respected, though his friends would not have been sorry if he had
given a dinner more frequently, as his little cellar contained some
choice old wine, of which, on such rare occasions, he was no niggard.
The whole pleasure of this good old-fashioned man of method, besides
that which he really felt in the discharge of his own daily business,
was the hope to see his son attain what in the father's eyes was the
proudest of all distinctions--the rank and fame of a well-employed
lawyer. Every profession has its peculiar honors, and his mind was
constructed upon {p.167} so limited and exclusive a plan, that he
valued nothing save the objects of ambition which his own presented.
He would have shuddered at his son's acquiring the renown of a hero,
and laughed with scorn at the equally barren laurels of literature; it
was by the path of the law alone that he was desirous to see him rise
to eminence; and the probabilities of success or disappointment were
the thoughts of his father by day, and his dream by night."[89]

[Footnote 89: _Redgauntlet_, chap. i.]

It is easy to imagine the original of this portrait, writing to one of
his friends, about the end of June, 1792--"I have the pleasure to tell
you that my son has passed his private Scots Law examinations with
good approbation--a great relief to my mind, especially as worthy Mr.
Pest[90] told me in my ear, there was no fear of the 'callant,' as he
familiarly called him, which gives me great heart. His public trials,
which are nothing in comparison, save a mere form, are to take place,
by order of the Honorable Dean of Faculty,[91] on Wednesday first, and
on Friday he puts on the gown, and gives a bit chack of dinner to his
friends and acquaintances, as is the custom. Your company will be
wished for there by more than him.--_P. S._ His thesis is on the
title, _De periculo et commodo rei venditae_, and is a very pretty
piece of Latinity."[92]

[Footnote 90: It has been suggested that _Pest_ is a misprint
for _Peat_. There was an elderly practitioner of the latter
name, with whom Mr. Fairford must have been well
acquainted.--(1839.)]

[Footnote 91: The situation of Dean of Faculty was filled in
1792 by the Honorable Henry Erskine, of witty and benevolent
memory.]

[Footnote 92: _Redgauntlet_, letter ix.]

And all things passed in due order, even as they are figured. The real
_Darsie_ was pres