LATIMER’S JOURNAL, IN CONTINUATION
Sheet 2.
I have rarely in my life, till the last alarming days, known what it
was to sustain a moment’s real sorrow. What I called such, was, I am
now well convinced, only the weariness of mind which, having nothing
actually present to complain of, turns upon itself and becomes anxious
about the past and the future; those periods with which human life has
so little connexion, that Scripture itself hath said, ‘Sufficient for
the day is the evil thereof.’
If, therefore, I have sometimes abused prosperity, by murmuring at
my unknown birth and uncertain rank in society, I will make amends by
bearing my present real adversity with patience and courage, and, if I
can, even with gaiety. What can they--dare they-do to me? Foxley, I am
persuaded, is a real Justice of Peace, and country gentleman of estate,
though (wonderful to tell!) he is an ass notwithstanding; and
his functionary in the drab coat must have a shrewd guess at the
consequences of being accessory to an act of murder or kidnapping. Men
invite not such witnesses to deeds of darkness. I have also--Alan, I
have hopes, arising out of the family of the oppressor himself. I am
encouraged to believe that G.M. is likely again to enter on the field.
More I dare not here say; nor must I drop a hint which another eye than
thine might be able to construe. Enough, my feelings are lighter than
they have been; and, though fear and wonder are still around me, they
are unable entirely to overcloud the horizon.
Even when I saw the spectral form of the old scarecrow of the Parliament
House rush into the apartment where I had undergone so singular an
examination, I thought of thy connexion with him, and could almost have
parodied Lear--
Death!--nothing could have thus subdued nature
To such a lowness, but his ‘learned lawyers.’
He was e’en as we have seen him of yore, Alan, when, rather to keep thee
company than to follow my own bent, I formerly frequented the halls of
justice. The only addition to his dress, in the capacity of a traveller,
was a pair of boots, that seemed as if they might have seen the field
of Sheriffmoor; so large and heavy that, tied as they were to the
creature’s wearied hams with large bunches of worsted tape of various
colours, they looked as if he had been dragging them along, either for a
wager or by way of penance.
Regardless of the surprised looks of the party on whom he thus intruded
himself, Peter blundered into the middle of the apartment, with his head
charged like a ram’s in the act of butting, and saluted them thus:--
‘Gude day to ye, gude day to your honours. Is’t here they sell the fugie
warrants?’
I observed that on his entrance, my friend--or enemy--drew himself
back, and placed himself as if he would rather avoid attracting the
observation of the new-comer. I did the same myself, as far as I was
able; for I thought it likely that Mr. Peebles might recognize me, as
indeed I was too frequently among the group of young juridical aspirants
who used to amuse themselves by putting cases for Peter’s solution, and
playing him worse tricks; yet I was uncertain whether I had better avail
myself of our acquaintance to have the advantage, such as it might
be, of his evidence before the magistrate, or whether to make him,
if possible, bearer of a letter which might procure me more effectual
assistance. I resolved, therefore, to be guided by circumstances, and
to watch carefully that nothing might escape me. I drew back as far as
I could, and even reconnoitred the door and passage, to consider whether
absolute escape might not be practicable. But there paraded Cristal
Nixon, whose little black eyes, sharp as those of a basilisk, seemed,
the instant when they encountered mine, to penetrate my purpose.
I sat down, as much out of sight of all parties as I could, and listened
to the dialogue which followed--a dialogue how much more interesting to
me than any I could have conceived, in which Peter Peebles was to be one
of the dramatis personae!
‘Is it here where ye sell the warrants--the fugies, ye ken?’ said Peter.
‘Hey--eh--what!’ said Justice Foxley; ‘what the devil does the fellow
mean?--What would you have a warrant for?’
‘It is to apprehend a young lawyer that is IN MEDITATIONE FUGAE; for he
has ta’en my memorial and pleaded my cause, and a good fee I gave
him, and as muckle brandy as he could drink that day at his father’s
house--he loes the brandy ower weel for sae youthful a creature.’
