spirit of corruption; but only and solely to following the ancient
dexterous ways, that had been, in a manner, engrained with the very
nature of every thing pertaining to the representation of government
as it existed, not merely in burgh towns, but wheresoever the crown
and ministers found it expedient to have their lion's paw.

Matters were brought to a bearing differently, when, in the second
edition of the late war, it was thought necessary to call on the
people to resist the rampageous ambition of Bonaparte, then champing
and trampling for the rich pastures of our national commonwealth.
Accordingly, I kept myself aloof from all handling in the
pecuniaries of the business; but I lent a friendly countenance to
every feasible project that was likely to strengthen the confidence
of the king in the loyalty and bravery of his people. For by this
time I had learnt, that there was a wake-rife common sense abroad
among the opinions of men; and that the secret of the new way of
ruling the world was to follow, not to control, the evident dictates
of the popular voice; and I soon had reason to felicitate myself on
this prudent and seasonable discovery. For it won me great
reverence among the forward young men, who started up at the call of
their country; and their demeanour towards me was as tokens and
arles, from the rising generation, of being continued in respect and
authority by them. Some of my colleagues, who are as well not
named, by making themselves over busy, got but small thank for their
pains. I was even preferred to the provost, as the medium of
communicating the sentiments of the volunteering lads to the lord-
lieutenant; and their cause did not suffer in my hands, for his
lordship had long been in the habit of considering me as one of the
discreetest men in the burgh; and although he returned very civil
answers to all letters, he wrote to me in the cordial erudition of