The Ayrshire Legatees
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John Galt >> The Ayrshire Legatees
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When we had got to the outskirts of London, I began to be ashamed of
the sin of high places, and would gladly have got into the inside of
the coach, for fear of anybody knowing me; but although the
multitude of by-goers was like the kirk scailing at the Sacrament, I
saw not a kent face, nor one that took the least notice of my
situation. At last we got to an inn, called The White Horse,
Fetter-Lane, where we hired a hackney to take us to the lodgings
provided for us here in Norfolk Street, by Mr. Pawkie, the Scotch
solicitor, a friend of Andrew Pringle, my son. Now it was that we
began to experience the sharpers of London; for it seems that there
are divers Norfolk Streets. Ours was in the Strand (mind that when
you direct), not very far from Fetter-Lane; but the hackney driver
took us away to one afar off, and when we knocked at the number we
thought was ours, we found ourselves at a house that should not be
told. I was so mortified, that I did not know what to say; and when
Andrew Pringle, my son, rebuked the man for the mistake, he only
gave a cunning laugh, and said we should have told him whatna
Norfolk Street we wanted. Andrew stormed at this--but I discerned
it was all owing to our own inexperience, and put an end to the
contention, by telling the man to take us to Norfolk Street in the
Strand, which was the direction we had got. But when we got to the
door, the coachman was so extortionate, that another hobbleshaw
arose. Mrs. Pringle had been told that, in such disputes, the best
way of getting redress was to take the number of the coach; but, in
trying to do so, we found it fastened on, and I thought the
hackneyman would have gone by himself with laughter. Andrew, who
had not observed what we were doing, when he saw us trying to take
off the number, went like one demented, and paid the man, I cannot
tell what, to get us out, and into the house, for fear we should
have been mobbit.
I have not yet seen the colonel's agents, so can say nothing as to
the business of our coming; for, landing at Gravesend, we did not
bring our trunks with us, and Andrew has gone to the wharf this
morning to get them, and, until we get them, we can go nowhere,
which is the occasion of my writing so soon, knowing also how you
and the whole parish would be anxious to hear what had become of us;
and I remain, dear sir, your friend and pastor,
ZACHARIAH PRINGLE.
On Saturday evening, Saunders Dickie, the Irvine postman, suspecting
that this letter was from the Doctor, went with it himself, on his
own feet, to Mr. Micklewham, although the distance is more than two
miles, but Saunders, in addition to the customary TWAL PENNIES on
the postage, had a dram for his pains. The next morning being wet,
Mr. Micklewham had not an opportunity of telling any of the
parishioners in the churchyard of the Doctor's safe arrival, so that
when he read out the request to return thanks (for he was not only
school-master and session-clerk, but also precentor), there was a
murmur of pleasure diffused throughout the congregation, and the
greatest curiosity was excited to know what the dangers were, from
which their worthy pastor and his whole family had so thankfully
escaped in their voyage to London; so that, when the service was
over, the elders adjourned to the session-house to hear the letter
read; and many of the heads of families, and other respectable
parishioners, were admitted to the honours of the sitting, who all
sympathised, with the greatest sincerity, in the sufferings which
their minister and his family had endured. Mr. Daff, however, was
justly chided by Mr. Craig, for rubbing his hands, and giving a sort
of sniggering laugh, at the Doctor's sitting on high with a light
woman. But even Mr. Snodgrass was seen to smile at the incident of
taking the number off the coach, the meaning of which none but
himself seemed to understand.
When the epistle had been thus duly read, Mr. Micklewham promised,
for the satisfaction of some of the congregation, that he would get
two or three copies made by the best writers in his school, to be
handed about the parish, and Mr. Icenor remarked, that truly it was
a thing to be held in remembrance, for he had not heard of greater
tribulation by the waters since the shipwreck of the Apostle Paul.
CHAPTER III--THE LEGACY
Soon after the receipt of the letters which we had the pleasure of
communicating in the foregoing chapter, the following was received
from Mrs. Pringle, and the intelligence it contains is so
interesting and important, that we hasten to lay it before our
readers:-
LETTER VI
Mrs. Pringle to Miss Mally Glencairn--LONDON.
