"No a bad notion, guidwife," said the provost "no a bad notion. I wadna care to try't, after a'; for it wad be a decent, respectable thing—a decent respectable thing. But me a knicht! It wad be queer;" and the worthy magistrate chuckled at the idea of his transformation into a character so dignified. We do not suppose it necessary to prolong this discourse to show the connection between it and Provost Clapperton's proposition in council of a congratulatory address to the king. This, we presume, will appear sufficiently evident from what we have already given, and it will appear still more evident when we mention that the proposition in question was made the very day after the colloquy just quoted took place. The address proposed by the provost was accordingly drawn up. It was written by Archy Morton, the town-clerk, who was reckoned, in Bailie Snodgrass's phrase, "just an extraordinar' fist at the pen, his quill gaun soopin' owre the paper like a scythe through clover, an' the words comin' doon as fast an' thick as groats oot o' a mill." Such, then, was the redoubted penman who drew up the address in question, and which ran as follows. We give it as a curious specimen of the style then in use in such matters. After a preliminary flourish of titles that would of themselves occupy half of one of our columns, this precious document proceeded : tion with which Your Majesty's happy restoration to the throne of these realms has filled us, and for which we would gladly testify by what means we can our thankfulness and joy. That Your Majesty, who is to us as a crown of rejoicing, as the breath of our nostrils, may long reign over us, we humbly pray, and that it continue till it be brought to a full and blessed conclusion, being willing, on our part, to contribute what lieth in our power, by our earnest care and best endeavors," etc. Such, then, was the address penned by Archy Morton, town clerk of Starvieston, on which rested Provost Clapperton's hope of knighthood. The document being prepared and ready, the next question with the council was how it was to be conveyed to His Majesty, and on this subject there was some pretty smart debate in the council-room, some proposing one way and some another; but, it having been soon discovered from certain hints which he threw out that the provost had an eye to the job, it was at once conceded to him and day forthwith fixed for his departure on his royal mission to St. James's. On the provost's returning home from the meeting which had decided that he was to be bearer of the congratulatory address, "Weel, guidewife, weel, guidwife," he said, "it's a' settled noo, an' I'm aff to Lunnun the day after the morn. But, to tell ye a truth, I'm no very clear o' the job, after a'-no very clear o' the job, after a'-noo that it's come to a point; for I'm no just sae weel acquaint wi' your court tricks an fashions, an' I may mak' a fule o' mysel'-may mak' a fule o' mysel'. I'm tell't there's an unco' paveein' an' scrapin' and booin' aboot thae sort o' places—an unco paveein' an' scrapin' an' | however, were pronounced very passable by booin'. Noo, I never had ony mair practice he made. Very weel, Davy-very weel, my man,' said his wife, marking with amiable and laudable satisfaction her husband's efforts to "snatch a grace beyond the reach of art." "But could ye no bend yersel' a wee thing mair, think ye? Ye hae dune't a wee owre stiffly." "I'll try't, Peggy-I'll try't, I'll try't," replied the anxious and willing pupil, and he essayed another obeisance; but, as his bodily condition forbade more than the very slightest possible departure from the perpendicular, we cannot say that he was much more successful in accomplishing the inclination desired by his wife than in the first instance, although he certainly made the attempt, as was sufficiently obvious from the sudden and excessive redness that overspread his coun tenance. his judge, and, with a recommendation to him to be "booin'" whenever opportunity occurred, the worthy pair proceeded to other matters connected with the provost's impending journey. "Noo, ye maun gang like yoursel', Davy," said Mrs. Clapperton, thus opening the new department of the discussion. “Ye maun gang respectable-decent and respectable in everything, as becomes yer means and yer station and yer expectations. Ye maun tak' John Yuill to ride behint ye wi' yer saddlebags and yer ither spare gear, and ye maun get a pair o' new boots and spurs and a cocked hat and an embroidered waistcoat, and a' ither things apperteenin' thereto." "Ou, surely, surely, guidwife-surely," replied the provost. "We maun mak' a decent appearance before Majesty, a decent appearance, for the credit o' the burgh-for the credit o' the burgh. Sae, see