The fortunes of Nigel

x_A— <-AjOU-O— «*^--V.

- -^

O»£-«a/C*-«-O

<^j*-**.^v^*JL^ ^<y*-+*^&Jt>%-te~ — <at

•'•••-- *' cx^

THE FORTUNES
OF NIGEL

The

Fortunes of

Nigel

SIR WALTER SCOTT

Nelson & Sons, Ltd.

PRINTBD IN GREAT BRITAIN AT
THE PRESS OF THE PUBLISHERS.

THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL.

CHAPTER I.

Now Scot and English are agreed,

And Saunders hastes to cross the Tweed,

Where, such the splendours that attend him,

His very mother scarce had kend him.

His metamorphosis behold,

From Glasgow frieze to cloth of gold ;

His backsword, with the iron hilt,

To rapier, fairly hatch 'd and gilt ;

Was ever seen a gallant braver ?

His very bonnet's grown a beaver.

The Reformation.

THE long-continued hostilities which had for centuries
separated the south and the north divisions of the
island of Britain had been happily terminated by the suc-
cession of the pacific James I. to the English Crown. But
although the united crown of England and Scotland was
worn by the same individual, it required a long lapse of time,
and the succession of more than one generation, ere the
inveterate national prejudices which had so long existed be-
twixt the sister kingdoms were removed, and the subjects
of either side of the Tweed brought to regard those upon
the opposite bank as friends and as brethren.

These prejudices were, of course, most inveterate during
the reign of King James. The English subjects accused him

2 The Fortunes of Nigel.

of partiality to those of his ancient kingdom ; while the Scots,
with equal injustice, charged him with having forgotten the
land of his nativity, and with neglecting those early friends
to whose allegiance he had been so much indebted.

The temper of the King, peaceable even to timidity, in-
clined him perpetually to interfere as mediator between the
contending factions, whose brawls disturbed the court. But
notwithstanding all his precautions, historians have recorded
many instances where the mutual hatred of two nations, who,
after being enemies for a thousand years, had been so very
recently united, broke forth with a fury which menaced a
general convulsion ; and, spreading from the highest to the
lowest classes, as it occasioned debates in council and parlia-
ment, factions in the court, and duels among the gentry, was
no less productive of riots and brawls amongst the lower
orders.

While these heart-burnings' were at the highest, there flour-
ished in the city of London an ingenious but whimsical and
self-opinioned mechanic, much devoted to abstract studies,
David Ramsay by name, who, whether recommended by his
great skill in his profession, as the courtiers alleged, or, as
was murmured among his neighbours, by his birthplace, in
the good town of Dalkeith, near Edinburgh, held in James's
household the post of maker of watches and horologes to
his Majesty. He scorned not, however, to keep open shop
within Temple Bar, a few yards to the eastward of Saint
Dunstan's Church.

The shop of a London tradesman at that time, as it may
be supposed, was something very different from those we now
see in fhe same locality. The goods were exposed to sale
in cases, only defended from the weather by a covering of
canvas, and the whole resembled the stalls and booths now
erected for the temporary accommodation of dealers at a
country fair, rather than the established emporium of a

The Fortunes of Nigel. 3

respectable citizen. But most of the shopkeepers of note,
and David Ramsay amongst others, had their booth con-
nected with a small apartment which opened backward from
it, and bore the same resemblance to the front shop that
Robinson Crusoe's cavern did to the tent which he erected
before it. To this Master Ramsay was often accustomed to
retreat to the labour of his abstruse calculations; for he
aimed at improvement and discoveries in his own art, and
sometimes pushed his researches, like Napier and other
mathematicians of the period, into abstract science. When
thus engaged, he left the outer posts of his commercial
establishment to be maintained by two stout-bodied and
strong-voiced apprentices, who kept up the cry of "What
d'ye lack? what d'ye lack?" accompanied with the appro-
priate recommendations of the articles in which they dealt.
This direct and personal application for custom to those who
chanced to pass by is now, we believe, limited to Monmouth
Street (if it still exists even in that repository of ancient gar-
ments), under the guardianship of the scattered remnant of
Israel. But at the time we are speaking of, it was practised
alike by Jew and Gentile, and served, instead of all our
present newspaper puffs and advertisements, to solicit the
attention of the public in general, and of friends in particular,
to the unrivalled excellence of the goods, which they offered
to sale upon such easy terms that it might fairly appear that
the venders had rather a view to the general service of the
public than to their own particular advantage.

The verbal proclaimers of the excellence of their commod-
ities had this advantage over those who, in the present day,
use the public papers for the same purpose, that they could
in many cases adapt their address to the peculiar appearance
and apparent taste of the passengers. [This, as we have said,
was also the case in Monmouth Street in our remembrance.
We have ourselves been reminded of the deficiencies of our

4 The Fortunes of Nigel.

femoral habiliments, and exhorted upon that score to fit our-
selves more beseemingly — but this is a digression.] This
direct and personal mode of invitation to customers became,
however, a dangerous temptation to the young wags who were
employed in the task of solicitation during the absence of the
principal person interested in the traffic; and, confiding in
their numbers and civic union, the 'prentices of London were
often seduced into taking liberties with the passengers, and
exercising their wit at the expense of those whom they had
no hopes of converting into customers by their eloquence.
If this were resented by any act of violence, the inmates of
each shop were ready to pour forth in succour ; and, in the
words of an old song which Dr. Johnson was used to hum, —

" Up then rose the 'prentices all,
Living in London, both proper and tall."

Desperate riots often arose- on such occasions, especially
when the Templars, or other youths connected with the
aristocracy, were insulted, or conceived themselves to be so.
Upon such occasions bare steel was frequently opposed to
the clubs of the citizens, and death sometimes ensued on
both sides. The tardy and inefficient police of the time had
no other resource than by the alderman of the ward calling
out the householders, and putting a stop to the strife by
overpowering numbers, as the Capulets and Montagues are
separated upon the stage.

At the period when such was the universal custom of the
most respectable, as well as the most inconsiderable shop-
keepers in London, David Ramsay, on the evening to which
we solicit the attention of the reader, retiring to more abstruse
and private labours, left the administration of his outer shop,
or booth, to the aforesaid sharp-witted, active, able-bodied,
and well-voiced apprentices, namely, Jenkin Vincent and
Frank Tunstall.

The Fortunes of Nigel 5

Vincent had been educated at the excellent foundation of
Christ's Church Hospital, and was bred, therefore, as well
as bom a Londoner, with all the acuteness, address, and
audacity which belong peculiarly to the youth of a metropolis.
He was now about twenty years old, short in stature, but
remarkably strong made, eminent for his feats upon holidays
at football and other gymnastic exercises ; scarce rivalled in
the broadsword play, though hitherto only exercised in the
form of single-stick. He knew every lane, blind alley, and
sequestered court of the ward better than his Catechism;
was alike active in his master's affairs and in his own adven-
tures of fun and mischief; and so managed matters, that the
credit he acquired by the former bore him out, or at least
served for his apology, when the latter propensity led him
into scrapes, of which, however, it is but fair to state that
they had hitherto inferred nothing mean or discreditable.
Some aberrations there were, which David Ramsay, his
master, endeavoured to reduce to regular order when he dis-
covered them, and others which he winked at — supposing
them to answer the purpose of the escapement of a watch,
which disposes of a certain quantity of the extra power of
that mechanical impulse which puts the whole in motion.

The physiognomy of Jin Vin — by which abbreviation he
was familiarly known through the ward — corresponded with
the sketch we have given of his character. His head, upon
which his 'prentice's flat cap was generally flung in a careless
and oblique fashion, was closely covered with thick hair of
raven black, which curled naturally and closely, and would
have grown to great length, but for the modest custom en-
joined by his state of life, and strictly enforced by his master,
which compelled him to keep it short-cropped — not unre-
luctantly, as he looked with envy on the flowing ringlets in
which the courtiers and aristocratic students of the neigh-
bouring Temple began to indulge themselves, as marks of

6 The Fortunes of Nigel.

superiority and of gentility. Vincent's eyes were deep set in
his head, of a strong vivid black, full of fire, roguery, and
intelligence, and conveying a humorous expression, even
while he was uttering -the usual small-talk of his trade, as if
he ridiculed those who were disposed to give any weight to
his commonplaces. He had address enough, however, to
add little touches of his own, which gave a turn of drollery
even to this ordinary routine of the booth ; and the alacrity
of his manner, his ready and obvious wish to oblige, his
intelligence and civility, when he thought civility necessary,
made him a universal favourite with his master's customers.
His features were far from regular, for his nose was flattish,
his mouth tending to the larger size, and his complexion in-
clining to be more dark than was then thought consistent
with masculine beauty. But, in despite of his having always
breathed the air of a crowded city, his complexion had the
ruddy and manly expression of redundant health ; his turned-
up nose gave an air of spirit and raillery to what he said, and
seconded the laugh of his eyes ; and his wide mouth was
garnished with a pair of well-formed and well-coloured lips,
which, when he laughed, disclosed a range of teeth strong
and well set, and as white as the very pearl. Such was
the elder apprentice of David Ramsay, Memory's Monitor,
watchmaker, and constructer of horologes to his Most Sacred
Majesty James I.

Jenkin's companion was the younger apprentice, though,
perhaps, he might be the elder of the two in years. At any
rate, he was of a much more staid and composed temper.
Francis Tunstall was of that ancient and proud descent who
claimed the style of the "unstained," because, amid the
various chances of the long and bloody Wars of the Roses,
they had, with undeviating faith, followed the House of
Lancaster, to which they had originally attached themselves.
The meanest sprig of such a tree attached importance to the

The Fortunes of Nigel. 7

root from which it derived itself; and Tunstall was supposed
to nourish in secret a proportion of that family pride which
had extorted tears from his widowed and almost indigent
mother, when she saw herself obliged to consign him to a
line of life inferior, as her prejudices suggested, to the course
held by his progenitors. Yet, with all this aristocratic preju-
dice, his master found the well-born youth more docile,
regular, and strictly attentive to his duty than his far more
active and alert comrade. Tunstall also gratified his master
by the particular attention which he seemed disposed to
bestow on the abstract principles of science connected with
the trade which he was bound to study, the limits of which
were daily enlarged with the increase of mathematical science.

Vincent beat his companion beyond the distance-post in
everything like the practical adaptation of thorough practice,
in the dexterity of hand necessary to execute the mechanical
branches of the art, and double-distanced him in all respect-
ing the commercial affairs of the shop. Still, David Ramsay
was wont to say, that if Vincent knew how to do a thing the
better of the two, Tunstall was much better acquainted with
the principles on which it ought to be done ; and he some-
times objected to the latter that he knew critical excellence
too well ever to be satisfied with practical mediocrity.

The disposition of Tunstall was sny, as well as studious ;
and, though perfectly civil and obliging, he never seemed to
feel himself in his place while he went through the duties of
the shop. He was tall and handsome, with fair hair, and
well-formed limbs, good features, well-opened light-blue eyes,
a straight Grecian nose, and a countenance which expressed
both good-humour and intelligence, but qualified by a gravity
unsuitable to his years, and which almost amounted to dejec-
tion. He lived on the best terms with his companion, and
readily stood by him whenever he was engaged in any of the
frequent skirmishes which, as we have already observed, ofteD

8 The Fortunes of Nigel.

disturbed the city of London about this period. But though
Tunstall was allowed to understand quarter-staff (the weapon
of the North country) in a superior degree, and though he
was naturally both strong and active, his interference in such
affrays seemed always matter of necessity ; and, as he never
voluntarily joined either their brawls or their sports, he held
a far lower place in the opinion of the youth of the ward than
his hearty and active friend Jin Vin. Nay, had it not been
for the interest made for his comrade by the intercession of
Vincent, Tunstall would have stood some chance of being
altogether excluded from the society of his contemporaries of
the same condition, who called him, in scorn, the Cavaliero
Cuddy, and the Gentle Tunstall. On the other hand, the
lad himself, deprived of the fresh air in which he had been
brought up, and foregoing the exercise to which he had
been formerly accustomed while the inhabitant of his native
mansion, lost gradually the freshness of his complexion, and,
without showing any formal symptoms of disease, grew more
thin and pale as he grew older, and at length exhibited the
appearance of indifferent health, without anything of the
habits and complaints of an invalid, excepting a disposition
to avoid society, and to spend his leisure time in private
study, rather than mingle in the sports of his companions,
or even resort to the theatres, then the general rendezvous
of his class, where, according to high authority, they fought
for half-bitten apples, cracked nuts, and filled the upper
gallery with their clamours.

Such were the two youths who called David Ramsay
master, and with both of whom he used to fret from morning
till night, as their peculiarities interfered with his own, or
with the quiet and beneficial course of his traffic.

Upon the whole, however, the youths were attached to
their master, and he, a good-natured though an absent and
whimsical man, was scarce less so to them ; and, when a little

The Fortunes of Nigel 9

warmed with wine at an occasional junketing, he used to
boast, in his northern dialect, of his " twa bonny lads, and
the looks that the court ladies threw at them, when visiting
his shop in their caroches, when on a frolic into the city.*
But David Ramsay never failed, at the same time, to draw
up his own tall, thin, lathy skeleton, extend his lean jaws
into an alarming grin, and indicate, by a nod of his yard-long
visage and a twinkle of his little grey eye, that there might
be more faces in Fleet Street worth looking at than those
of Frank and Jenkin. His old neighbour, Widow Simmons,
the sempstress, who had served, in her day, the very tip-top
revellers of the Temple, with ruffs, cuffs, and bands, distin-
guished more deeply the sort of attention paid by the females
of quality, who so regularly visited David Ramsay's shop, to
its inmates. " The boy Frank," she admitted, " used to attract
the attention of the young ladies, as having something gentle
and downcast in his looks; but then he could not better
himself, for the poor youth had not a word to throw at a dog.
Now Jin Vin was so full of his gibes and his jeers, and so
willing, and so ready, and so serviceable, and so mannerly all
the while, with a step that sprung like a buck's in Epping
Forest, and his eye that twinkled as black as a gypsy's, that
no woman who knew the world would make a comparison
betwixt the lads. As for poor neighbour Ramsay himself,
the man," she said, "was a civil neighbour, and a learned
man, doubtless, and might be a rich man if he had common
sense to back his learning j and doubtless, for a Scot, neigh-
bour Ramsay was nothing of a bad man, but he was so
constantly grimed with smoke, gilded with brass filings, and
smeared with lamp-black and oil, that Dame Simmons judged
it would require his whole shopful of watches to induce any
feasible woman to touch the said neighbour Ramsay with
anything save a pair of tongs."

A still higher authority, Dame Ursula, wife to Benja-

IO The Fortunes of Nigel.

min Suddlechop, the barber, was of exactly the same
opinion.

Such were, in natural qualities and public estimation, the
two youths, who, on a fine April day, having first rendered
their dutiful service and attendance on the table of their
master and his daughter, at their dinner at one o'clock-
such, O ye lads of London, was the severe discipline under-
gone by your, predecessors ! — and having regaled themselves
upon the fragments, in company with two female domestics,
one a cook and maid-of-all-work, the other called Mistress
Margaret's maid, now relieved their master in the duty of
the. outward shop, and, agreeably to the established custom,
were soliciting, by their entreaties and recommendations of
their master's manufacture, the attention and encouragement
of the passengers.

In this species of service it may be easily supposed that
Jenkin Vincent left his more reserved and bashful comrade
far in the background. The latter could only articulate with
difficulty, and as an act of duty which he was rather ashamed
of discharging, the established words of form — " What d'ye
lack? — What d'ye lack? — Clocks — watches — barnacles? —
What d'ye lack ? — Watches — clocks — barnacles ? — What d'ye
lack, sir ? What d'ye lack, madam ? — Barnacles — watches —
clocks?"

But this dull and dry iteration, however varied by diversity
of verbal arrangement, sounded flat when mingled with the
rich and recommendatory oratory of the bold-faced, deep-
mouthed, and ready-witted Jenkin Vincent. "What d'ye
lack, noble sir?— What d'ye lack, beauteous madam?" he
said, in a tone at once bold and soothing, which often was
so applied as both to gratify the persons addressed, and to
excite a smile from other hearers. " God bless your rever-
ence," to a beneficed clergyman; "the Greek and Hebrew
have harmed your reverence's eyes — buy a pair of David

The Fortunes of Nigel. 1 1

Ramsay's barnacles. The King — God bless his Sacred
Majesty !— -never reads Hebrew or Greek without them."

"Are you well avised of that?" said a fat parson from
the Vale of Evesham. " Nay, if the head of the Church
wears them — God bless his Sacred Majesty ! — I will try
what they can do for me ; for I have not been able to dis-
tinguish one Hebrew letter from another, since — I cannot
remember the time — when I had a bad fever. Choose me
a pair of his most Sacred Majesty's own wearing, my good
youth."

" This is a pair, and please your reverence," said Jenkin,
producing a pair of spectacles, which he touched with an
air of great deference and respect, " which his most blessed
Majesty placed this day three weeks on his own blessed
nose ; and would have kept them for his own sacred use, but
that the setting being, as your reverence sees, of the purest
jet, was, as his Sacred Majesty was pleased to say, fitter for
a bishop than for a secular prince."

" His Sacred Majesty the King," said the worthy divine,
"was ever a very Daniel in his judgment. Give me the
barnacles, my good youth j and who can say what nose they
may bestride in two years hence ? — our reverend brother of
Gloucester waxes in years." He then pulled out his purse,
paid for the spectacles, and left the shop with even a more
important step than that which had paused to enter it.

"For shame," said Tunstall to his companion; "these
glasses will never suit one of his years."

" You are a fool, Frank," said Vincent, in reply. " Had
the good doctor wished glasses to read with, he would have
tried them before buying. He does not want to look through
them himself, and these will serve the purpose of being looked
at by other folks, as well as the best magnifiers in the shop.—
What d'ye lack ? " he cried, resuming his solicitations. " Mir-
rors for your toilette, my pretty madam ; your head-gear is

12 The Fortimes of Nigel.

something awry — pity, since it is so well fancied." The
woman stopped and bought a mirror. — "What d'ye lack?
—a watch, Master Serjeant— a watch that will go as long as
a lawsuit, as steady and true as your own eloquence ? "

" Hold your peace, sir," answered the knight of the coif,
who was disturbed by Vin's address whilst in deep consulta-
tion with an eminent attorney — " hold your peace ! You are
the loudest-tongued varlet betwixt the Devil's Tavern and
Guildhall."

"A watch," reiterated the undaunted Jenkin, "that shall
not lose thirteen minutes in a thirteen years' lawsuit. — He's
out of hearing. — A watch with four wheels and a bar-move-
ment— a watch that shall tell you, Master Poet, how long the
patience of the audience will endure your next piece at the
Black Bull." The bard laughed, and fumbled in the pocket
of his slops till he chased into a corner and fairly caught a
small piece of coin.

" Here is a tester to cherish thy wit, good boy," he said.

"Gramercy," said Vin; "at the next play of yours I will
bring down a set of roaring boys that shall make all the
critics in the pit and the gallants on the stage civil, or else
the curtain shall smoke for it."

" Now, that I call mean," said Tunstall, " to take the poor
rhymer's money, who has so little left behind."

" You are an owl, once again," said Vincent. " If he has
nothing left to buy cheese and radishes, he will only dine a
day the sooner with some patron or some player, for that is
his fate five days out of the seven. It is unnatural that a
poet should pay for his own pot of beer. I will drink his
tester for him to save him from such shame ; and when his
third night comes round, he shall have pennyworths for his
coin, I promise you. — But here comes another guess cus-
tomer. Lool: at that strange fellow ; see how he gapes at
every shop, as if he would swallow the wares.— Oh ! Saint

The Fortunes of Nigel 13

Dunstan has caught his eye ; pray God he swallow not the
images ! See how he stands astonished, as old Adam and
Eve ply their ding-dong ! Come, Frank, thou art a scholar ;
construe me that same fellow, with his blue cap with a cock's
feather in it, to show he's of gentle blood, God wot — his grey
eyes, his yellow hair, his sword with a ton of iron in the
handle, his grey threadbare cloak, his step like a French-
man, his look like a Spaniard, a book at his girdle, and a
broad dudgeon-dagger on the other side to show him half-
pedant, half-bully. How call you that pageant, Frank ? "

"A raw Scotsman," said Tunstall; "just come up, I sup-
pose, to help the rest of his countrymen to gnaw old Eng-
land's bones — a palmerworm, I reckon, to devour what the
locust has spared."

"Even so, Frank," answered Vincent; "just as the poet
sings sweetly, —

' In Scotland he was born and bred,
And, though a beggar, must be fed.' "

" Hush ! " said Tunstall, " remember our master."

" Pshaw ! " answered his mercurial companion ; " he knows
on which side his bread is buttered, and I warrant you has
not lived so long among Englishmen, and by Englishmen, to
quarrel with us for bearing an English mind. But see, our
Scot has done gazing at Saint Dunstan's, and comes our way.
By this light, a proper lad and a sturdy, in spite of freckles
and sun-burning. He comes nearer still. I will have at
him."

"And, if you do," said his comrade, "you may get a
broken head ; he looks not as if he would carry coals."

"A fig for your threat," said Vincent, and instantly ad-
dressed the stranger. " Buy a watch, most noble northern
thane, buy a watch, to count the hours of plenty since the
blessed moment you left Berwick behind you. Buy barnacles,

14 The Fortunes of Nigel.

to see the English gold lies ready for your gripe. Buy what
you will, you shall have credit for three days ; for, were your
pockets as bare as Father Fergus's, you are a Scot in London,
and you will be stocked in that time." The stranger looked
sternly at the waggish apprentice, and seemed to grasp his
cudgel in rather a menacing fashion. "Buy physic," said
the undaunted Vincent, "if you will buy neither time nor
light — physic for a proud stomach, sir ; there is a 'pothecary's
shop on the other side of the way."

Here the probationary disciple of Galen, who stood at his
master's door in his flat cap and canvas sleeves, with a
large wooden pestle in his hand, took up the ball which was
flung to him by Jenkin, with, J'What d'ye lack, sir? Buy
a choice Caledonian salve, Flos sulphvr. cum butyro quant.
suff»

"To be taken after a gentle rubbing-down with an Eng-
lish oaken towel," said Vincent.

The bonny Scot had given full scope to the play of this
small artillery of city wit, by halting his stately pace, and
viewing grimly, first the one assailant, and then the other,
as if menacing either repartee or more violent revenge. But
phlegm or prudence got the better of his indignation, and,
tossing his head as one who valued not the raillery to which
he had been exposed, he walked down Fleet Street, pursued
by the horse-laugh of his tormentorSc

" The Scot will not fight till he see his own blood," said
Tunstall, whom his north of England extraction had made
familiar with all manner of proverbs against those who lay
yet further north than himself.

" Faith, I know not," said Jenkin. " He looks dangerous,
that fellow ; he will hit some one over the noddle before he
goes far. Hark ! hark ! they are rising."

Accordingly, the well-known cry of " 'Prentices ! 'prentices !
Clubs ! clubs ! " now rang along Fleet Street ; and Jenkin,

The Fortunes of Nigel. 1 5

snatching up his weapon, which lay beneath the counter
ready at the slightest notice, and calling to Tunstall to take
his bat and follow, leaped over the hatch-door which pro-
tected the outer shop, and ran as fast as he could towards
the affray, echoing the cry as he ran, and elbowing or shov-
ing aside whoever stood in his way. His comrade, first
calling to his master to give an eye to the shop, followed
Jenkin's example, and ran after him as fast as he could,
but with more attention to the safety and convenience of
others ; while old David Ramsay,* with hands and eyes up-
lifted, a green apron before him, and a glass which he had
been polishing thrust into his bosom, came forth to look
after the safety of his goods and chattels, knowing, by old
experience, that when the cry of "Clubs" once arose, he
would have little aid on the part of his apprentices.

CHAPTER IL

This, sir, is one among the Seignory,

Has wealth at will, and will to use his wealth,

And wit to increase it. Marry, his worst folly

Lies in a thriftless sort of charity,

That goes a-gadding sometimes after objects

Which wise men will not see when thrust upon them.

The Old Couple.

THE ancient gentleman bustled about his shop in pettish
displeasure at being summoned hither so hastily, to the
interruption of his more abstract studies ; and, unwilling to
renounce the train of calculation which he had put in prog-
ress, he mingled whimsically with the fragments of the arith-
metical operation his oratory to the passengers, and angry
reflections on his idle apprentices. "What d'ye lack, sir?
Madam, what d'ye lack — clocks for hall or table, night-
* Note, p. 564. David Ramsay.

16 The Fortunes of Nigel.

watches, day- watches ? — Locking wheel being 48, the power of
retort 8, the striking pins are 48. — What d'ye lack, honoured
sir ? — The quotient, the multiplicand. — That the knaves should
have gone out at this blessed minute ! — The acceleration being
at the rate of 5 minutes, 55 seconds, 53 thirds, 59 fourths. — I
will switch them both when they come back. I will, by the
bones of the immortal Napier ! "

Here the vexed philosopher was interrupted by the en-
trance of a grave citizen of a most respectable appearance,
who, saluting him familiarly by the name of " Davie, my old
acquaintance," demanded what had put him so much out of
sorts, and gave him at the same time a cordial grasp of his
hand.

The stranger's dress was, though grave, rather richer than
usual. His paned hose were of black velvet, lined with
purple silk, which garniture appeared at the slashes. His
doublet was of purple cloth, and his short cloak of black
velvet to correspond with his hose ; and both were adorned
with a great number of small silver buttons richly wrought in
filigree. A triple chain of gold hung round his neck ; and,
in place of a sword or dagger, he wore at his belt an ordinary
knife for the purpose of the table, with a small silver case,
which appeared to contain writing materials. He might
have seemed some secretary or clerk engaged in the service
of the public, only that his low, flat, and unadorned cap, and
his well-blacked, shining shoes, indicated that he belonged
to the city. He was a well-made man, about the middle
size, and seemed firm in health, though advanced in years.
His looks expressed sagacity and good-humour ; and the air
of respectability which his dress announced was well sup-
ported by his clear eye, ruddy cheek, and grey hair. He
used the Scottish idiom in his first address, but in such a
manner that it could hardly be distinguished whether he was
passing upon his friend a sort of jocose mockery, or whether

The Fortunes of Nigel. 17

it was his own native dialect, for his ordinary discourse had
little provincialism.

In answer to the queries of his respectable friend, Ramsay
groaned heavily, answering by echoing back the question,
"What ails me, Master George? Why, everything ails me!
I profess to you that a man may as well live in Fairyland as
in the Ward of Farringdon Without. My apprentices are
turned into mere goblins; they appear and disappear like
spunkies, and have no more regularity in them than a watch
without a 'scapement. If there is a ball to be tossed up,
or a bullock to be driven mad, or a quean to be ducked for
scolding, or a head to be broken, Jenkin is sure to be at
the one end or the other of it, and then away skips Francis
Tunstall for company. I think the prize-fighters, bear-
leaders, and mountebanks are in a league against me, my
dear friend, and that they pass my house ten times for any
other in the city. Here's an Italian fellow come 0£'er, too,
that they call Punchinello ; and altogether "

" Well," interrupted Master George, " but what is all this
to the present case ? "

" Why," replied Ramsay, " here has been a cry of thieves
or murder (I hope that will prove the least of it amongst
these English pock-pudding swine !), and I have been inter-
rupted in the deepest calculation ever mortal man plunged
into, Master George."

"What, man!" replied Master George, "you must take
patience. You are a man that deals in time, and can make
it go fast and slow at pleasure ; you, of all the world, have
least reason to complain if a little of it be lost now and then.
But here come your boys, and bringing in a slain man be-
twixt them, I think. Here has been serious mischief, I am
afraid.

" The more mischief the better sport," said the crabbed
old watchmaker. " I am blithe, though, that it's neither of

1 8 The Fortunes of Nigel.

the twa loons themselves. — What are ye bringing a corpse
here for, ye fause villains ? " he added, addressing the two
apprentices, who, at the head of a considerable mob of their
own class, some of whom bore evident marks of a recent
fray, were carrying the body betwixt them.

" He is not dead yet, sir," answered Tunstall.

"Carry him into the apothecary's, then," replied his
master " D'ye think I can set a man's life in motion again,
as if he were a clock or a timepiece ? "

" For God's sake, old friend," said his acquaintance, " let us
have him here at the nearest — he seems only in a swoon."

"A swoon?" said Ramsay; "and what business had he
to swoon in the streets ? Only, if it will oblige my friend
Master George, I would take in all the dead men of Saint
Dunstan's parish. Call Sam Porter to look after the shop."

So saying, the stunned man, being the identical Scotsman
who had passed a short time before amidst the jeers of the
apprentices, was carried into the back shop of the artist, and
there placed in an arm-chair till the apothecary from over
the way came to his assistance. This gentleman, as some-
times happens to those of the learned professions, had rather
more lore than knowledge, and began to talk of the sinciput
and occiput, and cerebrum and cerebellum, until he ex-
hausted David Ramsay's brief stock of patience.

"Bell-um! bell-ell-um 1 " he repeated, with great indigna-
tion ; " what signify all the bells in London, if you do not
put a plaster on the chield's crown ? "

Master George, with better-directed zeal, asked the apothe-
cary whether bleeding might not be useful; when, after
humming and hawing for a moment, and being unable,
upon the spur of the occasion, to suggest anything else, the
man of pharmacy observed that it would, at all events,
relieve the brain or cerebrum, in case there was a tendency
to the depositation of any extravasated blood, to operate as

The Fortunes of Nigel. 19

a pressure upon that delicate organ. Fortunately he was
adequate to performing this operation ; and, being power-
fully aided by Jenkin Vincent (who was learned in all cases
of broken heads) with plenty of cold water, and a little
vinegar, applied according to the scientific method practised
by the bottle-holders in a modern ring, the man began to
raise himself on his chair, draw his cloak tightly around
him, and look about like one who struggles to recover sense
and recollection.

"He had better lie down on the bed in the little back
closet," said Master Ramsay's visitor, who seemed perfectly
familiar with 'the accommodations which the house afforded.

" He is welcome to my share of the truckle," said Jenkin
— for in the said back closet were the two apprentices
accommodated in one truckle-bed — " I can sleep under the
counter,"

" So can I," said Tunstall, " and the poor fellow can have
the bed all night."

" Sleep," said the apothecary, " is, in the opinion of Galen,
a restorative and febrifuge, and is most naturally taken in a
truckle-bed."

"Where a better cannot be come by," said Master George;
''but these are two honest lads, to give up their beds so
willingly. Come, off with his cloak, and let us bear him to
his couch. I will send for Dr. Irving, the King's chirurgeon
— he does not live far off — and that shall be my share of the
Samaritan's duty, neighbour Ramsay."

" Well, sir," said the apothecary, " it is at your pleasure to
send for other advice, and I shall not object to consult with
Dr. Irving or any other medical person of skill, neither to
continue to furnish such drugs as may be needful from my
pharmacopoeia. However, whatever Dr. Irving, who, I think,
hath had his degrees in Edinburgh, or Dr. Any-one-beside,
be he Scottish or English, may say to the contrary, sleep,

2O The Fortunes of Nigel.

taken timeously, is a febrifuge, or sedative, and also a
restorative."

He muttered a few more learned words, and concluded by
informing Ramsay's friend, in English far more intelligible
than his Latin, that he would look to him as his paymaster
for medicines, care, and attendance furnished, or to be fur-
nished, to this party unknown.

Master George only replied by desiring him to send his
bill for what he had already to charge, and to give himself
no further trouble, unless he heard from him The pharma-
copolist, who, from discoveries made by the cloak falling a
little aside, had no great opinion of the faculty of this chance
patient to make reimbursement, had no sooner seen his case
espoused by a substantial citizen than he showed some re-
luctance to quit possession of it, and it needed a short and
stern hint from Master George, which, with all his good-
humour, he was capable of -expressing when occasion re-
quired, to send to his own dwelling this Esculapius of
Temple Bar.

When they were rid of Master Raredrench, the charitable
efforts of Jenkin and Francis to divest the patient of his
long grey cloak were firmly resisted on his own part. " My
life suner — my life suner," he muttered in indistinct murmurs.
In these efforts to retain his upper garment, which was too
tender to* resist much handling, it gave way at length with
a loud rent, which almost threw the patient into a second
syncope, and he sat before them in his under garments, the
looped and repaired wretchedness of which moved at once
pity and laughter, and had certainly been the cause of his
unwillingness to resign the mantle, which, like the virtue of
charity, served to cover so many imperfections.

The man himself cast his eyes on his poverty-struck garb,
and seemed so much ashamed of the disclosure, that, mutter-
ing between his teeth that he would be too late for an appoint

The Fortunes of Nigel 21

ment, he made an effort to rise and leave the shop, which
was easily prevented by Jenkin Vincent and his comrade,
who, at the nod of Master George, laid hold of and detained
him in his chair. The patient next looked round him for a
moment, and then said faintly, in his broad northern lan-
guage, "What sort of usage ca* ye this, gentlemen, to a
stranger, a sojourner in your town? Ye hae broken my
head, ye hae riven my cloak, and now ye are for restraining
my personal liberty ! They were wiser than me," he said,
after a moment's pause, "that counselled me to wear my
warst claithing in the streets of London; and, if I could
have got ony things warse than these mean garments" —
(" which would have been very difficult," said Jin Vin, in a
whisper to his companion) — "they would have been e'en
ower gude for the grips o' men sae little acquented with the
laws of honest civility."

"To say the truth," said Jenkin, unable to forbear any
longer, although the discipline of the times prescribed to
those in his situation a degree of respectful distance and
humility in the presence of parents, masters, or seniors, of
which the present age has no idea — " to say the truth, the
good gentleman's clothes look as if they would not brook
much handling."

" Hold your peace, young man," said Master George, with
a tone of authority ; " never mock the stranger or the poor.
The black ox has not trod on your foot yet. You know not
what lands you may travel inx or what clothes you may wear,
before you die."

Vincent held down his head and stood rebuked, but the
stranger did not accept the apology which was made for
him.

" I am a stranger, sir," said he, " that is certain ; though
methmks that, being such, I have been somewhat fami!iarly
treated in this town of yours ; but, as for my being poor, I

22 The Fortunes of Nigel

think I need not be charged with poverty till I seek siller of
somebody."

"The dear country all over," said Master George, in a
whisper, to David Ramsay— " pride and poverty."

But David had taken out his tablets and silver pen, and,
deeply immersed in calculations, in which he rambled over
all the terms of arithmetic, from the simple unit to millions,
billions, and trillions, neither heard nor answered the ob-
servation of his friend, who, seeing his abstraction, turned
again to the Scot.

"I fancy now, Jockey, if a stranger were to offer you a
noble, you would chuck it back at his head ? "

"Not if I could do him honest service for it, sir," said the
Scot. " I am willing to do what I may to be useful, though
I come of an honourable house, and may be said to be in a
sort indifferently weel provided for."

" Ay ! " said the interrogator,- " and what house may claim
the honour of your descent ? "

"An ancient coat belongs to it, as the play says," whispered
Vincent to his companion.

"Come, Jockey, out with it," continued Master George,
observing that the Scot, as usual with his countrymen when
asked a blunt, straightforward question, took a little time
before answering it.

" I am no more Jockey, sir, than you are John," said the
stranger, as if offended at being addressed by a name which
at that time was used, as Sawney now is, for a general appel-
lative of the Scottish nation. " My name, if you must know
it, is Richie Moniplies ; and I come of the old and honour-
able house of Castle Collop, weel kend at the West Port of
Edinburgh."

"What is that you call the West Port?" proceeded the
interrogator.

"Why, an it like your honour," said Richie, who now,

The Fortunes of NigeL 23

having recovered his senses sufficiently to observe the re-
spectable exterior of Master George, threw more civility into
his manner than at first, " the West Port is a gate of our city,
as yonder brick arches at Whitehall form the entrance of the
King's palace here, only that the West Port is of stonern
work, and mair decorated with architecture and the policy
of bigging."

"Nouns, man, the Whitehall gateways were planned by
the great Holbein," answered Master George. "I suspect
your accident has jumbled your brains, my good friend. I
suppose you will tell me next you have at Edinburgh as fine
a navigable river as the Thames, with all its shipping ? "

" The Thames ! " exclaimed Richie, in a tone of ineffable
contempt- — " God bless your honour's judgment, we have at
Edinburgh the Water of Leith and the Nor' Loch ! "

"And the Pow Burn, and the Quarry Holes, and the
Gusedub, fause loon!" answered Master George, speaking
Scotch with a strong and natural emphasis. "It is such
landloupers as you that, with your falset and fair fashions,
bring reproach on our whole country.'*

"God forgie me, sir," said Richie, much surprised at
finding the supposed Southron converted into a native Scot,
" I took your honour for an Englisher ! But I hope there
was naething wrang in standing up for ane's ain country's
credit in a strange land, where all men cry her down."

" Do you call it for your country's credit, to show that she
has a lying, puffing rascal for one of her children?" said
Master George. " But come, man, never look grave on it.
As you have found a countryman, so you have found a
friend, if you deserve one — and specially if you answer me
truly."

"I see nae gude it wad do me to speak aught else but
truth," said the worthy North Briton.

" Well, then — to begin," said Master George, " I suspect

24 The Fortunes of Nigel

you are a son of old Mungo Moniplies, the flesher, at the
West Port."

" Your honour is a witch, I think," said Richie, grinning.

"And how dared you, sir, to uphold him for a noble?"

" I dinna ken, sir," said Richie, scratching his head. " I
hear muckle of an Earl of Warwick in these southern parts
— Guy, I think his name was — and he has great reputation
here for slaying dun cows, and boars, and such like ; and I
am sure my father has killed more cows and boars, not to
mention bulls, calves, sheep, ewes, lambs, and pigs, than the
haill baronage of England."

" Go to ! you are a shrewd knave," said Master George ;
"charm your tongue, and take care of saucy answers. Your
father was an honest burgher, and the deacon of his craft.
I am sorry to see his son in so poor a coat."

" Indifferent, sir," said Richie Moniplies, looking down on
his garments — " very indifferent ; but it is the wonted livery
of poor burghers' sons- in our country — one of Luckie Want's
bestowing upon us — rest us patient! The King's leaving
Scotland has taken all custom frae Edinburgh ; and there is
hay made at the Cross, and a dainty crop of fouats in the
Grassmarket. There is as much -grass grows where my
father's stall stood as might have been a good bite for the
beasts he was used to kill."

"It is even too true," said Master George, "and while
we make fortunes here, our old neighbours and their families
are starving at home. This should be thought upon oftener.
And now came you by that broken head, Richie ? — tell me
honestly."

"Troth, sir, Fse no lee about the matter," answered Moni-
plies. " I was coming along the street here, and ilk ane was
at me with their jests and roguery. So I thought to mysel',
ye are ower mony for me to mell with ; but let me catch ye
in Barford's Park, or at the fit of the Vennek I could gar

The Fortunes of Nigel 2$

some of ye sing another sang. Sae ae auld hirpling deevil of
a potter behoved just to step in my way and offer me a pig,
as he said, just to put my Scotch ointment in ; and I gave
him a push, as but natural, and the tottering deevil couped
ower amang his ain pigs, and damaged a score of them.
And then the reird raise, and hadna these twa gentlemen
helped me out of it, murdered I suld hae been, without
remeid. And as it was, just when they got haud of my arm
to have me out of the fray, I got the lick that donnert me
from a left-handed lighterman."

Master George looked to the apprentices as if to demand
the truth of this story.

" It is just as he says, sir," replied Jenkin ; " only I heard
nothing about pigs. The people said he had broke some
crockery, and that — I beg pardon, sir — nobody could thrive
within the kenning of a Scot."

"Well, no matter what they said, you were an honest
fellow to help the weaker side. — And you, sirrah," continued
Master George, addressing his countryman, " will call at my
house to-morrow morning, agreeable to this direction."

"I will wait upon your honour," said the Scot, bowing
very low — "that is, if my honourable master will permit
me/'

"Thy master?1* said George. "Hast thou any other
master save Want, whose livery you say you wear ? "

" Troth, in one sense, if it please your honour, I serve twa
masters," said Richie; "for both my master and me are
slaves to that same beldam, whom we thought to show our
heels to by coming off from Scotland. So that you see, sir,
I hold in a sort of black ward tenure, as we call it in our
country, being the servant of a servant."

" And what is your master's name ? " said George ; and
observing that Richie hesitated, he added, " Nay, do not tell
me, if it is a secret."

26 The Fortunes of Nigel

" A secret that there is little use in keeping," said Richie ;
" only ye ken that our northern stomachs are ower proud to
call in witnesses to our distress. No that my master is in
mair than present pinch, sir," he added, looking towards the
two English apprentices, " having a large sum in the Royal
Treasury — that is," he continued, in a whisper to Master
George, "the King is owing him a lot of siller; but it's ill
getting at it, it's like. My master is the young Lord Glen-
varloch."

Master George testified surprise at the name. " You one
of the young Lord Glenvarloch's followers and in such a
condition ? "

"Troth, and I am all the followers he has, for the present
that is ; and blithe wad I be if he were muckle better aff
than I am, though I were to bide as I am."

"I have seen his father with four gentlemen and ten
lackeys at his heels," said Master George, "rustling in their
laces and velvets. Well, this is a changeful world ; but there
is a better beyond it. — The good old house of Glenvarloch,
that stood by king and country five hundred years ! "

" Your honour may say a thousand," said the follower.

"I will say what I know to be true, friend," said the
citizen, "and not a word more. You seem well recovered
now — can you walk ? "

" Bravely, sir," said Richie ; " it was but a bit dover. I
was bred at the West Port, and my cantle will stand a clour
wad bring a stot down."

" Where does your master lodge ? "

" We pit up, an it like your honour," replied the Scot, " in
a sma7 house at the fit of ane of the wynds that gang down
to the water-side, with a decent man, John Christie, a ship-
chandler, as they ca't. His father came from Dundee. I
wotna the name of the wynd, but it's right anent the mickle
kirk yonder ; and your honour will mind that we pass only

The Fortunes of Nigel. 2f

by our family name of simple Master Nigel Olifaunt, as
keeping ourselves retired for the present, though in Scotland
we be called the Lord Nigel."

" It is wisely done of your master," said the citizen. " I
will find out your lodgings, though your direction be none of
the clearest." So saying, and slipping a piece of money at
the same time into Richie Moniplies' hand, he bade him
hasten home, and get into no more affrays.

" I will take care of that now, sir," said Richie, with a look
of importance, " having a charge about me. And so, wussing
ye a* weel, with special thanks to these twa young gentle-

" I am no gentleman," said Jenkin, flinging his cap on his
head ; " I am a tight London 'prentice, and hope to be a
freeman one day. Frank may write himself gentleman, if he
will."

" I was a gentleman once," said Tunstall, " and I hope I
have done nothing to lose the name of one."

" Weel, weel, as ye list," said Richie Moniplies ; " but I am
mickle beholden to ye baith — and I am not a hair the less
like to bear it in mind that I say but little about it just now.
Gude-night to you, my kind countryman." So saying, he
thrust out of the sleeve of his ragged doublet a long bony
hand and arm, on which the muscles rose like whip-cord.
Master George shook it heartily, while Jenkin and Frank
exchanged sly looks with each other.

Richie Moniplies would next have addressed his thanks
to the master of the shop, but seeing him, as he afterwards
said, "scribbling on his bit bookie, as if he were demented,"
he contented his politeness with "giving him a hat," touch-
ing, that is, his bonnet, in token of salutation, and so left
the shop.

"Now there goes Scotch Jockey, with all his bad and
good about him/' said Master George to Master David, who

28 The Fortunes of Nigel.

suspended, though unwillingly, the calculations with which
he was engaged, and keeping his pen within an inch of the
tablets, gazed on his friend with great lack-lustre eyes, which
expressed anything rather than intelligence or interest in
the discourse addressed to him. "That fellow," proceeded
Master George, without heeding his friend's state of abstrac-
tion, "shows, with great liveliness > of colouring, how our
Scotch pride and poverty make liars and braggarts of us;
and yet the knave, whose every third word to an Englishman
is a boastful lie, will, I warrant you, be a true and tender
friend and follower to his master, and has perhaps parted
with his mantle to him in the cold blast, although he himselt
walked in cuerpo, as the Don says. Strange! that courage
and fidelity — for I will warrant that the knave is stout —
should have no better companion than this swaggering brag-
gadocio humour. But you mark me not, friend Davie."

"I do — I do, most needfully," said Davie. "For, as the
sun goeth round the dial-plate in twenty-four hours, add, for
the moon, fifty minutes and a half—

"You are in the seventh heavens, man," feaid his com-
panion.

"I crave your pardon," replied Davie. "Let the wheel
A go round in twenty-four hours — I have it— and the wheel
B in twenty-four hours, fifty minutes and a half — fifty-seven
being to twenty-four as fifty-nine to twenty-four hours, fifty
minutes and a half, or very nearly ; — I crave your forgiveness,
Master George, and heartily wish you good even."

" Good even ! " said Master George ; " why, you have not
wished me good day yet. Come, old friend, lay by these
tablets, or you will crack the inner machinery of your skull,
as our friend yonder has got the outer case of his damaged.
Good night, quotha ! I mean not to part with you so easily.
I came to get my four hours' nunchion from you, man, besides
a tune on the lute from my goddaughter, Mistress Marget."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 29

" Good faith ! I was abstracted, Master George ; but you
know me. Whenever I get amongst the wheels," said Master
Ramsay, "why, 'tis —

"Lucky that you deal in small ones," said his friend, as,
awakened from his reveries and calculations, Ramsay led the
way up a little back-stair to the first story, occupied by his
daughter and his little household.

The apprentices resumed their places in the front shop,
and relieved Sam Porter; when Jenkin said to Tunstall,
" Didst see, Frank, how the old goldsmith cottoned in with
his beggarly countryman? When would one of his wealth
have shaken hands so courteously with a poor Englishman ?
Well, I'll say that for the best of the Scots, that they will
go over head and ears to serve a countryman, when they
will not wet the nail of their finger to save a Southron, as
they call us, from drowning. And yet Master George is buj
half-bred Scot neither in that respect, for I have known him
do many a kind thing to the English too."

"But hark ye, Jenkin," said Tunstall, "I think you are
but half-bred English yourself. How came you to strike on
the Scotsman's side after all ? "

"Why, you did so, too," answered Vincent.

"Ay, because I saw you begin; and, besides, it is no
Cumberland fashion to fall fifty upon one," replied Tunstall.

"And no Christ Church fashion neither," said Jenkin.
" Fair play and Old England for ever ! Besides, to tell you
a secret, his voice had a twang in it — in the dialect I mean
— reminded me of a little tongue, which I think sweeter —
sweeter than the last tell of Saint Dunstan's will sound on
the day that I am shot of my indentures. Ha ! you guess
who I mean, Frank?"

"Not I, indeed," answered Tunstall. "Scotch Janet, I
suppose, the laundress."

" Off with Janet in her own bucking-basket ! — no, no, no \

30 The Fortunes of Nigel.

You blind buzzard, do you net know I mean pretty Mis-
tress Marget ? "

" Umph ! " answered Tunstall dryly.

A flash of anger, not unmingled with suspicion, shot from
Jenkin's keen black eyes.

" Umph ! — and what signifies umph ? I am not the first
'prentice has married his master's daughter, I think ? "

"They kept their own secret, I fancy," said Tunstall — "at
least till they were out of their time."

" I tell you what it is, Frank," answered Jenkin sharply,
" that may be the fashion of you gentlefolks, that are taught
from your biggin to carry two faces under the same hood,
but it shall never be mine."

"There are the stairs, then," said Tunstall coolly; "go
up and ask Mistress Marget of our master just now, and see
what sort of a face he will wear under his hood."

"No, I wonnot," answered Jenkin; "I am not such a
fool as that neither. But I will take my own time ; and all
the counts in Cumberland shall not cut my comb, and this
is that which you may depend upon."

Francis made no reply; and they resumed their usual
attention to the business of the shop, and their usual
solicitations to the passengers.*

CHAPTER HI.

Bobadil. I pray you, possess no gallant of your acquaintance wita
a knowledge of my lodging.
Master Matthew. Who, I, sir?— Lord, sir ! BEN JONSON.

THE next morning found Nigel Olifaunt, the young Lord
of Glenvarloch, seated, sad and solitary, in his little apart-
ment in the mansion of John Christie, the ship-chandler ;
* Note, p. 565. George Heriot.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 31

which that honest tradesman, in gratitude perhaps to the
profession from which he derived his chief support, appeared
to have constructed as nearly as possible upon the plan of
a ship's cabin.

It was situated near to Paul's Wharf, at the end of one
of those intricate and narrow lanes which, until that part
of the city was swept away by the great fire in 1666, con-
stituted an extraordinary labyrinth of small, dark, damp, and
unwholesome streets and alleys, in one corner or other of
which the f plague was then as surely found lurking, as in
the obscure corners of Constantinople in our own time.
But John Christie's house looked out upon the river, and
had the advantage, therefore, of free air, impregnated, how-
ever, with the odoriferous fumes of the articles in which the
ship-chandler dealt, with the odour of pitch, and the natural
scent of the ooze and sludge left by the reflux of the tide.

Upon the whole, except that his dwelling did not float
with the flood-tide, and become stranded with the ebb, the
young lord was nearly as comfortably accommodated as he
was while on board the little trading brig from the long town
of Kirkcaldy, in Fife, by which he had come a passenger
to London. He received, however, every attention which
could be paid him by his honest landlord, John Christie j
for Richard Moniplies had not thought it necessary to
preserve his master's incognito so completely, but that the
honest ship-chandler could form a guess that his guest's
quality was superior to his appearance. As for Dame Nelly,
his wife, a round, buxom, laughter-loving dame, with black
eyes, a tight well-laced bodice, a green apron, and a red
petticoat edged with a slight silver lace, and judiciously
shortened so as to show that a short heel and a tight clean
ankle rested upon a well-burnished shoe — she, of course,
felt interest in a young man, who, besides being very hand-
some, good-humoured, and easily satisfied with the accom-

32 The Fortunes of Nigel.

modations her house afforded, was evidently of a rank, as
well as manners, highly superior to the skippers (or captains,
as they called themselves) of merchant vessels, who were the
usual tenants of the apartments which she let to hire ; and
at whose departure she was sure to find her well-scrubbed
floor soiled with the relics of tobacco (which, spite of King
James's Counterblast, was then forcing itself into use), and
her best curtains impregnated with the odour of Geneva and
strong waters, to Dame Nelly's great indignation, for, as she
truly said, the smell of the shop and warehouse was bad
enough without these additions.

But all Master Olifaunt's habits were regular and cleanly,
and his address, though frank and simple, showed so much of
the courtier and gentleman as formed a strong contrast with
the loud halloo, coarse jests, and boisterous impatience of
her maritime inmates. Dame Nelly saw that her guest was
melancholy also, notwithstanding his efforts to seem con-
tented and cheerful; and, in short, she took that sort of
interest in him, without being herself aware of its extent,
which an unscrupulous gallant might have been tempted to
improve to the prejudice of honest John, who was at least
a score of years older than his helpmate. Olifaunt, however,
had not only other matters to think of, but would have
regarded such an intrigue, had the idea ever occurred to
him, as an abominable and ungrateful encroachment upon
the laws of hospitality, his religion having been by his late
&ther formed upon the strict principles of the national faith,
and his morality upon those of the nicest honour. He had
not escaped the predominant weakness of his country — an
overweening sense of the pride of birth, and a disposition to
value the worth and consequence of others according to the
number and the fame of their deceased ancestors ; but this
pride of family was well subdued, and in general almost
entirely concealed, by his good sense and general courtesy

The Fortunes of Nigel. 33

Such as we have described him, Nigel Olifaunt, or rather
the young Lord of Glenvarloch, was, when our narrative takes
him up, under great perplexity respecting the fate of his
trusty and only follower, Richard Moniplies, who had been
dispatched by his young master, early the preceding morning,
as far as the Court at Westminster, but had not yet returned.
His evening adventures the reader is already acquainted
with, and so far knows more of Richie than did his master,
who had not heard of him for twenty-four hours. Dame
Nelly Christie, in the meantime, regarded her guest with
some anxiety, and a great desire to comfort him if possible.
She placed on the breakfast-table a noble piece of cold
powdered beef, with its usual guards of turnip and carrot,
recommended her mustard as coming direct from her cousin
at Tewkesbury, and spiced the toast with her own hands,
and with her own hands, also, drew a jug of stout and nappy
ale — all of which were elements of the substantial breakfast
of the period.

When she saw that her guest's anxiety prevented him from
doing justice to the good cheer which she set before him,
she commenced her career of verbal consolation with the
usual volubility of those women in her station, who, conscious
of good looks, good intentions, and good lungs, entertain
no fear either of wearying themselves or of fatiguing their
auditors.

" Now, what the good year ! are we to send you down to
Scotland as thin as you came up? I am sure it would be
contrary to the course of nature. There was my goodman's
father, old Sandie Christie — I have heard he was an atomy
when he came up from the North ; and I am sure he died,
Saint Barnaby was ten years, at twenty stone weight. I was
a bareheaded girl at the time, and lived in the neighbour-
hood, though I had little thought of marrying John then,
who had a score of years the better of me — but he is a

34 The Fortunes of Nigel

thriving man and a kind husband — and his father, as I was
saying, died as fat as a churchwarden. Well, sir, but ]
hope I have not offended you for my little joke; and I
hope the ale is to your honour's liking— and the beef— and
the mustard ? "

"All excellent— all too good," answered Olifaunt. "You
have everything so clean and tidy, dame, that I shall not
know how to live when I go back to my own country— if
ever I go back there."

This was added as it seemed involuntarily, and with a
deep sigh.

"I warrant your honour go back again if you like it,"
said the dame ; " unless you think rather of taking a pretty,
well-dowered English lady, as some of your countryfolk
have done. I assure you, some of the best of the city
have married Scotsmen. There was Lady Trebleplumb, Sir
Thomas Trebleplumb the great Turkey merchant's widow,
married Sir Awley Macauley, whom your honour knows,
doubtless ; and pretty Mistress Doublefee, old Serjeant
Doublefee's daughter, jumped out of window, and was
married at May-fair to a Scotsman with a hard name; and
old Pitchpost the timber merchant's daughters did little
better, for they married two Irishmen. And when folks jeer
me about having a Scotsman for lodger, meaning your
honour, I tell them they are afraid of their daughters and
their mistresses; and sure I have a right to stand up for
the Scots, since John Christie is half a Scotsman, and a
thriving man, and a good husband, though there is a score
of years between us ; and so I would have your honour cast
care away, and mend your breakfast with a morsel and a
draught."

"At a word, my kind hostess, I cannot," said Olifaunt
" I am anxious about this knave of mine, who has been so
long absent in this dangerous town of yours."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 35

It may be noticed, in passing, that Dame Nelly's ordinary
mode of consolation was to disprove the existence of any
cause for distress ; and she is said to have carried this so far
as to comfort a neighbour, who had lost her husband, with
the assurance that the dear defunct would be better to-
morrow, which perhaps might not have proved an appro-
priate, even if it had been a possible, mode of relief. On this
occasion she denied stoutly that Richie had been absent
altogether twenty hours ; and as for people being killed in
the streets of London, to be sure two men had been found
in Tower-ditch last week, but that was far to the east, and
the other poor man that had his throat cut in the fields had
met his mishap near by Islington ; and he that was stabbed
by the young Templar in a drunken frolic, by Saint Clement's
in the Strand, was an Irishman. All which evidence she
produced to show that none of these casualties had occurred
in a case exactly parallel with that of Richie, a Scotsman,
and on his return from Westminster.

" My better comfort is, my good dame," answered Olifaunt,
"that the lad is no brawler or quarreller, unless strongly
urged, and that he has nothing valuable about him to any
one but me."

" Your honour speaks very well," retorted the inexhaustible
hostess, who protracted her task of taking away, and putting
to rights, in order that she might prolong her gossip. " I'll
uphold Master Moniplies to be neither reveller nor brawler ;
for if he liked such things, he might be visiting and junket-
ing with the young folks about here in the neighbourhood,
and he never dreams of it; and when I asked the young
man to go as far as my gossip's, Dame Drinkwater, to taste
a glass of aniseed, and a bit of the groaning cheese — for
Dame Drinkwater has had twins, as I told your honour,
sir — and I meant it quite civilly to the young man, but he
chose to sit and keep house with John Christie ; and I dare

36 The Fortunes of Nigel

say there is a score of years between them, for your honour's
servant looks scarce much older than I am. I wonder what
they could have to say to each other. I asked John Christie,
but he bid me go to sleep."

"If he comes not soon," said his master, "I will thank
you to tell me what magistrate I can address myself to ; for
besides my anxiety for the poor fellow's safety, he has papers
of importance about him."

" Oh ! your honour may be assured he will be back in a
quarter of an hour," said Dame Nelly ; "he is not the lad to
stay out twenty-four hours at a stretch. And for the papers,
I am sure your honour will pardon him for just giving me a
peep at the corner, as I was giving him a small cup, not so
large as my thimble, of distilled waters, to fortify his stomach
against the damps, and it was directed to the King's Most
Excellent Majesty ; and so doubtless his Majesty has kept
Richie out of civility to consider of your honour's letter, and
send back a fitting reply."

Dame Nelly here hit by chance on a more available topic
of consolation than those she had hitherto touched upon;
for the youthful lord had himself some vague hopes that his
messenger might have been delayed at Court until a fitting
and favourable answer should be dispatched back to him.
Inexperienced, however, in public affairs as he certainly was,
it required only a moment's consideration to convince him
of the improbability of an expectation so contrary to all he
had heard of etiquette, as well as the dilatory proceedings in
a Court suit, and he answered the good-natured hostess with
a sigh, that he doubted whether the King would even look
on the paper addressed to him, far less take it into his
immediate consideration.

" Now, out upon you for a faint-hearted gentleman ! " said
the good dame; "and why should he not do as much for
us as our gracious Queen Elizabeth ? Many people say this

The Fortunes of Nigel. 37

and that about a queen and a king, but I think a king comes
more natural to us English folks \ and this good gentleman
goes as often down by water to Greenwich, and employs as
many of the bargemen and watermen of all kinds ; and
maintains, in his royal grace, John Taylor the water-poet,
who keeps both a sculler and a pair of oars. And he has
made a comely Court at Whitehall, just by the river ; and
since the King is so good a friend to the Thames, I cannot
see, if it please your honour, why all his subjects, and your
honour in specialty, should not have satisfaction by his
hands."

" True, dame — true — let us hope for the best ; but I must
take my cloak and rapier, and pray your husband in courtesy
to teach me the way to a magistrate."

" Sure, sir," said the prompt dame, " I can do that as well
as he, who has been a slow man of his tongue all his life,
though I will give him his due for being a loving husband,
and a man as well to pass in the world as any betwixt us and
the top of the lane. And so there is the sitting alderman,
that is always at the Guildhall, which is close by Paul's, and
so I warrant you he puts all to rights in the city that wisdom
can mend ; and for the rest there is no help but patience.
But I wish I were as sure of forty pounds as I am that the
young man will come back safe and sound."

Olifaunt, in great and anxious doubt of what the good
dame so strongly averred, flung his cloak on one shoulder,
and was about to belt on his rapier, when first the voice of
Richie Moniplies on the stair, and then that faithful emis-
sary's appearance in the chamber, put the matter beyond
question. Dame Nelly, after congratulating Moniplies on
his return, and paying several compliments to her own
sagacity for having foretold it, was at length pleased to leave
the apartment. The truth was, that, besides some instinctive
feelings of good- breeding which combated her curiosity, she

38 The Fortunes of Nigel.

saw there was no chance of Richie's proceeding in his narra-
tive while she was in the room, and she therefore retreated,
trusting that her own address would get the secret out of
one or other of the young men, when she should have either
by himself.

"Now, in Heaven's name, what is the matter?" said Nigel
Olifaunt. " tvhere have you been, or what have you been
about? You look as pale as death. There is blood on
your hand, and your clothes are torn. What barns-breaking
have you been at? You have been drunk, Richard, and
fighting."

" Fighting I have been," said Richard, " in a small way ;
but for being drunk, that's a job ill to manage in this town
without money to come by liquor; and as for barns-break-
ing, the deil a thing's broken but my head. It's not made
of iron, I wot, nor my claithes of chenzie-mail ; so a club
smashed the tane, and a claught damaged the tither. Some
misleard rascals abused my country, but I think I cleared
the causey of them. However, the haill hive was ower
mony for me at last, and I got this eclipse on the crown;
and then I was carried, beyond my kenning, to a sma' booth
at the Temple Port, whare they sell the whirligigs and mony-
go-rounds that measure out time as a man wad measure a
tartan web ; and then they bled me, wold I nold I, and were
reasonably civil, especially an auld countryman of ours, of
whom more hereafter."

" And at what o'clock might this be ? " said Nigel.

" The twa iron carles yonder, at the kirk beside the Port,
were just banging out sax o' the clock."

" And why came you not home as soon as you recovered ?"
said Nigel.

•" In troth, my lord, every why has its wherefore^ and this
has a gude ane," answered his follower. " To come hame, I
behoved to ken whare hame was. Now, I had clean tint the

The Fortunes of Nigel. 39

name of the wynd, and the mair I asked, the mair the folk
leugh, and the further they sent me wrang ; sae I gave it up
till God should send daylight to help me; and as I saw
mysel' near a kirk at the lang run, I e'en crap in to take up
my night's quarters in the kirkyard."

"In the churchyard ? " said Nigel. " But I need not ask
what drove you to such a pinch."

" It wasna sae much the want o' siller, my Lord Nigel,"
said Richie, with an air of mysterious importance, " for I
was no sae absolute without means, of whilk mair anon ; but
I thought I wad never ware a saxpence sterling on ane of
their saucy chamberlains at a hostelry, sae lang as I could
sleep fresh and fine in a fair, dry, spring night. Mony a time
when I hae come hame ower late, and faund the West Port
steekit, and the waiter illy-willy, I have garr'd the sexton of
Saint Cuthbert's calf-ward serve me for my quarters. But
then there are dainty green grafifs in Saint Cuthbert's kirk-
yard, whare ane may sleep as if they were in a down-bed,
till they hear the laverock singing up in the air as high as
the Castle; whereas, and behold, these London kirkyards
are causeyed with through-stanes, panged hard and fast the-
gither ; and my cloak, being something threadbare, made but
a thin mattress, so I was fain to give up my bed before every
limb about me was crippled. Dead folks may sleep yonder
sound enow, but deil haet else."

" And what became of you next ? " said his master,

" I just took to a canny bulk-head, as they ca' them here —
that is, the boards on the tap of their bits of outshots of
stalls and booths — and there I sleepit as sound as if I was in
a castle. Not but I was disturbed with some of the night-
walking queans and swaggering billies ; but when they found
there was nothing to be got by me but a slash of my Andrew
Ferrara, they bid me good-night for a beggarly Scot, and I
was e'en weel pleased to be sae cheap rid of them. And in

4O The Fortunes of Nigel.

the morning, I cam daikering here ; but sad wark I had to
find the way, for I had been east as far as the place they ca'
Mile End, though it is mair like sax-mile-end."

" Well, Richie," answered Nigel, " I am glad all this has
ended so well — go get something to eat. I am sure you
need it."

" In troth do I, sir," replied Moniplies ; " but, with your
lordship's leave "

"Forget the lordship for the present, Richie, as I have
often told you before."

"Faith," replied Richie, "I could weel forget that your
honour was a lord, but then I behoved to forget that I am a
lord's man, and that's not so easy. But, however," he added,
assisting his description with the thumb and the two fore-
fingers of his right hand, thrust out after the fashion of a
bird's claw, while the little finger and the ring-finger were
closed upon the palm, " to the Court I went, and my friend
that promised me a sight of his Majesty's most gracious
presence, was as gude as his word, and carried me into the
back offices, where I got the best breakfast I have had
since we came here, and it did me gude for the rest of the
day; for as to what I have eaten in this accursed town,
it is aye sauced with the disquieting thought that it maun be
paid for. After a', there was but beef banes and fat brose ;
but king's cauff, your honour kens, is better than ither
folk's corn; at ony rate, it was a' in free awmous. — But
I see," he added, stopping short, "that your honour waxes
impatient."

" By no means, Richie," said the young nobleman, with
an air of resignation, for he well knew his domestic would
not mend his pace for goading ; " you have suffered enough
in the embassy to have a right to tell the story in your own
way. Only let me pray for the name of the friend who was
to introduce you into the King's presence. You were very

The Fortunes of Nigel. 41

mysterious on the subject, when you undertook, through his
means, to have the Supplication put into his Majesty's own
hands, since those sent heretofore, I have every reason to
think, went no farther than his secretary's."

"Weel, my lord," said Richie, "I did not tell you his
name and quality at first, because I thought you would be
affronted at the like of him having to do in your lordship's
affairs. But mony a man climbs up in Court by waur help.
It was just Laurie Linklater, one of the yeomen of the
kitchen, that was my father's apprentice lang syne."

" A yeoman of the kitchen — a scullion ! " exclaimed Lord
Nigel, pacing the room in displeasure.

"But consider, sir," said Richie composedly, "that a*
your great friends hung back, and shunned to own you, or
to advocate your petition; and then, though I am sure I
wish Laurie a higher office, for your lordship's sake and for
mine, and specially for his ain sake, being a friendly lad, yet
your lordship must consider that a scullion, if a yeoman of
the King's most royal kitchen may be called a scullion, may
weel rank with a master-cook elsewhere; being that king's
cauff, as I said before, is better than "

" You are right, and I was wrong," said the young noble-
man. " I have no choice of means of making my case
known, so that they be honest."

" Laurie is as honest a lad as ever lifted a ladle," said
Richie; " not but what I dare to say he can lick his fingers
like other folk, and reason good. But, in fine, for I see
your honour is waxing impatient, he brought me to the
palace, where a' was astir, for the King going out to hunt or
hawk on Blackheath, I think they ca'd it. And there was a
horse stood with all the quarries about it, a bonny grey as
ever was foaled ; and the saddle and the stirrups, and the
curb and bit, o' burning gowd, or silver gilded at least ; and
down, sir. came the Kinrr, with nil his nobles, dressed out in

42 The Fortunes of Nigel.

his hunting-suit of green, doubly laced, and laid down with
gowd. I minded the very face o' him, though it was lang
since I saw him. But my certie, lad, thought I, times are
changed since ye came fleeing down the backstairs of auld
Holyrood House, in grit fear, having your breeks in your
hand without time to put them on, and Frank Stewart, the
wild Earl of Bothwell, hard at your haunches ; and if auld
Lord Glenvarloch hadna cast his mantle about his arm, and
taken bluidy wounds mair than ane in your behalf, you wald
not have crawed sae crouse this day ; and so saying, I could
not but think your lordship's Sifflication could not be less
than most acceptable ; and so I banged in among the crowd
of lords. Laurie thought me mad, and held me by the
cloak-lap till the cloth rave in his hand ; and so I banged in
right before the King just as he mounted, and crammed the
Sifflication into his hand, and he opened it like in amaze ;
and just as he saw the first line, I was minded to make a
reverence, and I had the ill-luck to hit his jaud o' a beast
on the nose with my hat, and scaur the creature, and she
swarved aside, and the King, that sits na mickle better than
a draff-pock on the saddle, was like to have gotten a clean
coup, and that might have cost my craig a raxing — and he
flung down the paper amang the beast's feet, and cried,
Away wi' the fause loon that brought it ! And they grippit
me, and cried, Treason ; and I thought of the Ruthvens that
were dirked in their ain house, for, it may be, as small a for-
feit. However, they spak only of scourging me, and had me
away to the porter's lodge to try the tawse on my back, and
I was crying mercy as loud as I could \ and the King, when
he had righted himsel' on .the saddle, and gathered his
breath, cried to do me no harm ; for, said he, he is ane of
our ain Norland stots, I ken by the rowt of him — and they a'
laughed and rowted loud eneugh. And then he said, Gie
him a copy of the Proclamation, and let him go down to the

The Fortunes of Nigel 43

North by the next light collier, before waur come o't. So
they let me go, and rode out, a' sniggering, laughing, and
rounding in ilk ither's lugs. A sair life I had wi' Laurie
Linklater, for he said it wad be the ruin of him. And then,
when I told him it was in your matter, he said if he had
known before he would have risked a scauding for you,
because he minded the brave old Lord, your father. And
then he showed how I suld have done — and that I suld have
held up my hand to my brow, as if the grandeur of the King
and his horse-graith thegither had casten the glaiks in my
een, and mair jackanape tricks I suld hae played, instead of
offering the Sifflication, he said, as if I had been bringing
guts to a bear.* * For,' said he, * Richie, the King is a weel-
natured and just man of his ain kindly nature, but he has
a wheen maggots that maun be cannily guided; and then,
Richie,' says he, in a veiy laigh tone, ' I would tell it to
nane but a wise man like yoursel', but the King has them
about him wad corrupt an angel from heaven ; but I could
have gi'en you avisement how to have guided him, but now
it's like after meat mustard.' — ' Aweel, aweel, Laurie,' said I,
* it may be as you say ; but since I am clear of the tawse and
the porter's lodge, sifflicate wha like, deil hae Richie Moni-
plies if he come sifflicating here again. ' — And so away I
came, and I wasna far by the Temple Port, or Bar, or what-
ever they ca' it, when I met with the misadventure that I
tauld you of before."

* I am certain this prudential advice is not original on Mr. Link-
later's part, but I am not at present able to produce my authority.
I think it amounted to this, that James flung down a petition presented
by some supplicant who pfeid no compliments to his horse, and expressed
no admiration at the splendour of his furniture, saying, " Shall a king
cumber himself about the petition of a beggar, while the beggar disre-
gards the king's splendour ?" It is, I think, Sir John Harrington who
recommends, as a sure mode to the king's favour, to praise the paces of
the roval palfrey.

44 The Fortunes of Nigel.

" Well, my honest Richie," said Lord Nigel, " your
attempt was well meant, and not so ill-conducted, I think,
as to have deserved so bad an issue ; but go to your beef
and mustard, and we'll talk of the rest afterwards."

" There is nae mair to be spoken, sir," said his follower,
" except that I met ane very honest, fair-spoken, weel-put-on
gentleman, or rather burgher, as I think, that was in the
whigmaleery man's back-shop ; and when he learned wha I
was, behold he was a kindly Scot himsel', and, what is more,
a town's-bairn o' the gude town, and he behoved to compel
me to take this Portugal piece, to drink, forsooth — my certie,
thought I, we ken better, for we will eat it — and he spoke of
paying your lordship a visit."

" You did not tell him where I lived, you knave ? * said
the Lord Nigel angrily. " 'Sdeath ! I shall have every
clownish burgher from Edinburgh come to gaze on my dis-
tress, and pay a shilling for having seen the Motion * of the
Poor Noble ! "

"Tell, him where you lived?" said Richie, evading the
question. " How could I tell him what I kendna mysel' ?
If I had minded the name of the wynd, I need not have
slept in the kirkyard yestreen."

" See, then, that you give no one notice of our lodging,"
said the young nobleman ; " those with whom I have busi-
ness I can meet at Paul's, or in the Court of Requests."

" This is steeking the stable-door when the steed is stolen,"
thought Richie to himself; "but I must put him on another
pin."

So thinking, he asked the young lord what was in the
Proclamation which he still held folded in his hand; "for,
having little time to spell at it," said he, "your lordship well
knows I ken nought about it but the grand blazon at the
tap— the lion has gotten a claught of our auld Scottish
* Motion, puppet-show.

The Fortunes of Nigel 45

shield now ; but it was as weel upheld when it had a uni-
corn on ilk side of it."

Lord Nigel read the Proclamation, and he coloured deep
with shame .and indignation as he read ; for the purport was,
to his injured feelings, like the pouring of ardent spirits upon
a recent wound.

" What deil's in the paper, my lord ? " said Richie, unable
to suppress his curiosity as he observed his master change
colour. " I wadna ask such a thing, only the Proclamation
is not a private thing, but is meant for a' men's hearing."

" It is indeed meant for all men's hearing," replied Lord
Nigel, " and it proclaims the shame of our country and the
ingratitude of our Prince."

" Now the Lord preserve us ! and to publish it in London,
too ! " ejaculated Moniplies.

"Hark ye, Richard," said Nigel Olifaunt, "in this paper
the Lords of the Council set forth that, ' in consideration of
the resort of idle persons of low condition forth from his
Majesty's kingdom of Scotland to his English Court — filling
the same with their suits and supplications, and dishonour-
ing the royal presence with their base, poor, and beggarly
persons, to the disgrace of their country in the estimation of
the English ; these are to prohibit the skippers, masters of
vessels, and others, in every part of Scotland, from bringing
such miserable creatures up to Court, under pain of fine and
imprisonment.' "

" I marie the skipper took us on board," said Richie.

"Then you need not marvel how you are to get back
again," said Lord Nigel, "for here is a clause which says
that such idle suitors are to be transported back to Scotland
at his Majesty's expense, and punished for their audacity
with stripes, stocking, or incarceration, according to their
demerits — that is to say, I suppose, according to the de-
gree of their poverty, for I see no other demerit specified."

46 The Fort-lines of Nigel.

"This will scarcely," said Richie, "square with our old

proverb —

* A King's face
Should give grace ' —

But what says the paper further, my lord ? "

"Oh, only a small clause which especially concerns us,
making some still heavier denunciations against those suitors
who shall be so bold as to approach the Court, under pre-
text of seeking payment of old debts due to them by the
King, which, the paper states, is, of all species of impor-
tunity, that which is most odious to his Majesty." *

"The King has neighbours in that matter," said Richie;
" but it is not every one that can shift off that sort of cattle
so easily as he does."

Their conversation was here interrupted by a knocking
at the door. Olifaunt looked. out at the window, and saw
an elderly respectable person whom he knew not. Richie
also peeped, and recognized, but, recognizing, chose not to
acknowledge, his friend of the preceding evening. Afraid
that his share in the visit might be detected, he made his
escape out of the apartment under pretext of going to his
breakfast; and left their landlady the task of ushering
Master George into Lord Nigel's apartment, which she
performed with much courtesy.

* Note, p. 567- Proclamation against the Scots coming to England.

The Fortunes of Nigel 47

CHAPTER IV.

Ay, sir, the clouted shoe hath ofttimes craft in't,

As says the rustic proverb ; and your citizen,

In's grogram suit, gold chain, and well-black'd shoes,

Bears under his flat cap ofttimes a brain

Wiser than burns beneath the cap and feather,

Or seethes within the statesman's velvet nightcap.

Read me my Riddle.

THE young Scottish nobleman received the citizen with
distant politeness, expressing that sort of reserve by which
those of the higher ranks are sometimes willing to make a
plebeian sensible that he is an intruder. But Master George
seemed neither displeased nor disconcerted. He assumed
the chair which, in deference to his respectable appear-
ance, Lord Nigel offered to him, and said, after a moment's
pause, during which he had looked attentively at the young
man, with respect not unmingled with emotion, "You will
forgive me for this rudeness, my lord ; but I was endeavour-
ing to trace in your youthful countenance the features of my
good old lord, your excellent father."

There was a moment's pause ere young Glenvarloch re-
plied, still with a reserved manner, " I have been reckoned
like my father, sir, and am happy to see any one that re-
spects his memory. But the business which calls me to this
city is of a hasty as well as a private nature, and 3

"I understand the hint, my lord," said Master George,
" and would not be guilty of long detaining you from busi-
ness, or more agreeable conversation. My errand is almost
done when I have said that my name is George Heriot,
warmly befriended, and introduced into the employment of
the Royal Family of Scotland, more than twenty years since,
by your excellent father ; and that, learning from a follower
of yours that your lordship was in this city in prosecution of

48 The Fortunes of Nigel.

some business of importance, it is my duty — it is my pleas-
ure— to wait on the son of my respected patron ; and, as I
am somewhat known both at the Court and in the city, to
offer him such aid in the furthering of his affairs as my
credit and experience may be able to afford."

" I have no doubt of either, Master Heriot," said Lord
Nigel, "and I thank you heartily for the goodwill with
which you have placed them at a stranger's disposal; but
my business at Court is done and ended, and I intend to
leave London, and, indeed, the island, for foreign travel and
military service. I may add, that the suddenness of my
departure occasions my having little time at my disposal."

Master Heriot did not take the hint, but sat fast, with an
embarrassed countenance, however, like one who had some-
thing to say that he knew not exactly how to make effectual
At length he said, with a dubious smile, " You are fortunate,
my lord, in having so soon dispatched your business at Court.
Your talking landlady informs me that you have been but
a fortnight in this city. It is usually months and years ere
the Court and a suitor shake hands and part."

"My business," said Lord Nigel, with a brevity which
was intended to stop further discussion, "was summarily
dispatched."

Still Master Heriot remained seated, and there was a
cordial good-humour added to the reverence of his appear
ance, which rendered it impossible for Lord Nigel to be more
explicit in requesting his absence.

"Your lordship has not yet had time," said the citizen,
still attempting to sustain the conversation, "to visit the
places of amusement — the playhouses, and other places to
which youth resort. But I see in your lordship's hand one
of the new-invented plots of the piece,* which they hand
about of late. May I ask what play ? "

* Meaning, probably, olaybills.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 49

" Oh ! a well-known piece," said Lord Nigel, impatiently
throwing down the Proclamation, which he had hitherto
been twisting to and fro in his hand — "an excellent and
well-approved piece — A New Way to Pay Old Debts."

Master Heriot stooped down, saying, " Ah ! my old ac-
quaintance, Philip Massinger ; " but, having opened the
paper and seen the purport, he looked at Lord Nigel Oli-
faunt with surprise, saying, "I trust your lordship does not
think this prohibition can extend either to your- person or
your claims ? "

"I should scarce have thought so myself," said the young
nobleman; "but so it proves. His Majesty, to close this
discourse at once, has been pleased to send me this Proc-
lamation, in answer to a respectful Supplication for the
repayment of large loans advanced by my father for t»he
service of the state, in the King's utmost emergencies."

" It is impossible ! " said the citizen — " it is absolutely im-
possible ! If the King could forget what was due to your
father's memory, still he would not have wished — would not,
I may say, have dared — to be so flagrantly unjust to the
memory of such a man as your father, who, dead in the
body, will long live in the memory of the Scottish people."

"I should have been of your opinion," answered Lord
Nigel, in the same tone as before; "but there is no fight-
ing with facts."

" What was the tenor of this Supplication ? " said Heriot ;
"or by whom was it presented? Something strange there
must have been in the contents, or *

"You may see my original draught," said the young lord,
taking it out of a small travelling strong-box ; "the technical
part is by my lawyer in Scotland, a skilful and sensible man ;
the rest is my own, drawn, I hope, with due deference and
modesty."

Master Heriot hastily cast his eye over the draught.

50 The Fortunes of Nigel.

"Nothing," he said, "can be more well-tempered and re-
spectful. Is it possible the King can have treated this peti-
tion with contempt ? "

"He threw it down on the pavement," said the Lord of
Glenvarloch, " and sent me for answer that Proclamation, in
which he classes me with the paupers and mendicants from
Scotland, who disgrace his court in the eyes of the proud
English — that is all. Had not my father stood by him with
heart, sword, and fortune, he might never have seen the
Court of England himself."

" But by whom was this Supplication presented, my lord ? "
said Heriot ; " for the distaste taken at the messenger will
sometimes extend itself to the message."

"By my servant," said the Lord Nigel — "by the man you
saw, and, I think, were kind to."

" By your servant, my lord ? " said the citizen. " He seems
a shrewd fellow, and doubtless a faithful, but surely "

"You would say," said Lord Nigel, "he is no fit messen-
ger to a King's presence? Surely he is not, but what could
I do? Every attempt I had made to lay my case before
the King had miscarried, and my petitions got no farther
than the budgets of clerks and secretaries. This fellow pre-
tended he had a friend in the household that would bring
him to the King's presence, and so "

" I understand," said Heriot. " But, my lord, why should
you not, in right of your rank and birth, have appeared
at Court, and required an audience, which could not have
been denied to you ? "

The young lord blushed a little, and looked at his dress,
which was very plain, and, though in perfect good order, had
the appearance of having seen service.

" I know not why I should be ashamed of speaking the
truth," he said, after a momentary hesitation — "I had no
dress suitable for appearing at court. I am determined to

The Fortunes of Nigel 51

incur no expenses which I cannot discharge; and I think
you, sir, would not advise me to stand at the palace-door,
in person, and deliver my petition, along with those who are
in very deed pleading their necessity, and begging an alms."

"That had been, indeed, unseemly," said the citizen;
" but yet, my lord, my mind runs strangely that there must
be some mistake. Can I speak with your domestic ? "

" I see little good it can do," answered the young lord ;
" but the interest you take in my misfortunes seems sincere,

and therefore " He stamped on the floor, and in a

few seconds afterwards Moniplies appeared, wiping from his
beard and moustaches the crumbs of bread, and the froth of
the ale-pot, which plainly showed how he had been employed.

"Will your lordship grant permission," said Heriot, "that
I ask your groom a few questions ? "

"His lordship's page, Master George," answered Moni-
plies, with a nod of acknowledgment, " if you are minded to
speak according to the letter,"

"Hold your saucy tongue," said his master, "and reply
distinctly to the questions you are to be asked."

"And truly \ if it like your pageship," said the citizen;
" for you may remember I have a gift to discover falset."

" Weel, weel, weel," replied the domestic, somewhat em-
barrassed, in spite of his effrontery, " though I think that the
sort of truth that serves my master may weel serve ony ane
else."

" Pages lie to their masters by right of custom," said the
citizen ; " and you write yourself in that band, though I
think you be among the oldest of such springalds. But to
me you must speak truth, if you would not have it end in
the whipping-post."

" And that's e'en a bad resting-place," said the well-grown
page; "so come away with your questions, Master George."

" Well, then," demanded the citizen, " I am given to under-

52 The Fortunes of Nigel.

stand that you yesterday presented to his Majesty's hand
a supplication, or petition, from this honourable lord, your
master."

"Troth, there's nae gainsaying that, sir," replied Moni-
plies ; " there were enow to see it besides me."

"And you pretend that his Majesty flung it from him
with contempt ? " said the citizen. " Take heed, for I have
means of knowing the truth ; and you were better up to the
neck in the Nor' Loch, which you like so well, than tell a
leasing where his Majesty's name is concerned."

" There is nae occasion for leasing-making about the
matter," answered Moniplies firmly ; "his Majesty e'en
flung it frae him as if it had dirtied his fingers."

"You hear, sir," said Olifaunt, addressing Heriot.

" Hush ! " said the sagacious citizen ; " this fellow is not
ill named — he has more plies than one in his cloak. Stay,
fellow," for Moniplies, muttering somewhat about finishing
his breakfast, was beginning to shamble towards the door,
"answer me this further question — When you gave your
master's petition to his Majesty, gave you nothing with
it?"

" Ou, what should I give wi' it, ye ken, Master George ? "

"That is what I desire and insist to know," replied his
interrogator.

"Weel, then — I am not free to say that maybe I might
not just slip into the King's hand a wee bit sifflication of
mine ain, along with my lord's — just to save his Majesty
trouble — and that he might consider them baith at ance."

" A supplication of your own, you varlet ! " said his master.

"Ou dear, ay, my lord," said Richie; "puir bodies hae
their bits of sifflications as weel as their betters."

" And pray, what might your worshipful petition import ? "
said Master Heriot. — "Nay, for Heaven's sake, my lord,
keep your patience, or we shall never learn the truth, of this

The Fortunes of Nigel. 53

strange matter. — Speak out, sirrah, and I will stand your
friend with my lord."

"It's a lang story to tell, but the upshot is, that it's a
scrape of an auld accompt due to my father's yestate by her
Majesty the King's maist gracious mother, when she lived
in the Castle, and had sundry providings and furnishings
forth of our booth, whilk nae doubt was an honour to my
father to supply, and whilk, doubtless, it will be a credit to
his Majesty to satisfy3 as it will be grit convenience to me
to receive the saam."

" What string of impertinence is this ? " said his master.

"Every word as true as e'er John Knox spoke," said
Richie ; "here's the bit double of the sifflication."

Master George took a crumpled paper from the fellow's
hand, and said, muttering betwixt his teeth — "'Humbly
showeth — um — um — his Majesty's maist gracious mother —
— um — um — justly addebted and owing the sum of fifteen

merks — the compt whereof followeth Twelve nowte's

feet for jellies — ane lamb, being Christmas — ane roasted
capin in grease for the privy chalmer, when my Lord of
Bothwell suppit with her Grace.' — I think, my lord, you can
hardly be surprised that the King gave this petition a brisk
reception. — And I conclude, Master Page, that you took care
to present your own supplication before your master's ? "

"Troth did I not," answered Moniplies; "I thought to
have given my lord's first, as was reason gude ; and besides
that, it wad have redd the gate for my ain little bill. But
what wi' the dirdum an' confusion, an' the loupin' here and
there of the skeigh brute of a horse, I believe I crammed
them baith into his hand cheek-by-jowl, and maybe my ain
was bunemost; and say there was aught wrang, I am sure
I had a' the fright and a' the risk

" And shall have all the beating, you rascal knave," said
Nigel. "Am I to be insulted and dishonoured by your

54 The Fortunes of Nigel.

pragmatical insolence, in blending your base concerns with
mine?"

" Nay, nay, nay, my lord," said the good-humoured citizen,
interposing. " I have been the means of bringing the fellow's
blunder to light ; allow me interest enough with your lord-
ship to be bail for his bones. You have cause to be angry.
But still I think the knave mistook more out of conceit than
of purpose ; and I judge you will have the better service of
him another time, if you overlook this fault. — Get you gone,
sirrah ; I'll make your peace.''

" Na, na," said Moniplies, keeping his ground firmly, " if
he likes to strike a lad that has followed him for pure love —
for I think there has been little servant's fee between us, a'
the way frae Scotland — just let my lord be doing, and see
the credit he will get by it ; and I would rather (mony thanks
to you though, Master George) stand by a lick of his baton,
than it suld e'er be said a stranger came between us."

"Go, then," said his master, "and get out of my sight."

" Aweel I wot that is sune done," said Moniplies, retiring
slowly. " I did not come without I had been ca'd for, and
I wad have been away half an hour since with my gude will,
only Master George keepit me to answer his interrogation,
forsooth, and that has made a' this stir."

And so he made his grumbling exit, with the tone much
rather of one who has sustained an injury than who has done
wrong.

There never was a man so plagued as I am with a mala-
pert knave ! The fellow is shrewd, and I have found him
faithful. I believe he loves me, too, and he has given proofs
of it ; but then he is so uplifted in his own conceit, so self-
willed, and so self-opinioned, that he seems to become the
master and I the man, and whatever blunder he commits,
he is sure to make as loud complaints as if the whole error
lay with me, and in no degree with himself."

The Fortunes of Nigel 55

" Cherish him, and maintain him, nevertheless," said the
citizen ; " for believe my grey hairs that affection and fidelity
are now rarer qualities in a servitor than when the world was
younger. Yet, trust him, my good lord, with no commission
above his birth or breeding, for you see yourself how it may
chance to fall."

"It is but too evident, Master Heriot," said the young
nobleman; "and I am sorry I have done injustice to my
sovereign, and your master. But I am, like a true Scots-
man, wise behindhand. The mistake has happened ; my
Supplication has been refused ; and my only resource is to
employ the rest of my means to carry Moniplies and myself
to some counterscarp, and die in the battle-front like my
ancestors."

" It were better to live and serve your country like your
noble father, my lord," replied Master George. " Nay, nay,
never look down or shake your head. The King has not
refused your Supplication, for he has not seen it. You ask
but justice, and that his place obliges him to give to his sub-
jects— ay, my lord, and I will say that his natural temper
doth in this hold bias with his duty."

" I were well pleased to think se, and yet " said Nigel

Olifaunt — " I speak not of my own wrongs, but my country
hath many that are unredressed."

"My lord," said Master Heriot, "I speak of my royal
master, not only with the respect due from a subject, the
gratitude to be paid by a favoured servant, but also with
the frankness of a free and loyal Scotsman. The King is
himself well disposed to hold the scales of justice even:
but there are those around him who can throw without de*
tection their own selfish wishes and base interests into the
scale. You are already a sufferer by this, and without your
knowing it."

"I am surprised. Master Heriot," said the young lord,

56 The Fortunes of Nigel.

" to hear you, upon so short an acquaintance, talk as if you
were familiarly acquainted with my affairs."

"My lord," replied the goldsmith, "the nature of my
employment affords me direct access to the interior of the
palace. I am well known to be no meddler in intrigues or
party affairs, so that no favourite has as yet endeavoured to
shut against me the door of the royal closet; on the con-
trary, I have stood well with each while he was in power,
and I have not shared the fall of any. But I cannot be thus
connected with the Court without hearing, even against my
will, what wheels are in motion, and how they are checked
or forwarded. Of course, when I choose to seek such in-
telligence, I know the sources in which it is to be traced.
I have told you why I was interested in your lordship's for-
tunes. It was last night only that I knew you were in this
city, yet I have been able, in coming hither this morning, to
gain for you some information respecting the impediments
to your suit."

" Sir, I am obliged by your zeal, however little it may be
merited," answered Nigel, still with some reserve; "yet I
hardly know how I have deserved this interest."

" First, let me satisfy you that it is real," said the citizen.
" I blame you not for being unwilling to credit the fair pro-
fessions of a stranger in my inferior class of society, when
you have met so little friendship from relations, and those of
your own rank, bound to have assisted you by so many ties.
But mark the cause. There is a mortgage over your father's
extensive estate, to the amount of 40,000 merks, due ostensibly
to Peregrine Peterson, the Conservator of Scottish Privileges
at Campvere."

" I know nothing of a mortgage," said the young lord,
" but there is a wadset for such a sum, which, if unredeemed,
will occasion the forfeiture of my whole paternal estate for
a sum not above a fourth of its value ; and it is for that very

The Fortunes of Nigel. 57

reason that I press the King's government for a settlement
of the debts due to my father, that I may be able to redeem
my land from this rapacious creditor."

"A wadset in Scotland/' said Heriot, "is the same with
a mortgage on this side of the Tweed; but you are not
acquainted with your real creditor. The Conservator Peter-
son only lends his name to shroud no less a man than the
Lord Chancellor of Scotland, who hopes, under cover of
this debt, to gain possession of the estate himself, or per-
haps to gratify a yet more powerful third party. He will
probably suffer his creature Peterson to take possession ; and
when the odium of the transaction shall be forgotten, the
property and lordship of Glenvarloch will be conveyed to
the great man by his obsequious instrument, under cover of
a sale, or some similar device."

"Can this be possible?" said Lord Nigel. "The Chan-
cellor wept when I took leave of him — called me his cousin,
even his son — furnished me with letters, and, though I
asked him for no pecuniary assistance, excused himself un-
necessarily for not pressing it on me, alleging the expenses
of his rank and his large family. No, I cannot believe a
nobleman would carry deceit so far."

" I am not, it is true, of noble blood," said the citizen ;
"but once more I bid you look on my grey hairs, and
think what can be my interest in dishonouring them with
falsehood in affairs in which I have no interest, save as
they regard the son of my benefactor. Reflect also, have
you had any advantage from the Lord Chancellor's let-
ters?"

"None," said Nigel Olifaunt, "except cold deeds and fair
words. I have thought for some time their only object was
to get rid of me — one yesterday pressed money on me when
I talked of going abroad, in order that I might not want the
means of exiling myself."

58 The Fortunes of Nigel.

"Right," said Heriot; "rather than you fled not, they
would themselves furnish wings for you to fly withal."

"I will to him this instant," said the incensed youth, "and
tell him my mind of his baseness."

"Under your favour," said Heriot, detaining him, "you
shall not do so. By a quarrel you would become the ruin
of me your informer ; and though I would venture half my
shop to do your lordship a service, I think you would hardly
wish me to come by damage, when it can be of no service
to you."

The word shop sounded harshly in the ears of the young
nobleman, who replied hastily, "Damage, sir? — so far am I
from wishing you to incur damage, that I would to Heaven
you would cease your fruitless offers of serving one whom
there is no chance of ultimately assisting ! "

"Leave me alone for that," said the citizen; "you have
now erred as far on the bow-hand. Permit me to take this
Supplication. I will have it suitably engrossed, and take my
own time (and it shall be an early one) for placing it, with
more prudence, I trust, than that used by your follower, in
the King's hand. I will almost answer for his taking up the
matter as you would have him ; but should he fail to do so,
even then I will not give up the good cause."

"Sir," said the young nobleman, "your speech is so
friendly, and my own state so helpless, that I know not how
to refuse your kind proffer, even while I blush to accept it
at the hands of a stranger."

"We are, I trust, no longer such,77 said the goldsmith;
" and for my guerdon, when my mediation proves successful,
and your fortunes are re-established, you shall order your
first cupboard of plate from George Heriot."

" You would have a bad paymaster, Master Heriot," said
Lord Nigel.

" I do not fear that," replied the goldsmith ; " and I am

The Fortunes of Nigel. 59

glad to see you smile, my lord — methinks it makes you look
still more like the good old lord your father; and it em-
boldens me, besides, to bring out a small request — that you
would take a homely dinner with me to-morrow, I lodge
hard by, in Lombard Street. For the cheer, my lord, a mess
of white broth, a fat capon well larded, a dish of beef collops
for auld Scotland's sake, and it may be a cup of right old
wine, that was barrelled before Scotland and England were
one nation. Then for company, one or two of our own
loving countrymen — and maybe my housewife may find out
a bonny Scots lass or so."

" I would accept your courtesy, Master Heriot," said Nigel,
"but I hear the city ladies of London like to see a man
gallant. I would not like to let down a Scottish nobleman
in their ideas, as doubtless you have said the best of our
poor country, and I rather lack the means of bravery for the
present."

" My lord, your frankness leads me a step further," said
Master George. " I — I owed your father some moneys ;
and — nay, if your lordship looks at me so fixedly, I shall
never tell my story — and, to speak plainly, for I never could
carry a lie well through in my life, it is most fitting that, to
solicit this matter properly, your lordship should go to Court
in a manner beseeming your quality. I am a goldsmith, and
live by lending money as well as by selling plate. I am
ambitious to put a hundred pounds to be at interest in your
hands, till your affairs are settled."

"And if they are never favourably settled?" said Nigel.

"Then, my lord," returned the citizen, "the miscarriage
of such a sum will be of littld consequence to me, compared
with other subjects of regret."

"Master Heriot,''' said the Lord Nigel, "your favour is
generously offered, and shall be frankly accepted. I must
presume that you see your way through this business, though

6o The Fortunes of Nigel

I hardly do ; for I think you would be grieved to add any
fresh burden to me, by persuading me to incur debts which
I am not likely to discharge. I will therefore take your
money, under the hope and trust that you will enable me
to repay you punctually."

"I will convince you, my lord," said the goldsmith, "that
I mean to deal with you as a debtor from whom I expect
payment; and therefore you shall, with your own good
pleasure, sign an acknowledgment for these moneys, and
an obligation to content and repay me."

He then took from his girdle his writing materials, and,
writing a few lines to the purport he expressed, pulled out
a small bag of gold from a side-pouch under his cloak, and,
observing that it should contain a hundred pounds, pro-
ceeded to tell out the contents very methodically upon the
table. Nigel Olifaunt could not help intimating that this
was an unnecessary ceremonial, and that he would take the
bag of gold on the word of his obliging creditor ; but this
was repugnant to the old man's forms of transacting busi-
ness.

" Bear with me," he said, " my good lord. We citizens are
a wary and thrifty generation; and I -should lose my good
name for ever within the toll of Paul's were I to grant
quittance, or take acknowledgment, without bringing the
money to actual tale. I think it be right now — and, body
of me," he said, looking out at the window, " yonder come
my boys with my mule, for I must westward ho. Put
your moneys aside, my lord ; it is not well to be seen with
such goldfinches chirping about one in the lodgings of
London. I think the lock of your casket be indifferent
good ; if not, I can serve you at an easy rate with one that
has held thousands. It was the good old Sir Faithful
Frugal's. His spendthrift son sold the shell when he had
eaten the kernel — and there is the end of a city fortune."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 61

" I hope yours will make a better termination, Master
Heriot," said the Lord Nigel.

" I hope it will, my lord," said the old man, with a smile ;
"but," to use honest John Bunyan's phrase, "therewithal
the water stood in his eyes " — " it has pleased God to try me
with the loss of two children; and for one adopted child
who lives — ah ! woe is me ! and well-a-day ! But I am
patient and thankful ; and for the wealth God has sent me,
it shall not want inheritors while there are orphan lads in
Auld Reekie. I wish you good-morrow, my lord."

" One orphan has cause to thank you already," said Nigel,
as he attended him to the door of his chamber, where, re-
sisting further escort, the old citizen made his escape.

As, in going downstairs, he passed the shop where Dame
Christie stood becking,1* he made civil inquiries after her
husband. The dame of course regretted his absence, but
he was down, she said, at Deptford, to settle with a Dutch
shipmaster. "Our way of business, sir," she said, "takes
him much from home, and my husband must be the slave
of every tarry jacket that wants but a pound of oakum."

"All business must be minded, dame," said the goldsmith.
"Make my remembrances — George Heriot of Lombard
Street's remembrances — to your goodman. I have dealt
with him : he is just and punctual — true to time and en-
gagements. Be kind to your noble guest, and see he wants
nothing. Though it be his pleasure at present to lie private
and retired, there be those that care for him, and I have a
charge to see him supplied ; so that you may let me know
by your husband, my good dame, how my lord is, and
whether he wants aught."

" And so he is a real lord after all ? " said the good dame.
" I am sure I always thought he looked like one. But why
does he not go to Parliament, then ? "
* Curtsying.

62 The Fortunes of Nigel.

" He will, dame," answered Heriot— "to the Parliament of
Scotland, which is his own country."

" Oh ! he is but a Scots lord, then/' said the good dame ;
" and that's the thing makes him ashamed to take the title,
as they say."

"Let him not hear you say so, dame," replied the citizen.

" Who ? I, sir ? " answered she. " No such matter in my
thought, sir. Scot or English, he is at any rate a likely man,
and a civil man ; and rather than he should want anything,
I would wait upon him myself, and come as far as Lombard
Street to wait upon your worship too."

"Let your husband come to me, good dame," said the
goldsmith, who, with all his experience and worth, was some-
what of a formalist and disciplinarian. " The proverb says,
' House goes mad when women gad ; J and let his lordship's
own man wait upon his master in his chamber — it is more
seemly. God give ye good morrow."

" Good morrow to your worship," said the dame, somewhat
coldly ; and, so soon as the adviser was out of hearing, was
ungracious enough to mutter, in contempt of his. counsel,
" Marry, quep of your advice, for an old Scotch tinsmith, as
you are ! My husband is as wise, and very near as old, as
yourself; and if I please him, it is well enough. And though
he is not just so rich just now as some folks, yet I hope to
see him ride upon his movie, with a footcloth, and have his
two blue-coats after him, as well as they do."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 63

CHAPTER V.

Wherefore come ye not to Court ?
Certain 'tis the rarest sport ;
There are silks and jewels glistening,
Prattling fools and wise men listening,
Bullies among brave men justling,
Beggars amongst nobles bustling ;
Low-breath'd talkers, minion lispers,
Cutting honest throats by whispers.
Wherefore come ye not to Court ?
Skelton swears 'tis glorious sport.

Skelton Skeltonizeth.

IT was not entirely out of parade that the benevolent citizen
was mounted and attended in that manner, which, as the
reader has been informed, excited a gentle degree of spleen
on the part of Dame Christie, which, to do her justice, van-
ished in the little soliloquy which we have recorded. The
good man,, besides the natural desire to maintain the exterior
of a man of worship, was at present bound to Whitehall, in
order to exhibit a piece of valuable workmanship to King
James, which he deemed his Majesty might be pleased to
view, or even to purchase. He himself was therefore mounted
upon his caparisoned mule, that he might the better make
his way through the narrow, dirty, and crowded streets, and
while one of his attendants carried under his arm the piece
of plate, wrapped up in red baize, the other two gave an eye
to its safety ; for such was the state of the police of the me-
tropolis, that men were often assaulted in the public street
for the sake of revenge or of plunder, and those who appre-
hended being beset usually endeavoured, if their estate ad-
mitted such expense, to secure themselves by the attendance
of armed followers. And this custom, which was at first
limited to the nobility and gentry, extended by degrees to
those citizens of consideration, who. being understood to

64 The Fortunes of Nigel

travel with a charge, as it was called, might otherwise have
been selected as safe subjects of plunder by the street-robber.

As Master George Heriot paced forth westward with this
gallant attendance, he paused at the shop-door of his country-
man and friend, the ancient horologer, and having caused
Tunstall, who was in attendance, to adjust his watch by the
real time, he desired to speak with his master ; in consequence
of which summons, the old time-meter came forth from his
den, his face like a bronze bust, darkened with dust, and
glistening here and there with copper filings, and his senses
so bemused in the intensity of calculation, that he gazed
on his friend the goldsmith for a. minute before he seemed
perfectly to comprehend who he was, and heard him ex-
press his invitation to David Ramsay, and pretty Mistress
Margaret, his daughter, to dine with him next day at noon,
to meet with a noble young countryman, without returning
any answer.

" I'll make thee speak, with a murrain to thee," muttered
Heriot to himself; and suddenly changing his tone, he said
aloud, " I pray you, neighbour David, when are you and I
to have a settlement for the bullion wherewith I supplied you
to mount yonder hall-clock at Theobald's, and that other
whirligig that you made for the Duke of Buckingham? T
have had the Spanish house to satisfy for the ingots, and I
must needs put you in mind that you have been eight months
behindhand."

