The Heart of Mid-Lothian

ll, romantic A

dilly, carryin

er

, since a little miserable horse-cart, performing with difficulty a journey of thirty miles per diem, carried our mails from the capital of Scotland to its extremity. Nor was Scotland much more deficient in these accommodations than our rich sister had been about eighty years before. Fielding, in his Tom Jo

yer against high-flyer, through the most remote districts of Britain. And in our village alone, three post-coaches, and four coaches with men a

mbos et non im

dum pulsu, simu

ed to settle quietly down, like a ship scuttled and left to sink by the gradual influx of the waters, while the modern is smashed to pieces with the velocity of the same vessel hurled against breakers, or rather with the fury of a bomb bursting at the conclusion of its career through the air. The late ingenious Mr. Pennant, whose humour it was to set his face in stern opposition to these speedy conveyances, had collected, I have heard, a formidable list of such casualties, which, joined to the imposition of innkeepers, whose ch

Skiddaw h

g of the un

be awakened by the bugle, not of a warlike

school had obtained a half-holiday, by th

forward on the highway to meet it, with the impatience which Cowper has described as act

The gran

arangue — the

d the wisdom,

ugh — I long to

the imprisoned

voice and ut

r of a mile from the place where I was standing, runs partly through enclosures and plantations, and partly through open pasture land. It is a childish amusement perhaps — but my life has been spent with children, and why should not my pleasures be like theirs? — childish as it is then, I must own I have had great pleasure in watching the approach of the carriage, where the openings of the road permit it to be seen. The gay glancing of the equipage, its diminished and toy-like appearance at a distance, contrasted with the rapidity of its mot

ertain was the medium time for crossing the bridge and mounting the ascent. When double that space had elapsed, I became alarmed, and walked hastily forward. As I came in sight of the bridge, the cause of delay was too manifest, for the Somerset had made a summerset in good earnest, and overturned so completely, that it was literally resting upon the ground, with the roof undermost, and the four wheels in the air. The “exertions of the guard and coachman,” both of whom were gratefully commemorated in the newspapers, having succeeded in disentangling the horses by cutting the harness, were now proceeding to extricate the insides by a sort of summary and Caesarean process of delivery, forcing the hinges from one of the doors which they coul

t mantes in

of the unfortunate passengers, who were stout active young fellows; and, but for the preposterous length of their greatcoats, and the equally fashionable latitude and longitude o

coach which would pass that spot in less than half-an-hour, provided it were not full. Chance seemed to favour this arrangement, for when the expected vehicle, arrived, there were only two places occupied in a carriage which professed to carry six. The two ladies who had been disinterred out of the fallen vehicle were readily admitted, but positive objections were stated by those previously in possession to the admittance of the two lawyers, whose wetted garments being much of the nature of well-soaked sponges, there was every reason to believe they

arry their travelling bags, who was easily procured from an adjoining cottage; and they prepared to walk forward, when they found there was another passenger in the same deserted situation with themselves. This was the elderly and sickly-looking person, who had been precipitated into the river along with the two you

des, for such they seemed, to the desolate condition of their

ve’ here; you must go and have some dinner with us — Halkit and I must have a post

road as they walked along with the moisture of their drenched garments, and exhibiting the singular and somewhat ridiculous appearance of three persons suffering from the opposite extreme of humidity, while the summer sun was at its height, and everything

m, “that Gideon’s fleece remains dry, while all ar

in this good town; we bring a supply of

eplied his companion; “performing the part of three

id Halkit, “in full profession

d him; and then added, lowering his voice, “that loo

the threadbare appearance of a worn-out litigant, and I could not but smil

which is common to the higher classes of the law at Edinburgh, and which nearly resembles that of the young Templars in the days of Steele and Addison. An air of giddy gaiety mingled with the good sense, taste, and information which their conversation exhibited; and it seemed to be their object to unite the character of men of fashion and lovers of the polite arts. A fine gentleman, bred up in the thorough idleness and inanity of pursuit, which I understand is absolutely necessary to the character in perfection, might in all probability ha

ble; thus incommoding himself considerably in conveying the victuals to his mouth, as if by way of penance for partaking of them in the company of his superiors. A short time after dinner, declining all entre

that poor fellow’s face; you spoke more truly than you

—“I suppose you mean he is

was Hardie. “You are to give me all your business, you know; and if you

the case of that honest man. He looks as if he were just a

t. — Our friend here looks for an explanation.

