prepared to afford him a warm and cordial welcome. Such, at least, is the general style of letters to rich old bachelors from aspirant legatees, and to this I have no reason to suppose, that those in question formed any exception. At all events, they were not without effect. A passenger and his luggage were one day deposited by the London mail at the ancient gate I have already commemorated, and this passenger was no other than my uncle David. He spent a week with us. I was then about four years old, and recollect something of an elderly gruff-looking personage, who dandled me on his knee, and spoke in a dialect which I could not understand. The impression he left on the family, was that of his being a very singular and eccentric character. Among other oddities, I have heard it narrated, that he sadly puzzled old Pearson, the butler, by calling for a glass of Glenlivet; and fairly posed my father after dinner, by expressing a wish to be indulged with a bowl of toddy, a liquor, eo nomine at least, not familiar to any member of the establishment. Between our family and that of Balmalloch, little or no intercourse had been maintained, and that little had been confined to a formal notification of births, marriages, and deaths, perhaps occasionally garnished with a few of those cheap expressions of civility, which mean, and which are intended to mean, nothing. After reading this long preliminary statement, it will probably be seen, that the resolution of sending me to Glasgow, was the effect of a more recondite policy than might at first have been apparent. On my part, the business of preparation went merrily on. I was chiefly occupied in making arrangements for the comfortable provision, during my absence, of my horses and dogs. By my father, I was particularly enjoined to fail in no demonstration of respect and regard towards my uncle, and to have recourse, on all proper occasions, to his experience and advice. Many cautions, too, did I receive on the score of extravagance; and, ignorant as I then was, either of the value or necessity of money, I promised, without regret or scruple, that my expenses should be confined within the narrowest limits my father might impose. At length, all was finished; and duly furnished with letters to my uncle and Professor R— in whose family I was to become an inmate, I took a mournful and affectionate leave of my family; and, attended by a steady servant, stepped into the north mail, and on the third morning from my departure, found myself safely arrived at the place of my desnation. CHAPTER V. -I'll view the manners of the town, Comedy of Errors. "AND this," said I to myself, as I gazed from the window of my inn, on the crowd and bustle in the street below"this is Glasgow!-this the chosen seat of Science and the Muses-this the academic quiet, in which the mind of youth is to be nursed in the calm abstractions of Philosophy!" There was, indeed, rather a ludicrous contrast between the ideas I had conjured up, and the scene before me; and I could scarcely regard it without smiling. In the centre of the street, wagons, loaded with merchandise of different sorts, passed without intermission; and on the trottoirs, two opposing torrents of passengers were pouring along with extreme rapidity, and with looks full of anxiety and business. Of these some would occasionally stop for a moment's con versation, on which a loud and vulgar laugh mingled anon with the prevailing dissonance, and added unnecessarily to the general cacophony. Their gait and gestures, too, were singularly awkward and ungainly, and differed not only in degree, but in character, from any thing I had before seen. In the crowd before me, the actors seemed rigidly to adhere to the directions given by Plautus, for clearing a passage through a street encumbered by a population inconveniently dense. "Plenissume eos, qui adversum eunt, aspellito, Merc. Act I. 8. 2 The scene, however, had at least the charm of novelty; and the spirit and animation which pervaded it, were sufficient to invest it with interest in my eyes. I had indulged some time in contemplation before my attention was recalled to the business of the day. My first step was to remove to the house of Professor R- ; and with this view I ordered the waiter to procure a hackney-coach. This, however, I discovered was a luxury of which Glasgow did not boast; and despatching my servant with the porters and baggage, I resolved leisurely to explore my way on foot. Having received from my landlady, a person of very portly dimensions, all requisite information with regard to the geography of the University, I set forth on my walk. For the first time in my life did I now mingle in the tumult of a great city. It is true I had been in London; but I was then a child ; and when pent up in a carriage, and whirled rapidly through the streets, I felt myself an isolated thing, and formed no unit in the busy crowd around me. It was not, therefore, without some degree of mental excitement. that I now for the first time mingled in the throng, and threaded the devious mazes of the living labyrinth, in which I found myself involved. Every sense was alive to the demonstrations of industry and activity, which presented themselves on all sides; and the clink of hammers, and loud creaking of machinery, mixing with the busy hum of men, formed a strange amalgamation of sound to ears like mine, hitherto accustomed only to the voice of simple nature. At length, the appearance of an ancient and venerable building, informed me that I stood in presence of the University. There is certainly something fine and imposing in its proud and massive front. It seems to stand forth in aged dignity, the last and only bulwark of science