There is something so sharp and aigre in the demand of
a peremptory dun, that no human tympanum, however in-
accessible to other tones, can resist the application. David
Ramsay started at once from his reverie, and answered in a
pettish tone, " Wow, George, man, what needs aw this din
about sax score o' pounds ? Aw the world kens I can answer
aw claims on me, and you proffered yourself fair time, till his
maist gracious Majesty and the noble Duke suld make settled

The Fortunes of Nigel 65

accompts wi' me ; and ye may ken, by your ain experience,
that I canna gang rowting like an unmannered Highland stot
to their doors, as ye come to mine."

Heriot laughed, and replied, "Well, David, I see a de-
mand of money is like a bucket of water about your ears, and
makes you a man of the world at once. And now, friend,
will you tell me, like a Christian man, if you will dine with
me to-morrow at noon, and bring pretty Mistress Margaret,
my goddaughter, with you, to meet with our noble young
countryman, the Lord of Glenvarloch 7"

" The young Lord of Glenvarloch ! p said the old mechan-
ist. " Wi' aw my heart, and blithe I will be to see him again.
We have not met these forty years — he was twa years before
me at the humanity classes — he is a sweet youth."

"That was his father — his father — his father! — you old
dotard Dot-and-carry-one that you are," answered the gold-
smith. " A sweet youth he would have been by this time, had
he lived, worthy nobleman 1 This is his son, the Lord Nigel."

"His son!" said Ramsay. "Maybe he will want some-
thing of a chronometer, or watch — few gallants care to be
without them nowadays."

" He may buy half your stock-in-trade, if ever he comes
to his own, for what I know," said his friend. "But, Davie,
remember your bond, and use me not as you did when my
housewife had the sheep's-head and the cock-a-leeky boiling
for you as late as two of the clock afternoon."

"She had the more credit by her cookery," answered
David, now fully awake ; " a sheep's-head, over-boiled, were
poison, according to our saying."

" Well," answered Master George, "but as there will be no
sheep's-head to-morrow, it may chance you to spoil a dinner
which a proverb cannot mend. It may be you may forgather
with your friend Sir Mungo Malagrowther, for I purpose to
ask his worship ; so, be sure and bide tryste, Davie."

66 The Fortunes of Nigel

"That will I; I will be true as a chronometer," said
Ramsay.

" I will not trust you, though," replied Heriot.— " Hear
you, Jenkin boy, tell Scots Janet to tell pretty Mistress Mar-
garet, my godchild, she must put her father in remembrance
to put on his best doublet to-morrow, and to bring him to
Lombard Street at noon. Tell her they are to meet a brave
young Scots lord."

Jenkin coughed that sort of dry short cough uttered by
those who are either charged with errands which they do not
like, or hear opinions to which they must not enter a dissent.

" Umph ! " repeated Master George, who, as we have al-
ready noticed, was something of a martinet in domestic dis-
cipline, " what does umph mean ? Will you do mine errand
or not, sirrah ? "

" Sure, Master George Heriot," said the apprentice, touch-
ing his cap ; " I only meant that Mistress Margaret was not
likely to forget such an invitation."

" Why, no," said Master George ; " she is a dutiful girl to
her godfather, though I sometimes call her a jill-flirt. And,
hark ye, Jenkin, you and your comrade had best come with
your clubs, to see your master and her safely home ; but first
shut 'shop, and loose the bull-dog, and let the porter stay in
! • the fore-shop till your return. I will send two of my knaves
with you, for I hear these wild youngsters of the Temple are
broken out worse and lighter than ever."

"We can keep their steel in order with good handbats,"
said Jenkin ; " and never trouble your servants for the matter."

" Or, if need be," said Tunstall, "we have swords as well
as the Templars."

" Fie upon it— fie upon it, young man/1 said the citizen ;
"an apprentice with a sword! Marry, Heaven forfend! I
would as soon see him in a hat and feather."

" Well, sir," said Jenkin, " we will find arms fitting to our

The Fortunes of Nigel. 67

station, and will defend our master and his daughter, if we
should tear up the very stones of the -pavement."

"There spoke a London 'prentice bold," said the citizen;
"and, for your comfort, my lads, you shall crush a cup of
wine to the health of the Fathers of the City. I have my
eye on both of you ; you are thriving lads, each in his own
way. — God be wi' you, Davie. Forget not to-morrow, at
noon." And, so saying, he again turned his mule's head
westward, and crossed Temple Bar at that slow and decent
amble, which at once became his rank and civic importance,
and put his pedestrian followers to no inconvenience to keep
up with him.

At the Temple gate he again paused, dismounted, and
sought his way into one of the small booths occupied by
scriveners in the neighbourhood. A young man, with lank
smooth hair combed straight to his ears, and then cropped
short, rose, with a cringing reverence, pulled off a slouched
hat, which he would upon no signal replace on his head,
and answered, with much demonstration of reverence, to the
goldsmith's question of, "How goes business, Andrew?" —
"Aw the better for your worship's kind countenance and
maintenance."

" Get a large sheet of paper, man, and make a new pen,
with a sharp neb and fine hair-stroke. Do not slit the quill
up too high, it's a wastrife course in your trade, Andrew — they
that do not mind corn-pickles never come to forpits. I have
known a learned man write a thousand pages with one quill." *

* A Biblical commentary by Gill, which, if the writer's memory serves
him, occupies between five and six hundred printed quarto pages, and
must therefore have filled more pages of manuscript than the number
mentioned in the text, has this quatrain at the end of the volume —

" With one good pen I wrote this book,

Made of a. grey goose quill ;
A pen it was when it I took,
And a. pen I leave it still."

68 The Fortunes of Nigel

"Ah! sir," said the lad, who listened to the goldsmith,
though instructing him in his own trade, with an air of ven-
eration and acquiescence, " how sune ony puir creature like
mysel' may rise in the world, wi' the instruction of such a
man as your worship ! "

" My instructions are few, Andrew, soon told, and not hard
to practise. Be honest — be industrious — be frugal — and you
will soon win wealth and worship. Here, copy me this Sup-
plication in your best and most formal hand. I will wait by
you till it is done."

The youth lifted not his eye from the paper, and laid not
the pen from his hand, until the task was finished to his
employer's satisfaction. The citizen then gave the young
scrivener an angel ; and bidding him, on his life, be secret
in all business entrusted to him, again mounted his mule,
and rode on westward along the Strand.

It may be worth while to remind our readers that the
Temple Bar which Heriot passed was not the arched screen
or gateway of the present day, but an open railing, or pali-
sade, which, at night, and in times of alarm, was closed with
a barricade of posts and chains. The Strand also, along
which he rode, was not, as now, a continued street, although it
was beginning already to assume that character. It still might
be considered as an open road, along the south side of which
stood various houses and hotels belonging to the nobility,
having gardens behind them down to the water-side, with
stairs to the river for the convenience of taking boat ; which
mansions have bequeathed the names of their lordly owners
to many of the streets leading from the Strand to the Thames.
The north side of the Strand was also a long line of houses,
behind which, as in Saint Martin's Lane and other points,
buildings were rapidly rising ; but Covent Garden was still
a garden, in the literal sense of the word, or at least but
beginning to be studded with irregular buildings. All that

The Fortunes of Nigel. 69

was passing around, however, marked the rapid increase of
a capital which had long enjoyed peace, wealth, and a regular
government. Houses were rising in every direction, and the
shrewd eye of our citizen already saw the period not distant
which should convert the nearly open highway on which he
travelled into a connected and regular street, uniting the
court and the town with the city of London.

He next passed Charing Cross, which was no longer the
pleasant solitary village at which the judges were wont to
breakfast on their way to Westminster Hall, but began to
resemble the artery through which, to use Johnson's expres-
sion, " pours the full tide of London population." The build-
ings were rapidly increasing, yet scarcely gave even a faint
idea of its present appearance.

At last Whitehall received our traveller, who passed under
one of the beautiful gates designed by Holbein, and com-
posed of tesselated brick-work, being the same to which
Moniplies had profanely likened the West Port of Edinburgh,
and entered the ample precincts of the palace of Whitehall,
now full of all the confusion attending improvement.

It was just at the time when James — little suspecting that
he was employed in constructing a palace from the window
of which his only son was to pass in order that he might die
upon a scaffold before it — was busied in removing the ancient
and ruinous buildings of De Burgh, Henry VIII., and Queen
Elizabeth, to make way for the superb architecture on which
Inigo Jones exerted all his genius. The King, ignorant of
futurity, was now engaged in pressing on his work ; and, for
that purpose, still maintained his royal apartments at White-
hall, amidst the rubbish of old buildings, and the various
confusion attending the erection of the new pile, which
formed at present a labyrinth not easily traversed.

The goldsmith to the royal household, and who, if fame
spoke true, oftentimes acted as their banker — for these pro-

70 The Fortunes of Nigel.

fessions were not as yet separated from each other— was a
person of too much importance to receive the slightest inter-
ruption from sentinel or porter ; and, leaving his mule and
two of his followers in the outer court, he gently knocked at
a postern-gate of the building, and was presently admitted,
while the most trusty of his attendants followed him closely,
with the piece of plate under his arm. This man also he
left behind him in an anteroom, where three or four pages
in the royal livery, but untrussed, unbuttoned, and dressed
more carelessly than the place, and nearness to a king's
person, seemed to admit, were playing at dice and draughts,
orastretched upon benches, and slumbering with half-shut
eyes. A corresponding gallery, which opened from the ante-
room, was occupied by two gentlemen-ushers of the chamber,
who gave each a smile of recognition as the wealthy gold-
smith entered.

No word was spoken on either side, but one of the ushers
looked first to Heriot, and then to a little door half-covered
by the tapestry, which seemed to say, as plain as a look could,
"Lies your business that way?" The citizen nodded; and
the court-attendant, moving on tiptoe, and with as much
caution as if the floor had been paved with eggs, advanced
to the door, opened it gently, and spoke a few words in a low
tone. The broad Scottish accent of King James was heard
in reply, "Admit him instanter, Maxwell. Have you hair-
boured sae lang at the Court, and not learned that gold and
silver are ever welcome ? "

The usher signed to Heriot to advance, and the honest
citizen was presently introduced into the cabinet of the Sove-
reign.

The scene of confusion amid which he found the King
seated was no bad picture of the state and quality of James's
own mind. There was much that was rich and costly in
cabinet pictures and valuable ornaments ; but they were

The Fortunes of Nigel 71

arranged in a slovenly manner, covered with dust, and lost
half their value, or at least their effect, from the manner in
which they were presented to the eye. The table was loaded
with huge folios, amongst which lay light books of jest and
ribaldry ; and, amongst notes of unmercifully long orations
and essays . on king-craft were mingled miserable roundels
and ballads by the Royal 'Prentice, as he styled himself, in
the art of poetry, and schemes for the general pacification of
Europe with a list of the names of the King's hounds and
remedies against canine madness.

The King's dress was of green velvet, quilted so full as to
be dagger-proof, which gave him the appearance of clumsy
and ungainly protuberance; while its being buttoned awry
communicated to his figure an air of distortion. Over his
green doublet he wore a sad-coloured nightgown, out of the
pocket of which peeped his hunting-horn. His high-crowned
grey hat lay on the floor, covered with dust, but encircled by
a carcanet of large balas rubies ; and he wore a blue velvet
nightcap, in the front of which was placed the plume of a
heron, which had been struck down by a favourite hawk in
some critical moment of the flight, in remembrance of which
the King wore this highly-honoured feather.

But such inconsistencies in dress and appointments were
mere outward types of those which existed in the royal char-
acter— rendering it a subject of doubt amongst his contem-
poraries, and bequeathing it as a problem to future historians.
He was deeply learned, without possessing useful knowledge ;
sagacious in many individual cases, without having real wis-
dom ; fond of his power, and desirous to maintain and aug-
ment it, yet willing to resign the direction of that, and of
himself, to the most unworthy favourites ; a big and bold
assertor of his rights in words, yet one who tamely saw them
trampled on in deeds ; a lover of negotiations, in which he
was always outwitted ; and one who feared war, where con-

72 The Fortunes of Nigel.

quest might have been easy. He was fond of his dignity,
while he was perpetually degrading it by undue familiarity ;
capable of much public labour, yet often neglecting it for the
meanest amusement ; a wit, though a pedant ; and a scholar,
though fond of the conversation of the ignorant and unedu-
cated. Even his timidity of temper was not uniform, and
there were moments of his life, and those critical, in which
he showed the spirit of his ancestors. He was laborious in
trifles, and a trifler where serious labour was required ; devout
in his sentiments, and yet too often profane in his language ;
just and beneficent by nature, he yet gave way to the ini-
quities and oppression of others. He was penurious respect-
ing money which he had to give from his own hand, yet
inconsiderately and unboundedly profuse of that which he
did not see. In a word, those good qualities which dis-
played themselves in particular cases and occasions, were not
of a nature sufficiently firm and comprehensive to regulate
his general conduct ; and, showing themselves as they occa-
sionally did, only entitled James to the character bestowed on
him by Sully — that he was the wisest fool in Christendom.

That the fortunes of this monarch might be as little of
a piece as his character, he, certainly the least able of the
Stewarts, succeeded peaceably to that kingdom, against the
power of which his predecessors had, with so much difficulty,
defended his native throne; and, lastly, although his reign
appeared calculated to ensure to Great Britain that lasting
tranquillity and internal peace which so much suited the
King's disposition, yet during that very reign were sown
those seeds of dissension which, like the teeth of the fabulous
dragon, had their harvest in a bloody and universal civil
war.*

Such was the monarch who, saluting Heriot by the name
of Jingling Geordie (for it was his well-known custom to
* Note, p. 568. King James.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 73

give nicknames to all those with whom he was on terms of
familiarity), inquired what new clatter-traps he had brought
with him, to cheat his lawful and native Prince out of his
siller.

"God forbid, my liege," said the citizen, "that I should
have any such disloyal purpose. I did but bring a piece of
plate to show to your most gracious Majesty, which, both for
the subject and for the workmanship, I were loath to put
into the hands of any subject until I knew your Majesty's
pleasure anent it."

"Body o' me, man, let's see it, Heriot — though, by my
saul, Steenie's service o' plate was sae dear a bargain, I had
'maist pawned my word as a Royal King to keep my ain
gold and silver in future, and let you, Geordie, keep yours."

"Respecting the Duke of Buckingham's plate," said the
goldsmith, "your Majesty was pleased to direct that no
expense should be spared, and "

" What signifies what I desired, man ? when a wise man is
with fules and bairns, he maun e'en play at the chucks. But
you should have had mair sense and consideration than to
gie Babie Charles and Steenie their ain gate ; they wad hae
floored the very rooms wi' silver, and I wonder they didna."

George Heriot bowed, and said no more. He knew his
master too well to vindicate himself otherwise than by
a distant allusion to his order; and James, with whom
economy was only a transient and momentary twinge of
conscience, became immediately afterwards desirous to see
the piece of plate which the goldsmith proposed to exhibit,
and dispatched Maxwell to bring it to his presence. In
the meantime he demanded of the citizen whence he had
procured it.

" From Italy, may it please your Majesty," replied Heriot.

"It has naething in it tending to Papestrie?" said the
King, looking graver than his wont.

74 The Fortunes of Nigel

" Surely not, please your Majesty," said Heriot ; " I were
not wise to bring anything to your presence that had the
mark of the beast."

" You would be the mair beast yourself to do so," said the
King. " It is weel kend that I wrestled wi' Dagon in my
youth, and smote him on the ground-sill of his own temple ;
a gude evidence that I should be in time called, however
unworthy, the Defender of the Faith. But here comes
Maxwell, bending under his burden, like the Golden Ass of
Apuleius."

Heriot hastened to relieve the usher, and to place the
embossed salver, for such it was, and of extraordinary dimen-
sions, in a light favourable for his Majesty's viewing the
sculpture.

"Saul of my body, man," said the King, "it is a curious
piece, and, as I think, fit for a King's chalmer; and the
subject, as you say, Master George, vera adequate and be-
seeming, being, as I see, the judgment of Solomon, a prince
in whose paths it weel becomes a leeving monarchs to walk
with emulation."

" But whose footsteps," said Maxwell, " only one of them
— if a subject may say so much — hath ever overtaken."

" Haud your tongue for a fause fleeching loon ! " said the
King, but with a smile on his face that showed the flattery
had done its part. " Look at the bonny piece of workman-
ship, and baud your clavering tongue. — And whase handi-
work may it be, Geordie ? "

" It was wrought, sir," replied the goldsmith, " by the fa-
mous Florentine, Benvenuto Cellini, and designed for Francis
the First of France ; but I hope it will find a fitter master."

"Francis of France!" said the King; "send Solomon,
King of the Jews, to Francis of France ! Body of me, man,
it would have kythed Cellini mad, had he never done ony-
thing else out of the gate. Francis ! — why, he was a fighting

The Fortunes of Nigel 75

fule, man — a mere fighting fule, — got himsel' ta'en at Pavia,
like our ain David at Durham lang syne. If they could hae
sent him Solomon's wit, and love of peace, and godliness,
they wad hae dune him a better turn. But Solomon should
sit in other gate company than Francis of France."

" I trust that such will be his good fortune," said Heriot.

"It is a curious and vera artificial sculpture," said the
King, in continuation; "but yet, methinks, the carnifex, or
executioner there, is brandishing his gulley ower near the
King's face, seeing he is within reach of his weapon. I think
less wisdom than Solomon's wad have taught him that there
was danger in edge-tools, and that he wad have bidden the
smaik either sheathe his shabble, or stand farther back."

George Heriot endeavoured to alleviate this objection by
assuring the King that the vicinity betwixt Solomon and the
executioner was nearer in appearance than in reality, and
that the perspective should be allowed for.

"Gang to the deil w? your prospective, man," said the
King ; " there canna be a waur prospective for a lawfu' king,
wha wishes to reign in luve, and di£ in peace and honour,
than to have naked swords flashing in his een. I am ac-
counted as brave as maist folks ; and yet I profess to ye I
could never look on a bare blade without blinking and wink-
ing. But a'thegither it is a brave piece; and what is the
price of it, man ? "

The goldsmith replied by observing that it was not his
own property, but that of a distressed countryman.

''Whilk you mean to mak your excuse for asking the
double of its worth, I warrant ? " answered the King. " I
ken the tricks of you burrows-town merchants, man."

" I have no hopes of baffling your Majesty's sagacity," said
Heriot ; " the piece is really what I say, and the price a
hundred and fifty pounds sterling, if it pleases your Majesty
to make present payment."

76 The Fortunes of Nigel.

" A hundred and fifty punds, man ! and as mony witches
and warlocks to raise them ! " said the irritated Monarch.
" My saul, Jingling Geordie, ye are minded that your purse
shall jingle to a bonny tune ! How am I to tell you down a
hundred and fifty punds for what will not weigh as many
merks? and ye ken that my very household servitors, and
the officers of my mouth, are sax months in arrear ! "

The goldsmith stood his ground against all this objur-
gation, being what he was well accustomed to, and only
answered that, if his Majesty liked the piece, and desired to
possess it, the price could be easily settled. It was true that
the party required the money ; but he, George Heriot, would
advance it on his Majesty's account, if such were his pleas-
ure, and wait his royal conveniency for payment, for that
and other matters — the money, meanwhile, lying at the
ordinary usage.

" By my honour," said James, " and that is speaking like
an honest and reasonable tradesman. We maun get another
subsidy frae the Commons, and that will make ae compting
of it. Awa wi' it, Maxwell — awa wi' it; and let it be set
where Steenie and Babie Charles shall see it as they return
from Richmond. — And now that we are secret, my good auld
friend Geordie, I do truly opine, that speaking of Solomon
and ourselves, the haill wisdom in the country left Scotland
when we took our travels to the Southland here."

George Heriot was courtier enough to say that " the wise
naturally follow the wisest, as stags follow their leader."

"Troth, I think there is something in what thou sayest,"
said James; "for we ourselves, and those of our court and
household, as thou thyself, for example, are allowed by the
English, for as self-opinioned as they are, to pass for reason-
able good wits ; but the brains of those we have left behind
are all astir, and run clean hirdie-girdie, like sae mony war-
locks and witches on the devil's Sabbath-e'en."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 77

" I am sorry to hear this, my liege," said Heriot. " May
it please your Grace to say what our countrymen have done
to deserve such a character ? "

" They are become frantic, man — clean brain-crazed," an-
swered the King. " I cannot keep them out of the Court
by all the proclamations that the heralds roar themselves
hoarse with. Yesterday, nae further gane, just as we were
mounted, and about to ride forth, in rushed a thorough
Edinburgh gutterblood — a ragged rascal, every dud upon
whose back was bidding good-day to the other, with a coat
and hat that would have served a pease-bogle — and, without
havings or reverence, thrust into our hands, like a sturdy
beggar, some Supplication about debts owing by our gracious
mother, and siclike trash ; whereat the horse spangs on end,
and, but for our admirable sitting, wherein we have been
thought to excel maist sovereign princes, as well as subjects,
in Europe, I promise you we would have been laid endlang
on the causeway."

"Your Majesty," said Heriot, "is their common father,
and therefore they are the bolder to press into your gracious
presence."

" I ken I am pater patria well enough," said James ; "but
one would think they had a mind to squeeze my puddings
out, that they may divide the inheritance. Uds death,
Geordie, there is not a loon among them can deliver a
Supplication, as it suld be done in the face of Majesty."

" I would I knew the most fitting and beseeming mode
to do so," said Heriot, " were it but to instruct our poor
countrymen in better fashions."

"By my halidom," said the King, "ye are a ceevileezed
fellow, Geordie, and I carena if I fling awa as much time as
may teach ye. And, first, see you, sir, ye shall approach
the presence of Majesty thus — shadowing your eyes with
your hand, to testify that you are in the presence of the

78 The Fortunes of Nigel

Vicegerent of Heaven. — Vera weel, George ; that is done in
a comely manner. — Then, sir, ye sail kneel, and make as if
ye would kiss the hem of our garment, the latch of our shoe,
or such like.— Vera weel enacted ; whilk we, as being willing
to be debonair and pleasing towards our lieges, prevent thus,
and motion to you to rise; whilk, having a boon to ask,
as yet you obey not, but, gliding your hand into your pouch,
bring forth your Supplication, and place it reverentially in
our open palm." The goldsmith, who had complied with
great accuracy with all the prescribed points of the ceremo-
nial, here completed it, to James's no small astonishment,
by placing in his hand the petition of the Lord of Glenvar-
loch. "What means this, ye fause loon?" said he, redden-
ing and sputtering ; " hae I been teaching you the manual
exercise, that ye suld present your piece at our ain royal
body ? Now, by this light, I had as lief that ye had bended a
real pistolet against me ; and yet this hae ye done in my very
cabinet, where nought suld enter but at my ain pleasure."

"I trust your Majesty," said Heriot, as he continued to
kneel, "will forgive my exercising the lesson you conde-
scended to give me in the behalf of a friend."

" Of a friend ! " said the King ; " so much the waur — so
much the waur, I tell you. If it had been something to do
yourseP good, there would have been some sense in it, and
some chance that you wad not have come back on me in a
hurry ;- but a man may have a hundred friends, and petitions
for every ane of them, ilk ane after other/'

"Your Majesty, I trust," said Heriot, "will judge me by
former experience, and will not suspect me of such presump-
tion."

"I kenna," said the placable monarch; "the world goes
daft, I think — sed semel insanivimus omnes. Thou art my old
and faithful servant, that is the truth ; and, were't anything
for thy own behoof, man, thou shouldst not ask twice. But,

The Fortunes of Nigel. 79

troth, Steenie loves me so dearly that he cares not that any
one should ask favours of me but himself. — Maxwell (for
the usher had re-entered after having carried off the plate),
get into the antechamber wi' your lang lugs. — In conscience,
Geordie, I think that as thou hast been mine ain auld
fiduciary, and wert my goldsmith when I might say with the
Ethnic poet, Non mea renidet in domo lacunar — for, faith,
they had pillaged my mither's auld house sae, that beechen
bickers, and treen trenchers, and latten platters were whiles
the best at our board, and glad, we were of something to put
on them, without quarrelling with the metal of the dishes.
D'ye mind, for thou wert in maist of our complots, how we
were fain to send sax of the Blue-banders to harry the Lady
of Loganhouse's dowcot and poultry-yard, and what an awfu'
plaint the poor dame made against Jock of Milch, and the
thieves of Annandale, wha were as sackless of the deed as I
am of the sin of murder ? "

" It was the better for Jock," said Heriot ; " for, if I re-
member weel, it saved him from a strapping up at Dumfries,
which he had weel deserved for other misdeeds."

" Ay, man, mind ye that ? " said the King ; " but he had
other virtues, for he was a tight huntsman, moreover, that
Jock of Milch, and could hollow to a hound till all the
woods rang again. But he came to an Annandale end at the
last ; for Lord Torthorwald run his lance out through him.
Cocksnails, man, when I think of these wild passages, in my
conscience I am not sure but we lived merrier in auld Holy-
rood in these shifting days, than now when we are dwelling
at heck and manger. Cantabit vacuus — we had but little to
care for."

" And if your Majesty please to remember," said the gold-
smith, "the awful task we had to gather silver-vessail and
gold-work enough to make some show before the Spanish
ambassador."

So The Fortunes of Nigel.

" Vera true," said the King, now in a full tide of gossip ;
"and I mind not the name of the right leal lord that helped
us with every unce he had in his house, that his native
Prince might have some credit in the eyes of them that had
the Indies at their beck."

" I think, if your Majesty," said the citizen, " will cast your
eye on the paper in your hand, you will recollect his name."

" Ay !" said the King, "say ye sae, man? Lord Glenvar-
loch, that was his name indeed— -Justus et tenax propositi —
a just man, but as obstinate as a baited bull. He stood
whiles against us, that Lord Randal Olifaunt of Glenvarloch ;
but he was a loving and a leal subject in the main. But this
supplicator maun be his son — Randal has been long gone
where king and lord must go, Geordie, as weel as the like of
you ; and what does his son want with us ? "

" The settlement," answered the citizen, " of a large debt
due by your Majesty's treasury, for money advanced to your
Majesty in great state of emergency, about the time of the
Raid of Ruthven.''

" I mind the thing weel," said King James. " Ods death,
man, I was just out of the clutches of the Master of Glamis
and his complices, and there was never siller mair welcome
to a born Prince — the rnair the shame and pity that crowned
King should need sic a petty sum. But what need he dun
us for it, man, like a baxter at the breaking ? We aught him
the siller, and will pay him wi' our convenience, or make
it otherwise up to him, whilk is enow between prince and
subject. We are not in meditatione fugce^ man, to be arrested
thus peremptorily."

" Alas ! an it please your Majesty," said the goldsmith,
shaking his head, " it is the poor young nobleman's extreme
necessity, and not his will, that makes him importunate ; for
he must have money, and that briefly, to discharge a debt
due to Peregrine Peterson, Conservator of the Privileges at

The Fortunes of Nigel. 8l

Campvere, or his haill hereditary barony and estate of Glen-
varloch will be evicted in virtue of an unredeemed wadset."

"How say ye, man — how say ye ?" exclaimed the King
impatiently ; " the carle of a Conservator, the son of a Low-
Dutch skipper, evict the auld estate and lordship of the
house of Olifaunt ? God's bread, man, that maun not be ;
we maun suspend the diligence by writ of favour or other-
wise."

" I doubt that may hardly be," answered the citizen, " if
it please your Majesty; your learned counsel in the law of
Scotland advise that there is no remeid but in paying the
money."

"Uds fish," said the King, "let him keep haud by the
strong hand against the carle until we can take some order
about his affairs."

"Alas!" insisted the goldsmith, "if it like your Majesty,
your own pacific government, and your doing of equal justice
to all men, has made main force a kittle line to walk by,
unless just within the bounds of the Highlands. "

"Weel — weel — weel, man," said the perplexed monarch,
whose ideas of justice, expedience, and convenience became
on such occasions strangely embroiled ; " just it is we should
pay our debts, that the young man may pay his. And he
must be paid, and in verbo regts he shall be paid ; but how
to come by the siller, man, is a difficult chapter. Ye maun
try the city, Geordie."

" To say the truth," answered Heriot, " please your gra-
cious Majesty, what betwixt loans, and benevolences, and
subsidies, the city is at this present "

" Donna tell me of what the city is," said King James.
" Our Exchequer is as dry as Dean Giles's discourses on the
penitentiary psalms — ex nihilo nihil fit — it's ill taking the
breeks aff a wild Highlandman. They that come to me for
siller should tell me how to come by it The city ye maun

82 The Fortunes of Nigel.

try, Heriot; and donna think to be called Jingling Geordie
for nothing. And in verbo regis I will pay the lad if you get
me the loan — I wonnot haggle on the terms ; and, between
you and me, Geordie, we will redeem the brave auld estate
of Glenvarloch. But wherefore comes not the young lord
to Court, Heriot? Is he comely — is he presentable in the
presence ? "

"No one can be more so," said George Heriot ;
"but -"

" Ay, I understand ye," said his Majesty — " I understand
ye — res angusta domi. Puir lad, puir lad ! and his father
a right true leal Scots heart, though stiff in some opinions.
Hark ye, Heriot, let the lad have twa hundred pounds to fit
him out. And, here — here " (taking the carcanet of rubies
from his old hat) — " ye have had these in pledge before for
a larger sum, ye auld Levite that ye are. Keep them in
gage till I gie ye back the siller out of the next subsidy."

" If it please your Majesty to give me such directions in
writing," said the cautious citizen.

"The deil is in your nicety, George," said the King; "ye
are as preceese as a Puritan in form, and a mere Nullifidian
in the marrow of the matter. May not a King's word serve
ye for advancing your pitiful twa hundred pounds ? "

"But not for detaining the crown jewels," said George
Heriot.

And the King, who from long experience was inured to
dealing with suspicious creditors, wrote an order upon
George Heriot, his well-beloved goldsmith and jeweller, for
the sum of two hundred pounds, to be paid presently to
Nigel Olifaunt, Lord of Glenvarloch, to be imputed as so
much debt due to him by the crown ; and authorizing the
retention of a carcanet of balas rubies, with a great diamond,
as described in a Catalogue of his Majesty's Jewels, to re-
main in possession of the said George Heriot, advancer of

The Fortunes of Nigel. 83

the said sum, and so forth, until he was lawfully contented
and paid thereof. By another rescript, his Majesty gave the
said George Heriot directions to deal with some of the
moneyed men, upon equitable terms, for a sum of money
for his Majesty's present use, not to be under 50,000 merks,
but as much more as could conveniently be procured.

" And has he ony lair, this Lord Nigel of ours ? " said the
King.

George Heriot could not exactly answer this question,
but believed " the young lord had studied abroad."

" He shall have our own advice," said the King, " how
to carry on his studies to maist advantage ; and it may be
we will have him come to Court, and study with Steenie
and Babie Charles. And, now we think on't, away — away,
George; for the bairns will be coming hame presently, and
we would not as yet they kend of this matter we have been
treating anent. Propera pedem, O Geordie. Clap your
mule between your houghs, and god-den with you."

Thus ended the conference betwixt the gentle King Jamie
and his benevolent jeweller and goldsmith.

CHAPTER VI.

Oh, I do know him — 'tis the mouldy lemon
Which our Court wits will wet their lips withal,
When they would sauce their honied conversation
With somewhat sharper flavour. Marry, sir,
That virtue 's well-nigh left him — all the juice
That was so sharp and poignant is squeezed out ;
While the poor rind, although as sour as ever,
Must season soon the draff we give our grunters,
For two-legged things are weary on't.

The Chamberlain^ a Comedy.

THE good company invited by the hospitable citizen as-
sembled at his house in Lombard Street at the " hollow and

84 The Fortunes of Nigel

hungry hour " of noon, to partake of that meal which divides
the day — being about the time when modern persons of
fashion, turning themselves upon their pillow, begin to think,
not without a great many doubts and much hesitation, that
they will by-and-by commence it. Thither came the young
Nigel, arrayed plainly, but in a dress, nevertheless, more
suitable to his age and quality than he had formerly worn,
accompanied by his servant Moniplies, whose outside also
was considerably improved. His solemn and stern features
glared forth from under a blue velvet bonnet, fantastically
placed sideways on his head. He had a sound and tough
coat of English blue broadcloth, which, unlike his former
vestment, would have stood the tug of all the apprentices in
Fleet Street. The buckler and broadsword he wore as the
arms of his condition, and a neat silver badge bearing his
lord's arms, announced that he was an appendage of aristoc-
racy. He sat down in the good citizen's buttery, not a little
pleased to find his attendance upon the table in the hall was
likely to be rewarded with his share of a meal such as he had
seldom partaken of.

Master David Ramsay, that profound and ingenious me-
chanic, was safely conducted to Lombard Street, according
to promise, well washed, brushed, and cleaned from the soot
of the furnace and the forge. His daughter, who came with
him, was about twenty years old — very pretty, very demure,
yet with lively black eyes that ever and anon contradicted
the expression of sobriety to which silence, reserve, a plain
velvet hood, and a cambric ruff had condemned Mistress
Marget, as the daughter of a quiet citizen.

There were also two citizens and merchants of London —
men ample in cloak and many-linked golden chain, well to pass
in the world, and experienced in their craft of merchandise,
but who require no particular description. There was an
elderly clergyman also, in his gown and cassock— a decent,

The Fortunes of Nigel. 85

venerable man, partaking in his manners of the plainness of
the citizens amongst whom he had his cure.

These may be dismissed with brief notice ; but not so Sir
Mungo Malagrowther, of Girnigo Castle, who claims a little
more attention, as an original character of the time in which
he flourished.

That good knight knocked at Master Heriot's door just as
the clock began to strike twelve, and was seated in his chair
ere the last stroke had chimed. This gave the knight an
excellent opportunity of making sarcastic observations on all
who came later than himself, not to mention a few rubs at
the expense of those who had been so superfluous as to
appear earlier.

Having little or no property save his bare designation, Sir
Mungo had been early attached to Court in the capacity of
whipping-boy, as the office was then called, to King James
the Sixth, and, with his Majesty, trained to all polite learning
by his celebrated preceptor, George Buchanan. The office
of whipping-boy doomed its unfortunate occupant to undergo
all the corporeal punishment which the Lord's Anointed,
whose proper person was of course sacred, might chance to
incur in the course of travelling through his grammar and
prosody. Under the stern rule, indeed, of George Buchanan,
who did not approve of the vicarious mode of punishment,
James bore the penance of his own faults, and Mungo Mala-
growther enjoyed a sinecure ; but James's other pedagogue,
Master Patrick Young, went more ceremoniously to work,
and appalled the very soul of the youthful King by the
floggings which he bestowed on the whipping-boy when the
royal task was not suitably performed. And be it told to Sir
Mungo's praise, that there were points about him in the
highest respect suited to his official situation. He had, even
in youth, a naturally irregular and grotesque set of features,
which, when distorted by fear, pain, and aneer, looked like

86 The Fortitnes of Nigel.

one of the whimsical faces which present themselves in a
Gothic cornice. His voice, also, was high-pitched and quer-
ulous, so that, when smarting under Master Patrick Young's
unsparing inflictions, the expression of his grotesque physiog-
nomy, and the superhuman yells which he uttered, were well
suited to produce all the effects on the Monarch who de-
served the lash that could possibly be produced by seeing
another and an innocent individual suffering for his delict.

Sir Mungo Malagrowther (for such he became) thus got
an early footing at Court, which another would have im-
proved and maintained. But when he grew too big to be
whipped, he had no other means of rendering himself accept-
able. A bitter, caustic, and backbiting humour, a malicious
wit, and an envy of others more prosperous than the pos-
sessor of such amiable qualities, have not, indeed, always
been found obstacles to a courtier's rise ; but then they must
be amalgamated with a degree of selfish cunning and pru-
dence of which Sir Mungo had no share. His satire ran
riot, his envy could not conceal itself, and it was not long
after his majority till he had as many quarrels upon his
hands as would have required a cat's nine lives to answer.
In one of these rencounters he received — perhaps we should
say fortunately— a wound which served him as an excuse
for answering no invitations of the kind in future. Sir
Rullion Rattray, of Ranagullion, cut off, in mortal combat,
three of the fingers of his right hand, so that Sir Mungo
never could hold sword again. At a later period, having
written some satirical verses upon the Lady Cockpen, he
received so severe a chastisement from some persons em-
ployed for the purpose, that he was found half dead on the
spot where they had thus dealt with him; and one of his
thighs having been broken, and ill set, gave him a hitch in
his gait with which he hobbled to his grave. The lameness
of his leg and hand, besides that they added considerably

The Fortunes of Nigel. 87

to the grotesque appearance of this original, procured him
in future a personal immunity from the more dangerous
consequences of his own humour; and he gradually grew
old in the service of the Court, in safety of life and limb,
though without either making friends or attaining prefer-
ment. Sometimes, indeed, the King was amused with his
caustic sallies ; but he had never art enough to improve the
favourable opportunity, and his enemies (who were, for that
matter, the whole Court) always found means to throw him
out of favour again. The celebrated Archie Armstrong
offered Sir Mungo, in his generosity, a skirt of his own fool's
coat, proposing thereby to communicate to him the privileges
and immunities of a professed jester. " For,7' said the man
of motley, "Sir Mungo, as he goes on just now, gets no
more for a good jest than just the King's pardon for having
made it."

Even in London the golden shower which fell around
him did not moisten the blighted fortunes of Sir Mungo
Malagrowther. He grew old, deaf, and peevish — lost even
the spirit which had formerly animated his strictures — and
was barely endured by James, who, though himself nearly as
far stricken in years, retained to an unusual and even an
absurd degree the desire to be surrounded by young people.

Sir Mungo, thus fallen into the yellow leaf of years and
fortune, showed his emaciated form and faded embroidery at
Court as seldom as his duty permitted ; and spent his time
in indulging his food for satire in the public walks, and in
the aisles of Saint Paul's, which were then the general resort
of newsmongers and characters of all descriptions, associating
himself chiefly with such of his countrymen as he accounted
of inferior birth and rank to himself. In this manner, hating
and contemning commerce and those who pursued it, he
nevertheless lived a good deal among the Scottish artists and
merchants who had followed the Court to London. To

88 The Fortunes of Nigel.

these he could show his cynicism without much offence ; for
some submitted to his jeers and ill-humour in deference to
his birth and knighthood, which in those days conferred
high privileges, and others, of more sense, pitied and en-
dured the old man, unhappy alike in his fortunes and his
temper.

Amongst the latter was George Heriot, who, though his
habits and education induced him to carry aristocratic feel-
ings to a degree which would now be thought extravagant,
had too much spirit and good sense to permit himself to be
intruded upon to an unauthorized excess, or used with the
slightest improper freedom by such a person as Sir Mungo —
to whom he was, nevertheless, not only respectfully civil, but
essentially kind and even generous.

Accordingly, this appeared from the manner in which Sir
Mungo Malagrowther conducted himself upon entering the
apartment. He paid his respects to Master Heriot, and a
decent, elderly, somewhat severe-looking female in a coif,
who, by the name of Aunt Judith, did the honours of his
house and table, with little or no portion of the supercilious
acidity which his singular physiognomy assumed when he
made his bow successively to David Ramsay and the two
sober citizens. He thrust himself iiito the conversation of
the latter, to observe he had heard in Paul's that the bank-
rupt concerns of Pindivide, a great merchant— who, as he
expressed it, had given the crows a pudding, and on whom
he knew, from the same authority, each of the honest citizens
had some unsettled claim— was like to prove a total loss—
"stock and block, ship and cargo, keel and rigging, all lost,
now and for ever."

The two citizens grinned at each other; but, too prudent
to make their private affairs the subject of public discussion,
drew their heads together, and evaded further conversation
by speaking in a whisper,

The Fortunes of Nigel. 89

The old Scots knight next attacked the watchmaker with
the same disrespectful familiarity. "Davie," he said —
" Davie,. ye donnard auld idiot, have ye no gane mad yet,
with applying your mathematical science, as ye call it, to the
book of Apocalypse? I expected to have heard ye make
out the sign of the beast as clear as a tout on a bawbee
whistle."

"Why, Sir Mungo," said the mechanist, after making an
effort to recall to his recollection what had been said to him,
and by whom, " it may be that ye are nearer the mark than
ye are yoursel' aware of; for, taking the ten horns o' the
beast, ye may easily estimate by your digitals '

" My digits ! you d d auld, rusty, good-for-nothing

timepiece ! " exclaimed Sir Mungo, while, betwixt jest and
earnest, he laid on his hilt his hand, or rather his claw (for
Sir Rullion's broadsword had abridged it into that form) —
" d'ye mean to upbraid me with my mutilation ? "

Master Heriot interfered. " I cannot persuade our friend
David," he said, " that scriptural prophecies are intended to
remain in obscurity until their unexpected accomplishment
shall make, as in former days, that fulfilled which was
written. But you must not exert your knightly valour on
him for all that."

" By my saul, and it would be throwing it away," said Sir
Mungo, laughing. "I would as soon set out, with hound
and horn, to hunt a sturdied sheep ; for he is in a doze
again, and up to the chin in numerals, quotients, and divi-
dends.-— Mistress Margaret, my pretty honey" — for the
beauty of the young citizen made even Sir Mungo Mala-
growther's grim features relax themselves a little — "is your
father always as entertaining as he seems just now ? "

Mistress Margaret simpered, bridled, looked to either side,
then straight before her ; and, having assumed all the airs of
bashful embarrassment and timidity which were necessary,

90 The Fortunes of Nigel

as she thought, to cover a certain shrewd readiness which
really belonged to her character, at length replied, "That
indeed her father was very thoughtful, but she had heard
that he took the habit of mind from her grandfather."

"Your grandfather!" said Sir Mungo, after doubting if
he had heard her aright— "said she her grandfather? The
lassie is distraught! I ken nae wench on this side of
Temple Bar that is derived from so distant a relation."

"She has got a godfather, however, Sir Mungo," said
George Heriot, again interfering; "and I hope you will
allow him interest enough with you to request you will not
put his pretty godchild to so deep a blush."

"The better— the better," said Sir Mungo. "It is a
credit to her that, bred and born within the sound of Bow
Bell; she can blush for anything ; and, by my saul, Master
George," he continued, chucking the irritated and reluctant
damsel under the chin, "she is bonny enough to make
amends for her lack of ancestry — at least in such a region as
Cheapside, where, d'ye mind me, the kettle cannot call the
porridge-pot "

The damsel blushed, but not so angrily as before. Master
George Heriot hastened to interrupt the conclusion of Sir
Mungo's homely proverb by introducing him personally to
Lord Nigel.

Sir Mungo could not at first understand what his host
said. " Bread of heaven, wha say ye, man ? "

Upon the name of Nigel Olifaunt, Lord Glenvarloch,
being again hollowed into his ear, he drew up, and regarding
his entertainer with some austerity, rebuked him for not
making persons of quality acquainted with each other, that
they might exchange courtesies before they mingled with
other folks. He then made as handsome and courtly a
congee to his new acquaintance as a man maimed in foot
and hand could do ; and, observing he had known my lord,

The Fortunes of Nigel. 91

his father, bid him welcome to London, and hoped he should
see him at Court.

Nigel in an instant comprehended, as well from Sir Mungo's
manner, as from a strict compression of their entertainer's lips,
which intimated the suppression of a desire to laugh, that
he was dealing with an original of no ordinary description,
and, accordingly, returned his courtesy with suitable punc-
tiliousness. Sir Mungo, in the meanwhile, gazed on him
with much earnestness ; and, as the contemplation of natural
advantages was as odious to him as that of wealth, or other
adventitious benefits, he had no sooner completely perused
the handsome form and good features of the young lord,
than, like one of the comforters of the Man of Uz, he drew
close up to him, to enlarge on the former grandeur of the
Lords of Glenvarloch, and the regret with which he had
heard that their representative was not likely to possess the
domains of his ancestry. Anon, he enlarged upon the
beauties of the principal mansion of Glenvarloch — the com-
manding site of the old castle — the noble expanse of the
lake, stocked with wild-fowl for hawking — the commanding
screen of forest, terminating in a mountain-ridge, abounding
with deer — and all the other advantages of that fine and
ancient barony, till Nigel, in spite of every effort to the
contrary, was unwillingly obliged to sigh.

Sir Mungo, skilful in discerning when the withers of those
he conversed with were wrung, observed that his new ac-
quaintance winced, and would willingly have pressed the
discussion ; but the cook's impatient knock upon the dresser
with the haft of his dudgeon-knife now gave a signal loud
enough to be heard from the top of the house to the bottom,
summoning, at the same time, the serving-men to place the
dinner upon the table, and the guests to partake of it.

Sir Mungo, who was an admirer of good cheer — a taste
which, by the way, might have some weight in reconciling

92 The Fortunes of Nigel.

his dignity to these city visits — was tolled off by the sound,
and left Nigel and the other guests in peace, until his anxiety
to arrange himself in his due place of pre-eminence at the
genial board was duly gratified. Here, seated on the left
hand of Aunt Judith, he beheld Nigel occupy the station of
yet higher honour on the right, dividing that matron from
pretty Mistress Margaret; but he saw this with the more
patience, that there stood betwixt him and the young lord a
superb larded capon.

The dinner proceeded according to the form of the times.
All was excellent of the kind ; and, besides the Scottish cheer
promised, the board displayed beef and pudding, the statutory
dainties of Old England. A small cupboard of plate, very
choicely and beautifully wrought, did not escape the compli-
ments of some of the company, and an oblique sneer from
Sir Mungo, as intimating the owner's excellence in his own
mechanical craft.

"I am not ashamed of the workmanship, Sir Mungo,"
said the honest citizen. " They say a good cook knows how
to lick his own fingers ; and, methinks, it were unseemly that
I, who have furnished half the cupboards in broad Britain,
should have my own covered with paltry pewter."

The blessing of the clergyman now left the guests at liberty
to attack what was placed before them ; and the meal went
forward with great decorum, until Aunt Judith, in further
recommendation of the capon, assured her company that it
was of a celebrated breed of poultry which she had herself
brought from Scotland.

"Then, like some of his countrymen, madam," said the
pitiless Sir Mungo, not without a glance towards his landlord,
" he has been well larded in England."

''There are some others of his countrymen," answered
Master Heriot, "to whom all the lard in England has not
been able to render that good office."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 93

Sir Mungo sneered and reddened ; the rest of the company
laughed ; and the satirist, who had his reasons for not coming
to extremity with Master George, was silent for the rest of
the dinner.

The dishes were exchanged for confections and wine of
the highest quality and flavour ; and Nigel saw the entertain-
ments of the wealthiest burgomasters, which he had witnessed
abroad, fairly outshone by the hospitality of a London citi-
zen. Yet there was nothing ostentatious, or which seemed
inconsistent with the degree of an opulent burgher.

While the collation proceeded, Nigel, according to the
good-breeding of the time, addressed his discourse principally
to Mistress Judith, whom he found to be a woman of a strong
Scottish understanding, more inclined towards the Puritans
than was her brother George (for in that relation she stood
to him, though he always called her aunt), attached to him
in the strongest degree, and sedulously attentive to all his
comforts. As the conversation of this good dame was neither
lively nor fascinating, the young lord naturally addressed
himself next to the old horologer's very pretty daughter,
who sat upon his right. From her, however, there was no
extracting any reply beyond the measure of a monosyllable ;
and when the young gallant had said the best and most com-
plaisant things which his courtesy supplied, the smile that
mantled upon her pretty mouth was so slight and evanescent
as scarce to be discernible.

Nigel was beginning to tire of his company, for the old
citizens were speaking with his host of commercial matters
in language to him totally unintelligible, when Sir Mungo
Malagrowther suddenly summoned their attention.

That amiable personage had for some time withdrawn
from the company into the recess of a projecting window, so
formed and placed as to command a view of the door of the
house and of the street. This situation was probably pre-

94 The Fortunes of Nigel.

ferred by Sir Mungo on account of the number of objects
which the streets of a metropolis usually offer of a kind
congenial to the thoughts of a splenetic man. What he
had hitherto seen passing there was probably of little conse-
quence; but now a trampling of horse was heard without,
and the knight suddenly exclaimed, "By my faith, Master
George, you had better go look to shop, for here comes
Knighton, the Duke of Buckingham's groom, and two fellows
after him, as if he were my Lord Duke himself."

" My cash-keeper is below," said Heriot, without disturbing
himself, " and he will let me know if his Grace's commands
require my immediate attention."

"Umph ! — cash-keeper?" muttered Sir Mungo to himself;
"he would have had an easy office when I first kend ye.
But," said he, speaking aloud, "will you not come to the
window, at least? for Knighton has trundled a piece of
silver-plate into your house — ha ! ha ! ha ! — trundled it upon
its edge, as a callan- would drive a hoop. I cannot help
laughing — ha ! ha ! ha ! — at the fellow's impudence."

:'I believe you could not help laughing," said George
Heriot, rising up and leaving the room, " if your best friend
lay dying."

"Bitter that, my lord — ha?" said Sir Mungo, addressing
Nigel. " Our friend is not a goldsmith for nothing — he hath
no leaden wit. But I will go down and see what comes
on't."

Heriot, as he descended the stairs, met his cash-keeper
coming up with some concern in his face. " Why, how now,
Roberts," said the goldsmith, "what means all this, man?"

" It is Knighton, Master Heriot, from the Court— Knighton,
the Duke's man. He brought back the salver you carried to
Whitehall, flung it into the entrance as if it had been an old
pewter platter, and bade me tell you the King would have
none of your trumpery."

The Fortunes of Nigel 95

" Ay, indeed ! " said George Heriot. " None of my trum-
pery! Come hither into the compting-room, Roberts. — Sir
Mungo," he added, bowing to the knight, who had joined,
and was preparing to follow them, " I pray your forgiveness
for an instant."

In virtue of this prohibition, Sir Mungo, who, as well as
the rest of the company, had overheard what passed betwixt
George Heriot and his cash-keeper, saw himself condemned
to wait in the outer business-room, where he would have
endeavoured to slake his eager curiosity by questioning
Knighton ; but that emissary of greatness, after having added
to the uncivil message of his master some rudeness of his
own, had again scampered westward, with his satellites at
his heels.

In the meanwhile, the name of the Duke of Buckingham,
the omnipotent favourite both of the King and the Prince of
Wales, had struck some anxiety into the party which remained
in the great parlour. He was more feared than beloved, and,
if not absolutely of a tyrannical disposition, was accounted
haughty, violent, and vindictive. It pressed on Nigel's heart
that he himself, though he could not conceive how nor why,
might be the original cause of the resentment of the Duke
against his benefactor. The others made their comments
in whispers, until the sounds reached Ramsay, who had not
heard a word of what had previously passed, but, plunged in
those studies with which he connected every other incident
and event, took up only the catchword, and replied, "The
Duke — the Duke of Buckingham — George Villiers — ay — I
have spoken with Lambe about him."

" Our Lord and our Lady ! now, how can you say so,
father ? " said his daughter, who had shrewdness enough to
see that her father was touching upon dangerous ground.

"Why, ay, child," answered Ramsay; "the stars do but
incline, they cannot compel. But well you wot, it is com-

96 The Fortunes of Nigel.

monly said of his Grace, by those who have the skill to cast
nativities, that there was a notable conjunction of Mars and
Saturn — the apparent or true time of which, reducing the
calculations of Eichstadius, made for the latitude of Oranien-
burg, to that of London, gives seven hours, fifty-five minutes,
and forty-one seconds "

"Hold your peace, old soothsayer," said Heriot, who at
that instant entered the room with a calm and steady coun-
tenance ; " your calculations are true and undeniable when
they regard brass and wire, and mechanical force, but future
events are at the pleasure of Him who bears the hearts of
kings in His hands."

" Ay, but, peorge," answered the watchmaker, " there was
a concurrence of signs at this gentleman's birth, which showed
his course would be a strange one. Long has it been said of
him, he was born at the very meeting of night and day, and
under crossing and contending influences that may affect
both us and him.

* Full moon and high sea,
Great man shalt thou be ;
Red dawning, stormy sky,
Bloody death shalt thou die.'*

rtlt is not good to speak of such things," said Heriot,
" especially of the great ; stone walls have ears, and a bird of
the air shall carry the matter.''

Several of the guests seemed to be of their host's opinion.
The two merchants took brief leave, as if under consciousness
that something was wrong. Mistress Margaret, her body-
guard of 'prentices being in readiness, plucked her father by
the sleeve, and, rescuing him from a brown study (whether
referring to the wheels of Time, or to that of Fortune, is un-
certain), wished good-night to her friend Mistress Judith, and
received her godfather's blessing, who, at the same time, put
upon her slender finger a ring of much taste and some value ;

The Fortunes of Nigel 97

for he seldom suffered her to leave him without some token
of his affection. Thus honourably dismissed, and accom-
panied by her escort, she set forth on her return to Fleet
Street.

Sir Mungo had bid adieu to Master Heriot as he came out
from the back compting-room ; but such was the interest
which he took in the affairs of his friend, that, when Master
George went upstairs, he could not help walking into that
sanctum sanctorum to see how Master Roberts was employed.
The knight found the cash-keeper busy in making extracts
from those huge brass-clasped, leathern-bound manuscript
folios which are the pride and trust of dealers, and the dread
of customers whose year of grace is out. The good knight
leant his elbows on the desk, and said to the functionary,
in a condoling tone of voice, " What ! you have lost a good
customer, I fear, Master Roberts, and are busied in making
out his bill of charges ? "

Now, it chanced that Roberts, like Sir Mungo himself,
was a little deaf, and, like Sir Mungo, knew also how to
make the most of it ; so that he answered at cross-purposes,
" I humbly crave your pardon, Sir Mungo, for not having
sent in your bill of charge sooner, but my master bade me
not disturb you. I will bring the items together in a moment."
So saying, he began to turn over the leaves of his book of
fate, murmuring, "Repairing ane silver seal — new clasp to
his chain of office — ane over-gilt brooch to his hat, being
a Saint Andrew's cross, with thistles — a copper gilt pair of
spurs, — this to Daniel Driver, we not dealing in the
article."

He would have proceeded, but Sir Mungo, not prepared
to endure the recital of the catalogue of his own petty debts,
and still less willing to satisfy them on the spot, wished the
book-keeper, cavalierly, good night, and left the house with-
out further ceremony. The clerk looked after him with a

I

98 The Fortunes of Nigel

civil city sneer, and immediately resumed the more serious
labours which Sir Mungo's intrusion had interrupted.*

CHAPTER VII.

Things needful we have thought on ; but the thing
Of all most needful— that which Scripture terms,
As if alone it merited regard,
The ONE thing needful — that's yet unconsider'd.

The Chamberlain.

WHEN the rest of the company had taken their departure
from Master Heriot's house, the young Lord of Glenvarloch
also offered to take leave ; but his host detained him for a
few minutes, until all were gone excepting the clergyman.

"My lord," then said the worthy citizen, "we have had
our permitted hour of honest and hospitable pastime ; and
now I would fain delay you for another and graver purpose,
as it is our custom, when we have the benefit of good Master
Windsor's company, that he reads the prayers of the church
for the evening before we separate. Your excellent father,
my lord, would not have departed before family worship ; I
hope the same from your lordship."

"With pleasure, sir," answered Nigel; "and you add in
the invitation an additional obligation to those with which
you have loaded me. When young men forget what is their
duty, they owe deep thanks to the friend who will remind
them of it."

While they talked together in this manner, the serving-
men had removed the folding-tables, brought forward a
portable reading-desk, and placed chairs and hassocks for
their master, their mistress, and the noble stranger. Another
low chair, or rather a sort of stool, was placed close beside
* Note, p. 568. Sir Mungo Malagrowther.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 99

that of Master Heriot; and though the circumstance was
trivial, Nigel was induced to notice it, because, when about
to occupy that seat, he was prevented by a sign from the
old gentleman, and motioned to another of somewhat more
elevation. The clergyman took his station behind the read-
ing-desk. The domestics, a numerous family both of clerks
and servants, including Moniplies, attended with great gravity,
and were accommodated with benches.

The household were all seated, and, externally at least,
composed to devout attention, when a low knock was heard
at the door of the apartment Mistress Judith looked anx-
iously at her brother, as if desiring to know his pleasure. He
nodded his head gravely, and looked to the door. Mistress
Judith immediately crossed the chamber, opened the door,
and led into the apartment a beautiful creature, whose sudden
and singular appearance might have made her almost pass
for an apparition. She was deadly pale — there was not the
least shade of vital red to enliven features which were ex-
quisitely formed, and might, but for that circumstance, have
been termed transcendently beautiful. Her long black hair
fell down over her shoulders and down her back, combed
smoothly and regularly, but without the least appearance of
decoration or ornament, which looked very singular at a
period when headgear, as it was called, of one sort or other,
was generally used by all ranks. Her dress was of pure
white, of the simplest fashion, and hiding all her person
excepting the throat, face, and hands. Her form was rather
beneath than above the middle size, but so justly propor-
tioned and elegantly made that the spectator's attention was
entirely withdrawn from her size. In contradiction of the
extreme plainness of all the rest of her attire, she wore a
necklace which a duchess might have envied, so large and
lustrous were the brilliants of which it was composed, and
around her waist a zone of rubies of scarce inferior value.

ioo The Fortunes of Nigel.

When this singular figure entered the apartment, she cast
her eyes on Nigel, and paused, as if uncertain whether to
advance or retreat. The glance which she took of him
seemed to be one rather of uncertainty and hesitation than
of bashfulness or timidity. Aunt Judith took her by the
hand, and led her slowly forward. Her dark eyes, however,
continued to be fixed on Nigel, with an expression of melan-
choly by which he felt strangely affected. Even when she
was seated on the vacant stool, which was placed there prob-
ably for her accommodation, she again looked on him more
than once with the same pensive, lingering, and anxious
expression, but without either shyness or embarrassment, not
even so much as to call the slightest degree of complexion
into her cheek.

So soon as this singular female had taken up the prayer-
book, which was laid upon her cushion, she seemed im-
mersed in devotional duty; and although Nigel's attention
to the service was so much disturbed by this extraordinary
apparition that he looked towards her repeatedly in the
course of the service, he could never observe that her eyes
or her thoughts strayed so much as a single moment from
the task in which she was engaged. Nigel himself was less
attentive, for the appearance of this lady seemed so extra-
ordinary that, strictly as he had been bred up by his father
to pay the most reverential attention during performance of
divine service, his thoughts in spite of himself were disturbed
by her presence, and he earnestly wished the prayers were
ended, that his curiosity might obtain some gratification.
When the service was concluded, and each had remained
according to the decent and edifying practice of the church,
concentrated in mental devotion for a short space, the mys-
terious visitant arose ere any other person stirred ; and Nigel
remarked that none of the domestics left their places, or even
moved, until she had first kneeled on one knee to Heriot,

The Fortunes of Nigel. 101

who seemed to bless her with his hand laid on her head, and
a melancholy solemnity of look and action. She then bended
her body, but without kneeling, to Mistress Judith; and
having performed these two acts of reverence, she left the
room. Yet just in the act of her departure, she once more
turned her penetrating eyes on Nigel with a fixed look, which
compelled him to turn his own aside. When he looked to-
wards her again, he saw only the skirt of her white mantle
as she left the apartment.

The domestics then rose and dispersed themselves. Wine,
and fruit, and spices were offered to Lord Nigel and to the
clergyman; and the latter took his leave. The young lord
would fain have accompanied him, in hope to get some
explanation of the apparition which he had beheld ; but he
was stopped by his host, who requested to speak with him in
his compting-room.

"I hope, my lord," said the citizen, "that your prepara-
tions for attending Court are in such forwardness that you
can go thither the day after to-morrow. It is, perhaps, the
last day for some time that his Majesty will hold open court
for all who have pretensions by birth, rank, or office, to
attend upon him. On the subsequent day he goes to Theo-
bald's, where he is so much occupied with hunting and other
pleasures, that he cares not to be intruded on."

" I shall be in all outward readiness to pay my duty," said
the young nobleman, " yet I have little heart to do it. The
friends from whom I ought to have found encouragement
and protection have proved cold and false. I certainly will
not trouble them for their countenance on this occasion ; and
yet I must confess my childish unwillingness to enter quite
.alone upon so new a scene."

" It is bold of a mechanic like me to make such an offer
to a nobleman," said Heriot ; " but I must attend at Court
to-morrow. I can accompany you as far as the presence-

102 The Fortunes of Nigel

chamber, from my privilege as being of the household. I
can facilitate your entrance, should you find difficulty • and I
can point out the proper manner and time of approaching
the King. But I do not know," he added, smiling, "whether
these little advantages will not be overbalanced by the incon-
gruity of a nobleman receiving them from the hands of an
old smith."

" From the hands rather of the only friend I have found
in London," said Nigel, offering his hand.

"Nay, if you think of the matter in that way," replied the
honest citizen, " there is no more to be said. I will come for
you to-morrow, with a barge proper to the occasion. But
remember, my good young lord, that I do not, like some
men of my degree, wish to take opportunity to step beyond
it, and associate with my superiors in rank, and therefore do
not fear to mortify my presumption by suffering me to keep
my distance in the presence, and where it is fitting for both
of us to separate ; and for what remains, most truly happy shall
I be in proving of service to the son of my ancient patron."

The style of conversation led so far from the point which
had interested the young nobleman's curiosity that there was
no returning to it that night. He therefore exchanged thanks
and greeting with George Heriot, and .took his leave, prom-
ising to be equipped and in readiness to embark with him
on the second successive morning at ten o'clock.

The generation of linkboys, celebrated by Count Anthony
Hamilton, as peculiar to London, had already, in the reign
of James I., begun their functions, and the service of one of
them, with his smoky torch, had been secured to light the
young Scottish lord and his follower to their own lodgings,
which, though better acquainted than formerly with the city,
they might in the dark have run some danger of missing.
This gave the ingenious Master Moniplies an opportunity of
gathering close up to his master, after he had gone through

The Fortunes of Nigel. 103

the form of slipping his left arm into the handle of his
buckler, and loosening his broadsword in the sheath, that he
might be ready for whatever should befall.

" If it were not for the wine and the good cheer which we
have had in yonder old man's house, my lord," said the
sapient follower, " and that I ken him by report to be a just-
living man in many respects, and a real Edinburgh gutter-
blood, I should have been well pleased to have seen how his
feet were shaped, and whether he had not a cloven cloot
under the braw roses and cordovan shoon of his."

"Why, you rascal," answered Nigel, "you have been too
kindly treated ; and now that you have filled your ravenous
stomach, you are railing on the good gentleman that relieved
you."

" Under favour, no, my lord," said Moniplies. " I would
only like to see something mair about him. I have eaten
his meat, it is true — more shame that the like of him should
have meat to give, when your lordship and me could scarce
have gotten, on our own account, brose and a bear bannock
— I have drunk his wine, too."

" I see you have," replied his master — " a great deal more
than you should have done."

" Under your patience, my lord," said Moniplies, " you are
pleased to say that, because I crushed a quart with that jolly
boy Jenkin, as they call the 'prentice boy, and that was out
of mere acknowledgment for his former kindness. I own
that I, moreover, sung the good old song of Elsie Marley,
so as they never heard it chanted in their lives "

And withal (as John Bunyan says) as they went on their
way, he sung —

" O, do ye ken Elsie Marley, honey —
The wife that sells the barley, honey ?
For Elsie Marley's grown sae fine,
She winna get up to feed the swine. —
O, do ye ken "

IO4 The Fortunes of Nigel.

Here in mid career was the songster interrupted by the stern
gripe of his master, who threatened to baton him to death
if he brought the city watch upon them by his ill-timed
melody.

" I crave pardon, my lord — I humbly crave pardon ; only
when I think of that Jen Win, as they call him, I can hardly
help humming, ' O, do ye ken.' But I crave your honour's
pardon, and will be totally dumb, if you command me so."

" No, sirrah ! " said Nigel, " talk on, for I well know you
would say and suffer more under pretence of holding your
peace, than when you get an unbridled license. How is it,
then ? What have you to say against Master Heriot ? "

It seems more than probable that, in permitting this
license, the young lord hoped his attendant would stumble
upon the subject of the young lady who had appeared at
prayers in a manner so mysterious. But whether this was
the case, or whether he merely desired that Moniplies should
utter, in a subdued and undertone of voice, those spirits
which might otherwise have vented themselves in obstrep-
erous song, it is certain he permitted his attendant to proceed
with his story in his own way.

" And therefore," said the orator, availing himself of his
immunity, "I would like to ken what sort of a carle this
Maister Heriot is. He hath supplied your lordship with
wealth of gold, as I can understand ; and if he has, I make
it for certain he hath had his ain end in it, according to the
fashion of the world. Now, had your lordship your own
good lands at your guiding, doubtless this person, with most
of his craft — goldsmiths they call themselves ; I say usurers
— wad be glad to exchange so many pounds of African dust,
by whilk I understand gold, against so many fair acres, and
hundreds of acres, of broad Scottish land."

" But you know I have no land," said the young lord, " at
least none that can be affected by any debt which I can at

The Fortunes of Nigel. 105

present become obliged for. I think you need not have
reminded me of that."

"True, my lord, most true, and, as your lordship says,
open to the meanest capacity, without any unnecessary ex-
positions. Now, therefore, my lord, unless Maister George
Heriot has something mair to allege as a motive for his
liberality, vera different from the possession of your estate —
and, moreover, as he could gain little by the capture of your
body, wherefore should it not be your soul that he is in
pursuit of? "

" My soul, you rascal ! * said the young lord ; "what good
should my soul do him ? "

"What do I ken about that?" said Moniplies ; "they go
about roaring and seeking whom they may devour — doubt-
less they like the food that they rage so much about — and,
my lord, they say," added Moniplies, drawing up still closer
to his master's side, " they say that Master Heriot has one
spirit in his house already."

" How or what do you mean ? " said Nigel ; " I will break
your head, you drunken knave, if you palter with me any
longer."

"Drunken?" answered his trusty adherent, "and is this
the story? Why, how could I but drink your lordship's
health on my bare knees, when Master Jenkin began it to
me? — hang them that would not. I would have cut -the
impudent knave's hams with my brpadsword that should
make scruple of it, and so have made him kneel when he
should have found it difficult to rise again. But touching
the spirit," he proceeded, finding that his master made no
answer to his valorous tirade, "your lordship has seen her
with your own eyes."

"I saw no spirit," said Glenvarloch, but yet breathing
thick as one who expects some singular disclosure; "what
mean you by a spirit ? "

io6 The Fortunes of Nigel

"You saw a young lady come in to prayers, that spoke
not a word to any one, only made becks and bows to the old
gentleman and lady of the house — ken ye wha she is ? "

"No, indeed," answered Nigel; "some relation of the
family, I suppose."

"Deil a bit— deil a bit," answered Moniplies hastily —
" not a blood-drop's kin to them, if she had a drop of blood
in her body. I tell you but what all human beings allege to
be truth that dwell within hue and cry of Lombard Street —
that lady, or quean, or whatever you choose to call her, has
been dead in the body these many a year, though she haunts
them, as we have seen, even at their very devotions."

"You will allow her to be a good spirit at least," said
Nigel Olifaunt, " since she chooses such a time to visit her
friends?"

" For that I kenna, my lord," answered the superstitious
follower. " I ken no spirit that would have faced the right
down hammer-blow of Mess John Knox, whom my father
stood by in his very warst days, bating a chance time when
the Court, which my father supplied with butcher-meat, was
against him. But yon divine has another airt from powerful
Master Rollock, and Mess David Black of North Leith, and
sic like. Alack-a-day ! wha can ken, if it please your lord-
ship, whether sic prayers as the Southron read out of their
auld blethering black mess-book there may not be as power-
ful to invite fiends as a right red-het prayer warm frae the
heart may be powerful to drive them away, even as the evil
spirit was driven by the smell of the fish's liver from the
bridal-chamber of Sara, the daughter of Raguel? As to
whilk story, nevertheless, I make scruple to say whether it
be truth or not, better men than I am having doubted on
that matter."

"Well, well, well," said his master impatiently, "we are
now near home, and I have permitted you to speak of this

The Fortunes of Nigel. 107

matter for once, that we may have an end of your prying
folly, and your idiotical superstitions, for ever. For whom
do you, or your absurd authors or informers, take this lady ? "

"I can say naething preceesely as to that," answered
Moniplies ; " certain it is her body died and was laid in the
grave many a day since, notwithstanding she still wanders on
earth, and chiefly amongst Maister Heriot's family, though
she hath been seen in other places by them that well knew
her. But who she is I will not warrant to say, or how stfe
becomes attached, like a Highland Brownie, to some peculiar
family. They say she has a row of apartments of her own,
anteroom, parlour, and bedroom, but deil a bed she sleeps
in but her own coffin; and the walls, doors, and windows
are so chinked up as to prevent the least blink of daylight
from entering ; and then she dwells by torchlight "

"To what purpose, if she be a spirit?" said Nigel Oli-
faunt.

" How can I tell your lordship ? " answered his attendant.
" I thank God, I know nothing of her likings or mislikings
— only her coffin is there ; and I leave your lordship to guess
what a live person has to do with a coffin. As little as a
ghost with a lantern, I trow."

" What reason," repeated Nigel, " can a creature so young
and so beautiful have already habitually to contemplate her
bed of last long rest?"

" In troth, I kenna, my lord," answered Moniplies ; " but
there is the coffin, as they told me who have seen it. It is
made of heben-wood, with silver nails, and lined all through
with three-piled damask might serve a princess to rest in."

"Singular," said Nigel, whose brain, like that of most
active young spirits, was easily caught by the singular and
the romantic ; " does she not eat with the family ? "

" Who ? — she ! " exclaimed Moniplies, as if surprised at the
question; "they would need a lang spoon would sup with

io8 The Fortunes of Nigel.

her, I trow. Always there is something put for her into the
Tower, as they call it, whilk is a whigmaleery of a whirling-
box, that turns round half on the tae side o' the wa', half on
the tother."

"I have seen the contrivance in foreign nunneries," said
the Lord of Glenvarloch. " And is it thus she receives her
food?"

" They tell me something is put in ilka day, for fashion's
sake," replied the attendant ; " but it's no to be supposed she
would consume it, ony mair than the images of Bel and the
Dragon consumed the dainty vivers that were placed before
them. There are stout yeomen and .chamber-queans in the
house enow to play the part of Lick-it-up-a', as well as the
threescore and ten priests of Bel, besides their wives and
children."

" And she is never seen in the family but when the hour
of prayer arrives ? " said the master.

" Never, that I hear of," replied the servant.

"It is singular," said Nigel Olifaunt, musing. "Were it
not for the ornaments which she wears, and still more for
her attendance upon the service of the Protestant Church, I
should know what to think, and should believe her either a
Catholic votaress, who, for some cogent reason, was allowed
to make her cell here in London, or some unhappy Popish
devotee, who was in the course of undergoing a dreadful
penance. As it is, I know not what to deem of it."

His reverie was interrupted by the linkboy knocking at
the door of honest John Christie, whose wife came forth
with "quips, and becks, and wreathed smiles," to welcome
her honoured guest on his return to his apartment.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 109

CHAPTER VIII.

Ay ! mark the matron well ; and laugh not, Harry,

At her old steeple-hat and velvet guard.

I've called her like the ear of Dionysius —

I mean that ear-form'd vault, built o'er his dungeon,

To catch the groans and discontented murmurs

Of his poor bondsmen : even so doth Martha

Drink up, for her own purpose, all that passes,

Or is supposed to pass, in this wide city.

She can retail it too, if that her profit

Shall call on her to do so ; and retail it

For your advantage, so that you can make

Your profit jump with hers.

The Conspiracy.

WE must now introduce to the reader's acquaintance another
character, busy and important far beyond her ostensible sit-
uation in society — in a word, Dame Ursula Suddlechop, wife
of Benjamin Suddlechop, the most renowned barber in all
Fleet Street. This dame had her own particular merits, the
principal part of which was (if her own report could be
trusted) an infinite desire to be of service to her fellow-
creatures. Leaving to her thin, half- starved partner the
boast of having the most dexterous snap with his fingers of
any shaver in London, and the care of a shop where starved
apprentices flayed the faces of those who were boobies
enough to trust them, the dame drove a separate and more
lucrative trade, which yet had so many odd turns and wind-
ings that it seemed in many respects to contradict itself.

Its highest and most important duties were of a very secret
and confidential nature, and Dame Ursula Suddlechop was
never known to betray any transaction entrusted to her, unless
she had either been indifferently paid for her service, or
that some one found it convenient to give her a double
douceur to make her disgorge the secret; and these con-
tingencies happened in so few cases, that her character for

no The Fortunes of Nigel

trustiness remained as unimpeached as that for honesty and
benevolence.

In fact, she was a most admirable matron, and could be
useful to the impassioned and the frail in the rise, progress,
and consequences of their passion. She could contrive an
interview for lovers who could show proper reasons for meet-
ing privately ; she could relieve the frail fair one of the bur-
den of a guilty passion, and perhaps establish the hopeful
offspring of unlicensed love as the heir of some family whose
love was lawful, but where an heir had not followed the
union. More than this she could do, and had been con-
cerned in deeper and dearer secrets. She had been a pupil
of Mistress Turner, and learned from her the secret of making
the yellow starch, and, it may be, two or three other secrets
of more consequence, though perhaps none that went to the
criminal extent of those whereof her mistress was accused.
But all that was deep and dark in her real character was
covered by the show of outward mirth and good-humour —
the hearty laugh and buxom jest with which the dame knew
well how to conciliate the elder part of her neighbours, and
the many petty arts by which she could recommend herself
to the younger, those especially of her own sex.

Dame Ursula was in appearance scarce past forty, and her
full but not overgrown form, and still comely features, al-
though her person was plumped out and her face somewhat
coloured by good cheer, had a joyous expression of gaiety
and good-humour, which set off the remains of beauty in
the wane. Marriages, births, and christenings were seldom
thought to be performed with sufficient ceremony, for a con-
siderable distance round her abode, unless Dame Ursley, as
they called her, was present. She could contrive all sorts
of pastimes, games, and jests, which might amuse the large
companies which the hospitality of our ancestors assembled
together on such occasions, so that her presence was literally

The Fortunes of Nigel. 1 1 1

considered as indispensable in the family of all citizens of
ordinary rank on such joyous occasions. So much also was
she supposed to know of life and its labyrinths, that she was
the willing confidante of half the loving couples in the vicinity,
most of whom used to communicate their secrets to, and re-
ceive their counsels from, Dame Ursley. The rich rewarded
her services with rings, ouches, or gold pieces, which she
liked still better; and she very generously gave her assist-
ance to the poor, on the same mixed principles as young
practitioners in medicine assist them — partly from compas-
sion, and partly to keep her hand in use

Dame Ursley's reputation in the city was the greater that
her practice had extended beyond Temple Bar, and that she
had acquaintances, nay, patrons and patronesses, among the
quality, whose rank, as their members were much fewer, and
the prospect of approaching the courtly sphere much more
difficult, bore a degree of consequence unknown to the pres-
ent day, when the toe of the citizen presses so close on the
courtier's heel. Dame Ursley maintained her intercourse
with this superior rank of customers partly by driving a
small trade in perfumes, essences, pomades, headgears from
France, dishes or ornaments from China, then already be-
ginning to be fashionable, not to mention drugs of various
descriptions, chiefly for the use of the ladies, and partly
by other services, more or less connected with the esoteric
branches of her profession heretofore alluded to.

Possessing such and so many various modes of thriving,
Dame Ursley was nevertheless so poor that she might prob-
ably have mended her own circumstances, as well as her
husband's, if she had renounced them all, and set herself
quietly down to the care of her own household, and to assist
Benjamin in the concerns of his trade. But Ursula was
luxurious and genial in her habits, and could no more
have endured the stinted economy of Benjamin's board

112 The Fortunes of Nigel.

than she could have reconciled herself to the bald chat of
his conversation.

It was on the evening of the day on which Lord Nigel
Olifaunt dined with the wealthy goldsmith that we must
introduce Ursula Suddlechop upon the stage. She had that
morning made a long tour to Westminster, was fatigued, and
had assumed 'a certain large elbow-chair, rendered smooth
by frequent use, placed on one side of her chimney, in which
there was lit a small but bright fire. Here she observed,
betwixt sleeping and waking, the simmering of a pot of well-
spiced ale, on the brown surface of which bobbed a small crab-
apple sufficiently roasted ; while a little mulatto girl watched
still more attentively the process of dressing a veal sweet-
bread in a silver stewpan which occupied the other side of
the chimney. With these viands, doubtless, Dame Ursula
proposed concluding the well-spent day, of which she reck-
oned the labour over and the rest at her own command. She
was deceived, however ; for just as the ale, or, to speak tech-
nically, the lamb's-wool, was fitted for drinking, and the little
dingy maiden intimated that the sweetbread was ready to be
eaten, the thin cracked voice of Benjamin was heard from
the bottom of the stairs.

" Why, Dame Ursley— why, wife, I say — why, dame — why,
love, you are wanted more than a strop for a blunt razor —
why, dame —

" I would some one would draw the razor across thy wind-
pipe, thou bawling ass ! " said the dame to herself, in the first
moment of irritation against her clamorous helpmate, and
then called aloud, "Why, what is the matter, Master Suddle-
chop ? I am just going to slip into bed ; I have been daggled
to and fro the whole day."

" Nay, sweetheart, it is not me," said the patient Benjamin,
" but the Scots laundry-maid from neighbour Ramsay's, who
must speak with you incontinent."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 113

At the word sweetheart, Dame Ursley cast a wistful look
at the mess which was stewed to a second in the stewpan,
and then replied with a sigh, "Bid Scots Jenny come up,
Master Suddlechop. I shall be very happy to hear what she
has to say;" then added in a lower tone, "and I hope she
will go to the devil in the flame of a tar-barrel, like many a
Scots witch before her ! "

The Scots laundress entered accordingly, and, having heard
nothing of the last kind wish of Dame Suddlechop, made
her reverence with considerable respect, and said her young
mistress had returned home unwell, and wished to see her
neighbour, Dame Ursley, directly.

"And why will it not do to-morrow, Jenny, my good
woman ? " said Dame Ursley ; " for I have been as far as
Whitehall to-day already, and I am well-nigh worn off my
feet, my good woman."

" Aweel ! " answered Jenny with great composure, " and
if that sae be sae, I maun take the langer tramp mysel', and
maun gae down the waterside for auld Mother Redcap at
the Hungerford Stairs, that deals in comforting young crea-
tures, e'en as you do yoursel', hinny; for ane o' ye the
bairn maun see before she sleeps, and that's a' that I ken
on't."

So saying, the old emissary, without further entreaty, turned
on her heel, and was about to retreat, when Dame Ursley
exclaimed, " No, no ; if the sweet child, your mistress, has
any necessary occasion for good advice and kind tendance,
you need not go to Mother Redcap, Janet. She may do
very well for skippers' wives, chandlers' daughters, and such
like ; but nobody shall wait on pretty Mistress Margaret, the
daughter of his most Sacred Majesty's horologer, excepting
and saving myself. And so I will but take my chopins and
my cloak, and put on my muffler, and cross the street to
neighbour Ramsay's in an instant. But tell me yourself,

H4 The Fortunes of Nigel.

good Jenny, are you not something tired of your young lady's
frolics and change of mind twenty times a day ? "

" In troth, not I," said the patient drudge, " unless it may
be when she is a wee fashious about washing her laces ; but
I have been her keeper since she was a bairn, neighbour
Suddlechop, and that makes a difference."

"Ay," said Dame Ursley, still busied putting on additional
defences against the night air ; " and you know for certain
that she has two hundred pounds a year in good land at her
own free disposal ? "

" Left by her grandmother, Heaven rest her soul ! " said
the Scotswoman; "and to a daintier lassie she could not
have bequeathed it."

"Very true, very true, mistress; for, with all her little
Whims, I have always said Mistress Margaret Ramsay was
the prettiest girl in the ward ; and, Jenny, I warrant the poor
child has had no supper ? "

Jenny could not say but it was the case ; for her master
being out, the twa 'prentice lads had gone out after shutting
shop to fetch them home, and she and the other maid had
gone out to Sandy MacGiven's to see a friend frae Scotland.

" As was very natural, Mistress Janet," said Dame Ursley,
who found her interest in assenting to all sorts of proposi-
tions from all sorts of persons.

" And so the fire went out too," said Jenny.

" Which was the most natural of the whole," said Dame
Suddlechop; "and so, to cut the matter short, Jenny, I'll
carry over the little bit of supper that I was going to eat.
For dinner I have tasted none, and it may be my young
pretty Mistress Marget will eat a morsel with me ; for it is
mere emptiness, Mistress Jenny, that often puts these fancies
of illness into young folk's heads." So saying, she put the
silver posset-cup with the ale into Jenny's hands ; and assum-
ing her mantle with the alacrity of one determined to sacri-

The Fortunes of Nigel. 115

fice inclination to duty, she hid the stewpan under its folds,
and commanded Wilsa, the little mulatto girl, to light them
across the street

"Whither away, so late?" said the barber, whom they
passed seated with his starveling boys round a mess of stock-
fish and parsnips in the shop below.

" If I were to tell you, gaffer," said the dame with most
contemptuous coolness, " I do not think you could do my
errand, so I will e'en keep it to myself." Benjamin was too
much accustomed to his wife's independent mode of conduct
to pursue his inquiry further; nor did the dame tarry for
further question, but marched out at the door, telling the
eldest of the boys " to sit up till her return, and look to the
house the whilst."

The night was dark and rainy, and although the distance
betwixt the two shops was short, it allowed Dame Ursley
leisure enough, while she strode along with high-tucked pet-
ticoats, to embitter it by the following grumbling reflections :
" I wonder what I have done, that I must needs trudge at
every old beldam's bidding and every young minx's maggot !
I have been marched from Temple Bar to Whitechapel on
the matter of a pinmaker's wife having pricked her fingers ;
marry, her husband that made the weapon might have salved
the wound. And here is this fantastic ape, pretty Mistress
Marget, forsooth — such a beauty as I could make of a Dutch
doll, and as fantastic, and humorous, and conceited as if
she were a duchess. I have seen her in the same day as
changeful as a marmoset and as stubborn as a mule. I
should like to know whether her little conceited noddle or
her father's old crazy, calculating jolter-pate breeds most
whimsies. But then there's that two hundred pounds a year
in dirty land, and the father is held a close chuff, though a
fanciful. He is our landlord besides, and she has begged a
late day from him for our rent ; so, God help me, I must be

Ii6 The Fortunes of Nigel.

conformable. Besides, the little capricious devil is my only
key to get at Master George Heriot's secret, and it concerns
my character to find that out ; and so, andiamos^ as the lingua
franca hath it."

Thus pondering, she moved forward with hasty strides
until she arrived at the watchmaker's habitation. The at-
tendant admitted them by means of a pass-key. Onward
glided Dame Ursula, now in glimmer and now in gloom,
not, like the lovely Lady Christabelle, through Gothic sculp-
ture and ancient armour, but creeping and stumbling
amongst relics of old machines, and models of new inven-
tions in various branches of mechanics, with which wrecks
of useless ingenuity, either in a broken or half-finished shape,
the apartment of the fanciful though ingenious mechanist was
continually lumbered.

At length they attained, by a very narrow staircase, pretty
Mistress Margaret's apartment, where she, the cynosure of
the eyes of every bold young bachelor in Fleet Street, sat
in a posture which hovered between the discontented and
the disconsolate. For her pretty back and shoulders were
rounded into a curve, her round and dimpled chin reposed
in the hollow of her little palm, while the fingers were folded
over her mouth ; her elbow rested on a table, and her eyes
seemed fixed upon the dying charcoal which was expiring
in a small grate. She scarce turned her head when Dame
Ursula entered ; and when the presence of that estimable
matron was more precisely announced in words by the old
Scotswoman, Mistress Margaret, without changing her pos-
ture, muttered some sort of answer that was wholly unin-
telligible.

"Go your ways down to the kitchen with Wilsa, good
Mistress Jenny," said Dame Ursula, who was used to all
sorts of freaks on the part of her patients or clients, which-
ever they might be termed ; " put the stewpan and the por-

The Fortunes of Nigel. 117

ringer by the fireside, and go down below. I must speak to
my pretty love, Mistress Margaret, by myself; and there is
not a bachelor betwixt this and Bow but will envy me the
privilege."

The attendants retired as directed, and Dame Ursula,
having availed herself of the embers of charcoal to place
her stewpan to the best advantage, drew herself as close as
she could to her patient, and begat ^n a low, soothing, and
confidential tone of voice to inquire what ailed her pretty
flower of neighbours.

" Nothing, dame," said Margaret somewhat pettishly, and
changing her posture so as rather to turn her back upon the
kind inquirer.

" Nothing, ladybird ! " answered Dame Suddlechop ; " and
do you use to send for your friends out of bed at this hour
for nothing ? "

" It was not I who sent for you, dame," replied the mal-
content maiden.

" And who was it, then ? " said Ursula ; " for if I had not
been sent for, I had not been here at this time of night, I
promise you ! "

"It was the old Scotch fool, Jenny, who did it out of
her own head, I suppose," said Margaret, " for she has been
stunning me these two hours about you and Mother Redcap."

"Me and Mother Redcap!" said Dame Ursula; "an old
fool indeed, that couples folk up so. But come, come, my
sweet little neighbour, Jenny is no such fool after all ; she
knows young folks want more and better advice than her
own, and she knows, too, where to find it for them. So you
must take heart of grace, my pretty maiden, and tell me what
you are moping about, and then let Dame Ursula alone for
finding out a cure."

" Nay, an you be so wise, Mother Ursula," replied the girl,
" you may guess what I ail without my telling you."

Ii8 Tke Fortunes of Nigel

"Ay, ay, child," answered the complaisant matron, "no
one can play better than I at the good old game of What is
my thought like ? Now I'll warrant that little head of yours
is running on a new head-tire, a foot higher than those our
city dames wear — or you are all for a trip to Islington or
Ware, and your father is cross and will not consent — or —

" Or you are an old fool, Dame Suddlechop," said Mar-
garet peevishly, "and must needs trouble yourself about
matters you know nothing of."

" Fool as much as you will, mistress," said Dame Ursula,
offended in her turn, " but not so very many years older than
yourself, mistress."

" Oh ! we are angry, are we ? " said the beauty ; " and
pray, Madam Ursula, how come you, that are not so many
years older than me, to talk about such nonsense to me,
who am so many years younger, and who yet have too much
sense to care about head-gears and Islington ? "

"Well, well, young mistress," said the sage counsellor,
rising, " I perceive I can be of no use here ; and methinks,
since you know your own matters so much better than other
people do, you might dispense with disturbing folks at mid-
night to ask their advice."

"Why, now you are angry, mother," said Margaret, de-
taining her; "this comes of your coming out at eventide
without eating your supper — I never heard you utter a cross
word after you had finished your little morsel. — Here, Janet,
a trencher and salt for Dame Ursula ;— and what have you
in that porringer, dame? Filthy, clammy ale, as I would
live ! Let Janet fling it out of the window, or keep it for
my father's morning draught ; and she shall bring you the
pottle of sack that was set ready for him— good man, he
will never find out the difference, for ale will wash down his
dusty calculations quite as well as wine."

"Truly, sweetheart, I am of your opinion," said Dame

The Fortunes of Nigel. 119

Ursula, whose temporary displeasure vanished at once before
these preparations for good cheer ; and so, settling herself on
the great easy-chair with a three-legged table before her, she
began to dispatch with good appetite the little delicate dish
which she had prepared for herself. She did not, however,
fail in the duties of civility, and earnestly but in vain pressed
Mistress Margaret to partake her dainties. The damsel de-
clined the invitation.

" At least pledge me in a glass of sack," said Dame Ursula.
"I have heard my grandam say that, before the gospellers
came in, the old Catholic father confessors and their penitents
always had a cup of sack together before confession; and
you are my penitent."

" I shall drink no sack, I am sure," said Margaret ; " and
I told you before, that if you cannot find out what ails me, I
shall never have the heart to tell it."

So saying, she turned away from Dame Ursula once more,
and resumed her musing posture, with her hand on her
elbow, and her back, at least one shoulder, turned towards
her confidante.

" Nay, then," said Dame Ursula, " I must exert my skill
in good earnest. You must give me this pretty hand, and I
will tell you by palmistry, as well as any gypsy of them all,
what foot it is you halt upon."

"As if I halted on any foot at all," said Margaret, some-
thing scornfully, but yielding her left hand to Ursula, and
continuing at the same time her averted position.

" I see brave lines here," said Ursula, " and not ill to read
neither — pleasure and wealth, and merry nights and late
mornings, to my Beauty, and such an equipage as shall shake
Whitehall. Oh, have I touched you there ?— and smile you
now, my pretty one ? — for why should not he be Lord Mayor,
and go to court in his gilded caroche, as others have done
before him ? "

1 26 The Fortunes of Nigel.

"Lord Mayor? pshaw!" replied Margaret.

"And why pshaw at my Lord Mayor, sweetheart? Or
perhaps you pshaw at my prophecy ; but there is a cross in
every one's line of life as well as in yours, darling. And
what though I see a 'prentice's flat cap in this pretty palm,
yet there is a sparkling black eye under it hath not its match
in the Ward of Farringdon Without."

" Whom do you mean, dame ? " said Margaret coldly.

"Whom should I mean," said Dame Ursula, "but the
prince of 'prentices, and king of good company, Jenkin
Vincent?"

"Out, woman! — Jenkin Vincent ? — a clown— a Cockney!"
exclaimed the indignant damsel.

" Ay, sets the wind in that quarter, Beauty ! " quoth the
dame ; " why, it has changed something since we spoke
together last, for then I would have sworn it blew fairer for
poor Jin Vin ; and the poor lad dotes on you too, and would
rather see your eyes than the first glimpse of the sun on the
great holiday on May-day."

" I would my eyes had the power of the sun to blind his,
then," said Margaret, " to teach the drudge his place."

" Nay," said Dame Ursula, " there be some who say that
Frank Tunstall is as proper a lad as Jin Vin, and of surety
he is a third cousin to a knighthood, and come of a good
house ; and so mayhap you may be for northward ho ! "

"Maybe I may," answered Margaret, "but not with my
father's 'prentice, I thank you, Dame Ursula."

" Nay, then, the devil may guess your thoughts for me,"
said Dame Ursula ; " this comes of trying to shoe a filly that
is eternally wincing and shifting ground ! "

"Hear me, then," said Margaret, "and mind what I say.
This day I dined abroad "

" I can tell you where," answered her counsellor — " with
your godfather, the rich goldsmith. Ay, you see I know

The Fortunes of Nigel. 1 21

something; nay, I could tell you, an I would, with whom,
too."

" Indeed ! " said Margaret, turning suddenly round with
an accent of strong surprise, and colouring up to the eyes.

"With old Sir Mungo Malagrowther," said the oracular
dame ; " he was trimmed in my Benjamin's shop in his way
to the city."

" Pshaw ! the frightful old mouldy skeleton ! " said the
damsel.

" Indeed you say true, my dear," replied the confidante ;
"it is a shame to him to be out of Saint Pancras's charnel-
house, for I know no other place he is fit for, the foul-mouthed
old railer. He said to my husband "

" Somewhat which signifies nothing to our purpose, I dare
say," interrupted Margaret. "I must speak, then. There
dined with us a nobleman "

" A nobleman ! — the maiden's mad ! " said Dame Ursula.

"There dined with us, I say," continued Margaret, with-
out regarding the interruption, "a nobleman — a Scottish
nobleman."

" Now Our Lady keep her ! " said the confidante, " she is
quite frantic. Heard ever any one of a watchmaker's daugh-
ter falling in love with a nobleman — and a Scots nobleman,
to make the matter complete, who are all as proud as Lucifer
and as poor as Job ? A Scots nobleman, quotha ? I had as
lief you told me of a Jew pedlar. I would have you think how
all this is to end, pretty one, before you jump in the dark."

"That is nothing to you, Ursula; it is your assistance,"
said Mistress Margaret, "and not your advice that I am
desirous to have, and you know I can make it worth your
while."

" Oh, it is not for the sake of lucre, Mistress Margaret,"
answered the obliging dame ; " but truly I would have you
listen to some advice — bethink you of your own condition."

122 The Fortunes of Nigel.

" My father's calling is mechanical," said Margaret, " but
our blood is not so. I have heard my father say that we
are descended, at a distance indeed, from the great Earls of
Dalwolsey.;' *

" Ay, ay," said Dame Ursula ; " even so. I never knew a
Scot of you but was descended, as ye call it, from some great
house or other; and a piteous descent it often is — and as
for the distance you speak of, it is so great as to put you out
of sight of each other. Yet do not toss your pretty head so
scornfully, but tell me the name of this lordly northern gal-
lant, and we will try what can be done in the matter."

" It is Lord Glenvarloch, whom they call Lord Nigel Oli-
faunt," said Margaret in a low voice, and turning away to
hide her blushes.

" Marry, Heaven forfend ! " exclaimed Dame Suddlechop ;
" this is the very devil and something worse ! "

"How mean you?" said the damsel, surprised at the
vivacity of her exclamation.

" Why, know ye not," said the dame, " what powerful ene-
mies lie has at Court ? Know ye not — but blisters on my
tongue, it runs too fast for my wit ; enough to say, that you
had better make your bridal-bed under a falling house than
think of young Glenvarloch."

" He.z> unfortunate, then ? " said Margaret. " I knew it—
I divined it. There was sorrow in his voice when he said
even what was gay ; there was a touch of misfortune in his
melancholy smile; he had not thus clung to my thoughts
had I seen him in all the midday glare of prosperity."

" Romances have cracked her brain ! " said Dame Ursula ;

* The head of the ancient and distinguished house of Ramsay, and to
whom, as their chief, the individuals of that name look as their origin
and source of gentry. Allan Ramsay, the pastoral poet, in the same
manner, makes

" Dalhousie of an auld descent,

My chief, my stoup, my ornament."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 123

"she is a castaway girl — utterly distraught — loves a Scots
lord, and likes him the better for being unfortunate ! Well,
mistress, I am sorry this is a matter I cannot aid you in. It
goes against my conscience, and it is an affair above my con-
dition and beyond my management; but I will keep your
counsel."

"You will not be so base as to desert me after having
drawn my secret from me ? " said Margaret indignantly. " If
you do, I know how to have my revenge ; and if you do not,
I will reward you well. Remember the house your husband
dwells in is my father's property."

"I remember it but too well, Mistress Margaret," said
Ursula, after a moment's reflection, " and I would serve you
in anything in my condition ; but to meddle with such high
matters — I shall never forget poor Mistress Turner,* my
honoured patroness, peace be with her! She had the ill-
luck to meddle in the matter of Somerset and Overbury, and
so the great earl and his lady slipped their necks out of the
collar, and left her and some half-dozen others to suffer in
their stead. . I shall never forget the sight of her standing on
the scaffold with the ruff round her pretty neck, all done up
with the yellow starch which I had so often helped her to
make, and that was so soon to give place to a rough hempen
cord. Such a sight, sweetheart, will make one loath to meddle
with matters that are too hot or heavy for their handling."

"Out, you fool!" answered Mistress Margaret; "am I
one to speak to you about such criminal practices as that
wretch died for? All I desire of you is, to get me precise
knowledge of what affair brings this young nobleman to
Court."

"And when you have his secret," said Ursula, "what will
it avail you, sweetheart ?-— and yet I would do your errand, if
you could do as much for me."

* Note, p. 569. Mrfe. Anne Turner.

124 The Fortunes of Nigel.

" And what is it you would have of me ? " said Mistress
Margaret.

" What you have been angry with me for asking before/'
answered Dame Ursula. " I want to have some light about
the story of your godfather's ghost that is only seen at
prayers."

"Not for the world," said Mistress Margaret, "will I be
a spy on my kind godfather's secrets. No, Ursula; that I
will never pry into which he desires to keep hidden. But
thou knowest that I have a fortune of my own, which must
at no distant day come under my management — think of
some other recompense."

" Ay, that I well know," said the counsellor. " It is that
two hundred per year, with your father's indulgence, that
makes you so wilful, sweetheart."

"It may be so," said Margaret Ramsay. "Meanwhile,
do you serve me truly ; and here is a ring of value in pledge
that, when my fortune is in my own hand, I will redeem the
token with fifty broad pieces of gold."

" Fifty broad pieces of gold ! " repeated the dame ; " and
this ring, which is a right fair one, in token you fail not of
your word ! Well, sweetheart, if I must put my throat in
peril, I am sure I cannot risk it for a friend more generous
than you ; and I would not think of more than the pleasure
of serving you, only Benjamin gets more idle every day, and
our family "

" Say no more of it," said Margaret ; " we understand each
other. And now, tell me what you know of this young
man's affairs, which made you so unwilling to meddle with
them?"

"Of that I can say no great matter, as yet," answered
Dame Ursula ; " only I know the most powerful among his
ovm countrymen are against him, and also the most powerful
at the Court here. But I will learn more of it ; for it will be

The Fortunes .of Nigel 12$

a dim print that I will not read for your sake, pretty Mistress
Margaret. Know you where this gallant dwells ? "

" I heard by accident," said Margaret, as if ashamed of the
minute particularity of her memory upon such an occasion —
" he lodges, I think— at one Christie's— if I mistake not— at
Paul's Wharf— a ship-chandler's."

" A proper lodging for a young baron ! Well, but cheer
you up, Mistress Margaret ; if he has come up a caterpillar,
like some of his countrymen, he may cast his slough like
them and come out a butterfly. So I drink good-night, and
sweet dreams to you, in another parting cup of sack; and
you shall hear tidings of me within four-and-twenty hours.
And once more I commend you to your pillow, my pearl of
pearls, and Marguerite of Marguerites ! "

So saying, she kissed the reluctant cheek of her young
friend or patroness, and took her departure with the light
and stealthy pace of one accustomed to accommodate her
footsteps to the purposes of dispatch and secrecy.

Margaret Ramsay looked after her for some time in
anxious silence. "I did ill," she at length murmured, "to
let her wring this out of me; but she is artful, bold, and
serviceable — and I think faithful — or, if. not, she will be true
at least to her interest, and that I can command. I would
I had not spoken, however. I have begun a hopeless work.
For what has he said to me to warrant my meddling in his
fortunes? Nothing but words of the most ordinary import
—mere table-talk and terms of course. Yet who knows,"
she said, and then broke off, looking at the glass the while,
which, as it reflected back a face of great beauty, probably
suggested to her mind a more favourable conclusion of the
sentence than she cared to trust her tongue withal.

126 The Fortunes of Nigel

CHAPTER IX.

So pitiful a thing is suitor's state I
Most miserable man, whom wicked fate
Hath brought to Court to sue, for Had I wist,
That few have found, and many a one hath nriss'd !
Full little knowest thou, that hast not tried,
What hell it is, in sueing long to bide :
To lose good days, that might be better spent ;
To waste long nights in pensive discontent ;
To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow ;
To feed on hope, to pine with fear and sorrow ;
To have thy Prince's grace, yet want her Peers' ;
To have thy asking, yet wait many years ;
To fret thy soul with crosses and with cares —
To eat thy heart through comfortless despairs.
To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run,
To spend, to give, to want, to be undone.

Mother Hubbard's Tale.

ON the morning of the day on which George Heriot had
prepared to escort the young Lord of Glenvarloch to the
Court at Whitehall, it may be reasonably supposed that the
young man, whose fortunes were likely to depend on this
cast, felt himself more than usually anxious. He rose early,
made his toilet with uncommon care, and being enabled, by
the generosity of his more plebeian countryman, to set out a
very handsome person to the best advantage, he obtained
a momentary approbation from himself as he glanced at
the mirror, and a loud and distinct plaudit from his land-
lady, who declared at once that in her judgment he would
take the wind out of the sail of every gallant in the presence
— so much had she been able to enrich her discourse with
the metaphors of those with whom her husband dealt.

At the appointed hour, the barge of Master George Heriot
arrived, handsomely manned and appointed, .having a tilt,
with his own cipher, and the arms of his company, painted
thereupon.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 127

The young Lord of Glenvarloch received the friend who
had evinced such disinterested attachment with the kind
courtesy which well became him.

Master Heriot then made him acquainted with the bounty
of his Sovereign, which he paid over to his young friend, de-
clining what he had himself formerly advanced to him. Nigel
felt all the gratitude which the citizen's disinterested friendship
had deserved, and was not wanting in expressing it suitably.

Yet, as the young and high-born nobleman embarked to
go to the presence of his Prince, under the patronage of one
whose best or most distinguished qualification was his being
an eminent member of the Goldsmiths* Incorporation, he
felt a little surprised, if not abashed, at his own situation;
-and Richie Moniplies, as he stepped over the gangway to
take his place forward in the boat, could not help mutter-
ing, " It was a changed day betwixt Master Heriot and his
honest father in the Kraemes; but, doubtless, there was a
difference between clinking on gold and silver, and clattering
upon pewter."

On they glided, by the assistance of the oars of four stout
watermen, along the Thames, which then served for the
principal highroad betwixt London and Westminster; for
few ventured on horseback through the narrow and crowded
streets of the city, and coaches were then a luxury reserved
only for the higher nobility, and to which no citizen, what-
ever was his wealth, presumed to aspire. The beauty of the
banks, especially on the northern side, where the gardens of
the nobility descended from their hotels, in many places,
down to the water's edge, was pointed out to Nigel by his
kind conductor, and was pointed out in vain. The mind of
the young Lord of Glenvarloch was filled with anticipations,
not the most pleasant, concerning the manner in which he
was likely to be received by that monarch in whose behalf
his family had been nearly reduced to ruin; and he was,

128 The Fortunes of Nigel

with the usual mental anxiety of those in such a situation,
framing imaginary questions from the King, and over-toiling
his spirit in devising answers to them.

His conductor saw the labour of Nigel's mind, and avoided
increasing it by further conversation ; so that, when he had
explained to him briefly the ceremonies observed at Court
on such occasions of presentation, the rest of their voyage
was performed in silence.

