whom circumstances had inured to tolerate a good deal of freedom from
his attendant.
"My lord," - said Richie, and then stopped to cough and hem, as if what
he had to say stuck somewhat in his throat.
"I guess the mystery," said Nigel, "you want a little money, Richie;
will five pieces serve the present turn?"
"My lord," said Richie, "I may, it is like, want a trifle of money;
and I am glad at the same time, and sorry, that it is mair plenty with
your lordship than formerly."
"Glad and sorry, man!" said Lord Nigel, "why, you are reading riddles
to me, Richie."
"My riddle will be briefly read," said Richie; "I come to crave of
your lordship your commands for Scotland."
"For Scotland! - why, art thou mad, man?" said Nigel; "canst thou not
tarry to go down with me?"
"I could be of little service," said Richie, "since you purpose to
hire another page and groom."
"Why, thou jealous ass," said the young lord, "will not thy load of
duty lie the lighter? - Go, take thy breakfast, and drink thy ale
double strong, to put such absurdities out of thy head - I could be
angry with thee for thy folly, man - but I remember how thou hast stuck
to me in adversity."
"Adversity, my lord, should never have parted us," said Richie;
"methinks, had the warst come to warst, I could have starved as
gallantly as your lordship, or more so, being in some sort used to it;
for, though I was bred at a flasher's stall, I have not through my
life had a constant intimacy with collops."
"Now, what is the meaning of all this trash?" said Nigel; "or has it
no other end than to provoke my patience? You know well enough, that,
had I twenty serving-men, I would hold the faithful follower that
stood by me in my distress the most valued of them all. But it is
totally out of reason to plague me with your solemn capriccios."
"My lord," said Richie, "in declaring your trust in me, you have done
what is honourable to yourself, if I may with humility say so much,
and in no way undeserved on my side. Nevertheless, we must part."
"Body of me, man, why?" said Lord Nigel; "what reason can there be for
it, if we are mutually satisfied?"
"My lord," said Richie Moniplies, "your lordship's occupations are
such as I cannot own or countenance by my presence."
"How now, sirrah!" said his master, angrily.
"Under favour, my lord," replied his domestic, "it is unequal dealing
to be equally offended by my speech and by my silence. If you can hear
with patience the grounds of my departure, it may be, for aught I
know, the better for you here and hereafter - if not, let me have my
license of departure in silence, and so no more about it."
"Go to, sir!" said Nigel; "speak out your mind - only remember to whom
you speak it."
"Weel, weel, my lord - I speak it with humility;" (never did Richie
look with more starched dignity than when he uttered the word;) "but
do you think this dicing and card-shuffling, and haunting of taverns
and playhouses, suits your lordship - for I am sure it does not suit
me?"
"Why, you are not turned precisian or puritan, fool?" said Lord
Glenvarloch, laughing, though, betwixt resentment and shame, it cost
him some trouble to do so.
"My lord," replied the follower, "I ken the purport of your query. I
am, it may be, a little of a precisian, and I wish to Heaven I was
mair worthy of the name; but let that be a pass-over. - I have
stretched the duties of a serving-man as far as my northern conscience
will permit. I can give my gude word to my master, or to my native
country, when I am in a foreign land, even though I should leave
downright truth a wee bit behind me. Ay, and I will take or give a
slash with ony man that speaks to the derogation of either. But this
chambering, dicing, and play-haunting, is not my element - I cannot
draw breath in it - and when I hear of your lordship winning the siller
that some poor creature may full sairly miss - by my saul, if it wad
serve your necessity, rather than you gained it from him, I wad take a
jump over the hedge with your lordship, and cry 'Stand!' to the first
grazier we met that was coming from Smithfield with the price of his
Essex calves in his leathern pouch!"
"You are a simpleton," said Nigel, who felt, however, much conscience-
struck; "I never play but for small sums."
"Ay, my lord," replied the unyielding domestic, "and - still with
reverence - it is even sae much the waur. If you played with your
equals, there might be like sin, but there wad be mair warldly honour
in it. Your lordship kens, or may ken, by experience of your ain,
whilk is not as yet mony weeks auld, that small sums can ill be missed
by those that have nane larger; and I maun e'en be plain with you,
that men notice it of your lordship, that ye play wi' nane but the
misguided creatures that can but afford to lose bare stakes."
