BIO GRAPH1 GAL SKETCHES. 159
considerably annoyed by the frequent messages from the Castle concerning the
much-wanted cook. One day the Governor’s black lackey came into the shop
to make the usual inquiry. The Bailie observed Macpherson pass the door at
the moment, and determining to get rid of his black tormentor by any means,
directed Mungo’s attention to the bacchanalian, who happened to be sober at the
time, it being then early in the forenoon. The servant, assured that Macpherson
was a cook in want of a situation, marched boldly after the lawyer, and giving
him a gentle tap on the shoulder, said “ The Governor wants to see you at the
Castle.”-u Just now 1” inquired Macpherson, his .countenance brightening up
with the anticipation of something to his advantage,-“ Soon as possible,”said
Mungo.
Macpherson immediately returned to the West Bow, cropped his beard of
three days’ standing, and, assisted by Sodom and Gomorrh, prepared for the
appointment. His sisters were equally on the tiptoe of expectation as to what
the Governor could possibly be wanting in such haste. Macpherson made various
conjectures, but in vain. Every suggestion appeared to him unlikely, save the
commencement of some important process, which nothing but his superior talents
could have pointed him out as the proper person to undertake. Brushed up, and
bedecked in something like the style of his better days, the renovated Writer to
the Signet hurried to the Castle, and was ushered into-the lobby ! where, to his
astonishment, he was desired to wait till the Governor came. This, to a W.S.,
was the reverse of courtesy ; but he naturally supposed the apparent incivility
arose from the ignorance of the lackey, and imagined the mistake would soon
be rectified by the Governor himself. “ Well, have you
got a character?” was his first salutation. ‘‘ A character !” said Macpherson,
astonished beyond measure at such a question being put to a lawyer. “ Why,
what do you mean by a character I”-“ Have you not got a character P” repeated
the Governor. “TO be sure I’ve got a character ! ’’ replied Macpherson,
still more astonished. “Where is it then, can’t you show it Z”-“ Show it !”
reiterated the lawyer, his bluff cheeks colouring with a sense of insult, “ there’s
not a gentleman in Edinburgh but knows me !’I--“ That may be,” said the
Governor, “but no one should presume to ask a place without having a character
in his pocket.”--“ The d-1 take the place-what place have I solicited?
Why, I was sent for to speak with the Governor.”--“ What are you P” said the
latter, at last conceiving the possibility of a mistake. “I’m a Writer to the
Signet,” answered Macpherson, with corresponding dignity of manner. “Writer
to the Signet ! astonishing-this is all a mistake-1 wanted a Cook ! ”-‘‘ Confound
you and your cook both!” vociferated the indignant W.S., turning on his
heel and hurrying off to drown his mortification in a meridian libation.
Nothing so easily irritated Macpherson in after times as any allusion to this
unlucky incident.
There was one redeeming virtue in the character of Macpherson rarely to
be found in professional men, and least of all in such a character ag himself,
which speaks more than language can do for the natural goodness of his heart,
The Governor came.