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not to engage in hostilities with the misguided multitude, but to draw off his men as fast as possible. He sprung from the scaffold, snatched a musket from one of his soldiers, commanded the party to give fire, and, as several eye-witnesses concurred in swear and set them the example, by discharging his piece, shooting a man dead on the spot. Several soldiers obeyed his command or followed his example; six or seven persons were slain, and a great many were hurt and wounded.

After this act of violence, the Captain proceeded to withdraw his men towards their guard-house in the High Street. The mob were not so much intimidated as incensed by what had been done. They pursued the soldiers with execrations, accompanied by volleys of stones. As they pressed on them, the rearmost soldiers turned, and again fired with fatal aim and execution. It is not accurately known whether Porteous commanded this second act of violence; but of course the odium of the whole transactions of the fatal day attached to him, and to him alone. He arrived at the guard-house, dismissed his soldiers, and went to make his report to the magistrates concerning the unfortunate events of the day.

CHAPTER IV'

"The hour's come, but not the man."- Kelpie.

On the day when the unhappy Porteous was ex execution, extensive as it is, was crowded almost to pected to suffer the sentence of the law, the place of suffocation. There was not a window in all the lofty tenements around it, or in the steep and crooked street called the Bow, by which the fatal procession was to descend from the High Street, that was not absolutely filled with spectators. The uncommon height and antique appearance of these houses, some of which were formerly the property of the Knights Templars, and the Knights of St. John, and still exhibit on their fronts and gables the iron cross of these ofders, gave_additional effect to a scene in itself so striking. The area of the Grass-market resembled a huge dark lake or sea of human heads, in the centre of which arose the fatal tree, tall, black, and ominous, from which dangled the deadly halter. Every object takes interest from its uses and associations, and the erect beam and empty noose, things so simple in themselves, became on such an occasion, objects of terror and of solemn interest.

Apparently by this time Captain Porteous had be- Amid so numerous an assembly there was scarcely gun to doubt the propriety of his own conduct, and a word spoken, save in whispers. The thirst of venthe reception he met with from the magistrates was geance was in some degree allayed by its supposed such as to make him still more anxious to gloss it certainty; and even the populace, with deeper feelover. He denied that he had given orders to fire; he ing than they are wont to entertain, suppressed all denied he had fired with his own hand; he even pro- clamorous exultation, and prepared to enjoy the scene duced the fusee which he carried as an officer for of retaliation in triumph, silent and decent, though examination; it was found still loaded. Of three stern and relentless. It seemed as if the depth of cartridges which he was seen to put in his pouch that their hatred to the unfortunate criminal scorned to morning, two were still there; a white handkerchief display itself in any thing resembling the more noisy was thrust into the muzzle of the piece, and returned current of their ordinary feelings. Had a stranger unsoiled or blackened. To the defence founded on consulted only the evidence of his ears, he might have these circumstances it was answered, that Porteous supposed that so vast a multitude were assembled for had not used his own piece, but had been seen to take some purpose which affected them with the deepest one from a soldier. Among the many who had been sorrow, and stilled those noises which, on all ordikilled and wounded by the unhappy fire, there were nary occasions, arise from such a concourse; but if several of better rank; for even the humanity of he gazed upon their faces he would have been insuch soldiers as fired over the heads of the mere stantly undeceived. The compressed lip, the bent rabble around the scaffold, proved in some in- brow, the stern and flashing eye of almost every one stances fatal to pers as who were stationed in win- on whom he looked, conveyed the expression of men dows, or observed the melancholy scene. from a dis- come to glut their sight with triumphant revenge. It tance. The voice of public indignation was loud and is probable that the appearance of the criminal might general; and, ere men's tempers had time to cool, have somewhat changed the temper of the populace the trial of Captain Porteous took place before the in his favour, and that they might in the moment ot High Court of Justiciary. After a long and patient death have forgiven the man against whom their hearing, the jury had the difficult duty of balancing the resentment had been so fiercely heated. It had howpositive evidence of many persons, and those of re-ever, been destined, that the mutability of their sen. spectability, who deposed positively to the prisoner's timents was not to be exposed to this trial. commanding his soldiers to fire, and himself firing bis piece, of which some swore that they saw the smoke and flash, and beheld a man drop at whom it was pointed, with the negative testimony of others, who, though well stationed for seeing what had passed, neither heard Porteous give orders to fire, nor saw him fire himself; but, on the contrary, averred that the first shot was fired by a soldier who stood close by him. A great part of his defence was also founded on the turbulence of the mob, which witnesses, according to their feelings, their predilections, and their opportunities of observation, represented differently; some describing as a formidable riot, what others represented as a trifling disturbance, such as always used to take place on the like occasions, when the executioner of the law, and the men commissioned to protect him in his task, were generally exposed to some indignities. The verdict of the jury sufficiently shows how the evidence preponderated in their minds. It declared that John Porteous fired a gun among the people assembled at the execution; that he gave orders to his soldiers to fire, by which many persons were killed and wounded; but, at the same time, that the prisoner and his guard had been wounded and beaten, by stones thrown at them by the multitude. Upon this verdict, the Lords of Justiciary passed sentence of death against Captain John PorThere is a tradition, that while a little stream was swonen eous, adjudging him in the common form, to be into a torreut by recent showers, the discontented voice of the anged on a gibbet at the common place of execution, Water Spirit was hoard to pronounce these words. At the same on Wednesday, 8th September, 1736, and all his mo-y, arrived at a gallop, and prepared to cross the water. No moment a man, urged on by his fate, or, in Scottish language, vable property to be forfeited to the king's use, ac- monstrance from the bystanders was of power to stop him-cording to the Scottish law in cases of wilful murder plunged into the stream, and perished. VOL. III B

