Chronicles of the Canongate

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Mr. WILLIAM ALLAN, banker, said that he did not rise with the
intention of making a speech. He merely wished to contribute in
a few words to the mirth of the evening--an evening which
certainly had not passed off without some blunders. It had been
understood--at least he had learnt or supposed from the
expressions of Mr. Pritchard--that it would be sufficient to put
a paper, with the name of the contributor, into the box, and that
the gentleman thus contributing would be called on for the money
next morning. He, for his part, had committed a blunder but it
might serve as a caution to those who may be present at the
dinner of next year. He had merely put in his name, written on a
slip of paper, without the money. But he would recommend that,
as some of the gentlemen might be in the same situation, the box
should be again sent round, and he was confident that they, as
well as he, would redeem their error.

Sir WALTER SCOTT said that the meeting was somewhat in the
situation of Mrs. Anne Page, who had L300 and possibilities. We
have already got, said he, L280, but I should like, I confess, to
have the L300. He would gratify himself by proposing the health
of an honourable person, the Lord Chief Baron, whom England has
sent to us, and connecting with it that of his "yokefellow on the
bench," as Shakespeare says, Mr. Baron Clerk--The Court of
Exchequer.

Mr. Baron CLERK regretted the absence of his learned brother.
None, he was sure, could be more generous in his nature, or more
ready to help a Scottish purpose.

Sir WALTER SCOTT,--There is one who ought to be remembered on
this occasion. He is, indeed, well entitled to our grateful
recollection--one, in short, to whom the drama in this city owes
much. He succeeded, not without trouble, and perhaps at some
considerable sacrifice, in establishing a theatre. The younger
part of the company may not recollect the theatre to which I
allude, but there are some who with me may remember by name a
place called Carrubber's Close. There Allan Ramsay established
his little theatre. His own pastoral was not fit for the stage,
but it has its admirers in those who love the Doric language in
which it is written; and it is not without merits of a very
peculiar kind. But laying aside all considerations of his
literary merit, Allan was a good, jovial, honest fellow, who
could crack a bottle with the best. "The Memory of Allan
Ramsay."

Mr. MURRAY, on being requested, sung "'Twas merry in the hall,"
and at the conclusion was greeted with repeated rounds of
applause.

Mr. JONES.--One omission I conceive has been made. The cause of
the Fund has been ably advocated, but it is still susceptible, in
my opinion, of an additional charm--

"Without the smile from partial beauty won,
Oh, what were man?--a world without a sun!"

And there would not be a darker spot in poetry than would be the
corner in Shakespeare Square, if, like its fellow, the Register
Office, the Theatre were deserted by the ladies. They are, in
fact, our most attractive stars. "The Patronesses of the
Theatre, the Ladies of the City of Edinburgh." This toast I ask
leave to drink with all the honours which conviviality can
confer.

Mr. PATRICK ROBERTSON would be the last man willingly to
introduce any topic calculated to interrupt the harmony of the
evening; yet he felt himself treading upon ticklish ground when
he approached the region of the Nor' Loch. He assured the
company, however, that he was not about to enter on the subject
of the Improvement Bill. They all knew that if the public were
unanimous--if the consent of all parties were obtained--if the
rights and interests of everybody were therein attended to,
saved, reserved, respected, and excepted--if everybody agreed to
it--and, finally, a most essential point, if nobody opposed it
--then, and in that case, and provided also that due intimation
were given, the bill in question might pass--would pass--or
might, could, would, or should pass--all expenses being defrayed.
(Laughter.) He was the advocate of neither champion, and would
neither avail himself of the absence of the Right Hon. the Lord
Provost, nor take advantage of the non-appearance of his friend,
Mr. Cockburn. (Laughter.) But in the midst of these civic broils
there had been elicited a ray of hope that, at some future
period, in Bereford Park, or some other place, if all parties
were consulted and satisfied, and if intimation were duly made at
the kirk doors of all the parishes in Scotland, in terms of the
statute in that behalf provided--the people of Edinburgh might by
possibility get a new Theatre. (Cheers and laughter.) But
wherever the belligerent powers might be pleased to set down this
new Theatre, he was sure they all hoped to meet the Old Company
in it. He should therefore propose "Better Accommodation to the
Old Company in the new Theatre, site unknown."--Mr. Robertson's
speech was most humorously given, and he sat down amidst loud
cheers and laughter.

