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/' THE 

FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

BY THE AUTHOR OF " WAVERLEY, 
KENILWORTH," &c. 



Knifegrinder, Story ? liord bless you ! I have none to tell, sir. 

Poetry of the Anti-jacobin. 



IN THREE VOLUMES. 



VOL. II. 



EDINliURGII: 

PRINTRD FOR ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND CO. KDINBURGH ; 

AND HURST, ROBINSON, AND CO., 

LONDON. 

1822. 



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Printed by James Balinntyne and Co. Edinburgh. 



PR 
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F77 



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THE 



FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 



vol.. II 



THE 



FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 



CHAPTER I. 

—— This is the very barn-yard, 
Wnere muster daily the prime cocks o' the game, 
Ruffle their pinions, crow till they are hoarse, 
And spar about a barley-corn. Here two chickens, 
The callow, unfledged brood of forward folly. 
Learn first to rear the crest, and aim the spur, 
And tune their note like fuU-plumed Chanticleer. 

The Bear-Garden. 

The Ordinary, now an ignoble sound, was, in 
the days of James, a new institution, as fashion- 
able among the youth of that age as the first-rate 
modern club-houses are amongst those of the pre- 
sent day. It differed chiefly, in being open to all 
whom good clothes and good assurance combined 
to introduce there. The company usually dined 



4 THE FOliTUNES OF NIGEL. 

together at an hour fixed, and the manager of the 
estabUshment presided as master of tlie ceremo- 
nies. 

Monsieur Le Chevalier, (as he quaUfied him- 
self,) Saint Priest de Beaujeu, was a sharp, thin 
Gascon, about sixty years old, banished from his 
own country, as he said, on account of an affair of 
honour, in which he had the misfortune to kill his 
antao-onist, ihouo-hthebest swordsman in the south 
of France. His pretensions to quality were sup- 
ported by a feathered hat, a long rapier, and a suit 
of embroidered taffeta, not much the worse for 
wear, in the extreme fashion of the Parisian court, 
and fluttering like a May-pole with many knots of 
ribband, of which it was computed he bore at least 
five hundred yards about his person. But, not- 
withstanding this profusion of decoration, there 
were many who thought Monsieur le Chevaliei- 
so admirably calculated for his present situation, 
that nature could never have meant to place him 
an inch above it. It was, however, part of the 
amusement of the place, for Lord Dalgarno and 
other young men of quality to treat Monsieur de 
Beaujeu with a great deal of mock ceremony, 



THE FOllTUNKS 01-" NlCiKL. 5 

which being observed by the herd of more ordi- 
nary and simple gulls, they paid him, in imitation, 
much real deference. The Gascon's natural for- 
wardness being much enhanced by these circum- 
stances, he was often guilty of presuming beyond 
the limits of his situation, and of course had 
sometimes the mortification to be disagreeably 
driven back into them. 

When Niffel entered the mansion of this enii- 
nent person, which had been but of late the re- 
sidence of a great Baron of Queen Elizabeth's 
court, who had retired to his manors in the coun- 
try on the death of that great princess, he was 
surprised at the extent of the accommodation 
which it afforded, and the number of guests who 
were already assembled. Feathers waved, spurs 
jingled, lace and embroidery glanced everywhere; 
and, at first sight at least, it certainly made good 
Lord Dalgamo's encomium, who represented the 
company as composed almost entirely of youth 
of the first quality. A more close review was not 
quite so favourable. Several individuals might 
be discovered who were not exactly at their ease 
in the splendid dresses which they wore, and who. 



b THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

therefore, might be supposed not habitually fa- 
miliar with such finery. Again, there were others, 
whose dress, though upon the general view it did 
not seem inferior to that of the rest of the com- 
pany, displayed, on being observed more closely, 
some of those petty expedients, by which vanity 
endeavours to disguise poverty. 

Nigel had very little time to make such obser- 
vations, for the entrance of Lord Dalgarno crea- 
ted an immediate bustle and sensation among the 
company, as his name passed from one mouth to 
another. Some stood forward to gaze, others stood 
back to make way — those of his own rank has- 
tened to welcome him — those of inferior degree 
endeavoured to catch some point of his gesture, 
or of his dress, to be worn and practised upon a 
future occasion, as the newest and most authen- 
tic fashion. 

The Genius Loci, the Chevalier himself, was 
not the last to welcome this prime stay and orna- 
ment of his establishment. He came shuffling 
forward with a hundred apish conges and chers 
milors, to express his happiness at seeing Lord 
Dalgarno again. — " I hope you do bring back the 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 7 

sun with you, me lord — You did carry away the 
sun and the moon from your pauvre ChevaUer 
when you leave him for so long. Pardieu, I be- 
lieve you take them away in your pockets." 

" That must have been because you left me 
nothing else in them, Chevalier,'' answered Lord 
Dalgarno ; " but Monsieur le Chevalier, I pray 
you to know my countryman and friend Lord 
Glenvarloch." 

*' Ah, ha ! tres honore — Je m"'en souviens,— 
oui. J'ai connu autrefois un Milor Kenfarloque 
en Ecoese. Yes, I have memory of him — le pere 
de mi lor apparemment — we were vera intimate 
when I was at Oly Root with Monsieur de la 
Motte — I did often play at tennis vit Milor 
Kenfarloque at L'Abbaie de Oly Root — il etoit 
meme plus fort que moi — Ah le beaucoup de 
revers qu'il avoit ! — I have memory too that he 
was among the pretty girls — ah un vrai diable 
dechaine — Aha ! I have memory ^" 

" Better have no more memory of the late 
Lord Glenvarloch," said Lord Dalgarno, inter- 
rupting the Chevalier without ceremony ; who 
perceived that the encomium which he was about 



8 THE FOllTUXES OF MIGEL. 

to pass on the deceased was likely to be as disa- 
greeable to the son, as it was totally undeserved 
by the father, who, far from being either a game- 
ster or libertine, as the Chevalier''s reminiscences 
falsely represented him, was, on the contrary, 
strict and severe in his course of life, almost to the 
extent of rigour. 

" You have the reason, milor,*^ answered the 
Chevalier, " you have the right — Qu'est ce que 
nous avons a faire, avcc le tems passe ? — the time 
passed did belong to our fathers— our ancetres — 
very well — the time present is to us — -they have 
their pretty tombs, with their memories and ar- 
morial, all in brass and marbre — we have the petits 
plats exquis, and the soupe-a-Chevalier, which I 
will cause to mount up immediately." 

So saying, he made a pirouette on his heel, and 
put his attendants in motion to place dinner on 
the table. Dalgarno laughed, and observing his 
young friend looked grave, said to him, in a tone 
of reproach — " Why, what ! — you are not gull 
enough to be angry with such an ass as that ?" 

" I keep my anger, I trust, for better pur- 
poses," .said Lord Glenvarloch ; " but I confess 



THE FORTUN^ES OF NIGEL. 9 

I was moved to hear such a fellow mention my 
father's name — and you too, who told me this 
was no gaming-house, talked to him of having 
left it with emptied pockets." 

*' Pshaw, man !" said Lord Dalgarno, " I spoke 
but according to the trick of the time ; besides, a 
man must set a piece or two sometimes, or he would 
be held a cuUionly niggard. But here comes din- 
ner, and we will see whether you like the Cheva- 
lier's good cheer better than his conversation." 

Dinner was announced accordingly, and the 
two friends, being seated in the most honourable 
station at the board, were ceremoniously attended 
to by the Chevaher, who did the honours of his 
table to them and to the other guests, and sea- 
soned the whole with his agreeable conversation. 
The dinner was really excellent, in that piquant 
style of cookery which the French had already in- 
troduced, and which the home-bred young men 
of England, when they aspired to the rank of 
connoisseurs and persons of taste, were under 
the necessity of admiring. The wine was also 
of the first quality, and circulated in great va- 
riety, and no less abundance. The conversation 



10 THE FOllTUNES OF NIGEL. 

among so many young men, was, of course, light, 
lively, and amusmg, and Nigel, whose mind had 
been long depressed by anxiety and misfortune, 
naturally found himself at ease, and his spirits 
raised and animated. 

Some of the company had real wit, and could 
use it both politely and to advantage; others were 
coxcombs, and were laughed at without discover- 
ing it; and, again, others were originals, who seem- 
ed to have no objection that the company should 
be amused with their folly instead of their wit. 
And almost all the rest who played any promi- 
nent part in the conversation, had either the real 
tone of good society which belonged to the period, 
or the jargon which often passes current for it. 

In short, the company and conversation was so 
agreeable, that Nigel's rigour was softened by it, 
even towards the master of ceremonies, and he 
listened with patience to various details which the 
Chevalier de Beaujeu, seeing, as he said, that Mi^ 
lor's taste lay for the *' curieux and Tutile," chose 
to address to him in particular, on the subject of 
cookery. To gratify, at the same time, the taste 
for antiquity, which he somehow supposed that 

13 



THE FORTUNHS OF NIGEL. 11 

his new guest possessed, he launched out in com- 
mendation of the great artists of former days, 
particularly one whom he had known in his jouth, 
*' Maitre de Cuisine to the jVIarechal Strozzi — 
tres bon gentilhomme pourtant ;"" who had main- 
tained his master's table with twelve covers every 
day during the long and severe blockade of Le 
petit Leyth, although he had nothing better to 
place on it than the quarter of a carrion-horse 
now and then, and the grass and weeds that grew 
on the ramparts. " Des par dieux c''etoit un 
homme *uperbe ! With on tistle-head, and a 
nettle or two, he could make a soupe for twenty 
guests — an haunch of a little puppy-dog made a 
roti des plus cxcellenls ; but his coup de maitre 
was when the rendition — what you call the sur- 
render, took place and appened ; and then, dieu 
me damme, he made out of the hind quarter of 
one salted horse, forty-five converts ; that the 
English and Scottish officers and nobility, who 
had the honour to dine with Monseigneur upon 
the rendition, could not tell what the devil any 
one of them were made upon at all," 

The good wine had by this time gone so mer- 



12 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

rily round, and had such genial effect on the 
ffuests, that those of the lower end of the table, 
who had hitherto been listeners, began, not great- 
ly to their own credit, or that of the ordinary, to 
make innovations. 

** You speak of the siege of Leith," said a tall, 
raw-boned man, with thick moustaches turned up 
with a military twist, a broad buff' belt, a long 
rapier, and other outward symbols of the honour- 
ed profession, which lives by killing of other peo- 
ple, — " you talk of the siege of Leith, and I have 
seen the place — a pretty kind of a hamlet it is, 
with a plain wall, or rampart, and a pigeon-house 
or two of a tower at every angle. Uds daggers 
and scabbards, if a leaguer of our days had been 
twenty-four hours, not to say so many months 
before it, without carrying the place and all its 
cock-lofts, one after another, by pure storm, they 
would have deserved no better grace than the 
Provost Marshall gives when his noose is reeved." 

" Saar," said the Chevalier, " Monsieur le 
Capitaine, I vas not at the siege of the Petit 
Loyth, and I know not what you say about the 
cock-iolt ; but I will say for Monscigneur dc 



THK FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 13 

Strozzi, that he umlerstood the grand guerre, 
and was grand capitaine — plus grand — -that is 
more great it may be, than some of the capitaincs 
of Angleterre, who do speak very loud — tenez. 
Monsieur, car c'est a vous !" 

" O Monsieur," answered the swordsman, " we 
know the Frenchman will fight well behind his 
barrier of stone, or when he is armed with back, 
breast, and pot.'' 

" Pot !" exclaimed the Chevalier, " what do 
you mean by pot — do you mean to insult me 
among mjr noble guests ? Saar, I have done my 
duty as a pauvre gentilhommc under the Grand 
Henri Quatre, bodi at Courtrai and Yvry, and, 
ventre saint gris ! we had neither pot nor mar- 
mite, but did always charge in our shirt." 

" Which refutes another base scandal," said 
Lord Dalgarno, laughing, " alleging that linen 
was scarce among the French gentlemen-at-arms." 

" Gentlemen out at arms and elbows both, 
you mean, my lord," said the captain, from the 
bottom of the table. " Craving your lordship's 
pardon, I do know something of these same 
gens-d'armes." 



14 THK rORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

" We will spare your knowledge at present, 
captain, and save your modesty at the same 
time the trouble of telling us how that knowledge 
was acquired," answered Lord Dalgarno, rather 
contemptuously. 

" I need not speak of it, my lord,"" said the 
man of war ; " the world knows it — all, per- 
haps, but the men of mohair — the poor sneaking 
citizens of London, who would, see a man of va- 
lour eat his very hilts for hunger, ere they would 
draw a farthing from their long purses to relieve 
them. O, if a band of the honest fellows I have 
seen were once to come near that cuckoo''s nest 
of theirs !"" 

" A cuckoo's nest ! — and that said of the city of 
London,"" said a gallant who sate on the opposite 
side of the table, and who, wearing a splendid and 
fashionable dress, seemed yet scarce at home in 
it, — " I will not brook to hear that repeated."" 

" What !"'"' said the soldier, bending a most 
terrific frown from a pair of broad black eye- 
brows, handling the hilt of his weapon with one 
hand, and twirling with the other his liuge mus- 
tachios ; " will you quarrel for your city 'f 



THK FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 15 

" Ay, marry will I," replied the other. " I 
am a citizen, I care not who knows it ; and he 
who shall speak a word in its dispraise, is an ass 
and a peremptory gull, and I will break his pate, 
to teach him sense and manners." 

The company, who probably had their reasons 
for not valuing the captain's courage at the high 
rate which he put upon it, were much entertain^ 
ed at the manner in which the quarrel was taken 
up by the indignant citizen ; and they exclaimed 
on all sides, " Well rung, Bow-bell !" " Well 
crowed, the cock of Saint Paul's !" " Sound a 
charge there, or the soldier will mistake his sig- 
nals, and retreat when he should advance.'" 

" You mistake me, gentlemen," said the cap- 
tain, looking round with an air of dignity. " I 
will but inquire whether this cavaliero citizen is 
of rank and degree fitted to measure swords with 
a man of action ; (for, conceive me, gentlemen, it 
is not with every one that I can match myself 
without loss of reputation ;) and in that case he 
shall soon hear from me honourably, by way of 
chastel." 

" You shall feel mc most dishonourably in the 



IC THE yORTUNEi? OF NIGEL. 

way of cudgel," said the citizen, starting up, and 
taking his sword, which he had laid in a corner. 
" Follow me." 

" It is my right to name the place of combat, 
by all the rules of the sword," said the captain ; 
" and I do nominate the Maze, in Tothill-Fields, 
for place — two gentlemen, who shall be indiffe- 
rent judges, for witnesses ; — and for time — let 
me say this day fortnight, at day-break." 

" And I," said the citizen, " do nominate the 
Bowling-alley behind the house for place, the 
present good company for witnesses, and for 
time, the present moment." 

So saying, he cast on his beaver, struck the 
soldier across the shoulders with his sheathed 
sword, and ran down stairs. The captain shew- 
ed no instant alacrity to follow him ; yet, at last, 
roused by the laugh and sneer around him, he 
assured the company, that what he did, he would 
do deliberately, and, assuming his hat, which he 
put on with the air of Ancient Pistol, he descend- 
ed the stairs to the place of combat, where his 
more prompt adversary was already stationed, 
with his sword unsheathed. Of the company, all 

12 



THE FOllTUNES OF NIGEL. 17 

of wliom seemed highly dehghted with the ap- 
proaching fray, some ran to the Avindows which 
overlooked the bowling-alley, and others follow- 
ed the combatants down stairs, Nigel could not 
help asking Dalgarno whether he would not in- 
terfere to prevent mischief. 

*' It would be a crime against the public inte- 
rest," answered his friend ; " there can no mis- 
chief happen between two such originals, which 
will not be positive benefit to society, and par- 
ticularly to the Chevalier's establishment, as he 
calls it. . I have been as sick of that captain's 
buff' belt, and red doublet, for this month past, 
as e'er I was of aught ; and now I hope this 
bold linen-draper will cudgel the ass out of that 
filthy lion's hide. See, Nigel, see the gallant ci- 
tizen has ta'en his ground about a bowl's-cast 
forward, in the midst of the alley — the very 
model of a hog in armour. Behold how he 
prances with his manly foot, and brandishes his 
blade, much as if he were about to measure 
forth cambric with it. — See, they bring on the 
reluctant soldado, and plant him opposite to his 
fiery antagonist, twelve paces still dividing them. 

YOL. II. B 



18 THE FORTUNES OF NIGKL. 

— Lo, the captain draws his tool, but, like a 
good general, looks over his shoulder to secure 
his retreat, in case the worst come on't. — Behold 
the valiant shopkeeper stoops his head, confident, 
doubtless, in the civichelmet with which his spouse 
has fortified his skull — Why, this is the rarest of 
sport ! By Heaven, he will run a tilt with him 
like a ram." 

It was even as Lord Dalgarno had anticipa- 
ted ; for the citizen, who seemed quite serious in 
his zeal for combat, perceiving that the man of 
war did not advance towards him, rushed on- 
wards with as much good fortune as courage, 
beat down the captain's guard, and pressing on, 
thrust, as it seemed, his sword clear through the 
body of his antagonist, who, with a deep groan, 
measured his length on the ground. A score of 
voices cried to the conqueror, as he stood fixed 
in astonishment at his own feat, " Away, away 
with you — fly, fly — fly by the back door — get 
into the Whitefriars, or cross the water to the 
Bankside, while we keep off the mob and the 
constables." And the conqueror, leaving his van- 
quished foeman on the groimd, fled accordingly, 
with all speed. 



THE FOllTUNES OF NIGKL. 19 

" By Heaven/' said Lord Dalgarno, " I could 
never have believed that the fellow would have 
stood to receive a thrust — he has certainly been 
arrested by positive terror, and lost the use of his 
limbs. See, they are raising him."" 

Stiff and stark seemed the corpse of the swordi- 
man, as one or two of the guests raised him from 
the ground; but when they began to open his 
waistcoat to search for the wound which nowhere 
existed, the man of war collected his scattered 
spirits, and conscious that the ordinary was no 
longer a stage on which to display his valour, 
took to his heels as fast as he could run, pursued 
by the laughter and shouts of the company. 

" By my honour,'' said Lord Dalgarno, " he 
takes the same course with his conqueror. I trust 
in Heaven he will overtake him, and then the 
valiant citizen will suppose himself haunted by 
the ghost of him he has slain." 

" Despardieux, mi lor," said the Chevalier, 
" if he had stayed one moment, he should have 
had a torchon — what you call a dish-clout, pin- 
ned to him for a piece of shroud, to shew he be 
de ghost of one grantl fanfaron." 



20 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

" In the mean while," said Lord Dalgarno, 
*' you will oblige us, Monsieur le Chevalier, as 
well as maintain your own honoured reputation, 
by letting your drawers receive the man-at-arms 
with a cudgel, in case he should venture to come 
this way again." 

" Ventre Saint gris, my lor," said the cheva- 
lier, " leave that to me. — Begar, the maid shall 
throw the wash-sud upon the grand poltron." 

When they had laughed sufficiently at this 
ludicrous occurrence, the party began to divide 
themselves into little knots — some took posses- 
sion of the alley, late the scene of combat, and 
put the field to its proper use of a bowling- 
ground, and it soon resounded with all the terms 
of the game, as " run, run — rub, rub — hold bias, 
you infernal trundling timber ;" thus making 
good the saying, that three things are thrown 
away in a bowling-green, namely, time, money, 
and oaths. 

In the house, many of the gentlemen betook 
themselves to cards or dice, and parties were form- 
ed at Ombre, at Basset, at Gleek, at Primero, 
and other games then in fashion ; while the dice 



THE FOUTUNES OF NIGKL. 21 

were used at various games, both with and with- 
out the tables, as Hazard, In-and-in, Passage, 
and so forth. The play, however, did not ap- 
pear to be extravagantly deep ; it was certainly 
conducted with great decorum and fairness ; nor 
did there appear any thing to lead the younger 
Scotsman in the least to doubt his companion's 
assurance, that the place was frequented by men 
of rank and quality, and that the recreations they 
adopted were conducted upon honourable prin- 
ciples. 

Lord 'Dalgarno neither proposed play to his 
friend^ nor joined in the amusement himself, but 
sauntered from one table to another, remarking 
the luck of the different players, as well as their 
capacity to avail themselves of it, and exchan- 
ging conversation with the Jiighest and most re- 
spectable of the guests. At length, as if tired of 
what in modern phrase would have been termed 
lounging, he suddenly remembered that Burbage 
was to act Shakespeare's King Richard, at the 
Fortune, that afternoon, and that he could not 
give a stranger in London, like Lord Glenvar- 
loch, a higher entertainment than to carry him 



22 THE 1 OKTUNES OF NIGEL. 

to that exhibition ; " unless, indeed," he added, 
in a whisper, " there is a paternal interdiction of 
the theatre as well as of the ordinary." 

** I never heard my father speak of stage- 
plays," said Lord Glenvarloch, " for they are 
sliows of a modern date, and unknown in Scot- 
land. Yet, if what I have heard to their pre- 
judice be true, I doubt much whether he would 
have approved of them." 

" Approved of them !" exclaimed Lord Dal- 
garno — " why, George Buchanan wrote trage- 
dies, and his pupil, learned and wise as himself, 
goes to see thein, so it is next door to treason to 
abstain ; and the cleverest men in England write 
for the stage, and the prettiest women in Lon- 
don resort to the play-houses ; and I have a brace 
of nags at the door which will carry us along 
the streets like wild-fire, and the ride will digest 
our venison and ortolans, and dissipate the fume« 
of the wine, and so let''s to horse— Godd''en to 
you, gentlemen — Godd'en, Chevalier de la For- 
tune." 

Lord Dalffarno s grooms were in attendance 
with two horses, and tlie young men mounted, 

3 



THK lOliTUXES OF NIGEL. 23 

the proprietor upon a favourite barb, and Nigel 
upon a high-dressed jennet, scarce less beautiful. 
As they rode towards the theatre, Lord Dalgar- 
no endeavoured to discover his friend's opinion 
of the company to which he had introduced him, 
and to combat "the exceptions which he might 
suppose him to have taken. " And wherefore 
lookest thou sad," he said, " my pensive neo- 
phyte ? Sage son of the Alma Mater of Low- 
Dutch learning, what aileth thee ? Is the leaf 
of the living world which we have turned over 
in company, less fairly written than thou hadst 
been taught to expect ? Be comforted, and 
pass over one little blot or two; thou wilt be 
doomed to read through many a page, as black 
as Infamy, with her sooty pinion, can make them. 
Remember, most immaculate Nigel, that we are 
in London, not Leyden — that we are studying 
life, not lore. Stand buff against the reproach 
of thine over-tender conscience, man, and when 
thou summest up, like a good arithmetician, the 
actions of the day, before you balance the account 
upon your pillow, tell the accusing spirit, to his 
brimstone beard, that if thine ears have heard the 



2t THE FOUTUNF.S OF ^'IGEL 

clatter of the deviFs bones, thy hand hath not 
trowled them — that if thine eye hath seen the 
brawUng of two angry boys, thy blade hath not 
been bared in their fray." 

" Now, all this may be wise and witty,"" re- 
plied Nigel; " yet I own I cannot think but 
what your lordship, and other men of good qua- 
lity with whom we dined, might have chosen a 
place of meeting free from the intrusion of bul- 
lies, and a better master of your ceremonial than 
yonder foreign adventurer."" 

" All shall be amended, Sancte Nigelle, when 
thou shalt come forth a new Peter the Hermit, 
to preach a crusade against diceing, drabbing, 
and company-keeping. We will meet for dinner 
in Saint Sepulchre"'s Church ; we will dine in the 
chancel, drink our flask in the vestry, the parson 
shall draw every cork, and the clerk say amen 
to every health. Come, man, cheer up, and get 
rid of this sour and unsocial humour. Credit 
me, that the Puritans who object to us the follies 
and the frailties incident to human nature, have 
themselves the vices of absolute devils, privy ma- 
lipe and backbiting hypocrisy, and spiritual pride 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 25 

in all its presumption. There is much, too, in life, 
which we must see, were it only to learn to shun 
it. Will Shakespeare, who lives after death, and 
who is presently to afford thee such pleasure as 
none but himself can confer, has described the 
gallant Falconbridge as calling that man 

' a bastard to the time. 



That doth not smack of observation ; 
Which, though I will not practise to deceive. 
Yet, to avoid deceit, I mean to learn.' 



But hei*e we are at the door of the Fortune, 
where we shall have matchless Will speaking for 
himself. — Goblin, and you other lout, leave the 
horses to the grooms, and make way for us 
through the press."" 

They dismounted, and the assiduous efforts of 
Lutin, elbowing, bullying, and proclaiming his 
master's name and title, made way through a crowd 
of murmuring citizens, and clamorous apprenti- 
ces, to the door, where Lord Dalgarno speedily 
procured a brace of stools upon the stage for his 
companion and himself, where, seated among 
other gallants of the same class, they had an op- 



26 THK FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

portunity of displaying their fair dresses and fa- 
shionable manners, while they criticized the piece 
during its progress ; thus forming, at the same 
time, a conspicuous part of the spectacle, and an 
important proportion of the audience. 

Nigel Olifaunt was too eagerly and deeply ab- 
sorbed in the interest of the scene, to be capable 
of playing his part as became the place where he 
was seated. He felt all the magic of that sorcerer, 
who had displayed, within the paltry circle of a 
wooden booth, the long wars of York and Lan- 
caster, compelling the heroes of either line to 
stalk across the scene in language and fashion as 
they lived, as if the grave had given up the dead 
for the amusement and instruction of the living. 
Burbage, esteemed the best Richard until Gar- 
rick arose, played the tyrant and usurper with 
such truth and liveliness, that when the Battle of 
Bosworth seemed concluded by his death, the 
ideas of reality and deception were strongly con- 
tending in Lord Glenvar loch's imagination, and 
it required him to rouse himself from his reverie, 
so strange did the proposal at first sound when 
his companion declared King Richard should 
sup with them at the Mermaid. 



THE FOllTUNKS OF NIGEL. 2T 

They were joined, at the same time, by a 
small party of the gentlemen with whom they 
had dined, which they recruited by inviting two 
or three of the most accomplished wits and poets, 
who seldom failed to attend the Fortune The- 
atre, and were even but too ready to conclude 
a day of amusement with a night of pleasure. 
Thither the whole party adjourned, and betwixt 
fertile cups of sack, excited spirits, and the emu- 
lous wit of their lively companions, seemed to re- 
alize the joyous boast of one of Ben Jonson''s 
contemporaries, when reminding the bard of 

'' Those lyric feasts 
Where men such clusters had. 
As made them nobly wild, not mad ; 

While yet each verse of thine 
Outdid the meat, outdid the frolic wine." 



38^ THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 



CHAPTER II. 

Let the proud salmon gorge the feather'd hook, 
Then strike, and then you have him — He will wince; 
Spin out your line that it shall whistle from you 
Some twenty yards or so, yet you shall have him— 
Marry I you must have patience — the stout rock 
Which is his trust, hath edges something sharp ; 
And the deep pool halh ooze and sludge enough 
To mar your fishing — 'less you are more careful. 

Albion.) or the Double Kings. 

It is seldom that a day of pleasure, upon re- 
view, seems altogether so exquisite as the parta- 
ker of the festivity may have felt it while passing 
over him. Nigel Olifaunt, at least, did not feel 
it so, and it required a visit from his new ac- 
quaintance. Lord Dalgarno, to reconcile him en- 
tirely to himself. But this visit took place early 
after breakfast, and his friend's discourse was 
prefaced with a question, how he liked the com- 
pany of the preceding evening ^ 



THE FOUTUNES OF NIGEL. 29 

" Why, excellently well," said Lord Glenvar- 
loch ; " only I should have liked the wit belter 
had it seemed to flow more freely. Every man's 
invention seemed on the stretch, and each extra- 
vao-ant simile seemed to set one half of your men 
of wit into a brown study to produce something 
which should out-herod it." 

" And wherefore not ?" said Lord Dalgarno ; 
" or what are these fellows fit for, but to play 
the intellectual gladiators before us ? He of them 
who declares himself recreant, should, d — n 
him, be restricted to muddy ale, and the pa- 
tronage of the watermen's company. I promise 
you, that many a pretty fellow has been mortally 
wounded with a quibble or a carwitchet at the 
Mermaid, and sent Irom thence in a pitiable 
estate to Wit's hospital in the Vintry, where they 
languish to this day amongst fools and alder- 
men." 

" It may be so," said Lord Nigel ; " yet I could 
swear by my honour, that last night I seemed to 
be in company with more than one man, whose 
genius and learning ought either to have placed 



30 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

him higher in our company, or to have withdrawn 
him altogether from a scene, where, sooth to 
speak, his part seemed unworthily subordinate." 

•' Now, out upon your tender conscience," said 
Lord Dalgarno ; " and the fico for such outcasts 
of Parnassus ! Why, these are the very leavings 
ofthatnoble banquet of pickled herrings and Rhe- 
nish, which lost London so many of her principal 
wit-mongers and bards of misrule. What would 
you have said had you seen Nash or Green, when 
you interest yourself about the poor mimes you 
supt with last night ? Suffice it, they had their 
drench and their doze, and they drunk and slept 
as much as may save them from any necessity of 
eating till evening, when, if they are industrious, 
they will find patrons or players to feed them. 
For the rest of their wants, they can be at no loss 
for cold water while the New River head holds 
good ; and your doublets of Parnassus are eter- 
nal in duration." 

" Virgil and Horace had more efficient patron- 
age," said Nigel. 

" Ay," replied his countryman, *' but these 
fellows are neither Virgil nor Horace ; besides, 



THE FOIITUN'ES OF NIGEL. 81 

we have other spirits of another sort, to whom I 
will introduce you on some early occasion. Our 
Swan of Avon hath sung his last, but we have 
stout old Ben, with as much learning and genius 
as ever prompted the treader of sock and buskin. 
It is not, however, of him I mean now to speak, 
but I come to pray you, of dear love, to row up 
with me as far as Richmond, where two or three of 
the gallants whom you saw yesterday, mean to 
give music and syllabubs to a set of beauties, 
withsome curious bright eyes among them; such, 
I promise you, as might win an astrologer from 
his worship of the galaxy. ]\Iy sister leads the 
bevy, to whom I desire to present you. She hath 
her admirers at court, and is regarded, though 
might dispense with sounding her praise, as one 
of the beauties of the time.'" 

There was no refusing an engagement, where 
the presence of the party invited, late so low in 
his own regard, was demanded by a lady of qua- 
lity, one of the choice beauties of the time. Lord 
Glcnvarloch accepted, as was inevitable, and spent 
a lively day among the gay and the fair. He was 
the gallant in attendance for the day upon his 



Sa THK FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

friend's sister, the beautiful Countess of Black- 
chester, who aimed at once at superiority in the 
realms of fashion, of power, and of wit. She was 
indeed considerably older than her brother, and 
had probably completed her six lustres ; but the 
deficiency in extreme youth was more than atoned 
for in th€ most precise and curious accuracy in 
attire, an early acquaintance with every foreign 
mode, and a peculiar gift in adapting the know- 
ledge which she acquired, to her own particular 
features and complexion. At court, she knew as 
well as any lady in the circle, the precise tone, 
moral, political, learned, or jocose, in which it 
was proper to answer the Monarch according to 
his prevailing humour, and was supposed to have 
been very active, by her personal interest, in pro- 
curing her husband a high situation, which the 
gouty old viscount could never have deserved by 
any merit of his own common-place conduct and 
understanding. 

It was far more easy for this lady, than for her 
brother, to reconcile so young a courtier as Lord 
Glcnvarloch to the customs and habits of a sphere 
so new to him. In all civilized society, the females 

15 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 33 

of distinguished rank and beauty, give the tone 
to manners, and through these even to morals. 
Lady Blackchester had, besides, interest either in 
the court or over the court, (for its source could 
not be well traced,) which created friends, and 
overawed those who might have been disposed 
to play the part of enemies. 

At one time, she was understood to be closely 
leagued with the Buckingham family, with whom 
her brother still maintained a great intimacy. 
And although some coldness had taken place be- 
twixt the Countess and the Duchess of Bucking- 
ham, so that they were little seen together, and 
the former seemed considerably to have with- 
drawn herself into privacy, it was whispered that 
Lady Blackchester's interest with the great fa- 
vourite was not diminished in consequence of her 
breach with his lady. 

Our accounts of the private court intrigues of 
that period, and of the persons to whom they 
were entrusted, are not full enough to enable us 
to pronounce upon the various reports which 
arose out of the circumstances we have detailed. 
It is enough to say, that Lady Blackchester pos- 

voL. ir. c 



34 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

sessed great influence on the circle around her, 
both from her beauty, her abihties, and her re- 
puted talents for court-intrigue ; and that Nigel 
Olifaunt was not long of experiencing its power, 
as he became a slave in some degree to that species 
of habit which carries so many men into a certain 
society at a certain hour, without expecting or 
receiving any particular degree of gratification, or 
even amusement. 

His life for several weeks maybe thus described. 
The ordinary was no bad introduction to the bu- 
siness of the day, and the young lord quickly 
found, that if the society there was not always ir- 
reproachable, still it formed the most convenient 
and agreeable place of meeting with the fashion- 
able parties, with whom he visited Hyde Park, 
the theatres, and other places of public resort, or 
joined the gay and glittering circle which Lady 
Blackchester had assembled around her. Neither 
did he entertain the same scrupulous horror which 
led him originally even to hesitate entering into a 
place where gaming was permitted ; but, on the 
contrary, began to indulge the idea, that as there 
could be no harm in beholding such recreation 



THE FORTUNKS OF NIGEL. S3 

when only indulged in to a moderate degree, so, 
from a parity of reasoning, there could be no ob- 
jection to joining in it, always under the same re- 
strictions. But the young lord was a Scotsman, 
habituated to early reflection, and totally unac- 
customed to any habit which inferred a careless 
risk or profuse waste of money. Profusion was not 
his natural vice, or one likely to be acquired in the 
course of his education ; and in all probability, 
while his father anticipated with noble horror the 
idea of his son approaching the gaming-table, he 
was more sfartled at the idea of his becoming a 
gaining than a losing adventurer. The second, 
according to his principles, had a termination, a 
sad one indeed, in the loss of temporal fortune — 
the first quality went on increasing the evil which 
he dreaded, and perilled at once both body and 
soul. 

However the old lord might ground his appre- 
hension, it was so far verified by his son^s con- 
duct, that from an observer of the various games 
of chance which he witnessed, he came by degrees, 
by moderate hazards, and small bets or wagers, 
to take a certain interest in them. Nor could it be 



36 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

denied that his rank and expectations entitled him 
to hazard a few pieces, (for his game went no 
deeper,) against persons, who, from the readiness 
with which they staked their money, might be 
supposed well able to afford to lose it. 

It chanced, or perhaps, according to the com- 
mon creed, his evil genius had so decreed, that Ni- 
gel's adventures were remarkably successful. He 
was temperate, cautious, cool-headed, had a strong 
memory, and a ready power of calculation ; was, 
besides, of a daring and intrepid character, one 
upon whom no one that had looked at even slight- 
ly, or spoken to though but hastily, would readily 
have ventured to practise any thing approaching 
to trick, or which required to be supported by 
intimidation. While Lord Glenvarloch chose to 
play, men played with him regularly, or, according 
to the phrase, upon the square ; and, as he found 
his luck change, or wished to hazard his good 
fortune no farther, the more professed votaries of 
fortune who frequented the house of Monsieur le 
ChevaherdeSaintPriestBeaujeu, did not venture 
openly to express their displeasure at his rising a 
winner. But when this happened repeatedly, the 



THE rORTUKES OF NIGEL. 37 

gamesters murmured among themselves equally 
at the caution and the success of the young Scots- 
man ; and he became far from being a popular 
character among their society. 

It was no slight inducement to the continuance 
of this most evil habit, when it was once in some 
degree acquired, that it seemed to place Lord 
Glenvarloch, haughty as he naturally was, be- 
yond the necessity of subjecting himself to far- 
ther pecuniary obligations, which his prolonged 
residence in London must otherwise have render- 
ed necessary. He had to solicit from the minis- 
ters certain forms of office, which were to render 
his sign manual effectually useful ; and these, 
though they could not be denied, were delayed 
in such a manner, as to lead Nigel to believe there 
was some secret opposition, which occasioned 
the demur in his business. His own impulse was 
to have appeared at court a second time with the 
King"'s sign manual in his pocket, and to Iiave 
appealed to his Majesty himself, whether the de- 
lay of the public officers ought to render his royal 
generosity unavailing. But the Lord Huntin- 
glcn, that good old peer, Avho had so frankly in- 



1 Vj k ^H:> 

— - ^J ••!_ !.r ' I .-/ 



38 THE FOETUNES OF NIGEL. 

terfered in his behalf on a former occasion, and 
whom he occasionally visited, greatly dissuaded 
him from a similar adventure, and exhorted him 
quietly to await the deliverance of the minis- 
ters, which should set him free from dancing at- 
tendance in London. Lord Dalgarno joined 
his father in deterring his young friend from a 
second attendance at court, at least till he was 
reconciled with the Duke of Buckingham — " a 
matter in which," he said, addressing his father, 
" I have offered my poor assistance, without be- 
ing able to prevail on Lord Nigel to make any — 
not even the least submission to the Duke of 
Buckingham."" 

" By my faith, and I hold the laddie to be in 
the right on^'t, Malcolm !" answered the stout old 
Scots lord. " What right hath Buckingham, or, 
to speak plainly, the son of Sir George Villiers, to 
expect homage and fealty from one more noble 
than himself by eight quarters .'' I heard him my- 
self, on no reason that I could perceive, term 
Lord Nigel his enemy ; and it will never be by 
my counsel that the lad speaks soft word to him, 
till he recalls the hard one." 



TIIK 1-ORTUNES OF NIGKL. 89 

" That is precisely my advice to Lord Glen- 
varloch,*" answered Lord Dalgarno ; " but then 
you will admit, my dear father, that it would be 
the risk 6f extremity for our friend to return in- 
to the presence, the Duke being his enemy — 
better to leave it with me to take off the heat of 
the distemperature, with which some pick-thanks 
have persuaded the Duke to regard our friend."" 

" If thou canst persuade Buckingham of his 
error, Malcolm," said his father, " for once I will 
say there hath been kindness and honesty in court 
service. I have oft told your sister and yourself, 
that in the general I esteem it as lightly as may 
be." 

" You need not doubt my doing my best in 
Nigel's case," answered Lord Dalgarno ; " but 
you must think, my dear father, I must needs 
use slower and gentler means than those by which 
you became a favourite twenty years ago." 

" By my faith, I am afraid thou wilt," answer- 
ed his father. — " I tell thee, Malcolm, I would 
sooner wish myself in the grave, than doubt thine 
honesty or honour ; yet somehow it hath chanced, 
that honest, ready service hath not the same ac- 



40 THE FORTUNES OF NlOFi-. 

ceptance at court which it had in my younger 
tune — and yet you rise there."" 

*' O, the time permits not your old-world ser- 
vice," said Lord Dalgarno ; " we have now no 
daily insurrections, no nightly attempts at assas- 
sination, as were the fashion in the Scottish court. 
Your prompt and uncourteous sword-in-hand at- 
tendance on the Sovereign is no longer necessary, 
and would be as unbeseeming as your old-fashion- 
ed serving-men, with their badges, broad-swords, 
and bucklers, would be at a court-masque. Be- 
sides, father, loyal haste hath its inconveniences. I 
have heard, and from royal lips too, that when you 
struck your dagger into the traitor Ruthven, it 
was with such little consideration, that the point 
ran a quarter of an inch into the royal buttock. 
The King never talks of it but he rubs the in- 
jured part, and quoting his * hifandum re- 

novare dolorem^ But this comes of old fashions, 
and of wearing a long Liddesdale whinger instead 
of a poniard of Parma. Yet this, my dear father, 
you call prompt and valiant service. The King, 
I am told, could not sit upright for a fortnight, 
though all the cushions in Falkland were placed 



THE l-OUTUNES 01< NIGKL. 41 

in his chair of state, and the provost of Dunferm- 
line's borrowed, to the boot of all." 

" It is a lie," said the old Earl, " a false lie, forge 
it who list ! — It is true I wore a dagger of service 
by my side, and not a bodkin like yours, to pick 
one's teeth withal — and for prompt service — Odds 
nouns ! it should be prompt to be useful, when 
kings are crying treason and murder with the 
screech of a half-throttled hen. But you young 
courtiers know nought of these matters, and are 
little better than the green geese they bring over 
from the <Indies, whose only merit to their mas- 
ters is to repeat their own words after them — a 
pack of mouthers, and flatterers, and ear- wigs. — 
Well, I am old and unable to mend, else I would 
break all off', and hear the Tay once more flinging 
himself over the Campsie Linn." 

*' But there is your dinner-bell, father," said 
Lord Dalgarno, " which, if the venison I sent 
you prove seasonable, is at least as sweet a sound." 

" Follow me then, youngsters, if you list," said 
the old Earl ; and strode on from the alcove in 
which this conversation was held, towards the 
house, followed by the two young men. 



42 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

In their private discourFe, Lord Dalgarno had 
little trouble in dissuading Nigel from goino- im- 
mediately to court ; while, on the other hand, 
the offers he made him of a previous introduction 
to the Duke of Buckingham, were received by 
Lord Glenvarloch with a positive and contemp- 
tuous refusal. His friend shrugged his shoulders, 
as one who claims the merit of having given to 
an obstinate friend the best counsel, and desires 
to be held free of the consequences of his perti- 
nacity. 

As for the father, his table indeed, and his 
best liquor, of which he was more profuse than 
necessary, were at the command of his young 
friend, as well as his best advice and assistance 
in the prosecution of his affairs. But Lord Hun- 
tinglen'^s interest was more apparent than real ; 
and the credit he had acquired by his gallant 
defence of the King's person, was so carelessly 
managed by himself, and so easily eluded by 
the favourites and ministers of the Sovereign, 
that, except upon one or two occasions when the 
King was in some measure taken by surprise, as 
in the case of Lord Glenvarloch, the royal boun- 

ic 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 43 

ty was never efficiently extended, either to him- 
self or to his friends. 

