The evil you teach us,
We will execute; and it shall go hard, but we will
Better the instruction.
Merchant of Venice.
The unhappy object of this remarkable disturbance had been that day delivered
from the apprehension of public execution, and his joy was the greater, as he
had some reason to question whether Government would have run the risk of
unpopularity by interfering in his favour, after he had been legally convicted by
the verdict of a jury, of a crime so very obnoxious. Relieved from this doubtful
state of mind, his heart was merry within him, and he thought, in the emphatic
words of Scripture on a similar occasion, that surely the bitterness of death was
past. Some of his friends, however, who had watched the manner and behaviour
of the crowd when they were made acquainted with the reprieve, were of a
different opinion. They augured, from the unusual sternness and silence with
which they bore their disappointment, that the populace nourished some scheme
of sudden and desperate vengeance; and they advised Porteous to lose no time
in petitioning the proper authorities, that he might be conveyed to the Castle
under a sufficient guard, to remain there in security until his ultimate fate should
be determined. Habituated, however, by his office, to overawe the rabble of the
city, Porteous could not suspect them of an attempt so audacious as to storm a
strong and defensible prison; and, despising the advice by which he might have
been saved, he spent the afternoon of the eventful day in giving an entertainment
to some friends who visited him in jail, several of whom, by the indulgence of the
Captain of the Tolbooth, with whom he had an old intimacy, arising from their
official connection, were even permitted to remain to supper with him, though
contrary to the rules of the jail.
It was, therefore, in the hour of unalloyed mirth, when this unfortunate wretch
was "full of bread," hot with wine, and high in mistimed and ill-grounded
confidence, and alas! with all his sins full blown, when the first distant' shouts of
the rioters mingled with the song of merriment and intemperance. The hurried
call of the jailor to the guests, requiring them instantly to depart, and his yet more
hasty intimation that a dreadful and determined mob had possessed themselves
of the city gates and guard-house, were the first explanation of these fearful
clamours.
Porteous might, however, have eluded the fury from which the force of authority
could not protect him, had he thought of slipping on some disguise, and leaving
the prison along with his guests. It is probable that the jailor might have connived
at his escape, or even that in the hurry of this alarming contingency, he might not
have observed it. But Porteous and his friends alike wanted presence of mind to
