I stared in his face, but made no answer, for my senses were bewildered.

"Do you not know me?" said he. "You appear to be somehow at a loss. Had

not you and I some sweet communion and fellowship yesterday?"

"I beg your pardon, sir," said I. "But, surely, if you are the young

gentleman with whom I spent the hours yesterday, you have the chameleon

art of changing your appearance; I never could have recognized you."

"My countenance changes with my studies and sensations," said he. "It

is a natural peculiarity in me, over which I have not full control. If

I contemplate a man's features seriously, mine own gradually assume the

very same appearance and character. And what is more, by contemplating

a face minutely, I not only attain the same likeness but, with the

likeness, I attain the very same ideas as well as the same mode of

arranging them, so that, you see, by looking at a person attentively, I

by degrees assume his likeness, and by assuming his likeness I attain

to the possession of his most secret thoughts. This, I say, is a

peculiarity in my nature, a gift of the God that made me; but, whether

or not given me for a blessing, He knows Himself, and so do I. At all

events, I have this privilege, I can never be mistaken of a character

in whom I am interested."

"It is a rare qualification," replied I, "and I would give worlds to

possess it. Then, it appears that it is needless to dissemble with you,

since you can at any time extract our most secret thoughts from our

bosoms. You already know my natural character?"

"Yes," said he, "and it is that which attaches me to you. By assuming

your likeness yesterday, I became acquainted with your character, and

was no less astonished at the profundity and range of your thoughts

than at the heroic magnanimity with which these were combined. And now,

in addition to these, you are dedicated to the great work of the Lord;

for which reasons I have resolved to attach myself as closely to you as

possible, and to render you all the service of which my poor abilities

are capable."

I confess that I was greatly flattered by these compliments paid to my

abilities by a youth of such superior qualifications; by one who, with

a modesty and affability rare at his age, combined a height of genius

and knowledge almost above human comprehension. Nevertheless, I began

to assume a certain superiority of demeanour towards him, as judging it

incumbent on me to do so, in order to keep up his idea of my exalted

character. We conversed again till the day was near a close; and the

things that he strove most to inculcate on my mind were the

infallibility of the elect, and the preordination of all things that

come to pass. I pretended to controvert the first of these, for the

purpose of showing him the extent of my argumentative powers, and said

that "indubitably there were degrees of sinning which would induce the

Almighty to throw off the very elect." But behold my hitherto humble

and modest companion took up the argument with such warmth that he put

me not only to silence but to absolute shame.

"Why, sir," said he, "by vending such an insinuation, you put discredit

on the great atonement, in which you trust. Is there not enough of

merit in the blood of Jesus to save thousands of worlds, if it was for

these worlds that he died? Now, when you know, as you do (and as every

one of the elect may know of himself) that this Saviour died for you,

namely and particularly, dare you say that there is not enough of merit

in His great atonement to annihilate all your sins, let them be as

heinous and atrocious as they may? And, moreover, do you not

acknowledge that God hath pre-ordained and decreed whatsoever comes to

pass? Then, how is it that you should deem it in your power to eschew

one action of your life, whether good or evil? Depend on it, the advice

of the great preacher is genuine: 'What thine hand findeth to do, do it

with all thy might, for none of us knows what a day may bring forth.'

That is, none of us knows what is pre-ordained, but whatever it is

pre-ordained we must do, and none of these things will be laid to our

charge."

I could hardly believe that these sayings were genuine or orthodox; but

I soon felt that, instead of being a humble disciple of mine, this new

acquaintance was to be my guide and director, and all under the humble

guise of one stooping at my feet to learn the right. He said that he

saw I was ordained to perform some great action for the cause of Jesus

and His Church, and he earnestly coveted being a partaker with me; but

he besought of me never to think it possible for me to fall from the

truth, or the favour of Him who had chosen me, else that misbelief

would baulk every good work to which I set my face.

There was something so flattering in all this that I could not resist

it. Still, when he took leave of me, I felt it as a great relief; and

yet, before the morrow, I wearied and was impatient to see him again.

We carried on our fellowship from day to day, and all the while I knew

not who he was, and still my mother and reverend father kept insisting

that I was an altered youth, changed in my appearance, my manners, and

my whole conduct; yet something always prevented me from telling them

more about my new acquaintance than I had done on the first day we met.

I rejoiced in him, was proud of him, and soon could not live without

him; yet, though resolved every day to disclose the whole story of my

connection with him, I had it not in my power. Something always

prevented me, till at length I thought no more of it, but resolved to

enjoy his fascinating company in private, and by all means to keep my

own with him. The resolution was vain: I set a bold face to it, but my

powers were inadequate to the task; my adherent, with all the suavity

imaginable, was sure to carry his point. I sometimes fumed, and

sometimes shed tears at being obliged to yield to proposals against

which I had at first felt every reasoning power of my soul rise in

opposition; but for all that he never faded in carrying conviction

along with him in effect, for he either forced me to acquiesce in his

measures, and assent to the truth of his positions, or he put me so

completely down that I had not a word left to advance against them.

After weeks, and I may say months of intimacy, I observed, somewhat to

my amazement, that we had never once prayed together; and, more than

that, that he had constantly led my attentions away from that duty,

causing me to neglect it wholly. I thought this a bad mark of a man

seemingly so much set on inculcating certain important points of

religion, and resolved next day to put him to the test, and request him

to perform that sacred duty in name of us both. He objected boldly;

saying there were very few people indeed with whom he could join in

prayer, and he made a point of never doing it, as he was sure they were

to ask many things of which he disapproved, and that, if he were to

officiate himself, he was as certain to allude to many things that came

not within the range of their faith. He disapproved of prayer

altogether in the manner it was generally gone about, he said. Man made

it merely a selfish concern, and was constantly employed asking,

asking, for everything. Whereas it became all God's creatures to be

content with their lot, and only to kneel before him in order to thank

him for such benefits as he saw meet to bestow. In short, he argued

with such energy that before we parted I acquiesced, as usual, in his

position, and never mentioned prayer to him any more.

Having been so frequently seen in his company, several people happened

to mention the circumstance to my mother and reverend father; but at

the same time had all described him differently. At length, they began

to examine me with respect to the company I kept, as I absented myself

from home day after day. I told them I kept company only with one young

gentleman, whose whole manner of thinking on religious subjects I found

so congenial with my own that I could not live out of his society. My

mother began to lay down some of her old hackneyed rules of faith, but

I turned from hearing her with disgust; for, after the energy of my new

friend's reasoning, hers appeared so tame I could not endure it. And I

confess with shame that my reverend preceptor's religious dissertations

began, about this time, to lose their relish very much, and by degrees

became exceedingly tiresome to my ear. They were so inferior, in

strength and sublimity, to the most common observations of my young

friend that in drawing a comparison the former appeared as nothing. He,

however, examined me about many things relating to my companion, in all

of which I satisfied him, save in one: I could neither tell him who my

friend was, what was his name, nor of whom he was descended; and I

wondered at myself how I had never once adverted to such a thing for

all the time we had been intimate.

I inquired the next day what his name was; as I said I was often at a

loss for it, when talking with him. He replied that there was no

occasion for any one friend ever naming another, when their society was

held in private, as ours was; for his part he had never once named me

since we first met, and never intended to do so, unless by my own

request. "But if you cannot converse without naming me, you may call me

Gil for the present," added he, "and if I think proper to take another

name at any future period, it shall be with your approbation."

"Gil!" said I. "Have you no name but Gil? Or which of your names is it?

Your Christian or surname?"

"Oh, you must have a surname too, must you!" replied he. "Very well,

you may call me Gil-Martin. It is not my Christian name; but it is a

name which may serve your turn."

"This is very strange!" said I. "Are you ashamed of your parents that

you refuse to give your real name?"

"I have no parents save one, whom I do not acknowledge," said he

proudly. "Therefore, pray drop that subject, for it is a disagreeable

one. I am a being of a very peculiar temper, for, though I have

servants and subjects more than I can number, yet, to gratify a certain

whim, I have left them, and retired to this city, and, for all the

society it contains, you see I have attached myself only to you. This

is a secret, and I tell you only in friendship, therefore pray let it

remain one, and say not another word about the matter."

I assented, and said no more concerning it; for it instantly struck me

that this was no other than the Czar Peter of Russia, having heard that

he had been travelling through Europe in disguise, and I cannot say

that I had not thenceforward great and mighty hopes of high preferment,

as a defender and avenger of the oppressed Christian Church, under the

influence of this great potentate. He had hinted as much already, as

that it was more honourable, and of more avail to put down the wicked

with the sword than try to reform them, and I thought myself quite

justified in supposing that he intended me for some great employment,

that he had thus selected me for his companion out of all the rest in

Scotland, and even pretended to learn the great truths of religion from

my mouth. From that time I felt disposed to yield to such a great

prince's suggestions without hesitation.

Nothing ever astonished me so much as the uncommon powers with which he

seemed invested. In our walk one day, we met with a Mr. Blanchard, who

was reckoned a worthy, pious divine, but quite of the moral cast, who

joined us; and we three walked on, and rested together in the fields.

My companion did not seem to like him, but, nevertheless, regarded him

frequently with deep attention, and there were several times, while he

seemed contemplating him, and trying to find out his thoughts, that his

face became so like Mr. Blanchard's that it was impossible to have

distinguished the one from the other. The antipathy between the two was

mutual, and discovered itself quite palpably in a short time. When my

companion the prince was gone, Mr. Blanchard asked me anent him, and I

told him that he was a stranger in the city, but a very uncommon and

great personage. Mr. Blanchard's answer to me was as follows: "I never

saw anybody I disliked so much in my life, Mr. Robert; and if it be

true that he is a stranger here, which I doubt, believe me he is come

for no good."

"Do you not perceive what mighty powers of mind he is possessed of?"

said I, "and also how clear and unhesitating he is on some of the most

interesting points of divinity?"

"It is for his great mental faculties that I dread him," said he. "It

is incalculable what evil such a person as he may do, if so disposed.

There is a sublimity in his ideas, with which there is to me a mixture

of terror; and, when he talks of religion, he does it as one that

rather dreads its truths than reverences them. He, indeed, pretends

great strictness of orthodoxy regarding some of the points of doctrine

embraced by the reformed church; but you do not seem to perceive that

both you and he are carrying these points to a dangerous extremity.

