The Provost Read online

  Transcribed from the 1913 T. N. Foulis edition David Price, [email protected]

  THE PROVOST

  INTRODUCTION

  During a recent visit to the West Country, among other old friends wepaid our respects to Mrs Pawkie, the relict of the Provost of that name,who three several times enjoyed the honour of being chief magistrate inGudetown. Since the death of her worthy husband, and the comfortablesettlement in life of her youngest daughter, Miss Jenny, who was marriedlast year to Mr Caption, writer to the signet, she has been, as she toldus herself, "beeking in the lown o' the conquest which the gudeman had,wi' sic an ettling o' pains and industry, gathered for his family."

  Our conversation naturally diverged into various topics, and, amongothers, we discoursed at large on the manifold improvements which hadtaken place, both in town and country, since we had visited the RoyalBurgh. This led the widow, in a complimentary way, to advert to the handwhich, it is alleged, we have had in the editing of that most excellentwork, entitled, "Annals of the Parish of Dalmailing," intimating, thatshe had a book in the handwriting of her deceased husband, the Provost,filled with a variety of most curious matter; in her opinion, of far moreconsequence to the world than any book that we had ever been concerned inputting out.

  Considering the veneration in which Mr Pawkie had been through liferegarded by his helpmate, we must confess that her eulogium on the meritsof his work did not impress us with the most profound persuasion that itwas really deserving of much attention. Politeness, however, obliged usto express an earnest desire to see the volume, which, after some littlehesitation, was produced. Judge, then, of the nature of our emotions,when, in cursorily turning over a few of the well-penned pages, we foundthat it far surpassed every thing the lady had said in its praise. Such,indeed was our surprise, that we could not refrain from openly and atonce assuring her, that the delight and satisfaction which it wascalculated to afford, rendered it a duty on her part to lose no time insubmitting it to the public; and, after lavishing a panegyric on thesingular and excellent qualities of the author, which was all mostdelicious to his widow, we concluded with a delicate insinuation of thepleasure we should enjoy, in being made the humble instrument ofintroducing to the knowledge of mankind a volume so replete and enrichedwith the fruits of his practical wisdom. Thus, partly by a judiciousadministration of flattery, and partly also by solicitation, backed by anindirect proposal to share the profits, we succeeded in persuading MrsPawkie to allow us to take the valuable manuscript to Edinburgh, in orderto prepare it for publication.

  Having obtained possession of the volume, we lost no time till we hadmade ourselves master of its contents. It appeared to consist of aseries of detached notes, which, together, formed something analogous toan historical view of the different important and interesting scenes andaffairs the Provost had been personally engaged in during his longmagisterial life. We found, however that the concatenation of thememoranda which he had made of public transactions, was in several placesinterrupted by the insertion of matter not in the least degreeinteresting to the nation at large; and that, in arranging the work forthe press, it would be requisite and proper to omit many of the notes andmuch of the record, in order to preserve the historical coherency of thenarrative. But in doing this, the text has been retained inviolate, inso much that while we congratulate the world on the addition we are thusenabled to make to the stock of public knowledge, we cannot butfelicitate ourselves on the complete and consistent form into which wehave so successfully reduced our precious materials; the separation ofwhich, from the dross of personal and private anecdote, was a task of nosmall difficulty; such, indeed, as the editors only of the autographicmemoirs of other great men can duly appreciate.

  CHAPTER I--THE FORECAST

  It must be allowed in the world, that a man who has thrice reached thehighest station of life in his line, has a good right to set forth theparticulars of the discretion and prudence by which he lifted himself sofar above the ordinaries of his day and generation; indeed, thegenerality of mankind may claim this as a duty; for the conduct of publicmen, as it has been often wisely said, is a species of public property,and their rules and observances have in all ages been considered thingsof a national concernment. I have therefore well weighed the importanceit may be of to posterity, to know by what means I have thrice been madean instrument to represent the supreme power and authority of Majesty inthe royal burgh of Gudetown, and how I deported myself in that honour anddignity, so much to the satisfaction of my superiors in the state andcommonwealth of the land, to say little of the great respect in which Iwas held by the townsfolk, and far less of the terror that I was to evil-doers. But not to be over circumstantial, I propose to confine thishistory of my life to the public portion thereof, on the which account Iwill take up the beginning at the crisis when I first entered intobusiness, after having served more than a year above my time, with thelate Mr Thomas Remnant, than whom there was not a more creditable man inthe burgh; and he died in the possession of the functionaries andfaculties of town-treasurer, much respected by all acquainted with hisorderly and discreet qualities.