Sir WALTER SCOTT.--Wherever the new Theatre is built, I hope it
will not be large. There are two errors which we commonly
commit--the one arising from our pride, the other from our
poverty. If there are twelve plans, it is odds but the largest,
without any regard to comfort, or an eye to the probable expense,
is adopted. There was the College projected on this scale, and
undertaken in the same manner, and who shall see the end of it?
It has been building all my life, and may probably last during
the lives of my children, and my children's children. Let not
the same prophetic hymn be sung when we commence a new Theatre,
which was performed on the occasion of laying the foundation-
stone of a certain edifice, "Behold the endless work begun."
Playgoing folks should attend somewhat to convenience. The new
Theatre should, in the first place, be such as may be finished in
eighteen months or two years; and, in the second place, it should
be one in which we can hear our old friends with comfort. It is
better that a moderate-sized house should be crowded now and
then, than to have a large theatre with benches continually
empty, to the discouragement of the actors and the discomfort of
the spectators. (Applause.) He then commented in flattering
terms on the genius of Mackenzie and his private worth, and
concluded by proposing "The Health of Henry Mackenzie, Esq."

Immediately afterwards he said:--Gentlemen, it is now wearing
late, and I shall request permission to retire. Like Partridge,
I may say, "NON SUM QUALIS ERAM." At my time of day I can agree
with Lord Ogilvie as to his rheumatism, and say, "There's a
twinge." I hope, therefore, you will excuse me for leaving the
chair.--The worthy Baronet then retired amidst long, loud, and
rapturous cheering.

Mr. PATRICK ROBERTSON was then called to the chair by common
acclamation.

Gentlemen, said Mr. Robertson, I take the liberty of asking you
to fill a bumper to the very brim. There is not one of us who
will not remember, while he lives, being present at this day's
festival, and the declaration made this night by the gentleman
who has just left the chair. That declaration has rent the veil
from the features of the Great Unknown--a name which must now
merge in the name of the Great Known. It will be henceforth
coupled with the name of SCOTT, which will become familiar like a
household word. We have heard the confession from his own
immortal lips--(cheering)--and we cannot dwell with too much or
too fervent praise on the merits of the greatest man whom
Scotland has produced.

After which several other toasts were given, and Mr. Robertson
left the room about half-past eleven. A few choice spirits,
however, rallied round Captain Broadhead of the 7th Hussars, who
was called to the chair, and the festivity was prolonged till an
early hour on Saturday morning.

The band of the Theatre occupied the gallery, and that of the 7th
Hussars the end of the room, opposite the chair, whose
performances were greatly admired. It is but justice to Mr. Gibb
to state that the dinner was very handsome (though slowly served
in), and the wines good. The attention of the stewards was
exemplary. Mr. Murray and Mr. Vandenhoff, with great good taste,
attended on Sir Walter Scott's right and left, and we know that
he has expressed himself much gratified by their anxious
politeness and sedulity.

*

CHRONICLES OF THE CANONGATE - INTRODUCTORY.

CHAPTER I.

MR. CHRYSTAL CROFTANGRY'S ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF.

Sic itur ad astra.

"This is the path to heaven." Such is the ancient motto attached
to the armorial bearings of the Canongate, and which is
inscribed, with greater or less propriety, upon all the public
buildings, from the church to the pillory, in the ancient quarter
of Edinburgh which bears, or rather once bore, the same relation
to the Good Town that Westminster does to London, being still
possessed of the palace of the sovereign, as it formerly was
dignified by the residence of the principal nobility and gentry.
I may therefore, with some propriety, put the same motto at the
head of the literary undertaking by which I hope to illustrate
the hitherto undistinguished name of Chrystal Croftangry.

The public may desire to know something of an author who pitches
at such height his ambitious expectations. The gentle reader,
therefore--for I am much of Captain Bobadil's humour, and could
to no other extend myself so far--the GENTLE reader, then, will
be pleased to understand that I am a a Scottish gentleman of the
old school, with a fortune, temper, and person, rather the worse
for wear. I have known the world for these forty years, having
written myself man nearly since that period--and I do not think
it is much mended. But this is an opinion which I keep to myself
when I am among younger folk, for I recollect, in my youth,
quizzing the Sexagenarians who carried back their ideas of a
perfect state of society to the days of laced coats and triple
ruffles, and some of them to the blood and blows of the Forty-
five. Therefore I am cautious in exercising the right of
censorship, which is supposed to be acquired by men arrived at,
or approaching, the mysterious period of life, when the numbers
of seven and nine multiplied into each other, form what sages
have termed the Grand Climacteric.

