CHAPTER V
Wherefore come ye not to court? Certain 'tis the rarest sport; Thereare silks and jewels glistening, Prattling fools and wise men listening,Bullies among brave men justling, Beggars amongst nobles bustling;Low-breath'd talkers, minion lispers, Cutting honest throats bywhispers; Wherefore come ye not to court? Skelton swears 'tis glorioussport. _Skelton Skeltonizeth._
It was not entirely out of parade that the benevolent citizen wasmounted and attended in that manner, which, as the reader has beeninformed, excited a gentle degree of spleen on the part of DameChristie, which, to do her justice, vanished in the little soliloquywhich we have recorded. The good man, besides the natural desire tomaintain the exterior of a man of worship, was at present bound toWhitehall in order to exhibit a piece of valuable workmanship to KingJames, which he deemed his Majesty might be pleased to view, or even topurchase. He himself was therefore mounted upon his caparisoned mule,that he might the better make his way through the narrow, dirty, andcrowded streets; and while one of his attendants carried under his armthe piece of plate, wrapped up in red baize, the other two gave aneye to its safety; for such was then the state of the police of themetropolis, that men were often assaulted in the public street for thesake of revenge or of plunder; and those who apprehended being beset,usually endeavoured, if their estate admitted such expense, to securethemselves by the attendance of armed followers. And this custom, whichwas at first limited to the nobility and gentry, extended by degrees tothose citizens of consideration, who, being understood to travel witha charge, as it was called, might otherwise have been selected as safesubjects of plunder by the street-robber.
As Master George Heriot paced forth westward with this gallantattendance, he paused at the shop door of his countryman and friend, theancient horologer, and having caused Tunstall, who was in attendance, toadjust his watch by the real time, he desired to speak with his master;in consequence of which summons, the old Time-meter came forth from hisden, his face like a bronze bust, darkened with dust, and glisteninghere and there with copper filings, and his senses so bemused in theintensity of calculation, that he gazed on his friend the goldsmith fora minute before he seemed perfectly to comprehend who he was, andheard him express his invitation to David Ramsay, and pretty MistressMargaret, his daughter, to dine with him next day at noon, to meet witha noble young countrymen, without returning any answer.
"I'll make thee speak, with a murrain to thee," muttered Heriot tohimself; and suddenly changing his tone, he said aloud,--"I pray you,neighbour David, when are you and I to have a settlement for the bullionwherewith I supplied you to mount yonder hall-clock at Theobald's, andthat other whirligig that you made for the Duke of Buckingham? I havehad the Spanish house to satisfy for the ingots, and I must needs putyou in mind that you have been eight months behind-hand."
There is something so sharp and _aigre_ in the demand of a peremptorydun, that no human tympanum, however inaccessible to other tones, canresist the application. David Ramsay started at once from his reverie,and answered in a pettish tone, "Wow, George, man, what needs aw thisdin about sax score o' pounds? Aw the world kens I can answer aw claimson me, and you proffered yourself fair time, till his maist graciousMajesty and the noble Duke suld make settled accompts wi' me; and yemay ken, by your ain experience, that I canna gang rowting like anunmannered Highland stot to their doors, as ye come to mine."
Heriot laughed, and replied, "Well, David, I see a demand of money islike a bucket of water about your ears, and makes you a man of the worldat once. And now, friend, will you tell me, like a Christian man, if youwill dine with me to-morrow at noon, and bring pretty Mistress Margaret,my god-daughter, with you, to meet with our noble young countryman, theLord of Glenvarloch?"
"The young Lord of Glenvarloch!" said the old mechanist; "wi' aw myheart, and blithe I will be to see him again. We have not met theseforty years--he was twa years before me at the humanity classes--he is asweet youth."
"That was his father--his father--his father!--you old dotardDot-and-carry-one that you are," answered the goldsmith. "A sweet youthhe would have been by this time, had he lived, worthy nobleman! This ishis son, the Lord Nigel."
"His son!" said Ramsay; "maybe he will want something of a chronometer,or watch--few gallants care to be without them now-a-days."
"He may buy half your stock-in-trade, if ever he comes to his own, forwhat I know," said his friend; "but, David, remember your bond, anduse me not as you did when my housewife had the sheep's-head and thecock-a-leeky boiling for you as late as two of the clock afternoon."