Religion is a sublime and glorious thing, the bonds of society on

earth, and the connector of humanity with the Divine nature; but there

is nothing so dangerous to man as the wresting of any of its

principles, or forcing them beyond their due bounds: this is of all

others the readiest way to destruction. Neither is there anything so

easily done. There is not an error into which a man can fall which he

may not press Scripture into his service as proof of the probity of,

and though your boasted theologian shunned the full discussion of the

subject before me, while you pressed it, I can easily see that both you

and he are carrying your ideas of absolute predestination, and its

concomitant appendages, to an extent that overthrows all religion and

revelation together; or, at least, jumbles them into a chaos, out of

which human capacity can never select what is good. Believe me, Mr.

Robert, the less you associate with that illustrious stranger the

better, for it appears to me that your creed and his carries damnation

on the very front of it."

I was rather stunned at this; but pretended to smile with disdain, and

said it did not become youth to control age; and, as I knew our

principles differed fundamentally, it behoved us to drop the subject.

He, however, would not drop it, but took both my principles and me

fearfully to task, for Blanchard was an eloquent and powerful-minded

old man; and, before we parted, I believe I promised to drop my new

acquaintance, and was all but resolved to do it.

As well might I have laid my account with shunning the light of day. He

was constant to me as my shadow, and by degrees he acquired such an

ascendency over me that I never was happy out of his company, nor

greatly so in it. When I repeated to him all that Mr. Blanchard had

said, his countenance kindled with indignation and rage; and then by

degrees his eyes sunk inward, his brow lowered, so that I was awed, and

withdrew my eyes from looking at him. A while afterwards as I was

addressing him, I chanced to look him again in the face, and the sight

of him made me start violently. He had made himself so like Mr.

Blanchard that I actually believed I had been addressing that

gentleman, and that I had done so in some absence of mind that I could

not account for. Instead of being amused at the quandary I was in, he

seemed offended: indeed, he never was truly amused with anything. And

he then asked me sullenly, if I conceived such personages as he to have

no other endowments than common mortals?

I said I never conceived that princes or potentates had any greater

share of endowments than other men, and frequently not so much. He

shook his head, and bade me think over the subject again; and there was

an end of it. I certainly felt every day the more disposed to

acknowledge such a superiority in him; and, from all that I could

gather, I had now no doubt that he was Peter of Russia. Everything

combined to warrant the supposition, and, of course, I resolved to act

in conformity with the discovery I had made.

For several days the subject of Mr. Blanchard's doubts and doctrines

formed the theme of our discourse. My friend deprecated them most

devoutly; and then again he would deplore them, and lament the great

evil that such a man might do among the human race. I joined with him

in allowing the evil in its fullest latitude; and, at length, after he

thought he had fully prepared my nature for such a trial of its powers

and abilities, he proposed calmly that we two should make away with Mr.

Blanchard. I was so shocked that my bosom became as it were a void, and

the beatings of my heart sounded loud and hollow in it; my breath cut,

and my tongue and palate became dry and speechless. He mocked at my

cowardice, and began a-reasoning on the matter with such powerful

eloquence that, before we parted, I felt fully convinced that it was my

bounden duty to slay Mr. Blanchard; but my will was far, very far from

consenting to the deed.

I spent the following night without sleep, or nearly so; and the next

morning, by the time the sun arose, I was again abroad, and in the

company of my illustrious friend. The same subject was resumed, and

again he reasoned to the following purport: That supposing me placed at

the head of any army of Christian soldiers, all bent on putting down

the enemies of the Church, would I have any hesitation in destroying

and rooting out these enemies? None, surely. Well then, when I saw and

was convinced that here was an individual who was doing more detriment

to the Church of Christ on earth than tens of thousands of such

warriors were capable of doing, was it not my duty to cut him off, and

save the elect? "He who would be a champion in the cause of Christ and

His Church, my brave young friend," added he, "must begin early, and no

man can calculate to what an illustrious eminence small beginnings may

lead. If the man Blanchard is worthy, he is only changing his situation

for a better one; and, if unworthy, it is better that one fall than

that a thousand souls perish. Let us be up and doing in our vocations.

For me, my resolution is taken; I have but one great aim in this world,

and I never for a moment lose sight of it."

I was obliged to admit the force of his reasoning; for, though I cannot

from memory repeat his words, his eloquence was of that overpowering

nature that the subtilty of other men sunk before it; and there is also

little doubt that the assurance I had that these words were spoken by a

great potentate who could raise me to the highest eminence (provided

that I entered into his extensive and decisive measures) assisted

mightily in dispelling my youthful scruples and qualms of conscience;

and I thought moreover that, having such a powerful back friend to

support me, I hardly needed to be afraid of the consequences. I

consented! But begged a little time to think of it. He said the less

one thought of a duty the better; and we parted.

But the most singular instance of this wonderful man's power over my

mind was that he had as complete influence over me by night as by day.

All my dreams corresponded exactly with his suggestions; and, when he

was absent from me, still his arguments sunk deeper in my heart than

even when he was present. I dreamed that night of a great triumph

obtained, and, though the whole scene was but dimly and confusedly

defined in my vision, yet the overthrow and death of Mr. Blanchard was

the first step by which I attained the eminent station I occupied.

Thus, by dreaming of the event by night, and discoursing of it by day,

it soon became so familiar to my mind that I almost conceived it as

done. It was resolved on: which was the first and greatest victory

gained; for there was no difficulty in finding opportunities enow of

cutting off a man who, every good day, was to be found walking by

himself in private grounds. I went and heard him preach for two days,

and in fact I held his tenets scarcely short of blasphemy; they were

such as I had never heard before, and his congregation, which was

numerous, were turning up their ears and drinking in his doctrines with

the utmost delight; for Oh they suited their carnal natures and

self-sufficiency to a hair! He was actually holding it forth, as a

fact, that "it was every man's own blame if he was not saved!" What

horrible misconstruction! And then he was alleging, and trying to prove

from nature and reason, that no man ever was guilty of a sinful action

who might not have declined it had he so chosen! "Wretched

controvertist!" thought I to myself an hundred times, "shall not the

sword of the Lord be moved from its place of peace for such

presumptuous, absurd testimonies as these!"

When I began to tell the prince about these false doctrines, to my

astonishment I found that he had been in the church himself, and had

every argument that the old divine had used verbatim; and he remarked

on them with great concern that these were not the tenets that

corresponded with his views in society, and that he had agents in every

city, and every land, exerting their powers to put them down. I asked,

with great simplicity: "Are all your subjects Christians, prince?"

"All my European subjects are, or deem themselves so," returned he;

"and they are the most faithful and true subjects I have."

Who could doubt, after this, that he was the Czar of Russia? I have

nevertheless had reasons to doubt of his identity since that period,

and which of my conjectures is right I believe the God of Heaven only

knows, for I do not. I shall go on to write such things as I remember,

and, if anyone shall ever take the trouble to read over these

confessions, such a one will judge for himself. It will be observed

that, since ever I fell in with this extraordinary person, I have

written about him only, and I must continue to do so to the end of this

memoir, as I have performed no great or interesting action in which he

had not a principal share.

He came to me one day and said: "We must not linger thus in executing

what we have resolved on. We have much before our hands to perform for

the benefit of mankind, both civil as well as religious. Let us do what

we have to do here, and then we must wend our way to other cities, and

perhaps to other countries. Mr. Blanchard is to hold forth in the high

church of Paisley on Sunday next, on some particularly great occasion:

this must be defeated; he must not go there. As he will be busy

arranging his discourses, we may expect him to be walking by himself in

Finnieston Dell the greater part of Friday and Saturday. Let us go and

cut him off. What is the life of a man more than the life of a lamb, or

any guiltless animal? It is not half so much, especially when we

consider the immensity of the mischief this old fellow is working among

our fellow-creatures. Can there be any doubt that it is the duty of one

consecrated to God to cut off such a mildew?"

"I fear me, great sovereign," said I, "that your ideas of retribution

are too sanguine, and too arbitrary for the laws of this country. I

dispute not that your motives are great and high; but have you debated

the consequences, and settled the result?"

"I have," returned be, "and hold myself amenable for the action to the

laws of God and of equity; as to the enactments of men, I despise them.

Fain would I see the weapon of the Lord of Hosts begin the work of

vengeance that awaits it to do!"

I could not help thinking that I perceived a little derision of

countenance on his face as he said this, nevertheless I sunk dumb

before such a man, aroused myself to the task, seeing he would not have

it deferred. I approved of it in theory, but my spirit stood aloof from

the practice. I saw and was convinced that the elect of God would be

happier, and purer, were the wicked and unbelievers all cut off from

troubling and misleading them, but if it had not been the instigations

of this illustrious stranger, I should never have presumed to begin so

great a work myself. Yet, though he often aroused my zeal to the

highest pitch, still my heart at times shrunk from the shedding of

life-blood, and it was only at the earnest and unceasing instigations

of my enlightened and voluntary patron that I at length put my hand to

the conclusive work. After I said all that I could say, and all had

been overborne (I remember my actions and words as well as it had been

yesterday), I turned round hesitatingly, and looked up to Heaven for

direction; but there was a dimness come over my eyes that I could not

see. The appearance was as if there had been a veil drawn over me, so

nigh that I put up my hand to feel it; and then Gil-Martin (as this

great sovereign was pleased to have himself called) frowned, and asked

me what I was grasping at. I knew not what to say, but answered, with

fear and shame: "I have no weapons, not one; nor know I where any are

to be found."

"The God whom thou servest will provide these," said he, "if thou

provest worthy of the trust committed to thee."

I looked again up into the cloudy veil that covered us and thought I

beheld golden weapons of every description let down in it, but all with

their points towards me. I kneeled, And was going to stretch out my

hand to take one, when my patron seized me, as I thought, by the

clothes, and dragged me away with as much ease as I had been a lamb,

saying, with a joyful and elevated voice: "Come, my friend, let us

depart: thou art dreaming--thou art dreaming. Rouse up all the energies

of thy exalted mind, for thou art an highly favoured one; and doubt

thou not that He whom thou servest, will be ever at thy right and left

hand, to direct and assist thee."

These words, but particularly the vision I had seen, of the golden

weapons descending out of Heaven, inflamed my zeal to that height that

I was as one beside himself; which my parents perceived that night, and

made some motions towards confining me to my room. I joined in the

family prayers, and then I afterwards sung a psalm and prayed by

myself; and I had good reasons for believing that that small oblation

of praise and prayer was not turned to sin. But there are strange

things, and unaccountable agencies in nature: He only who dwells

between the Cherubim can unriddle them, and to Him the honour must

redound for ever. Amen.

I felt greatly strengthened and encouraged that night, and the next

morning I ran to meet my companion, out of whose eye I had now no life.

