14 THE BANK ACCOUNTANT. 



us __by way of guard, he said for about half a mile, 

 and on parting kindly repeated his invitation to me of 

 coming to the Grange the moment I returned from Lin- 

 lithgow. 



1 1 do not know that you have ever seen Sir 

 Thomas. He is a noble-looking, elderly man, upwards 

 of six feet in height, very erect, with bold, handsome 

 features, and a profusion of grey hair, approaching to 

 white, curling round his temples. His head is a very 

 large one, with a splendid development of sentiment. 

 Benevolence, veneration, and ideality seem all of the 

 largest size. Love of approbation and combativeness are 

 also amply developed. His forehead is broad and high, 

 but the knowing organs are more powerful than the re- 

 flective ones. The contour of the whole is beautiful, 

 and as much the reverse of commonplace as anything you 

 ever saw. 



' My trunk being too bulky for the coach, I took 

 a berth in a canal-boat, which leaves Edinburgh at seven 

 in the morning and reaches this place about ten. I saw 

 little on the passage to interest me except the old castle 

 of Niddrie, at which, as you will remember, Queen Mary 

 passed the night after her escape from Loch Leven, and 

 in which Scott has laid some of the scenes of the Abbot. 

 My fellow-passengers were a Paisley shop-keeper and a 

 Linlithgow farmer the former a smart, shallow young 

 man, the latter a shrewd, sagacious old fellow, with a 

 decided cast of dry humour. On landing here I found 

 the bank accountant, a Mr Miller, waiting my arrival. 

 He introduced me to Mr Paterson the agent. Both of 

 them are exceedingly civil nay more kind young men ; 

 but the patience of both must be sorely tried ere I can 

 have done with them. I am one of the stupidest block- 

 heads you ever knew, and, considering how extensive 