"She had the more credit by her cookery," answered David, now fullyawake; "a sheep's-head over-boiled, were poison, according to oursaying."
"Well," answered Master George, "but as there will be no sheep's-headto-morrow, it may chance you to spoil a dinner which a proverbcannot mend. It may be you may forgather with your friend, Sir MungoMalagrowther, for I purpose to ask his worship; so, be sure and bidetryste, Davie."
"That will I--I will be true as a chronometer," said Ramsay.
"I will not trust you, though," replied Heriot.--"Hear you, Jenkin boy,tell Scots Janet to tell pretty Mistress Margaret, my god-child, shemust put her father in remembrance to put on his best doublet to-morrow,and to bring him to Lombard Street at noon. Tell her they are to meet abrave young Scots lord."
Jenkin coughed that sort of dry short cough uttered by those who areeither charged with errands which they do not like, or hear opinions towhich they must not enter a dissent.
"Umph!" repeated Master George--who, as we have already noticed, wassomething of a martinet in domestic discipline--"what does _umph_ mean?Will you do mine errand or not, sirrah?"
"Sure, Master George Heriot," said the apprentice, touching his cap,"I only meant, that Mistress Margaret was not likely to forget such aninvitation."
"Why, no," said Master George; "she is a dutiful girl to her god-father,though I sometimes call her a jill-flirt.--And, hark ye, Jenkin, you andyour comrade had best come with your clubs, to see your master and hersafely home; but first shut shop, and loose the bull-dog, and let theporter stay in the fore-shop till your return. I will send two of myknaves with you; for I hear these wild youngsters of the Temple arebroken out worse and lighter than ever."
"We can keep their steel in order with good handbats," said Jenkin; "andnever trouble your servants for the matter."
"Or, if need be," said Tunstall, "we have swords as well as theTemplars."
"Fie upon it--fie upon it, young man," said the citizen;--"An apprenticewith a sword!--Marry, heaven forefend! I would as soon see him in a hatand feather."
"Well, sir," said Jenkin--"we will find arms fitting to our station, andwill defend our master and his daughter, if we should tear up the verystones of the pavement."
"There spoke a London 'prentice bold," said the citizen; "and, for yourcomfort, my lads, you shall crush a cup of wine to the health of theFathers of the City. I have my eye on both of you--you are thrivinglads, each in his own way.--God be wi' you, Davie. Forget not to-morrowat noon." And, so saying, he again turned his mule's head westward, andcrossed Temple Bar, at that slow and decent amble, which at once becamehis rank and civic importance, and put his pedestrian followers to noinconvenience to keep up with him.
At the Temple gate he again paused, dismounted, and sought his way intoone of the small booths occupied by scriveners in the neighbourhood. Ayoung man, with lank smooth hair combed straight to his ears, and thencropped short, rose, with a cringing reverence, pulled off a slouchedhat, which he would upon no signal replace on his head, and answeredwith much demonstration of reverence, to the goldsmith's question of,"How goes business, Andrew?"--"Aw the better for your worship's kindcountenance and maintenance."
"Get a large sheet of paper, man, and make a new pen, with a sharp neb,and fine hair-stroke. Do not slit the quill up too high, it's a wastrifecourse in your trade, Andrew--they that do not mind corn-pickles, nevercome to forpits. I have known a learned man write a thousand
pages withone quill." [Footnote: A biblical commentary by Gill, which (if theauthor's memory serves him) occupies between five and six hundredprinted quarto pages, and must therefore have filled more pages ofmanuscript than the number mentioned in the text, has this quatrain atthe end of the volume--
"With one good pen I wrote this book, Made of a grey goose quill; A pen it was when it I took, And a pen I leave it still."]
"Ah! sir," said the lad, who listened to the goldsmith, thoughinstructing him in his own trade, with an air of veneration andacquiescence, "how sune ony puir creature like mysell may rise in theworld, wi' the instruction of such a man as your worship!"
"My instructions are few, Andrew, soon told, and not hard to practise.Be honest--be industrious--be frugal--and you will soon win wealth andworship.--Here, copy me this Supplication in your best and most formalhand. I will wait by you till it is done."
