The Ayrshire Legatees(艾尔夏尔的继承者)

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The Ayrshire Legatees

CHAPTER I--THE DEPARTURE

On New Year's day Dr. Pringle received a letter from India, informing

him that his cousin, Colonel Armour, had died at Hydrabad, and left him

his residuary legatee. The same post brought other letters on the same

subject from the agent of the deceased in London, by which it was evident

to the whole family that no time should be lost in looking after their

interests in the hands of such brief and abrupt correspondents. "To say

the least of it," as the Doctor himself sedately remarked, "considering the

greatness of the forth-coming property, Messieurs Richard Argent and

Company, of New Broad Street, might have given a notion as to the

particulars of the residue." It was therefore determined that, as soon as

the requisite arrangements could be made, the Doctor and Mrs. Pringle

should set out for the metropolis, to obtain a speedy settlement with the

agents, and, as Rachel had now, to use an expression of her mother's, "a

prospect before her," that she also should accompany them: Andrew,

who had just been called to the Bar, and who had come to the manse to

spend a few days after attaining that distinction, modestly suggested, that,

considering the various professional points which might be involved in the

objects of his father's journey, and considering also the retired life which

his father had led in the rural village of Garnock, it might be of importance

to have the advantage of legal advice.

Mrs. Pringle interrupted this harangue, by saying, "We see what you

would be at, Andrew; ye're just wanting to come with us, and on this

occasion I'm no for making step-bairns, so we'll a' gang thegither."

The Doctor had been for many years the incumbent of Garnock, which

is pleasantly situated between Irvine and Kilwinning, and, on account of

the benevolence of his disposition, was much beloved by his parishioners.

Some of the pawkie among them used indeed to say, in answer to the

godly of Kilmarnock, and other admirers of the late great John Russel, of

that formerly orthodox town, by whom Dr. Pringle's powers as a preacher

were held in no particular estimation,--"He kens our pu'pit's frail, and

spar'st to save outlay to the heritors." As for Mrs. Pringle, there is not

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such another minister's wife, both for economy and management, within

the jurisdiction of the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr, and to this fact the

following letter to Miss Mally Glencairn, a maiden lady residing in the

Kirkgate of Irvine, a street that has been likened unto the Kingdom of

Heaven, where there is neither marriage nor giving in marriage, will

abundantly testify.

LETTER I

Mrs. Pringle to Miss Mally Glencairn--GARNOCK MANSE.

Dear Miss Mally--The Doctor has had extraordinar news from India

and London, where we are all going, as soon as me and Rachel can get

ourselves in order, so I beg you will go to Bailie Delap's shop, and get

swatches of his best black bombaseen, and crape, and muslin, and bring

them over to the manse the morn's morning. If you cannot come yourself,

and the day should be wat, send Nanny Eydent, the mantua- maker, with

them; you'll be sure to send Nanny, onyhow, and I requeesht that, on this

okasion, ye'll get the very best the Bailie has, and I'll tell you all about it

when you come. You will get, likewise, swatches of mourning print,

with the lowest prices. I'll no be so particular about them, as they are for

the servan lasses, and there's no need, for all the greatness of God's gifts,

that we should be wasterful. Let Mrs. Glibbans know, that the Doctor's

second cousin, the colonel, that was in the East Indies, is no more;--I am

sure she will sympatheese with our loss on this melancholy okasion. Tell

her, as I'll no be out till our mournings are made, I would take it kind if she

would come over and eate a bit of dinner on Sunday. The Doctor will no

preach himself, but there's to be an excellent young man, an acquaintance

of Andrew's, that has the repute of being both sound and hellaquaint. But

no more at present, and looking for you and Nanny Eydent, with the

swatches,--I am, dear Miss Mally, your sinsare friend,

JANET PRINGLE.

The Doctor being of opinion that, until they had something in hand

from the legacy, they should walk in the paths of moderation, it was

resolved to proceed by the coach from Irvine to Greenock, there embark in

a steam-boat for Glasgow, and, crossing the country to Edinburgh, take

The Ayrshire Legatees

their passage at Leith in one of the smacks for London. But we must let

the parties speak for themselves.

LETTER II

Miss Rachel Pringle to Miss Isabella Tod--GREENOCK.

