initial commit of ebook 12483HEADmain

6 files changed, 47042 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/old/12483-8.txt b/old/12483-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c783102
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/12483-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,15523 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character,
+by Edward Bannerman Ramsay, et al
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character
+
+Author: Edward Bannerman Ramsay
+
+Release Date: June 1, 2004  [eBook #12483]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: iso-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REMINISCENCES OF SCOTTISH LIFE AND
+CHARACTER***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+REMINISCENCES OF SCOTTISH LIFE & CHARACTER
+
+BY THE LATE E. B. RAMSAY, LL.D., F.R.S.E.
+
+DEAN OF EDINBURGH
+
+Twenty-Second Edition, Enlarged,
+With the Author's Latest Corrections and Additions
+
+And a Memoir of Dean Ramsay
+
+By Cosmo Innes
+
+1874
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+MEMOIR OF DEAN RAMSAY
+
+PREFACE TO TWENTY-SECOND EDITION
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+INTRODUCTORY
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+SCOTTISH RELIGIOUS FEELINGS AND OBSERVANCES
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+ON OLD SCOTTISH CONVIVIALITY
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+ON THE OLD SCOTTISH DOMESTIC SERVANT
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+SCOTTISH JUDGES
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+ON HUMOUR PROCEEDING FROM SCOTTISH EXPRESSIONS,
+INCLUDING SCOTTISH PROVERBS
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+ON SCOTTISH STORIES OF WIT AND HUMOUR
+
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+INDEX
+
+
+
+
+MEMOIR OF DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+I.
+
+The friends of Dean Ramsay desiring a memorial of his life, his friendly
+publishers, and his nearest relatives, have asked me to undertake the
+work, and placed in my hands some materials giving authentic facts and
+dates, and illustrating the Dean's own views on the leading events
+of his life.
+
+I feel myself excluded from dealing with one important part of such a
+life, for I could not take upon me to speak with confidence or authority
+upon church doctrines or church government. On the other hand, for the
+_man_ I have that full sympathy which I suppose ought to exist between
+the writer and the subject of the biography.
+
+We were very old friends, natives of the same district, bred among a
+people peculiar in manners and language, a people abounding in a racy
+humour, differing from what prevails in most parts of Scotland--a
+peculiarity which it was the joy of the Dean to bring before his
+countrymen in his _Reminiscences_; and although he and I were not
+kindred of blood, his relatives and friends were very much mine, and my
+uncles and aunts were also his.
+
+Edward Bannerman Burnett, known in after life as Edward Ramsay, and
+Dean of Edinburgh, was born at Aberdeen on the last day of January 1793.
+His father, Alexander, second son of Sir Thomas Burnett, Baronet, of
+Leys, was an advocate, and sheriff of Kincardineshire, where the family
+estates lay. The sheriff was of delicate constitution, and travelled in
+the south of Europe for his health, until obliged to fly from the French
+Revolution; and at Aberdeen, the first place where he and his wife
+stopped, Edward was born. The Dean's mother was Elizabeth, the elder
+daughter of Sir Alexander Bannerman of Elsick, and she and her sister
+Mary, afterwards Mrs. Russell, were co-heirs of his estates in the
+pretty valley of the Feugh, including the whole parish of Strachan, of
+which the southern part, looking over into the _How_ of the Mearns, was
+Mrs. Burnett's portion; the northern, with the beautiful bank of Dee
+where Blackhall stands, falling to Mrs. Russell. Both sisters were
+eminently handsome. I have a tradition of the young ladies, when they
+first came from their York school to Edinburgh, being followed and gazed
+at by passengers in the streets, for their beauty; and there are many
+still living in Edinburgh who long after gazed with admiration on the
+fine old lady, the Dean's mother, bending over her embroidery frame in
+her window in Darnaway Street.
+
+Alexander Burnett and his wife Elizabeth Bannerman had a large family.
+Edward, the fourth son, when very young, was taken by his grand-uncle,
+Sir Alexander Ramsay, and sent to school near his own house at Harlsey
+in Yorkshire. Edward's first school, to which he was sent in 1801, made
+a remarkable impression upon the Dean's memory. "I believe," he says,
+"at that period (the very beginning of the century) it was about the
+most retired village in England not of a mountainous district. No
+turnpike road went through the parish. It lay in the line of no
+thoroughfare. The only inhabitants of education were the clergyman, a
+man of great simplicity of character, who had never been at the
+University, and my great-uncle, of above fourscore, and a recluse. The
+people were uneducated to an extent now unusual. Nearly all the letters
+of the village were written by my uncle's gardener, a Scotchman, who,
+having the degree of education usual with his countrymen of the
+profession, and who being very good natured, had abundant occupation for
+his evenings, and being, moreover, a prudent man, and _safe_, became the
+depository of nine-tenths of the family secrets of the inhabitants.
+Being thus ignorant generally, and few of them ever having been twenty
+miles from the place, I may consider the parish fifty years behind the
+rest of the world when I went there, so that it now furnishes
+recollection of rural people, of manners and intelligence, dating back a
+hundred years from the present time. It was indeed a very primitive
+race; and it is curious to recall the many indications afforded in that
+obscure village of unmitigated ignorance. With all this were found in
+full exercise also the more violent and vindictive passions of our
+nature. They might have the simplicity, but not the virtues, of
+Arcadia.... There were some old English customs of an interesting
+nature which lingered in the parish. For example, the old habit of
+bowing to the altar was retained by the rustics on entering church, and
+bowing respectfully to the clergyman in his place. A copy of the
+Scriptures was in the vestry _chained_ to the desk on which it lay, and
+where it had evidently been since that mode of introducing the Bible was
+practised in the time of Edward VI. The passing bell was always sounded
+on notice of the death of a parishioner, and sounded at any hour, night
+or day, immediately on the event happening. One striking custom
+prevailed at funerals. The coffin was borne through the village to the
+churchyard by six or eight bearers of the same age and sex as the
+deceased. Thus young maidens in white carried the remains of the girl
+with whom they had lately sported. Boys took their playfellow and
+companion to the churchyard. The young married woman was borne by
+matrons; the men of middle age did the same office for their
+contemporary.... The worship of the little church was, as may be
+supposed, extremely simple, and yet even there innovation and refinement
+had appeared in the musical department. The old men who used to execute
+the psalmody, with the clerk at their head, had been superseded. A
+teacher of singing had been engaged, and a choir, consisting of maidens,
+boys and men, executed various sacred pieces with the assistance of a
+bassoon and violin. I recollect in the church a practice which would
+have shocked the strict rubricians of the present day. Whenever banns of
+marriage were proclaimed, immediately after the words 'This is the
+first, second, or third time of asking,' the old clerk shouted out, 'God
+speed them weel.' In nothing was the primitive and simple character of
+the people more remarkable than in the social position of the clergy
+amongst them. The livings were all small, so that there was no
+temptation for ecclesiastics of birth and high position in society to
+come there. The clergy were in many cases clergy only on Sundays, and
+for Sunday duty. The rest of the week they were like their people;
+engaged in agriculture or horse-breeding, they lived with their
+servants, and were scarcely raised above the position of farmers. To
+show the primitive manners of many clergymen, I may mention the case of
+an usher in my school, who was also curate. He enjoyed the euphonious
+name of Caleb Longbottom. I recollect his dialect--pure Yorkshire; his
+coat a black one only on Sunday, as I suppose he was on week days
+wearing out his old blue coat which he had before going into orders.
+Lord Macaulay has been charged that in describing the humble social
+condition of the clergy in the reign of Charles II., he has greatly
+exaggerated their want of refinement and knowledge of the world; but
+really, from my recollection of my friend Mr. Longbottom and others at
+the time I speak of, in the reign of George III., I cannot think he has
+overdrawn the picture. Suppose this incident at a table in our own
+time:--My uncle lived in what is called in Yorkshire the Hall; and being
+principal proprietor in the parish, he was in fact the squire or great
+man. The clergy always dined at the hall after evening service, and I
+recollect the first day the new curate dined. The awkwardness and
+shyness of the poor man were striking, even to the eyes of a thoughtless
+schoolboy. He summoned courage to call for beer, and, according to the
+old custom, deemed it necessary to drink the health of all present
+before he put the glass to his lips. He addressed first the old
+gentleman, then the vicar, then myself, and finally, with equal
+solemnity, drank to the servants in attendance--the old butler and
+coachman, who were waiting upon the company[1]."
+
+I value these reminiscences of his Yorkshire school, written long after,
+because I think them very curious; and they show how early Edward Ramsay
+had his eyes open to characteristic features of the people.
+
+Ramsay's grand-uncle, the old Sir Alexander Ramsay, died in 1806,
+neglecting to make the provision which he had intended for his
+grand-nephew, but leaving his estates to his nephew, Edward's father,
+who then gave up his sheriffship (in which he was succeeded by Adam
+Gillies), and being a Whig and of Whig family, accepted a baronetcy from
+Mr. Fox, and made Fasque his home for the short remainder of his life.
+
+The future Dean was not fortunate in schools. On his father's succeeding
+to the family estates he quitted Harlsey indeed, but only to move to
+Durham, which left no more pleasant memories in his mind than the other,
+although there he learned to blow the flute, and indulge his strong
+musical taste. He writes of Durham school that it had fallen off
+terribly, from the increasing infirmities of the head master, and Ramsay
+was anxious to leave it, when that move came naturally by the death of
+his father[2]. Writing in his journal some time afterwards, he says,
+"What was I to do? I was determined to go into the Church, and must go
+to college. How was the intermediate period to be spent?" His first
+private tutor was the Rev. J.H. Browne, at Kegworth in Leicestershire,
+afterwards Archdeacon of Ely. "Here," says Edward, "I did learn
+something both of books and of the world. Browne was a scholar, and my
+fellow-students were gentlemen and knew something of life." He next
+lived for a time with Mr. Joynes, a clergyman, at Sandwich in Kent, and
+went from thence, in October 1811, to Cambridge.
+
+He entered as a pensioner at St. John's, and although professing to be a
+reading man, he was not eminently satisfied with the effects of the
+society into which he fell upon his habits and accomplishments. "Not,"
+he says, "that I had not really good associates, but somehow it seems
+not to have been the best and such as I might have had." Another defect
+was his not having a skilful and effective private tutor at a time when
+he felt that he stood specially in need of one. "I could not form my
+reading habits alone, and I had not sufficient help. I did enough,
+however, to show I was not an ass. I got a scholarship. I was twice in
+goodish places in the first class. I had a name for flute-playing;" and
+then, ending this retrospect, which he wrote with some disgust, he tells
+how he left Cambridge in his third year, going out B.A. with no contest
+for honours. His college vacations were spent either in London with
+college friends, or with a reading party under Wilkinson, the tutor, at
+Redcar. In gathering up his recollections, he says he saw a good deal of
+society: one summer was very musical; of another which he spent at home
+he enumerates his occupations--"botany," "music," "Deeside." Through
+all, his study was theology, but in "small doses" he says. His brother
+Marmaduke joined him on the Christmas holiday of 1816, when they worked
+together at the cryptogamics, and then went up to Cambridge
+together--Edward to renew his theological studies with the help of the
+formal lectures at the University. He spent the remainder of that season
+at Bath with friends and relatives. He speaks of the Bath society, its
+gaiety, theatricals, music--some rich clergymen giving good dinners, and
+brother Marmaduke coming for his long vacation to a farm-house two miles
+from Bath, "where we had some good botanical fun. Can it be that the
+finding a new plant put us in a state of ecstasy? How we treasured up
+specimens! How we gloried in our collections! But it has all passed
+away; no chord is touched." To some, who think of the Dean as the
+reverend, pious, grave, even melancholy man, these youthful
+reminiscences may appear unnatural, even unworthy. I must own that there
+breaks out now and then in his journal something which shows that he
+himself was not satisfied with many of these juvenile memoranda, as if
+they showed unfitting occupation and education of a young clergyman. But
+that was not their real nature. Those small studies and accomplishments
+took the place in his early training which the cricket-match or the
+boat-race now take in the school time of Young England. The Dean speaks
+somewhat contemptuously--"Here I got a smattering of astronomy," and
+again of his studies of cryptogamics and botany; but he nevertheless
+felt the full benefit of such accomplishments. His music, his passion
+for rural and especially Highland scenery, the enjoyments of society,
+the love of seeing others happy, the joining of happiness with goodness,
+made the Dean what he was in after life, and enabled him to take that
+position amongst his countrymen which a purely theological upbringing
+would not have done.
+
+But now our young cleric was to put away childish things, and to take
+upon him the duty of his high calling. He was ordained at Wells, and
+officiated for the first time as curate of Rodden, near Frome, Somerset,
+on Christmas day 1816.
+
+Rodden is a very small village, of one or two farms and some labourers'
+cottages, nestling round the little church, with a few, very few,
+outlying houses or farms. It lies among meadows on each side of the
+rivulet which runs through the village. One of the outlying houses is
+"Styles Hill," inhabited by one family of the Sheppards, all of whom
+soon became dear friends of the Dean. Another was the "Pear-tree"
+Cottage, an uninteresting red brick house, where Mr. Rogers provided a
+residence for the young curate. The incumbent of the parish, when Ramsay
+went there, was the Rev. John Methwen Rogers of Berkley, who was
+non-resident. The duties of Rodden were too small to employ his whole
+time, and in the following year (1817) Ramsay became curate also of
+Buckland Dinham, the rector of which was non-resident and lived at a
+distance, so that the curate had the sole charge of the parish. In his
+work at Buckland, Ramsay took great delight, and soon won the hearts of
+his people, although many of them were Wesleyan Methodists of the old
+type[3]. But it was not only amongst the peasantry that Ramsay was
+beloved. All the upper and middle classes in his own little parishes,
+and through the whole valley, regarded him with strong esteem and
+affection, and amongst them were persons whose character, and even whose
+little peculiarities of language, he caught and remembered. One of
+these, a retired Captain Balne, although he failed in prevailing on the
+young clergyman to take a glass of grog, his own favourite cure for all
+ailments, was pleased when the curate came to take a dish of tea with
+him and his gentle wife. Once, when Ramsay was ill, the grief in the
+parish was universal; but he used to say that the greatest proof of
+attachment was given by Captain Balne, who happened to be enjoying his
+dinner when the news of his friend's illness reached him, upon which he
+laid down his knife and fork, and declared he could not take another
+mouthful. Captain Balne had a peculiar phraseology. One phrase, in
+particular, was, "If I may be allowed the language," which came readily
+on all occasions. If he was asked "How is Mrs. Balne to-day?" the
+Captain would reply, "She is quite well, I thank you, Mr. Ramsay, if I
+may be allowed the language;" or ask him, "Have you a good crop of
+apples this year?" "Pretty middling, sir, if I may be allowed the
+language." The constant recurrence of the phrase struck Mr. Ramsay, who
+quoted it long after in his letters to his Frome friends--"I am glad to
+say my congregation at St John's continues good--if I may be allowed the
+language."
+
+Buckland is a larger village than Rodden, containing nearly 500
+inhabitants. The two places are five miles apart. Buckland is on the
+brow and slope of a steep hill, the church being on the summit, and the
+irregular street descending from it on the Frome side, with many
+cottages scattered about among orchards and meadows. So the curate of
+Buckland, living at the Pear-tree Cottage in Rodden, required a pony for
+locomotion, which he showed with some pride to his neighbours on first
+buying it. It was an iron-gray, and a sedate clerical pony enough, to
+which he gave the name of Rumplestiltskin, after one of Grimm's popular
+stories; and whenever he spoke of him or to him, he gave him his name at
+full length. The country and some of the places round Buckland are very
+interesting. On the west is one of the entrances to Vallis, a grassy
+valley bordered by limestone rocks, and trees and copse, with a
+trout-stream winding through it. There, when the labours of the day were
+done, the Sheppards and he would spend a summer afternoon sketching and
+botanising, whilst tea was prepared at a neighbouring farm.
+
+Vallis opened into several other vales, and on the heights above were
+the picturesque villages of Elm and Skells, and the ruined nunnery and
+massive old castle, the old seat of Delameres, renowned for a defence in
+the Cromwellian wars. Mr. Ramsay proposed in jest to fit up the castle
+as a dwelling, and bring all his friends to live there. Another time he
+was for fitting it up as a museum. It would make, he said, a splendid
+place for a _hortus siccus_--a "great ornament to our ponds and
+ditches[4]." The writer of these trifles excuses herself for collecting
+them, because she knew the value which is attached to the least of the
+sayings and doings of a departed friend; but we are assured, that even
+in those Arcadian regions life was not always holiday. There was some
+serious work. The curate took great pains on the future interests as
+well as the characters of his little flock.
+
+In one family he acted the part of the truest of friends--gently
+reproving the little ones when they deserved it, and ready to amuse
+when it was the time for amusement--sometimes taking them to Bath for
+the day, and making them very happy, bestowing at the same time great
+pains on their instruction--sometimes practising music with them, and
+accompanying their sonatas on his incomparable flute--recommending to
+the governess a higher style of music, leading them on gradually to the
+works of Beethoven and Mozart. By and by he gave them instructions in
+architecture; taught them, as he said, all that he had learned from
+Rickman. His teaching was minutely technical. He would assemble his
+class in a little morning room, with books before them, and a case of
+mathematical instruments, pens and pencils. His pupils wrote what he saw
+fit to dictate, and he taught them how to use the compasses. Next came
+botany, which was not a new study to his pupils. There his brothers
+assisted him. They made a joint _hortus siccus_ under his instruction.
+Edwin contributed many specimens from Scotland, and Marmaduke made a
+little collection of mosses. But they had to thank the curate for yet
+higher and better instruction. His younger pupils were not excluded from
+the most earnest conversations between him and Mr. Algar, Mr. John
+Sheppard, and some friends of the neighbouring gentlemen and clergy. In
+these conversations books were read and criticised, theological and
+other subjects, including some politics, were discussed. Ramsay was
+quizzed for Whiggish tendencies. The mistress of the house usually
+joined and set them right in politics, for she had been brought up in
+Plymouth during the French war, and had learned the old-fashioned Tory
+doctrine, and to think any other politics sinful. But all those high
+subjects of politics and religion were discussed with fitting respect;
+for that society--young and old--had a deep sense of religion, and the
+parents encouraged the younger members to visit and instruct the workmen
+and their families who were employed in the large cloth manufactories of
+the Sheppards; so that it came to pass that every man, woman, and child
+was taught or helped to teach others, for in those days very few of the
+working-people, at least in that part of England, could read at all. A
+lending library was attached to the mills. A large Sunday school was
+formed, chiefly for the children of the workpeople, and additional
+services were undertaken by the curate--a second sermon on Sundays
+besides one on Thursday evenings, where the families of the
+neighbourhood attended, and as many of the servants as could be spared.
+There, be sure, was no big talk on the primary obligation of orthodoxy,
+no attempts to proselytise. But all classes of that primitive people
+valued his preaching, and farmers and their labourers, the workmen of
+the factories, as well as their masters, took advantage of it. His
+brothers often visited him, and joined heartily in his pursuits whether
+gay or serious. It was delightful to see the three brothers so happy in
+each other's society, and helping on a worthy common object. Marmaduke,
+the Cambridge man, would talk astronomy, and William, the sailor,
+afterwards Admiral Ramsay, brought down a fine telescope, and himself
+gave them their first lesson in practical astronomy, handing over the
+instrument when he left to his brother the curate, that he might
+continue the instruction.
+
+During all these years of useful, cheerful, happy employment at Frome,
+Edward Ramsay never forgot the land of his forefathers and of his own
+youth. He sometimes visited Bath and London to hear Edward Irving
+preach, to see Kean act, to stare at old books and prints in the shop
+windows, to revel in the beauties of Kew Gardens; but every summer he
+found time for a visit to Scotland, and spent his holiday with boyish
+delight amongst the scenes and friends of his childhood.
+
+It was on one of those visits to Scotland, in the autumn of 1822, whilst
+Mr. Ramsay was spending his holidays among his friends on Deeside, that
+the managers of St. Paul's Chapel, Aberdeen, offered him the place of
+second minister to that congregation, along with Mr. Cordiner. He was
+much gratified, and would gladly have accepted the appointment. He liked
+the place--his native town; thought highly of the respectability of the
+congregation; but there was one objection, which to him was insuperable.
+The congregation had for some time been Episcopal only in name, and it
+went against Mr. Ramsay's conscience to minister in a church calling
+itself Episcopal, but without the communion or discipline of a bishop.
+He explained to the managers his objection, and thought for a time it
+might be overcome by a union with the Scotch Episcopal churches in the
+diocese. He had yet to learn the strength, of the Scotch prejudice
+against bishops; perhaps to learn that the more shadowy the grounds of
+dispute, so much the more keenly are ecclesiastical squabbles fought.
+Worthy Bishop Skinner would have been glad to have Ramsay a
+fellow-labourer in his city upon whatever conditions. Yet he could not
+contradict his younger friend's honest and temperate adherence to his
+principles and to Episcopacy. The correspondence all round, which I have
+before me, is quite decorous; but after Ramsay had stated his objection,
+and that it was insuperable, the managers wrote to him, 1st October
+1822, that "a unanimous election would follow if he accepted the
+situation under the present establishment." It would have been easy to
+divide the congregation, but this did not suit Ramsay's feelings or
+nature, and he courteously bowed to the decision of the managers, and
+returned to Frome, where his income from both curacies was £100 a
+year,--a poverty the more irksome to a man of culture and
+refined tastes.
+
+Not long after (still, I think in 1823), the Journal records--"Mrs.
+Forbes, my aunt, had just come into her accession of fortune, and
+presented me with £5000. A man may live many days in this world, and not
+meet the like gift in a like kindly spirit[5]."
+
+Of the year 1823 the Journal remarks very severe winter. "Marmaduke and
+Edwin with me at the Pear-tree[6]; a delightful tour in South Wales with
+the Sheppards and other friends most agreeable and
+good-humoured,--botany, sketching, talk, and fun. Life has few things to
+offer more enjoyable than such tours. I have found in them the happiest
+hours in my life." And then follows the wail for so "many of them
+departed; so many dear good friends; all different, but all excellent!"
+
+Marmaduke having gone as tutor to Lord Lansdowne's eldest son, Edward
+was more free to consider an offer from Edinburgh, and ultimately
+accepted the curacy of St. George's in York Place, under Mr. Shannon. He
+preached his two last sermons at Rodden and Buckland on Christmas
+day 1823.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Reminiscences_ (Second Series, 1861). Introduction.
+
+[2] May 10, 1810.
+
+[3] Some account of his dealings among the Methodists may be found in
+the _Sunday Magazine_, January 1865, edited by the Rev. Dr. Guthrie. The
+paper is titled "Reminiscences of a West of England Curacy."
+
+[4] This was a favourite quotation of Ramsay's, who was amused with the
+remark of Withering's or Woodward's botany, repeated in his letters for
+long after:--"The organ at St. John's gives universal satisfaction--a
+great ornament to our ponds and ditches."
+
+[5] Mrs. Forbes, the sister and aunt of so many Burnetts and Ramsays,
+lived the latter part of her life at Banchory Lodge, in the middle of
+that "Deeside" country, where the future Dean spent many of his happy
+holidays, and learned much of the peculiar ways of that peculiar people.
+There were no two ladies in Scotland more esteemed and beloved than the
+Dean's aunts on both sides--Mrs. Russell, his aunt and mine, living in
+widowhood at Blackhall, and Mrs. Forbes at Banchory Lodge, three miles
+apart, on the opposite banks of Dee. Mrs. Forbes died 1st February 1838.
+
+[6] His dwelling near Frome.
+
+
+
+II.
+
+The Dean was passionately fond of Deeside. Let me indulge myself in
+looking back upon that district such as he knew it, such as I remember
+it sixty years ago.
+
+The natural features of Deeside are not changed. The noble river pours
+down its brown flood as of old, hurrying from its wooded rocky
+highlands. On the prettiest part of its bank stands Crathes, the finest
+of Aberdeenshire castles, the immemorial seat of the Burnetts, where
+Edward Ramsay, himself a Burnett, was received with all the love of
+kindred, as well as the hearty respect for his sacred profession. I
+daresay Crathes was not to him quite what I remember it. But we were of
+different professions and habits. I will say nothing of the chief sport
+of Dee, its salmon-fishing. However fascinating, the rod is a silent
+companion, and wants the jovial merriment, shout and halloo, that give
+life and cheerfulness to the sport of the hunter. My recollection of
+Deeside is in its autumn decking, and shows me old Sir Robert and my
+lady, two gentle daughters and four tall stalwart sons--they might have
+sat for a group of Osbaldistones to the great painter Walter Scott. I
+will not describe the interior of the old house, partly because it was
+changing, and every change appeared to me for the worse; but no one
+would forget the old hall, where Kneller's picture of Bishop Burnett
+still looks down on his modern cousins and their hospitality. It was a
+frank and cordial hospitality, of which the genial old bishop would
+have approved. The viands were homely almost to affectation. Every day
+saw on that board a noble joint of boiled beef, not to the exclusion of
+lighter kickshaws; but the beef was indispensable, just as the _bouilli_
+still is in some provinces of France. Claret was there in plenty--too
+plentiful perhaps; but surely the "braw drink" was well bestowed, for
+with it came the droll story, the playful attack and ready retort, the
+cheerful laugh--always good humour. A dinner at Crathes was what the
+then baronet, old Sir Robert, would call the "best of good company."
+
+Another part of the house I well remember--the place, half gun-room,
+half servant's hall--where we prepared for sport in the morning, and
+brought the day's bag home at night. Prominent figures there were two
+brothers Stevenson, Willie and Jamie, known for twenty miles round as
+the "fox-hunters," known to us, after the southern sporting slang had
+been brought among us by our neighbour Captain Barclay, as
+"Pad-the-hoof" and "Flash-the-muzzle[7]" The fox-hunting was on foot,
+but let no mounted hunter sneer. The haunts of the game were continuous
+woods and bogs, hard to ride and from which no fox could be forced to
+break. "Pad-the-hoof" looked no ignoble sportsman as he cheered his
+great slow-hounds through the thicket, and his halloo rang from the
+wood of Trustach to the craigs of Ashintillie. Both were armed, but
+"Flash" took less charge of the hounds than seeing to death the fox, the
+enemy of all, including the roe, which recent plantations had raised
+into an enemy. I must say nothing on foot or wing came amiss to
+Flash-the-muzzle's gun. Hares and rabbits, not then the pest of the
+country, swelled our bag. We had a moderate number of black game, and
+the fox-hunters were somewhat astonished to find that we of the gentry
+set much store by woodcock, which bulked so little in the day's sport.
+The fox-hunter brothers had the run of the servants' hall at Crathes,
+and they were said to have consumed fabulous numbers of kitchen pokers,
+which required to be heated red-hot to give the jugs of ale of their
+evening draught the right temperature and flavour. That was a
+free-living community. The gentlemen of the house were too much
+gentlemen to stand upon their dignity, and all, from the baronet
+downwards, had the thorough appreciation of Deeside humour. It was there
+that the Dean learned his stories of "Boatie" and other worthies of the
+river-side. Boatie himself was Abernethy, the ferryman of Dee below
+Blackhall; he hauled his boat across the river by a rope made fast at
+both ends. Once, in a heavy water, the rope gave way, and Boatie in his
+little craft was whirled down the raging river and got ashore with much
+difficulty. It was after this, when boasting of his valiant exertions,
+that Mrs. Russell put him in mind of the gratitude he owed to Providence
+for his escape, and was answered as the Dean himself tells us in his
+_Reminiscences_. Another of the water-side worthies, "Saunders Paul,"
+was nominally the keeper of the public-house at Invercannie, where the
+water of Cannie falls into Dee. It was the alehouse of the country, but
+frequented much more by the gentry than by the commons. It was there
+that Mr. Maule in his young days, not yet Lord Panmure, led the riots
+and drank his claret, while Saunders capped him glass for glass with
+whisky and kept the company in a roar with Deeside stories. Old
+Saunders--I remember him like yesterday--was not a mere drunken sot or a
+Boniface of the hostelry. He had lived a long lifetime among men who did
+not care to be toadied, and there was a freedom and ready wit in the old
+man that pleased everybody who was worth pleasing. Above all, there was
+the Deeside humour which made his stories popular, and brought them to
+the ear of our Dean.
+
+That was the left side--the Crathes bank of Dee. Across the river was
+the somewhat dilapidated fortalice of Tilquhillie, the seat of an
+ancient and decayed branch of the Douglases. The last laird who dwelt
+there lived in the traditions of Deeside as own brother to the Laird of
+Ellangowan in Scott's romance. Ramsay has put him well on canvas. Who
+does not remember his dying instructions to his son and his grieve?--"Be
+ye aye stickin' in a tree, Johnny; it will be growin' when ye are
+sleepin'!" while he cautions the grieve, "Now mind that black park; it
+never gied me onything, ne'er gie onything to it."
+
+In the days when the Dean knew that Water-side the fortalice was
+uninhabited, and I think not habitable for gentlefolks; but down on the
+haugh below, and close to the river in a pretty garden-cottage, dwelt
+the old Lady Tilquhillie, with her son the sheriff of the county, George
+Douglas, whom a few Edinburgh men may yet remember as the man of wit and
+pleasure about town, the _beau_ of the Parliament House--at home a kind
+hospitable gentleman, looking down a little upon the rough humours that
+pleased his neighbours. The old lady--I think she was a Dutch woman, or
+from the Cape of Good Hope--and her old servant, Sandy M'Canch,
+furnished the Dean with many a bit of Deeside life and humour; and are
+they not written in the _Reminiscences!_
+
+Higher up the river were two houses where the Dean was much
+beloved--Banchory Lodge, his uncle General Burnett's, where also lived
+his dear aunt, the widowed Mrs. Forbes; and Blackhall, where, in the
+time I have in my mind, lived his aunt, Mrs. Russell, the widow of my
+uncle Francis Russell, a woman of many sorrows, but whose sweet voice
+and silver laugh brought joy into the house even amidst sickness and
+sorrow[8]. She had not the Deeside language, but she and her sister Lady
+Ramsay, Yorkshire women, and educated in the city of York, helped to
+give the Dean that curious northern English talk which he mixed
+pleasantly with the language of Angus and Mearns that he loved so well;
+and he inherited from the Bannermans the sweet voice, so valuable an
+inheritance to a preacher.
+
+I have gone over less than a dozen miles of the valley of the Dee, which
+was the Dean's Deeside. I think the manners and popular thought, as well
+as the language of that little district, were peculiar, and fitted to
+catch the attention of an eager student of human nature and character.
+Deeside, in its wider acceptance, of course includes the great city at
+its mouth, and the picturesque mountains of Mar near the source of the
+river, where the Queen has now set her mark of favour on the land. I beg
+to distinguish Deeside--the Dean's Deeside--lying between these. The
+city of Aberdeen, with its trade and manufacture and wealth, with its
+University and schools, and some tradition of the antique metropolis,
+has established, as she had good right, habits and language of her own,
+not to be mistaken, but almost confined to her own walls. On the other
+hand, the mountains of Mar, where lie the springs of the Dee, where
+tower Lochnagar and Benmacdhui, are inhabited by a race of shepherds and
+hunters, speaking a different language, differing in manners from the
+Dean's friends, who dwelt from the Hill of Fair to Ashintillie, where
+hardly a Gaelic name occurs among the peasantry.
+
+The little cluster of mansions which I have mentioned lies, I think,
+wholly within the parish of Banchory-Ternan. Following the river down
+from that parish, the next place of any importance is the old
+manor-house of Durris, some half-dozen miles lower, and on the right
+bank of the river. It is a place of some interest to lawyers for having
+given rise to one of the leading cases on the law of entail, which
+settled points that had formerly been doubtful, all in favour of the
+strict entail. The victim in that case, ejected by the heir of entail,
+was John Innes, who had sold his property in Moray to invest the produce
+in the great barony of Durris. The new tenant, believing himself almost
+proprietor, built a comfortable house under the walls of the old castle,
+and in that house was born the writer of these notes. I do not feel
+myself severed by any disgusts from the country of my youth where I
+spent my best years, or at least the years of most enjoyment. It was
+then a wild moor, with some natural beauty, a picturesque den leading
+from the house to the noble river, wooded with native birch and scrubby
+oak, with some tall larches and magnificent horse-chestnuts, and even a
+few immemorial Spanish chestnuts planted by the old Peterboroughs, now
+all gone. Along that river bank were some of the broadest haughs with
+which I am acquainted, and some of the best salmon streams, then woods
+and sheep pastures and a dozen miles of heather hills--up to
+Cairn-monearn and Kerloach--giving the best grouse-shooting in the
+country. It is in truth a charming water-side even in the eyes of a
+critical old man, or of a tourist in search of the picturesque; but for
+a boy who lived there, shot, and fished there, while all the houses
+round were the dwellings of cousins and friends, while game was not yet
+let for hire, it was a place to win that boy's heart, and I loved it
+very heartily. We were the nearest neighbours on one side of that
+cluster of residences of the Burnetts and Douglases and Russells which I
+have tried to describe. We were all very good friends, and thus the Dean
+and I were early acquainted.
+
+I have said little of the Dean's ancestors, merely named the Burnetts
+and Bannermans. Indeed I would guard against loading my memoir of the
+Dean with anything like mere pedigree. I take no interest in his
+ancestry, except in so far as they may have given a character--so far as
+he may have inherited his personal qualities from them. I will not dwell
+then upon Alexander de Burnard, who had his charter from Robert the
+Bruce of the Deeside lands which his descendants still hold, nor even on
+the first Lairds of Leys. When the Reformation blazed over Scotland, the
+Baron of Leys and his kindred favoured and led the party that supported
+the new faith; but, even in that iconoclastic age, two of them are found
+protesting against the destruction of religious places at Aberdeen. One,
+Gilbert Burnett (he was grand-uncle of the Bishop of Sarum), enjoyed
+considerable reputation abroad for certain philosophical writings. He
+was Professor of Philosophy, first at Basle and afterwards at Montauban,
+and a general synod of the French Protestants desired that his works
+should be printed at the expense of the synod. These _Dissertationes
+Ethicæ_ were accordingly published at Leyden in 1649; but his death
+prevented his other writings from being published. Two brothers of the
+same generation, Thomas and Duncan, settled in England as physicians,
+and seem to have been men of literary eminence. Pedigrees of both are to
+be found in the Herald's Visitations of Essex and Norfolk. Duncan,
+Thomas, and Gilbert, are all noticed by Sir Thomas Middleton among the
+"Learned Men and Writers of Aberdeen;" and Duncan is noted as a holy,
+good, and learned man. In the stirring times of the Covenants, Sir
+Thomas Burnett of Leys, Baronet, though an adherent of the Huntlys,
+embraced the Covenant from conscientious motives against his political
+instincts and associations. And ever afterwards we find him firm in the
+principles of the Covenant, yet advising peaceful and moderate counsels;
+and when Montrose, after his conversion to the royal cause, passed
+through Aberdeenshire, harrying the lands of the leading Covenanters, he
+supped one day at Crathes, excepted and protected Sir Thomas Burnett and
+his son-in-law, Sir William Forbes of Monymusk, in the general
+denunciation of the Puritans. We find Sir Thomas repeatedly a
+commissioner for visiting the University of Aberdeen, and in his later
+years he endowed three bursaries at King's College, his own _alma
+mater_. Jamesone has painted him with a thoughtful and refined, but
+earnest and manly face. The baronet's brother, James Burnett of
+Craigmyle, was of the same character. No less earnest and staunch than
+his brother in his adherence to his principles--he ever figures as a
+peace-maker and enemy of bloodshed. He is described by the parson of
+Rothiemay, an unsuspected testimony, as a "gentleman of great wisdom,
+and one who favoured the King though he dwelt among the Covenanters, and
+was loved and respected by all." Is it not plain that the temperance and
+moderation descended in the blood of the Burnetts?
+
+Thomas Burnett of Kemnay, grandson of Craigmyle, is known in a sphere
+where few Scotsmen had entered. He was a courtier of that remarkable
+little court of the Electress Sophia of Hanover, where he became the
+friend of the philosopher Leibnitz, correspondent of the poet Dryden,
+and his letters are full of curious gossip on the most various
+subjects--theology, philosophy, literature, including poetry and the
+small talk of the day. He was greatly employed and trusted by the
+Electress Sophia. His son George was noted as an agriculturist, and his
+grandson, Alexander Burnett of Kemnay (by a daughter of Sir Alexander
+Burnett of Leys), was long British Secretary of embassy at Berlin, and
+attended Frederick the Great in the campaigns of the Seven Years' War;
+remaining at the Prussian Court as Chargé d'Affaires after Sir Andrew
+Mitchell's death.
+
+James, third son of Craigmyle the Covenanter, married a daughter of the
+family of Irvine of Monboddo, a scion of the house of Drum, and having
+so acquired that barony, he transmitted it to his descendants, of whom
+the most famous was his great-grandson, James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, a
+Judge of the Court of Session, an eminent lawyer, and a man of rare
+accomplishments, with some whimsical peculiarities. In a treatise on the
+origin and progress of language, he was the first seriously to assert
+the descent of mankind from the monkey, and that the human race were
+originally furnished with tails! That and a hundred other whimsies were
+mixed up with a great deal of learning then very rare, and with a
+philosophy that dealt in free and daring speculation, of which the world
+was not yet worthy.
+
+The first baronet of Leys, besides his brother James of Craigmyle, had
+yet another brother, Robert Burnett of Crimond, an eminent advocate,
+very learned, and of high moral and religious principle. Though his wife
+was a sister of Johnstone of Warriston, he himself, unlike his two
+brothers, was an opponent of the Covenant, for which he went into exile
+until the Restoration, when he was made a Judge of the Court of Session
+as Lord Crimond. He had three sons by the Warriston lady. His eldest,
+Sir Thomas Burnett, was physician to royalty from Charles II to Queen
+Anne. The third was Gilbert, Bishop of Salisbury, of whom it is not my
+intention to give any detailed account. His brilliant talents and great
+influence made him many friends, and even more enemies. History is
+beginning to do justice to his character without concealing his
+weaknesses. He seems to have been more honest than was the fashion
+in his time.
+
+Such is the little gathering of family history, for the accuracy of
+which I am chiefly indebted to my kind friend the Lord Lyon--himself a
+Burnett. Perhaps I should apologise for saying even the little I have
+said of the Dean's pedigree; but while I press into my service the
+country of his birth and breeding, and the local peculiarities amongst
+which his life was spent, as possibly having some influence on his
+character, I could not resist the wish to show another element, drawn
+from his ancestry, that went to the forming of that character. Was not
+our Dean a worthy representative of Puritan leaders who refused to go
+into the violence of the Covenant--of the Bishop of unreproached life,
+who read the Thirty-nine Articles with an unconcealed desire to include
+conscientious Dissenters--of many peaceful gentlemen on the banks of the
+Dee, who mixed a happy playful humour with a catholic reverence for that
+Christianity which he could recognise in other sects, though
+preferring his own?
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[7] The present generation of Burnetts think that those slang names were
+invented by Barclay, but I knew him well, and venture to doubt his
+humorous powers. In the midst of "sporting" and violent excitement he
+was serious in talk, as became the descendant of the old Quakers.
+
+[8] Mrs. Russell had lost her two sons by a strange fatality--both were
+drowned, the elder, Lockhart, while skating at Bath, about 1805-6,
+James, the younger, in crossing the river Dee in a boat rowed by
+himself in 1827.
+
+
+
+III.
+
+Edward Ramsay left Somersetshire amidst the general regrets of his
+parishioners and neighbours, and entered on his Edinburgh career 1st
+January 1824. The journal which I am now using has not hitherto spoken
+much of the differing opinions of his brother clergymen, although there
+is sometimes a clergyman noted as "very low," and elsewhere, one branded
+as a "concealed Papist." But in Edinburgh--it is vain to conceal
+it--every profession must be broken into parties. He found Edinburgh, or
+rather I should say the Episcopal Church in Edinburgh, then
+theologically divided between the Evangelicals, headed by the Rev.
+Edward Craig and the old-fashioned Churchmen, the rather moral school,
+of which Mr. Alison was the distinguished ornament. Mr. Ramsay went to
+St. George's Chapel, York Place, as Mr. Shannon's curate, in the
+beginning of 1824, and remained doing that duty for two and a half
+years. He then went to St. Paul's, Carrubber's Close, where he laboured
+for a year.
+
+In 1825 Ramsay "toiled on" with sermons and wrote a series on the
+Articles. "A great improvement," he says, "must have taken place in
+Edinburgh, for unquestionably the sermons I then got credit for we
+should all think little of now[9]." In 1826 he left Mr. Shannon's
+chapel, and took the single charge of the quaint old chapel of St.
+Paul's, Carrubber's Close. Amongst the events recorded of the year was
+the acquaintance he made by officiating at the funeral of Lady Scott,
+Sir Walter's wife. In 1827 he mentions a change, "a considerable move to
+me, which, under God, has been a good one." He closed with an offer of
+the curacy of St. John's, under Bishop Sandford, when he was
+thirty-seven years of age. In spring he was ill, and went to visit his
+old place and friends in Somerset.--"Interesting, very: received at my
+old curacy of Buckland with much joy, and on the whole enjoyed my
+visit." At Whitsunday 1827 he came home to enter on St. John's with
+Bishop Sandford, being thus half of 1827 in Carrubber's Close and half
+in St. John's. I was in Edinburgh then, and can well remember what
+general favour accompanied Mr. Ramsay in church and society. Perhaps he
+was not prepared for the vehemence of church dissensions among us. I do
+not think there was at that time so bitter war between churchmen of the
+same profession in England, but the Episcopal Church, of whatever
+section, had made great progress then in Scotland. Its fine liturgy, and
+more decorous ceremonial, had attracted some. Many of the heads of
+country families round Edinburgh have been educated in England, and many
+of them have married in England--both circumstances tending to keep up
+their attachment to the Episcopal Church; and in their houses the
+scholarly, accomplished, agreeable clergyman of the Episcopal Church was
+a welcome guest, as well as an adviser and influential friend.
+
+In summer of 1827 the journal tells us his brother Marmaduke paid him a
+visit. "We read some Italian--I got a notion of Dante."
+
+At the commencement of 1829 he enters in his journal--"This was a most
+important year indeed, the year of my marriage; and what event has been
+to me so joyful, so full of interesting recollections?" He tells that in
+the summer a visitor came to Scotland--a friend of Lady Dalhousie, and
+recommended by her to Lady Robert Kerr, at whose house they met. The
+lady was Isabella Cochrane, of the well-known Canadian family; writing
+in 1844 he says--"Fifteen years of close acquaintance with that lady
+have taught me the best commentary upon the Scripture declaration that a
+'virtuous woman is a crown to her husband.' I need not say more than
+that I believe I owe mainly to her (under Providence) my comfort,
+success and position here. But let this suffice. None but myself can
+know my full obligations." Next year begins--"As 1829 gave me a wife,
+1830 gave me a church, for on the 14th January Bishop Sandford died, and
+the whole charge was offered to me, which I undertook for three years
+without a curate--i.e. without a man-curate, for a most effective
+assistant I had in dearest Isabella, who wrote to my dictation many a
+weary hour."
+
+Except a little parcel of letters touching the negotiation with Bishop
+Skinner, and the Aberdeen congregation in 1822, I find no letters of
+Ramsay till he wrote to one of the dear old friends at Frome announcing
+a visit with his wife.
+
+     Mr. RAMSAY to Miss STUART SHEPPARD, Fromefield, Frome,
+     Somerset.
+
+     7 Albany Court, London, 9th June [1831].
+
+     My dear Stuart, I have been in such a whirl and such a
+     turmoil since I came here that I have hardly had time to
+     collect my scattered thoughts to write you a line. I have
+     seen much and heard much, but shall not attempt to give you
+     any account _now_, as I hope (please God) we shall meet ere
+     long. Mrs. Ramsay's brother-in-law, the Bishop of Nova
+     Scotia, is here--he preached the annual sermon for the
+     anniversary meeting of the Charity Children in St. Paul's. I
+     went as his chaplain, but of this more hereafter. He has been
+     very urgent upon us to protract our stay here through all
+     next week, but I have resisted his importunities, as I am
+     really desirous of taking as much time as I can at Frome. We
+     accordingly fix Tuesday for leaving London. We stay that day
+     at Windsor with a friend, come to Winchester, Romsey,
+     Salisbury, on Wednesday, and on Thursday the 16th, I hope to
+     see you all in health and comfort. Dear Stuart, I shall be
+     happy, really happy, to be amongst you once more. It is to me
+     like coming _home_. Do not wait dinner or make any
+     arrangements, because our hour of arrival is uncertain. We
+     may be detained till the evening seeing sights. Mrs. E.B.R.
+     eats nothing (literally), and I daresay your common dinner
+     may furnish _me_ with a meal. Mrs. Ramsay desires kindest
+     love; she is not looking well, and I hope, after the racket
+     here, she will improve upon Frome quiet. God bless you.--Your
+     affectionate
+
+     E.B.R.
+
+     Marked--"First visit to F.F. with wife, June 9,1831."
+
+     Mr. RAMSAY to Miss STUART SHEPPARD, Fromefield.
+
+     Woburn, Friday night, 1st July [1831].
+
+     We are sure that our very dear friends at Fromefield will be
+     interested in hearing of our progress and welfare, and as we
+     have a few extra minutes this morning, we are determined to
+     devote them to a party now living in the hearts of _all_ the
+     wanderers with whom they so lately and so grievously parted:
+     the _weather_ even _sympathised_ on Tuesday evening, and all
+     the comfort we had was in talking over individually the whole
+     Fromefield concern. My brother, who is _slow_ in making
+     friends, and shy of strangers, softened into tender
+     friendship under the influence of such kindness, and vows
+     that if he had such friends he would travel annually from
+     Edinburgh to see them. He has put one sprig of verbena from
+     Stuart in one pocket, another sprig from Jane in another
+     pocket, and a piece of painted glass from Elizabeth in
+     another pocket. How lucky it is that his dress should be so
+     abundantly supplied with the accommodation of so many
+     receptacles for reminiscences! Our next grief after leaving
+     you was the not seeing Cousin John! We were sadly
+     disappointed. We did not get into Clifton till near ten; the
+     rain would prevent his coming to meet us, and the next
+     morning we very provokingly missed each other, though Mr.
+     Ramsay consoled himself with writing a note. How much I hope
+     and trust that we are all to meet next year! We were
+     delighted with our drive from Chepstow to Ross--the Wye
+     scenery is exquisitely beautiful; we exhausted ourselves and
+     our epithets in exclamations, and the day seemed made for the
+     magnificent view from the Wynd Cliff, and then we came to
+     Tintern Abbey! How often we wished for our Chedder party--how
+     often we talked over the pleasure we would have in admiring
+     all this beauty with them, and how often, like spoiled
+     children, we wondered why all this enjoyment should not have
+     accompanied us to Monmouth! but good-night, my very dear
+     friends--I shall leave the letter in better hands for
+     finishing, I am so sleepy!!
+
+     [Mr. Ramsay]--We have seen many things of which the ingenious
+     and very learned Dr. Woodward would say that they were "great
+     ornaments to our ponds and ditches." But of this enough, and
+     more than enough. Allow me to take this opportunity of
+     expressing my satisfaction at finding how completely Mrs.
+     E.B.R enters into the friendship which has so long existed
+     between _us_, and at seeing how fully prepared she is to
+     appreciate your kindness to myself and her; in short, to find
+     that she loves you all now, as if she had known you as long
+     as I have. May we never lose sight of these feelings! We saw
+     Oxford to-day--a good thing, but in detail not equal to
+     Cambridge--in general effect far superior. Gloster pleased
+     me: the tower and cloisters surpassingly fine. People do not
+     roar enough about the steeple of St. Mary's, Oxford--it is
+     _the finest_ in England, superior I think to that of
+     Salisbury. Are you aware that there is a modern church at
+     Oxford in the pure Norman style? My visit to Frome has given
+     me (except in parting) unmixed satisfaction. I cannot say how
+     much I have been gratified, and with what pleasure I look
+     forward to a renewal. I must to bed, my eyes cannot discern
+     the place to write in, and I am sleepy. Adieu, dearest
+     friends, one and all at the Field of Frome, the Hill of
+     Styles, the cottage of Keyford, etc. I rejoice to think that
+     my good friend _Kay_ is safe. Good-night! Woburn looks
+     well--"a great ornament," etc.
+
+     Marked by Mrs. Clerk--"Written on their way from F.F.--first
+     visit."
+
+     Mr. RAMSAY to Miss BYARD, Fromefield, Frome, Somerset.
+
+     Edinburgh, Dec. 17, 1831,
+
+     My dearest Friend, They have told me that you are not well,
+     and neither time nor distance can take away the feeling of
+     regard and friendship with which I sympathise with all that
+     occurs to you. I confess myself that I was some time since
+     disposed to look on all things around me with an anxious
+     aspect; but I am beginning to see in _all events_ but a part
+     of that dispensation which is so gloriously distinguished as
+     the work of _love_, and I think that public calamity or
+     private sorrow, sickness, pain, weariness and weakness, _may_
+     all be translated into the same language, and may be arranged
+     as synonyms of the same word. Yes! piety, goodness, the
+     favour and approbation of God, are all marked out by sorrow
+     and infirmity here. Why else did the blessed Jesus tabernacle
+     here below--a man of sorrows? and why else was he acquainted
+     with grief? It might make a Christian almost drink his cup of
+     sickness and pain with _greediness_ when he remembers that he
+     is tasting the same cup as that of which his Lord drank, and
+     he might hail with rapture the outstretched arm of death and
+     suffering as about to place on his head the diadem of eternal
+     glory. I am not to flatter you--you need it not, you ask it
+     not; but, my friend, you must feel and know that you have
+     been walking with God, walking _humbly_, doing good, neither
+     trusting to false presumptions nor to your own merits. Christ
+     has been _your_ master, to Him you have looked, and, blessed
+     be God! He will never, never forsake those who trust to
+     Him,--those who are good to others for his sake,--those who
+     seek redemption through Him. Where, O ye years that are past,
+     have you gone? You have carried to the throne of grace many
+     an act of contrition, many a devout prayer, many a good deed,
+     many an offering of faith, from the friend to whom I now
+     write. Bring back, ye moments that are to come and which
+     shall be granted to her in this world, rich consolations,
+     promises of pardon, assurances of favour, all spiritual
+     blessings! Dear Miss Byard, may all these be yours in full
+     abundance. May God the Father bless you, through the Eternal
+     Spirit, for Christ's sake! This is the sincere and earnest
+     prayer of your affectionate and faithful friend, E.B.R.
+
+     In this I am joined by Isabella.
+
+     Marked--"It arrived just after her death."
+
+In his journal Mr. Ramsay speaks of Bishop Sandford with a very grateful
+recollection. To him he owed his preferment, and a "more agreeable
+charge could not well be had." He characterises him as a man of elegant
+mind and accurate scholarship, of deep piety and sincere faith. I think
+it is with some regret that he adds, the "state of the Church is much
+changed since his episcopate."
+
+His dear brother Marmaduke died in the summer of 1831, and the Dean, who
+is no exaggerator of his feelings, remarks--"This is one of the sorrows
+for which language is inadequate. Such a mind, such taste, abilities,
+and accomplishments!" Edward Ramsay felt that nothing could make up for
+the loss of his brother, but he had comfort in thinking how much his
+brother's mind had been wakened to religious inquiries. His simple notes
+in his journal are sometimes worth preserving. "July 6, 1833, was the
+finest day I ever remember." He passed it in the Highlands with
+Professor Forbes, Skenes, and other delightful friends. On the 28th he
+left for the Duke of Sutherland's funeral; afterwards he repaired to
+Leamington and Dr. Jephson, whose skill he soon found reason to admire.
+On leaving Leamington he thanks God that he has gained in health, and
+learnt also wisdom in regard to the "management of myself, and certainly
+in diet." It is not necessary to record the little tours with his wife,
+which now happened almost every season, either to Deeside or the
+Highlands or his old haunts in Somerset. On July 2, 1836, I find it
+recorded that he went with a party to hear Dr. Chalmers at the Dean
+Church, and returned all in great delight. He made a long journey that
+year to hear the great organ at Birmingham, and came home by many
+cathedrals, and yet "glad to get home."
+
+In 1838 he notes, after a Highland journey, the "Synod was this year for
+altering the canons," He notes a "white-stone visit to the Stranges,
+Ross-end Castle, with the Bells. Alas! how many things and people
+are gone."
+
+In 1839 "Lady Dalhousie, my admired friend, came to stay with us. She
+came January 19, and on the 22d died in the drawing-room in an instant!
+It was an awful visitation, and never to be forgotten."
+
+The following letter, written immediately after the calamity, is from
+the Marquis of Dalhousie, from various circumstances an object of great
+affection to the Dean, who consented to take charge of his daughters
+when he went as Governor-General to India, bestowing on them the care
+and anxious watchfulness which the young ladies returned with hearty
+affection:--
+
+     The MARQUIS OF DALHOUSIE to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Dalhousie Castle, 25th January 1839.
+
+     My dear Mr. Ramsay--I have sent John in, partly because I am
+     anxious that you should let me know how Mrs. Ramsay is
+     to-day, and partly because I cannot rest till another evening
+     without endeavouring to express to you some portion of the
+     very, very deep gratitude which I feel for all your
+     kindness--for the kindness of your every act and word, and--I
+     am just as confident--of your every thought towards us all in
+     this sad time. _God knows how truly I feel it_: and with that
+     one expression I stop; for it makes me sick to think how slow
+     and how coldly words come to clothe the feeling which I wish
+     to convey to you. Believe only this, that to my own dying day
+     I never can forget your goodness. Believe this too--that
+     since it has pleased Almighty God that my poor mother's eyes
+     should not he closed under my roof, and by my hand, I would
+     not have wished any other place for her departure than among
+     friends so kindly, loving, and so well loved.
+
+     God bless you and repay it to you, prays your ever grateful
+     and affectionate friend, DALHOUSIE.
+
+     Rev. E. B. Ramsay.
+
+February 27, 1839.--"My uncle General Burnett died; another limb of the
+older generation gone; a good and kind man; a man of the world, and not
+a clever one. Latterly he showed a considerable desire to know more
+about religion. Went with J. Sandilands to be present at the formation
+of a branch of the Church Society at Glasgow--made a regular speech!" On
+September 4th he writes--"The first day of meeting of the general
+committee for business of the Scottish Episcopal Church Society. I gave
+a large dinner. Much have I worked for this society, and done better
+things than give dinners. By the by William Ramsay [his brother the
+admiral] made a capital speech." On March 5, 1841, it is noted, Bishop
+Walker died--"a good man. His mind cast in a limited mould of strong
+prejudices; but a fair man, strictly honest in all his ways. He was not
+fitted to unravel difficulties in his episcopate, and scarcely suited to
+these times. He had been a furious opponent of the old evangelicals. A
+constant and kind friend to me. May his memory be honoured. Bishop
+Terrot elected bishop. I am very grateful to think that in all this
+business I can look with satisfaction upon everything that has been
+done by me."
+
+From this time Mr. Ramsay's thoughts were very much taken up with the
+Episcopal Church Society, and he records in his journal most of its
+meetings, and the English friends who came across the Borders to help
+them. He mentions also a Scotch Presbyterian churchman who became
+convinced of the apostolical authority of episcopacy--"an excellent
+man." Then a visit of Mr. ----, "an accomplished and able man, somewhat
+strong of the popish leaven." That was in 1842, and on the margin is
+written--"Gone over to the Church of Rome, 1845." He mentions also the
+"stupid business at Portobello and squabbles," and his going down to
+make peace. On September 4th we have some things which seemed important
+at their time--the Queen's visit to Scotland. He says, "It was a
+stirring subject for old Scotland." "This day, 4th Sept., I read prayers
+and preached before her Majesty, and also dined and sat near Prince
+Albert and the Queen. In the evening presented to the Queen and Prince
+Albert, and introduced to Sir Robert Peel." Then comes the cry--"All
+vanity of vanities!" At the end of this month the Bishop of
+London--"very agreeable"--was in Edinburgh, and the Dean accompanied him
+to Glenalmond, to see the proposed site for Trinity College. In 1843 he
+mentions the death of a friend, who, he feared, died an infidel:
+"However, I have no wish to proclaim his errors. To me he was ever kind
+and considerate. Let us leave judgment to Him who cannot err." In June
+of that year he paid a visit to England, spent Sunday at Leeds, and was
+much interested with Dr. Hook and his church. "I have considerable
+dubitation as to the expediency of making the services of our parish
+churches choral." He went on to London and Oxford, where it was long
+vacation, but he met with great kindness from the heads of University
+College and Exeter. "Magdalene is faultless."
+
+After mentioning some visitors in March 1844, he writes--"Dickens's
+Christmas Carol really a treat, a thoroughly wholesome book." On the 8th
+April he was present at the lunch given to the children of the Episcopal
+poor in the Old Town. "This, I trust, is the commencement of a scheme to
+bring some actually poor into our church. I made a speech, and, to my
+astonishment, rather a good one." After a pretty long tour in the south
+of England he comes home in August 1844, and notes a letter from the
+Bishop of London, containing the offer of the Bishopric of New
+Brunswick, in a handsome and gratifying manner. "I think I was right to
+refuse. May God forgive me if it was an improper shrinking from duty."
+October 14, 1844: "I have now brought up this record of my life's
+transactions to the present time, and my purpose is, in future
+journalising, to take the leading points, to notice subjects only,
+painful, joyful, or difficult. All my thoughts since the offer of the
+New Brunswick mitre have confirmed the correctness of my judgment."
+October 17, 1844: "I am trying to repeat the experiment of last week,
+and write my sermon over again. I see clearly that in such work we
+cannot take too much pains: dinner at Lord Medwyn's to-day--very
+pleasant--rather an exception this to dinners: how dull the routine!
+October 22: succeeded in my resolution of rewriting the whole of my
+sermon, and found the advantage; in fact, nothing in the way of public
+speaking can be done without a thorough preparation. How high parties
+are running! It has a sad effect on my mind; but my refuge must be in
+keeping off controversy and adhering to edifying and practical
+subjects." In the same month he records the death of a dear friend, whom
+he visited on his deathbed. "Nothing," he says, "could be more
+satisfactory than his state of mind;" the Dean lost a kind Christian,
+attached and delightful friend. "I was glad to be able to answer his
+scruples and fears about being an object of Christ's mercy and pardon."
+December 11, 1844, he lost his mother--"simple-minded," he says, "as a
+child. Oh! what a break of the family circle! It seems as if the last
+link which bound us together were broken, and a point vanished round
+which we could always rally. I went with Lauderdale to see the poor
+remains, so attenuated, and yet the countenance like itself, still
+beautiful, and fine features." The funeral made the Dean very sad. She
+was followed to the grave by two sons, a son-in-law, two grandsons and
+distant cousins. Mr. Alison read the service, and she was buried beside
+her old friend of fifty years--poor Mrs. Macdonald.
+
+1844: "Christmas day morning, Communion 78, in all 404; the church so
+full. I preached an old but a good sermon." He has a Christmas dinner of
+a few friends, but not much Christmas spirit, he says. In 1845, January
+12, the journal notices--"I preached my liturgy sermon, and apparently
+with much success." Some of his congregation had spoken of it as worthy
+to be printed. He saw a good deal of company in his own house, whom I do
+not think it necessary to particularise, though they were generally of
+distinction for talent or rank, or both together. He heard C. Kemble
+read Henry VIII., which "I did much enjoy. Will. Shakspeare when most
+known is most admired." On 19th January he preached a sermon, but his
+note upon it is not like the last. "I liked it, but it did not seem to
+take as I had expected. Have been much meditating this week on many
+matters, Church especially: find myself unsettled, I fear, but I think I
+have the remedy, which is to keep my attention fixed rather on practical
+than on speculative points. We cannot agree on the one; on the other we
+may, and good men do." March 2, 1845: "I confess that the Romanising
+tendencies so openly avowed in the Church of England alarm me. The
+question occurs, Is not this a necessary, or at least a natural tendency
+of High Churchism?" Speaking of meetings of his Synod, he says "it is
+wretched work, which ended, indeed, in doing nothing." One member had
+spoken with much bitterness, which he says, "thank God, I do not feel."
+3d April 1845: "We are in a nice mess about this Old Town business. Two
+different communion offices in one day in the same chapel. Is it
+possible that this could ever have been contemplated by the canon? I do
+fear the extreme and Romanising party, and they hurt us here. The Scotch
+office is supposed to identify us with them, and certainly the comments
+upon it make it speak a language very different from the English."
+
+June 19.--"Left home in the 'Engineer' coach at seven, travelled through
+to London without stop, and arrived there at one o'clock: wonderful the
+shortening of this journey; went with a party to Handel's Athalia at
+Exeter Hall; tired, fagged, and sleepy as I was, I yet felt deeply the
+power of the mighty master in this his mighty work. Yes, Handel is the
+greatest musician the world ever saw."
+
+July 18, 1845.--"Returned to London: did little more there: arrived in
+Edinburgh for Mr. Sandiland's marriage, a great stretch of friendship in
+me, for it has discomposed all our summer plans." On 15th August there
+is an entry too characteristic to be omitted:--"Have been thinking a
+great deal about the state of matters at present, and the sort of
+demeanour I should exhibit to the world. I should be very
+cautious--hardly give an opinion if conflicting statements, and
+certainly not gossip about them--certainly not speak harshly or severely
+of any. Keep my own course, work hard, and endeavour to conciliate;
+rather lean to high than low side." November 10, 1845: "at a meeting to
+hear Dr. Simpson, Mr. Macfarlane, and Norman Macleod give an account of
+their mission to North America: interesting. Macleod a real
+clever fellow."
+
+26th November 1845.--"The consecration of Dalkeith Chapel: we went out
+and stayed the day; all good and well managed: Sermon preached by Rev.
+E. B. R: approved: three bishops, twenty clergy. It is really a fine
+thing for a man to have done; a beautiful chapel; hope it won't
+be extreme."
+
+Dec. 2.--"Warden to College appointed; looks like business!"
+
+Dec. 7.--"Heard astonishing news--William appointed to the 'Terrible,
+the largest steam man-of-war in the service--in the world."
+
+Dec. 14, 1845.--"Sermon on Christ the True Light. Collection for
+Scottish Episcopal Church Society, £151."
+
+15th March 1846.--"Sermon, 'Am I your enemy because I tell you the
+truth?' Here a sad blank, for I have been very ill, and out of chapel
+two Sundays, and could not go to confirmation, and all sorts of horrors.
+I have communed a good deal with myself, and I have made up my mind to a
+conduct and demeanour in Church matters almost neutral. I positively
+will not again mix myself up in any way with party, or even take part. I
+will confine myself to St. John's and its duties. This is my
+_line_--hear what every one has to say, and keep a quiet, conciliatory,
+and even tenor. It is more striking the more I think of the different
+way in which different minds are affected by religious truth." ...
+
+April 16.--"Synod meeting and Society. I took the moderate and
+conciliatory side. Did right this time."
+
+April 29.--"Preached the Casuistry sermon. Mrs. R. made it A 20."
+
+June 1.--"Busy preparing for journey;" he leaves home for his summer
+holiday "with rather less spirit and expectation of enjoyment
+than usual."
+
+Mr. Ramsay was appointed Dean of the Diocese of Edinburgh by Bishop
+Terrot in 1846, after having previously declined, as we saw, the dignity
+of the Bishopric of New Brunswick, offered him by Sir Robert Peel. He
+afterwards refused the Bishopric of Glasgow in 1847, and the
+Coadjutor-Bishopric of Edinburgh in 1862.
+
+And now is the beginning of constantly recurring complaints of
+depression--low spirits, a "cloud upon my spirits; headache, even pain
+and violent pain." He was disappointed at not getting to see the
+"Terrible;" was low and depressed. "Went to Bath. Delighted with
+Torquay; interested at Exeter; the service there the very best. Is
+cathedral service more than a solemn concert?" Then he went by
+Beaminster to see his nephew Alexander and his family. He stayed a short
+time at Crewkerne with his niece Mrs. Sparks. "Church a fine one: To
+Frome: This visit full of interest. How kind and good! The only drawback
+is parting. We spent a week at Frome, and did enjoy it much. Much
+kindness, heartiness I should say, intelligence, and real goodness.
+Changes I found, and saw how time had told on many a face and frame. My
+dear companion was much pleased and interested in our visit.... July
+16.--Left Frome, and sorrowed at parting. Saw Sydney Herbert's gorgeous
+church at Wilton. Too much! With the exterior of Salisbury not at all
+disappointed; with the interior a little. Arrived at Farnborough by
+eight o'clock, and a most cordial welcome we had from all the inmates of
+its pretty rectory. Went back to London on Friday, and returned to
+Farnborough Saturday, and spent Sunday. July 19.--Was glad for Isabella
+to have an opportunity of seeing a Sunday in a country place in England.
+I preached twice, and we were interested. Aug. 4.--Came to York.
+Glorious! Chapter-house restored by Mr. Bell."
+
+January 1, 1851.--"Having preached on Sunday last regarding improvement
+and good resolutions, I would now do the same for myself. I have made
+some resolutions in my own mind, chiefly regarding the control and
+regulation of temper, irritability, forbearance, more composed and calm
+temperament, order, diligence, dispatch of work, etc." On January 6th
+there is a Ragged School meeting--"a long and tiresome meeting; the Duke
+of A---- speaks well; Guthrie amusing; Fox Maule good; Candlish
+clever--very."
+
+On his birthday in 1853 he writes: "I have just made two
+resolves--first, never to give way to temper, fret, ill-humour, party
+spirit, or prejudice; second, to work my best in what I may have
+still to do."
+
+There is a great deal more of the journal, but one or two additional
+extracts will show sufficiently the nature of the man, his devotion to
+his sacred duty, his gentleness, and love of peace. The High Churchman
+may think him unduly careless about forms and ceremonies; but, loving
+him very well, I yet wish to represent the Dean as he really was. Above
+all things full of charity, loving religion as he understood the
+religion of the Gospel, and not much concerned, not really deeply
+concerned, about the shape and dress in which it presented itself. He
+held, however, that the Protestant Episcopal Church, as established in
+England, as disestablished in Scotland, for he never would separate
+them, was in all its belongings the most desirable, its service the
+most decent.
+
+1858 was a sad year for the Dean. Mrs. Ramsay had been very ill, and
+sinking in strength and spirit visibly, till, on the 23d July the
+afflicted husband makes this entry:--"It pleased God to visit me with
+the deep and terrible affliction of taking away my friend, companion,
+and adviser of twenty-nine years." It was a heavy blow, and for a time
+it seemed to paralyse the Dean. This journal, never regular, becomes
+from this time quite broken.
+
+Looking back from this point, which to the Dean seemed the end of
+happiness, he could acknowledge how duty supplied the place of pleasure.
+He was grateful also for many mercies. In one respect he was singularly
+fortunate. His Bishop and he, I may say during all the time he served in
+St. John's, were cordially of the same way of thinking. Bishop Terrot
+was indeed a very different man from himself, but in the relations of
+Bishop and Dean they were very happy. The Dean wrote a little memoir of
+Bishop Terrot, which he published in the _Scottish Guardian_ (May 15,
+1872), where he prints the remarkable letter from the Bishop to himself,
+answering the question why he declined communion with Mr. Drummond, and
+ending with the sentence--"These are matters of _ecclesiastical police_
+which each local church has a right to manage in its own way, subject to
+the law of the Catholic Church, i.e. the Bible." The Dean then bore
+testimony that he had always found his Bishop an interesting companion,
+a kind friend, a faithful and judicious adviser, and he speaks highly,
+and surely not too highly, of his great intellectual powers, as well as
+of his moral qualities. I am myself a very hearty admirer of Bishop
+Terrot, and I think it not out of place to add something to our
+knowledge of him, by printing a few letters which concern him and
+his family.
+
+     COLONEL TERROT to DEAN RAMSAY.--Without date, but of the
+     year 1872.
+
+     Very Rev. and dear Sir--There is one little incorrect
+     deduction in your kind memoir, or at least a deduction which
+     may be made from what you say of my father deriving his
+     intellect from his mother---that my grandfather was inferior
+     in such respects. From deep feeling and devotion to his
+     memory, my grandmother never spoke of her husband to us, but
+     from others I have heard that he was a bright, handsome and
+     talented young man, who, with the very imperfect education
+     given at that time to officers in the army, and employed in
+     active service in America at the age of fourteen, was yet
+     distinguished for ability, especially in mathematics and
+     engineering matters, so that he was employed by those in
+     command of the siege, and was actually riding with the
+     engineer who was in charge of the sieging operations when a
+     cannon-ball struck and killed him. He was in an English
+     infantry regiment, and not in the Indian service, except that
+     the regiment was serving in India at the time. He met my
+     grandmother in the ship which took them to India. She was
+     going to a maternal uncle, Colonel Hughes, who was
+     considerably displeased on her announcing at Madras that she
+     was engaged to a poor young officer who had offered to her
+     during the voyage. But the young couple being determined, he
+     gave his consent, and continued kind to his niece, and my
+     father was born in his house, and at his father's request
+     called Hughes after him. My grandfather was twenty-five and
+     his bride eighteen at their marriage, and she was a widow
+     before she was twenty, from which time till she died at
+     eighty-five she was a widow indeed, making her son the chief
+     object of her life, living in and for him.
+
+     His uncle William, whom he succeeded at Haddington, was never
+     married, and was exceedingly attached to my father. He was a
+     singular man; in his early days very gay and handsome, and
+     living in some matters, I know not what, so incorrectly, that
+     on offering himself for holy orders, the then Bishop of
+     Durham wrote to him mentioning something he had heard, and
+     telling him if it was true he was not fitly prepared for
+     taking orders. My uncle acknowledged the accusation as far as
+     it was true, and thanked the Bishop for his letter, and
+     abstained from coming forward at that time, but took the
+     admonition so to heart that it led to an entire conversion of
+     heart and life. He then came forward in a very different
+     state to receive ordination, and was through his whole life a
+     most zealous and devoted man, a friend of Milner and
+     Wilberforce. An old lady, Mrs. Logan of Seafield, told me
+     that once when Mrs. Siddons was acting, uncle William walked
+     twenty miles to see her and persuade her not to go, and,
+     whether by arguments or eloquence, he succeeded. Though kind
+     and gentle he was a strong Calvinist, and by his zeal and
+     energy in preaching such doctrines, injured himself in a
+     worldly point of view. He was always poor, and often gave
+     away all the little he had, and lived from hand to mouth. He
+     was very much admired and beloved by ladies, which perhaps
+     prevented his marrying. He was very happy and useful among
+     the sailors, and died at his sister's, Mrs. Jackson, at
+     Woolwich. She, as Elizabeth Terrot, had been a beauty, and
+     was to the last a fine, happy, spirited, contented and joking
+     old lady, very fond of my father, to whom she left all she
+     had. She was bright, unselfish and amusing, even on her
+     deathbed incapable of despondency or gloom.
+
+     Excuse my troubling you with these details; and believe me to
+     be truly grateful for your graceful tribute to our dear
+     father. I send a few lines for your private eye, written by
+     my sister Mary, expressing what she felt on last seeing him,
+     and it expresses, too, exactly what I felt that last Good
+     Friday as he sat in that chair in which he had so long
+     suffered. I never saw him there again, With deep respect,
+     gratefully yours, S.A. TERROT.
+
+LINES by MISS MARY TERROT, now MRS. MALCOLM.
+
+
+I.
+
+Sad, silent, broken down, longing for rest,
+His noble head bent meekly on his breast,
+Bent to the bitter storm that o'er it swept;
+  I looked my last, and surely, then I thought,
+  Surely the conflict's o'er, the battle's fought;
+To see him thus, the Saviour might have wept.
+
+II.
+
+His rest was near--his everlasting rest;
+No more I saw him weary and oppressed.
+_There_ in the majesty of death he lay
+  For ever comforted: I could not weep;
+  He slept, dear father! his last blessed sleep,
+Bright in the dawn of the eternal day.
+
+III.
+
+And thou, whose hand _his_, groping, sought at last,
+The faithful hand that he might hold it fast!
+Once more, when parting on the eternal shore,
+  It may be, when thy heart and hand shall fail,
+  Entering the shadows of death's awful vale
+His hand shall grasp thine, groping then no more.
+
+     DEAN STANLEY to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     My dear Dean--Many thanks for your very interesting memoir of
+     Bishop Terrot. His remark about _humdrum_ and _humbug_ is
+     worthy of the best days of Sydney Smith, and so is a hit
+     about table-turning[10]. I once heard him preach, and still
+     remember with pleasure the unexpected delight it gave to my
+     dear mother and myself. We did not know in the least what was
+     coming, either from the man or the text, and it was
+     excellent.--Yours sincerely,
+
+     A.P. STANLEY.
+
+     Deanery, Westminster, 1872.
+
+     Right Hon. W.E. GLADSTONE to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Hawarden, May 26, 1872
+
+     My dear Friend--I have read with much interest your graceful
+     and kindly memoir of Bishop Terrot, which you were so good as
+     to send me.
+
+     He had always appeared to me as a very real and notable, and
+     therefore interesting man, though for some reason not
+     apparent a man _manqué_, a man who ought to have been more
+     notable than he was. I quite understand and follow you in
+     placing him with, or rather in the class of, Whately and
+     Paley, but he fell short of the robust activity of the first,
+     and of that wonderful clearness of the other, which is actual
+     brightness.
+
+     Your account of the question of Lordship is to me new and
+     interesting. I have never called the Scottish Bishops by that
+     title. I should be content to follow the stream, but then we
+     must deal equally, and there is the case of the Anglo-Roman
+     bishop to meet, especially now that the Ecclesiastical Titles
+     Bill has been repealed; but only on Friday I addressed one of
+     the very best among them "Right Rev. Bishop M----."
+
+     You will, I am sure, allow me the license of private judgment
+     in the two expositions about the church in p. 5. You praise
+     both, but the second the more highly. To me the first seems
+     excellent, and the second, strange to say, wanting in his
+     usual clearness and consecutiveness. For having in head (1)
+     most truly said that Christ "instituted a society _and_
+     revealed a doctrine," he then proceeds as if he had quite
+     forgotten the first half of the proposition, and conceived of
+     the society only as (so to speak) embedded in the doctrine.
+     Also, I complain of his depriving you of the character of
+     [Greek: iegeus], which indeed I am rather inclined to claim
+     for myself, as "He hath made us kings and priests" ([Greek:
+     hiegeis]).
+
+     I hope you are gradually maturing the idea of your promised
+     summer expedition to the south, and that before long I shall
+     hear from you on the subject of it.
+
+     Will you remember me kindly to Miss Cochrane, and believe me,
+     ever affectionately yours,
+
+     W.E. GLADSTONE.
+
+The Dean was greatly affected by a terrible calamity, which happened in
+his house in Ainslie Place, where, in June of 1866, his niece Lucy
+Cochrane, one of his family, was burnt to death; out of many letters of
+condolence which he received at the time, I have only space to insert
+three--one from the Rev. Dr. Hannah, then head of Glenalmond College, an
+accomplished scholar, to whom our Dean was much attached, and upon whom
+he drew very freely in any questions of more recondite scholarship,
+another from the Rev. D.T.K. Drummond, and the third from the Premier:--
+
+     Rev. Dr. J. HANNAH to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Trinity College, Glenalmond, N.B.
+
+     June 15, 1866.
+
+     Dear Mr. Dean--I _must_ write one line, though I know you
+     will be overwhelmed with letters, to say how deeply
+     distressed and shocked we are at the news in this morning's
+     paper, and how profoundly we sympathize with you under this
+     fearful affliction. I thought instantly of Mr. Keble's lovely
+     poem in the Lyra Innocentium:--
+
+"Sweet maiden, for so calm a life,
+Too bitter seemed thine end."
+
+     And it applies closely, I am sure, in the consolations it
+     suggests; that
+
+"He who willed her tender frame
+Should rear the martyr's robe of flame,"
+
+     has prepared for her a garland in Heaven,
+
+"Tinged faintly with such golden light
+As crowns His martyr train."
+
+     But if blessed for her, it will be a sore trial for the
+     survivors. We feel so keenly for her poor sisters, who seem
+     to have to bear the brunt of so many sorrows. May God support
+     them and you! So prays in hearty sympathy, yours ever
+     sincerely,
+
+     J. HANNAH.
+
+     Rev. D.T.K. DRUMMOND to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     St. Fillans, Crieff, 16th June.
+
+     My dear Friend--This morning's paper brought us the sad, sad
+     intelligence of the frightful calamity which has befallen
+     your household.
+
+     My heart aches when I think of the overwhelming sorrow this
+     great affliction must bring to your kind and loving heart.
+     Long friendship and unbroken esteem must be my apology for
+     intruding on you at this early stage of your bereavement. I
+     cannot but express my deep and heart-felt sympathy with you
+     in it, and my earnest prayer that God the Holy Spirit may
+     sanctify and comfort by his own grace and presence all on
+     whom this great sorrow has fallen.
+
+     In the expression of this sympathy my dear wife cordially
+     unites with yours most affectionately and truly,
+
+     D.T.K. DRUMMOND.
+
+     Right Hon. W.E. GLADSTONE to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     11 Carlton H. Terrace,
+
+     June 16, 1866.
+
+     My dear Dean Ramsay--I cannot refrain from writing to you a
+     word of sympathy under the grievous calamity with which your
+     peaceful and united household has in the providence of God
+     been visited. I have only heard of it in a very partial
+     account to-day; but I deeply lament alike the extinction of a
+     young and promising life, the loss your affectionate heart
+     has sustained, and the circumstances of horror with which it
+     has been accompanied. I need not say how this concern extends
+     to your brother the Admiral also. I shall hope to hear of you
+     through some common friend. I cannot ask you to write, but
+     beg you to believe me always affectionately yours,
+
+     W.E. GLADSTONE.
+
+Very few of the Dean's own letters have been preserved, but the
+following will show him as a correspondent:--
+
+     DEAN RAMSAY to Dr. ALEXANDER.
+
+     23 Ainslie Place, Feb. 3, 1865
+
+     Dear Dr. Lindsay Alexander--I am not aware of having an
+     undue predominance of modesty in my nature, but really I have
+     been surprised, I may truly say much amazed, at the
+     dedication of the volume which I received this evening. Need
+     I add that, on more calmly considering the matter, I am
+     deeply gratified. From Dr. Lindsay Alexander such a
+     compliment can be no ordinary gratification. "Laudari a
+     laudatis" has always been a distinction coveted by those who
+     value the opinion of the wise and good.
+
+     I thank you most cordially for the delicacy with which you
+     refer to the "most stedfast adherence to conviction" of one
+     who has long been convinced that no differences in matter of
+     polity or forms of worship ought to violate that "unity of
+     spirit," or sever that "bond of peace," in which we should
+     ever seek to join all those whom we believe sincerely to hold
+     the truth as it is in Jesus.--I am always, with sincere
+     regard, yours truly and obliged,
+
+     E.B. RAMSAY.
+
+     DEAN RAMSAY to Mrs. CLERK, Kingston Deverell.
+
+     23 Ainslie Place,
+
+     Edinburgh, March 14, 1865.
+
+     Dearest Stuart--I take great blame and sorrow to myself for
+     having left your kind letter to me on my birthday so long
+     unanswered. It was indeed a charming letter, and how it took
+     me back to the days of "Auld lang Syne!" They were happy
+     days, and good days, and the savour of them is pleasant. Do
+     you know (you don't know) next Christmas day is forty-two
+     years since I left Frome, and forty-nine years since I went
+     to Frome? Well! they were enjoyable days, and rational days,
+     and kind-hearted days. What jokes we used to have! O dear!
+     How many are gone whom we loved and honoured! I often think
+     of my appearing at Frome, falling like a stranger from the
+     clouds, and finding myself taken to all your hearts, and made
+     like one of yourselves. Do you know Mrs. Watkins is alive and
+     clever, and that I constantly correspond with her? You
+     recollect little Mary Watkins at Berkely. She is now a
+     grandmother and has three or four grandchildren!--ay, time
+     passes on. It does. I have had a favoured course in Scotland;
+     I have been thirty-seven years in St. John's, and met only
+     with kindness and respect. I have done much for my church,
+     and that is acknowledged by every one. My Catechism is in a
+     tenth edition--my Scottish Book in an eleventh; 3000 copies
+     were sold the first week of the cheap or people's edition. I
+     meet with much attention from all denominations. A very able
+     man here, Dr. Lindsay Alexander, an Indpendent, has just
+     dedicated a book (a good one) to Dean Ramsay, with a
+     flattering dedication. But I don't expect to hold on _much_
+     longer. I feel changed, and at times not equal to much
+     exertion. It was a terrible change for me to lose my
+     companion of twenty-nine years, and I have never, of course,
+     recovered that loss. It is a great point for a person like me
+     to have three nieces, quite devoted to care of me and to make
+     me happy: cheerful, animated, and intelligent, pretty
+     also--one of them an excellent musician, and _organist_ to
+     our amateur choir for week days in the chapel. By the by we
+     have a glorious organ. How I have gone on about my miserable
+     self--quite egotistical. "If I may be allowed the language"
+     (the late Capt. Balne). But I thought you would like it.
+     Good-bye. Love to Malcolm _Kenmore_. When do your boys come?
+     Your ever loving and affectionate old friend,
+
+     E.B. RAMSAY.
+
+     DEAN RAMSAY to Mrs. CLERK.
+
+     23 Ainslie Place,
+
+     Edinburgh, 12th Feb. 1868.
+
+     Many thanks for writing about our beloved Bessie, my very
+     dear Stuart. She is indeed much endeared to all the friends,
+     and I am a friend of more than 50 years! God's will be done.
+     We have come to that age when we must know our time is
+     becoming very uncertain.
+
+     There is only one thing, dearest Stuart, that I _can_
+     say--my best wishes, best affections, best prayers, are with
+     her who now lies on a sick bed. _She_ has not to begin the
+     inquiry into the love and support of a gracious Redeemer. She
+     may say, "I know that my Redeemer liveth."
+
+     May God be merciful and gracious to support you all on this
+     deeply interesting occasion, is the earnest prayer of your
+     affectionate old friend, E. B. RAMSAY.
+
+     DEAN RAMSAY to Mrs. CLEKK.
+
+     23 Ainslie Place,
+
+     Edinburgh, 3d June 1870.
+
+     My dear Stuart--I had such a kind letter from you some time
+     ago, about visiting you, and I did not answer it--wrong,
+     very! and I am sorry I put it off. Should I come to England
+     this summer I should look on it as a _last_ visit, and would
+     make an effort to see old Frome again. Do you know it is
+     fifty-four years since I first appeared at Rodden!
+
+     I preach still, and my voice and articulation don't fail; but
+     otherwise I am changed, and walk I cannot at all. St. John's
+     goes on as usual--nice people, many, and all are very kind.
+     We have lately had the interior renewed, and some changes in
+     the arrangement, which are great improvement. It is much
+     admired, "a great ornament to our ponds and ditches,"--Dr.
+     Woodward. However, dear Stuart, I have not yet said
+     distinctly enough what I meant to say at the beginning--that
+     should I come south I would make an effort to come to
+     K. Deverell.
+
+     Miss Walker has left fully £200,000 to our church. I am at
+     present (as Dean) the only Episcopal trustee, with four
+     official trustees--all Presbyterians.
+
+     The Bishops seem the most _go-ahead_ people in the church
+     just now. New sectioning and revision of Scripture,
+     translation, all come from them: both of much importance. I
+     wish they could get rid of the so-called Athanasian Creed. I
+     cannot bear it. Nothing on earth could ever induce me to
+     repeat the first part and the last part. Love to yourself,
+     husband, and all yours.--Your affectionate
+
+     E.B. RAMSAY.
+
+     DEAN STANLEY to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Broomhall, Dunfermline,
+
+     7th August 1870.
+
+     My dear and venerable Brother Dean--It was very ungrateful of
+     me not to have thanked you before for your most kind
+     vindication of my act in Westminster Abbey. I had read your
+     letter with the greatest pleasure, and must now thank you for
+     letting me have a separate copy of it. I certainly have no
+     reason to be dissatisfied with my defenders. All the bishops
+     who have spoken on the subject (with the single exception of
+     the Bishop of Winchester) have approved the step--so I
+     believe have a vast majority of English churchmen.
+
+     How any one could expect that I should make a distinction
+     between confirmed and unconfirmed communicants, which would
+     render any administration in the abbey impossible, or that I
+     should distinguish between the different shades of orthodoxy
+     in the different nonconformist communions, I cannot conceive.
+     I am sure that I acted as a good churchman. I humbly hope
+     that I acted as He who first instituted the Sacrament of the
+     Lord's Supper would have wished.
+
+     You are very kind to have taken so much interest in my
+     essays, and what you say of the Athanasian Creed is deeply
+     instructive. You will be glad to hear--what will become
+     public in a few days--that of the 29 Royal Commissioners, 18
+     at least--including the Archbishop of Canterbury and the
+     Bishops of St. David's and Carlisle and the two Regius
+     Professors of Divinity--have declared themselves against
+     continuing the use of it.
+
+     I found your note here when we arrived last night to assist
+     at the coming of age of young Lord Elgin. We were obliged to
+     pass rapidly through Edinburgh, in order to reach this by
+     nightfall. In case I am able to come over this week to
+     Edinburgh, should I find you at home, and at what hour?
+
+     It would probably be on Thursday that I could most easily
+     come.--Yours sincerely,
+
+     A.P. STANLEY.
+
+     DEAN RAMSAY to Rev. MALCOLM CLERK,
+
+     Kingston Deverell, Warminster, Wilts.
+
+     23 Ainslie Place, Edin., Sept. 5 [1872].
+
+     My dear Malcolm Clerk--Many thanks for your remarks touching
+     the Athanasian Creed. I agree quite, and am satisfied we gain
+     nothing by retaining it, and lose much. You ask if I could
+     help to get facsimiles; I am not likely--not in my line I
+     fear. Should anything turn up I will look after it. One of
+     the propositions to which unlimited faith must be given, is
+     drawn from an analogy, which expresses the most obscure of
+     all questions in physics--i.e. the union of mind and matter,
+     the what constitutes one mortal being--all very well to use
+     in explanation or illustration, but as a positive article of
+     faith in itself, monstrous. Then the Filioque to be insisted
+     on as eternal death to deny!
+
+     People hold such views. A writer in the _Guardian_ (Mr.
+     Poyntz) maintains that God looks with more favour upon a man
+     living in SIN than upon one who has seceded ever so small
+     from orthodoxy. Something must be done, were it only to stop
+     the perpetual, as we call it in Scottish phrase,
+     _blethering_!
+
+     I am always glad to hear of your boys. My love to Stuart, and
+     same to thyself.--Thine affectionate fourscore old friend,
+
+     E.B. RAMSAY.
+
+I am preparing a twenty-second edition of _Reminiscences_. Who would
+have thought it? No man.
+
+I have not hitherto made any mention of the Dean's most popular book,
+the _Reminiscences_. I cannot write but with respect of a work in which
+he was very much interested, and where he showed his knowledge of his
+countrymen so well. As a critic, I must say that his style is peculiarly
+unepigrammatic; and yet what collector of epigrams or epigrammatic
+stories has ever done what the Dean has done for Scotland? It seems as
+if the wilful excluding of point was acceptable, otherwise how to
+explain the popularity of that book? All over the world, wherever Scotch
+men and Scotch language have made their way--and that embraces wide
+regions--the stories of the _Reminiscences_, and Dean Ramsay's name as
+its author, are known and loved as much as the most popular author of
+this generation. In accounting for the marvellous success of the little
+book, it should not be forgotten that the anecdotes are not only true to
+nature, but actually true, and that the author loved enthusiastically
+Scotland, and everything Scotch. But while there were so many things to
+endear it to the peasantry of Scotland, it was not admired by them
+alone. I insert a few letters to show what impression it made on those
+whom one would expect to find critical, if not jealous. Dickens, the
+king of story-tellers; Dr. Guthrie, the most picturesque of preachers;
+Bishop Wordsworth, Dean Stanley, themselves masters of style--how
+eagerly they received the simple stories of Scotland told
+without ornament.
+
+     BISHOP WORDSWORTH to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     The Feu House, Perth, January 12, 1872.
+
+     My dear Dean--Your kind, welcome and most elegant present
+     reached me yesterday--in bed; to which, and to my sofa, I
+     have been confined for some days by a severe attack of brow
+     ague; and being thus disabled for more serious employment, I
+     allowed my thoughts to run upon the lines which you will find
+     over leaf. Please to accept them as being _well intended_;
+     though (like many other good intentions) I am afraid they
+     give only too true evidence of the source from which they
+     come--viz., _disordered head._--Yours very sincerely,
+
+     C. WORDSWORTH,
+
+     _Bp. of St. Andrews_.
+
+Ad virum venerabilem, optimum, dilectissimum, EDVARDUM
+B. RAMSAY, S.T.P., Edinburgi Decanum, accepto
+ejus libro cui titulus _Reminiscences_, etc.; vicesimum
+jam lautiusque et amplius edito.
+
+Editio accessit vicesima! plaudite quiequid
+  Scotia festivi fert lepidique ferax!
+Non vixit frustra qui frontem utcunque severam,
+  Noverit innocuis explicuisse jocis:
+Non frustra vixit qui tot monumenta priorum
+  Salsa pia vetuit sedulitate mori:
+Non frustra vixit qui quali nos sit amore
+  Vivendum, exemplo præcipiensque docet:
+Nec merces te indigna manet: juvenesque senesque
+  Gaudebunt nomen concelebrare tuum;
+Condiet appositum dum fercula nostra salinum,
+  Præbebitque suas mensa secunda nuces;
+Dum stantis rhedæ aurigam tua pagina fallet,
+  Contentum in sella tædia longa pati!
+Quid, quod et ipsa sibi devinctum Scotia nutrix
+  Te perget gremio grata fovere senem;
+Officiumque pium simili pietate rependens,
+  Sæcula nulla sinet non[11] meminisse Tui.
+
+The TRANSLATION is from the pen of DEAN STANLEY:--
+
+Hail, Twentieth Edition! From Orkney to Tweed,
+  Let the wits of all Scotland come running to read.
+Not in vain hath he lived, who by innocent mirth
+  Hath lightened the frowns and the furrows of earth:
+Not in vain hath he _lived_, who will never let _die_
+  The humours of good times for ever gone by:
+Not in vain hath he _lived_, who hath laboured to give
+  In himself the best proof how by love we may _live_.
+Rejoice, our dear Dean, thy reward to behold
+  In united rejoicing of young and of old;
+Remembered, so long as our boards shall not lack
+  A bright grain of salt or a hard nut to crack;
+So long as the cabman aloft on his seat,
+  Broods deep o'er thy page as he waits in the street!
+Yea, Scotland herself, with affectionate care,
+  Shall nurse an old age so beloved and so rare;
+And still gratefully seek in her heart to enshrine
+  One more _Reminiscence_, and that shall be Thine.
+
+     From the DEAN of WESTMINSTER.
+
+     The Deanery, Westminster,
+
+     February 3, 1872.
+
+     My dear elder (I cannot say eldest so long as the Dean of
+     Winchester lives) Brother--I am very glad that you are
+     pleased with my attempt to render into English the Bishop's
+     beautiful Latinity....
+
+     Accept our best wishes for many happy returns of the day just
+     past.--Yours sincerely,
+
+     A.P. STANLEY.
+
+On the publication of the Twentieth Edition of the _Reminiscences_,
+Professor Blackie addressed to the Dean the following sonnets:--
+
+I.
+
+  Hail! wreathed in smiles, thou genial book! and hail
+  Who wove thy web of bright and various hue,
+  The wise old man, who gleaned the social tale
+  And thoughtful jest and roguish whim, that grew
+  Freely on Scotland's soil when Scotland knew
+  To be herself, nor lusted to assume
+  Smooth English ways--that they might live and bloom
+  With freshness, ever old and ever new
+  In human hearts. Thrice happy he who knows
+  With sportive light the cloudy thought to clear,
+  And round his head the playful halo throws
+  That plucks the terror from the front severe:
+  Such grace was thine, and such thy gracious part,
+Thou wise old Scottish man of large and loving heart.
+
+II.
+
+  The twentieth edition! I have looked
+  Long for my second--but it not appears;
+  Yet not the less I joy that thou hast brooked
+  Rich fruit of fair fame, and of mellow years,
+  Thou wise old man, within whose saintly veins
+  No drop of gall infects life's genial tide,
+  Whose many-chambered human heart contains
+  No room for hatred and no home for pride.
+  Happy who give with stretch of equal love
+  This hand to Heaven and that to lowly earth,
+  Wise there to worship with great souls above
+  As here to sport with children in their mirth;
+  Who own one God with kindly-reverent eyes
+In flowers that prink the earth, and stars that gem the skies.
+
+JOHN STUART BLACKIE.
+
+     CHARLES DICKENS to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Gad's Hill Place, Higham, by Rochester, Kent,
+
+     Tuesday, 29th May 1866.
+
+     My dear Sir--I am but now in the receipt of your kind letter,
+     and its accompanying book. If I had returned home sooner, I
+     should sooner have thanked you for both.
+
+     I cannot adequately express to you the gratification I have
+     derived from your assurance that I have given you pleasure.
+     In describing yourself as a stranger of whom I know nothing,
+     you do me wrong however. The book I am now proud to possess
+     as a mark of your goodwill and remembrance has for some time
+     been too well known to me to admit of the possibility of my
+     regarding its writer in any other light than as a friend in
+     the spirit; while the writer of the introductory page marked
+     viii. in the edition of last year[12] had commanded my
+     highest respect as a public benefactor and a brave soul.
+
+     I thank you, my dear Sir, most cordially, and I shall always
+     prize the words you have inscribed in this delightful volume,
+     very, very highly.--Yours faithfully and obliged,
+
+     CHARLES DICKENS.
+
+     Dr. GUTHRIE to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     1 Salisbury Road,
+
+     30th October 1872.
+
+     My dear Mr. Dean--My honoured and beloved friend, I have
+     received many sweet, tender, and Christian letters touching
+     my late serious illness, but among them all none I value
+     more, or almost so much, as your own.
+
+     May the Lord bless you for the solace and happiness it gave
+     to me and mine! How perfect the harmony in our views as to
+     the petty distinctions around which--sad and shame to think
+     of it--such fierce controversies have raged! I thank God that
+     I, like yourself, have never attached much importance to
+     these externals, and have had the fortune to be regarded as
+     rather loose on such matters. We have just, by God's grace,
+     anticipated the views and aspects they present on a deathbed.
+
+     I must tell you how you helped us to pass many a weary,
+     restless hour. After the Bible had been read to me in a low
+     monotone--when I was seeking sleep and could not find it--a
+     volume of my published sermons was tried, and sometimes very
+     successfully, as a soporific. I was familiar with them, and
+     yet they presented as much novelty as to divert my mind from
+     my troubles. And what if this failed? then came the
+     _Reminiscences_ to entertain me, and while away the long
+     hours when all hope of getting sleep's sweet oblivion
+     was given up!
+
+     So your book was one of my many mercies. But oh, how great in
+     such a time the unspeakable mercy of a full, free, present
+     salvation! In Wesley's words
+
+          "I the chief of sinners am,
+          But Jesus died for me."
+
+     I have had a bit of a back-throw, but if you could come
+     between three and four on Friday, I would rejoice to see
+     you.--Ever yours, with the greatest esteem,
+
+     THOMAS GUTHRIE.
+
+     Miss STIRLING GRAHAM to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Duntrune, 8th January 1872.
+
+     My dear Mr. Dean--I thank you very much for the gift of your
+     new edition of "Scottish Reminiscences," and most especially
+     for the last few pages on Christian union and liberality,
+     which I have read with delight.
+
+     I beg also to thank you for the flattering and acceptable
+     _testimonial_ you have bestowed on myself.--Your most
+     respectful and grateful friend,
+
+     CLEMENTINA STIRLING GRAHAM.
+
+     Rev. Dr. HANNA to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     16 Magdala Crescent, 11th January 1872.
+
+     Dear Dean Ramsay--I have been touched exceedingly by your
+     kindness in sending me a copy of the twentieth edition of the
+     _Reminiscences_.
+
+     It was a happy thought of Mr. Douglas to present it to the
+     public in such a handsome form--the one in which it will take
+     its place in every good library in the country.
+
+     I am especially delighted with the last twenty pages of this
+     edition. Very few had such a right to speak about the strange
+     commotion created by the act of the two English Bishops, and
+     the manner in which they tried to lay the storm, and still
+     fewer could have done it with such effect.
+
+     One fruit of your work is sure to abide. As long as Scotland
+     lasts, _your_ name will "be associated with gentle and happy
+     _Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character_."
+
+     Mrs. Hanna joins me in affectionate regard.--With highest
+     respect and esteem, I ever am, yours very truly,
+
+     WM. HANNA.
+
+     DEAN RAMSAY to Rev. Dr. L. ALEXANDER.
+
+     23 Ainslie Place, Edinburgh.
+
+     January 29, 1872.
+
+     My clear Dr. Alexander--Since I had the pleasure of your most
+     agreeable visit, and its accompanying conversation, I have
+     been very unwell and hardly left the house. You mentioned the
+     reference made by Dean Stanley (?) to the story of the
+     semi-idiot boy and his receiving the communion with such
+     heart-felt reality. I forgot to mention that, summer before
+     last, two American gentlemen were announced, who talked very
+     pleasantly before I found who they were--one a Baptist
+     minister at Boston, and the other a professor in a college. I
+     did not know why they had called at all until the minister
+     _let on_ that he did not like to be in Edinburgh without
+     waiting upon the author of _Reminiscences_, as the book had
+     much interested him in Scottish life, language and character,
+     before he had been a visitor on the Scottish shores. "But
+     chiefly," he added, "I wished to tell you that the day before
+     I sailed I preached in a large store to above two thousand
+     people; that from your book I had to them brought forward the
+     anecdote of the simpleton lad's deep feeling in seeing the
+     '_pretty man_' in the communion, and of his being found dead
+     next morning." To which he added, in strong American tones,
+     "I pledge _myself_ to you, sir, there was not a dry eye in
+     the whole assembly."
+
+     It is a feature of modern times how anecdotes, sayings,
+     expressions, etc., pass amongst the human race. I have
+     received from Sir Thomas Biddulph an expression of the
+     Queen's pleasure at finding pure _Scottish_ anecdotes have
+     been so popular in England. How fond she is of
+     Scotland!--With much esteem, I am very truly yours,
+
+     E.B. RAMSAY.
+
+The Dean was an enthusiastic admirer of Dr. Chalmers, and on the evening
+of March 4, 1849, he read a memoir of the life and labours of Chalmers
+at a meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. That memoir, although it
+had been to a great extent anticipated by Rev. Dr. Hanna's fine and
+copious memoir of his father-in-law, was printed in the Society
+Transactions, and afterwards went through several editions when issued
+in a separate volume.
+
+     LORD MEDWTN to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Ainslie Place, Thursday morning
+
+     My dear Mr. Ramsay--I beg to thank you most truly for your
+     very acceptable gift so kindly sent to me yesterday evening.
+     I had heard with the greatest satisfaction of the admirable
+     sketch you had read to the Royal Society of the public
+     character of the latest of our Scottish worthies--a very
+     remarkable man in many respects; one whose name must ever
+     stand in the foremost rank of Christian philanthropists; all
+     whose great and various talents and acquirements being
+     devoted with untiring energy to the one great object--the
+     temporal and eternal benefit of mankind. What I also greatly
+     admired about him was that all the great adulation he met
+     with never affected his simple-mindedness; his humility was
+     remarkable. There was the same absence of conceit or
+     assumption of any kind which also greatly distinguished his
+     great cotemporary, our friend Walter Scott; in truth, both
+     were too far elevated above other men to seek any
+     adventitious distinction. I wish our country could show more
+     men like Chalmers to hold up to imitation, or if too exalted
+     to be imitated, yet still to be proud of; and that they were
+     fortunate enough to have admirers such as you, capable of
+     recording their worth in an _éloge_, such as the public has
+     the satisfaction of receiving at your hands. Again I beg to
+     thank you for your kind remembrance of me on the present
+     occasion.--Believe me, my dear Sir, yours very truly,
+
+     J.H. FORBES.
+
+     Dr. CANDLISH to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     4 S. Charlotte Street, Tuesday, 6th March.
+
+     My dear Sir--I cannot deny myself the pleasure of expressing
+     to you the deep interest and delight with which I listened to
+     your discourse last night, so worthy, in every view, of the
+     subject, the occasion, and the audience. And while I thank
+     you most sincerely for so cordial and genial a tribute to the
+     memory of the greatest of modern Scotsmen, I venture to
+     express my hope that we may be favoured with an earlier and
+     wider publication of it than the Transactions of the Royal
+     Society will afford.--Pray excuse this intrusion, and believe
+     me, yours very truly,
+
+     ROB. S. CANDLISH.
+
+     Dean Ramsay.
+
+     I will indulge myself only with one phrase from the Dean's
+     memoir of Dr. Chalmers:--"Chalmers's greatest delight was to
+     contrive plans and schemes for raising degraded human nature
+     in the scale of moral living. The favourite object of his
+     contemplation was human nature attaining the highest
+     perfection of which it is capable, and especially as that
+     perfection was manifested in saintly individuals, in
+     characters of great acquirements, adorned with the graces of
+     Christian piety. His greatest sorrow was to contemplate
+     masses of mankind hopelessly bound to vice and misery by
+     chains of passion, ignorance, and prejudice. As no one more
+     firmly believed in the power of Christianity to regenerate a
+     fallen race, as faith and experience both conspired to assure
+     him that the only effectual deliverance for the sinful and
+     degraded was to be wrought by Christian education, and by the
+     active agency of Christian instruction penetrating into the
+     haunts of vice and the abodes of misery, these acquisitions
+     he strove to secure for all his beloved countrymen; for these
+     he laboured, and for these he was willing to spend and to
+     be spent."
+
+     That high yet just character not only shows Dean Ramsay's
+     appreciation of Chalmers, but seems to show that he had
+     already set him up as the model which he himself was to
+     follow. At any rate, he attempted to stir up the public mind
+     to give some worthy testimonial to the greatest of modern
+     Scotsmen. A few letters connected with this subject I have
+     put together. I did not think it necessary to collect more,
+     since the object has been attained under difficulties of time
+     and distance which might have quelled a less enthusiastic
+     admirer. It is pleasant to notice the general consent with
+     which we agree that no one else was so fitted to recommend
+     the Chalmers memorial as Dean Ramsay.
+
+     It was to do honour to my own little book that I ventured,
+     without asking leave, to print the few lines which follow,
+     from the great French writer, the high minister of State, the
+     patron of historical letters for half-a-century in France,
+     the Protestant Guizot.
+
+     M. GUIZOT to the DEAN.
+
+     Paris, ce 7 Février 1870,
+
+     10 Rue Billault.
+
+     Sir--Je m'associerai avec un vrai et sérieux plaisir à
+     l'érection d'une statue en l'honneur du Dr. Chalmers. Il n'y
+     a point de théologien ni de moraliste Chrétien à qui je porte
+     une plus haute estime. Sur quelques unes des grandes
+     questions qu' il a traitées, je ne partage pas ses opinions;
+     mais j'honore et j'admire l'élévation, la vigueur de sa
+     pensé, et la beauté morale de son génie. Je vous prie,
+     Monsieur, de me compter parmi les hommes qui se féliciteront
+     de pouvoir lui rendre un solennel hommage, et je vous
+     remercie d'avoir pensé à moi dans ce dessein.
+
+     Reçevez l'assurance de mes sentiments les plus distingués.
+
+     GUIZOT.
+
+     Mr. E.B. Ramsay, Dean, etc., 23 Ainslie Place, Edinburgh,
+     North Britain.
+
+Some of Mr. Gladstone's letters, already printed, show that they were
+not the beginning of the correspondence between him and the Dean. The
+accident which made them acquainted will be mentioned afterwards
+(p. lxxxi.)
+
+     Right Hon. W.E. GLADSTONE to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Hawarden Castle, Chester,
+
+     Jan. 3, 1870.
+
+     My dear Dean Ramsay--I send you my rather shabby contribution
+     of £10 to the Chalmers' Memorial. I wish it were more, but I
+     am rather specially pressed at this time; and I think I
+     refused Robert Bruce altogether not long ago.
+
+     I quite understand the feeling of the Scotch aristocracy,
+     but I should have thought Lothian would be apart from, as
+     well as above it.
+
+     But the number of subscriptions is the main thing, and very
+     many they ought to be if Scotland is Scotland still. He was
+     one of Nature's nobles. It is impossible even to dream that a
+     base or unworthy thought ever found harbour for a moment
+     in his mind.
+
+     Is it not extraordinary to see this rain of Bishoprics upon
+     _my_ head? Nor (I think) is it over; the next twelvemonth
+     (wherever I may be at the end of it) will, I think, probably
+     produce three more.
+
+     Bishop Temple is a fine fellow, and I hope all will now go
+     well. For Manchester (this is secret) I hope to have Mr.
+     Fraser of Clifton--a very notable man, in the first rank of
+     knowledge and experience on the question of education. Many
+     pressed him for Salisbury.
+
+     I can truly say that every Bishop who has been appointed has
+     been chosen simply as the best man to be had.
+
+     Ah! when will you spend that month here, which I shall never
+     cease to long for?--Ever affectionately yours,
+
+     W.E. GLADSTONE.
+
+     Rev. Dr. CANDLISH to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     52 Melville Street, 7th Dec. 1870.
+
+     Dear Dean Ramsay--I should have acknowledged yours of the 1st
+     sooner. I cannot say that I regret the conclusion to which
+     you have come, though. I would have done my best to help on
+     the larger movement.... I very willingly acquiesce in the
+     wisdom of your resolution to accept the position, for it is
+     one which you may well accept with satisfaction and
+     thankfulness. You have accomplished what I doubt if any other
+     man could have even ventured to propose, at so late a period
+     after Dr. Chalmers' death. It will be a historical fact, made
+     palpable to succeeding ages, that you have wiped off a
+     discredit from Scotland's church and nation, by securing a
+     suitable memorial of one of her most distinguished sons, in
+     the most conspicuous position the Metropolis could assign to
+     it. It will be for us of the Free Church to recognise in our
+     archives the high compliment paid to our illustrious leader
+     and chief in the great movement of the Disruption by one of
+     other ecclesiastical convictions and leanings. But we must
+     always do that under the feeling that it is not in that
+     character that you know Chalmers; but in the far broader
+     aspect in which you have so happily celebrated him as a
+     Christian philanthropist, a patriot, and a divine.
+
+     I conclude with earnest congratulations on the complete
+     success, as I regard it, of your generous proposal; and I am
+     yours very truly,
+
+     ROB. S. CANDLISH.
+
+     Rev. Dr. DUFF to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     The Grange, 29th June.
+
+     Very Rev. and dear Sir--Many thanks for your kind note with
+     its enclosures.
+
+     From my sad experience in such matters, I am not at all
+     surprised at the meagre number of replies to your
+     printed circular.
+
+     When I first learnt from the newspaper of the meeting held in
+     your house, and of Dr. Guthrie's proposal, I had a strong
+     impression that the latter was on far too extensive a
+     scale--but remained silent, being only anxious, in a quiet
+     way, to do what I could in promoting the general design.
+
+     Having had much to do during the last forty years with the
+     raising of funds for all manner of objects, in different
+     lands, I have come to know something of men's tempers and
+     dispositions in such cases, and under peculiar circumstances
+     and conditions. I therefore never expected the £20,000 scheme
+     to succeed; unless, indeed, it were headed by a dozen or so
+     at £1000, or at least £500 each--a liberality not to be
+     expected for such an object at this time of day.
+
+     Your present plan, therefore, I think a wise one--viz., to
+     constitute yourselves into "a statue committee," for the
+     successful carrying out of your own original and very
+     practicable design,--handing over any surplus funds which may
+     remain to any other committee or body willing to prosecute
+     the larger professorship or lectureship scheme.--I remain,
+     very Rev. and dear Sir, yours very sincerely,
+
+     ALEXANDER DUFF.
+
+I am indebted for the following letters to the Rev. Dr. Lindsay
+Alexander. If I wrote only for Scotsmen, it would be unnecessary to
+speak of Dr. Alexander as holding a place which he seems to me, ignorant
+as I am of Church disputes, to owe to his own high personal merit, and
+the independence which makes him free to think and to write as scarcely
+any clergyman fettered with the supposed claims of sect or denomination
+feels himself at liberty to do. As our Dean got older we find him
+drawing more kindly to those whose Christianity was shown in other guise
+than in sectarian precision with some spice of persecution.