The youth lifted not his eye from the paper, and laid not the pen fromhis hand, until the task was finished to his employer's satisfaction.The citizen then gave the young scrivener an angel; and bidding him, onhis life, be secret in all business intrusted to him, again mounted hismule, and rode on westward along the Strand.
It may be worth while to remind our readers, that the Temple Bar whichHeriot passed, was not the arched screen, or gateway, of the presentday; but an open railing, or palisade, which, at night, and in times ofalarm, was closed with a barricade of posts and chains. The Strand also,along which he rode, was not, as now, a continued street, althoughit was beginning already to assume that character. It still might beconsidered as an open road, along the south side of which stood varioushouses and hotels belonging to the nobility, having gardens behind themdown to the water-side, with stairs to the river, for the convenienceof taking boat; which mansions have bequeathed the names of their lordlyowners to many of the streets leading from the Strand to the Thames. Thenorth side of the Strand was also a long line of houses, behind which,as in Saint Martin's Lane, and other points, buildings, were rapidlyarising; but Covent Garden was still a garden, in the literal senseof the word, or at least but beginning to be studded with irregularbuildings. All that was passing around, however, marked the rapidincrease of a capital which had long enjoyed peace, wealth, and aregular government. Houses were rising in every direction; and theshrewd eye of our citizen already saw the period not distant, whichshould convert the nearly open highway on which he travelled, into aconnected and regular street, uniting the Court and the town with thecity of London.
He next passed Charing Cross, which was no longer the pleasant solitaryvillage at which the judges were wont to breakfast on their way toWestminster Hall, but began to resemble the artery through which, touse Johnson's expression "pours the full tide of London population." Thebuildings were rapidly increasing, yet certainly gave not even a faintidea of its present appearance.
At last Whitehall received our traveller, who passed under one ofthe beautiful gates designed by Holbein, and composed of tesselatedbrick-work, being the same to which Moniplies had profanely likened theWest-Port of Edinburgh, and entered the ample precincts of the palace ofWhitehall, now full of all the confusion attending improvement. It wasjust at the time when James,--little suspecting that he was employed inconstructing a palace, from the window of which his only son was to passin order that he might die upon a scaffold before it,--was busied inremoving the ancient and ruinous buildings of De Burgh, Henry VIII., andQueen Elizabeth, to make way for the superb architecture on which InigoJones exerted all his genius. The king, ignorant of futurity, was nowengaged in pressing on his work; and, for that purpose, still maintainedhis royal apartments at Whitehall, amidst the rubbish of old buildings,and the various confusion attending the erection of the new pile, whichformed at present a labyrinth not easily traversed.
The goldsmith to the Royal Household, and who, if fame spoke true,oftentimes acted as their banker,--for these professions were not asyet separated from each other,--was a person of too much importance toreceive the slightest interruption from sentinel or porter; and, leavinghis mule and two of his followers in the outer-court, he gently knockedat a postern-gate of the building, and was presently admitted, while themost trusty of his attendants followed him closely, with the pieceof plate under his arm. This man also he left behind him in anante-room,--where three or four pages in the royal livery, butuntrussed, unbuttoned, and dressed more carelessly than the place, andnearness to a king's person, seemed to admit, were playing at dice anddraughts, or stretched upon benches, and slumbering with half-shut eyes.A corresponding gallery, which opened from the ante-room, was occupiedby two gentlemen-ushers of the chamber, who gave each a smile ofrecognition as the wealthy goldsmith entered.
No word was spoken on either side; but one of the ushers looked firstto Heriot, and then to a little door half-covered by the tapestry, whichseemed to say, as plain as a look could, "Lies your business that way?"The citizen nodded; and the court-attendant, moving on tiptoe, and withas much caution as if the floor had been paved with eggs, advanced tothe door, opened it gently, and spoke a few words in a low tone. Thebroad Scottish accent of King James was heard in reply,--"Admit himinstanter, Maxwell. Have you hairboured sae lang at the Court, and notlearned, that gold and silver are ever welcome?"
The usher signed to Heriot to advance, and the honest citizen waspresently introduced into the cabinet of the Sovereign.
