THE CANONGATE TOLBOOTH.
"Never daunton youth" was, I remember, a saying of my grandmother's;
but it was the most dauntoned youth in Scotland that now jogged over
the moor to the Edinburgh highroad. I had a swimming head, and a hard
crupper to grate my ribs at every movement, and my captor would shift
me about with as little gentleness as if I had been a bag of oats for
his horse's feed. But it was the ignominy of the business that kept me
on the brink of tears. First, I was believed to be one of the maniac
company of the Sweet-Singers, whom my soul abhorred; _item_, I had been
worsted by a trooper with shameful ease, so that my manhood cried out
against me. Lastly, I had cut the sorriest figure in the eyes of that
proud girl. For a moment I had been bold, and fancied myself her
saviour, but all I had got by it was her mocking laughter.
They took us down from the hill to the highroad a little north of
Linton village, where I was dumped on the ground, my legs untied, and
my hands strapped to a stirrup leather. The women were given a country
cart to ride in, and the men, including Muckle John, had to run each by
a trooper's leg. The girl on the sorrel had gone, and so had the maid
Janet, for I could not see her among the dishevelled wretches in the
cart. The thought of that girl filled me with bitter animosity. She
must have known that I was none of Gib's company, for had I not risked
my life at the muzzle of his pistol? I had taken her part as bravely as
I knew how, but she had left me to be dragged to Edinburgh without a
word. Women had never come much my way, but I had a boy's distrust of
the sex; and as I plodded along the highroad, with every now and then a
cuff from a trooper's fist to cheer me, I had hard thoughts of their
heartlessness.
We were a pitiful company as, in the bright autumn sun, we came in by
the village of Liberton, to where the reek of Edinburgh rose straight
into the windless weather. The women in the cart kept up a continual
lamenting, and Muckle John, who walked between two dragoons with his
hands tied to the saddle of each, so that he looked like a crucified
malefactor, polluted the air with hideous profanities. He cursed
everything in nature and beyond it, and no amount of clouts on the head
would stem the torrent. Sometimes he would fall to howling like a wolf,
and folk ran to their cottage doors to see the portent. Groups of
children followed us from every wayside clachan, so that we gave great
entertainment to the dwellers in Lothian that day. The thing infuriated
the dragoons, for it made them a laughing-stock, and the sins of Gib
were visited upon the more silent prisoners. We were hurried along at a
cruel pace, so that I had often to run to avoid the dragging at my
wrists, and behind us bumped the cart full of wailful women. I was sick
from fatigue and lack of food, and the South Port of Edinburgh was a
welcome sight to me. Welcome, and yet shameful, for I feared at any
moment to see the face of a companion in the jeering crowd that lined
the causeway. I thought miserably of my pleasant lodgings in the Bow,
where my landlady, Mistress Macvittie, would be looking at the boxes
the Lanark carrier had brought, and be wondering what had become of
their master. I saw no light for myself in the business. My father's
ill-repute with the Government would tell heavily in my disfavour, and
it was beyond doubt that I had assaulted a dragoon. There was nothing
before me but the plantations or a long spell in some noisome prison.
The women were sent to the House of Correction to be whipped and
dismissed, for there was little against them but foolishness; all
except one, a virago called Isobel Bone, who was herded with the men.
The Canongate Tolbooth was our portion, the darkest and foulest of the
city prisons; and presently I found myself forced through a gateway and
up a narrow staircase, into a little chamber in which a score of beings
were already penned. A small unglazed window with iron bars high up on
one wall gave us such light and air as was going, but the place reeked
with human breathing, and smelled as rank as a kennel. I have a
delicate nose, and I could not but believe on my entrance that an hour
of such a hole would be the death of me. Soon the darkness came, and we
were given a tallow dip in a horn lantern hung on a nail to light us to
food. Such food I had never dreamed of. There was a big iron basin of
some kind of broth, made, as I judged, from offal, from which we drank
in pannikins; and with it were hunks of mildewed rye-bread. One
mouthful sickened me, and I preferred to fast. The behaviour of the
other prisoners was most seemly, but not so that of my company. They
scrambled for the stuff like pigs round a trough, and the woman Isobel
threatened with her nails any one who would prevent her. I was black
ashamed to enter prison with such a crew, and withdrew myself as far
distant as the chamber allowed me.
I had no better task than to look round me at those who had tenanted
the place before our coming. There were three women, decent-looking
bodies, who talked low in whispers and knitted. The men were mostly
countryfolk, culled, as I could tell by their speech, from the west
country, whose only fault, no doubt, was that they had attended some
field-preaching. One old man, a minister by his dress, sat apart on a
stone bench, and with closed eyes communed with himself. I ventured to
address him, for in that horrid place he had a welcome air of sobriety
and sense.
