 officers of the law affected little
scruple concerning bribery. Pieces of plate, and bags of money, were sent in
presents to the king's counsel, to influence their conduct, and poured forth,
says a contemporary writer, like billets of wood upon their floors, without even
the decency of concealment.
    In such times, it was not over uncharitable to suppose, that the statesman,
practised in courts of law, and a powerful member of a triumphant cabal, might
find and use means of advantage over his less skilful and less favoured
adversary; and if it had been supposed that Sir William Ashton's conscience had
been too delicate to profit by these advantages, it was believed that his
ambition and desire of extending his wealth and consequence, found as strong a
stimulus in the exhortations of his lady, as the daring aim of Macbeth in the
days of yore.
    Lady Ashton was of a family more distinguished than that of her lord, an
advantage which she did not fail to use to the uttermost, in maintaining and
extending her husband's influence over others, and, unless she was greatly
belied, her own over him. She had been beautiful, and was stately and majestic
in her appearance. Endowed by nature with strong powers and violent passions,
experience had taught her to employ the one, and to conceal, if not to moderate,
the other. She was a severe and strict observer of the external forms, at least,
of devotion; her hospitality was splendid even to ostentation; her address and
manners, agreeable to the pattern most valued in Scotland at the period, were
grave, dignified, and severely regulated by the rules of etiquette. Her
character had always been beyond the breath of slander. And yet, with all these
qualities to excite respect, Lady Ashton was seldom mentioned in the terms of
love or affection. Interest, - the interest of her family, if not her own, -
seemed too obviously the motive of her actions; and where this is the case, the
sharp-judging and malignant public are not easily imposed upon by outward show.
It was seen and ascertained, that, in her most graceful courtesies and
compliments, Lady Ashton no more lost sight of her object, than the falcon in
his airy wheel turns his quick eyes from his destined quarry; and hence,
something of doubt and suspicion qualified the feelings with which her equals
received her attentions. With her inferiors these feelings were mingled with
fear; an impression useful to her purposes, so far as it enforced ready
compliance with her requests, and implicit obedience to her commands,
