The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 1 Read online

  CHAPTER THIRD.

  "The hour's come, but not the man."*

  * There is a tradition, that while a little stream was swollen into atorrent by recent showers, the discontented voice of the Water Spirit washeard to pronounce these words. At the some moment a man, urged on by hisfate, or, in Scottish language, _fey,_ arrived at a gallop, and preparedto cross the water. No remonstrance from the bystanders was of power tostop him--he plunged into the stream, and perished.

  Kelpie.

  On the day when the unhappy Porteous was expected to suffer the sentenceof the law, the place of execution, extensive as it is, was crowdedalmost to suffocation. There was not a window in all the lofty tenementsaround it, or in the steep and crooked street called the Bow, by whichthe fatal procession was to descend from the High Street, that was notabsolutely filled with spectators. The uncommon height and antiqueappearance of these houses, some of which were formerly the property ofthe Knights Templars, and the Knights of St. John, and still exhibit ontheir fronts and gables the iron cross of these orders, gave additionaleffect to a scene in itself so striking. The area of the Grassmarketresembled a huge dark lake or sea of human heads, in the centre of whicharose the fatal tree, tall, black, and ominous, from which dangled thedeadly halter. Every object takes interest from its uses andassociations, and the erect beam and empty noose, things so simple inthemselves, became, on such an occasion, objects of terror and of solemninterest.

  Amid so numerous an assembly there was scarcely a word spoken, save inwhispers. The thirst of vengeance was in some degree allayed by itssupposed certainty; and even the populace, with deeper feeling than theyare wont to entertain, suppressed all clamorous exultation, and preparedto enjoy the scene of retaliation in triumph, silent and decent, thoughstern and relentless. It seemed as if the depth of their hatred to theunfortunate criminal scorned to display itself in anything resembling themore noisy current of their ordinary feelings. Had a stranger consultedonly the evidence of his ears, he might have supposed that so vast amultitude were assembled for some purpose which affected them with thedeepest sorrow, and stilled those noises which, on all ordinaryoccasions, arise from such a concourse; but if he had gazed upon theirfaces, he would have been instantly undeceived. The compressed lip, thebent brow, the stern and flashing eye of almost everyone on whom helooked, conveyed the expression of men come to glut their sight withtriumphant revenge. It is probable that the appearance of the criminalmight have somewhat changed the temper of the populace in his favour, andthat they might in the moment of death have forgiven the man against whomtheir resentment had been so fiercely heated. It had, however, beendestined, that the mutability of their sentiments was not to be exposedto this trial.

  The usual hour for producing the criminal had been past for many minutes,yet the spectators observed no symptom of his appearance. "Would theyventure to defraud public justice?" was the question which men begananxiously to ask at each other. The first answer in every case was boldand positive,--"They dare not." But when the point was further canvassed,other opinions were entertained, and various causes of doubt weresuggested. Porteous had been a favourite officer of the magistracy of thecity, which, being a numerous and fluctuating body, requires for itssupport a degree of energy in its functionaries, which the individualswho compose it cannot at all times alike be supposed to possess in theirown persons. It was remembered, that in the Information for Porteous (thepaper, namely, in which his case was stated to the Judges of the criminalcourt), he had been described by his counsel as the person on whom themagistrates chiefly relied in all emergencies of uncommon difficulty. Itwas argued, too, that his conduct, on the unhappy occasion of Wilson'sexecution, was capable of being attributed to an imprudent excess of zealin the execution of his duty, a motive for which those under whoseauthority he acted might be supposed to have great sympathy. And as theseconsiderations might move the magistrates to make a favourablerepresentation of Porteous's case, there were not wanting others in thehigher departments of Government, which would make such suggestionsfavourably listened to.

  The mob of Edinburgh, when thoroughly excited, had been at all times oneof the fiercest which could be found in Europe; and of late years theyhad risen repeatedly against the Government, and sometimes not withouttemporary success. They were conscious, therefore, that they were nofavourites with the rulers of the period, and that, if Captain Porteous'sviolence was not altogether regarded as good service, it might certainlybe thought, that to visit it with a capital punishment would render itboth delicate and dangerous for future officers, in the samecircumstances, to act with effect in repressing tumults. There is also anatural feeling, on the part of all members of Government, for thegeneral maintenance of authority; and it seemed not unlikely, that whatto the relatives of the sufferers appeared a wanton and unprovokedmassacre, should be otherwise viewed in the cabinet of St. James's. Itmight be there supposed, that upon the whole matter, Captain Porteous wasin the exercise of a trust delegated to him by the lawful civilauthority; that he had been assaulted by the populace, and several of hismen hurt; and that, in finally repelling force by force, his conductcould be fairly imputed to no other motive than self-defence in thedischarge of his duty.