He rejoiced at seeing me so forward in the great work of reformation by

blood, and said many things to raise my hopes of future fame and glory;

and then producing two pistols of pure beaten gold, he held them out

and proffered me the choice of one, saying: "See what thy master hath

provided thee!" I took one of them eagerly, for I perceived at once

that they were two of the very weapons that were let down from Heaven

in the cloudy veil, the dim tapestry of the firmament; and I said to

myself. "Surely this is the will of the Lord."

The little splendid and enchanting piece was so perfect, so complete,

and so ready for executing the will of the donor, that I now longed to

use it in his service. I loaded it with my own hand, as Gil-Martin did

the other, and we took our stations behind a bush of hawthorn and

bramble on the verge of the wood, and almost close to the walk. My

patron was so acute in all his calculations that he never mistook an

event. We had not taken our stand above a minute and a half till old

Mr. Blanchard appeared, coming slowly on the path. When we saw this, we

cowered down and leaned each of us a knee upon the ground, pointing

the pistols through the bush, with an aim so steady that it was

impossible to miss our victim.

He came deliberately on, pausing at times so long that we dreaded he

was going to turn. Gil-Martin dreaded it, and I said I did, but wished

in my heart that he might. He, however, came onward, and I will never

forget the manner in which he came! No, I don't believe I ever can

forget it, either in the narrow bounds of time or the ages of eternity!

He was a broadly, ill-shaped man, of a rude exterior, and a little bent

with age; his hands were clasped behind his back and below his coat,

and he walked with a slow swinging air that was very peculiar. When he

paused and looked abroad on nature, the act was highly impressive: he

seemed conscious of being all alone, and conversant only with God and

the elements of his creation. Never was there such a picture of human

inadvertency! a man approaching step by step to the one that was to

hurl him out of one existence into another with as much ease and

indifference as the ox goeth to the stall. Hideous vision, wilt thou

not be gone from my mental sight! if not, let me bear with thee as I

can!

When he came straight opposite to the muzzles of our pieces, Gil-Martin

called out "Eh!" with a short quick sound. The old man, without

starting, turned his face and breast towards us, and looked into the

wood, but looked over our heads.

"Now!" whispered my companion, and fired. But my hand refused the

office, for I was not at that moment sure about becoming an assassin in

the cause of Christ and His Church. I thought I heard a sweet voice

behind me, whispering to me to beware, and I was going to look round,

when my companion exclaimed: "Coward, we are ruined!"

I had no time for an alternative: Gil-Martin's ball had not taken

effect, which was altogether wonderful, as the old man's breast was

within a few yards of him. "Hilloa!" cried Blanchard, "what is that

for, you dog!" and with that he came forward to look over the bush. I

hesitated, as I said, and attempted to look behind me; but there was no

time: the next step discovered two assassins lying in covert, waiting

for blood. "Coward, we are ruined!" cried my indignant friend; and that

moment my piece was discharged. The effect was as might have been

expected: the old man first stumbled to one side, and then fell on his

back. We kept our places, and I perceived my companion's eyes gleaming

with an unnatural joy. The wounded man raised himself from the bank to

a sitting posture, and I beheld his eyes swimming; he however appeared

sensible, for we heard him saying in a low and rattling voice: "Alas,

alas! whom have I offended, that they should have been driven to an act

like this! Come forth and shew yourselves, that I may either forgive

you before I die, or curse you in the name of the Lord." He then fell

a-groping with both hands on the ground, as if feeling for something he

had lost manifestly in the agonies of death; and, with a solemn and

interrupted prayer for forgiveness, he breathed his last.

I had become rigid as a statue, whereas my associate appeared to be

elevated above measure. "Arise, thou faint-hearted one, and let us be

going," said he. "Thou hast done well for once; but wherefore hesitate

in such a cause? This is but a small beginning of so great a work as

that of purging the Christian world. But the first victim is a worthy

one, and more of such lights must be extinguished immediately."

We touched not our victim, nor anything pertaining to him, for fear of

staining our hands with his blood; and the firing having brought three

men within view, who were hasting towards the spot, my undaunted

companion took both the pistols, and went forward as with intent to

meet them, bidding me shift for myself. I ran off in a contrary

direction, till I came to the foot of the Pearman Sike, and then,

running up the hollow of that, I appeared on the top of the bank as if

I had been another man brought in view by hearing the shots in such a

place. I had a full view of a part of what passed, though not of all. I

saw my companion going straight to meet the men, apparently with a

pistol in every hand, waving in a careless manner. They seemed not

quite clear of meeting with him, and so he went straight on, and passed

between them. They looked after him, and came onwards; but, when they

came to the old man lying stretched in his blood, then they turned and

pursued my companion, though not so quickly as they might have done;

and I understand that from the first they saw no more of him.

Great was the confusion that day in Glasgow. The most popular of all

their preachers of morality was (what they called) murdered in cold

blood, and a strict and extensive search was made for the assassin.

Neither of the accomplices was found, however, that is certain, nor was

either of them so much as suspected; but another man was apprehended

under circumstances that warranted suspicion. This was one of the

things that I witnessed in my life, which I never understood, and it

surely was one of my patron's most dexterous tricks, for I must still

say, what I have thought from the beginning, that like him there never

was a man created. The young man who was taken up was a preacher; and

it was proved that he had purchased fire-arms in town, and gone out

with them that morning. But the far greatest mystery of the whole was

that two of the men, out of the three who met my companion, swore that

that unfortunate preacher was the man whom they met with a pistol in

each hand, fresh from the death of the old divine. The poor fellow made

a confused speech himself, which there is not the least doubt was quite

true; but it was laughed to scorn, and an expression of horror ran

through both the hearers and jury. I heard the whole trial, and so did

Gil-Martin; but we left the journeyman preacher to his fate, and from

that time forth I have had no faith in the justice of criminal trials.

If once a man is prejudiced on one side, he will swear anything in

support of such prejudice. I tried to expostulate with my mysterious

friend on the horrid injustice of suffering this young man to die for

our act, but the prince exulted in it more than the other, and said the

latter was the most dangerous man of the two.

The alarm in and about Glasgow was prodigious. The country being

divided into two political parties, the court and the country party,

the former held meetings, issued proclamations, and offered rewards,

ascribing all to the violence of party spirit, and deprecating the

infernal measures of their opponents. I did not understand their

political differences; but it was easy to see that the true Gospel

preachers joined all on one side, and the upholders of pure morality

and a blameless life on the other, so that this division proved a test

to us, and it was forthwith resolved that we two should pick out some

of the leading men of this unsaintly and heterodox cabal, and cut them

off one by one, as occasion should suit.

Now, the ice being broke, I felt considerable zeal in our great work,

but pretended much more; and we might soon have kidnapped them all

through the ingenuity of my patron, had not our next attempt

miscarried, by some awkwardness or mistake of mine. The consequence was

that he was discovered fairly, and very nigh seized. I also was seen,

and suspected so far that my reverend father, my mother, and myself

were examined privately. I denied all knowledge of the matter; and they

held it in such a ridiculous light, and their conviction of the

complete groundlessness of the suspicion was so perfect, that their

testimony prevailed, and the affair was hushed. I was obliged, however,

to walk circumspectly, and saw my companion the prince very seldom, who

was prowling about every day, quite unconcerned about his safety. He

was every day a new man, however, and needed not to be alarmed at any

danger; for such a facility had he in disguising himself that, if it

had not been for a password which we had between us, for the purposes

of recognition, I never could have known him myself.

It so happened that my reverend father was called to Edinburgh about

this time, to assist with his counsel in settling the national affairs.

At my earnest request I was permitted to accompany him, at which both

my associate and I rejoiced, as we were now about to move in a new and

extensive field. All this time I never knew where my illustrious friend

resided. He never once invited me to call on him at his lodgings, nor

did he ever come to our house, which made me sometimes to suspect that,

if any of our great efforts in the cause of true religion were

discovered, he intended leaving me in the lurch. Consequently, when we

met in Edinburgh (for we travelled not in company), I proposed to go

with him to look for lodgings, telling him at the same time what a

blessed religious family my reverend instructor and I were settled in.

He said he rejoiced at it, but he made a rule of never lodging in any

particular house, but took these daily, or hourly, as he found it

convenient, and that he never was at a loss in any circumstance.

"What a mighty trouble you put yourself to, great sovereign!" said I,

"and all, it would appear, for the purpose of seeing and knowing more

and more of the human race."

"I never go but where I have some great purpose to serve," returned he,

"either in the advancement of my own power and dominion or in thwarting

my enemies."

"With all due deference to your great comprehension, my illustrious

friend," said I, "it strikes me that you can accomplish very little

either the one way or the other here, in the humble and private

capacity you are pleased to occupy."

"It is your own innate modesty that prompts such a remark," said he.

"Do you think the gaining of you to my service is not an attainment

worthy of being envied by the greatest potentate in Christendom? Before

I had missed such a prize as the attainment of your services, I would

have travelled over one half of the habitable globe."--I bowed with

great humility, but at the same time how could I but feel proud and

highly flattered? He continued: "Believe me, my dear friend, for such a

prize I account no effort too high. For a man who is not only dedicated

to the King of Heaven in the most solemn manner, soul, body, and

spirit, but also chosen of him from the beginning, justified,

sanctified, and received into a communion that never shall be broken,

and from which no act of his shall ever remove him--the possession of

such a man, I tell you, is worth kingdoms; because, every deed that he

performs, he does it with perfect safety to himself and honour to

me."--I bowed again, lifting my hat, and he went on.-- "I am now going

to put his courage in the cause he has espoused to a severe test--to a

trial at which common nature would revolt, but he who is dedicated to

be the sword of the Lord must raise himself above common humanity. You

have a father and a brother according to the flesh: what do you know of

them?"

"I am sorry to say I know nothing good," said I. "They are reprobates,

castaways, beings devoted to the Wicked One, and, like him, workers of

every species of iniquity with greediness."

"They must both fall!" said he, with a sigh and melancholy look. "It is

decreed in the councils above that they must both fall by your hand."

"The God of Heaven forbid it!" said I. "They are enemies to Christ and

His Church, that I know and believe; but they shall live and die in

their iniquity for me, and reap their guerdon when their time cometh.

There my hand shall not strike."

"The feeling is natural, and amiable," said he. "But you must think

again. Whether are the bonds of carnal nature or the bonds and vows of

the Lord strongest?"

"I will not reason with you on this head, mighty potentate," said I,

"for whenever I do so it is but to be put down. I shall only, express

my determination not to take vengeance out of the Lord's hand in this

instance. It availeth not. These are men that have the mark of the

beast in their foreheads and right hands; they are lost beings

themselves, but have no influence over others. Let them perish in their

sins; for they shall not be meddled with by me."

