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 recollect² 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 chamber³ of importance—the buckram suit is changed into black velvet⁴; and although the wearer retains his puritanical⁵ humility⁶ and politeness to clients of consequence, he can now look others broad in the face, and treat them with a full allowance of superior opulence⁷, and the insolence⁸ arising from it. It was but a short period that had achieved these alterations⁹, nor was the party himself as yet entirely¹⁰ accustomed to them, but the change was becoming less embarrassing to him with every day's practice. Among other acquisitions of wealth, you may see one of Davy Ramsay's best timepieces on the table, and his eye is frequently observing its revolutions, while a boy, whom he employs as a scribe, is occasionally sent out to compare its progress with the clock of Saint Dunstan.

 

The scrivener himself seemed

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