The usual hour for producing the criminal had been past for many minutes, yet the spectators observed no symptom of his appearance. "Would they venture to defraud public justice ?" was the question which men began anxiously to ask at each other. The first answer in every case was bold and positive,-"They dare not." But when the point was further canvassed, other opinions were entertained, and various causes of doubt were suggested. Porteous had been a favourite officer of the magistracy of the city, which, being a numerous and fluctuating body, requires for its support a degree of energy in its functionaries, which the individuals who compose it cannot at all times alike be supposed to possess in their own persons. It was remembered, that in the Information for Porteous, (the paper, namely, in which his case was stated to the Judges of the criminal court,) he had been described by his counsel as the person on whom the magistrates chiefly relied in all emergencies of uncommon difficulty. It was argued, too, that his conduct on the unhappy occasion of Wilson's execution, was capable of being attributed to an imprudent excess of zeal in the execution of his duty, a motivo for which those under whose authority he acted might be supposed to have great sympathy. And as these considerations might move the magistrates to

make a favourable representation of Porteous's case, there were not wanting others, in the higher departments of government, which would make such suggestions favourably listened to.

such had been expected by the magistrates, and the necessary measures had been aken to repress it. But the shout was not repeated, nor did any sudden tumult ensue, such as it appeared to announce. The populace seemed to be ashamed of having expressed their disappointinent in a vain clamour, and the sound changed, not into the silence which had preceded the arrival of these stunning news, but into stifled mutterings, which each group maintained among themselves, and which were blended into one deep and hoarse murmur which floated above the assembly. Yet still, though all expectation of the execution was over, the mob remained assembled, stationary, as it were, through very resentment, gazing on the preparations for death, which had now been made in vain, and stimulating their feelings, by recalling the various claims which Wilson might have had on royal mercy, from the mistaken motives on which he acted, as well as from the generosity he had displayed towards his accomplice. "This man," they said "the brave, the resolute, the generous, was executgold, which in some sense he might consider as a fair reprisal; while the profligate satellite, who took advantage of a trifling tumult, inseparable from such occasions, to shed the blood of twenty of his fellowcitizens, is deemed a fitting object for the exercise of the royal prerogative of mercy. Is this to be borne? -would our fathers have borne it? Are not we, like them, Scotsmen and burghers of Edinburgh ?"

The mob of Edinburgh, when thoroughly excited, had been at all times one of the fiercest which could be found in Europe; and of late years they had risen repeatedly against the government, and sometimes not without temporary success. They were conscious, therefore, that they were no favourites with the rulers of the period, and that, if Captain Porteous's violence was not altogether regarded as good service, It might certainly be thought, that to visit it with a capital punishment would render it both delicate and dangerous for future officers, in the same circumstances, to act with effect in repressing tumults. There is also a natural feeling, on the part of all members of government, for the general maintenance of auahority; and it seemed not unlikely, that what to the relatives of the sufferers appeared a wanton and unprovoked massacre, should be otherwise viewed in the cabinet of St. James's. It might be there sup-ed to death without mercy for stealing a purse of posed, that, upon the whole matter, Captain Porteous was in the exercise of a trust delegated to him by the lawful civil authority; that he had been assaulted by the populace, and several of his men hurt; and that, in finally repelling force by force, his conduct could be fairly imputed to no other motive than self-defence in the discharge of his duty.