‘And what has this drunken young dog of a lawyer done to you, that
you are come to me--eh--ha? Has he robbed you? Not unlikely if he be a
lawyer--eh--Nick--ha?’ said Justice Foxley.
‘He has robbed me of himself, sir,’ answered Peter; ‘of his help,
comfort, aid, maintenance, and assistance, whilk, as a counsel to a
client, he is bound to yield me RATIONE OFFICII--that is it, ye see. He
has pouched my fee, and drucken a mutchkin of brandy, and now he’s ower
the march, and left my cause, half won half lost--as dead a heat as e’er
was run ower the back-sands. Now, I was advised by some cunning laddies
that are used to crack a bit law wi’ me in the House, that the best
thing I could do was to take heart o’ grace and set out after him; so I
have taken post on my ain shanks, forby a cast in a cart, or the like. I
got wind of him in Dumfries, and now I have run him ower to the English
side, and I want a fugie warrant against him.’
How did my heart throb at this information, dearest Alan! Thou art near
me then, and I well know with what kind purpose; thou hast abandoned all
to fly to my assistance; and no wonder that, knowing thy friendship and
faith, thy sound sagacity and persevering disposition, ‘my bosom’s
lord should now sit lightly on his throne’; that gaiety should almost
involuntarily hover on my pen; and that my heart should beat like that
of a general, responsive to the drums of his advancing ally, without
whose help the battle must have been lost.
I did not suffer myself to be startled by this joyous surprise, but
continued to bend my strictest attention to what followed among this
singular party. That Poor Peter Peebles had been put on this wildgoose
chase by some of his juvenile advisers in the Parliament House, he
himself had intimated; but he spoke with much confidence, and the
Justice, who seemed to have some secret apprehension of being put to
trouble in the matter, and, as sometimes occurs on the English frontier,
a jealousy lest the superior acuteness of their northern neighbours
might overreach their own simplicity, turned to his clerk with a
perplexed countenance.
‘Eh--oh--Nick--d--n thee--Hast thou got nothing to say? This is more
Scots law, I take it, and more Scotsmen.’ (Here he cast a side-glance at
the owner of the mansion, and winked to his clerk.) ‘I would Solway were
as deep as it is wide, and we had then some chance of keeping of them
out.’
Nicholas conversed an instant aside with the supplicant, and then
reported:--
‘The man wants a border-warrant, I think; but they are only granted for
debt--now he wants one to catch a lawyer.’
‘And what for no?’ answered Peter Peebles, doggedly; ‘what for no, I
would be glad to ken? If a day’s labourer refuse to work, ye’ll grant a
warrant to gar him do out his daurg--if a wench quean rin away from
her hairst, ye’ll send her back to her heuck again--if sae mickle as a
collier or a salter make a moonlight flitting, ye will cleek him by the
back-spaul in a minute of time--and yet the damage canna amount to mair
than a creelfu’ of coals, and a forpit or twa of saut; and here is a
chield taks leg from his engagement, and damages me to the tune of sax
thousand punds sterling; that is, three thousand that I should win, and
three thousand mair that I am like to lose; and you that ca’ yourself a
justice canna help a poor man to catch the rinaway? A bonny like justice
I am like to get amang ye!’
‘The fellow must be drunk,’ said the clerk.
‘Black fasting from all but sin,’ replied the supplicant; ‘I havena had
mair than a mouthful of cauld water since I passed the Border, and deil
a ane of ye is like to say to me, “Dog, will ye drink?”’
The Justice seemed moved by this appeal. ‘Hem---tush, man,’ replied he;
‘thou speak’st to us as if thou wert in presence of one of thine own
beggarly justices--get downstairs--get something to eat, man (with
permission of my friend to make so free in his house), and a mouthful to
drink, and I warrant we get ye such justice as will please ye.’
