case.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Old Poulter’s Mo</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>XV. <span class="smcap">The Return</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>That sweet home is there delight,<br /> +And thither they repair<br /> +Communion with their own to hold!<br /> +Peaceful as, at the fall of night,<br /> +Two little lambkins gliding white<br /> +Return unto the gentle air,<br /> +That sleeps within the fold.<br /> +Or like two birds to their lonely nest,<br /> +Or wearied waves to their bay of rest,<br /> +Or fleecy clouds when their race is run,<br /> +That hang in their own beauty blest,<br /> +’Mid the calm that sanctifies the west<br /> +Around the setting sun.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Wilson</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page xv--><a name="pagexv"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xv</span>XVI. <span class="smcap">The Bloody Cartridge</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>So stands the Thracian herdsman with his spear<br /> +Full in the gap, and hopes the hunted bear;<br /> +And hears him in the rustling wood, and sees<br /> +His course at distance by the bending trees;<br /> +And thinks—Here comes my mortal enemy,<br /> +And either he must fall in fight or I.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Dryden’s</span> +<i>Palamon and Arcite</i>.</p> +<p>Nay, never shake thy gory looks at me;<br /> +Thou canst not say I did it!</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Macbeth</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>XVII. <span class="smcap">My First and Last Play</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p><i>Pla.</i> I’ faith<br /> +I like the audience that frequenteth there<br /> +With much applause: a man shall not be chokt<br /> +With the stench of garlick, nor be pasted firm<br /> +With the barmy jacket of a beer-brewer.</p> +<p><i>Bra.</i> ’Tis a good gentle audience, and I hope<br /> +The boys will come one day in great request.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Jack Drum’s Entertainment</i>, +1601.</p> +<p>Out cam the gudeman, and laigh he louted;<br /> +Out cam the gudewife, and heigh she shouted;<br /> +And a the toun-neibours gather’d about it;<br /> + And there he lay, I trow.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>The Cauldrife Wooer</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>XVIII. <span class="smcap">The Barley Fever</span>: <span +class="smcap">and Rebuke</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>Sages their solemn een may steek,<br /> +And raise a philosophic reek,<br /> +And, physically, causes seek,<br /> + In clime and season:<br /> +But tell me <i>Whisky’s</i> name in Greek,<br /> + I’ll tell the reason.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Burns</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page xvi--><a name="pagexvi"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xvi</span>XIX. <span class="smcap">The Awful Night</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p> Ha!—’twas but a dream;<br /> +But then so terrible, it shakes my soul!<br /> +Cold drops of sweat hang on my trembling flesh;<br /> +My blood grows chilly, and I freeze with horror,</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Richard the Third</i>.</p> +<p>The Fire-king one day rather amorous felt;<br /> + He mounted his hot copper filly;<br /> +His breeches and boots were of tin, and the belt<br /> +Was made of cast-iron, for fear it should melt<br /> + With the heat of the copper colt’s belly.</p> +<p>Oh! then there was glitter and fire in each eye,<br /> + For two living coals were the symbols;<br /> +His teeth were calcined, and his tongue was so dry,<br /> +It rattled against them as though you should try<br /> + To play the piano on thimbles.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Rejected Addresses</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>XX. <span class="smcap">Adventures in the Sporting +Line</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>A fig for them by law protected,<br /> + Liberty’s glorious feast;<br /> +Courts for cowards were erected,<br /> + Churches built to please the priest.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Jolly Beggars</i>.</p> +<p>Wi’ cauk and keel I’ll win your bread,<br /> +And spindles and whorles for them wha need,<br /> +Whilk is a gentle trade indeed,<br /> + To carry the Gaberlunzie on.<br /> +I’ll bow my leg and crook my knee,<br /> +And draw a black clout owre my ee,<br /> +A cripple or blind they will ca’ me,<br /> +While we shall be merry and sing.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">King James V.</span></p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page xvii--><a name="pagexvii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xvii</span>XXI. <span class="smcap">Anent Mungo Glen</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>“Earth to earth,” and “dust to dust,”<br /> + The solemn priest hath said,<br /> +So we lay the turf above thee now,<br /> + And we seal thy narrow bed;<br /> +But thy spirit, brother, soars away<br /> + Among the faithful blest,<br /> +Where the wicked cease from troubling,<br /> + And the weary are at rest.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Milman</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>XXII. <span class="smcap">The June Jaunt</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>The lapwing lilteth o’er the lea,<br /> + With nimble wing she sporteth;<br /> +By vows she’ll flee from tree to tree<br /> + Where Philomel resorteth:<br /> +By break of day, the lark can say,<br /> + I’ll bid you a good-morrow,<br /> +I’ll streik my wing, and mounting sing,<br /> + O’er Leader hauchs and Yarrow.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Nicol Burn</span>, <i>the +Minstrel</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>XXIII. <span class="smcap">Catching a Tartar</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p><i>Fr. Sol.</i> O, prennez miséricorde! ayez pitié +de moy!</p> +<p><i>Pist.</i> Moy shall not serve, I will have forty moys!<br /> +For I will fetch my rim out at thy throat,<br /> +In drops of crimson blood.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Henry V.</i></p> +</blockquote> +<p>XXIV. <span class="smcap">James Batter and the Maid of +Damascus</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>He chose a mournful muse<br /> +Soft pity to infuse;<br /> +He sung the Weaver wise and good,<br /> + By too severe a fate,<br /> +Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen,<br /> + Fallen from his high estate,<br /> +And weltering in his blood.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Dryden</span> +<i>Revised</i>.</p> +<p><!-- page xviii--><a name="pagexviii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xviii</span>All close they met, all eves, before the dusk<br /> + Had taken from the stars its pleasant veil,<br /> +Close in a bower of hyacinth and musk,<br /> + Unknown of any, free from whispering tale.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Keats</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>XXV. <span class="smcap">A Philistine in the Coal-Hole</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>They steeked doors, they steeked yetts,<br /> + Close to the cheek and chin;<br /> +They steeked them a’ but a wee wicket,<br /> + And Lammikin crapt in.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Ballad of the Lammikin</i>.</p> +<p>Hame cam our gudeman at een,<br /> + And hame cam he;<br /> +And there he spied a man<br /> + Where a man shouldna be.<br /> +Hoo cam this man kimmer,<br /> + And who can it be;<br /> +Hoo cam this carle here,<br /> + Without the leave o’ me?</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Old Song</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>XXVI. <span class="smcap">Benjie on the Carpet</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>It’s no in titles, nor in rank—<br /> +It’s no in wealth, like Lon’on bank,<br /> + To purchase peace and rest;<br /> +It’s no in making muckle <i>mair</i>—<br /> +It’s no in books—it’s no in lear,<br /> + To make us truly blest.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Burns</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>XXVII. “<span class="smcap">Puggie</span>, <span +class="smcap">Puggie</span>,”</p> +<blockquote> +<p>Saw ye Johnie coming? quo’ she,<br /> + Saw ye Johnie coming?<br /> +Wi’ his blue bonnet on his head,<br /> + And his doggie running?</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><i>Old Ballad</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page xix--><a name="pagexix"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xix</span>XXVIII. <span class="smcap">Serious Musings</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>My eyes are dim with childish tears,<br /> + My heart is idly stirr’d,<br /> +For the same sound is in mine ears,<br /> + Which in those days I heard.<br /> +Thus fares it still in our decay;<br /> + And yet the wiser mind<br /> +Mourns less for what age takes away,<br /> + Than what it leaves behind.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Wordsworth</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>XXIX. <span class="smcap">Conclusion</span>,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>He prayeth well, who loveth well<br /> +Both man, and bird, and beast—<br /> +He prayeth best, who loveth best<br /> +All things both great and small;<br /> +For the dear God who loveth us,<br /> +He made and loveth all.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Coleridge</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<h2><!-- page xxi--><a name="pagexxi"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xxi</span>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><i><span class="smcap">from oil paintings +by</span></i><br /> +<i>CHARLES MARTIN HARDIE</i>, <i>R.S.A.</i></p> +<table> +<tr> +<td> +<p><span class="smcap">One of the Duke’s Huntsmen</span></p> +</td> +<td> +<p><i>Frontispiece</i></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p><span class="smcap">Mansie’s Shop Door</span></p> +</td> +<td> +<p><i>Title-page</i></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p><span class="smcap">Mansie’s Wedding</span>: <span +class="smcap">The Dance gaed through the Lighted Hall</span></p> +</td> +<td> +<p><i>Page</i> 8</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p><span class="smcap">Mansie and Nancy</span></p> +</td> +<td> +<p>24</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p><span class="smcap">The Minister’s Lassie Jess</span>: <span +class="smcap">A Blue-eyed Lassie of a Serving Maid</span></p> +</td> +<td> +<p>40</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p><span class="smcap">Mansie’s Father</span></p> +</td> +<td> +<p>56</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p><span class="smcap">Rev. Mr Wiggie</span></p> +</td> +<td> +<p>72</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p><span class="smcap">The First Day I got my Regimentals on</span></p> +</td> +<td> +<p>104</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas Burlings</span>: <span +class="smcap">Elder</span></p> +</td> +<td> +<p>136</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p><span class="smcap">Mungo Glen</span></p> +</td> +<td> +<p>184</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p><span class="smcap">James Batter</span>, <span class="smcap">Mostly +Blinded in both his Eyes</span>, <span class="smcap">looking for our Name +in the Book of Martyrs</span></p> +</td> +<td> +<p>216</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p><span class="smcap">Country Lassies bleaching their Snow-white +Linen</span></p> +</td> +<td> +<p>248</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p><span class="smcap">The Waiting Girl</span>, <span class="smcap">Jeanie +Amos</span></p> +</td> +<td> +<p>264</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p><span class="smcap">Peter Farrel</span></p> +</td> +<td> +<p>280</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p><span class="smcap">An Old Dalkeith Body</span></p> +</td> +<td> +<p>312</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p><span class="smcap">The Lazy Corner</span>, <span +class="smcap">Dalkeith</span></p> +</td> +<td> +<p>344</p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p></p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<blockquote> +<p><!-- page xxii--><a name="pagexxii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xxii</span>The sun rises bright in France,<br /> + And fair sets he;<br /> +But he has tint the blithe blink he had<br /> + In my ain countree.</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Allan +Cunningham</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<h2><!-- page 1--><a name="page1"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +1</span>CHAPTER ONE—IN THE TIME OF MY GRANDFATHER</h2> +<p>Some of the rich houses and great folk pretend to have histories of the +auncientness of their families, which they can count back on their fingers +almost to the days of Noah’s ark, and King Fergus the First; but +whatever may spunk out after on this point, I am free to confess, with a +safe conscience, in the meantime, that it is not in my power to come up +within sight of them; having never seen or heard tell of anybody in our +connexion, further back than auld granfaither, that I mind of when a +laddie; and who it behoves to have belonged by birthright to some parish or +other; but where-away, gude kens. James Batter mostly blinded both +his eyes, looking all last winter for one of our name in the Book of +Martyrs, to make us proud of; but his search, I am free to confess, worse +than failed—as the only man of the name he could find out was a +Sergeant Jacob Wauch, that lost his lug and his left arm, fighting like a +Russian Turk against the godly, at the bloody battle of the Pentland +Hills.</p> +<p>Auld granfaither died when I was a growing callant, some seven or eight +years old; yet I mind him full well; it being a curious thing how early +such matters take hold of one’s memory. He was a straught, +tall, old man, with a shining bell-pow, and reverend white <!-- page 2--><a +name="page2"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 2</span>locks hanging down about +his haffets; a Roman nose, and two cheeks blooming through the winter of +his long age like roses, when, poor body, he was sand-blind with +infirmity. In his latter days he was hardly able to crawl about +alone; but used to sit resting himself on the truff seat before our door, +leaning forward his head on his staff, and finding a kind of pleasure in +feeling the beams of God’s own sun beaking on him. A blackbird, +that he had tamed, hung above his head in a whand-cage of my father’s +making; and he had taken a pride in learning it to whistle two three turns +of his own favourite sang, “Oure the water to Charlie.”</p> +<p>I recollect, as well as yesterday, that, on the Sundays, he wore a braid +bannet with a red worsted cherry on the top of it; and had a +single-breasted coat, square in the tails, of light Gilmerton blue, with +plaited white buttons, bigger than crown pieces. His waistcoat was +low in the neck, and had flap pouches, wherein he kept his mull for rappee, +and his tobacco-box. To look at him, with his rig-and-fur Shetland +hose pulled up over his knees, and his big glancing buckles in his shoon, +sitting at our door-cheek, clean and tidy as he was kept, was just as if +one of the ancient patriarchs had been left on earth, to let succeeding +survivors witness a picture of hoary and venerable eld. Poor body, +many a bit Gibraltar-rock and gingerbread did he give to me, as he would +pat me on the head, and <!-- page 3--><a name="page3"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 3</span>prophesy I would be a great man yet; and sing me +bits of old songs about the bloody times of the Rebellion, and Prince +Charlie. There was nothing that I liked so well as to hear him set +a-going with his auld-warld stories and lilts; though my mother used +sometimes to say, “Wheest, granfaither, ye ken it’s no canny to +let out a word of thae things; let byganes be byganes, and +forgotten.” He never liked to give trouble, so a rebuke of this +kind would put a tether to his tongue for a wee; but, when we were left by +ourselves, I used aye to egg him on to tell me what he had come through in +his far-away travels beyond the broad seas; and of the famous battles he +had seen and shed his precious blood in; for his pinkie was hacked off by a +dragoon of Cornel Gardener’s, down by at Prestonpans, and he had +catched a bullet with his ankle over in the north at Culloden. So it +was no wonder that he liked to crack about these times, though they had +brought him muckle and no little mischief, having obliged him to skulk like +another Cain among the Highland hills and heather, for many a long month +and day, homeless and hungry. Not dauring to be seen in his own +country, where his head would have been chacked off like a sybo, he took +leg-bail in a ship over the sea, among the Dutch folk; where he followed +out his lawful trade of a cooper, making girrs for the herring barrels and +so on; and sending, when he could find time and opportunity, <!-- page +4--><a name="page4"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 4</span>such savings from +his wages as he could afford, for the maintenance of his wife and small +family of three helpless weans, that he had been obligated to leave, dowie +and destitute, at their native home of pleasant Dalkeith.</p> +<p>At long and last, when the breeze had blown over, and the feverish pulse +of the country began to grow calm and cool, auld granfaither took a longing +to see his native land; and though not free of jeopardy from king’s +cutters on the sea, and from spies on shore, he risked his neck over in a +sloop from Rotterdam to Aberlady, that came across with a valuable cargo of +smuggled gin. When granfaither had been obliged to take the wings of +flight for the preservation of his life and liberty, my father was a wean +at grannie’s breast: so, by her fending—for she was a canny +industrious body, and kept a bit shop, in the which she sold oatmeal and +red herrings, needles and prins, potatoes and tape, and cabbage, and what +not—he had grown a strapping laddie of eleven or twelve, helping his +two sisters, one of whom perished of the measles in the dear year, to go +errands, chap sand, carry water, and keep the housie clean. I have +heard him say, when auld granfaither came to their door at the dead of +night, tirling, like a thief of darkness, at the window-brod to get in, +that he was so altered in his voice and lingo that no living soul kenned +him, not even the wife of his bosom; so he had to put grannie in mind <!-- +page 5--><a name="page5"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 5</span>of things +that had happened between them, before she would allow my father to lift +the sneck, or draw the bar. Many and many a year, for gude kens how +long after, I have heard tell, that his speech was so Dutchified as to be +scarcely kenspeckle to a Scotch European; but Nature is powerful, and, in +the course of time, he came in the upshot to gather his words together like +a Christian.</p> +<p>Of my auntie Bell, that, as I have just said, died of the measles in the +dear year, at the age of fourteen, I have no story to tell but one, and +that a short one, though not without a sprinkling of interest.</p> +<p>Among her other ways of doing, grannie kept a cow, and sold the milk +round about to the neighbours in a pitcher, whiles carried by my father, +and whiles by my aunties, at the ransom of a halfpenny the mutchkin. +Well, ye observe, that the cow ran yeild, and it was as plain as pease that +she was with calf:—Geordie Drouth, the horse-doctor, could have made +solemn affidavy on that head. So they waited on, and better waited on +for the prowie’s calfing, keeping it upon draff and oat-strae in the +byre; till one morning every thing seemed in a fair way, and my auntie Bell +was set out to keep watch and ward.</p> +<p>Some of her companions, however, chancing to come by, took her out to +the back of the house to have a game at the pallall; and, in the interim, +Donald Bogie, the tinkler from Yetholm, came and left his <!-- page 6--><a +name="page6"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 6</span>little jackass in the +byre, while he was selling about his crockery of cups and saucers, and +brown plates, on the old one, through the town, in two creels.</p> +<p>In the middle of auntie Bell’s game, she heard an unco noise in +the byre; and, knowing that she had neglected her charge, she ran round the +gable, and opened the door in a great hurry; when, seeing the beastie, she +pulled it to again, and fleeing, half out of breath, into the kitchen +cried,—“Come away, come away, mother, as fast as ye can. +Eh, lyst, the cow’s cauffed,—and it’s a +cuddie!”</p> +<h2><!-- page 7--><a name="page7"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +7</span>CHAPTER TWO—MY OWN FATHER</h2> +<p>My own father, that is to say, auld Mansie Wauch with regard to myself, +but young Mansie with reference to my granfather after having run the +errands, and done his best to grannie during his early years, was, at the +age of thirteen, as I have heard him tell, bound a prentice to the weaver +trade which from that day and date, for better for worse, he, prosecuted to +the hour of his death:—I should rather have said to within a +fortnight of it, for he lay for that time in the mortal fever, that cut +through the thread of his existence. Alas! as Job says, “How +time flies like a weaver’s shuttle!”</p> +<p>He was a tall, thin, lowering man, blackaviced, and something in the +physog like myself, though scarcely so weel-faured; with a kind of blueness +about his chin, as if his beard grew of that colour—which I scarcely +think it would do—but might arise either from the dust of the blue +cloth, constantly flying about the shop, taking a rest there, or from his +having a custom of giving it a rub now and then with his finger and thumb, +both of which were dyed of that colour, as well as his apron, from rubbing +against, and handling the webs of checkit claith in the loom.</p> +<p>Ill would it become me, I trust a dutiful son, to say that my father was +any thing but a decent, industrious, hard-working man, doing everything for +the good of his family, and winning the respect of all that knew the value +of his worth. As to his decency, few—<!-- page 8--><a +name="page8"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 8</span>very few +indeed—laid beneath the mools of Dalkeith kirkyard, made their beds +there, leaving a better name behind them; and as to industry, it is but +little to say that he toiled the very flesh off his bones, driving the +shuttle from Monday morning till Saturday night, from the rising up of the +sun, even to the going down thereof; and whiles, when opportunity led him, +or occasion required, digging and delving away at the bit kail-yard, till +moon and stars were in the lift, and the dews of heaven that fell on his +head, were like the oil that flowed from Aaron’s beard, even to the +skirts of his garment. But what will ye say there? Some are +born with a silver spoon in their mouths, and others with a +parritch-stick. Of the latter was my father; for, with all his +fechting, he never was able much more than to keep our heads above the +ocean of debt. Whatever was denied him, a kind Providence, howsoever, +enabled him to do that; and so he departed this life contented, leaving to +my mother and me, the two survivors, the prideful remembrance of being, +respectively, she the widow, and me the son, of an honest man. Some +left with twenty thousand cannot boast as much; so every one has their +comforts.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p8b.jpg"> +<img alt="Mansie’s wedding" src="images/p8s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Having never entered much into public life, further than attending the +kirk twice every Sabbath—and thrice when there was evening +service—the days of my father glided over like the waters of a deep +river that make little noise in their course; so I do not <!-- page 9--><a +name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 9</span>know whether to lament or +to rejoice at having almost nothing to record of him. Had Buonaparte +as little ill to account for, it would be well this day for him:—but, +losh me! I had almost skipped over his wedding.</p> +<p>In the five-and-twentieth year of his age, he had fallen in love with my +mother, Marion Laverock, at the christening of a neighbour’s bairn, +where they both happened to forgather; little, I daresay, jealousing, at +the time their eyes first met, that fate had destined them for a pair, and +to be the honoured parents of me, their only bairn. Seeing my +father’s heart was catched as in the net of the fowler, she took +every lawful means, such as adding another knot to her cockernony, putting +up her hair in screw curls, and so on, to follow up her advantage; the +result of all which was, that, after three months’ courtship, she +wrote a letter out to her friends at Loanhead, telling them of what was +more than likely to happen, and giving a kind invitation to such of them as +might think it worth their whiles to come in and be spectators of the +ceremony.—And a prime day I am told they had of it, having, by advice +of more than one, consented to make it a penny wedding; and hiring Deacon +Laurie’s malt-barn at five shillings, for the express purpose.</p> +<p>Many yet living, among whom James Batter, who was the best-man, and +Duncan Imrie, the heelcutter in the Flesh-Market Close, are still above +board to <!-- page 10--><a name="page10"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +10</span>bear solemn testimony to the grandness of the occasion, and the +uncountable numerousness of the company, with such a display of +mutton-broth, swimming thick with raisins,—and roasted jiggets of +lamb,—to say nothing of mashed turnips and champed potatoes,—as +had not been seen in the wide parish of Dalkeith in the memory of +man. It was not only my father’s bridal day, but it brought +many a lad and lass together by way of partners at foursome reels and +Hieland jigs, whose courtship did not end in smoke, couple above couple +dating the day of their happiness from that famous forgathering. +There were no less than three fiddlers, two of them blind with the +small-pox, and one naturally; and a piper with his drone and chanter, +playing as many pibrochs as would have deaved a mill-happer,—all +skirling, scraping, and bumming away throughither, the whole afternoon and +night, and keeping half the countryside dancing, capering, and cutting, in +strathspey step and quick time, as if they were without a weary, or had not +a bone in their bodies. In the days of darkness, the whole concern +would have been imputed to magic and glamour; and douce folk, finding how +they were transgressing over their usual bounds, would have looked about +them for the wooden pin that auld Michael Scott the warlock drave in behind +the door, leaving the family to dance themselves to death at their +leisure.</p> +<p><!-- page 11--><a name="page11"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +11</span>Had the business ended in dancing, so far well, for a sound sleep +would have brought a blithe wakening, and all be tight and right again; +but, alas and alackaday! the violent heat and fume of foment they were all +thrown into, caused the emptying of so many ale-tankers, and the swallowing +of so muckle toddy, by way of cooling and refreshing the company, that they +all got as fou as the Baltic; and many ploys, that shall be nameless, were +the result of a sober ceremony, whereby two douce and decent people, Mansie +Wauch, my honoured father, and Marion Laverock, my respected mother, were +linked thegither, for better for worse, in the lawful bonds of honest +wedlock.</p> +<p>It seems as if Providence, reserving every thing famous and remarkable +for me, allowed little or nothing of consequence to happen to my father, +who had few cruiks in his lot; at least I never learned, either from him or +any other body, of any adventures likely seriously to interest the world at +large. I have heard tell, indeed, that he once got a terrible fright +by taking the bounty, during the American war, from an Eirish corporal, of +the name of Dochart O’Flaucherty, at Dalkeith Fair, when he was at +his prenticeship; he, not being accustomed to malt-liquor, having got +fouish and frisky—which was not his natural disposition—over a +half a bottle of porter. From this it will easily be seen, in the +first place, that it would be with a fight that his master would get him +off, by obliging <!-- page 12--><a name="page12"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 12</span>the corporal to take back the trepan money; in +the second place, how long a date back it is since the Eirish began to be +the death of us; and, in conclusion, that my honoured faither got such a +fleg, as to spain him effectually, for the space of ten years, from every +drinkable stronger than good spring-well water. Let the unwary take +caution; and may this be a wholesome lesson to all whom it may concern.</p> +<p>In this family history it becomes me, as an honest man, to make passing +mention of my father’s sister, auntie Mysie, that married a carpenter +and undertaker in the town of Jedburgh; and who, in the course of nature +and industry, came to be in a prosperous and thriving way; indeed, so much +so, as to be raised from the rank of a private head of a family; and at +last elected, by a majority of two votes over a famous cow-doctor, a member +of the town-council itself.</p> +<p>There is a good story, howsoever, connected with this business, with +which I shall make myself free to wind up this somewhat fusty and +fushionless chapter.</p> +<p>Well, ye see, some great lord,—I forget his name, but no +matter,—that had made a most tremendous sum of money, either by foul +or fair means, among the blacks in the East Indies, had returned, before he +died, to lay his bones at home, as yellow as a Limerick glove, and as rich +as Dives in the New Testament. He kept flunkies with plush +small-clothes and sky-blue coats with scarlet-velvet cuffs and +collars,—lived <!-- page 13--><a name="page13"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 13</span>like a princie, and settled, as I said before, +in the neighbourhood of Jedburgh.</p> +<p>The body, though as brown as a toad’s back, was as prideful and +full of power as old King Nebuchadneisher; and how to exhibit all his +purple and fine linen, he aye thought and better thought, till at last the +happy determination came over his mind like a flash of lightning, to invite +the bailies, deacons, and town-council, all in a body, to come and dine +with him.</p> +<p>Save us! what a brushing of coats, such a switching of stoury trowsers, +and bleaching of white cotton stockings, as took place before the +catastrophe of the feast, never before happened since Jeddert was a +burgh. Some of them that were forward and geyan bold in the spirit, +crowed aloud for joy, at being able to boast that they had received an +invitation letter to dine with a great lord; while others as proud as +peacocks of the honour, yet not very sure as to their being up to the trade +of behaving themselves at the tables of the great, were mostly dung stupid +with not knowing what to think. A council meeting or two was held in +the gloamings, to take such a serious business into consideration; some +expressing their fears and inward down-sinking, while others cheered them +up with a fillip of pleasant consolation. Scarcely a word of the +matter, for which they were summoned together by the town-officer—and +which was about the mending of the old bell-rope—was discussed by any +of them. <!-- page 14--><a name="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +14</span>So after a sowd of toddy was swallowed, with the hopes of making +them brave men, and good soldiers of the magistracy, they all plucked up a +proud spirit, and do or die, determined to march in a body up to the gate, +and forward to the table of his lordship.</p> +<p>My uncle, who had been one of the ringleaders of the chicken-hearted, +crap away up among the rest, with his new blue coat on, shining fresh from +the ironing of the goose, but keeping well among the thick, to be as little +kenspeckle as possible; for all the folk of the town were at their doors +and windows to witness the great occasion of the town-council going a way +up like gentlemen of rank to take their dinner with his lordship. +That it was a terrible trial to all cannot be for a moment denied; yet some +of them behaved themselves decently; and, if we confess that others +trembled in the knees, as if they were marching to a field of battle, it +was all in the course of human nature.</p> +<p>Yet ye would wonder how they came on by degrees; and, to cut a long tale +short, at length found themselves in a great big room, like a palace in a +fairy tale, full of grand pictures with gold frames, and looking-glasses +like the side of a house, where they could see down to their very +shoes. For a while they were like men in a dream, perfectly dazzled +and dumfoundered; and it was five minutes before they could either see a +seat, or think of sitting down. With the reflection of the +looking-glasses, one of the bailies was so possessed <!-- page 15--><a +name="page15"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 15</span>within himself, that he +tried to chair himself where chair was none, and landed, not very softly, +on the carpet; while another of the deacons, a fat and dumpy man, as he was +trying to make a bow, and throw out his leg behind him, stramped on a +favourite Newfoundland dog’s tail, that, wakening out of its slumbers +with a yell that made the roof ring, played drive against my uncle, who was +standing abaft, and wheeled him like a butterfly, side foremost, against a +table with a heap of flowers on it, where, in trying to kep himself, he +drove his head, like a battering-ram, through a looking-glass, and bleached +back on his hands and feet on the carpet.</p> +<p>Seeing what had happened, they were all frightened; but his lordship, +after laughing heartily, was politer, and knew better about manners than +all that; so, bidding the flunkies hurry away with the fragments of the +china jugs and jars, they found themselves, sweating with terror and +vexation, ranged along silk settees, cracking about the weather and other +wonderfuls.</p> +<p>Such a dinner! the fume of it went round about their hearts like myrrh +and frankincense. The landlord took the head of the table, the +bailies the right and left of him; the deacons and councillors were ranged +along the sides, like files of soldiers; and the chaplain at the foot said +grace. It is entirely out of the power of man to set down on paper +all that they got to eat and drink; <!-- page 16--><a +name="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 16</span>and such was the effect +of French cookery, that they did not know fish from flesh. Howsoever, +for all that, they laid their lugs in every thing that lay before them, and +what they could not eat with forks they supped with spoons; so it was all +to one purpose.</p> +<p>When the dishes were removing, each had a large blue glass bowl full of +water, and a clean calendered red damask towel, put down by a smart flunkie +before him; and many of them that had not helped themselves well to the +wine, while they were eating their steaks and French frigassees, were now +vexed to death on that score, imagining that nothing remained for them, but +to dight their nebs and flee up.</p> +<p>Ignorant folk should not judge rashly, and the worthy town-council were +here in error; for their surmises, however feasible, did the landlord +wrong. In a minute they had fresh wine decanters ranged down before +them, filled with liquors of all variety of colours, red, green, and blue; +and the table was covered with dishes full of jargonelles and pippins, +raisins and almonds, shell-walnuts and plumdamases, with nut-crackers, and +everything else they could think of eating; so that, after drinking +“The King, and long life to him,” and “The constitution +of the country at home and abroad,” and “Success to +trade,” and “A good harvest,” and “May ne’er +waur be among us,” and “Botheration to the French,” and +“Corny toes and short shoes to the foes of old Scotland,” and +so <!-- page 17--><a name="page17"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +17</span>on, their tongues began at length not to be so tacked; and the +weight of their own dignity, that had taken flight before his lordship, +came back and rested on their shoulders.</p> +<p>In the course of the evening, his lordship whispered to one of the +flunkies to bring in some things—they could not hear what—as +the company might like them. The wise ones thought within themselves +that the best aye comes hindmost; so in brushed a powdered valet, with +three dishes on his arm of twisted black things, just like sticks of +Gibraltar-rock, but different in the colour.</p> +<p>Bailie Bowie helped himself to a jargonelle, and Deacon Purves to a +wheen raisins; and my uncle, to show that he was not frighted, and knew +what he was about, helped himself to one of the long black things, which, +without much ceremony, he shoved into his mouth and began to. Two or +three more, seeing that my uncle was up to trap, followed his example, and +chewed away like nine-year-olds.</p> +<p>Instead of the curious-looking black thing being sweet as +honey—for so they expected—they soon found they had catched a +Tartar; for it had a confounded bitter tobacco-taste. Manners, +however, forbade them laying it down again, more especially as his +lordship, like a man dumfoundered, was aye keeping his eye on them. +So away they chewed, and better chewed, and whammelled them round in their +<!-- page 18--><a name="page18"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +18</span>mouths, first in one cheek, and then in the other, taking now and +then a mouthful of drink to wash the trash down, then chewing away again, +and syne another whammel from one cheek to the other, and syne another +mouthful, while the whole time their eyes were staring in their heads like +mad, and the faces they made may be imagined, but cannot be +described. His lordship gave his eyes a rub, and thought he was +dreaming; but no—there they were bodily, chewing, and whammelling, +and making faces; so no wonder that, in keeping in his laugh, he sprung a +button from his waistcoat, and was like to drop down from his chair, +through the floor, in an ecstacy of astonishment, seeing they were all +growing sea-sick, and pale as stucco images.</p> +<p>Frightened out of his wits at last that he would be the death of the +whole council, and that more of them would poison themselves, he took up +one of the segars—every one knows segars now, for they are +fashionable among the very sweeps—which he lighted at the candle, and +commenced puffing like a tobacco-pipe.</p> +<p>My uncle and the rest, if they were ill before, were worse now; so when +they got to the open air, instead of growing better, they grew sicker and +sicker, till they were waggling from side to side like ships in a storm; +and, not knowing whether their heels or heads were uppermost, went spinning +round about like pieries.</p> +<p><!-- page 19--><a name="page19"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +19</span>“A little spark may make muckle wark.” It is +perfectly wonderful what great events spring out of trifles, or what seem +to common eyes but trifles. I do not allude to the nine days’ +deadly sickness, that was the legacy of every one that ate his segar, but +to the awful truth, that, at the next election of councillors, my poor +uncle Jamie was completely blackballed—a general spite having been +taken to him in the town-hall, on account of having led the magistracy +wrong, by doing what he ought to have let alone, thereby making himself and +the rest a topic of amusement to the world at large, for many and many a +month.</p> +<p>Others, to be sure, it becomes me to make mention, have another version +of the story, and impute the cause of his having been turned out to the +implacable wrath of old Bailie Bogie, whose best black coat, square in the +tails, that he had worn only on the Sundays for nine years, was totally +spoiled, on their way home in the dark from his lordship’s, by a +tremendous blash, that my unfortunate uncle happened, in the course of +nature, to let flee in the frenzy of a deadly upthrowing.</p> +<h2><!-- page 20--><a name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +20</span>CHAPTER THREE—THE COMING INTO THE WORLD OF MANSIE WAUCH</h2> +<p>I have no distinct recollection of the thing myself, yet there is every +reason to believe that I was born on the 15th of October 1765, in that +little house standing by itself, not many yards from the eastmost side of +the Flesh-market Gate, Dalkeith. My eyes opened on the light about +two o’clock in a dark and rainy morning. Long was it spoken +about that something great and mysterious would happen on that dreary +night; as the cat, after washing her face, went mewing about, with her tail +sweeing behind her like a ramrod; and a corbie, from the Duke’s +woods, tumbled down Jamie Elder’s lum, when he had set the little +still-a-going—giving them a terrible fright, as they all took it +first for the devil, and then for an exciseman—and fell with a great +cloud of soot, and a loud skraigh, into the empty kail-pot.</p> +<p>The first thing that I have any clear memory of, was my being carried +out on my auntie’s shoulder, with a leather cap tied under my chin, +to see the Fair Race. Oh! but it was a grand sight! I have read +since then the story of Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp, but this beat it +all to sticks. There was a long row of tables covered with carpets of +bonny patterns, heaped from one end to the other with shoes of every kind +and size, some with polished soles, and some glittering with sparribles and +cuddy-heels; and little red worsted boots for bairns, with blue and white +edgings, hanging like <!-- page 21--><a name="page21"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 21</span>strings of flowers up the posts at each +end;—and then what a collection of luggies! the whole meal in the +market-sacks on a Thursday did not seem able to fill them;—and +horn-spoons, green and black freckled, with shanks clear as +amber,—and timber caups,—and ivory egg-cups of every +pattern. Have a care of us! all the eggs in Smeaton dairy might have +found resting places for their doups in a row. As for the +gingerbread, I shall not attempt a description. Sixpenny and shilling +cakes, in paper, tied with skinie; and roundabouts, and snaps, brown and +white quality, and parliaments, on stands covered with calendered linen, +clean from the fold. To pass it was just impossible; it set my teeth +a-watering, and I skirled like mad, until I had a gilded lady thrust into +my little nieve; the which, after admiring for a minute, I applied my teeth +to, and of the head I made no bones; so that in less than no time she had +vanished, petticoats and all, no trace of her being to the fore, save and +except long treacly daubs, extending east and west from ear to ear, and +north and south from cape neb of the nose to the extremity of +beardy-land.</p> +<p>But what, of all things, attracted my attention on that memorable day, +was the show of cows, sheep, and horses, mooing, baaing and neighering; and +the race—that was best! Od, what a sight!—we were jammed +in the crowd of old wives, with their toys and shining ribands; and carter +lads, with their blue bonnets; and young <!-- page 22--><a +name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 22</span>wenches, carrying home +their fairings in napkins, as muckle as would hold their teeth going for a +month;—there scarcely could be much for love, when there was so much +for the stomach;—and men, with wooden legs, and brass virls at the +end of them, playing on the fiddle,—and a bear that roared, and +danced on its hind feet, with a muzzled mouth,—and Punch and +Polly,—and puppie-shows, and more than I can tell,—when up came +the horses to the starting-post. I shall never forget the bonny +dresses of the riders. One had a napkin tied round his head, with the +flaps fleeing at his neck; and his coat-tails were curled up into a big +hump behind; it was so tight buttoned ye would not think he could have +breathed. His corduroy trowsers (such like as I have often since made +to growing callants) were tied round his ankles with a string; and he had a +rusty spur on one shoe, which I saw a man take off to lend him. Save +us! how he pulled the beast’s head by the bridle, and flapped up and +down on the saddle when he tried a canter! The second one had on a +black velvet hunting-cap, and his coat stripped. I wonder he was not +feared of cold, his shirt being like a riddle, and his nether nankeens but +thin for such weather; but he was a brave lad; and sorry were the folks for +him, when he fell off in taking over sharp a turn, by which old Pullen, the +bell-ringer, who was holding the post, was made to coup the creels, and got +a bloody nose.—And but the last was a wearyful <!-- page 23--><a +name="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 23</span>one! He was all +life, and as gleg as an eel. Up and down he went; and up and down +philandered the beast on its hind-legs and its fore-legs, funking like mad; +yet though he was not above thirteen, or fourteen at most, he did not cry +out for help more than five or six times, but grippit at the mane with one +hand, and at the back of the saddle with the other, till daft Robie, the +hostler at the stables, claught hold of the beast by the head, and off they +set. The young birkie had neither hat nor shoon, but he did not spare +the stick; round and round they flew like mad. Ye would have thought +their eyes would have loupen out; and loudly all the crowds were hurraing, +when young hatless came up foremost, standing in the stirrups, the long +stick between his teeth, and his white hair fleeing behind him in the wind +like streamers on a frosty night.</p> +<h2><!-- page 24--><a name="page24"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +24</span>CHAPTER FOUR—CALF-LOVE</h2> +<p>The long and the short is, that I was sent to school, where I learned to +read and spell, making great progress in the Single and Mother’s +Carritch. No, what is more, few could fickle me in the Bible, being +mostly able to spell it all over, save the second of Ezra and the seventh +of Nehemiah, which the Dominie himself could never read through twice in +the same way, or without variations.</p> +<p>My father, to whom I was born, like Isaac to Abraham, in his old age, +was an elder in the Relief Kirk, respected by all for his canny and douce +behaviour, and, as I have observed before, a weaver to his trade. The +cot and the kail-yard were his own, and had been auld granfaither’s; +but still he had to ply the shuttle from Monday to Saturday, to keep all +right and tight. The thrums were a perquisite of my own, which I +niffered with the gundy-wife for Gibraltar-rock, cut-throat, gib, or +bull’s-eyes.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p24b.jpg"> +<img alt="Mansie and Nancy" src="images/p24s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Having come into the world before my time, and being of a pale face and +delicate make, Nature never could have intended me for the naval or +military line, or for any robustious trade or profession whatsoever. +No, no, I never liked fighting in my life; peace was aye in my +thoughts. When there was any riot in the streets, I fled, and +scougged myself at the chimney-lug as quickly as I dowed; and, rather than +double a nieve to a school-fellow, I pocketed many shabby epithets, got my +paiks, and took the coucher’s blow <!-- page 25--><a +name="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 25</span>from laddies that could +hardly reach up to my waistband.</p> +<p>Just after I was put to my prenticeship, having made free choice of the +tailoring trade, I had a terrible stound of calf-love. Never shall I +forget it. I was growing up, long and lank as a willow-wand. +Brawns to my legs there were none, as my trowsers of other years too +visibly effected to show. The long yellow hair hung down like a +flax-wig, the length of my lantern jaws, which looked, notwithstanding my +yapness and stiff appetite, as if eating and they had broken up +acquaintanceship. My blue jacket seemed in the sleeves to have picked +a quarrel with the wrists, and had retreated to a tait below the +elbows. The haunch-buttons, on the contrary, appeared to have taken a +strong liking to the shoulders, a little below which they showed their +tarnished brightness. At the middle of the back the tails terminated, +leaving the well-worn rear of my corduroys, like a full moon seen through a +dark haze. Oh! but I must have been a bonny lad.</p> +<p>My first flame was the minister’s lassie, Jess, a buxom and +forward quean, two or three years older than myself. I used to sit +looking at her in the kirk, and felt a droll confusion when our eyes +met. It dirled through my heart like a dart, and I looked down at my +psalm-book sheepish and blushing. Fain would I have spoken to her, +but it would not do; my courage aye failed me at the pinch, though she +whiles <!-- page 26--><a name="page26"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +26</span>gave me a smile when she passed me. She used to go to the +well every night with her two stoups, to draw water after the manner of the +Israelites at gloaming; so I thought of watching to give her the two apples +which I had carried in my pocket for more than a week for that +purpose. How she started when I stappit them into her hand, and +brushed by without speaking! I stood at the bottom of the close +listening, and heard her laughing till she was like to split. My +heart flap-flappit in my breast like a pair of fanners. It was a +moment of heavenly hope; but I saw Jamie Coom, the blacksmith, who I aye +jealoused was my rival, coming down to the well. I saw her give him +one of the apples; and, hearing him say, with a loud gaffaw, “Where +is the tailor?” I took to my heels, and never stopped till I +found myself on the little stool by the fireside, and the hamely sound of +my mother’s wheel bum-bumming in my lug, like a gentle lullaby.</p> +<p>Every noise I heard flustered me, but I calmed in time, though I went to +my bed without my supper. When I was driving out the gaislings to the +grass on the next morn, who was it my ill fate to meet but the +blacksmith. “Ou, Mansie,” said Jamie Coom, “are ye +gaun to take me for your best man? I hear you are to be cried in the +kirk on Sunday?”</p> +<p>“Me!” answered I, shaking and staring.</p> +<p>“Yes!” said he; “Jess the minister’s maid told +me last night, that you had been giving up your name at <!-- page 27--><a +name="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 27</span>the manse. Ay, +it’s ower true—for she showed me the apples ye gied her in a +present. This is a bonny story, Mansie, my man, and you only at your +prenticeship yet.”</p> +<p>Terror and despair had struck me dumb. I stood as still and as +stiff as a web of buckram. My tongue was tied, and I could not +contradict him. Jamie folded his arms, and went away whistling, +turning every now and then his sooty face over his shoulder, and mostly +sticking his tune, as he could not keep his mouth screwed for +laughing. What would I not have given to have laughed too!</p> +<p>There was no time to be lost; this was the Saturday. The next +rising sun would shine on the Sabbath. Ah, what a case I was +in! I could mostly have drowned myself, had I not been +frighted. What could I do? My love had vanished like lightning; +but oh, I was in a terrible gliff! Instead of gundy, I sold my thrums +to Mrs Walnut for a penny, with which I bought at the counter a sheet of +paper and a pen; so that in the afternoon I wrote out a letter to the +minister, telling him what I had been given to hear, and begging him, for +the sake of mercy, not to believe Jess’s word, as I was not able to +keep a wife, and as she was a leeing gipsy.</p> +<h2><!-- page 28--><a name="page28"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +28</span>CHAPTER FIVE—CURSECOWL</h2> +<p>But, losh me! I have come on too far already, before mentioning a +wonderful thing that happened to me when I was only seven years old. +Few things in my eventful life have made a deeper impression on me than +what I am going to relate.</p> +<p>It was the custom, in those times, for the different schools to have +cock-fighting on Fastern’s E’en: and the victor, as he was +called, treated the other scholars to a football. Many a dust have I +seen rise out of that business—broken shins and broken heads, sore +bones and sound duckings—but this was none of these.</p> +<p>Our next neighbour was a flesher; and right before the window was a +large stone, on which old wives with their weans would sometimes take a +rest; so what does I, when I saw the whole hobble-shaw coming fleeing down +the street, with the kick-ba’ at their noses, but up I speels upon +the stone (I was a wee chap with a daidley, a ruffled shirt, and leather +cap edged with rabbit fur) that I might see all the fun. This one +fell, and that one fell, and a third was knocked over and a fourth got a +bloody nose: and so on; and there was such a noise and din, as would have +deaved the workmen of Babel—when, lo! and behold! the ball played +bounce mostly at my feet, and the whole mob after it. I thought I +should have been dung to pieces; so I pressed myself back with all my +might, and through went my elbow into Cursecowl’s kitchen. It +<!-- page 29--><a name="page29"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 29</span>did +not stick long there. Before you could say Jack Robinson, out flew +the flesher in his killing-clothes; his face was as red as fire, and he had +his pouch full of bloody knives buckled to his side. I skreighed out +in his face when I looked at him, but he did not stop a moment for +that. With a girn that was like to rive his mouth, he twisted his +nieve in the back of my hair, and off with me hanging by the cuff of the +neck, like a kittling. My eyes were like to loup out of my head, but +I had no breath to cry. I heard him thraw the key, for I could not +look down, the skin of my face was pulled so tight; and in he flang me like +a pair of old boots into his booth, where I landed on my knees upon a raw +bloody calf’s skin. I thought I would have gone out of my wits, +when I heard the door locked upon me, and looked round me in such an +unearthly place. It had only one sparred window, and there was a +garden behind; but how was I to get out? I danced round and round +about, stamping my heels on the floor, and rubbing my begritten face with +my coat sleeve. To make matters worse, it was wearing to the +darkening. The floor was all covered with lappered blood, and sheep +and calf skins. The calves and the sheep themselves, with their +cuttit throats, and glazed een, and ghastly girning faces, were hanging +about on pins, heels uppermost. Losh me! I thought on Bluebeard +and his wives in the bloody chamber!</p> +<p><!-- page 30--><a name="page30"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +30</span>And all the time it was growing darker and darker, and more +dreary; and all was as quiet as death itself. It looked, by all the +world, like a grave, and me buried alive within it; till the rottens came +out of their holes to lick the blood, and whisked about like wee evil +spirits. I thought on my father and my mother, and how I should never +see them more; for I was sure that Cursecowl would come in the dark, tie my +hands and feet thegither, and lay me across the killing-stool. I grew +more and more frightened; and it grew more and more dark. I thought +all the sheep-heads were looking at one another, and then girn-girning at +me. At last I grew desperate; and my hair was as stiff as wire, +though it was as wet as if I had been douking in the Esk. I began to +bite through the wooden spars with my teeth, and rugged at them with my +nails, till they were like to come off—but no, it would not do. +At length, when I had greeted myself mostly blind, and cried till I was as +hoarse as a corbie, I saw auld Janet Hogg taking in her bit washing from +the bushes, and I reeled and screamed till she heard me.—It was like +being transported into heaven; for, in less than no time, my mother, with +her apron at her eyes, was at the door; and Cursecowl, with a candle in the +front of his hat, had scarcely thrawn the key, when out I flew; and she +lifted up her foot (I dare say it was the first and last time in her life, +for she was a douce woman) and gave him such a kick and a push that <!-- +page 31--><a name="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 31</span>he played +bleach over, head foremost, without being able to recover himself; and, as +we ran down the close, we heard him cursing and swearing in the dark, like +a devil incarnate.</p> +<h2><!-- page 32--><a name="page32"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +32</span>CHAPTER SIX—MANSIE WAUCH ON THE PUSHING OF HIS FORTUNE</h2> +<p>The days of the years of my prenticeship having glided cannily over on +the working-board of my respected maister, James Hosey, where I sat sewing +cross-legged like a busy bee, in the true spirit of industrious +contentment, I found myself, at the end of the seven year, so well +instructed in the tailoring trade, to which I had paid a near-sighted +attention, that, without more ado, I girt myself round about with a proud +determination of at once cutting my mother’s apron string, and +venturing to go without a hold. Thinks I to myself, “faint +heart never won fair lady”; so, taking my stick in my hand, I set out +towards Edinburgh, as brave as a Highlander, in search of a +journeyman’s place. When I think how many have been out of +bread, month after month, making vain application at the house of call, I +may set it down to an especial Providence, that I found a place, on the +very first day, to my heart’s content, in by at the Grassmarket, +where I stayed for the space of six calendar months.</p> +<p>Had it not been from a real sense of the duty I owed to my future +employers, whomsoever they might be, in making myself a first-rate hand in +the cutting, shaping, and sewing line, I would not have found courage in my +breast to have helped me out through such a long and dreary time. The +change from our own town, where every face was friendly, and where <!-- +page 33--><a name="page33"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 33</span>I could +ken every man I saw, by the cut of his coat, at half a mile’s +distance, to the bum and bustle of the High Street, the tremendous cannons +of the Castle, packed full of soldiers ready for war, and the filthy, +ill-smelling abominations of the Cowgate, where I put up, was almost more +than could be tholed by man of woman born. My lodging was up six pair +of stairs, in a room of Widow Randie’s, which I rented for +half-a-crown a week, coals included; and many a time, after putting out my +candle, before stepping into my bed, I used to look out at the window, +where I could see thousands and thousands of lamps, spreading for miles +adown streets and through squares, where I did not know a living soul; and +dreeing the awful and insignificant sense of being a lonely stranger in a +foreign land. Then would the memory of past days return to me; yet I +had the same trust in Heaven as I had before, seeing that they were the +dividual stars above my head which I used to glour up at in wonder at +Dalkeith—pleasant Dalkeith! ay, how different, with its bonny river +Esk, its gardens full of gooseberry bushes and pear-trees, its grass parks +spotted with sheep, and its grand green woods, from the bullying +blackguards, the comfortless reek, and the nasty gutters of the +Netherbow.</p> +<p>To those, nevertheless, that take the world as they find it, there are +pleasures in all situations; nor was mine, bad though I allow it to be, +entirely destitute <!-- page 34--><a name="page34"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 34</span>of them; for our work-room being at the top of +the stairs, and the light of heaven coming down through skylights, three in +number, we could, by putting out our heads, have a vizzy of the grand +ancient building of George Heriot’s Hospital, with the crowds of +young laddies playing through the grass parks, with their bit brown +coaties, and shining leather caps, like a wheen puddocks; and all the sweet +country out by Barrowmuirhead, and thereaway; together with the +Corstorphine Hills—and the Braid Hills—and the Pentland +Hills—and all the rest of the hills, covered here and there with +tufts of blooming whins, as yellow as the beaten gold—spotted round +about their bottoms with green trees, and growing corn, but with tops as +bare as a gaberlunzie’s coat—kepping the rowling clouds on +their awful shoulders on cold and misty days; and freckled over with the +flowers of the purple heather, on which the shy moorfowl take a delight to +fatten and fill their craps, through the cosy months of the blythe summer +time.</p> +<p>Let nobody take it amiss, yet I must bear witness to the truth, though +the devil should have me. My heart was sea-sick of Edinburgh folk and +town manners, for the which I had no stomach. I could form no +friendly acquaintanceship with a living soul; so I abode by myself, like St +John in the Isle of Patmos, on spare allowance, making a sheep-head serve +me for three day’s kitchen. I longed like a <!-- page 35--><a +name="page35"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 35</span>sailor that has been +far at sea, and wasted and weatherbeaten, to see once more my native home; +and, bundling up, flee from the noisy stramash to the loun dykeside of +domestic privacy. Everything around me seemed to smell of sin and +pollution, like the garments of the Egyptians with the ten plagues; and +often, after I took off my clothes to lie down in my bed, when the watchmen +that guarded us through the night in blue dreadnoughts with red necks, and +battons, and horn-bouets, from thieves, murderers, and pickpockets, were +bawling, “Half-past ten o’clock,” did I commune with my +own heart, and think within myself, that I would rather be a sober, poor, +honest man in the country, able to clear my day and way by the help of +Providence, than the Provost himself, my lord though he be, or even the +Mayor of London, with his velvet gown trailing for yards in the glaur +behind him—do what he likes to keep it up; or riding about the +streets—as Joey Smith the Yorkshire Jockey, to whom I made a hunting +cap, told me—in a coach made of clear crystal, and wheels of the +beaten gold.</p> +<p>It was an awful business; dog on it, I ay wonder yet how I got through +with it. There was no rest for soul or body, by night or day, with +police-officers crying, “One o’clock, an’ a frosty +morning,” knocking Eirishmen’s teeth down their throats with +their battons, hauling limmers by the lug and horn into <!-- page 36--><a +name="page36"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 36</span>the lock-up house, or +over by to Bridewell, where they were set to beat hemp for a small wage, +and got their heads shaved; with carters bawling, “Ye yo, yellow +sand, yellow sand,” with mouths as wide as a barn-door, and voices +that made the drums of your ears dirl, and ring again like mad; with +fishwives from Newhaven, Cockenzie, and Fisherrow, skirling, +“Roug-a-rug, warstling herring,” as if every one was trying to +drown out her neighbour, till the very landladies, at the top of the +seventeen story houses, could hear, if they liked to be fashed, and might +come down at their leisure to buy them at three for a penny; men from +Barnton, and thereaway on the Queensferry Road, halloing “Sour douk, +sour douk”; tinklers skirmishing the edges of brown plates they were +trying to make the old wives buy—and what not. To me it was a +real hell upon earth.</p> +<p>Never let us repine, howsomever, but consider that all is ordered for +the best. The sons of the patriarch Jacob found out their brother +Joseph in a foreign land, and where they least expected it; so it was +here—even here, where my heart was sickening unto death, from my +daily and nightly thoughts being as bitter as gall—that I fell in +with the greatest blessing of my life, Nanse Cromie!</p> +<p>In the flat below our workshop lived Mrs Whitteraick, the wife of Mr +Whitteraick, a dealer in hens <!-- page 37--><a name="page37"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 37</span>and hams in the poultry market, that had been +fallen in with, when her gudeman was riding out on his bit sheltie in the +Lauder direction, bargaining with the farmers for their ducks, chickens, +gaislings, geese, turkey-pouts, howtowdies, guinea-hens, and other +barn-door fowls; and, among his other calls, having happened to make a +transaction with her father, anent some Anchovy-ducks, he, by a warm +invitation, was kindly pressed to remain for the night.</p> +<p>The upshot of the business was, that, on mounting his pony to make the +best of his way home, next morning after breakfast, Maister Whitteraick +found he was shot through the heart with a stound of love; and that, unless +a suitable remedy could be got, there was no hope for him on this side of +time, let alone blowing out his brains, or standing before the +minister. Right it was in him to run the risk of deciding on the +last; and so well did he play his game, that, in two months from that date, +after sending sundry presents on his part to the family, of smeaked hams +and salt tongues—acknowledged on theirs, by return of carrier, in the +shape of sucking pigs, jargonelle pears, skim-milk cheeses, and such +like—matters were soldered; and Miss Jeanie Learig, made into Mrs +Whitteraick by the blessing of Dr Blether, rode away into Edinburgh in a +post-chaise, with a brown and a black horse, one blind and the other lame, +seated cheek-by-jowl with her loving spouse, who, <!-- page 38--><a +name="page38"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 38</span>doubtless was busked +out in his best, with a Manchester superfine blue coat, and double gilt +buttons, a waterproof hat, silk stockings, with open-steek gushats, and +bright yellow shamoy gloves.</p> +<p>A stranger among strangers, and not knowing how she might thole the +company and conversation of town-life, Mrs Whitteraick, that was to be, +hired a bit wench of a lassie from the neighbourhood, that was to follow +her, come the term. And who think ye should this lassie be, but Nanse +Cromie—afterwards, in the course of a kind Providence, the honoured +wife of my bosom, and the mother of bonny Benjie.