My Dear Isabella--I know not why the dejection with which I parted

from you still hangs upon my heart, and grows heavier as I am drawn

farther and farther away. The uncertainty of the future--the dangers of

the sea--all combine to sadden my too sensitive spirit. Still, however, I will

exert myself, and try to give you some account of our momentous journey.

The morning on which we bade farewell for a time--alas! it was to me

as if for ever, to my native shades of Garnock--the weather was cold, bleak,

and boisterous, and the waves came rolling in majestic fury towards the

shore, when we arrived at the Tontine Inn of Ardrossan. What a

monument has the late Earl of Eglinton left there of his public spirit! It

should embalm his memory in the hearts of future ages, as I doubt not but

in time Ardrossan will become a grand emporium; but the people of

Saltcoats, a sordid race, complain that it will be their ruin; and the Paisley

subscribers to his lordship's canal grow pale when they think of profit.

The road, after leaving Ardrossan, lies along the shore. The blast

came dark from the waters, and the clouds lay piled in every form of

grandeur on the lofty peaks of Arran. The view on the right hand is

limited to the foot of a range of abrupt mean hills, and on the left it meets

the sea--as we were obliged to keep the glasses up, our drive for several

miles was objectless and dreary. When we had ascended a hill, leaving

Kilbride on the left, we passed under the walls of an ancient tower. What

delightful ideas are associated with the sight of such venerable remains of

antiquity!

Leaving that lofty relic of our warlike ancestors, we descended again

towards the shore. On the one side lay the Cumbra Islands, and Bute,

dear to departed royalty. Afar beyond them, in the hoary magnificence of

nature, rise the mountains of Argyllshire; the cairns, as my brother says, of

a former world. On the other side of the road, we saw the cloistered

ruins of the religious house of Southenan, a nunnery in those days of

The Ayrshire Legatees

romantic adventure, when to live was to enjoy a poetical element. In

such a sweet sequestered retreat, how much more pleasing to the soul it

would have been, for you and I, like two captive birds in one cage, to have

sung away our hours in innocence, than for me to be thus torn from you by

fate, and all on account of that mercenary legacy, perchance the spoils of

some unfortunate Hindoo Rajah!

At Largs we halted to change horses, and saw the barrows of those

who fell in the great battle. We then continued our journey along the foot

of stupendous precipices; and high, sublime, and darkened with the

shadow of antiquity, we saw, upon its lofty station, the ancient Castle of

Skelmorlie, where the Montgomeries of other days held their gorgeous

banquets, and that brave knight who fell at Chevy-Chace came pricking

forth on his milk-white steed, as Sir Walter Scott would have described

him. But the age of chivalry is past, and the glory of Europe departed for

ever!

When we crossed the stream that divides the counties of Ayr and

Renfrew, we beheld, in all the apart and consequentiality of pride, the

house of Kelly overlooking the social villas of Wemyss Bay. My brother

compared it to a sugar hogshead, and them to cotton-bags; for the lofty

thane of Kelly is but a West India planter, and the inhabitants of the villas

on the shore are Glasgow manufacturers.

To this succeeded a dull drive of about two miles, and then at once we

entered the pretty village of Inverkip. A slight snow-shower had given to

the landscape a sort of copperplate effect, but still the forms of things,

though but sketched, as it were, with China ink, were calculated to

produce interesting impressions. After ascending, by a gentle acclivity,

into a picturesque and romantic pass, we entered a spacious valley, and, in

the course of little more than half an hour, reached this town; the largest,

the most populous, and the most superb that I have yet seen. But what

are all its warehouses, ships, and smell of tar, and other odoriferous

circumstances of fishery and the sea, compared with the green swelling

hills, the fragrant bean-fields, and the peaceful groves of my native

Garnock!

The people of this town are a very busy and clever race, but much

The Ayrshire Legatees

given to litigation. My brother says, that they are the greatest benefactors

to the Outer House, and that their lawsuits are the most amusing and

profitable before the courts, being less for the purpose of determining what

is right than what is lawful. The chambermaid of the inn where we lodge

pointed out to me, on the opposite side of the street, a magnificent edifice

erected for balls; but the subscribers have resolved not to allow any

dancing till it is determined by the Court of Session to whom the seats and

chairs belong, as they were brought from another house where the

assemblies were formerly held. I have heard a lawsuit compared to a

country- dance, in which, after a great bustle and regular confusion, the

parties stand still, all tired, just on the spot where they began; but this is

the first time that the judges of the land have been called on to decide

when a dance may begin.

