the Bibliopolist pronouncing it worth L1000, or L1500.’  I asked him if he meant it for the stage.  ’No, no; the stage is a sorry job, that course will not do for these hard days; besides, there is too much machinery in the piece for the stage.’  I observed that I was not sure of that, for pageant and machinery was the order of the day, and had Shakespeare been of this date he might have been left to die a deer-stealer.  ’Well, then, with all my heart, if they can get the beast to lead or to drive, they may bring it on the stage if they like.  It is a sort of goblin tale, and so was the Castle Spectre, which had its run.’  I asked him if the Castle Spectre had yielded Lewis much.  ’Little of that, in fact to its author absolutely nothing, and yet its merits ought to have brought something handsome to poor Mat.  But Sheridan, then manager, you know, generally paid jokes instead of cash, and the joke that poor Mat got was, after all, not a bad one.  Have you heard it?  Don’t let me tell you a story you know.’  As I had not heard it, he proceeded.  ’Well, they were disputing about something, and Lewis had clenched his argument by proposing to lay a bet about it.  I shall lay what you ought long ago to have paid me for my Castle, Spectre.’  “No, no, Mat,” said Sheridan, “I never lay large bets; but come, I will bet a trifle with you—­I’ll bet what the Castle Spectre was worth.”  Now Constable managed differently; he paid well and promptly, but devil take him, it was all spectral together.  Moonshine and no merriment.  He sowed my field with one hand, and as liberally scattered the tares with the other.’”—­Mr. Skene’s Reminiscences.

[136] These two gentlemen were at this time Directors of the Bank of Scotland.

[137] Sir W. Forbes and Co.’s Banking House.

[138] An extract from what is probably the letter to Laidlaw written on this day was printed in Chambers’s Journal for July 1845.  The italics are the editor’s:—­

“For you, my dear friend, we must part—­that is, as laird and factor—­and it rejoices me to think that your patience and endurance, which set me so good an example, are like to bring round better days.  You never flattered my prosperity, and in my adversity it is not the least painful consideration that I cannot any longer be useful to you.  But Kaeside, I hope, will still be your residence, and I will have the advantage of your company and advice, and probably your service as amanuensis.  Observe, I am not in indigence, though no longer in affluence, and if I am to exert myself in the common behalf, I must have honorable and easy means of life, although it will be my inclination to observe the most strict privacy, the better to save expense, and also time.  Lady Scott’s spirits were affected at first, but she is getting better. For myself, I feel like the Eildon Hills—­quite firm, though a little cloudy.

“I do not dislike the path which lies before me.  I have seen all that society can show, and enjoyed all that wealth can give me, and I am satisfied much is vanity, if not vexation of spirit.  What can I say more, except that I will write to you the instant I know what is to be done.”