These considerations, of themselves very powerful, induced the spectators to apprehend the possibility of a reprieve; and to the various causes which might interest the rulers in his favour, the lower part of the rabble added one which was peculiarly well adapted to their comprehension. It was averred, in order to increase the odium against Porteous, that while he repressed with the utmost severity the slightest excesses of the poor, he not only overlooked the license of the young nobles and gentry, but was very willing to lend them the countenance of his official authority, in execution of such loose pranks as it was chiefly his duty to have restrained. This suspicion, which was perhaps much exaggerated, made a deep impression on the minds of the populace; and when several of the higher rank joined in a petition, recommending Porteous to the mercy of the crown, it was generally supposed he owed their favour not to any conviction of the hardship of his case, but to the fear of losing a convenient accomplice in their debaucheries. It is scarcely necessary to say how much this suspicion augmented the people's detestation of this obnoxious criminal, as well as their fear of his escaping the sentence pronounced against him.

The officers of justice began now to remove the scaffold, and other preparations which had been made for the execution, in hopes, by doing so, to accelerate the dispersion of the multitude. The measure had the desired effect; for no sooner had the fatal tree been unfixed from the large stone pedestal or socket in which it was secured, and sunk slowly down upon the wain intended to remove it to the place where it was usually deposited, than the populace, after giving vent to their feelings in a second shout of rage and mortification, began slowly to disperse to their usual abodes and occupations.

dows at the scene, who could not of course belong to the rioters, and were persons of decent rank and condition. The burghers, therefore, resenting the loss which had fallen on their own bod and proud and tenacious of their rights, as the citizens of Edinburgh have at all times been, were greatly exaspe rated at the unexpected respite of Captain Porteous.

The windows were in like manner gradually deserted, and groups of the more decent class of citizens formed themselves, as if waiting to return homewards when the streets should be cleared of the rabble. Contrary to what is frequently the case, this description of persons agreed in general with the senti ments of their inferiors, and considered the cause as common to all ranks. Indeed, as we have already noticed, it was by no means amongst the lowest class of the spectators, or those most likely to be engaged in the riot at Wilson's execution, that the fatal fire While these arguments were stated and replied to, of Porteous's soldiers had taken effect. Severa. and canvassed and supported, the hitherto silent ex-persons were killed who were looking out at winpectation of the people became changed into that deep and agitating murmur, which is sent forth by the ocean before the tempest begins to howl. The crowded populace, as if their motions had corresponded with the unsettled state of their minds, fluctuated to and fro without any visible cause of impulse, like the agitation of the waters, called by sailors the ground-swell. The news, which the magistrates had It was noticed at the time, and afterwards more almost hesitated to communicate to them, were at particularly remembered, that, while the mob were length announced, and spread among the spectators in the act of dispersing, several individuals were seen with a rapidity like lightning. A reprieve from the busily passing from one place and one group of peoSecretary of State's office, under the hand of his ple to another, remaining long with none, but whisGrace the Duke of Newcastle, had arrived, intimat-pering for a little time with those who appeared to be ing the pleasure of Queen Caroline, (regent of the kingdom during the absence of George II. on the Continent,) that the execution of the sentence of death pronounced against John Porteous, late Captain-Lieutenant of the City-Guard of Edinburgh, present prisoner in the tolbooth of that city, be respited for six weeks from the time appointed for his execution.

The assembled spectators of almost all degrees, whose minds had been wound up to the pitch which we have described, uttered a groan, or rather a roar indignation and disappointed revenge, similar to that of a tiger from whom his mee! has been rent by his keeper when he was just about to devour it. This fierce exclamation seemed to forebode some immeaiate explosion of popular resentment. and, in fact,

declaiming most violently against the conduct of government. These active agents had the appearance of men from the country, and were generally supposed to be old friends and confederates of Wilson whose minds were of course highly excited against Porteous.

