"I now look to my nephew to carry on our line." Now I had been bred to another trade, and knew nothing about being a tailor, so I thought the good man had his intellects affected by his affliction. But I now understand, that, by his house, he meant the race of the Corduroys, and that by my carrying on the line, he only expresses his wish that I may not be the last of them. glasses wear a heart with a king's crown on it in their arms, instancing the clan of the Macgregors, who had all been obliged to change their names for the best part of a century. Mr M'Crae, at the same time, advised my uncle to employ an acquaintance of his, in the Register-office in Edinburgh, to search all the old records for proofs of this connection between the Corduroys and the Douglasses. I have never heard that his fees to the Register-office produced any thing very satisfactory, but by dint of constant talking about this matter over his punch with the hatter and Mr McCrae, what at first appeared barely possible, began every evening to gain in his eyes a new degree of probability, till at length the delusion has gone to such an extremity, that he now no more doubts of it than he does of his own existence. The first hint that I had of all this was his giving up wafers, and the old signet stamp with the initials of Corduroy & Co., and beginning to seal his letters with a crowned heart, and the motto, "tandem triumphans" on the top of it, which the first two or three times I took little notice of, thinking he had borrowed some gentleman's seal who was accidentally in the shop to have his measure taken; but at last I understood what had occurred from another quarter. There were several expressions in his letters about the same time which I could not well understand. In one letter he told me, that "whatever the world might say, he had no doubt he should live to see the day when nobody would venture to question the respectability of his house." I was afraid something had hap-common reading has long been either in pened, but meeting with a friend newly from Scotland, he assured me he had never heard the firm called in question. He lost his only son shortly after, and wrote me, This phrenzy, for I can give it no other name, grew every day more alarming. He began to brag to all his acquaintance what a great family he was come of, and could scarcely take a customer's measure for a pair of breeches without entertaining him with some old-fashioned stories about the good Sir James Douglas, and Archibald Bell-the-Cat. He looked down on all his neighbours, although they were come of as respectable burgesses of the town as himself. He left the Antiburghers too, where his father and he had always been elders, and took a pew in the Episcopal chapel, because he had a notion Episcopacy was the gentceler religion. In short, he became as proud as a peacock; and when he was made a baillie, one would have thought, as his friends tell me, he scarcely knew which hip to sit on. He had his arms taken out regularly in the heralds' book, which cost him the matter of L. 10, and he had them painted and glazed, and hung up in his back-shop and his parlour. He made his daughters cut out fire-screens in the shape of hearts, and made his wife a present of a tea-chest which resembles a heart below, and has a crown for the lid. His Mr Nisbett, before-mentioned, or in some old papers from the session clerk's office, which he has great difficulty in decyphering; but if he can only meet with the death > or marriage of a Corduroy or a Douglas, that is quite enough to make up for weeks of trouble. He once gave a dinner, I am informed, to a large party of friends, on hearing it mentioned by a lawyer on a circuit that three Corduroys were hanged at Jedburgh for stouthrieff and sorning, (which I believe means, after all, only robbery and sturdy begging,) in the year 1500. He is always, in this way, making what he calls family discoveries, though I believe this of the three thieves is the greatest. He has got a large book like a ledger, bound in red leather, with brass clasps, where he has copied the first leaf of his father's bible, and any thing he has picked up about people of his name, and this he calls his history. He keeps this book, and a few old papers, such as his grandmother's marriage-lines, and the like, in an old trunk, which he has built into the wall, and this he calls his charter-chest. Before he took to these fancies, he had built a very snug cottage about two miles from the town; but he has, since that time, had all the windows taken out, and new ones put in, with panes of glass cut in the shape of diamonds as if it were a church, not forgetting paintings of red hearts and royal crowns, of which there are at least a dozen, including the sky-lights. His fireplaces are also made with a pointed arch at the top; and his fenders have battlements on them like the top of a castle. His par`lour is stuck full of pictures of old gentlemen in wigs and coats-of-mail, and young ladies very indecent about the bosom, whom he calls his ancestors; but his apprentice told me he had himself heard him bidding for some of them at an auction. When he shews his visitors the real portrait which he has of his father, he always remarks that he was a wonderfully modest man, and never spoke of his family ; “but,” adds he, " he had no taste for research." The whole neighbourhood consider him as one out of his mind on this head, and call him Count Corduroy, by way of derision; and I am much afraid that, if I stay much longer among them, they will christen me the Young Count. What makes me write you at present, is more particularly this, that I hear him talking about getting his lands, as he calls them, (although he has not above twenty acres altogether, including Craig-Corduroy cottage) erected into a barony. I have also heard him hinting that supporters would not stand him above L. 100. If he goes on at this rate, I do not see how any body will employ him, as every one already says he has got a bee in his bonnet, and might easily be cognosced. But as my uncle takes in the SaleRoom, I am in hopes you may either insert this letter, or at least some remarks of your own, which may put an end to his delusion, which will be a great obligation on, Sir, Your most obedient servant, CHRISTOPHER CORDUROY, Jun. We have not inserted this letter without some little hesitation, as we cannot foresee much good that is likely to happen from the dissolution of a dream which can make the dreamer so happy without doing the rest of the world any harm. We are not quite sure, moreover, but the hero of this tale may be entitled to more respect than his nephew seems inclined to allow him, In truth, such a person as he is, were he only to cultivate his talents for self-deception, might easily attain to as great a pitch of excellence in that department as either Abon Hassan or Don Quixote could ever boast of. By a wise application of his powers, he