We arrived too late for the steam-boat, and are obliged to wait till

Monday morning; but to-morrow we shall go to church, where I expect to

see what sort of creatures the beaux are. The Greenock ladies have a

great name for beauty, but those that I have seen are perfect frights. Such

of the gentlemen as I have observed passing the windows of the inn may

do, but I declare the ladies have nothing of which any woman ought to be

proud. Had we known that we ran a risk of not getting a steam-boat, my

mother would have provided an introductory letter or two from some of

her Irvine friends; but here we are almost entire strangers: my father,

however, is acquainted with one of the magistrates, and has gone to see

him. I hope he will be civil enough to ask us to his house, for an inn is a

shocking place to live in, and my mother is terrified at the expense. My

brother, however, has great confidence in our prospects, and orders and

directs with a high hand. But my paper is full, and I am compelled to

conclude with scarcely room to say how affectionately I am yours,

RACHEL PRINGLE.

LETTER III

The Rev. Dr Pringle to Mr. Micklewham, Schoolmaster and Session-

Clerk, Garnock--EDINBURGH.

Dear Sir--We have got this length through many difficulties, both in

The Ayrshire Legatees

the travel by land to, and by sea and land from Greenock, where we were

obligated, by reason of no conveyance, to stop the Sabbath, but not

without edification; for we went to hear Dr. Drystour in the forenoon, who

had a most weighty sermon on the tenth chapter of Nehemiah. He is

surely a great orthodox divine, but rather costive in his delivery. In the

afternoon we heard a correct moral lecture on good works, in another

church, from Dr. Eastlight--a plain man, with a genteel congregation.

The same night we took supper with a wealthy family, where we had much

pleasant communion together, although the bringing in of the toddy-bowl

after supper is a fashion that has a tendency to lengthen the sederunt to

unseasonable hours.

On the following morning, by the break of day, we took shipping in

the steam-boat for Glasgow. I had misgivings about the engine, which is

really a thing of great docility; but saving my concern for the boiler, we all

found the place surprising comfortable. The day was bleak and cold; but

we had a good fire in a carron grate in the middle of the floor, and books

to read, so that both body and mind are therein provided for.

Among the books, I fell in with a History of the Rebellion, anent the

hand that an English gentleman of the name of Waverley had in it. I was

grieved that I had not time to read it through, for it was wonderful

interesting, and far more particular, in many points, than any other account

of that affair I have yet met with; but it's no so friendly to Protestant

principles as I could have wished. However, if I get my legacy well settled,

I will buy the book, and lend it to you on my return, please God, to the

manse.

We were put on shore at Glasgow by breakfast-time, and there we

tarried all day, as I had a power of attorney to get from Miss Jenny

Macbride, my cousin, to whom the colonel left the thousand pound legacy.

Miss Jenny thought the legacy should have been more, and made some

obstacle to signing the power; but both her lawyer and Andrew Pringle,

my son, convinced her, that, as it was specified in the testament, she could

not help it by standing out; so at long and last Miss Jenny was persuaded

to put her name to the paper.

Next day we all four got into a fly coach, and, without damage or

The Ayrshire Legatees

detriment, reached this city in good time for dinner in Macgregor's hotel, a

remarkable decent inn, next door to one Mr. Blackwood, a civil and

discreet man in the bookselling line.

Really the changes in Edinburgh since I was here, thirty years ago, are

not to be told. I am confounded; for although I have both heard and read

of the New Town in the Edinburgh Advertiser, and the Scots Magazine, I

had no notion of what has come to pass. It's surprising to think wherein

the decay of the nation is; for at Greenock I saw nothing but shipping and

building; at Glasgow, streets spreading as if they were one of the branches

of cotton-spinning; and here, the houses grown up as if they were sown in

the seed-time with the corn, by a drill-machine, or dibbled in rigs and

furrows like beans and potatoes.