If, however, it was the intention of these men to stir the multitude to any sudden act of mutiny, it seemed for the time to be fruitless. The rabble, as well as the more decent part of the assembly, dispersed, and went home peaceably; and it was only by observing the moody discontent on their brows, or catching the tenor of the conversation they held with each other, that a stranger could estimate the state of their minds. We will give the reader this advantage, by associating ourselves with one of the

numerous groups who were painfully ascending the steep declivity of the West Bow, to return to their dwellings in the Lawn-market.

"An unco thing this, Mrs. Howden," said old Peter Plumdamas to his neighbour the rouping-wife, or saleswoman, as he offered her his arm to assist her in the toilsome ascent, "to see the grit folk at Lunnon set their face against law and gospel, and let loose sic a reprobate as Porteous upon a peaceable town!"

"And to think o' the weary walk they hae gien us," answered Mrs. Howden, with a groan; "and sic a comfortable window as I had gotten, too, just within a penny-stane-cast of the scaffold-I could hae heard every word the minister said-and to pay twalpennies for my stand, and a' for naething!"

"I am judging," said Mr. Plumdamas, "that this reprieve wadna stand gude in the auld Scots law, when the kingdom was a kingdom."

"I dinna ken muckle about the law," answered Mrs. Howden; "but I ken, when we had a king, and a chancellor, and parliament-men o' our ain, we could aye peeble them wi' stanes when they werena gude bairns-But naebody's nails can reach the length o' Lunnon."

"Weary on Lunnon, and a' that e'er came out o't!" said Miss Grizel Damahoy, an ancient seamstress; they hae taen awa our parliament, and they hae oppressed our trade. Our gentles will hardly allow hat a Scots needle can sew ruffles on a sark, or lace on an owerlay."

"Ye may say that, Miss Damahoy, and I ken o' hem that hae gotten raisins frae Lunnon by forpits at ance," responded Plumdamas, "and then sican host of idle English gaugers and excisemen as hae come down to vex and torment us, that an honest man canna fetch sae muckle as a bit anker o' brandy frae Leith to the Lawn-market, but he's like to be rubbit o' the very gudes he's bought and paid for.-Weel, I winna justify Andrew Wilson for pitting hands on what wasna his; but if he took nae mair than his ain, there's an awfu' difference between that and the fact this man stands for."

If ye speak about the law," said Mrs. Howden, "Here comes Mr. Saddletree, that can settle it as weel as ony on the bench."

The party she mentioned, a grave elderly person, with a superb periwig, dressed in a decent suit of sadcoloured clothes, came up as she spoke, and courteously gave his arm to Miss Grizel Damahoy.

turn of mind was, on the whole, lucky for him; since
his substance was increased without any trouble on
his part, or any interruption of his favourite studies.
This word in explanation has been thrown in to
the reader, while Saddletree was laying down, with
great precision, the law upon Porteous's case, oy
which he arrived at this conclusion, that, if Porteous
had fired five minutes sooner, before Wilson was cut
down, he would have been versans in licito; en-
Igaged, that is, in a lawful act, and only liable to be
punished propter excessum, or for lack of discretion,
which might have mitigated the punishment to pœna
ordinaria.
"Discretion!" echoed Mrs Howden, on whom, it
may well be supposed, the fine less of this distinction
was entirely thrown away," whan had Jock Porte-
ous either grace, discretion, or gude manners?--I
mind when his father".

66

But, Mrs. Howden," said Saddletree

"And I," said Miss Damahoy, "mind when his mother""Miss Daniahoy," entreated the interrupted ora

tor

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And I," said Plumdamas, "mind when his

wife"

"Mr. Plumdamas-Mrs. Howden-Miss Dama hoy," again implored the orator,-"mind the distinction, as Counsellor Crossmyloof says,—'I,' says he, 'take a distinction. Now, the body of the criminal being cut down, and the execution ended, Por teous was no longer official; the act which he came to protect and guard, being done and ended, he was no better than cuivis er populo."

"Quivis quivis, Mr. Saddletree, craving your pardon," said (with a prolonged emphasis on the first syllable) Mr. Butler, the deputy schoolmaster of a parish near Edinburgh, who at that moment came up behind them as the false Latin was uttered.

I

"What signifies interrupting me, Mr. Butler ?-but am glad to see ye notwithstanding-I speak after Counsellor Crossmyloof, and he said cuivis."

"If Counsellor Crossmyloof used the dative for the nominative, I would have crossed his loof with a tight leathern strap, Mr. Saddletree; there is not a boy on the booby form but should have been scourged for such a solecism in grammar.' ""

"I speak Latin like a lawyer, Mr. Butler, and not like a schoolmaster," retorted Saddletree.