My Dear Miss Mally--You must not expect no particulars from me of
our journey; but as Rachel is writing all the calamities that befell
us to Bell Tod, you will, no doubt, hear of them. But all is
nothing to my losses. I bought from the first hand, Mr. Treddles
the manufacturer, two pieces of muslin, at Glasgow, such a thing not
being to be had on any reasonable terms here, where they get all
their fine muslins from Glasgow and Paisley; and in the same bocks
with them I packit a small crock of our ain excellent poudered
butter, with a delap cheese, for I was told that such commodities
are not to be had genuine in London. I likewise had in it a pot of
marmlet, which Miss Jenny Macbride gave me at Glasgow, assuring me
that it was not only dentice, but a curiosity among the English, and
my best new bumbeseen goun in peper. Howsomever, in the nailing of
the bocks, which I did carefully with my oun hands, one of the nails
gaed in ajee, and broke the pot of marmlet, which, by the jolting of
the ship, ruined the muslin, rottened the peper round the goun,
which the shivers cut into more than twenty great holes. Over and
above all, the crock with the butter was, no one can tell how,
crackit, and the pickle lecking out, and mixing with the seerip of
the marmlet, spoilt the cheese. In short, at the object I beheld,
when the bocks was opened, I could have ta'en to the greeting; but I
behaved with more composity on the occasion, than the Doctor thought
it was in the power of nature to do. Howsomever, till I get a new
goun and other things, I am obliged to be a prisoner; and as the
Doctor does not like to go to the counting-house of the agents
without me, I know not what is yet to be the consequence of our
journey. But it would need to be something; for we pay four guineas
and a half a week for our dry lodgings, which is at a degree more
than the Doctor's whole stipend. As yet, for the cause of these
misfortunes, I can give you no account of London; but there is, as
everybody kens, little thrift in their housekeeping. We just buy
our tea by the quarter a pound, and our loaf sugar, broken in a
peper bag, by the pound, which would be a disgrace to a decent
family in Scotland; and when we order dinner, we get no more than
just serves, so that we have no cold meat if a stranger were coming
by chance, which makes an unco bare house. The servan lasses I
cannot abide; they dress better at their wark than ever I did on an
ordinaire week-day at the manse; and this very morning I saw madam,
the kitchen lass, mounted on a pair of pattens, washing the plain
stenes before the door; na, for that matter, a bare foot is not to
be seen within the four walls of London, at the least I have na seen
no such thing.
In the way of marketing, things are very good here, and considering,
not dear; but all is sold by the licht weight, only the fish are
awful; half a guinea for a cod's head, and no bigger than the drouds
the cadgers bring from Ayr, at a shilling and eighteenpence apiece.
Tell Miss Nanny Eydent that I have seen none of the fashions as yet;
but we are going to the burial of the auld king next week, and I'll
write her a particular account how the leddies are dressed; but
everybody is in deep mourning. Howsomever I have seen but little,
and that only in a manner from the window; but I could not miss the
opportunity of a frank that Andrew has got, and as he's waiting for
the pen, you must excuse haste. From your sincere friend,
JANET PRINGLE.
LETTER VII
Andrew Pringle, Esq., to the Rev. Charles Snodgrass--LONDON.
My Dear Friend--It will give you pleasure to hear that my father is
likely to get his business speedily settled without any
equivocation; and that all those prudential considerations which
brought us to London were but the phantasms of our own inexperience.
I use the plural, for I really share in the shame of having called
in question the high character of the agents: it ought to have been
warrantry enough that everything would be fairly adjusted. But I
must give you some account of what has taken place, to illustrate
our provincialism, and to give you some idea of the way of doing
business in London.
After having recovered from the effects, and repaired some of the
accidents of our voyage, we yesterday morning sallied forth, the
Doctor, my mother, and your humble servant, in a hackney coach, to
Broad Street, where the agents have their counting-house, and were
ushered into a room among other legatees or clients, waiting for an
audience of Mr. Argent, the principal of the house.
I know not how it is, that the little personal peculiarities, so
amusing to strangers, should be painful when we see them in those
whom we love and esteem; but I own to you, that there was a
something in the demeanour of the old folks on this occasion, that
would have been exceedingly diverting to me, had my filial reverence
been less sincere for them.
The establishment of Messrs. Argent and Company is of vast extent,
and has in it something even of a public magnitude; the number of
the clerks, the assiduity of all, and the order that obviously
prevails throughout, give at the first sight, an impression that
bespeaks respect for the stability and integrity of the concern.