They landed at Whitehall Stairs, and entered the Palace
after announcing their names, the guards paying to Lord
Glenvaiioch the respect and honours due to his rank.

The young man's heart beat high and thick within him as
he came into the royal apartments. His education abroad,
conducted, as it had been, on a narrow and limited scale,
had given him but imperfect ideas of the grandeur of a
Court ; and the philosophical reflections which taught him
to set ceremonial and exterior splendour at defiance, proved,
like other maxims of mere philosophy, ineffectual at the
moment they were weighed against the impression naturally
made on the mind of an inexperienced youth by the unusual
magnificence of the scene. The splendid apartments through
which they passed, the rich apparel of the grooms, guards,
and domestics in waiting, and the ceremonial attending their
passage through the long suite of apartments, had something
in it, trifling and commonplace as it might appear to practised
courtiers, embarrassing, and even alarming, to one who went
through these forms for the first time, and who was doubtful
what sort of reception was to accompany his first appearance
before his Sovereign.

Heriot, in anxious attention to save his young friend from
any momentary awkwardness, had taken care to give the
necessary password to the warders, grooms of the chambers,
ushers, or by whatever name they were designated ; so they
passed on without interruption.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 1 29

In this manner they passed several anterooms, filled chiefly
with guards, attendants of the Court, and their acquaintances,
male and female, who, dressed in their best apparel, and
with eyes rounded by eager curiosity to make the most of
their opportunity, stood, with beseeming modesty, ranked
against the wall, in a manner which indicated that they were
spectators, not performers, in the courtly exhibition.

Through these exterior apartments Lord Glenvarloch and
his city friend advanced into a large and splendid with-
drawing-room, communicating with the presence-chamber,
into which anteroom were admitted those only who, from
birth, their posts in the state or household, or by the particular
grant of the King, had right to attend the Court, as men
entitled to pay their respects to their Sovereign.

Amid this favoured and selected company, Nigel observed
Sir Mungo Malagrowther, who, avoided and discountenanced
by those who knew how low he stood in Court interest and
favour, was but too happy in the opportunity of hooking
himself upon a person of Lord Glenvarloch's rank, who was,
as yet, so inexperienced as to feel it difficult to shake off an
intruder.

The knight forthwith framed his grim features to a ghastly
smile, and, after a preliminary and patronizing nod to George
Heriot, accompanied with an aristocratic wave of the hand,
which intimated at once superiority and protection, he laid
aside altogether the honest citizen, to whom he owed many
a dinner, to attach himself exclusively to the young lord,
although he suspected he might be occasionally in the pre-
dicament of needing one as much as himself. And even the
notice of this original, singular and unamiable as he was,
was not entirely indifferent to the Lord Glenvarloch, since
the absolute and somewhat constrained silence of his good
friend Heriot, which left him at liberty to retire painfully to
his own agitating reflections, was now relieved; while, on

5

130 The Fortunes of Nigel.

the other hand, he could not help feeling interest in the
sharp and sarcastic information poured upon him by an
observant though discontented courtier, to whom a patient
auditor, and he a man of title and rank, was as much a prize,
as his acute and communicative disposition rendered him
an entertaining companion to Nigel Olifaunt. Heriot, in the
meantime, neglected by Sir Mungo, and avoiding every at-
tempt by which the grateful politeness of Lord Glenvarloch
strove to bring him into the conversation, stood by, with a kind
of half-smile on his countenance ; but whether excited by Sir
Mungo's wit, or arising at his expense, did not exactly appear.

In the meantime, the trio occupied a nook of the anteroom
next to the door of the presence-chamber, which was not yet
thrown open, when Maxwell, with his rod of office, came
bustling into the apartment, where most men, excepting
those of high rank, made way for him. He stopped beside
the party in which we are interested, looked for a moment
at the young Scots nobleman, then made a slight obeisance
to Heriot, and lastly, addressing Sir Mungo Malagrowther,
began a hurried complaint to him of the misbehaviour of the
gentlemen-pensioners and warders, who suffered all sort of
citizens, suitors, and scriveners to sneak into the outer apart-
ments, without either respect or decency. "The English,"
he said, "were scandalized, for such a thing durst not be
attempted in the Queen's days. In her time, there was
then the courtyard for the mobility, and the apartments for
the nobility; and it reflects on your place, Sir Mungo,"
he added, " belonging to the household as you do, that such
things should not be better ordered."

Here Sir Mungo, afflicted, as was frequently the case on
such occasions, with one of his usual fits of deafness,
answered, "It was no wonder the mobility used freedoms,
when those whom they saw in office were so little better in
blood and havings than themselves."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 131

"You are right, sir — quite right," said Maxwell, putting
his hand on the tarnished embroidery on the old knight's
sleeve. "When such fellows see men in office dressed in
cast-off suits, like paltry stage-players, it is no wonder the
Court is thronged with intruders."

"Were you lauding the taste of my embroidery, Maister
Maxwell ? " answered the knight, who apparently interpreted
the deputy-chamberlain's meaning rather from his action
than his words. " It is of an ancient and liberal pattern,
having been made by your mother's father, auld James
Stitchell, a master-fashioner of honest repute, in Merlin's
Wynd, whom I made a point to employ, as I am now happy
to remember, seeing your father thought fit to intermarry
with sic a person's daughter." *

Maxwell looked stern ; but, conscious there was nothing
to be got of Sir Mungo in the way of amends, and that
prosecuting the quarrel with such an adversary would only
render him ridiculous, and make public a misalliance of
which he had no reason to be proud, he covered his resent-
ment with a sneer ; and, expressing his regret that Sir Mungo
was become too deaf to understand or attend to what was
said to him, walked on, and planted himself beside the
folding-doors of the presence-chamber, at which he was to
perform the duty of deputy-chamberlain, or usher, so soon
as they should be opened.

"The door of the presence is about to open," said the
goldsmith, in a whisper, to his young friend ; " my condition
permits me to go no further with you. Fail not to present
yourself boldly, according to your birth, and offer your
Supplication; which the King will not refuse to accept,
and, as I hope, to consider favourably."

As he spoke, the doot of the presence-chamber opened
accordingly, and, as is usual on such occasions, the courtiers
* See Note, p. 568. Sir Mungo Malagrowther.

132 The Fortunes of Nigel.

began to advance towards it, and to enter in a slow, but
continuous and uninterrupted stream.

As Nigel presented himself in his turn at the entrance,
and mentioned his name and title, Maxwell seemed to
hesitate. " You are not known to any one," he said. " It is
my duty to suffer no one to pass to the presence, my lord,
whose face is unknown to me, unless upon the word of a
responsible person/'

" I came with Master George Heriot," said Nigel, in some
embarrassment at this unexpected interruption.

"Master Heriot's name will pass current for much gold
and silver, my lord," replied Maxwell, with a civil sneer,
" but not for birth and rank. I am compelled by my office
to be peremptory. The entrance is impeded. I am much
concerned to say it — your lordship must stand back."

"What is the matter?" said an old Scottish nobleman,
who had been speaking with George Heriot after he had
separated from Nigel, and who now came forward, observing
the altercation betwixt the latter and Maxwell.

"It is only Master Deputy-Chamberlain Maxwell," said
Sir Mungo Malagrowther, "expressing his joy to see Lord
Glenvarloch at Court, whose father gave him his office — at
least, I think he is speaking to that purport— for your
loHship kens my imperfection." A subdued laugh, such as
the situation permitted, passed round amongst those who
heard this specimen of Sir Mungo's sarcastic temper. But
the old nobleman stepped still more forward, saying, "What !
the son of my gallant old opponent, Ochtred Olifaunt? I
will introduce him to the presence myself."

So saying, he took Nigel by the arm, without further
ceremony, and was about to lead him forward, when Max-
well, still keeping his rod across the door, said, but with
hesitation and embarrassment, " My lord, this gentleman is
not known, and I have orders to be scrupulous."

The Fortunes of Nigel 133

"Tutti-taiti, man," said the old lord, "I will be answerable
he is his father's son, from the cut of his eyebrow ; and thou,
Maxwell, knewest his father well enough to have spared thy
scruples. Let us pass, man." So saying, he put aside the
deputy-chamberlain's rod, and entered the presence-room,
still holding the young nobleman by the arm.

" Why, I must know you, man," he said — " I must know
you. I knew your father well, man, and I have broke a
lance and crossed a blade with him ; and it is to my credit
that I am living to brag of it. He was king's-man, and I
was queen's-man, during the Douglas wars — young fellows
both, that feared neither fire nor steel; and we had some
old feudal quarrels besides, that had come down from father
to son, with our seal-rings, two-handed broadswords, and
plate coats, and the crests on our burgonets."

"Too loud, my Lord of Huntinglen," whispered a gentle-
man of the chamber — " the King ! the King ! "

The old Earl (for such he proved) took the hint, and
was silent ; and James, advancing from a side-door, received
in succession the compliments of strangers, while a little
group [of favourite courtiers, or officers of the household,
stood around him, to whom he addressed himself from time
to time. Some more pains had been bestowed on his
toilet than upon the occasion when we first presented the
monarch to our readers ; but there was a natural awkward-
ness about his figure which prevented his clothes from
sitting handsomely, and the prudence or timidity of his
disposition had made him adopt the custom, already noticed,
of wearing a dress so thickly quilted as might withstand the
stroke of a dagger, which added an ungainly stiffness to his
whole appearance, contrasting oddly with the frivolous, un-
graceful, and fidgeting motions with which he accompanied
his conversation. And yet, though the King's deportment
was very undignified, he had a manner so kind, familiar,

134 The Fortunes of Nigel.

and good-humoured, was so little apt to veil over or conceal
his own foibles, and had so much indulgence and sympathy
for those of others, that his address, joined to his learning,
and a certain proportion of shrewd mother-wit, failed not to
make a favourable impression on those who approached his
person.

When the Earl of Huntinglen had presented Nigel to his
Sovereign — a ceremony which the good peer took upon
himself — the King received the young lord very graciously,
and observed to his introducer, that he "was fain to see
them twa stand side by side; for I trow, my Lord Hunt-
inglen," continued he, "your ancestors, ay, and e'en your
lordship's self, and this lad's father, have stood front to front
at the sword's point, and that is a worse posture."

"Until your Majesty," said Lord Huntinglen, "made
Lord Ochtred and me cross palms, upon the memorable
day when your Majesty feasted all the nobles that were
at feud together, and made them join hands in your pres-

" I mind it weel," said the King — " I mind it weel ! It
was a blessed day, being the nineteen of September, of all
days in the year ; and it was a blithe sport to see how some
of the carles girned as they clapped loofs together. By my
saul, I thought some of them, mair special the Hieland
chiels, wad have broken out in our own presence ; but we
caused them to march hand in hand to the Cross, ourselves
leading the way, and there drink a blithe cup of kindness
with ilk other, to the stanching of feud and perpetuation of
amity. Auld John Anderson was Provost that year. The
carle grat for joy; and the Bailies and Councillors danced
bareheaded in our presence like five-year-auld colts, for very
triumph."

" It was indeed a happy day," said Lord Huntinglen, "and
will not be forgotten in the history of your Majesty's reign."

The Fortunes of Nigel 135

" I would not that it were, my lord," replied the Monarch
— "I would not that it were pretermitted in our annals.
Ay, ay — Beati pacifiti. My English lieges here may weel
make much of me, for I would have them to know, they
have gotten the only peaceable man that ever came of my
family. If James with the Fiery Face had come amongst
you," he said, looking round him, "or my great-grandsire,
of Flodden memory ! "

"We should have sent him back to the north again,"
whispered one English nobleman.

" At least," said another, in the same inaudible tone, " we
should have had a man to our sovereign, though he were but
a Scotsman."

"And now, my young springald," said the King to Lord
Glenvarloch, "where have you been spending your calf-
time?"

" At Leyden, of late, may it please your Majesty," answered
Lord Nigel.

" Aha ! a scholar," said the King ; " and, by my saul, a
modest and ingenuous youth, that hath not forgotten how to
blush, like most of our travelled Monsieurs. We will treat
him conformably."

Then drawing himself up, coughing slightly, and looking
around him with the conscious importance of superior
learning, while all the courtiers who understood, or under-
stood not, Latin, pressed eagerly forward to listen, the
sapient monarch prosecuted his inquiries as follows : —

" Hem ! hem ! Salve bis, quaterque salve, Glenvarlochides
nostert Nuperumne ab Lugduno Batavorum Britanniam
rediisti?"

The young nobleman replied, bowing low —

" Imo, Rex augustissime — biennium fere apud Lugdunenses
moratus sum."

James proceeded. —

136 The Fortunes of Nigel.

" Biennium diets? bene, bene, optume factum est — Non
uno die, quod dicunt—intelligisti, Domine Glenvarlochiensh '{
Aha!"

Nigel replied by a reverent bow, and the King, turning
to those behind him, said, —

" Adolescens quidem ingenui vultus ingenuique pudoris."
Then resumed his learned queries. " Et quid hodie Lugdu-
nenses loquuntur — Vossius vester nihilne novi scripsit? — nihil
certe, quod doleo, typis recenter edidit?

" Valet quidem Vossius, Rex benevole? replied Nigel, " ast
senex veneratissimus annum agit, nifallor^ septuagesimum."

" Virum meherde, vix tarn grand&vum crediderim? replied
the monarch. " Et Vorstius iste ? — Arminii improbi successor
aque ac sectator — Herosne adhuc, ut cum JHbmero loquar^ Zeoos

Nigel, by good fortune, remembered that Vorstius, the
divine last mentioned in his Majesty's queries about the
state of Dutch literature, had been engaged in a personal
controversy with James, in which the King had taken so
deep an interest, as at length to hint in his public corre'-
spondence with the United States, that they would do well
to apply the secular arm to stop the progress of heresy by
violent measures against the professor's person — a demand
which their Mighty Mightinesses' principles of universal
toleration induced them to elude, though with some diffi-
culty. Knowing all this, Lord Glenvarloch, though a courtier
of only five minutes' standing, had address enough to reply, —

" Vivum quidem^ haud diu estt hominem videbam — vigere
autem quis dicat qui sub fulminibus eloquenticB tu(z. Rex
magne, jamdudum pronus jacet, et prostratus t"*

* Lest any lady or gentleman should suspect there is aught of mystery
concealed under the sentences printed in italics, they will be pleased to
understand that they contain only a few commonplace Latin phrases,
relating to the state of letters in Holland, which neither deserve, nor
would endure, a literal translation.

The Fortunes of Nigel 137

This last tribute to his polemical powers completed James's
happiness, which the triumph of exhibiting his erudition had
already raised to a considerable height.

He rubbed his hands, snapped his fingers, fidgeted,
chuckled, exclaimed, Euge I belle! optime!" and turning to
the Bishops of Exeter and Oxford, who stood behind him,
he said, " Ye see, my lords, no bad specimen of our Scottish
Latinity, with which language we would all our subjects
of England were as well imbued as this, and other youths
of honourable birth, in our auld kingdom; also, we keep
the genuine and Roman pronunciation, like other learned
nations on the Continent, sae that we hold communing with
any scholar in the universe who can but speak the Latin
tongue; whereas ye, our learned subjects of England, have
introduced into your universities, otherwise most learned, a
fashion of pronouncing like unto the ' nippit foot and clippit
foot ' of the bride in the fairy tale, whilk manner of speech
(take it not amiss that I be round with you) can be under-
stood by no nation on earth saving yourselves; whereby
Latin, quoad Anglos, ceaseth to be communis lingua, the
general dragoman, or interpreter, between all the wise men
of the earth."

The Bishop of Exeter bowed, as in acquiescence to the
royal censure ; but he of Oxford stood upright, as mindful
over what subjects his see extended, and as being equally
willing to become food for fagots in defence of the Latinity
of the university, as for any article of his religious creed.

The King, without awaiting an answer from either prelate,
proceeded to question Lord Nigel, but in the vernacular
tongue, " Weel, my likely Alumnus of the Muses, and what
make you so far from the north ? "

"To pay my homage to your Majesty," said the young
nobleman, kneeling on one knee, " and to lay before you,"
he added* "this my humble and dutiful Supplication."

138 The Fortunes of Nigel

The presenting of a pistol would certainly have startled
King James more, but could (setting apart the fright)
hardly have been more unpleasing to his indolent disposi-
tion.

" And is it even so, man ? " said he ; " and can no single
man, were it but for the rarity of the case, ever come up
frae Scotland, excepting ex proposito — on set purpose, to see
what he can make out of his loving sovereign ? It is but
three days syne that we had weel-nigh lost our life, and put
three kingdoms into dule-weeds, from the over-haste of a
clumsy-handed peasant to thrust a packet into our hand;
and now we are beset by the like impediment in our very
Court. To our Secretary with that gear, my lord — to our
Secretary with that gear."

" I have already offered my humble Supplication to your
Majesty's Secretary of State," said Lord Glenvarloch; "but
it seems "

" That he would not receive it, I warrant ? " said the King,
interrupting him ; " by my saul,'our Secretary kens that point
of king-craft called refusing better than we do, and will
look at nothing but what he likes himseF. I think I wad
make a better secretary to him than he to me. Weel, my
lord, you are welcome to London ; and, as ye seem an acute
and learned youth, I advise ye to turn your neb northward
as soon as ye like, and settle yoursel' for a while at Saint
Andrews, and we will be right glad to hear that you prosper
in your studies. Incumbite remis fortiter?

While the King spoke, he held the petition of the young
lord carelessly, like one who only delayed, till the suppli-
cant's back was turned, to throw it away, or at least lay it
aside to be no more looked at. The petitioner, who read
this in his cold and indifferent looks, and in the manner
in which he twisted and crumpled together the paper, arose
with a bitter sense of anser and disappointment, made a

The Fortunes of Nigel 139

profound obeisance, and was about to retire hastily. But
Lord Huntinglen, who stood by him, checked his intention
by an almost imperceptible touch upon the skirt of his cloak ;
and Nigel, taking the hint, retreated only a few steps from
the royal presence, and then made a pause. In the mean-
time, Lord Huntinglen kneeled before James, in his turn,
and said, "May it please your Majesty to remember that,
upon one certain occasion, you did promise to grant me a
boon every year of your sacred life ? " *

" I mind it weel, man," answered James, " I mind it weel,
and good reason why — it was when you unclasped the fause
traitor Ruthven's fangs from about our royal throat, and
drove your dirk into him like a true subject. We did then,
as you remind us (whilk was unnecessary), being partly beside
ourselves with joy at our liberation, promise we would grant
you a free boon every year ; whilk promise, on our coming
to menseful possession of our royal faculties, we did confirm,
restrictive always and conditionaliter, that your lordship's de-
mand should be such as we, in our royal discretion, should
think reasonable."

"Even so, gracious Sovereign," said the old Earl; "and
may I yet further crave to know if I have ever exceeded the
bounds of your royal benevolence ? "

" By my word, man, no ! " said the King j " I cannot re-
member you have asked much for yourself, if it be not a dog,
or a hawk, or a buck out of our park at Theobald's, or such
like. But to what serves this preface ? "

" To the boon which I am now to ask of your Grace,"
said Lord Huntinglen, "which is, that your Majesty would
be pleased, on the instant, to look at the placet of Lord
Glenvarloch, and do upon it what your own just and royal
nature shall think meet and just, without reference to your
Secretary or any other of your Council."

* Note, p. 570. Lord Huntinglen.

140 The Fortunes of Nigel.

"By my saul, my lord, this is strange," said the King;
" ye are pleading for the son of your enemy ! "

" Of one who was my enemy till your Majesty made him
my friend," answered Lord Huntinglen.

"Weel spoken, my lord!" said the King, "and with a
true Christian spirit. And, respecting the Supplication of
this young man, I partly guess where the matter lies, and in
plain troth I had promised to George Heriot to be good
to the lad; but then, here the shoe pinches. Steenie and
Baby Charles cannot abide him ; neither ,can your own son,
my lord ; and so, methinks, he had better go down to Scot-
land before he comes to ill luck by them."

" My son, an it please your Majesty, so far as he is con-
cerned, shall not direct my doings," said the Earl, " nor any
wild-headed young man of them all."

"Why, neither shall they mine," replied the Monarch;
" by my father's saul, none of them all shall play Rex with
me. I will do what I will, and what I aught, like a free
King."

"Your Majesty will then grant me my boon?" said the
Lord Huntinglen.

"Ay, marry will I— marry will I," said the King; "but
follow me this way, man, where we may be more private."

He led Lord Huntinglen with rather a hurried step
through the courtiers, all of whom gazed earnestly on this
unwonted scene, as is the fashion of all courts on similar
occasions. The King passed into a little cabinet, and bade,
in the first moment, Lord Huntinglen lock or bar the door ;
but countermanded his direction in the next, saying, "No,
no, no ; bread o' life, man, I am a free King — will do what
I will and what I should ; I am Justus et tenax propositi, man.
Nevertheless, keep by the door, Lord Huntinglen, in case
Steenie should come in with his mad humour."

" O my poor master ! " groaned the Earl of Himtinglea

The Fortunes of Nigel 141

" When you were in your own cold country, you had warmer
Hood in your veins."

The King hastily looked over the petition or memorial,
every now and then glancing his eye towards the door, and
then sinking it hastily on the paper, ashamed that Lord
Huntinglen, whom he respected, should suspect him of
timidity.

"To grant the truth," he said, after he had finished his
hasty perusal, " this is a hard case, and harder than it was
represented to me, though I had some inkling of it before.
And so the lad only wants payment of the siller due from us,
in order to reclaim his paternal estate ? But then, Huntin-
glen, the lad will have other debts, and why burden himse?
with sae mony acres of barren woodland ? Let the land gang,
man, let the land gang j Steenie has the promise of it from
our Scottish Chancellor; it is the best hunting-ground in
Scotland ; and Baby Charles and Steenie want to kill a buck
there this next year. They maun hae the land, they maun
hae the land ; and our debt shall be paid to the young man
plack and bawbee, and he may have the spending of it at
our Court ; or if he has such an eard hunger, wouns ! man,
we'll stuff his stomach with English land, which is worth
twice as much, ay, ten times as much, as these accursed
hills and heughs, and mosses and muirs, that he is sae keen
after."

All this while the poor King ambled up and down the
apartment in a piteous state of uncertainty, which was made
more ridiculous by his shambling, circular mode of manag-
ing his legs, and his ungainly fashion on such occasions of
fiddling with the bunches of ribbons which fastened the
lower part of his dress.

Lord Huntinglen listened with great composure, and
answered, *' An it please your Majesty, there was an answer
yielded by Naboth when Ahab coveted his vineyard, 'The

142 The Fortunes of Ntgd.

Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers

unto thee.' n

"Ey, my lord— ey, my lord!" ejaculated James, wHle
the colour mounted both to his cheek and nose ; " I hope
ye mean not to teach me divinity? Ye need not fear, my
lord, that I will shun to do justice to every man ; and, since
your lordship will give me no help to take up this in a more
peaceful manner, whilk, methinks, would be better for the
young man, as I said before, why — since it maun be so —
'sdeath, I am a free King, man, and he shall have his
money and redeem his land, and make a kirk and a miln
of it, an he will." So saying, he hastily wrote an order
on the Scottish Exchequer for the sum in question, and
then added, "How they are to pay it, I see not; but I
warrant he will find money on the order among the gold-
smiths, who can find it for every one but me. And now
you see, my Lord of Huntinglen, that I am neither an un-
true man, to deny you the boon whilk I became bound for ;
nor an Ahab, to covet Naboth V vineyard ; nor a mere nose-
of-wax, to be twisted this way and that by favourites and
counsellors at their pleasure. I think you will grant now
that I am none of those?"

"You are my own native and noble Prince," said Huntin-
glen, as he knelt to kiss the royal hand ; "just and generous,,
whenever you listen to the workings of your own heart."

"Ay, ay," said the King, laughing good-naturedly, as he
raised his faithful servant from the ground, " that is what ye
all say when I do anything to please ye. There, there, take
the sign-manual, and away with you and this young fellow.
I wonder Steenie and Baby Charles have not broken in on
us before now."

Lord Huntinglen hastened from the cabinet, foreseeing a
scene at which he was unwilling to be present, but which
sometimes occurred when James roused himself so far as to

The Fortunes of Nigel 143

exert his own free-will, of which he boasted so much, in
spite of that of his imperious favourite Steenie, as he called
the Duke of Buckingham, from a supposed resemblance be-
twixt his very handsome countenance and that with which
the Italian artists represented the protomartyr Stephen. In
factj the haughty favourite, who had the unusual good fortune
to stand as high in the opinion of the heir-apparent as of the
existing monarch, had considerably diminished in his respect
towards the latter ; and it was apparent to the more shrewd
courtiers that James endured his domination rather from
habit, timidity, and a dread of encountering his stormy
passions than from any heartfelt continuation of regard
towards him whose greatness had been the work of his own
hands. To save himself the pain of seeing what was likely
to take place on the Duke's return, and to preserve the King
from the additional humiliation which the presence of such
a witness must have occasioned, the Earl left the cabinet as
speedily as possible, having first carefully pocketed the im-
portant sign-manual.

No sooner had he entered the presence-room than he
hastily sought Lord Glenvarloch, who had withdrawn into
the embrasure of one of the windows, from the general
gaze of men who seemed disposed only to afford him the
notice which arises from surprise and curiosity, and taking
him by the arm, without speaking, led him out of the pres-
ence-chamber into the first anteroom. Here they found the
worthy goldsmith, who approached them with looks of curi-
osity, which were checked by the old lord, who said hastily,
" All is well Is your barge in waiting ? " Heriot answered in
the affirmative. "Then," said Lord Huntinglen, "you shall
give me a cast in it, as the watermen say, and I, in requital,
will give you both your dinner ; for we must have some con-
versation together."

They both followed the Earl without speaking, and were

144 ?%* Fortunes of Nigel.

in the second anteroom when the important annunciation
of the ushers, and the hasty murmur with which all made
ample way as the company repeated to each other, "The
Duke, the Duke ! " made them aware of the approach of
the omnipotent favourite.

He entered, that unhappy minion of court favour, sumptu-
ously dressed in the picturesque attire which will live for
ever on the canvas of Vandyke, and which marks so well
the proud age, when aristocracy, though undermined and
nodding to its fall, still, by external show and profuse ex-
pense, endeavoured to assert its paramount superiority over
the inferior orders. The handsome and commanding coun-
tenance, stately form, and graceful action and manners of the
Duke of Buckingham made him become that picturesque
dress beyond any man of his time. At present, however,
his countenance seemed discomposed, his dress a little
more disordered than became the place, his step hasty, and
his voice imperative.

All marked the angry spot upon his brow, and bore back
so suddenly to make way for him that the Earl of Huntin-
glen, who affected no extraordinary haste on the occasion,
with his companions, who could not, if they would, have
decently left him, remained as it were by themselves in the
middle of the room, and in the very path of the angry favour-
ite. He touched his cap sternly as he looked on Huntin-
glen, but unbonneted to Heriot, and sunk his beaver, with
its shadowy plume, as low as the floor, with a profound air
of mock respect. In returning his greeting, which he did
simply and unaffectedly, the citizen only said, "Too much
courtesy, my lord duke, is often the reverse of kindness."

" I grieve you should think so, Master Heriot," answered
the Duke; "I only meant, by my homage, to claim your
protection, sir— your patronage. You are become, I under-
stand, a solicitor of suits, a promoter, an undertaker, a fautor

The Fortunes of Nigel. 145

of court suitors of merit and quality who chance to be penni-
less. I trust your bags will bear you out in your new boast."

" They will bear me the farther, my lord duke," answered
the goldsmith, " that my boast is but small."

" Oh, you do yourself less than justice, my good Master
Heriot," continued the Duke, in the same tone of irony;
"you have a marvellous court faction, to be the son of an
Edinburgh tinker. Have the goodness to prefer me to the
knowledge of the high-born nobleman who is honoured and
advantaged by your patronage."

"That shall be my task," said Lord Huntinglen, with
emphasis. "My lord duke, I desire you to know Nigel
Olifaunt, Lord Glenvarloch, representative of one of the
most ancient and powerful baronial houses in Scotland.
Lord Glenvarloch, I present you to his Grace the Duke of
Buckingham, representative of Sir George Villiers, Knight of
Brookesby, in the county of Leicester."

The Duke coloured still more high as he bowed to Lord
Glenvarloch scornfully, a courtesy which the other returned
haughtily, and with restrained indignation. "We know each
other, then," said the Duke, after a moment's pause, and as
if he had seen something in the young nobleman which
merited more serious notice than the bitter raillery with
which he had commenced — " we know each other ; and you
know me, my lord, for your enemy." *

" I thank you for your plainness, my lord duke," replied
Nigel ; " an open enemy is better than a hollow friend."

"For you, my Lord Huntinglen," said the Duke, "me-
thinks you have but now overstepped the limits of the indul-
gence permitted to you, as the father of the Prince's friend,
and my own."

"By my word, my lord duke," replied the Earl, "it is easy
for any one to outstep boundaries of the existence of which
* Note, p. 570. Buckingham.

146 The Fortunes of Nigel.

he is not aware. It is neither to secure my protection nor
approbation that my son keeps such exalted company."

" Oh, my lord, we know you, and indulge you," said the
Duke ; " you are one of those who presume for a life long
upon the merit of one good action."

" In faith, my lord, and if it be so," said the old Earl, " I
have at least the advantage of such as presume more than I
do without having done any action of merit whatever. But
I mean not to quarrel with you, my lord j we can neither be
friends nor enemies. You have your path, and I have mine."

Buckingham only replied by throwing on his bonnet, and
shaking its lofty plume with a careless and scornful toss of
the head. They parted thus — the Duke walking onwards
through the apartments, and the others leaving the palace
and repairing to Whitehall Stairs, where they embarked on
board the barge of the citizen.

CHAPTER X.

Bid not thy fortune troll upon the wheels
Of yonder dancing cubes of mottled bone ;
And drown it not, like Egypt's royal harlot,
Dissolving her rich pearl in the brimm'd wine-cup.
These are the arts, Lothario, which shrink acres
Into brief yards — bring sterling pounds to farthings,
Credit to infamy ; and the poor gull,
Who might have lived an honour'd, easy life,
To ruin, and an unregarded grave.

The

WHEN they were fairly embarked on the Thames, the Earl
took from his pocket the Supplication, and, pointing out
to George Heriot the royal warrant indorsed thereon, asked
him if it were in due and regular form ? The worthy citizen
hastily read it over, thrust forth his hand as if to congratulate
the Lord Glenvarloch, then checked himself, pulled out his

The Fortunes of Nigel 147

barnacles (a present from old David Ramsay;, and again
perused the warrant with the most business-like and critical
attention. " It is strictly correct and formal," he said, look-
ing to the Earl of Huntinglen; "and I sincerely rejoice
at it."

" I doubt nothing of its formality," said the Earl ; " the
King understands business well, and, if he does not practise
it often, it is only because indolence obscures parts which
are naturally well qualified for the discharge of affairs. But
what is next to be done for our young friend, Master Heriot ?
You know how I am circumstanced. Scottish lords living
at the English Court have seldom command of money ; yet
unless a sum can be presently raised on this warrant, matters
standing, as you hastily hinted to me, the mortgage, wadset,
or whatever it is called, will be foreclosed."

" It is true," said Heriot, in some embarrassment, " there
is a large sum wanted in redemption ; yet, if it is not raised,
there will be an expiry of the legal, as our lawyers call it, and
the estate will be evicted."

"My noble, my worthy friends, who have taken up my
cause so undeservedly, so unexpectedly," said Nigel, "do
not let me be a burden on your kindness. You have already
done too much where nothing was merited."

" Peace, man, peace," said Lord Huntinglen, " and let old
Heriot and me puzzle this scent out. He is about to open ;
hark to him ! "

"My lord," said the citizen, "the Duke of Buckingham
sneers at our city money-bags ; yet they can sometimes open,
to prop a falling and a noble house."

"We know they can," said Lord Huntinglen; "mind
not Buckingham, he is a Peg-a-Ramsey — and now for the
remedy."

"I partly hinted to Lord Glenvarloch already," said
Heriot, "that the redemption money might be advanced

148 The Fortunes of Nigel.

upon such a warrant as the present, and I will engage my
credit that it can. But then, in order to secure the lender,
he must come in the shoes of the creditor to whom he
advances payment."

"Come in his shoes!" replied the Earl; "why, what
have boots or shoes to do with this matter, my good
friend?"

"It is a law phrase, my lord. My experience has made
me pick up a few of them," said Heriot.

"Ay, and of better things along with them, Master George,"
replied Lord Huntinglen ; " but what means it ? "

"Simply this," resumed the citizen — "that the lender of
this money will transact with the holder of the mortgage, or
wadset, over the estate of Glenvarloch, and obtain from him
such a conveyance to his right as shall leave the lands pledged
for the debt, in case the warrant upon the Scottish Exchequer
should prove unproductive. I fear, in this uncertainty of
public credit, that, without some such counter security, it
will be very difficult to find so large a sum."

" Ho, la ! " said the Earl of Huntinglen, " halt there ! a
thought strikes me. What if the new creditor should admire
the estate as a hunting-field as much as my Lord Grace of
Buckingham seems to do, and should wish to kill a buck
there in the summer season ? It seems to me that, on your
plan, Master George, our new friend will be as well entitled
to block Lord Glenvarloch out of his inheritance as the
present holder of the mortgage.5'

The citizen laughed. " I will engage," he said, " that the
keenest sportsman to whom I may apply on this occasion
shall not have a thought beyond the Lord Mayor's Easter-
hunt in Epping Forest. But your lordship's caution is
reasonable. The creditor must be bound to allow Lord
Glenvarloch sufficient time to redeem his estate by means
of the royal warrant, and -must waive in his favour the right

The Fortunes of Nigel. 149

of instant foreclosure, which may be, I should think, the
more easily managed, as the right of redemption must be
exercised in his own name."

" But where shall we find a person in London fit to draw
the necessary writings ? " said the Earl. " If my old friend
Sir John Skene of Halyards had lived, we should have had
his advice ; but time presses, and "

"I know," said Heriot, "an orphan lad, a scrivener, that
dwells by Temple Bar; he can draw deeds both after the
English and Scottish fashion, and I have trusted him often in
matters of weight and of importance. I will send one of my
serving-men for him, and the mutual deeds may be executed
in your lordship's presence, for, as things stand, there should
be no delay." His lordship readily assented, and as they
now landed upon the private stairs leading down to the river
from the gardens of the handsome hotel which he inhabited,
the messenger was dispatched without loss of time.

Nigel, who had sat almost stupefied while these zealous
friends volunteered for him in arranging the measures by
which his fortune was to be disembarrassed, now made
another eager attempt to force upon them his broken ex-
pressions of thanks and gratitude. But he was again
silenced by Lord Huntinglen, who declared he would not
hear a word on that topic, and proposed instead that they
should take a turn in the pleached alley, or sit upon the
stone bench which overlooked the Thames, until his son's
arrival should give the signal for dinner.

" I desire to introduce Dalgarno and Lord Glenvarloch to
each other," he said, " as two who will be near neighbours,
and I trust will be more kind ones than their fathers were
formerly. There is but three Scots miles betwixt the castles,
and the turrets of the one are visible from the battlements of
the other."

The old Earl was silent for a moment, and appeared to

I5o The Fortunes of Nigel.

muse upon the recollections which the vicinity of the castlea

had summoned up.

" Does Lord Dalgarno follow the Court to Newmarket next
week?" said Heriot, by way of renewing the conversation.

"He proposes so, I think," answered Lord Huntinglen,
relapsed into his reverie for a minute or two, and then ad-
dressed Nigel somewhat abruptly, —

"My young friend, when you attain possession of your
inheritance, as I hope you soon will, I trust you will not add
one to the idle followers of the Court, but reside on your
patrimonial estate, cherish your ancient tenants, relieve and
assist your poor kinsmen, protect the poor. against subaltern
oppression, and do what our fathers used to do, with fewer
lights and with less means than we have."

" And yet the advice to keep the country," said Heriot,
"comes from an ancient and constant ornament of the
Court."

"From an old courtier, indeed," said the Earl, "and the
first of my family that could so write himself; my grey
beard falls on a cambric ruff and a silken doublet — my
father's descended upon a buff coat and a breastplate. 1
would not that these days of battle returned ; but I should
love well to make the oaks of my old forest of Dalgarno
ring once more with halloo, and horn, and hound, and to
have the old stone-arched hall return the hearty shout of my
vassals and tenants, as the bicker and the quaigh walked
their rounds amongst them. I should like to see the broad
Tay once more before I die; not even the Thames cm
match it, in my mind."

"Surely, my lord," said the citizen, "all this might be
easily done. It costs but a moment's resolution, and the
journey of some brief days, and you will be where you
desire to be. What is there to prevent you ? "

"Habits, Master George, habits," replied the Earl, "which

The Fortunes of Nigel. 1 5 1

to young men are like threads of silk, so lightly are they
worn, so soon broken, but which hang on our old limbs as
if time had stiffened them into gyves of iron. To go to
Scotland for a brief space were but labour in vain; and
when I think of abiding there, I cannot bring myself to
leave my old master, to whom I fancy myself sometimes
useful, and whose weal and woe I have shared for so many
years. But Dalgarno shall be a Scottish noble."

" Has he visited the North ? " said Heriot.

" He was there last year, and made such a report of the
country that the Prince has expressed a longing to see it."

"Lord Dalgarno is in high grace with his Highness and
the Duke of Buckingham ? " observed the goldsmith.

" He is so," answered the Earl. " I pray it may be for the
advantage of them all. The Prince is just and equitable in
his sentiments, though cold and stately in his manners, and
very obstinate in his most trifling purposes ; and the Duke,
noble and gallant, and generous and open, is fiery, ambitious,
and impetuous. Dalgarno has none of these faults, and
such as he may have of his own may perchance be cor-
rected by the society in which he moves. See, here he
comes."

Lord Dalgarno accordingly advanced from the farther end
of the alley to the bench on which his father and his guests
were seated, so that Nigel had full leisure to peruse his
countenance and figure. He was dressed point-device, and
almost to extremity, in the splendid fashion of the time,
which suited well with his age, probably about five-and-
twenty, with a noble form and fine countenance, in which
last could easily be traced the manly features of his father,
but softened by a more habitual air of assiduous courtesy
than the stubborn old Earl had ever condescended to as-
sume towards the world in general. In other respects, his
address was gallant, free, and unencumbered either by pride

The Fortunes of NtgeL

or ceremony— far remote certainly from the charge either
of haughty coldness or forward impetuosity ; and so far his
father had justly freed him from the marked faults which
he ascribed to the manners of the Prince and his favourite
Buckingham.

While the old Earl presented his young acquaintance,
Lord Glenvarloch, to his son, as one whom he would have
him love and honour, Nigel marked the countenance of
Lord Dalgarno closely, to see if he could detect aught of
that secret dislike which the King had, in one of his broken
expostulations, seemed to intimate, as arising from a clashing
of interests betwixt his new friend and the great Buckingham.
But nothing of this was visible ; on the contrary, Lord Dal-
garno received his new acquaintance with the open frankness
and courtesy which makes conquest at once, when addressed
to the feelings of an ingenuous young man.

It need hardly be told that his open and friendly address
met equally ready and cheerful acceptation from Nigel
Olifaunt. For many months, and while a youth not much
above two-and-twenty, he had been restrained by circum-
stances from the conversation of his equals. When, on his
father's sudden death, he left the Low Countries for Scotland,
he had found himself involved, to all appearance inextricably,
with the details . of the law, all of which threatened to end
in the alienation of the patrimony which should support his
hereditary rank. His term of sincere mourning, joined to
injured pride, and the swelling of the heart under unex-
pected and undeserved misfortune, together with the un-
certainty attending the issue of his affairs, had induced the
young Lord of Glenvarloch to live, while in Scotland, in a
very private and reserved manner. How he had passed his
time in London, the reader is acquainted with. But this
melancholy and secluded course of life was neither agreeable
to his age nor to his temper, which was genial and sociable.

The Fortunes of Nigel 153

He hailed, therefore, with sincere pleasure, the approaches
which a young man of his own age and rank made towards
him; and, when he had exchanged with Lord Dalgarno
some of those words and signals by which, as surely as by
those of freemasonry, young people recognize a mutual wish
to be agreeable to each other, it seemed as if the two noble-
men had been acquainted for some time.

Just as this tacit intercourse had been established, one of
Lord Huntinglen's attendants came down the alley, marshal-
ling onwards a man dressed in black buckram, who followed
him with tolerable speed, considering that, according to his
sense of reverence and propriety, he kept his body bent and
parallel to the horizon from the moment that he came in
sight of the company to which he was about to be presented.

"Who is this, you cuckoldy knave," said the old Lord,
who had retained the keen appetite and impatience of a
Scottish baron even during a long alienation from his native
country ; " and why does John Cook, with a murrain to him,
keep back dinner ? "

" I believe we are ourselves responsible for this person's
intrusion," said George Heriot ; " this is the scrivener whom
we desired to see. — Look up, man, and see us in the face as
an honest man should, instead of bearing thy noddle charged
against us thus like a battering-ram."

The scrivener did look up accordingly, with the action of an
automaton which suddenly obeys the impulse of a pressed
spring. But, strange to tell, not even the haste he had
made to attend his patron's mandate — a business, as Master
Heriot's message expressed, of weight and importance —
nay, not even the state of depression in which, out of sheer
humility doubtless, he had his head stooped to the earth,
from the moment he had trod the demesnes of the Earl of
Huntinglen, had called any colour into his countenance.
The drops stood on his brow from haste and toil, but his

154 The Fortunes of Nigel.

cheek was still pale and tallow-coloured as before; nay,
what seemed stranger, his very hair, when he raised his
head, hung down on either cheek as straight and sleek and
undisturbed as it was when we first introduced him to our
readers, seated at his quiet and humble desk.

Lord Dalgarno could not forbear a stifled laugh at the
ridiculous and puritanical figure which presented itself like a
starved anatomy to the company, and whispered at the same
time into Lord Glenvarloch's ear—

" The devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon,
Where gott'st thou that goose-look?"

Nigel was too little acquainted with the English stage to
understand a quotation which had already grown matter of
common allusion in London. Lord Dalgarno saw that he
was not understood, and continued, "That fellow, by his
visage, should either be a saint or a most hypocritical rogue ;
and such is my excellent opinion of human nature, that I
always suspect the worst. But they seem deep in business.
Will you take a turn with me in the garden, my lord, or will
you remain a member of the serious conclave ? "

"With you, my lord, most willingly," said Nigel; and
they were turning away accordingly, when George Heriot,
with the formality belonging to his station, observed that,
"as their business concerned Lord Glenvarloch, he had
better remain, to make himself master of it, and witness
to it."

"My presence is utterly needless, my good lord — and,
my best friend, Master Heriot," said the young nobleman.
"I shall understand nothing the better for cumbering you
with my ignorance in these matters ; and can only say at the
end, as I now say at the beginning, that I dare not take the
helm out of the hand of the kind -pilots who have already
guided my course within sight of a fair and unhoped-for

The Fortunes of Nigel. 155

haven. Whatever you recommend to me as fitting, I shall
sign and seal; and the import of the deeds I shall better
learn by a brief explanation from Master Heriot, if he will
bestow so much trouble in my behalf, than by a thousand
learned words and law terms from this person of skill."

" He is right," said Lord Huntinglen ; " our young friend
is right, in confiding these matters to you and me, Master
George Heriot. He has not misplaced his confidence."

Master George Heriot cast a long look after the two young
Noblemen, who had now walked down the alley arm-in-arm,
and at length said, "He hath not, indeed, misplaced his
confidence, as your lordship well and truly says ; but, never-
theless, he is not in the right path, for it behoves every man
to become acquainted with his own affairs, so soon as he
hath any thatxare worth attending to."

When he hid made this observation, they applied them-
selves, with the scrivener, to look into various papers, and to
direct in what manner writings should be drawn, which might
at once afford sufficient security to those who were to advance
the money, and at the same time preserve the right of the
young nobleman to redeem the family estate, provided he
should obtain the means of doing so by the expected re-
imbursement from the Scottish Exchequer or otherwise. It
is needless to enter into those details. But it is not un-
important to mention, as an illustration of character, that
Heriot went .into the most minute legal details with a pre-
cision which showed that experience had made him master
even of the intricacies of Scottish conveyancing; and that
the Earl of Huntinglen, though far less acquainted with
technical detail, suffered no step of the business to pass
over until he had attained a general but distinct idea of
its import and its propriety.

They seemed to be admirably seconded in their benevolent
intentions towards the young Lord Glenvarloch by the skill

156 The Fortunes of Nigel.

and eager zeal of the scrivener, whom Heriot had introduced
to this piece of business, the most important which Andrew
had ever transacted in his life, and the particulars of which
were moreover agitated in his presence between an actual
earl and one whose wealth and character might entitle him
to be alderman of his ward, if not to be Lord Mayor, in his
turn.

While they were thus in eager conversation on business,
the good Earl, even forgetting the calls of his appetite, and
the delay of dinner, in his anxiety to see that the scrivener
received proper instructions, and that all was rightly weighed
and considered, before dismissing him to engross the neces-
sary deeds, the two young men walked together on the
terrace which overhung the river, and talked on the topics
which Lord Dalgarno, the eldest and the most experienced,
thought most likely to interest his new friend.

These naturally regarded the pleasures attending a Court
life, and Lord Dalgarno expressed much surprise at under-
standing that Nigel proposed an instant return to Scotland.

"You are jesting with me," he said. "All the Court
rings — it is needless to mince it — with the extraordinary
success of your suit, against the highest interest, it is said,
now influencing the horizon at Whitehall. Men think of
you — talk of you — fix their eyes on you — ask each other,
who is this young Scottish lord who has stepped so far in
a single day ? They augur, in whispers to each other, how
high and how far you may push your fortune ; and all that
you design to make of it is to return to Scotland, eat raw
oatmeal cakes baked upon a peat-fire; have your hand
shaken by every loon of a blue-bonnet who chooses to dub
you cousin, though your relationship comes by Noah ; drink
Scots twopenny ale, eat half-starved red-deer venison, when
you can kill it, ride upon a galloway, and be called my right
honourable and maist worthy lord."

The Fortunes of Nigel

"There is no great gaiety in the prospect before me, I
confess," said Lord Glenvarloch, "even if your father and
good Master Heriot should succeed in putting my affairs
on some footing of plausible hope. And yet I trust to do
something for my vassals, as my ancestors before me, and
to teach my children, as I have myself been taught, to make
some personal sacrifices, if they be necessary, in order to
maintain with dignity the situation in which they are placed
by Providence."

Lord Dalgarno, after having once or twice stifled his
laughter during this speech, at length broke out into a fit of
mirth, so hearty and so resistless that, angry as he was, the
call of sympathy swept Nigel along with him, and, despite of
himself, he could not forbear to join in a burst of laughter,
which he thought not only causeless, but almost impertinent.

He soon recollected himself, however, and said, in a tone
qualified to allay Lord Dalgarno's extreme mirth, " This is
all well, my lord ; but how am I to understand your merri-
ment ? " Lord Dalgarno only answered him with redoubled
peals of laughter, and at length held by Lord Glenvarloch's
cloak, as if to prevent his falling down on the ground, in the
extremity of his convulsion.

At length, while Nigel stood half abashed, half angry, at
becoming thus the subject of his new acquaintance's ridi-
cule, and was only restrained from expressing his resentment
against the son by a sense of the obligations he owed the
father, Lord Dalgarno recovered himself, and spoke in a
half-broken voice, his eyes still running with tears. " I crave
your pardon, my dear Lord Glenvarloch — ten thousand
times do I crave your pardon. But that last picture of rural
dignity, accompanied by your grave and angry surprise at my
laughing at what would have made any court-bred hound
laugh that had but so much as bayed the moon once from
the courtyard at Whitehall, totally overcame me. Why, my

158 The Fortunes of Nigel

liefest and dearest lord, you, a young and handsome fellow,
with high birth, a title, and the ruine of an estate, so well
received by the King at your first starting, as makes your
further progress scarce matter of doubt, if you know how to
improve it— for the King has already said you are a 'braw
lad, and well studied in the more humane letters ' — you, too,
whom all the women, and the very marked beauties of the
Court, desire to see, because you came from Leyden, were
born in Scotland, and have gained a hard-contested suit in
England — you, I say, with a person like a prince,' an eye of
fire, and a wit as quick, to think of throwing your cards on
the table when the game is in your very hand, running back
to the frozen north, and marrying — let me see — a tall, stalk-
ing, blue -eyed, fair -skinned, bony wench, with eighteen
quarters in her scutcheon, a sort of Lot's wife, newly de-
scended from her pedestal, and with her to shut yourself up
in your tapestried chamber ! Uh, gad ! Swouns, I shall
never survive the idea ! "

It is seldom that youth, however high-minded, is able,
from mere strength of character and principle, to support
itself against the force of ridicule. Half angry, half morti-
fied, and, to say truth, half ashamed of his more manly and
better purpose, Nigel was unable, and flattered himself it
was unnecessary, to play the part of a rigid moral patriot
in presence of a young man whose current fluency of lan-
guage, as well as his experience in the highest circles of
society, gave him, in spite of Nigel's better and firmer
thoughts, a temporary ascendency over him. He sought,
therefore, to compromise the matter, and avoid further
debate, by frankly owning that, if to return to his own
country were not his choice, it was at least a matter of
necessity. "His affairs," he said, "were unsettled, his
income precarious."

"And where is he whose affairs are settled, or whose

The Fortunes of Nigel. 159

income is less than precarious, that is to be found in attend-
ance on the Court?" said Lord Dalgarno. "All are either
losing or winning. Those who have wealth come hither to
get rid of it ; while the happy gallants who, like you and me,
dear Glenvarloch, have little or none, have every chance to
be sharers in their spoils."

" I have no ambition of that sort," said Nigel, " and, if I
had, I must tell you plainly, Lord Dalgarno, I have not the
means to do so. I can scarce as yet call the suit I wear my
own ; I owe it, and I do not blush to say so, to the friend-
ship of yonder good man."

" I will not laugh again, if I can help it," said Lord Dal-
garno. " But, Lord ! that you should have gone to a wealthy
goldsmith for your habit — why, I could have brought you to
an honest, confiding tailor, who should have furnished you
with half a dozen, merely for love of the little word 'lord-
ship* which you place before your name; and then your
goldsmith, if he be really a friendly goldsmith, should have
equipped you with such a purse of fair rose-nobles as would
have bought you thrice as many suits, or done better things
for you."

" I do not understand these fashions, my lord," said Nigel,
his displeasure mastering his shame. " Were I to attend the
Court of my Sovereign, it should be when I could maintain,
without shifting or borrowing, the dress and retinue which
my rank requires."

"Which my rank requires!" said Lord Dalgarno, repeat-
ing his last words ; " that, now, is as good as if my father
had spoke it. I fancy you would love to move to Court like
him, followed by a round score of old blue-bottles, with white
heads and red noses, with bucklers and broadswords which
their hands, trembling betwixt age and strong waters, can
make no use of — as many huge silver badges on their arms,
to show whose fools they are, as would furnish forth a court

The Fortunes of Nigel

cupboard of plate — rogues fit for nothing but to fill our ante-
chambers with the flavour of onions and genievre — pah ! "

" The poor knaves ! " said Lord Glenvarloch ; " they have
served your father, it may be, in the wars. What would
become of them were he to turn them off?"

" Why, let them go to the hospital," said Dalgarno — " or
to the bridge-end, to sell switches. The King is a better
man than my father, and you see those who have served in
his wars do so every day; or, when their blue coats were
well worn out, they would make rare scarecrows. Here is a
fellow, now, comes down the walk — the stoutest raven dared
not come within a yard of that copper nose. I tell you
there is more service, as you will soon see, in my valet of the
chamber, and such a lither lad as my page Lutin, than there
is in a score of these old memorials of the Douglas wars,*
where they cut each other's throats for the chance of finding
twelve pennies Scots on the person of the slain. Marry, my
lord, to make amends, they will eat mouldy victuals, and
drink stale ale, as if their bellies were puncheons. But the
dinner-bell is going to sound — hark, it is clearing its rusty
throat, with a preliminary jowl. That is another clamorous
relic of antiquity that, were I master, should soon be at the
bottom of the Thames. How the foul fiend can it interest
the peasants and mechanics in the Strand to know that
the Earl of Huntinglen is sitting down to dinner ? But my
father looks our way ; we must not be late for the grace, or
we shall be in afa-grace, if you will forgive a quibble which
would have made his Majesty laugh. You will find us all
of a piece, and, having been accustomed to eat in saucers
abroad, I am ashamed you should witness our larded capons,

* The cruel civil wars waged by the Scottish barons during the
minority of James VI. had this name from the figure made in them by
the celebrated James Douglas, Earl of Morton, Both sides executed
their prisoners without mercy or favour.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 161

our mountains of beef, and oceans of brewis, as large as
Highland hills and lochs; but you shall see better cheer
to-morrow. Where lodge you ? I will call for you. I must
be your guide through the peopled desert to certain en-
chanted lands, which you will scarce discover without chart
and pilot. Where lodge you ? "

" I will meet you in Paul's," said Nigel, a good deal em-
barrassed, " at any hour you please to name."

" Oh, you would be private," said the young lord. " Nay,
fear not me ; I will be no intruder. But we have attained
this huge larder of flesh, fowl, and fish. I marvel the oaken
boards groan not under it."

They had indeed arrived in the dining-parlour of the man-
sion, where the table was superabundantly loaded, and where
the number of attendants, to a certain extent, vindicated the
sarcasms of the young nobleman. The chaplain and Sir
Mungo Malagrowther were of the party. The latter compli-
mented Lord Glenvarloch upon the impression he had made
at Court. "One would have thought ye had brought the
apple of discord in your pouch, my lord, or that you were
the very firebrand of whilk Althea was delivered, and that
she had lain-in in a barrel of gunpowder ; for the King, and
the Prince, and the Duke have been by the lugs about ye,
and so have many more, that kendna before this blessed day
that there was such a man living on the face of the earth."

" Mind your victuals, Sir Mungo," said the Earl ; " they
get cold while you talk."

" Troth, and that needsna, my lord," said the knight ;
"your lordship's dinners seldom scald one's mouth. The
serving-men are turning auld, like oursel's, my lord, and it is
far between the kitchen and the ha'."

With this little explosion of his spleen, Sir Mungo remained
satisfied until the dishes were removed, when, fixing his* eyes
on the brave new doublet of Lord Dalgarno, he compli-

162 The Fortunes of Nigel.

merited him on his economy, pretending to recognize it as
the same which his father had worn in Edinburgh in the
Spanish ambassador's time. Lord Dalgarno, too much a
man of the world to be moved by anything from such a
quarter, proceeded to crack some nuts with great delibera-
tion, as he replied that the doublet was in some sort his
father's, as it was likely to cost him fifty pounds some day
soon. Sir Mungo forthwith proceeded in his own way to
convey this agreeable intelligence to the Earl, observing that
his son was a better maker of bargains than his lordship, for
he had bought a doublet as rich as that his lordship wore
when the Spanish ambassador was at Holyrood, and it had
cost him but fifty pounds Scots. " That was no fool's bar-
gain, my lord."

" Pounds sterling, if you please, Sir Mungo," answered the
Earl calmly; "and a fool's bargain it is, in all the tenses.
Dalgarno was a fool when he bought ; I will be a fool when
I pay ; and you, Sir Mungo, craving your pardon, are a fool
in pr&senti for speaking of what concerns you not."

So saying, the Earl addressed himself to the serious busi-
ness of the table, and sent the wine around with a profusion
which increased the hilarity, but rather threatened the tem-
perance, of the company, until their joviality was interrupted
by the annunciation that the scrivener had engrossed such
deeds as required to be presently executed.

George Heriot rose from the table, observing that wine-
cups and legal documents were unseemly neighbours. The
Earl asked the scrivener if they had laid a trencher and set
a .cup for him in the buttery ; and received the respectful
answer that Heaven forbid he should be such an ungracious
beast as to eat or drink until his lordship's pleasure was per-
formed.

"Thou shalt eat before thou goest," said Lord Huntinglen ;
" and I will have thee try, moreover, whether a cup of sack

The Fortunes of Nigel. 163

cannot bring some colour into these cheeks of thine. It
were a shame to my household thou shouldst glide out into
the Strand after such a spectre-fashion as thou now wearest.
— Look to it, Dalgarno, for the honour of our roof is con-
cerned."

Lord Dalgarno gave directions that the man should be
attended to. Lord Glenvarloch and the citizen, in the
meanwhile, signed and interchanged, and thus closed a
transaction, of which the principal party concerned under-
stood little, save that it was under the management of a
zealous and faithful friend, who undertook that the money
should be forthcoming, and the estate released from for-
feiture, by payment of the stipulated sum for which it stood
pledged, and that at the term of Lambmas, and at the hour
of noon, and beside the tomb of the Regent Earl of Murray,
in the High Kirk of Saint Giles, at Edinburgh, being the day
and place assigned for such redemption.*

When this business was transacted, the old Earl would
fain have renewed his carouse ; but the citizen, alleging the
importance of the deeds he had about him, and the business
he had to transact betimes the next morning, not only refused
to return to table, but carried with him to his barge Lord
Glenvarloch, who might, perhaps, have been otherwise found
more tractable.

When they were seated in the boat, and fairly once more
afloat oa the river, George Heriot looked back seriously on
the mansion they had left. "There live," he said, "the old
fashion and the new. The father is like a noble old broad-
sword, but harmed with rust from neglect and inactivity;
the son is your modern rapier, well-mounted, fairly gilt, and
fashioned to the taste of the time — and it is time must evince

* As each covenant in those days of accuracy had a special place
nominated for execution, the tomb of the Regent Earl of Murray in
Saint Giles's Church was frequently assigned for the purpose.

164 The Fortunes of Nigel

if the metal be as good as the show. God grant it prove so,

says an old friend to the family."

Nothing of consequence passed betwixt them, until Lord
Glenvarloch, landing at Paul's Wharf, took leave of his friend
the citizen, and retired to his own apartment; where his
attendant, Richie, not a little elevated with the events of the
day, and with the hospitality of Lord Huntinglen's house-
keeping, gave a most splendid account of them to the buxom
Dame Nelly, who rejoiced to hear that the sun at length was
shining upon what Richie called the right side of the hedge.

CHAPTER XI.

You are not for the manner nor the times.
They have their vices now most like to virtues :
You cannot know them apart by any difference ;
They wear the same clothes, eat the same meat,
Sleep i' the selfsame beds, ride in those coaches,
Or very like four horses in a coach,
As the best men and women.

BEN JONSON.

ON the following morning, while Nigel, his breakfast finished,
was thinking how he should employ the day, there was a
little bustle upon the stairs which attracted his attention, and
presently entered Dame Nelly, blushing like scarlet, and
scarce able to bring out, " A young nobleman, sir — no one
less," she added, drawing her hand slightly over her lips,
"would be so saucy — a young nobleman, sir, to wait on you!"
And she was followed into the little cabin by Lord Dal-
garno, gay, easy, disembarrassed, and apparently as much
pleased to rejoin his new acquaintance as if he had found
him in the apartments of a palace. Nigel, on the contrary
(for youth is slave to such circumstances), was discounte-
nanced and mortified at being surprised by so splendid a

The Fortunes of Nigel. 165

gallant in a chamber which, at the moment the elegant and
high-dressed cavalier appeared in it, seemed to its inhabitant
yet lower, narrower, darker, and meaner than it had ever
shown before. He would have made some apology for the
situation, but Lord Dalgarno cut him short.

"Not a word of it," he said — "not a single word. I know
why you ride at anchor here ; but I can keep counsel. So
pretty a hostess would recommend worse quarters."

"On my word — on my honour," said Lord Glenvar-
loch.

"Nay, nay, make no words of the matter," said Lord
Dalgarno. " I am no tell-tale, nor shall I cross your walk ;
there is game enough in the forest, thank Heaven, and I can
strike a doe for myself."

All this he said in so significant a manner, and the ex-
planation which he had adopted seemed to put Lord Glen-
varloch's gallantry on so respectable a footing, that Nigel
ceased to try to undeceive him ; and less ashamed, perhaps
(for such is human weakness), of supposed vice than of real
poverty, changed the discourse to something else, and left
poor Dame Nelly's reputation and his own at the mercy of
the young courtier's misconstruction.

He offered refreshments with some hesitation. Lord
Dalgarno had long since breakfasted, but had just come from
playing a set of tennis, he said, and would willingly taste
a cup of the pretty hostess's single beer. This was easily
procured, was drunk, was commended, and, as the hostess
failed not to bring the cup herself, Lord Dalgarno profited
by the opportunity to take a second and more attentive view
of her, and then gravely drank to her husband's health, with
an almost imperceptible nod to Lord Glenvarloch. Dame
Nelly was much honoured, smoothed her apron down with
her hands, nnd said, "Her John was greatly and truly
honoured by their lordships. He was a kind, painstaking

166 The Fortunes of Nigel

man for his family as was in the alley, or, indeed, as far
north as Paul's Chain."

She would have proceeded probably to state the difference
betwixt their ages as the only alloy to their nuptial hap-
piness; but her lodger, who had no mind to be further
exposed to his gay friend's raillery, gave her, contrary to his
wont, a signal to leave the room.

Lord Dalgarno looked after her, then looked at Glenvar-
loch, shook his head, and repeated the well-known lines —

" My lord, beware of jealousy —
It is the green-eyed monster which doth make
The meat it feeds on."

" But, come," he said, changing his tone, " I know not why I
should worry you thus — I who have so many follies of my
own, when I should rather make excuse for being here at
all, and tell you wherefore I came."

So saying, he reached a seat, and, placing another for
Lord Glenvarloch, in spite of his anxious haste to antici-
pate this act of courtesy, he proceeded in the same tone of
easy familiarity : — •

" We are neighbours, my lord, and are just made known
to each other. Now, I know enough of the dear North to
be well aware that Scottish neighbours must be either dear
friends or deadly enemies — must either walk hand-in-hand,
or stand sword-point to sword-point ; so I choose the hand-
in-hand, unless you should reject my proffer."

" How were it possible, my lord," said Lord Glenvarloch,
*' to refuse what is offered so frankly, even if your father had
not been a second father to me?" And, as he took Lord
Dalgarno's hand, he added, "I have, I think, lost no time,
since, during one day's attendance at Court, I have made a
kinda friend and a powerful enemy."

"The friend thanks you," replied Lord Dalgarno, "for
your just opinion; but, my dear Glenvarloch — or rather,

The Fortunes of Nigel. 167

for titles are too formal between us of the better file, what
is your Christian name ? "

"Nigel," replied Lord Glenvarloch.

" Then we will be Nigel and Malcolm to each other," said
his visitor, "and my lord to the plebeian world around us.
But I was about to ask you whom you suppose your enemy ? "

" No less than the all-powerful favourite, the great Duke
of Buckingham."

" You dream ! What could possess you with such an
opinion ? " said Dalgarno.

"He tpld me so, himself," replied Glenvarloch j "and, in
so doing, dealt frankly and honourably with me,"

" Oh, you know him not yet," said his companion ; " the
Duke is moulded of a hundred noble and fiery qualities,
that prompt him, like a generous horse, to spring aside in
impatience at the least obstacle to his forward course. But
he means not what he says in such passing heats. I can do
more with him, I thank Heaven, than most who are around
him. You shall go visit him with me, and you will see how
you shall be received."

" I told you, my lord," said Glenvarloch firmly, and with
some haughtiness, "the Duke of Buckingham, without the
least offence, declared himself my enemy in the face of the
Court ; and he shall retract that aggression as publicly as it
was given ere I will make the slightest advance towards him."

"You would act becomingly in every other case," said
Lord Dalgarno, "but here you are wrong. In the court
horizon, Buckingham is Lord of the Ascendant, and as he
is adverse, or favouring, so sinks or rises the fortune of a
suitor. The King would bid you remember your Phsedrus,

' Arripiens geminas, ripis cedentibus, ollas ' —

and so forth. You are the vase of earth ; beware of knock-
ing yourself against the vase of iron."

1 68 The Fortunes of Nigel

"The vase of earth," said Glenvarioch, "will avoid the
encounter by getting ashore out of the current — I mean to
go no more to Court."

" Oh, to Court you necessarily must go ; you will find your
Scottish suit move ill without it, for there is both patronage
and favour necessary to enforce the sign-manual you have
obtained* Of that we will speak more hereafter; but tell
me, in the meanwhile, my dear Nigel, whether you did not
wonder to see me here so early ? "

" I am surprised that you could find me out in this obscure
corner," said Lord Glenvarioch.

" My page Lutin is a very devil for that sort of discovery,"
replied Lord Dalgarno. " I have but to say, ' Goblin, I would
know where he or she dwells,' and he guides me thither as
if by art magic."

"I hope he waits not now in the street, my lord," said
Nigel. " I will send my servant to seek him."

" Do not concern yourself; he is by this time," said Lord
Dalgarno, " playing at hustle-cap and chuck-farthing with the
most blackguard imps upon the wharf, unless he hath fore-
gone his old customs."

"Are you not afraid," said Lord Glenvarioch, "that in
such company his morals may become depraved ? "

"Let his company look to their own," answered Lord
Dalgarno coolly ; " for it will be a company of real fiends
in which Lutin cannot teach more mischief than he can
learn. He is, I thank the gods, most thoroughly versed in
evil for his years. I am spared the trouble of looking after
his moralities, for nothing can make them either better or
worse."

" I wonder you can answer this to his parents, my lord,"
said Nigel.

" I wonder where I should find his parents," replied his
companion, "to render an account to them."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 169

" He may be an orphan," said Lord Nigel, " but surely,
being a page in your lordship's family, his parents must be of
rank."

"Of as high rank as the gallows could exalt them to,"
replied Lord Dalgarno, with the same indifference. " They
were both hanged, I believe — at least the gypsies, from whom
I bought him five years ago, intimated as much to me. You
are surprised at this now. But is it not better that, instead
of a lazy, conceited, whey-faced slip of gentility, to whom, in
your old-world iidea of the matter, I was bound to stand Sir
Pedagogue, and see that he washed his hands and face, said
his prayers, learned his accidens, spoke no naughty words,
brushed his hat, and wore his best doublet only of Sunday
— that, instead of such a Jacky Goodchild, I should have
something like this ? "

He whistled shrill and clear, and the page he spoke of
darted into the room, almost with the effect of an actual
apparition. From his height he seemed but fifteen, but,
from his face, might be two or even three years older, very
neatly made, and richly dressed ; with a thin bronzed visage,
which marked his gypsy descent, and a pair of sparkling black
eyes, which seemed almost to pierce through those whom he
looked at.

" There he is," said Lord Dalgarno, " fit for every element
— prompt to execute every command, good, bad, or indifferent
— unmatched in his tribe as rogue, thief, and liar."

"All which qualities," said the undaunted page, "have
each in turn stood your lordship in stead."

" Out, you imp of Satan ! " said his master ; " vanish — •
begone — or my conjuring-rod goes about your ears." The
boy turned, and disappeared as suddenly as he had entered.
" You see," said Lord Dalgarno, " that, in choosing my house-
hold, the best regard I can pay to gentle blood is to exclude
it from my service. That very gallows-bird were enough to

The Fortunes of Nigel

corrupt a whole antechamber of pages, though they were
descended from kings and kaisers." *

"I can scarce think that a nobleman should need the
offices of such an attendant as your Goblin," said Nigel;
" you are but jesting with my inexperience."

" Time will show whether I jest or not, my dear Nigel,"
replied Dalgarno. " In the meantime, I have to propose to
you to take the advantage of the flood-tide to run up the
river for pastime, and at noon I trust you will dine with me."

Nigel acquiesced in a plan which promised so much
amusement ; and his new friend and he, attended by Lutin
and Moniplies, who greatly resembled, when thus associated,
the conjunction of a bear and a monkey, took possession of
Lord Dalgarno's wherry, which, with its badged watermen,
bearing his lordship's crest on their arms, lay in readiness
to receive them. The air was delightful upon the river, and
the lively conversation of Lord Dalgarno added zest to the
pleasures of the little voyage. He could not only give an
account of the various public buildings and noblemen's
houses which they passed in ascending the Thames, but
knew how to season his information with abundance of
anecdote, political innuendo, and personal scandal. If he
had not very much wit, he was at least completely master of
the fashionable tone which, in that time as in ours, more
than amply supplies any deficiency of the kind.

It was a style of conversation entirely new to his com-
panion, as was the world which Lord Dalgarno opened to
his observation ; and it is no wonder that Nigel, notwith-
standing his natural good sense and high spirit, admitted,
more readily than seemed consistent with either, the tone
of authoritative instruction which his new friend assumed
towards him. There would, indeed, have been some diffi-
culty in making a stand. To attempt a high and stubborn
* Note, p. 570. Pages in ther Seventeenth Century.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 171

tone of morality in answer to the light strain of Lord Dal-
garno's conversation, which kept on the frontiers between
jest and earnest, would have seemed pedantic and ridiculous ;
and every attempt which Nigel made to combat his compan-
ion's propositions, by reasoning as jocose as his own, only
showed his inferiority in that gay species of controversy.
And it must be owned, besides, though internally disapproving
much of what he heard, Lord Glenvarloch, young as he was
in society, became less alarmed by the language and manners
of his new associate than in prudence he ought to have been.

Lord Dalgarno was unwilling to startle his proselyte by
insisting upon any topic which appeared particularly to jar
with his habits or principles ; and he blended his mirth and
his earnest so dexterously that it was impossible for Nigel to
discaver how far he was serious in his propositions, or how
far they flowed from a wild and extravagant spirit of raillery.
And, ever and anon, those flashes of spirit and honour crossed
his conversation, which seemed to intimate that, when stirred
to action by some adequate motive, Lord Dalgarno would
prove something very different from the court-haunting and
ease-loving voluptuary which he was pleased to represent as
his chosen character.

As they returned down the river, Lord Glenvarloch re-
marked that the boat passed the mansion of Lord Huntinglen,
and noticed the circumstance to Lord Dalgarno, observing
that he thought they were to have dined there. " Surely no,"
said the young nobleman ; " I have more mercy on you than
to gorge you a second time with raw beef and canary wine.
I propose something better for you, I promise you, than such
a second Scythian festivity. And as for my father, he pro-
poses to dine to-day with my grave, ancient Earl of North-
ampton, whilom that celebrated putter-down of pretended
prophecies, Lord Henry Howard." *

* Note, p. 572. Lord Henry Howard,

The Fortunes of Nigel.

" And do you not go with him ? " said his companion.

" To what purpose ? " said Lord Dalgarno. " To hear his
wise lordship speak musty politics in false Latin, which the
old fox always uses, that he may give the learned Majesty
of England an opportunity of correcting his slips in grammar?
That were a rare employment ! "

u Nay," said Lord Nigel, " but out of respect, to wait on
my lord your father."

"My lord my father," replied Lord Dalgarno, "has blue-
bottles enough to wait on him, and can well dispense with
such a butterfly as myself. He can lift the cup of sack to
his head without my assistance ; and, should the said pater-
nal head turn something giddy, there be men enough to guide
his right honourable lordship to his lordship's right honour-
able couch. Now do not stare at me, Nigel, as if my words
were to sink the boat with us. I love my father — I love him
dearly — and I respect him, too, though I respect not many
things ; a trustier old Trojan never belted a broadsword by
a loop of leather. But what then ? He belongs to the old
world, I to the new. He has his follies, I have mine ; and
the less either of us sees of the other's peccadilloes, the
greater will be the honour and respect — that, I think, is the
proper phrase — I say, the respect in which we shall hold each
other. Being apart, each of us is himself, such as nature and
circumstances have made him ; but couple us up too closely
together, you will be sure to have in your leash either an old
hypocrite or a young one, or perhaps both the one and t'other."

As he spoke thus, the boat put into the landing-place at
Blackfriars. Lord Dalgarno sprung ashore, and, flinging his
cloak and rapier to his page, recommended his companion
to do the like. "We are coming among a press of gallants,"
he said ; " and if we walk thus muffled, we shall look like
your tawny-visaged Don, who wraps him close in his cloak,
to conceal the defects of his doublet."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 173

" I have known many an honest man do that, if it please
your lordship," said Richie Moniplies, who had been watch-
ing for an opportunity to intrude himself on the conversation,
and probably remembered what had been his own condition,
in respect to cloak and do ablet, at a very recent period.

Lord Dalgarno stared at him, as if surprised at his assur-
ance; but immediately answered, "You may have known
many things, friend; but, in the meanwhile, you do not
know what principally concerns your master — namely, how
to carry his cloak, so as to show to advantage the gold-laced
seams and the lining of sables. See how Lutin holds the
sword, with the cloak cast partly over it, yet so as to set off
the embossed hilt and the silver work of the mounting. —
Give your familiar your sword, Nigel," he continued, ad-
dressing Lord Glenvarloch, "that he may practise a lesson
in an art so necessary."

"Is it altogether prudent," said Nigel, unclasping his
weapon, and giving it to Richie, " to walk entirely unarmed ? "

"And wherefore not," said his companion. "You are
thinking now of Auld Reekie, as my father fondly calls your
good Scottish capital, where there is such bandying of private
feuds and public factions that a man of any note shall not
cross your High Street twice without endangering his life
thrice.* Here, sir, no brawling in the street is permitted.
Your bull-headed citizen takes up the case so soon as the
sword is drawn, and dubs is the word."

"And a hard word it is," said Richie, "as my brain-pan
kens at this blessed moment."

"Were I your master, sirrah," said Lord Dalgarno, "I
would make your brain-pan, as you call it, boil over, were
you to speak a word in my presence before you were
spoken to."

Richie murmured some indistinct answer, but took the
* Note, p. 573. Skirmishes in the Public Streets.

174 The Fortunes of Nigel.

hint, and ranked himself behind his master along with Lutin,
who failed not to expose his new companion to the ridicule
of the passers-by by mimicking, as often as he could do so
unobserved by Richie, his stiff and upright stalking gait and
discontented physiognomy.

"And tell me now, my dear Malcolm," said Nigel, "where
we are bending our course, and whether we shall dine at an
apartment of yours ? "

"An apartment of mine?— yes, surely," answered Lord
Dalgarno, " you shall dine at an apartment of mine, and an
apartment of yours, and of twenty gallants besides ; and where
the board shall present better cheer, better wine, and better
attendance than if our whole united exhibitions went to
maintain it. We are going to the most noted ordinary of
London."

" That is, in common language, an inn or a tavern," said
Nigel.

"An inn or a tavern, my most green and simple friend !"
exclaimed Lord Dalgarno. " No, no ; these are places where
greasy citizens take pipe and pot, where the knavish petti-
foggers of the law sponge on their most unhappy victims,
where Templars crack jests as empty as their nuts, and where
small gentry imbibe such thin potations that they get dropsies
instead of getting drunk. An ordinary is a late invented in-
stitution, sacred to Bacchus and Comus, where the choicest
noble gallants of the time meet with the first -end most
ethereal wits of the age— where the wine is the very soul of
the choicest grape, refined as the genius of the poet, and
ancient and generous as the blood of the nobles. And
then the fare is something beyond your ordinary gross ter-
restrial food. Sea and land are ransacked to supply it, and
the invention of six ingenious cooks kept eternally upon the
rack to make their art hold pace with, and if possible en-
hance, the exquisite quality of the materials."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 175

"By all which rhapsody," said Lord Glenvarloch, "I can
only understand, as I did before, that we are going to a
choice tavern, where we shall be handsomely entertained on
paying probably as handsome a reckoning."

"Reckoning!" exclaimed Lord Dalgarno, in the same
tone as before ; " perish the peasantly phrase ! What pro-
fanation ! Monsieur le Chevalier de Beaujeu, pink of Paris
and flower of Gascony — he who can tell the age of his wine
by the bare smell ; who distils his sauces in an alembic by
the aid of Lully's philosophy ; who carves with such exqui-
site precision that he gives to noble knight and squire the
portion of the pheasant which exactly accords with his rank ;
nay, he who shall divide a beccafico into twelve parts with
such scrupulous exactness that of twelve guests not one shall
have the advantage of the other in a hair's-breadth, or the
twentieth part of a drachm — yet you talk of him and of a
reckoning in the same breath ! Why, man, he is the well-
known and general referee in all matters affecting the mys-
teries of passage, hazard, in-and-in, penneeck, and verquire,
and what not — why, Beaujeu is king of the card-pack and
duke of the dice-box — he call a reckoning like a green-
aproned, red-nosed son of the vulgar spigot ! Oh, my dearest
Nigel, what a word you have spoken, and of what a person !
That you know him not is your only apology for such blas-
phemy ; and yet I scarce hold it adequate, for to have been
a day in London and not to know Beaujeu is a crime of its
own kind. But you shall know him this blessed moment,
and shall learn to hold yourself in horror for the enormities
you have uttered."

"Well", but mark you," said Nigel, "this worthy chevalier
keeps not all this good cheer at his own cost, does he ? "

"No, no," answered Lord Dalgarno j "there is a sort of
ceremony which my chevalier's friends and intimates under-
stand, but with which you have no business at present

176 The Fortunes of Nigel

There is, as Majesty might say, a symbolum to be disbursed
— in other words, a mutual exchange of courtesies takes
place betwixt Beaujeu and his guests. He makes them a
free present of the dinner and wine, as often as they choose
to consult their own felicity by frequenting his house at the
hour of noon, and they, in gratitude, make the chevalier a
present of a jacobus. Then you must know that, besides
Comus and Bacchus, that princess of sublunary affairs, the
Diva Fortuna is frequently worshipped at Beaujeu's, and he,
as officiating high-priest, hath, as in reason he should, a con-
siderable advantage from a share of the sacrifice."

" In other words," said Lord Glenvarloch, " this man keeps
a gaming-house."

"A house in which you may certainly game," said Lord
Dalgarno, "as you may in your own chamber, if you have
a mind ; nay, I remember old Tom Tally played a hand at
put for a wager with Quinze le Va, the Frenchman, during
morning prayers in Saint Paul's. The morning was misty,
and the parson drowsy, and the whole audience consisted
of themselves and a blind woman, and so they escaped
detection."

" For all this, Malcolm," said the young lord gravely, " I
cannot dine with you to-day at this same ordinary."

" And wherefore, in the name of Heaven, should you draw
back from your word ? " said Lord Dalgarno.

" I do not retract my word, Malcolm ; but I am bound,
by an early promise to my father, never to enter the doors of
a gaming-house."

" I tell you this is none," said Lord Dalgarno ; " it is but,
in plain terms, an eating-house, arranged on civiller terms,
and frequented by better company, than others in this town.
And if some of them do amuse themselves with cards and
hazard, they are men of honour, and who play as such, and
for no more than they can well afford to lose. It was not,

The Fortunes of Nigel. 177

and could not be, such houses that your father desired you
to avoid. Besides, he might as well have made you swear
you would never take the accommodation of an inn, tavern,
eating-house, or place of public reception of any kind ; for
there is no such place of public resort but where your eyes
may be contaminated by the sight of a pack of pieces of
painted pasteboard, and your ears profaned by the rattle
of those little spotted cubes of ivory. The difference is,
that where we go, we may happen to see persons of quality
amusing themselves with a game ; and in the ordinary houses
you will meet bullies and sharpers, who will strive either to
cheat or to swagger you out of your money."

" I am sure you would not willingly lead me to do what is
wrong," said Nigel ; " but my father had a horror of games
of chance, religious, I believe, as well as prudential. He
judged from I know not what circumstance, a fallacious one
I should hope, that I had a propensity to such courses, and
I have told you the promise which he exacted from me."

"Now, by my honour," said Dalgarno, "what you have
said affords the strongest reason for my insisting that you
go with me. A man who would shun any danger should
first become acquainted with its real bearing and extent,
and that in the company of a confidential guide and guard.
Do you think I myself game ? Good faith, my father's oaks
grow too far from London, and stand too fast rooted in the
rocks of Perthshire, for me to troll them down with a die,
though I have seen whole forests go down like ninepins.
No, no ; these are sports for the wealthy Southron, not for
the poor Scottish noble. The place is an eating-house, and
as such you and I will use it. If others use it to game in, it
is their fault, but neither that of the house nor ours."

Unsatisfied with this reasoning, Nigel still insisted upon
the promise he had given to his father, until his companion
appeared rather displeased, and disposed to impute to him

178 The Fortunes of Nigel.

injurious and unhandsome suspicions. Lord Glenvarloch
could not stand this change of tone. He recollected that
much was due from him to Lord Dalgarno, on account of
his father's ready and efficient friendship, and something
also on account of the frank manner in which the young
man himself had offered him his intimacy. He had no
reason to doubt his assurances that the house where they
were about to dine did not fall under the description of
places to which his father's prohibition referred ; and, finally,
he was strong in his own resolution to resist every tempta-
tion to join in games of chance. He therefore pacified Lord
Dalgarno, by intimating his willingness to go along with him,
and, the good-humour of the young courtier instantaneously
returning, he again ran on in a grotesque and rodomontade
account of the host, Monsieur de Beaujeu, which he did not
conclude until they had reached the temple of hospitality
over which that eminent professor presided.

CHAPTER XII.

This is the very barnyard

Where muster daily the prime cocks o' the game,
Ruffle their pinions, crow till they are hoarse,
And spar about a barleycorn. Here too chickens,
The callow, unfledged brood of forward folly,
Learn first to rear the crest and aim the spur,
And tune their note like full-plumed chanticleer.

The Bear-Garden.

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

The Fortunes of NigeL 179

hour fixed, and the manager of the establishment presided
as master of the ceremonies.

Monsieur le Chevalier (as he qualified himself), Saint
Priest de Beaujeu, was a sharp, thin Gascon, about sixty
years old, banished from his own country, as he said, on
account of an affair of honour, in which he had the mis-
fortune to kill his antagonist, though the best swordsman
in the south of France. His pretensions to quality were
supported 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
Maypole with many knots of ribbon, of which it was com-
puted he bore at least five hundred yards about his person.
But, notwithstanding this profusion of decoration, there were
many who thought Monsieur le Chevalier so admirably cal-
culated for his present situation, that nature could never
have meant to place him an inch above it. It was, how-
ever, part of the amusement of the place for Lord Dalgarno
and other young men of quality to treat Monsieur de Beau-
jeu with a great deal of mock ceremony, which being ob-
served by the herd of more ordinary and simple gulls, they
paid him, in clumsy imitation, much real deference. The
Gascon's natural forwardness being much enhanced by these
circumstances, he was often guilty of presuming beyond the
limits of his situation, and of course had sometimes the mor-
tification to be disagreeably driven back into them.

When Nigel entered the mansion of this eminent person,
which had been but of late the residence of a great baron of
Queen Elizabeth's court, who had retired to his manors in
the country on the death of that 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 every-
where; and, at first sight at least, it certainly made good

,i8o The Fortunes of Nigel

Lord Dalgarno'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,
therefore, might be supposed not habitually familiar with
such finery. Again, there were others, whose dress, though
on a general view it did not seem inferior to that of the rest
of the company, 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 observations, for
the entrance of Lord Dalgarno created an immediate bustle
and sensation among the company, as his name passed from
one mouth to another. Some stood forward to gaze, others
stood back to make way. Those of his own rank hastened to
welcome him ; U^ose 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
authentic fashion.

The genius loci, the Chevalier himself, was not the last
to welcome this prime stay and ornament of his establish-
ment. 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 sun
with you, milor. You did carry away the sun and moon
from your pauvre Chevalier when you leave him for so long.
Pardieu, I believe you take them away in your pockets."

" That must have been because you left me nothing else
in them, Chevalier," answered Lord Dalgarno ; " but, Mon-
sieur 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 Ecosse. Yes, I

The Fortunes of Nigel 181

have memory of him. Le pere de milor apparemment. We
were vera intimate when I was at Oly Root with Monsieur
de la Motte. I did often play at tennis vit Milor Kenfar-
loque at L'Abbaie d'Oly Root. II etoit meme plus fort que
moi. Ah le beaucoup de revers qu'il avoit I 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 Glenvar-
loch," said Lord Dalgarno, interrupting the Chevalier without
ceremony, who perceived that the encomium which he was
about to pass on the deceased was likely to be as disagree-
able to the son as it was totally undeserved by the father,
who, far from being either a gamester or libertine, as the
Chevalier's reminiscences falsely represented him, was, on
the contrary, strict arid 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 avec
le temps 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 armorials,
all in brass and marbre ; we have the petits plats exquis, and
the soupe-a-Chevalier, which I will cause to mount up im-
mediately."

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 purposes," said Lord
Glenvarloch; "but I confess I was moved to hear such a
fellow mention my father's name. And you,' too, who told
me this was no gaming-house, talked to him of having left
it with empty pockets."

1 82 The Fortunes of Nigel.

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

Dinner was announced accordingly, and the two friends,
being seated in the most honourable station at the board,
were ceremoniously attended to by the Chevalier, who did
the honours of his table to them and to the other guests,
and seasoned the whole with his agreeable conversation.
The dinner was really excellent, in that piquant style of
cookery which the French had already introduced, and
which the home-bred young men of England, when they
aspired to the rank of connoisseurs and persons of taste,
were under the necessity of admiring. The wine was also
of the first quality, and circulated in great variety and no
less abundance. The conversation among so many young
men was, of course, light, lively, and amusing; and Nigel,
whose mind had been long depressed by anxiety and mis-
fortune, 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 discovering it; and, again, others were
originals, who seemed to have no objection that the com-
pany should be amused with their folly instead of their wit.
And almost all the rest who played any prominent part in
the conversation had either the real tone of good society
which belonged to the period, or the jargon which often
passes current for it.

In short, the company and conversation was so agreeable
that Nigel's 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

The Fortunes of Nigel 183

he said, that Milor's taste lay for the " curieux and 1'utile,"
chose to address to him in particular on the subject of
cookery. To gratify, at the same time, the taste for anti-
quity which he somehow supposed that his new guest pos-
sessed, he launched out in commendation of the great artists
of former days, particularly one whom he had known in his
youth, " maitre de cuisine to the Marechal Strozzi — tres bon
gentilhomme pourtant," who had maintained his master's
table with twelve covers every day during the long and severe
blockade of le petit Leyth, although he had nothing better to
place on it than the quarter of a carrion-horse now and then,
and the grass and weeds that grew on the ramparts. " Des-
pardieux, c'etoit un homme superbe ! With one tistle-head,
and a nettle or two, he could make a soupe for twenty guests.
An haunch of a little puppy-dog made a roti des plus
excellens; but his coup de maitre was when the rendition
— what you call the surrender — took place and appened, and
then, dieu me damme, he made out of the hind quarter of
one salted horse forty-five couverts, 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 merrily round,
and had such genial effect on the guests, that those of the
lower end of the table, who had hitherto been listeners,
began, not greatly to their own credit or that of the Or-
dinary, 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 honoured profession which lives by killing other people —
"you talk of the siege of Leith, and I have seen the place
— a pretty kind of a hamlet it is, with a plain wall, or ram-
* Note, p. 573, French Cookery

1 84 The Fortunes of Nigel.

part, and a pigeon-house or so 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 cocklofts, one after
another, by pure storm, they would have deserved no better
grace than the provost-marshal gives when his noose is
reeved."

" Saar," said the Chevalier, " Monsieur le Capitaine, I vas
not at the siege of the petit Leyth, and I know not what you
say about the cockloft; but I will say for Monseigneur de
Strozzi, that he understood the grande guerre, and was grand
capitaine, plus grand — that is, more great — it may be, than
some of the capitaines of Angleterre, who do speak very loud.
Tenez, monsieur, car c'est a vous ! "

" Oh, 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 my noble guests ?
Saar, I have done my duty as a pauvre gentilhomme under
the Grand Henri Quatre, both at Courtrai and Yvry, and,
ventre saint gris ! we had neither pot nor marmite, 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."

"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.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 185

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

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

" What ! " said the soldier, bending a most terrific frown
from a pair of broad black eyebrows, handling the hilt of his
weapon with one hand, and twirling with the other his huge
moustaches, " will you quarrel for your city ? "

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

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

"You mistake me, gentlemen," said the captain, looking
round with an air of dignity. " I will but inquire whether
this cavaliero citizen is of rank and degree fitted to measure
swords with a man of action (for, conceive me, gentlemen,
it is not with every one that I can match myself without loss
* Note, p. 573. Cuckoo's Nest.

1 86 The Fortunes of Nigel.

of reputation), and in that case he shall soon hear from me
honourably, by way of cartel."

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

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

" 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 downstairs.
The captain showed no instant alacrity to follow him ; yet, at
last, roused by the laugh and sneer around him, he assured
the company that what he did he would do deliberately,
and, assuming his hat, which he put on with the air of
Ancient Pistol, he descended the stairs to the place of com-
bat, where his more prompt adversary was already stationed,
with his sword unsheathed. Of the company, all of whom
seemed highly delighted with the approaching fray, some
ran to the windows which overlooked the bowling-alley, and
others followed the combatants downstairs. Nigel could
not help asking Dalgarno whether he would not interfere
to prevent mischief.

" It would be a crime against the public interest," answered
his friend ; " there can no mischief happen between two such
originals which will not be a positive benefit to society, and
particularly to the Chevalier's establishment, as he calls it. I
have been as sick of that captain's buff belt and red doublet,
for this month past, as e'er I was of aught ; and now I hope
this bold linen draper will cudgel the ass out of that filthy

The Fortunes of Nigel. 187

lion's hide. See, Nigel, see the gallant citizen has ta'en his
ground about a bowl's-cast forward, in the midst of the alley
— the very model of a hog in armour. Behold how he
prances with his manly foot, and brandishes his blade, much
as if he were about to measure forth cambric with it. See,
they bring on the reluctant soldado, and plant him opposite
to his fiery antagonist, twelve paces still dividing them. 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, con-
fident, doubtless, in the civic helmet with which his spouse
has fortified his skull. Why, this is the rarest of sport. By
Heaven, he will run a tilt at him like a ram ! "

It was even as Lord Dalgarno had anticipated ; for the
citizen, who seemed quite serious in his zeal for combat, per-
ceiving that the man of war did not advance towards him,
rushed on him 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 vanquished
foeman on the ground, fled accordingly, with all speed.

" 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 swordsman, 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

1 88 The Fortunes of Nigel.

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 over-
take him, and then the valiant citizen will suppose himself
haunted by the ghost of him he has slain."

" Despardieux, milor," said the Chevalier, "if he had
stayed one moment, he should have had a torchon — what
you call a dishclout — pinned to him for a piece of shroud, to
show he be de ghost of one grand fanfaron."

" In the meanwhile," said Lord Dalgarno, " you will oblige
us, 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, milor," said the Chevalier, "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 possession 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 formed at ombre, at basset,
at gleek, at primero, and other games then in fashion ; while
the dice were used at various games, both with and without
the tables, as hazard, in-and-in, passage, and so forth. The
play, however, did not appear to be extravagantly deep ; it

The Fortunes of Nigel 189

was certainly conducted with great decorum and fairness ; nor
did there appear anything 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
principles.

Lord Dalgarno neither had proposed play to his friend,
nor joined in the amusement himself, but sauntered from
one table to another, remarking the luck of the different
players, as well as their capacity to avail themselves of it,
and exchanging conversation with the highest and most
respectable of the guests. At length, as if tired of what in
modern phrase would have been termed lounging, he sud-
denly 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 Glenvarloch,
a higher entertainment than to carry him 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 shows of a modern date, and
unknown in Scotland. Yet, if what I have heard to their
prejudice be true, I doubt much whether he would have
approved of them."

<k Approved of them ! " exclaimed Lord Dalgarno. " Why,
George Buchanan wrote tragedies, and his pupil, learned and
wise as himself, goes to see them, so it is next door to treason
to abstain ; and the cleverest men in England write for the
stage, and the prettiest women in London resort to the play-
houses ; and I have a brace of nags at the door which will
carry us along the streets like wildfire, and the ride will
digest our venison and ortolans, and dissipate the fumes of
the wine, and so let's to horse. — Good-den to you, gentlemen.
— Good-den, Chevalier de la Fortune."

190 The Fortunes of Nigel.

Lord Dalgarno's grooms were in attendance with two
horses, and the young men mounted, the proprietor upon a
favourite barb, and Nigel upon a high-dressed jennet, scarce
less beautiful. As they rode towards the theatre, Lord Dal-
garno 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
neophyte? 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 clatter of the devil's bones, thy hand hath not trowled
them — that if thine eye hath seen the brawling of two angry
boys, thy blade hath not been bared in their fray."

"Now, all this may be wise and witty," replied Nigel j
"yet I own I cannot but think that your lordship, and other
men of good quality with whom we dined, might have chosen
a place of meeting free from the intrusion of bullies, and a
better master of your ceremonial than yonder foreign adven-
turer."

"All shall be amended, Sancte Nigelle, when thou shalt
come forth a new Peter the Hermit, to preach a crusade
against dicing, drabbing, and company-keeping. We will
meet for dinner in Saint Sepulchre's Church ; we will dine

The Fortunes of Nigel. 191

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 them-
selves the vices of absolute devils — privy malice and back-
biting hypocrisy, and spiritual pride 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 here 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 apprentices 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 opportunity of displaying their
fair dresses and fashionable 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 absorbed 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

The Fortunes of Nigel.

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
Garrick arose, played the tyrant and usurper with such truth
and liveliness that, when the Battle of Bosworth seemed con-
cluded by his death, the ideas of reality and deception were
strongly contending in* Lord Glenvarloch'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.

They were joined, at the same time, by a small party of
the gentlemen with whom they had dined, which they re-
cruited by inviting two or three of the most accomplished
wits and poets, who seldom failed to attend the Fortune
Theatre, and were even but too ready to conclude a day
of amusement with a night of pleasure. Thither the whole
party adjourned, and betwixt fertile cups of sack, excited
spirits, and the emulous wit of their lively companions,
seemed to realize 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. "

* Note, p. 574. Burbage.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 193

CHAPTER XIII.

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

Albion, or the Double Kings.

IT is seldom that a day of pleasure, upon review, seems
altogether so exquisite as the partaker of the festivity may
have felt it while passing over him. Nigel Olifaunt, at least,
did not feel it so, and it required a visit from his new
acquaintance, Lord Dalgarno, to reconcile him entirely to
himself. But his visit took place early after breakfast, and
his friend's discourse was prefaced with a question, " How he
liked the company of the preceding evening ? "

" Why, excellently well," said Lord Glenvarloch ; " only I
should have liked the wit better had it seemed to flow more
freely. Every man's invention seemed on the stretch, and
each extravagant simile seemed to set one half of 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
patronage of the Waterman'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 from thence,
in a pitiable estate, to Wit's hospital in . the Vintry, where
they languish to this day amongst fools and aldermen."

" It may be so," said Lord Nigel ; " yet I could swear by

194 The Fortunes of Nigel.

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

"Now, out upon your tender conscience," said Lord Dal-
garno, " and the fico for such outcasts of Parnassus ! Why,
these are the very leavings of that noble banquet of pickled
herrings and Rhenish, which lost London so many of her
principal witmongers and bards of misrule. What would
you have said had you seen Nash or Green, when you in-
terest yourself about the poor mimes you supped with last
night ? Suffice it, they had their drench and their doze, and
they drank and slept as much as may save them from any
necessity of eating till evening, when, if they are industrious,
they will find patrons or players to feed them.* For the
rest of their wants, they can be at no loss for cold water while
the New River head holds good, and your doublets of Par-
nassus are eternal in duration."

"Virgil and Horace had more efficient patronage," said
Nigel.

"Ay," replied his countryman; "but these fellows are
neither Virgil nor Horace. Besides, we have other spirits of
another sort, to whom I will introduce you on some early
occasion. Our Swan of Avon hath sung his last ; but we
have stout old Ben, with as much learning and genius as

* The condition of men of wit and talents was never more melancholy
than about this period. Their lives were so irregular, and their means
of living so precarious, that they were alternately rioting in debauchery
or encountering and struggling with the meanest necessities. Two or
three lost their lives by a surfeit brought on by that fatal banquet of
Rhenish wine and pickled herrings which is familiar to those who study
the lighter literature of that age. The whole history is a most melan-
choly picture of genius degraded at once by its own debaucheries and
the patronage of heartless rakes and profligates.

The Fortimes of Nigel 195

ever prompted the trader 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 with
some curious bright eyes among them — such, I promise you,
as might win an astrologer from his worship of the galaxy.
My sister leads the bevy, to whom I desire to present you.
She hath her admirers at Court, and is regarded, though
I might dispense with sounding her praise, as one of the
beauties of the time."

There was no refusing an engagement where the presence
of the party invited, late so low in his own regard, was de-
manded by a lady of quality, one of the choice beauties of
the time. Lord Glenvarloch accepted, as was inevitable,
and spent a lively day among the gay and the fair. He was
the gallant in attendance, lor the day, upon his friend's sister,
the beautiful Countess of Blackchester, 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 the most
precise and curious accuracy in attire, an early acquaintance
with every foreign mode, and a peculiar gift in adapting the
knowledge 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, ac-
cording to his prevailing humour ; and was supposed to have
been very active, by her personal interest, in procuring her
husband a high situation, which the gouty old viscount could
never have deserved by any merit of his own commonplace
conduct and understanding.

It was far more easy for this lady than for her brother to

196 The Fortunes of Nigel

reconcile so young a courtier as Lord Glenvarloch to the
customs and habits of a sphere so new to him. In all civi-
lized society the females 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 main-
tained a great intimacy; and, although some coldness had
taken place betwixt the Countess and the Duchess of Buck-
ingham, so that they were little seen together, and the former
seemed considerably to have withdrawn herself into privacy,
it was whispered that Lady Blackchester's interest with the
great favourite 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 possessed great
influence on the circle around her, both from her beauty, her
abilities, and her reputed talents for Court intrigue ; and that
Nigel Olifaunt was not long of experiencing its power, as he
became a slave in some degree to that species of habit which
carries so many men into a certain society at a certain hour,
without expecting or receiving any particular degree of grati-
fication, or even amusement.

His life for several weeks may be thus described. The
Ordinary was no bad introduction to the business of the day,
and the young lord quickly found, that if the society there
was not always irreproachable, still it formed the most con-
venient and agreeable place of meeting with the fashionable

The Fortunes of Nigel. 197

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 admit
the idea, that as there could be no harm in beholding such
recreation when only indulged in to a moderate degree, so,
from a parity of reasoning, there could be no objection to
joining in it, always under the same restrictions. But the
young lord was a Scotsman, habituated to early reflection,
and totally unaccustomed to any habit which inferred a care-
less 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 startled at the idea of his becoming a
gaining than a losing adventurer. The second, according to
his principles, had a termination — a sad one indeed — in the
loss of temporal fortune ; the first quality went on increasing
the evil which he dreaded, and perilled at once both body
and soul.

However the old lord might ground his apprehension, it
was so far verified by his son's conduct that, from an ob-
server 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
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 common belief,
his evil genius had so decreed, that Nigel's adventures were
remarkably successful. He was temperate, cautious, cool-

1 98 The Fortunes of Nigel.

headed, had a strong memory, and a ready power of calcu-
lation ; was, besides, of a daring and intrepid character, one
upon whom no one that had looked even slightly, or spoken
to though but hastily, would readily have ventured to prac-
tise anything approaching to trick, or which required to be
supported by intimidation. When 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 further, the more
professed votaries of fortune who frequented the house of
Monsieur le Chevalier de Saint Priest Beaujeu did not ven-
ture openly to express their displeasure at his rising a winner.
But when this happened repeatedly, the gamesters murmured
amongst themselves equally at the caution and the success
of the young Scotsman, and he became far from being a
popular character among their society.

It was no slight inducement to the continuance of this
most evil habit, when it was once in some degree acquired,
that it seemed to place Lord Glenvarloch, haughty as he
naturally was, beyond the necessity of subjecting himself to
further pecuniary obligations, which his prolonged residence
in London must otherwise have rendered necessary. He
had to solicit from the ministers certain forms of office which
were to render his sign-manual effectually useful, and these,
though they could not be denied, were delayed in such a
manner as to lead Nigel to believe there was some secret
opposition which occasioned the demur in his business.
His own impulse was to have appeared at Court a second
time, with the King's sign-manual in his pocket, and to have
appealed to his Majesty himself whether the delay of the
public officers ought to render his royal generosity unavailing.
But the Lord Huntinglen, that good old peer, who had so
frankly interfered in his behalf on a former occasion, and
whom he occasionally visited, greatly dissuaded him from a

77ft? Fortunes of Nigel. 199

similar adventure, and exhorted him quietly to await the
deliverance of the ministers, which should set him free from
dancing attendance in London.

Lord Dalgarno joined his father in deterring his young
friend from a second attendance at Court, at least till he was
reconciled with the Duke of Buckingham — "a matter in
which," he said, addressing his father, "I have offered my
poor assistance, without being able to prevail on Lord Nigel
to make any — not even the least — submission to the Duke of
Buckingham."

"By my faith, and I hold the laddie to be in the right
on't, Malcolm ! " answered the stout old Scots lord. " What
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 myself,
on no reason that I could perceive, term Lord Nigel his
enemy ; and it will never be my counsel that the lad speaks
soft word to him, till he recalls the hard one."

"That is precisely my advice to Lord Glenvarloch,"
answered Lord Dalgarno. "But then you will admit, my
dear father, that it would be the risk of extremity for our
friend to return into the presence, the Duke being his enemy.
Better to leave it with me to take off the heat of the dis-
temperature, with which some pickthanks have persuaded
the Duke to regard our friend."-

"If thou canst persuade Buckingham of his error, Mal-
colm," 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."

2OQ The Fortunes of Nigel.

" By my faith, I am afraid thou wilt," answered 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
acceptance at Court which it had in my younger time — and
yet you rise there."