"Scarce like a schoolboy, I think," rejoined Butler. "It matters little," said Bartoline; "all I mean to say is, that Porteous has become liable to the pœna extra ordinem, or capital punishment; which is to say, in plain Scotch, the gallows, simply because he did not fire, when he was in office, but waited till the body was cut down, the execution whilk he had in charge to guard implemented, and he himself exonered of the public trust imposed on him."

"But, Mr. Saddletree," said Plumdamas, "do ye really think John Porteous's case wad hae been bet ter if he had begun firing before ony stanes were flung at a'?"

"Indeed do I, neighbour Plumdamas," replied Bartoline, confidently, "he being then n point of trust and in point of power, the execution being but inchoat, or, at least, not implemented, or finally ended; but after Wilson was cut down, it was a' ower-he was clean exauctorate, and had nae mair ado but to get awa wi' his guard up this West Bow as fast as if there had been a caption after him-And this is law, for I heard it laid down by Lord Vincovincentem." "Vincovincentem ?-Is he a lord of state, or a lord of seat?" inquired Mrs. Howden.

It may be necessary to mention, that Mr. Bartoline Saddletree kept an excellent and highly-esteemed shop for harness, saddles, &c. &c. at the sign of the Golden Nag, at the head of Bess Wynd. His genius, however, (as he himself and most of his neighbours conceived,) lay towards the weightier matters of the law, and he failed not to give frequent attendance upon the pleadings and arguments of the lawyers and judges in the neighbouring square, where, to say the truth, he was oftener to be found than would have consisted with his own emolument; but that his wife, an active pains-taking person, could, in his absence, make an admirable shift to please the customers and scold the journeymen. This good lady was in the habit of letting her husband take his way, and go on improving his stock of legal knowledge without interruption; but, as if in requital, she insisted upon having her own will in the domestic and commercial departments which he abandoned to her. Now, as Bartoline Saddletree had a considerable gift of words, which he mistook for eloquence, and conferred more liberally upon the society in which he lived than was at all times gracious and acceptable, there went forth "A lord of seat-a lord of session.-I fash mysell a saying, with which wags used sometimes to inter- little wi' lords o' state; they vex me wi' a wheen rupt his rhetoric, that, as he had a golden nag at his idle questions about their saddles, and curpels, and door, so he had a gray mare in his shop. This reproach holsters, and horse-furniture, and what they'll cos, induced Mr. Saddletree, on all occasions, to assume and whan they'll be ready-a wheen galloping geese rather a haughty and stately tone towards his good-my wife may serve the like o' them." woman, a circumstance by which she seemed very little affected, unless he attempted to exercise any real authority, when she never failed to fly into open rebellion. But such extremes Bartoline seldom provoked; for, like the gentle King Jamie, he was fonder of talking of authority than really exercising it. This

"And so might she, in her day, hae served the best lord in the land, for as little as ye think o' her, Mr. Saddletree," said Mrs. Howden, somewhat indignant at the contemptuous way in which her gossip was

A nobleman was called a Lord of State. The Senators of tho

College of Justice were termed Lords of Seat, or of the SestUN

mention d; "when she and I were twa gilpies, we | ed saddle-cloth for his sorrel horse will be ready, for little thought to hae sitten doun wi' the like my he wants it agane the Kelso races." auld Davie Howden, or you either, Mr. Saddletree.' While Saddletree, who was not bright at a reply, was cudgelling his brains for an answer to this homethrust, Miss Damahoy broke in on him.

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"Weel, aweel," replied Bartoline, as laconically as before.

"And his lordship, the Earl of Blazonbury, Lord Flash and Flame, is like to be clean daft, that the harness for the six Flanders mears, wi' the crests, coronets, housings, and mountings conform, are no sent hame according to promise gien.'

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"

Weel, weel, weel-weel, weel, gudewife," said Saddletree, "if he gangs daft, we'll hae him cognosced-it's a' very weel."