</p> +<p>In going up and down the stairs—it being a common entry, ye +observe—me maybe going down with my everyday hat on to my dinner, and +she coming up, carrying a stoup of water, or half-a-pound of pouthered +butter on a plate, with a piece paper thrown over it—we frequently +met half-way, and had to stand still to let one another pass. Nothing +came out of these foregatherings, howsomever, for a month or two, she being +as shy and modest as she was bonny, with her clean demity short-gown, and +snow-white morning mutch, to say nothing of her cheery mouth, and her +glancing eyes; and me unco douffie, in making up to strangers. We +could not help, nevertheless, to take aye a stolen look of each other in +passing; and I was a gone man, bewitched out of my seven senses, <!-- page +39--><a name="page39"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 39</span>falling from my +clothes, losing my stomach, and over the lugs in love, three weeks and some +odd days before ever a single syllable passed between us.</p> +<p>Gude kens how long this Quaker-meeting-like silence would have +continued, had we not chanced to foregather one gloaming; and I, having +gotten a dram from one of our customers with a hump-back, at the +Crosscausey, whose fashionable new coat I had been out fitting on, found +myself as brave as a Bengal tiger, and said to her, “This is a fine +day, I say, my dear Nancy.”</p> +<p>The ice being once broken, every thing went on as smoothly as ye like; +so, in the long run, we went like lightning from twohanded cracks on the +stair-head, to stown walks, after work-hours, out by the West Port, and +thereaway.</p> +<p>If ever a man loved, and loved like mad, it was me, Mansie +Wauch—and I take no shame in the confession; but, knowing it all in +the course of nature, declare it openly and courageously in the face of the +wide world. Let them laugh who like; honest folk, I pity them; such +know not the pleasures of virtuous affection. It is not in corrupted, +sinful hearts that the fire of true love can ever burn clear. Alas, +and ohon orie! they lose the sweetest, completest, dearest, truest pleasure +that this world has in store for its children. They know not the +bliss to meet, that makes the embrace of separation bitter. They +never dreamed the <!-- page 40--><a name="page40"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 40</span>dreams that make wakening to the morning light +unpleasant. They never felt the raptures that can dirl like darts +through a man’s soul from a woman’s eye. They never +tasted the honey that dwells on a woman’s lip, sweeter than yellow +marygolds to the bee; or fretted under the fever of bliss that glows +through the frame in pressing the hand of a suddenly met, and fluttering +sweetheart. But tuts-tuts—hech-how! my day has long since +passed: and this is stuff to drop from the lips of an auld fool. +Nevertheless, forgive me, friends: I cannot help all-powerful nature.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p40b.jpg"> +<img alt="The minister’s lassie Jess" src="images/p40s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Nanse’s taste being like my own, we amused one another in abusing +great cities, which are all chokeful of the abominations of the Scarlet +Woman; and it is curious how soon I learned to be up to trap—I mean +in an honest way; for, when she said she was wearying the very heart out of +her to be home again to Lauder, which she said was her native, and the true +land of Goshen, I spoke back to her by way of answer—“Nancy, my +dear, believe me that the real land of Goshen is out at Dalkeith; and if +ye’ll take up house with me, and enter into a way of doing, I daursay +in a while, ye’ll come to think so too.”</p> +<p>What will ye say there? Matters were by-and-by settled full tosh +between us; and, though the means of both parties were small, we were +young, and able and willing to help one another. Nanse, out of her +wages, had hained a trifle; and I had, safe lodged <!-- page 41--><a +name="page41"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 41</span>under lock-and-key in +the Bank of Scotland, against the time of my setting up, the siller which +was got by selling the bit house of granfaither’s, on the death of my +ever-to-be-lamented mother, who survived her helpmate only six months, +leaving me an orphan lad in a wicked world, obliged to fend, forage and +look out for myself.</p> +<p>Taking matters into account, therefore, and considering that it is not +good for man to be alone, Nanse and me laid our heads together towards the +taking a bit house in the fore-street of Dalkeith; and at our leisure kept +a look-out about buying the plenishing—the expense of which, for +different littles and littles, amounted to more than we expected; yet, to +our hearts’ content, we made some most famous second-hand bargains of +sprechery, amongst the old-furniture warehousemen of the Cowgate. I +might put down here the prices of the room-grate, the bachelor’s +oven, the cheese-toaster, and the warming-pan, especially, which, though it +had a wheen holes in it, kept a fine polish; but, somehow or other, have +lost the receipt and cannot make true affidavy.</p> +<p>Certain it is, whatever cadgers may say to the contrary, that the back +is aye made for the burden; and, were all to use the means, and be +industrious, many, that wyte bad harvests, and worse times, would have, +like the miller in the auld sang, “A penny in the purse for dinner +and for supper,” or better to finish the verse, <!-- page 42--><a +name="page42"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 42</span>“Gin ye please a +guid fat cheese, and lumps of yellow butter.”</p> +<p>For two three days, I must confess, after Maister Wiggie had gone +through the ceremony of tying us together, and Nanse and me found ourselves +in the comfortable situation of man and wife, I was a wee dowie and +desponding, thinking that we were to have a numerous small family, and +where trade was to come from; but no sooner was my sign nailed up, with +four iron hold-fasts, by Johnny Hammer, painted in black letters on a blue +ground, with a picture of a jacket on one side and a pair of shears on the +other,—and my shop-door opened to the public, with a wheen ready-made +waistcoats, gallowses, leather-caps, and Kilmarnock cowls, hung up at the +window, than business flowed in upon us in a perfect torrent. First +one came in for his measure, and then another. A wife came in for a +pair of red worsted boots for her bairn, but would not take them for they +had not blue fringes. A bareheaded lassie, hoping to be handsel, +threw down twopence, and asked tape at three yards for a halfpenny. +The minister sent an old black coat beneath his maid’s arm, pinned up +in a towel, to get docked in the tails down into a jacket; which I trust I +did to his entire satisfaction, making it fit to a hair. The +Duke’s butler himself patronized me, by sending me a coat which was +all hair-powder and pomate, to get a new neck put to it. And James +Batter, aye a staunch friend of <!-- page 43--><a name="page43"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 43</span>the family, dispatched a barefoot cripple +lassie down the close to me, with a brown paper parcel, tied with skinie, +and having a memorandum letter sewed on the top of it, and wafered with a +wafer. It ran as follows; “Maister Batter has sent down, per +the bearer, with his compliments to Mr Wauch, a cuttikin of corduroy, +deficient in the instep, which please let out, as required. Maister +Wauch will also please be so good as observe that three of the buttons have +sprung the thorls, which he will be obliged to him to replace, at his +earliest convenience. Please send me a message what they may be; and +have the account made out, article for article, and duly discharged, that I +may send down the bearer with the change; and to bring me back the cuttikin +and the account, to save time and trouble. I am, dear sir, your most +obedient friend, and ever most sincerely,</p> +<p style="text-align: right">“<span class="smcap">James +Batter</span>.”</p> +<p>No wonder than we attracted customers, for our sign was the prettiest ye +ever saw, though the jacket was not just so neatly painted, as for some +sand-blind creatures not to take it for a goose. I daresay there were +fifty half-naked bairns glowring their eyes out of their heads at it, from +morning till night; and, after they all were gone to their beds, both Nanse +and me found ourselves so proud of our new situation in life, that we +slipped out in the dark by ourselves, and had a prime look at it with a +lantern.</p> +<h2><!-- page 44--><a name="page44"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +44</span>CHAPTER SEVEN—MANSIE WAUCH AND HIS FOREWARNING</h2> +<p>On first commencing business, I have freely confessed, I believe, that I +was unco solicitous of custom, though less from sinful, selfish motives, +than from the, I trust, laudable fear I had about becoming in a jiffy the +father of a small family, every one with a mouth to fill and a back to +cleid—helpless bairns, with nothing to look to or lean on, save and +except the proceeds of my daily handiwork. Nothing, however, is sure +in this world, as Maister Wiggie more than once took occasion to observe, +when lecturing on the house built by the foolish man on the sea-sands; for +months passed on, and better passed on; and these, added together by simple +addition, amounted to three years; and still neither word nor wittens of a +family, to perpetuate our name to future generations, appeared to be +forthcoming.</p> +<p>Between friends, I make no secret of the matter, that this was a +catastrophe which vexed me not a little, for more reasons than one. +In the first place, youngsters being a bond of mutual affection between man +and wife, sweeter than honey from the comb, and stronger than the Roman +cement with which the old Picts built their bridges, that will last till +the day of doom. In the second place, bairns toddling round a bit +ingle make a house look like itself, especially in the winter time, when +hailstanes rattle on the window, and winds roar like the voices of mighty +giants at the <!-- page 45--><a name="page45"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +45</span>lum-head; for then the maister of the dwelling finds himself like +an ancient patriarch, and the shepherd of a flock, tender as young lambs, +yet pleasant to his eye, and dear to his heart. And, in the third +place (for I’ll speak the truth and shame the deil) as I could not +thole the gibes and idle tongues of a wheen fools that, for their +diversion, would be asking me, “How the wife and bairns were; and if +I had sent my auldest laddie to the school yet?”</p> +<p>I have swithered within myself for more than half-an-hour, whether I +should relate a circumstance bordering a little on the supernatural line, +that happened to me, as connected with the business of the bairns of which +I have just been speaking; and, were it for no other reason, but just to +plague the scoffer that sits in his elbow-chair, I have determined to jot +down the whole miraculous paraphernally in black and white. With folk +that will not listen to the voice of reason, it is needless to be wasterful +of words; so them that like, may either prin their faith to my coat-sleeve, +about what I am going to relate, or not—just as they choose. +All that I can say in my defence, and as an affidavy to my veracity, is +that I have been thirty year an elder of Maister Wiggie’s +kirk—and that is no joke. The matter I make free to consider is +not a laughing concern, nor anything belonging to the Merry-Andrew line; +and, if folk were but strong in the faith, there is no saying what may come +to pass for their <!-- page 46--><a name="page46"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 46</span>good. One might as well hold up their +brazen face, and pretend not to believe any thing—neither the Witch +of Endor raising up Samuel; nor Cornel Gardener’s vision; nor Johnny +Wilkes and the De’il; nor Peden’s prophecies.</p> +<p>Nanse and me aye made what they call an anniversary of our wedding-day, +which happened to be the fifth of November, the very same as that on which +the Gunpowder Plot chances to be occasionally held—Sundays +excepted. According to custom, this being the fourth year, we +collected a good few friends to a tea-drinking; and had our cracks and a +glass or two of toddy. Thomas Burlings, if I mind, was there, and his +wife; and Deacon Paunch, he was a bachelor; and likewise James Batter; and +David Sawdust and his wife, and their four bairns, good customers; and a +wheen more, that, without telling a lie, I could not venture to +particularize at this moment, though maybe I may mind them when I am not +wanting—but no matter. Well, as I was saying, after they all +went away, and Nanse and me, after locking the door, slipped to our bed, I +had one of the most miraculous dreams recorded in the history of man; more +especially if we take into consideration where, when, and to whom it +happened.</p> +<p>At first I thought I was sitting by the fireside, where the cat and the +kittling were playing with a mouse they had catched in the meal-kit, +cracking with <!-- page 47--><a name="page47"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +47</span>James Batter on check-reels for yarn, and the cleverest way of +winding pirns, when, all at once, I thought myself transplanted back to the +auld world—forgetting the tailoring-trade; broad and narrow cloth; +worsted boots and Kilmarnock cowls; pleasant Dalkeith; our late yearly +ploy; my kith and kindred; the friends of the people; the Duke’s +parks; and so on—and found myself walking beneath beautiful trees, +from the branches of which hung apples, and oranges, and cocky-nuts, and +figs, and raisins, and plumdamases, and corry-danders, and more than the +tongue of man can tell, while all the birds and beasts seemed as tame as +our bantings; in fact, just as they were in the days of Adam and +Eve—Bengal tigers passing by on this hand, and Russian bears on that, +rowing themselves on the grass, out of fun; while peacocks, and magpies, +and parrots, and cockytoos, and yorlins, and grey-linties, and all birds of +sweet voice and fair feather, sported among the woods, as if they had +nothing to do but sit and sing in the sweet sunshine, having dread neither +of the net of the fowler, the double-barrelled gun of the gamekeeper, nor +the laddies’ girn set with moorlings of bread. It was real +paradise; and I found myself fairly lifted off my feet and transported out +of my seven senses.</p> +<p>While sauntering about at my leisure, with my Sunday hat on, and a pair +of clean white cotton stockings, in this heavenly mood, under the green +trees, <!-- page 48--><a name="page48"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +48</span>and beside the still waters, out of which beautiful salmon trouts +were sporting and leaping, methought in a moment I fell down in a trance, +as flat as a flounder, and I heard a voice visibly saying to me, +“Thou shalt have a son; let him be christened Benjamin!” +The joy that this vision brought my spirit thrilled through my bones, like +the sounds of a blind man grinding “Rule Britannia” out of an +organ, and my senses vanished from me into a kind of slumber, on rousing +from which I thought I found myself walking, all dressed, with powdered +hair, and a long tye behind, just like a grand gentleman, with a valuable +bamboo walking-stick in my hand, among green yerbs and flowers, like an +auncient hermit far away among the hills, at the back of beyont; as if +broad cloth and buckram had never been heard tell of, and serge, twist, +pocket-linings, and shamoy leather, were matters with which mortal man had +no concern.</p> +<p>Speak of auld-light or new-light as ye like, for my own part I am not +much taken up with any of your warlock and wizard tribe; I have no brew of +your auld Major Weir, or Tam o’ Shanter, or Michael Scott, or Thomas +the Rhymer’s kind, knocking in pins behind doors to make decent folk +dance, jig, cut, and shuffle themselves to death—splitting the hills +as ye would spelder a haddy, and playing all manner of evil pranks, and +sinful abominations, till their crafty maister, Auld Nick, puts them to +their mettle, by setting <!-- page 49--><a name="page49"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 49</span>them to twine ropes out of sea-sand, and such +like. I like none of your paternosters, and saying of prayers +backwards, or drawing lines with chalk round ye, before crying,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>“Redcowl, redcowl, come if ye daur;<br /> +Lift the sneck, and draw the bar.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I never, in the whole course of my life, was fond of lending the +sanction of my countenance to any thing that was not canny; and, even when +I was a wee smout of a callant, with my jacket and trowsers buttoned all in +one, I never would play, on Hallo’-’een night, at anything else +but douking for apples, burning nuts, pulling kail-runts, foul water and +clean, drapping the egg, or trying who was to be your sweetheart out of the +lucky-bag.</p> +<p>As I have often thought, and sometimes taken occasion to observe, it +would be well for us all to profit by experience—“burned bairns +should dread the fire,” as the proverb goes. After the +miserable catastrophe of the playhouse, for instance—which I shall +afterwards have occasion to commemorate in due time, and in a subsequent +chapter of my eventful life—I would have been worse than mad, had I +persisted, night after night, to pay my shilling for a veesy of vagrants in +buckram, and limmers in silk, parading away at no allowance—as kings +and queens, with their tale—speaking havers that only fools have +throats wide enough to swallow, and giving <!-- page 50--><a +name="page50"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 50</span>themselves airs to +which they have no more earthly title than the man in the moon. I say +nothing, besides, of their throwing glamour in honest folks een; but +I’ll not deny that I have been told by them who would not lie, and +were living witnesses of the transaction, that, as true as death, they had +seen the tane of these ne’er-do-weels spit the other, through and +through, with a weel-sharpened, old, Highland, forty-second Andrew Ferrary, +in single combat; whereupon, as might reasonably be expected, he would, in +the twinkling of a farthing rushlight, fall down as dead as a bag of sand; +yet, by their rictum-ticktum, rise-up-Jack, slight-of-hand, hocus-pocus +way, would be on his legs, brushing the stour from his breeches knees, +before the green curtain was half-way down. James Batter himself once +told me, that, when he was a laddie, he saw one of these clanjamphrey go in +behind the scenes with nankeen trowsers, a blue coat out at the elbows, and +fair hair hanging over his ears, and in less than no time, come out a real +negro, as black as Robinson Crusoe’s man Friday, with a jacket on his +back of Macgregor tartan, and as good a pair of buckskin breeches as jockey +ever mounted horse in at a Newmarket race. Where the silk stockings +were wrought, and the Jerusalem sandals made, that he had on his feet, +James Batter used doucely to observe he would leave every reasonable man to +guess at a venture.</p> +<p><!-- page 51--><a name="page51"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 51</span>A +good story not being the worse of being twice told, I repeat it over again, +that I would have been worse than daft, after the precious warning it was +my fortune to get, to have sanctioned such places with my presence, in +spite of the remonstrances of my conscience—and of Maister +Wiggie—and of the kirk-session. Whenever any thing is carried +on out of the course of nature, especially when accompanied with dancing +and singing, toot-tooing of clarionets, and bumming of bass-fiddles, ye may +be as sure as you are born, that ye run a chance of being deluded out of +your right senses—that the sounds are by way of lulling the soul +asleep—and that, to the certainty of a without-a-doubt, you are in +the heat and heart of one of the devil’s rendevooses.</p> +<p>To say no more, I was once myself, for example, at one of our Dalkeith +fairs, present in a hay-loft—I think they charged threepence at the +door, but let me in with a grudge for twopence, but no matter—to see +a punch and puppie-show business, and other slight-of-hand work. +Well, the very moment I put my neb within the door, I was visibly convinced +of the smell of burnt roset, with, which I understand they make lightning, +and knew, as well as maybe, what they had been trafficking about with their +black art; but, nevertheless, having a stout heart, I determined to sit +still, and see what they would make of it, knowing well enough, that, as +long as I <!-- page 52--><a name="page52"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +52</span>had the Psalm-book in my pocket, they would be gay and clever to +throw any of their blasted cantrips over me.</p> +<p>What do ye think they did? One of them, a wauf, drucken-looking +scoundrel, fired a gold ring over the window, and mostly set fire to the +thatch house opposite—which was not insured. Yet where think ye +did the ring go to? With my living een I saw it taken out of auld +Willie Turneep’s waistcoat pouch, who was sitting blind fou, with his +mouth open, on one of the back seats; so, by no earthly possibility could +it have got there, except by whizzing round the gable, and in through the +steeked door by the key-hole.</p> +<p>Folk may say what they chuse by way of apology, but I neither like nor +understand such on-going as changing sterling silver half-crowns into +copper penny-pieces, or mending a man’s coat—as they did mine, +after cutting a blad out of one of the tails—by the black-art.</p> +<p>But, hout-tout, one thing and another coming across me, had almost clean +made me forget explaining to the world, the upshot of my extraordinary +vision; but better late than never—and now for it.</p> +<p>Nanse, on finding herself in a certain way, was a thought dumfoundered; +and instead of laughing, as she did at first, when I told her my dream, she +soon came to regard the matter as one of sober earnest. <!-- page +53--><a name="page53"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 53</span>The very +prospect of what was to happen threw a gleam of comfort round our bit +fireside; and, long ere the day had come about which was to crown our +expectations, Nanse was prepared with her bit stock of baby’s wearing +apparel, and all necessaries appertaining thereto—wee little mutches +with lace borders, and side-knots of blue three-ha’penny +ribbon—long muslin frockies, vandyked across the breast, drawn round +the waist with narrow nittings and tucked five rows about the +tail—Welsh-flannel petticoaties—demity wrappers—a coral +gumstick, and other uncos, which it does not befit the like of me to +particularize. I trust, on my part, as far as in me lay, I was not +found wanting; having taken care to provide a famous Dunlop cheese, at +fivepence-halfpenny the pound—I believe I paled fifteen, in Joseph +Gowdy’s shop, before I fixed on it;—to say nothing of a bottle, +or maybe two, of real peat-reek, Farintosh, small-still Hieland +whisky—Glenlivat, I think, is the name o’t—half a peck of +shortbread, baken by Thomas Burlings, with three pounds of butter, and two +ounces of carvie-seeds in it, let alone orange-peel, and a pennyworth of +ground cinnamon—half a mutchkin of best cony brandy, by way of +change—and a Musselburgh ankerstoke, to slice down for tea-drinkings +and posset cups.</p> +<p>Everyone has reason to be thankful, and me among the rest; for many a +worse provided for, and less <!-- page 54--><a name="page54"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 54</span>welcome down-lying has taken place, time out of +mind, throughout broad Scotland. I say this with a warm heart, as I +am grateful for my all mercies. To hundreds above hundreds such a +catastrophe brings scarcely any joy at all; but it was far different with +me, who had a Benjamin to look for.</p> +<p>If the reader will be so kind as to look over the next chapter, he will +find whether or not I was disappointed in my expectations.</p> +<h2><!-- page 55--><a name="page55"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +55</span>CHAPTER EIGHT—LETTING LODGINGS</h2> +<p>It would be curious if I passed over a remarkable incident, which at +this time fell out. Being but new beginners in the world, the wife +and I put our heads constantly together to contrive for our forward +advancement, as it is the bounden duty of all to do. So our housie +being rather large (two rooms and a kitchen, not speaking of the +coal-cellar and a hen-house,) and having as yet only the expectation of a +family, we thought we could not do better than get John Varnish the +painter, to do off a small ticket, with “A Furnished Room to +Let” on it, which we nailed out at the window; having collected into +it the choicest of our furniture, that it might fit a genteeler lodger and +produce a better rent—And a lodger soon we got.</p> +<p>Dog on it! I think I see him yet. He was a blackaviced +Englishman, with curled whiskers and a powdered pow, stout round the +waistband, and fond of good eating, let alone drinking, as we found to our +cost. Well, he was our first lodger. We sought a good price, +that we might, on bargaining, have the merit of coming down a tait; but no, +no—go away wi’ ye; it was dog-cheap to him. The +half-guinea a-week was judged perfectly moderate; but if all his debts +were—yet I must not cut before the cloth.</p> +<p>Hang expenses! was the order of the day. Ham and eggs for +breakfast, let alone our currant jelly. Roast-mutton cold, and strong +ale at twelve, by way <!-- page 56--><a name="page56"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 56</span>of check, to keep away wind from the +stomach. Smoking roast-beef, with scraped horse raddish, at four +precisely; and toasted cheese, punch, and porter, for supper. It +would have been less, had all the things been within ourselves. +Nothing had we but the cauler new-laid eggs; then there was Deacon +Heukbane’s butcher’s account; and John Cony’s spirit +account; and Thomas Burlings’ bap account; and deevil kens how many +more accounts, that came all in upon us afterwards. But the crowning +of all was reserved for the end. It was no farce at the time, and +kept our heads down at the water edge for many a day. I was just +driving the hot goose along the seams of a Sunday jacket I was finishing +for Thomas Clod the ploughman, when the Englisher came in at the shop door, +whistling “Robert Adair,” and “Scots wha ha’e +wi’ Wallace bled,” and whiles, maybe, churming to himself like +a young blackbird;—but I have not patience to go through with +it. The long and the short of the matter, however, was, that, after +rummaging among my two or three webs of broadcloth on the shelf, he pitched +on a Manchester blue, five quarters wide, marked CXD.XF, which is to say, +three-and-twenty shillings the yard. I told him it was impossible to +make a pair of pantaloons to him in two hours; but he insisted upon having +them, alive or dead, as he had to go down the same afternoon to dine with +my Lord Duke, no less. I convinced him, that if I was to sit up <!-- +page 57--><a name="page57"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 57</span>all night, +he could get them by five next morning, if that would do, as I would keep +my laddie, Tammy Bodkin, out of his bed; but no—I thought he would +have jumped out of his seven senses. “Just look,” he +said, turning up the inside seam of the leg—“just see—can +any gentleman make a visit in such things as these? they are as full of +holes as a coal-sieve. I wonder the devil why my baggage has not come +forward. Can I get a horse and boy to ride express to Edinburgh for a +ready-made article?”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p56b.jpg"> +<img alt="Mansie’s father" src="images/p56s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>A thought struck me; for I had heard of wonderful advancement in the +world, for those who had been so lucky as help the great at a pinch. +“If ye’ll no take it amiss, sir,” said I, making my +obedience, “a notion has just struck me.”</p> +<p>“Well, what is it?” said he briskly.</p> +<p>“Well, sir, I have a pair of knee-breeches, of most famous +velveteen, double tweel, which have been only once on my legs, and that no +farther gone than last Sabbath. I’m pretty sure they would fit +ye in the meantime; and I would just take a pleasure in driving the needle +all night, to get your own ready.”</p> +<p>“A clever thought,” said the Englisher. “Do you +think they would fit me?—Devilish clever thought, indeed.”</p> +<p>“To a hair,” I answered; and cried to Nanse to bring the +velveteens.</p> +<p>I do not think he was ten minutes, when lo, and <!-- page 58--><a +name="page58"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 58</span>behold! out at the door +he went, and away past the shop-window like a lamplighter. The +buttons on the velveteens were glittering like gold at the knees. +Alas! it was like the flash of the setting sun; I never beheld them +more. He was to have been back in two or three hours, but the laddie, +with the box on his shoulder, was going through the street crying +“Hot penny-pies” for supper, and neither word nor wittens of +him. I began to be a thought uneasy, and fidgeted on the board like a +hen on a hot girdle. No man should do anything when he is vexed, but +I could not help giving Tammy Bodkin, who was sewing away at the lining of +the new pantaloons, a terrible whisk in the lug for singing to +himself. I say I was vexed for it afterwards; especially as the +laddie did not mean to give offence; and as I saw the blae marks of my four +fingers along his chaft-blade.</p> +<p>The wife had been bothering me for a new gown, on strength of the +payment of our grand bill; and in came she, at this blessed moment of time, +with about twenty swatches from Simeon Calicoe’s pinned on a screed +of paper.</p> +<p>“Which of these do you think bonniest?” said Nanse, in a +flattering way; “I ken, Mansie, you have a good taste.”</p> +<p>“Cut not before the cloth,” answered I, +“gudewife,” with a wise shake of my head. +“It’ll be time enough, I daresay, to make your choice +to-morrow.”</p> +<p><!-- page 59--><a name="page59"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +59</span>Nanse went out as if her nose had been blooding. I could +thole it no longer; so, buttoning my breeches-knees, I threw my cowl into a +corner, clapped my hat on my head, and away down in full birr to the +Duke’s gate.</p> +<p>I speired at the porter, if the gentleman with the velveteen breeches +and powdered hair, that was dining with the Duke, had come up the avenue +yet?</p> +<p>“Velveteen breeches and powdered hair!” said auld Paul +laughing, and taking the pipe out of his cheek, “whose butler +is’t that ye’re after?”</p> +<p>“Well,” said I to him, “I see it all as plain as a +pikestaff. He is off bodily; but may the meat and the drink he has +taken off us be like drogs to his inside; and may the velveteens play +crack, and cast the steeks at every step he takes!” It was no +Christian wish; and Paul laughed till he was like to burst, at my +expense. “Gang your ways hame, Mansie,” said he to me, +clapping me on the shoulder as if I had been a wean, “and give over +setting traps, for ye see you have catched a Tartar.”</p> +<p>This was too much; first to be cheated by a swindling loon, and then +made game of by a flunkie; and, in my desperation, I determined to do some +awful thing.</p> +<p>Nanse followed me in from the door, and asked what news?—I was +ower big, and ower vexed to hear her; so, never letting on, I went to the +little looking-glass <!-- page 60--><a name="page60"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 60</span>on the drawers’ head, and set it down on +the table. Then I looked myself in it for a moment, and made a +gruesome face. Syne I pulled out the little drawer, and got the +sharping strap, the which I fastened to my button. Syne I took my +razor from the box, and gave it five or six turns along first one side and +then the other, with great precision. Syne I tried the edge of it +along the flat of my hand. Syne I loosed my neckcloth, and laid it +over the back of the chair; and syne I took out the button of my shirt +neck, and folded it back. Nanse, who was, all time, standing behind, +looking what I was after, asked me, “if I was going to shave without +hot water?” when I said to her in a fierce and brave manner, (which +was very cruel, considering the way she was in,) “I’ll let you +see that presently.” The razor looked desperate sharp; and I +never liked the sight of blood; but oh, I was in a terrible flurry and +fermentation. A kind of cold trembling went through me; and I thought +it best to tell Nanse what I was going to do, that she might be something +prepared for it. “Fare ye well, my dear!” said I to her, +“you will be a widow in five minutes—for here +goes!” I did not think she could have mustered so much courage, +but she sprang at me like a tiger; and, throwing the razor into the +ass-hole, took me round the neck, and cried like a bairn. First she +was seized with a fit of the hystericks, and then with her pains. +<!-- page 61--><a name="page61"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 61</span>It +was a serious time for us both, and no joke; for my heart smote me for my +sin and cruelty. But I did my best to make up for it. I ran up +and down like mad for the Howdie, and at last brought her trotting along +with me by the lug. I could not stand it. I shut myself up in +the shop with Tammy Bodkin, like Daniel in the lions’ den; and every +now and then opened the door to spier what news. Oh, but my heart was +like to break with anxiety! I paced up and down, and to and fro, with +my Kilmarnock on my head, and my hands in my breeches pockets, like a man +out of Bedlam. I thought it would never be over; but, at the second +hour of the morning, I heard a wee squeel, and knew that I was a father; +and so proud was I, that notwithstanding our loss, Lucky Bringthereout and +me whanged away at the cheese and bread, and drank so briskly at the whisky +and foot-yill, that, when she tried to rise and go away, she could not stir +a foot. So Tammy and I had to oxter her out between us, and deliver +the howdie herself—safe in at her own door.</p> +<h2><!-- page 62--><a name="page62"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +62</span>CHAPTER NINE—BENJIE’S CHRISTENING</h2> +<p>At the christening of our only bairn, Benjie, two or three remarkable +circumstances occurred, which it behoves me to relate.</p> +<p>It was on a cold November afternoon; and really when the bit room was +all redd up, the fire bleezing away, and the candles lighted, every thing +looked full tosh and comfortable. It was a real pleasure, after +looking out into the drift that was fleeing like mad from the east, to turn +one’s neb inwards, and think that we had a civilized home to comfort +us in the dreary season. So, one after another, the bit party we had +invited to the ceremony came papping in; and the crack began to get loud +and hearty; for, to speak the truth, we were blessed with canny friends, +and a good neighbourhood. Notwithstanding, it was very curious, that +I had no mind of asking down James Batter, the weaver, honest man, though +he was one of our own elders; and in papped James, just when the company +had haffins met, with his stocking-sleeves on his arms, his nightcap on his +head, and his blue-stained apron hanging down before him, to light his pipe +at our fire.</p> +<p>James, when he saw his mistake, was fain to make his retreat; but we +would not hear tell of it, till he came in, and took a dram out of the +bottle, as we told him the not doing so would spoil the wean’s +beauty, which is an old freak, (the small-pox, however, afterwards did +that;) so, with much persuasion, he took <!-- page 63--><a +name="page63"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 63</span>a chair for a gliff, +and began with some of his drolls—for he is a clever, humoursome man, +as ye ever met with. But he had now got far on with his jests, when +lo! a rap came to the door, and Mysie whipped away the bottle under her +apron, saying, “Wheesht, wheesht, for the sake of gudeness, +there’s the minister!”</p> +<p>The room had only one door, and James mistook it, running his head, for +lack of knowledge, into the open closet, just as the minister lifted the +outer-door sneck. We were all now sitting on nettles, for we were +frighted that James would be seized with a cough, for he was a wee +asthmatic; or that some, knowing there was a thief in the pantry, might +hurt good manners by breaking out into a giggle. However, all for a +considerable time was quiet, and the ceremony was performed; little Nancy, +our niece, handing the bairn upon my arm to receive its name. So, we +thought, as the minister seldom made a long stay on similar occasions, that +all would pass off well enough—But wait a wee.</p> +<p>There was but one of our company that had not cast up, to wit, Deacon +Paunch, the flesher, a most worthy man, but tremendously big, and grown to +the very heels; as was once seen on a wager, that his ankle was greater +than my brans. It was really a pain to all feeling Christians, to see +the worthy man waigling about, being, when weighed in his own <!-- page +64--><a name="page64"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 64</span>scales, +two-and-twenty stone ten ounces, Dutch weight. Honest man, he had had +a sore fecht with the wind and the sleet, and he came in with a shawl +roppined round his neck, peching like a broken-winded horse; so fain was he +to find a rest for his weary carcass in our stuffed chintz pattern +elbow-chair by the fire cheek.</p> +<p>From the soughing of wind at the window, and the rattling in the lum, it +was clear to all manner of comprehension, that the night was a dismal one; +so the minister, seeing so many of his own douce folk about him, thought he +might do worse than volunteer to sit still, and try our toddy: indeed, we +would have pressed him before this to do so; but what was to come of James +Batter, who was shut up in the closet, like the spies in the house of +Rahab, the harlot, in the city of Jericho?</p> +<p>James began to find it was a bad business; and having been driving the +shuttle about from before daylight, he was fain to cruik his hough, and +felt round about him quietly in the dark for a chair to sit down upon, +since better might not be. But, wae’s me! the cat was soon out +of the pock.</p> +<p>Me and the minister were just argle-bargling some few words on the +doctrine of the camel and the eye of the needle, when, in the midst of our +discourse, as all was wheesht and attentive, an awful thud was heard in the +closet, which gave the minister, who <!-- page 65--><a +name="page65"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 65</span>thought the house had +fallen down, such a start, that his very wig louped for a full +three-eighths off his crown. I say we were needcessitated to let the +cat out of the pock for two reasons; firstly, because we did not know what +had happened; and, secondly, to quiet the minister’s fears, decent +man, for he was a wee nervous. So we made a hearty laugh of it, as +well as we could, and opened the door to bid James Batter come out, as we +confessed all. Easier said than done, howsoever. When we pulled +open the door, and took forward one of the candles, there was James doubled +up, sticking twofold like a rotten in a sneck-trap, in an old chair, the +bottom of which had gone down before him, and which, for some craize about +it, had been put out of the way by Nanse, that no accident might +happen. Save us! if the deacon had sate down upon it, pity on our +brick-floor.</p> +<p>Well, after some ado, we got James, who was more frighted than hurt, +hauled out of his hidy-hole; and after lifting off his cowl, and sleeking +down his front hair, he took a seat beside us, apologeezing for not being +in his Sunday’s garb, the which the minister, who was a free and easy +man, declared there was no occasion for, and begged him to make himself +comfortable.</p> +<p>Well, passing over that business, Mr Wiggie and me entered into our +humours, for the drappikie was beginning to tell on my noddle, and make me +somewhat <!-- page 66--><a name="page66"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +66</span>venturesome—not to say that I was not a little proud to have +the minister in my bit housie; so, says I to him in a cosh way, “Ye +may believe me or no, Mr Wiggie, but mair than me think ye out of sight the +best preacher in the parish—nane of them, Mr Wiggie; can hold the +candle to ye, man.”</p> +<p>“Weesht, weesht,” said the body, in rather a cold way that I +did not expect, knowing him to be as proud as a peacock—“I +daresay I am just like my neighbours.”</p> +<p>This was not quite so kind—so says I to him, “Maybe, sae, +for many a one thinks ye could not hold a candle to Mr Blowster the +Cameronian, that whiles preaches at Lugton.”</p> +<p>This was a stramp on his corny toe. “Na, na,” answered +Mr Wiggie, rather nettled; “let us drop that subject. I preach +like my neighbours. Some of them may be worse, and others better; +just as some of your own trade may make clothes worse, and some better, +than yourself.”</p> +<p>My corruption was raised. “I deny that,” said I, in a +brisk manner, which I was sorry for after—“I deny that, Mr +Wiggie,” says I to him; “I’ll make a pair of breeches +with the face of clay.”</p> +<p>But this was only a passing breeze, during the which, howsoever, I +happened to swallow my thimble, which accidentally slipped off my middle +finger, causing both me and the company general alarm, as there <!-- page +67--><a name="page67"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 67</span>were great +fears that it might mortify in the stomach; but it did not; and neither +word nor wittens of it have been seen or heard tell of from that to this +day. So, in two or three minutes, we had some few good songs, and a +round of Scotch proverbs, when the clock chapped eleven. We were all +getting, I must confess, a thought noisy; Johnny Soutter having broken a +dram-glass, and Willie Fegs couped a bottle on the bit table-cloth; all +noisy, I say, except Deacon Paunch, douce man, who had fallen into a +pleasant slumber; so, when the minister rose to take his hat, they all rose +except the Deacon, whom we shook by the arms for some time, but in vain, to +waken him. His round, oily face, good creature, was just as if it had +been cut out of a big turnip, it was so fat, fozy, and soft; but at last, +after some ado, we succeeded, and he looked about him with a wild stare, +opening his two red eyes, like Pandore oysters, asking what had happened; +and we got him hoized up on his legs, tying the blue shawl round his +bull-neck again.</p> +<p>Our company had not got well out of the door, and I was priding myself +in my heart, about being landlord to such a goodly turn out, when Nanse +took me by the arm, and said, “Come, and see such an unearthly +sight.” This startled me, and I hesitated; but, at long and +last, I went in with her, a thought alarmed at what had happened, +and—my gracious!! there on the easy-chair, was our bonny +tortoise-shell cat; <!-- page 68--><a name="page68"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 68</span>Tommy, with the red morocco collar about its +neck, bruised as flat as a flounder, and as dead as a mawk!!!</p> +<p>The Deacon had sat down upon it without thinking; and the poor animal, +that our neighbours’ bairns used to play with, and be so fond of, was +crushed out of life without a cheep. The thing, doubtless, was not +intended, but it gave Nanse and me a very sore heart.</p> +<h2><!-- page 69--><a name="page69"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +69</span>CHAPTER TEN—RESURRECTION MEN</h2> +<p>About this time there arose a great sough and surmise, that some loons +were playing false with the kirkyard, howking up the bodies from their damp +graves, and harling them away to the College. Words cannot describe +the fear, and the dool, and the misery it caused. All flocked to the +kirk-yett; and the friends of the newly buried stood by the mools, which +were yet dark, and the brown newly cast divots, that had not yet taken +root, looking, with mournful faces, to descry any tokens of sinking in.</p> +<p>I’ll never forget it. I was standing by when three young +lads took shools, and, lifting up the truff, proceeded to houk down to the +coffin, wherein they had laid the grey hairs of their mother. They +looked wild and bewildered like, and the glance of their een was like that +of folk out of a mad-house; and none dared in the world to have spoken to +them. They did not even speak to one another; but wrought on with a +great hurry, till the spades struck on the coffin lid—which was +broken. The dead-clothes were there huddled together in a nook, but +the dead was gone. I took hold of Willie Walker’s arm, and +looked down. There was a cold sweat all over me;—losh me! but I +was terribly frighted and eerie. Three more graves were opened, and +all just alike; save and except that of a wee unchristened wean, which was +off bodily, coffin and all.</p> +<p><!-- page 70--><a name="page70"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +70</span>There was a burst of righteous indignation throughout the parish; +nor without reason. Tell me that doctors and graduates must have the +dead; but tell it not to Mansie Wauch, that our hearts must be trampled in +the mire of scorn, and our best feelings laughed at, in order that a bruise +may be properly plastered up, or a sore head cured. Verily, the +remedy is worse than the disease.</p> +<p>But what remead? It was to watch in the session-house, with loaded +guns, night about, three at a time. I never liked to go into the +kirkyard after darkening, let-a-be to sit there through a long winter +night, windy and rainy it may be, with none but the dead around us. +Save us! it was an unco thought, and garred all my flesh creep; but the +cause was good—my corruption was raised—and I was determined +not to be dauntened.</p> +<p>I counted and counted, but the dread day at length came and I was +summoned. All the live-long afternoon, when ca’ing the needle +upon the board, I tried to whistle Jenny Nettles, Neil Gow, and other funny +tunes, and whiles crooned to myself between hands; but my consternation was +visible, and all would not do.</p> +<p>It was in November; and the cold glimmering sun sank behind the +Pentlands. The trees had been shorn of their frail leaves, and the +misty night was closing fast in upon the dull and short day; but the +candles glittered at the shop windows, and leery-light-the-lamps <!-- page +71--><a name="page71"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 71</span>was brushing +about with his ladder in his oxter, and bleezing flamboy sparking out +behind him. I felt a kind of qualm of faintness and down-sinking +about my heart and stomach, to the dispelling of which I took a thimbleful +of spirits, and, tying my red comforter about my neck, I marched briskly to +the session-house. A neighbour (Andrew Goldie, the pensioner) lent me +his piece, and loaded it to me. He took tent that it was only +half-cock, and I wrapped a napkin round the dog-head, for it was +raining. Not being well acquaint with guns, I kept the muzzle aye +away from me; as it is every man’s duty not to throw his precious +life into jeopardy.</p> +<p>A furm was set before the session-house fire, which bleezed brightly, +nor had I any thought that such an unearthly place could have been made to +look half so comfortable either by coal or candle; so my spirits rose up as +if a weight had been taken off them, and I wondered, in my bravery, that a +man like me could be afraid of anything. Nobody was there but a +touzy, ragged, halflins callant of thirteen, (for I speired his age,) with +a desperate dirty face, and long carroty hair, tearing a speldrin with his +teeth, which looked long and sharp enough, and throwing the skin and lugs +into the fire.</p> +<p>We sat for mostly an hour together, cracking the best way we could in +such a place; nor was anybody more likely to cast up. The night was +now <!-- page 72--><a name="page72"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +72</span>pitmirk; the wind soughed amid the head-stones and railings of the +gentry, (for we must all die,) and the black corbies in the steeple-holes +cackled and crawed in a fearsome manner. All at once we heard a +lonesome sound; and my heart began to play pit-pat—my skin grew all +rough, like a pouked chicken—and I felt as if I did not know what was +the matter with me. It was only a false alarm, however, being the +warning of the clock; and, in a minute or two thereafter, the bell struck +ten. Oh, but it was a lonesome and dreary sound! Every chap +went through my breast like the dunt of a fore-hammer.</p> +<p>Then up and spak the red-headed laddie:—“It’s no fair; +anither should hae come by this time. I wad rin awa hame, only I am +frighted to gang out my lane.—Do ye think the doup of that candle wad +carry i’ my cap?”</p> +<p>“Na, na, lad; we maun bide here, as we are here now.—Leave +me alane? Lord save us! and the yett lockit, and the bethrel sleeping +with the key in his breek pouches!—We canna win out now though we +would,” answered I, trying to look brave, though half frightened out +of my seven senses:—“Sit down, sit down; I’ve baith +whisky and porter wi’ me. Hae, man, there’s a cawker to +keep your heart warm; and set down that bottle,” quoth I, wiping the +saw-dust affn’t with my hand, “to get a toast; I’se +warrant it for Deacon Jaffrey’s best brown stout.”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p72b.jpg"> +<img alt="Rev. Mr Wiggie" src="images/p72s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p><!-- page 73--><a name="page73"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +73</span>The wind blew higher, and like a hurricane; the rain began to fall +in perfect spouts; the auld kirk rumbled and rowed, and made a sad +soughing; and the branches of the bourtree behind the house, where auld +Cockburn that cut his throat was burned, creaked and crazed in a frightful +manner; but as to the roaring of the troubled waters, and the bumming in +the lum-head, they were past all power of description. To make bad +worse, just in the heart of the brattle, the grating sound of the yett +turning on its rusty hinges was but too plainly heard. What was to be +done? I thought of our both running away; and then of our locking +ourselves in, and firing through the door; but who was to pull the +trigger?</p> +<p>Gudeness watch over us! I tremble yet when I think on it. We +were perfectly between the de’il and the deep sea—either to +stand still and fire our gun, or run and be shot at. It was really a +hang choice. As I stood swithering and shaking, the laddie flew to +the door, and, thrawing round the key, clapped his back to it. Oh! +how I looked at him, as he stood for a gliff, like a magpie hearkening with +his lug cocked up, or rather like a terrier watching a rotten. +“They’re coming! they’re coming!” he cried out; +“cock the piece, ye sumph;” while the red hair rose up from his +pow like feathers; “they’re coming, I hear them tramping on the +gravel.” Out he stretched his arms against the wall, and +brizzed his back against the door like <!-- page 74--><a +name="page74"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 74</span>mad; as if he had been +Samson pushing over the pillars in the house of Dagon. “For the +Lord’s sake, prime the gun,” he cried out, “or our +throats will be cut frae lug to lug before we can cry Jack Robison! +See that there’s priming in the pan.”</p> +<p>I did the best I could; but my whole strength could hardly lift up the +piece, which waggled to and fro like a cock’s tail on a rainy day; my +knees knocked against one another, and though I was resigned to die—I +trust I was resigned to die—’od, but it was a frightful thing +to be out of one’s bed, and to be murdered in an old session-house, +at the dead hour of night, by unearthly resurrection men, or rather let me +call them deevils incarnate, wrapt up in dreadnoughts, with blacked faces, +pistols, big sticks, and other deadly weapons.</p> +<p>A snuff-snuffing was heard; and, through below the door, I saw a pair of +glancing black een. ’Od, but my heart nearly louped off the +bit—a snouff, and a gur-gurring, and over all the plain tramp of a +man’s heavy tackets and cuddy-heels among the gravel. Then came +a great slap like thunder on the wall; and the laddie, quitting his grip, +fell down, crying, “Fire, fire!—murder! holy murder!”</p> +<p>“Wha’s there?” growled a deep rough voice; +“open, I’m a freend.”</p> +<p>I tried to speak, but could not; something like a halfpenny roll was +sticking in my throat, so I tried <!-- page 75--><a name="page75"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 75</span>to cough it up, but it would not come. +“Gie the pass-word then,” said the laddie, staring as if his +eyes would loup out; “gie the pass-word!”</p> +<p>First came a loud whistle, and then “Copmahagen,” answered +the voice. Oh! what a relief! The laddie started up, like one +crazy with joy. “Ou! ou!” cried he, thrawing round the +key, and rubbing his hands; “by jingo, it’s the +bethrel—it’s the bethrel—it’s auld Isaac +himsell.”</p> +<p>First rushed in the dog, and then Isaac, with his glazed hat, slouched +over his brow, and his horn bowet glimmering by his knee. “Has +the French landed, do ye think? Losh keep us a’,” said +he, with a smile on his half-idiot face (for he was a kind of a sort of a +natural, with an infirmity in his leg), ‘“od sauf us, man, put +by your gun. Ye dinna mean to shoot me, do ye? What are ye +about here with the door lockit? I just keepit four resurrectioners +louping ower the wall.”</p> +<p>“Gude guide us!” I said, taking a long breath to drive the +blood from my heart, and something relieved by Isaac’s +company—“Come now, Isaac, ye’re just gieing us a +fright. Isn’t that true, Isaac?”</p> +<p>“Yes, I’m joking—and what for no?—but they might +have been, for onything ye wad hae hindered them to the contrair, I’m +thinking. Na, na, ye maunna lock the door; that’s no fair +play.”</p> +<p>When the door was put ajee, and the furm set fornent <!-- page 76--><a +name="page76"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 76</span>the fire, I gave Isaac +a dram to keep his heart up on such a cold stormy night. ’Od, +but he was a droll fellow, Isaac. He sung and leuch as if he had been +boozing in Luckie Thamson’s, with some of his drucken cronies. +Feint a hair cared he about auld kirks, or kirkyards, or vouts, or +through-stanes, or dead folk in their winding-sheets, with the wet grass +growing over them, and at last I began to brighten up a wee myself; so when +he had gone over a good few funny stories, I said to him, quoth I, +“Mony folk, I daresay, mak mair noise about their sitting up in a +kirkyard than it’s a’ worth. There’s naething here +to harm us?”</p> +<p>“I beg to differ wi’ ye there,” answered Isaac, taking +out his horn mull from his coat pouch, and tapping on the lid in a queer +style—“I could gie anither version of that story. Did ye +no ken of three young doctors—Eirish students—alang with some +resurrectioners, as waff and wile as themsells, firing shottie for shottie +with the guard at Kirkmabreck, and lodging three slugs in ane of their +backs, forbye firing a ramrod through anither ane’s hat?”</p> +<p>This was a wee alarming—“No,” quoth I; “no, +Isaac, man; I never heard of it.”</p> +<p>“But, let alane resurrectioners, do you no think there is sic a +thing as ghaists? Guide ye, man, my grannie could hae telled as +muckle about them as would have filled a minister’s sermons from June +to January.”</p> +<p><!-- page 77--><a name="page77"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +77</span>“Kay—kay—that’s all buff,” I +said. “Are there nae cutty-stool businesses—are there nae +marriages going on just now, Isaac?” for I was keen to change the +subject.</p> +<p>“Ye may kay—kay, as ye like, though; I can just tell ye +this:—Ye’ll mind auld Armstrong with the leather breeks, and +the brown three-story wig—him that was the grave-digger? Weel, +he saw a ghaist, wi’ his leeving een—aye, and what’s +better, in this very kirkyard too. It was a cauld spring morning, and +daylight just coming in when he came to the yett yonder, thinking to meet +his man, paidling Jock—but Jock had sleepit in, and wasna +there. Weel, to the wast corner ower yonder he gaed, and throwing his +coat ower a headstane, and his hat on the tap o’t, he dug away with +his spade, casting out the mools, and the coffin handles, and the green +banes and sic like, till he stoppit a wee to take breath.—What! are +ye whistling to yoursell?” quoth Isaac to me, “and no hearing +what’s God’s truth?”</p> +<p>“Ou, ay,” said I; “but ye didna tell me if onybody was +cried last Sunday?”—I would have given every farthing I had +made by the needle, to have been at that blessed time in my bed with my +wife and wean. Ay, how I was gruing! I mostly chacked off my +tongue in chittering.—But all would not do.</p> +<p>“Weel, speaking of ghaists—when he was resting on his spade +he looked up to the steeple, to see what <!-- page 78--><a +name="page78"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 78</span>o’clock it was, +wondering what way Jock hadna come, when lo! and behold, in the lang diced +window of the kirk yonder, he saw a lady a’ in white, with her hands +clasped thegither, looking out to the kirkyard at him.</p> +<p>“He couldna believe his een, so he rubbit them with his sark +sleeve, but she was still there bodily; and, keeping ae ee on her, and +anither on his road to the yett, he drew his coat and hat to him below his +arm, and aff like mad, throwing the shool half a mile ahint him. Jock +fand that; for he was coming singing in at the yett, when his maister ran +clean ower the tap o’ him, and capsized him like a toom barrel; never +stopping till he was in at his ain house, and the door baith bolted and +barred at his tail.</p> +<p>“Did ye ever hear the like of that, Mansie? Weel, man, +I’ll explain the hail history of it to ye. Ye +see—’Od! how sound that callant’s sleeping,” +continued Isaac; “he’s snoring like a +nine-year-auld!”</p> +<p>I was glad he had stopped, for I was like to sink through the ground +with fear; but no, it would not do.</p> +<p>“Dinna ye ken—sauf us! what a fearsome night this is! +The trees will be all broken. What a noise in the lum! I +daresay there’s some auld hag of a witch-wife gaun to come rumble +doun’t. It’s no the first time, I’ll swear. +Hae ye a silver sixpence? Wad ye like that?” he bawled up the +chimney. “Ye’ll hae heard,” said he, “lang +ago, that a wee murdered wean was buried—didna ye hear a +voice?—was buried <!-- page 79--><a name="page79"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 79</span>below that corner—the hearth-stane there, +where the laddie’s lying on?”</p> +<p>I had now lost my breath, so that I could not stop him.</p> +<p>“Ye never heard tell o’t, didna ye? Weel, I’se +tell’t ye—Sauf us, what swurls of smoke coming doun the +chimley—I could swear something no canny’s stopping up the lum +head—Gang out, and see!”</p> +<p>At that moment a clap like thunder was heard—the candle was driven +over—the sleeping laddie roared “Help!” and +“Murder!” and “Thieves!” and, as the furm on which +we were sitting played flee backwards, cripple Isaac bellowed out, +“I’m dead!—I’m killed—shot through the +head!—Oh! oh! oh!”</p> +<p>Surely I had fainted away; for, when I came to myself, I found my red +comforter loosed; my face all wet—Isaac rubbing down his waistcoat +with his sleeve—the laddie swigging ale out of a bicker—and the +brisk brown stout, which, by casting its cork, had caused all the alarm, +whizz—whizz—whizzing in the chimley lug.</p> +<h2><!-- page 80--><a name="page80"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +80</span>CHAPTER ELEVEN—TAFFY WITH THE PIGTAIL: SCHOOL +RECOLLECTIONS</h2> +<p>It was a clear starry night, in the blasty month of January, I mind it +well. The snow had fallen during the afternoon; or, as Benjie came in +crying, that “the auld wives o’ the norlan sky were plucking +their geese”; and it continued dim and dowie till towards the +gloaming, when, as the road-side labourers were dandering home from their +work, some with pickaxes and others with shools, and just as our cocks and +hens were going into their beds, poor things, the lift cleared up to a +sharp freeze, and the well-ordered stars came forth glowing over the blue +sky. Between six and seven the moon rose; and I could not get my two +prentices in from the door, where they were bickering one another with +snow-balls, or maybe carhailling the folk on the street in their idle +wantonness; so I was obliged for that night to disappoint Edie Macfarlane +of the pair of black spatterdashes he was so anxious to get finished, for +dancing in next day, at Souple Jack the carpenter’s grand +penny-wedding.</p> +<p>Seeing that little more good was to be expected till morning, I came to +the resolution of shutting-in half-an-hour earlier than usual; so, as I was +carrying out the shop-shutters, with my hat over my cowl, for it was +desperately sharp, I mostly in my hurry knocked down an old man, that was +coming up to ask me, “if I was Maister Wauch the tailor and +furnisher.”</p> +<p><!-- page 81--><a name="page81"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +81</span>Having told him that I was myself, instead of a better; and having +asked him to step in, that I might have a glimpse of his face at the +candle, I saw that he was a stranger, dressed in a droll auld-farrant green +livery-coat, faced with white. His waistcoat was cut in the Parly-voo +fashion, with long lappels, and a double row of buttons down the breast; +and round his neck he had a black corded stock, such like, but not so +broad, as I afterwards wore in the volunteers, when drilling under Big +Sam. He had a well-worn scraper on his head, peaked before and +behind, with a bit crape knotted round it, which he politely took off, +making a low bow; and requesting me to bargain with him for a few articles +of grand second-hand apparel, which once belonged to his master that was +deceased, and which was now carried by himself, in a bundle under his left +oxter.</p> +<p>Happening never to make a trade of dealing in this line, and not very +sure like as to how the old man might have come by the bundle in these +riotous and knock-him-down times, I swithered a moment, giving my chin a +rub, before answering; and then advised him to take a step in at his +leisure to St Mary’s Wynd, where he would meet in with merchants in +scores. But no; he seemed determined to strike a bargain with me; and +I heard from the man’s sponsible and feasible manner of +speech—for he was an old weatherbeaten-looking body of a creature, +with gleg een, a <!-- page 82--><a name="page82"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 82</span>cock nose, white locks, and a tye +behind—that the clothes must have been left him, as a kind of +friendly keepsake, by his master, now beneath the mools. Thinking by +this, that if I got them at a wanworth, I might boldly venture, I +condescended to his loosing down the bundle, which was in a blue silk +napkin with yellow flowers. As he was doing this, he told me that he +was on his way home from the north to his own country, which lay among the +green Welsh hills, far away; and that he could not carry much luggage with +him, as he was obliged to travel with his baggage tied up in a bundle, on +the end of his walking-staff, over his right shoulder.</p> +<p>Pity me! what a grand coat it was! I thought at first it must have +been worn on the King’s own back, honest man; for it was made of +green velvet, and embroidered all round about—back seams, side seams, +flaps, lappels, button-holes, nape and cuffs, with gold lace and spangles, +in a manner to have dazzled the understanding of any Jew with a beard +shorter than his arm. So, no wonder that it imposed on the like of +me; and I was mostly ashamed to make him an offer for it of a crown-piece +and a dram. The waistcoat, which was of white satin, single-breasted, +and done up with silver tinsel in a most beautiful manner, I also bought +from him for a couple of shillings, and four hanks of black thread. +Though I would on no account or consideration give him a bode for the +Hessian boots, <!-- page 83--><a name="page83"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +83</span>which having cuddy-heels and long silk tossels, were by far and +away over grand for the like of a tailor, such as me, and fit for the +Sunday’s wear of some fashionable Don of the first water. +However, not to part uncivilly, and be as good as my word, I brought ben +Nanse’s bottle, and gave him a cawker at the shop counter; and, after +taking a thimbleful to myself, to drink a good journey to him, I bade him +take care of his feet, as the causeway was frozen, and saw the auld flunkie +safely over the strand with a candle.</p> +<p>Ye may easily conceive that Nanse got a surprise, when I paraded ben to +the room with the grand coat and waistcoat on, cocking up my head, putting +my hands into the haunch pockets, and strutting about more like a peacock +than a douce elder of Maister Wiggie’s kirk; so just as, thinking +shame of myself, I was about to throw it off, I found something bulky at +the bottom of the side pocket, which I discovered to be a wheen papers +fastened together with green tape. Finding they were written in a +real neat hand, I put on my spectacles, and sending up the close for James +Batter, we sat round the fireside, and read away like nine-year-aulds.</p> +<p>The next matter of consideration was, whether, in buying the coat as it +stood, the paper belonged to me, or the old flunkie waiting-servant with +the peaked hat. James and me, after an hour and a half’s +argle-bargleing pro and con, in the way of Parliament-house <!-- page +84--><a name="page84"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 84</span>lawyers, came +at last to be unanimously of opinion, that according to the auld Scotch +proverb of</p> +<blockquote> +<p>“He that finds keeps,<br /> +And he that loses seeks,”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>whatever was part or pendicle of the coat at the time of purchase, when +it hung exposed for sale over the white-headed Welshman’s little +finger, became according to the law of nature and nations, as James Batter +wisely observed, part and pendicle of the property of me, Mansie Wauch, the +legal purchaser.