"How preposterously you talk, my dear friend!" said he. "These people

are your greatest enemies; they would rejoice to see you annihilated.

And, now that you have taken up the Lord's cause of being avenged on

His enemies, wherefore spare those that are your own as well as His?

Besides, you ought to consider what great advantages would be derived

to the cause of righteousness and truth were the estate and riches of

that opulent house in your possession, rather than in that of such as

oppose the truth and all manner of holiness."

This was a portion of the consequence of following my illustrious

adviser's summary mode of procedure that had never entered into my

calculation. I disclaimed all idea of being influenced by it; however,

I cannot but say that the desire of being enabled to do so much good,

by the possession of these bad men's riches, made some impression on my

heart, and I said I would consider of the matter. I did consider it,

and that right seriously as well as frequently; and there was scarcely

an hour in the day on which my resolves were not animated by my great

friend, till at length I began to have a longing desire to kill my

brother, in particular. Should any man ever read this scroll, he will

wonder at this confession, and deem it savage and unnatural. So it

appeared to me at first, but a constant thinking of an event changes

every one of its features. I have done all for the best, and as I was

prompted, by one who knew right and wrong much better than I did. I had

a desire to slay him, it is true, and such a desire too as a thirsty

man has to drink; but, at the same time, this longing desire was

mingled with a certain terror, as if I had dreaded that the drink for

which I longed was mixed with deadly poison. My mind was so much

weakened, or rather softened about this time, that my faith began a

little to give way, and I doubted most presumptuously of the least

tangible of all Christian tenets, namely, of the infallibility of the

elect. I hardly comprehended the great work I had begun, and doubted of

my own infallibility, or that of any created being. But I was brought

over again by the unwearied diligence of my friend to repent of my

backsliding, and view once more the superiority of the Almighty's

counsels in its fullest latitude. Amen.

I prayed very much in secret about this time, and that with great

fervour of spirit, as well as humility; and my satisfaction at finding

all my requests granted is not to be expressed.

My illustrious friend still continuing to sound in my ears the

imperious duty to which I was called, of making away with my sinful

relations, and quoting many parallel actions out of the Scriptures, and

the writings of the holy fathers, of the pleasure the Lord took in such

as executed his vengeance on the wicked, I was obliged to acquiesce in

his measures, though with certain limitations. It was not easy to

answer his arguments, and yet I was afraid that he soon perceived a

leaning to his will on my part. "If the acts of Jehu, in rooting out

the whole house of his master, were ordered and approved-of by the

Lord," said he, "would it not have been more praiseworthy if one of

Ahab's own sons had stood up for the cause of the God of Israel, and

rooted out the sinners and their idols out of the land?"

"It would certainly," said I. "To our duty to God all other duties must

yield."

"Go thou then and do likewise," said he. "Thou are called to a high

vocation; to cleanse the sanctuary of thy God in this thy native land

by the shedding of blood; go thou then like a ruling energy, a master

spirit of desolation in the dwellings of the wicked, and high shall be

your reward both here and hereafter."

My heart now panted with eagerness to look my brother in the face. On

which my companion, who was never out of the way, conducted me to a

small square in the suburbs of the city, where there were a number of

young noblemen and gentlemen playing at a vain, idle, and sinful game,

at which there was much of the language of the accursed going on; and

among these blasphemers he instantly pointed out my brother to me. I

was fired with indignation at seeing him in such company, and so

employed; and I placed myself close beside him to watch all his

motions, listen to his words, and draw inferences from what I saw and

heard. In what a sink of sin was he wallowing! I resolved to take him

to task, and, if he refused to be admonished, to inflict on him some

condign punishment; and, knowing that my illustrious friend and

director was looking on, I resolved to show some spirit. Accordingly, I

waited until I heard him profane his Maker's name three times, and

then, my spiritual indignation being roused above all restraint, I went

up and kicked him. Yes, I went boldly up and struck him with my foot,

and meant to have given him a more severe blow than it was my fortune

to inflict. It had, however, the effect of rousing up his corrupt

nature to quarrelling and strife, instead of taking the chastisement of

the Lord in humility and meekness. He ran furiously against me in the

choler that is always inspired by the wicked one; but I overthrew him,

by reason of impeding the natural and rapid progress of his unholy feet

running to destruction. I also fell slightly; but his fall proved a

severe one, he arose in wrath, and struck me with the mall which he

held in his hand, until my blood flowed copiously; and from that moment

I vowed his destruction in my heart. But I chanced to have no weapon at

that time, nor any means of inflicting due punishment on the caitiff,

which would not have been returned double on my head by him and his

graceless associates. I mixed among them at the suggestion of my

friend, and, following them to their den of voluptuousness and sin, I

strove to be admitted among them, in hopes of finding some means of

accomplishing my great purpose, while I found myself moved by the

spirit within me so to do. But I was not only debarred, but, by the

machinations of my wicked brother and his associates, cast into prison.

I was not sorry at being thus honoured to suffer in the cause of

righteousness, and at the hands of sinful men; and, as soon as I was

alone, I betook myself to prayer, deprecating the long-suffering of God

towards such horrid sinners. My jailer came to me, and insulted me. He

was a rude unprincipled fellow, partaking of the loose and carnal

manners of the age; but I remembered of having read, in the Cloud of

Witnesses, of such men formerly having been converted by the imprisoned

saints; so I set myself, with all my heart, to bring about this man's

repentance and reformation.

"Fat the deil are ye yoolling an' praying that gate for, man?" said he,

coming angrily in. "I thought the days o' praying prisoners had been a'

ower. We hath rowth o' them aince; an' they were the poorest an' the

blackest bargains that ever poor jailers saw. Gie up your crooning, or

I'll pit you to an in-by place, where ye sall get plenty o't."

"Friend," said I, "I am making my appeal at the bar where all human

actions are seen and judged, and where you shall not be forgot, sinful

as you are. Go in peace, and let me be."

"Hae ye naebody nearer-hand hame to mak your appeal to, man?" said he.

"Because an ye hae-na, I dread you an' me may be unco weel acquaintit

by an' by."

I then opened up the mysteries of religion to him in a clear and

perspicuous manner, but particularly the great doctrine of the election

of grace; and then I added: "Now, friend, you must tell me if you

pertain to this chosen number. It is in every man's power to ascertain

this, and it is every man's duty to do it."

"An' fat the better wad you be for the kenning o' this, man?" said he.

"Because, if you are one of my brethren, I will take you into sweet

communion and fellowship," returned I. "But, if you belong to the

unregenerate, I have a commission to slay you."

"The deil you hae, callant!" said he, gaping and laughing. "An', pray

now, fa was it, that gae you siccan a braw commission?"

"My commission is sealed by the signet above," said I, "and that I will

let you and all sinners know. I am dedicated to it by the most solemn

vows and engagements. I am the sword of the Lord, and Famine and

Pestilence are my sisters. Woe then to the wicked of this land, for

they must fall down dead together, that the Church may be purified!"

"Oo, foo, foo! I see how it is," said he. "Yours is a very braw

commission, but you will have the small opportunity of carrying it

through here. Take my advising, and write a bit of a letter to your

friends, and I will send it, for this is no place for such a great man.

If you cannot steady your hand to write, as I see you have been at your

great work, a word of a mouth may do; for I do assure you this is not

the place at all, of any in the world, for your operations."

The man apparently thought I was deranged in my intellect. He could not

swallow such great truths at the first morsel. So I took his advice,

and sent a line to my reverend father, who was not long in coming, and

great was the jailer's wonderment when he saw all the great Christian

noblemen of the land sign my bond of freedom.

My reverend father took this matter greatly to heart, and bestirred

himself in the good cause till the transgressors were ashamed to shew

their faces. My illustrious companion was not idle: I wondered that he

came not to me in prison, nor at my release; but he was better

employed, in stirring up the just to the execution of God's decrees;

and he succeeded so well that my brother and all his associates had

nearly fallen victims to their wrath. But many were wounded, bruised,

and imprisoned, and much commotion prevailed in the city. For my part,

I was greatly strengthened in my resolution by the anathemas of my

reverend father, who, privately (that is in a family capacity) in his

prayers, gave up my father and brother, according to the flesh, to

Satan, making it plain to all my senses of perception that they were

being given up of God, to be devoured by fiends of men, at their will

and pleasure, and that whosoever should slay them would do God good

service.

The next morning my illustrious friend met me at an early hour, and he

was greatly overjoyed at hearing my sentiments now chime so much in

unison with his own. I said: "I longed for the day and the hour that I

might look my brother in the face at Gilgal, and visit on him the

iniquity of his father and himself, for that I was now strengthened and

prepared for the deed."

"I have been watching the steps and movements of the profligate one,"

said he, "and, lo, I will take you straight to his presence. Let your

heart be as the heart of the lion, and your arms strong as the shekels

of brass, and swift to avenge as the bolt that descendeth from heaven,

for the blood of the just and the good hath long flowed in Scotland.

But already is the day of their avengement begun; the hero is at length

arisen who shall send all such as bear enmity to the true Church, or

trust in works of their own, to Tophet!"

Thus encouraged, I followed my friend, who led me directly to the same

court in which I had chastised the miscreant on the foregoing day; and,

behold, there was the same group again assembled. They eyed me with

terror in their looks, as I walked among them and eyed them with looks

of disapprobation and rebuke; and I saw that the very eye of a chosen

one lifted on these children of Belial was sufficient to dismay and put

them to flight. I walked aside to my friend, who stood at a distance

looking on, and he said to me: "What thinkest thou now?" and I answered

in the words of the venal prophet, "Lo, now, if I had a sword into mine

hand I would even kill him."

"Wherefore lackest thou it?" said he. "Dost thou not see that they

tremble at thy presence, knowing that the avenger of blood is among

them."

My heart was lifted up on hearing this, and again I strode into the

midst of them, and, eyeing them with threatening looks, they were so

much confounded that they abandoned their sinful pastime, and fled

everyone to his house!

This was a palpable victory gained over the wicked, and I thereby knew

that the hand of the Lord was with me. My companion also exulted, and

said: "Did not I tell thee? Behold thou dost not know one half of thy

might, or of the great things thou art destined to do. Come with me and

I will show thee more than this, for these young men cannot subsist

without the exercises of sin. I listened to their councils, and I know

where they will meet again."

Accordingly he led me a little farther to the south, and we walked

aside till by degrees we saw some people begin to assemble; and in a

short time we perceived the same group stripping off their clothes to

make them more expert in the practice of madness and folly. Their game

was begun before we approached, and so also were the oaths and cursing.