" There never was a man," said Lord Dalgar- 
no, whose shrewder knowledge of the English 
court saw where his father's deficiency lay, " that 
had it so perfectly in his power to have made his 
way to the pinnacle of fortune as my poor father. 
He had acquired a right to build up the stair- 
case, step by step, slowly and surely, letting every 
boon, which he begged year after year, become 
in its turn the resting-place for the next annual 
grant. Bat your fortunes shall not shipwreck 
upon the same coast, Nigel," he would conclude. 
" If I have fewer means of influence than my fa- 
ther has, or rather had, till he threw them away 
for butts of sack, hawks, hounds, and such car- 
rion, I can, far better than he, improve that 
which I possess ; and that, my dear Nigel, is all 
engaged in your behalf. Do not be surprised or 
offended that you now see me less than formerly : 
The stag-hunting is commenced, and the Prince 
looks that I should attend him more frequently. 
I must also maintain ray attendance on the Duke, 
that I may have an opportunity of pleading your 
cause when occasion shall permit." 



41; THK FOJITUXKS OF XIGEL. 

" I have no cause to plead before the Duke," 
said Nigel, gravely ; " I have said so repeatedly." 

" Why, I meant the phrase no otherwise, thou 
churlish and suspicious disputant," answered Dal- 
garno, " than as I am now pleading the Duke"'s 
cause with thee. Surely I only mean to claim a 
share in our royal master's favourite benediction, 
Beati paci/icV 

Upon several occasions, Lord Glenvarloch''s 
conversations, both with the old Earl and his 
son, took a similar turn, and had a like conclu- 
sion. He sometimes felt as if, betwixt the one and 
the other, not to mention the more unseen and 
unboasted, but scarce less certain influence of 
Lady Blackchester, his affair, simple as it had 
become, might have been somehow accelerated. 
But it was equally impossible to doubt the rough 
honesty of the father, and the eager and officious 
friendship of Lord Dalgarno ; nor was it easy to 
suppose that the countenanceof the lady, by whom 
he was received with such distinction, would be 
wanting, could it be effectual in his service. 

Nigel was farther sensible of the truth of what 
Lord Dalgarno often pointed out, that the favour- 
ite being supposed to be his enemy, every petty 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 45 

officer, through whose hands his affair must neces- 
sarily pass, would desire to make a merit of throw- 
ing obstacles in his way, which he could only 
surmount by steadiness and patience, unless he 
preferred closing the breach, or, as Lord Dal- 
frarno called it, making his peace with the Duke 
of Buckingham. 

Nigel might, and doubtless would, have had 
recourse to the advice of his friend George He- 
riot upon this occasion, having found it so ad- 
vantageous formerly ; but the only time he saw 
him aftef their visit to court, he found the worthy 
citizen engaged in hasty preparation for a jour- 
ney to Paris, upon business of great importance 
in the way of his profession, and by an especial 
commission from the court and the Duke of Buck- 
ingham, which was likely to be attended with 
considerable profit. The good man smiled as lie 
named the Duke of Buckingham. He had been, 
he said, pretty sure that his disgrace in that quar- 
ter would not be of long duration. 

Lord Glenvarloch expressed himself rejoiced 
at their reconciliation, observing, that it had been 
a most painful reflection to liim, tliat Master Hc- 

17 



46 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

riot should, in his behalf, have incurred the dis- 
like, and perhaps exposed himself to the ill offices, 
of so powerful a favourite. 

" My lord," said Heriot, " for your father's 
son I would do much ; and yet truly, if I know 
myself, I would do as much, and risk as much, 
for the sake of justice, in the case of a much more 
insignificant person, as I have ventured for yours. 
But as we shall not meet for some time, I must 
commit to your own wisdom the farther prosecu- 
tion of this matter." 

And thus they took a kind and affectionate 
leave of each other. 

There were other changes in Lord Glenvar- 
loch'^s situation, which require to be noticed. His 
present occupations, and the habits of amusement 
which he had acquired, rendered his living so far 
in the city a considerable inconvenience. He may 
also have become a little ashamed of his cabin 
on Paul's Wharf, and desirous of being lodged 
somewhat more according to his quality. For 
this purpose, he had hired a small apartment near 
the Temple. He was, nevertheless, almost sorry 
for what he had done, when he observed that his 



THK FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 47 

removal appeared to give some pain to John 
Christie, and a great deal to his cordial and offi- 
cious landlady. The former, who was grave and 
saturnine in every thing he did, only hoped that 
all had been to Lord Glenvarloch's mind, and 
that he had not left them on account of any un- 
beseeming negligence on their part. But the tear 
twinkled in Dame Nelly's eye, while she recount- 
ed the various improvements she had made in the 
apartment, of express purpose to render it more 
convenient to his lordship. 

" Ther^was a great sea-chest," she said, " had 
been taken up stairs to the shopman's garret, 
though it left the poor lad scarce eighteen inches 
of opening to creep betwixt it and his bed ; and 
heaven knew — she did not — whether it could ever 
be brought down that narrow stair again. Then 
the turning the closet into an alcove, had cost a 
matter of twenty round shillings ; and to be sure, 
to any other lodger but his lordship, the closet was 
more convenient. There was all the linen, too, 
which she had bought on purpose — but heaven's 
will be done — she was resigned." 

Every body likes marks of personal attach- 



48 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

merit ; and Nigel, whose heart really smote him, 
as if in his rising fortunes he were disdaining the 
lowly accommodations and the civilities of the 
humble friends which had been but lately actual 
favours, failed not by every assurance in his 
power, and by as liberal payment as they could 
be prevailed upon to accept, to alleviate the sore- 
ness of their feelings at his departure ; and a part- 
ing kiss from the fair lips of his hostess sealed 
his forgiveness. 

Richie Moniplies lingered behind his master, 
to ask whether, in case of need, John Christie 
could help a canny Scotsman to a passage back 
to his own country ; and receiving assurance of 
John's interest to that effect, he said at parting, 
he would remind him of his promise soon. — 
" For," said he, " if my lord is not weary of this 
London life, I ken one that is, videlicet mysell ; 
and I am weel determined to see Arthur's Seat 
again ere I am many weeks older."" 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 49 



CHAPTER III. 

Bingo, why, Bingo ! hey boy^here, sir, here— 
He's gone and off, but he'll be home before us;— i 
'Tis the most wayward cur e'er mumbled bone, 

Or dogg'd a master's footstep Bingo loves me 

Better than ever beggar loved his alms ; 
Yet when he takes such humour, you may coax 
Sweet Mistress Fantasy, your worship's mistress, 
Out of ^^r sullen moods, as soon as Bingo. 

The Dominic and his Dofi^. 

Richie Moniplies was as good as his word. 
Two or three mornings after the young lord had 
possessed himself of his new lodgings, he app6ar- 
ed before Nigel, as he was preparing to dress, 
having left his pillow at an hour much later 
than had fonnerly been his custom. 

As Nigel looked upon his attendant, he ob- 
served there was a gathering gloom upon his so- 
lemn features which expressed cither additional 
importance or superadded discontent, or a por- 
tion of both. 

VOL. II. D 



50 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

*' How now," he said, " what is the matter 
this morning, Richie, that you have made your 
face so hke the grotesque mask on one of the 
spouts yonder ?" pointing to the Temple Church, 
of which Gothic building they had a view from 
the window. 

Richie swivelled his head a little to the right 
with as little alacrity as if he had the crick in his 
neck, and instantly resuming his posture, re- 
plied — " Creak here, creak there — ^it were nae 
such matters that I have to speak anent," 

" And what matters have you to speak anent, 
then ?"" said his master, whom circumstances had 
enured to tolerate a good deal of freedom from 
his attendant. 

" My lord," — said Richie, and then stopped to 
cough and hem, as if what he had to say stuck 
somewhat in his throat. 

" I guess the mystery," said Nigel, " you want 
a little money, Richie ; will five pieces serve the 
present turn ?" 

" My lord," said Richie, " I may, it is like, 
want a trifle of money ; and I am glad at the 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 51 

game time, and sorry, that it is mair plenty with 
your lordship than formerly." 

" Glad and sorry, man .'" said Lord Nigel, 
** why, you are reading riddles to me, Richie.'' 

" My riddle will be briefly read," said Richie ; 
** I come to crave of your lordship your com- 
mands for Scotland." 

" For Scotland ! — why, art thou mad, man .''" 
said Nigel ; " canst thou not tarry to go down 
with me ?'^ 

" I could be of little service," said Richie, 
" since ycTu purpose to hire another page and 
groom." 

" Why, thou jealous ass," said the young lord, 
" will not thy load of duty lie the lighter .-'— 
Go, take thy breakfast, and drink thy ale double 
strong, to put such absurdities out of thy head— 
I could be angry with thee for thy folly, man — 
but I remember how thou hast stuck to me in 
adversity." 

" Adversity, my lord, should never have part- 
ed us," said Richie ; " methinks, had the warst 
come to warst, I could have starved as gallantly 
as your lordship, or more so, being in some sort 



52 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

used to it ; for, though I was bred at a flesher''s 
stall, I have not through my life had a constant 
intimacy with coUops.'" 

" Now, what is the meaning of all this trash ?" 
said Nigel ; " or has it no other end than to pro- 
voke my patience ? You know well enough, that 
had I twenty serving-men, I would hold the faith- 
ful follower that stood by me in my distress the 
most valued of them all. But it is totally out of 
reason to plague me with your solemn capricios."" 

" My lord," said Richie, " in declaring your 
trust in me, you have done what is honourable to 
yourself, if I may vvith humility say so much, 
and in no way undeserved on my side. Never- 
theless, we must part." 

" Body of me, man, why ?"" said Lord Nigel, 
" what reason can there be for it, if we are mutu- 
ally satisfied ?"" 

" My lord," said Richie Moniplies, " your 
lordship's occupations are such as I cannot own 
or countenance by my presence.'' 

*' How now, sirrah !" said his master, angrily. 

" Under favour, my lord," replied his domes- 
tic, " it is unequal dealing to be equally offend- 



THli FOUTUKES OF NIGKL. 53 

ed by my speech and by my silence. If you can 
hear with patience the grounds of my departure, 
it may be, for aught I know, the better for you 
here and hereafter— if not, let me have my li- 
cence of departure in silence, and so no more 
about it." 

" Go to, sir V said Nigel ; " speak out your 
mind^-only remember to whom you speak it." 

" Weel, weel, my lord — I speak it with hu- 
mility, (never did Richie look with more starch- 
ed dignity than when he uttered the word ;) but 
do you thi^k this diceing and card-shuffling, and 
haunting of taverns and play-houses, suits your 
lordship — for I am sure it does not suit me .?" 

" Why, you are not turned precisian or puri- 
tan, fool?" said Lord Glenvarloch laughing, 
thoufrh, betwixt resentment and shame, it cost 
him some trouble to do so. 

" My lord," replied the follower, " I ken the 
purport of your query. I am, it may be, a little 
of a precisian, and I wish to heaven I was mair 
worthy of the name ; but let that be a pass-over. 
— I have stretched the duties of a serving-man as 
fj^r as my northern conscience will permit. I can 



54 THE I'OKTUNES CF NIGEL. 

give my gude word to my master, or to my native 
country, when I am in a foreign land, even though 
I should leave downright truth a wee bit behind 
me. Ay, and I will take or give a slash with 
ony man that speaks to the derogation of either. 
But this chambering, diceing, and play-haunting, 
is not my element — I cannot draw breath in it — 
and when I hear of your lordship winning the 
siller that some poor creature may full sairly 
miss — by my saul, if it wad serve your necessity, 
rather than you gained it from him, I wad tak 
a jump over the hedge with your lordship, and 
cry * Stand !' to the first grazier we met that was 
coming from Smithfield with the price of his Es- 
sex calves in his leathern pouch !" 

" You are a simpleton," said Nigel, who felt, 
however, much conscience-struck; " I never 
play but for small sums."" 

" Ay, my lord," replied the unyielding domes- 
tic, " and — still with reverence — it is even sae 
much the waur. If you played with your equals, 
there might be like sin, but there wad be mair 
warldly honour in it. Your lordship kens, or 
may ken, by experience of your ain, whilk is not 



THE FOIITUNES OF NIGEL. 55 

as yet mony v/eeks auld, that small sums can ill 
be missed by those that have nane larger ; and I 
maun e'en be plain with you, that men notice it 
of your lordship, that ye play wi' nane but the 
misguided creatures that can but afford to lose 
bare stakes." 

" No man dare say so !" replied Nigel, very 
angrily. " I play with whom I please, but I 
will only play for what stake I please." 

" That is just what they say, my lord," said 
the unmerciful Richie, whose natural love of 
lecturing^ as well as his bluntness of feeling, pre- 
vented him from having any idea of the pain 
which he was inflicting on his master; " these 
are even their own very words. It was but yes- 
terday your lordship was pleased, at that same 
ordinary, to win from yonder young hafflins 
gentleman with the crimson velvet doublet, and 
the cock's feather in his beaver — him I mean 
who fought with the ranting captain, a matter of 
five pounds, or thereby. I saw him come through 
the hall ; and if he was not cleaned out of cross 
and pell, I never saw a ruined man in my life." 



56 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

" Impossible !" said Lord Glenvarloch ; " why, 
who is he ? he looked like a man of substance." 

" All is not gold that glistens, my lord," re- 
plied Richie ; " 'broidery and bullion buttons 
make bare pouches. And if you ask who he is — 
may be I have a guess, and care not to tell.'" 

" At least, if I have done any such fellow an 
injury," said the Lord Nigel, " let me know how 
I can repair it." 

" Never fash your beard about that, my lord, 
— with reverence always," said Richie, — *'he shall 
be suitably cared after — think on him but as ana 
wha was running post to the devil, and got a 
shouldering from your lordship to help him on 
his journey. But I will stop him if reason can, 
and so your lordship needs ask nae mair about 
it, for there is no use in your knowing it, but 
much the contrair." 

" Hark you, sirrah," said his master, " I have 
borne with you thus far, for certain reasons ; 
but abuse my good nature no farther — and since 
you must needs go, why, go a God's name, and 
here is to pay your journey." So saying, he put 
gold into his haud^ which Richie told over, piece 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 57 

by piece, with the utmost accuracy. " Is it all 
right^-or are they wanting in weight— or what 
the devil keeps you, when your hurry was so 
great five minutes since ?" said the young lord, 
now thoroughly nettled at the presumptuous pre- 
cision with which Richie dealt forth his canons 
of morality. 

" The tale of coin is complete," said Jlichie, 
with the most imperturbable gravity ; " and for 
the weight, though they are sae scrupulous in this 
town as m.ake mouths at a piece that is a wee bit 
light, or that has been cracked within the ring, 
my sooth, they will jump at them in Edinburgh 
like a cock at a grossart. Gold pieces are not so 
plenty there, the mair the pity V 

" The more is your folly, then," said Nigel, 
whose anger was only momentary, " that leave 
the land where there is enough of them." 

" My lord," said Richie, " to be round with 
you, the grace of God is better than gold pieces. 
When Goblin, as you call yonder Monsieur Lu- 
tin, — and you might aswell call him Gibbet, since 
that is what he is like to end in,— shall recommend 
a page to you, yc will hear little such doctrine 



58 THE FOllTUNES OF NIGEL. 

as you have heard from me. And if they were 
my last words," he said, raising his voice, " I 
would say you are misled, and are forsaking the 
paths which your honourable father trode in ; 
and, what is more, you are going, — still under 
correction, — to the devil with a dish-clout, for 
ye are laughed at by them that lead you into 
tliese disordered bye-paths." 

" Laughed at !"" said Nigel, who, like others 
of his age, was more sensible to ridicule than to 
reason — " who dares laugh at me ?'''' 

" My lord, as sure as I live by bread — nay, 
more, as I am a true man — and I think your 
lordship never found E,ichie"'s tongue bearing 
aught but the truth — unless that your lordship's 
credit, my country's profit, or, it may be, some 
sma' occasion of my ain, made it unnecessary to 
promulgate the hail veritie, — I say then, as I am 
a true man, when I saw that puir creature come 
through the ha', at that ordinaiy, whilk is accurst 
(Heaven forgive me for swearing) of God and 
man, with his teeth set, and his hands clenched, 
and his bonnet drawn over his brows like a des- 
perate man, Gobhn said to me, ' there goes a 

U 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 59 

dunghill chicken, that your master has plucked 
clean enough ; it will be long ere his lordship 
ruffle a feather with a cock of the game.' And 
so, my lord, to speak it out, the lackies and the 
gallants, and more especially your sworn bro- 
ther. Lord Dalgarno, call you the sparrow-hawk. 
1 had some thought to have cracked Lutin's pate 
for the speech, but, after a', the controversy was 
not worth it." 

" Do they use such terms of me ?"" said Lord 
Nigel. " Death and the devil !" 

'• And ^he devil's dam, my lord," answered Ri- 
chie ; " they are all three busy in London — and, 
besides, Lutin and his master laughed at you, my 
lord, for letting it be thought diat — I shame to 
speak it — that ye were over well with the wife of 
the decent honest man whose house you but now 
left, as not sufficient for your new bravery, where- 
as they said — the licentious scoffers — that you 
pretended to such favour when you had not 
courage enough for so fair a quarrel, and that 
the sparrow-hawk was too craven-crested to fly 
at the wife of a cheese-monger." He stopped a 
moment, and looked fixedly in his master's face, 
which was inflamed with shame and anger, and 



60 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

then proceeded. " My lord, I did you justice 
in my thou<yht, and myself too ; for, thought I, 
he would have been as deep in that sort of pro- 
fligacy as in others, if it had na been Richie's 
four quarters."" 

" What new nonsense have you got to plague 
me with .?" said Lord Nigel. " But go on, since 
it is the last time I am to be tormented with your 
impertinence, go on, and make the most of your 
time." 

*' In troth," said Richie, " and so will I even 
do ; and as Heaven has bestowed on me a tongue 
to speak and to advise — ■ — " 

" Which talent you can by no means be ac- 
cused of suffering to remain idle," said Lord 
Glenvarloch, interrupting him. 

" True, my lord," — said Richie, again waving 
his hand as if to bespeak his master's silence and 
attention. " So I trust you will think sometime 
hereafter ; — and as I am about to leave your ser- 
vice, it is proper that ye suld know the truth, 
that ye may consider the snares to which your 
youth and innocence may be exposed, when auld- 
er and doucer heads are withdrawn from beside 
you. There has been a lusty good-looking kirn- 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 61 

mer, of some forty, or bygane, making mony 
speerings about you, my lord." 

" Well, sir, what did she want with me ?" said 
Lord Nigel. 

" At first, my lord," replied his sapient fol- 
k)wer, " as she seemed to be a well-fashioned 
woman, and to take pleasure in sensible conver- 
sation, I was no way reluctant to admit her to 
my conversation," 

" I dare say not," said Lord Nigel, " nor un- 
willing to tell her about my private affairs." 

" Not I, truly, my lord," said the attendant ; 
*' for though she asked me mony questions about 
your fame, your fortune, your business here, 
and such like, I did not think it ])roper to tell 
her altogether the truth thereanent." 

" I see no call on you whatsoever," said Lord 
Nisrel, " to tell the woman either truth or lies 
upon what she had nothing to do with." 

" I thought so, too, my lord," replied Richie, 
" and so I told her neither." 

" And what did you tell her then, you eternal 
babbler," said his master, impatient of his prate, 
yet curious to know what it was all to end in. 



62 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

" I told her,"" said Richie, " about your warld- 
ly fortune, and sae forth, something wliilk is not 
truth just at this time ; but which hath been 
truth formerly, suld be truth now, and will be 
truth again, — and that was, that you were in pos- 
session of your fair lands, whilk ye are but in 
right of as yet — pleasant communing we had on 
that and other topics, until she shewed the clo- 
ven foot, beginning to confer with me about some 
wench that she said had a good will to your 
lordship, and fain she would have spoken with 
you in particular anent it ; but when I heard of 
such inklings, I began to suspect she was little 

better than whew !" Here he concluded his 

narrative with a low, but very expressive whistle. 

" And what did your wisdom do in these cir- 
cumstances .?" said Lord Nigel, who, notwith- 
standing his former resentment, could now scarce- 
ly forbear laughing. 

" I put on a look, my lord," replied Richie, 
bending his solemn brows, " that suld give her 
a heart-scald of walking on such errands. I laid 
her enormities clearly before her, and I threat- 
ened her, in sae mony words, that I would have 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 63 

her to the ducking-stool ; and she on the contrair 
part miscawed me for a froward northern tyke, 
and so we parted never to meet again, as I hope 
and trust. And so I stood between your lordship 
and that temptation, which might have been worse 
than the ordinary, or the play-house either; since 
you wot well what Solomon, King of the Jews, 
sayeth of the strange woman — for, said I to my- 
sell, we have taken to diceing already, and if we 
take to drabbing next, the Lord kens what we 
may land in." 

" Your impertinence deserves correction, but 
it is the last which, for a time at least, I shall 
have to forgive — and I forgive it," said Lord 
Glenvarloch ; " and, since we are to part, Ri- 
chie, I will say no more respecting your precau- 
tions on my account, than that I think you might 
have left me to act according to my own judg- 
ment." 

" Mickle better not," answered Richie — 
" Mickle better not ; we are a' frail creatures, 
and can judge better for ilk ither than in our ain 
cases. And for me, even myself, saving that case of 
the sifflication, which might have happened to ony 



64 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

one, I have always observed myself to be mucli 
more prudential in what I have done in your 
lordship's behalf, than even in what I have been 
able to transact for my own interest, whilk last, 
I have indeed always postponed, as in duty I 
ought." 

" I do believe thou hast," said Lord Nigel, 
" having ever found thee true and faithful. And 
since London pleases you so little, I will bid you 
a short farewell ; and you may go down to Edin- 
burgh until I come thither myself, when I trust 
you will re-enter into my service." 

" Now, Heaven bless you, my lord," said Ri- 
chie Moniplies, with uplifted eyes ; " for that 
word sounds more like grace than ony has come 
out of your mouth this fortnight. I give you 
Godd''en, my lord." 

So saying, he thrust forth his immense bony 
hand, seized on that of Lord Glenvarloch, raised 
it to his lips, then turned short on his heel, and 
left the room hastily, as if afraid of shewing more 
emotion than was consistent with his ideas of de- 
corum. Lord Nigel, rather surprised at his sud- 
den exit, called after him to know whether he 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 65 

was sufficiently provided with money ; but Ri- 
chie, shaking his head, without making any 
other answer, ran hastily down stairs, shut the 
street-door heavily behind him, and was present- 
ly seen striding along the Strand. 

His master almost involuntarily watched and 
distinguished the tall raw-boned figure of his late 
follower, from the window, for some time, until 
he was lost among the crowd of passengers. Ni- 
gel's reflections were not altogether those of self- 
approval. It was no good sign of his course of 
life, (he could not help acknowledging thus much 
to himself,) that so faithful an adherent no longer 
seemed to feel the same pride in his service, or 
attachment to his person, which he had formerly 
manifested. Neither could he avoid experiencing 
some twinges of conscience, while he felt in some 
degree the charges which Richie had preferred 
against him, and experienced a sense of shame 
and mortification, arising from the colour given 
by others to that, which he himself would have 
called his caution and moderation in play. He 
had only the apology, that it had never occurred 
to himself in this light. 

VOL. II. E 



66 THE FORTUNES OF XIGEL. 

Then his pride and self-love suggested, that, 
on the other hand, Richie, with all his good in- 
tentions, was little better than a conceited prag- 
matical domestic, who seemed disposed rather to 
play the tutor than the lacquey, and who, out of 
sheer love, as he alleged, to his master\s person, 
assumed the privilege of interfering with, and 
controling his actions, besides rendering him ridi- 
culous in the gay world, from the antiquated for- 
mality, and intrusive presumption of his manners. 

NigePs eyes were scarce turned from the win- 
dow, when his new landlord entering, presented 
to him a slip of paper, carefully bound round 
with a string of flox-silk and sealed — it had been 
given in, he said, by a woman, who did not stop 
an instant. The contents harped upon the same 
string which Richie Moniplies had already jarred. 
The epistle was in the following words : 

" For the Right Honourable hands of Lord 
Glenvarloch, 

" These, from a friend unknown : — 
" My Lord, 
" You are trusting to an unhonest friend, and 

s 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 67 

diminishing an honest reputation. An unknown 
friend of your lordship will speak in one word 
what you would not learn from flatterers in so 
many days, as should suffice for your utter ruin. 
He whom you think most true — I say your friend 
Lord Dalgarno — is utterly false to you, and doth 
but seek, under pretence of friendship, to mar your 
fortune, and diminish the good name by which 
you might mend it. The kind countenance which 
he shews to you is more dangerous than the 
Prince''s frown ; even as to gain at Beaujeu's or- 
dinary is n^ore discreditable than to lose. Be- 
ware of both. — And this is all from your true, 
but nameless friend, 

" Ignoto." 

Lord Glenvarloch paused for an instant, and 
crushed the paper together — then again unfolded 
and read it with attention — bent his brows — mu- 
sed for a moment, and then tearing it to frag- 
ments, exclaimed — " Begone for a vile calumny ! 
But I will watch — I will observe "" 

Thought after thought rushed on him ; but, 
upon the whole, Lord Glenvarloch was so little 



68 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

satisfied with the result of his own reflections, 
that he resolved to dissipate them by a walk in the 
Park, and, taking his cloak and beaver, went thi- 
ther accordingly. 



THE FOKTUNES OF NIGEL. 69 



CHAPTER IV. 

'Twas when fleet Snowball's head was woxen grey, 
A luckless lev'ret met him on his way. — 
Who knows not Snowball — he, whose race renown'd 
Is still victorious on each coursing ground ? 
SwafFham, Newmarket, and the Roman Camp 
Have seen them victors o'er each meaner stamp — 
In vain the youngling sought, with doubling wile, 
The heSge, the hill, the thicket, or the stile. 
Experience sage the lack of speed supplied. 
And in the gap he sought, the victim died. — 
So was I once, in thy fair street. Saint James, 
Through walking cavaliers, and car-borne dames, 
Descried, pursued, tum'd o'er again, and o'er. 
Coursed, coted, mouth'd by an unfeeling bore. 

&c. &c &c. 

The Park of Saint James's, though enlarged, 
planted with verdant alleys, and otherwise deco- 
rated by Charles II., existed, in the days of his 
grandfather, as a public and pleasant promenade ; 
and, for the sake of exercise or pastime, was much 
frequented by the better classes. 

Lord Glenvarloch repaired thither to dispel the 
unpleasant reflections which liad been suggested 



70 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

by his parting with his trusty squire, Richie Mo- 
niphes, in a manner which was neither agreeable 
to his pride nor his feelings ; and by the corro- 
boration which the hints of his late attendant had 
received from the anonymous letter mentioned in 
the end of the last chapter. 

There was a considerable number of company 
in the Park when he entered it,buthis present state 
of mind inducing him to avoid society, he kept 
aloof from the more frequented walks towards 
Westminster and Whitehall, and drew to the 
north, or, as we should now say, the Piccadilly 
verge of the enclosure, believing he might there 
enjoy, or rather combat, his own thoughts unmo- 
lested. 

In this, however. Lord Glenvarloch was mista- 
. ken ; for, as he strolled slowly along with his arms 
folded in his cloak, and his hat drawn over his eyes, 
he was suddenly pounced upon by Sir Mungo 
Malagrowther, who, either shunning or shunned, 
had retreated, or had been obliged to retreat, to 
the same less frequented corner of the Park. 

Nigel started when he heard the high, sharp, 
and querulous tones of the Knight's cracked voice, 
and was no less alarmed when he beheld his tall 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 71 

thin figure hobbling towards him, wrapped in a 
thread-bare cloak, on whose surface ten thousand 
varied stains eclipsed the original scarlet, and ha- 
ving his head surmounted with a well-worn bea- 
ver, bearing a black velvet band for a chain, and 
a capon's feather for an ostrich plume. 

Lord Glenvarloch would fain have made his 
escape, but, as our motto intimates, a leveret had 
as little chance to free herself of an experienced 
greyhound. Sir Mungo, to continue the simile, 
had long ago learned to run cunnings and make 
sure of mflnithing his game. So Nigel found him- 
self compelled to stand and answer the hackneyed 
question — " What news to-day ?" 

*' Nothing extraordinary, I believe,"" answered 
the young nobleman, attempting to pass on. 

" O, ye are ganging to the French ordinary 
belive," replied the Knight ; *' but it is early day 
yet — we will take a turn in the Park in the mean- 
while — it will sharpen your appetite." 

So saying, he quietly slipped his arm under 
Lord Glenvarloch's, in spite of all the decent re- 
luctance which his victim could exhibit, by keep- 
ing his elbow close to his side ; and having fairly 
grappled the prize, he proceeded to take it in tow 



72 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

Nigel was sullen and silent, in hopes to shake 
off his unpleasant companion ; but Sir Mungo 
was determined, that if he did not speak he should 
at least hear. 

" Ye are bound for the ordinary, my lord ?" 
said the cynic; — " weel, ye canna do better — there 
is choice company there, and peculiarly selected, 
as I am tauld, being, dootless, sic as it is desira- 
ble that young noblemen should herd withal— 
and your noble father wad have been blithe to see 
you keeping such worshipful society." 

" I believe," said Lord Glenvarloch, thinking 
himself obliged to say something, " that the so- 
ciety is as good as generally can be found in such 
places, where the door can scarcely be shut against 
those who come to spend their money." 

" Right, my lord — vara right," said his tormen- 
tor, bursting out into a chuckling, but most dis- 
cordant laugh. " These citizen chuffs and clowns 
will press in amongst us, when there is but an inch 
of a door open. And what remedy ? — Just e'en 
this, that as their cash giVs them confidence, we 
should strip them of it. Flea them, my lord — singe 
them as the kitchen wench does the rats, and then 
they winna long to come back again.— Ay, ay— 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 73 

pluck them, plume them, — and then the larded 
capons will not be for flying so high a wing, my 
lord, among the goss-hawks and sparrow-hawks, 
and the like." 

And, therewithal. Sir Mungo fixed on Nigel 
his quick, sharp, grey eye, watching the effect of 
his sarcasm as keenly as the surgeon, in a delicate 
operation, remarks the progress of his anatomical 
scalpel. 

Nigel, however willing to conceal his sensa- 
tions, could not avoid gratifying his tormentor 
by wincing under the operation. He coloured 
with vexation and anger ; but a quarrel with Sir 
Mungo Malagrowther would, he felt, be unut- 
terably ridiculous ; and he only muttered to him- 
self the words, " impertinent coxcomb !" which, 
on this occasion. Sir Mungo's imperfection of or- 
gan did not prevent him from hearing and reply- 
ing to. 

" Ay, ay — vara true," exclaimed the caustic 
old courtier — " Impertinent coxcombs they are, 
that thus intrude themselves on the society of 
their betters ; but your lordship kens how to 
gar them as gudc — ye have the trick on't. — They 



74 THE FOKTUNES OF NIGEL. 

had a braw sport in the presence last Friday, 
how ye suld have routed a young shopkeeper, 
horse and foot, ta''en his spolia opima, and sC the 
specie he had about him, down to the very silver 
buttons of his cloak, and sent him to graze with 
Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. Muckle ho- 
nour redounded to your lordship thereby. — We 
were tauld the loon threw him sell into the Thames 
in a fit of desperation. There's enow of them be- 
hind — there was mair tint on Flodden-edge." 

'* You have been told a budget of lies, so far 
as I am concerned, Sir Mungo," said Nigel, 
speaking loud and sternly. 

*' Vara likely — vara likely," said the unabash- 
ed and undismayed Sir Mungo ; " naething but 
lies are current in the circle. — So the chield is 
not drowned, then ? — the mair's the pity. — But I 
never believed that part of the story — a London 
dealer has mair wit in his anger. I dare swear 
the lad has a bonny broom-shank in his hand by 
this time, and is scrubbing the kennels in quest 
after rusty nails, to help him to begin his pack 
again. — He has three bairns, they say ; they will 
help him bi'avely to grope in the gutters. Your 
good lordship may have the ruining of him again. 



THK FORTUNES OF NIGiiL. 75 

ray lordj if they have any luck in strand-scour- 



ing." 



" This is more than intolerable," said Nigel, 
uncertain whether to make an angry vindication 
of his character, or to fling the old tormentor 
from his arm. But an instant's recollection con- 
vinced him, that to do either, would only give an 
air of truth and consistency to the scandals which 
he began to see were affecting his character, both 
in the higher and lower circles. Hastily, there- 
fore, he formed the wiser resolution, to endure Sir 
Mungo's studied impertinence, under the hope of 
ascertaining, if possible, from what source those 
reports arose which were so prejudicial to his re- 
putation. 

Sir Mungo, in the mean while, caught up, as 
usual, Nigel's last words, or rather the sound of 
them, and amplified and interpreted them in his 
own way. " Tolerable luck !" he repeated; "Yes, 
truly, my lord, I am told that you have tolerable 
luck, and that ye ken weel how to use that jilting 
quean, Dame Fortune, like a canny douce lad, 
willing to warm yourself in her smiles, without 
exposing yourself to her frowns. And that is 
what I ca' having luck in a bag." 



76 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

" Sir Mungo Malagrowther," said Lord Glen- 
varloch, turning towards him seriously, " have 
the goodness to hear me for a moment.'" 

*' As weel as I can, my lord— as weel as I 
can," said Sir Mungo, shaking his head, and 
pointing the finger of his left hand to his ear. 

" I will try to speak very distinctly," said Nigel, 
arming himself with patience. " You take me 
for a noted gamester ; I give you my word that 
you have not been rightly informed — I am none 
such. You owe me some explanation, at least, 
respecting the source from which you have deri- 
ved such false information." 

" I never heard ye were a great gamester, and 
never thought or said you were such, my lord," 
said Sir Mungo, who found it impossible to avoid 
hearing what Nigel said with pecuharly delibe- 
rate and distinct pronunciation. " I repeat it— 
I never heard, said, or thought that you were a 
ruffling gamester, — such as they call those of the 
first head. — Look you, my lord, I call him a 
gamester, that plays with equal stakes and equal 
skill, and stands by the fortune of the game, 
good or bad ; and I call him a ruffling gamester, 
or ane of the first head, who ventures frankly 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 7T 

and deeply upon such a wager. But he, my lord, 
who has the patience and prudence never to ven- 
ture beyond small game, such as, at most, might 
crack the Christmas-box of a grocer's ""prentice, 
who vies with those that have little to hazard, 
and who therefore, having the larger stock, can 
always rook them by waiting for his good fortvme, 
and by rising from the game when luck leaves him 
— such a one as he, my lord, I do not call a great 
gamester, to whatever other name he may be en- 
titled." 

" And «uch a mean-spirited sordid wretch 
you would infer that I am," replied Lord Glen- 
varloch ; " one who fears the skilful, and preys 
upon the ignorant — who avoids playing with his 
equals, that he may make sure of pillaging his 
inferiors ? — Is this what I am to understand has 
been reported of me ?" 

" Nay, my lord, you will gain nought by 
speaking big with me," said Sir Mungo, who, 
besides that his sarcastic humour was really sup- 
ported by a good fund of animal courage, had 
also full reliance on the immunities which he had 
derived from the broadsword of Sir Rullion Rat- 



78 THE FOKTUNES OF NIGEL. 

tray, and the batton of the satellites employed by 
the Lady Cockpen. " And for the truth of the 
matter," he continued, " your lordship best knows 
whether you ever lost more than five pieces at a 
time since you frequented Beaujeu's — whether 
you have not most commonly risen a winner — 
and whether the brave young gallants who fre- 
quent the ordinary — I mean those of noble rank, 
and means conforming — are in use to play upon 
those terms ?" 

" My father was right,"" said Lord Glenvar- 
loch, in the bitterness of his spirit ; " and his 
curse justly followed me when I first entered that 
place. There is contamination in the air, and 
he whose fortune avoids ruin, shall be blighted 
in his honour and reputation.*" 

Sir Mungo, who watched his victim with the 
delighted yet wary eye of an experienced angler, 
became now aware, that if he strained the line on 
him too tightly, there was every risk of his break- 
ing hold. In order to give him room, therefore, 
to play, he protested that Lord Glenvarloch 
" should not take his free speech in malam par- 
tem. If you were a trifle ower sicker in your amuse- 
ment, ray lord, it canna be denied that it is the 



THE FORTUNES OF VIGEL. 79 

safest course to prevent farther endangerment of 
your somewhat dilapidated fortunes ; and if ye 
play with your inferiors, ye are relieved of the 
pain of pouching the siller of your friends and 
equals ; forbye, that the Plebeian knaves have 
had the advantage, tecum certasse, as Ajax Te- 
lamon sayeth, apud Metamorplioseos ; and for 
the like of them to have played with aae Scottish 
nobleman, is an honest and honourable considera- 
tion to compensate the loss of their stake, whilk, 
I dare say, moreover, maist of the churls can weel 
afford." e 

" Be that as it may, Sir IVIungo," said Nigel, 
" I would fain know " 

" Ay, ay," interrupted Sir Mungo ; " and, as 
you say, who cares whether the fat bulls of Ba- 
san can spare it or no ? gentlemen are not to li- 
mit their sport for the like of them." 

" I wish to know, Sir Mungo," said Lord 
Glenvarloch, " in what company you have learn- 
ed these offensive particulars respecting me." 

*' Bootless — dootless, my lord," said Sir Mun- 
go ; "I have ever heard, and have ever reported, 
that your lordship kept the best of company in a 
private way. — There is the fine Countess of 



80 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

Blackchester, but I think she stirs not much 
abroad since her affair with his Grace of Buck- 
ingham ; and there is the gude auld-fashioned 
Scottish nobleman, Lord Huntinglen, an unde- 
niable man of quality — it is pity but he could 
keep caup and can frae his head, whilk now and 
then doth minish his reputation. And there is 
the gay, young Lord Dalgarno, that carries the 
craft of gray hairs under his curled love-locks — a 
fair race they are, father, daughter, and son, all 
of the same honourable family. I think we need- 
na speak of George Heriot, honest man, when 
we have nobility in question. So that is the com- 
pany I have heard of your keeping, my lord, 
out-taken those of the ordinary." 

** My company has not, indeed, been much 
more extended than amongst those you mention," 
said Lord Glenvarloch ; " but in short "" 

" To court ?'" said Sir Mungo, " that was just 
what I was going to say — Lord Dalgarno says 
he cannot prevail on ye to come to court, and 
that does ye prejudice, my lord — the King hears 
of you by others, when he should see you in per- 
son—I speak in serious friendship, my lord. His 
Majesty, when you were named in the circle short 



THK FOllTUNES OF NIGEL. SI 

while since, was heard to say, ' Jacta est alea ! — 
Glenvarlochides is turned dicer and drinker/ — 
My Lord Dalgarno took your part, and was e'en 
borne down by the popular voice of the courtiers, 
who spoke of you as one who had betaken your- 
self to living a town life, and risking your baron's 
coronet amongst the flat-caps of the city." 

*' And this was publicly spoken of me," said. 
Nigel, " and in the King's presence .''" 

" Spoken openly ?" repeated Sir Mungo Mala- 
growther ; " ay, by my troth was it— that is to 
say, it was ^s^hispered privately — whilk is as open 
promulgation as the tiling permitted ; for ye may 
think the court is not like a place where men are 
as sib as Simmie and his brother, and roar out 
their minds as if they were at an ordinary.'' 

*' A curse on the court and the ordinary both !" 
cried Nigel impatiently. 

" With all my heart," said the Knight ; " I 
have got little by a knight's service in the court ; 
and the last time I was at the ordinary, I lost 
four angels." 

" IMay I pray of you, Sir Mungo, to let me 
know," said Nigel, " the names of those who thus 

VOL. II. F 



82 THE rOUTUNES OF XIGEL. 

make free with the character of one who can be 
but Uttle known to them, and who never injured 
•any of them ?" 

" Have I not told ye already," answered Sir 
Mungo, " that the King said something to that 
effect — so did the Prince too ;-— and such being 
the case, ye may take it on your corporal oath, 
that every man in the circle who was not silent, 
sung the same song as they did/' 

" You said but now," replied Glenvarloch, 
** that Lord Dalgarno interfered in my behalf."" 
*' In good troth did he," answered Sir Mungo, 
with a sneer ; " but the young nobleman was soon 
borne down — by token, he had something of a 
catarrh, and spoke as hoarse as a roupit raven. 
Poor gentleman, if he had had his full extent 
of voice, he would have been as well listened to, 
dootless, as in a cause of his ain, whilk no man 
kens better how to plead to purpose. — And let 
me ask you, by the way," continued Sir Mungo, 
" whether Lord Dalgarno has ever introduced 
your lordship to the Prince or the Duke of Buck- 
ingham,^ither of whom might soon carry through 
your suit .?" 



THE FOUTUXES OF NIGEL. 83 

*' I have no claim on the favour of either the 
Prince or the Duke of Buckingham,'"* said Lord 
Glenvai-loch. — '' As you seem to have made my 
affairs your study. Sir ]\Iungo, although perhaps 
something unnecessarily, you may have heard 
that I have petitioned my Sovereign for payment 
of a debt due to my family. I cannot doubt the 
King's desire to do justice, nor can I in decency 
employ the solicitation of his Highness the Prince, 
or his Grace the Duke of Buckingham, to obtain 
from his Majesty what either should be granted 
me as a riglit, or refused altogether." 

Sir Mung-o twisted his whimsical features into 
one of his most grotesque sneers, as he replied — 

" It is a vara clear and parspicuous position 
of the case, my lord ; and in relying thereupon, 
you shew an absolute and unimproveable ac- 
qaintance with the King, court, and mankind in 
general. — But whom have we got here ? — Stand 
up, ray lord, and make way — by my word of 
honour, they are the very men we spoke of — talk 
of the devil, and — humph !"" 

It must here be premised, that, during the con- 



84 THE FORTUNES OF XIGEL. 

versation, Lord Glenvarloch, perhaps in the hope 
of shaking himself free of Sir Mungo, had di- 
rected their walk towards the more frequented 
part of the Park ; while the good Knight had 
stuck to him, being totally indifferent which way 
they went, provided he could keep his talons 
clutched upon his companion. They were still, 
however, at some distance from the livelier part 
of the scene, when Sir Mungo's experienced eye 
noticed the appearances which occasioned the lat- 
ter part of his speech to Lord Glenvarloch. 