He asked me for my story, and when he heard it looked curiously at
Muckle John, who was now reciting gibberish in a corner.
"So that is the man Gib," he said musingly. "I have heard tell of him,
for he was a thorn in the flesh of blessed Mr. Cargill. Often have I
heard him repeat how he went to Gib in the moors to reason with him in
the Lord's name, and got nothing but a mouthful of devilish
blasphemies. He is without doubt a child of Belial, as much as any
proud persecutor. Woe is the Kirk, when her foes shall be of her own
household, for it is with the words of the Gospel that he seeks to
overthrow the Gospel work. And how is it with you, my son? Do you seek
to add your testimony to the sweet savour which now ascends from moors,
mosses, peat-bogs, closes, kennels, prisons, dungeons, ay, and
scaffolds in this distressed land of Scotland? You have not told me
your name."
When he heard it he asked for my father, whom he had known in old days
at Edinburgh College. Then he inquired into my religious condition with
so much fatherly consideration that I could take no offence, but told
him honestly that I was little of a partisan, finding it hard enough to
keep my own feet from temptation without judging others. "I am weary,"
I said, "of all covenants and resolutions and excommunications and the
constraining of men's conscience either by Government or sectaries.
Some day, and I pray that it may be soon, both sides will be dead of
their wounds, and there will arise in Scotland men who will preach
peace and tolerance, and heal the grievously irritated sores of this
land."
He sighed as he heard me. "I fear you are still far from grace, lad,"
he said. "You are shaping for a Laodicean, of whom there are many in
these latter times. I do not know. It may be that God wills that the
Laodiceans have their day, for the fires of our noble covenant have
flamed too smokily. Yet those fires die not, and sometime they will
kindle up, purified and strengthened, and will burn the trash and
stubble and warm God's feckless people."
He was so old and gentle that I had no heart for disputation, and could
only beseech his blessing. This he gave me and turned once more to his
devotions. I was very weary, my head was splitting with the foul air of
the place, and I would fain have got me to sleep. Some dirty straw had
been laid round the walls of the room for the prisoners to lie on, and
I found a neuk close by the minister's side.
But sleep was impossible, for Muckle John got another fit of cursing He
stood up by the door with his eyes blazing like a wild-cat's, and
delivered what he called his "testimony." His voice had been used to
shout orders on shipboard, and not one of us could stop his ears
against it. Never have I heard such a medley of profane nonsense. He
cursed the man Charles Stuart, and every councillor by name; he cursed
the Persecutors, from his Highness of York down to one Welch of
Borrowstoneness, who had been the means of his first imprisonment; he
cursed the indulged and tolerated ministers; and he cursed every man of
the hill-folk whose name he could remember. He testified against all
dues and cesses, against all customs and excises, taxes and burdens;
against beer and ale and wines and tobacco; against mumming and
peep-shows and dancing, and every sort of play; against Christmas and
Easter and Pentecost and Hogmanay. Then most nobly did he embark on
theology. He made short work of hell and shorter work of heaven. He
raved against idolaters of the Kirk and of the Bible, and against all
preachers who, by his way of it, had perverted the Word. As he went on,
I began to fancy that Muckle John's true place was with the Mussulmans,
for he left not a stick of Christianity behind him.
Such blasphemy on the open hill-side had been shocking enough, but in
that narrow room it was too horrid to be borne. The minister stuck his
fingers in his ears, and, advancing to the maniac, bade him be silent
before God should blast him. But what could his thin old voice do
against Gib's bellowing? The mariner went on undisturbed, and gave the
old man a blow with his foot which sent him staggering to the floor.
The thing had become too much for my temper. I cried on the other men
to help me, but none stirred, for Gib seemed to cast an unholy spell on
ordinary folk. But my anger and discomfort banished all fear, and I
rushed at the prophet in a whirlwind. He had no eyes for my coming till
my head took him fairly in the middle, and drove the breath out of his
chest. That quieted his noise, and he turned on me with something like
wholesome human wrath in his face.
Now, I was no match for this great being with my ungrown strength, but
the lesson of my encounter with the dragoon was burned on my mind, and
I was determined to keep out of grips with him. I was light on my feet,
and in our country bouts had often worsted a heavier antagonist by my
quickness in movement. So when Muckle John leaped to grab me, I darted
under his arm, and he staggered half-way across the room. The women
scuttled into a corner, all but the besom Isobel, who made clutches at
my coat.