When we had been seated about ten minutes, and my father's name
taken to Mr. Argent, an answer was brought, that he would see us as
soon as possible; but we were obliged to wait at least half an hour
more. Upon our being at last admitted, Mr. Argent received us
standing, and in an easy gentlemanly manner said to my father, "You
are the residuary legatee of the late Colonel Armour. I am sorry
that you did not apprise me of this visit, that I might have been
prepared to give the information you naturally desire; but if you
will call here to-morrow at 12 o'clock, I shall then be able to
satisfy you on the subject. Your lady, I presume?" he added,
turning to my mother; "Mrs. Argent will have the honour of waiting
on you; may I therefore beg the favour of your address?"
Fortunately I was provided with cards, and having given him one, we
found ourselves constrained, as it were, to take our leave. The
whole interview did not last two minutes, and I never was less
satisfied with myself. The Doctor and my mother were in the
greatest anguish; and when we were again seated in the coach, loudly
expressed their apprehensions. They were convinced that some
stratagem was meditated; they feared that their journey to London
would prove as little satisfactory as that of the Wrongheads, and
that they had been throwing away good money in building castles in
the air.
It had been previously arranged, that we were to return for my
sister, and afterwards visit some of the sights; but the clouded
visages of her father and mother darkened the very spirit of Rachel,
and she largely shared in their fears. This, however, was not the
gravest part of the business; for, instead of going to St. Paul's
and the Tower, as we had intended, my mother declared, that not one
farthing would they spend more till they were satisfied that the
expenses already incurred were likely to be reimbursed; and a
Chancery suit, with all the horrors of wig and gown, floated in
spectral haziness before their imagination.
We sat down to a frugal meal, and although the remainder of a bottle
of wine, saved from the preceding day, hardly afforded a glass
apiece, the Doctor absolutely prohibited me from opening another.
This morning, faithful to the hour, we were again in Broad Street,
with hearts knit up into the most peremptory courage; and, on being
announced, were immediately admitted to Mr. Argent. He received us
with the same ease as in the first interview, and, after requesting
us to be seated (which, by the way, he did not do yesterday, a
circumstance that was ominously remarked), he began to talk on
indifferent matters. I could see that a question, big with law and
fortune, was gathering in the breasts both of the Doctor and my
mother, and that they were in a state far from that of the blessed.
But one of the clerks, before they had time to express their
indignant suspicions, entered with a paper, and Mr. Argent, having
glanced it over, said to the Doctor--"I congratulate you, sir, on
the amount of the colonel's fortune. I was not indeed aware before
that he had died so rich. He has left about 120,000 pounds;
seventy-five thousand of which is in the five per cents; the
remainder in India bonds and other securities. The legacies appear
to be inconsiderable, so that the residue to you, after paying them
and the expenses of Doctors' Commons, will exceed a hundred thousand
pounds."
My father turned his eyes upwards in thankfulness. "But," continued
Mr. Argent, "before the property can be transferred, it will be
necessary for you to provide about four thousand pounds to pay the
duty and other requisite expenses." This was a thunderclap. "Where
can I get such a sum?" exclaimed my father, in a tone of pathetic
simplicity. Mr. Argent smiled and said, "We shall manage that for
you"; and having in the same moment pulled a bell, a fine young man
entered, whom he introduced to us as his son, and desired him to
explain what steps it was necessary for the Doctor to take. We
accordingly followed Mr. Charles Argent to his own room.
Thus, in less time than I have been in writing it, were we put in
possession of all the information we required, and found those whom
we feared might be interested to withhold the settlement, alert and
prompt to assist us.
Mr. Charles Argent is naturally more familiar than his father. He
has a little dash of pleasantry in his manner, with a shrewd good-
humoured fashionable air, that renders him soon an agreeable
acquaintance. He entered with singular felicity at once into the
character of the Doctor and my mother, and waggishly drolled, as if
he did not understand them, in order, I could perceive, to draw out
the simplicity of their apprehensions. He quite won the old lady's
economical heart, by offering to frank her letters, for he is in
Parliament. "You have probably," said he slyly, "friends in the
country, to whom you may be desirous of communicating the result of
your journey to London; send your letters to me, and I will forward
them, and any that you expect may also come under cover to my
address, for postage is very expensive."
