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yet if he lodge an informationou, nae doubt a man in magisterial duty maun attend to it, and ye might come to be clapped up between four was, whilk wad be ill-convenient to your fathers affairs. True, I observed; yet what service am I likely to render him by leaving Glasgow, which, it is probable, will be the principal scene of Rashleighs machinations, and committing myself to the doubtful faith of a man of whom I know little but that he fears justice, and has doubtless good reasons for doing so; and that for some secret, and probably dangerous purpose, he is in close league and alliance with the very person who is like to be the author of our ruin? Ah! but ye judge Rob hardly, said the Bailie,ye judge him hardly, puir chield; and the truth is, that ye ken naething about our hill country, or Hielands, as we ca them. They are clean anither set frae the like o huz; theres nae bailie-courts amang themnae magistrates that dinna bear the sword in vain, like the worthy deacon thats awaand, I may sayt, like mysell and other present magistrates in this cityBut its just the lairds command, and the loon maun loup; and the never another law hae they but the length o their dirksthe broadswords pursuer, or plaintiff, as you Englishers ca it, and the target is defender; the stoutest head bears langest outand theres a Hieland plea for ye. Owen groaned deeply; and I allow that the description did not greatly increase my desire to trust myself in a country so lawless as he described these Scottish mountains. Now, sir, said Jarvie, we speak little o thae things, because they are familiar to oursells; and wheres the use o vilifying anes country, and bringing a discredit on anes kin, before southrons and strangers? Its an ill bird that files its ain nest. Well, sir, but as it is no impertinent curiosity of mine, but real necessity, that obliges me to make these inquiries, I hope you will not be offended at my pressing for a little farther information. I have to deal, on my fathers account, with several gentlemen of these wild countries, and I must trust your good sense and experience for the requisite lights upon the subject. This little morsel of flattery was not thrown out in vain. Experience! said the Bailie, I hae had experience, nae doubt, and I hae made some calculationsAy, and to speak quietly amang oursells, I hae made some perquisitions through Andrew Wylie, my auld clerk; hes wi Mac-Vittie and Co. nowbut he whiles drinks a gill on the Saturday afternoons wi his auld master. And since ye say ye are willing to be guided by the Glasgow weaver-bodys advice, I am no the man that will refuse it to the son of an auld correspondent, and my father the deacon was nane sic afore me. I have whiles thought o letting my lights burn before the Duke of Argyle, or his brother Lord Ilay, (for wherefore should they be hidden under a bushel?) but the like o thae grit men wadna mind the like o me, a puir wabster-bodythey think mair o wha says a thing than o what the thing is thats said. The mairs the pitymairs the pity. Not that I wad speak ony ill of this MacCallum MoreCurse not the rich in your bedchamber, saith the son of Sirach, for a bird of the air shall carry the clatter, and pint-stoups hae lang lugs. I interrupted these prolegomena, in which Mr. Jarvie was apt to be somewhat diffuse, by praying him to rely upon Mr. Owen and myself as perfectly secret and safe confidents. Its no for that, he replied, for I fear nae manwhat for suld I?I speak nae treasonOnly thae Hielandmen hae lang grips, and I whiles gang a wee bit up the glens to see some auld kinsfolks, and I wadna willingly be in bad blude wi ony o their clans. Howsumever, to proceedYe maun understand I found my remarks on figures, whilk, as Mr. Owen here weel kens, is the only true demonstrable root of human knowledge. Owen readily assented to a proposition so much in his own way, and our orator proceeded. These Hielands of ours, as we ca them, gentlemen, are but a wild kind of warld by themsells, full of heights and howes, woods, caverns, lochs, rivers, and mountains, that it wad tire the very deevils wings |
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