The Provost: And Other TalesBlackwood, 1842 - 390 pages |
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affairs anent bailie bairns beautiful began body Booble brought burgh called captain CHAPTER character coach coronation council cried dean of guild Dinton doctor door dreadful dress Duffle Edinburgh effect eider ducks eyes father frae gave gentleman Girdwood Glasgow going Greenock hand happened head hear heard heart heaven Helensburgh Hickery honour Jamphler Jeanie jocose king king's kirk lady lassie latheron London look lord lord advocate M'Lucre magistrates majesty manner matter maun ment Michaelmas mind mistress morning mother nature never night Oakdale obligated observed occasion passed Pawkie Peevie persons Pittle Ponatowski poor Pringle provost provostry Purcel replied round royal burgh seen sitting solemn soon sort speak spirit Spitzbergen steam-boat story streets sure Sydenham tell thing thought tion Tobloski tolbooth told took town whole woman wonder wont young
Popular passages
Page 96 - Robin by the lug and the horn to the tolbooth, and then came with their complaint to me. Seeing how the authorities had been set at nought, and the necessity there was of making an example, I forthwith ordered Robin to be cashiered from the service of the town, and, as so important a concern as a proclamation ought not to be delayed, I likewise, upon the spot, ordered the officers to take a lad that had been 'also a drummer in a marching regiment, and go with him to make the proclamation. Nothing...
Page 242 - By the Eternal and Almighty God, who liveth and reigneth for ever, we become your liege men, and truth and faith shall bear unto you, and live and die with you, against all manner of folk whatever, in your service, according to the national covenant and solemn league and covenant.
Page 72 - ... they were then sitting under the lea of a headstone, near their mother's grave, chittering and creeping closer and closer at every squall. Never was such an orphan-like sight seen. When it began to be so dark that the vessels could no longer be discerned from the churchyard, many went down to the shore, and I took the three babies home with me, and Mrs...
Page 99 - ... the bit prideful lairdies were just looked down upon by our gawsie big-bellied burgesses, not a few of whom had heritable bonds on their estates. But in this I am speaking of the change when it had come to a full head; for in verity it must be allowed that when the country gentry, with their families, began to intromit among us, we could not make enough of them.
Page 184 - O waes me ! That deevil thought I was taken ill, and as I was a stranger, the moment I was out and in the house, out came she likewise, and came talking into the kitchen, into which I had ran, perspiring with vexation. " At the sight, I ran back to the door, determined to prefer the wet and wind on the outside of the coach to the clatter within. But the coach was off, and far beyond call. I could have had the heart, I verily believe, to have quenched the breath of life in that wearyful woman : for...
Page 363 - Annals of the Parish' and ' The Provost' have been generally received as novels, and I think, in consequence, they have both suffered, for neither of them have, unquestionably, a plot. My own notion was to exhibit a kind of local theoretical history, by examples, the truth of which would at once be acknowledged.
Page 195 - The Egyptians wrote in that language. Did they teach the Indians ? Not, however, to dwell on such abstruse matters, I shall just say, that we reached on the second day the lake which supplied the stream. It was about some ten miles long and five broad — a bowl in the midst of several hills. It was overlooked by the woods and mountains ; but towards our valley a vast embankment gave it the form of a dam, over the middle of which the stream of Thyatira flowed. It was the evening when we reached the...
Page 179 - ... nay, for that matter, it's a God's truth, that at the dead hour of midnight, when I happened to be wakened by a noise on the decks, I heard her speaking to herself for want of other companions ; and yet for all that, she was vastly entertaining, and in her day had seen many a thing that was curious, so that it was no wonder she spoke a great deal, having seen so much ; but she had no command of her judgment, so that her mind was always going round and round, and pointing to nothing, like a weathercock...