The Fortunes of Nigel

Chapter 9

On the morning of the day on which George Heriot had prepared to

escort the young Lord of Glenvarloch to the Court at Whitehall, it may

be reasonably supposed, that the young man, whose fortunes were likely

to depend on this cast, felt himself more than usually anxious. He

rose early, made his toilette with uncommon care, and, being enabled,

by the generosity of his more plebeian countryman, to set out a very

handsome person to the best advantage, he obtained a momentary

approbation from himself as he glanced at the mirror, and a loud and

distinct plaudit from his landlady, who declared at once, that, in her

judgment, he would take the wind out of the sail of every gallant in

the presence--so much had she been able to enrich her discourse with

the metaphors of those with whom her husband dealt.

At the appointed hour, the barge of Master George Heriot arrived,

handsomely manned and appointed, having a tilt, with his own cipher,

and the arms of his company, painted thereupon.

The young Lord of Glenvarloch received the friend, who had evinced

such disinterested attachment, with the kind courtesy which well

became him.

Master Heriot then made him acquainted with the bounty of his

sovereign; which he paid over to his young friend, declining what he

had himself formerly advanced to him. Nigel felt all the gratitude

which the citizen's disinterested friendship had deserved, and was not

wanting in expressing it suitably.

Yet, as the young and high-born nobleman embarked to go to the

presence of his prince, under the patronage of one whose best, or most

distinguished qualification, was his being an eminent member of the

Goldsmiths' Incorporation, he felt a little surprised, if not abashed,

at his own situation; and Richie Moniplies, as he stepped over the

gangway to take his place forward in the boat, could not help

muttering,--"It was a changed day betwixt Master Heriot and his honest

father in the Kraemes;--but, doubtless, there was a difference between

clinking on gold and silver, and clattering upon pewter."

On they glided, by the assistance of the oars of four stout watermen,

along the Thames, which then served for the principal high-road

betwixt London and Westminster; for few ventured on horseback through

the narrow and crowded streets of the city, and coaches were then a

luxury reserved only for the higher nobility, and to which no citizen,

whatever was his wealth, presumed to aspire. The beauty of the banks,

especially on the northern side, where the gardens of the nobility

descended from their hotels, in many places, down to the water's edge,

was pointed out to Nigel by his kind conductor, and was pointed out in

vain. The mind of the young Lord of Glenvarloch was filled with

anticipations, not the most pleasant, concerning the manner in which

he was likely to be received by that monarch, in whose behalf his

family had been nearly reduced to ruin; and he was, with the usual

mental anxiety of those in such a situation, framing imaginary

questions from the king, and over-toiling his spirit in devising

answers to them.

His conductor saw the labour of Nigel's mind, and avoided increasing

it by farther conversation; so that, when he had explained to him

briefly the ceremonies observed at Court on such occasions of

presentation, the rest of their voyage was performed in silence.

They landed at Whitehall Stairs, and entered the Palace after

announcing their names,--the guards paying to Lord Glenvarloch the

respect and honours due to his rank.

The young man's heart beat high and thick within him as he came into

the royal apartments. His education abroad, conducted, as it had been,

on a narrow and limited scale, had given him but imperfect ideas of

the grandeur of a Court; and the philosophical reflections which

taught him to set ceremonial and exterior splendour at defiance,

proved, like other maxims of mere philosophy, ineffectual, at the

moment they were weighed against the impression naturally made on the

mind of an inexperienced youth, by the unusual magnificence of the

scene. The splendid apartments through which they passed,

the rich apparel of the grooms, guards, and domestics in waiting, and

the ceremonial attending their passage through the long suite of

apartments, had something in it, trifling and commonplace as it might

appear to practised courtiers, embarrassing, and even alarming, to

one, who went through these forms for the first time, and who was

doubtful what sort of reception was to accompany his first appearance

before his sovereign.

Heriot, in anxious attention to save his young friend from any

momentary awkwardness, had taken care to give the necessary password

to the warders, grooms of the chambers, ushers, or by whatever name

they were designated; so they passed on without interruption.