and literature, among a population by whom science is regarded but as a source of profit, and literature despised. On passing the outer gate, entered a small quadrangle, which, though undistinguished by any remarkable architectural beauty, yet harmonized well, in its air of Gothic antiquity, with the general character of the place. This led to another of larger dimensions, of features not dissimilar; and having crossed this, a turn to the left brought me to a third, of more modern construction, which was entirely appropriated to the residence of the Professors. There was something fine and impressive in the sudden transition from the din and bustle of the streets which surround it, to the stillness and the calm which reign within the time-hallowed precincts of the University. I seemed at once to breathe another and a purer atmosphere; and I thought in my youthful enthusiasm, that here I could cast off the coil of the world and its contempti ble realities, and yield up my spirit to the lore of past ages, where I saw nothing round me to intrude the idea of the present. When I arrived, Professor R. was at home, and received me in his library. He was a person about sixty years of age, in a periwig of rather ancient construction, and dressed in a silk robe de chambre, which, from its texture and gro tesque pattern, appeared to be of foreign manufacture. With the easy manners of a finished gentleman, he led me into conversation, probed insensibly the extent of my acquire ments, and sketched for me the plan of study which he thought it advisable for me to pursue. The term or session of the College, he told me, had not yet commenced, and recommended my devoting the intervening period, to previous preparation with a private tutor. Having arranged these preliminaries, and taken possession of my apartments, I next turned my thoughts to my uncle, and finding that the Professor perfectly agreed in the propriety of my waiting on him without delay, I once more set forth in search of his habitation. The discovery was attended with little difficulty, for his name and his dwelling were familiar to all from whom I requested information; and I had only to answer the question, "Is't his house or his countin'-house ye're axin' for," to have my steps immediately directed in the proper channel. The domicile of Mr. Spreull was situated in one of the great thoroughfares of the city, and was approached by a stair, which, being the common property of all the tenants of the same mansion, was, as might naturally be expected, offensively dirty. 66 My appeal to the door-bell was answered by a female servant, without covering to foot or leg, and in other respects not very nice in her person, who testified, by a broad stare, that the apparition of a morning visiter was by no means regarded as a common occurrence by the establishment. My English accent and her Scotch one, did not contribute to make us mutually intelligible, and when, to my inquiry, "if Mr. Spreull was at home," she answered, What's your wull?" I felt rather at a loss to understand whether this periphrasis involved a negative or an affirmative. My question therefore was again repeated, and I at length succeeded in eliciting the equally laconic, but more intelligible response, "He's no in." Considering any further colloquy with this damsel to be useless, I was about to withdraw, when a brisk and bustling matron came forward, exclaiming as she advanced, "Gang ben, ye tawpy, and let me speak to the gentleman." I afforded her the opportunity she desired, by stating that called in the hope of finding Mr. Spreull. "I ettle ye're a stranger here, sir, or ye wad, nae doubt, ha'e kent it was no very likely that Mr. Spreull wad be at hame at this time o' day." "If Mr. Spreull is at present abroad, will you be good enough to inform me at what time I shall be likely to find him at home?" 66 It wants," said she, glancing her eye at a venerablelooking clock that stood ticking in the passage, "it wants fully twa hours o' his dinnertime; he'll no be at hame afore then; and when he does come hame," added she significantly, "he doesna like to be disturbit. But if ye'll just step to the counting-house, ye'll be sure to find him there, if he's no upon the Change; and," added she. again looking at the clock, "it's no likely he'll be there at this time o day." I thanked the good dame for her information; but considering the alternative of his being upon Change when I called at the counting-house as at least possible, I requested her to mention, on his return, that his nephew Cyril Thornton had called to pay his respects, and deliver personally a letter from his mother. 66 'An' are ye Maister Ceeral Thornton," exclaimed she, "the young gentleman my maister expecks to come down frae England? Troth, had I been ordinar kenspeckle, I might ha'e gathered as muckle frae yer English tongue, for-bye yer likeness to the family. Surely I was beglamoured a' thegither, no to ha'e kent ye at yince. Will ye no step ben, and rest ye a bit? Weel I wat, my maister will be glad to see you." I courteously declined the hospitable invitation of the worthy matron, alleging as an excuse, my intention of proceeding immediately in search of my uncle; and wishing her a good morning, I again set forward with that purpose. Mr. Spreall's counting house was in the Trongate, and formed part of a large tenement which he had originally built, and which, from this circumstance, was generally known by the patronymic of "Spreull's Land." Of this building, however, he occupied but a small portion, the rest being divided among a very numerous body of tenants, as appeared by the variety of printed names with which both sides of the outer entrance were adorned. |