Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/98

46 occurred which secured his way to higher advancement, under the patronage of royalty itself. The Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV.) having on some urgent occasion required saddlery to a considerable amount, sent an order to Macintosh & Co., who were saddlers to the Royal Family, requiring some one from their warehouse to come and receive the necessary instructions. The firm was thrown into a sore dilemma by this sudden command, as not only the senior partner but the foreman were laid up with sickness. The most intelligent of their workmen must be selected as a substitute, and in this case Richard Birnie was their mark. He went, and received the behests of his Royal Highness; and his behaviour on this occasion, as well as the correctness with which the order was executed, so satisfied the heir to the throne, that in his future commissions of the same kind, he always added his desire, that the "young Scotchman" should be sent to receive them.

This distinction was the road to fortune, "and Richard Birnie was not of a disposition to neglect it. Of these two facts, indeed, his employers were sufficiently aware, so that from a mere workman he became foreman, and afterwards a partner in the establishment. During this rise, he also bettered his condition by matrimony, his wife, the daughter of a rich baker in Oxendon Street, having brought to him a considerable portion in money, besides a cottage, and some valuable land in Acton, Middlesex. After this event, he settled himself as a householder in St. Martin's parish, which entailed upon him a portion of the civic duties of that district; and his intelligence and activity at vestry and other meetings were such, that in every work of difficulty he was certain to be selected either as agent or referee. In this way, the offices with which he came in contact were so various, that he often triumphantly stated he had filled them all successively, except those of beadle and watchman. Besides these peaceful commissions, he was ready to undertake those of a more martial and dangerous character; so that during the stormy period which closed the Pitt administration, he enrolled himself as a private in the Royal Westminster Volunteers, where he soon after held the rank of captain. Nor was he an idle or mere titular holder of office during these various gradations; on the contrary, he seems to have brought to them all the same active, painstaking, benevolent spirit by which his more public life was afterwards distinguished. This was especially the case when he served as church-warden of the parish, to which he was appointed in 1805. In this situation he united cordially with the vicar, Dr. Anthony Hamilton, and with his brother churchwarden, Mr. Elam, a silversmith in the Strand, in alleviating the poverty of the parish, and gave effectual aid in the establishment of St. Martin's Chapel, Pratt Street, Camden Town, and a number of comfortable well-provided alms-houses for the decayed parishioners of St. Martin's. As two resident magistrates are necessary for that district, Mr. Birnie was placed in the commission of the peace at the request of the Duke of Northumberland.

Being thus at a sedentary period of life surrounded with all the substantial means of comfort, and invested with an office that brought him title and worship, the London magistrate might have retired with credit from the scramble of competition, and left the field open to younger men. But as yet his public career had only commenced, and he was as ready as ever for action. Being now a magistrate, he was anxious to qualify himself for the duties into which he had entered, and for this purpose became a frequent attender at the Bow Street Office, where he could study offences of every degree and statutes for every offence—the repression of the former, and the wise, just, discriminating application of