"Oh, the time permits not your old-world service," said
Lord Daigarno; "we have now no daily insurrections, no
nightly attempts at assassination, as were the fashion in the
Scottish Court. Your prompt and uncourteous sword-in-
hand attendance on the Sovereign is no longer necessary,
and would be as unbeseeming as your old-fashioned serving-
men, with their badges, broadswords, and bucklers, would be
at a court masque. Besides, father, loyal haste hath its in-
conveniences. I have heard, and from royal lips too, that
when you stuck 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 injured part, and quotes his linfandum

renovare dolorem? But this comes of old fashions, and o'
wearing a long Liddesdale whinger instead of a poniard of
Parma. Yet this, my dear father, you call prompt and vali-
ant service. The King, I am told, could not sit upright for
a fortnight, though all the cushions in Falkland were placed
in his chair of state, and the Provost of Dunfermline's bor-
rowed 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

The Fortunes of Nigel. 2OI

merit to their masters is to repeat their own words after them
— a pack of mouthers, and flatterers, and earwigs. 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 conver-
sation was held, towards the house, followed by the two
young men.

In their private discourse, Lord Dalgarno had little trouble
in dissuading Nigel from going immediately 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 contemptuous refusal.
His friend shrugged his shoulders, as one who claims the
merit of having given to an obstinate friend the best counsel,
and desires to be held free of the consequences of his per-
tinacity.

As for the father, his table indeed, and his best liquor, of
which he was more profuse than necessary, were at the com-
mand of his young friend, as well as his best advice and
assistance in the prosecution of his affairs. But Lord Hunt-
inglen'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 Glenvar-
loch, the royal bounty was never efficiently extended, either
to himself or to his friends.

"There never was a man," said Lord Dalgarno, whose

2O2 The Fortunes of Nigel.

shrewder knowledge of the English Court saw where his
father's deficiency lay, " that had it so perfectly in his power
to have made his way to the pinnacle of fortune as my poor
father. He had acquired a right to build up the staircase,
step by step, slowly and surely, letting every boon which he
begged year after year become in its turn the resting-place
for the next annual grant. But your fortunes shall not ship-
wreck upon the same coast, Nigel," he would conclude.
" If I have fewer means of influence than my father has, or
rather had, till he threw them away for butts of sack, hawks,
hounds, and such carrion, I can, far 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 com-
menced, and the Prince looks that I should attend him more
frequently. I must also maintain my attendance on the
Duke, that I may have an opportunity of pleading your cause
when occasion shall permit."

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

"Why, I meant the phrase no otherwise, thou churlish
and suspicious disputant," answered Dalgarno, "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 bene-
diction, Beati pacifid."

Upon several occasions, Lord Glenvarloch's conversations,
both with the old Earl and his son, took a similar turn, and
had a like conclusion. He sometimes felt as if, betwixt the
one and the other, not to mention the more unseen and
unboasted but scarce less certain influence of Lady Black-
chester, 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

The Fortunes of Nigel. 203

suppose that the countenance of the lady, by whom he was
received with such distinction, would be wanting, could it be
effectual in his service.

Nigel was further sensible of the truth of what Lord Dal-
garno often pointed out, that the favourite being supposed to
be his enemy, every petty officer, through whose hands his
affair must necessarily pass, would desire to make a merit of
throwing obstacles in his way, which he could only surmount
by steadiness and patience, unless he preferred closing the
breach, or, as Lord Dalgarno 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 Heriot upon this occasion,
having found it so advantageous formerly ; but the only time
he saw him after their visit to Court, he found the worthy
citizen engaged in hasty preparation for a journey to Paris,
upon business of great importance in the way of his profes-
sion, and by an especial commission from the Court and the
Duke of Buckingham, which was likely to be attended with
considerable profit. The good man smiled as he named
the Duke of Buckingham. He had been, he said, pretty
sure that his disgrace in that quarter would not be of long
duration.

Lord Glenvarloch expressed himself rejoiced at their recon-
ciliation, observing that it had been a most painful reflection
to him that Master Heriot should, in his behalf, have incurred
the dislike, and perhaps exposed himself to the ill offices, of
so powerful a favourite.

" My lord," said Heriot, " for your father's son I would do
much ; and yet 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 further prosecution of this matter."

204 The Fortunes of Nigel.

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

There were other changes in Lord Glenvarloch's situation
which require to be noticed. His present occupations, and
the habits of amusement which he had acquired, rendered
his living so far in the city a considerable inconvenience.
He may also have become a little ashamed of his cabin
on Paul's Wharf, and desirous of being lodged somewhat
more according to his quality. For this purpose he had
hired a small apartment near the Temple. He was, never-
theless, almost sorry for what he had done, when he observed
that his removal appeared to give some pain to John Christie,
and a great deal to his cordial and officious landlady. The
former, who was grave and saturnine in everything he did,
only hoped that all had been to Lord Glenvarloch's mind,
and that he had not left them on account of any unbeseem-
ing negligence on their part. But the tear twinkled in Dame
Nelly's eye, while she recounted the various improvements
she had made in the apartment, of express purpose to render
it more convenient to his lordship.

" There was a great sea-chest," she said, " had been taken
upstairs 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 lord-
ship, the closet was more convenient. There was all the
linen, too, which she had bought on purpose ; but Heaven's
will be done — she was resigned."

Everybody likes marks of personal attachment ; and Nigel,
whose 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

The Fortunes of Nigel 205

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 soreness of their feelings at his de-
parture ; and a parting kiss from the fair lips of his hostess
sealed his forgiveness.

Richie Moniplies lingered behind his master, to ask
whether, in case of need, John Christie could help a canny
Scotsman to a passage back to his own country; and re-
ceiving 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, mysel' ; and I am weel determined to
see Arthur's Seat again ere I am many weeks older."

CHAPTER XIV.

Bingo, why, Bingo ! hey, boy — here, sir, here ! —
He's gone and off, but he'll be home before us ; —
"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 her sullen moods, as soon as Bingo.

The Dominie and his Dog.

RICHIE MONIPLIES was as good as his word. Two or three
mornings after the young lord had possessed himself of his
new lodgings, he appeared before Nigel as he was preparing
to dress, having left his pillow at an hour much later than
had formerly been his custom.

As Nigel looked upon his attendant, he observed there
was a gathering gloom upon his solemn features, which ex-
pressed either additional importance or superadded discon-
tent, or a portion of both.

206 The Fortunes of Nigel

" How now," he said, " what is the matter this morning,
Richie, that you have made your face so like 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, replied, "Mask here, mask there — it
were nae such matters that I have to speak anent."

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

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

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

" My lord," said Richie, " I may, it is like, want a trifle of
money ; and I am glad at the same time, and sorry, that it is
mair plenty 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 commands for Scotland."

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

" I could be of little service," said Richie, " since you pur-
pose to hire another page and groom."

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

"Adversity, my lord, should never have parted us," said
Richie. "Methinks, had the warst come to warst, I could

The Fortunes of Nigel. 207

have starved as gallantly as your lordship, or more so, being
in some sort used to it ; for, though I was bred at a flesher's
stall, I have not through my life had a constant intimacy with
collops."

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

" My lord," said Richie, " in declaring your trust in me,
you have done what is honourable to yourself, if I may with
humility say so much, and in no way undeserved on my side.
Nevertheless, we must part."

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

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

" How now, sirrah ? " said his master angrily.

"Under favour, my lord," replied his domestic, "it is un-
equal dealing to be equally offended 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 license of de-
parture in silence, and so no more about it."

" Go to, sir ! " said Nigel ; " speak out your mind — only
remember to whom you speak it."

" Weel, weel, my lord — I speak it with humility " (never
did Richie look with more starched dignity than when he
uttered the word) ; " but do you think this dicing and card-
shuffling and haunting of taverns and playhouses suits your
lordship — for I am sure it does not suit me ? "

"Why, you are not turned precisian or puritan, fool?"

208 The Fortunes of Nigel

said Lord Glenvarloch, laughing, though, 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 far as my Northern conscience will permit. I can
give my gude word to my master, or to my native country,
when I am in a foreign land, even though I should leave
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, dicing, 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 c Stand ! '
to the first grazier we met that was coming from Smithfield
with the price of his Essex calves in his leathern pouch ! "

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

"Ay, my lord," replied the unyielding domestic, "and —
still with reverence — it is even sae much the waur. If you
played with your equals, there might be like sin, but there
wad be mair worldly honour in it. Your lordship kens, or
may ken, by experience of your ain, whilk is not as yet
mony weeks auld, that small sums can ill be missed by
those that have nane larger; and I maun e'en be plain
with yoti, 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."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 209

" That is just what they say, my lord," said the unmerciful
Richie, whose natural love of lecturing, as well as his blunt-
ness of feeling, prevented 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 yesterday 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 pile, I never saw a ruined man in my life."

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

"All is not gold that glistens, my lord," replied Richie;
"'broidery and bullion buttons make bare pouches. And
if you ask who he is — maybe 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 rever-
ence always," said Richie ; " he shall be suitably cared after.
Think on him but as ane 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 further — 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 hand, which Richie told over, piece 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

210 The Fortunes of Nigel.

minutes since ? " said the young lord, now thoroughly nettled
at the presumptuous precision with which Richie dealt forth
his canons of morality.

" The tale of coin is complete," said Richie, with the most
imperturbable gravity ; "and, for the weight, though they are
sae scrupulous in this town as make 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 grosart. Gold pieces are not so plenty there, the mair
the pity ! "

" 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 Lutin — and you might as well call him
Gibbet, since that is what he is like to end in — shall recom-
mend a page to you, ye will hear little such doctrine as ye
have heard from me. And if they were my last words," he
said, raising his voice, " I would say you are misled, and are
forsaking the paths which your honourable father trod in;
and, what is more, you are going — still under correction — to
the devil with a dishclout, for ye are laughed at by them that
lead you into these disordered bypaths."

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

" My lord, as sure as I live by bread — nay, more, as I am
a true man— and, I think, your lordship never found Richie's
tongue bearing aught but the truth, unless that your lord-
ship's credit, my country's profit, or, it may be, some sma'
occasion of my ain, made it unnecessary to promulgate the
haill veritie — I say then, as I am a true man, when I saw
that puir creature come through the ha', at that ordinary,

The Fortunes of Nigel 21 1

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 desperate man, Goblin
said to me, ' There goes a 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 lackeys, and the gallants, and more especially
your sworn brother, Lord Dalgarno, call you the sparrow-
hawk. I had some thought to have cracked Lutin's pate for
the speech, but, after a', the controversy was not worth it."

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

" And the devil's dam, my lord," answered Richie ; " they
are all three busy in London. And, besides, Lutin and his
master laughed at you, my lord, for letting it be thought that
— I shame to speak it — that ye were over well with the wife of
the decent honest man whose house you but now left as not
sufficient for your new bravery, whereas they said, the licen-
tious 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
cheesemonger." He stopped a moment, and looked fixedly
in his master's face, which was inflamed with shame and
anger, and then proceeded. "My lord, I did you justice
in my thought, and myself too ; for, thought I, he would
have been as deep in that sort of profligacy as in others, if
it hadna been Richie's four quarters."

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

"In troth," said Richie, "and so will I even do. And
as Heaven has bestowed on me a tongue to speak and to
advise w

212 The Fortunes of Nigel

"Which talent you can by no means be accused of
suffering to remain idle," said Lord Glenvarloch, interrupt-
ing him.

" True, my lord," said Richie, again waving his hand, as
if to bespeak his master's silence and attention ; " so, I trust,
you will think some time hereafter. And as I am about to
leave your service, it is proper that ye suld know the truth,
that ye may consider the snares to which your youth and
innocence may be exposed when aulder and doucer heads
are withdrawn from beside you. There has been a lusty,
good-looking kimmer, of some forty, or bygane, making mony
spierings about you, my lord."

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

"At first, my lord," replied his sapient follower, "as she
seemed to be a well-fashioned woman, and to take pleasure
in sensible company, I was no way reluctant to admit her
to my conversation."

" I dare say not," said Lord Nigel ; " nor unwilling to tell
her about my private affairs."

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

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

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

"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.

"I told her," said Richie, "about your warldly fortune,
and sae forth, something whilk is not truth just at this time,

The Fortunes of Nigel. 213

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 showed the cloven 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 par-
ticular 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 circumstances ? "
said Lord Nigel, who, notwithstanding his former resent-
ment, could now scarcely 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 threatened her, in sae mony words, that I would have
her to the ducking-stool; and she, on the contrair part,
misca'ed 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 playhouse either,
since you wot well what Solomon, King of the Jews, sayeth
of the strange woman ; for, said I to mysel', we have taken
to dicing 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, Richie, I will say no more respecting your precautions
on my account, than that I think you might have left me to
act according to my own judgment."

"Mickle better not," answered Richie — "mickle better

214 The Fortunes of Nigel.

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 one, I have always observed myself to be much 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 Edinburgh until I come thither myself, when I
trust you will re-enter into my service."

" Now, Heaven bless you, my lord," said Richie Moni-
plies, with uplifted eyes ; "for that word sounds more like
grace than ony has come out of your mouth this fortnight.
I give you good-den, 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
showing more emotion than was consistent with his ideas of
decorum. Lord Nigel, rather surprised at his sudden exit,
called after him to know whether he was sufficiently provided
with money; but Richie, shaking his head, without making
any other answer, ran hastily downstairs, shut the street-door
heavily behind him, and was presently seen striding along
the Strand.

His master almost involuntarily watched and distinguished
the tall, raw-boned figure of his late follower, from the win-
dow, for some time, until he was lost among the crowd of
passengers. Nigel's reflections were not altogether those of
self-approval. It was no good sign of his course of life (he
could not help acknowledging this much to himself) that
so faithful an adherent no longer seemed to feel the same

The Fortunes of Nigel 215

pride in his service, or attachment to his person, which he
had formerly manifested. Neither could he avoid experien-
cing 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.

Then his pride and self-love suggested that, on the other
hand, Richie, with all his good intentions, was little better
than a conceited., pragmatical domestic, who seemed disposed
rather to play the tutor than the lackey, and who, out of
sheer love, as he alleged, to his master's person, assumed
the privilege of interfering with and controlling his actions,
besides rendering him ridiculous in the gay world, from
the antiquated formality and intrusive presumption of his
manners.

Nigel's eyes were scarce turned from the window, 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 diminishing
an honest reputation. An unknown but real friend of your
lordship will speak in one word what you would not learn
from flatterers in so many days, as should suffice for your
utter ruin. He whom you think most true — I say your

216 The Fortunes of Nigel.

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 shows to you is more
dangerous than the Prince's frown, even as to gain at
Beaujeu's Ordinary is more 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 at-
tention, bent his brows, mused for a moment, and then
tearing it to fragments, 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 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 thither accordingly.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 217

CHAPTER XV.

'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 hedge, the hill, the thicket, or the stile.
Experience sage the lack of speed supplied,
And in the gap he sought, the victim died. —
So was I once, in thy fair street, Saint James,
Through walking cavaliers, and car-borne dames,
Descried, pursued, turn'd o'er again, and o'er,
Coursed, coted, mouth'd by an unfeeling bore.
Etc., etc., etc.

THE Park of Saint James's, though enlarged, planted with
verdant alleys, and otherwise decorated by Charles II., ex-
isted 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 had been suggested by his parting with
his trusty squire, Richie Moniplies, in a manner which was
agreeable neither to his pride nor his feelings ; and by the
corroboration which the hints of his late attendant had re-
ceived from the anonymous letter mentioned in the end of
the last chapter.

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

21 8 The Fortunes of Nigel

In this, however, Lord Glenvarloch was mistaken ; for, as
he strolled slowly along, with his arms folded in his cloak,
and his hat drawn over his eyes, he was suddenly pounced
upon by Sir Mungo 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 queru-
lous tones of the knight's cracked voice, and was no less
alarmed when he beheld his tall thin figure hobbling towards
him, wrapped in a threadbare cloak, on whose surface ten
thousand varied stains eclipsed the original scarlet, and
having his head surmounted with a well-worn beaver, bear-
ing 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 con-
tinue the simile, had long ago learned to run cunning, and
make sure of mouthing his game. So Nigel found himself
compelled to stand and answer the hackneyed question,
" What news to-day ? "

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

" Oh, ye are ganging to the French ordinary belive," re-
plied the knight ; " but it is early day yet. We will take a turn
in the Park in the meanwhile ; it will sharpen your appetite."

So saying, he quietly slipped his arm under Lord Glen-
varloch's, in spite of all the decent reluctance which his
victim could exhibit, by keeping his elbow close to his
side; and having fairly grappled the prize, he proceeded
to take it in tow.

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.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 219

" Ye are bound for the ordinary, my lord ? " said the
cynic; "weel, ye canna do better. There is choice com-
pany there, and peculiarly selected, as I am tauld, being,
dootless, sic as it is desirable 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 society is as good as
generally can be found in such places, where the door can
scarcely be shut against those who come to spend their
money."

" Right, my lord, vera right," said his tormentor, bursting
out into a chuckling but most discordant laugh. "These
citizen chuffs and clowns will press in amongst us, when
there is but an inch of a door open. And what remedy?
Just e'en this, that as their cash gives them confidence, we
should strip them of it. Flay them, my lord — singe them
as the kitchen wench does the rats, and then they winna
long to come back again. Ay, ay ; pluck them, plume
them, and then the larded capons will not be for 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 sensations, 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
unutterably ridiculous, and he only muttered to himself the
words, " Impertinent coxcomb ! " which, on this occasion,
Sir Mungo's imperfection of organ did not prevent him from
hearing and replying to.

22O The Fortunes of Nigel

"Ay, ay; vera true," exclaimed the caustic old courtier.
"Impertinent coxcombs they are, that thus intrude them-
selves on the society of their betters; but your lordship
kens how to gar them as gude — you have the trick on't. —
They 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 a' the specie he had about him, down
to the very silver buttons of his cloak, and sent him to graze
with Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. Muckle honour
redounded to your lordship thereby. We were tauld the
loon threw himself into the Thames in a fit of desperation.
There's enow of them behind — 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.

"Vera likely — vera likely," said the unabashed and un-
dismayed 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 scrub-
bing the kennels in quest after rusty nails, to help him to
begin his pack again. He has three bairns, they say ; they
will help him bravely to grope in the gutters. Your good
lordship may have the ruining of him again, my lord, if they
have any luck in strand-scouring."

" 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 convinced him that to do either would only
give an air of truth and consistency to the scandals which
he began to see were affecting his character, both in the
higher and lower circles. Hastily, therefore, he formed the

The Fortunes of Nigel 221

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 reputa-
tion.

Sir Mungo, in the meanwhile, 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."

" Sir Mungo Malagrowther," said Lord Glenvarloch, turn-
ing 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 derived such false
information."

" I never heard you 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 peculiarly deliberate 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 and deeply

222 The Fortunes of Nigel

upon such a wager. But he, my lord, who has the patience
and prudence never to venture beyond small game, such as,
at most, might crack the Christmas-box of a grocer's 'prentice,
who vies with those that have little to hazard, and who there-
fore, having the larger stock, can always rook them by waiting
for his good fortune, 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 entitled."

"And such a mean-spirited, sordid wretch you would
infer that I am," replied Lord Glenvarloch ; " one who
fears the skilful, and preys upon the ignorant — who avoids
playing with his equals, that he may make 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 supported by a good fund of animal courage, had
also full reliance on the immunities which he had derived
from the broadsword of Sir Rullion Rattray and the baton
of the satellites employed by the Lady Cockpen. " And for
the truth of the matter," he continued, " your lordship best
knows whether you ever lost more than five pieces at a time
since you frequented Beaujeu's ; whether you have not most
commonly risen a winner; and whether the brave young
gallants who frequent the ordinary — I mean those of noble
rank, and means conforming — are in use to play upon these
terms?"

"My father was right," said Lord Glenvarloch, in the
bitterness of his spirit; "and his curse justly followed me
when I first entered that place. There is contamination 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,

The Fortunes of Nigel. 223

that if he strained the line on him too tightly, there was
every risk of his breaking hold. In order to give him
room, therefore, to play, he protested that Lord Glenvarloch
" should not take his free speech in malam partem. If you
were a trifle ower sicker in your amusement, my lord, it
canna be denied that it is the safest course to prevent
further 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 ;
forby, that the plebeian knaves have had. the advantage,
tecum certasse, as Ajax Telarnon sayeth, apua Metamorpho-
seos ; and for the like of them to have played with ane
Scottish nobleman is an honest and honourable considera-
tion to compensate the loss of their stake, whilk, I daresay,
moreover, maist of the churls can weel afford."

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

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

"I wish to know, Sir Mungo," said Lord Glenvarloch,
"in what company you have learned these offensive par-
ticulars respecting me ? "

" Dootless — dootless, my lord," said Sir Mungo ; " I have
ever heard, and I have ever reported, that your lordship kept
the best of company in a private way. There is the fine
Countess of Blackchester — but I think she stirs not much
abroad since her affair with his Grace of Buckingham. And
there is the gude auld-fashioned Scottish nobleman, Lord
Huntinglen, an undeniable man of quality — it is pity but
he could keep caup and can frae his head, whilk now and
then doth minish his reputation. And there is the gay
young Lord Dalgarno, that carries the craft of grey hairs
under his curled love-locks — a fair race they are, father,

224 The Fortunes of Nigel.

daughter, and son, all of the same honourable family. I
think we needna speak of George Heriot, honest man, when
we have nobility in question. So that is the company I
have heard of your keeping, my lord, out-taken those of the
ordinary."

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

" To Court ? " 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 person. I speak in serious friendship, my lord. His
Majesty, when you were named in the circle a short while
since, was heard to say, ljacta est alea ! — Glenvarlochides
is turned dicer and drinker.' My Lord Dalgarno took your
part, and he was e'en borne down by the popular voice of
the courtiers, who spoke of you as one who had betaken
yourself to living a town life, and risking your baron's coronet
amongst the flatcaps of the city."

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

"Spoken openly?" repeated Sir Mungo Malagrowther ;
"ay, by my troth was it — that is to say, it was whispered
privately, whilk is as open promulgation as the thing per-
mitted; for ye m?" 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."

"May I pray of you, Sir Mungo, to let me know," said

The Fortunes of Nigel. 225

Nigel, "the names of those who thus make free with the
character of one who can be but little known to them, and
who never injured any of them ? "

"Have I not told you 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 roopit raven. Poor gentleman, if he had had his full
extent of voice, he would have been as well listened to,
dootless, as in a cause of his ain, whilk no man kens better
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
Buckingham, either of whom might soon carry through
your suit ? "

"I have no claim on the favour of either the Prince or
the Duke of Buckingham," said Lord Glenvarloch. "As
you seem to have made my affairs your study, Sir Mungo,
although perhaps something 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 right, or refused altogether."

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

"It is a vera clear and parspicuous position of the case,

8

226 The Fortunes of Nigel.

my lord; and in relying thereupon, you show an absolute
and unimprovable acquaintance with the King, Court, and
mankind in general. — But whom have we got here ? Stand
up, my lord, and make way. By my word of honour, they
are the very men we spoke of. Talk of the devil, and —
humph ! "

It must be here premised that, during the conversation,
Lord Glenvarloch, perhaps in the hope of shaking himself
free of Sir Mungo, had directed their walk towards the more
frequented part of the Park; while the good knight had
stuck to him, being totally indifferent which way they went,
provided he could keep his talons clutched upon his com-
panion. 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 latter part
of his speech to Lord Glenvarloch.

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

Most of these courtly gallants were dressed in the garb
which the pencil of Vandyke has made familiar even at the
distance of nearly two centuries, and which was just at this
period beginning to supersede the more fluttering and frivol-
ous 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, having his long curled auburn tresses,
and hie countenance, which, even in early youth, bore a

The Fortunes of Nigel. 227

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 graceful, deportment threw almost into
shade the personal demeanour and majesty of the Prince on
whom he attended. The eye, movements, and gestures of
the great courtier were so composed, so regularly observant
of all etiquette belonging to his 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 singular fate
attended this accomplished courtier, in being at once the
reigning favourite of a father and son so very opposite in
manners, that, to ingratiate himself with the youthful Prince,
he was obliged to compress within the strictest limits of
respectful observance the frolicsome and free humour which
captivated his aged father.

It is true, Buckingham well knew the different dispositions
both of James and Charles, and had no difficulty in so
conducting himself as to maintain the highest post in the
favour of both. It has indeed been supposed, as we before
hinted, 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 later years of his life especially, not
unlikely to have discarded Buckingham from his counsels
and favour. But if ever the King indeed 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 that Buckingham,
though surviving the master by whom he was raised, had
the rare chance to experience no wane of the most splendid

The Fortunes of Nigel

court favour during two reigns, until it was at once eclipsed
in his blood by the dagger of his assassin Felton.

To return from this digression : The Prince, with his train,
advanced, and was 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 Dalgarno walked
close behind the Duke of Buckingham, and, as he thought,
whispered something in his ear as they came onward. At
any rate, both the Prince's and Duke of Buckingham's atten-
tion seemed to be directed by some circumstance towards
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, while Buckingham's looks evinced some degree of
scornful triumph. Lord Dalgarno did not seem to observe
his friend, perhaps because the sunbeams fell from the side
of the walk on which Nigel stood, obliging Malcolm to hold
up his hat to screen his eyes.

As the Prince passed, Lord Glenvarloch and Sir Mungo
bowed, as respect required; and the Prince, 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 completed 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 of Prince of Wales. After about a minute's
conversation, the Prince bestowed on Nigel the embarrassing
notice of another fixed look, touched his hat slightly to
Sir Mungo, and walked on.

"It is even as I suspected, my lord," said Sir Mungo,

The Fortunes of Nigel 229

with an air which he designed to be melancholy and sym-
pathetic, but which, in fact, resembled the grin of an ape
when he has mouthed a scalding chestnut. " Ye have back-
friends, my lord, that is, unfriends — or, to be plain, enemies
— about the person of the Prince."

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

" Ye shall hear, my lord," said Sir Mungo, " the Prince's
vera 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 Highness, resum-
ing 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 believe 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 is aware, do nothing but make an
obeisance, and a gracious 'Give ye good-day, Sir Mungo
Malagrowther,' licensed me to fall back to your lordship.
And now, my lord, it your business or pleasure calls you to
the ordinary, or anywhere 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;

230 The Fortunes of Nigel.

but, for my own part, my resolution is taken. I will quit
this public walk for pleasure of no man, still less will I quit
it like one unworthy to be seen in places of public resort.
I trust that the Prince and his retinue 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 yoursel
then."

Accordingly, he was about to leave Nigel very hastily,
when some unwonted touch of good-natured interest in his
youth and inexperience seemed suddenly to soften his
habitual cynicism.

" The devil is in me for an auld fine ! " said Sir Mungo ;
"but I must needs concern mysel' — I that owe so little
either to fortune or my fellow-creatures, must, I say, needs
concern mysel' — 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 distinctly, for this is no bairn's play. When
the Prince said sae much to me as I have repeated to you,
it was equivalent to a command not to appear again in his
presence; wherefore, take an auld man's advice that wishes
you weel, and maybe a wee thing better than he has reason
to wish onybody. Jouk, and let the jaw gae by, like a canny
bairn. Gang hame to your lodgings, keep your foot frae
taverns and your fingers frae the dice-box, compound your
affairs quietly wi' some ane that has better favour than yours
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

The Fortunes of Nigel 231

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 exhortation, in which
there was more of sincere sympathy with another's situation
than he had been heretofore known to express in behalf of
any one, Lord Glenvarloch 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. 1 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 would be tempted to stand by you, and gie
them the meeting. But at threescore and upward men's
courage turns cauldrife; and they that canna win a living
must not endanger the small sustenance of their age. I
wish you weel through, my lord, but it is an unequal fight."
So saying, he turned and limped away ; often looking back,
however, as if his natural spirit, even in its present subdued
state, aided by his love of contradiction and of debate,
rendered him unwilling to adopt the course necessary for his
own security.

Thus abandoned by his companion, whose departure he
graced with better thoughts of him than those which he
bestowed on his appearance, Nigel remained with his arms
folded, and reclining against a solitary 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 expostulation, in such a public place
as the Park. He did not remain unnoticed, however; for,
when he made a respectful but haughty obeisance, intimating
in look and manner that he was possessed of, and undaunted
by, the unfavourable opinion which the Prince had so lately

232 The Fortunes of Nigel

expressed, Charles 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 Buckingham
not even appearing to see Lord Glenvarloch; while Lord
Dalgarno, though no longer incommoded by the sunbeams,
kept his eyes, which had perhaps been dazzled by their
former splendour, 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 followed the Prince's train so as to keep them distinctly
in sight — which was very easy, as they valked slowly. Nigel
observed them keep their road towards the Palace, where
the Prince turned 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.

All this was carefully noticed by Lord Glenvarloch, 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 ! "

The Fortunes of Nigel. 233

CHAPTER XVI.

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

And tell me not of privilege and place ;

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

Look to it, every one who bars my access ;

I 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 Dalgarno
advancing towards him in the company of another young
man of quality of the Prince's train; and as they directed
their course towards the south-eastern corner of the Park,
he concluded they were about to go to Lord 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.

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

"Good-morrow, my Lord Dalgarno," said Lord Glen-
varloch sternly.

" Ha ! my friend Nigel," answered Lord Dalgarno, in his
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 answer me."

234 The Fortunes of Nigel.

"Hey-day!" 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. Away with this folly, man ; go, dine upon
soup and salad, drink succorv-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 determined 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 roisterers, a plucker of pigeons, a controller of
players and poets; and in gratitude for my having shown
him the way to the eminent character which he holds upon
town, he comes hither to quarrel with his best friend, if not
his only one of decent station."

" I renounce such hollow friendship, my lord," said Lord
Glenvarloch. " I disclaim the character 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."

"My lords both," interrupted Sir Ewes Haldimund, "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 privi-
leges of the place, " wherever I find my enemy."

"You shall find quarrelling enough," replied Lord Dal-
garno 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 on such occasions. But of

The Fortunes of Nigel. 235

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 Glen-
varloch. " They have done for me all they could — more, far
more, than I could have expected ; 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 character
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."

"You have been misinformed, my Lord Glenvarloch,"
said Sir Ewes Haldimund. " I have myself often heard Lord
Dalgarno defend your character, and regret that your ex-
clusive attachment to the pleasures of a London life pre-
vented 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 Dalgarno, with
haughty coldness. " You seem to have conceived, my lord,
that you and I were Pylades and Orestes — a second edition
of Damon and Pythias — Theseus and Pirithous at the least.
You are mistaken, and have given the name of friendship to
what, on my part, was mere good-nature and compassion for
a raw and ignorant countryman, joined to the cumbersome
charge which my iather gave me respecting you. Your
character, my lord, is of no one's drawing, but of your own
making. I introduced vou 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 and cards degenerated into
the cautious resolution to play only at those times, and with
such persons, as mi^ht ensure your rising a winner : no man

236 The Fortunes of Nigel.

can long do so, and continue to be held a gentleman. Such
is the reputation you have made for yourself; and you have
no right to be angry that I do not contradict in society what
yourself know to be true. Let us pass on, my lord; and
if you want further explanation, seek some other time and
fitter place."

"No time can be better than the present," said Lord
Glenvarloch, whose resentment was now excited to the
uttermost by the cold-blooded and insulting manner in
which Dalgarno vindicated himself — "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 defend yourself." At
the same time he unsheathed his rapier.

"Are you mad?" said Lord Dalgarno, stepping back;
" we are in the precincts of the Court ! "

"The better," answered Lord Glenvarloch; "I will
cleanse them from a calumniator and a coward." He then
pressed on Lord Dalgarno, 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 number of people came rushing to the spot
from all sides.

Lord Dalgarno, who had half drawn his sword on receiving
the blow, returned it to his scabbard when he observed the
crowd thicken, and, taking Sir Ewes Haldimund by the
arm, walked hastily away, only saying to Lord Glenvarloch
as they left him, "You shall dearly abye this insult; we will
meet again."

A decent-looking elderly man, who observed that Lord
Glenvarloch remained on the spot, taking compassion on his

The Fortunes of Nigel. 237

youthful appearance, said to him, "Are you aware this is
a Star Chamber business, young gentleman, and that it may
cost you your right hand? Shift for yourself before the
keepers or constables come up. Get into Whitefriars or
somewhere for sanctuary and concealment, till you can make
friends or quit the city."

The advice was not to be neglected. Lord Glenvarloch
made hastily towards the issue from the Park by Saint
James's Palace, then Saint James's Hospital. The hubbub
increased behind him, and several peace-officers of the
Royal Household came up to apprehend the delinquent.
Fortunately for Nigel, a popular edition of the cause of the
affray had gone abroad. It was said that one of the Duke
of Buckingham's companions had insulted a stranger gentle-
man from the country, and that the stranger had cudgelled
him soundly. A favourite, or the companion of a favourite,
is always odious to John Bull, who has, besides, a partiality
to those disputants who proceed, as lawyers term it, par
voye du fait ; and both prejudices were in Nigel's favour.
The officers, 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.

What Lord Glenvarloch heard among the crowd as he
passed along was sufficient to satisfy him that, in his im-
patient 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, especi-
ally in cases of breach of privilege, which made it the terror
of all men ; and it was no farther back than the Queen's
time that the punishment of mutilation had been actually
awarded and executed 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,

238 The Fortunes of Nigel.

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 reports which had been put in circulation con-
cerning his character were certain to weigh heavily against
him, in a case where much must necessarily depend on the
reputation of the accused. To a youthful imagination, the
idea of such a punishment as mutilation seems more ghastly
than death itself; and every word which he overheard among
the groups which he met, mingled with, or overtook and
passed, announced this as the penalty of his offence. He
dreaded to increase his pace for fear of attracting suspicion,
and more than once saw the ranger's officers so near him
that his wrist tingled as if already under the blade of the
dismembering knife. At length he got out of the Park, and
had a little more leisure to consider what he was next to do.
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 abounded with
desperadoes of every description — bankrupt citizens, ruined
gamesters, irreclaimable prodigals, 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 emanating even from the highest
authority, amongst men whose safety was inconsistent with
warrants or authority of any kind. This Lord Glenvarloch
well knew ; and odious as the place of refuge was, it seemed
the only one where, for a space at least, he might be con-
cealed 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 accommodated.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 239

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

" Dalgarno spoke but too truly in that," were his bitter
reflections. "I have made myself an evil reputation by
acting on his insidious counsels, and neglecting the whole-
some 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 inexperience,
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."

As Lord Glenvarloch formed these prudent resolutions,
he entered the Temple Walks, whence a gate at that time
opened into Whitefriars, by which, as by the more private
passage, he proposed 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 reminded him of the facilis descensus Averm, and
rendered him doubtful whether it were not better to brave
the worst which could befall him in the public haunts of
honourable men than to evade punishment by secluding
himself in those of avowed vice and profligacy.

As Nigel hesitated, a young gentleman of the Temple
advanced towards him, whom he had often seen, and some-
times conversed with, at the ordinary, where he was a
frequent and welcome guest, being a wild young gallant,
indifferently well provided with money, who spent at the
theatres, and other gay places of public resort, the time

240 The Fortunes of Nigel.

which his father supposed he was employing in the study
of the law. But Reginald Lowestoffe, such was the young
Templar's name, was of opinion that little law was necessary
to enable him to spend the revenues of the paternal acres
which were to devolve upon him at his father's 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 pun (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
through all its recesses, but in a sort of disrespectable way.
This gallant, now approaching the Lord Glenvarloch, saluted
him by name and title, and asked if his lordship designed
for the Chevalier'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 parade a part at least of
the street in company with a lord, though but a Scottish one.

"I— I," said Nigel, desirous 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 describe the situation in which he stood —
" I have some curiosity to see Whitefriars."

"What! your lordship is for a frolic into Alsatia?" said
Lowestoffe. " Have with you, my lord ; you cannot have a
better guide to the infernal regions than myself. I promise
you there are bona-robas to be found there ; good wine, too,

The Fortunes of Nigel. 241

ay, and good fellows to drink it with, though somewhat
suffering under the frowns of Fortune. But your lordship
will pardon me — you are the last of our acquaintance to
whom I would have proposed such a voyage of discovery."

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

" Indeed ! " said Lowestoffe, in a tone of great surprise.
" I thought your lordship had always taken care not to risk
any considerable stake. I beg pardon, but if the bones have
proved perfidious, I know just so much law as that a peer's
person is sacred from arrest; and for mere impecuniosity,
my lord, better shift can be made elsewhere than in White-
friars, where all are devouring each other for very poverty."

" My misfortune has no connection 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 society,
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 Lowe-
stoffe," answered Lord Glenvarloch, " as you seem to conjec-
ture. I have stricken a gentleman in the Park, that is all."

"By my hand, my lord, and you had better have struck
your sword through him at Barns Elms," said the Templar.
" Strike within the verge of the Court ! You will find that
a weighty dependence upon your hands, especially if your
party be of rank and have favour."

242 The Fortunes of Nigel.

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

" A follower and favourite of the Duke of Buckingham !
It is a most unhappy chance, my lord ; but my heart was
formed in England, and cannot bear to see a young noble-
man 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 gentleman
to be arrested for a duel, within their precincts ; but in such
a matter between Lord Dalgarno and your lordship, there
might be a party on either side. You must away with me
instantly to my poor chambers here, hard by, and undergo
some little change of dress ere you take sanctuary ; for else
you will have the whole rascal rout of the Friars about you,
like crows upon a falcon that strays into their rookery. We
must have you arrayed something more like the natives of
Alsatia, or there will be no life there for you."

While Lowestoffe spoke, he pulled Lord Glenvarloch
along with him into his chambers, where he had a handsome
library, filled with all the poems and play-books which were
then in fashion. The Templar then 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 lordship's
dinner, with a glass of old sack, of which my grandmother
(the heavens requite her!) sent rne a dozen bottles, with
charge to use the liquor only with clarified whey, when I
felt my breast ache with over-study. Marry, we will drink
the good lady's health in it, if it is your lordship's pleasure ;
and you shall see how we poor students eke out our mutton-
commons in the hall."

The outward door of the chambers was barred so soon as
the boy had re-entered with the food ; the boy was ordered
to keep close watch, and admit no one ; and Lowestoffe, by

The Fortunes of Nigel. 243

example and precept, pressed his noble guest to partake of
his hospitality. His frank and forward manners, though
much differing from the courtly ease of Lord Dalgarno, were
calculated to make a favourable impression ; and Lord Glen-
varloch, though his experience of Dalgarno's perfidy had
taught him to be cautious of reposing faith in friendly pro-
fessions, could not avoid testifying his gratitude to the young
Templar, who seemed so anxious for his safety and accom-
modation.

" You may spare your gratitude any great sense of obliga-
tion, my lord," said the Templar. " No doubt I am willing
to be of use to any gentleman that has cause to sing Fortune
my foe, and particularly proud to serve your lordship's 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 Lowestoffe ? " said
Lord Glenvarloch.

" Oh, my lord," replied the Templar, " it was for a hap that
chanced after you left the ordinary one evening about three
weeks since — at least I think you were not by, as your lord-
ship 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 a
certain game at gleek, and a certain mournival of aces held
by his lordship, which went for eight; tib, which went for
fifteen — twenty-three in all. Now I held king and queen,
being three; a natural towser, making fifteen; and tiddy,
nineteen. We vied the ruff, and revied, as your lordship
may suppose, till the stake was equal to half my yearly
exhibition, fifty as fair yellow canary birds as e'er chirped 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

244 The Fortunes of Nigel.

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 ashamed and mortified,
and felt a severe pang of aristocratic pride, when he concluded
in the sweeping clause that the dice, like the grave, levelled
those distinguishing points of society to which Nigel's early
prejudices clung perhaps but too fondly. It was impossible,
however, to object anything to the learned reasoning of the
young Templar, and therefore Nigel was contented to turn
the conversation by making some inquiries respecting the
present state of Whitefriars. There also his host was at home.

"You know, my lord," said Master Lowestoffe, "that we
Templars are a power and a dominion within ourselves ; and
I am proud to say that I hold some rank in our republic —
was treasurer to the Lord of Misrule last year, and am at this
present moment in nomination for that dignity myself. In
such circumstances, we are under the necessity of maintain-
ing an amicable intercourse with our neighbours of Alsatia,
even as the Christian States find themselves often, in mere
policy, obliged to make alliance with the Grand Turk, or the
Barbary States."

" I should have imagined you gentlemen of the Temple
more independent of your neighbours," said Lord Glen-
varloch.

" You do us something too much honour, my lord," said
the Templar. " The Alsatians and we have some common
enemies, and we have, under the rose, some common friends.
We are in the use of blocking all bailiffs out of our bounds.

The Fortunes of Nigel 245

and we are powerfully aided by our neighbours, who tolerate
not a rag belonging to them within theirs. Moreover, the
Alsatians have— I beg you to understand me — the power
of protecting or distressing our friends, male or female, who
may be obliged to seek sanctuary within their bounds. In
short, the two communities serve each other, though the
league is between states of unequal quality, and I may myself
say that I have treated of sundry weighty affairs, and have
been a negotiator well 'approved on both sides= — But hark !
hark !— what is that ? "

The sound by which Master Lowestoffe was interrupted
was that of a distant horn, winded loud and keenly, and
followed by a faint and remote huzza.

"There is something doing," said Lowestoffe, "in the
Whitefriars at this moment. That is the signal when their
privileges are invaded by tipstaff or bailiff; and at the blast
of the horn they all swarm out to the rescue, as bees when
their hive is disturbed. — Jump, Jem," he said, calling out to
the attendant, "and see what they are doing in Alsatia. —
That bastard of a boy," he continued, as the lad, accustomed
to the precipitate haste of his master, tumbled rather than
ran out of the apartment, and so downstairs, " 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 trie 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 — but I see your lordship is
anxious. May I press another cup of my kind grandmother's
cordial, or will you allow me to show you my wardrobe, and
act as your valet and groom of the chamber ? "

246 The Fortunes of Nigel

Lord Glenvarloch hesitated not to acknowledge that he
was painfully sensible of his present situation, and anxious to
do what must needs be done for his extrication.

The good-natured and thoughtless young Templar readily
acquiesced, and led the way into his little bedroom, where,
from bandboxes, portmanteaus, mail-trunks, not forgetting
an old walnut-tree wardrobe, he began to select the articles
which he thought more suited effectually to disguise his
guest in venturing into the lawless and turbulent society of
Alsatia.

CHAPTER XVII.

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

The Mohocks.

" YOUR lordship," said Reginald Lowestoffe, " must be con-
tent to exchange your decent and court-beseeming rapier,
which I will retain in safe keeping, for this broadsword, with
a hundredweight of rusty iron about the hilt, and to wear
these huge-paned slops instead of your civil and moderate
hose. We allow no cloak, for your ruffian always walks in
aierpo; and the tarnished doublet of bald velvet, with its
discoloured embroidery, and — I grieve to speak it — a few
stains from the blood of the grape, will best suit the parb of

The Fortunes of Nigel. 247

a roaring boy. I will leave you to change your suit for an
instant till I can help to truss you."

Lowestoffe retired, while slowly, and with hesitation, Nigel
obeyed his instructions. He felt displeasure and disgust at
the scoundrelly disguise which he was under the necessity of
assuming; but when he considered the bloody consequences'
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, which
was sure to be thrown into the scale against him, and, above
all, when he reflected that he must now look upon the ac-
tive, assiduous, arid 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.

While he was changing his dress, and musing on these
particulars, his friendly host re-entered the sleeping apart-
ment. " Zounds ! " he said, " my lord, it was well you went
not straight into that same Alsatia of ours at the time you
proposed, for the hawks have stooped upon it. Here is Jem
come back with tidings that he saw a pursuivant there with a
privy-council warrant, and half a score of yeomen 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 permitted, out of courtesy, the man-catcher
to search through his dominions, quite certain that they
would take little by their motions, for Duke Hildebrod 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 Glen-
varloch.

"Nouns ! my lord," said the Templar, "have you lived so

248 The Fortunes of Nigel

long on the town and never heard of the valiant, and as wise
and politic as valiant, Duke Hildebrod, grand protector of
the liberties of Alsatia? I thought the man had never
whirled a die but was familiar with his fame."

" Yet I have never heard of him, Master Lowestoffe," said
Lord Glenvarloch— "or, what is the same thing, I have paid
no attention to aught that may have passed in conversation
respecting 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
doublet and the band of your upper stock, it will have so
much the more rakish effect, and will attract you respect in
Alsatia, where linen is something 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 conditions of the unhappy
district into which, with other wretches, I am compelled to
retreat."

" Why, my lord," replied the Templar, " our neighbouring
state of Alsatia, which the law calls the Sanctuary of White-
friars, has had its mutations and revolutions like greater
kingdoms; and, being in some sort a lawless, arbitrary
government, 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 republicanism, not forgetting the in-
termediate stages of oligarchy, limited monarchy, and even
gynocracy; for I myself remember Alsatia governed for

The Fortunes of Nigel. 249

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-parson, who was succeeded, upon resignation of his
power, by Duke Jacob Hildebrod, of that name the first,
whom Heaven long preserve."

" And is this potentate's government," said Lord Glenvar-
loch, forcing himself to take some interest in the conversa-
tion, " of a despotic character ? "

"Pardon me, my lord," said the Templar; "this said
sovereign is too wise to incur, like many of his predecessors,
the odium of wielding so important an authority by his own
sole will. He has established a council of state, who regularly
meet for their morning's draught at seven o'clock ; convene
a second time at eleven for their ante-meridiem, or whet ; and
assembling in solemn conclave at the hour of two afternoon,
for the purpose of consulting for the good of the common-
wealth, are so prodigal of their labour in the service of the
state that they seldom separate before midnight. Into this
worthy senate, composed partly of Duke Hildebrod's pre-
decessors in his high office, whom he has associated with
him to prevent the envy attending sovereign and sole au-
thority, 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 regulation?" said
Lord Glenvarloch.

" 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 when 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 circumstances require

250 The Fortunes of Nigel.

refuge, and whose purse can pay for it, and the malcontent
becomes as tractable 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 circumstances, are 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 Glenvarloch, "I
must be controlled by the circumstances which dictate to me
this state of concealment. Of course, I am desirous not to
betray my name and rank."

"It will be highly advisable, my lord," said 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 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
Bantam if you will, for not a question will be asked of you.
But here comes our scout with news of peace and tranquillity.
Now, I will go with your lordship 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 Sanctuary ; and as the ballad says that Queen
Eleanor sunk at Charing Cross and rose at Queenhithe, so
you shall sink a nobleman in the Temple Gardens, and rise
an Alsatian at Whitefriars."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 251

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

4 In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas ' —

Off, off, ye lendings ! " 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 circumstances, and give
you the tone of this 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 reply in a
whisper, "I am sensible of your kindness. I know I must
drink the cup which my own folly has filled for me. Pardon
me that, at the first taste, I feel its bitterness."

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

The ancient Sanctuary of Whitefriars lay considerably
lower than the elevated terraces and gardens of the Temple,
and was therefore generally involved in the damps and fogs
arising from the Thames. The brick buildings by which it
was occupied crowded closely on each other, for, in a place
so rarely privileged, every foot of ground was valuable ;
but, erected in many cases by persons whose funds were
inadequate to their speculations, the houses were generally
insufficient, and exhibited the lamentable signs of having

252 The Fortunes of Nigel.

become ruinous while they were yet new. The wailing of
children, the scolding of their mothers, the miserable exhibi-
tion of ragged linens hung from the windows to dry, spoke
the wants and distresses of the wretched inhabitants ; while
the sounds of complaint were mocked and overwhelmed in
the riotous shouts, oaths, profane songs, and boisterous
laughter that issued from the alehouses and taverns, which,
as the signs indicated, were equal in number to all the other
houses ; and, that the full character of the place might be
evident, several faded, tinselled, and painted females looked
boldly at the strangers from their open lattices, or more
modestly seemed busied with the cracked flower -pots, filled
with mignonette and rosemary, which were disposed in front
of the windows to the great risk of the passengers.

" Semi-reducta Venus" said the Templar, pointing to one
of these nymphs, who seemed afraid of observation, and
partly concealed herself behind the casement as she chirped
to a miserable blackbird, the tenant of a wicker prison which
hung outside on the black brick wall. " I know the face of
yonder waistcoateer," continued the guide; "and I could
wager a rose-noble, from the posture she stands in, that she
has clean head-gear and a soiled night-rail. But here come
two of the male inhabitants, smoking like moving volcanoes !
These are roaring blades, whom Nicotia and Trinidado serve,
I dare swear, in lieu of beef and pudding ; for be it known to
you, my lord, that the King's counterblast against the Indian
weed will no more pass current in Alsatia than will his writ
of capias.11

As he spoke, the two smokers approached — shaggy, un-
combed ruffians, whose enormous moustaches 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.

The Fortunes of Nigel. „ 253

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 extravagantly long rapier and
poniard, marked the true Alsatian bully, then, and for a
hundred years afterwards, a well-known character.

" Tour out," said the one ruffian to the other \ " tour the
bien mort twiring at the gentry cove ! " *

"I smell a spy," replied the other, looking at Nigel.
" Chalk him across the peepers with your cheery." f

" Bing avast, bing avast ! " replied his companion ; " yon
other is rattling Reginald Lowestoffe of the Temple. I know
him ; he is a good boy, and free of the province."

So saying, and enveloping themselves in another thick
cloud of smoke, they went on without further greeting.

" Crasso in aere I " 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."

"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 Scots-
men understand raillery upon the subject of their names.

"I beg pardon, my lord," answered the undisconcerted
punster; "but Graam will suit the circumstance, too. It
signifies tribulation in the High Dutch, and your lordship
must be considered as a man under trouble."

Nigel laughed at the pertinacity of the Templar, who,

* Look sharp. See how the girl is coquetting with the strange gallants I
t Slash him over the eyes with your dagger.

254 The Fortunes of Nigel.

proceeding to point out a sign representing, or believed to
represent, a dog attacking a bull, and running at its head in
the true scientific 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 correspond-
ing to his habits ; and he deals in giving drink to the thirsty,
that 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 Axylus."

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 haggard, 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 Gany-
medes, 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 chant 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 Hildebrod, who himself condescended to chant this
ditty to his loving subjects, was a monstrously fat old man,
with only one eye, and a nose which bore evidence to the
frequency, strength, and depth of his potations. He wore a
murrey-coloured plush jerkin, stained with the overflowings
of the tankard, and much the worse for wear, and unbuttoned
at bottom for the ease of his enormous paunch. Behind him
lav a favourite bull-dog, whose round head and single black

The Fortunes of Nigel 255

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, pledged its occupier in
thick, clammy ale, and echoed back his choral songs, were
satraps worthy of such a soldan. The buff jerkin, broad
belt, and long sword of one showed him to be a Low Country
soldier, whose look of. scowling importance, and drunken
impudence, were designed to sustain his title to call himself
a roving blade. It seemed to Nigel that he had seen this
fellow somewhere or other. A hedge-parson, or buckle-
beggar, as that order of priesthood has been irreverently
termed, sat on the Duke's left, and was easily distinguished
by his torn band, flapped hat, and the remnants of a rusty
cassock. Beside the parson sat a most wretched and meagre-
looking old man, with a threadbare hood of coarse kersey
upon his head and buttoned about his neck, while his pinched
features, like those of old Daniel, 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
malpractices, had been struck from the roll of practitioners,
and who had nothing left of his profession excepting its
roguery. One or two persons of less figure, amongst whom
there was one face which, like that of the soldier, seemed not
unknown to Nigel, though he could not recollect where he had
seen it, completed the council-board of Jacob Duke Hildebrod.

The strangers had full time to observe all this; for his
grace the Duke, whether irresistibly carried on by the full
tide of harmony, or whether to impress the strangers with a
proper idea of his consequence, chose to sing his ditty to an
end before addressing them, though, during the whole time,
he closely scrutinized them with his single optic.

When Duke Hildebrod had ended his song, he informed

256 The Fortunes of Nigel

his peers that a worthy officer of the Temple attended them,
and commanded the captain and parson to abandon their
easy-chairs in behalf of the two strangers, whom he placed
on his right and left hand. The worthy representatives of
the army and the church of Alsatia went to place themselves
on a crazy form at the bottom of the table, which, 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 displeasure in the loudest and deepest oaths, a strife
in which the parson's superior acquaintance with theology
enabled him greatly to excel the captain, and were at length
with difficulty tranquillized by the arrival of the alarmed
waiters with more stable chairs, and by a long draught of the
cooling tankard. When this commotion was appeased, and
the strangers courteously accommodated with flagons, after
the fashion of the others present, the Duke drank prosperity
to the Temple in the most gracious manner, together with
a cup of welcome to Master Reginald Lowestoffe ; and this
courtesy having been thankfully accepted, 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 an instant and most favourable effect upon the little
senate; and its immediate appearance might be said to
secure a favourable reception of Master Lowestoffe's prop-
osition, which, after a round or two had circulated, he ex-
plained to be the admission of his friend, Master 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 matricula-
tion, in order to avoid laying before the senate the peculiar
circumstances which compelled them to take refuge there.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 257

The worthy Duke heard the proposition with glee, which
glittered in his single eye ; and no wonder, as it was a rare
occurrence, and of peculiar advantage to his private revenue.
Accordingly, he commanded 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 nobles as his
ransom, and to claim privilege by reciting the following
doggerel 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 briers ;
His freedom to sue,
And rescue by you,
Through weapon and wit,
From warrant and writ,
From bailiffs hand,
From tipstaffs wand,

Is come hither to Whitefriars."

As Duke Hildebrod with a tremulous hand began to make
the entry,^ and had already, with superfluous generosity,
spelled Nigel with two ^s instead of one, he was interrupted
by the parson.* This reverend gentleman had been whisper-

* This curious register is still in existence, being in possession of that
eminent antiquary, Dr. Dryasdust, who liberally offered the author per-
mission to have the autograph of Duke Hildebrod engraved as an
illustration of this passage. Unhappily, being rigorous as Ritson him-
self in adhering to the very letter of his copy, the worthy Doctor clogged
his 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.

258 The Fortunes of Nigel

ing for a minute or two, not with the captain, but with that
other individual who dwelt imperfectly, as we have already
mentioned, in Nigel's memory, and being, perhaps, still some-
thing malcontent on account of the late accident, he now
requested to be heard before the registration took place.

" The person," he said, " who hath now had the assurance
to propose himself as a candidate for the privileges and
immunities of this honourable society is, in plain terms,
a beggarly Scot, and we have enough of these locusts in
London already. If we admit such palmerworms and cater-
pillars 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," replied the
parson, "I ask him no questions. His speech bewrayeth
him — he is a Galilean — and his garnish is forfeited for his
assurance in coming within this our realm; and I call on
you, Sir Duke, to put the laws in force against him ! "

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

The attorney next rose, and intimating that he was to
speak to the point of law, said, "It was easy to be seen
that this gentleman did not come here in any civil case, and
that he believed it to be the story they had already heard of
concerning a blow 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 would sweep the streets of Alsatia from the Strand
to the Stairs; and it was even policy to think what evil

The Fortunes of Nigel 259

might come to their republic by sheltering an alien in such
circumstances."

The captain, who had sat impatiently while these opinions
were expressed, now sprang on his feet with the vehemence
of a cork bouncing from a bottle of brisk beer, and turning
up his moustaches with a martial air, cast a glance of contempt
on the lawyer and churchman, while he thus expressed his
opinion : —

" Most noble Duke Hildebrod ! when I hear such base,
skeldering, coistril propositions come from the counsellors
of your grace, and when I remember the Huffs, the Muns,
and the Tityretus by whom your grace's ancestors and pre-
decessors were advised on such occasions, I begin to think the
spirit of action is as dead in Alsatia as in my old grannam ;
and yet who thinks so thinks a lie, 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 bankside ? and if he is a gallant of true breed, will
he not make us full amends for all the trouble we have ? Let
other societies exist by the law ; I say that we brisk boys of
the Fleet live in spite of it, and thrive best when we are in
right opposition to sign and seal, writ and warrant, Serjeant
and tipstaff, catchpoll and bum-bailey."

This speech was followed by a murmur of approbation,
and Lowestoffe, striking in before the favourable sound had
subsided, reminded the Duke and his council how much
the security of their state depended upon 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
interest with his own body, which they knew to be not incon-

260 The Fortunes of Nigel

siderable. " 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 bastinado,
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 Scots in London were to fight
a Welsh 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
England."

A shout of laughter and applause followed this ingenious
apology for the client's state of alienage ; and the Templar
followed up his plea with the following pithy proposition.
"I know well," said he, "it is the custom of the fathers of
this old and honourable republic ripely and well to consider
all their proceedings over a proper allowance of liquor ; and
far be it from 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 during the discussion
of a pitiful gallon of Rhenish. But as it is the same thing to
this honourable conclave whether they drink first and deter-
mine 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,

The Fortunes of Nigel. 261

which altogether drowned the voice of the dissidents, if any
there were amongst the Alsatian senate who could have
resisted a proposal so popular. The words of, " Kind heart ! "
" Noble gentleman ! " " Generous gallant ! " flew from mouth
to mouth, the inscription of the petitioner's name in the great
book was hastily completed, and the oath administered to
him by the worthy Doge. Like the Laws of the Twelve
Tables, of the ancient Cambro-Britons, and other primitive
nations, it was couched in poetry, and ran as follows : —

" By spigot and barrel,

By bilboe and buff,
Thou art sworn to the quarrel

Of the Blades of the Huff;
For Whitefriars and its claims

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

Like a Knight of the Garter."

Nigel felt, and indeed 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
concluded the ceremony by allowing him the privilege of
sanctuary in the following form of prescriptive doggerel : —

" From the touch of the tip,

From the blight of the warrant,
From the watchmen who skip

On the Harman Beck's errand,
From the bailiff's cramp speefch,

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 cuffed and to cuff;
To stride, swear, and swagger,

262 The Fortunes of Nigel

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 go 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 baring of bilboe ;
To live by your shifts,

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

Of which I am the donor.*

This homily being performed, a dispute arose concerning
the special residence to be assigned the new brother of the
Sanctuary; for, as the Alsatians held it a maxim in their
commonwealth that ass's milk fattens, there was usually a
competition among the inhabitants which should have the
managing, as it was termed, of a new member of the society.

The Hector who had spoken so warmly and critically in
Nigel's behalf stood out now chivalrously in behalf of a certain
Blowselinda, or Bonstrops, who had, it seems, a room to hire,
once the occasional residence of Slicing Dick of Paddington,
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, overruled, in behalf
of the old gentleman in the kersey 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.

* Of the cant words used in this inauguratory oration, some are
obvious in their meaning, others, as Harman Beck (constable), and the
like, derive their source from that ancient piece of lexicography, the
Slang Dictionary.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 263

This venerable personage was a usurer of some notoriety,
called Trapbois, and had very lately done the state consid-
erable service in advancing a subsidy necessary to secure a
fresh importation of liquors to the Duke's cellars, the wine-
merchant at the Vintry being scrupulous to deal with so
great a man for anything but ready money.

When, therefore, the old gentleman arose, and, with much
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 Glen-
varloch expressed to Lowestoffe his impatience to leave this
discreditable assembly, and took his leave with a careless
haste, which, but for the rundlet of Rhenish wine that
entered just as he left the apartment, might have been
taken in bad part. The young Templar accompanied his
friend to the house of the old usurer, with the road to which
he and some other youngsters about the Temple were even
but too well acquainted. On the way, he assured Lord
Glenvarloch that he was going to the only clean house in
Whitefriars — a property which it owed solely to the exer-
tions of the old man's only daughter, an elderly damsel, ugly
enough to frighten sin, yet likely to be wealthy enough to
tempt a puritan, so soon as the devil had got her old dad for
his due. As Lowestoffe spoke thus, they knocked at the
door of the house, and the sour stern countenance of the
female by whom it was opened fully confirmed all that the
Templar had said of the hostess. She heard, with an un-
gracious and discontented air, the young Templar's infor-
mation that the gentleman, his companion, was to be her
father's lodger, muttered something about the trouble it
was likely to occasion, but ended by showing the stranger's
apartment, which was better than could have been augured
from the general appearance of the place, and much larger

264 The Fortunes of Nigel.

in extent than that which he had occupied at Paul's Wharf,
though inferior to it in neatness.

Lowestoffe, having thus seen his friend fairly installed in
his new apartment, and having obtained for him a note of
the rate at which he could be accommodated with victuals
from a neighbouring cook's shop, now took his leave, offer-
ing, at the same time, to send the whole, or any part of Lord
Glenvarloch's baggage, from his former place of residence to
his new lodging. Nigel mentioned so few articles that the
Templar could not help observing that his lordship, it would
seem, did not intend to enjoy his new privileges long.

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

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

The morning came, but, instead of the Templar, it brought
only a letter from him. The epistle stated that Lowestoffe's
visit to Alsatia had drawn down the animadversions of some
crabbed old pantaloons among the benchers, and that he
judged it wise not to come hither at present, for fear of
attracting too much attention to Lord Glenvarloch's place
of residence. He stated that he had taken measures for the
safety of his baggage, and would send him, by a safe hand,
his money-casket, and what articles he wanted. Then fol-
lowed some sage advices, dictated by Lowestoffe's acquaint-
ance with Alsatia and its manners. He advised him to
keep the usurer in the most absolute uncertainty concern-
ing the state of his funds ; never to throw a main with the
captain, who was in the habit of playing dry-fisted, and pay-
ing his losses with three vowels ; and, finally, to beware of
Duke Hildebrod, who was as sharp, he said, as a needle,
though he had no more eyes than are possessed by that
necessary implement of female industry.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 265

CHAPTER XVIII.

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 our hero Nigel for a
time, although in a situation neither safe, comfortable, nor
creditable, in order to detail some particulars which have
immediate connection with his fortunes.

It was but the third day after he had been forced to take
refuge in the house of old Trapbois, the noted usurer of
Whitefriars, commonly called Golden Trapbois, when the
pretty daughter of old Ramsay, the watchmaker, after having
piously seen her father finish his breakfast (from the fear
that he might, in an 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 calculation, and, accompanied only by that faithful old
drudge, Janet, the Scots 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 visitor with no
great complacency; for, naturally enough, she had neither
the same admiration of her very pretty countenance, nor
allowance for her foolish and girlish impatience of temper,
which Master George Heriot entertained. Still Mistress
Margaret was a favourite of her brother's, whose will was to
Aunt Judith a supreme law ; and she contented herself with

266 The Fortunes of Nigel

asking her untimely visitor, " What she made so early with
her pale, chitty face in the streets of London ? "

" I would speak with the Lady Hermione," answered the
almost breathless girl, while the blood ran so fast to her face
as totally to remove the objection of paleness which Aunt
Judith had made to her complexion.

"With the Lady Hermione?" said Aunt Judith — "with
the Lady Hermione ? and at this time 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
indulgence which my brother and the lady have shown to
you."

"Indeed, indeed I have not," repeated Margaret, strug-
gling to retain the unbidden tear which seemed ready to
burst out on the slightest occasion. "Do but say to the
lady that your brother's goddaughter desires earnestly to
speak to her, and I know she will not refuse to see me."

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

" Oh, no — no — no," said Margaret eagerly, and with more
earnest sincerity than complaisance ; " there are some 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 follies 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."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 267

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

Mistress Margaret hung her head in silence, too much
perplexed by the train of her own embarrassed thoughts for
attempting either to conciliate Aunt Judith's kindness, or,
which on other occasions would have been as congenial to
her own humour, to retaliate on her cross-tempered remarks
and manner. She followed Aunt Judith, therefore, in silence
and dejection, to the strong oaken door which divided the
Lady Hermione's apartments from the rest of George Heriot's
spacious house.

At the door of this sanctuary it is necessary to pause, in
order to correct the reports with which Richie Moniplies had
filled his master's ear, respecting the singular appearance of
that lady's attendance at prayers, whom we now own to be
by name the Lady Hermione. Some part of these exaggera-
tions had been communicated to the worthy Scotsman by
Jenkin Vincent, who was well experienced in the species of
wit which has been long a favourite in the city, under the
names of cross-biting, giving the dor, bamboozling, cram-
ming, hoaxing, humbugging, and quizzing ; for which sport
Richie Moniplies, with his solemn gravity, totally unappre-
hensive of a joke, and his natural propensity to the marvel-
lous, formed an admirable subject. Further ornaments the
tale had received from Richie himself, whose tongue, espe-
cially when oiled with good liquor, had a considerable
tendency to amplification, and who failed not, while he
retailed to his master all the wonderful circumstances nar-
rated by Vincent, to add to them many conjectures of his
own, which his imagination had over-hastily converted into
facts.

Yet the life which the Lady Hermione had led for two
years, during which she had been the inmate of George

268 The Fortunes of Nigel.

Heriot's house, was so singular as almost to sanction many
of the wild reports which went abroad. The house which
the worthy goldsmith inhabited had, in former times, be-
longed to a powerful and wealthy baronial family, which,
during the reign of Henry VIII., terminated in a dowager
lady, very wealthy, very devout, and most inalienably at-
tached to the Catholic faith. The chosen friend of the
Honourable Lady Foljambe was the Abbess of Saint Roque's
Nunnery, like herself a conscientious, rigid, and devoted
Papist. When the house of Saint Roque was despotically
dissolved by the fiat of the impetuous monarch, the Lady
Foljambe received her friend into her spacious mansion,
together with two vestal sisters, who, like their Abbess, were
determined to follow the tenor of their vows, instead of
embracing the profane liberty which the monarch's will had
thrown in their choice. For their residence, the Lady Fol-
jambe contrived, with all secrecy — for Henry might not have
relished her interference — to set apart a suite of four rooms,
with a little closet fitted up as an oratory or chapel, the
whole apartments fenced by a strong oaken door to exclude
strangers, and accommodated with a turning wheel to receive
necessaries, according to the practice of all nunneries. In
this retreat, the Abbess of Saint Roque and her attendants
passed many years, communicating only with the Lady
Foljambe, who, in virtue of their prayers, and of the support
she afforded them, accounted herself little less than a saint
on earth. The Abbess, fortunately for herself, died before
her munificent patroness, who lived deep in Queen Eliza-
beth'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 priestess of Baal
which his predecessor had founded on maintaining the vota-
resses of Heaven. Of the two unhappy nuns, driven from

The Fortunes of Nigel 269

their ancient refuge, one went beyond sea ; the other, unable
.from old age to undertake 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
apartments, until checked by the reflection that the operation
would be an unnecessary expense, since he only inhabited
three rooms of the large mansion, and had not therefore the
slightest occasion for any addition to its accommodations.
His son proved a waster and a prodigal, and from him the
house was bought by our friend George Heriot, who, finding,
like Sir Paul, the house more than sufficiently ample for
his accommodation, left the Foljambe apartments, or Saint
Roque'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 expedition to the Conti-
nent, he sent special orders to his sister and his cash-keeper,
directing that the Foljambe apartments should be fitted up
handsomely, though plainly, for the reception of a lady,
who would make it her residence for some time, and who
would live more or less with his own family according to her
pleasure. He also directed that the necessary repairs should
be made with secrecy, and that as little should be said as
possible upon the subject of his letter.

When the time of his return came nigh, Aunt Judith
and the 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

270 The Fortunes of Nigel

lady Monna Paula, and by Master Heriot and others Made-
moiselle Pauline. She slept in the same room with her
patroness at night, ate in her apartment, and was scarcely
ever separated from her during the day.

These females took possession of the nunnery of the
devout Abbess, and, without observing the same rigorous
seclusion, according to the letter, seemed well-nigh to restore
the apartments to the use to which they 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 communication,
and Mademoiselle Pauline only such as was indispensable,
which she dispatched as briefly as possible. Frequent and
liberal largesses reconciled the servants to this conduct, and
they were in the habit of observing to each other that to
do a service for Mademoiselle Pauline was like finding a fairy
treasure.

To Aunt Judith the Lady Hermione was kind and civil,
but their intercourse was rare, on which account the elder
lady felt some pangs both of curiosity and injured dignity.
But she knew her brother so well, and loved him so dearly,
that 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 when a
word is a law to all around. Master George did not endure
to be questioned by his family, and when he had generally
expressed his will that the Lady Hermione should live in
the way most agreeable to her, and that no inquiries should
be made concerning her history or her motives for observing
such strict seclusion, his sister well knew that he would have
been seriously displeased with any attempt to pry into the
secret.

But though Heriot's servants were bribed and his sister
awed into silent acquiescence in these arrangements, they

The Fortunes of Nigel. 271

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 sound-
ness of Master Heriot's mind; and, to confute the other
rumours, it was credibly reported by such as made the matter
their particular interest, that Master George Heriot never
visited his guest but in presence of Mademoiselle Pauline,
who sat with her work in a remote part of the same room in
which they conversed. It was also 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 probable 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 igno-
rant and superstitious, with some specimens of which our
friend Richie Moniplies had been crammed, as we have seen,
by the malicious apprentice of worthy David Ramsay.

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

This girl was not much past the age of fifteen when the
Lady Hermione first came to England, and was a very
frequent visitor at her godfather's, who was much amused by
her childish sallies, and by the wild and natural beauty with

272 The Fortunes of Nigel.

which she sung the airs of her native country. Spoilt she
was on all hands, by the indulgence of her godfather, the
absent habits and indifference of her father, and the defer-
ence of all around to her caprices as a beauty and as an
heiress. But though, from these circumstances, the city
beauty had become as wilful, as capricious, and as affected
as unlimited indulgence seldom fails to render those to
whom it is extended, and although she exhibited upon
many occasions that affectation of extreme shyness, silence,
and reserve which misses in their teens are apt to take for an
amiable modesty, and, upon others, a considerable 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 refine it,
a lively, good-humoured, playful disposition, and an excellent
heart. Her acquired follies were much increased by reading
plays and romances, to which she devoted a great deal of
her time, and from which she adopted ideas as different as
possible from those which she might have obtained from
the invaluable and affectionate instructions of an excellent
mother ; and the freaks of which she was sometimes guilty
rendered her not unjustly liable to the charge of affectation
and coquetry. But the little lass had sense and shrewdness
enough to keep her failings out of sight of her godfather, to
whom she was sincerely attached ; and so high she stood in
his favour that, at his recommendation, she obtained per-
mission to visit the recluse Lady Hermione.

The singular mode of life which that lady observed, her
great beauty, rendered even more interesting by her extreme
paleness, the conscious pride of being admitted farther than
the rest of the world into the society of a person who was
wrapped in so much mystery, made a deep impression on
the mind of Margaret Ramsay ; and though their conversa-
tions were at no time either long or confidential, yet, proud

The Fortunes of Nigel. 273

of the trust reposed in her, Margaret was as secret respecting
their tenor as if every word repeated had been to cost her
life. No inquiry, however artfully backed by flattery and
insinuation, whether on the part of Dame Ursula or any
other person equally inquisitive, could wring from the little
maiden one word of what she heard or saw after she entered
these mysterious and secluded apartments. The slightest
question concerning Master Heriot's ghost was sufficient, at
her gayest moment, to check the current of her communi-
cative prattle, and render her silent.

We mention this chiefly to illustrate the early strength of
Margaret's character — a strength concealed under a hundred
freakish whims and humours, as an ancient and massive
buttress is disguised 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 curiosity of inquirers.

At the earlier period of their acquaintance, the Lady
Hermione was wont to reward the attentions of her little
friend with small but elegant presents, and entertain her by
a display of foreign rarities and curiosities, many of them
of considerable value. Sometimes the time was passed in a
way much less agreeable to Margaret, 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 needlework was at length
given up, 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 instru-
mental music. These lessons passed in presence of the
Lady Hermione, to whom they seemed to give pleasure.
She sometimes added her own voice to the performance, in

274 The Fortunes of Nigel.

a pure, clear stream of liquid melody ; but this was only when
the music was of a devotional cast. As Margaret became
older, her communications with the recluse assumed a differ-
ent character. She was allowed, if not encouraged, to tell
whatever she had remarked out of doors; and the Lady
Hermione, while she remarked the quick, sharp, and retentive
powers of observation possessed by her young friend, often
found sufficient reason to caution her against rashness in
forming opinions, and giddy petulance in expressing them.

The habitual awe with which she regarded this singular
personage induced Mistress Margaret, though by no means
delighting in contradiction 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 never 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 weather. Indeed, pretty Mistress Margaret
was so little inclined to endure such remonstrances that her
intercourse with the inhabitants of the Foljambe apartments
would have probably slackened as her circle of acquaintance
increased in the external world, had she not, on the one
hand, entertained a habitual reverence for her monitress, of
which she could not divest herself, and been flattered, on the
other, by being to a certain degree the depositary of a confi-
dence for which others thirsted in vain. Besides, although
the conversation of Hermione was uniformly serious, it was
not in general either formal or severe; nor was the lady
offended by flights of levity, which Mistress Margaret some-
times ventured on in her presence, even when they were
such as made Monna Paula cast her eyes upwards, and sigh
with that compassion which a devotee extends towards the

The Fortunes of Nigel. 275

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 admonitions 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 importance, which had been
rather confirmed than lessened by many accidental circum-
stances which she had noticed since she was more capable
of observation.

It frequently happens that the counsel which we reckon
intrusive when offered to us unasked becomes precious in
our eyes when the pressure of difficulties renders us more
diffident of our own judgment than we are apt to find our-
selves 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 effec-
tual assistance. Mistress 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 there-
fore, after an anxious and sleepless night, that she resolved
to have recourse to the Lady Hermione, who she knew would
readily 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.

276 The Fortunes of Nigel.

CHAPTER XIX.

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

Old Play.

WHEN Mistress Margaret entered the Foljambe apartment,
she found the inmates employed in their usual manner — the
lady in reading, and her attendant in embroidering a large
piece of tapestry, which had occupied her ever since Margaret
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 pres-
ent case not sorry for it, as it gave her an interval to collect
her thoughts, stooped over Monna Paula's frame and ob-
served, 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," an-
swered Monna Paula, in whose esteem pretty Mistress Mar-
garet did not stand quite so high as in that of her patroness,
partly owing to her natural austerity, which was something
intolerant of youth and gaiety, and partly to the jealousy
with 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 Margaret, " but that
I have seen the real flowers blossom three times over since I

The Fortunes of Nigel. 277

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 blossoming will last the longest in flower.
You have seen them in the garden bloom thrice, but you
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 Margaret; "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 shor-
tened by its exhausting alternations, to a calm and tranquil
existence, animated but by a sense of duties, and only em-
ployed during its smooth and quiet course 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
weathercock that sticks fast yonder upon his iron perch, and
just moves so much as to discharge his duty, and tell us
which way the wind blows."

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

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

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

" It would be, for example, very bold in me," said Mar-
garet, "to say to your ladyship, that rather than live a quiet

278 The Fortunes of Nigel.

life I would like a little variety of hope and fear, and liking
and disliking — and — and — and the other sort of feelings
which your ladyship is pleased to speak of; but I may say
freely and without blame that I like a butterfly better than
a beetle, or a trembling aspen better than a grim Scotch fir
that never wags a leaf ; or that of all the wood, brass, and
wire that ever my father's fingers put together, I do hate and
detest a certain huge old clock of the German fashion, that
rings hours and half-hours, and quarters and half-quarters, as
if it were of such consequence that the world should know
it was wound up and going. Now, dearest lady, I wish you
would only compare that clumsy, clanging, Dutch-looking
piece of lumber with the beautiful timepiece that Master
Heriot caused my father to make for your ladyship, which
uses to play a hundred merry tunes, and turns out, when it
strikes the hour, a whole band of morrice-dancers, to trip the
hays to the measure."

"And which of these timepieces goes the truest, Mar-
garet ? " said the lady.

" I must confess the old Dutchman has the advantage in
that," said Margaret. " I fancy you are right, madam, and
that comparisons are no arguments — at least mine has not
brought me 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 herself. The words were spoken very
gravely, and accompanied by a half-sigh which did not escape
the attention of her to whom they were addressed. The
Lady Hermione turned immediately round and looked ear-
nestly at Margaret, then paused for a moment, and, finally,
commanded Monna Paula to carry her frame and embroidery
into the anteohnmbcr. When they were left alone, she de-

The Fortunes of Nigel. 279

sired 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 favour," answered
Margaret, without changing her posture; "I would rather
you heard me without seeing me."

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

Without making any direct answer, Margaret only replied,
"You were right, dearest lady, when you said I had suf-
fered my feelings too much to engross me of late. I have
done very wrong, and you will be angry with me ; so will my
godfather ; but I cannot help it — he must be rescued."

"Ife?" 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 suffered yonder gay young apprentice to sit too near
your heart. I have not heard you mention young Vincent
for many a day ; perhaps he has not been out of mouth and
out of mind both. Have you been so foolish as to let him
speak to you seriously ? I am told he is a bold youth."

"Not bold enough to say anything that could displease
me, madam," said Margaret.

" Perhaps, then, you were not displeased," said the lady ;
"or perhaps he has not spoken^ which would be wiser and
better. Be open-hearted, my love ; your godfather will soon
return, 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-
father will expect that the youth shall first serve out his
apprenticeship."

Margaret had hitherto suffered the lady to proceed under

280 The Fortunes of Nigel.

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 apprentice 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 thousands of whom are in all respects better
than yourself, and would greatly honour you by thinking of
you), is, methinks, no warrant for the wisdom of your choice
— for a choice it seems there is. Who is it, maiden, to whom
you have thus rashly attached yourself? — rashly I fear it
must be."

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

"The young Lord of Glenvarloch!" repeated the lady
in great surprise. "Maiden, you are distracted in your
wits."

" I knew you would say so, madam," answered Margaret.
"It is what another person has already told me ; it is, per-
haps, what all the world would tell me; it is what I am
sometimes disposed to tell myself. But look at me, madam,
for I will now come before you, and tell me if there is mad,
ness or distraction in my look and word, when 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 the Lady
Hermione sharply. "When did you ever hear that mis-
placed love brought anything but wretchedness? Seek a
match among your equals, Margaret, and escape the count-
less kinds of risk and misery that must attend an affection

The Fortunes of Nigel 281

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

" Indeed ! " 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 Mar-
garet 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 due to yourself and
others ! — But what ails you, maiden ? Where are you
going ? "

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

" What emergency, thou simple one ? " said the lady in a
kinder tone. " Sit down, maiden, and tell me your tale. It
is true you are a fool, and a pettish fool to boot ; but then
you are a child — an amiable child, with all your self-willed
folly — and we must help you if we can. Sit down I say, as
you are desired, and you will find me a safer and wiser coun-
sellor than the barber-woman. And tell me how you come

282 The Fortunes of Nigel.

to suppose that you have fixed your heart unalterably upon a
man whom you have seen, as I think, but once."

" I have seen him oftener," said the damsel, looking down,
" but I have only spoken to him once. I should have been
able to get that once out of my head, though the impression
was so deep that I could even now repeat every trifling
word he said ; but other things have since riveted it in my
bosom for ever."

" Maiden," replied the lady, "for ever is the word which
comes most lightly on the lips in such circumstances, but
which not the less is almost the last that we should use.
The fashion of this world, its passions, its joys, and its sor-
rows, 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 lifetime, which unquestion-
ably may be but short."

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

" He is unfortunate, madam — most unfortunate — and sur-
rounded by snares of different kinds, ingeniously contrived
to ruin his character, 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 vin-
dictive ambition, animated, I think, by the absolute and
concentrated spirit of malice ; for the Lord Dalgarno "

"Here, Monna Paula — Monna Paula!" exclaimed the
Lady Hermione, interrupting her young friend's narrative.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 283

" She hears me not," she answered, rising and going out. " I
must seek her ; I will return instantly," She returned ac-
cordingly very soon after. " You mentioned a name which
I thought was familiar to me," she said ; " but Monna Paula
has put me right. I know nothing of your lord ; how was it
you named him ? "

"Lord Dalgarno," said Margaret; "the wickedest man
who lives. Under pretence of friendship, he introduced the
Lord Glenvarloch to a gambling-house with the purpose of
engaging him in deep play; but he with whom the per-
fidious traitor had to deal was too virtuous, moderate, and
cautious to be caught in a snare so open. What did they
next but turn his own moderation against him, and persuade
others that, because he would not become the prey of
wolves, he herded with them for a share of their booty !
And while this base Lord Dalgarno was thus undermining
his unsuspecting countryman, he took every measure to keep
him surrounded by creatures of his own, to prevent him from
attending Court and mixing with those of his proper rank.
Since the Gunpowder Treason, there never was a conspiracy
more deeply laid, more basely and more deliberately pur-
sued."

The lady smiled sadly at Margaret's vehemence, but sighed
the next moment, while she told her young friend how little
she knew the world she was about to live in, since she testi-
fied 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 villains in general are ? "

" Permit me to be silent on that subject," said the maiden.
" I could not tell you without betraying others. Let it suffice
that my tidings are as certain as the means by which I ac-
quired them arc secret and sure. But I must not tell them
even to you.:>

284 The Fortunes of Nigel.

" You are too bold, Margaret," said the lady, " to traffic in
such matters at your early age. It is not only dangerous,
but even unbecoming and unmaidenly."

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

"This is indeed an extraordinary tale," said Hermione.
" Is Lord Glenvarloch then in prison ? "

" No, madam, thank God, but in the Sanctuary at White-
friars. It is matter of doubt whether it will protect him in
such a case. They speak of a warrant from the Lord Chief
Justice. A gentleman of the Temple has been arrested, and
is in trouble, for having assisted him in his flight. Even
his taking temporary refuge in that base place, though from
extreme necessity, will be used to the further defaming
him. All this I know, and yet I cannot rescue him — cannot
rescue him save by your means."

" By my means, maiden ? " said the lady. " You are be-
side yourself! What means can I possess, in this secluded
situation, of assisting this unfortunate nobleman ? "

"You have means," said Margaret eagerly; "you have
those means, unless I mistake greatly, which can do any-
thing, can do everything, 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,

The Fortunes of Nigel. 285

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

" May Heaven forgive you the unjust thought, lady ! "
answered Margaret. " I will never see him more ; but I
shall have saved him, and the thought will make me happy."

"A cold conclusion to so bold and warm a flame," said
the lady, with a smile which seemed to intimate incredulity.

" It is, however, the only one which I expect, madam — I
could almost say the only one which I wish. I am sure I
will use no 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 to him. He
knows not the sound of my voice ; and all that I have risked,
and must yet risk, I am doing for one who, were he asked
the question, would say he has long since forgotten that he
ever saw, spoke to, or sat beside, a creature of so little
signification as I am."

" This is a strange and unreasonable indulgence of a pas-
sion equally fanciful and dangerous," said the Lady Her-
mione.

" You will not assist me, then ? " said Margaret. " Have
good-day then, madam. My secret, I trust, is safe in such
honourable keeping."

"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 motion."

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

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

" I have, with the command of a moderate sum," answered

286 The Fortunes of Nigel.

Margaret Ramsay, " the power of baffling all his enemies —
of eluding the passion of the irritated King, the colder but
more determined displeasure of the Prince, the vindictive
spirit of Buckingham, so hastily directed against whomsoever
crosses the path of his ambition, the cold, concentrated
malice of Lord Dalgarno — all, I can baffle them all ! "

" But is this to be done without your own personal risk,
Margaret ? " replied the lady. " For, be your purpose what it
will, you are not to peril your own reputation or person in
the romantic attempt of serving another ; and I, maiden, am
answerable to your godfather — to your benefactor and my
own — not to aid you in any dangerous or unworthy enter-
prise."

" Depend upon my word — my oath — dearest lady," re-
plied the supplicant, " that I will act by the agency of others,
and do not myself design to mingle in any enterprise in which
my appearance might be either perilous or unwomanly."

" I know not what to do," said the Lady Hermione. " It
is perhaps incautious and inconsiderate in me to aid so wild
a project; yet the end seems honourable, if the means be
sure. What is the penalty if he fall into their power ? "

"Alas, alas! the loss of his right hand!" replied Mar-
garet, 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 Glenvarloch's escape."

" Two hundred pieces," replied Margaret. " I would speak
to you of restoring them— and I must one day have the
power— only that I know— that is, I think— your ladyship is
indifferent on that score."

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

The Fortunes of Nigel 287

CHAPTER XX.

Credit me, friend, it hath been ever thus,
Since the ark rested on Mount Ararat ;
False man hath sworn, and woman hath believed —
Repented and reproached, and then believed once more.

The New World.

BY the time that Margaret returned with Monna Paula, the
Lady Hermione was rising from the table at which she had
been engaged in writing something on a small slip of paper,
which she gave to her attendant.

" Monna Paula," she said, " carry this paper to Roberts
the cash-keeper. Let him give you the money mentioned in
the note, and bring it hither presently."

Monna Paula left the room, and her mistress proceeded.

" I do not know," she said, " Margaret, if I have done,
and am doing, well in this affair. My life has been one of
strange seclusion, and I am totally unacquainted with the
practical ways of this world — an ignorance which, I know,
cannot be remedied by mere reading. I fear I am doing
wrong to you, and perhaps to the laws of the country which
affords me refuge, by thus indulging you ; and yet there is
something in my heart which cannot resist your entreaties."

" Oh, listen to it — listen to it, dear, generous lady ! " said
Margaret, throwing herself on her 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 mortality, 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,

288 The Fortunes of Nigel.

your speech, and even your slightest actions, are changed
from those of a capricious and fanciful girl to all this energy
and impassioned eloquence of word and action ? "

"I am sure I know not, dearest lady," said Margaret,
looking down ; " but I suppose that, when I was a trifler, I
was only thinking of trifles. What I now reflect is deep and
serious, and I am thankful if my speech and manner bear
reasonable proportion to my thoughts."

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

The Lady Hermione sighed bitterly, and Monna Paula
entered ere the conversation proceeded further. She spoke
to her mistress in the foreign language in which they fre-
quently conversed, 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."

Margaret wrung her hands in vexation and impatience.

" Minutes are precious," continued the lady — " that I am
well aware of, and we will at least suffer none of them to
escape us. Monna Paula shall remain below and transact
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 showed 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

The Forttmes of Nigel. 289

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 en-
deavouring in vain to suppress the natural impatience of
her temper, " I have heard so — very often indeed. And I
dare say I have myself, Heaven forgive me, said so to people
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 being again, now that I know
how much the medicine goes against the stomach."

" You will think better of it, maiden," said the Lady
Hermione. " I also, when I first felt distress, thought they
did me wrong who spoke to me of patience ; but my sorrows
have been repeated and continued till I have been taught
to cling to it as the best and — religious duties excepted, of
which, indeed, patience forms a part — the only alleviation
which life can afford them."

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 suffered sorrow ; and yet, God knows,
the patience which I have ever seen you display well en-
titles you to recommend your own example to others."

The lady was silent for a moment, and then replied, —

" Margaret, I am about to repose a high confidence 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

10

290 The Fortunes of Nigel

cannot withstand the impulse 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 willing to tell you
who the melancholy inhabitant of the Foljambe apartments
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 Ramsay would
have heard with undivided interest a communication so
flattering in itself, and referring to a subject upon which the
general curiosity had been so strongly excited. And even at
this agitating moment, although she ceased not to listen with
an anxious ear and throbbing heart for the sound of Monna
Paula's returning footsteps, she nevertheless, as gratitude and
policy, as well as a portion of curiosity, dictated, composed
herself, in appearance at least, to the strictest attention to
the Lady Hermione, and thanked her with humility for the
high confidence she was pleased to repose in her. The
Lady Hermione, with the same calmness which always at-
tended her speech and actions, thus recounted 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 antiquity as any inscribed in the Golden Register of
that famous aristocracy.

" My mother was a noble Scottishwoman. She was de-
scended—do not start— and not remotely descended, of the
house of Glenvarloch. No wonder that I was easily led to

The Fortunes of Nigel. 291

take concern in the misfortunes of this young lord. He is
my near relation, 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 grandfather, a cadet of
that house of Glenvarloch, had followed the fortunes of an
unhappy fugitive, Francis Earl of Bothwell, who, after show-
ing his miseries in many a foreign court, at length settled in
Spain upon a miserable pension, which he earned by con-
forming to the Catholic faith. Ralph Olifaunt, my grand-
father, 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. But my mother, by whom these were
regarded with horror, privately trained me up in those of the
Reformed religion ; and my father, either indifferent in the
matter, or unwilling to distress the woman whom he loved,
overlooked or connived at my secretly joining in her devo-
tions.

" But when, unhappily, my father was attacked, while yet
in the prime of life, by a slow, waiting 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 bigoted to Catholicism as Spain. He made it his
business, during the two last years of his life, to realize and
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 ad-
vantage. Had my father lived to complete his purpose, by

292 The Fortunes of Nigel

withdrawing his whole fortune from commerce, he himself
would have accompanied us to England, and would have
beheld us settled in peace and honour before his death.
But Heaven had ordained it otherwise. He died, leaving
several sums engaged in the hands of his Spanish debtors ;
and, in particular, he had made a large and extensive con-
signment to a certain wealthy society of merchants at Madrid,
who showed no willingness after his death to account for
the proceeds. Would to God we had left these covetous
and wicked men in possession of their booty ! for such they
seemed to hold the property of their deceased correspondent
and friend. We had enough for 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 mother thought that my father's
memory was interested in its being enforced, especially as
the defences set up for the mercantile society went, in some
degree, to impeach the fairness of his transactions. \

"We went therefore to Madrid. I was then, my Mar-
garet, about your age, young and thoughtless, as you have
hitherto been. We went, I say, to Madrid, to solicit the
protection of the Court and of the King, without which we
were told it would be in vain to expect justice against an
opulent and powerful association.

" Our residence at the Spanish metropolis drew on from
weeks to months. For my part, my natural sorrow for a
kind though not a fond father having abated, I cared not if
the lawsuit had detained us at Madrid for ever. My mother
permitted herself and me rather more liberty than we had
been accustomed to. She found relations among the Scottish
and Irish officers, many of whom held a high rank in the
Spanish armies. Their wives and daughters became our
friends and companions, and I had perpetual occasion to

The Fortunes of Nigel. 293

exercise my mother's native language, which I had learned
from my infancy. By degrees, as my mother'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 the
guardianship of such ladies as she imagined she could trust,
and particularly under the care of the lady of a general
officer, whose weakness or falsehood was the original cause
of my misfortunes. I was as gay, Margaret, and thoughtless
— I again repeat it — as you were but lately, and my attention,
like yours, became suddenly riveted to one object and to
one set of feelings.

"The person by whom they were excited was young,
noble, handsome, accomplished, a soldier, and a Briton.
So far our cases are nearly parallel ; 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 suspect his sincerity ? If he was
wealthy, noble, and long-descended, I also was a noble and
an opulent heiress. It is true that he neither knew the ex-
tent of my father's wealth, nor did I communicate to him
(I do not even remember if I myself knew it at the time)
the important circumstance that the greater part of that
wealth was beyond the grasp of arbitrary power, and not
subject to the precarious award of arbitrary judges. My
lover might think, perhaps, as my mother was desirous the
world at large should believe, that almost our whole fortune
depended on the precarious suit which we had come to
Madrid to prosecute — a belief which she had countenanced
out of policy, being well aware that a knowledge of my
father's having remitted such a large part of his fortune
to England would in no shape aid the recovery of further
sums in the Spanish courts. Yctt, with no more extensive

294 The Fortunes of Nigel.

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 inconsiderable sum. To be brief, whatever might
be his motives or temptation for so far committing himself,
he applied to my mother for my hand, with my consent and
approval. My mother's judgment had become weaker, but
her passions had become more irritable during her increasing
illness.

" You have heard of the bitterness of the ancient Scottish
feuds, of which it may be said, in the language of Scripture,
that the fathers eat sour grapes, and the teeth of the chil-
dren are set on edge. Unhappily — I should say happily,
considering what this man has now shown himself to be —
some such strain of bitterness had divided his house from
my mother's, and she had succeeded to the inheritance of
hatred. When he asked her for my hand, she was no
longer able to command her passions. She raked up every
injury which the rival families had inflicted upon each other
during a bloody feud of two centuries, heaped him with
epithets of scorn, and rejected his proposal 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 insignificant
and unmeaning as the actions and fantasies of Don Quixote ;
and I blamed my mother bitterly for sacrificing my happiness
to an empty dream of family dignity.

" While I was in this humour my lover sought a renewal

The Fortunes of Nigel. 295

of our intercourse. We met repeatedly in the house of the
lady whom I have mentioned, and who, in levity, or in the
spirit of intrigue, countenanced our secret correspondence.
At length we were secretly married — so far did my blinded
passion hurry me. My lover had secured the assistance of
a clergyman of the English church. Monna Paula, who had
been my attendant from infancy, was one witness of our
union. Let me do the faithful creature justice — she con-
jured 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, pre-
vailed over her remonstrances. The lady I have spoken of
was another witness ; but whether she was in full possession
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 meeting, and the love of my husband seemed
as sincere and 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 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 were music, mirth, and dancing. I had
heard of the frankness of the English nation, but I could
not help thinking it bordered on license during these enter-
tainments, and in the course of the collation which followed ;
but I imputed my scruples to my inexperience, and would
not doubt the propriety of what was approved by my hus-
band.

" I was soon summoned to other scenes. My poor mother's
disease drew to a conclusion. Happy 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 Catholic priests,

296 The Fortunes of Nigel.

and particularly the monks, besiege the beds of the dying,
to obtain bequests for the good of the church. I have said
that my mother's temper 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 importunity, and the boldness of the stern
sect of Reformers, to which she had secretly adhered, seemed
to animate her dying tongue. She avowed the religion she
had so long concealed, renounced all hope and aid which
did not come by and through its dictates, rejected with con-
tempt the ceremonial of the Romish Church, loaded the
astonished 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 heresy, I was dragged from her
dead body, imprisoned in a solitary cloister, and treated
with severity, 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 situation in which I found myself.
I implored the assistance of the Superior to communicate
my situation to my husband. She smiled coldly at the pro-
posal, and told me the Church had provided a better spoust
for me ; advised me to secure myself of divine grace here-
after, and deserve milder treatment here, by presently taking
the veil. In order to convince me that I had no other
resource she showed me a royal decree, by which all my
estate was hypothecated to the Convent of Saint Magdalen,
and became their complete property upon my death, or my
taking the vows. As I was, both from religious principle
and affectionate attachment to my husband, absolutely im-
movable in my rejection of the veil, I believe— may Heaven

The Fortunes of Nigel. 297

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 anoV poor convent, and situated among
the mountains of Guadarrama. Some of the sisters were
the daughters of neighbouring hidalgoes, as poor as they
were proud and ignorant; others were women immured
there on account of their vicious conduct. The Superior
herself was of a high family, to which she owed her situation ;
but she was said to have disgraced her connections by her
conduct during youth, and now, in advanced age, covetous-
ness and the love of power, a spirit too of severity and
cruelty, had succeeded to the thirst after licentious pleasure.
I suffered much under this woman, and still her dark, glassy
eye, her tall, shrouded form, and her rigid features, haunt
my slumbers.

" I was not destined to be a mother. I was very ill, and
my recovery was long 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 me. But when I first again beheld the reflec-
tion of my own face, I thought it was the visage of a ghost.
I was wont to be flattered by all, but particularly by my hus-
band, for the fineness of my complexion : it was now totally
gone, and, what is more extraordinary, it has never returned.
I have observed that the few who now see me look upon me
as a bloodless phantom — such has been the abiding effect
of the treatment to which I was 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 I pray for forgive-
ness 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 approaching. One day, as I was walking

298 The Fortunes of Nigel.

in the convent garden, to which I had been lately admitted,
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 postern.'

" I knew something of the symbolical language of flowers,
once carried to such perfection among the Moriscoes of
Spain ; but if I had been ignorant of it, the captive would
soon have caught at any hint that seemed to promise liberty.
With all the haste consistent with the utmost circumspection
— for I might be observed by the Abbess or some of the
sisters from the window — I hastened to the postern. It was
closely barred as usual, but when I coughed slightly, I was
answered from the other side— r-and, O Heaven ! it was my
husband's voice which said, 'Lose not a moment here at
present, but be on this spot when the vesper bell has tolled.'

" I retired in an ecstasy of joy. I was not entitled or per-
mitted to assist at vespers, but was accustomed to be con-
fined 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 devious roads, in which one
of the domestics appeared to act as guide.

"The hurried pace at which we rode, and the anxiety of

The Fortunes of Nigel. 299

the moment, kept me silent, and prevented my expressing
my surprise or my joy save in a few broken words. It also
served as an apology for my husband's silence. At length
we stopped at a solitary hut, the cavaliers dismounted, and

I was assisted from my saddle, not by M M , my

husband, I would say, who seemed busied about his horse,
but by the stranger.

" ' Go into the hut/ said my husband ; 'change your dress
with the speed of lightning — you will find one to assist you.
We must forward instantly when you have shifted your
apparel.'

" I entered the hut, and was received in the arms of the
faithful Monna Paula, who had waited my arrival for many
hours, half distracted with fear and anxiety. With her
assistance I speedily tore off the detested garments of the
convent, and exchanged them for a travelling suit made
after the English fashion. I observed that Monna Paula
was in a similar dress. I had but just huddled on my
change of attire when we were hastily summoned to mount.
A horse, I found, was provided for Monna Paula, and we
resumed our route. On the way my convent garb, which
had been wrapped hastily together round a stone, was
thrown into a lake, along the verge of which we were then
passing. The two cavaliers rode together in front, my
attendant and I followed, and the servants brought up the
rear. Monna Paula, as we rode on, repeatedly entreated me
to be silent upon the road, as our lives depended on it. I
was easily reconciled to be passive, for, the first fever of
spirits which attended the sense of liberation and of gratified
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 suddenly (it was nov
very dark) saw a strong light before us.

" My husband reined up his horse, and gave a signal by

300 The Fortunes of Nigel

a low whistle twice repeated, which was answered from a
distance. The whole party then halted under the boughs of
a large cork-tree, and my husband, drawing himself close to
my side, said, in a voice which I then thought was only em-
barrassed by fear for my safety, ' We must now part. Those
to whom I commit you are contrabandists^ who only know
you as Englishwomen, 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 you not go with us ? ' I exclaimed with emphasis,
though in a whisper.

"'It is impossible,' he said, 'and would rum all. See
that you speak in English in these people's hearing, and give
not the least sign of understanding what they say in Spanish
—your life depends on it ; for, though they live in opposition
to and evasion of the laws of Spain, they would tremble at
the idea of violating those of the Church. I see them com-
ing. Farewell — farewell.'

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

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

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

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

The tears of Hermione here flowed so fast as to threaten
the interruption of her narrative. When she resumed it, it
•was with a kind of apology to Margaret.

" Every circumstance," she said, " occurring in those mo-
ments when I still enjoyed a delusive idea of happiness, is
deeply imprinted in my remembrance, which, respecting all

The Fortunes of Nigel. 301

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 recollections."

Margaret's eyes were full of tears. It was impossible it
could be otherwise, considering that the tale was told by her
suffering benefactress, and resembled, in some respects, her
own situation ; and yet she must not be severely blamed, if,
while eagerly pressing her patroness to continue 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 pardoned, if, in her turn,
the minute detail of her narrative showed that, in the dis-
charge of feelings 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 princi-
pally occupied, if not entirely engrossed.

" I told you, I think, that one domestic followed the gen-
tlemen," thus the lady continued her story ; " the other re-
mained 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 explana-
tion passed between them and the servant in a sort of patois
which I did not understand ; and one of the strangers taking
hold of my bridle, the other of Monna Paula's, they led us
towards the light, which I have already said was the signal
of our halting. 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 gypsy figures of those who
surrounded it, with their swarthy features, large sombrero
hats, girdles stuck full of pistols and poniards, and all the

3O2 The Fortunes of Nigel.

other apparatus of a roving and perilous life, would have
terrified me at another moment. But then I only felt the
agony of having parted from my husband almost in the very
moment of my rescue. The females of the gang — for there
were four or five women amongst these contraband traders —
received us with a sort of rude courtesy. They were, in
dress and manners, not 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
circumstances, scarce less experienced in the use of them.

•"It was 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 him. Once or twice, when they were disappointed
in their contraband traffic, lost some goods in a rencounter
with the Spanish officers of the revenue, and were finally
pursued by a military force, their murmurs assumed a more
alarming tone in the terrified ears of my attendant and my-
self, when, without daring to seem to understand them, we
heard them curse the insular heretics, on whose account God,
Saint James, and our Lady of the Pillar, had blighted their
hopes of profit. These are dreadful recollections, Margaret."

" Why, then, dearest lady," answered Margaret, " will you
thus dwell on them ? "

"It is only," said the Lady Hermione, "because I linger
like a criminal on the scaffold, and would fain protract the
time that must inevitably bring on the final catastrophe. Yes,
dearest Margaret, I rest and dwell on the events of that jour-
ney, marked as it was by fatigue and danger, though the road

The Fortunes of Nigel. 303

lay through the wildest and most desolate deserts and moun-
tains, 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 con-
stantly engaged — yet would I rather dwell on these hazardous
events than tell that which awaited me at Saint Jean de Luz."

" But you arrived there in safety ? " said Margaret.

" Yes, maiden," replied the Lady Hermione ; " and were
guided by the chief of our outlawed band to the house
which had been assigned for our reception, with the same
punctilious accuracy with which he would have delivered a
bale of uncustomed goods to a correspondent. I was told a
gentleman had expected me for two days. I rushed into the
apartment, and, when I expected to embrace my husband
^-1 found myself in the arms of his friend ! "

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

" Yes," replied Hermione calmly, though her voice some-
what faltered, " it is the name that best, that well befits him.
He, Margaret, for whom I had sacrificed all — whose love and
whose memory were dearer to me than my freedom when I
was in the convent, than my life when I was on my perilous
journey — had taken his measures to shake me off, and trans-
fer me, as a privileged wanton, to the protection of his
libertine friend. At first the stranger laughed at my tears
and my agony, as the hysterical passion of a deluded and
overreached wanton, or the wily affectation of a courtesan.
My claim of marriage he laughed at, assuring me he knew it
was a mere farce required by me, and submitted to by his
friend to save some reserve of delicacy; and expressed his
surprise that I should consider in any other light a ceremony
which could be valid neither in Spain nor in England, and
insultingly offered to remove my scruples by renewing such

304 The Fortunes of Nigel.

a union with me himself. My exclamations brought Monna
Paula to my aid— she was not, indeed, far distant, for she
had expected some such scene."

