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.
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