</p> +<p>Notwithstanding all this, however, I was not sincerely convinced in my +own conscience; and I daresay if the creature had cast up, and come seeking +them back, I would have found myself bound to make restitution. This +is not now likely to happen; for twenty long years have come and passed +away, like the sunshine of yesterday, and neither word nor wittens of the +body have been seen or heard tell of; so, according to the course of +nature, being a white-headed old man, with a pigtail, when the bargain was +made, his dust and bones have, in all likelihood, long ago mouldered down +beneath the green turf of his own mountains, like his granfather’s +before him. This being the case, I daresay it is the reader’s +opinion as well as my own, that I am quite at liberty to make what use of +them I like. Concerning the poem things that came first in hand, I do +not pretend to be any judge; but James thinks he could scarcely write any +<!-- page 85--><a name="page85"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +85</span>muckle better himself: so here goes; but I cannot tell you to what +tune:</p> +<blockquote> +<p style="text-align: center">SONG</p> +<p>I</p> +<p>They say that other eyes are bright,<br /> + I see no eyes like thine;<br /> +So full of Heaven’s serenest light,<br /> + Like midnight stars they shine.</p> +<p>II</p> +<p>They say that other cheeks are fair—<br /> + But fairer cannot glow<br /> +The rosebud in the morning air,<br /> + Or blood on mountain snow.</p> +<p>III</p> +<p>Thy voice—Oh sweet it streams to me,<br /> + And charms my raptured breast;<br /> +Like music on the moonlight sea,<br /> + When waves are lull’d to rest.</p> +<p>IV</p> +<p>The wealth of worlds were vain to give<br /> + Thy sinless heart to buy;<br /> +Oh I will bless thee while I live,<br /> + And love thee till I die!</p> +</blockquote> +<p>From this song it appears a matter beyond doubt—for I know human +nature—that the flunkie’s master had, in his earlier years, +been deeply in love with some beautiful young lady, that loved him again, +and that maybe, with a bounding and bursting heart, durst not let her +affection be shown, from dread of her cruel relations, who insisted on her +marrying some lord or baronet that she did not care one button about. +If so, unhappy pair, I pity them! Were <!-- page 86--><a +name="page86"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 86</span>we to guess our way in +the dark a wee farther, I think it not altogether unlikely, that he must +have fallen in with his sweetheart abroad, when wandering about on his +travels; for what follows seems to come as it were from her, lamenting his +being called to leave her forlorn and return home. This is all merely +supposition on my part, and in the antiquarian style, whereby much is made +out of little; but both me and James Batter are determined to be +unanimously of this opinion, until otherwise convinced to the +contrary. Love is a fiery and fierce passion every where; but I am +told that we, who live in a more favoured land, know very little of the +terrible effects it sometimes causes, and the bloody tragedies, which it +has a thousand times produced, where the heart of man is uncontrolled by +reason or religion, and his blood heated into a raging fever, by the +burning sun that glows in the heaven above his head.</p> +<p>Here follows the poem of Taffy’s master’s foreign +sweetheart; which, considering it to be a woman’s handiwork, is, I +daresay, not that far amiss.</p> +<blockquote> +<p style="text-align: center">SONG OF THE SOUTH</p> +<p>I</p> +<p>Of all the garden flowers<br /> + The fairest is the rose;<br /> +Of winds that stir the bowers,<br /> + Oh! there is none that blows<br /> +Like the south—the gentle south—<br /> + For that balmy breeze is ours.</p> +<p><!-- page 87--><a name="page87"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +87</span>II</p> +<p>Cold is the frozen north;<br /> + In its stern and savage mood,<br /> +’Mid gales, come drifting forth<br /> + Bleak snows and drenching flood;<br /> +But the south—the gentle south—<br /> + Thaws to love the unwilling blood.</p> +<p>III</p> +<p>Bethink thee of the vales,<br /> + With their birds and blossoms fair—<br /> +Of the darkling nightingales,<br /> + That charm the starry air<br /> +In the south—the gentle south—<br /> + Ah! our own dear home is there.</p> +<p>IV</p> +<p>Where doth Beauty brightest glow,<br /> + With each rich and radiant charm,<br /> +Eye of light, and brow of snow,<br /> + Cherry lip, and bosom warm;<br /> +In the south—the gentle south—<br /> + There she waits, and works her harm.</p> +<p>V</p> +<p>Say, shines the Star of Love,<br /> + From the clear and cloudless sky,<br /> +The shadowy groves above,<br /> + Where the nestling ringdoves lie;<br /> +From the south—the gentle south—<br /> + Gleams its lone and lucid eye.</p> +<p>VI</p> +<p>Then turn ye to the home<br /> + Of your brethren and your bride;<br /> +Far astray your steps may roam,<br /> + But more joys for thee abide,<br /> +In the south—our gentle south—<br /> + Than in all the world beside.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page 88--><a name="page88"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +88</span>After reading a lot of the unknown gentleman’s compositions +in prose and verse, something like his private history, James Batter +informs me, can be made out, provided we are allowed to eke a little here +and there. That he was an Englisher we both think amounts to a +probability; and, from having an old “Taffy was a Welshman” for +a flunkie, it would not be out of the order of nature to jealouse, that he +may have resided somewhere among the hills, where he had picked him up and +taken him into his kitchen, promoting him thereafter, for sobriety and good +conduct, to be his body servant, and gentleman’s gentleman. +Where he was born, however, is a matter of doubt, and also who were his +folks; but of a surety, he was either born with a silver spoon in his +mouth, or rose from the ranks like many another great man. That, +however, is a matter of moonshine; we are all descended in a direct line +from Adam. Where he was educated does not appear; but there can +scarcely be a shadow of doubt, that he was for a considerable while at some +school or other, where he had a number of cronies. In proof of this, +and to show that we have good reasons for our suppositions, James +recommends me to print the following rigmarole meditations, on the top of +which is written in half-text,</p> +<blockquote> +<p style="text-align: center">SCHOOL RECOLLECTIONS.</p> +<p>“—They who in the vale of years advance,<br /> +And the dark eve is closing on their way,<br /> +<!-- page 89--><a name="page89"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 89</span>When +on the mind the recollections glance<br /> +Of early joy, and Hope’s delightful day,<br /> +Behold, in brighter hues than those of truth,<br /> +The light of morning on the fields of youth.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right"><span class="smcap">Southey</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The morning being clear and fine, full of Milton’s “vernal +delight and joy,” I determined on a saunter; the inclemency of the +weather having, for more than a week, kept me a prisoner at home. +Although now advanced into the heart of February, a great fall of snow had +taken place; the roads were blocked up; the mails obstructed; and, while +the merchant grumbled audibly for his letters, the politician, no less +chagrined, conned over and over again his dingy rumpled old newspaper, +compelled “to eat the leek of his disappointment.” The +wind, which had blown inveterately steady from the surly north-east, had +veered, however, during the preceding night, to the west; and, as it were +by the spell of an enchanter, an instant thaw commenced. In the low +grounds the snow gleamed forth in patches of a pearly whiteness; but, on +the banks of southern exposure, the green grass and the black trodden +pathway again showed themselves. The vicissitudes of twenty-four +hours were indeed wonderful. Instead of the sharp frost, the +pattering hail, and the congealed streams, we had the blue sky, the vernal +zephyr, and the genial sunshine; the stream murmuring with a broader wave, +as if making up for the season spent in the fetters of congelation; and +that luxurious <!-- page 90--><a name="page90"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +90</span>flow of the spirits, which irresistibly comes over the heart, at +the re-assertion of Nature’s suspended vigour.</p> +<p>As I passed on under the budding trees, how delightful it was to hear +the lark and the linnet again at their cheerful songs, to be aware that now +“the winter was over and gone;” and to feel that the prospect +of summer, with its lengthening days, and its rich variety of fruits and +flowers, lay fully before us. There is something within us that +connects the spring of the year with the childhood of our existence, and it +is more especially at that season, that the thrilling remembrances of long +departed pleasures are apt to steal into the thoughts; the re-awakening of +nature calling us, by a fearful contrast, to the contemplation of joys that +never can return, while all the time the heart is rendered more susceptible +by the beauteous renovation in the aspect of the external world.</p> +<p>This sensation pressed strongly on my mind, as I chanced to be passing +the door of the village school, momentarily opened for the admission of +one, creeping along somewhat tardily with satchel on back, and +“shining morning face.” What a sudden burst of sound was +emitted—what harmonious discord—what a commixture of all the +tones in the vocal gamut, from the shrill treble to the deep +underhum! A chord was touched which vibrated in unison; boyish days +and school recollections crowded upon me; pleasures long vanished; feelings +long stifled; and <!-- page 91--><a name="page91"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 91</span>friendships—aye, everlasting +friendships—cut asunder by the sharp stroke of death!</p> +<p>A public school is a petty world within itself—a wheel within a +wheel—in so far as it is entirely occupied with its own concerns, +affords its peculiar catalogue of virtues and vices, its own cares, +pleasures, regrets, anticipations, and disappointments—in fact, a +Lilliputian facsimile of the great one. By grown men, nothing is more +common than the assertion that childhood is a perfect Elysium; but it is a +false supposition that school-days are those of unalloyed carelessness and +enjoyment. It seems to be a great deal too much overlooked, that +“little things are great to little men;” and perhaps the mind +of boyhood is more active in its conceptions—more alive to the +impulses of pleasure and pain—in other words, has a more extended +scope of sensations, than during any other portion of our existence. +Its days are not those of lack-occupation; they are full of stir, +animation, and activity, for it is then we are in training for after life; +and, when the hours of school restraint glide slowly over, “like +wounded snakes,” the clock, that chimes to liberty, sends forth the +blood with a livelier flow; and pleasure thus derives a double zest from +the bridle that duty has imposed, joy being generally measured according to +the difficulty of its attainment. What delight in life have we ever +experienced more exquisite than that, which flowed at once in upon us from +the teacher’s <!-- page 92--><a name="page92"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 92</span>“<i>bene</i>, <i>bene</i>,” our own +self-approbation, and release from the tasks of the day?—the green +fields around us wherein to ramble, the stream beside us wherein to angle, +the world of games and pastimes, “before us where to +choose.” Words are inadequate to express the thrill of +transport, with which, on the rush from the school-house door, the hat is +waved in air, and the shout sent forth!</p> +<p>Then what a variety of amusements succeed each other. Every month +has its favourite ones. The sports-man does not more keenly +scrutinize his kalendar for the commencement of the trouting, grouse +shooting, or hare-hunting season, than the younker for the time of flying +kites, bowling at cricket, football, spinning peg-tops, and playing at +marbles. Pleasure is the focus, which it is the common aim to +approximate; and the mass is guided by a sort of unpremeditated social +compact, which draws them out of doors as soon as meals are discussed, with +a sincere thirst of amusement, as certainly as rooks congregate in spring +to discuss the propriety of building nests, or swallows in autumn to +deliberate in conclave on the expediency of emigration.</p> +<p>Then how perfectly glorious was the anticipation of a holiday—a +long summer day of liberty and ease! In anticipation it was a thing +boundless and endless, a foretaste of Elysium. It extended from the +<i>prima luce</i>, from the earliest dawn of radiance that streaked <!-- +page 93--><a name="page93"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 93</span>the +“severing clouds in yonder east,” through the sun’s +matin, meridian, postmeridian, and vesper circuit; from the disappearance +of Lucifer in the re-illumined skies, to his evening entrée in the +character of Hesperus. Complain not of the brevity of life; +’tis <i>men</i> that are idle; a thousand things could be contrived +and accomplished in that space, and a thousand schemes were devised by us, +when <i>boys</i>, to prevent any portion of it passing over without +improvement. We pursued the fleet angel of time through all his +movements till he blessed us.</p> +<p>With these and similar thoughts in my mind, I strayed down to the banks +of the river, and came upon the very spot, which, in those long-vanished +years, had been a favourite scene of our boyish sports. The +impression was overpowering; and as I gazed silently around me, my mind was +subdued to that tone of feeling which Ossian so finely designates +“the joy of grief.” The trees were the same, but older, +like myself; seemingly unscathed by the strife of years—and herein +was a difference. Some of the very bushes I recognized as our old +lurking-places at “hunt the hare”; and, on the old fantastic +beech-tree, I discovered the very bough from which we were accustomed to +suspend our swings. What alterations—what sad havoc had time, +circumstances, the hand of fortune, and the stroke of death, made among us +since then! How were the thoughts of the heart, the hopes, the +pursuits, <!-- page 94--><a name="page94"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +94</span>the feelings changed; and, in almost every instance, it is to be +feared, for the worse! As I gazed around me, and paused, I could not +help reciting aloud to myself the lines of Charles Lamb, so touching in +their simple beauty.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>“I have had playmates, I have had companions,<br /> +In my days of childhood, in my joyful school-days;<br /> +All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.<br /> +Some they have died, and some they have left me,<br /> +And some are taken from me, all are departed;<br /> +All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The fresh green plat, by the brink of the stream, lay before me. +It was there that we played at leap-frog, or gathered dandelions for our +tame rabbits; and, at its western extremity, were still extant the reliques +of the deal-seat, at which we used to assemble on autumn evenings to have +our round of stories. Many a witching tale and wondrous tradition +hath there been told; many a marvel of “figures that visited the +glimpses of the moon”; many a recital of heroic and chivalrous +enterprise, accomplished ere warriors dwindled away to the mere puny +strength of mortals. Sapped by the wind and rain, the planks lay in a +sorely decayed and rotten state, looking in their mossiness like a +sign-post of desolation, a memento of terrestrial instability. Traces +of the knife were still here and there visible upon the trunks of the +supporting trees; and with little difficulty I could decipher some +well-remembered initials.</p> +<p>“Cold were the hands that carved them there.”</p> +<p><!-- page 95--><a name="page95"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 95</span>It +is, no doubt, wonderful that the human mind can retain such a mass of +recollections; yet we seem to be, in general, little aware that for one +solitary incident in our lives, preserved by memory, hundreds have been +buried in the silent charnel-house of oblivion. We peruse the past, +like a map of pleasing or melancholy recollections, and observe lines +crossing and re-crossing each other in a thousand directions; some spots +are almost blank; others faintly traced; and the rest a confused and +perplexed labyrinth. A thousand feelings that, in their day and hour, +agitated our bosoms, are now forgotten; a thousand hopes, and joys, and +apprehensions, and fears, are vanished without a trace. Schemes, +which cost us much care in their formation, and much anxiety in their +fulfilment, have glided, like the clouds of yesterday, from our +remembrance. Many a sharer of our early friendships, and of our +boyish sports, we think of no more; they are as if they had never been, +till perhaps some accidental occurrence, some words in conversation, some +object by the wayside, or some passenger in the street, attract our +notice—and then, as if awaking from a perplexing trance, a light +darts in upon our darkness; and we discover that thus some one long ago +spoke; that there something long ago happened; or that the person, who just +passed us like a vision, shared smiles with us long, long years ago, and +added a double zest to the enjoyments of our childhood.</p> +<p><!-- page 96--><a name="page96"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 96</span>Of +our old class-fellows, of those whose days were of “a mingled +yarn” with ours, whose hearts blended in the warmest reciprocities of +friendship, whose joys, whose cares, almost whose wishes were in common, +how little do we know? how little will even the severest scrutiny enable us +to discover? Yet, at one time, we were inseparable “like +Juno’s swans”; we were as brothers, nor dreamt we of ought +else, in the susceptibility of our youthful imagination, than that we were +to pass through all the future scenes of life, side by side; and, mutually +supporting and supported, lengthen out the endearments, the ties, and the +feelings of boyhood unto the extremities of existence. What a fine +but a fond dream—alas, how wide of the cruel reality! The +casual relation of a traveller may discover to us where one of them resided +or resides. The page of an obituary may accidentally inform us how +long one of them lingered on the bed of sickness, and by what death he +died. Some we may perhaps discover in elevated situations, from which +worldly pride might probably prevent their stooping down to recognize +us. Others, immersed in the labyrinths of business, have forgot all, +in the selfish pursuits of earthly accumulation. While the rest, the +children of misfortune and disappointment, we may occasionally find out +amid the great multitude of the streets, to whom life is but a desert of +sorrow, and against whom prosperity seems to have shut for ever her golden +gates.</p> +<p><!-- page 97--><a name="page97"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +97</span>Such are the diversities of condition, the varieties of fortune to +which man is exposed, while climbing the hill of probationary +difficulty. And how sublimely applicable are the words of Job, +expatiating on the uncertainty of human existence: “Man dieth and +wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? As the +waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up; so man +lieth down and riseth not till the heavens be no more.”</p> +<p>While standing on the same spot, where of yore the boyish multitude +congregated in pursuit of their eager sports, a silent awe steals over the +bosom, and the heart desponds at the thought, that all these once smiling +faces are scattered now! Some, mayhap, tossing on the waste and +perilous seas; some the merchants of distant lands; some fighting the +battles of their country; others dead—inhabitants of the dark and +narrow house, and hearing no more the billows of life, that thunder and +break above their low and lonely dwelling-place!</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>Nanse, who was sitting by the table, knitting a pair of light-blue +worsted stockings for Benjie, and myself, who was sewing on the buttons of +a velveteen jacket for a country lad, were, I must say, not a little +delighted, not only with the way in which the Welshman’s late master +had spoken of his school-fellows, but with the manner in which James +Batter, with his <!-- page 98--><a name="page98"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 98</span>specs on, had read it over to us. Upon my +word—and that of an elder—I do not believe that even Mr Wiggie +himself could have done the thing greater justice. It was just as if +he had been a play-actor man, spouting Douglas’s tragedy.</p> +<p>Having folded up that paper, and turned over not a few others, the +docketings of which he read out to us, James at last says, “Ou ay, +here it is. I think I can now prove to ye, that the gentlemen’s +sweetheart died abroad; and that, likely from her name—for it is here +mentioned—she must have been a Portugée or +Spaniard.”</p> +<p>“Ay, let us hear it,” cried Nanse. “Do, like a +man, let us hear it, James; for I delight above a’ things to hear +about love-stories. Do ye mind, Maister,” she said, “when +ye was so deep in love aince yoursell?”</p> +<p>“Foolish woman,” I said, giving her a kind of severe look; +“is that all your manners to interrupt Mr Batter? If +ye’ll just keep a calm sough, ye’ll hear the long and the short +o’t, in good time.”</p> +<p>By this, James, who did not relish interruption, and was a thought +fidgety in his natural temper, had laid down the paper on the table, +snuffed the candle, and raised his spectacles on his brow. But I said +to him, “Excuse freedoms, James, and be so good as resume your +discourse.” Then wishing to smooth him down, I added, by way of +compliment—“Do go <!-- page 99--><a name="page99"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 99</span>on; for you really are a prime reader. +Nature surely intended ye for a minister.”</p> +<p>“Dinna flatter me,” said James; looking, however, rather +proudishly at what I had said, and replacing his glasses on the brig of his +nose, he then read us a screed of metre to the following effect; part of +which, I am free to confess, is rather above my comprehension. But, +never mind.</p> +<blockquote> +<p style="text-align: center">ELEGIAC STANZAS</p> +<p>I</p> +<p>’Tis midnight deep; the full round moon,<br /> +As ’twere a spectre, walks the sky;<br /> +The balmy breath of gentlest June<br /> +Just stirs the stream that murmurs by;<br /> +Above me frowns the solemn wood;<br /> +Nature, methinks, seems Solitude<br /> +Embodied to the eye.</p> +<p>II</p> +<p>Yes, ’tis a season and a scene,<br /> +Inez, to think on thee; the day,<br /> +With stir and strife, may come between<br /> +Affection and thy beauty’s ray,<br /> +But feeling here assumes control,<br /> +And mourns my desolated soul<br /> +That thou are rapt away!</p> +<p>III</p> +<p>Thou wert a rainbow to my sight,<br /> +The storms of life before thee fled;<br /> +The glory and the guiding light,<br /> +That onward cheer’d and upward led;<br /> +From boyhood to this very hour,<br /> +For me, and only me, thy flower<br /> +Its fragrance seem’d to shed.</p> +<p><!-- page 100--><a name="page100"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +100</span>IV</p> +<p>Dark though the world for me might show<br /> +Its sordid faith and selfish gloom,<br /> +Yet ’mid life’s wilderness to know<br /> +For me that sweet flower shed its bloom,<br /> +Was joy, was solace:—thou art gone—<br /> +And hope forsook me, when the stone<br /> +Sank darkly o’er thy tomb.</p> +<p>V</p> +<p>And art thou dead? I dare not think<br /> +That thus the solemn truth can be;<br /> +And broken is the only link<br /> +That chain’d youth’s pleasant thoughts to me!<br /> +Alas! that thou couldst know decay,<br /> +That, sighing, I should live to say<br /> +“The cold grave holdeth thee!”</p> +<p>VI</p> +<p>For me thou shon’st, as shines a star,<br /> +Lonely, in clouds when Heaven is lost;<br /> +Thou wert my guiding light afar,<br /> +When on misfortune’s billows tost:<br /> +Now darkness hath obscured that light,<br /> +And I am left in rayless night,<br /> +On Sorrow’s lowering coast.</p> +<p>VII</p> +<p>And art thou gone? I deem’d thee some<br /> +Immortal essence—art thou gone?—<br /> +I saw thee laid within the tomb,<br /> +And turn’d away to mourn alone:<br /> +Once to have loved, is to have loved<br /> +Enough; and, what with thee I proved,<br /> +Again I’ll seek in none.</p> +<p>VIII</p> +<p>Earth in thy sight grew faëry land;—<br /> +Life was Elysium—thought was love,—<br /> +When, long ago, hand clasp’d in hand,<br /> +<!-- page 101--><a name="page101"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 101</span>We +roam’d through Autumn’s twilight grove;<br /> +Or watch’d the broad uprising moon<br /> +Shed, as it were, a wizard noon,<br /> +The blasted heath above.</p> +<p>IX</p> +<p>Farewell!—and must I say farewell?—<br /> +No—thou wilt ever be to me<br /> +A present thought; thy form shall dwell<br /> +In love’s most holy sanctuary;<br /> +Thy voice shall mingle with my dreams,<br /> +And haunt me, when the shot-star gleams<br /> +Above the rippling sea.</p> +<p>X</p> +<p>Never revives the past again;<br /> +But still thou art, in lonely hours,<br /> +To me earth’s heaven,—the azure main,—<br /> +Soft music,—and the breath of flowers;<br /> +My heart shall gain from thee its hues;<br /> +And Memory give, though Truth refuse,<br /> +The bliss that once was ours!</p> +</blockquote> +<p>After this, Mr Batter read over to us a great many other curiosities, +about foreign things wonderful to hear, and foreign places wonderful to +behold. Moreover, also, of divers adventures by sea and land. +But the time wearing late, and Tammie Bodkin having brought ben the +shop-key, after putting on the window-shutters, Nanse and I, out of +good-fellowship, thought we could not do less than ask the honest man, +whose cleverality had diverted us so much, to sit still and take a chack of +supper;—James being up in the air, from having been allowed to ride +on his hobby so briskly, made only a show of objection; <!-- page 102--><a +name="page102"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 102</span>so, after a rizzard +haddo, we had a jug of toddy, and sat round the fire with our feet on the +fender—Benjie having fallen asleep with his clothes on, and been +carried away to his bed. Poor bit mannikin!</p> +<p>I never remember to have heard James so prime either on Boston or +Josephus; but as his heart warmed with the liquor and the good fire, for it +was a cold rawish night,—he returned to Taffy with the +pigtail’s master; and insisted, that as we had heard about his +foreign sweetheart’s death, which he appeared to have taken so much +to heart, we should just bear with him once more, as he read over what he +called her dirgie, which was written on a half-sheet of grey mouldy +paper—as if handed down from the days of the Covenanters. It +jingles well; and both Nanse and me thought it gey and pretty; but eh! if +ye only had heard how James Batter read it. It beat +cock-fighting.</p> +<blockquote> +<p style="text-align: center">DIRGE</p> +<p>I</p> +<p>Weep not for her!—Oh she was far too fair,<br /> + Too pure to dwell on this guilt-tainted earth!<br /> +The sinless glory, and the golden air<br /> + Of Zion, seem’d to claim her from her birth;<br /> +A Spirit wander’d from its native Zone,<br /> +Which, soon discovering, took her for its own:<br /> + Weep not for Her!</p> +<p>II</p> +<p>Weep not for her!—Her span was like the sky,<br /> + Whose thousand stars shine beautiful and bright;<br /> +Like flowers that know not what it is to die;<br /> + <!-- page 103--><a name="page103"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +103</span>Like long-linked, shadeless months of Polar light;<br /> +Like music floating o’er a waveless lake,<br /> +While Echo answers from the flowery brake:<br /> + Weep not for Her!</p> +<p>III</p> +<p>Weep not for her!—She died in early youth,<br /> + Ere hope had lost its rich romantic hues;<br /> +When human bosoms seem’d the homes of truth,<br /> + And earth still gleam’d with beauty’s radiant dews.<br +/> +Her summer prime waned not to days that freeze;<br /> +Her wine of life was run not to the lees:<br /> + Weep not for Her!</p> +<p>IV</p> +<p>Weep not for her!—By fleet or slow decay,<br /> + It never grieved her bosom’s core to mark<br /> +The playmates of her childhood wane away,<br /> + Her prospects wither, or her hopes grow dark;<br /> +Translated by her God with spirit shriven,<br /> +She pass’d as ’twere in smiles from earth to heaven.<br /> + Weep not for Her!</p> +<p>V</p> +<p>Weep not for her!—It was not hers to feel<br /> + The miseries that corrode amassing years,<br /> +’Gainst dreams of baffled bliss the heart to steel,<br /> + To wander sad down age’s vale of tears,<br /> +As whirl the withered leaves from friendship’s tree,<br /> +And on earth’s wintry wold alone to be:<br /> + Weep not for Her!</p> +<p>VI</p> +<p>Weep not for her!—She is an angel now,<br /> + And treads the sapphire floors of paradise:<br /> +All darkness wiped from her refulgent brow,<br /> + Sin, sorrow, suffering, banish’d from her eyes;<br /> +Victorious over death, to her appear<br /> +The vista’d joys of heaven’s eternal year;<br /> + Weep not for Her!</p> +<p><!-- page 104--><a name="page104"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +104</span>VII</p> +<p>Weep not for her!—Her memory is the shrine<br /> + Of pleasant thoughts, soft as the scent of flowers,<br /> +Calm as on windless eve the sun’s decline,<br /> + Sweet as the song of birds among the bowers,<br /> +Rich as a rainbow with its hues of light,<br /> +Pure as the moonshine of an autumn night:<br /> + Weep not for Her!</p> +<p>VIII</p> +<p>Weep not for her!—There is no cause for woe;<br /> + But rather nerve the spirit that it walk<br /> +Unshrinking o’er the thorny paths below,<br /> + And from earth’s low defilements keep thee back:<br /> +So, when a few, fleet, severing years have flown,<br /> +She’ll meet thee at heaven’s gate—and lead thee on!<br /> + Weep not for Her.</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p104b.jpg"> +<img alt="The first day I got my regimentals on" src="images/p104s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Having right and law on my side, as any man of judgment may perceive +with half an eye, nothing could hinder me, if I so liked, to print the +whole bundle; but, in the meantime, we must just be satisfied with the +foregoing curiosities, which we have picked out. All that I have set +down concerning myself, the reader may take on credit as open and even-down +truth; but as to whether Taffy’s master’s nick-nackets be true +or false, every one is at liberty, in this free country, to think for +himself. Old sparrows are not easily caught with chaff; and unless I +saw a proper affidavit, I would not, for my own part, pin my faith to a +single word of them. But every man his own +opinion,—that’s my motto.</p> +<p>In the Yankee Almanack of Poor Richard, which, besides the +Pilgrim’s Progress and the Book of Martyrs, <!-- page 105--><a +name="page105"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 105</span>I whiles read on the +week-days for a little diversion, I see it is set down with great +rationality, that “we should never buy for the bargain +sake.” Experience teaches all men, and I found that to my cost +in this matter; for, cheap as the coat and waistcoat seemed which I had +bought from the auld-farrant Welsh flunkie with the peaked hat and the +pigtail, I made no great shakes of them after all. Neither the Lord +Provost of Edinburgh, nor any other of the grand public characters, ever +made me an offer for them, as some had led me to expect; and the play house +people lay all as quiet as ducks in a storm. After hanging at my +window for two or three months, collecting all the idle wives and weans of +the parish to glour and gaze at them from morn till night, during which +time I got half of my lozens broken, by their knocking one another’s +heads through, I was obliged to get quit of them at last, by selling them +to a man and his son, that kept dancing dogs, Pan’s pipes, and a +tambourine; and that made a livelihood by tumbling on a carpet in the +middle of the street, the one playing “Carle now the King’s +come,” as the other whummled head over heels, and then jumped up into +the air, cutting capers, to show that not a bone of his body had been +broken.</p> +<p>Knowing that the raiment was not for everybody’s wear, and that +the like of it was not to be found in a country side, I put a decent price +on it, “foreign birds with fair feathers” aye taking the top +place of the <!-- page 106--><a name="page106"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +106</span>market. When I mentioned forty shillings to the dancing-dog +man and his son, they said nothing, but, putting their tongues in their +cheeks, took up their hats, wishing me a good day. Next forenoon, +however, a sleight-of-hand character having arrived, together with a bass +drum and a bugle horn, that was likely to take the shine out of them, and +maybe also purchase my article—which was capital for his purpose, +having famous wide sleeves—they came back in less than no time, +asking the liberty, before finally concluding with me, of carrying them +home to their lodgings for ten minutes to see how they would fit; and, in +that case, offering me thirty-five shillings and an old flute. The +old flute was for next to no use at all, except for wee Benjie, poor thing, +too-tooing on, to keep him good, and I told them so, myself being no +musicianer; but would take their offer not to quarrel. It would not +do unless some of us were timber-tuned; men not being meant for +blackbirds.</p> +<p>Home went the man, and home went the son, and home went my grand coat +and waistcoat over his arm; and putting my hands into my breeches pockets, +as if I had satisfactorily concluded a great transaction, I marched ben to +the back shop, and took my needle into play, as if nothing in the world had +happened; but where their home lay, or whether the raiment fitted or not, +goodness knows, having never to this blessed hour heard word or wittens of +either of them. Such a <!-- page 107--><a name="page107"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 107</span>pair of blacks! It just shows us how +simple we Scotch folk are. The London man swindled me out of my +lawful room-rent and my Sunday velveteens; the Eirishers, as will be but +too soon seen, made free with my hen-house, committing felonious robbery at +the dead hour of night; and here a decent-looking old Welshman, with a +pigtail tied with black tape, palmed a grand coat and waistcoat upon me, +that were made away with by a man and his son, a devilish deal too long out +of Botany Bay.</p> +<p>Benjie, poor doggie, was vastly proud of the flute, which he fifed away +on morning, noon, and night; and, for more than a fortnight, would not go +to his bed unless it was laid under his pillow. But for me I could +not bide the sight of it, knowing whose hands it had been in, and reminding +me as it did of the depravity of human nature.</p> +<p>Verily, verily, this is a wonderfully wicked world. To find out +the two vagabonds would have been hopeless; unless I could have followed +them to the Back of Beyond, where the mare foaled the fiddler.</p> +<h2><!-- page 108--><a name="page108"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +108</span>CHAPTER TWELVE—MANSIE ON THE OLD VOLUNTEERING DAYS</h2> +<p>The sough of war and invasion flew over the face of the land, at this +time, like a great whirlwind; and the hearts of men died within their +persons with fear and trembling. The accounts that came from abroad +were just dreadful beyond all power of description. Death stalked +about from place to place, like a lawless tyrant, and human blood was spilt +like water; while the heads of crowned kings were cut off; and great dukes +and lords were thrown into dark dungeons, or obligated to flee for their +lives into foreign lands, and to seek out hiding-places of safety beyond +the waves of the sea. What was worst of all, our trouble seemed a +smittal one; the infection spread around; and even our own land, which all +thought hale and healthy, began to show symptoms of the plague-spot. +Losh me! that men, in their seven senses, could have ever shown themselves +so infatuated. Johnny Wilkes and liberty was but a joke to what was +hanging over the head of the nation, brewing like a dark tempest which was +to swallow it up. Bills were posted up through night, by hands that +durst not have been seen at the work through day; and the agents of the +Spirit of Darkness, calling themselves the Friends of the People, held +secret meetings, and hatched plots to blow up our blessed King and +Constitution.</p> +<p>Yet the business, though fearsome in the main, was <!-- page 109--><a +name="page109"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 109</span>in some parts almost +laughable. Everything was to be divided, and every one made alike: +houses and lands were to be distributed by lot; and the mighty man and the +beggar—the auld man and the hobble-de-hoy—the industrious man +and the spendthrift—the maimed, the cripple, and the blind, the +clever man of business and the haveril simpleton, made all just brethren, +and alike. Save us! but to think of such nonsense!!—At one of +their meetings, held at the sign of the Tappet Hen and the Tankard, there +was a prime fight of five rounds between Tammy Bowsie the snab, and auld +Thrashem the dominie with the boulie-back about their drawing cuts which +was to get Dalkeith Palace, and which Newbottle Abbey. Oh, sic +riff-raff!!!</p> +<p>What was worst of all, it was an agreed and determined on thing among +them, these wise men of Gotham, to abolish all kings, clergy, and religion, +as havers. No, no—what need had such wise pows as theirs of +being taught or lectured to? What need had such feelosophers of +having a king to rule over, or a Parliament to direct them? There was +not a single one among their number, that did not think himself, in his own +conceit, as wise as Solomon or William Pitt, and as mighty as King +Nebuchadnezzar.</p> +<p>It was full time to put a stop to all such nonsense. The +newspapers told us what it had done abroad; and what better could we expect +from it at home? <!-- page 110--><a name="page110"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 110</span>Weeds will not grow into flowers anywhere, and +no man can handle tar without being defiled; the first of which comparisons +is I daresay true, and the latter must be—for we read of it in +Scripture. Well, as I was saying, it was a brave notion of the king +to put the loyalty of his land to the test, that the daft folk might be +dismayed, and that the clanjamphrey might be tumbled down before their +betters, like windle-straes in a hurricane:—and so they were.</p> +<p>Such a crowd that day, when the names of the volunteers came to be taken +down! No house could have held them, even though many had not stepped +forward who thought to have got themselves enrolled. Losh me! did +they think the government was so far gone, as to take characters with +deformed legs, and thrawn necks, and blind eyes, and hashie lips, and grey +hairs on their pows? No, no, they were not put to such straits; +though it showed that the right spirit was in the creatures, and that, +though their bodies might be deformed, they had consciences to direct them, +and souls to be saved like their neighbours.</p> +<p>I will never forget the first day that I got my regimentals on; and when +I looked myself in the bit glass, just to think I was a sodger, who never +in my life could thole the smell of powder, and had not fired anything but +a penny cannon on a Fourth of June, when I was a haflins callant. I +thought my throat would have been cut with the black corded <!-- page +111--><a name="page111"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 111</span>stock; for, +whenever I looked down, without thinking like, my chaff-blade played clank +against it, with such a dunt that I mostly chacked my tongue off. +And, as to the soaping of the hair, that beat cock-fighting. It was +really fearsome; but I could scarcely keep from laughing when I +glee’d round over my shoulder, and saw a glazed leather queue hanging +for half an ell down the braid of my back, and a pickle horse-hair curling +out like a rotten’s tail at the far end of it. And then the +worsted taissels on the shoulders—and the lead buttons—and the +yellow facings,—oh, but it was grand! I sometimes fancied +myself a general, and giving the word of command. Then the pipeclayed +breeches—but that was a sore job; many a weary arm did they give +me—beat-beating camstane into them.</p> +<p>The pipeclaying of the breeches, I was saying, was the most fashious +job, let alone courtship, that ever mortal man put his hand to. +Indeed, there was no end to the rubbing, and scrubbing, and brushing, and +fyling, and cleaning; for to the like of me, who was not well accustomed to +the thing, the whitening was continually coming off and destroying my red +coat or my black leggings. I had mostly forgot to speak of the birse +for cleaning out the pan, and the piker for clearing the motion-hole. +But time enough till we come to firing.</p> +<p>Big Sam, who was a sergeant of the Fencibles, and <!-- page 112--><a +name="page112"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 112</span>enough to have put +five Frenchmen to flight any day of the year, whiles came to train us; and +a hard battle he had with more than me. I have already said, that +nature never intended me for the soldiering trade; and why should I +hesitate about confessing, that Sam never got me out of the awkward +squad? But I had two or three neighbours to keep me in +countenance. A weary work we made with the right, left—left, +right,—right-wheel, left-wheel—to the right about,—at +ease,—attention,—by sections,—and all the rest of +it. But then there is nothing in the course of nature that is +useless; and what was to hinder me from acting as orderly, or being one of +the camp-colour-men on head days?</p> +<p>We all cracked very crouse about fighting, when we heard of garments +rolled in blood only from abroad; but one dark night we got a fleg in sober +earnest.</p> +<p>There were signal-posts on the hills, up and down all the country, to +make alarms in case of necessity; and I never went to my bed without giving +first a glee eastward to Falside-brae, and then another westward to the +Calton-hill, to see that all the country was quiet. I had just papped +in—it might be about nine o’clock—after being gey hard +drilled, and sore between the shoulders, with keeping my head back and +playing the dumb-bells; when, lo and behold! instead of getting my needful +rest in my own bed, with my wife and wean, jow went the bell, and +row-de-dow gaed the <!-- page 113--><a name="page113"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 113</span>drums, and all in a minute was confusion and +uproar. I was seized with a severe shaking of the knees, and a flang +at the heart; but I hurried, with my nightcap on, up to the garret window, +and there I too plainly saw that the French had landed—for all the +signal posts were in a bleeze. This was in reality to be a +soldier! I never got such a fright since the day I was cleckit. +Then such a noise and hullabaloo in the streets—men, women, and +weans, all hurrying through ither, and crying with loud voices, amid the +dark, as if the day of judgment had come, to find us all unprepared; and +still the bells ringing, and the drums beating to arms. Poor Nanse +was in a bad condition, and I was well worse; she, at the fears of losing +me, their bread-winner; and I, with the grief of parting from her, the wife +of my bosom, and going out to scenes of blood, bayonets, and gunpowder, +none of which I had the least stomach for. Our little son, Benjie, +mostly grat himself blind, pulling me back by the cartridge-box; but there +was no contending with fate, so he was obliged at last to let go.</p> +<p>Notwithstanding all that, we behaved ourselves like true-blue Scotsmen +called forth to fight the battles of our country; and if the French had +come, as they did not come, they would have found that to their cost, as +sure as my name is Mansie. However, it turned out as well, in the +meantime, that it was a false alarm, and that the thief Buonaparte had not +landed at <!-- page 114--><a name="page114"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +114</span>Dunbar, as it was jealoused: so, after standing under arms for +half the night, with nineteen rounds of ball-cartridge in our boxes, and +the baggage carts all loaden, and ready to follow us to the field of +battle, we were sent home to our beds; and, notwithstanding the awful state +of alarm to which I had been put, never in the course of my life did I +enjoy six hours sounder sleep; for we were hippet the morning parade, on +account of our gallant men being kept so long without natural rest. +It is wise to pick a lesson even out of our adversities; and, at all +events, it was at this time fully shown to us the necessity of our regiment +being taught the art of firing—a tactic to the length of which it had +never yet come.</p> +<p>Next day, out we were taken for the whilk purpose; and we went through +our motions bravely. Prime—load—handle +cartridge—ram down cartridge—return bayonets—and shoulder +hoop—make ready—present—fire. Such was the +confusion, and the flurry, and the din of the report, that I was so +flustered and confused, thinking that half of us would have been shot dead, +that—will ye believe it?—I never yet had mind to pull the +tricker. Howsomever, I minded aye with the rest to ram down a fresh +cartridge at the word of command; and something told me I would repent not +doing like the rest (for I had half a kind of notion that my piece never +went off); so, when the firing was over, the sergeant of the company +ordered <!-- page 115--><a name="page115"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +115</span>all that had loaded pieces to come to the front. I +swithered a little, not being very sure like what to do; but some five or +six stept out; and our corporal, on looking at my piece, ordered me with +the rest to the front. It was just by all the world like an +execution; we six, in the face of the regiment, in a little line, going +through our manœuvres at the word of command; and I could hardly +stand upon my feet, with a queer feeling of fear and trembling, till at +length the terrible moment came. I looked straight forward—for +I durst not jee my head about, and turned to the hills and green trees, as +if I was never to see nature more.</p> +<p>Our pieces were cocked; and at the word—Fire!—off they +went. It was an act of desperation to draw the tricker, and I had +hardly well shut my blinkers, when I got such a thump in the shoulder, as +knocked me backwards head-over-heels on the grass. Before I came to +my senses, I could have sworn I was in another world; but, when I opened my +eyes, there were the men at ease, holding their sides, laughing like to +spleet them; and my gun lying on the ground two or three ell before me.</p> +<p>When I found myself not killed outright, I began to rise up. As I +was rubbing my breek-knees, I saw one of the men going forward to lift up +the fatal piece; and my care for the safety of others overcame the sense of +my own peril,—“Let alane—let alane!” <!-- page +116--><a name="page116"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 116</span>cried I to +him, “and take care of yoursell, for it has to gang off five times +yet.”</p> +<p>The laughing was now terrible; but being little of a soldier, I thought, +in my innocence, that we should hear as many reports as I had crammed +cartridges down her muzzle. This was a sore joke against me for a +length of time; but I tholed it patiently, considering cannily within +myself, that knowledge is only to be bought by experience, and that, if we +can credit the old song, even Johnny Cope himself did not learn the art of +war in a single morning.</p> +<h2><!-- page 117--><a name="page117"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +117</span>CHAPTER THIRTEEN—MANSIE IN SEARCH OF A CURE FOR +CHINCOUGH</h2> +<p>Some folks having been bred up from their cradle to the writing of +books, of course naturally do the thing regularly and scientifically; but +that’s not to be expected from the like of me, that have followed no +other way of life than the shaping and sewing line. It behoves me, +therefore, to beg pardon for not being able to carry my history aye +regularly straight forward, and for being forced whiles to zig-zag and +vandyke. For instance, I clean forgot to give, in its proper place, a +history of one of my travels, with Benjie in my bosom, in search of a cure +for the chincough.</p> +<p>My son Benjie was, at this dividual time, between four and five years +old, when—poor wee chieldie!—he took the chincough, and in more +respects than one was not in a good way; so the doctor recommended his +mother and me, for the change of air, first to carry him down a coal-pit, +and syne to the limekilns at Cousland.</p> +<p>The coal-pit I could not think of at all; to say nothing of the danger +of swinging down into the bowels of the earth in a creel, the thing aye put +me in mind of the awful place, where the wicked, after death and judgment, +howl, and hiss, and gnash their teeth; and where, unless Heaven be more +merciful than we are just—we may all be soon enough. So I could +not think of that, till other human means failed; and I <!-- page 118--><a +name="page118"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 118</span>determined, in the +first place, to hire Tammie Dobbie’s cart, and try a smell of the +fresh air about the limekilns.</p> +<p>It was a fine July forenoon, and the cart, filled with clean straw, was +at the door by eleven o’clock; so our wife handed us out a pair of +blankets to hap round me, and syne little Benjie into my arms, with his +big-coatie on, and his leather cappie tied below his chin, and a bit red +worsted comforterie round his neck; for, though the sun was warm and +pleasant withal, we dreaded cold, as the doctor bade us. Oh, he was a +fine old man, Doctor Hartshorn!</p> +<p>We had not well got out of the town, when Tammie Dobbie louped up on the +fore-tram. He was a crouse, cantie auld cock, having seen much and +not little in his day; so he began a pleasant confab, pointing out all the +gentlemen’s houses round the country, and the names of the farms on +the hill sides. To one like me, whose occupations tie him to the +town-foot, it really is a sweet and grateful thing to be let loose, as it +were, for a wee among the scenes of peace and quietness, where nature is in +a way wild and wanton—where the clouds above our heads seem to sail +along more grandly over the bosom of the sky, and the wee birds to cheep +and churm, from the hedges among the fields, with greater pleasure, feeling +that they are God’s free creatures.</p> +<p>I cannot tell how many thoughts came over my <!-- page 119--><a +name="page119"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 119</span>mind, one after +another, like the waves of the sea down on Musselburgh beach; but +especially the days when I was a wee callant with a daidly at Dominie +Duncan’s school, were fresh in my mind as if the time had been but +yesterday; though much, much was I changed since then, being at that time a +little, careless, ragged laddie, and now the head of a family, earning +bread to my wife and wean by the sweat of my brow. I thought on the +blythe summer days when I dandered about the braes and bushes seeking +birds’-nests with Alick Bowsie and Samuel Search; and of the time +when we stood upon one another’s backs to speil up to the ripe +cherries that hung over the garden walls of Woodburn. Awful changes +had taken place since then. I had seen Sammy die of the black +jaundice—an awful spectacle! and poor Alick Bowsie married to a +drucken randie, that wore the breeks, and did not allow the misfortunate +creature the life of a dog.</p> +<p>When I was meditating thus, after the manner of the patriarch Isaac, +there was a pleasant sadness at my heart, though it was like to loup to my +mouth; but I could not get leave to enjoy it long for the tongue of Tammie +Dobbie. He bade me look over into a field, about the middle of which +were some wooden railings round the black gaping mouth of a coal-pit. +“Div ye see that dark bit owre yonder amang the green clover, +wi’ the sticks about it?” asked Tammie.</p> +<p>“Yes,” said I; “and what for?”</p> +<p><!-- page 120--><a name="page120"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +120</span>“Weel, do you ken,” quo’ Tammie, “that +has been a weary place to mair than ane. Twa-three year ago, some +o’ the collyer bodies were choked to death down below wi’ a +blast of foul air; and a pour o’ orphan weans they left behint them +on the cauldrife parish. But ye’ll mind Hornem, the +sherry-officer wi’ the thrawn shouther?”</p> +<p>“Ou, bravely; I believe he came to some untimeous end hereaway +about?”</p> +<p>“Just in that spat,” answered Tammie. “He was a +drucken, blustering chield, as ye mind; fearing neither man nor +de’il, and living a wild, wicked, regardless life; but, puir man, +that couldna aye last. He had been bousing about the countryside +somehow—maybe harrying out of house and hald some puir bodies that +hadna the wherewith to pay their rents; so, in riding hame fou—it was +pitmirk, and the rain pouring down in bucketfu’s—he became +dumfoundered wi’ the darkness and the dramming thegither; and, losing +his way, wandered about the fields, hauling his mare after him by the +bridle. In the morning the beast was found nibbling away at the grass +owre by yonder, wi’ the saddle upon its back, and a broken bridle +hinging down about its fore-legs, by the which the folks round were putten +upon the scent; for, on making search down yon pit, he was fund at the +bottom, wi’ his brains smashed about him, and his legs and arms +broken to chitters!”</p> +<p><!-- page 121--><a name="page121"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +121</span>“Save us!” said I, “it makes a’ my flesh +grue.”</p> +<p>“Weel it may,” answered Tammie, “or the story’s +lost in the telling; for the collyers that fand him shook as if they had +been seized wi’ the ague. The dumb animal, ye observe, had far +mair sense than him; for, when his fitting gaed way, instead of following +it had plunged back; and the bit o’ the bridle, that had broken, was +still in his grup, when they spied him wi’ their lanterns.”</p> +<p>“It was an awful like way to leave the world,” said I.</p> +<p>“’Deed it was, and nae less,” answered Tammie, +“to gang to his lang account in the middle of his mad thochtlessness, +without a moment’s warning. But see, yonder’s Cousland +lying right forrit to the east hand.”</p> +<p>At this very nick of time Benjie was seized with a severe kink; so +Tammie stopped his cart, and I held his head over the side of it till the +cough went by. I thought his inside would have jumped out; but he +fell sound asleep in two or three minutes; and we jogged on till we came to +the yill-house door, where, after louping out, we got a pickle pease-strae +to Tammie’s horse.</p> +<h2><!-- page 122--><a name="page122"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +122</span>CHAPTER FOURTEEN—MANSIE AND TAMMIE AT MY LORD’S +RACES</h2> +<p>It happened curiously that, of all the days of the year, this should +have been the one on which the Carters’-play was held; and, by good +luck, we were just in time to see that grand sight. The whole +regiment of carters were paraded up at my Lord’s door, for so they +call their box-master; and a beautiful thing it was, I can assure ye. +What a sight of ribands was on the horses! Many a crame must have +been emptied ere such a number of manes and long tails could have been +busked out. The beasts themselves, poor things, I dare say, wondered +much at their bravery, and no less I am sure did the riders. They +looked for all the world like living haberdashery shops. Great +bunches of wallflower, thyme, spearmint, batchelor buttons, +gardeners’ gartens, peony roses, gillyflower, and southernwood, were +stuck in their button holes; and broad belts of stripped silk, of every +colour in the rainbow, were flung across their shoulders. As to their +hats, the man would have had a clear e’e that could have kent what +was their shape or colour. They were all rowed round with ribands, +and puffed about the rim with long green or white feathers; and cockades +were stuck on the off side, to say nothing of long strips fleeing behind +them in the wind like streamers. Save us! to see men so proud of +finery; if they had been peacocks one would have thought less; but in +decent sober men, the heads of <!-- page 123--><a name="page123"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 123</span>small families, and with no great wages, the +thing was crazy-like. Was it not?</p> +<p>At long and last we saw them all set in motion, like a regiment of +dragoons, two and two, with a drum and fife at their head, as if they had +been marching to the field of battle. By-the-bye, it was two of our +own volunteer lads that were playing that day before them, Rory Skirl the +snab, and Geordie Thump the dyer; so this, ye see, verified the old +proverb, that travel where ye like, to the world’s end, ye’ll +aye meet with kent faces; Tammie and me coming out to the yill-house door +to see them pass by.</p> +<p>Behind the drum and fife came a big, half-crazy looking chield, with a +broad blue bonnet on his head, and a red worsted cherry sticking in the +crown of it. He was carrying a new car-saddle over his shoulder on a +well-cleaned pitchfork. Syne came three abreast, one on each side of +my lord, being the key-keepers; he keeping the box, and they keeping the +keys, in case like he should take any thing out. And syne came the +auld my lord—him that was my lord last year, ye observe; and syne +came the colours, as bright and bonny as mostly any thing ye ever +saw. On one of them was painted a plough and harrows, and a man +sowing wheat; over the top of which were gilded letters, the which I was +able to read when I put on my specs, being, if I mind well, “Speed +the Plough.” On the other one, which was a mazarine blue with +<!-- page 124--><a name="page124"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +124</span>yellow fringes, was the picture of two carters, with flat bonnets +on their heads, the tane with a whip in his hand, and the tither a rake, +making hay like. Then came they all passing by two and two, looking +as if each one of them had been the Duke of Buccleuch himself, every one +rigged out in his best; the young callants, such like as had just entered +the box, coming hindmost, and thinking themselves, I daresay, no small +drink, and the day a great one when they were first allowed to be art and +part in such a grand procession.</p> +<p>But losh me! I had mostly forgot the piper, that played in the +middle, as proud as Hezekiah, that we read of in Second Kings, strutting +about from side to side with his bare legs and big buckles, and bit +Macgregor tartan jacket—his cheeks blown up with wind like a +smith’s bellows—the feathers dirling with conceit in his +bonnet—and the drone, below his oxter, squeeling and skirling like an +evil spirit tied up in a green bag. Keep us all! what gleys he gied +about him to observe that the folk were looking at him! He put me in +mind of the song that old Barny used to sing about the streets—</p> +<blockquote> +<p>Ilka ane his sword and dirk has,<br /> +Ilka ane as proud’s a Turk is;<br /> +There’s the Grants o’ Tullochgorum,<br /> +Wi’ their pipers gaun before ’em;<br /> +Proud the mithers are that bore ’em.<br /> +Feedle, faddle, fa, fum.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><!-- page 125--><a name="page125"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +125</span>But who do ye think should come up to us at this blessed moment, +with a staff in his hand, being old now, and not able to ride in the +procession, as he had many a time and often done before, but honest +Saunders Tram, that had been a staunch customer of mine since the day on +which I opened shop, and to whom I had made countless pairs of corduroy +spatterdashes; so we shook hands jocosely together, like old acquaintances, +and the body hodged and leuch as if he had found a fiddle, he was so glad +to see me.</p> +<p>Benjie having fallen asleep, Luckie Barm of the Change, a douce woman, +put him to his bed, and promised to take care of him till we came back; +Saunders Tram insisting on us to go forward along with him to see the +race. I had no great scruple to do this, as I thought Benjie would +likely sleep for an hour, being wearied with the joggling of the cart, and +having supped a mutchkin bowlful of Luckie Barm’s broo and bread.</p> +<p>By the time we had tramped on to the braehead, two or three had booked +for the race, and were busy pulling away the flowers that hung over about +their horses’ lugs, to say little of the tapes and twine; and which +made them look, poor brutes, as if they were not very sure what was the +matter with them. Meanwhile, there was a terrible uproar between my +lord and a man from Edinburgh Grassmarket, leading a <!-- page 126--><a +name="page126"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 126</span>limping horse, +covered with a dirty sheet, with two holes for the beast’s een +looking out at.</p> +<p>But, for all this outward care, the poor thing seemed very like as if +wind was more plenty in the land than corn, being thin and starved-looking, +and as lame as Vulcan in the off hind-leg. So ye see the managers of +the box insisted on its not running; and the man said “it had a right +to run as well as any other horse”; and my lord said “it had no +such thing, as it was not in the box”; and the man said “he +would take out a protest”; and my lord said “he didna gie a +bawbee for a protest; and that he would not allow him to run on any account +whatsoever”; but the man was throng all the time they were +argle-bargling taking the cover off the beast’s back, that was ready +saddled, and as accoutred for running as our regiment of volunteers was for +fighting on field-days. So he swore like a trooper, that, +notwithstanding all their debarring, he would run in spite of their +teeth—both my lord’s teeth, ye observe, and that of the two +key-keepers;—maybe, too, of the man that carried the saddle, for he +aye lent in a word at my lord’s back, egging him on to stand out for +the laws to the last drop of his blood.</p> +<p>To cut a long tale short, the drum ruffed, and off set four of them, a +black one, and a white one, and a brown one, and the man’s one, neck +and neck, as neat as you like. The race course was along the high +road; and, dog on it, they made a noise like thunder, throwing <!-- page +127--><a name="page127"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 127</span>out their +big heavy feet behind them, and whisking their tails from side to side as +if they would have dung out one another’s een; till, not being used +to gallop, they at last began to funk and fling; syne first one stopping, +and then another, wheeling round and round about like peiries, in spite of +the riders whipping them, and pulling them by the heads. The +man’s mare, however, from the Grassmarket, with the limping leg, +carried on, followed by the white one, an old tough brute, that had +belonged in its youth to a trumpeter of the Scots Greys; and, to tell the +truth, it showed mettle still, though far past its best; so back they came, +neck and neck, all the folk crying, and holloing, and clapping their +hands—some “Weel dune the lame ane—five shillings on the +lame ane”;—and others, “Weel run Bonaparte—at him, +auld Bonaparte—two to one that Whitey beats him all to +sticks,”—when, dismal to relate, the limping-legged ane couped +the creels, and old white Bonaparte came in with his tail cocked amid loud +cheering, and no small clapping of hands.</p> +<p>We all ran down the road to the place where the limping horse was lying, +for it was never like to rise up again any more than the bit rider, that +was thrown over its head like an arrow out of a bow; but on helping him to +his feet, save and except the fright, two wide screeds across his +trowser-knees, and a scratch along the brig of his nose, nothing visible +was to be <!-- page 128--><a name="page128"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +128</span>perceived. It was different, however, with the limping +horse. Misfortunate brute! one of its fore-legs had folded below it, +and snapped through at the fetlock joint. There was it lying with a +sad sorrowful look, as if it longed for death to come quick and end its +miseries; the blood, all the while, gush-gushing out at the gaping +wound. To all it was as plain as the A, B, C, that the bones would +never knit; and that, considering the case it was in, it would be an act of +Christian charity to put the beast out of pain. The maister gloomed, +stroked his chin, and looked down, knowing, weel-a-wat, that he had lost +his bread-winner, then gave his head a nod, nod—thrusting both his +hands down to the bottom lining of the pockets of his long square-tailed +jockey coat. He was a wauf, hallanshaker-looking chield, with an old +broad-snouted japanned beaver hat pulled over his brow—one that +seemed by his phisog to hold the good word of the world as +nothing—and that had, in the course of circumstances, been reduced to +a kind of wild desperation, either by chance-misfortunes, cares and trials, +or, what is more likely, by his own sinful, regardless way of life.</p> +<p>“It canna be helpit,” he said, giving his head a bit shake; +“it canna be helpit, friends. Ay, Jess, ye were a gude ane in +yere day, lass,—mony a penny and pound have I made out of ye. +Which o’ ye can lend me a hand, lads? Rin away for a gun some +o’ ye.”</p> +<p><!-- page 129--><a name="page129"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +129</span>Here Thomas Clod interfered with a small bit of advice—a +thing that Thomas was good at, being a Cameronian elder, and accustomed to +giving a word. “Wad ye no think it better,” said Thomas, +“to stick her with a long gully-knife, or a sharp shoemaker’s +parer? It wad be an easier way, I’m thinking.”</p> +<p>Dog on it! I could scarcely keep from shuddering when I heard them +speaking in this wild, heathenish, bloody sort of a manner.</p> +<p>‘“Deed no,” quo’ Saunders Tram, at whose side I +was standing, “far better send away for the smith’s forehammer, +and hit her a smack or twa betwixt the een; so ye wad settle her in half a +second.”