" Good Heaven ! " said Margaret, " was she a confidante
of your base husband ? "

" No," answered Hermione ; " do her not that injustice. It
was her persevering inquiries that discovered the place of
my confinement ; it was she who gave the information to my
husband, and who remarked even then that the news was so
much more interesting to his friend than to him, that she
suspected, from an early period, it was the 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 complexion ; and she had
heard the other reply that the defect might be cured by a
touch of Spanish red. This, and other circumstances, having
prepared her for such treachery, Monna Paula now entered,
completely self-possessed, and prepared to support me. Her
calm representations went farther with the stranger than
the expressions of my despair. If he did not entirely believe
our tale, he at least acted the part of a man of honour, who
would not intrude himself on defenceless females, whatever
was their character; desisted from persecuting us with his
presence ; and not only directed Monna Paula how we should
journey to Paris, but furnished her with money for the pur-
pose of our journey. From the capital I wrote to Master
Heriot, my father's most trusted correspondent. He came

instantly to Paris on receiving the letter ; and But here

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

The Lady Hermione took the bag of gold from her atten-
dant, and gave it to her young friend, who threw herself into

The Fortunes of Nigel 305

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

CHAPTER XXI.

•

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

On the Sign of an Alehouse kept by a Barber.

WE are under the necessity of transporting our readers
to the habitation of Benjamin Suddlechop, 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 upward into
the martial and swaggering curl, or downward into the
drooping form which became moustaches of civil policy — •
besides also occasionally letting blood, either by cupping or
by the lancet, extracting a stump, and performing other
actions of petty pharmacy very nearly as well as his neigh-
bour Raredrench, the apothecary — he could, on occasion,
draw a cup of beer as well as a tooth, tap a hogshead as well
as a vein, and wash, with a draught of good ale, the mous-
taches which his art had just trimmed. But he carried on
these trades apart from each other.

His barber's shop projected its long and mysterious pole
into Fleet Street, painted parti-coloured-wise, to represent
the ribbons with which, in elder times, that ensign was gar-
nished. In the window were seen rows of teeth displayed
upon strings like rosaries ; cups with a red rag at the bottom,
to resemble blood, an intimation that patients might be bled,
cupped, or blistered, with the assistance of "sufficient advice; "

306 The Fortunes of Nigel

while the more profitable but less honourable operations upon
the hair of the head and beard were briefly 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 dismissed from under Benjamin's hands, and which,
therefore, often flayed the ears of the patient metaphorically,
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 communicated with Fleet Street, after a circui-
tous passage through several by-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, conduct-
ing to the secret premises in which a few old topers used to
take their morning draught, and a few gill-sippers their modi-
cum of strong waters, in a bashful way, after having entered
the barber's shop under pretence of being shaved. Besides,
this obscure taproom gave 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 her-
self secretly out, and to admit clients and employers who
cared not to be seen to visit her in public. Accordingly,
after the hour of noon, by which time the modest and timid
whetters, who were Benjamin's best customers, had each had
his draught or his thimbleful, 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 little
mulatto girl, the dingy Iris of Dame Suddlechop. Then
came mystery thick upon mystery. Muffled gallants and
masked females, in disguises of different fashions, were seen
to glide through the intricate mazes of the alley ; and even

The Fortunes of Nigel. 307

the low tap on the door, which frequently demanded the
attention of the little Creole, had in it something that ex-
pressed secrecy and fear of discovery.

It was the evening of the same day when Margaret had
held the long conference with the Lady Hermione, that
Dame Suddlechop had directed her little portress to "keep
the door fast as a miser's purse-strings, and, as she valued

her saffron skin, to let in none but " the name she added

in a whisper, and accompanied it with a nod. The little
domestic blinked intelligence, went to her post, and in brief
time thereafter admitted and ushered into the presence of
the dame that very city gallant whose clothes sat awkwardly
upon him, and who had behaved so doughtily in the fray
which befell at Nigel's first visit to Beaujeu's Ordinary. The
mulatto introduced him, " Missis, fine young gentleman, all
over gold and velvet ; " then muttered to herself as she shut
the door, " Fine young gentlemen, 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 occasion-
ally to travesty himself in this fashion, and to visit, in the
dress of a gallant of the day, those places of pleasure and
dissipation in which it would have been 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 with graceful negligence ; while his poniard, though fairly
hatched and gilded, stuck in his girdle like a butcher's steel
to the fold of his blue apron. Persons of fashion had, by the

3o8 The Fortunes of Nigel

way, the advantage formerly of being better distinguished
from the vulgar than at present; for what the ancient
farthingale and rdore modern hoop were to court ladies, the
sword was to the gentleman— an article of dress which only
rendered those ridiculous who assumed it for the nonce,
without being in the habit of wearing it. Vincent's rapier
got between his legs, and, as he stumbled over it, he ex-
claimed, " Zounds ! 'tis the second time it has served me
thus. I believe the damned trinket knows I am no true
gentleman, and does it of set purpose."

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

" I was a frank and hearty London 'prentice before I knew
you, Dame Suddlechop," said Vincent. " What your advice
has made me, you may find a name for, since, 'fore George !
I am ashamed to think about it myself."

" A-well-a-day," quoth the dame, " and is it even so with
thee ? Nay, then, I know but one cure ; " and with that,
going to a little corner cupboard of carved wainscot, she
opened it by the assistance of a key, which, with half a
dozen besides, hung in a silver chain at her girdle, and pro-
duced a long flask of thin glass cased with wicker, bringing
forth at the same time two Flemish rummer glasses with
long stalks and capacious wombs. She filled the one brimful
for her guest, and the other more modestly to about two-
thirds of its capacity for her own use, repeating, as the rich
cordial trickled forth in a smooth, oily stream, " Right Rosa
Solis, as ever washed mulligrubs out of a moody brain ! "

But though Jin Vin tossed off his glass without scruple,
while the lady sipped hers more moderately, it did not appear
to produce the expected amendment upon his humour. On
the contrary, as he threw himself into the great leathern

The Fortunes of Nigel 309

chair in which Dame Ursley was wont to solace herself of an
evening, he declared himself " the most miserable dog within
the sound of Bow Bell."

"And why 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 one that walks in St. Paul's, whether in flat cap
or hat and feather, that has so many kind glances from the
wenches as you, when ye swagger along Fleet Street with
your bat under your arm and your cap set aside upon your
head. Thou knowest well that, from Mistress Deputy's self
down to the waistcoateers in the alley, all of them are t wiring
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 pettish child, in order to bring the pretty baby
into good-humour ! "

The flattery of Dame Ursula seemed to have the fate of
her cordial ; it was swallowed, indeed, by the party to whom
she presented it, and that with some degree of relish, but it
did not operate as a sedative on the disturbed state of the
youth'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-Ram say'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."

3io The Fortunes of Nigel

" It is time you were so," said Jenkin, " for hitherto you
have rather been the wedge to separate 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 abstemi-
ous, in her potations, it may nevertheless be supposed that
her patience was not improved by the regimen which she
observed.

"Why, thou ungracious and ingrate knave," said Dame
Ursley, "have I not done everything to put thee in thy
mistress's good graces ? She loves gentry, the proud Scottish
minx, as a Welshman loves cheese, and has her father's
descent from that Duke of Daldevil, or whatsoever she calls
him, as close in her heart as gold in a miser's chest, though
she as seldom shows 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 Jenkin, 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 the face nowadays. Tut, man, it was only in
the time of King Arthur or King Lud that a gentleman was
held to blemish his scutcheon by a leap over the line of
reason or honesty. It is the bold look, the ready hand, the
fine clothes, the brisk oath, and the wild brain that make
the gallant nowadays."

" I know what you have made me," said Jin Vin ; " since

The Fortunes of Nigel. 311

I have given up skittles and trap-ball for tennis and bowls,
good English ale for thin Bordeaux and sour Rhenish, roast-
beef and pudding for woodcocks and kickshaws, 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
matins, and mine honest name for — woman, I could brain
thee, when I think whose advice has guided me in all this ! "

"Whose advice, then? whose advice, then? Speak out,
thou poor, petty cloak-brusher, and say who advised thee,"
retorted Dame Ursley, flushed and indignant. " Marry come
up, my paltry companion — say by whose advice you have
made a gamester of yourself, and a thief besides, as your
words would bear. The Lord deliver us from evil ! " And
here Dame Ursley devoutly crossed herself.

" Hark ye, Dame Ursley Suddlechop," said Jenkin, start-
ing 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 holyday and sugar-plum
expressions, " with a nosegay at your breast and a parson at
your elbow ! "

" That may well be," answered Jin Vin bitterly, " if I walk

* A species of triumphal procession in honour of female supremacy,
when it rose to such a height as to attract the attention of the neighbour-
hood. It is described at full length in Hudibras (Part II. Canto II. \
As the procession passed on, those who attended it in an official capacity
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 proceedings 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 amonfj our ancestors.

3i2 The Fortunes of Nigel.

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 conjurer, 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 upon 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 effort, she checked her out-
rageous resentment, and, putting the bottle to its more
legitimate 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 loving-kindness,
whatever spite thou bearest to me, that have always been a
mother to thee."

Jenkin's English good-nature could not resist this forcible
appeal. He took up the other glass and lovingly pledged the
dame in her cup of reconciliation, and proceeded to make a
kind of grumbling apology for his own violence.

" For you know," he said, " it was you persuaded me to
get these fine things, and go to that godless • ordinary, and
ruffle it with the best, and bring you home all the news ; and
you said I, that was the cock of the ward, would soon be the
cock of the ordinary, and would win ten times as much at
gleek and primero as I used to do at put and beggar-my-
neighbour, and turn up doublets with the dice as busily as
I was wont to trowl down the ninepins 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 ! "

The Fortunes of Nigel. 313

"'Tis all true thou sayest, lad," said the dame; "but thou
must have patience. Rome was not built in a day. You
cannot become used to your court suit in a month's time,
any more than when you changed your long coat for a doub-
let 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 hangman 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 round."

"No, no ; I have had enough of that work," said Vincent.
" Tunstall would lend me the money, poor fellow, an he had
it ; but his gentle, beggarly kindred plunder him of all, and
keep him as bare as a birch at Christmas. No ; my fortune
may be spelt in four letters, and these read RUIN."

"Now hush, you simple craven," said the dame; "did
you never hear that when the 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 surprised to find I was poor Jin Vin, that used to watch

314 The Fortunes of Nigel.

from matin 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 character
before I am out of my time, and all along of you, Mother
Midnight."

" Do not call me out of my own name, my dear boy, Jin
Vin," answered Ursula in a tone betwixt rage and coaxing.
" Do not ; 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, hugging the dame
in his transport, and bestowing on her still comely cheek a
hearty and not unacceptable smack, that sounded like the
report of a pistol ; " Mother Midday 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 timely aid has helped me
out of the one and the other." And the good-natured fellow
threw himself back in his chair, and fairly drew his hand
across his eyes.

"You would not have me be made to ride the Skimming-
ton 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?"

The Fortunes of Nigel. 315

" I would sooner be carted to Tyburn myself," replied the
penitent.

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

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

" Ay, marry would I," said Dame Ursley ; " for you are to
know that, though I am right glad to stead you with it, this
gold is not mine, but was placed in my hands in order to

find a trusty agent for a certain purpose } and so But

what's the matter with you? Are you fool enough to be
angry because you cannot get a purse of gold for nothing ?
I would I knew where such were to be 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 crea-
tures, and proffer them gold for the fee-simple of their salva-
tion. But I have been trying these two days to bring my
mind strongly up to the thought that I will rather sit down
in shame, and sin, and sorrow, as I am like to do, than hold
on in ill courses to get rid of my present straits ; and so take
care, Dame Ursula, how you tempt me to break such a good
resolution."

"I tempt you to nothing, young man," answered Ursula ^

3i6 The Fortunes of Nigel

"and, as I perceive you are too wilful to be wise, I will -e'en
put my purse in my pocket, and look out for some one that
will work my turn with better will and more thankfulness.
And you may go your own course — break 'your indenture,
ruin your father, lose your character, and bid pretty Mistress
Margaret farewell for ever and a day."

"Stay, stay," said Jenkin; "the woman is in as great a
hurry as a brown baker when his oven is overheated. First,
let me hear that which you have to 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 Dogs, or somewhere thereabout, where
he may lie concealed until he can escape abroad. I know
thou knowest every place by the river's side as well as the
devil knows a usurer, or the beggar knows his dish."

" A plague on your similes, dame," replied the apprentice ;
" for the devil gave me that knowledge, and beggary rnay 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 ? "

"Fy, fy ! what do you take me for?" said Dame Ursula.
"I am as good a church woman 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

The Fortunes of Nigel* 317

hangs upon the frame in a rejoicing-night till the match be
fired, and then, whiz ! you are in the third heaven, beyond
the reach of the human voice, eye, or brain. When you
have wearied yourself with padding to and fro across the
room, will you tell me your determination, for time presses ?
Will you aid me in this matter or not ? "

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

"Ay," answered the dame, "that she thinks she does;
but that will not last long."

"And have I not told you but this instant," replied Jenkin,
" that it was this same Glenvarloch that rooked me at the
ordinary of every penny I had, and made a knave of me to
boot, by gaining more than was my own ? Oh that cursed
gold, which Shortyard the mercer paid me that morning on
accompt, for mending the clock of Saint Stephen's ! If I had
not by ill chance had that about me, I could but have beg-
gared 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 that shark among the minnows ! "

"Granted," said Dame Ursula. "All this I know; and
I own, that as Lord Glenvarloch was the last you played
with, you have a right to charge your ruin on his head.
Moreover, I admit, 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 Scottish lord who has,
as you say, deprived you of your money and your mistress,
you should in a short time recover both ? "

3i8 The Fortunes of Nigel.

"And how can your wisdom come to that conclusion,
dame?" said the apprentice. "My money, indeed, I can
conceive — that is, if I comply with your proposal ; but my
pretty Margaret ! — how serving this lord, whom she has set
her nonsensical head upon, can do me good with her, is far
beyond my conception."

"That is because, in simple phrase," said Dame Ursula,
"thou knowest no more of a woman's heart than doth a
Norfolk gosling. Look you, man. Were I to report to Mis-
tress 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 loathe thee as she will
loathe the very cook who is to strike off Glenvarloch's hand
with his cleaver ; and then she will be yet more fixed in her
affections towards this lord. London will hear of nothing
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 forgets him. I saw that
handsome, proper young gentleman Babington suffer in the
Queen's time myself; and v though I was then but a girl, he
was in my head for a year after he was hanged. But, above
all, pardoned or punished, Glenvarloch will probably remain
in London, and his presence will keep up the silly girl's non-
sensical fancy about him. Whereas, if he escapes "

" Ay, show 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

The Fortunes rf Nigel 319

wily dame. " And then, when this same lord is off and away
for once and for ever, who, I pray you, is to be pretty pet's
confidential person, and who is to fill up the void in her
affections? — why, who but thou, thou pearl of 'prentices!
And then you will have overcome your own inclinations to
comply with hers, and every woman is sensible of that ; and
you will have run some risk, too, in carrying her desires into
effect— and what is it that woman likes better than bravery
and devotion to her will ? Then 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 relation in which you stand with her, you are
not the brisk lively lad that all the world takes you for. Said
I well?"

" You have spoken like an empress, most mighty Ursula,'1
said Jenkin Vincent ; " and your will shall be obeyed."

" You know Alsatia well ? " continued his tutoress.

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

"And they will have a respect for thee yonder, I warrant?"

" Ay, ay," replied Vin ; " when I am got into my fustian
doublet again, with my bit of a trunnion under my arm, I
can walk Alsatia at midnight as I could do that there Fleet
Street in midday. They will not one of them swagger with
the prince of 'prentices and the king of clubs. They know I
could bring every tall boy in the ward down upon them."

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

"Can converse with every sculler in his own language

320 The Fortunes of Nigel.

from Richmond to Gravesend, and know all the water-cocks,
from John Taylor the Poet to little Grigg the Grinner, who
never pulls but he shows all his teeth from ear to ear, as if
he were grimacing through a horse-collar."

" And you can take any dress or character upon you well,
such as a waterman's, a butcher's, a foot-soldier's," continued
Ursula, "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 players themselves at the Ball and at the
Fortune for presenting anything except a gentleman. Take
but this d — d skin of frippery off me, which I think the
devil stuck me into, and you shall put me into nothing else
that I will not become as if I were born to it."

"Well, we will talk of your transmutation by-and-by," said
the dame, " and find you clothes withal, and money besides ;
for it will take a good deal to carry the thing handsomely
through."

"But where is that money to come from, dame?" said
Jenkin. " There is a question I would fain have answered
before I touch it."

" Why, what a fool art thou to ask such a question ! Sup-
pose I am content to advance it to please young madam,
what is the harm then ? "

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

" Well, thou suspicious animal, and what if it were ? " said
Ursula.

"Only this," replied Jenkin, "that I will presently to her,
and learn if she has come fairly by so much ready money ;
for sooner than connive at her getting it by any indirection,
I would hang myself at once. It is enough what I have

The Fortunes of Nigel 321

done myself; no need to engage poor Margaret in such vil-
lainy. 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 whom she got the money, but sure I am
that she obtained it at her godfather's."

" Why, Master George Heriot is not returned from France,"
said Jenkin.

" No," replied Ursula, " but Dame Judith is at home ; and
the strange lady, whom they call Master Heriot's ghost, she
never goes abroad."

" It is very true, Dame Suddlechop," said Jenkin ; " and
I believe you have guessed right. They say that lady has
coin at will ; and if Marget can get a 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 ! "

"They may read it that list," said Jenkin. "I'll never
pry into what concerns me not. Master George Heriot is
a worthy and brave citizen, and an honour to London, and
has a right to manage his own household as he likes best.
There was once a talk of rabbling him the fifth of November
before the last, because they said he kept a nunnery in his
house, like old Lady Foljambe ; but Master George is well
loved among the 'prentices, and we got so many brisk boys
of us together as should have rabbled the rabble, had they
had but the heart to rise."

"Well, let that pass," said Ursula; "and now, tell me
how 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

11

322 The Fortunes of Nigel.

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 con-
ditions. Could you not ask leave to go down to your
uncle in Essex for two or three days? He may be ill,
you know."

"Why, if I must, I must," said Jenkin, with a heavy
sigh ; "but I will not be lightly caught treading these dark
and crooked paths again."

"Hush thee, then," said the dame, "and get leave for
this very evening ; and come back hither, and I will intro-
duce you to another implement who must be employed in
the matter. Stay, stay ! the lad is mazed ; you would not
go into your master'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 putting it on again, I will give you leave to sell me to
a gypsy to carry pots, pans, and beggars' bantlings all the
rest of my life."

So saying, he retired to change his apparel.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 323

CHAPTER XXII.

Chance will not do the work. Chance sends the breeze ;

But if the pilot slumber at the helm,

The very wind that wafts us towards the port

May dash us on the shelves. The steersman's part is vigilance,

Blow it or rough or smooth.

Old Play.

WE left Nigel, whose fortunes we are bound to trace by the
engagement contracted in our title-page, sad and solitary in
the mansion of Trapbois, the usurer, having just received a
letter instead of a visit from his friend the Templar, stating
reasons why he could not at that time come to see him in
Alsatia. So that it appeared his intercourse with the better
and more respectable class of society was, for the present,
entirely cut off. This was a melancholy and, to a proud
mind like that of Nigel, a degrading reflection.

He went to the window of his apartment, and found the
street enveloped in one of those thick, dingy, yellow-coloured
fogs which often invest the lower part of London and West-
minster. 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 disagreeable to detain Lord
Glenvarloch at his station, so, turning from the window, he
examined with more interest the furniture and appearance of
the apartment which he tenanted.

324 The Fortunes of Nigel.

Much of it had been in its time rich and curious. There
was a huge four-post bed, with as much carved oak about it
as would have made the head of a man-of-war, and tapestry
hangings ample enough to have been her sails. There was
a huge mirror with a massy frame of gilt brasswork, which
was of Venetian manufacture, and must have been worth a
considerable sum before it received the tremendous crack
which, traversing it from one corner to the other, bore the
same proportion 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 appraisement or distress, or bought
as pennyworths at some obscure broker's, and huddled to-
gether in the apartment, as in a saleroom, without regard to
taste or congruity.

The place appeared to Nigel to resemble the houses near
.the sea-coast, which are too often furnished with the spoils
of ^wrecked vessels, as this was probably fitted up with the
relics of ruined profligates. " My own skiff is among the
breakers," 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 supported 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 ambi-

The Fortunes of Nigel 325

tious purpose of pacing forth into the middle of the apart-
ment, and had one foot ready raised for the journey. A
smile passed over Nigel's face as this fantastic idea presented
itself to his fancy. "1 must stop its march, however," he
thought, "for this morning is chill and raw enough to
demand some fire."

He called accordingly from the top of a large staircase,
with a heavy oaken balustrade, which gave access to his
own and other apartments, for the house was old and of
considerable size; but, receiving no answer to his repeated
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 par-
ticulars, be termed simple, hardy, and unostentatious; but
he had, nevertheless, been accustomed to much personal
deference, and to the constant attendance and ministry of
one or more domestics. This was the universal 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 himself for suffering such a trifle
to trouble him at all amongst matters of more deep con-
cernment "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 passage which
branched off from the gallery. As he went on, he tried the
entrance to several apartments, some of which he found were
locked and others unfurnished, all apparently unoccupied ;
so that at length he returned to the staircase, and resolved
to make his way down to the lower part of the house, where

326 The Fortunes of Nigel

he supposed he must at least find the old gentleman and
his ill-favoured daughter. 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 before it, and supported a huge desk
clamped with iron, and a massive pewter inkstand. Around
the apartment were shelves, cabinets, and other places con-
venient 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
defence 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 — for avarice seldom sleeps sound —
soon was heard from the inner room speaking in a voice of
irritability, rendered more tremulous by his' morning cough.

"Ugh, ugh, ugh — who is there? I say — ugh, ugh — who
is there? 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 pineal gland, and he kept
coughing and screaming, and screaming and coughing, until
the gracious Martha entered the apartment; and, having
first outscreamed her father in order to convince him that
there was no danger, and to assure him that the intruder
was their new lodger, and having as often heard her sire
ejaculate, "Hold him fast— ugh, ugh— hold him fast till
I come," she at length succeeded in silencing his fears and
his clamour, and then coldly and dryly asked Lord Glen-
varloch what he wanted in her father's apartment.

Her lodger had, in the meantime, leisure to contemplate
her appearance, which did not by any means improve the

The Fortunes of Nigel. 327

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 usually painted, but
that which, with more than Spanish stiffness, surrounded
the throat and set off the morose head of her fierce name-
sake of Smithfield memory. This antiquated dress assorted
well with the faded complexion, grey eyes, thin lips, and
austere visage of the antiquated maiden, which was, more-
over, enhanced by a black hood, worn as her headgear,
carefully disposed so as to prevent any of her hair from
escaping to view, probably because the simplicity of the
period knew no art of 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 shoulder above the other ; but the praiseworthy efforts
of the ingenious mechanic had only succeeded in calling
the attention of the observer to his benevolent purpose,
without demonstrating that he had been able to achieve it.

Such was Mistress Martha Trapbois, whose dry "What
wree you seeking here, sir?" fell again, and with reiterated
sharpness, on the ear of Nigel, as he gazed upon her pres-
ence 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 answered 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 charwork," answered Mis-
tress Martha, "comes at eight o'clock. If you want fire

328 The Fortunes of Nigel

sooner, there are fagots and a bucket of sea-coal in the
stone closet at the head of the stair, and there is a flint
and steel on the upper shelf. You can light fire for your-
self, if you will."

" No — no — no, Martha," ejaculated her father, who, having
donned his rusty tunic, with his hose all ungirt and his feet
slipshod, hastily came out of the inner apartment with his
mind probably full of robbers, for he had a naked rapier
in his hand, which still looked formidable, though rust had
somewhat marred its shine. What he had heard at entrance
about lighting a fire had changed, however, the current of
his ideas. " No — no — no," he cried, and each negative was
more emphatic than its predecessor; "the gentleman shall
not have the trouble to put on a fire— ugh — ugh. I'll put
it on myself, for a con-si-de-ra-tion."

This last word was a favourite expression with the old
gentleman, which he pronounced in a peculiar manner,
gasping it out syllable by syllable, and laying a strong
emphasis upon the last. It was, indeed, a sort of pro-
tecting clause, by which he guarded himself against all in-
conveniences attendant on the rash habit of offering service
or civility of any kind, the which, when hastily snapped at
by those to whom they are uttered, give the profferer some-
times room to repent his promptitude.

"For shame, father," said Martha, "that must not be.
Master Grahame will kindle his own fire, or wait till the
charwoman comes to do it for him, just as likes him
best"

"No, child— no, child. Child Martha, no," reiterated the
old miser; "no charwoman shall ever touch a grate in my
house. They put— ugh, ugh— the fagot uppermost, and so
the coal kindles not, and the flame goes up the chimney,
and wood arid heat are both thrown away. Now, I will lay
it properly for the gentleman, for a consideration, so that it

The Fortunes of Nigel. 329

shall last — ugh, ugh — last the whole day." Here his vehe-
mence 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 fireside, 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 henpecked hus-
band. She only repeated, in a deeper and more emphatic
tone of censure, "For shame, father! for shame!" then,
turning to her guest, said, with her usual ungraciousness 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 unhappy 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 acquaint-
ance, madam, or to give trouble," said the guest; "never-
theless, I shall need the assistance 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 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 meas-
ure, got up with the conversation. " I will brush his cloak
— ugh, ugh — and tie his points — ugh, ugh — and clean his

33<3 The Fortunes of Nigel.

shoes — ugh — and run on his errands with speed and safety
— ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh — for a consideration."

"Good-morrow to you, sir," said Martha to Nigel, in a
tone of direct and positive dismissal. " It cannot be agree-
able to a daughter that a stranger should hear her father
speak thus. If you be really a gentleman, you will retire
to your own apartment."

" I will not delay a moment," said Nigel respectfully, for
he was sensible that circumstances palliated the woman's
rudeness. "I would but ask you if seriously there can be
danger in procuring the assistance of a serving-man in this
place?"

" Young gentleman," said Martha, " you must know little
of Whitefriars to ask the question. We live alone in this
house, and seldom has a stranger entered it — nor should
you, to be plain, had my will been consulted. Look at
the door — see if that of a castle can be better secured.
The windows of the first floor are grated on the outside,
and within — look to these shutters."

She pulled one of them aside, and showed a ponderous
apparatus of bolts and chains for securing the window-
shutters; while her father, pressing to her side, seized her
gown with a trembling hand, and said, in a low whisper,
" Show not the trick of locking and undoing them. Show
him not the trick on't, Martha — ugh, ugh— on no con-
sideration." Martha went on without paying him any
attention : — •

"And yet, young gentleman, we* have been more than
once like to find all these defences too weak to protect
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 irrita-
bility increased by the very supposition of his being wealthy.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 331

" Say nothing of that, or I will beat thee, housewife — beat
thee with my staff for fetching and carrying lies that will
procure our throats to be cut at last — ugh, ugh. — I am but
a poor man," he continued, turning to Nigel, "a very poor
man, that am willing to do any honest turn upon earth, for
a modest consideration."

" I therefore warn you of the life you must lead, young
gentleman," said Martha. " The poor woman who does the
charwork will assist you so far as is in her power, but the
wise man is his own best servant and assistant."

" It is a lesson you have taught me, madam, and I thank
you for it. I will assuredly study it at leisure."

"You will do well," said Martha; "and as you seem
thankful for advice, I, though I am no professed coun-
sellor of others, will give you more. Make no intimacy
with any one in Whitefriars; borrow no money, on any
score, especially from my father, for, dotard as he seems,
he will make an ass of you. Last, and best of all, stay
here not an instant longer than you can help it. Fare-
well, sir."

"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 re-
flection occurred 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 bedroom to
warm himself by exercise.

At length his meditations arranged themselves in the
following soliloquy — by which expression I beg leave to
observe, once for all, that I do not mean that Nigel literally
said aloud with his bodily organs the words which follow in
inverted commas (while pacing the room by himself), but
that I myself choose to present to my dearest reader the
picture of my hero's mind, his reflections and resolutions, in

332 The Fortunes of Nigel.

the form of a speech rather than in that of a narrative. In
other words, I have put his thoughts into language ; and this
I conceive to be the purpose of the soliloquy upon the stage
as well as in the closet, being at once the most natural, and
perhaps the only, way of communicating to the spectator
what is supposed to be passing in the bosom of the scenic
personage. There are no such soliloquies in nature, it is
true ; but unless they were received as a conventional me-
dium of communication betwixt the poet and the audience,
we should reduce dramatic authors to the recipe of Master
Puff, who makes Lord Burleigh intimate a long train of
political reasoning to the audience by one comprehensive
shake of his noddle. In n^-ative, no doubt, the writer has
the alternative of telling that his personages thought so and
so, inferred thus and thus, and arrived at such and such a
conclusion ; but the soliloquy is a more concise and spirited
mode of communicating the same information; and there-
fore thus communed, or thus might have communed, the
Lord of Glenvarloch 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 leaned upon
others for that assistance which it is more truly noble to
derive from my own exertions. I am ashamed of feeling the
paltry inconvenience which long habit has led me to annex
to the want of a servant's assistance— I am ashamed of that ;
but far, far more am I ashamed to have suffered the same
habit of throwing my own burden on others to render me,
since I came to this city, a mere victim of those events
which I have never even attempted to influence — a thing
never acting, but perpetually acted upon— protected by one
friend, deceived by another, but in the advantage which I
received from the one, and the evil I have sustained from
the other, as passive and helpless as a boat that drifts with-
out oar or rudder at the mercy of the winds and waves. I

The Fortunes of Nigel. 333

became a courtier because Heriot so advised it ; a gamester,
because Dalgarno so contrived it ; an Alsatian, because
Lowestoffe so willed it. Whatever of good or bad has be-
fallen me has arisen out of the agency of others, not from
my own. My father's son must no longer hold this facile
and puerile course. Live or die, sink or swim, Nigel Oli-
faunt 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 her very words, * The wise man is his
own best assistant' "

He had just put his tablets in his pocket when the old
charwoman, who, to add to her efficiency, was sadly crippled
by 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 Nigel had augured.

As his solitary meal was finished, one of the Temple por-
ters or inferior officers was announced as seeking Master
Grahame, on the part of his friend Master Lowestoffe ; and,
being admitted by the old woman to his apartment, he de-
livered to Nigel a small mail-trunk, with the clothes he had
desired should be sent to him, and then, with more mystery,
put into his hand a casket or strong-box, which he care-
fully concealed beneath his cloak. "I am glad to be rid
on't," said the fellow, as he placed it on the table.

"Why, it is surely not so very heavy," answered Nigel,
"and you are a stout young man."

"Ay, sir," replied the fellow ; "but Samson 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

334 The Fortunes of Nigel

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 writing materials which were in the
casket in order to send a line to Master Lowestoffe declaring
that his property had reached him in safety. He added
some grateful acknowledgments for Lowestoffe's services;
and, just as he was sealing and delivering his billet to the
messenger, his aged landlord entered the apartment. His
threadbare suit of black clothes was now somewhat better
arranged than they had been in the deshabille of his first
appearance, and his nerves and intellect seemed to be less
fluttered; for without much coughing or hesitation, he in-
vited Nigel to partake of a morning draught of wholesome
single ale, which he brought in a large leathern tankard, or
black-jack, carried in the one hand, while the other stirred
it round with a sprig of rosemary, to give it, as the old man
said, a flavour.

Nigel declined the courteous proffer, and intimated by his
manner while he did so that he desired no intrusion on the
privacy of his own apartment— which, indeed, he was the
more entitled to maintain, considering the cold reception he
had that morning met with when straying from its precincts
into those of his landlord. But the open casket contained
matter, or rather metal, so attractive to old Trapbois that he
remained fixed, like a setting-dog at a dead point, his nose
advanced, and one hand expanded like the lifted forepaw by
which that sagacious quadruped sometimes indicates that it
is a hare which he has in the wind. Nigel was about to

The Fortunes of Nigel. 335

break the charm which had thus arrested old Trapbois, by
shutting the lid of the casket, when his attention was with-
drawn from him by the question of the messenger, who,
holding out the letter, asked whether he was to leave it at
Master Lowestoffe's chambers in the Temple, or carry it to
the Marshalsea.

"The Marshalsea!" repeated Lord Glenvarloch; "what
of the Marshalsea?"

" Why, sir," said the man, " the poor gentleman is laid up
there in lavender, because, they say, his own kind heart led
him to scald his ringers with another man's broth."

Nigel hastily snatched back the letter, broke the seal, joined
to the contents his earnest entreaty that he might be instantly
acquainted with the cause of his confinement; and added
that if it arose out of his own unhappy affair, it would be of
brief duration, since he had, even before hearing of a reason
which so peremptorily demanded that he should surrender
himself, adopted the resolution to do so, as the manliest and
most proper course which his ill-fortune and imprudence
had left in his own power. He therefore conjured Master
Lowestoffe to have no delicacy 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 ar-
ranged 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 concerns. The letter concluded that the writer
would suffer twenty-four hours to elapse in expectation of
hearing from him, and, at the end of that period, was deter-
mined to put his purpose in execution. He delivered the
billet to the messenger, and, enforcing his request with a
piece of money, urged him, without a moment's delay, to
convey it to the hands of Master Lowestoffe.

336 Tke Fortunes of Nigel

«I_I__I_WI11 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 errand as fast as he could.

"Master Trapbois," said Nigel, addressing the old man
somewhat impatiently, "had you any particular commands
forme?"

" I — I — came to see if you rested well," answered the old
man, "and — if I could do anything to serve you, on any
consideration."

"Sir, I thank you," said Lord Glenvarloch. "I thank

you " and ere he could say more, a heavy footstep was

heard on the stair.

" My God ! " exclaimed the old man, starting up. " Why,
Dorothy — charwoman — why, daughter — 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.

CHAPTER XXIII

SwasJi-faickler. Bilboe's the word—

Pierrot. It hath been spoke too often,
The spell hath lost its charm. I tell thee, friend,
The meanest cur that trots the street will turn
And snarl against your proffer'd bastinado.

Swash-buckler. 'Tis art shall do it, then— I will dose

the mongrels—

Or, in plain terms, I'll use the private knife
'Stead of the brandish'd falchion.— Old Play.

THE noble Captain Colepepper or Peppercull — for he was
known by both these names, and some others besides — had
a martial and a swashing exterior, which, on the present

The Fortunes of Nigel 337

occasion, was rendered yet more peculiar by a patch covering
his left eye and a part of the cheek. The sleeves of his
thickset velvet jerkin were polished and shone with grease ;
his buff gloves had huge tops which reached almost to the
elbow; his sword-belt, of the same materials, extended its
breadth from his haunch-bone to his small ribs, and sup-
ported on the one side his large black-hilted back-sword, on
the other a dagger of like proportions. He paid his compli-
ments to Nigel with that air of predetermined effrontery
which announces that it will not be repelled by any coldness
of reception; asked Trapbois how he did, by the familiar
title of old Peter Pillory ; and then, seizing upon the black-
jack, emptied it off at a draught, to the health of the last
and youngest freeman of Alsatia, the noble and loving
Master Nigel Grahame.

When he had set down the empty pitcher, and drawn his
breath, he began to criticize 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 i nkle- weavers ;
we fought, too, to finish off the gawdy. I bear some marks
of the parson about me, you see — a note of the sermon or
so, which should have been addressed to my ear, but missed
its mark, and reached my left eye. The man of God bears
my sign-manual too ; but the Duke made us friends again,
and it cost me more sack than I could carry, and all the
Rhenish to boot, to pledge the seer in the way of love and
reconciliation. But, Caracco ! 'tis a vile old canting slave
for all that, whom I will one day beat out o.f his devil's livery
into all the colours of the rainbow. Basta ! — Said I well,

338 The Fortunes of Nigel

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 cap-
tain," said the usurer, and concluded his speech with a dry,
emphatical "ugh, ugh."

"What, upon no con-si-de-ra-tion ? " said the captain;
"and wherefore not, old Truepenny? she has not much
time to lose in driving her bargain, methinks."

"Captain," said Trapbois, "I was upon some little busi-
ness with our noble friend here, Master Nigel Green — ugh,
ugh, ugh "

"And you would have me gone, I warrant you?" an-
swered 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 art
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
cony-catcher ! " answered the captain, taking a bale of dice
from the sleeve of his coat. " I must always keep company
with these damnable doctors, and they have made me every
baby's cully, and purged my purse into an atrophy. But
never mind ; it passes the time as well as aught else.— How
say you, Master Grahame?"

The Fortunes of Nigel 339

The fellow paused ; but even the extremity of his impu-
dence could hardly withstand the cold look of utter con-
tempt with which Nigel received his proposal, returning it
with a simple, " I only play where I know my company, and
never in the morning."

"Cards may be more agreeable," said Captain Cole-
pepper; "and, for knowing your company, here is honest
old Pillory will tell you Jack Colepepper 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 rooking besides ;
but broil me like a rasher of bacon, if I could ever learn the
trick on 'em ! "

" You have got the vocabulary perfect, sir, at the least,"
said Nigel, in the same cold tone.

"Yes, by mine honour have I," returned the Hector;
" they are phrases that a gentleman learns about town. But
perhaps you would like a set at tennis, or a game at bal-
loon ; we have an indifferent good court hard by here, and
a set of as gentlemanlike blades as ever banged leather
against brick and mortar."

" I beg to be excused at present," said Lord Glenvarloch ;
" and, to be plain, among the valuable privileges your society
has conferred on me, I hope I may reckon that of being
private in my own apartment when I have a mind."

"Your humble servant, sir," said the captain; "and I
thank you for your civility — Jack Colepepper 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," replied the young
nobleman.

" Or to leap a flea — run a snail — match a wherry, eh ? "

" No ; I will do none of these," answered Nigel.

Here the old man, who had been watching with his little

346 The Fortunes of Nigel.

peery eyes, pulled the bulky Hector by the skirt, and whis-
pered, "Do not vapour him the huff, it will not pass; let
the trout play, he will rise to the hook presently."

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 Alsatia, look ye, a man must
be neighbourly and companionable. Zounds, sir ! we would
slit any nose that was turned up at us honest fellows. Ay,
sir, we would slit it up to the gristle, though it had smelt
nothing all its life but musk, ambergris, and court-scented
water. Rabbit me, I am a soldier, and care no more for a
lord than a lamplighter ! "

" Are you seeking a quarrel, sir ? " said Nigel calmly, hav-
ing 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 we 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 mo-
ment," said Nigel.

"Videlicet," said Colepepper, with a swaggering 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 downstairs."

"Throw me from the window? — hell and furies!" ex-
claimed the captain. "I have confronted twenty crooked
sabres at Buda with my single rapier, and shall a -chitty-
faced, beggarly Scots lordling speak of me and a window

The Fortunes of Nigel. 341

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," exclaimed the old
miser, throwing himself between them, "do not break the
peace on any consideration ! — Noble guest, forbear the cap-
tain ; he is a very Hector of Troy. — Trusty Hector, forbear
my guest \ he is like to prove a very Achilles — ugh, ugh "

Here he was interrupted by his asthma, but, nevertheless,
continued to interpose his person between Colepepper (who
had unsheathed his whinyard, and was making vain passes
at his antagonist) and Nigel, who had stepped back to take
his sword, and 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 rne ? 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 downstairs."

The bully's countenance grew dark as night at this unex-
pected recognition ; for he had undoubtedly thought himself
secure in his change of dress, and his black patch, from
being discovered by a person who had seen him but once.
He set his teeth, clenched his hands, and it seemed as if he
was seeking for a moment's courage to fly upon his antag-
onist. 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

342 The Fortunes of Nigel.

malice made his features savagely fierce, though they could
not overcome his fear, he turned and left the house. Nigel
followed him as far as the gallery at the head of the staircase,
with the purpose of seeing him depart, and ere he returned
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, madam, you could teach your father and his friends
the lesson which you had the goodness to bestow on me this
morning, and prevail on them to leave me the unmolested
privacy of my own apartment."

" If you come hither for quiet or retirement, young man,"
answered she, "you have been advised to an evil retreat.
You might seek mercy in the Star Chamber, or holiness in
hell, with better success than quiet in Alsatia. But my
father shall trouble you no longer."

So saying, she entered the apartment, and, fixing her eyes
on the casket, she said with emphasis, " If you display such
a loadstone, it will draw many a steel knife to your throat."

While Nigel hastily shut the casket, she addressed her
father, upbraiding him, with small reverence, for keeping
company with the cowardly, hectoring, murdering 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 crossbite him —
I know them all, and I can manage them — ay, ay — I have
the trick on't — ugh — ugh."

" You manage, 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 for-
merly."

" My gains, wench— my gold ? " said the usurer ; " alack-a-
day, few of these, and hard got— few, and hard got."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 343

" This will not serve you, father, any longer," said she,
"and had not served you thus long, but that Bully Cole-
pepper 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 ? "

" Your father," said Lord Glenvarloch, who could not help
respecting the strong sense and feeling shown by this poor
woman, even amidst all her rudeness and severity, "your
father seems to have his faculties sufficiently alert when he
is in the exercise of his ordinary pursuits and functions. I
wonder he is not sensible of the weight of your arguments."

" Nature made him a man senseless qf danger, and that
insensibility is the best thing I have derived from him," said
she j " 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
chamber — draw bolts and chain — look sharp to door — let
none in or out but worshipful Master Grajiame — I must take
my cloak, and go to Duke Hildebrod — ay, ay, time has been
my own warrant was enough ; but the lower we lie, the more
are we under the wind."

And, with his wonted chorus of muttering and coughing,
the old man left the apartment. His daughter stood for a
moment looking after him, with her usual expression of dis-
content and sorrow.

344 The Fortunes of Nigel.

"You ought to persuade your father," said Nigel, "to
leave this evil neighbourhood, if you are in reality apprehen-
sive for his safety."

" He would be safe in no other quarter," said the daughter.
" I would rather the old man were dead than publicly dis-
honoured. In other quarters he would be pelted and pur-
sued, 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 entertain 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 enrich strangers with our
rescued wealth. Ha ! young man ? "

"Madam, if -you knew me," said Lord Glenvarloch, "you
would spare the suspicion implied in your words."

"Who shall assure me of that?" said Martha 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 Glenvar-
loch.

" It may be so," said Martha. " I am little interested in
the degree of your vice or your folly ; but it is plain that the
one or the other has conducted you hither, and that your
best hope of peace, safety, and happiness is to be gone, with
the least possible delay, from a place which is always a sty
for swine, and often a shambles." So saying, she left the
apartment.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 345

There was something in the ungracious manner of this
female amounting almost to contempt of him she spoke to
— an indignity to which Glenvarloch, 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 threw out concern-
ing the danger of his place of refuge sound by any means
agreeably to his ears. The bravest man, placed in a situation
in which he is surrounded by suspicious persons, and re-
moved from all counsel and assistance, except those afforded
by a valiant heart and a strong arm, experiences a sinking
of the spirit, a consciousness of abandonment, which for a
moment chills his blood, and depresses his natural gallantry
of disposition.

But, if sad reflections arose in Nigel's mind, he had not
time to indulge them ; and, if he saw little prospect of find-
ing 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, en-
deavouring to arrange his ideas on the course which he was
to pursue on quitting Alsatia, when he was interrupted by
the sovereign of that quarter, the 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 liquor,
a vessel to which he bore a considerable outward resem-
blance, both in size, shape, complexion, and contents.

" Good-morrow to your lordship," said the greasy punch-
eon, 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 gur-
gling in his throat, as if saluting, in similar fashion, a starved
cat, the only living thing in Trapbois's house which we have

346 The Fortunes of Nigel.

not yet enumerated, 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 Hilde-
brod. " Beasts and fools will be meddling, my lord."

" I thought, sir," answered Nigel, with as much haughtiness
as was consistent with the cool distance which he desired to
preserve — " I thought I had told you my name at present was
Nigel Grahame."

His -eminence of Whitefriars on this burst out into a loud
chuckling, impudent laugh, repeating the word till his voice
was almost inarticulate, " Niggle Green — Niggle Green ! —
Niggle Green ! — why, my lord, you would be queered in the
drinking of a penny pot of Malmsey, 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 unnecessarily betrayed
himself, replied hastily, " He was much obliged to him for
the honours conferred, but did not propose to remain in the
Sanctuary long enough to enjoy them."

" Why, that may be as you will, an you will walk by wise
counsel," answered the ducal porpoise; and, although Nigel
remained standing, in hopes to accelerate his guest's de-
parture, he threw himself into one of the old tapestry-backed
easy-chairs, which cracked under his weight, and began to
call for old Trapbois.

The crone of all work appearing instead of her master, the
Duke cursed her for a careless jade, to let a strange gentle-
man, and a brave guest, go without his morning's draught.

"I never take one, sir," said Glenvarloch.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 347

"Time to begin — time to begin," answered the Duke. —
" Here, you old refuse of Sathan, go to our palace and fetch
Lord Green's morning draught. " Let us see — what shall it
be, my lord ? — a humming double pot of ale, with a roasted
crab dancing in it like a wherry above bridge ? — or, hum — ay,
young men are sweet-toothed — a quart of burnt sack, with
sugar and spice ? — good against the fogs. Or, what say you
to sipping a gill of right distilled waters? Come, we will
have them all, and you shall take your choice. — Here, you
Jezebel, let Tim send the ale, and the sack, and the nipper-
kin of double-distilled, with a bit of diet-loaf, or some such
trinket, and score it to the newcomer."

Glenvarloch, bethinking himself that it might be as well
to endure this fellow's insolence for a brief season as to
get into further discreditable quarrels, suffered him to take
his own way, without interruption, only observing, "You
make yourself at home, sir, in my apartment ; but, for the
time, you may use your pleasure. Meanwhile, 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 warrant she stops to take a sip on the road, and
then you will think you have had unchristian measure. In
the meanwhile, look at that dog there — look Belzebub in the
face, and tell me if you ever saw a sweeter beast — never flew
but at head in his life."

And, after this congenial panegyric, he was proceeding
with a tale of a dog and a bull, which threatened to be some-
what of the longest, when he was interrupted by the return
of the old crone, and two of his own tapsters, bearing the
various kmds of drinkables which he had demanded, and
which probably was the only species of interruption he would
have endured with equanimity.

348 The Fortunes of Nigel.

When the cups and cans were duly arranged upon the
table, and when Deborah, whom the ducal generosity hon-
oured with a penny farthing in the way of gratuity, had with-
drawn with her satellites, the worthy potentate, having first
slightly invited Lord Glenvarloch to partake of the liquor
which he was to pay for, and after having observed that,
excepting three poached eggs, a pint of bastard, and a cup
of clary, he was fasting from everything but sin, set himself
seriously to reinforce the radical moisture. Glenvarloch had
seen Scottish lairds and Dutch burgomasters at their pota-
tions; but their exploits (though each might be termed a
thirsty generation) were nothing to those of Duke Hildebrod,
who seemed an absolute sandbed, capable of absorbing any
given quantity of liquid, without being either vivified or over-
flowed. He drank off the ale to quench a thirst which, as
he said, kept him in a fever from morning to night, and night
to morning ; tippled off the sack to correct the crudity of the
ale; sent the spirits after the sack to keep all quiet; and then
declared 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 visit was already transacted.

In this, however, Lord Glenvarloch 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 wainscoted 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

The Fortunes of Nigel. 349

seat, and beckoned confidentially to Nigel to draw his chair
close to him.

" I am well as I am, Master Hildebrod," replied the young
lord, little disposed to encourage 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 some-
what closer to the Quicksand ; " although 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," an-
swered the gracious Duke; "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 Glenvarloch whom all the
world talk of— the Scotch gallant that has 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 sparrow-hawk, 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 be-
ware, and, if you indeed guess who I am, consider how
long I may be able to endure your tone of insolent famili-
arity."

" 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

35O The Fortunes of Nigel

familiar with your lordship, but I judge there is little safety,
for Lowestoffe is laid up in lavender only for having shown
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 honour or most trouble by doing so, I leave with
your lordship's better judgment."

" I will bring no one into trouble on my account," said
Lord Glenvarloch. "I will leave Whitefriars to-morrow —
nay, by Heaven, I will leave it this day."

" 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 the way of nicking
them all, may he never cast doublets or gull a greenhorn
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 pedlar's
French ! Nay, then, I must speak plain English, and that's
the simpleton's tongue."

"Speak, then, sir," said Nigel; "and I pray you be brief,
for I have little more time to bestow on you."

" Well, then, my lord, to be brief, as you and the lawyers
call it. I understand you have an estate in the north, which
changes masters for want of the redeeming ready— ay, you
start, but you cannot dance in a net before me, as I said
before ; and so the King runs the frowning humour on you,
and the Court vapours you the go-by, and the Prince scowls
at you from under his cap, and the favourite serves you out
the puckered brow and the cold shoulder, and the favourite's
favourite "

"To go no further, sir," interrupted Nigel, "suppose all
this true— and what follows?"

The Fortunes of Nigel 351

"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 ac-
complished ? "

" By making thee a Prince of Peru, my lord of the north-
ern latitudes — propping thine old castle with ingots, fertilizing
thy failing fortunes with gold dust. It shall but cost thee to
put thy baron's coronet for a day or so on the brows of an
old Caduca here, the man's daughter of the house, and thou
art master of a mass of treasure that shall do all I have said
for thee, and "

"What, you would have me marry this old gentlewoman
here, the daughter of mine host ? " said Nigel, surprised and
angry, yet unable to suppress some desire to laugh.

"Nay, my lord, I would have you marry fifty thousand
good sterling pounds ; for that, and better, .hath old Trap-
bois hoarded. And thou shalt do a deed of mercy in it to
the old man, who will lose his golden smelts in some worse
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 Glen-
varloch ; " but may I pray of your candour, most noble duke,
to tell me why you dispose of a ward of so much wealth on
a stranger like me, who may leave you to-morrow ? "

"In sooth, my lord," said the Duke, "that question
smacks more of the wit of Beaujeu's ordinary than any word
I have yet heard your lordship speak, and reason it is you
should be answered. Touching my peers, it is but necessary
to say that Mistress Martha Trapbois will none of them,

352 The Fortunes of Nigel.

whether clerical or laic. The captain hath asked her, so
hath the parson; but she will none of them. She looks
higher than either, and is, to say truth, a woman of sense,
and so forth, too profound, 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, Mistress 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 decuses, the spoils of five thousand
bullies, cutters, and spendthrifts — always deducting from the
main sum some five thousand pounds for our princely ad-
vice and countenance, without which, as matters stand in
Alsatia, you would find it hard to win the plate."

" But has your wisdom considered, sir," replied Glenvar-
loch, " how this wedlock can serve me in my present emer-
gence ? "

"As for that, my lord," said Duke Hildebrod, "if, with
forty or fifty thousand pounds in your pouch, you cannot
save yourself, you will deserve to lose your head for your
folly, and your hand for being close-fisted."

" But, since your goodness has taken my matters 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
able 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 always heard your
countrymen knew as well as other folks on which side their
bread was buttered. And, truly, speaking from report, I
know no place where fifty thousand pounds — fifty thousand
pounds, I say — will make a woman more welcome than it is
likely to do in your ancient kingdom. And, truly, saving
the slight twist in her shoulder, Mistress Martha Trapbois is

The Fortunes of Nigel 353

a person of very awful and majestic appearance, 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 mother was a generous, liberal sort of a woman."

" I am afraid," answered Nigel, " that chance is rather too
vague to assure her a gracious reception 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 expe-
dients; "if she should become rather intolerable, which is
not unlikely, your honourable 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," 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 privacy," said the
Duke; "and you do not think," he added, lowering his
voice to a confidential 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."

354 The Fortunes of Nigel

" Aha ! 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 figure, and I will take care that no one
interrupts you. I will have an edict from the Senate as soon
as they meet for their meridiem."

So saying, Duke Hildebrod took his leave.

CHAPTER XXIV.

This is the time — heaven's maiden sentinel
Hath quitted her high watch — the lesser spangles
Are paling one by one. Give me the ladder
And the short lever ; bid Anthony
Keep with his carabine the wicket-gate ;
And do thou bare thy knife and follow me,
For we will in and do it — darkness like this
Is dawning of our fortunes.

Old Play.

WHEN Duke Hildebrod had withdrawn, Nigel's first impulse
was an irresistible feeling to laugh at the sage adviser, who
would have thus connected him with age, ugliness, and ill-
temper ; but his next thought was pity for the unfortunate
father and daughter, who, being the only persons possessed
of wealth in this unhappy district, seemed like a wreck on
the sea-shore of a barbarous country, only secured from
plunder for the moment by the jealousy of the tribes among
whom it had been cast. Neither could he help being con-
scious that his own residence here was upon conditions
equally precarious, and that he was considered by the Alsa-
tians in the same light of a godsend on the Cornish coast, or
ft sickly but wealthy caravan travelling through the wilds of

The Fortunes of Nigel. 355

Africa, and emphatically termed by the nations of despoilers
through whose regions it passes, Dummalafong, which signi-
fies a thing given to be devoured — a common prey to all
men.

Nigel had already formed his own plan to extricate him-
self, at whatever risk, from his perilous and degrading situa-
tion; and, in order that he might carry it into instant
execution, he only awaited the return of LowestofTe's mes-
senger. 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 necessary if he meant to obtain an interview with
the^ King, which was the course his spirit and his interest
alike determined him to pursue.

While he was thus engaged, he found, greatly to his satis-
faction, that Master Lowestoffe had transmitted not only his
rapier and poniard, but a pair of pistols which he had used
in travelling, 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 and friendly comrades, a man is chiefly
emboldened by finding himself well armed in case of need,
and Nigel, who had thought with some anxiety on the hazard
of trusting his life, if attacked, to the protection of the clumsy
weapon with which Lowestoffe had equipped him in order to
complete his disguise, felt an emotion of confidence approach-
ing 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, the
more hastily that he heard a tap at the door of his chamber,

356 The Fortunes of Nigel

and had no mind to be found vapouring in the apartment

with his sword drawn.

It was his old host who entered, to tell him with many
cringes that the price of his apartment was to be a crown
per diem ; and that, according to the custom of Whitefriars,
the rent was always payable per advance, although he never
scrupled to let the money lie till a week or fortnight, or even
a month, in the hands of any 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 requesting 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 trembling hand,
clutched fast the proffered coin, and, having balanced the
pieces with exquisite pleasure on the extremity of his withered
finger, began almost instantly to show that not even the
possession of gold can gratify for more than an instant the
very heart that is most eager in the pursuit of it. First, the
pieces might be light. With hasty hand he drew a small pair
of scales from his bosom and weighed them, first together,
then separately, 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 Sanctuary in
that condition.

Another fear then occurred to trouble the old miser's
pleasure. He had been just able to comprehend that Nigel
intended to leave the Friars sooner than the arrival of the
term for which he had deposited the rent. This might imply
an expectation of refunding, which, as a Scotch wag said, of
all species of funding, jumped least with the old gentleman's
humour. He was beginning to enter a hypothetical caveat

The Fortunes of Nigel. 357

on this subject, and to quote several reasons why no part of
the money once consigned as room-rent could be repaid back
on any pretence, without great hardship to the landlord, when
Nigel, growing impatient, told him that the money was his
absolutely, and without any intention on his part of resuming
any of it — all he asked in return was the liberty of enjoying
in private the apartment he, had paid for. Old Trapbois,
who had still at his tongue's end much of the smooth lan-
guage by which, in his time, he had hastened the ruin of
many a young spendthrift, 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 irresistibly, leading him to the door of the chamber,
put him out, but with such a decent and moderate exertion
of his superior strength as to render the action in no shape
indecorous, and fastening the door, began to do that for his
pistols which he had done for his favourite sword, examining
with care the flints and locks, and reviewing the state of his
small provision of ammunition.

In this operation he was a second time interrupted by a
knocking at his door. He called upon the person to enter,
having no doubt that it was Lowestoffe's messenger at length
arrived. It was, however, the ungracious daughter of old
Trapbois, who, muttering something about her father's mis-
take, laid down upon the table one of the pieces of gold which
Nigel had just given to him, saying that what she retained was
the full rent for the term he had specified. Nigel replied he
had paid the money, and had no desire to receive 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 reason, my father shall not be knave enough
to take it."

" But your father, mistress," said Nigel, " your father told

258 The Fortunes of Nigel.

" Oh, my father, my father," said she, interrupting him—
"my father managed these affairs while he was able. I
manage them now, and that may in the long run be as well
for both of us."

She then looked on the table, and observed the weapons.

" You have arms, I see," she said ; " do you know how to
use them ? "

" I should do so, mistress," replied Nigel, " for it has been
my occupation."

" You are a soldier, then ? " she demanded.

" No further as yet than as every gentleman of my country
is a soldier."

" Ay, that is your point of honour — to cut the throats of
the poor — a proper gentlemanlike occupation for those who
should protect them ! "

" I do not deal in cutting throats, mistress," replied Nigel ;
" but I carry arms to defend myself, and my country if it
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 country is in hazard, and that had it
not been so, you would not have been in the Sanctuary to-
day."

"Mistress," returned Nigel, "I should labour in vain to
make you understand that a man's honour, which is, or
should be, dearer to him than his life, may often call on and
compel us to hazard our own lives, or those of others, on
what would otherwise seem trifling contingencies."

" God's law says nought of that," said the female. " I have
only read there that thou shalt not kill. But I have neither
time nor inclination to preach to you. You will find enough
of fighting here if you like it, and well if it come not to seek
you when you are least prepared. Farewell for the present.
The charwoman will execute your commands for your meals."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 359

She left the room, just as Nigel, provoked at her assuming
a superior tone of judgment and of censure, was about to be
so superfluous as to enter into a dispute with ah old pawn-
broker'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 old Deborah the char-
woman, by whose intermediation 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 difficulty to prevent
him from displacing his arms and some papers which were
lying on the small table at which he had been sitting ; and
nothing short of a stern and positive injunction to the con-
trary 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 eyes 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 attention. 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 communication the old man
had not calculated, beheld him actually extend his hand
towards the table in question. He thought it unnecessary
to use further ceremony, but telling his landlord, in a stern
voice, that he permitted no one to touch his arms, he com-
manded him to leave the apartment. The old usurer com-
menced a maundering sort of apology, in which all that Nigel
distinctly apprehended was a frequent repetition of the word

360 Ths Fortunes of Nigel

consideration, and which did not seem to him to require any
other answer than a reiteration of his command to him to
leave the apartment, upon pain of worse consequences.

The ancient Hebe who acted as Lord Glenvarloch's cup-
bearer took his part against the intrusion of the still more
antiquated Ganymede, and insisted on old Trapbois leaving
the room instantly, menacing him at the same time with her
mistress's displeasure if he remained there any longer. The
old man seemed more under petticoat government than any
other, for the threat of the charwoman produced greater effect
upon him than the more formidable displeasure of Nigel.
He withdrew grumbling and muttering, and Lord Glenvar-
loch heard him bar a large door at the nearer end of the
gallery, which served as a division betwixt the other parts 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 the grand staircase.

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.

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 expected, had renewed her youth and activity.
Nigel desired to have candles, to have a fire lighted in his
apartment, and a few fagots placed beside it, that he might
feed it from time to time, as he began to feel the chilly effects
of the damp and low situation of the house, close as it was
to the Thames. But while the old woman was absent upon
his errand, he began to think in what way he should pass the
long solitary evening with which he was threatened.

His own reflections promised to Nigel little amusement,

The Fortunes of Nigel. 361

and less applause. He had considered his own perilous
situation in every light in which it could be viewed, and
foresaw as little utility as comfort in resuming the survey.
To divert the current of his ideas, books were, of course, the
readiest resource ; and although, like most of us, Nigel had,
in his time, sauntered through large libraries, and even spent
a long time there without greatly disturbing their learned
contents^ he was now in a situation where the possession of
a volume, even of very inferior merit, becomes a real treasure.
The old housewife returned shortly afterwards with fagots,
and some pieces of half-burnt wax-candles, the perquisites,
probably, real or usurped, of some experienced groom of the
chambers, two of which she placed in large brass candle-
sticks, of different shapes and patterns, and laid the others
on the table, that Nigel might renew them from time to time
as they 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 than her young
mistress's (as she always denominated Mistress Martha
Trapbois) Bible, which the owner would not lend ; and her
master's Whetstone of Witte, being the second part of Arith-
metic, by Robert Record, with the Cossike Practice and
Rule of Equation, which promising volume Nigel declined
to borrow. She offered, however, to bring him some books
from Duke 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 unwearied Iris
scuttled away on this second embassy. She returned in a
short time with a tattered quarto volume under her arm,
and a pottle 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 forgetting to add the price to the

362 The Fortunes of Nigel.

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 dis-
missed 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 measure
of sack and the lights ; and thus accompanying his studies
with such luxurious appliances 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 interesting, 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, the work which Reynolds published under that im-
posing 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 looked out at window, but the night was
rainy, with gusts of wind ; he tried to coax the fire, but the
fagots were green, and smoked without burning ; and as he
was naturally temperate, he felt his blood somewhat heated
by the canary sack which he had already drunk, and had no
further inclination to that pastime. He next attempted to

* Only three copies are known to exist ; one in the library at Kenna-
quhair, and two— one foxed and cropped, the other tall and in good
condition— both in the possession of an eminent member of the Rox-
burghe Club.— Nate by CAPTAIN CLUTTERBUCK.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 363

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 shocking as they were to human
feeling, possessed yet the interest of sorcery or of fascination,
which rivets 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, broken into the tabernacle of life. Yet
more surprising and mysterious tales were recounted of the
mode in which such deeds of blood had come to be dis-
covered and revenged. Animals, irrational animals, had
told the secret, and birds of the air had carried the matter.
The elements had seemed to betray the deed which had
polluted them — earth had ceased to support the murderer's
steps, fire to warm his frozen limbs, water to refresh his
parched lips, air to relieve his gasping lungs. All, in short,
bore evidence to the homicide's guilt. In other circum-
stances, the criminal'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 in the night, and the book was
still in Nigel's hands, when the tapestry which hung behind
him flapped against the wall, and the wind produced by its
motion waved the flame of the candles by which he was
reading. Nigel started and turned round, in that excited
and irritated state of mind which arose from the nature of
his studies, especially at a period when a certain degree of

364 The Fortunes of Nigel

superstition was inculcated as a point of religious faith. It
was not without emotion that he saw the bloodless counte-
nance, 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 un-
timely apparition that something evil was meditated 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. Trapbois showed
neither fear nor surprise, and only answered by some im-
perfect expressions, intimating he would part with his life
rather than with his property ; and Lord Glenvarloch,
strangely embarrassed, knew not what to think of the in-
truder's motives, and still less how to get rid of him. As he
again tried the means of intimidation, he was surprised by
a second apparition from behind the tapestry, in the person
of the daughter of Trapbois, bearing a lamp in her hand.
She also seemed to possess her father's insensibility to
danger, for, coming close to Nigel, she pushed aside im-
petuously 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 father no injury,
but I will 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 morning on the table of a young spendthrift, too
careless to put what belonged to him into his own purse."

So saying, she showed the piece of gold, which, still re-
maining- on the table where she had left it, had been the bait

The Fortunes of Nigel. 365

that attracted old Trapbois so frequently to the spot, and
ivhich, even in the, silence of the night, had so dwelt on his
imagination that he had made use of a private passage long
disused to enter his guest's apartment, in order to possess
himself of the treasure 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 con-
sideration. I will die ere I part with my property ! "

" It is indeed his own, mistress," said Nigel, <{>and I do
entreat you will restore it to the person on whom I have
bestowed it, and let me have my apartment in quiet."

"I will account with you for it, then," said the maiden,
reluctantly giving to her father the morsel of Mammon, on
which he darted as if his bony fingers had been the talons
of a hawk seizing its prey ; and then, making a contented
muttering and mumbling, like an old dog after he has been
fed, and just when he is wheeling himself 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.

"This shall be properly fastened to-morrow," said the
daughter to Nigel, speaking in such a tone that her father,
deaf, and engrossed by his acquisition, could not hear her ;
" to-night I will continue to watch him closely. I wish you
good repose."

These few words, pronounced in a tone of more civility
than she had yet made use of towards her lodger, contained
a wish which was not to be accomplished, although her
guest, presently after her departure, retired to bed.

There was a slight fever in Nigel's blood, occasioned by
the various events of the evening, which put him, as the
phrase is, beside his rest. Perplexing and painful thoughts
rolled on his mind like a troubled stream, and the more he

366 The Fortunes of Nigel

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 thou-
sand, until his head was giddy. He watched the embers of
the wood fire till his eyes were dazzled. He listened to the
dull moaning of the wind, the swinging and creaking of signs
which projected from the houses, and the baying of here and
there a homeless dog, till his very ear was weary.

Suddenly, however, amid this monotony, came a sound
which startled him at once. It was a female shriek. He
sat up in his bed to listen; then remembered he was in
Alsatia, where brawls of every sort were current among the
unruly inhabitants. But another scream, and another, and
another, succeeded so close, that he was certain, though the
noise was remote and sounded stifled, it must be in the same
house with himself.

Nigel jumped up hastily, put on a part of his clothes,
seized his sword and pistols, and ran to the door of his
chamber. Here he plainly heard the screams redoubled,
and, as he thought, the sounds came from the usurer's apart-
ment. All access to the gallery was effectually excluded by
the intermediate door, which the brave young lord shook
with eager but vain impatience. But the secret passage
occurred suddenly to his recollection. He hastened back
to his room, and succeeded with some difficulty in lighting
a candle, powerfully agitated by hearing 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 terminated 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

The Fortunes of Nigel 367

"murder" and "help." At the bottom of the staircase was
\ small door, which gave way before Nigel as he precipitated
kimself upon the scene of action — a cocked pistol in one
land, a candle in the other, and his naked sword under his
a-m.

Two ruffians had, with great difficulty, overpowered, or
rather were on the point of overpowering, the daughter of
Tripbois, whose resistance appeared to have been most
desperate, for the floor was covered with fragments of her
clothes and handfuls of her hair. It appeared that her life
was about to be the price of her defence, for one villain had
drawn a long clasp-knife, when they were surprised by the
entrance of Nigel, who, as they turned towards him, shot the
fellow with the knife dead on the spot, and when the other
advanced to him, hurled the candlestick at his head, and
then attacked him with his sword. It was dark, save some
pale moonlight from the window ; and the ruffian, after firing
a pistol without effect, and fighting a traverse or two with
his sword, lost heart, made for the window, leaped over it,
and escaped. Nigel fired his remaining pistol after him at
a venture, and then called for light.

"There is light in the kitchen," answered Martha Trap-
bois, with more presence of mind than could have been
expected. "Stay, you know not the way; I will fetch it
myself. Oh ! my father — my poor father ! I knew it would
come to this — and all along of the accursed gold! They
have MURDERED him ! "

368 The Fortunes of Nigel

CHAPTER XXV.

Death finds us 'mid our playthings — snatches us,
As a cross nurse might do a wayward child,
From all our toys and baubles. His rough call
Unlooses all our favourite ties on earth ;
And well if they are such as may be answer'd
In yonder world, where all is judged of truly.

Old Play.

IT was a ghastly scene which opened upon Martha Trap-
bois's return with a light. Her own haggard and austere
features were exaggerated by all the desperation of grief, fear,
and passion, but the latter was predominant. On the floor
lay the body of the robber, who had expired without a groan,
while his blood, flowing plentifully, had crimsoned all around.
Another body lay also there, on which the unfortunate
woman precipitated herself in agony, for it was that of her
unhappy father. In the next moment she started up, and
exclaiming, "There may be life yet!" strove to raise the
body. Nigel went to her assistance, but not without a
glance at the open window, which Martha, as acute as if
undisturbed either by passion or terror, failed not to interpret
justly.

" Fear not," she cried, " fear not ; they are base cowards,
to whom courage is as much unknown as mercy. If I had
had weapons, I could have defended myself against them
without assistance or protection. Oh ! my poor father !
protection comes too late for this cold and stiff corpse.
He is dead — dead ! "

While she spoke, they were attempting to raise the dead
body of the old miser; but it was evident, even from the
feeling of the inactive weight and rigid joints, that life had
forsaken her station. Nigel looked for a wound, but saw
none. The daughter of the deceased, with more presence
of mind than a daughter ~ould at the time have been sup-

The Fortunes of Nigel. 369

posed capable of exerting, discovered the instrument of his
murder — a sort of scarf, which had been drawn so tight
round his throat as to stifle his cries for assistance in the
first instance, and afterwards to extinguish life.

She undid the fatal noose ; and, laying the old man's body
in the arms of Lord Glenvarloch, she ran for water, for
spirits, for essences, in the vain hope that life might be only
suspended. That hope proved indeed vain, She chafed
his temples, raised his head, loosened his nightgown (for it
seemed as if he had arisen from bed upon hearing the
entrance of the villains), and, finally, opened, with difficulty,
his fixed and closely-clenched hands, from one of which
dropped a key, from the other the very piece of gold about
which the unhappy man had been a little before so anxious,
and which probably, in the impaired state of his mental
faculties, he was disposed to defend with as desperate
energy as if its amount had been necessary to his actual
existence.

" It is in vain — it is in vain ! w said the daughter, desisting
from her fruitless attempts to recall the spirit which had been
effectually dislodged, for the neck had been twisted by the
violence of the murderers. " It is in vain ; he is murdered.
I always knew it would be thus ; and now I witness it ! "

She then snatched up the key and the piece of money,
but it was only to dash them again on the floor, as she
exclaimed, " Accursed be ye both, for you are the causes of
this deed I"

Nigel would have spoken — would have reminded her that
neasures should be instantly taken for the pursuit of the
murderer who had escaped, as well as for her own security
against his return ; but she interrupted him sharply.

" Be silent," she said, " be silent. Think you the thoughts
of my own heart are not enough to distract me, and with
such a sight as this before me ? 1 say, be silent," she said

3/o The Fortunes of Nigel.

again, and in a yet sterner tone. " Can a daughter listen,
and her father's murdered corpse lying on her knees ? "

Lord Glenvarloch, however overpowered by the energy of
her grief, felt not the less the embarrassment of his own
situation. He had discharged both his pistols. The robber
might return. He had probably other assistants besides the
man who had fallen ; and it seemed to him, indeed, as if he
had heard a muttering beneath the windows. He explained
hastily to his companion the necessity of procuring ammu-
nition.

"You are right," she said, somewhat contemptuously,
"and have ventured already more than ever I expected of
man. Go, and shift for yourself, since that is your purpose.
Leave me to my fate."

Without stopping for needless expostulation, Nigel hastened
to his own room through the secret passage, furnished him-
self with the ammunition he sought for, and returned with
the same celerity; wondering himself at the accuracy with
which he achieved, in the dark, all the meanderings of the
passage which he had traversed only once, and that in a
moment of such violent agitation.

He found, on his return, the unfortunate woman standing
like a statue by the body of her father, which she had laid
straight on the floor, having covered the face with the skirt
of his gown. She testified neither surprise nor pleasure at
Nigel's return, but said to him calmly, " My moan is made.
My sorrow— all the sorrow at least that man shall ever
have noting of— is gone past; but I will have justice, and
the base villain who murdered this poor defenceless old
man, when he had not, by the course of nature, a twelve-
month's life in him, shall not cumber the earth long after
him. Stranger, whom Heaven has sent to forward the
revenge reserved for this action, go to Hildebrod's— there
they are awake all night in their revels. Bid him come

The Fortunes of Nigel. 371

hither. He is bound by his duty, and dare not, and shall
not, refuse his assistance, which he knows well I can reward.
Why do ye tarry ? — go instantly."

"I would," said Nigel, "but I am fearful of leaving you
alone ; the villain may return, and "

"True, most true," answered Martha, "he may return;
and, though I care little for his murdering me, he may
possess himself of what has most tempted him. Keep
this key and this piece of gold; they are both of im-
portance. Defend your life if assailed, and if you kill the
villain I will make you rich. I go myself to call for aid."

Nigel would have remonstrated with her, but she had
departed, and in a moment he heard the house-door clank
behind her- ^or an instant he thought of following her;
but upon recollection that the distance was but short betwixt
the tavern of Hildebrod and the house of Trapbois, he con-
cluded that she knew it better than he, incurred little danger
in passing it, and that he would do well in the meanwhile to
remain on the watch as she recommended.

It was no pleasant situation for one unused to such scenes
to remain in the apartment with two dead bodies, recently
those of living and breathing men, who had both, within the
space of less than half an hour, suffered violent death — one
of them by the hand of the assassin ; the other, whose blood
still continued to flow from the wound in his throat, and to
flood all around him, by the spectator's own deed of violence,
though of justice. He turned his face from those wretched
relics of mortality with a feeling of disgust mingled with
superstition ; and he found, when he had done so, that the
consciousness of the presence of these ghastly objects,
though unseen by him, rendered him more uncomfortable
than even when he had his eyes fixed upon, and reflected
by, the cold, staring, lifeless eyeballs of the deceased.
Fancy also played her usual sport with him. He now

372 The Fortunes of Nigel.

thought he heard the well-worn damask nightgown of the
deceased usurer rustle ; anon, that he heard the slaughtered
bravo draw up his leg, the boot scratching the floor as if he
was about to rise ; and again he deemed he heard the foot-
steps and the whisper of the returned ruffian under the
window from which he had lately escaped. To face the
last and most real danger, and to parry the terrors which
the other class of feelings were like to impress upon him,
Nigel went to the window, and was much cheered to observe
the light of several torches illuminating the street, and fol-
lowed, as the murmur of voices denoted, by a number of
persons, armed, it would seem, with firelocks and halberds,
and attendant on Hildebrod, who (not in his fantastic office
of duke, but in that which he really possessed of bailiff of
the liberty and sanctuary of Whitefriars) was on his way to
inquire into the crime and its circumstances.

It was a strange and melancholy contrast to see these
debauchees, disturbed in the very depth of their midnight
revel, on their arrival at such a scene as this. They stared
on each other, and on the bloody work before them, with
lack-lustre eyes ; staggered with uncertain steps over boards
slippery with blood; their noisy, brawling voices sunk into
stammering whispers ; and, with spirits quelled by what they
saw, while their brains were still stupefied by the liquor which
they had drunk, they seemed like men walking in their sleep.

Old Hildebrod was an exception to the general condition.
That seasoned cask, however full, was at all times capable
of motion, when there occurred a motive sufficiently strong
to set him a-rolling. He seemed much shocked at what he
beheld, and his proceedings, in consequence, had in them
more of regularity and propriety than he might have been
supposed capable of exhibiting upon any occasion whatever.
The daughter was first examined, and stated, with wonderful
accuracy and distinctness, the manner in which she had been

The Fortunes of Nigel 373

alarmed with a noise of struggling and violence in her father's
apartment, and that the more readily, because she was watch-
ing him on account of some alarm concerning his health.
On her entrance she had seen her father sinking under the
strength of two men, upon whom she rushed with all the
fury she was capable of. As their faces were blackened, and
their figures disguised, she could not pretend, in the hurry
of a moment so dreadfully agitating, to distinguish either of
them as persons whom she had seen before. She remem-
bered little more except the firing of shots, until she found
herself alone with her guest, and saw that the ruffians had
escaped.

Lord Glenvarloch told his story as we have given it to the
reader. The direct evidence thus received, Hildebrod ex-
amined the premises. He found that the villains had made
their entrance by the window out of which the survivor had
made his escape; yet it seemed singular that they should
have done so, as it was secured with strong iron bars, which
old Trapbois was in the habit of shutting with his own hand
at nightfall. He minuted down with great accuracy the state
of everything in the apartment, and examined carefully the
features of the slain robber. He was dressed like a seaman
of the lowest order, but his face was known to none present.
Hildebrod next sent for an Alsatian surgeon, whose vices,
undoing what his skill might have done for him, had con-
signed him to the wretched practice of this place. He made
him examine the dead bodies, and make a proper declaration
of the manner in which the sufferers seemed to have come
by their end. The circumstance of the sash did not escape
the learned judge, and having listened to all that could be
heard or conjectured on the subject, and collected all par-
ticulars of evidence which appeared to bear on the bloody
transaction, he commanded the door of the apartment to be
locked until next morning ; and carrying the unfortunate

374 The Fortunes of Nigel.

daughter of the murdered man into the kitchen, where there
was no one in presence but Lord Glenvarloch, he asked her
gravely whether she suspected no one in particular of having
committed the deed.

" Do you suspect no one ? " answered Martha, looking
fixedly on him.

" Perhaps I may, mistress ; but it is my part to ask ques-
tions, yours to answer them. That's the rule of the game."

" Then I suspect him who wore yonder sash. Do not you
know whom I mean ? "

" Why, if you call on me for honours, I must needs say I
have seen Captain Peppercull have one of such a fashion,
and he was not a man to change his suits often."

"Send out, then," said Martha, "and have him appre-
hended"

" If it is he, he will oe far by this time ; but I will com-
municate with the higher powers," answered the judge.

"You would have him escape," resumed she, fixing her
eyes on him sternly.

"By cock and pie," replied Hildebrod, "did it depend on
me, the murdering cut-throat should hang as high as ever
Haman did; but let me take my time. He has friends
among us, that you wot well ; and all that should assist me
are as drunk as fiddlers."

" I will have revenge — I will have it," repeated she; "and
take heed you trifle not with me."

"Trifle ! I would sooner trifle with a she-bear the minute
after they had baited her. I tell you, mistress, be but
patient, and we will have him. I know all his haunts, and
he cannot forbear them long ; and I will have trap-doors
open for him. You cannot want justice, mistress, for you
have the means to get it."

" They who help me in my revenge," said Martha, " shall
share those means."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 375

" Enough said," replied Hildebrod. " And now I would
have you go to my house, and get something hot ; you will
be but dreary here by yourself."

"I will send for the old charwoman," replied Martha;
" and we have the stranger gentleman besides."

" Umph, umph — the stranger gentleman ! " said Hildebrod
to Nigel, whom he drew a little apart. " I fancy the captain
has made the stranger gentleman's fortune when he was
making a bold dash for his own. I can tell your honour — I
must not say lordship — that I think my having chanced to
give the greasy buff-and-iron scoundrel some hint of what
I recommended to you to-day has put him on this rough
game. The better for you — you will get the cash without
the father-in-law. You will keep conditions, I trust ? "

" I wish you had said nothing to any one of a scheme so
absurd," said Nigel.

" Absurd ! Why, think you she will not have thee ?
Take her with the tear in her eye, man — take her with the
tear in her eye. Let me hear from you to-morrow. Good
night, good night — a nod is as good as a wink. I must to
my business of sealing and locking up. By the way, this
horrid work has put all out of my head — here is a fellow
from Master Lowestoffe has been asking to see you. As he
said his business was express, the Senate only made him
drink a couple of flagons, and he was just coming to beat
up your quarters when this breeze blew up. — Ahey, friend !
there is Master Nigel Grahame."

A young man, dressed in a green plush jerkin, with a
badge on the sleeve, and having the appearance of a water-
man, approached and took Nigel aside, while Duke Hilde-
brod went from place to place to exercise his authority, and
to see the windows fastened and the doors of the apartment
locked up. The news communicated by Lowestoffe's mes-
senger were not the most pleasant. They were intimated

376 The Fortunes of Nigel.

in a courteous whisper to Nigel, to the following effect :—
That Master Lowestoffe prayed him to consult his safety by
instantly leaving Whitefriars, for that a warrant from the Lord
Chief-Justice had been issued out for apprehending him, and
would be put in force to-morrow, by the assistance of a party
of musketeers, a force which the Alsatians neither would nor
dared to resist.

"And so, squire," said the aquatic emissary, "my wherry
is to wait you at the Temple Stairs yonder, at five this
morning, and, if you would give the bloodhounds the slip,
why, you may."

"Why did not Master Lowestoffe write to me?" said
Nigel. '

"Alas ! the good gentleman lies up in lavender for it
himself, and has as little to do with pen and ink as if he
were a parson."

" Did he send any token to me ? " said Nigel.

" Token ! — ay, marry did he — token enough, an I have
not forgot it," said the fellow; then, giving a hoist to the
waistband of his breeches, he said, " Ay, I have it ; you
were to believe me, because your name was written with an
O, for Grahame. Ay, that was it, I think. Well, shall we
meet in two hours, when tide turns, and go down the river
like a twelve-oared barge ? "

" Where is the King just now, knowest thou ? * answered
Lord Glenvarloch.

" The King ? why, he went down to Greenwich yesterday
by water, like a noble sovereign as he is, who will always
float where he can. He was to have hunted this week, but
that purpose is broken, they say; and the Prince, and the
Duke, and all of them at Greenwich, are as merry as
minnows."

" Well," replied Nigel, " I will be ready to go at five. Do
thou come hither to carry my baggage."

The Fortunes of Nigel 377

" Ay, ay, master," replied the fellow, and left the house,
mixing himself with the disorderly attendants of Duke
Hildebrod, who were now retiring. That potentate en-
treated Nigel to make fast the doors behind him, and,
pointing to the female who sat by the expiring fire with
her limbs outstretched, like one whom the hand of Death
had already arrested, he whispered, "Mind your hits, and
mind your bargain, or I will cut your bowstring for you
before you can draw it"

Feeling deeply the ineffable brutality which could recom-
mend the prosecuting such views over a wretch in such a
condition, Lord Glenvarloch yet commanded his temper so
far as to receive the advice in silence, and attend to the
former part of it, by barring the door carefully behind Duke
Hildebrod and his suite, with the tacit hope that he should
never again see or hear of them. He then returned to the
kitchen, in which the unhappy woman remained, her hands
still clenched, her eyes fixed, and her limbs extended, like
those of a person in a trance. Much moved by her situation,
and with the prospect which lay before her, he endeavoured
to awaken her to existence by every means in his power, and
at length apparently succeeded in dispelling her stupor and
attracting her attention. He then explained to her that he
was in the act of leaving Whitefriars in a few hours ; that his
future destination was uncertain; but that he desired anxiously
to know whether he could contribute to her protection by
apprising any friend of her situation, or otherwise. With
some difficulty she seemed to comprehend his meaning,
and thanked him with her usual short ungracious manner.
"He might mean well," she said, "but he ought to know
that the miserable had no friends."

Nigel said, " He would not willingly be importunate,
but, as he was about to leave the Friars " She in-
terrupted him, —

3/8 The Fortunes of Nigel.

" You are about to leave the Friars ? I will go with you."

" You go with me ! " exclaimed Lord Glenvarloch.

" Yes," she said, " I will persuade my father to leave this
murdering den." But, as she spoke, the more perfect re-
collection of what had passed crowded on her mind. She
hid her face in her hands, and burst out into a dreadful
fit of sobs, moans, and lamentations, which terminated in
hysterics, violent in proportion to the uncommon strength
of her body and mind.

Lord Glenvarloch, shocked, confused, and inexperienced,
was about to leave the house in quest of medical, or at least
female assistance ; but the patient, when the paroxysm had
somewhat spent its force, held him fast by the sleeve with
one hand, covering her face with the other, while a copious
flood of tears came to relieve the emotions of grief by which
she had been so violently agitated.

" Do not leave me," she said — " do not leave me ; and call
no one. I have never been in this way before, and would
not now," she said, sitting upright, and wiping her eyes with
her apron— "would not now, but that — but that he loved
me, if he loved nothing else that was human. To die so, and
by such hands ! "

And again the unhappy woman gave way to a paroxysm of
sorrow, mingling her tears with sobbing, wailing, and all the
abandonment of female grief when at its utmost height. At
length she gradually recovered the austerity of her natural
composure, and maintained it as if by a forcible exertion of
resolution, repelling, as she spoke, the repeated returns of
the hysterical affection by such an effort as that by which
epileptic patients are known to suspend the recurrence of
their fits. Yet her mind, however resolved, could not so
absolutely overcome the affection of her nerves, but that
she was agitated by strong fits of trembling, which, for a
minute or two at a time, shook her whole frame in a manner

The Fortunes of Nigel 379

frightful to witness. Nigel forgot his own situation, and,
indeed, everything else, in the interest inspired by the un-
happy woman before him — an interest which affected a
proud spirit the more deeply, that she herself, with corre-
spondent highness of mind, seemed determined to owe
as little as possible either to the humanity or the pity of
others.

" I am not wont to be in this way," she said, " but — but
— Nature will have power over the frail beings it has made.
Over you, sir, I have some right ; for, without you, I had not
survived this awful night. I wish your aid had been either
earlier or later; but you have saved my life, and you are
bound to assist in making it endurable to me."

" If you will show me how it is possible," answered Nigel.

" You are going hence, you say, instantly ; carry me with
you," said the unhappy woman. "By my own efforts I
shall never escape from this wilderness of guilt and misery."

" Alas ! what can I do for you ? " replied Nigel. " My
own way, and I must not deviate from it, leads me, in all
probability, to a dungeon. I might, indeed, transport you
from hence with me, if you could afterwards bestow yourself
with any friend."

" Friend ! " she exclaimed. " I have no friend ; they have
long since discarded us. A spectre arising from the dead
were more welcome than I should be at the doors of those
who have disclaimed us ; and, if they were willing to restore
their friendship to me now, I would despise it, because they
withdrew it from him — from him" — (here she underwent
strong but suppressed agitation, and then added firmly) —
" from him who lies yonder. I have no friend." Here she
paused ; and then suddenly, as if recollecting herself, added,
" I have no friend, but I have that will purchase many ; I
have that which will purchase both friends and avengers.
It is well thought of; I must not leave it for a prey to cheats

380 The Fortunes of Nigel.

and ruffians. Stranger, you must return to yonder room.
Pass through it boldly to his— that is, to the sleeping apart-
ment ; push the bedstead aside ; beneath each of the posts
is a brass plate, as if to support the weight, but it is that
upon the left, nearest to the wall, which must serve your
turn ; press the corner of the plate, and it will spring up and
show a keyhole, which this key will open. You will then lift
a concealed trap-door, and in a cavity of the floor you will
discover a small chest. Bring it hither ; it shall accompany
our journey, and it will be hard if the contents cannot pur-
chase me a place of refuge."

" But the door communicating with the kitchen has been
locked by these people," said Nigel.

"True, I had forgot; they had their reasons for that,
doubtless," answered she. "But the secret passage from
your apartment is open, and you may go that way."

Lord Glenvarloch took the key, and, as he lighted a lamp
to show him the way, she read in his countenance some
unwillingness to the task imposed.

" You fear ? " she said. " There is no cause ; the murderer
and his victim are both at rest. Take courage, I will go
with you myself; you cannot know the trick of the spring,
and the chest will be too heavy for you/*

" No fear, no fear," answered Lord Glenvarloch, ashamed
of the construction she put upon a momentary hesitation,
arising from a dislike to look upon what is horrible, often
connected with those high-wrought minds which are the last
to fear what is merely dangerous. " I will do your errand as
you desire ; but for you, you must not — cannot go yonder."

"I can, I will," she said. "I am composed, You shall
see that I am so." She took from the table a piece of un-
finished sewing-work, and, with steadiness and composure,
passed a silken thread into the eye of a fine needle. " Could
I have done that," she said, with a smile yet more ghastly

The Fortunes of Nigel. 381

than her previous look of fixed despair, " had not my heart
and hand been both steady ? "

She then led the way rapidly upstairs to Nigel's chamber,
and proceeded through the secret passage with the same
haste, as if she feared her resolution might have failed her
ere her purpose was executed. At the bottom of the stairs
she paused a moment, before entering the fatal apartment,
then hurried through with a rapid step to the sleeping
chamber beyond, followed closely by Lord Glenvarloch,
whose reluctance to approach the scene of butchery was
altogether lost in the anxiety which he felt on account of
the survivor of the tragedy.

Her first action was to pull aside the curtains of her
father's bed. The bed-clothes were thrown aside in con-
fusion, doubtless in the action of his starting from sleep to
oppose the entrance of the villains into the next apartment.
The hard mattress scarcely showed the slight pressure where
the emaciated body of the old miser had been deposited.
His daughter sank beside the bed, clasped her hands, and
prayed to Heaven in a short and affecting manner for support
in her affliction, and for vengeance on the villains who had
made her fatherless. A low-muttered and still more brief
petition recommended to Heaven the soul of the sufferer,
and invoked pardon for his sins, in virtue of the great
Christian atonement.

This duty of piety performed, she signed to Nigel to aid
her ; and having pushed aside the heavy bedstead, they saw
the brass plate which Martha had described. She pressed
the spring, and, at once, the plate starting up, showed the
keyhole, and a large iron ring used in lifting the trap-door,
which, when raised, displayed the strong-box or small chest,
she had mentioned, and which proved indeed so very weighty,
that it might perhaps have been scarcely possible for Nigel,
though a very strong man, to have raised it without assistance.

382 The Fortunes of Nigel

Having replaced everything as they had found it, Nigel,
with such help as his companion was able to afford, assumed
his load, and made a shift to carry it into the next apartment,
where lay the miserable owner, insensible to sounds and
circumstances, which, if anything could have broken his
long last slumber, would certainly have done so.

His unfortunate daughter went up to his body, and had
even the courage to remove the sheet which had been
decently disposed over it. She put her hand on the heart,
but there was no throb ; held a feather to the lips, but there
was no motion ; then kissed with deep reverence the starting
veins of the pale forehead, and the emaciated hand.

" I would you could hear me," she said. " Father ! I would
you could hear me swear that, if I now save what you most
valued on earth, it is only to assist me in obtaining vengeance g
for your death ! "

She replaced the covering, and, without a tear, a sigh, or
an additional word of any kind, renewed her efforts, until
they conveyed the strong-box betwixt them into Lord Glen-
varloch's sleeping apartment. " It must pass," she said, "as
part of your baggage. I will be in readiness so soon as the
waterman calls."

She retired ; and Lord Glenvarloch, who saw the hour of
their departure approach, tore down a part of the old hang-
ing to make a covering, which he corded upon the trunk,
lest the peculiarity of its shape, and the care with which it
was banded and counterbanded with bars of steel, might
afford suspicions respecting the treasure which it contained.
Having taken this measure of precaution, he changed the
rascally disguise which he had assumed on entering White-
friars into a suit becoming his quality ; and then, unable to
sleep, though exhausted with the events of the night, he
threw himself on his bed to await the summons of the water-
ixmn.

The Fortunes of Nigel 383

CHAPTER XXVI.

Give us good voyage, gentle stream — we stun not
Thy sober ear with sounds of revelry,
Wake not the slumbering echoes of thy banks
With voice of flute and horn — we do but seek
On the broad pathway of thy swelling bosom
To glide in silent safety.

The Double Bridal.

GREY, or rather yellow, light was beginning to twinkle through
the fogs of Whitefriars, when a low tap at the door of the
unhappy miser announced to Lord Glenvarloch the summons
of the boatman. He found at the door the man whom he
had seen the night before, with a companion.

" Come, come, master, let us get afloat," said one of them,
in a rough, impressive whisper, " time and tide wait for no
man."

"They shall not wait for me," said Lord Glenvarloch;
" but I have some things to carry with me."

"Ay, ay, no man will take a pair of oars now, Jack, unless
he means to load the wherry like a six-horse wagon. When
they don't want to shift the whole kit, they take a sculler,

and be d d to them. Come, come, where be your

rattle-traps ? "

One of the men was soon sufficiently loaded, in his own
estimation at least, with Lord Glenvarloch's mail and its
accompaniments, with which burden he began to trudge
towards the Temple Stairs. His comrade, who seemed the
principal, began to handle the trunk which contained the
miser's treasure, but pitched it down again in an instant,
declaring, with a great oath, that it was as reasonable to
expect a man to carry Paul's on his back. The daughter of
Trapbois, who had by this time joined them, muffled up
in a long dark hood and mantle, exclaimed to Lord Glen-

384 The Fortunes of Nigel

varloch, "Let them leave it if they will— let them leave
it all ; let us but escape from this horrible place."

We have mentioned elsewhere that Nigel was a very
athletic young man, and, impelled by a strong feeling of
compassion and indignation, he showed his bodily strength
singularly on this occasion, by seizing • on the ponderous
strong-box, and by means of the rope he had cast around
it, throwing it on his shoulders, and marching resolutely
forward under a weight which would have sunk to the earth
three young gallants, at the least, of our degenerate day.
The waterman followed him in amazement, calling out,
"Why, master, master, you might as well gie me t'other
end on't \ " and anon offered his assistance to support it in
some degree behind, which, after the first minute or two,
Nigel was fain to accept His strength was almost exhausted
when he reached the wherry, which was lying at the Temple
Stairs according to appointment; and when he pitched the
trunk into it, the weight sank the bow of the boat so low in
the water as well-nigh to overset it.

"We shall have as hard a fare of it," said the waterman to
his companion, " as if we were ferrying over an honest bank-
rupt with all his secreted goods. — Ho, ho! good woman,
what are you stepping in for ? our gunwale lies deep enough
in the water without live lumber to boot."

"This person comes with me," said Lord Glenvarloch;
"she is for the present under my protection."

" Come, come, master," rejoined the fellow, " that is out.
of my commission. You must not double my freight on me ;
she may go by land; and, as for protection, her face will
protect her from Berwick to the Land's End."

"You will not except at my doubling the loading, if I
double the fare ? " said Nigel, determined on no account to
relinquish the protection of this unhappy woman, for which
he had already devised some sort of plan, likely now to be

The Fortunes of Nigel. 385

baffled by the characteristic rudeness of the Thames water-
men.

" Ay, by G — , but I will except, though," said the fellow
with the green plush jacket. "I will overload my wherry
neither for love nor money ; I love my boat as well as my
wife, and a thought better."

"Nay, nay, comrade," said his mate, "that is speaking no
true water-language. For double fare we are bound to row
a witch in her eggshell, if she bid us ; and so pull away, Jack,
and let us have no more prating."

They got into the stream-way accordingly, and, although
heavily laden, began to move down the river with reasonable
speed.

The lighter vessels which passed, overtook, or crossed
them in their course, failed not to assail them with the
boisterous raillery wru'ch was then called water-wit; for
which the extreme plainness of Mistress Martha's features,
contrasted with the youth, handsome figure, and good looks
of Nigel, furnished the principal topics, while the circum-
stance of the boat being somewhat overloaded did not
escape their notice. They were hailed successively as a
grocer's wife upon a party of pleasure with her eldest
apprentice, as an old woman carrying her grandson to
school, and as a young, strapping Irishman conveying an
ancient maiden to Dr. Rigmarole's at Redriffe, who buckles
beggars for a tester and a dram of Geneva. All this abuse
was retorted in a similar strain of humour by Green-jacket
and his companion, who maintained the war of wit with the
same alacrity with which they were assailed.

Meanwhile, Lord Glenvarloch asked his desolate com-
panion if she had thought on any place where she could
remain in safety with her property. She confessed, in more
detail than formerly, that her father's character had left her
no friends ; and that, from the time he had betaken himself

13

386 The Fortunes of Nigel.

to Whitefriars, to escape certain legal consequences of his
eager pursuit of gain, she had lived a life of total seclusion,
not associating with the society which the place afforded,
and, by her residence there, as well as her father's parsimony,
effectually cut off from all other company. What she now
wished was, in the first place, to obtain the shelter of a
decent lodging, and the countenance of honest people, how-
ever low in life, until she should obtain legal advice as to
the mode of obtaining justice on her father's murderer. She
had no hesitation to charge the guilt upon Colepepper (com-
monly called Peppercull), whom she knew to be as capable
of any act of treacherous cruelty as he was cowardly where
actual manhood was required. He had been strongly sus-
pected of two robberies before, one of which was coupled
with an atrocious murder. He had, she intimated, made
pretensions to her hand as the easiest and safest way of
obtaining possession of her father's wealth; and, on her
refusing his addresses, if they could be termed so, in the
most positive terms, he had thrown out such obscure hints
of vengeance, as, joined with some imperfect assaults upon
the house, had kept her in frequent alarm, both on her
father's account and her own.

Nigel, but that his feeling of respectful delicacy to the un-
fortunate woman forbade him to do so, could here have com-
municated a circumstance corroborative of her suspicions,
which had already occurred to his own mind. He recollected
the hint that old Hildebrod threw forth on the preceding
night, that some communication betwixt himself and Cole-
pepper had hastened the catastrophe. As this communica-
tion related to the plan which Hildebrod had been pleased
to form, of promoting a marriage betwixt Nigel himself and
the rich heiress of Trapbois, the fear of losing an opportunity
not to be regained, together with the mean malignity of a
low-bred ruffian disappointed in a favourite scheme, was

The Fortunes of Nigel. 387

most likely to instigate the bravo to the deed of violence
which had been committed. The reflection that his own
name was in some degree implicated *with the causes of this
horrid tragedy doubled Lord Glenvarloch's anxiety in be-
half of the victim whom he had rescued, while at the same
time he formed the tacit resolution that, so soon as his own
affairs were put upon some footing, he would contribute all
in his power towards the investigation of this bloody affair.

After ascertaining from his companion that she could form
no better plan of her own, he recommended to her to take
up her lodging for the time at the house of his old landlord,
Christie the ship-chandler, at Paul's Wharf, describing the
decency and honesty of that worthy couple, and expressing
his hopes that they would receive her into their own house,
or recommend her at least to that of some person for whom
they would be responsible, until she should have time to
enter upon other arrangements for herself.

The poor woman received advice so grateful to her in her
desolate condition with an expression of thanks, brief indeed,
but deeper than anything he had yet extracted from the
austerity of her natural disposition.

Lord Glenvarloch then proceeded to inform Martha that
certain reasons connected with his personal safety called
him immediately to Greenwich, and, therefore, it would not
be in his power to accompany her to Christie's house, which
he would otherwise have done with pleasure; but, tear-
ing a leaf from his tablet, he wrote on it a few lines, ad-
dressed to his landlord, as a man of honesty and humanity,
in which he described the bearer as a person who stood in
singular necessity of temporary protection and good advice,
for which her circumstances enabled her to make ample
acknowledgment. He therefore requested John Christie,
as his old and good friend, to afford her the shelter of his
roof for a short time ; or, if that might not be consistent

388 The Fortunes of Nigel.

with his convenience, at least to direct her to a proper
lodging; and finally, he imposed on him the additional,
and somewhat more 'difficult commission, to recommend
her to the counsel and services of an honest, at least a
reputable and skilful attorney, for the transacting some
law business of importance. This note he subscribed with
his real name, and, delivering it to his protegee, who received
it with another deeply-uttered " I thank you," which spoke
the sterling feelings of her gratitude better than a thousand
combined phrases, he commanded the watermen to pull
in for Paul's Wharf, which they were now approaching.

" We have not time," said Green-jacket ; " we cannot be
stopping every instant."

But, upon Nigel insisting upon his commands being
obeyed, and adding that it was for the purpose of putting
the lady ashore, the waterman declared he would rather
have her room than her company, and put the wherry
alongside of the wharf accordingly. Here two of the por-
ters who ply in such places were easily induced to under-
take the charge of the ponderous strong-box, and at the
same time to guide the owner to the well-known mansion
of John Christie, with whom all who lived in that neigh-
bourhood were perfectly acquainted.

The boat, much lightened of its load, went down the
Thames at a rate increased in proportion. But we must
forbear to pursue her in her voyage for a few minutes, since
we have previously to mention the issue of Lord Glenvar-
loch's recommendation.

Mistress Martha Trapbois reached the shop in perfect
safety, and was about to enter it, when a sickening sense of
the uncertainty of her situation, and of the singularly painful
task of telling her story, came over her so strongly that
she paused a moment at the very threshold of her proposed
place of refuge, to think in what manner she could best

The Fortunes of Nigel. 389

second the recommendation of the friend whom Providence
had raised up to her. Had she possessed that knowledge
of the world from which her habits of life had completely
excluded her, she might have known that the large sum
of money which she brought along with her might, judici-
ously managed, have been a passport to her into the man-
sions of nobles and the palaces of princes. But, however
conscious of its general power, which assumes so many forms
and complexions, she was so inexperienced as to be most
unnecessarily afraid that the means by which the wealth had
been acquired might exclude its inheritrix from shelter even
in the house of a humble tradesman.

While she thus delayed, a more reasonable cause for hesi-
tation arose, in a considerable noise and altercation within
the house, which grew louder and louder as the disputants
issued forth upon the street or lane before the door.

The first who entered upon the scene was a tall, raw-
boned, hard-favoured man, who stalked out of the shop
hastily, with a gait like that of a Spaniard in a passion, who,
disdaining to add speed to his locomotion by running, only
condescends, in the utmost extremity of his angry haste, to
add length to his stride. He faced about, so soon as he was
out of the house, upon his pursuer, a decent-looking, elderly
plain tradesman — no other than John Christie himself, the
owner of the shop and tenement, by whom he seemed to be
followed, and who was in a state of agitation more than is
usually expressed by such a person.

" I'll hear no more on't," said the person who first appeared
on the scene. "Sir, I will hear no more on it. Besides
being a most false and impudent figment, as I can testify,
it is scandaalum magnaatum^ sir — scandaalum magnaatum"
he reiterated with a broad accentuation of the first vowel,
well known in the colleges of Edinburgh and Glasgow, which
we can only express in print by doubling the said first of

3QO The Fortunes of Nigel.

letters and of vowels, and which would have cheered the
cockles of the reigning monarch had he been within hearing,
as he was a severer stickler for what he deemed the genuine
pronunciation of the Roman tongue than for any of the royal
prerogatives, for which he was at times disposed to insist so
strenuously in his speeches to Parliament.

