. B I 0 GRAPH I CA L SKETCHES. 9
No. 111.
FRANCIS WNAB, ESQ. OF M'NAB.
SCOTLANaDbo, ut the close of the eighteenth century, contained few men of
greater local notoriety than the herculean Highlander, whom Mr. Kay has here
represented in the act of reeling along the North Bridge, a little declined
from the perpendicular. " The Laird of M'Nab," as he was commonly called,
represented his clan at a time when the ancient peculiarities of the manners
and ideas of a Highland chief were melting into a union with those of a
Lowland gentleman. A strong dash of the primitive character, joined to much
natural eccentricity, tended to make him a wonder in the midst of the
cultivated society of his day. To complete the effect of his singular manners,
his person was cast in one of nature's most gigantic moulds.
A volume, and that not a small one, might be filled with the curious sayings
and doings of this singular gentleman ; but unfortunately the greater part
of them, for reasons which may be guessed, could not, with any degree of propriety,
be laid before the public.
The Laird was remarkable, above all things, for his notions of the dignity of
his chieftainship. A gentleman, who had come from a great distance to pay him
a visit, either ignorant of or forgetting the etiquette to be observed in speaking
to or of a Highland chieftain, inquired if Nr. M' Nab was within ?-" Mr."
being a contemptible Saxon prefix, applied to every one who wears a passable
coat, and well enough probably in the case of those ignoble persons who earn
their bread by a profession, but not at all fit to be attached to the name of a
Highland chief. The consequence Of this error of the Laird's visitor was, that
he was refused admittance-a fact the more astonishing to himself, as he distinctly
heard the Laird's voice in the lobby. In explanation of his blunder,
he was told by a friend that he should have inquired, not for MY. MNab,
but for the Laird of M'Nab, or simply M'Nab, by way of 'eminence. Acting
on this hint, he called on the following day, and was not only admitted, but
received with a most cordial and hearty welcome.
Of the Laird's literary attainments some anecdotes have found their way
into the jest-books. In one of these he is represented as laying the blame of
certain orthographical errors with which he was charged on one occasior, to
the badness of his pen, triumphantly asking his accuser, " Wha could spell with
sic a pen 0 ''
Of a piece with this, and indicating a somewhat similar degree of intellectual
culture, was his going to L jeweller to bespeak a ring, similar to one worn by a
friend of his which had taken his fancy, and which was set either with the hair
of Charles Edward, or some other member of his family, the latter circumstance
of course constituting its chief value. " But how soon,11 said the jeweller, whom
C
10 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
he was for binding down to a day for the completion of the work, “will you
send me the hair ‘1 ”-“ The hair, sir ! ” replied M‘Nab fiercely ; ‘‘ Py Cot, sir
you must give me the hair to the pargain I ”
In cases, however, where the Laird is exhibited in the exercise of his own
native wit, he by no means cuts the ridiculous figure he is made to do in such
stories as the above. The Laird was a regular attendant on the Leith races,
at which he bsually appeared in a rather flashy-looking gig. On one of these
occasions he had the misfortune to lose his horse, which suddenly dropped
down dead. At the races in the following year, a wag who had witnessed the
catastrophe rode up to him and said, ‘I M‘Nab, is that the same horse you had
last year 1 ”
‘‘ No, py Cot ! ” replied the Laird, (‘ but this is the same whip ;” and he was
about to apply it to the shoulders of the querist, when he saved himself by a
speedy retreat.
On the formation of the Local Militia in 1808, M‘Nab being in Edinburgh,
applied for arms for the Breadalbane corps of that force, but which he ought to
have called the 4th Perthshire Local Militia. The storekeeper not recognising
them by the name given by M‘Nab, replied to his application that he did
not know such a corps.
“My fine little storekeeper,” rejoined the Laid, highly offended at the contempt
implied in this answer, “that may be; but, take my word for it, we do
not think a bit the less of ourselves by you^ not knowing us.”
This original character, but kind, single-minded man, died unmarried I at Callander,
in Perthshire, on the 25th June 1816, in the eighty-second year of his age.
THREE GIANTS, WITH A GROUP OF SPECTATORS.
THIS Print exhibits Charles Byrne, the Irish giant, and two other giants,
also Irishmen, who, although not in Edinburgh at the same time, have been
placed by the artist in one group.
The spectators are-Lord Monboddo, whose head appears in the background
; William Richardson, solicitor-at-law, on the left behind ; and Mr.
Bell, engraver, in front ; on the right, Bailie Kyd, a lady, and a dwarf.
Byme, the central of the three principal figures, was eight feet two inches in
height, and proportionably thick. He was born in Ireland, of which oountry
On one occasion when the opposite counsel, in one of his many causes in the Court of Session, was
nnimadvertingon the immoral character of the Laird, he obsemed that it was currently reported that he
had no less than twenty-seven natural children in the quarter where he lived. The Laird, being in Court,
rose up and said, “ It is a pig lee, my Lord, for I have only four-and-twenty,” One evening, being at a
party, a number of young ladies very jocularly asked him why he neyer took a wife. He good-humouredly
replied, “ MJ tears, I love you a11 so well that I .Can’t think of marrying any one of you.“