might consider himself as quite independent of external things; and having all the sources of his happiness within himself, might present to the world an excellent specimen of the stoical wise man-the εν εαυτω τέλειος και καταφρονητής των έξω” of Antoninus. After all, our readers will be disposed to believe with us, that there was more wisdom in the observations of old John of Gaunt than Bolingbroke was willing to allow, when he asked him with such an air of confidence SIR, I HAVE been very much disconcerted by the treatment my husband received in your Sale-Room a few weeks ago; and to prove that I do not complain without cause, I will state the particulars of his irritation. He came home greatly discomposed, and, without speaking a word, threw himself into his stuffed leather elbow-chair, clasped his hands across his capacious chest, press ing his two thumbs nearly perpendicularly together, and closed his eyes as if in devout meditation. But as this is a favourite position of his when he is musing, or, as I frequently think, dosing, upon metaphysics, I did not particularly regard him, till my attention was roused by a groan, which seemed to issue from the inmost recesses of his soul, and heaved his bosom almost to bursting; looking in his face, I discovered that his brow was curved with frowns, and my again into his seat, with his head falling on his shoulder, as in a fit of immediate des pondency. I was startled at the words, and gently approaching his chair," Bless me, Doctor," said I, "what has thus disturbed your serenity ?" passing my hand softly over his forehead, "I was fearful, my dear, that the contortions of your coun tenance indicated unusual sensations of uneasinesss in this part; but I assure you, upon the faith and affection of a virtuous wife, that you have no occasion to be alarmed about your honour." "My dear Delia, you know that I am occasionally troubled with shooting pains across my temples, but that is not the case now. I will leave you to judge whether the treatment I have experienced is such as ought to have been bestowed upon a man who has enlightened the world with so mány abstruse and recondite labours as I have done." He then related what had passed at the meeting of your second conciave, as you call it. It is really very ridiculous, that, upon the most trifling occasions, three or four of you male creatures shut yourselves up into a room together, and call your selves a conclave, a committee, or some other important appellation, and, with im pertinent solemnity, ponder over the production of brains which each has brought to the meeting, argumenting and deci ding, and perhaps in the end rejecting the best, when a woman would settle the business without any consideration, and tell you at once what ought to be done. I tried to sooth the ruffled temper of the Doctor, by observing, that it was a waste of talents to exhibit his stores of metaphysical philo'sophy where they were not likely to be understood; and that if he would suffer me to fill his place in the committee, I would cause myself to be heard to some purpose, or, at any rate, I would have the last word; for, though my tongue may not be quite so broad, I would soon prove it to be as long as any of his colleagues. He replied rather hastily, "Pshaw, Delia, you talk like a fool." I was piqued at this, and told him, that, in worldly matters, the greatest fool on earth was a philosopher, and advised him to keep within his proper sphere, the library. I professed my determination to write to you upon the subject, when he snappishly retorted,-" Poh, poh, nonsense; you'll only be laughed at for a ridiculous bas bleu." I know enough of French to understand this allusion; and I am sure you have too much politeness to trouble yourself about whether I wear blue stockings or white, if my petticoats are long enough, and notwithstanding the Doctor's mortification, which I dare say was no fault of yours, I cannot help wishing well to your undertaking; but, believe me, it never will succeed unless you admit ladies into your Sale-Room; for how can you expect it will ever become fashionable if not sanctioned by the smiles of the sex? and can it be supposed, that such repulsive people as your Grievances, your Pismires, your Coryphæus, and God knows who, are proper personages to afford us entertainment, or " to catch the living manners as they rise?" Indeed it says very little for the manners of any of you, that, in four weeks time, not a single female has been introduced, or a syllable said about us at all, as if you had formed a masonic society of your own, to the entire exclusion of our sex. Is it because you are a vender of literary articles that you fancy us too' ignorant to judge of your wares? Is it because you are a dealer in virtu that you think the ladies should be excluded? If so, you have formed a very erroneous opinion of both our talents and our taste; and I would advise you to endeavour to interest in your favour some of your highly-gifted countrywomen, who are the pride of this enlightened city. In the mean time, if you will accept of my services, I will take care that the Doctor's metaphysical lucubrations shall be confined to his own study. Having thus given an explicit account of my feelings on the subject, I trust I may make my appearance in your Sale-Room without offence to any other ladics of rank and fashion that I may hereafter meet with there. But as I may not be able to attend you regularly every week, you will perhaps notdisregard any communication I may make to you in writing, or refuse a place to any female friend I may send in place of myself. Take my word for it, that without the patronage of the ladies, your Sale-Room will soon be as deserted as the Lethean temple of Dulness; but, under the enlivening charms of female influence, it will be weekly resorted to by the elegant and the fashionable, and will become a national repository of literature and taste. Waiting reply, I remain, Sir, Your earnest well-wisher, TO CORRESPONDENTS. We request the continuance of Christopher Corduroy's correspondence. Nobody, but himself, can be aware of the full extent of the debt we owe him; and we trust he will not charge us with rudely or rashly attempting to tear off his mask, when we say that our feelings of gratitude are, if possible, heightened, by their being irresistibly associated with the recollection of one of the most illustrious writers to whom Scotland has given birth. We have inserted as much of Mrs Dunder's favour as the Doctor would permit to be printed. Should Mrs D. find leisure and inclination, however, to revise her account of the family, (which we observe was what the Doctor struck out) we shall endeavour to smuggle in the insertion when he is out of the way. Juvenis' Letter is received. The insertion of an Epigram on the late weather is delayed for want of room. Edinburgh, printed by James Ballantyne & Co. For John Ballantyne, Hanover-Street. |