lime. I know not with whom the expedient first originated:
it was said to have been suggested by some medical man who knew a great
deal about cholera. And though, for my own part, I could not see how the
demon of the disease was to be expelled by the steam of a little sulphur
and chloride, as the evil spirit in Tobit was expelled by the smoke of
the fish's liver, it seemed to satisfy the Association wonderfully well;
and a stranger well smoked came to be regarded as safe. There was a day
at hand which promised an unusual amount of smoking. The agitation of
the Reform Bill had commenced;--a great court of appeal was on that day
to hold at Cromarty; and it was known that both a Whig and Tory party
from Inverness, in which cholera was raging at the time, would to a
certainty attend it. What, it was asked, were we to do with the
politicians--the formidable bankers, factors, and lawyers--who would
form, we knew, the Inverness cavalcade? Individually, the question
seemed to be asked under a sort of foreboding terror, that calculated
consequences; but when the Association came to ask it collectively, and
to answer it in a body, it was in a bold tone, that set fear at
defiance. And so it was resolved, _nem. con._, that the Inverness
politicians should be smoked like the others. My turn to mount guard had
come round on the previous night at twelve o'clock; but I had calculated
on being off the station ere the Inverness people came up. Unluckily,
however, instead of being appointed a simple sentry, I was made officer
for the night. It was the duty assigned to me to walk round the several
posts, and see that the various sentinels were keeping a smart outlook,
which I did very faithfully; but when the term of my watch had expired,
I found no relieving officer coming up to take my place. The prudent man
appointed on the occasion was, I feared, tiding over the coming
difficulty in some quiet corner; but I continued my rounds, maugre the
suspicion, in the hope of his appearance. And as I approached one of the
most important stations--that on the great highway which connects the
town of Cromarty with Kessock Ferry, _there_ was the Whig portion of the
Inverness cavalcade just coming up. The newly-appointed sentinel stood
aside, to let his officer deal with the Whig gentlemen, as, of course,
best became both their quality and _his_ official standing. I would
rather have been elsewhere; but I at once brought the procession to a
stand. A ma