Lavengro by George Borrow

In the evening I received another visit from the man in black. [220] I had been taking a stroll in the neighbourhood, and was sitting in the dingle in rather a listless manner, scarcely knowing how to employ myself; his coming, therefore, was by no means disagreeable to me. I produced the Hollands and glass from my tent, where Isopel Berners had requested me to deposit them, and also some lump sugar, then taking the gotch I fetched water from the spring, and, sitting down, begged the man in black to help himself; he was not slow in complying with my desire, and prepared for himself a glass of Hollands and water with a lump of sugar in it. After he had taken two or three sips with evident satisfaction, I, remembering his chuckling exclamation of "Go to Rome for money," when he last left the dingle, took the liberty, after a little conversation, of reminding him of it, whereupon, with a he! he! he! he replied: "Your idea was not quite so original as I supposed. After leaving you the other night, I remembered having read of an Emperor of Germany who conceived the idea of applying to Rome for money, and actually put it into practice.

[220]: The man in black: This priest seems to have been a Fraser of Lovat. See The Life, Adventures, and many and great Vicissitudes of Fortune of Simon, Lord Lovat, the Head of the Family of Frasers. From his birth at Beaufort, near Inverness, in the Highlands of Scotland, in 1668, to the time of his being taken by Capt. Millar, after three days search, in a hollow tree, on the coasts of Knoidart and Arisaig. By the Rev. Archibald Arbuthnot, London, 1746. -- Knapp ↩︎