in the af

doomed to do, through a narrow intricate passage, leading out of the north-west corner of t

od the sa

urch and far

l, to contribute his moiety to the riddle —

s friend in his turn, “a sort of place where misfortune is happi

good luck to be out, wish to

tlemen,” replied I;

g it with so much modesty and brevity; for with whatever amplifications we might have chosen to decorate the subject, you lay entirely at our mercy,

nburgh is called the Hear

nd reputed,

an lets slip a pun in presence of his superiors, “the metropo

dded Mr. Hardie; “and a close heart,

a poor heart,” answered

g heart, and a high heart,” rejoined the advoc

my hearts,” said th

done to many of its inmates. Why should not the Tolbooth have its ‘Last Speech, Confession, and Dying Words?’ The old stones would be just as conscious of th

esume to give my opinion, it would be

they are poor relatively to the world without, but there are degrees of wealth and poverty among them, and so some are relatively rich also. They cannot stir abroad, but neither can the garrison of a besieged fort,

secret view to my present task), “could possibly be de

itious narratives has to rack his brains for means to diversify his tale, and after all can hardly hit upon characters or incidents which have not been used again and again, until they are familiar to the eye of the reader, so that the development, enle’vement, the desperate wound of which the hero never dies, the burning fever from which the heroin

ared, but am n

beauty by some

with such di

icipates a d

Let solid w

air, and dig

razen locks an

cruel, such

ngle note the

egs, let men a

e from which sh

stant, ’tis in

freedom will so

ffled ruffian s

“is the death of interest; and hence i

is learned gentleman, but you are likely to find the new novel most in repute lying on his table —

seniors at the bar, within the bar, and even on the bench, read novels; and, if not belied, some of them have written novels into the bargain. I only say, that I read from habit and from indolence, not from real interest; that, like ancient Pistol devouring his leek, I read and swear till I get to the en

suppose the History of the Prison of Edin

bing; how many must have sunk at the sound — how many were supported by stubborn pride and dogged resolution — how many by the consolations of religion? Have there not been some, who, looking back on the motives of their crimes, were scarce able to understand how they should have had such temptation as to seduce them from virtue; and have there not, perhaps, been others, who, sensible of their innocence, were divided between indignation at the undeserved doom which they were to undergo, consciousness that they had not deserved

“that less of this interest must attach to Scottish jurisprudence than to that of an

fear or favour, a complete division of labour has taken place among her subjects, and the very thieves and robbers form a distinct class in society, subdivided among themselves according to the subject of the depredations, and the mode in which they carry them on, acting upon regular habits and principles, which can be calculated and anticipated at Bow Street, Hatton Garden, or the Old Bailey. Our sister kingdom is like a cultiv

. “I suppose the learned author very little thinks that the facts which his erudition and acuteness have accumulated for the illustration

ns of Scotland — by the hereditary jurisdictions, which, until 1748, rested the investigation of crises in judges, ignorant, partial, or interested — by the habits of the gentry, shut up in their distant and solitary mansion-houses, nursing their revengeful Passions just to keep their blood from stagnating — not to mention that amiable national qualification, called the perfervidum ingeni

ation of Sir Peter’s avenue, and has been held in leading-strings by him and his ancestors for time immemorial. Now Sir Peter was thus placed in the situation of an ambitious monarch, who, after having commenced a daring inroad into his enemy’s territories, is suddenly recalled by an invasion of his own hereditary dominions. He was obliged in consequence to return from the half-won borough of Bubbleburgh, to look after the half-lost borough of Bitem, and the two pairs of horses which had carried him that morning to Bubbleburgh were now f

dden the lawyer recollected himself. “Poor Dunover, we must not forget him;” and the landlord was despatched in quest of the pauvre honteux, with an earnestly civil invitation to him for the rest of the even

s seem to have thought that the crime of poverty might be atoned for by something short of perpetual imprisonment. After a month’s confinement, you must know, a prisoner for debt is entitled, on a suff

eplied, “of such a

ou puzzling in your pockets to seek your only memorial among old play-bills, letters requesting a meeting of the Faculty, rules of the Speculative

done every Saturday. The events follow each other as regularly as clo

s which this gentleman stated to fall under

— took a farm —(for conducting a farm, like driving a gig, comes by nature)— late severe times — induced to sign bills with a friend, for which he received no value — landlord sequestrates — creditors accept a composition — pursuer sets up a public-house — fails a second tim

tality attached to the hero. A well-informed, industrious, and blameless, but poor and bashful man, had in vain essayed all the usual means by which others acquire independence, yet had never succeeded beyond the attainment of bare subsistence. During a brief gleam of hope, rather than of actual prosperity, he had added a wife and family to his cares, but the d

the beach to provide for himself?” said Halkit. “Hark ye,”— and he whispered something in his e

e for a ruined client; but I was thinking of what you ment

e amusement of the evening. Jails, like other places, have their ancient traditions, known only to the inhabitants, and handed down from one set of the melancholy lodgers to the next who occupy their cells. Some of these, which Dunover mentioned, were interesting, and served to illustrate the narratives of remarkable trials, which Hardie had at his finger-ends, and which his companion was also well skilled in

for Sir Peter Plyem with singular ability, and to such good purpose, that I understand he has since had fewer play-bills and more briefs in his pocket. And both the young gentlemen deserve their good fortune; for I learned from Dunover, who called on me some weeks afterwards, and communicated the intelligence with tears in his eyes, that their interest had availed to obtain him a small office for the decent maintenance of his