And as for the lords of state," said Miss Damahoy, "ye suld mind the riding o' the parliament, Mr. Saddletree, in the gude auld time before the Union, -a year's rent o' mony a gude estate gaed for horsegraith and harnessing, forby broidered robes and foot-mantles, that wad hae stude by their lane wi' gold brocade, and that were muckle in my ain line." "It's weel that ye think sae, Mr. Saddletree," anAy, and then the lusty banqueting, with sweet-swered his helpmate, rather nettled at the indifference meats and comfits wet and dry, and dried fruits of with which her report was received; "there's mony divers sorts," said Plumdamas. "But Scotland was ane wad hae thought themselves affronted, if sae Scotland in these days." mony customers had ca'd and naebody to answer them but women-folk; for a' the lads were aff, as soon as your back was turned, to see Porteous hanged, that might be counted upon; and sae, you no being at hame"

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"I'll tell you what it is, neighbours," said Mrs. Howden, "I'll ne'er believe Scotland is Scotland ony mair, if our kindly Scots sit doun with the affront they hae gien us this day. It's not only the blude that is shed, but the blude that might hae been shed, "Houts, Mrs. Saddletree," said Bartoline, with an that's required at our hands; there was my daugh air of consequence, "dinna deave me wi' your nonter's wean, little Eppie Daidle-my oe, ye ken, Miss sense; I was under the necessity of being elsewhere Grizel--had played the truant frae the school, as-non omnia-as Mr. Crossmyloof said, when he bairns will do, ye ken, Mr. Butler'"

"And for which," interjected Mr. Butler, "they should be soundly scourged by their well-wishers."

was called by two macers at once, non omnia possu mus-pessimus-possimis-I ken our law-latin offends Mr. Butler's ears, but it means naebody, and it were the Lord President himsell, can do twa turns at ance.'

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And had just cruppen to the gallows' foot to see the hanging, as was natural for a wean; and what for mightna she hae been shot as weel as the rest o' "Very right, Mr. Saadietree," answered his careful them, and where wad we a' hae been then? I won-helpmate, with a sarcastic smile; "and nae doubt der how Queen Carline (if her name be Carline) wad it's a decent thing to leave your wife to look after hae liked to hae had ane o' her ain bairns in sic a young gentlemen's saddles and bridles, when ye gang to see a man, that never did ye nae ill, raxing a halter.

venture?"

"Report says," answered Butler, "that such a circumstance would not have distressed her majesty beyond endurance."

Aweel," said Mrs. Howden, "the sum o' the matter is, that, were I a man, I wad hae amends o' Jock Porteous, be the upshot what like o't, if a' the carles and carlines in England had sworn to the nay

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"Woman," said Saddletree, assuming an elevated tone, to which the meridian had somewhat contributed, "desist,-I say forbear, from intromitting with affairs thou canst not understand. D'ye think I was born to sit here broggin an elshin through bend-leather, when sic men as Duncan Forbes, and that other Arniston chield there, without muckle greater parts, if the close-head speak true, than mysell, maun be

say I would claw down the tolbooth door wi' my presidents and king's advocates, nae doubt, and who

nails," said Miss Grizel, "but I wad be at him."
"Ye may be very right, ladies," said Butler, "but
I would not advise you to speak so loud."

Speak!" exclaimed both the ladies together, "there will be naething else spoken about frae the Weigh-house to the Water-gate, till this is either ended or mended."

but they? Whereas, were favour equally distribute as in the days of the wight Wallace"

"I ken naething we wad hae gotten by the wight Wallace," said Mrs. Saddletree, unless, as I ha heard the auld folk tell, they fought in thae days wi' bend leather-guns, and then it's a chance but what, if he had bought them, he might have forgot to pay for them. And as for the greatness of your parts, Bartley, the folk in the close-head maun ken mair about them than I do, if they make sick a report of them."

The females now departed to their respective places of abode. Plumdamas joined the other two gentlemen in drinking their meridian, (a bumper-dram of brandy,) as they passed the well-known low-browed "I tell ye, woman," said Saddletree, in high dudshop in the Lawn-market, where they were wont to geon, "that ye ken naething about these matters take that refreshment. Mr. Plumdamas then de- In Sir William Wallace's days, there was nae man parted towards his shop, and Mr. Butler, who hap-pinned down to sic a slavish wark as a saddler's, for pened to have some particular occasion for the rein of an old bridle, (the truants of that busy day could have anticipated its application,) walked down the Lawn-market with Mr. Saddletree, each talking as he could get a word thrust in, the one on the laws of Scotland, the other on those of Syntax, and neither listening to a word which his companion uttered.

CHAPTER V.

Elswhair he colde right weel lay down the law,
But in his house was meek as is a daw.
DAVIE LINDSAY.