"No man dare say so!" replied Nigel, very angrily. "I play with whom I
please, but I will only play for what stake I please."
"That is just what they say, my lord," said the unmerciful Richie,
whose natural love of lecturing, as well as his bluntness of feeling,
prevented him from having any idea of the pain which he was inflicting
on his master; "these are even their own very words. It was but
yesterday your lordship was pleased, at that same ordinary, to win
from yonder young hafflins gentleman, with the crimson velvet doublet,
and the cock's feather in his beaver - him, I mean, who fought with the
ranting captain - a matter of five pounds, or thereby. I saw him come
through the hall; and, if he was not cleaned out of cross and pile, I
never saw a ruined man in my life."
"Impossible!" said Lord Glenvarloch - "Why, who is he? he looked like a
man of substance."
"All is not gold that glistens, my lord," replied Richie; "'broidery
and bullion buttons make bare pouches. And if you ask who he is - maybe
I have a guess, and care not to tell."
"At least, if I have done any such fellow an injury," said the Lord
Nigel, "let me know how I can repair it."
"Never fash your beard about that, my lord, - with reverence always,"
said Richie, - "he shall be suitably cared after. Think on him but as
ane wha was running post to the devil, and got a shouldering from your
lordship to help him on his journey. But I will stop him, if reason
can; and so your lordship needs asks nae mair about it, for there is
no use in your knowing it, but much the contrair."
"Hark you, sirrah," said his master, "I have borne with you thus far,
for certain reasons; but abuse my good-nature no farther - and since
you must needs go, why, go a God's name, and here is to pay your
journey." So saying, he put gold into his hand, which Richie told over
piece by piece, with the utmost accuracy.
"Is it all right - or are they wanting in weight - or what the devil
keeps you, when your hurry was so great five minutes since?" said the
young lord, now thoroughly nettled at the presumptuous precision with
which Richie dealt forth his canons of morality.
"The tale of coin is complete," said Richie, with the most
imperturbable gravity; "and, for the weight, though they are sae
scrupulous in this town, as make mouths at a piece that is a wee bit
light, or that has been cracked within the ring, my sooth, they will
jump at them in Edinburgh like a cock at a grosart. Gold pieces are
not so plenty there, the mair the pity!"
"The more is your folly, then," said Nigel, whose anger was only
momentary, "that leave the land where there is enough of them."
"My lord," said Richie, "to be round with you, the grace of God is
better than gold pieces. When Goblin, as you call yonder Monsieur
Lutin, - and you might as well call him Gibbet, since that is what he
is like to end in, - shall recommend a page to you, ye will hear little
such doctrine as ye have heard from me. - And if they were my last
words," he said, raising his voice, "I would say you are misled, and
are forsaking the paths which your honourable father trode in; and,
what is more, you are going - still under correction - to the devil with
a dishclout, for ye are laughed at by them that lead you into these
disordered bypaths."
"Laughed at!" said Nigel, who, like others of his age, was more
sensible to ridicule than to reason - "Who dares laugh at me?"
"My lord, as sure as I live by bread - nay, more, as I am a true man -
and, I think, your lordship never found Richie's tongue bearing aught
but the truth - unless that your lordship's credit, my country's
profit, or, it may be, some sma' occasion of my ain, made it
unnecessary to promulgate the haill veritie, - I say then, as I am a
true man, when I saw that puir creature come through the ha', at that
ordinary, whilk is accurst (Heaven forgive me for swearing!) of God
and man, with his teeth set, and his hands clenched, and his bonnet
drawn over his brows like a desperate man, Goblin said to me, 'There
goes a dunghill chicken, that your master has plucked clean enough; it
will be long ere his lordship ruffle a feather with a cock of the
game.' And so, my lord, to speak it out, the lackeys, and the
gallants, and more especially your sworn brother, Lord Dalgarno, call
you the sparrow-hawk. - I had some thought to have cracked Lutin's pate
for the speech, but, after a', the controversy was not worth it."
"Do they use such terms of me?" said Lord Nigel. "Death and the
devil!"
