314 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
No. CCLXXV.
HUGH MACPHERSON,
SOMETIME CLERK TO THE PERTH CARRIERS.
HUGHM ~CPHERSOoNr, “ Wee Hughie,” as he was commonly termed, was born
in the district of Badenoch about the year 1770. His father, who lived to a
great age, was shepherd on an extensive farm in that quarter; and both his
parents were persons of ordinary stature. When Hughie fist ventured forth
of his native fastnesses, he made his debdt in the Lowlands, att,ired in the Highland
garb-bonnet, kilt, and plaid-with a pair of top-boots in lieu of hose !
For some years after his arrival in Perth, he was employed as a clerk in the George
Inn; next in the shop of a grocer; and subsequently with Messrs J. and P.
Cameron, carriers betwixt Perth and Edinburgh. The tartans had, long ere
this, given way to a coat of dark green, light vest, darkish trousers, and highheeled
boots ;’ a dress to which he adhered without alteration for a length of
time. Every new
suit, to make sure of being fashionably fitted, cost him a visit to Edinburgh.
At length, that he might take charge of his employers’ establishment there,
he had the peculiar satisfaction of being removed permanently to the
capital.
Hugh was a well-known kharacter, the oddness of his figure, and his excessive
self-conceit, making him the subject of much diversion. While in Perth,
some one having drawn a caricature of him, he at once sought reparation by
challenging the offender to fight a duel ; but this display of spirit only tended
to make matters worse, for, in another picture, the little mountaineer was grotesquely
exhibited brandishing a pair of pistols not much shorter than himself.
Proud and vindictive, he was easily affronted; and nothing vexed him more
than to be underrated, or looked upon in the light of pity, by the fair sex. If
insulted in their presence, he became perfectly furious. On one occasion, at a
wedding party in Edinburgh, Hugh was dancing with great spirit, and in imagination
as big as the tallest in the company, when a waggish participator in the
reel, seizing a favourable opportunity, tripped up his heels, sending him headforemost
into the ash-pit. Those who were present will not easily forget the
miniature hero’s countenance on regaining his feet. Seizing a candlestick, in a
His hat, too, it may be
remarked, was particularly high and capacious ; thereby, we presume, to add to the height and dignity
of his appearance.
Hughie was, in his own estimation, a perfect dandy.
Hughie invariably wore boats, not shoes, aa represented in the Print.