  Mr Remnant was, in his younger years, when the growth of luxury andprosperity had not come to such a head as it has done since, a tailorthat went out to the houses of the adjacent lairds and country gentry,whereby he got an inkling of the policy of the world, that could not havebeen gathered in any other way by a man of his station and degree oflife. In process of time he came to be in a settled way, and when I wasbound 'prentice to him, he had three regular journeymen and a cloth shop.It was therefore not so much for learning the tailoring, as to get aninsight in the conformity between the traffic of the shop and the boardthat I was bound to him, being destined by my parents for the professionappertaining to the former, and to conjoin thereto something of themercery and haberdashery: my uncle, that had been a sutler in the armyalong with General Wolfe, who made a conquest of Quebec, having left me alegacy of three hundred pounds because I was called after him, the whichlegacy was a consideration for to set me up in due season in some genteelbusiness.

  Accordingly, as I have narrated, when I had passed a year over my'prenticeship with Mr Remnant, I took up the corner shop at the Cross,facing the Tolbooth; and having had it adorned in a befitting manner,about a month before the summer fair thereafter, I opened it on that day,with an excellent assortment of goods, the best, both for taste andvariety, that had ever been seen in the burgh of Gudetown; and the winterfollowing, finding by my books that I was in a way to do so, I married mywife: she was daughter to Mrs Broderip, who kept the head inn in Irville,and by whose death, in the fall of the next year, we got a nest egg,that, without a vain pretension, I may say we have not failed to layupon, and clock to some purpose.

  Being thus settled in a shop and in life, I soon found that I had a partto perform in the public world; but I looked warily about me beforecasting my nets, and therefore I laid myself out rather to be entreatedthan to ask; for I had often heard Mr Remnant observe, that the nature ofman could not abide to see a neighbour taking place and preferment of hisown accord. I therefore assumed a coothy and obliging demeanour towardsmy customers and the community in general; and sometimes even with thevery beggars I found a jocose saying as well received as a bawbee,although naturally I dinna think I was ever what could be called a funnyman, but only just as ye would say a thought ajee in that way. Howsever,I soon became, both by habit and repute, a man of popularity in the town,in so much that it was a shrewd saying of old James Alpha, thebookseller, that "mair gude jokes were cracked ilka day in James Pawkie'sshop, than in Thomas Curl, the barber's, on a Saturday night."

  CHAPTER II--A KITHING

  I could plainly discern that the prudent conduct which I had adoptedtowards the public was gradually
growing into effect. Disputativeneighbours made me their referee, and I became, as it were, an oraclethat was better than the law, in so much that I settled theircontroversies without the expense that attends the same. But whatconvinced me more than any other thing that the line I pursued wasverging towards a satisfactory result, was, that the elderly folk thatcame into the shop to talk over the news of the day, and to rehearse thediverse uncos, both of a national and a domestic nature, used to call mebailie and my lord; the which jocular derision was as a symptom andforetaste within their spirits of what I was ordained to be. Thus was Iencouraged, by little and little, together with a sharp remarking of theinclination and bent of men's minds, to entertain the hope and assuranceof rising to the top of all the town, as this book maketh manifest, andthe incidents thereof will certificate.

