The Ayrshire Legatees; Or, The Pringle FamilyGalt, John
General
The Ayrshire Legatees; Or, The Pringle Family
Galt, John
Scotland -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
We arrived too late for the steam-boat, and are obliged to wait till
Monday morning; but to-morrow we shall go to church, where I expect to
see what sort of creatures the beaux are. The Greenock ladies have a
great name for beauty, but those that I have seen are perfect frights.
Such of the gentlemen as I have observed passing the windows of the inn
may do, but I declare the ladies have nothing of which any woman ought to
be proud. Had we known that we ran a risk of not getting a steam-boat,
my mother would have provided an introductory letter or two from some of
her Irvine friends; but here we are almost entire strangers: my father,
however, is acquainted with one of the magistrates, and has gone to see
him. I hope he will be civil enough to ask us to his house, for an inn
is a shocking place to live in, and my mother is terrified at the
expense. My brother, however, has great confidence in our prospects, and
orders and directs with a high hand. But my paper is full, and I am
compelled to conclude with scarcely room to say how affectionately I am
yours,
RACHEL PRINGLE.
LETTER III
_The Rev. Dr. Pringle to Mr. Micklewham_, _Schoolmaster and
Session-Clerk_, _Garnock_
EDINBURGH.
DEAR SIR--We have got this length through many difficulties, both in the
travel by land to, and by sea and land from Greenock, where we were
obligated, by reason of no conveyance, to stop the Sabbath, but not
without edification; for we went to hear Dr. Drystour in the forenoon,
who had a most weighty sermon on the tenth chapter of Nehemiah. He is
surely a great orthodox divine, but rather costive in his delivery. In
the afternoon we heard a correct moral lecture on good works, in another
church, from Dr. Eastlight--a plain man, with a genteel congregation.
The same night we took supper with a wealthy family, where we had much
pleasant communion together, although the bringing in of the toddy-bowl
after supper is a fashion that has a tendency to lengthen the sederunt to
unseasonable hours.
On the following morning, by the break of day, we took shipping in the
steam-boat for Glasgow. I had misgivings about the engine, which is
really a thing of great docility; but saving my concern for the boiler,
we all found the place surprising comfortable. The day was bleak and
cold; but we had a good fire in a carron grate in the middle of the
floor, and books to read, so that both body and mind are therein provided
for.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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