"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."

"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 playhouses, and I have a brace of nags at the door which
will carry us along the streets like wild-fire, and the ride will
digest our venison and ortolans, and dissipate the fumes of the wine,
and so let's to horse--Godd'en to you, gentlemen--Godd'en, Chevalier
de la Fortune."

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 Dalgarno 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 on 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; "yet I own I
cannot think but 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 adventurer."

"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 in the chancel, drink our flask in the vestry,
the parson shall draw every cork, and the clerk say amen to every
health. Come man, cheer up, and get rid of this sour and unsocial
humour. Credit me, that the Puritans who object to us the follies and
the frailties incident to human nature, have themselves the vices of
absolute devils, privy malice and backbiting 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 criticised 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 magic of that sorcerer, who had
displayed, within the paltry circle of a wooden booth, the long wars
of York and Lancaster, 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 concluded 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 recruited 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 realise 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."




CHAPTER XIII


    Let the proud salmon gorge the feather'd hook,
    Then strike, and then you have him--He will wince;
    Spin out your line that it shall whistle from you
    Some twenty yards or so, yet you shall have him--
    Marry! 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 this 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 appeared 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 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 withdrawn him altogether from a scene, where,
sooth to speak, his part seemed unworthily subordinate."

"Now, out upon your tender conscience," said Lord Dalgarno; "and the
fico for such outcasts of Parnassus! Why, these are the very leavings
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 interest
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.
[Footnote: 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 melancholy picture of genius, degraded at once
by its own debaucheries, and the patronage of heartless rakes and
profligates.] For the rest of their wants, they can be at no loss for
cold water while the New River head holds good; and your doublets of
Parnassus are 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 ever prompted the treader of sock and buskin. It is not, however,
of him I mean now to speak; but I come to pray you, of dear love, to
row up with me as far as Richmond, where two or three of the gallants
whom you saw yesterday, mean to give music and syllabubs to a set of
beauties, 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 demanded 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, for 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, according 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 reconcile
so young a courtier as Lord Glenvarloch to the customs and habits of a
sphere so new to him. In all civilised 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 maintained a great
intimacy; and, although some coldness had taken place betwixt the
Countess and the Duchess of Buckingham, 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 intrusted, 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 gratification,
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 convenient and agreeable
place of meeting with the fashionable 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 done 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
careless risk or profuse waste of money. Profusion was not his natural
vice, or one likely to be acquired in the course of his education;
and, in all probability, while his father anticipated with noble
horror the idea of his son approaching the gaming-table, he was more
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 observer of the various
games of chance which he witnessed, he came, by degrees, by moderate
hazards, and small bets or wagers, to take a certain interest in them.
Nor could it be 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-headed, had a strong
memory, and a ready power of calculation; was besides, of a daring and
intrepid character, one upon whom no one that had looked even
slightly, or spoken to though but hastily, would readily have ventured
to practise any thing approaching to trick, or which required to be
supported by intimidation. While Lord Glenvarloch chose to play, men
played with him regularly, or, according to the phrase, upon the
square; and, as he found his luck change, or wished to hazard his good
fortune no farther, the more professed votaries of fortune, who
frequented the house of Monsieur le Chevalier de Saint Priest Beaujeu,
did not venture 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 farther 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 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, Malcom!"
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 by 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 distemperature, with which some pickthanks have persuaded the
duke to regard our friend."

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

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

"By my faith, I am afraid thou wilt," 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 has in
my younger time--and yet you rise there."

"O, the time permits not your old-world service," said Lord Dalgarno;
"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-mask. Besides, father, loyal haste hath its inconveniences. 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
_'infandum-------renovare dolorem.'_ But this comes of old fashions,
and of wearing a long Liddesdale whinger instead of a poniard of
Parma. Yet this, my dear father, you call prompt and valiant service.
The king, I am told, could not sit upright for a fortnight, though all
the cushions in Falkland were placed in his chair of state, and the
Provost of Dunfermline's borrowed to the boot of all."

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

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

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

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
pertinacity.

As for the father, his table indeed, and his best liquor, of which he
was more profuse than necessary, were at the command of his young
friend, as well as his best advice and assistance in the prosecution
of his affairs. But Lord Huntinglen's interest was more apparent than
real; and the credit he had acquired by his gallant defence of the
king's person, was so carelessly managed by himself, and so easily
eluded by the favourites and ministers of the sovereign, that, except
upon one or two occasions, when the king was in some measure taken by
surprise, as in the case of Lord Glenvarloch, the royal bounty was
never efficiently extended either to himself or to his friends.

"There never was a man," said Lord Dalgarno, whose shrewder knowledge
of the English Court saw where his father's deficiency lay, "that had
it so perfectly in his power to have made his way to the pinnacle of
fortune as my poor father. He had acquired a right to build up a
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 shipwreck 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 commenced, 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 benediction, _Beati Pacifici_."

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 Blackchester, his affair, simple as it had become,
might have been somehow accelerated. But it was equally impossible to
doubt the rough honesty of the father, and the eager and officious
friendship of Lord Dalgarno; nor was it easy to suppose that the
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 Dalgarno 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 preparations
for a journey to Paris, upon business of great importance in the way
of his profession, and by an especial commission from the Court and
the Duke of 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 that reconciliation, 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 farther prosecution of this
matter."

