Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

place of refuge, when the mob, inflamed by a sedi-rious, deep, and dangerous, as these circumstances tious preacher, broke forth on him with the cries of have given rise to, the blood of each reader shall be The sword of the Lord and of Gideon-bring forth curdled, and his epidermis crisped into goose skin.the wicked Haman? Since that time how many But, hist!-here comes the landlord, with tidings, I hearts have throbbed within these walls, as the toll-suppose. that the chaise is ready ing of the neighbouring bell announced to them how It was no such thing-the tidings bore, that no fast the sands of their life were ebbing; how many chaise could be had that evening, for Sir Peter Pliem must have sunk at the sound-how many were sup- had carried foward my landlord's two pairs of horses ported by stubborn pride and dogged resolution-how that morning to the ancient royal borough of Bubmany by the consolations of religion? Have there bleburgh, to look after his interest there. But as not been some, who, looking back on the motives of Bubbleburgh is only one of a set of five boroughs their crimes, were scarce able to understand how they which club their shares for a member of parliament, should have had such temptation as to seduce them Sir Peter's adversary had judiciously watched his from virtue? and have there not, perhaps, been departure, in order to commence a canvass in the no others, who, sensible of their innocence, were divided less royal borough of Bitem, which, as all the world between indignation at the undeserved doom which knows, lies at the very termination of Sir Peter's they were to undergo, consciousness that they had avenue, and has been held in leading-strings by him not deserved it, and racking anxiety to discover some and his ancestors for time immemorial. Now Sir way in which they might yet vindicate themselves? Peter was thus placed in the situation of an ambiDo you suppose any of these deep, powerful, and agi-tious monarch, who, after having commenced a tating feelings, can be recorded and perused without daring inroad into his enemies' territories, is suddenly exciting a corresponding depth of deep, powerful, and recalled by an invasion of his own hereditary domiagitating interest?-O! do but wait till I publish the nions. He was obliged in consequence to return from Causes Célèbres of Caledonia, and you will find no the half-lost borough of Bitem, and the two pairs the half-won borough of Bubbleburgh to look after want of a novel or a tragedy for some time to come. of horses which had carried him that morning to The true thing will triumph over the brightest inven- Bubbleburgh, were now forcibly detained to transport tions of the most ardent imagination. Magna est him, his agent, his valet, his jester, and his hard veritas, et prævalebit." drinker, across the country to Bitem. The cause of this detention, which to me was of as little conse enough to my companions to reconcile them to the quence as it may be to the reader, was important delay. Like eagles, they smelled the battle afar off, ordered a magnum of claret and beds at the Wallace, and entered at full career into the Bubbleburgh and Bitem politics, with all the probable "petitions and complaints" to which they were likely to give

"I have understood," said I, encouraged by the affability of my rattling entertainer, "that less of this interest must attach to Scottish jurisprudence than to that of any other country. The general morality of our people, their sober and prudent habits"