Of the earlier part of my life it is only necessary to say, that
I swept the boards of the Parliament-House with the skirts of my
gown for the usual number of years during which young Lairds were
in my time expected to keep term--got no fees--laughed, and made
others laugh--drank claret at Bayle's, Fortune's, and Walker's--
and ate oysters in the Covenant Close.

Becoming my own master, I flung my gown at the bar-keeper, and
commenced gay man on my own account. In Edinburgh, I ran into
all the expensive society which the place then afforded. When I
went to my house in the shire of Lanark, I emulated to the utmost
the expenses of men of large fortune, and had my hunters, my
first-rate pointers, my game-cocks, and feeders. I can more
easily forgive myself for these follies, than for others of a
still more blamable kind, so indifferently cloaked over, that my
poor mother thought herself obliged to leave my habitation, and
betake herself to a small inconvenient jointure-house, which she
occupied till her death. I think, however, I was not exclusively
to blame in this separation, and I believe my mother afterwards
condemned herself for being too hasty. Thank God, the adversity
which destroyed the means of continuing my dissipation, restored
me to the affections of my surviving parent.

My course of life could not last. I ran too fast to run long;
and when I would have checked my career, I was perhaps too near
the brink of the precipice. Some mishaps I prepared by my own
folly, others came upon me unawares. I put my estate out to
nurse to a fat man of business, who smothered the babe he should
have brought back to me in health and strength, and, in dispute
with this honest gentleman, I found, like a skilful general, that
my position would be most judiciously assumed by taking it up
near the Abbey of Holyrood. [See Note 1.--Holyrood.] It was then
I first became acquainted with the quarter, which my little work
will, I hope, render immortal, and grew familiar with those
magnificent wilds, through which the Kings of Scotland once
chased the dark-brown deer, but which were chiefly recommended to
me in those days, by their being inaccessible to those
metaphysical persons, whom the law of the neighbouring country
terms John Doe and Richard Roe. In short, the precincts of the
palace are now best known as being a place of refuge at any time
from all pursuit for civil debt.

Dire was the strife betwixt my quondam doer and myself; during
which my motions were circumscribed, like those of some conjured
demon, within a circle, which, "beginning at the northern gate of
the King's Park, thence running northways, is bounded on the left
by the King's garden-wall, and the gutter, or kennel, in a line
wherewith it crosses the High Street to the Watergate, and
passing through the sewer, is bounded by the walls of the Tennis
Court and Physic Gardens, etc. It then follows the wall of the
churchyard, joins the north west wall of St Ann's Yards, and
going east to the clackmill-house, turns southward to the
turnstile in the King's Park wall, and includes the whole King's
Park within the Sanctuary."

These limits, which I abridge from the accurate Maitland, once
marked the Girth, or Asylum, belonging to the Abbey of Holyrood,
and which, being still an appendage to the royal palace, has
retained the privilege of an asylum for civil debt. One would
think the space sufficiently extensive for a man to stretch his
limbs in, as, besides a reasonable proportion of level ground
(considering that the scene lies in Scotland), it includes within
its precincts the mountain of Arthur's Seat and the rocks and
pasture land called Salisbury Crags. But yet it is inexpressible
how, after a certain time had elapsed, I used to long for Sunday,
which permitted me to extend my walk without limitation. During
the other six days of the week I felt a sickness of heart, which,
but for the speedy approach of the hebdomadal day of liberty, I
could hardly have endured. I experienced the impatience of a
mastiff who tugs in vain to extend the limits which his chain
permits.

