accomplishments won the heart of a jolly widow, who then kept the
principal change-house in the borough. Her former husband having been a strict
Presbyterian, of such note that he usually went among his sect by the name of
Gaius the publican, many of the more rigid were scandalised by the profession of
the successor whom his relict had chosen for a second helpmate. As the browst
(or brewing) of the Howff retained, nevertheless, its unrivalled reputation,
most of the old customers continued to give it a preference. The character of
the new landlord, indeed, was of that accommodating kind, which enabled him, by
close attention to the helm, to keep his little vessel pretty steady amid the
contending tides of faction. He was a good-humoured, shrewd, selfish sort of
fellow, indifferent alike to the disputes about church and state, and only
anxious to secure the good-will of customers of every description. But his
character, as well as the state of the country, will be best understood by
giving the reader an account of the instructions which he issued to his
daughter, a girl about eighteen, whom he was initiating in those cares which had
been faithfully discharged by his wife, until about six months before our story
commences, when the honest woman had been carried to the kirkyard.
    »Jenny,« said Niel Blane, as the girl assisted to disencumber him of his
bagpipes, »this is the first day that ye are to take the place of your worthy
mother in attending to the public; a douce woman she was, civil to the
customers, and had a good name wi' Whig and Tory, baith up the street and doun
the street. It will be hard for you to fill her place, especially on sic a
thrang day as this; but Heaven's will maun be obeyed. Jenny, whatever Milnwood
ca's for, be sure he maun hae't, for he's the Captain o' the Popinjay, and auld
customs maun be supported; if he canna pay the lawing himsell, as I ken he's
keepit unco short by the head, I'll find a way to shame it out o' his uncle. The
curate is playing at dice wi' Cornet Grahame. Be eident and civil to them baith
- clergy and captains can gie an unco deal o' fash in thae times, where they
take an ill-will. The dragoons will be crying for ale, and they wunna want it,
and maunna want it - they are unruly chields, but they pay ane some gate or