She speaks things in doubt,
That carry but half sense: her speech is nothing,
Yet the unshaped use of it doth move
The hearers to collection; they aim at it,
And botch the words up to fit their own thoughts.
Hamlet.
Like the digressive poet Ariosto, I find myself under the necessity of
connecting the branches of my story, by taking up the adventures of
another of the characters, and bringing them down to the point at which
we have left those of Jeanie Deans. It is not, perhaps, the most
artificial way of telling a story, but it has the advantage of sparing
the necessity of resuming what a knitter (if stocking-looms have left
such a person in the land) might call our “dropped stitches;” a labour in
which the author generally toils much, without getting credit for his
pains.
“I could risk a smaí wad,” said the clerk to the magistrate, “that this
rascal Ratcliffe, if he were insured of his neckís safety, could do more
than ony ten of our police-people and constables to help us to get out of
this scrape of Porteousís. He is weel acquent wií aí the smugglers,
thieves, and banditti about Edinburgh; and, indeed, he may be called the
father of aí the misdoers in Scotland, for he has passed amang them for
these twenty years by the name of Daddie Rat.”
“A bonny sort of a scoundrel,” replied the magistrate, “to expect a place
under the city!”
“Begging your honourís pardon,” said the cityís procurator-fiscal, upon
whom the duties of superintendent of police devolved, “Mr. Fairscrieve is
perfectly in the right. It is just sic as Ratcliffe that the town needs
in my department; aní if sae be that heís disposed to turn his knowledge
to the city service, yell no find a better man.--Yeíll get nae saints to
be searchers for uncustomed goods, or for thieves and sic like;--and your
decent sort of men, religious professors, and broken tradesmen, that are
put into the like oí sic trust, can do nae gude ava. They are feared for
this, and they are scrupulous about that, and they arena free to tell a
lie, though it may be for the benefit of the city; and they dinna like to
be out at irregular hours, and in a dark cauld night, and they like a
clout ower the crown far waur; and sae between the fear oí God, and the
fear oí man, and the fear oí getting a sair throat, or sair banes,
thereís a dozen oí our city-folk, baith waiters, and officers, and
constables, that can find out naething but a wee bit skulduddery for the
benefit of the Kirk treasurer. Jock Porteous, thatís stiff and stark,
puir fallow, was worth a dozen oí them; for he never had ony fears, or
scruples, or doubts, or conscience, about onything your honours bade
him.”
“He was a gude servant oí the town,” said the Bailie, “though he was an
ower free-living man. But if you really think this rascal Ratcliffe could
do us ony service in discovering these malefactors, I would insure him
life, reward, and promotion. Itís an awsome thing this mischance for the
city, Mr. Fairscrieve. It will be very ill taen wií abune stairs. Queen
Caroline, God bless her! is a woman--at least I judge sae, and itís nae
treason to speak my mind sae far--and ye maybe ken as weel as I do, for
ye hae a housekeeper, though ye arena a married man, that women are
wilfuí, and downa bide a slight. And it will sound ill in her ears, that
sic a confused mistake suld come to pass, and naebody sae muckle as to be
put into the Tolbooth about it.”
“If ye thought that, sir,” said the procurator-fiscal, “we could easily
clap into the prison a few blackguards upon suspicion. It will have a
gude active look, and I hae aye plenty on my list, that wadna be a hair
the waur of a week or twaís imprisonment; and if ye thought it no
strictly just, ye could be just the easier wií them the neist time they
did onything to deserve it; they arena the sort to be lang oí gieing ye
an opportunity to clear scores wií them on that account.”
“I doubt that will hardly do in this case, Mr. Sharpitlaw,” returned the
town-clerk; “theyíll run their letters,* and be adrift again, before ye
ken where ye are.”
* A Scottish form of procedure, answering, in some respects, to the
English Habeas Corpus.
“I will speak to the Lord Provost,” said the magistrate, “about
Ratcliffeís business. Mr. Sharpitlaw, you will go with me, and receive
instructions--something may be made too out of this story of Butlerís and
his unknown gentleman--I know no business any man has to swagger about in
the Kingís Park, and call himself the devil, to the terror of honest
folks, who dinna care to hear mair about the devil than is said from the
pulpit on the Sabbath. I cannot think the preacher himsell wad be heading
the mob, though the time has been, they hae been as forward in a bruilzie
as their neighbours.”