" I care not an ounce of rotten cheese," said John Christie
in reply, " what you call it, but it is TRUE ; and I am a free
Englishman, and have right to speak the truth in my own
concerns ; and your master is little better than a villain, and
you no more than a swaggering coxcomb, whose head I will
presently break, as I have known it well broken before on
lighter occasion."

And so saying, he flourished the paring-shovel which
usually made clean the steps of his little shop, and which
he had caught up as the readiest weapon of working his
foeman damage, and advanced therewith upon him. The
cautious Scot (for such our readers must have already pro-
nounced him, from his language and pedantry) drew back
as the enraged ship-chandler approached, but in a surly
manner, and bearing his hand on his sword-hilt rather in
the act of one who was losing habitual forbearance and
caution of deportment than as alarmed by the attack of an
antagonist inferior to himself in youth, strength, and weapons.

" Bide back," he said, " Maister Christie— I say bide back,
and consult your safety, man. I have evited striking you
in your ain house under muckle provocation, because I am
ignorant how the laws here may pronounce respecting bur-
glary and hame-sucken, and such matters; and, besides, I
would not willingly hurt ye, man, e'en on the causeway, that
is free to us baith, because I mind your kindness of lang
syne, and partly consider ye as a poor deceived creature. But
deil d— n me, sir, and I am not wont to swear, but if you
touch my Scotch shouther with that shule of yours, I will

The Fortunes of Nigel. 391

make six inches of my Andrew Ferrara deevilish intimate
with your guts, neighbour."

And therewithal, though still retreating from the brandished
shovel, he made one-third of the basket-hilted broadsword
which he wore visible from the sheath. The wrath of John
Christie was abated, either by his natural temperance of dis-
position, or perhaps in part by the glimmer of cold steel,
which flashed on him from his adversary's last action.

"I would do well to cry clubs on thee, and have thee
ducked at the wharf," he said, grounding his shovel, how-
ever, at the same time, " for a paltry swaggerer, that would
draw thy bit of iron there on an honest citizen before his
own door ; but get thee gone, and reckon on a salt eel for
thy supper, if thou shouldst ever come near my house again.
I wish it had been at the bottom of Thames when it first gave
the use of its roof to smooth-faced, oily-tongued, double-
minded Scots thieves ! "

" It's an ill bird that fouls its own nest," replied his adver-
sary, not perhaps the less bold that he saw matters were
taking the turn of a pacific debate ; " and a pity it is that a
kindly Scot should ever have married in foreign parts, and
given life to a purse-proud, pudding-headed, fat-gutted, lean-
brained Southron, e'en such as you, Maister Christie. But
fare ye weel — fare ye weel, for ever and a day ; and if you
quarrel wi' a Scot again, man, say as mickle ill o' himsel' as
ye like, but say nane of his patron or of his countrymen, or
it will scarce be your flat cap that will keep your lang lugs
from the sharp abridgment of a Highland whinger, man."

" And if you continue your insolence to me before my own
door, were it but two minutes longer," retorted John Christie,
"I will call the constable, and make your Scottish ankles
acquainted with an English pair of stocks ! "

So saying, he turned to retire into his shop with some
show of victory ; for his enemy, whatever might be his innate

392 The Fortunes of Nigel.

valour, manifested no desire to drive matters to extremity —
conscious, perhaps, that whatever advantage he might gain in
single combat with John Christie would be more than over-
balanced by incurring an affair with the constituted authori-
ties of Old England, not at that time apt to be particularly
favourable to their new fellow-subjects in the various succes-
sive broils which were then constantly taking place between
the individuals of two proud nations, who still retained a
stronger sense of their national animosity during centuries
than of their late union for a few years under the government
of the same prince.

Mistress Martha Trapbois had dwelt too long in Alsatia to
be either surprised or terrified at the altercation she had wit-
nessed. Indeed she only wondered that the debate did not
end in some of those acts of violence by which they were
usually terminated in the Sanctuary. As the disputants
separated from each other, she, who had no idea that the
cause of the quarrel was more deeply rooted than in the
daily scenes of the same nature which she had , heard of or
witnessed, did not hesitate to stop Master Christie in his
return to his shop, and present to him the letter which Lord
Glenvarloch had given to her. Had she been better ac-
quainted with life and its business, she would certainly have
waited for a more temperate moment ; and she had reason
to repent of her precipitation, when, without saying a single
word, or taking the trouble to gather more of the information
contained in the letter than was expressed in the subscrip-
tion, the incensed ship-chandler threw it on the ground,
trampled it in high disdain, and without addressing a single
word to the bearer, except, indeed, something much more
like a hearty curse than was perfectly consistent with his own
grave appearance, he retired into his shop and shut the hatch-
door.

It was with the most inexpressible anguish that the deso-

The Fortunes of Nigel. 393

late, friendless, and unhappy female thus beheld her sole
hope of succour, countenance, and protection vanish at once,
without being able to conceive a reason; for, to do her
justice, the idea that her friend, whom she knew by the
name of Nigel Grahame, had imposed on her, a solution
which might readily have occurred to many in her situa-
tion, never once entered her mind. Although it was not her
temper easily to bend her mind to entreaty, she could not
help exclaiming after the ireful and retreating ship-chandler,
" Good master, hear me but a moment, for mercy's sake, for
honesty's sake ! "

" Mercy and honesty from him, mistress ! " said the Scot,
who, though he essayed not to interrupt the retreat of his
antagonist, still kept stout possession of the field of action.
" Ye might as weel expect brandy from beanstalks, or milk
from a craig of blue whunstane. The man is mad, horn mad,
to boot."

" I must have mistaken the person to whom the letter was
addressed, then," and as she spoke, Mistress Martha Trap-
bois was in the act of stooping to lift the paper which had
been so uncourteously received. Her companion, with natu-
ral civility, anticipated her purpose ; but, what was not quite
so much in etiquette, he took a sly glance at it as he was
about to hand it to her, and his eye having caught the
subscription, he said with surprise, " Glenvarloch — Nigel
Olifaunt of Glenvarloch ! Do you know the Lord Glenvar-
loch, mistress?"

" I know not of whom you speak," said Mistress Martha
peevishly. " I had that paper from one Master Nigel
Gram."

" Nigel Grahame ! — umph — oh, ay, very true — I had for-
got," said the Scotsman. "A tall, well-set young man,
about my height ; bright blue eyes like a hawk's ; a pleasant
speech, something leaning to the kindly north-country ac-

394 The Fortunes of Nigel.

centuation, but not much, in respect of his having been
resident abroad ? "

" All this is true, and what of it all ? " said the daughter
of the miser.

" Hair of my complexion ? "

" Yours is red," replied she.

" I pray you peace," said the Scotsman. " I was going
to say — of my complexion, but with a deeper shade of the
chestnut. Weel, mistress, if I have guessed the man aright,
he is one with whom I am, and have been, intimate and
familiar — nay, I may truly say I have done him much service
in my time, and may live to do him more. I had indeed a
sincere good-will for him, and I doubt he has been much at
a loss since we parted; but the fault is not mine. Where-
fore, as this letter will not avail you with him to whom it is
directed, you may believe that Heaven hath sent it to me,
who have a special regard for the writer. I have, besides, as
much mercy and honesty within me as a man can weel make
his bread with, and am willing to aid any distressed creature
that is my friend's friend with my counsel, and otherwise,
so that I am not put to much charges, being in a strange
country, like a poor lamb that has wandered from its ain

native hirsel, and leaves a tait of its woo' in every d d

Southron bramble that comes across it." While he spoke
thus he read the contents of the letter, without waiting for
permission, and then continued, "And so this is all that
you are wanting, my dove ?— nothing more than safe and
honourable lodging and sustenance upon your own charges?"

"Nothing more," said she. "If you are a man and a
Christian, you will help me to what I need so much."

"A man I am," replied the formal Caledonian, "e'en sic
as ye see me ; and a Christian I may call myself, though
unworthy, and though I have heard little pure doctrine since
I came hither—a' polluted with men's devices— ahem. Weel,

The Fortunes of Nigel. 395

and if ye be an honest woman " (here he peeped under her
muffler), "as an honest woman ye seem likely to be —
though, let me tell you, they are a kind of cattle not so rife
in the streets of this city as I would desire them — I was
almost strangled with my own band by twa rampallians,
wha wanted yestreen, nae further gane, to harle me into a
change-house. However, if ye be a decent, honest woman "
(here he took another peep at features certainly bearing no
beauty which could infer suspicion), " as decent and honest
ye seem to be, why, I will advise you to a decent house,
where you will get douce, quiet entertainment on reasonable
terms, and the occasional benefit of my own counsel and
direction — that is, from time to time, as my other avocations
may permit."

" May I venture to accept of such an offer from a stranger ?';
said Martha, with natural hesitation.

" Troth, I see nothing to hinder you, mistress," replied
the bonny Scot ; " ye can but see the place, and do after as
ye think best. Besides, we are nae such strangers neither ;
for I know your friend, and you, it's like, know mine, whilk
knowledge on either hand is a medium of communication
between us, even as the middle of the string connecteth its
twa ends or extremities. But I will enlarge on this further
as we pass along, gin ye list to bid your twa lazy loons of
porters there lift up your little kist between them, whilk ae
true Scotsman might carry under his arm. Let me tell you,
mistress, ye will soon make a toom pock-end of it in Lon'on,
if you hire twa knaves to do the work of ane.¥

So saying, he led the way, followed by Mistress Martha
Trapbois, whose singular destiny, though it had heaped
her with wealth, had left her for the moment no wiser coun-
sellor or more distinguished protector than honest Richie
Moniplies, a discarded serving-man.

396 The Fortunes of Nigel.

CHAPTER XXVII.

This way lie safety and a sure retreat ;

Yonder lie danger, shame, and punishment.

Most welcome danger then — nay, let me say,

Though spoke with swelling heart, welcome e'en shame,

And welcome punishment : for, call me guilty,

I do but pay the tax that's due to justice ;

And call me guiltless, then that punishment

Is shame to those alone who do inflict it.

The Tribunal.

WE left Lord Glenvarloch, to whose fortunes our story chiefly
attaches itself, gliding swiftly down the Thames. He was
not, as the reader may have observed, very affable in his
disposition, or apt to enter into conversation with those into
whose company he was casually thrown. This was indeed
an error in his conduct, arising less from pride, though of
that feeling we do not pretend to exculpate him, than from
a sort of bashful reluctance to mix in the conversation of
those with whom he was not familiar. It is a fault only to
be cured by experience and knowledge of the world, which
soon teaches every sensible and acute person the important
lesson that amusement, and, what is of more consequence,
that information and increase of knowledge, are to be derived
from the conversation of every individual whatsoever with
whom he is thrown into a natural train of communication.
For ourselves, we can assure the reader — and perhaps if we
have ever been able to afford him amusement, it is owing in
a great degree to this cause — that we never found ourselves
in company with the stupidest of all possible companions in
a post-chaise, or with the most arrant cumber-corner that
ever occupied a place in the mail-coach, without finding that
in the course of our conversation with him we had some
ideas suggested to us, either grave or gay, or some informa-
tion communicated in the course of our journey, which we

The Fortunes of Nigel. 397

should have regretted not to have learned, and which we
should be sorry to have immediately forgotten. But Nigel
was somewhat immured within the Bastile of his rank, as
some philosopher (Tom Paine, we think) has happily enough
expressed that sort of shyness which men of dignified situa-
tions are apt to be beset with, rather from not exactly know-
ing how far or with whom they ought to be familiar than from
any real touch of aristocratic pride. Besides, the immediate
pressure of our adventurer's own affairs was such as exclu-
sively to engross his attention.

He sat, therefore, wrapped in his cloak, in the stern of the
boat, with his mind entirely bent upon the probable issue of
the interview with his Sovereign which it was his purpose to
seek ; for which abstraction of mind he may be fully justified,
although perhaps, by questioning the watermen who were
transporting him down the river, he might have discovered
matters of high concernment to him.

At any rate Nigel remained silent till the wherry ap-
proached the town of Greenwich, when he commanded
the men to put in for the nearest landing-place, as it was
his purpose to go ashore there, and dismiss them from
further attendance.

"That is not possible," said the fellow with the green
jacket, who, as we have already said, seemed to take on
himself the charge of pilotage. "We must go," he contin-
ued, " to Gravesend, where a Scottish vessel, which dropped
down the river last tide for the very purpose, lies with her
anchor apeak, waiting to carry you to your own dear- northern
country. Your hammock is slung, and all is ready for you ;
and you talk of going ashore at Greenwich as seriously as if
such a thing were possible ! "

" I see no impossibility," said Nigel, " in your landing me
where I desire to be landed ; but very little possibility of
your carrying me anywhere I am not desirous of going."

398 The Fortunes of Nigel.

" Why, whether do you manage the wherry or we, master ? "
asked Green-jacket, in a tone betwixt jest and earnest. " I
take it she will go the way we row her."

" Ay," retorted Nigel ; " but I take it you will row her on
the course I direct you, otherwise your chance of payment is
but a poor one."

" Suppose we are content to risk that," said the undaunted
waterman. " I wish to know how you, who talk so big — I
mean no offence, master, but you do talk big — would help
yourself in such a case ? "

"Simply thus," answered Lord Glenvarloch. "You saw
me, an hour since, bring down to the boat a trunk that
neither of you could lift. If we are to contest the destina-
tion of our voyage, the same strength which tossed that chest
into the wherry will suffice to fling you out of it ; wherefore,
before we begin to scuffle, I pray you to remember that
whither I would go there I will oblige you to carry me."

"Gramercy for your kindness," said Green-jacket; "and
now mark me in return. My comrade and I are two men,
and you, were you as stout as George-a-Green, can pass but
for one ; and two, you will allow, are more than a match for
one. You mistake in your reckoning, my friend."

"It is you who mistake," answered Nigel, who began to
grow warm ; "it is I who am three to two, sirrah. I carry
two men's lives at my girdle."

So saying, he opened his cloak and showed the two pistols
which he had disposed at his girdle. Green-jacket was un-
moved at the display.

"I have got," said he, "a pair of barkers that will match
yours," and he showed that he also was armed with pistols ;
"so you may begin as soon as you list."

"Then," said Lord Glenvarloch, drawing forth and cocking
a pistol, " the sooner the better. Take notice, I hold you as
a ruffian, who have declared you will put force on my person ;

The Fortunes of Nigel 399

and that I will shoot you through the head if you do not
instantly put me ashore at Greenwich."

The other waterman, alarmed at Nigel's gesture, lay upon
his oar ; but Green-jacket replied coolly, " Look you, master,
I should not care a tester to venture a life with you on this
matter ; but the truth is, I am employed to do you good, and
not to do you harm."

" By whom are you employed ? " said the Lord Glenvar-
loch ; " or who dare concern themselves in me or my affairs
without my authority ? "

" As to that," answered the waterman, in the same tone of
indifference, " I shall not show my commission. For myself,
I care not, as I said, whether you land at Greenwich to get
yourself hanged, or go down to get aboard the Royal Thistle^
to make your escape to your own country — you will be equally
out of my reach either way. But it is fair to put the choice
before you."

"My choice is made," said Nigel. "I have told you
thrice already it is my pleasure to be landed at Green-
wich."

" Write it on a piece of paper," said the waterman, " that
such is your positive will. I must have something to show
to my employers that the transgression of their orders lies
with yourself, not with me."

" I choose to hold this trinket in my hand for the present,"
said Nigel, showing his pistol, "and will write you the acquit-
tance when I go ashore."

" I would not go ashore with you for a hundred pieces,"
said the waterman. " 111 luck has ever attended you, except
in small gaming ; do me fair justice, and give me the testi-
mony I desire. If you are afraid of foul play while you write
it, you may hold my pistols if you will." He offered the
weapons to Nigel accordingly, who, while they were under his
control, and all possibility of his being taken at advantage

400 The Fortunes of Nigel.

was excluded, no longer hesitated to give the waterman an
acknowledgment, in the following terms :—

" Jack in the Green, with his mate, belonging to the wherry
called the Jolly Raven^ have done their duty faithfully by
me, landing me at Greenwich by my express command, and
being themselves willing and desirous to carry me on board
the Royal Thistle, presently lying at Gravesend." Having
finished this acknowledgment, which he signed with the
letters N. O. G., as indicating his name and title, he again
requested to know of the waterman, to whom he delivered it,
the name of his employers.

" Sir," replied Jack in the Green, " I have respected your
secret ; do not you seek to pry into mine. It would do you
no good to know for whom I am taking this present trouble ;
and, to be brief, you shall not know it — and if you will fight
in the quarrel, as you said even now, the sooner we begin the
better. Only this you may be cocksure of, that we designed you
no harm ; and that if you fall into any, it will be of your own
wilful seeking." As he spoke they approached the landing-
place, where Nigel instantly jumped ashore. The waterman
placed his small mail-trunk on the stairs, observing that there
were plenty of spare hands about to carry it where he would.

" We part friends, I hope, my lads," said the young noble-
man, offering at the same time a piece of money more than
double the usual fare to the boatmen.

"We part as we met," answered Green-jacket; "and for
your money, I am paid sufficiently with this bit of paper.
Only, if you owe me any love for the cast I have given you,
I pray you not to dive so deep into the pockets of the next
apprentice that you find fool enough to play the cavalier. —
And you, you greedy swine," said he to his companion, who
still had a longing eye fixed on the money which Nigel con-
tinued to offer, "push off, or if I take a stretcher in hand, I'll
break the knave's pate of thee." The fellow pushed off, as

The Fortunes of Nigel. 401

he was commanded, but still could not help muttering, " This
was entirely out of waterman's rules."

Gletivarloch, though without the devotion of the " injured
Thalei" of the moralist to the memory of that great princess,
had now attained

" The hallow'd soil which gave Eliza birth,"

i . " ..>\

whose halls were now less respectably occupied by her suc-
cessor. It was not, as has been well shown by a late author,
that James was void either of parts or of good intentions ;
and his predecessor was at least as arbitrary in effect as he
was in theory. But, while Elizabeth possessed a sternness of
masculine sense and determination which rendered even her
weaknesses, some of which were in themselves sufficiently
ridiculous, in a certain degree respectable, James, on the
other hand, was so utterly devoid of " firm resolve," so well
called by the Scottish bard,

" The stalk of carle-hemp in man,"

that even his virtues and his good meaning became laugh-
able, from the whimsical uncertainty of his conduct ; so that
the wisest things he ever said, and the best actions he ever
did, were often touched with a strain of the ludicrous and
fidgety character of the man. Accordingly, though at dif-
ferent periods of his reign he contrived to acquire with his
people a certain degree of temporary popularity, it never long
outlived the occasion which produced it ; so true it is that
the mass of mankind will respect a monarch stained with
actual guilt more than one whose foibles render him only
ridiculous.

To return from this digression, Lord Glenvarloch soon
received, as Green-jacket had assured him, the offer of an
idle bargeman to transport his baggage where he listed ; but
that where was a question of momentary doubt. At length,

402 The Fortunes of Nigel

recollecting the necessity that his hair and beard should be
properly arranged before he attempted to enter the royal
presence, and desirous, at the same time, of obtaining some
information of the motions of the Sovereign and of the
Court, he desired to be guided to the next barber's shop,
which we have already mentioned as the place where news
of every kind circled and centred. He was speedily shown
the way to such an emporium of intelligence, and soon found
he was likely to hear all he desired to know, and much more,
while his head was subjected to the art of a nimble tonsor,
the glibness of whose tongue kept pace with the nimbleness
of his fingers, while he ran on, without stint or stop, in the
following excursive manner : —

"The Court here, master ?— yes, master — much to the
advantage of trade — good custom stirring. His Majesty
loves Greenwich — hunts every morning in the Park — all
decent persons admitted that have the entries of the Palace
— no rabble — frightened the King's horse with their halloo-
ing, the uncombed slaves. — Yes, sir, the beard more peaked ?
Yes, master, so it is worn. I know the last cut — dress sev-
eral of the courtiers — one valet of the chamber, two pages of
the body, the clerk of the kitchen, three running footmen,
two dog-boys, and an honourable Scottish knight, Sir Munko
Malgrowler."

" Malagrowther, I suppose ? " said Nigel, thrusting in his
conjectural emendation, with infinite difficulty, betwixt two
clauses in the barber's text

" Yes, sir — Malcrowder, sir, as you say, sir — hard names
the Scots have, sir, for an English mouth. Sir Munko is a
handsome person, sir — perhaps you know him — bating the
loss of his ringers, and the lameness of his leg, and the length
of his chin. Sir, it takes me one minute twelve seconds
more time to trim that chin of his, than any chin that I know
in the town of Greenwich, sir. But he is a very comely

The Fortunes of Nigel 403

gentleman, for all that ; and a pleasant — a very pleasant
gentleman, sir — and a good-humoured, saving that he is so
deaf he can never hear good of any one, and so wise that he
can never believe it ; but he is a very good-natured gentle-
man for all that, except when one speaks too low, or when a
hair turns awry. — Did I graze you, sir? We shall put it to
rights in a moment, with one drop of styptic — my styptic, or
rather my wife's, sir. She makes the water herself. One
drop of the styptic, sir, and a bit of black taffeta patch, just
big enough to be the saddle to a flea, sir. — Yes, sir, rather
improves than otherwise. The Prince had a patch the other
day, and so had the Duke ; and, if you will believe me, there
are seventeen yards three-quarters of black taffeta already cut
into patches for the courtiers."

" But Sir Mungo Malagrowther ? " again interjected Nigel,
with difficulty.

" Ay, ay, sir. Sir Munko, as you say ; a pleasant, good-
humoured gentleman as ever — To be spoken with, did you
say ? Oh ay, easily to be spoken withal — that is, as easily as
his infirmity will permit. He will presently, unless some one
hath asked him forth to breakfast, be taking his bone of
broiled beef at my neighbour Ned Kilderkin's yonder, removed
from over the way. Ned keeps an eating-house, sir, famous
for pork-griskins ; but Sir Munko cannot abide pork, no
more than the King's most Sacred Majesty,* nor my Lord
Duke of Lennox, nor Lord Dalgarno — nay, I am sure, sir, if
I touched you this time, it was your fault, not mine. But a
single drop of the styptic, another little patch that would
make a doublet for a flea, just under the left moustache ; it

* The Scots, till within the last generation, disliked swine's flesh as
an article of food as much as the Highlanders do at present. It was
remarked" as extraordinary rapacity, when the Border depredators con-
descended to make prey of the accursed race whom the fiend made his
habitation. Ben Jonson, in drawing James's character, says, he loved
"no part of a swine."

404 The Fortunes of Nigel.

will become you when you smile, sir, as well as a dimple;
and if you would salute your fair mistress — but I beg pardon,
you are a grave gentleman, very grave to be so young.—
Hope I have given no offence ; it is my duty to entertain
customers — my duty, sir, and my pleasure. — Sir Munko
Malcrowther? — yes, sir, I daresay he is at this moment in
Ned's eating-house, for few folks ask him out now Lord
Huntinglen is gone to London. You will get touched ag^in
— yes, sir — there you shall find him with his can of single
ale stirred with a sprig of rosemary, for he never drinks
strong potations, sir, unless to oblige Lord Huntinglen — take
heed, sir — or any other person who asks him forth to break-
fast— but single beer he always drinks at Ned's, with his
broiled bone of beef or mutton — or, it may be, lamb at the
season — but not pork, though Ned is famous for his griskins,
But the Scots never eat pork — strange that ! some folk think
they are a sort of Jews. There is a resemblance, sir. Do
you not think so? Then they call our most gracious
Sovereign the second Solomon, and Solomon, you know,
was King of the Jews ; so the thing bears a face, you see.
I believe, sir, you will find yourself trimmed now to your
content. I will be judged by the fair mistress of your affec-
tions. Crave pardon — no offence, I trust. Pray consult
the glass— one touch of the crisping-tongs, to reduce this
straggler.— Thank your munificence, sir— hope your custom
while you stay in Greenwich. Would you have a tune on
that ghittern, to put your temper in concord for the day ? —
Twang, twang— twang, twang, dillo. Something out of tune,
sir—too many hands to touch it — we cannot keep these
things like artists. Let me help you with your cloak, sir-
yes, sir.— You would not play yourself, sir, would you?—
Way to Sir Munko's eating-house? Yes, sir; but it is Ned's
eating-house, not Sir Munko's. The knight, to be sure, eats
there, and that makes it his eating-house in some sense, sir—

The Fortunes of Nigel. 405

ha, ha ! Yonder it is, removed from over the way — new
whitewashed posts and red lattice — fat man in his doublet
at the door — Ned himself, sir — worth a thousand pounds,
they say — better singeing pigs' faces than trimming courtiers
—but ours is the less mechanical vocation. Farewell, sir;
hope your custom." So saying, he at length permitted Nigel
to depart, whose ears, so long tormented with his continual
babble, tingled when it had ceased, as if a bell had been
rung close to them for the same space of time.

Upon his arrival at the eating-house, where he proposed to
meet with Sir Mungo Malagrowther, from whom, in despair
of better advice, he trusted to receive some information as
to the best mode of introducing himself into the royal
presence, Lord Glenvarloch found in the host with whom he
communed the consequential taciturnity of an Englishman
well to pass in the world. Ned Kilderkin spoke as a banker
writes, only touching the needful. Being asked if Sir Mungo
Malagrowther was there, he replied, No. Being interro-
gated whether he was expected, he said, Yes. And being
again required to say when he was expected, he answered,
Presently. As Lord Glenvarloch next inquired whether he
himself could have any breakfast, the landlord wasted not
even a syllable in reply, but, ushering him into a neat room
where there were several tables, he placed one of them be-
fore an arm-chair, and beckoning Lord Glenvarloch to take
possession, he set before him, in a very few minutes, a sub-
stantial repast of roast-beef, together with a foaming tankard,
to which refreshment the keen air of the river disposed
him, notwithstanding his mental embarrassments, to do
much honour.

While Nigel was thus engaged in discussing his commons,
but raising his head at the same time whenever he heard
the door of the apartment open, eagerly desiring the arrival
of Sir Mungo Malagrowther (an event which had seldom

406 The Fortunes of Nigel.

been expected by any one with so much anxious interest),
a personage, as it seemed, of at least equal importance with
the knight entered into the apartment, and began to hold
earnest colloquy with the publican, who thought proper to
carry on the conference on his side unbonneted. This im-
portant gentleman's occupation might be guessed from his
dress. A milk-white jerkin and hose of white kersey, a
white apron twisted around his body in the manner of a sash,
in which, instead of a warlike dagger, was stuck a long-
bladed knife hiked with buck's-horn, a white nightcap on
his head, under which his hair was neatly tucked, sufficiently
portrayed him as one of those priests of Comus whom the
vulgar call cooks; and the air with which he rated the
publican for having neglected to send some provisions to
the Palace, showed that he ministered to royalty itself.

"This will never answer," he said, "Master Kilderkin.
The King twice asked for sweetbreads and fricasseed cox-
combs, which are a favourite dish of his most Sacred Majesty,
and they were not to be had, because Master Kilderkin had
not supplied them to the clerk of the kitchen, as by bargain
bound." Here Kilderkin made some apology, brief, accord-
ing to his own nature, and muttered in a lowly tone after the
fashion of all who find themselves in a scrape. His superior
replied, in a lofty strain of voice, " Do not tell me of the
carrier and his wain, and of the hen-coops coming from
Norfolk with the poultry. A loyal man would have sent an
express— he would have gone upon his stumps, like Wid-
drmgton. What if the King had lost his appetite, faster
Kilderkin? What if his most Sacred Majesty had lost his
dinner? O Master Kilderkin, if you had but the just sense
of the dignity of our profession, which is told of by the witty
African slave— for so the King's most excellent Majesty
designates him-Publius Terentius, Tanquam in speculum-
tn patinas inspicere jubeo. "

The Fortunes of Nigel. 407

" You are learned, Master Linklater," replied the English
publican, compelling, as it were with difficulty, his mouth to
utter three or four words consecutively.

" A poor smatterer," said Master Linklater ; " but it would
be a shame to us, who are his most excellent Majesty's
countrymen, not in some sort to have cherished those arts
wherewith he is so deeply imbued. Regis ad exemplar^
Master Kilderkin, totus componitur orbis — which is as much
as to say, as the King quotes the cook learns. In brief,
Master Kilderkin, having had the luck to be bred where
humanities may be had at the matter of an English five
groats by the quarter, I, like others, have acquired — ahem—

hem! " Here, the speaker's eye having fallen upon

Lord Glenvarloch, he suddenly stopped in his learned ha-
rangue, with such symptoms of embarrassment as induced
Ned Kilderkin to stretch his taciturnity so far as not -only to
ask him what he ailed, but whether he would take anything.

" Ail nothing," replied the learned rival of the philosophical
Syrus— " nothing ; and yet I do feel a little giddy. I could
taste a glass of your dame's aqua mirabilis?

" I will fetch it," said Ned, giving a nod ; and his back
was no sooner turned than the cook walked near the table
where Lord Glenvarloch was seated, and regarding him with
a look of significance, where more was meant than met the
ear, said, "You are a stranger in Greenwich, sir. I advise
you to take the opportunity to step into the Park. The west-
ern wicket was ajar when I came hither ; I think it will be
locked presently, so you had better make the best of your way
— that is, if you have any curiosity. The venison are coming
into season just now, sir, and there is a pleasure in looking
at a hart of grease. I always think, when they are bounding
so blithely past, what a pleasure it would be to broach their
plump haunches on a spit, and to embattle their breasts in a
noble fortification of puff-paste, with plenty of black pepper."

408 The Fortunes of NigeL

He said no more, as Kilderkin re-entered with the cordial,
but edged off from Nigel without waiting any reply, only
repeating the same look of intelligence with which he had
accosted him.

Nothing makes men's wits so alert as personal danger.
Nigel took the first opportunity which his host's attention to
the yeoman of the royal kitchen permitted to discharge his
reckoning, and readily obtained a direction to the wicket in
question. He found it upon the latch, as he had been
taught to expect, and perceived that it admitted him to a
narrow footpath, which traversed a close and tangled thicket,
designed for the cover of the does and the young fawns.
Here he conjectured it would be proper to wait ; nor had he
been stationary above five minutes, when the cook, scalded
as much with heat of motion as ever he had been at his huge
fireplace, arrived almost breathless, and with his pass-key
hastily locked the wicket behind him.

Ere Lord Glenvarloch had time to speculate upon this
action, the man approached with anxiety, and said, " Good
Lord, my Lord Glenvarloch ! why will you endanger yourself
thus?"

" You know me then, my friend ? " said Nigel.

" Not much of that, my lord ; but I know your honour's
noble house well. My name is Laurie Linklater, my lord."

" Linklater ! " repeated Nigel. " I should recollect "

"Under your lordship's favour," he continued, "I was
'prentice, my lord, to old Mungo Moniplies, the flesher at
the wanton West Port of Edinburgh, which I wish I saw
again before I died. And, your honour's noble father having
taken Richie Moniplies into his house to wait on your lord-
ship, there was a sort of connection, your lordship sees."

" Ah ! " said Lord Glenvarloch, " I had almost forgot your
name, but not your kind purpose. You tried to put Richie
in the way of presenting a supplication to his Majesty ? "

The Fortunes of Nigel 409

" Most true, my lord," replied the King's cook. " I had
like to have come by mischief in the job ; for Richie, who
was always wilful, * wadna be guided by me/ as the sang
says. But nobody amongst these brave English cooks can
kittle up his Majesty's most sacred palate with our own gusty
Scottish dishes. So I e'en betook myself to my craft, and
concocted a mess of friar's chicken for the soup, and a
savoury haggis, that made the whole cabal coup the crans ;
and, instead of disgrace, I came by preferment. I am one
of the clerks of the kitchen now, make me thankful — with a
finger in the purveyor's office, and may get my whole hand in
by-and-by."

" I am truly glad," said Nigel, " to hear that you have
not suffered on my account — still more so at your good
fortune."

" You bear a kind heart, my lord," said Linklater, " and
do not forget poor people; and, troth, I see not why they
should be 'forgotten, since the King's errand may sometimes
fall in the cadger's gate. I have followed your lordship in
the street, just to look at such a stately shoot of the old oak-
tree ; and my heart jumped into my throat when I saw you
sitting openly in the eating-house yonder, and knew there
was such danger to your person."

" What ! there are warrants against me, then ? " said Nigel.

" It is even true, my lord ; and there are those are kwilling
to blacken you as much as they can. God forgive them
that would sacrifice an honourable house for their own base
ends!"

" Amen ! " said Nigel.

" For, say your lordship may have been a little wild, like
other young gentlemen

" We have little time to talk of it, my friend," said Nigel,
" The point in question is, how am I to get speech of the
King?"

4IO The Fortunes of Nigel.

"The King, my lord!" said Linklater in astonishment;
" why, will not that be rushing wilfully into danger— scald-
ing yourself, as I may say, with your own ladle ? "

" My good friend," answered Nigel, " my experience of the
Court, and my knowledge of the circumstances in which I
stand, tell me that the manliest and most direct road is, in
my case, the surest and the safest. The King has both a
head to apprehend what is just and a heart to do what is
kind."

" It is e'en true, my lord, and so we, his old servants,
know," added Linklater ; " but, woe's me, if you knew how
many folks make it their daily and nightly purpose to set his
head against his heart, and his heart against his head — to
make him do hard things because they are called just, and
unjust things because they are represented as kind. Woe's
me ! it is with his Sacred Majesty, and the favourites who
work upon him, even according to the homely proverb that
men taunt my calling with, ' God sends good meat, but the
devil sends cooks.' "

" It signifies not talking of it, my good friend," said Nigel.
" I must take my risk — my honour peremptorily demands it.
They may maim me, or beggar me, but they shall not say I
fled from my accusers. My peers shall hear my vindication."

"Your peers?" exclaimed the cook. " Alack-a-day, my
lord, we are not in Scotland, where the nobles can bang it
out bravely, were it even with the King himself, now and
then. This mess must be cooked in the Star Chamber, and
that is an oven seven times heated, my lord; and yet, if
you are determined to see the King, I will not say but you
may find some favour, for he likes well anything that is
appealed directly to his own wisdom, and sometimes, in the
like cases, I have known him stick by his own opinion, which
is always a fair one. Only mind, if you will forgive me, my
lord— mind to spice high with Latin ; a curn or two of Greek

The Fortunes of Nigel. 411

would not be amiss ; and, if you can bring in anything about
the judgment of Solomon, in the original Hebrew, and season
with a merry jest or so, the dish will bg the more palatable.
Truly, I think that, besides my skill in art, I owe much
to the stripes of the rector of the High School, who im-
printed on my mind that cooking scene in the Heauton-
timorumenos."

" Leaving that aside, my friend," said Lord Glenvarloch,
" can you inform me which way I shall most readily get to
the sight and speech of the King ? "

"To the sight of him readily enough," said Linklater;
"he is galloping about these alleys, to see them strike the
hart, to get him an appetite for a nooning — and that reminds
me I should be in the kitchen. To the speech of the King
you will not come so easily, unless you could either meet
him alone, which rarely chances, or wait for him among the
crowd that go to see him alight. And now, farewell, my
lord, and God speed ! If I could do more for you, I would
offer it."

" You have done enough, perhaps, to endanger yourself,"
said Lord Glenvarloch. " I pray you to be gone, and leave
me to my fate."

The honest cook lingered, but a nearer burst of the horns
apprised him that there was no time to lose ; and acquaint-
ing Nigel that he would leave the postern-door on the latch
to secure his retreat in that direction, he bade God bless
him, and farewell.

In the kindness of this humble countryman, flowing partly
from national partiality, partly from a sense of long-remem-
bered benefits, which had been scarce thought on by those
who had bestowed them, Lord Glenvarloch thought he saw
the last touch of sympathy which he was to receive in this
cold and courtly region, and felt that he must now be suffi-
cient to himself, or be utterly lost.

The Fortunes of Nigel.

He traversed more than one alley, guided by the sounds
of the chase, and met several of the inferior attendants upon
the King's sport, who regarded him only as one of the
spectators who were sometimes permitted to enter the Park
by the concurrence of the officers about the Court. Still
there was no appearance of James, or any of his principal
courtiers, and Nigel began to think whether, at the risk of
incurring disgrace similar to that which had attended the
rash exploit of Richie Moniplies, he should not repair to the
Palace gate, in order to address the King on his return*
when Fortune presented him the opportunity of doing so,
in her own way.

He was in one of those long walks by which the Park was
traversed, when he heard, first a distant rustling, then the
rapid approach of hoofs shaking the firm earth on which he
stood, then a distant halloo, warned by which he stood up
by the side of the avenue, leaving free room for the passage
of the chase. The stag, reeling, covered with foam, and
blackened with sweat, his nostrils expanded as he gasped for
breath, made a shift to come up as far as where Nigel stood,
and, without turning to bay, was there pulled down by two
tall greyhounds of the breed still used by the hardy deer-
stalkers of the Scottish Highlands, but which has been long
unknown in England. One dog struck at the buck's throat,
another dashed his sharp nose and fangs, I might almost say,
into the animal's bowels. It would have been natural for
Lord Glenvarloch, himself persecuted as if by hunters, to
have thought upon the occasion like the melancholy Jacques ;
but habit is a strange matter, and I fear that his feelings on
the occasion were rather those of the practised huntsman than
of the moralist. He had no time, however, to indulge them,
for mark what befell.

A single horseman followed the chase upon a steed so
thoroughly subjected to the rein that it obeyed the touch of

The Fortunes of Nigel. 413

the bridle as if it had been a mechanical impulse operating
on the nicest piece of machinery ; so that, seated deep in his
demi-pique saddle, and so trussed up there as to make falling
almost impossible, the rider, without either fear or hesitation,
might increase or diminish the speed at which he rode, which,
even on the most animating occasions of the chase, seldom
exceeded three-fourths of a gallop, the horse keeping his
haunches under him, and never stretching forward beyond
the managed pace of the academy. The security with which
he chose to prosecute even this favourite, and, in ordinary
case, somewhat dangerous amusement, as well as the rest of
his equipage, marked King James. No attendant was within
sight ; indeed, it was often a nice strain of flattery to permit
the Sovereign to suppose he had outridden and distanced all
the rest of the chase.

" Weel dune, Bash — weel dune, Battie ! " he exclaimed, as
he came up. "By the honour of a king, ye are a credit to
the Braes of Balwhither ! — Haud my horse, man," he called
out to Nigel, without stopping to see to whom he had ad-
dressed himself. " Haud my naig, and help me doun out o'
the saddle — deil ding your saul, sirrah, canna ye mak haste
before these lazy smaiks come up? Haud the rein easy —
dinna let him swerve — now, haud the stirrup— that will do,
man, and now we are on terra firma." So saying, without
casting an eye on his assistant, gentle King Jamie, unsheath-
ing the short, sharp hanger (couteau de chasse\ which was the
only thing approaching to a sword that he could willingly
endure the sight of, drew the blade with great satisfaction
across the throat of the buck, and put an end at once to its
struggles and its agonies.

Lord Glenvarloch, who knew well the silvan duty which
the occasion demanded, hung the bridle of the King's palfrey
on the branch of a tree, and, kneeling duteously down, turned
the slaughtered deer upon its back, and kept the quarree in

414 The Fortunes of Nigel.

that position, while the King, too intent upon his- sport to
observe anything else, drew his couteau down the breast of
the animal, secundum artem ; and, having made a cross cut,
so as to ascertain the depth of the fat upon the chest, ex-
claimed, in a sort of rapture, " Three inches of white fat on
the brisket ! — prime — prime — as I am a crowned sinner —
and deil ane o' the lazy loons in but mysel' ! Seven — aught
— aught tines on the antlers. By G — d, a hart of aught
tines, and the first of the season ! Bash and Battie,1 blessings
on the heart's-root of ye ! Buss me, my bairns, buss me."
The dogs accordingly fawned upon him, licked him with
bloody jaws, and soon put him in such a state that it might
have seemed treason had been doing its fell work upon his
anointed body. "Bide doun, with a mischief to ye — bide
doun, with a wanion," cried the King, almost overturned by
the obstreperous caresses of the large stag-hounds. " But ye
are just like ither folks, gie ye an inch and ye take an ell.—
And wha may ye be, friend ? " he said, now finding leisure to
take a nearer view of Nigel, and observing what in his first
emotion of silvan delight had escaped him. " Ye are nane
of our train, man. In the name of God, what the devil
are ye ? "

" An unfortunate man, sire," replied Nigel.

"I daresay that," answered the King snappishly, "or I
wad have seen naething of you. My lieges keep a' their
happiness to themselves ; but let bowls row wrang wi' them,
and I am sure to hear of it."

" And to whom else can we carry our complaints but to
your Majesty, who is Heaven's vicegerent over us ? " answered
Nigel.

"Right, man, right — very weel spoken," said the King;
" but you should leave Heaven's vicegerent some quiet on
earth, too."

" If your Majesty will look on me" (for hitherto the King

The Fortunes of Nigel. 415

had been so busy, first with the dogs, and then with the
mystic operation of breaking, in vulgar phrase, cutting up
the deer, that he had scarce given his assistant above a
transient glance), " you will see whom necessity makes bold
to avail himself of an opportunity which may never again
occur."

King James looked. His blood left his cheek, though it
continued stained with that of the animal which lay at his
feet, he dropped the knife from his hand, cast behind him a
faltering eye, as if he either meditated flight or looked out
for assistance, and then exclaimed, — " Glenvarlochides, as
sure as I was christened James Stewart ! Here is a bonny
spot of work, and me alone, and on foot too ! " he added,
bustling to get upon his horse.

" Forgive me that I interrupt you, my liege," said Nigel,
placing himself between the King and the steed ; " hear me
but a moment ! "

"I'll hear ye best on horseback," said the King. "I
canna hear a word on foot, man, not a word ; and it is not
seemly to stand cheek-for-chowl confronting us that gate.
Bide out of our gate, sir, we charge you on your allegiance.
— The deil's in them a', what can they be doing?"

"By the crown which you wear, my liegdf' said Nigel,
" and for which my ancestors have worthily fought, I conjure
you to be composed, and to hear me but a moment ! "

That which he asked was entirely out of the monarch's
power to grant. The timidity which he showed was not the
plain downright cowardice which, like a natural impulse,
compels a man to flight, and which can excite little but pity
or contempt, but a much more ludicrous as well as more
mingled sensation. The poor King was frightened at once
and angry, desirous of securing his safety, and at the same
time ashamed to compromise his dignity ; so that without
attending to what Lord Glenvarloch endeavoured to explain,

416 The Fortunes of Nigel.

he kept making at his horse, and repeating, "We, are a free
King, man — we are a free King — we will not be controlled
by a subject. — In the name of God ! what keeps Steenie ?
And, praised be His name, they are coming — Hillo, ho —
here, here— Steenie, Steenie ! "

The Duke of Buckingham galloped up, followed by several
courtiers and attendants of the royal chase, and commenced
with his usual familiarity, " I see Fortune has graced our
dear dad, as usual. But what's this ? "

"What is it? It is treason for what I ken," said the
King; "and a' your wyte, Steenie. Your dear dad and
gossip might have been murdered, for what you care."

" Murdered ? Secure the villain ! " exclaimed the Duke.
"By Heaven, it is Olifaunt himself!" A dozen of the
hunters dismounted at once, letting their horses run wild
through the Park. Some seized roughly on Lord Glen-
varloch, who thought it folly to offer resistance, while others
busied themselves with the King. " Are you wounded, my
liege ; are you wounded ? "

" Not that I ken of," said the King, in the paroxysm of his
apprehension (which, by the way, might be pardoned in one
of so timorous a temper, and who, in his time, had been
exposed to m many strange attempts) — " not that I ken of
— but search him — search him. I am sure I saw firearms
under his cloak. I am sure I smelled powder — I am dooms
sure of that."

Lord Glenvarloch's cloak being stripped off, and his pistols
discovered, a shout of wonder and of execration on the sup-
posed criminal purpose arose from the crowd now thickening
every moment. Not that celebrated pistol which, though
resting on a bosom as gallant and as loyal as Nigel's, spread
such causeless alarm among knights and dames at a late high
solemnity — not that very pistol caused more temporary con-
sternation than was so groundlessly excited by the arms which

The Fortunes of Nigel. 417

were taken from Lord Glenvarloch's person ; and not Mhic-
.\llastar-More himself could repel with greater scorn and in-
dignation the insinuations that they were worn for any sinister
purposes.*

" Away with the wretch — the parricide — the bloody-minded
villain ! " was echoed on all hands ; and the King, who natu-
rally enough set the same value on his own life at which it
was, or seemed to be, rated by the others, cried out, louder
than all the rest, "Ay, ay — away with him. I have had
enough of him, and so has the country. But do him
no bodily harm ; and, for God's sake, sirs, if ye are sure
that ye have thoroughly disarmed him, put up your swords,
dirks, and skenes, for you will certainly do each other a
mischief."

There was a speedy sheathing of weapons at the King's
command ; for those who had hitherto been brandishing
them in loyal bravado, began thereby to call to mind the
extreme dislike which his Majesty nourished against naked
steel, a foible which seemed to be as constitutional as his
timidity, and was usually ascribed to the brutal murder of
Rizzio having been perpetrated in his unfortunate mother's
presence before he yet saw the light.

At this moment, the Prince, who had been hunting in a
different part of the then extensive Park, and had received
some hasty and confused information of what was going
forward, came rapidly up, with one or two noblemen in his
train, and amongst others Lord Dalgarno. He sprang from
his horse, and asked eagerly if his father were wounded.

"Not that I am sensible of, Baby Charles — but a wee
matter exhausted, with struggling single-handed with the
assassin. — Steenie, fill us a cup of wine — the leathern
bottle is hanging at our pommel. — Buss me, then, Baby
Charles," continued the monarch, after he had taken this
* Note. D. 575. Mhic-Allastar-More.

4i8 The Fortunes of Nigel

cup of comfort.* "Oh, man, the Commonwealth and you
have had a fair escape from the heavy and bloody loss of a
dear father ; for we are pater patria^ as weel as paterfamilias.

Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus tam cari capitisl" —

Woe is me, black cloth would have been dear in England,
and dry een scarce ! "

And at the very idea of the general grief which must have
attended his death, the good-natured monarch cried heartily
himself.

" Is this possible ? " said Charles sternly ; for his pride was
hurt at his father's demeanour on the one hand, while on the
other he felt the resentment of a son and a subject at the
supposed attempt on the King's life. " Let some one speak
who has seen what happened. My Lord of Buckingham ? "|

" I cannot say, my lord," replied the Duke, " that I saw
any actual violence offered to his Majesty, else I should
have avenged him on the spot."

" You would have done wrong, then, in your zeal, George,"
answered the Prince ; " such offenders were better left to be
dealt with by the laws. But was the villain not struggling
with his Majesty ? "

" I cannot term it so, my lord," said the Duke, who, with
many faults, would have disdained an untruth ; " he seemed
to desire to detain his Majesty, who, on the contrary, appeared
to wish to mount his horse. But they have found pistols on
his person, contrary to the proclamation ; and, as it proves
to be Nigel Olifaunt, of whose ungoverned disposition your
Royal Highness has seen some samples, we seem to be
justified in apprehending the worst."

"Nigel Olifaunt!" said the Prince; "can that unhappy
man so soon have engaged in a new trespass? Let me see
those pistols."

"Ye are not so unwise as to meddle with such snap-
* Note, p. 575. King James's Hunting Bottle.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 419

haunces, Baby Charles?" said James.— "Do not give him
them, Steenie — I command you on your allegiance ! They
may go off of their own accord, whilk often befalls. — You
will do it, then ? Saw ever man sic wilful bairns as we are
cumbered with ! Havena we guardsmen and soldiers enow,
but you must unload the weapons yoursel' — you, the heir of
our body and dignities, and sae mony men around that are
paid for venturing life in our cause ? "

But without regarding his father's exclamations, Prince
Charles, with the obstinacy which characterized him in
trifles, as well as matters of consequence, persisted in un-
loading the pistols with his own hand of the double bullets
with which each was charged. The hands of all around
were held up in astonishment at the horror of the crime
supposed to have been intended, and the escape which was
presumed so narrow.

Nigel had not yet spoken a word ; he now calmly desired
to be heard.

" To what purpose ? " answered the Prince coldly. " You
knew yourself accused of a heavy offence, and, instead of
rendering yourself up to justice, in terms of the proclama-
tion, you are here found intruding yourself on his Majesty's
presence, and armed with unlawful weapons."

" May it please you, sir," answered Nigel, " I wore these
unhappy weapons for my own defence ; and not very many
hours since they were necessary to protect the lives of others."

" Doubtless, my lord," answered the Prince, still calm and
unmoved, " your late mode of life, and the associates with
whom you have lived, have made you familiar with scenes
and weapons of violence. But it is not to me you are to
plead your cause."

" Hear me — hear me, noble Prince ! " said Nigel eagerly.
" Hear me ! You — even you yourself — may one day ask to
be heard, and in vain."

420 The Fortunes of Nigel

"How, sir," said the Prince haughtily — "how am I to
construe that, my lord?"

"If not on earth, sir," replied the prisoner, "yet to
Heaven we must all pray for patient and favourable
audience."

" True, my lord," said the Prince, bending his head with
haughty acquiescence; "nor would I now refuse such
audience to you, could it avail you. But you shall suffer
no wrong. We will ourselves look into your case."

"Ay, ay," answered the King, "he hath made appellatio
ad C(zsare??i — we will interrogate Glenvarlochides ourselves,
time and place fitting ; and, in the meanwhile, have him and
his weapons away, for I am weary of the sight of them."

In consequence of directions hastily given, Nigel was
accordingly removed from the presence, where, however, his
words had not altogether fallen to the ground "This is
a most strange matter, George," said the Prince to the
favourite. "This gentleman hath a good countenance, a
happy presence, and much calm firmness in his look and
speech. I cannot think he would attempt a crime so
desperate and useless."

"I profess neither love nor favour to the young man,"
answered Buckingham, whose high-spirited ambition bore
always an open character; "but I cannot but agree with
your Highness that our dear gossip hath been something
hasty in apprehending personal danger from him."

" By my saul, Steenie, ye are not blate to say so ! " said
the King.* " Do I not ken the smell of pouther, think ye ?
Who else nosed out the Fifth of November, save our royal
selves? Cecil, and Suffolk, and all of them, were at fault,
like sae mony mongrel tikes, when I puzzled it out; and
• trow ye that I cannot smell pouther? Why, 'sblood, man,

The Fortunes of Nigel. 421

Joannes Barclaius thought my ingine was in some measure
inspiration, and terms his history of the plot, Series patefacti
divinitus parricidii ; and Spondanus, in like manner, saith of
us, Divinitus evasit"

" The land was happy in your Majesty's escape," said the
Duke of Buckingham, " and not less in the quick wit which
tracked that labyrinth of treason by so fine and almost in-
visible a clue."

" Saul, man, Steenie, ye are right ! There are few youths
have sic true judgment as you, respecting the wisdom of their
elders ; and as for this fause, traitorous smaik, I doubt he is
a hawk of the same nest. Saw ye not something Papistical
about him ? Let them look that he bears not a crucifix, or
some sic Roman trinket, about him."

"It would ill become me to attempt the exculpation of
this unhappy man," said Lord Dalgarno, "considering the
height of his present attempt, which has made all true men's
blood curdle in their veins. Yet I cannot avoid intimating,
with all due submission to his Majesty's infallible judgment,
in justice to one who showed himself formerly only my enemy,
though he now displays himself in much blacker colours,
that this Olifaunt always appeared to me more as a Puritan
than as a Papist."

"Ah, Dalgarno, art thou there, man?" said the King.
"And ye behoved to keep back, too, and leave us to our
own natural strength and the care of Providence, when we
were in grips with the villain ! "

" Providence, may it please your most Gracious Majesty,
would not fail to aid, in such a strait, the care of three
weeping kingdoms," said Lord Dalgarno.

" Surely, man — surely," replied the King ; " but a sight of
your father, with his long whinyard, would have been a blithe
matter a short while syne ; and in future we will aid the ends
of Providence in our favour by keeping near us two stout

422 The Fortunes of Nigel

beef-eaters of the guard. And so this Olifaunt is a Puritan ?
—not the less like to be a Papist, for all that, for extremities
meet, as the scholiast proveth. There are, as I have proved
in my book, Puritans of Papistical principles ; it is just a new
tout on an auld horn."

Here the King was reminded by the Prince, who dreaded
perhaps that he was going to recite the whole Basilicon
Doron, that it would be best to move towards the Palace,
and consider what was to be done for satisfying the public
mind, in whom the morning's adventure was likely to excite
much speculation. As they entered the gate of the Palace,
a female bowed and presented a paper, which the King
received, and, with a sort of groan, thrust it into his side
pocket The Prince expressed some curiosity to know its
contents. "The valet in waiting will tell you them/' said
the King, " when I strip off my cassock. D'ye think, Baby,
that I can read all that is thrust into my hands ? See to me,
man" — (he pointed to the pockets of his great trunk breeches,
which were stuffed with papers) — " we are like an ass — that
we should so speak — stooping betwixt two burdens. Ay, ay,
Asinusfortis accumbens inter terminos^ as the Vulgate hath it
— Ay, ay, Vidi terram quod esset optima, et supposui humerum
adportandum^ etfactus sum tributls serviens — I saw this land
of England, and became an overburdened king thereof."

" You are indeed well loaded, my dear dad and gossip,"
said the Duke of Buckingham, receiving the papers which
King James emptied out of his pockets.

"Ay, ay," continued the monarch; "take them to you/<?r
aversionem, bairns — the one pouch stuffed with petitions,
t'other with pasquinadoes; a fine time we have on't On my
conscience, I believe the tale of Cadmus was hieroglyphical,
and that the dragon's teeth whilk he sowed were the letters
he invented. Ye are laughing, Baby Charles ? Mind what
I say. When I came here first frae our ain country, where

The Fortimes of Nigel. 423

the men are as rude as the weather, by my conscience, Eng-
land was a bieldy bit; one would have thought the King had
little to do but to walk by quiet waters, /£/• aquam refectionis.
But, I kenna how or why, the place is sair changed — read
that libel upon us and on our regimen. The dragon's teeth
are sown, Baby Charles; I pray God they bearna their armed
harvest in your day, if I suld not live to see it. God forbid
I should, for there will be an awful day's kemping at the
shearing of them."

" I shall know how to stifle the crop in the blade — ha,
George?" said the Prince, turning to the favourite with a
look expressive of some contempt for his father's appre-
hensions, and full of confidence in the superior firmness
and decision of his own counsels.

While this discourse was passing, Nigel, in charge of a
pursuivant-at-arms, was pushed and dragged through the small
town, all the inhabitants of which, having been alarmed by
the report of an attack on the King's life, now pressed for-
ward to see the supposed traitor. Amid the confusion of the
moment, he could descry the face of the victualler, arrested
into a stare of stolid wonder, and that of the barber grinning
betwixt horror and eager curiosity. He thought that he also
had a glimpse of his waterman in the green jacket.

He had no time for remarks, being placed in a boat with
the pursuivant and two yeomen of the guard, and rowed up
the river as fast as the arms of six stout watermen could pull
against the tide. They passed the groves of masts which
even then astonished the stranger with the extended com-
merce of London, and now approached those low and black-
ened walls of curtain and bastion, which exhibit here and
there a piece of ordnance, and here and there a solitary
sentinel under arms, but have otherwise so little of the
military terrors of a citadel. A projecting low-browed arch,
which had loured over many an innocent and many a guilty

424 The Fortunes of Nigel.

head in similar circumstances, now spread its dark frowns
over that of Nigel The boat was put close up to the broad
steps, against which the tide was lapping its lazy wave. The
warder on duty looked from the wicket, and spoke to the
pursuivant in whispers. In a few minutes the Lieutenant of
the Tower appeared, received, and granted an acknowledg-
ment for the body of Nigel, Lord Glenvarloch.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Ye towers of Julius ! London's lasting shame ;
With many a foul and midnight murder fed !

GRAY.

SUCH is the exclamation of Gray. Bandello, long before
him, has said something like it; and the same sentiment
must, in some shape or other, have frequently occurred to
those who, remembering the fate of other captives in that
memorable state prison, may have had but too much reason
to anticipate their own. The dark and low arch, which
seemed, like the entrance to Dante's Hell, to forbid hope
of regress ; the muttered sounds of the warders, and petty
formalities observed in opening and shutting the grated wicket ;
the cold and constrained salutation of the Lieutenant of the
fortress, who showed his prisoner that distant and measured
respect which authority pays as a tax to decorum, all struck
upon Nigel's heart, impressing on him the cruel conscious-
ness of captivity.

"I am a prisoner," he said, the words escaping from him
almost unawares—" I am a prisoner, and in the Tower ! "

The Lieutenant bowed. "And it is my duty," he said,
" to show your lordship to your chamber, where, I am com-
pelled to say, my orders are to place you under some restraint.
I will make it as easy as my duty permits."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 425

Nigel only bowed in return to this compliment, and fol-
lowed the Lieutenant to the ancient buildings on the western
side of the parade, and adjoining to the chapel, used in those
days as a state prison, but in ours as the mess-room of the
officers of the guard upon duty at the fortress. The double
doors were unlocked; the prisoner ascended a few steps,
followed by the Lieutenant and a warder of the higher class.
They entered a large but irregular, low-roofed, and dark
apartment, exhibiting a very scanty proportion of furniture.
The warder had orders to light a fire, and attend to Lord
Glenvarloch's commands in all things consistent with his
duty; and the Lieutenant, having made his reverence with
the customary compliment, that he trusted his lordship
would not long remain under his guardianship, took his
leave.

Nigel would have asked some questions of the warder,
who remained to put the apartment into order, but the man
had caught the spirit of his office. He seemed not to hear
some of the prisoner's questions, though of the most ordinary
kind ; did not reply to others ; and when he did speak, it was
in a short and sullen tone, which, though not positively dis-
respectful, was such as at least to encourage no further com-
munication.

Nigel left him, therefore, to do his work in silence, and
proceeded to amuse himself with the melancholy task of
deciphering the names, mottoes, verses, and hieroglyphics
with which his predecessors in captivity had covered the
walls of their prison-house. There he saw the names of
many a forgotten sufferer mingled with others which will
continue in remembrance until English history shall perish.
There were the pious effusions of the devout Catholic, poured
forth on the eve of his sealing his profession at Tyburn,
mingled with those of the firm Protestant, about to feed the
fires of Smithfield. There the slender hand of the unfor-

426 The Fortunes of Nigel

tunate Jane Grey, whose fate was to draw tears from future
generations, might be contrasted with the bolder touch which
impressed deep on the walls the Bear and Ragged Staff, the
proud emblem of the proud Dudleys. It was like the roll
of the prophet, a record of lamentation and mourning, and
yet not unmixed with brief interjections of resignation and
sentences expressive of the firmest resolution.*

In the sad task of examining the miseries of his prede-
cessors in captivity, Lord Glenvarloch was interrupted by
the sudden opening of the door of his prison room. It was
the warder, who came to inform him that, by order of the
Lieutenant of the Tower, his lordship was to have the society
and attendance of a fellow-prisoner in his place of confine-
ment. Nigel replied hastily that he wished no attendance,
and would rather be left alone; but the warder gave him
to understand, with a kind of grumbling civility, that the
Lieutenant was the best judge how his prisoners should be
accommodated, and that he would have no trouble with the
boy, who was such a slip of a thing as was scarce worth
turning a key upon. — "There, Giles," he said, "bring the
child in."

Another warder put the " lad before him " into the room,
and, both withdrawing, bolt crashed and chain clanged, as
they replaced these ponderous obstacles to freedom. The
boy was clad in a grey suit of the finest cloth, laid down with
silver lace, with a buff-coloured cloak of the same pattern.
His cap, which was a Montero of black velvet, was pulled
over his brows, and, with the profusion of his long ringlets,
almost concealed his face. He stood on the very spot where

These memorials of illustrious criminals, or of innocent persons
who had the fate of such, are still preserved, though at one time, in the
course of repairing the rooms, they were in some danger of being white-
washed. They are preserved at present with becoming respect, and have
most of them been engraved. —See BAYLEY'S History and Antiquities of
the Tower of London.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 427

the warder had quitted his collar, about two steps from the
door of the apartment, his eyes fixed on the ground, and
every joint trembling with confusion and terror. Nigel could
well have dispensed with his society, but it was not in his
nature to behold distress, whether of body or mind, without
endeavouring to relieve it

" Cheer up," he said, " my pretty lad. We are to be com-
panions, it seems, for a little time — at least I trust your con-
finement will be short, since you are too young to have done
aught to deserve long restraint. Come, come — do not be
discouraged. Your hand is cold and trembles ! The air is
warm too ; but it may be the damp of this darksome room.
Place you by the fire. What ! weeping-ripe, my little man ?
I pray you, do not be a child. You have no beard yet, to
be dishonoured by your tears, but yet you should not cry
like a girl Think you are only shut up for playing truant,
and you can pass a day without weeping, surely."

The boy suffered himself to be led and seated by the fire,
but, after retaining for a long time the very posture which he
assumed in sitting down, he suddenly changed it in order
to wring his hands with an air of the bitterest distress, and
then, spreading them before his face, wept so plentifully,
that the tears found their way in floods through his slender
fingers,

Nigel was in some degree rendered insensible to his own
situation by his feelings for the intense agony by which so
young and beautiful a creature seemed to be utterly over-
whelmed; and, sitting down close beside the boy, he applied
the most soothing terms which occurred to endeavour to
alleviate his distress, and with an action which the difference
of their age rendered natural, drew his hand kindly along the
long hair of the disconsolate child. The lad appeared so
shy as even to shrink from this slight approach to familiarity ;
yet when Lord Glenvarloch, perceiving and allowing for

428 The Fortunes of Nigel.

his timidity, sat down on the farther side of the fire, he
appeared to be more at his ease, and to hearken with some
apparent interest to the arguments which from time to time
Nigel used, to induce him to moderate, at least, the violence
of his grief. As the boy listened, his tears, though they
continued to flow freely, seemed to escape from their source
more easily, his sobs were less convulsive, and became
gradually changed into low sighs, which succeeded each
other, indicating as much sorrow, perhaps, but less alarm,
than his first transports had shown.

"Tell me who and what you are, my pretty boy," said
Nigel. " Consider me, child, as a companion who wishes to
be kind to you, would you but teach him how he can be so."

" Sir — my lord, I mean," answered the boy very timidly,
and in a voice which could scarce be heard even across the
brief distance which divided them, "you are very good —
and I — am very unhappy "

A second fit of tears interrupted what else he had intended
to say, and it required a renewal of Lord Glenvarloch's good-
natured expostulations and encouragements to bring him
once more to such composure as rendered the lad capable
of expressing himself intelligibly. At length, however, he
was able to say, " I am sensible of your goodness, my lord
— and grateful for it — but I am a poor unhappy creature \
and, what is worse, have myself only to thank for my mis-
fortunes."

" We are seldom absolutely miserable, my young acquaint-
ance," said Nigel, "without being ourselves more or less
responsible for it. I may well say so, otherwise I had not
been here to-day; but you are very young, and can have
but little to answer for."

" Oh, sir ! I wish I could say so. I have been self-willed
and obstinate — and rash and ungovernable — and now — now,
how dearly do I pay the price of it ! "

The Fortunes of Nigel. 429

" Pshaw, my boy," replied Nigel ; " this must be some
childish frolic — some breaking out of bounds — some truant
trick. And yet how should any of these have brought you
to the Tower? There is something mysterious about you,
young man, which I must inquire into."

"Indeed, indeed, my lord, there is no harm about me,"
said the boy, more moved it would seem to confession by the
last words, by which he seemed considerably alarmed, than
by all the kind expostulations and arguments which Nigel
had previously used. " I am innocent — that is, I have done
wrong, but nothing to deserve being in this frightful place."

"Tell me the truth, then," said Nigel, in a tone in which
command mingled with encouragement. " You have nothing
to fear from me, and as little to hope, perhaps ; yet, placed
as I am, I would know with whom I speak."

"With an unhappy — boy, sir — and idle and truantly dis-
posed, as your lordship said," answered the lad, looking up,
and showing a countenance in which paleness and blushes
succeeded each other, as fear and shamefacedness alternately
had influence. " I left my father's house without leave, to
see the King hunt in the Park at Greenwich. There came a
cry of treason, and all the gates were shut. I was frightened,
and hid myself in a thicket, and I was found by some of the
rangers and examined ; and they said I gave no good account
of myself— and so I was sent hither."

" I am an unhappy, a most unhappy being," said Lord
Glenvarloch, rising and walking through the apartment;
" nothing approaches me but shares my own bad fate !
Death and imprisonment dog my steps, and involve all
who are found near me. Yet this boy's story sounds
strangely. — You say you were examined, my young friend.
Let me pray you to say whether you told your name, and
your means of gaining admission into the Park ? — if so, they
surely would not have detained you."

430 The Fortunes of Nigel

"O my lord," said the boy, "I took care not to tell then)
the name of the friend that let me in ; and as to my father—
I would not he knew where I now am for all the wealth in
London!"

"But you do not expect/' said Nigel, "that they will dis-
miss you till you let them know who and what you are?"

"What good will it do them to keep so useless a creature
as myself? " said the boy. " They must let me go, were it but
out of shame."

" Do not trust to that. Tell me your name and station ; I
will communicate them to the Lieutenant. He is a man of
quality and honour, and will not only be willing to procure
your liberation, but also, I have no doubt, will intercede
with your father. I am partly answerable for such poor aid
as I can afford to get you out of this embarrassment, since
I occasioned the alarm owing to which you were arrested;
so tell me your name, and your father's name."

" My name foyou ? Oh, never, never ! " answered the boy,
in a tone of deep emotion, the cause of which Nigel could
not comprehend.

" Are you so much afraid of me, young man," he replied,
"because I am here accused and a prisoner? Consider, a
man may be both, and deserve neither suspicion nor restraint.
Why should you distrust me ? You seem friendless, and I
am myself so much in the same circumstances that I cannot
but pity your situation when I reflect on my own. Be wise ;
I have spoken kindly to you — I mean as kindly as I speak."

" Oh, I doubt it not, I doubt it not, my lord," said the boy,
" and I could tell you all — that is, almost all."

" Tell me nothing, my young friend, excepting what may
assist me in being useful to you," said Nigel.

"You are generous, my lord," said the boy; "and I ana
sure — oh, sure, I might safely trust to your honour. But yet
— but yet — I am so sore beset — I have been so rash, so un-

The Fortunes of Nigel 431

guarded — I can never tell you of my folly. Besides, I have
already told too much to one whose heart I thought I had
moved — yet I find myself here."

"To whom did you make this disclosure?" said Nigel.

" I dare not tell," replied the youth.

" There is something singular about you, my young friend,"
said Lord Glenvarloch, withdrawing with a gentle degree of
compulsion the hand with which the boy had again covered
his eyes ; " do not pain yourself with thinking on your situa-
tion just at present — your pulse is high and your hand
feverish. Lay yourself on yonder pallet, and try to compose
yourself to sleep. It is the readiest and best remedy for the
fancies with which you are worrying yourself."

"I thank you for your considerate kindness, my lord,"
said the boy; "with your leave I will remain for a little
space quiet in this chair — I am better thus than on the
couch. I can think undisturbedly on what I have done,
and have still to do ; and if God sends slumber to a creature
so exhausted, it shall be most welcome. "

So saying, the boy drew his hand from Lord Nigel's, and,
drawing around him and partly over his face the folds of his
ample cloak, he resigned himself to sleep or meditation ; while
his companion, notwithstanding the exhausting scenes of this
and the preceding day, continued his pensive walk up and
down the apartment.

Every reader has experienced that times occur when, far
from being lord of external circumstances, man is unable
to rule even the wayward realm of his own thoughts. It
was Nigel's natural wish to consider his own situation coolly,
and fix on the course which it became him as a man of sense
and courage to adopt ; and yet, in spite of himself, and not-
withstanding the deep interest of the critical state in which
he was placed, it did so happen that his fellow-prisoner's
situation occupied more of his thoughts than did his own.

432 The Fortunes of Nigel

There was no accounting for this wandering of the imagina^
tion, but also there was no striving with it. The pleading
tones of one of the sweetest voices he had ever heard still
rung in his ear, though it seemed that sleep had now fettered
the tongue of the speaker. He drew near on tiptoe to satisfy
himself whether it were so. The folds of the cloak hid the
lower part of his face entirely; but the bonnet, which had
fallen a little aside, permitted him to see the forehead streaked
with blue veins, the closed eyes, and the long silken eye-
lashes.

" Poor child," said Nigel to himself, as he looked on him,
nestled up as it were in the folds of his mantle, " the dew is
yet on thy eyelashes, and thou hast fairly wept thyself asleep.
Sorrow is a rough nurse to one so young and delicate as thou
art. Peace be to thy slumbers, I will not disturb them. My
own misfortunes require my attention, and it is to their con-
templation that I must resign myself."

He attempted to do so, but was crossed at every turn by
conjectures which intruded themselves as before, and which
all regarded the sleeper rather than himself. He was angry
and vexed, and expostulated with himself concerning the
overweening interest which he took in the concerns of one
of whom he knew nothing, saving that the boy was forced
into his company, perhaps as a spy, by those to whose custody
he was committed ; but the spell could not be broken, and
the thoughts which he struggled to dismiss continued to
haunt him.

Thus passed half an hour or more, at the conclusion of
which the harsh sound of the revolving bolts was again
heard, and the voice of the warder announced that a man
desired to speak with Lord Glenvarloch. "A man to speak
with me, under my present circumstances ! Who can it be ?"
And John Christie, his landlord of Paul's Wharf, resolved
his doubts by entering the apartment. " Welcome— most

The Fortunes of Nigel. 433

welcome, mine honest landlord ! " said Lord Glenvarloch.
"How could I have dreamt of seeing you in my present
close lodgings ? " And at the same time, with the frankness
of old kindness, he walked up to Christie and offered his
hand ; but John started back as from the look of a basilisk.

"Keep your courtesies to yourself, my lord," said he
gruffly. " I have had as many of them already as may serve'
me for my life."

"Why, Master Christie," said Nigel, "what means this?^
I trust I have not offended you ? "

"Ask me no questions, my lord," said Christie bluntly.
"I am a man of peace. I came not hither to wrangle with,
you at this place and season. Just suppose that I am well
informed of all the obligements from your honour's noble-
ness, and then acquaint me, in as few words as may be,
where is the unhappy woman. What have you done with
her?"

".What have I done with her?" said Lord Glenvarloch.
" Done with whom ? I know not what you are speaking of."

" Oh, yes, my lord," said Christie ; " play surprise as well
as you will, you must have some guess that I am speaking of
the poor fool that was my wife, till she became your lord-
ship's light-o'-love."

" Your wife ! Has your wife left you ? and, if she has, do
you come to ask her of me ? "

"Yes, my lord, singular as it may seem," returned Christie,
in a tone of bitter irony, and with a sort of grin widely dis-
cording from the discomposure of his features, the gleam of
his eye, and the froth which stood on his lip, " I do come
to make that demand of your lordship. Doubtless, you are
surprised I should take the trouble ; but, I cannot tell, great
men and little men think differently. She has lain in my
bosom, and drunk of my cup ; and, such as' she is, I cannot
forget that. Though I will never see her again, she must not

434 The Fortunes of Nigel.

starve, my lord, or do worse to gain bread, though I reckon
your lordship may think I am robbing the public in trying to
change her courses."

" By my faith as a Christian, by my honour as a gentle-
man," said Lord Glenvarloch, " if aught amiss has chanced
with your wife, I know nothing of it. I trust in Heaven
you are as much mistaken in imputing guilt to her, as in
supposing me her partner in it."

I " Fie ! fie ! my lord," said Christie, " why will you make it
so tough ? She is but the wife of a clod-pated old chandler,
who was idiot enough to marry a wench twenty years younger
,than himself. Your lordship cannot have more glory by it
than you have had already ; and, as for advantage and solace,
I take it Dame Nelly is now unnecessary to your gratifica-
tion. I should be sorry to interrupt the course of your
pleasure; an old wittol should have more consideration of
his condition. But your precious lordship being mewed up
here among other choice jewels of the kingdom, Dame Nelly
cannot, I take it, be admitted to share the hours of dalliance

which " Here the incensed husband stammered, broke

off his tone of irony, and proceeded, striking his staff against
the ground — " Oh that these false limbs of yours, which I
wish had been hamstrung when they first crossed my honest
threshold, were free from the fetters they have well deserved !
I would give you the odds of your youth, and your weapon,
and would bequeath my soul to the foul fiend if I, with this
piece of oak, did not make you such an example to all un-
grateful, pickthank courtiers, that it should be a proverb to
the end of time how John Christie swaddled his wife's fine
leman ! "

"I understand not your insolence," said Nigel, "but I
forgive it, because you labour under some strange delusion.
In so far as I can comprehend your vehement charge, it is
entirely undeserved on my part. You seem to impute to me

The Fortunes of Nigel. 435

the seduction of your wife. I trust she is innocent. For me,
at least, she is as innocent as an angel in bliss. I never
thought of her — never touched her hand or, cheek, save in
honourable courtesy."

" Oh, ay — courtesy ! — that is the very word. She always
praised your lordship's honourable courtesy. Ye have cozened
me between ye, with your courtesy. My lord, my lord, you
came to us no very wealthy man — you know it. It was for
no lucre of gain I took you and your swashbuckler, your
Don Diego yonder, under my poor roof. I never cared if
the little room were let or no ; I could live without it. If
you could not have paid for it, you should never have been
asked. All the wharf knows John Christie has the means
and spirit to do a kindness. When you first darkened my
honest doorway, I was as happy as a man need to be, who is
no youngster, and has the rheumatism. Nelly was the kind-
est and best-humoured wench — we might have a word now
and then about a gown or a ribbon, but a kinder soul on the
whole, and a more careful, considering her years, till you
came — and what is she now ? But I will not be a fool to
cry, if I can help it. What she is, is not the question, but
where she is ; and that I must learn, sir, of you."

" How can you, when I tell you," replied Nigel, " that I
am as ignorant as yourself, or rather much more so ? Till
this moment, I never heard of any disagreement betwixt
your dame and you."

"That is a lie ! " said John Christie bluntly.

"How, you base villain!" said Lord Glenvarloch, "do
you presume on my situation ? If it were not that I hold
you mad, and perhaps made so by some wrong sustained,
you should find my being weaponless were no protection ; I
would beat your brains out against the wall."

" Ay, ay," answered Christie, " bully as ye list. Ye have
been at the ordinaries, and in Alsatia, and learned the ruffian's

436 The Fortunes of Nigel

rant, I doubt not. But I repeat, you have spoken an untruth
when you said you knew not of my wife's falsehood ; for,
when you were twitted with it among your gay mates, it
was a common jest among you, and your lordship took all
the credit they would give you for your gallantry and grati-
tude."

There was a mixture of truth in this part of the charge
which disconcerted Lord Glenvarloch exceedingly; for he
could not, as a man of honour, deny that Lord Dalgarno,
and others, had occasionally jested with him on the subject
of Dame Nelly, and that, though he had not played exactly
lefanfaron des vices qu'il riavoit pas, he had not at least been
sufficiently anxious to clear himself of the suspicion of such
a crime to men who considered it as a merit. It was there-
fore with some hesitation, and in a sort of qualifying tone,
that he admitted that some idle jests had passed upon such
a supposition, although without the least foundation in truth.

John Christie would not listen to his vindication any longer.
" By your own account," he said, " you permitted lies to be
told of you in jest. How do I know you are speaking truth,
now you are serious? You thought it, I suppose, a fine
thing to wear the reputation of having dishonoured an honest
family — who will not think that you had real grounds for
your base bravado to rest upon ? I will not believe other-
wise for one, and therefore, my lord, mark what I have to
say. You are now yourself in trouble. As you hope to
come through it safely, and without loss of life and property,
tell me where this unhappy woman is. Tell me, if you hope
for heaven — tell me, if you fear hell — tell me, as you would
not have the curse of an utterly ruined woman and a broken-
hearted man attend you through life, and bear witness against
you at the Great Day, which shall come after death. You
are moved, my lord, I see it. I cannot forget the wrong
you have done me; I cannot even promise to forgive it 3

The Fortunes of Nigel. 437

but — tell me, and you shall never see me again, or hear more
of my reproaches."

"Unfortunate man," said Lord Glenvarloch, "you have
said more, far more than enough to move me deeply. Were
I at liberty, I would lend you my best aid to search out him
who has wronged you, the rather that I do suspect my having
been your lodger has been in some degree the remote cause
of bringing the spoiler into the sheepfold."

" I am glad your lordship grants me so much," said John
Christie, resuming the tone of embittered irony with which
he had opened the singular conversation. " I will spare you
further reproach and remonstrance — your mind is made up,
and so is mine. So, ho, warder I " The warder entered, and
John went on, " I want to get out, brother. Look well to
your charge ; it were better that half the wild beasts in their
dens yonder were turned loose upon Tower Hill than that
this same smooth-faced, civil-spoken gentleman were again
returned to honest men's company ! "

So saying, he hastily left the apartment; and Nigel had
full leisure to lament the waywardness of his fate, which
seemed never to tire of persecuting him for crimes of which
he was innocent, and investing him with the appearances of
guilt which his mind abhorred. He could not, however,
help acknowledging to himself that all the pain which he
might sustain from the present accusation of John Christie
was so far deserved, from his having suffered himself, out
of vanity, or rather an unwillingness to encounter ridicule,
to be supposed capable of a base inhospitable crime, merely
because fools called it an affair of gallantry ; and it was no
balsam to the wound, when he recollected what Richie had
told him of his having been ridiculed behind his back by the
gallants of the ordinary, for affecting the reputation of an
intrigue which he had not in reality spirit enough to have
carried on. His simulation had, in a word, placed him in

438 The Fortunes of Nigel.

the unlucky predicament of being rallied as a braggart
amongst the dissipated youths, with whom the reality of
the amour would have given him credit; whilst, on the
other hand, he was branded as an inhospitable seducer by
the injured husband, who was obstinately persuaded of his
guilt.

CHAPTER XXIX.

How fares the man on whom good men would look
• With eyes where scorn and censure combated,
But that kind Christian love hath taught the lesson,
That they who merit most contempt and hate,
Do most deserve our pity.

Old Play.

IT might have seemed natural that the visit of John Christie
should have entirely diverted Nigel's attention from his slum-
bering companion, and, for a time, such was the immediate
effect of the chain of new ideas which the incident introduced ;
yet, soon after the injured man had departed, Lord Glenvar-
loch began to think it extraordinary that the boy should have
slept so soundly while they talked loudly in his vicinity.
Yet he certainly did not appear to have stirred. Was he
well — was he only feigning sleep? He went close to him
to make his observations, and perceived that he had wept,
and was still weeping, though his eyes were closed. He
touched him gently on the shoulder. The boy shrunk from
his touch, but did not awake. He pulled him harder, and
asked him if he was sleeping.

" Do they waken folks in your country to know whether
they are asleep or no ? " said the boy, in a peevish tone.

"No, my young sir," answered Nigel; "but when they
weep in the manner you do in your sleep, they awaken them
to see what ails them."

" It signifies little to any one what ails me," said the boy.

The Fortunes of Nigel 439

"True," replied Lord Glenvarloch ; " but you knew before
you went to sleep how little I could assist you in your diffi-
culties, and you seemed disposed, notwithstanding, to put
some confidence in me."

" If I did, I have changed my mind," said the lad.

"And what may have occasioned this change of mind, I
trow?" said Lord Glenvarloch. "Some men speak through
their sleep — perhaps you have the gift of hearing in it ? "

" No, but the Patriarch Joseph never dreamt truer dreams
than I do."

" Indeed ! " said Lord Glenvarloch. " And, pray, what
dream have you had that has deprived me of your good
opinion ? for that, I think, seems the moral of the matter."

" You shall judge yourself," answered the boy. " I
dreamed I was in a wild forest where there was a cry of
hounds, and winding of horns, exactly as I heard in Green-
wich Park."

"That was because you were in the Park this morning,
you simple child," said Nigel.

"Stay, my lord," said the youth. "I went on in my
dream, till, at the top of a broad green alley, I saw a noble
stag which had fallen into the toils ; and methought I knew
that he was the very stag which the whole party were hunt-
ing, and that if the chase came up, the dogs would tear
him to pieces, or the hunters would cut his throat. And
I had pity on the gallant stag, and though I was of a different
kind from him, and though I was somewhat afraid of him, I
thought I would venture something to free so stately a crea-
ture ; and I pulled out my knife, and just as I was beginning
to cut the meshes of the net, the animal started up in my
face in the likeness of a tiger, much larger and fiercer than
any you may have seen in the ward of the wild beasts yonder,
and was just about to tear me limb from limb when you
awaked me."

440 The Fortunes of Nigel

"Methinks," said Nigel, "I deserve more thanks than
I have got for rescuing you from such a danger by waking
you. But, my pretty master, methinks all this tale of a tiger
and a stag has little to do with your change of temper to-
wards me."

" I know not whether it has or no," said the lad ; " but
I will not tell you who I am."

" You will keep your secret to yourself then, peevish boy,"
said Nigel, turning from him and resuming his walk through
the room. Then stopping suddenly, he said, "And yet you
shall not escape from me without knowing that I penetrate
your mystery."

" My mystery ! " said the youth, at once alarmed and irri-
tated. " What mean you, my lord ? "

" Only that I can read your dream without the assistance
of a Chaldean interpreter, and my exposition is — that my fair
companion does not wear the dress of her sex."

" And if I do not, my lord," said his companion, hastily
starting up and folding her cloak tight around her, " my dress,
such as it is, covers one who will not disgrace it."

" Many would call that speech a fair challenge," said Lord
Glenvarloch, looking on her fixedly ; " women do not mas-
querade in men's clothes to make use of men's weapons."

" I have no such purpose," said the seeming boy. " I have
other means of protection, and powerful ; but I would first
know what is your purpose."

"An honourable and a most respectful one," said Lord
Glenvarloch. "Whatever you are — whatever motive may
have brought you into this ambiguous situation, I am sensible
— every look, word, and action of yours makes me sensible,
that you are no proper subject of importunity, far less of ill
usage. What circumstances can have forced you into so
doubtful a situation, I know not; but I feel assured there
is, and can be, nothing in them of premeditated wrong, which

The Fortunes of Nigel. 441

should expose you to cold-blooded insult. From me you
have nothing to dread."

" I expected nothing less from your nobleness, my lord,"
answered the female. " My adventure, though I feel it was
both desperate and foolish, is not so very foolish, nor my
safety here so utterly unprotected, as at first sight, and in
this strange dress, it may appear to be. I have suffered
enough, and more than enough, by the degradation of having
been seen in this unfeminine attire, and the comments you
must necessarily have made on my conduct; but I thank
God that I am so far protected that I could not have been
subjected to insult unavenged."

When this extraordinary explanation had proceeded thus
far, the warder appeared, to place before Lord Glenvarloch a
meal which, for his present situation, might be called com-
fortable, and which, if not equal to the cookery of the cele-
brated Chevalier Beaujeu, was much superior in neatness
and cleanliness to that of Alsatia. A warder attended to do
the honours of the table, and made a sign to the disguised
female to rise and assist him in his functions. But Nigel,
declaring that he knew the youth's parents, interfered, and
caused his companion to eat along with him. She consented
with a sort of embarrassment, which rendered her pretty fea-
tures yet more interesting. Yet she maintained with a natural
grace that sort of good-breeding which belongs to the table ;
and it seemed to Nigel, whether already prejudiced in her
favour by the extraordinary circumstances of their meeting,
or whether really judging from what was actually the fact,
that he had seldom seen a young person comport herself
with more decorous propriety, mixed with ingenuous sim-
plicity; while the consciousness of the peculiarity of her
situation threw a singular colouring over her whole demeanour,
which could be neither said to be formal, nor easy, nor
embarrassed, but was compounded of and shaded with an

442 The Fortunes of Nigel.

interchange of all these three characteristics. Wine was
placed on the table, of which she could not be prevailed on
to taste a glass. Their conversation was, of course, limited
by the presence of the warder to the business of the table ;
but Nigel had, long ere the cloth was removed, formed the
resolution, if possible, of making himself master of this young
person's history, the more especially as he now began to
think that the tones of her voice and her features were not
so strange to him as he had originally supposed. This, how-
ever, was a conviction which he adopted slowly, and only as
it dawned upon him from particular circumstances during
the course of the repast.

At length the prison meal was finished, and Lord Glen-
varloch began to think how he might most easily enter
upon the topic he meditated, when the warder announced a
visitor.

" Soh ! " said Nigel, something displeased " I find even a
prison does not save one from importunate visitations."

He prepared to receive his guest, however; while his
alarmed companion flew to the large cradle-shaped chair,
which had first served her as a place of refuge, drew her
cloak around her, and disposed herself as much as she could
to avoid observation. She had scarce made her arrange-
ments for that purpose when the door opened, and the
worthy citizen, George Heriot, entered the prison chamber.

He cast around the apartment his usual sharp, quick glance
of observation, and, advancing to Nigel, said, "My lord,
I wish I could say I was happy to see you."

" The sight of those who are unhappy themselves, Master
Heriot, seldom produces happiness to their friends. I, how-
ever, am glad to see you."

He extended his hand, but Heriot bowed with much
formal complaisance, instead of accepting the courtesy, which
in those times, when the distinction of ranks was much

The Fortunes of Nigel 443

guarded by etiquette and ceremony, was considered as a
distinguished favour.

" You are displeased with me, Master Heriot," said Lord
Glenvarloch, reddening, for he was not deceived by the
worthy citizen's affectation of extreme reverence and re-
spect.

"By no means, my lord," replied Heriot; "but I have
been in France, and have thought it as well to import, along
with other more substantial articles, a small sample of that
good-breeding which the French are so renowned for."

" It is not kind of you," said Nigel, " to bestow the first
use of it on an old and obliged friend."

Heriot only answered to this observation with a short dry
cough, and then proceeded : —

" Hem ! hem ! — I say — ahem ! My lord, as my French
politeness may not carry me far, I would willingly know
whether I am to speak as a friend, since your lordship is
pleased to term me such; or whether I am, as befits my
condition, to confine myself to the needful business which
must be treated of between us."

"Speak as a friend by all means, Master Heriot," said
Nigel. " I perceive you have adopted some of the numerous
prejudices against me, if not all of them. Speak out, and
frankly ; what I cannot deny I will at least confess."

" And I trust, my lord, redress," said Heriot.

" So far as is in my power, certainly," answered Nigel.

" Ah ! my lord," continued Heriot, " that is a melancholy
though a necessary restriction ; for how lightly may any one
do a hundred times more than the degree of evil which it
may be within his power to repair to the sufferers and to
society ! — But we are not alone here," he said, stopping, and
darting his shrewd eye towards the muffled figure of the dis-
guised maiden, whose utmost efforts had not enabled her so
to adjust her position as altogether to escape observation.

444 The Fortunes of Nigel

More anxious to prevent her being discovered than to keep
his own affairs private, Nigel hastily answered, —

" Tis a page of mine ; you may speak freely before him.
He is of France, and knows no English."

" I am then to speak freely," said Heriot, after a second
glance at the chair ; " perhaps my words may be more free
than welcome."

"Go on, sir," said Nigel; "I have told you I can bear
reproof."

" In one word, then, my lord — why do I find you in this
place, and whelmed with charges which must blacken a name
rendered famous by ages of virtue ? "

" Simply, then, you find me here," said Nigel, " because, to
begin from my original error, I would be wiser than my father."

"It was a difficult task, my lord," replied Heriot. "Your
father was voiced generally as the wisest and one of the
bravest men of Scotland."

"He commanded me," continued Nigel, "to avoid all
gambling; and I took upon me to modify this injunction
into regulating my play according to my skill, means, and
the course of my luck."

"Ay, self-opinion, acting on a desire of acquisition, my
lord — you hoped to touch pitch and not to be defiled,"
answered Heriot. " Well, my lord, you need not say, for I
have heard, with much regret, how far this conduct dimin-
ished your reputation. Your next error I may without
scruple remind you of. My lord, my lord, in whatever degree
Lord Dalgarno may have failed towards you, the son of his
father should have been sacred from your violence."

"You speak in cold blood, Master Heriot, and I was
smarting under a thousand wrongs inflicted on me under the
mask of friendship."

" That is, he gave your lordship bad advice, and you," said
Heriot

The Fortunes of Nigel. 445

"Was fool enough to follow his counsel," answered Nigel.
— " But we will pass this, Master Heriot. if you please. Old
men and young men, men of the sword and men of peaceful
occupation, always have thought, always will think, differently
on such subjects."

" I grant," answered Heriot, " the distinction between the
old goldsmith and the young nobleman. Still, you should
have had patience for Lord Huntinglen's sake, and prudence
for your own. Supposing your quarrel just "

" I pray you to pass on to some other charge," said Lord
Glenvarloch.

" I am not your accuser, my lord, but I trust in Heaven
that your own heart has already accused you bitterly on the
inhospitable wrong which your late landlord has sustained at
your hand." I

"Had I been guilty of what you allude to," said Lord
Glenvarloch — "had a moment of temptation hurried me
away, I had long ere now most bitterly repented it But
whoever may have wronged the unhappy woman, it was not
I. I never heard of her folly until within this hour."

" Come, my lord," said Heriot, with some severity, " this
sounds too much like affectation. I know there is among
our modern youth a new creed respecting adultery as well as
homicide. I would rather hear you speak of a revision of the
Decalogue, with mitigated penalties in favour of the privileged
orders — I would rather hear you do this, than deny a fact
in which you have been known to glory."

" Glory ! — I never did, never would have taken honour to
myself from such a cause," said Lord Glenvarloch. " I could
not prevent other idle tongues and idle brains from making
false inferences."

" You would have known well enough how to stop their
mouths, my lord," replied Heriot, "had they spoke of you
what was unpleasing to your ears, and what the truth did not

446 The Fortunes of Nigel,

warrant. Come, my lord, remember your promise to con-
fess; and, indeed, to confess is, in this case, in some slight
sort to redress. I will grant you are young — the woman
handsome, and, as I myself have observed, light-headed
enough. Let me know where she is. Her foolish husband
has still some compassion for her — will save her from infamy
—perhaps, in time, receive her back; for we are a good-
natured generation we traders. Do not, my lord, emulate
those who work mischief merely for the pleasure of doing so
— it is the very devil's worst quality."

" Your grave remonstrances will drive me mad," said Nigel.
" There is a show of sense and reason in what you say ; and
yet, it is positively insisting on my telling the retreat of a
fugitive of whom I know nothing earthly."

"It is well, my lord," answered Heriot coldly. "You
have a right, such as it is, to keep your own secrets; but,
since my discourse on these points seems so totally unavail-
ing, we had better proceed to business. Yet your father's
image rises before me, and seems to plead that I should
go on."

" Be it as you will, sir," said Glenvarloch ; " he who doubts
my word shall have no additional security for it."

" Well, my lord. In the Sanctuary at Whitefriars — a place
of refuge so unsuitable to a young man of quality and char-
acter— I am told a murder was committed."

" And you believe that I did the deed, I suppose?"

"God forbid, my lord!" said Heriot. "The coroner's
inquest hath sat, and it appeared that your lordship, under
your assumed name of Grahame, behaved with the utmost
bravery."

" No compliment, I pray you," said Nigel. % " I am only
too happy to find that I did not murder, or am not believed
to have murdered, the old man."

"True, my lord," said Heriot ; "but even in this affair

The Fortunes of Nigel. 447

there lacks explanation. Your lordship embarked this morn-
ing in a wherry with a female, and, it is said, an immense
sum of money in specie and other valuables ; but the woman
has not since been heard of."

"I parted with her at Paul's Wharf," said Nigel, "where
she went ashore with her charge. I gave her a letter to that
very man, John Christie."

"Ay, that is the waterman's story; but John Christie
denies that he remembers anything x)f the matter."

" I am sorry to hear this," said the young nobleman. " I
hope in Heaven she has not been trepanned for the treasure
she had with her."

" I hope not, my lord," replied Heriot ; " but men's minds
are much disturbed about it. Our national character suffers
on all hands. Men remember the fatal case of Lord San-
quhar, hanged for the murder of a fencing-master, and exclaim
they will not have their wives whored, and their property
stolen, by the nobility of Scotland/'

" And all this is laid to my door ? " said Nigel. " My ex-
culpation is easy."

" I trust so, my lord," said Heriot — " nay, in this particular
I do not doubt it. But why did you leave Whitefriars under
such circumstances ? "

"Master Reginald Lowestoffe sent a boat for me, with
intimation to provide for my safety."

"I am sorry to say," replied Heriot, "that he denies all
knowledge of your lordship's motions, after having dispatched
a messenger to you with some baggage."

"The watermen told me they were employed by him."

" Watermen ! " said Heriot. " One of these proves to be
an idle apprentice, an old acquaintance of mine — the other
has escaped; but the fellow who is in custody persists in
saying he was employed by your lordship, and you only."

" He lies ! " said Lord Glenvarloch hastily. " He told me

448 The Fortunes of Nigel.

Master Lowestoffe had sent him. I hope that kind-hearted
gentleman is at liberty ? "

"He is," answered Heriot; "and has escaped with a
rebuke from the benchers for interfering in such a matter
as your lordship's. The Court desire to keep well with the
young Templars in these times of commotion, or he had not
come off so well."

" That is the only word of comfort I have heard from you,"
replied Nigel. " But this poor woman — she and her trunk
were committed to the charge of two porters."

" So said the pretended waterman, but none of the fellows
who ply at the wharf will acknowledge the employment. I
see the idea makes you uneasy, my lord; but every effort
is made to discover the poor woman's place of retreat — if,
indeed, she yet lives. And now, my lord, my errand is
spoken, so far as it relates exclusively to your lordship ; what
remains is matter of business of a more formal kind."

" Let us proceed to it without delay," said Lord Glenvar-
loch. " I would hear of the affairs of any one rather than of
my own."

" You cannot have forgotten, my lord," said Heriot, " the
transaction which took place some weeks since at Lord
Huntinglen's, by which a large sum of money was advanced
for the redemption of your lordship's estate ? "

" I remember it perfectly," said Nigel ; " and your present
austerity cannot make me forget your kindness on the occa-
sion."

Heriot bowed gravely, and went on: "That money was
advanced under the expectation and hope that it might be
replaced by the contents of a grant to your lordship, under
the royal sign-manual, in payment of certain moneys cue by
the crown to your father. I trust your lordship understood
the transaction at the time ; I trust you now understand my
resumption of its import, and hold it to be correct ? "

The Fortunes of Nigel. 449

"Undeniably correct," answered Lord Glenvarloch. "If
the sums contained in the warrant cannot be recovered, my
lands become the property of those who paid off the original
holders of the mortgage, and now stand in their right."

" Even so, my lord," said Heriot. " And your lordship's
unhappy circumstances having, it would seem, alarmed these
creditors, they are now, I am sorry to say, pressing for one
or other of these alternatives — possession of the land, ~r
payment of their debt."

"They have a right to one or other," answered Lord
Glenvarloch; "and as I cannot do the last in my present
condition, I suppose they must enter on possession."

" Stay, my lord," replied Heriot ; " if you have ceased to
call me a friend to your person, at least you shall see I am
willing to be such to your father's house, were it but for the
sake of your father's memory. If you will trust me with the
warrant under the sign-manual, I believe circumstances do
now so stand at Court that I may be able to recover the
money for you."

" I would do so gladly," said Lord Glenvarloch, " but the
casket which contains it is not in my possession. It was
seized when I was arrested at Greenwich."

"It will be no longer withheld from you," said Heriot;
"for, I understand, my Master's natural good sense, and
some information which he has procured, I know not how,
has induced him to contradict the whole charge of the
attempt on his person. It is entirely hushed up, and you
will only be proceeded against for your violence on Lord
Dalgarno, committed within the verge of the Palace — and
that you will find heavy enough to answer."

" I will not shrink under the weight," said Lord Glenvar-
loch. "But that is not the present point. If I had that

casket "

" Your baggage stood in the little anteroom as I passed,"

15

450 The Fortunes of Nigel.

said the citizen ; " the casket caught my eye. I think you
had it of me. It was my old friend Sir Faithful Frugal's.
Ay, he, too, had a son "

Here he stopped short

" A son who, like Lord Glenvarloch's, did no credit to his
father. Was it not so you would have ended the sentence,
Master Heriot ? " asked the young nobleman.

" My lord, it was a word spoken rashly," answered Heriot
" God may mend all in His own good time. This, however,
I will say, that I have sometimes envied my friends their
fair and flourishing families; and yet have I seen such
changes when death has removed the head — so many rich
men's sons penniless, the heirs of so many knights and
nobles acreless — that I think mine own estate and memory,
as I shall order it, has a fair chance of outliving those of
greater men, though God has given me no heir of my name.
But this is from the purpose. — Ho ! warder, bring in Lord
Glenvarloch's baggage." The officer obeyed. Seals had been
placed upon the trunk and casket, but were now removed,
the warder said, in consequence of the subsequent orders
from Court, and the whole was placed at the prisoner's free
disposal.

Desirous to bring this painful visit to a conclusion, Lord
Glenvarloch opened the casket, and looked through the
papers which it cpntained, first hastily, and then more
slowly and accurately; but it was all in vain— the Sover-
eign's signed warrant had disappeared.

"I thought and expected nothing better," said George
Heriot bitterly. "The beginning of evil is the letting out
of water. Here is a fair heritage lost, I dare say, on a foul
cast at dice or a conjuring trick at cards ! My lord, your
surprise is well played. I give you full joy of your accom-
plishments. I have seen many as young brawlers and spend-
thrifts, but never so young and accomplished a dissembler.

The Fortunes of NigeL 451

Nay, man, never bend your angry brows on me. I speak in
bitterness of heart, from what I remember of your worthy
father ; and if his son hears of his degeneracy from no one
else, he shall hear it from the old goldsmith."

This new suspicion drove Nigel to the very extremity of
his patience ; yet the motives and zeal of the good old man,
as well as the circumstances of suspicion which created his
displeasure, were so excellent an excuse for it that they
formed an absolute curb on the resentment of Lord Glen-
varloch, and constrained him, after two or three hasty excla-
mations, to observe a proud and sullen silence. At length,
Master Heriot resumed his lecture.

"Hark you, my lord," he said, "it is scarce possible that
this most important paper can be absolutely assigned away.
Let me know in what obscure comer, and for what petty
sum, it lies pledged — something may yet be done."

"Your efforts in my favour are the more generous," said
Lord Glenvarloch, "as you offer them to one whom you
believe you have cause to think hardly of— but they are
altogether unavailing. Fortune has taken the field against
me at every point Even let her win the battle."

a Zounds ! * exclaimed Heriot impatiently, " you would
make a saint swear ! Why, I tell you, if this paper, the toss
of which seems to sit so light on you, be not found, farewell
to the fair lordship of Glenvarloch — firth and forest, lea and
furrow, lake and stream — afl that has been in the house of
Olifaunt since the days of Wiffiam the Lion ! *

u Farewell to them, then," said Nigel ; " and that moan is
soon made."

'"Sdeath ! my lord, you win make more moan for it ere
you die," said Heriot, in the same tone of angry impatience.

" Not I, my old friend," said NigeL " If I mourn, Master
Heriot, it will be for having lost the good opinion of a worthy
man, and lost it, as I must say, most undeservedly."

452 The Fortunes of Nigel.

"Ay, ay, young man," said Heriot, shaking his head,
" make me believe that if you can. To sum the matter up,"
he said, rising from his seat, and walking towards that occu-
pied by the disguised female, " for our matters are now drawn
into small compass, you shall as soon make me believe that
this masquerading mummer, on whom I now lay the hand
of paternal authority, is a French page who understands no
English."

So saying, he took hold of the supposed page's cloak, and,
not without some gentle degree of violence, led into the
middle of the apartment the disguised fair one, who in vain
attempted to cover her face, first with her mantle, and after-
wards with her hands ; both which impediments Master
Heriot removed, something unceremoniously, and gave to
view the detected daughter of the old chronologist, his own
fair goddaughter, Margaret Ramsay.

" Here is goodly gear ! " he said, and, as he spoke, he
could -not prevent himself from giving her a slight shake, for
we have elsewhere noticed that he was a severe disciplin-
arian. " How comes it, minion, that I find you in so shame-
less a dress and so unworthy a situation ? Nay, your modesty
is now mistimed — it should have come sooner. Speak, or I
will »

"Master Heriot," said Lord Glenvarloch, "whatever right
you may have over this maiden elsewhere, while in my apart-
ment she is under my protection."

"Your protection, my lord !— a proper protector !— And
how long, mistress, have you been under my lord's protec-
tion? Speak out, forsooth!"

"For the matter of two hours, godfather," answered the
maiden, with a countenance bent to the ground and covered
with blushes ; "but it was against my will."

" Two hours ! " repeated Heriot — " space enough for mis-
chief. My lord, this is, I suppose, another victim offered to

The Fortunes of Nigel. 453

your character of gallantry — another adventure to be boasted
of at Beaujeu's ordinary ? Methinks the roof under which
you first met this silly maiden should have secured her> at
least, from such a fate."

" On my honour, Master Heriot," said Lord Glenvarloch,
" you remind me now, for the first time, that I saw this young
lady in your family. Her features are not easily forgotten,
and yet I was trying in vain to recollect where I had last
looked on them. For your suspicions, they are as false as
they are injurious both to her and me. I had but discovered
her disguise as you entered. I am satisfied, from her whole
behaviour, that her presence here in this dress was invol-
untary ; and God forbid that I had been capable of taking
advantage of it to her prejudice."

" It is well mouthed, my lord," said Master Heriot ; " but
a cunning clerk can read the Apocrypha as loud as the Scrip-
ture. Frankly, my lord, you are come to that pass where
your words will not be received without a warrant."