+
+     23 Ainslie Place, Feb. 28, 1866.
+
+     I have found, as others have, the "Biblical Commentary" a
+     very useful companion in sermon-writing. It gives you the
+     Scripture parallel passages bodily, and saves the trouble of
+     turning backwards and forwards to find the marginal
+     references and to examine their relevancy. The work is
+     published by Bagster, and he generally, I believe, gets his
+     work pretty well done, and, so far as I can judge, it is
+     judiciously selected, generally at least.
+
+     Now, dear Dr. Alexander, if you would accept of the copy of
+     this work which I have sent, and accept it from me, and if it
+     should prove a useful companion in your homiletical labours,
+     I should feel much gratified. Perhaps it may be a remembrance
+     amongst your books, when years have passed away, of one in
+     his grave who had a sincere regard for you, and who now signs
+     himself, yours very faithfully,
+
+     E.B. RAMSAY.
+
+     23 Ainslie Place, Jan. 11, 1866.
+
+     My dear Dr. Alexander--You will not suppose me to be an
+     advocate for the donkeyism of vestment ritual. But I wish you
+     not to have unfavourable impressions as regard _our_ concern
+     with such matters. We have a canon declaratory on vestments,
+     asserting the ordinary surplice, gown, hood, and stole. It is
+     stupidly worded, but the meaning is obvious. I was vexed from
+     your experience to hear of such foolish proceedings at Bridge
+     of Allan, contrary to canon and to common sense.... The
+     _green_ part of the dress which caused your wonder, naturally
+     enough, is not a freak of new vestments, but is a foolish way
+     which the Glenalmond students have adopted of wearing the
+     _hood_, which our Bishops (not without diversity of opinion)
+     had granted for those who had been educated at our College.
+     It is a hood lined with _green_ (Scottish thistle colour),
+     and they have a way of wearing it in a manner which brings
+     the coloured part in front. Pray, pray, don't think of
+     answering this; it is merely to correct an unfavourable
+     impression in one whose favourable opinion I much desiderate.
+     I cannot tell you the pleasure I had in your visit on
+     Tuesday.--With sincere regard, yours always, E.B. RAMSAY.
+
+     23 Ainslie Place, June 8, 1866.
+
+     Dear Dr. Alexander--I forgot to mention a circumstance
+     connected with my story of to-day. I have had a communicant
+     thereanent with Dr. Robert Lee. The good Dr., although fond
+     of introducing Episcopalian practices, which cause great
+     indignation amongst some of his brethren, does not wish it to
+     be understood that he has the least tendency to become an
+     Episcopalian himself. In short, he hinted to me himself that
+     were such an idea to become prevalent it would materially
+     weaken his influence with many followers. "It is to improve
+     my own church, not to join yours," were his words, or to that
+     effect. In carrying out this idea he has a hit in his
+     "Reformation of the Church of Scotland" against
+     Episcopalians, and in the first edition he brings up Dean
+     Ramsay and the unfortunate statement he had made, as a
+     melancholy proof how hopeless were even the most specious of
+     the Scottish Episcopal Church on the subject of toleration. I
+     told him that so far as that statement went it proved
+     nothing, that it had been wrung from me in an unguarded
+     moment, and that I had for fourteen years borne unequivocal
+     testimony to views which were opposite to that statement. He
+     received the explanation most kindly, and offered to do
+     anything I wished, but we both at length agreed that the best
+     plan would be simply to omit it in the second edition, which
+     was preparing and has since come out. It was omitted.
+
+     I am, dear Dr. Alexander, with true regard, ever yours most
+     sincerely, E.B. RAMSAY.
+
+     23 Ainslie Place, August 26, 1867.
+
+     Dear Dr. Alexander--I have lately returned to Edinburgh,
+     having paid a visit to my own country on Deeside. On Saturday
+     I drove down to Musselburgh, and had an express object in
+     calling upon you to ask how you were. But I found I had been
+     wrong directed to Pinkie Burn, and that to accomplish my
+     visit, I must have made a _détour_ which would have detained
+     me too long. I had an engagement waiting me, and I found my
+     strength pretty well exhausted. I wish, however, to notify my
+     _intention_ of a visit. I have had a very severe illness
+     since we met, and have not regained my former position, and
+     do not think I ever shall. I was very, very close upon the
+     gate we must all pass, and I believe a few hours longer of
+     the fever's continuance would have closed the scene. I don't
+     think I dread to meet death. I have so largely experienced
+     the goodness of God through (now) a long life, and I feel so
+     deeply, and I trust so humbly, the power of his grace and
+     mercy in Christ, that, I can calmly contemplate the approach
+     of the last hour. But I confess I do shrink from encountering
+     an undefined period of bodily and mental imbecility; of being
+     helpless, useless, a burden. I have been so distressed to see
+     all this come upon our bishop, Dr. Terrot; the once clear,
+     acute, _sharp_, and ready man. Oh, it is to my mind the most
+     terrible affliction of our poor nature. I have known lately
+     an unusual number of such cases before me, and I hope I am
+     not unreasonably apprehensive as to what may come. I hope
+     your family all are well, and that you are fully up to your
+     work in all its forms.--I am, believe me, with much regard,
+     very sincerely yours, E.B. RAMSAY.
+
+     Without date.
+
+     My dear Dr. Alexander--I feel deeply obliged by your kind
+     gift to Bishop Whipple. His simple heart will be gratified
+     much. I am so vexed at having mislaid two letters from him. I
+     should have liked you to see and to know the bishop by seeing
+     and reading them. They are _models_ of simple, loving,
+     Christian feeling. He went to Minnesota as to a new rough
+     state just added to the United States. He took five
+     clergymen. He has now above thirty and a college (for which
+     he asked the books). He is beloved by all, and loves all. The
+     Red Indians worship him. He is so considerate of them. They
+     suffer from bad teeth, and on some occasions he has drawn 150
+     teeth before a prayer-meeting in the woods, from Indians who
+     were suffering pain....
+
+     I will take care Bishop Whipple shall know of your goodness.
+     I am so vexed I can't find his letters.
+
+     23 Ainslie Place, Edinburgh,
+
+     November 26, 1871.
+
+     Dear Dr. Alexander--You will be sorry to hear that my
+     brother, Sir William, is _very_ ill. This morning we had
+     given up all idea of his rallying, but since that he has
+     shown symptoms of a more favourable character. His state is
+     still a very precarious one, and I fear much we must make up
+     our minds to lose him. God's will be done! We are sure he is
+     prepared for his change. He has long been a sincere believer
+     in the great work and offices of the Lord Jesus, and he has
+     followed up his profession of belief by liberal and judicious
+     expenditure on benevolent objects.
+
+     I have heard of your being in London at the Revision, and you
+     may probably be there now. But when you return to Edinburgh,
+     the Admiral would be most glad to see you when able to call
+     in Ainslie Place. Sir William is three years younger than I,
+     but he has had a more trying life. His death (should such be
+     God's will) must be a great blank for me. But for me it
+     cannot be a long one.--Hoping you are well, I am, with much
+     regard, most sincerely yours, E.B. RAMSAY.
+
+Very soon after the date of this letter Admiral William Ramsay died, who
+had lived with his brother the Dean in the most affectionate friendship
+for many years. Their duties and interests were identical. William
+Ramsay was known as the promoter of every scheme of benevolence in
+Edinburgh.
+
+     Right Hon. W.E. GLADSTONE to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Hawarden, December 7, 1871.
+
+     My dear Dean Ramsay--It is with much grief that we have seen
+     the announcement of the heavy loss you have sustained in the
+     death of your brother. It was a beautiful union, which is now
+     for the time dissolved. One has been taken, and the other
+     left. The stronger frame has been broken, the weaker one
+     still abides the buffetings of the sea of life. And I feel a
+     very strong conviction, even at this sad moment, and with
+     your advancing age, that the balance of your mind and
+     character will remain unshaken through your habitual and
+     entire acceptance of the will of God. I write then only to
+     express my sincere regard for the dead, strong sympathy with
+     the living. Such as it is, and knowing it to be pure, I offer
+     it; would it were more worthy, and would that I, let me
+     rather say--for my wife enters into all these feelings--that
+     we were able in any way at this especial time to minister to
+     your comfort.
+
+     I fear the stroke must have come rather suddenly, but no
+     dispensation could, I think, in the sense really dangerous,
+     be sudden to you.
+
+     Accept, my dear Dean, our affectionate wishes, and be assured
+     we enter into the many prayers which will ascend on your
+     behalf. Your devoted niece will sorely feel this, but it will
+     be to her a new incentive in the performance of those loving
+     duties to which she has so willingly devoted her heart and
+     mind.--Believe me always your affectionate friend, W.E.
+     GLADSTONE.
+
+     Rev. D.T.K. DRUMMOND to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Montpelier, Thursday.
+
+     My dear Friend--I did not like to intrude on you in the very
+     freshness of your home sorrow. But you know how much I loved
+     and respected your brother, and how truly and heartily I
+     sympathise with you. There were few in Edinburgh so much
+     beloved as Sir William, and it will be long indeed ere the
+     memory of his goodness shall pass away. Such men in the
+     quiet, private, and unassuming walk, are often much more
+     missed and more extensively lamented than men who have been
+     more in the eye of the public, and during their life have had
+     much of public observation and favour. It is trying for us
+     who are far on in the pilgrimage to see one and another of
+     our brothers and sisters pass away before us. I have seen
+     _ten_ go before me, and am the only one left; and yet it
+     seems as if the old feeling of their leaving us is being
+     exchanged for the brighter and happier consciousness that
+     they are coming to meet us, or at least that the gathering
+     band are BEFORE us, and looking our way, expecting the time
+     when we too shall pass through the veil, leaning on the arm
+     of the Beloved. I earnestly pray, my dear friend, for the
+     Master's loving help and comfort to you from henceforth
+     even for ever.
+
+     I cannot close this without, in a sentence, expressing my
+     very great delight in reading your words regarding brotherly
+     intercommunion among members of Churches who hold the same
+     Truth, love the same Lord, and are bound to the same "better
+     land." I do rejoice with all my heart that you have given
+     utterance to the sentiments so carefully and admirably
+     expressed by you. I go heart and soul with you in the large
+     and liberal and Christ-like spirit of the views you propound;
+     and feel with you that all such brotherly esteem and hearty
+     and candid co-operation only makes me love my own church
+     better, because such love is unmixed with the exclusiveness
+     which sees nothing good save in the Communion to which we
+     ourselves belong.
+
+     Thank you most heartily for what you have written.--Ever very
+     affectionately yours, D.T.K. DRUMMOND.
+
+When the Ramsays were under the necessity of selling most of their
+property in the Mearns, the purchaser of Fasque was Mr. Gladstone, not
+yet a baronet; and, what does not always happen, the families of the
+buyer and the seller continued good friends, and Sir John, the great
+merchant, by his advice and perhaps other help, assisted some of the
+young Ramsays, who had still to push their way to fortune. I believe
+William, afterwards Admiral, was guided by him in the investment and
+management of a little money, which prospered, notwithstanding his
+innumerable bounties to the poor. The Dean also was obliged to Sir John
+Gladstone, but only for kindness and hospitalities.
+
+On the Ramsays going to London in the summer of 1845, the journal
+records what nice rooms they had, and how happy they were at Mr.
+Gladstone's, where they saw a good deal of their host--"a man who at
+eighty-one possesses the bodily and mental vigour of the prime of life."
+The Dean was struck with the old man's abilities. "Mr. Gladstone would
+have been successful in any undertaking or any pursuits--a man fitted to
+grapple with the highest subjects."
+
+From that period much intercourse took place between the Premier and our
+Dean. There are mutual visits between Hawarden and Edinburgh, and I find
+a good deal of correspondence between them; at least I find the letters
+on one side. The Dean preserved Mr. Gladstone's letters, but the
+counterparts are probably not preserved. One-sided as they are, the
+little packet in my hand, of letters from the great Statesman to the
+rural clergyman is not without interest. The correspondence has been
+friendly, frank and confidential, the writers often differing in
+immaterial things, but showing the same liberality in "Church and
+State;" so that we are not surprised to find, when the time came, that
+of the friends, the churchman approved of Irish disestablishment as
+heartily as the layman who was its author.
+
+     Right Hon. W.E. GLADSTONE to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     10 Downing Street, Whitehall, Jan. 20, 1869.
+
+     My dear Dean Ramsay--I need not tell you I am no fit judge of
+     your brother's claims, but I shall send your letter
+     privately to the First Lord, who, I am sure, will give it an
+     impartial and friendly consideration.
+
+     Pray remember me to the Admiral, and be assured it will give
+     me sincere pleasure if your wish on his behalf can be
+     gratified.
+
+     I write from Hawarden, but almost _en route_ for London, and
+     the arduous work before us.
+
+     My mind is cheerful, and even sanguine about it.
+
+     I wish I had some chance or hope of seeing you, and I remain
+     affectionately yours, W.E. GLADSTONE.
+
+The Bishop of Salisbury has been for days at the point of death. He is
+decidedly better, but cannot recover. Let him have a place in
+your prayers.
+
+     Windsor Castle, June 24, 1871.
+
+     My dear Dean Ramsay--The attraction of the Scott Centenary to
+     Edinburgh is strong, and your affectionate invitation makes
+     it stronger still. I do not despair of being free, and if
+     free, I mean to use my freedom, so as to profit by both. At
+     the same time the delays and obstructions to business have
+     been so formidable that I must not as yet presume to forecast
+     the time when I may be able to escape from London, and
+     therefore I fear I must draw upon your indulgence to allow me
+     some delay. The session may last far into August, but the
+     stars may be more propitious.
+
+     We are all grumbling at an unusually cold year, and the
+     progress of vegetation seems to be suspended, but I trust no
+     serious harm is yet done; as Louis Napoleon said, _tout peut
+     se retablir_.
+
+     It would indeed be delightful could I negotiate for a right
+     to bring you back with me on coming southwards.
+
+     So glad to hear a good account of your health and appearance
+     from our Lord Advocate; a clever chiel, is he not?--Ever
+     affectionately yours, W.E. GLADSTONE.
+
+     My wife sends her kind love.
+
+     10 Downing Street, Whitehall, July 25, 1871.
+
+     My dear Friend--From day to day my hopes of attending the
+     Scott Centenary have been declining, and I regret much to say
+     that they are now virtually dead. The extraordinary
+     obstructions which have been offered to public business
+     during the present session have now, as you will see, brought
+     us to such a pass that some suggest an adjournment from
+     August to some period in the autumn, to enable us to get
+     through what we have in hand. Whether we do this, or whether
+     we finish off at once, it is now, I fear, practically certain
+     that there is no chance of my being free to leave town at the
+     time of the Centenary.
+
+     We paid Tennyson a visit from last Saturday to Tuesday. He is
+     a sincere and ardent admirer of Scott, and heartily wishes
+     well to anything which is likely to keep him before the minds
+     of the on-coming generation.
+
+     His Sussex abode is beautiful, 600 feet above the sea, with a
+     splendid view. He seems to be very happy in his family.
+
+     With regard to the Emperor of Brazil, I think any application
+     made to him would come best from those officially connected
+     with the celebration. At any rate, I fear it would be
+     obtrusive on my part to mix in it, as I have no special
+     relation with him, though he has made a most pleasing
+     impression on me.
+
+     I now expect to go to Balmoral in the middle of September,
+     and should much wish to know whether I might visit you on my
+     way north or south.--Always affectionately yours, W.E.
+     GLADSTONE.
+
+     10 Downing Street, Whitehall, August 8, 1871.
+
+     My dear Dean Ramsay--Do what you like with the inclosed. It
+     is written at the last moment, and because you asked for it,
+     by a man who was nine hours in the House yesterday, and has
+     to be there nine to-day, besides a fair share of a day's work
+     outside it to boot.
+
+     I hope you received a subscription from Royal Bounty which I
+     sent for Archibald's family. I can give five pounds myself
+     also.--Ever your affectionate friend,
+
+     W.E. GLADSTONE.
+
+     11 Carlton House Terrace, S.W., August 8, 1871.
+
+     My dear Dean Ramsay---I wish I could convey to you adequately
+     the regret with which I find myself cut off from any
+     possibility of joining in the tribute to be paid to-morrow to
+     the memory of the first among the sons of Scotland. He was
+     the idol of my boyhood, and though I well know that my
+     admiration is worth little, it has never varied.
+
+     In his case the feeling is towards the man as much as towards
+     his works. Did we not possess a line from his pen, his life
+     would stand as a true epic.
+
+     I will not say I think him as strong in his modern politics
+     as in some other points, but I find my general estimate of
+     the great and heroic whole affected only in the slightest
+     degree by this point of qualified misgiving.
+
+     If he is out of fashion with some parts of some classes, it
+     is their misfortune, not his. He is above fluctuations of
+     time, for his place is in the Band of the Immortals.
+
+     The end of my letter shall be better worth your having than
+     the beginning. A fortnight ago I visited Tennyson, and found
+     him possessed with all the sentiments about Scott which your
+     celebration is meant to foster.--I remain in haste,
+     affectionately yours. W.E. GLADSTONE.
+
+     Hawarden Castle, Chester, January 12, 1872.
+
+     My dear Dean Ramsay--I was at once obliged, gratified, and
+     comforted by your letter. This has been a great storm, but it
+     has not rooted you up, and He whom you live to serve,
+     evidently has yet more service for you to do. Those remaining
+     in the world cannot be wife or brother to you, but how many
+     there are who would if they could, and who will be all
+     they can!
+
+     The testimonies you send me are full of touching interest.
+
+     My wife has received to-day the beautiful present of the new
+     edition of your book. She will enjoy it immensely. I hope to
+     send you, when I get to London, a little work called the
+     "Mirror of Monks." Let not the title alarm you. It is in the
+     manner of à Kempis, and is original, as well as excellent and
+     lofty. I have had much Scotch reading. The "Life of Dr. Lee;"
+     Macdonald's "Love, Law, and Theology;" last, not least, Lady
+     Nairne. I am equally struck with her life, and her singularly
+     beautiful songs, and this though she was Tory and Puritan; I
+     am opposed to both. Her character brings into view a problem
+     common to all times, but also I suppose special to this. I
+     take it that if there is a religious body upon earth that
+     fully and absolutely deserves the character of schismatical,
+     it is your Drummond secession. Yet not only is this noble and
+     holy woman in it, but even my own narrow experience has
+     supplied me with other types of singular excellence and
+     elevation within its pale; and the considerations hereby
+     suggested are of immensely wide application.
+
+     I trust that your Walker Cathedral will be thoroughly good,
+     and that your Bishop's book is prospering.
+
+     You will be glad to hear that the solemn thanksgiving at St.
+     Paul's may be regarded as decided on, to my great
+     satisfaction.
+
+     If you will let me have particulars of any case such as you
+     describe, I will most readily see what can be done; and now
+     farewell, my dear friend.--Always affectionately yours, W.E.
+     GLADSTONE.
+
+If not quite so popular as some of the Dean's other correspondents, he
+whose letter I bring forward here stood as high as any man in the
+estimation of the better and most thinking classes of Scotsmen.
+
+Thomas Erskine of Linlathen, though no clergyman, had his mind more
+constantly full of divine thoughts than most priests; though no
+technical scholar perhaps, he kept up his Greek to read Plato, and did
+not think that his enjoyment of the works of high reach in classical
+times unfitted him for Bible studies, which were the chief object of his
+existence.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+THOMAS ERSKINE to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     127 George Street, 19th Oct. 1869.
+
+     Dear Dean--I return you many thanks for that kind letter.
+     Neither you nor I can now be far from death--that commonest
+     of all events, and yet the most unknown. The majority of
+     those with whom you and I have been acquainted, have passed
+     through it, but their experience does not help us except by
+     calling us to prepare for it. _One_ man indeed--the Head and
+     Lord of men--has risen from the dead, thereby declaring death
+     overcome, and inviting us all to share in his victory. And
+     yet we feel that the victory over death cannot deliver us
+     from fear, unless there be also a victory over that which
+     makes death terrible--a victory over him that hath the power
+     of death, that is the devil, or prince and principle of sin.
+     And our Lord has achieved this also, for he put away sin _by
+     the sacrifice of himself_; but this sacrifice can only really
+     profit us when it is reproduced in us--when we, as branches
+     of the true Vine, live by the sap of the root, which sap is
+     _filial trust_, the only principle which can sacrifice
+     _self_, because the only principle which can enable us to
+     commit ourselves _unreservedly_ into the hands of God for
+     guidance and for disposal. We are thus _put right_ by _trust,
+     justified_ or _put right_ by faith in the loving fatherly
+     righteous purpose of God towards us.
+
+     Dear George Dundas's death has taken from me my chief social
+     support in Edinburgh. I was fourteen years his senior, but I
+     had known and loved him from his childhood. Our mothers were
+     sisters, and thus we had the same family ties and traditions.
+     I think of him now in connection with that verse, "to those
+     who by patient continuance in well-doing," etc.
+
+     And now farewell. Let us seek to live by the faith of the Son
+     of God--his filial trust I suppose, which I so much
+     need.--Ever truly and gratefully yours,
+
+     T. ERSKINE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The three following letters hardly help on the story of the Dean's life,
+but I could not pass them when they came into my hands.
+
+The writer is Adam Sedgwick, the well-known Cambridge Professor and
+Philosopher. In another capacity he was still better known. He was tutor
+and vice-master of Trinity, and in his time an outside stranger of any
+education, even a half-educated Scot, dropping into Cambridge society,
+found a reception to be remembered. Take for choice one of their
+peculiar festivals--Trinity Sunday comes to my mind--the stranger
+partook of the splendid feast in that princely hall of Trinity, where
+the massive college plate was arrayed and the old college customs of
+welcome used, not from affectation, but kindly reverence. When the
+dinner was over, the large party of Doctors and Fellows, with hundreds
+of the noble youth of England, all in surplice, moved to the chapel, all
+joining with reverence in the august service of the church, and later,
+they and their guests, or as many as could be held, crossed to the
+Combination Room, where Sedgwick filled the chair, and led the
+conversation, not to glorify himself, not to display his own powers,
+which were great, but to let his guests know among whom they were
+placed--philosophers, first men of science, first scholars, leaders in
+all kinds of learning, meeting in a noble equality, proud to meet under
+his presidency--_that_ I take to be the highest triumph of civilised
+hospitality. At the time of these letters the philosopher is old, but
+vigorous in mind, and even gay at the age of eighty-eight.
+
+The death of Bishop Terrot called forth the following letter from the
+venerable Professor:--
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     PROFESSOR SEDGWICK to the Rev. Mr. MALCOLM.
+
+     Trinity College, Cambridge, May 1, 1872.
+
+     Dear Mr. Malcolm--I had been previously informed of the death
+     of my dear old friend, the Bishop of Edinburgh, but I am very
+     grateful to you for thinking so kindly of me, and for
+     communicating particulars about which I was not acquainted
+     previously. Accept my expressions of true-hearted sympathy,
+     and pray impart them to the surviving members of dear Bishop
+     Terrot's family. He was an old, an honoured and beloved
+     friend; God laid upon his old age an unusual load of the
+     labours and sorrows of humanity, but they are over now, and
+     he has reached his haven of shelter from external sorrow and
+     his true and enduring home of joy and peace, in the presence
+     of his Maker and Redeemer. I am very infirm, and am affected
+     by an internal malady, which, through the past winter, has
+     confined me to my college rooms, but I have to thank my Maker
+     for thousands of little comforts to mind and body, by which
+     I am hourly surrounded, and for His long-suffering in
+     extending my probation till I have entered on my 88th year.
+     My eyes are dim-sighted and irritable, so that I generally
+     dictate my letters; now, however, I am using my own pen to
+     express my thanks to you, in this time of your sorrow for the
+     loss of one so nearly and dearly connected with your clerical
+     life. My memory is not much shaken, except in recalling names
+     not very familiar to me, and I think (with the painful
+     exception I have alluded to) that my constitutional health is
+     sound. When my friends call upon me, my deafness generally
+     compels me to use an ear-trumpet, and I yesterday took it to
+     our college walks, to try if I could catch the notes of the
+     singing birds, which were piping all round me. But, alas! I
+     could not hear the notes of the singing birds, though I did
+     catch the harsher and louder notes of the rooks, which have
+     their nests in some college grounds.
+
+     May the remaining years of your life be cheered and animated
+     by good abiding Christian hope.--I remain very faithfully
+     yours, ADAM SEDGWICK.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     PROFESSOR SEDGWICK to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Trinity College, Cambridge,
+
+     29th May 1872.
+
+     My dear Dean--I this morning received your kind presentation
+     copy of your Reminiscences, which I shall highly value for
+     its own sake, and as your gift. I read little now because my
+     eyes are both dim-sighted and very irritable; but your book
+     will just suit me, as it is not a continuous tale, but a
+     succession of tales, each of which is perfect in itself, and
+     I hope to read it bit by bit without worrying my enfeebled
+     powers of sight.
+
+     I meant to have thanked you in an autograph, but there has
+     been a sudden change in the atmosphere, which is dark, heavy
+     and wet, and when there is a defect of light I am almost
+     constrained to dictate my letters to my _factotum_.
+
+     I am delighted, too, with the single sheet containing verses
+     addressed to yourself. The first copy by Bishop Wordsworth
+     appears to me quite admirable from the beauty and simplicity
+     of his Latin; and the other copies are good in their way.
+
+     I dare say you have seen the short verses he wrote on the
+     death of his first wife. They are of Roman brevity and of
+     exquisite tenderness.
+
+     One of the very pleasant days of my life was spent in a visit
+     to the small country living of Mr. Dawes of Downing,
+     afterwards Dean of Hereford. Your late brother was one of the
+     happy party. We returned together to Cambridge at a rattling
+     pace, and I am not sure that I ever saw his face afterwards,
+     for very soon he had a bilious attack which induced him to
+     seek health in his native country, and, alas! he sought it in
+     vain, for he sickened and died, to the deep sorrow of all his
+     friends.--I remain, my dear Dean, very truly and
+     gratefully yours,
+
+     A. SEDGWICK.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     PROFESSOR SEDGWICK to Rev. Mr. MALCOLM.
+
+     Trinity College, Cambridge,
+
+     January 18, 1873.
+
+     My dear Mr. Malcolm--The infirmity of my sight compels me to
+     dictate this letter to one who often writes for me. Such a
+     bright day as this, and while the sun is shining, I could see
+     the traces of my pen upon a sheet of paper; but the act of
+     writing greatly fatigues me, and I dictate nearly all
+     my letters.
+
+     I very much value your melancholy memorial of my late dear
+     and honoured friend, the late Bishop Terrot. Though the photo
+     represents our late friend the bishop with his features
+     shrouded in the cold fixity of death, yet it does bring back
+     the original to the memory of those who knew him well, and I
+     am greatly obliged to you for this memorial of one who has
+     gone from our sight for ever, so far as this world is
+     concerned. It was very kind of you to remember the photo.
+
+     I did not know Bishop Cotterell intimately, but I have met
+     him many times, and I think you very happy in obtaining the
+     services of a man of such experience, talent, and zeal, in
+     the good cause of Christian truth.
+
+     I am now a very feeble, infirm, old man, toiling in the last
+     quarter of my 88th year. I ought to be thankful that my mind,
+     though feeble, remains entire: my memory is often defective,
+     but I have been enabled, though with great labour to myself,
+     and with many interruptions, to dictate a preface to a
+     catalogue published by the university of the older fossils of
+     our collection. They have kindly printed and given to me some
+     extra copies of my preface, one of which I will forward to
+     you by the book-post.
+
+     I know it can have no interest to you, excepting, perhaps, a
+     few paragraphs in the conclusion of only two or three
+     pages.--I remain, my dear Mr. Malcolm, very faithfully and
+     gratefully yours, A. SEDGWICK.
+
+I have printed already more than one letter from the Rev. D.T.K.
+Drummond, from admiration of their intrinsic merit, and because I wish
+here to collect proofs that no diversity of Church rites or Church
+policy could separate our Dean from brethren whom he regarded perhaps as
+erroneous, but recognised as teaching and leading by the same principles
+of freedom, which he himself revered and followed.
+
+     Rev. D.T.K. DRUMMOND to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Montpelier, Saturday.
+
+     My dear Friend--Very many thanks for your most touching note,
+     and for the extract from your book you so kindly sent me. The
+     more I look into it the more I like it, and thank God for
+     the testimony you so unequivocally and fearlessly hear to the
+     _unity_ of the True Church of Christ of any age, however much
+     the great army he made up of various sections, of diverse
+     uniforms, and with special duties to perform.....
+
+     Again thanking you very warmly, and earnestly praying for all
+     the precious consolations of the Great Head of the Church to
+     be largely vouchsafed to you, believe me to be always most
+     affectionately yours,
+
+     D. T. K. DRUMMOND.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The subject of the following letter cannot be overlooked by a biographer
+of Dean Ramsay:--
+
+     Rev. Dr. CANDLISH to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     52 Melville Street, 18th March 1872.
+
+     My dear Dean Ramsay--I have just read with most profound
+     thankfulness and admiration your noble Christian letter in
+     this day's _Scotsman_. I cannot deny myself the gratification
+     of expressing my feelings to you in this feeble
+     acknowledgment. You have done a signal service to the cause
+     of our Blessed Lord and common Master. I am too infirm to
+     write more fully all that is in my heart. You will pardon all
+     defects, and believe me, yours very truly,
+
+     ROB. S. CANDLISH.
+
+The letter referred to by the distinguished divine arose out of what is
+known in the Scottish Episcopal Church as the _cause celèbre_ of the
+Bishop of Glasgow against the Bishop of Argyll.
+
+The Rev. Dr. Caird, of the University of Glasgow, having invited the
+Bishop of Argyll to preach to a mixed Episcopalian and Presbyterian
+congregation, using his Church's liturgy, from the University pulpit of
+Glasgow, the Bishop of Glasgow interposed to prevent it.
+
+The interference of the Bishop of Glasgow with his brother prelate of
+Argyll called forth a letter from Dean Ramsay, which appeared in the
+_Scottish Guardian_ on 15th March 1872, and in the _Scotsman_ three days
+later. In it the Dean in fact asserts a religious sympathy towards those
+who differ from him, comprehensive enough to include all his Protestant
+countrymen.
+
+"In an address to the Bishop of Glasgow, signed by sixty-two clergymen,
+it is stated that the service contemplated in the chapel of the
+University of Glasgow would be a 'lax proceeding, and fraught with great
+injury to the highest interests of the Church,' Accordingly the Bishop
+of Glasgow prohibited the service, to guard the Church from complicity
+in a measure which he considered subversive of her position in this
+country.' In other words," says Dean Ramsay, "we are called upon to
+believe that, as members of the Scottish Episcopal Church, it is our
+bounden duty to withhold every appearance of any religious sympathy with
+our Presbyterian fellow-countrymen and fellow-Christians. I now solemnly
+declare for myself that, had I come to the conclusion that such was the
+teaching of our Church, and such the views to which I was bound--viz.
+that her object was thus to sever man from man, and to maintain that the
+service proposed at Glasgow was really 'fraught with great injury to the
+highest interests of my Church,' because it would promote union and
+peace--the sun should not again set till I had given up all official
+connection with a Church of which the foundations and the principles
+would be so different from the landmarks and leading manifestations of
+our holy faith itself. Were the principles and conduct laid down in this
+address and in the answer to it fairly carried out, I cannot see any
+other result than the members of our Church considering the whole of
+Scotland which is external to our communion as a land of infidels, with
+whom we can have no spiritual connection, and whom, indeed, we could
+hardly recognise as a Christian people."
+
+The Dean's letter is chiefly remarkable as showing that age had not
+frozen his charity. It called forth many letters like that of Dr.
+Candlish, and one from the little Somersetshire society which he
+loved so well.
+
+     JOHN SHEPPARD, Esq., Frome, to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     The Cottage, Frome, 21st March 1872.
+
+     Very dear and reverend Sir--I have to thank you for the
+     _Scottish Guardian_ which you have kindly sent me. I regret
+     the divisions which appear to have arisen in your church.
+     Whatever comes from your pen has special interest for me; and
+     I am glad to see it (as it always has been) pleading the
+     cause of Christian charity. It appears to me that the welfare
+     of your church would have been promoted by acceding to the
+     invitation,
+
+     I think I have mentioned to you that we had lately a visit
+     from good Archdeacon Sandford, which we much enjoyed. We
+     learn with sorrow that since attendance at the Convocation
+     and a stay at Lambeth Palace, he has been suffering great
+     weakness and exhaustion, and been confined to his bed for a
+     month. He is now slowly recovering; but we fear his
+     exertions have been beyond his strength, and that his life
+     must be very precarious.
+
+     I hope your health is not more seriously impaired; but we
+     must be looking more and more, dear sir, towards the home
+     which pain and strife cannot enter.
+
+     My beloved Susan is very zealous as the animals' friend, and
+     birds of many sorts welcome and solicit her as their
+     patroness. She desires to be most kindly remembered to you,
+     with, my dear Dean, your attached old friend,
+
+     JOHN SHEPPARD.
+
+     _P.S._--Susan instructs me to say for her that, "since
+     reading your letter to the _Guardian_, she loves you more
+     than ever, if possible." My words are cool in comparison with
+     hers; and this is a curious message for an ancient husband
+     to convey.
+
+     She thinks we have not thanked you for the Bishop's Latin
+     verses and the translations of them. If we have not, it is
+     not because our "_reminiscences_" of you are faint or few.
+
+I wish to preserve a note of a dear old friend of my own, whose talents,
+perhaps I might say whose genius, was only shrouded by his modesty. I
+know that the Dean felt how gratifying it was to find among his
+congregation men of such accomplishment, such scholarship, as George
+Moir and George Dundas, and it is something to show that they responded
+very heartily to that feeling.
+
+     GEORGE MOIR to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Monday morning, 14 Charlotte Square.
+
+     My dear Dean--My condition renders it frequently impossible
+     to attend church, from the difficulty I have in remaining for
+     any length of time. But I have been able to be present the
+     last two Sundays, and I cannot refrain from saying with how
+     much pleasure I listened yesterday to your discourse on
+     charity. It was not unworthy of the beautiful passage which
+     formed its ground-work; clear, consecutive, eloquent, and
+     with a moral application of which I wish we may all avail
+     ourselves.
+
+     Long may you continue to advise and instruct those who are
+     _to come after me_.
+
+     I was delighted to see you looking so well, and to notice the
+     look of vigour with which the discourse was delivered.
+     Believe me ever most truly yours, GEO. MOIR.
+
+In 1866 the Dean had delivered two lectures upon "Preachers and
+Preaching," but which were afterwards published in a volume called
+_Pulpit Table-Talk_. That is the subject of the following letter from a
+great master of the art:--
+
+     Dr. GUTHRIE to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Inchgrundle, Tarfside, by Brechin,
+
+     31st August 1868.
+
+     My dear Mr. Dean--Your Pulpit Table-Talk has been sent here
+     to gratify, delight, and edify me. A most entertaining book;
+     and full of wise and admirable sentiments. All ministers and
+     preachers should read and digest it. Age seems to have no
+     more dulling effect on you than it had on Sir David Brewster,
+     who retained, after he had turned the threescore and ten, all
+     the greenery, foliage, and flowers of youth--presenting at
+     once the freshness of Spring, and the flowers of Summer, and
+     the precious fruits of Autumn.
+
+     May your bow long abide in strength! and the evening of your
+     days be calm and peaceful, bright with the sure and certain
+     hope of that better world, where, I hope, we shall meet to be
+     for ever with the Lord! With the greatest respect and
+     affectionate regards, yours ever,
+
+     THOMAS GUTHRIE.
+
+I cannot fix the date of the following anecdote, nor does the date much
+matter:--Some years ago a child, the son of the U.P. minister of
+Dunblane, was so dangerously ill, that a neighbouring lady, the wife of
+the Episcopal clergyman, who was much interested in the little boy,
+asked her husband if it might be permitted to beg the prayers of the
+congregation for his recovery. The clergyman readily assented; and when
+the facts came to the knowledge of Dean Ramsay, and that it was a
+suggestion of a dear friend of his, he sent the lady a copy of his
+_Reminiscences_, with a letter to her husband, in which he says--"I was
+greatly charmed with your account of prayers offered up for poor little
+Blair. Tell your Mary I love her more than ever. It has quite affected
+me, her proposing it." The husband is the Rev. Mr. Malcolm; the lady his
+wife, daughter of the Dean's dear friend, Bishop Terrot.
+
+But the end was approaching. In December 1872 it was noticed with sorrow
+that for the first time since the commencement of the Church Society
+(1838), of which Ramsay was really the founder, the Dean was absent from
+the annual meeting of the general committee. Soon it became known that
+his illness was more than a mere passing attack. During its continuance
+the deepest interest was manifested in every quarter. Each day, and
+"almost from hour to hour, the latest tidings were eagerly sought for.
+In many churches and in many families besides those of our communion,
+prayers were offered for his recovery. And when at last it became known
+that he had indeed passed away from this life, it was felt that we had
+lost not only a venerable Father of the Church, but one whose name,
+familiar as a household word, was always associated with kindly loving
+thoughts and deeds--one who was deservedly welcome wherever he went, and
+whose influence was always towards peace and goodwill." The Rev. Mr.
+Montgomery, our present Dean of Edinburgh, whose words I quote, truly
+says that "he was a Churchman by conviction, but was ever ready to meet,
+and, where occasion offered, to act with others upon the basis of a
+common humanity and common Christianity."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[9] The margin seems to show that this page of the journal was not
+written till 1843.
+
+[10] The Bishop said that the two impediments to profitable or amusing
+conversation were _humdrum_ and _humbug_.
+
+On another occasion, the Bishop having expressed his doubt of the truth
+of spirit-rapping, table-turning, etc., and being pressed with the
+appeal, "Surely you must admit these are indications of Satanic agency,"
+quietly answered, "It may be so, but it must be a mark of Satan being in
+a state of dotage!"
+
+[11] Alluditur ad titulum libri _Reminiscences_, etc.
+
+[12] Here is the passage referred to by Mr. Dickens:--"There are persons
+who do not sympathise with my great desire to preserve and to
+disseminate these specimens of Scottish humour; indeed, I have reasons
+to suspect that some have been disposed to consider the time and
+attention which I have given to the subject as ill-bestowed, or at any
+rate, as somewhat unsuitable to one of my advanced age and sacred
+profession. If any persons do really think so, all I can say is, I do
+not agree with them. National peculiarities must ever form an
+interesting and improving study, inasmuch as it is a study of human
+nature; and the anecdotes of this volume all tend to illustrate features
+of the Scottish mind, which, as moral and religious traits of character,
+are deeply interesting. I am convinced that every one, whether clergyman
+or layman, who contributes to the innocent enjoyment of human life, has
+joined in a good work, inasmuch as he has diminished the inducement to
+_vicious_ indulgence. God knows there is enough of sin and of sorrow in
+the world to make sad the heart of every Christian man. No one, I think,
+need be ashamed of his endeavours to cheer the darker hours of his
+fellow-travellers' steps through life, or to beguile the hearts of the
+weary and the heavy laden, if only for a time, into cheerful and amusing
+trains of thought. So far as my experience of life goes, I have never
+found that the cause of morality and religion was promoted by sternly
+checking the tendencies of our nature to relaxation and amusement. If
+mankind be too ready to enter upon pleasures which are dangerous or
+questionable, it is the part of wisdom and of prudence to supply them
+with sources of interest, the enjoyment of which are innocent and
+permissible."
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When this Memoir was only begun I was anxious to say something of the
+Dean's musical powers; and, not venturing to speak of music myself, I
+asked the Dean's sister Lady Burnett to supply my deficiency. In reply I
+had the following letter:--
+
+     22d February 1873.
+
+     ... As a flute-player the Dean attained a proficiency rarely
+     seen in an amateur, and used frequently to play the very
+     difficult flute-obligatos of some of Handel's songs, which
+     are considered a hard task even for professionals. Besides
+     playing the flute he was thoroughly conversant with the
+     mechanism of the organ, and had some knowledge of the
+     violoncello, though he never gave much time to the study of
+     that instrument. But perhaps the most interesting point in
+     this part of the character of my brother was his ardent love
+     for Handel's music. There was not a song or chorus of the
+     great master that he was not acquainted with, and in his
+     younger days he used to sing the bass music from the Messiah
+     and other Oratorios with great taste and skill--his voice, a
+     fine mellow baritone, being well suited to these songs. You
+     may remember his lectures on Handel delivered at the
+     Philosophical Institution some years ago, and how
+     enthusiastic he was when describing the manifold beauties of
+     his favourite composer, and how interested and eager he
+     became when the choir sang the music he knew and loved
+     so well....
+
+     I wrote this on Saturday evening when sitting alone,
+     thinking of the great loss I had sustained; the variety there
+     was in Edward's character; how accomplished he was; what
+     knowledge he had on many subjects; his fine taste, his
+     gentleness and Christian piety; and then his strong sense of
+     humour and fun; how amusing he was, and such droll things
+     broke out every now and then! even to the very last so genial
+     and social, and altogether such a man that we "ne'er shall
+     look upon his like again."--Yours very sincerely, LAUDERDALE
+     BURNETT.
+
+
+
+REMINISCENCES.
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+TO
+
+TWENTY-SECOND EDITION.
+
+In preparing another duodecimo edition of the "Reminiscences of Scottish
+Life and Character," I gladly avail myself of the opportunity afforded
+me of reproducing some of the materials which had been added to the
+octavo edition, especially that part at page 322, etc., which advocated
+a modified interchange of pulpits between Episcopalian and Presbyterian
+clergymen; to add also some excellent Scottish stories which had been
+sent to me by kind friends. I am desirous also of repeating the
+correction of an error into which we had fallen in copying the account
+of a toast in the Highland form, which had been kindly contributed by
+the respected minister of Moulin, in the octavo edition at page 70. To
+Lowland conceptions, the whole proceeding has somewhat the appearance of
+a respectable company at once becoming insane; still it ought to be
+correct, and the printer had, by mistake, inserted a word that has no
+existence in the Gaelic language. The text reads--
+
+     "Lud ris! Lud ris! You again! you again!"
+
+It should be
+
+     Sud ris! Sud ris! Yon again! yon again!
+
+that is--"you cheer again."
+
+The demand for a twenty-second edition of a volume of "Scottish
+Reminiscences" embracing subjects which are necessarily of a limited and
+local character--a demand which has taken place during the course of
+little more than fifteen years since its first publication--proves, I
+think, the correctness of the idea upon which it was first
+undertaken--viz. that it should depict a phase of national manners which
+was fast passing away, and thus, in however humble a department,
+contribute something to the materials of history, by exhibiting social
+customs and habits of thought which at a particular era were
+characteristic of a race. It may perhaps be very fairly said that the
+Reminiscences came out at a time specially suitable to rescue these
+features of national life and character from oblivion. They had _begun_
+to fade away, and many had, to the present generation, become obsolete.
+
+To those who have not given their attention to the subject for the
+elucidation of which this volume has been written, I would present two
+specimens of the sort of materials from which they may expect to find
+these Reminiscences are compiled. They are chosen to indicate a style of
+life and manners now fast fading away, and are taken from a period which
+lies within the scope of our own recollections. Now, a subject like this
+can only be illustrated by a copious application of anecdotes which must
+show the features of the past. And let me premise that I make use of
+anecdotes not for the purpose of telling a good story, but solely in the
+way of _illustration_. I am quite certain that there was an originality,
+a dry and humorous mode of viewing persons and events, quite _peculiar_
+to the older Scottish characters. And I am equally certain, that their
+peculiar humour can only be exhibited in examples. From the late Mr.
+Erskine of Linlathan I received the following:--Mr. Erskine recollected
+an old housekeeper at Airth, who belonged to this class of character. A
+speech of this Mrs. Henderson was preserved in the family as having been
+made by her at the time of the execution of Louis XVI. in 1793. She was
+noticing the violent emotion exhibited by Mr. Bruce of Kinnaird, the
+Abyssinian traveller, at the sad event which had just taken place, and
+added, in the following quaint and caustic terms, "There's Kinnaird
+greeting as if there was nae a saunt on earth but himsel' and the king
+o' France." How utterly unlike anything that would be said on such an
+occasion by an English person in the same position in life!
+
+For the same purpose, let me introduce a characteristic little Scottish
+scene, which my cousin, the late Sir Thomas Burnett of Leys, used to
+describe with great humour. Sir Thomas had a tenant on his estate, a
+very shrewd clever man, whom he was sometimes in the habit of consulting
+about country matters. On one occasion he came over to Crathes Castle,
+and asked to see Sir Thomas. He was accordingly ushered in, accompanied
+by a young man of very simple appearance, who gazed about the room in a
+stupid vacant manner. The old man began by saying that he understood
+there was a farm on the estate to be let, and that he knew a very fine
+young man whom he wished to recommend as tenant. He said he had plenty
+of _siller_, and had studied farming on the most approved
+principles--sheep-farming in the Highlands, cattle-farming in the
+Lowlands, and so forth, and, in short, was a model farmer. When he had
+finished his statement, Sir Thomas, looking very significantly at his
+companion, addressed the old man (as he was usually addressed in the
+county by the name of his farm)--"Well, Drummy, and is this your friend
+whom you propose for the farm?" to which Drummy replied, "Oh fie, na.
+Hout! that is a kind o' a _Feel_, a friend (_i.e._ a relation) o' the
+wife's, and I just brought him ower wi' me to show him the place."
+
+The question of change in the "life and character" of a people, during
+the period embraced in the reminiscences of an aged individual, must
+always be a subject for deep and serious consideration. In the case of
+Scotland, such changes comprise much that is interesting and amusing.
+But they also contain much matter for serious thought and reflection to
+the lovers of their country. In preparing the present edition of these
+Reminiscences, I have marked out many further changes, and have marked
+them from a deep feeling of interest in the moral and religious
+improvement of my country. To my readers I say that I hope we have all
+learned to view such changes under a more serious national aspect than a
+mere question of amusement or speculation. The Christian, when he looks
+around him on society, must observe many things which, as a patriot, he
+wishes might be permanent, and he marks many things which, as a patriot,
+he wishes were obliterated. What he desires should be enduring in his
+countrymen is, that abiding attributes of Scottish character should be
+associated amongst all men with truth and virtue--with honour and kindly
+feelings--with temperance and self-denial--with divine faith and
+love--with generosity and benevolence. On the other hand, he desires
+that what may become questions of tradition, and, in regard to his own
+land, REMINISCENCES of Scottish life, shall be--cowardice and folly,
+deceit and fraud, the low and selfish motives to action which make men
+traitors to their God and hateful to their fellow-men.
+
+It would be worse than affectation--it would be ingratitude--to disclaim
+being deeply impressed by the favourable reception which has for so long
+a time been given to these Reminiscences at home, in India, in America,
+and in all countries where Scotchmen are to be found.
+
+It is not the least of the enjoyments which I have had in compiling
+these pages, to hear of the kind sympathy which they have called forth
+in other minds, and often in the minds of strangers; and it would be
+difficult for me to describe the pleasure I have received when told by a
+friend that this work had cheered him in the hour of depression or of
+sickness--that even for a few moments it may have beguiled the weight of
+corroding care and worldly anxiety. I have been desirous of saying a
+word in favour of old Scottish life; and with some minds, perhaps, the
+book may have promoted a more kindly feeling towards hearts and heads of
+bygone days. And certainly I can now truly say, that my highest
+reward--my greatest honour and gratification--would spring from the
+feeling that it might become a standard volume in Scottish cottage
+libraries, and that by the firesides of Scotland these pages might
+become as Household Words.
+
+     EDINBURGH, 23 AINSLIE PLACE.
+     _St. Andrew's Day_[13]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[13] These words, "St. Andrew's Day," were deleted by the Dean; and
+though he lived till the 27th December, he did not touch the
+proof-sheets after the 19th November 1872.
+
+
+
+REMINISCENCES
+
+OF
+
+SCOTTISH LIFE AND CHARACTER.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER THE FIRST.
+
+INTRODUCTORY.
+
+I wish my readers always to bear in mind that these Reminiscences are
+meant to bear upon the changes which would include just such a
+revolution as that referred to at page 15 in the bonnet practice of
+Laurencekirk. There is no pretension to any researches of _antiquarian_
+character; they are in fact Reminiscences which come almost within
+personal recognition. A kind friend gave me anecdotes of the past in her
+hundredth year. In early life I was myself consigned to the care of my
+grand-uncle, Sir Alexander Ramsay, residing in Yorkshire, and he was
+born in 1715; so that I can go pretty far back on my own experience, and
+have thus become cognisant of many changes which might be expected as a
+consequence of such experience.
+
+I cannot imagine a better illustration of the sort of change in the
+domestic relations of life that has taken place in something like the
+time we speak of, than is shown in the following anecdote, which was
+kindly communicated to me by Professor MacGregor of the Free Church. I
+have pleasure in giving it in the Professor's own words:--"I happened
+one day to be at Panmure Castle when Lord Panmure (now Dalhousie) was
+giving a treat to a school, and was presented by the Monikie Free Church
+Deacons' Court with a Bible on occasion of his having cleared them
+finally of debt on their buildings. Afterwards his Lordship took me into
+the library, where, among other treasures, we found a handsome folio
+_Prayer Book_ presented to his ancestor Mr. Maule of Kelly by the
+Episcopalian minister of the district, on occasion of his having, by Mr.
+Maule's help, been brought out of jail. The coincidence and contrast
+were curiously interesting."
+
+For persons to take at various intervals a retrospective view of life,
+and of the characters they have met with, seems to be a natural feeling
+of human nature; and every one is disposed at times to recall to memory
+many circumstances and many individuals which suggest abundant subjects
+for reflection. We thus find recollections of scenes in which we have
+been joyous and happy. We think of others with which we only associate
+thoughts of sorrow and of sadness. Amongst these varied emotions we find
+subjects for reminiscences, of which we would bury the feelings in our
+own hearts as being too sacred for communication with others. Then,
+again, there are many things of the past concerning which we delight to
+take counsel with friends and contemporaries. Some persons are disposed
+to go beyond these personal communications with friends, and having
+through life been accustomed to write down memoranda of their own
+feelings, have published them to the world. Many interesting works have
+thus been contributed to our literature by writers who have sent forth
+volumes in the form of _Memoirs of their Own Times, Personal
+Recollections, Remarks upon Past Scenes_, etc. etc. It is not within
+the scope of this work to examine these, nor can I specify the many
+communications I have from different persons, both at home and in our
+colonial possessions; in fact, the references in many cases have been
+lost or mislaid. But I must acknowledge, however briefly, my obligations
+to Dr. Carruthers, Inverness, and to Dr. Cook, Haddington, who have
+favoured me with valuable contributions.
+
+Now, when we come to examine the general question of memoirs connected
+with contemporary history, no work is better known in connection with
+this department of Scottish literature than the _History of his Own
+Times_, by my distinguished relative, Dr. Gilbert Burnett, Bishop of
+Salisbury. Bishop Burnett's father, Lord Crimond, was third son of my
+father's family, the Burnetts of Leys, in Kincardineshire. There is now
+at Crathes Castle, the family seat, a magnificent full-length portrait
+of the Bishop in his robes, as Prelate of the Garter, by Sir Godfrey
+Kneller. It was presented by himself to the head of his family. But, as
+one great object of the Bishop's history was to laud and magnify the
+personal character and public acts of William of Orange, his friend and
+patron, and as William was held in special abhorrence by the Jacobite
+party in Scotland, the Bishop holds a prominent, and, with many, a very
+odious position in Scottish Reminiscences; in fact, he drew upon himself
+and upon his memory the determined hatred and unrelenting hostility of
+adherents to the Stuart cause. They never failed to abuse him on all
+occasions, and I recollect old ladies in Montrose, devoted to the exiled
+Prince, with whom the epithet usually applied to the Prelate was that of
+"Leein' Gibby[14]."
+
+Such language has happily become a "Reminiscence." Few would be found
+now to apply such an epithet to the author of the _History of his Own
+Times_, and certainly it would not be applied on the ground of the
+Jacobite principles to which he was opposed. But a curious additional
+proof of this hostility of Scottish Jacobites to the memory of Burnett
+has lately come to light. In a box of political papers lately found at
+Brechin Castle, belonging to the Panmure branch of the family, who, in
+'15, were forfeited on the ground of their Jacobite opinions and
+adherence to the cause of Charles Edward, there has been found a severe
+and bitter supposed _epitaph_ for Bishop Burnett. By the kindness of the
+Earl of Dalhousie I was permitted to see this epitaph, and, if I chose,
+to print it in this edition. I am, however, unwilling to stain my pages
+with such an ungenerous and, indeed, I may say, so scurrilous a
+representation of the character of one who, in the just opinion of our
+Lyon King-at-Arms, himself a Burnett of the Kemnay branch, has
+characterised the Bishop of Salisbury as "true and honest, and far
+beyond the standard of his times as a Clergyman and as a Bishop." But
+the epitaph found in these Panmure papers shows clearly the prejudices
+of the age in which it was written, and in fact only embodies something
+of that spirit and of those opinions which we have known as still
+lingering in our own Reminiscences.
+
+If it were not on my part a degree of presumption, I might be inclined
+to consider myself in this volume a fellow-labourer with the late
+accomplished and able Mr. Robert Chambers. In a very limited sphere it
+takes a portion of the same field of illustration. I should consider
+myself to have done well if I shall direct any of my readers to his able
+volumes. Whosoever wishes to know what this country really was in times
+past, and to learn, with a precision beyond what is supplied by the
+narratives of history, the details of the ordinary current of our
+social, civil, and national life, must carefully study the _Domestic
+Annals of Scotland_. Never before were a nation's domestic features so
+thoroughly portrayed. Of those features the specimens of quaint Scottish
+humour still remembered are unlike anything else, but they are fast
+becoming obsolete, and my motive for this publication has been an
+endeavour to preserve marks of the past which would of themselves soon
+become obliterated, and to supply the rising generation with pictures of
+social life, faded and indistinct to their eyes, but the strong lines of
+which an older race still remember. By thus coming forward at a
+favourable moment, no doubt many beautiful specimens of SCOTTISH
+MINSTRELSY have in this manner been preserved from oblivion by the
+timely exertions of Bishop Percy, Ritson, Walter Scott, and others. Lord
+Macaulay, in his preface to _The Lays of Ancient Rome_, shows very
+powerfully the tendency in all that lingers in the memory to become
+obsolete, and he does not hesitate to say that "Sir Walter Scott was but
+_just in time_ to save the precious relics of the minstrelsy of
+the Border."
+
+It is quite evident that those who have in Scotland come to an advanced
+age, must have found some things to have been really changed about them,
+and that on them great alterations have already taken place. There are
+some, however, which yet may be in a transition state; and others in
+which, although changes are threatened, still it cannot be said that the
+changes are begum I have been led to a consideration of impending
+alterations as likely to take place, by the recent appearance of two
+very remarkable and very interesting papers on subjects closely
+connected with great social Scottish questions, where a revolution of
+opinion may be expected. These are two articles in _Recess Studies_
+(1870), a volume edited by our distinguished Principal, Sir Alexander
+Grant. One essay is by Sir Alexander himself, upon the "Endowed
+Hospitals of Scotland;" the other by the Rev. Dr. Wallace of the
+Greyfriars, upon "Church Tendencies in Scotland." It would be quite
+irrelevant for me to enlarge here upon the merits of those articles. No
+one could study them attentively without being impressed with the
+ability and power displayed in them by the authors, their grasp of the
+subjects, and their fair impartial judgment upon the various questions
+which come under their notice.
+
+From these able disquisitions, and from other prognostics, it is quite
+evident that sounder principles of political economy and accurate
+experience of human life show that much of the old Scottish hospital
+system was quite wrong and must be changed. Changes are certainly going
+on, which seem to indicate that the very hard Presbyterian views of some
+points connected with Church matters are in transition. I have elsewhere
+spoken of a past sabbatarian strictness, and I have lately received an
+account of a strictness in observing the national fast-day, or day
+appointed for preparation in celebrating Holy Communion, which has in
+some measure passed away. The anecdote adduced the example of two
+drovers who were going on very quietly together. They had to pass
+through a district whereof one was a parishioner, and during their
+progress through it the one whistled with all his might, the other
+screwed up his mouth without emitting a single sound. When they came to
+a burn, the silent one, on then crossing the stream, gave a skip, and
+began whistling with all his might, exclaiming with great triumph to his
+companion, "I'm beyond the parish of Forfar now, and I'll whistle as
+muckle as I like." It happened to be the Forfar parish fast-day. But a
+still stricter observance was shown by a native of Kirkcaldy, who, when
+asked by his companion drover in the south of Scotland "why he didna
+whistle," quietly answered, "I canna, man; it's our fast-day in
+Kirkcaldy." I have an instance of a very grim assertion of extreme
+sabbatarian zeal. A maid-servant had come to a new place, and on her
+mistress quietly asking her on Sunday evening to wash up some dishes,
+she indignantly replied, "Mem, I hae dune mony sins, and hae mony sins
+to answer for; but, thank God, I hae never been sae far left to mysell
+as to wash up dishes on the Sabbath day."
+
+I hope it will not for a moment be supposed we would willingly throw any
+ridicule or discouragement on the Scottish national tendencies on the
+subject, or that we are not proud of Scotland's example of a sacred
+observance of the fourth commandment in the letter and the spirit. We
+refer now to injudicious extremes, such, indeed, as our Lord condemned,
+and which seem a fair subject for notice amongst Scottish peculiarities.
+But the philosophy of the question is curious. Scotland has ever made
+her boast of the simplest form of worship, and a worship free from
+ceremonial, more even than the Church of England, which is received as,
+in doctrine and ritual, the Church of the Reformation. In some respects,
+therefore, may you truly say the only standing recognised observance in
+the ceremonial part of Presbyterian worship is the Sabbath day--an
+observance which has been pushed in times past even beyond the extreme
+of a spirit of Judaism, as if the sabbatical ceremonial were made a
+substitute for all other ceremony. In this, as well as in other matters
+which we have pointed out, what changes have taken place, what changes
+are going on! It may be difficult to assign precise causes for such
+changes having taken place among us, and that during the lifetime of
+individuals now living to remember them. It has been a period for many
+changes in manners, habits, and forms of language, such as we have
+endeavoured to mark in this volume. The fact of such changes is
+indisputable, and sometimes it is difficult not only to assign the
+causes for them, but even to describe in what the changes themselves
+consist. They are gradual, and almost imperceptible. Scottish people
+lose their Scotchness; they leave home, and return without those
+expressions and intonations, and even peculiarity of voice and manner,
+which used to distinguish us from Southern neighbours. In all this, I
+fear, we lose our originality. It has not passed away, but with every
+generation becomes less like the real type.
+
+I would introduce here a specimen of the precise sort of changes to
+which I would refer, as an example of the reminiscences intended to be
+introduced into these pages. We have in earlier editions given an
+account of the pains taken by Lord Gardenstone to extend and improve his
+rising village of Laurencekirk; amongst other devices he had brought
+down, as settlers, a variety of artificers and workmen from England.
+With these he had introduced a _hatter_ from Newcastle; but on taking
+him to church next day after his arrival, the poor man saw that he might
+decamp without loss of time, as he could not expect much success in his
+calling at Laurencekirk; in fact, he found Lord Gardenstone's and his
+own the only hats in the kirk--the men all wore then the flat Lowland
+bonnet. But how quickly times change! My excellent friend, Mr. Gibbon
+of Johnstone, Lord Gardenstone's own place, which is near Laurencekirk,
+tells me that at the present time _one_ solitary Lowland bonnet lingers
+in the parish.
+
+Hats are said to have been first brought into Inverness by Duncan Forbes
+of Culloden, the Lord President, who died in 1747. Forbes is reported to
+have presented the provost and bailies with cocked hats, which they wore
+only on Sundays and council days. About 1760 a certain Deacon Young
+began daily to wear a hat, and the country people crowding round him,
+the Deacon used humorously to say, "What do you see about me, sirs? am I
+not a mortal man like yourselves?" The broad blue bonnets I speak of
+long continued to be worn in the Highland capital, and are still
+occasionally to be seen there, though generally superseded by the
+Glengarry bonnet and ordinary hat. It is a minor change, but a very
+decided one.
+
+The changes which have taken place, and which give rise to such
+"Reminiscences," are very numerous, and meet us at every turn in
+society. Take, for example, the case of our Highland chieftains. We may
+still retain the appellation, and talk of the chiefs of Clanranald, of
+Glengarry, etc. But how different is a chieftain of the present day,
+even from some of those of whom Sir Walter Scott wrote as existing so
+late as 1715 or 1745! Dr. Gregory (of immortal _mixture_ memory) used to
+tell a story of an old Highland chieftain, intended to show how such
+Celtic potentates were, even in his day, still inclined to hold
+themselves superior to all the usual considerations which affected
+ordinary mortals. The doctor, after due examination, had, in his usual
+decided and blunt manner, pronounced the liver of a Highlander to be at
+fault, and to be the cause of his ill-health. His patient, who could not
+but consider this as taking a great liberty with a Highland chieftain,
+roared out--"And what the devil is it to you whether I have a liver or
+not?" But there is the case of dignity in Lowland Lairds as well as
+clan-headship in Highland Chiefs. In proof of this, I need only point to
+a practice still lingering amongst us of calling landed proprietors, not
+as Mr. So-and-so, but by the names of their estates. I recollect, in my
+early days, a number of our proprietors were always so designated. Thus,
+it was not as Mr. Carnegie, Mr. Douglas, Mr. Irvine, etc., but as
+Craigo, Tillwhilly, Drum, etc.
+
+An amusing application of such a territorial denominative system to the
+locality of London was narrated to me by a friend who witnessed it. A
+Scottish gentleman, who had never been in the metropolis, arrived fresh
+from the Highlands, and met a small party at the house of a London
+friend. A person was present of most agreeable manners, who delighted
+the Scotsman exceedingly. He heard the company frequently referring to
+this gentleman's residence in Piccadilly, to his house in Piccadilly,
+and so on. When addressed by the gentleman, he commenced his reply,
+anxious to pay him all due respect--"Indeed, Piccadilly," etc. He
+supposed Piccadilly must be his own territorial locality. Another
+instance of mistake, arising out of Scottish ignorance of London ways,
+was made by a North Briton on his first visit to the great city. He
+arrived at a hotel in Fleet Street, where many of the country coaches
+then put up. On the following morning he supposed that such a crowd as
+he encountered could only proceed from some "occasion," and must pass
+off in due time. Accordingly, a friend from Scotland found him standing
+in a doorway, as if waiting for some one. His countryman asked him what
+made him stand there. To which he answered--"Ou, I was just stan'ing
+till the kirk had scaled." The ordinary appearance of his native borough
+made the crowd of Fleet Street suggest to him the idea of a church crowd
+passing out to their several homes, called in Scotland a "kirk scaling."
+A London street object called forth a similar simple remark from a
+Scotsman. He had come to London on his way to India, and for a few days
+had time to amuse himself by sight-seeing before his departure. He had
+been much struck with the appearance of the mounted sentinels at the
+Horse Guards, Whitehall, and bore them in remembrance during his Eastern
+sojourn. On his return, after a period of thirty years, on passing the
+Horse Guards, he looked up to one, and seeing him, as he thought,
+unchanged as to horse, position, and accoutrements, he exclaimed--"Od,
+freend, ye hae had a lang spell on't sin' I left," supposing him to be
+the identical sentinel he had seen before he sailed.
+
+It is interesting to preserve national peculiarities which are thus
+passing away from us. One great pleasure I have had in their collection,
+and that is the numerous and sympathetic communications I have received
+from Scotsmen, I may literally say from Scotsmen _in all quarters of the
+world_; sometimes communicating very good examples of Scottish humour,
+and always expressing their great pleasure in reading, when in distant
+lands and foreign scenes, anecdotes which reminded them of Scotland, and
+of their ain days of "auld langsyne."
+
+There is no mistaking the national attachment so strong in the Scottish
+character. Men return after long absence, in this respect, unchanged;
+whilst absent, Scotsmen _never_ forget their Scottish home. In all
+varieties of lands and climates their hearts ever turn towards the "land
+o' cakes and brither Scots." Scottish festivals are kept with Scottish
+feeling on "Greenland's icy mountains" or "India's coral strand." I
+received an amusing account of an ebullition of this patriotic feeling
+from my late noble friend the Marquis of Lothian, who met with it when
+travelling in India. He happened to arrive at a station upon the eve of
+St. Andrew's Day, and received an invitation to join a Scottish dinner
+party in commemoration of old Scotland. There was a great deal of
+Scottish enthusiasm. There were _seven_ sheep-heads (singed) down the
+table; and Lord Lothian told me that after dinner he sang with great
+applause "The Laird o' Cockpen."
+
+Another anecdote arising out of Scotsmen meeting in distant lands, is
+rather of a more serious character, and used to be told with exquisite
+humour by the late lamented Dr. Norman Macleod. A settler in Australia,
+who for a long time had heard nothing of his Scottish kith and kin, was
+delighted at the arrival of a countryman direct from his own part of the
+country. When he met with him, the following conversation took place
+between them:--_Q_. "Ye ken my fouk, friend; can ye tell me gin my
+faather's alive?" _A_.--"Hout, na; he's deed." _Q_.--"Deed! What did he
+dee o'? was it fever?" _A_.--"Na, it wasna fever." _Q_.--"Was it
+cholera?" _A_.--"Na." The question being pressed, the stranger drily
+said, "Sheep," and then he accompanied the ominous word by delicately
+and significantly pointing to the jugular under his ear. The man had
+been hanged for sheep-stealing!
+
+It must always be amusing for Scotsmen to meet in distant lands, and
+there to play off on each other the same dry, quaint humour which
+delighted them in their native land, and in their early days at home. An
+illustration of this remark has been communicated by a kind
+correspondent at Glasgow. Mrs. Hume, a true Scot, sends me the following
+dialogue, accompanied by a very clever etching of the parties, from the
+Melbourne _Punch_, August 17, 1871, headed "Too Poor,--_Night of
+Waverley Concert_."
+
+_Southron_.--You here, Mac! you ought to have been at the concert, you
+know. Aren't you one of the 'Scots wha hae?'
+
+_Mac_.--Indeed no. I'm are o' the Scots wha hae na, or I wadna be here
+the nicht.
+
+He would not have stayed at home if he had been one of the "Scots wha
+hae."
+
+I am assured that the genuineness of the following anecdote is
+unquestionable, as my informant received it from the person to whom it
+occurred. A popular Anglican Nonconformist minister was residing with a
+family in Glasgow while on a visit to that city, whither he had gone on
+a deputation from the Wesleyan Missionary Society. After dinner, in
+reply to an invitation to partake of some fine fruit, he mentioned to
+the family a curious circumstance concerning himself--viz. that he had
+never in his life tasted an apple, pear, grape, or indeed any kind of
+green fruit. This fact seemed to evoke considerable surprise from the
+company, but a cautious Scotsman, of a practical, matter-of-fact turn of
+mind, who had listened with much unconcern, drily remarked, "It's a
+peety but ye had been in Paradise, and there micht na hae been ony faa."
+I have spoken elsewhere of the cool matter-of-fact manner in which the
+awful questions connected with the funerals of friends are often
+approached by Scottish people, without the least intention or purpose of
+being irreverent or unfeeling. By the kindness of Mr. Lyon, I am enabled
+to give an authentic anecdote of a curious character, illustrative of
+this habit of mind, and I cannot do better than give it in his own
+words:--"An old tenant of my late father, George Lyon of Wester Ogil,
+many years ago, when on his deathbed, and his end near at hand, his wife
+thus addressed him: 'Willie, Willie, as lang as ye can speak, tell us
+are ye for your burial-baps round or _square_?' Willie having responded
+to this inquiry, was next asked if the _murners_ were to have _glooes_
+(gloves) or mittens, the former being articles with fingers, the latter
+having only a thumb-piece; and Willie, having also answered this
+question, was allowed to depart in peace."
+
+There could not be a better example of this familiar handling, without
+meaning offence, than one which has just been sent to me by a kind
+correspondent. I give her own words. "Happening to call on a poor
+neighbour, I asked after the children of a person who lived close by."
+She replied, "They're no hame yet; gaed awa to the English kirk to get
+_a clap_ o' _the heid_. It was the day of _confirmation_ for St. Paul's.
+This definition of the 'outward and visible sign' would look rather odd
+in the catechism. But the poor woman said it from no disrespect; it was
+merely her way of answering my question." But remarks on serious
+subjects often go to deeper views of religious matters than might be
+expected from the position of the parties and the terms made use of.
+
+Of the wise and shrewd judgment of the Scottish character, as bearing
+upon religious pretensions, I have an apt example from my friend Dr.
+Norman Macleod. During one of the late revivals in Scotland, a small
+farmer went about preaching with much fluency and zeal the doctrine of a
+"full assurance" of faith, and expressed his belief of it for himself in
+such extravagant terms as few men would venture upon who were humble and
+cautious against presumption. The "preacher," being personally rather
+remarkable as a man of greedy and selfish views in life, excited some
+suspicion in the breast of an old sagacious countryman, a neighbour of
+Dr. Macleod, who asked him what _he_ thought of John as a preacher, and
+of his doctrine. Scratching his head, as if in some doubt, he replied,
+"I'm no verra sure o' Jock. I never ken't a man _sae sure o' Heaven, and
+sae sweert to be gaing tae't_." He showed his sagacity, for John was
+soon after in prison for theft.
+
+Another story gives a good idea of the Scottish matter-of-fact view of
+things being brought to bear upon a religious question without meaning
+to be profane or irreverent. Dr. Macleod was on a Highland loch when a
+storm came on which threatened serious consequences. The doctor, a large
+powerful man, was accompanied by a clerical friend of diminutive size
+and small appearance, who began to speak seriously to the boatmen of
+their danger, and proposed that all present should join in prayer. "Na,
+na," said the chief boatman; "let the _little_ ane gang to pray, but
+first the big ane maun tak an oar." Illustrative of the same spirit was
+the reply of a Scotsman of the genuine old school, "Boatie" of Deeside,
+of whom I have more to say, to a relative of mine. He had been nearly
+lost in a squall, and saved after great exertion, and was told by my
+aunt that he should be grateful to providence for his safety. The man,
+not meaning to be at all ungrateful, but viewing his preservation in
+the purely hard matter-of-fact light, quietly answered, "Weel, weel,
+Mrs. Russell; Providence here or Providence there, an I hadna worked
+sair mysell I had been drouned."
+
+Old Mr. Downie, the parish minister of Banchory, was noted, in my
+earliest days, for his quiet pithy remarks on men and things, as they
+came before him. His reply to his son, of whose social position he had
+no very exalted opinion, was of this class. Young Downie had come to
+visit his father from the West Indies, and told him that on his return
+he was to be married to a lady whose high qualities and position he
+spoke of in extravagant terms. He assured his father that she was "quite
+young, was very rich, and very beautiful." "Aweel, Jemmy," said the old
+man, very quietly and very slily, "I'm thinking there maun be some
+_faut_." Of the dry sarcasm we have a good example in the quiet
+utterance of a good Scottish phrase by an elder of a Free Kirk lately
+formed. The minister was an eloquent man, and had attracted one of the
+town-council, who, it was known, hardly ever entered the door of a
+church, and now came on motives of curiosity. He was talking very grand
+to some of the congregation: "Upon my word, your minister is a very
+eloquent man. Indeed, he will quite convert me." One of the elders,
+taking the word in a higher sense than the speaker intended, quietly
+replied, "Indeed, Bailie, there's _muckle need_."
+
+A kind correspondent sends me an illustration of this quaint
+matter-of-fact view of a question as affecting the sentiments or the
+feelings. He tells me he knew an old lady who was a stout large woman,
+and who with this state of body had many ailments, which she bore
+cheerfully and patiently. When asked one day by a friend, "How she was
+keeping," she replied, "Ou, just middling; there's _ower muckle o' me_
+to be a' weel at ae time." No Englishwoman would have given such an
+answer. The same class of character is very strongly marked in a story
+which was told by Mr. Thomas Constable, who has a keen appreciation of a
+good Scottish story, and tells it inimitably. He used to visit an old
+lady who was much attenuated by long illness, and on going up stairs one
+tremendously hot afternoon, the daughter was driving away the flies,
+which were very troublesome, and was saying, "Thae flies will eat up a'
+that remains o' my puir mither." The old lady opened her eyes, and the
+last words she spoke were, "What's left o' me's guid eneuch for them."
+
+The spirit of caution and wariness by which the Scottish character is
+supposed to be distinguished has given rise to many of these national
+anecdotes.
+
+Certainly this cautious spirit thus pervaded the opinions of the
+Scottish architect who was called upon to erect a building in England
+upon the long-lease system, so common with Anglican proprietors, but
+quite new to our Scottish friend. When he found the proposal was to
+build upon the tenure of 999 years, he quietly suggested, "Culd ye no
+mak it a _thousand_? 999 years'll be slippin' awa'."
+
+But of all the cautious and careful answers we ever heard of was one
+given by a carpenter to an old lady in Glasgow, for whom he was working,
+and the anecdote is well authenticated. She had offered him a dram, and
+asked him whether he would have it then or wait till his work was
+done--"Indeed, mem," he said, "there's been sic a power o' sudden deaths
+lately that I'll just tak it now." He would guard against contingency
+and secure his dram.
+
+The following is a good specimen of the same humour:--A minister had
+been preaching against covetousness and the love of money, and had
+frequently repeated how "love of money was the root of all evil" Two old
+bodies walking home from church--one said, "An' wasna the minister
+strang upo' the money?" "Nae doubt," said the other, rather
+hesitatingly; and added, "ay, but it's grand to hae the wee bit siller
+in your haund when ye gang an errand."
+
+I have still another specimen of this national, cool, and deliberative
+view of a question, which seems characteristic of the temperament of our
+good countrymen. Some time back, when it was not uncommon for challenges
+to be given and accepted for insults, or supposed insults, an English
+gentleman was entertaining a party at Inverness with an account of the
+wonders he had seen and the deeds he had performed in India, from whence
+he had lately arrived. He enlarged particularly upon the size of the
+tigers he had met with at different times in his travels, and by way of
+corroborating his statements, assured the company that he had shot one
+himself considerably above forty feet long. A Scottish gentleman
+present, who thought that these narratives rather exceeded a traveller's
+allowed privileges, coolly said that no doubt those were very remarkable
+tigers; but that he could assure the gentleman there were in that
+northern part of the country some wonderful animals, and, as an example,
+he cited the existence of a skate-fish captured off Thurso, which
+exceeded half-an-acre in extent. The Englishman saw this was intended as
+a sarcasm against his own story, so he left the room in indignation, and
+sent his friend, according to the old plan, to demand satisfaction or an
+apology from the gentleman, who had, he thought, insulted him. The
+narrator of the skate story coolly replied, "Weel, sir, gin yer freend
+will tak' a few feet aff the length o' his tiger, we'll see what can be
+dune about the breadth o' the skate." He was too cautious to commit
+himself to a rash or decided course of conduct. When the tiger was
+shortened, he would take into consideration a reduction of superficial
+area in his skate.
+
+A kind correspondent has sent me about as good a specimen of dry
+Scottish quiet humour as I know. A certain Aberdeenshire laird, who kept
+a very good poultry-yard, could not command a fresh egg for his
+breakfast, and felt much aggrieved by the want. One day, however, he met
+his grieve's wife with a nice basket, and very suspiciously going
+towards the market; on passing and speaking a word, he was enabled to
+discover that her basket was full of beautiful white eggs. Next time he
+talked with his grieve, he said to him, "James, I like you very well,
+and I think you serve me faithfully, but I cannot say I admire your
+wife." To which the cool reply was, "Oh, 'deed, sir, I'm no surprised at
+that, for I dinna muckle admire her mysel'."
+
+An answer very much resembling this, and as much to the point, was that
+of a gudewife on Deeside, whose daughter had just been married and had
+left her for her new home. A lady asked the mother very kindly about her
+daughter, and said she hoped she liked her new home and new relations.
+"Ou, my lady, she likes the parish weel eneuch, but she doesna think
+muckle o' her _man_!"
+
+The natives of Aberdeenshire are distinguished for the two qualities of
+being very acute in their remarks and very peculiar in their language.
+Any one may still gain a thorough knowledge of Aberdeen dialect and see
+capital examples of Aberdeen humour. I have been supplied with a
+remarkable example of this combination of Aberdeen shrewdness with
+Aberdeen dialect. In the course of the week after the Sunday on which
+several elders of an Aberdeen parish had been set apart for parochial
+offices, a knot of the parishioners had assembled at what was in all
+parishes a great place of resort for idle gossiping--the smiddy or
+blacksmith's workshop. The qualifications of the new elders were
+severely criticised. One of the speakers emphatically laid down that the
+minister should not have been satisfied, and had in fact made a most
+unfortunate choice. He was thus answered by another parish
+oracle--perhaps the schoolmaster, perhaps a weaver:--"Fat better culd
+the man dee nir he's dune?--he bud tae big's dyke wi' the feal at fit
+o't." He meant there was no choice of material--he could only take
+what offered.
+
+By the kindness of Dr. Begg, I have a most amusing anecdote to
+illustrate how deeply long-tried associations were mixed up with the
+habits of life in the older generation. A junior minister having to
+assist at a church in a remote part of Aberdeenshire, the parochial
+minister (one of the old school) promised his young friend a good glass
+of whisky-toddy after all was over, adding slily and very significantly,
+"and gude _smuggled_ whusky." His Southron guest thought it incumbent to
+say, "Ah, minister, that's wrong, is it not? you know it is contrary to
+Act of Parliament." The old Aberdonian could not so easily give up his
+fine whisky to what he considered an unjust interference; so he quietly
+said, "Oh, Acts o' Parliament lose their breath before they get to
+Aberdeenshire."
+
+There is something very amusing in the idea of what may be called the
+"fitness of things," in regard to snuff-taking, which occurred to an
+honest Highlander, a genuine lover of sneeshin. At the door of the
+Blair-Athole Hotel he observed standing a magnificent man in full
+tartans, and noticed with much admiration the wide dimensions of his
+nostrils in a fine upturned nose. He accosted him, and, as his most
+complimentary act, offered him his mull for a pinch. The stranger drew
+up, and rather haughtily said: "I never take snuff." "Oh," said the
+other, "that's a peety, for there's grand _accommodation_[15]!"
+
+I don't know a better example of the sly sarcasm than the following
+answer of a Scottish servant to the violent command of his enraged
+master. A well-known coarse and abusive Scottish law functionary, when
+driving out of his grounds, was shaken by his carriage coming in contact
+with a large stone at the gate. He was very angry, and ordered the
+gatekeeper to have it removed before his return. On driving home,
+however, he encountered another severe shock by the wheels coming in
+contact with the very same stone, which remained in the very same place.
+Still more irritated than before, in his usual coarse language he called
+the gatekeeper, and roared out: "You rascal, if you don't send that
+beastly stone to h---, I'll break your head." "Well," said the man
+quietly, and as if he had received an order which he had to execute, and
+without meaning anything irreverent, "aiblins gin it were sent to heevan
+_it wad be mair out o' your Lordship's way_."
+
+I think about as cool a Scottish "aside" as I know, was that of the old
+dealer who, when exhorting his son to practise honesty in his dealings,
+on the ground of its being the "best policy," quietly added, "I _hae
+tried baith_"
+
+In this work frequent mention is made of a class of old _ladies_,
+generally residing in small towns, who retained till within the memory
+of many now living the special characteristics I have referred to. Owing
+to local connection, I have brought forward those chiefly who lived in
+Montrose and the neighbourhood. But the race is extinct; you might as
+well look for hoops and farthingales in society as for such characters
+now. You can scarcely imagine an old lady, however quaint, now making
+use of some of the expressions recorded in the text, or saying, for the
+purpose of breaking up a party of which she was tired, from holding bad
+cards, "We'll stop now, bairns; I'm no enterteened;" or urging more
+haste in going to church on the plea, "Come awa, or I'll be ower late
+for the 'wicked man'"--her mode of expressing the commencement of
+the service.
+
+Nothing could better illustrate the quiet pawky style for which our
+countrymen have been distinguished, than the old story of the piper and
+the wolves. A Scottish piper was passing through a deep forest. In the
+evening he sat down to take his supper. He had hardly begun, when a
+number of hungry wolves, prowling about for food, collected round him.
+In self-defence, the poor man began to throw pieces of his victuals to
+them, which they greedily devoured. When he had disposed of all, in a
+fit of despair he took his pipes and began to play. The unusual sound
+terrified the wolves, which, one and all, took to their heels and
+scampered off in every direction: on observing which, Sandy quietly
+remarked, "Od, an I'd kenned ye liket the pipes sae weel, I'd a gien ye
+a spring _afore_ supper."
+
+This imperturbable mode of looking at the events of life is illustrated
+by perhaps the _most_ cautious answer on record, of the Scotsman who,
+being asked if he could play the fiddle, warily answered, "He couldna
+say, for he had never tried." But take other cases. For example: One
+tremendously hot day, during the old stage-coach system, I was going
+down to Portobello, when the coachman drew up to take in a gentleman who
+had hailed him on the road. He was evidently an Englishman--a fat man,
+and in a perfect state of "thaw and dissolution" from the heat and dust.
+He wiped himself, and exclaimed, as a remark addressed to the company
+generally, "D----d hot it is." No one said anything for a time, till a
+man in the corner slily remarked, "I dinna doubt, sir, but it may." The
+cautiousness against committing himself unreservedly to any proposition,
+however plausible, was quite delicious.
+
+A more determined objection to giving a categorical answer occurred, as
+I have been assured, in regard to a more profound question. A party
+travelling on a railway got into deep discussion on theological
+questions. Like Milton's spirits in Pandemonium, they had
+
+                         "Reason'd high
+     Of providence, fore-knowledge, will, and fate--
+     Fix'd fate, free-will, fore-knowledge absolute;
+     And found no end, in wand'ring mazes lost."
+
+A plain Scotsman present seemed much interested in these matters, and
+having expressed himself as not satisfied with the explanations which
+had been elicited in the course of discussion on a particular point
+regarding predestination, one of the party said to him that he had
+observed a minister, whom they all knew, in the adjoining compartment,
+and that when the train stopped at the next station a few minutes, he
+could go and ask _his_ opinion. The good man accordingly availed himself
+of the opportunity to get hold of the minister, and lay their difficulty
+before him. He returned in time to resume his own place, and when they
+had started again, the gentleman who had advised him, finding him not
+much disposed to voluntary communication, asked if he had seen the
+minister. "O ay," he said, "he had seen him." "And did you propose the
+question to him?" "O ay." "And what did he say?" "Oh, he just said he
+didna ken; and what was mair he didna _care!_"
+
+I have received the four following admirable anecdotes, illustrative of
+dry Scottish pawky humour, from an esteemed minister of the Scottish
+Church, the Rev. W. Mearns of Kinneff. I now record them nearly in the
+same words as his own kind communication. The anecdotes are as
+follow:--An aged minister of the old school, Mr. Patrick Stewart, one
+Sunday took to the pulpit a sermon without observing that the first leaf
+or two were so worn and eaten away that he couldn't decipher or announce
+the text. He was not a man, however, to be embarrassed or taken aback by
+a matter of this sort, but at once intimated the state of matters to the
+congregation,--"My brethren, I canna tell ye the text, for the mice hae
+eaten it; but we'll just begin whaur the mice left aff, and when I come
+to it I'll let you ken."
+
+In the year 1843, shortly after the Disruption, a parish minister had
+left the manse and removed to about a mile's distance. His pony got
+loose one day, and galloped down the road in the direction of the old
+glebe. The minister's man in charge ran after the pony in a great fuss,
+and when passing a large farm-steading on the way, cried out to the
+farmer, who was sauntering about, but did not know what had taken
+place--"Oh, sir, did _ye_ see the minister's shault?" "No, no," was the
+answer,--"but what's happened?" "Ou, sir, fat do ye think? the
+minister's shault's _got lowse_ frae his tether, an' I'm frichtened he's
+ta'en the road doun to the auld glebe." "Weel-a-wicht!"--was the shrewd
+clever rejoinder of the farmer, who was a keen supporter of the old
+parish church, "I wad _na_ wonder at _that_. An' I'se warrant, gin the
+minister was gettin' _lowse_ frae _his_ tether, he wad jist tak the
+same road."
+
+An old clerical friend upon Speyside, a confirmed bachelor, on going up
+to the pulpit one Sunday to preach, found, after giving out the psalm,
+that he had forgotten his sermon. I do not know what his objections were
+to his leaving the pulpit, and going to the manse for his sermon, but he
+preferred sending his old confidential housekeeper for it. He
+accordingly stood up in the pulpit, stopped the singing which had
+commenced, and thus accosted his faithful domestic:--"Annie; I say,
+Annie, _we've_ committed a mistak the day. Ye maun jist gang your waa's
+hame, and ye'll get my sermon oot o' my breek-pouch, an' we'll sing to
+the praise o' the Lord till ye come back again." Annie, of course, at
+once executed her important mission, and brought the sermon out of "the
+breek-pouch," and the service, so far as we heard, was completed without
+further interruption.
+
+My dear friend, the late Rev. Dr. John Hunter, told me an anecdote very
+characteristic of the unimaginative matter-of-fact Scottish view of
+matters. One of the ministers of Edinburgh, a man of dry humour, had a
+daughter who had for some time passed the period of youth and of
+beauty. She had become an Episcopalian, an event which the Doctor
+accepted with much good-nature, and he was asking her one day if she did
+not intend to be confirmed. "Well," she said, "I don't know. I
+understand Mr. Craig always kisses the candidates whom he prepares, and
+I could not stand that." "Indeed, Jeanie," said the Doctor slily, "gin
+Edward Craig _were_ to gie ye a kiss, I dinna think ye would be muckle
+the waur."
+
+Many anecdotes characteristic of the Scottish peasant often turn upon
+words and ideas connected with Holy Scripture. This is not to be
+considered as in any sense profane or irreverent; but it arises from the
+Bible being to the peasantry of an older generation their library--their
+only book. We have constant indications of this almost exclusive
+familiarity with Scripture ideas. At the late ceremonial in the north,
+when the Archbishop of Canterbury laid the foundation of a Bishop's
+Church at Inverness, a number of persons, amid the general interest and
+kindly feeling displayed by the inhabitants, were viewing the procession
+from a hill as it passed along. When the clergy, to the number of sixty,
+came on, an old woman, who was watching the whole scene with some
+jealousy, exclaimed, at sight of the surplices, "There they go, the
+_whited_ sepulchres!" I received another anecdote illustrative of the
+same remark from an esteemed minister of the Free Church: I mean of the
+hold which Scripture expressions have upon the minds of our Scottish
+peasantry. One of his flock was a sick nervous woman, who hardly ever
+left the house. But one fine afternoon, when she was left alone, she
+fancied she would like to get a little air in the field adjoining the
+house. Accordingly she put on a bonnet and wrapped herself in a huge
+red shawl. Creeping along the dyke-side, some cattle were attracted
+towards her, and first one and then another gathered round, and she took
+shelter in the ditch till she was relieved by some one coming up to her
+rescue. She afterwards described her feelings to her minister in strong
+language, adding, "And eh, sir! when I lay by the dyke, and the beasts
+round a' glowerin' at me, I thocht what Dauvid maun hae felt when he
+said--'Many bulls have compassed me; strong bulls of Bashan have beset
+me round.'"
+
+With the plainness and pungency of the old-fashioned Scottish language
+there was sometimes a coarseness of expression, which, although commonly
+repeated in the Scottish drawing-room of last century, could not now be
+tolerated. An example of a very plain and downright address of a laird
+has been recorded in the annals of "Forfarshire Lairdship." He had
+married one of the Misses Guthrie, who had a strong feeling towards the
+Presbyterian faith in which she had been brought up, although her
+husband was one of the zealous old school of Episcopalians. The young
+wife had invited her old friend, the parish minister, to tea, and had
+given him a splendid "_four hours."_ Ere the table was cleared the laird
+came in unexpectedly, and thus expressed his indignation, not very
+delicately, at what he considered an unwarrantable exercise of
+hospitality at his cost:--"Helen Guthrie, ye'll no think to save yer ain
+saul at the expense of my meal-girnel!"
+
+The answer of an old woman under examination by the minister to the
+question from the Shorter Catechism--"What are the _decrees_ of God?"
+could not have been surpassed by the General Assembly of the Kirk, or
+even the Synod of Dort--"Indeed, sir, He kens that best Himsell." We
+have an answer analogous to that, though not so pungent, in a catechumen
+of the late Dr. Johnston of Leith. She answered his own question,
+patting him on the shoulder--"'Deed, just tell it yersell, _bonny_
+doctor (he was a very handsome man); naebody can tell it better."
+
+To pass from the answers of "persons come to years of discretion"--I
+have elsewhere given examples of peculiar traits of character set forth
+in the answers of mere _children_, and no doubt a most amusing
+collection might be made of very juvenile "Scottish Reminiscences." One
+of these is now a very old story, and has long been current amongst
+us:--A little boy who attended a day-school in the neighbourhood, when
+he came home in the evening was always asked how he stood in his own
+class. The invariable answer made was, "I'm second dux," which means in
+Scottish academical language second from the top of the class. As his
+habits of application at home did not quite bear out the claim to so
+distinguished a position at school, one of the family ventured to ask
+what was the number in the class to which he was attached. After some
+hesitation he was obliged to admit: "Ou, there's jist me and _anither_
+lass." It was a very _practical_ answer of the little girl, when asked
+the meaning of "darkness," as it occurred in Scripture reading--"Ou,
+just steek your een." On the question, What was the "pestilence that
+walketh in darkness"? being put to a class, a little boy answered, after
+consideration--"Ou, it's just _bugs_." I did not anticipate when in a
+former edition I introduced this answer, which I received from my nephew
+Sir Alexander Ramsay, that it would call forth a comment so interesting
+as one which I have received from Dr. Barber of Ulverston. He sends me
+an extract from Matthew's _Translation of the Bible_, which he received
+from Rev. L.R. Ayre, who possesses a copy of date 1553, from which it
+appears that Psalm xci. 5 was thus translated by Matthew, who adopted
+his translation from Coverdale and Tyndale:--"So that thou shalt not
+need to be afrayed for any bugge by nyght, nor for the arrow that flyeth
+by day[16]." Dr. Barber ingeniously remarks--"Is it possible the little
+boy's mother had one of these old Bibles, or is it merely a
+coincidence?"
+
+The innocent and unsophisticated answers of children on serious subjects
+are often very amusing. Many examples are recorded, and one I have
+received seems much to the point, and derives a good deal of its point
+from the Scottish turn of the expressions. An elder of the kirk having
+found a little boy and his sister playing marbles on Sunday, put his
+reproof in this form, not a judicious one for a child:--"Boy, do ye know
+where children go to who play marbles on Sabbath-day?" "Ay," said the
+boy, "they gang doun' to the field by the water below the brig." "No,"
+roared out the elder, "they go to hell, and are burned." The little
+fellow, really shocked, called to his sister, "Come awa', Jeanie, here's
+a man swearing awfully."
+
+A Scotch story like that of the little boy, of which the humour
+consisted in the dry application of the terms in a sense different from
+what was intended by the speaker, was sent to me, but has got spoilt by
+passing through the press. It must be Scotch, or at least, is composed
+of Scottish materials--the Shorter Catechism and the bagpipes. A piper
+was plying his trade in the streets, and a strict elder of the kirk,
+desirous to remind him that it was a somewhat idle and profitless
+occupation, went up to him and proposed solemnly the first question of
+the Shorter Catechism, "What is the chief end of man?" The good piper,
+thinking only of his own business, and supposing that the question had
+reference to some pipe melody, innocently answered, "Na, I dinna ken the
+tune, but if ye'll whistle it I'll try and play it for ye."
+
+I have said before, and I would repeat the remark again and again, that
+the object of this work is _not_ to string together mere funny stories,
+or to collect amusing anecdotes. We have seen such collections, in which
+many of the anecdotes are mere Joe Millers translated into Scotch. The
+purport of these pages has been throughout to illustrate Scottish life
+and character, by bringing forward those modes and forms of expression
+by which alone our national peculiarities can be familiarly illustrated
+and explained. Besides Scottish replies and expressions which are most
+characteristic--and in fact unique for dry humour, for quaint and
+exquisite wit--I have often referred to a consideration of dialect and
+proverbs. There can be no doubt there is a force and beauty in our
+Scottish _phraseology_, as well as a quaint humour, considered merely
+_as_ phraseology, peculiar to itself. I have spoken of the phrase "Auld
+langsyne," and of other words, which may be compared in their Anglican
+and Scottish form. Take the familiar term common to many singing-birds.
+The English word linnet does not, to my mind, convey so much of simple
+beauty and of pastoral ideas as belong to our Scottish word LINTIE.
+
+I recollect hearing the Rev. Dr. Norman Macleod give a most interesting
+account of his visit to Canada. In the course of his eloquent narrative
+he mentioned a conversation he had with a Scottish emigrant, who in
+general terms spoke favourably and gratefully of his position in his
+adopted country. But he could not help making this exception when he
+thought of the "banks and braes o' bonny Doon"--"But oh, sir," he said,
+"there are nae _linties_ i' the wuds." How touching the words in his own
+dialect! The North American woods, although full of birds of beautiful
+plumage, it is well known have no singing-birds.
+
+A worthy Scottish Episcopal minister one day met a townsman, a breeder
+and dealer in singing-birds. The man told him he had just had a child
+born in his family, and asked him if he would baptize it. He thought the
+minister could not resist the offer of a bird. "Eh, Maister Shaw," he
+said, "if ye'll jist do it, I hae a fine lintie the noo, and if ye'll do
+it, I'll gie ye the lintie." He quite thought that this would settle
+the matter!
+
+By these remarks I mean to express the feeling that the word _lintie_
+conveys to my mind more of tenderness and endearment towards the little
+songster than linnet. And this leads me to a remark (which I do not
+remember to have met with) that Scottish dialects are peculiarly rich in
+such terms of endearment, more so than the pure Anglican. Without at all
+pretending to exhaust the subject, I may cite the following as examples
+of the class of terms I speak of. Take the names for parents--"Daddie"
+and "Minnie;" names for children, "My wee bit lady" or "laddie," "My wee
+bit lamb;" of a general nature, "My ain kind dearie." "Dawtie,"
+especially used to young people, described by Jamieson a darling or
+favourite, one who is _dawted_--_i.e._ fondled or caressed. My "joe"
+expresses affection with familiarity, evidently derived from _joy_, an
+easy transition--as "My joe, Janet;" "John Anderson, my joe, John." Of
+this character is Burns's address to a wife, "My winsome"--_i.e._
+charming, engaging--"wee thing;" also to a wife, "My winsome
+marrow"--the latter word signifying a dear companion, one of a pair
+closely allied to each other; also the address of Rob the Ranter to
+Maggie Lauder, "My bonnie bird." Now, we would remark, upon this
+abundant nomenclature of kindly expressions in the Scottish dialect,
+that it assumes an interesting position as taken in connection with the
+Scottish Life and _Character_, and as a set-off against a frequent short
+and _grumpy_ manner. It indicates how often there must be a current of
+tenderness and affection in the Scottish heart, which is so frequently
+represented to be, like its climate, "stern and wild." There could not
+be such _terms_ were the feelings they express unknown. I believe it
+often happens that in the Scottish character there is a vein of deep and
+kindly feeling lying hid under a short, and hard and somewhat stern
+manner. Hence has arisen the Scottish saying which is applicable to such
+cases--"His girn's waur than his bite:" his disposition is of a softer
+nature than his words and manner would often lead you to suppose.
+
+There are two admirable articles in _Blackwood's Magazine,_ in the
+numbers for November and December 1870, upon this subject. The writer
+abundantly vindicates the point and humour of the Scottish tongue. Who
+can resist, for example, the epithet applied by Meg Merrilies to an
+unsuccessful probationer for admission to the ministry:--"a sticket
+stibbler"? Take the sufficiency of Holy Scripture as a pledge for any
+one's salvation:--"There's eneuch between the brods o' the Testament to
+save the biggest sinner i' the warld." I heard an old Scottish
+Episcopalian thus pithily describe the hasty and irreverent manner of a
+young Englishman:--"He ribbled aff the prayers like a man at the heid o'
+a regiment." A large family of young children has been termed "a great
+sma' family." It was a delicious dry rejoinder to the question--"Are you
+Mr. So-and-so?" "It's a' that's o' me" (_i.e._ to be had for him.) I
+have heard an old Scottish gentleman direct his servant to mend the fire
+by saying, "I think, Dauvid, we wadna be the waur o' some coals."
+
+There is a pure Scottish term, which I have always thought more
+expressive than any English word of ideas connected with manners in
+society--I mean the word to blether, or blethering, or blethers.
+Jamieson defines it to "talk nonsense." But it expresses far more--it
+expresses powerfully, to Scottish people, a person at once shallow,
+chattering, conceited, tiresome, voluble.
+
+There is a delicious servantgirlism, often expressed in an answer given
+at the door to an inquirer: "Is your master at home, or mistress?" as
+the case may be. The problem is to save the direct falsehood, and yet
+evade the visit; so the answer is--"Ay, he or she is at hame; but
+he's no _in_"
+
+The transition from Scottish _expressions_ to Scottish Poetry is easy
+and natural. In fact, the most interesting feature now belonging to
+Scottish life and social habits is, to a certain extent, becoming with
+many a matter of reminiscence of _Poetry in the Scottish dialect_, as
+being the most permanent and the most familiar feature of Scottish
+characteristics. It is becoming a matter of history, in so far as we
+find that it has for some time ceased to be cultivated with much
+ardour, or to attract much popularity. In fact, since the time of
+Burns, it has been losing its hold on the public mind. It is a
+remarkable fact that neither Scott nor Wilson, both admirers of Burns,
+both copious writers of poetry themselves, both also so distinguished as
+writers of Scottish _prose_, should have written any poetry strictly in
+the form of pure Scottish dialect. "Jock o' Hazeldean" I hardly admit to
+be an exception. It is not Scottish. If, indeed, Sir Walter wrote the
+scrap of the beautiful ballad in the "Antiquary"--
+
+     "Now haud your tongue, baith wife and carle,
+       And listen, great and sma',
+     And I will sing of Glenallan's Earl,
+       That fought at the red Harlaw"--
+
+one cannot but regret that he had not written more of the same.
+Campbell, a poet and a Scotsman, has not attempted it. In short, we do
+not find poetry in the Scottish dialect at all _kept up_ in Scotland. It
+is every year becoming more a matter of research and reminiscence.
+Nothing new is added to the old stock, and indeed it is surprising to
+see the ignorance and want of interest displayed by many young persons
+in this department of literature. How few read the works of Allan
+Ramsay, once so popular, and still so full of pastoral imagery! There
+are occasionally new editions of the _Gentle Shepherd_, but I suspect
+for a limited class of readers. I am assured the boys of the High
+School, Academy, etc., do not care even for Burns. As poetry in the
+Scottish dialect is thus slipping away from the public Scottish mind, I
+thought it very suitable to a work of this character to supply a list of
+modern _Scottish dialect writers_. This I am able to provide by the
+kindness of our distinguished antiquary, Mr. David Laing--the fulness
+and correctness of whose acquirements are only equalled by his
+readiness and courtesy in communicating his information to others:--
+
+SCOTTISH POETS OF THE LAST CENTURY.
+
+ALLAN RAMSAY. B. 1686. D. 1757. His _Gentle Shepherd_, completed in
+1725, and his _Collected Poems_ in 1721-1728.
+
+It cannot be said there was any want of successors, however obscure,
+following in the same track. Those chiefly deserving of notice were--
+
+ALEXANDER Ross of Lochlee. B. 1700. D. 1783. _The Fortunate
+Shepherdess_.
+
+ROBERT FERGUSSON. B. 1750. D. 1774. _Leith Races, Caller Oysters_, etc.
+
+REV. JOHN SKINNER. B. 1721. D. 1807. _Tullochgorum_.
+
+ROBERT BURNS. B. 1759. D. 1796.
+
+ALEXANDER, FOURTH DUKE OF GORDON. B. 1743. D. 1827. _Cauld Kail in
+Aberdeen_.
+
+ALEXANDER WILSON of Paisley, who latterly distinguished himself as an
+American ornithologist. B. 1766. D. 1813. _Watty and Meg_.
+
+HECTOR MACNEILL. B. 1746. D. 1818. _Will and Jean_.
+
+ROBERT TANNAHILL. B. 1774. D. 1810. _Songs_.
+
+JAMES HOGG. B. 1772. D. 1835.
+
+ALLAN CUNNINGHAM. B. 1784. D. 1842.
+
+To this list we must add the names of Lady Nairne and Lady Anne Lindsay.
+To the former we are indebted for "The Land o' the Leal," "The Laird o'
+Cockpen," and "The Auld Hoose;" to the latter for "Auld Robin Gray:"
+and our wonder is, how those who could write so charmingly should have
+written so little.
+
+I have no intention of discussing the general question of Scottish
+poetry--of defending or eulogising, or of apologising for anything
+belonging to it. There are songs in broad Scottish dialect of which the
+beauty and the power will never be lost. Words of Burns, Allan Ramsay,
+and Lady Nairne, must ever speak to hearts that are true to nature. I am
+desirous of bringing before my readers at this time the name of a
+Scottish poet, which, though in Mr. Laing's list, I fear is become
+rather a reminiscence. It is fifty years since his poetical pieces were
+published in a collected form. I am desirous of giving a special notice
+of a true-hearted Scotsman, and a genuine Scottish poet, under both
+characters. I look with a tender regard to the memory of the Rev. JOHN
+SKINNER of Langside. He has written little in quantity, but it is all
+charming. He was a good Christian minister. He was a man of learning--a
+man of liberal and generous feeling. In addition to all this, he has
+upon me the claim of having been a Scottish Episcopalian divine, and I
+am always rejoiced to see among learned men of our church sympathies
+with liberalism, besides what is patristic and theological. John
+Skinner's name and family are much mixed up with our church.
+'Tullochgorum' was father of Primus John Skinner, and grandfather of
+Primus W. Skinner and of the Rev. John Skinner of Forfar. The youngest
+brother of Tullochgorum was James Skinner, W.S., who died at ninety-one,
+and was grandfather of W. Skinner, W.S., Edinburgh. The Rev. J. Skinner
+was born in Birse, a wild part of Aberdeenshire, 1721. His father was
+parochial schoolmaster at Gight for nearly fifty years. He worked hard
+under the care of his father, who was a good Latin scholar. He gained a
+bursary at Aberdeen, where he studied. When he left college he became
+schoolmaster at Monymusk, where he wrote some pieces that attracted
+attention, and Sir Archibald Grant took him into the house, and allowed
+him the full use of a very fine library. He made good use of this
+opportunity, and indeed became a fair scholar and theologian. Skinner
+had been brought up a Presbyterian, but at Monymusk found reasons for
+changing his views. In June 1740 he became tutor to the only son of Mrs.
+Sinclair in Shetland. Returning to Aberdeenshire in 1741, he completed
+his studies for the ministry, was ordained by Bishop Dunbar, and in 1742
+became pastor of Langside. He worked for this little congregation for
+nearly sixty-five years, and they were happy and united under his
+pastoral charge. One very interesting incident took place during his
+ministry, which bears upon our general question of reminiscences and
+changes. John Skinner was in his own person an example of that
+persecution for political opinion referred to in Professor Macgregor's
+account of the large prayer-book in the library at Panmure. After the
+'45, Episcopalians were treated with suspicion and severity. The severe
+laws passed against Jacobites were put in force, and poor Skinner fined.
+
+However, better and more peaceful times came round, and all that John
+Skinner had undergone did not sour his temper or make him severe or
+misanthropical. As a pastor he seems to have had tact, as well as good
+temper, in the management of his flock, if we may judge from the
+following anecdote:--Talking with an obstinate self-confident farmer,
+when the conversation happened to turn on the subject of the motion of
+the earth, the farmer would not be convinced that the earth moved at
+all. "Hoot, minister," the man roared out; "d'ye see the earth never
+gaes oot o' the pairt, and it maun be that the sun gaes round: we a' ken
+he rises i' the east and sets i' the west." Then, as if to silence all
+argument, he added triumphantly, "As if the sun didna gae round the
+earth, when it is said in Scripture that the Lord commanded the sun to
+stand still!" Mr. Skinner, finding it was no use to argue further,
+quietly answered, "Ay, it's vera true; the sun was commanded to stand
+still, and there he stands still, for Joshua never tauld him to tak the
+road again." I have said John Skinner wrote little Scottish poetry, but
+what he wrote was rarely good. His prose works extended over three
+volumes when they were collected by his son, the Bishop of Aberdeen, but
+we have no concern with them. His poetical pieces, by which his name
+will never die in Scotland, are the "Reel of Tullochgorum" and the "Ewie
+with the Crooked Horn," charming Scottish songs,--one the perfection of
+the lively, the other of the pathetic. It is quite enough to say of
+"Tullochgorum" (by which the old man is now always designated), what was
+said of it by Robert Burns, as "the first of songs," and as the best
+Scotch song Scotland ever saw.
+
+I have brought in the following anecdote, exactly as it appeared in the
+_Scotsman_ of October 4, 1859, because it introduces his name.
+
+"The late Rev. John Skinner, author of 'Annals of Scottish Episcopacy,'
+was his grandson. He was first appointed to a charge in Montrose, from
+whence he was removed to Banff, and ultimately to Forfar. After he had
+left Montrose, it reached his ears that an ill-natured insinuation was
+circulating there that he had been induced to leave this town by the
+temptation of a better income and of fat pork, which, it would appear,
+was plentiful in the locality of his new incumbency. Indignant at such
+an aspersion, he wrote a letter, directed to his maligners, vindicating
+himself sharply from it, which he showed to his grandfather, John
+Skinner of Langside, for his approval. The old gentleman objected to it
+as too lengthy, and proposed the following pithy substitute:--
+
+     "'Had Skinner been of carnal mind,
+     As strangely ye suppose,
+     Or had he even been fond of swine,
+     He'd ne'er have left Montrose.'"
+
+But there is an anecdote of John Skinner which should endear his memory
+to every generous and loving heart. On one occasion he was passing a
+small dissenting place of worship at the time when the congregation were
+engaged in singing: on passing the door--old-fashioned Scottish
+Episcopalian as he was--he reverently took off his hat. His companion
+said to him, "What! do you feel so much sympathy with this Anti Burgher
+congregation?" "No," said Mr. Skinner, "but I respect and love any of my
+fellow-Christians who are engaged in singing to the glory of the Lord
+Jesus Christ." Well done, old Tullochgorum! thy name shall be loved and
+honoured by every true liberal-minded Scotsman.
+
+Yes! Mr. Skinner's experience of the goodness of God and of the power of
+grace, had led him to the conviction that the earnest song of praise,
+that comes from the heart of the sincere believer in Christ, can go up
+to Heaven from the humblest earthly house of prayer, and be received
+before the throne of grace as acceptably as the high and solemn service
+of the lofty cathedral,
+
+  "Where, from the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault,
+  The pealing anthem swells the note of praise."
+
+We must firmly believe that, obsolete as the dialect of Scotland may
+become, and its words and expressions a matter of tradition and of
+reminiscence with many, still there are Scottish lines, and broad
+Scottish lines, which can never cease to hold their place in the
+affections and the admiration of innumerable hearts whom they have
+charmed. Can the choice and popular Scottish verses, endeared to us by
+so many kindly associations of the past, and by so many beauties and
+poetical graces of their own, ever lose their attractions for a Scottish
+heart? The charm of such strains can never die.