In this manner they passed several ante-rooms, filled chiefly with

guards, attendants of the Court, and their acquaintances, male and

female, who, dressed in their best apparel, and with eyes rounded by

eager curiosity to make the most of their opportunity, stood, with

beseeming modesty, ranked against the wall, in a manner which

indicated that they were spectators, not performers, in the courtly

exhibition.

Through these exterior apartments Lord Glenvarloch and his city friend

advanced into a large and splendid withdrawing-room, communicating

with the presence-chamber, into which ante-room were admitted those

only who, from birth, their posts in the state or household, or by the

particular grant of the kings, had right to attend the Court, as men

entitled to pay their respects to their sovereign.

Amid this favoured and selected company, Nigel observed Sir Mungo

Malagrowther, who, avoided and discountenanced by those who knew how

low he stood in Court interest and favour, was but too happy in the

opportunity of hooking himself upon a person of Lord Glenvarloch's

rank, who was, as yet, so inexperienced as to feel it difficult to

shake off an intruder.

The knight forthwith framed his grim features to a ghastly smile, and,

after a preliminary and patronising nod to George Heriot, accompanied

with an aristocratic wave of the hand, which intimated at once

superiority and protection, he laid aside altogether the honest

citizen, to whom he owed many a dinner, to attach himself exclusively

to the young lord, although he suspected he might be occasionally in

the predicament of needing one as much as himself. And even the notice

of this original, singular and unamiable as he was, was not entirely

indifferent to Lord Glenvarloch, since the absolute and somewhat

constrained silence of his good friend Heriot, which left him at

liberty to retire painfully to his own agitating reflections, was now

relieved; while, on the other hand, he could not help feeling interest

in the sharp and sarcastic information poured upon him by an

observant, though discontented courtier, to whom a patient auditor,

and he a man of title and rank, was as much a prize, as his acute and

communicative disposition rendered him an entertaining companion to

Nigel Olifaunt. Heriot, in the meantime, neglected by Sir Mungo, and

avoiding every attempt by which the grateful politeness of Lord

Glenvarloch strove to bring him into the conversation, stood by, with

a kind of half smile on his countenance; but whether excited by Sir

Mungo's wit, or arising at his expense, did not exactly appear.

In the meantime, the trio occupied a nook of the ante-room, next to

the door of the presence-chamber, which was not yet thrown open, when

Maxwell, with his rod of office, came bustling into the apartment,

where most men, excepting those of high rank, made way for him. He

stopped beside the party in which we are interested, looked for a

moment at the young Scots nobleman, then made a slight obeisance to

Heriot, and lastly, addressing Sir Mungo Malagrowther, began a hurried

complaint to him of the misbehaviour of the gentlemen-pensioners and

warders, who suffered all sort of citizens, suitors, and scriveners,

to sneak into the outer apartments, without either respect or

decency.--"The English," he said, "were scandalised, for such a thing

durst not be attempted in the queen's days. In her time, there was

then the court-yard for the mobility, and the apartments for the

nobility; and it reflects on your place, Sir Mungo," he added,

"belonging to the household as you do, that such things should not be

better ordered."

Here Sir Mungo, afflicted, as was frequently the case on such

occasions, with one of his usual fits of deafness, answered, "It was

no wonder the mobility used freedoms, when those whom they saw in

office were so little better in blood and havings than themselves."

"You are right, sir--quite right," said Maxwell, putting his hand on

the tarnished embroidery on the old knight's sleeve,--"when such

fellows see men in office dressed in cast-off suits, like paltry

stage-players, it is no wonder the Court is thronged with intruders."

"Were you lauding the taste of my embroidery, Maister Maxwell?"

answered the knight, who apparently interpreted the deputy-

chamberlain's meaning rather from his action than his words;--"it is

of an ancient and liberal pattern, having been made by your mother's

father, auld James Stitchell, a master-fashioner of honest repute, in

Merlin's Wynd, whom I made a point to employ, as I am now happy to

remember, seeing your father thought fit to intermarry with sic a

person's daughter."