The scene of confusion amid which he found the king seated, was no badpicture of the state and quality of James's own mind. There was muchthat was rich and costly in cabinet pictures and valuable ornaments;but they were arranged in a slovenly manner, covered with dust, and losthalf their value, or at least their effect, from the manner in whichthey were presented to the eye. The table was loaded with huge folios,amongst which lay light books of jest and ribaldry; and, amongst notesof unmercifully long orations, and essays on king-craft, were mingledmiserable roundels and ballads by the Royal 'Prentice, as he styledhimself, in the art of poetry, and schemes for the general pacificationof Europe, with a list of the names of the king's hounds, and remediesagainst canine madness.
The king's dress was of green velvet, quilted so full as to bedagger-proof--which gave him the appearance of clumsy and ungainlyprotuberance; while its being buttoned awry, communicated to his figurean air of distortion. Over his green doublet he wore a sad-colourednightgown, out of the pocket of which peeped his hunting-horn. Hishigh-crowned grey hat lay on the floor, covered with dust, but encircledby a carcanet of large balas rubies; and he wore a blue velvet nightcap,in the front of which was placed the plume of a heron, which had beenstruck down by a favourite hawk in some critical moment of the flight,in remembrance of which the king wore this highly honoured feather.
But such inconsistencies in dress and appointments were mere outwardtypes of those which existed in the royal character, rendering it asubject of doubt amongst his contemporaries, and bequeathing it as aproblem to future historians. He was deeply learned, without possessinguseful knowledge; sagacious in many individual cases, without havingreal wisdom; fond of his power, and desirous to maintain and augment it,yet willing to resign the direction of that, and of himself, to the mostunworthy favourites; a big and bold asserter of his rights in words, yetone who tamely saw them trampled on in deeds; a lover of negotiations,in which he was always outwitted; and one who feared war, whereconquest might have been easy. He was fond of his dignity, while he wasperpetually degrading it by undue familiarity; capable of much publiclabour, yet often neglecting it for the meanest amusement; a wit, thougha pedant; and a scholar, though fond of the conversation of the ignorantand uneducated. Even his timidity of temper was not uniform; and therewere moments of his life, and those critical, in which he showed thespirit of his ancestors. He was laborious in trifles, and a triflerwhere serious labour was required; devout in his sentiments, and yettoo often profane in his language; just and beneficent by nature, he yetgave way to the iniquities and oppression of others. He was penuriousrespecting money
which he had to give from his own hand, yetinconsiderately and unboundedly profuse of that which he did not see.In a word, those good qualities which displayed themselves in particularcases and occasions, were not of a nature sufficiently firm andcomprehensive to regulate his general conduct; and, showing themselvesas they occasionally did, only entitled James to the character bestowedon him by Sully--that he was the wisest fool in Christendom.
That the fortunes of this monarch might be as little of apiece as hischaracter, he, certainly the least able of the Stewarts, succeededpeaceably to that kingdom, against the power of which his predecessorshad, with so much difficulty, defended his native throne; and, lastly,although his reign appeared calculated to ensure to Great Britain thatlasting tranquillity and internal peace which so much suited the king'sdisposition, yet, during that very reign, were sown those seeds ofdissension, which, like the teeth of the fabulous dragon, had theirharvest in a bloody and universal civil war.
Such was the monarch, who, saluting Heriot by the name of JinglingGeordie, (for it was his well-known custom to give nicknames to allthose with whom he was on terms of familiarity,) inquired what newclatter-traps he had brought with him, to cheat his lawful and nativePrince out of his siller.
"God forbid, my liege," said the citizen, "that I should have any suchdisloyal purpose. I did but bring a piece of plate to show to your mostgracious Majesty, which, both for the subject and for the workmanship,I were loath to put into the hands of any subject until I knew yourMajesty's pleasure anent it."
"Body o' me, man, let's see it, Heriot; though, by my saul, Steenie'sservice o' plate was sae dear a bargain, I had 'maist pawned my wordas a Royal King, to keep my ain gold and silver in future, and let you,Geordie, keep yours."
