Humours of '37, Grave, Gay and Grim: Rebellion Times in the CanadasLizars, Robina
History
Humours of '37, Grave, Gay and Grim: Rebellion Times in the Canadas
Lizars, Robina
Canada -- History -- Rebellion, 1837-1838
That ended the affair for the day;
but on the next, as the Colonel walked down his avenue, he saw the
Highlander waiting for him. Shaking his fist at him, he cried, “Clear
yourself off, you----Heeland rascal--did you not yesterday threaten to
break every bone in my skin!” But pupil of the Duke of York, comrade
of Arthur Wellesley as he was, the Colonel thought it wise to seek
the seclusion of his own room. A week from that time his closest
friend smilingly said, “Our friend the Port Talbot Chief has at last
met his match in the person of this Scotchman.” The ladies were not
counted. Instead of taking himself off as commanded, the Highlander
had gone into the kitchen and sat himself down with the Colonel’s men
at dinner. He did the same at supper, and following the men to their
long bedroom, jumped into bed. The next morning he was the first at
breakfast, the same at dinner and supper. This went on for two days.
Geoffrey complained, the Highlander was ordered to the window, and the
Colonel demanded what he meant by such behaviour. “I mean to live and
die with you, you old devil, if you do not give me back my land.” He
was in return commanded to take his land, and commended to a climate
less arctic than the one of their mutual choice. “Never let me see your
face again” was the final adjuration from the window. Two Amazons and
a Highlander had conquered the Lion of Port Talbot.
It is certain that one of the Deborahs of ’37 was Anna Jameson the
_Ennuyée_, for if her husband was not quite like the cypher Lapidoth
her memory somewhat overshadows his. If we accept her opinions of
Toronto as qualified by the unfortunate circumstances and mishaps
attending her arrival, we still have no wish to alter her descriptions
and impressions elsewhere in Canada. She was one of the many
distinguished visitors to Port Talbot, and she has left us her view of
its master and by inference his view of her. But those who knew him
better contend that he did not like or admire her. In the first place
she committed the unpardonable sin of borrowing money, which was not
replaced. During her visit he was not too polite to her, and he did not
hesitate to express his opinion after she had gone.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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