ye, guidwife, to be gettin' a' things ready-a' things ready; and busk oot John Yuill as weel as ye can, and see and mak' him look something Christian-like, although I doot that'll waur ye, guidwife—that'll waur ye.' And, in good truth, well might the provost say—or imply, rather, perhaps that to impart to John Yuill the exterior of a civilized being was a matter beyond the reach of his wife's ingenuity; for such another coarse, uncultivated specimen of the human race as Johnny Yuill could not readily be found even by the most assiduous inquirer after such living curiosities. Johnny was a dependent of the provost's, and was usually spoken of as the "provost's man." His duties in this capacity were va The provost's performances, on the whole,rious, sometimes acting as porter in the shop, sometimes taking a day of the plough or do- | Johnny spoke to the provost with precisely ing other farm-work on a small property of the provost's, sometimes walking in procession before His Lordship as a halberdier in the fringed and party-colored coat, flaming red waistcoat and cocked hat which was the livery of the town of Starvieston-an appointment, this, into which he had been introduced through the provost's influence. In person Johnny was tall and gaunt, the direct antipodes of his master, broad-shouldered and stalwart and of great bodily power, but without a corresponding energy or activity. Uncouth and ungainly in appearance, rough and blunt in speech, forward through ignorance, without one single idea beyond those suggested by his immediate duties and wholly illiterate and uninformed, Johnny Yuill will be allowed to have been altogether a most fit and desirable companion on a journey of some four or five hundred miles. But in the present case the association was not altogether so discordant as might be imagined, since neither in intellectual capacity nor in acquired knowledge was the difference between master and man by any means so very great as to unfit them altogether for each other's society. On the contrary, they were like to put up remarkably well with each other on their journey -the more so that, notwithstanding the difference of their positions and the mighty distance between the several grades to which they belonged, they had always been so perfectly familiar in their intercourse that had not a distinction of dress pointed it out it would have been impossible for a stranger to tell which was the master and which the man. The provost spoke to Johnny in all respects as if he had been his equal, and the same utter disregard of all distinctions of rank; and this friendly familiarity, it was not doubted, would distinguish all their intercourse during their travels and absence from home. All proposed and necessary preparations having been made for her husband's departure by the active, stirring, indefatigable Mrs. Clapperton, the morning fixed on for the latter event found Johnny Yuill standing at the provost's door at an early hour holding two saddled horses by the bridle. The one was for the provost; the other, loaded with an enormous and well-stuffed pair of saddlebags, was for Johnny himself. In a few minutes after out came the provost with a huge cocked hat on his head, a pair of boots that came halfway up his thigh on his legs, a silver-mounted whip in his hand, a sword by his side, and around all, including his own respected person, an ample brown cloak of French cloth. The provost mounted, and, his example being immediately followed by his man, the two started cheek by jowl— for neither of them had any idea of marking their respective ranks by distance-at a gentle jog-trot pace on their journey to the metropolis, and a more odd-looking or more original pair certainly never went in quest of knighthood. On clearing the town and getting a little familiarized with their seats, neither of them being very splendid equestrians, Johnny opened a conversation to which the meek temperaments of their steeds—both heavy, dull, ungainly, hairy-heeled brutes-offered every facility. "Weel, this is a graun business we're gaun upon, provost," quoth Johnny. "Wha'll haud their heads higher than us whan we come doon? My faith we'll keep the cantle o' the caussey then, I think, provost." "We aye did that, Johnny man-we aye did that; we were aye able to do that-aye able to do that," replied the chief magistrate of Starvieston, chuckling good-humoredly. "Ay, but there'll be a differ then. Whan ye come doon, ye'll come doon a gentleman, and ye're 'enow but a hosier, provost though ye be. But I say, provost," continued Johnny: "can ye tell me hoo the king manages to mak' gentlemen oot o' plain folk like you and me? Hoo's the thing dune, I wad like to ken? It strikes me that he wad need to