“But these times are lang by,” said Mr. Sharpitlaw. “In my fatherís time,
there was mair search for silenced ministers about the Bow-head and the
Covenant Close, and all the tents of Kedar, as they caíd the dwellings oí
the godly in those days, than thereís now for thieves and vagabonds in
the Laigh Calton and the back oí the Canongate. But that timeís weel by,
an it bide. And if the Bailie will get me directions and authority from
the Provost, Iíll speak wií Daddie Rat mysell; for Iím thinking Iíll make
mair out oí him than yeíll do.”
Mr. Sharpitlaw, being necessarily a man of high trust, was accordingly
empowered, in the course of the day, to make such arrangements as might
seem in the emergency most advantageous for the Good Town. He went to the
jail accordingly, and saw Ratcliffe in private.
The relative positions of a police-officer and a professed thief bear a
different complexion, according to circumstances. The most obvious simile
of a hawk pouncing upon his prey is often least applicable. Sometimes the
guardian of justice has the air of a cat watching a mouse, and, while he
suspends his purpose of springing upon the pilferer, takes care so to
calculate his motions that he shall not get beyond his power. Sometimes,
more passive still, he uses the art of fascination ascribed to the
rattlesnake, and contents himself with glaring on the victim, through all
his devious flutterings; certain that his terror, confusion, and disorder
of ideas, will bring him into his jaws at last. The interview between
Ratcliffe and Sharpitlaw had an aspect different from all these. They sat
for five minutes silent, on opposite sides of a small table, and looked
fixedly at each other, with a sharp, knowing, and alert cast of
countenance, not unmingled with an inclination to laugh, and resembled
more than anything else, two dogs, who, preparing for a game at romps,
are seen to couch down, and remain in that posture for a little time,
watching each otherís movements, and waiting which shall begin the game.
“So, Mr. Ratcliffe,” said the officer, conceiving it suited his dignity
to speak first, “you give up business, I find?”
“Yes, sir,” replied Ratcliffe; “I shall be on that lay nae mair--and I
think that will save your folk some trouble, Mr. Sharpitlaw?”
“Which Jock Daigleish” (then finisher of the law* in the Scottish
metropolis) “wad save them as easily,” returned the procurator-fiscal.
* [Among the flying leaves of the period, there is one called
“Sutherlandís Lament for the loss of his post,--with his advice, to John
Daglees his successor.” He was whipped and banished 25th July 1722. There
is another, called the Speech and dying words of John Dalgleish, lockman
_alias_ hangman of Edinburgh, containing these lines:--
Death, Iíve a Favour for to beg,
That ye wad only gie a Fleg,
And spare my Life;
As I did to ill-hanged Megg,
The Websterís Wife.”]
“Ay; if I waited in the Tolbooth here to have him fit my cravat--but
thatís an idle way oí speaking, Mr. Sharpitlaw.”
“Why, I suppose you know you are under sentence of death, Mr. Ratcliffe?”
replied Mr. Sharpitlaw.
“Aye, so are aí, as that worthy minister said in the Tolbooth Kirk the
day Robertson wan off; but naebody kens when it will be executed. Gude
faith, he had better reason to say sae than he dreamed off, before the
play was played out that morning!”
“This Robertson,” said Sharpitlaw, in a lower and something like a
confidential tone, “díye ken, Rat--that is, can ye gie us ony inkling
where he is to be heard tell oí?”
“Troth, Mr. Sharpitlaw, Iíll be frank wií ye; Robertson is rather a cut
abune me--a wild deevil he was, and mony a daft prank he played; but
except the Collectorís job that Wilson led him into, and some tuilzies
about run goods wií the gaugers and the waiters, he never did onything
that came near our line oí business.”
“Umph! thatís singular, considering the company he kept.”
“Fact, upon my honour and credit,” said Ratcliffe, gravely. “He keepit
out oí our little bits of affairs, and thatís mair than Wilson did; I hae
dune business wií Wilson afore now. But the lad will come on in time;
thereís nae fear oí him; naebody will live the life he has led, but what
heíll come to sooner or later.”
“Who or what is he, Ratcliffe? you know, I suppose?” said Sharpitlaw.
“Heís better born, I judge, than he cares to let on; heís been a soldier,
and he has been a play-actor, and I watna what he has been or hasna been,
for as young as he is, sae that it had daffing and nonsense about it.”
“Pretty pranks he has played in his time, I suppose?”
“Ye may say that,” said Ratcliffe, with a sardonic smile; “and” (touching
his nose) “a deevil amang the lasses.”
“Like enough,” said Sharpitlaw. “Weel, Ratcliffe, Iíll no stand niffering
wií ye; ye ken the way that favourís gotten in my office; ye maun be
usefuí.”