"THERE has been Jock Driver the carrier here, speering about his new graith," said Mrs. Saddletree to her husband, as he crossed his threshold, not with the purpose, by any means, of consulting him upon his own affairs, but merely to intimate, by a gentle recapitulation, how much duty she had gone through in his absence.

"Weel," replied Bartoline, and deigned not a word

more.

"And the aird of Girdingburst has had his running footman here, and ca'd himsell, (he's a civil pleasant voung gentleman,) to see when the broider

they got ony leather graith that they had use for readymade out of Holland."

"Well," said Butler, who was, like many of his profession, something of a humorist and dry joker, if that be the case, Mr. Saddletree, I think we have changed for the better; since we make our own har ness, and only import our lawyers from Holland.

"It's ower true, Mr. Butler," answered Bartoline, with a sigh; "if I had had the luck-or rather, if my father had had the sense to send me to Leyden and Utrecht to learn the Substitutes and Pandex"

"You mean the Institutes-Justinian's Institutes Mr. Saddletree?" said Butler.

"Institutes and substitutes are synonymous words, Mr. Butler, and used indifferently as such in deeds of tailzie, as you may see in Balfour's Practiques, or Dallas of St. Martin's Styles. I understand these things pretty weel, I thank God; but I own I should have studied in Holland."

"To comfort you, you might not have been further forward than you are now, Mr. Saddletree," replied Mr. Butler; "for our Scottish advocates are an aristocratic race. Their brass is of the right Corinthian quality, and Non cuivis contigit adire Corinthum-Aha, Mr. Saddletree?"

And aha. Mr. Butler." rejoined Bartoline, upon

whom, as may be well supposed, the jest was lostrum could be supposed to give way to. Was not and all but the sound of the words, " ye said a gliff this girl," he said, "the daughter of David Deans, syne it was quivis, and now I heard ve sav cuivis that had the parks at St. Leonard's taken ? and has with my ain ears, as plain as ever I heard a word at she not a sister?" the fore-bar."

"Give me your patience, Mr. Saddletree, and I'll explain the discrepancy in three words," said Butler, as pedantic in his own department, though with infinitely more judgment and learning, as Bartoline was in his self-assumed profession of the law-"Give me your patience for a moment-You'll grant that the nominative case is that by which a person or thing is nominated or designed, and which may be called the primary case, all others being formed from it by alterations of the termination in the learned languages, and by prepositions in our modern Babylonian jargons-You'll grant me that, I suppose, Mr. Saddletree ?"

"I dinna ken whether I will or no-ad avisandum, ye ken-naebody should be in a hurry to make admissions, either in point of law, or in point of fact," said Saddletree, looking, or endeavouring to look, as if he understood what was said.

"And the dative case," continued Butler"I ken what a tutor dative is," said Saddletree, *readily enough."

"The dative case," resumed the grammarian, is that in which any thing is given or assigned as properly belonging to a person, or thing-You cannot deny that, I am sure.'

"I am sure I'll no grant i. .hough," said Saddle

tree.

"Then, what the deevil d'ye take the nominative and the dative cases to be?" said Butler, hastily, and sun rised at once out of his decency of expression and accuracy of pronunciation.

"I'll tell you that at leisure, Mr. Butler," said Saddletree, with a very knowing look; "I'll take a day to see and answer every article of your condescendence, and then I'll hold you to confess or deny, as accords."

"Come, come, Mr. Saddletree," said his wife, "we'll hae nae confessions and condescendences here, let them deal in thae sort o' wares that are paid for them-they suit the like o' us as ill as a demipique saddle would set a draught ox."

"Aha!" said Mr. Butler, "Optat_ephippia bos piger, nothing new under the sun-But it was a fair hit of Mrs. Saddletree, however."

"In troth has she-puir Jeanie Deans, ten years aulder than hersell; she was here greeting a wee while syne about her tittie. And what could I say to her, but that she behooved to come and speak to Mr. Saddletree when he was at hame? It wasna that I thought Mr. Saddletree could do her or ony other body muckle good or ill, but it wad aye serve to keep the puir thing's heart up for a wee while; and let sorrow come when sorrow maun."

"Ye're mistaen though, gudewife," said Saddletree scornfully, "for I could hae gien her great satisfaction; I could hae proved to her that her sister was indicted upon the statute saxteen hundred and ninety, chapter one-For the mair ready prevention of childmurder--for concealing her pregnancy, and giving no account of the child which she had borne."

