The Fortunes of Nigel

new boast.'

'They will bear me the farther, my lord duke,' answered the goldsmith, 'that my boast is but small.'

'O, you do yourself less than justice, my good Master Heriot,' continued the duke, in the same tone of irony; 'you have a marvellous court-faction, to be the son of an Edinburgh tinker. Have the goodness to prefer me to the knowledge of the high-born nobleman who is honoured and advantaged by your patronage.'

'That shall be my task,' said Lord Huntinglen, with emphasis. 'My lord duke, I desire you to know Nigel Olifaunt, Lord Glenvarloch, representative of one of the most ancient and powerful baronial houses in Scotland.— Lord Glenvarloch, I present you to his Grace the Duke of Buckingham, representative of Sir George Villiers, Knight of Brookesby, in the county of Leicester.'

The duke coloured still more high as he bowed to Lord Glenvarloch scornfully, a courtesy which the other returned haughtily, and with restrained indignation. 'We know each other, then,' said the duke, after a moment's pause; and as if he had seen something in the young nobleman which merited more serious notice than the bitter raillery with which he had commenced—'we know each other—and you know me, my lord, for your enemy.'

'I thank you for your plainness, my lord duke,' replied Nigel; 'an open enemy is better than a hollow friend.'

'For you, my Lord Huntinglen,' said the duke, 'methinks you have but now overstepped the limits of the indulgence permitted to you, as the father of the prince's friend, and my own.'

'By my word, my lord duke,' replied the earl, 'it is easy for any one to outstep boundaries, of the existence of which he was not aware. It is neither to secure my protection nor approbation, that my son keeps such exalted company.'

'O, my lord, we know you, and indulge you,' said the duke; 'you are one of those who presume for a life- long upon the merit of one good action.'

'In faith, my lord, and if it be so,' said the old earl, 'I have at least the advantage of such as presume more than I do, without having done any action of merit whatever. But I mean not to quarrel with you, my lord—we can neither be friends nor enemies—you have your path, and I have mine.'

Buckingham only replied by throwing on his bonnet, and shaking its lofty plume with a careless and scornful toss of the head. They parted thus; the duke walking onwards through the apartments, and the others leaving the Palace and repairing to Whitehall Stairs, where they embarked on board the barge of the citizen.

CHAPTER X

Bid not thy fortune troll upon the wheels
Of yonder dancing cubes of mottled bone;
And drown it not, like Egypt's royal harlot,
Dissolving her rich pearl in the brimm'd wine-cup.
These are the arts, Lothario, which shrink acres
Into brief yards—bring sterling pounds to farthings,
Credit to infamy; and the poor gull,
Who might have lived an honour'd, easy life,
To ruin, and an unregarded grave.

The Changes.

When they were fairly embarked on the Thames, the earl took from his pocket the Supplication, and, pointing out to George Heriot the royal warrant indorsed thereon, asked him, if it were in due and regular form? The worthy citizen hastily read it over, thrust forth his hand as if to congratulate the Lord Glenvarloch, then checked himself, pulled out his barnacles, (a present from old David Ramsay,) and again perused the warrant with the most business-like and critical attention. 'It is strictly correct and formal,' he said, looking to the Earl of Huntinglen; 'and I sincerely rejoice at it.'

'I doubt nothing of its formality,' said the earl; 'the king understands business well, and, if he does not practise it often, it is only because indolence obscures parts which are naturally well qualified for the discharge of affairs. But what is next to be done for our young friend, Master Heriot? You know how I am circumstanced. Scottish lords living at the English Court have seldom command of money; yet, unless a sum can be presently raised on this warrant, matters standing as you hastily hinted to me, the mortgage, wadset, or whatever it is called, will be foreclosed.'

'It is true,' said Heriot, in some embarrassment; 'there is a large sum wanted in redemption—yet, if it is not raised, there will be an expiry of the legal, as our lawyers call it, and the estate will be evicted.'

'My noble—my worthy friends, who have taken up my cause so undeservedly, so unexpectedly,' said Nigel, 'do not let me be a burden on your kindness. You have already done too much where nothing was merited.'

'Peace, man, peace,' said Lord Huntinglen, 'and let old Heriot and I puzzle this scent out. He is about to open—hark to him!'

'My lord,' said the citizen, 'the Duke of Buckingham sneers at our city money-bags; yet they can sometimes open, to prop a falling and a noble house.'

'We know they can,' said Lord Huntinglen—'mind not Buckingham, he is a Peg-a-Ramsay—and now for the remedy.'

'I partly hinted to Lord Glenvarloch already,' said Heriot, 'that the redemption money might be advanced upon such a warrant as the present, and I will engage my credit that it can. But then, in order to secure the lender, he must come in the shoes of the creditor to whom he advances payment.'

'Come in his shoes!' replied the earl; 'why, what have boots or shoes to do with this matter, my good friend?'

'It is a law phrase, my lord. My experience has made me pick up a few of them,' said Heriot.

'Ay, and of better things along with them, Master George,' replied Lord Huntinglen; 'but what means it?'

'Simply this,' resumed the citizen; 'that the lender of this money will transact with the holder of the mortgage, or wadset, over the estate of Glenvarloch, and obtain from him such a conveyance to his right as shall leave the lands pledged for the debt, in case the warrant upon the Scottish Exchequer should prove unproductive. I fear, in this uncertainty of public credit, that without some such counter security, it will be very difficult to find so large a sum.'

'Ho la!' said the Earl of Huntinglen, 'halt there! a thought strikes me.—What if the new creditor should admire the estate as a hunting- field, as much as my Lord Grace of Buckingham seems to do, and should wish to kill a buck there in the summer season? It seems to me, that on your plan, Master George, our new friend will be as well entitled to block Lord Glenvarloch out of his inheritance as the present holder of the mortgage.'

The citizen laughed. 'I will engage,' he said, 'that the keenest sportsman to whom I may apply on this occasion, shall not have a thought beyond the Lord Mayor's Easter-Hunt, in Epping Forest. But your lordship's caution is reasonable. The creditor must be bound to allow Lord Glenvarloch sufficient time to redeem his estate by means of the royal warrant, and must wave in his favour the right of instant foreclosure, which may be, I should think, the more easily managed, as the right of redemption must be exercised in his own name.'

'But where shall we find a person in London fit to draw the necessary writings?' said the earl. 'If my old friend Sir John Skene of Halyards had lived, we should have had his advice; but time presses, and—'

'I know,' said Heriot, 'an orphan lad, a scrivener, that dwells by Temple Bar; he can draw deeds both after the English and Scottish fashion, and I have trusted him often in matters of weight and of importance. I will send one of my serving-men for him, and the mutual deeds may be executed in your lordship's presence; for, as things