"And the devil's dam, my lord," answered Richie; "they are all three
busy in London. - And, besides, Lutin and his master laughed at you, my
lord, for letting it be thought that - I shame to speak it - that ye
were over well with the wife of the decent honest man whose house you
but now left, as not sufficient for your new bravery, whereas they
said, the licentious scoffers, that you pretended to such favour when
you had not courage enough for so fair a quarrel, and that the
sparrow-hawk was too craven-crested to fly at the wife of a
cheesemonger." - He stopped a moment, and looked fixedly in his
master's face, which was inflamed with shame and anger, and then
proceeded. "My lord, I did you justice in my thought, and myself too;
for, thought I, he would have been as deep in that sort of profligacy
as in others, if it hadna been Richie's four quarters."
"What new nonsense have you got to plague me with?" said Lord Nigel.
"But go on, since it is the last time I am to be tormented with your
impertinence, - go on, and make the most of your time."
"In troth," said Richie, "and so will I even do. And as Heaven has
bestowed on me a tongue to speak and to advise - - "
"Which talent you can by no means be accused of suffering to remain
idle," said Lord Glenvarloch, interrupting him.
"True, my lord," said Richie, again waving his hand, as if to bespeak
his master's silence and attention; "so, I trust, you will think some
time hereafter. And, as I am about to leave your service, it is proper
that ye suld know the truth, that ye may consider the snares to which
your youth and innocence may be exposed, when aulder and doucer heads
are withdrawn from beside you. - There has been a lusty, good-looking
kimmer, of some forty, or bygane, making mony speerings about you, my
lord."
"Well, sir, what did she want with me?" said Lord Nigel.
"At first, my lord," replied his sapient follower, "as she seemed to
be a well-fashioned woman, and to take pleasure in sensible company, I
was no way reluctant to admit her to my conversation."
"I dare say not," said Lord Nigel; "nor unwilling to tell her about my
private affairs."
"Not I, truly, my lord," said the attendant; - "for, though she asked
me mony questions about your fame, your fortune, your business here,
and such like, I did not think it proper to tell her altogether the
truth thereanent."
"I see no call on you whatever," said Lord Nigel, "to tell the woman
either truth or lies upon what she had nothing to do with."
"I thought so, too, my lord," replied Richie, "and so I told her
neither."
"And what _did_ you tell her, then, you eternal babbler?" said his
master, impatient of his prate, yet curious to know what it was all to
end in.
"I told her," said Richie, "about your warldly fortune, and sae forth,
something whilk is not truth just at this time; but which hath been
truth formerly, suld be truth now, and will be truth again, - and that
was, that you were in possession of your fair lands, whilk ye are but
in right of as yet. Pleasant communing we had on that and other
topics, until she showed the cloven foot, beginning to confer with me
about some wench that she said had a good-will to your lordship, and
fain she would have spoken with you in particular anent it; but when I
heard of such inklings, I began to suspect she was little better than
- whew! " - Here he concluded his narrative with a low, but very
expressive whistle.
"And what did your wisdom do in these circumstances?" said Lord Nigel,
who, notwithstanding his former resentment, could now scarcely forbear
laughing.
"I put on a look, my lord," replied Richie, bending his solemn brows,
"that suld give her a heartscald of walking on such errands. I laid
her enormities clearly before her, and I threatened her, in sae mony
words, that I would have her to the ducking-stool; and she, on the
contrair part, miscawed me for a forward northern tyke - and so we
parted never to meet again, as I hope and trust. And so I stood
between your lordship and that temptation, which might have been worse
than the ordinary, or the playhouse either; since you wot well what
Solomon, King of the Jews, sayeth of the strange woman - for, said I to
mysell, we have taken to dicing already, and if we take to drabbing
next, the Lord kens what we may land in!"
"Your impertinence deserves correction, but it is the last which, for
a time at least, I shall have to forgive - and I forgive it," said Lord
Glenvarloch; "and, since we are to part, Richie, I will say no more
respecting your precautions on my account, than that I think you might
have left me to act according to my own judgment."
"Mickle better not," answered Richie - "mickle better not; we are a'
frail creatures, and can judge better for ilk ither than in our ain
cases. And for me, even myself, saving that case of the Sifflication,
which might have happened to ony one, I have always observed myself to
be much more prudential in what I have done in your lordship's behalf,
than even in what I have been able to transact for my own interest -
whilk last, I have, indeed, always postponed, as in duty I ought."
"I do believe thou hast," said Lord Nigel, "having ever found thee
true and faithful. And since London pleases you so little, I will bid
you a short farewell; and you may go down to Edinburgh until I come
thither myself, when I trust you will re-enter into my service."