Maxwell looked stern; but, conscious there was nothing to be got of

Sir Mungo in the way of amends, and that prosecuting the quarrel with

such an adversary would only render him ridiculous, and make public a

mis-alliance of which he had no reason to be proud, he covered his

resentment with a sneer; and, expressing his regret that Sir Mungo was

become too deaf to understand or attend to what was said to him,

walked on, and planted himself beside the folding-doors of the

presence-chamber, at which he was to perform the duty of deputy-

chamberlain, or usher, so soon as they should be opened.

"The door of the presence is about to open," said the goldsmith, in a

whisper, to his young friend; "my condition permits me to go no

farther with you. Fail not to present yourself boldly, according to

your birth, and offer your Supplication; which the king will not

refuse to accept, and, as I hope, to consider favourably."

As he spoke, the door of the presence-chamber opened accordingly, and,

as is usual on such occasions, the courtiers began to advance towards

it, and to enter in a slow, but continuous and uninterrupted stream.

As Nigel presented himself in his turn at the entrance, and mentioned

his name and title, Maxwell seemed to hesitate. "You are not known to

any one," he said. "It is my duty to suffer no one to pass to the

presence, my lord, whose face is unknown to me, unless upon the word

of a responsible person."

"I came with Master George Heriot," said Nigel, in some embarrassment

at this unexpected interruption.

"Master Heriot's name will pass current for much gold and silver, my

lord," replied Maxwell, with a civil sneer, "but not for birth and

rank. I am compelled by my office to be peremptory.--The entrance is

impeded--I am much concerned to say it--your lordship must stand

back."

"What is the matter?" said an old Scottish nobleman, who had been

speaking with George Heriot, after he had separated from Nigel, and

who now came forward, observing the altercation betwixt the latter and

Maxwell.

"It is only Master Deputy-Chamberlain Maxwell," said Sir Mungo

Malagrowther, "expressing his joy to see Lord Glenvarloch at Court,

whose father gave him his office--at least I think he is speaking to

that purport--for your lordship kens my imperfection." A subdued

laugh, such as the situation permitted, passed round amongst those who

heard this specimen of Sir Mungo's sarcastic temper. But the old

nobleman stepped still more forward, saying,--"What!--the son of my

gallant old opponent, Ochtred Olifaunt--I will introduce him to the

presence myself."

So saying, he took Nigel by the arm, without farther ceremony, and was

about to lead him forward, when Maxwell, still keeping his rod across

the door, said, but with hesitation and embarrassment--"My lord, this

gentleman is not known, and I have orders to be scrupulous."

"Tutti--taiti, man," said the old lord, "I will be answerable he is

his father's son, from the cut of his eyebrow--and thou, Maxwell,

knewest his father well enough to have spared thy scruples. Let us

pass, man." So saying, he put aside the deputy-chamberlain's rod, and

entered the presence-room, still holding the young nobleman by the

arm.

"Why, I must know you, man," he said; "I must know you. I knew your

father well, man, and I have broke a lance and crossed a blade with

him; and it is to my credit that I am living to brag of it. He was

king's-man and I was queen's-man during the Douglas wars--young

fellows both, that feared neither fire nor steel; and we had some old

feudal quarrels besides, that had come down from father to son, with

our seal-rings, two-harided broad-swords, and plate-coats, and the

crests on our burgonets."

"Too loud, my Lord of Huntinglen," whispered a gentleman of the

chamber,--"The King!--the King!"

The old earl (for such he proved) took the hint, and was silent; and

James, advancing from a side-door, received in succession the

compliments of strangers, while a little group of favourite courtiers,

or officers of the household, stood around him, to whom he addressed

himself from time to time. Some more pains had been bestowed on his

toilette than upon the occasion when we first presented the monarch to

our readers; but there was a natural awkwardness about his figure

which prevented his clothes from sitting handsomely, and the prudence

or timidity of his disposition had made him adopt the custom already

noticed, of wearing a dress so thickly quilted as might withstand the

stroke of a dagger, which added an ungainly stiffness to his whole

appearance, contrasting oddly with the frivolous, ungraceful, and

fidgeting motions with which he accompanied his conversation. And yet,

though the king's deportment was very undignified, he had a manner so

kind, familiar, and good-humoured, was so little apt to veil over or

conceal his own foibles, and had so much indulgence and sympathy for

those of others, that his address, joined to his learning, and a

certain proportion of shrewd mother-wit, failed not to make a

favourable impression on those who approached his person.