</p> +<p>“No, no,” cried Tammie Dobbie, lending in his word; “a +better plan than a’ that, wad be to make a strong kinch of ropes, and +hang her.”</p> +<p>Loveyding! such ways of showing how to be merciful!! But the old +Jockey himself interfered. “Haud yere tongues, fules,” +was his speech; “yonder’s the man coming wi’ a gun. +We’ll shune put an end to her. She would have won for a hundred +pounds, if she hadna broken her leg. Wha’ll wager me that she +wadna hae won? But she’s the last of my stable, puir beast; and +I havena ae plack to rub against anither, now that I have lost her. +Gi’e me the gun and the penny candle. Is she loaded?” +speired he at the man that carried the piece.</p> +<p>“Troth is she,” was the answer, “double +charged.”</p> +<p><!-- page 130--><a name="page130"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +130</span>“Then stand back, lads,” quoth the old +round-shouthered horse-couper, and ramming down the candle he lifted up the +piece, cocking it as he went four or five yards in front of the poor +bleeding brute, that seemed, though she could not rise, to know what he was +about with the weapon of destruction; casting her black eye up at him, and +looking pitifully in his face.</p> +<p>When I saw him taking his aim, and preparing to draw the trigger, I +turned round my back, not being able to stand it, and brizzed the flats of +my hands with all my pith against the opening of my ears; nevertheless, I +heard a faint boom; so, heeling round, I observed the miserable bleeding +creature lift her head, and pulling up her legs, give them a plunge down +again on the divots: after which she lay still, and we all saw, to our +satisfaction, that death had come to her relief.</p> +<p>We are not commanded to be the judges of our fellow-creatures, but to +think charitably of all men, hoping every thing for the best; and, though +the horse-couper was a thought suspicious, both in look, speech, dress, and +outward behaviour, still, ever and anon, we were bound by the ten +commandments to consider him only in the light of a fellow-mortal in +distress of mind and poverty of pocket; so we made a superscription for the +poor man; and, though he did not look much like one that deserved our +charity, nevertheless <!-- page 131--><a name="page131"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 131</span>and howsoever, maybe he was a bad halfpenny, +and maybe not; yet one thing was visibly certain, that he was as poor as +Job—misery being written in big-hand letters on his brow. So it +behoved each one to open his purse as he could afford it; and, though I say +not what I put into the hat, proud am I to tell that he collected two or +three shillings to help him home.</p> +<p>This job being over to his mind as well as mine, and the money safely +stowed into his big hinder coat-pocket—would ye believe it? ere yet +the beast was scarcely cold, just as we were decamping from the place, and +buttoning up our breeches-pockets, we saw him casting his coat, and had the +curiosity to stand still for a jiffy, to observe what he was after, in +case, in the middle of his misfortunes, he was bent on some act of +desperation; when, lo and behold! he out with a gully knife, and began +skinning his old servant, as if he had been only peeling the bark off a +fallen tree!</p> +<p>One cannot sit at their ingle-cheek and expect, without casting their +eyes about them, to grow experienced in the ways of men, or the on-goings +of the world. This spectacle gave me, I can assure you, much and no +little insight; and so dowie was I with the thoughts of what I had +witnessed of the selfishness, the sinfulness, and perversity of man, that I +grew more and more home-sick, thinking never so much in my life before of +my quiet hearthstone and cheerful ingle; and though Thomas Clod insisted +<!-- page 132--><a name="page132"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +132</span>greatly on my staying to their head-meeting dinner, and taking a +reel with the lassies in the barn; and Tammie Dobbie, the bit body, had got +so much into the spirit of the thing, that little persuasion would have +made him stay all night and reel till the dawing—yet I was determined +to make the best of my way home; more-be-token, as Benjie might take skaith +from the night air, and our jaunt therefrom might, instead of contributing +to his welfare, do him more harm than good. So, after getting some +cheese and bread, to say nothing of a glass or two of strong beer and a +dram at Luckie Barm’s, we waited in her parlour, which was hung round +with most beautiful pictures of Joseph and his Brethren, besides two stucco +parrots on the chimney-piece, amusing ourselves with looking at them, as a +pastime like, till Benjie wakened; on the which I made Tammie yoke his +beast, and rowing the bit callant in his mother’s shawl, took him +into my arms in the cart, and after shaking hands with all and sundry twice +or thrice over, we bade them a “good-night,” and drove +away.</p> +<h2><!-- page 133--><a name="page133"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +133</span>CHAPTER FIFTEEN—MANSIE ON THE RETURN FROM MY LORD’S +RACES</h2> +<p>I may confess, without thinking shame, that I was glad when I found our +nebs turned homeward; and, when we got over the turn of the brae at the old +quarry-holes, to see the blue smoke of our own Dalkeith, hanging like a +thin cloud over the tops of the green trees, through which I perceived the +glittering weathercock on the old kirk steeple. Tammie, poor +creature, I observed, was a whit ree with the good cheer; and, as he sat on +the fore-tram, with his whip-hand thrown over the beast’s haunches, +he sang, half to himself and half-aloud, a great many old Scotch songs, +such as “the Gaberlunzie,” “Aiken Drum,” +“Tak’ yere Auld Cloak about ye,” and “the Deuks +dang ower my Daddie”; besides “The Mucking o’ +Geordie’s Byre,” and “Ca’ the Ewes to the +Knowes,” and so on; but, do what I liked, I could not keep my spirits +up, thinking of the woful end of the poor old horse, and of the +ne’er-do-weel loon its master. Many an excellent instruction of +Mr Wiggie’s came to my mind, of how we misguided the good things that +were lent us for our use here, by a gracious Provider, who would, however, +bid us render a final account to him of our conduct and conversation. +I thought of how many were aye complaining and complaining, myself whiles +among the rest, of the hardships, the miseries, and the misfortunes of +their lot; putting all down to the score of fate, and never <!-- page +134--><a name="page134"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 134</span>once +thinking of the plantations of sorrow, reared up from the seeds of our own +sinfulness; or how any thing, save punishment, could come of the breaking +of the ten commandments delivered to the patriarch Moses. Perhaps, +reckoned I with myself, perhaps in this, even I myself may have in this +day’s transactions erred. Here am I wandering about in a cart; +exposing myself to the defilement of the world, to the fear of robbers, and +to the night air, in the search of health for a dwining laddie; as if the +hand that dealt that blessing out was not as powerful at home as it is +abroad. Had I remained at my own lap-broad, the profits of my +day’s work would have been over and above for the maintenance of my +family, outside and inside; instead of which, I have been at the expense of +a cart-hire and a horse’s up-putting, let alone Tammie’s debosh +and my own, besides the trifle of threepence to the round-shouldered old +horse-couper with the slouched japan beaver hat. The story was too +true a one; but, alack-a-day, it was now over late to repent!</p> +<p>As I was thus musing, the bright red sun of summer sank down behind the +top of the Pentland Hills, and all looked bluish, dowie, and dreary, as if +the heart of the world had been seized with a sudden dwalm, and the face of +nature had at once withered from blooming youth into the hoariness of old +age. Now and then the birds gave a bit chitter; and whiles a cow <!-- +page 135--><a name="page135"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 135</span>mooed +from the fields; and the dew was falling like the little tears of the +fairies out of the blue lift, where the gloaming-star soon began to glow +and glitter bonnily.</p> +<p>What I had seen and witnessed made my thoughts heavy and my heart sad; I +could not get the better of it. I looked round and round me, as we +jogged along over the height, down on the far distant country, that spread +out as if it had been a great big picture, with hills, and fields, and +woods; and I could still see to the norward the ships lying at their +anchors on the sea, and the shores of Fife far far beyond it. It was +a great and a grand sight; and made me turn from the looking at it into my +own heart, causing me to think more and more of the glory of the +Maker’s handiworks, and less and less of the littleness of prideful +man. But Tammie had gotten his drappikie, and the tongue of the body +would not lie still a moment; so he blethered on from one thing to another, +as we jogged along, till I was forced at the last to give up thinking, and +begin a twa-handed crack with him.</p> +<p>“Have you your snuff-box upon ye?” said Tammie. +“Gi’e me a pinch.”</p> +<p>Having given him the box, I observed to him, that “it was +beginning to grow dark and dowie.”</p> +<p>“’Deed is’t,” said Tammie; “but a body can +now scarcely meet on the road wi’ ony think waur than <!-- page +136--><a name="page136"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +136</span>themsell. Mony a witch, de’il, and bogle, however, +did my grannie see and hear tell of, that used to scud and scamper hereaway +langsyne like maukins.”</p> +<p>“Witches!” quo’ I. “No, no, Tammie, all +these things are out of the land now; and muckle luck to them. But we +have other things to fear; what think ye of highway robbers?”</p> +<p>“Highway robbers!” said Tammie. “Kay, kay; +I’ll tell ye of something that I met in wi’ mysell. Ae +dark winter night, as I was daundering hame frae Pathhead—it was +pitmirk, and about the twall—losh me, I couldna see my finger afore +me!—that a stupid thocht cam into my head that I wad never wun hame, +but be either killed, lost, murdered, or drowned, between that and the +dawing. All o’ a sudden I sees a light coming dancing forrit +amang the trees; and my hair began to stand up on end. Then, in the +next moment—save us a’!—I sees anither light, and forrit, +forrit they baith cam, like the een of some great fiery monster, let loose +frae the pit o’ darkness by its maister, to seek whom it might +devour.”</p> +<p>“Stop, Tammie,” said I to him, “ye’ll wauken +Benjie. How far are we from Dalkeith?”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p136b.jpg"> +<img alt="Thomas Burlings" src="images/p136s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>“Twa mile and a bittock,” answered Tammie. “But +wait a wee.—Up cam the two lights snoov-snooving, nearer and nearer; +and I heard distinctly the sound of feet that werena +men’s—cloven feet, maybe—but nae wheels. Sae nearer +it cam and nearer, till the <!-- page 137--><a name="page137"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 137</span>sweat began to pour owre my een as cauld as +ice; and, at lang and last, I fand my knees beginning to gi’e way; +and, after tot-tottering for half a minute, I fell down, my staff playing +bleach out before me. When I cam to mysell, and opened my een, there +were the twa lights before me, bleez-bleezing, as if they wad blast my +sight out. And what did they turn out to be, think ye? The +de’il or spunkie, whilk o’ them?”</p> +<p>“I’m sure I canna tell,” said I.</p> +<p>“Naithing mair then,” answered Tammie, “but twa +bowets; ane tied to ilka knee of auld Doofie, the half-crazy horse-doctor, +mounted on his lang-tailed naig, and away through the dark by himsell, at +the dead hour o’ night, to the relief of a man’s mare seized +with the batts, somewhere down about Oxenford.”</p> +<p>I was glad that Tammie’s story had ended in this way, when out +came another tramping on its heels.</p> +<p>“Do you see the top of yon black trees to the eastward there, on +the braehead?”</p> +<p>“I think I do,” was my reply. “But how far, +think ye, are we from home now?”</p> +<p>“About a mile and a half,” said Tammie.—“Weel, +as to the trees, I’ll tell ye something about them.</p> +<p>“There was an auld widow-leddy lived langsyne about the town-end +of Dalkeith. A sour, cankered, curious body—she’s dead +and rotten lang ago. But what I was gaun to say, she had a bonny bit +fair-haired, <!-- page 138--><a name="page138"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +138</span>blue-ee’d lassie of a servant-maid that lodged in the house +wi’ her, just by all the world like a lamb wi’ an wolf; a +bonnier quean, I’ve heard tell, never steppit in leather shoon; so +all the young lads in the gate-end were wooing at her, and fain to have +her; but she wad only have ae joe for a’ that. He was a +journeyman wright, a trades-lad, and they had come, three or four year +before, frae the same place thegither—maybe having had a liking for +ane anither since they were bairns; so they were gaun to be married the +week after Da’keith Fair, and a’ was settled. But what, +think ye, happened? He got a drap drink, and a recruiting party +listed him in the king’s name, wi’ pitting a white shilling in +his loof.</p> +<p>“When the poor lassie heard what had come to pass, and how her +sweetheart had ta’en the bounty, she was like to gang distrackit, and +took to her bed. The doctor never took up her trouble; and some said +it was a fever. At last she was roused out o’t, but naebody +ever saw her laugh after; and frae ane that was as cantie as a lintie, she +became as douce as a Quaker, though she aye gaed cannily about her wark, as +if amaist naething had happened. If she was ony way light-headed +before, to be sure she wasna that noo; but just what a decent quean should +be, sitting for hours by the kitchen fire her lane, reading the Bible, and +thinking, wha kens, of what wad become o’ the wicked after they died; +and so ye see—”</p> +<p><!-- page 139--><a name="page139"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +139</span>“What light is yon?” said I, interrupting him, +wishing him like to break off.</p> +<p>“Ou, it’s just the light on some of the coal-hills. +The puir blackened creatures will be gaun down to their wark. +It’s an unyearthly kind of trade, turning night intil day, and +working like moudiewarts in the dark, when decent folks are in their beds +sleeping.—And so, as I was saying, ye see, it happened ae Sunday +night that a chap cam to the back door; and the mistress too heard +it. She was sitting in the foreroom wi’ her specs on, reading +some sermon book; but it was the maid that answered.</p> +<p>“In a while thereafter, she rang her bell, being a curious body, +and aye anxious to ken a’ thing of her ain affairs, let alane her +neighbours; so, after waiting a wee, she rang again,—and better rang; +then lifting up her stick, for she was stiff with the rheumaticks and decay +of nature, she hirpled into the kitchen,—but feint a hait saw she +there, save the open Bible lying on the table, the cat streekit out before +the fire, and the candle burning—the candle—na, I daur say I am +wrang there, I believe it was a lamp, for she was a near ane. As for +her maiden, there was no trace of her.”</p> +<p>“What do ye think came owre her then?” said I to him, liking +to be at my wits’ end. “Naething uncanny, I daur +say?”</p> +<p>“Ye’ll hear in a moment,” answered Tammie, +“a’ that I ken o’ the matter. Ye see—as I +asked ye before—<!-- page 140--><a name="page140"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 140</span>yon trees on the hill-head to the eastward; +just below yon black cloud yonder?”</p> +<p>“Preceesely,” said I—“I see them well +enough.”</p> +<p>“Weel, after a’ thochts of finding her were gi’en up, +and it was fairly concluded, that it was the auld gudeman that had come and +chappit her out, she was fund in a pond among yon trees, floating on her +back, wi’ her Sunday’s claes on!!”</p> +<p>“Drowned?” said I to him.</p> +<p>“Drowned—and as stiff as a deal board,” answered +Tammie. “But when she was drowned—or how she came to be +drowned—or who it was drowned her—has never been found out to +this blessed moment.”</p> +<p>“Maybe,” said I, lending in my word—“maybe she +had grown demented, and thrown herself in i’ the dark.”</p> +<p>“Or maybe,” said Tammie, “the deil flew away wi’ +her in a flash o’ fire; and, soosing her down frae the lift, she +landit in that hole, where she was fund floating. +But—wo!—wo!” cried he to his horse, coming across its +side with his whip—“We maun be canny; for this brig has a sharp +turn (it was the Cow Brig, ye know), and many a one, both horse and man, +have got their necks broken, by not being wary enough of that +corner.”</p> +<p>This made me a thought timorous, having the bit laddie Benjie fast +asleep in my arms; and as I saw that Tammie’s horse was a wee +fidgety, and glad, I <!-- page 141--><a name="page141"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 141</span>dare say, poor thing, to find itself so near +home. We heard the water, far down below, roaring and hushing over +the rocks, and thro’ among the Duke’s woods—big, thick, +black trees, that threw their branches, like giant’s arms, half +across the Esk, making all below as gloomy as midnight; while over the tops +of them, high, high aboon, the bonnie wee starries were twink-twinkling far +amid the blue. But there was no end to Tammie’s tongue.</p> +<p>“Weel,” said he, “speaking o’ the brig, +I’ll tell you a gude story about that. Auld Jamie Bowie, the +potato merchant, that lived at the Gate-end, had a horse and cart that met +wi’ an accident just at the turn o’ the corner yonder; and up +cam a chield sair forfaughten, and a’ out of breath, to Jamie’s +door, crying like the prophet Jeremiah to the auld Jews, ‘Rin, rin +away doun to the Cow Brig; for your cart’s dung to shivers, and the +driver’s killed, as weel as the horse!’</p> +<p>“James ran in for his hat; but as he was coming out at the door, +he met another messenger, such as came running across the plain to David, +to acquaint him of the death of Absalom, crying, ‘Rin away doun, +Jamie, rin away doun; your cart is standing yonder, without either horse or +driver; for they’re baith killed!’</p> +<p>“Jamie thanked Heaven that the cart was to the fore; then, rinning +back for his stick, which he had forgotten, he stopped a moment to bid his +wife not <!-- page 142--><a name="page142"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +142</span>greet so loud, and was then rushing out in full birr, when he ran +foul of a third chield, that mostly knocked doun the door in his +hurry. ‘Awfu’ news, man, awfu’ news,’ was the +way o’t, with this second Eliphaz the Temanite. ‘Your +cart and horse ran away—and threw the driver, puir fellow, clean owre +the brig into the water. No a crunch o’ him is to be seen or +heard tell of; for he was a’ smashed to pieces!! It’s an +awfu’ business!’</p> +<p>“‘But where’s the horse? and where’s the cart, +then?’ askit Jamie, a thought brisker. ‘Where’s the +horse and cart, then, my man? Can ye tell me ought of +that?’</p> +<p>“‘Ou,’ said he, ‘they’re baith doun at the +Toll yonder, no a hair the waur.’</p> +<p>“‘That’s the best news I’ve heard the nicht, my +man.—Goodwife, I say, Goodwife; are ye deaf or donnart? Give +this lad a dram; and, as it rather looks like a shower, I’ll +e’en no go out the night.—I’ll easy manage to find +another driver, though half a hundred o’ the blockheads should get +their brains knocked out.’</p> +<p>“Is not that a gude ane noo?” quo’ Tammie, +laughing. ‘“Od Jamie Bowie was a real ane. He wadna +let them light a candle by his bedside to let him see to dee; he gied them +a curse, and said that was needless extravagance.”</p> +<p>Dog on it, thought I to myself, the further in the deeper. This +beats the round-shouldered, horse-couper <!-- page 143--><a +name="page143"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 143</span>with the Japan hat, +skinning his reeking horse, all to sticks; and so I again fell into a +gloomy sort of a musing; when, just as we came opposite the Duke’s +gate, with the deers on each side of it, two men rushed out upon us, and +one of them seized Tammie’s horse by the bridle, as the other one +held his horse-pistol to my nose, and bade me stop in the King’s +name!</p> +<p>“Hold your hand, hold your hand, for the sake of mercy!” +cried I. “Spare the father of a small family that will starve +on the street if ye take my life!! Hae—hae—there’s +every coin and copper I have about me in the world! Be merciful, be +merciful; and do not shed blood, that will not, cannot be rubbed out of +your conscience. Take all that we have—horse and cart and all +if ye like; only spare our lives, and let us away home!”</p> +<p>“De’il’s in the man,” quo’ Tammie, +“horse and cart! that’s a gude one! Na, na, lads; fire +away gin ye like; for as lang as I hae a drap o’ bluid in me, +ye’ll get neither. Better be killed than starve. Do your +best, ye thieves that ye are; and I’ll hae baith of ye hanged neist +week before the Fifteen!”</p> +<p>Every moment I expected my head to be shot off, till I got my hand +clapped on Tammie’s mouth, and could get cried to +them—“Shoot him then, lads; shoot him then, lads, if he wants +it; but take my siller like Christians, and let me away with my poor deeing +bairn!”</p> +<p><!-- page 144--><a name="page144"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +144</span>The two men seemed a something dumfoundered with what they heard; +and I began to think them, if they were highway robbers, a wee slow at +their trade; when, what think ye did they turn out to be—only +guess? Nothing more nor less than two excise officers, that had got +information of some smuggled gin, coming up in a cart from Fisherrow +Harbour, and were lurking on the road-side, looking out for spuilzie!!</p> +<p>When they quitted us giggling, I could not keep from laughing too; +though the sights I had seen, and the fright I had got, made me nervish and +eerie; so blithe was I when the cart rattled on our own street, and I began +to waken Benjie, as we were not above a hundred yards from our own +door.</p> +<p>In this day’s adventures, I saw the sin and folly of my conduct +visibly, as I jumped out of the cart at our close mouth. So I +determined within myself, with a strong determination, to behave more +sensibly for the future, and think no more about limekilns and coal-pits; +but to trust, for Benjie’s recovery from the chincough, to a kind +Providence, together with Daffy’s elixir, and warm blankets.</p> +<h2><!-- page 145--><a name="page145"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +145</span>CHAPTER SIXTEEN—TAILOR MANSIE AND THE BLOODY CARTRIDGE</h2> +<p>It was on a fine summer morning, somewhere about four o’clock, +when I wakened from my night’s rest, and was about thinking to bestir +myself, that I heard the sound of voices in the kail-yard stretching south +from our back windows. I listened—and I listened—and I +better listened—and still the sound of the argle-bargling became more +distinct, now in a fleeching way, and now in harsh angry tones, as if some +quarrelsome disagreement had taken place. I had not the comfort of my +wife’s company in this dilemmy; she being away, three days before, on +the top of Tammie Trundle the carrier’s cart, to Lauder, on a visit +to her folks there; her mother (my gudemother like) having been for some +time ill with an income in her leg, which threatened to make a lameter of +her in her old age, the two doctors there—not speaking of the +blacksmith, and sundry skeely old women—being able to make nothing of +the business; so nobody happened to be with me in the room saving wee +Benjie, who was lying asleep at the back of the bed, with his little +Kilmarnock on his head, as sound as a top. Nevertheless, I looked for +my clothes; and, opening one half of the window shutter, I saw four young +birkies, well dressed—indeed three of them customers of my +own—all belonging to the town; two of them young doctors, one of them +a writer’s clerk, and the other a grocer. The whole appeared +<!-- page 146--><a name="page146"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +146</span>very fierce and fearsome, like turkey-cocks; swaggering about +with warlike arms as if they had been the king’s dragoons; and +priming a pair of pistols, which one of the surgeons, a spirity, outspoken +lad, Maister Blister, was holding in his grip.</p> +<p>I jealoused at once what they were after, being now a wee up to +fire-arms; so I saw that scaith was to come of it; and that I would be +wanting in my duty on four heads,—first, as a Christian; second, as a +man; third, as a subject; and fourth, as a father; if I withheld myself +from the scene; nor lifted up my voice, however fruitlessly, against such +crying iniquity as the wanton letting out of human blood; so forth I +hastened, half dressed, with my grey stockings rolled up my thighs over my +corduroys, and my old hat above my cowl, to the kail-yard of +contention.</p> +<p>I was just in the nick of time; and my presence checked the effusion of +blood for a little—but wait a wee. So high and furious were at +least three of the party, that I saw it was catching water in a sieve to +waste words on them, knowing as clearly as the sun serves the world, that +interceding would be of no avail. However, I made a feint, and +threatened to bowl away for a magistrate, if they would not desist from +their barbarous and bloody purpose; but, i’fegs, I had better kept my +counsel till it was asked for.</p> +<p>“Tailor Mansie,” blustered out Maister Thomas <!-- page +147--><a name="page147"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 147</span>Blister with +a furious cock of his eye—he was a queer Eirish birkie, come over for +his education—“since ye have ventured to thrust your nose, ma +vourneen,” said he, “where nobody invited ye, you must just +stay,” added he, “and abide by the consequences. This is +an affair of honour, you take, don’t ye? and if ye venture to stir +one foot from the spot, och then, ma bouchal,” said he, “by the +poker of St Patrick, but whisk through ye goes one of these leaden +playthings, as sure as ye ever spoiled a coat, or cabbaged +broadcloth! Ye have now come out, ye observe,—hark ye,” +said he, “and are art and part in the business; and if one, or both, +of the principals be killed, poor devils,” said he, “we are all +alike liable to take our trial before the Justiciary Court, hark ye; and by +the powers,” said he, “I doubt not but, on proper +consideration, machree, that they will allow us to get off mercifully, on +this side of swinging, by a verdict of manslaughter—and be hanged to +them!”</p> +<p>’Od, I found myself immediately in a scrape; but how to get out of +it baffled my gumption. It set me all a shivering; yet I thought +that, come the worst when it should, they surely would not hang the father +of a helpless small family, that had nothing but his needle for their +support, if I made a proper affidavy, about having tried to make peace +between the youths. So, conscience being a brave supporter, I abode +in silence, though not without many queer and qualmish <!-- page 148--><a +name="page148"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 148</span>thoughts, and a +pit-patting of the heart, not unco pleasant in the tholing.</p> +<p>“Blood and wounds!” bawled Maister Thomas Blister, “it +would be a disgrace for ever on the honourable profession of physic,” +egging on poor Maister Willy Magneezhy, whose face was as white as +double-bleached linen, “to make an apology for such an insult. +Arrah, my honey! you not fit to doctor a cat,—you not fit to bleed a +calf,—you not fit to poultice a pig,—after three years’ +apprenticeship,” said he, “and a winter with Doctor +Monro? By the cupping-glasses of ’Pocrates,” said he, +“and by the pistol of Gallon, but I would have caned him on the spot +if he had just let out half as much to me! Look ye, man,” said +he, “look ye, man, he is all shaking” (this was a God’s +truth); “he’ll turn tail. At him like fire, +Willie.”</p> +<p>Magneezhy, though sadly frightened, looked a thought brighter; and made +a kind of half step forward. “Say that ye’ll ask my +pardon once more,—and if not,” whined the poor lad, with a +voice broken and trembling, “then we must just shoot one +another.”</p> +<p>“Devil a bit,” answered Maister Bloatsheet, “devil a +bit. No, sir; you must down on your bare knees, and beg ten thousand +pardons for calling me out here, in a raw morning; or I’ll have a +shot at you, whether you will or not.”</p> +<p>“Will you stand that?” said Blister, with eyes like burning +coals. “By the living jingo, and the holy <!-- page 149--><a +name="page149"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 149</span>poker, Magneezhy, if +you stand that,—if you stand that, I say, I stand no longer your +second, but leave you to disgrace and a caning. If he likes to shoot +you like a dog, and not as a gentleman, then, cuishla machree,—let +him do it, and be done!”</p> +<p>“No, sir,” replied Magneezhy with a quivering voice, which +he tried in vain, poor fellow, to render warlike (he had never been in the +volunteers like me). “Hand us the pistols, then; and let us do +or die!”</p> +<p>“Spoken like a hero, and brother of the lancet: as little afraid +at the sight of your own blood, as at that of your patients,” said +Blister. “Hand over the pistols.”</p> +<p>It was an awful business. Gude save us, such goings on in a +Christian land! While Mr Bloatsheet, the young writer, was in the act +of cocking the bloody weapon, I again, but to no purpose, endeavoured to +slip in a word edgeways. Magneezhy was in an awful case; if he had +been already shot, he could not have looked more clay and corpse-like; so I +took up a douce earnest confabulation, while the stramash was drawing to a +bloody conclusion, with Mr Harry Molasses, the fourth in the spree, who was +standing behind Bloatsheet with a large mahogany box under his arm, +something in shape like that of a licensed packman, ganging about from +house to house, through the country-side, selling toys and trinkets; or +niffering plaited ear-rings, and suchlike, with young lasses, for old +silver coins or cracked teaspoons.</p> +<p><!-- page 150--><a name="page150"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +150</span>“Oh!” answered he, very composedly, as if it had been +a canister full of black-rapee or black-guard, that he had just lifted down +from his top-shelf, “it’s just Doctor Blister’s saws, +whittles, and big knives, in case any of their legs or arms be blown away, +that he may cut them off.” Little would have prevented me +sinking down through the ground, had I not remembered at the preceese +moment, that I myself was a soldier, and liable, when the hour of danger +threatened, to be called out, in marching-order, to the field of +battle. But by this time the pistols were in the hands of the two +infatuated young men, Mr Bloatsheet, as fierce as a hussar dragoon, and +Magneezhy as supple in the knees as if he was all on oiled hinges; so the +next consideration was to get well out of the way, the lookers-on running +nearly as great a chance of being shot as the principals, they not being +accustomed, like me for instance, to the use of arms; on which account, I +scougged myself behind a big pear-tree; both being to fire when Blister +gave the word “Off!”</p> +<p>I had scarcely jouked into my hidy-hole, when +“crack—crack” played the pistols like lightning; and as +soon as I got my cowl taken from my eyes, and looked about, woes me! +I saw Magneezhy clap his hand to his brow, wheel round like a peerie, or a +sheep seized with the sturdie, and then play flap down on his broadside, +breaking the necks of half-a-dozen cabbage-stocks—three of which were +afterwards clean <!-- page 151--><a name="page151"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 151</span>lost, as we could not put them all into the +pot at one time. The whole of us ran forward, but foremost was +Bloatsheet, who seizing Magneezhy by the hand, cried, with a mournful face, +“I hope you forgive me? Only say this as long as you have +breath; for I am off to Leith harbour in half a minute.”</p> +<p>The blood was running over poor Magneezhy’s eyes, and +drib-dribbling from the neb of his nose, so he was truly in a pitiful +state; but he said with more strength than I thought he could have +mustered,—“Yes, yes, fly for your life. I am dying +without much pain—fly for your life, for I am a gone man!”</p> +<p>Bloatsheet bounced through the kail-yard like a maukin, clamb over the +bit wall, and off like mad; while Blister was feeling Magneezhy’s +pulse with one hand, and looking at his doctor’s watch, which he had +in the other. “Do ye think that the poor lad will live, +doctor?” said I to him.</p> +<p>He gave his head a wise shake, and only observed, “I dare say, it +will be a hanging business among us. In what direction do you think, +Mansie, we should all take flight?”</p> +<p>But I answered bravely, “Flee them that will, I’se flee +nane. If I am taken prisoner, the town-officers maun haul me from my +own house; but, nevertheless, I trust the visibility of my innocence will +be as plain as a pikestaff to the eyes of the Fifteen!”</p> +<p><!-- page 152--><a name="page152"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +152</span>“What, then, Mansie, will we do with poor Magneezhy? +Give us your advice in need.”</p> +<p>“Let us carry him down to my own bed,” answered I; “I +would not desert a fellow-creature in his dying hour! Help me down +with him, and then flee the country as fast as you are able!”</p> +<p>We immediately proceeded, and lifted the poor lad, who had now dwalmed +away, upon our wife’s hand-barrow—Blister taking the feet, and +me the oxters, whereby I got my waistcoat all japanned with blood; so, when +we got him laid right, we proceeded to carry him between us down the close, +just as if he had been a sticked sheep, and in at the back door, which cost +us some trouble, being narrow, and the barrow getting jammed in; but, at +long and last, we got him streeked out above the blankets, having +previously shooken Benjie, and wakened him out of his morning’s +nap.</p> +<p>All this being accomplished and got over, Blister decamped, leaving me +my leeful lane, excepting Benjie, who was next to nobody, in the house with +the dying man. What a frightful face he had, all smeared over with +blood and powder—and I really jealoused, that if he died in that room +it would be haunted for evermair, he being in a manner a murdered man; so +that, even should I be acquitted of art and part, his ghost might still +come to bother us, making our house a hell upon earth, and frighting us out +of our seven senses. But in the midst of my dreadful surmises, when +all <!-- page 153--><a name="page153"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +153</span>was still, so that you might have heard a pin fall, a +knock-knock-knock, came to the door, on which, recovering my senses, I +dreaded first that it was the death-chap, and syne that the affair had got +wind, and that it was the beagles come in search of me; so I kissed little +Benjie, who was sitting on his creepie, blubbering and greeting for his +parritch, while a tear stood in my own eye as I went forward to lift the +sneck to let the officers, as I thought, harrie our house, by carrying off +me, its master; but it was, thank Heaven, only Tammie Bodkin, coming in +whistling to his work, with some measuring papers hanging round his +neck.</p> +<p>“Ah, Tammie,” said I to him, my heart warming at a kent +face, and making the laddie, although my bounden servant by a regular +indenture of five years, a friend in my need, “come in, my man. +I fear ye’ll hae to take charge of the business for some time to +come; mind what I tell’d ye about the shaping and the cutting, and no +making the goose ower warm; as I doubt I am about to be harled away to the +tolbooth.”</p> +<p>Tammie’s heart swelled to his mouth. “Ah, +maister,” he said, “ye’re joking. What should ye +have done that ye should be ta’en to sic an ill place?”</p> +<p>“Ay, Tammie, lad,” answered I, “it is but ower +true.”</p> +<p>“Weel, weel,” quo’ Tammie—I really thought it a +great deal of the laddie—“weel, weel, they canna prevent me +coming to sew beside ye; and if I can take <!-- page 154--><a +name="page154"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 154</span>the measure of +customers without, ye can cut the claith within. But what is’t +for, maister?”</p> +<p>“Come in here,” said I to him, “and believe your ain +een, Tammie, my man.”</p> +<p>“Losh me!” cried the poor laddie, glowring at the bloody +face of the man in the bed, and starting back on his tip-toes. +“Ay—ay—ay! maister; save us, maister; +ay—ay—ay—you have na cloured his harnpan with the +guse? Ay, maister, maister! whaten an unearthly sight!! I doubt +they’ll hang us a’; you for doing’t—and me on +suspicion—and Benjie as art and part, puir thing! But +I’ll rin for a doctor. Will I, maister?”</p> +<p>The thought had never struck me before, being in a sort of a manner dung +stupid; but catching up the word, I said with all my pith and birr, +“Rin, rin, Tammie, rin for life and death!”</p> +<p>Tammie bolted like a nine-year-old, never looking behind his tail; so, +in less than ten minutes, he returned, hauling along old Doctor Peelbox, +whom he had waukened out of his bed, in a camblet morning-gown, and a pair +of red slippers, by the lug and horn, at the very time I was trying to +quiet young Benjie, who was following me up and down the house, as I was +pacing to and fro in distraction, girning and whingeing for his +breakfast.</p> +<p>“Bad business, bad business; bless us, what is this?” said +the old Doctor, who was near-sighted, staring at <!-- page 155--><a +name="page155"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 155</span>Magneezhy’s +bloody face through his silver spectacles—“what’s the +matter?”</p> +<p>The poor patient knew at once his master’s tongue, and lifting up +one of his eyes, the other being stiff and barkened down, said in a +melancholy voice, “Ah, master, do you think I’ll get +better?”</p> +<p>Doctor Peelbox, old man as he was, started back as if he had been a +French dancing-master, or had stramped on a hot bar of iron. +“Tom, Tom, is this you? what, in the name of wonder, has done +this?” Then feeling his wrist—“but your pulse is quite +good. Have you fallen, boy? Where is the blood coming +from?”</p> +<p>“Somewhere about the hairy scalp,” answered Magneezhy, in +their own queer sort of lingo. “I doubt some artery’s cut +through!”</p> +<p>The Doctor immediately bade him lie quiet and hush, as he was getting a +needle and silken thread ready to sew it up; ordering me to have a basin +and water ready, to wash the poor lad’s physog. I did so as +hard as I was able, though I was not sure about the blood just; old Doctor +Peelbox watching over my shoulder with a lighted penny candle in one hand, +and the needle and thread in the other, to see where the blood spouted +from. But we were as daft as wise; so he bade me take my big shears, +and cut out all the hair on the fore part of the head as bare as my loof; +and syne we washed, and better washed; so Magneezhy <!-- page 156--><a +name="page156"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 156</span>got the other eye up, +when the barkened blood was loosed; looking, though as pale as a clean +shirt, more frighted than hurt; until it became plain to us all, first to +the Doctor, syne to me, and syne to Tammie Bodkin, and last of all to +Magneezhy himself, that his skin was not so much as peeled. So we +helped him out of the bed, and blithe was I to see the lad standing on the +floor, without a hold, on his own feet.</p> +<p>I did my best to clean his neckcloth and shirt of the blood, making him +look as decentish as possible, considering circumstances; and lending him, +as the scripture commands, my tartan mantle to hide the infirmity of his +bloody trowsers and waistcoat. Home went he and his master together; +me standing at our close mouth, wishing them a good-morning, and blithe to +see their backs. Indeed, a condemned thief with the rope about his +neck, and the white cowl tied over his eyes, to say nothing of his hands +yerked together behind his back, and on the nick of being thrown over, +could not have been more thankful for a reprieve than I was, at the same +blessed moment. It was like Adam seeing the deil’s rear +marching out of Paradise, if one may be allowed to think such a thing.</p> +<p>The whole business, tag-rag and bob-tail, soon, however, spunked out, +and was the town talk for more than one day.—But you’ll +hear.</p> +<p>At the first I pitied the poor lads, that I thought had fled for ever +and aye from their native country, to <!-- page 157--><a +name="page157"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 157</span>Bengal, Seringapatam, +Copenhagen, Botany Bay, or Jamaica, leaving behind them all their friends +and old Scotland, as they might never hear of the goodness of Providence in +their behalf. But wait a wee.</p> +<p>Would you believe it? As sure’s death, the whole was but a +wicked trick played by that mischievous loon Blister and his cronies, upon +one that was a simple and soft-headed callant. De’il a hait was +in the one pistol but a pluff of powder; and in the other, a +cartridge-paper, full of blood, was rammed down upon the charge; the which, +hitting Magneezhy on the ee-bree, had caused a business that seemed to have +put him out of life, and nearly put me (though one of the volunteers) out +of my seven senses.</p> +<h2><!-- page 158--><a name="page158"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +158</span>CHAPTER SEVENTEEN—MANSIE WAUCH—HIS FIRST AND LAST +PLAY</h2> +<p>The time of Tammie Bodkin’s apprenticeship being nearly worn +through, it behoved me, as a man attentive to business, and the interests +of my family, to cast my eyes around me in search of a callant to fill his +place; as it is customary in our trade for young men, when their time is +out, taking a year’s journeymanship in Edinburgh, to perfect them in +the more intricate branches of the business, and learn the newest manner of +the French and London fashions, by cutting cloth for the young advocates, +the college students, the banking-house clerks, the half-pay ensigns, and +the rest of the principal tip-top bucks.</p> +<p>Having, though I say it myself, the word of being a canny maister, more +than one brought their callants to me, on reading the bill of “An +apprentice wanted,” pasted on my shop-window.</p> +<p>Offering to bind them for the regular time, yet not wishing to take but +one, I thought best not to fix in a hurry, and make choice of him that +seemed more exactly cut out for my purpose. In the course of a few +weeks three or four cast up, among whom was a laddie of Ben Aits the +mealmonger, and a son of William Burlings the baker; to say little of the +callant of Saunders Broom the sweep, that would fain have put his +blackit-looking bit creature with the one eye and the wooden leg under my +wing; but I aye <!-- page 159--><a name="page159"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 159</span>looked to respectability in these matters; so +glad was I when I got the offer of Mungo Glen.—But more of this in +half a minute.</p> +<p>I must say I was glad of any feasible excuse to make to the sweep, to +get quit of him and his laddie, the father being a drucken +ne’er-do-weel, that I wonder did not fall long ere this time of day +from some chimney-head, and get his neck broken. So I told him at +long and last, when he came papping into my shop, plaguing me every time he +passed, that I had fitted myself; and that there would be no need of his +taking the trouble to call again. Upon which he gave his blacked +nieve a desperate thump on the counter, making the observation, that out of +respect for him I might have given his son the preference. Though I +was a wee puzzled for an answer, I said to him for want of a better, that +having a timber leg, he could not well creuk his hough to the shop-board +for our trade.</p> +<p>“Hout, touts,” said Saunders, giving his lips a +smack—“Creuk his hough, ye body you! Do you think his +timber leg canna screw off?—That’ll no pass.”</p> +<p>I was a little dumfoundered at this cleverness. So I said, more on +my guard—“True, true, Saunders, but he’s ower +little.”</p> +<p>“Ower little, and be hanged to ye!” cried the disrespectful +fellow, wheeling about on his heel, as he <!-- page 160--><a +name="page160"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 160</span>grasped the sneck of +the shop-door, and gave a girn that showed the only clean parts of his +body—to wit the whites of his eyes, and his sharp +teeth:—“Ower little!—Pu, pu!—He’s like the +blackamoor’s pig, then, Maister Wauch—he’s like the +blackamoor’s pig—he may be ver’ leetle, but he be tam +ould”; and with this he showed his back, clapping the door at his +tail without wishing a good-day; and I am scarcely sorry when I confess, +that I never cut cloth for either father or son from that hour to this one, +the losing of such a customer being no great matter at best, and almost +clear gain compared with saddling myself with a callant with only one eye +and one leg; the one having fallen a victim to the dregs of the measles, +and the other having been harled off by a farmer’s +threshing-mill. However, I got myself properly suited;—but ye +shall hear.</p> +<p>Our neighbour Mrs Grassie, a widow woman, unco intimate with our wife, +and very attentive to Benjie when he had the chincough, had a far-away +cousin of the name of Glen, that held out among the howes of the Lammermoor +hills—a distant part of the country, ye observe. Auld Glen, a +decent-looking body of a creature, had come in with his sheltie about some +private matters of business—such as the buying of a horse, or +something to that effect, where he could best fall in with it, either at +our fair, or the Grassmarket, or suchlike; so he had up-pitting, free of +expense, <!-- page 161--><a name="page161"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +161</span>from Mrs Grassie, on account of his relationship; Glen being +second cousin to Mrs Grassie’s brother’s wife, which is +deceased. I might, indeed, have mentioned, that our neighbour herself +had been twice married, and had the misery of seeing out both her gudemen; +but such was the will of fate, and she bore up with perfect +resignation.</p> +<p>Having made a bit warm dinner ready, for she was a tidy body, and knew +what was what, she thought she could not do better than ask in a reputable +neighbour to help her friend to eat it, and take a cheerer with him; as, +maybe, being a stranger here, he would not like to use the freedom of +drinking by himself—a custom which is at the best an unsocial +one—especially with none but women-folk near him; so she did me the +honour to make choice of me—though I say it, who should not say +it;—and when we got our jug filled for the second time, and began to +grow better acquainted, ye would really wonder to see how we became merry, +and cracked away just like two pen-guns. I asked him, ye see, about +sheep and cows, and corn and hay, and ploughing and threshing, and horses +and carts, and fallow land, and lambing-time, and har’st, and making +cheese and butter, and selling eggs, and curing the sturdie, and the +snifters, and the batts, and such like;—and he, in his turn, made +enquiry regarding broad and narrow cloth, Kilmarnock cowls, worsted +comforters, Shetland hose, mittens, <!-- page 162--><a +name="page162"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 162</span>leather-caps, +stuffing and padding, metal and mule buttons, thorls, pocket-linings, +serge, twist, buckram, shaping and sewing, back-splaying, cloth-runds, +goosing the labroad, botkins, black thread, patent shears, measuring, and +all the other particulars belonging to our trade, which he said, at long +and last after we had joked together, was a power better one than the +farming line.</p> +<p>“Ye should make your son ane, then,” said I, “if ye +think so. Have ye any bairns?”</p> +<p>“Ye’ve hit the nail on the head.—’Od, man, if ye +wasna so far away, I would bind our auldest callant to yoursell, I’m +sae weel pleased wi’ your gentlemanly manners. But I’m +speaking havers.”</p> +<p>“Havers here or havers there, what,” said I, “is to +prevent ye boarding him, at a cheap rate, either with our friend Mrs +Grassie, or with the wife? Either of the two would be a sort of +mother to him.”</p> +<p>‘“Deed I daur say would they,” answered Maister Glen, +stroking his chin, which was gey rough, and had not got a clean since +Sunday, having had four days of sheer growth—our meeting, you will +observe by this, being on the Thursday afternoon—“’Deed +would they.—’Od, I maun speak to the mistress about +it.”</p> +<p>On the head of this we had another jug, three being cannie, after which +we were both a wee tozy-mozy; and I daresay Mrs Grassie saw plainly that we +were <!-- page 163--><a name="page163"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +163</span>getting into a state where we would not easily make a halt; so, +without letting on, she brought in the tea-things before us, and showed us +a playbill, to tell us that a company of strolling playactors had come in a +body in the morning, with a whole cartful of scenery and grand dresses; and +were to make an exhibition at seven o’clock, at the ransom of a +shilling a-head, in Laird Wheatley’s barn.</p> +<p>Many a time and often had I heard of playacting; and of players making +themselves kings and queens, and saying a great many wonderful things; but +I had never before an opportunity of making myself a witness to the truth +of these hearsays. So Maister Glen, being as full of nonsense, and as +fain to have his curiosity gratified as myself, we took upon us the stout +resolution to go out together, he offering to treat me; and I determined to +run the risk of Maister Wiggie, our minister’s rebuke, for the +transgression, hoping it would make no lasting impression on his mind, +being for the first and only time. Folks should not on all occasions +be over scrupulous.</p> +<p>After paying our money at the door, never, while I live and breathe, +will I forget what we saw and heard that night; it just looks to me, by all +the world, when I think on it, like a fairy dream. The place was +crowded to the full; Maister Glen and me having nearly got our ribs dung in +before we found a seat, the folks behind being obliged to mount the back +<!-- page 164--><a name="page164"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +164</span>benches to get a sight. Right to the forehand of us was a +large green curtain, some five or six ells wide, a good deal the worse of +the wear, having seen service through two-three summers; and, just in the +front of it, were eight or ten penny candles stuck in a board fastened to +the ground, to let us see the players’ feet like, when they came on +the stage—and even before they came on the stage—for the +curtain being scrimpit in length, we saw legs and sandals moving behind the +scenes very neatly; while two blind fiddlers they had brought with them +played the bonniest ye ever heard. ’Od, the very music was +worth a sixpence of itself.</p> +<p>The place, as I said before, was choke-full, just to excess; so that one +could scarcely breathe. Indeed, I never saw any part so crowded, not +even at a tent preaching, when the Rev. Mr Roarer was giving his discourses +on the building of Solomon’s Temple. We were obligated to have +the windows opened for a mouthful of fresh air, the barn being as close as +a baker’s oven, my neighbour and me fanning our red faces with our +hats, to keep us cool; and, though all were half stewed, we certainly had +the worst of it, the toddy we had taken having fermented the blood of our +bodies into a perfect fever.</p> +<p>Just at the time that the two blind fiddlers were playing the Downfall +of Paris, a handbell rang, and up goes the green curtain; being hauled to +the ceiling, <!-- page 165--><a name="page165"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +165</span>as I observed with the tail of my eye, by a birkie at the side, +that had hold of a rope. So, on the music stopping, and all becoming +as still as that you might have heard a pin fall, in comes a decent old +gentleman at his leisure, well powdered, with an old-fashioned coat on, +waistcoat with flap-pockets, brown breeches with buckles at the knees, and +silk stockings with red gushats on a blue ground. I never saw a man +in such distress; he stamped about, and better stamped about, dadding the +end of his staff on the ground, and imploring all the powers of heaven and +earth to help him to find out his runaway daughter, that had decamped with +some ne’er-do-weel loon of a half-pay captain, that keppit her in his +arms from her bedroom-window, up two pair of stairs.</p> +<p>Every father and head of a family must have felt for a man in his +situation, thus to be robbed of his dear bairn, and an only daughter too, +as he told us over and over again, as the salt, salt tears ran gushing down +his withered face, and he aye blew his nose on his clean calendered +pocket-napkin. But, ye know the thing was absurd to suppose that we +should know, any inkling about the matter, having never seen him or his +daughter between the een before, and not kenning them by headmark; so, +though we sympathized with him, as folks ought to do with a fellow-creature +in affliction, we thought it best to hold our tongues, to see what might +cast up better than he expected. So <!-- page 166--><a +name="page166"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 166</span>out he went stumping +at the other side, determined, he said, to find them out, though he should +follow them to the world’s end, Johnny Groat’s House, or +something to that effect.</p> +<p>Hardly was his back turned, and almost before he could cry Jack Robison, +in comes the birkie and the very young lady the old gentleman described, +arm-and-arm together, smoodging and laughing like daft. Dog on it! it +was a shameless piece of business. As true as death, before all the +crowd of folk, he put his arm round her waist, and called her his +sweetheart, and love, and dearie, and darling, and everything that is +fine. If they had been courting in a close together on a Friday +night, they could not have said more to one another, or gone greater +lengths. I thought such shame to be an eye-witness to sic ongoings, +that I was obliged at last to hold up my hat before my face, and look down; +though, for all that, the young lad, to be such a blackguard as his conduct +showed, was well enough faured, and had a good coat to his back with double +gilt buttons and fashionable lapells, to say little of a very well-made +pair of buckskins, a thought the worse of the wear to be sure, but which, +if they had been well cleaned, would have looked almost as good as +new. How they had come we never could learn, as we neither saw chaise +nor gig; but, from his having spurs on his boots, it is more than likely +that they had lighted at the back-door of the <!-- page 167--><a +name="page167"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 167</span>barn from a horse, +she riding on a pad behind him, maybe, with her hand round his waist.</p> +<p>The father looked to be a rich old bool, both from his manner of +speaking, and the rewards he seemed to offer for the apprehension of his +daughter; but to be sure, when so many of us were present that had an equal +right to the spuilzie, it would not be a great deal a thousand pounds, when +divided, still it was worth the looking after; so we just bidit a wee.</p> +<p>Things were brought to a bearing, howsoever, sooner than either +themselves, I daresay, or anybody else present, seemed to have the least +glimpse of; for, just in the middle of their fine goings-on, the sound of a +coming foot was heard, and the lassie, taking guilt to her, cried out, +“Hide me, hide me, for the sake of goodness, for yonder comes my old +father!”</p> +<p>No sooner said than done. In he stappit her into a closet; and, +after shutting the door on her, he sat down upon a chair, pretending to be +asleep in the twinkling of a walking-stick. The old father came +bouncing in, and seeing the fellow as sound as a top, he ran forward and +gave him such a shake as if he would have shooken him all sundry; which +soon made him open his eyes as fast as he had steeked them. After +blackguarding the chield at no allowance, cursing him up hill and down +dale, and calling him every name but a gentleman, he held his staff over +his crown, and gripping him by the cuff of the neck, asked him, <!-- page +168--><a name="page168"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 168</span>in a fierce +tone, what he had made of his daughter. Never since I was born did I +ever see such brazenfaced impudence! The rascal had the brass to say +at once, that he had not seen word or wittens of the lassie for a month, +though more than a hundred folk sitting in his company had beheld him +dauting her with his arm round her jimpy waist, not five minutes +before. As a man, as a father, as an elder of our kirk, my corruption +was raised, for I aye hated lying as a poor cowardly sin, and an inbreak on +the ten commandments; and I found my neighbour, Mr Glen, fidgeting on the +seat as well as me; so I thought, that whoever spoke first would have the +best right to be entitled to the reward; whereupon, just as he was in the +act of rising up, I took the word out of his mouth, saying, “Dinna +believe him, auld gentleman—dinna believe him, friend; he’s +telling a parcel of lees. Never saw her for a month! It’s +no worth arguing, or calling witnesses; just open that press-door, and +ye’ll see whether I’m speaking truth or not!”</p> +<p>The old man stared, and looked dumfoundered; and the young one, instead +of running forward with his double nieves to strike me, the only thing I +was feared for, began a-laughing, as if I had done him a good turn. +But never since I had a being, did I ever witness such an uproar and noise +as immediately took place. The whole house was so glad that the +scoundrel had been exposed, that they set up siccan a roar of laughter, +<!-- page 169--><a name="page169"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +169</span>and thumped away at siccan a rate at the boards with their feet, +that at long and last, with pushing and fidgeting, clapping their hands, +and holding their sides, down fell the place they call the gallery; all the +folk in’t being hurl’d topsy-turvy, head foremost among the +saw-dust on the floor below; their guffawing soon being turned to howling, +each one crying louder than another at the top note of their voices, +“Murder! murder! hold off me; murder! my ribs are in; murder! +I’m killed—I’m speechless!” and other lamentations +to that effect; so that a rush to the door took place, in the which every +thing was overturned—the door-keeper being wheeled away like +wildfire—the furms stramped to pieces—the lights knocked +out—and the two blind fiddlers dung head-foremost over the stage, the +bass fiddle cracking like thunder at every bruise. Such tearing, and +swearing, and tumbling, and squealing, was never witnessed in the memory of +man since the building of Babel: legs being likely to be broken, sides +staved in, eyes knocked out, and lives lost—there being only one +door, and that a small one; so that, when we had been carried off our feet +that length, my wind was fairly gone, and a sick dwalm came over me, lights +of all manner of colours, red, blue, green, and orange, dancing before me, +that entirely deprived me of common sense; till, on opening my eyes in the +dark, I found myself leaning with my broadside against the wall on the +opposite side of the <!-- page 170--><a name="page170"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 170</span>close. It was some time before I minded +what had happened; so dreading skaith, I found first the one arm, and then +the other, to see if they were broken—syne my head—and finally +both of my legs; but all as well as I could discover, was skin-whole and +scart-free. On perceiving this, my joy was without bounds, having a +great notion that I had been killed on the spot. So I reached round +my hand, very thankfully, to take out my pocket-napkin, to give my brow a +wipe, when lo, and behold! the tail of my Sunday’s coat was fairly +off and away, docked by the hainch buttons.</p> +<p>So much for plays and playactors—the first and last, I trust in +grace, that I shall ever see. But indeed I could expect no better, +after the warning that Maister Wiggie had more than once given us from the +pulpit on the subject. Instead, therefore, of getting my grand reward +for finding the old man’s daughter, the whole covey of them, no +better than a set of swindlers, took leg-bail, and made that very night a +moonlight flitting; and Johnny Hammer, honest man, that had wrought from +sunrise to sunset for two days, fitting up their place by contract, instead +of being well paid for his trouble as he deserved, got nothing left him but +a ruckle of his own good deals, all dung to shivers.</p> +<h2><!-- page 171--><a name="page171"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +171</span>CHAPTER EIGHTEEN—MANSIE’S BARLEY-FEVER: AND THE +REBUKE</h2> +<p>On the morning after the business of the playhouse had happened, I had +to take my breakfast in my bed, a thing very uncommon to me, being +generally up by cock-craw, except on Sunday mornings whiles, when each one, +according to the bidding of the Fourth Commandment, has a license to do as +he likes; having a desperate sore head, and a squeamishness at the stomach, +occasioned, I jealouse in a great measure, from what Mr Glen and me had +discussed at Widow Grassie’s, in the shape of warm toddy, over our +cracks concerning what is called the agricultural and manufacturing +interests. So our wife, poor body, put a thimbleful of brandy, Thomas +Mixem’s real, into my first cup of tea, which had a wonderful virtue +in putting all things to rights; so that I was up and had shaped a pair of +lady’s corsets, an article in which I sometimes dealt, before ten +o’clock, though, the morning being rather cold, I did not dispense +with my Kilmarnock.</p> +<p>At eleven in the forenoon, or thereabouts, maybe five minutes before or +after, but no matter, in comes my crony Maister Glen, rather dazed-like +about the een; and with a large piece of white sticking-plaister, about +half a nail wide, across one of his cheeks, and over the bridge of his +nose; giving him a wauf, outlandish, and rather blackguard sort of +appearance; so that I was a thought uneasy at what neighbours <!-- page +172--><a name="page172"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 172</span>might +surmise concerning our intimacy; but the honest man accounted for the thing +in a very feasible manner, from the falling down on that side of his head +of one of the brass candlesticks, while he was lying on his broadside +before one of the furms in the stramash.</p> +<p>His purpose of calling was to tell me, that he could not leave the town +without looking in upon me to bid me farewell; more betoken, as he intended +sending in his son Mungo by the carrier for trial, to see how the line of +life pleased him, and how I thought he would answer—a thing which I +was glad came from his side of the house, being likely to be in the upshot +the best for both parties. Yet I thought he would find our way of +doing so canny and comfortable, that it was not very likely he could ever +start objections; and I must confess, that I looked forward with no small +degree of pride, seeing the probability of my soon having the son of a +Lammermoor farmer sitting crosslegged, cheek for jowl with me on the board, +and bound to serve me at all lawful times, by night and day, by a regular +indenture of five years. Maister Glen insisted on the laddie having a +three months’ trial; and then, after a trifling show of standing out, +just to make him aware that I could be elsewhere fitted if I had a mind, I +agreed that the request was reasonable, and that I had no earthly +objections to conforming with it. So, after giving him his meridian +and a bite of shortbread, we shook hands, <!-- page 173--><a +name="page173"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 173</span>and parted in the +understanding that his son would arrive on the top of limping Jamie the +carrier’s cart, in the course, say, of a fortnight.</p> +<p>Through the whole of the forepart of the day, I remained rather +queerish, as if something was working about my inwards, and a droll pain +between my eyes. The wife saw the case I was in, and advised me, for +the sake of the fresh air, to take a step into the bit garden, and try a +hand at the spade, the smell of the new earth being likely to operate as a +cordial; but no—it would not do; and when I came in at one +o’clock to my dinner, the steam of the fresh broth, instead of making +me feel, as usual, as hungry as a hawk, was like to turn my stomach, while +the sight of the sheep’s head, one of the primest ones I had seen the +whole season, looked, by all the world, like the head of a boiled +blackamoor, and made me as sick as a dog; so I could do nothing but take a +turn out again, and swig away at the small beer, that never seemed able to +slocken my drouth. At long and last, I minded having heard Andrew +Redbeak, the excise-officer, say, that nothing ever put him right after a +debosh except something they call a bottle of soda-water; so my wife +dispatched Benjie to the place where we knew it could be found, and he +returned in a jiffie with a thing like a blacking-bottle below his daidly, +as he was bidden. There being a wire over the cork for some purpose +or other, or maybe just to look <!-- page 174--><a name="page174"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 174</span>neat, we had some fight to get it torn away, +but at last we succeeded. I had turned about for a jug, and the wife +was rummaging for the screw, while Benjie was fiddling away with his +fingers at the cork—Save us! all at once it gave a thud like thunder, +driving the cork over poor Benjie’s head, while it squirted there-up +in his eyes like a fire-engine, and I had only just time to throw down the +jug, and up with the bottle to my mouth. Luckily, for the sixpence it +cost, there was a drop left, which tasted, by all the world, just like +brisk dish-washings; but for all that, it had a wonderful power of setting +me to rights; and my noddle in a while began to clear up, like a March-day +after a heavy shower.</p> +<p>I mind very well too, on the afternoon of the dividual same day, that my +door-neighbour, Thomas Burlings, popped in; and, in our two-handed crack +over the counter, after asking me in a dry, curious way, if I had come by +no skaith in the business of the play, he said, the thing had now spread +far and wide, and was making a great noise in the world. I thought +the body a wee sharp in his observes; so I pretended to take it quite +lightly, proceeding in my shaping-out a pair of buckskin breeches, which I +was making for one of the Duke’s huntsmen; so seeing he was off the +scent, he said in a more jocose way:—</p> +<p>“Well, speaking about buckskins, I’ll tell ye a good story +about that.”