+
+I think one subsidiary cause for permanency in the popularity still
+belonging to particular Scottish _songs_ has proceeded from their
+association with Scottish _music_. The melodies of Scotland can never
+die. In the best of these compositions there is a pathos and a feeling
+which must preserve them, however simple in their construction, from
+being vulgar or commonplace. Mendelssohn did not disdain taking Scottish
+airs as themes for the exercise of his profound science and his
+exquisite taste. It must, I think, be admitted that singing of Scottish
+songs in the perfection of their style--at once pathetic, graceful, and
+characteristic--is not so often met with as to remove all apprehension
+that ere long they may become matters only of reminiscence. Many
+accomplished musicians often neglect entirely the cultivation of their
+native melodies, under the idea of their being inconsistent with the
+elegance and science of high-class music. They commit a mistake. When
+judiciously and tastefully performed, it is a charming style of music,
+and will always give pleasure to the intelligent hearer. I have heard
+two young friends, who have attained great skill in scientific and
+elaborate compositions, execute the simple song of "Low down in the
+Broom," with an effect I shall not easily forget. Who that has heard the
+Countess of Essex, when Miss Stephens, sing "Auld Robin Gray," can ever
+lose the impression of her heart-touching notes? In the case of "Auld
+Robin Gray," the song composed by Lady Anne Lindsay, although very
+beautiful in itself, has been, I think, a good deal indebted to the air
+for its great and continued popularity. The history of that tender and
+appropriate melody is somewhat curious, and not generally known. The
+author was _not_ a Scotsman. It was composed by the Rev. Mr. Leves,
+rector of Wrington in Somersetshire, either early in this century or
+just at the close of the last. Mr. Leves was fond of music, and composed
+several songs, but none ever gained any notice except his "Auld Robin
+Gray," the popularity of which has been marvellous. I knew the family
+when I lived in Somersetshire, and had met them in Bath. Mr. Leves
+composed the air for his daughter, Miss Bessy Leves, who was a pretty
+girl and a pretty singer.
+
+I cannot but deeply regret to think that I should in these pages have
+any ground for classing Scottish poetry and Scottish airs amongst
+"Reminiscences." It is a department of literature where, of course,
+there must be _selection_, but I am convinced it will repay a careful
+cultivation. I would recommend, as a copious and judicious selection of
+Scottish _tunes_, "The Scottish Minstrel," by R.A. Smith (Purdie,
+Edinburgh). There are the _words_, also, of a vast number of Scottish
+songs, but the account of their _authorship_ is very defective. Then,
+again, for the fine Scottish ballads of an older period, we have two
+admirable collections--one by Mr. R. Chambers, and one by the late
+Professor Aytoun. For Scottish dialect songs of the more modern type, a
+copious collection will be found (exclusive of Burns and Allan Earn say)
+in small volumes published by David Robertson, Glasgow, at intervals
+from 1832 to 1853, under the title of _Whistlebinkie_.
+
+But there are more than lines of Scottish poetry which may become matter
+of reminiscence, and more than Scottish song melodies which may be
+forgotten. There are strains of Scottish PSALMODY of which it would be
+more sad to think that _they_ possibly may have lost their charm and
+their hold with Scottish people. That such psalmody, of a peculiar
+Scottish class and character, _has_ existed, no one can doubt who has
+knowledge or recollection of past days. In glens and retired passes,
+where those who fled from persecution met together--on the moors and
+heaths, where men suffering for their faith took refuge--in the humble
+worship of the cottar's fireside--were airs of sacred Scottish melody,
+which were well calculated to fan the heavenward flame which was kindled
+in lays of the "sweet Psalmist of Israel." These psalm-tunes are in
+their way as peculiar as the song-tunes we have referred to. Nothing can
+be more touching than the description by Burns of the domestic psalmody
+of his father's cottage. Mr. E. Chambers, in his _Life of Burns_,
+informs us that the poet, during his father's infirmity and after his
+death, had himself sometimes conducted family worship. Happy days, ere
+he had encountered the temptations of a world in which he had too often
+fallen before the solicitations of guilty passion! and then, beautifully
+does he describe the characteristic features of this portion of the
+cottars worship. How solemnly he enumerates the psalm-tunes usually made
+use of on such occasions, and discriminates the character of each:--
+
+     "They chant their artless notes in simple guise;
+       They tune their hearts, by far the noblest aim:
+     Perhaps DUNDEE'S wild warbling measures rise,
+       Or plaintive MARTYRS, worthy of the name,
+       Or noble ELGIN beets[17] the heavenward flame."
+
+He was not, alas! always disposed in after life to reverence these
+sacred melodies as he had done in his youthful days. In his poem of "The
+Holy Fair," he less reverently adduces mention of these sacred airs:--
+
+     "Now turn the Psalms o' David ower,
+        And lilt wi' holy clangour.
+      O' double verse come gie us four,
+        An' skirl up the Bangor."
+
+These tunes seem to have been strictly and exclusively national. In
+proof of such psalmody being quite national, I have been told that many
+of these tunes were composed by artisans, such as builders, joiners,
+blacksmiths, etc.
+
+Several of the psalm-tunes more peculiar to Scotland are no doubt of an
+early date. In Ravenscroft's _Psalms_, published with the music in four
+parts in 1621, he gives the names of seven as purely Scottish--_King's,
+Duke's, Abbey, Dunfermline, Dundee, Glasgow, Martyrs._ I was used to
+hear such psalmody in my early days in the parish church of Fettercairn,
+where we always attended during summer. It had all the simple
+characteristics described by Burns, and there was a heartiness and
+energy too in the congregation when, as he expresses it, they used to
+"skirl up the Bangor," of which the effects still hang in my
+recollection. At that time there prevailed the curious custom, when some
+of the psalms were sung, of reading out a single line, and when that was
+sung another line was read, and so throughout[18]. Thus, on singing the
+50th psalm, the first line sounded thus:--"_Our God shall come, and
+shall no more;_" when that was sung, there came the next startling
+announcement--"_Be silent, but speak out._" A rather unfortunate
+_juxtaposition_ was suggested through this custom, which we are assured
+really happened in the church of Irvine. The precentor, after having
+given out the first line, and having observed some members of the family
+from the castle struggling to get through the crowd on a sacramental
+occasion, cried out, "Let the noble family of Eglinton pass," and then
+added the line which followed the one he had just given out rather
+mal-apropos--"_Nor stand in sinners' way_." One peculiarity I remember,
+which was, closing the strain sometimes by an interval less than a
+semitone; instead of the half-note preceding the close or key-note, they
+used to take the _quarter-note,_ the effect of which had a peculiar
+gurgling sound, but I never heard it elsewhere. It may be said these
+Scottish tunes were unscientific, and their performance rude. It may be
+so, but the effect was striking, as I recall it through the vista of
+threescore years and ten. Great advances, no doubt, have been made in
+Scotland in congregational psalmody; organs have in some instances been
+adopted; choirs have been organised with great effort by choirmasters of
+musical taste and skill. But I hope the spirit of PIETY, which in past
+times once accompanied the old Scottish psalm, whether sung in the
+church or at home, has not departed with the music. Its better emotions
+are not, I hope, to become a "Reminiscence."
+
+There was no doubt sometimes a degree of noise in the psalmody more than
+was consistent with good taste, but this often proceeded from the
+earnestness of those who joined. I recollect at Banchory an honest
+fellow who sang so loud that he annoyed his fellow-worshippers, and the
+minister even rebuked him for "skirling" so loud. James was not quite
+patient under these hints, and declared to some of his friends that he
+was resolved to sing to the praise of God, as he said, "gin I should
+crack the waas o' the houss."
+
+Going from sacred tunes to sacred words, a good many changes have taken
+place in the little history of our own psalmody and hymnology. When I
+first came to Edinburgh, for psalms we made use of the mild and vapid
+new version of Tate and Brady;--for hymns, almost each congregation had
+its own selection--and there were hymn-books of Dundee, Perth, Glasgow,
+etc. The Established Church used the old rough psalter, with paraphrases
+by Logan, etc., and a few hymns added by authority of the General
+Assembly. There seems to be a pretty general tendency in the Episcopal
+Church to adopt at present the extensive collection called "Hymns
+Ancient and Modern," containing 386 pieces. Copies of the words alone
+are to be procured for one penny, and the whole, with tunes attached, to
+be procured for 1_s_. 6_d_. The Hymns Ancient and Modern are not set
+forth with any Ecclesiastical sanction. It is supposed, however, that
+there will be a Hymnal published by the Church of England on authority,
+and if so, our Church will be likely to adopt it. The Established
+Church Hymnal Committee have lately sanctioned a very interesting
+collection of 200 pieces. The compilation has been made with liberality
+of feeling as well as with good taste. There are several of Neale's
+translations from mediaeval hymns, several from John Keble, and the
+whole concludes with the Te Deum taken literally from the Prayer-Book.
+
+This mention of Scottish Psalmody and Scottish Hymnology, whether for
+private or for public worship, naturally brings us to a very important
+division of our subject; I mean the general question of reminiscences of
+Scottish religious feelings and observances; and first in regard to
+Scottish clergy.
+
+My esteemed friend, Lord Neaves, who, it is well known, combines with
+his great legal knowledge and high literary acquirements a keen sense of
+the humorous, has sometimes pleasantly complained of my drawing so many
+of my specimens of Scottish humour from sayings and doings of Scottish
+ministers. They were a shrewd and observant race. They lived amongst
+their own people from year to year, and understood the Scottish type of
+character. Their retired habits and familiar intercourse with their
+parishioners gave rise to many quaint and racy communications. They were
+excellent men, well suited to their pastoral work, and did much good
+amongst their congregations; for it should be always remembered that a
+national church requires a sympathy and resemblance between the pastors
+and the flocks. Both will be found to change together. Nothing could be
+further from my mind in recording these stories, than the idea of
+casting ridicule upon such an order of men. My own feelings as a
+Scotsman, with all their ancestral associations, lead me to cherish
+their memory with pride and deep interest, I may appeal also to the
+fact that many contributions to this volume are voluntary offerings from
+distinguished clergymen of the Church of Scotland, as well as of the
+Free Church and of other Presbyterian communities. Indeed, no persons
+enjoy these stories more than ministers themselves. I recollect many
+years ago travelling to Perth in the old stage-coach days, and enjoying
+the society of a Scottish clergyman, who was a most amusing companion,
+and full of stories, the quaint humour of which accorded with his own
+disposition. When we had come through Glen Farg, my companion pointed
+out that we were in the parish of Dron. With much humour he introduced
+an anecdote of a brother minister not of a brilliant order of mind, who
+had terminated in this place a course of appointments in the Church, the
+names of which, at least, were of an ominous character for a person of
+unimaginative temperament. The worthy man had been brought up at the
+school of _Dunse_; had been made assistant at _Dull_, a parish near
+Aberfeldy, in the Presbytery of Weem; and had here ended his days and
+his clerical career as minister of _Dron_.
+
+There can be no doubt that the older school of national clergy supply
+many of our most amusing anecdotes; and our pages would suffer
+deplorably were all the anecdotes taken away which turn upon their
+peculiarities of dialect and demeanour. I think it will be found,
+however, that upon no class of society has there been a greater change
+during the last hundred years than on the Scottish clergy as a body.
+This, indeed, might, from many circumstances, have been expected. The
+improved facilities for locomotion have had effect upon the retirement
+and isolation of distant country parishes, the more liberal and extended
+course of study at Scottish colleges, the cheaper and wider diffusion
+of books on general literature, of magazines, newspapers, and reviews.
+Perhaps, too, we may add that candidates for the ministry now more
+generally originate from the higher educated classes of society. But
+honour to the memory of Scottish ministers of the days that are gone!
+
+The Scottish clergy, from having mixed so little with life, were often,
+no doubt, men of simple habits and of very childlike notions. The
+opinions and feelings which they expressed were often of a cast, which,
+amongst persons of more experience, would appear to be not always quite
+consistent with the clerical character. In them it arose from their
+having nothing _conventional_ about them. Thus I have heard of an old
+bachelor clergyman whose landlady declared he used to express an opinion
+of his dinner by the grace which he made to follow. When he had had a
+good dinner which pleased him, and a good glass of beer with it, he
+poured forth the grace, "For the riches of thy bounty and its blessings
+we offer our thanks." When he had had poor fare and poor beer, his grace
+was, "The least of these thy mercies."
+
+Many examples of the dry, quaint humour of the class occur in these
+pages, but there could not be a finer specimen than the instance
+recorded in the "Annals of the Parish" of the account given by the
+minister of his own ordination. The ministers were all assembled for the
+occasion; prayers had been offered, discourses delivered, and the time
+for the actual ordination had come. The form is for the candidate to
+kneel down and receive his sacred office by the imposition of hands,
+_i.e._ the laying on of hands by the whole Presbytery. As the attendance
+of ministers was large, a number of hands were stretched forth, more
+than could quite conveniently come up to the candidate. An old minister,
+of the quiet jocose turn of mind we speak of, finding himself thus kept
+at a little distance, stretched out his walking staff and put it on the
+young man's head, with the quiet remark, "That will do! Timmer to
+timmer"--timber to timber.
+
+Their style of preaching, too was, no doubt often plain and homely. They
+had not the graces of elocution or elegance of diction. But many were
+faithful in their office, and preached Christ as the poor man's friend
+and the Saviour of the lowly and the suffering. I have known Scottish
+ministers of the old school get into a careless indifferent state of
+ministration; I have also known the hoary head of many a Scottish
+minister go down to the grave a crown of glory, in his day and
+generation more honoured than many which had been adorned by a mitre.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[14] Lying Gilbert.
+
+[15] This anecdote has been illustrated, as taken from these pages, by a
+very clever sketch of the Highlander and his admirer, in a curious
+publication at Liverpool called _The Tobacco Plant_, and devoted to the
+interests of smoking and snuffing.
+
+[16] The truth is, in old English usage "bug" signifies a spectre or
+anything that is frightful. Thus in Henry VI., 3d Part, act v. sc.
+ii.--"For Warwick was a _bug_ that feared us all."
+
+[17] Adds fuel to fire.
+
+[18] As far as I am aware the only place in which it is practised at
+present (July 1872), is in the Free Church, Brodick, Arran.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE SECOND.
+
+SCOTTISH RELIGIOUS FEELINGS AND OBSERVANCES.
+
+Passing from these remarks on the Scottish Clergy of a past day, I would
+treat the more extensive subject of RELIGIOUS FEELINGS and RELIGIOUS
+OBSERVANCES generally with the caution and deference due to such a
+question, and I would distinctly premise that there is in my mind no
+intention of entering, in this volume, upon those great questions which
+are connected with certain church movements amongst us, or with national
+peculiarities of faith and discipline. It is impossible, however, to
+overlook entirely the fact of a gradual relaxation, which has gone on
+for some years, of the sterner features of the Calvinistic school of
+theology--at any rate, of keeping its theoretic peculiarities more in
+the background. What we have to notice in these pages are changes in the
+feelings with regard to religion and religious observances, which have
+appeared upon the _exterior_ of society--the changes which belong to
+outward habits rather than to internal feelings. Of such changes many
+have taken place within my own experience. Scotland has ever borne the
+character of a moral and religious country; and the mass of the people
+are a more church-going race than the masses of English population. I am
+not at all prepared to say that in the middle and lower ranks of life
+our countrymen have undergone much change in regard to religious
+observances. But there can be no question that amongst the upper
+classes there are manifestations connected with religion now, which some
+years ago were not thought of. The attendence of _men_ on public worship
+is of itself an example of the change we speak of. I am afraid that when
+Walter Scott described Monkbarns as being with difficulty "hounded out"
+to hear the sermons of good Mr. Blattergowl, he wrote from a knowledge
+of the habits of church-going then generally prevalent among Scottish
+lairds. The late Bishop Sandford told me that when he first came to
+Edinburgh--I suppose fifty years ago--few gentlemen attended
+church--very few indeed were seen at the communion--so much so that it
+was a matter of conversation when a male communicant, not an aged man,
+was observed at the table for the first time. Sydney Smith, when
+preaching in Edinburgh some forty years ago, seeing how almost
+exclusively congregations were made up of ladies, took for his text the
+verse from the Psalms, "Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord!"
+and with that touch of the facetious which marked everything he did,
+laid the emphasis on the word "men." Looking round the congregation and
+saying, "Oh that _men_ would therefore praise the Lord!" implying that
+he used the word, not to describe the human species generally, but the
+male individuals as distinguished from the female portion. In regard to
+attendance by young men, both at church and communion, a marked change
+has taken place in my own experience. In fact, there is an attention
+excited towards church subjects, which, thirty years ago, would have
+been hardly credited. Nor is it only in connection with churches and
+church services that these changes have been brought forth, but an
+interest has been raised on the subject from Bible societies, missionary
+associations at home and abroad, schools and reformatory institutions,
+most of which, as regard active operation, have grown up during
+fifty years.
+
+Nor should I omit to mention, what I trust may be considered as a change
+belonging to religious feeling--viz., that conversation is now
+conducted without that accompaniment of those absurd and unmeaning oaths
+which were once considered an essential embellishment of polite
+discourse. I distinctly recollect an elderly gentleman, when describing
+the opinion of a refined and polished female upon a particular point,
+putting into her mouth an unmistakable round oath as the natural
+language in which people's sentiments and opinions would be ordinarily
+conveyed. This is a change wrought in men's feelings, which all must
+hail with great pleasure. Putting out of sight for a moment the sin of
+such a practice, and the bad influence it must have had upon all
+emotions of reverence for the name and attributes of the Divine Being,
+and the natural effect of profane swearing, to "harden a' within," we
+might marvel at the utter folly and incongruity of making swearing
+accompany every expression of anger or surprise, or of using oaths as
+mere expletives in common discourse. A quaint anecdote, descriptive of
+such senseless ebullition, I have from a friend who mentioned the names
+of parties concerned:--A late Duke of Athole had invited a well-known
+character, a writer of Perth, to come up and meet him at Dunkeld for the
+transaction of some business. The Duke mentioned the day and hour when
+he should receive the man of law, who accordingly came punctually at the
+appointed time and place. But the Duke had forgotten the appointment,
+and gone to the hill, from which he could not return for some hours. A
+Highlander present described the Perth writer's indignation, and his
+mode of showing it by a most elaborate course of swearing. "But whom did
+he swear at?" was the inquiry made of the narrator, who replied, "Oh, he
+didna sweer at ony thing particular, but juist stude in ta middle of ta
+road and swoor at lairge." I have from a friend also an anecdote which
+shows how entirely at one period the practice of swearing had become
+familiar even to female ears when mixed up with the intercourse of
+social life. A sister had been speaking of her brother as much addicted
+to this habit--"Oor John sweers awfu', and we try to correct him; but,"
+she added in a candid and apologetic tone, "nae doubt it _is_ a great
+set aff to conversation." There was something of rather an _admiring_
+character in the description of an outbreak of swearing by a Deeside
+body. He had been before the meeting of Justices for some offence
+against the excise laws, and had been promised some assistance and
+countenance by my cousin, the laird of Finzean, who was unfortunately
+addicted to the practice in question. The poor fellow had not got off so
+well as he had expected, and on giving an account of what took place to
+a friend, he was asked, "But did not Finzean speak for you?" "Na," he
+replied, "he didna say muckle; but oh, he damned bonny!"
+
+This is the place to notice a change which has taken place in regard to
+some questions of taste in the building and embellishing of Scottish
+places of worship. Some years back there was a great jealousy of
+ornament in connection with churches and church services, and, in fact,
+all such embellishments were considered as marks of a departure from the
+simplicity of old Scottish worship,--they were distinctive of Episcopacy
+as opposed to the severer modes of Presbyterianism. The late Sir William
+Forbes used to give an account of a conversation, indicative of this
+feeling, which he had overheard between an Edinburgh inhabitant and his
+friend from the country. They were passing St. John's, which had just
+been finished, and the countryman asked, "Whatna kirk was that?" "Oh,"
+said the townsman, "that is an English chapel," meaning Episcopalian.
+"Ay," said his friend, "there'll be a walth o' _images_ there." But, if
+unable to sympathise with architectural church ornament and
+embellishment, how much less could they sympathise with the performance
+of divine service, which included such musical accompaniments as
+intoning, chanting, and anthems! On the first introduction of
+Tractarianism into Scotland, the full choir service had been established
+in an Episcopal church, where a noble family had adopted those views,
+and carried them out regardless of expense. The lady who had been
+instrumental in getting up these musical services was very anxious that
+a favourite female servant of the family--a Presbyterian of the old
+school--should have an opportunity of hearing them; accordingly, she
+very kindly took her down to church in the carriage, and on returning
+asked her what she thought of the music, etc. "Ou, it's verra bonny,
+verra bonny; but oh, my lady, it's an awfu' way of spending the
+Sabbath." The good woman could only look upon the whole thing as a
+musical performance. The organ was a great mark of distinction between
+Episcopalian and Presbyterian places of worship. I have heard of an old
+lady describing an Episcopalian clergyman, without any idea of
+disrespect, in these terms:--"Oh, he is a whistle-kirk minister." From
+an Australian correspondent I have an account of the difference between
+an Episcopal minister and a Presbyterian minister, as remarked by an
+old Scottish lady of his acquaintance. Being asked in what the
+difference was supposed to consist, after some consideration she
+replied, "Weel, ye see, the Presbyterian minister wears his sark under
+his coat, the Episcopal minister wears his sark aboon his coat." Of late
+years, however, a spirit of greater tolerance of such things has been
+growing up amongst us,--a greater tolerance, I suspect, even of organs
+and liturgies. In fact, we may say a new era has begun in Scotland as to
+church architecture and church ornaments. The use of stained glass in
+churches--forming memorial windows for the departed[19], a free use of
+crosses as architectural ornaments, and restoration of ancient edifices,
+indicate a revolution of feeling regarding this question. Beautiful and
+expensive churches are rising everywhere, in connection with various
+denominations. It is not long since the building or repairing a new
+church, or the repairing and adapting an old church, implied in Scotland
+simply a production of the greatest possible degree of ugliness and bad
+taste at the least possible expense, and certainly never included any
+notion of ornament in the details. Now, large sums are expended on
+places of worship, without reference to creed. First-rate architects are
+employed. Fine Gothic structures are produced. The rebuilding of the
+Greyfriars' Church, the restoration of South Leith Church and of Glasgow
+Cathedral, the very bold experiment of adopting a style little known
+amongst us, the pure Lombard, in a church for Dr. W.L. Alexander, on
+George IV. Bridge, Edinburgh; the really splendid Free Churches, St.
+Mary's, in Albany Street, and the Barclay Church, Bruntsfield, and many
+similar cases, mark the spirit of the times regarding the application of
+what is beautiful in art to the service of religion. One might hope that
+changes such as these in the feelings, tastes, and associations, would
+have a beneficial effect in bringing the worshippers themselves into a
+more genial spirit of forbearance with each other. A friend of mine used
+to tell a story of an honest builder's views of church differences,
+which was very amusing, and quaintly professional. An English gentleman,
+who had arrived in a Scottish country town, was walking about to examine
+the various objects which presented themselves, and observed two rather
+handsome places of worship in course of erection nearly opposite to each
+other. He addressed a person, who happened to be the contractor for the
+chapels, and asked, "What was the difference between these two places of
+worship which were springing up so close to each other?"--meaning, of
+course, the difference of the theological tenets of the two
+congregations. The contractor, who thought only of architectural
+differences, innocently replied, "There may be a difference of sax feet
+in length, but there's no aboon a few inches in the breadth." Would that
+all our religious differences could be brought within so narrow
+a compass!
+
+The variety of churches in a certain county of Scotland once called
+forth a sly remark upon our national tendencies to religious division
+and theological disputation. An English gentleman sitting on the box,
+and observing the great number of places of worship in the aforesaid
+borough, remarked to the coachman that there must be a great deal of
+religious feeling in a town which produced so many houses of God.
+
+"Na," said the man quietly, "it's no religion, it's _curstness," i.e._
+crabbedness, insinuating that acerbity of temper, as well as zeal, was
+occasionally the cause of congregations being multiplied.
+
+It might be a curious question to consider how far motives founded on
+mere taste or sentiment may have operated in creating an interest
+towards religion, and in making it a more prominent and popular question
+than it was in the early portion of the present century. There are in
+this country two causes which have combined in producing these
+effects:--1st. The great disruption which took place in the Church of
+Scotland no doubt called forth an attention to the subject which stirred
+up the public, and made religion at any rate a topic of deep interest
+for discussion and partizanship. Men's minds were not _allowed_ to
+remain in the torpid condition of a past generation. 2d. The aesthetic
+movement in religion, which some years since was made in England, has,
+of course, had its influence in Scotland; and many who showed little
+concern about religion, whilst it was merely a question of doctrines, of
+precepts, and of worship, threw themselves keenly into the contest when
+it became associated with ceremonial, and music, and high art. New
+ecclesiastical associations have been presented to Scottish tastes and
+feelings. With some minds, attachment to the church is attachment to her
+Gregorian tones, jewelled chalices, lighted candles, embroidered
+altar-cloths, silver crosses, processions, copes, albs, and chasubles.
+But, from whatever cause it proceeds, a great change has taken place in
+the general interest excited towards ecclesiastical questions. Religion
+now has numerous associations with the ordinary current of human life.
+In times past it was kept more as a thing apart. There was a false
+delicacy which made people shrink from encountering appellations that
+were usually bestowed upon those who made a more prominent religious
+profession than the world at large.
+
+A great change has taken place in this respect with persons of _all_
+shades of religious opinions. With an increased attention to the
+_externals_ of religion, we believe that in many points the heart has
+been more exercised also. Take, as an example, the practice of family
+prayer. Many excellent and pious households of the former generation
+would not venture upon the observance, I am afraid, because they were in
+dread of the sneer. There was a foolish application of the terms
+"Methodist" "saints," "over-righteous," where the practice was observed.
+It was to take up a rather decided position in the neighbourhood; and I
+can testify, that less than fifty years ago a family would have been
+marked and talked of for a usage of which now throughout the country the
+_exception_ is rather the unusual circumstance. A little anecdote from
+recollections in my own family will furnish a good illustration of a
+state of feeling on this point now happily unknown. In a northern town
+of the east coast, where the earliest recollections of my life go back,
+there was usually a detachment of a regiment, who were kindly received
+and welcomed to the society, which in the winter months was very full
+and very gay. There was the usual measure of dining, dancing, supping,
+card-playing, and gossiping, which prevailed in country towns at the
+time. The officers were of course an object of much interest to the
+natives, and their habits were much discussed. A friend was staying in
+the family who partook a good deal of the Athenian temperament--viz.
+delight in hearing and telling some new thing. On one occasion she burst
+forth in great excitement with the intelligence that "Sir Nathaniel
+Duckinfield, the officer in command of the detachment, had family
+prayers _every_ morning!" A very near and dear relative of mine, knowing
+the tendency of the lady to gossip, pulled her up with the exclamation:
+"How can you repeat such things, Miss Ogilvy? nothing in the world but
+the ill-natured stories of Montrose!" The remark was made quite
+innocently, and unconsciously of the bitter satire it conveyed upon the
+feeling of the place. The "ill-nature" of these stories was true enough,
+because ill-nature was the motive of those who raised them; not because
+it is an ill-natured thing of itself to say of a family that they have
+household worship, but the ill-nature consisted in their intending to
+throw out a sneer and a sarcasm upon a subject where all such
+reflections are unbecoming and indecorous. It is one of the best proofs
+of change of habits and associations on this matter, that the anecdote,
+exquisite as it is for our purpose, will hardly be understood by many of
+our young friends, or, at least, happily has lost much of its force
+and pungency.
+
+These remarks apply perhaps more especially to the state of religious
+feeling amongst the upper classes of society. Though I am not aware of
+so much change in the religious habits of the Scottish peasantry, still
+the elders have yielded much from the sternness of David Deans; and upon
+the whole view of the question there have been many and great changes in
+the Scottish people during the last sixty years. It could hardly be
+otherwise, when we consider the increased facilities of communication
+between the two countries--a facility which extends to the introduction
+of English books upon religious subjects. The most popular and engaging
+works connected with the Church of England have now a free circulation
+in Scotland; and it is impossible that such productions as the
+"Christian Year," for example, and many others--whether for good or bad
+is not now the question--should not produce their effects upon minds
+trained in the strictest school of Calvinistic theology. I should be
+disposed to _extend_ the boundaries of this division, and to include
+under "Religious Feelings and Religious Observances" many anecdotes
+which belong perhaps rather indirectly than directly to the subject.
+There is a very interesting reminiscence, and one of a sacred character
+also, which I think will come very suitably under this head. When I
+joined the Scottish Episcopal Church, nearly fifty years ago, it was
+quite customary for members of our communion to ask for the blessing of
+their Bishop, and to ask it especially on any remarkable event in their
+life, as marriage, loss of friends, leaving home, returning home, etc.;
+and it was the custom amongst the old Scottish Episcopalians to give the
+blessing in a peculiar form, which had become venerable from its
+traditionary application by our bishops. I have myself received it from
+my bishop, the late good Bishop Walker, and have heard him pronounce it
+on others. But whether the custom of asking the bishop's blessing be
+past or not, the form I speak of has become a reminiscence, and I feel
+assured is not known even by some of our own bishops. I shall give it to
+my readers as I received it from the family of the late Bishop Walker of
+Edinburgh:--
+
+     "God Almighty bless thee with his Holy Spirit;
+     Guard thee in thy going out and coming in;
+     Keep thee ever in his faith and fear;
+     Free from Sin, and safe from Danger."
+
+I have been much pleased with a remark of my friend, the Rev. W.
+Gillespie of the U.P. Church, Edinburgh, upon this subject. He writes to
+me as follows:--"I read with particular interest the paragraph on the
+subject of the Bishop's Blessing, for certainly there seems to be in
+these days a general disbelief in the efficacy of blessings, and a
+neglect or disregard of the practice. If the spirit of God is in good
+men, as He certainly is, then who can doubt the value and the efficacy
+of the blessing which they bestow? I remember being blessed by a very
+venerable minister, John Dempster of Denny, while kneeling in his study,
+shortly before I left this country to go to China, and his prayer over
+me then was surely the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man. Its
+effect upon me then and ever since will never be forgotten."
+
+I quite agree with Mr. Gillespie on the point, and think it not a good
+sign either of our religious belief or religious feeling that such
+blessings should become really a matter of reminiscence; for if we are
+taught to pray for one another, and if we are taught that the "prayer of
+the righteous availeth much," surely we ought to _bless_ one another,
+and surely the blessing of those who are venerable in the church from
+their position, their age, and their piety, may be expected to avail as
+an aid and incentive to piety in those who in God's name are so blest.
+It has struck me that on a subject closely allied with religious
+feelings a great change has taken place in Scotland during a period of
+less than fifty years--I mean the attention paid to cemeteries as
+depositories of the mortal remains of those who have departed. In my
+early days I never recollect seeing any efforts made for the
+embellishment and adornment of our churchyards; if tolerably secured by
+fences, enough had been done. The English and Welsh practices of
+planting flowers, keeping the turf smooth and dressed over the graves
+of friends, were quite unknown. Indeed, I suspect such attention fifty
+years ago would have been thought by the sterner Presbyterians as
+somewhat savouring of superstition. The account given by Sir W. Scott,
+in "Guy Mannering," of an Edinburgh burial-place, was universally
+applicable to Scottish sepulchres[20]. A very different state of matters
+has grown up within the last few years. Cemeteries and churchyards are
+now as carefully ornamented in Scotland as in England. Shrubs, flowers,
+smooth turf, and neatly-kept gravel walks, are a pleasing accompaniment
+to head-stones, crosses, and varied forms of monumental memorials, in
+freestone, marble, and granite. Nay, more than these, not unfrequently
+do we see an imitation of French sentiment, in wreaths of "everlasting"
+placed over graves as emblems of immortality; and in more than one of
+our Edinburgh cemeteries I have seen these enclosed in glass cases to
+preserve them from the effects of wind and rain.
+
+In consequence of neglect, the unprotected state of churchyards was
+evident from the number of stories in circulation connected with the
+circumstance of timid and excited passengers going amongst the tombs of
+the village. The following, amongst others, has been communicated. The
+_locale_ of the story is unknown, but it is told of a weaver who, after
+enjoying his potations, pursued his way home through the churchyard,
+his vision and walking somewhat impaired. As he proceeded he diverged
+from the path, and unexpectedly stumbled into a partially made grave.
+Stunned for a while, he lay in wonder at his descent, and after some
+time he got out, but he had not proceeded much farther when a similar
+calamity befell him. At this second fall, he was heard, in a tone of
+wonder and surprise, to utter the following exclamation, referring to
+what he considered the untenanted graves: "Ay! ir ye a' up an' awa?"
+
+The kindly feelings and interest of the pastoral relation always formed
+a very pleasing intercourse between minister and people. I have received
+from an anonymous correspondent an anecdote illustrative of this happy
+connection, for which he vouches as authentic:--
+
+John Brown, Burgher minister at Whitburn (son of the commentator, and
+father of the late Rev. Dr. John Brown of Edinburgh, and grandfather of
+the present accomplished M.D. of the same name, author of "Rab and his
+Friends," etc.), in the early part of the century was travelling on a
+small sheltie[21] to attend the summer sacrament at Haddington. Between
+Musselburgh and Tranent he overtook one of his own people. "What are ye
+daein' here, Janet, and whaur ye gaun in this warm weather?" "'Deed,
+sir," quo' Janet, "I'm gaun to Haddington _for the occasion_[22] an'
+expeck to hear ye preach this efternoon." "Very weel, Janet, but whaur
+ye gaun tae sleep?" "I dinna ken, sir, but Providence is aye kind, an'll
+provide a bed." On Mr. Brown jogged, but kindly thought of his humble
+follower; accordingly, after service in the afternoon, before
+pronouncing the blessing, he said from the pulpit, "Whaur's the auld
+wifie that followed me frae Whitburn?" "Here I'm, sir," uttered a shrill
+voice from a back seat. "Aweel," said Mr. Brown, "I have fand ye a bed;
+ye're to sleep wi' Johnnie Fife's lass."
+
+There was at all times amongst the older Scottish peasantry a bold
+assertion of their religious opinions, and strong expression of their
+feelings. The spirit of the Covenanters lingered amongst the aged people
+whom I remember, but which time has considerably softened down. We have
+some recent authentic instances of this readiness in Scotsmen to bear
+testimony to their principles:--
+
+A friend has informed me that the late Lord Rutherfurd often told with
+much interest of a rebuke which he received from a shepherd, near
+Bonaly, amongst the Pentlands. He had entered into conversation with
+him, and was complaining bitterly of the weather, which prevented him
+enjoying his visit to the country, and said hastily and unguardedly,
+"What a d--d mist!" and then expressed his wonder how or for what
+purpose there should have been such a thing created as east wind. The
+shepherd, a tall, grim figure, turned sharp round upon him. "What ails
+ye at the mist, sir? it weets the sod, it slockens the yowes,
+and"--adding with much solemnity--"it's God's wull;" and turned away
+with lofty indignation. Lord Rutherfurd used to repeat this with much
+candour as a fine specimen of a rebuke from a sincere and simple mind.
+
+There was something very striking in the homely, quaint, and severe
+expressions on religious subjects which marked the old-fashioned piety
+of persons shadowed forth in Sir Walter Scott's Davie Deans. We may add
+to the rebuke of the shepherd of Bonaly, of Lord Rutherfurd's remark
+about the east wind, his answer to Lord Cockburn, the proprietor of
+Bonaly. He was sitting on the hill-side with the shepherd, and observing
+the sheep reposing in the coldest situation, he observed to him, "John,
+if I were a sheep, I would lie on the other side of the hill." The
+shepherd answered, "Ay, my lord, but if ye had been a sheep ye would hae
+had mair sense."
+
+Of such men as this shepherd were formed the elders--a class of men who
+were marked by strong features of character, and who, in former times,
+bore a distinguished part in all church matters.
+
+The old Scottish elder was in fact quite as different a character from
+the modern elder, as the old Scottish minister was from the modern
+pastor. These good men were not disposed to hide their lights, and
+perhaps sometimes encroached a little upon the office of the minister. A
+clergyman had been remarking to one of his elders that he was
+unfortunately invited to two funerals on one day, and that they were
+fixed for the same hour. "Weel, sir," answered the elder, "if ye'll tak
+the tane I'll tak the tither."
+
+Some of the elders were great humorists and originals in their way. An
+elder of the kirk at Muthill used to manifest his humour and originality
+by his mode of collecting the alms. As he went round with the ladle, he
+reminded such members of the congregation as seemed backward in their
+duty, by giving them a poke with the "brod," and making, in an audible
+whisper, such remarks as these--"Wife at the braid mailin, mind the
+puir;" "Lass wi' the braw plaid, mind the puir," etc., a mode of
+collecting which marks rather a bygone state of things. But on no
+question was the old Scottish disciplinarian, whether elder or not, more
+sure to raise his testimony than on anything connected with a
+desecration of the Sabbath. In this spirit was the rebuke given to an
+eminent geologist, when visiting in the Highlands:--The professor was
+walking on the hills one Sunday morning, and partly from the effect of
+habit, and partly from not adverting to the very strict notions of
+Sabbath desecration entertained in Ross-shire, had his pocket hammer in
+hand, and was thoughtlessly breaking the specimens of minerals he picked
+up by the way. Under these circumstances, he was met by an old man
+steadily pursuing his way to his church. For some time the patriarch
+observed the movements of the geologist, and at length, going up to him,
+quietly said, "Sir, ye're breaking something there forbye the stanes!"
+
+The same feeling, under a more fastidious form, was exhibited to a
+traveller by a Scottish peasant:--An English artist travelling
+professionally through Scotland, had occasion to remain over Sunday in a
+small town in the north. To while away the time, he walked out a short
+way in the environs, where the picturesque ruin of a castle met his eye.
+He asked a countryman who was passing to be so good as tell him the name
+of the castle. The reply was somewhat startling--"It's no the day to be
+speerin' sic things!"
+
+A manifestation of even still greater strictness on the subject of
+Sabbath desecration, I have received from a relative of the family in
+which it occurred. About fifty years ago the Hon. Mrs. Stewart lived in
+Heriot Row, who had a cook, Jeannie by name, a paragon of excellence.
+One Sunday morning when her daughter (afterwards Lady Elton) went into
+the kitchen, she was surprised to find a new jack (recently ordered, and
+which was constructed on the principle of going constantly without
+winding up) wholly paralysed and useless. Miss Stewart naturally
+inquired what accident had happened to the new jack, as it had stopped.
+The mystery was soon solved by Jeannie indignantly exclaiming that "she
+was nae gaeing to hae the fule thing clocking and rinning about in _her_
+kitchen a' the blessed Sabbath day."
+
+There sometimes appears to have been in our countrymen an undue
+preponderance of zeal for Sabbath observance as compared with the
+importance attached to _other_ religious duties, and especially as
+compared with the virtue of sobriety. The following dialogue between Mr.
+Macnee of Glasgow, the celebrated artist, and an old Highland
+acquaintance whom he had met with unexpectedly, will illustrate the
+contrast between the severity of judgment passed upon treating the
+Sabbath with levity and the lighter censure attached to indulgence in
+whisky. Mr. Macnee begins, "Donald, what brought you here?" "Ou, weel,
+sir, it was a baad place yon; they were baad folk--but they're a
+God-fearin' set o' folk here!" "Well, Donald," said Mr. M., "I'm glad to
+hear it." "Ou ay, sir, 'deed are they; an' I'll gie ye an instance o't.
+Last Sabbath, just as the kirk was skailin,' there was a drover chield
+frae Dumfries comin' along the road whustlin,' an' lookin' _as happy_ as
+if it was ta middle o' ta week; weel, sir, oor laads is a God-fearin'
+set o' laads, an' they were just comin' oot o' the kirk--'od they yokit
+upon him, an' a'most killed him!" Mr. M., to whom their zeal seemed
+scarcely sufficiently well directed to merit his approbation, then asked
+Donald whether it had been drunkenness that induced the depravity of his
+former neighbours? "Weel, weel, sir," said Donald, with some hesitation,
+"_may_-be; I'll no say but it micht." "Depend upon it," said Mr. M.,
+"it's a bad thing whisky." "Weel, weel, sir," replied Donald, "I'll no
+say but it _may_;" adding in a very decided tone--"speeciallie
+_baad_ whusky!"
+
+I do not know any anecdote which illustrates in a more striking and
+natural manner the strong feeling which exists in the Scottish mind on
+this subject. At a certain time, the hares in the neighbourhood of a
+Scottish burgh had, from the inclemency of the season or from some other
+cause, become emboldened more than usual to approach the dwelling-places
+of men; so much so that on one Sunday morning a hare was seen skipping
+along the street as the people were going to church. An old man, spying
+puss in this unusual position, significantly remarked, "Ay, yon beast
+kens weel it is the Sabbath-day;" taking it for granted that no one in
+the place would be found audacious enough to hurt the animal on
+a Sunday.
+
+Lady Macneil supplies an excellent pendant to Miss Stewart's story about
+the jack going on the Sunday. Her henwife had got some Dorking fowls,
+and on Lady M. asking if they were laying many eggs, she replied, with
+great earnestness, "Indeed my leddy, they lay every day, no' excepting
+the blessed Sabbath."
+
+There were, however, old persons at that time who were not quite so
+orthodox on the point of Sabbath observance; and of these a lady
+residing in Dumfries was known often to employ her wet Sundays in
+arranging her wardrobe. "Preserve us!" she said on one occasion,
+"anither gude Sunday! I dinna ken whan I'll get thae drawers redd up."
+
+In connection with the awful subject of death and all its concomitants,
+it has been often remarked that the older generation of Scottish people
+used to view the circumstances belonging to the decease of their nearest
+and dearest friends with a coolness which does not at first sight seem
+consistent with their deep and sincere religious impressions. Amongst
+the peasantry this was sometimes manifested in an extraordinary and
+startling manner. I do not believe that those persons had less affection
+for their friends than a corresponding class in England, but they had
+less awe of the concomitants of death, and approached them with more
+familiarity. For example, I remember long ago at Fasque, my
+sister-in-law visiting a worthy and attached old couple, of whom the
+husband, Charles Duncan, who had been gardener at Fasque for above
+thirty years was evidently dying. He was sitting on a common deal chair,
+and on my sister proposing to send down for his use an old arm-chair
+which she recollected was laid up in a garret, his wife exclaimed
+against such a needless trouble: "Hout, my leddy, what would he be duin'
+wi' an arm-chair? he's just deein' fast awa." I have two anecdotes,
+illustrative of the same state of feeling, from a lady of ancient
+Scottish family accustomed to visit her poor dependants on the property,
+and to notice their ways. She was calling at a decent cottage, and found
+the occupant busy carefully ironing out some linens. The lady remarked,
+"Those are fine linens you have got there, Janet." "Troth, mem," was the
+reply, "they're just the gudeman's _deed_ claes, and there are nane
+better i' the parish." On another occasion, when visiting an excellent
+woman, to condole with her on the death of her nephew, with whom she had
+lived, and whose loss must have been severely felt by her, she remarked,
+"What a nice white cap you have got, Margaret." "Indeed, mem, ay, sae it
+is; for ye see the gude lad's winding sheet was ower lang, and I cut aff
+as muckle as made twa bonny mutches" (caps).
+
+There certainly was a quaint and familiar manner in which sacred and
+solemn subjects were referred to by the older Scottish race, who did
+not mean to be irreverent, but who no doubt appeared so to a more
+refined but not really a more religious generation.
+
+It seems to me that this plainness of speech arose in part from the
+_sincerity_ of their belief in all the circumstances of another
+condition of being. They spoke of things hereafter as positive
+certainties, and viewed things invisible through the same medium as they
+viewed things present. The following is illustrative of such a state of
+mind, and I am assured of its perfect authenticity and literal
+correctness:--"Joe M'Pherson and his wife lived in Inverness. They had
+two sons, who helped their father in his trade of a smith. They were
+industrious and careful, but not successful. The old man had bought a
+house, leaving a large part of the price unpaid. It was the ambition of
+his life to pay off that debt, but it was too much for him, and he died
+in the struggle. His sons kept on the business with the old industry,
+and with better fortune. At last their old mother fell sick, and told
+her sons she was dying, as in truth she was. The elder son said to her,
+'Mother, you'll soon be with my father; no doubt you'll have much to
+tell him; but dinna forget this, mother, mind ye, tell him _the house is
+freed_. He'll be glad to hear that.'"
+
+A similar feeling is manifest in the following conversation, which, I am
+assured, is authentic:--At Hawick the people used to wear wooden clogs,
+which make a _clanking_ noise on the pavement. A dying old woman had
+some friends by her bedside, who said to her, "Weel, Jenny, ye are gaun
+to heeven, an' gin you should see oor folk, you can tell them that we're
+a' weel." To which Jenny replied, "Weel, gin I should see them I'se tell
+them, but you manna expect that I am to gang clank clanking through
+heevan looking for your folk."
+
+But of all stories of this class, I think the following deathbed
+conversation between a Scottish husband and wife is about the richest
+specimen of a dry Scottish matter-of-fact view of a very serious
+question:--An old shoemaker in Glasgow was sitting by the bedside of his
+wife, who was dying. She took him by the hand. "Weel, John, we're gawin
+to part. I hae been a gude wife to you, John." "Oh, just middling, just
+middling, Jenny," said John, not disposed to commit himself. "John,"
+says she, "ye maun promise to bury me in the auld kirk-yard at Stra'von,
+beside my mither. I couldna rest in peace among unco folk, in the dirt
+and smoke o' Glasgow." "Weel, weel, Jenny, my woman," said John
+soothingly, "we'll just pit you in the Gorbals _first_, and gin ye dinna
+lie quiet, we'll try you sine in Stra'von."
+
+The same unimaginative and matter-of-fact view of things connected with
+the other world extended to a very youthful age, as in the case of a
+little boy who, when told of heaven, put the question, "An' will faather
+be there?" His instructress answered, "of course, she hoped he would be
+there;" to which he sturdily at once replied, "Then I'll no gang."
+
+We might apply these remarks in some measure to the Scottish pulpit
+ministrations of an older school, in which a minuteness of detail and a
+quaintness of expression were quite common, but which could not now be
+tolerated. I have two specimens of such antiquated language, supplied by
+correspondents, and I am assured they are both genuine.
+
+The first is from a St. Andrews professor, who is stated to be a great
+authority in such narratives.
+
+In one of our northern counties, a rural district had its harvest
+operations affected by continuous rains. The crops being much laid, wind
+was desired in order to restore them to a condition fit for the sickle.
+A minister, in his Sabbath services, expressed their want in prayer as
+follows:--"O Lord, we pray thee to send us wind; no a rantin' tantin'
+tearin' wind, but a noohin' (noughin?) soughin' winnin' wind." More
+expressive words than these could not be found in any language.
+
+The other story relates to a portion of the Presbyterian service on
+sacramental occasions, called "fencing the tables," _i.e._ prohibiting
+the approach of those who were unworthy to receive.
+
+This fencing of the tables was performed in the following effective
+manner by an old divine, whose flock transgressed the third commandment,
+not in a gross and loose manner, but in its minor details:--"I debar all
+those who use such minced oaths as faith! troth! losh! gosh! and
+lovanendie!"
+
+These men often showed a quiet vein of humour in their prayers, as in
+the case of the old minister of the Canongate, who always prayed,
+previous to the meeting of the General Assembly, that the Assembly might
+be so guided as "_no to do ony harm."_
+
+A circumstance connected with Scottish church discipline has undergone a
+great change in my time--I mean the public censure from the pulpit, in
+the time of divine service, of offenders previously convicted before the
+minister and his kirk-session. This was performed by the guilty person
+standing up before the congregation on a raised platform, called the
+_cutty stool_, and receiving a rebuke. I never saw it done, but have
+heard in my part of the country of the discipline being enforced
+occasionally. Indeed, I recollect an instance where the rebuke was thus
+administered and received under circumstances of a touching character,
+and which made it partake of the moral sublime. The daughter of the
+minister had herself committed an offence against moral purity, such as
+usually called forth this church censure. The minister peremptorily
+refused to make her an exception to his ordinary practice. His child
+stood up in the congregation, and received, from her agonised father, a
+rebuke similar to that administered to other members of his congregation
+for a like offence. The spirit of the age became unfavourable to the
+practice. The rebuke on the cutty stool, like the penance in a white
+sheet in England, went out of use, and the circumstance is now a matter
+of "reminiscence." I have received some communications on the subject,
+which bear upon this point; and I subjoin the following remarks from a
+kind correspondent, a clergyman, to whom I am largely indebted, as
+indicating the great change which has taken place in this matter.
+
+"Church discipline," he writes, "was much more vigorously enforced in
+olden time than it is now. A certain couple having been guilty of
+illicit intercourse, and also within the forbidden degrees of
+consanguinity, appeared before the Presbytery of Lanark, and made
+confession in sackcloth. They were ordered to return to their own
+session, and to stand at the kirk-door, barefoot and barelegged, from
+the second bell to the last, and thereafter in the public place of
+repentance; and, at direction of the session, thereafter to go through
+the whole kirks of the presbytery, and to satisfy them in like manner.
+If such penance were now enforced for like offences, I believe the
+registration books of many parishes in Scotland would become more
+creditable in certain particulars than they unfortunately are at the
+present time."
+
+But there was a less formidable ecclesiastical censure occasionally
+given by the minister from the pulpit against lesser misdemeanours,
+which took place under his own eye, such as levity of conduct or
+_sleeping_ in church. A most amusing specimen of such censure was once
+inflicted by the minister upon his own wife for an offence not in our
+day visited with so heavy a penalty. The clergyman had observed one of
+his flock asleep during his sermon. He paused, and called him to order.
+"Jeems Robson, ye are sleepin'; I insist on your wauking when God's word
+is preached to ye." "Weel, sir, you may look at your ain seat, and ye'll
+see a sleeper forbye me," answered Jeems, pointing to the clergyman's
+lady in the minister's pew. "Then, Jeems," said the minister, "when ye
+see my wife asleep again, haud up your hand." By and by the arm was
+stretched out, and sure enough the fair lady was caught in the act. Her
+husband solemnly called upon her to stand up and receive the censure due
+to her offence. He thus addressed her:--"Mrs. B., a'body kens that when
+I got ye for my wife, I got nae beauty; yer frien's ken that I got nae
+siller; and if I dinna get God's grace, I shall hae a puir
+bargain indeed."
+
+The quaint and original humour of the old Scottish minister came out
+occasionally in the more private services of his vocation as well as in
+church. As the whole service, whether for baptisms or marriages, is
+supplied by the clergyman officiating, there is more scope for scenes
+between the parties present than at similar ministrations by a
+prescribed form. Thus, a late minister of Caithness, when examining a
+member of his flock, who was a butcher, in reference to the baptism of
+his child, found him so deficient in what he considered the needful
+theological knowledge, that he said to him, "Ah, Sandy, I doubt ye're
+no fit to haud up the bairn." Sandy, conceiving that reference was made
+not to spiritual but to physical incapacity, answered indignantly,
+"Hout, minister, I could haud him up an he were a twa-year-auld
+stirk[23]." A late humorous old minister, near Peebles, who had strong
+feelings on the subject of matrimonial happiness, thus prefaced the
+ceremony by an address to the parties who came to him:--"My friends,
+marriage is a blessing to a few, a curse to many, and a great
+uncertainty to all. Do ye venture?" After a pause, he repeated with
+great emphasis, "Do ye venture?" No objection being made to the venture,
+he then said, "Let's proceed."
+
+The old Scottish hearers were very particular on the subject of their
+minister's preaching old sermons; and to repeat a discourse which they
+could recollect was always made a subject of animadversion by those who
+heard it. A beadle, who was a good deal of a wit in his way, gave a sly
+hit in his pretended defence of his minister on the question. As they
+were proceeding from church, the minister observed the beadle had been
+laughing as if he had triumphed over some of the parishioners with whom
+he had been in conversation. On asking the cause of this, he received
+for answer, "Dod, sir, they were saying ye had preached an auld sermon
+to-day, but I tackled them, for I tauld them it was no an auld sermon,
+for the minister had preached it no sax months syne."
+
+I remember the minister of Banchory, Mr. Gregory, availed himself of the
+feelings of his people on this subject for the purpose of accomplishing
+a particular object. During the building of the new church the service
+had to be performed in a schoolroom, which did not nearly hold the
+congregation. The object was to get part of the parish to attend in the
+morning, and part in the afternoon. Mr. Gregory prevented those who had
+attended in the morning from returning in the afternoon by just giving
+them, as he said, "cauld kail het again."
+
+It is somewhat remarkable, however, that, notwithstanding this feeling
+in the matter of a repetition of old sermons, there was amongst a large
+class of Scottish preachers of a former day such a sameness of subject
+as really sometimes made it difficult to distinguish the discourse of
+one Sunday from amongst others. These were entirely doctrinal, and
+however they might commence, after the opening or introduction hearers
+were certain to find the preacher falling gradually into the old
+channel. The fall of man in Adam, his restoration in Christ,
+justification by faith, and the terms of the new covenant, formed the
+staple of each sermon, and without which it was not in fact reckoned
+complete as an orthodox exposition of Christian doctrine. Without
+omitting the essentials of Christian instruction, preachers now take a
+wider view of illustrating and explaining the gospel scheme of salvation
+and regeneration, without constant recurrence to the elemental and
+fundamental principles of the faith. From my friend Dr. Cook of
+Haddington (who it is well known has a copious stock of old Scotch
+traditionary anecdotes) I have an admirable illustration of this state
+of things as regards pulpit instruction.
+
+"Much of the preaching of the Scotch clergy," Dr. Cook observes, "in the
+last century, was almost exclusively doctrinal--the fall: the nature,
+the extent, and the application of the remedy. In the hands of able men,
+no doubt, there might be much variety of exposition, but with weaker or
+indolent men preaching extempore, or without notes, it too often ended
+in a weekly repetition of what had been already said. An old elder of
+mine, whose recollection might reach back from sixty to seventy years,
+said to me one day, 'Now-a-days, people make a work if a minister preach
+the same sermon over again in the course of two or three years. When I
+was a boy, we would have wondered if old Mr. W---- had preached anything
+else than what we heard the Sunday before.' My old friend used to tell
+of a clergyman who had held forth on the broken covenant till his people
+longed for a change. The elders waited on him to intimate their wish.
+They were examined on their knowledge of the subject, found deficient,
+rebuked, and dismissed, but after a little while they returned to the
+charge, and the minister gave in. Next Lord's day he read a large
+portion of the history of Joseph and his brethren, as the subject of a
+lecture. He paraphrased it, greatly, no doubt, to the detriment of the
+original, but much to the satisfaction of his people, for it was
+something new. He finished the paraphrase, 'and now,' says he, 'my
+friends, we shall proceed to draw some lessons and inferences; and,
+_1st_, you will observe that the sacks of Joseph's brethren were
+_ripit_, and in them was found the cup; so your sacks will be ripit at
+the day of judgment, and the first thing found in them will be the
+broken covenant;' and having gained this advantage, the sermon went off
+into the usual strain, and embodied the usual heads of elementary
+dogmatic theology."
+
+In connection with this topic, I have a communication from a
+correspondent, who remarks--The story about the minister and his
+favourite theme, "the broken covenant," reminds me of one respecting
+another minister whose staple topics of discourse were "Justification,
+Adoption, and Sanctification." Into every sermon he preached, he
+managed, by hook or by crook, to force these three heads, so that his
+general method of handling every text was not so much _expositio_ as
+_impositio_. He was preaching on these words--"Is Ephraim my dear son?
+Is he a pleasant child?" and he soon brought the question into the usual
+formula by adding, Ephraim was a pleasant child--first, because he was a
+justified child; second, because he was an adopted child; and third,
+because he was a sanctified child.
+
+It should be remembered, however, that the Scottish peasantry
+themselves--I mean those of the older school--delighted in expositions
+of _doctrinal_ subjects, and in fact were extremely jealous of any
+minister who departed from their high standard of orthodox divinity, by
+selecting subjects which involved discussions of strictly moral or
+_practical_ questions. It was condemned under the epithet of _legal_
+preaching; in other words, it was supposed to preach the law as
+independent of the gospel. A worthy old clergyman having, upon the
+occasion of a communion Monday, taken a text of such a character, was
+thus commented on by an ancient dame of the congregation, who was
+previously acquainted with his style of discourse:--"If there's an ill
+text in a' the Bible, that creetur's aye sure to tak it."
+
+The great change--the great improvement, I would say--which has taken
+place during the last half-century in the feelings and practical
+relations of religion with social life is, that it has become more
+diffused through all ranks and all characters. Before that period many
+good sort of people were afraid of making their religious views very
+prominent, and were always separated from those who did. Persons who
+made a profession at all beyond the low standard generally adopted in
+society were marked out as objects of fear or of distrust. The anecdote
+at page 65 regarding the practice of family prayer fully proves this.
+Now religious people and religion itself are not kept aloof from the
+ordinary current of men's thoughts and actions. There is no such marked
+line as used to be drawn round persons who make a decided profession of
+religion. Christian men and women have stepped over the line, and,
+without compromising their Christian principle, are not necessarily
+either morose, uncharitable, or exclusive. The effects of the old
+separation were injurious to men's minds. Religion was with many
+associated with puritanism, with cant, and unfitness for the world. The
+difference is marked also in the style of sermons prevalent at the two
+periods. There were sermons of two descriptions--viz., sermons by
+"_moderate_" clergy, of a purely moral or practical character; and
+sermons purely doctrinal, from those who were known as "evangelical"
+ministers. Hence arose an impression, and not unnaturally, on many
+minds, that an almost exclusive reference to doctrinal subjects, and a
+dread of upholding the law, and of enforcing its more minute details,
+were not favourable to the cause of moral rectitude and practical
+holiness of life. This was hinted in a sly way by a young member of the
+kirk to his father, a minister of the severe and high Calvinistic
+school. Old Dr. Lockhart of Glasgow was lamenting one day, in the
+presence of his son John, the fate of a man who had been found guilty of
+immoral practices, and the more so that he was one of his own elders.
+"Well, father," remarked his son, "you see what you've driven him to."
+In our best Scottish preaching at the present day no such distinction
+is visible.
+
+The same feeling came forth with much point and humour on an occasion
+referred to in "Carlyle's Memoirs." In a company where John Home and
+David Hume were present, much wonder was expressed what _could_ have
+induced a clerk belonging to Sir William Forbes' bank to abscond, and
+embezzle £900. "I know what it was," said Home to the historian; "for
+when he was taken there was found in his pocket a volume of your
+philosophical works and Boston's 'Fourfold State'"--a hit, 1st, at the
+infidel, whose principles would have undermined Christianity; and 2d, a
+hit at the Church, which he was compelled to leave on account of his
+having written the tragedy of Douglas.
+
+I can myself recollect an obsolete ecclesiastical custom, and which was
+always practised in the church of Fettercairn during my boyish
+days--viz., that of the minister bowing to the heritors in succession
+who occupied the front gallery seats; and I am assured that this bowing
+from the pulpit to the principal heritor or heritors after the blessing
+had been pronounced was very common in rural parishes till about forty
+years ago, and perhaps till a still later period. And when heritors
+chanced to be pretty equally matched, there was sometimes an unpleasant
+contest as to who was entitled to the precedence in having the _first_
+bow. A case of this kind once occurred in the parish of Lanark, which
+was carried so far as to be laid before the Presbytery; but they, not
+considering themselves "competent judges of the points of honour and
+precedency among gentlemen, and to prevent all inconveniency in these
+matters in the future, appointed the minister to forbear bowing to the
+lairds at all from the pulpit for the time to come;" and they also
+appointed four of their number "to wait upon the gentlemen, to deal with
+them, for bringing them to condescend to submit hereunto, for the
+success of the gospel and the peace of the parish."
+
+In connection with this subject, we may mention a ready and
+complimentary reply once made by the late Reverend Dr. Wightman of
+Kirkmahoe, on being rallied for his neglecting this usual act of
+courtesy one Sabbath in his own church. The heritor who was entitled to
+and always received this token of respect, was Mr. Miller, proprietor of
+Dalswinton. One Sabbath the Dalswinton pew contained a bevy of ladies,
+but no gentlemen, and the Doctor--perhaps because he was a bachelor and
+felt a delicacy in the circumstances--omitted the usual salaam in their
+direction. A few days after, meeting Miss Miller, who was widely famed
+for her beauty, and who afterwards became Countess of Mar, she rallied
+him, in presence of her companions, for not bowing to her from the
+pulpit on the previous Sunday, and requested an explanation; when the
+good Doctor immediately replied--"I beg your pardon, Miss Miller, but
+you surely know that angel-worship is not allowed in the Church of
+Scotland;" and lifting his hat, he made a low bow, and passed on.
+
+Scottish congregations, in some parts of the country, contain an element
+in their composition quite unknown in English churches. In pastoral
+parts of the country, it was an established practice for each shepherd
+to bring his faithful _collie_ dog--at least it was so some years ago.
+In a district of Sutherland, where the population is very scanty, the
+congregations are made up one-half of dogs, each human member having his
+canine companion. These dogs sit out the Gaelic services and sermon with
+commendable patience, till towards the end of the last psalm, when there
+is a universal stretching and yawning, and all are prepared to scamper
+out, barking in a most excited manner whenever the blessing is
+commenced. The congregation of one of these churches determined that the
+service should close in a more decorous manner, and steps were taken to
+attain this object. Accordingly, when a stranger clergyman was
+officiating, he found the people all sitting when he was about to
+pronounce the blessing. He hesitated, and paused, expecting them to
+rise, till an old shepherd, looking up to the pulpit, said, "Say awa',
+sir; we're a' sittin' to cheat the dowgs."
+
+There must have been some curious specimens of Scottish humour brought
+out at the examinations or catechisings by ministers of the flock before
+the administrations of the communion. Thus, with reference to human
+nature before the fall, a man was asked, "What kind of man was Adam?"
+"Ou, just like ither fouk." The minister insisted on having a more
+special description of the first man, and pressed for more explanation.
+"Weel," said the catechumen, "he was just like Joe Simson the
+horse-couper." "How so?" asked the minister. "Weel, naebody got onything
+by him, and mony lost."
+
+A lad had come for examination previous to his receiving his first
+communion. The pastor, knowing that his young friend was not very
+profound in his theology, and not wishing to discourage him, or keep him
+from the table unless compelled to do so, began by asking what he
+thought a safe question, and what would give him confidence. So he took
+the Old Testament, and asked him, in reference to the Mosaic law, how
+many commandments there were. After a little thought, he put his answer
+in the modest form of a supposition, and replied, cautiously,
+"Aiblins[24] a hunner." The clergyman was vexed, and told him such
+ignorance was intolerable, that he could not proceed in examination, and
+that the youth must wait and learn more; so he went away. On returning
+home he met a friend on his way to the manse, and on learning that he
+too was going to the minister for examination, shrewdly asked him,
+"Weel, what will ye say noo if the minister speers hoo mony commandments
+there are?" "Say! why, I shall say ten to be sure." To which the other
+rejoined, with great triumph, "Ten! Try ye him wi' ten! I tried him wi'
+a hunner, and he wasna satisfeed." Another answer from a little girl was
+shrewd and reflective. The question was, "Why did the Israelites make a
+golden calf?" "They hadna as muckle siller as wad mak a coo."
+
+A kind correspondent has sent me, from personal knowledge, an admirable
+pendant to stones of Scottish child acuteness and shrewd observation. A
+young lady friend of his, resident in a part of Ayrshire rather remote
+from any very satisfactory administration of the gospel, is in the habit
+of collecting the children of the neighbourhood on Sundays at the "big
+hoose," for religious instruction. On one occasion the class had
+repeated the paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer, which contains
+these lines--
+
+     "Give us this day our daily bread,
+      And raiment _fit_ provide."
+
+There being no question as to what "daily bread" was, the teacher
+proceeded to ask: "What do you understand by 'raiment fit,' or as we
+might say, 'fit raiment?'" For a short time the class remained puzzled
+at the question; but at last one little girl sung out "stockings and
+shune." The child knew that "fit," was Scotch for feet, so her natural
+explanation of the phrase was equivalent to "feet raiment," or
+"stockings and shune," as she termed it.
+
+On the point of changes in religious feelings there comes within the
+scope of these Reminiscences a character in Aberdeenshire, which has now
+gone out--I mean the popular and universally well-received Roman
+Catholic priest. Although we cannot say that Scotland is a more
+PROTESTANT nation than it was in past days, still religious differences,
+and strong prejudices, seem at the present time to draw a more decided
+line of separation between the priest and his Protestant countrymen. As
+examples of what is past, I would refer to the case of a genial Romish
+bishop in Ross-shire. It is well known that private stills were
+prevalent in the Highlands fifty or sixty years ago, and no one thought
+there was any harm in them. This good bishop, whose name I forget, was
+(as I heard the late W. Mackenzie of Muirton assure a party at Dunrobin
+Castle) several years previously a famous hand at brewing a good glass
+of whisky, and that he distributed his mountain-dew with a liberal and
+impartial hand alike to Catholic and to Protestant friends. Of this
+class, I recollect, certainly forty-five years ago, Priest Gordon, a
+genuine Aberdonian, and a man beloved by all, rich and poor. He was a
+sort of chaplain to Menzies of Pitfodels, and visited in all the country
+families round Aberdeen. I remember once his being at Banchory Lodge,
+and thus apologising to my aunt for going out of the room:--"I beg your
+pardon, Mrs. Forbes, for leaving you, but I maun just gae doun to the
+garden and say my bit wordies"--these "bit wordies" being in fact the
+portion of the Breviary which he was bound to recite. So easily and
+pleasantly were those matters then referred to.
+
+The following, however, is a still richer illustration, and I am assured
+it is genuine:--"Towards the end of the last century, a worthy Roman
+Catholic clergyman, well known as 'Priest Matheson,' and universally
+respected in the district, had charge of a mission in Aberdeenshire, and
+for a long time made his journeys on a piebald pony, the priest and his
+'pyet shelty' sharing an affectionate recognition wherever they came. On
+one occasion, however, he made his appearance on a steed of a different
+description, and passing near a Seceding meeting-house, he forgathered
+with the minister, who, after the usual kindly greetings, missing the
+familiar pony, said, 'Ou, Priest! fat's come o' the auld Pyet? 'He's
+deid, minister.' 'Weel, he was an auld faithfu' servant, and ye wad nae
+doot gie him the offices o' the church?' 'Na, minister,' said his
+friend, not quite liking this allusion to his priestly offices, 'I didna
+dee that, for ye see he _turned Seceder afore he dee'd, an' I buried him
+like a beast_.' He then rode quietly away. This worthy man, however,
+could, when occasion required, rebuke with seriousness as well as point.
+Always a welcome guest at the houses of both clergy and gentry, he is
+said on one occasion to have met with a laird whose hospitality he had
+thought it proper to decline, and on being asked the reason for the
+interruption of his visits, answered, 'Ye ken, an' I ken; but, laird,
+God kens!'"
+
+One question connected with religious feeling, and the manifestation of
+religious feeling, has become a more settled point amongst us, since
+fifty years have expired. I mean the question of attendance by clergymen
+on theatrical representations. Dr. Carlyle had been prosecuted before
+the General Assembly in 1757 for being present at the performance of the
+tragedy of Douglas, written by his friend John Home. He was acquitted,
+however, and writes thus on the subject in his Memoirs:--
+
+"Although the clergy in Edinburgh and its neighbourhood had abstained
+from the theatre because it gave offence, yet the more remote clergymen,
+when occasionally in town, had almost universally attended the
+play-house. It is remarkable that in the year 1784, when the great
+actress Mrs. Siddons first appeared in Edinburgh, during the sitting of
+the General Assembly, that court was obliged to fix all its important
+business for the alternate days when she did not act, as all the younger
+members, clergy as well as laity, took their stations in the theatre on
+those days by three in the afternoon."
+
+Drs. Robertson and Blair, although they cultivated the acquaintance of
+Mrs. Siddons in private, were amongst those clergymen, referred to by
+Dr. Carlyle, who abstained from attendance in the theatre; but Dr.
+Carlyle states that they regretted not taking the opportunity of
+witnessing a display of her talent, and of giving their sanction to the
+theatre as a place of recreation. Dr. Carlyle evidently considered it a
+narrow-minded intolerance and bigoted fanaticism that clergymen should
+be excluded from that amusement. At a period far later than 1784, the
+same opinion prevailed in some quarters. I recollect when such
+indulgence on the part of clergymen was treated with much leniency,
+especially for Episcopalian clergy. I do not mean to say that there was
+anything like a general feeling in favour of clerical theatrical
+attendance; but there can be no question of a feeling far less strict
+than what exists in our own time. As I have said, thirty-six years ago
+some clergymen went to the theatre; and a few years before that, when my
+brothers and I were passing through Edinburgh, in going backwards and
+forwards to school, at Durham, with our tutor, a licentiate of the
+Established Church of Scotland, and who afterwards attained considerable
+eminence in the Free Church, we certainly went with him to the theatre
+there, and at Durham very frequently. I feel quite assured, however,
+that no clergyman could expect to retain the respect of his people or of
+the public, of whom it was known that he frequently or habitually
+attended theatrical representations. It is so understood. I had
+opportunities of conversing with the late Mr. Murray of the Theatre
+Royal, Edinburgh, and with Mr. Charles Kean, on the subject. Both
+admitted the fact, and certainly if any men of the profession _could_
+have removed the feeling from the public mind, these were the men to
+have done it.
+
+There is a phase of religious observances which has undergone a great
+change amongst us within fifty years--I mean the services and
+circumstances connected with the administration of the Holy Communion.
+When these occurred in a parish they were called "occasions," and the
+great interest excited by these sacramental solemnities may be gathered
+from "Peter's Letters," "The Annals of the Parish," and Burns' "Holy
+Fair." Such ceremonials are now conducted, I believe, just as the
+ordinary church services. Some years back they were considered a sort of
+preaching matches. Ministers vied with each other in order to bear away
+the bell in popularity, and hearers embraced the opportunity of
+exhibiting to one another their powers of criticism on what they heard
+and saw. In the parish of Urr in Galloway, on one sacramental occasion,
+some of the assistants invited were eminent ministers in Edinburgh; Dr.
+Scot of St. Michael's, Dumfries, was the only local one who was asked,
+and he was, in his own sphere, very popular as a preacher. A brother
+clergyman, complimenting him upon the honour of being so invited, the
+old bald-headed divine modestly replied, "Gude bless you, man, what can
+I do? They are a' han' wailed[25] this time; I need never show face
+among them." "Ye're quite mista'en," was the soothing encouragement;
+"tak' your _Resurrection_ (a well-known sermon used for such occasions
+by him), an I'll lay my lug ye'll beat every clute o' them." The Doctor
+did as suggested, and exerted himself to the utmost, and it appears he
+did not exert himself in vain. A batch of old women, on their way home
+after the conclusion of the services, were overheard discussing the
+merits of the several preachers who had that day addressed them from the
+tent. "Leeze me abune them a'," said one of the company, who had waxed
+warm in the discussion, "for yon auld clear-headed (bald) man, that
+said, 'Raphael sings an' Gabriel strikes his goolden harp, an' a' the
+angels clap their wings wi' joy.' O but it was gran', it just put me in
+min' o' our geese at Dunjarg when they turn their nebs to the south an'
+clap their wings when they see the rain's comin' after lang drooth."
+
+There is a subject closely allied with the religious feelings of a
+people, and that is the subject of their _superstitions_. To enter upon
+that question, in a general view, especially in reference to the
+Highlands, would not be consistent with our present purpose, but I am
+induced to mention the existence of a singular superstition regarding
+swine which existed some years ago among the lower orders of the east
+coast of Fife. I can observe, in my own experience, a great change to
+have taken place amongst Scotch people generally on this subject. The
+old aversion to the "unclean animal" still lingers in the Highlands, but
+seems in the Lowland districts to have yielded to a sense of its thrift
+and usefulness[26]. The account given by my correspondent of the Fife
+swinophobia is as follows:--
+
+Among the many superstitious notions and customs prevalent among the
+lower orders of the fishing towns on the east coast of Fife, till very
+recently, that class entertained a great horror of swine, and even at
+the very mention of the word. If that animal crossed their path when
+about to set out on a sea voyage, they considered it so unlucky an omen
+that they would not venture off. A clergyman of one of these fishing
+villages having mentioned the superstition to a clerical friend, and
+finding that he was rather incredulous on the subject, in order to
+convince him told him he would allow him an opportunity of testing the
+truth of it by allowing him to preach for him the following day. It was
+arranged that his friend was to read the chapter relating to the herd of
+swine into which the evil spirits were cast. Accordingly, when the first
+verse was read, in which the unclean beast was mentioned, a slight
+commotion was observable among the audience, each one of them putting
+his or her hand on any near piece of iron--a nail on the seat or
+book-board, or to the nails on their shoes. At the repetition of the
+word again and again, more commotion was visible, and the words "cauld
+airn" (cold iron) the antidote to this baneful spell, were heard issuing
+from various corners of the church. And finally, on his coming over the
+hated word again, when the whole herd ran violently down the bank into
+the sea, the alarmed parishioners, irritated beyond bounds, rose and all
+left the church in a body.
+
+It is some time now, however, since the Highlanders have begun to
+appreciate the thrift and comfort of swine-keeping and swine-killing. A
+Scottish minister had been persuaded by the laird to keep a pig, and the
+gudewife had been duly instructed in the mysteries of black puddings,
+pork chops, and pig's head. "Oh!" said the minister, "nae doubt there's
+a hantle o' miscellawneous eating aboot a pig."
+
+Amongst a people so deeply impressed with the great truths of religion,
+and so earnest in their religious profession, any persons whose
+principles were known to be of an _infidel_ character would naturally be
+looked on with abhorrence and suspicion. There is a story traditionary
+in Edinburgh regarding David Hume, which illustrates this feeling in a
+very amusing manner, and which, I have heard it said, Hume himself often
+narrated. The philosopher had fallen from the path into the swamp at the
+back of the Castle, the existence of which I recollect hearing of from
+old persons forty years ago. He fairly stuck fast, and called to a woman
+who was passing, and begged her assistance. She passed on apparently
+without attending to the request; at his earnest entreaty, however, she
+came where he was, and asked him, "Are na ye Hume the Atheist?" "Well,
+well, no matter," said Hume; "Christian charity commands you to do good
+to every one." "Christian charity here, or Christian charity there,"
+replied the woman, "I'll do naething for you till ye turn a Christian
+yoursell'--ye maun repeat the Lord's Prayer and the Creed, or faith
+I'll let ye grafel[27] there as I fand ye." The historian, really afraid
+for his life, rehearsed the required formulas.
+
+Notwithstanding the high character borne for so many years by our
+countrymen as a people, and as specially attentive to all religious
+observances, still there can be no doubt that there has sprung up
+amongst the inhabitants of our crowded cities, wynds, and closes, a
+class of persons quite unknown in the old Scottish times. It is a great,
+difficulty to get them to attend divine worship at all, and their
+circumstances combine to break off all associations with public
+services. Their going to church becomes a matter of persuasion and of
+missionary labour.
+
+A lady, who is most active in visiting the houses of these outcasts from
+the means of grace, gives me an amusing instance of self-complacency
+arising from performance of the duty. She was visiting in the West Port,
+not far from the church established by my illustrious friend the late
+Dr. Chalmers. Having asked a poor woman if she ever attended there for
+divine service--"Ou ay," she replied; "there's a man ca'd Chalmers
+preaches there, and I whiles gang in and hear him, just to encourage
+him, puir body!"
+
+From the religious opinions of a people, the transition is natural to
+their political partialities. One great political change has passed over
+Scotland, which none now living can be said to have actually
+_witnessed_; but they remember those who were contemporaries of the
+anxious scenes of '45, and many of us have known determined and thorough
+Jacobites. The poetry of that political period still remains, but we
+hear only as pleasant songs those words and melodies which stirred the
+hearts and excited the deep enthusiasm of a past generation. Jacobite
+anecdotes also are fading from our knowledge. To many young persons they
+are unknown. Of these stories illustrative of Jacobite feelings and
+enthusiasm, many are of a character not fit for me to record. The good
+old ladies who were violent partisans of the Stuarts had little
+hesitation in referring without reserve to the future and eternal
+destiny of William of Orange. One anecdote which I had from a near
+relative of the family may be adduced in illustration of the powerful
+hold which the cause had upon the views and consciences of Jacobites.
+
+A former Mr. Stirling of Keir had favoured the Stuart cause, and had in
+fact attended a muster of forces at the Brig of Turk previous to the
+'15. This symptom of a rising against the Government occasioned some
+uneasiness, and the authorities were very active in their endeavours to
+discover who were the leaders of the movement. Keir was suspected. The
+miller of Keir was brought forward as a witness, and swore positively
+that the laird was _not_ present. Now, as it was well known that he was
+there, and that the miller knew it, a neighbour asked him privately,
+when he came out of the witness-box, how he could on oath assert such a
+falsehood. The miller replied, quite undaunted, and with a feeling of
+confidence in the righteousness of his cause approaching the sublime--"I
+would rather trust my soul in God's mercy than Keir's head into
+their hands."
+
+A correspondent has sent me an account of a curious ebullition of
+Jacobite feeling and enthusiasm, now I suppose quite extinct. My
+correspondent received it himself from Alexander, fourth Duke of Gordon,
+and he had entered it in a commonplace-book when he heard it, in 1826.
+
+"David Tulloch, tenant in Drumbenan, under the second and third Dukes
+of Gordon, had been '_out_' in the '45--or the _fufteen, or both_--and
+was a great favourite of his respective landlords. One day, having
+attended the young Lady Susan Gordon (afterwards Duchess of Manchester)
+to the 'Chapel' at Huntly, David, perceiving that her ladyship had
+neither hassock nor carpet to protect her garments from the earthen
+floor, respectfully spread his plaid for the young lady to kneel upon,
+and the service proceeded; but when the prayer for the King and Royal
+Family was commenced, David, _sans cerémonie_, drew, or rather
+'twitched,' the plaid from under the knees of the astonished young lady,
+exclaiming, _not_ sotto voce, 'The deil a ane shall pray for _them_ on
+_my_ plaid!'"
+
+I have a still more pungent demonstration against praying for the king,
+which a friend in Aberdeen assures me he received from the son of the
+gentleman who _heard_ the protest. In the Episcopal Chapel in Aberdeen,
+of which Primus _John_ Skinner was incumbent, they commenced praying in
+the service for George III. immediately on the death of Prince Charles
+Edward. On the first Sunday of the prayer being used, this gentleman's
+father, walking home with a friend whom he knew to be an old and
+determined Jacobite, said to him, "What do you think of that, Mr.----?"
+The reply was, "Indeed, the less we say aboot that prayer the better."
+But he was pushed for "further answer as to his own views and his own
+ideas on the matter," so he came out with the declaration, "Weel, then,
+I say this--they may pray the kenees[28] aff their breeks afore I join
+in that prayer."
+
+The following is a characteristic Jacobite story. It must have happened
+shortly after 1745, when all manner of devices were fallen upon to
+display Jacobitism, without committing the safety of the Jacobite, such
+as having white knots on gowns; drinking, "The king, ye ken wha I mean;"
+uttering the toast "The king," with much apparent loyalty, and passing
+the glass over the water-jug, indicating the esoteric meaning of majesty
+_beyond_ the sea,--etc. etc.; and various toasts, which were most
+important matters in those times, and were often given as tests of
+loyalty, or the reverse, according to the company in which they were
+given. Miss Carnegy of Craigo, well known and still remembered amongst
+the old Montrose ladies as an uncompromising Jacobite, had been vowing
+that she would drink King James and his son in a company of staunch
+Brunswickers, and being strongly dissuaded from any such foolish and
+dangerous attempt by some of her friends present, she answered them with
+a text of Scripture, "The tongue no man can tame--James _Third_ and
+_Aucht_" and drank off her glass[29]!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE THIRD.
+
+ON OLD SCOTTISH CONVIVIALITY.
+
+The next change in manners which has been effected, in the memory of
+many now living, regards the habits of conviviality, or, to speak more
+plainly, regards the banishment of _drunkenness_ from polite society. It
+is indeed a most important and blessed change. But it is a change the
+full extent of which many persons now alive can hardly estimate. Indeed,
+it is scarcely possible to realise the scenes which took place seventy
+or eighty years back, or even less. In many houses, when a party dined,
+the ladies going away was the signal for the commencement of a system of
+compulsory conviviality. No one was allowed to shirk--no daylight--no
+heeltaps--was the wretched jargon in which were expressed the propriety
+and the duty of seeing that the glass, when filled, must be emptied and
+drained. We have heard of glasses having the bottoms knocked off, so
+that no shuffling tricks might be played with them, and that they could
+only be put down--empty.
+
+One cannot help looking back with amazement at the infatuation which
+could for a moment tolerate such a sore evil. To a man of sober
+inclinations it must have been an intolerable nuisance to join a dinner
+party at many houses, where he knew he should have to witness the most
+disgusting excesses in others, and to fight hard to preserve himself
+from a compliance with the example of those around him.
+
+The scenes of excess which occurred in the houses where deep drinking
+was practised must have been most revolting to sober persons who were
+unaccustomed to such conviviality; as in the case of a drinking Angus
+laird, entertaining as his guest a London merchant of formal manners and
+temperate habits. The poor man was driven from the table when the
+drinking set in hard, and stole away to take refuge in his bedroom. The
+company, however, were determined not to let the worthy citizen off so
+easily, but proceeded in a body, with the laird at their head, and
+invaded his privacy by exhibiting bottles and glasses at his bedside,
+Losing all patience, the wretched victim gasped out his
+indignation--"Sir, your hospitality borders upon brutality." It must
+have had a fatal influence also on many persons to whom drinking was
+most injurious, and who were yet not strong-minded enough to resist the
+temptations to excess. Poor James Boswell, who certainly required no
+_extraordinary_ urging to take a glass too much, is found in his
+letters, which have recently come to light, laying the blame of his
+excesses to "falling into a habit which still prevails in Scotland;" and
+then he remarks, with censorious emphasis, on the "drunken manners of
+his countrymen." This was about 1770.
+
+A friend of mine, however, lately departed--Mr. Boswell of
+Balmuto--showed more spirit than the Londoner, when he found himself in
+a similar situation. Challenged by the host to drink, urged and almost
+forced to swallow a quantity of wine against his own inclination, he
+proposed a counter-challenge in the way of eating, and made the
+following ludicrous and original proposal to the company,--that two or
+three legs of mutton should be prepared, and he would then contest the
+point of who could devour most meat; and certainly it seems as
+reasonable to compel people to _eat_, as to compel them to drink, beyond
+the natural cravings of nature.
+
+The situation of ladies, too, must frequently have been very
+disagreeable--when, for instance, gentlemen came up stairs in a
+condition most unfit for female society. Indeed they were often
+compelled to fly from scenes which were most unfitting for them to
+witness. They were expected to get out of the way at the proper time, or
+when a hint was given them to do so. At Glasgow sixty years ago, when
+the time had come for the _bowl_ to be introduced, some jovial and
+thirsty members of the company proposed as a toast, "The trade of
+Glasgow and _the outward bound!_" The hint was taken, and silks and
+satins moved off to the drawing-room.
+
+In my part of the country the traditionary stories of drinking prowess
+are quite marvellous. On Deeside there flourished a certain Saunders
+Paul (whom I remember an old man), an innkeeper at Banchory. He was said
+to have drunk whisky, glass for glass, to the claret of Mr. Maule and
+the Laird of Skene for a whole evening; and in those days there was a
+traditional story of his despatching, at one sitting, in company with a
+character celebrated for conviviality--one of the men employed to float
+rafts of timber down the Dee--three dozen of porter. Of this Mr. Paul it
+was recorded, that on being asked if he considered porter as a wholesome
+beverage, he replied, "Oh yes, if you don't take above a dozen."
+Saunders Paul was, as I have said, the innkeeper at Banchory: his friend
+and _porter_ companion was drowned in the Dee, and when told that the
+body had been found down the stream below Crathes, he coolly remarked,
+"I am surprised at that, for I never kenn'd him pass the inn before
+without comin' in for a glass."
+
+Some relatives of mine travelling in the Highlands were amused by
+observing in a small road-side public-house a party drinking, whose
+apparatus for conviviality called forth the dry quaint humour which is
+so thoroughly Scottish. Three drovers had met together, and were
+celebrating their meeting by a liberal consumption of whisky; the inn
+could only furnish one glass without a bottom, and this the party passed
+on from one to another. A queer-looking pawky chield, whenever the glass
+came to his turn, remarked most gravely, "I think we wadna be the waur
+o' some water," taking care, however, never to add any of the simple
+element, but quietly drank off his glass.
+
+There was a sort of infatuation in the supposed dignity and manliness
+attached to powers of deep potation, and the fatal effects of drinking
+were spoken of in a manner both reckless and unfeeling. Thus, I have
+been assured that a well-known old laird of the old school expressed
+himself with great indignation at the charge brought against hard
+drinking that it had actually _killed_ people. "Na, na, I never knew
+onybody killed wi' drinking, but I hae kenn'd some that dee'd in the
+training." A positive _éclat_ was attached to the accomplished and
+well-trained consumer of claret or of whisky toddy, which gave an
+importance and even merit to the practice of drinking, and which had a
+most injurious effect. I am afraid some of the Pleydells of the old
+school would have looked with the most ineffable contempt on the
+degeneracy of the present generation in this respect, and that the
+temperance movement would be little short of insanity in their eyes; and
+this leads me to a remark.--In considering this portion of the subject,
+we should bear in mind a distinction. The change we now speak of
+involves more than a mere change of a custom or practice in social life.
+It is a change in men's sentiments and feelings on a certain great
+question of morals. Except we enter into this distinction we cannot
+appreciate the extent of the change which has really taken place in
+regard to intemperate habits.
+
+I have an anecdote from a descendant of Principal Robertson, of an
+address made to him, which showed the real importance attached to all
+that concerned the system of drinking in his time. The Principal had
+been invited to spend some days in a country-house, and the minister of
+the parish (a jovial character) had been asked to meet him. Before
+dinner he went up to Dr. Robertson and addressed him
+confidentially--"Doctor, I understand ye are a brother of my gude freend
+Peter Robertson of Edinburgh, therefore I'll gie you a piece of
+advice,--Bend[30] weel to the Madeira at dinner, for here ye'll get
+little o't after." I have known persons who held that a man who could
+not drink must have a degree of feebleness and imbecility of character.
+But as this is an important point, I will adduce the higher authority of
+Lord Cockburn, and quote from him two examples, very different certainly
+in their nature, but both bearing upon the question. I refer to what he
+says of Lord Hermand:--"With Hermand drinking was a virtue; he had a
+sincere respect for drinking, indeed a high moral approbation, and a
+serious compassion for the poor wretches who _could_ not indulge in it,
+and with due contempt of those who could but did not;" and, secondly, I
+refer to Lord Cockburn's pages for an anecdote which illustrates the
+perverted feeling I refer to, now happily no longer existing. It
+relates the opinion expressed by an old drunken writer of Selkirk (whose
+name is not mentioned) regarding his anticipation of professional
+success for Mr. Cranstoun, afterwards Lord Corehouse. Sir Walter Scott,
+William Erskine, and Cranstoun, had dined with this Selkirk writer, and
+Scott--of hardy, strong, and healthy frame--had matched the writer
+himself in the matter of whisky punch. Poor Cranstoun, of refined and
+delicate mental and bodily temperament, was a bad hand at such work, and
+was soon off the field. On the party breaking up, the Selkirk writer
+expressed his admiration of Scott, assuring him that _he_ would rise
+high in the profession, and adding: "I'll tell ye what, Maister Walter,
+that lad Cranstoun may get to the tap o' the bar, if he can; but tak my
+word for't, it's no be by drinking."
+
+There was a sort of dogged tone of apology for excess in drinking, which
+marked the hold which the practice had gained on ordinary minds. Of this
+we have a remarkable example in the unwilling testimony of a witness who
+was examined as to the fact of drunkenness being charged against a
+minister. The person examined was beadle, or one of the church
+officials. He was asked, "Did you ever see the minister the worse of
+drink?" "I canna say I've seen him the waur o' drink, but nae doubt I've
+seen him the _better_ o't," was the evasive answer. The question,
+however, was pushed further; and when he was urged to say if this state
+of being "the better for drink" ever extended to a condition of absolute
+helpless intoxication, the reply was: "Indeed, afore that cam', I was
+blind fou mysel', and I could see nae thing."
+
+A legal friend has told me of a celebrated circuit where Lord Hermand
+was judge, and Clephane depute-advocate. The party got drunk at Ayr, and
+so continued (although quite able for their work) till the business was
+concluded at Jedburgh. Some years after, my informant heard that this
+circuit had, at Jedburgh, acquired the permanent name of the
+"_daft_ circuit."
+
+Lord Cockburn was fond of describing a circuit scene at Stirling, in his
+early days at the bar, under the presidency of his friend and connection
+Lord Hermand. After the circuit dinner, and when drinking had gone on
+for some time, young Cockburn observed places becoming vacant in the
+social circle, but no one going out at the door. He found that the
+individuals had dropped down under the table. He took the hint, and by
+this ruse retired from the scene. He lay quiet till the beams of the
+morning sun penetrated the apartment. The judge and some of his staunch
+friends coolly walked up stairs, washed their hands and faces, came down
+to breakfast, and went into court quite fresh and fit for work.
+
+The feeling of importance frequently attached to powers of drinking was
+formally attested by a well-known western baronet of convivial habits
+and convivial memory. He was desirous of bearing testimony to the
+probity, honour, and other high moral qualities of a friend whom he
+wished to commend. Having fully stated these claims to consideration and
+respect, he deemed it proper to notice also his _convivial_ attainments:
+he added accordingly, with cautious approval on so important a
+point--"And he is a fair drinker[31]."
+
+The following anecdote is an amusing example of Scottish servant humour
+and acuteness in measuring the extent of consumption by a convivial
+party in Forfarshire. The party had met at a farmer's house not far from
+Arbroath, to celebrate the reconciliation of two neighbouring farmers
+who had long been at enmity. The host was pressing and hospitable; the
+party sat late, and consumed a vast amount of whisky toddy. The wife was
+penurious, and grudged the outlay. When at last, at a morning hour, the
+party dispersed, the lady, who had not slept in her anxiety, looked over
+the stairs and eagerly asked the servant girl, "How many bottles of
+whisky have they used, Betty?" The lass, who had not to pay for the
+whisky, but had been obliged to go to the well to fetch the water for
+the toddy, coolly answered, "I dinna ken, mem, but they've drucken sax
+gang o' water."
+
+We cannot imagine a better illustration of the general habits that
+prevailed in Scottish society in regard to drinking about the time we
+speak of than one which occurs in the recently-published "Memoirs of a
+Banking House," that of the late Sir William Forbes, Bart, of Pitsligo.
+The book comprises much that is interesting to the family, and to
+Scotchmen. It contains a pregnant hint as to the manners of polite
+society and business habits in those days. Of John Coutts, one of four
+brothers connected with the house, Sir William records how he was "more
+correct in his conduct than the others; so much so, that Sir William
+_never but once_ saw him in the counting-house disguised with liquor,
+and incapable of transacting business."
+
+In the Highlands this sort of feeling extended to an almost incredible
+extent, even so much as to obscure the moral and religious sentiments.
+Of this a striking proof was afforded in a circumstance which took place
+in my own church soon after I came into it. One of our Gaelic clergy had
+so far forgotten himself as to appear in the church somewhat the worse
+of liquor. This having happened so often as to come to the ears of the
+bishop, he suspended him from the performance of divine service. Against
+this decision the people were a little disposed to rebel, because,
+according to their Highland notions, "a gentleman was no the waur for
+being able to tak' a gude glass o' whisky." These were the notions of a
+people in whose eyes the power of swallowing whisky conferred
+distinction, and with whom inability to take the fitting quantity was a
+mark of a mean and futile character. Sad to tell, the funeral rites of
+Highland chieftains were not supposed to have been duly celebrated
+except there was an immoderate and often fatal consumption of whisky. It
+has been related that at the last funeral in the Highlands, conducted
+according to the traditions of the olden times, several of the guests
+fell victims to the usage, and actually died of the excesses.
+
+This phase of old and happily almost obsolete Scottish intemperance at
+funeral solemnities must have been peculiarly revolting. Instances of
+this horrid practice being carried to a great extent are traditionary in
+every part of the country. I am assured of the truth of the following
+anecdote by a son of the gentleman who acted as chief mourner on the
+occasion:--About seventy years ago an old maiden lady died in
+Strathspey. Just previous to her death she sent for her grand-nephew,
+and said to him, "Wily, I'm deein', and as ye'll hae the charge o' a' I
+have, mind now that as much whisky is to be used at my funeral as there
+was at my baptism." Willy neglected to ask the old lady what the
+quantity of whisky used at the baptism was, but when the day of the
+funeral arrived believed her orders would be best fulfilled by allowing
+each guest to drink as much as he pleased. The churchyard where the body
+was to be deposited was about ten miles distant from where the death
+occurred. It was a short day in November, and when the funeral party
+came to the churchyard the shades of night had considerably closed in.
+The grave-digger, whose patience had been exhausted in waiting, was not
+in the least willing to accept of Captain G----'s (the chief mourner)
+apology for delay. After looking about him he put the anxious question,
+"But, Captain, whaur's Miss Ketty?" The reply was, "In her coffin, to be
+sure, and get it into the earth as fast as you can." There, however, was
+no coffin; the procession had sojourned at a country inn by the way--had
+rested the body on a dyke--started without it--and had to postpone the
+interment until next day. My correspondent very justly adds the remark,
+"What would be thought of indulgence in drinking habits now that could
+lead to such a result?"
+
+Many scenes of a similar incongruous character are still traditionally
+connected with such occasions. Within the last thirty years, a laird of
+Dundonald, a small estate in Ross-shire, died at Inverness. There was
+open house for some days, and great eating and drinking. Here the corpse
+commenced its progress toward its appointed home on the coast, and
+people followed in multitudes to give it a partial convoy, all of whom
+had to be entertained. It took altogether a fortnight to bury poor
+Dundonald, and great expense must have been incurred. This, however, is
+looked back to at Inverness as the last of the real grand old Highland
+funerals. Such notions of what is due to the memory of the departed have
+now become unusual if not obsolete. I myself witnessed the first decided
+change in this matter. I officiated at the funeral of the late Duke of
+Sutherland. The procession was a mile long. Refreshments were provided
+for 7000 persons; beef, bread, and beer; but not one glass of whisky was
+allowed on the property that day!
+
+It may, perhaps, be said that the change we speak of is not peculiar to
+Scotland; that in England the same change has been apparent; and that
+drunkenness has passed away in the higher circles, as a matter of
+course, as refinement and taste made an advancement in society. This is
+true. But there were some features of the question which were peculiar
+to Scotland, and which at one time rendered it less probable that
+intemperance would give way in the north. It seemed in some quarters to
+have taken deeper root amongst us. The system of pressing, or of
+_compelling_, guests to drink seemed more inveterate. Nothing can more
+powerfully illustrate the deep-rooted character of intemperate habits in
+families than an anecdote which was related to me, as coming from the
+late Mr. Mackenzie, author of the _Man of Feeling_. He had been involved
+in a regular drinking party. He was keeping as free from the usual
+excesses as he was able, and as he marked companions around him falling
+victims to the power of drink, he himself dropped off under the table
+among the slain, as a measure of precaution; and lying there, his
+attention was called to a small pair of hands working at his throat; on
+asking what it was, a voice replied, "Sir, I'm the lad that's to lowse
+the neckcloths." Here, then, was a family, where, on drinking
+occasions, it was the appointed duty of one of the household to attend,
+and, when the guests where becoming helpless, to untie their cravats in
+fear of apoplexy or suffocation[32]. We ought certainly to be grateful
+for the change which has taken place from such a system; for this change
+has made a great revolution in Scottish social life. The charm and the
+romance long attached in the minds of some of our countrymen to the
+whole system and concerns of hard drinking was indeed most lamentable
+and absurd. At tavern suppers, where, nine times out often, it was the
+express _object_ of those who went to get drunk, such stuff as "regal
+purple stream," "rosy wine," "quaffing the goblet," "bright sparkling
+nectar," "chasing the rosy hours," and so on, tended to keep up the
+delusion, and make it a monstrous fine thing for men to sit up drinking
+half the night, to have frightful headaches all next day, to make
+maudlin idiots of themselves as they were going home, and to become
+brutes amongst their family when they arrived. And here I may introduce
+the mention of a practice connected with the convivial habits of which
+we have been speaking, but which has for some time passed away, at least
+from private tables--I mean the absurd system of calling for toasts and
+sentiments each time the glasses were filled. During dinner not a drop
+could be touched, except in conjunction with others, and with each
+drinking to the health of each. But toasts came _after_ dinner. I can
+just remember the practice in partial operation; and my astonishment as
+a mere boy, when accidentally dining at table and hearing my mother
+called upon to "give the company a gentleman," is one of my earliest
+reminiscences. Lord Cockburn must have remembered them well, and I will
+quote his most amusing account of the effects:--"After dinner, and
+before the ladies retired, there generally began what was called
+'_Rounds_' of toasts, when each gentleman named an absent lady, and each
+lady an absent gentleman, separately; or one person was required to give
+an absent lady, and another person was required to match a gentleman
+with that lady, and the persons named were toasted, generally, with
+allusions and jokes about the fitness of the union. And, worst of all,
+there were 'Sentiments.' These were short epigrammatic sentences,
+expressive of moral feelings and virtues, and were thought refined and
+elegant productions. A faint conception of their nauseousness may be
+formed from the following examples, every one of which I have heard
+given a thousand times, and which indeed I only recollect from their
+being favourites. The glasses being filled, a person was asked for his
+or for her sentiment, when this, or something similar, was
+committed:--'May the pleasures of the evening bear the reflections of
+the morning;' or, 'may the friends of our youth be the companions of our
+old age;' or, 'delicate pleasures to susceptible minds;' 'may the honest
+heart never feel distress;' 'may the hand of charity wipe the tear from
+the eye of sorrow.' The conceited, the ready, or the reckless, hackneyed
+in the art, had a knack of making new sentiments applicable to the
+passing incidents with great ease. But it was a dreadful oppression on
+the timid or the awkward. They used to shudder, ladies particularly; for
+nobody was spared when their turn in the _round_ approached. Many a
+struggle and blush did it cost; but this seemed only to excite the
+tyranny of the masters of the craft; and compliance could never be
+avoided, except by more torture than yielding.... It is difficult for
+those who have been under a more natural system to comprehend how a
+sensible man, a respectable matron, a worthy old maid, and especially a
+girl, could be expected to go into company easily, on such
+conditions[33]."
+
+This accompaniment of domestic drinking by a toast or sentiment--the
+practice of which is now confined to public entertainments--was then
+invariable in private parties, and was supposed to enliven and promote
+the good fellowship of the social circle. Thus Fergusson, in one of his
+poems, in describing a dinner, says--
+
+     "The grace is said; it's nae ower lang,
+      The claret reams in bells.
+      Quo' Deacon, 'Let the toast round gang;
+      Come, here's our noble sels
+         Weel met the day.'"
+
+There was a great variety of these toasts, some of them exclusively
+Scottish. A correspondent has favoured me with a few reminiscences of
+such incentives to inebriety.
+
+The ordinary form of drinking a health was in the address, "Here's t'
+ye."
+
+Then such as the following were named by successive members of the
+company at the call of the host:--
+
+     _The land o' cakes_ (Scotland).
+     _Mair freens and less need o' them.
+     Thumping luck and fat weans_.
+
+     _When we're gaun up the hill o' fortune may we ne'er
+       meet a freen' coming doun.
+     May ne'er waur be amang us.
+     May the hinges o' freendship never rust, or the wings o'
+       luve lose a feather.
+     Here's to them that lo'es us, or lenns us a lift.
+     Here's health to the sick, stilts to the lame; claise to
+       the back, and brose to the wame.
+     Here's health, wealth, wit, and meal.
+     The deil rock them in a creel that does na' wish us a'
+       weel.
+     Horny hands and weather-beaten haffets (cheeks).
+     The rending o' rocks and the pu'in' doun o' auld
+       houses_.
+
+The above two belong to the mason craft; the first implies a wish for
+plenty of work, and health to do it; the second, to erect new buildings
+and clear away old ones.
+
+     _May the winds o' adversity ne'er blaw open our door.
+     May poortith ne'er throw us in the dirt, or gowd into
+       the high saddle[34].
+     May the mouse ne'er leave our meal-pock wi' the tear
+       in its e'e.
+     Blythe may we a' be.
+     Ill may we never see.
+     Breeks and brochan (brose).
+     May we ne'er want a freend, or a drappie to gie him.
+     Gude een to you a', an' tak your nappy.
+     A willy-waught's a gude night cappy[35].
+     May we a' be canty an' cosy,
+     An' ilk hae a wife in his bosy_.
+     _A cosy but, and a canty ben,
+     To couthie[36] women and trusty men.
+     The ingle neuk wi' routh[37] o' bannoch and bairns.
+     Here's to him wha winna beguile ye.
+     Mair sense and mair siller.
+     Horn, corn, wool, an' yarn[38]_.
+
+Sometimes certain toasts were accompanied by _Highland_ honours. This
+was a very exciting, and to a stranger a somewhat alarming, proceeding.
+I recollect my astonishment the first time I witnessed the ceremony--the
+company, from sitting quietly drinking their wine, seemed to assume the
+attitude of harmless maniacs, allowed to amuse themselves. The moment
+the toast was given, and proposed to be drunk with Highland honours, the
+gentlemen all rose, and with one foot on their chair and another on the
+_table_, they drank the toast with Gaelic shrieks, which were awful to
+hear, the cheering being under the direction of a toast-master appointed
+to direct the proceedings. I am indebted to the kindness of the Rev.
+Duncan Campbell, the esteemed minister of Moulin, for the form used on
+such occasions. Here it is in the Gaelic and the Saxon:--
+
+_Gaelic._
+
+So! Nish! Nish! Sud ris! Sud ris! Thig ris! Thig ris! A on uair eile!
+
+_Translation._
+
+Prepare! Now! Now! Yon again! Yon again! At it again! At it again!
+Another time, or one cheer more!
+
+The reader is to imagine these words uttered with yells and
+vociferations, and accompanied with frantic gestures.
+
+The system of giving toasts was so regularly established, that
+collections of them were published to add brilliancy to the festive
+board. By the kindness of the librarian, I have seen a little volume
+which is in the Signet Library of Edinburgh. It is entitled, "The
+Gentleman's New Bottle Companion," Edinburgh, printed in the year
+MDCCLXXVII. It contains various toasts and sentiments which the writer
+considered to be suitable to such occasions. Of the taste and decency of
+the companies where some of them could be made use of, the less said
+the better.
+
+I have heard also of large traditionary collections of toasts and
+sentiments, belonging to old clubs and societies, extending back above a
+century, but I have not seen any of them, and I believe my readers will
+think they have had quite enough.
+
+The favourable reaction which has taken place in regard to the whole
+system of intemperance may very fairly, in the first place, be referred
+to an improved _moral_ feeling. But other causes have also assisted; and
+it is curious to observe how the different changes in the modes of
+society bear upon one another. The alteration in the convivial habits
+which we are noticing in our own country may be partly due to alteration
+of hours. The old plan of early dining favoured a system of suppers, and
+after supper was a great time for convivial songs and sentiments. This
+of course induced drinking to a late hour. Most drinking songs imply the
+night as the season of conviviality--thus in a popular madrigal:--
+
+     "By the gaily circling glass
+      We can tell how minutes pass;
+      By the hollow cask we're told
+      How the waning _night_ grows old."
+
+And Burns thus marks the time:--
+
+     "It is the moon, I ken her horn,
+     That's blinkin' in the lift sae hie;
+     She shines sae bright, to wyle us hame,
+     But by my sooth she'll wait a wee."
+
+The young people of the present day have no idea of the state of matters
+in regard to the supper system when it was the normal condition of
+society. The late dining hours may make the social circle more formal,
+but they have been far less favourable to drinking propensities. After
+such dinners as ours are now, suppers are clearly out of the question.
+One is astonished to look back and recall the scenes to which were
+attached associations of hilarity, conviviality, and enjoyment. Drinking
+parties were protracted beyond the whole Sunday, having begun by a
+dinner on Saturday; imbecility and prostrate helplessness were a common
+result of these bright and jovial scenes; and by what perversion of
+language, or by what obliquity of sentiment, the notions of pleasure
+could be attached to scenes of such excess--to the nausea, the disgust
+of sated appetite, and the racking headache--it is not easy to explain.
+There were men of heads so hard, and of stomachs so insensible, that,
+like my friend Saunders Paul, they could stand anything in the way of
+drink. But to men in general, and to the more delicate constitutions,
+such a life must have been a cause of great misery. To a certain extent,
+and up to a certain point, wine may be a refreshment and a wholesome
+stimulant; nay, it is a medicine, and a valuable one, and as such, comes
+recommended on fitting occasions by the physician. _Beyond_ this point,
+as sanctioned and approved by nature, the use of wine is only
+degradation. Well did the sacred writer call wine, when thus taken in
+excess, "a mocker." It makes all men equal, because it makes them all
+idiotic. It allures them into a vicious indulgence, and then mocks their
+folly, by depriving them of any sense they may ever have possessed.
+
+It has, I fear, been injurious to the cause of temperance, that emotions
+of true friendship, and the outpouring of human affections, should so
+frequently be connected with the obligation that the parties should _get
+drunk together_. Drunkenness is thus made to hold too close an
+association in men's minds with some of the best and finest feelings of
+their nature.
+
+     "Friend of my soul, this goblet sip,"
+
+is the constant acknowledged strain of poetical friendship: our own
+Robert Burns calls upon the dear companion of his early happy days, with
+whom he had "paidl't i' the burn, frae mornin' sun till dine," and
+between whom "braid seas had roar'd sin auld lang syne," to commemorate
+their union of heart and spirit, and to welcome their meeting after
+years of separation, by each one joining his pint-stoup, and by each
+taking a mutual "richt guid willie-waught," in honour of the innocent
+and happy times of "auld lang syne." David marks his recognition of
+friendship by tokens of a different character--"We took sweet counsel
+together, and walked _in the house of God_ as friends."--Ps. lv. 14.
+
+Reference has already been made to Lord Hermand's opinion of drinking,
+and to the high estimation in which he held a staunch drinker, according
+to the testimony of Lord Cockburn, There is a remarkable corroboration
+of this opinion in a current anecdote which is traditionary regarding
+the same learned judge. A case of some great offence was tried before
+him, and the counsel pleaded extenuation for his client in that he was
+_drunk_ when he committed the offence. "Drunk!" exclaimed Lord Hermand,
+in great indignation; "if he could do such a thing when he was drunk,
+what might he not have done when he was _sober!_" evidently implying
+that the normal condition of human nature, and its most hopeful one, was
+a condition of intoxication.
+
+Of the prevalence of hard drinking in certain houses as a system, a
+remarkable proof is given at page 102. The following anecdote still
+further illustrates the subject, and corresponds exactly with the story
+of the "loosing the cravats," which was performed for guests in a state
+of helpless inebriety by one of the household. There had been a
+carousing party at Castle Grant, many years ago, and as the evening
+advanced towards morning two Highlanders were in attendance to carry the
+guests up stairs, it being understood that none could by any other means
+arrive at their sleeping apartments. One or two of the guests, however,
+whether from their abstinence or their superior strength of head, were
+walking up stairs, and declined the proffered assistance. The attendants
+were quite astonished, and indignantly exclaimed, "Agh, it's sare
+cheenged times at Castle Grant, when shentlemens can gang to bed on
+their ain feet."
+
+There was a practice in many Scottish houses which favoured most
+injuriously the national tendency to spirit-drinking, and that was a
+foolish and inconsiderate custom of offering a glass on all occasions as
+a mark of kindness or hospitality. I mention the custom only for the
+purpose of offering a remonstrance. It should never be done. Even now, I
+am assured, small jobs (carpenters' or blacksmiths', or such like) are
+constantly remunerated in the West Highlands of Scotland--and doubtless
+in many other parts of the country--not by a pecuniary payment, but by a
+_dram_; if the said dram be taken from a _speerit_-decanter out of the
+family press or cupboard, the compliment is esteemed the greater, and
+the offering doubly valued.
+
+A very amusing dialogue between a landlord and his tenant on this
+question of the dram has been sent to me. John Colquhoun, an aged
+Dumbartonshire tenant, is asked by his laird on Lochlomond side, to stay
+a minute till he _tastes_. "Now, John," says the laird. "Only half a
+glass, Camstraddale," meekly pleads John. "Which half?" rejoins the
+laird, "the upper or the lower?" John grins, and turns off _both_--_the
+upper and lower_ too.
+
+The upper and lower portions of the glass furnish another drinking
+anecdote. A very greedy old lady employed another John Colquhoun to cut
+the grass upon the lawn, and enjoined him to cut it very close, adding,
+as a reason for the injunction, that one inch at the bottom was worth
+two at the top. Having finished his work much to her satisfaction, the
+old lady got out the whisky-bottle and a tapering wineglass, which she
+filled about half full; John suggested that it would be better to fill
+it up, slily adding, "Fill it up, mem, for it's no like the gress; an
+inch at the tap's worth twa at the boddom."