" I should not speak, perhaps," said Margaret, the natural
vivacity of whose temper could never be long suppressed by
any situation, however disadvantageous, "but I cannot be
silent. Godfather, you do me wrong — and no less wrong to
this young nobleman. You say his words want a warrant.
I know where to find a warrant for some of them, and the
rest I deeply and devoutly believe without one."

" And I thank you, maiden," replied Nigel, " for the good
opinion you have expressed. I am at that point, it seems,
though how I have been driven to it I know not, where
every fair construction of my actions and motives is refused
me. I am the more obliged to her who grants me that right
which the world denies me. For you, lady, were I at liberty,
I have a sword and arm should know how to guard your
reputation."

" Upon my word, a perfect Amadis and Oriana ! " said

454 The Fortunes of Nigel.

George Heriot. " I should soon get my throat cut betwixt
the knight and the princess, I suppose, but that the beef-
eaters are happily within halloo. Come, come, Lady Light-
o'-Love, if you mean to make your way with me, it must be
by plain facts, not by speeches from romaunts and play-books.
How, in Heaven's name, came you here ? "

"Sir," answered Margaret, "since I must speak, I went
to Greenwich this morning with Monna Paula, to present
a petition to the King on the part of the Lady Her-
mione."

" Mercy-a-gad ! " exclaimed Heriot, "is she in the dance
too? Could she not have waited my return to stir in her
affairs ? But I suppose the intelligence I sent her had ren-
dered her restless. Ah ! woman, woman — he that goes
partner with you had need of a double share of patience, for
you will bring none into the common stock. Well, but what
on earth had this embassy of Monna Paula's to do with your
absurd disguise ? Speak out."

"Monna Paula was frightened," answered Margaret, "and
did not know how to set about the errand, for you know she
scarce ever goes out of doors — and so — and so — I agreed to
go with her to give her courage; and, for the dress, I am
sure you remember I wore it at a Christmas mumming, and
you thought it not unbeseeming."

"Yes, for a Christmas parlour," said Heriot, "but not to
go a-masking through the country in. I do remember it,
minion, and I knew it even now ; that and your little shoe
there, linked with a hint I had in the morning from a friend,
or one who called himself such, led to your detection."
Here Lord Glenvarloch could not help giving a glance at the
pretty foot, which even the staid citizen thought worth recol-
lection ; it was but a glance, for he saw how much the least
degree of observation added to Margaret's distress and con-
fusion. "And tell me, maiden," continued Master Heriot —

The Fortunes of Nigel. 455

for what we have observed was by-play — " did the Lady Her-
mione know of this fair work ? "

" I dared not have told her for the world," said Margaret.
"She thought one of our apprentices went with Monna
Paula."

It may be here noticed that the words " our apprentices "
seemed to have in them something of a charm to break the
fascination with which Lord Glenvarloch had hitherto list-
tened to the broken yet interesting details of Margaret's
history.

" And wherefore went he not ? He had been a fitter com-
panion for Monna Paula than you, I wot," said the citizen.

" He was otherwise employed," said Margaret, in a voice
scarcely audible.

Master George darted a hasty glance at Nigel, and when
he saw his features betoken no consciousness, he muttered
to himself, " It must be better than I feared. — And so this
cursed Spaniard, with her head full, as they all have, of dis-
guises, trap-doors, rope-ladders, and masks, was jade and
fool enough to take you with her on this wild-goose errand ?
And how sped you, I pray ? "

" Just as we reached the gate of the Park," replied Margaret,
" the cry of treason was raised. I know not what became of
Monna, but I ran till I fell into the arms of a very decent
serving-man, called Linklater ; and I was fain to tell him I
was your goddaughter, and so he kept the rest of them from
me, and got me to speech of his Majesty, as I entreated him
to do."

" It is the only sign you showed in the whole matter that
common sense had not utterly deserted your little skull,"
said Heriot.

"His Majesty," continued the damsel, "was so gracious
as to receive me alone, though the courtiers cried out against
the danger to his person, and would have searched me for

456 The Fortunes of Nigel.

arms, God help me ! but the King forbade it. I fancy he
had a hint from Linklater how the truth stood with me."

" Well, maiden, I ask not what passed," said Heriot ; " it
becomes not me to pry into my Master's secrets. Had you
been closeted with his grandfather, the Red Tod of Saint
Andrews, as Davie Lindsay used to call him, by my faith I
should have had my own thoughts of the matter ; but our
Master, God bless him ! is douce and temperate, and Solo-
mon in everything, save in the chapter of wives and con-
cubines."

"I know not what you mean, sir," answered Margaret.
" His Majesty was most kind and compassionate, but said I
must be sent hither, and that the Lieutenant's lady, the Lady
Mansel, would have a charge of me, and see that I sustained
no wrong; and the King promised to send me in a tilted
barge, and under conduct of a person well known to you ;
and thus I come to be in the Tower."

" But how, or why, in this apartment, nymph ? " said George
Heriot. " Expound that to me, for I think the riddle needs
reading."

"I cannot explain it, sir, further than that the Lady
Mansel sent me here, in spite of my earnest prayers, tears,
and entreaties. I was not afraid of anything, for I knew I
should be protected. But I could have died then — could
die now — for very shame and confusion ! "

"Well, well, if your tears are genuine," said Heriot, "they
may the sooner wash out the memory of your fault. Knows
your father aught of this escape of yours ? "

"I would not for the world he did," replied she; "he
believes me with the Lady Hermione."

" Ay, honest Davy can regulate his horologes better than
his family. Come, damsel, now I will escort you back to
the Lady Mansel, and pray her, of her kindness, that when
she is again entrusted with a goose, she will not give it to the

The Fortunes of Nigel. 457

fox to keep. The warders will let us pass to my lady's
lodgings, I trust."

" Stay but one moment," said Lord Glenvarloch. " What-
ever hard opinion you may have formed of me, I forgive you,
for time will show that you do me wrong, and you yourself,
I think, will be the first to regret the injustice you have done
me. But involve not in your suspicions this young person,
for whose purity of thought angels themselves should be
vouchers. I have marked every look, every gesture ; and
whilst I can draw breath, I shall ever think of her with "

"Think not at all of her, my lord," answered George
Heriot, interrupting him ; " it is, I have a notion, the best
favour you can do her — or think of her as the daughter of
Davie Ramsay, the clockmaker, no proper subject for fine
speeches, romantic adventures, or high-flown Arcadian com-
pliments. I give you good-den, my lord. I think not alto-
gether so harshly as my speech may have spoken. If I can
help — that is, if I saw my way clearly through this labyrinth
— but it avails not talking now. I give your lordship good-
den. — Here, warder ! Permit us to pass to the Lady Man-
sel's apartment."

The warder said he must have orders from the Lieutenant ;
and as he retired to procure them, the parties remained stand-
ing near each other, but without speaking, and scarce looking
at each other save by stealth, a situation which, in two of the
party at least, was sufficiently embarrassing. The difference
of rank, though in that age a consideration so serious, could
not prevent Lord Glenvarloch from seeing that Margaret Ram-
say was one of the prettiest young women he had ever beheld ;
from suspecting, he could scarce tell why, that he himself was
not indifferent to her ; from feeling assured that he had been
the cause of much of her present distress — admiration, self-
love, and generosity acting in favour of the same object ; and
when the yeoman returned with permission to his guests to

458 The Fortunes of Nigel

withdraw, Nigel's obeisance to the beautiful daughter of the
mechanic was marked with an expression which called up in
her cheeks as much colour as any incident of the eventful
day had hitherto excited. She returned the courtesy timidly
and irresolutely, clung to her godfather's arm, and left the
apartment, which, dark as it was, had never yet appeared so
obscure to Nigel as when the door closed behind her.

CHAPTER XXX.

Yet though them shouldst be dragg'd in scorn

To yonder ignominious tree,
Thou shalt not want one faithful friend

To share the cruel fates' decree.

Ballad of Jemmy Dawson.

MASTER GEORGE HERIOT and his ward, as she might justly
be termed, for his affection to Margaret imposed on him all
the cares of a guardian, were ushered by the yeomen of the
guard to the lodging of the Lieutenant, where they found
him seated with his lady. They were received by both with
that decorous civility which Master Heriot's character and
supposed influence demanded, even at the hand of a punc-
tilious old soldier and courtier like Sir Edward Mansel.
Lady Mansel received Margaret with like courtesy, and in-
formed Master George that she was now only her guest, and
no longer her prisoner.

"She is at liberty," she said, "to return to her friends
under your charge— such is his Majesty's pleasure."

"I am glad of it, madam," answered Heriot, "but only
I could have wished her freedom had taken place before her
foolish interview with that singular young man ; and I marvel
your ladyship permitted it."

"My good Master Heriot," said Sir Edward, "we act
according to the commands of one better and wiser than

The Fortunes of Nigel. 459

ourselves. Our orders from his Majesty must be strictly
and literally obeyed ; and I need not say that the wisdom of
his Majesty doth more than ensure "

"I know his Majesty's wisdom well," said Heriot; "yet
there is an old proverb about fire and flax — well, let it pass."

" I see Sir Mungo Malagrowther stalking towards the door
of the lodging," said the Lady Mansel, " with the gait of a
lame crane. It is his second visit this morning."

" He brought the warrant for discharging Lord Glenvarloch
of the charge of treason," said Sir Edward.

"And from him," said Heriot, "I heard much of what
had befallen ; for I came from France only late last evening,
and somewhat unexpectedly."

As they spoke, Sir Mungo entered the apartment, saluted
the Lieutenant of the Tower and his lady with ceremonious
civility, honoured George Heriot with a patronizing nod of
acknowledgment, and accosted Margaret with, "Hey! my
young charge, you have not doffed your masculine attire yet ? "

"She does not mean to lay it aside, Sir Mungo," said
Heriot, speaking loud, " until she has had satisfaction from
you for betraying her disguise to rne, like a false knight;
and in very deed, Sir Mungo, I think when you told me she
was rambling about in so strange a dress, you might have
said also that she was under Lady Mansel's protection."

"That was the King's secret, Master Heriot," said Sir
Mungo, throwing himself into a chair with an air of atra-
bilarious importance ; " the other was a well-meaning hint to
yourself, as the girl's friend."

" Yes," replied Heriot, " it was done like yourself — enough
told to make me unhappy about her ; not a word which could
relieve my uneasiness."

"Sir Mungo will not hear that remark," said the lady;
"we must change the subject. — Is there any news from
Court, Sir Mungo? You have been to Greenwich?"

460 The Fortunes of Nigel

" You might as well ask me, madam," answered the Knight,
" whether there is any news from hell."

" How, Sir Mungo, how ! " said Sir Edward. " Measure
your words something better — you speak of the Court of
King James."

" Sir Edward, if I spoke of the Court of the twelve Kaisers,
I would say it is as confused for the present as the infernal
regions. Courtiers of forty years' standing — and such I may
write myself — are as far to seek in the matter as a minnow
in the Maelstrom. Some folks say the King has frowned on
the Prince, some that the Prince has looked grave on the
Duke, some that Lord Glenvarloch will be hanged for high
treason, and some that there is matter against Lord Dalgarno
that may cost him as much as his head's worth."

"And what do you, that are a courtier of forty years'
standing, think of it all ? " said Sir Edward Mansel.

" Nay, nay, do not ask him, Sir Edward," said the lady,
with an expressive look to her husband.

" Sir Mungo is too witty," added Master Heriot, " to re-
member that he who says aught that may be repeated to his
own prejudice does but load a piece for any of the company
to shoot him dead with, at their pleasure and convenience."

"What!" said the bold Knight, "you think I am afraid
of the trepan ? Why now, what if I should say that Dalgarno
has more wit than honesty, the Duke more sail than ballast,

the Prince more pride than prudence, and that the King "

The Lady Mansel held up her finger in a warning manner —
" that the King is my very good master, who has given me,
for forty years and more, dog's wages, videlicet, bones and
beating. Why now, all this is said, and Archie Armstrong *
says worse than this of the best of them every day."

"The more fool he," said George Heriot. " Yet he is not
so utterly wrong, for folly is his best wisdom. But do not
* The celebrated Court jester.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 461

you, Sir Mungo, set your wit against a fool's, though he be
a Court fool."

" A fool, said you ? " replied Sir Mungo, not having fully
heard what Master Heriot said, or not choosing to have it
thought so. "I have been a fool indeed, to hang on at a
close-fisted Court here, when men of understanding and men
of action have been making fortunes in every other place of
Europe. But here a man comes indifferently off unless he
gets a great key to turn " (looking at Sir Edward), " or can
beat tattoo with a hammer on a pewter plate. Well, sirs, I
must make as much haste back on mine errand as if I were
a fee'd messenger. — Sir Edward and my lady, I leave my
commendations with you — and my goodwill with you, Master
Heriot — and for this breaker of bounds, if you will act by
my counsel, some maceration by fasting, and a gentle use of
the rod, is the best cure for her giddy fits."

"If you propose for Greenwich, Sir Mungo," said the
Lieutenant, " I can spare you the labour — the King comes
immediately to Whitehall."

" And that must be the reason the council are summoned
to meet in such hurry," said Sir Mungo. " Well, I will, with
your permission, go to the poor lad Glenvarloch, and bestow
some comfort on him."

The Lieutenant seemed to look up, and pause for a
moment as if in doubt.

"The lad will want a pleasant companion, who can tell
him the nature of the punishment which he is to suffer, and
other matters of concernment. I will not leave him until I
show him how absolutely he hath ruined himself from feather
to spur, how deplorable is his present state, and how small
his chance of mending it."

" Well, Sir Mungo," replied the Lieutenant, " if you really
think all this likely to be very consolatory to the party con-
cerned, I will send a warder to conduct you."

462 The Fortunes of Nigel.

"And I," said George Heriot, "will humbly pray of Lady
Mansel that she will lend some of her handmaiden's apparel
to this giddy-brained girl ; for I shall forfeit my reputation
if I walk up Tower Hill with her in that mad guise— and yet
the silly lassie looks not so ill in it neither."

" I will send my coach with you instantly," said the obliging
lady.

" Faith, madam, and if you will honour us by such cour-
tesy, I will gladly accept it at your hands," said the citizen,
" for business presses hard on me, and the forenoon is already
lost, to little purpose."

The coach being ordered accordingly, transported the
worthy citizen and his charge to his mansion in Lombard
Street. There he found his presence was anxiously expected
by the Lady Hermione, who had just received an order to
be in readiness to attend upon the Royal Privy Council in
the course of an hour ; and upon whom, in her inexperience
of business, and long retirement from society and the world,
the intimation had made as deep an impression as if it had
not been the necessary consequence of the petition which
she had presented to the King by Monna Paula. George
Heriot gently blamed her for taking any steps in an affair so
important until his return from France, especially as he had
requested her to remain quiet, in a letter which accompanied
the evidence he had transmitted to her from Paris. She
could only plead in answer the influence which her imme-
diately stirring in the matter was likely to have on the affair
of her kinsman Lord Glenvarloch, for she was ashamed to
acknowledge how much she had been gained on by the eager
importunity of her youthful companion. The motive of
Margaret's eagerness was, of course, the safety of Nigel ; but
we must leave it to time to show in what particulars that
came to be connected with the petition of the Lady Her-
mione. Meanwhile, we return to the visit with which Sir

The Fortunes of Nigel. 463

Mungo Malagrowther favoured the afflicted young nobleman
in his place^ of captivity.

The Knight, after the usual salutations, and having pre-
faced his discourse with a great deal of professed regret for
Nigel's situation, sat down beside him, and, composing his
grotesque features into the most lugubrious despondence,
began his raven-song as follows : —

"I bless God, my lord, that I was the person who had
the pleasure to bring his Majesty's mild message to the
Lieutenant, discharging the higher prosecution against ye,
for anything meditated against his Majesty's sacred person ;
for, admit you be prosecuted on the lesser offence, or
breach of privilege of the Palace and its precincts, usque
ad mutilationem^ even to dismemberation, as it is most
likely you will, yet the loss of a member is nothing to
being hanged and drawn quick, after the fashion of a
traitor."

" I should feel the shame of having deserved such a pun-
ishment," answered Nigel, "more than the pain of under-
going it."

" Doubtless, my lord, the having, as you say, deserved it,
must be an excruciation to your own mind," replied his
tormentor — "a kind of mental and metaphysical hanging,
drawing, and quartering, which may be in some measure
equipollent with the external application of hemp, iron, fire,
and the like, to the outer man."

"I say, Sir Mungo," repeated Nigel, "and beg you to
understand my words, that I am unconscious of any error,
save that of having arms on my person when I chanced to
approach that of my Sovereign."

"Ye are right, my lord, to acknowledge nothing," said
Sir Mungo. "We have an old proverb — Confess, and — so
forth. And indeed, as to the weapons, his Majesty has a
special ill-will at all arms whatsoever, and more especially

464 The Fortunes of Nigel.

pistols ; but, as I said, there is an end of that matter.* I
wish you as well through the next, which is altogether un-
likely."

" Surely, Sir Mungo," answered Nigel, " you yourself might
say something in my favour concerning the affair in the Park.
None knows better than you that I was at that moment urged
by wrongs of the most heinous nature offered to me by Lord
Dalgarno, many of which were reported to me by yourself,
much to the inflammation of my passion."

" Alack-a-day ! alack-a-day ! " replied Sir Mungo, " I re-
member but too well how much your choler was inflamed,
in spite of the various remonstrances which I made to you
respecting the sacred nature of the place. Alas ! alas ! you
cannot say you leaped into the mire for want of warning."

"I see, Sir Mungo, you are determined to remember
nothing which can do me service," said Nigel.

" Blithely would I do ye service," said the Knight ; " and
the best whilk I can think of is to tell you the process of the
punishment to the whilk you will be indubitably subjected,
I having had the good fortune to behold it performed in the
Queen's time, on a chield that had written a pasquinade. I
was then in my Lord Gray's train, who lay leaguer here, and,
being always covetous of pleasing and profitable sights, I
could not dispense with being present on the occasion."

" I should be surprised indeed," said Lord Glenvarloch,

* Wilson informs us that when Colonel Grey, a Scotsman who affected -
the buff dress even in the time of peace, appeared in that military garb
at Court, the King, seeing him with a case of pistols at his girdle, which
he never greatly liked, told him merrily, "he was now so fortified that,
if he were but well victualled, he would be impregnable."— WILSON'S
Life and Reign of James VI. , apud RENNET'S History of England,
vol. 11. p. 389. In 1612, the tenth year of James's reign, there was a
rumour abroad that a shipload of pocket-pistols had been exported from
Spam, with a view to a general massacre of the Protestants. Proclama-
tions were of consequence sent forth, prohibiting all persons from carry-
ing pistols under a foot long in the barrel. Ibid., p. 690.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 465

";.f you had so far put restraint upon your benevolence as
to stay away from such an exhibition."

"Hey! was your lordship praying me to be present at
your own execution?" answered the Knight. "Troth, my
lord, it will be a painful sight to a friend, but I will rather
punish myself than balk you. It is a pretty pageant, in the
main — a very pretty pageant. The fallow came on with
such a bold face, it was a pleasure to look on him. He
was dressed all in white, to signify harmlessness and inno-
cence. The thing was done on a scaffold at Westminster
— most likely yours will be at Charing. There were the
Sheriff's and the Marshal's men, and what not — the execu-
tioner, with his cleaver and mallet, and his man, with a pan
of hot charcoal and the irons for cautery. He was a dex-
terous fallow that Derrick. This man Gregory is not fit to
jipper a joint with him. It might be worth your lordship's
while to have the loon sent to a barber-surgeon's to learn
some needful scantling of anatomy — it may be for the benefit
of yourself and other unhappy sufferers, and also a kindness
to Gregory."

" I will not take the trouble," said Nigel. " If the laws
will demand my hand, the executioner may get it off as he
best can. If the King leaves it where it is, it may chance to
do him better service."

"Vera noble — vera grand indeed, my lord," said Sir
Mungo. "It is pleasant to see a brave man suffer. This
fallow whom I spoke of — this Tiibbs, or Stubbs, or whatever
the plebeian was called — came forward as brave as an em-
peror, and said to the people, 'Good friends, I come to
leave here the hand of a true Englishman,' and clapped it
on the dressing-block with as much ease as if he had laid
it on his sweetheart's shoulder ; whereupon Derrick the hang-
man adjusting — d'ye mind me ? — the edge of his cleaver on
the very joint, hit it with the mallet with such force that the

466 The Fortunes of Nigel.

hand flew off as far from the owner as a gauntlet which the
challenger casts down in the tilt-yard. Well, sir, Stubbs, or
Tubbs, lost no whit of countenance, until the fallow clapped
the hissing hot iron on his raw stump. My lord, it fizzed
like a rasher of bacon, and the fallow set up an elritch
screech, which made some think his courage was abated;
but not a whit, for he plucked off his hat with his left hand,
and waved it, crying, 'God save the Queen, and confound
all evil counsellors!7 The people gave him three cheers,
which he deserved for his stout heart; and, truly, I hope
to see your lordship suffer with the same magnanimity/'

" I thank you, Sir Mungo," said Nigel, who had not been
able to forbear some natural feelings of an unpleasant nature
during this lively detail. "I have no doubt the exhibition
will be a very engaging one to you and the other spectators,
whatever it may prove to the party principally concerned."

" Vera engaging," answered Sir Mungo, " vera interesting
— vera interesting indeed, though not altogether so much
so as an execution for high treason. I saw Digby, the
Winters, Fawkes, and the rest of the gunpowder gang, surfer
for that treason, whilk was a vera grand spectacle, as well in
regard to their sufferings as to their constancy in enduring."

" I am the more obliged to your goodness, Sir Mungo,"
replied Nigel, "that has induced you, although you have
lost the sight, to congratulate me on my escape from the
hazard of making the same edifying appearance."

"As you say, my lord," answered Sir Mungo, "the loss is
chiefly in appearance. Nature has been very bountiful to
us, and has given duplicates of some organs, that we may
endure the loss of one of them, should some such circum-
stance chance in our pilgrimage. See my poor dexter,
abridged to one thumb, one finger, and a stump — by the
blow of my adversary's weapon, however, and not by any

The Fortunes of Nigel 467

carnificial knife. Weel, sir, this poor maimed hand doth
me, in some sort, as much service as ever ; and, admit yours
to be taken off by the wrist, you have still your left hand
for your service, and are better off than the little Dutch
dwarf here about town, who threads a needle, limns, writes,
and tosses a pike, merely by means of his feet, without ever
a hand to help him."

"Well, Sir Mungo," said Lord Glenvarloch, "this is all
no doubt very consolatory ; but I hope the King will spare
my hand to fight for him in battle, where, notwithstanding
all your kind encouragement, I could spend my blood much
more cheerfully than on a scaffold."

" It is even a sad truth," replied Sir Mungo, " that your
lordship was but too like to have died on a scaffold — not
a soul to speak for you but that deluded lassie, Maggie
Ramsay."

" Whom mean you ? " said Nigel, with more interest than
he had hitherto shown in the Knight's communications.

" Nay, who should I mean but that travestied lassie whom
we dined with when we honoured Heriot, the goldsmith?
Ye ken best how ye have made interest with her, but I saw
her on her knees to the King for you. She was committed
to my charge, to bring her up hither in honour and safety.
Had I had my own will, I would have had her to Bridewell,
to flog the wild blood out of her — a cutty quean, to think of
wearing the breeches, and not so much as married yet ! "

" Hark ye, Sir Mungo Malagrowther," answered Nigel, " I
would have you talk of that young person with fitting
respect."

" With all the respect that befits your lordship's paramour,
and Davie Ramsay's daughter, I shall certainly speak of her,
my lord," said Sir Mungo, assuming a dry tone of irony.

Nigel was greatly disposed to have made a serious quarrel
of it, but with Sir Mungo such an affair would have been

468 The Fortunes of Nigel.

ridiculous ', he smothered his resentment, therefore, and con-
jured him to tell what he had heard and seen respecting this
young person.

"Simply, that I was in the anteroom when she had
audience, and heard the King say, to my great perplexity,
' Pulchra sane puella ;' and Maxwell, who hath but indiffer-
ent Latin ears, thought that his Majesty called on him by his
own name of Sawney, and thrust into the presence, and there
I saw our Sovereign James, with his own hand, raising up
the lassie, who, as I said heretofore, was travestied in man's
attire. I should have had my own thoughts of it, but our
gracious Master is auld, and was nae great gillravager amang
the queans even in his youth ; and he was comforting her in
his own way and saying, * Ye needna greet about it, my
bonnie woman, Glenvarlochides shall have fair play; and,
indeed, when the hurry was off our spirits, we could not
believe that he had any design on our person. And touch-
ing his other offences, we will look wisely and closely into
the matter.' So I got charge to take the young fence-louper
to the Tower here, and deliver her to the charge of Lady
Mansel ; and his Majesty charged me to say not a word to
her about your offences, for, said he, the poor thing is break-
ing her heart for him."

"And on this you have charitably founded the opinion, to
the prejudice of this young lady, which you have now thought
proper to express ? " said Lord Glenvarloch.

"In honest truth, my lord," replied Sir Mungo, "what
opinion would you have me form of a wench who gets into
male habiliments, and goes on her knees to the King, for a
wild young nobleman ? I wot not what the fashionable word
may be, for the phrase changes, though the custom abides.
But truly I must needs think this young leddy— if you call
Watchie Ramsay's daughter a young leddy — demeans her-
self more like a leddy of pleasure than a leddy of honour."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 469

"You do her egregious wrong, Sir Mungo," said Nigel;
" or rather you have been misled by appearances."

"So will all the world be misled, my lord," replied the
satirist, " unless you were doing that to disabuse them which
your father's son will hardly judge it fit to do."

" And what may that be, I pray you ? "

" E'en marry the lass — make her Leddy Glenvarloch. Ay,
ay, ye may start, but it's the course you are driving on.
Rather marry than do worse, if the worst be not done
already."

"Sir Mungo," said Nigel, "I pray you to forbear this
subject, and rather return to that of the mutilation, upon
which it pleased you to enlarge a short while since."

" I have not time at present," said Sir Mungo, hearing the
clock strike four; "but so soon as you shall have received
sentence, my lord, you may rely on my giving you the fullest
detail of the whole solemnity ; and I give you my word, as a
knight and gentleman, that I will myself attend you on the
scaffold, whoever may cast sour looks on me for doing so.
I bear a heart to stand by a friend in the worst of times."

So saying, he wished Lord Glenvarloch farewell, who felt
as heartily rejoiced at his departure, though it may be a bold
word, as any person who had ever undergone his society.

But when left to his own reflections, Nigel could not help
feeling solitude nearly as irksome as the company of Sir
Mungo Malagrowther. The total wreck of his fortune —
which seemed now to be rendered unavoidable by the loss
of the royal warrant, that had afforded him the means of
redeeming his paternal estate — was an unexpected and addi-
tional blow. When he had seen the warrant he could not
precisely remember, but was inclined to think it was in the
casket when he took out money to pay the miser for his
lodgings at Whitefriars. Since then the casket had been
almost constantly under his own eye, except during the short

4/O The Fortunes of Nigel.

time he was separated from his baggage by the arrest in
Greenwich Park. It might, indeed, have been taken out at
that time, for he had no reason to think either his person or
his property was in the hands of those who wished him well ;
but, on the other hand, the locks of the strong-box had
sustained no violence that he could observe, and, being of
a particular and complicated construction, he thought they
could scarce be opened without an instrument made on
purpose, adapted to their peculiarities, and for this there had
been no time. But, speculate as he would on the matter, it
was clear that this important document was gone, and prob-
able that it had passed into no friendly hands. " Let it be
so," said Nigel to himself. " I am scarcely worse off respect-
ing my prospects of fortune than when I first reached this
accursed city. But to be hampered with cruel accusations
and stained with foul suspicions — to be the object of pity of
the most degrading kind to yonder honest citizen, and of the
malignity of that envious and atrabilarious courtier, who can
endure the good fortune and good qualities of another no
more than the mole can brook sunshine — this is indeed a
deplorable reflection; and the consequences must stick to
my future life, and impede whatever my head, or my hand,
if it is left me, might be able to execute in my favour."

The feeling that he is the object of general dislike and
dereliction seems to be one of the most unendurably painful
to which a human being can be subjected. The most
atrocious criminals, whose nerves have not shrunk from
perpetrating the most horrid cruelty, suffer more from the
consciousness that no man will sympathize with their suffer-
ings than from apprehension of the personal agony of their
impending punishment, and are known often to attempt to
palliate their enormities, and sometimes altogether to deny
what is established by the clearest proof, rather than to leave
life under the general ban of humanity. It was no wonder

The Fortunes of Nigel. 471

that Nigel, labouring under the sense of general though
unjust suspicion, should, while pondering on so painful a
theme, recollect that one, at least, had not only believed him
innocent, but hazarded herself, with all her feeble power, to
interpose in his behalf.

"Poor girl!" he repeated — "poor, rash, but generous
maiden ! your fate is that of her in Scottish story who thrust
her arm into the staple of the door, to oppose it as a bar
against the assassins who threatened the murder of her
sovereign. The deed of devotion was useless, save to give
an immortal name to her by whom it was done, and whose
blood flows, it is said, in the veins of my house."

I cannot explain to the reader whether the recollection of
this historical deed of devotion, and the lively effect which
the comparison, a little overstrained perhaps, was likely to
produce in favour of Margaret Ramsay, was not qualified by
the concomitant ideas of ancestry and ancient descent with
which that recollection was mingled. But the contending
feelings suggested a new train of ideas. "Ancestry," he
thought, "and ancient descent, what are they to me? My
patrimony alienated — my title become a reproach — for what
can be so absurd as titled beggary ? — my character subjected
to suspicion, — I will not remain in this country ; and should
I, at leaving it, procure the society of one so lovely, so brave,
and so faithful, who should say that I derogated from the
rank which I am virtually renouncing ? "

There was something romantic and pleasing as he pursued
this picture of an attached and faithful pair, becoming all the
world to each other, and stemming the tide of fate arm in
arm ; and to be linked thus with a creature so beautiful, and
who had taken such devoted and disinterested concern in
his fortunes, formed itself into such a vision as romantic
youth loves best to dwell upon.

Suddenly his dream was painfully dispelled by the recol-

472 The Fortunes of Nigel

lection that its very basis rested upon the most selfish ingrati-
tude on his own part. Lord of his castle and his towers, his
forests and fields, his fair patrimony and noble name, his
mind would have rejected, as a sort of impossibility, the idea
of elevating to his rank the daughter of a mechanic ; but,
when degraded from his nobility, and plunged into poverty
and difficulties, he was ashamed to feel himself not unwilling
that this poor girl, in the blindness of her affection, should
abandon all the better prospects of her own settled condition,
to embrace the precarious and doubtful course which he
himself was condemned to. The generosity of Nigel's mind
recoiled from the selfishness of the plan of happiness which
he projected ; and he made a strong effort to expel from his
thoughts for the rest of the evening this fascinating female,
or, at least, not to permit them to dwell upon the perilous
circumstance that she was at present the only creature living
who seemed to consider him as an object of kindness.

He could not, however, succeed in banishing her from his
slumbers, when, after having spent a weary day, he betook
himself to a perturbed couch. The form of Margaret mingled
with the wild mass of dreams which his late adventures had
suggested; and even when, copying the lively narrative of
Sir Mungo, fancy presented to him the! blood bubbling and
hissing on the heated iron, Margaret stood behind him like
a spirit of light, to breathe healing on the wound. At length
nature was exhausted by these fantastic creations, and Nigel
slept, and slept soundly, uhtil awakened in the morning by
the sound of a well-known voice, which had often broken his
slumbers about the same hour,

The Fortunes of Nigel. 473

CHAPTER XXXI.

Marry, come up, sir, with your gentle blood !
Here's a red stream beneath this coarse blue doublet
That warms the heart as kindly as if drawn
From the far source of old Assyrian kings,
Who first made mankind subject to their sway.

Old Play.

THE sounds to which we alluded in our last were no other
than the grumbling tones of Richie Moniplies' voice.

This worthy, like some other persons who rank high in
their own opinion, was very apt, when he could have no
other auditor, to hold conversation with one who was sure
to be a willing listener — I mean with himself. He was now
brushing and arranging Lord Glenvarloch's clothes, with as
much composure and quiet assiduity as if he had never been
out of his service, and grumbling betwixt whiles to the fol-
lowing purpose : " Humph — ay, time cloak and jerkin were
through my hands. I question if horsehair has been passed
over them since they and I last parted. The embroidery
finely frayed too — and the gold buttons of the cloak. By my
conscience, and as I am an honest man, there is a round
dozen of them gane ! This comes of Alsatian frolics. God
keep us with His grace, and not give us over to our own
devices ! I see no sword — but that will be in respect of
present circumstances."

Nigel for some time could not help believing that he was
still in a dream, so improbable did it seem that his domestic,
whom he supposed to be in Scotland, should have found him
out, and obtained access to him, in his present circumstances.
Looking through the curtains, however, he became well
assured of the fact, when he beheld the stiff and bony length
of Richie, with a visage charged with nearly double its ordi-
nary degree of importance, employed sedulously in brushing
his master's cloak, and refreshing himself with whistling or

474 The Fortunes of Nigel.

humming, from interval to interval, some snatch of an old
melancholy Scottish ballad tune. Although sufficiently con-
vinced of the identity of the party, Lord Glenvarloch could
not help expressing his surprise in the superfluous question,
" In the name of Heaven, Richie, is this you ? "

"And wha else suld it be, my lord?" answered Richie.
" I dreamna that your lordship's levee in this place is like to
be attended by ony that are not bounden thereto by duty."

" I am rather surprised," answered Nigel, " that it should
be attended by any one at all, especially by you, Richie;
for you know that we parted, and I thought you had reached
Scotland long since."

" I crave your lordship's pardon, but we have not parted
yet, nor are soon likely so to do ; for there gang twa folk's
votes to the unmaking of a bargain, as to the making of ane.
Though it was your lordship's pleasure so to conduct yourself
that we were like to have parted, yet it was not, on reflection,
my will to be gone. To be plain, if your lordship does not
ken when you have a good servant, I ken when I have a
kind master ; and to say truth, you will be easier served now
than ever, for there is not much chance of your getting out
of bounds."

" I am indeed bound over to good behaviour," said Lord
Glenvarloch, with a smile ; " but I hope you will not take
advantage of my situation to be too severe on my follies,
Richie?"

" God forbid, my lord— God forbid ! " replied Richie, with
an expression betwixt a conceited consciousness of superior
wisdom and real feeling — " especially in consideration of
your lordship's having a due sense of them. I did indeed
remonstrate, as was my humble duty, but I scorn to cast that
up to your lordship now. Na, na, I am myself an erring
creature, very conscious of some small weaknesses — there is
no perfection in man."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 475

"But, Richie," said Lord Glenvarloch, "although I am
much obliged to you for your proffered service, it can be of
little use to me here, and may be of prejudice to yourself."

"Your lordship shall pardon me again," said Richie, whom
the relative situation of the parties had invested with ten
times his ordinary dogmatism; "but as I will manage the
matter, your lordship shall be greatly benefited by my serv-
ice, and I myself no whit prejudiced."

" I see not how that can be, my friend," said Lord Glen-
varloch, " since even as to your pecuniary affairs "

" Touching my pecuniars, my lord," replied Richie, " I am
indifferently weel provided ; and, as it chances, my living
here will be no burden to your lordship or distress to myself.
Only I crave permission to annex certain conditions to my
servitude with your lordship."

" Annex what you will," said Lord Glenvarloch, " for you
are pretty sure to take your own way whether you make any
conditions or not". Since you will not leave me, which were,
I think, your wisest course, you must, and I suppose will,
serve me only on such terms as you like yourself."

" All that I ask, my lord," said Richie gravely, and with a
tone of great moderation, " is to have the uninterrupted com-
mand of my own motions, for certain important purposes
which I have now in hand, always giving your lordship the
solace of my company and attendance at such times as
may be at once convenient for me and necessary for your
service."

" Of which, I suppose, you constitute yourself sole judge,"
replied Nigel, smiling.

"Unquestionably, my lord," answered Richie gravely j
"for your lordship can only know what yourself want;
whereas I, who see both sides of the picture, ken both what
is the best for your affairs, and what is the most needful for
my own."

4;6 The Fortunes of Nigel.

" Richie, my good friend," said Nigel, " I fear this arrange-
ment, which places the master much under the disposal of
the servant, would scarce suit us if we were both at large ;
but a prisoner as I am, I may be as well at your disposal as I
am at that of so many other persons, and so you may come
and go as you list, for I suppose you will not take my advice
to return to your own country and leave me to my fate."

" The deil be in my feet if I do," said Moniplies. " I am
not the lad to leave your lordship in foul weather, when I
followed you and fed upon you through the whole summer
day. And besides, there may be brave days behind, for
a' that has come and gane yet ; for

' It's hame, and it's hame, and it's hame we fain would be,
Though the cloud is in the lift, and the wind is on the lea ;
For the sun through the mirk blinks blithe on mine e'e,
Says, — I'll shine on ye yet in your ain countrie ! ' "

Having sung this stanza in the manner 'of a ballad-singer
whose voice has been cracked by matching his windpipe
against the bugle of the north blast, Richie Moniplies aided
Lord Glenvarloch to rise, attended his toilet with every
possible mark of the most solemn and deferential respect,
then waited upon him at breakfast, and finally withdrew,
pleading that he had business of importance which would
detain him for some hours.

Although Lord Glenvarloch necessarily expected to be
occasionally annoyed by the self-conceit and dogmatism of
Richie Moniplies' character, yet he could not but feel the
greatest pleasure from the firm and devoted attachment
which this faithful follower had displayed in the present
instance, and indeed promised himself an alleviation of the
ennui of his imprisonment, in having the advantage of his
services. It was, therefore, with pleasure that he learned
from the warder that his servant's attendance would be

The Fortunes of Nigel. 477

allowed at all times when the general rules of the fortress
permitted the entrance of strangers.

In the meantime, the magnanimous Richie Moniplies had
already reached Tower Wharf. Here, after looking with con-
tempt on several scullers by whom he was plied, and whose
services he rejected with a wave of his hand, he called with
dignity, " First oars ! " and stirred into activity several loung-
ing Tritons of the higher order, who had not, on his first
appearance, thought it worth while to accost him with proffers
of service. He now took possession of a wherry, folded his
arms within his ample cloak, and sitting down in the stern
with an air of importance, commanded them to row to
Whitehall Stairs. Having reached the Palace in safety, he
demanded to see Master Linklater, the under-clerk of his
Majesty's kitchen. The reply was, that he was not to be
spoken withal, being then employed in cooking a mess of
cock-a-leekie for the King's own mouth.

" Tell him," said Moniplies, " that it is a dear countryman
of his, who seeks to converse with him on matter of high
import."

" A dear countryman ? " said Linklater, when this pressing
message was delivered to him. " Well, let him come in and
be d — d, that I should say sae ! This now is some red-
headed, long-legged gillie-white-foot frae the West Port, that,
hearing of my promotion, is come up to be a turn-broche or
deputy scullion through my interest. It is a great hindrance
to any man who would rise in the world to have such friends
to hang by his skirts, in hope of being towed up along with
him. — Ha ! Richie Moniplies, man, is it thou ? And what
has brought ye here ? If they should ken thee for the loon
that scared the horse the other day "

" No more o' that, neighbour," said Richie. " I am just
here on the auld errand — I maun speak with the King."

"The King? Ye are red wud," said Linklater; then

478 The Fortunes of Nigel.

shouted to his assistants in the kitchen, "Look to the
broches, ye knaves — -pisces purga — Salsamenta fac macerentur
pulchre — I will make you understand Latin, ye knaves, as
becomes the scullions of King James." Then in a cautious
tone, to Richie's private ear, he continued, " Know ye not
how ill your master came off the other day ? I can tell you
that job made some folk shake for their office."

"Weel, but, Laurie, ye maun befriend me this time, and
get this wee bit sifflication slipped into his Majesty's ain
most gracious hand. I promise you the contents will be
most grateful to him."

" Richie," answered Linklater, " you have certainly sworn
to say your prayers in the porter's lodge, with your back
bare, and twa grooms, with dog-whips, to cry amen to you."

"Na, na, Laurie, lad," said Richie, "I ken better what
belangs to sifflications than I did 'yon day ; and ye will say
that yoursel', if ye will but get that bit note to the King's
hand."

" I will have neither hand nor foot in the matter," said the
cautious Clerk of the Kitchen; "but there is his Majesty's
mess of cock-a-leekie just going to be served to him in his
closet. I cannot prevent you from putting the letter be-
tween the gilt bowl and the platter ; his sacred Majesty will
see it when he lifts the bowl, for he aye drinks out the
broth."

" Enough said," replied Richie, and deposited the paper
accordingly, just before a page entered to carry away the
mess to his Majesty.

" Aweel, aweel, neighbour," said Laurence, when the mess
was taken away, "if ye have done onything to bring your-
sel' to the withy, or the scourging-post, it is your ain wilful
deed."

" I will blamerno other for it," said Richie ; and with that
undismayed pertinacity of conceit, which made a fundamental

The Fortunes of Nigel. 479

part of his character, he abode the issue, which was not long
of arriving.

In a few minutes Maxwell himself arrived in the apartment,
and demanded hastily who had placed a writing on the King's
trencher. Linklater denied all knowledge of it ; but Richie
Moniplies, stepping boldly forth, pronounced the emphatical
confession, " I am the man."

"Follow me, then," said Maxwell, after regarding him
with a look of great curiosity.

They went up a private staircase — even that private stair-
case, the privilege of which at Court is accounted a nearer
road to power than the grandes entrees themselves. Arriving
in what Richie described as an " ill redd-up " anteroom, the
usher made a sign to him to stop, while he went into the
King's closet. Their conference was short, and as Maxwell
opened the door to retire, Richie heard the conclusion
of it.

" Ye are sure he is not dangerous ? I was caught once.
Bide within call, but not nearer the door than within three
geometrical cubits. If I speak loud, start to me like a falcon •
if I speak loun, keep your lang lugs out of ear-shot. And
now let him come in."

Richie passed forward at Maxwell's mute signal, and in
a moment found himself in the presence of the King. Most
men of Richie's birth and breeding, and many others, would
have been abashed at finding themselves alone with their
Sovereign. But Richie Moniplies had an opinion of himself
too high to be controlled by any such ideas; and having
made his stiff reverence, he arose once more into his per-
pendicular height, and stood before James as stiff as a
hedge-stake.

"Have ye gotten them, man? have ye gotten them?"
said the King, in a fluttered state, betwixt hope and eager-
ness, and some touch of suspicious fear. " Gie me them —

480 The Fortunes of Nigel.

gie me them — before ye speak a word, I charge you, on your
allegiance."

Richie took a box from his bosom, and, stooping on one
knee," presented it to his Majesty, who hastily opened it, and
having ascertained that it contained a certain carcanet of
rubies, with which the reader was formerly made acquainted,
he could not resist falling into a sort of rapture, kissing the
gems, as if they had been capable of feeling, and repeating
again and again with childish delight, " Onyx cum prole,
silexque — Onyx cum prole! Ah, my bright and bonny
sparklers, my heart loups light to see you again." He
then turned to Richie, upon whose stoical countenance his
Majesty's demeanour had excited something like a grim
smile, which James interrupted his rejoicing to reprehend,
saying, " Take heed, sir, you are not to laugh at us — we are
your anointed Sovereign."

" God forbid that I should laugh ! " said Richie, composing
his countenance into its natural rigidity. " I did but smile,
to bring my visage into coincidence and conformity with
your Majesty's physiognomy."

" Ye speak as a dutiful subject, and an honest man," said
the King ; " but what deil's your name, man ? "

" Even Richie Moniplies, the son of auld Mungo Moniplies,
at the West Port of Edinburgh, who had the hdaour to supply
your Majesty's mother's royal table, as weel as your Majesty's,
with flesh and other vivers, when time was."

" Aha ! " said the King, laughing — for he possessed, as a
useful attribute of his situation, a tenacious memory, which
recollected every one with whom he was brought into casual
contact — "ye are the self-same traitor who had weel-nigh
coupit us endlang on the causey of our ain courtyard ? but
we stuck by our mare. Equam memento rebus in arduis
servare. Weel, be not dismayed, Richie ; for, as many men
have turned traitors, it is but fair that a traitor, now and

The Fortunes of Nigel. 481

then, suld prove to be, contra expectanda, a true man. How
cam ye by our jewels, man ? — cam ye on the part of George
Heriot?"

" In no sort," said Richie. " May it please your Majesty,
I come as Harry Wynd fought, utterly for my own hand, and
on no man's errand ; as, indeed, I call no one master, save
Him that made me, your most gracious Majesty who governs
me, and the noble Nigel Olifaunt, Lord of Glenvarloch, who
maintained me as lang as he could maintain himself, poor
nobleman ! "

" Glenvarlochides again!" exclaimed the King; "by my
honour, he lies in ambush for us at every corner ! Maxwell
knocks at the door. It is George Heriot come to tell us he
cannot find these jewels. Get thee behind the arras, Richie
— stand close, man — sneeze not — cough not — breathe not !
Jingling Geordie is so damnably ready with his gold-ends
of wisdom, and sae cursedly backward with his gold-ends
of siller, that, by our royal saul, we are glad to get a hair in
his neck."

Richie got behind the arras, in obedience to the commands
of the good-natured King, while the Monarch, who never
allowed his dignity to stand in the way of a frolic, having
adjusted, with his own hand, the tapestry, so as to complete
the ambush, commanded Maxwell to tell him what was the
matter without. Maxwell's reply was so low as to be lost by
Richie Moniplies, the peculiarity of whose situation by no
means abated his curiosity and desire to gratify it to the
uttermost

"Let Geordie Heriot come in," said the King; and, as
Richie could observe through a slit in the tapestry, the
honest citizen, if not actually agitated, was at least discom-
posed. The King, whose talent for wit, or humour, was
precisely of a kind to be gratified by such a scene as ensued,
received his homage with coldness, and began to talk to him

482 The Fortunes of Nigel

with an air of serious dignity, very different from the usual
indecorous levity of his behaviour. "Master Heriot," he
said, " if we aright remember, we opignorated in your hands
certain jewels of the Crown, for a certain sum of money.
Did we, or did we not ? "

" My most gracious Sovereign," said Heriot, " indisputably
your Majesty was pleased to do so."

" The property of which jewels and cimelia remained with
us," continued the King, in the same solemn tone, " subject
only to your claim of advance thereupon; which advance
being repaid, gives us right to repossession of the thing
opignorated, or pledged, or laid in wad. Voetius, Vinnius,
Groenwigeneus, Pagenstecherus, — all who have treated de
Contractu Opignerationis, consentiunt in eundem, — gree on
the same point. The Roman law, the English common
law, and the municipal law of our ain ancient kingdom
of Scotland, though they split in mair particulars than I
could desire, unite as strictly in this as the three strands of
a twisted rope."

" May it please your Majesty," replied Heriot, "it requires
not so many learned authorities to prove to any honest man
that his interest in a pledge is determined when the money
lent is restored."

"Weel, sir, I proffer restoration of the sum lent, and I
demand to be repossessed of the jewels pledged with you,
I gave ye a hint, brief while since, that this would be
essential to my service; for, as approaching events are like
to call us into public, it would seem strange if we did not
appear with those ornaments, which are heirlooms of the
Crown, and the absence whereof is like to place us in
contempt and suspicion with our liege subjects."

Master George Heriot seemed much moved by this address
of his Sovereign, and replied with emotion, " I call Heaven
to witness that I am totally harmless in this matter, and

The Fortunes of NzgeL 483

that I would willingly lose the sum advanced, so that I
could restore those jewels, the absence of which your
Majesty so justly laments. Had the jewels remained with
me, the account of them would be easily rendered ; but your
Majesty will do me the justice to remember that, by your
express order, I transferred them to another person, who
advanced a large sum, just about the time of my departure
for Paris. The money was pressingly wanted, and no other
means to come by it occurred to me. I told your Majesty,
when I brought the needful supply, that the man from whom
the moneys were obtained was of no good repute ; and your
most princely answer was, smelling to the gold, Non olet — it
smells not of the means that have gotten it."

"Weel, man," said the King, "but what needs a' this
din ? If ye gave my jewels in pledge to such a one, suld
ye not, as a liege subject, have taken care that the re-
demption was in our power ? And are we to suffer the loss
of our cimelia by your neglect, besides being exposed to
the scorn and censure of our lieges, and of the foreign
ambassadors ? "

" My Lord and liege King," said Heriot, " God knows, if
my bearing blame or shame in this matter would keep it
from your Majesty, it were my duty to endure both, as a
servant grateful for many benefits ; but when your Majesty
considers the violent death of the man himself, the dis-
appearance of his daughter and of his wealth, I trust you
will remember that I warned your Majesty, in humble duty,
of the possibility of such casualties, and prayed you not to
urge me to deal with him on your behalf."

" But you brought me nae better means," said the King —
1 Geordie, ye brought me nae better means. I was like a
deserted man , what could I do but grip to the first siller
.hat offered, as a drowning man grasps to the willow-wand
hat comes readiest ? And now. man, what for have ye not

484 The Fortunes of Nigel.

brought back the jewels ? They are surely above ground, if
ye wad make strict search."

"All strict search has been made, may it please your
Majesty," replied the citizen; "hue and cry has been sent
out everywhere, and it has been found impossible to recover
them."

" Difficult, ye mean, Geordie, not impossible," replied the
King. " For that whilk is impossible is either naturally so — -
exempli gratia, to make two into three — or morally so, as to
make what is truth falsehood ; but what is only difficult may
come to pass, with assistance of wisdom and patience — as,
for example, Jingling Geordie, look here!" And he dis-
played the recovered treasure to the eyes of the astonished
jeweller, exclaiming, with great triumph, "What say ye to
that, Jingler? By my sceptre and crown, the man stares as
if he took his native prince for a warlock ! — us that are the
very malleus maleficarum, the contunding and contriturating
hammer of all witches, sorcerers, magicians, and the like ; he
thinks we are taking a touch of the black art oursel's ! But
gang thy way, honest Geordie ; thou art a good plain man,
but nane of the seven sages of Greece — gang thy way, and
mind the soothfast word which you spoke, small time syne,
that there is one in this land that comes near to Solomon,
King of Israel, in all his gifts, except in his love to strange
women, forby the daughter of Pharaoh."

If Heriot was surprised at seeing the jewels so unexpectedly
produced at the moment the King was upbraiding him for
the loss of them, this allusion to the reflection which had
escaped him while conversing with Lord Glenvarloch alto-
gether completed his astonishment; and the King was so
delighted with the superiority which it gave him at the
moment that he rubbed his hands, chuckled, and, finally,
his sense of dignity giving way to the full feeling of triumph,
he threw himself into his easy-chair, and laughed with un-

The Fortunes of Nigel. 485

constrained violence till he lost his breath, and the tears ran
plentifully down his cheeks as he strove to recover it. Mean-
while, the royal cachinnation was echoed out by a discordant
and portentous laugh from behind the arras, like that of one
who, little accustomed to give way to such emotions, feels
himself at some particular impulse unable either to control
or to modify his obstreperous mirth. Heriot turned his
head with new surprise towards the place from which
sounds so unfitting the presence of a monarch seemed to
burst with such emphatic clamour.

The King, too, somewhat sensible of the indecorum, rose
up, wiped his eyes, and calling, "Todlowrie, come out o'
your den," he produced from behind the arras the length
of Richie Moniplies, still laughing with as unrestrained mirth
as ever did gossip at a country christening. " Whisht, man,
whisht, man," said the King ; " ye needna nicher that gait,
like a cusser at a caup o' corn, e'en though it was a pleasing
jest, and our ain framing. And yet to see Jingling Geordie,
that hauds himself so much the wiser than other folk — to see
him, ha ! ha ! ha ! — in the vein of Euclio apud Plautum, dis-
tressing himself to recover what was lying at his elbow —

' Perii, interii, occidi — quo curram ? quo non curram ? —
Tene, tene — quern? quis? nescio — nihil video.'

Ah ! Geordie, your een are sharp enough to look after gowd
and silver, gems, rubies, and the like of that, and yet ye kenna
how to come by them when they are lost. Ay, ay — look at
them, man — look at them ; they are a' right and tight, sound
and round, not a doublet crept in amongst them."

George Heriot, when his first surprise was over, was too old
a courtier to interrupt the King's imaginary triumph, although
he darted a look of some displeasure at honest Richie, who
still continued on what is usually termed the broad grin.

486 The Fortunes of Nigel.

He quietly examined the stones, and finding them all perfect,
he honestly and sincerely congratulated his Majesty on the
recovery of a treasure which could not have been lost with-
out some dishonour to the Crown ; and asked to whom he
himself was to pay the sums for which they had been pledged,
observing that he had the money by him in readiness.

"Ye are in a deevil of a hurry, when there is paying in
the case, Geordie," said the King. "What's a' the haste,
man? The jewels were restored by an honest, kindly
countryman of ours. There he stands ; and wha kens if he
wants the money on the nail, or if he might not be as weel
pleased wi' a bit rescript on our treasury some six months
hence? Ye ken that our Exchequer is even at a low ebb
just now, and ye cry pay, pay, pay, as if we had all the
mines of Ophir."

" Please your Majesty," said Heriot, " if this man has the
real right to these moneys, it is doubtless at his will to grant
forbearance, if he will. But when I remember the guise in
which I first saw him, with a tattered cloak and a broken
head, I can hardly conceive it. — Are not you Richie Moni-
plies, with the King's favour?"

" Even sae, Master Heriot — of the ancient and honourable
house of Castle Collop, near to the West Port of Edinburgh,'1
answered Richie.

"Why, please your Majesty, he is a poor serving-man,'!
said Heriot. "This money can never be honestly at his
disposal."

"What for no?" said the King. "Wad ye have naebody
spraickle up the brae but yourseP, Geordie ? Your ain cloak
was thin enough when ye cam here, though ye have lined
it gey and weel. And for serving-men, there has mony a
red-shank come over the Tweed wi' his master's wallet on his
shoulders, that now rustles it wi' his six followers behind him,
There stands the man himsel' ; spier at him, Geordie."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 487

" His may not be the best authority in the case," answered
the cautious citizen.

"Tut, tut, man," s'aid the King, "ye are over-scrupulous.
The knave deer-stealers have an apt phrase, Non est inqui-
rendum unde venit VENISON. He that brings the gudes hath
surely a right to dispose of the gear. — Hark ye, friend, speak
the truth and shame the deil. Have ye plenary powers to
dispose on the redemption-money as to delay of payments,
or the like, ay or no ? "

" Full power, an it like your gracious Majesty," answered
Richie Moniplies; "and I am maist willing to subscrive
to whatsoever may in ony wise accommodate your Majesty
anent the redemption-money, trusting your Majesty's grace
will be kind to me in one sma' favour."

"Ey, man," said the King, "come ye to me there? I
thought ye wad e'en be like the rest of them. One would
think our subjects' lives and goods were all our ain, and
holden of us at our free will; but when we stand in need
of ony matter of siller from them, which chances more
frequently than we would it did, deil a boddle is to be had,
save on the auld terms of giff-gaff. It is just niffer for niffer.
Aweel, neighbour, what is it that ye want — some monopoly,
I reckon ? Or it may be a grant of kirk-lands and teinds,
or a knighthood, or the like? Ye maun be reasonable,
unless ye propose to advance more money for our present
occasions."

"My liege," answered Richie Moniplies, "the owner of
these moneys places them at your Majesty's command, free
of all pledge or usage as long as it is your royal pleasure,
providing your Majesty will condescend to show some favour
to the noble Lord Glenvarloch, presently prisoner in your
royal Tower of London."

" How, man — how, man — how, man ! " exclaimed the King,
reddening and stammering, but with emotions more noble

488 The Fortunes of Nigel

than those by which he was sometimes agitated — "what is
it that you dare to say to us? Sell our justice! — sell our
mercy j — and we a crowned King, sworn to do justice to our
subjects in the gate, and responsible for our stewardship to
Him that is over all kings ? " Here he reverently looked up,
touched his bonnet, and continued, with some sharpness,
" We dare not traffic in such commodities, sir ; and, but that
ye are a poor ignorant creature, that have done us this day
some not unpleasant service, we wad have a red iron driven
through your tongue, in terrorem of others. — Awa with him,
Geordie — pay him, plack and bawbee, out of our moneys in
your hands, and let them care that come ahint."

Richie, who had counted with the utmost certainty upon
the success of this master-stroke of policy, was like an
architect whose whole scaffolding at once gives way under
him. He caught, however, at what he thought might break
his fall. "Not only the sum for which the jewels were
pledged," he said, " but the double of it, if required, should
be placed at his Majesty's command, and even without hope
or condition of repayment, if only "

But the King did not allow him to complete the sentence,
crying out with greater vehemence than before, as if he
dreaded the stability of his own good resolutions, " Awa wi'
him — swith awa wi' him! It is time he were gane, if he
doubles his bode that gate. And, for your life, letna Steenie,
or ony of them, hear a word from his mouth ; for wha kens
what trouble that might bring me into? Ne tnducas in
tentationem. — Vade retro, Sathanas I — Amen"

In obedience to the royal mandate, George Heriot hurried
the abashed petitioner out of the presence and out of the
Palace ; and, when they were in the Palace yard, the citizen,
remembering with some resentment the airs of equality which
Richie had assumed towards him in the commencement of
the scene which had just taken place, could not forbear to

The Fortunes of Nigel. 489

retaliate, by congratulating him, with an ironical smile, on
his favour at Court, and his improved grace in presenting
a supplication.

"Never fash your beard about that, Master George
Heriot," said Richie, totally undismayed ; " but tell me
when and where I am to sifflicate you for eight hundred
pounds sterling, for which these jewels stood engaged ? "

"The instant that you bring with you the real owner of
the money," replied Heriot, "whom it is important that
I should see on more accounts than one."

" Then will I back to his Majesty," said Richie Moniplies
stoutly, " and get either the money or the pledge back again.
I am fully commissionate to act in that matter."

" It may be so, Richie," said the citizen, " and perchance
it may not be so either, for your tales are not all gospel;
and, therefore, be assured I will see that it is so, ere I pay
you that large sum of money. I shall give you an acknow-
ledgment for it, and I will keep it prestable at a moment's
warning. But, my good Richard Moniplies, of Castle Collop,
near the West Port of Edinburgh, in the meantime I am
bound to return to his Majesty on matters of weight." So
speaking, and mounting the stair to re-enter the Palace, he
added, by way of summing up the whole, " George Heriot
is over old a cock to be caught with chaff."

Richie stood petrified when he beheld him re-enter the
Palace, and found himself, as he supposed, left in the lurch.
"Now, plague on ye," he muttered, "for a cunning auld
skinflint! that, because ye are an honest man yourseP, for-
sooth, must needs deal with all the world as if they were
knaves. But deil be in me if ye beat me yet ! — Gude guide
us ! yonder comes Laurie Linklater next, and he will be
on me about the sifflication. I winna stand him, by Saint
Andrew ! "

So saying, and changing the haughty stride with which he

49O The Fortunes of Nigel.

had that morning entered the precincts of the Palace, into
a skulking shamble, he retreated for his wherry, which was
in attendance, with speed which, to use the approved phrase
on such occasions, greatly resembled a flight

CHAPTER XXXII.

Benedict. This looks not like a nuptial.

Muck Ado about Nothing.

MASTER GEORGE HERIOT had no sooner returned to the
King's apartment than James inquired of Maxwell if the
Earl of Huntinglen was in attendance, and, receiving an
answer in the affirmative, desired that he should be admitted.
The old Scottish Lord having made his reverence in the*
usual manner, the King extended his hand to be kissed, and
then began to address him in a tone of great sympathy : —

"We told your lordship in our secret epistle of this
morning, written with our ain hand, in testimony we have
neither pretermitted nor forgotten your faithful service, that
we had that to communicate to you that would require both
patience and fortitude to endure, and therefore exhorted
you to peruse some of the most pithy passages of Seneca,
and of Boethius de Consolatione, that the back may be, as
we say, fitted for the burden. This we commend to you
from our ain experience.

*Non ignara mali, miseris succurrere disco,'

sayeth Dido, and I might say in my own person, non
ignarus ; but to change the gender would affect the prosody,
whereof our southern subjects are tenacious. So, my lord
of Huntinglen, I trust you have acted by our advice, and
studied patience before ye need it — venienti occurrite morbo
— mix the medicament when the disease is coming on."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 491

" May it please your Majesty," answered Lord Huntinglen,
"I am more of an old soldier than a scholar; and 'if my
own rough nature will not bear me out in any calamity,
I hope I shall have grace to try a text of Scripture to
boot."

" Ay, man, are you there with your bears ? " said the King.
" The Bible, man " (touching his cap), " is indeed principium
et fons ; but it is pity your lordship cannot peruse it in the
original. For although we did ourselves promote that work
of translation — since ye may read, at the beginning of every
Bible, that when some palpable clouds of darkness were
thought like to have overshadowed the land, after the setting
of that bright occidental star, Queen Elizabeth, yet our
appearance, like that of the sun in his strength, instantly
dispelled these surmised mists — I say, that although, as
therein mentioned, we countenanced the preaching of the
gospel, and especially the translation of the Scriptures out
of the original sacred tongues, yet, nevertheless, we our-
selves confess to have found a comfort in consulting them
in the original Hebrew, whilk we do not perceive even in
the Latin version of the Septuagint, much less in the English
traduction."

"Please your Majesty," said Lorii Huntinglen, "if your
Majesty delays communicating the bad news with which
your honoured letter threatens me, until I am capable to
read Hebrew like your Majesty, I fear I shall die in ignor-
ance of the misfortune which hath befallen, or is about to
befall, my house."

"You will learn it but too soon, my lord," replied the
King. "I grieve to say it, but your son Dalgarno, whom
I thought a very saint, as he was so much with Steenie and
Baby Charles, hath turned out a very villain."

" Villain ! " repeated Lord Huntinglen ; and though he
instantly checked himself, and added, " but it is your Majesty

492 The Fortunes of Nigel.

speaks the word," the effect of his first tone made the King
step back as if he had received a blow. He also recovered
himself again, and said, in the pettish way which usually
indicated his displeasure, "Yes, my lord, it was we that
said it — non surdo canis — we are not deaf — we pray you not
to raise your voice in speech with us. There is the bonny
memorial — read, and judge for yourself."

The King then thrust into the old nobleman's hand a
paper, containing the story of the Lady Hermione, with the
evidence by which it was supported, detailed so briefly and
clearly that the infamy of Lord Dalgarno, the lover by
whom she had been so shamefully deceived, seemed un-
deniable. But a father yields not up so easily the cause
of his son. .

"May it please your Majesty," he said, ",why was this
tale not sooner told ? This woman hath been here for years
— wherefore was the claim on my son not made the instant
she touched English ground ? "

" Tell him how that came about, Geordie," said the King,
addressing Heriot.

" I grieve to distress my Lord Huntinglen," said Heriot,
"but I must speak the truth. For a long time the Lady
Hermione could not brook the idea of making her situation
public; and when her mind became changed in that par-
ticular, it was necessary to recover the evidence of the false
marriage, and letters and papers connected with it, which,
when she came to Paris, and just before I saw her, she had
deposited with a correspondent of her father in that city.
He became afterwards bankrupt, and in consequence of that
misfortune the lady's papers passed into other hands, and
it is only a few days since I traced and recovered them.
Without these documents of evidence, it would have been
imprudent for her to have preferred her complaint, favoured
as Lord Dalgarno is by powerful friends."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 493

" Ye are saucy to say sae," said the King. " I ken what
ye mean weel eneuch — ye think Steenie wad hae putten the
weight of his foot into the scales of justice, and garr'd them
whomle the bucket. Ye forget, Geordie, wha it is, whose
hand uphaulds them. And ye do poor Steenie the mair
wrang, for he confessed it ance before us and our Privy
Council, that Dalgarno would have put the quean aff on
him, the puir simple bairn, making him trow that she was
a light-o'-love; in whilk mind he remained assured even
when he parted from her, albeit Steenie might hae weel
thought ane of thae cattle wadna hae resisted the like of
him."

" The Lady Hermione," said George Heriot, " has always
done the utmost justice to the conduct of the Duke, who,
although strongly possessed with prejudice against her char-
acter, yet scorned to avail himself of her distress, and on the
contrary supplied her with the means of extricating herself
from her difficulties."

" It was e'en like himsel' — blessings on his bonny face ! "
said the King; "and I believed this lady's tale the mair
readily, my Lord Huntinglen, that she spake nae ill of
Steenie. And to make a lang tale short, my lord, it is the
opinion of our council and ourself, as weel as of Baby
Charles and Steenie, that your son maun amend his wrong
by wedding this lady, or undergo such disgrace and discoun-
tenance as we can bestow."

The person to whom he spoke was incapable of answering
him. He stood before the King motionless, and glaring
with eyes of which even the lids seemed immovable, as if
suddenly converted into an ancient statue of the times of
chivalry, so instantly had his hard features and strong limbs
been arrested into rigidity by the blow he had received.
And in a second afterwards, like the same statue when the
lightning breaks upon it, he sunk at once to the ground with

494 7%* Fortunes of Nigel.

a heavy groan. The King was in the utmost alarm, called
upon Heriot and Maxwell for help, and, presence of mina
not being his forte^ ran to and fro in his cabinet, exclaiming,
" My ancient and beloved servant, who saved our anointed
self! Vae atque dolor! My Lord of Huntinglen, look up —
look up, man, and your son may marry the Queen of Sheba
if he will."

By this time Maxwell and Heriot had raised the old noble-
man and placed him on a chair ; while the King, observing
that he began to recover himself, continued his consolations
more methodically.

" Haud up your head — haud up your head, and listen to
your ain kind native Prince. If there is shame, man, it
comesna empty-handed. There is siller to gild it — a gude
tocher, and no that bad a pedigree. If she has been a loon,
it was your son made her sae, and he can make her an
honest woman again."

These suggestions, however reasonable in the common
case, gave no comfort to Lord Huntinglen, if indeed he
fully comprehended them ; but the blubbering of his good-
natured old master, which began to accompany and interrupt
his royal speech, produced more rapid effect. The large
tear gushed reluctantly from his eye as he kissed the withered
hands, which the King, weeping with less dignity and re-
straint, abandoned to him, first alternately and then both
together, until the feelings of the man getting entirely the
better of the Sovereign's sense of dignity, he grasped and
shook Lord Huntinglen's hands with the sympathy of an
equal and a familiar friend.

" Compone lachrymas? said the monarch; "be patient,
man, be patient ; the council, and Baby Charles, and Steenie,
may a' gang to the deevil ; he shall not marry her since il
moves you so deeply."

"He SHALL marry her, by God!" answered the Earl,

The Fortunes of Nigel. 495

drawing himself up, dashing the tear from his eyes, and
endeavouring to recover his composure. "I pray your
Majesty's pardon, but he shall marry her, with her dishonour
for her dowry, were she the veriest courtezan in all Spain.
If he gave his word, he shall make his word good, were it to
the meanest creature that haunts the streets — he shall do it,
or my own dagger shall take the life that I gave him. If he
could stoop to use so base a fraud, though to deceive infamy,
let him wed infamy."

" No, no ! " the Monarch continued to insinuate, " things
are not so bad as that. Steenie himself never thought of
her being a street-walker, even when he thought the worst
of her."

" If it can at all console my Lord of Huntinglen," said the
citizen, " I can assure him of this lady's good birth, and most
fair and unspotted fame."

" I am sorry for it," said Lord Huntinglen — then interrupt-
ing himself, he said, "Heaven forgive me for being ungrate-
ful for such comfort ! but I am well-nigh sorry she should
be as you represent her, so much better than the villain
deserves. To be condemned to wed beauty and innocence
and honest birth "

" Ay, and wealth, my lord — wealth," insinuated the King,
"is a better sentence than his perfidy has deserved."

" It is long," said the embittered father, " since I saw he
was selfish and hard-hearted; but to be a perjured liar — I
never dreaded that such a blot would have fallen on my
race ! I will never look on him again."

" Hoot ay, my lord, hoot ay," said the King ; " ye maun
tak him to task roundly. I grant you should speak more
in the vein of Demea than Mitio, vi nempe et via pervulgata
patrum ; but as for not seeing him again, and he your only
son, that is altogether out of reason. I tell ye, man (but I
would not for a boddle that Baby Charles heard me), that he

496 The Fortunes of Nigel

might gie the glaiks to half the lasses of Lonnun, ere I could
find in my heart to speak such harsh words as you have said
of this deil of a Dalgarno of yours."

" May it please your Majesty to permit me to retire," said
Lord Huntinglen; "and dispose of the case according to
your own royal sense of justice, for I desire no favour for
him."

"Aweel, my lord, so be it; and if your lordship can
think," added the Monarch, "of anything in our power
which might comfort you —

"Your Majesty's gracious sympathy," said Lord Huntin-
glen, "has already comforted me as far as earth can; the
rest must be from the King of kings."

"To Him I commend you, my auld and faithful servant,"
said James with emotion, as the Earl withdrew from his
presence. The King remained fixed in thought, for some
time, and then said to Heriot, " Jingling Geordie, ye ken all
the privy doings of our Court, and have dune so these thirty
years, though, like a wise man, ye hear, and see, and say
nothing. Now, there is a thing I fain wad ken, in the way
of philosophical inquiry — Did you ever hear of the umquhile
Lady Huntinglen, the departed Countess of this noble Earl,
ganging a wee bit gleed in her walk through the world ; I
mean in the way of slipping a foot, casting a leglin-girth,* or
the like, ye understand me ? "

"On my word as an honest man," said George Heriot,
somewhat surprised at the question, "I never heard her
wronged by the slightest breath of suspicion. She was a

* A leglin-girth is the lowest hoop upon a leglin, or milk-pail. Allan
Ramsay applies the phrase in the same metaphorical sense.

" Or bairns can read, they first maun spell,

I learn'd this frae my mammy,
And cast a leglin-girth mysel',
Lang ere I married Tammy."

Christ 's Kirk on the Green.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 497

worthy lady, very circumspect in her walk, and lived in great
concord with her husband, save that the good Countess was
something of a puritan, and kept more company with minis-
ters than was altogether agreeable to Lord Huntinglen, who
is, as your Majesty well knows, a man of the old rough world,
that will drink and swear."

"O Geordie !" exclaimed the King, "these are auld-warld
frailties, of whilk we dare not pronounce even ourselves
absolutely free. But the warld grows worse from day to day,
Geordie. The juveniles of this age may well say with the

poet —

* ^Etas parentum, pejor avis, tulit
Nos nequiores — '

This Dalgarno does not drink so much, or swear so much, as
his father ; but he wenches, Geordie, and he breaks his word
and oath baith. As to what you say of the leddy and the
ministers, we are a7 fallible creatures, Geordie, priests and
kings, as weel as others ; and wha kens but what that may
account for the difference between this Dalgarno and his
father ? The Earl is the vera soul of honour, and cares nae
mair for warld's gear than a noble hound for the quest of a
foulmart ; but as for his son, he was like to brazen us a' out
— ourselves, Steenie; Baby Charles, and our council — till he
heard of the tocher, and then, by my kingly crown, he lap
like a cock at a grossart ! These are discrepancies betwixt
parent and son not to be accounted for naturally, according
to Baptista Porta, Michael Scott de Secretis, and others. Ah,
Jingling Geordie, if your clouting the cauldron, and jingling
on pots, pans, and veshels of all manner of metal, hadna
jingled a' your grammar out of your head, I could have
touched on that matter to you at mair length."

Heriot was too plainspoken to express much concern for
the loss of his grammar learning on this occasion ; but after
modestly hinting that he had seen many men who could not

498 The Fortunes of Nigel

fill their father's bonnet, though no one had been suspected
of wearing their father's nightcap, he inquired "whether Lord
Dalgarno had consented to do the Lady Hermione justice."

" Troth, man, I have small doubt that he will," quoth the i
King. " I gave him the schedule of her worldly substance,
which you delivered to us in the council, and we allowed
him half an hour to chew the cud upon that. It is rare
reading for bringing him to reason. I left Baby Charles and
Steenie laying his duty before him; and if he can resist
doing what they desire him — why, I wish he would teach me
the gate of it. O Geordie, Jingling Geordie, it was grand to
hear Baby Charles laying down the guilt of dissimulation,
and Steenie lecturing on the turpitude of incontinence ! "

"I am afraid," said George Heriot, more hastily than
prudently, "I might have thought of the old proverb of
Satan reproving sin."

" Deil hae our saul, neighbour,", said the King reddening,
" but ye are not blate ! I gie ye license to speak freely, and,
by our saul, ye do not let the privilege become lost non
utendo — it will suffer no negative prescription in your hands.
Is it fit, think ye, that Baby Charles should let his thoughts
be publicly seen? No — no — princes' thoughts are arcana
imperil — qui nescit dissimulare nescit regnare. Every liege
subject is bound to speak the whole truth to the King, but
there is nae reciprocity of obligation ; and for Steenie having
been whiles a dike-louper at a time, is it for you, who are his
goldsmith, and to whom, I doubt, he awes an uncomeatable
sum, to cast that up to him ? "

Heriot did not feel himself called on to play the part of
Zeno, and sacrifice himself for upholding the cause of moral
truth. He did not desert it, however, by disavowing his
words, but simply expressed sorrow for having offended his
Majesty, with which the placable King was sufficiently
satisfied.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 499

"And now, Geordie, man," quoth he, "we will to this
culprit, and hear what he has to say for himself, for I will
see the job cleared this blessed day. Ye maun come wi* me,
for your evidence may be wanted."

The King led the way, accordingly, into a larger apart-
ment, where the Prince, the Duke of Buckingham, and one
or two privy councillors were seated at a table, before which
stood Lord Dalgarno, in an attitude of as much elegant ease
and indifference as could be expressed, considering the stiff
dress and manners of the times.

All rose and bowed reverently, while the King, to use a
north country word expressive of his mode of locomotion,
toddled to his chair or throne, making a sign to Heriot to
stand behind him.

"We hope," said his Majesty, "that Lord Dalgarno stands
prepared to do justice to this unfortunate lady, and to his
own character and honour ? "

" May I humbly inquire the penalty," said Lord Dalgarno,
"in case I should unhappily find compliance with your
Majesty's demands impossible ? "

" Banishment frae our Court, my lord," said the King —
"frae our Court and our countenance/'

" Unhappy exile that I may be ! " said Lord Dalgarno, in
a tone of subdued irony ; " I will at least carry your Majesty's
picture with me, for I shall never see such another king."

"And banishment, my lord," said the Prince sternly,
" from these our dominions."

"That must be by form of law, please your Royal High-
ness," said Dalgarno, with an affectation of deep respect ;
" and I have not heard that there is a statute compelling us,
under such penalty, to marry every woman we may play the
fool with. Perhaps his Grace of Buckingham can tell me ? "

" You are a villain, Dalgarno," said the haughty and vehe-
ment favourite.

The Fortunes of Nigel.

" Fie, my lord, fie ! — to a prisoner, and in presence of
your royal and paternal gossip ! " said Lord Dalgarno. " But
I will cut this deliberation short. I have looked over this
schedule of the goods and effects of Erminia Pauletti, daugh-
ter of the late noble — yes, he is called the noble, or I read
wrong — Giovanni Pauletti, of the House of Sansovino, in
Genoa, and of the no less noble Lady Maud Olifaunt, of the
House of Glenvarloch. Well, I declare that I was precon-
tracted in Spain to this noble lady, and there has passed
betwixt us some certain prcelibatio matrimonii ; and now,
what more does this grave assembly require of me ? "

"That you should repair the gross and infamous wrong
you have done the lady, by marrying her within this hour,"
said the Prince.

" Oh, may it please your Royal Highness," answered Dal-
garno, " I have a trifling relationship with an old Earl, who
calls himself my father, who may claim some vote in the
matter. Alas ! every son is not blessed with an obedient
parent ! " He hazarded a slight glance towards the throne,
to give meaning to his last words.

" We have spoken ourselves with Lord Huntinglen," said
the King, "and are authorized to consent in his name."

"I could never have expected this intervention of a
proxeneta, which the vulgar translate blackfoot, of such
eminent dignity," said Dalgarno, scarce concealing a sneer.
"And my father hath consented? He was wont to say, ere
we left Scotland, that the blood of Huntinglen and of Glen-
varloch would not mingle were they poured into the same
basin. Perhaps he has a mind to try the experiment? "

"My lord," said James, "we will not be longer trifled
with. Will you instantly, and sine mora, take this lady to
your wife, in our chapel?"

"Statim atque instanter? answered Lord Dalgarno; "for.
I perceive by doing so, I shall obtain power to render great

The Forttwes of Nigel. 501

services to the commonwealth. I shall have acquired wealth
to supply the wants of your Majesty, and a fair wife to be at
the command of his Grace of Buckingham."

The Duke rose, passed to the end of the table where Lord
Dalgarno was standing, and whispered in his ear, " You have
placed a fair sister at my command ere now."

This taunt cut deep through Lord Dalgarno's assumed
composure. He started as if an adder had stung him ; but
instantly composed himself, and, fixing on the Duke's still
smiling countenance an eye which spoke unutterable hatred,
he pointed the forefinger of his left hand to the hilt of his
sword, but in a manner which could scarce be observed by
any one save Buckingham, The Duke gave him another
smile of bitter scorn, and returned to his seat in obedience
to the commands of the King, who continued calling out,
" Sit down, Steenie, sit down, I command ye ; we will hae
nae harns-breaking here."

"Your Majesty needs not fear my patience," said Lord
Dalgarno; "and that I may keep it the better, I will not
utter another word in this presence, save those enjoined to
me in that happy portion of the Prayer-Book which begins
with Dearly Beloved, and ends with amazement."

"You are a hardened villain, Dalgarno," said the King;
"and were I the lass, by my father's saul, I would rather
brook the stain of having been your concubine than run the
risk of becoming your wife. But she shall be under our
special protection. Come, my lords, we will ourselves see
this blithesome bridal." He gave the signal by rising, and
moved towards the door, followed by the train. Lord Dal-
garno attended, speaking to none, and spoken to by no one,
yet seeming as easy and unembarrassed in his gait and
manner as if in reality a happy bridegroom.

They reached the Chapel by a private entrance which
communicated from the royal apartment. The Bishop of

5O2 The Fortunes of Nigel.

Winchester, in his pontifical dress, stood beside the altar;
on the other side, supported by Monna Paula, the colourless,
faded, half-lifeless form of the Lady Hermione, or Erminia
Pauletti. Lord Dalgarno bowed profoundly to her ; and the
Prince, observing the horror with which she regarded him,
walked up, and said to her with much dignity, "Madam,
ere you put yourself under the authority of this man, let me
inform you he hath in the fullest degree vindicated your
honour, so far as concerns your former intercourse. It is
for you to consider whether you will put your fortune and
happiness into the hands of one who has shown himself
unworthy of all trust."

The lady with much difficulty found words to make reply.
"I owe to his Majesty's goodness," she said, "the care of
providing me some reservation out of my own fortune for
my decent sustenance. The rest cannot be better disposed
than in buying back the fair fame of which I am deprived,
and the liberty of ending my life in peace and seclusion."

"The contract has been drawn up," said the King, "under
our own eye, specially discharging \htpotestas maritalis, and
agreeing they shall live separate. So buckle them, my Lord
Bishop, as fast as you can, that they may sunder again the
sooner."

The Bishop accordingly opened his book and commenced
the marriage ceremony, under circumstances so novel and
so inauspicious. The responses of the bride were only
expressed by inclinations of the head and body, while those
of the bridegroom were spoken boldly and distinctly, with a
tone resembling levity, if not scorn. When it was concluded,
Lord Dalgarno advanced as if to salute the bride ; but seeing
that she drew back in fear and abhorrence, he contented
himself with making her a low bow. He then drew up his
form to its height, and stretched himself as if examining the
power of his limbs, but elegantly, and without any forcible

TJte Fortunes of Nigel. $03

change of attitude. "I could caper yet," he said, "though
I am in fetters ; but they are of gold, and lightly worn.
Well, I see all eyes look cold on me, and it is time I should
withdraw. The sun shines elsewhere than in England. But
first I must ask how this fair Lady Dalgarno is to be be-
stowed. Methinks it is but decent I should know. Is she
to be sent to the haram of my Lord Duke? Or is this
worthy citizen, as before "

" Hold thy base ribald -tongue ! " said his father, Lord
Huntinglen, who had kept in the background during the
ceremony, and now stepping suddenly forward, caught the
lady by the arm, and confronted her unworthy husband.
"The Lady Dalgarno," he, continued, "shall remain as a
widow in my house. A widow I esteem her, as much as if
the grave had closed over her dishonoured husband."

Lord Dalgarno exhibited momentary symptoms of extreme
confusion, and said, in a submissive tone, " If you, my lord,
can wish me dead, I cannot, though your heir, return the
compliment. Few of the first-born of Israel," he added,
recovering himself from the single touch of emotion he had
displayed, " can say so much with truth. But' I will convince
you ere I go that I am a true descendant of a house famed
for its memory of injuries."

"I marvel your Majesty will listen to him longer," said
Prince Charles. " Methinks we have heard enough of his
daring insolence."

But James, who took the interest of a true gossip in such
a scene as was now passing, could not bear to cut the con-
troversy short, but imposed silence on his son, with " Whisht,
Baby Charles — there is a good bairn, whisht! I want to
hear what the frontless loon can say."

" Only, sir," said Dalgarno, " that but for one single line
in this schedule, all else that it contains could not have
bribed me to take that woman's hand into mine."

The Fortunes of Nigel.

" That line maun have been the summa totalis" said the

King.

"Not so, sire," replied Dalgarno. "The sum total might
indeed have been an object for consideration even to a
Scottish king, at no very distant period ; but it would have
had little charms for me, save that I see here an entry which
gives me the power of vengeance over the family of Glenvar-
loch, and learn from it that yonder pale bride, when she
put the wedding-torch into my hand, gave me the power of
burning her mother's house to ashes ! "

"How is that?" said the King. "What is he speaking
about, Jingling Geordie ? "

"This friendly citizen, my liege," said Lord Dalgarno,
"hath expended a sum belonging to my lady, and now, I
thank Heaven, to me, in acquiring a certain mortgage, or
wadset, over the estate of Glenvarloch, which, if it be not
redeemed before to-morrow at noon, will put me in posses-
sion of the fair demesnes of those who once called themselves
our house's rivals."

" Can this be true ? " said the King.

" It is even but too true, please your Majesty," answered
the citizen. "The Lady Hermione having advanced the
money for the original creditor, I was obliged, in honour
and honesty, to take the rights to her ; and, doubtless, they
pass to her husband."

"But the warrant, man," said the King — "the warrant on
our Exchequer. Couldna that supply the lad wi' the means
of redemption?"

" Unhappily, my liege, he has lost' it, or disposed of it — it
is not to be found. He is the most unlucky youth ! "

" This is a most proper spot of work ! " said the King,
beginning to amble about and play with the points of his
doublet and hose, in expression of dismay. " We cannot aid
him without paying our debts twice over, and we have, in the

The Fortunes of Nigel 505

present state of our Exchequer, scarce the means of paying
them once."

"You have told me news," said Lord Dalgarno, "but I
will take no advantaged

" Do not," said his father ; " be a bold villain, since thou
must be one, and seek revenge with arms, and not with the
usurer's weapons."

" Pardon me, my lord," said Lord Dalgarno. " Pen and
ink are now my surest means of vengeance ; and more land
is won by the lawyer with the ram-skin, than by the Andrea
Ferrara with his sheep's-head handle. But, as I said before,
I will take no advantages. I will await in town to-morrow,
near Covent Garden. If any one will pay the' redemption
money to my scrivener, with whom the deeds lie, the better
for Lord Glenvarloch ; if not, I will go forward on the next
day, and travel with all dispatch to the north, to take pos-
session."

"Take a father's malison with you, unhappy wretch I "
said Lord Huntinglen.

" And a King's, who is pater patrice? said James.

" I trust to bear both lightly," said Lord Dalgarno, and
bowing around him, he withdrew ; while all present, oppressed,
and, as it were, overawed, by his determined effrontery, found
they could draw breath more freely when he at length relieved
them of his society. Lord Huntinglen, applying himself to
comfort his new daughter-in-law, withdrew with her also ; and
the King, with his Privy Council, whom he had not dismissed,
again returned to his council-chamber, though the hour was
unusually late. Heriot's attendance was still commanded,
but for what reason was not explained to him.

5o6 The Fortunes of Nigel.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

K. Rich. I'll play the eavesdropper.

Richard III. , Act F., Scenes.

JAMES had no sooner resumed his seat at the council-board
than he began to hitch in his chair, cough, use his handker-
chief, and make other intimations that he meditated a long
speech. The council composed themselves to the beseeming
degree of attention. Charles, as strict in his notions of de-
corum as his father was indifferent to it, fixed himself in an
attitude of rigid and respectful attention ; while the haughty
favourite, conscious of his power over both father and son,
stretched himself more easily on his seat, and, in assuming
an appearance of listening, seemed to pay a debt to cere-
monial rather than to duty.

" I doubt not, my lords," said the Monarch, " that some
of you may be thinking the hour of refection is past, and that
it is time to ask with the slave in the comedy, Quid de sym-
bolo ? Nevertheless, to do justice and exercise judgment is
our meat and drink ; and now we are to pray your wisdom
to consider the case of this unhappy youth, Lord Glenvar-
loch, and see whether, consistently with our honour, any-
thing can be done in his favour."

"I am surprised at your Majesty's wisdom making the
inquiry," said the Duke. " It is plain this Dalgarno hath
proved one of the most insolent villains on earth, and it must
therefore be clear, that if Lord Glenvarloch had run him
through the body, there would but have been out of the
world a knave who had lived in it too long. I think Lord
Glenvarloch hath had much wrong; and I regret that, by
the persuasions of this false fellow, I have myself had some
hand in it."

"Ye speak like a child, Steenie— I mean, my Lord of

The Fortunes of Nigel 507

Buckingham," answered the King, "and as one that does
not understand the logic of the schools ; for an action may
be inconsequential or even meritorious, quoad hominem^ that
is, as touching him upon whom it is acted, and yet most
criminal, quoad locum^ or considering the place wherein it is
done — as a man may lawfully dance Chrighty Beardie or any
other dance in a tavern, but not inter parietes ecclesia. So
that, though it may have been a good deed to have sticked
Lord Dalgarno, being such as he has shown himself, anywhere
else, yet it fell under the plain statute, when violence was
offered within the verge of the Court. For, let me tell you,
my lords, the statute against striking would be of small use
in our Court, if it could be eluded by justifying the person
stricken to be a knave. It is much to be lamented that I
ken nae Court in Christendom where knaves are not to be
found ; and if men are to break the peace under pretence of
.beating them, why, it will rain Jeddart staves * in our very
antechamber."

"What your Majesty says," replied Prince Charles, "is
marked with your usual wisdom. The precincts of palaces
must be sacred as well as the persons of kings, which are
respected even in the most barbarous nations, as being one
step only beneath their divinities. But your Majesty's will
can control the severity of this and every other law, and it is
in your power, on consideration of his case, to grant this rash
young man a free pardon."

"Rem acu tetigisti, Carole, mi puerule," answered the King;
" and know, my lords, that we have, by a shrewd device and
gift of our own, already sounded the very depth of this Lord
Glenvarloch's disposition. I trow there be among you some

* The old-fashioned weapon called the Jeddart staff was a species of
battle-axe. Of a very great tempest, it is said, in the south of Scotland,
that it rains Jeddart staffs, as in England the common people talk of its
raining cats and dogs.

5o8 The Fortunes of Nigel.

that remember my handling in the curious case of my Lady
Lake, and how I trimmed them about the story of hearken-
ing behind the arras. Now this put me to cogitation, and
I remembered me of having read that Dionysius, King of
Syracuse, whom historians call Tu/xxi/i/os, which signifieth, not
in the Greek tongue, as in ours, a truculent usurper, but a
royal king who governs, it may be, something more strictly
than we and other lawful monarchs, whom the ancients
termed Bao-tAei? — now this Dionysius of Syracuse caused
cunning workmen to build for himself a lugg. — D'ye ken what
that is, my Lord Bishop ? "

" A cathedral, I presume to guess," answered the Bishop.

" What the deil, man — I crave your lordship's pardon for
swearing — but it was no cathedral — only a lurking-place called
the king's lugg, or ear, where he could sit undescried and
hear the converse of his prisoners. Now, sirs, in imitation
of this Dionysius, whom I took for my pattern, the rather
that he was a great linguist and grammarian, and taught a
school with good applause after his. abdication (either he or
his successor of the same name, it matters not whilk) — I have
caused them to make a lugg up at the state prison of the
Tower yonder, more like a pulpit than a cathedral, my Lord
Bishop — and communicating with the arras behind the
Lieutenant's chamber, where we may sit and privily hear the
discourse of such prisoners as are pent up there for state
offences, and so creep into the very secrets of our enemies."

The Prince cast a glance towards the Duke, expressive
of great vexation and disgust. Buckingham shrugged his
shoulders, but the motion was so slight as to be almost im-
perceptible.

" Weel, my lords, ye ken the fray at the hunting this morn-
ing— I shall not get out of the trembling exies until I have a
sound night's sleep. Just after that, they bring ye in a pretty

The Fortunes of Nigel. 509

page that had been found in the Park. We were warned
against examining him ourselves by the anxious care of those
around us ; nevertheless, holding our life ever at the service
of these kingdoms, we commanded all to avoid the room, the
rather that we suspected this boy to be a girl. What think
ye, my lords ? — few of you would have thought I had a hawk's
eye for sic gear ; but we thank God that, though we are old,
we know so much of such toys as may beseem a man of
decent gravity. Weel, my lords, we questioned this maiden
in male attire ourselves, and I profess it was a very pretty
interrogatory, and well followed. For, though she at first
professed that she assumed this disguise in order to counte-
nance the woman who should present us with the Lady Her-
mione's petition, for whom she professed entire affection, yet
when we, suspecting anguis in herba, did put her to the very
question, she was compelled to own a virtuous attachment
for Glenvarlochides, in such a pretty passion of shame and
fear, that we had much ado to keep our own eyes from keep-
ing company with hers in weeping. Also, she laid before us
the false practices of this Dalgarno towards Glenvarlochides,
inveigling him into houses of ill resort, and giving him evil
counsel, under pretext of sincere friendship, whereby the in-
experienced lad was led to do what was prejudicial to himself
and offensive to us. But, however prettily she told her tale,
we determined not altogether to trust to her narration, but
rather to try the experiment whilk we had devised for such
occasions. And having ourselves speedily passed from Green-
wich to the Tower, we constituted ourselves eavesdropper, as
it is called, to observe what should pass between Glenvar-
lochides and this page, whom we caused to be admitted to
his apartment, well judging that if they were of counsel to-
gether to deceive us, it could not be but something of it
would spunk out. • And what think ye we saw, my lords ? —
Naething for you to sniggle and laugh at, Steeniej for I

510 The Fortunes of Nigel

question if you could have played the temperate and Christian-
like part of this poor lad Glenvarloch. He might be a Father
of the Church in comparison of you, man. — And then, to try
his patience yet further, we loosed on him a courtier and
a citizen, that is Sir Mungo Malagrowther and our servant
George Heriot here, wha dang the poor lad about, and didna
greatly spare our royal selves. — You mind, Geordie, what you
said about the wives and concubines ? But I forgie ye, man
— nae need of kneeling, I forgie ye — the readier -that it re-
gards a certain particular whilk, as it added not much to
Solomon's credit, the lack of it cannot be said to impinge
on ours. Aweel, my lords, for all temptation of sore distress
and evil ensample, this poor lad never loosed his tongue
on us to say one unbecoming word — which inclines us the
rather, acting always by your wise advice, to treat this affair
of the Park as a thing done in the heat of blood, and under
strong provocation, and therefore to confer our free pardon
on Lord Glenvarloch."

" I am happy your gracious Majesty," said the Duke of
Buckingham, " has arrived at that conclusion, though I could
never have guessed at the road by which you attained it."

" I trust," said Prince Charles, "that it is not a path which
your Majesty will think it consistent with your high dignity
to tread frequently."

" Never while I live again, Baby Charles, that I give you
my royal word on. They say that hearkeners hear ill tales
of themselves— by my saul, my very ears are tingling wi' that
auld sorrow Sir Mungo's sarcasms. He called us close-fisted,
Steenie— I am sure you can contradict that. But it is mere
envy in the auld mutilated sinner, because he himself has
neither a noble to hold in his loof, nor ringers to close on it
if he had." Here the king lost recollection of Sir Mungo's
irreverence in chuckling over his own wit, and only further
alluded to it by saying, "We must give the old maunderer

The Fortunes of Nigel. $11

bos in linguam — something to stop his mouth, or he will rail
at us from Dan to Beersheba. And now, my lords, let our
warrant of mercy to Lord Glenvarloch be presently expedited,
and he put to his freedom ; and as his estate is likely to go
so sleeveless a gate, we will consider what means of favour
we can show him. My lords, I wish you an appetite to an
early supper — for our labours have approached that term. —
Baby Charles and Steenie, you will remain till our couchee.
— My Lord Bishop, you will be pleased to stay to bless our
meat. — Geordie Heriot, a word with you apart."

His Majesty then drew the citizen into a corner, while
the councillors, those excepted who had been commanded
to remain, made their obeisance, and withdrew. " Geordie,"
said the King, "my good and trusty servant" — here he
busied his fingers much with the points and ribbons of his
dress — " ye see that we have granted, from our own natural
sense of right and justice, that which yon long-backed fallow,
Moniplies I think they ca' him, proffered to purchase from
us with a mighty bribe, whilk we refused, as being a crowned
King, who wad neither sell our justice nor our mercy for
pecuniar consideration. Now, what think ye should be the
upshot of this ? "

" My Lord Glenvarloch's freedom, and his restoration to
your Majesty's favour," said Heriot.

" I ken that," said the King peevishly. "Ye are very dull
to-day. I mean, what do you think this fallow Moniplies
should think about the matter ? "

"Surely that your Majesty is a most good and gracious
Sovereign," answered Heriot.

" We had need to be gude and gracious baith," said the
King, still more pettishly, "that have idiots about us that
cannot understand what we mint at, unless we speak it out
in braid Lowlands. See this chield Moniplies, sir, and tell
him what we have done for Lord Glenvarloch, in whom he

512 The Fortunes of Nigel.

takes such part, out of our own gracious motion, though we
refused to do it on ony proffer of private advantage. Now,
you may put it till him, as if of your own mind, whether it
will be a gracious or a dutiful part in him to press us for
present payment of the two or three hundred miserable
pounds for whilk we were obliged to opignorate our jewels ?
Indeed, mony men may think ye wad do the part of a good
citizen, if you took it on yourself to refuse him payment, see-
ing he hath had what he professed to esteem full satisfaction,
and considering, moreover, that it is evident he hath no
pressing need of money, whereof we have much necessity."

George Heriot sighed internally. " O my Master," thought
he, " my dear Master, is it then fated you are never to in-
dulge any kingly or noble sentiment, without its being sullied
by some afterthought of interested selfishness ! "

The King troubled himself not about what he thought, but
taking him by the collar, said, "Ye ken my meaning now,
Jingler — awa wi' ye. You are a wise man — manage it your
ain gate — but forget not our present straits." The citizen
made his obeisance, and withdrew.

"And now, bairns," said the King, "what do you look
upon each other for — and what have you got to ask of your
dear dad and gossip ? "

" Only," said the Prince, " that it would please your Majesty
to command the lurking-place at the prison to be presently
built up— the groans of a captive should not be brought in
evidence against him."

" What ! build up my lugg, Baby Charles ? And yet, better
deaf than hear ill tales of oneself. So let them build it up,
hard and fast, without delay, the rather that my back is sair
with sitting in it fora whole hour. And now let us see what
the cocks have been doing for us, bonny bairns."

The Fortunes of Nigel 513

CHAPTER XXXIV.

To this brave man the knight repairs
For counsel in his law affairs ;
And found him mounted in his pew,
With books and money placed for show,
Like nest-eggs to make clients lay,
And for his false opinion pay.

Hudibras.

OUR readers may recollect a certain smooth-tongued, lank-
haired, buckram-suited Scottish scrivener, who, in an early
part of this history, appeared in the character of a protige
of George Heriot. It is to his house we are about to remove,
but times are changed with him. The petty booth hath be-
come a chamber of importance -3 the buckram suit is changed
into black velvet ; and although the wearer retains his puri-
tanical humility and politeness to clients of consequence, he
can now look others broad in the face, and treat them with
a full allowance of superior opulence, and the insolence aris-
ing from it. It was but a short period that had achieved
these alterations; nor was the party himself as yet entirely
accustomed to them, but the change was becoming less em-
barrassing to him with every day's practice. Among other
acquisitions of wealth, you may see one of Davie Ramsay's
best timepieces on the table, and his eye is frequently observ-
ing its revolutions, while a boy, whom he employs as a scribe,
is occasionally sent out to compare its progress with the clock
of Saint Dunstan.

The scrivener himself seemed considerably agitated. He
took from a strong-box a bundle of parchments, and read
passages of them with great attention ; then began to solilo-
quize : "There is no outlet which law can suggest — no back-
door of evasion — :none ; if the lands of Glenvarloch are not
redeemed before it rings noon, Lord Dalgarno has them a

514 The Fortunes of Nigel.

cheap pennyworth. Strange that he should have been at
last able to set his patron at defiance, and achieve for himself
the fair estate, with the prospect of which he so long flattered
the powerful Buckingham. Might not Andrew Skurliewhitter
nick him as neatly ? He hath been my patron — true — not
more than Buckingham was his ; and he can be so no more,
for he departs presently for Scotland. I am glad of it — I
hate him, and I fear him. He knows too many of my se-
crets— I know too many of his. But, no — no — no — I need
never attempt it, there are no means of overreaching him. —
Well, Willie, what o'clock?"

" Ele'en hours just chappit, sir."

"Go to your desk without, child," said the scrivener. —
"What to do next? I shall lose the old Earl's fair business,
and, what is worse, his son's foul practice. Old Heriot looks
too close into business to permit me more than the paltry
and ordinary dues. The Whitefriars business was profitable,
but it has become unsafe ever since— pah! — what brought
that in my head just now? I can hardly hold my pen — if
men should see me in this way ! — Willie " (calling aloud to
the boy), "a cup of distilled waters. — Soh! — now I could
face the devil."

He spoke the last words aloud, and close by the door of
the apartment, which was suddenly opened by Richie Moni-
plies, followed by two gentlemen, and attended by two
porters bearing money-bags. "If ye can face the devil,
Maister Skurliewhitter," said Richie, "ye will be the less
likely to turn your back on a sack or twa o' siller, which I
have ta'en the freedom to bring you. Sathanas and Mammon
are near akin." The porters, at the same time, ranged their
load on the floor.

"I — I," stammered the surprised scrivener — "I cannot
guess what you mean, sir."

"Only that I have brought you the redemption money

The Fortunes of Nigel 515

on the part of Lord Glenvarloch, in discharge of a certain
mortgage over his family inheritance. And here, in good
time, comes Master Reginald Lowestoffe, and another hon-
ourable gentleman of the Temple, to be witnesses to the
transaction."

" I — I incline to think," said the scrivener, " that the term
is expired."

" You will pardon us, Master Scrivener," said Lowestoffe.
" You will not baffle us ; it wants three-quarters of noon by
every clock in the city."

" I must have time, gentlemen," said Andrew, "to examine
the gold by tale and weight."

" Do so at your leisure, Master Scrivener," replied Lowes-
toffe again. "We have already seen the contents of each
sack told and weighed, and we have put our seals on them.
There they stand in a row, twenty in number, each con-
taining three hundred yellow-hammers — we are witnesses to
the lawful tender."

" Gentlemen," said the scrivener, " this security now belongs
to a mighty lord. I pray you, abate your haste, and let
me send for Lord Dalgarno, — or rather, I will run for him
myself."

So saying, he took up his hat ; but Lowestoffe called out,
"Friend Moniplies, keep the door fast, an thou be'st a
man ! he seeks but to put off the time. — In plain terms,
Andrew, you may send for the devil, if you will, who is
the mightiest lord of my acquaintance, but from hence you
stir not till you have answered our proposition by rejecting
or accepting the redemption money fairly tendered. There it
ties — take it, or leave it, as you will. I have skill enough
to know that the law is mightier than any lord in Britain.
I have learned so much at the Temple, if I have learned
nothing else. And see that you trifle not with it, lest it make
your long ears an inch shorter, Master Skurliewhitter."

516 The Fortunes of Nigel

" Nay, gentlemen, if you threaten me," said the scrivener,
" I cannot resist compulsion."

"No threats — no threats at all, my little Andrew," said
Lowestoffe ; " a little friendly advice only. Forget not, honest
Andrew, I have seen you in Alsatia."

Without answering a single word, the scrivener sat down,
and drew in proper form a full receipt for the money proffered.

"I take it on your report, Master Lowestoffe," he said.
"I hope you will remember I have insisted neither upon
weight nor tale — I have been civil. If there is deficiency, I
shall come to loss."

"Fillip his nose with a gold piece, Richie," quoth the
Templar. " Take up the papers, and now wend we merrily
to dine thou wott'st where."

"If I might choose," said Richie, "it should not be at
yonder roguish ordinary ; but as it is your pleasure, gentle-
men, the treat shall be given wheresoever you will have it."

"At the ordinary," said the one Templar.

"At Beaujeu's," said the other. "It is the only house
in London for neat wines, nimble drawers, choice dishes,
and "

" And high charges," quoth Richie Moniplies. " But, as I
said before, gentlemen, ye have a right to command me in
this thing, having so frankly rendered me your service in
this small matter of business without other stipulation than
that of a slight banquet."