A low respectful murmur arose among the 
numerous groupes of persons which occupied the 
lower part of the Park. They first clustered to- 
gether, with their faces turned towards White- 
hall, then fell back on either hand to give place 
to a splendid party of gallants, who, advancing 
from the Palace, came onward through the Park ; 
all the other company drawing off the pathway, 
and standing uncovered as they passed. 

Most of these courtly gallants were dressed in 
the garb which the pencil of Vand3^ke has made 
familiar even at the distance of nearly two cen- 



THK FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 85 

turies ; and which was just at this period begin- 
ning to supersede the more fluttering and frivo- 
lous dress which had been adopted from the 
French court of Henri Quatre. 

The whole train were uncovered excepting the 
Prince of Wales, afterwards the most unfortunate 
of British monarchs, who came onward, havin^ 
his long curled auburn tresses, and his counte- 
nance, which, even in early youth, bore a shade 
of anticipated melancholy, shaded by the Spanish 
hat and the single ostrich feather which drooped 
from it. On his right hand was Buckingham, 
whose commanding, and at the same time grace- 
ful deportment, threw almost into shade the per- 
sonal demeanour and majesty of the Prince on 
whom he attended. The eye, movements, and 
gestures of the great courtier were so composed, 
so regularly observant of all etiquette belonging 
to his situation, as to form a marked and strong 
contrast with the forward gaiety and frivolity by 
which he recommended himself to the favour of 
his " dear dad and gossip," King James. A sin- 
gular fate attended this accomplished courtier, in 



86 THK FOK'i'UNES OF NIGEL. 

being at once the reigning favourite of a father 
and son so very opposite in manners, that, to in- 
gratiate himself with the youthful Prince, he was 
obliged to compress within the strictest limits of 
respectful observance the frolicsome and free hu- 
mour which captivated his aged father. 

It is true, Buckingham well knew the different 
dispositions both of James and Charles, and had 
no difficulty in so conducting himself as to main- 
tain the highest post in the favour of both. It has 
indeed been supposed, that the Duke, when he 
had completely possessed himself of the affections 
of Charles, retained his hold in those of the father 
only by the tyranny of custom ; and that James, 
could he have brought himself to form a vigorous 
resolution, was, in the latter years of his life espe- 
cially, not unlikely to have discarded Buckingham 
from his counsels and favour. But if ever he in- 
deed meditated such a change, he was too timid and 
too much accustomed to the influence which the 
Duke had long exercised over him, to summon 
up resolution enough for effecting such a pur- 
pose ; and at all events it is certain, Butking- 

11 



THE FORTUNliS OF Xlf.EL. 87 

ham, though surviving the master by whom he 
was raised, had the rare chance to experience no 
wane of the most splendid court-favour during 
two reigns, until it was at once eclipsed in his 
blood hy the dagger of his assassin Felton. 

To return from this digression : The Prince 
with his train advanced, and were near the place 
where Lord Glenvarloch and Sir Mungo had 
stood aside according to form, in order to give 
the Prince passage, and to pay the usual marks of 
respect. ]Nigel could now remark that Lord Dal- 
garno walked close behind the Duke of Bucking 
ham, and, as he thought, whispered something in 
his ear as they came onw ard. At any rate, both 
the Prince''s and Duke of Buckingham's attention 
seemed to be directed by some circumstance to- 
wards Nigel, for they turned their heads in that 
direction and looked at him attentively — the 
Prince with a countenance, the grave, melancholy 
expression of which was blended with severity ; 
whileBuckingham's looks evinced some degree of 
scornful triumph. Lord Dalgarno did not seem 
to observe his friend, perhaps because the sun- 
beams fell from the side of the walk on which Ni- 



88 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

gel Stood, obliging Malcolm to hold up his hat to 
screen his eyes. 

As the Prince passed, Lord Glenvarloch and 
Sir Mungo bowed, as respect required ; and the 
Prince returning their obeisance with that grave 
ceremony which paid to every rank its due, but 
not a tittle beyond it, signed to Sir Mungo to 
come forward. Commencing an apology for his 
lameness as he started, which he had just com- 
pleted as his hobbling gait brought him 'up to 
the Prince, Sir Mungo lent an attentive, and, as 
it seemed, an intelligent ear to questions, asked 
in a tone so low, that the Knight would certainly 
have been deaf to them had they been put to him 
by any one under the rank cf Prince of Wales. 
After about a minute's conversation, the Prince 
bestowed on Nigel the embarrassing notice of 
another fixed look, touched his hat slightly to Sir 
Mungo, and walked on. 

** It is even as I suspected, my lord,'"* said Sir 
Mungo, with an air which he designed to be me- 
lancholy and sympathetic, but which, in fact, re- 
sembled the grin of an ape when he has mouthed 
a scalding chesnut — " Ve have back-friends, my 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 89 

lord, that is, unfriends^r, to be plain, enemies 
— about the person of the Prince." 

" I am sorry to hear it,"" said Nigel ; " but I 
would I knew what they accuse me of." 

" Ye shall hear, my lord," said Sir Mungo, 
" the Prince's vara words — * Sir Mungo,' said 
he, ' I rejoice to see you, and am glad your 
rheumatic troubles permit you to come hither for 
exercise.' — I bowed, as in duty bound — ye might 
remark, my lord, that I did so, whilk formed the 
first branch of our conversation. — His Highness 
then demanded of me, ' if he with whom I stood, 
was the young Lord Glenvarloch.' I answered, 
< that you were such, for his Highness's service ;' 
whilk was the second branch. — Thirdly, his High- 
ness, resuming the argument, said, that ' truly he 
had been told so, (meaning that he had been told 
you were that personage ;) but that he could not 
beheve, that the heir of that noble and decayed 
house could be leading an idle, scandalous, and 
precarious life in the eating-houses and taverns 
of London, while the King's drums were beating, 
and colours flying in Germany in the cause of the 
Palatine, his son-in-law.' — I could, your lordship 



J)0 TlJl. I'OilTUNKS OF NIGEL. 

is aware, do nothing but make an obeisance ; and 
a gracious * give ye good day, Sir Mungo Mala- 
growther,"" licenced me to fall back to your lord- 
ship. And now, my lord, if your business or 
pleasure calls you to the ordinary, or any where 
in the direction of the city — why, have with you ; 
for, dootless, ye will think ye have tarried lang 
enough in the Park, as they will likely turn at 
the head of the walk, and return this way — and 
you have a broad hint, I think, not to cross the 
Prince's presence in a hurry.'" 

*' You may stay or go as you please, Sir 
Mungo," said Nigel, with an expression of calm, 
but deep resentment ; " but, for my own part, 
my resolution is taken, I will quit this public 
walk for pleasure of no man — still less will I quit 
it like one unworthy to be seen in places of pub- 
lic resort. I trust that the Prince and his reti- 
nue will return this way as you expect ; for I will 
abide, Sir Mungo, and beard them." 

" Beard them ("exclaimed Sir Mungo, in the 
extremity of surprise, — " Beard the Prince of 
Wales — the heir-apparent of the kingdoms! — By 
my saul, you shall beard him yoursell then." 



THE FOUTUNES OF XIGEL. 91 

Accordingly, he was about to leave Nigel very 
hastily, when some unwonted touch of good na- 
tured interest in his youth and inexperience, 
seemed suddenly to soften his habitual cynicism. 
" The devil is in me, for an auld fule !" said 
Sir Mungo ; " but I must needs concern my sell 
I that owe so little either to fortune or my fel- 
low-creatures, must, I say, needs concern my sell 
— with this springald, whom I will warrant to be 
as obstinate as a pig possessed with a devil, for it's 
the cast of his family ; and yet I maun e'en fling- 
away some, sound advice on him. — My dainty 
young Lord Glenvarloch, understand me dis- 
tinctly, for this is no bairn's-play. When the 
Prince said sae much to me as I have repeated to 
you, it was equivalent to a command not to ap- 
pear again in his presence ; wherefore, take an 
auld man's advice that wishes you weel, and may- 
be a wee thing better than he has reason to wish 
ony body. Jouk, and let the jaw gae bye, like 
a canny bairn — gang hame to your lodgings, 
keep your foot frac taverns, and your fingers 
frae the dice-box ; compound your affairs quiet- 
ly wi' some ane that has better favour than yours 



92 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

about court, and you will get a round spell of 
money to carry you to Germany, or elsewhere, 
to push your fortune. It was a fortunate soldier 
that made your family four or five hundred years 
syne, and, if you are brave and fortunate, you 
may find the way to repair it. But, take my 
word for it, that in this court you will never 
thrive." 

When Sir Mungo had completed his exhorta- 
tion, in which there was more of sincere sympa- 
thy with another'^s situation, than he had been 
heretofore known to express in behalf of any one. 
Lord Glenvarloch replied, " I am obliged to 
you. Sir Mungo — you have spoken, I think, 
with sincerity, and I thank you. But in return 
for your good advice, I heartily entreat you to 
leave me ; I observe the Prince and his train are 
returning down the walk, and you may prejudice 
yourself, but cannot help me, by remaining with 
me." 

" And that is true,"^ — said Sir Mungo ; " yet, 
were I ten years younger, I wald be tempted to 
stand by you, and gie them the meeting. But at 
three-score and upward, men's courage turns 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 93 

caldrife ; and they that canna win a living, must 
not endanger tlie small sustenance of their age. 
I wish you weel through, my lord, but it is an 
unequal fight." So saying, he turned and limp- 
ed away ; often looking back, however, as if his 
natural spirit, even in its present subdued state, 
aided by his love of contradiction and of debate, 
rendered him unwilling to adopt the course ne- 
cessary for his own security. 

Thus abandoned by his companion, whose de- 
parture he graced with better thoughts of him 
than those yhich he bestowed on his appearance, 
Nigel remained with his arms folded, and reclining 
against a soHtary tree which overhung the path, 
making up his mind to encounter a moment which 
he expected to be critical of his fate. But he was 
mistaken in supposing that the Prince of Wales 
would either address him, or admit him to expos- 
tulation in such a public place as the Park. He 
did not remain unnoticed, however ; for, when he 
made a respectful but haughty obeisance, intima- 
ting in look and manner that he was possessed 
of, and undaunted by, the unfavourable opinion 

which the Prince had so lately expressed, Charles 

. 2 



94 TIIF. KORTTINES OF NIGET,. 

returned his reverence with such a frown, as is 
only given by those whose frown is authority and 
decision. The train passed on, the Duke of Buck- 
ingham not even appearing to see Lord Glenvar- 
loch ; while Lord Dalgarno, though no longer in- 
commoded by the sun-beams, kept his eyes, which 
had perhaps been dazzled by their former splen- 
dour, bent upon the ground. 

Lord Glenvarloch had difficulty to restrain an 
indignation, to which, in the circumstances, it 
would have been madness to have given vent. 
He started from his reclining posture, and fol- 
lowed the Prince^'s train so as to keep them dis- 
tinctly in sight; which was very easy, as they 
walked slowly. Nigel observed them keep their 
road towards the Palace, where the Prince turn- 
ed at the gate and bowed to the noblemen in 
attendance, in token of dismissing them, and 
entered the Palace, accompanied only by the 
Duke of Buckingham, and one or two of his 
equerries. The rest of the train, having returned 
in all dutiful humility the farewell of the Prince, 
began to disperse themselves through the Park. 



THE FOUTUXF.S OF XtCiKL. O'^ 

All this was carefully noticed by Lord Glen- 
varloch, who, as he adjusted his cloak, and drew 
his sword-belt round so as to bring the hilt closer 
to his hand, muttered — " Dalgarno shall explain 
all this to me, for it is evident that he is in the 
secret !" 



90 THE FORTUNKS OF NIGEL. 



CHAPTER V. 

Give way — give way — I must and will have justice. 

And tell me not of privilege and place ; 

Where I am injured, there I'll sue redress. 

Look to it every one who bars my access, 

I have a heart to feel the injury, 

A hand to right myself, and, by my honour, 

That hand shall grasp what grey-beard Law denies me. 

The Chamberlain. 

It was not long ere Nigel discovered Lord Dal- 
garno advancing towards him in the company of 
another young man of quahty of* the Prince's train ; 
and as they directed their course towards the 
south-eastern corner of the Park, he concluded 
they were about to go to Lord Huntinglen's. 
They stopped, however, and turned up another 
path leading to the north ; and Lord Glenvarloch 
conceived that this change of direction was owing 
to their having seen him, and their desire to avoid 
him. 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 97 

Nigel followed them without hesitation, by a path 
which, winding around a thicket of shrubs and 
trees, once more conducted him to the less fre- 
quented part of the Park. He observed which 
side of the thicket was taken by Lord Dalgarno 
and his companion, and he himself, walking has- 
tily round the other verge, was thus enabled to 
meet them face to face. 

" Good morrow, my Lord Dalgarno," said 
Lord Glenvarloch, sternly. 

" Ha I my friend Nigel," answered Lord Dal- 
garno, in hil^ usual careless and indifferent tone, 
"my friend Nigel, with business on his brow? — but 
you must wait till we meet at Beaujeu''s at noon — 
Sir Ewes Haldimund and I are at present engaged 
in the Prince"'s service.'"' 

" If you were engaged in the King's, my lord," 
said Lord Glenvarloch, " you must stand and an- 
swer me."" 

" Hey-day V said Lord Dalgarno, with an air 
of great astonishment, " what passion is this .'* 
Why, Nigel, this is King Cambyses"" vein ! — You 
have frequented the theatres too much lately — 

VOL. If. G 



98 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

Away with this folly, man ; go, dine upon soup and 
sallad, drink succory-water to cool your blood, go 
to bed at sun-down, and defy those foul fiends. 
Wrath and Misconstruction." 

" I have had misconstruction enough among 
you," said Glenvarloch, in the same tone of de- 
termined displeasure, " and from you, my Lord 
Dalgarno, in particular, and all under the mask 
of friendship." 

" Here is a proper business !" — said Dalgarno, 
turning as if to appeal to Sir Ewes Haldimund ; 
"do you see this angry ruffler. Sir Ewes ? A month 
since he dared not have looked one of yonder 
sheep in the face, and now he is a prince of rois- 
terers, a plucker of pigeons, a controller of players 
and poets — and in gratitude for my having shewn 
him the way to the eminent character which he 
holds upon town, he comes Irither to quarrel with 
his best friend, if not his only one." 

" I renounce such hollow friendship, my lord," 
said Lord Glenvarloch ; " I disclaim the charac- 
ter which, even to my very face, you labour to fix 
upon me, and ere we part I will call you to a 
reckoning for it." 



THE roUTU^^ES OF XIGEL. 99 



a 



My lords both," interrupted Sir Ewes Ilal- 
dimund, " let me remind you that the royal Park 
is no place to quarrel in/' 

" I will make my quarrel good,"" said Nigel, 
who did not know, or in his passion might not 
have recollected, the privileges of the place, 
" wherever I find my enemy." 

*' You shall find quarrelling enough,"" replied 
Lord Dalgarno, calmly, " so soon as you assign a 
sufficient cause for it. Sir Ewes Haldimund, who 
knows the court, will warrant you that I am not 
backward <Jn such occasions. But of what is it 
that you now complain, after having experienced 
nothing save kindness from me and my family .?"" 

" Of your family I complain not,"" replied Lord 
Glenvarloch ; " they have done for me all they 
could, — more, far more, than I could have expect- 
ed ; but you, my lord, have suffered me, while 
you called me your friend, to be traduced, where 
a word of your mouth would have placed my cha- 
racter in its true colours — and hence the injurious 
message which I just now received from the Prince 
of Wales. To permit the misrepresentation of a 
friend, my lord, is to share in the slander." 



100 THK FORTUNKS. OF NIGEL. 

" You have been misinformed, my Lord Glen- 
varloch/' said Sir Ewes Haldimund; " I have 
myself often heard Lord Dalgarno defend your 
character, and regret that your exclusive attach- 
ment to the pleasures of a London life prevented 
your paying your duty regularly to the King and 
Prince."" 

" While he himself,'' said Lord Glenvarloch, 
" dissuaded me from presenting myself at court." 

" I will cut this matter short," said Lord Dal- 
garno, with haughty coldness. " You seem to 
have conceived, my lord, that you and I were Py- 
lades and Orestes — a second edition of Damon and 
Pythias — Theseus andPirithous at the least. You 
are mistaken, and have given the name of friend- 
ship to what, on my part, was mere good-nature 
and compassion for a raw and ignorant country- 
man, joined to the cumbersome charge which my 
father gave me respecting you. Your character, 
my lord, is of no one's drawing, but of your own 
making. I introduced you where, as in all such 
places, there was good and indifferent company to 
be met with — ^your habits, or taste, made you prefer 
the worse. Your holy horror at the sight of dice 



THK FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 101 

and cards degenerated into the cautious resolution 
to play only at those times, and with such persons, 
as might ensiure yoiu' rising a winner — ^no man can 
long do so, and continue to be held a gentleman. 
Such is the reputation you have made for yoiu-self, 
and you have no right to be angry that I do not 
contradict what yourself knows to be true. Let 
us pass on, my lord ; and if you want further ex- 
planation, seek some other time and fitter place." 

" No time can be better than the present," said 
Lord Glenvarloch, whose resentment was now ex- 
cited to the uttermost by the cold-blooded and in- 
sidting manner in which Dalgarno vindicated him- 
self, — " no place fitter than the place where we 
now stand. Those of my house have ever avenged 
insult, at the moment, and on the spot, where it 
was offered, were it at the foot of the throne. — 
Lord Dalgarno, you are a villain ! draw and de- 
fend yourself" At the same time he unsheathed 
his rapier. 

" Are you mad V said Lord Dalgarno, step- 
ping back ; " we are in the precincts of the court." 

" The better," answered Lord Glenvarloch ; 
" I will cleanse them from a calumniator and a 



102 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

coward.'' He then pressed on Lord Dalgamo, 
and struck him with the flat of the sword. 

The fray had now attracted attention, and the 
cry went round, " Keep the peace — keep the 
peace — swords drawn in the Park. — What, ho ! 
guards ! — keepers — yeomen rangers !" and a num- 
ber of people came rushing to the spot from all 
sides. 

Lord Dalgamo, who had half drawn his sword 
on receiving the blow, returned it to his scab- 
bard when he observed the crowd thicken, and 
taking Sir Ewes Haldiraund by the arm, waljced 
hastily away, only saying to Lord Glenvarloch 
as they left him, " You shall dearly abye this in- 
sult — we will meet again."" 

A decent-looldng elderly man, who observed 
that Lord Glenvarloch remained on the spot, 
taking compassion on his youthful appearance, 
said to him, " Are you aware this is a Star- 
Chamber business, young gentleman, and that it 
may cost you yom* right hand ? — Shift for your- 
self before the keepers or constables come up— 
Get into Whitcfriars or somewhere, for sanctuary 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 103 

and concealment, till you can make friends or quit 
the city." 

The advice was not to be neglected. Lord 
Glenvarloch made hastily towards the issue from 
the Park by Saint James's Palace, then Saint 
James's Hospital. The hubbub increased be- 
hind him ; and several peace-officers of the Royal 
Household came up to apprehend the dehnquent. 
Fortunately for Nigel, a popular edition of the 
cause of the aflPray had gone abroad. It was said 
that one of the Duke of Buckingham's compa- 
nions had insulted a stranger gentleman from the 
country, and that the stranger had cudgelled him 
soundly. A favourite, or the companion of a fa- 
vourite, is always odious to John Bull, who has, 
besides, a partiaHty to those disputants who pro- 
ceed, as lawyers term it, jjar voye du fait, and 
both prejudices were in Nigel's favour. The of- 
ficers, therefore, who came to apprehend him, 
could learn from the spectators no particulars of 
his appearance, or information concerning the road 
he had taken ; so that, for the moment, he escaped 
being arrested. 

AVhat Lord Glenvarloch heard among the 
crowd as he passed along, was sufficient to satisfy 



104 THE FOllTUNES OF NIGEL. 

him, that in his impatient passion he had placed 
himself in a predicament of considerable danger. 
He was no stranger to the severe and arbitrary 
proceedings of the Court of Star-Chamber, espe- 
cially in cases of breach of privilege, which made 
it the terror of aU men ; and it was not longer 
than the Queen's time that the punishment of 
mutilation had been actually awarded and execu- 
ted, for some offence of the same kind which he 
had just committed. He had also the comfortable 
reflection, that by his violent quarrel with Lord 
Dalgarno, he must now forfeit the friendship and 
good offices of that nobleman's father and sister, 
almost the only persons of consideration in whom 
he could claim any interest ; while all the evil re- 
ports which had been put in circulation concern- 
ing his character, were certain to weigh heavily 
against him, in a case where much must necessari- 
ly depend on the reputation of the accused. To a 
youthful imagination, the idea of such a punish- 
ment as mutilation, seems more ghastly than 
death itself ; and every word which he overheard 
among the groupes whom he met, mingled with, 
or overtook and passed, announced this as the 
penalty of his offence. He dreaded to increase 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 105 

his pace for fear of attracting suspicion, and more 
than once saw the ranger's officers so near him, 
that his wrist tingled as if it were already under 
the blade of the dismembering knife. At length 
he got out of the Park, and had a little more lei- 
bure to consider what he was next to do. 

Whitefriars, adjacent to the Temple, then well 
known by the cant name of Alsatia, had at this 
time, and for nearly a century afterwards, the 
privilege of a sanctuary, unless against the writ 
of the Lord Chief Justice, or of the Lords of 
the Privy-Council. Indeed, as the place abound- 
ed with desperadoes of every description, — bank- 
rupt citizens, ruined gamesters, irreclaimable pro- 
digals, desperate duellists, bravoes, homicides, 
and debauched profligates of every description, 
all leagued together to maintain the immunities 
of their asylum, — it was both difficult and unsafe 
for the officers of the law to execute warrants ema- 
nating even from the highest authority, amongst 
men whose safety was inconsistent with warrants 
or authority of any kind. This Lord Glenvar- 
loch well knew ; and odious as the place of re- 
fuge was, it seemed the only one where, for a space 



106 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

at least, he might be concealed and secure from 
the immediate grasp of the law, until he should 
have leisure to provide better for his safety, or 
to get this unpleasant matter in some shape ac- 
commodated. 

Meanwhile, as Nigel walked hastily forward to- 
wards the place of sanctuary, he bitterly accused 
himself for suffering Lord Dalgarno to lead him 
into the haunts of dissipation ; and no less accu- 
sed his intemperate heat of passion, which now 
had driven him for refuge into the purlieus of pro- 
fane and avowed vice and debauchery. 

" Dalgarno spoke but too tridy in that,"" were his 
bitter reflections ; " I have made myself an evil 
reputation by acting on his insidious counsels, and 
neglecting the wholesome admonitions which ought 
to have claimed implicit obedience from me, and 
which recommended abstinence even from the 
slightest approach to evil. But if I escape from 
the perilous labyrinth in which folly and inexpe- 
rience, as well as violent passions, have involved 
me, I will find some noble way of redeeming the 
lustre of a name which was never sullied until I 
bore it." 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 107 

As liOrd Glenvarloch formed these prudent re- 
solutions he entered the Temple Walks, whence 
a gate at that time opened into Whitefriars, by 
which, as by the more private passage, he propo- 
sed to betake himself to the sanctuary. As he 
approached the entrance to that den of infamy, 
from which his mind recoiled even while in the 
act of taking shelter there, his pace slackened, 
while the steep and broken stairs remmded him of 
the facilis descensus Averni, and rendered him 

doubtful whether it were not better to brave the 

f 

worst which could befall hun in the public haimts 
of honourable men, than to evade punishment by 
secluding himself in those of avowed vice and pro- 
fligacy. 

As Nigel hesitated, a young gentleman of 
the Temple advanced towards him, whom he had 
often seen and sometimes conversed with at the 
ordinary, where he was a frequent and welcome 
guest, being a wild young gallant, indifferently 
well provided with money, Avho spent at the theatres, 
and other gay places of public resort, the time 
which his father supposed he was employing 
in the study of the law. But Reginald Lowc- 
stoffc, such was the yoimg TcmpUlr^s name, was of 



108 THJi FOKTUNES OF NIGEL. 

opinion that little law was necessary to enable him 
to spend the revenues of the paternal acres which 
were to devolve upon him at his father's demise, 
and therefore gave himself no trouble to acquire 
more of that science than might be imbibed along 
with the learned air of the region in which he had 
his chambers. In other respects, he was one of the 
wits of the place, read Ovid and Martial, aimed at 
quick Repartee and pvm, (often very far fetched,) 
danced, fenced, played at tennis, and performed 
sundry tunes on the fiddle and French horn, to 
the great annoyance of old Counsellor Barratter, 
who lived in the chambers immediately below him. 
Such was Reginald LowestofFe, shrewd, alert, and 
well acquainted with the town in all its recesses ; 
who now approaching the Lord Glenvarloch, sa- 
luted him by name and title, and asked if his 
lordship designed for the Chevaher's this day, 
observing it was near noon, and the woodcock 
would be on the board ere they could reach the 
ordinary. 

" I do not go there to-day,"" answered Lord 
Glenvarloch. 

" Which way then, my lord ?'" said the young 
Templar, who was perhaps not undesirous to pa- 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 109 

rade a part at least of the street in company with 
a lord, though but a Scotch one. 

" I — I" — said Nigel, desiring to avail himself 
of this young man's local knowledge, yet unwilling 
and ashamed to acknowledge his intention to take 
refuge in so disreputable a quarter, or to de- 
scribe the situation in which he stood — " I have 
some curiosity to see Whitefriars." 

" What, your lordship is for a frolic into Al- 
satia .'*" said Lowestoffe — " have with you, my lord 
— you cannot have a better guide to the infernal 
regions than myself. I promise you there are bo- 
nas-roba to be foimd there — good wine too, ay, 
and good fellows to drink it with, though some- 
what suiFering under the frowns of Fortune. But 
your lordship wiU pardon me — you are the last 
of our acquaintance to whom I would have pro- 
posed such a voyage of discovery." 

" I am obliged to you. Master Lowestoffe, for the 
good opinion you have expressed in the observa- 
tion," said Lord Glenvarloch ; " but my present 
circumstances may render even a residence of a 
day or two in the sanctuary a matter of necessity." 

" Indeed !" said Lowestoffe, in a tone of great 



110 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

surprise ; " I thought your lordship had always 
taken care not to risk any considerable stake — I 
beg pardon, but if the bones have proved perfi- 
dious, I know just so much law as that a peer''s 
person is sacred from arrest ; and for mere impe- 
cuniosity, my lord, better shift can be made else- 
where than in Whitefriars, where all are devour- 
ing each other for very poverty." 

" My misfortune has no connexion with want 
of money," said Nigel. 

" Why then, I suppose," said Lowestoffe, "you 
have been tilting, my lord, and have pinked your 
man ; in which case, and with a purse reasonably 
furnished, you may lie perdu in Whitefriars for a 
twelvemonth — Marry, but you must be entered 
and received as a member of their worshipful so- 
ciety, my lord, and a frank burgher of Alsatia — 
so far you must condescend ; there will be neither 
peace nor safety for you else." 

" My fault is not in a degree so deadly, Master 
Lowestoffe," answered Lord Glenvarloch, " as 
you seem to conjecture — I have stricken a gentle- 
man in the Park, that is all." 

*' By my hand, my lord, and you had better 



THE FOKTUXES OF NIGEL. Ill 

have struck your sword through him at Barns 
elms," said the Templar. " Strike within the verge 
of the Court ! You will find that a weighty de- 
pendence upon your hands, especially if your party 
be of rank and have favour." 

"•' I will be plain with you, Master Lowestoffe," 
said Nigel, " since I have gone thus far. The 
person whom I struck was Lord Dalgarno, whom 
you have seen at Beaujeus." 

" A follower and favourite of the Duke of 
Buckingham ! — It is a most mihappy chance, my 
lord ; but rfy heart was formed in England, and 
cannot bear to see a young nobleman borne down, 
as you are like to be. We converse here greatly 
too open for your circumstances. The Templars 
would suffer no bailiff to execute a writ, and no gen- 
tleman to be arrested for a duel, within their pre- 
cincts ; but in such a matter between Lord Dalgar- 
no and your lordship, there might be a party on 
either side. You must away with me instantly to 
my poor chambers here, hard by, and undergo some 
little change of dress, ere you take sanctuary ; for 
else you will have the whole rascal rout of the 
Friars about you, like crows upon a falcon that 

8 



11^ THK FORtlfNES OF NIGEL. 

Strays into their rookery. We must have you ar- 
rayed something more like the natives of Alsatia, 
or there will be no life there for you." 

While Lowestoffe spoke, he pulled Lord Glen- 
varloch along with him into his chambers, where 
he had a handsome library, filled with all the poems 
and play-books which were then in fashion. The 
Templar then dispatched a boy, who waited upon 
him, to procure a dish or two from the next cook's 
shop ; " and this,"" he said, " must be your lord- 
ship''s dinner, with a glass of old sack, of which my 
grandmother (the heavens requite her !) sent me a 
dozen bottles, with charge to use the liquor only 
with clarified whey, when I felt my breast ache 
with over study. Marry, we will drink the good 
lady's health in it, if it is your lordship's pleasure, 
and you shall see how we poor students eke out 
our mutton-commons in the hall." 

The outward door of the chambers was barred 
so soon as the boy had re-entered with the food ; 
the page was ordered to keep close watch and ad- 
mit no one ; and LowestofFe, by example and pre- 
cept, pressed his noble guest to partake of his hos- 
pitality. His frank and forward manners, though 

t 



THE FOUTUXKS OF NIGEL. US 

much differing from the coui-tly ease of Lord Dal- 
garno, were calculated to make a favourable im- 
pression, and Lord Glenvarloch, though his ex- 
perience of Dalgarno's perfidy had taught him to 
be cautious of reposing faith in friendly professions, 
could not avoid testifying his gratitude to the 
young Templar, who seemed so anxious for his 
safety and accommodation. 

" You may spare your gratitude any great sense 
of obhgation, my lord," said the Templar. " No 
doubt I am wiUing to be of use to any gentleman 
that has cau^e to sing Fortune my Joe, and par- 
ticularly proud to serve your lordship's turn ; but 
I have also an old grudge, to speak heaven's 
truth, at your opposite. Lord Dalgarno." 

" May I ask upon what account. Master Lowes- 
toffe?" said Lord Glenvarloch 

" O, my lord," rephed the Templar, " it was for 
a hap that chanced after you left the ordinary, one 
evening about three weeks since — at least I think 
you were not by, as your lordship always left us 
before deep play began — I mean no offence, but 
such was your lordship's custom — when there were 
words between Lord Dalgarno and me concerning 

VOL. 11. if 



114 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

a certain game at gleek, and a certain mournival 
of aces held by his lordship, which went for eight 
— Tib, whichwent for fifteen — twenty-three in all. 
Now I held king and queen, being three — a natu- 
ral Towser, making fifteen — and Tiddy, nineteen. 
We vied the ruff, and revied, as your lordship may 
suppose, till the stake was equal to half my yearly 
exhibition, fifty as fair yellow canary birds as 
e'er chu-ped in the bottom of a green silk purse. 
Well, my lord, I gained the cards, and lo you ! it 
pleases his lordship to say, that we played without 
Tiddy ; and as the rest stood by and backed him, 
and especially the sharking Frenchman, why I 
was obliged to lose more than I shall gain all the 
season. — So judge if I have not a crow to pluck 
with his lordship. Was it ever heard there was a 
game at gleek at the ordinary before, without 
counting Tiddy ? — marry quep upon his lordship ! 
— every man who comes there with his purse in his 
hand is as free to make new laws as he I hope, 
since touch pot touch penny makes every man 
equal." 

As Master Lowestoffe ran over this jargon of 
the gaming-table. Lord Glenvarloch was both 



THE FORTUyF.S OF NIGEL. 115 

ashamed and mortiHcd, and felt a severe pang of 
aristocratic pride, when he conchided in the sweep- 
ing clause, that the dice, Hkc the grave, levelled 
those distinguishing points of society, to which Ni- 
gel's early prejudices clung perhaps but too fondly. 
It was impossible, however, to object any thing to 
the learned reasoning of the young Templar, and 
therefore Nigel was contented to turn the conver- 
sation, by making some inquiries respecting the 
present state of Whitefriars. There also his host 
was at hoipe. 

" You know, my lord," said INIaster Lowestoffe, 
" that we Templars are a power and a dominion 
within ourselves, and I am proud to say that I 
hold some rank in our republic — was treasurer to 
the Lord of jNIisrule last year, and am at this pre- 
sent moment in nomination for that dignity my- 
self. In such circumstances, we are under the ne- 
cessity of maintaining an amicable intercourse with 
our neighbours of Alsatia, even as the Christian 
States find themselves often, in merepohcy, obli- 
ged to make alliance with the Grand Turk, or tlie 
Barbary States." 

" I shoidd have imagined you gentlemen of the 



110 THK iOKTUXKS OF XIGKL. 

Temple more indepeiiclant of your neighbours," 
said Lord Glenvarloch. 

" You do us something too much honour, my 
lord," said the Templar ; " the Alsatians and we 
have some common enemies, and we have, tmder 
the rose, some common friends. We are in the 
use of blocking all bailiffs out of our bounds, and 
we are powerfully aided by our neighbours, who 
tolerate not a rag belonging to them within theirs. 
Moreover the Alsatians have — I beg you to un- 
derstand me — the power of protecting or distress- 
ing our friends, male or female, who may be obli- 
ged to seek sanctuary within their bounds. In 
short, the two communities serve each other, 
though the league is between states of imequal 
quality, and I may myself say, that I have treat- 
ed of sundry weighty affairs, and have been a ne- 
gociator well approved on both sides. — But hark — 
hark — what is that .^" 

The sound by which Master LowestofFe was in- 
terrupted, was that of a distant horn, winded loud 
and keenly, and followed by a faint and remote 
huzza. 

" There is something doing,'' said Lowcstoffe, 



THE FOUTU>fF.S OF NIGEL. 117 

" in the Whitefriars at this moment. That is the 
signal when their privileges are invaded by tipstaff 
or bailiff; and at the blast of the horn they all 
swarm out to the rescue, as bees when their hive is 
disturbed— Jump, Jim,"" he continued, calling out 
to the attendant, " and see what they are doing 
in Alsatia. — That bastard of a boy," he continued, 
as the lad, accustomed to the precipitate haste of 
his master, tumbled rather than ran out of the 
apartment, and so down stairs, " is worth gold in 
this quarter — he serves six masters — four of them 
in distinct Numbers, and you would think him 
present like a fairy at the mere wish of him that 
for the time most needs his attendance. No scout 
in Oxford, no gip in Cambridge, ever matched 
him in speed and intelligence. He knows the 
step of a dun from that of a client, when it reaches 
the very bottom of the staircase ; can tell the trip 
of a pretty wench from the step of a bencher, when 
at the upper end of the court ; and is, take him 
all in all — IJut I see your lordship is anxious — 
May I press another cup of my kind grandmo- 
ther's cordial, or will you allow me to shew you 
my wardrobe, and act as your valet or groom of 
the chamber P"^ 



118 THE FOKTUKES Ol' KUIEL. 

Lord Glcnviirloch hesitated not to aeknowlcdgc 
tliat he was painfully sensible of his present situ- 
ation, and anxious to do what must needs be done 
for his extrication. 

The good-natured and thoughtless young Tem- 
plar readily acquiesced, and led the Avay into his 
little bed-room, where from band-boxes, portman- 
teaus, mail-trunks, not forgetting an old walnut- 
tree wardrobe, he began to select the articles which 
he thought most suited effectually to disguise his 
guest in venturing into the lawless and turbulent 
society of Alsatia. 



THE FOllTUXKS 01-' XIGEL. 119 



CHAPTER VI. 

Come hither, young one — Mark me ! Thou art now 
'iMongst men o' the sword, that live by reputation 
INIore than by constant income — Single suited 
They are, I grant you ; yet each single suit 
Maintains, on the rough guess, a thousand followers— 
And they be men, who, hazarding their all, 
Needful apparel, necessary income, 
And human body, and immortal soul, 
Do in the very deed but hazard nothing — 
So strictly is that all bound in reversion ; 
Clothes to the broker, income to the usurer — 
And body to disease, and soul to the foul fiend ; 
Who laughs to see Soldadoes and Fooladoes, 
Play better than himself his game on earth. 

Tlie Mohocks. 

" Your lordship,"" said Reginald Lowestoffe, 
" must be content to exchange your decent and 
court-beseeming rapier, which I will retain in safe 
keeping, for this broad-sword, with an hundred 
weight of rusty iron about the hilt, and to wear 
these hugc-pancd slops, instead of your civil and 
moderate hose. We allow no cloak, for your ruf- 



]20 THE FORTUNES OF NIfiEL. 

fian always walks in citerpo ; and the tarnished 
doublet of bald velvet, with its discoloured em- 
broidery, and — I grieve to speak it — a few stains 
from the blood of the grape, will best suit the 
garb of a roaring boy. I will leave you to change 
your suit for an instant, till I can help to truss 
you;' 

Lowestoffe retired, while slowly, and with he- 
sitation, Nigel obeyed his Instructions. He felt 
displeasure and disgust at the scoundrelly dis- 
guise which he was under the necessity of assu- 
ming ; but when he considered the bloody con- 
sequences which law attached to his rash act of 
violence, the easy and indifferent temper of 
James, the prejudices of his son, the overbearing 
influence of the Duke of Buckingham sure to be 
thrown into the scale against him ; and, above 
all, when he reflected that he must now look 
upon the active, assiduous, and insinuating Lord 
Dalgarno, as a bitter enemy, reason told him he 
was in a situation of peril which authorized all 
honest means, even the most unseemly in out- 
ward appearance, to extricate himself from so 
dangerous a predicament. 



THE FOllTUNKS OF XTCF.T.. 121 

While he was changing his dress, and musing 
on these particulars, his friendly host re-entered 
the sleeping apartment. " Zounds !" he said, 
" my lord, it was well you went not straight into 
that same Alsatia of ours at the time you propo- 
sed, for the hawks have stooped upon it. Here 
is Jim come back with tidings, that he saw a pur- 
suivant there with a privy-council warrant, and 
half a score of yeomen assistants, armed to the 
teeth, and the horn which we heard was sounded 
to call out the posse of the friars. Indeed, when 
old Duke Hildebrod saw that the quest was after 
some one of whom he knew nothing, he permit- 
ted, out of courtesy, the man-catcher to search 
through his dominions, quite certain that they 
would take little by their motions, for Duke Hil- 
debrod is a most judicious potentate. — Go back, 
you bastard, and bring us word when all is quiet." 
" And who may Duke Hildebrod be?" said 
Lord Glenvarloch. 

" Nouns ! my lord," said the Templar, " have 
you lived so long on the town, and never heard 
of the valiant, and as wise and politic as valiant, 
Duke Plildebrod, grand protector of the liberties 



122 THK FORTUNES OF NIGKL. 

of Alsatia ? I tliought the man had never whirl 
ed a die but was famihar with his fame." 

" Yet I have never heard of him, Master 
Lowestoffe," said Lord Glenvarlocli, " or, what 
is the same thing, I have paid no attention to 
aught that may have passed in conversation re- 
specting him." 

" Why, then," said Lowestoffe — " but, first, 
let me have the honour of trussing you. Now, 
observe, I have left several of the points untied, 
of set purpose ; and if it please you to let a small 
portion of your shirt be seen betwixt your doub- 
let and tlie band of your upper stock, it will 
have so much the more rakish effect, and will at- 
tract you respect in Alsatia, where linen is some- 
thing scarce. Now, I tie some of the points 
carefully asquint, for your ruffianly gallant never 
appears too accurately trussed — so " 

" Arrange it as you will, sir," said Nigel ; 
" but let me hear at least something of the con- 
ditions of the unhappy district into which, with 
other wj-etches, I am compelled to retreat." 

" Why, my lord," replied the Templar, " our 
neighbouring state of Alsatia, which the law calls 



HIE FOIITUXES OF NIGEL. 123 

tlie sanctuary of Wliitefriars, lias bad its muta- 
tions and revolutions like greater kingdoms, and 
being in some sort a lawless arbitrary govern- 
ment, it follows, of course, that these have been 
more frequent than our own better regulated 
commonwealth of the Templars, that of Gray's- 
Inn, and other similar associations, have had the 
fortune to witness. Our traditions and records 
speak of twenty revolutions within the last twelve 
years, in which the aforesaid state has repeatedly 
changed from absolute despotism to republican- 
ism, not forgetting the intermediate stages of 
oligarchy, limited monarchy, and even gynocra- 
cy ; for I myself remember Alsatia governed for 
nearly nine months by an old fishwoman ; then it 
fell under the dominion of a broken attorney, 
who was dethroned by a reformado captain, 
who proving tyrannical, was deposed by a hedge 
j)arson, who was succeeded, upon resignation of 
his power, by Duke Jacob Ilildebrod, of that 
name the first, whom Heaven long preserve." 

" And is this ])otcntate''s government,""' said 
Lord Glenvarloch, forcing himself to take sonic 



IS! THK FOllTUNKS OF NUiEL. 

interest in the conversation, " of a despotic cha- 
racter ?" 

*' Pardon me, my lord,*"* said the Templar; 
" this said sovereign is too wise to incur, Hke 
many cf his predecessors, the odium of wielding 
so important an authority by his own sole will. 
He has established a council of state, who regu- 
larly meet for their morning"'s draught at seven 
o"'clock, convene a second time at eleven for 
their ante-meridiemy or whet, and assembling in 
solemn conclave at the hour of two afternoon, 
for the purpose of consulting for the good of the 
commonwealth, are so prodigal of their labour 
in the service of the state, that they seldom se- 
parate before midnight. Into this worthy senate, 
composed partly of Duke Hildebrod's predeces- 
sors in his high office, whom he has associated 
with him to prevent the envy attending sovereign 
and sole authority, I must presently introduce 
your lordship, that they may admit you to the 
immunities of the Friars, and assign you a place 
of residence." 

"Does their authority extend to such regula- 
tion .f*" said Lord Glcnvarloch. 



