The monastery; The abbot.

THE ABBOT. 367
From these dreams of ambition he turned his thoughts to those of pleasure, and began to formi many conjectures, when and where he should see
Catherine Seyton, and in what manner their acquaintance was to be renewed. With such conjectures he was amusing himself, when he found
that they had entered the city, and all other-feelings were suspended in the
sensation of giddy astonishment with which an inhabitant of the country
is affected, when, for the first time, he finds himself in the' streets of a large
and populous city, a unit in the midst of thousands.
The principal street of Edinburgh was then, as now, one of the most
spacious in Europe. The extreme height of the houses, and the variety of
Gothic gables and battlements, and balconies, by which the sky-line on each
side was crowned and terminated, together with the width of the street
itself, might have struck with surprise a more practised eye than that
of young Groeme. The population, close packed within the walls of the
city, and at this time increased by the number of the lords of the King's
party who had thronged to Edinburgh to wait upon the Regent Murray,
absolutely swarmed like bees on the wide and stately street. Instead of
the shop-windows, which are now calculated for the display of goods, the
traders had their open booths projecting on the street, in which, as in the
fashion of the modern bazaars, all was exposed which they had upon sale.
And though the commodities were not of the richest kinds, yet Greiem
thought he beheld the wealth of the whole world in the various bales of
Flanders cloths, and the specimens of tapestry; and, at other places, the
display of domestic utensils and pieces of plate struck him with wonder.
The sight of cutlers' booths, furnished with swords and poniards, which
were manufactured in Scotland, and with pieces of defensive armour,
imported from Flanders, added to his surprise; and, at every step, he
found so much to admire and gaze upon, that Adam Woodcock had no
little difficulty in prevailing on him to advance through such a scene of
enchantment.
The sight of the crowds which filled the streets was equally a subject of
wonder. Here a gay lady, in her muffler, or silken veil, traced her way
delicately, a gentleman-usher making way for her, a page bearing up her
train, and a waiting gentlewoman carrying her Bible, thus intimating that
her purpose was towards the church-There he might see a group of citizens
bending the same way, with their short Flemish cloaks, wide trowsers, and
high-caped doublets, a fashion to which, as well as'to their bonnet and
feather, the Scots were long faithful. Then, again, came the clergyman
himself, in his black Geneva cloak and band, lending a grave and attentive
ear to the discourse of several persons who accompanied him, and who
were doubtless holding serious converse on the religious subject he was
about to treat of. Nor did there lack passengers of a different class and
appearance.
At every turn, Roland Grmeme might see a gallant ruffle along in tho
inewer or French mode, his doublet slashed, and his points of the same
colours with the lining, his long sword on one side, and his poniard on the
other, behind him a body of stout serving men, proportioned to his estate
and quality, all of whom walked with the air of military retainers, and
were armed with sword and buckler, the latter being a small round shield,
not unlike the Highland target, having a steel spike in the centre. Two of
these parties, each headed by a person of importance, chanced to meet in
the very centre of the street, or, as it was called, "the crown of the causeway," a post of honour as tenaciously asserted in Scotland, as that of giving
or taking the wall used to be in the more southern part of the island. The
two leaders being of equal rank; and, most probably, either animated by
political dislike, or by recollection of some feudal enmity, marched close up
to each other, without yielding an inch to the right or the left; and neither
showing the least purpose of giving way, they stopped for an instant, and