‘I winna refuse your neighbourly offer,’ said Poor Peter Peebles, making
his bow; ‘muckle grace be wi’ your honour, and wisdom to guide you in
this extraordinary cause.’
When I saw Peter Peebles about to retire from the room, I could not
forbear an effort to obtain from him such evidence as might give me some
credit with the Justice. I stepped forward, therefore, and, saluting
him, asked him if he remembered me?
After a stare or two, and a long pinch of snuff, recollection seemed
suddenly to dawn on Peter Peebles. ‘Recollect ye!’ he said; ‘by my troth
do I.---Haud him a grip, gentlemen!--constables, keep him fast! where
that ill-deedie hempy is, ye are sure that Alan Fairford is not far off.
Haud him fast, Master Constable; I charge ye wi’ him, for I am mista’en
if he is not at the bottom of this rinaway business. He was aye getting
the silly callant Alan awa wi’ gigs, and horse, and the like of that, to
Roslin, and Prestonpans, and a’ the idle gates he could think of. He’s a
rinaway apprentice, that ane.’
‘Mr. Peebles,’ I said, ‘do not do me wrong. I am sure you can say no
harm of me justly, but can satisfy these gentlemen, if you will, that I
am a student of law in Edinburgh--Darsie Latimer by name.’
‘Me satisfy! how can I satisfy the gentlemen,’ answered Peter, ‘that am
sae far from being satisfied mysell? I ken naething about your name, and
can only testify, NIHIL NOVIT IN CAUSA.’
‘A pretty witness you have brought forward in your favour,’ said Mr.
Foxley. ‘But--ha--aye---I’ll ask him a question or two. Pray, friend,
will you take your oath to this youth being a runaway apprentice?’
‘Sir,’ said Peter, ‘I will make oath to onything in reason; when a case
comes to my oath it’s a won cause: But I am in some haste to prie your
worship’s good cheer;’ for Peter had become much more respectful in
his demeanour towards the Justice since he had heard some intimation of
dinner.
‘You shall have--eh--hum--aye--a bellyful, if it be possible to fill it.
First let me know if this young man be really what he pretends. Nick,
make his affidavit.’
‘Ow, he is just a wud harum-scarum creature, that wad never take to his
studies; daft, sir, clean daft.’
‘Deft!’ said the Justice; ‘what d’ye mean by deft--eh?’
‘Just Fifish,’ replied Peter; ‘wowf--a wee bit by the East Nook or sae;
it’s a common case--the ae half of the warld thinks the tither daft. I
have met with folk in my day that thought I was daft mysell; and, for my
part, I think our Court of Session clean daft, that have had the great
cause of Peebles against Plainstanes before them for this score of
years, and have never been able to ding the bottom out of it yet.’
‘I cannot make out a word of his cursed brogue,’ said the Cumbrian
justice; ‘can you, neighbour--eh? What can he mean by DEFT?’
‘He means MAD,’ said the party appealed to, thrown off his guard by
impatience of this protracted discussion.
‘Ye have it--ye have it,’ said Peter; ‘that is, not clean skivie, but--’
Here he stopped, and fixed his eye on the person he addressed with an
air of joyful recognition.--‘Aye, aye, Mr. Herries of Birrenswork, is
this your ainsell in blood and bane? I thought ye had been hanged at
Kennington Common, or Hairiebie, or some of these places, after the
bonny ploy ye made in the Forty-five.’
‘I believe you are mistaken, friend,’ said Herries, sternly, with whose
name and designation I was thus made unexpectedly acquainted.
‘The deil a bit,’ answered the undaunted Peter Peebles; I mind ye weel,
for ye lodged in my house the great year of Forty-five, for a great
year it was; the Grand Rebellion broke out, and my cause--the great
cause--Peebles against Plainstanes, ET PER CONTRA--was called in the
beginning of the winter session, and would have been heard, but that
there was a surcease of justice, with your plaids, and your piping, and
your nonsense.’