"Secure them," said the barrister, "against any great increase of professional thieves and depredators, but not against wild and wayward starts of fancy and passion, producing crimes of an extraordinary rise. description, which are precisely those to the detail of In the midst of an anxious, animated, and to me, which we listen with thrilling interest. England has most unintelligible discussion, concerning provosts, been much longer a highly civilized country; her sub-bailies, deacons, sets of boroughs, leets, town-clerks jects have been very strictly amenable to laws admi- burgesses, resident and non-resident, all of a sudden nistered without fear or favour, a complete division the lawyer recollected himself. "Poor Dunover, we of labour has taken place among her subjects, and must not forget him;" and the landlord was dispatchthe very thieves and robbers form a distinct class in ed in quest of the pauvre honteux, with an earnestly society, subdivided among themselves according to civil invitation to him for the rest of the evening. I the subject of their depredations, and the mode in could not help asking the young gentlemen if they which they carry them on, acting upon regular habits knew the history of this poor man; and the counseland principles, which can be calculated and antici- lor applied himself to his pocket to recover the mepated at Bow Street, Hatton Garden, or the Old Bai-morial or brief from which he had stated his cause. ley. Our sister kingdom is like a cultivated field,- "He has been a candidate for our remedium misethe farmer expects that, in spite of all his care, a cer-rabile," said Mr. Hardie, "commonly called a cessio tain number of weeds will rise with the corn, and bonorum. As there are divines who have doubted the can tell you beforehand their names and appearance. eternity of future punishments, so the Scotch lawBut Scotland is like one of her own Highland glens, yers seem to have thought that the crime of poverty and the moralist who reads the records of her crimi- might be atoned for by something short of perpetual nal jurisprudence, will find as many curious anoma- imprisonment. After a month's confinement, you lous facts in the history of mind, as the botanist will must know, a prisoner for debt is entitled on a suffidetect rare specimens among her dingles and cliffs." cient statement to our Supreme Court, setting forth "And that's all the good you have obtained from the amount of his funds and the nature of his mis three perusals of the Commentaries on Scottish fortunes and surrendering all his effects to his credi Criminal Jurisprudence?" said his companion. "I sup- tors, to claim to be discharged from prison."ndoc pose the learned author very little thinks that the facts "I had heard," I replied, "of such a humane reguwhich his erudition and acuteness have accumulated lation." for the illustration of legal doctrines, might be so arranged as to form a sort of appendix to the half-bound and slip-shod volumes of the circulating library"

[ocr errors]

"Yes," said Halkit, "and the beauty of it is as the foreign fellow said you may get the cessio when the bonorums are all spent-But what, are you puzI'll bet you a pint of claret," said the elder law-zling in your pockets to seek your only memorial yer, "that he will not feel sore at the comparison. among old play-bills letters requesting a meeting of But as we say at the bar, 'I beg I may not be inter- the Faculty, rules of the Speculative Society, sylla rupted;' I have much more to say upon my Scottish bus' of lectures-all the miscellaneous contents of a collection of Causes Célèbres. You will please re- young advocate's pocket, which contains every thing collect the scope and motive given for the contrivance but briefs and bank notes? Can you not state a case and execution of many extraordinary and daring of cessio without your memorial? Why it is done crimes, by the long civil dissensions of Scotland-by every Saturday. The events follow each other as the hereditary jurisdictions, which, until 1748, rested regularly as clock work, and one form of condethe investigation of crimes in judges, ignorant, par- scendence might suit every one of them." Munda tial, or interested-by the habits of the gentry, shut up their distant and solitary mansion-houses, nursing their revengeful passions just to keep their blood from stagnating-not to mention that amiable "True," replied Halkit; "but Hardie spoke of national qualification, called the perfervidum inge- criminal jurisprudence, and this business is purely nium Scotorum, which our lawyers join in alleging civil. I could plead a cessio myself without the inas a reason for the severity of some of our enact-spiring honours of a gown and three-tailed periwig ments When I come to treat of matters so myste-Listen. My client was bred a journeyman weaver

"This is very unlike the variety of distress which this gentleman stated to fall under the consideration of your judges," said I.

made some little money took a farm-(for conduct office for the decent maintenance of his family; and ing a farm, like driving a gig, comes by nature)-late that, after a train of constant and uninterrupted missevere times-induced to sign bills with a friend, for fortune, he could trace a dawn of prosperity to his which he received no value-landlord sequestrates having the good fortune to be flung froin the top of a creditors accept a composition-pursuer sets up a mail-coach into the river Gander, in company with public-house-fails a second time-is incarcerated for an advocate and a writer to the signet. The reader a debt of ten pounds seven shillings and sixpence-will not perhaps deem himself equally obliged to the his debts amount to blank-his losses to blank-his accident, since it brings upon him the following nar funds to blank-leaving a balance of blank in his fa- rative, founded upon the conversation of the evening. vour. There is no opposition; your lordships will please grant commission to take his oath,"

CHAPTER II.

Whoe'er's been at Paris must needs know the Grêve
The fatal retreat of the unfortunate brave,
Where honour and justice most oddly contribute,
To ease heroes' pains by an halter and gibbet.

