You
are a wise man--manage it your ain gate--but forget not our present
straits." The citizen made his obeisance, and withdrew.
"And now, bairns," said the king, "what do you look upon each other
for--and what have you got to ask of your dear dad and gossip?"
"Only," said the Prince, "that it would please your Majesty to command
the lurking-place at the prison to be presently built up--the groans
of a captive should not be brought in evidence against him."
"What! build up my lugg, Baby Charles? And yet, better deaf than hear
ill tales of oneself. So let them build it up, hard and fast, without
delay, the rather that my back is sair with sitting in it for a whole
hour.--And now let us see what the cooks have been doing for us, bonny
bairns."
CHAPTER XXXIV
To this brave man the knight repairs
For counsel in his law affairs;
And found him mounted in his pew.
With books and money placed for show,
Like nest-eggs to make clients lay,
And for his false opinion pay.
_Hudibras._
Our readers may recollect a certain smooth-tongued, lank-haired,
buckram-suited, Scottish scrivener, who, in the earlier part of this
history, appeared in the character of a protege of George Heriot. It
is to his house we are about to remove, but times have changed with
him. The petty booth hath become a chamber of importance--the buckram
suit is changed into black velvet; and although the wearer retains his
puritanical humility and politeness to clients of consequence, he can
now look others broad in the face, and treat them with a full
allowance of superior opulence, and the insolence arising from it.
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