THK FOKTUXES OF NIGEL. 125 

'* The council account it a main point of their 
privileges, my lord," answered Lowestoffe ; " and, 
in fact, it is one of the most powerful means by 
which they support their authority. For, m hen 
Duke Hildebrod and his senate find a topping 
householder in the Friars becomes discontented 
and factious, it is but assigning him for a lodger 
some fat bankrupt, or new residenter, whose cir- 
cumstances require refuge, and whose purse can 
pay for it, and the malcontents becomes as tract- 
able as a lamb. As for the poorer refugees, they 
let them shift as they can ; but the registration 
of their names in the Duke''s entry-book, and the 
payment of garnish conforming to their circum- 
stances, is never dispensed with ; and the Friars 
would be a very unsafe residence for the stranger 
who should dispute these points of jurisdiction." 

" Well, Master Lowestoffe," said Lord Glen- 
varloch, " I must be controlled by the circum- 
stances which dictate to me this state of conceal- 
ment ; of course, I am desirous not to betray my 
name and rank." 

" It will be highly advisable, my lord," said 



126 THK rOUTUNKS OF XIGEL. 

Lowestoffe ; *' and is a case thus provided for in 
the statutes of the republic, or monarchy, or 
whatsoever you call it. — He who desires that no 
questions shall be asked at him concerning his 
name, cause of refuge, and the like, may escape 
the usual interrogations upon payment of double 
the garnish otherwise belonging to his condition. 
Complying with this essential stipulation, your 
lordship may register yourself as King of Ban- 
tam, if you will, for not a question will be asked 
at you. — But here comes our scout, with news of 
peace and tranquillity. Now I will go with your 
lordship myself, and present you to the council 
of Alsatia, with all the influence which I have 
over them as an office-bearer in the Temple, 
which is not slight ; for they have come halting 
off upon all occasions when we have taken part 
against them, and that they well know. The 
time is propitious, for as the council is now met 
in Alsatia, so the Temple walks are quiet. Now, 
my lord, throw your cloak about you, to hide 
your present exterior. You shall give it to the 
boy at the foot of the stairs that go down to the 



THE FOUTUNES OF NIGEL. 127 

Sanctuary ; and as the ballad says that Queen 
Eleanor sunk at Charing-Cross and rose at 
Queenhithe, so you shall sink a nobleman in the 
Temple Gardens, and rise an Alsatian at White- 
friars." 

They went out accordingly, attended by the 
little scout, traversed the gardens, descended the 
stairs, and at the bottom the young Templar ex- 
claimed, — " And now let us sing, with Ovid, 

' In novas fert aninias mutatus dicere formas/ 

Off, off, ye jfendings !*" he continued, in the same 
vein. " Via, the curtain that shadowed Borgia ! 
But how now, my lord ?'' he continued, when he 
observed Lord Glenvarloch was really distressed 
at the degrading change in his situation, " I trust 
you are not offended at my rattling folly ? I 
would but reconcile you to your present circum- 
stances, and give you the tone of diis strange 
place. Come, cheer up ; I trust it will only be 
your residence for a very few days."" 

Nigel was only able to press his hand, and re- 
ply in a whisper, " I am sensible of your kind- 
ness. I know I must drink the cup which my 



128 THE FORTUXES OF XIGEL. 

own folly has filled for me. Pardon me, that at 
the first taste I feel its bitterness." 

Reginald LowestoiFe was bustlingly officious 
and good-natured, but, used to live a scrambling 
rakish course of life himself, he had not the 
least idea of the extent of Lord Glenvarloch's 
mental sufferings, and thought of his temporary 
concealment as if it were merely the trick of a 
wanton boy, who plays at hide-and-seek with his 
tutor. With the appearance of the place, too, he 
was familiar, but on his companion it produced 
a deep sensation. 

The ancient Sanctuary at Whitefriars lay con- 
siderably lower than the elevated terraces and 
gardens of the Temple, and was therefore gene- 
rally involved in the damps and fogs arising from 
the Thames. The brick buildings by which it 
was occupied, crowded closely on each other, 
for, in a place so rarely privileged, every foot of 
ground was valuable ; but, erected in many cases 
by persons whose funds were inadequate to their 
speculations, the houses were generally insuffi- 
cient, and exhibited the lamentable signs of ha- 
ving become ruinous, while they were yet new. 



THK FOKTUNES OF NIGEL. 129 

The wailing of children, the scolding of their mo- 
thers, the miserable exhibition of ragged linens 
hung from the windows to dry, spoke the wants 
and distresses of the wretched inhabitants ; while 
the sounds of complaint were mocked and over- 
wlielmed in the riotous shouts, oaths, profane 
songs, and boisterous laughter, that issued from 
the ale-houses and taverns, which, as the signs in- 
dicated, were equal in number to all the other 
houses. And, that the full character of the place 
might be evident, several faded, tinselled, and 
painted females looked boldly at the strangers from 
their open lattices, or more modestly seemed bu- 
sied with the cracked flower-pots, filled with mic- 
nionette and rosemary, which were disposed in 
front of the windows, to the great risk of the pas. 
sengers. 

" Seini-reducta Venus,'''' said tbe Templar, point- 
ing to one of these nymphs, who seemed afraid of 
observation, and partly concealed herself behind 
the casement, as she chirped to a miserable black- 
bird, the tenant of a wicker prison, which hung 
outside on the black brick wall. " I know the 
VOL. II. 1 



130 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

face of yonder waistcoateer," continued the guide; 
*' and I could wager a rose-noble, from the pos- 
ture she stands in, that she has clean head-gear, 
and a soiled night-rail. But here come two of the 
male inhabitants, smoaking like moving volca- 
noes ! These are roaring blades, whom Nicotia and 
Trinidado serve, I dare swear, in lieu of beef 
and pudding ; for, be it known to you, my lord, 
that the King''s Counter-blast against the Indian 
■weed will no more pass current in Alsatia, than 
will his writ of capias!''' 

As he spoke, the two smokers approached ; 
shaggy uncombed ruffians, whose enormous mus- 
tachoes were turned back over their ears, and 
mingled with the wild elf-locks of their hair, much 
of which was seen under the old beavers which 
they wore aside upon their heads, while some 
straggling portion escaped through the rents of 
the hats aforesaid. Their tarnished plush jerkins, 
large slops, or trunk-breeches, their broad greasy 
shoulder-belts, and discoloured scarfs, and, above 
all, the ostentatious manner in which the one 
wore a broadsword, and the other an extrava- 
gantly long rapier and poniard, marked the true 



THE FOIITUNTES OF NIGEL. 131 

Alsatian bully, then, and for a hundred years 
afterwards, a well-known character. 

" Tour out," said the one ruffian to the other ; 
*' tout the bien mort twiring at the gentry cove !"'* 

*' I smell a spy,"" replied the other, looking at 
Kigel ; " chalk him across the peepers with your 
cheery.'"-!' 

" Bing avast, bing avast !" replied his compa- 
nion ; " yon other is I'attling Reginald Lowestoffe 
of the Temple — I know him, he is a good boy, 
and free of the province."" 

So saying, and enveloping themselves in ano- 
ther thick cloud of smoke, they went on without 
farther greeting. 

" Crasso in aere .'" — said the Templar ; " you 
hear what a character the impudent knaves give 
me — but so it serves your lordship's turn I care 
not. And now, let me ask your lordship what 
name you will assume, for we are near the ducal 
palace of Duke Hildebrod.*" 



• Look sharp. See how the girl is coquetting with the 
strange galLants. 
t Slash him over the eyes with your dagger. 



132 THE FOIJTUNES OF NIGEL. 

" I will be called Grahame,'" said Nigel ; " it 
was my mother''s name." 

" Grime," repeated the Templar, " will suit 
Alsatia well enough ; both a grim and grimy place 
of refuge." 

" I said Grahame, sir, not Grime," said Nigel, 
something shortly, and laying an emphasis on the 
vowel ; for few Scotsmen understand raillery up- 
on the subject of their names. 

"• I beg pardon, my lord," answered the un- 
disconcerted punster ; " but Gi'aam will suit the 
circumstance too — it signifies tribulation in the 
High Dutch, and your lordship must be consi- 
dered as a man under trouble." 

Nigel laughed at the pertinacity of the Tem- 
plar, who, proceeding to point out a sign repre- 
senting, or believed to represent, a dog attacking 
a bull, and running at his head, in the true scien- 
tific style of onset, — " There," said he, " doth 
faithful Duke Hildebrod deal forth laws, as well 
as ale and strong waters, to his faithful Alsatians. 
Being a determined champion of Paris Garden, 
he has chosen a sign corresponding to his habits ; 
and he deals in giving drink to the thirsty, that 



THE FORTUNES OF KIQEL. 133 

he himself may drink without paying, and receive 
pay for what is drunken by others. — Let us enter 
the ever open gate of this second Axyhis."" 

As they spoke, they entered the dilapidated 
tavern, which was, nevertheless, more ample in 
dimensions, and less ruinous, than many houses 
in the same evil neighbourhood. Two or three 
hagard, ragged, drawers ran. to and fro, whose 
looks, like those of owls, seemed only adapted for 
midnight, when other creatures sleep, and who by 
day seemed bleared, stupid, and only half awake. 
Guided by one of these blinking Ganymedes 
they entered a room, where the feeble rays of 
the sun were almost wholly eclipsed by volumes 
of tobacco-smoke, rolled from the tubes of the 
company, while out of the cloudy sanctuary arose 
the old chaunt of — 



" Old Sir Simon the King, 
And old Sir Simon the King, 
With his malmsey nose. 
And his ale-dropped hose. 
And sing hey ding-a-ding-ding." 

Duke Ilildebrod, who himself condescended to 



154 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

chaunt this ditty to his loving subjects, was a mon- 
strously fat old man, with only one eye; and a nose 
which bore evidence to the frequency, strength, 
and depth of his potations. He wore a murrey-co- 
loured plush jerkin, stained with the overflowings 
of the tankard, and much the worse for wear, and 
unbuttoned at bottom for the ease of his enor- 
mous paunch. Behind him lay a favourite bull- 
dog, whose round head and single black glancing 
eye, as well as the creature's great corpulence, gave 
it a burlesque resemblance to its master. 

The well-beloved counsellors who surrounded' 
the ducal throne, incensed it with tobacco, pled- 
ged its occupier in thick clammy ale, and echoed 
back his choral songs, were Satraps worthy of 
such a Soldan. The buff jerkin, broad belt, and 
long sword of one, shewed him to be a Low 
Country soldier, whose look of scowling import- 
ance, and drunken impudence, were designed to 
sustain his title to call himself a Roving Blade. 
It seemed to Nigel that he had seen this fellow 
some where or other. A hedge-parson, or buckle- 
beggar, as that order of priesthood has been irre- 
verently termed, sate on the Duke's left, and was 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 135 

easily distinguished by his torn band, flapped hat, 
and the remnants of a rusty cassock. Beside the 
parson sat a most wretched and meagre-looking 
old man, with a thread-bare hood of coarse kersy 
upon his head, and buttoned about his neck, 
while his pinched features, like those of old Da- 
niel, were illuminated by 



an eye. 

Through the last look of dotage still cunning and sly. 

On his left was placed a broken attorney, who, 
for some raal-practices, had been struck from the 
roll of practitioners, and who had nothing left of 
liis profession excepting its roguery. One or two 
persons of less figure, amongst whom there was 
one face, which, like that of the soldier, seemed not 
unknown to Nigel, though he could not recollect 
where he had seen it, completed the council-board 
of Jacob Duke Hildebrod. 

The strangers had full time to observe all this ; 
for his grace the Duke, whether irresistibly car- 
ried on by the full tide of harmony, or whether 
to impress the strangers with a proper idea of his 



136 THE FOUTUNES OF NIGEL. 

consequence, chose to sing his ditty to an end be- 
fore addressing them, though, during the whole 
time, he closely scrutinized them with his single 
optic. 

"When Duke Hildebrod had ended his song, he 
informed his Peers that a worthy officer of the 
Temple attended them, and commanded the cap- 
tain and parson to abandon their easy chairs in 
behalf of the two strangers, whom he placed on 
his right and left hand. The worthy representa- 
tives of the army and the church of Alsatia, went 
to place themselves on a crazy form at the bottom 
of the table, which, ill calculated to sustain men 
of such weight, gave way under them, and the 
man of the sword and man of the gown were 
rolled over each other on the floor, amidst the 
exulting shouts of the company. They arose in 
wrath, contending which should vent his displea- 
sure in the loudest and deepest oaths, a strife in 
which the parson*'s superior acquaintance with 
theology enabled him greatly to excel the cap- 
tain, and were at length with difficulty tranquil- 
lized by the arrival of the alarmed waiters with 
more stable chairs, and by a long draught of the 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 137 

cooling tankard. When this commotion was ap- 
peased, and the strangers courteously accommo- 
dated with flasons, after the fashion of the others 
present, the Duke drank prosperity to the Tem- 
ple in the most gracious manner, together with a 
cup of welcome to Master Reginald LowestofFe ; 
and this courtesy having been thankfully accept- 
ed, the party honoured prayed permission to call 
for a gallon of Rhenish, over which he proposed 
to open his business. 

The mention of a liquor so superior to their 
usual potations had aninstant and most favourable 
effect upon the little senate ; and its immediate 
appearance might be said to secure a favourable 
reception of Master Lowestoffe's proposition, 
which, after a round or two had circulated, he 
explained to be the admission of his friend Mas- 
ter Nigel Grahame to the benefit of the sanctuary 
and other immunities of Alsatia, in the character 
of a grand compounder ; for so were those termed 
who paid a double fee at their matriculation, in 
order to avoid laying before the senate the pecu- 
liar circumstances which compelled them to take 
refuge there. 



1S8 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

The worthy Duke heard the proposition with 
glee, which glittered in his single eye ; and no 
wonder, as it was a rare occurrence, and of pe- 
culiar advantage to his private revenue. Accord- 
ingly, he commanded his ducal register to be 
brought him, a huge book secured with brass 
clasps like a merchant's ledger, and whose leaves, 
stained with wine and slabbered with tobacco 
juice, bore the names probably of as many rogues 
as are to be found in the Calendar of Newgate. 

Nigel was then directed to lay down two no- 
bles as his ransom, and to claim privilege by re- 
citing the following doggrel verses, which were 
dictated to him by the Duke :— 

" Your suppliant, by name 
Nigel Grahame, 
In fear of mishap 
From a shoulder-tap ; 
And dreading a claw 
From the talons of law. 

That are sharper than briars ; 
His freedom to sue. 
And rescue by you — 
Through weapon and wit. 
From warrant and writ. 



THE FORTUNES OK NIGEL. Itil) 

From bailiff's hand. 
From tipstaff's wand. 

Is come hither to Whitefriars." 

As Duke Hildebrod with a tremulous hand be- 
gan to make the entry, and had already, with su- 
perfluous generosity, spelled Nigel with two g''s 
instead of one, he was interrupted by the parson.* 
This reverend gentleman had been whispering 
for a minute or two, not with the captain, but 
with that other individual, who dwelt impei'fectly, 
as we have already mentioned, in NigePs memory, 
and being, perhaps, still something malcontent 
on account of the late accident, he now requested 
to be heard before the registration took place. 

" The person," he said, " who hath now had 
the assurance to propose himself as a candidate 

* This curious register is still in existence, being in 
possession of that eminent antiquary Dr Dryasdust, who 
liberally offered the author permission to have the auto- 
graph of Duke Hildebrod engraved as an illustration of this 
passage. Unhappily, being rigorous as Ritson himself in 
adhering to the very letter of his copy, the worthy Doctor 
clogged liis munificence with the condition that we should 
adopt the Duke's orthography and entitle the work " The 
Fortunes of Niggle," with which stipulation we did not 
think it necessary to comply. 



140 THE FOUTUXES OF KIGKL. 

for the privileges and immunities of this honour- 
able society, is, in plain terms, a beggarly Scot, 
and we have enough of these locusts in London 
already — if we admit such palmer-worms and ca- 
terpillars to the sanctuary, we shall soon have the 
whole nation." 

" We are not entitled to inquire," said Duke 
Hildebrod, " whether he be Scot, or French, or 
English ; seeing he has honourably laid down his 
garnish, he is entitled to our protection." 

" Word of denial, most Sovereign Duke," re- 
plied the parson, " I ask him no questions — his 
speech bewray elh him — he is a Galilaean — and his 
garnish is forfeited for his assurance in coming 
within this our realm ; and I call on you. Sir 
Duke, to put the laws in force against him !" 

The Templar here rose, and was about to in- 
terrupt the deliberations of the court, when the 
Duke gravely assured him that he should be 
heard in behalf of his friend, so soon as the coun- 
cil had finished their deliberations. 

The attorney next rose, and intimating that 
he was to speak to the point of law, said — " It 
was easy to be seen that this gentleman did not 



THE FORTUNES OF MIGEL. 141 

come here in any civil case, and that he belie- 
ved it to be the story they had already heard 
of, concerning a blow given within the verge of 
the Park — that the sanctuary would not bear out 
the offender in such case — and that the queer 
old Chief would send down a broom which should 
sweep the streets of Alsatia from the Strand to 
the Stairs ; and it was even policy to think what 
evil might come to their republic, by sheltering 
an alien in such circumstances." 

The captain, who had sate impatiently while 
these opinions were expressed, now sprung on his 
feet with the vehemence of a cork bouncing from 
a bottle of brisk beer, and turning up his mou- 
stachoes with a martial air, cast a glance of con- 
tempt on the lawyer and churchman, while he 
thus expressed his opinion. 

" Most noble Duke Hildebrod ! When I hear 
such base, skeldering, coysterel propositions come 
from the counsellors of your grace, and when I 
remember the Huffs, the Muns, and the Tityre- 
tu's by whom your grace''s ancestors and prede- 
cessors were advised on such occasions, I begin 
to think the spirit of action is as dead in Alsatia 



142 TUE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

as in my old grannam ; and yet who thinks so 
thinks a he, since I will find as many roaring boys 
in the Friars as shall keep the liberties against all 
the scavengers of Westminster. And if we should 
be overborne for a turn, death and darkness ! have 
we not time to send the gentleman off by water, 
either to Paris Garden or to the Bank side ; and 
if he is a gallant of true breed, will he not make 
us full amends for all the trouble we have .? Let 
other societies exist by the law, I say that we 
brisk boys of the Fleet live in spite of it ; and 
thrive best when we are in right opposition to sign 
and seal, writ and warrant, serjeant and tipstaff, 
catch-pole and bum-bailey."" 

This speech was followed by a murmur of ap- 
probation, and Lowestoffe, striking in before the 
favourable sound had subsided, reminded the 
Duke and his council how much the security of 
their state depended on the amity of the Templars, 
who, by closing their gates, could at pleasure 
shut against the Alsatians the communication 
betwixt the Friars and the Temple, and that as 
they conducted themselves on this occasion, so 
would they secure or lose the benefit of his inte- 



TIIK FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 143 

rest with his own body, which they knew not to 
be inconsiderable. " And, in respect of my 
friend being a Scotsman and alien, as has been 
observed by the reverend divine and learned 
lawyer, you are to consider," said Lowestoffe, 
*' for what he is pursued hither — why, for giving 
the bastinadoe not to an Englishman, but to one 
of his own countrymen. And for my own simple 
part,"" he continued, touching Lord Glenvarloch 
at the same time, to make him understand he 
spoke but in jest, " if all the Scotch in London 
were to figlit a Welch main, and kill each other 
to a man, the survivor would, in my humble 
opinion, be entitled to our gratitude, as having 
done a most acceptable service to poor Old Eng- 
land/' 

A shout of laughter and applause follow- 
ed this ingejpious apology for the client's state 
of alienage ; and the Templar followed up his 
plea with the following pithy proposition : — 
" I know well," said he, " it is the custom of the 
fathers of this old and honourable republic, ripe- 
ly and well to consider all their proceedings over 
a proper allowance of liquor ; and far be it from 



144 THE FORTUKES OF NIGEL. 

me to propose the breach of so laudable a custom, 
or to pretend that such an affair as the present 
can be well and constitutionally considered du- 
ring the discussion of a pitiful gallon of sack. 
But, as it is the same thing to this honourable 
conclave whether they drink first and determine 
afterwards, or whether they determine first and 
drink afterwards, I propose your Grace, with the 
advice of your wise and potent senators, shall 
pass your edict, granting to mine honourable 
friend the immunities of the place, and assigning 
him a lodging according to your wise forms, to 
which he will presently retire, being somewhat 
spent with this day's action ; whereupon I will 
presently order you a rundlet of Rhenish, with a 
corresponding quantity of neats' tongues and 
pickled herrings, to make you all as glorious as 
George-a-Green."" 

This overture was received with a general 
shout of applause, which altogether drowned the 
voice of the dissidents, if any there were amongst 
the Alsatian senate who could have resisted a 
proposal so popular. The words of, kind heart ! 
noble gentleman ! generous gallant ! flew from 

3 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 145 

mouth to mouth ; the inscription of the petition- 
er's name in the great book was hastily completed, 
and the oath administered to him by the worthy 
Doffe. Like the Laws of the Tvvelve Tables, of 
the ancient Cambro-Britons, and other primi- 
tive nations, it was couched in poetry, and ran 
as follows ;— 

" By spigot and barrel. 

By bilbo and bufF, 
Thou art sworn to the quarrel 

Of the blades of the huft". 
.For Whitefriars and its claims 

To be champion or martyr. 
And to fight for its dames 

Like a Knight of the Garter." 

Nigel felt, and indeed exhibited, some disgust 
at this mummery ; but the Templar, reminding 
him that he was too far advanced to draw back, 
he repeated the words, or rather assented as they 
were repeated by Duke Hildebrod, who conclu- 
ded the ceremony by allowing him the privilege 
of sanctuary, in the followmg form of prescrip- 
tive doggrel : — 

VOL. I, K 



146 THE FORTUNES OF KIGEL. 

" From the touch of the tip, 

From the bhght of the warrant. 
From the watchmen who skip 

On the Harman Beck's errand ; 
From the Bailiff's cramp speech. 

That makes man a thrall, 
I charm thee from each. 

And I charm thee from all. 
Thy freedom's complete 

As a Blade of the Huff. 
To be cheated and cheat, 

To be cuff'd and to cuff; 
To stride, swear, and swagger. 
To drink till you stagger. 

To stare and to stab. 
And to brandish your dagger 

In the cause of your drab , 
To walk wool-ward in winter. 

Drink brandy, and smoke. 
And ^0 fresco in summer 

For want of a cloak ; 
To eke out your living 

By the wag of your elbow. 
By fulham and gourd. 

And by bareing of bilbo ; 
To live by your shifts. 

And to swear by your honour. 
Are the freedom and gifts 

Of which I am the donor." 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 147 

This homily being performed, a dispute arose 
concerning the special residence to be assigned 
the new brother of the Sanctuary ; for, as the 
Alsatians held it a maxim in their common- 
wealth, that asses milk fattens, there was usu- 
ally a competition amongst the inhabitants which 
should have the managing, as it was termed, of 
a new member of the society. 

The Hector who had spoke so warmly and 
critically in Nigel's behalf, stood out now chival- 
rously in behalf of a certain Blowselinda, or Bon- 
strops, wlfo had, it seems, a room to hire, once 
the occasional residence of Slicing Dick of Pad- 
dington, who lately suffered at Tyburn, and 
whose untimely exit had been hitherto mourned 
by the damsel in solitary widowhood, after the 
fashion of the turtle-dove. 

The captain's interest was, however, over- 
ruled, in behalf of the old gentleman in the ker- 
sey hood, who was believed, even at his extreme 
age, to understand the plucking of a pigeon as 
well, or better, than any man of Alsatia. 

This venerable personage was an usurer of 
some notoriety, called Tvapbois, and had very 



148 THli FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

lately done the state considerable service in ad- 
vancing a subsidy necessary to secure a fresh im- 
portation of liquors to theDuke's cellars, the wine- 
merchant at the Vintry being scrupulous to deal 
with so great a man for any thing but ready 
money. 

When, therefore, the old gentleman arose, and 
with much coughing reminded the Duke that he 
had a poor apartment to let, the claims of all 
others were set aside, and Nigel was assigned to 
Trapbois as his guest. 

No sooner was this arrangement made, than 
Lord Glenvarloch expressed to Lowestoff'e his 
impatience to leave this discreditable assembly, 
and took his leave with a careless haste, which, 
but for the rundlet of Rhenish wine that en- 
tered just as he left the apartment, might have 
been taken in bad part. The young Templar ac- 
companied his friend to the house of the old usu- 
rer, with the road to which he and some other 
youngsters about the Temple were even but too 
well acquainted. On the way, he assured Lord 
Glenvarloch that he was going to the only clean 
house in Whitefriars ; a property which it owed 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 149 

solely to the exertions of the old man''s only daugh- 
ter, an elderly damsel, ugly enough to frighten 
sin, yet likely to be wealthy enough to tempt a 
puritan, so soon as the devil had got her old dad 
for his due. As Lowestoffe spoke thus, they 
knocked at the door of the house, and the sour, 
stern countenance of the female by whom it was 
opened, fully confirmed all which the Templar 
had said of the hostess. She heard, with an un- 
gracious and discontented air, the young Temp- 
Jar's information, that the gentleman, his compa- 
nion, was 'to be her father's lodger, muttered 
something about the trouble it was like to occa- 
sion, but ended by shewing the stranger's apart- 
ment, which was better than could have been au- 
gured from the general appearance of the place, 
and much larger in extent, though inferior in 
neatness, to that which he had occupied at Paul's 
Wharf. 

Lowestoffe having thus seen his friend fairly 
installed in his new apartment, and having ob- 
tained for him a note of the rate at which be 
could be accommodated with victuals from a 
neighbouring cook's shop, now took his leave, 



150 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

offering, at the same tima, to send the whole, or 
any part of Lord Glenvarloch's baggage, from 
his former place of residence to his new lodging. 
Nigel mentioned so few articles, that the Temp- 
lar could not help observing, that his lordship, 
it would seem, did not intend to enjoy his new 
privileges long. 

" They are too little suited to my habits and 
taste, that I should do so," replied Lord Glen- 
varloch. 

" You may change your opinion to-morrow," 
said Lowestoffe; " and so I wish you good- 
even. To-morrow I will visit you betimes." 

The morning came, but instead of the Tem- 
plar, it brought only a letter from him. The 
epistle stated, that Lowestoffe's visits to Alsatia 
had drawn down the animadversions of some 
crabbed old pantaloons among the benchers, and 
that he judged it wise not to come hither at pre- 
sent, for fear of drawing too much attention to 
Lord Glenvarloch's place of residence. He sta- 
ted, that he had taken measures for the safety of 
his baggage, and would send him, by a safe hand, 
his money-casket, and what articles] he wanted. 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL, 151 

Then followed some sage advices, dictated by 
LowestofFe's acquaintance with Alsatia and its 
manners. He advised him to keep the usurer in 
the most absolute uncertainty concerning the 
state of his funds — never to throw a main with 
the captain, who was in the habit of playing dry- 
fisted, and paying his losses with three vowels; 
and, finally, to beware of Duke Hildebrod, who 
was as sharp, he said, as a needle, though he had 
no more eyes than are possessed by that neces- 
sary implement of female industry. 



152 THK lOllTUNES OF NIGEL. 



CHAPTER Vll. 



Mother. What! dazzled by a flash of Cupid's mirror, 
With which the boy, as mortal urchins wont, 
Flings back the sunbeam in the eye of passengers- 
Then laughs to see them stumble ! 

Daughter. Mother ! no — 
It was a lightning-flash which dazzled me, 
And never shall these eyes see true again. 

Beef and Pudding. — An old English Comedy. 



It is necessary that we should leave for a time 
our hero Nigel, although in a situation neither 
safe, comfortable, nor creditable, in order to de- 
tail some particulars which have immediate con- 
nexion with his fortunes. 

It was but the third day after he had been for- 
ced to take refuge in the house of old Trapbois, 
the noted usurer of Whitefriars, commonly call- 
ed Golden Trapbois, when the pretty daughter 
of old Ramsay, the watchmaker, after having 
piously seen her father eat his breakfast, (taking 



THE FORTUNES OF XKJEL. 153 

care that he did not, in an abstruse fit of thought 
swallow the salt-cellar instead of a crust of the 
brown loaf,) set forth from the house as soon as 
he was again plunged into the depth of calcula- 
tion, and, accompanied only by that faithful old 
drudge, Janet the Scotch laundress, to whom her 
whims were laws, made her way to Lombard- 
Street, and disturbed, at the unusual hour of 
eight in the morning, Aunt Judith, the sister of 
her worthy godfather. 

The venerable maiden received her young vi- 
sitor with *no great complacency ; for, naturally 
enough, she had neither the same admiration of 
her very pretty countenance, or complacence for 
her foolish and girlish impatience of temper, 
Avhich Master George Heriot entertained. Stdl 
Mistress Margaret was a favourite of her bro- 
ther'^s, whose will was to Aunt Judith a supreme 
law ; and she contented herself with asking her 
untimely visitor, " what she made so early with 
her pale chitty face in the streets of liondon ?" 

" I would speak with the Lady Ilermione," 
answered the almost breathless girl, while the 
blood ran so fast to her face as totally to remove 



154 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

the objection of paleness which Aunt Judith had 
made to her complexion. 

" With the Lady Hermione," said Aunt Ju- 
dith — " with the Lady Hermione ? and at this 
time in the morning, when she will scarce see any 
of the family, even at seasonable hours ? You 
are crazy, you silly wench, or you abuse the in- 
dulgence which my brother and the lady have 
shewn to you." 

" Indeed, indeed I have not," repeated Mar- 
garet, struggling to retain the unbidden tear 
which seemed longing to burst out on the slight- 
est occasion. " Do but say to the lady that your 
brother's god-daughter desires earnestly to speak 
with her, and I know she will not refuse to see 
me." 

Aunt Judith bent an earnest, suspicious, and 
inquisitive glance on her young visitor. " You 
might make me your secretary, my lassie," she 
said, " as well as the Lady Hermione. I am 
older, and better skilled to advise, I live more 
in the world than one who shuts herself up with- 
in four rooms, and I have the better means to 
assist you." 



THE FOKTUNES OF NIGEL. 155 

" O ! no — no — no," said Margaret, eagerly, 
and with more earnest sincerity than complai- 
sance ; " there are some things to which you 
cannot advise me, Aunt Judith. It is a case — 
pardon me, my dear Aunt — a case beyond your 
counsel.*" 

" I am glad on't, maiden,"" said Aunt Judith, 
somewhat angrily ; " for I think the foUies of 
the young people of this generation would drive 
mad an old brain like mine. Here you come on 
the viretot, through the whole streets of London-, 
to talk some nonsense to a lady, who scarce sees 
God's sun, but when he shines on a brick wall. 
But I will tell her you are here." 

She went away, and shortly returned with a 
dry — " Mistress Marget, the lady will be glad to 
see you ; and that's more, my young madam, than 
you had right to count upon." 

Mistress Margaret hung her head in silence, too 
much perplexed by the train of her own embar- 
rassed thoughts, for attempting either to conci- 
liate Aunt Judith's kindness, or, which on other 
occasions would have been as congenial to her 
own humour, to retahate on her cross-tempered 



'15(> Tirii FOllTUMES OF NIGKL, 

remarks and manner. She followed Aunt Judith, 
therefore, in silence and dejection, to the strong 
oaken door which divided the Lady Hermione's 
apartments from the rest of George Heriot's 
spacious house. 

At the door of this sanctuary it is necessary to 
pause, in order to correct the reports with which 
Richie Moniplies had filled his master"'s ear re- 
specting the singular appearance of that lady's 
attendance at prayers, whom we now own to be by 
name the Lady Hermione. Some part of these ex- 
aggerations had been communicated to the wor- 
thy Scotsman by Jenkin Vincent, who was well 
experienced in the species of wit which has been 
long a favourite in the city, under the various 
names of cross-biting, giving the dor, bambooz- 
ling, cramming, hoaxing, humbugging, and quiz- 
zing ; for which sport Richie Moniplies, with his 
solemn gravity, totally unapprehensive of a joke, 
and his natural propensity to the marvellous, 
formed an admirable subiect. Farther ornaments 

tj 

the tale had received from Richie himself, whose 

tongue, especially when oiled with good liquor, 

h ad a considerable tendency to amplification, and 

18 



THK FOKTUNES OF NIGEL. 157 

who failed not, while he retailed to his master all 
the wonderful circumstances narrated by Vin- 
cent, to add to them many conjectures of his 
own, which his imagination had over-hastUy con- 
verted into facts. 

Yet the life which the Lady Hermione had 
led for two years, during Avhich she had been 
the inmate of George Heriot's house, Avas so 
singular, as almost to sanction many of the wild 
reports which went abroad. The house which 
the worthy goldsmith inhabited, had in former 
times beloHged to a powerful and wealthy baro- 
nial family, which, during the reign of Henry 
VIII. terminated in a dowager lady, very weal- 
thy, very devout, and most unalienably attached 
to the Catholic faith. The chosen friend of the 
Honourable Lady Foljambe was the Abbess of 
Saint lloque's Nunnery, like herself, a consci- 
entious, rigid, and devoted Papist. When the 
house of Saint Roque was despotically dissolved 
by \\\ejiat of the impetuous monarch, the Lady 
Foljambe received her friend into her spacious 
mansion, together with two vestal sisters, who, 
like their Abbess, were determined to follow the 
tenor of their vows, instead of embracing the pro- 



158 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

fane liberty which the Monarch's will had thrown 
in their choice. For their residence, the Lady 
Foljambe contrived, with all tiecrecy — for Henry 
might not have relished her interference — to set 
apart a suite of four rooms, with a little closet 
fitted up as an oratory, or chapel ; the whole 
apartment fenced by a strong oaken door to ex- 
clude strangers, and accommodated with a turn- 
ing wheel to receive necessaries, according to the 
practice of all nunneries. In this retreat, the Ab- 
bess of Saint Roque and her attendants passed 
many years, communicating only with the Lady 
Foljambe, who, in virtue of their prayers, and of 
the support she afforded them, accounted herself 
little less than a saint on earth. The Abbess, for- 
tunately for herself, died before her munificent 
patroness, who lived deep in Queen Elizabeth''s 
time, ere she was summoned by fate. 

The Lady Foljambe was succeeded in this 
mansion by a sour fanatic knight, a distant and 
collateral relation, who claimed the same merit 
for expelling the priestesses of Baal, which his 
predecessor had founded on maintaining the vo- 
taresses of heaven. Of the two unhappy nuns, 
driven from their ancient refuge, one went be- 



THE F0RTU^3ES OF NIGEL. 159 

vond sea ; the other, unable from old age to un- 
dertake such a journey, died under the roof of a 
faithful Catholic widow of low degree. Sir Paul 
Crambagge, having got rid of the nuns, spoiled 
the chapel of its ornaments, and had thoughts 
of altogether destroying the apartment, until 
checked by the reflection that the operation 
would be unnecessary expence, since he only in- 
habited three rooms of the large mansion, and 
had not therefore the sHghtest occasion for any 
addition to its accommodations. His son proved 
a waster ai^ a prodigal, and from him the house 
was bought by our friend George Heriot, who 
finding, like Sir Paul, the house more than suf- 
ficiently ample for his accommodation, left the 
Foljambe apartment, or Saint Iloque"'s rooms, as 
they were called, in the state in which he found 
them. 

About two years and a half before our history 
opened, when Heriot was absent upon an expe- 
dition to the Continent, he sent special orders to 
his sister and his cash-keeper, directing that the 
Foljambe apartment should be fitted up hand- 
somely, though plainly, for the reception of a 
lady, who would make it her residence for some 



160 TlIK rOUTUXES OF NIGKL. 

time ; and who would live more or less with his 
own family according to her pleasure. He also 
directed, that the necessary repairs should be 
made with secrecy, and that as little should be 
said as possible upon the subject of his letter. 

When the time of his return came nigh. Aunt 
Judith and the household were on the tenter- 
hooks of impatience. Master George came, as 
he had intimated, accompanied by a lady, so 
eminently beautiful, that had it not been for her 
extreme and uniform paleness, she might have 
been reckoned one of the loveliest creatures on 
earth. She had with her an attendant, or humble 
companion, whose business seemed only to wait 
upon her. This person, a reserved woman, and 
by her dialect a foreigner, aged about fifty, was 
called by the lady Monna Paula, and by Master 
Heriot, and others, Mademoiselle Pauhne. She 
slept in the same room with her patroness at 
night, ate in her apartment, and was scarce ever 
separated from her during the day. 

These females took possession of the nunnery 
of the devout Abbess, and without observing the 
same rigorous seclusion, according to the letter, 
seemed well nigh to restore the apartment to the 



THE FOUTUXES OF NIGEL. 161 

use to which it had been originally designed. The 
new inmates lived and took their meals apart from 
the rest of the family. With the domestics Lady 
Hermione, for so she was termed, held no com- 
munication, and Mademoiselle Pauline only sucli 
as was indispensable, which she dispatched as 
briefly as possible. Frequent and liberal largesses 
reconciled the servants to this conduct ; and they 
were in use to observe to each other, that to do a 
service for Mademoiselle Pauline, was like find- 
ing a fairy treasure. 

To Aunt Judith the Lady Hermione was kind 
and civil, but their intercourse was rare; on which 
account the good lady felt some pangs both of 
curiosity and injured dignity. But she knew her 
brother so well, and loved him so dearly, that his 
will, once expressed, might be truly said to become 
her own. The worthy citizen was not without a 
spice of the dogmatism which grows on the best 
disposition, wiien a word is a law to all around. 
iVIaster George did not endure to be questioned 
by his family, and when he liad generally express- 
ed iiis will, that the Lady Hermione should live in 

VOL. ir. L 



162 lUli I'OUTUNES Ol'" NIGEL. 

the way most agreeable to her, and that no inqui- 
ries should be made concerning her history, or 
her motives for observing such strict seclusion, 
his sister well knew that he would have been se- 
riously displeased with any attempt to pry into 
the secret. 

But though Heriofs servants were bribed, and 

his sister awed into silent acquiescence in these 

arrangements, they were not of a nature to escape 

the critical observation of the neighbourhood. 

Some opined that the wealthy goldsmith was about 

to turn papist, and re-establish Lady Foljambe"'s 

nunnery — others that he was going mad — others 

that he was either going to marry, or to do worse. 

Master George'^s constant appearance at church, 

and the knowledge that the supposed votaress 

always attended when the prayers of the English 

ritual were read in the family, liberated him from 

the first of these suspicions ; those who had to 

transact business with him upon 'Change, could 

not doubt the soundness of Master Heriot's mind ; 

and to confute the other rumours, it was credibly 

reported by sucli as made the matter their par- 



TIIE I'OllTUNKS OF KIGKL. 16-3 

ticular interest, that Master George Heriot never 
visited his guest save in presence of Mademoiselle 
Pauline, who sat with her work in a remote part 
of the same room in which they conversed. It 
was also ascertained that these visits scarcely ever 
exceeded an hour in length, and were usually 
only repeated once a- week, an intercourse too 
brief and too long interrupted, to render it pro- 
bable that love was the bond of their union. 

The inquirers were, therefore, at fault, and 
compelled to relinquish the pursuit of Master 
Heriot's 'Secret, while a thousand ridiculous tales 
were circulated amongst the ignorant and super- 
stitious, with some specimens of which our friend 
Richie Moniplies had been crammed^ as we have 
seen, by the malicious apprentice of worthy Da- 
vid Ramsay. 

There was one person in the world who, it was 
thought, could (if she would) have said more of 
the Lady Hermione than any one in London, 
except George Heriot himself ; and that was the 
said David Ramsay's only child, Margaret. 

This girl was not much past the ^gc of fifteen 
when the Lady H&rmione first came to England, 

3 



1G4 THE FOUTUNKS OF NIGEL. 

and was a very frequent visitor at her god-fatlier''s, 
who was much amused by her childish salhes, 
and by the wild and natural beauty with which 
she sung the airs of her native country. Spoilt 
she was on all hands ; by the indulgence of her 
god-father, the absent habits and indifference of 
her father, and the deference of all around her to 
her caprices, as a beauty and as an heiress. But 
though, from these circumstances, the city-beau- 
ty had become as wilful, as capricious, and as 
affected, as unlimited indulgence seldom fails to 
render those to whom it is extended ; and al- 
though she exhibited upon many occasions that 
affectation of extreme shyness, silence, and re- 
serve, which Misses in their teens are apt to take 
for an amiable modesty ; and upon others, a con- 
siderable portion of that flippancy which youth 
sometimes confounds with wit, Mistress Margaret 
had much real shrewdness and judgment, which 
"wanted only opportunities of observation to re- 
fine it — a lively, good-humoured, playful dispo- 
sition, and an excellent heart. Her acquired fol- 
lies were much increased by her reading plays 
and romances, to which she devoted a great deal 



THE FORTUNKS Ol' XIGEL. 1G5 

of her time, and from which she adopted ideas as 
different as possible from those which she might 
have acquired from the invaluable and affection- 
ate instructions of an excellent mother ; and the 
freaks of which she was sometimes guilty, ren- 
dered her not unjustly liable to the charge of af- 
fectation and coquetry. But the little lass had 
sense and shrewdness enough to keep her failings 
out of sight of her god-father, to whom she was 
sincerely attached ; and so high she stood in his 
favour, that, at his recommendation, she obtained 
permission to visit the recluse Lady Hermione. 

The singular mode of life which the lady ob- 
served ; her extreme beauty, rendered even more 
interesting by her extreme paleness; the conscious 
pride of being admitted farther than the rest of 
the world into the society of a person who was 
wrapped in so much mystery, made a deep im- 
pression on the mind of Margaret Ramsay ; and 
though their conversations were at no time either 
long or confidential, yet, proud of the trust repo- 
sed in her, jMargaret was as secret respecting their 
tenor as if every word repeated had been to cobt 



M)() THE FOUTUNES OV XIGEL. 

her life. No inquiry, however artfully backed by 
flattery and insinuation, whether on the part of 
Dame Ursula, or any other person equally in- 
quisitive, could wring from the little maiden one 
word of what she heard or saw, after she entered 
these mysterious and secluded apartments. The 
shghtest question concerning Master Heriot's 
ghost, was sufficient, at her gayest moment, to 
check the current of her communicative prattle, 
and render her silent. 

We mention this, chiefly to illustrate the early 
strength of Margaret's character — a strength con- 
cealed under a hundred freakish whims and hu- 
mours, as an ancient and massive buttress is dis- 
guised by its fantastic covering of ivy and wild- 
flowers. In truth, if the damsel had told all she 
heard or saw within the Foljambe apartments, 
she would have said but little to gratify the cu- 
riosity of inquirers. 

