His fine temperament disarmed treachery. In London he visited an ancient
doxy of his own, who, with her bully, shielded him from justice, though
betrayal would have met with an ample reward. Smith, if he knew himself
the superior craftsman, trembled at the Deacon's nod, who thus swaggered
it through life, with none to withhold the exacted reverence. To this
same personal compulsion he owed his worldly advancement. Deacon of the
Wrights' Guild while still a young man, he served upon the Council, was
known for one of Edinburgh's honoured citizens, and never went abroad
unmarked by the finger of respectful envy. He was elected in 1773 a
member of the Cape Club, and met at the Isle of Man Arms in Craig's
Close the wittiest men of his time and town. Raeburn, Runciman, and
Ferguson the poet were of the society, and it was with such as these
that Brodie might have wasted his vacant hour. Indeed, at the very
moment that he was cracking cribs and shaking the ivories, he was a
chosen leader of fashion and gaiety; and it was the elegance of the
'gentleman' that distinguished him from his fellows.
The fop, indeed, had climbed the altitudes of life; the cracksman still
stumbled in the valleys. If he had a ready cunning in the planning of an
enterprise, he must needs bungle at the execution; and had he not been
associated with George Smith, a king of scoundrels, there would be few
exploits to record. And yet for the craft of housebreaker he had one
solid advantage: he knew the locks and bolts of Edinburgh as he knew
his primer--for had he not fashioned the most of them himself? But,
his knowledge once imparted to his accomplices, he cheerfully sank to a
menial's office.
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