‘I tell you, fellow,’ said Herries, yet more fiercely, ‘you have
confused me with some of the other furniture of your crazy pate.’
‘Speak like a gentleman, sir,’ answered Peebles; ‘these are not legal
phrases, Mr. Herries of Birrenswork. Speak in form of law, or I sall bid
ye gude day, sir. I have nae pleasure in speaking to proud folk, though
I am willing to answer onything in a legal way; so if you are for
a crack about auld langsyne, and the splores that you and Captain
Redgimlet used to breed in my house, and the girded cask of brandy that
ye drank and ne’er thought of paying for it (not that I minded it muckle
in thae days, though I have felt a lack of it sin syne), why I will
waste an hour on ye at ony time.--and where is Captain Redgimlet now?
he was a wild chap, like yoursell, though they arena sae keen after you
poor bodies for these some years bygane; the heading and hanging is weel
ower now--awful job--awful job--will ye try my sneeshing?’
He concluded his desultory speech by thrusting out his large bony paw,
filled with a Scottish mull of huge dimensions, which Herries, who had
been standing like one petrified by the assurance of this unexpected
address, rejected with a contemptuous motion of his hand, which spilled
some of the contents of the box.
‘Aweel, aweel,’ said Peter Peebles, totally unabashed by the repulse,
‘e’en as ye like, a wilful man maun hae his way; but,’ he added,
stooping down and endeavouring to gather the spilled snuff from the
polished floor, ‘I canna afford to lose my sneeshing for a’ that ye are
gumple-foisted wi’ me.’
My attention had been keenly awakened, during this extraordinary and
unexpected scene. I watched, with as much attention as my own agitation
permitted me to command, the effect produced on the parties concerned.
It was evident that our friend, Peter Peebles, had unwarily let out
something which altered the sentiments of Justice Foxley and his clerk
towards Mr. Herries, with whom, until he was known and acknowledged
under that name, they had appeared to be so intimate. They talked with
each other aside, looked at a paper or two which the clerk selected
from the contents of a huge black pocket-book, and seemed, under the
influence of fear and uncertainty, totally at a loss what line of
conduct to adopt.
Herries made a different, and far more interesting figure. However
little Peter Peebles might resemble the angel Ithuriel, the appearance
of Herries, his high and scornful demeanour, vexed at what seemed
detection yet fearless of the consequences, and regarding the whispering
magistrate and his clerk with looks in which contempt predominated over
anger or anxiety, bore, in my opinion, no slight resemblance to
the regal port
And faded splendour wan
with which the poet has invested the detected King of the powers of the
air.
As he glanced round, with a look which he had endeavoured to compose to
haughty indifference, his eye encountered mine, and, I thought, at
the first glance sank beneath it. But he instantly rallied his natural
spirit, and returned me one of those extraordinary looks, by which he
could contort so strangely the wrinkles on his forehead. I started; but,
angry at myself for my pusillanimity, I answered him by a look of the
same kind, and catching the reflection of my countenance in a large
antique mirror which stood before me, I started again at the real or
imaginary resemblance which my countenance, at that moment, bore to that
of Herries. Surely my fate is somehow strangely interwoven with that of
this mysterious individual. I had no time at present to speculate upon
the subject, for the subsequent conversation demanded all my attention.
The Justice addressed Herries, after a pause of about five minutes, in
which, all parties seemed at some loss how to proceed. He spoke with
embarrassment, and his faltering voice, and the long intervals which
divided his sentences, seemed to indicate fear of him whom he addressed.
‘Neighbour,’ he said, ‘I could not have thought this; or, if I--eh--DID
think--in a corner of my own mind as it were--that you, I say--that you
might have unluckily engaged in--eh--the matter of the Forty-five--there
was still time to have forgot all that.’