"Now, Heaven bless you, my lord," said Richie Moniplies, with uplifted
eyes; "for that word sounds more like grace than ony has come out of
your mouth this fortnight. - I give you godd'en, my lord."
So saying, he thrust forth his immense bony hand, seized on that of
Lord Glenvarloch, raised it to his lips, then turned short on his
heel, and left the room hastily, as if afraid of showing more emotion
than was consistent with his ideas of decorum. Lord Nigel, rather
surprised at his sudden exit, called after him to know whether he was
sufficiently provided with money; but Richie, shaking his head,
without making any other answer, ran hastily down stairs, shut the
street-door heavily behind him, and was presently seen striding along
the Strand.
His master almost involuntarily watched and distinguished the tall
raw-boned figure of his late follower, from the window, for some time,
until he was lost among the crowd of passengers. Nigel's reflections
were not altogether those of self-approval. It was no good sign of his
course of life, (he could not help acknowledging this much to
himself,) that so faithful an adherent no longer seemed to feel the
same pride in his service, or attachment to his person, which he had
formerly manifested. Neither could he avoid experiencing some twinges
of conscience, while he felt in some degree the charges which Richie
had preferred against him, and experienced a sense of shame and
mortification, arising from the colour given by others to that, which
he himself would have called his caution and moderation in play. He
had only the apology, that it had never occurred to himself in this
light.
Then his pride and self-love suggested, that, on the other hand,
Richie, with all his good intentions, was little better than a
conceited, pragmatical domestic, who seemed disposed rather to play
the tutor than the lackey, and who, out of sheer love, as he alleged,
to his master's person, assumed the privilege of interfering with, and
controlling, his actions, besides rendering him ridiculous in the gay
world, from the antiquated formality, and intrusive presumption, of
his manners.
Nigel's eyes were scarce turned from the window, when his new landlord
entering, presented to him a slip of paper, carefully bound round with
a string of flox-silk and sealed - -it had been given in, he said, by a
woman, who did not stop an instant. The contents harped upon the same
string which Richie Moniplies had already jarred. The epistle was in
the following words:
For the Right Honourable hands of Lord Glenvarloch,
"These, from a friend unknown: -
"MY LORD,
"You are trusting to an unhonest friend, and diminishing an honest
reputation. An unknown but real friend of your lordship will speak in
one word what you would not learn from flatterers in so many days, as
should suffice for your utter ruin. He whom you think most true - I say
your friend Lord Dalgarno - is utterly false to you, and doth but seek,
under pretence of friendship, to mar your fortune, and diminish the
good name by which you might mend it. The kind countenance which he
shows to you, is more dangerous than the Prince's frown; even as to
gain at Beaujeu's ordinary is more discreditable than to lose. Beware
of both. - And this is all from your true but nameless friend,
IGNOTO."
Lord Glenvarloch paused for an instant, and crushed the paper
together - then again unfolded and read it with attention - bent his
brows - mused for a moment, and then tearing it to fragments,
exclaimed - "Begone for a vile calumny! But I will watch - I will
observe - "
Thought after thought rushed on him; but, upon the whole, Lord
Glenvarloch was so little satisfied with the result of his own
reflections, that he resolved to dissipate them by a walk in the Park,
and, taking his cloak and beaver, went thither accordingly.
CHAPTER XV
Twas when fleet Snowball's head was woxen grey,
A luckless lev'ret met him on his way. -
Who knows not Snowball - he, whose race renown'd
Is still victorious on each coursing ground?
Swaffhanm Newmarket, and the Roman Camp,
Have seen them victors o'er each meaner stamp -
In vain the youngling sought, with doubling wile,
The hedge, the hill, the thicket, or the stile.
Experience sage the lack of speed supplied,
And in the gap he sought, the victim died.
So was I once, in thy fair street, Saint James,
Through walking cavaliers, and car-borne dames,
Descried, pursued, turn'd o'er again, and o'er,
Coursed, coted, mouth'd by an unfeeling bore.
&c. &c. &c,
The Park of Saint James's, though enlarged, planted with verdant
alleys, and otherwise decorated by Charles II., existed in the days of
his grandfather, as a public and pleasant promenade; and, for the sake
of exercise or pastime, was much frequented by the better classes.
