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  The same day that this news reached the town, I was standing at my shop-door, between dinner and tea-time. It was a fine sunny summer afternoon.Standing under the blessed influence of the time by myself at my shop-door, who should I see passing along the crown of the causey, but MrM'Lucre himself and with a countenance knotted with care, little inunison with the sultry indolence of that sunny day.

  "Whar awa sae fast, dean o' guild?" quo' I to him; and he stopped hiswide stepping, for he was a long spare man, and looting in his gait.

  "I'm just," said he, "taking a step to the provost's, to learn theparticulars of thir great news--for, as we are to hae the casting vote inthe next election, there's no saying the good it may bring to us all ginwe manage it wi' discretion."

  I reflected the while of a minute before I made any reply, and then Isaid--

  "It would hae nae doubt of the matter, Mr M'Lucre, could it be broughtabout to get you chosen for the delegate; but I fear, as ye are only deanof guild this year, that's no to be accomplished; and really, without thelike of you, our borough, in the contest, may be driven to the wall."

  "Contest!" cried the dean of guild, with great eagerness; "wha told youthat we are to be contested?"

  Nobody had told me, nor at the moment was I sensible of the force of whatI said; but, seeing the effect it had on Mr M'Lucre, I replied,--

  "It does not, perhaps, just now do for me to be more particular, and Ihope what I have said to you will gang no further; but it's a great pitythat ye're no even a bailie this year, far less the provost, otherwise Iwould have great confidence."

  "Then," said the dean of guild, "you have reason to believe that there isto be a dissolution, and that we are to be contested?"

  "Mr M'Lucre, dinna speer any questions," was my answer, "but look at thatand say nothing;" so I pulled out of my pocket a letter that had beenfranked to me by the earl. The letter was from James Portoport, hislordship's butler, who had been a waiter with Mrs Pawkie's mother, and hewas inclosing to me a five-pound note to be given to an auld aunty thatwas in need. But the dean of guild knew nothing of our correspondence,nor was it required that he should. However, when he saw my lord'sfranking, he said, "Are the boroughs, then, really and truly to becontested?"

  "Come into the shop, Mr M'Lucre," said I sedately; "come in, and hearwhat I have to say."

  And he came in, and I shut and barred the half-door, in order that wemight not be suddenly interrupted.

  "You are a man of experience, Mr M'Lucre," said I, "and have a knowledgeof the world, that a young man, like me, would be a fool to pretend to.But I have shown you enough to convince you that I would not be worthy ofa trust, were I to answer any improper questions. Ye maun, therefore,gie me some small credit for a little discretion in this matter, while Iput a question to yourself. 'Is there no a possibility of getting youmade the provost at Michaelmas, or, at the very least, a bailie, to theend that ye might be chosen delegate, it being an unusual thing foranybody under the degree of a bailie to be chosen thereto?'"

  "I have been so long in the guildry," was his thoughtful reply, "that Ifear it canna be very well managed without me."

  "Mr M'Lucre," said I, and I took him cordially by the hand, "a thoughthas just entered my head. Couldna we manage this matter between us? It'strue I'm but a novice in public affairs, and with the mystery of theguildry quite unacquaint--if, however, you could be persuaded to allowyourself to be made a bailie, I would, subject to your directions,undertake the office of dean of guild, and all this might be so concertedbetween us, that nobody would ken the nature of our paction--for, to beplain with you, it's no to be hoped that such a young counsellor asmyself can reasonably expect to be raised, so soon as next Michaelmas, tothe magistracy, and there is not another in the council that I would liketo see chosen delegate at the election but yourself."

  Mr M'Lucre swithered a little at this, fearing to part with the bird hehad in hand; but, in the end, he said, that he thought what was proposedno out of the way, and that he would have no objection to be a bailie forthe next year, on condition that I would, in the following, let him againbe dean of guild, even though he should be called a Michaelmas mare, forit did not so well suit him to be a bailie as to be dean of guild, inwhich capacity he had been long used.

  I guessed in this that he had a vista in view of the tacks and leasesthat were belyve to fall in, and I said--

  "Nothing can be more reasonable, Mr M'Lucre; for the office of dean ofguild must be a very fashious one, to folks like me, no skilled in itsparticularities; and I'm sure I'll be right glad and willing to give itup, when we hae got our present turn served.--But to keep a' things quietbetween us, let us no appear till after the election overly thick;indeed, for a season, we maun fight, as it were, under differentcolours."