When the Earl of Huntinglen had presented Nigel to his sovereign, a

ceremony which the good peer took upon himself, the king received the

young lord very graciously, and observed to his introducer, that he

"was fain to see them twa stand side by side; for I trow, my Lord

Huntinglen," continued he, "your ancestors, ay, and e'en your

lordship's self and this lad's father, have stood front to front at

the sword's point, and that is a worse posture."

"Until your Majesty," said Lord Huntinglen, "made Lord Ochtred and me

cross palms, upon the memorable day when your Majesty feasted all the

nobles that were at feud together, and made them join hands in your

presence--"

"I mind it weel," said the king; "I mind it weel--it was a blessed

day, being the nineteen of September, of all days in the year--and it

was a blithe sport to see how some of the carles girned as they

clapped loofs together. By my saul, I thought some of them, mair

special the Hieland chiels, wad have broken out in our own presence;

but we caused them to march hand in hand to the Cross, ourselves

leading the way, and there drink a blithe cup of kindness with ilk

other, to the stanching of feud, and perpetuation of amity. Auld John

Anderson was Provost that year--the carle grat for joy, and the

bailies and councillors danced bare-headed in our presence like five-

year-auld colts, for very triumph."

"It was indeed a happy day," said Lord Huntinglen, "and will not be

forgotten in the history of your Majesty's reign."

"I would not that it were, my lord," replied the monarch--"I would not

that it were pretermitted in our annals. Ay, ay--BEATI PACIFICI. My

English lieges here may weel make much of me, for I would have them to

know, they have gotten the only peaceable man that ever came of my

family. If James with the Fiery Face had come amongst you," he said,

looking round him, "or my great grandsire, of Flodden memory!"

"We should have sent him back to the north again," whispered one

English nobleman.

"At least," said another, in the same inaudible tone, "we should have

had a MAN to our sovereign, though he were but a Scotsman."

"And now, my young springald," said the king to Lord Glenvarloch,

"where have you been spending your calf-time?"

"At Leyden, of late, may it please your Majesty," answered Lord Nigel.

"Aha! a scholar," said the king; "and, by my saul, a modest and

ingenuous youth, that hath not forgotten how to blush, like most of

our travelled Monsieurs. We will treat him conformably."

Then drawing himself up, coughing slightly, and looking around him

with the conscious importance of superior learning, while all the

courtiers who understood, or understood not, Latin, pressed eagerly

forward to listen, the sapient monarch prosecuted his inquiries as

follows:--

"Hem! hem! _salve bis, quaterque salve, glenvarlochides noster!

Nuperumne ab lugduno batavorum britanniam rediisti?_"

The young nobleman replied, bowing low--

"_Imo, rex augustissime--biennium fere apud lugdunenses Moratus sum._"

James proceeded--

"_Biennium dicis? Bene, bene, optume factum est--non uno Die, quod

dicunt,--intelligisti, domine glenvarlochiensis?_ Aha!"

Nigel replied by a reverent bow, and the king, turning to those behind

him, said--

"_Adolescens quidem ingenui vultus ingenuique pudoris._" Then resumed

his learned queries. "_et quid hodie lugdunenses loquuntur--vossius

vester nihilne novi scripsit?--nihil certe, quod doleo, typis recenter

editit_."

