nd having taken an affectionate farewell of
his old domestic, the Master rejoined his noble relative, who was now
ready to enter his carriage. The two landladies, old and young, having
received in all kindly greeting a kiss from each of their noble guests,
stood simpering at the door of their house, as the coach and six,
followed by its train of clattering horsemen, thundered out of the
village. John Girder also stood upon his threshold, now looking at his
honoured right hand, which had been so lately shaken by a marquis and
a lord, and now giving a glance into the interior of his mansion, which
manifested all the disarray of the late revel, as if balancing
the distinction which he had attained with the expenses of the
entertainment.

At length he opened his oracular jaws. "Let every man and woman here set
about their ain business, as if there was nae sic thing as marquis or
master, duke or drake, laird or lord, in this world. Let the house be
redd up, the broken meat set bye, and if there is ony thing totally
uneatable, let it be gien to the puir folk; and, gude mother and wife, I
hae just ae thing to entreat ye, that ye will never speak to me a single
word, good or bad, anent a' this nonsense wark, but keep a' your cracks
about it to yoursells and your kimmers, for my head is weel-nigh dung
donnart wi' it already."

As John's authority was tolerably absolute, all departed to their usual
occupations, leaving him to build castles in the air, if he had a mind,
upon the court favour which he had acquired by the expenditure of his
worldly substance.

CHAPTER XXVII.

Why, now I have Dame Fortune by the Forelock,
And if she escapes my grasp, the fault is mine;
He that hath buffeted with stern adversity
Best knows the shape his course to favouring breezes.

Old Play.

OUR travellers reach Edinburgh without any farther adventure, and the
Master of Ravenswood, as had been previously settled, took up his abode
with his noble friend.

In the mean time, the political crisis which had been expected took
place, and the Tory party obtained in the Scottish, as in the English,
councils of Queen Anne a short-lived ascendency, of which it is not our
business to trace either the cause or consequences. Suffice it to say,
that it affected the different political parties according to the nature
of their principles. In England, many of the High Church party, with
Harley, afterwards Earl of Oxford, at t