  Thus was the seed sown of a great reformation in the burgh, the sproutingwhereof I purpose to describe in due season.

  CHAPTER V--THE FIRST CONTESTED ELECTION

  The sough of the dissolution of parliament, during the whole of thesummer, grew stronger and stronger, and Mr M'Lucre and me were seeminglypulling at opposite ends of the rope. There was nothing that he proposedin the council but what I set myself against with such bir and vigour,that sometimes he could scarcely keep his temper, even while he waslaughing in his sleeve to see how the other members of the corporationwere beglammered. At length Michaelmas drew near, when I, to show, as itwere, that no ill blood had been bred on my part, notwithstanding ourbickerings, proposed in the council that Mr M'Lucre should be the newbailie; and he on his part, to manifest, in return, that there was aslittle heart-burning on his, said "he would have no objections; but thenhe insisted that I should consent to be dean of guild in his stead."

  "It's true," said he in the council on that occasion, "that Mr Pawkie isas yet but a greenhorn in the concerns of the burgh: however, he'll neverlearn younger, and if he'll agree to this, I'll gie him all the help andinsight that my experience enables me to afford."

  At the first, I pretended that really, as was the truth, I had noknowledge of what were the duties of dean of guild; but after somefleeching from the other councillors, I consented to have the office, asit were, forced upon me; so I was made dean of guild, and Mr M'Lucre thenew bailie.

  By and by, when the harvest in England was over, the parliament wasdissolved, but no candidate started on my lord's interest, as wasexpected by Mr M'Lucre, and he began to fret and be dissatisfied that hehad ever consented to allow himself to be hoodwinked out of the guildry.However, just three days before the election, and at the dead hour of thenight, the sound of chariot wheels and of horsemen was heard in ourstreets; and this was Mr Galore, the great Indian nabob, that had boughtthe Beerland estates, and built the grand place that is called LucknooHouse, coming from London, with the influence of the crown on his side,to oppose the old member. He drove straight to Provost Picklan's house,having, as we afterwards found out, been in a secret correspondence withhim through the medium of Mrs Picklan, who was conjunct in the businesswith Miss Nelly, the nabob's maiden sister. Mr M'Lucre was not a littleconfounded at this, for he had imagined that I was the agent on behalf ofmy lord, who was of the government side, so he wist not what to do, inthe morning when he came to me, till I said to him briskly--

  "Ye ken, bailie, that ye're trysted to me, and it's our duty to supportthe nabob, who is both able and willing, as I have good reason to think,to requite our services in a very grateful manner." This was a cordialto his spirit, and, without more ado, we both of us set to work to getthe bailie made the delegate. In this I had nothing in view but the goodof my country by pleasuring, as it was my duty, his majesty's government,for I was satisfied with my situation as dean of guild. But the handlingrequired no small slight of skill.

  The first thing was, to persuade those that were on the side of the oldmember to elect Mr M'Lucre for delegate, he being, as we had concerted,openly declared for that interest, and the benefit to be gotten therebyhaving, by use and wont, been at an established and reg
ular rate. Thenext thing was to get some of those that were with me on my lord's side,kept out of the way on the day of choosing the delegate; for we were thestrongest, and could easily have returned the provost, but I had no clearnotion how it would advantage me to make the provost delegate, as wasproposed. I therefore, on the morning of the business, invited three ofthe council to take their breakfast with me, for the ostensible purposeof going in a body to the council chamber to choose the provost delegate;but when we were at breakfast, John Snakers, my lad in the shop, by mysuggestion, warily got a bale of broad cloth so tumbled, as it were byaccident, at the door, that it could not be opened; for it bent the keyin such a manner in the lock, and crooket the sneck, that without a smiththere was no egress, and sorrow a smith was to be had. All were out andaround the tolbooth waiting for the upshot of the choosing the delegate.Those that saw me in the mean time, would have thought I had gonedemented. I ramped and I stamped; I banned and I bellowed likedesperation. My companions, no a bit better, flew fluttering to thewindows, like wild birds to the wires of their cage. However, to make along tale short, Bailie M'Lucre was, by means of this device, chosendelegate, seemingly against my side. But oh! he was a slee tod, for nosooner was he so chosen, than he began to act for his own behoof; andthat very afternoon, while both parties were holding their public dinnerhe sent round the bell to tell that the potato crop on his back rig wasto be sold by way of public roup the same day. There wasna one in thetown that had reached the years of discretion, but kent what na sort ofpotatoes he was going to sell; and I was so disturbed by this opencorruption, that I went to him, and expressed my great surprise. Hotwords ensued between us; and I told him very plainly that I would havenothing further to say to him or his political profligacy. However, hispotatoes were sold, and brought upwards of three guineas the peck, thenabob being the purchaser, who, to show his contentment with the bargain,made Mrs M'Lucre, and the bailie's three daughters, presents of new gownsand princods, that were not stuffed with wool.

