The Heart of Mid-Lothian | Page 6

to the Cowgate. Mr. McQueen, Minister of the
New Kirk, was coming up the stairs. He conceived it to be his duty to
set Robertson on his feet again, "and covered his retreat as much as

possible from the pursuit of the guard." Robertson ran up the Horse
Wynd, out at Potter Row Port, got into the King's Park, and headed for
the village of Duddingston, beside the loch on the south-east of Arthur's
Seat. He fainted after jumping a dyke, but was picked up and given
some refreshment. He lay in hiding till he could escape to Holland.
The conspiracy to hang Porteous did not, in fact, develop in a few
hours, after his failure to appear on the scaffold. The Queen's pardon
(or a reprieve) reached Edinburgh on Thursday, Sept. 2; the Riot
occurred on the night of Sept. 7. The council had been informed that
lynching was intended, thirty-six hours before the fatal evening, but
pronounced the reports to be "caddies' clatters." Their negligence, of
course, must have increased the indignation of the Queen. The riot,
according to a very old man, consulted by Mr. Chambers, was headed
by two butchers, named Cumming, "tall, strong, and exceedingly
handsome men, who dressed in women's clothes as a disguise." The
rope was tossed out of a window in a "small wares shop" by a woman,
who received a piece of gold in exchange. This extravagance is one of
the very few points which suggest that people of some wealth may have
been concerned in the affair. Tradition, according to Charles
Kirkpatrick Sharpe, believed in noble leaders of the riot. It is certain
that several witnesses of good birth and position testified very strongly
against Porteous, at his trial.
According to Hogg, Scott's "fame was now so firmly established that
he cared not a fig for the opinion of his literary friends beforehand." He
was pleased, however, by the notice of "Ivanhoe," "The Heart of
Mid-Lothian," and "The Bride of Lammermoor" in the Edinburgh
Review of 1820, as he showed by quoting part of its remarks. The
Reviewer frankly observed "that, when we began with one of these
works, we were conscious that we never knew how to leave off. The
Porteous mob is rather heavily described, and the whole part of George
Robertson, or Staunton, is extravagant and displeasing. The final
catastrophe is needlessly improbable and startling." The critic felt that
he must be critical, but his praise of Effie and Jeanie Deans obviously
comes from his heart. Jeanie's character "is superior to anything we can
recollect in the history of invention . . . a remarkable triumph over the

greatest of all difficulties in the conduct of a fictitious narrative." The
critique ends with "an earnest wish that the Author would try his hand
in the lore of Shakspeare"; but, wiser than the woers of Penelope, Scott
refused to make that perilous adventure. ANDREW LANG.
An essay by Mr. George Ormond, based on manuscripts in the
Edinburgh Record office (Scottish Review, July, 1892), adds little to
what is known about the Porteous Riot. It is said that Porteous was let
down alive, and hanged again, more than once, that his arm was broken
by a Lochaber axe, and that a torch was applied to the foot from which
the shoe had fallen. A pamphlet of 1787 says that Robertson became a
spy on smugglers in Holland, returned to London, procured a pardon
through the Butcher Cumberland, and "at last died in misery in
London." It is plain that Colonel Moyle might have rescued Porteous,
but he was naturally cautious about entering the city gates without a
written warrant from the civil authorities.

TO THE BEST OF PATRONS, A PLEASED AND INDULGENT
READER
JEDEDIAH CLEISHBOTHAM WISHES HEALTH, AND
INCREASE, AND CONTENTMENT.
Courteous Reader,
If ingratitude comprehendeth every vice, surely so foul a stain worst of
all beseemeth him whose life has been devoted to instructing youth in
virtue and in humane letters. Therefore have I chosen, in this
prolegomenon, to unload my burden of thanks at thy feet, for the favour
with which thou last kindly entertained the Tales of my Landlord.
Certes, if thou hast chuckled over their factious and festivous
descriptions, or hadst thy mind filled with pleasure at the strange and
pleasant turns of fortune which they record, verily, I have also simpered
when I beheld a second storey with attics, that has arisen on the basis of
my small domicile at Gandercleugh, the walls having been aforehand
pronounced by Deacon Barrow to be capable of enduring such an

elevation. Nor has it been without delectation that I have endued a new
coat (snuff-brown, and with metal buttons), having all nether garments
corresponding thereto. We do therefore lie, in respect of each other,
under a reciprocation of benefits,