  Nothing particular, however, came to pass, till my wife lay in of hersecond bairn, our daughter Sarah; at the christening of whom, amongdivers friends and relations, forbye the minister, we had my father'scousin, Mr Alexander Clues, that was then deacon convener, and a man ofgreat potency in his way, and possessed of an influence in thetown-council of which he was well worthy, being a person of gooddiscernment, and well versed in matters appertaining to the guildry. MrClues, as we were mellowing over the toddy bowl, said, that by and by thecouncil would be looking to me to fill up the first gap that might happentherein; and Dr Swapkirk, the then minister, who had officiated on theoccasion, observed, that it was a thing that, in the course of nature,could not miss to be, for I had all the douce demeanour and sagacitywhich it behoved a magistrate to possess. But I cannily replied, thoughI was right contented to hear this, that I had no time for governing, andit would be more for the advantage of the commonwealth to look for thecounselling of an older head than mine, happen when a vacancy might inthe town-council.

  In this conjuncture of our discoursing, Mrs Pawkie, my wife, who wassitting by the fireside in her easy chair, with a cod at her head, forshe had what was called a sore time o't, said:--

  "Na, na, gudeman, ye need na be sae mim; every body kens, and I ken too,that ye're ettling at the magistracy. It's as plain as a pikestaff,gudeman, and I'll no let ye rest if ye dinna mak me a bailie's wife or a'be done"--

  I was not ill pleased to hear Mrs Pawkie so spiritful; but I replied,

  "Dinna try to stretch your arm, gude-wife, further than your sleeve willlet you; we maun ca'canny mony a day yet before we think of dignities."

  The which speech, in a way of implication, made Deacon Clues tounderstand that I would not absolutely refuse an honour thrust upon me,while it maintained an outward show of humility and moderation.

  There was, however, a gleg old carlin among the gossips then present, oneMrs Sprowl, the widow of a deceased magistrate, and she cried out aloud:--

  "Deacon Clues, Deacon Clues, I redd you no to believe a word that MrPawkie's saying, for that was the very way my friend that's no more laidhimself out to be fleeched to tak what he was greenan for; so get himintill the council when ye can: we a' ken he'll be a credit to theplace," and "so here's to the health of Bailie Pawkie that is to be,"cried Mrs Sprowl. All present pledged her in the toast, by which we hada wonderful share of diversion. Nothing, however, immediately rose outof this, but it set men's minds a-barming and working; so that, beforethere was any vacancy in the council, I was considered in a manner as thenatural successor to the first of the counsellors that might happen todepart this life.

  CHAPTER III--A DIRGIE

  In the course of the summer following the baptism, of which I haverehearsed the particulars in the foregoing chapter, Bailie Mucklehosehappened to die, and as he was a man long and well respected, he had agreat funeral. All the rooms in his house were filled with company; andit so fell out that, in the confusion, there was neither minister norelder to give the blessing sent into that wherein I was, by which, whenMr Shavings the wright, with his men, came in with the service of breadand wine as usual, there was a demur, and one after another of thosepresent was asked to say grace; but none of them being exercised inpublic prayer, all declined, when Mr Shavings said to me, "Mr Pawkie, Ihope ye'll no refuse."

  I had seen in the process, that not a few of the declinations were moreout of the awkward shame of blateness, than any inherent modesty ofnature, or diffidence of talent; so, without making a phrase about thematter, I said the grace, and in such a manner that I could see it madean impression. Mr Shavings was at that time deacon of the wrights, andbeing well pleased with my conduct on this occasion, when he, the samenight, met the craft, he spoke of it in a commendable manner; and as Iunderstood thereafter, it was thought by them that the council could notdo better than make choice of me to the vacancy. In short, not to spinout the thread of my narration beyond necessity, let it here suffice tobe known, that I was chosen into the council, partly by the stronghandling of Deacon Shavings, and the instrumentality of other friends andwell-wishers, and not a little by the moderation and prudence with whichI had been secretly ettling at the honour.