+
+But the most whimsical anecdote connected with the subject of drink, is
+one traditionary in the south of Scotland, regarding an old Gallovidian
+lady disclaiming more drink under the following circumstances:--The old
+generation of Galloway lairds were a primitive and hospitable race, but
+their conviviality sometimes led to awkward occurrences. In former days,
+when roads were bad and wheeled vehicles almost unknown, an old laird
+was returning from a supper party, with his lady mounted behind him on
+horseback. On crossing the river Urr, at a ford at a point where it
+joins the sea, the old lady dropped off, but was not missed till her
+husband reached his door, when, of course, there was an immediate search
+made. The party who were despatched in quest of her arrived just in time
+to find her remonstrating with the advancing tide, which trickled into
+her mouth, in these words, "No anither drap; neither het nor cauld."
+
+A lady, on one occasion, offering a dram to a porter in a rather small
+glass, said, "Take it off; it will do you no harm," on which the man,
+looking at the diminutive glass, observed, "Harm! Na, gin it were
+poushon" (poison).
+
+I would now introduce, as a perfect illustration of this portion of our
+subject, two descriptions of clergymen, well known men in their day,
+which are taken from Dr. Carlyle's work, already referred to. Of Dr.
+Alexander Webster, a clergyman, and one of his contemporaries, he writes
+thus:--"Webster, leader of the high-flying party, had justly obtained
+much respect amongst the clergy, and all ranks indeed, for having
+established the Widows' Fund.... His appearance of great strictness in
+religion, to which he was bred under his father, who was a very popular
+minister of the Tolbooth Church, not acting in restraint of his
+convivial humour, he was held to be excellent company even by those of
+dissolute manners; while, being a five-bottle man, he could lay them all
+under the table. This had brought on him the nickname of Dr. Bonum
+Magnum in the time of faction. But never being indecently the worse of
+liquor, and a love of claret, to any degree, not being reckoned in those
+days a sin in Scotland, all his excesses were pardoned."
+
+Dr. Patrick Cumming, also a clergyman and a contemporary, he describes
+in the following terms:--"Dr. Patrick Cumming was, at this time (1751),
+at the head of the moderate interest, and had his temper been equal to
+his talents, might have kept it long, for he had both learning and
+sagacity, and very agreeable conversation, _with a constitution able to
+bear the conviviality of the times._"
+
+Now, of all the anecdotes and facts which I have collected, or of all
+which I have ever heard to illustrate the state of Scottish society in
+the past times, as regards its habits of intemperance, this assuredly
+surpasses them all.--Of two well-known, distinguished, and leading
+clergymen in the middle of the eighteenth century, one who had "obtained
+much respect," and "had the appearance of great strictness in religion,"
+is described as an enormous drinker of claret; the other, an able leader
+of a powerful section in the church, is described as _owing_ his
+influence to his power of meeting the conviviality of the times. Suppose
+for a moment a future biographer should write in this strain of eminent
+divines, and should apply to distinguished members of the Scottish
+Church in 1863 such description as the following:--"Dr. ---- was a man
+who took a leading part in all church affairs at this time, and was much
+looked up to by the evangelical section of the General Assembly; he
+could always carry off without difficulty his five bottles of claret.
+Dr. ---- had great influence in society, and led the opposite party in
+the General Assembly, as he could take his place in all companies, and
+drink on fair terms at the most convivial tables!!" Why, this seems to
+us so monstrous, that we can scarcely believe Dr. Carlyle's account of
+matters in his day to be possible.
+
+There is a story which illustrates, with terrible force, the power
+which drinking had obtained in Scottish social life. I have been
+deterred from bringing it forward, as too shocking for production. But
+as the story is pretty well known, and its truth vouched for on high
+authority, I venture to give it, as affording a proof that, in those
+days, no consideration, not even the most awful that affects human
+nature, could be made to outweigh the claims of a determined
+conviviality. It may, I think, be mentioned also, in the way of warning
+men generally against the hardening and demoralising effects of habitual
+drunkenness. The story is this:--At a prolonged drinking bout, one of
+the party remarked, "What gars the laird of Garskadden look sae
+gash[39]?" "Ou," says his neighbour, the laird of Kilmardinny, "deil
+meane him! Garskadden's been wi' his Maker these twa hours; I saw him
+step awa, but I didna like to disturb gude company[40]!"
+
+Before closing this subject of excess in _drinking_, I may refer to
+another indulgence in which our countrymen are generally supposed to
+partake more largely than their neighbours:--I mean snuff-taking. The
+popular southern ideas of a Scotchman and his snuff-box are inseparable.
+Smoking does not appear to have been practised more in Scotland than in
+England, and if Scotchmen are sometimes intemperate in the use of snuff,
+it is certainly a more innocent excess than intemperance in whisky. I
+recollect, amongst the common people in the north, a mode of taking
+snuff which showed a determination to make the _most_ of it, and which
+indicated somewhat of intemperance in the enjoyment; this was to receive
+it not through a pinch between the fingers, but through a quill or
+little bone ladle, which forced it up the nose. But, besides smoking and
+snuffing, I have a reminiscence of a _third_ use of tobacco, which I
+apprehend is now quite obsolete. Some of my readers will be surprised
+when I name this forgotten luxury. It was called _plugging_, and
+consisted _(horresco referens_) in poking a piece of pigtail tobacco
+right into the nostril. I remember this distinctly; and now, at a
+distance of more than sixty years, I recall my utter astonishment as a
+boy, at seeing my grand-uncle, with whom I lived in early days, put a
+thin piece of tobacco fairly up his nose. I suppose the plug acted as a
+continued stimulant on the olfactory nerve, and was, in short, like
+taking a perpetual pinch of snuff.
+
+The inveterate snuff-taker, like the dram-drinker, felt severely the
+being deprived of his accustomed stimulant, as in the following
+instance:--A severe snow-storm in the Highlands, which lasted for
+several weeks, having stopped all communication betwixt neighbouring
+hamlets, the snuff-boxes were soon reduced to their last pinch.
+Borrowing and begging from all the neighbours within reach were first
+resorted to, but when these failed, all were alike reduced to the
+longing which unwillingly-abstinent snuff-takers alone know. The
+minister of the parish was amongst the unhappy number; the craving was
+so intense that study was out of the question, and he became quite
+restless. As a last resort the beadle was despatched, through the snow,
+to a neighbouring glen, in the hope of getting a supply; but he came
+back as unsuccessful as he went. "What's to be dune, John?" was the
+minister's pathetic inquiry. John shook his head, as much as to say that
+he could not tell; but immediately thereafter started up, as if a new
+idea had occurred to him. He came back in a few minutes, crying, "Hae!"
+The minister, too eager to be scrutinising, took a long, deep pinch, and
+then said, "Whaur did you get it?" "I soupit[41] the poupit," was John's
+expressive reply. The minister's accumulated superfluous Sabbath snuff
+now came into good use.
+
+It does not appear that at this time a similar excess in _eating_
+accompanied this prevalent tendency to excess in drinking. Scottish
+tables were at that period plain and abundant, but epicurism or gluttony
+do not seem to have been handmaids to drunkenness. A humorous anecdote,
+however, of a full-eating laird, may well accompany those which
+appertain to the _drinking_ lairds.--A lady in the north having watched
+the proceedings of a guest, who ate long and largely, she ordered the
+servant to take away, as he had at last laid down his knife and fork. To
+her surprise, however, he resumed his work, and she apologised to him,
+saying, "I thought, Mr. ----, you had done."
+
+"Oh, so I had, mem; but I just fan' a doo in the _redd_ o' my plate." He
+had discovered a pigeon lurking amongst the bones and refuse of his
+plate, and could not resist finishing it.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[19] Distinguished examples of these are to be found in the Old
+Greyfriars' Church, Edinburgh, and in the Cathedral of Glasgow; to say
+nothing of the beautiful specimens in St. John's Episcopal Church,
+Edinburgh.
+
+[20] "This was a square enclosure in the Greyfriars' Churchyard, guarded
+on one side by a veteran angel without a nose, and having only one wing,
+who had the merit of having maintained his post for a century, while his
+comrade cherub, who had stood sentinel on the corresponding pedestal,
+lay a broken trunk, among the hemlock, burdock, and nettles, which grew
+in gigantic luxuriance around the walls of the mausoleum."
+
+[21] A Shetland pony.
+
+[22] The Lord's Supper.
+
+[23] Bullock.
+
+[24] Perhaps.
+
+[25] Carefully selected.
+
+[26] I recollect an old Scottish gentleman, who shared this horror,
+asking very gravely, "Were not swine forbidden under the law, and cursed
+under the gospel?"
+
+[27] Lie in a grovelling attitude. See Jamieson.
+
+[28] So pronounced in Aberdeen.
+
+[29] Implying that there was a James Third of England, Eighth of
+Scotland.
+
+[30] Old Scotch for "drink hard".
+
+[31] A friend learned in Scottish history suggests an ingenious remark,
+that this might mean more than a mere _full drinker_. To drink "fair,"
+used to imply that the person drank in the same proportion as the
+company; to drink more would be unmannerly; to drink less might imply
+some unfair motive. Either interpretation shows the importance attached
+to drinking and all that concerned it.
+
+[32] In Burt's _Letters from the North of Scotland_, written about 1730,
+similar scenes are related as occurring in Culloden House: as the
+company were disabled by drink, two servants in waiting took up the
+invalids with short poles in their chairs as they sat (if not fallen
+down), and carried them off to their beds.
+
+[33] Lord Cockburn's _Memorials of his Time_, p. 37, _et seq_.
+
+[34] May we never be cast down by adversity, or unduly elevated by
+prosperity.
+
+[35] A toast at parting or breaking up of the party.
+
+[36] Loving
+
+[37] Plenty
+
+[38] Toast for agricultural dinners
+
+[39] Ghastly.
+
+[40] The scene is described and place mentioned in Dr. Strang's account
+of Glasgow Clubs, p. 104, 2d edit.
+
+[41] Swept.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE FOURTH.
+
+ON THE OLD SCOTTISH DOMESTIC SERVANT.
+
+I come now to a subject on which a great change has taken place in this
+country during my own experience--viz. those peculiarities of
+intercourse which some years back marked the connection between masters
+and servants. In many Scottish houses a great familiarity prevailed
+between members of the family and the domestics. For this many reasons
+might have been assigned. Indeed, when we consider the simple modes of
+life, which discarded the ideas of ceremony or etiquette; the retired
+and uniform style of living, which afforded few opportunities for any
+change in the domestic arrangements; and when we add to these a free,
+unrestrained, unformal, and natural style of intercommunion, which seems
+rather a national characteristic, we need not be surprised to find in
+quiet Scottish families a sort of intercourse with old domestics which
+can hardly be looked for at a time when habits are so changed, and where
+much of the quiet eccentricity belonging to us as a national
+characteristic is almost necessarily softened down or driven out. Many
+circumstances conspired to promote familiarity with old domestics, which
+are now entirely changed. We take the case of a domestic coming early
+into service, and passing year after year in the same family. The
+servant grows up into old age and confirmed habits when the laird is
+becoming a man, a husband, father of a family. The domestic cannot
+forget the days when his master was a child, riding on his back,
+applying to him for help in difficulties about his fishing, his rabbits,
+his pony, his going to school. All the family know how attached he is;
+nobody likes to speak harshly to him. He is a privileged man. The
+faithful old servant of thirty, forty, or fifty years, if with a
+tendency to be jealous, cross, and interfering, becomes a great trouble.
+Still the relative position was the result of good feelings. If the
+familiarity sometimes became a nuisance, it was a wholesome nuisance,
+and relic of a simpler time gone by. But the case of the old servant,
+whether agreeable or troublesome, was often so fixed and established in
+the households of past days, that there was scarce a possibility of
+getting away from it. The well-known story of the answer of one of these
+domestic tyrants to the irritated master, who was making an effort to
+free himself from the thraldom, shows the idea entertained, by _one_ of
+the parties at least, of the permanency of the tenure. I am assured by a
+friend that the true edition of the story was this:--An old Mr. Erskine
+of Dun had one of these retainers, under whose language and unreasonable
+assumption he had long groaned. He had almost determined to bear it no
+longer, when, walking out with his man, on crossing a field, the master
+exclaimed, "There's a hare." Andrew looked at the place, and coolly
+replied, "What a big lee, it's a cauff." The master, quite angry now,
+plainly told the old domestic that they _must_ part. But the tried
+servant of forty years, not dreaming of the possibility of _his_
+dismissal, innocently asked, "Ay, sir; whare ye gaun? I'm sure ye're aye
+best at hame;" supposing that, if there were to be any disruption, it
+must be the master who would change the place. An example of a similar
+fixedness of tenure in an old servant was afforded in an anecdote
+related of an old coachman long in the service of a noble lady, and who
+gave all the trouble and annoyance which he conceived were the
+privileges of his position in the family. At last the lady fairly gave
+him notice to quit, and told him he must go. The only satisfaction she
+got was the quiet answer, "Na, na, my lady; I druve ye to your marriage,
+and I shall stay to drive ye to your burial." Indeed, we have heard of a
+still stronger assertion of his official position by one who met an
+order to quit his master's service by the cool reply, "Na, na; I'm no
+gangin'. If ye dinna ken whan ye've a gude servant; I ken whan I've a
+gude place."
+
+It is but fair, however, to give an anecdote in which the master and the
+servant's position was _reversed_, in regard to a wish for change:--An
+old servant of a relation of my own with an ungovernable temper, became
+at last so weary of his master's irascibility, that he declared he must
+leave, and gave as his reason the fits of anger which came on, and
+produced such great annoyance that he could not stand it any longer. His
+master, unwilling to lose him, tried to coax him by reminding him that
+the anger was soon off. "Ay," replied the other very shrewdly, "but it's
+nae suner aff than it's on again." I remember well an old servant of the
+old school, who had been fifty years domesticated in a family. Indeed I
+well remember the celebration of the half-century service completed.
+There were rich scenes with Sandy and his mistress. Let me recall you
+both to memory. Let me think of you, the kind, generous, warm-hearted
+mistress; a gentlewoman by descent and by feeling; a true friend, a
+sincere Christian. And let me think, too, of you, Sandy, an honest,
+faithful, and attached member of the family. For you were in that house
+rather as a humble friend than a servant. But out of this fifty years of
+attached service there sprang a sort of domestic relation and freedom of
+intercourse which would surprise people in these days. And yet Sandy
+knew his place. Like Corporal Trim, who, although so familiar and
+admitted to so much familiarity with my Uncle Toby, never failed in the
+respectful address--never forgot to say "your honour." At a dinner party
+Sandy was very active about changing his mistress's plate, and whipped
+it off when he saw that she had got a piece of rich paté upon it. His
+mistress, not liking such rapid movements, and at the same time knowing
+that remonstrance was in vain, exclaimed, "Hout, Sandy, I'm no dune,"
+and dabbed her fork into the "pattee" as it disappeared, to rescue a
+morsel. I remember her praise of English mutton was a great annoyance to
+the Scottish prejudices of Sandy. One day she was telling me of a
+triumph Sandy had upon that subject. The smell of the joint roasting had
+become very offensive through the house. The lady called out to Sandy to
+have the doors closed, and added, "That must be some horrid Scotch
+mutton you have got." To Sandy's delight, this was a leg of _English_
+mutton his mistress had expressly chosen; and, as she significantly told
+me, "Sandy never let that down upon me." On Deeside there existed, in my
+recollection, besides the Saunders Paul I have alluded to, a number of
+extraordinary acute and humorous Scottish characters amongst the lower
+classes. The native gentry enjoyed their humour, and hence arose a
+familiarity of intercourse which called forth many amusing scenes and
+quaint rejoinders. A celebrated character of this description bore the
+soubriquet of "Boaty," of whom I have already spoken. He had acted as
+Charon of the Dee at Banchory, and passed the boat over the river before
+there was a bridge. Boaty had many curious sayings recorded of him. When
+speaking of the gentry around, he characterised them according to their
+occupations and activity of habits--thus:--"As to Mr. Russell of
+Blackha', he just works himsell like a paid labourer; Mr. Duncan's a'
+the day fish, fish; but Sir Robert's a perfect gentleman--he does
+naething, naething." Boaty was a first-rate salmon-fisher himself, and
+was much sought after by amateurs who came to Banchory for the sake of
+the sport afforded by the beautiful Dee. He was, perhaps, a little
+spoiled, and presumed upon the indulgence and familiarity shown to him
+in the way of his craft--as, for example, he was in attendance with his
+boat on a sportsman who was both skilful and successful, for he caught
+salmon after salmon. Between each fish catching he solaced himself with
+a good pull from a flask, which he returned to his pocket, however,
+without offering to let Boaty have any participation in the refreshment.
+Boaty, partly a little professionally jealous, perhaps, at the success,
+and partly indignant at receiving less than his usual attention on such
+occasions, and seeing no prospect of amendment, deliberately pulled the
+boat to shore, shouldered the oars, rods, landing-nets, and all the
+fishing apparatus which he had provided, and set off homewards. His
+companion, far from considering his day's work to be over, and keen for
+more sport, was amazed, and peremptorily ordered him to come back. But
+all the answer made by the offended Boaty was, "Na na; them 'at drink by
+themsells may just fish by themsells."
+
+The charge these old domestics used to take of the interests of the
+family, and the cool way in which they took upon them to protect those
+interests, sometimes led to very provoking, and sometimes to very
+ludicrous, exhibitions of importance. A friend told me of a dinner scene
+illustrative of this sort of interference which had happened at Airth in
+the last generation. Mrs. Murray, of Abercairney, had been amongst the
+guests, and at dinner one of the family noticed that she was looking for
+the proper spoon to help herself with salt. The old servant, Thomas, was
+appealed to, that the want might be supplied. He did not notice the
+appeal. It was repeated in a more peremptory manner, "Thomas, Mrs.
+Murray has not a salt-spoon!" to which he replied most emphatically,
+"Last time Mrs. Murray dined here we _lost_ a salt-spoon." An old
+servant who took a similar charge of everything that went on in the
+family, having observed that his master thought that he had drunk wine
+with every lady at table, but had overlooked one, jogged his memory with
+the question, "What ails ye at her wi' the green gown?"
+
+In my own family I know a case of a very long service, and where, no
+doubt, there was much interest and attachment; but it was a case where
+the temper had not softened under the influence of years, but had rather
+assumed that form of disposition which we denominate _crusty_. My
+grand-uncle, Sir A. Ramsay, died in 1806, and left a domestic who had
+been in his service since he was ten years of age; and being at the time
+of his master's death past fifty or well on to sixty, he must have been
+more than forty years a servant in the family. From the retired life my
+grand-uncle had been leading, Jamie Layal had much of his own way, and,
+like many a domestic so situated, he did not like to be contradicted,
+and, in fact, could not bear to be found fault with. My uncle, who had
+succeeded to a part of my grand-uncle's property, succeeded also to
+Jamie Layal, and, from respect to his late master's memory and Jamie's
+own services, he took him into his house, intending him to act as house
+servant. However, this did not answer, and he was soon kept on, more
+with the form than the reality of any active duty, and took any light
+work that was going on about the house. In this capacity it was his
+daily task to feed a flock of turkeys which were growing up to maturity.
+On one occasion, my aunt having followed him in his work, and having
+observed such a waste of food that the ground was actually covered with
+grain which they could not eat, and which would soon be destroyed and
+lost, naturally remonstrated, and suggested a more reasonable and
+provident supply. But all the answer she got from the offended Jamie was
+a bitter rejoinder, "Weel, then, neist time they sall get _nane ava!_"
+On another occasion a family from a distance had called whilst my uncle
+and aunt were out of the house. Jamie came into the parlour to deliver
+the cards, or to announce that they had called. My aunt, somewhat vexed
+at not having been in the way, inquired what message Mr. and Mrs. Innes
+had left, as she had expected one. "No; no message." She returned to the
+charge, and asked again if they had not told him _anything_ he was to
+repeat. Still, "No; no message." "But did they say nothing? Are you sure
+they said nothing?" Jamie, sadly put out and offended at being thus
+interrogated, at last burst forth, "They neither said ba nor bum," and
+indignantly left the room, banging the door after him. A characteristic
+anecdote of one of these old domestics I have from a friend who was
+acquainted with the parties concerned. The old man was standing at the
+sideboard and attending to the demands of a pretty large dinner party;
+the calls made for various wants from the company became so numerous and
+frequent that the attendant got quite bewildered, and lost his patience
+and temper; at length he gave vent to his indignation in a remonstrance
+addressed to the whole company, "Cry a' thegither, that's the way to
+be served."
+
+I have two characteristic and dry Scottish answers, traditional in the
+Lothian family, supplied to me by the late excellent and highly-gifted
+Marquis. A Marquis of Lothian of a former generation observed in his
+walk two workmen very busy with a ladder to reach a bell, on which they
+next kept up a furious ringing. He asked what was the object of making
+such a din, to which the answer was, "Oh, juist, my lord to ca' the
+workmen together!" "Why, how many are there?" asked his lordship. "Ou,
+juist Sandy and me," was the quiet rejoinder. The same Lord Lothian,
+looking about the garden, directed his gardener's attention to a
+particular plum-tree, charging him to be careful of the produce of that
+tree, and send the _whole_ of it in marked, as it was of a very
+particular kind. "Ou," said the gardener, "I'll dae that, my lord;
+there's juist twa o' them."
+
+These dry answers of Newbattle servants remind us of a similar state of
+communication in a Yester domestic. Lord Tweeddale was very fond of
+dogs, and on leaving Yester for London he instructed his head keeper, a
+quaint bodie, to give him a periodical report of the kennel, and
+particulars of his favourite dogs. Among the latter was an _especial_
+one, of the true Skye breed, called "Pickle," from which soubriquet we
+may form a tolerable estimate of his qualities.
+
+It happened one day, in or about the year 1827, that poor Pickle,
+during the absence of his master, was taken unwell; and the watchful
+guardian immediately warned the Marquis of the sad fact, and of the
+progress of the disease, which lasted three days--for which he sent the
+three following laconic despatches:--
+
+     _Yester, May 1st_, 18--.
+     MY LORD,
+     Pickle's no weel.
+     Your Lordship's humble servant, etc.
+
+     _Yester, May Id_, 18--.
+     MY LORD,
+     Pickle will no do.
+     I am your Lordship's, etc.
+
+     _Tester, May 3d_, 18--.
+     MY LORD,
+     Pickle's dead.
+     I am your Lordship's, etc.
+
+I have heard of an old Forfarshire lady who, knowing the habits of her
+old and spoilt servant, when she wished a note to be taken without loss
+of time, held it open and read it over to him, saying, "There, noo,
+Andrew, ye ken a' that's in't; noo dinna stop to open it, but just send
+it aff." Of another servant, when sorely tried by an unaccustomed bustle
+and hurry, a very amusing anecdote has been recorded. His mistress, a
+woman of high rank, who had been living in much quiet and retirement for
+some time, was called upon to entertain a large party at dinner. She
+consulted with Nichol, her faithful servant, and all the arrangements
+were made for the great event. As the company were arriving, the lady
+saw Nichol running about in great agitation, and in his shirt sleeves.
+She remonstrated, and said that as the guests were coming in he must
+put on his coat, "Indeed, my lady," was his excited reply, "indeed,
+there's sae muckle rinnin' here and rinnin' there, that I'm just
+distrackit. I hae cuist'n my coat and waistcoat, and faith I dinna ken
+how lang I can thole[42] my breeks." There is often a ready wit in this
+class of character, marked by their replies. I have the following
+communicated from an ear-witness:--"Weel, Peggy," said a man to an old
+family servant, "I wonder ye're aye single yet!" "Me marry," said she,
+indignantly; "I wouldna gie my single life for a' the double anes I
+ever saw!"
+
+An old woman was exhorting a servant once about her ways. "You serve the
+deevil," said she. "Me!" said the girl; "na, na, I dinna serve the
+deevil; I serve ae single lady."
+
+A baby was out with the nurse, who walked it up and down the garden.
+"Is't a laddie or a lassie?" said the gardener. "A laddie," said the
+maid. "Weel," says he, "I'm glad o' that, for there's ower mony women in
+the world." "Hech, man," said Jess, "div ye no ken there's aye maist
+sawn o' the best crap?"
+
+The answers of servants used curiously to illustrate habits and manners
+of the time,--as the economical modes of her mistress's life were well
+touched by the lass who thus described her ways and domestic habits with
+her household: "She's vicious upo' the wark; but eh, she's vary
+mysterious o' the victualling."
+
+A country habit of making the gathering of the congregation in the
+churchyard previous to and after divine service an occasion for gossip
+and business, which I remember well, is thoroughly described in the
+following:--A lady, on hiring a servant girl in the country, told her,
+as a great indulgence, that she should have the liberty of attending the
+church every Sunday, but that she would be expected to return home
+always immediately on the conclusion of service. The lady, however,
+rather unexpectedly found a positive objection raised against this
+apparently reasonable arrangement. "Then I canna engage wi' ye, mem; for
+'deed I wadna gie the crack i' the kirk-yard for a' the sermon."
+
+There is another story which shows that a greater importance might be
+attached to the crack i' the kirk-yard than was done even by the servant
+lass mentioned above. A rather rough subject, residing in Galloway, used
+to attend church regularly, as it appeared, for the _sake_ of the crack;
+for on being taken to task for his absenting himself, he remarked,
+"There's nae need to gang to the kirk noo, for everybody gets a
+newspaper."
+
+The changes that many of us have lived to witness in this kind of
+intercourse between families and old servants is a part of a still
+greater change--the change in that modification of the feudal system,
+the attachment of clans. This, also, from transfers of property and
+extinction of old families in the Highlands, as well as from more
+general causes, is passing away; and it includes also changes in the
+intercourse between landed proprietors and cottagers, and abolition of
+harvest-homes, and such meetings. People are now more independent of
+each other, and service has become a pecuniary and not a sentimental
+question. The extreme contrast of that old-fashioned Scottish
+intercourse of families with their servants and dependants, of which I
+have given some amusing examples, is found in the modern manufactory
+system. There the service is a mere question of personal interest. One
+of our first practical engineers, and one of the first engine-makers in
+England, stated that he employed and paid handsomely on an average 1200
+workmen; but that they held so little feeling for him as their master,
+that not above half-a-dozen of the number would notice him when passing
+him, either in the works or out of work hours. Contrast this advanced
+state of dependants' indifference with the familiarity of domestic
+intercourse we have been describing!
+
+It has been suggested by my esteemed friend, Dr. W. Lindsay Alexander,
+that Scottish anecdotes deal too exclusively with the shrewd, quaint,
+and pawky _humour_ of our countrymen, and have not sufficiently
+illustrated the deep pathos and strong loving-kindness of the "kindly
+Scot,"--qualities which, however little appreciated across the Border,
+abound in Scottish poetry and Scottish life. For example, to take the
+case before us of these old retainers, although snappy and disagreeable
+to the last degree in their replies, and often most provoking in their
+ways, they were yet deeply and sincerely attached to the family where
+they had so long been domesticated; and the servant who would reply to
+her mistress's order to mend the fire by the short answer, "The fire's
+weel eneuch," would at the same time evince much interest in all that
+might assist her in sustaining the credit of her domestic economy; as,
+for example, whispering in her ear at dinner, "Press the jeelies; they
+winna keep;" and had the hour of real trial and of difficulty come to
+the family, would have gone to the death for them, and shared their
+greatest privations. Dr. Alexander gives a very interesting example of
+kindness and affectionate attachment in an old Scottish domestic of his
+own family, whose quaint and odd familiarity was charming. I give it in
+his own words:--"When I was a child there was an old servant at
+Pinkieburn, where my early days were spent, who had been all her life, I
+may say, in the house--for she came to it a child, and lived, without
+ever leaving it, till she died in it, seventy-five years of age. Her
+feeling to her old master, who was just two years younger than herself,
+was a curious compound of the deference of a servant and the familiarity
+and affection of a sister. She had known him as a boy, lad, man, and old
+man, and she seemed to have a sort of notion that without her he must be
+a very helpless being indeed. 'I aye keepit the hoose for him, whether
+he was hame or awa',' was a frequent utterance of hers; and she never
+seemed to think the intrusion even of his own nieces, who latterly lived
+with him, at all legitimate. When on her deathbed, he hobbled to her
+room with difficulty, having just got over a severe attack of gout, to
+bid her farewell. I chanced to be present, but was too young to remember
+what passed, except one thing, which probably was rather recalled to me
+afterwards than properly recollected by me. It was her last request.
+'Laird,' said she (for so she always called him, though his lairdship
+was of the smallest), 'will ye tell them to bury me whaur I'll lie
+across at your feet?' I have always thought this characteristic of the
+old Scotch servant, and as such I send it to you."
+
+And here I would introduce another story which struck me very forcibly
+as illustrating the union of the qualities referred to by Dr. Alexander.
+In the following narrative, how deep and tender a feeling is expressed
+in a brief dry sentence! I give Mr. Scott's language[43]:--"My brother
+and I were, during our High School vacation, some forty years ago, very
+much indebted to the kindness of a clever young carpenter employed in
+the machinery workshop of New Lanark Mills, near to which we were
+residing during our six weeks' holidays." It was he--Samuel Shaw, our
+dear companion--who first taught us to saw, and to plane, and to turn
+too; and who made us the bows and arrows in which we so much delighted.
+The vacation over, and our hearts very sore, but bound to Samuel Shaw
+for ever, our mother sought to place some pecuniary recompense in his
+hand at parting, for all the great kindness he had shown her boys.
+Samuel looked in her face, and gently moving her hand aside, with an
+affectionate look cast upon us, who were by, exclaimed, in a tone which
+had sorrow in it, "Noo, Mrs. Scott, _ye hae spoilt a'_." After such an
+appeal, it may be supposed no recompense, in silver or in gold, remained
+with Samuel Shaw.
+
+On the subject of the old Scottish domestic, I have to acknowledge a
+kind communication from Lord Kinloch, which I give in his Lordship's
+words:--"My father had been in the counting-house of the well-known
+David Dale, the founder of the Lanark Mills, and eminent for his
+benevolence. Mr. Dale, who it would appear was a short stout man, had a
+person in his employment named Matthew, who was permitted that
+familiarity with his master which was so characteristic of the former
+generation. One winter day Mr. Dale came into the counting-house, and
+complained that he had fallen on the ice. Matthew, who saw that his
+master was not much hurt, grinned a sarcastic smile. 'I fell all my
+length,' said Mr. Dale. 'Nae great length, sir,' said Matthew. 'Indeed,
+Matthew, ye need not laugh,' said Mr. Dale; 'I have hurt the sma' o' my
+back.' 'I wunner whaur _that_ is,' said Matthew." Indeed, specimens
+like Matthew, of serving-men of the former time, have latterly been fast
+going out, but I remember one or two such. A lady of my acquaintance had
+one named John in her house at Portobello. I remember how my modern
+ideas were offended by John's familiarity when waiting at table. "Some
+more wine, John," said his mistress. "There's some i' the bottle, mem,"
+said John. A little after, "Mend the fire, John." "The fire's weel
+eneuch, mem," replied the impracticable John. Another "John" of my
+acquaintance was in the family of Mrs. Campbell of Ardnave, mother of
+the Princess Polignac and the Hon. Mrs. Archibald Macdonald. A young
+lady visiting in the family asked John at dinner for a potato. John made
+no response. The request was repeated; when John, putting his mouth to
+her ear, said, very audibly, "There's jist twa in the dish, and they
+maun be keepit for the strangers."
+
+The following was sent me by a kind correspondent--a learned Professor
+in India--as a sample of _squabbling_ between Scottish servants. A
+mistress observing something peculiar in her maid's manner, addressed
+her, "Dear me, Tibbie, what are you so snappish about, that you go
+knocking the things as you dust them?" "Ou, mem, it's Jock." "Well, what
+has Jock been doing?" "Ou (with an indescribable, but easily imaginable
+toss of the head), he was angry at me, an' misca'd me, an' I said I was
+juist as the Lord had made me, an'----" "Well, Tibbie?" "An' he said the
+Lord could hae had little to dae whan he made me." The idea of Tibbie
+being the work of an idle moment was one, the deliciousness of which was
+not likely to be relished by the lassie.
+
+The following characteristic anecdote of a Highland servant I have
+received from the same correspondent. An English gentleman, travelling
+in the Highlands, was rather late of coming down to dinner. Donald was
+sent up stairs to intimate that all was ready. He speedily returned,
+nodding significantly, as much as to say that it was all right. "But,
+Donald," said the master, after some further trial of a hungry man's
+patience, "are ye sure ye made the gentleman understand?"
+"_Understand?_" retorted Donald (who had peeped into the room and found
+the guest engaged at his toilet), "I'se warrant ye he understands; he's
+_sharping_ his teeth,"--not supposing the tooth-brush could be for any
+other use.
+
+There have been some very amusing instances given of the matter-of-fact
+obedience paid to orders by Highland retainers when made to perform the
+ordinary duties of domestic servants; as when Mr. Campbell, a Highland
+gentleman, visiting in a country house, and telling Donald to bring
+everything out of the bedroom, found all its movable articles--fender,
+fire-irons, etc.--piled up in the lobby; so literal was the poor man's
+sense of obedience to orders! And of this he gave a still more
+extraordinary proof during his sojourn in Edinburgh, by a very ludicrous
+exploit. When the family moved into a house there, Mrs. Campbell gave
+him very particular instructions regarding visitors, explaining that
+they were to be shown into the drawing-room, and no doubt used the
+Scotticism, "_Carry_ any ladies that call up stairs." On the arrival of
+the first visitors, Donald was eager to show his strict attention to the
+mistress's orders. Two ladies came together, and Donald, seizing one in
+his arms, said to the other, "Bide ye there till I come for ye," and, in
+spite of her struggles and remonstrances, ushered the terrified visitor
+into Mrs. Campbell's presence in this unwonted fashion.
+
+Another case of _literal_ obedience to orders produced a somewhat
+startling form of message. A servant of an old maiden lady, a patient of
+Dr. Poole, formerly of Edinburgh, was under orders to go to the doctor
+every morning to report the state of her health, how she had slept,
+etc., with strict injunctions _always_ to add, "with her compliments."
+At length, one morning the girl brought this extraordinary
+message:--"Miss S----'s compliments, and she dee'd last night at
+aicht o'clock!"
+
+I recollect, in Montrose (that fruitful field for old Scottish
+stories!), a most naïve reply from an honest lass, servant to old Mrs.
+_Captain_ Fullerton. A party of gentlemen had dined with Mrs. Fullerton,
+and they had a turkey for dinner. Mrs. F. proposed that one of the legs
+should be _deviled_, and the gentlemen have it served up as a relish for
+their wine. Accordingly one of the company skilled in the mystery
+prepared it with pepper, cayenne, mustard, ketchup, etc. He gave it to
+Lizzy, and told her to take it down to the kitchen, supposing, as a
+matter of course, she would know that it was to be broiled, and brought
+back in due time. But in a little while, when it was rung for, Lizzy
+very innocently replied that she had eaten it up. As it was sent back to
+the kitchen, her only idea was that it must be for herself. But on
+surprise being expressed that she had eaten what was so highly peppered
+and seasoned, she very quaintly answered, "Ou, I liket it a'
+the better."
+
+A well-known servant of the old school was John, the servant of Pitfour,
+Mr. Ferguson, M.P., himself a most eccentric character, long father of
+the House of Commons, and a great friend of Pitt. John used to
+entertain the tenants, on Pitfour's brief visits to his estate, with
+numerous anecdotes of his master and Mr. Pitt; but he always prefaced
+them with something in the style of Cardinal Wolsey's _Ego et rex
+meus_--with "Me, and Pitt, and Pitfour," went somewhere, or performed
+some exploit. The famous Duchess of Gordon once wrote a note to John
+(the name of this eccentric valet), and said, "John, put Pitfour into
+the carriage on Tuesday, and bring him up to Gordon Castle to dinner."
+After sufficiently scratching his head, and considering what he should
+do, he showed the letter to Pitfour, who smiled, and said drily, "Well,
+John, I suppose we must go."
+
+An old domestic of this class gave a capital reason to his _young_
+master for his being allowed to do as he liked:--"Ye needna find faut
+wi' me, Maister Jeems; _I hae been langer aboot the place than yersel_."
+
+It may seem ungracious to close this chapter with a communication which
+appears to convey an unfavourable impression of an old servant. But the
+truth is, real and attached domestic service does not offer its
+pleasures and advantages without some alloy of annoyance, and yet how
+much the solid benefits prevail over any occasional drawbacks!
+
+The late Rev. Mr. Leslie of St. Andrew-Lhanbryd, a parish in Morayshire,
+in describing an old servant who had been with him thirty years, said,
+"The first ten years she was an excellent servant; the second ten she
+was a good mistress; but the third ten she was a perfect tyrant."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE FIFTH.
+
+SCOTTISH JUDGES.
+
+There is no class of men which stands out more prominent in the
+reminiscences of the last hundred years than that of our SCOTTISH
+JUDGES. They form, in many instances, a type or representative of the
+leading _peculiarities_ of Scottish life and manners. They are mixed up
+with all our affairs, social and political. There are to be found in the
+annals of the bench rich examples of pure Scottish humour, the strongest
+peculiarity of Scottish phraseology, acuteness of intellect, cutting
+wit, eccentricity of manners, and abundant powers of conviviality. Their
+successors no longer furnish the same anecdotes of oddity or of
+intemperance. The Courts of the Scottish Parliament House, without
+lacking the learning or the law of those who sat there sixty years ago,
+lack not the refinement and the dignity that have long distinguished the
+Courts of Westminster Hall.
+
+Stories still exist, traditionary in society, amongst its older members,
+regarding Lords Gardenstone, Monboddo, Hermand, Newton, Polkemmet,
+Braxfield, etc. But many younger persons do not know them. It may be
+interesting to some of my readers to devote a few pages to the subject,
+and to offer some judicial gleanings[44].
+
+I have two anecdotes to show that, both in social and judicial life, a
+remarkable change must have taken place amongst the "fifteen." I am
+assured that the following scene took place at the _table_ of Lord
+Polkemmet, at a dinner party in his house. When the covers were removed,
+the dinner was seen to consist of veal broth, a roast fillet of veal,
+veal cutlets, a florentine (an excellent old Scottish dish composed of
+veal), a calf's head, calf's foot jelly. The worthy judge could not help
+observing a surprise on the countenance of his guests, and perhaps a
+simper on some; so he broke out in explanation: "Ou ay, it's a cauf;
+when we kill a beast we just eat up ae side, and down the tither." The
+expressions he used to describe his own _judicial_ preparations for the
+bench were very characteristic: "Ye see I first read a' the pleadings,
+and then, after lettin' them wamble in my wame wi' the toddy twa or
+three days, I gie my ain interlocutor." For a moment suppose such
+anecdotes to be told now of any of our high legal functionaries. Imagine
+the feelings of surprise that would be called forth were the present
+Justice-Clerk to adopt such imagery in describing the process of
+preparing _his_ legal judgment on a difficult case in his court!
+
+In regard to the wit of the Scottish _bar_.--It is a subject which I do
+not pretend to illustrate. It would require a volume for itself. One
+anecdote, however, I cannot resist, and I record it as forming a
+striking example of the class of Scottish humour which, with our
+dialect, has lost its distinctive characteristics. John Clerk
+(afterwards a judge by the title of Lord Eldin) was arguing a Scotch
+appeal case before the House of Lords. His client claimed the use of a
+mill-stream by a prescriptive right. Mr. Clerk spoke broad Scotch, and
+argued that "the _watter_ had rin that way for forty years. Indeed
+naebody kenn'd how long, and why should his client now be deprived of
+the watter?" etc. The chancellor, much amused at the pronunciation of
+the Scottish advocate, in a rather bantering tone asked him, "Mr. Clerk,
+do you spell water in Scotland with two t's?" Clerk, a little nettled at
+this hit at his national tongue, answered, "Na, my Lord, we dinna spell
+watter (making the word as short as he could) wi' twa t's, but we spell
+mainners (making the word as long as he could) wi' twa n's."
+
+John Clerk's vernacular version of the motto of the Celtic Club is
+highly characteristic of his humour and his prejudice. He had a strong
+dislike to the whole Highland race, and the motto assumed by the modern
+Celts, "Olim marte, nunc arte," Clerk translated "Formerly robbers, now
+thieves." Quite equal to Swift's celebrated remark on William III.'s
+motto--_Recepit, non rapuit_--"that the receiver was as bad as the
+thief." Very dry and pithy too was Clerk's legal _opinion_ given to a
+claimant of the Annandale peerage, who, when pressing the employment of
+some obvious forgeries, was warned that if he persevered, nae doot he
+might be a peer, but it would be a peer o' anither _tree!_
+
+The clever author of "Peter's Letters" gives an elaborate description of
+Clerk's character whilst at the bar, and speaks of him as "the plainest,
+the shrewdest, and the most sarcastic of men." Nor could he entirely
+repress these peculiarities when raised to the bench under the title of
+Lord Eldin.
+
+His defence of a young friend, who was an advocate, and had incurred
+the displeasure of the Judges, has often been repeated. Mr. Clerk had
+been called upon to offer his apologies for disrespect, or implied
+disrespect, in his manner of addressing the Bench. The advocate had
+given great offence by expressing his "_astonishment_" at something
+which had emanated from their Lordships, implying by it his disapproval.
+He got Lord Eldin, who was connected with him, to make an apology for
+him. But Clerk could not resist his humorous vein by very equivocally
+adding, "My client has expressed his astonishment, my Lords, at what he
+had met with here; if my young friend had known this court as long as I
+have, he would have been _astonished at nothing_."
+
+A kind Perthshire correspondent has sent me a characteristic anecdote,
+which has strong internal evidence of being genuine. When Clerk was
+raised to the Bench he presented his credentials to the Court, and,
+according to custom, was received by the presiding Judge--who, on this
+occasion, in a somewhat sarcastic tone, referred to the delay which had
+taken place in his reaching a position for which he had so long been
+qualified, and to which he must have long aspired. He hinted at the long
+absence of the Whig party from political power as the cause of this
+delay, which offended Clerk; and he paid it off by intimating in his
+pithy and bitter tone, which he could so well assume, that it was not of
+so much consequence--"Because," as he said, "ye see, my Lord, I was not
+juist sae sune _doited_ as some o' your Lordships."
+
+The following account of his conducting a case is also highly
+characteristic. Two individuals, the one a mason, the other a carpenter,
+both residenters in West Portsburgh, formed a copartnery, and commenced
+building houses within the boundaries of the burgh corporation. One of
+the partners was a freeman, the other not. The corporation, considering
+its rights invaded by a non-freeman exercising privileges only accorded
+to one of their body, brought an action in the Court of Session against
+the interloper, and his partner as aiding and abetting. Mr. John Clerk,
+then an advocate, was engaged for the defendants. How the cause was
+decided matters little. What was really curious in the affair was the
+naively droll manner in which the advocate for the defence opened his
+pleading before the Lord Ordinary. "My Lord," commenced John, in his
+purest Doric, at the same time pushing up his spectacles to his brow and
+hitching his gown over his shoulders, "I wad hae thocht naething o't
+(the action), had hooses been a new invention, and my clients been
+caught ouvertly impingin' on the patent richts o' the inventors!"
+
+Of Lord Gardenstone (Francis Garden) I have many early _personal_
+reminiscences, as his property of Johnstone was in the Howe of the
+Mearns, not far from my early home. He was a man of energy, and promoted
+improvements in the county with skill and practical sagacity. His
+favourite scheme was to establish a flourishing town upon his property,
+and he spared no pains or expense in promoting the importance of his
+village of Laurencekirk. He built an excellent inn, to render it a stage
+for posting. He built and endowed an Episcopal chapel for the benefit of
+his English immigrants, in the vestry of which he placed a most
+respectable library; and he encouraged manufacturers of all kinds to
+settle in the place. Amongst others, as we have seen, came the hatter
+who found only three hats in the kirk. His lordship was much taken up
+with his hotel or inn, and for which he provided a large volume for
+receiving the written contributions of travellers who frequented it. It
+was the landlady's business to present this volume to the guests, and
+ask them to write in it during the evenings whatever occurred to their
+memory or their imagination. In the mornings it was a favourite
+amusement of Lord Gardenstone to look it over. I recollect Sir Walter
+Scott being much taken with this contrivance, and his asking me about it
+at Abbotsford. His son said to him, "You should establish such a book,
+sir, at Melrose;" upon which Sir W. replied, "No, Walter; I should just
+have to see a great deal of abuse of myself." On his son deprecating
+such a result, and on his observing my surprised look, he answered,
+"Well, well, I should have to read a great deal of foolish praise, which
+is much the same thing." An amusing account is given of the cause of
+Lord Gardenstone withdrawing this volume from the hotel, and of his
+determination to submit it no more to the tender mercies of the passing
+traveller. As Professor Stuart of Aberdeen was passing an evening at the
+inn, the volume was handed to him, and he wrote in it the following
+lines, in the style of the prophecies of Thomas the Rhymer:--
+
+     "Frae sma' beginnings Rome of auld
+      Became a great imperial city;
+      'Twas peopled first, as we are tauld,
+      By bankrupts, vagabonds, banditti.
+      Quoth Thamas, Then the day may come,
+      When Laurencekirk shall equal Rome."
+
+These lines so nettled Lord Gardenstone, that the volume disappeared,
+and was never seen afterwards in the inn of Laurencekirk. There is
+another lingering reminiscence which I retain connected with the inn at
+Laurencekirk. The landlord, Mr. Cream, was a man well known throughout
+all the county, and was distinguished, in his later years, as one of the
+few men who continued to wear a _pigtail_. On one occasion the late Lord
+Dunmore (grandfather or great-grandfather of the present peer), who also
+still wore his queue, halted for a night at Laurencekirk. On the host
+leaving the room, where he had come to take orders for supper, Lord
+Dunmore turned to his valet and said, "Johnstone, do I look as like a
+fool in my pigtail as Billy Cream does?"--"Much about it, my lord," was
+the valet's imperturbable answer. "Then," said his lordship, "cut off
+mine to-morrow morning when I dress."
+
+Lord Gardenstone seemed to have had two favourite tastes: he indulged in
+the love of pigs and the love of snuff. He took a young pig as a pet,
+and it became quite tame, and followed him about like a dog. At first
+the animal shared his bed, but when, growing up to advanced swinehood,
+it became unfit for such companionship, he had it to sleep in his room,
+in which he made a comfortable couch for it of his own clothes. His
+snuff he kept not in a box, but in a leathern waist-pocket made for the
+purpose. He took it in enormous quantities, and used to say that if he
+had a dozen noses he would feed them all. Lord Gardenstone died 1793.
+
+Lord Monboddo (James Burnet, Esq. of Monboddo) is another of the
+well-known members of the Scottish Bench, who combined, with many
+eccentricities of opinion and habits, great learning and a most amiable
+disposition. From his paternal property being in the county of
+Kincardine, and Lord M. being a visitor at my father's house, and
+indeed a relation or clansman, I have many early reminiscences of
+stories which I have heard of the learned judge. His speculations
+regarding the origin of the human race have, in times past, excited much
+interest and amusement. His theory was that man emerged from a wild and
+savage condition, much resembling that of apes; that man had then a tail
+like other animals, but which by progressive civilisation and the
+constant habit of _sitting_, had become obsolete. This theory produced
+many a joke from facetious and superficial people, who had never read
+any of the arguments of the able and elaborate work, by which the
+ingenious and learned author maintained his theory[45]. Lord Kames, a
+brother judge, had his joke on it. On some occasion of their meeting,
+Lord Monboddo was for giving Lord Kames the precedency. Lord K.
+declined, and drew back, saying, "By no means, my lord; you must walk
+first, that I may _see your tail_." I recollect Lord Monboddo's coming
+to dine at Fasque caused a great excitement of interest and curiosity. I
+was in the nursery, too young to take part in the investigations; but my
+elder brothers were on the alert to watch his arrival, and get a glimpse
+of his tail. Lord M. was really a learned man, read Greek and Latin
+authors--not as a mere exercise of classical scholarship--but because he
+identified himself with their philosophical opinions, and would have
+revived Greek customs and modes of life. He used to give suppers after
+the manner of the ancients, and used to astonish his guests by the
+ancient cookery of Spartan broth, and of _mulsum_. He was an
+enthusiastical Platonist. On a visit to Oxford, he was received with
+great respect by the scholars of the University, who were much
+interested in meeting with one who had studied Plato as a pupil and
+follower. In accordance with the old custom at learned universities,
+Lord Monboddo was determined to address the Oxonians in Latin, which he
+spoke with much readiness. But they could not stand the numerous slips
+in prosody. Lord Monboddo shocked the ears of the men of Eton and of
+Winchester by dreadful false quantities--verse-making being, in
+Scotland, then quite neglected, and a matter little thought of by the
+learned judge.
+
+Lord Monboddo was considered an able lawyer, and on many occasions
+exhibited a very clear and correct judicial discernment of intricate
+cases. It was one of his peculiarities that he never sat on the bench
+with his brother judges, but always at the clerk's table. Different
+reasons for this practice have been given, but the simple fact seems to
+have been, that he was deaf, and heard better at the lower seat. His
+mode of travelling was on horseback. He scorned carriages, on the ground
+of its being unmanly to "sit in a box drawn by brutes." When he went to
+London he rode the whole way. At the same period, Mr. Barclay of Ury
+(father of the well-known Captain Barclay), when he represented
+Kincardineshire in Parliament, always _walked_ to London. He was a very
+powerful man, and could walk fifty miles a day, his usual refreshment on
+the road being a bottle of port wine, poured into a bowl, and drunk off
+at a draught. I have heard that George III. was much interested at these
+performances, and said, "I ought to be proud of my Scottish subjects,
+when my judges _ride_, and my members of Parliament _walk_ to the
+metropolis."
+
+On one occasion of his being in London, Lord Monboddo attended a trial
+in the Court of King's Bench. A cry was heard that the roof of the
+court-room was giving way, upon which judges, lawyers, and people made
+a rush to get to the door. Lord Monboddo viewed the scene from his
+corner with much composure. Being deaf and short-sighted, he knew
+nothing of the cause of the tumult. The alarm proved a false one; and on
+being asked why he had not bestirred himself to escape like the rest, he
+coolly answered that he supposed it was an _annual ceremony_, with
+which, as an alien to the English laws, he had no concern, but which he
+considered it interesting to witness as a remnant of antiquity! Lord
+Monboddo died 1799.
+
+Lord Rockville (the Hon. Alexander Gordon, third son of the Earl of
+Aberdeen) was a judge distinguished in his day by his ability and
+decorum. "He adorned the bench by the dignified manliness of his
+appearance, and polished urbanity of his manners[46]." Like most lawyers
+of his time, he took his glass freely, and a whimsical account which he
+gave, before he was advanced to the bench, of his having fallen upon his
+face, after making too free with the bottle, was commonly current at the
+time. Upon his appearing late at a convivial club with a most rueful
+expression of countenance, and on being asked what was the matter, he
+exclaimed with great solemnity, "Gentlemen, I have just met with the
+most extraordinary adventure that ever occurred to a human being. As I
+was walking along the Grassmarket, all of a sudden _the street rose up
+and struck me on the face_." He had, however, a more serious _encounter_
+with the street after he was a judge. In 1792, his foot slipped as he
+was going to the Parliament House; he broke his leg, was taken home,
+fevered, and died.
+
+Lord Braxfield (Robert M'Queen of Braxfield) was one of the judges of
+the old school, well known in his day, and might be said to possess all
+the qualities united, by which the class were remarkable. He spoke the
+broadest Scotch. He was a sound and laborious lawyer. He was fond of a
+glass of good claret, and had a great fund of good Scotch humour. He
+rose to the dignity of Justice-Clerk, and, in consequence, presided at
+many important political criminal trials about the year 1793-4, such as
+those of Muir, Palmer, Skirving, Margarot, Gerrold, etc. He conducted
+these trials with much ability and great firmness, occasionally, no
+doubt, with more appearance of severity and personal prejudice than is
+usual with the judges who in later times are called on to preside on
+similar occasions. The disturbed temper of the times and the daring
+spirit of the political offenders seemed, he thought, to call for a bold
+and fearless front on the part of the judge, and Braxfield was the man
+to show it, both on the bench and in common life. He met, however,
+sometimes with a spirit as bold as his own from the prisoners before
+him. When Skirving was on trial for sedition, he thought Braxfield was
+threatening him, and by gesture endeavouring to intimidate him;
+accordingly, he boldly addressed the Bench:--"It is altogether
+unavailing for your Lordship to menace me, for I have long learnt not to
+fear the face of man." I have observed that he adhered to the _broadest_
+Scottish dialect. "Hae ye ony coonsel, man?" he said to Maurice Margarot
+(who, I believe, was an Englishman). "No," was the reply. "Div ye want
+to hae ony appinted?" "No," replied Margarot; "I only want an
+_interpreter_ to make me understand what your Lordship says." A
+prisoner, accused of stealing some linen garments, was one day brought
+up for trial before the old judge, but was acquitted because the
+prosecutor had charged him with stealing shirts, whereas the articles
+stolen were found to be shifts--female apparel. Braxfield indignantly
+remarked that the Crown Counsel should have called them by the Scottish
+name of _sarks_, which applied to both sexes.
+
+Braxfield had much humour, and enjoyed wit in others. He was immensely
+delighted at a reply by Dr. M'Cubbin, the minister of Bothwell.
+Braxfield, when Justice-Clerk, was dining at Lord Douglas's, and
+observed there was only port upon the table. In his usual off-hand
+brusque manner, he demanded of the noble host if "there was nae claret
+i' the castle." "Yes," said Lord Douglas; "but my butler tells me it is
+not good." "Let's pree't," said Braxfield in his favourite dialect. A
+bottle was produced, and declared by all present to be quite excellent.
+"Noo, minister," said the old judge, addressing Dr. M'Cubbin, who was
+celebrated as a wit in his day, "as a _fama clamosa_ has gone forth
+against this wine, I propose that you _absolve_ it,"--playing upon the
+terms made use of in the Scottish Church Courts. "Ay, my Lord," said the
+minister, "you are first-rate authority for a case of civil or criminal
+law, but you do not quite understand our Church Court practice. We never
+absolve _till after three several appearances_." The wit and the
+condition of absolution were alike relished by the judge. Lord Braxfield
+closed a long and useful life in 1799.
+
+Of Lord Hermand we have already had occasion to speak, as in fact his
+name has become in some manner identified with that conviviality which
+marked almost as a characteristic the Scottish Bench of his time. He
+gained, however, great distinction as a judge, and was a capital lawyer.
+When at the bar, Lords Newton and Hermand were great friends, and many
+were the convivial meetings they enjoyed together. But Lord Hermand
+outlived all his old last-century contemporaries, and formed with Lord
+Balgray what we may consider the connecting links between the past and
+the present race of Scottish lawyers.
+
+Lord Kames was a keen agricultural experimentalist, and in his
+_Gentleman Farmer_ anticipated many modern improvements. He was,
+however, occasionally too sanguine. "John," said he one day to his old
+overseer, "I think we'll see the day when a man may carry out as much
+chemical manure in his waistcoat pocket as will serve for a whole
+field." "Weel," rejoined the other, "I am of opinion that if your
+lordship were to carry out the dung in your waistcoat pocket, ye might
+bring hame the crap in your greatcoat pocket."
+
+We could scarcely perhaps offer a more marked difference between habits
+_once_ tolerated on the bench and those which now distinguish the august
+seat of Senators of Justice, than by quoting, from _Kay's Portraits_,
+vol. ii. p. 278, a sally of a Lord of Session of those days, which he
+played off, when sitting as judge, upon a young friend whom he was
+determined to frighten. "A young counsel was addressing him on some not
+very important point that had arisen in the division of a common (or
+commonty, according to law phraseology), when, having made some bold
+averment, the judge exclaimed, 'That's a lee, Jemmie,' 'My lord!'
+ejaculated the amazed barrister. 'Ay, ay, Jemmie; I see by your face
+ye're leein'.' 'Indeed, my lord, I am not.' 'Dinna tell me that; it's no
+in your memorial (brief)--awa wi' you;' and, overcome with astonishment
+and vexation, the discomfited barrister left the bar. The judge
+thereupon chuckled with infinite delight; and beckoning to the clerk
+who attended on the occasion, he said, 'Are ye no Rabbie H----'s man?'
+'Yes, my lord.' 'Wasna Jemmie----leein'?' 'Oh no, my lord.' 'Ye're quite
+sure?' Oh yes.' 'Then just write out what you want, and I'll sign it; my
+faith, but I made Jemmie stare.' So the decision was dictated by the
+clerk, and duly signed by the judge, who left the bench highly diverted
+with the fright he had given his young friend." Such scenes enacted in
+court _now_ would astonish the present generation, both of lawyers and
+of suitors.
+
+We should not do justice to our Scottish Reminiscences of judges and
+lawyers, if we omitted the once celebrated Court of Session _jeu
+d'esprit_ called the "Diamond Beetle Case." This burlesque report of a
+judgment was written by George Cranstoun, advocate, who afterwards sat
+in court as judge under the title of Lord Corehouse. Cranstoun was one
+of the ablest lawyers of his time; he was a prime scholar, and a man of
+most refined taste and clear intellect. This humorous and clever
+production was printed in a former edition of these Reminiscences, and
+in a very flattering notice of the book which appeared in the _North
+British Review_, the reviewer--himself, as is well known, a
+distinguished member of the Scottish judicial bench--remarks: "We are
+glad that the whole of the 'Diamond Beetle' by Cranstoun has been given;
+for nothing can be more graphic, spirited, and ludicrous, than the
+characteristic speeches of the learned judges who deliver their opinions
+in the case of defamation." As copies of this very clever and jocose
+production are not now easily obtained, and as some of my younger
+readers may not have seen it, I have reprinted it in this edition.
+Considered in the light of a memorial of the bench, as it was known to
+a former generation, it is well worth preserving; for, as the editor of
+_Kay's Portraits_ well observes, although it is a caricature, it is
+entirely without rancour, or any feeling of a malevolent nature towards
+those whom the author represents as giving judgment in the "Diamond
+Beetle" case. And in no way could the involved phraseology of Lord
+Bannatyne, the predilection for Latin quotation of Lord Meadowbank, the
+brisk manner of Lord Hermand, the anti-Gallic feeling of Lord Craig, the
+broad dialect of Lords Polkemmet and Balmuto, and the hesitating manner
+of Lord Methven, be more admirably caricatured.
+
+     FULL COPY OF THE FINDING OF THE COURT IN
+        THE ONCE CELEBRATED "DIAMOND BEETLE
+        CASE[47]."
+
+     _Speeches taken at advising the Action of Defamation and
+        Damages,_ ALEXANDER CUNNINGHAM, _Jeweller in
+        Edinburgh, against_ JAMES EUSSELL, _Surgeon there_.
+
+     "THE LORD PRESIDENT (Sir ILAY CAMPBELL).--Your Lordships
+     have the petition of Alexander Cunningham against Lord
+     Bannatyne's interlocutor. It is a case of defamation and
+     damages for calling the petitioner's _Diamond Beetle_ an
+     _Egyptian Louse_. You have the Lord Ordinary's distinct
+     interlocutor, on pages 29 and 30 of this petition:--'Having
+     considered the Condescendence of the pursuer, Answers for the
+     defender,' and so on; 'Finds, in respect that it is not
+     alleged that the diamonds on the back of the Diamond Beetle
+     are real diamonds, or anything but shining spots, such as are
+     found on other Diamond Beetles, which likewise occur, though
+     in a smaller number, on a great number of other Beetles,
+     somewhat different from the Beetle libelled, and similar to
+     which there may be Beetles in Egypt, with shining spots on
+     their backs, which may be termed Lice there, and may be
+     different not only from the common Louse, but from the Louse
+     mentioned by Moses as one of the plagues of Egypt, which is
+     admitted to be a filthy troublesome Louse, even worse than
+     the said Louse, which is clearly different from the Louse
+     libelled. But that the other Louse is the same with, or
+     similar to, the said Beetle, which is also the same with the
+     other Beetle; and although different from the said Beetle
+     libelled, yet, as the said Beetle is similar to the other
+     Beetle, and the said Louse to the other Louse libelled; and
+     the other Louse to the other Beetle, which is the same with,
+     or similar to, the Beetle which somewhat resembles the Beetle
+     libelled; assoilzies the defender, and finds expenses due.'
+
+     "Say away, my Lords.
+
+     "LORD MEADOWBANK.--This is a very intricate and puzzling
+     question, my Lord. I have formed no decided opinion; but at
+     present I am rather inclined to think the interlocutor is
+     right, though not upon the _ratio_ assigned in it. It appears
+     to me that there are two points for consideration. _First_,
+     whether the words libelled amount to a _convicium_ against
+     the Beetle; and _Secondly_, admitting the _convicium_,
+     whether the pursuer is entitled to found upon it in this
+     action. Now, my Lords, if there be a _convicium_ at all, it
+     consists in the _comparatio_ or comparison of the
+     _Scaraboeus_ or Beetle with the Egyptian _Pediculus_ or
+     _Louse_. My first doubt regards this point, but it is not at
+     all founded on what the defender alleges, that there is no
+     such animal as an Egyptian _Pediculus_ or _Louse in rerum
+     natura_; for though it does not _actually_ exist, it may
+     _possibly_ exist (if not in _actio_, yet in _potentia_--if
+     not in actuality, yet in potentiality or capacity); and
+     whether its existence be in _esse vel posse_, is the same
+     thing to this question, provided there be _termini habiles_
+     for ascertaining what it would be if it did exist. But my
+     doubt is here:--How am I to discover what are the _essentia_
+     of any Louse, whether Egyptian or not? It is very easy to
+     describe its accidents as a naturalist would do--to say that
+     it belongs to the tribe of _Aptera_ (or, that is, a yellow,
+     little, greedy, filthy, despicable reptile), but we do not
+     learn from this what the _proprium_ of the animal is in a
+     logical sense, and still less what its _differentia_ are.
+     Now, without these it is impossible to judge whether there is
+     a _convicium_ or not; for, in a case of this kind, which
+     _sequitur naturam delicti_, we must take them _meliori
+     sensu_, and presume the _comparatio_ to be _in melioribus
+     tantum_. And here I beg that parties, and the bar in
+     general--[interrupted by Lord Hermand: _Your Lordship should
+     address yourself to the Chair_]--I say, I beg it may be
+     understood that I do not rest my opinion on the ground that
+     _veritas convicii excusat_. I am clear that although this
+     Beetle actually were an Egyptian Louse, it would accord no
+     relevant defence, provided the calling it so were a
+     _convicium_; and there my doubt lies.
+
+     "With regard to the second point, I am satisfied that the
+     _Scaraboeus_ or Beetle itself has no _persona standi in
+     judicio_; and therefore the pursuer cannot insist in the name
+     of the _Scaraboeus_, or for his behoof. If the action lie at
+     all, it must be at the instance of the pursuer himself, as
+     the _verus dominus_ of the _Scaraboeus_, for being
+     calumniated through the _convicium_ directed primarily
+     against the animal standing in that relation to him. Now,
+     abstracting from the qualification of an actual _dominium_,
+     which is not alleged, I have great doubts whether a mere
+     _convicium_ is necessarily transmitted from one object to
+     another, through the relation of a _dominium_ subsisting
+     between them; and if not necessarily transmissible, we must
+     see the principle of its actual transmission here; and that
+     has not yet been pointed out.
+
+     "LORD HERMAND.--We heard a little ago, my Lord, that there is
+     a difficulty in this case; but I have not been fortunate
+     enough, for my part, to find out where the difficulty lies.
+     Will any man presume to tell me that a Beetle is not a
+     Beetle, and that a Louse is not a Louse? I never saw the
+     petitioner's Beetle, and what's more I don't care whether I
+     ever see it or not; but I suppose it's like other Beetles,
+     and that's enough for me.
+
+     "But, my Lord, I know the other reptile well. I have seen
+     them, I have felt them, my Lord, ever since I was a child in
+     my mother's arms; and my mind tells me that nothing but the
+     deepest and blackest malice rankling in the human breast
+     could have suggested this comparison, or led any man to form
+     a thought so injurious and insulting. But, my Lord, there's
+     more here than all that--a great deal more. One could have
+     thought the defender would have gratified his spite to the
+     full by comparing the Beetle to a common Louse--an animal
+     sufficiently vile and abominable for the purpose of
+     defamation--[_Shut that door there_]--but he adds the epithet
+     _Egyptian_, and I know well what he means by that epithet. He
+     means, my Lord, a Louse that has been fattened on the head of
+     a _Gipsy or Tinker_, undisturbed by the comb or nail, and
+     unmolested in the enjoyment of its native filth. He means a
+     Louse grown to its full size, ten times larger and ten times
+     more abominable than those with which _your Lordships and I
+     are familiar_. The petitioner asks redress for the injury so
+     atrocious and so aggravated; and, as far as my voice goes, he
+     shall not ask it in vain.
+
+     "LORD CRAIG.--I am of the opinion last delivered. It appears
+     to me to be slanderous and calumnious to compare a Diamond
+     Beetle to the filthy and mischievous animal libelled. By an
+     Egyptian Louse I understand one which has been formed on the
+     head of a native Egyptian--a race of men who, after
+     degenerating for many centuries, have sunk at last into the
+     abyss of depravity, in consequence of having been subjugated
+     for a time by the French. I do not find that Turgot, or
+     Condorcet, or the rest of the economists, ever reckoned the
+     combing of the head a species of productive labour; and I
+     conclude, therefore, that wherever French principles have
+     been propagated, _Lice_ grow to an immoderate size,
+     especially in a warm climate like that of Egypt. I shall only
+     add, that we ought to be sensible of the blessings we enjoy
+     under a free and happy Constitution, where Lice and men live
+     under the restraint of equal laws the only equality that can
+     exist in a well-regulated state.
+
+     "LORD POLKEMMET.--It should be observed, my Lord, that what
+     is called a Beetle is a reptile very well known in this
+     country. I have seen mony are o' them in Drumshorlin Muir; it
+     is a little black beastie, about the size of my thoom-nail.
+     The country-folks ca' them Clocks; and I believe they ca'
+     them also Maggy-wi'-the-mony-feet; but they are not the least
+     like any Louse that ever I saw; so that, in my opinion,
+     though the defender may have made a blunder through
+     ignorance, in comparing them, there does not seem to have
+     been any _animus injuriandi_; therefore I am for refusing the
+     petition, my Lords.
+
+     "LORD BALMUTO.--'Am[48] for refusing the petition. There's
+     more Lice than Beetles in Fife. They ca' them Clocks there.
+     What they ca' a Beetle is a thing as lang as my arm; thick at
+     one end and sma' at the other. I thought, when I read the
+     petition, that the Beetle or Bittle had been the thing that
+     the women have when they are washing towels or napery
+     with--things for dadding them with; and I see the petitioner
+     is a jeweller till his trade; and I thought he had are o'
+     thae Beetles, and set it all round with diamonds; and I
+     thought it a foolish and extravagant idea; and I saw no
+     resemblance it could have to a Louse. But I find I was
+     mistaken, my Lord; and I find it only a Beetle-clock the
+     petitioner has; but my opinion's the same as it was before. I
+     say, my Lords, 'am for refusing the petition, I say--
+
+     "LORD WOODHOUSELEE.--There is a case abridged in the third
+     volume of the _Dictionary of Decisions_, Chalmers _v._
+     Douglas, in which it was found that _veritas convicii
+     excusat_, which may be rendered not literally, but in a free
+     and spirited manner, according to the most approved
+     principles of translation, 'the truth of calumny affords a
+     relevant defence.' If, therefore, it be the law of Scotland
+     (which I am clearly of opinion it is) that the truth of the
+     calumny affords a relevant defence, and if it be likewise
+     true that the Diamond Beetle is really an Egyptian Louse, I
+     am inclined to conclude (though certainly the case is
+     attended with difficulty) that the defender ought to be
+     assoilzied.--_Refuse_.
+
+     "LORD JUSTICE-CLERK (RAE).--I am very well acquainted with
+     the defender in this action, and have respect for him, and
+     esteem him likewise. I know him to be a skilful and expert
+     surgeon, and also a good man; and I would do a great deal to
+     serve him or to be of use to him, if I had it in my power to
+     do so. But I think on this occasion he has spoken rashly, and
+     I fear foolishly and improperly. I hope he had no bad
+     intention--I am sure he had not. But the petitioner (for whom
+     I have likewise a great respect, because I knew his father,
+     who was a very respectable baker in Edinburgh, and supplied
+     my family with bread, and very good bread it was, and for
+     which his accounts were regularly discharged), it seems, has
+     a Clock or a Beetle, I think it is called a Diamond Beetle,
+     which he is very fond of, and has a fancy for, and the
+     defender has compared it to a Louse, or a Bug, or a Flea, or
+     a worse thing of that kind, with a view to render it
+     despicable or ridiculous, and the petitioner so likewise, as
+     the proprietor or owner thereof. It is said that this is a
+     Louse _in fact_, and that the _veritas convicii excusat_; and
+     mention is made of a decision in the case of Chalmers _v._
+     Douglas. I have always had a great veneration for the
+     decisions of your Lordships; and I am sure will always
+     continue to have while I sit here; but that case was
+     determined by a very small majority, and I have heard your
+     Lordships mention it on various occasions, and you have
+     always desiderated the propriety of it, and I think have
+     departed from it in some instances. I remember the
+     circumstances of the case well:--Helen Chalmers lived in
+     Musselburgh, and the defender, Mrs. Douglas, lived in
+     Fisherrow; and at that time there was much intercourse
+     between the genteel inhabitants of Fisherrow, and
+     Musselburgh, and Inveresk, and likewise Newbigging; and there
+     were balls, or dances, or assemblies every fortnight, or
+     oftener, and also sometimes I believe every week; and there
+     were card-parties, assemblies once a fortnight, or oftener;
+     and the young people danced there also, and others played at
+     cards, and there were various refreshments, such as tea and
+     coffee, and butter and bread, and I believe, but I am not
+     sure, porter and negus, and likewise small beer. And it was
+     at one of these assemblies that Mrs. Douglas called Mrs.
+     Chalmers very improper names. And Mrs. Chalmers brought an
+     action of defamation before the Commissaries, and it came by
+     advocation into this Court, and your Lordships allowed a
+     proof of the _veritas convicii_, and it lasted a very long
+     time, and in the end answered no good purpose even to the
+     defender herself, while it did much hurt to the pursuer's
+     character. I am therefore for REFUSING such a proof in this
+     case, and I think the petitioner in this case and his Beetle
+     have been slandered, and the petition ought to be seen.
+
+     "LORD METHVEN.--If I understand this--a--a--a--interlocutor,
+     it is not said that the--a--a--a--a--Egyptian Lice are
+     Beetles, but that they may be, or--a--a--a--a--resemble
+     Beetles. I am therefore for sending the process to the
+     Ordinary to ascertain the fact, as I think it depends upon
+     that whether there be--a--a--a--a--_convicium_ or not. I
+     think also the petitioner should be ordained
+     to--a--a--a--produce his Beetle, and the defender an Egyptian
+     Louse or _Pediculus_, and if he has not one, that he should
+     take a diligence--a--a--a--against havers to recover Lice of
+     various kinds; and these may be remitted to Dr. Monro, or Mr.
+     Playfair, or to some other naturalist, to report upon
+     the subject.
+
+     "Agreed to."
+
+     This is clearly a Reminiscence of a bygone state of matters
+     in the Court of Session. I think every reader in our day, of
+     the once famous Beetle case, will come to the conclusion
+     that, making all due allowance for the humorous embellishment
+     of the description, and even for some exaggeration of
+     caricature, it describes what was once a real state of
+     matters, which, he will be sure, is real no more. The day of
+     Judges of the Balmuto-Hermand-Polkemmet class has passed
+     away, and is become a Scottish _Reminiscence_. Having thus
+     brought before my readers some Reminiscences of past times
+     from the Courts of Justice, let me advert to one which
+     belongs to, or was supposed to belong to, past days of our
+     Scottish universities. It is now a matter of tradition. But
+     an idea prevailed, whether correctly or incorrectly, some
+     eighty or a hundred years ago, that at northern colleges
+     degrees were regularly sold, and those who could pay the
+     price obtained them, without reference to the merits or
+     attainments of those on whom they were conferred. We have
+     heard of divers jokes being passed on those who were supposed
+     to have received such academical honours, as well as on those
+     who had given them. It is said Dr Samuel Johnson joined in
+     this sarcastic humour. But his prejudices both against
+     Scotland and Scottish literature were well known. Colman, in
+     his amusing play of the "Heir at Law," makes his Dr. Pangloss
+     ludicrously describe his receiving an LL.D. degree, on the
+     grounds of his own celebrity (as he had never seen the
+     college), and his paying the heads one pound fifteen
+     shillings and threepence three farthings as a handsome
+     compliment to them on receiving his diploma. Colman certainly
+     had studied at a northern university. But he might have gone
+     into the idea in fun. However this may be, an anecdote is
+     current in the east of Scotland, which is illustrative of
+     this real or supposed state of matters, to which we may
+     indeed apply the Italian phrase that if "non vero" it is "ben
+     trovato." The story is this:--An East Lothian minister,
+     accompanied by his man, who acted as betheral of his parish,
+     went over to a northern university to purchase his degree,
+     and on their return home he gave strict charge to his man,
+     that as now he was invested with academical honour, he was to
+     be sure to say, if any one asked for the minister, "O yes,
+     the Doctor is at home, or the Doctor is in the study, or the
+     Doctor is out, as the case might be." The man at once
+     acquiesced in the propriety of this observance on account of
+     his master's newly-acquired dignity. But he quietly added,
+     "Ay, ay, minister; an' if ony are speirs for me, the servants
+     maun be sure to say, Oh, the Doctor's in the stable, or the
+     Doctor's in the kitchen, or the Doctor's in the garden or the
+     field." "What do you mean, Dauvid?" exclaimed his astonished
+     master; "what can _you_ have to do with Doctor?" "Weel, ye
+     see, sir," said David, looking very knowing, "when ye got
+     your degree, I thought that as I had saved a little money, I
+     couldna lay it out better, as being betheral of the church,
+     than tak out a degree to mysell." The story bears upon the
+     practice, whether a real or a supposed one; and we may fairly
+     say that under such principals as Shairp, Tulloch, Campbell,
+     Barclay, who now adorn the Scottish universities, we have a
+     guarantee that such reports must continue to be Reminiscence
+     and traditional only.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[42] Bear.
+
+[43] Rev. R. Scott of Cranwell.
+
+[44] I have derived some information from a curious book, "Kay's
+Portraits," 2 vols. The work is scarcely known in England, and is
+becoming rare in Scotland. "Nothing can be more valuable in the way of
+engraved portraits than these representations of the distinguished men
+who adorned Edinburgh in the latter part of the eighteenth
+century."--_Chambers_.
+
+[45] Origin and Progress of Language.
+
+[46] Douglas' Peerage, vol. i. p. 22.
+
+[47] The version I have given of this amusing burlesque was revised by
+the late Mr. Pagan, Cupar-Fife, and corrected from his own manuscript
+copy, which he had procured from authentic sources about forty
+years ago.
+
+[48] His Lordship usually pronounced _I am_--_Aum_.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE SIXTH.
+
+ON HUMOUR PROCEEDING FROM SCOTTISH EXPRESSIONS, INCLUDING SCOTTISH
+PROVERBS.
+
+We come next to Reminiscences which are chiefly connected with
+peculiarities of our Scottish LANGUAGE, whether contained in words or in
+expressions. I am quite aware that the difference between the anecdotes
+belonging to this division and to the last division termed "Wit and
+Humour" is very indistinct, and must, in fact, in many cases, be quite
+arbitrary. Much of what we enjoy most in Scottish stories is not on
+account of wit properly so called, in the speaker, but I should say
+rather from the odd and unexpected view which is taken of some matter,
+or from the quaint and original turn of the expression made use of, or
+from the simple and matter-of-fact reference made to circumstances which
+are unusual. I shall not, therefore, be careful to preserve any strict
+line of separation between this division and the next. Each is
+conversant with what is amusing and with what is Scotch. What we have
+now chiefly to illustrate by suitable anecdotes is peculiarities of
+Scottish language--its various humorous turns and odd expressions.
+
+We have now to consider stories where words and expressions, which are
+peculiarly Scotch, impart the humour and the point. Sometimes they are
+altogether incapable of being rendered in other language. As, for
+example, a parishioner in an Ayrshire village, meeting his pastor, who
+had just returned after a considerable absence on account of ill
+health, congratulated him on his convalescence, and added, anticipatory
+of the pleasure he would have in hearing him again, "I'm unco yuckie to
+hear a blaud o' your gab." This is an untranslatable form of saying how
+glad he should be to hear his minister's voice again speaking to him the
+words of salvation and of peace from the pulpit.
+
+The two following are good examples of that Scottish style of expression
+which has its own character. They are kindly sent by Sir Archibald
+Dunbar. The first illustrates Scottish acute discernment. A certain
+titled lady, well known around her country town for her long-continued
+and extensive charities, which are not withheld from those who least
+deserve them, had a few years since, by the unexpected death of her
+brother and of his only son, become possessor of a fine estate. The news
+soon spread in the neighbourhood, and a group of old women were
+overheard in the streets of Elgin discussing the fact. One of them said,
+"Ay, she may prosper, for she has baith the prayers of the good and
+of the bad."
+
+The second anecdote is a delightful illustration of Mrs. Hamilton's
+_Cottagers of Glenburnie_, and of the old-fashioned Scottish pride in
+the _midden_. About twenty years ago, under the apprehension of cholera,
+committees of the most influential inhabitants of the county of Moray
+were formed to enforce a more complete cleansing of its towns and
+villages, and to induce the cottagers to remove their dunghills or
+dung-pits from too close a proximity to their doors or windows. One
+determined woman, on the outskirts of the town of Forres, no doubt with
+her future potato crop in view, met the M.P. who headed one of these
+committees, thus, "Noo, Major, ye may tak our lives, but ye'll no tak
+our middens."
+
+The truth is, many of the peculiarities which marked Scottish society
+departed with the disuse of the Scottish dialect in the upper ranks. I
+recollect a familiar example of this, which I may well term a
+Reminiscence. At a party assembled in a county house, the Earl of Elgin
+(grandfather of the present Earl) came up to the tea-table, where Mrs.
+Forbes of Medwyn, one of the finest examples of the past Scottish
+_lady_, was sitting, evidently much engaged with her occupation. "You
+are fond of your tea, Mrs. Forbes?" The reply was quite a characteristic
+one, and a pure reminiscence of such a place and such interlocutors;
+"'Deed, my Lord, I wadna gie my tea for your yerldom."
+
+My aunt, the late Lady Burnett of Leys, was one of the class of Scottish
+ladies I have referred to;--thoroughly a good woman and a gentlewoman,
+but in dialect quite Scottish. For example, being shocked at the sharp
+Aberdonian pronunciation adopted by her children, instead of the broader
+Forfarshire model in which she had been brought up, she thus adverted to
+their manner of calling the _floor_ of the room where they were playing:
+"What gars ye ca' it '_fleer_?' canna ye ca' it '_flure_?' But I needna
+speak; Sir Robert winna let me correc' your language."
+
+In respect of language, no doubt, a very important change has taken
+place in Scotland during the last seventy years, and which, I believe,
+influences, in a greater degree than many persons would imagine, the
+turn of thought and general modes and aspects of society. In losing the
+old racy Scottish tongue, it seems as if much originality of _character_
+was lost. I suppose at one time the two countries of England and
+Scotland were considered as almost speaking different languages, and I
+suppose also, that from the period of the union of the crowns the
+language has been assimilating. We see the process of assimilation going
+on, and ere long amongst persons of education and birth very little
+difference will be perceptible. With regard to that class, a great
+change has taken place in my own time. I recollect old Scottish ladies
+and gentlemen who really _spoke Scotch_. It was not, mark me, speaking
+English with an accent. No; it was downright Scotch. Every tone and
+every syllable was Scotch. For example, I recollect old Miss Erskine of
+Dun, a fine specimen of a real lady, and daughter of an ancient Scottish
+house, so speaking. Many people now would not understand her. She was
+always _the lady_, notwithstanding her dialect, and to none could the
+epithet vulgar be less appropriately applied. I speak of more than forty
+years ago, and yet I recollect her accost to me as well as if it were
+yesterday: "I didna ken ye were i' the toun." Taking word and accents
+together, an address how totally unlike what we now meet with in
+society. Some of the old Scottish words which we can remember are
+charming; but how strange they would sound to the ears of the present
+generation! Fancy that in walking from church, and discussing the
+sermon, a lady of rank should now express her opinion of it by the
+description of its being, "but a hummelcorn discourse." Many living
+persons can remember Angus old ladies who would say to their nieces and
+daughters, "Whatna hummeldoddie o' a mutch hae ye gotten?" meaning a
+flat and low-crowned cap. In speaking of the dryness of the soil on a
+road in Lanarkshire, a farmer said, "It stoors in an oor[49]." How would
+this be as tersely translated into English? The late Duchess of Gordon
+sat at dinner next an English gentleman who was carving, and who made it
+a boast that he was thoroughly master of the Scottish language. Her
+Grace turned to him and said, "Rax me a spaul o' that bubbly jock[50]."
+The unfortunate man was completely _nonplussed_. A Scottish gentleman
+was entertaining at his house an English cousin who professed himself as
+rather knowing in the language of the north side of the Tweed. He asked
+him what he supposed to be the meaning of the expression, "ripin the
+ribs[51]." To which he readily answered, "Oh, it describes a very fat
+man." I profess myself an out-and-out Scotchman. I have strong national
+partialities--call them if you will national prejudices. I cherish a
+great love of old Scottish language. Some of our pure Scottish ballad
+poetry is unsurpassed in any language for grace and pathos. How
+expressive, how beautiful are its phrases! You can't translate them.
+Take an example of power in a Scottish expression, to describe with
+tenderness and feeling what is in human life. Take one of our most
+familiar phrases; as thus:--We meet an old friend, we talk over bygone
+days, and remember many who were dear to us both, once bright, and
+young, and gay, of whom some remain, honoured, prosperous, and happy--of
+whom some are under a cloud of misfortune or disgrace--some are broken
+in health and spirits--some sunk into the grave; we recall old familiar
+places--old companions, pleasures, and pursuits; as Scotchmen our
+hearts are touched with these remembrances of
+
+     AULD LANG SYNE.
+
+Match me the phrase in English. You can't translate it. The fitness and
+the beauty lie in the felicity of the language. Like many happy
+expressions, it is not transferable into another tongue, just like the
+"simplex munditiis" of Horace, which describes the natural grace of
+female elegance, or the [Greek: achaexithmon gelasma] of Æschylus, which
+describes the bright sparkling of the ocean in the sun.
+
+I think the power of Scottish dialect was happily exemplified by the
+late Dr. Adam, rector of the High School of Edinburgh, in his
+translation of the Horatian expression "desipere in loco," which he
+turned by the Scotch phrase "Weel-timed daffin';" a translation,
+however, which no one but a Scotchman could appreciate. The following
+humorous Scottish translation of an old Latin aphorism has been assigned
+to the late Dr. Hill of St. Andrews: "_Qui bene cepit dimidium facti
+fecit_" the witty Principal expressed in Scotch, "Weel saipet (well
+soaped) is half shaven."
+
+What mere _English_ word could have expressed a distinction so well in
+such a case as the following? I heard once a lady in Edinburgh objecting
+to a preacher that she did not understand him. Another lady, his great
+admirer, insinuated that probably he was too "deep" for her to follow.
+But her ready answer was, "Na, na, he's no just deep, but he's
+_drumly_[52]"
+
+We have a testimony to the value of our Scottish language from a late
+illustrious Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, the force and
+authority of which no one will be disposed to question. Lord Brougham,
+in speaking of improvements upon the English language, makes these
+striking remarks:--
+
+"The pure and classical language of Scotland must on no account be
+regarded as a provincial dialect, any more than French was so regarded
+in the reign of Henry V., or Italian in that of the first Napoleon, or
+Greek under the Roman Empire. Nor is it to be in any manner of way
+considered as a corruption of the Saxon; on the contrary, it contains
+much of the old and genuine Saxon, with an intermixture from the
+Northern nations, as Danes and Norse, and some, though a small portion,
+from the Celtic. But in whatever way composed, or from whatever sources
+arising, it is a national language, used by the whole people in their
+early years, by many learned and gifted persons throughout life, and in
+which are written the laws of the Scotch, their judicial proceedings,
+their ancient history; above all, their poetry.
+
+"There can be no doubt that the English language would greatly gain by
+being enriched with a number both of words and of phrases, or turns of
+expression, now peculiar to the Scotch. It was by such a process that
+the Greek became the first of tongues, as well written as spoken....
+
+"Would it not afford means of enriching and improving the English
+language, if full and accurate glossaries of improved Scotch words and
+phrases--those successfully used by the best writers, both in prose and
+verse--were given, with distinct explanation and reference to
+authorities? This has been done in France and other countries, where
+some dictionaries accompany the English, in some cases with Scotch
+synonyms, in others with varieties of expression."--_Installation
+Address_, p. 63.
+
+The Scotch, as a people, from their more guarded and composed method of
+speaking, are not so liable to fall into that figure of speech for which
+our Irish neighbours are celebrated--usually called the Bull; some
+specimens, however, of that confusion of thought, very like a bull, have
+been recorded of Scottish interlocutors.
+
+Of this the two following examples have been sent to me by a kind
+friend.
+
+It is related of a Scottish judge (who has supplied several anecdotes of
+Scottish stories), that on going to consult a dentist, who, as is usual,
+placed him in the professional chair, and told his lordship that he must
+let him put his fingers into his mouth, he exclaimed, "Na! na! ye'll
+aiblins _bite me_."
+
+A Scottish laird, singularly enough the grandson of the learned judge
+mentioned above, when going his round to canvass for the county, at the
+time when the electors were chiefly confined to resident proprietors,
+was asked at one house where he called if he would not take some
+refreshment, hesitated, and said, "I doubt it's treating, and may be
+ca'd _bribery_."
+
+But a still more amusing specimen of this figure of speech was supplied
+by an honest Highlander, in the days of sedan chairs. For the benefit of
+my young readers I may describe the sedan chair as a comfortable little
+carriage fixed to two poles, and carried by two men, one behind and one
+before. A dowager lady of quality had gone out to dinner in one of these
+"leathern conveniences," and whilst she herself enjoyed the hospitality
+of the mansion up-stairs, her bearers were profusely entertained
+downstairs, and partook of the abundant refreshment offered to them.
+When my lady was to return, and had taken her place in the sedan, her
+bearers raised the chair, but she found no progress was made--she felt
+herself sway first to one side, then to the other, and soon came bump
+upon the ground, when Donald behind was heard shouting to Donald before
+(for the bearers of sedans were always Highlanders), "Let her down,
+Donald, man, _for she's drunk_."
+
+I cannot help thinking that a change of national language involves to
+some extent change of national character. Numerous examples of great
+power in Scottish Phraseology, to express the picturesque, the feeling,
+the wise, and the humorous, might be taken from the works of Robert
+Burns, Ferguson, or Allan Ramsay, and which lose their charms altogether
+when _unscottified_. The speaker certainly seems to take a strength and
+character from his words. We must now look for specimens of this racy
+and expressive tongue in the more retired parts of the country. It is no
+longer to be found in high places. It has disappeared from the social
+circles of our cities. I cannot, however, omit calling my reader's
+attention to a charming specimen of Scottish prose and of Scottish
+humour of our own day, contained in a little book, entitled
+"_Mystifications_" by Clementina Stirling Graham. The scenes described
+in that volume are matters of pleasing reminiscence, and to some of us
+who still remain "will recall that blithe and winning face, sagacious
+and sincere, that kindly, cheery voice, that rich and quiet laugh, that
+mingled sense and sensibility, which met, and still to our happiness
+meet, in her who, with all her gifts, never gratified her consciousness
+of these powers so as to give pain to any human being[53]." These
+words, written more than ten years ago, might have been penned
+yesterday; and those who, like myself, have had the privilege of seeing
+the authoress presiding in her beautiful mansion of Duntrune, will not
+soon forget how happy, how gracious, and how young, old age may be.
+
+     "No fears to beat away--no strife to heal;
+     The past unsighed for, and the future sure."
+
+In my early days the intercourse with the peasantry of Forfarshire,
+Kincardineshire, and especially Deeside, was most amusing--not that the
+things said were so much out of the common, as that the language in
+which they were conveyed was picturesque, and odd, and taking. And
+certainly it does appear to me that as the language grows more uniform
+and conventional, less marked and peculiar in its dialect and
+expressions, so does the character of those who speak it become so. I
+have a rich sample of Mid-Lothian Scotch from a young friend in the
+country, who describes the conversation of an old woman on the property
+as amusing her by such specimens of genuine Scottish raciness and
+humour. On one occasion, for instance, the young lady had told her
+humble friend that she was going to Ireland, and would have to undergo a
+sea voyage. "Weel, noo, ye dinna mean that! Ance I thocht to gang across
+to tither side o' the Queensferry wi' some ither folks to a fair, ye
+ken; but juist whene'er I pat my fit in the boat, the boat gae wallop,
+and my heart gae a loup, and I thocht I'd gang oot o' my judgment
+athegither; so says I, Na, na, ye gang awa by yoursells to tither side,
+and I'll bide here till sic times as ye come awa back." When we hear
+our Scottish language at home, and spoken by our own countrymen, we are
+not so much struck with any remarkable effects; but it takes a far more
+impressive character when heard amongst those who speak a different
+tongue, and when encountered in other lands. I recollect hearing the
+late Sir Robert Liston expressing this feeling in his own case. When our
+ambassador at Constantinople, some Scotchmen had been recommended to him
+for a purpose of private or of government business; and Sir Robert was
+always ready to do a kind thing for a countryman. He found them out in a
+barber's shop, waiting for being shaved in turn. One came in rather
+late, and seeing he had scarcely room at the end of the seat, addressed
+his countryman, "Neebour, wad ye sit a bit _wast_?" What strong
+associations must have been called up, by hearing in an eastern land
+such an expression in Scottish tones.
+
+We may observe here, that marking the course any person is to take, or
+the direction in which any object is to be met with, by the points of
+the compass, was a prevailing practice amongst the older Scottish race.
+There could hardly be a more ludicrous application of the test, than was
+furnished by an honest Highlander in describing the direction which his
+medicine would _not_ take. Jean Gumming of Altyre, who, in common with
+her three sisters, was a true soeur de charité, was one day taking her
+rounds as usual, visiting the poor sick, among whom there was a certain
+Donald MacQueen, who had been some time confined to his bed. Miss
+Gumming, after asking him how he felt, and finding that he was "no
+better," of course inquired if he had taken the medicine which she had
+sent him; "Troth no, me lady," he replied. "But why not, Donald?" she
+answered; "it was _very wrong_; how can you expect to get better if you
+do not help yourself with the remedies which heaven provides for you?"
+"_V_right or _V_rang," said Donald, "it wadna gang _wast_ in spite o'
+me." In all the north country, it is always said, "I'm ganging east or
+west," etc., and it happened that Donald on his sick bed was lying east
+and west, his feet pointing to the latter direction, hence his reply to
+indicate that he could not swallow the medicine!
+
+We may fancy the amusement of the officers of a regiment in the West
+Indies, at the innocent remark of a young lad who had just joined from
+Scotland. On meeting at dinner, his salutation to his Colonel was,
+"Anither het day, Cornal," as if "het days" were in Barbadoes few and
+far between, as they were in his dear old stormy cloudy Scotland. Or
+take the case of a Scottish saying, which indicated at once the dialect
+and the economical habits of a hardy and struggling race. A young
+Scotchman, who had been some time in London, met his friend recently
+come up from the north to pursue his fortune in the great metropolis. On
+discussing matters connected with their new life in London, the more
+experienced visitor remarked upon the greater _expenses_ there than in
+the retired Scottish town which they had left. "Ay," said the other,
+sighing over the reflection, "when ye get cheenge for a saxpence here,
+it's soon slippit awa'." I recollect a story of my father's which
+illustrates the force of dialect, although confined to the inflections
+of a single monosyllable. On riding home one evening, he passed a
+cottage or small farm-house, where there was a considerable assemblage
+of people, and an evident incipient merry-making for some festive
+occasion. On asking one of the lasses standing about, what it was, she
+answered, "Ou, it's just a wedding o' Jock Thamson and Janet Frazer." To
+the question, "Is the bride rich?" there was a plain quiet "Na." "Is she
+young?" a more emphatic and decided "Naa!" but to the query, "Is she
+bonny?" a most elaborate and prolonged shout of "Naaa!"
+
+It has been said that the Scottish dialect is peculiarly powerful in its
+use of _vowels_, and the following dialogue between a shopman and a
+customer has been given as a specimen. The conversation relates to a
+plaid hanging at the shop door--
+
+_Cus_. (inquiring the material), Oo? (wool?)
+
+_Shop_. Ay, oo (yes, of wool).
+
+_Cus_. A' oo? (all wool?)
+
+_Shop_. Ay, a' oo (yes, all wool).
+
+_Cus_. A' ae oo? (all same wool?)
+
+_Shop_. Ay a' ae oo (yes, all same wool).
+
+An amusing anecdote of a pithy and jocular reply, comprised in one
+syllable, is recorded of an eccentric legal Scottish functionary of the
+last century. An advocate, of whose professional qualifications he had
+formed rather a low estimate, was complaining to him of being passed
+over in a recent appointment to the bench, and expressed his sense of
+the injustice with which he had been treated. He was very indignant at
+his claims and merit being overlooked in their not choosing him for the
+new judge, adding with much acrimony, "And I can tell you they might
+have got a 'waur[54].'" To which, as if merely coming over the
+complainant's language again, the answer was a grave "Whaur[55]?" The
+merit of the impertinence was, that it sounded as if it were merely a
+repetition of his friend's last words, waur and whaur. It was as if
+"_echo_ answered whaur?" As I have said, the oddity and acuteness of
+the speaker arose from the manner of expression, not from the thing
+said. In fact, the same thing said in plain English would be mere
+commonplace. I recollect being much amused with a dialogue between a
+late excellent relative of mine and his man, the chief manager of a farm
+which he had just taken, and, I suspect in a good measure manager of the
+_farmer_ as well. At any rate he committed to this acute overseer all
+the practical details; and on the present occasion had sent him to
+market to dispose of a cow and a pony, a simple enough transaction, and
+with a simple enough result. The cow was, brought back, the pony was
+sold. But the man's description of it forms the point. "Well, John, have
+you sold the cow?" "Na, but I _grippit_ a chiel for the powny!"
+"_Grippit_" was here most expressive. Indeed, this word has a
+significance hardly expressed by any English one, and used to be very
+prevalent to indicate keen and forcible tenacity of possession; thus a
+character noted for avarice or sharp looking to self-interest was termed
+"grippy." In mechanical contrivances, anything taking a close adherence
+was called having a gude _grip_. I recollect in boyish days, when on
+Deeside taking wasp-nests, an old man looking on was sharply stung by
+one, and his description was, "Ane o' them's grippit me fine." The
+following had an indescribable piquancy, which arose from the
+_Scotticism_ of the terms and the manners. Many years ago, when
+accompanying a shooting party on the Grampians, not with a gun like the
+rest, but with a botanical box for collecting specimens of mountain
+plants, the party had got very hot, and very tired, and very cross. On
+the way home, whilst sitting down to rest, a gamekeeper sort of
+attendant, and a character in his way, said, "I wish I was in the
+dining-room of Fasque." Our good cousin the Rev. Mr. Wilson, minister
+of Farnel, who liked well a quiet shot at the grouse, rather testily
+replied, "Ye'd soon be _kickit_ out o' that;" to which the other
+replied, not at all daunted, "Weel, weel, then I wadna be far frae the
+kitchen." A quaint and characteristic reply I recollect from another
+farm-servant. My eldest brother had just been constructing a piece of
+machinery which was driven by a stream of water running through the home
+farmyard. There was a thrashing machine, a winnowing machine, and
+circular saw for splitting trees into paling, and other contrivances of
+a like kind. Observing an old man, who had long been about the place,
+looking very attentively at all that was going on, he said, "Wonderful
+things people can do now, Robby!" "Ay," said Robby; "indeed, Sir
+Alexander, I'm thinking gin Solomon were alive noo he'd be thocht
+naething o'!"
+
+The two following derive their force entirely from the Scottish turn of
+the expressions. Translated into English, they would lose all point--at
+least, much of the point which they now have:--
+
+At the sale of an antiquarian gentleman's effects in Roxburghshire,
+which Sir Walter Scott happened to attend, there was one little article,
+a Roman _patina_, which occasioned a good deal of competition, and was
+eventually knocked down to the distinguished baronet at a high price.
+Sir Walter was excessively amused during the time of bidding to observe
+how much it excited the astonishment of an old woman, who had evidently
+come there to buy culinary utensils on a more economical principle. "If
+the parritch-pan," she at last burst out--"If the parritch-pan gangs at
+that, what will the kail-pat gang for?"
+
+An ancestor of Sir Walter Scott joined the Stuart Prince in 1715, and,
+with his brother, was engaged in that unfortunate adventure which ended
+in a skirmish and captivity at Preston. It was the fashion of those
+times for all persons of the rank of gentlemen to wear scarlet
+waistcoats. A ball had struck one of the brothers, and carried part of
+this dress into his body, and in this condition he was taken prisoner
+with a number of his companions, and stripped, as was too often the
+practice in those remorseless wars. Thus wounded, and nearly naked,
+having only a shirt on, and an old sack about him, the ancestor of the
+great poet was sitting, along with his brother and a hundred and fifty
+unfortunate gentlemen, in a granary at Preston. The wounded man fell
+sick, as the story goes, and vomited the scarlet cloth which the ball
+had passed into the wound. "O man, Wattie," cried his brother, "if you
+have a wardrobe in your wame, I wish you would vomit me a pair o'
+breeks." But, after all, it was amongst the old ladies that the great
+abundance of choice pungent Scottish expressions, such as you certainly
+do not meet with in these days, was to be sought. In their position of
+society, education either in England, or education conducted by English
+teachers, has so spread in Scottish families, and intercourse with the
+south has been so increased, that all these colloquial peculiarities are
+fast disappearing. Some of the ladies of this older school felt some
+indignation at the change which they lived to see was fast going on. One
+of them being asked if an individual whom she had lately seen was
+"Scotch," answered with some bitterness, "I canna say; ye a' speak sae
+_genteel_ now that I dinna ken wha's Scotch." It was not uncommon to
+find, in young persons, examples, some years ago, of an attachment to
+the Scottish dialect, like that of the old lady. In the life of P.
+Tytler, lately published, there is an account of his first return to
+Scotland from a school in England. His family were delighted with his
+appearance, manners, and general improvement; but a sister did not share
+this pleasure unmixed, for being found in tears, and the remark being
+made, "Is he not charming?" her reply was, in great distress, "Oh yes,
+but he speaks English!"
+
+The class of old Scottish ladies, marked by so many peculiarities,
+generally lived in provincial towns, and never dreamt of going from
+home. Many had never been in London, or had even crossed the Tweed. But
+as Lord Cockburn's experience goes back further than mine, and as he had
+special opportunities of being acquainted with their characteristic
+peculiarities, I will quote his animated description at page 57 of his
+_Memorials_. "There was a singular race of old Scotch ladies. They were
+a delightful set--strong-headed, warm-hearted, and high-spirited--merry
+even in solitude; very resolute; indifferent about the modes and habits
+of the modern world, and adhering to their own ways, so as to stand out
+like primitive rocks above ordinary society. Their prominent qualities
+of sense, humour, affection, and spirit, were embodied in curious
+outsides, for they all dressed, and spoke, and did exactly as they
+chose. Their language, like their habits, entirely Scotch, but without
+any other vulgarity than what perfect naturalness is sometimes
+mistaken for[56]."
+
+This is a masterly description of a race now all but passed away. I have
+known several of them in my early days; and amongst them we must look
+for the racy Scottish peculiarities of diction and of expression which,
+with them, are also nearly gone. Lord Cockburn has given some
+illustrations of these peculiarities; and I have heard others,
+especially connected with Jacobite partialities, of which I say nothing,
+as they are in fact rather _strong_ for such a work as this. One,
+however, I heard lately as coming from a Forfarshire old lady of this
+class, which bears upon the point of "resolute" determination referred
+to in the learned judge's description. She had been very positive in the
+disclaiming of some assertion which had been attributed to her, and on
+being asked if she had not written it, or something very like it, she
+replied, "Na, na; I never _write_ onything of consequence--I may deny
+what I say, but I canna deny what I write."
+
+Mrs. Baird of Newbyth, the mother of our distinguished countryman the
+late General Sir David Baird, was always spoken of as a grand specimen
+of the class. When the news arrived from India of the gallant but
+unfortunate action of '84 against Hyder Ali, in which her son, then
+Captain Baird, was engaged, it was stated that he and other officers had
+been taken prisoners and chained together two and two. The friends were
+careful in breaking such sad intelligence to the mother of Captain
+Baird. When, however, she was made fully to understand the position of
+her son and his gallant companions, disdaining all weak and useless
+expressions of her own grief, and knowing well the restless and athletic
+habits of her son, all she said was, "Lord pity the chiel that's chained
+to our Davie!"
+
+It is only due to the memory of "our Davie," however, to add that the
+"chiel" to whom he was chained, had, in writing home to his friends,
+borne the highest testimony to the kindness and consideration of Captain
+Baird, which he exercised towards him in this uncomfortable alliance.
+General Baird was a first-rate officer, and a fine noble character. He
+left home for active service so soon (before he was fifteen) that his
+education had necessarily been very imperfect. This deficiency he had
+always himself through life deeply regretted. A military friend, and
+great admirer of Sir David, used jocularly to tell a story of him--that
+having finished the despatch which must carry home the news of his great
+action, the capture of Seringapatam, as he was preparing to sign it in
+great form, he deliberately took off his coat. "Why do you take off your
+coat?" said his friend. To which the General quietly answered, "Oh, it's
+to turn the muckle D in Dauvid."
+
+The ladies of this class had certainly no affectation in speaking of
+those who came under their displeasure, even when life and death were
+concerned. I had an anecdote illustrative of this characteristic in a
+well-known old lady of the last century, Miss Johnstone of Westerhall.
+She had been extremely indignant that, on the death of her brother, his
+widow had proposed to sell off the old furniture of Westerhall. She was
+attached to it from old associations, and considered the parting with it
+little short of sacrilege. The event was, however, arrested by death,
+or, as she describes the result, "The furniture was a' to be roupit, and
+we couldna persuade her. But before the sale cam on, in God's gude
+providence she just clinkit aff hersell." Of this same Miss Johnstone
+another characteristic anecdote has been preserved in the family. She
+came into possession of Hawkhill, near Edinburgh, and died there. When
+dying, a tremendous storm of rain and thunder came on, so as to shake
+the house. In her own quaint eccentric spirit, and with no thought of
+profane or light allusions, she looked up, and, listening to the storm,
+quietly remarked, in reference to her departure, "Ech, sirs! what a
+nicht for me to be fleein' through the air!" Of fine acute sarcasm I
+recollect hearing an expression from a _modern_ sample of the class, a
+charming character, but only to a certain degree answering to the
+description of the _older_ generation. Conversation turning, and with
+just indignation, on the infidel remarks which had been heard from a
+certain individual, and on his irreverent treatment of Holy Scripture,
+all that this lady condescended to say of him was, "Gey impudent of
+him, I think."
+
+A recorded reply of old Lady Perth to a French gentleman is quaint and
+characteristic. They had been discussing the respective merits of the
+cookery of each country. The Frenchman offended the old Scottish peeress
+by some disparaging remarks on Scottish dishes, and by highly preferring
+those of France. All she would answer was, "Weel, weel, some fowk like
+parritch and some like paddocks[57]."
+
+Of this older race--the ladies who were, aged, fifty years ago--no
+description could be given in bolder or stronger outline than that which
+I have quoted from Lord Cockburn. I would pretend to nothing more than
+giving a few further illustrative details from my own experience, which
+may assist the representation by adding some practical realities to
+the picture.
+
+Several of them whom I knew in my early days certainly answered to many
+of the terms made use of by his lordship. Their language and expressions
+had a zest and peculiarity which are gone, and which would not, I fear,
+do for modern life and times.
+
+I have spoken of Miss Erskine of Dun, which is near Montrose. She,
+however, resided in Edinburgh. But those I knew best had lived many
+years in the then retired society of a country town. Some were my own
+relations; and in boyish days (for they had not generally much patience
+with boys) were looked up to with considerable awe as very formidable
+personages. Their characters and modes of expression in many respects
+remarkably corresponded with Lord Cockburn's idea of the race. There was
+a dry Scottish humour which we fear their successors do not inherit. One
+of these Montrose ladies, Miss Nelly Fullerton, had many anecdotes told
+of her quaint ways and sayings. Walking in the street one day, slippery
+from frost, she fairly fell down. A young officer with much politeness
+came forward and picked her up, earnestly asking her at the same time,
+"I hope ma'am, you are no worse?" to which she very drily answered,
+looking at him very steadily, "'Deed, sir, I'm just as little the
+better." A few days after, she met her military supporter in a shop. He
+was a fine tall youth, upwards of six feet high, and by way of making
+some grateful recognition for his late polite attention, she eyed him
+from head to foot, and as she was of the opinion of the old Scotch lady
+who declared she "aye liked bonny fowk," she viewed her young friend
+with much satisfaction, but which she only evinced by the quaint remark,
+"Od, ye're a lang lad; God gie ye grace."
+
+I had from a relative or intimate friend of two sisters of this school,
+well known about Glasgow, an odd account of what it seems, from their
+own statement, had passed between them at a country house, where they
+had attended a sale by auction. As the business of the day went on, a
+dozen of silver spoons had to be disposed of; and before they were put
+up for competition, they were, according to the usual custom, handed
+round for inspection to the company. When returned into the hands of
+the auctioneer, he found only eleven. In great wrath, he ordered the
+door to be shut, that no one might escape, and insisted on every one
+present being searched to discover the delinquent. One of the sisters,
+in consternation, whispered to the other, "Esther, ye hae nae gotten the
+spune?" to which she replied, "Na; but I hae gotten Mrs. Siddons in my
+pocket." She had been struck by a miniature of the great actress, and
+had quietly pocketed it. The cautious reply of the sister was, "Then
+just drop her, Esther." One of the sisterhood, a connection of my own,
+had much of this dry Scottish humour. She had a lodging in the house of
+a respectable grocer; and on her niece most innocently asking, "if she
+was not very fond of her landlord," in reference to the excellence of
+her apartments and the attention he paid to her comfort, she demurred to
+the question on the score of its propriety, by replying, "Fond of my
+landlord! that would be an _unaccountable_ fondness."
+
+An amusing account was given of an interview and conversation between
+this lady and the provost of Montrose. She had demurred at paying some
+municipal tax with which she had been charged, and the provost, anxious
+to prevent her getting into difficulty on the subject, kindly called to
+convince her of the fairness of the claim, and the necessity of paying
+it. In his explanation he referred back to his own bachelor days when a
+similar payment had been required from him. "I assure you, ma'am," he
+said, "when I was in your situation I was called upon in a similar way
+for this tax;" to which she replied, in quiet scorn, "In my situation!
+an' whan were ye in my situation?--an' auld maid leevin' in a flat wi'
+an ae lass." But the complaints of such imposts were urged in a very
+humorous manner by another Montrose old lady, Miss Helen Carnegy of
+Craigo; she hated paying taxes, and always pretended to misunderstand
+their nature. One day, receiving a notice of such payment signed by the
+provost (Thorn), she broke out: "I dinna understand thae taxes; but I
+just think that when Mrs. Thorn wants a new gown, the provost sends me a
+tax paper!" The good lady's naïve rejection of the idea that she could
+be in any sense "fond of her landlord," already referred to, was
+somewhat in unison with a similar feeling recorded to have been
+expressed by the late Mr. Wilson, the celebrated Scottish vocalist. He
+was taking lessons from the late Mr. Finlay Dun, one of the most
+accomplished musicians of the day. Mr. Dun had just returned from Italy,
+and, impressed with admiration of the deep pathos, sentiment, and
+passion of the Italian school of music, he regretted to find in his
+pupil so lovely a voice and so much talent losing much of its effect for
+want of feeling. Anxious, therefore, to throw into his friend's
+performance something of the Italian expression, he proposed to bring it
+out by this suggestion: "Now, Mr. Wilson, just suppose that I am your
+lady love, and sing to me as you could imagine yourself doing were you
+desirous of impressing her with your earnestness and affection." Poor
+Mr. Wilson hesitated, blushed, and, under doubt how far such a
+personification even in his case was allowable, at last remonstrated,
+"Ay, Mr. Dun, ye forget I'm a married man!" A case has been reported of
+a country girl, however, who thought it possible there might be an
+excess in such scrupulous regard to appearances. On her marriage-day,
+the youth to whom she was about to be united said to her in a triumphant
+tone, "Weel, Jenny, haven't I been unco ceevil?" alluding to the fact
+that during their whole courtship he had never even given her a kiss.