"_Valet quidem vossius, rex benevole._" replied Nigel, "_ast senex

veneratissimus annum agit, ni fallor, septuagesimum._"

"_Virum, mehercle, vix tam grandaevum crediderim_," replied the

monarch. "_et vorstius iste?--arminii improbi successor aeque ac

sectator--herosne adhuc, ut c*m homero loquar_,

THONI DERKOV>?" text in Greek

Nigel, by good fortune, remembered that Vorstius, the divine last

mentioned in his Majesty's queries about the state of Dutch

literature, had been engaged in a personal controversy with James, in

which the king had taken so deep an interest, as at length to hint in

his public correspondence with the United States, that they would do

well to apply the secular arm to stop the progress of heresy by

violent measures against the Professor's person--a demand which their

Mighty Mightinesses' principles of universal toleration induced them

to elude, though with some difficulty. Knowing all this, Lord

Glenvarloch, though a courtier of only five minutes' standing, had

address enough to reply--

"_Vivum quidem, haud diu est, hominem videbam--vigere autem quis dicat

qui sub fulminibus eloquentiae tuae, rex magne, jamdudum pronus jacet,

et prostratus?_"

[Footnote: Lest any lady or gentleman should suspect there is aught of

mystery concealed under the sentences printed in Italics, they will be

pleased to understand that they contain only a few commonplace Latin

phrases, relating to the state of letters in Holland, which neither

deserve, nor would endure, a literal translation.]

This last tribute to his polemical powers completed James's happiness,

which the triumph of exhibiting his erudition had already raised to a

considerable height.

He rubbed his hands, snapped his fingers, fidgeted, chuckled,

exclaimed--"_Euge! Belle! Optime!_" and turning to the Bishops of

Exeter and Oxford, who stood behind him, he said.--"Ye see, my lords,

no bad specimen of our Scottish Latinity, with which language we would

all our subjects of England were as well embued as this, and other

youths of honourable birth, in our auld kingdom; also, we keep the

genuine and Roman pronunciation, like other learned nations on the

continent, sae that we hold communing with any scholar in the

universe, who can but speak the Latin tongue; whereas ye, our learned

subjects of England, have introduced into your universities, otherwise

most learned, a fashion of pronouncing like unto the 'nippit foot and

clippit foot' of the bride in the fairy tale, whilk manner of speech,

(take it not amiss that I be round with you) can be understood by no

nation on earth saving yourselves; whereby Latin, _quoad anglos_,

ceaseth to be _communis lingua_, the general dragoman, or interpreter,

between all the wise men of the earth."

The Bishop of Exeter bowed, as in acquiescence to the royal censure;

but he of Oxford stood upright, as mindful over what subjects his see

extended, and as being equally willing to become food for fagots in

defence of the Latinity of the university, as for any article of his

religious creed.

The king, without awaiting an answer from either prelate, proceeded to

question Lord Nigel, but in the vernacular tongue,--"Weel, my likely

Alumnus of the Muses, and what make you so far from the north?"

"To pay my homage to your Majesty," said the young nobleman, kneeling

on one knee, "and to lay before you," he added, "this my humble and

dutiful Supplication."

The presenting of a pistol would certainly have startled King James

more, but could (setting apart the fright) hardly have been more

unpleasing to his indolent disposition.

"And is it even so, man?" said he; "and can no single man, were it but

for the rarity of the case, ever come up frae Scotland, excepting EX

PROPOSITO--on set purpose, to see what he can make out of his loving

sovereign? It is but three days syne that we had weel nigh lost our

life, and put three kingdoms into dule-weeds, from the over haste of a

clumsy-handed peasant, to thrust a packet into our hand, and now we

are beset by the like impediment in our very Court. To our Secretary

with that gear, my lord--to our Secretary with that gear."

"I have already offered my humble Supplication to your Majesty's

Secretary of State," said Lord Glenvarloch--"but it seems----"

"That he would not receive it, I warrant?" said the king, interrupting

him; "bu my saul, our Secretary kens that point of king-craft, called

refusing, better than we do, and will look at nothing but what he

likes himsell--I think I wad make a better Secretary to him than he to

me.--Weel, my lord, you are welcome to London; and, as ye seem an

acute and learned youth, I advise ye to turn your neb northward as

soon as ye like, and settle yoursell for a while at Saint Andrews, and

we will be right glad to hear that you prosper in your studies.--

_Incumbite Remis Fortiter._"