  In the end, as a natural consequence, Bailie M'Lucre, as delegate, votedfor the Nabob, and the old member was thereby thrown out. But althoughthe government candidate in this manner won the day, yet I was sodispleased by the jookerie of the bailie, and the selfish manner by whichhe had himself reaped all the advantage of the election in the sale ofhis potatoes, that we had no correspondence on public affairs till longafter; so that he never had the face to ask me to give up the guildry,till I resigned it of my own accord after the renewal of the tacks towhich I have alluded, by the which renewals, a great increase waseffected in the income of the town.

  CHAPTER VI--THE FAILURE OF BAILIE M'LUCRE

  Bailie M'Lucre, as I have already intimated, was naturally a greedy body,and not being content with the profits of his potatoe rig, soon after theelection he set up as an o'er-sea merchant, buying beef and corn byagency in Ireland, and having the same sent to the Glasgow market. Forsome time, this traffic yielded him a surprising advantage; but thesummer does not endure the whole year round, nor was his prosperityordained to be of a continuance. One mishap befell him after another;cargoes of his corn heated in the vessels, because he would not sell at alosing price, and so entirely perished; and merchants broke, that were inhis debt large sums for his beef and provisions. In short, in the courseof the third year from the time of the election, he was rookit of everyplack he had in the world, and was obligated to take the benefit of thedivor's bill, soon after which he went suddenly away from the town, onthe pretence of going into Edinburgh, on some business of legality withhis wife's brother, with whom he had entered into a plea concerning themoiety of a steading at the town-head. But he did not stop on any suchconcern there; on the contrary, he was off, and up to London in a traderfrom Leith, to try if he could get a post in the government by the aid ofthe nabob, our member; who, by all accounts, was hand and glove with theking's ministers. The upshot of this journey to London was very comical;and when the bailie afterwards came back, and him and me were again onterms of visitation, many a jocose night we spent over the story of thesame; for the bailie was a kittle hand at a bowl of toddy; and hisadventure was so droll, especially in the way he was wont to rehearse theparticulars, that it cannot fail to be an edification to posterity, toread and hear how it happened, and all about it. I may therefore takeleave to digress into the circumstantials, by way of lightening for atime the seriousness of the sober and important matter, whereof it is myintent that this book shall be a register and record to future times.

  CHAPTER VII--THE BRIBE

  Mr M'Lucre, going to London, as I have intimated in the foregoingchapter, remained there, absent from us altogether about the space of sixweeks; and when he came home, he was plainly an altered man, beingsometimes very jocose, and at other times looking about him as if he hadbeen haunted by some ill thing. Moreover, Mrs Spell, that had the post-office from the decease of her husband, Deacon Spell, told among herkimmers, that surely the bailie had a great correspondence with the kingand government, for that scarce a week passed without a letter from himto our member, or a letter from the member to him. This bred no smallconsideration among us; and I was somehow a thought uneasy thereat, notknowing what the bailie, now that he was out of the guildry, might besaying anent the use and wont that had been practised therein, and nevermore than in his own time. At length, the babe was born.

  One evening, as I was sitting at home, after closing the shop for thenight, and conversing concerning the augmentation of our worldly affairswith Mrs Pawkie and the bairns--it was a damp raw night; I mind it justas well as if it had been only yestreen--who should make his appearanceat the room door but the bailie himself, and a blithe face he had?

  "It's a' settled now," cried he, as he entered with a triumphant voice;"the siller's my ain, and I can keep it in spite of them; I don't valuethem now a cutty-spoon; no, not a doit; no the worth of that; nor a'their sprose about Newgate and the pillory;"--and he snapped his fingerswith an aspect of great courage.