Lord Glenvarloch repaired thither to dispel the unpleasant reflections
which had been suggested by his parting with his trusty squire, Richie
Moniplies, in a manner which was agreeable neither to his pride nor
his feelings; and by the corroboration which the hints of his late
attendant had received from the anonymous letter mentioned in the end
of the last chapter.
There was a considerable number of company in the Park when he entered
it, but, his present state of mind inducing him to avoid society, he
kept aloof from the more frequented walks towards Westminster and
Whitehall, and drew to the north, or, as we should now say, the
Piccadilly verge of the enclosure, believing he might there enjoy, or
rather combat, his own thoughts unmolested.
In this, however, Lord Glenvarloch was mistaken; for, as he strolled
slowly along with his arms folded in his cloak, and his hat drawn over
his eyes, he was suddenly pounced upon by Sir Mungo Malagrowther, who,
either shunning or shunned, had retreated, or had been obliged to
retreat, to the same less frequented corner of the Park.
Nigel started when he heard the high, sharp, and querulous tones of
the knight's cracked voice, and was no less alarmed when he beheld his
tall thin figure hobbling towards him, wrapped in a thread-bare cloak,
on whose surface ten thousand varied stains eclipsed the original
scarlet, and having his head surmounted with a well-worn beaver,
bearing a black velvet band for a chain, and a capon's feather for an
ostrich plume.
Lord Glenvarloch would fain have made his escape, but, as our motto
intimates, a leveret had as little chance to free herself of an
experienced greyhound. Sir Mungo, to continue the simile, had long ago
learned to run cunning, and make sure of mouthing his game. So Nigel
found himself compelled to stand and answer the hackneyed question -
"What news to-day?"
"Nothing extraordinary, I believe," answered the young nobleman,
attempting to pass on.
"O, ye are ganging to the French ordinary belive," replied the knight;
"but it is early day yet - we will take a turn in the Park in the
meanwhile - it will sharpen your appetite."
So saying, he quietly slipped his arm under Lord Glenvarloch's, in
spite of all the decent reluctance which his victim could exhibit, by
keeping his elbow close to his side; and having fairly grappled the
prize, he proceeded to take it in tow.
Nigel was sullen and silent, in hopes to shake off his unpleasant
companion; but Sir Mungo was determined, that if he did not speak, he
should at least hear.
"Ye are bound for the ordinary, my lord?" said the cynic; - "weel, ye
canna do better - there is choice company there, and peculiarly
selected, as I am tauld, being, dootless, sic as it is desirable that
young noblemen should herd withal - and your noble father wad have been
blithe to see you keeping such worshipful society."
"I believe," said Lord Glenvarloch, thinking himself obliged to say
something, "that the society is as good as generally can be found in
such places, where the door can scarcely be shut against those who
come to spend their money."
"Right, my lord - vera right," said his tormentor, bursting out into a
chuckling, but most discordant laugh. "These citizen chuffs and clowns
will press in amongst us, when there is but an inch of a door open.
And what remedy? - Just e'en this, that as their cash gies them
confidence, we should strip them of it. Flay them, my lord - singe them
as the kitchen wench does the rats, and then they winna long to come
back again. - Ay, ay - pluck them, plume them - and then the larded
capons will not be for flying so high a wing, my lord, among the goss-
hawks and sparrow-hawks, and the like."
And, therewithal, Sir Mungo fixed on Nigel his quick, sharp, grey eye,
watching the effect of his sarcasm as keenly as the surgeon, in a
delicate operation, remarks the progress of his anatomical scalpel.
Nigel, however willing to conceal his sensations, could not avoid
gratifying his tormentor by wincing under the operation. He coloured
with vexation and anger; but a quarrel with Sir Mungo Malagrowther
would, he felt, be unutterably ridiculous; and he only muttered to
himself the words, "Impertinent coxcomb!" which, on this occasion, Sir
Mungo's imperfection of organ did not prevent him from hearing and
replying to.
"Ay, ay - vera true," exclaimed the caustic old courtier - "Impertinent
coxcombs they are, that thus intrude themselves on the society of
their betters; but your lordship kens how to gar them as gude - ye have
the trick on't. - They had a braw sport in the presence last Friday,
how ye suld have routed a young shopkeeper, horse and foot, ta'en his
_spolia ofima_, and a' the specie he had about him, down to the very
silver buttons of his cloak, and sent him to graze with
Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. Muckle honour redounded to your
lordship thereby. - We were tauld the loon threw himsell into the
Thames in a fit of desperation. There's enow of them behind - there was
mair tint on Flodden-edge."
