BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 319
‘( 0,” said he, in his usual voluble manner, “ know your father well-not at all
like him ; no doubt of your mother-but-pshaw !-never mind. Welcome to
Bachelor’s Hall : ’tis Bachelor’s Hall now, you know-Mrs. Justice has left me
-no matter-she was a good sort of person for all that-a little hot-tempered
-only three days after marriage, a leg of mutton made to fly at my head;
never mind-plenty of wine, eggs, at Bachelor’s Hall-we can make ourselves
merry.”’
When Captain Justice’s father, as already stated, sold the estate of Crichton
to Mr. Pringle, a clause had been inserted in the deed of conveyance, by which
the seller guaranteed (or, according to Scotch law phraseology, warranted)
the purchaser and his successors against all augmentations of stipend which
the clergyman of the parish might .obtain subsequent to the date of the sale ;
probably not anticipating that the practice of granting augmentation to the
stipends of the clergy would be extended as it has been done. In process of
time various augmentations of stipend were obtained by the incumbents of the
parish of Crichton. The proprietors of the estate of Crichton called upon
Captain Justice, as representing the granter of the disposition or deed of conveyance,
to relieve them from the share of increased stipend thus allocated upon
them. This gave rise to a long and expensive lawsuit, in which Captain
Justice argued that the warrandice which his father had given was not perpetual,
but limited to the endurance of certain leases of teinds originally granted by
Mr. Hepburn of Humbie, which had long since expired; and the Court of
Session decided the cause in favour of Captain Justice. An appeal, however,
was taken to the House of Lords, and the judgment was reversed, by which
a liability of upwards of $9000 was created against Captain Justice and Bis
estate.
The Captain, who had borne with great fortitude the vexations of this protracted
litigation, submitted to the fatal effect of it on his means and estate with
astonishing resignation. The estate, in fulfilment of the decree of the House
of Lords, was adjudged for payment of this debt, and was sold in lots to
different purchasers. The unfortunate owner, unable to dwell longer even in
the frugal manner in which he had done in the house of his father, rather than
remove to some other part of the country, which his friends advised him to do,
resolved to end his days, if not in, at least within sight of his old “dear home;”
and he accordingly took up his abode in a cottage in the adjoining village of
Ugston, where he lived a season or two.
The “ fair one ” in whose company the artist has thought proper to place
Captain Justice, in “The Evening Walk,” was at one time well known in the
beau monde of Princes Street. The lady may be remembered by those who
The lady and her daughter survived the unfortunate Laird of Justice Hall. The former, we
believe, died unmarried. The latter was respectably married, and through her mother fell heir to a
considerable fortune.