Day after day I walked by the side of the kennel which divides
the Sanctuary from the unprivileged part of the Canongate; and
though the month was July, and the scene the old town of
Edinburgh, I preferred it to the fresh air and verdant turf which
I might have enjoyed in the King's Park, or to the cool and
solemn gloom of the portico which surrounds the palace. To an
indifferent person either side of the gutter would have seemed
much the same, the houses equally mean, the children as ragged
and dirty, the carmen as brutal--the whole forming the same
picture of low life in a deserted and impoverished quarter of a
large city. But to me the gutter or kennel was what the brook
Kidron was to Shimei: death was denounced against him should he
cross it, doubtless because it was known to his wisdom who
pronounced the doom that, from the time the crossing the stream
was debarred, the devoted man's desire to transgress the precept
would become irresistible, and he would be sure to draw down on
his head the penalty which he had already justly incurred by
cursing the anointed of God. For my part, all Elysium seemed
opening on the other side of the kennel; and I envied the little
blackguards, who, stopping the current with their little dam-
dykes of mud, had a right to stand on either side of the nasty
puddle which best pleased them. I was so childish as even to
make an occasional excursion across, were it only for a few
yards, and felt the triumph of a schoolboy, who, trespassing in
an orchard, hurries back again with a fluttering sensation of joy
and terror, betwixt the pleasure of having executed his purpose
and the fear of being taken or discovered.

I have sometimes asked myself what I should have done in case of
actual imprisonment, since I could not bear without impatience a
restriction which is comparatively a mere trifle; but I really
could never answer the question to my own satisfaction. I have
all my life hated those treacherous expedients called MEZZO-
TERMINI, and it is possible with this disposition I might have
endured more patiently an absolute privation of liberty than the
more modified restrictions to which my residence in the Sanctuary
at this period subjected me. If, however, the feelings I then
experienced were to increase in intensity according to the
difference between a jail and my actual condition, I must have
hanged myself, or pined to death--there could have been no other
alternative.

Amongst many companions who forgot and neglected me, of course,
when my difficulties seemed to be inextricable, I had one true
friend; and that friend was a barrister, who knew the laws of his
country well, and tracing them up to the spirit of equity and
justice in which they originate, had repeatedly prevented, by his
benevolent and manly exertions, the triumphs of selfish cunning
over simplicity and folly. He undertook my cause, with the
assistance of a solicitor of a character similar to his own. My
quondam doer had ensconced himself chin-deep among legal
trenches, hornworks, and covered ways; but my two protectors
shelled him out of his defences, and I was at length a free man,
at liberty to go or stay wheresoever my mind listed.

I left my lodgings as hastily as if it had been a pest-house. I
did not even stop to receive some change that was due to me on
settling with my landlady, and I saw the poor woman stand at her
door looking after my precipitate flight, and shaking her head as
she wrapped the silver which she was counting for me in a
separate piece of paper, apart from the store in her own moleskin
purse. An honest Highlandwoman was Janet MacEvoy, and deserved a
greater remuneration, had I possessed the power of bestowing it.
But my eagerness of delight was too extreme to pause for
explanation with Janet. On I pushed through the groups of
children, of whose sports I had been so often a lazy, lounging
spectator. I sprung over the gutter as if it had been the fatal
Styx, and I a ghost, which, eluding Pluto's authority, was making
its escape from Limbo lake. My friend had difficulty to restrain
me from running like a madman up the street; and in spite of his
kindness and hospitality, which soothed me for a day or two, I
was not quite happy until I found myself aboard of a Leith smack,
and, standing down the Firth with a fair wind, might snap my
fingers at the retreating outline of Arthur's Seat, to the
vicinity of which I had been so long confined.

It is not my purpose to trace my future progress through life. I
had extricated myself, or rather had been freed by my friends,
from the brambles and thickets of the law; but, as befell the
sheep in the fable, a great part of my fleece was left behind me.
Something remained, however: I was in the season for exertion,
and, as my good mother used to say, there was always life for
living folk. Stern necessity gave my manhood that prudence which
my youth was a stranger to. I faced danger, I endured fatigue, I
sought foreign climates, and proved that I belonged to the nation
which is proverbially patient of labour and prodigal of life.
Independence, like liberty to Virgil's shepherd, came late, but
came at last, with no great affluence in its train, but bringing
enough to support a decent appearance for the rest of my life,
and to induce cousins to be civil, and gossips to say, "I wonder
whom old Croft will make his heir? He must have picked up
something, and I should not be surprised if it prove more than
folk think of."