"You have been told a budget of lies, so far as I am concerned, Sir
Mungo," said Nigel, speaking loud and sternly.
"Vera likely - vera likely," said the unabashed and undismayed Sir
Mungo; "naething but lies are current in the circle. - So the chield is
not drowned, then? - the mair's the pity. - But I never believed that
part of the story - a London dealer has mair wit in his anger. I dare
swear the lad has a bonny broom-shank in his hand by this time, and is
scrubbing the kennels in quest after rusty nails, to help him to begin
his pack again. - He has three bairns, they say; they will help him
bravely to grope in the gutters. Your good lordship may have the
ruining of him again, my lord, if they have any luck in strand-
scouring."
"This is more than intolerable," said Nigel, uncertain whether to make
an angry vindication of his character, or to fling the old tormentor
from his arm. But an instant's recollection convinced him, that, to do
either, would only give an air of truth and consistency to the
scandals which he began to see were affecting his character, both in
the higher and lower circles. Hastily, therefore, he formed the wiser
resolution, to endure Sir Mungo's studied impertinence, under the hope
of ascertaining, if possible, from what source those reports arose
which were so prejudicial to his reputation.
Sir Mungo, in the meanwhile, caught up, as usual, Nigel's last words,
or rather the sound of them, and amplified and interpreted them in his
own way. "Tolerable luck!" he repeated; "yes, truly, my lord, I am
told that you have tolerable luck, and that ye ken weel how to use
that jilting quean, Dame Fortune, like a canny douce lad, willing to
warm yourself in her smiles, without exposing yourself to her frowns.
And that is what I ca' having luck in a bag."
"Sir Mungo Malagrowther," said Lord Glenvarloch, turning towards him
seriously, "have the goodness to hear me for a moment."
"As weel as I can, my lord - as weel as I can," said Sir Mungo, shaking
his head, and pointing the finger of his left hand to his ear.
"I will try to speak very distinctly," said Nigel, arming himself with
patience. "You take me for a noted gamester; I give you my word that
you have not been rightly informed - I am none such. You owe me some
explanation, at least, respecting the source from which you have
derived such false information."
"I never heard ye were a _great_ gamester, and never thought or said
ye were such, my lord," said Sir Mungo, who found it impossible to
avoid hearing what Nigel said with peculiarly deliberate and distinct
pronunciation." I repeat it - I never heard, said, or thought that you
were a ruffling gamester, - such as they call those of the first head.
- Look you, my lord, I call _him_ a gamester, that plays with equal
stakes and equal skill, and stands by the fortune of the game, good or
bad; and I call _him_ a ruffling gamester, or ane of the first head,
who ventures frankly and deeply upon such a wager. But he, my lord,
who has the patience and prudence never to venture beyond small game,
such as, at most, might crack the Christmas-box of a grocer's
'prentice, who vies with those that have little to hazard, and who
therefore, having the larger stock, can always rook them by waiting
for his good fortune, and by rising from the game when luck leaves
him - such a one as he, my lord, I do not call a _great_ gamester, to
whatever other name he may be entitled."
"And such a mean-spirited, sordid wretch, you would infer that I am,"
replied Lord Glenvarloch; "one who fears the skilful, and preys upon
the ignorant - who avoids playing with his equals, that he may make
sure of pillaging his inferiors? - Is this what I am to understand has
been reported of me?"
"Nay, my lord, you will gain nought by speaking big with me," said Sir
Mungo, who, besides that his sarcastic humour was really supported by
a good fund of animal courage, had also full reliance on the
immunities which he had derived from the broadsword of Sir Rullion
Rattray, and the baton of the satellites employed by the Lady Cockpen.
"And for the truth of the matter," he continued, "your lordship best
knows whether you ever lost more than five pieces at a time since you
frequented Beaujeu's - whether you have not most commonly risen a
winner - and whether the brave young gallants who frequent the
ordinary - I mean those of noble rank, and means conforming - are in use
to play upon those terms?"
"My father was right," said Lord Glenvarloch, in the bitterness of his
spirit; "and his curse justly followed me when I first entered that
place. There is contamination in the air, and he whose fortune avoids
ruin, shall be blighted in his honour and reputation."