I put my hands in my pockets, and walked with dignity and energy into

the midst of them. It was enough. Terror and astonishment seized them.

A few of them cried out against me, but their voices were soon hushed

amid the murmurs of fear. One of them, in the name of the rest, then

came and besought of me to grant them liberty to amuse themselves; but

I refused peremptorily, dared the whole multitude so much as to touch

me with one of their fingers, and dismissed them in the name of the

Lord.

Again they all fled and dispersed at my eye, and I went home in

triumph, escorted by my friend, and some well-meaning young Christians,

who, however, had not learned to deport themselves with soberness and

humility. But my ascendancy over my enemies was great indeed; for

wherever I appeared I was hailed with approbation, and, wherever my

guilty brother made his appearance, he was hooted and held in derision,

till he was forced to hide his disgraceful head, and appear no more in

public.

Immediately after this I was seized with a strange distemper, which

neither my friends nor physicians could comprehend, and it confined me

to my chamber for many days; but I knew, myself, that I was bewitched,

and suspected my father's reputed concubine of the deed. I told my

fears to my reverend protector, who hesitated concerning them, but I

knew by his words and looks that he was conscious I was right. I

generally conceived myself to be two people. When I lay in bed, I

deemed there were two of us in it; when I sat up I always beheld

another person, and always in the same position from the place where I

sat or stood, which was about three paces off me towards my left side.

It mattered not how many or how few were present: this my second self

was sure to be present in his place, and this occasioned a confusion in

all my words and ideas that utterly astounded my friends, who all

declared that, instead of being deranged in my intellect, they had

never heard my conversation manifest so much energy or sublimity of

conception; but, for all that, over the singular delusion that I was

two persons my reasoning faculties had no power. The most perverse part

of it was that I rarely conceived myself to be any of the two persons.

I thought for the most part that my companion was one of them, and my

brother the other; and I found that, to be obliged to speak and answer

in the character of another man, was a most awkward business at the

long run.

Who can doubt, from this statement, that I was bewitched, and that my

relatives were at the ground of it? The constant and unnatural

persuasion that I was my brother proved it to my own satisfaction, and

must, I think, do so to every unprejudiced person. This victory of the

Wicked One over me kept me confined in my chamber at Mr. Millar's house

for nearly a month, until the prayers of the faithful prevailed, and I

was restored. I knew it was a chastisement for my pride, because my

heart was lifted up at my superiority over the enemies of the Church;

nevertheless I determined to make short work with the aggressor, that

the righteous might not be subjected to the effect of his diabolical

arts again.

I say I was confined a month. I beg he that readeth to take note of

this, that he may estimate how much the word, or even the oath, of a

wicked man is to depend on. For a month I saw no one but such as came

into my room, and, for all that, it will be seen that there were plenty

of the same set to attest upon oath that I saw my brother every day

during this period; that I persecuted him, with my presence day and

night, while all the time I never saw his face save in a delusive

dream. I cannot comprehend what manoeuvres my illustrious friend was

playing off with them about this time; for he, having the art of

personating whom he chose, had peradventure deceived them, else many of

them had never all attested the same thing. I never saw any man so

steady in his friendships and attentions as he; but as he made a rule

of never calling at private houses, for fear of some discovery being

made of his person, so I never saw him while my malady lasted; but, as

soon as I grew better, I knew I had nothing ado but to attend at some

of our places of meeting to see him again. He was punctual, as usual,

and I had not to wait.

My reception was precisely as I apprehended. There was no flaring, no

flummery, nor bombastical pretensions, but a dignified return to my

obeisance, and an immediate recurrence, in converse, to the important

duties incumbent on us, in our stations, as reformers and purifiers of

the Church.

"I have marked out a number of most dangerous characters in this city,"

said he, "all of whom must be cut off from cumbering the true vineyard

before we leave this land. And, if you bestir not yourself in the work

to which you are called, I must raise up others who shall have the

honour of it!"

"I am, most illustrious prince, wholly at your service," said I. "Show

but what ought to be done, and here is the heart to dare and the hand

to execute. You pointed out my relations, according to the flesh, as

brands fitted to be thrown into the burning. I approve peremptorily of

the award; nay, I thirst to accomplish it; for I myself have suffered

severely from their diabolical arts. When once that trial of my

devotion to the faith is accomplished, then be your future operations

disclosed."

"You are free of your words and promises," said he.

"So will I be of my deeds in the service of my master, and that shalt

thou see," said I. "I lack not the spirit, nor the will, but I lack

experience woefully; and, because of that shortcoming, must bow to your

suggestions!"

"Meet me here to-morrow betimes," said he, "and perhaps you may hear of

some opportunity of displaying your zeal in the cause of righteousness."

I met him as he desired me; and he addressed me with a hurried and

joyful expression, telling me that my brother was astir, and that a few

minutes ago he had seen him pass on his way to the mountain. "The hill

is wrapped in a cloud," added he, "and never was there such an

opportunity of executing divine justice on a guilty sinner. You may

trace him in the dew, and shall infallibly find him on the top of some

precipice; for it is only in secret that he dares show his debased head

to the sun."

"I have no arms, else assuredly I would pursue him and discomfit him,"

said I.

"Here is a small dagger," said he; "I have nothing of weaponkind about

me save that, but it is a potent one; and, should you require it, there

is nothing more ready or sure."

"Will not you accompany me?" said I. "Sure you will?"

"I will be with you, or near you," said he. "Go you on before."

I hurried away as he directed me, and imprudently asked some of

Queensberry's guards if such and such a young man passed by them going

out from the city. I was answered in the affirmative, and till then had

doubted of my friend's intelligence, it was so inconsistent with a

profligate's life to be so early astir. When I got the certain

intelligence that my brother was before me, I fell a-running, scarcely

knowing what I did; and, looking several times behind me, I perceived

nothing of my zealous and arbitrary friend. The consequence of this was

that, by the time I reached St. Anthony's well, my resolution began to

give way. It was not my courage, for, now that I had once shed blood in

the cause of the true faith, I was exceedingly bold and ardent, but,

whenever I was left to myself, I was subject to sinful doubtings. These

always hankered on one point. I doubted if the elect were infallible,

and if the Scripture promises to them were binding in all situations

and relations. I confess this, and that it was a sinful and shameful

weakness in me, but my nature was subject to it, and I could not eschew

it. I never doubted that I was one of the elect myself; for, besides

the strong inward and spiritual conviction that I possessed, I had my

kind father's assurance; and these had been revealed to him in that way

and measure that they could not be doubted.

In this desponding state, I sat myself down on a stone, and bethought

me of the rashness of my undertaking. I tried to ascertain, to my own

satisfaction, whether or not I really had been commissioned of God to

perpetrate these crimes in His behalf, for, in the eyes and by the laws

of men, they were great and crying transgressions. While I sat

pondering on these things, I was involved in a veil of white misty

vapour, and, looking up to heaven, I was just about to ask direction

from above, when I heard as it were a still small voice close by me,

which uttered some words of derision and chiding. I looked intensely in

the direction whence it seemed to come, and perceived a lady robed in

white, who hastened towards me. She regarded me with a severity of look

and gesture that appalled me so much I could not address her; but she

waited not for that, but coming close to my side said, without

stopping: "Preposterous wretch! How dare you lift your eyes to Heaven

with such purposes in your heart? Escape homewards, and save your Soul,

or farewell for ever!"

These were all the words that she uttered, as far as I could ever

recollect, but my spirits were kept in such a tumult that morning that

something might have escaped me. I followed her eagerly with my eyes,

but in a moment she glided over the rocks above the holy well, and

vanished. I persuaded myself that I had seen a vision, and that the

radiant being that had addressed me was one of the good angels, or

guardian spirits, commissioned by the Almighty to watch over the steps

of the just. My first impulse was to follow her advice, and make my

escape home; for I thought to myself. "How is this interested and

mysterious foreigner a proper judge of the actions of a free Christian?"

The thought was hardly framed, nor had I moved in a retrograde

direction six steps, when I saw my illustrious friend and great adviser

descending the ridge towards me with hasty and impassioned strides. My

heart fainted within me; and, when he came up and addressed me, I

looked as one caught in a trespass. "What hath detained thee, thou

desponding trifler?" said he. "Verily now shall the golden opportunity

be lost which may never be recalled. I have traced the reprobate to his

sanctuary in the cloud, and lo he is perched on the pinnacle of a

precipice an hundred fathoms high. One ketch with thy foot, or toss

with thy finger, shall throw him from thy sight into the foldings of

the cloud, and he shall be no more seen till found at the bottom of the

cliff dashed to pieces. Make haste, therefore, thou loiterer, if thou

wouldst ever prosper and rise to eminence in the work of thy Lord and

Master."

"I go no farther in this work," said I, "for I have seen a vision that

has reprimanded the deed!'

"A vision?" said he. "Was it that wench who descended from the hill?"

"The being that spake to me, and warned me of my danger, was indeed in

the form of a lady," said I.

"She also approached me and said a few words," returned he, "and I

thought there was something mysterious in her manner. Pray, what did

she say? for the words of such a singular message, and from such a

messenger, ought to be attended to. If I understood her aright, she was

chiding us for our misbelief and preposterous delay."

I recited her words, but he answered that I had been in a state of

sinful doubting at the time, and it was to these doubtings she had

adverted. In short, this wonderful and clear-sighted stranger soon

banished all my doubts and despondency, making me utterly ashamed of

them, and again I set out with him in the pursuit of my brother. He

showed me the traces of his footsteps in the dew, and pointed out the

spot where I should find him. "You have nothing more to do than go

softly down behind him," said he, "which you can do to within an ell of

him, without being seen; then rush upon him, and throw him from his

seat, where there is neither footing nor hold. I will go, meanwhile,

and amuse his sight by some exhibition in the contrary direction, and

he shall neither know nor perceive who had done him this kind office:

for, exclusive of more weighty concerns, be assured of this that, the

sooner he falls, the fewer crimes will he have to answer for, and his

estate in the other world will be proportionally more tolerable than if

he spent a long unregenerate life steeped in iniquity to the loathing

of the soul."

"Nothing can be more plain or more pertinent," said I. "Therefore, I

fly to perform that which is both a duty towards God and towards man!"

"You shall yet rise to great honour and preferment," said he.

"I value it not, provided I do honour and justice to the cause of my

master here," said I.

"You shall be lord of your father's riches and demesnes," added he.

"I disclaim and deride every selfish motive thereto relating," said I,

"further than as it enables me to do good."