“Certainly, sir, to the best of my power--naething for naething--I ken
the rule of the office,” said the ex-depredator.
“Now the principal thing in hand eíen now,” said the official person, “is
the job of Porteousís; an ye can gie us a lift--why, the inner turnkeyís
office to begin wií, and the captainship in time--ye understand my
meaning?”
“Ay, troth do I, sir; a winkís as gude as a nod to a blind horse; but
Jock Porteousís job--Lord help ye!--I was under sentence the haill time.
God! but I couldna help laughing when I heard Jock skirting for mercy in
the ladsí hands. Mony a het skin ye hae gien me, neighbour, thought I,
tak ye whatís gaun: time aboutís fair play; yeíll ken now what hangingís
gude for.”
“Come, come, this is all nonsense, Rat,” said the procurator. “Ye canna
creep out at that hole, lad; you must speak to the point--you understand
me--if you want favour; gif-gaf makes gude friends, ye ken.”
“But how can I speak to the point, as your honour caís it,” said
Ratcliffe, demurely, and with an air of great simplicity, “when ye ken I
was under sentence and in the strong room aí the while the job was going
on?”
“And how can we turn ye loose on the public again, Daddie Rat, unless ye
do or say something to deserve it?”
“Well, then, d--n it!” answered the criminal, “since it maun be sae, I
saw Geordie Robertson among the boys that brake the jail; I suppose that
will do me some gude?”
“Thatís speaking to the purpose, indeed,” said the office-bearer; “and
now, Rat, where think ye weíll find him?”
“Deil haet oí me kens,” said Ratcliffe; “heíll no likely gang back to ony
oí his auld howffs; heíll be off the country by this time. He has gude
friends some gate or other, for aí the life heís led; heís been weel
educate.”
“Heíll grace the gallows the better,” said Mr. Sharpitlaw; “a desperate
dog, to murder an officer of the city for doing his duty! Wha kens whaís
turn it might be next?--But you saw him plainly?”
“As plainly as I see you.”
“How was he dressed?” said Sharpitlaw.
“I couldna weel see; something of a womanís bit mutch on his head; but ye
never saw sic a caí-throw. Ane couldna hae een to aí thing.”
“But did he speak to no one?” said Sharpitlaw.
“They were aí speaking and gabbling through other,” said Ratcliffe, who
was obviously unwilling to carry his evidence farther than he could
possibly help.
“This will not do, Ratcliffe,” said the procurator; “you must speak
_out--out--out,_” tapping the table emphatically, as he repeated that
impressive monosyllable.
“Itís very hard, sir,” said the prisoner; “and but for the
under-turnkeyís place--”
“And the reversion of the captaincy--the captaincy of the Tolbooth,
man--that is, in case of gude behaviour.”
“Ay, ay,” said Ratcliffe, “gude behaviour!--thereís the deevil. And then
itís waiting for dead folkís shoon into the bargain.”
“But Robertsonís head will weigh something,” said Sharpitlaw; “something
gey and heavy, Rat; the town maun show cause--thatís right and
reason--and then yeíll hae freedom to enjoy your gear honestly.”
“I dinna ken,” said Ratcliffe; “itís a queer way of beginning the trade
of honesty--but deil ma care. Weel, then, I heard and saw him speak to
the wench Effie Deans, thatís up there for child-murder.”
“The deil ye did? Rat, this is finding a mareís nest wií a witness.--And
the man that spoke to Butler in the Park, and that was to meet wií Jeanie
Deans at Muschatís Cairn--whew! lay that and that together? As sure as I
live heís been the father of the lassieís wean.”
“There hae been waur guesses than that, Iím thinking,” observed
Ratcliffe, turning his quid of tobacco in his cheek, and squirting out
the juice. “I heard something a while syne about his drawing up wií a
bonny quean about the Pleasaunts, and that it was aí Wilson could do to
keep him frae marrying her.”
Here a city officer entered, and told Sharpitlaw that they had the woman
in custody whom he had directed them to bring before him.
“Itís little matter now,” said he, “the thing is taking another turn;
however, George, ye may bring her in.”
The officer retired, and introduced, upon his return, a tall, strapping
wench of eighteen or twenty, dressed, fantastically, in a sort of blue
riding-jacket, with tarnished lace, her hair clubbed like that of a man,
a Highland bonnet, and a bunch of broken feathers, a riding-skirt (or
petticoat) of scarlet camlet, embroidered with tarnished flowers. Her
features were coarse and masculine, yet at a little distance, by dint of
very bright wild-looking black eyes, an aquiline nose, and a commanding
profile, appeared rather handsome. She flourished the switch she held in
her hand, dropped a courtesy as low as a lady at a birth-night
introduction, recovered herself seemingly according to Touchstoneís
directions to Audrey, and opened the conversation without waiting till
any questions were asked.