My first impulse when I returned home was to rush to the house of
my benefactor, the only man who had in my distress interested
himself in my behalf. He was a snuff-taker, and it had been the
pride of my heart to save the IPSA CORPORA of the first score of
guineas I could hoard, and to have them converted into as
tasteful a snuff-box as Rundell and Bridge could devise. This I
had thrust for security into the breast of my waistcoat, while,
impatient to transfer it to the person for whom it was destined,
I hastened to his house in Brown Square. When the front of the
house became visible a feeling of alarm checked me. I had been
long absent from Scotland; my friend was some years older than I;
he might have been called to the congregation of the just. I
paused, and gazed on the house as if I had hoped to form some
conjecture from the outward appearance concerning the state of
the family within. I know not how it was, but the lower windows
being all closed, and no one stirring, my sinister forebodings
were rather strengthened. I regretted now that I had not made
inquiry before I left the inn where I alighted from the mail-
coach. But it was too late; so I hurried on, eager to know the
best or the worst which I could learn.

The brass-plate bearing my friend's name and designation was
still on the door, and when it was opened the old domestic
appeared a good deal older, I thought, than he ought naturally to
have looked, considering the period of my absence. "Is Mr.
Sommerville at home?" said I, pressing forward.

"Yes, sir," said John, placing himself in opposition to my
entrance, "he is at home, but--"

"But he is not in," said I. "I remember your phrase of old,
John. Come, I will step into his room, and leave a line for
him."

John was obviously embarrassed by my familiarity. I was some
one, he saw, whom he ought to recollect. At the same time it was
evident he remembered nothing about me.

"Ay, sir, my master is in, and in his own room, but--"

I would not hear him out, but passed before him towards the well-
known apartment. A young lady came out of the room a little
disturbed, as it seemed, and said, "John, what is the matter?"

"A gentleman, Miss Nelly, that insists on seeing my master."

"A very old and deeply-indebted friend," said I, "that ventures
to press myself on my much-respected benefactor on my return from
abroad."

"Alas, sir," replied she, "my uncle would be happy to see you,
but--"

At this moment something was heard within the apartment like the
falling of a plate, or glass, and immediately after my friend's
voice called angrily and eagerly for his niece. She entered the
room hastily, and so did I. But it was to see a spectacle,
compared with which that of my benefactor stretched on his bier
would have been a happy one.

The easy-chair filled with cushions, the extended limbs swathed
in flannel, the wide wrapping-gown and nightcap, showed illness;
but the dimmed eye, once so replete with living fire--the blabber
lip, whose dilation and compression used to give such character
to his animated countenance--the stammering tongue, that once
poured forth such floods of masculine eloquence, and had often
swayed the opinion of the sages whom he addressed,--all these sad
symptoms evinced that my friend was in the melancholy condition
of those in whom the principle of animal life has unfortunately
survived that of mental intelligence. He gazed a moment at me,
but then seemed insensible of my presence, and went on--he, once
the most courteous and well-bred--to babble unintelligible but
violent reproaches against his niece and servant, because he
himself had dropped a teacup in attempting to place it on a table
at his elbow. His eyes caught a momentary fire from his
irritation; but he struggled in vain for words to express himself
adequately, as, looking from his servant to his niece, and then
to the table, he laboured to explain that they had placed it
(though it touched his chair) at too great a distance from him.

The young person, who had naturally a resigned Madonna-like
expression of countenance, listened to his impatient chiding with
the most humble submission, checked the servant, whose less
delicate feelings would have entered on his justification, and
gradually, by the sweet and soft tone of her voice, soothed to
rest the spirit of causeless irritation.

She then cast a look towards me, which expressed, "You see all
that remains of him whom you call friend." It seemed also to
say, "Your longer presence here can only be distressing to us
all."

"Forgive me, young lady," I said, as well as tears would permit;
"I am a person deeply obliged to your uncle. My name is
Croftangry."

"Lord! and that I should not hae minded ye, Maister Croftangry,"
said the servant. "Ay, I mind my master had muckle fash about
your job. I hae heard him order in fresh candles as midnight
chappit, and till't again. Indeed, ye had aye his gude word, Mr.
Croftangry, for a' that folks said about you."

"Hold your tongue, John," said the lady, somewhat angrily; and
then continued, addressing herself to me, "I am sure, sir, you
must be sorry to see my uncle in this state. I know you are his
friend. I have heard him mention your name, and wonder he never
heard from you." A new cut this, and it went to my heart. But
she continued, "I really do not know if it is right that any
should--If my uncle should know you, which I scarce think
possible, he would be much affected, and the doctor says that any
agitation--But here comes Dr. -- to give his own opinion."

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