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The Provost-Part15_John Galt(1779-1839)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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While my lord was speaking, the captain preserved a steady and

unmoved countenance: no one could have imagined that he was



listening to any thing but some grave generality of discourse; but

when the earl offered to mediate, his breast swelled, and his face



grew like his coat, and I saw his eyes fill with water as he turned

round, to hide the grief that could not be stifled. The passion of



shame, however, lasted but for a moment. In less time than I am in

writing these heads, he was again himself, and with a modest



fortitude that was exceedinglycomely, he acknowledged who he was,

adding, that he feared his blamelessdisgrace entailed effects which



he could not hope to remove, and therefore it was his intention to

resign his commission. The earl, however, requested that he would



do nothing rashly, and that he should first allow him to try what

could be done to convince his brother officers that it was unworthy



of them to act towards him in the way they did. His lordship then

led us to the drawing-room, on entering which, he said aloud to the



countess in a manner that could not be misunderstood, "In Captain

Armour I have discovered an old acquaintance, who by his own merits,



and under circumstances that would have sunk any man less conscious

of his own purity and worth, has raised himself, from having once



been my servant, to a rank that makes me happy to receive him as my

guest."



I need not add, that this benevolence of his lordship was followed

with a most bountiful alteration towards the captain from all



present, in so much that, before the regiment was removed from the

town, we had the satisfaction of seeing him at divers of the town-



ploys, where he received every civility.

CHAPTER XXX--THE TRADES' BALL



At the conclusion of my second provostry, or rather, as I think,

after it was over, an accident happened in the town that might have



led to no little trouble and contention but for the way and manner

that I managed the same. My friend and neighbour, Mr Kilsyth, an



ettling man, who had been wonderful prosperous in the spirit line,

having been taken on for a bailie, by virtue of some able handling



on the part of Deacon Kenitweel, proposed and propounded, that there

should be a ball and supper for the trades; and to testify his sense



of the honour that he owed to all the crafts, especially the

wrights, whereof Mr Kenitweel was then deacon, he promised to send



in both wine, rum, and brandy, from his cellar, for the company. I

did not much approve of the project, for divers reasons; the



principal of which was, because my daughters were grown into young

ladies, and I was, thank God, in a circumstance to entitle them to



hold their heads something above the trades. However, I could not

positively refuse my compliance, especially as Mrs Pawkie was



requested by Bailie Kilsyth, and those who took an active part in

furtherance of the ploy, to be the lady directress of the occasion.



And, out of an honour and homage to myself, I was likewise entreated

to preside at the head of the table, over the supper that was to



ensue after the dancing.

In its own nature, there was surely nothing of an objectionable



principle, in a "trades' ball;" but we had several young men of the

gentle sort about the town, blythe and rattling lads, who were



welcome both to high and low, and to whom the project seemed worthy

of a ridicule. It would, as I said at the time, have been just as



well to have made it really a trades' ball, without any adulteration

of the gentry; but the hempies alluded to jouked themselves in upon



us, and obligated the managers to invite them; and an ill return

they made for this discretion and civility, as I have to relate.



On the nightset for the occasion, the company met in the assembly-

room, in the New-inns, where we had bespoke a light genteel supper,



and had M'Lachlan, the fiddler, over from Ayr, for the purpose.

Nothing could be better while the dancing lasted; the whole concern



wore an appearance of the greatest genteelity. But when supper was

announced, and the company adjourned to partake of it, judge of the



universal consternation that was visible in every countenance, when,

instead of the light tarts, and nice jellies and sillybobs that were






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