There death breaks the shackles which force had put on,
And the hangman completes what the judge but began;
There the squire of the poet, and knight of the post,
Find their pains no more baulk'd, and their hopes no more
cross'd.
PRIOR.

Hardie now renounced this ineffectual search, in which there was perhaps a little affectation, and told us the tale of poor Dunover's distresses, with a tone 'n which a degree of feeling, which he seemed ashamed of as unprofessional, mingled with his attempts at wit, and did him more honour. It was one of those tales which seem to argue a sort of ill-luck or fatality attached to the hero. A well-informed, industrious, and blameless, but poor and bashful man, had in vain essayed all the usual means by which others acquire independence, yet had never succeeded IN former times, England had her Tyburn, to which beyond the attainment of bare subsistence. During the devoted victims of justice were conducted in soa brief gleam of hope, rather than of actual prosperity, lemn procession up what is now called Oxford-Road. he had added a wife and family to his cares, but the In Edinburgh, a large open street, or rather oblong dawn was speedily overcast. Every thing retrogra- square, surrounded by high houses, called the Grassded with him towards the verge of the miry Slough market, was used for the same melancholy purpose. of Despond, which yawns for insolvent debtors; and It was not ill chosen for such a scene, being of conafter catching at each twig, and experiencing the pro-siderable extent, and therefore fit to accommodate a tracted agony of feeling them one by one elude his great number of spectators, such as are usually asgrasp, he actually sunk into the miry pit whence he sembled by this melancholy spectacle. On the other he had been extricated by the professional exertions hand, few of the houses which surround it were, of Hardie. even in early times, inhabited by persons of fashion; so that those likely to be offended or over deeply af fected by such unpleasant exhibitions were not in the way of having their quiet disturbed by them. The houses in the Grass-market are, generally speaking, of a mean description; yet the place is not without some features of grandeur, being overhung by the It is pessimi crempli," said Hardie laughing, southern side of the huge rock on which the castle "to provide for a ruined client; but I was thinking stands, and by the moss-grown battlements and turof what you mention, provided it can be managed-reted walls of that ancient fortress. But hush! here he comes."

And, I suppose, now you have dragged this poor devil ashore, you will leave him half naked on the beach to provide for himself?" said Halkit. Hark ye," and he whispered something in his ear, of which the penetrating and insinuating words, "Interest with my Lord," alone reached mine.

It was the custom, until within these thirty years, The recent relation of the poor man's misfortunes or thereabouts, to use this esplanade for the scene of had given him, I was pleased to observe, a claim to public executions. The fatal day was announced to the attention and respect of the young men, who the public, by the appearance of a huge black galtreated him with great civility, and gradually engaged lows-tree towards the eastern end of the Grass-marhim in a conversation, which, much to my satisfac-ket. This ill-omened apparition was of great height, tion, again turned upon the Causes Célèbres of Scot- with a scaffold surrounding it, and a double ladder land. Emboldened by the kindness with which he placed against it, for the ascent of the unhappy crimiwas treated, Mr. Dunover began to contribute his nal and the executioner. As this apparatus was share to the amusement of the evening. Jails, like always arranged before dawn, it seemed as if the other places, have their ancient traditions, known gallows had grown out of the earth in the course of only to the inhabitants, and handed down from one one night, like the production of some foul demon; set of the melancholy lodgers to the next who occupy and I well remember the fright with which the schooltheir cells. Some of these, which Dunover men- boys, when I was one of their number, used to regard tioned, were interesting, and served to illustrate the these ominous signs of deadly preparation. On the narratives of remarkable trials, which Hardie had at night after the execution the gallows again disappearhis finger ends, and which his companion was also ed, and was conveyed in silence and darkness to the well skilled in. This sort of conversation passed place where it was usually deposited, which was one away the evening till the early hour when Mr. of the vaults under the Parliament-house, or courts Dunover chose to retire to rest, and I also retreated of justice, This mode of execution is now exchanged to take down memorandums of what I had learned, for one similar to that in front of Newgate, with in order to add another narrative to those which it what beneficial effect is uncertain. The mental sufhad been my chief amusement to collect, and to ferings of the convict are indeed shortened. He no write out in detail. The two young men ordered a longer stalks between the attendant clergymen, broiled bone, Madeira negus, and a pack of cards, and dressed in his grave-clothes, through onsiderable commenced a game at picquet. part of the city, looking like a moving and walking corpse, while yet an inhabitant of this world; but, as the ultimate purpose of punishment has in view the prevention of crimes, it may at least be doubted, whether, in abridging the melancholy ceremony, we have not in part diminished that appalling effect upon the spectators which is the useful end of all such inflictions, and in consideration of which alone, unless in very particular cases, capital sentences can be al together justified.