</p> +<p><!-- page 175--><a name="page175"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +175</span>“Let us hear’t,” said I; for I was in that sort +of queerish way, that I did not care much about being very busy.</p> +<p>“Ye’se get it as I heard it,” quo’ Thomas; +“and it’s no less worth telling, that it bears a good moral +application in its tail; after the same fashion that a blister does good by +sucking away the vicious humours of the body, thereby making the very pain +it gives precious.” And here—though maybe it was just my +thought—the body stroked his chin, and gave me a kind of half gley, +as much as saying, “take that to ye, neighbour.” But I +deserved it all, and could not take it ill off his hand; being, like +myself, one of the elders of our kirk, and an honest enough, +precise-speaking man.</p> +<p>“Ye see, ye ken,” said Thomas, “that the Breadalbane +Fencibles, a wheen Highland birkies, were put into camp at Fisherrow links, +maybe for the benefit of their douking, on account of the fiddle <a +name="citation175"></a><a href="#footnote175" +class="citation">[175]</a>—or maybe in case the French should land at +the water-mouth—or maybe to give the regiment the benefit of the sea +air—or maybe to make their bare houghs hardier, for it was the winter +time, frost and snaw being as plenty as ye like, and no sae scarce as +pantaloons among the core—or for some ither reason, guid, bad, or +indifferent, which disna muckle matter; but ye see, the lang and the short +o’ the story is, that there they were encamped, <!-- page 176--><a +name="page176"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 176</span>man and +mother’s son of them, going through their dreels by day, and sleeping +by night—the privates in their tents, and the offishers in their +marquees, living in the course of nature on their usual rations of beef, +and tammies, and so on. So, ye understand me, there was nae such +smart ordering of things in the army in those days, the men not having the +beef served out to them by a butcher, supplying each company or companies +by a written contract, drawn up between him and the paymaster before +’sponsible witnesses; but ilka ane bringing what pleased him, either +tripe, trotters, steaks, cow’s-cheek, pluck, hough, spar-rib, jigget, +or so forth.”</p> +<p>“’Od!” said I, “Thomas, ye crack like a +minister. Where did ye happen to pick up all that +knowledge?”</p> +<p>“Where should I have got it, but from an auld half-pay +sergeant-major, that lived in our spare room, and had been out in the +American war, having seen a power of service, and been twice wounded, once +in the aff-cuit, and the other time in the cuff of the neck.”</p> +<p>“I thought as muckle,” said I—“Weel, say on, +man, it’s unco entertaining.”</p> +<p>“Weel,” continued he, “let me see where I was at when +ye stoppit me; for maybe I’ll hae to begin at the beginning +again. For gif ye yinterrupt me, or edge in a word, or put me out by +asking questions, I lose the thread of my discourse, and canna +proceed.”</p> +<p><!-- page 177--><a name="page177"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +177</span>“Ou, let me see,” said I, “ye was about the +contract concerning the beef.”</p> +<p>“Preceesely,” quo’ Thomas, stretching out his +fore-finger—“ye’ve said it to a hair. At that time, +as I was observing, the butcher didna supply a company or companies, +according to the terms of a contract, drawn up before ’sponsible +witnesses, between him and the paymaster; but the soldiers got beef-money +along with their pay; with which said money, given them, ye observe, for +said purpose, they were bound and obligated, in terms of the statute, to +buy, purchase, and provide the said beef, twice a-week or oftener, as it +might happen; an orderly offisher making inspection of the camp-kettles +regularly every forenoon at one o’clock or thereabouts.</p> +<p>“So, as ye’ll pay attention to observe, there was a private +in Captain M’Tavish’s company, the second to the left of the +centre, of the name of Duncan MacAlpine, a wee, hardy, blackaviced, +in-knee’d creature, remarkable for nothing that ever I heard tell of, +except being reported to have shotten a gauger in Badenough, or +thereabouts; and for having a desperate red nose, the effects, ye observe, +of drinking spirituous liquors; ye observe, I daur say, what I am +saying—the effects of drinking malt speerits.</p> +<p>“Weel, week after week passed over, and better passed over, and +Duncan played aff his tricks, like anither Herman Boaz, the slight +o’-hand juggler, him <!-- page 178--><a name="page178"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 178</span>that’s suspeckit to be in league and +paction with the de’il. But ye’ll hear.”</p> +<p>“’Od, it’s diverting, Thomas,” said I to him; +“gang on, man.”</p> +<p>“Weel, ye see, as I was observing—Let me see where I was +at?—Ou ay, having a paction with the de’il. So, when all +were watching beside the camp-kettles, some stirring them with spurtles, or +parritch-sticks, or forks, or whatever was necessary, the orderly offisher +made a point and practice of regularly coming by, about the chap of one +past meridian, as I observed to ye before, to make inspection of what ilka +ane had wared his pay on, and what he had got simmering in the het water +for his dinner.</p> +<p>“So, on the day concerning which I am about to speak, it fell out, +as usual, that he happened to be making his rounds, halting a moment, or +twa maybe, before ilka pot; the man that had the charge thereof, by the way +of stirring like, clapping down his lang fork, and bringing up the piece of +meat, or whatever he happened to be making kail of it, to let the inspector +see whether it was lamb, pork, beef, mutton, or veal. For, ye +observe,” continued Thomas, giving me, as I took it to myself, +another queer side-look, “the purpose of the offisher making the +inspection, was to see that they laid out their pay-money conform to +military regulation; and not to fyling their stamicks, and ruining baith +sowl and body, by throwing it away on whisky—<!-- page 179--><a +name="page179"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 179</span>as but ower mony, +that aiblins should have kenned better, have dune but too often.”</p> +<p>“’Tis but ower true,” said I till him; “but the +best will fa’ intil a faut sometimes. We have a’ our +failings, Thomas.”</p> +<p>“Just so,” answered Thomas; “but where was I +at?—Ou, about the whisky. Weel, speaking about the whisky, ye +see the offisher, Lovetenant Todrick I b’lief they called him, had +made an observe about Duncan’s kettle; so, when he came to him, +Duncan was sitting in the lown side of a dyke, with his red nose, and a +pipe in his cheek, on a big stane, glowring frae him anither way; and, as I +was saying, when he came to him he said,</p> +<p>“‘Weel, Duncan MacAlpine, what have ye in your kettle the +day, man?’</p> +<p>“And Duncan, rinning down his lang fork, answered in his ain +Highland brogue way—‘Please your honours, just my auld +favourite, tripe.’</p> +<p>“‘’Deed, Duncan,’ said Lovetenant Todrick, or +whatever they caa’d him, ‘it is an auld favourite surely, for I +have never seen ye have onything else for your dinner, man.’</p> +<p>“‘Every man to his taste, please your honour,’ +answered Duncan MacAlpine; ‘let ilka ane please her nain +sell’—hauling up a screed half a yard lang. ‘Ilka +man to his taste, please your honour, Lovetenant Todrick.’”</p> +<p><!-- page 180--><a name="page180"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +180</span>“’Od, man,” said I to him, “’Od, +man, ye’re a deacon at telling a story. Ye’re a queer +hand. Weel, what came next?”</p> +<p>“What think ye should come next?” quo’ Thomas +drily.</p> +<p>“I’m sure I dinna ken,” answered I.</p> +<p>“Weel,” said he, “I’ll tell—but where was +I at?”</p> +<p>“Ou, at the observe of Lovetenant Todrick, or what they +caa’d him, about the tripe; and the answer of Duncan MacAlpine on +that head, ‘That ilka man has his ain taste.’”</p> +<p>“‘Vera true,’ said Lovetenant Todrick, ‘but lift +it out a’ the-gither on that dish, till I get my specs on; for never +since I was born, did I ever see before boiled tripe with buttons and +button-holes intill’t.’”</p> +<p>At this I set up a loud laughing, which I could not help, though it was +like to split my sides; but Thomas Burlings bade me whisht till I heard him +out.</p> +<p>“‘Buttons and button-holes!’ quo’ Duncan +MacAlpine. ‘Look again, wi’ yer specs; for ye’re +surely wrang, Lovetenant Todrick.’”</p> +<p>“‘Buttons and button-holes! and ’deed I am surely +right, Duncan,’ answered the Lovetenant Todrick, taking his specs +deliberately off the brig o’ his nose, and faulding them thegither, +as he put them first into his shagreen case, and syne into his +pocket—‘Howsomever, Duncan MacAlpine, I’ll pass ye ower +for this time, gif ye take my warning, and for the future <!-- page +181--><a name="page181"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 181</span>ware your +pay-money on wholesome butcher’s meat, like a Christian, and no be +trying to delude your ain stamick, and your offisher’s een, by +holding up, on a fork, such a heathenish mak-up for a dish, as the leg of a +pair o’ buckskin breeches!’”</p> +<p>“Buckskin breeches!” said I, “and did he really and +actually boil siccan trash to his dinner?”</p> +<p>“Nae sae far south as that yet, friend,” answered +Thomas. “Duncan was not so bowed in the intellect as ye +imagine, and had some spice of cleverality about his queer +manœuvres.—Eat siccan trash to his dinner! Nae mair, +Mansie, than ye intend to eat that iron guse ye’re rinning along that +piece claith; but he wanted to make his offishers believe that his pay gaed +the right way: like the Pharisees of old that keepit praying, in ell-lang +faces, about the corners of the streets, and gaed hame wi’ hearts +full of wickedness and a’ manner of cheatrie.”</p> +<p>“And what way did his pay gang, then?” asked I; “and +how did he live?”</p> +<p>“I telled ye before, frien,” answered Thomas, “that he +was a deboshed creature; and, like ower mony in the world, likit weel what +didna do him ony good. It’s a wearyfu’ thing that +whisky. I wish it could be banished to Botany Bay.</p> +<p>“It is that,” said I. “Muckle and nae little sin +does it breed and produce in this world.”</p> +<p>“I’m glad,” quoth Thomas, stroking down his chin <!-- +page 182--><a name="page182"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 182</span>in a +slee way, “I’m glad the guilty should see the folly o’ +their ain ways; it’s the first step, ye ken, till +amendment;—and indeed I tell’t Maister Wiggie, when he sent me +here, that I could almost become guid for your being mair wary of your +conduct for the future time to come.”</p> +<p>This was like a thunder-clap to me, and I did not know for a jiffie what +to feel, think, or do, more than perceiving that it was a piece of devilish +cruelty on their parts, taking things on this strict. As for myself, +I could freely take sacred oath on the Book, that I had not had a dram in +my head for four months before; the knowledge of which made my corruption +rise like lightning, as a man is aye brave when he is innocent; so, giving +my pow a bit scart, I said briskly, “So ye’re after some +session business in this visit, are ye?”</p> +<p>“Ye’ve just guessed it,” answered Thomas Burlings, +sleeking down his front hair with his fingers in a sober way; “we had +a meeting this forenoon; and it was resolved ye should stand a public +rebuke in the meeting-house on Sunday next.”</p> +<p>“Hang me, if I do!” answered I, thumping my nieve down with +all my might on the counter, and throwing back my cowl behind me in a +corner. “No, man!” added I, snapping with great pith my +finger and thumb in Thomas’s eyes, “not for all the ministers +and elders that ever were cleckit! They may do <!-- page 183--><a +name="page183"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 183</span>their best; and ye +may tell them so, if ye like. I was born a free man; I live in a free +country; I am the subject of a free king and constitution; and I’ll +be shot before I submit to such rank, diabolical papistry.”</p> +<p>“Hooly and fairly,” quoth Thomas, staring a wee astonished +like, and not a little surprised to see my birse up in this manner; for, +when he thought upon shearing a lamb, he found he had catched a tartar; so, +calming down as fast as ye like, he said, “Hooly and fairly +Mansie” (or Maister Wauch, I believe, he did me the honour to call +me), “they’ll maybe no be sae hard as they threaten. But +ye ken, my friend, I’m speaking to ye as a brither; it was an +unco-like business for an elder, not only to gang till a play, which is ane +of the deevil’s rendevouses, but to gang there in a state of liquor: +making yoursell a world’s wonder—and you an elder of our +kirk! I put the question to yourself soberly.”</p> +<p>His threatening I could despise, and could have fought, cuffed, and +kicked with all the ministers and elders of the General Assembly, to say +nothing of the Relief Synod and the Burgher Union, before I would have +demeaned myself to yield to what my inward spirit plainly told me to be +rank cruelty and injustice; but ah! his calm, brotherly, flattering way I +could not thole with, and the tears came rapping into my eyes, faster than +it cared my manhood to let be seen; so I said till him, “Weel, weel, +Thomas, I ken I have <!-- page 184--><a name="page184"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 184</span>done wrong; and I am sorry for’t: +they’ll never find me in siccan a scrape again.”</p> +<p>Thomas Burlings then came forward in a friendly way, and shook hands +with me; telling that he would go back and plead before them in my +behalf. He said this over again, as we parted at my shop-door; and, +to do him justice, surely he had not been worse than his word, for I have +aye attended the kirk as usual, standing, when it came to my rotation, at +the plate, and nobody, gentle or semple, ever spoke to me on the subject of +the playhouse, or minted the matter of the Rebuke from that day to +this.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p184b.jpg"> +<img alt="Mungo Glen" src="images/p184s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h2><!-- page 185--><a name="page185"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +185</span>CHAPTER NINETEEN—MANSIE’S ADVENTURES OF THE AWFUL +NIGHT</h2> +<p>In the course of a fortnight from the time I parted with Maister Glen, +the Lauder carrier, limping Jamie, brought his callant to our shop-door in +his hand. He was a tall slender laddie, some fourteen years old, and +sore grown away from his clothes. There was something genty and +delicate-like about him, having a pale sharp face, blue eyes, a nose like a +hawk’s, and long yellow hair hanging about his haffets, as if barbers +were unco scarce cattle among the howes of the Lammermoor hills. +Having a general experience of human nature, I saw that I would have +something to do towards bringing him into a state of rational civilization; +but, considering his opportunities, he had been well educated, and I liked +his appearance on the whole not that ill.</p> +<p>To divert him a while, as I did not intend yoking him to work the first +day, I sent out Benjie with him, after giving him some refreshment of bread +and milk, to let him see the town and all the uncos about it. I told +Benjie first to take him to the auld kirk, which is one wonderful building, +steeple and aisle; and as for mason-work, far before anything to be seen or +heard tell of in our day; syne to Lugton brig, which is one grand affair, +hanging over the river Esk and the flour-mills like a rainbow—syne to +the Tolbooth, which is a terror to evil-doers, and from which the Lord +preserve us all!—syne to the Market, where <!-- page 186--><a +name="page186"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 186</span>ye’ll see lamb, +beef, mutton, and veal, hanging up on cleeks, in roasting and boiling +pieces—spar-rib, jigget, shoulder, and heuk-bane, in the greatest +prodigality of abundance;—and syne down to the Duke’s gate, by +looking through the bonny white-painted iron-stanchels of which, +ye’ll see the deer running beneath the green trees; and the palace +itself, in the inside of which dwells one that needs not be proud to call +the king his cousin.</p> +<p>Brawly did I know, that it is a little after a laddie’s being +loosed from his mother’s apron-string, and hurried from home, till +the mind can make itself up to stay among fremit folk; or that the +attention can be roused to anything said or done, however simple in the +uptake. So, after Benjie brought Mungo home again, gey forfaughten +and wearied-out like, I bade the wife give him his four-hours, and told him +he might go to his bed as soon as he liked. Jealousing also, at the +same time, that creatures brought up in the country have strange notions +about them with respect to supernaturals—such as ghosts, brownies, +fairies, and bogles—to say nothing of witches, warlocks, and +evil-spirits, I made Benjie take off his clothes and lie down beside him, +as I said, to keep him warm; but, in plain matter of fact (between +friends), that the callant might sleep sounder, finding himself in a +strange bed, and not very sure as to how the house stood as to the matter +of a good name.</p> +<p><!-- page 187--><a name="page187"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +187</span>Knowing by my own common sense, and from long experience of the +ways of a wicked world, that there is nothing like industry, I went to +Mungo’s bedside in the morning, and wakened him betimes. +Indeed, I’m leeing there—I need not call it wakening +him—for Benjie told me, when he was supping his parritch out of his +luggie at breakfast-time, that he never winked an eye all night, and that +sometimes he heard him greeting to himself in the dark—such and so +powerful is our love of home and the force of natural affection. +Howsoever, as I was saying, I took him ben the house with me down to the +workshop, where I had begun to cut out a pair of nankeen trowsers for a +young lad that was to be married the week after to a servant-maid of +Maister Wiggie’s,—a trig quean, that afterwards made him a good +wife, and the father of a numerous small family.</p> +<p>Speaking of nankeen, I would advise every one, as a friend, to buy the +Indian, and not the British kind—the expense of outlay being ill +hained, even at sixpence a yard—the latter not standing the washing, +but making a man’s legs, at a distance, look like a yellow +yorline.</p> +<p>It behoved me now as a maister, bent on the improvement of his prentice, +to commence learning Mungo some few of the mysteries of our trade; so +having showed him the way to crook his hough (example is better than +precept, as James Batter <!-- page 188--><a name="page188"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 188</span>observes), I taught him the plan of holding +the needle; and having fitted his middle-finger with a bottomless thimble +of our own sort, I set him to sewing the cotton-lining into one leg, +knowing that it was a part not very particular, and not very likely to be +seen; so that the matter was not great, whether the stitching was exactly +regular, or rather in the <i>zigzag</i> line. As is customary with +all new beginners, he made a desperate awkward hand at it, and of which I +would of course have said nothing, but that he chanced to brog his thumb, +and completely soiled the whole piece of work with the stains of blood; +which, for one thing, could not wash out without being seen; and, for +another, was an unlucky omen to happen to a marriage garment.</p> +<p>Every man should be on his guard; this was a lesson I learned when I was +in the volunteers, at the time Buonaparte was expected to land down at +Dunbar. Luckily for me in this case, I had, by some foolish mistake +or another, made an allowance of a half yard, over and above what I found I +could manage to shape on; so I boldly made up my mind to cut out the piece +altogether, it being in the back seam. In that business I trust I +showed the art of a good tradesman, having managed to do it so neatly that +it could not be noticed without the narrowest inspection; and having the +advantage of a covering by the coat-flaps, had indeed no chance of being +so, except on desperately windy days.</p> +<p><!-- page 189--><a name="page189"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +189</span>In the week succeeding that on which this unlucky mischance +happened, an accident almost as bad befell, though not to me, further than +that everyone is bound by the Ten Commandments, to say nothing of his own +conscience, to take a part in the afflictions that befall their +door-neighbours.</p> +<p>When the voice of man was wheisht, and all was sunk in the sound sleep +of midnight, it chanced that I was busy dreaming that I was sitting one of +the spectators, looking at another play-acting piece of business. +Before coming this length, howsoever, I should by right have observed, that +ere going to bed I had eaten for my supper part of a black pudding, and two +sausages, that Widow Grassie had sent in a compliment to my wife, being a +genteel woman, and mindful of her friends—so that I must have had +some sort of nightmare, and not been exactly in my seven senses—else +I could not have been even dreaming of siccan a place. Well, as I was +saying, in the playhouse I thought I was; and all at once I heard Maister +Wiggie, like one crying in the wilderness, hallooing with a loud voice +through the window, bidding me flee from the snares, traps, and gin-nets of +the Evil One; and from the terrors of the wrath to come. I was in a +terrible funk; and just as I was trying to rise from the seat, that seemed +somehow glued to my body, and would not let me, to reach down my hat, +which, with its glazed cover, was hanging on a pin <!-- page 190--><a +name="page190"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 190</span>to one side, my face +all red, and glowing like a fiery furnace, for shame of being a second time +caught in deadly sin, I heard the kirk-bell jow-jowing, as if it was the +last trump summoning sinners to their long and black account; and Maister +Wiggie thrust in his arm in his desperation, in a whirlwind of passion, +claughting hold of my hand like a vice to drag me out head-foremost. +Even in my sleep, howsoever, it appears that I like free-will, and ken that +there are no slaves in our blessed country; so I tried with all my might to +pull against him, and gave his arm such a drive back, that he seemed to +bleach over on his side, and raised a hullaballoo of a yell, that not only +wakened me, but made me start upright in my bed.</p> +<p>For all the world such a scene! My wife was roaring “Murder, +murder!—Mansie Wauch, will ye no wauken?—Murder, murder! +ye’ve felled me wi’ your nieve,—ye’ve felled me +outright,—I’m gone for evermair,—my haill teeth are doun +my throat. Will ye no wauken, Mansie Wauch?—will ye no +wauken?—Murder, murder!—I say murder, murder, murder, +murder!!!”</p> +<p>“Who’s murdering us?” cried I, throwing my cowl back +on the pillow, and rubbing my eyes in the hurry of a tremendous +fright.—“Who’s murdering us?—where’s the +robbers?—send for the town-officer!!”</p> +<p>“O Mansie!—O Mansie!” said Nanse, in a kind <!-- page +191--><a name="page191"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 191</span>of greeting +tone, “I daursay ye’ve felled me—but no matter, now +I’ve gotten ye roused. Do ye no see the haill street in a +bleeze of flames? Bad is the best; we maun either be burned to death, +or out of house and hall, without a rag to cover our nakedness. +Where’s my son?—where’s my dear bairn Benjie?”</p> +<p>In a most awful consternation, I jumped at this out to the middle of the +floor, hearing the causeway all in an uproar of voices; and seeing the +flichtering of the flames glancing on the houses in the opposite side of +the street, all the windows of which were filled with the heads of +half-naked folks, in round-eared mutches or Kilmarnocks; their mouths open, +and their eyes staring with fright; while the sound of the fire-engine, +rattling through the streets like thunder, seemed like the dead-cart of the +plague, come to hurry away the corpses of the deceased for interment in the +kirk-yard.</p> +<p>Never such a spectacle was witnessed in this world of sin and sorrow +since the creation of Adam. I pulled up the window and looked +out—and, lo and behold! the very next house to our own was all in a +low from cellar to garret; the burning joists hissing and cracking like +mad; and the very wind that blew along, as warm as if it had been out of +the mouth of a baker’s oven!!</p> +<p>It was a most awful spectacle! more by token to me, who was likely to be +intimately concerned with it; and beating my brow with my clenched nieve, +<!-- page 192--><a name="page192"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +192</span>like a distracted creature, I saw that the labour of my whole +life was likely to go for nought, and me to be a ruined man; all the +earnings of my industry being laid out on my stock in trade, and on the +plenishing of our bit house. The darkness of the latter days came +over my spirit like a vision before the prophet Isaiah; and I could see +nothing in the years to come but beggary and starvation; myself a +fallen-back old man, with an out-at-the-elbows coat, a greasy hat, and a +bald pow, hirpling over a staff, requeeshting an awmous—Nanse a +broken-hearted beggar wife, torn down to tatters, and weeping like Rachel +when she thought on better days—and poor wee Benjie going from door +to door with a meal-pock on his back.</p> +<p>The thought first dung me stupid, and then drove me to desperation; and +not even minding the dear wife of my bosom, that had fainted away as dead +as a herring, I pulled on my trowsers like mad, and rushed out into the +street, bareheaded and barefoot as the day that Lucky Bringthereout dragged +me into the world.</p> +<p>The crowd saw in the twinkling of an eyeball that I was a desperate man, +fierce as Sir William Wallace, and not to be withstood by gentle or +semple. So most of them made way for me; they that tried to stop me +finding it a bad job, being heeled over from right to left, on the broad of +their backs, like flounders without respect of age or person; some old +women that <!-- page 193--><a name="page193"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +193</span>were obstrapulous being gey sore hurt, and one of them with a +pain in her hainch even to this day. When I had got almost to the +door-cheek of the burning house, I found one grupping me by the back like +grim death; and, in looking over my shoulder, who was it but Nanse herself, +that, rising up from her faint, had pursued me like a whirlwind. It +was a heavy trial, but my duty to myself in the first place, and to my +neighbours in the second, roused me up to withstand it; so, making a spend +like a grey-hound, I left the hindside of my shirt in her grasp, like +Joseph’s garment in the nieve of Potiphar’s wife, and up the +stairs head-foremost among the flames.</p> +<p>Mercy keep us all! what a sight for mortal man to glowr at with his +living eyes! The bells were tolling amid the dark, like a summons +from above for the parish of Dalkeith to pack off to another world; the +drums were beat-beating as if the French were coming, thousand on thousand, +to kill, slay, and devour every maid and mother’s son of us; the +fire-engine pump-pump-pumping like daft, showering the water like rainbows, +as if the windows of heaven were opened, and the days of old Noah come back +again; and the rabble throwing the good furniture over the windows like +onion peelings, where it either felled the folk below, or was dung to a +thousand shivers on the causey. I cried to them, for the love of +goodness, to make search in the beds, in case there might be any weans +there, <!-- page 194--><a name="page194"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +194</span>human life being still more precious than human means; but not a +living soul was seen but a cat, which, being raised and wild with the din, +would on no consideration allow itself to be catched. Jacob Dribble +found that to his cost; for, right or wrong, having a drappie in his head, +he swore like a trooper that he would catch her, and carry her down beneath +his oxter; so forward he weired her into a corner, crouching on his +hunkers. He had much better have left it alone; for it fuffed over +his shoulder like wildfire, and scarting his back all the way down, jumped +like a lamplighter head-foremost through the flames, where, in the raging +and roaring of the devouring element, its pitiful cries were soon hushed to +silence for ever and ever, Amen!</p> +<p>At long and last, a woman’s howl was heard on the street, +lamenting, like Hagar over young Ishmael in the wilderness of Beersheba, +and crying that her old grannie, that was a lameter, and had been bedridden +for four years come the Martinmas following, was burning to a cinder in the +fore-garret. My heart was like to burst within me when I heard this +dismal news, remembering that I myself had once an old mother, that was now +in the mools; so I brushed up the stair like a hatter, and burst open the +door of the fore-garret—for in the hurry I could not find the sneck, +and did not like to stand on ceremony. I could not see my finger +before me, and did not know my right hand <!-- page 195--><a +name="page195"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 195</span>from the left, for +the smoke; but I groped round and round, though the reek mostly cut my +breath, and made me cough at no allowance, till at last I catched hold of +something cold and clammy, which I gave a pull, not knowing what it was, +but found out to be the old wife’s nose. I cried out as loud as +I was able for the poor creature to hoise herself up into my arms; but, +receiving no answer, I discovered in a moment that she was suffocated, the +foul air having gone down her wrong hause; and, though I had aye a terror +at looking at, far less handling a dead corpse, there was something brave +within me at the moment, my blood being up; so I caught hold of her by the +shoulders, and harling her with all my might out of her bed, got her lifted +on my back heads and thraws, in the manner of a boll of meal, and away as +fast as my legs could carry me.</p> +<p>There was a providence in this haste; for, ere I was half-way down the +stair, the floor fell with a thud like thunder; and such a combustion of +soot, stour, and sparks arose, as was never seen or heard tell of in the +memory of man since the day that Samson pulled over the pillars in the +house of dragon, and smoored all the mocking Philistines as flat as +flounders. For the space of a minute I was as blind as a beetle, and +was like to be choked for want of breath; however, as the dust began to +clear up, I saw an open window, and hallooed down to the crowd for the sake +of mercy <!-- page 196--><a name="page196"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +196</span>to bring a ladder, to save the lives of two perishing +fellow-creatures, for now my own was also in imminent jeopardy. They +were long of coming, and I did not know what to do; so thinking that the +old wife, as she had not spoken, was maybe dead already, I was once +determined just to let her drop down upon the street; but I knew that the +so doing would have cracked every bone in her body, and the glory of my +bravery would thus have been worse than lost. I persevered, +therefore, though I was fit to fall down under the dead weight, she not +being able to help herself, and having a deal of beef in her skin for an +old woman of eighty; but I got a lean, by squeezing her a wee between me +and the wall.</p> +<p>I thought they would never have come, for my shoeless feet were all +bruised, and bleeding from the crunched lime and the splinters of broken +stones; but at long and last, a ladder was hoisted up, and having fastened +a kinch of ropes beneath her oxters, I let her slide down over the upper +step, by way of a pillyshee, having the satisfaction of seeing her safely +landed in the arms of seven old wives, that were waiting with a cosey warm +blanket below. Having accomplished this grand manœuvre, wherein +I succeeded in saving the precious life of a woman of eighty, that had been +four long years bedridden, I tripped down the steps myself like a +nine-year-old, and had the pleasure, when the roof fell in, to know that I +for one <!-- page 197--><a name="page197"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +197</span>had done my duty; and that, to the best of my knowledge, no +living creature except the poor cat had perished within the jaws of the +devouring element.</p> +<p>But, bide a wee; the work was, as yet, only half done. The fire +was still roaring and raging, every puff of wind that blew through the +black firmament, driving the red sparks high into the air, where they died +away like the tail of a comet, or the train of a skyrocket; the joisting +crazing, cracking, and tumbling down; and now and then the bursting cans +playing flee in a hundred flinders from the chimney-heads. One would +have naturally enough thought that our engine could have drowned out a fire +of any kind whatsoever in half a second, scores of folk driving about with +pitcherfuls of water, and scaling half of it on one another and the causey +in their hurry; but woe’s me! it did not play puh on the red-het +stones, that whizzed like iron in a smiddy trough; so, as soon as it was +darkness and smoke in one place, it was fire and fury in another.</p> +<p>My anxiety was great; seeing that I had done my best for my neighbours, +it behoved me now, in my turn, to try and see what I could do for myself; +so, notwithstanding the remonstrances of my friend James Batter—whom +Nanse, knowing I had bare feet, had sent out to seek me, with a pair of +shoon in his hand; and who, in scratching his head, mostly rugged out every +hair of his wig with sheer vexation—<!-- page 198--><a +name="page198"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 198</span>I ran off, and +mounted the ladder a second time, and succeeded, after muckle speeling, in +getting upon the top of the wall; where, having a bucket slung up to me by +means of a rope, I swashed down such showers on the top of the flames, that +I soon did more good, in the space of five minutes, than the engine and the +ten men, that were all in a broth of perspiration with pumping it, did the +whole night over: to say nothing of the multitude of drawers of water, men, +wives, and weans, with their cuddies, leglins, pitchers, pails, and +water-stoups; having the satisfaction, in a short time, to observe every +thing getting as black as the crown of my hat, and the gable of my own +house becoming as cool as a cucumber.</p> +<p>Being a man of method, and acquainted with business, I could have liked +to have given a finishing stitch to my work before descending the ladder; +but, losh me! sic a whingeing, girning, greeting, and roaring, got up all +of a sudden, as was never seen or heard of since bowed Joseph raised the +meal-mob, and burned Johnnie Wilkes in effigy; and, looking down, I saw +Benjie, the bairn of my own heart, and the callant Glen, my apprentice on +trial, that had both been as sound as tops till this blessed moment, +standing in their nightgowns and their little red cowls, rubbing their +eyes, cowering with cold and fright, and making an awful uproar, crying on +me to come down and not be killed. The voice of Benjie especially +pierced <!-- page 199--><a name="page199"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +199</span>through and through my heart, like a two-edged sword, and I could +on no manner of account suffer myself to bear it any longer, as I jealoused +the bairn would have gone into convulsion fits if I had not heeded him; so, +making a sign to them to be quiet, I came my ways down, taking hold of one +in ilka hand, which must have been a fatherly sight to the spectators that +saw us. After waiting on the crown of the causey for half an hour, to +make sure that the fire was extinguished, and all tight and right, I saw +the crowd scaling, and thought it best to go in too, carrying the two +youngsters along with me. When I began to move off, however, siccan a +cheering of the multitude got up as would have deafened a cannon; and +though I say it myself, who should not say it, they seemed struck with a +sore amazement at my heroic behaviour, following me with loud cheers even +to the threshold of my own door.</p> +<p>From this folk should condescend to take a lesson, seeing that, though +the world is a bitter bad world, yet that good deeds are not only a reward +to themselves, but call forth the applause of Jew and Gentile: for the +sweet savour of my conduct on this memorable night remained in my nostrils +for goodness knows the length of time, many praising my brave humanity in +public companies and assemblies of the people, such as strawberry ploys, +council meetings, dinner parties, and so forth; and many in private +conversation at <!-- page 200--><a name="page200"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 200</span>their own ingle-cheek, by way of two-handed +crack; in stage-coach confab, and in causey talk in the forenoon, before +going in to take their meridians. Indeed, between friends, the +business proved in the upshot of no small advantage to me, bringing to me a +sowd of strange faces, by way of customers, both gentle and semple, that I +verily believe had not so muckle as ever heard of my name before, and +giving me many a coat to cut, and cloth to shape, that, but for my gallant +behaviour on the fearsome night aforesaid, would doubtless have been cut, +sewed, and shaped by other hands. Indeed, considering the great noise +the thing made in the world, it is no wonder that every one was anxious to +have a garment of wearing apparel made by the individual same hands that +had succeeded, under Providence, in saving the precious life of an old +woman of eighty, that had been bedridden, some say, four years come Yule, +and others, come Martinmas.</p> +<p>When we got to the ingle-side, and, barring the door, saw that all was +safe, it was now three in the morning; so we thought it by much the best +way of managing, not to think of sleeping any more, but to be on the +look-out—as we aye used to be when walking sentry in the +volunteers—in case the flames should, by ony mischancy accident or +other, happen to break out again. My wife blamed my hardihood muckle, +and the rashness with which I had ventured at once <!-- page 201--><a +name="page201"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 201</span>to places where even +masons and sclaters were afraid to put foot on; yet I saw, in the interim, +that she looked on me with a prouder eye—knowing herself the helpmate +of one that had courageously risked his neck, and every bone in his skin, +in the cause of humanity. I saw this as plain as a pikestaff, as, +with one of her kindest looks, she insisted on my putting on a better +happing to screen me from the cold, and on my taking something comfortable +inwardly towards the dispelling of bad consequences. So, after half a +minute’s stand-out, by way of refusal like, I agreed to a cupful of +het-pint, as I thought it would be a thing Mungo Glen might never have had +the good fortune to have tasted; and as it might operate by way of a +cordial on the callant Benjie, who kept aye smally, and in a dwining +way. No sooner said than done—and off Nanse brushed in a couple +of hurries to make the het-pint.</p> +<p>After the small beer was put into the pan to boil, we found to our great +mortification, that there were no eggs in the house, and Benjie was sent +out with a candle to the hen house, to see if any of the hens had laid +since gloaming, and fetch what he could get. In the middle of the +mean time, I was expatiating to Mungo on what taste it would have, and how +he had never seen anything finer than it would be, when in ran Benjie, all +out of breath, and his face as pale as a dishclout.</p> +<p><!-- page 202--><a name="page202"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +202</span>“What’s the matter, Benjie, what’s the +matter?” said I to him, rising up from my chair in a great hurry of a +fright—“Has onybody killed ye? or is the fire broken out again? +or has the French landed? or have ye seen a ghost? or are—”</p> +<p>“Eh, crifty!” cried Benjie, coming till his speech, +“they’re a’ aff—cock and hens and +a’—there’s naething left but the rotten nest-egg in the +corner!”</p> +<p>This was an awful dispensation, of which more hereafter. In the +midst of the desolation of the fire—such is the depravity of human +nature—some ne’er-do-weels had taken advantage of my absence to +break open the hen-house door; and our whole stock of poultry, the cock +along with our seven hens—two of them tappit, and one +muffed—were carried away bodily, stoop and roop.</p> +<p>On this subject, howsoever, I shall say no more in this chapter, but +merely observe in conclusion, that as to our het-pint, we were obligated to +make the best of a bad bargain, making up with whisky what it wanted in +eggs; though our banquet could not be called altogether a merry one, the +joys of our escape from the horrors of the fire being damped, as it were by +a wet blanket, on account of the nefarious pillaging of our hen-house.</p> +<h2><!-- page 203--><a name="page203"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +203</span>CHAPTER TWENTY—MANSIE’S ADVENTURES IN THE SPORTING +LINE</h2> +<p>The situation of me and my family at this time affords an example of the +truth of the old proverb, that “ae evil never comes its lane”; +being no sooner quit of our dread concerning the burning, than we were +doomed by Providence to undergo the disaster of the rookery of our +hen-house. I believe I have mentioned the number of our +stock—to wit, a cock and seven hens, eight in all; but I neglected, +on account of their size, or somehow overlooked, the two bantams, than +which two more neat or curiouser-looking creatures were not to be seen in +the whole country-side. The hennie was quite a conceit of a thing, +and laid an egg not muckle bigger than my thimble; while, for its size, the +bit he-ane was, for spirit in the fechting line, a perfect wee deevil +incarnate.</p> +<p>Most fortunately for my family in this matter, it so happened that, by +paying in half-a-crown a-year, I was a regular member of a society for +prosecuting all whom it might concern, that dabbled with foul fingers in +the sinful and lawless trade of thievery, breaking the eighth commandment +at no allowance, and drawing on their heads not only the passing +punishments of this world, by way of banishment to Botany Bay, or hanging +at the Luckenbooths, but the threatened vengeance of one that will last for +ever and ever.</p> +<p><!-- page 204--><a name="page204"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +204</span>Accordingly, putting on my hat about nine o’clock, or +thereabouts, when the breakfast things were removing from the bit table, I +poppit out, in the first and foremost instance, to take a vizzy of the +depredation the flames had made in our neighbourhood. Losh keep us +all, what a spectacle of wreck and ruination! The roof was clean off +and away, as if a thunderbolt from heaven had knocked it down through the +two floors, carrying every thing before it like a perfect whirlwind. +Nought were standing but black, bare walls, a perfect picture of +desolation; some with the bit pictures on nails still hanging up where the +rooms were like; and others with old coats hanging on pins; and empty +bottles in boles, and so on. Indeed, Jacob Glowr, who was standing by +my side with his specs on, could see as plain as a pikestaff, a tea-kettle +still on the fire, in the hearth-place of one of the gable garrets, where +Miss Jenny Withershins lived, but happened luckily, at the era of the +conflagration, to be away to Prestonpans, on a visit to some of her +far-away cousins, providentially for her safety, greviously, at that very +time, smitten with the sciatics.</p> +<p>Having satisfied my eyes with a daylight view of the terrible +devastation, I went away leisurely up the street with my hands in my +breeches-pockets, comparing the scene in my mind with the downfall of +Babylon the Great, and Sodom and Gomorrah, and <!-- page 205--><a +name="page205"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 205</span>Tyre and Sidon, and +Jerusalem, and all the lave of the great towns that had fallen to decay, +according to the foretelling of the sacred prophets, until I came to the +door of Donald Gleig, the head of the Thief Society, to whom I related, +from beginning to end, the whole business of the hen-stealing. +’Od he was a mettle bodie of a creature; far north, Aberdeen-awa +like, and looking at two sides of a halfpenny; but, to give the devil his +due, in this instance he behaved to me like a gentleman. Not only did +Donald send through the drum in the course of half an hour, offering a +reward for the apprehension of the offenders of three guineas, names +concealed, but he got a warrant granted to Francie Deep, the +sherry-officer, to make search in the houses of several suspicious +persons.</p> +<p>The reward offered by tuck of drum failed, nobody making application to +the crier; but the search succeeded; as, after turning everything +topsy-turvy, the feathers were found in a bag, in the house of an old woman +of vile character, who contrived to make out a way of living by hiring beds +at twopence a-night to Eirish travellers—South-country +packmen—sturdy beggars, men and women, and weans of +them—Yetholm tinklers—wooden-legged sailors without Chelsea +pensions—dumb spaewomen—keepers of wild-beast +shows—dancing-dog folk—spunk-makers, and suchlike +pick-pockets. The thing was as plain as the loof of my hand; for, +besides great <!-- page 206--><a name="page206"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 206</span>suspicion, what was more, was the finding the +head of the muffed hen, to which I could have sworn, lying in a bye-corner; +the body itself not being so kenspeckle in its disjasket state—as it +hung twirling in a string by its legs before the fire, all buttered over +with swine’s seam, and half roasted.</p> +<p>After some little ado, and having called in two men that were passing to +help us to take them prisoners, in case of their being refractory, we +carried them by the lug and the horn before a justice of peace.</p> +<p>Except the fact of the stolen goods being found in their possession, it +so chanced, ye observe, that we had no other sort of evidence whatsoever; +but we took care to examine them one at a time, the one not hearing what +the other said; so, by dint of cross-questioning by one who well knew how +to bring fire out of flint, we soon made the guilty convict themselves, and +brought the transaction home to two wauf-looking fellows that we had got +smoking in a corner. From the speerings that were put to them during +their examination, it was found that they tried to make a way of doing by +swindling folks at fairs by the game of the garter. Indeed, it was +stupid of me not to recognise their faces at first sight, having observed +both of them loitering about our back bounds the afternoon before; and one +of them, the tall one with the red head and fustian jacket, having been in +my shop in the fore part of the night, about the gloaming like, asking me +<!-- page 207--><a name="page207"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 207</span>as +a favour for a yard or two of spare runds, or selvages.</p> +<p>I have aye heard that seeing is believing; and that youth might take a +warning from the punishment that sooner or later is ever tacked to the tail +of crime, I took Benjie and Mungo to hear the trial; and two more rueful +faces than they put on, when they looked at the culprits, were never seen +since Adam was a boy. It was far different with the two Eirishers, +who showed themselves so hardened by a long course of sin and misery, that, +instead of abasing themselves in the face of a magistrate, they scarcely +almost gave a civil answer to a single question which was speered at +them. Howsoever, they paid for that at a heavy ransom, as ye shall +hear by and by.</p> +<p>Having been kept all night in the cold tolbooth on bread and water, +without either coal or candle to warm their toes, or let them see what they +were doing, they were harled out amid an immense crowd of young and old, +more especially wives and weans, at eleven o’clock on the next +forenoon, to the endurance of a punishment which ought to have afflicted +them almost as muckle as that of death itself.</p> +<p>When the key of the jail door was thrawn, and the two loons brought out, +there was a bumming of wonder, and maybe sorrow, among the terrible crowd, +to see fellow-creatures so left alone to themselves as to have robbed an +honest man’s hen-house at the dead <!-- page 208--><a +name="page208"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 208</span>hour of night, when a +fire was bleezing next door, and the howl of desolation soughing over the +town like a visible judgment. One of them, as I said before, had a +red pow, and a foraging cap, with a black napkin roppined round his +weasand; a jean jacket with six pockets, and square tails; a velveteen +waistcoat with plated buttons; corduroy breeches buttoned at the knees; +rig-and-fur stockings; and heavy, clanking wooden clogs. The other, +who was little and round-shouldered, with a bull neck and bushy black +whiskers, just like a shoebrush stuck to each cheek of his head, as if he +had been a travelling agent for Macassar, had on a low-crowned, plated +beaver hat, with the end of a peacock’s feather, stuck in the band; a +long-tailed old black coat, as brown as a berry, and as bare as my loof, to +say nothing of being out at both elbows. His trowsers, I dare say, +had once been nankeen; but as they did not appear to have seen the +washing-tub for a season or two, it would be rash to give any decided +opinion on that head. In short, they were two awful-like +raggamuffins.</p> +<p>Women, however, are aye sympathizing and merciful; so as I was standing +among the crowd, as they came down the tolbooth stair, chained together by +the cuffs of the coat, one said, “Wae’s me! what a +weel-faur’d fellow, wi’ the red head, to be found guilty of +stealing folk’s hen-houses.”—And another one said, +“Hech, sirs! what a bonny blackaviced man <!-- page 209--><a +name="page209"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 209</span>that little ane is, +to be paraded through the streets for a warld’s wonder!” +But I said nothing, knowing the thing was just, and a wholesome example; +holding Benjie on my shoulder to see the poukit hens tied about their necks +like keeking-glasses. But, puh! the fellows did not give one pinch of +snuff; so off they set, and in this manner were drummed through the bounds +of the parish, a constable walking at each side of them with Lochaber axes, +and the town-drummer row-de-dowing the thief’s march at their +backs. It was a humbling sight.</p> +<p>My heart was sorrowful, notwithstanding the ills they had done me and +mine, by the nefarious pillaging of our hen-house, to see two human +creatures of the same flesh and blood as myself, undergoing the righteous +sentence of the law, in a manner so degrading to themselves, and so pitiful +to all that beheld them. But, nevertheless, considering what they had +done, they neither deserved, nor did they seem to care for commiseration, +holding up their brazen faces as if they had been taking a pleasure walk +for the benefit of their health, and the poukit hens, that dangled before +them, ornaments of their bravery. The whole crowd, young and old, +followed them from one end of the town to the other, liking to ding one +another over, so anxious were they to get a sight of what was going on; but +when they came to the gate-end, they stopped and gave the +ne’er-do-weels three cheers. What think <!-- page 210--><a +name="page210"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 210</span>you did the +ne’er-do-weels do in return? Fie shame! they took off their old +scrapers and gave a huzza too; clapping their hands behind them, in a +manner as deplorable to relate as it was shocking to behold.</p> +<p>Their chains—the things, ye know, that held their cuffs +together—were by this time taken off, along with the poukit hens, +which I fancy the town-offishers took home and cooked for their dinner; so +they shook hands with the drummer, wishing him a good-day and a pleasant +walk home, brushing away on the road to Edinburgh, where their wives and +weans, who had no doubt made a good supper on the spuilzie of the hens, had +gone away before, maybe to have something comfortable for their arrival, +their walk being likely to give them an appetite.</p> +<p>Had they taken away all the rest of the hens, and only left the bantams, +on which they must have found but desperate little eating, and the muffed +one, I would have cared less; it being from several circumstances a pet one +in the family, having been brought in a blackbird’s cage by the +carrier from Lauder, from my wife’s mother, in a present to Benjie on +his birth-day. The creature almost grat himself blind, when he heard +of our having seen it roasting in a string by the legs before the fire, and +found its bonny muffed head in a corner.</p> +<p>But let alone likings, the callant was otherwise a loser in its death, +she having regularly laid a caller <!-- page 211--><a +name="page211"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 211</span>egg to him every +morning, which he got along with his tea and bread, to the no small benefit +of his health, being, as I have taken occasion to remark before, far from +being robusteous in the constitution. I am sure I know one thing, and +that is, that I would have willingly given the louns a crown-piece to have +preserved it alive, hen though it was of my own; but no—the bloody +deed was over and done, before we were aware that the poor thing’s +life was sacrificed.</p> +<p>The names of the two Eirishers were John Dochart and Dennis Flint, both, +according to their own deponement, from the county of Tipperary; and +weel-a-wat the place has no great credit in producing two such +bairns. Often, after that, did I look through that part of the +Advertizer newspapers, that has a list of all the accidents, and so on, +just above the births, marriages and deaths, which I liked to read +regularly. Howsoever, it was two years before I discovered their +names again, having it seems, during a great part of that period, lived +under the forged name of Alias; and I saw that they were both shipped off +at Leith, for transportation to some country called the Hulks, for being +habit and repute thieves, and for having made a practice of coining bad +silver. The thing, however, that condemned them, was for having +knocked down a drunk man, in a beastly state of intoxication, on the +King’s highway in broad daylight; and having robbed him of his hat, +wig, and neckcloth, an upper <!-- page 212--><a name="page212"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 212</span>and under vest, a coat and great-coat, a pair +of Hessian boots which he had on his legs, a silver watch with four brass +seals and a key, besides a snuff-box made of boxwood, with an invisible +hinge, one of the Lawrencekirk breed, a pair of specs, some odd +halfpennies, and a Camperdown pocket-napkin.</p> +<p>But of all months of the year—or maybe, indeed, of my blessed +lifetime—this one was the most adventurous. It seemed, indeed, +as if some especial curse of Providence hung over the canny town of +Dalkeith; and that, like the great cities of the plain, we were at long and +last to be burnt up from the face of the earth with a shower of fire and +brimstone.</p> +<p>Just three days after the drumming of the two Eirish +ne’er-do-weels, a deaf and dumb woman came in prophesying at our back +door, offering to spae fortunes. She was tall and thin, an unco +witch-looking creature, with a runkled brow, sunburnt haffits, and two +sharp piercing eyes, like a hawk’s, whose glance went through ye like +the cut and thrust of a two-edged sword. On her head she had a tawdry +brownish black bonnet, that had not improved from two three years’ +tholing of sun and wind; a thin rag of a grey duffle mantle was thrown over +her shoulders, below which was a checked shortgown of gingham stripe, and a +green glazed manco petticoat. Her shoon were terrible bauchles, and +her grey worsted stockings, to hide the holes in them, were all dragooned +down about her <!-- page 213--><a name="page213"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 213</span>heels. On the whole, she was rather, I +must confess, an out-of-the-way creature; and though I had not muckle faith +in these bodies that pretend to see further through a millstone than their +neighbours, I somehow or other, taking pity on her miserable condition, +being still a fellow-creature, though plain in the lugs, had not the heart +to huff her out; more by token, as Nanse, Benjie, and the new prentice +Mungo, had by this time got round me, all dying to know what grand fortunes +waited them in the years of their after pilgrimage. Sinful creatures +that we are! not content with the insight into its ways that Providence +affords us, but diving beyond our deeps, only to flounder into the +whirlpools of error. Is it not clear, that had it been for our good, +all things would have been revealed to us; and is it not as clear, that not +a wink of sound sleep would we ever have got, had all the ills that have +crossed our paths been ranged up before our een, like great black towering +mountains of darkness? How could we have found contentment in our +goods and gear, if we saw them melting from us next year like snow from a +dyke; how could we sit down on the elbow-chair of ease, could we see the +misfortunes that may make next week a black one; or how could we look a +kind friend in the face without tears, could we see him, ere a month maybe +was gone, lying streiked beneath his winding sheet, his eyes closed for +evermore, and his mirth hushed to an awful silence! No, no, let us +rest content that <!-- page 214--><a name="page214"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 214</span>Heaven decrees what is best for us; let us do +our duty as men and Christians, and every thing, both here and hereafter, +will work together for our good.</p> +<p>Having taken a piece of chalk out of her big, greasy, leather pouch, she +wrote down on the table, “Your wife, your son, and your +prentice.” This was rather curious, and every one of them, a +wee thunderstruck like, cried out as they held up their hands, “Losh +me! did onybody ever see or hear tell of the like o’ that? +She’s no canny!”—It was gey droll, I thought; and I was +aware from the Witch of Endor, and sundry mentions in the Old Testament, +that things out of the course of nature have more than once been permitted +to happen; so I reckoned it but right to give the poor woman a fair +hearing, as she deserved.</p> +<p>“Oh!” said Nanse to me, “ye ken our Benjie’s +eight year auld; see if she kens; ask her how old he is.”</p> +<p>I had scarcely written down the question, when she wrote beneath it, +“The bonny laddie, your only son, is eight year old: He’ll be +an admiral yet.”</p> +<p>“An admiral!” said his mother; “that’s gey and +extraordinar. I never kenned he had ony inkling for the seafaring +line; and I thought, Mansie, you intended bringing him up to your ain +trade. But, howsoever, ye’re wrong ye see. I tell’t +ye he wad either make a spoon or spoil a horn. I tell’t ye, +ower and ower again, that he would be either something or naething; what +think ye o’ that noo?—See if she kens <!-- page 215--><a +name="page215"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 215</span>that Mungo comes from +the country; and where the Lammermoor hills is.”</p> +<p>When I had put down the question, in a jiffie she wrote down beside it, +“That boy comes from the high green hills, and his name is +Mungo.”</p> +<p>Dog on it! this astonished us more and more, and fairly bamboozled my +understanding; as I thought there surely must be some league and paction +with the Old One; but the further in the deeper. She then pointed to +my wife, writing down, “Your name is Nancy”—and turning +to me, as she made some dumbie signs, she chalked down, “Your name is +Mansie Wauch, that saved the precious life of an old bedridden woman from +the fire; and will soon get a lottery ticket of twenty thousand +pounds.”</p> +<p>Knowing the truth of the rest of what she had said, I could not help +jumping on the floor with joy, and seeing that she was up to everything, as +plain as if it had happened in her presence. The good news set us all +a skipping like young lambs, my wife and the laddies clapping their hands +as if they had found a fiddle; so, jealousing they might lose their +discretion in their mirth, I turned round to the three, holding up my hand, +and saying, “In the name o’ Gudeness, dinna mention this to ony +leeving sowl; as, mind ye, I havena taken out the ticket yet. The +doing so might not only set them to the sinful envying of our good fortune, +as forbidden in the tenth commandment, <!-- page 216--><a +name="page216"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 216</span>but might lead away +ourselves to be gutting our fish before we get them.”</p> +<p>“Mind then,” said Nanse, “about your promise to me, +concerning the silk gown, and the pair—”</p> +<p>“Wheesht, wheesht, gudewifie,” answered I. +“There’s a braw time coming. We must not be in ower great +a hurry.”</p> +<p>I then bade the woman sit down by the ingle cheek, and our wife to give +her a piece of cold beef, and a shave of bread, besides twopence out of my +own pocket. Some, on hearing siccan sums mentioned, would have +immediately struck work, but, even in the height of my grand expectations, +I did not forget the old saying, that “a bird in the hand is worth +two in the bush”; and being thrang with a pair of leggins for Eben +Bowsie, I brushed away ben to the workshop, thinking the woman, or witch, +or whatever she was, would have more freedom and pleasure in eating by +herself.—That she had, I am now bound to say by experience.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p216b.jpg"> +<img alt="James Batter" src="images/p216s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Two days after, when we were sitting at our comfortable four-hours, in +came little Benjie, running out of breath—just at the dividual moment +of time my wife and me were jeering one another, about how we would behave +when we came to be grand ladies and gentlemen, keeping a flunkie +maybe—to tell us, that when he was playing at the bools, on the +plainstones before the old kirk, he had seen the deaf and dumb <!-- page +217--><a name="page217"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 217</span>spaewife +harled away to the tolbooth, for stealing a pair of trowsers that were +hanging drying on a tow in Juden Elshinder’s back close. I +could scarcely credit the callant, though I knew he would not tell a lie +for sixpence; and I said to him, “Now be sure, Benjie, before ye +speak. The tongue is a dangerous weapon, and apt to bring folk into +trouble—it might be another woman.”</p> +<p>It was real cleverality in the callant. He said, “Ay, +faither, but it was her; and she contrived to bring herself into trouble +without a tongue at a’.”</p> +<p>I could not help laughing at this, it showed Benjie to be such a genius; +so he said,</p> +<p>“Ye needa laugh, faither; for it’s as true’s death it +was her. Do you think I didna ken in a minute our cheese-toaster, +that used to hing beside the kitchen fire; and that the sherry-offisher +took out frae beneath her grey cloak?”</p> +<p>The smile went off Nanse’s cheek like lightning, she said it could +not be true; but she would go to the kitchen to see. I’fegs it +was too true; for she never came back to tell the contrary.</p> +<p>This was really and truly a terrible business, but the truth for all +that; the cheese-toaster casting up not an hour after, in the hands of +Daniel Search, to whom I gave a dram. The loss of the tin +cheese-toaster would have been a trifle, especially as it was broken in the +handle—but this was an awful blow to <!-- page 218--><a +name="page218"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 218</span>the truth of the +thieving dumbie’s grand prophecy. Nevertheless, it seemed at +the time gey puzzling to me, to think how a deaf and dumb woman, unless she +had some wonderful gift, could have told us what she did.</p> +<p>On the next day, the Friday, I think, that story was also made as clear +as daylight to us; for being banished out of the town as a common thief and +vagabond, down on the Musselburgh Road, by order of a justice of the peace, +it was the bounden duty of Daniel Search and Geordie Sharp to see her safe +past the kennel, the length of Smeaton. They then tried to make her +understand by writing on the wall, that if ever again she was seen or heard +tell of in the town, she would be banished to Botany Bay; but she had a +great fight, it seems, to make out Daniel’s bad spelling, he having +been very ill yedicated, and no deacon at the pen.</p> +<p>Howsoever, they got her to understand their meaning, by giving her a +shove forward by the shoulders, and aye pointing down to Inveresk. +Thinking she did not hear them, they then took upon themselves the liberty +of calling her some ill names, and bade her good-day as a bad one. +But she was upsides with them for acting, in that respect, above their +commission; for she wheeled round again to them, and snapping her fingers +at their noses, gave a curse, and bade them go home for a couple of dirty +Scotch vermin.</p> +<p><!-- page 219--><a name="page219"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +219</span>The two men were perfectly dumfoundered at hearing the +tongue-tied wife speaking as good English as themselves; and could not help +stopping to look after her for a long way on the road, as every now and +then she stuck one of her arms a-kimbo in her side, and gave a dance round +in the whirling-jig way, louping like daft, and lilting like a +grey-lintie. From her way of speaking, they also saw immediately that +she too was an Eirisher.—They must be a bonny family when they are +all at home.</p> +<h2><!