put them through a mill and bake them up again. I'm sure it wad bother him to mak' a gentleman o' me if he should tak' it in his head to try't, and there's nae sayin' what he may do whan he sees me alang wi' ye.” With such conversation they beguiled the way. On reaching the city our original pair of travellers repaired to the Lion and Unicorn, at that time one of the most respectable inns in London, and to which the provost had been recommended by the town clerk of Starvieston, who had put up there on some occasion of his visiting the metropolis, and who always spoke in raptures of the bacon and beans he used to have there for dinner, this being one of the dishes for which the house was most celebrated, and a great favorite with the town clerk, who had some tolerably correct notions on the subject of good living. On arriving at the Lion and Unicorn, the provost and his man were shown into a parlor the same parlor; for, as they seemed to make no distinction of 1 rank themselves between each other, none was made between them by others. Lassie," said the provost, addressing the girl who had ushered them into the apartment above alluded to, and just as she was about to retire after having performed this duty, "hae ye such a thing in the hoose as Lunnun porter?” The girl looked with some surprise in the worthy magistrate's face to ascertain whether he was in jest or earnest in making an inquiry to which he ought to have been so certain of an affirmative, and, perceiving that he was to all appearance in the latter-as, indeed, he really was, having put the question oblivious of his being in London"Why, to be sure, sir," she said, "we have. It would be a very odd thing indeed if we hadn't." "Aweel, maybe, lassie," replied the provost. Bring us a bottle, then." 66 "In the cask, sir," replied the girl. "Ou ay, ou ay," rejoined the provost, now somewhat more enlightened on the subject. "Aweel, aweel, in Gude's name bring it ony way ye like, lassie-ony way ye like; but bring't fast, for I'm as dry's a whustle. I'm just gaizenin'." A mutual understanding having been come to on this important matter, the desiderated beverage was produced, and in due time discussed, when the provost bethought him of ordering some supper for himself and his man-they still continuing and intending to occupy the same premises-and for this purpose rang the bell. It was answered by the same girl who had conducted the porter discussion. On her appearance, "We want a bit chack o' supper, my dear-a bit chack o' supper, a bit chack o' supper," said the pro vost. The girl appeared at a loss. She had made out " supper" distinctly enough, but "bit chack o'" puzzled puzzled her sadly; and, thinking it expressed some distinguishing quality of the supper wanted, she aimed at getting a translation by saying, "Chacko, sir? chacko? I don't know what that means. We have nothing of that kind in the house, sir, but we have great variety of other excellent dishes. We have roast lamb, veal pie, roast beef, roast mutton, roast fowls and salmon, but no chacko, sir." "Tuts, tuts, lassie! tuts, tuts!" said the provost, laughing, and now seeing how the land lay. "I see ye dinna unnerstand oor Scotch way o' speakin'. We want, in plain English, just a bit supper-just a bit supper. "Oh!" replied the girl, blushing and smiling at once; "just so, sir. Well, what should you like to have, sir?" "Ou, just a bit salmon-just a bit salmon, my dear-or ony bit thing o' that kind," replied the provost. The girl made a slight courtesy and retired, but in a minute afterward returned and said, My master, sir, has desired me to say that, as you are from Scotland, you are not perhaps aware of the price of salmon in London, and may be under a mistake about it." "And what is the price o' salmon in Lunnun, my dear? What is the price o't? what is the price o't?" said the provost. Both the provost and his man held up their hands in mute astonishment at the astounding enormity of the price. At length, Three guineas the pun'!" came the provost out with when he got breath to express himself. "Three guineas the pun'!" repeated Johnny Yuill, in the same tone of overwhelming surprise. "Gude preserve us! Was the like o' that ever heard tell o'? Saumont three guineas the pun'! That's nearly wecht for wecht. Goold against fish. It's awfu'. Lassie, whan we left Starvieston, saumont was just a groat the pun' o' twenty-two uncesjust a groat the pun'; and ye micht a got ten cartload o't at that. I wish to guidness I had brocht twa or three o' them slung at my back. I could hae dune't fine." Here the provost interfered, saying that, since salmon was out of the question at that price, they would "just tak' a bit caul juck." The girl gave the old look of non-com |