The latter part of this discourse passed in the street, where,
immediately afterwards, they met Lord Dalgarno. He ap-
peared in haste, touched his hat slightly to Master Lowes-
toffe, who returned his reverence with the same negligence,
and walked slowly on with his companion, while Lord Dal-
garno stopped Richie Moniplies with a commanding sign,
which the instinct of education compelled Moniplies, though
indignant, to obey.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 517

"Whom do you now follow, sirrah?" demanded .the
noble.

" Whomsoever goeth before me, my lord," answered Moni-
plies.

" No sauciness, you knave. I desire to know if you still
serve Nigel Olifaunt ? " said Dalgarno.

" I am friend to the noble Lord Glenvarloch," answered
Moniplies, with dignity.

" True," replied Lord Dalgarno, " that noble lord has sunk
to seek friends among lackeys. Nevertheless — hark thee
hither — nevertheless, if he be of the same mind as when we
last met, thou mayest show him that, on to-morrow, at four
afternoon, I shall pass northward by Enfield Chase. I will
be slenderly attended, as I design to send my train through
Barnet. It is my purpose to ride an easy pace through the
forest, and to linger a while by Camlet Moat — he knows the
place, and, if he be aught but an Alsatian bully, will think
it fitter for some purposes than the Park. He is, I under-
stand, at liberty, or shortly to be so. If he fail me at the place
nominated, he must seek me in Scotland, where he will find
me possessed of his father's estate and lands."

"Humph!" muttered Richie; "there go twa words to
that bargain."

He even meditated a joke on the means which he was
conscious he possessed of baffling Lord Dalgarno's expecta-
tions ; but there was something of keen and dangerous ex-
citement in the eyes of the young nobleman, which prompted
his discretion for once to rule his wit, and he only answered, —

"God grant your lordship may well brook your new
conquest — when you get it. I shall do your errand to my
lord — whilk is to say," he added internally, " he shall never
hear a word of it from Richie. I am not the lad to put him
in such hazard."

Lord Dalgarno looked at him sharply for a moment, as if

518 The Fortunes of Nigel.

to penetrate the meaning of the dry ironical tone which, in
spite of Richie's awe, mingled with his answer, and then
waved his hand, in signal he should pass on. He himself
walked slowly till the trio were out of sight, then turned back
with hasty steps to the door of the scrivener, which he had
passed in his progress, and was admitted.

Lord Dalgarno found the man of law with the money-bags
still standing before him, and it escaped not his penetrating
glance that Skurliewhitter was disconcerted and alarmed at
his approach.

" How now, man," he said ; " what ! hast thou not a word
of oily compliment to me on my happy marriage? — not a
word of most philosophical consolation on my disgrace at
Court ? Or has my mien, as a wittol and discarded favourite,
the properties of the Gorgon's head, the turbate. Palladia
arma, as Majesty might say ? "

"My lord, I am glad — my lord, I am sorry," answered
the trembling scrivener, who, aware of the vivacity of Lord
Dalgarno's temper, dreaded the consequence of the com-
munication he had to make to him.

"Glad and sorry !" answered Lord Dalgarno. "That is
blowing hot and cold, with a witness. Hark ye, you picture
of petty-larceny personified — if you are sorry I am a -cuckold,
"remember I am only mine own, you knave; there is too
little blood in her cheeks to have sent her astray elsewhere.
Well, I will bear mine antlered honours as I may — gold shall
gild them; and for my disgrace, revenge shall sweeten it.'
Ay, revenge— and there strikes the happy hour ! "

The hour of noon was accordingly heard to peal from
Saint Dunstan's. "Well banged, brave hammers!" said
Lord Dalgarno, in triumph. "The estate and lands of
Glenvarloch are crushed beneath these clanging blows. If
my steel to-morrow prove but as true as your iron maces
to-day, the poor landless lord will little miss what your peal

The Fortunes of Nigel 519

hath cut him out from. — The papers — the papers, thou
varlet ! I am to-morrow northward ho ! At four afternoon
I am bound to be at Camlet Moat, in the Enfield Chase.
To-night most of my retinue set forward. The papers ! —
Come, dispatch."

" My lord, the — the papers of the Glenvarloch mortgage —
I — I have them not."

" Have them not ! " echoed Lord Dalgarno. " Hast thou
sent them to my lodging, thou varlet ? Did I not say I was
coming hither ? What mean you by pointing to that money?
What villainy have you done for it ? It is too large to be
come honestly by."

"Your lordship knows best," answered the scrivener, in
great perturbation. "The gold is your own. It is — it

" Not the redemption money of the Glenvarloch estate ! "
said Dalgarno. " Dare not say it is, or I will, upon the spot,
divorce your pettifogging soul from your carrion carcass ! "
So saying, he seized the scrivener by the collar, and shook
him so vehemently that he tore it from the cassock.

" My lord, I must call for help," said the trembling caitiff,
who felt at that moment all the bitterness of the mortal
agony. " It was the law's act, not mine. What could I do ? "

" Dost ask ? — why, thou snivelling dribblet of damnation,
were all thy oaths, tricks, and lies spent? or do you hold
yourself too good to utter them in my service? Thou
shouldst have lied, cozened, outsworn truth itself, rather
than stood betwixt me and my revenge ! But mark me," he
continued ; " I know more of your pranks than would hang
thee. A line from me to the Attorney-General, and thou art
sped."

"What would you have me to do, my lord?" said the
scrivener. " All that art and law can accomplish I will try."

" Ah, are you converted ? do so, or pity of your life ! " said

52O The Fortunes of Nigel.

the lord; "and remember I never fail my word. Then
keep that accursed gold," he continued. "Or, stay, I will
not trust you — send me this gold home presently to my
lodging. I will still forward to Scotland, and it shall go hard
but that I hold out Glenvarloch Castle against the owner
by means of the ammunition he has himself furnished.
Thou art ready to serve me ? " The scrivener professed the
most implicit obedience.

"Then remember, the hour was past ere payment was
tendered ; and see thou hast witnesses of trusty memory to
prove that point."

"Tush, my lord, I will do more," said Andrew, reviving.
"I will prove that Lord Glenvarloch's friends threatened,
swaggered, and drew swords on me. Did your lordship
think I was ungrateful enough to have suffered them to
prejudice your lordship, save that they had bare swords at
my throat ? "

"Enough said," replied Dalgarno; "you are perfect —
mind that you continue so, as you would avoid my fury. I
leave my page below — get porters, and let them follow me
instantly with the gold."

So saying, Lord Dalgarno left the scrivener's habitation.

Skurliewhitter, having dispatched his boy to get porters
of trust for transporting the money, remained alone and in
dismay, meditating by what means he could shake himself
free of the vindictive and ferocious nobleman, who possessed
at once a dangerous knowledge of his character, and the
power of exposing him, where exposure would be ruin. He
had indeed acquiesced in the plan, rapidly sketched, for
obtaining possession of the ransomed estate, but his ex-
perience foresaw that this would be impossible; while, on
the other hand, he could not anticipate the various conse-
quences of Lord Dalgarno's resentment, without fears from
which his sordid soul recoiled. To be in the power, and

The Fortunes of Nigel. 521

subject both to the humours and the extortions of a spend-
thrift young lord, just when his industry had shaped out the
means of fortune — it was the most cruel trick which fate
could have played the incipient usurer.

While the scrivener was in this fit of anxious anticipation,
one knocked at the door of the apartment, and, being desired
to enter, appeared in the coarse riding-cloak of uncut Wilt-
shire cloth, fastened by a broad leather belt and brass buckle,
which was then generally worn by graziers and countrymen.
Skurliewhitter, believing he saw in his visitor a country client
who might prove profitable, had opened his mouth to request
him to be seated, when the stranger, throwing back his frieze
hood which he had drawn over his face, showed the scrivener
features well imprinted in his recollection, but which he never
saw without a disposition to swoon.

" Is it you ? " he said faintly, as the stranger replaced the
hood which concealed his features.

" Who else should it be ? " said his visitor.

" Thou son of parchment, got betwixt the inkhorn
And the stuff'd process-bag — that mayest call
The pen thy father, and the ink thy mother,
The wax thy brother, and the sand thy sister,
And the good pillory thy cousin allied —
Rise, and do reverence unto me, thy better ! "

l< Not yet down to the country," said the scrivener, " after
every warning ? Do not think your grazier's cloak will bear
you out, captain — no, nor your scraps of stage-plays."

" Why, what would you have me to do ? " said the captain.
" Would you have me starve ? If I am to fly, you must eke
my wings with a few feathers. You can spare them, I think."

"You had means already — you have had ten pieces.
What is become of them ? "

" Gone," answered Captain Colepepper — " gone, no matter
where. I had a mind to bite, and I was bitten, that's all. I

522 The Fortunes of NigeL

think my hand shook at the thought of t'other night's work,
for I trowled the doctors like a very baby."

"And you have lost all, then? Well, take this and be
gone," said the scrivener.

" What, two poor smelts ! Marry, plague of your bounty !
But remember, you are as deep in as I."

" Not so, by Heaven ! " answered the scrivener ; " I only
thought of easing the old man of some papers and a trifle of
his gold, and you took his life."

" Were he living," answered Colepepper, " he would rather
have lost it than his money. But that is not the question,
Master Skurliewhitter ; you undid the private bolts of the
window when you visited him about some affairs on the day
ere he died. So satisfy yourself that, if I am taken, I will not
swing alone. Pity Jack Hempsfield is dead ; it spoils the old
catch —

' And three merry men, and three merry men,

And three merry .men are we,
As ever did sing three parts in a string,
All under the triple tree.' "

"For God's sake, speak lower," said the scrivener; "is
this a place or time to make your midnight catches heard ?
But how much will serve your turn ? I tell you I am but ill
provided."

" You tell me a lie, then," said the bully — " a most palpable
and gross lie. How much, d'ye say, will serve my turn?
Why, one of these bags will do for the present."

" I swear to you that these bags of money are not at my
disposal."

"Not honestly, perhaps,7' said the captain; "but that
makes little difference betwixt us."

"I swear to you," continued the scrivener, "tney are in no
way at my disposal— they have been delivered to me by tale.
I am to pay them over to Lord Dalgarno, whose boy waits

The Fortunes of Nigel. 523

for them, and I could not skelder one piece out of them
without risk of hue and cry."

" Can you not put off the delivery ? " said the bravo, his
huge hand still fumbling with one of the bags, as if his fingers
longed to close on it.

"Impossible," said the scrivener, "he sets forward to
Scotland to-morrow."

" Ay !" said the bully, after a moment's thought; "travels
he the north road with such a charge ? "

"He is well accompanied," added the scrivener; "but
yet—

"But yet — but what?" said the bravo.

" Nay, I meant nothing," said the scrivener.

" Thou didst — thou hadst the wind of some good thing,"
replied Colepepper. "I saw thee pause like a setting dog.
Thou wilt say as little, and make as sure a sign, as a well-
bred spaniel."

" All I meant to say, captain, was that his servants go by
Barnet, and he himself, with his page, passes through Enfield
Chase ; and he spoke to me yesterday of riding a soft pace."

"Aha! — comest thou to me there, my boy?"

"And of resting," continued the scrivener — "resting a
space at Camlet Moat."

"Why, this is better than cock-fighting ! " said the captain.

" I see not how it can advantage you, captain," said the
scrivener. "But, however, they cannot ride fast, for his
page rides the sumpter-horse, which carries all that weight,"
pointing to the money on the table. " Lord Dalgarno looks
sharp to the world's gear."

" That horse will be obliged to those who may ease him
of his burden," said the bravo ; " and, egad, he may be met
with. He hath still that page — that same Lutin — that
goblin ? Well, the boy hath set game for me ere now. I
will be revenged, too, for I owe him a grudge for an old

524 The Fortunes of Nigel.

score at the ordinary. Let me see — Black Feltham and
Dick Shakebag; we shall want a fourth — I love to make
sure, and the booty will stand parting, besides what I can
bucket them out of. Well, scrivener, lend me two pieces.
• — Bravely done — nobly imparted! Give ye good-den."
And wrapping his disguise closer around him, away he went.

When he had left the room, the scrivener wrung his
hands, and exclaimed, " More blood — more blood ! I
thought to have had done with it ; but this time there was
no fault with me — none — and then I shall have all the
advantage. If this ruffian falls, there is truce with his tugs
at my purse-strings ; and if Lord Dalgarno dies — as is most
likely, for though as much afraid of cold steel as a debtor
of a dun, this fellow is a deadly shot from behind a bush —
then am I in a thousand ways safe — safe — safe."

We willingly drop the curtain over him and his reflections.

CHAPTER XXXV.

We are not worst at once — the course of evil
Begins so slowly, and from such slight source,
An infant's hand might stem its breach with clay ;
But let the stream get deeper, and philosophy,
Ay, and religion too, shall strive in vain
To turn the headlong torrent.

Old Play.

THE Templars had been regaled by our friend Richie
Moniplies in a private chamber at Beaujeu's, where he
might be considered as good company; for he had ex-
changed his serving-man's cloak and jerkin for a grave yet
handsome suit of clothes, in the fashion of the times, but
such as might have befitted an older man than himself.
He had positively declined presenting himself at the ordi-
nary— a point to which his companions were very desirous

The Fortunes of Nigel. 525

to have brought him ; for it will be easily believed that such
wags as Lowestoffe and his companion were not indisposed
to a little merriment at the expense of the raw and pedantic
Scotsman, besides the chance of easing him of a few pieces,
of which he appeared to have acquired considerable com-
mand. But not even a succession of measures of sparkling
sack, in which the little brilliant atoms circulated like motes
in the sun's rays, had the least effect on Richie's sense of
decorum. He retained the gravity of a judge, even while
he drank like a fish, partly from his own natural inclination
to good liquor, partly in the way of good fellowship towards
his guests. When the wine began to make some innovation
on their heads, Master Lowestoffe, tired, perhaps, of the
humours of Richie, who began to become yet more stoically
contradictory and dogmatical than even in the earlier part of
the entertainment, proposed to his friend to break up their
debauch and join the gamesters.

The drawer was called accordingly, and Richie discharged
the reckoning of the party, with a generous remuneration to
the attendants, which was received with cap and knee, and
many assurances of, " Kindly welcome, gentlemen."

"I grieve we should part so soon, gentlemen," said Richie
to his companions, " and I would you had cracked another
quart ere you went, or stayed to take some slight matter of
supper and a glass of Rhenish. I thank you, however, for
having graced my poor collation thus far ; and I commend
you to fortune, in your own courses, for the ordinary neither
was, is, nor shall be, an element of mine."

"Fare thee well, then," said Lowestoffe, "most sapient
and sententious Master Moniplies. May you soon have
another mortgage to redeem, and may I be there to witness
it ; and may you play the good fellow as heartily as you have
done this day."

" Nay, gentlemen, it is merely of your grace to say so ;

526 The Fortunes of Nigel

but if you would but hear me speak a few words of admoni-
tion respecting this wicked ordinary "

"Reserve the lesson, most honourable Richie," said
Lowestoffe, "until I have lost all my money," showing, at
the same time, a purse indifferently well provided, "and then
the lecture is likely to have some weight"

"And keep my share of it, Richie," said the other
Templar, showing an almost empty purse, in his turn, " till
this be full again, and then I will promise to hear you with
some patience."

"Ay, ay, gallants," said Richie, "the full and the empty
gang a' ae gate, and that is a grey one— but the time will
come."

" Nay, it is come already," said Lowestoffe ; " they have
set out the hazard table. Since you will peremptorily not go
with us, why, farewell, Richie."

"And farewell, gentlemen," said Richie, and left the
house, into which they returned.

Moniplies was not many steps from the door, when a
person, whom, lost in his reflections on gaming, ordinaries,
and the manners of the age, he had not observed, and who
had been as negligent on his part, ran full against him ; and,
when Richie desired to know whether he meant "ony in-
civility," replied by a curse on Scotland, and all that belonged
to it A less round reflection on his country would, at any
time, have provoked Richie, but more especially when he
had a double quart of canary and better in his pate. He
was about to give a very rough answer, and to second his
word by action, when a closer view of his antagonist changed
his purpose.

"You are the vera lad in the warld," said Richie, "whom
I most wished to meet."

"And you," answered the stranger, "or any of your
beggarly countrymen, are the last sight I should ever wish

The Fortunes of Nigel. 527

to see. You Scots are ever fair and false, and an honest
man cannot thrive within eyeshot of you."

"As to our poverty, friend," replied Richie, "that is as
Heaven pleases; but touching our falset, I'll prove to you
that a Scotsman bears as leal and true a heart to his friend
as ever beat in English doublet."

"I care not whether he does or not," said the gallant.
" Let me go — why keep you hold of my cloak ? Let me go,
or I will thrust you into the kennel."

" I believe I could forgie ye, for you did me a good turn
once in plucking me out of it," said the Scot.

"Beshrew my fingers, then, if they did so," replied the
stranger. " I would your whole country lay there, along with
you; and Heaven's curse blight the hand that helped to
raise them ! Why do you stop my way ? " he added fiercely.

"Because it is a bad one, Master Jenkin," said Richie.
" Nay, never start about it, man — you see you are known.
Alack-a-day ! that an honest man's son should live to start at
hearing himself called by his own name ! " Jenkin struck
his brow violently with his clenched fist.

"Come, come," said Richie, "this passion availeth
nothing. Tell me what gate go you ? "

"To the devil ! " answered Jin Vin.

"That is a black gate, if you speak according to the
letter," answered Richie; "but if metaphorically, there are
worse places in this great city than the Devil Tavern ; and I
care not if I go thither with you, and bestow a pottle of burnt
sack on you — it will correct the crudities of my stomach,
and form a gentle preparative for the leg of a cold pullet."

"I pray you, in good fashion, to let me go," said Jenkin.
"You may mean me kindly, and I wish you to have no
wrong at my hand; but I am in the humour to be dangerous
to myself, or any one."

MI will abide the risk," said the Scot, "if you will but

528 The Fortunes of Nigel.

come with me; and here is a place convenient, a howff
nearer than the Devil, whilk is but an ill-omened drouthy
name for a tavern. This other of the Saint Andrew is a
quiet place, where I have ta'en my whetter now and then
when I lodged in the neighbourhood of the Temple with
Lord Glenvarloch. — What the deil's the matter wi' the man,
garr'd him gie sic a spang as that, and almaist brought him-
self and me on the causeway ? "

" Do not name that false Scot's name to me," said Jin
Vin, " if you would not have me go mad ! I was happy
before I saw him. He has been the cause of all the ill that
has befallen me. He has made a knave and a madman
of me!"

"If you are a knave," said Richie, "you have met an
officer — if you are daft, you have met a keeper ; but a gentle
officer and a kind keeper. Look you, my gude friend, there
has been twenty things said about this same lord, in which
there is no more truth than in the leasings of Mahound.
The warst they can say of him is, that he is not always so
amenable to good advice as I would pray him, you, and
every young man to be. Come wi' me— just come ye wi'
me ; and, if a little spell of siller and a great deal of excellent
counsel can relieve your occasions, all I can say is, you have
had the luck to meet one capable of giving you both, and
maist willing to bestow them."

The pertinacity of the Scot prevailed over the sullenness
of Vincent, who was indeed in a state of agitation and in-
capacity to think for himself, which led him to yield the
more readily to the suggestions of another. He suffered
himself to be dragged into the small tavern which Richie
recommended, and where they soon found themselves seated
in a snug niche, with a reeking pottle of burnt sack and
a paper of sugar betwixt them. Pipes and tobacco were
also provided, but were only used by Richie, who had

The Fortunes of Nigel. 529

adopted the custom of late, as adding considerably to the
gravity and importance of his manner, and affording, as it
were, a bland and pleasant accompaniment to the words
of wisdom which flowed from his tongue. After they had
filled their glasses and drunk them in silence, Richie re-
peated the question, whither his guest was going when they
met so fortunately.

" I told you," said Jenkin, " I was going to destruction —
I mean to the gaming-house. I am resolved to hazard these
two or three pieces, to get as much as will pay for a passage
with Captain Sharker, whose ship lies at Gravesend, bound
for America — and so Westward ho! I met one devil in
the way already, who would have tempted me from my
purpose ; but I spurned him from me — you may be another
for what I know. What degree of damnation do you
propose for me," he added wildly, "and what is the price
of it?"

" I would have you to know," answered Richie, " that I
deal in no such commodities, whether as buyer or seller.
But if you will tell me honestly the cause of your distress,
I will do what is in my power to help you out of it, — not
being, however, prodigal of promises, until I know the case ;
as a learned physician only gives advice when he has ob-
served the diagnostics."

rt No one has anything to do with my affairs," said the poor
lad; and folding his arms on the table, he laid his head
upon them, with the sullen dejection of the overburdened
llama, when it throws itself down to die in desperation.

Richie Moniplies, like most folks who have a good opinion
of themselves, was fond of the task of consolation, which
at once displayed his superiority (for the consoler is neces-
sarily, for the time at least, superior to the afflicted person),
and indulged his love of talking. He inflicted on the poor
penitent a harangue of pitiless length, stuffed full of the

53O The Fortunes of Nigel.

usual topics of the mutability of human affairs — the eminent
advantages of patience under affliction — the folly of grieving
for what hath no remedy — the necessity of taking more care
for the future — and some gentle rebukes on account of the
past, which acid he threw in to assist in subduing the
patient's obstinacy, as Hannibal used vinegar in cutting his
way through rocks. It was not in human nature to endure
this flood of commonplace eloquence in silence; and Jin
Vin, whether desirous of stopping the flow of words crammed
thus into his ear, "against the stomach of his sense," or
whether confiding in Richie's protestations of friendship,
which the wretched, says Fielding, are ever so ready to
believe, or whether merely to give his sorrows vent in words,
raised his head, and turning his red and swollen eyes to
Richie, —

" Cocksbones, man, only hold thy tongue, and thou shalt
know all about it ; and then all I ask of thee is to shake
hands and part This Margaret Ramsay — you have seen
her, man?"

"Once," said Richie— "once at Master George Heriot's,
in Lombard Street. I was in the room when they dined."

"Ay, you helped to shift their trenchers, I remember,"
said Jin Vin. "Well, that same pretty girl— and I will
uphold her the prettiest betwixt Paul's and the Bar— she is
to be wedded to your Lord Glenvarloch, with a pestilence
on him ! "

"That is impossible," said Richie — "it is raving nonsense,
man. They make April gouks of you cockneys every month
in the year. The Lord Glenvarloch marry the daughter of
a Lunnon mechanic! I would as soon believe the great
Prester John would marry the daughter of a Jew packman."

"Hark ye, brother," said Jin Vin, "I will allow no one to
speak disregardfully of the city, for all I am in trouble."

"I crave your pardon, man — I meant no offence," said

The Fortunes of Nigel. 531

Richie; "but as to the marriage, it is a thing simply im-
possible."

" It is a thing that will take place, though, for the Duke
and the Prince, and all of them, have a finger in it ; and
especially the old fool of a King, that makes her out to be
some great woman in her own country, as all the Scots
pretend to be, you know."

" Master Vincent, but that you are under affliction," said
the consoler, offended in his turn, " I would hear no national
reflections."

The afflicted youth apologized in his turn, but asserted,
"it was true that the King said Peg-a-Ramsay was some
far-off sort of noblewoman ; and that he had taken a great
interest in the match, and had run about like an old gander,
cackling about Peggie ever since he had seen her in hose
and doublet — and no wonder," added poor Vin, with a deep
sigh.

" This may be all true," said Richie, " though it sounds
strange in my ears; but, man, you should not speak evil
of dignities. Curse not the King, Jenkin ; not even in thy
bedchamber — stone walls have ears — no one has a right to
know that better than I."

" I do not curse the foolish old man," said Jenkin ; " but
I would have them carry things a peg lower. If they were
to see on a plain field thirty thousand such pikes as I have
seen in the artillery gardens, it would not be their long-
haired courtiers would help them, I trow." *

"Hout tout, man," said Richie, "mind where the Stewarts

* Clarendon remarks, that the importance of the military exercise
of the citizens was severely felt by the Cavaliers during the Civil War,
notwithstanding the ridicule that had been showered upon it by the
dramatic poets of the day. Nothing less than habitual practice could,
at the battle of Newbury and elsewhere, have enabled the Londoners
to keep their ranks as pikemen, in spite of the repeated charge of the
fiery Prince Rupert and his gallant Cavaliers.

532 The Fortunes of Nigel

come frae, and never think they would want spears or clay-
mores either ; but leaving sic matters, whilk are perilous to
speak on, I say once more, what is your concern in all this
matter ? "

" What is it ? " said Jenkin ; " why, have I not fixed on
Peg-a-Ramsay to be my true love, from the day I came to
her old father's shop ? And have I not carried her pattens
and her chopines for three years, and borne her prayer-book
to church, and brushed the cushion for her to kneel down
upon, and did she ever say me nay ? "

"I see no cause she had," said Richie, "if the like of
such small services were all that ye proffered. Ah, man!
there are few — very few, either of fools or of wise men, ken
how to guide a woman."

"Why, did I not serve her at the risk of my freedom,
and very nigh at the risk of my neck ? Did she not — no,
it was not her neither, but that accursed beldam whom she
caused to work upon me, persuade me like a fool to turn
myself into a waterman to help my lord, and a plague to
him, down to Scotland? And instead of going peaceably
down to the ship at Gravesend, did not he rant and bully,
and show his pistols, and make me land him at Greenwich,
where he played some swaggering pranks, that helped both
him and me into the Tower?"

"Aha!" said Richie, throwing more than his usual
wisdom into his looks; "so you were the green-jacketed
waterman that rowed Lord Glenvarloch down the river ?"

" The more fool I, that did not souse him in the Thames,"
said Jenkin ; " and I was the lad that would not confess one
word of who or what I was, though they threatened to make
me hug the Duke of Exeter's daughter." *

"Wha is she, man?" said Richie; "she must be an ill-

* A particular species of rack, used at the Tower of London, was so
called.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 533

fashioned piece, if you're so much afraid of her, and she
come of such high kin."

" I mean the rack — the rack, man," said Jenkin. " Where
were you bred that never heard of the Duke of Exeter's
daughter? But all the dukes and duchesses in England
could have got nothing out of me — so the truth came out
some other way, and I was set free. Home I ran, think-
ing myself one of the cleverest and happiest fellows in trie-
ward. And she — she — she wanted to pay me with money
for all my true service ! and she spoke so sweetly and so
coldly at the same time, I wished myself in the deepest
dungeon of the Tower. I wish they had racked me to
death before I heard this Scottishman was to chouse me
out of my sweetheart ! "

"But are ye sure ye have lost her?" said Richie. "It
sounds strange in my ears that my Lord Glenvarloch should
marry the daughter of a dealer — though there are uncouth
marriages made in London, I'll allow that."

"Why, I tell you this lord was no sooner clear of the
Tower than he and Master George Heriot came to make
proposals for her, with the King's assent, and what not ; and
fine fair-day prospects of Court favour for this lord, for he
hath not an acre of land."

"Well, and what said the auld watchmaker?" said Richie.
" Was he not, as might weel beseem him, ready to loup out
of his skin-case for very joy ? "

" He multiplied six figures progressively, and reported the
product — then gave his consent."

"And what did you do?"

"I rushed into the streets," said the poor lad, "with a
burning heart and a bloodshot eye — and where did I first
find myself but with that beldam, Mother Suddlechop — and
what did she propose to me but to take the road ! "

" Take the road, man ? — in what sense ? " said Richie.

534 The Fortunes of Nigel

"Even as a clerk to Saint Nicholas — as a highwayman,
like Poins and Peto, and the good fellows in the play. And
who think you was to be my captain? — for she had the
whole out ere I could speak to her — I fancy she took silence
for consent, and thought me damned too unutterably to have
one thought left that savoured of redemption — who was to
be my captain but the knave that you saw me cudgel at the
ordinary when you waited on Lord Glenvarloch, a cowardly,
sharking, thievish bully about town here, whom they call
Colepepper."

"Colepepper — umph — I know somewhat of that smaik,"
said Richie. "Ken ye by ony chance where he may be
heard of, Master Jenkin ? — ye wad do me a sincere service
to tell me."

" Why, he lives something obscurely," answered the ap-
prentice, "on account of suspicion of some villainy — I
believe that horrid murder in Whitefriars, or some such
matter. But I might have heard all about him from Dame
Suddlechop, for she spoke of my meeting him at Enfield
Chase, with some other good fellows, to do a robbery on one
that goes northward with a store of treasure."

"And you did not agree to this fine project?" said
Moniplies.

" I cursed her for a hag, and came away about my busi-
ness/' answered Jenkin.

"Ay, and what said she to that, man? That would startle
her," said Richie.

"Not a whit. She laughed, and said she was in jest,"
answered Jenkin ; "but I know the she-devil's jest from her
earnest too well to be taken in that way. But she knows I
would never betray her."

" Betray her ! — no," replied Richie ; " but are ye in any
shape bound to this birkie Peppercull, or Colepepper, or
whatever they call him, that ye suld let him do a robbery on

The Fortunes of Nigel. 535

the honest gentleman that is travelling to the north, and may
be a kindly Scot, for what we know ? "

"Ay, going home with a load of English money," said
Jenkin. " But be he who he will, they may rob the whole
world an they list, for I am robbed and ruined."

Richie filled up his friend's cup to the brim, and insisted
that he should drink what he called "clean caup out."
"This love," he said, "is but a bairnly matter for a brisk
young fellow like yourself, Master Jenkin. And if ye must
needs have a whimsy, though I think it would be safer to
venture on a staid womanly body, why, here be as bonny
lasses in London as this Peg-a-Ramsay. Ye need not sigh
sae deeply, for it is very true — there is as good fish in the
sea as ever came out of it. Now wherefore should you, who
are as brisk and trig a young fellow of your inches as the sun
needs to shine on — wherefore need you sit moping this way,
and not try some bold way to better your fortune ? "

" I tell you, Master Moniplies," said Jenkin, " I am as
poor as any Scot among you. I have broke my indenture,
and I think of running my country."

" A-well-a-day ! " said Richie ; " but that maunna be, man.
I ken weel, by sad experience, that poortith takes away pith,
and the man sits full still that has a rent in his breeks.* But
courage, man ; you have served me heretofore, and I will
serve you now. If you will but bring me to speech of this
same captain, it shall be the best day's work you ever did."

" I guess where you are, Master Richard — you would save
your countryman's long purse," said Jenkin. " I cannot see
how that should advantage me, but I reck not if I should
bear a hand. I hate that braggart, that bloody-minded,

* This elegant speech was made by the Earl of Douglas, called
Tineman, after being wounded and made prisoner at the battle of
Shrewsbury, where

" His well-labouring sword
Had three times slain the semblance of the King."

536 The Fortunes of Nigel.

cowardly bully. If you can get me mounted, I care not if I
show you Where the dame told me I should meet him ; but
you must stand to the risk, for though he is a coward himself,
I know he will have more than one stout fellow with him."

" We'll have a warrant, man," said Richie, " and the hue
and cry to boot."

" We will have no such thing," said Jenkin, " if I am to
go with you. I am not the lad to betray any one to the
harman-beck. You must do it by manhood, if I am to go with
you. I am sworn to cutter's law, and will sell no man's blood"

" Aweel," said Richie, " a wilful man must have his way ;
ye must think that I was born and bred where cracked
crowns were plentier than whole ones. Besides, I have two
noble friends here, Master Lowestoffe of the Temple, and
his cousin Master Ringwood, that will blithely be of so
gallant a party."

" Lowestoffe and Ringwood ! " said Jenkin ; " they are
both brave gallants — they will be sure company. Know you
where they are to be found ? "

"Ay, marry do I," replied Richie. "They are fast at the
cards and dice, till the sma' hours, I warrant them."

" They are gentlemen of trust and honour," said Jenkin,
" and if they advise it, I will try the adventure. Go, try if
you can bring them hither, since you have so much to say
with them. We must not be seen abroad together. — I know
not how it is, Master Moniplies," continued he, as his coun-
tenance brightened up, and while, in his turn, he filled the
cups, " but I feel my heart something lighter since I have
thought of this matter."

"Thus it is to have counsellors, Master Jenkin," said
Richie ; " and truly I hope to hear you say that your heart
is as light as a laverock's, and that before you are many days
aulder. Never smile and shake your head, but mind what
I tell you ; and bide here in the meanwhile, till I go to seek

The Fortunes of Nigel. 537

these gallants. I warrant you, cart-ropes would not hold
them back from such a ploy as I shall propose to them."

CHAPTER XXXVI.

The thieves have bound the true men. Now, could thou and I rob the
thieves, and go merrily to London. — Henry IV. Part I. Act II. Scene 2.

THE sun .was high upon the glades of Enfield Chase, and
the deer, with which it then abounded, were seen sporting
in picturesque groups among the ancient oaks of the forest,
when a cavalier and a lady, on foot, although in riding
apparel, sauntered slowly up one of the long alleys which
were cut through the park for the convenience of the
hunters. Their only attendant was a page, who, riding a
Spanish jennet, which seemed to bear a heavy cloak-bag,
followed them at a respectful distance. The female, attired
in all the fantastic finery of the period, with more than the
usual quantity of bugles, flounces, and trimmings, and hold-
ing her fan of ostrich feathers in one hand, and her riding-
mask of black velvet in the other, seemed anxious, by all the
little coquetry practised on such occasions, to secure the
notice of her companion, who sometimes heard her prattle
without seeming to attend to it, and at other times inter-
rupted his train of graver reflections to reply to her.

"Nay, but, my lord — my lord, you walk so fast you will
leave me behind you. Nay, I will have hold of your arm,
but how to manage with my mask and my fan ? Why would
you not let me bring my waiting-gentlewoman to follow us,
and hold my things? But see, I will put my fan in my
girdle, soh ! — and now that I have a hand to hold you with,
you shall not run away from me."

" Come on, then," answered the gallant, " and let us walk
apace, since you would not be persuaded to stay with your

538 The Fortunes of Nigel.

gentlewoman, as you call her, and with the rest of the
baggage. You may perhaps see that, though, you will not
like to see."

She took hold of his arm accordingly ; but as he con-
tinued to walk at the same pace, she shortly let go her hold,
exclaiming that he had hurt her hand. The cavalier stopped,
and looked at the pretty hand and arm which she showed
him, with exclamations against his cruelty. "I dare say,"
she said, baring her wrist and a part of her arm, " it is all
black and blue to the very elbow."

" I dare say you are a silly little fool," said the cavalier,
carelessly kissing the aggrieved arm; "it is only a pretty
incarnate which sets off the blue veins."

"Nay, my lord, now it is you are silly," answered the
dame ; " but I am glad I can make you speak and laugh on
any terms this morning. I am sure, if I did insist on follow-
ing you into the forest, it was all for the sake of diverting you.
I am better company than your page, I trow. — And now,
tell me, these pretty things with horns, be they not deer ? "

"Even such they be, Nelly," answered her neglectful
attendant.

" And what can the great folks do with so many of them,
forsooth?"

" They send them to the city, Nell, where wise men make
venison pasties of their flesh, and wear their horns for
trophies," answered Lord Dalgarno, whom our reader has
already recognized.

"Nay, now you laugh at me, my lord," answered his
companion; "but I know all about venison, whatever you
may think. I always tasted it once a year when we dined
with Master Deputy," she continued sadly, as a sense of
her degradation stole across a mind bewildered with vanity
and folly, " though he would not speak to me now, if we
met together in the narrowest lane in the Ward i "

The Fortunes of Nigel. 559

" I warrant he would not," said Lord Dalgarno, " because
thou, Nell, wouldst dash him with a single look ; for I trust
thou hast more spirit than to throw away words on such a
fellow as he?"

" Who ? I ! " said Dame Nelly. " Nay, I scorn the proud
princox too much for that. Do you know, he made all the
folks in the Ward stand cap in hand to him, my poor old
John Christie and all?" Here her recollection began to
overflow at her eyes.

" A plague on your whimpering ! " said Dalgarno, some-
what harshly. " Nay, never look pale for the matter, Nell.
I am not angry with you, you simple fool. But what would
you have me think, when you are eternally looking back
upon your dungeon yonder by the river, which smelt of
pitch and old cheese worse than a Welshman does of
onions, and all this when I am taking you down to a
castle as fine as is in fairyland ? "

" Shall we be there to-night, my lord ? " said Nelly, drying
her tears.

" To-night, Nelly ? — no, nor this night fortnight."

" Now, the Lord be with us, and keep us ! But shall we
not go by sea, my lord? I thought everybody came from
Scotland by sea. I am sure Lord Glenvarloch and Richie
Moniplies came up by sea."

" There is a wide difference between coming up and going
down, Nelly," answered Lord Dalgarno.

"And so there is, for certain," said his simple companion.
M But yet I think I heard people speaking of going down to
Scotland by sea, as well as coming up. Are you well avised
of the way ? Do you think it possible we can go by land,
my sweet lord ? "

"It is but trying, my sweet lady," said Lord Dalgarno.
" Men say England and Scotland are in the same island, so
one would hope there may be some road betwixt them by land."

540 The Fortunes of Nigel.

" I shall never be able to ride so far," said the lady.

" We will have your saddle stuffed softer," said the lord.
" I tell you that you shall mew your city slough, and change
from the caterpillar of a paltry lane into the butterfly of a
prince's garden. You shall have as many tires as there are
hours in the day ; as many handmaidens as there are days
in the week ; as many menials as there are weeks in the year ;
and you shall ride a-hunting and hawking with a lord,
instead of waiting upon an old ship-chandler, who could do
nothing but hawk and spit."

" Ay, but will you make me your lady ? " said Dame Nelly.

"Ay, surely — what else?" replied the lord — "my lady-
love."-

" Ay, but I mean your lady-wife," said Nelly.

" Truly, Nell, in that I cannot promise to oblige you. A
lady-wife," continued Dalgarno, "is a very different thing
from a lady-love."

"I heard from Mrs. Suddlechop, whom you lodged me
with since I left poor old John Christie, that Lord Glenvar-
loch is to marry David Ramsay the clockmaker's daughter ? "

"There is much betwixt the cup and the lip, Nelly.
I wear something about me may break the banns of that
hopeful alliance, before the day is much older," answered
Lord Dalgarno.

"Well, but my father was as good a man as old Davie
Ramsay, and as well to pass in the world, my lord; and,
therefore, why should you not marry me ? You have done
me harm enough, I trow ; wherefore should you not do me
this justice ? "

"For two good reasons, Nelly. Fate put a husband on
you, and the King passed a wife upon me," answered Lord
Dalgarno.

" Ay, my lord," said Nelly ; " but they remain in England,
and we go to Scotland."

The Fortunes of Nigel. 541

"Thy argument is better than thou art aware of," said
Lord Dalgarno. " I have heard Scottish lawyers say the
matrimonial tie may be unclasped in our happy country
by the gentle hand of the ordinary course of law, whereas
in England it can only be burst by an Act of Parliament.
Well, Nelly, we will look into that matter; and whether
we get married again or no, we will at least do our best
to get unmarried."

" Shall we indeed, my honey-sweet lord ? and then I will
think less about John Christie, for he will marry again, I
warrant you, for he is well to pass; and I would be glad
to think he had somebody to take care of him, as I used to
do, poor loving old man ! He was a kind man, though he
was a score of years older than I ; and I hope and pray he
will never let a young lord cross his honest threshold again ! "

Here the dame was once more much inclined to give way
to a passion of tears; but Lord Dalgarno conjured down
the emotion by saying, with some asperity, " I am weary of
these April passions, my pretty mistress, and I think you
will do well to preserve your tears for some more pressing
occasion. Who knows what turn of fortune may in a few
minutes call for more of them than you can render ? "

"Goodness, my lord! what mean you by such expres-
sions ? John Christie (the kind heart !) used to keep no
secrets from me, and I hope your lordship will not hide
your counsel from me."

" Sit down beside me on this bank," said the nobleman.
"I am bound to remain here for a short space ; and if you
can be but silent, I should like to spend a part of it in con-
sidering how far I can, on the present occasion, follow the
respectable example which you recommend to me."

The place at which he stopped was at that time little more
than a mound, partly surrounded by a ditch, from which it
derived the name of Camlet Moat. A few hewn stones

542 The Fortunes of Nigel

there were, which had escaped the fate of many others that
had been used in building different lodges in the forest for
the royal keepers. These vestiges, just sufficient to show
that "here in former times the hand of man had been,"
marked the ruins of the abode of a once illustrious but
long-forgotten family, the Mandevilles, Earls of Essex, to
whom Enfield Chase and the extensive domains adjacent
had belonged in elder days. A wild woodland prospect led
the eye at various points through broad and seemingly inter-
minable alleys, which, meeting at this point as at a common
centre, diverged from each other as they receded, and had
therefore been selected by Lord Dalgarno as the rendezvous
for the combat, which, through the medium of Richie Moni-
plies, he had offered to his injured friend, Lord Glenvarloch.

"He will surely come?" he said to himself; "cowardice
was not wont to be his fault — at least he was bold enough
in the Park. Perhaps yonder churl may not have carried
my message. But no ; he is a sturdy knave — one of those
would prize their master's honour above their life. — Look to
the palfrey, Lutin, and see thou let him not loose, and cast
thy falcon glance down every avenue to mark if any one
comes. — Buckingham has undergone my challenge, but the
proud minion pleads the King's paltry commands for re-
fusing to answer me. If I can baffle this Glenvarloch, or
slay him — if I can spoil him of his honour or his life — I shall
go down to Scotland with credit sufficient to gild over past
mischances. I know my dear countrymen — they never
quarrel with any one who brings them home either gold or
martial glory, much more if he has both gold and laurels."

As he thus reflected, and called to mind the disgrace
which he had suffered, as well as the causes he imagined for
hating Lord Glenvarloch, his countenance altered under the
influence of his contending emotions, to the terror of Nelly,
who, sitting unnoticed at his feet, and looking anxiously in

The Fortunes of Nigel. 543

his face, beheld the cheek kindle, the mouth become com-
pressed, the eye dilated, and the whole countenance express
the desperate and deadly resolution of one who awaits an
instant and decisive encounter with a mortal enemy. The
loneliness of the place, the scenery so different from that to
which alone she had been accustomed, the dark and sombre
air which crept so suddenly over the countenance of her
seducer, his command imposing silence upon her, and the
apparent strangeness of his conduct in idling away so much
time without any obvious cause when a journey of such
length lay before them, brought strange thoughts into her
weak brain. She had read of women seduced from their
matrimonial duties by sorcerers allied to the hellish powers —
nay, by the father of evil himself, who, after conveying his
victim into some desert remote from human kind, exchanged
the pleasing shape in which he gained her affections for all
his natural horrors. She chased this wild idea away as it
crowded itself upon her weak and bewildered imagination ;
yet she might have lived to see it realized allegorically, if not
literally, but for the accident which presently followed.

The page, whose eyes were remarkably acute, at length
called out to his master, pointing with his finger at the same
time down one of the alleys, that horsemen were advancing
in that direction. Lord Dalgarno started up, and shading
his eyes with his hand, gazed eagerly down the alley ; when,
at the same instant, he received a shot which, grazing his
hand, passed right through his brain, and laid him a lifeless
corpse at the feet, or rather across the lap, of the unfortunate
victim of his profligacy. The countenance whose varied ex-
pression she had been watching for the last five minutes was
convulsed for an instant, and then stiffened into rigidity for
ever. Three ruffians rushed from the brake from which the
shot had been fired, ere the smoke was dispersed. One, with
many imprecations, seized on the page; another on the fe-

544 The Fortunes of Nigel.

male, upon whose cries he strove by the most violent threats
to impose silence ; while the third began to undo the burden
from the page's horse. But an instant rescue prevented their
availing themselves of the advantage they had obtained.

It may easily be supposed that Richie Moniplies, having
secured the assistance of the two Templars (ready enough to
join in anything which promised a fray), with Jin Vin to act
as their guide, had set off, gallantly mounted and well armed,
under the belief that they would reach Camlet Moat before
the robbers, and apprehend them in the fact. They had not
calculated that, according to the custom of robbers in other
countries, but contrary to that of the English highwaymen of
those days, they meant to ensure robbery by previous mur-
der. An accident also happened to delay them a little while
on the road. In riding through one of the glades of the
forest, they found a man dismounted and sitting under a
tree, groaning with such bitterness of spirit that Lowestoffe
could not forbear asking if he was hurt. In answer he said
he was an unhappy man in pursuit of his wife, who had been
carried off by a villain ; and as he raised his countenance,
the eyes of Richie, to his great astonishment, encountered
the visage of John Christie.

"For the Almighty's sake, help me, Master Moniplies!"
he said. " I have learned my wife is but a short mile before,
with that black villain, Lord Dalgarno."

"Have him forward by all means," said Lowestoffe— " a
second Orpheus seeking his Eurydice ! Have him forward ;
we will save Lord Dalgarno's purse, and ease him of his
mistress. Have him with us, were it but for the variety of
the adventure. I owe his lordship a grudge for rooking me.
We have ten minutes good."

But it is dangerous to calculate closely in matters of life
and death. In all probability the minute or two which was
lost in mounting John Christie behind one of their party

The Fortunes of Nigel 545

might have saved Lord Dalgarno from his fate. Thus his
criminal amour became the indirect cause of his losing his
life, and thus "our pleasant vices are made the whips to
scourge us."

The riders arrived on the field at full gallop the moment
after the shot was fired ; and Richie, who had his own rea-
sons for attaching himself to Colepepper, who was bustling
to untie the portmanteau from the page's saddle, pushed
against him with such violence as to overthrow him, his own
horse at the same time stumbling and dismounting his rider,
who was none of the first equestrians. The undaunted
Richie immediately arose, however, and grappled with the
ruffian with such goodwill that, though a strong fellow, and
though a coward now rendered desperate, Moniplies got him
under, wrenched a long knife from his hand, dealt him a
desperate stab with his own weapon, and leaped on his feet ;
and as the wounded man struggled to follow his example,
he struck him upon the head with the butt-end of a mus-
ketoon, which last blow proved fatal.

" Bravo, Richie ! " cried Lowestoffe, who had himself en-
gaged at sword-point with one of the ruffians, and soon put
him to flight — " bravo ! why, man, there lies Sin, struck
down like an ox, and Iniquity's throat cut like a calf."

" I know not why you should upbraid me with my up-
bringing, Master Lowestoffe," answered Richie, with great
composure ; " but, I can tell you, the shambles is not a bad
place for training one to this work."

The other Templar now shouted loudly to them, "If ye
be men, come hither — here lies Lord Dalgarno, murdered ! "

Lowestoffe and Richie ran to the spot, and the page took
the opportunity, finding himself now neglected on all hands,
to ride off in a different direction ; and neither he nor the
considerable sum with which his horse was burdened was
ever heard of from that moment.

18

546 The Fortunes of Nigel

The third ruffian had not waited the attack of the Templar
and Jin Vin, the latter of whom had put down old Christie
from behind him that he might ride the lighter; and the
whole five now stood gazing with horror on the bloody
corpse of the young nobleman and the wild sorrow of the
female, who tore her hair and shrieked in the most dis-
consolate manner, until her agony was at once checked,
or rather received a new direction, by the sudden and un-
expected appearance of her husband, who, fixing on her a
cold and severe look, said, in a tone suited to his manner,
" Ay, woman ! thou takest on sadly for the loss of thy para-
mour." Then, looking on the bloody corpse of him from
whom he had received so deep an injury, he repeated the
solemn words of Scripture, " ' Vengeance is mine, saith the
Lord; and I will repay it.' — I, whom thou hast injured,
will be first to render thee the decent offices due to the
dead."

So saying, he covered the dead body with his cloak, and
then, looking on it for a moment, seemed to reflect on what
he had next to perform. As the eye of the injured man slowly
passed from the body of the seducer to the partner and vic-
tim of his crime, who had sunk down to his feet, which she
clasped without venturing to look up, his features, naturally
coarse and saturnine, assumed a dignity of expression which
overawed the young Templars, and repulsed the officious
forwardness of Richie Moniplies, who was at first eager to
have thrust in his advice and opinion. " Kneel not to me,
woman," he said, " but kneel to the God thou hast offended
more than thou couldst offend such another worm as thyself.
How often have I told thee, when thou wert at the gayest
and the lightest, that pride goeth before destruction, and a
haughty spirit before a fall? Vanity brought folly, and folly
brought sin, and sin hath brought death, his original com-
panion. Thou must needs leave duty, and decency, and

The Fortunes of Nigel. 547

domestic love, to revel it gaily with the wild and with the
wicked ; and there thou liest, like a crushed worm, writhing
beside the lifeless body of thy paramour. Thou hast done
me much wrong — dishonoured me among friends, driven
credit from my house and peace from my fireside ; but thou
wert my first and only love, and I will not see thee an utter
castaway if it lies with me to prevent it. — Gentlemen, I
render ye such thanks as a broken-hearted man can give.
Richard, commend me to your honourable master. I added
gall to the bitterness of his affliction, but I was deluded. —
Rise up, woman, and follow me."

He raised her up by the arm, while, with streaming eyes
and bitter sobs, she endeavoured to express her penitence.
She kept her hands spread over her face, yet suffered him
to lead her away; and it was only as they turned round a
brake which concealed the scene they had left, that she
turned back, and casting one wild and hurried glance to-
wards the corpse of Dalgarno, uttered a shriek, and clinginp
to her husband's arm, exclaimed wildly, "Save me! save
me ! They have murdered him ! "

Lowestoffe was much moved by what he had witnessed ;
but he was ashamed, as a town gallant, of his own unfashion-
able emotion, and did a force to his feelings when he ex-
claimed, "Ay, let them go — the kind-hearted, believing, for-
giving husband — the liberal, accommodating spouse. Oh,
what a generous creature is your true London husband!
Horns hath he, but, tame as a fatted ox, he goreth not. I
should like to see her when she hath exchanged her mask
and riding-beaver for her peaked hat and muffler. We will
visit them at Paul's Wharf, coz; it will be a convenient
acquaintance."

" You had better think of catching the gipsy thief Lutin,"
said Richie Moniplies, " for, by my faith, he is off with his
master's baggage and the siller."

548 The Fortunes of Nigel

A keeper, with his assistants and several other persons,
had now come to the spot, and made hue and cry after
Lutin, but in vain. To their custody the Templars sur-
rendered the dead bodies, and after going through some
formal investigation, they returned, with Richard and Vin-
cent, to London, where they received great applause for
their gallantry. Vincent's errors were easily expiated, in
consideration of his having been the means of breaking up
this band of villains ; and there is some reason to think that
what would have diminished the credit of the action in other
instances rather added to it in the actual circumstances—-
namely, that they came too late to save Lord Dalgarno.

George Heriot, who suspected how matters stood with
Vincent, requested and obtained permission from his master
to send the poor young fellow on an important piece of
business to Paris. We are unable to trace his fate farther,
but believe it was prosperous, and that he entered into an
advantageous partnership with his fellow-apprentice, upon
old Davie Ramsay retiring from business in consequence of
his daughter's marriage. That eminent antiquary, Dr. Dry-
asdust, is possessed of an antique watch, with a silver dial-
plate, the mainspring being a piece of catgut instead of a
chain, which bears the names of Vincent and Tunstall,
Memory Monitors.

Master Lowestoffe failed not to vindicate his character as
a man of gaiety by inquiring after John Christie and Dame
Nelly ; but, greatly to his surprise (indeed to his loss, for he
had wagered ten pieces that he would domesticate himself in
the family), he found the goodwill, as it was called, of the
shop was sold, the stock auctioned, and the late proprietor
and his wife gone, no one knew whither. The prevailing
belief was that they had emigrated to one of the new settle-
ments in America.

Lady Dalgarno received the news of her unworthy hus-

The Fortunes of Nigel. 549

band's death with a variety of emotions, among which horror
that he should have been cut off in the middle career of his
profligacy was the most prominent. The incident greatly
deepened her melancholy and injured her health, already
shaken by previous circumstances. Repossessed of her own
fortune by her husband's death, she was anxious to do jus-
tice to Lord Glenvarloch, by treating for the recovery of the
mortgage. But the scrivener, having taken fright at the late
events, had left the city and absconded, so that it was im-
possible to discover into whose hands the papers had now
passed. Richard Moniplies was silent, for his own reasons ;
the Templars, who had witnessed the transaction, kept the
secret at his request; and it was universally believed that
the scrivener had carried off the writings along with him.
We may here observe that fears similar to those of Skurlie-
whitter freed London for ever from the presence of Dame
Suddlechop, who ended her career in the Rasphaus (namely,
Bridewell) of Amsterdam.

The stout old Lord Huntinglen, with a haughty carriage
and unmoistened eye, accompanied the funeral procession of
his only son to its last abode ; and perhaps the single tear
which fell at length upon the coffin was given less to the fate
of the individual than to the extinction of the last male of
his ancient race.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Jacqws. There is, sure, another flood toward, and these couples are
coming to the ark ! Here comes a pair of very strange beasts.

As You Like It.

THE fashion of such narratives as the present changes like
other earthly things. Time was that the tale-teller was
obliged to wind up his story by a circumstantial description
of the wedding, bedding, and throwing the stocking, as the

55O The Fortunes of Niget.

grand catastrophe to which, through so many circumstances
of doubt and difficulty, he had at length happily conducted
his hero and heroine. Not a circumstance was then omitted,
from the manly ardour of the bridegroom and the modest
blushes of the bride to the parson's new surplice and the silk
tabinet mantua of the bridesmaid. But such descriptions
are now discarded — for the same reason, I suppose, that
public marriages are no longer fashionable, and that, instead
of calling together their friends to a feast and a dance, the
happy couple elope in a solitary post-chaise as secretly as if
they meant to go to Gretna Green, or to do worse. I am
not ungrateful for a change which saves an author the trouble
of attempting in vain to give a new colour to the common-
place description of such matters; but, notwithstanding, I
find myself forced upon it in the present instance, as cir-
cumstances sometimes compel a stranger to make use of an
old road which has been for some time shut up. The ex-
perienced reader may have already remarked that the last
chapter was employed in sweeping out of the way all the
unnecessary and less interesting characters, that I might
clear the floor for a blithe bridal.

In truth it would be unpardonable to pass over slightly
what so deeply interested our principal personage, King
James. That learned and good-humoured monarch made
no great figure in the politics of Europe ; but then, to make
amends, he was prodigiously busy when he could find a fair
opportunity of intermeddling with the private affairs of his
loving subjects, and the approaching marriage of Lord Glen-
varloch was matter of great interest to him. He had been
much struck (that is, for him, who was not very accessible to
such emotions) with the beauty and embarrassment of the
pretty Peg-a-Ramsay, as he called her, when he first saw her,
and he glorified himself greatly on the acuteness -which he
had displayed in detecting her disguise, and in carrying

The Fortunes of Nigel. 551

through the whole inquiry which took place in consequence
of it.

He laboured for several weeks, while the courtship was in
progress, with his own royal eyes, so as well-nigh to wear out,
he declared, a pair of her father's best barnacles, in searching
through old books and documents, for the purpose of es-
tablishing the bride's pretensions to a noble though remote
descent, and thereby remove the only objection which envy
might conceive against the match. In his own opinion, at
least, he was eminently successful; for when Sir Mungo
Malagrowther one day, in the presence-chamber, took upon
him to grieve bitterly for the bride's lack of pedigree, the
monarch cut him short with, "Ye may save your grief for
your ain next occasions, Sir Mungo; for by our royal saul,
we will uphauld her father, Davie Ramsay, to be a gentleman
of nine descents, whase great-gudesire came, of the auld mar-
tial stock of the House of Dalwolsey, than whom better men
never did, and better never will, draw sword for king and
country. Heard ye never of Sir William Ramsay of Dal-
wolsey, man, of whom John Fordoun saith, * He was belli-
cosissimus, nobilissimus't His castle stands to witness for
itsel', not three miles from Dalkeith, man, and within a mile
of Bannockrigg. Davie Ramsay came of that auld and
honoured stock, and I trust he hath not derogated from his
ancestors by his present craft. They all wrought wi' steel,
man; only the auld knights drilled holes wi' their swords
in their enemies' corselets, and he saws nicks in his brass
wheels. And I hope it is as honourable to give eyes to the
blind as to slash them out of the head of those that see, and
to show us how to value our time as it passes as to fling it
away in drinking, brawling, spear-splintering, and suchlike
unchristian doings. And you maun understand that Davie
Ramsay is no mechanic, but follows a liberal art, which ap-
proacheth almost to the act of creating a living being, seeing

552 The Fortunes of Nigel

it may be said of a watch, as Claudius saith of the sphere of
Archimedes the Syracusan —

* Inclusus variis famulatur spiritus astris,
Et vivum certis motibus urget opus.' "

"Your Majesty had best give auld Davie a coat-of-arms as
well as a pedigree," said Sir Mungo.

"It's done or ye bade, Sir Mungo," said the King; "and
I trust we, who are the fountain of all earthly honour, are
free to spirt a few drops of it on one so near our person,
without offence to the Knight of Castle Girnigo. We have
already spoken with the learned men of the Heralds' Col-
lege, and we propose to grant him an augmented coat-of-
arms, being his paternal coat charged with the crown-wheel
of a watch in chief for a difference ; and we purpose to add
Time and Eternity for supporters as soon as the Garter King-
at-Arms shall be- able to devise how Eternity is to be repre-
sented."

"I would make him twice as rnuckle as Time,"* said
Archie Armstrong, the Court fool, who chanced to be pres-
ent when the King stated this dilemma.

"Peace, man! ye shall be whippet," said the King, in
return for this hint. " And you, my liege subjects of Eng-
land, may weel take a hint from what we have said, and not
be in such a hurry to laugh at our Scottish pedigrees, though
they be somewhat long derived, and difficult to be deduced.
Ye see that a man of right gentle blood may, for a season,
lay by his gentry, and yet ken whaur to find it when he has
occasion for it. It would be as unseemly for a packman, or
pedlar (as ye call a travelling-merchant, whilk is a trade to
which our native subjects of Scotland are specially addicted),
to be blazing his genealogy in the faces of those to whom he

* Chaucer says, there is nothing new but what it has been old. The
reader has here the original of an anecdote which has since been fathered
on a Scottish chief of our own time.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 553

sells a bawbee's worth of ribbon, as it would be to him to
have a beaver on his head and a rapier by his side when the
pack was on his shoulders. Na, na ; he hings his sword on
the cleek, lays his beaver on the shelf, puts his pedigree into
his pocket, and gangs as doucely and cannily about his
peddling craft as if his blood was nae better than ditch-
water. But let our pedlar be transformed, as I have ken'd it
happen mair than ance, into a bien thriving merchant, then
ye shall have a transformation, my lords.

* In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas '

Out he pulls his pedigree, on he buckles his sword, gives his
beaver a brush, and cocks it in the face of all creation. We
mention these things at the mair length because we would
have you all to know that it is not without due consideration
of the circumstances of all parties that we design, in a small
and private way, to honour with our own royal presence the
marriage of Lord Glenvarloch with Margaret Ramsay, daugh-
ter and heiress of David Ramsay, our horologer, and a cadet
only thrice removed from the ancient House of Dalwolsey.
We are grieved we cannot have the presence of the noble
chief of that house at the ceremony; but where there is
honour to be won abroad, the Lord Dalwolsey is seldom to
be found at home. Sic fuit, est^ et erit. — Jingling Geordie,
as ye stand to the cost of the marriage-feast, we look for
good cheer."

Heriot bowed, as in duty bound. In fact, the King, who
was a great politician about trifles, had manoeuvred greatly
on this occasion, and had contrived to get the Prince and
Buckingham dispatched on an expedition to Newmarket, in
order that he might find an opportunity in their absence
of indulging himself in his own gossiping, coshering habits,
which were distasteful to Charles, whose temper inclined to
formality, and with which even the favourite of late had not

554 The Fortunes of Nigel.

thought it worth while to seem to sympathize. When the
levee was dismissed, Sir Mungo Malagrowther seized upon
the worthy citizen in the courtyard of the Palace, and de-
tained him, in spite of all his efforts, for the purpose of sub-
jecting him to the following scrutiny : —

"This is a sair job on you, Master George; the King
must have had little consideration. This will cost you a
bonny penny, this wedding-dinner."

"It will not break me, Sir Mungo," answered Heriot.
"The King hath a right to see the table which his bounty
hath supplied for years well covered for a single day."

" Vera true, vera true ; we'll have a' to pay, I doubt, less
or mair — a sort of penny-wedding it will prove, where all
men contribute to the young folk's maintenance, that they
may not have just four bare legs in a bed thegether. What
do you purpose to give, Master George ? — we begin with the
city when money is in question." *

" Only a trifle, Sir Mungo. I give my god-daughter the
marriage-ring. It is a curious jewel. I bought it in Italy ;
it belonged to Cosmo de Medici. The bride will not need
my help. She has an estate which belonged to her maternal
grandfather."

"The auld soap-boiler," said Sir Mungo. "It will need
some of his suds to scour the blot out of the Glenvarloch
shield. I have heard that estate was no great things."

" It is as good as some posts at Court, Sir Mungo, which
are coveted by persons of high quality," replied George
Heriot.

"Court favour, said ye?— Court favour, Master Heriot?"
replied Sir Mungo, choosing then to use his malady of mis-

* The penny-wedding of the Scots, now disused even among the
lowest ranks, was a peculiar species of merry-making, at which, if the
wedded pair were popular, the guests who convened contributed con-
siderable sums under pretence of paying for the bridal festivity, but in
reality to set the married folk afloat in the world.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 555

apprehension ; " moonshine in water, poor thing, if that is
all she is to be tochered with. I am truly solicitous about
them."

" I will let you into a secret," said the citizen, " which will
relieve your tender anxiety. The dowager Lady Dalgarno
gives a competent fortune to the bride, and settles the rest of
her estate upon her nephew, the bridegroom."

"Ay, say ye sae?" said Sir Mungo, "just to show her regard
to her husband that is in the tomb — lucky that her nephew
did not send him there. It was a strange story that death
of poor Lord Dalgarno; some folk think the poor gentle-
man had much wrong. Little good comes of marrying the
daughter of the house you are at feud with ; indeed, it was
less poor Dalgarno's fault than theirs that forced the match
on him. But I am glad the young folk are to have something
to live on, come how it like, whether by charity or inherit-
ance. But if the Lady Dalgarno were to sell all she has,
even to her very wylie-coat, she canna gie them back the fair
Castle of Glenvarloch ; that is lost and gane — lost and gane."

"It is but too true," said George Heriot; "we cannot
discover what has become of the villain Andrew Skurlie-
whitter, or what Lord Dalgarno has done with the mort-
gage."

" Assigned it away to some one, that his wife might not
get it after he was gane ; it would have disturbed him in his
grave to think Glenvarloch should get that land back again,"
said Sir Mungo. "Depend on it, he will have ta'en sure
measures to keep that noble lordship out of her grips or her
nevoy's either."

" Indeed it is but too probable, Sir Mungo," said Master
Heriot; "but as I am obliged to go and look after many
things in consequence of this ceremony, I must leave you to
comfort yourself with the reflection."

"The bride-day, you say, is to be on the thirtieth of the

556 The Fortunes of Nigel.

instant month ? " said Sir Mungo, hallooing after the citizen ;
" I will be with you in the hour of cause."

"The King invites the guests," said George Heriot, with-
out turning back.

" The base-born, ill-bred mechanic ! " soliloquized Sir
Mungo, " if it were not the odd score of pounds he lent me
last week, I would teach him how to bear himself to a man
of quality ! But I will be at the bridal banquet in spite of
him."

Sir Mungo contrived to get invited, or commanded, to
attend on the bridal accordingly, at which there were but
few persons present ; for James on such occasions preferred
a snug privacy, which gave him liberty to lay aside the encum-
brance, as he felt it to be, of his regal dignity. The company
was very small, and indeed there were at least two persons
absent whose presence might have been expected. The first
of these was the Lady Dalgarno, the state of whose health, as
well as the recent death of her husband, precluded her attend-
ance on the ceremony. The other absentee was Richie
Moniplies, whose conduct for some time past had been
extremely mysterious. Regulating his attendance on Lord
Glenvarloch entirely according to his own will and pleasure,
he had, ever since the rencounter in Enfield Chase, appeared
regularly at his bedside in the morning, to assist him to dress,
and at his wardrobe in the evening. The rest of the day he
disposed of at his own pleasure, without control from his
lord, who had now a complete establishment of attendants.
Yet he was somewhat curious to know how the fellow dis-
posed of so much of his time ; but on this subject Richie
showed no desire to be communicative.

On the morning of the bridal-day, Richie was particularly
attentive in doing all a valet-de-chambre could, so as to set
off to advantage the very handsome figure of his master ; and
when he had arranged his dress with the utmost exactness,

The Fortunes of Nigel. 557

and put to his long curled locks what he called " the finishing
touch of the redding-kaim," he gravely kneeled down, kissed
his hand, and bade him farewell, saying that he humbly
craved leave to discharge himself of his lordship's service.

" Why, what humour is this ? " said Lord Glenvarloch. " If
you mean to discharge yourself of my service, Richie, I sup-
pose you intend to enter my wife's ? "

" I wish her good ladyship that shall soon be, and your
good lordship, the blessings of as good a servant as myself,
in Heaven's good time," said Richie; "but fate hath so
ordained it that I can henceforth only be your servant in
the way of friendly courtesy."

" Well, Richie," said the young lord, " if you are tired of
service, we will seek some better provision for you ; but you
will wait on me to the church, and partake of the bridal
dinner?"

" Under favour, my lord," answered Richie, " I must re-
mind you of our covenant, having presently some pressing
business of mine own, whilk will detain me during the cere-
mony ; but I will not fail to pree Master George's good cheer,
in respect he has made very costly fare, whilk it would be
unthankful not to partake of."

" Do as you list," answered Lord Glenvarloch ; and having
bestowed a passing thought on the whimsical and pragmatical
disposition of his follower, he dismissed the subject for others
better suited to the day.

The reader must fancy the scattered flowers which strewed
the path of the happy couple to church; the loud music
which accompanied the procession; the marriage service
performed by a Bishop ; the King, who met them at Saint
Paul's, giving away the bride — to the great relief of her father,
who had thus time, during the ceremony, to calculate the
just quotient to be laid on the pinion of report in a timepiece
which he was then putting together.

558 The Fortunes of Nigel.

When the ceremony was finished, the company were trans-
ported in the royal carriages to George Heriot's, where a
splendid collation was provided for the marriage guests in
the Foljambe apartments. The King no sooner found him-
self in this snug retreat, than, casting from him his sword
and belt with as much haste as if they burnt his fingers, and
flinging his plumed hat on the table as who should say, Lie
there, authority ! he swallowed a hearty cup of wine to the
happiness of the married couple, and began to amble about
the room, mumping, laughing, and cracking jests, neither the
wittiest nor the most delicate, but accompanied and applauded
by shouts of his own mirth, in order to encourage that of the
company. Whilst his Majesty was in the midst of this gay
humour, and a call to the banquet was anxiously expected,
a servant whispered Master Heriot forth of the apartment.
When he re-entered he walked up to the King, and, in his
turn, whispered something, at which James started.

" He is not wanting his siller?" said the King shortly and
sharply.

" By no means, my liege," answered Heriot " It is a
subject he states himself as quite indifferent about, so long as
it can pleasure your Majesty."

"Body of us, man ! " said the King, "it is the speech of a
true man and a loving subject, and we will grace him accord-
ingly. What though he be but a carle — a twopenny cat may
look at a king. Swith, man ! have \nm-pandite fores.—
Moniplies? They should have called the chield Mony-
pennies, though I sail warrant you English think we have
not such a name in Scotland."

" It is an ancient and honourable stock, the Monypennies,"
said Sir Mungo Malagrowther ; "the only loss is, there are
sae few of the name."

" The family seems to increase among your countrymen,
Sir Mungo," said Master Lowestoffe, whom Lord Glenvarloch

The Fortunes of Nigel. 559

had invited to be present, " since his Majesty's happy acces-
sion brought so many of you here."

" Right, sir — right," said Sir Mungo, nodding and looking
at George Heriot ; " there have some of ourselves been the
better of that great blessing to the English nation."

As he spoke, the door flew open, and in entered, to the
astonishment of Lord Glenvarloch, his late serving-man
Richie Moniplies, now sumptuously, nay, gorgeously attired
in a superb brocaded suit, and leading in his hand the tall,
thin, withered, somewhat distorted form of Martha Trapbois,
arrayed in a complete dress of black velvet, which suited so
strangely with the pallid and severe melancholy of her coun-
tenance, that the King himself exclaimed, in some pertur-
bation, "What the deil has the fallow brought us here?
Body of our regal selves ! it is a corpse that has run off with
the mort-cloth ! "

"May I sifflicate your Majesty to be gracious unto her?"
said Richie ; " being that she is, in respect of this morning's
wark, my ain wedded wife, Mistress Martha Moniplies by
name."

" Saul of our body, man ! but she looks wondrous grim,"
answered King James. " Art thou sure she has not been in
her time maid of honour to Queen Mary, our kinswoman of
redhot memory ? "

" I am sure, an it like your Majesty, that she has brought
me fifty thousand pounds of good siller, and better ; and that
has enabled me to pleasure your Majesty, and other folk."

" Ye need have said naething about that, man," said the
King ; "we ken our obligations in that sma' matter, and we
are glad this rudas spouse of thine hath bestowed her treasure
on ane wha kens to put it to the profit of his King and
country. But how the deil did ye come by her, man ? "

"In the auld Scottish fashion, my liege — she is the cap-
tive of my bow and my spear," answered Moniplies. " There

560 The Fortunes of Nigel.

was a convention that she should wed me when I avenged
her father's death ; so I slew, and took possession."

" It is the daughter of old Trapbois, who has been missed
so long," said Lowestoffe. — " Where the devil could you
mew her up so closely, friend Richie ? "

" Master Richard, if it be your will," answered Richie —
"or Master Richard Moniplies, if you like it better. For
mewing of her up, I found her a shelter, in all honour and
safety, under the roof of an honest countryman of my own ;
and for secrecy, it was a point of prudence, when wantons
like you were abroad, Master Lowestoffe."

There was a laugh at Richie's magnanimous reply on the
part of every one but his bride, who made to him a signal of
impatience, and said, with her usual brevity and sternness,
" Peace — peace. I pray you, peace. Let us do that which we
came for." So saying, she took out a bundle of parchments,
and delivering them to Lord Glenvarloch, she said aloud,
"I take this royal presence, and all here, to witness that I
restore the ransomed lordship of Glenvarloch to the right
owner, as free as ever it was held by any of his ancestors."

" I witnessed the redemption of the mortgage," said Lowes-
toffe ; " but I little dreamt by whom it had been redeemed."

"No need ye should," said Richie; "there would have
been small wisdom in crying roast-meat."

"Peace," said his bride, "once more. This paper," she
continued, delivering another to Lord Glenvarloch, "is also
your property. Take it, but spare me the question how it
came into my custody."

The King had bustled forward beside Lord Glenvarloch,
and fixing an eager eye on the writing, exclaimed, " Body of
ourselves, it is our royal sign-manual for the money which
was so long out of sight ! How came you by it, Mistress
Bride?"

" It is a secret," said Martha dryly.

The Fortunes of Nigel 561

"A secret which my tongue shall never utter," said Richie
resolutely, "unless the King commands me on my allegi-
ance."

" I do — I do command you," said James, trembling and
stammering with the impatient curiosity of a gossip ; while
Sir Mungo, with more malicious anxiety to get at the bottom
of the mystery, stooped his long, thin form forward like a
bent fishing-rod, raised his thin grey locks from his ear, and
curved his hand behind it to collect every vibration of the
expected intelligence. Martha in the meantime frowned
most ominously on Richie, who went on undauntedly to
inform the King "that his deceased father-in-law, a good
careful man in the main, had a touch of worldly wisdom
about him that at times marred the uprightness of his walk ;
he liked to dabble among his neighbour's gear, and some of
it would at times stick to his fingers in the handling."

" For shame man, for shame ! " said Martha. " Since the
infamy of the deed must be told, be it at least briefly. —
Yes, my lord," she added, addressing Glenvarloch, "the
piece of gold was not the sole bait which brought the miser-
able old man to your chamber that dreadful night — his
object, and he accomplished it, was to purloin this paper.
The wretched scrivener was with him that morning, and,
I doubt not, urged the doting old man to this villainy, to
offer another bar to the ransom of your estate. If there was
a yet more powerful agent at the bottom of the conspiracy,
God forgive it to him at this moment, for he is now where
the crime must be answered ! "

" Amen ! " said Lord Glenvarloch, and it was echoed by
all present.

"For my father," continued she, with her stern features
twitched by an involuntary and convulsive movement, "his
guilt and folly cost him his life ; and my belief is constant,
that the" wretch who counselled him that morning to purloin

562 The Fortunes of Nigel.

the paper, left open the window for the entrance of the mur-
derers."

Everybody was silent for an instant. The King was first
to speak, commanding search instantly to be made for the
guilty scrivener. "/, lictor" he concluded, "colliga manus
— caput obnubito — infelici suspendite arbori"

Lowestoffe answered with due respect that the scrivener
had absconded at the time of Lord Dalgarno's murder, and
had not been heard of since.

"Let him be sought for," said the King. "And now let
us change the discourse — these stories make one's very blood
grue,* and are altogether unfit for bridal festivity. Hymen,
O Hymenee ! " added he, snapping his fingers, " Lord Glen-
varloch, what say you to Mistress Moniplies, this bonny bride,
that has brought you back your father's estate on your bridal
day?"

"Let him say nothing, my liege," said Martha; "that will
best suit his feelings and mine."

"There is redemption money, at the least, to be re-
paid," said Lord Glenvarloch; "in that I cannot remain
debtor."

"We will speak of it hereafter," said Martha; "my debtor
you cannot be." And she shut her mouth as if determined
to say nothing more on the subject.

Sir Mungo, however, resolved not to part with the topic,
and availing himself of the freedom of the moment, said to
Richie, "A queer story that of your father-in-law, honest
man. Methinks your bride thanked you little for ripping
it up."

"I make it a rule, Sir Mungo," replied Richie, "always to
speak any evil I know about my family myself; having ob-
served that if I do not, it is sure to be told by ither folks."

" But, Richie," said Sir Mungo, " it seems to me that this
* Thrill, or curdle.

The Fortunes of Nigel. 563

bride of yours is like to be master and mair in the conjugal
state."

" If she abides by words, Sir Mungo," answered Richie,
" I thank Heaven I can be as deaf as any one ; and if she
comes to dunts, I have twa hands to paik her with."

"Weel said, Richie, again," said the King. "You have
gotten it on baith haffits, Sir Mungo. — Troth, Mistress Bride,
for a fule, your gudeman has a pretty turn of wit."

"There are fools, sire," replied she, "who have wit, and
fools who have courage — ay, and fools who have learning,
and are great fools notwithstanding. I chose this man be-
cause he was my protector when I was desolate, and neither
for his wit nor his wisdom. He is truly honest, and has a
heart and hand that make amends for some folly. Since
I was condemned to seek a protector through the world,
which is to me a wilderness, I may thank God that I have
come by no worse."

" And that is sae sensibly said," replied the King, " that,
by my saul, I'll try whether I canna make him better. Kneel
down, Richie. Somebody lend me a rapier — yours, Master
Langstaff (that's a brave name for a lawyer). Ye need not
flash it out that gate, Templar fashion, as if ye were about to
pink a bailiff!"

He took the drawn sword, and with averted eyes, for it
was a sight he loved not to look on, endeavoured to lay it on
Richie's shoulder, but nearly stuck it into his eye. Richie,
starting back, attempted to rise, but was held down by Lowes-
toffe, while, Sir Mungo guiding the royal weapon, the honour-
bestowing blow was given and received : " Surge, carnifex —
Rise up, Sir Richard Moniplies, of Castle Collop ! — And, my
lords and lieges, let us all to our dinner, for the cock-a-leekie
is cooling,"

NOTES,

Note to Ch. I., p. 15.— DAVID RAMSAY.

David Ramsay, watchmaker and horologer to James I., was a real
person, though the author has taken the liberty of pressing him into the
service of fiction. Although his profession led him to cultivate the exact
sciences, like many at this period he mingled them with pursuits which
were mystical and fantastic. The truth was, that the boundaries between
truth and falsehood in mathematics, astronomy, and similar pursuits
were not exactly known, and there existed a sort of terra incognita be-
tween them, in which the wisest men bewildered themselves. David
Ramsay risked his money on the success of the vaticinations which his
researches led him to form, since he sold clocks and watches under con-
dition that their value should not become payable till King James was
crowned in the Pope's chair at Rome. Such wagers were common in
that day, as may be seen by looking at Jonson's Every Man out of his
Humour.

David Ramsay was also an actor in another singular scene, in which
the notorious astrologer Lilly was a performer, and had no small ex-
pectation on the occasion, since he brought with him a half-quartern
sack to put the treasure in.

"David Ramsay, his Majesty's clock-maker, had been informed that
there was a great quantity of treasure buried in the cloister of West-
minster Abbey. He acquaints Dean Withnam therewith, who was
also then Bishop of Lincoln. The Dean gave him liberty to search
after it, with this proviso, that if any was discovered, his church should
have a share of it. Davy Ramsay finds out one John Scott, who pre-
tended the^ use of the Mosaical rods to assist him herein.* I was
desired to join with him, unto which I consented. One winter's night,
Davy Ramsay, with several gentlemen, myself, and Scott, entered the

The same now called, I believe, the divining rod, and applied to
the discovery of water not obvious to the eye.

Notes. 565

cloisters. We played the hazel rods round about the cloisters. Upon
the west end of the cloisters the rods turned one over another, an argu-
ment that the treasure was there. The labourers digged at least six feet
deep, and then we met with a coffin ; but which, in regard it was not
heavy, we did not open, which we afterwards much repented.

" From the cloisters we went into the abbey church, where, upon a
sudden (there being no wind when we began), so fierce and so high, so
blustering and loud a wind did rise, that we verily believed the west end
of the church would have fallen upon us. Our rods would not move at
all ; the candles and torches, also, but one were extinguished, or burned
very dimly. John Scott, my partner, was amazed, looked pale, knew
not what to tKink or do, until I gave directions and command to dismiss
the demons ; which, when done, all was quiet again, and each man
returned unto his lodging late, about twelve o'clock at night. I could
never since be induced to join with any such-like actions.

"The true miscarriage of the business was by reason of so many
people being present at the operation ; for there was about thirty, some
laughing, others deriding us ; so that, if we had not dismissed the
demons, I believe most part of the abbey church would have been blown
down. Secrecy and intelligent operators, with a strong confidence and
knowledge of what they are doing, are best for the work." — LILLY'S
Life and Times, p. 46.

David Ramsay had a son called William Ramsay, who appears to
have possessed all his father's credulity. He became an astrologer, and
in 1651-52 published "Vox Stellarum, an Introduction to the Judgment
of Eclipses and the Annual Revolutions of the World." The edition of
1652 is inscribed to his father. It would appear, as indeed it might be
argued from his mode of disposing of his goods, that the old horologer
had omitted to make hay while the sun shone ; for his son, in his dedica-
tion, has this exception to the paternal virtues, " It's true your careless-
ness in laying up, while the sun shone, for the tempests of a stormy day-
hath given occasion to some inferior spirited^ people not to value you
according to what you are by nature and in yourself, for such look not
to a man longer than he is in prosperity, esteeming none but for their
wealth, not wisdom, power, nor virtue. " From these expressions, it is to
be apprehended that while old David Ramsay, a follower of the Stewarts,
sunk under the Parliament government, his son William had advanced
from being a dupe to astrology to the dignity of being himself a cheat.

Note to Ch. II., p. 30. — GEORGE HERIOT.

This excellent person was but little known by his actions when alive,
but we may well use, in this particular, the striking phrase of Scripture,
"that being dead he yet speaketh." We have already mentioned, rn

566 Notes.

the Introduction, the splendid charity of which he was the founder ; the
few notices of his personal history are slight and meagre.

George Heriot was born at Trabroun, in the parish of Gladsmuir. He
was the eldest son of a goldsmith in Edinburgh, descended from a family
of some consequence in East Lothian. His father enjoyed the confidence
of his fellow-citizens, and was their representative in Parliament. He
was, besides, one of the deputies sent by the inhabitants of the city to
propitiate the King, when he had left Edinburgh abruptly, after the riot
of 1 7th December 1596.

George Heriot, the son, pursued his father's occupation of a goldsmith,
then peculiarly lucrative, and much connected with that of a money-
broker. He enjoyed the favour and protection of James, and of his
consort, Anne of Denmark. He married, for his first wife, a maiden of
his own rank, named Christian Marjoribanks, daughter of a respectable
burgess. This was in 1586. He was afterwards named jeweller to the
Queen, whose account to him for a space of ten years amounted to nearly
,£40,000. George Heriot, having lost his wife, connected himself with
the distinguished house of Rosebery, by marrying a daughter of James
Primrose, Clerk to the Privy Council. Of this lady he was deprived by
her dying in childbirth in 1612, before attaining her twenty-first year.
After a life spent in honourable and successful industry, George Heriot
died in London, to which city he had followed his royal master, on the
1 2th February 1624, at the age of sixty-one years. His picture (copied
by Scougal from a lost original), in which he is represented in the prime
of life, is thus described : " His fair hair, which overshades the thoughtful
brow and calm, calculating eye, with the cast of humour on the lower
part of the countenance, are all indicative of the genuine Scottish
character, and well distinguish a person fitted to move steadily and
wisely through the world, with a strength of resolution to ensure success,
and a disposition to enjoy it." — Historical and Descriptive Account of
Heriofs Hospital, with a Memoir of tJie Founder ; by Messrs. James and
Johnjohnstone. Edinburgh, 1827.

I may add, as everything concerning George Heriot is interesting, that
his second wife, Alison Primrose, was interred in Saint Gregory's Church,
from the register of which parish the Rev. Mr. Barham, Rector, has,
in the kindest manner, sent me the following extract: "Mrs. Alison,
the wife of Mr. George Heriot, gentleman, 2oth April, 1612." Saint
Gregory's, before the Great Fire of London which consumed the Cathe-
dral, formed one of the towers of old Saint Paul's, and occupied the
space of ground now filled by Queen Anne's statue. In the south aisle
of the choir Mrs. Heriot reposed under a handsome monument, bearing
the following inscription : —

" Sanctissimce et ckarissimce conjugi ALISONS HERIOT, Jacobi Prim*

Notes. 567

rostt, Regice Majestatis in Sanction Concilia Regni Scotia Amanuensis >
Jtti<z, femincB omnibus turn animi turn corporis dotibus, ac pio cultu
instructissinuz, mastissimus ipsius maritus GEORGIUS HERIOT, ARMIGER^
Regis, Regime, Principum Henrici et Caroli Gemmartus, bene merenti^
non sine lachrymis, hoc Monumentum pie posuit.

" Obiit Mensis Aprilis die 16, anno salutis 1612, tetatis 20, in ipso
flore juventa, et mihi, parentibus, et amicis tristissimum sui desiderium
reliquit.

Hie Alicia Primrosa
Jacet crudo abrutafatoy

Intempestivas
Ut rosa pressa manus.

Nondum bisdenos
Annorum impleverat orbes,

Pulckra, pudica^

Patris delicium atque viri:

Quumgramda, km! nunquam

Mater, decessit, et inde

Cura dolorq : Patri

Cura dolorq : viro.

Non sublata tamen

Tantunt translata recessit ;

Nunc Rosa prima Poli

Qtuefuit antea soli. "

The loss of a young, beautiful, and amiable partner, at a period so
interesting, was the probable reason of her husband devoting his fortune
to a charitable institution. The epitaph occurs in Strype's edition of
Stowe's Survey of London, Book iii. , page 228.

Note to Ch. III., p. 46. — PROCLAMATION AGAINST THE SCOTS
COMING TO ENGLAND.

The English agreed in nothing more unanimously than in censuring
James on account of the beggarly rabble which not only attended the
King at his coming first out of Scotland, "but," says Osborne, "which,
through his whole reign, like a fluent spring, were found still crossing
the Tweed." Yet it is certain, from the number of proclamations pub-
lished by the Privy Council in Scotland, and bearing marks of the King's
own diction, that he was sensible of the whole inconveniences and un-
popularity attending the importunate crowd of disrespectable suitors, and
as desirous to get rid of them as his southern subjects could be. But it
was in vain that his Majesty argued with his Scottish subjects on the
disrespect they were bringing on their native country and sovereign, by

568 Notes.

causing the English to suppose there were no well-nurtured or inde-
pendent gentry in Scotland, they who presented themselves being, in
the opinion and conceit of all beholders, " but idle rascals, and poor
miserable bodies." It was even in vain that the vessels which brought
up this unwelcome cargo of petitioners were threatened with fine and
confiscation ; the undaunted suitors continued to press forward, and, as
one of the proclamations says, many of them under pretence of requir-
ing payment of "auld debts due to them by the King," which, it is
observed with great ndivett, "is, of all kinds of importunity, most un-
pleasing to his Majesty." The expressions in the text are selected from
these curious proclamations.

Note to Ch. V., p. 72. — KING JAMES.

The dress of this monarch, together with his personal appearance, is
thus described by a contemporary : —

" He was of a middle stature, more corpulent through [that is, by
means of] his clothes than in his body, yet fat enough. His legs were
very weak, having had, as was thought, some foul play in his youth, or
rather before he was born, that he was not able to stand at seven years
of age. That weakness made him ever leaning on other men's shoulders.
His walk was even circular ; his hands are in that walk ever fiddling

about [a part of dress now laid aside.] He would make a great

deal too bold with God in his passion, both with cursing and swearing,
and a strain higher verging on blasphemy ; but would, in his better
temper, say he hoped God would not impute them as sins, and lay them
to his charge, seeing they proceeded from passion. He had need of
great assistance, rather than hope, that would daily make thus bold with
God."— DALZELL'S Fragments of Scottish History, p. 86.

Note to Ch. VI., p. 98. — SIR MUNGO MALAGROWTHER.

It will perhaps be recognized by some of my countrymen that the
caustic Scottish knight, as described in this chapter, borrowed some
of his attributes from a most worthy and respectable baronet, who
was to be met with in Edinburgh society about twenty-five or thirty
years ago. It is not by any means to be inferred that the living person
resembled the imaginary one in the course of life ascribed to him, or in
his personal attributes. But his fortune was little adequate to his rank
and the antiquity of his family ; and, to avenge himself of this disparity,
the worthy Baronet lost no opportunity of making the more avowed sons
of fortune feel the edge of his satire. This he had the art of disguising
under the personal infirmity of deafness, and usually introduced his most
severe things by an affected mistake of what was said around him. For
example, at a public meeting of a certain county, this worthy gentleman

Notes. 569

had chosen to display a laced coat, of such a pattern as had not been seen
in society for the better part of a century. The young men who were
present amused themselves with rallying him on his taste, when he
suddenly singled out one of the party : — " Auld d'ye think my coat —
auld-fashioned ? Indeed it canna be new ; but it was the wark of a braw
tailor, and that was your grandfather, who was at the head of the trade
in Edinburgh about the beginning of last century." Upon another
occasion, when this type of Sir Mungo Malagrowther happened to hear a
nobleman, the high chief of one of those Border clans who were accused
of paying very little attention in ancient times to the distinctions of Meum
and Tuum, addressing a gentleman of the same name, as if conjecturing
there should be some relationship between them, he volunteered to
ascertain the nature of the connection by saying that the "chiefs ancestors
had stolen the cows, and the other gentleman's ancestors had killed
them " — fame ascribing the origin of the latter family to a butcher. It
may be well imagined that, among a people that have been always
punctilious about genealogy, such a person, who had a general acquaint-
ance with all the flaws and specks in the shields of the proud, the pre-
tending, and the nouveaux riches, must have had the same scope for
amusement as a monkey in a china shop.

Note to Ch. VIII., p. 123. — MRS. ANNE TURNER.

Mrs. Anne Turner was a dame somewhat of the occupation of Mrs.
Suddlechop in the text — that is, half milliner, half procuress, and secret
agent in all manner of proceedings. She was a trafficker in the poison-
ing of Sir Thomas Overbury, for which so many subordinate agents lost
their lives, while, to the great scandal of justice, the Earl of Somerset
and his Countess were suffered to escape, upon a threat of Somerset to
make public some secret which nearly affected his master, King James.
Mrs. Turner introduced into England a French custom of using yellow
starch, in getting up bands and cuffs, and by Lord Coke's orders she
appeared in that fashion at the place of execution. She was the widow
of a physician, and had been eminently beautiful, as appears from the
description of her in the poem called Overbury's Vision. There was
produced in court a parcel of dolls or puppets belonging to this lady,
some naked, some dressed, and which she used for exhibiting fashions
upon. But greatly to the horror of the spectators, who accounted these
figures to be magical devices, there was, on their being shown, " heard
a crack from the scaffold, which caused great fear, tumult, and confusion
among the spectators and throughout the hall, every one fearing hurt,
as if the devil had been present and grown angry to have his workman-
ship showed to such as were not his own scholars. " Compare this curi-
ous passage in the History of King James for the First Fourteen Years,

Notes.

1651, with the Aulicus Coquinarius of Dr. Heylin. Both works are
published in the Secret History of the Court of King James.

Note to Ch. IX., p. 139. — LORD HUNTINGLEN.

The credit of having rescued James I. from the dagger of Alexander
Ruthven is here fictitiously ascribed to an imaginary Lord Huntinglen.
In reality, as may be read in every history, his preserver was John
Ramsay, afterwards created Earl of Holderness, who stabbed the younger
Ruthven with his dagger while he was struggling with the King. Sir
Anthony Weldon informs us that, upon the annual return of the day,
the King's deliverance was commemorated by an anniversary feast. The
time was the fifth of August, "upon which," proceeds the satirical
historian, " Sir John Ramsay, for his good service in that preservation,
was the principal guest, and so did the King grant him any boon he
would ask that day. But he had such limitation made to his asking, as
made his suit as unprofitable as the action for which he asked it was
unserviceable to the King."

Note to Ch. IX., p. 145. — BUCKINGHAM.

Buckingham, who had a frankness in his high and irascible ambition,
was always ready to bid defiance to those by whom he was thwarted
or opposed. He aspired to be created Prince of Tipperary in Ireland,
and Lord High Constable of England. Coventry, then Lord Keeper, op-
posed what seemed such an unreasonable extent of power as was annexed
to the office of Constable. On this opposition, according to Sir Anthony
Weldon, "the Duke peremptorily accosted Coventry, 'Who made you
Lord Keeper, Coventry?' He replied, 'The King.' Buckingham
replied, ' It's false ; 'twas I did make you, and you shall know that I,
who made you, can and will unmake you.' Coventry thus answered
him, 'Did I conceive that I held my place by your favour, I would
presently unmake myself, by rendering up the seals to his Majesty.'
Then Buckingham, in a scorn and fury, flung from him, saying, 'You
shall not keep it long ; ' and surely, had not Felton prevented him, he had
made good his word." — WELDON'S Court of King James and Charles.

Note to Ch. XL, p. 170.— PAGES IN THE SEVENTEENTH

CENTURY.

About this time the ancient customs arising from the long prevalence
of chivalry began to be grossly varied from the original purposes of the
institution. None was more remarkable than the change which took
place in the breeding and occupation of pages. This peculiar species
of menial originally consisted of youths of noble birth, who, that they
might be trained to the exercise of arms, were early removed from their

Notes. 571

paternal homes, where too much indulgence might have been expected,
to be placed in the family of some prince or man of rank and military
renown, where they served, as it were, an apprenticeship to the duties
of chivalry and courtesy. Their education was severely moral, and pur-
sued with great strictness in respect to useful exercises, and what were
deemed elegant accomplishments. From being pages, they were ad-
vanced to the next gradation of squires ; from squires, these candidates
for the honours of knighthood were frequently made knights.

But in the sixteenth century the page had become, in many instances,
a mere domestic, who sometimes, by the splendour of his address and
appearance, was expected to make up in show for the absence of a whole
band of retainers with swords and bucklers. We have Sir John's author-
ity when he cashiers part of his train : —

" Falstaff will learn the humour of the age,
French thrift, you rogues, myself and skirted page."

Jonson, in a high tone of moral indignation, thus reprobated the change.
The Host of the New Inn replies to Lord Lovel, who asks to have his
son for a page, that he would, with his own hands, hang him, sooner

"Than damn him to this desperate course of life.

Lovel. Call you that desperate, which, by a line
Of institution, from our ancestors
Hath been derived down to us, and received
In a succession for the noblest way
Of brushing up our youth, in letters, arms*
Fair mien, discourses civil, exercise,
And all the blazon of a gentleman ?
Where can he learn to vault, to ride, to fence,
To move his body gracefully, to speak
The language pure, or to turn his mind
Or manners more to the harmony of nature,
Than in these nurseries of nobility?

Host. Ay, that was when the nursery's self was noble,
And only virtue made it, not the market ;
That titles were not vended at the drum
And common outcry ; goodness gave the greatness,
And greatness worship ; every house became
An academy, and those parts
We see departed in the practice now
Quite from the institution.

Lovel. Why do you say so,
Or think so enviously ? do they not still

572 Notes. '

Learn thus the Centaur's skill, the art of Thrace,
To ride? or Pollux' mystery, to fence ?
The Pyrrhick gestures, both to stand and spring
In armour ; to be active for the wars ;
To study figures, numbers, and proportions,
May yield them great in counsels and the arts ;
To make their English sweet upon their tongue?
As reverend Chaucer says.
Host. Sir, you mistake :
To play Sir Pandarus, my copy hath it,
And carry messages to Madam Cressid ;
Instead of backing the brave steed o' mornings,
To kiss the chambermaid, and for a leap
O' the vaulting horse, to ply the vaulting house ;
For exercise of arms a bale of dice,
And two or three packs of cards to show the cheat
And nimbleness of hand ; mis-take a cloak
From my lord's back, and pawn it ; ease his pockets
Of a superfluous watch, or geld a jewel
Of an odd stone or so ; twinge three or four buttons
From off my lady's gown. These are the arts,
Or seven liberal deadly sciences,
Of pagery, or rather paganism,
As the tides run ; to which, if he apply him,
He may, perhaps, take a degree at Tyburn,
A year the earlier come to read a lecture
Upon Aquinas, at Saint Thomas-a- Watering's,
And so go forth a laureate in hemp-circle."

The New Inn, Act I.

Note to Ch. XL, p. 171.— LORD HENRY HOWARD.

Lord Henry Howard was the second son of the poetical Earl of Surrey,
and possessed considerable parts and learning. He wrote, in the year
1583, a book called, A Defensative against the Poison of supposed
Prophecies. He gained the favour of Queen Elizabeth, by having, he
says, directed his battery against a sect of prophets and pretended sooth-
sayers, whom he accounted infesti regibus, as he expresses it. In the
last years of the Queen, he became James's most ardent partisan, and
conducted with great pedantry, but much intrigue, the correspondence
betwixt the Scottish King and the younger Cecil. Upon James's acces-
sion, he was created Earl of Northampton and Lord Privy Seal. Ac-
cording to De Beaumont, the French Ambassador, Lord Henry Howard
was one of the greatest flatterers and calumniators that ever lived.

Notes. 573

Note to Ch. XL, p. 173.— SKIRMISHES IN THE PUBLIC STREETS.

Edinburgh appears to have been one of the most disorderly towns in
Europe during the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth century.
The Diary of the honest citizen Birrel repeatedly records such incidents

as the following : " The 24 of Novemt

Laird of Airth and the Laird of Weems let on the High Gate of Edin-

burgh, and they and their followers fougl
there were many hurt on both sides wi

mishes also took place in London itse f. In Shadwell's play of the

Scowrers, an old rake thus boasts of h
Hectors, and before them, the Muns,

r CI567], at two afternoon, the

t a very bloody skirmish, where
h shot of pistol." These skir-

early exploits : "I knew the
and the Tityretus ; they were

brave fellows indeed ! In these days, a man could not go from the
Rose Garden to the Piazza once, but he friust venture his life twice, my
dear Sir Willie." But it appears that the affrays, which, in the Scottish
capital, arose out of hereditary quarrels aid ancient feuds, were in Lon-
don the growth of the licentiousness and arrogance of young debauchees.

Note to Ch. XII. , p. 183. — FIENCH COOKERY.

The exertion of French ingenuity menticied in the text is noticed by
some authorities of the period. The siege c Leith was also distinguished
by the protracted obstinacy of the besiegec, in which was displayed all
that the age possessed of defensive war, sc that Brantome records that
those who witnessed this siege had, from th£ very circumstance, a degree
of consequence yielded to their persons and .pinions. He tells a story of
Strozzi himself, from which it appears thathis jests lay a good deal in
the line of the cuisine. He caused a mule o be stolen from one Brus-
quet, on whom he wished to play a trick, an! served up the flesh of that
unclean animal so well disguised that it passed with Brusquet for
venison.

Note to Ch. XII., p. 185.— CCKOO'S NEST.

The quarrel between the pretended captainand the citizen of London
is taken from a burlesque poem called the Ounter Scuffle — that is, the
Scuffle in the Prison at Wood Street, so ca'ed. It is a piece of low
humour, which had at the time very considerate vogue. The prisoners,
it seems, had fallen into a dispute amongst theiselves "which calling was
of most repute," and a lawyer put in his clan to be most highly con-
sidered. The man of war repelled his pretenc with much arrogance.

" * Wer't not for us, thou swad,'juoth he,
* Where wouldst thou fay to gt a fee ?
But to defend such things as lee
Tisfy;

574 Notes.

For such as you esteem us least,
Who ever have been ready prest
To guard you and your cuckoo's nest,
The City.' "

The offence is no sooner given than it is caught up by a gallant citizen,
a goldsmith, named Ellis.

" * Of London city I am free,

And there I first my wife did see,
And for that very cause,' said he,
« I love it.

And he that calls it cuckoo's nest,
Except he says he speaks in jest,
He is a villain and a beast, —

I'll prove it !

For though lam a man of trade,
And free of London city made,
Yet can I usf gun, bill, and blade,

In battle.

And citizens' if need require,
Themselvespan force the foe retire,
Whatever tlfs low-^country squire

May prattle.'"

The dispute terminates in he scuffle which is the subject of the poem.
The whole may be found inihe second edition of Dryden's Miscellany ',
I2mo, voL iii. 1716.

Note to Chi XII. , p. 192.— BURBAGE.

whom Camdenl terms another Roscius, was probably the

original representative of
almost identified with his
tell us that mine host of '.

" Hear him :
With his who!
And lo, where
Encamped hi
Upon this hill
The inch w
Besides, what
He had authe
Which I migt
And policies,

Ichard III., and seems to have been early
Retype. Bishop Corbet, in his Iter Boreale,
tet Bosworth was full of ale and history.

yon wood ? there Richard lay
y ; look the other way,
iichmond, in a field of gorse,
f o'ernight and all his force.
tay met. Why, he could tell
[Richmond stood, where Richard fell,
his knowledge he could say,

notice from the play,
uess by's mustering up the ghosts
>t incident to hosts,

Notes. 575

But chiefly by that one- perspicuous thing,
Where he mistook a player for a king,
For when he would have said, King Richard died,
And call'd, A horse 1 a horse ! he Burbage cried."

RICHARD CORBET'S Poems •, Edition 1815, p. 193.

Note to Ch. XXVII., p. 417.— MHIC-ALLASTAR-MORE.

This is the Highland patronymic of the late gallant Chief of Glen-
garry. The allusion in the text is to an unnecessary alarm taken by
some lady, at the ceremonial of the coronation of George IV., at the
sight of the pistols which the chief wore as a part of his Highland dress.
The circumstance produced some confusion, which was talked of at the
time. All who knew Glengarry (and the author knew him well) were
aware that his principles were of devoted loyalty to the person of his
sovereign.

Note to Ch. XXVIL, p. 418.— KING JAMES'S HUNTING BOTTLE.

Roger Coke, in his Detection of the Court and State of England^
London, 1697, p. 70, observes of James I. : "The king was excessively
addicted to hunting, and drinking, not ordinary French and Spanish
wines, but strong Greek wines, and thought he would compound his
hunting with these wines ; and to that purpose he was attended by a
special officer, who was, as much as he could be, always at hand to fill
the King's cup in hunting when he called for it. I have heard my father
say that, hunting with the King, after the King had drunk of the wine,
he also drank of it ; and though he was young, and of a healthful dis-
position, it so deranged his head that it spoiled his pleasure and dis-
ordered him for three days after. Whether it was from drinking these
wines, or from some other cause, the King became so lazy and so un-
wieldy, that he was trussed on horseback, and as he was set, so would
he ride, without stirring himself in the saddle ; nay, when his hat was
set upon his head he would not take the trouble to alter it, but it sate as
it was put on."

The trussing, for which the demipique saddle of the day afforded
particular facility, is alluded to in the text ; and the author, among other
knicknacks of antiquity, possesses a leathern flask, like those carried
by sportsmen, which is labelled, " King James's Hunting Bottle," with
what authenticity is uncertain. Coke seems to have exaggerated the
King's taste for the bottle. Weldon says James was not intemperate
in his drinking. " However, in his old age, Buckingham's jovial suppers,
when he had any turn to do with him, made him sometimes overtaken,
which he would the next day remember, and repent with tears. It is
true he drank very often, which was rather out of a custom than any

576 Notes.

delight ; and his drinks were of that kind for strength, as Frontiniack,
Canary, high country wine, tent wine, and Scottish ale, that had he not
had a very strong brain, he might have been daily overtaken, though he
seldom drank at any one time above four spoonfuls, many times not
above one or two." — Secret History of King James , vol. ii., p. 3. Edin.
1811.

THE END.

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN AT
THE PRESS OF THE PUBLISHERS.

Scott, Sir Walter PR

5317-
The fortunes of Nigel .F6