-- page 220--><a name="page220"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +220</span>CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE—ANENT THE YOUNG CALLANT MUNGO GLEN</h2> +<p>Perhaps, since I was born, I do not remember such a string of casualties +as happened to me and mine, all within the period of one short +fortnight. To say nothing connected with the play-acting business, +which was immediately before—first came Mungo Glen’s misfortune +with regard to the blood-soiling of the new nankeen trowsers, the foremost +of his transactions, and a bad omen—next, the fire, and all its +wonderfuls, the saving of the old bedridden woman’s precious life, +and the destruction of the poor cat—syne the robbery of the hen-house +by the Eirish ne’er-do-weels, who paid so sweetly for their +pranks—and lastly, the hoax, the thieving of the cheese-toaster +without the handle, and the banishment of the spaewife.</p> +<p>These were awful signs of the times, and seemed to say that the world +was fast coming to a finis; the ends of the earth appearing to have +combined in a great Popish plot of villany. Every man that had a +heart to feel, must have trembled amid these threatening, judgment-like, +and calamitous events. As for my own part, the depravity of the +nations, which most of these scenes showed me, I must say, fell heavily +upon my spirit; and I could not help thinking of the old cities of the +plain, over the house-tops of which, for their heinous sins and iniquitous +abominations, the wrath of the Almighty showered down fire and <!-- page +221--><a name="page221"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 221</span>brimstone +from heaven till the very earth melted and swallowed them up for ever and +ever.</p> +<p>These added to the number, to be sure; but not that I had never before +seen signs and wonders in my time. I had seen the friends of the +people,—and the scarce years,—and the bloody gulleteening +over-bye among the French blackguards,—and the business of Watt and +Downie nearer home, at our own doors almost, in Edinburgh like,—and +the calling out of the volunteers,—and divers sea-fights at +Camperdown and elsewhere,—and land battles countless,—and the +American war, part o’t,—and awful murders,—and mock +fights in the Duke’s Parks,—and highway robberies,—and +breakings of all the Ten Commandments, from the first to the last; so that, +allowing me to have had but a common spunk of reflection, I must, like +others, have cast a wistful eye on the ongoings of men: and, if I had not +strength to pour out my inward lamentations, I could not help thinking, +with fear and trembling, at the rebellion of such a worm as man, against a +Power whose smallest word could extinguish his existence, and blot him out +in a twinkling from the roll of living things.</p> +<p>But, if I was much affected, the callant Mungo was a great deal +more. From the days in which he had lain in his cradle, he had been +brought up in a remote and quiet part of the country, far from the bustling +of towns, and from man encountering man in the stramash <!-- page 222--><a +name="page222"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 222</span>of daily life; so +that his heart seemed to pine within him like a flower, for want of the +blessed morning dew; and, like a bird that has been catched in a girn among +the winter snows, his appetite failed him, and he fell away from his meat +and his clothes.</p> +<p>I was vexed exceedingly to see the callant in this dilemmy, for he was +growing very tall and thin, his chaft-blades being lank and white, and his +eyes of a hollow drumliness, as if he got no refreshment from the slumbers +of the night. Beholding all this work of destruction going on in +silence, I spoke to his friend Mrs Grassie about him, and she was so +motherly as to offer to have a glass of port-wine, stirred with best +jesuit’s barks, ready for him every forenoon at twelve o’clock; +for really nobody could be but interested in the laddie, he was so gentle +and modest, making never a word of complaint, though melting like snow off +a dyke; and, though he must have suffered both in body and mind, enduring +all with a silent composure, worthy of a holy martyr.</p> +<p>Perceiving things going on from bad to worse, I thought it was best to +break the matter to him, as he was never like to speak himself; and I asked +him in a friendly way, as we were sitting together on the board finishing a +pair of fustian overalls for Maister Bob Bustle—a riding clerk for +one of the Edinburgh spirit shops, but who liked aye to have his clothes of +the Dalkeith cut, having been born, bred, and educated <!-- page 223--><a +name="page223"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 223</span>in our town, like his +forbears before him—if there was anything the matter with him, that +he was aye so dowie and heartless? Never shall I forget the look he +gave me as he lifted up his eyes, in which I could see visible distress +painted as plain as the figures of the saints on old kirk windows; but he +told me, with a faint smile, that he had nothing particular to complain of, +only that he would have liked to have died among his friends, as he could +not live from home, and away from the life he had been accustomed to all +his days.</p> +<p>’Od, I was touched to the quick; and when I heard him speaking of +death in such a calm, quiet way, I found something, as if his words were +words of prophecy, and as if I had seen a sign that told me he was not to +be long for this world. Howsoever, I hope I had more sense than to +let this be seen, so I said to him, “Ou, if that be a’, Mungo, +ye’ll soon come to like us a’ well enough. Ye should take +a stout heart, man; and when your prenticeship’s done, ye’ll +gang hame and set up for a great man, making coats for all the lords and +lairds in broad Lammermoor.”</p> +<p>“Na, na,” answered the callant with a trembling voice, which +mostly made my heart swell to my mouth, and brought the tear to my eye, +“I’ll never see the end of my prenticeship, nor Lammermoor +again.”</p> +<p>“Hout touts, man,” quo’ I, “never speak in that +sort o’ way; it’s distrustfu’ and hurtful. Live in +hope, <!-- page 224--><a name="page224"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +224</span>though we should die in despair. When ye go home again, +ye’ll be as happy as ever.”</p> +<p>“Eh, na—never, never, even though I was to gang hame the +morn. I’ll never be as I was before. I lived and lived +on, never thinking that such days were to come to an end—but now I +find it can, and must be otherwise. The thoughts of my heart have +been broken in upon, and nothing can make whole what has been shivered to +pieces.”</p> +<p>This was to the point, as Dannie Thummel said to his needle; so just for +speaking’s sake, and to rouse him up a bit, I said, “Keh, man, +what need ye care sae muckle about the country?—It’ll never be +like our bonny streets, with all the braw shop windows, and the auld kirk; +and the stands with the horn spoons and luggies; and all the carts on the +market-days; and the Duke’s gate, and so on.”</p> +<p>“Ay, but, maister,” answered Mungo, “ye was never +brought up in the country—ye never kent what it was to wander about +in the simmer glens, wi’ naething but the warm sun looking down on +ye, the blue waters streaming ower the braes, the birds singing, and the +air like to grow sick wi’ the breath of blooming birks, and flowers +of all colours, and wild-thyme sticking full of bees, humming in joy and +thankfulness—Ye never kent, maister, what it was to wake in the still +morning, when, looking out, ye saw the snaws lying for miles round about ye +on the hills, breast deep, <!-- page 225--><a name="page225"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 225</span>shutting ye out from the world, as it were; +the foot of man never coming during the storm to your door, nor the voice +of a stranger heard from ae month’s end till the ither. See, it +is coming on o’ hail the now, and my mother with my sister—I +have but ane—and my four brithers, will be looking out into the +drift, and missing me away for the first time frae their fireside. +They’ll hae a dreary winter o’t, breaking their hearts for +me—their ballants and their stories will never be sae funny +again—and my heart is breaking for them.”</p> +<p>With this, the tears prap-prapped down his cheeks, but his pride bade +him turn his head round to hide them from me. A heart of stone would +have felt for him.</p> +<p>I saw it was in vain to persist long, as the laddie was falling out of +his clothes as fast as leaves from the November tree; so I wrote home by +limping Jamie the carrier, telling his father the state of things, and +advising him, as a matter of humanity, to take his son out to the free air +of the hills again, as the town smoke did not seem to agree with his +stomach; and, as he might be making a sticked tailor of one who was capable +of being bred a good farmer; no mortal being likely to make a great +progress in any thing, unless the heart goes with the handiwork.</p> +<p>Some folks will think I acted right, and others wrong in this matter; if +I erred, it was on the side of mercy <!-- page 226--><a +name="page226"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 226</span>and my conscience +does not upbraid me for the transaction. In due course of time, I had +an answer from Mr Glen; and we got everything ready and packed up, against +the hour that Jamie was to set out again.</p> +<p>Mungo got himself all dressed; and Benjie had taken such a liking to +him, that I thought he would have grutten himself senseless when he heard +he was going away back to his own home. One would not have imagined, +that such a sincere friendship could have taken root in such a short time; +but the bit creature Benjie was as warm-hearted a callant as ye ever +saw. Mungo told him, that if he would not cry he would send him in a +present of a wee ewe-milk cheese whenever he got home; which promise +pacified him, and he asked me if Benjie would come out for a month gin +simmer, when he would let him see all worthy observation along the country +side.</p> +<p>When we had shaken hands with Mungo, and, after fastening his comforter +about his neck, wished him a good journey, we saw him mounted on the front +of limping Jamie’s cart; and, as he drove away, I must confess my +heart was grit. I could not help running up the stair, and pulling up +the fore-window to get a long look after him. Away, and away they +wore; in a short time, the cart took a turn and disappeared; and, when I +drew down the window, and sauntered, with my arms crossed, back to the +workshop, something seemed amissing, and the snug wee place, with <!-- page +227--><a name="page227"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 227</span>its +shapings, and runds, and paper-measurings, and its bit fire, seemed in my +eyes to look douff and gousty.</p> +<p>Whether in the jougging of the cart, or what else I cannot say, but +it’s an unco story; for on the road, it turned out that poor Mungo +was seized with a terrible pain in his side; and, growing worse and worse, +was obliged to be left at Lauder, in the care of a decent widow woman that +had a blind eye, and a room to let furnished.</p> +<p>It was not for two-three days that we learnt these awful tidings, which +greatly distressed us all; and I gave the driver of the Lauder coach +threepence to himself, to bring us word every morning, as he passed the +door, how the laddie was going on.</p> +<p>I learned shortly, that his father and mother had arrived, which was one +comfort; but that matters with poor Mungo were striding on from bad to +worse, being pronounced, by a skeely doctor, to be in a galloping +consumption—and not able to be removed home, a thing that the laddie +freaked and pined for night and day. At length, hearing for certain +that he had not long to live, I thought myself bound to be at the expense +of taking a ride out on the top of the coach, though I was aware of the +danger of the machine’s whiles couping, if it were for no more than +to bid him fare-ye-weel—and I did so.</p> +<p>It was a cold cloudy day in February, and everything <!-- page 228--><a +name="page228"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 228</span>on the road looked +dowie and cheerless; the very cows and sheep, that crowded cowering beneath +the trees in the parks, seemed to be grieving for some disaster, and +hanging down their heads like mourners at a burial. The rain whiles +obliged me to put up my umbrella, and there was nobody on the top beside +me, save a deaf woman, that aye said “ay” to every question I +speered, and with whom I found it out of the power of man to carry on any +rational conversation; so I was obliged to sit glowering from side to side +at the bleak bare fields—and the plashing grass—and the gloomy +dull woods—and the gentlemen’s houses, of which I knew not the +names—and the fearful rough hills, that put me in mind of the +wilderness, and of the abomination of desolation mentioned in scripture, I +believe in Ezekiel. The errand I was going on, to be sure, helped to +make me more sorrowful; and I could not think on human life without +agreeing with Solomon, that “all was vanity and vexation of +spirit.”</p> +<p>At long and last, when we came to our journey’s end, and I louped +off the top of the coach, Maister Glen came out to the door, and bad me +haste me if I wished to see Mungo breathing. Save us! to think that a +poor young thing was to be taken away from life and the cheerful sun, thus +suddenly, and be laid in the cold damp mools, among the moudiewarts and the +green banes, “where there is no work or device.” But what +will ye say there? it was the will of Him, who knows <!-- page 229--><a +name="page229"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 229</span>best what is for his +creatures, and to whom we should—and must submit. I was just in +time to see the last row of his glazing een, that then stood still for +ever, as he lay, with his face as pale as clay, on the pillow, his mother +holding his hand, and sob-sobbing with her face leant on the bed, as if her +hope was departed, and her heart would break. I went round about, and +took hold of the other one for a moment; but it was clammy, and growing +cold with the coldness of grim death. I could hear my heart beating; +but Mungo’s heart stood still, like a watch that has run itself +down. Maister Glen sat in the easy chair, with his hand before his +eyes, saying nothing, and shedding not a tear; for he was a strong, little, +blackaviced man, with a feeling heart, but with nerves of steel. The +rain rattled on the window, and the smoke gave a swarl as the wind +rummelled in the lum. The hour spoke to the soul, and the silence was +worth twenty sermons.</p> +<p>They who would wish to know the real value of what we are all over-apt +to prize in this world, should have been there too, and learnt a lesson not +soon to be forgotten. I put my hand in my coat-pocket for my napkin +to give my eyes a wipe, but found it was away, and feared much I had +dropped it on the road; though in this I was happily mistaken, having, +before I went to my bed, found that on my journey I had tied it over my +neckcloth, to keep away sore throats.</p> +<p>It was a sad heart to us all to see the lifeless creature <!-- page +230--><a name="page230"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 230</span>in his white +nightcap and eyes closed, lying with his yellow hair spread on the pillow; +and we went out, that the women-folk might cover up the looking-glass and +the face of the clock, ere they proceeded to dress the body in its last +clothes—clothes that would never need changing; but, when we were +half down the stair, and I felt glad with the thoughts of getting to the +fresh air, we were obliged to turn up again for a little, to let the man +past that was bringing in the dead deal.</p> +<p>But why weave a long story out of the materials of sorrow? or endeavour +to paint feelings that have no outward sign, lying shut up within the +sanctuary of the heart? The grief of a father and a mother can only +be conceived by them who, as fathers and mothers, have suffered the loss of +their bairns,—a treasure more precious to nature than silver or gold, +home to the land-sick sailor, or daylight to the blind man sitting beaking +in the heat of the morning sun.</p> +<p>The coffin having been ordered to be got ready with all haste, two men +brought it on their shoulders betimes on the following morning; and it was +a sight that made my blood run cold to see the dead corpse of poor Mungo, +my own prentice, hoisted up from the bed, and laid in his black-handled, +narrow housie. All had taken their last looks, the lid was screwed +down by means of screw-drivers, and I read the plate, which said, +“Mungo Glen, aged 15.” Alas! early was he cut off from +among the living—a flower snapped in its spring <!-- page 231--><a +name="page231"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 231</span>blossom—and an +awful warning to us all, sinful and heedless mortals, of the uncertainty of +this state of being.</p> +<p>In the course of the forenoon, Maister Glen’s cart was brought to +the door, drawn by two black horses with long tails and hairy feet, a tram +one and a leader. Though the job shook my nerves, I could not refuse +to give them a hand down the stair with the coffin, which had a fief-like +smell of death and saw-dust; and we got it fairly landed in the cart, among +clean straw. I saw the clodhapper of a ploughman aye dighting his een +with the sleeve of his big-coat.</p> +<p>The mother, Mistress Glen, a little fattish woman, and as fine a homely +body as ye ever met with, but sorely distracted at this time by sorrow, sat +at the head, with her bonnet drawn over her face, and her shawl thrown +across her shoulders, being a blue and red spot on a white ground. It +was a dismal-like-looking thing to see her sitting there, with the dead +body of her son at her feet; and, at the side of it, his kist with his +claes, on the top of which was tied—not being room for it in the +inside like (for he had twelve shirts, and three pair of trowsers, and a +Sunday and every day’s coat, with stockings and other +things)—his old white beaver hat, turned up behind, which he used to +wear when he was with me. His Sunday’s hat I did not see; but +most likely it was in among his claes, to keep it from the rain, and +preserved, no doubt, for the use of some of <!-- page 232--><a +name="page232"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 232</span>his little brothers, +please God, when they grew up a wee bigger.</p> +<p>Seeing Maister Glen, who had cut his chin in shaving, in a worn-out +disjasket state, mounted on his sheltie, I shook hands with them both; and, +in my thoughtlessness, wished them “a good +journey,”—knowing well what a sorrowful home-going it would be +to them, and what their bairns would think when they saw what was lying in +the cart beside their mother. On this the big ploughman, that wore a +broad blue bonnet and corduroys cutikins, with a grey big-coat slit up +behind in the manner I commonly made for laddies, gave his long whip a +crack, and drove off to the eastward.</p> +<p>It would be needless in me to waste precious time in relating how I +returned to my own country, especially as I may be thankful that nothing +particular happened, excepting the coach-wheels riding over an old dog that +was lying sleeping on the middle of the road, and, poor brute, nearly got +one of his fore-paws chacked off. The day was sharp and frosty and +all the passengers took a loup off at a yill-house, with a Highlandman on +the sign of it, to get a dram, to gar them bear up against the cold; yet +knowing what had but so lately happened, and having the fears of Maister +Wiggie before my eyes, I had made a solemn vow within myself, not to taste +liquor for six months at least; nor would I here break my word, <!-- page +233--><a name="page233"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 233</span>tho’ +much made a fool of by an Englisher, and a fou Eirisher, who sang all the +road; contenting myself, in the best way I could, with a tumbler of strong +beer and two butter-bakes.</p> +<p>It is an old proverb, and a true one, that there is no rest to the +wicked; so when I got home, I found business crying out for me loudly, +having been twice wanted to take the measure for suits of clothes. Of +course, knowing that my two customers would be wearying, I immediately cut +my stick to their houses, and promised without fail to have my work done +against the next Sabbath. Whether from my hurry, or my grief for poor +Mungo, or maybe from both, I found on the Saturday night, when the clothes +were sent home on the arm of Tammie Bodkin, whom I was obliged to hire by +way of foresman, that some awful mistake had occurred—the dress of +the one having been made for the back of the other, the one being long and +tall, the other thick and short; so that Maister Peter Pole’s cuffs +did not reach above half-way down his arms, and the tails ended at the +small of his back, rendering him a perfect fright; while Maister Watty +Firkin’s new coat hung on him like a dreadnought, the sleeves coming +over the nebs of his fingers, and the hainch buttons hanging down between +his heels, making him resemble a mouse below a firlot. With some +persuasion, however, there being but small difference in the value of the +cloths, the one being a <!-- page 234--><a name="page234"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 234</span>west of England bottle-green, and the other a +Manchester blue, I caused them to niffer, and hushed up the business, +which, had they been obstreperous, would have made half the parish of +Dalkeith stand on end.</p> +<p>After poor Mungo had been beneath the mools, I daresay a good month, +Benjie, as he was one forenoon diverting himself dozing his top in the room +where they sleeped, happened to drive it in below the bed, where, +scrambling in on his hands and feet, he found a half sheet of paper written +over in Mungo’s hand-writing, the which he brought to me; and, on +looking over it, I found it jingled in metre like the Psalms of David.</p> +<p>Having no skeel in these matters, I sent up the close for James Batter, +who, being a member of the fifteenpence a-quarter subscription book-club, +had read a power of all sorts of things, sacred and profane. James, +as he was humming it over with his specs on his beak, gave now and then a +thump on his thigh, “Prime, prime, man; fine, prime, good, +capital!” and so on, which astonished me much, kenning who had +written it—a callant that had sleeped with our Benjie, and could not +have shaped a pair of leggins though we had offered him the crown of the +three kingdoms.</p> +<p>Seeing what it was thought of by one who knew what was what, and could +distinguish the difference between a B and a bull’s foot, I judged it +necessary for <!-- page 235--><a name="page235"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 235</span>me to take a copy of it; which, for the +benefit of them that like poems, I do not scruple to tag to the tail of +this chapter.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>Oh, wad that my time were ower but,<br /> + Wi’ this wintry sleet and snaw,<br /> +That I might see our house again<br /> + I’ the bonny birken shaw!—<br /> +For this is no my ain life,<br /> + And I peak and pine away<br /> +Wi’ the thochts o’ hame, and the young flow’rs<br /> + I’ the glad green month o’ May.</p> +<p>I used to wauk in the morning<br /> + Wi’ the loud sang o’ the lark,<br /> +And the whistling o’ the ploughmen lads<br /> + As they gaed to their wark;<br /> +I used to weir in the young lambs<br /> + Frae the tod and the roaring stream;<br /> +But the warld is changed, and a’ thing now<br /> + To me seems like a dream.</p> +<p>There are busy crowds around me<br /> + On ilka lang dull street;<br /> +Yet, though sae mony surround me<br /> + I kenna ane I meet.<br /> +And I think on kind, kent faces,<br /> + And o’ blythe and cheery days,<br /> +When I wander’d out, wi’ our ain folk,<br /> + Out-owre the simmer braes.</p> +<p>Wae’s me, for my heart is breaking!<br /> + I think on my brithers sma’,<br /> +And on my sister greeting,<br /> + When I came fra hame awa<br /> +And oh! how my mither sobbi,<br /> + As she shook me by the hand;<br /> +When I left the door o’ our auld house,<br /> + To come to this stranger land;</p> +<p><!-- page 236--><a name="page236"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +236</span>There’s nae place like our ain hame;<br /> + Oh, I wish that I was there!—<br /> +There’s nae hame like our ain hame<br /> + To be met wi’ ony where!—<br /> +And oh! that I were back again<br /> + To our farm and fields so green;<br /> +And heard the tongues o’ my ain folk,<br /> + And was what I hae been!</p> +</blockquote> +<p>That’s poor Mungo’s poem; which I and James Batter, and the +rest, think excellent, and not far short of Robert Burns himself, had he +been spared. Some may judge otherwise, out of bad taste or ill +nature; but I would just thank them to write a better at their leisure.</p> +<h2><!-- page 237--><a name="page237"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +237</span>CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO—THE JUNE JAUNT WITH PETER FARREL</h2> +<p>After Tammie Bodkin had been working with me on the board for more than +four years in the capacity of foresman, superintending the workshop +department, together with the conduct and conversation of Joe Breeky, +Walter Cuff, and Jack Thorl, my three bounden apprentices, I thought I +might lippen him awee to try his hand in the shaping line, especially with +the clothes of such of our customers as I knew were not very nice, provided +they got enough of cutting from the Manchester manufacture, and room to +shake themselves in. The upshot, however, proved to a moral +certainty, that such a length of tether is not chancey for youth, and that +a master cannot be too much on the head of his own business.</p> +<p>It was in the pleasant month of June, sometime, maybe six or eight days, +after the birth-day of our good old King George the Third—for I +recollect the withering branches of lily-oak and flowers still sticking up +behind the signs, and over the lamp-posts,—that my respected +acquaintance and customer, Peter Farrel the baker, to whom I have made many +a good suit of pepper-and-salt clothes—which he preferred from their +not dirtying so easily with the bakehouse—called in upon me, +requesting me, in a very pressing manner, to take a pleasure ride up with +him the length of Roslin, in his good-brother’s bit phieton, to eat a +<!-- page 238--><a name="page238"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +238</span>wheen strawberries, and see how the forthcoming harvest was +getting on.</p> +<p>That the offer was friendly admitted not of doubt, but I did not like to +accept for two-three reasons; among which were, in the first place, my +awareness of the danger of riding in such vehicles—having read sundry +times in the newspapers of folk having been tumbled out of them, drunk or +sober, head-foremost, and having got eyes knocked ben, skulls cloured, and +collar-bones broken; and, in the second place, the expense of feeding the +horse, together with our feeding ourselves in meat and drink during the +journey—let alone tolls, strawberries and cream, bawbees to the +waiter, the hostler, and what not. But let me speak the +knock-him-down truth, and shame the de’il,—above all, I was +afraid of being seen by my employers wheeling about, on a work-day, like a +gentleman, dressed out in my best, and leaving my business to mind itself +as it best could.</p> +<p>Peter Farrel, however, being a man of determination, stuck to his text +like a horse-leech; so, after a great to-do, and considerable +argle-bargling, he got me, by dint of powerful persuasion, to give him my +hand on the subject. Accordingly, at the hour appointed, I popped up +the back loan with my stick in my hand—Peter having agreed to be +waiting for me on the roadside, a bit beyond the head of the town, near +Gallows-hall toll. The cat should be let <!-- page 239--><a +name="page239"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 239</span>out of the pock by my +declaring, that Nanse, the goodwife, had also a finger in the pie—as, +do what ye like, women will make their points good—she having +overcome me in her wheedling way, by telling me, that it was curious I had +no ambition to speel the ladder of gentility, and hold up my chin in +imitation of my betters.</p> +<p>That we had a most beautiful drive I cannot deny; for though I would not +allow Peter to touch the horse with the whip, in case it might run away, +fling, or trot ower fast—and so we made but slow +progress—little more even than walking; yet, as I told him, it gave a +man leisure to use his eyes, and make observation to the right and the +left; and so we had a prime look of Eskbank, and Newbottle Abbey, and +Melville Castle, and Dalhousie, and Polton, and Hawthornden, and Dryden +woods—and the powder mills, the paper mills, the +bleachfield—and so on. The day was bright and beautiful, and +the feeling of summer came over our bosoms: the flowers blossomed and the +birds sang; and, as the sun looked from the blue sky, the quiet of nature +banished from our thoughts all the poor and paltry cares that embitter +life, and all the pitiful considerations which are but too apt to be the +only concerns of the busy and bustling, from their awaking in the morning +to their lying down on the pillow of evening rest. Peter and myself +felt this forcibly; he, <!-- page 240--><a name="page240"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 240</span>as he confessed to me, having entirely forgot +the four pan-soled loaves that were, that morning, left by his laddie, +Peter Crust, in the oven, and burned to sticks; and for my own part, do +what I liked, I could not bring myself to mind what piece of work I was +employed on the evening before, till, far on the road, I recollected that +it was a pair of mouse-brown spatterdashes for worthy old Mr Mooleypouch +the mealmonger.</p> +<p>Oh, it is a pleasant thing, now and then, to get a peep of the +country! To them who live among shops and markets, and stone-walls, +and butcher-stalls, and fishwives—and the smell of ready-made tripe, +red herring, and Cheshire cheeses—the sights, and sounds, and smells +of the country, bring to mind the sinless days of the world before the fall +of man, when all was love, peace, and happiness. Peter Farrel and I +were transported out of our seven senses, as we feasted our eyes on the +beauty of the green fields. The bumbees were bizzing among the gowans +and blue-bells; and a thousand wee birds among the green trees were +churm-churming away, filling earth and air with music, as it were a +universal hymn of gratitude to the Creator for his unbounded goodness to +all his creatures. We saw the trig country lasses bleaching their +snow-white linen on the grass by the waterside, and they too were lilting +their favourite songs, Logan Water, the Flowers <!-- page 241--><a +name="page241"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 241</span>of the Forest, and +the Broom of the Cowdenknowes. All the world seemed happy, and I +could scarcely believe—what I kent to be true for all that—that +we were still walking in the realms of sin and misery. The milk-cows +were nipping the clovery parks, and chewing their cuds at their +leisure;—the wild partridges whidding about in pairs, or birring +their wings with fright over the hedges;—and the blue-bonneted +ploughmen on the road cracking their whips in wantonness, and whistling +along amid the clean straw in their carts. And then the rows of snug +cottages, with their kailyards and their goose-berry bushes, with the fruit +hanging from the branches like ear-rings on the neck of a lady of +fashion. How happy, thought we both—both Peter Farrel and +me—how happy might they be, who, without worldly pride or ambition, +passed their days in such situations, in the society of their wives and +children. Ah! such were a blissful lot!</p> +<p>During our ride, Peter Farrel and I had an immense deal of rational +conversation on a variety of matters, Peter having seen great part of the +world in his youth, from having made two voyages to Greenland, during one +of which he was very nearly frozen up—with his uncle, who was the +mate of a whale-vessel. To relate all that Peter told me he had seen +and witnessed in his far-away travels, among the white bears, and the +frozen seas, would take up a great deal of the reader’s time, <!-- +page 242--><a name="page242"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 242</span>and of +my paper; but as to its being very diverting, there is no doubt of +that. However, when Peter came to the years of discretion, Peter had +sense enough in his noddle to discover, that “a rowing stane gathers +no fog”; and, having got an inkling of the penny-pie manufacture when +he was a wee smout, he yoked to the baking trade tooth and nail; and, in +the course of years, thumped butter-bakes with his elbows to some purpose; +so that, at the time of our colleaguing together, Peter was well to do in +the world—had bought his own bounds, and built new ones—could +lay down the blunt for his article, and take the measure of the markets, by +laying up wheat in his granaries against the day of trouble—to +wit—rise of prices.</p> +<p>“Well, Peter,” said I to him, “seeing that ye read the +newspapers, and have a notion of things, what think ye, just at the present +moment, of affairs in general?”</p> +<p>Peter cocked up his lugs at this appeal, and, looking as wise as if he +had been Solomon’s nephew, gave a knowing smirk, and said—</p> +<p>“Is it foreign or domestic affairs that you are after, Maister +Wauch? for the question is a six-quarters wide one.”</p> +<p>I was determined not to be beat by man of woman born; so I answered with +almost as much cleverality as himself, “Oh, Mr Farrel, as to our +foreign concerns, I trust I am ower loyal a subject of George the Third +<!-- page 243--><a name="page243"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 243</span>to +have any doubt at all about them, as the Buonaparte is yet to be born that +will ever beat our regulars abroad—to say nothing of our volunteers +at home; but what think you of the paper specie—the national +debt—borough reform—the poor-rates—and the Catholic +question?”</p> +<p>I do not think Peter jealoused I ever had so much in my noddle; but when +he saw I had put him to his mettle, he did his best to give me satisfactory +answers to my queries, saying, that till gold came in fashion, it would not +be for my own interest, or that of my family, to refuse bank-notes, for +which he would, any day of the year, give me as many quarter loaves as I +could carry, to say nothing of coarse flour for the prentices’ +scones, and bran for the pigs—that the national debt would take care +of itself long after both him and I were gathered to our fathers: and that +individual debt was a much more hazardous, pressing, and personal concern, +far more likely to come home to our more immediate bosoms and +businesses—that the best species of reform was every one’s +commencing to make amendment in their own lives and +conversations—that poor-rates were likely to be worse before they +were better; and that, as to the Catholic question,—“But, +Mansie,” said he, “it would give me great pleasure to hear your +candid and judicious opinion of Popery and the Papists.”</p> +<p>I saw, with half an e’e, that Peter was trying to put <!-- page +244--><a name="page244"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 244</span>me to my +mettle, and I devoutly wished that I had had James Batter at my elbow to +have given him play for his money—James being the longest-headed man +that ever drove a shuttle between warp and woof; but most fortunately, just +as I was going to say, that “every honest man, who wished well to the +good of his country, could only have one opinion on that +subject,”—we came to the by-road, that leads away off on the +right-hand side down to Hawthornden, and we observed, from the curious +ringle, that one of the naig’s fore-shoon was loose; which +consequently put an end to the discussion of this important question, +before Peter and I had time to get it comfortably settled to the +world’s satisfaction.</p> +<p>The upshot was, that we were needcessitated to dismount, and lead the +animal by the head forward to Kittlerig, where Macturk Sparrible keeps his +smith’s shop; in order that, with his hammer, he might make fast the +loose nails: and that him and his foresman did in a couple of hurries; me +and Peter looking over them with our hands in our big-coat pockets, while +they pelt-pelted away with the beast’s foot between their knees, as +if we had been a couple of grand gentlemen incog.; and so we were to +him.</p> +<p>After getting ourselves again decently mounted, and giving Sparrible a +consideration for his trouble, Peter took occasion, from the horse casting +its shoe, to make a few apropos moral observations, in the manner <!-- page +245--><a name="page245"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 245</span>of the Rev. +Mr Wiggie, on the uncertainties which it is every man’s lot to +encounter in the weariful pilgrimage of human life. “There is +many a slip ’tween the cup and the lip,” said Peter.</p> +<p>“And, indeed, Mr Farrel, ye never spoke a truer word,” said +I. “We are here to-day—yonder to-morrow; this moment we +are shining like the mid-day sun, and on the next, pugh! we go out like the +snuff of a candle. ‘Man’s life,’ as Job observes, +‘is like a weaver’s shuttle.’”</p> +<p>“But, Maister Waugh,” quo’ Peter, who was a hearer of +the Parish Church, “you dissenting bodies aye take the black side of +things; never considering that the doubtful shadows of affairs sometimes +brighten up into the cloudless daylight. For instance, now, there was +an old fellow-apprentice of my father’s, who, like myself, was a +baker, his name was Charlie Cheeper; and, both his father and mother dying +when he was yet hardly in trowsers, he would have been left without a hame +in the world, had not an old widow woman, who had long lived next door to +them, and whose only breadwinner was her spinning-wheel, taken the wee +wretchie in to share her morsel. For several years, as might +naturally have been expected, the callant was a perfect dead-weight on the +concern, and perhaps, in her hours of greater distress, the widow regretted +the heedlessness of her Christian charity; but Charlie had a winning way +with him, and she could not find <!-- page 246--><a +name="page246"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 246</span>it in her heart to +turn him to the door. By the time he was seven—and a ragged +coute he was as ever stepped without shoes—he could fend for himself, +by running messages—holding horses at shop doors—winning bools +and selling them—and so on; so that when he had collected +half-a-crown in a penny pig, the widow sent him to the school, where he got +on like a hatter, and in a little while, could both read and write. +When he was ten, he was bound apprentice to Saunders Snaps in the Back-row, +whose grandson has yet, as you know, the sign of the Wheat Sheaf; and for +five years he behaved himself like his betters.</p> +<p>“Well, sir, when his time was out, Charlie had an ambition to see +the world; and, by working for a month or two as journeyman in the +Candlemaker-row at Edinburgh, he raked as much together as took him up to +London in the steerage of a Leith smack. For several years nothing +was heard of him, except an occasional present of a shawl, or so on, to the +widow, who had been so kind to him in his helpless years; and at length a +farewell present of some little money came to her, with his blessing for +past favours, saying that he was off for good and all to America.</p> +<p>“In the course of time, Widow Amos became frail and +sand-blind. She was unable to work for herself, and the charity she +had shown to others no one seemed disposed to extend to her. Her only +child, Jeanie Amos, was obliged to leave her service, and come home <!-- +page 247--><a name="page247"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 247</span>to the +house of poverty, to guard her mother’s grey hairs from accident, and +to divide with her the little she could make at the trade of mangling; for, +with the money that Charlie Cheeper had sent, before leaving the country, +the old woman had bought a calender, and let it out to the neighbours at so +much an hour; honest poverty having many shifts.</p> +<p>“Matters had gone on in this way for two or three fitful years; +and Jeanie, who, when she had come home from service, was a buxom and +blooming lass, although yet but a wee advanced in her thirties, began to +show, like all earthly things, that she was wearing past her best. +Some said that she had lost hopes of Charlie’s return; and others, +that, come hame when he liked, he would never look over his left shoulder +after her.</p> +<p>“Well, sir, as fact as death, I mind mysell, when a laddie, of the +rumpus the thing made in the town. One Saturday night, a whole +washing of old Mrs Pernickity’s that had been sent to be calendered, +vanished like lightning, no one knew where: the old lady was neither to +hold nor bind: and nothing would serve her, but having both the old woman +and her daughter committed to the Tolbooth. So to the Tolbooth they +went, weeping and wailing; followed by a crowd, who cried loudly out at the +sin and iniquity of the proceeding; because the honesty of the prisoners, +although impeached, was unimpeachable; the <!-- page 248--><a +name="page248"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 248</span>mob were furious; and +before the Sunday sun arose old Mrs Pernickity awakened with a sore throat, +every pane of her windows having been miraculously broken during the dead +hours.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p248b.jpg"> +<img alt="Country lassies bleaching their snow-white linen" +src="images/p248s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>“The mother and the daughter were kept in custody until the +Monday; when, as they were standing making a declaration of their innocence +before the justices, who should come in but Francie Deep, the +Sheriff-officer, with an Irish vagrant and his wife—two tinklers who +were lodging in the Back-row, and in whose possession the bundle was found +bodily, basket and all. Such a cheering as the folk set up! it did +all honest folk’s hearts good to hear it. Mrs Pernickity and +her lass, to save their bacon, were obliged to be let out by a back door; +and, as the justices were about to discharge the two prisoners, who had +been so unjustly and injuriously suspected, a stranger forced his way to +the middle of the floor, and took the old woman in his arms!”</p> +<p>“Charlie Cheeper returned, for a gold guinea,” said I.</p> +<p>“And no other it was,” said Peter, resuming his comical +story. “The world had flowed upon him to his heart’s +desire. Over in Virginia he had given up the baking business, and +commenced planter; and, after years of industrious exertion, having made +enough and to spare, he had returned to spend the rest of his days in peace +and plenty, in his native town.”</p> +<p><!-- page 249--><a name="page249"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +249</span>“Not to interrupt you,” added I, “Mr Farrel, I +think I could wager something mair.”</p> +<p>“You are a witch of a guesser I know, Mansie,” said Peter; +“and I see what you are at. Well, sir, you are right +again. For, on the very day week that Patrick Makillaguddy and his +spouce got their heads shaved, and were sent to beat hemp in the New +Bridgewell on the Caltonhill, Jeanie Amos became Mrs Cheeper; the calender +and the spinning-wheel were both burned by a crowd of wicked weans before +old Mrs Pernickity’s door, raising such a smoke as almost smeaked her +to a rizzar’d haddock; and the old widow under the snug roof of her +ever grateful son-in-law, spent the remainder of her Christian life in +peace and prosperity.”</p> +<p>“That story ends as it ought,” said I, “Mr Farrel; +neither Jew nor Gentle dare dispute that; and as to the telling of it, I do +not think man of woman born, except maybe James Batter, who is a nonsuch, +could have handled it more prettily. I like to hear virtue aye +getting its ain reward.”</p> +<p>As these dividual words were falling from my lips, we approached the end +of our journey, the Roslin Inn house heaving in sight, at the door of which +me and Peter louped out, an hostler with a yellow striped waistcoat, and +white calico sleeves, I meantime holding the naig’s head, in case it +should spend off, and capsize the concern. After seeing the horse and +gig put into the stable, Peter and I pulled up our shirt necks, and <!-- +page 250--><a name="page250"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 250</span>after +looking at our watches, as if time was precious, oxtered away, arm-in-arm, +to see the Chapel, which surpasses all, and beats cock-fighting.</p> +<p>It is an unaccountable thing to me, how the auld folk could afford to +build such grand kirks and castles. If once gold was like slate +stones, there is a wearyful change now-a-days, I must confess; for, so to +speak, gold guineas seem to have taken flight from the land along with the +witches and warlocks, and posterity are left as toom in the pockets as +rookit gamblers.</p> +<p>But if the mammon of precious metals be now totally altogether out of +the world, weel-a-wat we had a curiosity still, and that was a clepy woman +with a long stick, and rhaemed away, and better rhaemed away, about the +Prentice’s Pillar, who got a knock on the pow from his jealous +blackguard of a master—and about the dogs and the deer—and Sir +Thomas this-thing and my Lord tother-thing, who lay buried beneath the +broad flag stones in their rusty coats of armour—and such a heap of +havers, that no throat was wide enough to swallow them for gospel, although +gey an’ entertaining I allow. However, it was a real farce; +that is certain.</p> +<p>Oh, but the building was a grand and overpowering sight, making man to +dree the sense of his own insignificance, even in the midst of his own +handiwork! First, we looked over our shoulders to the grand carved +roofs, where the swallows swee-swee’d, as they darted <!-- page +251--><a name="page251"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 251</span>through the +open windows, and the yattering sparrows fed their gorbals in the far +boles; and syne we looked shuddering down into the dark vaults, where +nobody in their senses could have ventured, though Peter Farrel, being a +rash courageous body, was keen on it, having heard less than I could tell +him of such places being haunted by the spirits of those who have died or +been murdered within them in the bloody days of the old times; or of their +being so full of foul air, as to extinguish man’s breath in his +nostrils like the snuff of a candle. Though no man should throw his +life into jeopardy, yet I commend all for taking timeous +recreation—the King himself on the throne not being able to live +without the comforts of life; and even the fifteen Lords of Session, with +as much powder on their wigs as would keep a small family in loaves for a +week, requiring air and exercise, after sentencing vagabonds to be first +hanged, and then their clothes given to Jock Heich, and their bodies to +Doctor Monro.</p> +<p>Before going out to inspect the wonderfuls, we had taken the natural +precaution to tell the goodman of the inn, that we would be back to take a +smack of something from him, at such and such an hour; and, having had our +bellyful of the Chapel,—and the Prentice’s Pillar,—and +the vaults,—and the cleipy auld wife with the lang stick,—we +found that we had still half an hour to spare; so took a stroll into the +<!-- page 252--><a name="page252"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +252</span>Kirkyard, to see if we could find out any of the martyrs had been +buried there-away-abouts.</p> +<p>We saw a good few head-stones, you may make no doubt, both ancient and +modern; but nothing out of the course of nature; so, the day being +pleasant, Mr Farrell and me sat down on a throughstane, below an old +hawthorn, and commenced chatting on the Pentland Hills—the river +Esk—Penicuik—Glencorse—and all the rest of the beautiful +country within sight. A mooly auld skull was lying among the grass, +and Peter, as he spoke, was aye stirring it about with his stick.</p> +<p>“I never touched a dead man’s bones in my life,” said +I to Peter, “nor would I for a sixpence. Who might that have +belonged to, now, I wonder? Maybe to a baker or a tailor, in his day +and generation, like you and I, Peter; or maybe to ane of the great +Sinclairs with their coats-of-mail, that the auld wife was cracking so +crousely about?”</p> +<p>“Deil may care,” said Peter; “but are you really +frighted to touch a skull, Mansie? You would make a bad doctor, +I’m doubting, then; to say nothing of a resurrection man.”</p> +<p>“Doctor! I would not be a doctor for all the gold and silver +on the walls of Solomon’s Temple—”</p> +<p>“Yet you would think the young doctors suck in their trade with +their mother’s milk, and could cut off one another’s heads as +fast as look at you.—Speaking <!-- page 253--><a +name="page253"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 253</span>of skulls,” +added Peter, “I mind when my father lived in the under-flat of the +three-storey house at the top of Dalkeith Street, that the Misses +Skinflints occupied the middle story, and Doctor Chickenweed had the one +above, with the garrets, in which was the laboratory.</p> +<p>“Weel, ye observe, in getting to the shop, it was not necessary to +knock at the Doctor’s door, but just proceed up the narrow wooden +stairs, facing the top of which was the shop-door, which, for light to the +customer’s feet, was generally allowed to stand open.</p> +<p>“For a long time, the Doctor had heard the most unearthly noises +in the house—as if a thunderbolt was in the habit of coming in at one +of the sky-lights, and walking down stairs; and the Misses Skinflints had +more than once nearly got their door carried off the hinges; so they had +not the life of dogs, for constant startings and surprises. At first +they had no faith in ghosts; but, in the course of time, they came to be +alike doubtful on that point; but you shall hear.</p> +<p>“The foundation of the mystery was this. The three +mischievous laddies—the apprentices—after getting their daily +work over, of making pills and potions for his Majesty’s unfortunate +subjects, took to the trick of mounting a human skull, like that, upon +springs, so that it could open its mouth, and setting it on a stand at the +end of the counter, could <!-- page 254--><a name="page254"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 254</span>make it gape, and turn from side to side, by +pulling a string.</p> +<p>“The door being left purposely ajee—whenever the rascals saw +a fit subject, they set the skull a-moving and a-gaping; the consequence of +which was, that many a poor customer descended without counting the number +of steps, and after bouncing against Dr Chickenweed’s panels, played +flee down to try the strength of Misses Skinflints’. One of the +three instantly darted down, behind the evanished patient; and, after +assisting her or him—whichever it might chance to be—to gain +their feet, begged of them not to mention what they had seen, as the house +was haunted by the ghost of an old maiden aunt of their master’s who +had died abroad; and that the thing would hurt his feelings if ever it came +to his ears.”</p> +<p>“Dog on me,” said I, “if ever I heard of such a trick +since ever I was born! What was the upshot?”</p> +<p>“The upshot was, that the thing might have continued long enough, +and the laboratory been left as deserted as Tadmor in the Wilderness, had +not a fat old woman fallen one day perfectly through the doctor’s +door, and dislocated her ankle—which unfortunately incapacitated her +from making a similar attack on that of the Misses Skinflints. The +consequence was, that the conspiracy was detected—the Doctor’s +aunt’s ghost laid, and the fat old woman carried down on a <!-- page +255--><a name="page255"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 255</span>shutter to +her bed, where she lay till her ankle grew better in the course of +nature.”</p> +<p>It being near the hour at which we had ordered our dinner to be ready, +we rose up from the tombstone; and, after taking a snuff out of +Peter’s box, we returned arm-in-arm to the tavern, to lay in a stock +of provisions.</p> +<p>Peter Farrel was a warm-hearted, thorough-going fellow, and did not like +half-measures, such as swollowing the sheep and worrying on the tail; so, +after having ate as many strawberries as we could well stow away, he began +trying to fright me with stories of folk taking the elic passion—the +colic—the mulligrubs—and other deadly maladies, on account of +neglecting to swallow a drop of something warm to qualify the coldness of +the fruit; so, after we had discussed good part of a fore-quarter of lamb +and chopped cabbage—the latter a prime dish—we took first one +jug, and syne another, till Peter was growing tongue-tied, and as red in +the face as a bubbly-jock; and, to speak the truth, my own een began to +reel like merligoes. In a jiffy, both of us found our hearts waxing +so brave as to kick and spur at all niggardly hesitation; and we leuch and +thumped on the good-man of the inn-house’s mahogany table, as if it +had been warranted never to break. In fact, we were as furious and +obstrapulous as two unchristened Turks; and it was a mercy that we ever +thought of rising to come away at all. At the long and the last, +however, we found ourselves mounted and <!-- page 256--><a +name="page256"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 256</span>trotting home at no +allowance, me telling Peter, as far as I mind, to give the beast a good +creish, and not to be frighted.</p> +<p>The evening was fine and warmer than we could have wished, our cheeks +glowing like dragons’ jackets; and as we passed like lightning +through among the trees, the sun was setting with a golden glory in the +west, between the Pentland and the Corstorphine Hills, and flashing in upon +us through the branches at every opening. About half-way on our road +back, we foregathered with Robbie Maut, drucken body, with his Shetland +rig-and-fur hose on, and his green umbrella in his hand, shug-shugging away +home, keeping the trot, with his tale, and his bit arm shak-shaking at his +tae side, on his grey sheltie; so, after carhailing him, we bragged him to +a race full gallop for better than a mile to the toll. The damage we +did I dare not pretend to recollect. First, we knocked over two drunk +Irishmen, that were singing “Erin-go-Bragh,” +arm-in-arm—syne we rode over the top of an old woman with a +wheelbarrow of cabbages—and when we came to the toll, which was kept +by a fat man with a red waistcoat, Robbie’s pony, being, like all +Highlanders, a wilful creature, stopped all at once; and though he won the +half mutchkin by getting through first, after driving over the tollman, it +was at the expense of poor Robbie’s being ejected from his stirrups +like a battering-ram, and disappearing head-foremost through <!-- page +257--><a name="page257"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 257</span>the +toll-house window, which was open, hat, wig, green umbrella, and +all—the tollman’s wife’s bairn making a providential +escape from Robbie’s landing on all-fours, more than two yards on the +far-side of the cradle in which it was lying asleep, with its little +flannel nightgown on.</p> +<p>At the time, all was war and rebellion with the tollman, assault and +battery, damages, broken panes, and what not; but with skilful management, +and a few words in the private ear of Mr Rory Sneckdrawer, the +penny-writer, we got matters southered up when we were in our sober senses; +though I shall not say how much it cost us both in preaching and pocket, to +make the man keep a calm sough as to bringing us in for the penalty, which +would have been deadly. I think black-burning shame of myself to make +mention of such ploys and pliskies; but, after all, it is better to make a +clean breast.</p> +<p>Hame at last we got, making fire flee out of the Dalkeith causey stones +like mad: and we arrived at our own door between nine and ten at night, +still in a half-seas-overish state. I had, nevertheless, sense enough +about me remaining, to make me aware that the best place for me would be my +bed; so, after making Nanse bring the bottle and glass to the door on a +server, to give Peter Farrel a dram by way of “doch-an-dorris,” +as the Gaelic folk say, we wished him a good-night, and left him to drive +home the bit <!-- page 258--><a name="page258"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +258</span>gig, with the broken shaft spliced with ropes, to his own bounds; +little jealousing, as we heard next morning, that he would be thrown over +the back of it, without being hurt, by taking too sharp a turn at the +corner.</p> +<p>After a tremendous sound sleep, I was up betimes in the morning, though +a wee drumly about the head, anxious to enquire at Tammie Bodkin, the head +of the business department, me being absent, if any extraordinars had +occurred on the yesterday; and found that the only particular customer +making enquiries anent me was our old friend Cursecowl, savage for the +measure of a killing-coat, which he wanted made as fast as directly. +Though dreadfully angry at finding me from home, and unco swithering at +first, he at length, after a volley of oaths enough to have opened a stone +wall, allowed Tammie Bodkin to take his inches; but, as he swore and went +on havering and speaking nonsense all the time, Tammie’s hand shook, +partly through fear, and partly through anxiety; and if he went wrong in +making a nick in the paper here and there in a wrong place, it was no more +than might have been looked for, from his fright and inexperience.</p> +<p>In the twinkle of an eyelid, I saw that there was some mortal mistake in +the measurement; as, unless Cursecowl had lost beef at no allowance, I +knew, judging from the past, that it would not peep on his <!-- page +259--><a name="page259"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 259</span>corpus by +four inches. The matter was, however, now past all earthly remede, +and there was nothing to be done but trusting to good fortune, and allowing +the killing-coat to take its chance in the world. How the thing +happened, I have bothered and beat my brains to no purpose to make out, and +it remains a wonderful mystery to me to this blessed day; but, by long +thought on the subject, both when awake and in my bed, and by multifarious +cross-questionings at Tammie’s self concerning the paper measurings, +I am devoutly inclined to think, that he mistook the nicking of the +side-seams and the shoulder-strap for the girth of the belly-band.</p> +<h2><!-- page 260--><a name="page260"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +260</span>CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE—ON CATCHING A +TARTAR—CURSECOWL</h2> +<p>From the first moment I clapped eye on the caricature thing of a coat, +that Tammie Bodkin had, in my absence, shaped out for Cursecowl the +butcher, I foresaw, in my own mind, that a catastrophe was brewing for us; +and never did soldier gird himself to fight the French, or sailor prepare +for a sea-storm, with greater alacrity, than I did to cope with the +bull-dog anger, and buffet back the uproarious vengeance of our heathenish +customer.</p> +<p>At first I thought of letting the thing take its natural course, and of +threaping down Cursecowl’s throat that he must have been feloniously +keeping in his breath when Tammie took his measure; and, moreover, that as +it was the fashion to be straight-laced, Tammie had done his utmost trying +to make him look like his betters; till, my conscience checking me for such +a nefarious intention, I endeavoured, as became me in the relations of man, +merchant, and Christian, to solder the matter peaceably, and show him, if +there was a fault committed, that there was no evil intention on my side of +the house. To this end I dispatched the bit servant wench, on the +Friday afternoon, to deliver the coat, which was neatly tied up in a brown +paper, and directed—“Mr Cursecowl, with care,” and to buy +a sheep’s head; bidding her, by the way of being civil, give my kind +compliments, and enquire how Mr and Mrs Cursecowl, and the five <!-- page +261--><a name="page261"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 261</span>little Miss +Cursecowl’s, were keeping their healths, and trusting to his honour +in sending me a good article. But have a moment’s patience.</p> +<p>Being busy at the time, turning a pair of kuttikins for old Mr +Molleypouch the mealmonger, when the lassie came back, I had no mind of +asking a sight of the sheep’s head, as I aye like the little +blackfaced, in preference to the white, fat, fozy Cheviot breed: but, most +providentially, I catched a gliskie of the wench passing the shop window, +on the road over to Jamie Coom the smith’s, to get it singed, having +been dispatched there by her mistress. Running round the counter like +lightning, I opened the sneck, and halooed to her to wheel to the right +about, having, somehow or other, a superstitious longing to look at the +article. As I was saying, there was a Providence in this, which, at +the time, mortal man could never have thought of.</p> +<p>James Batter had popped in with a newspaper in his hand, to read me a +curious account of a mermaid, that was seen singing a Gaelic song, and +combing its hair with a tortoise-shell comb, someway terrible far north +about Shetland, by a respectable minister of the district, riding home in +the gloaming after a presbytery dinner. So, as he was just taking off +his spectacles cannily, and saying to me—“And was not that +droll?”—the lassie spread down her towel on the counter, when, +lo and behold! such an abominable spectacle, James Batter observing me run +back, and turn white! <!-- page 262--><a name="page262"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 262</span>put on his glasses again, cannily taking them +out of his well-worn shagreen case, and, giving a stare down at the towel, +almost touched the beast’s nose with his own.</p> +<p>“And what, in the name of goodness, is the matter?” +quo’ James Batter; “ye seem in a wonderful quandary.”</p> +<p>“The matter!” answered I, in astonishment; looking to see if +the man had lost his sight or his senses—“the matter! who ever +saw a sheep’s head with straight horns, and a visnomy all colours of +the rainbow—red, blue, orange, green, yellow, white, and +black?”</p> +<p>‘“Deed it is,” said James, after a nearer inspection; +“it must be a lowsy-naturay. I’m sure I have read most of +Buffon’s books, and I have never heard tell of like. It’s +gey an’ queerish.”</p> +<p>‘“Od, James,” answered I, “ye take every thing +very canny; you’re a philosopher, to be sure; but, I daresay, if the +moon was to fall from the lift, and knock down the old kirk, ye would say +no more than it’s gey an’ queerish!”</p> +<p>“Queerish, man! do ye not see that?” added I, shoving down +his head mostly on the top of it. “Do ye not see that? awful, +most awful! extonishing!! Do ye not see that long beard? Who, +in the name of goodness, ever was an eyewitness to a sheep’s head, in +a Christian land, with a beard like an unshaven Jew crying ‘owl +clowes,’ with a green bag over his left shoulder!”</p> +<p><!-- page 263--><a name="page263"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +263</span>“Dog on it,” said James, giving a fidge with his +hainches; “Dog on it, as I am a living sinner, that is the head of a +Willie-goat.”</p> +<p>“Willie or Nannie,” answered I, “it’s not meat +for me; and never shall an ounce of it cross the craig of my +family:—that is as sure as ever James Batter drave a shuttle. +Give counsel in need, James: what is to be done?”</p> +<p>“That needs consideration,” quo’ James, giving a bit +hoast. “Unless he makes ample apology, and explains the mistake +in a feasible way, it is my humble opinion that he ought to be summoned +before his betters. That is the legal way to make him smart for his +sins.”</p> +<p>At last a thought struck me, and I saw farther through my difficulties +than ever mortal man did through a millstone; but, like a politician, I +minted not the matter to James. Keeping my tongue cannily within my +teeth, I then laid the head, wrapped up in the bit towel, in a corner +behind the counter; and turning my face round again to James, I put my +hands into my breeches-pockets, as if nothing in the world had happened, +and ventured back to the story of the mermaid. I asked him how she +looked—what kind of dress she wore—if she swam with her +corsets—what was the colour of her hair—where she would buy the +tortoise-shell comb—and so on; when, just as he was clearing his pipe +to reply, who should burst open the <!-- page 264--><a +name="page264"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 264</span>shop-door like a clap +of thunder, with burning cat’s een, and a face as red as a +soldier’s jacket, but Cursecowl himself, with the new killing-coat in +his hand,—which, giving a tremendous curse, the words of which are +not essentially necessary for me to repeat, being an elder of our kirk, he +made play flee at me with such a birr, that it twisted round my neck, and, +mostly blinding me, made me doze like a tottum. At the same time, to +clear his way, and the better to enable him to take a good mark, he gave +James Batter a shove, that made him stotter against the wall, and snacked +the good new farthing tobacco-pipe, that James was taking his first whiff +out of; crying, at the same blessed moment—“Hold out o’ +my road, ye long withered wabster. Ye’er a pair of havering +idiots; but I’ll have pennyworths out of both your skins, as +I’m a sinner!”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p264b.jpg"> +<img alt="The waiting girl, Jeanie Amos" src="images/p264s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>What was to be done? There was no time for speaking, for +Cursccowl, foaming like a mad dog with passion, seized hold of the +ell-wand, which he flourished round his head like a Highlander’s +broadsword, and stamping about, with his stockings drawn up his thighs, +threatened every moment to commit bloody murder.</p> +<p>If James Batter never saw service before, he learned a little of it that +day, being in a pickle of bodily terror not to be imagined by living man; +but his presence of mind did not forsake him, and he cowered for safety +<!-- page 265--><a name="page265"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +265</span>and succour into a far corner, holding out a web of buckram +before him—me crying all the time, “Send for the town officer! +will ye not send for the town-officer?”