290 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
in sub-divisions to Drylaw Mains, about three miles from town, in the following
order :-Light Horse, Royal Edinburgh Artillery, First Regiment, first battalion
of the Second Regiment, Royal Edinburgh Highlanders, second battalion of the
Second Regiment, Leith Volunteers, Mid-Lothian Artillery. After arriving on
the ground, the brigade drew up in a line, which extended a great length. A
salute mas then fired by the Artillery on each flank; and his Excellency Sir
Ralph Abercromby, Commander-in-Chief, attended by General Vyse, the North
British staff, several other officers, and the Right Hon. Secretary Dundas,
entered from the right, and rode along the whole line. Mr, Dundas was dressed
in the uniform of the First Regiment, of which he is a private. In passing the
line both times he rode with his hat off. The appearance and discipline of the
different corps gave general satisfaction to the military gentlemen and a numerous
body of spectators. A party of the Norfolk Cavalry and Shropshire Militia
attended to keep the ground clear.”
Lord Melville at one time proposed that a certain allowance weekly should
be given to the members of the First Regiment of Edinburgh Volunteers, but
the offer was declined.
No. CXVIII.
ANDREW NICOL,
WITH A PLAN OF HIS MIDDENSTEAD.
THIS is one of the “ Parliament House worthies ” mentioned in the Traditions of
Edinburgh, where, he is described as “ a sensible-looking man, with a large blue
bonnet, in which guise Kay has a very good portrait of him, displaying, with
chuckling pride, a plan of his precious middenstead.”
MUCKA NDREWa,s he was familiarly termed, was a native of the ancient burgh
of Kinross. He was a linen-weaver to trade ; and, if,not in affluent circumstances,
could at all events boast an honest independence, in the possession of a house
and a kail-yard, which had descended to him through a long line of forefathers.
About the beginning of this century it was esteemed quite an unfashionable thing
for a gentleman of property not to have a law-suit. Poor Andrew unluckily fell a
victim to the mania. Some misunderstanding having arisen between him and
a neighbour proprietor about the situation or boundary of a dunghill, nothing
less could adjust matters than an appeal to a court of law. Andrew
seems to have been successful in the inferior courts; but his opponent,
having a longer purse, carried the case to the Court of Session, and by one
expedient or other, protracted a decision until he compelled poor Andrew
to litigate in forma pauperis. The whole affair was certainly a satire on judicial
proceedings j but it took such possession of the simpleton’s mind as to engross