‘And is it so singular that a man should have been out in the
Forty-five?’ said Herries, with contemptuous composure;--‘your father, I
think, Mr. Foxley, was out with Derwentwater in the Fifteen.’
‘And lost half of his estate,’ answered Foxley, with more rapidity than
usual; ‘and was very near--hem--being hanged into the boot. But this
is--another guess job--for--eh--Fifteen is not Forty-five; and my father
had a remission, and you, I take it, have none.’
‘Perhaps I have,’ said Herries indifferently; ‘or if I have not, I am
but in the case of half a dozen others whom government do not think
worth looking after at this time of day, so they give no offence or
disturbance.’
‘But you have given both, sir,’ said Nicholas Faggot, the clerk, who,
having some petty provincial situation, as I have since understood,
deemed himself bound to be zealous for government, ‘Mr. Justice Foxley
cannot be answerable for letting you pass free, now your name and
surname have been spoken plainly out. There are warrants out against you
from the Secretary of State’s office.’
‘A proper allegation, Mr. Attorney! that, at the distance of so
many years, the Secretary of State should trouble himself about the
unfortunate relics of a ruined cause,’ answered Mr. Herries.
‘But if it be so,’ said the clerk, who seemed to assume more confidence
upon the composure of Herries’s demeanour; ‘and if cause has been given
by the conduct of a gentleman himself, who hath been, it is
alleged, raking up old matters, and mixing them with new subjects of
disaffection--I say, if it be so, I should advise the party, in his
wisdom, to surrender himself quietly into the lawful custody of the next
Justice of Peace--Mr. Foxley, suppose--where, and by whom, the matter
should be regularly inquired into. I am only putting a case,’ he added,
watching with apprehension the effect which his words were likely to
produce upon the party to whom they were addressed.
‘And were I to receive such advice,’ said Herries, with the same
composure as before--‘putting the case, as you say, Mr. Faggot--I
should request to see the warrant which countenanced such a scandalous
proceeding.’
Mr. Nicholas, by way of answer, placed in his hand a paper, and seemed
anxiously to expect the consequences which were to ensue. Mr. Herries
looked it over with the same equanimity as before, and then continued,
‘And were such a scrawl as this presented to me in my own house, I would
throw it into the chimney, and Mr. Faggot upon the top of it.’
Accordingly, seconding the word with the action, he flung the warrant
into the fire with one hand, and fixed the other, with a stern and
irresistible grip, on the breast of the attorney, who, totally unable to
contend with him, in either personal strength or mental energy, trembled
like a chicken in the raven’s clutch. He got off, however, for the
fright; for Herries, having probably made him fully sensible of the
strength of his grasp, released him, with a scornful laugh.
‘Deforcement--spulzie-stouthrief--masterful rescue!’ exclaimed Peter
Peebles, scandalized at the resistance offered to the law in the person
of Nicholas Faggot. But his shrill exclamations were drowned in the
thundering voice of Herries, who, calling upon Cristal Nixon, ordered
him to take the bawling fool downstairs, fill his belly, and then give
him a guinea, and thrust him out of doors. Under such injunctions, Peter
easily suffered himself to be withdrawn from the scene.
Herries then turned to the Justice, whose visage, wholly abandoned by
the rubicund hue which so lately beamed upon it, hung out the same pale
livery as that of his dismayed clerk. ‘Old friend and acquaintance,’
he said, ‘you came here at my request on a friendly errand, to convince
this silly young man of the right which I have over his person for the
present. I trust you do not intend to make your visit the pretext of
disquieting me about other matters? All the world knows that I have been
living at large, in these northern counties, for some months, not to say
years, and might have been apprehended at any time, had the necessities
of the state required, or my own behaviour deserved it. But no English
magistrate has been ungenerous enough to trouble a gentleman under
misfortune, on account of political opinions and disputes which have
been long ended by the success of the reigning powers. I trust, my good
friend, you will not endanger yourself by taking any other view of the
subject than you have done ever since we were acquainted?’