“God gie your honour gude-eíen, and mony oí them, bonny Mr.
Sharpitlaw!--Gude-eíen to ye, Daddie Ratton--they tauld me ye were
hanged, man; or did ye get out oí John Dalgleishís hands like
half-hangit Maggie Dickson?”
“Whisht, ye daft jaud,” said Ratcliffe, “and hear whatís said to ye.”
“Wií aí my heart, Ratton. Great preferment for poor Madge to be brought
up the street wií a grand man, wií a coat aí passemented wií worset-lace,
to speak wií provosts, and bailies, and town-clerks, and prokitors, at
this time oí day--and the haill town looking at me too--This is honour on
earth for ance!”
“Ay, Madge,” said Mr. Sharpitlaw, in a coaxing tone; “and yeíre dressed
out in your braws, I see; these are not your every-daysí claiths ye have
on.”
“Deil be in my fingers, then!” said Madge--“Eh, sirs!” (observing Butler
come into the apartment), “thereís a minister in the Tolbooth--wha will
caí it a graceless place now?--Iíse warrant heís in for the gude auld
cause--but itís be nae cause oí mine,” and off she went into a song--
“Hey for cavaliers, ho for cavaliers,
Dub a dub, dub a dub,
Have at old Beelzebub,--
Oliverís squeaking for fear.”
“Did you ever see that mad woman before?” said Sharpitlaw to Butler.
“Not to my knowledge, sir,” replied Butler.
“I thought as much,” said the procurator-fiscal, looking towards
Ratcliffe, who answered his glance with a nod of acquiescence and
intelligence.--
“But that is Madge Wildfire, as she calls herself,” said the man of law
to Butler.
“Ay, that I am,” said Madge, “and that I have been ever since I was
something better--Heigh ho”--(and something like melancholy dwelt on her
features for a minute)--“But I canna mind when that was--it was lang
syne, at ony rate, and Iíll neíer fash my thumb about it.--
I glance like the wildfire through country and town;
Iím seen on the causeway--Iím seen on the down;
The lightning that flashes so bright and so free,
Is scarcely so blithe or so bonny as me.”
“Hand your tongue, ye skirling limmer!” said the officer who had acted as
master of the ceremonies to this extraordinary performer, and who was
rather scandalised at the freedom of her demeanour before a person of Mr.
Sharpitlawís importance--“haud your tongue, or Iíse gie ye something to
skirl for!”
“Let her alone, George,” said Sharpitlaw, “dinna put her out oí tune; I
hae some questions to ask her--But first, Mr. Butler, take another look
of her.”
“Do sae, minister--do sae,” cried Madge; “I am as weel worth looking at
as ony book in your aught.--And I can say the single carritch, and the
double carritch, and justification, and effectual calling, and the
assembly of divines at Westminster, that is” (she added in a low tone),
“I could say them ance--but itís lang syne--and ane forgets, ye ken.” And
poor Madge heaved another deep sigh.
“Weel, sir,” said Mr. Sharpitlaw to Butler, “what think ye now?”
“As I did before,” said Butler; “that I never saw the poor demented
creature in my life before.”
“Then she is not the person whom you said the rioters last night
described as Madge Wildfire?”
“Certainly not,” said Butler. “They may be near the same height, for they
are both tall, but I see little other resemblance.”
“Their dress, then, is not alike?” said Sharpitlaw.
“Not in the least,” said Butler.
“Madge, my bonny woman,” said Sharpitlaw, in the same coaxing manner,
“what did ye do wií your ilka-dayís claise yesterday?”
“I dinna mind,” said Madge.
“Where was ye yesterday at eíen, Madge?”
“I dinna mind ony thing about yesterday,” answered Madge; “ae day is
eneugh for ony body to wun ower wií at a time, and ower muckle
sometimes.”
“But maybe, Madge, ye wad mind something about it, if I was to gie ye
this half-crown?” said Sharpitlaw, taking out the piece of money.
“That might gar me laugh, but it couldna gar me mind.”
“But, Madge,” continued Sharpitlaw, “were I to send you to the workhouse
in Leith Wynd, and gar Jock Daigleish lay the tawse on your back--”
“That wad gar me greet,” said Madge, sobbing, “but it couldna gar me
mind, ye ken.”
“She is ower far past reasonable folksí motives, sir,” said Ratcliffe,
“to mind siller, or John Dalgleish, or the cat-and-nine-tails either; but
I think I could gar her tell us something.”
