hat day
delivered from the apprehension of a public execution, and his joy was
the greater, as he had some reason to question whether government would
have run the risk of unpopularity by interfering in his favour, after he
had been legally convicted by the verdict of a jury, of a crime so very
obnoxious. Relieved from this doubtful state of mind, his heart was
merry within him, and he thought, in the emphatic words of Scripture on
a similar occasion, that surely the bitterness of death was past. Some
of his friends, however, who had watched the manner and behaviour of
the crowd when they were made acquainted with the reprieve, were of a
different opinion. They augured, from the unusual sternness and silence
with which they bore their disappointment, that the populace nourished
some scheme of sudden and desperate vengeance; and they advised Porteous
to lose no time in petitioning the proper authorities, that he might
be conveyed to the Castle under a sufficient guard, to remain there
in security until his ultimate fate should be determined. Habituated,
however, by his office to overawe the rabble of the city, Porteous could
not suspect them of an attempt so audacious as to storm a strong and
defensible prison; and, despising the advice by which he might have
been saved, he spent the afternoon of the eventful day in giving an
entertainment to some friends who visited him in jail, several of whom,
by the indulgence of the Captain of the Tolbooth, with whom he had
an old intimacy, arising from their official connection, were even
permitted to remain to supper with him, though contrary to the rules of
the jail.

It was, therefore, in the hour of unalloyed mirth, when this unfortunate
wretch was "full of bread," hot with wine, and high in mis-timed and
ill-grounded confidence, and, alas! with all his sins full blown,
when the first distant shouts of the rioters mingled with the song
of merriment and intemperance. The hurried call of the jailor to the
guests, requiring them instantly to depart, and his yet more hasty
intimation that a dreadful and determined mob had possessed themselves
of the city gates and guard-house, were the first explanation of these
fearful clamours.

Porteous might, however, have eluded the fury from which the force of
authority could not protect him, had he thought of slipping on some
disguise, and leading the prison along with his guests. It is probable
that the jailor might have connived at his e