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, nevertheless, 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 every
thing he did, only hoped that all had been to Lord Glenvarloch's mind,
and that he had not left them on account of any unbeseeming 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
lordship, the closet was more convenient. There was all the linen,
too, which she had bought on purpose--But Heaven's will be done--she
was resigned."

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 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
departure; 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 receiving assurance of John's interest to that
effect, he said at parting, he would remind him of his promise soon.--
"For," said he, "if my lord is not weary of this London life, I ken
one that is, videlicet, mysell; and I am weel determined to see
Arthur's Seat again ere I am many weeks older."




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 expressed either additional
importance, or superadded discontent, or a portion of both.

"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 purpose to
hire another page and groom."

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

"Adversity, my lord, should never have parted us," said Richie;
"methinks, had the warst come to warst, I could have starved as
gallantly as your lordship, or more so, being in some sort used to it;
for, though I was bred at a flasher'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 patience? 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 occupations are
such as I cannot own or countenance by my presence."

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

"Under favour, my lord," replied his domestic, "it is unequal 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 departure 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?" 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 take a
jump over the hedge with your lordship, and cry 'Stand!' to the first
grazier we met that was coming from Smithfield with the price of his
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 warldly 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 you,
that men notice it of your lordship, that ye play wi' nane but the
misguided creatures that can but afford to lose bare stakes."

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

"That is just what they say, my lord," said the unmerciful Richie,
whose natural love of lecturing, as well as his bluntness of feeling,
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 reverence 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 asks nae mair about it, for there is
no use in your knowing it, but much the contrair."

"Hark you, sirrah," said his master, "I have borne with you thus far,
for certain reasons; but abuse my good-nature no farther--and since
you must needs go, why, go a God's name, and here is to pay your
journey." So saying, he put gold into his 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 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 recommend 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 trode 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 lordship'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, 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 licentious scoffers, that you pretended to such favour when
you had not courage enough for so fair a quarrel, and that the
sparrow-hawk was too craven-crested to fly at the wife of a
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----"

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

"True, my lord," said Richie, again waving his hand, as if to bespeak
his master's silence and attention; "so, I trust, you will think 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 speerings 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; but which hath been
truth formerly, suld be truth now, and will be truth again,--and that
was, that you were in possession 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 particular anent it; but when I
heard of such inklings, I began to suspect she was little better than
--whew! "--Here he concluded his narrative with a low, but very
expressive whistle.

"And what did your wisdom do in these circumstances?" said Lord Nigel,
who, notwithstanding his former resentment, could now scarcely forbear
laughing.

"I put on a look, my lord," replied Richie, bending his solemn brows,
"that suld give her a heartscald 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, miscawed me for a forward 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
mysell, 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 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 Moniplies, with uplifted
eyes; "for that word sounds more like grace than ony has come out of
your mouth this fortnight.--I give you godd'en, my lord."

So saying, he thrust forth his immense bony hand, seized on that of
Lord Glenvarloch, raised it to his lips, then turned short on his
heel, and left the room hastily, as if afraid of 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 down stairs, 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 window, 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 pride in his service, or attachment to his person, which he had
formerly manifested. Neither could he avoid experiencing some twinges
of conscience, while he felt in some degree the charges which Richie
had preferred against him, and experienced a sense of shame and
mortification, arising from the colour given by others to that, which
he himself would have called his caution and moderation in play. He
had only the apology, that it had never occurred to himself in this
light.

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 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. Beware
of both.--And this is all from your true but nameless friend,
    IGNOTO."

Lord Glenvarloch paused for an instant, and crushed the paper
together--then again unfolded and read it with attention--bent his
brows--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.




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?
  Swaffhanm 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.
                                        &c. &c. &c,

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

Lord Glenvarloch repaired thither to dispel the unpleasant reflections
which 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 received from the anonymous letter mentioned in the end
of the last chapter.

There was a considerable number of company in the Park when he entered
it, 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.

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 querulous 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 thread-bare cloak,
on whose surface ten thousand varied stains eclipsed the original
scarlet, and having his head surmounted with a well-worn beaver,
bearing a black velvet band for a chain, and a capon's feather for an
ostrich plume.

Lord Glenvarloch would fain have made his escape, but, as our motto
intimates, a leveret had as little chance to free herself of an
experienced greyhound. Sir Mungo, to continue the simile, had long ago
learned to run 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.

"O, ye are ganging to the French ordinary belive," replied the knight;
"but it is early day yet--we will take a turn in the Park in the
meanwhile--it will sharpen your appetite."

So saying, he quietly slipped his arm under Lord Glenvarloch'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.

"Ye are bound for the ordinary, my lord?" said the cynic;--"weel, ye
canna do better--there is choice company there, and peculiarly
selected, as I am tauld, being, dootless, sic as it is 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 gies 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.

"Ay, ay--vera true," exclaimed the caustic old courtier--"Impertinent
coxcombs they are, that thus intrude themselves on the society of
their betters; but your lordship kens how to gar them as gude--ye 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 ofima_, 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 himsell 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 undismayed Sir
Mungo; "naething but lies are current in the circle.--So the chield is
not drowned, then?--the mair's the pity.--But I never believed that
part of the story--a London dealer has mair wit in his anger. I dare
swear the lad has a bonny broom-shank in his hand by this time, and is
scrubbing the kennels in quest after rusty nails, to help him to begin
his pack again.--He has three bairns, they say; they will help him
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 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 reputation.