"Aye, but that is a great and a heavenly consideration, that longing

for ability to do good," said he--and, as he said so, I could not help

remarking a certain derisive exultation of expression which I could not

comprehend; and indeed I have noted this very often in my illustrious

friend, and sometimes mentioned it civilly to him, but he has never

failed to disclaim it. On this occasion I said nothing, but, concealing

his poniard in my clothes, I hasted up the mountain, determined to

execute my purpose before any misgivings should again visit me; and I

never had more ado than in keeping firm my resolution. I could not help

my thoughts, and there are certain trains and classes of thoughts that

have great power in enervating the mind. I thought of the awful thing

of plunging a fellow creature from the top of a cliff into the dark and

misty void below--of his being dashed to pieces on the protruding

rocks, and of hearing his shrieks as he descended the cloud, and beheld

the shagged points on which he was to alight. Then I thought of

plunging a soul so abruptly into Hell, or, at the best, sending it to

hover on the confines of that burning abyss--of its appearance at the

bar of the Almighty to receive its sentence. And then I thought: "Will

there not be a sentence pronounced against me there, by a jury of the

just made perfect, and written down in the registers of Heaven?"

These thoughts, I say, came upon me unasked, and, instead of being able

to dispel them, they mustered upon the summit of my imagination in

thicker and stronger array: and there was another that impressed me in

a very particular manner, though I have reason to believe not so

strongly as those above written. It was this: "What if I should fail in

my first effort? Will the consequence not be that I am tumbled from the

top of the rock myself?" and then all the feelings anticipated, with

regard to both body and soul, must happen to me! This was a

spinebreaking reflection; and yet, though the probability was rather on

that side, my zeal in the cause of godliness was such that it carried

me on, maugre all danger and dismay.

I soon came close upon my brother, sitting on the dizzy pinnacle, with

his eyes fixed steadfastly in the direction opposite to me. I descended

the little green ravine behind him with my feet foremost, and every now

and then raised my head, and watched his motions. His posture continued

the same, until at last I came so near him I could have heard him

breathe if his face had been towards me. I laid my cap aside, and made

me ready to spring upon him and push him over. I could not for my life

accomplish it! I do not think it was that I durst not, I have always

felt my courage equal to anything in a good cause. But I had not the

heart, or something that I ought to have had. In short, it was not done

in time, as it easily might have been. These THOUGHTS are hard enemies

wherewith to combat! And I was so grieved that I could not effect my

righteous purpose that I laid me down on my face and shed tears. Then,

again, I thought of what my great enlightened friend and patron would

say to me, and again my resolution rose indignant and indissoluble save

by blood. I arose on my right knee and left foot, and had just begun to

advance the latter forward: the next step my great purpose had been

accomplished, and the culprit had suffered the punishment due to his

crimes. But what moved him I knew not: in the critical moment he sprung

to his feet, and, dashing himself furiously against me, he overthrew

me, at the imminent peril of my life. I disencumbered myself by main

force and fled, but he overhied me, knocked me down, and threatened,

with dreadful oaths, to throw me from the cliff. After I was a little

recovered from the stunning blow, I aroused myself to the combat; and,

though I do not recollect the circumstances of that deadly scuffle very

minutely, I know that I vanquished him so far as to force him to ask my

pardon, and crave a reconciliation. I spurned at both and left him to

the chastisements of his own wicked and corrupt heart.

My friend met me again on the hill and derided me in a haughty and

stern manner for my imbecility and want of decision. I told him how

nearly I had effected my purpose, and excused myself as well as I was

able. On this, seeing me bleeding, he advised me to swear the peace

against my brother, and have him punished in the meantime, he being the

first aggressor. I promised compliance and we parted, for I was

somewhat ashamed of my failure, and was glad to be quit for the present

of one of whom I stood so much in awe.

When my reverend father beheld me bleeding a second time by the hand of

a brother, he was moved to the highest point of displeasure; and,

relying on his high interest and the justice of his cause, he brought

the matter at once before the courts. My brother and I were first

examined face to face. His declaration was a mere romance: mine was not

the truth; but as it was by the advice of my reverend father, and that

of my illustrious friend, both of whom I knew to be sincere Christians

and true believers, that I gave it, I conceived myself completely

justified on that score. I said I had gone up into the mountain early

on the morning to pray, and had withdrawn myself, for entire privacy,

into a little sequestered dell--had laid aside my cap, and was in the

act of kneeling when I was rudely attacked by my brother, knocked over,

and nearly slain. They asked my brother if this was true. He

acknowledged that it was; that I was bare-headed and in the act of

kneeling when he ran foul of me without any intent of doing so. But the

judge took him to task on the improbability of this, and put the

profligate sore out of countenance. The rest of his tale told still

worse, insomuch that he was laughed at by all present, for the judge

remarked to him that, granting it was true that he had at first run

against me on an open mountain and overthrown me by accident, how was

it that, after I had extricated myself and fled, that he had pursued,

overtaken, and knocked me down a second time? Would he pretend that all

that was likewise by chance? The culprit had nothing to say for himself

on this head, and I shall not forget my exultation and that of my

reverend father when the sentence of the judge was delivered. It was

that my wicked brother should be thrown into prison and tried on a

criminal charge of assault and battery, with the intent of committing

murder. This was a just and righteous judge, and saw things in their

proper bearings, that is, he could discern between a righteous and a

wicked man, and then there could be no doubt as to which of the two

were acting right and which wrong.

Had I not been sensible that a justified person could do nothing wrong,

I should not have been at my ease concerning the statement I had been

induced to give on this occasion. I could easily perceive that, by

rooting out the weeds from the garden of the Church, I heightened the

growth of righteousness; but, as to the tardy way of giving false

evidence on matters of such doubtful issue, I confess I saw no great

propriety in it from the beginning. But I now only moved by the will

and mandate of my illustrious friend. I had no peace or comfort when

out of his Sight, nor have I ever been able to boast of much in his

presence; so true is it that a Christian's life is one of suffering.

My time was now much occupied, along with my reverend preceptor, in

making ready for the approaching trial, as the prosecutors. Our counsel

assured us of a complete victory, and that banishment would be the

mildest award of the law on the offender. Mark how different was the

result! From the shifts and ambiguities of a wicked Bench, who had a

fellow-feeling of iniquity with the defenders, my suit was lost, the

graceless libertine was absolved, and I was incarcerated, and bound

over to keep the peace, with heavy penalties, before I was set at

liberty.

I was exceedingly disgusted at this issue, and blamed the counsel of my

friend to his face. He expressed great grief, and expatiated on the

wickedness of our judicatories, adding: "I see I cannot depend on you

for quick and summary measures, but for your sake I shall be revenged

on that wicked judge, and that you shall see in a few days." The Lord

Justice Clerk died that same week! But he died in his own house and his

own bed, and by what means my friend effected it I do not know. He

would not tell me a single word of the matter, but the judge's sudden

death made a great noise, and I made so many curious inquiries

regarding the particulars of it that some suspicions were like to

attach to our family of some unfair means used. For my part I know

nothing, and rather think he died by the visitation of Heaven, and that

my friend had foreseen it, by symptoms, and soothed me by promises of

complete revenge.

It was some days before he mentioned my brother's meditated death to me

again, and certainly he then found me exasperated against him

personally to the highest degree. But I told him that I could not now

think any more of it owing to the late judgment of the court, by which,

if my brother were missing or found dead, I would not only forfeit my

life but my friends would be ruined by the penalties.

"I suppose you know and believe in the perfect safety of your soul,"

said he, "and that that is a matter settled from the beginning of time,

and now sealed and ratified both in Heaven and earth?"

"I believe in it thoroughly and perfectly," said I; "and, whenever I

entertain doubts of it, I am sensible of sin and weakness."

"Very well, so then am I," said he. "I think I can now divine, with all

manner of certainty, what will be the high and merited guerdon of your

immortal part. Hear me then further: I give you my solemn assurance,

and bond of blood, that no human hand shall ever henceforth be able to

injure your life, or shed one drop of your precious blood; but it is on

the condition that you walk always by my directions."

"I will do so with cheerfulness," said I, "for, without your

enlightened counsel, I feel that I can do nothing. But, as to your

power of protecting my life, you must excuse me for doubting of it.

Nay, were we in your proper dominions, you could not ensure that."

"In whatever dominion or land I am, my power accompanies me," said he,

"and it is only against human might and human weapon that I ensure your

life; on that will I keep an eye, and on that you may depend. I have

never broken word or promise with you. Do you credit me?"

"Yes, I do," said I, "for I see you are in earnest. I believe, though I

do not comprehend you."

"Then why do you not at once challenge your brother to the field of

honour? Seeing you now act without danger, cannot you also act without

fear?"

"It is not fear," returned I, "believe me. I hardly know what fear is.

It is a doubt that, on all these emergencies, constantly haunts my mind

that, in performing such and such actions, I may fall from my upright

state. This makes fratricide a fearful task!'

"This is imbecility itself," said he. "We have settled and agreed on

that point an hundred times. I would therefore advise that you

challenge your brother to single combat. I shall ensure your safety,

and he cannot refuse giving you satisfaction."

"But then the penalties?" said I.

"We will try to evade these," said he, "and, supposing you should be

caught, if once you are Laird of Dalcastle and Balgrennan, what are the

penalties to you?"

"Might we not rather pop him off in private and quietness, as we did

the deistical divine?" said I.

"The deed would be alike meritorious, either way," said he. "But may we

not wait for years before we find an opportunity? My advice is to

challenge him, as privately as you will, and there cut him off."

"So be it then," said I. "When the moon is at the full, I will send for

him forth to speak with one, and there will I smite him and slay him,

and he shall trouble the righteous no more."

"Then this is the very night," said he, "The moon is nigh to the full,

and this night your brother and his sinful mates hold carousal; for

there is an intended journey to-morrow. The exulting profligate leaves

town, where we must remain till the time of my departure hence; and

then is he safe, and must live to dishonour God, and not only destroy

his own soul but those of many others. Alack, and woe is me! The sins

that he and his friends will commit this very night will cry to Heaven

against us for our shameful delay! When shall our great work of

cleansing the sanctuary be finished, if we proceed at this puny rate?"

"I see the deed must be done, then," said I, "and, since it is so, it

shall be done. I will arm myself forthwith, and from the midst of his

wine and debauchery you shall call him forth to me, and there will I

smite him with the edge of the sword, that our great work be not

retarded."

"If thy execution were equal to thy intent, how great a man you soon

might be!" said he. "We shall make the attempt once more; and, if it

fail again, why, I must use other means to bring about my high purposes

relating to mankind. Home and make ready. I will go and procure what

information I can regarding their motions, and will meet you in

disguise twenty minutes hence, at the first turn of Hewie's Lane beyond

the loch."