  These considerations, of themselves very powerful, induced the spectatorsto apprehend the possibility of a reprieve; and to the various causeswhich might interest the rulers in his favour, the lower part of therabble added one which was peculiarly well adapted to theircomprehension. It was averred, in order to increase the odium againstPorteous, that while he repressed with the utmost severity the slightestexcesses of the poor, he not only overlooked the license of the youngnobles and gentry, but was very willing to lend them the countenance ofhis official authority, in execution of such loose pranks as it waschiefly his duty to have restrained. This suspicion, which was perhapsmuch exaggerated, made a deep impression on the minds of the populace;and when several of the higher rank joined in a petition, recommendingPorteous to the mercy of the Crown, it was generally supposed he owedtheir favour not to any conviction of the hardship of his case, but tothe fear of losing a convenient accomplice in their debaucheries. It isscarcely necessary to say how much this suspicion augmented the people'sdetestation of this obnoxious criminal, as well as their fear of hisescaping the sentence pronounced against him.

  While these arguments were stated and replied to, and canvassed andsupported, the hitherto silent expectation of the people became changedinto that deep and agitating murmur, which is sent forth by the oceanbefore the tempest begins to howl. The crowded populace, as if theirmotions had corresponded with the unsettled state of their minds,fluctuated to and fro without any visible cause of impulse, like theagitation of the waters, called by sailors the ground-swell. The news,which the magistrates had almost hesitated to communicate to them, wereat length announced, and spread among the spectators with a rapidity likelightning. A reprieve from the Secretary of State's office, under thehand of his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, had arrived, intimating thepleasure of Queen Caroline (regent of the kingdom during the absence ofGeorge II. on the Continent), that the execution of the sentence of deathpronounced against John Porteous, late Captain-Lieutenant of the CityGuard of Edinburgh, present prisoner in the Tolbooth of that city, berespited for six weeks from the time appointed for his execution.

  The assembled spectators of almost all degrees, whose minds had beenwound up to the pitch which we have described, uttered a groan, or rathera roar of indignation and disappointed revenge, similar to that of atiger from whom his meal has been rent by his keeper when he was justabout to devour it. This fierce exclamation seemed to forbode someimmediate explosion of popular resentment, and, in fact, such had beenexpected by the magistrates, and the necessary measures had been taken torepress it. But the shout was not repeated, nor did any sudden tumultensue, such as it appeared to announce. The populace seemed to be ashamedof having expressed their disappointment in a vain clamour, and the soundchanged, not into the silence which had pre
ceded the arrival of thesestunning news, but into stifled mutterings, which each group maintainedamong themselves, and which were blended into one deep and hoarse murmurwhich floated above the assembly.

  Yet still, though all expectation of the execution was over, the mobremained assembled, stationary, as it were, through very resentment,gazing on the preparations for death, which had now been made in vain,and stimulating their feelings, by recalling the various claims whichWilson might have had on royal mercy, from the mistaken motives on whichhe acted, as well as from the generosity he had displayed towards hisaccomplice. "This man," they said,--"the brave, the resolute, thegenerous, was executed to death without mercy for stealing a purse ofgold, which in some sense he might consider as a fair reprisal; while theprofligate satellite, who took advantage of a trifling tumult,inseparable from such occasions, to shed the blood of twenty of hisfellow-citizens, is deemed a fitting object for the exercise of the royalprerogative of mercy. Is this to be borne?--would our fathers have borneit? Are not we, like them, Scotsmen and burghers of Edinburgh?"

  The officers of justice began now to remove the scaffold, and otherpreparations which had been made for the execution, in hopes, by doingso, to accelerate the dispersion of the multitude. The measure had thedesired effect; for no sooner had the fatal tree been unfixed from thelarge stone pedestal or socket in which it was secured, and sunk slowlydown upon the wain intended to remove it to the place where it wasusually deposited, than the populace, after giving vent to their feelingsin a second shout of rage and mortification, began slowly to disperse totheir usual abodes and occupations.