While the king spoke thus, he held the petition of the young lord

carelessly, like one who only delayed till the supplicant's back was

turned, to throw it away, or at least lay it aside to be no more

looked at. The petitioner, who read this in his cold and indifferent

looks, and in the manner in which he twisted and crumpled together the

paper, arose with a bitter sense of anger and disappointment, made a

profound obeisance, and was about to retire hastily. But Lord

Huntinglen, who stood by him, checked his intention by an almost

imperceptible touch upon the skirt of his cloak, and Nigel, taking the

hint, retreated only a few steps from the royal presence, and then

made a pause. In the meantime, Lord Huntinglen kneeled before James,

in his turn, and said--"May it please your Majesty to remember, that

upon one certain occasion you did promise to grant me a boon every

year of your sacred life?"

"I mind it weel, man," answered James, "I mind it weel, and good

reason why--it was when you unclasped the fause traitor Ruthven's

fangs from about our royal throat, and drove your dirk into him like a

true subject. We did then, as you remind us, (whilk was unnecessary,)

being partly beside ourselves with joy at our liberation, promise we

would grant you a free boon every year; whilk promise, on our coming

to menseful possession of our royal faculties, we did confirm,

_restrictive_ always and _conditionaliter_, that your lordship's

demand should be such as we, in our royal discretion, should think

reasonable."

"Even so, gracious sovereign," said the old earl, "and may I yet

farther crave to know if I have ever exceeded the bounds of your royal

benevolence?"

"By my word, man, no!'" said the king; "I cannot remember you have

asked much for yourself, if it be not a dog or a hawk, or a buck out

of our park at Theobald's, or such like. But to what serves this

preface?"

"To the boon to which I am now to ask of your Grace," said Lord

Huntinglen; "which is, that your Majesty would be pleased, on the

instant, to look at the placet of Lord Glenvarloch, and do upon it

what your own just and royal nature shall think meet and just, without

reference to your Secretary or any other of your Council."

"By my saul, my lord, this is strange," said the king; "ye are

pleading for the son of your enemy!"

"Of one who WAS my enemy till your Majesty made him my friend,"

answered Lord Huntinglen.

"Weel spoken, my lord!" said the king; "and with, a true Christian

spirit. And, respecting the Supplication of this young man, I partly

guess where the matter lies; and in plain troth I had promised to

George Heriot to be good to the lad--But then, here the shoe pinches.

Steenie and Babie Charles cannot abide him--neither can your own son,

my lord; and so, methinks, he had better go down to Scotland before he

comes toill luck by them."

"My son, an it please your Majesty, so far as he is concerned, shall

not direct my doings," said the earl, "nor any wild-headed young man

of them all."

"Why, neither shall they mine," replied the monarch; "by my father's

saul, none of them all shall play Rex with me--I will do what I will,

and what I ought, like a free king."

"Your Majesty will then grant me my boon?" said the Lord Huntinglen.

"Ay, marry will I--marry will I," said the king; "but follow me this

way, man, where we may be more private."

He led Lord Huntinglen with rather a hurried step through the

courtiers, all of whom gazed earnestly on this unwonted scene, as is

the fashion of all Courts on similar occasions. The king passed into a

little cabinet, and bade, in the first moment, Lord Huntinglen lock or

bar the door; but countermanded his direction in the next, saying,--

"No, no, no--bread o' life, man, I am a free king--will do what I will

and what I should--I am _justus et tenax propositi_, man--

nevertheless, keep by the door, Lord Huntinglen, in case Steenie

should come in with his mad humour."

"O my poor master!" groaned the Earl of Huntinglen. "When you were in

your own cold country, you had warmer blood in your veins."

The king hastily looked over the petition or memorial, every now and

then glancing his eye towards the door, and then sinking it hastily on

the paper, ashamed that Lord Huntinglen, whom he respected, should

suspect him of timidity.