"I have nothing to make ready," said I, "for I do not choose to go

home. Bring me a sword, and we may consecrate it with prayer and vows,

and, if I use it not to the bringing down of the wicked and profane,

then may the Lord do so to me, and more also!"

We parted, and there was I left again to the multiplicity of my own

thoughts for the space of twenty minutes, a thing my friend never

failed in subjecting me to, and these were worse to contend with than

hosts of sinful men. I prayed inwardly that these deeds of mine might

never be brought to the knowledge of men who were incapable of

appreciating the high motives that led to them; and then I sung part of

the 10th Psalm, likewise in spirit; but, for all these efforts, my

sinful doubts returned, so that when my illustrious friend joined me,

and proffered me the choice of two gilded rapiers, I declined accepting

any of them, and began, in a very bold and energetic manner, to express

my doubts regarding the justification of all the deeds of perfect men.

He chided me severely and branded me with cowardice, a thing that my

nature never was subject to; and then he branded me with falsehood and

breach of the most solemn engagements both to God and man.

I was compelled to take the rapier, much against my inclination; but,

for all the arguments, threats, and promises that he could use, I would

not consent to send a challenge to my brother by his mouth. There was

one argument only that he made use of which had some weight with me,

but yet it would not preponderate. He told me my brother was gone to a

notorious and scandalous habitation of women, and that, if I left him

to himself for ever so short a space longer, it might embitter his

state through ages to come. This was a trying concern to me; but I

resisted it, and reverted to my doubts. On this he said that he had

meant to do me honour, but, since I put it out of his power, he would

do the deed, and take the responsibility on himself. "I have with sore

travail procured a guardship of your life," added he. "For my own, I

have not; but, be that as it will, I shall not be baffled in my

attempts to benefit my friends without a trial. You will at all events

accompany me, and see that I get justice?"

"Certes, I will do thus much," said I, "and woe be to him if his arm

prevail against my friend and patron!"

His lip curled with a smile of contempt, which I could hardly brook;

and I began to be afraid that the eminence to which I had been destined

by him was already fading from my view. And I thought what I should

then do to ingratiate myself again with him, for without his

countenance I had no life. "I will be a man in act," thought I, "but in

sentiment I will not yield, and for this he must surely admire me the

more."

As we emerged from the shadowy lane into the fair moonshine, I started

so that my whole frame underwent the most chilling vibrations of

surprise. I again thought I had been taken at unawares and was

conversing with another person. My friend was equipped in the Highland

garb, and so completely translated into another being that, save by his

speech, all the senses of mankind could not have recognized him. I

blessed myself, and asked whom it was his pleasure to personify

to-night? He answered me carelessly that it was a spark whom he meant

should bear the blame of whatever might fall out to-night; and that was

all that passed on the subject.

We proceeded by some stone steps at the foot of the North Loch, in hot

argument all the way. I was afraid that our conversation might be

overheard, for the night was calm and almost as light as day, and we

saw sundry people crossing us as we advanced. But the zeal of my friend

was so high that he disregarded all danger, and continued to argue

fiercely and loudly on my delinquency, as he was pleased to call it. I

stood on one argument alone, which was that "I did not think the

Scripture promises to the elect, taken in their utmost latitude,

warranted the assurance that they could do no wrong; and that,

therefore, it behoved every man to look well to his steps."

There was no religious scruple that irritated my enlightened friend and

master so much as this. He could not endure it. And, the sentiments of

our great covenanted reformers being on his side, there is not a doubt

that I was wrong. He lost all patience on hearing what I advanced on

this matter, and, taking hold of me, he led me into a darksome booth in

a confined entry; and, after a friendly but cutting reproach, he bade

me remain there in secret and watch the event. "And, if I fall," said

he, "you will not fail to avenge my death?"

I was so entirely overcome with vexation that I could make no answer,

on which he left me abruptly, a prey to despair; and I saw or heard no

more till he came down to the moonlight green followed by my brother.

They had quarrelled before they came within my hearing, for the first

words I heard were those of my brother, who was in a state of

intoxication, and he was urging a reconciliation, as was his wont on

such occasions. My friend spurned at the suggestion, and dared him to

the combat; and after a good deal of boastful altercation, which the

turmoil of my spirits prevented me from remembering, my brother was

compelled to draw his sword and stand on the defensive. It was a

desperate and terrible engagement. I at first thought that the royal

stranger and great champion of the faith would overcome his opponent

with ease, for I considered Heaven as on his side, and nothing but the

arm of sinful flesh against him. But I was deceived. The sinner stood

firm as a rock, while the assailant flitted about like a shadow, or

rather like a spirit. I smiled inwardly, conceiving that these

lightsome manoeuvres were all a sham to show off his art and mastership

in the exercise, and that, whenever they came to close fairly, that

instant my brother would be overcome. Still I was deceived. My

brother's arm seemed invincible, so that the closer they fought the

more palpably did it prevail. They fought round the green to the very

edge of the water, and so round till they came close up to the covert

where I stood. There being no more room to shift ground, my brother

then forced him to come to close quarters, on which, the former still

having the decided advantage, my friend quitted his sword and called

out. I could resist no longer; so, springing from my concealment, I

rushed between them with my sword drawn, and parted them as if they had

been two schoolboys: then, turning to my brother, I addressed him as

follows: "Wretch! miscreant! knowest thou what thou art attempting?

Wouldest thou lay thine hand on the Lord's anointed, or shed his

precious blood? Turn thee to me, that I may chastise thee for all thy

wickedness, and not for the many injuries thou hast done to me!" To it

we went, with full thirst of vengeance on every side. The duel was

fierce; but the might of Heaven prevailed, and not my might. The

ungodly and reprobate young man fell covered with wounds, and with

curses and blasphemy in his mouth, while I escaped uninjured. Thereto

his power extended not.

I will not deny that my own immediate impressions of this affair in

some degree differed from this statement. But this is precisely as my

illustrious friend described it to be afterwards, and I can rely

implicitly on his information, as he was at that time a looker-on, and

my senses all in a state of agitation, and he could have no motive for

saying what was not the positive truth.

Never till my brother was down did we perceive that there had been

witnesses to the whole business. Our ears were then astounded by rude

challenges of unfair play, which were quite appalling to me; but my

friend laughed at them and conducted me off in perfect safety. As to

the unfairness of the transaction, I can say thus much, that my royal

friend's sword was down ere ever mine was presented. But if it still be

accounted unfair to take up a conqueror, and punish him in his own way,

I answer: That if a man is sent on a positive mission by his master,

and hath laid himself under vows to do his work, he ought not to be too

nice in the means of accomplishing it; and, further, I appeal to holy

writ, wherein many instances are recorded of the pleasure the Lord

takes in the final extinction of the wicked and profane; and this

position I take to be unanswerable.

I was greatly disturbed in my mind for many days, knowing that the

transaction had been witnessed, and sensible also of the perilous

situation I occupied, owing to the late judgment of the court against

me. But on the contrary, I never saw my enlightened friend in such high

spirits. He assured me there was no danger; and again repeated that he

warranted my life against the power of man. I thought proper, however,

to remain in hiding for a week; but, as he said, to my utter amazement,

the blame fell on another, who was not only accused but pronounced

guilty by the general voice, and outlawed for non-appearance! How could

I doubt, after this, that the hand of Heaven was aiding and abetting

me? The matter was beyond my comprehension; and, as for my friend, he

never explained anything that was past, but his activity and art were

without a parallel.

He enjoyed our success mightily; and for his sake I enjoyed it

somewhat, but it was on account of his comfort only, for I could not

for my life perceive in what degree the Church was better or purer than

before these deeds were done. He continued to flatter me with great

things, as to honours, fame and emolument; and, above all, with the

blessing and protection of Him to whom my body and soul were dedicated.

But, after these high promises, I got no longer peace; for he began to

urge the death of my father with such an unremitting earnestness that I

found I had nothing for it but to comply. I did so; and cannot express

his enthusiasm of approbation. So much did he hurry and press me in

this that I was forced to devise some of the most openly violent

measures, having no alternative. Heaven spared me the deed, taking, in

that instance, the vengeance in its own hand; for, before my arm could

effect the sanguine but meritorious act, the old man followed his son

to the grave. My illustrious and zealous friend seemed to regret this

somewhat, but he comforted himself with the reflection, that still I

had the merit of it, having not only consented to it, but in fact

effected it, for by doing the one action I had brought about both.

No sooner were the obsequies of the funeral over than my friend and I

went to Dalcastle, and took undisputed possession of the houses, lands

and effects that had been my father's; but his plate, and vast

treasures of ready money, he had bestowed on a voluptuous and unworthy

creature, who had lived long with him as a mistress. Fain would I have

sent her after her lover, and gave my friend some hints on the

occasion; but he only shook his head, and said that we must lay all

selfish and interested motives out of the question.

For a long time, when I awaked in the morning, I could not believe my

senses, that I was indeed the undisputed and sole proprietor of so much

wealth and grandeur; and I felt so much gratified that I immediately

set about doing all the good I was able, hoping to meet with all

approbation and encouragement from my friend. I was mistaken. He

checked the very first impulses towards such a procedure, questioned my

motives, and uniformly made them out to be wrong. There was one morning

that a servant said to me there was a lady in the back chamber who

wanted to speak with me, but he could not tell me who it was, for all

the old servants had left the mansion, every one on hearing of the

death of the late laird, and those who had come knew none of the people

in the neighbourhood. From several circumstances, I had suspicions of

private confabulations with women, and refused to go to her, but bid

the servant inquire what she wanted. She would not tell, she could only

state the circumstances to me; so I, being sensible that a little

dignity of manner became me in my elevated situation, returned for

answer that, if it was business that could not be transacted by my

steward, it must remain untransacted. The answer which the servant

brought back was of a threatening nature. She stated she must see me,

and, if I refused her satisfaction there, she would compel it where I

should not evite her.

My friend and director appeared pleased with my dilemma, and rather

advised that I should hear what the woman had to say; on which I

consented, provided she would deliver her mission in his presence. She

came with manifest signs of anger and indignation, and began with a

bold and direct charge against me of a shameful assault on one of her

daughters; of having used the basest of means in order to lead her

aside from the paths of rectitude; and, on the failure of these, of

having resorted to the most unqualified measures.

I denied the charge in all its bearings, assuring the dame that I had

never so much as seen either of her daughters to my knowledge, far less

wronged them; on which she got into great wrath, and abused me to my

face as an accomplished vagabond, hypocrite, and sensualist; and she

went so far as to tell me roundly that if I did not marry her daughter,

she would bring me to the gallows and that in a very short time.