Sir Mungo, who watched his victim with the delighted yet wary eye of
an experienced angler, became now aware, that if he strained the line
on him too tightly, there was every risk of his breaking hold. In
order to give him room, therefore, to play, he protested that Lord
Glenvarloch "should not take his free speech _in malam partem_. If you
were a trifle ower sicker in your amusement, my lord, it canna be
denied that it is the safest course to prevent farther endangerment of
your somewhat dilapidated fortunes; and if ye play with your
inferiors, ye are relieved of the pain of pouching the siller of your
friends and equals; forby, that the plebeian knaves have had the
advantage, _tecum certasse_, as Ajax Telamon sayeth, _apud
Metamorphoseos_; and for the like of them to have played with ane
Scottish nobleman is an honest and honourable consideration to
compensate the loss of their stake, whilk, I dare say, moreover, maist
of the churls can weel afford."
"Be that as it may, Sir Mungo," said Nigel, "I would fain know - "
"Ay, ay," interrupted Sir Mungo; "and, as you say, who cares whether
the fat bulls of Bashan can spare it or no? gentlemen are not to limit
their sport for the like of them."
"I wish to know, Sir Mungo," said Lord Glenvarloch, "in what company
you have learned these offensive particulars respecting me?"
"Dootless - dootless, my lord," said Sir Mungo; "I have ever heard, and
have ever reported, that your lordship kept the best of company in a
private way. - There is the fine Countess of Blackchester, but I think
she stirs not much abroad since her affair with his Grace of
Buckingham; and there is the gude auld-fashioned Scottish nobleman,
Lord Huntinglen, an undeniable man of quality - it is pity but he could
keep caup and can frae his head, whilk now and then doth'minish his
reputation. And there is the gay young Lord Dalgarno, that carries the
craft of gray hairs under his curled love-locks - a fair race they are,
father, daughter, and son, all of the same honourable family. I think
we needna speak of George Heriot, honest man, when we have nobility in
question. So that is the company I have heard of your keeping, my
lord, out-taken those of the ordinary."
"My company has not, indeed, been much more extended than amongst
those you mention," said Lord Glenvarloch; "but in short - "
"To Court?" said Sir Mungo, "that was just what I was going to say -
Lord Dalgarno says he cannot prevail on ye to come to Court, and that
does ye prejudice, my lord - the king hears of you by others, when he
should see you in person - I speak in serious friendship, my lord. His
Majesty, when you were named in the circle short while since, was
heard to say, _'Jacta est alea!_ - Glenvarlochides is turned dicer and
drinker.' - My Lord Dalgarno took your part, and he was e'en borne down
by the popular voice of the courtiers, who spoke of you as one who had
betaken yourself to living a town life, and risking your baron's
coronet amongst the flatcaps of the city."
"And this was publicly spoken of me," said Nigel, "and in the king's
presence?"
"Spoken openly?" repeated Sir Mungo Malagrowther; "ay, by my troth was
it - that is to say, it was whispered privately - whilk is as open
promulgation as the thing permitted; for ye may think the Court is not
like a place where men are as sib as Simmie and his brother, and roar
out their minds as if they were at an ordinary."
"A curse on the Court and the ordinary both!" cried Nigel,
impatiently.
"With all my heart," said the knight; "I have got little by a knight's
service in the Court; and the last time I was at the ordinary, I lost
four angels."
"May I pray of you, Sir Mungo, to let me know," said Nigel, "the names
of those who thus make free with the character of one who can be but
little known to them, and who never injured any of them?"
"Have I not told you already," answered Sir Mungo, "that the king said
something to that effect - so did the Prince too; - and such being the
case, ye may take it on your corporal oath, that every man in the
circle who was not silent, sung the same song as they did."
"You said but now," replied Glenvarloch, "that Lord Dalgarno
interfered in my behalf."
"In good troth did he," answered Sir Mungo, with a sneer; "but the
young nobleman was soon borne down - by token, he had something of a
catarrh, and spoke as hoarse as a roopit raven. Poor gentleman, if he
had had his full extent of voice, he would have been as well listened
to, dootless, as in a cause of his ain, whilk no man kens better how
to plead to purpose. - And let me ask you, by the way," continued Sir
Mungo, "whether Lord Dalgarno has ever introduced your lordship to the
Prince, or the Duke of Buckingham, either of whom might soon carry
through your suit?"