+Her quiet reply was, "Ou, ay, man; _senselessly_ ceevil."
+
+One of these Montrose ladies and a sister lived together; and in a very
+quiet way they were in the habit of giving little dinner-parties, to
+which occasionally they invited their gentlemen friends. However,
+gentlemen were not always to be had; and on one occasion, when such a
+difficulty had occurred, they were talking over the matter with a
+friend. The one lady seemed to consider such an acquisition almost
+essential to the having a dinner at all. The other, who did not see the
+same necessity, quietly adding, "But, indeed, oor Jean thinks a man
+_perfect salvation_."
+
+Very much of the same class of remarks was the following sly observation
+of one of the sisterhood. At a well-known tea-table in a country town in
+Forfarshire, the events of the day, grave and gay, had been fully
+discussed by the assembled sisterhood. The occasion was improved by an
+elderly spinster, as follows:--"Weel, weel, sirs, these are solemn
+events--death and marriage--but ye ken they're what we must a' come
+till." "Eh, Miss Jeany! ye have been lang spared," was the arch reply of
+a younger member.
+
+There was occasionally a pawky semi-sarcastic humour in the replies of
+some of the ladies we speak of, that was quite irresistible, of which I
+have from a friend a good illustration in an anecdote well known at the
+time. A late well-known member of the Scottish bar, when a youth, was
+somewhat of a dandy, and, I suppose, somewhat short and sharp in his
+temper. He was going to pay a visit in the country, and was making a
+great fuss about his preparing and putting up his habiliments. His old
+aunt was much annoyed at all this bustle, and stopped him by the
+somewhat contemptuous question, "Whar's this you're gaun, Bobby, that
+ye mak sic a grand wark about yer claes?" The young man lost temper, and
+pettishly replied, "I'm going to the devil." "'Deed, Robby, then," was
+the quiet answer, "ye needna be sae nice, he'll juist tak' ye as
+ye are."
+
+Ladies of this class had a quiet mode of expressing themselves on very
+serious subjects, which indicated their quaint power of description,
+rather than their want of feeling. Thus, of two sisters, when one had
+died, it was supposed that she had injured herself by an imprudent
+indulgence in strawberries and cream, of which she had partaken in the
+country. A friend was condoling with the surviving sister, and,
+expressing her sorrow, had added, "I had hoped your sister was to live
+many years." To which her relative replied--"Leeve! hoo could she leeve?
+she juist felled[58] hersell at Craigo wi' straeberries and 'ream!"
+However, she spoke with the same degree of coolness of her own decease.
+For when her friend was comforting her in illness, by the hopes that she
+would, after winter, enjoy again some of their country spring butter,
+she exclaimed, without the slightest idea of being guilty of any
+irreverence, "Spring butter! by that time I shall be buttering in
+heaven." When really dying, and when friends were round her bed she
+overheard one of them saying to another, "Her face has lost its colour;
+it grows like a sheet of paper." The quaint spirit even then broke out
+in the remark, "Then I'm sure it maun be _broon_ paper." A very
+strong-minded lady of the class, and, in Lord Cockburn's language,
+"indifferent about modes and habits[59]," had been asking from a lady
+the character of a cook she was about to hire. The lady naturally
+entered a little upon her moral qualifications, and described her as a
+very decent woman; the response to which was, "Oh, d--n her decency; can
+she make good collops?"--an answer which would somewhat surprise a lady
+of Moray Place now, if engaged in a similar discussion of a
+servant's merits.
+
+The Rev. Dr. Cook of Haddington supplies an excellent anecdote, of which
+the point is in the dry Scottish answer: An old lady of the Doctor's
+acquaintance, about seventy, sent for her medical attendant to consult
+him about a sore throat, which had troubled her for some days. Her
+medical man was ushered into her room, decked out with the now
+prevailing fashion, a mustache and flowing beard. The old lady, after
+exchanging the usual civilities, described her complaint to the worthy
+son of Æsculapius. "Well," says he, "do you know, Mrs. Macfarlane, I
+used to be much affected with the very same kind of sore throat, but
+ever since I allowed my mustache and beard to grow, I have never been
+troubled with it." "Aweel, aweel," said the old lady drily, "that may be
+the case, but ye maun prescribe some other method for me to get quit o'
+the sair throat; for ye ken, doctor, I canna adopt _that_ cure."
+
+Then how quaint the answer of old Mrs. Robison, widow of the eminent
+professor of natural philosophy, and who entertained an inveterate
+dislike to everything which she thought savoured of _cant_. She had
+invited a gentleman to dinner on a particular day, and he had accepted,
+with the reservation, "If I am spared."--"Weel, weel," said Mrs.
+Robison; "if ye're deed, I'll no expect ye."
+
+I had two grand-aunts living at Montrose at that time--two Miss Ramsays
+of Balmain. They were somewhat of the severe class---Nelly especially,
+who was an object rather of awe than of affection. She certainly had a
+very awful appearance to young apprehensions, from the strangeness of
+her headgear. Ladies of this class Lord Cockburn has spoken of as
+"having their peculiarities embodied in curious outsides, as they
+dressed, spoke, and did exactly as they chose." As a sample of such
+"curious outside and dress," my good aunt used to go about the house
+with an immense pillow strapped over her head--warm but formidable.
+These two maiden grand-aunts had invited their niece to pay them a
+visit--an aunt of mine, who had made what they considered a very
+imprudent marriage, and where considerable pecuniary privations were too
+likely to accompany the step she had taken. The poor niece had to bear
+many a taunt directed against her improvident union, as for
+example:--One day she had asked for a piece of tape for some work she
+had in hand as a young wife expecting to become a mother. Miss Nelly
+said, with much point, "Ay, Kitty, ye shall get a bit knittin' (_i.e._ a
+bit of tape). We hae a'thing; we're no married." It was this lady who,
+by an inadvertent use of a term, showed what was passing in her mind in
+a way which must have been quite transparent to the bystanders. At a
+supper which she was giving, she was evidently much annoyed at the
+reckless and clumsy manner in which a gentleman was operating upon a ham
+which was at table, cutting out great lumps, and distributing them to
+the company. The lady said, in a very querulous tone, "Oh, Mr. _Divot_,
+will you help Mrs. So and So?"--divot being a provincial term for a turf
+or sod cut out of the green, and the resemblance of it to the pieces
+carved out by the gentleman evidently having taken possession of her
+imagination. Mrs. Helen Carnegy of Craigo, already mentioned, was a
+thorough specimen of this class. She lived in Montrose, and died in
+1818, at the advanced age of ninety-one. She was a Jacobite, and very
+aristocratic in her feelings, but on social terms with many burghers of
+Montrose, or Munross as it was called. She preserved a very nice
+distinction of addresses, suited to the different individuals in the
+town, according as she placed them in the scale of her consideration.
+She liked a party at quadrille, and sent out her servant every morning
+to invite the ladies required to make up the game, and her directions
+were graduated thus:--"Nelly, ye'll ging to Lady Carnegy's, and mak my
+compliments, and ask the _honour_ of her ladyship's company, and that of
+the Miss Carnegys, to tea this evening; and if they canna come, ging to
+the Miss Mudies, and ask the _pleasure_ of their company; and if they
+canna come, ye may ging to Miss Hunter and ask the _favour_ of her
+company and if she canna come, ging to Lucky Spark and _bid her come_."
+
+A great confusion existed in the minds of some of those old-fashioned
+ladies on the subject of modern inventions and usages. A Montrose old
+lady protested against the use of steam-vessels, as counteracting the
+decrees of Providence in going against wind and tide, vehemently
+asserting, "I would hae naething to say to thae _im-pious_ vessels."
+Another lady was equally discomposed by the introduction of gas, asking,
+with much earnestness, "What's to become o' the puir whales'?" deeming
+their interests materially affected by this superseding of their oil. A
+lady of this class, who had long lived in country retirement, coming up
+to Edinburgh, was, after an absence of many years, going along Princes
+Street about the time when the water-carts were introduced for
+preventing the dust, and seeing one of them passing, rushed from off the
+pavement to the driver, saying, "Man, ye're _skailin'_ a' the water."
+Such being her ignorance of modern improvements.
+
+There used to be a point and originality in expressions made use of in
+regard to common matters, unlike what one finds now; for example: A
+country minister had been invited, with his wife, to dine and spend the
+night at the house of one of his lairds. Their host was very proud of
+one of the very large beds which had just come into fashion, and in the
+morning asked the lady how she had slept in it. "Oh, vary well, sir;
+but, indeed, I thought I'd lost the minister athegither."
+
+Nothing, however, in my opinion, comes up to the originality and point
+of the Montrose old maiden lady's most "exquisite reason" for not
+subscribing to the proposed fund for organising a volunteer corps in
+that town. It was at the time of expected invasion at the beginning of
+the century, and some of the town magistrates called upon her and
+solicited her subscription to raise men for the service of the
+king--"Indeed," she answered right sturdily, "I'll dae nae sic thing; I
+ne'er could raise a man _for mysell_, and I'm no ga'in to raise men for
+King George."
+
+Some curious stories are told of ladies of this class, as connected with
+the novelties and excitement of railway travelling. Missing their
+luggage, or finding that something has gone wrong about it, often causes
+very terrible distress, and might be amusing, were it not to the
+sufferer so severe a calamity. I was much entertained with the
+earnestness of this feeling, and the expression of it from an old Scotch
+lady whose box was not forthcoming at the station where she was to
+stop. When urged to be patient, her indignant exclamation was--"I can
+bear ony pairtings that may be ca'ed for in God's providence; but I
+_canna stan' pairtin' frae my claes_."
+
+The following anecdote from the west exhibits a curious confusion of
+ideas arising from the old-fashioned prejudice against Frenchmen and
+their language, which existed in the last generation. During the long
+French war, two old ladies in Stranraer were going to the kirk; the one
+said to the other, "Was it no a wonderfu' thing that the Breetish were
+aye victorious ower the French in battle?" "Not a bit," said the other
+old lady; "dinna ye ken the Breetish aye say their prayers before ga'in
+into battle?" The other replied, "But canna the French say their prayers
+as weel?" The reply was most characteristic, "Hoot! jabbering bodies,
+wha could _understan'_ them?"
+
+Some of these ladies, as belonging to the old county families, had very
+high notions of their own importance, and a great idea of their
+difference from the burgher families of the town. I am assured of the
+truth of the following naïve specimen of such family pride:--One of the
+olden maiden ladies of Montrose called one day on some ladies of one of
+the families in the neighbourhood, and on being questioned as to the
+news of the town, said, "News! oh, Bailie----'s eldest son is to be
+married." "And pray," was the reply, "and pray, Miss ----, an' fa' ever
+heard o' a merchant i' the toon o' Montrose _ha'in_ an _eldest son_?"
+The good lady thought that any privilege of primogeniture belonged only
+to the family of _laird_.
+
+It is a dangerous experiment to try passing off ungrounded claims upon
+characters of this description. Many a clever sarcastic reply is on
+record from Scottish ladies, directed against those who wished to
+impose upon them some false sentiment. I often think of the remark of
+the outspoken ancient lady, who, when told by her pastor, of whose
+disinterestedness in his charge she was not quite sure, that he "had a
+call from his Lord and Master to go," replied--"'Deed, sir, the Lord
+micht hae ca'ed and ca'ed to ye lang eneuch to Ouchtertoul (a very small
+stipend), and ye'd ne'er hae letten on that ye heard him."
+
+At the beginning of this century, when the fear of invasion was rife, it
+was proposed to mount a small battery at the water-mouth by
+subscription, and Miss Carnegy was waited on by a deputation from the
+town-council. One of them having addressed her on the subject, she heard
+him with some impatience, and when he had finished, she said, "Are ye
+ane o' the toon-cooncil." He replied, "I have that honour, ma'am." To
+which she rejoined, "Ye may hae that _profit_, but honour ye hae nane;"
+and then to the point, she added, "But I've been tell't that ae day's
+wark o' twa or three men wad mount the cannon, and that it may be a'
+dune for twenty shillings; now there's twa punds to ye." The councillor
+pocketed the money and withdrew. On one occasion, as she sat in an easy
+chair, having assumed the habits and privileges of age, Mr. Mollison,
+the minister of the Established Kirk, called on her to solicit for some
+charity. She did not like being asked for money, and, from her Jacobite
+principles, she certainly did not respect the Presbyterian Kirk. When he
+came in she made an inclination of the head, and he said, "Don't get up,
+madam." She replied, "Get up! I wadna rise out o' my chair for King
+George himsell, let abee a whig minister."
+
+This was plain speaking enough, but there is something quite inimitable
+in the matter-of-factness of the following story of an advertisement,
+which may tend to illustrate the Antiquary's remark to Mrs. Macleuchar,
+anent the starting of a coach or fly to Queensferry. A carrier, who
+plied his trade between Aberdeen and a village considerably to the north
+of it, was asked by one of the villagers, "Fan are ye gaen to the toon"
+(Aberdeen). To which he replied, "I'll be in on Monanday, God willin'
+and weather permitting an' on Tiseday, _fither or no_."
+
+It is a curious subject the various shades of Scottish dialect and
+Scottish expressions, commonly called Scotticisms. We mark in the course
+of fifty years how some disappear altogether; others become more and
+more rare, and of all of them we may say, I think, that the specimens of
+them are to be looked for every year more in the descending classes of
+society. What was common amongst peers, judges, lairds, advocates, and
+people of family and education, is now found in humbler ranks of life.
+There are few persons perhaps who have been born in Scotland, and who
+have lived long in Scotland, whom a nice southern ear might not detect
+as from the north. But far beyond such nicer shades of distinction,
+there are strong and characteristic marks of a Caledonian origin, with
+which some of us have had practical acquaintance. I possess two curious,
+and now, I believe, rather scarce, publications on the prevalent
+Scotticisms of our speaking and writing. One is entitled "Scotticisms
+designed to Correct Improprieties of Speech and Writing," by Dr. Beattie
+of Aberdeen. The other is to the same purpose, and is entitled,
+"Observations on the Scottish Dialect," by the late Right Honourable Sir
+John Sinclair. Expressions which were common in their days, and used by
+persons of all ranks, are not known by the rising generation. Many
+amusing equivoques used to be current, arising from Scotch people in
+England applying terms and expressions in a manner rather surprising to
+southern ears. Thus, the story was told of a public character long
+associated with the affairs of Scotland, Henry Dundas (first Viscount
+Melville), applying to Mr. Pitt for the loan of a horse "_the length_ of
+Highgate;" a very common expression in Scotland, at that time, to
+signify the distance to which the ride was to extend. Mr. Pitt
+good-humouredly wrote back to say that he was afraid he had not a horse
+in his possession _quite so long_ as Mr. Dundas had mentioned, but he
+had sent the longest he had. There is a well-known case of
+mystification, caused to English ears by the use of Scottish terms,
+which took place in the House of Peers during the examination of the
+Magistrates of Edinburgh touching the particulars of the Porteous Mob in
+1736. The Duke of Newcastle having asked the Provost with what kind of
+shot the town-guard commanded by Porteous had loaded their muskets,
+received the unexpected reply, "Ou, juist sic as ane shutes dukes and
+sic like fules wi'." The answer was considered as a contempt of the
+House of Lords, and the poor provost would have suffered from
+misconception of his patois, had not the Duke of Argyle (who must have
+been exceedingly amused) explained that the worthy magistrate's
+expression, when rendered into English, did not apply to Peers and
+Idiots but to _ducks_ and _water-fowl_. The circumstance is referred to
+by Sir W. Scott in the notes to the Heart of Mid-Lothian. A similar
+equivoque upon the double meaning of "Deuk" in Scottish language
+supplied material for a poor woman's honest compliment to a benevolent
+Scottish nobleman. John, Duke of Roxburghe, was one day out riding, and
+at the gate of Floors he was accosted by an importunate old beggar
+woman. He gave her half-a-crown, which pleased her so much that she
+exclaimed, "Weel's me on your _guse_ face, for Duke's ower little
+tae ca' ye."
+
+A very curious list may be made of words used in Scotland in a sense
+which would be quite unintelligible to Southerns. Such applications are
+going out, but I remember them well amongst the old-fashioned people of
+Angus and the Mearns quite common in conversation. I subjoin some
+specimens:--
+
+_Bestial_ signifies amongst Scottish agriculturists cattle generally,
+the whole aggregate number of beasts on the farm. Again, a Scottish
+farmer, when he speaks of his "hogs" or of buying "hogs," has no
+reference to swine, but means young sheep, i.e. sheep before they have
+lost their first fleece.
+
+_Discreet_ does not express the idea of a prudent or cautious person so
+much as of one who is not rude, but considerate of the opinions of
+others. Such application of the word is said to have been made by Dr.
+Chalmers to the late Henry, Bishop of Exeter. These two eminent
+individuals had met for the first time at the hospitable house of the
+late Mr. Murray, the publisher. On the introduction taking place, the
+Bishop expressed himself so warmly as to the pleasure it gave him to
+meet so distinguished and excellent a man as Dr. Chalmers, that the
+Doctor, somewhat surprised at such an unexpected ebullition from an
+English Church dignitary, could only reply, "Oh, I am sure your lordship
+is very 'discreet[60].'"
+
+_Enterteening_ has in olden Scottish usage the sense not of amusing, but
+interesting. I remember an honest Dandie Dinmont on a visit to Bath. A
+lady, who had taken a kind charge of him, accompanied him to the
+theatre, and in the most thrilling scene of Kemble's acting, what is
+usually termed the dagger scene in Macbeth, she turned to the farmer
+with a whisper, "Is not that fine?" to which the confidential reply was,
+"Oh, mem, its verra _enterteening!_" Enterteening expressing his idea of
+the effect produced.
+
+_Pig_, in old-fashioned Scotch, was always used for a coarse earthenware
+jar or vessel. In the Life of the late Patrick Tytler, the amiable and
+gifted historian of Scotland, there occurs an amusing exemplification of
+the utter confusion of ideas caused by the use of Scottish phraseology.
+The family, when they went to London, had taken with them an old
+Scottish servant who had no notion of any terms beside her own. She came
+in one day greatly disturbed at the extremely backward state of
+knowledge of domestic affairs amongst the Londoners. She had been to so
+many shops and could not get "a great broon pig to haud the butter in."
+
+From a relative of the family I have received an account of a still
+worse confusion of ideas, caused by the inquiry of a Mrs. Chisholm of
+Chisholm, who died in London in 1825, at an advanced age. She had come
+from the country to be with her daughter, and was a genuine Scottish
+lady of the old school. She wished to purchase a table-cloth of a cheque
+pattern, like the squares of a chess or draught board. Now a
+draught-board used to be called (as I remember) by old Scotch people a
+"dam[61] brod[62]." Accordingly, Mrs. Chisholm entered the shop of a
+linen-draper, and asked to be shown table-linen a _dam-brod pattern_.
+The shopman, although, taken aback by a request, as he considered it,
+so strongly worded, by a respectable old lady, brought down what he
+assured her was the largest and widest made. No; that would not do. She
+repeated her wish for a dam-brod pattern, and left the shop surprised at
+the stupidity of the London shopman not having the pattern she
+asked for.
+
+_Silly_ has in genuine old Scottish use reference to weakness of body
+only, and not of mind. Before knowing the use of the word, I remember
+being much astonished at a farmer of the Mearns telling me of the
+strongest-minded man in the county that he was "uncommon silly," not
+insinuating any decline of mental vigour, but only meaning that his
+bodily strength was giving way.
+
+_Frail_, in like manner, expresses infirmity of body, and implies no
+charge of any laxity in moral principle; yet I have seen English persons
+looking with considerable consternation when an old-fashioned Scottish
+lady, speaking of a young and graceful female, lamented her being
+so _frail_.
+
+_Fail_ is another instance of different use of words. In Scotland it
+used to be quite common to say of a person whose health and strength had
+declined, that he had _failed_. To say this of a person connected with
+mercantile business has a very serious effect upon southern ears, as
+implying nothing short of bankruptcy and ruin. I recollect many years
+ago at Monmouth, my dear mother creating much consternation in the mind
+of the mayor, by saying of a worthy man, the principal banker in the
+town, whom they both concurred in praising, that she was "sorry to find
+he _was failing_."
+
+_Honest_ has in Scotch a peculiar application, irrespective of any
+integrity of moral character. It is a kindly mode of referring to an
+individual, as we would say to a stranger, "Honest man, would you tell
+me the way to ----?" or as Lord Hermand, when about to sentence a woman
+for stealing, began remonstratively, "Honest woman, whatever garr'd ye
+steal your neighbour's tub?"
+
+_Superstitious_: A correspondent informs me that in some parts of
+Mid-Lothian the people constantly use the word "superstitious" for
+"bigoted;" thus, speaking of a very keen Free Church person, they will
+say, "He is awfu' supperstitious."
+
+_Kail_ in England simply expresses cabbage, but in Scotland represents
+the chief meal of the day. Hence the old-fashioned easy way of asking a
+friend to dinner was to ask him if he would take his kail with the
+family. In the same usage of the word, the Scottish proverb expresses
+distress and trouble in a person's affairs, by saying that "he has got
+his kail through the reek." In like manner haddock, in Kincardineshire
+and Aberdeenshire, used to express the same idea, as the expression is,
+"Will ye tak your haddock wi' us the day?" that fish being so plentiful
+and so excellent that it was a standing dish. There is this difference,
+however, in the local usage, that to say in Aberdeen, Will you take your
+haddock? implies an invitation to dinner; whilst in Montrose the same
+expression means an invitation to _supper_. Differences of pronunciation
+also caused great confusion and misunderstanding. Novels used to be
+pronounced no_vels_; envy en_vy_; a cloak was a clock, to the surprise
+of an English lady, to whom the maid said, on her leaving the house,
+"Mem, winna ye tak the _clock_ wi' ye?"
+
+The names of children's diseases were a remarkable item in the catalogue
+of Scottish words:--Thus, in 1775, Mrs. Betty Muirheid kept a
+boarding-school for young ladies in the Trongate of Glasgow, near the
+Tron steeple. A girl on her arrival was asked whether she had had
+smallpox. "Yes, mem, I've had the sma'pox, the nirls[63], the blabs[64],
+the scaw[65], the kinkhost[66], and the fever, the branks[67] and the
+worm[68]."
+
+There is indeed a case of Scottish pronunciation which adds to the force
+and copiousness of our language, by discriminating four words, which,
+according to English speaking, are undistinguishable in mere
+pronunciation. The words are--wright (a carpenter), to write (with a
+pen), right (the reverse of wrong), rite (a ceremony). The four are,
+however, distinguished in old-fashioned Scotch pronunciation thus--1,
+He's a wiricht; 2, to wireete; 3, richt; 4, rite.
+
+I can remember a peculiar Scottish phrase very commonly used, which now
+seems to have passed away. I mean the expression "to let on," indicating
+the notice or observation of something, or of some person.--For example,
+"I saw Mr. ---- at the meeting, but I never let on that I knew he was
+present." A form of expression which has been a great favourite in
+Scotland in my recollection has much gone out of practice--I mean the
+frequent use of diminutives, generally adopted either as terms of
+endearment or of contempt. Thus it was very common to speak of a person
+whom you meant rather to undervalue, as a _mannie_, a _boddie_, a _bit
+boddie_, or a _wee bit mannie_. The Bailie in Rob Roy, when he intended
+to represent his party as persons of no importance, used the expression,
+"We are bits o' Glasgow bodies."
+
+An admirable Scotch expression I recollect from one of the Montrose
+ladies before referred to. Her niece was asking a great many questions
+on some point concerning which her aunt had been giving her
+information, and coming over and over the ground, demanding an
+explanation how this had happened, and why something else was so and so.
+The old lady lost her patience, and at last burst forth: "I winna be
+_back-speired_ noo, Pally Fullerton." Back-speired! how much more pithy
+and expressive than cross-examined! "He's not a man to ride the water
+on," expresses your want of confidence and of trust in the character
+referred to. Another capital expression to mark that a person has stated
+a point rather under than over the truth, is, "The less I lee," as in
+Guy Mannering, where the precentor exclaims to Mrs. MacCandlish, "Aweel,
+gudewife, then the less I lee." We have found it a very amusing task
+collecting together a number of these phrases, and forming them into a
+connected epistolary composition. We may imagine the sort of puzzle it
+would be to a young person of the present day--one of what we may call
+the new school. We will suppose an English young lady, or an English
+educated young lady, lately married, receiving such a letter as the
+following from the Scottish aunt of her husband. We may suppose it to be
+written by a very old lady, who, for the last fifty years has not moved
+from home, and has changed nothing of her early days. I can safely
+affirm that every word of it I have either seen written in a letter, or
+have heard in ordinary conversation:--
+
+     "_Montrose_, 1858[69].
+
+     "My Dear Niece--I am real glad to find my _nevy_ has made so
+     good a choice as to have secured you for his wife; and I am
+     sure this step will add much to his comfort, and we _behove_
+     to rejoice at it. He will now look forward to his evening at
+     home, and you will be happy when you find you never _want_
+     him. It will be a great pleasure when you hear him in the
+     _trance_, and wipe his feet upon the _bass_. But Willy is not
+     strong, and you must look well after him. I hope you do not
+     let him _snuff_ so much as he did. He had a sister, poor
+     thing, who died early. She was remarkably clever, and well
+     read, and most intelligent, but was always uncommonly
+     _silly_[70] In the autumn of '40 she had a _sair host_, and
+     was aye _speaking through a cold_, and at dinner never did
+     more than to _sup a few family broth_. I am afraid she did
+     not _change her feet_ when she came in from the wet one
+     evening. I never _let on_ that I observed anything to be
+     wrong; but I remember asking her to come and _sit upon_ the
+     fire. But she went out, and did not _take_ the door with her.
+     She lingered till next spring, when she had a great
+     _income_[71], and her parents were then too poor to take her
+     south, and she died. I hope you will like the lassie Eppie we
+     have sent you. She is a _discreet_ girl, and comes of a
+     decent family. She has a sister _married upon_ a Seceding
+     minister at Kirkcaldy. But I hear he expects to be
+     _transported_ soon. She was brought up in one of the
+     _hospitals_ here. Her father had been a _souter_ and a _pawky
+     chiel_ enough, but was _doited_ for many years, and her
+     mother was _sair dottled_. We have been greatly interested in
+     the hospital where Eppie was _educate_, and intended getting
+     up a bazaar for it, and would have asked you to help us, as
+     we were most anxious to raise some additional funds, when one
+     of the Bailies died and left it _feuing-stances_ to the
+     amount of 5000 pounds, which was really a great
+     _mortification_. I am not a good _hand of write_, and
+     therefore shall stop. I am very tired, and have been
+     _gantin_[72] for this half-hour, and even in correspondence
+     gantin' may be _smittin'_[73]. The _kitchen_[74] is just
+     coming in, and I _feel_ a _smell of tea_, so when I get my
+     _four hours,_ that will refresh me and set me up again.--I
+     am, your affectionate aunt, ISABEL DINGWALL."
+
+This letter, then, we suppose written by a very old Forfarshire lady to
+her niece in England, and perhaps the young lady who received it might
+answer it in a style as strange to her aunt as her aunt's is to her,
+especially if she belonged to that lively class of our young female
+friends who indulge a little in phraseology which they have imbibed from
+their brothers, or male cousins, who have, perhaps for their amusement,
+encouraged them in its use. The answer, then, might be something like
+this; and without meaning to be severe or satirical upon our young lady
+friends, I may truly say that, though I never heard from one young lady
+_all_ these fast terms, I have heard the most of them separately
+from many:--
+
+     "My Dear Aunty--Many thanks for your kind letter and its
+     enclosure. From my not knowing Scotch, I am not quite up to
+     the mark, and some of the expressions I don't _twig_ at all.
+     Willie is absent for a few days, but when he returns home he
+     will explain it; he is quite _awake_ on all such things. I am
+     glad you are pleased that Willie and I are now _spliced_. I
+     am well aware that you will hear me spoken of in some
+     quarters as a _fast_ young lady. A man here had the impudence
+     to say that when he visited my husband's friends he would
+     tell them so. I quietly and civilly replied, 'You be blowed!'
+     So don't believe him. We get on famously at present. Willie
+     comes home from the office every afternoon at five. We
+     generally take a walk before dinner, and read and work if we
+     don't go out; and I assure you we are very _jolly_. We don't
+     know many people here yet. It is rather a _swell_
+     neighbourhood; and if we can't get in with the _nobs_, depend
+     upon it we will never take up with any society that is
+     decidedly _snobby. I_ daresay the girl you are sending will
+     be very useful to us; our present one is an awful _slow
+     coach_. In fact, the sending her to us was a regular _do_.
+     But we hope some day to sport _buttons_. My father and mother
+     paid us a visit last week. The _governor_ is well, and,
+     notwithstanding years and infirmities, comes out quite a
+     _jolly old cove_. He is, indeed, if you will pardon the
+     partiality of a daughter, a regular _brick_. He says he will
+     help us if we can't get on, and I make no doubt will in due
+     time _fork out the tin_. I am busy working a cap for you,
+     dear aunty; it is from a pretty German pattern, and I think
+     when finished will be quite a _stunner_. There is a shop in
+     Regent Street where I hire patterns, and can get six of them
+     for five _bob_. I then return them without buying them, which
+     I think a capital _dodge_. I hope you will sport it for my
+     sake at your first _tea and turn out_.
+
+     "I have nothing more to say particular, but am always
+
+     "Your affectionate niece,
+
+     "ELIZA DINGWALL."
+
+     "_P.S._--I am trying to break Willie off his horrid habit of
+     taking snuff. I had rather see him take his cigar when we are
+     walking. You will be told, I daresay, that I sometimes take a
+     _weed_ myself. It is not true, dear aunty."
+
+Before leaving the question of change in Scottish expressions, it may
+be proper to add a few words on the subject of Scottish
+_dialects_--_i.e._, on the differences which exist in different counties
+or localities in the Scottish tongue itself. These differences used to
+be as marked as different languages; of course they still exist amongst
+the peasantry as before. The change consists in their gradual vanishing
+from the conversation of the educated and refined. The dialects with
+which I am most conversant are the two which present the greatest
+contrast, viz. the Angus and the Aberdeen, or the slow and broad
+Scotch--the quick and sharp Scotch. Whilst the one talks of "Buuts and
+shoon," the other calls the same articles "beets and sheen." With the
+Aberdonian "what" is always "fat" or "fatten;" "music" is "meesic;"
+"brutes" are "breets;" "What are ye duin'?" of southern Scotch, in
+Aberdeen would be "Fat are ye deein'?" Fergusson, nearly a century ago,
+noted this peculiarity of dialect in his poem of The Leith Races:--
+
+     "The Buchan bodies through the beach,
+        Their bunch of Findrams cry;
+      And skirl out bauld in Norland speech,
+        Gude speldans _fa_ will buy?"
+
+"Findon," or "Finnan haddies," are split, smoked, and partially dried
+haddocks. Fergusson, in using the word "_Findrams"_, which is not found
+in our glossaries, has been thought to be in error, but his accuracy has
+been verified singularly enough, within the last few days, by a worthy
+octogenarian Newhaven fisherman, bearing the characteristic name of
+Flucker, who remarked "that it was a word commonly used in his youth;
+and, above all," he added, "when Leith Races were held on the sands, he
+was like to be deeved wi' the lang-tongued hizzies skirling out, '_Aell
+a Findram Speldrains_,' and they jist ca'ed it that to get a better grip
+o't wi' their tongues."
+
+In Galloway, in 1684, Symson, afterwards an ousted Episcopalian minister
+(of Kirkinner), notes some peculiarities in the speech of the people in
+that district. "Some of the countrey people, especially those of the
+elder sort, do very often omit the letter 'h' after 't' as ting for
+thing; tree for three; tatch for thatch; wit for with; fait for faith;
+mout for mouth, etc.; and also, contrary to some north countrey people,
+they oftentimes pronounce 'w' for 'v,' as serwant for servant; and so
+they call the months of February, March, and April, the _ware_ quarter,
+from _ver_[75]. Hence their common proverb, speaking of the storms in
+February, '_winter never comes till ware comes_.'" These peculiarities
+of language have almost disappeared--the immense influx of Irish
+emigrants during late years has exercised a perceptible influence over
+the dialect of Wigtonshire.
+
+When a southerner mentioned the death of a friend to a lady of the
+granite city, she asked, "Fat dee'd he o'?" which being utterly
+incomprehensible to the person asked, another Aberdonian lady kindly
+explained the question, and put it into language which she supposed
+_could_ not be mistaken, as thus, "Fat did he dee o'?" If there was this
+difference between the Aberdeen and the Forfar dialect, how much greater
+must be that difference when contrasted with the _ore rotundo_ language
+of an English southern dignitary. Such a one being present at a school
+examination in Aberdeen wished to put some questions on Scripture
+history himself, and asked an intelligent boy, "What was the ultimate
+fate of Pharaoh?" This the boy not understanding, the master put the
+same question Aberdonicé, "Jemmy, fat was the hinner end o' Pharaoh?"
+which called forth the ready reply, "He was drouned i' the Red Sea." A
+Forfarshire parent, dissatisfied with his son's English pronunciation,
+remonstrated with him, "What for div' ye say _why_? why canna ye say
+'what for'?"
+
+The power of Scottish phraseology, or rather of Scottish _language_,
+could not be better displayed than in the following Aberdonian
+description of London theatricals:--Mr. Taylor, at one time well known
+in London as having the management of the opera-house, had his father up
+from Aberdeen to visit him and see the wonders of the capital. When the
+old man returned home, his friends, anxious to know the impressions
+produced on his mind by scenes and characters so different from what he
+had been accustomed to at home, inquired what sort of business his son
+carried on? "Ou," said he (in reference to the operatic singers and the
+corps de ballet), "he just keeps a curn[76] o' quainies[77] and a wheen
+widdyfous[78], and gars them fissle[79], and loup, and mak murgeons[80],
+to please the great fowk."
+
+Another ludicrous interrogatory occurred regarding the death of a Mr.
+Thomas Thomson. It appeared there were two cousins of this name, both
+corpulent men. When it was announced that Mr. Thomas Thomson was dead,
+an Aberdeen friend of the family asked, "Fatten Thamas Thamson?" He was
+informed that it was a fat Thamas Thamson, upon which the Aberdeen query
+naturally arose, "Ay, but fatten fat Thamas Thamson?" Another
+illustration of the Aberdeen dialect is thus given:--"The Pope o' Rome
+requires a bull to do his wark, but the Emperor o' France made a coo
+dee't a'"--a cow do it all--a pun on _coup d'état_. A young lady from
+Aberdeen had been on a visit to Montrose, and was disappointed at
+finding there a great lack of beaux, and balls, and concerts. This lack
+was not made up to her by the invitations which she had received to
+dinner parties. And she thus expressed her feelings on the subject in
+her native dialect, when asked how she liked Montrose: "Indeed there's
+neither men nor meesic, and fat care I for meat?" There is no male
+society and no concerts, and what do I care for dinners? The dialect and
+the local feelings of Aberdeen were said to have produced some amusement
+in London, as displayed by the lady of the Provost of Aberdeen when
+accompanying her husband going up officially to the capital. Some
+persons to whom she had been introduced recommended her going to the
+opera as one of the sights worthy the attention of a stranger. The good
+lady, full of the greatness of her situation as wife of the provost, and
+knowing the sensation her appearance in public occasioned when in her
+own city, and supposing that a little excitement would accompany her
+with the London public, rather declined, under the modest plea, "Fat for
+should I gang to the opera, just to creat a confeesion?" An aunt of
+mine, who knew Aberdeen well, used to tell a traditionary story of two
+Aberdonian ladies, who by their insinuations against each other, finely
+illustrated the force of the dialect then in common use. They had both
+of them been very attentive to a sick lady in declining health, and on
+her death each had felt a distrust of the perfect disinterestedness of
+the other's attention. This created more than a coolness between them,
+and the bad feeling came out on their passing in the street. The one
+insinuated her suspicions of unfair dealing with the property of the
+deceased by ejaculating, as the other passed her, "Henny pig[81] and
+green tea," to which the other retorted, in the same spirit, "Silk coat
+and negligee[82]." Aberdonian pronunciation produced on one occasion a
+curious equivoque between the minister and a mother of a family with
+whom he was conversing in a pastoral way. The minister had said, "Weel,
+Margaret, I hope you're thoroughly ashamed of your _sins_" Now, in
+Aberdeenshire _sons_ are pronounced sins; accordingly, to the minister's
+surprise, Margaret burst forth, "Ashamed o' ma sins! na, na, I'm proud
+o' ma sins. Indeed, gin it werena for thae cutties o' dauchters, I
+should be _ower_ proud o' ma sins."
+
+Any of my readers who are not much conversant with Aberdeen dialect will
+find the following a good specimen:--A lady who resided in Aberdeen,
+being on a visit to some friends in the country, joined an excursion on
+horseback. Not being much of an equestrian, she was mounted upon a
+Highland pony as being the _canniest baste_. He, however, had a trick of
+standing still in crossing a stream. A burn had to be crossed--the rest
+of the party passed on, while "Paddy" remained, pretending to drink.
+Miss More, in great desperation, called out to one of her
+friends--"Bell, 'oman, turn back an gie me your bit fuppie, for the
+breet's stannin' i' the peel wi' ma."
+
+A rich specimen of Aberdeen dialect, under peculiar circumstances, was
+supplied by an Aberdonian lady who had risen in the world from selling
+fruit at a stall to be the wife of the Lord Provost. Driving along in
+her own carriage, she ordered it to stop, and called to her a poor
+woman whom she saw following her old occupation. After some colloquy,
+she dismissed her very coolly, remarking, "'Deed, freet's dear sin' I
+sauld freet in streets o' Aberdeen." This anecdote of reference to a
+good lady's more humble occupation than riding in her carriage may
+introduce a somewhat analogous anecdote, in which a more distinguished
+personage than the wife of the Provost of Aberdeen takes a prominent
+part. The present Archbishop of Canterbury tells the story himself, with
+that admixture of humour and of true dignity by which his Grace's manner
+is so happily distinguished. The Archbishop's father in early life lived
+much at Dollar, where, I believe, he had some legal and official
+appointment. His sons, the Archbishop and his brother, attended the
+grammar school, rather celebrated in the country; they ran about and
+played like other lads, and were known as schoolboys to the peasantry.
+In after days, when the Archbishop had arrived at his present place of
+dignity as Primate of all England, he was attending a great confirmation
+service at Croydon--the churchwardens, clergy, mayors, etc., of the
+place in attendance upon the Archbishop, and a great congregation of
+spectators. On going up the centre of the church, a Dollar man, who had
+got into the crowd in a side aisle, said, loud enough for the Archbishop
+to hear, "There wasna muckle o' this at Dollar, my Lord."
+
+I have not had leisure to pursue, as I had intended, a further
+consideration of SCOTTISH DIALECT, and their differences from each other
+in the north, south, east, and west of Scotland. I merely remark now,
+that the dialect of one district is considered quite barbarous, and
+laughed at by the inhabitants of another district where a different form
+of language is adopted. I have spoken of the essential difference
+between Aberdeen and Southern Scotch. An English gentleman had been
+visiting the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, and accompanied him to Aberdeen.
+His lordship of Edinburgh introduced his English friend to the Provost
+of Aberdeen, and they both attended a great dinner given by the latter.
+After grace had been said, the Provost kindly and hospitably addressed
+the company, Aberdonice--"Now, gentlemen, fah tee, fah tee." The
+Englishman whispered to his friend, and asked what was meant by "fah
+tee, fah tee;" to which his lordship replied--"Hout, he canna speak; he
+means fau too, fau too." Thus one Scotticism was held in terror by those
+who used a different Scotticism: as at Inverary, the wife of the chief
+writer of the place, seeking to secure her guest from the taint of
+inferior society, intimated to him, but somewhat confidentially, that
+Mrs. W. (the rival writer's wife) was quite a vulgar body, so much so as
+to ask any one leaving the room to "_snib_ the door," instead of bidding
+them, as she triumphantly observed, "_sneck_ the door."
+
+Now, to every one who follows these anecdotes of a past time, it must be
+obvious how much peculiarities of Scottish wit and humour depend upon
+the language in which they are clothed. As I have before remarked, much
+of the point depends upon the _broad Scotch_ with which they are
+accompanied. As a type and representative of that phraseology, we would
+specially recommend a study of our Scottish proverbs. In fact, in
+Scottish proverbs will be found an epitome of the Scottish phraseology,
+which is peculiar and characteristic. I think it quite clear that there
+are proverbs exclusively Scottish, and as we find embodied in them
+traits of Scottish character, and many peculiar forms of Scottish
+thought and Scottish language, sayings of this kind, once so familiar,
+should have a place in our Scottish Reminiscences. Proverbs are
+literally, in many instances, becoming _reminiscences_. They now seem to
+belong to that older generation whom we recollect, and who used them in
+conversation freely and constantly. To strengthen an argument or
+illustrate a remark by a proverb was then a common practice in
+conversation. Their use, however, is now considered vulgar, and their
+formal application is almost prohibited by the rules of polite society.
+Lord Chesterfield denounced the practice of quoting proverbs as a
+palpable violation of all polite refinement in conversation.
+Notwithstanding all this, we acknowledge having much pleasure in
+recalling our national proverbial expressions. They are full of
+character, and we find amongst them important truths, expressed
+forcibly, wisely, and gracefully. The expression of Bacon has often been
+quoted--"The genius, wit, and wisdom of a nation, are discovered by
+their proverbs."
+
+All nations have their proverbs, and a vast number of books have been
+written on the subject. We find, accordingly, that collections have been
+made of proverbs considered as belonging peculiarly to Scotland. The
+collections to which I have had access are the following:--
+
+1. The fifth edition, by Balfour, of "Ray's Complete Collection of
+English Proverbs," in which is a separate collection of those which are
+considered Scottish Proverbs--1813. Ray professes to have taken these
+from Fergusson's work mentioned below.
+
+2. A Complete Collection of Scottish Proverbs, explained and made
+intelligible to the English reader, by James Kelly, M.A., published in
+London 1721.
+
+3. Scottish Proverbs gathered together by David Fergusson, sometime
+minister at Dunfermline, and put _ordine alphabetico_ when he departed
+this life anno 1598. Edinburgh, 1641.
+
+4. A collection of Scots Proverbs, dedicated to the Tenantry of
+Scotland, by Allan Ramsay. This collection is found in the edition of
+his Poetical Works, 3 vols. post 8vo, Edin. 1818, but is not in the
+handsome edition of 1800. London, 2 vols. 8vo.
+
+5. Scottish Proverbs, collected and arranged by Andrew Henderson, with
+an introductory Essay by W. Motherwell. Edin. 1832.
+
+6. The Proverbial Philosophy of Scotland, an address to the School of
+Arts, by William Stirling of Keir, M.P. Stirling and Edin. 1855.
+
+The collection of Ray, the great English naturalist, is well known. The
+first two editions, published at Cambridge in 1670 and 1678, were by the
+author; subsequent editions were by other editors.
+
+The work by James Kelly professes to collect Scottish proverbs only. It
+is a volume of nearly 400 pages, and contains a short explanation or
+commentary attached to each, and often parallel sayings from other
+languages[83]. Mr. Kelly bears ample testimony to the extraordinary free
+use made of proverbs in his time by his countrymen and by himself. He
+says that "there were current in society upwards of 3000 proverbs,
+exclusively Scottish." He adds, "The Scots are wonderfully given to this
+way of speaking, and, as the consequence of that, abound with proverbs,
+many of which are very expressive, quick, and home to the purpose; and,
+indeed, this humour prevails universally over the whole nation,
+especially among the better sort of the commonalty, none of whom will
+discourse with you any considerable time but he will affirm every
+assertion and observation with a Scottish proverb. To that nation I owe
+my birth and education; and to that manner of speaking I was used from
+my infancy, to such a degree that I became in some measure remarkable
+for it." This was written in 1721, and we may see from Mr. Kelly's
+account what a change has taken place in society as regards this mode of
+intercourse. Our author states that he has "omitted in his collection
+many popular proverbs which are very pat and expressive," and adds as
+his reason, that "since it does not become a man of manners to use them,
+it does not become a man of my age and profession to write them." What
+was Mr. Kelly's profession or what his age does not appear from any
+statements in this volume; but, judging by many proverbs which he has
+_retained_, those which consideration of years and of profession induced
+him to omit must have been bad indeed, and unbecoming for _any_ age or
+_any_ profession[84]. The third collection by Mr. Fergusson is mentioned
+by Kelly as the only one which had been made before his time, and that
+he had not met with it till he had made considerable progress in his own
+collection. The book is now extremely rare, and fetches a high price. By
+the great kindness of the learned librarian, I have been permitted to
+see the copy belonging to the library of the Writers to the Signet. It
+is the first edition, and very rare. A quaint little thin volume, such
+as delights the eyes of true bibliomaniacs, unpaged, and published at
+Edinburgh 1641--although on the title-page the proverbs are said to have
+been collected at Mr. Fergusson's death, 1598[85]. There is no preface
+or notice by the author, but an address from the printer, "to the
+merrie, judicious, and discreet reader."
+
+The proverbs, amounting to 945, are given without any comment or
+explanation. Many of them are of a very antique cast of language; indeed
+some would be to most persons quite unintelligible without a lexicon.
+
+The printer, in his address "to the merrie, judicious, and discreet
+reader," refers in the following quaint expressions to the
+author:--"Therefore manie in this realme that hath hard of David
+Fergusson, sometime minister at Dunfermline, and of his quick answers
+and speeches, both to great persons and others inferiours, and hath hard
+of his proverbs which hee gathered together in his time, and now we put
+downe according to the order of the alphabet; and manie, of all ranks of
+persons, being verie desirous to have the said proverbs, I have thought
+good to put them to the presse for thy better satisfaction.... I know
+that there may be some that will say and marvell that a minister should
+have taken pains to gather such proverbs together; but they that knew
+his forme of powerfull preaching the word, and his ordinar talking, ever
+almost using proverbiall speeches, will not finde fault with this that
+he hath done. And whereas there are some old Scottish words not in use
+now, bear with that, because if ye alter those words, the proverb will
+have no grace; and so, recommending these proverbs to thy good use, I
+bid thee farewell."
+
+I now subjoin a few of Fergusson's Proverbs, verbatim, which are of a
+more obsolete character, and have appended explanations, of the
+correctness of which, however, I am not quite confident:--
+
+_A year a nurish[86], seven year a da[87]_. Refers, I presume, to
+fulfilling the maternal office.
+
+_Anes payit never cravit_. Debts once paid give no more trouble.
+
+_All wald[88] have all, all wald forgie[89]_. Those who exact much
+should be ready to concede.
+
+_A gangang[90] fit[91] is aye[92] gettin (gin[93] it were but a thorn),_
+or, as it sometimes runs, _gin it were but a broken tae, i.e. toe_. A
+man of industry will certainly get a living; though the proverb is often
+applied to those who went abroad and got a mischief when they might
+safely have stayed at home--(Kelly).
+
+_All crakes[94], all bears[95]_. Spoken against bullies who kept a great
+hectoring, and yet, when put to it, tamely pocket an affront--(Kelly).
+
+_Bourd[96] not wi' bawtie[97] (lest he bite you_). Do not jest too
+familiarly with your superiors (Kelly), or with dangerous characters.
+
+_Bread's house skailed never[98]_ While people have bread they need not
+give up housekeeping. Spoken when one has bread and wishes something
+better--(Kelly).
+
+_Crabbit[99] was and cause had_. Spoken ironically of persons put out of
+temper without adequate cause.
+
+_Dame, deem[100] warily, (ye watna[101] wha wytes[102]
+yersell_).--Spoken to remind those who pass hard censures on others
+that they may themselves be censured.
+
+_Efter lang mint[103] never dint[104]_. Spoken of long and painful
+labour producing little effect. Kelly's reading is "_Lang mint little
+dint_." Spoken when men threaten much and dare not execute--(Kelly).
+
+_Fill fou[105] and hand[106] fou maks a stark[107] man_. In Border
+language a _stark_ man was one who takes and keeps boldly.
+
+_He that crabbs[108] without cause should mease[109] without
+mends[110]_. Spoken to remind those who are angry without cause, that
+they should not be particular in requiring apologies from others.
+
+_He is worth na weill that may not bide na wae_. He deserves not the
+sweet that will not taste the sour. He does not deserve prosperity who
+cannot meet adversity.
+
+_Kame[111] sindle[112] kame sair_[113]. Applied to those who forbear for
+a while, but when once roused can act with severity.
+
+_Kamesters[114] are aye creeshie[115]_. It is usual for men to look like
+their trade.
+
+_Let alane maks mony lurden_[116]. Want of correction makes many a bad
+boy--(Kelly).
+
+_Mony tynes[117] the half-mark[118] whinger[119] (for the halfe pennie
+whang_)[120]. Another version of penny wise and pound foolish.
+
+_Na plie[121] is best_.
+
+_Reavers[122] should not be rewers_[123]. Those who are so fond of a
+thing as to snap at it, should not repent when they have got
+it--(Kelly).
+
+_Sok and seill is best_. The interpretation of this proverb is not
+obvious, and later writers do not appear to have adopted it from
+Fergusson. It is quite clear that sok or sock is the ploughshare. Seil
+is happiness, as in Kelly. "Seil comes not till sorrow be o'er;" and in
+Aberdeen they say, "Seil o' your face," to express a blessing. My
+reading is "the plough and happiness the best lot." The happiest life is
+the healthy country one. See Robert Burns' spirited song with
+the chorus:
+
+     "Up wi' my ploughman lad,
+       And hey my merry ploughman;
+     Of a' the trades that I do ken,
+       Commend me to the ploughman."
+
+A somewhat different reading of this very obscure and now indeed
+obsolete proverb has been suggested by an esteemed and learned
+friend:--"I should say rather it meant that the ploughshare, or country
+life, accompanied with good luck or fortune was best; _i.e.,_ that
+industry coupled with good fortune (good seasons and the like) was the
+combination that was most to be desired. _Soel_, in Anglo-Saxon, as a
+noun, means _opportunity_, and then good luck, happiness, etc."
+
+_There's mae[124] madines[125] nor makines_[126]. Girls are more
+plentiful in the world than hares.
+
+_Ye bried[127] of the gouk[128], ye have not a rhyme[129] but ane_.
+Applied to persons who tire everybody by constantly harping on
+one subject.
+
+The collection by Allan Ramsay is very good, and professes to correct
+the errors of former collectors. I have now before me the _first
+edition_, Edinburgh, 1737, with the appropriate motto on the title-page,
+"That maun be true that a' men say." This edition contains proverbs
+only, the number being 2464. Some proverbs in this collection I do not
+find in others, and one quality it possesses in a remarkable degree--it
+is very Scotch. The language of the proverbial wisdom has the true
+Scottish flavour; not only is this the case with the proverbs
+themselves, but the dedication to the tenantry of Scotland, prefixed to
+the collection, is written in pure Scottish dialect. From this
+dedication I make an extract, which falls in with our plan of recording
+Scotch reminiscences, as Allan Ramsay there states the great value set
+upon proverbs in his day, and the great importance which he attaches to
+them as teachers of moral wisdom, and as combining amusement with
+instruction. The prose of Allan Ramsay has, too, a spice of his poetry
+in its composition. His dedication is, To the tenantry of Scotland,
+farmers of the dales, and storemasters of the hills--
+
+"Worthy friends--The following hoard of wise sayings and observations of
+our forefathers, which have been gathering through mony bygane ages, I
+have collected with great care, and restored to their proper sense....
+
+"As naething helps our happiness mair than to have the mind made up wi'
+right principles, I desire you, for the thriving and pleasure of you and
+yours, to use your een and lend your lugs to these guid _auld saws_,
+that shine wi' wail'd sense, and will as lang as the world wags. Gar
+your bairns get them by heart; let them have a place among your
+family-books, and may never a window-sole through the country be without
+them. On a spare hour, when the day is clear, behind a ruck, or on the
+green howm, draw the treasure frae your pouch, an' enjoy the pleasant
+companion. Ye happy herds, while your hirdsell are feeding on the
+flowery braes, you may eithly make yoursells master of the haleware. How
+usefou' will it prove to you (wha hae sae few opportunities of common
+clattering) when ye forgather wi' your friends at kirk or market,
+banquet or bridal! By your proficiency you'll be able, in the proverbial
+way, to keep up the saul of a conversation that is baith blyth
+an usefou'."
+
+Mr. Henderson's work is a compilation from those already mentioned. It
+is very copious, and the introductory essay contains some excellent
+remarks upon the wisdom and wit of Scottish proverbial sayings.
+
+Mr. Stirling's (now Sir W. Stirling-Maxwell's) address, like everything
+he writes, indicates a minute and profound knowledge of his subject, and
+is full of picturesque and just views of human nature. He attaches much
+importance to the teaching conveyed in proverbial expressions, and
+recommends his readers even still to collect such proverbial expressions
+as may yet linger in conversation, because, as he observes, "If it is
+not yet registered, it is possible that it might have died with the
+tongue from which you took it, and so have been lost for ever." "I
+believe," he adds, "the number of good old saws still floating as waifs
+and strays on the tide of popular talk to be much greater than might at
+first appear."
+
+One remark is applicable to all these collections--viz., that out of so
+large a number there are many of them on which we have little grounds
+for deciding that they are _exclusively_ Scottish. In fact, some are
+mere translations of proverbs adopted by many nations; some of universal
+adoption. Thus we have--
+
+     _A burnt bairn fire dreads.
+     Ae swallow makes nae simmer.
+     Faint heart ne'er wan fair lady.
+     Ill weeds wax weel.
+     Mony sma's mak a muckle.
+     O' twa ills chuse the least.
+     Set a knave to grip a knave.
+     Twa wits are better than ane.
+     There's nae fule like an auld fule.
+     Ye canna mak a silk purse o' a sow's lug.
+     Ae bird i' the hand is worth twa fleeing.
+     Mony cooks ne'er made gude kail_.
+
+Of numerous proverbs such as these, some may or may not be original in
+the Scottish. Sir William remarks that many of the best and oldest
+proverbs may be common to all people--may have occurred to all. In our
+national collections, therefore, some of the proverbs recorded may be
+simply translations into Scotch of what have been long considered the
+property of other nations. Still, I hope it is not a mere national
+partiality to say that many of the common proverbs _gain_ much by such
+translation from other tongues. All that I would attempt now is, to
+select some of our more popular proverbial sayings, which many of us can
+remember as current amongst us, and were much used by the late
+generation in society, and to add a few from the collections I have
+named, which bear a very decided Scottish stamp either in turn of
+thought or in turn of language.
+
+I remember being much struck the first time I heard the application of
+that pretty Scottish saying regarding a fair bride. I was walking in
+Montrose, a day or two before her marriage, with a young lady, a
+connection of mine, who merited this description, when she was kindly
+accosted by an old friend, an honest fish-wife of the town, "Weel, Miss
+Elizabeth, hae ye gotten a' yer claes ready?" to which the young lady
+modestly answered, "Oh, Janet, my claes are soon got ready;" and Janet
+replied, in the old Scotch proverb, "Ay, weel, _a bonnie bride's sune
+buskit_[130]." In the old collection, an addition less sentimental is
+made to this proverb, _A short horse is sune wispit_[131].
+
+To encourage strenuous exertions to meet difficult circumstances, is
+well expressed by _Setting a stout heart to a stey brae_.
+
+The mode of expressing that the worth of a handsome woman outweighs even
+her beauty, has a very Scottish character--_She's better than she's
+bonnie_. The opposite of this was expressed by a Highlander of his own
+wife, when he somewhat ungrammatically said of her, "_She's bonnier than
+she's better_."
+
+The frequent evil to harvest operations from autumnal rains and fogs in
+Scotland is well told in the saying, _A dry summer ne'er made a
+dear peck_.
+
+There can be no question as to country in the following, which seems to
+express generally that persons may have the name and appearance of
+greatness without the reality--_A' Stuarts are na sib[132] to the king_.
+
+There is an excellent Scottish version of the common proverb, "He that's
+born to be hanged will never be drowned."--_The water will never
+warr[133], the widdie, i.e._ never cheat the gallows. This saying
+received a very naive practical application during the anxiety and
+alarm of a storm. One of the passengers, a good simple-minded minister,
+was sharing the alarm that was felt around him, until spying one of his
+parishioners, of whose ignominious end he had long felt persuaded, he
+exclaimed to himself, "Oh, we are all safe now," and accordingly
+accosted the poor man with strong assurances of the great pleasure he
+had in seeing him on board.
+
+_It's ill getting the breeks aff the Highlandman_ is a proverb that
+savours very strong of a Lowland Scotch origin. Having suffered loss at
+the hands of their neighbours from the hills, this was a mode of
+expressing the painful truth that there was little hope of obtaining
+redress from those who had no _means_ at their disposal.
+
+Proverbs connected with the bagpipes I set down as legitimate Scotch, as
+thus--_Ye are as lang in tuning your pipes as anither wad play a
+spring_[134]. You are as long of setting about a thing as another would
+be in doing it.
+
+There is a set of Scottish proverbs which we may group together as
+containing one quality in common, and that in reference to the Evil
+Spirit, and to his agency in the world. This is a reference often, I
+fear, too lightly made; but I am not conscious of anything deliberately
+profane or irreverent in the following:--
+
+_The deil's nae sae ill as he's caa'd_. The most of people may be found
+to have some redeeming good point: applied in _Guy Mannering_ by the
+Deacon to Gilbert Glossin, upon his intimating his intention to come to
+his shop soon for the purpose of laying in his winter stock of
+groceries.
+
+To the same effect, _It's a sin to lee on the deil_. Even of the worst
+people, _truth_ at least should be spoken.
+
+_He should hae a lang-shafted spune that sups kail wi' the deil._ He
+should be well guarded and well protected that has to do with cunning
+and unprincipled men.
+
+_Lang ere the deil dee by the dyke-side._ Spoken when the improbable
+death of some powerful and ill-disposed person is talked of.
+
+_Let ae deil ding anither_. Spoken when too bad persons are at variance
+over some evil work.
+
+_The deil's bairns hae deil's luck_. Spoken enviously when ill people
+prosper.
+
+_The deil's a busy bishop in his ain diocie_. Bad men are sure to be
+active in promoting their own bad ends. A quaint proverb of this class I
+have been told of as coming from the reminiscences of an old lady of
+quality, to recommend a courteous manner to every one: _It's aye gude to
+be ceevil, as the auld wife said when she beckit[135] to the deevil_.
+
+_Raise nae mair deils than ye are able to lay_. Provoke no strifes which
+ye may be unable to appease.
+
+_The deil's aye gude to his ain_. A malicious proverb, spoken as if
+those whom we disparage were deriving their success from bad causes.
+
+_Ye wad do little for God an the deevil was dead_. A sarcastic mode of
+telling a person that fear, rather than love or principle, is the motive
+to his good conduct.
+
+In the old collection already referred to is a proverb which, although
+somewhat _personal_, is too good to omit. It is doubtful how it took its
+origin, whether as a satire against the decanal order in general, or
+against some obnoxious dean in particular. These are the terms of it:
+_The deil an' the dean begin wi' ae letter. When the deil has the dean
+the kirk will be the better._
+
+_The deil's gane ower Jock Wabster_ is a saying which I have been
+accustomed to in my part of the country from early years. It expresses
+generally misfortune or confusion, but I am not quite sure of the
+_exact_ meaning, or who is represented by "Jock Wabster." It was a great
+favourite with Sir Walter Scott, who quotes it twice in _Rob Roy_. Allan
+Ramsay introduces it in the _Gentle Shepherd_ to express the misery of
+married life when the first dream of love has passed away:--
+
+     "The 'Deil gaes ower Jock Wabster,' hame grows hell,
+     When Pate misca's ye waur than tongue can tell."
+
+There are two very pithy Scottish proverbial expressions for describing
+the case of young women losing their chance of good marriages by setting
+their aims too high. Thus an old lady, speaking of her granddaughter
+having made what she considered a poor match, described her as having
+"_lookit at the moon, and lichtit[136] in the midden_."
+
+It is recorded again of a celebrated beauty, Becky Monteith, that being
+asked how she had not made a good marriage, she replied, "_Ye see, I
+wadna hae the walkers, and the riders gaed by._"
+
+_It's ill to wauken sleeping dogs._ It is a bad policy to rouse
+dangerous and mischievous people, who are for the present quiet.
+
+_It is nae mair ferly[137] to see a woman greit than to see a goose go
+barefit._ A harsh and ungallant reference to the facility with which the
+softer sex can avail themselves of tears to carry a point.
+
+_A Scots mist will weet an Englishman to the skin._ A proverb,
+evidently of Caledonian origin, arising from the frequent complaints
+made by English visitors of the heavy mists which hang about our hills,
+and which are found to annoy the southern traveller as it were
+downright rain.
+
+_Keep your ain fish-guts to your ain sea-maws._ This was a favourite
+proverb with Sir Walter Scott, when he meant to express the policy of
+first considering the interests that are nearest home. The saying
+savours of the fishing population of the east cost.
+
+_A Yule feast may be done at Pasch_. Festivities, although usually
+practised at Christmas, need not, on suitable occasions, be confined to
+any season.
+
+_It's better to sup wi' a cutty than want a spune._ Cutty means anything
+short, stumpy, and not of full growth; frequently applied to a
+short-handled horn spoon. As Meg Merrilies says to the bewildered
+Dominie, "If ye dinna eat instantly, by the bread and salt, I'll put it
+down your throat wi' the _cutty spune_."
+
+"_Fules mak feasts and wise men eat 'em,_ my Lord." This was said to a
+Scottish nobleman on his giving a great entertainment, and who readily
+answered, "Ay, and _Wise men make proverbs and fools repeat 'em._"
+
+_A green Yule[138] and a white Pays[139] mak a fat kirk-yard._ A very
+coarse proverb, but may express a general truth as regards the effects
+of season on the human frame. Another of a similar character is, _An
+air[140] winter maks a sair[141] winter_.
+
+_Wha will bell the cat?_ The proverb is used in reference to a proposal
+for accomplishing a difficult or dangerous task, and alludes to the
+fable of the poor mice proposing to put a bell about the cat's neck,
+that they might be apprised of his coming. The historical application is
+well known. When the nobles of Scotland proposed to go in a body to
+Stirling to take Cochrane, the favourite of James the Third, and hang
+him, the Lord Gray asked, "It is well said, but wha will bell the cat?"
+The Earl of Angus accepted the challenge, and effected the object. To
+his dying day he was called Archibald Bell-the-Cat.
+
+_Ye hae tint the tongue o' the trump._ "Trump" is a Jew's harp. To lose
+the tongue of it is to lose what is essential to its sound.
+
+_Meat and mass hinders nae man._ Needful food, and suitable religious
+exercises, should not be spared under greatest haste.
+
+_Ye fand it whar the Highlandman fand the tangs_ (i.e. at the fireside).
+A hit at our mountain neighbours, who occasionally took from the
+Lowlands--as having found--something that was never lost.
+
+_His head will ne'er rive_ (i.e. tear) _his father's bonnet_. A
+picturesque way of expressing that the son will never equal the
+influence and ability of his sire.
+
+_His bark is waur nor his bite._ A good-natured apology for one who is
+good-hearted and rough in speech.
+
+_Do as the cow of Forfar did, tak a standing drink_. This proverb
+relates to an occurrence which gave rise to a lawsuit and a whimsical
+legal decision. A woman in Forfar, who was brewing, set out her tub of
+beer to cool. A cow came by and drank it up. The owner of the cow was
+sued for compensation, but the bailies of Forfar, who tried the case,
+acquitted the owner of the cow, on the ground that the farewell drink,
+called in the Highlands the _dochan doris_[142], or stirrup-cup, taken
+by the guest standing by the door, was never charged; and as the cow
+had taken but a standing drink outside, it could not, according to the
+Scottish usage, be chargeable. Sir Walter Scott has humorously alluded
+to this circumstance in the notes to _Waverley_, but has not mentioned
+it as the subject of an old Scotch proverb.
+
+_Bannocks are better nor nae kind o' bread._ Evidently Scottish. Better
+have oatmeal cakes to eat than be in want of wheaten loaves.
+
+_Folly is a bonny dog._ Meaning, I suppose, that many are imposed upon
+by the false appearances and attractions of vicious pleasures.
+
+_The e'ening brings a' hame_ is an interesting saying, meaning, that the
+evening of life, or the approach of death, softens many of our political
+and religious differences. I do not find this proverb in the older
+collections, but Sir William Maxwell justly calls it "a beautiful
+proverb, which, lending itself to various uses, may be taken as an
+expression of faith in the gradual growth and spread of large-hearted
+Christian charity, the noblest result of our happy freedom of thought
+and discussion." The literal idea of the "e'ening bringing a' hame," has
+a high and illustrious antiquity, as in the fragment of Sappho, [Greek:
+'Espere, panta phereis--phereis oin (or oinon) phereis aiga, phereis
+maeteri paida]--which is thus paraphrased by Lord Byron in Don Juan,
+iii. 107:--
+
+     "O Hesperus, thou bringest all good things--
+       Home to the weary, to the hungry cheer;
+     To the young birds the parent's brooding wings,
+       The welcome stall to the o'erlaboured steer, etc.
+     Thou bring'st the child, too, to the mother's breast."
+
+A similar graceful and moral saying inculcates an acknowledgment of
+gratitude for the past favours which we have enjoyed when we come to
+the close of the day or the close of life--
+
+     _Ruse[143] the fair day at e'en._
+
+But a very learned and esteemed friend has suggested another reading of
+this proverb, in accordance with the celebrated saying of Solon (Arist.
+Eth. N.I. 10): [Greek: Kata Solona chreon telos hozan]--Do not praise
+the fairness of the day _till_ evening; do not call the life happy
+_till_ you have seen the close; or, in other matters, do not boast that
+all is well till you have conducted your undertaking to a
+prosperous end.
+
+_Let him tak a spring on his ain fiddle._ Spoken of a foolish and
+unreasonable person; as if to say, "We will for the present allow him to
+have his own way." Bailie Nicol Jarvie quotes the proverb with great
+bitterness, when he warns his opponent that _his_ time for triumph will
+come ere long,--"Aweel, aweel, sir, you're welcome to a tune on your ain
+fiddle; but see if I dinna gar ye dance till't afore it's dune."
+
+_The kirk is meikle, but ye may say mass in ae end o't;_ or, as I have
+received it in another form, "If we canna preach in the kirk, we can
+sing mass in the quire." This intimates, where something is alleged to
+be too much, that you need take no more than what you have need for. I
+heard the proverb used in this sense by Sir Walter Scott at his own
+table. His son had complained of some quaighs which Sir Walter had
+produced for a dram after dinner, that they were too large. His answer
+was, "Well, Walter, as my good mother used to say, if the kirk is ower
+big, just sing mass in the quire." Here is another reference to kirk and
+quire--_He rives[144] the kirk to theik[145] the quire_. Spoken of
+unprofitable persons, who in the English proverb, "rob Peter to
+pay Paul."
+
+_The king's errand may come the cadger's gate yet._ A great man may need
+the service of a very mean one.
+
+_The maut is aboon the meal._ His liquor has done more for him than his
+meat. The man is drunk.
+
+_Mak a kirk and a mill o't._ Turn a thing to any purpose you like; or
+rather, spoken sarcastically, Take it, and make the best of it.
+
+_Like a sow playing on a trump._ No image could be well more incongruous
+than a pig performing on a Jew's harp.
+
+_Mair by luck than gude guiding._ His success is due to his fortunate
+circumstances, rather than to his own discretion.
+
+_He's not a man to ride the water wi'._ A common Scottish saying to
+express you cannot trust such an one in trying times. May have arisen
+from the districts where fords abounded, and the crossing them was
+dangerous.
+
+_He rides on the riggin o' the kirk._ The rigging being the top of the
+roof, the proverb used to be applied to those who carried their zeal for
+church matters to the extreme point.
+
+_Leal heart never lee'd,_ well expresses that an honest loyal
+disposition will scorn, under all circumstances, to tell a falsehood.
+
+A common Scottish proverb, _Let that flee stick to the wa'_, has an
+obvious meaning,--"Say nothing more on that subject." But the derivation
+is not obvious[146]. In like manner, the meaning of _He that will to
+Cupar maun to Cupar_, is clearly that if a man is obstinate, and bent
+upon his own dangerous course, he must take it. But why Cupar? and
+whether is it the Cupar of Angus or the Cupar of Fife?
+
+_Kindness creeps where it canna gang_ prettily expresses that where love
+can do little, it will do that little, though it cannot do more.
+
+In my part of the country a ridiculous addition used to be made to the
+common Scottish saying. _Mony a thing's made for the pennie_, i.e. Many
+contrivances are thought of to get money. The addition is, "As the old
+woman said when she saw a black man," taking it for granted that he was
+an ingenious and curious piece of mechanism made for profit.
+
+_Bluid is thicker than water_ is a proverb which has a marked Scottish
+aspect, as meant to vindicate those family predilections to which, as a
+nation, we are supposed to be rather strongly inclined.
+
+_There's aye water where the stirkie[147] drouns._ Where certain effects
+are produced, there must be some causes at work--a proverb used to show
+that a universal popular suspicion as to an obvious effect must be
+laid in truth.
+
+_Better a finger aff than aye waggin_'. This proverb I remember as a
+great favourite with many Scotch people. Better experience the worst,
+than have an evil always pending.
+
+_Cadgers are aye cracking o' crook saddles_[148] has a very Scottish
+aspect, and signifies that professional men are very apt to talk too
+much of their profession.
+
+The following is purely Scotch, for in no country but Scotland are
+singed sheep heads to be met with: _He's like a sheep head in a pair
+o' tangs._
+
+_As sure's deeth_. A common Scottish proverbial expression to signify
+either the truth or certainty of a fact, or to pledge the speaker to a
+performance of his promise. In the latter sense an amusing illustration
+of faith in the superior obligation of this asseveration to any other,
+is recorded in the _Eglinton Papers_[149]. The Earl one day found a boy
+climbing up a tree, and called him to come down. The boy declined,
+because, he said, the Earl would thrash him. His Lordship pledged his
+honour that he would not do so. The boy replied, "I dinna ken onything
+about your honour, but if you say as sure's deeth I'll come doun."
+
+Proverbs are sometimes local in their application.
+
+_The men o' the Mearns canna do mair than they may._ Even the men of
+Kincardineshire can only do their utmost--a proverb intended to be
+highly complimentary to the powers of the men of that county.
+
+_I'll mak Cathkin's covenant wi' you, Let abee for let abee._ This is a
+local saying quoted often in Hamilton. The laird of that property
+had--very unlike the excellent family who have now possessed it for more
+than a century--been addicted to intemperance. One of his neighbours, in
+order to frighten him on his way home from his evening potations,
+disguised himself, on a very wet night, and, personating the devil,
+claimed a title to carry him off as his rightful property. Contrary to
+all expectation, however, the laird showed fight, and was about to
+commence the onslaught, when a parley was proposed, and the issue was,
+"Cathkin's covenant, Let abee for let abee."
+
+_When the castle of Stirling gets a hat, the Carse of Corntown pays for
+that._ This is a local proverbial saying; the meaning is, that when the
+clouds descend so low as to envelope Stirling Castle, a deluge of rain
+may be expected in the adjacent country.
+
+I will conclude this notice of our proverbial reminiscences, by adding a
+cluster of Scottish proverbs, selected from an excellent article on the
+general subject in the _North British Review_ of February 1858. The
+reviewer designates these as "broader in their mirth, and more caustic
+in their tone," than the moral proverbial expressions of the Spanish and
+Italian:--
+
+     _A blate[150] cat maks a proud mouse.
+     Better a toom[151] house than an ill tenant.
+     Jouk[152] and let the jaw[153] gang by.
+     Mony ane speirs the gate[154] he kens fu' weel.
+     The tod[155] ne'er sped better than when he gaed his ain errand.
+     A wilfu' man should be unco wise.
+     He that has a meikle nose thinks ilka ane speaks o't.
+     He that teaches himsell has a fule for his maister.
+     It's an ill cause that the lawyer thinks shame o'.
+     Lippen[156] to me, but look to yoursell.
+     Mair whistle than woo, as the souter said when shearing the soo.
+     Ye gae far about seeking the nearest.
+     Ye'll no sell your hen on a rainy day.
+     Ye'll mend when ye grow better.
+     Ye're nae chicken for a' your cheepin'_[157].
+
+I have now adduced quite sufficient specimens to convince those who may
+not have given attention to the subject, how much of wisdom, knowledge
+of life, and good feeling, are contained in these aphorisms which
+compose the mass of our Scottish proverbial sayings. No doubt, to many
+of my younger readers proverbs are little known, and to all they are
+becoming more and more matters of reminiscence. I am quite convinced
+that much of the old quaint and characteristic Scottish talk which we
+are now endeavouring to recall depended on a happy use of those
+abstracts of moral sentiment. And this feeling will be confirmed when we
+call to mind how often those of the old Scottish school of character,
+whose conversation we have ourselves admired, had most largely availed
+themselves of the use of its _proverbial_ philosophy.
+
+I have already spoken of (p. 16) a Scottish peculiarity--viz. that of
+naming individuals from lands which have been possessed long by the
+family, or frequently from the landed estates which they acquire. The
+use of this mode of discriminating individuals in the Highland districts
+is sufficiently obvious. Where the inhabitants of a whole country-side
+are Campbells, or Frasers, or Gordons, nothing could be more convenient
+than addressing the individuals of each clan by the name of his estate.
+Indeed, some years ago, any other designation, as Mr. Campbell, Mr.
+Fraser, would have been resented as an indignity. Their consequence
+sprang from their possession[158]. But all this is fast wearing away.
+The estates of old families have often changed hands, and Highlanders
+are most unwilling to give the names of old properties to new
+proprietors. The custom, however, lingers amongst us, in the northern
+districts especially. Farms also used to give their names to the
+tenants[159]. I can recall an amusing instance of this practice
+belonging to my early days. The oldest recollections I have are
+connected with the name, the figure, the sayings and doings, of the old
+cow-herd at Fasque in my father's time; his name was Boggy, _i.e._ his
+ordinary appellation; his true name was Sandy Anderson. But he was
+called Boggy from the circumstance of having once held a wretched farm
+on Deeside named Boggendreep. He had long left it, and been unfortunate
+in it, but the name never left him,--he was Boggy to his grave. The
+territorial appellation used to be reckoned complimentary, and more
+respectful than Mr. or any higher title to which the individual might be
+entitled. I recollect, in my brother's time, at Fasque, his showing off
+some of his home stock to Mr. Williamson, the Aberdeen butcher. They
+came to a fine stot, and Sir Alexander said, with some appearance of
+boast, "I was offered twenty guineas for that ox." "Indeed, Fasque,"
+said Williamson, "ye should hae steekit your neive upo' that."
+
+Sir Walter Scott had marked in his diary a territorial greeting of two
+proprietors which had amused him much. The laird of Kilspindie had met
+the laird of Tannachy-Tulloch, and the following compliments passed
+between them:--"Yer maist obedient hummil servant, Tannachy-Tulloch." To
+which the reply was, "Yer nain man, Kilspindie."
+
+In proportion as we advance towards the Highland district this custom of
+distinguishing clans or races, and marking them out according to the
+district they occupied, became more apparent. There was the Glengarry
+country, the Fraser country, the Gordon country, etc. etc. These names
+carried also with them certain moral features as characteristic of each
+division. Hence the following anecdote:--The morning litany of an old
+laird of Cultoquhey, when he took his morning draught at the cauld well,
+was in these terms:--"Frae the ire o' the Drummonds, the pride o' the
+Græmes, the greed o' the Campbells, and the wind o' the Murrays, guid
+Lord deliver us."
+
+The Duke of Athole, having learned that Cultoquhey was in the habit of
+mentioning his Grace's family in such uncomplimentary terms, invited the
+humorist to Dunkeld, for the purpose of giving him a hint to desist from
+the reference. After dinner, the Duke asked his guest what were the
+precise terms in which he was in the habit of alluding to his powerful
+neighbours. Cultoquhey repeated his liturgy without a moment's
+hesitation. "I recommend you," said his Grace, looking very angry, "in
+future to omit my name from your morning devotions." All he got from
+Cultoquhey was, "Thank ye, my Lord Duke," taking off his glass with the
+utmost sangfroid.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[49] Stoor is, Scotticé, dust in motion, and has no English synonym; oor
+is hour. Sir Walter Scott is said to have advised an artist, in painting
+a battle, not to deal with details, but to get up a good _stoor_: then
+put in an arm and a sword here and there, and leave all the rest to the
+imagination of the spectator.
+
+[50] Reach me a leg of that turkey.
+
+[51] Clearing ashes out of the bars of the grate.
+
+[52] Mentally confused. Muddy when applied to water.
+
+[53] Preface to 4th edition of _Mystifications_, by Dr. John Brown.
+
+[54] Worse.
+
+[55] Where.
+
+[56] Lord Cockburn's _Memorials_, p. 58.
+
+[57] Frogs.
+
+[58] Killed.
+
+[59] Miss Jenny Methven.
+
+[60] "Civil," "obliging."--Jamieson.
+
+[61] _Dam_, the game of draughts.
+
+[62] _Brod_, the board.
+
+[63] Measles.
+
+[64] Nettle-rash.
+
+[65] The itch.
+
+[66] Whooping-cough.
+
+[67] Mumps.
+
+[68] Toothache.
+
+[69] The Scotticisms are printed in italics.
+
+[70] Delicate in health.
+
+[71] Ailment.
+
+[72] Yawning.
+
+[73] Catching.
+
+[74] Tea-urn
+
+[75] _Ver_, the spring months.--_e.g._ "This was in _ver_ quhen wynter
+tid."--_Barbour_.
+
+[76] A number.
+
+[77] Young girls.
+
+[78] Gallows birds.
+
+[79] whistling noises.
+
+[80] Distorted gestures.
+
+[81] Honey jar.
+
+[82] A kind of loose gown formerly worn.
+
+[83] Amongst many acts of kindness and essential assistance which I have
+received and am constantly receiving from my friend Mr. Hugh James
+Rollo, I owe my introduction to this interesting Scottish volume, now, I
+believe, rather scarce.
+
+[84] Kelly's book is constantly quoted by Jamieson, and is, indeed, an
+excellent work for the study of good old Scotch.
+
+[85] This probably throws back the collection to about the middle of the
+century.
+
+[86] Nurse.
+
+[87] Daw, a slut.
+
+[88] Would.
+
+[89] Forgive.
+
+[90] Going or moving.
+
+[91] Foot.
+
+[92] Always.
+
+[93] If.
+
+[94] Boasters.
+
+[95] Used as cowards(?)
+
+[96] Jest.
+
+[97] A dog's name.
+
+[98] To skail house, to disfurnish.
+
+[99] Being angry or cross.
+
+[100] Judge.
+
+[101] Know not.
+
+[102] Blames.
+
+[103] To aim at.
+
+[104] A stroke.
+
+[105] Full.
+
+[106] Hold.
+
+[107] Potent or strong.
+
+[108] Is angry.
+
+[109] Settle.
+
+[110] Amends.
+
+[111] Comb.
+
+[112] Seldom.
+
+[113] Painfully.
+
+[114] Wool-combers.
+
+[115] Greasy.
+
+[116] Worthless fellow.
+
+[117] Loses.
+
+[118] Sixpenny.
+
+[119] A sort of dagger or hanger which seems to have been used both at
+meals as a knife and in broils--
+
+     "And _whingers_ now in friendship bare,
+      The social meal to part and share,
+      Had found a bloody sheath."
+
+--_Lay of the Last Minstrel_.
+
+[120] Thong.
+
+[121] No lawsuit.
+
+[122] Robbers.
+
+[123] Rue, to repent.
+
+[124] More.
+
+[125] Maidens.
+
+[126] Hares.
+
+[127] Take after.
+
+[128] Cuckoo.
+
+[129] Note.
+
+[130] Attired.
+
+[131] Curried.
+
+[132] Related.
+
+[133] Outrun.
+
+[134] Tune.
+
+[135] Curtsied.
+
+[136] Fallen.
+
+[137] Surprise.
+
+[138] Christmas.
+
+[139] Pasch or Easter.
+
+[140] Early.
+
+[141] Severe.
+
+[142] The proper orthography of this expression is deoch-an-doruis (or
+dorais). _Deoch_, a drink; _an_, of the; _doruis_ or _dorais_,
+possessive case of dorus or doras a door.
+
+[143] Praise.
+
+[144] Tears.
+
+[145] Thatch.
+
+[146] It has been suggested, and with much reason, that the reference is
+to a fly sticking on a wet or a newly painted wall; this is corroborated
+by the addition in Rob Roy, "When the dirt's dry, it will rub out,"
+which seems to point out the meaning and derivation of the proverb.
+
+[147] A young bullock.
+
+[148] Saddle for supporting panniers.
+
+[149] Vol. i. p. 134.
+
+[150] Shy.
+
+[151] Empty.
+
+[152] Stoop down.
+
+[153] Wave.
+
+[154] The way.
+
+[155] Fox.
+
+[156] Trust to.
+
+[157] Chirping.
+
+[158] Even in Forfarshire, where Carnegies abound, we had Craigo,
+Balnamoon, Pitarrow, etc.
+
+[159] This custom is still in use in Galloway; and "Challoch,"
+"Eschonchan," "Tonderghie," "Balsalloch," and "Drummorral," etc. etc.,
+appear regularly at kirk and market.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE SEVENTH.
+
+ON SCOTTISH STORIES OF WIT AND HUMOUR.
+
+The portion of our subject which we proposed under the head of
+"Reminiscences of Scottish Stories of Wit or Humour," yet remains to be
+considered. This is closely connected with the question of Scottish
+dialect and expressions; indeed, on some points hardly separable, as the
+wit, to a great extent, proceeds from the quaint and picturesque modes
+of expressing it. But here we are met by a difficulty. On high authority
+it has been declared that no such thing as wit exists amongst us. What
+has no existence can have no change. We cannot be said to have lost a
+quality which we never possessed. Many of my readers are no doubt
+familiar with what Sydney Smith declared on this point, and certainly on
+the question of wit he must be considered an authority. He used to say
+(I am almost ashamed to repeat it), "It requires a surgical operation to
+get a joke well into a Scotch understanding. Their only idea of wit,
+which prevails occasionally in the north, and which, under the name of
+WUT, is so infinitely distressing to people of good taste, is laughing
+immoderately at stated intervals." Strange language to use of a country
+which has produced Smollett, Burns, Scott, Galt, and Wilson--all
+remarkable for the humour diffused through their writings! Indeed, we
+may fairly ask, have they equals in this respect amongst English
+writers? Charles Lamb had the same notion, or, I should rather say, the
+same prejudice, about Scottish people not being accessible to wit; and
+he tells a story of what happened to himself, in corroboration of the
+opinion. He had been asked to a party, and one object of the invitation
+had been to meet a son of Burns. When he arrived, Mr. Burns had not made
+his appearance, and in the course of conversation regarding the family
+of the poet, Lamb, in his lack-a-daisical kind of manner, said, "I wish
+it had been the father instead of the son;" upon which four Scotsmen
+present with one voice exclaimed, "That's impossible, for _he's
+dead_[160]." Now, there will be dull men and matter-of-fact men
+everywhere, who do not take a joke, or enter into a jocular allusion;
+but surely, as a general remark, this is far from being a natural
+quality of our country. Sydney Smith and Charles Lamb say so. But, at
+the risk of being considered presumptuous, I will say I think them
+entirely mistaken. I should say that there was, on the contrary, a
+strong _connection_ between the Scottish temperament and, call it if you
+like, humour, if it is not wit. And what is the difference? My readers
+need not be afraid that they are to be led through a labyrinth of
+metaphysical distinctions between wit and humour. I have read Dr.
+Campbell's dissertation on the difference, in his Philosophy of
+Rhetoric; I have read Sydney Smith's own two lectures; but I confess I
+am not much the wiser. Professors of rhetoric, no doubt, must have such
+discussions; but when you wish to be amused by the thing itself, it is
+somewhat disappointing to be presented with metaphysical analysis. It is
+like instituting an examination of the glass and cork of a champagne
+bottle, and a chemical testing of the wine. In the very process the
+volatile and sparkling draught which was to delight the palate has
+become like ditch water, vapid and dead. What I mean is, that, call it
+wit or humour, or what you please, there is a school of Scottish
+pleasantry, amusing and characteristic beyond all other. Don't think of
+_analysing_ its nature, or the qualities of which it is composed; enjoy
+its quaint and amusing flow of oddity and fun; as we may, for instance,
+suppose it to have flowed on that eventful night so joyously described
+by Burns:--
+
+     "The souter tauld his queerest stories,
+     The landlord's laugh was ready chorus."
+
+Or we may think of the delight it gave the good Mr. Balwhidder, when he
+tells, in his Annals of the Parish, of some such story, that it was a
+"jocosity that was just a kittle to hear." When I speak of changes in
+such Scottish humour which have taken place, I refer to a particular
+sort of humour, and I speak of the sort of feeling that belongs to
+Scottish pleasantry,--which is sly, and cheery, and pawky. It is
+undoubtedly a humour that depends a good deal upon the vehicle in which
+the story is conveyed. If, as we have said, our quaint dialect is
+passing away, and our national eccentric points of character, we must
+expect to find much of the peculiar humour allied with them to have
+passed away also. In other departments of wit and repartee, and acute
+hits at men and things, Scotsmen (whatever Sydney Smith may have said to
+the contrary) are equal to their neighbours, and, so far as I know, may
+have gained rather than lost. But this peculiar humour of which I now
+speak has not, in our day, the scope and development which were
+permitted to it by the former generation. Where the tendency exists, the
+exercise of it is kept down by the usages and feelings of society. For
+examples of it (in its full force at any rate) we must go back to a race
+who are departed. One remark, however, has occurred to me in regard to
+the specimens we have of this kind of humour--viz. that they do not
+always proceed from the personal wit or cleverness of any of the
+individuals concerned in them. The amusement comes from the
+circumstances, from the concurrence or combination of the ideas, and in
+many cases from the mere expressions which describe the facts. The
+humour of the narrative is unquestionable, and yet no one has tried to
+be humorous. In short, it is the _Scottishness_ that gives the zest. The
+same ideas differently expounded might have no point at all. There is,
+for example, something highly original in the notions of celestial
+mechanics entertained by an honest Scottish Fife lass regarding the
+theory of comets. Having occasion to go out after dark, and having
+observed the brilliant comet then visible (1858), she ran in with
+breathless haste to the house, calling on her fellow-servants to "Come
+oot and see a new star that hasna got its tail cuttit aff yet!"
+Exquisite astronomical speculation! Stars, like puppies, are born with
+tails, and in due time have them docked. Take an example of a story
+where there is no display of any one's wit or humour, and yet it is a
+good story, and one can't exactly say why:--An English traveller had
+gone on a fine Highland road so long, without having seen an indication
+of fellow-travellers, that he became astonished at the solitude of the
+country; and no doubt before the Highlands were so much frequented as
+they are in our time, the roads sometimes bore a very striking aspect of
+solitariness. Our traveller, at last coming up to an old man breaking
+stones, asked him if there was _any_ traffic on this road--was it at
+_all_ frequented? "Ay," he said, coolly, "it's no ill at that; there was
+a cadger body yestreen, and there's yoursell the day." No English
+version of the story could have half such amusement, or have so quaint a
+character. An answer even still more characteristic is recorded to have
+been given by a countryman to a traveller. Being doubtful of his way, he
+inquired if he were on the right road to Dunkeld. With some of his
+national inquisitiveness about strangers, the countryman asked his
+inquirer where he came from. Offended at the liberty, as he considered
+it, he sharply reminded the man that where he came from was nothing to
+him; but all the answer he got was the quiet rejoinder, "Indeed, it's
+just as little to me whar ye're gaen." A friend has told me of an answer
+highly characteristic of this dry and unconcerned quality which he heard
+given to a fellow-traveller. A gentleman sitting opposite to him in the
+stage-coach at Berwick complained bitterly that the cushion on which he
+sat was quite wet. On looking up to the roof he saw a hole through which
+the rain descended copiously, and at once accounted for the mischief. He
+called for the coachman, and in great wrath reproached him with the evil
+under which he suffered, and pointed to the hole which was the cause of
+it. All the satisfaction, however, that he got was the quiet unmoved
+reply, "Ay, mony a ane has complained o' _that_ hole." Another anecdote
+I heard from a gentleman who vouched for the truth, which is just a case
+where the narrative has its humour not from the wit which is displayed
+but from that dry matter-of-fact view of things peculiar to some of our
+countrymen. The friend of my informant was walking in a street of Perth,
+when, to his horror, he saw a workman fall from a roof where he was
+mending slates, right upon the pavement. By extraordinary good fortune
+he was not killed, and on the gentleman going up to his assistance, and
+exclaiming, with much excitement, "God bless me, are you much hurt?" all
+the answer he got was the cool rejoinder, "On the contrary, sir." A
+similar matter-of fact answer was made by one of the old race of
+Montrose humorists. He was coming out of church, and in the press of the
+kirk _skailing_, a young man thoughtlessly trod on the old gentleman's
+toe, which was tender with corns. He hastened to apologise, saying, "I
+am very sorry, sir; I beg your pardon." The only acknowledgment of which
+was the dry answer, "And ye've as muckle need, sir." An old man marrying
+a very young wife, his friends rallied him on the inequality of their
+ages. "She will be near me," he replied, "to close my een." "Weel,"
+remarked another of the party, "I've had twa wives, and they _opened
+my een_."
+
+One of the best specimens of cool Scottish matter-of-fact view of things
+has been supplied by a kind correspondent, who narrates it from his own
+personal recollection.
+
+The back windows of the house where he was brought up looked upon the
+Greyfriars Church that was burnt down. On the Sunday morning in which
+that event took place, as they were all preparing to go to church, the
+flames began to burst forth; the young people screamed from the back
+part of the house, "A fire! A fire!" and all was in a state of confusion
+and alarm. The housemaid was not at home, it being her turn for the
+Sunday "out." Kitty, the cook, was taking her place, and performing her
+duties. The old woman was always very particular on the subject of her
+responsibility on such occasions, and came panting and hobbling up
+stairs from the lower regions, and exclaimed, "Oh, what is't, what
+is't?" "O Kitty, look here, the Greyfriars Church is on fire!" "Is that
+a', Miss? What a fricht ye geed me! I thought ye said the parlour
+fire was out."
+
+In connection with the subject of Scottish _toasts_ I am supplied by a
+first-rate Highland authority of one of the most graceful and crushing
+replies of a lady to what was intended as a sarcastic compliment and
+smart saying at her expense.
+
+About the beginning of the present century the then Campbell of Combie,
+on Loch Awe side, in Argyleshire, was a man of extraordinary character,
+and of great physical strength, and such swiftness of foot that it is
+said he could "catch the best _tup_ on the hill." He also looked upon
+himself as a "pretty man," though in this he was singular; also, it was
+more than whispered that the laird was not remarkable for his principles
+of honesty. There also lived in the same district a Miss MacNabb of
+Bar-a'-Chaistril, a lady who, before she had passed the zenith of life,
+had never been remarkable for her beauty--the contrary even had passed
+into a proverb, while she was in her teens; but, to counterbalance this
+defect in external qualities, nature had endowed her with great
+benevolence, while she was renowned for her probity. One day the Laird
+of Combie, who piqued himself on his _bon-mots,_ was, as frequently
+happened, a guest of Miss MacNabb's, and after dinner several toasts had
+gone round as usual, Combie rose with great solemnity and addressing the
+lady of the house requested an especial bumper, insisting on all the
+guests to fill to the brim. He then rose and said, addressing himself to
+Miss MacNabb, "I propose the old Scottish toast of 'Honest men and
+_bonnie_ lassies,'" and bowing to the hostess, he resumed his seat. The
+lady returned his bow with her usual amiable smile, and taking up her
+glass, replied, "Weel, Combie, I am sure _we_ may drink that, for it
+will neither apply to _you_ nor _me_."
+
+An amusing example of a quiet cool view of a pecuniary transaction
+happened to my father whilst doing the business of the rent-day. He was
+receiving sums of money from the tenants in succession. After looking
+over a bundle of notes which he had just received from one of them, a
+well-known character, he said in banter, "James, the notes are not
+correct." To which the farmer, who was much of a humorist, drily
+answered, "I dinna ken what they may be _noo_; but they were a' richt
+afore ye had your fingers in amang 'em." An English farmer would hardly
+have spoken thus to his landlord. The Duke of Buccleuch told me an
+answer very quaintly Scotch, given to his grandmother by a farmer of the
+old school. A dinner was given to some tenantry of the vast estates of
+the family, in the time of Duke Henry. His Duchess (the last descendant
+of the Dukes of Montague) always appeared at table on such occasions,
+and did the honours with that mixture of dignity and of affable kindness
+for which she was so remarkable. Abundant hospitality was shown to all
+the guests. The Duchess, having observed one of the tenants supplied
+with boiled beef from a noble round, proposed that he should add a
+supply of cabbage: on his declining, the Duchess good-humouredly
+remarked, "Why, boiled beef and 'greens' seem so naturally to go
+together, I wonder you don't take it." To which the honest farmer
+objected, "Ah, but your Grace maun alloo it's a vary _windy_ vegetable,"
+in delicate allusion to the flatulent quality of the esculent. Similar
+to this was the naïve answer of a farmer on the occasion of a rent-day.
+The lady of the house asked him if he would take some "rhubarb-tart," to
+which he innocently answered, "Thank ye, mem, I dinna _need_ it."
+
+A Highland minister, dining with the patroness of his parish, ventured
+to say, "I'll thank your leddyship for a little more of that
+apple-tart;" "It's not apple-tart, it's rhubarb," replied the lady.
+"Rhubarb!" repeated the other, with a look of surprise and alarm, and
+immediately called out to the attendant, "Freend, I'll thank you for
+a dram."
+
+A characteristic _table_ anecdote I can recall amongst Deeside
+reminiscences. My aunt, Mrs. Forbes, had entertained an honest Scotch
+farmer at Banchory Lodge; a draught of ale had been offered to him,
+which he had quickly despatched. My aunt observing that the glass had no
+head or effervescence, observed, that she feared it had not been a good
+bottle, "Oh, vera gude, maam, it's just some strong o' the aaple," an
+expression which indicates the beer to be somewhat sharp or pungent. It
+turned out to have been a bottle of _vinegar_ decanted by mistake.
+
+An amusing instance of an old Scottish farmer being unacquainted with
+table refinements occurred at a tenant's dinner in the north. The
+servant had put down beside him a dessert spoon when he had been helped
+to pudding. This seemed quite superfluous to the honest man, who
+exclaimed, "Tak' it awa, my man; my mou's as big for puddin' as it is
+for kail."
+
+Amongst the lower orders in Scotland humour is found, occasionally,
+very rich in mere children, and I recollect a remarkable illustration of
+this early native humour occurring in a family in Forfarshire, where I
+used in former days to be very intimate. A wretched woman, who used to
+traverse the country as a beggar or tramp, left a poor, half-starved
+little girl by the road-side, near the house of my friends. Always ready
+to assist the unfortunate, they took charge of the child, and as she
+grew a little older they began to give her some education, and taught
+her to read. She soon made some progress in reading the Bible, and the
+native odd humour of which we speak began soon to show itself. On
+reading the passage, which began, "Then David rose," etc., the child
+stopped, and looked up knowingly, to say, "I ken wha that was," and on
+being asked what she could mean, she confidently said, "That's David
+Rowse the pleuchman." And again, reading the passage where the words
+occur, "He took Paul's girdle," the child said, with much confidence, "I
+ken what he took that for," and on being asked to explain, replied at
+once, "To bake 's bannocks on;" "girdle" being in the north the name for
+the iron plate hung over the fire for baking oat cakes or bannocks.
+
+To a distinguished member of the Church of Scotland I am indebted for an
+excellent story of quaint child humour, which he had from the lips of an
+old woman who related the story of herself:--When a girl of eight years
+of age she was taken by her grandmother to church. The parish minister
+was not only a long preacher, but, as the custom was, delivered two
+sermons on the Sabbath day without any interval, and thus saved the
+parishioners the two journeys to church. Elizabeth was sufficiently
+wearied before the close of the first discourse; but when, after singing
+and prayer, the good minister opened the Bible, read a second text, and
+prepared to give a second sermon, the young girl, being both tired and
+hungry, lost all patience, and cried out to her grandmother, to the no
+small amusement of those who were so near as to hear her, "Come awa,
+granny, and gang hame; this is a lang grace, and nae meat."
+
+A most amusing account of child humour used to be narrated by an old Mr.
+Campbell of Jura, who told the story of his own son. It seems the boy
+was much spoilt by indulgence. In fact, the parents were scarce able to
+refuse him anything he demanded. He was in the drawing-room on one
+occasion when dinner was announced, and on being ordered up to the
+nursery he insisted on going down to dinner with the company. His mother
+was for refusal, but the child persevered, and kept saying, "If I dinna
+gang, I'll tell thon." His father then, for peace sake, let him go. So
+he went and sat at table by his mother. When he found every one getting
+soup and himself omitted, he demanded soup, and repeated, "If I dinna
+get it, I'll tell thon." Well, soup was given, and various other things
+yielded to his importunities, to which he always added the usual threat
+of "telling thon." At last, when it came to wine, his mother stood firm,
+and positively refused, as "a bad thing for little boys," and so on. He
+then became more vociferous than ever about "telling thon;" and as still
+he was refused, he declared, "Now, I will tell thon," and at last roared
+out, "_Ma new breeks were made oot o' the auld curtains_!"
+
+The Rev. Mr. Agnew has kindly sent me an anecdote which supplies an
+example of cleverness in a Scottish boy, and which rivals, as he
+observes, the smartness of the London boy, termed by _Punch_ the "Street
+boy." It has also a touch of quiet, sly Scottish _humour_. A gentleman,
+editor of a Glasgow paper, well known as a bon-vivant and epicure, and
+by no means a popular character, was returning one day from his office,
+and met near his own house a boy carrying a splendid salmon. The
+gentleman looked at it with longing eyes, and addressed the boy--"Where
+are you taking that salmon, my boy?" Boy--"Do you ken gin ae Mr. ----
+(giving the gentleman's name) lives hereabout?" Mr. ---- "Yes, oh yes;
+his house is here just by." Boy (looking sly)--"Weel, it's no for him."
+Of this same Scottish _boy cleverness_, the Rev. Mr. M'Lure of Marykirk
+kindly supplies a capital specimen, in an instance which occurred at
+what is called the market, at Fettercairn, where there is always a
+hiring of servants. A boy was asked by a farmer if he wished to be
+engaged. "Ou ay," said the youth. "Wha was your last maister?" was the
+next question. "Oh, yonder him," said the boy; and then agreeing to wait
+where he was standing with some other servants till the inquirer should
+return from examination of the boy's late employer. The farmer returned
+and accosted the boy, "Weel, lathie, I've been speerin' about ye, an'
+I'm tae tak ye." "Ou ay," was the prompt reply, "an' I've been speerin'
+about _ye tae_, an' I'm nae gaen."
+
+We could not have had a better specimen of the cool self-sufficiency of
+these young domestics of the Scottish type than the following:--I heard
+of a boy making a very cool and determined exit from the house into
+which he had very lately been introduced. He had been told that he
+should be dismissed if he broke any of the china that was under his
+charge. On the morning of a great dinner-party he was entrusted (rather
+rashly) with a great load of plates, which he was to carry up-stairs
+from the kitchen to the dining-room, and which were piled up, and
+rested upon his two hands. In going up-stairs his foot slipped, and the
+plates were broken to atoms. He at once went up to the drawing-room, put
+his head in at the door, and shouted: "The plates are a' smashed,
+and I'm awa."
+
+A facetious and acute friend, who rather leans to the Sydney Smith view
+of Scottish wit, declares that all our humorous stories are about
+lairds, and lairds that are drunk. Of such stories there are certainly
+not a few. The following is one of the best belonging to my part of the
+country, and to many persons I should perhaps apologise for introducing
+it at all. The story has been told of various parties and localities,
+but no doubt the genuine laird was a laird of Balnamoon (pronounced in
+the country Bonnymoon), and that the locality was a wild tract of land,
+not far from his place, called Munrimmon Moor. Balnamoon had been dining
+out in the neighbourhood, where, by mistake, they had put down to him
+after dinner cherry brandy, instead of port wine, his usual beverage.
+The rich flavour and strength so pleased him that, having tasted it, he
+would have nothing else. On rising from table, therefore, the laird
+would be more affected by his drink than if he had taken his ordinary
+allowance of port. His servant Harry or Hairy was to drive him home in a
+gig, or whisky as it was called, the usual open carriage of the time. On
+crossing the moor, however, whether from greater exposure to the blast,
+or from the laird's unsteadiness of head, his hat and wig came off and
+fell upon the ground. Harry got out to pick them up and restore them to
+his master. The laird was satisfied with the hat, but demurred at the
+wig. "It's no my wig, Hairy, lad; it's no my wig," and refused to have
+anything to do with it. Hairy lost his patience, and, anxious to get
+home, remonstrated with his master, "Ye'd better tak it, sir, for
+there's nae _waile_[161] o' wigs on Munrimmon Moor." The humour of the
+argument is exquisite, putting to the laird in his unreasonable
+objection the sly insinuation that in such a locality, if he did not
+take _this_ wig, he was not likely to find another. Then, what a rich
+expression, "waile o' wigs." In English what is it? "A choice of
+perukes;" which is nothing comparable to the "waile o' wigs." I ought to
+mention also an amusing sequel to the story, viz. in what happened after
+the affair of the wig had been settled, and the laird had consented to
+return home. When the whisky drove up to the door, Hairy, sitting in
+front, told the servant who came "to tak out the laird." No laird was to
+be seen; and it appeared that he had fallen out on the moor without
+Hairy observing it. Of course, they went back, and, picking him up,
+brought him safe home. A neighbouring laird having called a few days
+after, and having referred to the accident, Balnamoon quietly added,
+"Indeed, I maun hae a lume[162] that'll _haud in_."
+
+The laird of Balnamoon was a truly eccentric character. He joined with
+his drinking propensities a great zeal for the Episcopal church, the
+service of which he read to his own family with much solemnity and
+earnestness of manner. Two gentlemen, one of them a stranger to the
+country, having called pretty early one Sunday morning, Balnamoon
+invited them to dinner, and as they accepted the invitation, they
+remained and joined in the forenoon devotional exercises conducted by
+Balnamoon himself. The stranger was much impressed with the laird's
+performance of the service, and during a walk which they took before
+dinner, mentioned to his friend how highly he esteemed the religious
+deportment of their host. The gentleman said nothing, but smiled to
+himself at the scene which he anticipated was to follow. After dinner,
+Balnamoon set himself, according to the custom of old hospitable
+Scottish hosts, to make his guests as drunk as possible. The result was,
+that the party spent the evening in a riotous debauch, and were carried
+to bed by the servants at a late hour. Next day, when they had taken
+leave and left the house, the gentleman who had introduced his friend
+asked him what he thought of their entertainer--"Why, really," he
+replied, with evident astonishment, "sic a speat o' praying, and sic a
+speat o' drinking, I never knew in the whole course o' my life."
+
+Lady Dalhousie, mother, I mean, of the late distinguished Marquis of
+Dalhousie, used to tell a characteristic anecdote of her day. But here,
+on mention of the name Christian, Countess of Dalhousie, may I pause a
+moment to recall the memory of one who was a very remarkable person. She
+was for many years, to me and mine, a sincere, and true and valuable
+friend. By an awful dispensation of God's providence her death happened
+_instantaneously_ under my roof in 1839. Lady Dalhousie was eminently
+distinguished for a fund of the most varied knowledge, for a clear and
+powerful judgment, for acute observation, a kind heart, a brilliant wit.
+Her story was thus:--A Scottish judge, somewhat in the predicament of
+the Laird of Balnamoon, had dined at Coalstoun with her father Charles
+Brown, an advocate, and son of George Brown, who sat in the Supreme
+Court as a judge with the title of Lord Coalstoun. The party had been
+convivial, as we know parties of the highest legal characters often
+were in those days. When breaking up and going to the drawing-room, one
+of them, not seeing his way very clearly, stepped out of the dining-room
+window, which was open to the summer air. The ground at Coalstoun
+sloping off from the house behind, the worthy judge got a great fall,
+and rolled down the bank. He contrived, however, as tipsy men generally
+do, to regain his legs, and was able to reach the drawing-room. The
+first remark he made was an innocent remonstrance with his friend the
+host, "Od, Charlie Brown, what gars ye hae sic lang steps to your
+_front_ door?"
+
+On Deeside, where many original stories had their origin, I recollect
+hearing several of an excellent and worthy, but very simple-minded man,
+the Laird of Craigmyle. On one occasion, when the beautiful and clever
+Jane, Duchess of Gordon, was scouring through the country, intent upon
+some of those electioneering schemes which often occupied her fertile
+imagination and active energies, she came to call at Craigmyle, and
+having heard that the laird was making bricks on the property, for the
+purpose of building a new garden wall, with her usual tact she opened
+the subject, and kindly asked, "Well, Mr. Gordon, and how do your bricks
+come on?" Good Craigmyle's thoughts were much occupied with a new
+leather portion of his dress, which had been lately constructed, so,
+looking down on his nether garments, he said in pure Aberdeen dialect,
+"Muckle obleeged to yer Grace, the breeks war sum ticht at first, but
+they are deeing weel eneuch noo."
+
+The last Laird of Macnab, before the clan finally broke up and emigrated
+to Canada, was a well-known character in the country, and being poor,
+used to ride about on a most wretched horse, which gave occasion to
+many jibes at his expense. The laird was in the constant habit of riding
+up from the country to attend the Musselburgh races. A young wit, by way
+of playing him off on the race-course, asked him, in a contemptuous
+tone, "Is that the same horse you had last year, laird?" "Na," said the
+laird, brandishing his whip in the interrogator's face in so emphatic a
+manner as to preclude further questioning, "na; but it's the same
+_whup_." In those days, as might be expected, people were not nice in
+expressions of their dislike of persons and measures. If there be not
+more charity in society than of old, there is certainly more courtesy. I
+have, from a friend, an anecdote illustrative of this remark, in regard
+to feelings exercised towards an unpopular laird. In the neighbourhood
+of Banff, in Forfarshire, the seat of a very ancient branch of the
+Ramsays, lived a proprietor who bore the appellation of Corb, from the
+name of his estate. This family has passed away, and its property merged
+in Banff. The laird was intensely disliked in the neighbourhood. Sir
+George Ramsay was, on the other hand, universally popular and respected.
+On one occasion, Sir George, in passing a morass in his own
+neighbourhood, had missed the road and fallen into a bog to an alarming
+depth. To his great relief, he saw a passenger coming along the path,
+which was at no great distance. He called loudly for his help, but the
+man took no notice. Poor Sir George felt himself sinking, and redoubled
+his cries for assistance; all at once the passenger rushed forward,
+carefully extricated him from his perilous position, and politely
+apologised for his first neglect of his appeal, adding, as his reason,
+"Indeed, Sir George, I thought it was Corb!" evidently meaning that
+_had_ it been Corb, he must have taken his chance for him.
+
+In Lanarkshire there lived a sma' sma' laird named Hamilton, who was
+noted for his eccentricity. On one occasion, a neighbour waited on him,
+and requested his name as an accommodation to a "bit bill" for twenty
+pounds at three months' date, which led to the following characteristic
+and truly Scottish colloquy:--"Na, na, I canna do that." "What for no,
+laird? ye hae dune the same thing for ithers." "Ay, ay, Tammas, but
+there's wheels within wheels ye ken naething about; I canna do't." "It's
+a sma' affair to refuse me, laird." "Weel, ye see, Tammas, if I was to
+pit my name till't, ye wad get the siller frae the bank, and when the
+time came round, ye wadna be ready, and I wad hae to pay't; sae then you
+and me wad quarrel; sae we may just as weel quarrel _the noo_, as lang's
+the siller's in ma pouch." On one occasion, Hamilton having business
+with the late Duke of Hamilton at Hamilton Palace, the Duke politely
+asked him to lunch. A liveried servant waited upon them, and was most
+assiduous in his attentions to the Duke and his guest. At last our
+eccentric friend lost patience, and looking at the servant, addressed
+him thus, "What the deil for are ye dance, dancing, about the room that
+gait? can ye no draw in your chair and sit down? I'm sure there's
+_plenty on the table for three_."