"To grant the truth," he said, after he had finished his hasty

perusal, "this is a hard case; and harder than it was represented to

me, though I had some inkling of it before. And so the lad only wants

payment of the siller due from us, in order to reclaim his paternal

estate? But then, Huntinglen, the lad will have other debts--and why

burden himsell with sae mony acres of barren woodland? let the land

gang, man, let the land gang; Steenie has the promise of it from our

Scottish Chancellor--it is the best hunting-ground in Scotland--and

Babie Charles and Steenie want to kill a buck there this next year--

they maun hae the land--they maun hae the land; and our debt shall be

paid to the young man plack and bawbee, and he may have the spending

of it at our Court; or if he has such an eard hunger, wouns! man,

we'll stuff his stomach with English land, which is worth twice as

much, ay, ten times as much, as these accursed hills and heughs, and

mosses and muirs, that he is sae keen after."

All this while the poor king ambled up and down the apartment in a

piteous state of uncertainty, which was made more ridiculous by his

shambling circular mode of managing his legs, and his ungainly fashion

on such occasions of fiddling with the bunches of ribbons which

fastened the lower part of his dress.

Lord Huntinglen listened with great composure, and answered, "An it

please your Majesty, there was an answer yielded by Naboth when Ahab

coveted his vineyard--' The Lord forbid that I should give the

inheritance of my fathers unto thee.'"

"Ey, my lord--ey, my lord!" ejaculated James, while all the colour

mounted both to his cheek and nose; "I hope ye mean not to teach me

divinity? Ye need not fear, my lord, that I will shun to do justice to

every man; and, since your lordship will give me no help to take up

this in a more peaceful manner--whilk, methinks, would be better for

the young man, as I said before,--why--since it maun be so--'sdeath, I

am a free king, man, and he shall have his money and redeem his land,

and make a kirk and a miln of it, an he will." So saying, he hastily

wrote an order on the Scottish Exchequer for the sum in question, and

then added, "How they are to pay it, I see not; but I warrant he will

find money on the order among the goldsmiths, who can find it for

every one but me.--And now you see, my Lord of Huntinglen, that I am

neither an untrue man, to deny you the boon whilk I became bound for,

nor an Ahab, to covet Naboth's vineyard; nor a mere nose-of-wax, to be

twisted this way and that, by favourites and counsellors at their

pleasure. I think you will grant now that I am none of those?"

"You are my own native and noble prince," said Huntinglen, as he knelt

to kiss the royal hand--"just and generous, whenever you listen to the

workings of your own heart."

"Ay, ay," said the king, laughing good-naturedly, as he raised his

faithful servant from the ground, "that is what ye all say when I do

any thing to please ye. There--there, take the sign-manual, and away

with you and this young fellow. I wonder Steenie and Babie Charles

have not broken in on us before now."

Lord Huntinglen hastened from the cabinet, foreseeing a scene at which

he was unwilling to be present, but which sometimes occurred when

James roused himself so far as to exert his own free will, of which he

boasted so much, in spite of that of his imperious favourite Steenie,

as he called the Duke of Buckingham, from a supposed resemblance

betwixt his very handsome countenance, and that with which the Italian

artists represented the protomartyr Stephen. In fact, the haughty

favourite, who had the unusual good fortune to stand as high in the

opinion of the heir-apparent as of the existing monarch, had

considerably diminished in his respect towards the latter; and it was

apparent, to the more shrewd courtiers, that James endured his

domination rather from habit, timidity, and a dread of encountering

his stormy passions, than from any heartfelt continuation of regard

towards him, whose greatness had been the work of his own hands. To

save himself the pain of seeing what was likely to take place on the

duke's return, and to preserve the king from the additional

humiliation which the presence of such a witness must have occasioned,

the earl left the cabinet as speedily as possible, having first

carefully pocketed the important sign-manual.

No sooner had he entered the presence-room, than he hastily sought

Lord Glenvarloch, who had withdrawn into the embrasure of one of the

windows, from the general gaze of men who seemed disposed only to

afford him the notice which arises from surprise and curiosity, and,

taking him by the arm, without speaking, led him out of the presence-

chamber into the first ante-room. Here they found the worthy

goldsmith, who approached them with looks of curiosity, which were

checked by the old lord, who said hastily, "All is well.--Is your

barge in waiting?" Heriot answered in the affirmative. "Then," said

Lord Huntinglen, "you shall give me a cast in it, as the watermen say;

and I, in requital, will give you both your dinner; for we must have

some conversation together."