  The windows were in like manner gradually deserted, and groups of themore decent class of citizens formed themselves, as if waiting to returnhomewards when the streets should be cleared of the rabble. Contrary towhat is frequently the case, this description of persons agreed ingeneral with the sentiments of their inferiors, and considered the causeas common to all ranks. Indeed, as we have already noticed, it was by nomeans amongst the lowest class of the spectators, or those most likely tobe engaged in the riot at Wilson's execution, that the fatal fire ofPorteous's soldiers had taken effect. Several persons were killed whowere looking out at windows at the scene, who could not of course belongto the rioters, and were persons of decent rank and condition. Theburghers, therefore, resenting the loss which had fallen on their ownbody, and proud and tenacious of their rights, as the citizens ofEdinburgh have at all times been, were greatly exasperated at theunexpected respite of Captain Porteous.

  It was noticed at the time, and afterwards more particularly remembered,that, while the mob were in the act of dispersing, several individualswere seen busily passing from one place and one group of people toanother, remaining long with none, but whispering for a little time withthose who appeared to be declaiming most violently against the conduct ofGovernment. These active agents had the appearance of men from thecountry, and were generally supposed to be old friends and confederatesof Wilson, whose minds were of course highly excited against Porteous.

  If, however, it was the intention of these men to stir the multitude toany sudden act of mutiny, it seemed for the time to be fruitless. Therabble, as well as the more decent part of the assembly, dispersed, andwent home peaceably; and it was only by observing the moody discontent ontheir brows, or catching the tenor of the conversation they held witheach other, that a stranger could estimate the state of their minds. Wewill give the reader this advantage, by associating ourselves with one ofthe numerous groups who were painfully ascending the steep declivity ofthe West Bow, to return to their dwellings in the Lawnmarket.

  "An unco thing this, Mrs. Howden," said old Peter Plumdamas to hisneighbour the rouping-wife, or saleswoman, as he offered her his arm toassist her in the toilsome ascent, "to see the grit folk at Lunnon settheir face against law and gospel, and let loose sic a reprobate asPorteous upon a peaceable town!"

  "And to think o' the weary walk they hae gien us," answered Mrs. Howden,with a groan; "and sic a comfortable window as I had gotten, too, justwithin a penny-stane-cast of the scaffold--I could hae heard every wordthe minister said--and to pay twalpennies for my stand, and a' fornaething!"

  "I am judging," said Mr. Plumdamas, "that this reprieve wadna stand gudein the auld Scots law, when the kingdom was a kingdom."

  "I dinna ken muckle about the law," answered Mrs. Howden; "but I ken,when we had a king, and a chancellor, and parliament men o' our ain, wecould aye peeble them wi' stanes when they werena gude bairns--Butnaebody's nails can reach the length o' Lunnon."

  "Weary on Lunnon, and a' that e'er came out o't!" said Miss GrizelDamahoy, an ancient seamstress; "they hae taen away our parliament, andthey hae oppressed our trade. Our gentles will hardly allow that a Scotsneedle can sew ruffles on a sark, or lace on an owerlay."

  "Ye may say that--Miss Damahoy, and I ken o' them that hae gotten raisinsfrae Lunnon by forpits at ance," responded Plumdamas; "and then sic anhost of idle English gaugers and excisemen as hae come down to vex andtorment us, that an honest man canna fetch sae muckle as a bit anker o'brandy frae Leith to the Lawnmarket, but he's like to be rubbit o' thevery gudes he's bought and paid for.--Weel, I winna justify Andrew Wilsonfor pitting hands on what wasna his; but if he took nae mair than hisain, there's an awfu' difference between that and the fact this manstands for."

  "If ye speak about the law," said Mrs. Howden, "here comes Mr.Saddletree, that can settle it as weel as ony on the bench."

  The party she mentioned, a grave elderly person, with a superb periwig,dressed in a decent suit of sad-coloured clothes, came up as she spoke,and courteously gave his arm to Miss Grizel Damahoy.