+
+As a specimen of the old-fashioned Laird, now become a Reminiscence, who
+adhered pertinaciously to old Scottish usages, and to the old Scottish
+dialect, I cannot, I am sure, adduce a better specimen than Mr.
+Fergusson of Pitfour, to whose servant I have already referred. He was
+always called Pitfour, from the name of his property in Aberdeenshire.
+He must have died fifty years ago. He was for many years M.P. for the
+county of Aberdeen, and I have reason to believe that he made the
+enlightened parliamentary declaration which has been given to others: He
+said "he had often heard speeches in the _House_, which had changed his
+opinion, but none that had ever changed his vote." I recollect hearing
+of his dining in London sixty years ago, at the house of a Scottish
+friend, where there was a swell party, and Pitfour was introduced as a
+great northern proprietor, and county M.P. A fashionable lady patronised
+him graciously, and took great charge of him, and asked him about his
+estates. Pitfour was very dry and sparing in his communications, as for
+example, "What does your home farm chiefly produce, Mr. Fergusson?"
+Answer, "Girss." "I beg your pardon, Mr. Fergusson, what does your home
+farm produce?" All she could extract was, "Girss."
+
+Of another laird, whom I heard often spoken of in old times, an anecdote
+was told strongly Scottish. Our friend had much difficulty (as many
+worthy lairds have had) in meeting the claims of those two woeful
+periods of the year called with us in Scotland the "tarmes." He had been
+employing for some time as workman a stranger from the south on some
+house repairs, of the not uncommon name in England of Christmas. His
+servant early one morning called out at the laird's door in great
+excitement that "Christmas had run away, and nobody knew where he had
+gone." He coolly turned in his bed with the ejaculation, "I only wish he
+had taken Whitsunday and Martinmas along with him." I do not know a
+better illustration of quiet, shrewd, and acute Scottish humour than the
+following little story, which an esteemed correspondent mentions having
+heard from his father when a boy, relating to a former Duke of Athole,
+who had _no family of his own_, and whom he mentions as having
+remembered very well:--He met, one morning, one of his cottars or
+gardeners, whose wife he knew to be in the _hopeful way_. Asking him
+"how Marget was the day," the man replied that she had that morning
+given him twins. Upon which the Duke said,--"Weel, Donald; ye ken the
+Almighty never sends bairns without the meat." "That may be, your
+Grace," said Donald; "but whiles I think that Providence maks a mistak
+in thae matters, and sends the bairns to ae hoose and the meat to
+anither!" The Duke took the hint, and sent him a cow with calf the
+following morning.
+
+I have heard of an amusing scene between a laird, noted for his
+meanness, and a wandering sort of Edie Ochiltree, a well-known itinerant
+who lived by his wits and what he could pick up in his rounds amongst
+the houses through the country. The laird, having seen the beggar sit
+down near his gate to examine the contents of his pock or wallet,
+conjectured that he had come from his house, and so drew near to see
+what he had carried off. As the laird was keenly investigating the
+mendicant's spoils, his quick eye detected some bones on which there
+remained more meat than should have been allowed to leave his kitchen.
+Accordingly he pounced upon the bones, declaring he had been robbed, and
+insisted on the beggar returning to the house and giving back the spoil.
+He was, however, prepared for the attack, and sturdily defended his
+property, boldly asserting, "Na, na, laird, thae are no Tod-brae banes;
+they are Inch-byre banes, and nane o' your honour's"--meaning that he
+had received these bones at the house of a neighbour of a more liberal
+character. The beggar's professional discrimination between the merits
+of the bones of the two mansions, and his pertinacious defence of his
+own property, would have been most amusing to a bystander.
+
+I have, however, a reverse story, in which the beggar is quietly
+silenced by the proprietor. A noble lord, some generations back, well
+known for his frugal habits, had just picked up a small copper coin in
+his own avenue, and had been observed by one of the itinerating
+mendicant race, who, grudging the transfer of the piece into the peer's
+pocket, exclaimed, "O, gie't to me, my lord;" to which the quiet answer
+was, "Na, na; fin' a fardin' for yersell, puir body."
+
+There are always pointed anecdotes against houses wanting in a liberal
+and hospitable expenditure in Scotland. Thus, we have heard of a master
+leaving such a mansion, and taxing his servant with being drunk, which
+he had too often been after other country visits. On this occasion,
+however, he was innocent of the charge, for he had not the _opportunity_
+to transgress. So, when his master asserted, "Jemmy, you are drunk!"
+Jemmy very quietly answered, "Indeed, sir, I wish I wur." At another
+mansion, notorious for scanty fare, a gentleman was inquiring of the
+gardener about a dog which some time ago he had given to the laird. The
+gardener showed him a lank greyhound, on which the gentleman said, "No,
+no; the dog I gave your master was a mastiff, not a greyhound;" to which
+the gardener quietly answered, "Indeed, ony dog micht sune become a
+greyhound by stopping here."
+
+From a friend and relative, a minister of the Established Church of
+Scotland, I used to hear many characteristic stories. He had a curious
+vein of this sort of humour in himself, besides what he brought out from
+others. One of his peculiarities was a mortal antipathy to the whole
+French nation, whom he frequently abused in no measured terms. At the
+same time he had great relish of a glass of claret, which he considered
+the prince of all social beverages. So he usually finished off his
+antigallican tirades, with the reservation, "But the bodies brew the
+braw drink." He lived amongst his own people, and knew well the habits
+and peculiarities of a race gone by. He had many stories connected with
+the pastoral relation between minister and people, and all such stories
+are curious, not merely for their amusement, but from the illustration
+they afford us of that peculiar Scottish humour which we are now
+describing. He had himself, when a very young boy, before he came up to
+the Edinburgh High School, been at the parochial school where he
+resided, and which, like many others, at that period, had a considerable
+reputation for the skill and scholarship of the master. He used to
+describe school scenes rather different, I suspect, from school scenes
+in our day. One boy, on coming late, explained that the cause had been a
+regular pitched battle between his parents, with the details of which he
+amused his school-fellows; and he described the battle in vivid and
+Scottish Homeric terms: "And eh, as they faucht, and they faucht,"
+adding, however, with much complacency, "but my minnie dang, she
+did tho'."
+
+There was a style of conversation and quaint modes of expression between
+ministers and their people at that time, which, I suppose, would seem
+strange to the present generation; as, for example, I recollect a
+conversation between this relative and one of his parishioners of this
+description.--It had been a very wet and unpromising autumn. The
+minister met a certain Janet of his flock, and accosted her very kindly.
+He remarked, "Bad prospect for the har'st (harvest), Janet, this wet."
+_Janet_--"Indeed, sir, I've seen as muckle as that there'll be nae
+har'st the year." _Minister_--"Na, Janet, deil as muckle as that't
+ever you saw."
+
+As I have said, he was a clergyman of the Established Church, and had
+many stories about ministers and people, arising out of his own pastoral
+experience, or the experience of friends and neighbours. He was much
+delighted with the not very refined rebuke which one of his own farmers
+had given to a young minister who had for some Sundays occupied his
+pulpit. The young man had dined with the farmer in the afternoon when
+services were over, and his appetite was so sharp, that he thought it
+necessary to apologise to his host for eating so substantial a
+dinner.--"You see," he said, "I am always very hungry after preaching."
+The old gentleman, not much admiring the youth's pulpit ministrations,
+having heard this apology two or three times, at last replied
+sarcastically, "Indeed, sir, I'm no surprised at it, considering the
+_trash_ that comes aff your stamach in the morning."
+
+What I wish to keep in view is, to distinguish anecdotes which are
+amusing on account merely of the expressions used, from those which have
+real wit and humour _combined_, with the purely Scottish vehicle in
+which they are conveyed.
+
+Of this class I could not have a better specimen to commence with than
+the defence of the liturgy of his church, by John Skinner of Langside,
+of whom previous mention has been made. It is witty and clever.
+
+Being present at a party (I think at Lord Forbes's), where were also
+several ministers of the Establishment, the conversation over their wine
+turned, among other things, on the Prayer Book. Skinner took no part in
+it, till one minister remarked to him, "The great faut I hae to your
+prayer-book is that ye use the Lord's Prayer sae aften,--ye juist mak a
+dishclout o't." Skinner's rejoinder was, "Verra true! Ay, man, we mak a
+dishclout o't, an' we wring't, an' we wring't, an' we wring't, an' the
+bree[163] o't washes a' the lave o' our prayers."
+
+No one, I think, could deny the wit of the two following rejoinders.
+
+A ruling elder of a country parish in the west of Scotland was well
+known in the district as a shrewd and ready-witted man. He received many
+a visit from persons who liked a banter, or to hear a good joke. Three
+young students gave him a call in order to have a little amusement at
+the elder's expense. On approaching him, one of them saluted him, "Well,
+Father Abraham, how are you to-day?" "You are wrong," said the other,
+"this is old Father Isaac." "Tuts," said the third, "you are both
+mistaken; this is old Father Jacob." David looked at the young men, and
+in his own way replied, "I am neither old Father Abraham, nor old Father
+Isaac, nor old Father Jacob; but I am Saul the son of Kish, seeking his
+father's asses, and lo! I've found three o' them."
+
+For many years the Baptist community of Dunfermline was presided over by
+brothers David Dewar and James Inglis, the latter of whom has just
+recently gone to his reward. Brother David was a plain, honest,
+straightforward man, who never hesitated to express his convictions,
+however unpalatable they might be to others. Being elected a member of
+the Prison Board, he was called upon to give his vote in the choice of a
+chaplain from the licentiates of the Established Kirk. The party who had
+gained the confidence of the Board had proved rather an indifferent
+preacher in a charge to which he had previously been appointed; and on
+David being asked to signify his assent to the choice of the Board, he
+said, "Weel, I've no objections to the man, for I understand he has
+preached a kirk toom (empty) already, and if he be as successful in the
+jail, he'll maybe preach it vawcant as weel."
+
+From Mr. Inglis, clerk of the Court of Session, I have the following
+Scottish rejoinder:--
+
+"I recollect my father relating a conversation between a Perthshire
+laird and one of his tenants. The laird's eldest son was rather a
+simpleton. Laird says, 'I am going to send the young laird abroad,'
+'What for?' asks the tenant; answered, 'To see the world;' tenant
+replies, 'But, lord-sake, laird, will no the world see _him_?'"
+
+An admirably humorous reply is recorded of a Scotch officer, well known
+and esteemed in his day for mirth and humour. Captain Innes of the
+Guards (usually called Jock Innes by his contemporaries) was with others
+getting ready for Flushing or some of those expeditions of the beginning
+of the great war. His commanding officer (Lord Huntly, my correspondent
+thinks) remonstrated about the badness of his hat, and recommended a new
+one--"Na, na! bide a wee," said Jock; "where we're gain' faith there'll
+soon be mair hats nor _heads_."
+
+I recollect being much amused with a Scottish reference of this kind in
+the heart of London. Many years ago a Scotch party had dined at
+Simpson's famous beef-steak house in the Strand. On coming away some of
+the party could not find their hats, and my uncle was jocularly asking
+the waiter, whom he knew to be a _Deeside_ man, "Whar are our bonnets,
+Jeems?" To which he replied, "'Deed, I mind the day when I had neither
+hat nor bonnet."
+
+There is an odd and original way of putting a matter sometimes in Scotch
+people, which is irresistibly comic, although by the persons nothing
+comic is intended; as for example, when in 1786 Edinburgh was
+illuminated on account of the recovery of George III. from severe
+illness. In a house where great preparation was going on for the
+occasion, by getting the candles fixed in tin sconces, an old nurse of
+the family, looking on, exclaimed, "Ay, it's a braw time for the
+cannel-makers when the king is sick, honest man!"
+
+Scottish farmers of the old school were a shrewd and humorous race,
+sometimes not indisposed to look with a little jealousy upon their
+younger brethren, who, on their part, perhaps, showed their contempt for
+the old-fashioned ways. I take the following example from the columns of
+the _Peterhead Sentinel_, just as it appeared--June 14, 1861:--
+
+"AN ANECDOTE FOR DEAN EAMSAY.--The following characteristic and amusing
+anecdote was communicated to us the other day by a gentleman who
+happened to be a party to the conversation detailed below. This
+gentleman was passing along a road not a hundred miles from Peterhead
+one day this week. Two different farms skirt the separate sides of the
+turnpike, one of which is rented by a farmer who cultivates his land
+according to the most advanced system of agriculture, and the other of
+which is farmed by a gentleman of the old school. Our informant met the
+latter worthy at the side of the turnpike opposite his neighbour's farm,
+and seeing a fine crop of wheat upon what appeared to be [and really
+was] very thin and poor land, asked, 'When was that wheat sown?' 'O I
+dinna ken,' replied the gentleman of the old school, with a sort of
+half-indifference, half-contempt. 'But isn't it strange that such a fine
+crop should be reared on such bad land?' asked our informant. 'O,
+na--nae at a'--deevil thank it; a gravesteen wad gie guid bree[164] gin
+ye gied it plenty o' butter!'"
+
+But perhaps the best anecdote illustrative of the keen shrewdness of the
+Scottish farmer is related by Mr. Boyd[165] in one of his charming
+series of papers, reprinted from _Fraser's Magazine_. "A friend of mine,
+a country parson, on first going to his parish, resolved to farm his
+glebe for himself. A neighbouring farmer kindly offered the parson to
+plough one of his fields. The farmer said that he would send his man
+John with a plough and a pair of horses on a certain day. 'If ye're
+goin' about,' said the farmer to the clergyman, 'John will be unco weel
+pleased if you speak to him, and say it's a fine day, or the like o'
+that; but dinna,' said the farmer, with much solemnity, 'dinna say
+onything to him about ploughin' and sawin'; for John,' he added, 'is a
+stupid body, but he has been ploughin' and sawin' a' his life, and he'll
+see in a minute that _ye_ ken naething aboot ploughin' and sawin'. And
+then,' said the sagacious old farmer, with much earnestness, 'if he
+comes to think that ye ken naething aboot ploughin' and sawin', he'll
+think that ye ken naething aboot onything!'"
+
+The following is rather an original commentary, by a layman, upon
+clerical incomes:--A relative of mine going to church with a Forfarshire
+farmer, one of the old school, asked him the amount of the minister's
+stipend. He said, "Od, it's a gude ane--the maist part of £300 a year."
+"Well," said my relative, "many of these Scotch ministers are but poorly
+off." "They've eneuch, sir, they've eneuch; if they'd mair, it would
+want a' their time to the spendin' o't."
+
+Scotch gamekeepers had often much dry quiet humour. I was much amused by
+the answer of one of those under the following circumstances:--An
+Ayrshire gentleman, who was from the first a very bad shot, or rather no
+shot at all, when out on 1st of September, having failed, time after
+time, in bringing down a single bird, had at last pointed out to him by
+his attendant bag-carrier a large covey, thick and close on the
+stubbles. "Noo, Mr. Jeems, let drive at them, just as they are!" Mr.
+Jeems did let drive, as advised, but not a feather remained to testify
+the shot. All flew off, safe and sound--"Hech, sir (remarks his friend),
+but ye've made thae yins _shift their quarters_."
+
+The two following anecdotes of rejoinders from Scottish guidwives, and
+for which I am indebted, as for many other kind communications, to the
+Rev. Mr. Blair of Dunblane, appear to me as good examples of the
+peculiar Scottish pithy phraseology which we refer to, as any that I
+have met with.
+
+An old lady from whom the "Great Unknown" had derived many an ancient
+tale, was waited upon one day by the author of "Waverley." On his
+endeavouring to give the authorship the go-by, the old dame protested,
+"D'ye think, sir, I dinna ken my ain groats in ither folk's kail[166]?"
+
+A conceited packman called at a farm-house in the west of Scotland, in
+order to dispose of some of his wares. The goodwife was offended by his
+southern accent, and his high talk about York, London, and other big
+places. "An' whaur come ye frae yersell?" was the question of the
+guidwife. "Ou, I am from the Border." "The Border--oh! I thocht that;
+for we aye think the _selvidge_ is the wakest bit o' the wab!"
+
+The following is a good specimen of ready Scotch humorous reply, by a
+master to his discontented workman, and in which he turned the tables
+upon him, in his reference to Scripture. In a town of one of the central
+counties a Mr. J---- carried on, about a century ago, a very extensive
+business in the linen manufacture. Although _strikes_ were then unknown
+among the labouring classes, the spirit from which these take their rise
+has no doubt at all times existed. Among Mr. J----'s many workmen, one
+had given him constant annoyance for years, from his discontented and
+argumentative spirit. Insisting one day on getting something or other
+which his master thought most unreasonable, and refused to give in to,
+he at last submitted, with a bad grace, saying, "You're nae better than
+_Pharaoh_, sir, forcin' puir folk to mak' bricks without straw." "Well,
+Saunders," quietly rejoined his master, "if I'm nae better than Pharaoh
+in one respect, I'll be better in another, for _I'll no hinder ye going
+to the wilderness whenever you choose_."
+
+Persons who are curious in Scottish stories of wit and humour speak much
+of the sayings of a certain "Laird of Logan," who was a well-known
+character in the West of Scotland. This same Laird of Logan was at a
+meeting of the heritors of Cumnock, where a proposal was made to erect a
+new churchyard wall. He met the proposition with the dry remark, "I
+never big dykes till the _tenants_ complain." Calling one day for a gill
+of whisky in a public-house, the Laird was asked if he would take any
+water with the spirit. "Na, na," replied he, "I would rather ye would
+tak the water out o't."
+
+The laird sold a horse to an Englishman, saying, "You buy him as you
+see him; but he's an _honest_ beast." The purchaser took him home. In a
+few days he stumbled and fell, to the damage of his own knees and his
+rider's head. On this the angry purchaser remonstrated with the laird,
+whose reply was, "Well, sir, I told ye he was an honest beast; many a
+time has he threatened to come down with me, and I kenned he would keep
+his word some day."
+
+At the time of the threatened invasion, the laird had been taunted at a
+meeting at Ayr with want of loyal spirit at Cumnock, as at that place no
+volunteer corps had been raised to meet the coming danger; Cumnock, it
+should be recollected, being on a high situation, and ten or twelve
+miles from the coast. "What sort of people are you up at Cumnock?" said
+an Ayr gentleman; "you have not a single volunteer!" "Never you heed,"
+says Logan, very quietly; "if the French land at Ayr, there will soon be
+plenty of volunteers up at Cumnock."
+
+A pendant to the story of candid admission on the part of the minister,
+that the people might be _weary_ after his sermon, has been given on the
+authority of the narrator, a Fife gentleman, ninety years of age when he
+told it. He had been to church at Elie, and listening to a young and
+perhaps bombastic preacher, who happened to be officiating for the Rev.
+Dr. Milligan, who was in church. After service, meeting the Doctor in
+the passage, he introduced the young clergyman, who, on being asked by
+the old man how he did, elevated his shirt collar, and complained of
+fatigue, and being very much "_tired_." "Tired, did ye say, my man?"
+said the old satirist, who was slightly deaf; "Lord, man! if you're
+_half_ as tired as I am, I pity ye!"
+
+I have been much pleased with an offering from Carluke, containing two
+very pithy anecdotes. Mr. Rankin very kindly writes:--"Your
+'Reminiscences' are most refreshing. I am very little of a
+story-collector, but I have recorded some of an old schoolmaster, who
+was a story-teller. As a sort of payment for the amusement I have
+derived from your book, I shall give one or two."
+
+He sends the two following:--
+
+"Shortly after Mr. Kay had been inducted schoolmaster of Carluke (1790),
+the bederal called at the school, verbally announcing,
+proclamation-ways, that Mrs. So-and-So's funeral would be on Fuirsday.
+'At what hour?' asked the dominie. 'Ou, ony time atween ten and twa.' At
+two o'clock of the day fixed, Mr. Kay--quite a stranger to the customs
+of the district--arrived at the place, and was astonished to find a
+crowd of men and lads, standing here and there, some smoking, and all
+_arglebargling_[167] as if at the end of a fair. He was instantly, but
+mysteriously, approached, and touched on the arm by a red-faced
+bareheaded man, who seemed to be in authority, and was beckoned to
+follow. On entering the barn, which was seated all round, he found
+numbers sitting, each with the head bent down, and each with his hat
+between his knees--all gravity and silence. Anon a voice was heard
+issuing from the far end, and a long prayer was uttered. They had worked
+at this--what was called '_a service_'--during three previous hours, one
+party succeeding another, and many taking advantage of every service,
+which consisted of a prayer by way of grace, a glass of _white_ wine, a
+glass of _red_ wine, a glass of _rum_, and a prayer by way of
+thanksgiving. After the long invocation, bread and wine passed round.
+Silence prevailed. Most partook of both _rounds_ of wine, but when the
+rum came, many nodded refusal, and by and by the nodding seemed to be
+universal, and the trays passed on so much the more quickly. A sumphish
+weather-beaten man, with a large flat blue bonnet on his knee, who had
+nodded unwittingly, and was about to lose the last chance of a glass of
+rum, raised his head, saying, amid the deep silence, 'Od, I daursay I
+_wull_ tak anither glass,' and in a sort of vengeful, yet apologetic
+tone, added, 'The auld jaud yince cheated me wi' a cauve' (calf)."
+
+At a farmer's funeral in the country, an undertaker was in charge of the
+ceremonial, and directing how it was to proceed, when he noticed a
+little man giving orders, and, as he thought, rather encroaching upon
+the duties and privileges of his own office. He asked him, "And wha are
+ye, mi' man, that tak sae muckle on ye?" "Oh, dinna ye ken?" said the
+man, under a strong sense of his own importance, "I'm the corp's
+brither[168]?"
+
+Curious scenes took place at funerals where there was, in times gone by,
+an unfortunate tendency to join with such solemnities more attention to
+festal entertainment than was becoming. A farmer, at the interment of
+his second wife, exercised a liberal hospitality to his friends at the
+inn near the church. On looking over the bill, the master defended the
+charge as moderate. But he reminded him, "Ye forget, man, that it's no
+ilka ane that brings a _second_ funeral to your house."
+
+"Dr. Scott, minister of Carluke (1770), was a fine graceful kindly man,
+always stepping about in his bag-wig and cane in hand, with a kind and
+ready word to every one. He was officiating at a bridal in his parish,
+where there was a goodly company, had partaken of the good cheer, and
+waited till the young people were fairly warmed in the dance. A
+dissenting body had sprung up in the parish, which he tried to think was
+beneath him even to notice, when he could help it, yet never seemed to
+feel at all keenly when the dissenters were alluded to. One of the chief
+leaders of this body was at the bridal, and felt it to be his bounden
+duty to call upon the minister for his reasons for sanctioning by his
+presence so sinful an enjoyment. 'Weel, minister, what think ye o' this
+dancin'?' 'Why, John,' said the minister, blithely, 'I think it an
+excellent exercise for young people, and, I dare say, so do you.' 'Ah,
+sir, I'm no sure about it; I see nae authority for't in the Scriptures.'
+'Umph, indeed, John; you cannot forget David.' 'Ah, sir, Dauvid; gif
+they were a' to dance as Dauvid did, it would be a different thing
+a'thegither.' 'Hoot-o-fie, hoot-o-fie, John; would you have the young
+folk strip to the sark?'"
+
+Reference has been made to the eccentric laird of Balnamoon, his wig,
+and his "speats o' drinking and praying." A story of this laird is
+recorded, which I do think is well named, by a correspondent who
+communicates it, as a "quintessential phasis of dry Scotch humour," and
+the explanation of which would perhaps be thrown away upon any one who
+_needed_ the explanation. The story is this:--The laird riding past a
+high steep bank, stopped opposite a hole in it, and said, "Hairy, I saw
+a brock gang in there." "Did ye?" said Hairy; "wull ye hand my horse,
+sir?" "Certainly," said the laird, and away rushed Hairy for a spade.
+After digging for half-an-hour, he came back, quite done, to the laird,
+who had regarded him musingly. "I canna find him, sir," said Hairy.
+"'Deed," said the laird, very coolly, "I wad ha' wondered if ye had, for
+it's ten years sin' I saw him gang in there."
+
+Amongst many humorous colloquies between Balnamoon and his servant, the
+following must have been very racy and very original. The laird,
+accompanied by Hairy, after a dinner party, was riding on his way home,
+through a ford, when he fell off into the water. "Whae's that faun?" he
+inquired. "'Deed," quoth Hairy, "I witna an it be na your honour."
+
+There is a peculiarity connected with what we have considered Scotch
+humour. It is more common for Scotsmen to associate their own feelings
+with _national_ events and national history than for Englishmen. Take as
+illustrations the following, as being perhaps as good as any:--The Rev.
+Robert Scott, a Scotsman who forgets not Scotland in his southern
+vicarage, and whom I have named before as having sent me some good
+reminiscences, tells me that, at Inverary, some thirty years ago, he
+could not help overhearing the conversation of some Lowland
+cattle-dealers in the public room in which he was. The subject of the
+bravery of our navy being started, one of the interlocutors expressed
+his surprise that Nelson should have issued his signal at Trafalgar in
+the terms, "_England expects_," etc. He was met with the answer (which
+seemed highly satisfactory to the rest), "Ah, Nelson only said
+'_expects_' of the English; he said naething of Scotland, for he _kent_
+the _Scotch_ would do theirs."
+
+I am assured the following manifestation of national feeling against the
+memory of a Scottish character actually took place within a few
+years:--Williamson (the Duke of Buccleuch's huntsman) was one afternoon
+riding home from hunting through Haddington; and as he passed the old
+Abbey, he saw an ancient woman looking through the iron grating in front
+of the burial-place of the Lauderdale family, holding by the bars, and
+grinning and dancing with rage. "Eh, gudewife," said Williamson, "what
+ails ye?" "It's the Duke o' Lauderdale," cried she. "Eh, if I could win
+at him, I wud rax the banes o' him."
+
+To this class belongs the following complacent Scottish remark upon
+Bannockburn. A splenetic Englishman said to a Scottish countryman,
+something of a wag, that no man of taste would think of remaining any
+time in such a country as Scotland. To which the canny Scot replied,
+"Tastes differ; I'se tak ye to a place no far frae Stirling, whaur
+thretty thousand o' your countrymen ha' been for five hunder years, and
+they've nae thocht o' leavin' yet."
+
+In a similar spirit, an honest Scotch farmer, who had sent some sheep to
+compete at a great English agricultural cattle-show, and was much
+disgusted at not getting a prize, consoled himself for the
+disappointment, by insinuating that the judges could hardly act quite
+impartially by a Scottish competitor, complacently remarking, "It's aye
+been the same since Bannockburn."
+
+Then, again, take the story told in Lockhart's Life of Sir Walter Scott,
+of the blacksmith whom Sir Walter had formerly known as a horse-doctor,
+and whom he found at a small country town south of the Border,
+practising medicine with a reckless use of "laudamy and calomy[169],"
+apologising at the same time for the mischief he might do, by the
+assurance that it "_would be lang before it made up for Flodden_." How
+graphically it describes the interest felt by Scotchmen of his rank in
+the incidents of their national history. A similar example has been
+recorded in connection with Bannockburn. Two Englishmen visited the
+field of that great battle, and a country blacksmith pointed out the
+positions of the two armies, the stone on which was fixed the Bruce's
+standard, etc. The gentlemen, pleased with the intelligence of their
+guide, on leaving pressed his acceptance of a crown-piece. "Na, na,"
+replied the Scotsman, with much pride, "it has cost ye eneuch already."
+Such an example of self-denial on the part of a Scottish cicerone is, we
+fear, now rather a "reminiscence."
+
+A north country drover had, however, a more _tangible_ opportunity of
+gratifying his national animosity against the Southron, and of which he
+availed himself. Returning homewards, after a somewhat unsuccessful
+journey, and not in very good humour with the Englishers, when passing
+through Carlisle he saw a notice stuck up, offering a reward of £50 for
+any one who would do a piece of service to the community, by officiating
+as executioner of the law on a noted criminal then under sentence of
+death. Seeing a chance to make up for his bad market, and comforted with
+the assurance that he was unknown there, he undertook the office,
+executed the condemned, and got the fee. When moving off with the money,
+he was twitted at as a "mean beggarly Scot," doing for money what no
+_Englishman_ would. With a grin and quiet glee, he only replied, "I'll
+hang ye a' at the price."
+
+Some Scotsmen, no doubt, have a very complacent feeling regarding the
+superiority of their countrymen, and make no hesitation in proclaiming
+their opinion. I have always admired the quaint expression of such
+belief in a case which has recently been reported to me. A young
+Englishman had taken a Scottish shooting-ground, and enjoyed his
+mountain sport so much as to imbibe a strong partiality for his northern
+residence and all its accompaniments. At a German watering-place he
+encountered, next year, an original character, a Scotsman of the old
+school, very national, and somewhat bigoted in his nationality: he
+determined to pass himself off to him as a genuine Scottish native; and,
+accordingly, he talked of Scotland and haggis, and sheep's head, and
+whisky; he boasted of Bannockburn, and admired Queen Mary; looked upon
+Scott and Burns as superior to all English writers; and staggered,
+although he did not convince, the old gentleman. On going away he took
+leave of his Scottish friend, and said, "Well, sir, next time we meet, I
+hope you will receive me as a real countryman." "Weel," he said, "I'm
+jest thinkin', my lad, ye're nae Scotsman; but I'll tell ye what ye
+are--ye're juist an _impruived_ Englishman."
+
+I am afraid we must allow that Scottish people have a _leetle_ national
+vanity, and may be too ready sometimes to press the claim of their
+country to an extravagantly assumed pre-eminence in the annals of genius
+and celebrities. An extreme case of such pretension I heard of lately,
+which is amusing. A Scotsman, in reference to the distinction awarded to
+Sir Walter Scott, on occasion of his centenary, had roundly asserted,
+"But _all_ who have been eminent men were Scotsmen." An Englishman,
+offended at such assumption of national pre-eminence, asked indignantly,
+"What do you say to Shakspeare?" To which the other quietly replied,
+"Weel, his tawlent wad justifee the inference." This is rich, as an
+example of an _à priori_ argument in favour of a man being a Scotsman.
+
+We find in the conversation of old people frequent mention of a class
+of beings well known in country parishes, now either become commonplace,
+like the rest of the world, or removed altogether, and shut up in
+poorhouses or madhouses--I mean the individuals frequently called
+parochial _idiots_; but who were rather of the order of naturals. They
+were eccentric, or somewhat crazy, useless, idle creatures, who used to
+wander about from house to house, and sometimes made very shrewd
+sarcastic remarks upon what was going on in the parish. I heard such a
+person once described as one who was "wanting in twopence of change for
+a shilling." They used to take great liberty of speech regarding the
+conduct and disposition of those with whom they came in contact, and
+many odd sayings which emanated from them were traditionary in country
+localities. I have a kindly feeling towards these imperfectly
+intelligent, but often perfectly cunning beings; partly, I believe, from
+recollections of early associations in boyish days with some of those
+Davy Gellatleys. I have therefore preserved several anecdotes with which
+I have been favoured, where their odd sayings and indications of a
+degree of mental activity have been recorded. These persons seem to have
+had a partiality for getting near the pulpit in church, and their
+presence there was accordingly sometimes annoying to the preacher and
+the congregation; as at Maybole, when Dr. Paul, now of St. Cuthbert's,
+was minister in 1823, John M'Lymont, an individual of this class, had
+been in the habit of standing so close to the pulpit door as to overlook
+the Bible and pulpit board. When required, however, by the clergyman to
+keep at a greater distance, and not _look in upon the minister_, he got
+intensely angry and violent. He threatened the minister,--"Sir, bæby
+(maybe) I'll come farther;" meaning to intimate that perhaps he would,
+if much provoked, come into the pulpit altogether. This, indeed,
+actually took place on another occasion, and the tenure of the
+ministerial position was justified by an argument of a most amusing
+nature. The circumstance, I am assured, happened in a parish in the
+north. The clergyman, on coming into church, found the pulpit occupied
+by the parish natural. The authorities had been unable to remove him
+without more violence than was seemly, and therefore waited for the
+minister to dispossess Tam of the place he had assumed. "Come down, sir,
+immediately!" was the peremptory and indignant call; and on Tam being
+unmoved, it was repeated with still greater energy. Tam, however,
+replied, looking down confidentially from his elevation, "Na, na,
+minister! juist ye come up wi' me. This is a perverse generation, and
+faith they need us baith." It is curious to mark the sort of glimmering
+of sense, and even of discriminating thought, displayed by persons of
+this class. As an example, take a conversation held by this same John
+M'Lymont, with Dr. Paul, whom he met some time after. He seemed to have
+recovered his good humour, as he stopped him and said, "Sir, I would
+like to speer a question at ye on a subject that's troubling me." "Well,
+Johnnie, what is the question?" To which he replied, "Sir, is it lawful
+at ony time to tell a lee?" The minister desired to know what Johnnie
+himself thought upon the point. "Weel, sir," said he, "I'll no say but
+in every case it's wrang to tell a lee; but," added he, looking archly
+and giving a knowing wink, "I think there are _waur lees than ithers_"
+"How, Johnnie?" and then he instantly replied, with all the simplicity
+of a fool, "_To keep down a din, for instance_. I'll no say but a man
+does wrang in telling a lee to keep down a din, but I'm sure he does not
+do half sae muckle wrang as a man who tells a lee to kick up a
+deevilment o' a din." This opened a question not likely to occur to such
+a mind. Mr. Asher, minister of Inveraven, in Morayshire, narrated to Dr.
+Paul a curious example of want of intelligence combined with a power of
+cunning to redress a fancied wrong, shown by a poor natural of the
+parish, who had been seized with a violent inflammatory attack, and was
+in great danger. The medical attendant saw it necessary to bleed him,
+but he resisted, and would not submit to it. At last the case became so
+hopeless that they were obliged to use force, and, holding his hands and
+feet, the doctor opened a vein and drew blood, upon which the poor
+creature, struggling violently, bawled out, "O doctor, doctor! you'll
+kill me! you'll kill me! and depend upon it the first thing I'll do when
+I get to the other world will be to _report you to the board of
+Supervision there, and get you dismissed_." A most extraordinary
+sensation was once produced on a congregation by Rab Hamilton, a
+well-remembered crazy creature of the west country, on the occasion of
+his attendance at the parish kirk of "Auld Ayr, wham ne'er a toun
+surpasses," the minister of which, in the opinion of Rab's own minister,
+Mr. Peebles, had a tendency to Socinian doctrines. Miss Kirkwood,
+Bothwell, relates the story from the recollection of her aunt, who was
+present. Rab had put his head between some iron rails, the first
+intimation of which to the congregation was a stentorian voice crying
+out, "Murder! my heed'll hae to be cuttit aff! Holy minister!
+congregation! Oh, my heed maun be cuttit aff. It's a judgment for
+leaving my godlie Mr. Peebles at the Newton." After he had been
+extricated and quieted, when asked why he put his head there, he said,
+"It was juist to look on[170] wi' _anither woman_."
+
+The following anecdote of this same Rab Hamilton from a kind
+correspondent at Ayr sanctions the opinion that he must have
+occasionally said such clever things as made some think him more rogue
+than fool. Dr. Auld often showed him kindness, but being once addressed
+by him when in a hurry and out of humour, he said, "Get away, Rab; I
+have nothing for you to day." "Whaw, whew," cried Rab, in a half howl,
+half whining tone, "I dinna want onything the day, Maister Auld; I
+wanted to tell you an awsome dream I hae had. I dreamt I was deed."
+"Weel, what then?" said Dr. Auld. "Ou, I was carried far, far, and up,
+up, up, till I cam to heeven's yett, where I chappit, and chappit, and
+chappit, till at last an angel keekit out, and said 'Wha are ye?' 'A'm
+puir Rab Hamilton.' 'Whaur are ye frae?' 'Frae the wicked toun o' Ayr.'
+'I dinna ken ony sic place,' said the angel. 'Oh, but A'm juist frae
+there,' Weel, the angel sends for the Apostle Peter, and Peter comes wi'
+his key and opens the yett, and says to me, 'Honest man, do you come
+frae the auld toun o' Ayr?' 'Deed do I,' says I. 'Weel,' says Peter, 'I
+ken the place, but naebody's cam frae the toun o' Ayr, no since the
+year'" so and so--mentioning the year when Dr. Auld was inducted into
+the parish. Dr. Auld could not resist giving him his answer, and telling
+him to go about his business.
+
+The pathetic complaint of one of this class, residing at a farm-house,
+has often been narrated, and forms a good illustration of idiot life and
+feelings. He was living in the greatest comfort, and every want
+provided. But, like the rest of mankind, he had his own trials, and his
+own cause for anxiety and annoyance. In this poor fellow's case it was
+the _great turkey-cock_ at the farm, of which he stood so terribly in
+awe that he was afraid to come within a great distance of his enemy.
+Some of his friends, coming to visit him, reminded him how comfortable
+he was, and how grateful he ought to be for the great care taken of him.
+He admitted the truth of the remark generally, but still, like others,
+he had his unknown grief which sorely beset his path in life. There was
+a secret grievance which embittered his lot; and to his friend he thus
+opened his heart:--"Ae, ae, but oh, I'm sair hadden doun wi' the bubbly
+jock[171]."
+
+I have received two anecdotes illustrative both of the occasional
+acutenesss of mind, and of the sensitiveness of feeling occasionally
+indicated by persons thus situated. A well-known idiot, Jamie Fraser,
+belonging to the parish of Lunan, in Forfarshire, quite surprised people
+sometimes by his replies. The congregation of his parish church had for
+some time distressed the minister by their habit of sleeping in church.
+He had often endeavoured to impress them with a sense of the impropriety
+of such conduct, and one day Jamie was sitting in the front gallery,
+wide awake, when many were slumbering round him. The clergyman
+endeavoured to draw the attention of his hearers to his discourse by
+stating the fact, saying, "You see even Jamie Fraser, the idiot, does
+not fall asleep, as so many of you are doing." Jamie, not liking,
+perhaps, to be thus designated, coolly replied, "An I hadna been an
+idiot, I micht ha' been sleepin' too." Another of these imbeciles,
+belonging to Peebles, had been sitting at church for some time listening
+attentively to a strong representation from the pulpit of the guilt of
+deceit and falsehood in Christian characters. He was observed to turn
+red, and grow very uneasy, until at last, as if wincing under the
+supposed attack upon himself personally, he roared out, "Indeed,
+minister, there's mair leears in Peebles than me." As examples of this
+class of persons possessing much of the dry humour of their more sane
+countrymen, and of their facility to utter sly and ready-witted sayings,
+I have received the two following from Mr. W. Chambers:--Daft Jock Gray,
+the supposed original of David Gellatley, was one day assailed by the
+minister of a south-country parish on the subject of his idleness.
+"John," said the minister, rather pompously, "you are a very idle
+fellow; you might surely herd a few cows." "Me hird!" replied Jock; "I
+dinna ken corn frae gerss."
+
+"There was a carrier named Davie Loch who was reputed to be rather light
+of wits, but at the same time not without a sense of his worldly
+interests. His mother, finding her end approaching, addressed her son in
+the presence of a number of the neighbours. 'The house will be Davie's
+and the furniture too.' 'Eh, hear her,' quoth Davie; 'sensible to the
+last, sensible to the last.' 'The lyin' siller'--'Eh yes; how clear she
+is about everything!' 'The lyin' siller is to be divided between my twa
+dauchters.' 'Steek the bed doors, steek the bed doors[172],' interposed
+Davie; 'she's ravin' now;' and the old dying woman was shut up
+accordingly."
+
+In the _Memorials of the Montgomeries_, Earls of Eglinton, vol. i. p.
+134, occurs an anecdote illustrative of the peculiar acuteness and
+quaint humour which occasionally mark the sayings of persons considered
+as imbeciles. There was a certain "Daft Will Speir," who was a
+privileged haunter of Eglinton Castle and grounds. He was discovered by
+the Earl one day taking a near cut, and crossing a fence in the demesne.
+The Earl called out, "Come back, sir, that's not the road." "Do you
+ken," said Will, "whaur I'm gaun?" "No," replied his lordship. "Weel,
+hoo the deil do ye ken whether this be the road or no?"
+
+This same "Daft Will Speir" was passing the minister's glebe, where
+haymaking was in progress. The minister asked Will if he thought the
+weather would keep up, as it looked rather like rain. "Weel," said Will,
+"I canna be very sure, but I'll be passin' this way the nicht, an' I'll
+ca' in and tell ye." "Well, Will," said his master one day to him,
+seeing that he had just finished his dinner, "have you had a good dinner
+to day?" (Will had been grumbling some time before.) "Ou, vera gude,"
+answered Will; "but gin onybody asks if I got a dram after't, what will
+I say?" This poor creature had a high sense of duty. It appears he had
+been given the charge of the coal-stores at the Earl of Eglinton's.
+Having on one occasion been reprimanded for allowing the supplies to run
+out before further supplies were ordered, he was ever afterwards most
+careful to fulfil his duty. In course of time poor Will became "sick
+unto death," and the minister came to see him. Thinking him in really a
+good frame of mind, the minister asked him, in presence of the laird and
+others, if there were not one _great_ thought which was ever to him the
+highest consolation in his hour of trouble. "Ou ay," gasped the
+sufferer, "Lord be thankit, a' the bunkers are fu'!"
+
+The following anecdote is told regarding the late Lord Dundrennan:--A
+half silly basket-woman passing down his avenue at Compstone one day,
+he met her, and said, "My good woman, there's no road this way." "Na,
+sir," she said, "I think ye're wrang there; I think it's a most
+beautifu' road."
+
+These poor creatures have invariably a great delight in attending
+funerals. In many country places hardly a funeral ever took place
+without the attendance of the parochial idiot. It seemed almost a
+necessary association; and such attendance seemed to constitute the
+great delight of those creatures. I have myself witnessed again and
+again the sort of funeral scene portrayed by Sir Walter Scott, who no
+doubt took his description from what was common in his day:--"The
+funeral pomp set forth--saulies with their batons and gumphions of
+tarnished white crape. Six starved horses, themselves the very emblems
+of mortality, well cloaked and plumed, lugging along the hearse with its
+dismal emblazonry, crept in slow pace towards the place of interment,
+preceded by Jamie Duff, an idiot, who, with weepers and cravat made of
+white paper, _attended on every funeral_, and followed by six mourning
+coaches filled with the company."--_Guy Mannering_.
+
+The following anecdote, supplied by Mr. Blair, is an amusing
+illustration both of the funeral propensity, and of the working of a
+defective brain, in a half-witted carle, who used to range the province
+of Galloway armed with a huge pike-staff, and who one day met a funeral
+procession a few miles from Wigtown. A long train of carriages, and
+farmers riding on horse-back, suggested the propriety of his bestriding
+his staff, and following after the funeral. The procession marched at a
+brisk pace, and on reaching the kirk-yard style, as each rider
+dismounted, "Daft Jock" descended from his wooden steed, besmeared with
+mire and perspiration, exclaiming, "Hech, sirs, had it no been for the
+fashion o' the thing, I micht as weel hae been on my ain feet."
+
+The withdrawal of these characters from public view, and the loss of
+importance which they once enjoyed in Scottish society, seem to me
+inexplicable. Have they ceased to exist, or are they removed from our
+sight to different scenes? The fool was, in early times, a very
+important personage in most Scottish households of any distinction.
+Indeed this had been so common as to be a public nuisance.
+
+It seemed that persons _assumed_ the character, for we find a Scottish
+Act of Parliament, dated 19th January 1449, with this title:--"Act for
+the way-putting of _Fenyent_ Fules," etc. (Thomson's Acts of Parliament
+of Scotland, vol. i.); and it enacts very stringent measures against
+such persons. They seem to have formed a link between the helpless idiot
+and the boisterous madman, sharing the eccentricity of the latter and
+the stupidity of the former, generally adding, however, a good deal of
+the sharp-wittedness of the _knave_. Up to the middle of the eighteenth
+century this appears to have been still an appendage to some families. I
+have before me a little publication with the title, "The Life and Death
+of Jamie Fleeman, the Laird of Udny's Fool. Tenth edition. Aberdeen,
+1810." With portrait. Also twenty-sixth edition, of 1829. I should
+suppose this account of a family fool was a fair representation of a
+good specimen of the class. He was evidently of defective intellect, but
+at times showed the odd humour and quick conclusion which so often mark
+the disordered brain. I can only now give two examples taken from his
+history:--Having found a horse-shoe on the road, he met Mr. Craigie, the
+minister of St. Fergus, and showed it to him, asking, in pretended
+ignorance, what it was. "Why, Jamie," said Mr. Craigie, good
+humouredly, "anybody that was not a fool would know that it is a
+horse-shoe." "Ah!" said Jamie, with affected simplicity, "what it is to
+be wise--to ken it's no a meer's shoe!"
+
+On another occasion, when all the country-side were hastening to the
+Perth races, Jamie had cut across the fields and reached a bridge near
+the town, and sat down upon the parapet. He commenced munching away at a
+large portion of a leg of mutton which he had somehow become possessed
+of, and of which he was amazingly proud. The laird came riding past, and
+seeing Jamie sitting on the bridge, accosted him:--"Ay, Fleeman, are ye
+here already?" "Ou ay," quoth Fleeman, with an air of assumed dignity
+and archness not easy to describe, while his eye glanced significantly
+towards the mutton, "Ou ay, ye ken a body when he _has anything_."
+
+Of witty retorts by half-witted creatures of this class, I do not know
+of one more pointed than what is recorded of such a character who used
+to hang about the residence of a late Lord Fife. It would appear that
+some parts of his lordship's estates, were barren, and in a very
+unproductive condition. Under the improved system of agriculture and of
+draining, great preparations had been made for securing a good crop in a
+certain field, where Lord Fife, his factor, and others interested in the
+subject, were collected together. There was much discussion, and some
+difference of opinion, as to the crop with which the field had best be
+sown. The idiot retainer, who had been listening unnoticed to all that
+was said, at last cried out, "Saw't wi' factors, ma lord; they are sure
+to thrive everywhere."
+
+There was an idiot who lived long in Lauder, and seems to have had a
+great resemblance to the jester of old times. He was a staunch
+supporter of the Established Church. One day some one gave him a bad
+shilling. On Sunday he went to the Seceders' meeting-house, and when the
+ladle was taken round he put in his bad shilling and took out
+elevenpence halfpenny. Afterwards he went in high glee to the late Lord
+Lauderdale, calling out, "I've cheated the Seceders the day, my lord;
+I've cheated the Seceders."
+
+Jemmy had long harboured a dislike to the steward on the property, which
+he made manifest in the following manner:--Lord Lauderdale and Sir
+Anthony Maitland used to take him out shooting; and one day Lord
+Maitland (he was then), on having to cross the Leader, said, "Now,
+Jemmy, you shall carry me through the water," which Jemmy duly did. The
+steward, who was shooting with them, expected the same service, and
+accordingly said, "Now, Jemmy, you must carry _me_ over." "Vera weel,"
+said Jemmy. He took the steward on his back, and when he had carefully
+carried him half-way across the river he paid off his grudge by dropping
+him quietly into the water.
+
+A daft individual used to frequent the same district, about whom a
+variety of opinions were entertained,--some people thinking him not so
+foolish as he sometimes seemed. On one occasion a person, wishing to
+test whether he knew the value of money, held out a sixpence and a
+penny, and offered him his choice. "I'll tak the wee ane," he said,
+giving as his modest reason, "I'se no be greedy." At another time, a
+miller laughing at him for his witlessness, he said, "Some things I ken,
+and some I dinna ken." On being asked what he knew, he said, "I ken a
+miller has aye a gey fat sou." "An' what d'ye no ken?" said the miller.
+"Ou," he returned, "I dinna ken wha's expense she's fed at."
+
+A very amusing collision of one of those penurious lairds, already
+referred to, a certain Mr. Gordon of Rothie, with a half-daft beggar
+wanderer of the name of Jock Muilton, has been recorded. The laird was
+very shabby, as usual, and, meeting Jock, began to banter him on the
+subject of his dress:--"Ye're very grand, Jock. Thae's fine claes ye hae
+gotten; whaur did ye get that coat?" Jock told him who had given him his
+coat, and then, looking slily at the laird, he inquired, as with great
+simplicity, "And whaur did ye get _yours_, laird?"
+
+For another admirable story of a rencontre between a penurious laird and
+the parish natural I am indebted to the _Scotsman_, June 16, 1871. Once
+on a time there was a Highland laird renowned for his caution in money
+matters, and his precise keeping of books. His charities were there; but
+that department of his bookkeeping was not believed to be heavy. On
+examination, a sum of half-a-crown was unexpectedly discovered in it;
+but this was accounted for in a manner creditable to his intentions, if
+not to his success in executing them. It had been given in mistake
+instead of a coin of a different denomination, to "the natural" of the
+parish for holding his shelty while he transacted business at the bank.
+A gleam in the boy's eye drew his attention to a gleam of white as the
+metal dropped into his pocket. In vain the laird assured him it was not
+a good bawbee--if he would give it up he would get another--it was "guid
+eneuch" for the like of him. And when the laird in his extremity swore a
+great oath that unless it was given up he would never give another
+halfpenny, the answer was--"Ech, laird, it wad be lang or ye gied
+me saxty."
+
+Another example of shrewd and ready humour in one of that class is the
+following:--In this case the idiot was musical, and earned a few stray
+pence by playing Scottish airs on a flute. He resided at Stirling, and
+used to hang about the door of the inn to watch the arrival and
+departure of travellers. A lady, who used to give him something
+occasionally, was just starting, and said to Jamie that she had only a
+fourpenny piece, and that he must be content with that, for she could
+not stay to get more. Jamie was not satisfied, and as the lady drove
+out, he expressed his feelings by playing with all his might, "O wearie
+o' the _toom pouch_[173]."
+
+The spirit in Jamie Fraser before mentioned, and which had kept him
+awake, shows itself in idiots occasionally by making them restless and
+troublesome. One of this character had annoyed the clergyman where he
+attended church by fidgeting, and by uncouth sounds which he uttered
+during divine service. Accordingly, one day before church began, he was
+cautioned against moving, or "making a whisht," under the penalty of
+being turned out. The poor creature sat quite still and silent, till, in
+a very important part of the sermon, he felt an inclination to cough. So
+he shouted out, "Minister, may a puir body like me noo gie a
+hoast[174]?"
+
+I have two anecdotes of two peers, who might be said to come under the
+description of half-witted. In their case the same sort of dry Scotch
+humour came out under the cloak of mental disease. The first is of a
+Scottish nobleman of the last century who had been a soldier the greater
+part of his life, but was obliged to come home on account of aberration
+of mind, superinduced by hereditary propensity. Desirous of putting him
+under due restraint, and at the same time of engaging his mind in his
+favourite pursuit, his friends secured a Sergeant Briggs to be his
+companion, and, in fact, keeper. To render the sergeant acceptable as a
+companion they introduced him to the old earl as _Colonel_ Briggs. Being
+asked how he liked "the colonel," the earl showed how acute he still was
+by his answer, "Oh, very well; he is a sensible man, and a good soldier,
+but he _smells damnably of the halbert_."
+
+The second anecdote relates also to a Scottish nobleman labouring under
+aberration of mind, and is, I believe, a traditionary one. In Scotland,
+some hundred years ago, madhouses did not exist, or were on a very
+limited scale; and there was often great difficulty in procuring
+suitable accommodation for patients who required special treatment and
+seclusion from the world. The gentleman in question had been consigned
+to the Canongate prison, and his position there was far from
+comfortable. An old friend called to see him, and asked how it had
+happened that he was placed in so unpleasant a situation. His reply was,
+"Sir, it was more the kind interest and patronage of my friends than my
+own merits that have placed me here." "But have you not remonstrated or
+complained?" asked his visitor. "I told them" said his lordship, "that
+they were a pack of infernal villains." "Did you?" said his friend;
+"that was bold language; and what did they say to that?" "Oh," said the
+peer, "I took care not to tell them till they were fairly out of the
+place, and weel up the Canongate."
+
+In Peebles there was a crazy being of this kind called "Daft Yedie." On
+one occasion he saw a gentleman, a stranger in the town, who had a club
+foot. Yedie contemplated this phenomenon with some interest, and,
+addressing the gentleman, said compassionately, "It's a great pity--its
+spoils the boot." There is a story of one of those half-witted creatures
+of a different character from the humorous ones already recorded; I
+think it is exceedingly affecting. The story is traditionary in a
+country district, and I am not aware of its being ever printed.
+
+A poor boy, of this class, who had evidently manifested a tendency
+towards religious and devotional feelings, asked permission from the
+clergyman to attend the Lord's Table and partake of the holy communion
+with the other members of the congregation (whether Episcopalian or
+Presbyterian I do not know). The clergyman demurred for some time, under
+the impression of his mind being incapable of a right and due
+understanding of the sacred ordinance. But observing the extreme
+earnestness of the poor boy, he at last gave consent, and he was allowed
+to come. He was much affected, and all the way home was heard to
+exclaim, "Oh! I hae seen the pretty man." This referred to his seeing
+the Lord Jesus whom he had approached in the sacrament. He kept
+repeating the words, and went with them on his lips to rest for the
+night. Not appearing at the usual hour for breakfast, when they went to
+his bedside they found him dead! The excitement had been too much--mind
+and body had given way--and the half-idiot of earth awoke to the glories
+and the bliss of his Redeemer's presence.
+
+Analogous with the language of the _defective_ intellect is the language
+of the imperfectly formed intellect, and I have often thought there was
+something very touching and very fresh in the expression of feelings and
+notions by children. I have given examples before, but the following is,
+to my taste, a charming specimen:--A little boy had lived for some time
+with a very penurious uncle, who took good care that the child's health
+should not be injured by over-feeding. The uncle was one day walking
+out, the child at his side, when a friend accosted him, accompanied by a
+greyhound. While the elders were talking, the little fellow, never
+having seen a dog so slim and slight of form, clasped the creature round
+the neck with the impassioned cry, "Oh, doggie, doggie, and div ye live
+wi' your uncle tae, that ye are so thin?"
+
+In connection with funerals, I am indebted to the kindness of Lord
+Kinloch for a characteristic anecdote of cautious Scottish character in
+the west country. It was the old fashion, still practised in some
+districts, to carry the coffin to the grave on long poles, or "spokes,"
+as they were commonly termed. There were usually two bearers abreast on
+each side. On a certain occasion one of the two said to his companion,
+"I'm awfu' tired wi' carryin'." "Do you _carry_?" was the interrogatory
+in reply. "Yes; what do you do?" "Oh," said the other, "I aye _lean_."
+His friend's fatigue was at once accounted for.
+
+I am strongly tempted to give an account of a parish functionary in the
+words of a kind correspondent from Kilmarnock, although communicated in
+the following very flattering terms:--"In common with every Scottish man
+worthy of the name, I have been delighted with your book, and have the
+ambition to add a pebble to the cairn, and accordingly send you a
+_bellman story_; it has, at least, the merit of being unprinted and
+unedited."
+
+The incumbent of Craigie parish, in this district of Ayrshire, had asked
+a Mr. Wood, tutor in the Cairnhill family, to officiate for him on a
+particular Sunday. Mr. Wood, however, between the time of being asked
+and the appointed day, got intimation of the dangerous illness of his
+father; in the hurry of setting out to see him, he forgot to arrange for
+the pulpit being filled. The bellman of Craigie parish, by name Matthew
+Dinning, and at this time about eighty years of age, was a very little
+"crined[175]" old man, and always wore a broad Scottish blue bonnet,
+with a red "bob" on the top. The parish is a small rural one, so that
+Matthew knew every inhabitant in it, and had seen most of them grow up.
+On this particular day, after the congregation had waited for some time,
+Matthew was seen to walk very slowly up the middle of the church, with
+the large Bible and psalm-book under his arm, to mount the pulpit stair;
+and after taking his bonnet off, and smoothing down his forehead with
+his "loof," thus addressed the audience:--
+
+"My freens, there was ane Wuds tae hae preached here the day, but he has
+nayther comed himsell, nor had the ceevility tae sen' us the scart o' a
+pen. Ye'll bide here for ten meenonts, and gin naebody comes forrit in
+that time, ye can gang awa' hame. Some say his feyther's dead; as for
+that I kenna."
+
+The following is another illustration of the character of the old
+Scottish betheral. One of those worthies, who was parochial
+grave-digger, had been missing for two days or so, and the minister had
+in vain sent to discover him at most likely places. He bethought, at
+last, to make inquiry at a "public" at some distance from the village,
+and on entering the door he met his man in the trance, quite fou,
+staggering out, supporting himself with a hand on each wa'. To the
+minister's sharp rebuke and rising wrath for his indecent and shameful
+behaviour, John, a wag in his way, and emboldened by liquor, made
+answer, "'Deed, sir, sin' I ca'd at the manse, I hae buried an auld
+wife, and I've just drucken her, hough an' horn." Such was his candid
+admission of the manner in which he had disposed of the church fees paid
+for the interment.
+
+An encounter of wits between a laird and an elder:--A certain laird in
+Fife, well known for his parsimonious habits, and who, although his
+substance largely increased, did not increase his liberality in his
+weekly contribution to the church collection, which never exceeded the
+sum of one penny, one day by mistake dropped into the plate at the door
+half-a-crown; but discovering his error before he was seated in his pew,
+he hurried back, and was about to replace the coin by his customary
+penny, when the elder in attendance cried out, "Stop, laird; ye may put
+_in_ what ye like, but ye maun tak naething _oot_!" The laird, finding
+his explanations went for nothing, at last said, "Aweel, I suppose I'll
+get credit for it in heaven." "Na, na, laird," said the elder,
+sarcastically; "ye'll only get credit for the _penny_."
+
+The following is not a bad specimen of sly _piper_ wit:--
+
+The Rev. Mr. Johnstone of Monquhitter, a very grandiloquent pulpit
+orator in his day, accosting a travelling piper, well known in the
+district, with the question, "Well, John, how does the wind pay?"
+received from John, with a low bow, the answer, "Your Reverence has the
+advantage of me."
+
+Apropos to stories connected with ministers and pipers, there cannot be
+a better specimen than the famous one preserved by Sir Walter Scott, in
+his notes to _Waverley_, which I am tempted to reproduce, as possibly
+some of my readers may have forgotten it. The gudewife of the inn at
+Greenlaw had received four clerical guests into her house, a father and
+three sons. The father took an early opportunity of calling the
+attention of the landlady to the subject of his visit, and, introducing
+himself, commenced in rather a pompous manner--"Now, confess, Luckie
+Buchan, you never remember having such a party in your house before.
+Here am I, a placed minister, with my three sons, who are themselves
+_all_ placed ministers." The landlady, accustomed to a good deal of
+deference and attention from the county families, not quite liking the
+high tone assumed by the minister on the occasion, and being well aware
+that all the four were reckoned very poor and uninteresting preachers,
+answered rather drily, "'Deed, minister, I canna just say that I ever
+had sic a party before in the hoose, except it were in the '45, when I
+had a piper and his three sons--_a_' pipers. But" (she added quietly, as
+if aside), "deil a spring could they play amang them."
+
+I have received from Rev. William Blair, A.M., U.P. minister at
+Dunblane, many kind communications. I have made a selection, which I now
+group together, and they have this character in common, that they are
+all anecdotes of ministers:--
+
+Rev. Walter Dunlop of Dumfries was well known for pithy and facetious
+replies; he was kindly known under the appellation of our "Watty
+Dunlop." On one occasion two irreverent young fellows determined, as
+they said, to "taigle[176]" the minister. Coming up to him in the High
+Street of Dumfries, they accosted him with much solemnity--"Maister
+Dunlop, dae ye hear the news?" "What news?" "Oh, the deil's deed." "Is
+he?" said Mr. Dunlop, "then I maun pray for twa faitherless bairns." On
+another occasion Mr. Dunlop met, with characteristic humour, an attempt
+to play off a trick against him. It was known that he was to dine with a
+minister whose house was close to the church, so that his return back
+must be through the churchyard. Accordingly some idle and mischievous
+youths waited for him in the dark night, and one of them came up to him,
+dressed as a ghost, in hopes of putting him in a fright. Watty's cool
+accost speedily upset the plan:--"Weel, Maister Ghaist, is this a
+general rising, or are ye juist takin' a daunder frae yer grave by
+yersell?" I have received from a correspondent another specimen of
+Watty's acute rejoinders. Some years ago the celebrated Edward Irving
+had been lecturing at Dumfries, and a man who passed as a wag in that
+locality had been to hear him. He met Watty Dunlop the following day,
+who said, "Weel, Willie, man, an' what do ye think of Mr. Irving?" "Oh,"
+said Willie, contemptuously, "the man's crack't." Dunlop patted him on
+the shoulder, with a quiet remark, "Willie, ye'll aften see a light
+peeping through a crack!"
+
+He was accompanying a funeral one day, when he met a man driving a flock
+of geese. The wayward disposition of the bipeds at the moment was too
+much for the driver's temper, and he indignantly cried out, "Deevil
+choke them!" Mr. Dunlop walked a little farther on, and passed a
+farm-stead, where a servant was driving out a number of swine, and
+banning them with "Deevil tak them!" Upon which, Mr. Dunlop stepped up
+to him, and said, "Ay, ay, my man; your gentleman'll be wi' ye i' the
+noo: he's juist back the road there a bit, choking some geese till
+a man."
+
+Shortly after the Disruption, Dr. Cook of St. Andrews was introduced to
+Mr. Dunlop, upon which occasion Mr. Dunlop said, "Weel, sir, ye've been
+lang Cook, Cooking them, but ye've dished them at last."
+
+Mr. Clark of Dalreoch, whose head was vastly disproportioned to his
+body, met Mr. Dunlop one day. "Weel, Mr. Clark, that's a great head o'
+yours." "Indeed it is, Mr. Dunlop; I could contain yours inside of my
+own." "Juist sae," quietly replied Mr. Dunlop; "I was e'en thinkin' it
+was geyan _toom_[177]."
+
+Mr. Dunlop happened one day to be present in a church court of a
+neighbouring presbytery. A Rev. Doctor was asked to pray, and declined.
+On the meeting adjourning, Mr. Dunlop stepped up to the Doctor, and
+asked how he did. The Doctor, never having been introduced, did not
+reply. Mr. Dunlop withdrew, and said to his friend, "Eh! but isna he a
+queer man, that Doctor, he'll neither speak to God nor man."
+
+The Rev. John Brown of Whitburn was riding out one day on an old pony,
+when he was accosted by a rude youth: "I say, Mr. Broon, what gars your
+horse's tail wag that way?" "Oo, juist what gars your tongue wag; it's
+fashed wi' a _wakeness_."
+
+About sixty years ago there were two ministers in Sanquhar of the name
+of Thomson, one of whom was father of the late Dr. Andrew Thomson of
+Edinburgh, the other was father of Dr. Thomson of Balfron. The domestic
+in the family of the latter was rather obtrusive with her secret
+devotions, sometimes kneeling on the stairs at night, and talking loud
+enough to be heard. On a communion season she was praying devoutly and
+exclusively for her minister: "Remember Mr. Tamson, no him at the Green,
+but oor ain Mr. Tamson."
+
+Rev. Mr. Leslie of Morayshire combined the duties of justice of peace
+with those of parochial clergyman. One day he was taken into confidence
+by a culprit who had been caught in the act of smuggling, and was
+threatened with a heavy fine. The culprit was a staunch Seceder, and
+owned a small farm. Mr. Leslie, with an old-fashioned zeal for the
+Established Church, said to him, "The king will come in the cadger's
+road some day. Ye wadna come to the parish kirk, though it were to save
+your life, wad ye? Come noo, an' I'se mak ye a' richt!" Next Sabbath the
+seceding smuggler appeared in the parish kirk, and as the paupers were
+receiving parochial allowance, Mr. Leslie slipped a shilling into the
+smuggler's hand. When the J.P. Court was held, Mr. Leslie was present,
+when a fine was proposed to be exacted from the smuggler. "Fine!" said
+Mr. Leslie; "he's mair need o' something to get duds to his back. He's
+are o' my _poor roll_; I gie'd him a shilling just last Sabbath."
+
+A worthy old Seceder used to ride from Gargunnock to Bucklyvie every
+Sabbath to attend the Burgher kirk. One day as he rode past the parish
+kirk of Kippen, the elder at the plate accosted him, "I'm sure, John,
+it's no like the thing to see you ridin' in sic a doon-pour o' rain sae
+far by to thae Seceders. Ye ken the mercifu' man is mercifu' to his
+beast. Could ye no step in by?" "Weel," said John, "I wadna care sae
+muckle about stablin' my beast inside, but it's anither thing mysel'
+gain' in."
+
+The Rev. Dr. George Lawson of Selkirk acted for many years as
+theological tutor to the Secession Church. One day, on entering the
+Divinity Hall, he overheard a student remark that the professor's wig
+was uncombed. That same student, on that very day, had occasion to
+preach a sermon before the Doctor, for which he received a bit of severe
+criticism, the sting of which was in its tail: "You said my wig wasna
+kaimed this mornin', my lad, but I think I've redd your head to you."
+
+The Rev. John Heugh of Stirling was one day admonishing one of his
+people of the sin of intemperance: "Man, John, you should never drink
+except when you're dry." "Weel, sir," quoth John, "that's what I'm aye
+doin', for I am never slocken'd."
+
+The Rev. Mr. M---- of Bathgate came up to a street-paviour one day, and
+addressed him, "Eh, John, what's this you're at?" "Oh! I'm mending the
+ways o' Bathgate!" "Ah, John, I've long been trying to mend the ways o'
+Bathgate, an' they're no weel yet." "Weel, Mr. M., if you had tried my
+plan, and come doon to your _knees_, ye wad maybe hae come mair speed!"
+
+There once lived in Cupar a merchant whose store contained supplies of
+every character and description, so that he was commonly known by the
+sobriquet of Robbie A'Thing. One day a minister, who was well known for
+a servile use of MS. in the pulpit, called at the store, asking for a
+rope and pin to tether a young calf in the glebe. Robbie at once
+informed him that he could not furnish such articles to him. But the
+minister, being somewhat importunate, said, "Oh! I thought you were
+named Robbie A'Thing from the fact of your keeping all kinds of goods."
+"Weel a weel," said Robbie, "I keep a'thing in my shop but calf's
+tether-pins and paper sermons for ministers to read."
+
+It was a somewhat whimsical advice, supported by whimsical argument,
+which used to be given by an old Scottish minister to young preachers,
+when they visited from home, to "sup well at the kail, for if they were
+good they were worth the supping, and if not they might be sure there
+was not much worth coming _after_ them."
+
+A good many families in and around Dunblane rejoice in the patronymic of
+Dochart. This name, which sounds somewhat Irish, is derived from Loch
+Dochart, in Perthshire. The M'Gregors having been proscribed, were
+subjected to severe penalties, and a group of the clan having been
+hunted by their superiors, swam the stream which issues from Loch
+Dochart, and in gratitude to the river they afterwards assumed the
+family name of Dochart. A young lad of this name, on being sent to
+Glasgow College, presented a letter from his minister to Rev. Dr. Heugh
+of Glasgow. He gave his name as Dochart, and the name in the letter was
+M'Gregor. "Oh," said the Doctor, "I fear there is some mistake about
+your identity, the names don't agree." "Weel, sir, that's the way they
+spell the name in our country."
+
+The relative whom I have mentioned as supplying so many Scottish
+anecdotes had many stories of a parochial functionary whose
+eccentricities have, in a great measure, given way before the
+assimilating spirit of the times. I mean the old SCOTTISH BEADLE, or
+betheral, as he used to be called. Some classes of men are found to have
+that nameless but distinguishing characteristic of figure and aspect
+which marks out particular occupations and professions of mankind. This
+was so much the case in the betheral class, that an old lady, observing
+a well-known judge and advocate walking together in the street, remarked
+to a friend as they passed by, "Dear me, Lucy, wha are thae twa
+_beddle-looking_ bodies?" They were often great originals, and, I
+suspect, must have been in past times somewhat given to convivial
+habits, from a remark I recollect of the late Baron Clerk Rattray, viz.
+that in his younger days he had hardly ever known a perfectly sober
+betheral. However this may have been, they were, as a class, remarkable
+for quaint humour, and for being shrewd observers of what was going on.
+I have heard of an occasion where the betheral made his wit furnish an
+apology for his want of sobriety. He had been sent round the parish by
+the minister to deliver notices at all the houses, of the catechising
+which was to precede the preparation for receiving the communion. On his
+return it was quite evident that he had partaken too largely of
+refreshment since he had been on his expedition. The minister reproached
+him for this improper conduct. The betheral pleaded the pressing
+_hospitality_ of the parishioners. The clergyman did not admit the plea,
+and added, "Now, John, I go through the parish, and you don't see me
+return fou, as you have done." "Ay, minister," rejoined the betheral,
+with much complacency, "but then aiblins ye're no sae popular i' the
+parish as me."
+
+My relative used to tell of one of these officials receiving, with much
+ceremony, a brother betheral, from a neighbouring parish, who had come
+with the minister thereof for the purpose of preaching on some special
+occasion. After service, the betheral of the stranger clergyman felt
+proud of the performance of the appointed duty, and said in a triumphant
+tone to his friend, "I think oor minister did weel; ay, he gars the
+stour flee oot o' the cushion." To which the other rejoined, with a calm
+feeling of superiority, "Stour oot o' the cushion! hout, our minister,
+sin' he cam wi' us, has dung the guts oot o' twa Bibles." Another
+description I have heard of an energetic preacher more forcible than
+delicate--"Eh, oor minister had a great power o' watter, for he grat,
+and spat, and swat like mischeef." An obliging anonymous correspondent
+has sent me a story of a functionary of this class whose pride was
+centred not so much in the performance of the minister as of the
+precentor. He states that he remembers an old beadle of the church which
+was called "Haddo's Hole," and sometimes the "Little Kirk," in
+Edinburgh, whose son occasionally officiated as precentor. He was not
+very well qualified for the duty, but the father had a high opinion of
+his son's vocal powers. In those days there was always service in the
+church on the Tuesday evenings; and when the father was asked on such
+occasions, "Who's to preach to-night?" his self-complacent reply used to
+be, "I divna ken wha's till preach, but my son's for till precent." The
+following is a more correct version of a betheral story than one which
+occupied this page in the last edition. The beadle had been asked to
+recommend a person for the same office, and his answer was, "If ye had
+wanted twa or three bits o' elder bodies, I cud hae gotten them for ye
+as easily as penny baps oot of Mr. Rowan's shop," pointing to a baker's
+shop opposite to where the colloquy took place; "or even if ye had
+wanted a minister, I might hae helpit ye to get ane; but as for a gude
+_beadle_, that's about the maist difficult thing I ken o' just now."
+
+Perhaps the following may seem to illustrate the self-importance of the
+betheral tribe. The Rev. Dr. Hugh Blair was one Sunday absent from his
+pulpit, and next morning meeting his beadle in the street he inquired
+how matters went in the High Church on Sabbath. "'Deed, I dare say no
+very weel," was the answer; "I wasna there ony mair than yoursell."
+
+Mr. Turnbull of Dundee kindly sends me an excellent anecdote of the
+"Betheral" type, which illustrates the _esprit de corps_ of the
+betherelian mind. The late Dr. Robertson of Glasgow had, while in the
+parish of Mains, a quaint old church attendant of the name of Walter
+Nicoll, commonly called "Watty Nuckle," whom he invited to come and
+visit him after he had been removed to Glasgow. Watty accordingly
+ventured on the (to him) terrible journey, and was received by the
+Doctor with great kindness. The Doctor, amongst other sights, took him
+to see the Cathedral church, and showed him all through it, and after
+they were coming away the Doctor asked Watty what he thought of it, and
+if it was not better than the Mains church. Watty shook his head, and
+said, "Aweel, sir, you see she's bigger; but she has nae laft, and she's
+sair fashed wi' thae pillars."
+
+On the same subject of beadle peculiarities, I have received from Mrs.
+Mearns of Kineff Manse an exquisitely characteristic illustration of
+beadle _professional_ habits being made to bear upon the tender
+passion:--A certain beadle had fancied the manse housemaid, but at a
+loss for an opportunity to declare himself, one day--a Sunday--when his
+duties were ended, he looked sheepish, and said, "Mary, wad _ye_ tak a
+turn, Mary?" He led her to the churchyard, and pointing with his finger,
+got out, "My fowk lie there, Mary; wad ye like to lie there?" The
+_grave_ hint was taken, and she became his wife, but does not yet
+lie _there_.
+
+Here is another good example of betheral refinement or philosophy.--He
+was carefully dressing up a grave, and adjusting the turf upon it. The
+clergyman, passing through the churchyard, observed, "That's beautiful
+sod, Jeems." "Indeed is't, minister, and I grudge it upon the grave o'
+sic a scamp."
+
+This class of functionaries were very free in their remarks upon the
+preaching of strangers, who used occasionally to occupy the pulpit of
+their church--the city betherals speaking sometimes in a most
+condescending manner of clergy from the provincial parishes. As, for
+example, a betheral of one of the large churches in Glasgow, criticising
+the sermon of a minister from the country who had been preaching in the
+city church, characterised it as "gude coorse country wark." A betheral
+of one of the churches of St. Giles, Edinburgh, used to call on the
+family of Mr. Robert Stevenson, engineer, who was one of the elders. On
+one occasion they asked him what had been the text on such a night, when
+none of the family had been present. The man of office, confused at the
+question, and unwilling to show anything like ignorance, poured forth,
+"Weel, ye see, the text last day was just entirely, sirs--yes--the text,
+sirs--what was it again?--ou ay, just entirely, ye see it was, 'What
+profiteth a man if he lose the world, and gain his own soul?'" Most of
+such stories are usually of an old standing. A more recent one has been
+told me of a betheral of a royal burgh much decayed from former
+importance, and governed by a feeble municipality of old men, who
+continued in office, and in fact constituted rather the shadow than the
+substance of a corporation. A clergyman from a distance having come to
+officiate in the parish church, the betheral, knowing the terms on which
+it was usual for the minister officiating to pray for the efficiency of
+the local magistracy, quietly cautioned the clergyman before service
+that, in regard to the town-council there, it would be quite out of
+place for him to pray that they should be a "terror to evil-doers,"
+because, as he said, "the puir auld bodies could be nae terror to
+onybody." A minister of Easter Anstruther, during the last century, used
+to say of the magistrates of Wester Anstruther, that "instead of being a
+terror to evil-doers, evil-doers were a terror to them."
+
+The "minister's man" was a functionary well known in many parishes, and
+who often evinced much Scottish humour and original character. These men
+were (like the betheral) great critics of sermons, and often severe upon
+strangers, sometimes with a sly hit at their own minister. One of these,
+David, a well-known character, complimenting a young minister who had
+preached, told him, "Your introduction, sir, is aye grand; its worth a'
+the rest o' the sermon--could ye no mak it a' introduction?"
+
+David's criticisms of his master's sermons were sometimes sharp enough
+and shrewd. On one occasion, driving the minister home from a
+neighbouring church where he had been preaching, and who, as he thought,
+had acquitted himself pretty well, inquired of David what _he_ thought
+of it. The subject of discourse had been the escape of the Israelites
+from Egypt. So David opened his criticism--"Thocht o't, sir? deed I
+thocht nocht o't ava. It was a vara imperfect discourse in ma opinion;
+ye did weel eneuch till ye took them through, but where did ye leave
+them? just daunerin' o' the sea-shore without a place to gang till. Had
+it no been for Pharaoh they had been better on the other side, where
+they were comfortably encampit, than daunerin' where ye left them. It's
+painful to hear a sermon stoppit afore it's richt ended, just as it is
+to hear ane streekit out lang after it's dune. That's ma opinion o' the
+sermon ye gied us to-day." "Very freely given, David, very freely given;
+drive on a little faster, for I think ye're daunerin' noo yersell."
+
+To another who had gone through a long course of parish official life a
+gentleman one day remarked--"John, ye hae been sae lang about the
+minister's hand that I dare say ye could preach a sermon yersell now."
+To which John modestly replied, "O na, sir, I couldna preach a sermon,
+but maybe I could draw an inference." "Well, John," said the gentleman,
+humouring the quiet vanity of the beadle, "what inference could ye draw
+frae this text, 'A wild ass snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure?'"
+(Jer. ii. 24). "Weel, sir, I wad draw this inference, he would snuff a
+lang time afore he would fatten upon't." I had an anecdote from a
+friend, of a reply from a betheral to the minister _in_ church, which
+was quaint and amusing from the shrewd self-importance it indicated in
+his own acuteness. The clergyman had been annoyed during the course of
+his sermon by the restlessness and occasional whining of a dog, which at
+last began to bark outright. He looked out for the beadle, and directed
+him very peremptorily, "John, carry that dog out." John, looked up to
+the pulpit, and with a very knowing expression, said, "Na, na, sir; I'se
+just mak him gae out on his ain four legs." I have another story of
+canine misbehaviour in church. A dog was present during the service, and
+in the sermon the worthy minister was in the habit of speaking very
+loud, and, in fact, when he got warmed with his subject, of shouting
+almost at the top of his voice. The dog, who, in the early part, had
+been very quiet, became quite excited, as is not uncommon with some dogs
+when hearing a noise, and from whinging and whining, as the speaker's
+voice rose loud and strong, at last began to bark and howl. The
+minister, naturally much annoyed at the interruption, called upon the
+betheral to put out the dog, who at once expressed his readiness to obey
+the order, but could not resist the temptation to look up to the pulpit,
+and to say very significantly, "Ay, ay, sir; but indeed it was yersell
+began it." There is a dog story connected with Reminiscences of Glasgow
+(see _Chambers's Journal_, March 1855), which is full of meaning. The
+bowls of rum-punch which so remarkably characterised the Glasgow dinners
+of last century and the early part of the present, it is to be feared
+made some of the congregation given to somnolency on the Sundays
+following. The members of the town-council often adopted Saturday for
+such meetings; accordingly, the Rev. Mr. Thorn, an excellent
+clergyman[178], took occasion to mark this propensity with some
+acerbity. A dog had been very troublesome, and disturbed the
+congregation for some time, when the minister at last gave orders to the
+beadle, "Take out that dog; he'd wauken a Glasgow magistrate."
+
+The parochial gravediggers had sometimes a very familiar professional
+style of dealing with the solemn subjects connected with their office.
+Thus I have heard of a grave-digger pointing out a large human bone to a
+lady who was looking at his work, of digging a grave, and asking
+her--"D'ye ken wha's bane that is, mem?--that's Jenny Fraser's
+hench-bane;" adding with a serious aspect--"a weel-baned family
+thae Frasers."
+
+It would be impossible in these Reminiscences to omit the well-known and
+often repeated anecdote connected with an eminent divine of our own
+country, whose works take a high place in our theological literature.
+The story to which I allude was rendered popular throughout the kingdom
+some years ago, by the inimitable mode in which it was told, or rather
+acted, by the late Charles Matthews. But Matthews was wrong in the
+person of whom he related the humorous address. I have assurance of the
+parties from a friend, whose father, a distinguished clergyman in the
+Scottish Church at the time, had accurate knowledge of the whole
+circumstances. The late celebrated Dr. Macknight, a learned and profound
+scholar and commentator, was nevertheless, as a preacher, to a great
+degree heavy, unrelieved by fancy or imagination; an able writer, but a
+dull speaker. His colleague, Dr. Henry, well known as the author of a
+History of England, was, on the other hand, a man of great humour, and
+could not resist a joke when the temptation came upon him. On one
+occasion when coming to church, Dr. Macknight had been caught in a
+shower of rain, and entered the vestry soaked with wet. Every means were
+used to relieve him from his discomfort; but as the time drew on for
+divine service he became much distressed, and ejaculated over and over,
+"Oh, I wush that I was dry; do you think I'm dry? do you think I'm dry
+eneuch noo?" His jocose colleague could resist no longer, but, patting
+him on the shoulder, comforted him with the sly assurance, "Bide a wee,
+Doctor, and ye'se be _dry eneuch_ when ye get into the pu'pit."
+
+Another quaint remark of the facetious doctor to his more formal
+colleague has been preserved by friends of the family. Dr. Henry, who
+with all his pleasantry and abilities, had himself as little popularity
+in the pulpit as his coadjutor, had been remarking to Dr. Macknight what
+a blessing it was that they were two colleagues in one charge, and
+continued dwelling on the subject so long, that Dr. Macknight, not quite
+pleased at the frequent reiteration of the remark, said that it
+certainly was a great pleasure to himself, but he did not see what great
+benefit it might be to the world. "Ah," said Dr. Henry, "an it hadna
+been for that, there wad hae been _twa_ toom[179] kirks this day." Lord
+Cockburn tells a characteristic anecdote of Dr. Henry's behaviour the
+last day of his life. I am indebted to a gentleman, himself also a
+distinguished member of the Scottish Church, for an authentic anecdote
+of this learned divine, and which occurred whilst Dr. Macknight was the
+minister of Maybole. One of his parishioners, a well-known humorous
+blacksmith of the parish, who, no doubt, thought that the Doctor's
+learned books were rather a waste of time and labour for a country
+pastor, was asked if his minister was at home. The Doctor was then busy
+bringing out his laborious and valuable work, his _Harmony of the Four
+Gospels_. "Na, he's gane to Edinburgh on a verra useless job." On being
+asked what this useless work might be which engaged his pastor's time
+and attention, he answered, "He's gane to mak four men agree wha ne'er
+cast oot." The good-humoured and candid answer of a learned and rather
+long-winded preacher of the old school always appeared to me quite
+charming. The good man was far from being a popular preacher, and yet he
+could not reduce his discourses below the hour and a half. On being
+asked, as a gentle hint of their possibly needless length, if he did not
+feel _tired_ after preaching so long, he replied, "Na, na, I'm no
+tired;" adding, however, with much naïveté, "But, Lord, how tired the
+fowk whiles are."
+
+The late good kind-hearted Dr. David Dickson was fond of telling a story
+of a Scottish termagant of the days before kirk-session discipline had
+passed away. A couple were brought before the court, and Janet, the
+wife, was charged with violent and undutiful conduct, and with wounding
+her husband by throwing a three-legged stool at his head. The minister
+rebuked her conduct, and pointed out its grievous character, by
+explaining that just as Christ was head of his Church, so the husband
+was head of the wife; and therefore in assaulting _him_, she had in fact
+injured her own body. "Weel," she replied, "it's come to a fine pass gin
+a wife canna kame her ain head;" "Ay, but, Janet," rejoined the
+minister, "a three-legged stool is a thief-like bane-kame to scart yer
+ain head wi'!"
+
+The following is a dry Scottish case, of a minister's wife quietly
+"kaming her husband's head." Mr. Mair, a Scotch minister, was rather
+short-tempered, and had a wife named Rebecca, whom for brevity's sake he
+addressed as "Becky." He kept a diary, and among other entries, this one
+was very frequent--"Becky and I had a rippet, for which I desire to be
+humble." A gentleman who had been on a visit to the minister went to
+Edinburgh, and told the story to a minister and his wife there; when the
+lady replied "Weel, he must have been an excellent man, Mr. Mair. My
+husband and I sometimes too have 'rippets,' but catch him if he's
+ever humble."
+
+Our object in bringing up and recording anecdotes of this kind is to
+elucidate the sort of humour we refer to, and to show it as a humour of
+_past_ times. A modern clergyman could hardly adopt the tone and manner
+of the older class of ministers--men not less useful and beloved, on
+account of their odd Scottish humour, which indeed suited their time.
+Could a clergyman, for instance, now come off from the trying position
+in which we have heard of a northern minister being placed, and by the
+same way through which he extricated himself with much good nature and
+quiet sarcasm? A young man, sitting opposite to him in the front of the
+gallery, had been up late on the previous night, and had stuffed the
+cards with which he had been occupied into his coat pocket. Forgetting
+the circumstance, he pulled out his handkerchief, and the cards all flew
+about. The minister simply looked at him, and remarked, "Eh, man, your
+psalm-buik has been ill bund."
+
+An admirable story of a quiet pulpit rebuke is traditionary in Fife, and
+is told of Mr. Shirra, a Seceding minister of Kirkcaldy, a man still
+well remembered by some of the older generation for many excellent and
+some eccentric qualities. A young officer of a volunteer corps on duty
+in the place, very proud of his fresh uniform, had come to Mr. Shirra's
+church, and walked about as if looking for a seat, but in fact to show
+off his dress, which he saw was attracting attention from some of the
+less grave members of the congregation. He came to his place, however,
+rather quickly, on Mr. Shirra quietly remonstrating, "O man, will ye sit
+doun, and we'll see your new breeks when the kirk's dune." This same Mr.
+Shirra was well known from his quaint, and, as it were, parenthetical
+comments which he introduced in his reading of Scripture; as, for
+example, on reading from the 116th Psalm, "I said in my haste all men
+are liars," he quietly observed, "Indeed, Dauvid, my man, an' ye had
+been i' this parish ye might hae said it at your leisure."
+
+There was something even still more pungent in the incidental remark of
+a good man, in the course of his sermon, who had in a country place
+taken to preaching out of doors in the summer afternoons. He used to
+collect the people as they were taking air by the side of a stream
+outside the village. On one occasion he had unfortunately taken his
+place on a bank, and fixed himself on an _ants' nest_. The active habits
+of those little creatures soon made the position of the intruder upon
+their domain very uncomfortable; and, afraid that his audience might
+observe something of this discomfort in his manner, he apologised by the
+remark--"Brethren, though I hope I have the word of God in my mouth, I
+think the deil himself has gotten into my breeks."
+
+There was often no doubt a sharp conflict of wits when some of these
+humorist ministers came into collision with members of their flocks who
+were _also_ humorists. Of this nature is the following anecdote, which I
+am assured is genuine:--A minister in the north was taking to task one
+of his hearers who was a frequent defaulter, and was reproaching him as
+a habitual absentee from public worship. The accused vindicated himself
+on the plea of a dislike to long sermons. "'Deed, man," said the
+reverend monitor, a little nettled at the insinuation thrown out against
+himself, "if ye dinna mend, ye may land yersell where ye'll no be
+troubled wi' mony sermons either lang or short." "Weel, aiblins sae,"
+retorted John, "but _that_ mayna be for want o' ministers."
+
+An answer to another clergyman, Mr. Shireff, parochial minister of St.
+Ninian's, is indicative of Scottish and really clever wit. One of the
+members of his church was John Henderson or Anderson--a very decent
+douce shoemaker--and who left the church and joined the Independents,
+who had a meeting in Stirling. Some time afterwards, when Mr. Shireff
+met John on the road, he said, "And so, John, I understand you have
+become an Independent?" "'Deed, sir," replied John, "that's true." "Oh,
+John," said the minister, "I'm sure you ken that a rowin' (rolling)
+stane gathers nae fog" (moss). "Ay," said John, "that's true too; but
+can ye tell me what guid the fog does to the stane?" Mr. Shireff himself
+afterwards became a Baptist. The wit, however, was all in favour of the
+minister in the following:--
+
+Dr. Gilchrist, formerly of the East Parish of Greenock, and who died
+minister of the Canongate, Edinburgh, received an intimation of one of
+his hearers who had been exceedingly irregular in his attendance that he
+had taken seats in an Episcopal chapel. One day soon after, he met his
+former parishioner, who told him candidly that he had "changed his
+religion." "Indeed," said the Doctor quietly; "how's that? I ne'er heard
+ye had ony." It was this same Dr. Gilchrist who gave the well-known
+quiet but forcible rebuke to a young minister whom he considered rather
+conceited and fond of putting forward his own doings, and who was to
+officiate in the Doctor's church. He explained to him the mode in which
+he usually conducted the service, and stated that he always finished the
+prayer before the sermon with the Lord's Prayer. The young minister
+demurred at this, and asked if he "might not introduce any other short
+prayer?" "Ou ay," was the Doctor's quiet reply, "gif ye can gie us
+onything _better_."
+
+There is a story current of a sharp hit at the pretensions of a minister
+who required a little set down. The scene was on a Monday by a burn near
+Inverness. A stranger is fishing by a burn-side one Monday morning, when
+the parish minister accosts him from the other side of the stream
+thus:--"Good sport?" "Not very." "I am also an angler," but, pompously,
+"I am a _fisher of men_." "Are you always successful?" "Not very." "So I
+guessed, as I keeked into your creel[180] yesterday."
+
+At Banchory, on Deeside, some of the criticisms and remarks on sermons
+were very quaint and characteristic. My cousin had asked the Leys grieve
+what he thought of a young man's preaching, who had been more successful
+in appropriating the words than the ideas of Dr. Chalmers. He drily
+answered, "Ou, Sir Thomas, just a floorish o' the surface." But the same
+hearer bore this unequivocal testimony to another preacher whom he
+really admired. He was asked if he did not think the sermon long: "Na, I
+should nae hae thocht it lang an' I'd been sitting on thorns."
+
+I think the following is about as good a sample of what we call Scotch
+"pawky" as any I know:--A countryman had lost his wife and a favourite
+cow on the same day. His friends consoled him for the loss of the wife;
+and being highly respectable, several hints and offers were made
+towards getting another for him. "Ou ay," he at length replied; "you're
+a' keen aneuch to get me anither wife, but no yin o' ye offers to gie me
+anither coo."
+
+The following anecdotes, collected from different contributors, are fair
+samples of the quaint and original character of Scottish ways and
+expressions, now becoming more and more matters of reminiscence:--A poor
+man came to his minister for the purpose of intimating his intention of
+being married. As he expressed, however, some doubts on the subject, and
+seemed to hesitate, the minister asked him if there were any doubts
+about his being accepted. No, that was not the difficulty; but he
+expressed a fear that it might not be altogether suitable, and he asked
+whether, if he were once married, he could not (in case of unsuitability
+and unhappiness) get _un_married. The clergyman assured him that it was
+impossible; if he married, it must be for better and worse; that he
+could not go back upon the step. So thus instructed he went away. After
+a time he returned, and said he had made up his mind to try the
+experiment, and he came and was married. Ere long he came back very
+disconsolate, and declared it would not do at all; that he was quite
+miserable, and begged to be unmarried. The minister assured him that was
+out of the question, and urged him to put away the notion of anything so
+absurd. The man insisted that the marriage could not hold good, for the
+wife was "waur than the deevil." The minister demurred, saying that it
+was quite impossible. "'Deed, sir," said the poor man, "the Bible tells
+ye that if ye resist the deil he flees frae ye, but if ye resist her she
+flees _at_ ye."
+
+A faithful minister of the gospel, being one day engaged in visiting
+some members of his flock, came to the door of a house where his gentle
+tapping could not be heard for the noise of contention within. After
+waiting a little he opened the door, and walked in, saying, with an
+authoritative voice, "I should like to know who is the head of this
+house." "Weel, sir," said the husband and father, "if ye sit doun a wee,
+we'll maybe be able to tell ye, for we're just trying to settle
+that point."
+
+I have received from my kind correspondent, Rev. Mr. Hogg of Kirkmahoe,
+the following most amusing account of a passage-at-arms between a
+minister and "minister's man," both of them of the old school. The
+minister of a parish in Dumfriesshire had a man who had long and
+faithfully served at the manse. During the minister's absence, a
+ploughing match came off in the district, and the man, feeling the old
+spirit return with the force of former days, wished to enter the lists,
+and go in for a prize, which he did, and gained the _fifth_ prize. The
+minister, on his return home, and glancing at the local newspaper, saw
+the report of the match, and the name of his own man in the prize-list.
+Being of a crusty temper, he rang the bell in fury, and summoned John,
+when the following colloquy took place:--"John, how is this? who gave
+you leave to go to the ploughing-match?" "You were not at hame, sir."
+"Well, you should have written to me." "I didn't think it was worth
+while, sir, as we had our ain ploughing _forrit_[181]." "That may be;
+but why were you not higher in the prize-list? I'm ashamed of you, and
+you ought to be ashamed of yourself for being so far behind." John's
+patience had given way, and, in his haste he burst forth, "Indeed, I'm
+thinking, sir, that if ye were at a _preaching_ match, and
+five-and-thirty in the field, ye wadna come in for _onything_, let a-be
+for a fift'."
+
+Stories of humorous encounters between ministers and their hearers are
+numerous, and though often seasoned with dry and caustic humour, they
+never indicate appearance of bitterness or ill-feeling between the
+parties. As an example, a clergyman thought his people were making
+rather an unconscionable objection to his using a MS. in delivering his
+sermon. They urged, "What gars ye tak up your bit papers to the pu'pit?"
+He replied that it was best, for really he could not remember his
+sermon, and must have his papers. "Weel, weel, minister, then dinna
+expect that _we_ can remember them."
+
+Some of these encounters arise out of the old question of sleeping in
+church. For example--"I see, James, that you tak a bit nap in the kirk,"
+said a minister to one of his people; "can ye no tak a mull with you?
+and when you become heavy an extra pinch would keep you up." "Maybe it
+wad," said James, "but pit you the sneeshin intil your sermon, minister,
+and maybe that'll serve the same purpose." As a specimen of the
+matter-of-fact view of religious questions frequently recorded of older
+ministers, let me adduce a well-authenticated account of a minister in a
+far up-hill parish in Deeside. Returning thanks one Sabbath for the
+excellent harvest, he began as usual, "O Lord, we thank thee," etc., and
+went on to mention its abundance, and its safe ingathering; but, feeling
+anxious to be quite candid and scrupulously truthful, added, "all except
+a few sma' bitties at Birse no worth o' mentioning."
+
+A Scotch preacher, a man of large stature, being sent to officiate one
+Sunday at a country parish, was accommodated at night, in the manse, in
+a very diminutive closet--the usual best bedroom, appropriated to
+strangers, being otherwise occupied. "Is this the bedroom?" he said,
+starting back in amazement. "'Deed ay, sir, this is the prophets'
+chalmer." "It maun be for the _minor_ prophets, then," was the
+quiet reply.
+
+Elders of the kirk, no doubt, frequently partook of the original and
+humorous character of ministers and others, their contemporaries; and
+amusing scenes must have passed, and good Scotch sayings been said,
+where they were concerned. Dr. Chalmers used to repeat one of these
+sayings of an elder with great delight. The Doctor associated with the
+anecdote the name of Lady Glenorchy and the church which she endowed;
+but I am assured that the person was Lady Elizabeth Cunninghame, sister
+of Archibald, eleventh Earl of Eglinton, and wife of Sir John
+Cunninghame, Bart., of Caprington, near Kilmarnock. It seems her
+ladyship had, for some reason, taken offence at the proceedings of the
+Caprington parochial authorities, and a result of which was that she
+ceased putting her usual liberal offering into the plate at the door.
+This had gone on for some time, till one of the elders, of less
+forbearing character than the others, took his turn at the plate. Lady
+Elizabeth as usual passed by without a contribution, but made a formal
+courtsey to the elder at the plate, and sailed up the aisle. The good
+man was determined not to let her pass so easily, so he quickly followed
+her, and urged the remonstrance: "Gie us mair o' your siller and less o'
+your mainners, my lady Betty." My kind correspondent, Rev. Mr. Agnew,
+supplies me with an amusing pendant to this anecdote:--At a great church
+meeting, Dr. Chalmers had told this story with much effect when Lord
+Galloway was in the chair. After the meeting, Dr. Chalmers, and many
+who had been present, dined at his lordship's hospitable table. After
+dinner, when the morning meeting was discussed, Lord Galloway addressed
+Dr. Chalmers on the subject of this story and, as if not quite pleased
+at its being introduced, said, "Do you know, Doctor, the lady of whom
+you told the story of the elder is a near relation of mine?" Dr.
+Chalmers, with real or seeming simplicity, answered, "No, my Lord, I did
+not; but next time I tell the story I can mention the fact." As a
+pendant to the elder's disclaimer of "mainners" on the part of a lady of
+rank, I may add an authentic anecdote of a very blunt and unpolished
+Kincardineshire laird, expressing the same disclaimer of mainners on the
+part of a servant, but in a far rougher form of speech. He had been
+talking with a man who came to offer for his service as a butler. But
+the laird soon found he was far too grand a gentleman for his service,
+and became chafed with his requiring so many things as conditions of
+coming; till, on his dismissal, when the man was bowing and scraping to
+show how genteel he could be, he lost all patience, and roared out, "Get
+out, ye fule; gie us nane o' your mainners here."
+
+Of an eccentric and eloquent professor and divine of a northern Scottish
+university, there are numerous and extraordinary traditionary anecdotes.
+I have received an account of some of these anecdotes from the kind
+communication of an eminent Scottish clergyman, who was himself in early
+days his frequent hearer. The stories told of the strange observations
+and allusions which he introduced into his pulpit discourses almost
+surpass belief. For many reasons, they are not suitable to the nature of
+this publication, still less could they be tolerated in any pulpit
+administration now, although familiar with his contemporaries. The
+remarkable circumstance, however, connected with these eccentricities
+was, that he introduced them with the utmost gravity, and oftentimes,
+after he had delivered them, pursued his subject with great earnestness
+and eloquence, as if he had said nothing uncommon. One saying of the
+professor, however, _out_ of the pulpit, is too good to be omitted, and
+may be recorded without violation of propriety. He happened to meet at
+the house of a lawyer, whom he considered rather a man of _sharp_
+practice, and for whom he had no great favour, two of his own
+parishioners. The lawyer jocularly and ungraciously put the question;
+"Doctor, these are members of your flock; may I ask, do you look upon
+them as white sheep or as black sheep?" "I don't know," answered the
+professor drily, "whether they are black or white sheep, but I know that
+if they are long here they are pretty sure to be fleeced."
+
+It was a pungent answer given by a Free Kirk member who had deserted his
+colours and returned to the old faith. A short time after the
+Disruption, the Free Church minister chanced to meet him who had then
+left him and returned to the Established Church. The minister bluntly
+accosted him--"Ay, man, John, an' ye've left us; what micht be your
+reason for that? Did ye think it wasna a guid road we was gaun?" "Ou, I
+daursay it was a guid eneuch road and a braw road; but, O minister, the
+tolls were unco high."
+
+The following story I received from a member of the Penicuik
+family:--Dr. Ritchie, who died minister of St. Andrews, Edinburgh, was,
+when a young man, tutor to Sir G. Clerk and his brothers. Whilst with
+them, the clergyman of the parish became unable, from infirmity and
+illness, to do his duty, and Mr. Ritchie was appointed interim
+assistant. He was an active young man, and during his residence in the
+country had become fond of fishing, and was a good shot. When the
+grouse-shooting came round, his pupils happened to be laid up with a
+fever, so Mr. Ritchie had all the shooting to himself. One day he walked
+over the moor so far that he became quite weary and footsore. On
+returning home he went into a cottage, where the good woman received him
+kindly, gave him water for his feet, and refreshment. In the course of
+conversation, he told her he was acting as assistant minister of the
+parish, and he explained how far he had travelled in pursuit of game,
+how weary he was, and how completely knocked up he was. "Weel, sir, I
+dinna doubt ye maun be sair travelled and tired wi' your walk." And then
+she added, with sly reference to his profession, "'Deed, sir, I'm
+thinkin' ye micht hae travelled frae Genesis to Revelation and no been
+sae forfauchten[182]."
+
+Scotch people in general are, like this old woman, very jealous, as
+might be expected, of ministers joining the sportsman to their pastoral
+character. A proposal for the appointment of a minister to a particular
+parish, who was known in the country as a capital shot, called forth a
+rather neat Scottish _pun_, from an old woman of the parish, who
+significantly observed, "'Deed, _Kilpaatrick_ would hae been a mair
+appropriate place for him." _Paatrick_ is Scotch for partridge.
+
+I cannot do better in regard to the three following anecdotes of the
+late Professor Gillespie of St. Andrews, than give them to my readers in
+the words with which Dr. Lindsay Alexander kindly communicated them
+to me.
+
+"In the _Cornhill Magazine_ for March 1860, in an article on Student
+Life in Scotland, there is an anecdote of the late Professor Gillespie
+of St. Andrews, which is told in such a way as to miss the point and
+humour of the story. The correct version, as I have heard it from the
+professor himself, is this: Having employed the village carpenter to put
+a frame round a dial at the manse of Cults, where he was a minister, he
+received from the man a bill to the following effect:--'To fencing the
+_deil_, 5s. 6d.' 'When I paid him,' said the professor, 'I could not
+help saying, John, this is rather more than I counted on; but I haven't
+a word to say. I get somewhere about two hundred a year for fencing the
+_deil_, and I'm afraid I don't do it half so effectually as
+you've done.'"
+
+"Whilst I am writing, another of the many stories of the learned and
+facetious professor rises in my mind. There was a worthy old woman at
+Cults whose place in church was what is commonly called the Lateran; a
+kind of small gallery at the top of the pulpit steps. She was a most
+regular attender, but as regularly fell asleep during sermon, of which
+fault the preacher had sometimes audible intimation. It was observed,
+however, that though Janet always slept during her own pastor's
+discourse, she could be attentive enough when she pleased, and
+especially was she alert when some young preacher occupied the pulpit. A
+little piqued, perhaps, at this, Mr. Gillespie said to her one day,
+'Janet, I think you hardly behave very respectfully to your own minister
+in one respect.' 'Me, sir!' exclaimed Janet, 'I wad like to see ony man,
+no tae say woman, by yoursell, say that o' me! what can you mean, sir?'
+'Weel, Janet, ye ken when I preach you're almost always fast asleep
+before I've well given out my text; but when any of these young men from
+St. Andrews preach for me, I see you never sleep a wink. Now, that's
+what I call no using me as you should do.' 'Hoot, sir,' was the reply,
+'is that a'? I'll sune tell you the reason o' that. When you preach, we
+a' ken the word o' God's safe in your hands; but when thae young birkies
+tak it in haun, my certie, but it taks us a' to look after them[183].'
+
+"I am tempted to subjoin another. In the Humanity Class, one day, a
+youth who was rather fond of showing off his powers of language,
+translated Hor. Od. iii., 3, 61, 62, somewhat thus:--'The fortunes of
+Troy renascent under sorrowful omen shall be repeated with sad
+catastrophe.' 'Catastrophe!' cried the professor. 'Catastrophe, Mr.
+----, that's Greek. Give us it in plain English, if you please.' Thus
+suddenly pulled down from his high horse, the student effected his
+retreat with a rather lame and impotent version. 'Now,' said the
+professor, his little sharp eyes twinkling with fun, 'that brings to my
+recollection what once happened to a friend of mine, a minister in the
+country. Being a scholarly man he was sometimes betrayed into the use of
+words in the pulpit which the people were not likely to understand; but
+being very conscientious, he never detected himself in this, without
+pausing to give the meaning of the word he had used, and sometimes his
+extempore explanations of very fine words were a little like what we
+have just had from Mr. ----, rather too flat and commonplace. On one
+occasion he allowed this very word 'catastrophe' to drop from him, on
+which he immediately added, 'that, you know, my friends, means the _end_
+of a thing.' Next day, as he was riding through his parish, some
+mischievous youth succeeded in fastening a bunch of furze to his
+horse's tail--a trick which, had the animal been skittish, might have
+exposed the worthy pastor's horsemanship to too severe a trial, but
+which happily had no effect whatever on the sober-minded and respectable
+quadruped which he bestrode. On, therefore, he quietly jogged, utterly
+unconscious of the addition that had been made to his horse's caudal
+region, until, as he was passing some cottages, he was arrested by the
+shrill voice of an old woman exclaiming, 'Heh, sir! Heh, sir! there's a
+whun-buss at your horse's catawstrophe!'"
+
+I have several times adverted to the subject of epigrams. A clever
+impromptu of this class has been recorded as given by a judge's lady in
+reply to one made by the witty Henry Erskine at a dinner party at Lord
+Armadale's. When a bottle of claret was called for, port was brought in
+by mistake. A second time claret was sent for, and a second time the
+same mistake occurred. Henry Erskine addressed the host in an impromptu,
+which was meant as a parody on the well-known Scottish song, "My
+Jo, Janet"--
+
+     "Kind sir, it's for your courtesie
+       When I come here to dine, sir,
+     For the love ye bear to me,
+       Gie me the claret wine, sir."
+
+To which Mrs. Honeyman retorted--
+
+     "Drink the port, the claret's dear,
+       Erskine, Erskine;
+     Yell get fou on't, never fear,
+       My jo, Erskine."
+
+Some of my younger readers may not be familiar with the epigram of John
+Home, author of the tragedy of "Douglas." The lines were great
+favourites with Sir Walter Scott, who delighted in repeating them. Home
+was very partial to claret, and could not bear port. He was exceedingly
+indignant when the Government laid a tax upon claret, having previously
+long connived at its introduction into Scotland under very mitigated
+duties. He embodied his anger in the following epigram:--
+
+     "Firm and erect the Caledonian stood,
+     Old was his mutton, and his claret good;
+     'Let him drink port,' an English statesman cried--
+     He drank the poison, and his spirit died."
+
+There is a curious story traditionary in some families connected with
+the nobleman who is the subject of it, which, I am assured, is true, and
+further, that it has never yet appeared in print. The story is,
+therefore, a "Scottish reminiscence," and, as such, deserves a place
+here. The Earl of Lauderdale was so ill as to cause great alarm to his
+friends, and perplexity to his physicians. One distressing symptom was a
+total absence of sleep, and the medical men declared their opinion, that
+without sleep being induced he could not recover. His son, a queer
+eccentric-looking boy, who was considered not entirely right in his mind
+but somewhat "_daft_" and who accordingly had had little attention paid
+to his education, was sitting under the table, and cried out, "Sen' for
+that preachin' man frae Livingstone, for faither aye sleeps in the
+kirk." One of the doctors thought this hint worth attending to. The
+experiment of "getting a minister till him" succeeded, and, sleep coming
+on, he recovered. The Earl, out of gratitude for this benefit, took more
+notice of his son, paid attention to his education, and that boy became
+the Duke of Lauderdale, afterwards so famous or infamous in his
+country's history.
+
+The following very amusing anecdote, although it belongs more properly
+to the division on peculiarities of Scottish phraseology, I give in the
+words of a correspondent who received it from the parties with whom it
+originated. About twenty years ago, he was paying a visit to a cousin,
+married to a Liverpool merchant of some standing. The husband had lately
+had a visit from his aged father, who formerly followed the occupation
+of farming in Stirlingshire, and who had probably never been out of
+Scotland before in his life. The son, finding his father rather _de
+trop_ in his office, one day persuaded him to cross the ferry over the
+Mersey, and inspect the harvesting, then in full operation, on the
+Cheshire side. On landing, he approached a young woman reaping with the
+sickle in a field of oats, when the following dialogue ensued:--
+
+_Farmer_.--Lassie, are yer aits muckle bookit[184] th' year?
+
+_Reaper_.--What say'n yo?
+
+_Farmer_.--I was speiring gif yer aits are muckle bookit th' year!
+
+_Reaper_ (in amazement).--I dunnot know what yo' say'n.
+
+_Farmer_ (in equal astonishment).--Gude--safe--us,--do ye no understaan
+gude plain English?--are--yer--aits--muckle--bookit?
+
+Reaper decamps to her nearest companion, saying that was a madman, while
+he shouted in great wrath, "They were naething else than a set o'
+ignorant pock-puddings."
+
+An English tourist visited Arran, and being a keen disciple of Izaak
+Walton, was arranging to have a day's good sport. Being told that the
+cleg, or horse-fly, would suit his purpose admirably for lure, he
+addressed himself to Christy, the Highland servant-girl:--"I say, my
+girl, can you get me some horse-flies?" Christy looked stupid, and he
+repeated his question. Finding that she did not yet comprehend him, he
+exclaimed, "Why, girl, did you never see a horse-fly?" "Naa, sir," said
+the girl, "but A wance saw a coo jump ower a preshipice."
+
+The following anecdote is highly illustrative of the thoroughly attached
+old family serving-man. A correspondent sends it as told to him by an
+old schoolfellow of Sir Walter Scott's at Fraser and Adam's class,
+High School:--
+
+One of the lairds of Abercairnie proposed _to go out_, on the occasion
+of one of the risings for the Stuarts, in the '15 or '45--but this was
+not with the will of his old serving-man, who, when Abercairnie was
+pulling on his boots, preparing to go, overturned a kettle of boiling
+water upon his legs, so as to disable him from joining his
+friends--saying, "Tak that--let them fecht wha like; stay ye at hame and
+be laird o' Abercairnie."