"Respecting the Duke of Buckingham's plate," said the goldsmith, "yourMajesty was pleased to direct that no expense should be spared, and--"
"What signifies what I desired, man? when a wise man is with fules andbairns, he maun e'en play at the chucks. But you should have had mairsense and consideration than to gie Babie Charles and Steenie their aingate; they wad hae floored the very rooms wi' silver, and I wonder theydidna."
George Heriot bowed, and said no more. He knew his master too well tovindicate himself otherwise than by a distant allusion to his order; andJames, with whom economy was only a transient and momentary twinge ofconscience, became immediately afterwards desirous to see the piece ofplate which the goldsmith proposed to exhibit, and dispatched Maxwellto bring it to his presence. In the meantime he demanded of the citizenwhence he had procured it.
"From Italy, may it please your Majesty," replied Heriot.
"It has naething in it tending to papistrie?" said the king, lookinggraver than his wont.
"Surely not, please your Majesty," said Heriot; "I were not wise tobring any thing to your presence that had the mark of the beast."
"You would be the mair beast yourself to do so," said the king; "it isweel kend that I wrestled wi' Dagon in my youth, and smote him on thegroundsill of his own temple; a gude evidence that I should be in timecalled, however unworthy, the Defender of the Faith.--But here comesMaxwell, bending under his burden, like the Golden Ass of Apuleius."
Heriot hastened to relieve the usher, and to place the embossed salver,for such it was, and of extraordinary dimensions, in a light favourablefor his Majesty's viewing the sculpture.
"Saul of my body, man," said the king, "it is a curious piece, and, asI think, fit for a king's chalmer; and the subject, as you say, MasterGeorge, vera adequate and beseeming--being, as I see, the judgment ofSolomon--a prince in whose paths it weel becomes a' leeving monarchs towalk with emulation."
"But whose footsteps," said Maxwell, "only one of them--if a subject maysay so much--hath ever overtaken."
"Haud your tongue for a fause fleeching loon!" said the king, but witha smile on his face that showed the flattery had done its part. "Lookat the bonny piece of workmanship, and haud your clavering tongue.--Andwhase handiwork may it be, Geordie?"
"It was wrought, sir," replied the goldsmith, "by the famous Florentine,Benvenuto Cellini, and designed for Francis the First of France; but Ihope it will find a fitter master."
"Francis of France!" said the king; "send Solomon, King of the Jews, toFrancis of France!--Body of me, man, it would have kythed Cellini mad,had he never done ony thing else out of the gate. Francis!--why, hewas a fighting fule, man,--a mere fighting fule,--got himsell ta'en atPavia, like our ain David at Durham lang syne;--if they could hae senthim Solomon's wit, and love of peace, and godliness, they wad hae dunehim a better turn. But Solomon should sit in other gate company thanFrancis of France."
"I trust that such will be his good fortune," said Heriot.
"It is a curious and very artificial sculpture," said the king, incontinuation; "but yet, methinks, the carnifex, or executioner there,is brandishing his gully ower near the king's face, seeing he is withinreach of his weapon. I think less wisdom than Solomon's wad have taughthim that there was danger in edge-tools, and that he wad have bidden thesmaik either sheath his shabble, or stand farther back."
George Heriot endeavoured to alleviate this objection, by assuring theking that the vicinity betwixt Solomon and the executioner was nearer inappearance than in reality, and that the perspective should be allowedfor.
"Gang to the deil wi' your prospective, man," said the king; "therecanna be a waur prospective for a lawful king, wha wishes to reign inluve, and die in peace and honour, than to have naked swords flashing inhis een. I am accounted as brave as maist folks; and yet I profess toye I could never look on a bare blade without blinking and winking. Buta'thegither it is a brave piece;--and what is the price of it, man?"
The goldsmith replied by observing, that it was not his own property,but that of a distressed countryman.
"Whilk you mean to mak your excuse for asking the double of its worth,I warrant?" answered the king. "I ken the tricks of you burrows-townmerchants, man."
"I have no hopes of baffling your Majesty's sagacity," said Heriot; "thepiece is really what I say, and the price a hundred and fifty poundssterling, if it pleases your Majesty to make present payment."