  It may be necessary to mention, that Mr. Bartoline Saddletree kept anexcellent and highly-esteemed shop for harness, saddles, &c. &c., at thesign of the Golden Nag, at the head of Bess Wynd.*

  * [Maitland calls it Best's Wynd, and later writers Beth's Wynd. As thename implies, it was an open thoroughfare or alley leading from theLawnmarket, and extended in a direct line between the old Tolbooth tonear the head of the Cowgate. It was partly destroyed by fire in 1786,and was totally removed in 1809, preparatory to the building of the newlibraries of the Faculty of Advocates and writers to the Signet.]

  His genius, however (as he himself and most of his neighbours conceived),lay towards the weightier matters of the law, and he failed not to givefrequent attendance upon the pleadings and arguments of the lawyers andjudges in the neighbouring square, where, to say the truth, he wasoftener to be found than would have consisted with his own emolument; butthat his wife, an active painstaking person, could, in his absence, makean admirable shift to please the customers and scold the journeymen. Thisgood lady was in the habit of letting her husband take his way, and go onimproving his stock of legal knowledge without interruption; but, as ifin requital, she insisted upon having her own will in the domestic andcommercial departments which he abandoned to her. Now, as BartolineSaddletree had a considerable gift of words, which he mistook foreloquence, and conferred more liberally upon the society in which helived than was at all times gracious and acceptable, there went forth asaying, with which wags used sometimes to interrupt his rhetoric, that,as he had a golden nag at his door, so he had a grey mare in his shop.This reproach induced Mr. Saddletree, on all occasions, to assume rathera haughty and stately tone towards his good woman, a circumstance bywhich she seemed very little affected, unless he attempted to exerciseany real authority, when she never failed to fly into open rebellion. Butsuch extremes Bartoline seldom provoked; for, like the gentle King Jamie,he was fonder of talking of authority than really exercising it. Thisturn of mind was, on the whole, lucky for him; since his substance wasincreased without any trouble on his part, or any interruption of hisfavourite studies.

  This word in explanation has been thrown in to the reader, whileSaddletree was laying down, with great precision, the law upon Porteous'scase, by which he arrived at this conclusion, that, if Porteous had firedfive minutes sooner, before Wilson was cut down, he w
ould have been_versans in licito;_ engaged, that is, in a lawful act, and only liableto be punished _propter excessum,_ or for lack of discretion, which mighthave mitigated the punishment to _poena ordinaria._

  "Discretion!" echoed Mrs. Howden, on whom, it may well be supposed, thefineness of this distinction was entirely thrown away,--"whan had JockPorteous either grace, discretion, or gude manners?--I mind when hisfather"

  "But, Mrs. Howden," said Saddletree--

  "And I," said Miss Damahoy, "mind when his mother"

  "Miss Damahoy," entreated the interrupted orator

  "And I," said Plumdamas, "mind when his wife"

  "Mr. Plumdamas--Mrs. Howden--Miss Damahoy," again implored theorator,--"Mind the distinction, as Counsellor Crossmyloof says--'I,'says he, 'take a distinction.' Now, the body of the criminal being cutdown, and the execution ended, Porteous was no longer official; the actwhich he came to protect and guard, being done and ended, he was nobetter than _cuivis ex populo._"

  "_Quivis--quivis,_ Mr. Saddletree, craving your pardon," said (with aprolonged emphasis on the first syllable) Mr. Butler, thedeputy-schoolmaster of a parish near Edinburgh, who at that moment cameup behind them as the false Latin was uttered.

  "What signifies interrupting me, Mr. Butler?--but I am glad to see yenotwithstanding--I speak after Counsellor Crossmyloof, and he said_cuivis._"

  "If Counsellor Crossmyloof used the dative for the nominative, I wouldhave crossed his loof with a tight leathern strap, Mr. Saddletree; thereis not a boy on the booby form but should have been scourged for such asolecism in grammar."

  "I speak Latin like a lawyer, Mr. Butler, and not like a schoolmaster,"retorted Saddletree.

  "Scarce like a schoolboy, I think," rejoined Butler.

  "It matters little," said Bartoline; "all I mean to say is, that Porteoushas become liable to the _poena extra ordinem,_ or capitalpunishment--which is to say, in plain Scotch, the gallows--simplybecause he did not fire when he was in office, but waited till the bodywas cut down, the execution whilk he had in charge to guard implemented,and he himself exonered of the public trust imposed on him."