"I hope," said Butler,-"I trust in a gracious God. that she can clear herself."

"And sae do I, Mr. Butler," replied Mrs. Saddletree. "I am sure I wad hae answered for her as my ain daughter; but, wae's my heart, I had been tender a' the simmer, and scarce ower the door o' my room for twal weeks. And as for Mr. Saddletree, he might be in a lying-in hospital, and ne'er find out what the women cam there for. Sae I could see little or naething o' her, or I wad hae had the truth o' her situation out o' her, I'se warrant ye-But we a' think her sister maun be able to speak something to clear her." "The haill Parliament House," said Saddletree, was speaking o' naething else, till this job o' Porteous's put it out o' head-It's a beautiful point of presumptive murder, and there's been nane like it in the Justiciar Court since the case of Luckie Smith the howdie, that suffered in the year saxteen hundred and seventy-nine."

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"But what's the matter wi' you, Mr. Butler ?" said the good woman; ye are looking as white as a sheet; will ye take a dram?"

By no means," said Butler, compelling himself to speak. "I walked in from Dumfries yesterday, and this is a warm day."

Sit down," said Mrs. Saddletree, laying hands on him kindly, "and rest ye-ye'll kill yoursell, man, at that rate-And are we to wish you joy o' getting the scule, Mr. Butler ?"

Yes-no-I do not know," answered the young man vaguely. But Mrs. Saddletree kept him to the point, partly out of real interest, partly from curiosity. "Ye dinna ken whether ye are to get the free scule o' Dumfries or no, after hinging on and teaching it a' the simmer?"

"And it wad far better become ye, Mr. Saddletree," continued his helpmate," since ye say ve hae skeel o' the law, to try if ye can do ony thing for Effie Deans, puir thing, that's lying up in the tolbooth yonder, cauld, and hungry, and comfortless-A servant lass of ours, Mr. Butler, and as innocent a lass, to my thinking, and as usefu' in the chop-When Mr. Saddletree gangs out, and ye're aware he's seldom at No, Mrs. Saddletree-I am not to have it," rehame when there's ony o' the plea-houses open,-puir plied Butler, more collectedly. "The Laird of BlackEffie used to help me to tumble the bundles o' bark-at-the-bane had a natural son bred to the kirk, that ened leather up and down, and range out the gudes, the presbytery could not be prevailed upon to license and suit a' body's humours-And troth, she could aye and so"please the customers wi' her answers, for she was aye civil, and a bonnier lass wasna in auld Reekie. And when folk were hasty and unreasonable, she could serve them better than me, that am no sae young as I hae been, Mr. Butler, and a wee bit short in the temper into the bargain. For when there's ower mony folks crying on me at anes, and nane but ae tongue to answer them, folk maun speak hastily, or they'll ne'er get through their wark-Sae I miss Effie daily."

"De die in diem," added Saddletree.

“I think," said Butler, after a good deal of heṣitation, "I have seen the girl in the shop-a modest looking, fair-haired girl?"

Ay, ay, that's just puir Effie," said her mistress. "How she was abandoned to hersell, or whether she was sackless o' the sinfu' deed, God in Heaven knows; but if she's been guilty, she's been sair tempted, and I wad amnist take my Bible-aith she hasna been hersell at the time."

"Ay, ye need say nae mair about it; if there was a laird that had a puir kinsman or a bastard that it wad suit, there's eneugh said.-And ye're e'en come back to Libberton to wait for dead men's shoon?and, for as frail as Mr. Whackbairn is he may live as lang as you, that are his assistant and succes sor.'

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Very like," replied Butler with a sigh; "I do not know if I should wish it otherwise."

"Nae doubt it's a very vexing thing," continued the good lady," to be in that dependant station; and you that hae right and title to sae muckle better, I wonder how ye bear these crosses."

Quos diligit castigat," answered Butler; "even the pagan Seneca could see an advantage in affliction. The Heathens had their philosophy, and the Jews their revelation, Mrs. Saddletree, and they endured their distresses in their day. Christians have a better dispensation than either-but doubtless"He stopped and sighed.

Butler had by this time become much agitated; he "I ken what you mean," said Mrs. Saddletree, fidgeted up and down the shop, and showed the looking toward her husband; "there's whiles we greatest agitation that a person of such strict deco-lose patience in spite of baith book and Pible-Bur

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