At the earlier period of their first acquaint- 
ance, the Lady Hermicne was wont to reward 
the attentions of her little friend with small but 
elegant presents, and entertain her by a display 



THE FORTUNES OF N^IGEL. 167 

of foreign rarities and curiosities, many of them 
of considerable value. Sometimes the time was 
passed in a way much less agreeable to Marga- 
ret, by her receiving lessons from Pauline in the 
use of the needle. But although her preceptress 
practised these arts with a dexterity then only 
known in foreign convents, the pupil proved so 
incorrigibly idle and awkward, that the task of 
needle-work was at length given over, and lessons 
of music substituted in their stead. Here also 
Pauline was excellently qualified as an instructress, 
and Margaret, more successful in a science for 
which Nature had gifted her, made proficiency 
both in vocal and instrumental music. These les- 
sons passed in presence of the Lady Hermione, 
to whom they seemed to give pleasure. She 
sometimes added her own voice to the perform- 
ance, in a pure, clear stream of liquid melody ; 
but this was only when the music was of a devo- 
tional cast. As Margaret became older, her com- 
munications with the recluse assumed a different 
character. Slie was allowed, if not encouraged, 
to tell whatever she had remarked out of doors, 
and the Lady Ilermionc, wliile she remarked the 



168 THE FOUTUXKS OF NIUEL. 

quick, sharp, and retentive powers of observation 
possessed by her young friend, often found suffi- 
cient reason to caution her against rashness in 
forming opinions, and giddy petulance in ex- 
pressing them. 

The habitual awe with which she regarded 
this singular personage, induced Mistress Mar- 
garet, though by no means delighting in contra- 
diction or reproof, to listen with patience to her 
admonitions, and to make full allowance for the 
good intentions of the patroness by whom they 
were bestowed ; although in her heart she could 
hardly conceive how Madame Hermione, who ne- 
ver stirred from the Foljambe apartments, should 
think of teaching knowledge of the world to one 
who walked twice a-week between Temple-Bar 
and Lombard Street, besides parading in the 
Park every Sunday that proved to be fair wea- 
ther. Indeed, pretty Mistress Margaret was so 
little inclined to endure such remonstrances, that 
her intercourse with the inhabitants of the Fol- 
jambe apartments would have probably slackened 
as her circle of acquaintance increased in the ex- 
ternal world, had she not, on the one hand, enter- 



TlIK FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 10'9 

tained a habitual reverence for her monitress, of 
which she could not divest herself, and been flat- 
tered, on the other, by being, to a certain degree, 
the depositary of a confidence for which others 
thirsted in vain. Besides, although the conversa- 
tion of Hermione was uniformly serious, it was not 
in general either formal orsevere; nor was the lady 
offended by the flights of levity which Mistress 
Margai'et sometimes ventured on in her presence, 
even when they were such as made Monna Pau- 
lina cast her eyes upwards, and sigh with that 
compassiofi which a devotee extends towards the 
votaries of a trivial and profane world. Thus, 
upon the whole, the little maiden was disposed 
to submit, though not without some wincing, to 
the grave admorjilions of the Lady Hermione ; 
and the rather that the mystery annexed to the 
person of her monitress was in her mind early 
associated with a vague idea of wealth and im- 
portance, which had been leather confirmed than 
lessened by many accidental circumstances which 
she had noticed since she was more capable of 
observation. 

It frequently happens, that the council which 



170 THE FOllTUXKS OF >JIUEL. 

we reckon intrusive "when offered to us unasked, 
becomes precious in our eyes when the pressure 
of difficulties renders us more diffident of our 
own judgment than we are apt to find ourselves 
in the hours of ease and indifference ; and this 
is more especially the case if we suppose that our 
adviser may also possess power and inclination 
to back his counsel with effectual assistance. Mis- 
tress Margaret was now in that situation. She 
was, or believed herself to be, in a condition where 
both advice and assistance might be necessary ; 
and it was therefore, after an anxious and sleep- 
less night, that she resolved to have recourse to 
the Lady Hermione, who she knew would rea- 
dily afford her the one, and, as she hoped, might 
also possess means of giving her the other. The 
conversation between them will best explain the 
purport of the visit. 



THF. FORT'JXV.S OF NIOKL 171 



CHAPTER VIII. 

By this good light, a wench of matchless mettle ! 
This were a leaguer-lass to love a soldier, 
To bind his wounds, and kiss his bloody brow. 
And sing a roundel as she help'd to arm him. 
Though the rough foeman's drums were beat so nigh, 
They seem'd to bear the burden. 

Old Play. 

e 

When jMistress Margaret entered the Fol- 
jambe apartment, she found the inmates employ- 
ed in their usual manner ; the lady in reading, 
and her attendant in embroidering a large piece 
of tapestry, which had occupied her ever since 
Marf^aret had been first admitted within these 
secluded chambers. 

Hermione nodded kindly to her visitor, but 
did not speak ; and Margaret, accustomed to this 
reception, and in the present case not sorry for 
it, as it gave her an interval to collect her thoughts, 
stooped ovci Monna Paula's frame, and observed, 



172 THE FOllTUNES OF NIGEL. 

in a half whisper, " You were just so far as that 
rose, Monna, when I first saw you — see, there is 
the mark where I had the bad luck to spoil the 
flower in trying to catch the stitch — I was little 
above fifteen then. These flowers make me an 
old woman, Monna Paula." 

*' I wish they could make you a wise one, my 
child," answered Monna Paula, in whose esteem 
pretty Mistress Margaret did not stand quite so 
high as in that of her patroness ; partly owing to 
her natural austerity, which was something into- 
lerant of youth and gaiety, and partly to the jea- 
lousy with which a favourite domestic regards any 
one whom she considers as a sort of rival in the 
affections of her mistress. 

" What is it you say to Monna, little one .''" 
asked the lady. 

" Nothing, madam," replied Mistress Marga- 
ret, " but that I have seen the real flowers blos- 
som three times over since I first saw Monna 
Paula working in her canvas garden, and her 
violets have not budded yet." 

" True, lady-bird," replied Hermione ; "but 
the buds that are longest in biossomin"' will last 



TJIE FORTUNKS OF XIGKL. 173 

the longest in flower. You have seen them in the 
garden bloom thrice, but jou have seen them fade 
thrice also ; now, Monna Paula's will remain in 
blow for ever — they will fear neither frost nor 
tempest.'" 

" True, madam," answered Mistress Marga- 
ret ; "but neither have they life or odour." 

" That, little one," replied the recluse, " is to 
compare a life agitated by hope and fear, and 
chequered with success and disappointment, and 
fevered by the effects of love and hatred, a life of 
passion and'of feeling, saddened and shortened by 
its exhausting alternations, to a calm and tranquil 
existence, animated but by a sense of duties, and 
onlyemployedjduringitssmoothandquietcourse, 
in the unwearied discharge of them. Is that the 
moral of your answer ?''"' 

" I do not know, madam," answered Mistress 
Margaret; " but of all birds in the air, I would 
rather be the lark, that sings while he is drifting 
down the summer breeze, than the weather-cock 
that sticks fast yonder upon his iron perch, and 
just moves so much as to discharge his duty, and 
tell us wliich way the wind blows." 



174! TIIK lOllTUNKS 01<' NIGKL. 

" Metaphors are no arguments, my pretty 
maiden,"" said the Lady Hermione, smiUng. 

" I am sorry for that, madam," answered 
]\Iargaret ; " for they are such a pretty indirect 
way of telling one's mind when it diiFers from 
one's betters — besides, on this subject there is no 
end of them, and they are so civil and becoming 
withal."" 

" Indeed ?" replied the lady ; " let me hear 
some of them, I pray you." 

" It would be, for example, very bold in me," 
said Margaret, " to say to your ladyship, that, 
rather than live a quiet life, I would like a little 
variety of hope and fear, and liking and disliking 
— and — and — and the other sort of feelings which 
your ladyship is pleased to speak of ; but I may 
say freely, and without blame, that I like a but- 
terfly better than a beetle, or a trembling aspen 
better than a grim Scoli fir, that never wags a 
leaf — or that of all the wood, brass, and wire that 
ever my father's fingers put together, I do hate 
and detest a certain huge old clock of the Ger- 
man fashion, that rings hours and half hours, and 
quarters and half quarters, as if it was of such 



THK rORTUNKS OF NIUEL. 175 

consequence that the world should know it was 
wound up and going. Now, dearest lady, I wish 
you would only compare that clumsy, clang- 
ing, Dutch-looking piece of lumber, with the 
beautiful time-piece that Master Heriot caused 
ray father make for your ladyship, which uses to 
play a hundred merry tunes, and turns out, when 
it strikes the hour, a whole band of morrice-dan- 
cers, to trip the hays to the measure." 

" And which of these time-pieces goes the tru- 
est, Margaret .?" said the lady. 

" I m«st confess, the old Dutchman has the 
advantage in that — " said Margaret. " I fancy 
you are right, madam, and that comparisons are 
no arguments ; at least mine has not brought me 
through." 

" Upon my word, maiden Margaret," said the 
lady, smiling, " you have been of late thinking 
very much of these matters." 

" Perhaps too much, madam," said Margaret, 
so low as only to be heard by the lady, behind 
the back of whose chair she had now placed her- 
self. The words were spoken very gravely, and 



17G THE FOKTUNES OF NIGEL. 

accompanied by a half sigh, which did not escape 
the attention of" her to whom they were address- 
ed. The Lady Hermione turned immediately 
round, and looked earnestly at Margaret, then 
paused for a moment, and finally commanded 
Monna Paula to carry her frame and embroidery 
into the anti-chamber. When they were left 
alone, she desired her young friend to come from 
behind the chair, on the back of which she still 
rested, and sit down beside her upon a stool. 

" I will remain thus, madam, under your fa- 
vour,"" answered the girl, without changing her 
posture ; " I would rather you heard me without 
seeing me." 

" In God''s name, maiden," returned her pa- 
troness, " what is it you can have to say that 
may not be uttered face to face, to so true a friend 
as I am ?" 

Without making any direct answer, Marga- 
ret only replied, " You were right, dearest lady, 
when you said I had suffered my feelings too 
much to engross me of" late. I have done very 
wrong, and you will be angry with me — so will 

1 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 177 

ray godfather, but I cannot help it — he must be 
rescued." 

" He P" repeated the lady, with emphasis ; 
" that brief little word does indeed so far explain 
your mystery ; but come from behind the chair, 
you silly popinjay. I will wager you have suf- 
fered yonder gay young apprentice to sit too near 
your heart. I have not heard you mention young 
Vincent for many a day — perhaps he has not 
been out of mouth and out of mind both. Have 
you been so foolish as to let him speak to you se- 
riously ? '\ am told he is a bold youth." 

" Not bold enough to say any thing that could 
displease mc, madam," said Margaret. 

" Perhaps, then, you were not displeased,"^ 
said the lady ; " or perhaps he has not spoken, 
which would be wiser and better. Be open- 
hearted, my love— your god-father will soon re- 
turn, and we will take him into our consultations. 
If the young man is industrious, and come of 
honest parentage, his poverty may be no such 
insurmountable obstacle. But you are both of 
you very young, Margaret — I know your god- 

VOL. ir. M 



178 THE FOKTUVES OF NTOEL. 

father will expect that the youth shall first serve 
out his apprenticeship." 

Margaret had hitherto suffered the lady to 
proceed, under the mistaken impression which 
she had adopted, simply because she could not 
tell how to interrupt her ; but pure despite at 
hearing her last words gave her boldness at 
length to say, " I crave your pardon, madam ; 
but neither the youth you mention, nor any ap- 
prentice or master within the city of London — " 
" Margaret," said the lady, in reply, " the 
contemptuous tone with which you mention those 
of your own class — many hundreds, if not thou- 
sands, of whom, are in all respects better than 
yourself, and would greatly honour you by think- 
ing of you — is, methinks, no warrant for the wis- 
dom of your choice — for a choice it seems there 
is. Who is it, maiden, to whom you have thus 
rashly attached yourself — rashly I fear it must 
be?" 

" It is the young Scottish Lord Glenvarloch, 
madam," answered Margaret, in a low and mo- 
dest tone, but sufficiently firm, considering the 
subject. 



THE FOKTUXES OF NIGEL. 179 



it 



The young Lord of Glcnvarloch !" repeat- 
ed the lady, in great surprise, — " Maiden, you 
are distracted in your wits."" 

" I knew 3'ou would say so, madam,"" answer- 
ed Margaret ; " it is what another person lias 
already told me — it is perhaps what all the world 
would tell me — it is what I am sometimes dispo- 
sed to tell myself. But look at me, madam, for 
I will now come before you, and tell me if there 
is madness or distraction in my look and word, 
Avhen I repeat to you again, that I have fixed my 
affections'on this young nobleman." 

" If there is not madness in your look or 
word, maiden, there is infinite folly in what you 
say," answered tlie Lady Hermionc, sharply, 
*' When did you ever hear that misplaced love 
brought any thing but misery ? — Seek a match 
among your equals, Margaret, and escape the 
countless kinds of risk and misery that must at- 
tend an affection beyond your degree. — Why do 
you smile, maiden ? Is there aught to cause scorn 
in what I say ?"" 

" Surely no, madam," answered Margaret— 
" I only smiled to think how it should happen. 



180 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

that, while rank made such a wide difference be- 
tween creatures formed from the same clay, the 
wit of the vulgar should, nevertheless, jump so 
exactly the same length with that of the accom- 
plished and the exalted. It is but the variation 
of the phrase which divides them. Dame Urs- 
ley told me the very same thing which your la- 
dyship has but now uttered; only you, madam, 
talk of countless misery, and Dame Ursley spoke 
of the gallows, and Mistress Turner who was 
hanged upon it." 

" Indeed ?■" answered the Lady Hermione ; 
" and who may Dame Ursley be, that your wise 
choice has associated with me in the difficult task 
of advising a fool .?" 

'' The barber''s wife at next door, madam," 
answered Margaret, with feigned simplicity, but 
far from being sorry at heart that she had found 
an indirect mode of mortifying her monitress. 
*' She is the wisest woman that I know, next to 
your ladyship." 

" A proper confidante," said the lady, " and 
chosen with the same delicate sense of what is 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 181 

due to yourself and others. But what ails you, 
maiden — ^where are you going .?"" 

" Only to ask Dame Ursley's advice," said 
Mai'garet, as if about to depart ; " for I see 
your ladyship is too angry to give me any, and 
the emergency is pressing." 

" What emergency, thou simple one .?" said 
the lady, in a kinder tone. " Sit down, maiden, 
and tell me your tale. — It is true you are a fool, 
and a petted fool to boot ; but then you are a 
child — an amiable child, with all your self-w^illed 
folly, and we must help you, if we can. Sit down, 
I say, as you are desired, and you will find me a 
safer and wiser counsellor than the barber- wo- 
man. And tell me how you come to suppose 
that you have fixed your heart unalterably upon 
a man whom you have seen, as I think, but 
once." 

" I have seen him oftener," said the damsel, 
looking down ; *' but I have only spoken with 
him once. I should have been able to get that 
once out of my head, though the impression was so 
deep that I could even now repeat pvcry trifling 



182 THE FOliTUNES OF NIGEL. 

word he said ; but other things have since rivct- 
tcd it in my bosom for ever." 

" Maiden," replied the lady, "^r ever, is the 
word which comes most lightly on the lips in 
such circumstances, but which, not the less, is 
almost the last that we should use. The fa- 
shion of this world, its passions, its joys, and its 
sorrows, pass away like the winged breeze- 
there is nought for ever but that which belongs 
to the world beyond the grave." 

" You have corrected me justly, madam," 
said Margaret, calmly ; " I ought only to have 
spoken of my present state of mind, as what will 
last me for my life time, which unquestionably 
may be but short." 

" And what is there in this Scottish lord that 
can rivet what concerns him so closely in your 
fancy .p" said the lady. " I admit him a person- 
able man, for I have seen him, and I will sup- 
pose him courteous and agreeable. But what are 
his accomplishments besides, for these surely arc 
not uncommon attributes ?" 

" He is unfortunate, madam — most unfortu- 
nate — and surrounded by snares of diflercnt 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 183 

kinds, ingeniously contrived to ruin his charac- 
ter, destroy his estate, and perhaps to reach even 
his life. These schemes have been devised by 
avarice originally, but they are now followed 
close by vindictive ambition, animated, I think, 
by the absolute and concentrated spirit of malice ; 
for the Lord Dalgarno— — " 

" Here, Monna Paula — Monna Paula !"" ex- 
claimed the Lady Hermione, interrupting her 
young friend^'s narrative. " She hears me not," 
she answered, rising and going out, " I must 
seek her — I will return instantly." She return- 
ed accordingly very soon after. " You mention- 
ed a name which I thought was familiar to me," 
she said ; " but Monna Paula has put me riglit. 
I know nothing of your lord — how was it you 
named him ?" 

" Lord Dalgarno," said Margaret ; — " the 
wickedest man who lives. Under pretence of 
friendship, he introduced the Lord Glenvailoch 
to a gambling-house, with the purpose of enga- 
ging him in deep play ; but he with whom the 
perfidious traitor had to deal, was too virtuous, 
moderate, and cautious, to be caught in a snare 



184 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

SO open. What did they next, but turn his own 
moderation against him, and persuade others 
that, because he would not become the prey of 
wolves, he herded with them for a share of their 
booty ! And while this base Lord Dalgarno was 
thus undermining his unsuspecting countryman, 
he took every measure to keep him surrounded 
by creatures of his own, to prevent him from 
attending court, and mixing with those of his pro- 
per rank. Since the Gunpowder Treason, there 
never was a conspiracy more deeply laid, more 
basely and more deliberately pursued." 

The lady smiled sadly at Margaret's vehe- 
mence, but sighed the next moment, while she 
told her young friend how little she knew the 
world she was about to live in, since she testified 
so much surprise at finding it full of villainy. 

*' But by what means,"" she added, " could 
you, maiden, become possessed of the secret views 
of a man so cautious as Lord Dalgarno — as vil- 
lains in general are .?'' 

" Permit me to be secret on that subject," said 
the maiden ; " I could not tell you without be- 
traying others— let it suffice that my tidings are 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 185 

as certain as the means by which I acquired them 
are secret and sure. But I must not tell them 
even to you." 

" You are too bold, Margaret," said the lady, 
" to traffic in such matters at your early age — it 
is not only da>»gerous, but even unbecoming and 
unmaidenly." 

" I knew you would say that also," said Mar- 
garet, with more meekness and patience than she 
usually shewed on receiving reproof; " but God 
knows, my heart acquits me of every other feel- 
ing save that of the wish to assist this most inno- 
cent and betrayed man. — I contrived to send him 
warning of his friend"'s falsehood ; — alas ! my care 
has only hastened his utter ruin, unless speedy 
aid be found. He charged his false friend with 
treachery, and drew on him in the Park, and is 
now liable to the fatal penalty due for breach of 
privilege of the King''s palace." 

" This is indeed an extraordinary tale," said 
Hermione ; " is Lord Glenvarloch then in pri- 
son .?" 

" No, madam, thank God, but in the sanctu- 
ary at Whitefriars — it is matter of doubt whether 



186 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

it will protect him in such a case— they speak of 
a warrant from the Lord Chief Justice — A gen- 
tleman of the Temple has been arrested and is in 
trouble, for having assisted him in his flight.— 
Even his taking temporary refuge in that base 
place, though from extreme necessity, will be 
used to the further defaming him. All this I 
know, and yet I cannot rescue him — cannot re- 
scue him save by your means." 

*' By my means, maiden ?" said the lady — 
" you are beside yourself ! — What means can I 
possess in this secluded situation, of assisting this 
unfortunate nobleman ?" 

*' You have means,"" said Margaret eagerly ; 
" you have those means, unless I mistake great- 
ly, which can do any thing — can do every thing, 
in this city, in this world — you have wealth, and 
the command of a small portion of it will enable 
me to extricate him from his present danger. He 
will be enabled and directed how to make his 
escape — and I "" she paused. 

"• Will accompany him, doubtless, and reap 
the fruits of your sage exertions in his behalf," 
said the Lady Ilcrmionc, ironically. 

11 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 187 



a 



May heaven forgive you the unjust thought, 
lady," answered Margaret. ** I will never see him 
more — ^but I shall have saved him,and the thought 
shall make me happy." 

*' A cold conclusion to so bold and warm a 
flame,'' said the lady v/ith a smile, which seemed 
to intimate incredulity. 

*' It is, however, the only one which I expect, 
madam — I could almost say the only one which 
I wish — I am sure I will use no efforts to bring; 
about any other ; if I am bold in his cause, I am 
timorous enough in my own. During our only 
interview I was unable to speak a word with him. 
He knows not the sound of my voice — and all 
that I have risked, and must yet risk, I am doing 
for one, who, were he asked the question, would 
say he has long since forgotten that he ever saw, 
spoke with, or sat beside a creature, of so little 
signification as I am.'' 

" This is a strange and unreasonable indul- 
gence of a passion equally fanciful and danger- 
ous," saitl the Lady Hermione. 

" You will 7iot assist me thcn.^" said Margaret ; 
"have good-day ihcn, madam — my secret, I trust, 
is safe in such lionourable keeping." 



188 THE rOllTUNES OF NIGEL. 



tc 



Tarry yet a little," said the lady, " and tell 
me what resource you have to assist this youth, 
if you were supplied with money to put it in mo- 



tion," 



" It is superfluous to ask me the question, ma- 
dam," answered Margaret, " unless you purpose 
to assist me ; and if you do so purpose, it is still 
superfluous. You could not understand the 
means I must use, and time is too brief to ex- 
plain." 

*' But have you in reality such means .'*" said 
the lady. 

" I have, with the command of a moderate 
sum," answered Margaret Ramsay, " the power 
of baffling all his enemies — of eluding the passion 
of the irritated King — the colder but more de- 
termined displeasure of the Prince — the vindic- 
tive spirit of Buckingham, so hastily directed 
against whomsoever crosses the path of his am- 
bition — the cold, concentrated malice of Lord 
Dalgarno — all, I can baffle them all !" 

" But is this to be done without your own per- 
sonal risk, Margaret.-^" replied the lady ; " for be 
your purpose what it will, you are not ,to peril 



THE FORTUNES OF IJIGEL. 389 

your own reputation or person, in the romantic 
attempt of serving another ; and I, maiden, am 
answerable to your god-father, — to your benefac- 
tor, and my own, — not to aid you in any danger- 
ous or unworthy enterprize." 

" Depend upon my word, — my oath, — dearest 
lady," replied the suppliant, " that I will act by 
the agency of others, and do not myself design 
to mingle in any enterprize in which my appear- 
ance might be either perilous or unwomanly.*" 

" I know not what to do," said the Lady Her- 
mione ; '' it is perhaps incautious, inconsiderate 
in me to aid so wild a project ; yet the end seems 
honourable, if the means be sure — what is the pe- 
nalty if he fall into their hands ?" 

" Alas, alas ! the loss of his right hand," re- 
plied Margaret, her voice almost stifled with 
sobs. 

" Are the laws of England so cruel ? then there 
is mercy in heaven alone," said the lady, " since, 
even in this free land, men are wolves to each 
other. — Compose yourself, Margaret, and tell me 
what money is necessary to secure Lord Glenvar- 
loch's escape." 



190 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 



«< 



Two hundred pieces," replied Margaret ; 
" I would speak to you of restoring them — and 
I must one day liave the power-^nly that I 
know — that is, I think — ^your ladyship is indif- 
ferent on that score."" 

" Not a word more of it," said the lady, " call 
Monna Paula hither." 



THE rORTUNFS OF >!TGEL. 191 



CHAPTER IX. 

Credit me, friend, it lialh been ever thus, 

Since the Ark rested on Mount Ararat. 

False man hath sworn, and woman hatli believed — 

Hepented and reproach'd, and then believed once more. 

The New World. 

By the time that Margaret returned with Mon- 
na Paula, the Lady Hermione was rising from 
the table at which she had been engaged in wri- 
ting something on a small slip of paper, which 
she gave to her attendant. 

*' Monna Paula," she said, " carry this paper 
to lloberts the cash-keeper; let him give you 
the money mentioned in the note, and bring it 
hither presently." 

Monna Paula left the room, and her mistress 
proceeded : 

*' I do not know,'' she said, " Margaret, if I 
have done, and am doing, avcH in this affair. My 



192 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

life has been one of strange seclusion, and I am to- 
tally unacquainted with the practical ways of this 
world — an ignorance which I know cannot be re- 
medied by mere reading. — I fear I am doing wrong 
to you, and perhaps to the laws of the country 
Avhich affords me refuge, by thus indulging your 
and yet there is something in my heart which 
cannot resist your entreaties." 

" O, listen to it — listen to it, dear generous 
lady I" said Margaret, throwing herself on he; 
knees and grasping those of her benefactress, and 
looking in that attitude like a beautiful mortal 
in the act of supplicating her tutelary angel ; 
" the laws of men are but the injunctions of mor- 
tality, but what the heart prompts is the echo of 
the voice from heaven within us."" 

" Rise, rise, maiden," said Hermione ; " you 
affect me more than I thought I could have been 
moved by aught that should approach me. Rise 
and tell me whence it comes, that, in so short a 
time, your thoughts, your looks, your speech, and 
even your slightest actions, are changed from 
those of a capricious and fanciful girl, to all this 



THE FORTUNES OF >JTGEL. 193 

energy and impassioned eloquence of word and 
action." 

*' I am sure I know not, dearest lad}'^,'' said 
Margaret, looking down ; " but I suppose that 
when I was a triflcr, I was only thinking of trifles, 
AVhat I now reflect is deep and serious, and I 
am thankful if my speech and manner bear rea- 
sonable proportion to my thoughts." 

" It must be so," said the lady ; " yet the 
change seems a rapid and strange one. It seems 
to be as if a childish girl had at once shot up in- 
to a deep-thinking and impassioned woman, rea- 
dy to make exertions alike, and sacrifices, with 
all that vain devotion to a favoured object of af- 
fection, which is often so basely rewarded." 

The Lady Hermione sighed bitterly, and 
Monna Paula entered ere the conversation pro- 
ceeded farther. She spoke to her mistress in the 
foreign language in which they frequently con- 
versed, but which was unknown to Margaret. 

" We must have patience for a time," said the 
lady to her visitor ; " the cash-keeper is abroad 
on some business, but he is expected home in the 
course of half an hour." 

VOL, II. N 



194 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

Margaret wrung her hands in vexation and 
impatience. 

" Minutes arc precious,'" continued the lady, 
" that I am well aware of, and we will at least 
suffer none of them to escape us. Monna Paula 
shall remain below and transact our business, the 
very instant that Roberts returns home." 

She spoke to her attendant accordingly, who 
again left the room. 

" You are very kind, madam — very good,'* 
said the poor little Margaret, while the anxious 
trembling of her lip and of her hand shewed all 
that sickening agitation of the heart which arises 
from hope deferred. 

" Be patient, Margaret, and collect yourself," 
said the lady ; " you may — you must have much 
to do to carry through this your bold purpose — 
reserve your spirits, which you may need so much 
— be patient — it is the only remedy against the 
evils of life." 

" Yes, madam," said Margaret, wiping her 
eyes, and endeavouring in vain to suppress the 
natural impatience of her temper. — " I have 
heard scj — very often indeed ; and I dare say I 
hcivc myself, heaven forgive me, said so to people 



THE FORTUNES OF XICEL. 195 

in perplexity and affliction ; but it was before I 
had suffered perplexity and vexation myself, 
and I am sure I will never preach patience to any 
human beinw ag-ain, now that I know how much 
the medicine goes against the stomach." 

" You will think better of it, maiden," said 
the Lady Hermione ; " I also, when I first felt 
distress, thought they did me wrong who spoke 
to me of patience ; but my sorrows have been re- 
peated and continued till I have been taught to 
cUng to it^as the best, and — religious duties ex- 
cepted, of which indeed patience forms a part, — 
the only alleviation which life can afford them.'' 
Margaret, who neither wanted sense nor feeling, 
wiped her tears hastily, and asked her patroness's 
forgiveness for her petulance. 

" I might have thought, — ^^ she said, " I ought 
to have reflected, that even from the manner of 
your life, madam, it is plain you must have suf- 
fered sorrow ; and yet, God knows, the patience 
which I have ever seen you display, well entitles 
you to recommend your own example to others. 
The lady was silent for a moment, and then 
replied — 



]9G THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

*' Margaret, I am about to repose a liigli con- 
fidence in you. You are no longer a child, but a 
thinking and a feeling woman — ^you have told me 
as much of your secret as you dared — I will let 
you know as much of mine as I may venture to 
tell. You will ask me, perhaps, why, at a mo- 
ment when your own mind is agitated, I should 
force upon you the consideration of my sorrows ? 
and I answer, that I cannot withstand the im- 
pulse which now induces me to do so. Perhaps 
from having witnessed, for the first time these 
three years, the natural effects of human passion, 
my own sorrows have been awakened, and are for 
the moment too big for my own bosom — perhaps 
I may hope that you, who seem driving full sail 
on the very rock on which I was wrecked for 
ever, will take warning by the tale I have to tell. 
Enough, if you are willing to listen, I am will- 
ing to tell you who the melancholy inhabitant 
of the Foljambe apartment really is, and why she 
resides here. It will serve, at least, to while 
away the time until Monna Paula shall bring us 
the reply from Roberts." 

At any other moment of her life Margaret 



THE FOTITUNES OF NIGEL. 19T 

amsay would have heard, with undivided in- 
terest, a communication so flattering in itself, 
and referring to a subject upon which the gene- 
ral curiosity had been so strongly excited. And 
even at this agitating moment, although she cea- 
sed not to listen with an anxious ear and throb- 
bino- heart for the sound of Monna Paula's re- 
turning footsteps, she nevertheless, as gratitude 
and policy, as well as a portion of curiosity dic- 
tated, composed herself, in appearance at least, 
to the strictest attention to the Lady Hermione, 
and thanked her with humiUty for the high con- 
fidence she was pleased to repose in her. The 
Lady Hermione, with the same calmness which 
always attended her speech and actions, thus re- 
counted her story to her young friend : 

" My father," she said, " was a merchant, but 
he was of a city whose merchants are princes. I 
am the daughter of a noble house in Genoa, 
whose name stood as high in honour and in anti- 
quity, as any inscribed in the Golden Register of 
that famous aristocracy. 

" My mother was a noble Scotchwoman. She 
was descended— do not start— and not remotely 



19B THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

descended, of the house of Glenvarloch — no won- 
der that I was easily led to take concern in the 
misfortunes of this young lord. He is my near re- 
lation, and my mother, who was more than suffi- 
ciently proud of her descent, early taught me to 
take an interest in the name. My maternal grand- 
father, a cadet of that house of Glenvarloch, had 
followed the fortunes of an unhappy fugitive, Fran- 
cis Earl of Bothwell, who, after shewing his mi- 
series in many a foreign court, at length settled 
in Spain upon a miserable pension, which he earn- 
ed by conforming to the Catholic faith. Ralph 
Olifaunt, my grandfather, separated from him in 
disgust, and settled at Barcelona, where, by the 
friendship of the governor, his heresy, as it was 
termed, was connived at. My father, in the course 
of his commerce, resided more at Barcelona than 
in his native country, though at times he visited 
Genoa. 

*' It was at Barcelona that he became acquainted 
with my mother, loved her, and married her; they 
differed in faith, but they agreed in affection. I 
was their only child. In public I conformed to the 
doctrines and ceremonial of the church of Rome; 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 199 

but my mother, by whom these were regarded 
with horror, privately trained me up in those of 
the reformed rehgion ; and my father, either in- 
different in the matter, or unwilHng to distress 
the woman whom he loved, overlooked or conni- 
ved at my secretly joining in her devotions. 

"But when, unhappily, my father was attacked, 
while yet in the prime of life, by a slow wasting 
disease, which he felt to be incurable, he foresaw 
the hazard to which his widow and orphan might 
be exposed, after he was no more, in a country 
so bigotted to Catholicism as Spain. He made it 
his business, during the two last years of his life, 
to realize and to remit to England a large part of 
his fortune, which, by the faith and honour of 
his correspondent, the excellent man under whose 
roof I now reside, was employed to great advan- 
tage. Had my father lived to complete his pur- 
pose, by withdrawing his whole fortune from com- 
merce, he himself would have accompanied us to 
England, and would have beheld us settled in 
peace and honour before his death. But Heaven 
had ordained it otherwise. He died, leaving sc* 



200 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

veral sums engaged in the hands of his Spanish 
debtoi's ; and, in particular, he had made a large 
and extensive consignment to a certain wealthy 
society of merchants at Madrid, who shewed no 
willingness after his death to account for the pro- 
ceeds. Would to God we had left these covetous 
and wicked men in possession of their booty, for 
such they seemed to hold the property of their de- 
ceased correspondent and friend. We had enough 
for comfort, and even splendour, already secured 
in England ; but friends exclaimed upon the folly 
of permitting these unprincipled men to plunder 
us of our rightful property. The sum itself was 
large, and the claim having been made, my mo- 
ther thought that my fatlier''s memory was inte- 
rested in its being enforced, especially as the de- 
fences set up for the mercantile society went, in 
some degree, to impeach the fairness of his trans- 
actions. 

" We went therefore to Madrid. I was then, my 
Margaret, about your age, young and thought- 
less, as you have hitherto been — We went, I say, 
to Madrid, to solicit the protection of the Court 



THE FOllTUXES OF NIGEL. 201 

and of the King, M-ithout which we were told it 
would be in vain to expect justice against an 
opulent and powerful association. 

" Our residence at the Spanish metropohs drew 
on from weeks to months. For my part, my na- 
tural sorrow for a kind, though not a fond father, 
having abated, I cared not if the law-suit had de- 
tained us at Madrid for ever. My mother permit- 
ted herself and me ratlier more liberty than we 
had been accustomed to. She found relations 
among ^le Scottish and Irish officers, many of 
whom held a high rank in the Spanish armies ; 
their wives and daughters became our friends and 
companions, and I had perpetual occasion to ex- 
ercise my mother's native language, which I had 
learned from my infancy. By degrees, as my mo- 
therm's spirits were low, and her health indifferent, 
she was induced, by her partial fondness for me, 
to suffer me to mingle occasionally in society 
which she herself did not frequent, under tlie 
guardianship of such ladies as she imagined slie 
could trust, and particularly under the care of 
the lady of a general officer, whose weakness or 
falsehood was the original cause of my misfor- 



202 TIIK FOUTUNES OF NIGFL. 

tunes, I was as gay, Margaret, and thoughtless 
— I again repeat it — as you were but lately, and 
my attention, like yours, became suddenly rivet- 
ted to one object, and to one set of feelings. 

*' The person by whom they were excited was 
young, noble, handsome, accomplished, a soldier, 
and a Briton. So far our cases are nearly pa- 
rallel ; but, may Heaven forbid that the parallel 
should become complete ! This man, so noble, 
so fairly formed, so gifted, and so brave-^this 
villain^ for that, Margaret, was his fittest name, 
spoke of love to me, and I listened — Could I sus- 
pect his sincerity ? If he was wealthy, noble, and 
long-descended, I also was a noble and an opu- 
lent heiress. It is true, that he neither knew the 
extent of my father's wealth, nor did I commu- 
nicate to him (I do not even remember if I my- 
self knew it at the time) the important circum- 
stance, that the greater part of that wealth was 
beyond the grasp of arbitrary power, and not sub- 
ject to the precarious award of arbitrary judges. 
My lover might think, perhaps, as my mother was 
desirous the world at large should believe, that 
almost our whole fortune depended on the prcca- 



THE FOllTUXES OF ^TGEL. 203 

rious suit which we had come to Madrid to prose- 
cute— -a belief which she had countenanced out of 
policy, being well aware that the knowledge of my 
father's having remitted such a large part of his 
fortune to England, would in no shape aid the 
recovery of further sums in the Spanish courts. 
Yet, with no more extensive views of my fortune 
than were possessed by the public, I believe that 
he of whom I am speaking, was at first sincere in 
his pretensions. He had himself interest sufficient 
to have<obtained a decision in our favour in the 
courts, and my fortune, reckoning only what was 
in Spain, would then have been no inconsider- 
able sum. To be brief, whatever might be his 
motives or temptation for so far committing him- 
self, he applied to my mother for my hand, with 
my consent and avowal. My mother''s judg- 
ment had become weaker, but her passions had 
become more irritable during her increasing ill- 
ness. 

'* You have heard of the bitterness of the ancient 
Scottish feuds, of which it may be said, in the 
language of Scripture, tliat the fathers eat sour 
grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on 



^04 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

edge. Unhappily, I should say happily^ consi- 
dering what this man has now shewn himself, 
some such strain of bitterness had divided his 
house from my mother's, and she had succeeded 
to the inheritance of hatred. When he asked her 
for my hand, she was no longer able to command 
her passions — she raked up every injury which 
the rival families had inflicted upon each other 
during a bloody feud of two centuries — heaped 
him with epithets of scorn, and rejected his pro- 
posal of alliance as if it had come from the basest 
of mankind. 

" My lover retired in passion ; and I remained 
to weep and murmur against fortune, and — I will 
confess my fault — against my affectionate parent. 
I had been educated with different feelings, and 
the traditions of the feuds and quarrels of my 
mother''s family in Scotland, which were to her 
monuments and chronicles, seemed to me as in- 
significant and unmeaning as the actions and fan- 
tasies of Don Quixote ; and I blamed my mother 
bitterly for sacrificing my happiness to an empty 
dream of family dignity. 
*' While I was in this humour, my lover sought 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 205 

a renewal of our intercourse. We met repeat- 
edly in the house of the lady whom I have men- 
tioned, and who, in levity, or in the spirit of in- 
trigue, countenanced our secret correspondence. 
At length we were secretly married — so far did 
my blinded passion hurry me. My lover had se- 
cured the assistance of a clergyman of this Eng- 
lish church. Monna Paula, who had been my 
attendant from infancy, was one witness of our 
union. Let me do the faithful creature justice — 
She conjured me to suspend my purpose till my 
mother's death should permit us to celebrate our 
marriage openly ; but the entreaties of my lover, 
and my own wayward passion, prevailed over her 
remonstrances. The lady I have spoken of was 
another witness, but whether she was in full pos- 
session of my bridegroom's secret, I had never 
the means to learn. But the shelter of her name 
and roof afforded us the means of frequently meet- 
ing, and the love of my husband seemed as sin- 
cere and as unbounded as my own. 

" He was eager, he said, to gratify his pride, 
by introducing me to one or two of his noble 
English friends. This could not be done at Lady 



SOfi THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

D ^"s ; but by his command, which I was now 

entitled to consider as my law, I contrived twice 
to visit him at his own hotel, accompanied only 
by Monna Paula. There was a very small party 
of two ladies and two gentlemen. There was mu- 
sic, mirth, and dancing. I had heard of the frank- 
ness of the English nation, but I could not help 
thinking it bordered on license during these en- 
tertainments, and in the course of the collation 
which followed ; but I imputed my scruples to 
my inexperience, and would not doubt the pro- 
priety of what was approved by my husband. 

" I was soon summoned to other scenes : My 
poor mother"'s disease drew to a conclusion — Hap- 
py I am that it took place before she discovered 
what would have cut her to the soul. 

" In Spain you may have heard how the Catho- 
lic priests, and particularly the monks, besiege 
the beds of the dying, to obtain bequests for the 
good of the church. I have said that my mo- 
ther's temper was irritated by disease, and her 
judgment impaired in proportion. She gathered 
spirits and force from the resentment which the 
priests around her bed excited by their importu- 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 207 

liity, and the spirit of the stern sect of reformers, 
to which she hnd secretly adhered, seemed to 
animate her dying tongue. She avowed the re- 
Hgion she had so long concealed ; renounced all 
hope and aid which did not come by and through 
its dictates; rejected with contempt the ceremo- 
nial of the Romish church ; loaded the astonish- 
ed priests with reproaches for their greediness 
and hypocrisy, and commanded them to leave 
her house. They went in bitterness and rage, 
but it was to return with the inquisitorial power, 
its warrants, and its officers ; and they found 
only the cold corpse left of her, on whom they 
had hoped to work their vengeance. As I was 
soon discovered to have shared my mother''s he- 
resy, I was dragged from her dead body, impri- 
soned in a solitai'y cloister, and treated with seve- 
rity, which the Abbess assured me was due to 
the looseness of my life, as well as my spiritual 
errors. I avowed my marriage, to justify the si- 
tuation in which I found myself — I implored the 
assistance of the Superior to communicate my si- 
tuation to my husband. She smiled coldly at the 
})roposal, and told me the church had provided a 

13 



S08 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

better spouse for me ; advised me to secure m} self 
of divine grace hereafter, and deserve milder treat- 
ment here, by presently taking the veil. In order 
to convince me that I had no other resource, she 
shewed me a royal decree, by which all my estate 
was hypothecated to the Convent of Saint Magda- 
len, and became their complete property upon my 
death, or my taking the vows. As I was, both 
from religious principle, and affectionate attach- 
ment to my husband, absolutely immoveable in 
my rejection of the veil, I believe — may Heaven 
forgive me if I wrong her ! — that the Abbess was 
desirous to make sure of my spoils, by hastening 
the former event. 

*' It was a small and a poor convent, and situa- 
ted among the mountains of Guadarrama. Some 
of the sisters were the daughters of neiG;hbour- 
ing Hidalgos, as poor as they were proud and 
ignorant ; others were women immured there 
on account of their vicious conduct. The Su- 
perior herself was of a high family, to which she 
owed her situation ; but she was said to have dis- 
graced her connections by her conduct during 

youth, and now, in advanced age, covetousness 

12 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 209 

and the love of power, a spirit too of severity 
and cruelty, had succeeded to the thirst after li- 
centious pleasure. I suffered much under this 
woman — ^and still her dark glassy eye, her tall 
shrouded form, and her rigid features, haunt my 
slumbers. 