  "But, Mr. Saddletree," said Plumdamas, "do ye really think JohnPorteous's case wad hae been better if he had begun firing before onystanes were flung at a'?"

  "Indeed do I, neighbour Plumdamas," replied Bartoline, confidently, "hebeing then in point of trust and in point of power, the execution beingbut inchoat, or, at least, not implemented, or finally ended; but afterWilson was cut down it was a' ower--he was clean exauctorate, and had naemair ado but to get awa wi' his guard up this West Bow as fast as ifthere had been a caption after him--And this is law, for I heard it laiddown by Lord Vincovincentem."

  "Vincovincentem?--Is he a lord of state, or a lord of seat?" inquiredMrs. Howden.*

  * A nobleman was called a Lord of State. The Senators of the College * ofJustice were termed Lords of Seat, or of the Session.

  "A lord of seat--a lord of session.--I fash mysell little wi' lords o'state; they vex me wi' a wheen idle questions about their saddles, andcurpels, and holsters and horse-furniture, and what they'll cost, andwhan they'll be ready--a wheen galloping geese--my wife may serve thelike o' them."

  "And so might she, in her day, hae served the best lord in the land, foras little as ye think o' her, Mr. Saddletree," said Mrs. Howden, somewhatindignant at the contemptuous way in which her gossip was mentioned;"when she and I were twa gilpies, we little thought to hae sitten dounwi' the like o' my auld Davie Howden, or you either, Mr. Saddletree."

  While Saddletree, who was not bright at a reply, was cudgelling hisbrains for an answer to this homethrust, Miss Damahoy broke in on him.

  "And as for the lords of state," said Miss Damahoy, "ye suld mind theriding o' the parliament, Mr. Saddletree, in the gude auld time beforethe Union,--a year's rent o' mony a gude estate gaed for horse-graith andharnessing, forby broidered robes and foot-mantles, that wad hae stude bytheir lane wi' gold brocade, and that were muckle in my ain line."

  "Ay, and then the lusty banqueting, with sweetmeats and comfits wet anddry, and dried fruits of divers sorts," said Plumdamas. "But Scotland wasScotland in these days."

  "I'll tell ye what it is, neighbours," said Mrs. Howden, "I'll ne'erbelieve Scotland is Scotland ony mair, if our kindly Scots sit doun withthe affront they hae gien us this day. It's not only the blude that _is_shed, but the blude that might hae been shed, that's required at ourhands; there was my daughter's wean, little Eppie Daidle--my oe, ye ken,Miss Grizel--had played the truant frae the school, as bairns will do, yeken, Mr. Butler"

  "And for which," interjected Mr. Butler, "they should be soundly scourgedby their well-wishers."

  "And had just cruppen to the gallows' foot to see the hanging, as wasnatural for a wean; and what for mightna she hae been shot as weel as therest o' them, and where wad we a' hae been then? I wonder how QueenCarline (if her name be Carline) wad hae liked to hae had ane o' her ainbairns in sic a venture?"

  "Report says," answered Butler, "that such a circumstance would not havedistressed her majesty beyond endurance."

  "Aweel," said Mrs. Howden, "the sum o' the matter is, that, were I a man,I wad hae amends o' Jock Porteous, be the upshot what like o't, if a' thecarles and carlines in England had sworn to the nay-say."

  "I would claw down the Tolbooth door wi' my nails," said Miss Grizel,"but I wad be at him."

  "Ye may be very right, ladies," said Butler, "but I would not advise youto speak so loud."

  "Speak!" exclaimed both the ladies together, "there will be naething elsespoken about frae the Weigh-house to the Water-gate, till this is eitherended or mended."

  The females now departed to their respective places of abode. Plumdamasjoined the other two gentlemen in drinking their _meridian_ (abumper-dram of brandy), as they passed the well-known low-browed shop inthe Lawnmarket, where they were wont to take that refreshment. Mr.Plumdamas then departed towards his shop, and Mr. Butler, who happened tohave some particular occasion for the rein of an old bridle (the truantsof that busy day could have anticipated its application), walked down theLawnmarket with Mr. Saddletree, each talking as he could get a wordthrust in, the one on the laws of Scotland, the other on those of syntax,and neither listening to a word which his companion uttered.