They both followed the earl without speaking, and were in the second

ante-room when the important annunciation of the ushers, and the hasty

murmur with which all made ample way as the company repeated to each

other,--"The Duke--the Duke!" made them aware of the approach of the

omnipotent favourite.

He entered, that unhappy minion of Court favour, sumptuously dressed

in the picturesque attire which will live for ever on the canvas of

Vandyke, and which marks so well the proud age, when aristocracy,

though undermined and nodding to its fall, still, by external show and

profuse expense, endeavoured to assert its paramount superiority over

the inferior orders. The handsome and commanding countenance, stately

form, and graceful action and manners of the Duke of Buckingham, made

him become that picturesque dress beyond any man of his time. At

present, however, his countenance seemed discomposed, his dress a

little more disordered than became the place, his step hasty, and his

voice imperative.

All marked the angry spot upon his brow, and bore back so suddenly to

make way for him, that the Earl of Huntinglen, who affected no

extraordinary haste on the occasion, with his companions, who could

not, if they would, have decently left him, remained as it were by

themselves in the middle of the room, and in the very path of the

angry favourite. He touched his cap sternly as he looked on

Huntinglen, but unbonneted to Heriot, and sunk his beaver, with its

shadowy plume, as low as the floor, with a profound air of mock

respect. In returning his greeting, which he did simply and

unaffectedly, the citizen only said,--"Too much courtesy, my lord

duke, is often the reverse of kindness."

"I grieve you should think so, Master Heriot," answered the duke; "I

only meant, by my homage, to claim your protection, sir--your

patronage. You are become, I understand, a solicitor of suits--a

promoter--an undertaker--a fautor of court suitors of merit and

quality, who chance to be pennyless. I trust your bags will bear you

out in your new boast."

"They will bear me the farther, my lord duke," answered the goldsmith,

"that my boast is but small."

"O, you do yourself less than justice, my good Master Heriot,"

continued the duke, in the same tone of irony; "you have a marvellous

court-faction, to be the son of an Edinburgh tinker. Have the goodness

to prefer me to the knowledge of the high-born nobleman who is

honoured and advantaged by your patronage."

"That shall be my task," said Lord Huntinglen, with emphasis. "My lord

duke, I desire you to know Nigel Olifaunt, Lord Glenvarloch,

representative of one of the most ancient and powerful baronial houses

in Scotland.--Lord Glenvarloch, I present you to his Grace the Duke of

Buckingham, representative of Sir George Villiers, Knight of

Brookesby, in the county of Leicester."

The duke coloured still more high as he bowed to Lord Glenvarloch

scornfully, a courtesy which the other returned haughtily, and with

restrained indignation. "We know each other, then," said the duke,

after a moment's pause; and as if he had seen something in the young

nobleman which merited more serious notice than the bitter raillery

with which he had commenced--"we know each other--and you know me, my

lord, for your enemy."

"I thank you for your plainness, my lord duke," replied Nigel; "an

open enemy is better than a hollow friend."

"For you, my Lord Huntinglen," said the duke, "methinks you have but

now overstepped the limits of the indulgence permitted to you, as the

father of the prince's friend, and my own."

"By my word, my lord duke," replied the earl, "it is easy for any one

to outstep boundaries, of the existence of which he was not aware. It

is neither to secure my protection nor approbation, that my son keeps

such exalted company."

"O, my lord, we know you, and indulge you," said the duke; "you are

one of those who presume for a life-long upon the merit of one good

action."

"In faith, my lord, and if it be so," said the old earl, "I have at

least the advantage of such as presume more than I do, without having

done any action of merit whatever. But I mean not to quarrel with you,

my lord--we can neither be friends nor enemies--you have your path,

and I have mine."

Buckingham only replied by throwing on his bonnet, and shaking its

lofty plume with a careless and scornful toss of the head. They parted

thus; the duke walking onwards through the apartments, and the others

leaving the Palace and repairing to Whitehall Stairs, where they

embarked on board the barge of the citizen.