" I was not destined to be a mother. I was very 
ill, and my recovery was long and doubtful. The 
most violent remedies were applied, if remedies 
they indeed were. My health was restored at 
length, against my own expectation and that of 
all around m-e. But when I first again beheld the 
reflection of my own face, I thought it was the 
visao-e of a ghost. I was wont to be flattered by 
ail, but particularly by my husband, for the fine- 
ness of my complexion — it was now totally gone, 
and what is more extraordinary, it has never re- 
turned. I have observed that the few who now 
see me, look upon me as a bloodless phantom — 
Such has been the abiding eff'ect of the treatment 
to which I was subjected. May God forgive those 
who were the agents of it ! — I thank heaven I can 
say so with as sincere a wish, as that with which 

VOL. II. o 



210 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

I pray for forgiveness of my own sins. They 
now relented somewhat towards me — moved 
perhaps to compassion by my singular appear- 
ance, which bore witness to my sufferings ; or 
afraid that the matter might attract attention 
during a visitation of the bishop, which was ap- 
proaching. One day, as I was walking in the 
convent-garden, to which I had been lately ad- 
mitted, a miserable old Moorish slave, who was 
kept to cultivate the little spot, muttered as I 
passed him, but still keeping his wrinkled face 
and decrepit form in the same angle with the 
earth — ' There is Heart's Ease near the pos- 
tern' 

*' I knew something of the symbolical language 
of flowers, once carried to such perfection among 
the Moriscoes of Spain ; but if I had been igno- 
rant of it, the captive would soon have caught at 
any hint that seemed to promise liberty. With 
all the haste consistent with the utmost circum- 
spection, for I might be observed by the Abbess 
or some of the sisters from the window, I hasten- 
ed to the postern. It was closely barred as usual, 
but when I coughed slightly, I was answered 



THE FORTUNES OF XIGEL. 211 

from the other side — and O, heaven ! it was my 
husband's voice which said, * Lose not a minute 
here at present, but be on this spot when the ves- 
per bell has tolled.' 

" I retired in an ecstacy of joy. I was not enti- 
tled or permitted to assist at vespers, but was ac- 
customed to be confined to my cell while the 
nuns were in the choir. Since my recovery, they 
had discontinued locking the door ; though the 
utmost severity was denounced against me if I 
left these precincts. But let the penalty be what it 
would, I hastened to dare it. — No sooner had the 
last toll of the vesper bell ceased to sound, than 
I stole from my chamber, reached the garden 
unobserved, hurried to the postern, beheld it 
open with rapture, and in the next moment was 
in my husband's arms. He had with him another 
cavalier of noble mien — both were masked and 
armed. Their horses, with one saddled for my 
use, stood in a thicket hard by, with two other 
masked horsemen who seemed to be servants. In 
less than two minutes we were mounted, and rode 
off as fast as we could, through rough and de- 



5^1^ THE rORTUNKS OF NIGEL. 

vious roads, in M-bich one of the domestics appear- 
ed to act as guide. 

" The hurried pace at which we rode, and the 
anxiety of the moment, kept me silent, and pre- 
vented my expressing my surprise or my joy save 
in a few broken words. It also served as an apo- 
logy for my husband's silence. At length we 
stopped at a solitary hut — the cavahers dismount- 
ed, and I was assisted from my saddle, not by 

M M my husband I would say, who 

seemed busied about his horse, but by the stran- 
ger. 

" ' Go into the hut,' said my husband, ' change 
your dress with the speed of lightning — you will 
find one to assist you — we must forward instant- 
ly when you have shifted your apparel.' 

" I entered the hut, and was received in the arms 
of the faithful Monna Paula, who had waited my 
arrival for many hours, half distracted with fear 
and anxiety. With her assistance I speedily tore 
off the detested garments of the convent, and ex- 
changed them for a travelling suit, made after 
the English fashion. I observed that Monna 



THE FOllTL'NES OF NIGEL. 213 

Paula was in a similar dress. I had but j ust hud- 
dled on my change of attire, when we were has- 
tily summoned to mount. A horse, I found, was 
provided for IMonna Paula, and we resumed our 
route. On the way, my convent-garb, which had 
been wrapped hastily together around a stone, 
was thrown into a lake, along the verge of which 
we were then passing. The two cavaliers rode 
together in front, my attendant and I followed, 
and the servants brought up the rear. Monna 
Paula, asjsve rode on, repeatedly entreated me to 
be silent upon the road, as our lives depended on 
it. I was easily reconciled to be passive, for, the 
first fever of spirits which attended the sense of 
liberation and of gratified affection having passed 
away, I felt as it were dizzy with the rapid 
motion ; and my utmost exertion was necessary 
to keep my place on the saddle, until we sudden- 
ly (it was now very dark,) saw a strong light be- 
fore us. 

" My husband reined up his horse, and gave 
a signal by a low whistle twice repeated, which 
was answered from a distance. The whole partv 
then halted under the boughs of a large cork-tree. 



2l4 THK FOilTUNES OV NIGEL. 

and my husband, drawing himself close to my side, 
said, in a voice which I then thought was only 
embarrassed by fear for my safety, — ' We must 
now part. Those to whom I commit you are 
contrabandists i who only know you as English- 
women, but who, for a high bribe, have under- 
taken to escort you through the passes of the 
Pyrenees as far as Saint Jean de Luz.' 

" ' And do 1/ou not go with us ?' I exclaimed 
with emphasis, though in a whisper. 

*' ' It is impossible,'' he said, ' and would ruin 
all — See that you speak in English in these peo- 
ple's hearing, and give not the least sign of un- 
derstanding what they say in Spanish— your life 
depends on it ; for, though they live by opposi^ 
tion to and evasion of the laws of Spain, they 
would tremble at the idea of violating those of 
the church — I see them coming — farewell — ^fare- 
well.' 

" The last words were hastily uttered — I endea- 
voured to detain him yet a moment by my feeble 
grasp on his cloak. 

" * You will meet me then, I trust, at Saint 
Jean de Luz ?' 



THE roHTUNES OF NIGEL. 215 



<( ( 



Yes, yes,' he answered hastily, ' at Saint 
Jean de Luz you will meet your protector.' 

" He then extricated his cloak from ray grasp, 
and was lost in the darkness. His companion 
approached — kissed ray hand, which in the ago- 
ny of the moraent I was scarce sensible of, and 
followed my husband, attended by one of the 
domestics." 

The tears of Hermione here flowed so fast as 
to threaten the interruption of her narrative. — 
When sUe resumed it, it was with a kind of apo- 
logy to Margaret. 

*' Every circumstance," she said, " occurring 
in these moments, when I still enjoyed a delusive 
idea of happiness, are deeply imprinted in my re- 
membrance, which, respecting all that has since 
happened, is waste and unvaried as an Arabian 
desert. But I have no right to inflict on you, 
Margaret, agitated as you are with your own 
anxieties, the unavailing details of my useless re- 
collections." 

Margaret's eyes were full of tears — it was im- 
possible it could be otherwise, considering that 



216 



THE FOUTUNES OF NIGEL. 



the tale was told by her suffering benefactress, 
and resembled, in some respects, her own situa- 
tion; and yet she must not be severely blamed, 
if, while eagerly pressing her patroness to conti- 
nue her narrative, her eye involuntarily sought 
the door, as if to chide the delay of Monna Paula. 

The Lady Hermione saw and forgave these 
conflicting emotions ; and she, too, must be par- 
doned, if, in her turn, the minute detail of her 
narrative shewed, that, in the discharge of feel- 
ings so long locked in her own bosom, she rather 
forgot those which were personal to her auditor, 
and by which it must be supposed Margaret's 
mind was principally occupied, if not entirely 
engrossed, 

" I told you, I think, that one domestic fol- 
lowed the gentlemen," thus the lady continued 
her story, " the other remained with us for the 
purpose, as it seemed, of introducing us to two 
persons whom M — — I say whom my husband's 
signal had brought to the spot. A word or two 
- of explanation passed between them and the ser- 
vant, in a sort of patois^ which I did not under- 



THK FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 217 

stand ; and one of the strangers taking hold of 
my bridle, the other of Monna Paula's, they led 
us towards the light, which I have already said 
was the sijrnal of our haltino-. I touched Monna 
Paula, and was sensible that she trembled very 
much, which surprised me, because I knew her 
character to be so strong and bold as to border 
upon the masculine. 

" When we reached the fire, the gipsey figures 
of those who surrounded it, with their swarthy 
features, Jarge Sombrero hats, girdles stuck full 
of pistols and poniards, and all the other appara- 
tus of a roving and perilous life, would have ter- 
rified me at another moment. But then I only 
felt the agony of having parted from my husband 
almost in the very moment of my rescue. The fe- 
males of the gang, for there were four or five wo- 
men amongst these contraband traders, received 
us with a sort of rude courtesy. They were, in 
dress and manners, not extremely different from 
the men with whom they associated — were almost 
as hardy and adventurous, carried arms like them, 
and were, as we learned from passing circum- 



S18 THE lOUTUNES OF NIGEL. 

stances, scarce less experienced in the use of 
them. 

" Itwas impossible not to fear these wild people, 
yet they gave us no reason to complain of them ; 
but used us on all occasions with a kind of clumsy 
courtesy, accommodating themselves to our wants 
and our weakness during the journey, even while 
we heard them grumbling to each other against 
our effeminacy, — like some rude carrier, who, in 
charge of a package of valuable and fragile ware, 
takes every precaution for its preservation, while 
he curses the unwonted trouble which it occasions 
to him. Once or twice, when they were disap- 
pointed in their contraband traffic, lost some goods 
in a rencontre with the Spanish officers of the re- 
venue, and were finally pursued by a military 
force, their murmurs assumed a more alarming 
tone, in the terrified ears of my attendant and 
myself, when, without daring to seem to under- 
stand them, we heard them curse the insular he- 
retics, on whose account God, Saint James, and 
our Lady of the Pillar, had blighted their hopes 
of profit. These are dreadful recollections, Mar- 
garet." 



THE iORTUMES OF NIGEL. 219 



(( 



Why, then, dearest lady," answered Mar- 
garet, " will you thus dwell on them ?" 

*' It is only," said the Lady Hermione, " be- 
cause I linger like a criminal on the scaffold, and 
would fain protract the time that must inevitably 
bring on the final catastrophe. Yes, dearest 
Margaret, I rest and dwell on the events of that 
iourney, marked as it was by fatigue and dan- 
ger, though the road lay through the wildest 
and most desolate deserts and mountains, and 
though our companions, both men and women, 
were fierce and lawless themselves, and exposed 
to the most merciless retaliation from those with 
whom they were constantly engaged — yet would 
I rather dwell on these hazardous events than tell 
that Avhich awaited me at St Jean de Luz."" 

" But you arrived there in safety ?" said Mar-, 
garet. 

" Yes, maiden," replied the Lady Hermione ; 
*' and were guided by the chief of our outlawed 
band to the house which had been assigned for 
our reception, with the same punctilious accu- 
racy with which he would liavc delivered a bale 
of uncustomed goods to a correspondent. I 



220 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

was told a gentleman had expected me for two 
days — I rushed into the apartment, and when I 
expected to embrace my husband — I found my- 
self in the arms of his friend." 

" The villain !" exclaimed Margaret, whose 
anxiety had, in spite of herself, been a moment 
suspended by the narrative of the lady. 

" Yes," replied Hermione, calmly, though her 
voice somewhat faultered, " it is the name that 
best — that well befits him. He, Margaret, for 
whom I had sacrificed all — whose love and whose 
memory were dearer to me than my freedom, 
when I was in the convent — than my life, when 
I was on my perilous journey — had taken his 
measures to shake me ofi", and transfer me, as 
a privileged wanton, to the protection of his li- 
bertine friend. At first, the stranger laughed at 
my tears and my agony, as the hysterical pas- 
sion of a deluded and over-reached wanton, or 
the wily aiFectation of a courtezan. My claim 
of marriage he laughed at, assuring me he knew 
it was a mere farce required by me, and submit- 
ted to by his friend, to save some reserve of deli- 
cacy ; and expressed his surprise that I should 



THK FORTUNES OF XIGEL. 221 

consider in any other light a ceremony which 
could be valid neither in Spain nor England, and 
insultingly offered to remove my scruples, by re- 
newing such a union Avith me himself. My ex- 
clamations brought Monna Paula to my aid — 
she was not indeed far distant, for she had ex- 
pected some such scene." 

" Good Heaven r said Margaret, " was she a 
confidante of your base husband .p" 

" No," answered Hermione, " do her not that 
injustice/ It was her persevering inquiries that 
discovered the place of my confinement — it was 
she who gave the information to my husband, 
and who remarked even then that the news was 
so much more interesting; to his friend than to 
him, that she suspected, from an early period, it 
was the purpose of the villain to shake me off. 
On the journey, her suspicions were confirmed. 
She had heard him remark to his companion, 
with a cold sarcastic sneer, the total change which 
my prison and my illness had made on my com- 
plexion ; and she had heard the other reply, that 
the defect might be cured by a touch of Spanish 



222 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

red. This and other circumstances having pre- 
pared her for such treachery, Monna Paula now 
entered, completely possessed of herself, and pre- 
pared to support me. Her calm representations 
went farther with the stranger' than the expres- 
sions of my despair. If he did not entirely be- 
lieve our tale, he at least acted the part of a man 
of honour, who would not intrude himself on 
defenceless females, whatever was their charac- 
ter ; desisted from persecuting us with his pre- 
sence ; and not only directed Monna Paula how 
we should journey to Paris, but furnished her 
with money for the purposes of our journey. 
From the capital I wrote to Master Heriot, my 
father''s most trusted correspondent ; he came in- 
stantly to Paris on receiving the letter ; and 

But here comes Monna Paula, with more than 
the sum you desired. Take it, my dearest maid- 
en — serve this youth if you will. But, O Mar- 
gafet, look for no gratitude in return !" 

The Lady Hermione took the bag of gold 
from her attendant, and gave it to her young 
friend, who threw herself into lier arms, kissed 

17 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 223 

her on both the pale cheeks over which the sor- 
rows so newly awakened by her narrative had 
drawn many tears, then sprung up, wiped her 
own overflowing eyes, and left the Foljambe 
apartment with a hasty and resolved step. 



224< THE FORTUNES OF NIGKL. 



CHAPTER X. 



Rove not from pole to pole — die man lives here 
Whose razor's only equall'd by his beer ; 
And where, in cither sense, the cockney-put 
May, if he pleases, get confounded cut. 

Oh the siffii of an Alehouse kept hy a Barier. 



We are under the necessity of transporting 
our readers to the habitation of Benjamin Sud- 
dlechop, the husband of the active and efficient 
Dame Ursula, and who also, in his own person, 
discharged more offices than one. For, besides 
trimming locks and beards, and turning whiskers 
upwards into the martial and swaggering curl, or 
downwards into the drooping form which be- 
came mustachios of civil policy ; besides also oc- 
casionally letting blood, either by cupping or by 
the lancet, extracting a stump, and performing 
other actions of petty pharmacy, very nearly as 

16 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 225 

well as his neighbour Ilaredrench, tlie apothe- 
cary ; he could, on occasion, draw a cup of beer 
as well as a tooth, tap a hogshead as well as a 
vein, and wash, with a draught of good ale, the 
mustachoes which his art had just trimmed. But 
he carried on these trades apart from each other. 

His barber''s shop projected its long and mys- 
terious pole into Fieet-Street, painted party-co- 
loured-wise, to represent the ribbons with which, 
in elder times, that ensign was garnished. In the 
window w^re seen rows of teeth displayed upon 
strings like rosaries — cups with a red rag at the 
bottom, to resemble blood, an intimation that 
patients might be bled, cupped, or blistered, with 
the assistance of " sufficient advice ;'' while the 
more profitable, but less-honourable operations 
upon the hair of the head and beard, were brief- 
ly and gravely announced. Within was the well- 
worn leathern chair for customers, the guitar, then 
called a ghittern or cittern, with which a customer 
might amuse himself till his predecessor was dis- 
missed from under Benjamin's hands, and which, 
therefore, often flayed the ears of the patient me- 

voL. n. p 



S26 THE FOttTTJNES OF NIGEL. 

taphorlcally, while his chin sustained from the 
razor literal scarification. All, therefore, in this 
department, spoke the chirurgeon-barber, or the 
barber-chirurgeon. 

But there was a little back room, used as a 
private tap-room, which had a separate entrance 
by a dark and crooked alley, which communica- 
ted with Fleet-Street, after a circuitous passage 
through several bye-lanes and courts. This re- 
tired temple of Bacchus had also a connection 
with Benjamin's more public shop by a long and 
narrow entrance, conducting to the secret pre- 
mises in which a few old topers used to take their 
morning draught, and a few gill-sippers their mo- 
dicum of strong waters, in a bashful way, after 
having entered the barber's shop under pretence 
of desiring to be shaved. Besides, this obscure 
tap-room s;a.\e a separate admission to the apart- 
ments of Dame Ursley, which she was believed 
to make use of in the course of her multifarious 
practice, both to let herself secretly out, and to 
admit clients and employers who cared not to be 
seen to visit her in public. Accordingly, after 
the hour of noon, by which time the modest and 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 227 



timid whetters, who were Benjamin's best cus- 
tomers, had each had his draught, or his thim- 
ble-full, the business of the tap was in a manner 
ended, and the charge of attending the back- 
door passed from one of the barber's apprentices 
to the httle mulatto girl, the dingy Iris of Dame 
Suddlechop. Then came mystery thick upon 
mystery ; muffled gallants, and masked females, 
in disffuises of different fashions, were seen to 
glide through the intricate mazes of the alley ; 
and everj, the low tap on the door, which fre- 
quently demanded the attention of the little 
Creole, had in it something that expressed se- 
crecy and fear of discovery. 

It was the evening of the same day when Mar- 
garet had held the long conference with the Lady 
Hermione, that Dame Suddlechop had directed 
her little portress to " keep the door fast as a 
miser's purse-strings ; and as she valued her saf- 
fron skin, to let in none but — " the name she add- 
ed in a whisper, and accompanied it with a nod. 
The little animal blinked intelligence, went to 
her post, and in brief time thereafter admitted 
and usiicred into the presence of the dame, that 



228 THE FOKTUNKS OF NIGEL. 

very city-gallant whose clothes sate awkwardly 
upon him, and who had behaved so doughtily in 
the fray which befel at Nigers first visit to Beau- 
jeu's ordinary. The mulatto introduced him — 
" Missis, fine young gentleman all over gold and 
velvet" — then muttered to herself as she shut the 
door, " fine gentleman he ! — apprentice to him 
who makes the tick-tick."" 

It was indeed — we are sorry to say it, and trust 
our readers will sympathize with the interest we 
take in the matter — it was indeed honest Jin Vin, 
who had been so far left to his own devices, and 
abandoned by his better angel, as occasionally to 
travcstie himself in this fashion, and to visit, in 
the dress of a gallant of the day, those places of 
pleasure and dissipation, in which it would have 
been everlasting discredit to him to have been seen 
in his real character and condition ; that is, had 
it been possible for him in his proper shape to 
have gained admission. There was now a deep 
gloom on his brow, his rich habit was hastily put 
on and buttoned awry ; his belt buckled in a 
most disorderly fashion, so that his sword stuck 
outwards from his side, instead of hanging by it 



THE FOKTUNES OF UIGEL. 220 

with graceful negligence ; while his poniard, 
though fairly hatched and gilded, stuck in his 
girdle like a butcher's steel in the fold of his 
blue apron. Persons of fashion had, by the way, 
the advantage formerly of being better distin- 
guished from the vulgar than at present ; for, 
what the ancient farthingale and more modern 
hoop were to court ladies, the sword was to the 
gentleman ; an article of dress, which only render- 
ed those ridiculous who assumed it for the nonce, 
without ^eing in the habit of wearing it. Vin- 
cent's rapier got between his legs, and as he stum- 
bled over it, he exclaimed — " 2Iounds ! 'tis the 
second time it has served me thus — I believe the 
damned trinket knows I am no true gentleman, 
and does it of set purpose." 

" Come, come, mine honest Jin Vin^-come, my 
good boy," said the dame in a soothing tone, 
*' never mind these trankums — a frank and hear- 
ty London 'prentice is worth all the gallants of 
the inns of court." 

" I was a frank and hearty London 'prentice 
before I knew you, Dame Suddlechop," said Vin- 
cent ; '' what your advice has made me, you may 



2j30 the fortunes of nigel. 

find a name for ; since, fore George ! I am asha- 
med to think about it myself." 

*' A well-a-day," quoth the dame, ** and is it 
even so with thee ? — nay then, I know but one 
cure;" and with that, going to a httle corner 
cupboard of carved v/ainscoat, she opened it by 
the assistance of a key, which, with half a dozen 
besides, hung in a silver chain at her girdle, and 
produced a long flask of thin glass cased with 
wicker, bringing forth at the same time two Fle- 
mish rummer glasses, with long stalks and capa- 
cious wombs. She filled the one brimful for her 
guest, and the other more modestly to about two- 
thirds of its capacity, for her own use, repeating, 
as the rich cordial trickled forth in a smooth oily 
stream — " Right Rosa Solis, as ever washed mul- 
ligrubs out of a moody brain." 

But though Jin Vin tossed off his glass with- 
out scruple, while the lady sipped her's more 
moderately, it did not appear to produce the ex- 
pected amendment upon his humour. On the 
contrary, as he threw himself into the great lea- 
thern chair, in which Dame Ursley was wont to 
solace herself of an evening, he declared " him- 



THE FORTUNES OF NFCEL. 231 

self the most miserable dog within the sound of 
Bow-bell.'^ 

" And why should you be so idle as to think 
yourself so, silly boy ?" said Dame Suddlechop ; 
'* but 'tis always thus — fools and children never 
know when they are well. Why, there is not a 
one that walks in Saint Paul's, whether in flat 
cap, or hat and feather, that has so many kind 
glances from the wenches, as ye swagger along 
Fleet-street with your bat under your arm, and 
your cap set aside upon your head. Thou knowest 
well, that from INIrs Deputy's self down to the 
wastcoateers in the alley, all of them are twiring 
and peeping betwixt their fingers when you pass ; 
and yet you call yourself a miserable dog ! and I 
must tell you all this over and over again, as if I 
were whistling the chimes of London to a petted 
child, in order to bring the pretty baby into good 
humour !" 

The flattery of Dame Ursley seemed to have 
the fate of her cordial — it was swallowed indeed 
by the party to whom she presented it, and that 
with some degree of relish, but it did not operate 



S32 THE FOllTUNKS OF NIGEL. 

as a sedative on the disturbed state of the youlh''s 
mind. He laughed for an instant, half in scorn 
and half in gratified vanity, but cast a sullen look 
on Dame Ursley as he replied to her last words. 

*' You do treat me like a child indeed, when 
you sing over and over to me a cuckoo song that 
I care not a copper-filing for." 

" Aha !" said Dame Ursley ; " that is to say, 
you care not if you please all, unless you please 
one — You are a true lover I warrant, and care 
not for all the city from here to Whitechapel, so 
you could write yourself first in your pretty Peg- 
a-Ramsay's good will. Well, well, take patience, 
man, and be guided by me, for I will be the hoop 
will bind you together at last." 

" It's time you were so," said Jenkins, " for 
hitherto you have rather been the wedge to se- 
parate us." 

Dame Suddlechop had by this time finished 
her cordial — ^it was not the first she had taken 
that day ; and though a woman of strong brain, 
and cautious at least, if not abstemious, in her 
potations, it may nevertheless be supposed that 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 233 

her patience was not improved by the regimen 
which she observed. 

" Why, thou ungracious and ingrate knave,"" 
said Dame Ursley, *' have not I done every thing 
to put thee in thy mistress's good graces ? She 
loves gentry, the proud Scotch minx, as a Welsh- 
man loves cheese, and has her father''s descent 
from that Duke of Daidevil, or whatsoever she 
calls him, as close in her heart as gold in a mi- 
ser"'s chest, though she as seldom shews it — and 
none she will think of or have but a gentleman — 
and a gentleman I have made of thee, Jin Vin, 
the devil cannot deny that." 

" You have made a fool of me," said poor Jen- 
kin, looking at the sleeve of his jacket. 

" Never the worse gentleman for that," said 
Dame Ursley, laughing. 

" And what is worse," said he, turning his 
back to her suddenly, and writhing in his chair, 
*' you have made a rogue of me." 

" Never the worse gentleman for that neither," 
said Dame Ursley in the same tone ; " let a man 
bear his folly gaily and his knavery stoutly, and 
let me see if gravity or honesty will look him in 



234 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

the face now-a-days. Tut, man, it was only in the 
days of King Arthur or King Lud, that a gen- 
tleman was held to blemish his scutcheon by a 
leap over the line of reason or honesty — It is tlie 
bold look, the ready hand, the fine clothes, the 
brisk oath, and the wild brain, that makes the 
gallant now-a-days." 

" I know what you have made me," said Jin 
Vin ; " since I have given up skittle and trap-ball 
for tennis and bowls, good English ale for thin 
Bourdeaux and sour Rhenish, roast-beef and pud- 
ding for wood-cocks and kick-shaws — my bat for 
a sword, my cap for a beaver, my forsooth for a 
modish oath, my Christmas-box for a dice-box, 
my religion for the devil's mattins, and mine ho- 
nest name for — — Woman, I could brain thee, 
when I think whose advice has guided me in all 
this !" 

" Whose advice, then ? whose advice, then ? 
Speak out, thou poor petty cloak-brusher, and say 
who advised thee !" retorted Dame Ursley, flush- 
ed and indignant — " Marry come up, my paltry 
companion — say by whose advice you have made 
a gamester of yourself, and a thief beside, as your 



THE FOllTU^JES OF NIGEL. 2^5 

words would bear — The Lord deliver us from 
evil !" And here Dame Ursley devoutly crossed 
herself, 

" Hark ye, Dame Ursley Suddlechop," said 
Jenkin, starting up, his dark eyes flashing with 
anger ; " remember I am none of your husband 
— and if I were, you would do well not to forget 
whose threshold was swept when they last rode 
the Skimmington* upon such another scolding 
jade as yourself." 

*' I hope to see you ride up Holborn next," said 
Dame Ursley, provoked out of all her hoUday 



* A species of triumphal procession in honour of female 
supremacy, when it rose to such a height as to attract the 
attention of the neighbourhood. It is described at full 
length in Hudibras, {Part II. Canto II.) As the proces- 
sion passed on, those who attended it in an official capa- 
city were wont to sweep the threshold of the houses in 
which Fame affirmed the mistresses to exercise paramount 
authority, which was given and received as a hint that 
their inmates might, in their turn, be made the subject 
of a similar ovation. The Skimmington, which in some 
degree resembled the proceeding of Mumbo Jumbo in an 
African village, has been long discontinued in England, 
apparently because female rule has become either milder 
or less frequent than among our ancestors. 



236 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

and sugar-plum expressions, " with a nosegay at 
your breast, and a priest at your elbow." 

*' That may well be," answered Jin Vin bitter- 
ly, " if I walk by your counsels as I have begun 
by them ; but before that day comes, you shall 
know that Jin Vin has the brisk boys of Fleet- 
street still at his wink — Yes, you jade, you shall 
be carted for bawd and conjuror, double dyed in 
grain, and bing off' to Bridewell, with every brass 
basin betwixt the Bar and Paul's, beating before 
you, as if the devil were banging them with his 
beef-hook."" 

Dame Ursley coloured like scarlet, seized up- 
on the half-emptied flask of cordial, and seemed, 
by her first gesture, about to hurl it at the head 
of her adversary ; but suddenly, and as if by a 
strong internal eflbrt, she checked her outrageous 
i-esentment, and putting the bottle to its more le- 
gitimate use, filled, with wonderful composure, 
the two glasses, and taking up one of them, said 
with a smile, which better became her comely and 
jovial countenance than the fury by which it was 
animated the moment before — 

" Here is to thee, Jin Vin, my lad, in all lo- 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL, 23T 

vin«y kindnes?, whatever spite thou bearest to me, 
that have always been a mother to thee." 

Jenkin's EngUsh good nature could not resist 
this forcible appeal ; he took up the other glass, 
and lovingly pledged the dame in her cup of re- 
conciliation, and proceeded to make a kind of 
grumbling apology for his own violence — 

" For you know,"' he said, " it was you per- 
suaded me to get these fine things, and go to that 
godless ordinary, and ruffle it with the best, and 
bring you^iome all the news ; and you said, I, 
that was the cock of the ward, would soon be 
the cock of the ordinary, and would win ten times 
as much at gleek and primero, as I used to do at 
put and bcggar-my-neighbour — and turn up 
doublets with the dice, as busily as I was wont to 
trowl down the nine-pins in the skittle-ground — 
and then you said I should bring you such news 
out of the ordinary as should make us all, when 
used as you knew how to use it — and now you see 
what is to come of it all." 

" 'Tis all true thou sayest, lad," said the dame ; 

" but thou must have patience. Rome was not 

built in a day — you cannot become used to your 

10 



238 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

court-suit in a month''s time, any more than when 
you changed your long coat for a doublet and 
hose ; and in gaming you must expect to lose as 
well as gain — 'tis the sitting gamester sweeps the 
board." 

" The board has swept me, I know," replied 
Jin Vin, " and that pretty clean out. — I would 
that were the worst ; but I owe for all this finery, 
and settling-day is coming on, and my master 
will find my accompt worse than it should be, by 
a score of pieces. My old father will be called in 
to make them good ; and I — may save the hang- 
man a labour and do the job myself, or go the 
Virginia voyage." 

" Do not speak so loud, my dear boy," said 
Dame Ursley ; " but tell me why you borrow 
not from a friend to make up your arrear. You 
could lend him as much when his settling-day 
came around." 

" No, no — I have had enough of that work," 
said Vincent. " Tunstall would lend me the 
money, poor fellow, an he had it ; but his gentle, 
beggarly kindred plunder him of all, and keep 
him as bare as a birch at Christmas. No— my 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 930 

fortune may be spelt in four letters, and these 
read, euin." 

" Now hush, you simple craven," said the 
dame ; " did you never hear, that when the need 
is highest the help is nighest? We may find 
aid for you yet, and sooner than you are aware 
of. I am sure I would never have advised you 
to such a course, but only you had set heart and 
eye on pretty Mistress Marget, and less would 
not serve you — and what could I do but advise 
you to cast your city-slough, and try your luck 
where folks find fortune .?" 

" Ay, ay — I remember your counsel well," 
said Jenkin ; " I was to be introduced to her by 
you when I was perfect in my gallantries, and as 
rich as the King ; and then she was to be sur- 
prised to find I was poor Jin Vin, that used to 
watch from mattin to curfew, for one glance of 
her eye ; and now, instead of that, she has set 
her soul on this Scottish sparrow-hawk of a lord 
that won my last tester, and be cursed to him ; 
and so I am bankrupt in love, fortune, and cha- 
racter, before I am out of my time, and all along 
of you, Mother Midnight." 

2 



S40 THF. FOTITUNES OT" JJIGEL. 

" Do not call me out of my own name, my 
dear boy, Jin Vin,"" answered Ursula, in a tone 
betwixt rage and coaxing ; "do not ; because I 
am no saint, but a poor sinful woman, with no 
more patience than she needs to carry her through 
a thousand crosses ; and if I have done you wrong 
by evil counsel, I must mend it, and put you 
right by good advice — and, for the score of pieces 
that must be made up at settling-day, why, here 
is, in a good green purse, as much as will make 
that matter good, and we will get old Crosspatch 
the tailor to take a long day for your clothes — 
and '' 

" Mother, are you serious ?"" said Jin Vin, 
unable to trust either his eyes or his ears. 

" In troth am I," said the dame ; " and will 
you call me Mother Midnight now, Jin Vin ?" 

" Mother Midnight ?'"■ exclaimed Jenkin, hug- 
ging the dame in his transport, and bestowing on 
her stillcomely cheek ahearty and notunacceptable 
smack, that sounded like the report of a pistol — 
" Mother Mid-day rather, that has risen to light 
me out of my troubles — a mother more dear than 
she who bore me ; for she, poor soul, only brought 
me into a world of sin and sorrow, and your 



TlIK FOKTUNF.S OF NIGKL. 241 

timely aid has helped me out of the one and the 
other." And the good-natured fellow threw him- 
self back in his chair, and fairly drew his hand 
across his eyes. 

" You would not have me be made to ride the 
Skimmington then," said the dame, " or parade 
me in a cart with all the brass basins of the ward 
beating the march to Bridewell before me .?" 

*• I would sooner be carted to Tyburn my- 
self," replied the penitent. 

" Why< then, sit up like a man, and wipe 
thine eyes ; and if thou art pleased with what I 
have done, I will shew thee how thou mayest re- 
quite me in the highest degree." 

" How ?" said Jenkin Vincent, sitting straight 
vip in his chair. " You would have me, then, 
do you some service for this friendship of yours ?" 

" Ay, marry would I," said Dame Ursley ; 
" for you are to know, that though I am right 
glad to stead you with it, this gold is not mine, 
but was placed in my hands in order to find a 
trusty agent, for a certain purpose ; and so — but 
what's the matter with you? — are you fool enough 

VOL. II. (i 



Uie'Z TIfK FORTUNES OF NIGKL. 

to be angry because you cannot get a purse of 
gold for nothing ? I would I knew where such 
were to come by. I never could find them lying 
in my road, I promise you." 

" No, no, dame," said poor Jenkin, " it is not 
for that ; for, look you, I would rather work 
these ten bones to the knuckles, and live by my 
labour, but " (and here he paused.) 

" But what, man ?'''' said Dame Ursley ; " you 
are willing to work for what you want, and yet 
when I offer yOu gold for the winning, you look 
on me as the devil looks over Lincoln."" 

" It is ill talking of the devil, mother," said 
Jenkin. " I had him even now in my head — 
for, look you, I am at that pass when they say 
he will appear to wretched ruined creatures, and 
proffer them gold for the fee-simple of their sal- 
vation. But I have been trying these two days 
to bring my mind strongly up to the thought, that 
I will rather sit down in shame, and sin, and sor- 
row, as I am like to do, than hold on in ill cour- 
ses to get rid of my present straits ; and so take 
care, Dame Ursula, how you tempt me to break 
such a good resolution " 



THE rORTUXES Of NIGEL. 243 

" I tempt you to nothing, young man," an- 
swered Ursula ; " and as I perceive you are too 
wilful to be wise, I will e'en put my purse in my 
pocket, and look out for some one that will work 
my turn with better will and more thankfulness 
And you may go your own course, — break 
your indenture, ruin your father, lose your cha- 
racter, and bid pretty Mistress Marget farewell, 
for ever and a day." 

" Stay, stay," said Jenkin ; " the woman is in 
as great ^ hurry as a brown baker when his oven 
is overheated. First, let me hear that which you 
have to propose to me." 

*' Why, after all, it is but to get a gentleman 
of rank and fortune, who is in trouble, carried in 
secret down the- river, as far as the Isle of Bogs, 
or somewhere thereabout, where he may lie con- 
cealed until he can escape abroad. I know ihou 
knowest every place by the river''s side as well as 
the devil knows an usurerj or the beggar knows 
his dish." 

" A plague of your similies, dame," replied 
the ai)prentice ; " for the devil gave me that 



24i THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

knowledge, and beggary may be the end on't. — 
But what has this gentleman done, that he should 
need to be under hiding ? No Papist, I hope — 
no Catesby and Piercy business — no Gunpowder 
Plot?" 

" Fie, fie — what do you take me for ?" said 
Dame Ursula. " I am as good a churchworaan 
as the parson"'s wife, save that necessary business 
will not allow me to go there oftener than on 
Christmas-day, Heaven help me. No, no— this 
is no Popish matter ; the gentleman hath but 
struck another in the Park." 

" Ha ! what ?" said Vincent, interrupting her 
with a start. 

" Ay, ay, I see you guess whom I mean. — It 
is even he we have spoken of so often — -just Lord 
Glenvarloch, and no one else." Vincent sprung 
from his seat, and traversed the room with rapid 
and disorderly steps. " There, there it is now 
— you are always ice or gunpowder. You sit in 
the great leathern arm-chair as quiet as a rocket 
hangs upon the frame in a rejoicing night till the 
match be fired, and then whizz ! you are in the 



THE FOUTUNES OF NIC.ET,, 213 

lliird heaven, beyond the reach of tlie human 
voice, eye, or brain. When you have wearied 
yourself with padding to and fro across tlie room, 
will you tell me your determination, for time 
presses ? Will you aid me in this matter, or not?" 

" No — no — no — a thousand times no," replied 
Jenkin. " Have you not confessed to me that 
Margaret loves him ?" 

" Ay," answered the dame, *' that she thinks 
she docs ; but that will not last Ions'." 

" An(f have I not told you but this instant," 
replied Jenkin, " that it was this same Glenvar- 
loch that rooked me at the ordinary of every 
penny I had, and made a knave of me to boot, 
by gaining more than was my own ? — O that cur- 
sed gold, which Shortyard the mercer paid me 
that morning on accompt, for mending the clock 
of Saint Stephens ! If I had not, by ill chance, 
had that about me, I could but have beggared 
my purse, without blemishing my honesty ; and 
after I had been rooked of all the rest amongst 
them, I must needs risk the last five pieces with 
tiiat shark amonir the minnows." 



246* THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

" Granted/'' said Dame Ursula ; " all this I 
know ; and I own, that as I^ord Glenvarloch was 
the last you played with, you have a right to 
charge your ruin on his head. Moreover, I ad- 
mit, as already said, that Margaret has made him 
your rival. Yet surely, now he is in danger to 
lose his hand, it is not a time to remember all 
this." 

" By my faith, but it is though," said the 
young citizen. " Lose his hand, indeed? They 
may take his head, for what I care. Head and 
hand have made me a miserable wretch." 

" Now, were it not better, my prince of flat 
caps," said Dame Ursula, '' that matters were 
squared between you, and that, through means 
of the same Scotch lord, who has, as you say, de- 
prived you of your money and your mistress, 
you should in a short time recover both ?" 

" And how can your wisdom come to that 
conclusion, dame .?" said the apprentice ; " my 
money, indeed, I can conceive — that is, if I com- 
ply with your proposal — But my pretty Marga- 
ret — how serving this lord, whom she has set 



THii FOKTUNKS OF KIGEL. 247 

her nonsensical head upon, can do me good with 
her, is far beyond ray conception." 

** That is because, in simple phrase," said 
Dame Ursula, " thou knowest no more of a wo- 
man's heart than doth a Norfolk gosliner. Look 
you, man. Were I to report to Mistress Marget 
that the young lord has miscarried through thy 
lack of courtesy 'in refusing to help him, why, 
then, thou wert odious to her for ever. She will 
loath thee as she will loath the very cook who is to 
strike off Glenvarloch's hand with his cleaver— 
and then she will be yet more fixed in her affec- 
tion towards this lord. London will hear of no- 
thing but him — speak of nothing but him — think 
of nothing but him, for three weeks at least, and 
all that outcry will serve to keep him uppermost 
in her mind ; for nothing pleases a girl so much as 
to bear relation to any one who is the talk of the 
whole world around her. Then, if he suffer this 
sentence of the law, it is a chance if she ever for- 
gets him. I saw that handsome proper young 
gentleman, Babington, suffer in the Queen's time 
myself, and though I was then but a girl, he was 
in niy head for a year after he was hanged. But, 

1 



248 THE FOUTUNES OF NIGEL. 

above all, pardoned or punished, Glenvarloch 
will probably remain in London, and his pre- 
sence will keep up the silly girl's nonsensical 
fancy about him. Whereas, if he escapes '" 

" Ay, shew me how that is to avail me ?" said 
Jenkin. 

*' If he escapes," said the dame, resuming her 
argument, " he must resign the court for years, 
if not for life ; and you know the old saying, 
* out of sight, and out of mind/ " 

" True — most true," said Jenkin ; « spoken 
like an oracle, most wise Ursula." 

" Ay, ay, I knew you would hear reason at 
last," said the wily dame ; " and then, when this 
same lord is off and away for once and for ever, 
who, I pray you, is to be pretty pet's confiden- 
tial person, and who is to fill up the void in her 
affections? — why, who but thou, thou pearl of 
'prentices ! And then you will have overcome 
your own inclinations to comply with her's, an4 
every woman is sensible of that — and you will 
have run some risk, too, in carrying her desires 
into eiFect — and what is it that woman likes bet-* 
ter than bravery and devotion to her will ? Then 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL 249 

you have her secret, and she must treat you with 
favour and observance, and repose confidence in 
you, and hold private intercourse with you, till 
she weeps with one eye for the absent lover whom 
she is never to see again, and blinks with the 
other blithely upon him who is in presence ; and 
then if you know not how to improve the rela- 
tion in which you stand with her, you are not the 
brisk lively lad that all the world takes you for 
—Said I well ?" 

" Yoif have spoken like an empress, most 
mighty Ursula," said Jenkin Vincent ; "and your 
will shall be obeyed." 

" You know Alsatia well ?" continued his tu- 
toress. 

" Well enough, well enough," replied he with 
a nod ; " I have heard the dice rattle there in my 
day, before I must set up for gentleman, and go 
among the gallants at the Shavaleer Bojo's, as 
they call him, — the worse rookery of the two, 
though the feathers are the gayest." 

" And they will have a respect for thee yon- 
der, I warrant." 

" Ay, ay," replied Vin, " when I am got in- 



250 THE I'ORTUKES OF NIGEL. 

to my fustian doublet again, with my bit of a 
trunnion under my arm, I can walk Alsatia at 
midnight as I could do that there Fleet-street in 
mid-day — they will not one of them swagger with 
the prince of 'prentices, and the king of clubs— 
they know I could bring every tall boy in the 
ward down upon tbem." 

" And you know all the watermen, and so 
forth ?" 

" Can converse with every sculler in his own 
language, from Richmond to Gravesend, and 
know all the water- cocks, from John Taylor the 
Poet to little Grigg the Grinner, who never pulls 
but he shews all his teeth from ear to ear, as if he 
were grimacing through a horse-collar."" 

" And you can take any dress or character 
upon you well, such as a waterman's, a butcher's, 
a foot-soldier's," continued Ursula, " or the like?" 

** Not such a mummer as I am within the 
walls, and thou knowest that well enough, dame," 
replied the apprentice. " I can touch the play- 
ers themselves, at the Ball and at the Fortune, for 
presenting any thing except a gentleman. Take 
but this d — d skin of frippery off me, which I 



THE FOUTUNES OF NIGEL. 251 

think the devil stuck me into, and you shall put 
me into nothing else that I will not become as if 
I were born to it/* 

*' Well, we will talk of your transmutation by 
and bye," said the dame, " and find you clothes 
withal, and money besides ; for it will take a good 
deal to carry the thing handsomely through." 
- ** But Avhere is that money to come from, 
dame ?" said Jenkin; " there is a question I would 
fein have answered before I touch it." 