+
+A story illustrative of a union of polite courtesy with rough and
+violent ebullition of temper common in the old Scottish character, is
+well known in the Lothian family. William Henry, fourth Marquis of
+Lothian, had for his guest at dinner an old countess to whom he wished
+to show particular respect and attention[185]. After a very
+complimentary reception, he put on his white gloves to hand her down
+stairs, led her up to the upper end of the table, bowed, and retired to
+his own place. This I am assured was the usual custom with the chief
+lady guest by persons who themselves remember it. After all were seated,
+the Marquis addressed the lady, "Madam, may I have the honour and
+happiness of helping your ladyship to some fish?" But he got no answer,
+for the poor woman was deaf as a post, and did not hear him. After a
+pause, but still in the most courteous accents, "Madam, have I your
+ladyship's permission to send you some fish?" Then a little quicker, "Is
+your Ladyship inclined to take fish?" Very quick, and rather peremptory,
+"Madam, do ye choice fish?" At last the thunder burst, to everybody's
+consternation, with a loud thump on the table and stamp on the floor:
+"Con--found ye, will ye have any fish?" I am afraid the exclamation
+might have been even of a more pungent character.
+
+A correspondent has kindly enabled me to add a reminiscence and anecdote
+of a type of Scottish character now nearly extinct.--I mean the old
+Scottish _military_ officer of the wars of Holland and the Low
+Countries. I give them in his own words:--"My father, the late Rev. Dr.
+Bethune, minister of Dornoch, was on friendly terms with a fine old
+soldier, the late Colonel Alexander Sutherland of Calmaly and Braegrudy,
+in Sutherlandshire, who was lieutenant-colonel of the 'Local Militia,'
+and who used occasionally, in his word of command, to break out with a
+Gaelic phrase to the men, much to the amusement of bystanders. He called
+his charger, a high-boned not overfed animal, Cadaver--a play upon
+accents, for he was a good classical scholar, and fond of quoting the
+Latin poets. But he had no relish nor respect for the 'Modern
+languages,' particularly for that of our French neighbours, whom he
+looked upon as 'hereditary' enemies! My father and the colonel were both
+politicians, as well as scholars. Reading a newspaper article in his
+presence one day, my father stopped short, handing the paper to him, and
+said, 'Colonel, here is a _French_ quotation, which you can translate
+better than I can,' 'No, sir!' said the colonel, 'I never learnt the
+language of the scoundrels!!!' The colonel was known as 'Col. Sandy
+Sutherland,' and the men always called him _Colonel Sandy_. He was a
+splendid specimen of the hale veteran, with a stentorian voice, and the
+last queue I remember to have seen."
+
+A correspondent kindly sends me from Aberdeenshire a humorous story,
+very much of the same sort as that of Colonel Erskine's servant, who
+considerately suggested to his master that "maybe an aith might relieve
+him[186]." My correspondent heard the story from the late
+Bishop Skinner.
+
+It was among the experiences of his father, Bishop _John_ Skinner. While
+making some pastoral visits in the neighbourhood of the town (Aberdeen),
+the Bishop took occasion to step into the cottage of two humble
+parishioners, a man and his wife, who cultivated a little croft. No one
+was within; but as the door was only on the latch, the Bishop knew that
+the worthy couple could not be far distant. He therefore stepped in the
+direction of the outhouses, and found them both in the barn winnowing
+corn, in the primitive way, with "riddles," betwixt two open doors. On
+the Bishop making his appearance, the honest man ceased his winnowing
+operations, and in the gladness of his heart stepped briskly forward to
+welcome his pastor; but in his haste he trod upon the rim of the riddle,
+which rebounded with great force against one of his shins. The accident
+made him suddenly pull up; and, instead of completing the reception, he
+stood vigorously rubbing the injured limb; and, not daring in such a
+venerable presence to give vent to the customary strong ejaculations,
+kept twisting his face into all sorts of grimaces. As was natural, the
+Bishop went forward, uttering the usual formulas of condolence and
+sympathy, the patient, meanwhile, continuing his rubbings and his silent
+but expressive contortions. At last Janet came to the rescue; and,
+clapping the Bishop coaxingly on the back, said, "Noo, Bishop, jist gang
+ye yir waas into the hoose, an' we'll follow fan he's had time to curse
+a fyllie, an' I'se warran' he'll seen be weel eneuch!"
+
+The following might have been added as examples of the dry humorous
+manner in which our countrymen and countrywomen sometimes treat matters
+with which they have to deal, even when serious ones:--
+
+An itinerant vendor of wood in Aberdeen having been asked how his wife
+was, replied, "Oh, she's fine; I hae taen her tae Banchory;" and on it
+being innocently remarked that the change of air would do her good, he
+looked up, and, with a half smile, said, "Hoot, she's i' the kirk-yard."
+
+The well-known aversion of the Scotch to hearing _read_ sermons has
+often led to amusing occurrences. One pastor, in a country district, who
+was much respected by his people, but who, nevertheless, were never
+quite reconciled to his _paper_ in the pulpit, found himself on one
+occasion in an awkward predicament, from this same paper question. One
+Sabbath afternoon, having exhausted both firstly and secondly, he came
+to the termination of his discourse; but, unfortunately, the manuscript
+was wanting. In vain efforts to seek the missing paper, he repeated
+"thirdly and lastly" _ad nauseam_ to his hearers. At last one, cooler
+than the others, rose, and nodding to the minister, observed, "'Deed,
+sir, If I'm no mista'en, I saw 'thirdly and lastly' fa' ower the poopit
+stairs;" evidently enjoying the disappearance of so important a part of
+the obnoxious document.
+
+This prejudice was indeed some years since in Scotland quite inveterate.
+The following anecdote has been kindly sent to me from _Memoirs of
+Charles Young,_ lately published by his son:--
+
+"I have a distinct recollection, one Sunday when I was living at Cults,
+and when a stranger was officiating for Dr. Gillespie, observing that he
+had not proceeded five minutes with his 'discourse,' before there was a
+general commotion and stampedo. The exodus at last became so serious,
+that, conceiving something to be wrong, probably a fire in the manse, I
+caught the infection, and eagerly inquired of the first person I
+encountered in the churchyard what was the matter, and was told, with an
+expression of sovereign scorn and disgust--'Losh keep ye, young man! Hae
+ye eyes, and see not? Hae ye ears, and hear not? _The man reads!_"
+
+On one occasion, however, even this prejudice gave way before the power
+of the most eloquent preacher that Scotland ever heard, or perhaps that
+the world ever heard. A shrewd old Fife hearer of sermons had been
+objecting, in the usual exaggerated language, against reading sermons in
+the pulpit. A gentleman urged the case of Dr. Chalmers, in defence of
+the practice. He used his paper in preaching rigidly, and yet with what
+an effect he read! All the objector could reply to this was, "Ah, but
+it's _fell_[187] reading yon."
+
+The two following are from a correspondent who heard them told by the
+late Dr. Barclay the anatomist, well known for his own dry
+Scottish humour.
+
+A country laird, at his death, left his property in equal shares to his
+two sons, who continued to live very amicably together for many years.
+At length one said to the other, "Tam, we're gettin' auld now, you'll
+tak a wife, and when I dee you'll get my share o' the grund." "Na, John,
+you're the youngest and maist active, you'll tak a wife, and when I dee
+you'll get my share." "Od," says John, "Tam, that's jist the way wi' you
+when there's ony _fash or trouble_. The deevil a thing you'll do at a'."
+
+A country clergyman, who was not on the most friendly terms with one of
+his heritors who resided in Stirling, and who had annoyed the minister
+by delay in paying him his teinds (or tithe), found it necessary to make
+the laird understand that his proportion of stipend must be paid so soon
+as it became due. The payment came next term punctual to the time. When
+the messenger was introduced to the minister, he asked who he was,
+remarking that he thought he had seen him before. "I am the hangman of
+Stirling, sir." "Oh, just so, take a seat till I write you a receipt."
+It was evident that the laird had chosen this medium of communication
+with the minister as an affront, and to show his spite. The minister,
+however, turned the tables upon him, sending back an acknowledgment for
+the payment in these terms:--"Received from Mr. ----, by the hands of
+the hangman of Stirling, _his doer_[188], the sum of," etc. etc.
+
+The following story of pulpit criticism by a beadle used to be told, I
+am assured, by the late Rev. Dr. Andrew Thomson:--
+
+A clergyman in the country had a stranger preaching for him one day, and
+meeting his beadle, he said to him, "Well, Saunders, how did you like
+the sermon to-day?" "I watna, sir; it was rather ower plain and simple
+for me. I like thae sermons best that jumbles the joodgment and
+confoonds the sense. Od, sir, I never saw ane that could come up to
+yoursell at that."
+
+The epithet "canny" has frequently been applied to our countrymen, not
+in a severe or invidious spirit, but as indicating a due regard to
+personal interest and safety. In the larger edition of Jamieson (see
+edition of 1840) I find there are no fewer than eighteen meanings given
+of this word. The following extract from a provincial paper, which has
+been sent me, will furnish a good illustration. It is headed, the
+"PROPERTY QUALIFICATION," and goes on--"Give a chartist a large estate,
+and a copious supply of ready money, and you make a Conservative of him.
+He can then see the other side of the moon, which he could never see
+before. Once, a determined Radical in Scotland, named Davy Armstrong,
+left his native village; and many years afterwards, an old fellow
+grumbler met him, and commenced the old song. Davy shook his head. His
+friend was astonished, and soon perceived that Davy was no longer a
+grumbler, but a rank Tory. Wondering at the change, he was desirous of
+knowing the reason. Davy quietly and laconically replied--'I've a coo
+(cow) noo.'"
+
+But even still more "canny" was the eye to the main chance in an
+Aberdonian fellow-countryman, communicated in the following pleasant
+terms from a Nairn correspondent:--"I have just been reading your
+delightful 'Reminiscences,' which has brought to my recollection a story
+I used to hear my father tell. It was thus:--A countryman in a remote
+part of Aberdeenshire having got a newly-coined sovereign in the days
+when such a thing was seldom seen in his part of the country, went about
+showing it to his friends and neighbours for the charge of one penny
+each sight. Evil days, however, unfortunately overtook him, and he was
+obliged to part with his loved coin. Soon after, a neighbour called on
+him, and asked a sight of his sovereign, at the same time tendering a
+penny. 'Ah, man,' says he, 'it's gane; but I'll lat ye see _the cloutie
+it was rowt in_ for a bawbee.'"
+
+There was something very simple-minded in the manner in which a
+parishioner announced his canny care for his supposed interests when he
+became an elder of the kirk. The story is told of a man who had got
+himself installed in the eldership, and, in consequence, had for some
+time carried round the ladle for the collections. He had accepted the
+office of elder because some wag had made him believe that the
+remuneration was sixpence each Sunday, with a boll of meal at New Year's
+Day. When the time arrived he claimed his meal, but was told he had been
+hoaxed. "It may be sae wi' the meal," he said coolly, "but I took care
+o' the saxpence mysell."
+
+There was a good deal both of the _pawky_ and the _canny_ in the
+following anecdote, which I have from an honoured lady of the south of
+Scotland:--"There was an old man who always rode a donkey to his work,
+and tethered him while he worked on the roads, or whatever else it might
+be. It was suggested to him by my grandfather that he was suspected of
+putting it in to feed in the fields at other people's expense. 'Eh,
+laird, I could never be tempted to do that, for my cuddy winna eat
+onything but nettles and thristles.' One day my grandfather was riding
+along the road, when he saw Andrew Leslie at work, and his donkey up to
+the knees in one of his clover fields, feeding luxuriously. 'Hollo,
+Andrew,' said he; 'I thought you told me your cuddy would eat nothing
+but nettles and thistles.' 'Ay,' said he, 'but he misbehaved the day; he
+nearly kicket me ower his head, sae I pat him in there just to
+_punish_ him.'"
+
+There is a good deal of the same sort of simple character brought out in
+the two following. They were sent to me from Golspie, and are original,
+as they occurred in my correspondent's own experience. The one is a
+capital illustration of thrift, the other of kind feeling for the
+friendless, in the Highland character. I give the anecdotes in my
+correspondent's own words:--A little boy, some twelve years of age, came
+to me one day with the following message: "My mother wants a vomit from
+you, sir, and she bade me say if it will not be strong enough, she will
+send it back." "Oh, Mr. Begg," said a woman to me, for whom I was
+weighing two grains of calomel for a child, "dinna be so mean wi' it; it
+is for a poor faitherless bairn."
+
+The following, from a provincial paper, contains a very amusing
+recognition of a return which one of the itinerant race considered
+himself conscientiously bound to make to his clerical patron for an
+alms: "A beggar, while on his rounds one day this week, called on a
+clergyman (within two and a half miles of the Cross of Kilmarnock), who,
+obeying the biblical injunction of clothing the naked, offered the
+beggar an old top-coat. It was immediately rolled up, and the beggar, in
+going away with it under his arm, thoughtfully (!) remarked, 'I'll hae
+tae gie ye a day's _hearin_' for this na.'"
+
+The natural and self-complacent manner in which the following anecdote
+brings out in the Highlander an innate sense of the superiority of
+Celtic blood is highly characteristic:--A few years ago, when an English
+family were visiting in the Highlands, their attention was directed to a
+child crying; on their observing to the mother it was _cross_, she
+exclaimed--"Na, na, it's nae cross, for we're baith true Hieland."
+
+The late Mr. Grahame of Garsock, in Strathearn, whose grandson now "is
+laird himsel," used to tell, with great _unction_, some thirty years
+ago, a story of a neighbour of his own of a still earlier generation,
+Drummond of Keltie, who, as it seems, had employed an itinerant tailor
+instead of a metropolitan artist. On one occasion a new pair of
+inexpressibles had been made for the laird; they were so tight that,
+after waxing hot and red in the attempt to try them on, he _let out_
+rather savagely at the tailor, who calmly assured him, "It's the fash'n;
+it's jist the fash'n." "Eh, ye haveril, is it the fashion for them _no
+to go on_?"
+
+An English gentleman writes to me--"We have all heard much of Scotch
+caution, and I met once with an instance of it which I think is worth
+recording, and which I tell as strictly original. About 1827, I fell
+into conversation, on board of a Stirling steamer, with a well-dressed
+middle-aged man, who told me he was a soldier of the 42d, going on
+leave. He began to relate the campaigns he had gone through, and
+mentioned having been at the siege of St. Sebastian.--'Ah! under Sir
+Thomas Graham?' 'Yes, sir; he commanded there.' 'Well,' I said, merely
+by way of carrying on the _crack_, 'and what do you think of _him_?'
+Instead of answering, he scanned me several times from head to foot,
+and from foot to head, and then said, in a tone of the most diplomatic
+caution, 'Ye'll perhaps be of the name of Grah'm yersel, sir?' There
+could hardly be a better example, either of the circumspection of a real
+canny Scot, or of the lingering influence of the old patriarchal
+feeling, by which 'A name, a word, makes clansmen vassals to
+their lord.'"
+
+Now when we linger over these old stories, we seem to live at another
+period, and in such reminiscences we converse with a generation
+different from our own. Changes are still going on around us. They have
+been going on for some time past. The changes are less striking as
+society advances, and we find fewer alterations for us to notice.
+Probably each generation will have less change to record than the
+generation that preceded; still every one who is tolerably advanced in
+life must feel that, comparing its beginning and its close, he has
+witnessed two epochs, and that in advanced life he looks on a different
+world from one which he can remember. To elucidate this fact has been my
+present object, and in attempting this task I cannot but feel how
+trifling and unsatisfactory my remarks must seem to many who have a more
+enlarged and minute acquaintance with Scottish life and manners than I
+have. But I shall be encouraged to hope for a favourable, or at least an
+indulgent, sentence upon these Reminiscences, if to any of my readers I
+shall have opened a fresh insight into the subject of social changes
+amongst us. Many causes have their effect upon the habits and customs of
+mankind, and of late years such causes have been greatly multiplied in
+number and activity. In many persons, and in some who have not
+altogether lost their national partialities, there is a general
+tendency to merge Scottish usages and Scottish expressions into the
+English forms, as being more correct and genteel. The facilities for
+moving, not merely from place to place in our own country, but from one
+country to another; the spread of knowledge and information by means of
+periodical publications and newspapers; and the incredibly low prices at
+which literary works are produced, must have great effects. Then there
+is the improved taste in art, which, together with literature, has been
+taken up by young men who, fifty, sixty, seventy years ago, or more,
+would have known no such sources of interest, or indeed who would have
+looked upon them as unmanly and effeminate. When first these pursuits
+were taken up by our Scottish young men, they excited in the north much
+amazement, and, I fear, contempt, as was evinced by a laird of the old
+school, who, the first time he saw a young man at the pianoforte, asked,
+with evident disgust, "Can the creature _sew_ ony?" evidently putting
+the accomplishment of playing the pianoforte and the accomplishment of
+the needle in the same category.
+
+The greater facility of producing books, prints, and other articles
+which tend to the comfort and embellishment of domestic life, must have
+considerable influence upon the habits and tastes of a people. I have
+often thought how much effect might be traced to the single circumstance
+of the cheap production of pianofortes. An increased facility of
+procuring the means of acquaintance with good works of art and
+literature acts both as cause and effect. A growing and improved taste
+tends to stimulate the _production_ of the best works of art. These, in
+return, foster and advance the power of forming a due _estimate_ of art.
+In the higher department of music, for example, the cheap rate not only
+of _hearing_ compositions of the first class, but of _possessing_ the
+works of the most eminent composers, must have had influence upon
+thousands. The principal oratorios of Handel may be purchased for as
+many shillings each as they cost pounds years ago. Indeed, at that time
+the very names of those immortal works were known only to a few who were
+skilled to appreciate their high beauties. Now associations are formed
+for practising and studying the choral works of the great masters.
+
+We might indeed adduce many more causes which seem to produce changes of
+habits, tastes, and associations, amongst our people. For example,
+families do not vegetate for years in one retired spot as they used to
+do; young men are encouraged to attain accomplishments, and to have
+other sources of interest than the field or the bottle. Every one knows,
+or may know, everything that is going on through the whole world. There
+is a tendency in mankind to lose all that is peculiar, and in nations to
+part with all that distinguishes them from each other. We hear of
+wonderful changes in habits and customs where change seemed impossible.
+In India and Turkey even, peculiarities and prejudices are fading away
+under the influence of time. Amongst ourselves, no doubt, one
+circumstance tended greatly to call forth, and, as we may say, to
+_develop_, the peculiar Scotch humour of which we speak--and that was
+the familiarity of intercourse which took place between persons in
+different positions of life. This extended even to an occasional
+interchange of words between the minister and the members of his flock
+during time of service. I have two anecdotes in illustration of this
+fact, which I have reason to believe are quite authentic. In the church
+of Banchory on Deeside, to which I have referred, a former minister
+always preached without book, and being of an absent disposition, he
+sometimes forgot the head of discourse on which he was engaged, and got
+involved in confusion. On one occasion, being desirous of recalling to
+his memory the division of his subject, he called out to one of his
+elders, a farmer on the estate of Ley, "Bush (the name of his farm),
+Bush, ye're sleeping." "Na, sir, I'm no sleeping--I'm listening." "Weel,
+then, what had I begun to say?" "Oh, ye were saying so and so." This was
+enough, and supplied the minister with the thread of his discourse; and
+he went on. The other anecdote related to the parish of Cumbernauld, the
+minister of which was at the time referred to noted for a very
+disjointed and rambling style of preaching, without method or
+connection. His principal heritor was the Lord Elphinstone of the time,
+and unfortunately the minister and the peer were not on good terms, and
+always ready to annoy each other by sharp sayings or otherwise. The
+minister on one occasion had somewhat in this spirit called upon the
+beadle to "wauken my Lord Elphinstone," upon which Lord Elphinstone
+said, "I'm no sleeping, minister." "Indeed you were, my lord." He again
+disclaimed the sleeping. So as a test the preacher asked him, "What I
+had been saying last then?" "Oh, juist wauken Lord Elphinstone." "Ay,
+but what did I say before that?" "Indeed," retorted Lord Elphinstone,
+"I'll gie ye a guinea if ye'll tell that yersell, minister." We can
+hardly imagine the _possibility_ of such scenes now taking place amongst
+us in church. It seems as if all men were gradually approximating to a
+common type or form in their manners and views of life; oddities are
+sunk, prominences are rounded off, sharp features are polished, and all
+things are becoming smooth and conventional. The remark, like the
+effect, is general, and extends to other countries as well as to our
+own. But as we have more recently parted with our peculiarities of
+dialect, oddity, and eccentricity, it becomes the more amusing to mark
+_our_ participation in this change, because a period of fifty years
+shows here a greater contrast than the same period would show in many
+other localities.
+
+I have already referred to a custom which prevailed in all the rural
+parish churches, and which I remember in my early days at Fettercairn;
+the custom I mean, now quite obsolete, of the minister, after
+pronouncing the blessing, turning to the heritors, who always occupied
+the front seats of the gallery, and making low bows to each family.
+Another custom I recollect:--When the text had been given out, it was
+usual for the elder branches of the congregation to hand about their
+Bibles amongst the younger members, marking the place, and calling their
+attention to the passage. During service another handing about was
+frequent among the seniors, and that was a circulation of the
+sneeshin-mull or snuff-box. Indeed, I have heard of the same practice in
+an Episcopal church, and particularly in one case of an ordination,
+where the bishop took his pinch of snuff, and handed the mull to go
+round amongst the clergy assembled for the solemn occasion within the
+altar-rails.
+
+Amongst Scottish reminiscences which do not extend beyond our own
+recollections we may mention the disappearance of Trinity Church in
+Edinburgh, which has taken place within the last quarter of a century.
+It was founded by Mary of Gueldres, queen of James II. of Scotland, in
+1446, and liberally endowed for a provost, prebendaries, choristers,
+etc. It was never completed, but the portions built--viz., choir,
+transept, and central tower--were amongst the finest specimens of later
+Gothic work in Scotland. The pious founder had placed it at the east end
+of what was then the North Loch. She chose her own church for the
+resting-place of her remains as a sanctuary of safety and repose. A
+railway parliamentary bill, however, overrides founder's intentions and
+Episcopal consecrations. Where once stood the beautiful church of the
+Holy Trinity, where once the "pealing organ" and the "full-voiced choir"
+were daily heard "in service high and anthems clear"--where for 400
+years slept the ashes of a Scottish Queen--now resound the noise and
+turmoil of a railway station.
+
+But we have another example of the uncertainty of all earthly concerns,
+and one which supplies a Scottish reminiscence belonging to the last
+seventy years. Wilhelmina, Viscountess Glenorchy, during her lifetime,
+built and endowed a church for two ministers, who were provided with
+very handsome incomes. She died 17th July 1786, and was buried on the
+24th July, aged 44. Her interment took place, by her own direction, in
+the church she had founded, immediately in front of the pulpit; and she
+fixed upon that spot as a place of security and safety, where her mortal
+remains might rest in peace till the morning of the resurrection. But
+alas for the uncertainty of all earthly plans and projects for the
+future!--the iron road came on its reckless course and swept the church
+away. The site was required for the North British Railway, which passed
+directly over the spot where Lady Glenorchy had been buried. Her remains
+were accordingly disinterred 24th December 1844; and the trustees of the
+church, not having yet erected a new one, deposited the body of their
+foundress in the vaults beneath St. John's Episcopal Church, and after
+resting there for fifteen years, they were, in 1859, removed to the
+building which is now Lady Glenorchy's Church.
+
+In our reminiscences of many _changes_ which have taken place during
+fifty years in Scottish manners, it might form an interesting section to
+record some peculiarities which _remain_. I mean such peculiarities as
+yet linger amongst us, and still mark a difference in some of our social
+habits from those of England. Some Scottish usages die hard, and are
+found still to supply amusement for southern visitors. To give a few
+examples, persons still persist among us in calling the head of a
+family, or the host, the _landlord_, although he never charged his
+guests a halfpenny for the hospitality he exercises. In games, golf and
+curling still continue to mark the national character--cricket was long
+an exotic amongst us. In many of our educational institutions, however,
+it seems now fairly to have taken root. We continue to call our
+reception rooms "_public_ rooms," although never used for any but
+domestic purposes. Military rank is attached to ladies, as we speak of
+Mrs. Lieutenant Fraser, Mrs. Captain Scott, Mrs. Major Smith, Mrs.
+Colonel Campbell. On the occasion of a death, we persist in sending
+circular notices to all the relatives, whether they know of it or not--a
+custom which, together with men wearing weepers at funeral solemnities,
+is unknown in England[189]. Announcing a married lady's death under her
+maiden name must seem strange to English ears--as, for example, we read
+of the demise of Mrs. Jane Dickson, spouse of Thomas Morison. Scottish
+cookery retains its ground, and hotch-potch, minced collops, sheep's
+head singed, and occasionally haggis, are still marked peculiarities of
+the Scottish table. These social differences linger amongst us. But
+stronger points are worn away; eccentricities and oddities such as
+existed once will not do now. One does not see why eccentricity should
+be more developed in one age than in another, but we cannot avoid the
+conclusion that the day for real oddities is no more. Professors of
+colleges are those in whom one least expects oddity--grave and learned
+characters; and yet such _have_ been in former times. We can scarcely
+now imagine such professors as we read of in a past generation. Take the
+case of no less distinguished a person than Adam Smith, author of the
+_Wealth of Nations,_ who went about the streets talking and laughing to
+himself in such a manner as to make the market women think he was
+deranged; and he told of one himself who ejaculated, as he passed,
+"Hech, sirs, and he is weel pat on, too!" expressing surprise that a
+decided lunatic, who from his dress appeared to be a gentleman, should
+be permitted to walk abroad unattended. Professors still have their
+crotchets like other people; but we can scarcely conceive a professor of
+our day coming out like Adam Smith, and making fishwives to pass such
+observations on his demeanour.
+
+Peculiarities in a people's phraseology may prove more than we are aware
+of, and may tend to illustrate circumstances of national _history_. Thus
+many words which would be included by Englishmen under the general term
+of Scotticisms, bear directly upon the question of a past intercourse
+with France, and prove how close at one time must have been the
+influence exercised upon general habits in Scotland by that intercourse.
+Scoto-Gallic words were quite differently situated from French words and
+phrases adopted in England. With us they proceeded from a real
+admixture of the two _peoples_. With us they form the ordinary common
+language of the country, and that was from a distant period moulded by
+French. In England, the educated and upper classes of late years
+_adopted_ French words and phrases. With us, some of our French
+derivatives are growing obsolete as vulgar, and nearly all are passing
+from fashionable society. In England, we find the French-adopted words
+rather receiving accessions than going out of use.
+
+Examples of words such as we have referred to, as showing a French
+influence and admixture, are familiar to many of my readers. I recollect
+some of them in constant use amongst old-fashioned Scottish people, and
+those terms, let it be remembered, are unknown in England.
+
+A leg of mutton was always, with old-fashioned Scotch people, a gigot
+(Fr. gigot).
+
+The crystal jug or decanter in which water is placed upon the table, was
+a caraff (Fr. carafe).
+
+Gooseberries were groserts, or grossarts (Fr. groseille).
+
+Partridges were pertricks,--a word much more formed upon the French
+perdrix than the English partridge.
+
+The plate on which a joint or side-dish was placed upon the table was an
+ashet (Fr. assiette).
+
+In the old streets of Edinburgh, where the houses are very high, and
+where the inhabitants all live in flats, before the introduction of
+soil-pipes there was no method of disposing of the foul water of the
+household, except by throwing it out of the window into the street. This
+operation, dangerous to those outside, was limited to certain hours, and
+the well-known cry, which preceded the missile and warned the
+passenger, was gardeloo! or, as Smollett writes it, gardy loo (Fr. garge
+de l'eau).
+
+Anything troublesome or irksome used to be called, Scotticè, fashions
+(Fr. facheux, facheuse); to fash one's-self (Fr. se facher).
+
+The small cherry, both black and red, common in gardens, is in Scotland,
+never in England, termed gean (Fr. guigne), from Guigne, in Picardy.
+
+The term _dambrod_, which has already supplied materials for a good
+story, arises from adopting French terms into Scottish language, as dams
+were the pieces with which the game of draughts was played (Fr. dammes).
+Brod is board.
+
+A bedgown, or loose female upper garment, is still in many parts of
+Scotland termed a jupe (Fr. jupe).
+
+In Kincardineshire the ashes of a blacksmith's furnace had the peculiar
+name of smiddy-coom (Fr. écume, i.e. dross).
+
+Oil, in common Scotch, used always to be ule,--as the uley pot, or uley
+cruse (Fr. huile).
+
+Many of my readers are no doubt familiar with the notice taken of these
+words by Lord Cockburn, and with the account which he gives of these
+Scottish words derived from the French, probably during the time of
+Queen Mary's minority, when French troops were quartered in Scotland. I
+subjoin a more full list, for which I am indebted to a correspondent,
+because the words still lingering amongst us are in themselves the best
+REMINISCENCES of former days.
+
+ Scotch.           English.                  French.
+Serviter           Napkin                  From Serviette.
+Gigot (of mutton)      ...                   "  Gigot.
+Reeforts           Radishes                  "  Raiforts.
+Grosserts          Gooseberries              "  Groseilles.
+Gardyveen          Case for holding wine     "  Garde-vin.
+Jupe             Part of a woman's dress     "  Jupe.
+Bonnaille        A parting glass with a      "  Bon aller.
+                   friend going on a journey
+Gysard           Person in a fancy dress     "  Guise.
+Dambrod          Draught-board               "  Dammes.
+Pantufles        Slippers                    "  Pantoufles.
+Haggis           Hashed meat                 "  Hachis.
+Gou              Taste, smell                "  Gout.
+Hogue            Tainted                     "  Haut gout.
+Grange           Granary                     "  Grange.
+Mouter           Miller's perquisite         "  Mouture.
+Dour             Obstinate                   "  Dur.
+Douce            Mild                        "  Doux.
+Dorty            Sulky                       "  Dureté.
+Braw             Fine                        "  Brave.
+Kimmer           Gossip                      "  Commère.
+Jalouse          Suspect                     "  Jalouser.
+Vizzy            To aim at, to examine       "  Viser.
+Ruckle           Heap (of stones)            "  Recueil.
+Gardy-loo        (Notice well known in       "  Gardez-l'eau.
+                   Edinburgh)
+Dementit         Out of patience, deranged   "  Dementir.
+On my verity     Assertion of truth          "  Verité.
+By my certy      Assertion of truth          "  Certes.
+Aumrie           Cupboard                    "  Almoire, in old
+                                                  French.
+Walise           Portmanteau                 "  Valise.
+Sucker           Sugar                       "  Sucre
+
+_Edinburgh Street Cry:_--"Neeps like sucker. Whae'll buy neeps?"
+(turnips).
+
+Petticoat-tails    Cakes of triangular shapes   " Petits gatelles
+                                                 (gateaux).
+Ashet              Meat-dish                    " Assiette.
+Fashious           Troublesome                  " Facheux.
+Prush, Madame[190] Call to a cow to come        " Approchez,
+                     forward                        Madame
+
+I dwell the more minutely on this question of Scottish words, from the
+conviction of their being so characteristic of Scottish humour, and
+being so distinctive a feature of the older Scottish race. Take away our
+Scottish phraseology, and we lose what is our specific distinction from
+England. In these expressions, too, there is often a tenderness and
+beauty as remarkable as the wit and humour. I have already spoken of the
+phrase "Auld-lang-syne," and of other expressions of sentiment, which
+may be compared in their Anglican and Scotch form.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[160] After all, the remark may not have been so absurd then as it
+appears now. Burns had not been long dead, nor was he then so noted a
+character as he is now. The Scotsmen might really have supposed a
+Southerner unacquainted with the _fact_ of the poet's death.
+
+[161] Choice.
+
+[162] A vessel.
+
+[163] Juice.
+
+[164] Broth.
+
+[165] Rev. A.K.H. Boyd.
+
+[166] I believe the lady was Mrs. Murray Keith of Ravelston, with whom
+Sir Walter had in early life much intercourse.
+
+[167] Disputing or bandying words backwards and forwards.
+
+[168] In Scotland the remains of the deceased person is called the
+"corp."
+
+[169] Laudanum and calomel.
+
+[170] Read from the same book.
+
+[171] Sorely kept under by the turkey-cock.
+
+[172] Close the doors. The old woman was lying in a "box-bed." See _Life
+of Robert Chambers_, p. 12.
+
+[173] Empty pocket.
+
+[174] A cough.
+
+[175] Shrivelled.
+
+[176] Confound.
+
+[177] Empty.
+
+[178] It was of this minister, Mr. Thom of Govan, that Sir Walter Scott
+remarked "that he had demolished all his own chances of a Glasgow
+benefice, by preaching before the town council from a text in Hosea,
+'Ephraim's drink is sour.'"
+
+[179] Empty.
+
+[180] Basket for fish.
+
+[181] Well advanced.
+
+[182] Wearied.
+
+[183] I have abundant evidence to prove that a similar answer to that
+which Dr. Alexander records to have been made to Mr. Gillespie has been
+given on similar occasions by others.
+
+[184] Oats heavy in bulk.
+
+[185] This Marquis of Lothian was aide-de-camp to the Duke of Cumberland
+at the battle of Culloden, who sullied his character as a soldier and a
+nobleman by the cruelties which he exercised on the vanquished.
+
+[186] Sir H. Moncreiff's _Life of Dr. J. Erskine_.
+
+[187] Extraordinary.
+
+[188] In Scotland it is usual to term the law-agent or man of business
+of any person his "doer."
+
+[189] And yet, even as we write, weepers seem to be passing into
+reminiscence.
+
+[190] This expression was adopted apparently in ridicule of the French
+applying the word "Madame" to a cow.
+
+
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+I am very anxious to bear in mind throughout these Reminiscences, and to
+keep in view the same feeling for my readers--viz. that such details
+regarding the changes which many living have themselves noticed as
+taking place in our customs and habits of society in Scotland, should
+always suggest the question to the thoughtful and serious mind, Are the
+changes which have been observed for _good_? Is the world a better world
+than that which we can remember? On some important points changes have
+been noticed in the upper classes of Scottish society, which
+unquestionably _are_ improvements. For example, the greater attention
+paid to observance of Sunday, and to attendance upon public
+worship,--the partial disappearance of profane swearing and of excess in
+drinking. But then the painful questions arise, Are such beneficial
+changes _general_ through the whole body of our countrymen? may not the
+vices and follies of one grade of society have found a refuge in those
+that are of a lower class? may not new faults have taken their place
+where older faults have been abandoned? Of this we are quite sure--no
+lover of his country can fail to entertain the anxious wish, that the
+change we noticed in regard to drinking and swearing were universal, and
+that we had some evidence of its being extended through all classes of
+society. We ought certainly to feel grateful when we reflect that, in
+many instances which we have noticed, the ways and customs of society
+are much improved in common sense, in decency, in delicacy, and
+refinement. There are certain modes of life, certain expressions,
+eccentricity of conduct, coarseness of speech, books, and plays, which
+were in vogue amongst us, even fifty or sixty years ago, which would not
+be tolerated in society at the present time. We cannot illustrate this
+in a more satisfactory manner than by reference to the acknowledgment of
+a very interesting and charming old lady, who died so lately as 1823. In
+1821, Mrs. Keith of Ravelstone, grandaunt of Sir Walter Scott, thus
+writes in returning to him the work of a female novelist which she had
+borrowed from him out of curiosity, and to remind her of "auld lang
+syne:"--"Is it not a very odd thing that I, an old woman of eighty and
+upwards, sitting alone, feel myself ashamed to read a book which, sixty
+years ago, I have heard read aloud for the amusement of large circles,
+consisting of the first and most creditable society in London?" There
+can be no doubt that at the time referred to by Mrs. Keith, Tristram
+Shandy[191], Tom Jones, Humphrey Clinker, etc., were on the drawing-room
+tables of ladies whose grandchildren or great-grandchildren never saw
+them, or would not acknowledge it if they _had_ seen them. But authors
+not inferior to Sterne, Fielding, or Smollett, are now popular, who,
+with Charles Dickens, can describe scenes of human life with as much
+force and humour, and yet in whose pages nothing will be found which
+need offend the taste of the most refined, or shock the feelings of the
+most pure. This is a change where there is also great improvement. It
+indicates not merely a better moral perception in authors themselves,
+but it is itself a homage to the improved spirit of the age. We will
+hope that, with an improved exterior, there is improvement in society
+_within_. If the feelings shrink from what is coarse in expression, we
+may hope that vice has, in some sort, lost attraction. At any rate, from
+what we discern around us we hope favourably for the general improvement
+of mankind, and of our own beloved country in particular. If Scotland,
+in parting with her rich and racy dialect, her odd and eccentric
+characters, is to lose something in quaint humour and good stories, we
+will hope she may grow and strengthen in _better_ things--good as those
+are which she loses. However this may be, I feel quite assured that the
+examples which I have now given, of Scottish expressions, Scottish modes
+and habits of life, and Scottish anecdotes, which belong in a great
+measure to the past, and yet which are remembered as having a place in
+the present century, must carry conviction that great changes have taken
+place in the Scottish social circle. There were some things belonging to
+our country which we must all have desired should be changed. There were
+others which we could only see changed with regret and sorrow. The hardy
+and simple habits of Scotsmen of many past generations; their industry,
+economy, and integrity, which made them take so high a place in the
+estimation and the confidence of the people amongst whom they dwelt in
+all countries of the world; the intelligence and superior education of
+her mechanics and her peasantry, combined with a strict moral and
+religious demeanour, fully justified the praise of Burns when he
+described the humble though sublime piety of the "Cottar's Saturday
+Night," and we can well appreciate the testimony which he bore to the
+hallowed power and sacred influences of the devotional exercises of his
+boyhood's home, when he penned the immortal words:--
+
+     "From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs,
+     That makes her loved at home, revered abroad."
+
+On comparing Scotland past with Scotland present, we cannot evade the
+question, Are "scenes like these"--devotional domestic scenes like
+these--become less frequent than they were? Do they still hold their
+place by the cottar's fireside, or are they becoming only a reminiscence
+of what was _once_ a national distinction? Whatever be our religious
+opinions, or whatever be our views on questions of ecclesiastical polity
+and church order, no Scotsman who desires the happiness and honour of
+his country could avoid a deep regret at the very idea of Burns'
+"Cottar's Saturday Night" having become a thing of the past; and yet we
+must not shrink from inquiry into the true state of the case. I have
+asked the opinions of friends both of the Established and the Free
+Church, who have met my inquiries in a fair and candid spirit, and, from
+the answers I have received, have come to something like the following
+conclusion:--I believe such scenes as Burns' "Cottar's Saturday Night"
+are still to be met with in all their freshness and all their fervour in
+the dwellings of a good religious peasantry; but in some places the
+cottar population _itself_ has undergone a great change. Two causes have
+combined to produce this effect:--An extensive system of emigration has
+thinned the older families of the soil, whilst the practice of bringing
+in mere labourers has in many districts made the old family domestic
+firesides less numerous. Then, alas! alas! we fear cottar MORALITY has
+not been such as to keep up the practice. Reports made to both the
+General Assemblies of 1871 on this question were far from being
+satisfactory. Dr. Begg, too, in his striking and able pamphlet on the
+"Ecclesiastical and Social Evils of Scotland," refers to "symptoms of a
+nation's degeneracy which seem multiplying in Scotland;" also to a
+"growing amount of heathenism and drunkenness."
+
+With such representations before us regarding a decline of domestic
+morality, we cannot expect to see much increase of domestic piety.
+Burns, after he had become lowered in moral feelings by those licentious
+habits and scenes into which he unfortunately fell after he had left his
+father's house, was not hypocrite enough to profess the same love and
+interest for the scenes of his innocent and early days. The country
+clergy of Scotland have their many difficulties against which they are
+to contend; and many obstacles which they have to meet. But let not the
+domestic piety of the lowest cottages of the land be lost sight of. The
+results of such worship are so blessed upon the inmates, that the
+practice should everywhere be urged upon their flocks by the clergy, and
+encouraged by all means in their power; and in that view it would, I
+think, be desirable to circulate short forms of prayer for family use.
+Many such have lately been published; and, whatever difference of
+opinion may be entertained as to the comparative merits of extempore or
+liturgical prayer for the public worship of the church, there can be no
+question that in many instances a form must be very useful, and often
+essential at the commencement, at least, of cottage worship. I have
+known cases where it has been declined on the plea of inability to
+conduct the service.
+
+There are numerous indications that, _on the whole_, a regard for
+religion and religious ordinances is not losing ground in Scotland. The
+great number of churches--and of handsome churches--that are springing
+up, indicate, by their attendance, how much hold the subject has upon
+the people. The ample funds raised for charitable and for missionary
+objects give good testimony in the cause; and, in regard to the
+immediate question before us, one favourable result may be reported on
+this subject--the practice and feelings of domestic piety and family
+worship have, at any rate, extended in Scotland in an _upward_ direction
+of its social life. Beyond all doubt, we may say family worship is more
+frequent, as a general practice, in houses of the rich, and also in the
+houses of farmers and of superior operatives, than it was some years
+ago. The Montrose anecdote about family prayers, told at page 64, could
+hardly have place now, and indeed many persons could not understand
+the point.
+
+I hope I am not blinded to the defects of my own countrymen, nor am I
+determined to resist evidence of any deterioration which may be proved.
+But I feel confident that Scotland still stands pre-eminent amongst the
+nations for moral and religious qualities. The nucleus of her character
+will bear comparison with any. We will cherish hope for the mental tone
+of our countrymen being still in the ascendant, and still imbued with
+those qualities that make a moral and religious people. We have reason
+to know that in many departments of business, Scottish intelligence,
+Scottish character, and Scottish services, are still decidedly at a
+premium in the market.
+
+But now, before concluding, I am desirous of recording some
+Reminiscences upon a phase of Scottish RELIGIOUS history which involves
+very important consequences, and which I would not attempt to discuss
+without serious consideration. Indeed I have sometimes shrunk from the
+discussion at all, as leading to questions of so delicate a nature, and
+as involving matters on which there are so many differences of opinion.
+I refer to the state of our divisions and alienations of spirit _on
+account_ of religion.
+
+The great Disruption, which nearly equally divided the National Church,
+and which took place in 1843, is now become a matter of _reminiscence_.
+Of those nearly connected with that movement, some were relatives of my
+own, and many were friends. Unlike similar religious revolutions, that
+which caused the Free Church of Scotland did not turn upon any
+difference of opinion on matters either of doctrine or of ecclesiastical
+polity. It arose entirely from differences regarding the relation
+subsisting between the Church and the State, by which the Church was
+established and endowed. The great evil of all such divisions, and the
+real cause for regret, lie in the injury they inflict on the cause of
+Christian unity and Christian love, and the separation they too often
+make between those who ought to be united in spirit, and who have
+hitherto been not unfrequently actually joined for years as companions
+and friends. The tone which is adopted by publications, which are the
+organs of various party opinions amongst us, show how keenly disputants,
+once excited, will deal with each other. The differences consequent upon
+the Disruption in the Scottish Church called forth great bitterness of
+spirit and much mutual recrimination at the time. But it seems to me
+that there are indications of a better spirit, and that there is more
+tolerance and more forbearance on religious differences amongst Scottish
+people generally. I cannot help thinking, however, that at no period of
+our ecclesiastical annals was such language made use of, and even
+against those of the highest place and authority in the Church, as we
+have lately met with in the organs of the extreme Anglican Church party.
+It is much to be regretted that earnest and zealous men should have
+adopted such a style of discussing religious differences. I cannot help
+thinking it is injurious to Christian feelings of love and Christian
+kindness. It is really sometimes quite appalling. From the same quarter
+I must expect myself severe handling for some of these pages, should
+they fall into their way. We cannot but lament, however, when we find
+such language used towards each other by those who are believers in a
+common Bible, and who are followers and disciples of the same lowly
+Saviour, and indeed frequently members of the same Church. Bigotry and
+intolerance are not confined to one side or another. They break out
+often where least expected. Differences, no doubt, will always exist on
+many contested subjects, but I would earnestly pray that all SUCH
+differences, amongst ourselves at least, as those which injure the
+forbearance and gentleness of the Christian character, should become
+"Scottish Reminiscences," whether they are called forth by the
+opposition subsisting between Presbyterianism and Episcopacy, or whether
+they arise amongst Presbyterians or amongst Episcopalians themselves.
+
+To my apprehension Scotland has recently seen a most painful indication
+of the absence of that charity which, according to St. Paul, should
+"never fail" amongst a Christian people. The act of two English
+Prelates officiating in one of the Established churches has called forth
+a storm of indignation as loud and vehement as if in a heathen land they
+had fallen down before the image of a heathen deity, and worshipped in a
+heathen temple. Then the explanation which has been given by apologists
+for these services is not the least remarkable feature of the
+transaction. These ministrations have been called "Mission Services,"
+and, in so far as I enter into the meaning of the phrase, I would
+solemnly and seriously protest against its being made use of in such a
+case. "_Mission service_" can only be applied to the case of a
+missionary raising his voice "_in partibus infidelium_" or, to say the
+least of it, in a land where no Christian church was already planted.
+When I think of the piety, the Christian worth, and high character of so
+many friends in the Established and other Presbyterian churches in
+Scotland, I would again repeat my solemn protestation against such
+religious intolerance, and again declare my conviction, that Englishmen
+and Scotsmen, so far from looking out for points of difference and
+grounds for separation on account of the principles on which their
+Churches are established, should endeavour to make the bonds of
+religious union as _close_ as possible. I can scarcely express the
+gratification I felt on learning from the _Scotsman_, November 20, that
+such were the sentiments called forth by this event in the mind of one
+of the ablest and most distinguished Prelates of our day. In reference
+to the Glengarry services, the Bishop of St. Andrews (Wordsworth) has
+declared his opinion, that the "subsequent explanations of those
+services seemed to mar the good work by introducing questions of
+etiquette, where nothing should have been thought of but the simple
+performance of Christian duty by Christian ministers for the benefit of
+Christian people[192]."
+
+Such is the judgment expressed by the honoured and learned Bishop of St.
+Andrews, whose noble and patriotic exertions to draw the Episcopalians
+and the Presbyterians of Scotland closer together in bonds of religious
+feelings and religious worship have been spoken of in such terms, and
+such words have been applied to his labours in that cause, and to the
+administration generally of his own diocese, by one of the very high
+English Church papers, as have been to me a cause of deep sorrow and
+poignant regret.
+
+As a Scotsman by descent from Presbyterians of high moral and religious
+character, and as an Episcopalian by conscientious preference, I would
+fain see more of harmony and of confidence between all Scotsmen, not
+only as fellow-countrymen, but as fellow-Christians. When I first joined
+the Episcopal Church the Edinburgh Episcopal clergy were on most
+friendly terms with the leading clergy of the Established Church. Every
+consideration was shown to them by such men as Bishop Sandford, Dr.
+Morehead, Rev. Archibald Alison, Rev. Mr. Shannon, and others. There was
+always service in the Episcopal chapels on the National Church communion
+fast-days. No opposition or dislike to Episcopalian clergymen occupying
+Presbyterian pulpits was ever avowed as a great principle. Charles
+Simeon of Cambridge, and others of the Churches of England and Ireland,
+frequently so officiated, and it was considered as natural and suitable.
+The learning and high qualities of the Church of England's hierarchy,
+were, with few exceptions, held in profound respect. Indeed, during the
+last hundred years, and since the days when Episcopacy was attacked
+under the term of "black prelacy," I can truly say, the Episcopal order
+has received far more severe handling in Episcopal England than it has
+received in Presbyterian Scotland. I must think, that in the case of two
+churches where the grounds of _resemblance_ are on points of spiritual
+importance affecting great truths and doctrines of salvation, and where
+the points of _difference_ affect questions more of government and
+external order than of salvation, there ought to be on both parts the
+desire at least to draw as closely as they can the bonds of Christian
+charity and mutual confidence.
+
+I believe it to be very painful to Scotsmen generally, whether of the
+Established or the Episcopal Church, that the Presbyterian Church of
+Scotland should be spoken of in such terms as have lately been made use
+of. Scotsmen feel towards it as to the Church of the country established
+by law, just as the Anglican Church is established in England. They feel
+towards it as the Church whose ministrations are attended by our
+gracious Sovereign when she resides in the northern portion of her
+dominions, and in which public thanksgiving was offered to God in the
+royal presence for her Majesty's recovery. But more important still,
+they feel towards it as a church of which the members are behind no
+other communion in the tone and standard of their moral principle and
+integrity of conduct. They feel towards it as a church which has nobly
+retained her adherence to the principles of the Reformation, and which
+has been spared the humiliation of exhibiting any of her clergy
+nominally members of a reformed church, and, at the same time, virtually
+and at heart adherents to the opinions and practices of the Church of
+Rome. English people, in speaking of the Established Church of
+Scotland, seem to forget how much Episcopalians are mixed up with their
+Presbyterian fellow-countrymen in promoting common charitable and
+religious objects. For example, take my own experience: the
+administration of a very valuable charitable institution called the
+Paterson and Pape Fund, is vested jointly in the incumbent of St.
+John's, Edinburgh (Episcopalian), and the two clergymen of St.
+Cuthbert's (Established) Church. Even in matters affecting the interests
+of our own Church we may find ourselves closely connected. Take the
+administration of the late Miss Walker's will, and the carrying out her
+munificent bequest to our Church, of which I am a trustee. Of the nine
+trustees, two are Episcopalians residing in Scotland, one an
+Episcopalian residing in England, and six are Presbyterians residing in
+Scotland. The primary object of Miss Walker's settlement is to build and
+endow, for divine service, a cathedral church in Edinburgh; the edifice
+to cost not less than £40,000. The income arising from the remainder of
+her property to be expended for the benefit of the Scottish Episcopal
+Church generally. A meeting of trustees was held, November 25, 1871, and
+one of the first steps unanimously agreed upon was to appoint the
+Bishop-Coadjutor of Edinburgh, who is a trustee, to be chairman of the
+meeting. There is no doubt or question of mutual good feeling in the
+work, and that our Church feels full and entire confidence in the fair,
+honourable, candid, and courteous conduct of the trustees to whom in
+this case will be committed weighty matters connected with her
+interests.
+
+At one of the congresses of the English Church it has been said, and
+well said, by Mr. B. Hope, that he and his friends of the High Church
+party would join as closely as they could with the members of the
+Romish Church who have taken common cause with Dr. Dollinger, "looking
+more to points where they agree, and not to points where they differ."
+Why should not the same rule be adopted towards brethren who differ from
+ourselves so little on points that are vital and eternal? The principle
+which I would apply to the circumstances, I think, may be thus stated: I
+would join with fellow-Christians in any good works or offices, either
+of charity or religion, where I could do so without compromise of my own
+principles. On such ground I do not see why we should not realise the
+idea already suggested,--viz. that of having an interchange between our
+pulpits and the pulpits of the Established and other Presbyterian or
+Independent Churches. Such ministerial interchange need not affect the
+question of _orders_, nor need it, in fact, touch many other questions
+on which differences are concerned.
+
+Of course this should be arranged under due regulation, and with full
+precaution taken that the questions discussed shall be confined to
+points where there is agreement, and that points of difference should be
+left quite in abeyance. Why should we, under proper arrangements, fail
+to realise so graceful an exercise of Christian charity? Why should we
+lose the many benefits favourable to the advancement of Christian unity
+amongst us? An opportunity for practically putting this idea into a
+tangible form has occurred from the circumstance of the new chapel in
+the University of Glasgow being opened for service, to be conducted by
+clergymen of various churches. I gladly avail myself of the opportunity
+of testifying my grateful acknowledgments for the courteous and generous
+conduct of Dr. Caird, in his efforts to put forward members of our
+Church to conduct the services of the College chapel, and also of
+expressing my admiration of the power and beauty of his remarks on
+Christian unity and on brotherly love[193].
+
+This is with me no new idea; no crude experiment proposed for the
+occasion. I have before me a paper which I wrote some years since, and
+which I had put into the shape of "An Address to the Bishops," to
+sanction such exchange of pulpits, hoping to get some of my clerical
+brethren to join in the object of the address. I feel assured much good
+would, under God, be the result of such spiritual union. If
+congregations would only unite in exchange of such friendly offices of
+religious instruction with each other, how often would persons, now
+strangers, become better acquainted! I wish the experiment could be
+tried, were it only to show how prejudices would be removed; how
+misunderstandings would be cleared away; how many better and kinder
+feelings would grow out of the closer union on religious questions! Nay,
+I would go farther, and express my full conviction, that my own Church
+would _gain_ rather than lose in her interests under such a system. Men
+would be more disposed to listen with attention, and examine with
+candour the arguments we make use of in favour of our Church views. We
+should gain more of the sympathy of our countrymen who differ from us,
+by a calm expostulation than by bitter invective. Beautifully and wisely
+was it written by a sacred pen nearly three thousand years ago, "A soft
+answer turneth away wrath."
+
+I have such confidence in the excellence of my own Church, that I
+believe to bring persons into closer and kinder connection with our
+system would be the more likely way to gain their approval and their
+favourable judgment. In nothing do we lose more of the confidence and
+estimation of our fellow-countrymen than in the feeling of our being
+intolerant and exclusive in our religious opinions. It is curious people
+should not see that the arguments addressed in a friendly spirit must
+tell more powerfully than the arguments of one who shows his
+hostile feeling.
+
+With these feelings on the subject, it may be easily understood with
+what pleasure I read, in the _Edinburgh Courant_ of November 10th, a
+report of what our Primus (Bishop Eden) said, at the entertainment which
+was given on the occasion of the consecration of St. Mary's Church,
+Glasgow. In speaking on the question of Union, the Primus said--
+
+     "I think I may speak for my Episcopal brethren, when I say
+     that if the heads, especially of the Established Church of
+     Scotland--for that is the body that has most power and
+     influence--if a proposal were made by the leading men in that
+     Church, in concurrence with those who hold views similar to
+     themselves--a conference of the representative men of the
+     different Churches--to consider in a Christian spirit what
+     our differences are, and what are the points on which we are
+     agreed, we would be most happy to take part in it. Such a
+     conference might, in the providence of God, lead to our being
+     drawn nearer to each other. I believe that then the prayer
+     which the Bishop of St. Andrews offered up would he the
+     earlier accomplished, namely, that the Episcopal Churches
+     might become Reformed, and the Reformed Churches become
+     Episcopal. If any proposal of this kind could be made, I
+     believe we would be most ready to accept any invitation to
+     consider whether the various Churches might not be drawn
+     nearer to each other." (Great applause.)
+
+The Coadjutor Bishop of Edinburgh in his address, after briefly
+referring to some proposals that had been made for union among the
+churches in South Africa, went on to say--
+
+     "I do say, as one of the Bishops of the Scottish Episcopal
+     Church now, and in reference to what fell from the Primus,
+     that I most heartily concur in what he said, and I cannot but
+     feel that, without the slightest breach of the great
+     fundamental principles of the Church of Christ, there are
+     many points on which we may be at one with Christians who are
+     not part of our organic body.
+
+     "I believe the proposal made by the Primus would have the
+     effect of drawing them nearer to us, and be a step forward to
+     that consummation which we all desire, and which our blessed
+     Lord prayed--with his last breath--'That we may all be one.'"
+     (Great applause.)
+
+That two honoured Fathers of our Church, our Primus and my own Bishop,
+should have made use of such terms, and that their views should have
+been received by _such_ an audience with so much applause, I could have
+offered a grateful acknowledgment upon my knees.
+
+But after all, perhaps, it may be said this is an utopian idea, which,
+in the present state of religious feelings and ecclesiastical
+differences, never can be realised. It were a sufficient answer to the
+charge of _utopianism_ brought against such a proposal, to plead that it
+was no more than what was sanctioned by the teaching of God's word. In
+this case it does not seem to go beyond the requirements of holy
+Scripture as set forth in St. Paul's description of charity, and in
+other passages which clearly enjoin Christians to act towards each other
+in love, and to cultivate, so far as they can, a spirit of mutual
+forbearance and of joint action in the sacred cause of preaching the
+truth as it is in Jesus. I cannot believe that, were St. Paul on earth,
+he would sanction the present state of jealous separation amongst
+Christians. Take such separation in connection with the beautiful
+sentiment, which we read in Phil. i. 18:--"What then? notwithstanding
+every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I
+therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice."
+
+The determination to exclude preaching that is not strictly according to
+our own forms seems to me quite inconsistent with the general teaching
+of Scripture, more particularly with this apostolic declaration. But I
+would bring this question to a practical issue, and we shall find enough
+in our own experience to confirm the view I have taken, and to sanction
+the arrangement I propose. To bring forward co-operation in the great
+and vitally important work of preaching God's word, which has been
+already effected between persons holding on some points opinions
+different from each other, take first the case of revision of the
+English translation of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, as it has
+been resolved upon by the authorities of the great Anglican Communion.
+They have had no difficulty in finding Nonconformist scholars and
+divines whose fitness to be associated with Anglican Churchmen in the
+great work of arranging and correcting an authorised version has been
+admitted by all. Thus we have Nonconformists and English and Scottish
+Episcopalians united in adjusting the terms of the sacred text;--the
+text from which all preaching in the English tongue shall in future
+derive its authority, and by which all its teaching shall in future be
+guided and directed. There is _already_, however, a closer and a more
+practical blending of minds on great religious questions much differing
+from each other on lesser points. In the field of religious and
+devotional literature, many of our church differences are lost sight of.
+Episcopalian congregations are constantly in the habit of joining with
+much cordiality and earnestness in singing hymns composed by authors
+nonconformists with our Church--in fact, of adopting them into their
+church service. These compositions form a portion of their worship, and
+are employed to illustrate and enforce their own most earnest doctrinal
+views and opinions themselves. How entirely are such compositions as the
+sacramental hymn, "My God, and is thy table spread," by Doddridge; the
+hymn, "When I behold the wondrous cross," by Isaac Watts, associated
+with our Church services! Nor are such feelings of adoption confined to
+poetical compositions. How many prose productions by non-Episcopalian
+authors might be introduced for the delight and benefit of Christian
+congregations! How eagerly many such compositions are read by members of
+our Church! With what delight would many discourses of this class have
+been listened to had they been delivered to Episcopalian congregations!
+Where such hymns and such discourses are admissible, the _authors_ of
+them might take a part in conducting psalmody and in occupying the
+pulpit for preaching to a congregation. If the spirits of such writers
+as Doddridge, Watts, and Hall, have been felt to permeate and to
+influence the hearts of others who have heard or read their words of
+holiness and peace, we may well suppose that God would sanction their
+making like impressions, in his own house, upon the hearts of those whom
+they meet there face to face. Might they not communicate personally what
+they communicate through the press? For example, why should not Robert
+Hall have preached his sermons on Infidelity and on the Death of the
+Princess of Wales, perhaps the two most magnificent discourses in the
+language, in an English Cathedral? Why should not the beautiful
+astronomical discourses of Thomas Chalmers have been delivered in St.
+Paul's or in St. John's, Edinburgh? For many years, in want of better
+materials, the sermons of Dr. Blair were more used in the Church of
+England, and more read in private, than any similar compositions. It has
+been for years a growing persuasion in my own mind that principles of
+Christian love and mutual harmony are too often sacrificed to the desire
+of preserving the exact and formal marks of church order, as the Bishop
+of St. Andrews so happily expressed it to preserve _etiquette_. Surely
+the great law of Christian love would suggest and enforce a union at
+least of spirit amongst Christian believers, who cannot join in the
+unity of the same organisation. Inability to join in the same form of
+church polity and church order need not shut the door to religious
+sympathies and religious communion, where there are so many points of
+agreement and of mutual interest. The experience of the past will tend
+to produce the conviction that there has too often been in our religious
+disputes a strong tendency in all Christian denominations to make the
+great principle of love, which is a principle to rule in Heaven and for
+eternity, actually subservient and subordinate to a system of
+ecclesiastical order, which, important as it is for its own purposes and
+objects, never can be more than a guide to the ministration of the
+Church on earth, and an organisation which must be in its nature
+confined to time.
+
+Wherever or whenever this feeling may be called forth, it is a grievous
+error--it is a very serious subject for our reflection, how far such
+want of sympathy and of union with those who do not belong immediately
+to our own church, must generate a feeling hostile to a due reception of
+an important article of our faith, termed in the Apostles' Creed the
+COMMUNION OF SAINTS. According to the description given by the judicious
+and learned Bishop Pearson, this communion or spiritual union belongs to
+all who are in New Testament language denominated SAINTS; by which he
+means all who, having been baptized in the faith, have this name by
+being called and baptized. Then he states all Christian believers to
+have communion and fellowship with these, whether living or dead. We
+should feel towards such persons (evidently, as the good Bishop implies,
+without reference to any particular church order) all sympathy and
+kindness as members of the same great spiritual family on earth,
+expectants of meeting in heaven in the presence of God and of the Lamb,
+and of joining in the worship of saints and angels round the throne. I
+have no hesitation in declaring my full conviction that such
+expectations of future communion should supply a very powerful and
+sacred motive for our cultivating all spiritual union in our power with
+all fellow-Christians, all for whom Christ died. It becomes a very
+serious subject for examination of our own hearts, how, by _refusing_
+any spiritual intercourse with Christians who are not strictly members
+of our own Church, we may contravene this noble doctrine of the
+Communion of Saints; for does not the bitterness with which sometimes we
+find all union with certain fellow-Christians in the Church on earth
+chill or check the feeling of a desire for union with the same in the
+Church above? Nay, is there not matter for men's earnest thought, how
+far the violent animosity displayed against the smallest approach to
+anything like spiritual communion with all Christians of a different
+Church from their own may chill the DESIRE itself for "meeting in the
+Church above?" Can hatred to meeting on earth be in any sense a right
+preliminary or preparation for desire to meet in Heaven? Nay, more,
+should we not carefully guard lest the bitter displays we see of
+religious hostility may even tend to bring men's minds towards a
+_disinclination_ to meet in Heaven, of which the most terrible condition
+was thus expressed by Southey:--"Earth could not hold us both, nor can
+one heaven[194]."
+
+One mark of any particular Church being a portion of Christ's Church on
+earth seems to be overlooked by some of our English friends, and that is
+a mark pointed out by our Lord himself, when he said, "By their FRUITS
+ye shall know them." By this announcement I would understand that
+besides and beyond a profession of the great articles of the Christian
+faith, I would, as a further criterion of a Christian church, inquire if
+there were many of its members who have been distinguished for their
+Christian piety, Christian learning, and Christian benevolence. Is all
+external communion to be interdicted with a church which has produced
+such men as we might name amongst the children of our Established and
+other Churches in Scotland? Look back upon half-a-century, and ask if a
+similar act with that of the Archbishop of York and Bishop of Winchester
+would then have created a like feeling. I can remember well the interest
+and admiration called forth by the eloquence, the philanthropy, and the
+moral fervour of Dr. Chalmers, amongst the High Church school of the day
+too--the good Archbiship Howley, Bishop Blomfield, Rev. Mr. Norris of
+Hackney, Mr. Joshua Watson, etc. I remember, too, the perfect ovation he
+received in the attendance of Archbishops, Bishops, Clergy, Peers,
+Princes, etc., of the great London world, at his lectures on
+Establishments. We can hardly imagine any one saying then, "This is all
+very well, but the Church that produced this man is no part of the true
+Church of Christ, and no English prelate or clergyman could possibly
+take service in it."
+
+No one, I believe, who is acquainted with my own views and opinions on
+religious subjects would say that I look with indifference on those
+points wherein we differ from the great body of our fellow-countrymen. I
+am confident that I should not gain in the estimation of Presbyterians
+themselves by showing a cold indifference, or a lukewarm attachment, to
+the principles and practice of my own Church. They would see that my own
+convictions in favour of Episcopal government in the Church, and of
+liturgical services in her worship, were quite compatible with the
+fullest exercise of candour and forbearance towards the opinions of
+others--I mean on questions not essential to salvation.
+
+I believe that there are persons amongst us coming round to this
+opinion, and who are ready to believe that it is quite possible for
+Christians to exercise very friendly mutual relations in spiritual
+matters which constitute the essential articles of a common faith,
+whilst they are in practice separated on points of ecclesiastical order
+and of church government. I am old, and shall not see it; but I venture
+to hope that, under the Divine blessing, the day will come when to
+Scotsmen it will be a matter of reminiscence that Episcopalians, or that
+Presbyterians of any denomination, should set the interests of their own
+communion above the exercise of that charity that for a brother's faith
+"hopeth all things and believeth all things." Zeal in promoting our own
+Church views, and a determination to advance her interests and
+efficiency, need be no impediment to cultivating the most friendly
+feelings towards those who agree with us in matters which are essential
+to salvation and who, in their differences from us, are, I am bound to
+believe, as conscientious as myself. Such days will come.
+
+But now, to close my remarks on national peculiarities, with what I may
+term a _practical_ and _personal_ application. We have in our later
+pages adopted a more solemn and serious view of past reminiscences as
+they bear upon questions connected with a profession of religion. It is
+quite suitable then to recall the fact which applies individually to all
+our readers. We shall ourselves each of us one day become subject to a
+"reminiscence" of others. Indeed, the whole question at issue throughout
+the work takes for granted what we must all have observed to be a very
+favourite object with survivors--viz. that the characters of various
+persons, as they pass away, will be always spoken of, and freely
+discussed, by those who survive them. We recall the eccentric, and we
+are amused with a remembrance of their eccentricities. We admire the
+wise and dignified of the past. There are some who are recollected only
+to be detested for their vices--some to be pitied for their weaknesses
+and follies--some to be scorned for mean and selfish conduct. But there
+are others whose memory is embalmed in tears of grateful recollection.
+There are those whose generosity and whose kindness, whose winning
+sympathy and noble disinterested virtues are never thought upon or ever
+spoken of without calling forth a blessing. Might it not, therefore, be
+good for us often to ask ourselves how _we_ are likely to be spoken of
+when the grave has closed upon the intercourse between us and the
+friends whom we leave behind? The thought might, at any rate, be useful
+as an additional motive for kind and generous conduct to each other. And
+then the inquiry would come home to each one in some such form as
+this--"Within the circle of my family and friends--within the hearts of
+those who have known me, and were connected with me in various social
+relations--what will be the estimate formed of me when I am gone? What
+will be the spontaneous impression produced by looking back on bygone
+intercourses in life? Will past thought of me furnish the memory of
+those who survive me with recollections that will be fond and pleasing?"
+In one word, let each one ask himself (I speak to countrymen and
+countrywomen), "Will _my_ name be associated with gentle and happy
+'REMINISCENCES OF SCOTTISH LIFE AND CHARACTER'?"
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[191] Sterne, in one of his letters, describes his reading Tristram
+Shandy to his wife and daughter--his daughter copying from his
+dictation, and Mrs. Sterne sitting by and listening whilst she worked.
+In the life of Sterne, it is recorded that he used to carry about in his
+pocket a volume of this same work, and read it aloud when he went into
+company. Admirable reading for the church dignitary, the prebendary of
+York! How well adapted to the hours of social intercourse with friends!
+How fitted for domestic seclusion with his family!
+
+[192] _Scottish Guardian_, vol. ii. No. ix. p. 305.
+
+[193] "What is Religion?" a sermon by Rev. John Caird, D.D., Professor
+of Divinity in the University of Glasgow, and one of Her Majesty's
+Chaplains for Scotland. See especially concluding remarks.
+
+[194] See Southey's _Roderick_, book xxi.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+'Aaple,' bottle of beer strong o'.
+Abercairney, Laird of, prevented from _going out_ in '15.
+Aberdeen dialect, perfect specimens of.
+Aberdeen elders, opinion of.
+Aberdeen provost, wife of, at the opera.
+Aberdeen, two ladies of, mutual recrimination.
+'A bonnie bride's sune buskit.'
+Accommodation, grand, for snuff.
+'Acts o' Parliament lose their breath
+    before they get to Aberdeenshire.'
+Adam, Dr., Latin translation of Scottish expressions.
+Advice to a minister in talking to a ploughman.
+'A gravesteen wad gie guid bree gin ye gied it plenty o' butter.'
+'A hantle o' miscellawneous eating about a pig.'
+Airth, housekeeper at, on king of France.
+Alexander, Dr. W. Lindsay.
+'And what the devil is it to you whether I have a liver or not?'
+Anecdotes of quaint Scottish character.
+Angel-worship is not allowed in the Church of Scotland.
+Angler and the horse-fly.
+'Anither gude Sunday! I dinna ken
+    whan I'll get thae drawers redd up.'
+'Anither het day, Cornal.'
+'An inch at the tap is worth twa at the boddam.'
+'An I hadna been an idiot I micht hae been sleepin' too.'
+Annals of the parish, extracts from.
+Answer to stranger asking the way.
+Answers, dry, specimens of.
+'A peer o' anither tree.'
+Appetite, farmer's reason for minister's good appetite.
+Asher, minister of Inveraven, anecdote of.
+Athole, Duke of, and Cultoquhey.
+Athole, Duke of, answer of his cottar.
+Auction, anecdote of spoon missing.
+Auld lang syne, beauty of the expression.
+Auld, Rev. Dr., of Ayr, and Rab Hamilton.
+Authors, older ones indecent.
+'Ay, ir ye a' up an' awa?'
+'Ay, she may prosper, for she has baith the prayers of the good and
+     of the bad.'
+
+Baby, a laddie or a lassie.
+Baird, Mrs., of Newbyth, remark of, as to her son in India.
+Balnamoon, laird of, carriage to _haud in_.
+Balnamoon, laird of, great drinker.
+Balnamoon, laird of, joke with his servant.
+Balnamoon, laird of, refuses his wig.
+Balnamoon, praying and drinking at.
+Banes, distinction of, by a beggar.
+Banes, Frasers weel-baned.
+Bannockburn, guide to, refusing an Englishman's five shillings.
+Bannockburn, Scottish remark upon.
+Baptism, minister and member of his flock.
+Barclay of Ury, M. P., walk to London
+Bathgate, mending the ways of
+Beadle, equivocal compliment to minister's sermons
+Beadle or Betheral, character of
+Beast, a stumbling, at least honest
+'Becky and I had a rippit, for which I desire to be humble'
+Begg, Dr., on Scottish morality of the present day
+Beggar, expressing his thanks to a clerical patron
+Bellman of Craigie, notice from
+Bestial, curious use of word
+Betheral, a conceited one
+Betheral criticising a clergyman
+Betheral, criticism on a text
+Betheral, evidence of, regarding drinking
+Betheral, making love professionally
+Betheral, on a dog that was noisy
+Betheral, on the town bailies
+Betheral, Scottish, answer to minister on being drunk
+Betheral stories
+Betheral taking a dog out of church
+Betheral's answer to minister
+Betherals, conversation of two, regarding their ministers
+Blair, Rev. Dr. Hugh, and his beadle
+Blessing by Scottish Bishops, form of, become a reminiscence
+Blethering
+Boatie, character on Deeside
+Boatie of Deeside, and Providence
+Books, older ones indecent
+Border, _selvidge_, weakest bit of the wab
+Bowing to heritors
+Boy, anecdote of
+Braxfield, Lord, a man of wit
+Braxfield, Lord, character of, as a judge
+Braxfield, Lord, conducting the trial of Muir, Palmer, and Skirving, etc.
+Braxfield, Lord, delighted with reply of Scotch minister
+Braxfield, Lord, spoke the broadest Scotch
+Briggs, the sergeant, dry description of, by Scottish nobleman
+Brougham, Lord, on Scottish dialect
+Brown, Rev. John, and the auld wifie
+Brown, Rev. John of Whitburn, answer to rude youth
+Bruce, Mr., of Kinnaird, and Louis XVI. of France
+Buccleuch, Duchess of, asking farmer to take cabbage
+Bull, specimen of Scottish confusion of ideas
+'Bulls of Bashan' applied by a lady to herself
+Burnett, Dr. Gilbert, Bishop of Salisbury
+Burnett, Sir Thomas, of Leys, and his tenant Drummy
+Burnett, Lady, of Leys
+Burns, a son of, and Charles Lamb
+Burns conducted family worship
+Burying-place, choice of
+Bush, conversation with minister in church
+Butler and Kincardineshire laird
+'But my minnie dang, she did though'
+'But oh, I'm sair hadden doun wi' the bubbly jock'
+'But the bodies brew the braw drink'
+
+CAMPBELL of Combie and Miss M'Nabb, anecdote of
+Campbell, Rev. Duncan, on Highland honours
+Camstraddale, the Dumbartonshire laird
+Canny, illustration of one of its meanings
+Canterbury, Archbishop of, and the Dollar man
+Carlyle, Dr., account of minister's drinking in last century
+Carlyle, Dr., prosecuted by General Assembly for attending theatre
+Carnegie, Miss Helen, of Craigo, anecdotes of
+Carnegie, Miss, of Craigo, and James III. and VIII.
+Carrier, a country, description of his journeys
+Catastrophe, whimsical application of the word
+'Cauld kail het again'
+'Ceevil,' in courtship, may be carried too far
+Cemeteries, treatment of, much changed
+Chalmers, Dr., poor woman's reason for hearing
+Chambers, Robert, _Domestic Annals of Scotland_.
+Change of national language involves change of national character.
+Changes, are they for the good of the whole community?
+Changes, example of, in an old Laird seeing a man at the pianoforte.
+Changes fast going on around us.
+Changes in Scottish manners and dialect.
+Changes, interesting to mark.
+Changes taking place, here noticed.
+Changes taking place in religious feeling.
+Changes, various causes for.
+Chaplain of a jail, humorous reasons for his appointment.
+Children, curious answers of.
+Children, very poor, examples of acuteness.
+Children's diseases.
+Church discipline in the Presbytery of Lanark.
+Churches, a coachman's reason for their increase.
+Churches, architect's idea of difference between two.
+Churches, handsome structure of, more common.
+Church discipline, old fashioned.
+Church-going of late neglected in towns.
+Church-going, Scotchmen not famous for, fifty years ago.
+Churchyard, drunken weaver in.
+Circuit, a drunken one.
+Circuit, one described by Lord Cockburn.
+Clergy, Gaelic, not judged severely on account of drinking.
+Clergyman footsore in grouse-shooting.
+Clergyman publicly rebuking his wife.
+Clerk, John, address to presiding judge.
+Clerk, John, answer to Lord Chancellor.
+Clerk, John, apology for friend in Court of Session.
+Cockburn, Lord, and the Bonaly shepherd.
+Cockburn, Lord, on Scottish changes.
+Cockburn's _Memorials_, extracts from.
+Collie dogs, sagacity of.
+'Come awa, Jeanie; here's a man swearin' awfully.'
+'Come awa, granny, and gang hame;
+   this is a lang grace and nae meat.'
+'Come oot and see a new star that
+   hasna got its tail cuttit aff yet.'
+Confession of faith.
+Confirmation, anecdotes concerning.
+Constable, Thomas, anecdote of spare lady.
+Conviviality, old Scottish, and forced.
+Conviviality, Scotch, complaint of, by a London merchant.
+Corb, and Sir George Ramsay.
+Corehouse, Lord, prediction of not rising at the bar, by a Selkirk
+  writer.
+'Corp's brither' at a funeral.
+Cottar's Saturday night, fine picture.
+Country minister and his wife, large bed.
+Craigie, Rev. Mr., and Jamie Fleeman.
+Craigmyle, Laird of, and Duchess of Gordon.
+Cranstoun, George, Lord Corehouse.
+Cream, Billy, landlord of inn at Laurencekirk, and Lord Dunmore.
+Cross, curious meaning attached to.
+'Cry a'thegither, that's the way to be served.'
+Cumming, Dr. Patrick, convivial clergyman.
+Cumming, Miss, of Altyre, and Donald MacQueen.
+Cumnock, volunteers of.
+Cultoquhey, old Laird of, morning litany.
+Cutty-stool, former use of.
+
+Daft person, his choice of money.
+Dale, David, anecdotes of his servant.
+Dalhousie, Lady.
+Dam-brod pattern table-cloth.
+Dancing, seceder's opinion of.
+Darkness, what is it?
+Davie, chiel that's chained to.
+Davy Gellatleys, many in the country.
+Death, circumstances of, coolly treated.
+Death of a sister described by old lady.
+Decrees of God, answer of old woman.
+Degrees sold at northern universities.
+Delicacy of recent authors compared with older.
+Dewar, David, Baptist minister at Dunfermline.
+Dialects, distinctions on Scottish.
+Dialect, Scottish, real examples of.
+Dialects, provosts, Aberdeen and Edinburgh.
+Diamond Beetle case.
+Difference between an Episcopalian and a Presbyterian minister.
+Diminutives, terms of endearment.
+Discreet, curious use of word.
+Diseases of children, odd names for.
+'Div ye no ken there's aye maist sawn o' the best crap?'
+Dochart, same as Macgregor.
+Dog story.
+'Doggie, doggie,' address of idiot to a greyhound.
+Dogs in church, anecdotes of.
+Donald, Highland servant.
+Donkey, apology of his master for putting him into a field.
+Downie, minister of Banchory, and son's marriage.
+Drams in Highlands, anecdotes of.
+Dream of idiot in town of Ayr, and apostle Peter.
+Drinking, apology for.
+Drinking at Balnamoon.
+Drinking at Castle Grant.
+Drinking, challenge against, by Mr. Boswell of Balmuto.
+Drinking parties of Saturday sometimes took in Sunday.
+Drinking party, 'lad employed to lowse the neckcloths.'
+Drinking party, quantity consumed by.
+Drinking reckoned an accomplishment.
+Drinking, supposed manliness attached to.
+Drovers drinking in Highlands.
+Drumly, happy explanation of.
+Drummond of Keltie, answer to itinerant tailor.
+Dunbar, Sir Archibald, account of a servant.
+Dundas, Henry, and Mr. Pitt.
+Dundrennan, Lord, anecdote of a silly basket-woman.
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, address to Dr. Cook of St. Andrews.
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, and Mr. Clarke's big head.
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, man of racy humour.
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, meeting flock of geese.
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, on a taciturn brother.
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, and mischievous youths in kirk-yard.
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, answer to two young men.
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, opinion of Edward Irving.
+Dunmore, Lord, and Billy Cream.
+'D'ye think I dinna ken my ain groats in ither folk's kail?'
+
+East Lothian minister and his betheral taking degrees at a northern
+  college.
+Economy, specimen of Scottish.
+Edinburgh and Aberdeen provosts.
+'E'ening brings a' hame,' expressed by Lord Byron.
+Eglinton, Earl of, and little boy.
+'Eh, man, your Psalm buik has been ill bund.'
+'Eh, Miss Jeany! ye have been lang spared.'
+Eldin, Lord (John Clerk), anecdotes of.
+Election, answer of minister to question.
+Elphinstone, Lord, and minister of Cumbernauld.
+Endearment, Scottish terms of.
+Englishman, an _impruived_.
+Enterteening, curious use of word.
+Episcopalian chapels, anecdote of Sir W. Forbes.
+Erskine, Colonel, servant proposes an aith for his relief.
+Erskine, Hon. Henry, dinner party at Lord Armadale's.
+Erskine, Mr., of Dun, and his old servant.
+Erskine of Dun, Miss.
+Estate giving the name to proprietor.
+Examinations of communicants
+Expressions, old Scottish, and modern slang contrasted
+Expressions, specimens of Scottish
+
+Factors, proposal to sow field with
+'Fah tee, fah tee'
+Fail, curious use of word
+Family worship now more common
+Family worship, remark upon
+Farmer and servant boy
+Farmer, answer of, when asked to take rhubarb tart
+Farmer, cool answer regarding notes
+Farmer on Deeside and bottle of vinegar
+Farmer refusing a dessert spoon
+Farmer, Scottish, conversation with English girl
+Farms, giving names to the tenants
+Fash as to taking a wife
+Fast-day, national, strictness in observing
+'Fat for should I gang to the opera just to creat a confeesion?'
+Fencing tables, by an old minister
+Fencing the _deil_
+Fergusson of Pitfour and London lady
+Fettercairn, custom of bowing to heritors
+Fife elder and penurious laird
+Fife, Lord, proposal to, by an idiot
+'Fin' a fardin' for yersell, puir body'
+Finzean, Laird of, swearing
+Fisher of men
+Fit raiment, explanation of, by child
+Fleeman, Jamie, anecdote of
+Fleeman, Jamie, the Laird of Udny's fool, life of, published
+'Floorish o' the surface,' to describe a preacher
+Forbes, Mrs., of Medwyn, fond of tea
+Forbes's banking-house, anecdotes of
+'Formerly robbers, now thieves'
+Frail, curious use of word
+Fraser, Jamie, address to minister in kirk
+Fraser, Jamie, idiot of Lunan
+Free Church, road of, 'tolls unco high'
+'Freet's dear! sin' I sauld freet in streets o' Aberdeen'
+French people, a clause in their favour, by a Scottish minister
+Fruit, abstinence from, by minister
+Fullerton, Miss Nelly, anecdote of
+Funeral, anecdote of, in Strathspey
+Funeral, carrying at, or leaning
+Funeral, extraordinary account of a Scottish, at Carluke
+Funeral of a laird of Dundonald
+Funeral, reason for a farmer taking another glass at
+Funeral, reason for a person being officious at
+Funeral, taking orders for, on deathbed
+Funeral, the coffin forgotten at
+
+Galloway Lady declining drink
+Gardenstone, Lord, and his book at the inn
+Gardenstone, Lord, and his pet pig
+Gardenstone, Lord, exertions of, for Laurencekirk
+Gardenstone, Lord, keeping snuff in his waistcoat pocket
+Gardenstone, Lord, personal reminiscences of
+Garskadden, Laird of, 'steppit awa' at table
+General Assembly, minister's prayer for
+George III., sickness of, advantageous to candlemakers
+Ghost appearing to Watty Dunlop
+Gilchrist, Dr., answer to young minister on Lord's Prayer
+Gilchrist, Dr., answer to one of his hearers, who had changed his
+  religion
+Gillespie, Professor, and village carpenter
+Gillespie, Rev. Mr., and old woman sleeping when he preached
+Glasgow Cathedral, betheral's opinion of
+Glasgow lady and carpenter
+Glasgow, toast after dinner, hint to the ladies
+Glenorchy, Lady, and the elder at the plate at Caprington
+Glenorchy, Lady, removal of her remains on account of railroad
+Gordon, Duchess of
+Gordon, Duchess of, and the laird of Craigmyle
+Gordon, Lady Susan, and David Tulloch
+Graham, Miss Clementina Stirling, _Mystifications_ by
+Grave, making love at
+Gregory, Dr., story of Highland chief
+Grieve in Aberdeenshire, opinion of own wife
+Grieve, on Deeside, opinion of young man's preaching
+'Gude coorse country work'
+Gudewife on Deeside
+Guthrie, Helen, and her husband
+Guy Mannering, extract from
+
+HADDOCK, curious use of word
+'Halbert, smells damnably of the'
+Hamilton, Laird, at the palace asking the servant to sit down
+Hamilton, Laird, noted for eccentricity
+Hamilton, Laird, reasons for not signing a bill
+Hamilton Rab, an idiot at Ayr
+Hamilton, Rab, idiot, anecdotes of
+Hangman, Scotch drover acting as
+Harvest, returning thanks for good
+Hatter at Laurencekirk
+Heaven, little boy's refusal of
+Heaven, old woman's idea of
+'He bud tae big's dyke wi' the feal at fit o't'
+He is awfu' 'supperstitious'
+'He turned Seceder afore he dee'd, and I buried him like a beast'
+'Hech, sirs, and he's weel pat on, too'
+'Henny pig and green tea'
+Heritor sending the hangman of Stirling to pay the minister
+Heritors, bowing to
+Hermand, Lord, great drinker, but first-rate lawyer
+Hermand, Lord, jokes with young advocate
+Hermand, Lord, opinion of drinking
+Highland chairman
+Highland chief, story of
+Highland gentleman, first time in London
+Highland honours
+Highland inquisitiveness
+Highlands kept up the custom of clans or races
+Hill, Dr., Latin translation of Scottish expressions
+His girn's waur than his bite
+Holy communion, several anecdotes concerning
+Home, John, author of Douglas, lines on port wine
+Home, John, remark of, to David Hume
+'Honest men and bonnie lassies'
+'Honest woman, what garr'd ye steal your neighbour's tub?'
+Honesty declared the best policy, why?
+Honeyman's, Mrs., answer to Henry Erskine's impromptu lines
+'Hoot! jabbering bodies, wha could understan' them?'
+'Horse the length of Highgate'
+Hospitals, changes in
+Hot day, cool remark on
+'Hout, that is a kind o' a feel'
+Hume, David, refused assistance except on conditions
+Hume, Mrs., 'Too poor'
+Humour of Scotch language
+Humour, Scottish, described in _Annals of the Parish_
+Humour, Scottish, description of
+Hymns ancient and modern
+
+'I DIDNA ken ye were i' the toun'
+Idiot boy and penurious uncle
+Idiot boy, pathetic story of one receiving communion
+Idiot in Lauder, cheating the seceders
+Idiot in Peebles church
+Idiot, musical one at Stirling, appropriate tune
+Idiot of Lauder, and Lord Lauderdale's steward
+Idiot, pathetic complaint of, regarding bubbly jock
+Idiot, why not asleep in church
+Idiots, Act of Parliament concerning
+Idiots, fondness for attending funerals
+Idiots, parish, often very shrewd
+'I druve ye to your marriage, and I shall stay to drive ye to your burial'
+'If there's an ill text in a' the Bible,
+   that creetur's aye sure to tak it.'
+'If you dinna ken whan ye've a gude
+   servant, I ken whan I've a gude place.'
+'I hae cuist'n my coat and waistcoat,
+   and faith I dinna ken how lang I
+   can thole my breeks.'
+'I just fan' a doo in the _redd_ o' my plate.'
+'I'll hang ye a' at the price.'
+'I maun hae a lume that'll haud in.'
+'I'm unco yuckie to hear a blaud o' your gab.'
+Inch-byre banes.
+'Indeed, sir, I wish I wur.'
+India, St. Andrew's day kept in, by Scotchmen.
+'I never big dykes till the tenants complain.'
+Innes, Jock, remark upon hats and heads.
+Innkeeper's bill, reason for being moderate.
+Interchange of words between minister and flock in church.
+Intercourse between classes changed.
+'I soopit the pu'pit.'
+'It's a peety but ye had been in Paradise,
+   and there micht na hae been ony faa'.'
+'It's no the day to be speerin sic things.'
+'I've a coo noo.'
+'I was just stan'ing till the kirk had skailed.'
+'I was not juist sae sune doited as some o' your Lordships.'
+'I wouldna gie my single life for a'
+   the double anes I ever saw.'
+
+Jacobite feeling.
+Jacobite lady, reason for not rising from her chair.
+Jacobite toasts.
+Jacobite's prayer for the _King_.
+Jamie Layal, old servant, anecdotes of.
+Jeems Robson, ye are sleepin'.
+'Jemmy, you are drunk.'
+Jock, daft, attending funeral at Wigtown.
+Jock Grey, supposed original of David Gellatley.
+Jock Wabster, 'deil gaes ower,' a proverb.
+John Brown, burgher minister, and an 'auld wifie.'
+John, eccentric servant, anecdotes of.
+Johnstone, Miss, of Westerhall, specimen of fine old Scotch lady.
+Johnstone, Rev. Dr., of Leith, and old woman, on the decrees of God.
+Johnstone, Rev. Mr., of Monquhitter, and travelling piper.
+Judges, Scottish, former peculiarities as a type.
+Judges, Scottish, in Kay's Portraits.
+
+Kail, curious use of word.
+Kames, Lord, a keen agriculturist.
+Kames, Lord, his joke with Lord Monboddo.
+'Kaming her husband's head.'
+Kay's Portraits.
+Keith, Mrs., of Ravelston, her remark to Sir W. Scott on old books.
+Kilspindie, Laird of, and Tannachy Tulloch.
+Kindly feelings between minister and people.
+Kirkyard crack.
+Kirkyard crack superseded by newspapers.
+
+Ladies of Montrose, anecdotes of.
+Ladies, old, of Montrose.
+Lady, old maiden, of Montrose, reason
+   for not subscribing to volunteer fund.
+Lady, old, of Montrose, objections to
+   steam vessels, and gas, and water-carts.
+Lady, old Scotch, remark on loss of her box.
+Lady, Scottish, Lord Cockburn's account of.
+Lady's, old, answer to her doctor.
+Laird, parsimonious, and fool.
+Laird, parsimonious, and plate at church-door.
+Laird, reason against taking his son into the world.
+Laird reproaches his brother for not taking a wife.
+Laird, saving, picking up a farthing.
+Laird, Scottish, delighted that Christmas had run away.
+Lamb, Charles, saw no wit in Scotch people.
+Land, differences of, in produce.
+'Lass wi' the braw plaid, mind the puir.'
+Laudamy and calomy'
+Lauderdale, Duke of, and Williamson
+  the huntsman
+Lauderdale, Earl of, recipe of his daft
+  son to make him sleep
+Laurencekirk, change in
+Laurencekirk described in style of
+  Thomas the Rhymer
+Lawson, Rev. Dr. George, of Selkirk,
+  and the student
+Leein' Gibbie
+Leslie, Rev. Mr., and the smuggler
+'Let her down Donald, man, for she's
+  drunk'
+'Let the little ane gang to pray, but
+  first the big ane maun tak' an oar'
+'Linties' and Scottish settler in
+  Canada
+Linty offered as fee for baptism
+Liston, Sir Robert, and Scotchmen
+  at Constantinople
+Loch, Davie, the carrier, at his
+  mother's deathbed
+Lockhart, Dr., of Glasgow, and his son
+  John
+Logan, Laird of, speech at meeting of
+  heritors
+'Lord be thankit, a' the bunkers are
+  fu'!'
+'Lord pity the chiel that's chained to
+  our Davie'
+Lord's prayer, John Skinner's reason
+  for its repetition
+Lothian, Lord, in India, St. Andrew's
+  day
+Lothian, Marquis of, and old countess
+  at table
+Lothian, Marquis of, and workmen
+
+M'Cubbin, Scotch minister, witty
+  answer to Lord Braxfield
+M'Knight, Dr., 'dry eneuch in the
+  pulpit'
+M'Knight, Dr., folk tired of his sermon
+M'Knight and Henry, twa toom kirks
+M'Knight, Dr., remark on his harmony
+  of the four gospels
+Macleod, Rev. Dr. Norman, and Highland
+  boatman
+Macleod, Rev. Dr. Norman, and revivals
+Macleod, Rev. Dr. Norman, anecdote
+  of an Australian told by
+M'Lymont, John, the idiot, anecdotes
+  of
+Macnab, Laird of, his horse and whip
+MacNabb, Miss, and Campbell of Combie
+M'Pherson, Joe, and his wife.
+Magistrates of Wester Anstruther,
+  and evil-doers
+'Mair o' your siller and less o' your
+  mainners, my Lady Betty'
+'Ma new breeks were made oot o' the
+  auld curtains'
+'Man, ye're skailing a' the water'
+'Marriage is a blessing to a few, a
+  curse to many, and a great uncertainty
+  to all'
+Marriage, old minister's address on
+Mary of Gueldres, burying-place now
+  a railway
+Mastiff, where turned into a greyhound
+Maul, Mr., and the Laird of Skene
+'May a puir body like me noo gie a
+  hoast?'
+'Me, and Pitt, and Pitfour'
+Mearns, Rev. W. of Kinneff
+'Mem, winna ye tak the clock wi' ye?'
+'Mending the ways o' Bathgate'
+Mice consumed minister's sermon
+Middens, example of attachment to
+Military rank attached to ladies
+Miligan, Dr., answer to a tired clergyman
+Milton quoted
+Minister and rhubarb tart
+Minister, anecdote of little boy at
+  school
+Minister asking who was head of the
+  house
+Minister called to a new living
+Minister, conversation with Janet his
+  parishioner
+Minister in the north on long sermons
+Minister on a dog barking in church
+Minister preaching on the water-side
+  attacked by ants
+Minister publicly censuring his
+  daughter
+Minister reading his sermon
+Minister returning thanks for good
+  harvest
+Minister, Scottish, advice to young
+  preachers
+Minister, Scottish, remark to a young
+  man, who pulled cards out of his
+  pocket in church
+Minister, stupid, education and placing,
+Minister, with 'great power of watter,'
+Minister, young, apology for good appetite after preaching,
+Minister's man, account of,
+Minister's man, criticisms of his master's sermon,
+Ministers, Scottish, a type of Scottish character,
+Minister sending for his sermon in pulpit,
+Minstrelsy of Scottish Border, Sir Walter Scott just in time to save,
+Miss Miller (Countess of Mar) and Scottish Minister,
+'Miss S----'s compliments, and she dee'd last nicht at aicht o'clock,'
+Monboddo, Lord, anecdote in Court of King's Bench,
+Monboddo, Lord, theory of primitive men having tails,
+Monboddo, Lord, though a judge, did not sit on the bench,
+Monboddo, Lord, visit at Oxford,
+Money, love of, discussion on,
+Montrose bailie's _eldest_ son,
+Montrose, description of, by an Aberdeen lady,
+Montrose lady's idea of man,
+Montrose old ladies,
+Montrose, provost of, conversation with an old maid,
+'Mony a ane has complained o' _that_ hole,'
+Muilton, Jock, idiot, and a penurious Laird,
+Munrimmon Moor, no choice of wigs on,
+Murray, Mrs., and the salt spoon,
+'My mou's as big for puddin as it is for kail,'
+_Mystifications_, by Miss Clementina Stirling Graham,
+
+Na, different modifications of the word,
+'Na, na, he's no just deep, but he's drumly,'
+'Na, na, ye'll aiblins bite me,'
+'Neebour, wad ye sit a bit _wast?_'
+Nelson, Lord, explanation of his order,
+Nichol, an old servant of Forfarshire,
+'No anither drap, neither het nor cauld,
+Nobleman, half-witted, in Canongate jail,
+Nobleman, mad Scottish, cautious answer of,
+'Noo, Major, ye may tak our lives, but ye'll no tak our middens,'
+Nuckle, Watty, betheral, opinion,
+
+'Od, Charlie Brown, what gars ye hae sic lang steps to your _front_ door?'
+'Od, freend, ye hae had a lang spell on't sin' I left,'
+'Od, ye're a lang lad; God gie ye grace,'
+Old lady speaking of her own death,
+Old sermons, preaching of,
+Old woman, remarks of, on the usefulness of money,
+'On the contrary, sir,'
+'Ony dog micht soon become a greyhound by stopping here,'
+'Oor Jean thinks a man perfect salvation,'
+'Oor John swears awfu','
+Organ, mark of distinction,
+Organs becoming more common,
+'Ou, there's jist me and _anither_ lass,'
+
+Papers in pulpit,
+Paradise and Wesleyan minister,
+Parishioner, coolness of, when made an elder of the kirk,
+Paul, Dr., his anecdotes of idiots,
+Paul, Saunders, of Banchory, famous for drinking,
+Perth, Lady, remark to a Frenchman on French cookery,
+Penurious laird and Fife elder,
+Pestilence that walketh in darkness--What is it?
+Phraseology, Scottish, an example of pure,
+Phraseology, Scottish, force of,
+Piccadilly,
+Pig, great broon,
+Pig, Scotch minister's account of eating one,
+Pinkieburn, faithful servant at,
+Piper and the elder,
+Piper and the wolves,
+Plugging, an odious practice,
+Poetry, Scottish, becoming less popular,
+Poetry in Scottish dialect, list of,
+Polkemmet, Lord, account of his judicial preparations,
+Polkemmet, Lord, his account of killing a calf,
+Pompous minister and the angler,
+Pony of Free Kirk minister running off to glebe,
+Poole, Dr., his patient's death announced,
+'Powny, grippit a chiel for,'
+Prayers before battle,
+Preacher, a bombastic, reproved satirically,
+Preacher, Scottish, and his small bedroom at manse where he visited,
+Preacher, testimony to a good,
+Preaching old sermons,
+Precentor reading single line of psalm,
+Predestination, answer of minister about,
+Priest Gordon, genuine Aberdonian specimen of,
+Priest Matheson,
+Professor, a reverend, his answer to a lawyer,
+Pronunciation, Scottish, varieties of, make four different meanings,
+Property qualification,
+Prophets' chalmer (the minor),
+Proprietors, two, meeting of, described by Sir Walter Scott,
+Proverbial expressions, examples of some very pithy,
+Proverbial Philosophy of Scotland, by William Stirling of Keir, M.P.,
+Proverb, Scottish, application of, by a minister in a storm,
+Proverb, Scottish, expressed by Lord Byron,
+Proverbs becoming _reminiscences_,
+Proverbs, immense collection of, by Fergusson,
+Proverbs, Scotch, some specially applicable to the Deil,
+Proverbs, Scotland famous for,
+Proverbs, Scottish, Allan Ramsay's dedication of,
+Proverbs, Scottish, Andrew Henderson,
+Proverbs, Scottish, collections of,
+Proverbs, Scottish, collection of, by Allan Ramsay,
+Proverbs, Scottish, Kelly's collection,
+Proverbs, Scottish, much used in former times,
+Proverbs, Scottish, pretty application of,
+Proverbs, Scottish, specimens of, in language almost obsolete,
+Providence,
+Providence, mistake of, in regard to bairns,
+Provost of Edinburgh in the House of Lords in 1736,
+Psalmody, Scottish,
+Psalmody, Scottish, improvement of,
+Pure language of Scotland not to be regarded as a provincial dialect,
+
+'Raiment fit,'
+Ramsay, Allan, dedication of his proverbs in prose,
+Ramsay, Sir George, of Banff, and the Laird of Corb,
+Ramsay, two Misses, of Balmain, anecdotes of,
+'Rax me a spaul o' that bubbly jock,
+Reason given by an old man for marrying a young woman,
+Recess Studies,
+Redd, pigeon found among,
+Religion, two great changes in ideas of,
+Religious feelings and religious observances,
+'Remember Mr. Tamson; no him at the Green, but oor ain Mr. Tamson,
+'Reminiscences' capable of a practical application,
+'Reminiscences' have called forth communications from others,
+'Reminiscences' includes stories of wit or humour,
+'Reminiscences,' object and purpose of,
+'Reminiscences,' recall pleasant associations,
+'Ripin' the ribs,'
+Road, Highland, humorously described,
+Robbie A'Thing,
+Robby, a young dandy, and his old aunt,
+Robertson, Principal, advice to, by Scotch minister,
+Robison, Mrs., answer to gentleman coming to dinner,
+Rockville, Lord, character of, as a judge,
+Rockville, Lord, description of street, when tipsy,
+Ruling elder's answer to jokes of three young men,
+Rutherfurd, Lord, and the Bonaly shepherd,
+
+Sabbath-day, and redding up drawers.
+Sabbath-day, eggs ought not to be laid on.
+Sabbath-day known by a hare.
+Sabbath day, where children go who play marbles on.
+Sabbath desecration, geologist in the Highlands.
+Sabbath desecration, stopping the jack for.
+Sandy, fine specimen of old servant.
+'Sayawa', sir; we're a' sittin' to cheat the dowgs.'
+Scotchman, notion of things in London.
+Scotchman of the old school, judgment of, upon an Englishman.
+Scotchman on losing his wife and cow.
+Scotch minister and his diary regarding quarrels with wife.
+Scott, Dr., minister of Carluke.
+Scott, Dr., on his parishioners dancing.
+Scott, Rev. Robert, his idea of Nelson's order.
+Scott, Rev. R., of Cranwell, anecdote of young carpenter.
+Scott, Sir Walter, and the blacksmith on the battle of Flodden.
+Scott, Sir Walter, did not write poetry in Scottish dialect.
+Scott, Sir Walter, his story of sale of antiques.
+Scott, Sir Walter, his story of two relatives who joined the Pretender.
+Scott, Sir Walter, just in time to save Minstrelsy of the Border.
+Scotland, past and present.
+Scotticisms, expressive, pointed, and pithy.
+Scotticisms, remarks on, by Sir John Sinclair and Dr. Beattie.
+Scottish architect on English leases.
+Scottish boy cleverness.
+Scottish conviviality, old.
+Scottish cookery.
+Scottish dialect, difference between Aberdeen and Southern Scotch.
+Scottish dialect, reference of, to English.
+Scottish dialect, specimens of.
+Scottish economy, specimen of, in London.
+Scottish elders and ministers, anecdotes of.
+Scottish expressions, examples of peculiar applications.
+Scottish expressions, illustrated by a letter to a young married lady
+  from an old aunt.
+Scottish gentleman in London.
+Scottish humour and Scottish wit.
+Scottish humour, specimen of, in a Fife lass.
+Scottish minstrelsy.
+Scottish music, charm of.
+Scottish peasantry, character of.
+Scottish peasantry, religious feelings of.
+Scottish peasantry, religious feelings of, changed.
+Scottish phraseology, articles on, in _Blackwood_.
+Scottish psalm-tunes, some written by operatives.
+Scottish shepherd and Lord Cockburn.
+Scottish shepherd and Lord Rutherford.
+Scottish songs, collections of.
+Scottish stories of wit and humour.
+Scottish verses, charm of.
+Scottish words of French derivation.
+_Scottishness_ of the national humour.
+Seceder, an old, would not enter parish church.
+Secession Church, professor in, to a young student.
+Sedan chairs.
+Sermon consumed by mice.
+Sermons, change of character of.
+Servant and dog Pickle at Yester.
+Servant, answer of, to his irascible master.
+Servant, answer of, when told to go.
+Servant and Lord Lothian.
+Servant, Mrs. Murray, and the spoon.
+Servant of Mrs. Ferguson of Pitfour.
+Servant of Mrs. Fullerton of Montrose.
+Servant, old, reason for doing as he liked.
+Servant praying for her minister.
+Servant taxed with being drunk, his answer.
+Servants, domestic Scottish.
+'She juist felled hersel at Graigo wi' straeberries and 'ream.'
+'She's bonnier than she's better.'
+'She will be near me to close my een.'
+Shireff, Rev. Mr., and member of his church who had left him.
+Shirra, Rev. Mr., on David saying 'All men are liars.'
+Shot, a bad one, complimented on success.
+Siddons, Mrs., respected by Edinburgh clergy.
+Silly, curious use of the word.
+Singing birds, absence of, in America.
+Sins, Aberdeen mother proud of.
+'_Sir, baby_ I'll come farther.'
+'Sit in a box drawn by brutes.'
+Skinner, Bishop, and Aberdeen old couple.
+Skinner, John, Jacobitism of.
+Skinner, John, of Langside, his defence of prayer-book.
+Skinner, Rev. John, author of several Scottish songs.
+Skinner, Rev. John, lines on his grandson leaving Montrose.
+Skinner, Rev. John, passing an Anti-burgher chapel.
+Sleeping in church.
+Sleeping in church, and snuffing.
+Slockin'd, never, apology for drinking.
+Smith, Adam, marked as most eccentric.
+Smith, Sydney, opinion of Scottish wit.
+Smuggler, case of one in church.
+'Sneck the door.'
+Snuff-box handed round in churches.
+Snuff, grand _accommodation_ for.
+Snuff, pu'pit soopit for.
+Snuff put into the sermon.
+Snuff-taking.
+Soldier, an old, of the 42d, cautious about the name of Graham.
+'Some fowk like parritch, and some like paddocks.'
+'Some strong o' the aaple.'
+Songs, drinking.
+Sovereign, when new, a curiosity.
+Speat o' praying and speat o' drinking.
+Speir, daft Will, and Earl of Eglinton.
+Speir, daft Will, answer to master about his dinner.
+Spinster, elderly, arch reply to, by a younger member.
+Stipend, minister's, reasons against its being large.
+Stirling of Keir, evidence in favour of, by the miller of Keir.
+Stirling of Keir, lecture on proverbs.
+Stra'von, wife's desire to be buried in.
+Strikes, answer upon, by a master.
+Stewart, Rev. Patrick, sermon consumed by mice.
+Stone removed out of the way.
+Stool, a three-legged, thrown at husband by wife.
+Stout lady, remark of.
+Stranraer, old ladies on the British victories over the French.
+Sunday sometimes included in Saturday's drinking party.
+Suppers once prevalent in Scotland.
+Sutherland, Colonel Sandy, his dislike to the French.
+Swearing by Laird of Finzean.
+Swearing by Perth writer.
+Swearing common in Scotland formerly.
+Swine, dislike of, in Scotland.
+Swinophobia, reasons for.
+Smith, Sydney, remarks of, on _men_ not at church.
+
+Tailor, apology for his clothes not fitting.
+'Take out that dog; he'd wauken a Glasgow magistrate.'
+Taylor, Mr., of London, description of his theatre by his father from
+  Aberdeen.
+Term-time offensive to Scottish lairds.
+Texts, remarks upon.
+'That's a lee, Jemmie.'
+Theatre, clergy used to attend, in 1784.
+Theatre, clerical non-attendance.
+'The breet's stannin' i' the peel wi ma.'
+'The deil a ane shall pray for _them_ on _my_ plaid.'
+The fool and the miller.
+'The man reads.'
+'Them 'at drink by themsells may just fish by themsells.'
+'There'll be a walth o' images there.'
+'There's Kinnaird greetin' as if there was nae a saunt on earth but
+  himself and the King o' France.
+'There's nae _wail_ o' wigs on Munrimmon Moor,'
+'There's neither men nor meesie, and fat care I for meat?'
+'They may pray the kenees aff their breeks afore I join in that prayer,'
+'They neither said ba nor bum,'
+'Thirdly and lastly' fell over the pulpit stairs,
+Thomson, Thomas, described in Aberdeen dialect,
+Thomson, two of the name prayed for,
+Thrift, examples of, in medicine,
+Tibbie, eccentric servant, anecdote of,
+Tiger and 'skate, stories of,
+Toasts after dinner,
+Toasts, collection of, in the book 'The Gentleman's New Bottle Companion,'
+Toasts or sentiments, specimens of,
+Tourist, English, asking Scottish girl for horse-flies,
+Town-Council, 'profit but not honour,'
+Tractarianism, idea of, by an old Presbyterian,
+'Travel from Genesis to Revelation, and not footsore,'
+Traveller's story, treatment of,
+'Troth, mem, they're just the gudeman's _deed_ claes,'
+Tulloch, David, Jacobite anecdote of, at prayers,
+Turkey leg, devilled, and servant,
+Tweeddale, Lord, and dog Pickle,
+
+Unbeliever described by Scotch lady,
+
+View of things, Scottish matter of fact,
+Vomit, if not strong enough, to be returned,
+
+Washing dishes on the Sabbath day,
+Waverley, old lady discovering the author of,
+Waverley quoted,
+Webster, Rev. Dr., a five-bottle man,
+'Weel then, neist time they sail get _nane ava_,'
+'We'll stop now, bairns; I'm no enterteened,'
+'We never absolve _till after three several appearances_,'
+West, going, ridiculous application of
+'Wha' are thae twa _beddle-looking_ bodies?'
+'What a nicht for me to be fleein through the air,'
+'What ails ye at her wi' the green gown?'
+'What gars the laird of Garskadden look sae gash?'
+'What is the chief end of man?'
+'When ye get cheenge for a saxpence here, it's soon slippit awa,'
+Whisky, limited blame of,
+'Whited sepulchres,' applied to clergy in surplices, Inverness,
+Wife, cool opinion of, by husband,
+Wife, rebuke of, by minister,
+Wife taken by her husband to Banchory,
+Wig of professor in Secession Church,
+Williamson the huntsman and Duke of Lauderdale,
+'Will ye tak your haddock wi' us the day?'
+Wilson, Scottish vocalist, modesty of,
+Wind, Scotch minister's prayer for,
+Wolves and the piper,
+Wool, modifications of,
+
+'Ye a' speak sae _genteel_ now that I dinna ken wha's Scotch,'
+Yeddie, daft, remark on a club-foot,
+'Ye should hae steekit your neive upo' that,'
+'Ye've been lang Cook, Cooking them, but ye've dished them at last,'
+Young man and cards in church,
+'Your hospitality borders upon brutality,'
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REMINISCENCES OF SCOTTISH LIFE AND
+CHARACTER***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 12483-8.txt or 12483-8.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/4/8/12483
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's
+eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII,
+compressed (zipped), HTML and others.
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over
+the old filename and etext number.  The replaced older file is renamed.
+VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving
+new filenames and etext numbers.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000,
+are filed in directories based on their release date.  If you want to
+download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular
+search system you may utilize the following addresses and just
+download by the etext year.
