"A grey mare?" said I. "What is that to the purpose?" "The wife, man--the wife,--an awfu' wife she is. She downa bide the sight o' a kindly Scot, if he come frae the Lowlands, far less of an Inglisher, and she'll be keen for a' that can set up King James, and ding down King George." "It is very singular," I replied, "that the mercantile transactions of London citizens should become involved with revolutions and rebellions." "Not at a', man--not at a'," returned Mr. Jarvie; "that's a' your silly prejudications. I read whiles in the lang dark nights, and I hae read in Baker's Chronicle* that the merchants o'London could gar the Bank of Genoa break their promise to advance a mighty sum to the King o' Spain, whereby the sailing of the Grand Spanish Armada was put aff for a haill year--What think you of that, sir?" * [_The Chronicle of the Kings of England,_ by Sir Richard Baker, with continuations, passed through several editions between 1641 and 1733. Whether any of them contain the passage alluded to is doubtful.] "That the merchants did their country golden service, which ought to be honourably remembered in our histories." "I think sae too; and they wad do weel, and deserve weal baith o' the state and o' humanity, that wad save three or four honest Hieland gentlemen frae louping heads ower heels into destruction, wi' a' their puir sackless* followers, just because they canna pay back the siller they had reason to count upon as their ain--and save your father's credit--and my ain gude siller that Osbaldistone and Tresham awes me into the bargain. * Sackless, that is, innocent. I say, if ane could manage a' this, I think it suld be done and said unto him, even if he were a puir ca'-the-shuttle body, as unto one whom the king delighteth to honour." "I cannot pretend to estimate the extent of public gratitude," I replied; "but our own thankfulness, Mr. Jarvie, would be commensurate with the extent of the obligation." "Which," added Mr. Owen, "we would endeavour to balance with a _per contra,_ the instant our Mr. Osbaldistone returns from Holland." "I doubtna--I doubtna--he is a very worthy gentleman, and a sponsible, and wi' some o' my lights might do muckle business in Scotland--Weel, sir, if these assets could be redeemed out o' the hands o' the Philistines, they are gude paper--they are the right stuff when they are in the right hands, and that's yours, Mr. Owen. And I'se find ye three men in Glasgow, for as little as ye may think o' us, Mr. Owen--that's Sandie Steenson in the Trade's-Land, and John Pirie in Candleriggs, and another that sall be nameless at this present, sall advance what soums are sufficient to secure the credit of your house, and seek nae better security." Owen's eyes sparkled at this prospect of extrication; but his countenance instantly fell on recollecting how improbable it was that the recovery of the assets, as he technically called them, should be successfully achieved.