  Having thus reached to a seat in the council, I discerned that it behovedme to act with circumspection, in order to gain a discreet dominion overthe same, and to rule without being felt, which is the great mystery ofpolicy. With this intent, I, for some time, took no active part in thedeliberations, but listened, with the doors of my understanding set wideto the wall, and the windows of my foresight all open; so that, inprocess of time, I became acquainted with the inner man of thecounsellors, and could make a guess, no far short of the probability, asto what they would be at, when they were jooking and wising in a round-about manner to accomplish their own several wills and purposes. I soonthereby discovered, that although it was the custom to deduce reasonsfrom out the interests of the community, for the divers means andmeasures that they wanted to bring to a bearing for their own particularbehoof, yet this was not often very cleverly done, and the cloven foot ofself-interest was now and then to be seen aneath the robe of publicprinciple. I had, therefore, but a straightforward course to pursue, inorder to overcome all their wiles and devices, the which was to make theinterests of the community, in truth and sincerity, the end and object ofmy study, and never to step aside from it for any immediate speciality ofprofit to myself. Upon this, I have endeavoured to walk with a constancyof sobriety; and although I have, to a certainty, reaped advantage bothin my own person and that of my family, no man living can accuse me ofhaving bent any single thing pertaining to the town and public, from thenatural uprightness of its integrity, in order to serve my own privateends.

  It was, however, sometime before an occasion came to pass, wherein Icould bring my knowledge and observations to operate in any effectualmanner towards a reformation in the management of the burgh; indeed, Isaw that no good could be done until I had subdued the two greatfactions, into which it may be said the council was then divided; the oneparty being strong for those of the king's government of ministers, andthe other no less vehement on the side of their adversaries. I,therefore, without saying a syllable to any body anent the same, girdedmyself for the undertaking, and with an earnest spirit put my shoulder tothe wheel, and never desisted in my endeavours, till I had got the cartup the brae, and the whole council reduced into a proper state ofsubjection to the will and pleasure of his majesty, whose deputies andagents I have ever considered all inferior magistrates to be,administering and exercising, as they do, their power and authority inhis royal name.

  The ways and means, however, by which this was brought to pass, supplymatter for another chapter; and after this, it is not my intent to sayany thing more concerning my principles and opinions, but only to showforth the course and current of things proceeding out of the affairs, inwhich I was so called to form a part requiring no small endeavour anddiligence.

  CHAPTER IV--THE GUILDRY

  When, as is related in the foregoing chapter, I had nourished myknowledge of the council into maturity, I began to cast about for themeans of exercising the same towards a satisfactory issue. But in this Ifound a
great difficulty, arising from the policy and conduct of MrAndrew M'Lucre, who had a sort of infeftment, as may be said, of theoffice of dean of guild, having for many years been allowed to intromitand manage the same; by which, as was insinuated by his adversaries, nolittle grist came to his mill. For it had happened from a very ancientdate, as far back, I have heard, as the time of Queen Anne, when theunion of the kingdoms was brought to a bearing, that the dean of guildamong us, for some reason or another, had the upper hand in the settingand granting of tacks of the town lands, in the doing of which it wasjealoused that the predecessors of Mr M'Lucre, no to say an ill word ofhim, honest man, got their loofs creeshed with something that might becalled agrassum, or rather, a gratis gift. It therefore seemed to methat there was a necessity for some reformation in the office, and Iforesaw that the same would never be accomplished, unless I could get MrM'Lucre wised out of it, and myself appointed his successor. But in thislay the obstacle; for every thing anent the office was, as it were, inhis custody, and it was well known that he had an interest in keeping bythat which, in vulgar parlance, is called nine points of the law.However, both for the public good and a convenience to myself, I wasresolved to get a finger in the dean of guild's fat pie, especially as Iforesaw that, in the course of three or four years, some of the besttacks would run out, and it would be a great thing to the magistrate thatmight have the disposal of the new ones. Therefore, without seeming tohave any foresight concerning the lands that were coming on to be out oflease, I set myself to constrain Mr M'Lucre to give up the guildry, as itwere, of his own free-will; and what helped me well to this, was a rumourthat came down from London, that there was to be a dissolution of theparliament.