Joseph Wilmot, or, The Memoirs of a Man-Servant — page 164: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

JOSEPH WILMOT; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A MAN-SERVANT. 151 rang; and a thin, mean-looking, shabbily-dressed in his carriage; and in order to display your brazen little old man made his appearance. Addressing | effrontery, you flung upon him an insolent look. himself to me in tolerably good English, he said, He descended from his carriage to remonstrate with “T attend here as an interpreter: for his lordship | you on your entire conduct : you seized the whip the Viscount has given the magistrate to under- | from his coachman’s hand, and inflicted upon the stand that you are not proficient in Italian.” | Viscount a brutal assault, This statement, so far The clerk from the outer office now glided in ; | as the assault is concerned, has just been corrobo- and having passed under the bar by stooping to | rated by the coachman; and you have now to an- do so, he administered the oath to the interpreter. | swer it.” I was on the point cf intimating that I expected “‘ My answer is given in a few words,’ I said. a material witness, when I thought that perhaps | ‘ Have the kindness to inform the magistrate that I had better allow the proceedings to commence : | the Viscount of Tivoli was the individual who seized and indeed I was curious to know what complexion | the whip from the coachman’s hand—that he the Viscount and his coachman would give to the | therewith struck me first, at the same time calling affair. The Viscount was not sworn; and he pro- | me opprotrious names—that I wrenched the whip eeeded to state his compiaint in Italian,—very | from his grasp and broke it over his back—as I little of which I was enabled to comprehend—in- deed not sufficient so as to understand the state- ment that he made. His coachman was then should do again to him or to any one else who dared act in a similar way towards me.” The interpreter explained to the magistrate all called forward;—he likewise gave his testimony | I had just said; and in obedience to a direction without being sworn—and it was as little under- stood by me as the tale of his master. “ Now, sir!” said the interpreter, “it be- comes my duty to inform you of the details of the charge laid against you—so that you may give whatsoever explanation or answer you think fit.” from that functionary, he said to me, * You must be well aware that your tale cannot be held good unless proven by competent witnesses. It is sup- posed by the magistrate that these gentlemen who accompany you ie : “It’s just that,” interposed Dominie Clack- * One word!” exclaimed the Viscount, address- | mannan, now rolling forward to my side at the bar. ing me in English. “If you have a spark of honour in your whole composition, Mr. Wilmot, you will make no allusion to the circumstances which led to our dispute—you will merely deal with the dispute as it stands, and abide by the consequences.” “I pledge myself to nothing, my lord,’ I an- “I have got something to say, which you can ex- plain to the magistrate. I know this young gen- tleman’ well—his name is Joseph—and not Joshua —because I never knew but one Joshua, and he was taken up for sheep-stealing. But that reminds me of how the Baillie Owlhead, of the Gallowgate, Aberdeen, conducted his magisterial business: so swered coldly: “but since you have thought fit to | you will just have the kindness to tell this magis- become my aggressor both by personal violence | trate of your’s that if he will take the Baillie Owl- and by the machinery of the law, I shall consider | head as his example myself justified in making any statement that may serve my cause.” 33 But here the Dominie was suddenly checked: for Mr. Saltcoats pulled him back by the tails of “Beware how you disgrace yourself and the his coat with such force as well nigh to upset his noble name of Tivoli likewise,’ rejoined the young Viscount in an impressive manner. I said nothing more: but I thought to myself it was a strange proceeding for the Viscount to become my enemy because he had discovered that 1 had recently been in a menial position, and that now he should actually intimate the propriety of my abstaining altogether from any allusion to my antecedents. “I certainly entertained at the mo- ment a very extraordinary idea of Italian aristo- cratic pride, which seemed to be avenging an in- sult offered to it, and yet was fearfulof having the nature of the insult itself made known. In other words, I fancied that though the Tivolis were deeply wounded at the idea of having admitted to their friendship a young man who had formerly filled menial offices, yet that they would not for the world have it known that such was the fact. “ The Viscount of Tivoli,” said the interpreter, stolid old friend’s equilibrium altogether. The young Viscount, who understood English well, was seized with amazement at the Dominie’s confused jargon: while the interpreter, after staring in dis- mayed astonishment, shook his head as much as to intimate that he could make nothing of Mr, Clack. mannan’s speech. “ Hold your tongue, Domine!” said Mr. Salt- coats; “and let me speak in this matter :”’—then addressing himself to the interpreter, he went on hastily to say, “ Tell the magistrate, if you please, that I, Saltcoats by name—a gentleman of Scot- land—stand forward to proclaim myself the friend of the accused Joseph Wilmot; and I will back his simple word against the oaths of all the Italian Viscounts that ever stepped. If the Viscount likes to fight it out, I’m his man—and the magis- trate can be his bottle-holder. But my advice is that everybody shakes hands with everybody else; “has made his representation to the magistrate. | and then we will adjourn to the hotel, where I He declares that you, Joseph Wilmot, are conscious | promise you such a jorum of hot punch that all of a wrong committed towards himself and his | animosity shall be steeped in it.” father—and that though all the while conscious| Having thus spoken, Mr. Saltcoats smiled of this wrong, you nevertheless had the audacity blandly upon the interpreter,—who was however to court their friendship. But at length it was; saved the trouble of explaining to the magistrate discovered by them what your true character is, and how grossly you were acting towards them. Por this reason the Count of Tivoli passed you by with silent scorn and detestation in the street this morning. Soon afterwards you beheld the Viscount a single syllable of that speech, by the sudden en- trance of the Marquis of Spoleto, followed by the courier who was sent to fetch him. The magis- trate and the interpreter bowed most respectfully to the nobleman: while the Viscount of Tivoli was Gbook (EO)