Crying "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon," Gib made a great lunge at
me with his fist. But the sword of Gideon missed its aim, and skinned
its knuckles on the stone wall. I saw now to my great comfort that the
man was beside himself with fury, and was swinging his arms wildly like
a flail. Three or four times I avoided his rushes, noting with
satisfaction that one of the countrymen had got hold of the shrieking
Isobel. Then my chance came, for as he lunged I struck from the side
with all my force on his jaw. I am left-handed, and the blow was
unlocked for. He staggered back a step, and I deftly tripped him up, so
that he fell with a crash on the hard floor.
In a second I was on the top of him, shouting to the others to lend me
a hand. This they did at last, and so mazed was he with the fall, being
a mighty heavy man, that he scarcely resisted. "If you want a quiet
night," I cried, "we must silence this mountebank." With three leathern
belts, one my own and two borrowed, we made fast his feet and arms, I
stuffed a kerchief into his mouth, and bound his jaws with another, but
not so tight as to hinder his breathing. Then we rolled him into a
corner where he lay peacefully making the sound of a milch cow chewing
her cud. I returned to my quarters by the minister's side, and
presently from utter weariness fell into an uneasy sleep.
* * * * *
I woke in the morning greatly refreshed for all the closeness of the
air, and, the memory of the night's events returning, was much
concerned as to the future. I could not be fighting with Muckle John
all the time, and I made no doubt that once his limbs were freed he
would try to kill me. The others were still asleep while I tiptoed over
to his corner. At first sight I got a fearsome shock, for I thought he
was dead of suffocation. He had worked the gag out of his mouth, and
lay as still as a corpse. But soon I saw that he was sleeping quietly,
and in his slumbers the madness had died out of his face. He looked
like any other sailorman, a trifle ill-favoured of countenance, and
dirty beyond the ordinary of sea-folk.
When the gaoler came with food, we all wakened up, and Gib asked very
peaceably to be released. The gaoler laughed at his predicament, and
inquired the tale of it; and when he heard the truth, called for a vote
as to what he should do. I was satisfied, from the look of Muckle John,
that his dangerous fit was over, so I gave my voice for release. Gib
shook himself like a great dog, and fell to his breakfast without a
word. I found the thin brose provided more palatable than the soup of
the evening before, and managed to consume a pannikin of it. As I
finished, I perceived that Gib had squatted by my side. There was
clearly some change in the man, for he gave the woman Isobel some very
ill words when she started ranting.
Up in the little square of window one could see a patch of clear sky,
with white clouds crossing it, and a gust of the clean air of morning
was blown into our cell. Gib sat looking at it with his eyes
abstracted, so that I feared a renewal of his daftness.
"Can ye whistle 'Jenny Nettles,' sir?" he asked me civilly.
It was surely a queer request in that place and from such a fellow. But
I complied, and to the best of my skill rendered the air.
He listened greedily. "Ay, you've got it," he said, humming it after
me. "I aye love the way of it. Yon's the tune I used to whistle mysel'
on shipboard when the weather was clear."
He had the seaman's trick of thinking of the weather first thing in the
morning, and this little thing wrought a change in my view of him. His
madness was seemingly like that of an epileptic, and when it passed he
was a simple creature with a longing for familiar things.
"The wind's to the east," he said. "I could wish I were beating down
the Forth in the _Loupin' Jean._ She was a trim bit boat for him that
could handle her."
"Man," I said, "what made you leave a clean job for the ravings of
yesterday?"
"I'm in the Lord's hands," he said humbly. "I'm but a penny whistle for
His breath to blow on." This he said with such solemnity that the
meaning of a fanatic was suddenly revealed to me. One or two distorted
notions, a wild imagination, and fierce passions, and there you have
the ingredients ready. But moments of sense must come, when the better
nature of the man revives. I had a thought that the clout he got on the
stone floor had done much to clear his wits.
"What will they do wi' me, think ye?" he asked. "This is the second
time I've fallen into the hands o' the Amalekites, and it's no likely
they'll let me off sae lightly."
"What will they do with us all?" said I. "The Plantations maybe, or the
Bass! It's a bonny creel you've landed me in, for I'm as innocent as a
newborn babe."
The notion of the Plantations seemed to comfort him. "I've been there
afore, once in the brig _John Rolfe_ o' Greenock, and once in the
_Luckpenny _o' Leith. It's a het land but a bonny, and full o' all
manner o' fruits. You can see tobacco growin' like aits, and mair big
trees in one plantin' than in all the shire o' Lothian. Besides--"
But I got no more of Muckle John's travels, for the door opened on that
instant, and the gaoler appeared. He looked at our heads, then singled
me out, and cried on me to follow. "Come on, you," he said. "Ye're
wantit in the captain's room."