“Try her, then, Ratcliffe,” said Sharpitlaw, “for I am tired of her crazy
pate, and be d--d to her.”
“Madge,” said Ratcliffe, “hae ye ony joes now?”
“An ony body ask ye, say ye dinna ken.--Set him to be speaking of my
joes, auld Daddie Ratton!”
“I dare say, ye hae deil ane?”
“See if I haena then,” said Madge, with the toss of the head of affronted
beauty--“thereís Rob the Ranter, and Will Fleming, and then thereís
Geordie Robertson, lad--thatís Gentleman Geordie--what think ye oí that?”
Ratcliffe laughed, and, winking to the procurator-fiscal, pursued the
inquiry in his own way. “But, Madge, the lads only like ye when ye hae on
your braws--they wadna touch you wií a pair oí tangs when you are in your
auld ilka-day rags.”
“Yeíre a leeing auld sorrow then,” replied the fair one; “for Gentle
Geordie Robertson put my ilka-dayís claise on his ain bonny sell
yestreen, and gaed aí through the town wií them; and gawsie and grand he
lookit, like ony queen in the land.”
“I dinna believe a word oít,” said Ratcliffe, with another wink to the
procurator. “Thae duds were aí oí the colour oí moonshine in the water,
Iím thinking, Madge--The gown wad be a sky-blue scarlet, Iíse warrant
ye?”
“It was nae sic thing,” said Madge, whose unretentive memory let out, in
the eagerness of contradiction, all that she would have most wished to
keep concealed, had her judgment been equal to her inclination. “It was
neither scarlet nor sky-blue, but my ain auld brown threshie-coat of a
short-gown, and my motherís auld mutch, and my red rokelay--and he gied
me a croun and a kiss for the use oí them, blessing on his bonny
face--though itís been a dear ane to me.”
“And where did he change his clothes again, hinnie?” said Sharpitlaw, in
his most conciliatory manner.
“The procuratorís spoiled aí,” observed Ratcliffe, drily. And it was even
so; for the question, put in so direct a shape, immediately awakened
Madge to the propriety of being reserved upon those very topics on which
Ratcliffe had indirectly seduced her to become communicative.
“What wasít ye were speering at us, sir?” she resumed, with an appearance
of stolidity so speedily assumed, as showed there was a good deal of
knavery mixed with her folly.
“I asked you,” said the procurator, “at what hour, and to what place,
Robertson brought back your clothes.”
“Robertson?--Lord hand a care oí us! what Robertson?”
“Why, the fellow we were speaking of, Gentle Geordie, as you call him.”
“Geordie Gentle!” answered Madge, with well-feigned amazement--“I dinna
ken naebody they caí Geordie Gentle.”
“Come, my jo,” said Sharpitlaw, “this will not do; you must tell us what
you did with these clothes of yours.”
Madge Wildfire made no answer, unless the question may seem connected
with the snatch of a song with which she indulged the embarrassed
investigator:--
“What did ye wií the bridal ring--bridal ring--bridal ring?
What did ye wií your wedding ring, ye little cutty quean, O?
I gied it till a sodger, a sodger, a sodger,
I gied it till a sodger, an auld true love oí mine, O.”
Of all the madwomen who have sung and said, since the days of Hamlet the
Dane, if Ophelia be the most affecting, Madge Wildfire was the most
provoking.
The procurator-fiscal was in despair. “Iíll take some measures with this
d--d Bess of Bedlam,” said he, “that shall make her find her tongue.”
“Wií your favour, sir,” said Ratcliffe, “better let her mind settle a
little--Ye have aye made out something.”
“True,” said the official person; “a brown short-gown, mutch, red
rokelay--that agrees with your Madge Wildfire, Mr. Butler?” Butler agreed
that it did so. “Yes, there was a sufficient motive for taking this crazy
creatureís dress and name, while he was about such a job.”
“And I am free to say _now,_” said Ratcliffe
“When you see it has come out without you,” interrupted Sharpitlaw.
“Just sae, sir,” reiterated Ratcliffe. “I am free to say now, since itís
come out otherwise, that these were the clothes I saw Robertson wearing
last night in the jail, when he was at the head of the rioters.”
“Thatís direct evidence,” said Sharpitlaw; “stick to that, Rat--I will
report favourably of you to the provost, for I have business for you
to-night. It wears late; I must home and get a snack, and Iíll be back in
the evening. Keep Madge with you, Ratcliffe, and try to get her into a
good tune again.” So saying he left the prison.