The Justice answered with more readiness, as well as more spirit than
usual, ‘Neighbour Ingoldsby--what you say--is--eh--in some sort
true; and when you were coming and going at markets, horse-races,
and cock-fights, fairs, hunts, and such-like--it was--eh--neither my
business nor my wish to dispel--I say--to inquire into and dispel the
mysteries which hung about you; for while you were a good companion
in the field, and over a bottle now and then--I did not--eh--think
it necessary to ask--into your private affairs. And if I thought
you were--ahem--somewhat unfortunate in former undertakings, and
enterprises, and connexions, which might cause you to live unsettledly
and more private, I could have--eh--very little pleasure--to aggravate
your case by interfering, or requiring explanations, which are often
more easily asked than given. But when there are warrants and witnesses
to names--and those names, christian and surname, belong to--eh--an
attainted person--charged--I trust falsely--with--ahem-taking advantage
of modern broils and heart-burnings to renew our civil disturbances, the
case is altered; and I must--ahem--do my duty.’
The Justice, got on his feet as he concluded this speech, and looked
as bold as he could. I drew close beside him and his clerk, Mr. Faggot,
thinking the moment favourable for my own liberation, and intimated
to Mr. Foxley my determination to stand by him. But Mr. Herries only
laughed at the menacing posture which we assumed. ‘My good neighbour,’
said he, ‘you talk of a witness. Is yon crazy beggar a fit witness in an
affair of this nature?’
‘But you do not deny that you are Mr. Herries of Birrenswork, mentioned
in the Secretary of State’s warrant?’ said Mr. Foxley.
‘How can I deny or own anything about it?’ said Herries, with a sneer.
‘There is no such warrant in existence now; its ashes, like the poor
traitor whose doom it threatened, have been dispersed to the four winds
of heaven. There is now no warrant in the world.’
‘But you will not deny,’ said the Justice, ‘that you were the person
named in it; and that--eh--your own act destroyed it?’
‘I will neither deny my name nor my actions, Justice,’ replied Mr.
Herries, ‘when called upon by competent authority to avow or defend
them. But I will resist all impertinent attempts either to intrude into
my private motives, or to control my person. I am quite well prepared to
do so; and I trust that you, my good neighbour and brother sportsman,
in your expostulation, and my friend Mr. Nicholas Faggot here, in his
humble advice and petition that I should surrender myself, will consider
yourselves as having amply discharged your duty to King George and
government.’
The cold and ironical tone in which he made this declaration; the look
and attitude, so nobly expressive of absolute confidence in his own
superior strength and energy, seemed to complete the indecision which
had already shown itself on the side of those whom he addressed.
The Justice looked to the clerk--the clerk to the Justice; the former
HA’D, EH’D, without bringing forth an articulate syllable; the latter
only said, ‘As the warrant is destroyed, Mr. Justice, I presume you do
not mean to proceed with the arrest?’
‘Hum--aye--why, no--Nicholas--it would not be quite advisable--and as
the Forty-five was an old affair--and--hem--as my friend here will,
I hope, see his error--that is, if he has not seen it already--and
renounce the Pope, the Devil, and the Pretender--I mean no harm,
neighbour--I think we--as we have no POSSE, or constables, or the
like--should order our horses--and, in one word, look the matter over.’
‘Judiciously resolved,’ said the person whom this decision affected;
‘but before you go, I trust you will drink and be friends?’
‘Why,’ said the Justice, rubbing his brow, ‘our business has
been--hem--rather a thirsty one.’
‘Cristal Nixon,’ said Mr. Herries, ‘let us have a cool tankard
instantly, large enough to quench the thirst of the whole commission.’
