upon them had gathered till they were no longer pleasant to the eye, nor creditable to the place. It was often alleged that Robin's coachman was carefully enjoined to collect the stumps of the candles, to grease the wheels of the old miser's carriage, and save him the price of the oil otherwise necessary for that purpose.

ant.

We ought to state, that the original partners of the Ship Bank at the time referred to, were the aforesaid Robert Carrick, Nicol Brown, Esq., of Waterhaugh, in Ayrshire, and John Buchanan, Esq., of Ardoch, in Dumbartonshire, Mr. Buchanan was a most serviceable, useful, and beneficial man to the Bank. He signed all the notes, in the first instance, followed by Mr. Marshall, the accountMr. Buchanan, at the same time, was member for his native county of Dumbarton, in Parliament. He rebuilt the beautiful old Castle of Balloch, on the banks of Lochlomond, and his daughter married Robert Findlay, Esq., of Easterhill, long one of the most distinguished merchants in Glasgow. He was the first manager, we think, of the National Bank in Glasgow, and his family now enjoy the estate and Castle of Batturich, not far from the other Castle above noticed, which, since the death of old Mr. Buchanan, has passed into other hands. From his position as member of Parliament, he enjoyed the privilege of franking the letters of the Bank, to the extent of fourteen per diem. This was a great boon; it saved the Bank some hundreds of pounds per annum, for postages. It was, moreover, regarded as a mighty honour. None of the other Banks in Glasgow, rising as they were, to great repute, had a member of Parliament at their back, such as Robin Carrick's Bank could boast of; and it added to the halo of Mr. Buchanan, that he enjoyed the friendship, and was a great favourite of the then

Duke of Montrose, father of the present Duke, whose residence, Buchanan Castle, was not far distant. The old Duke wielded vast political power and influence at that time in Scotland. King George the Third. He also held the same rank under George the Fourth. He was a knight of the most noble order of the Garter; and a clever and sprightly man he was in his day. He had from his position as Master of the Horse, the privilege then of riding in the King's chariot, and driving with the King's horses, attended by his Majesty's grooms in royal livery; and therefore when he passed through Glasgow, on his way to or from London, and tarried at the Star Hotel, in Glassford Street, and made a visit to Mr. Buchanan at the Bank, the Glasgow youths of those days who had heard thrillingly of Prince Charlie and the '45, but had never seen Royalty, and had little chance of seeing London, or even crossing the Borders, ran in crowds to behold the royal carriage; and their demeanour was marked with the greatest respect. They invariably touched their hats to their superiors, who acknowledged them in return. The first five shilling piece we ever saw, was put into our hands in the burgh of Dumbarton, by James, Duke of Montrose.

He was Master of the Horse to

A CHAPTER OF LIGHT INCIDENTS.

We have now to tell rather a ludicrous, but original story connected with the Ship Bank.

There were then no Athenæum Rooms, no. Queen's Hotel, no Royal Exchange, in Glasgow, in those days; but there were Club-houses plenty. One of these was yclept the Smoke, being the Sun Tavern, on the east cor

ner of the Stockwell, not far from the Ship Bank; and this was the favourite haunt of some of the Bank clerks, and others, their companions. The club met at seven of the evening, and when any of them told a wrong story, or committed any mistake, or incurred the censure of the President, he was fined in glasses round to all the company, not exactly the best mode of fining, we should say, but it was a jovial concern. One afternoon, in the month of February, the storm in Glasgow raged furiously. The chimney-stalks, and the cans on the house-tops were tumbling down in all directions. It was a frightful night; but the club met as usual. One of the truest and raciest of its members, was Mr. James Harvie, (from Greenock) who had the finest haberdashery shop at that time in the Trongate. He was polite, well educated, well informed, and clever; his wit was of the first order, and no man ever sat in his company for ten minutes, without being instructed and charmed by him. The famous Mr. John Douglas, whom Blackwood called "the Glasgow Gander," never had any chance with him at all. It was a rich treat to see those gentlemen pitted against each other in the wit line. On this raging stormy evening, Mr. Harvie was nearly an hour beyond his usual time of arrival at the club. At last, he entered. The chairman, Mr. John Birkmyre, (originally from Port-Glasgow) saluted him. "Come away, Mr. Harvie, we were wearying for you, and your cracks; but we are glad to see you this terrible night. What news do you bring?" "News," said Harvie, putting on his gravest face. "It's indeed a terrible night, the EN (laying peculiar emphasis on the word), the EN of the Ship Bank's blown down." "Gude preserve us," exclaimed George Lothian, one of the chief clerks of the Bank, sitting comfortably with his tumbler,

F

and starting to his legs, "that's most awful news;" and he fled out of the room, followed by two or three others, upsetting hats, great-coats, umbrellas, &c., to see the ruins! They returned to the club in a few minutes, dripping with rain, but burning with rage and indignation. "Now, Harvie," says Lothian, the bank-clerk, shaking his fist at him, "You are an infernal liar!" "What's that you say?" said Harvie, with the greatest composure. Lothian repeated his excessive strong expression. "Now," says Harvie, "you are either blind, Mr. George Lothian, or have taken too much toddy, or have gone to the wrong place, otherwise you would have seen that what I said was true; for I repeat again, in the presence of this company, that the 'EN' of the Ship Bank is positively blown down. Sir, you have called me a liar; but ere this club breaks up this night, you shall retract that rash expression, and apologise to me, otherwise I shall pistol you to-morrow morning." Addressing the chairman" Now, Mr. Chairman, if you will have the goodness, stormy as the night is, to put on your cloak, and go out with me for five minutes, I will satisfy you that my statement is correct, or you may fine me, or eject me from the club, as you please." They went out accordingly, they glanced and they glowered. There, now," says Harvie, "don't you see it? Look there"pointing with his finger-" don't you see that?" and he touched the place above the Bank front door, where the letters or signboard of the Bank had been indented. Those letters were carved out, or rather stuck in by some cement, upon the wall; but the storm that night had been particularly fierce on the letter "N," and had blown it out of its ancient place, as Harvie had noticed, when he was passing on to the club. "Well now," says he,

"didn't I tell you truly that the 'EN' of the Ship Bank's blown down?" Rough as the night was, they could not resist the ready laughter at the clever ruse. Lothian enjoyed it himself; he apologised to Harvie, and was fined in glasses round to all the company-the chairman giving this appropriate sentiment, viz., "May we always be happy, but never rash in any of our sayings or doings."

But our friend Lothian soon came to have his revenge on friend Harvie. The latter gentleman had realised from his business a sufficient competency-a comfortable fortune certainly, for any batchelor. Indeed, he never liked the haberdashery business. It was not suited to his taste at all; so he resolved to relinquish it, to sell off his rich stock, and enjoy his otium cum dignitate. For that purpose, he put printed placards in his grand shopwindows, headed with the following words:

DECLINING BUSINESS.

"Mr. Harvie respectfully begs leave to inform his friends and customers, the ladies and gentlemen of Glasgow" and so forth.

George Lothian, with some other wag, stepped into Mr. Harvic's shop early one morning, when Mr. Harvie of course was absent, and with a painter's brush, soon inserted the letter "A;" so that the grand placard was made to appear and read as follows:

"A DECLINING BUSINESS."

"Gudesake," said the braw ladies, peeping into the haberdasher's windows, "is Mr. Harvie really failing in his business." Others put the construction on it that the business was fast sinking,-in a rapid decline; and so the titter-tatter ran through the city about the unfortunate