" Wlfy, what a fool art thou to ask such a 
question ! Suppose I am content to advance it 
to please young madam, what is the harm then ?''* 

" I will suppose no such thing," said Jenkin 
hastily ; " I know that you, dame, have no gold 
to spare, and may be v/ould not spare it if you 
had — so that cock will not crow. It must be from 
Margaret herself." 

" Well, thou suspicious animal, and what if 
it were .f*" said Ursula. 

" Only this," replied Jenkin, " that I will 
presently to her, and learn if she has come fairly 
by so much ready money ; for sooner than I con- 
Dive at her getting it by any indirection, I would 



252 THE rOIlTUNES OF NIGET,. 

sooner hang myself at once. It is enougli what" 
1 have done myself, no need to engage poor Mar- 
garet in such villainy — I'll to her and tell her of 
the danger — I will, by heaven !" 

" You are mad to think of it," said Dame; 
Suddlechop, considerably alarmed — " hear me' 
but a moment. I know not precisely from whonv 
she got the money ; but sure I am that she ob- 
tained it at her godfather''s.'" 

" Why, Master George Heriot is not return^ 
ed from France," said Jenkin. 

" No," replied Ursula, " but Dame Judith is 
at home — and the strange lady, whom they call 
Master Heriot's ghost — she never goes abroad."' 

" It is very true, Dame Suddlechop," said 
Jenkin ; " and I believe you have guessed right 
—they say that lady has coin at will, and if Mar- 
get can get a handful of fairy-gold, why, she is. 
free to throw it away at will." 

*' Ah, Jin Vin," said the dame, reducing her! 
voice almost to a whisper, " we should not want 
gold at will neither, could we but read the riddle- 
of that lady I" 

" They may read it that list," said Jenkin,. 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL* 253 

" I'll never pry into what concerns me not — 
Master George Heriot is a worthy and brave ci- 
tizen, and an honour to London, and has a right 
to manage his own household as he likes best. — 
There was once a talk of rabbling him the fifih 
of November before the last, because they said 
he kept a nunnery in his house, like old Lady 
Foljambe ; but Master George is well loved 
among the 'prentices,, and we got so many brisk 
boys of us together as should have rabbled the 
rabble, had. they had but the heart to rise." 

" Well, let that pass," said Ursula : " and now 
tell me how you will manage to be absent from 
shop a day or two, for you must think that this 
matter will not be ended sooner."" 

" Why, as to that, I can say nothing," said 
Jenkin, " I have always served duly and truly ; 
I have no heart to play truant, and cheat my 
master of his time as well as his money." 

" Nay, but the point is to get back his money 
for him," said Ursula, " which he is not likely to 
see on other conditions. Could you not ask leave 
to go down to your uncle in Essex for two or 
three days ? He may be ill, you know." 



254 rnv. fortunes of xiokl. 



<( 



Why, if I must, I must,"" said Jenkin, with 
a heavy sigh ; " but I will not be lightly caught 
treading these dark and crooked paths again."'* 

*' Hush thee then,"" said the dame, ** and get 
leave for this very evening; and come back hither, 
and I will introduce you to another implement 
who must be employed in the matter. — Stay, stay! 
— the lad is mazed — ^you would not go into your 
raaster''s shop in that guise, surely ? Your trunk 
is in the matted chamber with your 'prentice 
things — go and put them on as fast as you can."" 

" I think I am bewitched," said Jenkin, giving 
a glance towards his dress, " or that these fool's 
trappings have made as great an ass of me as of 
many I have seen wear them ; but let me once 
be rid of the harness, and if you catch me put- 
ting it on again, I will give you leave to sell me 
to a gipsey, to carry pots, pans, and beggar's 
bantlings, all the rest of my life." 

So saying, he retired to change his apparel. 



THE FORTUKF.S OF XTCFT,. ^55 



J'Ji 



CHAPTER XI. 



Chance will not do the work — Chance sends the breeze ; 

But if the pilot slumber at the helm. 

The very wind that wafts us toward the port 

IVlay dash us on the shelves — The steersman's part is vigilance. 

Blow it or rough or smooth. 

f Old Play. 



We left Niffel, whose fortunes we are bound 
to trace by the engagement contracted in our 
title-page, sad and solitary in the mansion of 
Trapbois the usurer, having just received a let- 
ter instead of a visit from his friend the Templar, 
stating reasons why he could not at that time 
come to see him in Alsatia. So that it appeared 
his intercourse with the better and more respect- 
able class of society, was, for the present, entirely 
cut off. This was a melancholy, and, to a proud 
mind like that of Nigel, a degrading reflection. 

He went to the window of his apartment, and 



^56 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

found the street enveloped in one of those tliick, 
dingy, yellow-coloured fogs, which often invest 
the lower part of London and Westminster. — 
Amid the darkness, dense and palpable, were seen 
to wander like phantoms a reveller or two, whom 
the morning had surprised where the evening left 
them ; and who now, with tottering steps, and by 
an instinct which intoxication could not wholly 
overcome, were groping the way to their own 
homes, to convert day into night, for the purpose 
of sleeping off the debauch which had turned 
night into day. Although it was broad day in 
the other parts of the city, it was scarce dawn yet 
in Alsatia ; and none of the sounds of industry 
or occupation were there heard, which had long 
before aroused the slumberers in every other 
quarter. The prospect was too tiresome and dis- 
agreeable to detain Lord Glenvarloch at his sta- 
tion, so, turning from the window, he examined 
with more interest the furniture and appearance 
of the apartment which he tenanted. 

Much of it had been in its time rich and curi- 
ous — there was a huge four-posted bed, with as 
much carved oak about it as would have made the 

3 



THK FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 257 

head of a man-of-war, and tapestry hangings am- 
ple enough to have been her sails. There was a 
huge mirror with a massy frame of gilt brass- work, 
which was of Venetian manufacture, and must 
have been worth a considerable sum before it re- 
ceived the tremendous crack, which, traversing it 
from one corner to the other, bore the same pro- 
portion to the surface that the Nile bears to the 
map of Egypt. The chairs were of different forms 
and shapes, some had been carved, some gilded, 
some covered with damasked leather, some with 
embroidered work, but all were damaged and 
worm-eaten. There was a picture of Susanna and 
the Elders over the chimney-piece, which might 
have been accounted a choice piece, had not the 
rats made free with the chaste fair one's nose, and 
with the beard of one of her reverend admirers. 
In a word, all that Lord Glenvarloch saw, 
seemed to have been articles carried off by ap- 
praisement or distress, or bought as pennyworths 
at some obscure broker's, and huddled together 
in the apartment as in a sale-room, without re- 
gard to taste or congruity. 

VOL. II. R 



258 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

The place appeared to Nigel to resemble the 
houses near the sea-coast, which are too often fur- 
nished with the spoils of wrecked vessels, as this 
was probably fitted up with the relics of ruined 
profligates. — *' My own skiff is among the break- 
ers,"" thought Lord Glenvarloch, " though my 
wreck will add little to the profits of the spoiler." 

He was chiefly interested in the state of the 
grate, a huge assemblage of rusted iron bars 
which stood in the chimney, unequally support- 
ed by three brazen feet, moulded into the form 
of lion's claws, while the fourth, which had been 
bent by an accident, seemed proudly uplifted as 
if to paw the ground ; or as if the whole article 
had nourished the ambitious purpose of pacing 
forth into the middle of the apartment, and had 
one foot ready raised for the journey. A smile 
passed over NigePs face as this fantastic idea pre- 
sented itself to his fancy. — " I must stop ifs 
march, however," thought he ; " for this morn- 
ing is chill and raw enough to demand some fire." 

He called accordingly from the top of a large 
stair-case, with a heavy oaken balustrade, which 
gave access to his own and other apartments, for 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 259 

the house was old and of considerable size ; but 
receiving no answer to his repeated summons, he 
was compelled to go in search of some one who 
might accommodate him with what he wanted. 

Nigel had, according to the fashion of the old 
world in Scotland, received an education which 
might, in most particulars, be termed simple, 
hardy, and unostentatious ; but he had, never- 
theless, been accustomed to much personal defe- 
rence, and to the constant attendance and mi- 
nistry of one or more domestics. This was the 
universal custom in Scotland, where wages were 
next to nothing, and where indeed a man of title 
or influence might have as many attendants as 
he pleased, for the mere expense of food, clothes, 
and countenance. Nigel was therefore mortified 
and displeased when he found himself without 
notice or attendance ; and the more dissatisfied, 
because he was at the same time angry with him- 
self for suffering such a trifle to trouble him at 
all, amongst matters of more deep concernment. 
*' There must surely be some servants in so large 
a house as this," said he, as he wandered over 
the place, through which he was conducted by a 



J2G0 THE FOllTUNES OF NIGEL. 

passage which branched off from the gallery. As 
lie went on, he tried the entrance to several apart- 
ments, some of which he found were locked and 
others unfurnished, all apparently unoccupied ; 
so that at length he returned to the stair-case, and 
resolved to make his way down to the lower part 
of the house, where he supposed he must at least 
find the old gentleman and his ill-favoured daugh- 
ter. With this purpose he first made his entrance 
into a little low dark parlour, containing a well- 
worn leathern easy chair, before which stood a 
pair of slippers, while on the left side rested a 
crutch-handled staff"; an oaken table stood be- 
fore it, and supported a huge desk clamped with 
iron, and a massive pewter ink-stand. Around 
the apartment were shelves, cabinets, and other 
places convenient for depositing papers. A sword, 
musketoon, and a pair of pistols, hung over the 
chimney in ostentatious display, as if to intimate 
that the proprietor would be prompt in the de- 
fence of his premises. 

" This must be the usurer^'s den,"" thought 
Nigel ; and he was about to call aloud, when the 
old man, awakened even by the slightest noise. 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 261 

for avarice seldom sleeps sound, soon was heard 
from the inner room, speaking in a voice of irri- 
tability, rendered more tremulous by his morn- 
ing cough. 

" Ugh, ugh, ugh — who is there ? I say — ugh, 
ugh — who is there ? Why, Martha ! — ugh, ugh, 
Martha Trapbois — here be thieves in the house, 
and they will not speak to me — why, Martha ! — 
thieves, thieves — ugh, ugh, ugh !" 

Nigel endeavoured to explain, but the idea of 
thieves had taken possession of the old man''s 
pin eal gland, and he kept coughing and scream- 
ing, and screaming and coughing, until the gra- 
cious Martha entered the apartment ; and having 
first out-screamed her father, in order to convince 
him that there was no danger, and to assure him 
that the intruder was their new lodger, and ha- 
ving as often heard her sire ejaculate — " Hold 
him fast — ugh, ugh — hold him fast till I come,*" 
she at length succeeded in silencing his fears and 
his clamour, and then coldly and drily asked 
Lord Glenvarloch what he wanted in her father''s 
apartment. 

Her lodger had, in the meantime, leisure to 



26-'2 THE FORTUNES OF NIC.EL. 

contemplate her appearance, which did not by 
any means improve the idea he had formed of it 
by candle-light on the preceding evening. She 
was dressed in what was called a Queen Mary's 
ruff and farthingale; not the falling ruff with 
which the unfortunate Mary of Scotland is usu- 
ally painted, but that which, with more than Spa- 
nish stiffness, surrounded the throat, and set off 
the morose head, of her fierce namesake of Smith- 
field memory. This antiquated dress assorted well 
with the faded complexion, grey eyes, thin lips, 
and austere visage of the antiquated maiden, which 
was, moreover, enhanced by a black hood, worn 
as her head-gear, carefully disposed so as to pre- 
vent any of her hair from escaping to view, pro- 
bably because the simplicity of the period knew no 
art of disguising the colour with which time had 
begun to grizzle her tresses. Her figure was tall, 
thin, and flat, with skinny arms and hands, and 
feet of the larger size, cased in huge high-heeled 
shoes, which added height to a stature already 
ungainly. Apparently some art had been used 
by the tailor, to conceal a slight defect of shape, 
occasioned by the accidental elevation of one 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 263 

shoulder above the other ; but the praiseworthy 
efforts of the ingenious mechanic had only suc- 
ceeded in calHng the attention of the observer to 
his benevolent purpose, Avithout demonstrating 
that he had been able to achieve it. 

Such was Mrs Martha Trapbois, whose dry 
" What were you lacking here, sir ?''"' fell again, 
and with reiterated sharpness, on the ear of Nigel, 
as he gazed upon her presence, and compared it 
internally to one of the faded and grim figures 
in the old tapestry which adorned his bedstead. 
It was, however, necessary to reply, and he an- 
swered that he came in search of the servants, as 
he desired to have a fire kindled in his apartment 
on account of the rawness of the morning. 

" The woman who does our chare-work," an- 
swered Mistress Martha, " comes at eight o'clock 
— if you want fire sooner, there are faggots and 
a bucket of sea-coal in the stone-closet at the 
head of the stair — and there is a flint and steel 
on the upper shelf — you can lit fire for yourself 
if you will." 

" No — no— no, Martha," ejaculated her fa- 
ther, who, having donned his rusty tunic, with 

/ 



264 THK J^ORTUNES OF MGKL. 

his hose all ung^irt, and his feet slip-shod, hastily 
came out of the inner apartment, with his mind 
probably full of robbers, for he had a naked ra- 
pier in his hand, which still looked formidable, 
though rust had somewhat marred its shine. — 
What he had heard at entrance about lighting a 
fire, had changed, however, the current of his 
ideas. " No — no — no," he cried, and each ne- 
gative was more emphatic than its predecessor — 
" The gentleman shall not have the trouble to 
put on a fire — ugh — ugh. I'll put it on myself, 
for a con-si-de-ra-ti-on."" 

This last word was a favourite expression with 
the old gentleman, which he pronounced in a 
peculiar manner, gasping it out syllable by syl- 
lable, and laying a strong emphasis upon the 
last. It was indeed a sort of protecting clause, 
by which he guarded himself against all incon- 
veniences attendant on the rash habit of offering 
service or civility of any kind, the which, when 
hastily snapped at by those to whom they are 
uttered, give the profferer sometimes room to 
repent his promptitude. 

" For shame, father," said Martha ; " that 



THK FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 265 

must not be. Master Grahame will kindle his 
own fire, or wait till the chare-woman coraes to do 
it for him, just as likes him best." 

" No, child — no, child. Child Martha, no," 
reiterated the old miser — " no chare- woman shall 
ever touch a grate in my house ; they put — ugh, 
ugh — the faggot uppermost, and so the coal kin- 
dles not, and the flame goes up the chimney, and 
wood and heat are both thrown away. Now, I 
will lay it properly for the gentleman, for a con- 
sideration,' so that it shall last — ugh, ugh — last 
the whole day." Here his vehemence increased 
his cough so violently, that Nigel could only, 
from a scattered word here and there, comprehend 
that it was a recommendation to his daughter to 
remove the poker and tongs from the stranger's 
fire-side, with an assurance that, when necessary, 
his landlord would be in attendance to adjust it 
himself, " for a consideration." 

Martha paid as little attention to the old man's 
injunctions as a predominant dame gives to those 
of a hen-pecked husband. She only repeated, in 
a deeper and more emphatic tone of censure, — 



266 THE lOKTUNES OF NIGEL. 

" For shame, father — for shame V then, turn- 
ing to her guest, said, with her usual ungracious- 
ness of manner, — " Master Grahame — it is best 
to be plain with you at first. My father is an 
old, a very old man, and his wits, as you may 
see, are somewhat weakened — though I would 
not advise you to make a bargain with him, else 
you may find them too sharp for your own. For 
myself, I am a lone woman, and, to say truth, 
care little to see or converse with any one. If you 
can be satisfied with house-room, shelter, and 
safety, it will be your own fault if you have them 
not, and they are not always to be found in this 
imhappy quarter. But if you seek deferential 
observance and attendance, I tell you at once 
you will not find them here." 

" I am not wont either to thrust myself upon 
acquaintance, madam, or to give trouble," said 
the gftest ; " nevertheless, I will need the assist- 
ance of a domestic to assist me to dress — perhaps 
you can recommend me to such." 

" Yes, to twenty," answered Mistress Martha, 
" who will pick your purse while they tie your 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 2G7 

points, and cut your throat while they smooth 
your pillow." 

" I will be his servant myself," said the old 
man, whose intellect, for a moment distanced, 
had again, in some measure, got up with tlie con- 
versation. " I will brush his cloak — ugh, ugh 
— and tie his points — ugh, ugh — and clean his 
shoes — ugh — and run on his errands with speed 
and safety — ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh — for a consider- 
ation." 

" Goo(J-morrow to you, sir," said Martha, to 
Nigel, in a tone of direct and positive dismissal. 
" It cannot be agreeable to a daughter that a 
stranger should hear her father speak thus. If 
you be really a gentleman, you Avill retire to 
your own apartment.' 

" I will not delay a moment," said Nigel, re- 
spectfully, for he was sensible that circumstan- 
ces palliated the woman's rudeness. " I would 
but ask you, if seriously- there can be danger in 
procuring the assistance of a serving-man in thi^ij 
place r 

" Young gentleman," said Martha, " you 
must know little of Whitefriars to ask the ques- 

7 



268 THE lOHTUNES OF NIGEL. 

tion. We live alone in this house, and seldom 
has a stranger entered it ; nor should you, to be 
plain, had my will been consulted. T^ook at the 
door — see if that of a castle can be better secu- 
red ; the windows of the first floor are grated on 
the outside, and within, look to these shutters." 

She pulled one of them aside j and shewed a pon-- 
derous apparatus of bolts and chains for securing 
the window-shutters, while her father, pressing 
to her side, seized her gown with a trembling 
hand, and said, in a low whisper, " Shew not 
the tiick of locking and undoing them. Shew 
him not the trick on""!, Martha — ugh, ugh — on 
no consideration." Martha went on, without pay- 
ing him any attention. 

" And yet, young gentleman, we have been 
more than once like to find all these defences too 
weak to protect our lives ; such an evil effect on 
the wicked generation around us hath been 
made by the unhappy report of my poor father"'s 
wealth." 

" Say nothing of that, housewife," said the 
miser, his irritability increased by the very sup- 
position of his being wealthy—" Say nothing 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 269 

of that, or I will beat thee, housewife — beat thee 
with my staff, for fetching and carrying lies that 
will procure our throats to be cut at last — ugh, 
ugh. — I am but a poor man,"" he continued, turn- 
ing to Nigel — " a very poor man, that am will- 
ing to do any honest turn upon earth, for a mo- 
dest consideration." 

" I therefore warn you of the life you must 
lead, young gentleman," said Martha ; " the poor 
woman who does the chare-work will assist you so 
far as is irrher power, but the wise man is his own 
best servant and assistant." 

" It is a lesson you have taught me, madam, 
and I thank you for it — I will assuredly study 
it at leisure." 

" You will do well," said Martha ; " and as 
you seem thankful for advice, I, though I am 
no professed counsellor of others, will give you 
more. Make no intimacy with any one in White- 
friars — borrow no money, on any score, especially 
from my father, for, dotard as he seems, he will 
make an ass of you. Last, and best of all, stay 
here not an instant longer than you can help it. 
Farewell, sir." 



270 THE FOllTUNES OF NIGKL. 

" A gnarled tree may bear good fruit, and a 
harsh nature may give good counsel," thought 
the Lord of Glenvarloch, as he retreated to his 
own apartment, where the same reflection occur- 
red to him again and again, while, unable as yet 
to reconcile himself to the thoughts of becoming 
his own fire-maker, he walked up and down his 
bed-room, to warm himself by exercise. 

At length his meditations arranged themselves 
in the following soliloquy — by which expression 
I beg leave to observe, once for all, that I do not 
meanthatNigel literallysaid aloud, withhisbodily 
organs, the words which follow in inverted com- 
mas, (while pacing the room by himself,) but that 
I myself chuse to present to my dearest read- 
er the picture of my heron's mind, his reflections 
and resolutions, in the form of a speech, rather 
than in that of a narrative. In other w^ords, I have 
put his thoughts into language ; and this I con- 
ceive to be the purpose of the soliloquy upon the 
stage as well as in the closet, being at once the 
most natural, and perhaps the only way of cotn- 
municating to the spectator what is supposed to 
be passing in the bosom of the scenic personage. 



THK FORTUNES OP NIGEL. S71 

There are no such soliloquies in nature, it is 
true ; but unless they were received as a con- 
ventional medium of communication betwixt the 
poet and the audience, we should reduce drama- 
tic authors to the recipe of Master PuiF, who 
makes Lord Burleigh intimate a long train of 
political reasoning to the audience, by one com- 
prehensive shake of his noddle. In narrative, 
no doubt, the writer has the alternative of tell- 
ing that his personages thought so and so, infer- 
red thus amd thus, and arrived at such and such 
a conclusion ; but the soliloquy is a more concise 
and spirited mode of communicating the same 
information ; and therefore thus communed, or 
thus might have communed, the Lord of Glen- 
varloch with his own mind. 

" She is right, and has taught me a lesson I 
will profit by. I have been, through my whole 
life, one who leant upon others for that assist- 
ance, which it is mox-e truly noble to derive from 
my own exertions. I am ashamed of feeling 
the paltry inconvenience which long habit has 
led me to annex to the want of a servant's assist- 



5272 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

ance — I am ashamed of that ; but far, far more 
am I ashamed to have suffered the same habit of 
throwing my own burthen on others, to render me, 
since I came to this city, a mere victim of those 
events, which I have never even attempted to in- 
fluence — a thing never acting, but perpetually 
acted upon — protected by one friend, deceived 
by another ; but in the advantage which I recei- 
ved from the one, and the evil I have sustained 
from the other, as passive and helpless as a boat 
that drifts without oar or rudder at the mercy of 
the winds and waves. I became a courtier, be- 
cause Heriot so advised it — a gamester, because 
Dalgarno so contrived it — an Alsatian, because 
Lowestoffe so willed it. Whatever of good or 
bad has befallen me, hath arisen out of the ag-en- 
cy of others, not from my own. My father's son 
must no longer hold this facile and puerile course. 
Live or die, sink or swim, Nigel Olifaunt, from 
this moment, shall owe his safety, success, and 
honour, to his own exertions, or shall fall with 
the credit of having at least exerted his own free 
agency. I will write it down in my tablets, in 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 273 

her very words,—' the wise man is his own best 
assistant.'" 

He had just put his tablets in his pocket when 
the old char-woman, who, to add to her efficiency, 
was sorely handled by the rheumatism, hobbled 
into the room, to try if she could gain a small 
gratification by waiting on the stranger. She 
readily undertook to get Lord Glenvarloch's 
breakfast, and as there was an eating-house at 
the next door, she succeeded in a shorter time 
than Nigelrhad augured. 

As his solitary meal was finished, one of the 
Temple porters, or inferior officers, was announ- 
ced, as seeking Master Grahame, on the part of 
his friend, Master Lowestoife ; and being admit- 
ted by the old woman to his apartment, he deli- 
vered to Nigel a small mail-trunk, with the clothes 
he had desired should be sent to him, and then, 
Avith more mystery, put into his hand a casket, 
or strong box, which he had carefully concealed 
beneath his cloak. " I am glad to be rid on't,"" 
said the fellow, as he placed it on the table. 

" Why, it is surely not so very heavy," an- 
swered Nigel, " and you arc a stout young man." 

VOL. H. s 



274 THE FORTUNES OF XIGEL. 

" Ay, sir," replied the fellow ; " but Sampson 
himself would not have carried such a matter 
safely through Alsatia, had the lads of the Huff 
known what it was. Please to look into it, sir, 
and see all is right — I am an honest fellow, and 
it comes safe out of my hands. How long it may 
remain so afterwards, will depend on your own 
care. I would not my good name were to suffer 
by any after-clap."" 

To satisfy the scruples of the messenger, Lord 
Glenvarloch opened the casket in his presence, 
and saw that his small stock of money, with two 
or three valuable papers which it contained, and 
particularly the original sign-manual which the 
King had granted in his favour, were in the same 
order in which he had left them. At the man's 
further instance, he availed himself of the wri- 
ting materials which the casket contained, in or- 
der to send a line to Master Lowestoffe, decla- 
ring that his property had reached him in safety. 
He added some grateful acknowledgments for 
Lowestoffe''s services, and just as he was seal- 
ing and delivering his billet to the messenger, 
his aged landlord entered the apartment. His 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 275 

thread-bare suit of black clothes was now some- 
what better arranged than they had been in the 
dishabille of his first appearance, and his nerves 
and intellects seemed to be less fluttered ; for, 
without much coughing or hesitation, he invited 
Nigel to partake of a morning draught of whole- 
some single ale, which he brought in a large 
leathern tankard, or black jack, carried in the 
one hand, while the other stirred it round with a 
sprig of rosemary, to give it, as the old man said, 
a flavour, f 

Nigel declined the courteous proffer, and inti- 
mated by his manner, while he did so, that he 
desired no intrusion on the privacy of his own 
apartment ; which indeed he was the more enti- 
tled to maintain, considering the cold reception 
he had that morning met ^vith when straying 
from its precincts into those of his landlord. But 
the open casket contained matter, or rather me- 
ta , so attractive to old Trapbois, that he remain- 
ed fixed, like a setting-dog at a dead point, his 
nose advanced, and one hand expanded like the 
lifted fore-paw, by which that sagacious quadru- 
ped sometimes indicates that it is a liare which he 



270 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

has in the wind. Nigel was about to break the 
charm which had thus arrested old Trapbois, by 
shutting the lid of the casket, when his attention 
was withdrawn from him by the question of the 
messenger, who, holding out the letter, asked 
whether he was to leave it at Mr LowestofFe's 
chambers in the Temple, or carry it to the Mar- 
shalsea ? 

" The Marshalsea ?"" repeated Lord Glenvar- 
loch ; " what of the Marshalsea ?" 

*' Why, sir," said the man, " the poor gentle- 
man is laid up there in lavender, because, they 
say, his own kind heart led him to scald his fin- 
gers with another man's broth."" 

Nigel hastily snatched back the letter, broke 
the seal, joined to the contents his earnest en- 
treaty that he might be instantly acquainted with 
the cause of his confinement, and added, that 
if it arose out of his own unhappy affair, it would 
be of brief duration, since he had, even before 
hearing of a reason which so peremptorily de- 
manded that he should surrender himself, adopt- 
ed the resolution to do so, as the manhest and 
most proper course which his ill fortune and im- 



THE FOllTUNES OF NIGKL. 277 

prudence had left in his own power. He there- 
fore conjured Mr LowestofFe to have no deli- 
cacy upon this score, but, since his surrender was 
what he had determined upon as a sacrifice due 
to his own character, that he would have the 
frankness to mention in what manner it could be 
best arranged, so as to extricate him, LowestofFe, 
from the restraint to which the writer could not 
but fear his friend had been subjected, on account 
of the generous interest which he had taken in 
his concerift. The letter concluded, that the wri- 
ter would suffer twenty-four hours to elapse in ex- 
pectation of hearing from him, and at the end of 
that period, was determined to put his purpose 
in execution. He dehvered the billet to the mes- 
senger, and enforcing his request with a piece of 
money, requested him, without a moment's de- 
lay, to convey it to the hand of Master Lowes- 
toffe. 

"^I — I — I — will carry it to him myself," said 
the old usurer, " for half the consideration." 

The man, who heard this attempt to take his 
duty and perquisites over his head, lost no time 
in pocketing the money, and departed on his er- 
rand as fast as he could. 



278 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 



a 



Master Trapbois/' said Nigel, addressing 
the old man somewhat impatiently, " had you 
any particular commands for me ?" 

" I — I — came to see if you rested well,'^ an- 
swered the old man ; " and — ^if I could do any 
thing to serv'e you, on any consideration.'" 

" Sir, I thank you,"'"' said Lord Glenvarloch 
— " I thank you ;"" and ere he could say more, 
a heavy footstep was heard on the stair. 

" My God !" said the old man, starting up— 
" Why, Dorothy- — chare-woman — why, daugh- 
ter — draw bolt, I say, housewives — the door 
hath been left a-latch.*" 

The door of the chamber opened wide, and in 
strutted the portly bulk of the military hero, 
whom Nigel had on the preceding evening in 
vain endeavoured to recognize. 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 279 



CHAPTER XII. 

Swash-Buckler. Bilbo's the word— 

Pierrot. It hath been spoke too often, 
The spell hath lost its cliarm — I tell thee, friend, 
The meanest cur that trots the street, will turn 
And snarl against your profFer'd bastinadoe. 

Swash'BuAiler. 'Tis art shall do it then— I will doze the mon- 
grels— 
Or in plain terms, I'll use the private knife 

'Stead of the brandish'd faulchion. 

Old Play. 

The noble Captain Colepepperor Peppercull, 
for he was known by both these names, and some 
others besides, had a martial and a sAvashing ex- 
terior, which, on the present occasion, was ren- 
dered yet more peculiar, by a patch covering his 
left eye and a part of the cheek. The sleeves of 
his thickset velvet jerkin were polished and shone 
with grease — his buff gloves had huge tops, which 
reached almost to the elbow ; his sword-belt, of 
the same materials, extended its breadth from 



280 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

his haunch-bone to his small ribs, and supported 
on the one side his large black-hilted back-sword, 
on the other a dagger of like proportions. He 
paid his compliments to Nigel with that air of 
predetermined effrontery, which announces that 
it will not be repelled by any coldness of recep- 
tion, asked Trapbois how he did, by the familiar 
title of old Peter Pillory, and then seizing upon 
the black jack, emptied it olF at a draught, to the 
health of the last and youngest freeman of Alsa- 
tia, the noble and loving Master Nigel Grahame. 
When he had set down the empty pitcher and 
drawn his breath, he began to criticise the liquor 
which it had lately contained. — " Sufficient single 
beer, old Pillory — and, as I take it, brewed at the 
rate of a nutshell of malt to a butt of Thames^ 
as dead as a corpse too, and yet it went hissing 
down my throat — bubbling, by Jove, like water 
upon hot iron. — You left us early, noble Master 
Grahame, but, good faith, we had a carouse to 
your honour — we heard butt ring hollow ere we 
parted ; we were as loving as inkle-weavers — we 
fought too, to finish off" the gawdy. I bear some 
marks of the parson about me, you see — a note 



THE FOllTUNES OF NIGEL. 281 

of the sermon or so, which should have been ad- 
dressed to ray ear, but missed its mark and reach- 
ed my left eye. The man of God bears my sign- 
manual too, but the Duke made us friends again, 
and it cost me more sack than I could carry, and 
all the Rhenish to boot, to pledge the seer in the 
way of love and reconciliation — But Cairacco ! "'tis 
a vile old canting slave for all that, whom I will 
one day beat out of his devil's livery into all the 
colours of the rainbow. — Basta !— Said I well,old 
Trapbois .* Where is thy daughter, man ? — what 
says she to my suit? — 'tis an honest one — wilt have 
a soldier for thy son-in-law, old Pillory, to mingle 
the soul of martial honour with thy thieving, 
miching, petty-larceny blood, as men put bold 
brandy into muddy ale ?''"' 

" My daughter receives not company so early, 
noble Captain,"" said the usurer, and concluded 
his speech with a dry, emphatical " ugh, ugh." 

" What, upon no con-si-de-ra-ti-on ?''"' said the 
Captain ; " and wherefore not, old Truepenny ? 
she has not much time to lose in driving her bar- 
gain, mcthinks." 



282 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

" Captain," said Trapbois, " I was upon some 
little business with our noble friend here, Master 
Nigel Green — ugh, ugh, ugh — " 

" And you would have me gone, I warrant 
you," answered the bully ; " but patience, old 
Pillory, thine hour is not yet come, man — You 
see," he said, pointing to the casket, " that noble 
Master Grahame, whom you call Green, has got 
the decuses and the smelts."" 

*' Which you would willingly rid him of, ha ! 
ha ! — ugh, ugh," answered the usurer, *' if you 
knew how — but lack-a-day, thou art one of those 
that come out for wool, and are sure to go home 
shorn. Why now, but that I am sworn against 
laying of wagers, I would risk some consideration 
that this honest guest of mine sends thee home 
penniless, if thou darest venture with him- — ugh, 
ugh — at any game which gentlemen play at." 

*' Marry, thou hast me on the hip there, thou 
old miserly coney-catcher !" answered the Cap- 
tain, taking a bale of dice from the sleeve of his 
coat ; " I must always keep company with these 
damnable doctors, and they have made me every 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 283 

baby's cully, and purged my purse into an atro- 
phy ; but never mind, it passes the time as well 
as aught else — How say you, Master Graham P'* 

The fellow paused ; but even the extremity of 
his impudence could hardly withstand the cold 
look of utter contempt with which Nigel received 
his proposal, returning it with a simple, " I only 
play where I know my company, and never in 
the morninff." 

" Cards may be more agreeable," said Captain 
Colepepp^ ; " and for knowing your company, 
here is honest old Pillory will tell you Jack Cole- 
pepper plays as truly on the square as e'er a man 
that trowled a die. — Men talk of high and low 
dice, Fulhams and bristles, topping, knapping, 
slurring, stabbing, and a hundred ways of rook- 
ing besides ; but broil me like a rasher of bacon, 
if I could ever learn the trick on 'em.'''' 

" You have got the vocabulary perfect, sir, at 
the least," said Nigel, in the same cold tone. 

" Yes, by mine honour have I," returned the 
Hector ; " they are phrases that a gentleman 
learns about town.— But perhap you would like 
n set at tennis, or a game at balloon — we have 



284 THE FORTUNES OF NIGKL. 

an indifferent good court hard by here, and a set 
of as gentleman-like blades as ever banged lea- 
ther against brick and mortar." 

" I beg to be excused at present," said Lord 
Glenvarloch ; " and to be plain, among the va- 
luable privileges your society has conferred on 
me, I hope I may reckon that of being private 
in my own apartment when I have a mind." 

" Your humble servant, sir," said the Captain ; 
" and I thank you for your civility — Jack Cole- 
pepper can have enough of company, and thrusts 
himself on no one. — But perhaps you will like to 
make a match at skittles .'*" 

" I am by no means that way disposed," re- 
plied the young nobleman. 

" Or to leap a flea— run a snail — match a 
wherry .?" 

" No — I will do none of these," answered 
Nigel. 

Here the old man, who had been watching 
with his Uttle peery eyes, pulled the bulky Hec- 
tor by the skirt, and whispered, " Do not va- 
pour him the huff, it will not pass — ^let the trout 
play, he will rise to the hook presently." 



THE FORTUNES OF XIGEL. 285 

But the bully, confiding in his own strength, 
and probably mistaking for timidity the patient 
scorn with which Nigel received his proposals, 
incited also by the open casket, began to assume 
a louder and more threatening tone. He drew 
himself up, bent his brows, assumed a look of 
professional ferocity, and continued, " In Al- 
satia, look ye, a man must be neighbourly 
and companionable. Zouns ! sir, we would slit 
any nose that was turned up at us honest fel- 
lows. — Ay, sir, we would slit it up to the gris- 
tle, though it had smelt nothing all its life but 
musk, ambergrease, and court-scented water. — 
Rabbit me, I am a soldier, and care no more for 
a lord than a lamplighter." 

" Are you seeking a quarrel, sir .?" said Ni- 
gel, calmly, having in truth no desire to engage 
himself in a discreditable broil in such a place, 
and with such a character. 

" Quarrel, sir ?" said the Captain ; " I am not 
.seeking a quarrel, though I care not how soon I 
find one. Only I wish you to understand you 
must be neighbourly, that's all. What if wc 



286 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

should go over the water to the garden, and see 
a bull hanked this fine morning — ^'sdeath, will 
you do nothing ?" 

" Something I am strangely tempted to do at 
this moment," said Nigel. 

" Videlicet," said Colepepper, with aswagger- 
ing air, " let us hear the temptation." 

" I am tempted to throw you headlong from 
the window, unless you presently make the best 
of your way down stairs." 

" Throw me from the window ? — hell and 
furies !" exclaimed the Captain ; " I have con- 
fronted twenty crooked sabres at Buda with my 
single rapier, and shall a chitty-faced beggarly 
Scotch lordling speak of me and a window in the 
same breath? — Stand off, old Pillory, let me 
make Scotch collops of him — he dies the death."^ 

" For the love of Heaven, gentlemen," ex- 
claimed the old miser, throwing himself between 
them, " do not break the peace, on any consi- 
deration. Noble guest, forbear the captain — he 
is a very Hector of Troy — trusty Hector, for- 
bear ray guest, he is like to prove a very Achil- 
les 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 287 

Here he was interrupted by his asthma, but, 
nevertheless, continued to interpose his person 
between Colepepper, (who had unsheathed his 
whinyard, and was making vain passes at his an- 
tagonist,) and Nigel, who had stept back to take 
his sword, and now held it undrawn in his left 
hand. 

" Make an end of this foolery, you scoundrel !" 
said Nigel — " Do you come hither to vent your 
noisy oaths and your bottled-up valour on me ? 
You seem^to know me, and I am half ashamed 
to say I have at length been able to recollect you 
— remember the garden behind the ordinary, you 
dastardly ruffian, and the speed with which fifty 
men saw you run from a drawn sword. — Get you 
gone, sir, and do not put me to the vile labour of 
cudgelling such a cowardly rascal down stairs."" 

The bully's countenance grew as dark as night 
at this unexpected recognition ; for he had un- 
doubtedly thought himself secure in his change 
of dress, and his black patch, from being disco- 
vered by a person who had seen him but once. 
He set his teeth, clenched his hands, and it seem- 
9 



288 THE FORTUNES OF NICEL. 

ed as if he was seeking for a moment''s courage 
to fly upon his antagonist. But his heart failed, 
he sheathed his sword, turned his back in gloomy 
silence, and spoke not until he reached the door, 
when, turning round, he said, with a deep oath, 
" If I be not avenged of you for this insolence 
ere many days go by, I would the gallows had 
my body and the devil my spirit !" 

So saying, and with a look where determined 
spite and malice made his features savagely fierce, 
though they could not overcome his fear, he turn- 
ed and left the house. Nigel followed him as far 
as the gallery at the head of the staircase, with the 
purpose of seeing him depart, and ere he return- 
ed was met by Mistress Martha Trapbois, whom 
the noise of the quarrel had summoned from her 
own apartment. He could not resist saying to 
her in his natural displeasure — " I would, ma- 
dam, you could teach your father and his friends 
the lesson which you had the goodness to bestow 
on me this morning, and prevail on them to leave 
me the unmolested privacy of my own apart- 
ment." 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 289 

" If you came hither for quiet or retirement, 
young man,"" answered she, " you have been ad- 
vised to an evil retrea':. You might seek mercy 
in the Star-Chamber, or holiness in hell, with 
better success than quiet in Alsatia. But my 
father shall trouble you no longer." 

So saying, she entered the apartment, and fix- 
ing her eyes on the casket, she said with empha- 
sis — " If you display such a loadstone, it will 
draw many a steel knife to your throat."" 

While Nigel hastily shut the casket, she ad- 
dressed her father, upbraiding him with small re- 
verence for keeping company with the cowardly, 
hectoring, murthering villain, John Colepepper. 

" Ay, ay, child," said the old man, with the 
cunning leer which intimated perfect satisfaction 
with his own superior address — " I know — I 
know — ugh — but I"'ll cross-bite him — I know 
them all, and I can manage them — ay, ay — I 
have the trick on"'t." 

" Vou manage them, father !"" said the austere 
damsel ; " you will manage to have your throat 
cut, and that ere long. You cannot hide from 
them your gains and your gold as formerly."" 

VOL. II. T 



290 THE FORTUNES OF NIGF.r,. 

"My gains, wench? my gold?" said the usurer; 
" alack-a-day, few of these and hard got — few 
and hard got." 

" This will not serve you, father, any longer," 
said she, " and had not served you thus long, but 
that Bully Colepepper had contrived a cheaper 
way of plundering your house, even by means 
of my miserable self. — But why do I speak to 
him of all this," she said, checking herself, and 
shrugging her shoulders with an expression of 
pity which did not fall much short of scorn. 
" He hears me not — ^he thinks not of me. — Is it 
not strange that the love of gathering gold should 
survive the care to preserve both property and 

life r 

" Your father," said Lord Glenvarloch, who 
could not help respecting the strong sense and 
feeling shewn by this poor woman, even amidst 
all her rudeness and severity, " your father seems 
to have his faculties sufficiently alert when he is 
in the exercise of his ordinary pursuits and func- 
tions. I wonder he is not sensible of the weight 
of your arguments." 

" Nature made liim a man senseless of danger, 



THE FORTUNKS OF NIGEL. SQl 

and that Insensibility is the best thing I have de- 
rived from him," said she ; " age has left him 
shrewdness enough to tread his old beaten paths, 
but not to seek new courses. The old blind horse 
will long continue to go its rounds in the mill, 
when it would stumble in the open meadow." 

" Daughter — why, wench — why, housewife," 
said the old man, awakening out of some dream, 
in which he had been sneering and chuckling in 
imagination, probably over a successful piece of 
roguery, " go to chamber, wench — go to cham- 
ber — draw bolts and chain — look sharp to door 
— let none in or out but worshipful Master 
Grahame — I must take my cloak and go to Duke 
Hildebrod — ay, ay — time has been, my own war- 
rant was enough ; but the lower we lie, tlie more 
are we under the wind." 

And with his wonted chorus of muttering and 
coughing, the old man left the apartment. His 
daughter stood for a moment looking after him 
vith her usual expression of discontent and sor- 
row. 

" You ought to persuade your father," said 



392 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

Nigel, " to leave this evil neighbourhood, if you 
are in reality apprehensive for his safety,"" 

" He would be safe in no other quarter," said 
the daughter; " I would rather the old man were 
dead than publicly dishonoured. In other quar- 
ters he would be pelted and pursued like an owl 
which ventures into sunshine. Here he was safe 
while his comrades could avail themselves of his 
talents ; he is now squeezed and fleeced by them 
on every pretence. They consider him as a vessel 
on the strand, from which each may snatch a 
prey ; and the very jealousy which they enter- 
tain respecting him as a common property, may 
perhaps induce them to guard him from more 
private and daring assaults."" 

" Still, methinks, you ought to leave this 
place,*" answered Nigel, " since you might find 
a safe retreat in some distant country."" 