As we were taking our leave, after being fully instructed in all the
preliminary steps to be taken before the transfers of the funded
property can be made, he asked me, in a friendly manner, to dine
with him this evening, and I never accepted an invitation with more
pleasure. I consider his acquaintance a most agreeable acquisition,
and not one of the least of those advantages which this new opulence
has put it in my power to attain. The incidents, indeed, of this
day, have been all highly gratifying, and the new and brighter phase
in which I have seen the mercantile character, as it is connected
with the greatness and glory of my country--is in itself equivalent
to an accession of useful knowledge. I can no longer wonder at the
vast power which the British Government wielded during the late war,
when I reflect that the method and promptitude of the house of
Messrs. Argent and Company is common to all the great commercial
concerns from which the statesmen derived, as from so many
reservoirs, those immense pecuniary supplies, which enabled them to
beggar all the resources of a political despotism, the most
unbounded, both in power and principle, of any tyranny that ever
existed so long.--Yours, etc., ANDREW PRINGLE.
CHAPTER IV--THE TOWN
There was a great tea-drinking held in the Kirkgate of Irvine, at
the house of Miss Mally Glencairn; and at that assemblage of rank,
beauty, and fashion, among other delicacies of the season, several
new-come-home Clyde skippers, roaring from Greenock and Port-
Glasgow, were served up--but nothing contributed more to the
entertainment of the evening than a proposal, on the part of Miss
Mally, that those present who had received letters from the Pringles
should read them for the benefit of the company. This was, no
doubt, a preconcerted scheme between her and Miss Isabella Tod, to
hear what Mr. Andrew Pringle had said to his friend Mr. Snodgrass,
and likewise what the Doctor himself had indited to Mr. Micklewham;
some rumour having spread of the wonderful escapes and adventures of
the family in their journey and voyage to London. Had there not
been some prethought of this kind, it was not indeed probable, that
both the helper and session-clerk of Garnock could have been there
together, in a party, where it was an understood thing, that not
only Whist and Catch Honours were to be played, but even
obstreperous Birky itself, for the diversion of such of the company
as were not used to gambling games. It was in consequence of what
took place at this Irvine route, that we were originally led to
think of collecting the letters.
LETTER VIII
Miss Rachel Pringle to Miss Isabella Tod--LONDON.
My Dear Bell--It was my heartfelt intention to keep a regular
journal of all our proceedings, from the sad day on which I bade a
long adieu to my native shades--and I persevered with a constancy
becoming our dear and youthful friendship, in writing down
everything that I saw, either rare or beautiful, till the hour of
our departure from Leith. In that faithful register of my feelings
and reflections as a traveller, I described our embarkation at
Greenock, on board the steam-boat,--our sailing past Port-Glasgow,
an insignificant town, with a steeple;--the stupendous rock of
Dumbarton Castle, that Gibraltar of antiquity;--our landing at
Glasgow;--my astonishment at the magnificence of that opulent
metropolis of the muslin manufacturers; my brother's remark, that
the punch-bowls on the roofs of the Infirmary, the Museum, and the
Trades Hall, were emblematic of the universal estimation in which
that celebrated mixture is held by all ranks and degrees--learned,
commercial, and even medical, of the inhabitants;--our arrival at
Edinburgh--my emotion on beholding the Castle, and the visionary
lake which may be nightly seen from the windows of Princes Street,
between the Old and New Town, reflecting the lights of the lofty
city beyond--with a thousand other delightful and romantic
circumstances, which render it no longer surprising that the
Edinburgh folk should be, as they think themselves, the most
accomplished people in the world. But, alas! from the moment I
placed my foot on board that cruel vessel, of which the very idea is
anguish, all thoughts were swallowed up in suffering-swallowed, did
I say? Ah, my dear Bell, it was the odious reverse--but imagination
alone can do justice to the subject. Not, however, to dwell on what
is past, during the whole time of our passage from Leith, I was
unable to think, far less to write; and, although there was a
handsome young Hussar officer also a passenger, I could not even
listen to the elegant compliments which he seemed disposed to offer
by way of consolation, when he had got the better of his own
sickness. Neither love nor valour can withstand the influence of
that sea-demon. The interruption thus occasioned to my observations
made me destroy my journal, and I have now to write to you only
about London--only about London! What an expression for this human
universe, as my brother calls it, as if my weak feminine pen were
equal to the stupendous theme!