"Marry your daughter, honest woman!" said I, "on the faith of a

Christian, I never saw your daughter; and you may rest assured in this,

that I will neither marry you nor her. Do you consider how short a time

I have been in this place? How much that time has been occupied? And

how there was even a possibility that I could have accomplished such

villainies?"

"And how long does your Christian reverence suppose you have remained

in this place since the late laird's death?" said she.

"That is too well known to need recapitulation," said I. "Only a very

few days, though I cannot at present specify the exact number; perhaps

from thirty to forty, or so. But in all that time, certes, I have never

seen either you or any of your two daughters that you talk of. You must

be quite sensible of that."

My friend shook his head three times during this short sentence, while

the woman held up her hands in amazement and disgust, exclaiming:

"There goes the self-righteous one! There goes the consecrated youth,

who cannot err! You, sir, know, and the world shall know, of the faith

that is in this most just, devout, and religious miscreant! Can you

deny that you have already been in this place four months and seven

days? Or that in that time you have been forbid my house twenty times?

Or that you have persevered in your endeavours to effect the basest and

most ungenerous of purposes? Or that you have attained them? Hypocrite

and deceiver as you are! Yes, sir; I say, dare you deny that you have

attained your vile, selfish, and degrading purposes towards a young,

innocent, and unsuspecting creature, and thereby ruined a poor widow's

only hope in this world? No, you cannot look in my face, and deny aught

of this."

"The woman is raving mad!" said I. "You, illustrious sir, know that, in

the first instance, I have not yet been in this place one month." My

friend shook his head again, and answered me: "You are wrong, my dear

friend; you are wrong. It is indeed the space of time that the lady

hath stated, to a day, since you came here, and I came with you; and I

am sorry that I know for certain that you have been frequently haunting

her house, and have often had private correspondence with one of the

young ladies, too. Of the nature of it I presume not to know."

"You are mocking me," said I. "But as well may you try to reason me out

of my existence as to convince me that I have been here even one month,

or that any of those things you allege against me has the shadow of

truth or evidence to support it. I will swear to you, by the great God

that made me; and by--"

"Hold, thou most abandoned profligate!" cried she violently, "and do

not add perjury to your other detestable crimes. Do not, for mercy's

sake, any more profane that name whose attributes you have wrested and

disgraced. But tell me what reparation you propose offering to my

injured child."

"I again declare, before Heaven, woman, that, to the best of my

knowledge and recollection, I never saw your daughter. I now think I

have some faint recollection of having seen your face, but where, or in

what place, puzzles me quite."

"And, why?" said she. "Because for months and days you have been, in

such a state of extreme inebriety, that your time has gone over like a

dream that has been forgotten. I believe that, from the day you came

first to my house, you have been in a state of utter delirium, and that

principally from the fumes of wine and ardent spirits."

"It is a manifest falsehood!" said I. "I have never, since I entered on

the possession of Dalcastle, tasted wine or spirits, saving once a few

evenings ago; and, I confess to my shame, that I was led too far; but I

have craved forgiveness and obtained it. I take my noble and

distinguished friend there for a witness to the truth of what I assert;

a man who has done more, and sacrificed more for the sake of genuine

Christianity than any this world contains. Him you will believe."

"I hope you have attained forgiveness," said he, seriously. "Indeed it

would be next to blasphemy to doubt it. But, of late, you have been

very much addicted to intemperance. I doubt if, from the first night

you tasted the delights of drunkenness, that you have ever again been

in your right mind until Monday last. Doubtless you have been for a

good while most diligent in your addresses to this lady's daughter."

"This is unaccountable," said I. "It is impossible that I can have been

doing a thing and not doing it at the same time. But indeed, honest

woman, there have several incidents occurred to me in the course of my

life which persuade me I have a second self; or that there is some

other being who appears in my likeness."

Here my friend interrupted me with a sneer, and a hint that I was

talking insanely; and then he added, turning to the lady: "I know my

friend Mr. Colwan will do what is just and, right. Go and bring the

young lady to him, that he may see her, and he will then recollect all

his former amours with her!'

"I humbly beg your pardon, sir," said I. "But the mention of such a

thing as amours with any woman existing, to me, is really so absurd, so

far from my principles, so from the purity of nature and frame to which

I was born and consecrated, that I hold it as an insult, and regard it

with contempt."

I would have said more in reprobation of such an idea, had not my

servant entered, and said that a gentleman wanted to see me on

business. Being glad of an opportunity of getting quit of my lady

visitor, I ordered the servant to show him in; and forthwith a little

lean gentleman, with a long aquiline nose, and a bald head, daubed all

over with powder and pomatum, entered. I thought I recollected having

seen him too, but could not remember his name, though he spoke to me

with the greatest familiarity; at least, that sort of familiarity that

an official person generally assumes. He bustled about and about,

speaking to everyone, but declined listening for a single moment to

any. The lady offered to withdraw, but he stopped her.

"No, no, Mrs. Keeler, you need not go; you need not go; you must not

go, madam. The business I came about concerns you--yes, that it does.

Bad business yon of Walker's? Eh? Could not help it--did all I could,

Mr. Wringhim. Done your business. Have it all cut and dry here, sir.

No, this is not it--Have it among them, though.--I'm at a little loss

for your name, sir (addressing my friend)--seen you very often,

though--exceedingly often--quite well acquainted with you."

"No, sir, you are not," said my friend, sternly. The intruder never

regarded him; never so much as lifted his eyes from his bundle of law

papers, among which he was bustling with great hurry and importance,

but went on:

"Impossible! Have seen a face very like it, then--what did you say your

name was, sir?--very like it indeed. Is it not the young laird who was

murdered whom you resemble so much?"

Here Mrs. Keeler uttered a scream, which so much startled me that it

seems I grew pale, and, on looking at my friend's face, there was

something struck me so forcibly in the likeness between him and my late

brother that I had very nearly fainted. The woman exclaimed that it was

my brother's spirit that stood beside me.

"Impossible!" exclaimed the attorney. "At least, I hope not, else his

signature is not worth a pin. There is some balance due on yon

business, madam. Do you wish your account? because I have it here,

ready discharged, and it does not suit letting such things lie over.

This business of Mr. Colwan's will be a severe one on you,

madam--rather a severe one."

"What business of mine, if it be your will, sir," said I. "For my part

I never engaged you in business of any sort less or more." He never

regarded me, but went on: "You may appeal, though. Yes, yes, there are

such things as appeals for the refractory. Here it is, gentlemen. Here

they are all together. Here is, in the first place, sir, your power of

attorney, regularly warranted, sealed, and signed with your own hand."

"I declare solemnly that I never signed that document," said I.

"Aye, aye, the system of denial is not a bad one in general," said my

attorney. "But at present there is no occasion for it. You do not deny

your own hand?"

"I deny everything connected with the business," cried I. "I disclaim

it in toto, and declare that I know no more about it than the child

unborn."

"That is exceedingly good!" exclaimed he. "I like your pertinacity

vastly! I have three of your letters, and three of your signatures;

that part is all settled, and I hope so is the whole affair; for here

is the original grant to your father, which he has never thought proper

to put in requisition. Simple gentleman! But here have I, Lawyer

Linkum, in one hundredth part of the time that any other notary,

writer, attorney, or writer of the signet in Britain would have done

it, procured the signature of His Majesty's commissioner, and thereby

confirmed the charter to you and your house, sir, for ever and

ever--Begging your pardon, madam." The lady, as well as myself, tried

several times to interrupt the loquacity of Linkum, but in vain: he

only raised his hand with a quick flourish, and went on:

"Here it is:

JAMES, by the grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland,

to his right trusty cousin, sendeth greeting: And whereas his right

leal and trust-worthy cousin, George Colwan, of Dalcastle and

Balgrennan, hath suffered great losses, and undergone much hardship, on

behalf of his Majesty's rights and titles; he therefore, for himself,

and as prince and steward of Scotland, and by the consent of his right

trusty cousins and councillors hereby grants to the said George Colwan,

his heirs and assignees whatsomever, heritably and irrevocably, all and

haill the lands and others underwritten: To wit, All and haill, the

five merk land of Kipplerig; the five pound land of Easter Knockward,

with all the towers, fortalices, manor-places, houses, biggings, yards,

orchards, tofts, crofts, mills, woods, fishings, mosses, muirs,

meadows, commonties, pasturages, coals, coal-heughs, tennants,

tenantries, services of free tenants, annexes, connexes, dependencies,

parts, pendicles, and pertinents of the same whatsomever; to be

peaceably brooked, joysed, set, used, and disposed of by him and his

aboves, as specified, heritably and irrevocably, in all time coming:

And, in testimony thereof, his Majesty, for himself, and as prince

steward of Scotland, with the advice and consent of his foresaids,

knowledge, proper motive, and kingly power, makes, erects, creates,

unites, annexes, and incorporates, the whole lands above mentioned in a

haill and free barony, by all the rights, miethes, and marches thereof,

old and divided, as the same lies, in length and breadth, in houses,

biggings, mills, multures, hawking, bunting, fishing; with court,

plaint, herezeld, fock, fork, sack, sock, thole, thame, vert, wraik,

waith, wair, venison, outfang thief, infang thief, pit and gallows, and

all and sundry other commodities. Given at our Court of Whitehall, &c.,

&c. God save the King.

Compositio 5 lib. 13.8.

Registrate 26th September 1687.

"See, madam, here are ten signatures of privy councillors of that year,

and here are other ten of the present year, with His Grace the Duke of

Queensberry at the head. All right. See here it is, sir--all

right--done your work. So you see, madam, this gentleman is the true

and sole heritor of all the land that your father possesses, with all

the rents thereof for the last twenty years, and upwards. Fine job for

my employers! Sorry on your account, madam--can't help it."

I was again going to disclaim all interest or connection in the matter

but my friend stopped me; and the plaints and lamentations of the dame

became so overpowering that they put an end to all further colloquy;

but Lawyer Linkum followed me, and stated his great outlay, and the

important services he had rendered me, until I was obliged to subscribe

an order to him for L100 on my banker.

I was now glad to retire with my friend, and ask seriously for some

explanation of all this. It was in the highest degree unsatisfactory.

He confirmed all that had been stated to me; assuring me that I had not

only been assiduous in my endeavours to seduce a young lady of great

beauty, which it seemed I had effected, but that I had taken counsel,

and got this supposed, old, false, and forged grant raked up and now

signed, to ruin the young lady's family quite, so as to throw her

entirely on myself for protection, and be wholly at my will.