" In Scotland, doubtless,"" said she, looking at 
him with a sharp and suspicious eye, " and en- 
rich strangers with our rescued wealth — ^ha ! 
yonng man ? 

" Madam, if you knew me,"" said Lord Glen- 



THE FORTUNES OF MIGKL. 293 

vailoch, " you would spare the suspicion im- 
plied in your words." 

*' Who shall assure me of that ?" said Mar- 
tha, sharply. " They say you are a brawler and 
a gamester, and I know how far these are to be 
trusted by the unhappy." 

" They do me wrong, by Heaven !" said Lord 
Glenvarloch. 

" It may be so," said Martha ; " I am little 
interested in the degree of your vice or your fol- 
ly, but it rs plain that the one or the other has 
conducted you hither, and that your best hope of 
peace, safety, and happiness, is to be gone, with 
the least possible delay, from a place which is al- 
ways a stye for swine, and often a shambles." So 
saying, she left the apartment. 

There was something in the ungracious man- 
ner of this female, amounting almost to contempt 
of him she spoke to ; an indignity to which Glen- 
varloch, notwithstanding his poverty, had not as 
yet been personally exposed, and which, therefore, 
gave him a transitory feeling of painful surprise. 
Neither did the dark hints which Martha tlirew 
out concerning the danger of his place of refuge, 



294 TIfE FORTUNKS OF NIGEL. 

sound by any means agreeably to his ears. The 
bravest man, placed in a situation in which he is 
surrounded by suspicious persons, and removed 
from all counsel and assistance, except those af- 
forded by a valiant heart and a strong arm, expe- 
riences a sinking of the heart, a consciousness of 
abandonment, which for a momentchiils his blood, 
and depresses his natural gallantry of disposition. 

But if sad reflections arose in NigePs mind, he 
had not time to indulge them ; and if he saw 
little prospect of finding friends in Alsatia, he 
found that he was not likely to be solitary for lack 
of visitors. 

He had scarcely paced his apartment for ten 
minutes, endeavouring to arrange his ideas on the 
course which he was to pursue on quitting Alsa- 
tia, when he was interrupted by the Sovereign of 
the quarter, the great Duke Hildebrod himself, 
before whose approach the bolts and chains of 
the miser's dwelling fell, or withdrew, as of their 
own accord ; and both the folding leaves of the 
door were opened, that he might roll himself 
into the house like a huge butt of hquor, a ves- 
sel to which he bore a considerable outward ap- 



THK FORTUNES OF NIGEL, 295 

pearance, both in size, shape, complexion, and 
contents, 

" Good-morrow to your lordship," said the 
greasy puncheon, cocking his single eye, and 
rolling it upon Nigel with a singular expression 
of familiar impudence ; whilst his grim bull-dog, 
which was close at his heels, made a kind of 
gurgling in his throat, as if saluting, in similar 
fashion, a starved cat, the only living thing in 
Trapbois"* house which we have not yet enume- 
rated, and which had flown up to the top of the 
tester, where she stood clutching and grinning at 
the mastiff, whose greeting she accepted with as 
much good will as Nigel bestowed on that of the 
dog's master. 

" Peace, Belzie ! — D — n thee, peace," said 
Duke Hildebrod ; " beasts and fools will be med- 
dling, my lord." 

" I thought, sir," answered Nigel, with as 
much haughtiness as was consistent with the cool 
distance which he desired to preserve, " I had 
told you my name at present was Nigel Grahame." 

His eminence of Whitefriars on this burst 



296 THE FOllTUNES OF NIGEL. 

out into a loud, chuckling, impudent laugh, re- 
peating the word, till his voice was almost inar- 
ticulate, — " Niggle Green — Niggle Green — 
Niggle Green ! — why, my lord, you would be 
queered in the drinking of a penny pot of Malm- 
sie, if you cry before you are touched. Why, 
you have told me the secret even now, had I not 
had a shrewd guess of it before. Why, Master 
Nigel, since that is the word, I only called you 
my lord, because we made you a peer of Alsatia 
last night, when the sack was predominant.— 
How you look now ! — Ha ! ha ! ha !" 

Nigel, indeed conscious that he had unneces- 
sarily betrayed himself, replied hastily, — *' he 
was much obliged to him for the honours confer- 
red, but did not propose to remain in the sanctu- 
ary long enough to enjoy them." 

" Why, that may be as you will, an you will 
walk by wise counsel," answered the ducal por- 
poise ; and although Nigel remained standing, in 
hopes to accelerate his guest's departure, he threw 
himself into one of the old tapestry-backed easy- 
chairs, which cracked under his weight, and be- 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 297 

gan to call for old Trapbois. The crone of all 
works appearing instead of her master, the Duke 
cursed her for a careless jade, to let a strange 
gentleman, and a brave guest, go without his 
morning's draught. 

« I never take one, sir,"" answered Glenvar- 

loch. 

" Time to begin — time to begm," answered 
the Duke. — " Here, you old refuse of Sathan, 
go to our palace, and fetch Lord Greene's morn- 
ing draught — let us see — what shall it be, my 
lord ? a humming double pot of ale, with a roast- 
ed crab dancing in it like a wherry above bridge ? 
or, hum — ay — young men are sweet-toothed — a 
quart of burnt sack, with sugar and spice — good 
against the fogs ? Or, what say you to sipping a 
gill of right distilled waters ? Come, we vnW have 
them all, and you shall take your choice. — Here, 
you Jezabel, let Tim send the ale and the sack, 
and the nipperkin of double-distilled, with a bit 
of diet-loaf, or some such trinket, and score it to 
the new comer." 

Glenvarloch, bethinking himself that it might 
be as well to endure this fellow's insolence for a 



298 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

brief season, as to get into farther discreditable 
quarrels, suffered him to take his own way, with- 
out interruption, only observing, " You make 
yourself at home, sir, in my apartment ; but, for 
the time, you may use your pleasure. Mean- 
time, I would fain know what has procured me 
the honour of this unexpected visit ?" 

" You shall know that when old Deb has 
brought the liquor. I never speak of business 
dry-lipped. Why, how she drumbles — I war- 
rant she stops to take a sip on the road, and then 
you will think you have had unchristian mea- 
sure. In the mean while, look at that dog there. 
Look Belzebub in the face, and tell me if you 
ever saw a sweeter beast — never flew but at head 
in his life." 

And after this congenial panegyric, he was 
proceeding with a tale of a dog and a bull, which 
threatened to be somewhat of the longest, when 
he was interrupted by the return of the old crone, 
and two of his own tapsters, bearing the various 
kinds of drinkables which he had demanded, 
and which probably was the only species of in- 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 299 

teiTuption which he would have endured with 
equanimity. 

When the cups and cans were duly arranged 
upon the table, and when Deborah, whom the du- 
cal generosity honoured with a penny farthing in 
the way of gratuity, had Avithdrawn with her sa- 
tellites, the worthy potentate, having first slightly 
invited Lord Glenvarloch to partake of the liquor 
which he was to pay for, and after having obser- 
ved, that, excepting three poached eggs, a pint 
of bastand, and a cup of clary, he was fasting 
from every thing but sin, set himself seriously 
to reinforce the radical moisture. Glenvarloch 
had seen Scottish lairds and Dutch burgomasters 
at their potations ; but their exploits, (though 
each might be termed a thirsty generation,) were 
nothing to those of Duke Hildebrod, who seemed 
an absolute sand-bed, capable of absorbing any 
given quantity of liquid, without being either 
vivified or overflowed. He drank oft' the ale to 
quench a thirst which, as he said, kept him in a 
fever from morning to night, and night to morn- 
ing ; tippled off the sack to correct the crudity 
of the ale ; sent the spirits after the sack to keep 



300 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

all quiet, and then declared that, probably, he 
should not taste liquor till post meridiem^ unless it 
was in compliment to some especial friend. Finally, 
he intimated that he was ready to proceed on the 
business which brought him from home so early, 
— a proposition which Nigel readily received, 
though he could not help suspecting that the 
most important purpose of Duke Hildebrod's vi- 
sit was already transacted. 

In this, however. Lord Grlenvarloch proved to 
be mistaken. Hildebrod, before opening what 
he had to say, made an accurate survey of the 
apartment, laying, from time to time, his finger 
on his nose, and winking on Nigel with his single 
eye, while he opened and shut the doors, lifted 
the tapestry, which concealed, in one or two 
places, the dilapidation of time upon the wains- 
coted walls, peeped into closets, and, finally, 
looked under the bed, to assure himself that the 
coast was clear of listeners and interlopers. He 
then resumed his seat, and beckoned confidenti- 
ally to Nigel to draw his chair close to him. 

" I am well as I am. Master Hildebrod,"" re- 
plied the young lord, little disposed to encourage 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 301 

the familiarity which the man endeavoured to fix 
on him ; but the undismayed Duke proceeded as 
follows : — 

" You shall pardon me, my lord — and I now 
give you the title right seriously — if I remind 
you that our waters may be watched ; for though 
old Trapbois be as deaf as Saint Paul's, yet his 
daughter has sharp ears, and sharp eyes enough, 
and it is of them that it is my business to speak." 

'* Say away, then, sir,"" said Nigel, edging his 
chair somewhat closer to the Quicksand, " al- 
though I cannot conceive what business I have 
either with mine host or his daughter." 

" We will see that in the twinkling of a quart- 
pot," answered thegraciousDuke; "and, first, my 
lord, you must not think to dance in a net before 
old Jack Hildebrod, that has thrice your years 
o'er his head, and was born like King Richard, 
with all his eye-teeth ready cut." 

" Well, sir, go on," said Nigel 

" Why, then, my lord, I presume to say, that 
if you are, as I believe you are, that Lord Gien- 
varloch whom all the world talk of — the Scotch 



302 THE FORTUNES OF NTGEL. 

gallant that lias spent all, to a thin cloak and a 
light purse — ^be not moved, my lord, it is so noised 
of" you — men call you the Sparrowhawk, who will 
fly at all — ay, were it in the very Park — Be not 
moved, my lord." 

*' I am ashamed, sirrah,"" replied Glenvarloch, 
" that you should have power to move me by 
your insolence — ^but beware — and if you indeed 
guess who I am, consider how long I may be able 
to endure your tone of insolent familiarity." 

" I crave pardon, my lord," said Hildebrod, 
with a sullen, yet apologetic look ; " I meant no 
harm in speaking my poor mind. I know not 
what honour there may be in being familiar with 
your lordship, but I judge there is little safety, 
for LowestofFe is laid up in lavender only for ha- 
ving shewn you the way into Alsatia ; and so, 
what is to come of those who maintain you when 
you are here, or whether they will get most ho- 
nour or most trouble by doing so, I leave with 
your lordship's better judgment." 

" I will bring no one into trouble on my ac- 
count," said Lord Glenvarloch. " I will leave 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 303 

Whitefriavs to-morrow. Nay, by Heaven, I will 
leave it this da v.*" 

" You will have more wit in your anger, I 
trust," said Duke Hildebrod ; " listen first to 
what I have to say to you, and if honest Jack 
Hildebrod puts you not in way of nicking them 
all, may he never cast doublets, or gull a green- 
horn again. And so, my lord, in plain words, 
you must wap and win." 

" Your words must be still plainer before I 
can understand them," said Nigel. 

" What the devil — a gamester, one who deals 
with the devil's bones and the doctors, and not 
understand pedlars"" French ! Nay, then, I must 
speak plain English, and that's the simpleton's 
tongue." 

" Speak, then, sir," said Nigel ; " and I pray 
you be brief, for I have little more time to be- 
stow on you." 

" Well then, my lord, to be brief, as you and 
the lawyers call it — I understand you have an 
estate in the north, which changes masters for 
want of the redeeming ready. — Ay, you start, but 



304 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

you cannot dance in a net before me, as I said 
before ; and so the King runs the frowning hu- 
mour on you, and the court vapours you the go- 
bye ; and the Prince scowls at you from under 
his cap ; and the favourite serves you out the 
puckered brow and the cold shoulder ; and the 
favourite's favourite ^" 

" To go no further, sir," interrupted Nigel, 
** suppose all this true — and what follows ?"" 

" What follows ?'' returned Duke Hildebrod. 
" Marry, this follows, that you will owe good 
^ deed, as well as good will, to him who shall put 
you in the way to walk with your beaver cocked 
in the presence, as an ye were Earl of Kildare ; 
bully the courtiers ; meet the Prince's blighting 
look with a bold brow ; confront the favourite ; 
baffle his deputy, and ^' 

" This is all well," said Nigel ; " but how is 
it to be accomplished ?" 

" By making thee a Prince of Peru, my lord 
of the northern latitudes ; propping thine old cas- 
tle with ingots, — fertiUzing thy failing fortunes 
with gold dust — ^it shall but cost thee to put thy 

a 



THE FOUTUN'RS OF NIGEL. 305 

baron's coronet for a day or so on the brows of 
an old Caduca here, the man's daughter of the 
house, and thou art master of a mass of treasure 
that shall do all I have said for thee, and ^'' 

" What, you would have me marry this old 
gentlewoman here, the daughter of mine host ?" 
said Nigel, surprised and angry, yet unable to 
suppress some desire to laugh. 

" Nay, my lord, I would have you marry fifty 
thousand good sterling pounds ; for that, and 
better, hat^ old Trapbois hoarded ; and thou 
shalt do a deed of mercy in it to the old man, 
who will lose his golden smelts in some Avorse 
way — for now that he is well nigh past his day of 
work, his day of payment is like to follow."" 

" Truly, this is a most courteous offer," said 
Lord Glenvarloch ; " but, may I pray of your 
candour, most noble Duke, to tell me why you 
dispose of a ward of so much wealth on a stran- 
ger like me, who may leave you to-morrow ?"" 

" In sooth, my lord," said the Duke, " that 
que'ition smacks more of the wit of Beaujeau's 
ordinary, than any word I have yet heard your 

VOL. ir. u 



30G THE FORTUNKS OF NIOEL. 

lordship speak, and reason it is you should be 
answered. Touching my peers, it is but neces- 
sary to say, that Mistress Martha Trapbois will 
none of them, whether clerical or laic. The cap- 
tain hath asked her, so hath the parson, but 
she will none of them — she looks higher than 
either, and is, to say truth, a woman of sense, and 
so forth, too profound, and of spirit something 
too high, to put up with greasy buff or rusty 
prunella. For ourselves, we need but hint that 
we have a consort in the land of the living, and, 
what is more to purpose, Mrs Martha knows it. 
So, as she will not lace her kersey hood save 
with a quality binding, you, my lord, must be 
the man, and must carry off fifty thousand de- 
cus's, the spoils of five thousand bullies, cutters, 
and spendthrifts, — always deducting from the 
main sum some five thousand pounds for our 
princely advice and countenance, without which, 
as matters stand in Alsatia, you would find it 
hard to win the plate.'' 

" But has your wisdom considered, sir," re- 
plied Glenvarloch, " how this wedlock can serve 
me in my present emergence ?'''' 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 307 

" As for that, my lord," said Duke Hildebrod, 
** if, with forty or fifty thousand pounds in your 
pouch, you cannot save yourself, you will de- 
serve to lose your head for your folly, and your 
hand for being close-fisted." 

" But, since your goodness has taken my mat- 
ters into such serious consideration,'' continued 
Nigel, who conceived there was no prudence in 
breaking with a man, who, in his way, meant 
him favour rather than offence, " perhaps you 
may be aWe to tell me how my kindred will be 
likely to receive such a bride as you recommend 
to me ?" 

" Touching that matter, my lord, I have al- 
ways heard your countrymen knew as well as 
other folks, on which side their bread was but- 
tered. And truly, speaking from report, I know 
no place where fifty thousand pounds — fifty 
thousand pounds, I say — will make a woman 
more welcome than it is likely to do in your an- 
cient kingdom. And, truly, saving the slight 
twist in her shoulder, Mrs Martha Trapbois is 
a person of very awful and majestic appearance, 



308 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

and may, for aught I know, be come of better 
blood than any one wots of; for old Trapbois 
looks not over like to be her father, and her mo- 
ther was a generous, liberal sort of woman." 

" I am afraid,"" answered Nigel, " that chance 
is rather too vague to assure her a gracious re- 
ception into an honourable house." 

" Why then, my lord," replied Hildebrod, " I 
think it like she will be even with them ; for I 
will venture to say she has as much ill-nature as 
will make her a match for your whole clan." 

*' That may inconvenience me a little," replied 
Nigel. 

*' Not a whit — not a whit," said the Duke, 
fertile in expedients ; " if she should become ra- 
ther intolerable, which is not unlikely, your ho- 
nourable house, which I presume to be a castle, 
hath, doubtless, both turrets and dungeons, and 
ye may bestow your bonny bride in either the one 
or the other, and then you know you will be out 
of hearing of her tongue, and she will be either 
above or below the contempt of your friends." 

" It is sagely counselled, most equitable sir," 



THK FORTUNES OF NIGEL. S09 

replied Nigel, " and such restraint would be a 
fit meed for her folly that gave, me any power 
over her.'' 

" You entertain the project then, my lord ?"" 
said Duke Hildebrod. 

" I must turn it in my mind for twenty-four 
hours," said Nigel ; " and I will pray you so to 
order matters that I be not further interrupted 
by any visitors.'' 

" We will utter an edict to secure your pri- 
vacy," sai(^ the Duke ; " and you do not think,'* 
he added,' lowering his voice to a commercial 
whisper, " that ten thousand is too much to pay 
to the Sovereign, in name of wardship ?" 

" Ten thousand !" said Lord Glenvarloch ; 
*' why, you said five thousand but now." 

" Aha I art avised of that ?" said the Duke, 
touching the side of his nose with his finger; 
" nay, if you have marked me so closely, you are 
thinking on the case more nearly than I believed, 
till you trapped me. Well, well, we will not 
quarrel about the consideration, as old Trapbois 
would call it — do you win and wear the dame ; 
it will be no hard matter with your face and fi- 



SIO THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

gure, and I will take care that no one interrupts 
you. I will have an edict from the Senate as 
soon as they meet for their meridiem." 

So saying, Duke Hildebrod took his leave. 



:!i 



IHK FOlCiUNEs ul-' NlGtl- 311 



CHAPTER XIII. 

This is the time — Heaven's maiden centinel 
Hath quitted her high watch — the lesser spangles 
Are paleing one by one ; give me the ladder 
And the short lever — bid Anthony 
Keep with his carabine the wicket-gate ; 
And do thou bare thy knife and follow me. 
For v^e will in and do it — darkness like this 
Is dawning of our fortunes. 

Old Play. 

When Duke Hildebrod had withdrawn, Ni- 
gel's first impulse was an irresistible feeling to 
laugh at the sage adviser, who would have thus 
connected him with age, ugliness, and ill-temper ; 
but his next thought was pity for the unfortu- 
nate father and daughter, who, being the only 
persons possessed of wealth in this unhappy dis- 
trict, seemed like a wreck on the sea-shore of a 
barbarous country, only secured from plunder 
for the momentby the jealousy of the tribes among 
whom it I)ad been cast. Neither could he help 



312 TKK lOUTUXES OF N'IG£L. 

being conscious that his own residence here was 
upon conditions equally precarious, and that he 
was considered by the Alsatians in the same light 
of a godsend on the Cornish coast, or a sickly but 
wealthy caravan travelling through the wilds of 
Africa, and emphatically termed by the nations 
of despoilers through whose regions it passes, 
Dummalqfongj which signifies a thing given to 
be devoured — a common prey to all men. 

Nigel had already formed his own plan to ex- 
tricate himself, at whatsoever risk, from his peri- 
lous and degrading situation ; and in order that 
he might carry it into instant execution, he only 
awaited the return of LowestofFe's messenger. 
He expected him, however, in vain, and could 
only amuse himself by looking through such 
parts of his baggage as had been sent to him 
from his former lodgings, in order to select a 
small packet of the most necessary articles to take 
with him, in the event of his quitting his lodgings 
secretly and suddenly, as speed and privacy 
would, he foresaw, be particularly necessar}', if 
he meant to obtain an interview with the King, 



THJE rOKTUNES OF NIGEL. 313 

which was the course his spirit and his interest 
alike determined him to pursue. 

While he was thus engaged, he found, greatly 
to his satisfaction, that IMaster Lowestoffe had 
transmitted not only his rapier and poniard, but 
a pair of pistols, which he had used in travellin<T ; 
of a smaller and more convenient size than the 
large petronels, or horse pistols, which were then 
in common use, as being made for wearing at 
the girdle or in the pockets. Next to having 
stout an(^ friendly comrades, a man is chiefly em- 
boldened by finding himself well armed in case 
of need, and Nigel, who had thought with some 
anxiety on the hazard of trusting his life, if at- 
tacked, to the protection of the clumsy weapon 
■with which Lowestoffe had equipped him, in or- 
der to complete his disguise, felt an emotion of 
confidence approaching to triumph, as, drawing 
his own good and well-tried rapier, he wiped it 
with his handkerchief, examined its point, bent 
it once or twice against the ground to prove its 
well-known metal, and finally replaced it in the 
scabbard tiie more hastily, that he heard a tap 
at the door of his chamber, and had no mind to 



^1^ TIIK FOUTUXKS OF NIGKL. 

be found vapouring in the apartment with his 
sword drawn. 

It was his old host who entered, to tell hiui 
Avith many cringes that the price of his apartment 
was to be a crown per diem ; and that, accord- 
ing to the custom of Whitefriars, the rent was 
always payable per advance, although he never 
scrupled to let the money he till a week or fort- 
night, or even a month, in the hands of any 
honourable guest like Master Grahame, always 
upon some reasonable consideration for the use. 
Nigel got rid of the old dotard's intrusion, by 
throwing down two pieces of gold, and request- 
ing the accommodation of his present apartment 
for eight days, adding however, he did not think 
he should tarry so long. 

The miser, with a sparkling eye and a trem- 
bling hand, clutched fast the proftered coin, and 
having balanced the pieces with exquisite plea- 
sure on the extremity of his withered finger, be- 
gan almost instantly to shew that not even the 
possession of gold can gratify for more than an 
instant the very heart that is most eager in the 
pursuit of it. First, the pieces might be light— 



THE lOUTUNKS OF XIGKL. 315 

with liasty hand he drew a small pair of scales 
from his bosom and weighed them, first together, 
then separately, and smiled with glee as he saw 
them attain the due depression in the balance — 
a circumstance which might add to his profits, if 
it were true, as was currently reported, that little 
of the gold coinage was current in Alsatia in a 
perfect state, and that none ever left the sanctu- 
ary in that condition. 

Another fear then occurred to trouble the old 
miser''s pleasure. He had been just able to com- 
prehend that Nigel intended to leave the Friars 
sooner than the arrival of the term for which he 
had deposited the rent. This might imply an 
expectation of refunding, which, as a Scotch wag 
said, of all species of funding, jumped least with 
the old gentleman's humour. He was beginning 
to enter a hypothetical caveat on this subject, 
and to quote several reasons why no part of the 
money once consigned as room-rent, could be re- 
paid back on any pretence, without great hard- 
ship to the landlord, when Nigel, growing impa- 
tient, told him that the money was his absolute- 
ly, and wiiliouL any uitcnlioii on hife part of re- 
suming any of it— all he abked m return wa::. 



816 TlIK FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

the liberty of enjoying in private the apartment 
he had paid for. Old Trapbois, who had still at 
his tongue's end much of the smooth language, 
by which in his time he had hastened the ruin of 
many a young spend-thrift, began to launch out 
upon the noble and generous disposition of his 
new guest, until Nigel, growing impatient, took 
the old gentleman by the hand, and gently, yet ir- 
resistibly, leading him to the door of his chamber, 
put him out, but with such a decent and mode- 
rate exertion of his superior strength as to ren- 
der the action in no shape indecorous, and fast- 
ening the door, began to do that for his pistols 
which he had done for his favourite sword, exa- 
mining with cai'e the flints and locks, and review- 
ing the state of his small provision of ammunition. 
In this operation he was a second time inter- 
rupted by a knocking at his door — he called up- 
on the person to enter, liaving no doubt that it 
w'as Lowestoffe's messenger at length arrived. It 
was, however, the ungracious daughter of old 
Trapbois, who, muttering something about her 
father's mistake, laid down upon the table one of 
the pieces of gold which Nigel had just given to 
liim, saying, that what she retained was the full 



THE FORTUN'ES OI' XIGEL. 31? 

rent for the term he had specified. Nigel replied, 
he had paid the money, and had no desire to re- 
ceive it again. 

" Do as you will with it, then," replied his 
hostess, " for there it lies, and shall lie for me. 
If you are fool enough to pay more than is rea- 
son, mv father shall not be knave enough to take 



it.'^ 



" But your father, mistress," said Nigel ; 
" your father told mc "" 

" O, rjny father, my father,"" said she, inter- 
rupting him, — "my father managed these affairs 
"while he was able — I manage them now, and that 
may in the long run be as well for both of us."" 

She then looked on the table, and observed the 
weapons. 

" You have arms, I see," she said ; " do you 
know how to use them ?" 

" I should do so, mistress," replied Nigel, 
" for it has been my occupation." 

" You are a soldier, then?" she demanded. 

" No farther as yet, than as every gentleman 
of my country is a soldier." 

" Ay, that is your point of honour — to cut the 



318 THE FORTUNKS OF NICxKL. 

throats of the poor — a proper gentleman-hke oc- 
cupation for those who should protect them !"' 

" I do not deal in cutting throats, mistress," 
replied Nigel ; " but I carry arms to defend my- 
self, and my country if she needs me.'" 

" Ay," replied Martha, " it is fairly worded ; 
but men say you are as prompt as others in petty 
brawls, where neither your safety nor your coun- 
try are in hazard ; and that had it not been so, 
you would not have been in the sanctuary to- 
day." 

" Mistress," returned Nigel, " I should labour 
in vain to make 3^ou understand that a man's ho- 
nour, which is, or should be, dearer to him than 
his life, may often call on and compel us to ha- 
zard our own lives, or that of others, on what 
would otherwise seem trifling contingencies." 

" God's law says nought of that," said the fe- 
male ; " I have only read there, that thou shalt 
not kill. But I have neither time nor inclination 
to preach to you — you will find enough of fight- 
ing here if you like it, and well if it come not to 
seek you when you are least prepared. Farewell 
for the present — the chare-woman will execute 
your commands for your meals." 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 319 

She left the room just as Nigel, provoked at 
her assuming a superior tone of judgment and 
of censure, was about to be so superfluous as to 
enter into a dispute Avitli an old pawnbroker's 
daughter on the subject of the point of honour. 
He smiled at himself for the folly into which the 
spirit of self-vindication had so nearly hurried 
him. 

Lord Glenvarloch then applied to the cares of 
old Deborah the chare- woman, by whose interme- 
diation he was provided with a tolerably decent 
dinner ; and the only embarrassment which he 
experienced, was from the almost forcible entry 
of the old dotard his landlord, who insisted upon 
giving his assistance at laying the cloth. Nigel 
had some difHculty to prevent him from displa- 
cing his arms and some papers which were lying 
on the small table at which he had been sittinc; ; 
and nothing short of a stern and positive injunc- 
tion to the contrary could compel him to use 
another board, (though there were two in the 
room,) for the purpose of laying the cloth. 

Having at length obliged him to relinquish 
his purpose, he could not help observing that the 

It 



3.^0 THE FORTTTNKS OF NIGEL. 

attention of the old dotard seemed still anxiously 
fixed upon the small table on which lay his sword 
and pistols ; and that amidst all the little duties 
which he seemed officiously anxious to render to 
his guest, he took every opportunity of looking 
towards and approaching these objects of his at- 
tention. At length, when Trapbois thought he 
had completely avoided the notice of his guest, 
Nigel, through the observation of one of the 
cracked mirrors, on which channel of communi- 
cation the old man had not calculated, beheld him 
actually extend his hand towards the table in 
question. He thought it unnecessary to use far- 
ther ceremony, but telling his landlord in a stern 
voice, that he permitted no one to touch his arms, 
he commanded him to leave the apartment. The 
old usurer commenced a maundering sort of apo- 
logy, in which all that Nigel distinctly appre- 
liended, was a frequent repetition of the word 
consideration, and which did not seem to him to 
require any other answer than a reiteration of 
his command to him to leave the apartment, upon 
pain of worse consequences. 

The ancient Hebe who acted as Lord Glen- 

12 



THK I'OUTUNICS OF NIGEL. 321 

varlocirs cup-bearer, took his part against the 
intrusion of the still more antiquated Ganymede, 
and insisted on old Trapbois leaving the room 
instantly, menacing him at the same time with 
her mistress's displeasure if he remained there 
any longer. The old man seemed more under 
petticoat government than any other, for the 
tlireat of the chare-woman produced greater ef- 
fect upon him than the more formidable dis- 
pleasure of Nigel. He withdrew grumbling and 
muttering, ^nd Lord Glenvarioch heard him bar 
a large door at the nearer end of the gallery, which 
served as a division betwixt the other pai'ts of the 
extensive mansion, and the apartment occupied 
by his guest, which, as the reader is aware, had 
its access from the landing-place at the head of 
tlie grand stair-case. 

Nigel accepted the careful sound of the bolts 
and bars as they were severally drawn by the 
trembling hand of old Trapbois, as an omen that 
the senior did not mean again to revisit him in 
the course of the evening, and heartily rejoiced 
that he was at length to be left to uninterrupted 
solitude. 

VOL,. II. X 



822 THE FORTUNES OF KIGEL. 

The old woman asked if there was aught else 
to be done for his accommodation ; and indeed it 
had hitherto seemed as if the pleasure of serving 
him, or more properly the reward which she ex- 
pected, had renewed her youth and activity, — 
Nigel desired to have candles, a fire lighted in 
his apartment, and a few faggots placed beside 
it, that he might feed it from time to time, as he 
began to feel the chilly effects of the damp and 
low situation of the house, close as it was to the 
Thames. But while the old woman was absent 
upon his errand, he began to think in what way 
he should pass the long and solitary evening with 
which he was threatened. 

His own reflections promised to Nigel little 
amusement and less applause. He had consider- 
ed his own perilous situation in every light in 
which it could be viewed, and foresaw as little 
utility as comfort in resuming the survey. To 
divert the current of his ideas, books were, of 
course, the readiest resource ; and although, like 
most of us, Nigel had, in his time, sauntered 
through huge hbraries, and even spent a long 
time there without greatly disturbing their learn- 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 323 

ed contents, he was now in a situation where the 
possession of a volume, even of very inferior me- 
rit, becomes a real treasure. The old housewife 
returned shortly afterwards with faggots, and 
some pieces of half-burnt wax-candles, the per- 
quisites probably, real or usurped, of some ex- 
perienced groom of the Chambers, two of which 
she placed in large brass candlesticks, of different 
shapes and patterns, and laid the others on the 
table, that Nigel might renew them from time to 
time as th^y burnt to the socket. She heard 
with interest Lord Glenvarloch's request to have 
a book — any sort of book — to pass away the 
night withal, and returned for answer, that she 
knew of no other books in the house except her 
young mistress's (as she always denominated 
Mistress Martha Trapbois,) Bible, which the 
owner would not lend ; and her Master's Whet- 
stone of Witte, being the Second Part of Arith- 
metic, by Robert Record, with the Cossike Prac- 
tice and Rule of Equation ; which promising vo- 
lume Nigel declined to borrow. She offered, 
however, to bring him some books from Duke 



324< THE FOKTUNKS OF NIGEL. 

Hildebrod — " who sometimes, good gentleman, 
gave a glance at a book when the State affairs 
of Alsatia left him as much leisure."" 

Nigel embraced the proposal, and his un- 
wearied Iris scuttled away on this second em- 
bassy. She returned in a short time with a tat- 
tered quarto volume under her arm, and a pot- 
tle of sack in her hand ; for the Duke, judging 
that mere reading was dry work, had sent the 
wine by way of sauce to help it down, not for- 
getting to add the price to the morning's score, 
which he had already run up against the stranger 
in the sanctuary. 

Nigel seized on the book, and did not refuse 
the wine, thinking that a glass or two, as it really 
proved to be of good quality, would be no bad 
interlude to his studies. He dismissed, with 
thanks and assurance of reward, the poor old 
drudge who had been so zealous in his service ; 
trimmed his fire and candles, and placed the 
easiest of the old arm-chairs in a convenient 
posture betwixt the fire and the table at which he 
had dined, and which now supported the raea- 



THli FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 325 

sure of sack and the lights ; and thus accom- 
panying his studies with such luxurious appli- 
ances as were in his power, he began to examine 
the only volume with which the ducal library of 
Alsatia had been able to supply him. 

The contents, though of a kind generally in- 
teresting, were not well calculated to dispel the 
gloom by which he was surrounded. The book 
was entitled, '^ God's Revenge against Murther ;"" 
not, as the bibliomaniacal reader may easily con- 
jecture, >he work which Keynolds published un- 
der that imposing name, but one of a much 
earlier date, printed and sold by old Wolfe ; and 
which, could a copy now be found, would sell for 
much more than its weight in gold.* 

Nigel had soon enough of the doleful tales 
which the book contains, and attempted one or 
two other modes of killing the evening. He 



* Note by Captain Cluiterbuch:— Only three copies are 
known to exist ; one in the library at Kennaquhair, and 
two — one foxed and cropped, the otlier tall and in good 
condition — botli in the possession of an eminent member 
of the Roxburgh Club, now M. P. for a great university. 



326 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

looked out at the window, but the night was 
rainy, with gusts of wind ; he tried to coax the 
fire, but the faggots were green and smoked 
without burning ; and as he was naturally tem- 
perate, he felt his blood somewhat heated by the 
canary sack which he had already drank, and 
had no farther inclination to that pastime. He 
next attempted to compose a memorial, addressed 
to the King, in which he set forth his case and his 
grievances ; but speedily stung with the idea 
that his supplication would be treated with scorn, 
he flung the scroll into the fire, and, in a sort of 
desperation, resumed the book which he had laid 
aside. 

Nigel became more interested in the volume at 
the second than at the first attempt which he made 
to peruse it. The narratives, strange and shock- 
ing as they were to human feeling, possessed yet 
the interest of sorcery or of fascination, which ri- 
vets the attention by its awakening horrors. Much 
was told of the strange and horrible acts of blood 
by which men, setting nature and humanity alike 
at defiance, had, for the thirst of revenge, the 
lust of gold, or the cravings of irregular ambition, 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 327 

broken into the tabernacle of life. Yet more sur. 
prising and mysterious tales were recounted of the 
mode in which such deeds of blood had come to 
be discovered and revenged. Animals, insensi- 
ble animals, had told the secret, and birds of the 
air had carried the matter. The elements had 
seemed to betray the deed which had polluted 
them— -earth had ceased to support the murderer's 
steps, fire to warm his frozen limbs, water to re- 
fresh his parched lips, air to relieve his gasping 
lungs. All, in short, bore evidence to the ho- 
micide's guilt. In other circumstances, the cri- 
minal's own awakened conscience pursued and 
brought him to justice; and in some narratives 
the grave was said to have yawned, that the ghost 
of the sufferer might call for revenge. 

It was now wearing late into the night, and 
the book was still in Nigel's hands, when the 
tapestry which hung behind him flapped against 
the wall, and the wind produced by its motion, 
waved the flame of the candles by which he was 
reading. Nigel started and turned round, in that 
excited and irritated state of mind which arose 

3 



328 THE FORTUNKS OF NIGEL. 

from the nature of his studies, especially at a 
period when a certain degree of superstition was 
inculcated as a point of religious faith. It was 
not without emotion that he saw the bloodless 
countenance, meagre form, and ghastly aspect 
of old Trapbois, once more in the very act of 
extending his withered hand towards the table 
which supported his arms. Convinced by this 
untimely apparition that something evil was me- 
ditated towards him, Nigel sprung up, seized 
his sword, drew it, and placing it at the old 
man"'s breast, demanded of him what he did in 
his apartment at so untimely an hour. Trap- 
bois shewed neither fear nor surprise, and only 
answered by some imperfect expressions, intima- 
ting he would part with his life rather than with 
his property ; and Lord Glenvarloch, strange- 
ly embarrassed, knew not what to think of the 
intruder's motives, and still less how to get rid 
of him. As he again tried the means of intimi- 
dation, he was surprised by a second apparition 
from behind the tapestry, in the person of the 
daughter of Trapbois, bearing a lamp in her 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 320 

hand. She also seemed to possess her father's 
insensibility to danger, for, coming close to Ni- 
gel, she pushed aside impetuously his naked 
sword, and even attempted to take it out of his 
hand. 

" For shame," she said, " your sword on a 
man of eighty years and more ! — this the honour 
of a Scottish gentleman ! — give it to me to make 
a spindle of." 

" Stand back," said Nigel ; " I mean your fa- 
ther no injury — but I wili know what has caused 
him to prowl this whole day, and even at this 
late hour of night, around my arms." 

*' Your arms !" repeated she ; " alas ! young 
man, the whole arms in the Tower of London 
are of little value to him, in comparison of this 
miserable piece of gold which I left this morn- 
ing on the table of a young spendthrift, too 
careless to put what belonged to him into his 
own purse." 

So saying, she shewed the piece of gold, which, 
still remaining on the table where she left it, had 
been the bait that attracted old Trapbois so 
frequently to the spot ; and which, even in the 



3'JO THE FORTUNES OF KIGEL. 

silence of the night, had so dwelt on his imagi- 
nation, that he had made use of a private pas- 
sage long disused, to enter his guest's apartment, 
in order to possess himself of the treasure during 
his slumbers. He now exclaimed, at the highest 
tones of his cracked and feeble voice— 

" It is mine — it is mine ! — he gave it to me for 
a consideration — I will die ere I part with my 
property !" 

" It is indeed his own, mistress," said Nigel, 
" and I do entreat you to restore it to the person 
on whom I have bestowed it, and let me have my 
apartment in quiet." 

" I will account with you for it then," — said 
the maiden, reluctantly giving to her father the 
morsel of Mammon, on which he darted as if his 
bony fingers had been the talons of a hawk seiz- 
ing its prey ; and then making a contented mut- 
tering and mumbling, like an old dog after he 
has been fed, and just when he i« wheeling him- 
self thrice round for the purpose of lying down, 
he followed his daughter behind the tapestry, 
through a little sliding door, which was perceived 
when the hangings were drawn apart. 



THK rOllTUXES OF NIGEL. 331 

*' This shall be properly fastened to-morrow," 
said the daughter to Nigel, speaking in such a 
tone that her father, deaf and engrossed by his 
acquisition, could not hear her ; " to-night I will 
continue to watch him closely. — I wish you good 
repose." 

These few words, pronounced in a tone of more 
civility than she had yet made use of towards her 
lodger, contained a wish which was not to be ac- 
complished, although her guest, presently after 
her departure, retired to bed. 

There was a slight fever on NigePs blood, oc- 
casioned by the various events of the evening, 
which put him, as the phrase is, beside his rest. 
Perplexing and painful thoughts rolled on his 
mind hke a troubled stream, and the more he 
laboured to lull himself to slumber, the farther 
he seemed from attaining his object. He tried 
all the resources common in such cases, kept 
counting from one to a thousand, until his 
head was giddy — he watched the embers of the 
wood fire till his eyes were dazzled — he Ustened 
to the dull moaning of the wind, the swinging 
and creaking of signs which projected from the 



3132 THE FORTUNES OK MIGF.L. 

houses, and the baying of here and there a home- 
less dog, till his very ear was weary. 

Suddenly, however, amid this monotony, came 
a sound which startled him at once. It was a fe- 
male shriek. He sate up in his bed to listen, then 
remembered he was in Alsatia, where brawls of 
every sort were current among the unruly in- 
habitants. — But another scream, and another, 
and another succeeded so close, that he was cer- 
tain, though the noise was remote and sound- 
ed stifled, it must be in the same house with 
himself. 

Nigel jumped up hastily, put on a part of 
his clothes, seized his sword and pistols, and ran 
to the door of his chamber. Here he plain- 
ly heard the screams redoubled, and, as he 
thought, the sounds came from the usurer's 
apartment. All access to the gallery was effec- 
tually excluded by the intermediate door, which 
the brave young lord shook with eager, but vain 
impatience. But the secret passage occurred sud- 
denly to his recollection. He hastened back to 
his room, and succeeded with some difficult-y in 
lighting a candle, dreadfully agitated by hearing 



THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 3;J[3 

the cries repeated, yet still more afraid lest they 
should sink into silence. He rushed along; the 
narrow and winding entrance, guided by the 
noise, which now burst more wildly on his ear, and 
while he descended a narrow staircase which ter- 
minated the passage, he heard the stifled voices 
of men, encouraging, as it seemed, each other. 
" D — n her, strike her down — silence her — beat 
her brains out,'' — while the voice of his hostess, 
though now almost exhausted, was repeating the 
cry of " piurder,"" and " help." At the bottom of 
the stair-case was a small door which gave way 
before Nigel as he precipitated himself upon the 
scene of action, a cocked pistol in one hand, a 
candle in the other, and his naked sword under 
his arm. Two ruffians had with great difficulty 
overpowered, or rather were on the point of over- 
powering, the daughter of Trapbois, whose resist- 
ance appeared to have been most desperate, for 
the floor was covered with fragments of her 
clothes, and handfuls of her hair. It appeared 
that her life was about to be the price of her de^ 
fence,for one villain had drawnalongclasp-knife, 
when they were surprised by the entrance ot 



334 THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. 

Nigel, who, as they turned towards him, shot the 
fellow with the knife dead on the spot, and when 
the other advanced on him, hurled the candle- 
stick at his head, and then attacked him with his 
sword. It was dark, save some pale moonlight 
from the window, and the ruffian, after firing a 
pistol without effect, and fighting a traverse or 
two with his sword, lost heart, made for the win- 
dow, leaped over it, and escaped. Nigel fired 
his remaining pistol after him at a venture, and 
then called for hght. 

" There is light in the kitchen," answered 
Martha Trapbois, with more presence of mind 
than could have been expected, " Stay, you 
know not the way — I will fetch it myself — Oh ! 
my father — my poor father ! — I knew it would 
come to this — and all along of the accursed gold ! 
They have muethered him." 

END OF VOLUME SECOND. 



Edinburgh : 
Printed by James Ballantync & Co. 



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This book is DUE on the last 
date stamped below 



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^17 Scott - 

F77 Fortunes of ''""ff/f/i/i 

1822 Nigel> ^^^^90 6 
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