Next morning the travellers left Gandercleugh. I afterwards learned from the papers that both have been since engaged in the great political cause of Bubbleburgh and Bitem, a summary case, and entitled to particular dispatch; but which, it is thought, nevertheless, may outlast the duration of the parliament to which the contest refers. Mr. Halkit, as the newspapers informed me, acts as agent or solicitor; and Mr. Hardie opened for Sir Peter Plyem with singular ability, and to such good purpose, that I understand he has since had fewer play-bills and more briefs in his pocket. And both the young gentlemen deserve their good fortune; for I learned from Dunover, who called on me some weeks afterwards, and communicated the intelligence with tears in his eyes, that their interest had availed to obtain him a small

On the 7th day of September, 1736, these ominous preparations for execution were descried in the place we have described, and at an early hour the space around began to be occupied by several groups, who gazed on the scaffold and gibbet with a stern and vindictive show of satisfaction very seldom testified by the populace, whose good-nature in most cases

forgets the crime of the condemned person, and dwells | condemned to death, chiefly on the evidence of an only on his misery. But the act of which the expect- accomplice. ed culprit had been convicted was of a description calculated nearly and closely to awaken and irritate the resentful feelings of the multitude. The tale is well known; yet it is necessary to recapitulate its leading circumstances, for the better understanding what is to follow; and the narrative may prove long, but I trust not uninteresting, even to those who have heard its general issue. At any rate, some detail is necessary, in order to render intelligible the subsequent events of our narrative.

Contraband trade, though it strikes at the root of legitimate government, by encroaching on its revenues, though it injures the fair trader, and debauches the minds of those engaged in it,-is not usually looked upon, either by the vulgar or by their betters, in a very heinous point of view. On the contrary, in those counties where it prevails, the cleverest, boldest, and most intelligent of the peasantry, are uniformly engaged in illicit transactions, and very often with the sanction of the farmers and inferior gentry. Smuggling was almost universal in Scotland in the reigns of George I. and 1I.; for the people, unaccustomed to imposts, and regarding them as an unjust aggression upon their ancient liberties, made no scruple to elude them whenever it was possible to do so. The county of Fife, bounded by two friths on the south and north, and by the sea on the east, and having a number of small seaports, was long famed for maintaining successfully a contraband trade; and, as there were many seafaring men residing there, who had been pirates and buccaneers in their youth, there were not wanting a sufficient number of daring men to carry it on. Among these, a fellow, called Andrew Wilson, originally a baker in the village of Pathhead, was particularly obnoxious to the revenue officers. He was possessed of great personal strength, courage, and cunning,— -was perfectly acquainted with the coast, and capable of conducting the most desperate enterprises. On several occasions he succeeded in baffling the pursuit and researches of the king's officers; but he became so much the object of their suspicious and watchful attention, that at length he was totally ruined by repeated seizures. The man became desperate. He considered himself as robbed and plundered; and took it into his head, that he had a right to make reprisals, as he could find opportunity. Where the heart is prepared for evil, opportunity is seldom long wanting. This Wilson learned, that the Collector of the Customs at Kirkaldy had come to Pittenweem, in the course of his official round of duty, with a considerable sum of public money in his custody. As the amount was greatly within the value of the goods which had been seized from him, Wilson felt no scruple of conscience in resolving to reimburse himself for his losses, at the expense of the Collector and the revenue. He associated with himself one Robertson, and two other idle young men, whom, having been concerned in the same illicit trade, he persuaded to view the transaction in the same justifiable light in which he himself considered it. They watched the motions of the Collector; they broke forcibly into the house where he lodged,-Wilson, with two of his associates, entering the Collector's apartment, while Robertson, the fourth, kept watch at the door with a drawn cutlass in his hand. The officer of the customs, conceiving his life in danger, escaped out of his bedroom window, and fled in his shirt, so that the plunderers, with much ease, Dossessed themselves of about two hundred pounds of public money. This robbery was committed in a very audacious manner, for several persons were passing in the street at the time. But Robertson, representing the noise they heard as a dispute or fray Detwixt the Collector and the people of the house, the worthy citizens of Pittenweem felt themselves no way called on to interfere in behalf of the obnoxious revenue officer; so, satisfying themselves with this very superficial account of the matter, like the Levite the parable, they passed on the opposite side of the way. An alarni was at length given, military were called in the depredators were pursued, the booty recovered, and Wilson and Robertson tried and