</p> +<p>You may talk of your general Moores, and your Lord Wellingtons, as ye +like; but never, since I was born, did I ever see or hear tell of anything +braver than the way Tammie Bodkin behaved, in saving both our precious +lives, at that blessed nick of time, from touch-and-go jeopardy: for, when +Cursecowl was rampauging about, cursing and swearing like a Russian bear, +hurling out volleys of oaths that would have frighted John Knox, forbye the +like of us, Tammie stole in behind him like a wild-cat, followed by Joseph +Breekey, Walter Cuff, and Jack Thorl, the three apprentices on their +stocking soles; and, having strong and dumpy arms, pinned back his elbows +like a flash of lightning, giving the other callants time to jump on his +back, and hold him like a vice; while, having got time to draw my breath, +and screw up my pluck, I ran forward like a lion, and houghed the whole +concern—Tammie Bodkin, the three faithful apprentices, Cursecowl and +all, coming to the ground like a battered castle.</p> +<p>It was now James Batter’s time to come up in line, and, though a +douce man (being savage for the insulting way that Cursecowl had dared to +use him), he dropped down like mad, with his knees on Cursecowl’s +breast, who was yelling, roaring, and grinding his <!-- page 266--><a +name="page266"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 266</span>buck-teeth like a mad +bull, kicking right and spurring left with fire and fury; and, taking his +Kilmarnock off his head, thrust it, like a battering-ram, into +Cursecowl’s mouth, to hinder him from alarming the neighbourhood, and +bringing the whole world about our ears. Such a stramash of tumbling, +roaring, tearing, swearing, kicking, pushing, cuffing, rugging and riving +about the floor!! I thought they would not have left one another with +a shirt on: it seemed a combat even to the death. Cursecowl’s +breath was choked up within him like wind in an empty bladder, and when I +got a gliskie of his face, from beneath James’s cowl, it was growing +as black as the crown of my hat. It feared me much that murder would +be the upshot, the webs being all heeled over, both of broad cloth, +buckram, cassimir, and Welsh flannel; and the paper shapings and worsted +runds coiled about their throats and bodies like fiery serpents. At +long and last, I thought it became me, being the head of the house, to +sound a parley, and bid them give the savage a mouthful of fresh air, to +see if he had anything to say in his defence.</p> +<p>Cursecowl, by this time, had forcible assurance of our ability to +overpower him, and finding he had by far the worst of it, was obliged to +grow tamer, using the first breath he got to cry out, “A barley, ye +thieves! a barley! I tell ye, give me wind. There’s not a +man in nine of ye.”</p> +<p>Finding our own strength, we saw, by this time, <!-- page 267--><a +name="page267"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 267</span>that we were masters +of the field; nevertheless, we took care to make good terms when they were +in our power; nor would we allow Cursecowl to sit upright, till after he +had said, three times over, on his honour as a gentleman, that he would +behave as became one. After giving his breeches-knees a skuff with +his loof, to dad off the stoure, he came, right foot foremost, to the +counter side, while the laddies were dighting their brows, and stowing away +the webs upon their ends round about, saying, “Maister Wauch, how +have ye the conscience to send hame such a piece o’ wark as that coat +to ony decent man? Do ye dare to imagine that I am a Jerusalem +spider, that I could be crammed, neck and heels, into such a thing as +that? Fye, shame—it would not button on yourself, man, +scarecrow-looking mortal though ye be!”</p> +<p>James Batter’s blood was now up, and boiling like an old +Roman’s; so he was determined to show Cursecowl that I had a friend +in court, able and willing to keep him at stave’s-end. +“Keep a calm sough,” said James Batter, interfering, “and +not miscall the head of the house in his own shop; or, to say nothing of +present consequences, byway of showing ye the road to the door, perhaps +Maister Sneckdrawer, the penny-writer, ’ll give ye a caption-paper +with a broad margin, to claw your elbow with at your leisure, my good +fellow.”</p> +<p>“Pugh, pugh,” cried Cursecowl, snapping his finger <!-- page +268--><a name="page268"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 268</span>and thumb at +James’s beak, “I do not value your threatening an ill +halfpenny. Come away out your ways to the crown of the causey, and +I’ll box any three of ye, over the bannys, for half-a-mutchkin. +But ’od-sake, Batter, my man, nobody’s speaking to you,” +added Cursecowl, giving a hack now and then, and a bit spit down on the +floor; “go hame, man, and get your cowl washed; I dare say you have +pushioned me, so I have no more to say to the like of you. But now, +Maister Wauch, just speaking holy and fairly, do you not think black +burning shame of yourself, for putting such an article into any decent +Christian man’s hand, like mine?”</p> +<p>“Wait a wee—wait a wee, friend, and I’ll give ye a +lock salt to your broth,” answered I, in a calm and cool way; for, +being a confidential elder of Maister Wiggie’s, I kept myself free +from the sin of getting into a passion, or fighting, except in +self-defence, which is forbidden neither by law nor gospel; and, stooping +down, I took up the towel from the corner, and, spreading it upon the +counter, bade him look, and see if he knew an auld acquaintance!</p> +<p>Cursecowl, to be such a dragoon, had some rational points in his +character; so, seeing that he lent ear to me with a smirk on his rough red +face, I went on: “Take my advice as a friend, and make the best of +your way home, killing-coat and all; for the most perfect will sometimes +fall into an innocent mistake, and, <!-- page 269--><a +name="page269"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 269</span>at any rate, it +cannot be helped now. But if ye show any symptom of obstrapulosity, +I’ll find myself under the necessity of publishing you abroad to the +world for what you are, and show about that head in the towel for a wonder +to broad Scotland, in a manner that will make customers flee from your +booth, as if it was infected with the seven plagues of Egypt.”</p> +<p>At sight of the goat’s-head, Cursecowl clapped his hand on his +thigh two or three times, and could scarcely muster good manners enough to +keep himself from bursting out a-laughing.</p> +<p>“Ye seem to have found a fiddle, friend,” said I; “but +give me leave to tell you, that ye’ll may be find it liker a +hanging-match than a musical matter. Are you not aware that I could +hand you over to the sheriff, on two special indictments? In the +first place, for an action of assault and batterification, in cuffing me, +an elder of our kirk, with a sticked killing-coat, in my own shop; and, in +the second place, as a swindler, imposing on his Majesty’s loyal +subjects, taking the coin of the realm on false pretences, and palming off +goat’s flesh upon Christians, as if they were perfect +Pagans.”</p> +<p>Heathen though Cursecowl was, this oration alarmed him in a jiffie, soon +showing him, in a couple of hurries, that it was necessary for him to be +our humble servant: so he said, still keeping the smirk on his face, +“Keh, keh, it’s not worth making a noise about after all. +Gie me the jacket, Mansie, my man, and it’ll maybe <!-- page 270--><a +name="page270"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 270</span>serve my nephew, +young Killim, who is as lingit in the waist as a wasp. Let us take a +shake of your paw over the counter, and be friends. Bye-ganes should +be bye-ganes.”</p> +<p>Never let it be said that Mansie Wauch, though one of the king’s +volunteers, ever thrust aside the olive branch of peace; so, ill-used +though I had been, to say nothing of James Batter, who had got his pipe +smashed to crunches, and one of the eyes of his spectacles knocked out, I +gave him my fist frankly.</p> +<p>James Batter’s birse had been so fiercely put up, and no wonder, +that it was not so easily sleeked down; so, for a while he looked unco +glum, till Cursecowl insisted that our meeting should not be a dry one; nor +would he hear a single word on me and James Batter not accepting his treat +of a mutchkin of Kilbagie.</p> +<p>I did not think James would have been so doure and +refractory—funking and flinging like old Jeroboam; but at last, with +the persuasion of the treat, he came to, and, sleeking down his front hair, +we all three took a step down to the far end of the close, at the back +street, where Widow Thamson kept the sign of “The Tankard and the +Tappit Hen”; Cursecowl, when we got ourselves seated, ordering in the +spirits with a loud rap on the table with his knuckles, and a whistle on +the landlady through his fore-teeth, that made the roof ring. A +bottle of beer <!-- page 271--><a name="page271"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 271</span>was also brought; so, after drinking one +another’s healths round, with a tasting out of the dram glass, +Cursecowl swashed the rest of the raw creature into the tankard, +saying—“Now take your will o’t; there’s drink fit +for a king; that’s real ‘Pap-in.’”</p> +<p>He was an awful body, Cursecowl, and had a power of queer stories, +which, weel-a-wat, did no lose in the telling. James Batter beginning +to brighten up, hodged and leuch like a nine-year-old; and I freely +confess, for another, that I was so diverted, that, I dare say, had it not +been for his fearsome oaths, which made our very hair stand on end, and +were enough to open the stone-wall, we would have both sate from that time +to this.</p> +<p>We got the whole story of the Willie-goat, out and out; it seeming to +be, with Cursecowl, a prime matter of diversion, especially that part of it +relating to the head, by which he had won a crown from Deacon Paunch, who +wagered that the wife and me would eat it, without ever finding out our +mistake. But, aha, lad!</p> +<p>The long and the short of the matter was this. The Willie-goat, +had, for eighteen year, belonged to a dragoon marching regiment, and, in +its better days, had seen a power of service abroad; till, being now old +and infirm, it had fallen off one of the baggage-carts, and got its leg +broken on the road to Piershill, where it was sold to Cursecowl, by a +corporal, for half-a-crown <!-- page 272--><a name="page272"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 272</span>and a dram. The four quarters he had +managed to sell for mutton, like lightning—this one buying a jigget, +that one a back-ribs, and so on. However, he had to weather a gey +brisk gale in making his point good. One woman remarked, that it had +an unearthly, rank smell; to which he said, “No, no—ye do not +ken your blessings, friend,—that’s the smell of venison, for +the beast was brought up along with the deers in the Duke’s +parks.” And to another wife, that, after smell-smelling at it, +thought it was a wee humphed, he replied, “Faith that’s all the +thanks folk gets for letting their sheep crop heather among Cheviot +Hills”; and such like lies. But as for the head, that had been +the doure business. Six times had it been sold and away, and six +times had it been brought back again. One bairn said, that her +“mother didna like a sheep’s head with horns like these, and +wanted it changed for another one.” A second one said, that, +“it had tup’s een, and her father liked wether +mutton.” A third customer found mortal fault with the colours, +which, she said, “were not canny, or in the course of +nature.” What the fourth one said, and the fifth one took leave +to observe, I have stupidly forgotten, though, I am sure, I heard both; but +I mind one remarked, quite off-hand, as she sought back her money, that +“unless sheep could do without beards, like their neighbours, she +would keep the pot boiling with a piece beef, in the meantime.” +After all this, <!-- page 273--><a name="page273"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 273</span>would any mortal man believe it, Deacon +Paunch, the greasy Daniel Lambert that he is, had taken the wager, as I +before took opportunity to remark, that our family would swallow the +bait? But, aha, he was off his eggs there!</p> +<p>James and me were so tickled with Cursecowl’s wild, outrageous, +off-hand, humoursome way of telling his crack, that, though sore with +neighering, none of the two of us ever thought of rising; Cursecowl +chapping in first one stoup, and then another, and birling the tankard +round the table, as if we had been drinking dub-water. I dare say I +would never have got away, had I not slipped out behind Lucky +Thamson’s back—for she was a broad fat body, with a round-eared +mutch, and a full-plaited check apron—when she was drawing the sixth +bottle of small beer, with her corkscrew between her knees; Cursecowl +lecturing away, at the dividual moment, like a Glasgow professor, to James +Batter, whose een were gathering straws, on a pliskie he had once, in the +course of trade, played on a conceited body of a French sicknurse, by +selling her a lump of fat pork to make beef-tea of to her mistress, who was +dwining in the blue Beelzebubs.</p> +<p>Ohone, and woes me, for old Father Adam and the fall of man! Poor, +sober, good, honest James Batter was not, by a thousand miles, a match for +such company. Everything, however, has its moral, and <!-- page +274--><a name="page274"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 274</span>the truth +will out. When Nanse and me were sitting at our breakfast next +morning, we heard from Benjie, who had been early up fishing for eels at +the water-side, that the whole town-talk was concerning the misfortunate +James Batter, who had been carried home, totally incapable, far in the +night, by Cursecowl and an Irish labourer—that sleeped in Widow +Thamson’s garret—on a hand-barrow, borrowed from Maister +Wiggie’s servant-lass, Jenny Jessamine.</p> +<h2><!-- page 275--><a name="page275"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +275</span>CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR—JAMES BATTER & THE MAID OF +DAMASCUS</h2> +<p>On the morning after the debosh with Mr Cursecowl, my respected friend, +James Batter, the pattern of steadiness and sobriety, awoke in a terrible +pliskie. The decent man came to the use of his senses as from a +trance, and scarcely knew either where he was, or whether his head or heels +were uppermost. He found himself lying without his Kilmarnock, from +which he might have received deadly damage, being subject to the rheumatics +in the cuff of the neck; and everything about him was in a most fearful and +disjaskit state. It was a long time before he could, for the life of +him, bring his mind or memory to a sense of his condition, having still on +his corduroy trowsers, and his upper and under vest, besides one of his +stockings:—his hat, his wig, his neckcloth, his shoes, his coat, his +snuff-box, his spectacles, and the other stocking, all lying on the floor, +together with a table, a chair, a candlestick, with a broken candle, which +had been knocked over;—the snuffers standing upright, being sharp in +the point, and having stuck in the deal floor.</p> +<p>It was a terrible business! and might have been a life-long lesson to +every one, of the truth of St Paul’s maxim, that “evil +communication corrupts good manners”;—Cursecowl being the most +incomprehensible fellow that ever breathed the breath of life. To add +to his calamities, James found, on attempting <!-- page 276--><a +name="page276"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 276</span>to rise, that he had, +in some way or other, of which he had not a shadow of recollection, +dismally sprained his left ankle, which, to his consternation, was swelled +like a door-post, and as blue as his apron. There was also a black +ugly lump on his brow, as big as a pigeon’s egg, which was horrible +to look at in the bit glass. Many a gallant soldier escaped from +Waterloo with less scaith—and that they did. Poor innocent +sowl! I pitied him from the very bottom of my heart—as who +would not?</p> +<p>Having got an inkling of the town-talk by breakfast time, and knowing +also that many a one—such is the corruption of human +nature—would like to have a hair in the neck of James, by taking up +an evil report, I remembered within myself that a friend in need is a +friend indeed, and cannily papped up the close, after I had got myself +shaved, to see how the land lay. And a humbling spectacle it +was! James could scarcely yet be said to be himself, for his eyes +were like scored collops, and his stomach was so sick that his face was +like ill-bleached linen—pale as a dishclout. When he tried to +speak, it was between a bock and a hiccup with him, and my feeling for his +situation was such—knowing, as I did, all the ins and outs of the +business—that I could not help being very wae for him. It +therefore behoved me to make Nanse send him a cup of well-made tea, to see +if it would act as a settler, but his <!-- page 277--><a +name="page277"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 277</span>heart stood at it, as +if it had been ’cacuana, and do as he liked, he could not let a drop +of it down his craig. When the wife informed me of this, I at last +luckily remembered the old saying about giving one a hair of the dog that +bit him; and I made poor James swallow a thimbleful of malt +spirits—the real unadulterated creatur, with wonderfully good +effects. Though then in his sixty-first year, James declares on his +honour as a gentleman, that this was the first time he ever had fallen a +victim to the barley-fever!</p> +<p>How could we do otherwise! it afforded Nanse and I great +pleasure—and no mistake—in acting the part of good Samaritans, +by pouring oil and wine into his wounds; I having bound up his brow with a +Sunday silk-napkin, and she having fomented his unfortunate ankle with warm +water and hog’s lard. The truth is, that I found myself in +conscience bound and obligated to take a deep interest in the decent +man’s distresses, he having come to his catastrophe in a cause of +mine, and having fallen a victim to the snares and devices of Cursecowl, +instead of myself, for whom the vagabond’s girn was set. +Providence decided that, in this particular case, I should escape; but a +better man, James Batter, was caught in it by the left ankle. What +will a body say there?</p> +<p>The web of Lucky Caird, which James had promised to carry home to her on +the Saturday night, <!-- page 278--><a name="page278"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 278</span>was still in the loom, and had I been up to +the craft, I would not have hesitated to have driven the shuttle myself +till I had got it off hand for him; but every man to his trade; so afraid +of consequences, I let the batter and the bobbin-box lie still, trusting to +Lucky Caird’s discretion, and my friend’s speedy +recovery. But the distress of James Batter was not the business of a +day. In the course of the next night, to be sure, he had some natural +sleep, which cleared his brain from the effects of that dangerous and +deluding drink, the “Pap-in”; but his ankle left him a grievous +lameter, hirpling on a staff; and, although his brown scratch and his +Kilmarnock helped to hide the bump upon his temple, the dregs of it fell +down upon his e’e-bree, which, to the consternation of everybody, +became as green as a docken leaf.</p> +<p>My friend, however, be it added to this, was not more a sufferer in body +than in estate; for the illness, being of his own bringing on, he could not +make application to the Weavers’ Society—of which he had been a +regular member for forty odd years—for his lawful sick-money. +But, being a philosopher, James submitted to his bed of thorns without a +murmur; Nanse and I soothing his calamities, as we best could, by a bowl of +sheep-head broth; a rizzar’d haddock; a tankard of broo-and-bread; a +caller egg; a swine’s trotter; and other circumstantialities needless +to repeat—as occasion required.</p> +<p><!-- page 279--><a name="page279"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +279</span>As for Cursecowl, the invincible reprobate, so ashamed was he of +his infamous conduct, that he did not dare, for the life in his body, to +show himself before my shop-window—far less in my presence—for +more than a week; yet, would ye believe it! he made a perfect farce of the +whole business among his own wauf cronies; and, instead of repentance, I +verily believe, would not have cared twopence to have played me the same +pliskie that he did my douce and worthy friend. But away with him! he +is not worth speaking about; and ye’ll get nothing from a sow +but—grumph!</p> +<p>Being betimes on mending order, James sent down, one forenoon, to +request, with his compliments, that I would hand him up by the bearer old +Taffy with the Pigtail’s bundle of old papers,—as having more +leisure in his hands than either he liked, or well knew how to dispose of, +it might afford him some diversion to take a reading of them, for the +purpose of enquiring farther into the particulars of the Welsh +gentleman’s history—which undoubtedly was a wee mysterious; +consisting of matters lying heads and thraws; and of odds and ends, that no +human skill could dovetail into a Christian consistency.</p> +<p>On the night of the next day—I mind it weel, for it was on that +dividual evening that Willie, the minister’s man, married Mysie +Clouts, the keeper of the lodging-house called the Beggars’ +Opera—it struck <!-- page 280--><a name="page280"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 280</span>me, seeing the general joy of the weans on the +street, and the laughing, daffing, and hallabuloo that they were making, +that poor James must be lonely at his ingle side, and that a drink of +porter and a crack would do his old heart good. Accordingly, I made +Nanse send the bit lassie, our servant, Jenny Heggins, for a couple of +bottles of Deacon Jaffrey’s best brown stout, asking if he could pawn +his word anent its being genuine, as it was for a gentleman in delicate +health. So, brushing the saw-dust off the doup of one of them, and +slipping it into my coat pocket, which was gey an’ large, I popped at +leisure up the close to pay my neighbour a friendly visit.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p280b.jpg"> +<img alt="Peter Farrel" src="images/p280s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>’Od, but comfort is a grand thing. If ever ye saw an ancient +patriarch, there was one. James was seated in his snug old easychair +by the fireside, as if he had been an Edinburgh Parliament House lawyer, +studying his hornings, duplies, and fugie warrants, with his left leg +paraded out on a stool, with a pillow smoothed down over it, and all the +Welshman’s papers docketed on the bit table before him. The cat +was lying streaked out on the hearth, pur-purring away to herself, and the +kettle by the fire cheek was singing along with her, as if to cheer the +heart of their mutual master. As for Mr Batter, he looked as prejinct +as a pikestaff, and so taken up was he with his papers, that, when I asked +him how he felt, his answer, to my wonderment, was, that “in the Song +of Songs <!-- page 281--><a name="page281"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +281</span>Solomon had likened the nose of his beloved to the tower of +Lebanon, which looketh towards Damascus.” So brown was he in +his studies, that, for a while, I feared the fall had produced some crack +in his pan, and that his seven senses had gone a wool-gathering; but the +story will out, as ye will hear, and being naturally a wee-camstairie, I +gave him time to gather the feet of his faculties before pressing him too +hard; but even the sight of the bottle of porter toasting by the cheek of +the fire, hardly brought him at once to his right mind.</p> +<p>Mr Batter’s noddle, however, after a little patience, clearing up, +we leisurely discussed between us the porter, which was in prime condition, +with a ream as yellow as a marigold; together with half-a-dozen of +butter-bakes, crimp and new-baked, it being batch-day with Thomas Burlings, +who, like his father and grandfather before him, have been notorious in the +biscuit department. It soon became clear to me, that the dialogue +about Lebanon and Damascus, which was followed up with a clishmaclaver +anent dirks, daggers, red cloaks, and other bloody weapons which made all +my flesh grue, had some connexion with Taffy’s papers on the +table—out of which James had been diverting himself by reading bits +here and there, at random like.</p> +<p>In the course of our confab, he told me a monstrous heap about them; +but, in general, the things were so out of the course of Providence, and so +queer and <!-- page 282--><a name="page282"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +282</span>leeing-like, that I, for one, would not believe them without +solemn affidavy. Indeed, I began at length to question within +myself—for the subject naturally resolved itself into two heads; +firstly, whether Taffy’s master might not have had a bee in his +bonnet; or, secondly, whether he was a person not over-scrupulous regarding +the matter of truth. As for James, he declared him a nonsuch, and +said, that although poor, he would not have hesitated to have given him +sixpence for a lock of his hair, just to keep beside him for a keepsake; +(did anybody ever hear such nonsense?) Before parting, he insisted +that I should bear with him, till he read me over the story he had just +finished as I came in, and which had been running in his noddle. At +such a late hour, for it was now wearing on to wellnigh ten o’clock, +I was not just clear about listening to anything bloody; but not to vex the +old boy, who, I am sure, would not have sleeped a wink through the night +for disappointment, had he not got a free breast made of it, I at long and +last consented—provided his story was not too long. My chief +particularity on this point, as I should mention, was, that it was past +Benjie’s bedtime, and the callant had a hoast, which required all his +mother’s as well as my own good doctoring—having cost us two +bottles of Dantzic black beer, with little effect; besides not a few other +recommendations of friends and skielly acquaintances.</p> +<p><!-- page 283--><a name="page283"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +283</span>It was best, therefore, to consent with a good grace; so, after +clearing his windpipes, James wiped the eyes of his spectacles with the +corner of his red-check pocket-napkin; and thereafter fixing them on his +beak, he commenced preaching away in grand style at some queer outlandish +stuff, which fairly baffled my gumption. I must confess, however, +both in fairness to Taffy and to James, that, as I had been up since five +in the morning (having pawned my word to send home Duncan Imrie, the +heel-cutter’s new duffle great-coat by breakfast time, as he had to +go into the Edinburgh leather-market by eleven), my een were gathering +straws; and it was only at the fearsome parts that I could for half a +moment keep them sundry. “Many men,” however, “many +minds,” as the copy-line book says; and as every one has a right to +judge for himself, I requested James to copy the concern out for me; and ye +here have it, word for word, without substraction, multiplication, or +addition.</p> +<h3>The Maid Of Damascus</h3> +<p>In the reign of the Greek Emperor Heraclius, when the beautiful city of +Damascus was at the height of its splendour and magnificence, dwelt therein +a young noble, named Demetrius, whose decayed fortunes did not correspond +with the general prosperity of the times. He was a youth of ardent +disposition, and <!-- page 284--><a name="page284"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 284</span>very handsome in person: pride kept him from +bettering his estate by the profession of merchandise, yet more keenly did +he feel the obscurity to which adverse fates had reduced him, that in his +lot was involved the fortune of one dearer than himself.</p> +<p>It so happened that, in that quarter of the city which faces the row of +palm-trees, within the gate Keisan, dwelt a wealthy old merchant, who had a +beautiful daughter. Demetrius had by chance seen her some time +before, and he was so struck with her loveliness, that, after pining for +many months in secret, he ventured on a disclosure, and, to his delighted +surprise, found that Isabelle had long silently nursed a deep and almost +hopeless passion for him also; so, being now aware that their love was +mutual, they were as happy as the bird that, all day long, sings in the +sunshine from the summits of the cypress-trees.</p> +<p>True is the adage of the poet, that “the course of true love never +did run smooth”; and, in the father of the maiden, they found that a +stumbling-block lay in the path of their happiness, for he was of an +avaricious disposition, and they knew that he valued gold more than +nobility of blood. Their fears grew more and more, as Isabelle, in +her private conversations, endeavoured to sound her father on this point; +and although the suspicions of affection are often more apparent than real, +in this they were not mistaken; for, without consulting his child—and +as if <!-- page 285--><a name="page285"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +285</span>her soul had been in his hand—he promised her in marriage +to a rich old miser, ay, twice as rich, and nearly as old as himself.</p> +<p>Isabelle knew not what to do; for, on being informed by her father of +the fate he had destined for her, her heart forsook her, and her spirit was +bowed to the dust. Nowhere could she rest, like the Thracian bird +that knoweth not to fold its wings in slumber—a cloud had fallen for +her over the fair face of nature—and, instead of retiring to her +couch, she wandered about weeping, under the midnight stars, on the terrace +on the house-top—wailing over the hapless fate, and calling on death +to come and take her from her sorrows.</p> +<p>At morning she went forth alone into the garden; but neither could the +golden glow of the orange-trees, nor the perfumes of the rosiers, nor the +delicate fragrance of the clustering henna and jasmine, delight her; so she +wearied for the hour of noon, having privately sent to Demetrius, inviting +him to meet her by the fountain of the pillars at that time.</p> +<p>Poor Demetrius had, for some time, observed a settled sorrow in the +conduct and countenance of his beautiful Isabelle—he felt that some +melancholy revelation was to be made to him; and, all eagerness, he came at +the appointed hour. He passed along the winding walks, unheeding of +the tulips streaked like the ruddy evening clouds—of the flower +betrothed <!-- page 286--><a name="page286"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +286</span>to the nightingale—of the geranium blazing in scarlet +beauty,—till, on approaching the place of promise, he caught a glance +of the maid he loved—and, lo! she sate there in the sunlight, +absorbed in thought; a book was on her knee, and at her feet lay the harp +whose chords had been for his ear so often modulated to harmony.</p> +<p>He laid his hand gently on her shoulder, as he seated himself beside her +on the steps; and seeing her sorrowful, he comforted her, and bade her be +of good cheer, saying, that Heaven would soon smile propitiously on their +fortunes, and that their present trials would but endear them the more to +each other in the days of after years. At length, with tears and +sobs, she told him of what she had learned; and, while they wept on each +other’s bosoms, they vowed over the Bible, which Isabelle held in her +hand, to be faithful to each other to their dying day.</p> +<p>Meantime the miser was making preparations for the marriage ceremony, +and the father of Isabelle had portioned out his daughter’s dowery; +when the lovers, finding themselves driven to extremity, took the +resolution of escaping together from the city.</p> +<p>Now, it so happened, in accordance with the proverb, which saith that +evils never come single, that, at this very time, the city of Damascus was +closely invested by a mighty army, commanded by the Caliph Abubeker +Alwakidi, the immediate successor of Mahomet; <!-- page 287--><a +name="page287"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 287</span>and, in leaving the +walls, the lovers were in imminent hazard of falling into their cruel +hands; yet, having no other resource left, they resolved to put their +perilous adventure to the risk.</p> +<p>’Twas the Mussulman hour of prayer Magrib: the sun had just +disappeared, and the purple haze of twilight rested on the hills, darkening +all the cedar forests, when the porter of the gate Keisan, having been +bribed with a largess, its folding leaves slowly opened, and forthwith +issued a horseman closely wrapt up in a mantle; and behind him, at a little +space, followed another similarly clad. Alas! for the unlucky +fugitives, it so chanced that Derar, the captain of the night-guard, was at +that moment making his rounds, and observing what was going on, he detached +a party to throw themselves between the strangers and the town. The +foremost rider, however, discovered their intention, and he called back to +his follower to return. Isabelle—for it was she—instantly +regained the gate which had not yet closed, but Demetrius fell into the +hands of the enemy.</p> +<p>As wont in those bloody wars, the poor prisoner was immediately carried +by an escort into the presence of the Caliph, who put the alternative in +his power of either, on the instant, renouncing his religion, or submitting +to the axe of the headsman. Demetrius told his tale with a noble +simplicity; and his youth, his open countenance, and stately bearing, so +far <!-- page 288--><a name="page288"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +288</span>gained on the heart of Abubeker, that, on his refusal to embrace +Mahomedism, he begged of him seriously to consider of his situation, and +ordered a delay of the sentence, which he must otherwise pronounce, until +the morrow.</p> +<p>Heart-broken and miserable, Demetrius was loaded with chains, and +carried to a gloomy place of confinement. In the solitude of the +night-hours he cursed the hour of his birth—bewailed his miserable +situation—and feeling that all his schemes of happiness were +thwarted, almost rejoiced that he had only a few hours to live.</p> +<p>The heavy hours lagged on towards daybreak, and, quite exhausted by the +intense agony of his feelings, he sank down upon the ground in a profound +sleep, from which a band, with crescented turbans and crooked sword-blades, +awoke him. Still persisting to reject the Prophet’s faith, he +was led forth to die; but, in passing through the camp, the Soubachis of +the Caliph stopped the troop, as he had been commanded, and Demetrius was +ushered into the tent, where Abubeker, not yet arisen, lay stretched on his +sofa. For a while the captive remained resolute, preferring death to +the disgrace of turning a renegado; but the wily Caliph, who had taken a +deep and sudden interest in the fortunes of the youth, knew well the +spring, by the touch of which his heart was most likely to be +affected. He pointed out to Demetrius <!-- page 289--><a +name="page289"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 289</span>prospects of +preferment and grandeur, while he assured him that, in a few days, Damascus +must to a certainty surrender, in which case his mistress must fall into +the power of a fierce soldiery, and be left to a fate full of dishonour, +and worse than death itself; but, if he assumed the turban, he pledged his +royal word that especial care should be taken that no harm should alight on +her he loved.</p> +<p>Demetrius paused, and Abubeker saw that the heart of his captive was +touched. He drew pictures of power, and affluence, and domestic love, +that dazzled the imagination of his hearer; and while the prisoner thought +of his Isabelle, instead of rejecting the impious proposal, as at first he +had done, with disdain and horror, his soul bent like iron in the breath of +the furnace flame, and he wavered and became irresolute. The keen eye +of the Caliph saw the working of his spirit within him, and allowed him yet +another day to form his resolution. When the second day was expired, +Demetrius craved a third; and on the fourth morning miserable man, he +abjured the faith of his fathers, and became a Mussulman.</p> +<p>Abubeker loved the youth, assigning him a post of dignity, and all the +mighty host honoured him whom the Caliph delighted to honour. He was +clad in rich attire, and magnificently attended, and, to all eyes, +Demetrius seemed a person worthy of envy; yet, in the calm of thought, his +conscience upbraided <!-- page 290--><a name="page290"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 290</span>him, and he was far less happy than he seemed +to be.</p> +<p>Ere yet the glow of novelty had entirely ceased to bewilder the +understanding of the renegade, preparations were made for the assault; and +after a fierce but ineffectual resistance, under their gallant leaders +Thomas and Herbis, the Damascenes were obliged to submit to their imperious +conqueror, on condition of being allowed, within three days, to leave the +city unmolested.</p> +<p>When the gates were opened, Demetrius, with a heart overflowing with +love and delight, was among the first to enter. He enquired of every +one he met of the fate of Isabelle; but all turned from him with +disgust. At length he found her out, but what was his grief and +surprise—in a nunnery! Firm to the troth she had so solemnly +plighted, she had rejected the proposition of her mercenary parent; and, +having no idea but that her lover had shared the fate of all Christian +captives, she had shut herself up from the world, and vowed to live the +life of a vestal.</p> +<p>The surprise, the anguish, the horror of Isabelle, when she beheld +Demetrius in his Moslem habiliments, cannot be described. Her first +impulse, on finding him yet alive, was to have fallen into his arms; but, +instantly recollecting herself, she shrank back from him with loathing, as +a mean and paltry dastard. “No, no,” she cried, +“you are no longer the man I loved; <!-- page 291--><a +name="page291"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 291</span>our vows of fidelity +were pledged over the Bible; that book you have renounced as a fable; and +he who has proved himself false to Heaven, can never be true to +me!”</p> +<p>Demetrius was conscience-struck; too late he felt his crime, and foresaw +its consequences. The very object for whom he had dared to make the +tremendous sacrifice had deserted him, and his own soul told him with how +much justice; so, without uttering a syllable, he turned away heart-broken, +from the holy and beautiful being whose affections he had forfeited for +ever.</p> +<p>When the patriots left Damascus, Isabelle accompanied them. +Retiring to Antioch, she lived with the sisterhood for many years; and, as +her time was passed between acts of charity and devotion, her bier was +watered with many a tear, and the hands of the grateful duly strewed her +grave with flowers. To Demetrius was destined a briefer career. +All-conscious of his miserable degradation, loathing himself, and life, and +mankind, he rushed back from the city into the Mahomedan camp; and +entering, with a hurried step, the tent of the Caliph, he tore the turban +from his brow, and cried aloud—“Oh, Abubeker! behold a +God-forsaken wretch. Think not it was the fear of death that led me +to abjure my religion—the religion of my fathers—the only true +faith. No; it was the idol of Love that stood between my heart and +heaven, darkening the latter with its shadow; and had <!-- page 292--><a +name="page292"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 292</span>I remained as true to +God, as I did to the Maiden of my love, I had not needed this.” +So saying, and ere the hand of Abubeker could arrest him, he drew a poniard +from his embroidered vest, and the heart-blood of the renegade spouted on +the royal robes of the successor of Mahomet.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>So grandly had James spooted this bloody story, that notwithstanding my +sleepiness, his words whiles dirled through my marrow like quicksilver, and +set all my flesh a grueing. In the middle of it, he was himself so +worked up, that twice he pulled his Kilmarnock from his head, silk-napkin, +bandage and all, and threw them down with a thump on the table, which once +wellnigh capsized a candlestick.</p> +<p>The porter and the stabbing, also, very nearly put me beside myself; and +I felt so queerish and eerie when I took my hat to wish him a +good-night—knowing that baith Nanse and Benjie would be neither to +hold nor bind, it being now half-past ten o’clock—that, had it +not been for the shame of the thing, and that I remembered being one of the +King’s gallant volunteers, I fear I would have asked James for the +lend of his lantern, to show me down the dark close.</p> +<p>The reader will thus perceive that the adventure of the killing-coat, +stuck alike in the measurement and in the making by Tammie Bodkin, was +destined, in the great current of human events, to form a prominent <!-- +page 293--><a name="page293"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +293</span>feature, not only in my own history, but in that of worthy James +Batter. To me it might be considered as a passing breeze—having +been accustomed to see and suffer a vast deal; but my friend, I fear much, +will bear marks of it to his grave. Yet I cannot blame myself with a +safe conscience for James having fallen the victim to Cursecowl. I +had tried everything to solder up matters which the heart of man could +suggest; and knowing that it was a catastrophe which would bring down open +war and rebellion throughout the whole parish, my thoughts were all of +peace, and how to stave off the eruption of the bloody heathen. I had +thought over the thing seriously in my bed; and, reckoning plainly that +Cursecowl was not one likely soon to hold out a flag of truce, I had come +to the determination within myself to sound a parley—and offer either +to take back the coat, or refund part of the purchase-money. I may +add, that having an unbounded regard for his judgment and descretion, I +had, in my own mind, selected James Batter to be sent as the +ambassador. The same day, however, brought round the extraordinary +purchase of the Willie-goat’s head, and gave a new and unexpected +turn to the whole business.</p> +<p>Folk, moreover, should never be so over-proud as not to confess when +they are in fault; and from what happened, I am free to admit, that James, +harmless as a sucking dove, was no match in such a matter for <!-- page +294--><a name="page294"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 294</span>the like of +Cursecowl, who was a perfect incarnation, for devilry and cunning, of the +old Serpent himself.</p> +<p>My intentions, however, were good, and those of a Christian; for, had +Cursecowl accepted the ten shillings by way of blood-money, which it was +thus my intention to have offered, this fearful and bloody stramash would +have been hushed up without the world having become a whit the wiser. +But “there is many a slip,” as the proverb says, “between +the cup and the lip”; and the best intentions often fall to the +ground, like the beggarman between the two stools.</p> +<p>The final conclusion of the whole tradegy was, as it behoves me to +mention, that Cursecowl, in consideration of a month’s gratis work in +the slaughter-house, made a brotherly legacy of the coat to his nephew, +young Killim. The laddie was a perfect world’s wonder every +Sunday, and would have been laughed at out of his seven senses, had he not +at last rebelled and fairly thrown it off. I make every allowance for +the young man; and am sorry to confess that it was indeed a perfect shame +to be seen. At Dalkeith, where one is well known, anything may pass; +but I was always in bodily terror, that, had he gone to Edinburgh, he would +have been taken up by the police, on suspicion of being either a Spanish +pawtriot or a highway robber.</p> +<h2><!-- page 295--><a name="page295"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +295</span>CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE—CATCHING A PHILISTINE IN THE +COAL-HOLE</h2> +<p>Years wore on after the departure and death of poor Mungo Glen, during +the which I had a sowd of prentices, good, bad, and indifferent, and who +afterwards cut, and are cutting, a variety of figures in the world. +Sometimes I had two or three at a time; for the increase of business that +flowed in upon me with a full stream was tremendous, enabling me—who +say it that should not say it—to lay by a wheen bawbees for a sore +head, or the frailties of old age. Somehow or other, the clothes made +on my shopboard came into great vogue through all Dalkeith, both for +neatness of shape and nicety of workmanship; and the young journeymen of +other masters did not think themselves perfected, or worthy a decent wage, +till they had crooked their houghs for three months in my service. +With regard to myself, some of my acquaintances told me, that if I had gone +into Edinburgh to push my fortune, I could have cut half the trade out of +bread, and maybe risen, in the course of nature, to be Lord Provost +himself; but I just heard them speak, and kept my wheisht. I never +was overly ambitious; and I remembered how proud Nebuchadnaazer ended with +eating grass on all-fours. Every man has a right to be the best judge +of his own private matters; though, to be sure, the advice of a true friend +is often more precious than rubies, and sweeter than the Balm of +Gilead.</p> +<p><!-- page 296--><a name="page296"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +296</span>It was about the month of March, in the year of grace <i>anno +Domini</i> eighteen hundred, that the whole country trembled, like a giant +ill of the ague, under the consternation of Buonaparte, and all the French +vagabonds emigrating over, and landing in the Firth. Keep us all! the +folk, doitit bodies, put less confidence than became them in what our +volunteer regiments were able and willing to do; yet we had a remnant among +us of the true blood, that with loud laughter laughed the creatures to +scorn; and I, for one, kept up my pluck, like a true Highlander. Does +any living soul believe that Scotland—the land of the Tweed, and the +Clyde, and the Tay—could be conquered, and the like of us sold, like +Egyptian slaves, into captivity? Fie, fie—I despise such +haivers. Are we not descended, father and son, from Robert Bruce and +Sir William Wallace, having the bright blood of freemen in our veins, and +the Pentland Hills, as well as our own dear homes and firesides, to fight +for? The rascal that would not give cut-and-thrust for his country as +long as he had a breath to draw, or a leg to stand on, should be tied neck +and heels, without benefit of clergy, and thrown over Leith pier, to swim +for his life like a mangy dog!</p> +<p>Hard doubtless it is—and I freely confess it—to be called by +sound of bugle, or tuck of drum, from the counter and the +shopboard—men, that have been born and bred to peaceful callings, to +mount the red-jacket, <!-- page 297--><a name="page297"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 297</span>soap the hair, buckle on the buff-belt, load +with ball-cartridge, and screw bayonets; but it’s no use +talking. We were ever the free British; and before we would say to +Frenchmen that we were their humble servants, we would either twist the +very noses off their faces, or perish in the glorious struggle.</p> +<p>It was aye the opinion of the Political folk, the Whigs, the Black-nebs, +the Radicals, the Papists, and the Friends of the People, together with the +rest of the clan-jamphrey, that it was a done battle, and that Buonaparte +would lick us back and side. All this was in the heart and heat of +the great war, when we were struggling, like drowning men, for our very +life and existence, and when our colours—the true British +flag—were nailed to the mast-head. One would have thought these +rips were a set of prophets, they were all so busy prophesying, and never +anything good. They kent (believe them) that we were to be smote hip +and thigh; and that to oppose the vile Corsican was like men with +strait-jackets out of Bedlam. They could see nothing brewing around +them but death, and disaster, and desolation, and pillage, and national +bankruptcy—our brave Highlanders, with their heads shot off, lying on +the bloody field of battle, all slaughtered to a man; our sailors, +handcuffed and shackled, musing in a French prison on the bypast days of +Camperdown, and of Lord Rodney breaking through the line; with all their +fleets sunk to the <!-- page 298--><a name="page298"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 298</span>bottom of the salt sea, after being raked fore +and aft with chain-shot; and our timber, sugar, tea and treacle merchants, +all fleeing for safety and succour down to lodgings in the Abbey Strand, +with a yellow stocking on the ae leg and a black one on the other, like a +wheen mountebanks. Little could they foresee, with their spentacles +of prophecy, that a battle of Waterloo would ever be fought, to make the +confounded fugies draw in their horns, and steek up their scraighing gabs +for ever. Poor fushionless creatures!</p> +<p>I do not pretend to be a politician,—having been bred to the +tailoring line syne ever I was a callant, and not seeing the Adverteezer +Newspapers, or the Edinburgh Evening Courant, save and except at an orra +time,—so I shall say no more, nor pretend to be one of the +thousand-and-one wise men, able and willing to direct his Majesty’s +Ministers on all matters of importance regarding Church or State. One +thing, however, I trust I ken, and that is, my duty to my King as his loyal +subject, to old Scotland as her unworthy son, and to my family as their +prop, support, and breadwinner;—so I shall stick to all three (under +Heaven) as long as I have a drop of blood in my precious veins. But +the truth is—and I will let it out and shame the +de’il—that I could not help making these general observations +(as Maister Wiggie calls the spiritualeezing of his discourses), as what I +have to relate might well make my principles suspected, <!-- page 299--><a +name="page299"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 299</span>were they not known +to all the world to be as firm as the foundations of the Bass Rock. +Ye shall nevertheless judge for yourselves.</p> +<p>It was sometime in the blasty month of March, the weather being rawish +and rainy, with sharp frosty nights that left all the window-soles +whitewashed over with frost rind in the mornings, that as I was going out +in the dark, before lying down in my bed, to give a look into the +hen-house, and lock the coal-cellar, so that I might hang the bit key on +the nail behind our room window-shutter, I happened to give a keek in, and, +lo and behold! the awful apparition of a man with a yellow jacket, lying +sound asleep on a great lump of parrot-coal in a corner!</p> +<p>In the first hurry of my terror and surprise, at seeing a man with a +yellow jacket and a green foraging-cap in such a situation, I was like to +drop the good twopenny candle, and faint clean away; but, coming to myself +in a jiffie, I determined, in case it might be a highway robber, to thraw +about the key, and, running up for the firelock, shoot him through the head +instantly, if found necessary. In turning round the key, the lock, +being in want of a feather of oil, made a noise, and wakened the poor +wretch, who, jumping to the soles of his feet in despair, cried out in a +voice that was like to break my heart, though I could not make out one word +of his paraphernally. It minded me, by all the world, of a wheen cats +fuffing and fighting <!-- page 300--><a name="page300"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 300</span>through ither, and whiles something that +sounded like “Sugar, sugar, measure the cord,” and +“dabble dabble.” It was worse than the most outrageous +Gaelic ever spoken in the height of passion by a Hieland shearer.</p> +<p>“Oho!” thinks I, “friend, ye cannot be a Christian +from your lingo, that’s one thing poz; and I would wager tippence +you’re a Frenchy. Who kens, keep us all, but ye may be +Buonaparte himself in disguise, come over in a flat-bottomed boat to spy +the nakedness of the land. So ye may just rest content, and keep your +quarters good till the morn’s morning.”</p> +<p>It was a wonderful business, and enough to happen to a man in the course +of his lifetime, to find Mounseer from Paris in his coal-neuk, and have the +enemy of his country snug under lock and key; so, while he kept rampauging, +fuffing, stamping, and <i>diabbling</i> away, I went in and brought out +Benjie, with a blanket rowed round him, and my journeyman, Tommy +Staytape—who, being an orphan, I made a kind of parlour-boarder of, +he sleeping on a shake-down beyond the kitchen-fire—to hold a +consultation, and be witness of the transaction.</p> +<p>I got my musket, and Tommy Staytape armed himself with the goose—a +deadly weapon, whoever may get a clour with it—and Benjie took the +poker in one hand, and the tongs in the other; and out we all marched +briskly, to make the Frenchman, that <!-- page 301--><a +name="page301"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 301</span>was locked up from +the light of day in the coal-house, surrender. After hearkening at +the door for a while, and finding all quiet, we gave a knock to rouse him +up, and see if we could bring any thing out of him by speering +cross-questions. Tommy and Benjie trembled from top to toe, like +aspen leaves, but fient a word could we make common sense of at all. +I wonder who educates these foreign creatures? it was in vain to follow +him, for he just gab-gabbled away, like one of the stone masons at the +Tower of Babel. At first I was completely bamboozled, and almost dung +stupid, though I kent one word of French which I wanted to put to him, so I +cried through, “Canna you speak Scotcha, Mounseer?”</p> +<p>He had not the politeness to stop and make answer, but just went on with +his string of haivers, without either rhyme or reason, which we could make +neither top, tail, nor main of.</p> +<p>It was a sore trial to us all, putting us to our wit’s end, and +how to come on was past all visible comprehension; when Tommy Staytape, +giving his elbow a rub, said, “Od, maister, I wager something that +he’s broken loose frae Penicuik. We have him like a rotten in a +fa’.”</p> +<p>On Penicuik being mentioned, we heard the foreign creature in the +coal-house groaning out, “och,” and “ochone,” and +“parbleu,” and “Mysie Rabble,”—that I fancy +was his sweetheart at home, some bit French <!-- page 302--><a +name="page302"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 302</span>quean, that wondered +he was never like to come from the wars and marry her. I thought on +this, for his voice was mournful, though I could not understand the words; +and kenning he was a stranger in a far land, my bowels yearned within me +with compassion towards him.</p> +<p>I would have given half-a-crown at that blessed moment to have been able +to wash my hands free of him; but I swithered, and was like the cuddie +between the two bundles of hay. At long and last a thought struck me, +which was to give the deluded simple creature a chance of escape; reckoning +that, if he found his way home, he would see the shame and folly of +fighting against us any more; and, marrying Mysie Rabble, live a contented +and peaceful life, under his own fig and bay tree. So wishing him a +sound sleep, I cried through the door, “Mounseer, gooda +nighta”; decoying away Benjie and Tommy Staytape into the +house. Bidding them depart to their beds, I said to them after +shutting the door, “Now, callants, we have the precious life of a +fellow-creature in our hand, and to account for. Though he has a +yellow jacket on, and speaks nonsense, yet, nevertheless, he is of the same +flesh and blood as ourselves. Maybe we may be all obliged to wear +green foraging-caps before we die yet! Mention what we have seen or +heard to no living soul; for maybe, if he were to escape, we would be all +taken up on suspicion <!-- page 303--><a name="page303"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 303</span>of being spies, and hanged on a gallows as +high as Haman.”—After giving them this wholesome advice, I +dispatched them to their beds like lamplighters, binding them to never fash +their thumbs, but sleep like tops, as I would keep a sharp look-out till +morning.</p> +<p>As soon, howsoever, as I heard them sleeping, and playing on the pipes +through their noses, I cried first “Tommy,” and syne +“Benjie,” to be sure; and, glad to receive no answer from +either, I went to the aumrie and took out a mutton-bone, gey sair pyked, +but fleshy enough at the mouse end; and, putting a penny row beside it, +crap out to the coal-house on my tiptaes. All was quiet as +pussie,—so I shot them through the hole at the corner made for +letting the gaislings in by; and giving a tirl, cried softly through, +“Halloa, Mounseer, there’s your suppera fora youa; for I dara +saya you are yauppa.”</p> +<p>The poor chiel commenced again to grunt and grane, and groan and yelp, +and cry ochone;—and make such woful lamentations, that heart of man +could not stand it; and I found the warm tears prap-prapping to my +een. Before being put to this trial of my strength, I thought that, +if ever it was my fortune to foregather with a Frenchman, either him or me +should do or die; but, i’fegs, one should not crack so crouse before +they are put to the test; and, though I had taken a prisoner without +fighting at all—though he had come into the coal-hole of the +Philistines of his own accord <!-- page 304--><a name="page304"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 304</span>as it were, and was as safe as the spy in the +house of Rahab at Jericho—and though we had him like a mouse beneath +a firlet, snug under custody of lock and key, yet I considered within +myself, with a pitiful consideration, that, although he could not speak +well, he might yet feel deeply; that he might have a father and mother, and +sisters and brothers, in his ain country, weeping and wearying for his +return; and that his true love Mysie Rabble might pine away like a snapped +flower, and die of a broken heart.</p> +<p>Being a volunteer, and so one of his Majesty’s confidential +servants, I swithered tremendously between my duty as a man and a soldier; +but, do what you like, nature will aye be uppermost. The scale +weighed down to the side of pity. I hearkened to the scripture that +promises a blessing to the merciful in heart; and determined, come of it +what would, to let the Frenchy take his chance of falling into other +hands.</p> +<p>Having given him a due allowance by looking at my watch, and thinking he +would have had enough of time to have taken his will of the mutton-bone in +the way of pyking, I went to the press and brought out a bottle of swipes, +which I also shoved through the hole; although, for lack of a tanker, there +being none at hand, he would be obliged to lift it to his head, and do his +best. To show the creature did not want sense, he shoved, when he was +done, the empty plate and the toom bottle through beneath the door, +mumbling <!-- page 305--><a name="page305"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +305</span>some trash or other which no living creature could comprehend, +but which I dare say, from the way it was said, was the telling me how much +he was obliged for his supper and poor lodging. From my kindness +towards him, he grew more composed; but as he went back to the corner to +lie down, I heard him give two-three heavy sighs.—I could not +thole’t, mortal foe though the man was of mine; so I gave the key a +canny thraw round in the lock, as it were by chance; and, wishing him a +good-night, went to my bed beside Nanse.</p> +<p>At the dawn of day, by cock-craw, Benjie and Tommy Staytape, keen of the +ploy, were up and astir, as anxious as if their life depended on it, to see +that all was safe and snug, and that the prisoner had not shot the +lock. They agreed to march sentry over him half an hour the piece, +time about, the one stretching himself out on a stool beside the kitchen +fire, by way of a bench in the guard-house, while the other went to and fro +like the ticker of a clock. I dare say they saw themselves marching +him after breakfast time, with his yellow jacket, through a mob of weans +with glowering een and gaping mouths, up to the Tolbooth.</p> +<p>The back window being up a jink, I heard the two confabbing. +“We’ll draw cuts,” said Benjie, “which is to walk +sentry first; see, here’s two straws, the longest gets the +choice.”—“I’ve won,” cried Tommy; “so +gang you in a while, and if I need ye, or grow frightened, <!-- page +306--><a name="page306"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 306</span>I’ll +beat leather-ty-patch wi’ my buckles on the back-door. But we +had better see first what he is about, for he may be howking a hole through +aneath the foundations; thae fiefs can work like +moudiwarts.”—“I’ll slip forret,” said Benjie, +“and gie a peep.”—“Keep to a side,” cried +Tommy Staytape, “for, dog on it, Moosey’ll maybe hae a pistol; +and, if his birse be up, he would think nae mair o’ shooting ye as +dead as a red herring, than I would do of taking my breakfast.”</p> +<p>“I’ll rin past, and gie a knock at the door wi’ the +poker to rouse him up?” asked Benjie.</p> +<p>“Come away then,” answered Tommy, “and ye’ll +hear him gie a yowl, and commence gabbling like a goose.”</p> +<p>As all this was going on, I rose and took a vizzy between the chinks of +the window-shutters; so, just as I got my neb to the hole, I saw Benjie, as +he flew past, give the door a drive. His consternation, on finding it +flee half open, may be easier imagined than described; especially, as on +the door dunting to again, it being soople in the hinges, they both plainly +heard a fistling within. Neither of them ever got such a fleg since +they were born; for expecting the Frenchman to bounce out like a roaring +lion, they hurried like mad into the house, couping the creels over one +another, Tommy spraining his thumb against the back-door, and +Benjie’s foot going into Tommy’s coat-pocket, which it carried +away with it, like a cloth-sandal.</p> +<p><!-- page 307--><a name="page307"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +307</span>At the noise of this stramash, I took opportunity to come fleeing +down the stair, with the gun in my hand; in the first place, to show them I +was not frightened to handle fire-arms; and, in the second, making pretence +that I thought it was Mounseer with his green foraging-cap making an +attempt at housebreaking. Benjie was in a terrible pickle; and, +though his nose was blooding with the drive he had come against +Tommy’s teeth, he took hold of my arm like grim death, crying, +“Take tent, faither, take tent; the door is open, and the Penicuiker +hiding himself behind it. He’ll brain some of us with a lump of +coal—and will he!”</p> +<p>I jealoused at once that this was nonsense; judging that, by all means +of rationality, the creature would be off and away like lightning to the +sea-shore, and over to France in some honest man’s fishing boat, down +by at Fisherrow; but, to throw stoure in the een of the two callants, I +loaded with a wheen draps in their presence; and, warily priming the pan, +went forward with the piece at full-cock.</p> +<p>Tommy and Benjie came behind me, while, pushing the door wide open with +the muzzle, as I held my finger at the tricker, I cried, “Stand or be +shot”; when young Cursecowl’s big ugly mastiff-dog, with the +bare mutton bone in its teeth, bolted through between my legs like a fury, +and with such a force as to heel me over on the braid of my back, while I +went <!-- page 308--><a name="page308"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +308</span>a dunt on the causey that made the gun go off, and riddled +Nanse’s best washing-tub, in a manner that laid it on the +superannuated list as to the matter of holding in water. The goose +that was sitting on her eggs, among clean straw, in the inside of it, was +also rendered a lameter for life.</p> +<p>What became of the French vagrant was never seen or heard tell of, from +that day to this. Maybe he was catched, and, tied neck and heels, +hurried back to Penicuik as fast as he left it; or maybe—as one of +the Fisherrow oyster-boats was amissing next morning—he succeeded in +giving our brave fleets the slip, and rowing night and day against wind and +tide, got home in a safe skin: but this is all matter of +surmise—nobody kens.</p> +<p>On making search in the coal-house at our leisure afterwards, we found a +boxful of things with black dots on them, some with one, some with two, and +four, and six, and so on, for playing at an outlandish game they call the +dominoes. It was the handiwork of the poor French creature, that had +no other Christian employment but making these and suchlike, out of +sheep-shanks and marrow bones. I never liked gambling all my life, it +being contrary to the Ten Commandments; and mind of putting on the back of +the fire the old pack of cards, with the Jack of Trumps among them, that +the deboshed journeymen tailors, in the shop with me in the Grassmarket, +used to play birkie <!-- page 309--><a name="page309"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 309</span>with when the maister’s back was +turned. This is the first time I have acknowledged the transaction to +a living soul; had they found me out at the time, my life would not have +been worth a pinch of snuff. But as to the dominoes, considering that +the Frenchy must have left them as a token of gratitude, and as the only +payment in his power for a bit comfortable supper, it behoved me—for +so I thought—not to turn the wrong side of my face altogether on his +present, as that would be unmannerly towards a poor stranger.</p> +<p>Nevertheless, and notwithstanding all these reasons, the dominoes, after +everything that can be said of good anent them, were a black sight, and for +months and months produced a scene of riot and idleness after working +hours, that went far to render our housie that was before a picture of +decorum and decency a tabernacle of confusion and a hell upon earth. +Whenever time for stopping work came about, down we regularly all sat, +night after night, the wife, Benjie, and Tommy Staytape, and myself, +playing for a ha’penny the game, and growing as anxious, fierce, and +keen about it, as if we had been earning the bread of life. After two +or three months’ trial, I saw that it would never do, for all +subordination was fast coming to an end in our bit house, and, for lack of +looking after, a great number of small accounts for clouting elbows, +piecing waistcoats, and mending leggins, remained unpaid; a great number of +wauf customers <!