While Cristal was absent on this genial errand, there was a pause, of
which I endeavoured to avail myself by bringing back the discourse to
my own concerns. ‘Sir,’ I said to Justice Foxley, ‘I have no direct
business with your late discussion with Mr. Herries, only just thus
far--You leave me, a loyal subject of King George, an unwilling prisoner
in the hands of a person whom you have reason to believe unfriendly to
the king’s cause. I humbly submit that this is contrary to your duty
as a magistrate, and that you ought to make Mr. Herries aware of the
illegality of his proceedings, and take steps for my rescue, either upon
the spot, or, at least, as soon as possible after you have left this
case’--
‘Young man,’ said Mr. Justice Foxley, ‘I would have you remember you are
under the power, the lawful power--ahem--of your guardian.’
‘He calls himself so, indeed,’ I replied; ‘but he has shown no evidence
to establish so absurd a claim; and if he had, his circumstances, as an
attainted traitor excepted from pardon, would void such a right if it
existed. I do therefore desire you, Mr. Justice, and you, his clerk, to
consider my situation, and afford me relief at your peril.’
‘Here is a young fellow now,’ said the Justice, with much-embarrassed
looks, ‘thinks that I carry the whole statute law of England in my head,
and a POSSE COMITATUS to execute them in my pocket! Why, what good would
my interference do?--but--hum--eh--I will speak to your guardian in your
favour.’
He took Mr. Herries aside, and seemed indeed to urge something upon him
with much earnestness; and perhaps such a species of intercession was
all which, in the circumstances, I was entitled to expect from him.
They often looked at me as they spoke together; and as Cristal Nixon
entered with a huge four-pottle tankard, filled with the beverage
his master had demanded, Herries turned away from Mr. Foxley somewhat
impatiently, saying with emphasis, ‘I give you my word of honour, that
you have not the slightest reason to apprehend anything on his account.’
He then took up the tankard, and saying aloud in Gaelic, ‘SLAINT AN
REY,’ [The King’s health.] just tasted the liquor, and handed the
tankard to Justice Foxley, who, to avoid the dilemma of pledging him to
what might be the Pretender’s health, drank to Mr. Herries’s own, with
much pointed solemnity, but in a draught far less moderate.
The clerk imitated the example of his principal, and I was fain to
follow their example, for anxiety and fear are at least as thirsty as
sorrow is said to be. In a word, we exhausted the composition of ale,
sherry, lemon-juice, nutmeg, and other good things, stranded upon the
silver bottom of the tankard the huge toast, as well as the roasted
orange, which had whilom floated jollily upon the brim, and rendered
legible Dr. Byrom’s celebrated lines engraved thereon--
God bless the King!--God bless the Faith’s defender!
God bless--No harm in blessing--the Pretender.
Who that Pretender is, and who that King,--
God bless us all!--is quite another thing.
I had time enough to study this effusion of the Jacobite muse, while the
Justice was engaged in the somewhat tedious ceremony of taking leave.
That of Mr. Faggot was less ceremonious; but I suspect something besides
empty compliment passed betwixt him and Mr. Herries; for I remarked that
the latter slipped a piece of paper into the hand of the former, which
might perhaps be a little atonement for the rashness with which he had
burnt the warrant, and imposed no gentle hand on the respectable minion
of the law by whom it was exhibited; and I observed that he made this
propitiation in such a manner as to be secret from the worthy clerk’s
principal.
When this was arranged, the party took leave of each other with much
formality on the part of Squire Foxley, amongst whose adieus the
following phrase was chiefly remarkable: ‘I presume you do not intend to
stay long in these parts?’
‘Not for the present, Justice, you may be sure; there are good reasons
to the contrary. But I have no doubt of arranging my affairs so that we
shall speedily have sport together again.’
He went to wait upon the Justice to the courtyard; and, as he did
so, commanded Cristal Nixon to see that I returned into my apartment.
Knowing it would be to no purpose to resist or tamper with that stubborn
functionary, I obeyed in silence, and was once more a prisoner in my
former quarters.