Many thought, that, in consideration of the men's erroneous opinion of the nature of the action they had committed, justice might have been satisfied with a less forfeiture than that of two lives. On the other hand, from the audacity of the fact, a severe example was judged necessary; and such was the opinion of the government. When it became apparent that the sentence of death was to be executed, files, and other implements necessary for their escape, were transmitted secretly to the culprits by a friend from without. By these means they sawed a bar out of one of the prison-windows, and might have made their escape, but for the obstinacy of Wilson, who, as he was daringly resolute, was doggedly pertinacious of his opinion. His comrade, Robertson, a young and slender man, proposed to make the experiment of passing the foremost through the gap they had made, and enlarging it from the outside, if necessary, to allow Wilson free passage. Wilson, however, insisted on making the first experiment, and being a robust and lusty man, he not only found it impossible to get through betwixt the bars, but, by his struggles, he jammed himself so fast, that he was unable to draw his body back again. In these circumstances discovery became unavoidable, and sufficient precautions were taken by the jailer to prevent any repetition of the same attempt. Robertson uttered not a word of reflection on his companion for the consequences of his obstinacy; but it appeared from the sequel, that Wilson's mind was deeply impressed with the recollection, that, but for him, his comrade, over whose mind he exercised considerable influence, would not have engaged in the criminal enterprise which had terminated thus fatally; and that now he had be come his destroyer a second time, since, but for his obstinacy, Robertson might have effected his escape. Minds like Wilson's, even when exercised in evil practices, sometimes retain the power of thinking and resolving with enthusiastic generosity. His whole thoughts were now bent on the possibility of saving Robertson's life, without the least respect to his own. The resolution which he adopted, and the manner in which he carried it into effect, were striking and unusual.

Adjacent to the Tolbooth or city jail of Edinburgh is one of three churches into which the cathedral of St. Giles is now divided, called, from its vicinity, the Tolbooth Church. It was the custom, that criminals under sentence of death were brought to this church, with a sufficient guard, to hear and join in public worship on the Sabbath before execution. It was supposed that the hearts of these unfortunate persons, however hardened before against feelings of devotion, could not but be accessible to them upon uniting their thoughts and voices, for the last time, along with their fellow-mortals, in addressing their Creator. And to the rest of the congregation, it was thought it could not but be impressive and affecting, to find their devotions mingling with those, who, sent by the doom of an earthly tribunal to appear where the whole earth is judged, might be considered as beings trembling on the verge of eternity. The practice, however edifying, has been discontinued, in consequence of the incident we are about to detail.