"A hundred and fifty punds, man! and as mony witches and warlocks toraise them!" said the irritated Monarch. "My saul, Jingling Geordie, yeare minded that your purse shall jingle to a bonny tune!--How am I totell you down a hundred and fifty punds for what will not weigh as manymerks? and ye ken that my very household servitors, and the officers ofmy mouth, are sax months in arrear!"
The goldsmith stood his ground against all this objurgation, being whathe was well accustomed to, and only answered, that, if his Majesty likedthe piece, and desired to possess it, the price could be easily settled.It was true that the party required the money, but he, George Heriot,would advance it on his Majesty's account, if such were his pleasure,and wait his royal conveniency for payment, for that and other matters;the money, meanwhile, lying at the ordinary usage.
"By my honour," said James, "and that is speaking like an honest andreasonable tradesman. We maun get another subsidy frae the Commons, andthat will make ae compting of it. Awa wi' it, Maxwell--awa wi' it,and let it be set where Steenie and Babie Charles shall see it as theyreturn from Richmond.--And now that we are secret, my good auld friendGeordie, I do truly opine, that speaking of Solomon and ourselves, thehaill wisdom in the country left Scotland, when we took our travels tothe Southland here."
George Heriot was courtier enough to say, that "the wise naturallyfollow the wisest, as stags follow their leader."
"Troth, I think there is something in what thou sayest," said James;"for we ourselves, and those of our Court and household, as thouthyself, for example, are allowed by the English, for as self-opinionedas they are, to pass for reasonable good wits; but the brains of thosewe have left behind are all astir, and run clean hirdie-girdie, like saemony warlocks and witches on the Devil's Sabbath e'en."
"I am sorry to hear this, my liege," said Heriot. "May it please yourGrace to s
ay what our countrymen have done to deserve such a character?"
"They are become frantic, man--clean brain-crazed," answered the king."I cannot keep them out of the Court by all the proclamations that theheralds roar themselves hoarse with. Yesterday, nae farther gane,just as we were mounted, and about to ride forth, in rushed a thoroughEdinburgh gutterblood--a ragged rascal, every dud upon whose back wasbidding good-day to the other, with a coat and hat that would haveserved a pease-bogle, and without havings or reverence, thrusts into ourhands, like a sturdy beggar, some Supplication about debts owing by ourgracious mother, and siclike trash; whereat the horse spangs on end,and, but for our admirable sitting, wherein we have been thought toexcel maist sovereign princes, as well as subjects, in Europe, I promiseyou we would have been laid endlang on the causeway."
"Your Majesty," said Heriot, "is their common father, and therefore theyare the bolder to press into your gracious presence."
"I ken I am _pater patriae_ well enough," said James; "but one wouldthink they had a mind to squeeze my puddings out, that they may dividethe inheritance, Ud's death, Geordie, there is not a loon among them candeliver a Supplication, as it suld be done in the face of majesty."
"I would I knew the most fitting and beseeming mode to do so,"said Heriot, "were it but to instruct our poor countrymen in betterfashions."
"By my halidome," said the king, "ye are a ceevileezed fellow, Geordie,and I carena if I fling awa as much time as may teach ye. And, first,see you, sir--ye shall approach the presence of majesty thus,--shadowingyour eyes with your hand, to testify that you are in the presence ofthe Vice-gerent of Heaven.--Vera weel, George, that is done in a comelymanner.--Then, sir, ye sail kneel, and make as if ye would kiss thehem of our garment, the latch of our shoe, or such like.--Very weelenacted--whilk we, as being willing to be debonair and pleasing towardsour lieges, prevent thus,--and motion to you to rise;--whilk, havinga boon to ask, as yet you obey not, but, gliding your hand into yourpouch, bring forth your Supplication, and place it reverentially in ouropen palm." The goldsmith, who had complied with great accuracy with allthe prescribed points of the ceremonial, here completed it, to James'sno small astonishment, by placing in his hand the petition of the Lordof Glenvarloch. "What means this, ye fause loon?" said he, reddening andsputtering; "hae I been teaching you the manual exercise, that ye suldpresent your piece at our ain royal body?--Now, by this light, I had aslief that ye had bended a real pistolet against me, and yet this haeye done in my very cabinet, where nought suld enter but at my ainpleasure."