To-morrow, God willing, we embark in a smack at Leith, so that you

will not hear from me again till it please Him to take us in the hollow of

His hand to London. In the meantime, I have only to add, that, when the

Session meets, I wish you would speak to the elders, particularly to Mr.

Craig, no to be overly hard on that poor donsie thing, Meg Milliken, about

her bairn; and tell Tam Glen, the father o't, from me, that it would have

been a sore heart to that pious woman, his mother, had she been living, to

have witnessed such a thing; and therefore I hope and trust, he will yet

confess a fault, and own Meg for his wife, though she is but something of

a tawpie. However, you need not diminish her to Tam. I hope Mr.

Snodgrass will give as much satisfaction to the parish as can reasonably be

expected in my absence; and I remain, dear sir, your friend and pastor,

ZACHARIAH PRINGLE.

Mr. Micklewham received the Doctor's letter about an hour before the

Session met on the case of Tam Glen and Meg Milliken, and took it with

him to the session-house, to read it to the elders before going into the

investigation. Such a long and particular letter from the Doctor was, as

they all justly remarked, kind and dutiful to his people, and a great

pleasure to them.

Mr. Daff observed, "Truly the Doctor's a vera funny man, and

wonderfu' jocose about the toddy-bowl." But Mr. Craig said, that "sic a

thing on the Lord's night gi'es me no pleasure; and I am for setting my face

The Ayrshire Legatees

against Waverley's History of the Rebellion, whilk I hae heard spoken of

among the ungodly, both at Kilwinning and Dalry; and if it has no respect

to Protestant principles, I doubt it's but another dose o' the radical poison

in a new guise." Mr. Icenor, however, thought that "the observe on the

great Doctor Drystour was very edifying; and that they should see about

getting him to help at the summer Occasion." {1}

While they were thus reviewing, in their way, the first epistle of the

Doctor, the betherel came in to say that Meg and Tam were at the door.

"Oh, man," said Mr. Daff, slyly, "ye shouldna hae left them at the door by

themselves." Mr. Craig looked at him austerely, and muttered something

about the growing immorality of this backsliding age; but before the

smoke of his indignation had kindled into eloquence, the delinquents were

admitted. However, as we have nothing to do with the business, we shall

leave them to their own deliberations.

The Ayrshire Legatees

CHAPTER II--THE VOYAGE

On the fourteenth day after the departure of the family from the manse,

the Rev. Mr. Charles Snodgrass, who was appointed to officiate during the

absence of the Doctor, received the following letter from his old chum, Mr.

Andrew Pringle. It would appear that the young advocate is not so solid

in the head as some of his elder brethren at the Bar; and therefore many of

his flights and observations must be taken with an allowance on the score

of his youth.

LETTER IV

Andrew Pringle, Esq., Advocate, to the Rev. Charles Snodgrass--

LONDON.

My Dear Friend--We have at last reached London, after a stormy

passage of seven days. The accommodation in the smacks looks

extremely inviting in port, and in fine weather, I doubt not, is comfortable,

even at sea; but in February, and in such visitations of the powers of the air

as we have endured, a balloon must be a far better vehicle than all the

vessels that have been constructed for passengers since the time of Noah.

In the first place, the waves of the atmosphere cannot be so dangerous as

those of the ocean, being but "thin air"; and I am sure they are not so

disagreeable; then the speed of the balloon is so much greater,--and it

would puzzle Professor Leslie to demonstrate that its motions are more

unsteady; besides, who ever heard of sea-sickness in a balloon? the

consideration of which alone would, to any reasonable person actually

suffering under the pains of that calamity, be deemed more than an

equivalent for all the little fractional difference of danger between the two

modes of travelling. I shall henceforth regard it as a fine characteristic

trait of our national prudence, that, in their journies to France and Flanders,

the Scottish witches always went by air on broom-sticks and benweeds,

instead of venturing by water in sieves, like those of England. But the

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TheAyrshireLegatees1TheAyrshireLegateesTheAyrshireLegatees2CHAPTERI--THEDEPARTUREOnNewYear'sdayDr.PringlereceivedaletterfromIndia,informinghimthathiscousin,ColonelArmour,haddiedatHydrabad,andlefthimhisresiduarylegatee.ThesamepostbroughtotherlettersonthesamesubjectfromtheagentofthedeceasedinLondon,by...

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