The clergyman, whose duty it was to officiate in the Tolbooth Church, had concluded an affecting discourse, part of which was particularly directed to the unfortunate men, Wilson and Robertson, who were in the pew set apart for the persons in their unhappy situation, each secured betwixt two soldiers of the city guard. The clergyman had reminded them, that the next congregation they must join would be that of the just, or of the unjust: that the psalms they now heard must be exchanged, in the space of two brief days, for eternal hallelujahs, or eternal lamentations; and that this fearful alternative must depend upon the state to which they might be able to bring their inds before the moment of awful preparation: that they should not despair on account of the suddenness of the summons, but rather to feel this comfort in their misery, that, though all who now lifted the voice, cr bent the knee in conjunction with them, lay under

the same sentence of certain death, they only had the advantage of knowing the precise moment at which it should be executed upon them. Therefore," urged the good man, his voice trembling with emotion, "redeem the time, my unhappy brethren, which is at left; and remember, that, with the grace of Him to whom space and time are but as nothing, salvation may yet be assured, even in the pittance of delay which the laws of your country afford you." Robertson was observed to weep at these words; but Wilson seemed as one whose brain had not entirely received their meaning, or whose thoughts were deeply impressed with some different subject; an expression so natural to a person in his situation, that it excited neither suspicion nor surprise.

The benediction was pronounced as usual, and the congregation was dismissed, many lingering to indulge their curiosity with a more fixed look at the two criminals, who now, as well as their guards, rose up, as if to depart when the crowd should permit them. A murmur of compassion was heard to pervade the spectators, the more general, perhaps, on account of the alleviating circumstances of the case; when all at once, Wilson, who, as we have already noticed, was a very strong man, seized two of the soldiers, one with each hand, and calling at the same time to his companion, "Run, Geordie, run!" threw himself on a third, and fastened his teeth on the collar of his coat. Robertson stood for a second as if thunderstruck, and unable to avail himself of the opportunity of escape; but the cry of "Run, run!" being echoed from many around, whose feelings sur prised them into a very natural interest in his behalf, he shook off the grasp of the remaining soldier, threw himself over the pew, mixed with the dispersing congregation, none of whom felt inclined to stop a poor wretch taking this last chance for his life, gained the door of the church, and was lost to all pursuit.

The generous intrepidity which Wilson had displayed on this occasion augmented the feeling of compassion which attended his fate. The public, where their own prejudices are not concerned, are easily engaged on the side of disinterestedness and humanity, admired Wilson's behaviour, and rejoiced in Robertson's escape. This general feeling was so great, that it excited a vague report that Wilson would be rescued at the place of execution, either by the mob or by some of his old associates, or by some second extraordinary and unexpected exertion of strength and courage on his own part. The magistrates thought it their duty to provide against the possibility of disturbance. They ordered out, for protection of the execution of the sentence, the greater part of their own City Guard, under the command of Captain Porteous, a man whose name became too memorable from the melancholy circumstances of the day, and subsequent events. It may be necessary to say a word about this person, and the corps which he commanded. But the subject is of import ance sufficient to deserve another chapter.

CHAPTER III.

And thou, great god of aqua-vitæ |
Wha sways the empire of this city,
(When fou we're sometimes capernoity,)
Be thou prepared,

To save us frae that black banditti,
The City Guard!

FERGUSON'S Daft Days. CAPTAIN JOHN PORTEOUS, a name memorable in the traditions of Edinburgh, as well as in the records of criminal jurisprudence, was the son of a citizen of Edinburgh, who endeavoured to breed him up to his own mechanical trade of a tailor. The youth, however, had a wild and irreclaimable propensity to dissipation, which finally sent him to serve in the corps long maintained in the service of the States of Holland, and called the Scotch Dutch. Here he learned military disciplane; and, returning afterwards, in the course of an idle and wandering life, to his native city, his services were required by the magistrates of Edinburgh in the disturbed year 1715, for disciplining their City Guard, in which he shortly afterwards received a captain's