"I have no claim on the favour of either the Prince or the Duke of
Buckingham," said Lord Glenvarloch. - "As you seem to have made my
affairs your study, Sir Mungo, although perhaps something
unnecessarily, you may have heard that I have petitioned my Sovereign
for payment of a debt due to my family. I cannot doubt the king's
desire to do justice, nor can I in decency employ the solicitation of
his Highness the Prince, or his Grace the Duke of Buckingham, to
obtain from his Majesty what either should be granted me as a right,
or refused altogether."
Sir Mungo twisted his whimsical features into one of his most
grotesque sneers, as he replied -
"It is a vera clear and parspicuous position of the case, my lord; and
in relying thereupon, you show an absolute and unimprovable
acquaintance with the King, Court, and mankind in general.-But whom
have we got here? - Stand up, my lord, and make way - by my word of
honour, they are the very men we spoke of - talk of the devil, and -
humph!"
It must be here premised, that, during the conversation, Lord
Glenvarloch, perhaps in the hope of shaking himself free of Sir Mungo,
had directed their walk towards the more frequented part of the Park;
while the good knight had stuck to him, being totally indifferent
which way they went, provided he could keep his talons clutched upon
his companion. They were still, however, at some distance from the
livelier part of the scene, when Sir Mungo's experienced eye noticed
the appearances which occasioned the latter part of his speech to Lord
Glenvarloch. A low respectful murmur arose among the numerous groups
of persons which occupied the lower part of the Park. They first
clustered together, with their faces turned towards Whitehall, then
fell back on either hand to give place to a splendid party of
gallants, who, advancing from the Palace, came onward through the
Park; all the other company drawing off the pathway, and standing
uncovered as they passed.
Most of these courtly gallants were dressed in the garb which the
pencil of Vandyke has made familiar even at the distance of nearly two
centuries; and which was just at this period beginning to supersede
the more fluttering and frivolous dress which had been adopted from
the French Court of Henri Quatre.
The whole train were uncovered excepting the Prince of Wales,
afterwards the most unfortunate of British monarchs, who came onward,
having his long curled auburn tresses, and his countenance, which,
even in early youth, bore a shade of anticipated melancholy, shaded by
the Spanish hat and the single ostrich feather which drooped from it.
On his right hand was Buckingham, whose commanding, and at the same
time graceful, deportment, threw almost into shade the personal
demeanour and majesty of the Prince on whom he attended. The eye,
movements, and gestures of the great courtier were so composed, so
regularly observant of all etiquette belonging to his situation, as to
form a marked and strong contrast with the forward gaiety and
frivolity by which he recommended himself to the favour of his "dear
dad and gossip," King James. A singular fate attended this
accomplished courtier, in being at once the reigning favourite of a
father and son so very opposite in manners, that, to ingratiate
himself with the youthful Prince, he was obliged to compress within
the strictest limits of respectful observance the frolicsome and free
humour which captivated his aged father.
It is true, Buckingham well knew the different dispositions both of
James and Charles, and had no difficulty in so conducting himself as
to maintain the highest post in the favour of both. It has indeed been
supposed, as we before hinted, that the duke, when he had completely
possessed himself of the affections of Charles, retained his hold in
those of the father only by the tyranny of custom; and that James,
could he have brought himself to form a vigorous resolution, was, in
the latter years of his life especially, not unlikely to have
discarded Buckingham from his counsels and favour. But if ever the
king indeed meditated such a change, he was too timid, and too much
accustomed to the influence which the duke had long exercised over
him, to summon up resolution enough for effecting such a purpose; and
at all events it is certain, that Buckingham, though surviving the
master by whom he was raised, had the rare chance to experience no
wane of the most splendid court-favour during two reigns, until it was
at once eclipsed in his blood by the dagger of his assassin Felton.
To return from this digression: The Prince, with his train, advanced,
and were near the place where Lord Glenvarloch and Sir Mungo had stood
aside, according to form, in order to give the Prince passage, and to
pay the usual marks of respect. Nigel could now remark that Lord
Dalgarno walked close behind the Duke of Buckingham, and, as he
thought, whispered something in his ear as they came onward. At any
rate, both the Prince's and Duke of Buckingham's attention seemed to
be directed by such circumstance towards Nigel, for they turned their
heads in that direction and looked at him attentively - the Prince with
a countenance, the grave, melancholy expression of which was blended