But, before entering on the subject, let me first satisfy the
anxiety of your faithful bosom with respect to my father's legacy.
All the accounts, I am happy to tell you, are likely to be amicably
settled; but the exact amount is not known as yet, only I can see,
by my brother's manner, that it is not less than we expected, and my
mother speaks about sending me to a boarding-school to learn
accomplishments. Nothing, however, is to be done until something is
actually in hand. But what does it all avail to me? Here am I, a
solitary being in the midst of this wilderness of mankind, far from
your sympathising affection, with the dismal prospect before me of
going a second time to school, and without the prospect of enjoying,
with my own sweet companions, that light and bounding gaiety we were
wont to share, in skipping from tomb to tomb in the breezy
churchyard of Irvine, like butterflies in spring flying from flower
to flower, as a Wordsworth or a Wilson would express it.
We have got elegant lodgings at present in Norfolk Street, but my
brother is trying, with all his address, to get us removed to a more
fashionable part of the town, which, if the accounts were once
settled, I think will take place; and he proposes to hire a carriage
for a whole month. Indeed, he has given hints about the saving that
might be made by buying one of our own; but my mother shakes her
head, and says, "Andrew, dinna be carri't." From all which it is
very plain, though they don't allow me to know their secrets, that
the legacy is worth the coming for. But to return to the lodgings;-
-we have what is called a first and second floor, a drawing-room,
and three handsome bedchambers. The drawing-room is very elegant;
and the carpet is the exact same pattern of the one in the dress-
drawing-room of Eglintoun Castle. Our landlady is indeed a lady,
and I am surprised how she should think of letting lodgings, for she
dresses better, and wears finer lace, than ever I saw in Irvine.
But I am interrupted. -
I now resume my pen. We have just had a call from Mrs. and Miss
Argent, the wife and daughter of the colonel's man of business.
They seem great people, and came in their own chariot, with two
grand footmen behind; but they are pleasant and easy, and the object
of their visit was to invite us to a family dinner to-morrow,
Sunday. I hope we may become better acquainted; but the two livery
servants make such a difference in our degrees, that I fear this is
a vain expectation. Miss Argent was, however, very frank, and told
me that she was herself only just come to London for the first time
since she was a child, having been for the last seven years at a
school in the country. I shall, however, be better able to say more
about her in my next letter. Do not, however, be afraid that she
shall ever supplant you in my heart. No, my dear friend, companion
of my days of innocence,--that can never be. But this call from
such persons of fashion looks as if the legacy had given us some
consideration; so that I think my father and mother may as well let
me know at once what my prospects are, that I might show you how
disinterestedly and truly I am, my dear Bell, yours,
RACHEL PRINGLE.
When Miss Isabella Tod had read the letter, there was a solemn pause
for some time--all present knew something, more or less, of the fair
writer; but a carriage, a carpet like the best at Eglintoun, a
Hussar officer, and two footmen in livery, were phantoms of such
high import, that no one could distinctly express the feelings with
which the intelligence affected them. It was, however, unanimously
agreed, that the Doctor's legacy had every symptom of being equal to
what it was at first expected to be, namely, twenty thousand
pounds;--a sum which, by some occult or recondite moral influence of
the Lottery, is the common maximum, in popular estimation, of any
extraordinary and indefinite windfall of fortune. Miss Becky
Glibbans, from the purest motives of charity, devoutly wished that
poor Rachel might be able to carry her full cup with a steady hand;
and the Rev. Mr. Snodgrass, that so commendable an expression might
not lose its edifying effect by any lighter talk, requested Mr.
Micklewham to read his letter from the Doctor.
LETTER IX
The Rev. Z. Pringle, D.D., to Mr. Micklewham, Schoolmaster and
Session-Clerk of Garnock--LONDON.
Dear Sir--I have written by the post that will take this to hand, a
letter to Banker M-y, at Irvine, concerning some small matters of
money that I may stand in need of his opinion anent; and as there is
a prospect now of a settlement of the legacy business, I wish you to
take a step over to the banker, and he will give you ten pounds,
which you will administer to the poor, by putting a twenty-shilling
note in the plate on Sunday, as a public testimony from me of
thankfulness for the hope that is before us; the other nine pounds
you will quietly, and in your own canny way, divide after the
following manner, letting none of the partakers thereof know from
what other hand than the Lord's the help comes, for, indeed, from
whom but HIS does any good befall us!
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