-- page 310--><a name="page310"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 310</span>crowding about us, by way of giving us their +change, but with no intention of ever paying a single fraction. The +wife, that used to keep everything bein and snug, behaving herself like the +sober mother of a family, began to funk on being taken through hands, and +grew obstrapulous with her tongue. Instead of following my +directions—who was his born maister in the cutting and shaping +line—Tommy Staytape pretended to set up a judgment of his own, and +disfigured some ploughmen’s jackets in a manner most hideous to +behold; while, to crown all, even Absalom, the very callant Benjie, my only +bairn, had the impudence to contradict me more than once, and began to +think himself as clever as his father. Save us all! it was a terrible +business, but I determined, come what would, to give it the finishing +stitch.</p> +<p>Every night being worse than another, I did not wait long for an +opportunity of letting the whole of them ken my mind, and that, whenever I +chose, I could make them wheel to the right about. So it chanced, as +we were playing, that I was in prime luck, first rooking the one and syne +the other, and I saw them twisting and screwing their mouths about as if +they were chewing bitter aloes. Finding that they were on the point +of being beaten roop and stoop, they all three rose up from the chairs, +crying with one voice, that I was a cheat.—An elder of Maister +Wiggie’s kirk to be called a cheat! Most awful!!! Flesh +and blood could <!-- page 311--><a name="page311"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 311</span>not stand it, more especially when I thought +on who had dared to presume to call me such; so, in a whirlwind of fury, I +swept up two nievefuls of dominoes off the table, and made them flee into +the bleezing fire; where, after fizzing and cracking like a wheen squeebs, +the whole tot, except about half-a-dozen which fell into the porritch-pot, +which was on boiling at the time, were reduced to a heap of grey +aizles. I soon showed them who was the top of the tree, and what they +were likely to make of undutiful rebellion.</p> +<p>So much for a Mounseer’s legacy; being in a kind of doubt whether, +according to the Riot Act and the Articles of War, I had a clear conscience +in letting him away, I could not expect that any favour granted at his +hands was likely to prosper. In fighting, it is well kent to +themselves and all the world, that they have no earthly chance with us; so +they are reduced to the necessity of doing what they can, by coming to our +firesides in sheep’s clothing, and throwing ram-pushion among the +family broth. They had better take care that they do not get their +fingers scadded.</p> +<p>Having given the dominoes their due, and washed my hands free of +gambling I trust for evermore, I turned myself to a better business, which +was the going, leaf by leaf, back through our bit day-book, where I found a +tremendous sowd of wee outstanding debts. I daresay, not to tell a +lee, there were fifty of them, from a shilling to eighteenpence, and so on; +but small <!-- page 312--><a name="page312"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +312</span>and small, reckoned up by simple addition, amount to a round sum; +while, to add to the misery of the matter, I found we were entangling +ourselves to work to a wheen ugly customers, skemps that had not +wherewithal to pay lawful debts, and downright rascal-raggamuffins, and +ne’er-do-weels. According to the articles of indenture drawn up +between me and Tommy Staytape, by Rory Sneckdrawer the penny-writer, when +he was bound a prentice to me for seven years, I had engaged myself to +bring him up to be a man of business. Though now a journeyman, I +reckoned the obligation still binding; so, tying up two dockets of accounts +with a piece of twine, I gave one parcel to Tommy, and the other to Benjie, +telling them by way of encouragement, that I would give them a penny the +pound for what silver they could bring me in by hook or crook.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p312b.jpg"> +<img alt="An old Dalkeith body" src="images/p312s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>After three days’ toil and trouble, wherein they mostly wore their +shoon off their feet, going first up one close and syne down another, up +trap-stairs to garrets and ben long trances that led into dirty +holes—what think ye did they collect? Not one bodle—not +one coin of copper! This one was out of work;—and that one had +his house-rent to pay;—and a third one had an income in his +nose;—and a fourth was bedridden with rheumatics;—and a fifth +one’s mother’s auntie’s cousin was dead;—and a +sixth one’s good-brother’s nevoy was going to be married come +Martymas;—<!-- page 313--><a name="page313"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 313</span>and a seventh one was away to the back of +beyond to see his granny in the Hielands;—and so on. It was a +terrible business, but what wool can ye get by clipping swine?</p> +<p>The only rational answers I got were two; one of them, Geggie Trotter, a +natural simpleton, told Tommy Staytape, “that, for part-payment, he +would give me a prime leg of mutton, as he had killed his sow last +week.”—And what, said I to Benjie, did Jacob Truff the +gravedigger tell ye by way of news? “He just bad me tell ye, +faither, that hoo could ye expect he cou’d gie ye onything till the +times grew better; as he hadna buried a living soul in the kirkyard for +mair nor a fortnight.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 314--><a name="page314"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +314</span>CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX—ANENT BENJIE IN HIS THIRTEENTH YEAR</h2> +<p>It is a most wonderful thing to the eye of a philosopher, to make +observation how youth gets up, notwithstanding all the dunts and tumbles of +infancy—to say nothing of the spaining-brash and the teeth-cutting; +and to behold the visible changes that the course of a few years +produces. Keep us all! it seemed but yesterday to me, when Benjie, a +wee bit smout of a wean, with long linty locks and docked petticoats, +toddled but and ben, with a coral gumstick tied round his waist with a bit +knitten; and now, after he had been at Dominie Threshem’s for four +years, he had learned to read Barrie’s Collection almost as well as +the master could do for his lugs; and was up to all manner of accounts, +from simple addition and the multiplication-table, even to vulgar +fractions, and all the lave of them.</p> +<p>At the yearly examination of the school-room by the Presbytery and +Maister Wiggie, he aye sat at the head of the form, and never failed +getting a clap on the head and a wheen carvies. They that are fathers +will not wonder that this made me as proud as a peacock; but when they +asked his name, and found whose son he was, then the matter seemed to cease +being a business of wonder, as nobody could suppose that an only bairn, +born to me in lawful wedlock, could be a dult. Folk’s +cleverness—at least I should think so—lies in their pows; and, +that allowed, <!-- page 315--><a name="page315"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 315</span>Benjie’s was a gey droll one, being of +the most remarkable sort of a shape ye ever saw; but, what is more to the +purpose both here and hereafter, he was a real good-hearted callant, though +as gleg as a hawk and as sharp as a needle. Everybody that had the +smallest gumption prophesied that he would be a real clever one; nor could +we grudge that we took pains in his rearing—he having been like a +sucking-turkey, or a hot-house plant from far away, delicate in the +constitution—when we saw that the debt was likely to be paid with +bank-interest, and that, by his uncommon cleverality, the callant was to be +a credit to our family.</p> +<p>Many and long were the debates between his fond mother and me, what +trade we would breed him up to—for the matter now became serious, +Benjie being in his thirteenth year; and, though a wee bowed in the near +leg, from a suppleness about his knee-joint, nevertheless as active as a +hatter, and fit for any calling whatsoever under the sun. One thing I +had determined in my own mind, and that was, that he should never with my +will go abroad. The gentry are no doubt philosophers enough to bring +up their bairns like sheep to the slaughter, and dispatch them as cadies to +Bengal and the Cape of Good Hope, as soon as they are grown up; when, lo +and behold! the first news they hear of them is in a letter, sealed with +black wax, telling how they died of the liver <!-- page 316--><a +name="page316"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 316</span>complaint, and were +buried by six blacks two hours after.</p> +<p>That was one thing settled and sealed, so no more need be said about it; +yet, notwithstanding of Nanse’s being satisfied that the spaewife was +a deceitful gipsy, perfectly untrustworthy, she would aye have a finger in +the pie, and try to persuade me in a coaxing way. “I’m +sure,” she would say, “ane with half an e’e may see that +our son Benjie has just the physog of an admiral. It’s a great +shame contradicting nature.”</p> +<p>“Po, po,” answered I, “woman, ye dinna ken what +ye’re saying. Do ye imagine that, if he were made a +sea-admiral, we could ever live to have any comfort in the son of our +bosom? Would he not, think ye, be obliged with his ship to sail the +salt seas, through foul weather and fair; and, when he met the French, to +fight, hack, and hew them down, lith and limb, with grape-shot and cutlass; +till some unfortunate day or other, after having lost a leg and an arm in +the service, he is felled as dead as a door-nail, with a cut and thrust +over the crown, by some furious rascal that saw he was off his guard, +glowring with his blind e’e another way?—Ye speak havers, +Nanse; what are all the honours of this world worth? No worth this +pinch of snuff I have between my finger and thumb, no worth a bodle, if we +never saw our Benjie again, but he was aye ranging and rampauging far +abroad, shedding human blood; and when we could only aye dream about him +<!-- page 317--><a name="page317"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 317</span>in +our sleep, as one that was wandering night and day blindfold, down the +long, dark, lampless avenue of destruction, and destined never more to +visit Dalkeith again, except with a wooden stump and a brass virl, or to +have his head blown off his shoulders, mast high, like ingan peelings, with +some exploding earthquake of combustible gunpowder.—Call in the +laddie, I say, and see what he would like to be himsell.”</p> +<p>Nanse ran but the house, and straightway brought Benjie, who was playing +at the bools, ben by the lug and horn. I had got a glass, so my +spirit was up. “Stand there,” I said; “Benjie, look +me in the face, and tell me what trade ye would like to be.”</p> +<p>“Trade?” answered Benjie; “I would like to be a +gentleman.”</p> +<p>Dog on it, it was more than I could thole, and I saw that his mother had +spoiled him; so, though I aye liked to give him wholesome reproof rather +than lift my fist, I broke through this rule in a couple of hurries, and +gave him such a yerk in the cheek with the loof of my hand, as made, I am +sure, his lugs ring, and sent him dozing to the door like a peerie.</p> +<p>“Ye see that,” said I, as the laddie went ben the house +whingeing; “ye see what a kettle of fish ye have made +o’t?”</p> +<p>“Weel, weel,” answered Nanse, a wee startled by my strong, +decisive way of managing, “ye ken best, and, I fancy, maun tak’ +the matter your ain way. But <!-- page 318--><a +name="page318"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 318</span>ye can have no +earthly objection to making him a lawyer’s advocatt?”</p> +<p>“I wad see him hanged first,” answered I. “What! +do you imagine I would set a son of mine to be a sherry-offisher, ganging +about rampauging through the country, taking up fiefs and robbers, and +suspicious characters, with wauf looks and waur claes; exposed to all +manner of evil communication from bad company, in the way of business; and +rouping out puir creatures that cannot find wherewithal to pay their lawful +debts, at the Cross, by warrant of the Sherry, with an auld chair in ae +hand and a eevery hammer in the ither? Siccan a sight wad be the +death o’ me.”</p> +<p>“What think ye then of the preaching line?” asked Nanse.</p> +<p>“The preaching line!” quo’ I—“No, no, +that’ll never do. Not that I want respect for ministers, who +are the servants of the Most High; but the truth is, that unless ye have +great friends and patronage of the like of the Duke down by, or Marquis of +Lothian up by, or suchlike, ye may preach yoursell as hoarse as a corbie, +from June to January, before onybody will say, ‘Hae, puir man, +there’s a kirk.’ And if no kirk casts up—which is +more nor likely—what can a young probationer turn his hand to? +He had learned no trade, so he can neither work nor want. He daurna +dig nor delve, even, though he were able, or he would be hauled by the cuff +of the neck before his betters in the General Assembly, <!-- page 319--><a +name="page319"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 319</span>for having the +impudence to go for to be so bold as dishonour the cloth; and though he may +get his bit orra half-a-guinea whiles, for holding forth in some bit +country kirk, to a wheen shepherds and their dogs, when the minister +himself, staring with the fat of good living and little work, is lying ill +of a bile fever, or has the gout in his muckle toe, yet he has aye the +miseries of uncertainty to encounter; his coat grows bare in the cuffs, +greasy in the neck, and brown between the shouthers; his jawbones get long +and lank, his een sunk, and his head grey wi’ vexation, and what the +wise Solomon calls ‘hope deferred’; so at long and last, +friendless and penniless, he takes the incurable complaint of a broken +heart, and is buried out of the gate, in some bit strange corner of the +kirkyard.”</p> +<p>“Stop, stop, gudeman,” cried Nanse, half greeting, +“that’s an awfu’ business; but I daresay it’s owre +true. But mightna we breed him a doctor? It seems they have +unco profits; and, as he’s sae clever, he might come to be a +graduit.”</p> +<p>“Doctor!” answered I—“Keh, keh, let that flee +stick i’ the wa’; it’s a’ ye ken about it. If +ye was only aware of what doctors had to do and see, between dwining weans +and crying wives, ye would have thought twice before ye let that out. +How de ye think our callant has a heart within him to look at folk blooding +like sheep, or to sew up cutted throats with a silver needle and silk +thread, as I would stitch <!-- page 320--><a name="page320"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 320</span>a pair of trowsers; or to trepan out pieces of +coloured skulls, filling up the hole with an iron plate; and pull teeth, +maybe the only ones left, out of auld women’s heads, and so on, to +say nothing of rampauging with dark lanterns and double-tweel dreadnoughts, +about gousty kirkyards, among humlock and long nettles, the haill night +over, like spunkie—shoving the dead corpses, winding-sheets and all, +into corn-sacks, and boiling their bones, after they have dissected all the +red flesh off them, into a big caudron, to get out the marrow to make drogs +of?”</p> +<p>“Eh, stop, stop, Mansie!” cried Nanse holding up her +hands.</p> +<p>“Na,” continued I, “but it’s a true +bill—it’s as true as ye are sitting there. And do ye +think that any earthly compensation, either gowpins of gowd by way of fees, +or yellow chariots to ride in, with a black servant sticking up behind, +like a sign over a tobacconist’s door, can ever make up for the loss +of a man’s having all his feelings seared to iron, and his soul made +into whinstone, yea, into the nether-millstone, by being art and part in +sic dark and devilish abominations? Go away wi’ siccan +downright nonsense. Hearken, to my words, Nanse, my dear. The +happiest man is he that can live quietly and soberly on the earnings of his +industry, pays his day and way, works not only to win the bread of life for +his wife and weans, but because he kens that idle-set is sinful; keeps a +<!-- page 321--><a name="page321"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +321</span>pure heart towards God and man; and, caring not for the fashion +of this world, departs from it in the hope of going, through the merits of +his Redeemer, to a better.”</p> +<p>“Ye are right, after a’,” said Nanse, giving me a pat +on the shouther; and finding who was her master as well as +spouse—“I’ll wad it become me to gang for to gie advice +to my betters. Tak’ your will of the business, gudeman; and if +ye dinna mak’ him an admiral, just mak’ him what ye +like.”</p> +<p>Now is the time, thought I to myself, to carry out my point, finding the +drappikie I had taken with Donald M’Naughton, in settling his account +for the green jacket, still working in my noddle, and giving me a power of +words equal to Mr Blouster, the Cameronian preacher,—now is the time, +for I still saw the unleavened pride of womankind wambling within her like +a serpent that has got a knock on the pow, and been cast down but not +destroyed; so taking a hearty snuff out of my box, and drawing it up first +one nostril, then another, syne dighting my finger and thumb on my +breek-knees, “What think ye,” said I, “of a sweep? +Were it not for getting their faces blacked like savages, a sweep is not +such a bad trade after a’; though, to be sure, going down lums six +stories high, head-foremost, and landing upon the soles of their feet upon +the hearth-stone, like a kittlin, is no just so pleasant.” Ye +observe, it was only to <!-- page 322--><a name="page322"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 322</span>throw cold wayter on the unthrifty flame of a +mother’s pride that I said this, and to pull down uppishness from its +heathenish temple in the heart, head-foremost. So I looked to her, to +hear how she would come on.</p> +<p>“Haivers, haivers,” said Nanse, birsing up like a cat before +a cooley. “Sweep, say ye? I would sooner send him up +wi’ Lunardi to the man of the moon; or see him banished, shackled +neck and heels, to Botany Bay.”</p> +<p>“A weel, a weel,” answered I, “what notion have ye of +the packman line? We could fill his box with needles, and prins, and +tape, and hanks of worsted, and penny thimbles, at a small expense; and, +putting a stick in his hand, send him abroad into the wide world to push +his fortune.”</p> +<p>The wife looked dumfoundered. Howsoever—“Or breed him +a rowley-powley man,” continued I, “to trail about the country +frequenting fairs; and dozing thro’ the streets selling penny cakes +to weans, out of a basket slung round the neck with a leather strap; and +parliaments, and quality, brown and white, and snaps well peppered, and +gingerbread nits, and so on. The trade is no a bad ane, if creatures +would only learn to be careful.”</p> +<p>“Mansie Wauch, Mansie Wauch, hae ye gane out o’ yere +wuts?” cried Nanse—“are ye really serious?”</p> +<p>I saw what I was about, so went on without pretending <!-- page 323--><a +name="page323"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 323</span>to mind her. +“Or what say ye to a penny-pie-man? I’fegs, it’s a +cozy birth, and ane that gars the cappers birl down. What’s the +expense of a bit daigh, half an ounce weight, pirled round wi’ the +knuckles into a case, and filled half full o’ salt and water, +wi’ twa or three nips o’ braxy floating about in’t? +Just naething ava;—and consider on a winter night, when iceshackles +are hinging from the tiles, and stomachs relish what is warm and tasty, +what a sale they can get, if they go about jingling their little bell, and +keep the genuine article. Then ye ken in the afternoon, he can show +that he has two strings to his bow; and have a wheen cookies, either new +baked for ladies’ teaparties, or the yesterday’s auld +shopkeepers’ het up i’ the oven again—which is all to ae +purpose.”</p> +<p>“Are ye really in your seven natural senses—or can I believe +my ain een? I could almost believe some warlock had thrown glamour +into them,” said Nanse staring me broad in the face.</p> +<p>“Take a good look, gudewife, for seeing’s believing,” +quo’ I; and then continued, without drawing breath or bridle, at full +birr—</p> +<p>“Or if the baking line does not please ye, what say ye to binding +him regularly to a man-cook? There he’ll see life in all its +variorums. Losh keep us a’, what an insight into the secrets of +roasting, brandering, frying, boiling, baking, and brewing—nicking of +<!-- page 324--><a name="page324"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +324</span>geese’s craigs—hacking the necks of dead chickens, +and cutting out the tongues of leeving turkeys! Then what a steaming +o’ fat soup in the nostrils; and siccan a collection o’ fine +smells, as would persuade a man that he could fill his stomach through his +nose! No weather can reach such cattle: it may be a storm of snow +twenty feet deep, or an even-down pour of rain, washing the very cats off +the house tops; when a weaver is shivering at his loom, with not a drop of +blood at his finger nails, and a tailor like myself, so numb with cauld, +that instead of driving the needle through the claith, he brogs it through +his ain thumb—then, fient a hair care they; but, standing beside a +ranting, roaring, parrot-coal fire, in a white apron and gingham jacket, +they pour sauce out of ae pan into another, to suit the taste of my Lord +this, and my Lady that, turning, by their legerdemain, fish into fowl, and +fowl into flesh; till, in the long run, man, woman, and wean, a’ chew +and champ away, without kenning more what they are eating than ye ken the +day ye’ll dee, or whether the Witch of Endor wore a demity falderal, +or a manco petticoat.”</p> +<p>“Weel,” cried Nanse, half rising to go ben the house, +“I’ll sit nae langer to hear ye gabbling nonsense like a +magpie. Mak’ Benjie what ye like; but ye’ll mak’ me +greet the een out o’ my head.”</p> +<p>“Hooly and fairly,” said I; “Nanse, sit still like a +woman, and hear me out;” so, giving her a pat on the <!-- page +325--><a name="page325"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 325</span>shouther, +she sat her ways down, and I resumed my discourse.</p> +<p>“Ye’ve heard, gudewife, from Benjie’s own mouth, that +he has made up his mind to follow out the trade of a gentleman;—who +has put such outrageous notions in his head I’m sure I’ll not +pretend to guess at. Having never myself been above daily bread, and +constant work—when I could get it—I dare not presume to speak +from experience: but this I can say, from having some acquaintances in the +line, that, of all easy lives, commend me to that of a gentleman’s +gentleman. It’s true he’s caa’d a flunky, which +does not sound quite the thing; but what of that? what’s in a name? +pugh! it does not signify a bawbee—no, nor that pinch of snuff: for, +if we descend to particulars, we’re all flunkies together, except his +Majesty on the throne.—Then William Pitt is his flunky—and half +the house of Commons are his flunkies, doing what he bids them, right or +wrong, and no daring to disobey orders, not for the hair in their +heads—then the Earl waits on my Lord Duke—Sir Something waits +on my Lord Somebody—and his tenant, Mr So-and-so, waits on +him—and Mr So-and-so has his butler—and the butler has his +flunky—and the shoeblack brushes the flunky’s jacket—and +so on. We all hang at one another’s tails like a rope of +ingans—so ye observe, that any such objection in the sight of a +philosopher like our Benjie, would not weigh a straw’s weight.</p> +<p><!-- page 326--><a name="page326"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +326</span>“Then consider, for a moment—just consider, +gudewife—what company a flunky is every day taken up with, standing +behind the chairs, and helping to clean plates and porter; and the manners +he cannot help learning, if he is in the smallest gleg in the uptake, so +that, when out of livery, it is the toss up of a halfpenny whether ye find +out the difference between the man and the master. He learns, in +fact, everything. He learns French—he learns dancing in all its +branches—he learns how to give boots the finishing polish—he +learns how to play at cards, as if he had been born and bred an +Earl—he learns, from pouring the bottles, the names of every wine +brewed abroad—he learns how to brush a coat, so that, after six +months’ tear and wear, one without spectacles would imagine it had +only gotten the finishing stitch on the Saturday night before; and he +learns to play on the flute, and the spinnet, and the piano, and the +fiddle, and the bagpipes; and to sing all manner of songs, and to skirl, +full gallop, with such a pith and birr, that though he was to lose his +precious eyesight with the small-pox, or a flash of forked lightning, or +fall down a three-story stair dead drunk, smash his legs to such a degree +that both of them required to be cut off, above the knees, half an hour +after, so far all right and well—for he could just tear off his +shoulder-knot, and make a perfect fortune—in the one case, in being +led from door to door by a ragged laddie, with a string at the button-hole, +playing <!-- page 327--><a name="page327"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +327</span>‘Ower the Border,’ ‘The Hen’s +March,’ ‘Donald M’Donald,’ ‘Jenny +Nettles,’ and such like grand tunes, on the clarinet; or, in the +other case, being drawn from town to town, and from door to door, on a +hurdle, like a lord, harnessed to four dogs of all colours, at the rate of +two miles in the hour, exclusive of stoppages.—What say ye, +gudewife?”</p> +<p>Nanse gave a mournful look, as if she was frighted I had grown demented, +and only said, “Tak’ your ain way, gudeman; ye’se get +your ain way for me, I fancy.”</p> +<p>Seeing her in this Christian state of resignation, I determined at once +to hit the nail on the head, and put an end to the whole business as I +intended. “Now, Nanse,” quo’ I, “to come to +close quarters with ye, tell me candidly and seriously what ye think of a +barber? Every one must allow it’s a canny and cozy +trade.”</p> +<p>“A barber that shaves beards!” said Nanse. +“’Od Mansie, ye’re surely gaun gyte. Ye’re +surely joking me all the time?”</p> +<p>“Joking!” answered I, smoothing down my chin, which was gey +an’ rough—“Joking here or joking there, I should not +think the settling of an only bairn in an honourable way of doing for all +the days of his natural life, is any joking business. Ye dinna ken +what ye’re saying, woman. Barbers! i’fegs, to turn up +your nose at barbers! did ever living hear such nonsense! But to be +sure, one can blame nobody if <!-- page 328--><a name="page328"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 328</span>they speak to the best of their +experience. I’ve heard tell of barbers, woman, about London, +that rode up this street, and down that other street, in coaches and four, +jumping out to every one that halooed to them, sharping razors both on +stone and strap, at the ransome of a penny the pair; and shaving off +men’s beards, whiskers and all, stoop and roop, for a +three-ha’pence. Speak of barbers! it’s all ye ken about +it. Commend me to a safe employment, and a profitable. They may +give others a nick, and draw blood, but catch them hurting +themselves. They are not exposed to colds and rheumatics, from east +winds and rainy weather; for they sit, in white aprons, plaiting hair into +wigs for auld folks that have bell-pows, or making false curls for ladies +that would fain like to look smart in the course of nature. And then +they go from house to house, like gentlemen in the morning; cracking with +Maister this or Madam that, as they soap their chins with scented-soap, or +put their hair up in marching order either for kirk or playhouse. +Then at their leisure, when they’re not thrang at home, they can pare +corns to the gentry, or give ploughmen’s heads the bicker-cut for a +penny, and the hair into the bargain for stuffing chairs with; and between +us, who knows—many rottener ship has come to land—but that some +genty Miss, fond of plays, poems, and novels, may fancy our Benjie when he +is giving her red hair a twist with the torturing irons, and run away with +<!-- page 329--><a name="page329"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +329</span>him, almost whether he will or not, in a stound of unbearable +love!”</p> +<p>Here making an end of my discourse, and halting to draw breath, I looked +Nanse broad in the face, as much as to say, “Contradict me if ye +daur,” and, “What think ye of that now?”—The man is +not worth his lugs, that allows his wife to be maister; and being by all +laws, divine and human, the head of the house, I aye made a rule of keeping +my putt good. To be candid, howsoever, I must take leave to confess, +that Nanse, being a reasonable woman, gave me but few opportunities of +exerting my authority in this way. As in other matters, she soon +came, on reflection, to see the propriety of what I had been saying and +setting forth. Besides, she had such a motherly affection towards our +bit callant, that sending him abroad would have been the death of her.</p> +<p>To be sure, since these days—which, alas, and woe’s me! are +not yesterday now, as my grey hair and wrinkled brow but too visibly remind +me—such ups and downs have taken place in the commercial world, that +the barber line has been clipped of its profits and shaved close, from a +patriotic competition among its members, like all the rest. Among +other things, hair-powder, which was used from the sweep on the lum-head to +the king on the throne, is only now in fashion with the Lords of Session +and valy-deshambles; and pig-tails have been cut off from the face of the +earth, <!-- page 330--><a name="page330"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +330</span>root and branch. Nevertheless, as I have taken occasion to +make observation, the foundations of the cutting and shaving line are as +sure as that of the everlasting rocks; beards being likely to roughen, and +heads to require polling, as long as wood grows and water runs.</p> +<h2><!-- page 331--><a name="page331"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +331</span>CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN—“PUGGIE, PUGGIE”—A +STORY WITHOUT A TAIL</h2> +<p>The welfare of the human race and the improvement of society being my +chief aim, in this record of my sayings and doings through the pilgrimage +of life, I make bold at the instigation of Nanse, my worthy wife, to record +in black and white a remarkably curious thing, to which I was an +eye-witness in the course of nature. I have little reluctance to +consent, not only because the affair was not a little striking in +itself—as the reader will soon see—but because, like +Æsop’s Fables, it bears a good moral at the end of it.</p> +<p>Many a time have I thought of the business alluded to, which happened to +take place in our fore-shop one bonny summer afternoon, when I was selling +a coallier wife, from the Marquis of Lothian’s upper hill, a yard of +serge at our counter-side. At the time she came in, although busied +in reading an account of one of Buonaparte’s battles in the Courant +newspaper, I observed at her foot a bonny wee doggie, with a bushy black +tail, of the dancing breed—that could sit on its hind-legs like a +squirrel, cast biscuit from its nose, and play a thousand other most +diverting tricks. Well, as I was saying, I saw the woman had a pride +in the bit creature—it was just a curiosity like—and had +belonged to a neighbour’s son that volunteered out of the +Berwickshire militia (the Birses, as they were called), into a regiment +that was draughted away into Egypt, Malta, or the East Indies, I +believe—so, <!-- page 332--><a name="page332"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 332</span>it seems, the lad’s father and mother +thought much more about it, for the sake of him that was off and +away—being to their fond eyes a remembrancer, and to their parental +hearts a sort of living keepsake.</p> +<p>After bargaining about the serge—and taking two or three other +things, such as a leather-cap edged with rabbit-fur for her little +nevoy—a dozen of plated buttons for her goodman’s new +waistcoat, which was making up at Bonnyrig by Nicky Sharpshears, my old +apprentice—and a spotted silk napkin for her own Sunday neck +wear—I tied up the soft articles with grey paper and skinie, and was +handing over the odd bawbees of change, when, just as she was lifting the +leather-cap from the counter, she said with a terrible face, looking down +to the ground as if she was short sighted, “Pity me! what’s +that”?</p> +<p>I could not imagine, gleg as I generally am, what had happened; so came +round about the far end of the counter, with my spectacles on, to see what +it was, when, lo and behold! I perceived a dribbling of blood all +along the clean sanded floor, up and down, as if somebody had been walking +about with a cut finger; but, after looking around us for a little, we soon +found out the thief—and that we did.</p> +<p>The bit doggie was sitting cowering and shivering, and pressing its back +against the counter, giving every now and then a mournful whine, so we +plainly saw that everything was not right. On the which, the wife, +<!-- page 333--><a name="page333"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +333</span>slipping a little back, snapped her finger and thumb before its +nose, and cried out—“Hiskie, poor fellow!” but +no—it would not do. She then tried it by its own name, and bade +it rise, saying, “Puggie, Puggie!” when—would ever mortal +man of woman born believe it?—its bit black, bushy, curly tail, was +off by the rump—docked and away, as if it had been for a wager.</p> +<p>“Eh, megstie!” cried the woman, laying down the leather-cap +and the tied-up parcel, and holding out both her hands in +astonishment. “Eh, my goodness, what’s come o’ the +brute’s tail? Lovyding! just see, it’s clean gane! +Losh keep me! that’s awfu’! Div ye keep rotten-fa’s +about your premises, Maister Wauch? See, a bonny business as ever +happened in the days of ane’s lifetime!”</p> +<p>As a furnishing tailor, as a Christian, and as an inhabitant of +Dalkeith, my corruption was raised—was up like a flash of lightning, +or a cat’s back. Such doings in an enlightened age and a +civilized country!—in a town where we have three kirks, a grammar +school, a subscription library, a ladies’ benevolent society, a +mechanics’ institution, and a debating club! My heart burned +within me like dry tow; and I could mostly have jumped up to the ceiling +with vexation and anger—seeing as plain as a pikestaff, though the +simple woman did not, that it was the handiwork of none other than our +neighbour Reuben Cursecowl, the butcher. Dog on it, it was too +bad—it was a rascally transaction; <!-- page 334--><a +name="page334"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 334</span>so, come of it what +would, I could not find it in my heart to screen him. +“I’ll wager, however,” said I, in a kind of off-hand way, +not wishing exactly, ye observe, to be seen in the business, “that it +will have been running away with beef-steaks, mutton-chops, sheep feet, or +something else out of the booth; and some of his prentice laddies may have +come across its hind-quarters accidentally with the cleaver.”</p> +<p>“Mistake here, or mistake there,” said the woman, her face +growing as red as the sleeve of a soldier’s jacket, and her two eyes +burning like live coals—“’Od the butcher, but I’ll +butcher him, the nasty, ugly, ill-faured vagabond; the thief-like, cruel, +malicious, ill-hearted, down-looking blackguard! He would go for to +offer for to presume for to dare to lay hands on an honest man’s +son’s doug! It sets him weel, the bloodthirsty Gehazi, the +halinshaker ne’er-do-weel! I’ll gie him sic a redding up +as he never had since the day his mother boor him!” Then +looting down to the poor bit beast, that was bleeding like a +sheep—“Ay, Puggie, man,” she said in a doleful voice, +“they’ve made ye an unco fright; but I’ll gie them up +their fit for’t; I’ll show them, in a couple of hurries, that +they have catched a Tartar!”—and with that out went the woman, +paper-parcel, leather-cap and all, randying like a tinkler from Yetholm; +the wee wretchie cowering behind her, with the mouse-wabs sticking on the +place I had put them to stop the bleeding; and looking, by all the <!-- +page 335--><a name="page335"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 335</span>world, +like a sight I once saw, when I was a boy, on a visit to my father’s +half-cousin, Aunt Heatherwig, on the Castle-hill of Edinburgh—to wit, +a thief going down Leith Walk, on his road to be shipped for transportation +to Botany Bay, after having been pelted for a couple of hours with rotten +eggs in the pillory.</p> +<p>Knowing the nature of the parties concerned, and that intimately on both +sides, I jealoused directly that there would be a stramash; so not liking, +for sundry reasons, to have my nebseen in the business, I shut to the door, +and drew the long bolt; while I hastened ben to the room, and, softly +pulling up a jink of the window clapped the side of my head to it; that, +unobserved, I might have an opportunity of overhearing the conversation +between Reuben Cursecowl and the coallier wife; which, weel-a-wat, was +likely to become public property.</p> +<p>“Hollo! you man, de ye ken onything about that?” cried the +randy woman;—but wait a moment, till I give a skiff of description of +our neighbour Reuben.</p> +<p>By this time—it was ten years after James Batter’s +tragedy—Mr Cursecowl was an oldish man—he is gathered to his +fathers now—and was considerably past his best, as his wife, douce, +honest woman, used to observe. His dress was a little in the Pagan +style, and rendered him kenspeckle to the eye of observation. Instead +of a hat, he generally wore a long red Kilmarnock nightcap, with a cherry +on the top of it, <!-- page 336--><a name="page336"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 336</span>through foul weather and fair; and having a +kind of trot in his walk, from a bink forward in his knees, it dang-dangled +behind him, like the cap of Mr Merry-man with the painted face, the +showfolk’s fool. On the afternoon alluded to, he was in full +killing-dress, having on an auld blue short coatie, once long, but now +docked in the tails, so that the pocket-flaps and hainch buttons were not +above three inches from the place where his wife had snibbed it across by; +and, from long use in his blood-thirsty occupation, his sleeves flashed in +the daylight as if they had been double japanned. Tied round his +beer-barrel-like waist was a stripped apron, blue and white; and at his +left side hung a bloody gaping leather pouch, as if he had been an +Israelite returned from the slaughter of the Philistines, filled with +steels and knives, straight and crooked, that had done ample execution in +their day I’ll warrant them. Up his thighs were rolled his +coarse rig-and-fur stockings, as if it were to gird him for the battle, and +his feet were slipped into a pair of bauchles—that is, the under part +of auld boots cut from the legs. As to his face, lo, and behold! the +moon shining in the Nor-west—yea, the sun blazing in his +glory—had not a more crimson aspect than Reuben. Like the +pig-eyed Chinese folk on tea-cups, his peepers were diminutive and +twinkling; but his nose made up for them—and that it did—being +portly in all its dimensions broad and long, as to colour, liker a radish +<!-- page 337--><a name="page337"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +337</span>than any other production in nature. In short, he was as +bonny a figure as ever man of woman born clapped eye on; and was cleaving +away most devoutly, at a side of black-faced mutton, when the woman, as I +said before, cried out, “Hollo! you man, do ye ken onything about +that?” pointing to the dumb animal that crawled and crouched behind +her.</p> +<p>“Aweel, what o’t?” cried Cursecowl, still hacking and +cleaving away at the meat.</p> +<p>“What o’t? i’ faith, billy, that’s a gude +ane,” answered the wife. “But ye’ll no get aff that +way; catch me, my man. My name’s no Jenny Mathieson an I haena +ye afore your betters. I’ll learn ye what soommenses +are.”</p> +<p>Looking at her with a look of lightning for a couple of +seconds—“Aff wi’ ye, gin you’re wise,” +quo’ Cursecowl, still cleaving away—“or I’ll maybe +bring ye in for the sheep’s-head it was trying to make off with its +teeth. Do ye understand that?” And he gave a girn, that +stretched his mouth from ear to ear.</p> +<p>This was too much for the subterranean daughter of Eve; it was like +putting a red-hot poker among the coals of her own pit. “Oh, ye +incarnate cannibal!” she bawled out, doubling her nieve, and shaking +it in Reuben’s face; “if ye have a conscience at a’, +think black-burning shame o’ yoursell! Just look, ye bluidy +salvage; just take a look there, my bonny man, o’ your handiwark +now. Isn’t that very pretty?”—“Aff <!-- page +338--><a name="page338"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 338</span>wi’ +ye,” continued Cursecowl, still cleaving away with the chopping-axe, +and muttering a volley of curses through the knife, which he held between +his teeth—“Aff wi’ ye; and keep a calm sough.”</p> +<p>“The dog’s no mine, or I wadna have cared sae muckle. +Siccan a like beast! Siccan a fright to be seen!!! +I’faith I think shame to tak’ it hame again!! Ay, man, +ye’re a pretty fellow! Ye’ve run fast when the noses were +dealing; ye’re a bonny man to hack off the poor dumb animal’s +tail. If it had been a Christian like yoursell, it wad have mattered +less—but a puir bit dumb harmless animal!”</p> +<p>“Aff wi’ ye there, and nane o’ your chatter,” +thundered Reuben, stopping in his cleaving, and turning the side of his red +face round to the woman. “Flee—vanish—and be cursed +to ye—baith you and your doug thegither, ye infernal limmer! +It’s well for’t, luckie, it was not his head instead of its +tail. Ye had better steik your gab—cut your stick—and +pack off, gin ye be wise.”</p> +<p>“Think shame—think shame—think black-burning shame +o’ yoursell, ye born and bred ruffian!” roared out the wife at +the top story of her voice—shaking her doubled nieve before +him—stamping her heels on the causey—then, drawing herself up, +and holding her hands on her hainches—“Just look, I tell ye, +you unhanged blackguard, at your precious handywark! Just look, what +think ye of that now? Tak’ another <!-- page 339--><a +name="page339"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 339</span>look now, ower that +fief-like fiery nose o’ yours, ye regardless Pagan!”</p> +<p>Flesh and blood could stand this no longer; and I saw Cursecowl’s +anger boiling up within him, as in a red-hot fiery furnace.</p> +<p>“Wait a wee, my woman,” muttered Cursecowl to himself, as, +swearing between his teeth, he hurried into the killing-booth.</p> +<p>Furious as the woman, however, was, she had yet enough of common sense +remaining within her to dread skaith; so, apprehending the bursting storm, +she had just taken to her heels, when out he came, rampauging after her +like a Greenland bear, with a large liver in each hand;—the one of +which, after describing a circle round his head, flashed after her like +lightning, and hearted her between the shoulders like a clap of thunder; +while the other, as he was repeating the volley, slipping sideways from his +fingers while he was driving it with all his force, played drive directly +through the window where I was standing, and gave me such a yerk on the +side of the head, that it could be compared to nothing else but the lines +written on the stucco image of Shakspeare, the great playactor, on our +parlour chimneypiece,</p> +<blockquote> +<p>“The great globe itself,<br /> +Yea, all that it inherits, shall dissolve;”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>and I lay speechless on the floor for goodness knows the length of +time. Even when I came to my recollection, <!-- page 340--><a +name="page340"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 340</span>it was partly to a +sense of torment; for Nanse, coming into the room, and not knowing the +cause of my disastrous overthrow, attributed it all to a fit of the +apoplexy; and, in her frenzy of affliction, had blistered all my nose with +her Sunday scent-bottle of aromatic vinegar.</p> +<p>For some weeks after there was a bumming in my ears, as if all the +bee-skeps on the banks of the Esk had been pent up within my head; and +though Reuben Cursecowl paid, like a gentleman, for the four panes he had +broken, he drove into me, I can assure him, in a most forcible and striking +manner, the truth of the old proverb—which is the moral of this +chapter that “listeners seldom hear anything to their own +advantage.”</p> +<h2><!-- page 341--><a name="page341"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +341</span>CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT—MANSIE WAUCH ON SOME SERIOUS +MUSINGS</h2> +<p>After consultation with friends, and much serious consideration on such +a momentous subject, it having been finally settled on between the wife and +myself to educate Benjie to the barber and haircutting line, we looked +round about us in the world for a suitable master to whom we might entrust +our dear laddie, he having now finished his education, and reached his +fourteenth year.</p> +<p>It was visible in a twinkling to us both, that his apprenticeship could +not be gone through with at home in that first-rate style which would +enable him to reach the top of the tree in his profession; yet it gave us a +sore heart to think of sending away, at so tender an age, one who was so +dear to his mother and me, and whom we had, as it were, in a manner made a +pet of; so we reckoned it best to article him for a twelvemonth with +Ebenezer Packwood at the corner, before finally sending him off to +Edinburgh, to get his finishing in the wig, false-curl, and hair-baking +department, under Urquhart, Maclachlan, or Connal. Accordingly, I +sent for Eben to come and eat an egg with me—matters were entered +upon and arranged—Benjie was sent on trial; and though at first he +funked and fought refractory, he came, to the astonishment of his master +and the old apprentice, in less than no time to cut hair without many +visible shear-marks; and, within the first quarter, succeeded, without so +much as drawing <!-- page 342--><a name="page342"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 342</span>blood, to unbristle for a wager of his +master’s, the Saturday night’s countenance of Daniel Shoebrush +himself, who was as rough as a badger.</p> +<p>Having thus done for Benjie, it now behoved me to have an eye towards +myself; for, having turned the corner of manhood, I found that I was +beginning to be wearing away down the hillside of life. Customers, +who had as much faith in me as almost in their Bible with regard to +everything connected with my own department, and who could depend on their +cloth being cut according to the newest and most approved fashions, began +now and then to return a coat upon my hand for alteration, as being quite +out of date; while my daily work, to which in the days of other years I had +got up blythe as the lark, instead of being a pleasure, came to be looked +forward to with trouble and anxiety, weighing on my heart as a care, and on +my shoulders as a burden.</p> +<p>Finding but too severely that such was the case, and that there is no +contending with the course of nature, I took sweet counsel together with +James Batter over a cup of tea and a cookie, concerning what it was best +for a man placed in my circumstances to betake myself to.</p> +<p>As industry ever has its own reward, let me without brag or boasting be +allowed to state, that in my own case, it did not disappoint my +exertions. I had sat down a tenant, and I was now not only the +landlord <!-- page 343--><a name="page343"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +343</span>of my own house and shop, but of all the back tenements to the +head of the garden, as also of the row of one-story houses behind, facing +to the loan, in the centre of which Lucky Thamson keeps up the sign of the +Tankard and Tappit Hen. It was also a relief to my mind, as the head +of my family, that we had cut Benjie loose from his mother’s apron +string, poor fellow, and set him adrift in an honest way of doing to buffet +the stormy ocean of life; so, everything considered, it was found that +enough and to spare had been laid past by Nanse and me to spend the evening +of our days by the lound dykeside of domestic comfort.</p> +<p>In Tammy Bodkin, to whom I trust I had been a dutiful, as I know I was +an honoured master, I found a faithful journeyman, he having served me in +that capacity for nine years; so, it is not miraculous, being constantly, +during that period, under my attentive eye, that he was now quite a deacon +in all the departments of the business. As an eident scholar he had +his reward; for customers, especially during the latter years, when my +sight was scarcely so good, came at length to be not very scrupulous as to +whether their cloth was cut by the man or his master. Never let +filial piety be overlooked:—when I first patronized Tammie, and +promoted him to the dignity of sitting crosslegged along with me on the +working-board, he was a hatless and shoeless ragamuffin, the orphan lad of +a widowed mother, whose husband had been killed <!-- page 344--><a +name="page344"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 344</span>by a chain-shot, +which carried off his head, at the bloody battle of the Nile, under Lord +Nelson. Tammie was the oldest of four, and the other three were +lasses, that knew not in the morning where the day’s providing was to +come from, except by trust in Him who sent the ravens to Elijah. By +allowing Tammie a trifle for board-wages, I was enabled to add my mite to +the comforts of the family; for he was kind, frugal, and dutiful, and would +willingly share with them to the last morsel. In the course of a few +years he became his mother’s bread-winner, the lasses being sent to +service, I myself having recommended one of them to Deacon Burlings, and +another to Springheel the dancing-master; retaining Katie, the youngest, +for ourselves, to manage the kitchen, and go messages when required.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p344b.jpg"> +<img alt="The lazy corner, Dalkeith" src="images/p344s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>Providence having thus blessed Tammie’s efforts in the paths of +industrious sobriety, what could I do better—James Batter being +exactly of the same opinion—than make him my successor; giving him +the shop at a cheap rent, the stock in trade at a moderate valuation, and +the good-will of the business as a gratis gift.</p> +<p>Having recommended Tammie to public patronage and support, he is now, as +all the world knows, a thriving man; nor, from Berwick Bridge to Johnny +Groat’s, is it in the power of any gentleman to have his coat cut in +a more fashionable way, or on more <!-- page 345--><a +name="page345"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 345</span>moderate terms, than +at the sign of the Goose and the Pair of Shears rampant.</p> +<p>Leaving Tammie to take care of his own matters, as he is well able to +do, allow me to observe, that it is curious how habit becomes a second +nature, and how the breaking in upon the ways we have been long and long +accustomed to, through the days of the years that are past, is as the +cutting asunder of the joints and marrow. This I found bitterly, even +though I had the prospect before me of spending my old age in peace and +plenty. I could not think of leaving my auld house—every room, +every nook in it was familiar to my heart. The garden trees seemed to +wave their branches sorrowfully over my head, as bidding me a farewell; and +when I saw all the scraighing hens catched out of the hen-house I had +twenty years before built and tiled with my own hands, and tumbled into a +sack, to be carried on limping Jock Dalgleish’s back up to our new +abode at Lugton, my heart swelled to my mouth, and the mist of gushing +tears bedimmed my eyesight. Four of Thomas Burlings’ flour +carts stood laden before the door with our furniture, on the top of which +were three of Nanse’s grand geraniums in flower-pots, with five of my +walking-sticks tied together with a string; and as I paced through the +empty rooms, where I had passed so many pleasant and happy hours, the sound +of my feet on the bare floor seemed in my ears like an echo from the +grave. On <!-- page 346--><a name="page346"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 346</span>our road to Lugton I could scarcely muster +common sense to answer a person who wished us a good-day; and Nanse, as we +daundered on arm-in-arm, never once took her napkin from her een. Oh, +but it was a weary business!</p> +<p>Being in this sober frame of mind, allow me to wind up this +chapter—the last catastrophe of my eventful life that I mean at +present to make public—with a few serious reflections; as it fears +me, that, in much of what I have set down, ill-natured people may see a +good deal scarcely consistent with my character for douceness and +circumspection; but if many wonderfuls have befallen to my share, it would +be well to remember that a man’s lot is not of his own making. +Musing within myself on the chances and changes of time, the uncertainties +of life, the frail thread by which we are tacked to this world, and how the +place that now knows us shall soon know us no more, I could not help, for +two or three days previous to my quitting my dear old house and shop, +taking my stick into my hand, and wandering about all my old haunts and +houffs—and need I mention that among these were the road down to the +Duke’s south gate with the deers on it, the waterside by Woodburn, +the Cow-brigg, up the back street, through the flesh-market, and over to +the auld kirk in among the headstones? For three walks, on three +different days, I set out in different directions; yet, strange to +say! I aye landed in the kirkyard:—<!-- page 347--><a +name="page347"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 347</span>and where is the man +of woman born proud enough to brag, that it shall not be his fate to land +there at last?</p> +<p>Headstones and headstones around me! some newly put up, and others mossy +and grey; it was a humbling yet an edifying sight, preaching, as forcibly +as ever Maister Wiggie did in his best days, of the vanity and the +passingness of all human enjoyments. Mouldered to dust beneath the +tufts lay the blithe laddies with whom I have a hundred times played merry +games on moonlight nights; some were soon cut off; others grew up to their +full estate; and there stood I, a greyhaired man, among the weeds and +nettles, mourning over times never to return!</p> +<p>The reader will no doubt be anxious to hear a few words regarding my son +Benjie, who has turned out just as his friends and the world +expected. After his time with Ebenezer Packwood in Dalkeith, he +served for four years in Edinburgh, where he cut a distinguished figure, +having shaved and shorn lots of the nobility and gentry; among whom was a +French Duchess, and many other foreigners of distinction. In short, +nothing went down at the principal hotels but the expertness of Mr Benjamin +Wauch; and, had he been so disposed, he could have commenced on his own +footing with every chance of success; but knowing himself fully young, and +being anxious to see more of the world before settling, he took out a +passage <!-- page 348--><a name="page348"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +348</span>in one of the Leith smacks, and set sail for London, where he +arrived, after a safe and prosperous voyage, without a hair of his head +injured. The only thing I am ashamed to let out about him is, that he +is now, and has been for some time past, principal shopman in a Wallflower +Hair-powder and Genuine Macassar Oil Warehouse, kept by three Frenchmen, +called Moosies Peroukey.</p> +<p>But, though our natural enemies, he writes me that he has found them +agreeable and chatty masters, full of good manners and pleasant discourse, +first-rate in their articles, and, except in their language, almost +Christians.</p> +<p>I aye thought Benjie was a genius; and he is beginning to show himself +his father’s son, being in thoughts of taking out a patent for making +hair-oil from rancid butter. If he succeeds it will make the +callant’s fortune. But he must not marry Madamoselle Peroukey +without my especial consent, as Nanse says, that her having a French woman +for her daughter-in-law would be the death of her.</p> +<h2><!-- page 349--><a name="page349"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +349</span>CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE—CONCLUSION</h2> +<p>On first commencing this memoir of my life, I put pen to paper with the +laudable view of handing down to posterity—to our children, and to +their children’s children—the accidents, adventures, and +mischances that may fall to the lot of a man placed by Providence even in +the loundest situation of life, where he seemed to lie sheltered in the +bield of peace and privacy;—and, at that time, it was my intention to +have carried down my various transactions to this dividual day and +date. My materials, however, have swelled on my hand like summer corn +under sunny showers; one thing has brought another to remembrance; sowds of +bypast marvels have come before my mind’s eye in the silent watches +of the night, concerning the days when I sat working crosslegged on the +board; and if I do not stop at this critical juncture—to wit, my +retiring from trade, and the settlement of my dear and only son Benjie in +an honourable way of doing; as who dares to deny that the barber and +hair-cutting line is a safe and honourable employment?—I do not know +when I might get to the end of my tether; and the interest which every +reasonable man must take in the extraordinary adventures of my early years, +might be grievously marred and broken in upon through the garrulity of old +age.</p> +<p>Perhaps I am going a little too far when I say, that the whole world +cannot fail to be interested in the occurrences of my life; for since its +creation, which was not yesterday, I do not believe—and James Batter +is exactly of the same mind—that there ever was a subject concerning +which the bulk of mankind have not had two opinions. Knowing this to +be the case, I would be a great gomeril to expect that I should be the only +white swan that ever appeared; and that all parties in church and state, +who are for cutting each other’s throats on every other great +question, should be unanimous only in what regards me. Englishmen, +for instance, will say that I am a bad speller, and that my language is +kittle; and such of the Irishers as can read, will be threaping that I have +abused their precious country; but, my certie, instead of blaming me for +letting out what I could not deny, they must just learn to behave +themselves better when they come to see us, or bide at home.</p> +<p>Being by nature a Scotsman—being, I say, of the blood of Robert +Bruce and Sir William Wallace—and having in my day and generation +buckled on my sword to keep the battle from our gates in the hour of +danger, ill would it become me to speak but the plain truth, the whole +truth, and anything but the truth. No; although bred to a peaceable +occupation, I am the subject of a free king and constitution; and, if I +have written as I speak, I have just spoken as I thought. The man of +learning, that kens no language saving Greek, and Gaelic, and Hebrew, will +doubtless laugh at the curiosity of my dialect; but <!-- page 351--><a +name="page351"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 351</span>I would just +recommend him, as he is a philosopher, to consider for a wee, that there +are other things, in mortal life and in human nature, worth a +moment’s consideration besides old Pagan heathens-pot-hooks and +hangers—the asses’ bridge and the weary walls of Troy; which +last city, for all that has been said and sung about it, would be found, I +would stake my life upon it, could it be seen at this moment, not worth +half a thought when compared with the New Town of Edinburgh. Of all +towns in the world, however, Dalkeith for my money. If the ignorant +are dumfoundered at one of their own kidney—a tailor laddie, that got +the feck of his small education leathered into him at Dominie +Threshem’s school—thinking himself an author, I would just +remind them that seeing is believing; and that they should keep up a good +heart, as it is impossible to say what may yet be their own fortune before +they die. The rich man’s apology I would beg; if in this humble +narrative, this detail of manners almost hidden from the sphere of his +observation, I have in any instance tramped on the tender toes of good +breeding, or given just offence in breadth of expression, or vulgarity of +language. Let this, however, be my apology, that the only value of my +wonderful history consists in its being as true as death—a +circumstance which it could have slender pretensions to, had I coined +stories, or coloured them so as to please my own fancy <!-- page 352--><a +name="page352"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 352</span>and that of the +world. In that case it would have been very easy for me to have made +a Sinbad the Sailor tale out of it—to have shown myself up a man such +as the world has never seen except on paper—to have made Cursecowl +behave like a gentleman, and the Frenchman from Penicuik crack like a +Christian. And to the poor man, him whom the wise Disposer of all +events has seen fit to place in a situation similar to that in which I have +been placed, ordaining him to earn daily bread by the labour of his hands +and the sweat of his brow, if my adventures shall afford an hour or +two’s pleasant amusement, when, after working hours, he sits by his +bleezing ingle with a bairn on each knee, whilst his oldest daughter is +sewing her seam, and his goodwife with her right foot birls round the +spinning-wheel, then my purpose is gained, and more than gained; for it is +my firm belief that no man, who has by head or hand, in any way lightened +an ounce weight of the load of human misery, can be truly said to have been +unprofitable in his day, or disappointed the purpose of his creation. +For what more can we do here below? The God who formed us, breathing +into our nostrils the breath of life, is, in his Almighty power and wisdom, +far removed beyond the sphere of our poor and paltry offices. We are +of the clay; and return to the elements from which we are formed. He +is a Spirit, without beginning of days or end of years. The extent of +our limited exertions <!-- page 353--><a name="page353"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 353</span>reaches no further than our belief in, and our +duty towards Him; which, in my humble opinion, can be best shown by us in +our love and charity towards our fellow-creatures—the master-work of +his hands.</p> +<p>I would not willingly close this record of my life, without expressing a +few words of heartfelt gratitude towards the multitude from whom, in the +intercourse of the world, I have experienced good offices; and towards the +few who, in the hour of my trials and adversities, remained with faces +towards me steadfast and unalterable, scorning the fickle who scoffed, and +the Levite who passed by on the other side. Of old hath it been said, +that a true friend is the medicine of life; and in the day of darkness, +when my heart was breaking, and the world with all its concerns seemed +shaded in a gloom never to pass away, how deeply have I acknowledged the +truth of the maxim! How shall I repay such kindness? Alas! it +is out of my power. But all I can do, I do. I think of it on my +pillow at the silent hour of midnight; my heart burns with the gratitude it +hath not—may never have an opportunity of showing to the world; and I +put up my prayer in faith to Him who seeth in secret, that he may bless and +reward them openly.</p> +<p>Sorrows and pleasures are inseparably mixed up in the cup set for +man’s drinking; and the sunniest day hath its cloud. But I have +made this observation, that if true happiness, or any thing like true +happiness, <!-- page 354--><a name="page354"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +354</span>is to be found in this world, it is only to be purchased by the +practice of virtue. Things will fall out—so it hath been +ordained in this scene of trial—even to the best and purest of heart, +which must carry sorrow to the bosom, and bring tears to the eyelids; and +then to the wayward and the wicked, bitter is their misery as the waters of +Marah. But never can the good man be wholly unhappy; he has that +within which passeth show; the anchor of his faith is fixed on the Rock of +Ages; and when the dark cloud hath glided over—and it will +glide—it leaves behind it the blue and unclouded heaven.</p> +<p>If, concerning religious matters, a tone of levity at any time seems to +infect these pages, I cry ye mercy; for nothing was further from my +intention; yet, though acknowledging this, I maintain that it is a vain +thing to look on religion as on a winter night, full of terror, and +darkness, and storms. No one, it strikes me, errs more widely than he +who supposes that man was made to mourn—that the sanctity of the +heart is shown by the length of the face—and that mirth, the pleasant +mirth of innocent hearts, is sinful in the sight of Heaven. I will +never believe that. The very sun may appear dim to such folks as +choose only to look at him through green spectacles; as by the poor wretch +who is dwining in the jaundice, the driven snow could be sworn to as a +bright yellow. Such opinions, however, lie between man and his Maker, +and are not for <!-- page 355--><a name="page355"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. 355</span>the like of us to judge of. For myself, +I have enjoyed a pleasant run of good health through life, reading my Bible +more in hope than fear; our salvation, and not our destruction, being I +should suppose its purpose. So, when I behold bright suns and blue +skies, the trees in blossom, and birds on the wing, the waters singing to +the woods, and earth looking like the abode of them who were at first +formed but a little lower than the angels, I trust that the overflowing of +a grateful heart will not be reckoned against me for unrighteousness.</p> +<h2>Footnotes:</h2> +<p><a name="footnote175"></a><a href="#citation175" +class="footnote">[175]</a> See Dr Jamieson.—P. D.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE OF MANSIE WAUCH***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 23739-h.htm or 23739-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/7/3/23739 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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