I followed in bewilderment; for I knew something of the law's delays,
and I could not believe that my hour of trial had come already. The man
took me down the turret stairs and through a long passage to a door
where stood two halberdiers. Through this he thrust me, and I found
myself in a handsome panelled apartment with the city arms carved above
the chimney. A window stood open, and I breathed the sweet, fresh air
with delight. But I caught a reflection of myself in the polished steel
of the fireplace, and my spirits fell, for a more woebegone ruffian my
eyes had never seen. I was as dirty as a collier, my coat was half off
my back from my handling on the moor, and there were long rents at the
knees of my breeches.
Another door opened, and two persons entered. One was a dapper little
man with a great wig, very handsomely dressed in a plum-coloured silken
coat, with a snowy cravat at his neck. At the sight of the other my
face crimsoned, for it was the girl who had sung Montrose's song in the
rain.
The little gentleman looked at me severely, and then turned to his
companion. "Is this the fellow, Elspeth?" he inquired. "He looks a
sorry rascal."
The minx pretended to examine me carefully. Her colour was high with
the fresh morning, and she kept tapping her boot with her whip handle.
"Why, yes, Uncle Gregory," she said, "It is the very man, though none
the better for your night's attentions."
"And you say he had no part in Gib's company, but interfered on your
behalf when the madman threatened you?"
"Such was his impertinence," she said, "as if I were not a match for a
dozen crazy hill-folk. But doubtless the lad meant well."
"It is also recorded against him that he assaulted one of His Majesty's
servants, to wit, the trooper John Donald, and offered to hinder him in
the prosecution of his duty."
"La, uncle!" cried the girl, "who is to distinguish friend from foe in
a mellay? Have you never seen a dog in a fight bite the hand of one who
would succour him?"
"Maybe, maybe," said the gentleman. "Your illustrations, Elspeth, would
do credit to His Majesty's advocate. Your plea is that this young man,
whose name I do not know and do not seek to hear, should be freed or
justice will miscarry? God knows the law has enough to do without
clogging its wheels with innocence."
The girl nodded. Her wicked, laughing eyes roamed about the apartment
with little regard for my flushed face.
"Then the Crown assoilzies the panel and deserts the diet," said the
little gentleman. "Speak, sir, and thank His Majesty for his clemency
and this lady for her intercession."
I had no words, for if I had been sore at my imprisonment, I was black
angry at this manner of release. I did not reflect that Miss Elspeth
Blair must have risen early and ridden far to be in the Canongate at
this hour. 'Twas justice only that moved her, I thought, and no
gratitude or kindness. To her I was something so lowly that she need
not take the pains to be civil, but must speak of me in my presence as
if it were a question of a stray hound. My first impulse was to refuse
to stir, but happily my good sense returned in time and preserved me
from playing the fool.
"I thank you, sir," I said gruffly--"and the lady. Do I understand that
I am free to go?"
"Through the door, down the left stairway, and you will be in the
street," said the gentleman.
I made some sort of bow and moved to the door.
"Farewell, Mr. Whiggamore," the girl cried, "Keep a cheerful
countenance, or they'll think you a Sweet-Singer. Your breeches will
mend, man."
And with her laughter most unpleasantly in my ears I made my way into
the Canongate, and so to my lodgings at Mrs. Macvittie's.
* * * * *
Three weeks later I heard that Muckle John was destined for the
Plantations in a ship of Mr. Barclay of Urie's, which traded to New
Jersey. I had a fancy to see him before he went, and after much trouble
I was suffered to visit him. His gaoler told me he had been mighty wild
during his examination before the Council, and had had frequent bouts
of madness since, but for the moment he was peaceable. I found him in a
little cell by himself, outside the common room of the gaol. He was
sitting in an attitude of great dejection, and when I entered could
scarcely recall me to his memory. I remember thinking that, what with
his high cheek-bones, and lank black hair, and brooding eyes, and great
muscular frame, Scotland could scarcely have furnished a wilder figure
for the admiration of the Carolinas, or wherever he went to. I did not
envy his future master.
But with me he was very friendly and quiet. His ailment was
home-sickness; for though he had been a great voyager, it seemed he was
loath to quit our bleak countryside for ever. "I used aye to think o'
the first sight o' Inchkeith and the Lomond hills, and the smell o'
herrings at the pier o' Leith. What says the Word? '_Weep not for the
dead, neither bemoan him; but weep sore for him that goeth away, for he
shall return no more, nor see his native country_.'"
I asked him if I could do him any service.
"There's a woman at Cramond," he began timidly. "She might like to ken
what had become o' me. Would ye carry a message?"
I did better, for at Gib's dictation I composed for her a letter, since
he could not write. I wrote it on some blank pages from my pocket which
I used for College notes. It was surely the queerest love-letter ever
indited, for the most part of it was theology, and the rest was
instructions for the disposing of his scanty plenishing. I have
forgotten now what I wrote, but I remember that the woman's name was
Alison Steel.