  "Hooly, hooly, bailie," said I; "what's a' this for?" and then hereplied, taking his seat beside me at the fireside--"The plea with thecustom-house folk at London is settled, or rather, there canna be a pleaat a', so firm and true is the laws of England on my side, and theliberty of the subject."

  All this was Greek and Hebrew to me; but it was plain that the bailie, inhis jaunt, had been guilty of some notour thing, wherein the custom-housewas concerned, and that he thought all the world was acquaint with thesame. However, no to balk him in any communication he might be disposedto make me, I said:--

  "What ye say, bailie, is great news, and I wish you meikle joy, for Ihave had my fears about your situation for some time; but now that thebusiness is brought to such a happy end, I would like to hear all thetrue particulars of the case; and that your tale and tidings sha'na lackslackening, I'll get in the toddy bowl and the gardevin; and with that, Iwinket to the mistress to take the bairns to their bed, and bade JennyHachle, that was then our fee'd servant lass, to gar the kettle boil.Poor Jenny has long since fallen into a great decay of circumstances, forshe was not overly snod and cleanly in her service; and so, in time, woreout the endurance of all the houses and families that fee'd her, tillnobody would take her; by which she was in a manner cast on Mrs Pawkie'shands; who, on account of her kindliness towards the bairns in theirchildhood, has given her a howf among us. But, to go on with what I wasrehearsing; the toddy being ordered, and all things on the table, thebailie, when we were quiet by ourselves, began to say--

  "Ye ken weel, Mr Pawkie, what I did at the 'lection for the member andhow angry ye were yoursel about it, and a' that. But ye were greatlymista'en in thinking that I got ony effectual fee at the time, over andabove the honest price of my potatoes; which ye were as free to bid for,had ye liket, as either o' the candidates. I'll no deny, however, thatthe nabob, before he left the town, made some small presents to my wifeand dochter; but that was no fault o' mine. Howsever, when a' was o'er,and I could discern that ye were mindet to keep the gu
ildry, I thought,after the wreck o' my provision concern, I might throw mair bread on thewater and not find it, than by a bit jaunt to London to see how myhonourable friend, the nabob, was coming on in his place in parliament,as I saw none of his speeches in the newspaper.

  "Well, ye see, Mr Pawkie, I gae'd up to London in a trader from Leith;and by the use of a gude Scotch tongue, the whilk was the main substanceo' a' the bairns' part o' gear that I inherited from my parents, I foundout the nabob's dwelling, in the west end o' the town of London; andfinding out the nabob's dwelling, I went and rappit at the door, which abardy flunkie opened, and speer't what I want it, as if I was a thing nofit to be lifted off a midden with a pair of iron tongs. Like master,like man, thought I to myself; and thereupon, taking heart no to be putout, I replied to the whipper-snapper--'I'm Bailie M'Lucre o' Gudetown,and maun hae a word wi' his honour.'

  "The cur lowered his birsses at this, and replied, in a mair ceeveleezedstyle of language, 'Master is not at home.' But I kent what not at homemeans in the morning at a gentleman's door in London; so I said, 'Veryweel, as I hae had a long walk, I'll e'en rest myself and wait till hecome;' and with that, I plumpit down on one of the mahogany chairs in thetrance. The lad, seeing that I was na to be jookit, upon this answeredme, by saying, he would go and enquire if his master would be at home tome; and the short and the long o't was, that I got at last an audience o'my honourable friend.

  "'Well, bailie,' said he, 'I'm glad to see you in London,' and a hantleo' ither courtly glammer that's no worth a repetition; and, from less tomair, we proceeded to sift into the matter and end of my coming to askthe help o' his hand to get me a post in the government. But I soon saw,that wi a' the phraseology that lay at his tongue end during theelection, about his power and will to serve us, his ain turn ser't, hecared so little for me. Howsever after tarrying some time, and going tohim every day, at long and last he got me a tide-waiter's place at thecustom-house; a poor hungry situation, no worth the grassum at a new tackof the warst land in the town's aught. But minnows are better than naefish, and a tide-waiter's place was a step towards a better, if I couldhave waited. Luckily, however, for me, a flock of fleets and ships fraethe East and West Indies came in a' thegither; and there was sic a stressfor tide-waiters, that before I was sworn in and tested, I was sent downto a grand ship in the Malabar trade frae China, loaded with tea andother rich commodities; the captain whereof, a discreet man, took me downto the cabin, and gave me a dram of wine, and, when we were by oursels,he said to me--