"I trust your Majesty," said Heriot, as he continued to kneel, "willforgive my exercising the lesson you condescended to give me in thebehalf of a friend?"
"Of a friend!" said the king; "so much the waur--so much the waur, Itell you. If it had been something to do _yoursell_ good there wouldhave been some sense in it, and some chance that you wad not havecome back on me in a hurry; but a man may have a hundred friends, andpetitions for every ane of them, ilk ane after other."
"Your Majesty, I trust," said Heriot, "will judge me by formerexperience, and will not suspect me of such presumption."
"I kenna," said the placable monarch; "the world goes daft, Ithink--_sed semel insanivimus omnes_--thou art my old and faithfulservant, that is the truth; and, were't any thing for thy own behoof,man, thou shouldst not ask twice. But, troth, Steenie loves me sodearly, that he cares not that any one should ask favours of me buthimself.--Maxwell," (for the usher had re-entered after having carriedoff the plate,) "get into the ante-chamber wi' your lang lugs.--Inconscience, Geordie, I think as that thou hast been mine ain auldfiduciary, and wert my goldsmith when I might say with the Ethnicpoet--_Non mea renidet in domo lacunar_--for, faith, they had pillagedmy mither's auld house sae, that beechen bickers, and treen trenchers,and latten platters, were whiles the best at our board, and glad we wereof something to put on them, without quarrelling with the metal of thedishes. D'ye mind, for thou wert in maist of our complots, how we werefain to send sax of the Blue-banders to harry the Lady of Loganhouse'sdowcot and poultry-yard, and what an awfu' plaint the poor dame madeagainst Jock of Milch, and the thieves of Annandale, wha were assackless of the deed as I am of the sin of murder?"
"It was the better for Jock," said Heriot; "for, if I remember weel, itsaved him from a strapping up at Dumfries, which he had weel deservedfor other misdeeds."
"Ay, man, mind ye that?" said the king; "but he had other virtues, forhe was a tight huntsman, moreover, that Jock of Milch, and could hollowto a hound till all the woods rang again. But he came to an Annandaleend at the last, for Lord Torthorwald run his lance out throughhim.--Cocksnails, man, when I think of those wild passages, in myconscience, I am not sure but we lived merrier in auld Holyrood inthose shifting days, than now when we are dwelling at heck and manger._Cantabit vacuus_--we had but little to care for."
"And if your Majesty please to remember," said the goldsmith, "the awfultask we had to gather silver-vessail and gold-work enough to make someshow before the Spanish Ambassador."
"Vera true," said the king, now in a full tide of gossip, "and I mindnot the name of the right leal lord that helped us with every unce hehad in his house, that his native Prince might have some credit in theeyes of them that had the Indies at their beck."
"I think, if your Majesty," said the citizen, "will cast your eye on thepaper in your hand, you will recollect his name."
"Ay!" said the king, "say ye sae, man?--Lord Glenvarloch, that was hisname indeed--_Justus et tenax propositi_--A just man, but as obstinateas a baited bull. He stood whiles against us, that Lord Randal Olifauntof Glenvarloch, but he was a loving and a leal subject in the main. Butthis supplicator maun be his son--Randal has been long gone where kingand lord must go, Geordie, as weel as the like of you--and what does hisson want with us?"
"The settlement," answered the citizen, "of a large debt due by yourMajesty's treasury, for money advanced to your Majesty in great Stateemergency, about the time of the Raid of Ruthven."
"I mind the thing weel," said King James--"Od's death, man, I was justout of the clutches of the Master of Glamis and his complices, and therewas never siller mair welcome to a born prince,--the mair the shame andpity that crowned king should need sic a petty sum. But what need he dunus for it, man, like a baxter at the breaking? We aught him the siller,and will pay him wi' our convenience, or make it otherwise up to him,whilk is enow between prince and subject--We are not _in meditationefugae,_ man, to be arrested thus peremptorily."
"Alas! an it please your Majesty," said the goldsmith, shaking his head,"it is the poor young nobleman's extreme necessity, and not his will,that makes him importunate; for he must have money, and that briefly,to discharge a debt due to Peregrine Peterson, Conservator of thePrivileges at Campvere, or his haill hereditary barony and estate ofGlenvarloch will be evicted in virtue of an unredeemed wadset."
