,EARLY LIFE. 91 



freaks with pleasure and even exultation ; yet I agree 

 with what the old beggar Ochiltree, in the best of 

 all Scott's novels, says, " Aye, aye, they were daft 

 days thae, but they were a' vanity and waur." * 



I remember another occasion, which, however, had 

 none of the riotous element, but was only a piece of 

 sober fun. There was a man called Heron at least I 

 think that was his name who was addicted to writing 

 plays execrable stuff; and yet he contrived, through 

 some intimacy with the theatrical people, to get one 

 of them put upon the Edinburgh stage. I totally for- 

 get the name of the piece ; but I perfectly remember 

 going with some of my merry friends to witness the 

 first performance. It dragged wearily through two or 

 three acts, the audience showing unmistakable symp- 

 toms of impatience, when, at a scene representing a 

 dinner or supper, one of the actors after giving a toast 

 said, " What shall we drink now ? " To which I, from 

 the middle of the pit, raising my lanky figure, replied, 

 " Well drink good afternoon, if you please " 1 The 

 effect was electrical ; not another word of the play 

 would the audience hear ; and after vain entreaties 

 from the manager that they would permit it to pro- 

 ceed, the curtain fell amidst shouts that must have 

 wellnigh been the death of the poor author.t 



Late in the summer of 1799, I joined an expedition 

 fitted out by John Joseph Henry, an excellent and 

 enterprising man of large fortune in Ireland, nephew 

 of Lord Moira, who afterwards married the Duke 



* See Appendix X. f See Appendix XL 



