WHEN the late Earl of Errol, was the
Commissioner to the General Assembly, the University of Glasgow thought
fit to send an address of congratulation to his lordship on his having
obtained so high an office. Their envoy was their Principal, an eminent
divine, who had been well used to assemblies and commissioners for more
than half a century. On this occasion, however, his long experience seems
to have been of little use to him, for he committed a sad blunder in the
mode of delivering his address, or rather by pouring forth his oratory at
the wrong shrine.
The gorgeous array of bailies, it is
to be supposed, caught his eye on first entering the presence-room, and
dazzled it so much that it would have required some time for him to
recover his power of discrimination. Of this gorgeous array the centre
star was one Bailie Anderson, powdered with a particular display of
splendour; and the Principal, never doubting that he was the Commissioner,
stepped close to him, and rolled out the well-poised periods of his
address with an air of unquestioning submission that quite convulsed the
whole of those who were up to the joke.
The bailie himself, however, was too
much thunderstruck to be able to stop him, and the true dignitary enjoyed
the humour of the thing too much to deprive his double of any part of the
compliment. In a word, it was not till the doctor had made an end of
speaking, and stood in smiling anticipation of his grace’s reply, that
some kind friend whispered to him he was in the wrong box, and had made a
mistake in identity. The Principal then looked around and saw in an
opposite position a personage, not indeed so fat, and perhaps not quite so
fine looking as his bailie, but possessing a native grace and majesty of
port and lineament which spoke but too plainly where the incense should
have been offered.