commission. It was only by his military skill, and an alert and resolute character as an officer of police, that he merited this promotion, for he is said to have been a man of profligate habits, an unnatural son, and a brutal husband. He was, however, useful in his station, and his harsh and fierce habits rendered him formidable to rioters or disturbers of the public peace. The corps in which he held his command is, or perhaps we should rather say was, a body of about one hun dred and twenty soldiers, divided into three companies and regularly armed, clothed, and embodied. They were chiefly veterans who enlisted in this corps, having the benefit of working at their trades when they were off duty. These men had the charge of preserving public order, repressing riots and street robberies, acting, in short, as an armed police, and attending on public occasions where confusion or popular disturbance might be expected. Poor Ferguson, whose irregularities sometimes led him into unpleasant rencontres with these military conservators of public order, and who mentions them so often that he may be termed their poet laureate, thus admonishes his readers, warned oubtless by his own experience: "Gude folk, as ye come frae the fair, Bide yont frae this black squad; There's nae sic savages elsewhere Allow'd to wear cockad."

In fact, the soldiers of the City Guard, being, as we have said. in general discharged veterans, who had strength enough remaining for this municipal duty, and being, moreover, for the greater part, Highlanders, were neither by birth, &ication, or former habits, trained to endure with much patience the insults of the rabble, or the provoking petulance of tru ant schoolboys, and idle debauchees of all descriptions, with whom their occupation brought them into contact. On the contrary, the tempers of the poor old fellows were soured by the indignities with which the mob distinguished them on many occasions, and fre quently might have required the soothing strains of the poet we have just quoted

"O soldiers! for your ain dear sakes,
For Scotland's love, the Land o' Cakes,
Gie not her bairns sic deadly paiks,
Nor be sae rude,

Wi' firelock or Lochaber-axe,

As spill their bluid!"

On all occasions when a holyday licensed some rict and irregularity, a skirmish with these veterans was a favourite recreation with the rabble of Edinburgh. These pages may perhaps see the light when many have in fresh recollection such onsets as we allude to. But the venerable corps, with whom the contention was held, may now be considered as totally extinct. Of late the gradual diminution of these civic soldiers, reminds one of the abatement of King Lear's hundred knights. The edicts of each succeeding set of magistrates have, like those of Goneril and Regan, diminished this venerable band with the similar question, "What need we five-and-twenty?-ten?-or five?" And it is now nearly come to, "What need one?" A spectre may indeed here and there still be seen, of an old gray-headed and gray-bearded Highlander, with war-worn features, but bent double by age; dressed in an old-fashioned cocked hat, bound with white tape instead of silver lace; and in coat, waistcoat, and breeches of a muddy-coloured red, bearing in his withered hand an ancient weapon, called a Lochaberaxe; a long pole, namely, with an axe at the extremi. ty, and a hook at the back of the hatchet.+ Such a phantom of former days still creeps, I have been informed, round the statue of Charles the Second, in the Parliament Square, as if the image of a Stewart were the last refuge for any memorial of our ancient manners; and one or two others are supposed to glide around the door of the guard-house assigned to them in the Luckenbooths, when their ancient refuge in the

the corps, which might be creased to three hundred men when the times required it. No other drum but theirs was allowed to sound on the High Street between the Luckenbooths and he Netherbow.

The Lord Provost was ex-fficio commander and colonel of

[ocr errors]

This hook was to enable the bearer of the Lochaber axe to

scale a gateway, by grappling the top of the door and swinging himself up by the staff of his weapon.

[graphic]

L

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

He had been suspended on the gibbet so long as to be totally deprived of life, when at once, as if occcasioned by some newly received ampulse, there arose a tumult among the multitude Many stones were thrown at Porteous and his guards; some mischief was done; and the mob continued to press forward with whoops, shrieks, howls, and exclamations.A young fellow, with a sailor's cap slouched over his face, sprung on the scaffold, and cut the rope by which the criminal was suspended. Others ap proached to carry off the body, either to secure for it decent grave, or to try, perhaps, some means of resusbus adtoodgso Jockey to the fair use tall be recitation, Captain Porteous was wrought, by this at on this final occasion the afflicted veterans moved slowly appearance of insurrection against his authority, into the nurge of odl to 10mod arid oldans mes 200 The last time I came over the muralla rage so headlong as made him forget, that, the ing ower the muir y qui sentence having been fully executed, it was his duty

« VorigeDoorgaan »