rehearsed the particulars in the foregoing chapter, Bailie
Mucklehose happened to die, and as he was a man long and well

respected, he had a great funeral. All the rooms in his house were
filled with company; and it so fell out that, in the confusion,

there was neither minister nor elder to give the blessing sent into
that wherein I was, by which, when Mr Shavings the wright, with his

men, came in with the service of bread and wine as usual, there was
a demur, and one after another of those present was asked to say

grace; but none of them being exercised in public prayer, all
declined, when Mr Shavings said to me, "Mr Pawkie, I hope ye'll no

refuse."
I had seen in the process, that not a few of the declinations were

more out of the awkward shame of blateness, than any inherent
modesty of nature, or diffidence of talent; so, without making a

phrase about the matter, I said the grace, and in such a manner that
I could see it made an impression. Mr Shavings was at that time

deacon of the wrights, and being well pleased with my conduct on
this occasion, when he, the same night, met the craft, he spoke of

it in a commendable manner; and as I understood thereafter, it was
thought by them that the council could not do better than make

choice of me to the vacancy. In short, not to spin out the thread
of my narration beyond necessity, let it here suffice to be known,

that I was chosen into the council, partly by the strong handling of
Deacon Shavings, and the instrumentality of other friends and well-

wishers, and not a little by the moderation and prudence with which
I had been secretly ettling at the honour.

Having thus reached to a seat in the council, I discerned that it
behoved me to act with circumspection, in order to gain a discreet

dominion over the same, and to rule without being felt, which is the
great mystery of policy. With this intent, I, for some time, took

no active part in the deliberations, but listened, with the doors of
my understanding set wide to the wall, and the windows of my

foresight all open; so that, in process of time, I became acquainted
with the inner man of the counsellors, and could make a guess, no

far short of the probability, as to what they would be at, when they
were jooking and wising in a round-about manner to accomplish their

own several wills and purposes. I soon thereby discovered, that
although it was the custom to deduce reasons from out the interests

of the community, for the divers means and measures that they wanted
to bring to a bearing for their own particular behoof, yet this was

not often very cleverly done, and the cloven foot of self-interest
was now and then to be seen aneath the robe of public principle. I

had, therefore, but a straightforward course to pursue, in order to
overcome all their wiles and devices, the which was to make the

interests of the community, in truth and sincerity, the end and
object of my study, and never to step aside from it for any

immediate speciality of profit to myself. Upon this, I have
endeavoured to walk with a constancy of sobriety; and although I

have, to a certainty, reaped advantage both in my own person and
that of my family, no man living can accuse me of having bent any

single thing pertaining to the town and public, from the natural
uprightness of its integrity, in order to serve my own private ends.

It was, however, sometime before an occasion came to pass, wherein I
could bring my knowledge and observations to operate in any

effectual manner towards a reformation in the management of the
burgh; indeed, I saw that no good could be done until I had subdued

the two great factions, into which it may be said the council was
then divided; the one party being strong for those of the king's

government of ministers, and the other no less vehement on the side
of their adversaries. I, therefore, without saying a syllable to

any body anent the same, girded myself for the undertaking, and with
an earnest spirit put my shoulder to the wheel, and never desisted

in my endeavours, till I had got the cart up the brae, and the whole
council reduced into a proper state of subjection to the will and

pleasure of his majesty, whose deputies and agents I have ever
considered all inferior magistrates to be, administering and

exercising, as they do, their power and authority in his royal name.
The ways and means, however, by which this was brought to pass,

supply matter for another chapter; and after this, it is not my
intent to say any thing more concerning my principles and opinions,

but only to show forth the course and current of things proceeding
out of the affairs, in which I was so called to form a part

requiring no small endeavour and diligence.
CHAPTER IV--THE GUILDRY

When, as is related in the foregoing chapter, I had nourished my
knowledge of the council into maturity, I began to cast about for

the means of exercising the same towards a satisfactory issue. But
in this I found a great difficulty, arising from the policy and

conduct of Mr Andrew M'Lucre, who had a sort of infeftment, as may
be said, of the office of dean of guild, having for many years been

allowed to intromit and manage the same; by which, as was insinuated
by his adversaries, no little grist came to his mill. For it had

happened from a very ancient date, as far back, I have heard, as the
time of Queen Anne, when the union of the kingdoms was brought to a

bearing, that the dean of guild among us, for some reason or
another, had the upper hand in the setting and granting of tacks of

the town lands, in the doing of which it was jealoused that the
predecessors of Mr M'Lucre, no to say an ill word of him, honest

man, got their loofs creeshed with something that might be called
agrassum, or rather, a gratis gift. It therefore seemed to me that

there was a necessity for some reformation in the office, and I
foresaw that the same would never be accomplished, unless I could

get Mr M'Lucre wised out of it, and myself appointed his successor.
But in this lay the obstacle; for every thing anent the office was,

as it were, in his custody, and it was well known that he had an
interest in keeping by that which, in vulgar parlance, is called

nine points of the law. However, both for the public good and a
convenience to myself, I was resolved to get a finger in the dean of

guild's fat pie, especially as I foresaw that, in the course of
three or four years, some of the best tacks would run out, and it

would be a great thing to the magistrate that might have the
disposal of the new ones. Therefore, without seeming to have any

foresight concerning the lands that were coming on to be out of
lease, I set myself to constrain Mr M'Lucre to give up the guildry,

as it were, of his own free-will; and what helped me well to this,
was a rumour that came down from London, that there was to be a

dissolution of the parliament.
The same day that this news reached the town, I was standing at my

shop-door, between dinner and tea-time. It was a fine sunny summer
afternoon. Standing under the blessed influence of the time by

myself at my shop-door, who should I see passing along the crown of
the causey, but Mr M'Lucre himself and with a countenance knotted

with care, little in unison with the sultry indolence of that sunny
day.

"Whar awa sae fast, dean o' guild?" quo' I to him; and he stopped
his wide stepping, for he was a long spare man, and looting in his

gait.
"I'm just," said he, "taking a step to the provost's, to learn the

particulars of thir great news--for, as we are to hae the casting
vote in the next election, there's no saying the good it may bring

to us all gin we manage it wi' discretion."
I reflected the while of a minute before I made any reply, and then

I said -
"It would hae nae doubt of the matter, Mr M'Lucre, could it be

brought about to get you chosen for the delegate; but I fear, as ye
are only dean of guild this year, that's no to be accomplished; and

really, without the like of you, our borough, in the contest, may be
driven to the wall."

"Contest!" cried the dean of guild, with great eagerness; "wha told
you that we are to be contested?"

Nobody had told me, nor at the moment was I sensible of the force of
what I said; but, seeing the effect it had on Mr M'Lucre, I replied,