re really not
very high Tories; and then, that they were not Tories at all; and then,
that the younger of the two was very much a Whig, and the more advanced
in life,--strange as the fact might seem,--very considerably a
_Presbyterian_ Whig; and finally, that this latter gentleman, whom I had
set down as an intolerant Highland proprietor, was a respected writer to
the signet, a Free Church elder in Edinburgh; and that the other, his
equally intolerant nephew, was an Edinburgh advocate, of vigorous
talent, much an enemy of all oppression, and a brother contributor of my
own to one of the Quarterlies. Of all my surmisings regarding the
stranger gentlemen, only two points held true,--they were both
gentlemen of the law, and both had Celtic blood in their veins. The
evening passed pleasantly; and I can now recommend from experience, to
the hapless traveller who gets thoroughly wet thirty miles from a change
of dress, that some of the best things he can resort to in the
circumstances are, a warm room, a warm glass, and agreeable companions.

On the morrow I behooved to return to Isle Ornsay, to set out on the
following day, with my friend the minister, for Rum, where he purposed
preaching on the Sabbath. To have lost a day would have been to lose the
opportunity of exploring the island, perhaps forever; and, to make all
sure, I had taken a seat in the mail gig, from the postman who drives
it, ere going to bed, on the morning of my arrival; and now, when it
drove up, I went to take my place in it. The postmaster of the village,
a lean, hungry-looking man, interfered to prevent me. I had secured my
seat, I said, two days previous. Ah, but I had not secured it from him.
"I know nothing of you," I replied; "but I secured it from one who
deemed himself authorized to receive the fare; was he so?" "Yes." "Could
you have received it?" "No." "Show me a copy of your regulations." "I
have no copy of regulations; but I have given the place in the gig to
another." "Just so; and what say you, postman?" "That you took the place
from me, and that _he_ has no right to give a place to any one: I carry
the Portree letters to him, but he has nothing to do with the
passengers." A person present, the proprietor or stabler of the horse, I
believe, also interfered on the same side; but what Carlyle terms the
"gigmanity" of the postmaster was all at stake,--his whole influence in
the mail-gig of Portree; and so he argued, and threatened withal, and,