He was by nature and inclination one of the upsetting sort; a kind

of man who, in all manner of business, have a leaven of
contrariness, that makes them very hard to deal with; and he, being

conjunct with his majesty's ministers at London, had imbibed and
partook of that domineering spirit to which all men are ordained, to

be given over whenever they are clothed in the garments of power.
Many among us thought, by his colleaguing with the government, that

we had got a great catch, and they were both blythe and vogie when
he was chosen; none doubting but he would do much good servitude to

the corporation, and the interests of the burgh. However he soon
gave a rebuff, that laid us all on our backs in a state of the

greatest mortification. But although it behoved me to sink down
with the rest, I was but little hurt: on the contary, I had a good

laugh in my sleeve at the time; and afterwards, many a merry tumbler
of toddy with my brethren, when they had recovered from their

discomfiture. The story was this:-
About a fortnight after the election, Mr Scudmyloof, the

schoolmaster, called one day on me, in my shop, and said, "That
being of a nervous turn, the din of the school did not agree with

him; and that he would, therefore, be greatly obligated to me if I
would get him made a gauger." There had been something in the

carriage of our new member, before he left the town, that was not
satisfactory to me, forbye my part at the election, the which made

me loth to be the first to ask for any grace, though the master was
a most respectable and decent man; so I advised Mr Scudmyloof to

apply to Provost Pickandab, who had been the delegate, as the person
to whose instrumentality the member was most obliged; and to whose

application, he of course would pay the greatest attention.
Whether Provost Pickandab had made any observe similar to mine, I

never could rightly understand, though I had a notion to that
effect: he, however, instead of writing himself, made the

application for Mr Scudmyloof an affair of the council; recommending
him as a worthymodest man, which he really was, and well qualified

for the post. Off went this notable letter, and by return of post
from London, we got our answer as we were all sitting in council;

deliberating anent the rebuilding of the Crosswell, which had been
for some time in a sore state of dilapidation; and surely never was

any letter more to the point and less to the purpose of an
applicant. It was very short and pithy, just acknowledging receipt

of ours; and adding thereto, "circumstances do not allow me to pay
any attention to such applications." We all with one accord, in

sympathy and instinct, threw ourselves back in our chairs at the
words, looking at Provost Pickandab, with the pragmatical epistle in

his hand, sitting in his place at the head of the table, with the
countenance of consternation.

When I came to myself, I began to consider that there must have been
something no right in the provost's own letter on the subject, to

cause such an uncourteous rebuff; so after condemning, in very
strong terms, the member's most ungenteel style, in order to procure

for myself a patient hearing, I warily proposed that the provost's
application should be read, a copy thereof being kept, and I had

soon a positiveconfirmation of my suspicion. For the provost,
being fresh in the dignity of his office, and naturally of a

prideful turn, had addressed the parliament man as if he was under
an obligation to him; and as if the council had a right to command

him to get the gauger's post, or indeed any other, for whomsoever
they might apply. So, seeingwhence the original sin of the affair

had sprung, I said nothing; but the same night I wrote a humiliated
letter from myself to the member, telling him how sorry we all were

for the indiscretion that had been used towards him, and how much it
would pleasure me to heal the breach that had happened between him

and the burgh, with other words of an oily and conciliating policy.
The indignant member, by the time my letter reached hand, had cooled

in his passion, and, I fancy, was glad of an occasion to do away the
consequence of the rupture; for with a most extraordinary alacrity

he procured Mr Scudmyloof the post, writing me, when he had done so,
in the civilest manner, and saying many condescending things

concerning his regard for me; all which ministered to maintain and
uphold my repute and consideration in the town, as superior to that

of the provost.
CHAPTER XLIII --MY THIRD PROVOSTRY

It was at the Michaelmas 1813 that I was chosen provost for the
third time, and at the special request of my lord the earl, who,

being in ill health, had been advised by the faculty of doctors in
London to try the medicinal virtues of the air and climate of

Sicily, in the Mediterranean sea; and there was an understanding on
the occasion, that I should hold the post of honour for two years,

chiefly in order to bring to a conclusion different works that the
town had then in hand.

At the two former times when I was raised to the dignity, and indeed
at all times when I received any advancement, I had enjoyed an

elation of heart, and was, as I may say, crouse and vogie; but
experience had worked a change upon my nature, and when I was

saluted on my election with the customary greetings and gratulations
of those present, I felt a solemnity enter into the frame of my

thoughts, and I became as it were a new man on the spot. When I
returned home to my own house, I retired into my private chamber for

a time, to consult with myself in what manner my deportment should
be regulated; for I was conscious that heretofore I had been overly

governed with a disposition to do things my own way, and although
not in an avaricious temper, yet something, I must confess, with a

sort of sinister respect for my own interests. It may be, that
standing now clear and free of the world, I had less incitement to

be so grippy, and so was thought of me, I very well know; but in
sobriety and truth I conscientiously affirm, and herein record, that

I had lived to partake of the purer spirit which the great mutations
of the age had conjured into public affairs, and I saw that there

was a necessity to carry into all dealings with the concerns of the
community, the same probity which helps a man to prosperity in the

sequestered traffic of private life.
This serious and religious communing wrought within me to a benign

and pleasant issue, and when I went back in the afternoon to dine
with the corporation in the council-room, and looked around me on

the bailies, the councillors, and the deacons, I felt as if I was
indeed elevated above them all, and that I had a task to perform, in

which I could hope for but little sympathy from many; and the first
thing I did was to measure, with a discreet hand, the festivity of

the occasion.
At all former and precedent banquets, it had been the custom to give

vent to muckle wanton and luxuriousindulgence, and to galravitch,
both at hack and manger, in a very expensive manner to the funds of

the town. I thereforeresolved to set my face against this for the
future; and accordingly, when we had enjoyed a jocose temperance of

loyalty and hilarity, with a decentmeasure of wine, I filled a
glass, and requesting all present to do the same, without any

preliminary reflections on the gavaulling of past times, I drank
good afternoon to each severally, and then rose from the table, in a

way that put an end to all the expectations of more drink.
But this conduct did not give satisfaction to some of the old hands,

who had been for years in the habit and practice of looking forward
to the provost's dinner as to a feast of fat things. Mr Peevie, one

of the very sickerest of all the former sederunts, came to me next
morning, in a remonstrating disposition, to enquire what had come

over me, and to tell me that every body was much surprised, and many
thought it not right of me to break in upon ancient and wonted

customs in such a sudden and unconcerted manner.
This Mr Peevie was, in his person, a stumpy man, well advanced in

years. He had been, in his origin, a bonnet-maker; but falling heir
to a friend that left him a property, he retired from business about

the fiftieth year of his age, doing nothing but walking about with
an ivory-headed staff, in a suit of dark bluecloth with yellow

buttons, wearing a large cocked hat, and a white three-tiered wig,
which was well powdered every morning by Duncan Curl, the barber.

The method of his discourse and conversation was very precise, and
his words were all set forth in a style of consequence, that took

with many for a season as the pith and marrow of solidity and sense.
The body, however, was but a pompous trifle, and I had for many a

day held his observes and admonishments in no very reverential
estimation. So that, when I heard him address me in such a

memorializing manner, I was inclined and tempted to set him off with
a flea in his lug. However, I was enabled to bridle and rein in