"How say ye, man--how say ye?" exclaimed the king, impatiently; "thecarle of a Conservator, the son of a Low-Dutch skipper, evict the auldestate and lordship of the house of Olifaunt?--God's bread, man,that maun not be--we maun suspend the diligence by writ of favour, orotherwise."
"I doubt that may hardly be," answered the citizen, "if it please yourMajesty; your learned counsel in the law of Scotland advise, that thereis no remeid but in paying the money."
"Ud's fish," said the king, "let him keep haud by the strong handagainst the carle, until we can take some order about his affairs."
"Alas!" insisted the goldsmith, "if it like your Majesty, your ownpacific government, and your doing of equal justice to all men, has mademain force a kittle line to walk by, unless just within the bounds ofthe Highlands."
"Well--weel--weel, man," said the perplexed monarch, whose ideas ofjustice, expedience, and convenience, became on such occasions strangelyembroiled; "just it is we should pay our debts, that the young man maypay his; and he must be paid, and _in verbo regis_ he shall be paid--buthow to come by the siller, man, is a difficult chapter--ye maun try thecity, Geordie."
"To say the truth," answered Heriot, "please your gracious Majesty,what betwixt loans and benevolences, and subsidies, the city is at thispresent----"
"Donna tell me of what the city is," said King James; "our Exchequer isas dry as Dean Giles's discourses on the penitentiary psalms--_Ex nihilonihil fit_--It's ill taking the breeks aff a wild Highlandman--they thatcome to me for siller, should tell me how to come by it--the city yemaun try, Heriot; and donna think to be called Jingling Geordie fornothing--and _in verbo regis_ I will pay the lad if you get me theloan--I wonnot haggle on the terms; and, between you and me, Geordie, wewill redeem the brave auld estate of Glenvarloch.--But wherefore comesnot the young lord to Court, Heriot--is he comely--is he presentable inthe presence?"
"No one can be more so," said George Heriot; "but----"
"Ay, I understand ye," said his Majesty--"I understand ye--_Res angustadomi_--puir lad-puir lad!--and his father a right true leal Scots heart,though stiff in some opinions. Hark ye, Heriot, let the lad have twahundred pounds to fit him out. And, here--here"--(taking the carcanetof rubies from his old hat)--"ye have had these in pledge before for alarger sum, ye auld Levite that ye are. Keep them in gage, till I gie yeback the siller out of the next subsidy."
"If it please your Majesty to give me such directions in writing," saidthe cautious citizen.
"The deil is in your nicety, George," said the king; "ye are as preceeseas a Puritan in form, and a mere Nullifidian in the marrow of thematter. May not a king's word serve ye for advancing your pitiful twahundred pounds?"
"But not for detaining the crown jewels," said George Heriot.
And the king, who from long experience was inured to dealingwith suspicious creditors, wrote an order upon George Heriot, hiswell-beloved goldsmith and jeweller, for the sum of two hundred pounds,to be paid presently to Nigel Olifaunt, Lord of Glenvarloch, to beimputed as so much debts due to him by the crown; and authorizingthe retention of a carcanet of balas rubies, with a great diamond,as described in a Catalogue of his Majesty's Jewels, to remain inpossession of the said George Heriot, advancer of the said sum, andso forth, until he was lawfully contented and paid thereof. By anotherrescript, his Majesty gave the said George Heriot directions to dealwith some of the monied men, upon equitable terms, for a sum of moneyfor his Majesty's present use, not to be under 50,000 merks, but as muchmore as could conveniently be procured.
"And has he ony lair, this Lord Nigel of ours?" said the king.
George Heriot could not exactly answer this question; but believed "theyoung lord had studied abroad."
"He shall have our own advice," said the king, "how to carry on hisstudies to maist advantage; and it may be we will have him come toCourt, and study with Steenie and Babie Charles. And, now we think on't,away--away, George--for the bairns will be coming hame presently, and wewould not as yet they kend of this matter we have been treating anent._Propera fedem,_ O Geordie. Clap your mule between your boughs, andgod-den with you."
Thus ended the conference betwixt the gentle King Jamie and hisbenevolent jeweller and goldsmith.