Bailie Nicol Jarvie, the Glasgow magistrate
(from the novel 'Rob Roy', 1817), is shown with his cocked hat stuck well
back on his upturned head, which exposes a well-satisfied face, full of
humour and character. With one hand in the pocket of his deep waistcoat and
the other fumbling at his cravat as he confronts some object of wonder, he
seems to have all the impervious consciousness of magisterial-dignity,
which, trampled on in the wilds of Aberfoyle, led to the characteristic
exclamation - ‘Ma conscience!’
A Glasgow merchant and magistrate with a good conceit of himself, Jarvie is
related to Rob Roy, and thrills to hear tales of his exploits: "Whiles I
like better to hear them, than a word o' profit, gude forgie me! - But they
are vanities - sinfu' vanities - and, moreover, again the statute law -
again the statute and gospel law."
Jarvie befriends Frank Osbaldistone and journeys with him into the
Highlands, even though he would rather stay in Glasgow making money: "Honour
is a homicide and a bloodspiller, that gangs about making frays in the
street; but Credit is a decent honest man, that sits at hame, and makes the
pat play."
Although a thoroughly patriotic Scot, Jarvie is in favour of the Treaty of
Union, which he thinks has greatly benefited Scottish trade, and hence
himself:
"There's naething sae gude on this side o' time, but it might hae been
better, and that may be said o' the Union. Nane were keener against it than
the Glasgow folk, wi' their rabblings and their risings, and their mobs, as
they ca' them nowadays. But's it's an ill wind blaws naebody gude…Now, since
St. Mungo catched herrings in the Clyde, what was ever like to gar us
flourish like the sugar and tobacco trade? Will onybody tell me that, and
grumble at the treaty that opened us a road west-awa' yonder?"
About the Sculptor
George A. Lawson (1832 to 1904)
Lawson was born in Edinburgh and died in Richmond, Surrey. He studied at the
Trustees Academy under RS Lauder and became a pupil of Alexander Handyside
Ritchie. He specialized in portrait busts in bronze, terracotta and marble
and exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1860, and elected as HRSA
(Honorary Member of the Royal Scottish Academy) in 1884.
He also sculpted Diana Vernon on the Scott Monument, the frieze on Glasgow
City Chambers depicting the countries of the World paying homage to Great
Britain and Queen Victoria (1888), and the Wellington Monument in Liverpool.
A bronze figure of a boy ‘Summer’ is in the George Watsons College,
Edinburgh.
Bailie Nicol Jarvie's Journey to Aberfoil
To which are added, St. Patrickwas a Gentleman and The Auld Sark Sleeve
(1829) (pdf) |