+
+https://gutenberg.org/etext06
+
+    (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99,
+     98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90)
+
+EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are
+filed in a different way.  The year of a release date is no longer part
+of the directory path.  The path is based on the etext number (which is
+identical to the filename).  The path to the file is made up of single
+digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename.  For
+example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at:
+
+https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234
+
+or filename 24689 would be found at:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689
+
+An alternative method of locating eBooks:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL
+
+*** END: FULL LICENSE ***
diff --git a/old/12483-8.zip b/old/12483-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e8ab9d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/12483-8.zip
diff --git a/old/12483-h.zip b/old/12483-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3a7c26b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/12483-h.zip
diff --git a/old/12483-h/12483-h.htm b/old/12483-h/12483-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fc39ca6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/12483-h/12483-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,15996 @@
+<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
+<html>
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character, by Edward Bannerman Ramsay, et al</title>
+<style type="text/css">
+    <!--
+    P {  margin-top: .75em;
+         margin-left: 10%;
+         margin-right: 10%;
+         text-align: justify;
+         margin-bottom: .75em; }
+    blockquote {text-align: justify;
+         margin-left: 15%;
+         margin-right: 15%;}
+    .loc {text-align: right;
+          margin-right: 20%}
+    .poem             {margin-left:15%; margin-right:15%; text-align: left;}
+    .poem .stanza     {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;}
+    .poem p           {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;}
+    .poem p.i1        {margin-left: 1em;}
+    .poem p.i2        {margin-left: 2em;}
+    .poem p.i3        {margin-left: 3em;}
+    .poem p.i4        {margin-left: 4em;}
+    .poem p.i5        {margin-left: 5em;}
+    .poem p.i6        {margin-left: 6em;}
+    .poem p.i7        {margin-left: 7em;}
+    .poem p.i8        {margin-left: 8em;}
+    .poem p.i9        {margin-left: 9em;}
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 {     text-align: center; }
+    HR { width: 33%; }
+    hr.full { width: 100%;
+              height: 5px; }
+	a:link {color:blue;
+			text-decoration:none}
+	link {color:blue;
+			text-decoration:none}
+	a:visited {color:blue;
+			text-decoration:none}
+	a:hover {color:red}
+	pre		{font-size: 9pt;}
+    -->
+</style>
+</head>
+<body>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character,
+by Edward Bannerman Ramsay, et al</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character</p>
+<p>Author: Edward Bannerman Ramsay</p>
+<p>Release Date: June 1, 2004  [eBook #12483]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: iso-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REMINISCENCES OF SCOTTISH LIFE AND CHARACTER***</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center><h3>E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner,<br>
+            and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h3></center>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr class="full" noshade>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h1>REMINISCENCES</h1>
+<h4>OF</h4>
+<h1>SCOTTISH LIFE &amp; CHARACTER</h1>
+<br>
+<h4>BY THE LATE E. B. RAMSAY, LL.D., F.R.S.E.</h4>
+<h5>DEAN OF EDINBURGH</h5>
+<br>
+<h4><i>TWENTY-SECOND EDITION, ENLARGED,<br>
+WITH THE AUTHOR'S LATEST CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS</i></h4>
+<br>
+<h3>AND A MEMOIR OF DEAN RAMSAY BY COSMO INNES</h3>
+<br>
+<h5>1874</h5>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+<br>
+<center><a href="#MEMOIR_OF_DEAN_RAMSAY.">MEMOIR OF DEAN
+RAMSAY</a><br>
+<br>
+<a href="#PREFACE">PREFACE TO TWENTY-SECOND EDITION</a><br>
+<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_THE_FIRST.">CHAPTER I.<br>
+INTRODUCTORY</a><br>
+<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_THE_SECOND.">CHAPTER II.<br>
+SCOTTISH RELIGIOUS FEELINGS AND OBSERVANCES</a><br>
+<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_THE_THIRD.">CHAPTER III.<br>
+ON OLD SCOTTISH CONVIVIALITY</a><br>
+<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_THE_FOURTH.">CHAPTER IV.<br>
+ON THE OLD SCOTTISH DOMESTIC SERVANT</a><br>
+<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_THE_FIFTH.">CHAPTER V.<br>
+SCOTTISH JUDGES</a><br>
+<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_THE_SIXTH.">CHAPTER VI.<br>
+ON HUMOUR PROCEEDING FROM SCOTTISH EXPRESSIONS,<br>
+INCLUDING SCOTTISH PROVERBS</a><br>
+<br>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_THE_SEVENTH.">CHAPTER VII.<br>
+ON SCOTTISH STORIES OF WIT AND HUMOUR</a><br>
+<br>
+<a href="#CONCLUSION.">CONCLUSION</a><br>
+<br>
+<a href="#INDEX.">INDEX</a></center>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="MEMOIR_OF_DEAN_RAMSAY."></a>MEMOIR OF DEAN
+RAMSAY.</h2>
+<h3>I.</h3>
+<br>
+<p>The friends of Dean Ramsay desiring a memorial of his life, his
+friendly publishers, and his nearest relatives, have asked me to
+undertake the work, and placed in my hands some materials giving
+authentic facts and dates, and illustrating the Dean's own views on
+the leading events of his life.</p>
+<p>I feel myself excluded from dealing with one important part of
+such a life, for I could not take upon me to speak with confidence
+or authority upon church doctrines or church government. On the
+other hand, for the <i>man</i> I have that full sympathy which I
+suppose ought to exist between the writer and the subject of the
+biography.</p>
+<p>We were very old friends, natives of the same district, bred
+among a people peculiar in manners and language, a people abounding
+in a racy humour, differing from what prevails in most parts of
+Scotland--a peculiarity which it was the joy of the Dean to bring
+before his countrymen in his <i>Reminiscences</i>; and although he
+and I were not kindred of blood, his relatives and friends were
+very much mine, and my uncles and aunts were also his.</p>
+<p>Edward Bannerman Burnett, known in after life as Edward Ramsay,
+and Dean of Edinburgh, was born at Aberdeen on the last day of
+January 1793. His father, Alexander, second son of Sir Thomas
+Burnett, Baronet, of Leys, was an advocate, and sheriff of
+Kincardineshire, where the family estates lay. The sheriff was of
+delicate constitution, and travelled in the south of Europe for his
+health, until obliged to fly from the French Revolution; and at
+Aberdeen, the first place where he and his wife stopped, Edward was
+born. The Dean's mother was Elizabeth, the elder daughter of Sir
+Alexander Bannerman of Elsick, and she and her sister Mary,
+afterwards Mrs. Russell, were co-heirs of his estates in the pretty
+valley of the Feugh, including the whole parish of Strachan, of
+which the southern part, looking over into the <i>How</i> of the
+Mearns, was Mrs. Burnett's portion; the northern, with the
+beautiful bank of Dee where Blackhall stands, falling to Mrs.
+Russell. Both sisters were eminently handsome. I have a tradition
+of the young ladies, when they first came from their York school to
+Edinburgh, being followed and gazed at by passengers in the
+streets, for their beauty; and there are many still living in
+Edinburgh who long after gazed with admiration on the fine old
+lady, the Dean's mother, bending over her embroidery frame in her
+window in Darnaway Street.</p>
+<p>Alexander Burnett and his wife Elizabeth Bannerman had a large
+family. Edward, the fourth son, when very young, was taken by his
+grand-uncle, Sir Alexander Ramsay, and sent to school near his own
+house at Harlsey in Yorkshire. Edward's first school, to which he
+was sent in 1801, made a remarkable impression upon the Dean's
+memory. "I believe," he says, "at that period (the very beginning
+of the century) it was about the most retired village in England
+not of a mountainous district. No turnpike road went through the
+parish. It lay in the line of no thoroughfare. The only inhabitants
+of education were the clergyman, a man of great simplicity of
+character, who had never been at the University, and my
+great-uncle, of above fourscore, and a recluse. The people were
+uneducated to an extent now unusual. Nearly all the letters of the
+village were written by my uncle's gardener, a Scotchman, who,
+having the degree of education usual with his countrymen of the
+profession, and who being very good natured, had abundant
+occupation for his evenings, and being, moreover, a prudent man,
+and <i>safe</i>, became the depository of nine-tenths of the family
+secrets of the inhabitants. Being thus ignorant generally, and few
+of them ever having been twenty miles from the place, I may
+consider the parish fifty years behind the rest of the world when I
+went there, so that it now furnishes recollection of rural people,
+of manners and intelligence, dating back a hundred years from the
+present time. It was indeed a very primitive race; and it is
+curious to recall the many indications afforded in that obscure
+village of unmitigated ignorance. With all this were found in full
+exercise also the more violent and vindictive passions of our
+nature. They might have the simplicity, but not the virtues, of
+Arcadia.... There were some old English customs of an interesting
+nature which lingered in the parish. For example, the old habit of
+bowing to the altar was retained by the rustics on entering church,
+and bowing respectfully to the clergyman in his place. A copy of
+the Scriptures was in the vestry <i>chained</i> to the desk on
+which it lay, and where it had evidently been since that mode of
+introducing the Bible was practised in the time of Edward VI. The
+passing bell was always sounded on notice of the death of a
+parishioner, and sounded at any hour, night or day, immediately on
+the event happening. One striking custom prevailed at funerals. The
+coffin was borne through the village to the churchyard by six or
+eight bearers of the same age and sex as the deceased. Thus young
+maidens in white carried the remains of the girl with whom they had
+lately sported. Boys took their playfellow and companion to the
+churchyard. The young married woman was borne by matrons; the men
+of middle age did the same office for their contemporary.... The
+worship of the little church was, as may be supposed, extremely
+simple, and yet even there innovation and refinement had appeared
+in the musical department. The old men who used to execute the
+psalmody, with the clerk at their head, had been superseded. A
+teacher of singing had been engaged, and a choir, consisting of
+maidens, boys and men, executed various sacred pieces with the
+assistance of a bassoon and violin. I recollect in the church a
+practice which would have shocked the strict rubricians of the
+present day. Whenever banns of marriage were proclaimed,
+immediately after the words 'This is the first, second, or third
+time of asking,' the old clerk shouted out, 'God speed them weel.'
+In nothing was the primitive and simple character of the people
+more remarkable than in the social position of the clergy amongst
+them. The livings were all small, so that there was no temptation
+for ecclesiastics of birth and high position in society to come
+there. The clergy were in many cases clergy only on Sundays, and
+for Sunday duty. The rest of the week they were like their people;
+engaged in agriculture or horse-breeding, they lived with their
+servants, and were scarcely raised above the position of farmers.
+To show the primitive manners of many clergymen, I may mention the
+case of an usher in my school, who was also curate. He enjoyed the
+euphonious name of Caleb Longbottom. I recollect his dialect--pure
+Yorkshire; his coat a black one only on Sunday, as I suppose he was
+on week days wearing out his old blue coat which he had before
+going into orders. Lord Macaulay has been charged that in
+describing the humble social condition of the clergy in the reign
+of Charles II., he has greatly exaggerated their want of refinement
+and knowledge of the world; but really, from my recollection of my
+friend Mr. Longbottom and others at the time I speak of, in the
+reign of George III., I cannot think he has overdrawn the picture.
+Suppose this incident at a table in our own time:--My uncle lived
+in what is called in Yorkshire the Hall; and being principal
+proprietor in the parish, he was in fact the squire or great man.
+The clergy always dined at the hall after evening service, and I
+recollect the first day the new curate dined. The awkwardness and
+shyness of the poor man were striking, even to the eyes of a
+thoughtless schoolboy. He summoned courage to call for beer, and,
+according to the old custom, deemed it necessary to drink the
+health of all present before he put the glass to his lips. He
+addressed first the old gentleman, then the vicar, then myself, and
+finally, with equal solemnity, drank to the servants in
+attendance--the old butler and coachman, who were waiting upon the
+company<a name="FNanchor1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1">[1]</a>."</p>
+<p>I value these reminiscences of his Yorkshire school, written
+long after, because I think them very curious; and they show how
+early Edward Ramsay had his eyes open to characteristic features of
+the people.</p>
+<p>Ramsay's grand-uncle, the old Sir Alexander Ramsay, died in
+1806, neglecting to make the provision which he had intended for
+his grand-nephew, but leaving his estates to his nephew, Edward's
+father, who then gave up his sheriffship (in which he was succeeded
+by Adam Gillies), and being a Whig and of Whig family, accepted a
+baronetcy from Mr. Fox, and made Fasque his home for the short
+remainder of his life.</p>
+<p>The future Dean was not fortunate in schools. On his father's
+succeeding to the family estates he quitted Harlsey indeed, but
+only to move to Durham, which left no more pleasant memories in his
+mind than the other, although there he learned to blow the flute,
+and indulge his strong musical taste. He writes of Durham school
+that it had fallen off terribly, from the increasing infirmities of
+the head master, and Ramsay was anxious to leave it, when that move
+came naturally by the death of his father<a name=
+"FNanchor2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2">[2]</a>. Writing in his
+journal some time afterwards, he says, "What was I to do? I was
+determined to go into the Church, and must go to college. How was
+the intermediate period to be spent?" His first private tutor was
+the Rev. J.H. Browne, at Kegworth in Leicestershire, afterwards
+Archdeacon of Ely. "Here," says Edward, "I did learn something both
+of books and of the world. Browne was a scholar, and my
+fellow-students were gentlemen and knew something of life." He next
+lived for a time with Mr. Joynes, a clergyman, at Sandwich in Kent,
+and went from thence, in October 1811, to Cambridge.</p>
+<p>He entered as a pensioner at St. John's, and although professing
+to be a reading man, he was not eminently satisfied with the
+effects of the society into which he fell upon his habits and
+accomplishments. "Not," he says, "that I had not really good
+associates, but somehow it seems not to have been the best and such
+as I might have had." Another defect was his not having a skilful
+and effective private tutor at a time when he felt that he stood
+specially in need of one. "I could not form my reading habits
+alone, and I had not sufficient help. I did enough, however, to
+show I was not an ass. I got a scholarship. I was twice in goodish
+places in the first class. I had a name for flute-playing;" and
+then, ending this retrospect, which he wrote with some disgust, he
+tells how he left Cambridge in his third year, going out B.A. with
+no contest for honours. His college vacations were spent either in
+London with college friends, or with a reading party under
+Wilkinson, the tutor, at Redcar. In gathering up his recollections,
+he says he saw a good deal of society: one summer was very musical;
+of another which he spent at home he enumerates his
+occupations--"botany," "music," "Deeside." Through all, his study
+was theology, but in "small doses" he says. His brother Marmaduke
+joined him on the Christmas holiday of 1816, when they worked
+together at the cryptogamics, and then went up to Cambridge
+together--Edward to renew his theological studies with the help of
+the formal lectures at the University. He spent the remainder of
+that season at Bath with friends and relatives. He speaks of the
+Bath society, its gaiety, theatricals, music--some rich clergymen
+giving good dinners, and brother Marmaduke coming for his long
+vacation to a farm-house two miles from Bath, "where we had some
+good botanical fun. Can it be that the finding a new plant put us
+in a state of ecstasy? How we treasured up specimens! How we
+gloried in our collections! But it has all passed away; no chord is
+touched." To some, who think of the Dean as the reverend, pious,
+grave, even melancholy man, these youthful reminiscences may appear
+unnatural, even unworthy. I must own that there breaks out now and
+then in his journal something which shows that he himself was not
+satisfied with many of these juvenile memoranda, as if they showed
+unfitting occupation and education of a young clergyman. But that
+was not their real nature. Those small studies and accomplishments
+took the place in his early training which the cricket-match or the
+boat-race now take in the school time of Young England. The Dean
+speaks somewhat contemptuously--"Here I got a smattering of
+astronomy," and again of his studies of cryptogamics and botany;
+but he nevertheless felt the full benefit of such accomplishments.
+His music, his passion for rural and especially Highland scenery,
+the enjoyments of society, the love of seeing others happy, the
+joining of happiness with goodness, made the Dean what he was in
+after life, and enabled him to take that position amongst his
+countrymen which a purely theological upbringing would not have
+done.</p>
+<p>But now our young cleric was to put away childish things, and to
+take upon him the duty of his high calling. He was ordained at
+Wells, and officiated for the first time as curate of Rodden, near
+Frome, Somerset, on Christmas day 1816.</p>
+<p>Rodden is a very small village, of one or two farms and some
+labourers' cottages, nestling round the little church, with a few,
+very few, outlying houses or farms. It lies among meadows on each
+side of the rivulet which runs through the village. One of the
+outlying houses is "Styles Hill," inhabited by one family of the
+Sheppards, all of whom soon became dear friends of the Dean.
+Another was the "Pear-tree" Cottage, an uninteresting red brick
+house, where Mr. Rogers provided a residence for the young curate.
+The incumbent of the parish, when Ramsay went there, was the Rev.
+John Methwen Rogers of Berkley, who was non-resident. The duties of
+Rodden were too small to employ his whole time, and in the
+following year (1817) Ramsay became curate also of Buckland Dinham,
+the rector of which was non-resident and lived at a distance, so
+that the curate had the sole charge of the parish. In his work at
+Buckland, Ramsay took great delight, and soon won the hearts of his
+people, although many of them were Wesleyan Methodists of the old
+type<a name="FNanchor3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3">[3]</a>. But it
+was not only amongst the peasantry that Ramsay was beloved. All the
+upper and middle classes in his own little parishes, and through
+the whole valley, regarded him with strong esteem and affection,
+and amongst them were persons whose character, and even whose
+little peculiarities of language, he caught and remembered. One of
+these, a retired Captain Balne, although he failed in prevailing on
+the young clergyman to take a glass of grog, his own favourite cure
+for all ailments, was pleased when the curate came to take a dish
+of tea with him and his gentle wife. Once, when Ramsay was ill, the
+grief in the parish was universal; but he used to say that the
+greatest proof of attachment was given by Captain Balne, who
+happened to be enjoying his dinner when the news of his friend's
+illness reached him, upon which he laid down his knife and fork,
+and declared he could not take another mouthful. Captain Balne had
+a peculiar phraseology. One phrase, in particular, was, "If I may
+be allowed the language," which came readily on all occasions. If
+he was asked "How is Mrs. Balne to-day?" the Captain would reply,
+"She is quite well, I thank you, Mr. Ramsay, if I may be allowed
+the language;" or ask him, "Have you a good crop of apples this
+year?" "Pretty middling, sir, if I may be allowed the language."
+The constant recurrence of the phrase struck Mr. Ramsay, who quoted
+it long after in his letters to his Frome friends--"I am glad to
+say my congregation at St John's continues good--if I may be
+allowed the language."</p>
+<p>Buckland is a larger village than Rodden, containing nearly 500
+inhabitants. The two places are five miles apart. Buckland is on
+the brow and slope of a steep hill, the church being on the summit,
+and the irregular street descending from it on the Frome side, with
+many cottages scattered about among orchards and meadows. So the
+curate of Buckland, living at the Pear-tree Cottage in Rodden,
+required a pony for locomotion, which he showed with some pride to
+his neighbours on first buying it. It was an iron-gray, and a
+sedate clerical pony enough, to which he gave the name of
+Rumplestiltskin, after one of Grimm's popular stories; and whenever
+he spoke of him or to him, he gave him his name at full length. The
+country and some of the places round Buckland are very interesting.
+On the west is one of the entrances to Vallis, a grassy valley
+bordered by limestone rocks, and trees and copse, with a
+trout-stream winding through it. There, when the labours of the day
+were done, the Sheppards and he would spend a summer afternoon
+sketching and botanising, whilst tea was prepared at a neighbouring
+farm.</p>
+<p>Vallis opened into several other vales, and on the heights above
+were the picturesque villages of Elm and Skells, and the ruined
+nunnery and massive old castle, the old seat of Delameres, renowned
+for a defence in the Cromwellian wars. Mr. Ramsay proposed in jest
+to fit up the castle as a dwelling, and bring all his friends to
+live there. Another time he was for fitting it up as a museum. It
+would make, he said, a splendid place for a <i>hortus siccus</i>--a
+"great ornament to our ponds and ditches<a name=
+"FNanchor4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4">[4]</a>." The writer of these
+trifles excuses herself for collecting them, because she knew the
+value which is attached to the least of the sayings and doings of a
+departed friend; but we are assured, that even in those Arcadian
+regions life was not always holiday. There was some serious work.
+The curate took great pains on the future interests as well as the
+characters of his little flock.</p>
+<p>In one family he acted the part of the truest of friends--gently
+reproving the little ones when they deserved it, and ready to amuse
+when it was the time for amusement--sometimes taking them to Bath
+for the day, and making them very happy, bestowing at the same time
+great pains on their instruction--sometimes practising music with
+them, and accompanying their sonatas on his incomparable
+flute--recommending to the governess a higher style of music,
+leading them on gradually to the works of Beethoven and Mozart. By
+and by he gave them instructions in architecture; taught them, as
+he said, all that he had learned from Rickman. His teaching was
+minutely technical. He would assemble his class in a little morning
+room, with books before them, and a case of mathematical
+instruments, pens and pencils. His pupils wrote what he saw fit to
+dictate, and he taught them how to use the compasses. Next came
+botany, which was not a new study to his pupils. There his brothers
+assisted him. They made a joint <i>hortus siccus</i> under his
+instruction. Edwin contributed many specimens from Scotland, and
+Marmaduke made a little collection of mosses. But they had to thank
+the curate for yet higher and better instruction. His younger
+pupils were not excluded from the most earnest conversations
+between him and Mr. Algar, Mr. John Sheppard, and some friends of
+the neighbouring gentlemen and clergy. In these conversations books
+were read and criticised, theological and other subjects, including
+some politics, were discussed. Ramsay was quizzed for Whiggish
+tendencies. The mistress of the house usually joined and set them
+right in politics, for she had been brought up in Plymouth during
+the French war, and had learned the old-fashioned Tory doctrine,
+and to think any other politics sinful. But all those high subjects
+of politics and religion were discussed with fitting respect; for
+that society--young and old--had a deep sense of religion, and the
+parents encouraged the younger members to visit and instruct the
+workmen and their families who were employed in the large cloth
+manufactories of the Sheppards; so that it came to pass that every
+man, woman, and child was taught or helped to teach others, for in
+those days very few of the working-people, at least in that part of
+England, could read at all. A lending library was attached to the
+mills. A large Sunday school was formed, chiefly for the children
+of the workpeople, and additional services were undertaken by the
+curate--a second sermon on Sundays besides one on Thursday
+evenings, where the families of the neighbourhood attended, and as
+many of the servants as could be spared. There, be sure, was no big
+talk on the primary obligation of orthodoxy, no attempts to
+proselytise. But all classes of that primitive people valued his
+preaching, and farmers and their labourers, the workmen of the
+factories, as well as their masters, took advantage of it. His
+brothers often visited him, and joined heartily in his pursuits
+whether gay or serious. It was delightful to see the three brothers
+so happy in each other's society, and helping on a worthy common
+object. Marmaduke, the Cambridge man, would talk astronomy, and
+William, the sailor, afterwards Admiral Ramsay, brought down a fine
+telescope, and himself gave them their first lesson in practical
+astronomy, handing over the instrument when he left to his brother
+the curate, that he might continue the instruction.</p>
+<p>During all these years of useful, cheerful, happy employment at
+Frome, Edward Ramsay never forgot the land of his forefathers and
+of his own youth. He sometimes visited Bath and London to hear
+Edward Irving preach, to see Kean act, to stare at old books and
+prints in the shop windows, to revel in the beauties of Kew
+Gardens; but every summer he found time for a visit to Scotland,
+and spent his holiday with boyish delight amongst the scenes and
+friends of his childhood.</p>
+<p>It was on one of those visits to Scotland, in the autumn of
+1822, whilst Mr. Ramsay was spending his holidays among his friends
+on Deeside, that the managers of St. Paul's Chapel, Aberdeen,
+offered him the place of second minister to that congregation,
+along with Mr. Cordiner. He was much gratified, and would gladly
+have accepted the appointment. He liked the place--his native town;
+thought highly of the respectability of the congregation; but there
+was one objection, which to him was insuperable. The congregation
+had for some time been Episcopal only in name, and it went against
+Mr. Ramsay's conscience to minister in a church calling itself
+Episcopal, but without the communion or discipline of a bishop. He
+explained to the managers his objection, and thought for a time it
+might be overcome by a union with the Scotch Episcopal churches in
+the diocese. He had yet to learn the strength, of the Scotch
+prejudice against bishops; perhaps to learn that the more shadowy
+the grounds of dispute, so much the more keenly are ecclesiastical
+squabbles fought. Worthy Bishop Skinner would have been glad to
+have Ramsay a fellow-labourer in his city upon whatever conditions.
+Yet he could not contradict his younger friend's honest and
+temperate adherence to his principles and to Episcopacy. The
+correspondence all round, which I have before me, is quite
+decorous; but after Ramsay had stated his objection, and that it
+was insuperable, the managers wrote to him, 1st October 1822, that
+"a unanimous election would follow if he accepted the situation
+under the present establishment." It would have been easy to divide
+the congregation, but this did not suit Ramsay's feelings or
+nature, and he courteously bowed to the decision of the managers,
+and returned to Frome, where his income from both curacies was
+&pound;100 a year,--a poverty the more irksome to a man of culture
+and refined tastes.</p>
+<p>Not long after (still, I think in 1823), the Journal
+records--"Mrs. Forbes, my aunt, had just come into her accession of
+fortune, and presented me with &pound;5000. A man may live many
+days in this world, and not meet the like gift in a like kindly
+spirit<a name="FNanchor5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5">[5]</a>."</p>
+<p>Of the year 1823 the Journal remarks very severe winter.
+"Marmaduke and Edwin with me at the Pear-tree<a name=
+"FNanchor6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6">[6]</a>; a delightful tour in
+South Wales with the Sheppards and other friends most agreeable and
+good-humoured,--botany, sketching, talk, and fun. Life has few
+things to offer more enjoyable than such tours. I have found in
+them the happiest hours in my life." And then follows the wail for
+so "many of them departed; so many dear good friends; all
+different, but all excellent!"</p>
+<p>Marmaduke having gone as tutor to Lord Lansdowne's eldest son,
+Edward was more free to consider an offer from Edinburgh, and
+ultimately accepted the curacy of St. George's in York Place, under
+Mr. Shannon. He preached his two last sermons at Rodden and
+Buckland on Christmas day 1823.</p>
+<blockquote>FOOTNOTES:</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor1">[1]</a>
+<i>Reminiscences</i> (Second Series, 1861).
+Introduction.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor2">[2]</a>
+May 10, 1810.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor3">[3]</a>
+Some account of his dealings among the Methodists may be found in
+the <i>Sunday Magazine</i>, January 1865, edited by the Rev. Dr.
+Guthrie. The paper is titled "Reminiscences of a West of England
+Curacy."</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor4">[4]</a>
+This was a favourite quotation of Ramsay's, who was amused with the
+remark of Withering's or Woodward's botany, repeated in his letters
+for long after:--"The organ at St. John's gives universal
+satisfaction--a great ornament to our ponds and
+ditches."</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor5">[5]</a>
+Mrs. Forbes, the sister and aunt of so many Burnetts and Ramsays,
+lived the latter part of her life at Banchory Lodge, in the middle
+of that "Deeside" country, where the future Dean spent many of his
+happy holidays, and learned much of the peculiar ways of that
+peculiar people. There were no two ladies in Scotland more esteemed
+and beloved than the Dean's aunts on both sides--Mrs. Russell, his
+aunt and mine, living in widowhood at Blackhall, and Mrs. Forbes at
+Banchory Lodge, three miles apart, on the opposite banks of Dee.
+Mrs. Forbes died 1st February 1838.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor6">[6]</a>
+His dwelling near Frome.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>II.</h2>
+<br>
+<p>The Dean was passionately fond of Deeside. Let me indulge myself
+in looking back upon that district such as he knew it, such as I
+remember it sixty years ago.</p>
+<p>The natural features of Deeside are not changed. The noble river
+pours down its brown flood as of old, hurrying from its wooded
+rocky highlands. On the prettiest part of its bank stands Crathes,
+the finest of Aberdeenshire castles, the immemorial seat of the
+Burnetts, where Edward Ramsay, himself a Burnett, was received with
+all the love of kindred, as well as the hearty respect for his
+sacred profession. I daresay Crathes was not to him quite what I
+remember it. But we were of different professions and habits. I
+will say nothing of the chief sport of Dee, its salmon-fishing.
+However fascinating, the rod is a silent companion, and wants the
+jovial merriment, shout and halloo, that give life and cheerfulness
+to the sport of the hunter. My recollection of Deeside is in its
+autumn decking, and shows me old Sir Robert and my lady, two gentle
+daughters and four tall stalwart sons--they might have sat for a
+group of Osbaldistones to the great painter Walter Scott. I will
+not describe the interior of the old house, partly because it was
+changing, and every change appeared to me for the worse; but no one
+would forget the old hall, where Kneller's picture of Bishop
+Burnett still looks down on his modern cousins and their
+hospitality. It was a frank and cordial hospitality, of which the
+genial old bishop would have approved. The viands were homely
+almost to affectation. Every day saw on that board a noble joint of
+boiled beef, not to the exclusion of lighter kickshaws; but the
+beef was indispensable, just as the <i>bouilli</i> still is in some
+provinces of France. Claret was there in plenty--too plentiful
+perhaps; but surely the "braw drink" was well bestowed, for with it
+came the droll story, the playful attack and ready retort, the
+cheerful laugh--always good humour. A dinner at Crathes was what
+the then baronet, old Sir Robert, would call the "best of good
+company."</p>
+<p>Another part of the house I well remember--the place, half
+gun-room, half servant's hall--where we prepared for sport in the
+morning, and brought the day's bag home at night. Prominent figures
+there were two brothers Stevenson, Willie and Jamie, known for
+twenty miles round as the "fox-hunters," known to us, after the
+southern sporting slang had been brought among us by our neighbour
+Captain Barclay, as "Pad-the-hoof" and "Flash-the-muzzle<a name=
+"FNanchor7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7">[7]</a>" The fox-hunting was
+on foot, but let no mounted hunter sneer. The haunts of the game
+were continuous woods and bogs, hard to ride and from which no fox
+could be forced to break. "Pad-the-hoof" looked no ignoble
+sportsman as he cheered his great slow-hounds through the thicket,
+and his halloo rang from the wood of Trustach to the craigs of
+Ashintillie. Both were armed, but "Flash" took less charge of the
+hounds than seeing to death the fox, the enemy of all, including
+the roe, which recent plantations had raised into an enemy. I must
+say nothing on foot or wing came amiss to Flash-the-muzzle's gun.
+Hares and rabbits, not then the pest of the country, swelled our
+bag. We had a moderate number of black game, and the fox-hunters
+were somewhat astonished to find that we of the gentry set much
+store by woodcock, which bulked so little in the day's sport. The
+fox-hunter brothers had the run of the servants' hall at Crathes,
+and they were said to have consumed fabulous numbers of kitchen
+pokers, which required to be heated red-hot to give the jugs of ale
+of their evening draught the right temperature and flavour. That
+was a free-living community. The gentlemen of the house were too
+much gentlemen to stand upon their dignity, and all, from the
+baronet downwards, had the thorough appreciation of Deeside humour.
+It was there that the Dean learned his stories of "Boatie" and
+other worthies of the river-side. Boatie himself was Abernethy, the
+ferryman of Dee below Blackhall; he hauled his boat across the
+river by a rope made fast at both ends. Once, in a heavy water, the
+rope gave way, and Boatie in his little craft was whirled down the
+raging river and got ashore with much difficulty. It was after
+this, when boasting of his valiant exertions, that Mrs. Russell put
+him in mind of the gratitude he owed to Providence for his escape,
+and was answered as the Dean himself tells us in his
+<i>Reminiscences</i>. Another of the water-side worthies, "Saunders
+Paul," was nominally the keeper of the public-house at Invercannie,
+where the water of Cannie falls into Dee. It was the alehouse of
+the country, but frequented much more by the gentry than by the
+commons. It was there that Mr. Maule in his young days, not yet
+Lord Panmure, led the riots and drank his claret, while Saunders
+capped him glass for glass with whisky and kept the company in a
+roar with Deeside stories. Old Saunders--I remember him like
+yesterday--was not a mere drunken sot or a Boniface of the
+hostelry. He had lived a long lifetime among men who did not care
+to be toadied, and there was a freedom and ready wit in the old man
+that pleased everybody who was worth pleasing. Above all, there was
+the Deeside humour which made his stories popular, and brought them
+to the ear of our Dean.</p>
+<p>That was the left side--the Crathes bank of Dee. Across the
+river was the somewhat dilapidated fortalice of Tilquhillie, the
+seat of an ancient and decayed branch of the Douglases. The last
+laird who dwelt there lived in the traditions of Deeside as own
+brother to the Laird of Ellangowan in Scott's romance. Ramsay has
+put him well on canvas. Who does not remember his dying
+instructions to his son and his grieve?--"Be ye aye stickin' in a
+tree, Johnny; it will be growin' when ye are sleepin'!" while he
+cautions the grieve, "Now mind that black park; it never gied me
+onything, ne'er gie onything to it."</p>
+<p>In the days when the Dean knew that Water-side the fortalice was
+uninhabited, and I think not habitable for gentlefolks; but down on
+the haugh below, and close to the river in a pretty garden-cottage,
+dwelt the old Lady Tilquhillie, with her son the sheriff of the
+county, George Douglas, whom a few Edinburgh men may yet remember
+as the man of wit and pleasure about town, the <i>beau</i> of the
+Parliament House--at home a kind hospitable gentleman, looking down
+a little upon the rough humours that pleased his neighbours. The
+old lady--I think she was a Dutch woman, or from the Cape of Good
+Hope--and her old servant, Sandy M'Canch, furnished the Dean with
+many a bit of Deeside life and humour; and are they not written in
+the <i>Reminiscences!</i></p>
+<p>Higher up the river were two houses where the Dean was much
+beloved--Banchory Lodge, his uncle General Burnett's, where also
+lived his dear aunt, the widowed Mrs. Forbes; and Blackhall, where,
+in the time I have in my mind, lived his aunt, Mrs. Russell, the
+widow of my uncle Francis Russell, a woman of many sorrows, but
+whose sweet voice and silver laugh brought joy into the house even
+amidst sickness and sorrow<a name="FNanchor8"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_8">[8]</a>. She had not the Deeside language, but she
+and her sister Lady Ramsay, Yorkshire women, and educated in the
+city of York, helped to give the Dean that curious northern English
+talk which he mixed pleasantly with the language of Angus and
+Mearns that he loved so well; and he inherited from the Bannermans
+the sweet voice, so valuable an inheritance to a preacher.</p>
+<p>I have gone over less than a dozen miles of the valley of the
+Dee, which was the Dean's Deeside. I think the manners and popular
+thought, as well as the language of that little district, were
+peculiar, and fitted to catch the attention of an eager student of
+human nature and character. Deeside, in its wider acceptance, of
+course includes the great city at its mouth, and the picturesque
+mountains of Mar near the source of the river, where the Queen has
+now set her mark of favour on the land. I beg to distinguish
+Deeside--the Dean's Deeside--lying between these. The city of
+Aberdeen, with its trade and manufacture and wealth, with its
+University and schools, and some tradition of the antique
+metropolis, has established, as she had good right, habits and
+language of her own, not to be mistaken, but almost confined to her
+own walls. On the other hand, the mountains of Mar, where lie the
+springs of the Dee, where tower Lochnagar and Benmacdhui, are
+inhabited by a race of shepherds and hunters, speaking a different
+language, differing in manners from the Dean's friends, who dwelt
+from the Hill of Fair to Ashintillie, where hardly a Gaelic name
+occurs among the peasantry.</p>
+<p>The little cluster of mansions which I have mentioned lies, I
+think, wholly within the parish of Banchory-Ternan. Following the
+river down from that parish, the next place of any importance is
+the old manor-house of Durris, some half-dozen miles lower, and on
+the right bank of the river. It is a place of some interest to
+lawyers for having given rise to one of the leading cases on the
+law of entail, which settled points that had formerly been
+doubtful, all in favour of the strict entail. The victim in that
+case, ejected by the heir of entail, was John Innes, who had sold
+his property in Moray to invest the produce in the great barony of
+Durris. The new tenant, believing himself almost proprietor, built
+a comfortable house under the walls of the old castle, and in that
+house was born the writer of these notes. I do not feel myself
+severed by any disgusts from the country of my youth where I spent
+my best years, or at least the years of most enjoyment. It was then
+a wild moor, with some natural beauty, a picturesque den leading
+from the house to the noble river, wooded with native birch and
+scrubby oak, with some tall larches and magnificent
+horse-chestnuts, and even a few immemorial Spanish chestnuts
+planted by the old Peterboroughs, now all gone. Along that river
+bank were some of the broadest haughs with which I am acquainted,
+and some of the best salmon streams, then woods and sheep pastures
+and a dozen miles of heather hills--up to Cairn-monearn and
+Kerloach--giving the best grouse-shooting in the country. It is in
+truth a charming water-side even in the eyes of a critical old man,
+or of a tourist in search of the picturesque; but for a boy who
+lived there, shot, and fished there, while all the houses round
+were the dwellings of cousins and friends, while game was not yet
+let for hire, it was a place to win that boy's heart, and I loved
+it very heartily. We were the nearest neighbours on one side of
+that cluster of residences of the Burnetts and Douglases and
+Russells which I have tried to describe. We were all very good
+friends, and thus the Dean and I were early acquainted.</p>
+<p>I have said little of the Dean's ancestors, merely named the
+Burnetts and Bannermans. Indeed I would guard against loading my
+memoir of the Dean with anything like mere pedigree. I take no
+interest in his ancestry, except in so far as they may have given a
+character--so far as he may have inherited his personal qualities
+from them. I will not dwell then upon Alexander de Burnard, who had
+his charter from Robert the Bruce of the Deeside lands which his
+descendants still hold, nor even on the first Lairds of Leys. When
+the Reformation blazed over Scotland, the Baron of Leys and his
+kindred favoured and led the party that supported the new faith;
+but, even in that iconoclastic age, two of them are found
+protesting against the destruction of religious places at Aberdeen.
+One, Gilbert Burnett (he was grand-uncle of the Bishop of Sarum),
+enjoyed considerable reputation abroad for certain philosophical
+writings. He was Professor of Philosophy, first at Basle and
+afterwards at Montauban, and a general synod of the French
+Protestants desired that his works should be printed at the expense
+of the synod. These <i>Dissertationes Ethic&aelig;</i> were
+accordingly published at Leyden in 1649; but his death prevented
+his other writings from being published. Two brothers of the same
+generation, Thomas and Duncan, settled in England as physicians,
+and seem to have been men of literary eminence. Pedigrees of both
+are to be found in the Herald's Visitations of Essex and Norfolk.
+Duncan, Thomas, and Gilbert, are all noticed by Sir Thomas
+Middleton among the "Learned Men and Writers of Aberdeen;" and
+Duncan is noted as a holy, good, and learned man. In the stirring
+times of the Covenants, Sir Thomas Burnett of Leys, Baronet, though
+an adherent of the Huntlys, embraced the Covenant from
+conscientious motives against his political instincts and
+associations. And ever afterwards we find him firm in the
+principles of the Covenant, yet advising peaceful and moderate
+counsels; and when Montrose, after his conversion to the royal
+cause, passed through Aberdeenshire, harrying the lands of the
+leading Covenanters, he supped one day at Crathes, excepted and
+protected Sir Thomas Burnett and his son-in-law, Sir William Forbes
+of Monymusk, in the general denunciation of the Puritans. We find
+Sir Thomas repeatedly a commissioner for visiting the University of
+Aberdeen, and in his later years he endowed three bursaries at
+King's College, his own <i>alma mater</i>. Jamesone has painted him
+with a thoughtful and refined, but earnest and manly face. The
+baronet's brother, James Burnett of Craigmyle, was of the same
+character. No less earnest and staunch than his brother in his
+adherence to his principles--he ever figures as a peace-maker and
+enemy of bloodshed. He is described by the parson of Rothiemay, an
+unsuspected testimony, as a "gentleman of great wisdom, and one who
+favoured the King though he dwelt among the Covenanters, and was
+loved and respected by all." Is it not plain that the temperance
+and moderation descended in the blood of the Burnetts?</p>
+<p>Thomas Burnett of Kemnay, grandson of Craigmyle, is known in a
+sphere where few Scotsmen had entered. He was a courtier of that
+remarkable little court of the Electress Sophia of Hanover, where
+he became the friend of the philosopher Leibnitz, correspondent of
+the poet Dryden, and his letters are full of curious gossip on the
+most various subjects--theology, philosophy, literature, including
+poetry and the small talk of the day. He was greatly employed and
+trusted by the Electress Sophia. His son George was noted as an
+agriculturist, and his grandson, Alexander Burnett of Kemnay (by a
+daughter of Sir Alexander Burnett of Leys), was long British
+Secretary of embassy at Berlin, and attended Frederick the Great in
+the campaigns of the Seven Years' War; remaining at the Prussian
+Court as Charg&eacute; d'Affaires after Sir Andrew Mitchell's
+death.</p>
+<p>James, third son of Craigmyle the Covenanter, married a daughter
+of the family of Irvine of Monboddo, a scion of the house of Drum,
+and having so acquired that barony, he transmitted it to his
+descendants, of whom the most famous was his great-grandson, James
+Burnett, Lord Monboddo, a Judge of the Court of Session, an eminent
+lawyer, and a man of rare accomplishments, with some whimsical
+peculiarities. In a treatise on the origin and progress of
+language, he was the first seriously to assert the descent of
+mankind from the monkey, and that the human race were originally
+furnished with tails! That and a hundred other whimsies were mixed
+up with a great deal of learning then very rare, and with a
+philosophy that dealt in free and daring speculation, of which the
+world was not yet worthy.</p>
+<p>The first baronet of Leys, besides his brother James of
+Craigmyle, had yet another brother, Robert Burnett of Crimond, an
+eminent advocate, very learned, and of high moral and religious
+principle. Though his wife was a sister of Johnstone of Warriston,
+he himself, unlike his two brothers, was an opponent of the
+Covenant, for which he went into exile until the Restoration, when
+he was made a Judge of the Court of Session as Lord Crimond. He had
+three sons by the Warriston lady. His eldest, Sir Thomas Burnett,
+was physician to royalty from Charles II to Queen Anne. The third
+was Gilbert, Bishop of Salisbury, of whom it is not my intention to
+give any detailed account. His brilliant talents and great
+influence made him many friends, and even more enemies. History is
+beginning to do justice to his character without concealing his
+weaknesses. He seems to have been more honest than was the fashion
+in his time.</p>
+<p>Such is the little gathering of family history, for the accuracy
+of which I am chiefly indebted to my kind friend the Lord
+Lyon--himself a Burnett. Perhaps I should apologise for saying even
+the little I have said of the Dean's pedigree; but while I press
+into my service the country of his birth and breeding, and the
+local peculiarities amongst which his life was spent, as possibly
+having some influence on his character, I could not resist the wish
+to show another element, drawn from his ancestry, that went to the
+forming of that character. Was not our Dean a worthy representative
+of Puritan leaders who refused to go into the violence of the
+Covenant--of the Bishop of unreproached life, who read the
+Thirty-nine Articles with an unconcealed desire to include
+conscientious Dissenters--of many peaceful gentlemen on the banks
+of the Dee, who mixed a happy playful humour with a catholic
+reverence for that Christianity which he could recognise in other
+sects, though preferring his own?</p>
+<blockquote>FOOTNOTES:</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor7">[7]</a>
+The present generation of Burnetts think that those slang names
+were invented by Barclay, but I knew him well, and venture to doubt
+his humorous powers. In the midst of "sporting" and violent
+excitement he was serious in talk, as became the descendant of the
+old Quakers.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor8">[8]</a>
+Mrs. Russell had lost her two sons by a strange fatality--both were
+drowned, the elder, Lockhart, while skating at Bath, about 1805-6,
+James, the younger, in crossing the river Dee in a boat rowed by
+himself in 1827.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>III.</h2>
+<br>
+<p>Edward Ramsay left Somersetshire amidst the general regrets of
+his parishioners and neighbours, and entered on his Edinburgh
+career 1st January 1824. The journal which I am now using has not
+hitherto spoken much of the differing opinions of his brother
+clergymen, although there is sometimes a clergyman noted as "very
+low," and elsewhere, one branded as a "concealed Papist." But in
+Edinburgh--it is vain to conceal it--every profession must be
+broken into parties. He found Edinburgh, or rather I should say the
+Episcopal Church in Edinburgh, then theologically divided between
+the Evangelicals, headed by the Rev. Edward Craig and the
+old-fashioned Churchmen, the rather moral school, of which Mr.
+Alison was the distinguished ornament. Mr. Ramsay went to St.
+George's Chapel, York Place, as Mr. Shannon's curate, in the
+beginning of 1824, and remained doing that duty for two and a half
+years. He then went to St. Paul's, Carrubber's Close, where he
+laboured for a year.</p>
+<p>In 1825 Ramsay "toiled on" with sermons and wrote a series on
+the Articles. "A great improvement," he says, "must have taken
+place in Edinburgh, for unquestionably the sermons I then got
+credit for we should all think little of now<a name=
+"FNanchor9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9">[9]</a>." In 1826 he left Mr.
+Shannon's chapel, and took the single charge of the quaint old
+chapel of St. Paul's, Carrubber's Close. Amongst the events
+recorded of the year was the acquaintance he made by officiating at
+the funeral of Lady Scott, Sir Walter's wife. In 1827 he mentions a
+change, "a considerable move to me, which, under God, has been a
+good one." He closed with an offer of the curacy of St. John's,
+under Bishop Sandford, when he was thirty-seven years of age. In
+spring he was ill, and went to visit his old place and friends in
+Somerset.--"Interesting, very: received at my old curacy of
+Buckland with much joy, and on the whole enjoyed my visit." At
+Whitsunday 1827 he came home to enter on St. John's with Bishop
+Sandford, being thus half of 1827 in Carrubber's Close and half in
+St. John's. I was in Edinburgh then, and can well remember what
+general favour accompanied Mr. Ramsay in church and society.
+Perhaps he was not prepared for the vehemence of church dissensions
+among us. I do not think there was at that time so bitter war
+between churchmen of the same profession in England, but the
+Episcopal Church, of whatever section, had made great progress then
+in Scotland. Its fine liturgy, and more decorous ceremonial, had
+attracted some. Many of the heads of country families round
+Edinburgh have been educated in England, and many of them have
+married in England--both circumstances tending to keep up their
+attachment to the Episcopal Church; and in their houses the
+scholarly, accomplished, agreeable clergyman of the Episcopal
+Church was a welcome guest, as well as an adviser and influential
+friend.</p>
+<p>In summer of 1827 the journal tells us his brother Marmaduke
+paid him a visit. "We read some Italian--I got a notion of
+Dante."</p>
+<p>At the commencement of 1829 he enters in his journal--"This was
+a most important year indeed, the year of my marriage; and what
+event has been to me so joyful, so full of interesting
+recollections?" He tells that in the summer a visitor came to
+Scotland--a friend of Lady Dalhousie, and recommended by her to
+Lady Robert Kerr, at whose house they met. The lady was Isabella
+Cochrane, of the well-known Canadian family; writing in 1844 he
+says--"Fifteen years of close acquaintance with that lady have
+taught me the best commentary upon the Scripture declaration that a
+'virtuous woman is a crown to her husband.' I need not say more
+than that I believe I owe mainly to her (under Providence) my
+comfort, success and position here. But let this suffice. None but
+myself can know my full obligations." Next year begins--"As 1829
+gave me a wife, 1830 gave me a church, for on the 14th January
+Bishop Sandford died, and the whole charge was offered to me, which
+I undertook for three years without a curate--i.e. without a
+man-curate, for a most effective assistant I had in dearest
+Isabella, who wrote to my dictation many a weary hour."</p>
+<p>Except a little parcel of letters touching the negotiation with
+Bishop Skinner, and the Aberdeen congregation in 1822, I find no
+letters of Ramsay till he wrote to one of the dear old friends at
+Frome announcing a visit with his wife.</p>
+<br>
+<center>Mr. RAMSAY to Miss STUART SHEPPARD, Fromefield,<br>
+Frome, Somerset.</center>
+<p class="loc">7 Albany Court,<br>
+London, 9th June [1831].</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Stuart, I have been in such a whirl and such a
+turmoil since I came here that I have hardly had time to collect my
+scattered thoughts to write you a line. I have seen much and heard
+much, but shall not attempt to give you any account <i>now</i>, as
+I hope (please God) we shall meet ere long. Mrs. Ramsay's
+brother-in-law, the Bishop of Nova Scotia, is here--he preached the
+annual sermon for the anniversary meeting of the Charity Children
+in St. Paul's. I went as his chaplain, but of this more hereafter.
+He has been very urgent upon us to protract our stay here through
+all next week, but I have resisted his importunities, as I am
+really desirous of taking as much time as I can at Frome. We
+accordingly fix Tuesday for leaving London. We stay that day at
+Windsor with a friend, come to Winchester, Romsey, Salisbury, on
+Wednesday, and on Thursday the 16th, I hope to see you all in
+health and comfort. Dear Stuart, I shall be happy, really happy, to
+be amongst you once more. It is to me like coming <i>home</i>. Do
+not wait dinner or make any arrangements, because our hour of
+arrival is uncertain. We may be detained till the evening seeing
+sights. Mrs. E.B.R. eats nothing (literally), and I daresay your
+common dinner may furnish <i>me</i> with a meal. Mrs. Ramsay
+desires kindest love; she is not looking well, and I hope, after
+the racket here, she will improve upon Frome quiet. God bless
+you.--Your affectionate</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">E.B.R.</p>
+<blockquote>Marked--"First visit to F.F. with wife, June
+9,1831."</blockquote>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>Mr. RAMSAY to Miss STUART SHEPPARD, Fromefield.</center>
+<p class="loc">Woburn, Friday night, 1st July [1831].</p>
+<blockquote>We are sure that our very dear friends at Fromefield
+will be interested in hearing of our progress and welfare, and as
+we have a few extra minutes this morning, we are determined to
+devote them to a party now living in the hearts of <i>all</i> the
+wanderers with whom they so lately and so grievously parted: the
+<i>weather</i> even <i>sympathised</i> on Tuesday evening, and all
+the comfort we had was in talking over individually the whole
+Fromefield concern. My brother, who is <i>slow</i> in making
+friends, and shy of strangers, softened into tender friendship
+under the influence of such kindness, and vows that if he had such
+friends he would travel annually from Edinburgh to see them. He has
+put one sprig of verbena from Stuart in one pocket, another sprig
+from Jane in another pocket, and a piece of painted glass from
+Elizabeth in another pocket. How lucky it is that his dress should
+be so abundantly supplied with the accommodation of so many
+receptacles for reminiscences! Our next grief after leaving you was
+the not seeing Cousin John! We were sadly disappointed. We did not
+get into Clifton till near ten; the rain would prevent his coming
+to meet us, and the next morning we very provokingly missed each
+other, though Mr. Ramsay consoled himself with writing a note. How
+much I hope and trust that we are all to meet next year! We were
+delighted with our drive from Chepstow to Ross--the Wye scenery is
+exquisitely beautiful; we exhausted ourselves and our epithets in
+exclamations, and the day seemed made for the magnificent view from
+the Wynd Cliff, and then we came to Tintern Abbey! How often we
+wished for our Chedder party--how often we talked over the pleasure
+we would have in admiring all this beauty with them, and how often,
+like spoiled children, we wondered why all this enjoyment should
+not have accompanied us to Monmouth! but good-night, my very dear
+friends--I shall leave the letter in better hands for finishing, I
+am so sleepy!!<br>
+<br>
+[Mr. Ramsay]--We have seen many things of which the ingenious and
+very learned Dr. Woodward would say that they were "great ornaments
+to our ponds and ditches." But of this enough, and more than
+enough. Allow me to take this opportunity of expressing my
+satisfaction at finding how completely Mrs. E.B.R enters into the
+friendship which has so long existed between <i>us</i>, and at
+seeing how fully prepared she is to appreciate your kindness to
+myself and her; in short, to find that she loves you all now, as if
+she had known you as long as I have. May we never lose sight of
+these feelings! We saw Oxford to-day--a good thing, but in detail
+not equal to Cambridge--in general effect far superior. Gloster
+pleased me: the tower and cloisters surpassingly fine. People do
+not roar enough about the steeple of St. Mary's, Oxford--it is
+<i>the finest</i> in England, superior I think to that of
+Salisbury. Are you aware that there is a modern church at Oxford in
+the pure Norman style? My visit to Frome has given me (except in
+parting) unmixed satisfaction. I cannot say how much I have been
+gratified, and with what pleasure I look forward to a renewal. I
+must to bed, my eyes cannot discern the place to write in, and I am
+sleepy. Adieu, dearest friends, one and all at the Field of Frome,
+the Hill of Styles, the cottage of Keyford, etc. I rejoice to think
+that my good friend <i>Kay</i> is safe. Good-night! Woburn looks
+well--"a great ornament," etc.<br>
+<br>
+Marked by Mrs. Clerk--"Written on their way from F.F.--first
+visit."</blockquote>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>Mr. RAMSAY to Miss BYARD, Fromefield, Frome,<br>
+Somerset.</center>
+<p class="loc">Edinburgh, Dec. 17, 1831,</p>
+<blockquote>My dearest Friend, They have told me that you are not
+well, and neither time nor distance can take away the feeling of
+regard and friendship with which I sympathise with all that occurs
+to you. I confess myself that I was some time since disposed to
+look on all things around me with an anxious aspect; but I am
+beginning to see in <i>all events</i> but a part of that
+dispensation which is so gloriously distinguished as the work of
+<i>love</i>, and I think that public calamity or private sorrow,
+sickness, pain, weariness and weakness, <i>may</i> all be
+translated into the same language, and may be arranged as synonyms
+of the same word. Yes! piety, goodness, the favour and approbation
+of God, are all marked out by sorrow and infirmity here. Why else
+did the blessed Jesus tabernacle here below--a man of sorrows? and
+why else was he acquainted with grief? It might make a Christian
+almost drink his cup of sickness and pain with <i>greediness</i>
+when he remembers that he is tasting the same cup as that of which
+his Lord drank, and he might hail with rapture the outstretched arm
+of death and suffering as about to place on his head the diadem of
+eternal glory. I am not to flatter you--you need it not, you ask it
+not; but, my friend, you must feel and know that you have been
+walking with God, walking <i>humbly</i>, doing good, neither
+trusting to false presumptions nor to your own merits. Christ has
+been <i>your</i> master, to Him you have looked, and, blessed be
+God! He will never, never forsake those who trust to Him,--those
+who are good to others for his sake,--those who seek redemption
+through Him. Where, O ye years that are past, have you gone? You
+have carried to the throne of grace many an act of contrition, many
+a devout prayer, many a good deed, many an offering of faith, from
+the friend to whom I now write. Bring back, ye moments that are to
+come and which shall be granted to her in this world, rich
+consolations, promises of pardon, assurances of favour, all
+spiritual blessings! Dear Miss Byard, may all these be yours in
+full abundance. May God the Father bless you, through the Eternal
+Spirit, for Christ's sake! This is the sincere and earnest prayer
+of your affectionate and faithful friend,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">E.B.R.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<blockquote>In this I am joined by Isabella.<br>
+<br>
+Marked--"It arrived just after her death."</blockquote>
+<p>In his journal Mr. Ramsay speaks of Bishop Sandford with a very
+grateful recollection. To him he owed his preferment, and a "more
+agreeable charge could not well be had." He characterises him as a
+man of elegant mind and accurate scholarship, of deep piety and
+sincere faith. I think it is with some regret that he adds, the
+"state of the Church is much changed since his episcopate."</p>
+<p>His dear brother Marmaduke died in the summer of 1831, and the
+Dean, who is no exaggerator of his feelings, remarks--"This is one
+of the sorrows for which language is inadequate. Such a mind, such
+taste, abilities, and accomplishments!" Edward Ramsay felt that
+nothing could make up for the loss of his brother, but he had
+comfort in thinking how much his brother's mind had been wakened to
+religious inquiries. His simple notes in his journal are sometimes
+worth preserving. "July 6, 1833, was the finest day I ever
+remember." He passed it in the Highlands with Professor Forbes,
+Skenes, and other delightful friends. On the 28th he left for the
+Duke of Sutherland's funeral; afterwards he repaired to Leamington
+and Dr. Jephson, whose skill he soon found reason to admire. On
+leaving Leamington he thanks God that he has gained in health, and
+learnt also wisdom in regard to the "management of myself, and
+certainly in diet." It is not necessary to record the little tours
+with his wife, which now happened almost every season, either to
+Deeside or the Highlands or his old haunts in Somerset. On July 2,
+1836, I find it recorded that he went with a party to hear Dr.
+Chalmers at the Dean Church, and returned all in great delight. He
+made a long journey that year to hear the great organ at
+Birmingham, and came home by many cathedrals, and yet "glad to get
+home."</p>
+<p>In 1838 he notes, after a Highland journey, the "Synod was this
+year for altering the canons," He notes a "white-stone visit to the
+Stranges, Ross-end Castle, with the Bells. Alas! how many things
+and people are gone."</p>
+<p>In 1839 "Lady Dalhousie, my admired friend, came to stay with
+us. She came January 19, and on the 22d died in the drawing-room in
+an instant! It was an awful visitation, and never to be
+forgotten."</p>
+<p>The following letter, written immediately after the calamity, is
+from the Marquis of Dalhousie, from various circumstances an object
+of great affection to the Dean, who consented to take charge of his
+daughters when he went as Governor-General to India, bestowing on
+them the care and anxious watchfulness which the young ladies
+returned with hearty affection:--</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>The MARQUIS OF DALHOUSIE to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">Dalhousie Castle, 25th January 1839.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Mr. Ramsay--I have sent John in, partly because
+I am anxious that you should let me know how Mrs. Ramsay is to-day,
+and partly because I cannot rest till another evening without
+endeavouring to express to you some portion of the very, very deep
+gratitude which I feel for all your kindness--for the kindness of
+your every act and word, and--I am just as confident--of your every
+thought towards us all in this sad time. <i>God knows how truly I
+feel it</i>: and with that one expression I stop; for it makes me
+sick to think how slow and how coldly words come to clothe the
+feeling which I wish to convey to you. Believe only this, that to
+my own dying day I never can forget your goodness. Believe this
+too--that since it has pleased Almighty God that my poor mother's
+eyes should not he closed under my roof, and by my hand, I would
+not have wished any other place for her departure than among
+friends so kindly, loving, and so well loved.<br>
+<br>
+God bless you and repay it to you, prays your ever grateful and
+affectionate friend,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">DALHOUSIE.</p>
+<blockquote>Rev. E. B. Ramsay.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>February 27, 1839.--"My uncle General Burnett died; another limb
+of the older generation gone; a good and kind man; a man of the
+world, and not a clever one. Latterly he showed a considerable
+desire to know more about religion. Went with J. Sandilands to be
+present at the formation of a branch of the Church Society at
+Glasgow--made a regular speech!" On September 4th he writes--"The
+first day of meeting of the general committee for business of the
+Scottish Episcopal Church Society. I gave a large dinner. Much have
+I worked for this society, and done better things than give
+dinners. By the by William Ramsay [his brother the admiral] made a
+capital speech." On March 5, 1841, it is noted, Bishop Walker
+died--"a good man. His mind cast in a limited mould of strong
+prejudices; but a fair man, strictly honest in all his ways. He was
+not fitted to unravel difficulties in his episcopate, and scarcely
+suited to these times. He had been a furious opponent of the old
+evangelicals. A constant and kind friend to me. May his memory be
+honoured. Bishop Terrot elected bishop. I am very grateful to think
+that in all this business I can look with satisfaction upon
+everything that has been done by me."</p>
+<p>From this time Mr. Ramsay's thoughts were very much taken up
+with the Episcopal Church Society, and he records in his journal
+most of its meetings, and the English friends who came across the
+Borders to help them. He mentions also a Scotch Presbyterian
+churchman who became convinced of the apostolical authority of
+episcopacy--"an excellent man." Then a visit of Mr. ----, "an
+accomplished and able man, somewhat strong of the popish leaven."
+That was in 1842, and on the margin is written--"Gone over to the
+Church of Rome, 1845." He mentions also the "stupid business at
+Portobello and squabbles," and his going down to make peace. On
+September 4th we have some things which seemed important at their
+time--the Queen's visit to Scotland. He says, "It was a stirring
+subject for old Scotland." "This day, 4th Sept., I read prayers and
+preached before her Majesty, and also dined and sat near Prince
+Albert and the Queen. In the evening presented to the Queen and
+Prince Albert, and introduced to Sir Robert Peel." Then comes the
+cry--"All vanity of vanities!" At the end of this month the Bishop
+of London--"very agreeable"--was in Edinburgh, and the Dean
+accompanied him to Glenalmond, to see the proposed site for Trinity
+College. In 1843 he mentions the death of a friend, who, he feared,
+died an infidel: "However, I have no wish to proclaim his errors.
+To me he was ever kind and considerate. Let us leave judgment to
+Him who cannot err." In June of that year he paid a visit to
+England, spent Sunday at Leeds, and was much interested with Dr.
+Hook and his church. "I have considerable dubitation as to the
+expediency of making the services of our parish churches choral."
+He went on to London and Oxford, where it was long vacation, but he
+met with great kindness from the heads of University College and
+Exeter. "Magdalene is faultless."</p>
+<p>After mentioning some visitors in March 1844, he
+writes--"Dickens's Christmas Carol really a treat, a thoroughly
+wholesome book." On the 8th April he was present at the lunch given
+to the children of the Episcopal poor in the Old Town. "This, I
+trust, is the commencement of a scheme to bring some actually poor
+into our church. I made a speech, and, to my astonishment, rather a
+good one." After a pretty long tour in the south of England he
+comes home in August 1844, and notes a letter from the Bishop of
+London, containing the offer of the Bishopric of New Brunswick, in
+a handsome and gratifying manner. "I think I was right to refuse.
+May God forgive me if it was an improper shrinking from duty."
+October 14, 1844: "I have now brought up this record of my life's
+transactions to the present time, and my purpose is, in future
+journalising, to take the leading points, to notice subjects only,
+painful, joyful, or difficult. All my thoughts since the offer of
+the New Brunswick mitre have confirmed the correctness of my
+judgment." October 17, 1844: "I am trying to repeat the experiment
+of last week, and write my sermon over again. I see clearly that in
+such work we cannot take too much pains: dinner at Lord Medwyn's
+to-day--very pleasant--rather an exception this to dinners: how
+dull the routine! October 22: succeeded in my resolution of
+rewriting the whole of my sermon, and found the advantage; in fact,
+nothing in the way of public speaking can be done without a
+thorough preparation. How high parties are running! It has a sad
+effect on my mind; but my refuge must be in keeping off controversy
+and adhering to edifying and practical subjects." In the same month
+he records the death of a dear friend, whom he visited on his
+deathbed. "Nothing," he says, "could be more satisfactory than his
+state of mind;" the Dean lost a kind Christian, attached and
+delightful friend. "I was glad to be able to answer his scruples
+and fears about being an object of Christ's mercy and pardon."
+December 11, 1844, he lost his mother--"simple-minded," he says,
+"as a child. Oh! what a break of the family circle! It seems as if
+the last link which bound us together were broken, and a point
+vanished round which we could always rally. I went with Lauderdale
+to see the poor remains, so attenuated, and yet the countenance
+like itself, still beautiful, and fine features." The funeral made
+the Dean very sad. She was followed to the grave by two sons, a
+son-in-law, two grandsons and distant cousins. Mr. Alison read the
+service, and she was buried beside her old friend of fifty
+years--poor Mrs. Macdonald.</p>
+<p>1844: "Christmas day morning, Communion 78, in all 404; the
+church so full. I preached an old but a good sermon." He has a
+Christmas dinner of a few friends, but not much Christmas spirit,
+he says. In 1845, January 12, the journal notices--"I preached my
+liturgy sermon, and apparently with much success." Some of his
+congregation had spoken of it as worthy to be printed. He saw a
+good deal of company in his own house, whom I do not think it
+necessary to particularise, though they were generally of
+distinction for talent or rank, or both together. He heard C.
+Kemble read Henry VIII., which "I did much enjoy. Will. Shakspeare
+when most known is most admired." On 19th January he preached a
+sermon, but his note upon it is not like the last. "I liked it, but
+it did not seem to take as I had expected. Have been much
+meditating this week on many matters, Church especially: find
+myself unsettled, I fear, but I think I have the remedy, which is
+to keep my attention fixed rather on practical than on speculative
+points. We cannot agree on the one; on the other we may, and good
+men do." March 2, 1845: "I confess that the Romanising tendencies
+so openly avowed in the Church of England alarm me. The question
+occurs, Is not this a necessary, or at least a natural tendency of
+High Churchism?" Speaking of meetings of his Synod, he says "it is
+wretched work, which ended, indeed, in doing nothing." One member
+had spoken with much bitterness, which he says, "thank God, I do
+not feel." 3d April 1845: "We are in a nice mess about this Old
+Town business. Two different communion offices in one day in the
+same chapel. Is it possible that this could ever have been
+contemplated by the canon? I do fear the extreme and Romanising
+party, and they hurt us here. The Scotch office is supposed to
+identify us with them, and certainly the comments upon it make it
+speak a language very different from the English."</p>
+<p>June 19.--"Left home in the 'Engineer' coach at seven, travelled
+through to London without stop, and arrived there at one o'clock:
+wonderful the shortening of this journey; went with a party to
+Handel's Athalia at Exeter Hall; tired, fagged, and sleepy as I
+was, I yet felt deeply the power of the mighty master in this his
+mighty work. Yes, Handel is the greatest musician the world ever
+saw."</p>
+<p>July 18, 1845.--"Returned to London: did little more there:
+arrived in Edinburgh for Mr. Sandiland's marriage, a great stretch
+of friendship in me, for it has discomposed all our summer plans."
+On 15th August there is an entry too characteristic to be
+omitted:--"Have been thinking a great deal about the state of
+matters at present, and the sort of demeanour I should exhibit to
+the world. I should be very cautious--hardly give an opinion if
+conflicting statements, and certainly not gossip about
+them--certainly not speak harshly or severely of any. Keep my own
+course, work hard, and endeavour to conciliate; rather lean to high
+than low side." November 10, 1845: "at a meeting to hear Dr.
+Simpson, Mr. Macfarlane, and Norman Macleod give an account of
+their mission to North America: interesting. Macleod a real clever
+fellow."</p>
+<p>26th November 1845.--"The consecration of Dalkeith Chapel: we
+went out and stayed the day; all good and well managed: Sermon
+preached by Rev. E. B. R: approved: three bishops, twenty clergy.
+It is really a fine thing for a man to have done; a beautiful
+chapel; hope it won't be extreme."</p>
+<p>Dec. 2.--"Warden to College appointed; looks like business!"</p>
+<p>Dec. 7.--"Heard astonishing news--William appointed to the
+'Terrible, the largest steam man-of-war in the service--in the
+world."</p>
+<p>Dec. 14, 1845.--"Sermon on Christ the True Light. Collection for
+Scottish Episcopal Church Society, &pound;151."</p>
+<p>15th March 1846.--"Sermon, 'Am I your enemy because I tell you
+the truth?' Here a sad blank, for I have been very ill, and out of
+chapel two Sundays, and could not go to confirmation, and all sorts
+of horrors. I have communed a good deal with myself, and I have
+made up my mind to a conduct and demeanour in Church matters almost
+neutral. I positively will not again mix myself up in any way with
+party, or even take part. I will confine myself to St. John's and
+its duties. This is my <i>line</i>--hear what every one has to say,
+and keep a quiet, conciliatory, and even tenor. It is more striking
+the more I think of the different way in which different minds are
+affected by religious truth." ...</p>
+<p>April 16.--"Synod meeting and Society. I took the moderate and
+conciliatory side. Did right this time."</p>
+<p>April 29.--"Preached the Casuistry sermon. Mrs. R. made it A
+20."</p>
+<p>June 1.--"Busy preparing for journey;" he leaves home for his
+summer holiday "with rather less spirit and expectation of
+enjoyment than usual."</p>
+<p>Mr. Ramsay was appointed Dean of the Diocese of Edinburgh by
+Bishop Terrot in 1846, after having previously declined, as we saw,
+the dignity of the Bishopric of New Brunswick, offered him by Sir
+Robert Peel. He afterwards refused the Bishopric of Glasgow in
+1847, and the Coadjutor-Bishopric of Edinburgh in 1862.</p>
+<p>And now is the beginning of constantly recurring complaints of
+depression--low spirits, a "cloud upon my spirits; headache, even
+pain and violent pain." He was disappointed at not getting to see
+the "Terrible;" was low and depressed. "Went to Bath. Delighted
+with Torquay; interested at Exeter; the service there the very
+best. Is cathedral service more than a solemn concert?" Then he
+went by Beaminster to see his nephew Alexander and his family. He
+stayed a short time at Crewkerne with his niece Mrs. Sparks.
+"Church a fine one: To Frome: This visit full of interest. How kind
+and good! The only drawback is parting. We spent a week at Frome,
+and did enjoy it much. Much kindness, heartiness I should say,
+intelligence, and real goodness. Changes I found, and saw how time
+had told on many a face and frame. My dear companion was much
+pleased and interested in our visit.... July 16.--Left Frome, and
+sorrowed at parting. Saw Sydney Herbert's gorgeous church at
+Wilton. Too much! With the exterior of Salisbury not at all
+disappointed; with the interior a little. Arrived at Farnborough by
+eight o'clock, and a most cordial welcome we had from all the
+inmates of its pretty rectory. Went back to London on Friday, and
+returned to Farnborough Saturday, and spent Sunday. July 19.--Was
+glad for Isabella to have an opportunity of seeing a Sunday in a
+country place in England. I preached twice, and we were interested.
+Aug. 4.--Came to York. Glorious! Chapter-house restored by Mr.
+Bell."</p>
+<p>January 1, 1851.--"Having preached on Sunday last regarding
+improvement and good resolutions, I would now do the same for
+myself. I have made some resolutions in my own mind, chiefly
+regarding the control and regulation of temper, irritability,
+forbearance, more composed and calm temperament, order, diligence,
+dispatch of work, etc." On January 6th there is a Ragged School
+meeting--"a long and tiresome meeting; the Duke of A---- speaks
+well; Guthrie amusing; Fox Maule good; Candlish clever--very."</p>
+<p>On his birthday in 1853 he writes: "I have just made two
+resolves--first, never to give way to temper, fret, ill-humour,
+party spirit, or prejudice; second, to work my best in what I may
+have still to do."</p>
+<p>There is a great deal more of the journal, but one or two
+additional extracts will show sufficiently the nature of the man,
+his devotion to his sacred duty, his gentleness, and love of peace.
+The High Churchman may think him unduly careless about forms and
+ceremonies; but, loving him very well, I yet wish to represent the
+Dean as he really was. Above all things full of charity, loving
+religion as he understood the religion of the Gospel, and not much
+concerned, not really deeply concerned, about the shape and dress
+in which it presented itself. He held, however, that the Protestant
+Episcopal Church, as established in England, as disestablished in
+Scotland, for he never would separate them, was in all its
+belongings the most desirable, its service the most decent.</p>
+<p>1858 was a sad year for the Dean. Mrs. Ramsay had been very ill,
+and sinking in strength and spirit visibly, till, on the 23d July
+the afflicted husband makes this entry:--"It pleased God to visit
+me with the deep and terrible affliction of taking away my friend,
+companion, and adviser of twenty-nine years." It was a heavy blow,
+and for a time it seemed to paralyse the Dean. This journal, never
+regular, becomes from this time quite broken.</p>
+<p>Looking back from this point, which to the Dean seemed the end
+of happiness, he could acknowledge how duty supplied the place of
+pleasure. He was grateful also for many mercies. In one respect he
+was singularly fortunate. His Bishop and he, I may say during all
+the time he served in St. John's, were cordially of the same way of
+thinking. Bishop Terrot was indeed a very different man from
+himself, but in the relations of Bishop and Dean they were very
+happy. The Dean wrote a little memoir of Bishop Terrot, which he
+published in the <i>Scottish Guardian</i> (May 15, 1872), where he
+prints the remarkable letter from the Bishop to himself, answering
+the question why he declined communion with Mr. Drummond, and
+ending with the sentence--"These are matters of <i>ecclesiastical
+police</i> which each local church has a right to manage in its own
+way, subject to the law of the Catholic Church, i.e. the Bible."
+The Dean then bore testimony that he had always found his Bishop an
+interesting companion, a kind friend, a faithful and judicious
+adviser, and he speaks highly, and surely not too highly, of his
+great intellectual powers, as well as of his moral qualities. I am
+myself a very hearty admirer of Bishop Terrot, and I think it not
+out of place to add something to our knowledge of him, by printing
+a few letters which concern him and his family.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>COLONEL TERROT to DEAN RAMSAY.--Without date, but of the
+year 1872.</center>
+<blockquote>Very Rev. and dear Sir--There is one little incorrect
+deduction in your kind memoir, or at least a deduction which may be
+made from what you say of my father deriving his intellect from his
+mother---that my grandfather was inferior in such respects. From
+deep feeling and devotion to his memory, my grandmother never spoke
+of her husband to us, but from others I have heard that he was a
+bright, handsome and talented young man, who, with the very
+imperfect education given at that time to officers in the army, and
+employed in active service in America at the age of fourteen, was
+yet distinguished for ability, especially in mathematics and
+engineering matters, so that he was employed by those in command of
+the siege, and was actually riding with the engineer who was in
+charge of the sieging operations when a cannon-ball struck and
+killed him. He was in an English infantry regiment, and not in the
+Indian service, except that the regiment was serving in India at
+the time. He met my grandmother in the ship which took them to
+India. She was going to a maternal uncle, Colonel Hughes, who was
+considerably displeased on her announcing at Madras that she was
+engaged to a poor young officer who had offered to her during the
+voyage. But the young couple being determined, he gave his consent,
+and continued kind to his niece, and my father was born in his
+house, and at his father's request called Hughes after him. My
+grandfather was twenty-five and his bride eighteen at their
+marriage, and she was a widow before she was twenty, from which
+time till she died at eighty-five she was a widow indeed, making
+her son the chief object of her life, living in and for him.<br>
+<br>
+His uncle William, whom he succeeded at Haddington, was never
+married, and was exceedingly attached to my father. He was a
+singular man; in his early days very gay and handsome, and living
+in some matters, I know not what, so incorrectly, that on offering
+himself for holy orders, the then Bishop of Durham wrote to him
+mentioning something he had heard, and telling him if it was true
+he was not fitly prepared for taking orders. My uncle acknowledged
+the accusation as far as it was true, and thanked the Bishop for
+his letter, and abstained from coming forward at that time, but
+took the admonition so to heart that it led to an entire conversion
+of heart and life. He then came forward in a very different state
+to receive ordination, and was through his whole life a most
+zealous and devoted man, a friend of Milner and Wilberforce. An old
+lady, Mrs. Logan of Seafield, told me that once when Mrs. Siddons
+was acting, uncle William walked twenty miles to see her and
+persuade her not to go, and, whether by arguments or eloquence, he
+succeeded. Though kind and gentle he was a strong Calvinist, and by
+his zeal and energy in preaching such doctrines, injured himself in
+a worldly point of view. He was always poor, and often gave away
+all the little he had, and lived from hand to mouth. He was very
+much admired and beloved by ladies, which perhaps prevented his
+marrying. He was very happy and useful among the sailors, and died
+at his sister's, Mrs. Jackson, at Woolwich. She, as Elizabeth
+Terrot, had been a beauty, and was to the last a fine, happy,
+spirited, contented and joking old lady, very fond of my father, to
+whom she left all she had. She was bright, unselfish and amusing,
+even on her deathbed incapable of despondency or gloom.<br>
+<br>
+Excuse my troubling you with these details; and believe me to be
+truly grateful for your graceful tribute to our dear father. I send
+a few lines for your private eye, written by my sister Mary,
+expressing what she felt on last seeing him, and it expresses, too,
+exactly what I felt that last Good Friday as he sat in that chair
+in which he had so long suffered. I never saw him there again, With
+deep respect, gratefully yours,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">S.A. TERROT.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>LINES by MISS MARY TERROT, now MRS. MALCOLM.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<p class="i9"><b>I.</b></p>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<p class="i2">Sad, silent, broken down, longing for rest,</p>
+<p class="i2">His noble head bent meekly on his breast,</p>
+<p class="i2">Bent to the bitter storm that o'er it swept;</p>
+<p class="i3">I looked my last, and surely, then I thought,</p>
+<p class="i3">Surely the conflict's o'er, the battle's fought;</p>
+<p class="i2">To see him thus, the Saviour might have wept.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza"><br>
+<p class="i9"><b>II.</b></p>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<p class="i2">His rest was near--his everlasting rest;</p>
+<p class="i2">No more I saw him weary and oppressed.</p>
+<p class="i2"><i>There</i> in the majesty of death he lay</p>
+<p class="i3">For ever comforted: I could not weep;</p>
+<p class="i3">He slept, dear father! his last blessed sleep,</p>
+<p class="i2">Bright in the dawn of the eternal day.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza"><br>
+<p class="i9"><b>III.</b></p>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<p class="i2">And thou, whose hand <i>his</i>, groping, sought at
+last,</p>
+<p class="i2">The faithful hand that he might hold it fast!</p>
+<p class="i2">Once more, when parting on the eternal shore,</p>
+<p class="i3">It may be, when thy heart and hand shall fail,</p>
+<p class="i3">Entering the shadows of death's awful vale</p>
+<p class="i2">His hand shall grasp thine, groping then no more.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>DEAN STANLEY to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<blockquote>My dear Dean--Many thanks for your very interesting
+memoir of Bishop Terrot. His remark about <i>humdrum</i> and
+<i>humbug</i> is worthy of the best days of Sydney Smith, and so is
+a hit about table-turning<a name="FNanchor10"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_10">[10]</a>. I once heard him preach, and still
+remember with pleasure the unexpected delight it gave to my dear
+mother and myself. We did not know in the least what was coming,
+either from the man or the text, and it was excellent.--Yours
+sincerely,</blockquote>
+<p class="loc">A.P. STANLEY.</p>
+<blockquote>Deanery, Westminster, 1872.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>Right Hon. W.E. GLADSTONE to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">Hawarden, May 26, 1872</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Friend--I have read with much interest your
+graceful and kindly memoir of Bishop Terrot, which you were so good
+as to send me.<br>
+<br>
+He had always appeared to me as a very real and notable, and
+therefore interesting man, though for some reason not apparent a
+man <i>manqu&eacute;</i>, a man who ought to have been more notable
+than he was. I quite understand and follow you in placing him with,
+or rather in the class of, Whately and Paley, but he fell short of
+the robust activity of the first, and of that wonderful clearness
+of the other, which is actual brightness.<br>
+<br>
+Your account of the question of Lordship is to me new and
+interesting. I have never called the Scottish Bishops by that
+title. I should be content to follow the stream, but then we must
+deal equally, and there is the case of the Anglo-Roman bishop to
+meet, especially now that the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill has been
+repealed; but only on Friday I addressed one of the very best among
+them "Right Rev. Bishop M----."<br>
+<br>
+You will, I am sure, allow me the license of private judgment in
+the two expositions about the church in p. 5. You praise both, but
+the second the more highly. To me the first seems excellent, and
+the second, strange to say, wanting in his usual clearness and
+consecutiveness. For having in head (1) most truly said that Christ
+"instituted a society <i>and</i> revealed a doctrine," he then
+proceeds as if he had quite forgotten the first half of the
+proposition, and conceived of the society only as (so to speak)
+embedded in the doctrine. Also, I complain of his depriving you of
+the character of [Greek: iegeus], which indeed I am rather inclined
+to claim for myself, as "He hath made us kings and priests"
+([Greek: hiegeis]).<br>
+<br>
+I hope you are gradually maturing the idea of your promised summer
+expedition to the south, and that before long I shall hear from you
+on the subject of it.<br>
+<br>
+Will you remember me kindly to Miss Cochrane, and believe me, ever
+affectionately yours,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">W.E. GLADSTONE.</p>
+<br>
+<p>The Dean was greatly affected by a terrible calamity, which
+happened in his house in Ainslie Place, where, in June of 1866, his
+niece Lucy Cochrane, one of his family, was burnt to death; out of
+many letters of condolence which he received at the time, I have
+only space to insert three--one from the Rev. Dr. Hannah, then head
+of Glenalmond College, an accomplished scholar, to whom our Dean
+was much attached, and upon whom he drew very freely in any
+questions of more recondite scholarship, another from the Rev.
+D.T.K. Drummond, and the third from the Premier:--</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>Rev. Dr. J. HANNAH to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">Trinity College, Glenalmond, N.B.<br>
+June 15, 1866.</p>
+<blockquote>Dear Mr. Dean--I <i>must</i> write one line, though I
+know you will be overwhelmed with letters, to say how deeply
+distressed and shocked we are at the news in this morning's paper,
+and how profoundly we sympathize with you under this fearful
+affliction. I thought instantly of Mr. Keble's lovely poem in the
+Lyra Innocentium:--<br>
+<br>
+<blockquote>"Sweet maiden, for so calm a life,<br>
+Too bitter seemed thine end."</blockquote>
+And it applies closely, I am sure, in the consolations it suggests;
+that<br>
+<br>
+<blockquote>"He who willed her tender frame<br>
+Should rear the martyr's robe of flame,"</blockquote>
+has prepared for her a garland in Heaven,<br>
+<br>
+<blockquote>"Tinged faintly with such golden light<br>
+As crowns His martyr train."</blockquote>
+But if blessed for her, it will be a sore trial for the survivors.
+We feel so keenly for her poor sisters, who seem to have to bear
+the brunt of so many sorrows. May God support them and you! So
+prays in hearty sympathy, yours ever sincerely,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">J. HANNAH.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>Rev. D.T.K. DRUMMOND to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">St. Fillans, Crieff, 16th June.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Friend--This morning's paper brought us the
+sad, sad intelligence of the frightful calamity which has befallen
+your household.<br>
+<br>
+My heart aches when I think of the overwhelming sorrow this great
+affliction must bring to your kind and loving heart. Long
+friendship and unbroken esteem must be my apology for intruding on
+you at this early stage of your bereavement. I cannot but express
+my deep and heart-felt sympathy with you in it, and my earnest
+prayer that God the Holy Spirit may sanctify and comfort by his own
+grace and presence all on whom this great sorrow has fallen.<br>
+<br>
+In the expression of this sympathy my dear wife cordially unites
+with yours most affectionately and truly,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">D.T.K. DRUMMOND.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>Right Hon. W.E. GLADSTONE to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">11 Carlton H. Terrace,<br>
+June 16, 1866.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Dean Ramsay--I cannot refrain from writing to
+you a word of sympathy under the grievous calamity with which your
+peaceful and united household has in the providence of God been
+visited. I have only heard of it in a very partial account to-day;
+but I deeply lament alike the extinction of a young and promising
+life, the loss your affectionate heart has sustained, and the
+circumstances of horror with which it has been accompanied. I need
+not say how this concern extends to your brother the Admiral also.
+I shall hope to hear of you through some common friend. I cannot
+ask you to write, but beg you to believe me always affectionately
+yours,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">W.E. GLADSTONE.</p>
+<p>Very few of the Dean's own letters have been preserved, but the
+following will show him as a correspondent:--</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>DEAN RAMSAY to Dr. ALEXANDER.</center>
+<p class="loc">23 Ainslie Place, Feb. 3, 1865</p>
+<blockquote>Dear Dr. Lindsay Alexander--I am not aware of having an
+undue predominance of modesty in my nature, but really I have been
+surprised, I may truly say much amazed, at the dedication of the
+volume which I received this evening. Need I add that, on more
+calmly considering the matter, I am deeply gratified. From Dr.
+Lindsay Alexander such a compliment can be no ordinary
+gratification. "Laudari a laudatis" has always been a distinction
+coveted by those who value the opinion of the wise and good.<br>
+<br>
+I thank you most cordially for the delicacy with which you refer to
+the "most stedfast adherence to conviction" of one who has long
+been convinced that no differences in matter of polity or forms of
+worship ought to violate that "unity of spirit," or sever that
+"bond of peace," in which we should ever seek to join all those
+whom we believe sincerely to hold the truth as it is in Jesus.--I
+am always, with sincere regard, yours truly and
+obliged,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">E.B. RAMSAY.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>DEAN RAMSAY to Mrs. CLERK, Kingston Deverell.</center>
+<p class="loc">23 Ainslie Place,<br>
+Edinburgh, March 14, 1865.</p>
+<blockquote>Dearest Stuart--I take great blame and sorrow to myself
+for having left your kind letter to me on my birthday so long
+unanswered. It was indeed a charming letter, and how it took me
+back to the days of "Auld lang Syne!" They were happy days, and
+good days, and the savour of them is pleasant. Do you know (you
+don't know) next Christmas day is forty-two years since I left
+Frome, and forty-nine years since I went to Frome? Well! they were
+enjoyable days, and rational days, and kind-hearted days. What
+jokes we used to have! O dear! How many are gone whom we loved and
+honoured! I often think of my appearing at Frome, falling like a
+stranger from the clouds, and finding myself taken to all your
+hearts, and made like one of yourselves. Do you know Mrs. Watkins
+is alive and clever, and that I constantly correspond with her? You
+recollect little Mary Watkins at Berkely. She is now a grandmother
+and has three or four grandchildren!--ay, time passes on. It does.
+I have had a favoured course in Scotland; I have been thirty-seven
+years in St. John's, and met only with kindness and respect. I have
+done much for my church, and that is acknowledged by every one. My
+Catechism is in a tenth edition--my Scottish Book in an eleventh;
+3000 copies were sold the first week of the cheap or people's
+edition. I meet with much attention from all denominations. A very
+able man here, Dr. Lindsay Alexander, an Indpendent, has just
+dedicated a book (a good one) to Dean Ramsay, with a flattering
+dedication. But I don't expect to hold on <i>much</i> longer. I
+feel changed, and at times not equal to much exertion. It was a
+terrible change for me to lose my companion of twenty-nine years,
+and I have never, of course, recovered that loss. It is a great
+point for a person like me to have three nieces, quite devoted to
+care of me and to make me happy: cheerful, animated, and
+intelligent, pretty also--one of them an excellent musician, and
+<i>organist</i> to our amateur choir for week days in the chapel.
+By the by we have a glorious organ. How I have gone on about my
+miserable self--quite egotistical. "If I may be allowed the
+language" (the late Capt. Balne). But I thought you would like it.
+Good-bye. Love to Malcolm <i>Kenmore</i>. When do your boys come?
+Your ever loving and affectionate old friend,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">E.B. RAMSAY.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>DEAN RAMSAY to Mrs. CLERK.</center>
+<p class="loc">23 Ainslie Place, Edinburgh, 12th Feb. 1868.</p>
+<blockquote>Many thanks for writing about our beloved Bessie, my
+very dear Stuart. She is indeed much endeared to all the friends,
+and I am a friend of more than 50 years! God's will be done. We
+have come to that age when we must know our time is becoming very
+uncertain.<br>
+<br>
+There is only one thing, dearest Stuart, that I <i>can</i> say--my
+best wishes, best affections, best prayers, are with her who now
+lies on a sick bed. <i>She</i> has not to begin the inquiry into
+the love and support of a gracious Redeemer. She may say, "I know
+that my Redeemer liveth."<br>
+<br>
+May God be merciful and gracious to support you all on this deeply
+interesting occasion, is the earnest prayer of your affectionate
+old friend,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">E.B. RAMSAY.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>DEAN RAMSAY to Mrs. CLEKK.</center>
+<p class="loc">23 Ainslie Place, Edinburgh, 3d June 1870.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Stuart--I had such a kind letter from you some
+time ago, about visiting you, and I did not answer it--wrong, very!
+and I am sorry I put it off. Should I come to England this summer I
+should look on it as a <i>last</i> visit, and would make an effort
+to see old Frome again. Do you know it is fifty-four years since I
+first appeared at Rodden!<br>
+<br>
+I preach still, and my voice and articulation don't fail; but
+otherwise I am changed, and walk I cannot at all. St. John's goes
+on as usual--nice people, many, and all are very kind. We have
+lately had the interior renewed, and some changes in the
+arrangement, which are great improvement. It is much admired, "a
+great ornament to our ponds and ditches,"--Dr. Woodward. However,
+dear Stuart, I have not yet said distinctly enough what I meant to
+say at the beginning--that should I come south I would make an
+effort to come to K. Deverell.<br>
+<br>
+Miss Walker has left fully &pound;200,000 to our church. I am at
+present (as Dean) the only Episcopal trustee, with four official
+trustees--all Presbyterians.<br>
+<br>
+The Bishops seem the most <i>go-ahead</i> people in the church just
+now. New sectioning and revision of Scripture, translation, all
+come from them: both of much importance. I wish they could get rid
+of the so-called Athanasian Creed. I cannot bear it. Nothing on
+earth could ever induce me to repeat the first part and the last
+part. Love to yourself, husband, and all yours.--Your
+affectionate</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">E.B. RAMSAY.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>DEAN STANLEY to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">Broomhall, Dunfermline,<br>
+7th August 1870.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear and venerable Brother Dean--It was very
+ungrateful of me not to have thanked you before for your most kind
+vindication of my act in Westminster Abbey. I had read your letter
+with the greatest pleasure, and must now thank you for letting me
+have a separate copy of it. I certainly have no reason to be
+dissatisfied with my defenders. All the bishops who have spoken on
+the subject (with the single exception of the Bishop of Winchester)
+have approved the step--so I believe have a vast majority of
+English churchmen.<br>
+<br>
+How any one could expect that I should make a distinction between
+confirmed and unconfirmed communicants, which would render any
+administration in the abbey impossible, or that I should
+distinguish between the different shades of orthodoxy in the
+different nonconformist communions, I cannot conceive. I am sure
+that I acted as a good churchman. I humbly hope that I acted as He
+who first instituted the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper would have
+wished.<br>
+<br>
+You are very kind to have taken so much interest in my essays, and
+what you say of the Athanasian Creed is deeply instructive. You
+will be glad to hear--what will become public in a few days--that
+of the 29 Royal Commissioners, 18 at least--including the
+Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops of St. David's and
+Carlisle and the two Regius Professors of Divinity--have declared
+themselves against continuing the use of it.<br>
+<br>
+I found your note here when we arrived last night to assist at the
+coming of age of young Lord Elgin. We were obliged to pass rapidly
+through Edinburgh, in order to reach this by nightfall. In case I
+am able to come over this week to Edinburgh, should I find you at
+home, and at what hour?<br>
+<br>
+It would probably be on Thursday that I could most easily
+come.--Yours sincerely,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">A.P. STANLEY.</p>
+<center>DEAN RAMSAY to Rev. MALCOLM CLERK,<br>
+Kingston Deverell, Warminster, Wilts.</center>
+<p class="loc">23 Ainslie Place, Edin., Sept. 5 [1872].</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Malcolm Clerk--Many thanks for your remarks
+touching the Athanasian Creed. I agree quite, and am satisfied we
+gain nothing by retaining it, and lose much. You ask if I could
+help to get facsimiles; I am not likely--not in my line I fear.
+Should anything turn up I will look after it. One of the
+propositions to which unlimited faith must be given, is drawn from
+an analogy, which expresses the most obscure of all questions in
+physics--i.e. the union of mind and matter, the what constitutes
+one mortal being--all very well to use in explanation or
+illustration, but as a positive article of faith in itself,
+monstrous. Then the Filioque to be insisted on as eternal death to
+deny!<br>
+<br>
+People hold such views. A writer in the <i>Guardian</i> (Mr.
+Poyntz) maintains that God looks with more favour upon a man living
+in SIN than upon one who has seceded ever so small from orthodoxy.
+Something must be done, were it only to stop the perpetual, as we
+call it in Scottish phrase, <i>blethering</i>!<br>
+<br>
+I am always glad to hear of your boys. My love to Stuart, and same
+to thyself.--Thine affectionate fourscore old friend,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">E.B. RAMSAY.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p>I am preparing a twenty-second edition of <i>Reminiscences</i>.
+Who would have thought it? No man.</p>
+<p>I have not hitherto made any mention of the Dean's most popular
+book, the <i>Reminiscences</i>. I cannot write but with respect of
+a work in which he was very much interested, and where he showed
+his knowledge of his countrymen so well. As a critic, I must say
+that his style is peculiarly unepigrammatic; and yet what collector
+of epigrams or epigrammatic stories has ever done what the Dean has
+done for Scotland? It seems as if the wilful excluding of point was
+acceptable, otherwise how to explain the popularity of that book?
+All over the world, wherever Scotch men and Scotch language have
+made their way--and that embraces wide regions--the stories of the
+<i>Reminiscences</i>, and Dean Ramsay's name as its author, are
+known and loved as much as the most popular author of this
+generation. In accounting for the marvellous success of the little
+book, it should not be forgotten that the anecdotes are not only
+true to nature, but actually true, and that the author loved
+enthusiastically Scotland, and everything Scotch. But while there
+were so many things to endear it to the peasantry of Scotland, it
+was not admired by them alone. I insert a few letters to show what
+impression it made on those whom one would expect to find critical,
+if not jealous. Dickens, the king of story-tellers; Dr. Guthrie,
+the most picturesque of preachers; Bishop Wordsworth, Dean Stanley,
+themselves masters of style--how eagerly they received the simple
+stories of Scotland told without ornament.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>BISHOP WORDSWORTH to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">The Feu House, Perth, January 12, 1872.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Dean--Your kind, welcome and most elegant
+present reached me yesterday--in bed; to which, and to my sofa, I
+have been confined for some days by a severe attack of brow ague;
+and being thus disabled for more serious employment, I allowed my
+thoughts to run upon the lines which you will find over leaf.
+Please to accept them as being <i>well intended</i>; though (like
+many other good intentions) I am afraid they give only too true
+evidence of the source from which they come--viz., <i>disordered
+head.</i>--Yours very sincerely,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">C. WORDSWORTH,<br>
+<i>Bp. of St. Andrews</i>.</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p class="i3">Ad virum venerabilem, optimum, dilectissimum,
+EDVARDUM</p>
+<p class="i5">B. RAMSAY, S.T.P., Edinburgi Decanum, accepto</p>
+<p class="i5">ejus libro cui titulus <i>Reminiscences</i>, etc.;
+vicesimum</p>
+<p class="i5">jam lautiusque et amplius edito.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<p class="i5">Editio accessit vicesima! plaudite quiequid</p>
+<p class="i6">Scotia festivi fert lepidique ferax!</p>
+<p class="i5">Non vixit frustra qui frontem utcunque severam,</p>
+<p class="i6">Noverit innocuis explicuisse jocis:</p>
+<p class="i5">Non frustra vixit qui tot monumenta priorum</p>
+<p class="i6">Salsa pia vetuit sedulitate mori:</p>
+<p class="i5">Non frustra vixit qui quali nos sit amore</p>
+<p class="i6">Vivendum, exemplo pr&aelig;cipiensque docet:</p>
+<p class="i5">Nec merces te indigna manet: juvenesque senesque</p>
+<p class="i6">Gaudebunt nomen concelebrare tuum;</p>
+<p class="i5">Condiet appositum dum fercula nostra salinum,</p>
+<p class="i6">Pr&aelig;bebitque suas mensa secunda nuces;</p>
+<p class="i5">Dum stantis rhed&aelig; aurigam tua pagina
+fallet,</p>
+<p class="i6">Contentum in sella t&aelig;dia longa pati!</p>
+<p class="i5">Quid, quod et ipsa sibi devinctum Scotia nutrix</p>
+<p class="i6">Te perget gremio grata fovere senem;</p>
+<p class="i5">Officiumque pium simili pietate rependens,</p>
+<p class="i6">S&aelig;cula nulla sinet non<a name=
+"FNanchor11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11">[11]</a> meminisse Tui.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<br>
+<blockquote>The TRANSLATION is from the pen of DEAN
+STANLEY:--</blockquote>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p class="i5">Hail, Twentieth Edition! From Orkney to Tweed,</p>
+<p class="i6">Let the wits of all Scotland come running to
+read.</p>
+<p class="i5">Not in vain hath he lived, who by innocent mirth</p>
+<p class="i6">Hath lightened the frowns and the furrows of
+earth:</p>
+<p class="i5">Not in vain hath he <i>lived</i>, who will never let
+<i>die</i></p>
+<p class="i6">The humours of good times for ever gone by:</p>
+<p class="i5">Not in vain hath he <i>lived</i>, who hath laboured
+to give</p>
+<p class="i6">In himself the best proof how by love we may
+<i>live</i>.</p>
+<p class="i5">Rejoice, our dear Dean, thy reward to behold</p>
+<p class="i6">In united rejoicing of young and of old;</p>
+<p class="i5">Remembered, so long as our boards shall not lack</p>
+<p class="i6">A bright grain of salt or a hard nut to crack;</p>
+<p class="i5">So long as the cabman aloft on his seat,</p>
+<p class="i6">Broods deep o'er thy page as he waits in the
+street!</p>
+<p class="i5">Yea, Scotland herself, with affectionate care,</p>
+<p class="i6">Shall nurse an old age so beloved and so rare;</p>
+<p class="i5">And still gratefully seek in her heart to
+enshrine</p>
+<p class="i6">One more <i>Reminiscence</i>, and that shall be
+Thine.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>From the DEAN of WESTMINSTER.</center>
+<p class="loc">The Deanery, Westminster,<br>
+February 3, 1872.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear elder (I cannot say eldest so long as the Dean
+of Winchester lives) Brother--I am very glad that you are pleased
+with my attempt to render into English the Bishop's beautiful
+Latinity....<br>
+<br>
+Accept our best wishes for many happy returns of the day just
+past.--Yours sincerely,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">A.P. STANLEY.</p>
+<br>
+<p>On the publication of the Twentieth Edition of the
+<i>Reminiscences</i>, Professor Blackie addressed to the Dean the
+following sonnets:--</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p class="i9">I.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<p class="i1">Hail! wreathed in smiles, thou genial book! and
+hail</p>
+<p class="i1">Who wove thy web of bright and various hue,</p>
+<p class="i1">The wise old man, who gleaned the social tale</p>
+<p class="i1">And thoughtful jest and roguish whim, that grew</p>
+<p class="i1">Freely on Scotland's soil when Scotland knew</p>
+<p class="i1">To be herself, nor lusted to assume</p>
+<p class="i1">Smooth English ways--that they might live and
+bloom</p>
+<p class="i1">With freshness, ever old and ever new</p>
+<p class="i1">In human hearts. Thrice happy he who knows</p>
+<p class="i1">With sportive light the cloudy thought to clear,</p>
+<p class="i1">And round his head the playful halo throws</p>
+<p class="i1">That plucks the terror from the front severe:</p>
+<p class="i1">Such grace was thine, and such thy gracious part,</p>
+<p>Thou wise old Scottish man of large and loving heart.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza"><br>
+<p class="i9">II.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<p class="i1">The twentieth edition! I have looked</p>
+<p class="i1">Long for my second--but it not appears;</p>
+<p class="i1">Yet not the less I joy that thou hast brooked</p>
+<p class="i1">Rich fruit of fair fame, and of mellow years,</p>
+<p class="i1">Thou wise old man, within whose saintly veins</p>
+<p class="i1">No drop of gall infects life's genial tide,</p>
+<p class="i1">Whose many-chambered human heart contains</p>
+<p class="i1">No room for hatred and no home for pride.</p>
+<p class="i1">Happy who give with stretch of equal love</p>
+<p class="i1">This hand to Heaven and that to lowly earth,</p>
+<p class="i1">Wise there to worship with great souls above</p>
+<p class="i1">As here to sport with children in their mirth;</p>
+<p class="i1">Who own one God with kindly-reverent eyes</p>
+<p>In flowers that prink the earth, and stars that gem the
+skies.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">JOHN STUART BLACKIE.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>CHARLES DICKENS to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">Gad's Hill Place, Higham, by Rochester, Kent,<br>
+Tuesday, 29th May 1866.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Sir--I am but now in the receipt of your kind
+letter, and its accompanying book. If I had returned home sooner, I
+should sooner have thanked you for both.<br>
+<br>
+I cannot adequately express to you the gratification I have derived
+from your assurance that I have given you pleasure. In describing
+yourself as a stranger of whom I know nothing, you do me wrong
+however. The book I am now proud to possess as a mark of your
+goodwill and remembrance has for some time been too well known to
+me to admit of the possibility of my regarding its writer in any
+other light than as a friend in the spirit; while the writer of the
+introductory page marked viii. in the edition of last year<a name=
+"FNanchor12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12">[12]</a> had commanded my
+highest respect as a public benefactor and a brave soul.<br>
+<br>
+I thank you, my dear Sir, most cordially, and I shall always prize
+the words you have inscribed in this delightful volume, very, very
+highly.--Yours faithfully and obliged,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">CHARLES DICKENS.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>Dr. GUTHRIE to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">1 Salisbury Road,<br>
+30th October 1872.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Mr. Dean--My honoured and beloved friend, I
+have received many sweet, tender, and Christian letters touching my
+late serious illness, but among them all none I value more, or
+almost so much, as your own.<br>
+<br>
+May the Lord bless you for the solace and happiness it gave to me
+and mine! How perfect the harmony in our views as to the petty
+distinctions around which--sad and shame to think of it--such
+fierce controversies have raged! I thank God that I, like yourself,
+have never attached much importance to these externals, and have
+had the fortune to be regarded as rather loose on such matters. We
+have just, by God's grace, anticipated the views and aspects they
+present on a deathbed.<br>
+<br>
+I must tell you how you helped us to pass many a weary, restless
+hour. After the Bible had been read to me in a low monotone--when I
+was seeking sleep and could not find it--a volume of my published
+sermons was tried, and sometimes very successfully, as a soporific.
+I was familiar with them, and yet they presented as much novelty as
+to divert my mind from my troubles. And what if this failed? then
+came the <i>Reminiscences</i> to entertain me, and while away the
+long hours when all hope of getting sleep's sweet oblivion was
+given up!<br>
+<br>
+So your book was one of my many mercies. But oh, how great in such
+a time the unspeakable mercy of a full, free, present salvation! In
+Wesley's words<br>
+<br>
+<blockquote>"I the chief of sinners am,<br>
+But Jesus died for me."</blockquote>
+I have had a bit of a back-throw, but if you could come between
+three and four on Friday, I would rejoice to see you.--Ever yours,
+with the greatest esteem,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">THOMAS GUTHRIE.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>Miss STIRLING GRAHAM to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">Duntrune, 8th January 1872.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Mr. Dean--I thank you very much for the gift of
+your new edition of "Scottish Reminiscences," and most especially
+for the last few pages on Christian union and liberality, which I
+have read with delight.<br>
+<br>
+I beg also to thank you for the flattering and acceptable
+<i>testimonial</i> you have bestowed on myself.--Your most
+respectful and grateful friend,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">CLEMENTINA STIRLING GRAHAM.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>Rev. Dr. HANNA to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">16 Magdala Crescent, 11th January 1872.</p>
+<blockquote>Dear Dean Ramsay--I have been touched exceedingly by
+your kindness in sending me a copy of the twentieth edition of the
+<i>Reminiscences</i>.<br>
+<br>
+It was a happy thought of Mr. Douglas to present it to the public
+in such a handsome form--the one in which it will take its place in
+every good library in the country.<br>
+<br>
+I am especially delighted with the last twenty pages of this
+edition. Very few had such a right to speak about the strange
+commotion created by the act of the two English Bishops, and the
+manner in which they tried to lay the storm, and still fewer could
+have done it with such effect.<br>
+<br>
+One fruit of your work is sure to abide. As long as Scotland lasts,
+<i>your</i> name will "be associated with gentle and happy
+<i>Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character</i>."<br>
+<br>
+Mrs. Hanna joins me in affectionate regard.--With highest respect
+and esteem, I ever am, yours very truly,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">WM. HANNA.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>DEAN RAMSAY to Rev. Dr. L. ALEXANDER.</center>
+<p class="loc">23 Ainslie Place, Edinburgh.<br>
+January 29, 1872.</p>
+<blockquote>My clear Dr. Alexander--Since I had the pleasure of
+your most agreeable visit, and its accompanying conversation, I
+have been very unwell and hardly left the house. You mentioned the
+reference made by Dean Stanley (?) to the story of the semi-idiot
+boy and his receiving the communion with such heart-felt reality. I
+forgot to mention that, summer before last, two American gentlemen
+were announced, who talked very pleasantly before I found who they
+were--one a Baptist minister at Boston, and the other a professor
+in a college. I did not know why they had called at all until the
+minister <i>let on</i> that he did not like to be in Edinburgh
+without waiting upon the author of <i>Reminiscences</i>, as the
+book had much interested him in Scottish life, language and
+character, before he had been a visitor on the Scottish shores.
+"But chiefly," he added, "I wished to tell you that the day before
+I sailed I preached in a large store to above two thousand people;
+that from your book I had to them brought forward the anecdote of
+the simpleton lad's deep feeling in seeing the '<i>pretty man</i>'
+in the communion, and of his being found dead next morning." To
+which he added, in strong American tones, "I pledge <i>myself</i>
+to you, sir, there was not a dry eye in the whole assembly."<br>
+<br>
+It is a feature of modern times how anecdotes, sayings,
+expressions, etc., pass amongst the human race. I have received
+from Sir Thomas Biddulph an expression of the Queen's pleasure at
+finding pure <i>Scottish</i> anecdotes have been so popular in
+England. How fond she is of Scotland!--With much esteem, I am very
+truly yours,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">E.B. RAMSAY.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p>The Dean was an enthusiastic admirer of Dr. Chalmers, and on the
+evening of March 4, 1849, he read a memoir of the life and labours
+of Chalmers at a meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. That
+memoir, although it had been to a great extent anticipated by Rev.
+Dr. Hanna's fine and copious memoir of his father-in-law, was
+printed in the Society Transactions, and afterwards went through
+several editions when issued in a separate volume.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>LORD MEDWTN to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">Ainslie Place, Thursday morning</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Mr. Ramsay--I beg to thank you most truly for
+your very acceptable gift so kindly sent to me yesterday evening. I
+had heard with the greatest satisfaction of the admirable sketch
+you had read to the Royal Society of the public character of the
+latest of our Scottish worthies--a very remarkable man in many
+respects; one whose name must ever stand in the foremost rank of
+Christian philanthropists; all whose great and various talents and
+acquirements being devoted with untiring energy to the one great
+object--the temporal and eternal benefit of mankind. What I also
+greatly admired about him was that all the great adulation he met
+with never affected his simple-mindedness; his humility was
+remarkable. There was the same absence of conceit or assumption of
+any kind which also greatly distinguished his great cotemporary,
+our friend Walter Scott; in truth, both were too far elevated above
+other men to seek any adventitious distinction. I wish our country
+could show more men like Chalmers to hold up to imitation, or if
+too exalted to be imitated, yet still to be proud of; and that they
+were fortunate enough to have admirers such as you, capable of
+recording their worth in an <i>&eacute;loge</i>, such as the public
+has the satisfaction of receiving at your hands. Again I beg to
+thank you for your kind remembrance of me on the present
+occasion.--Believe me, my dear Sir, yours very truly,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">J.H. FORBES.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>Dr. CANDLISH to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">4 S. Charlotte Street, Tuesday, 6th March.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Sir--I cannot deny myself the pleasure of
+expressing to you the deep interest and delight with which I
+listened to your discourse last night, so worthy, in every view, of
+the subject, the occasion, and the audience. And while I thank you
+most sincerely for so cordial and genial a tribute to the memory of
+the greatest of modern Scotsmen, I venture to express my hope that
+we may be favoured with an earlier and wider publication of it than
+the Transactions of the Royal Society will afford.--Pray excuse
+this intrusion, and believe me, yours very truly,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">ROB. S. CANDLISH.</p>
+<blockquote>Dean Ramsay.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p>I will indulge myself only with one phrase from the Dean's
+memoir of Dr. Chalmers:--"Chalmers's greatest delight was to
+contrive plans and schemes for raising degraded human nature in the
+scale of moral living. The favourite object of his contemplation
+was human nature attaining the highest perfection of which it is
+capable, and especially as that perfection was manifested in
+saintly individuals, in characters of great acquirements, adorned
+with the graces of Christian piety. His greatest sorrow was to
+contemplate masses of mankind hopelessly bound to vice and misery
+by chains of passion, ignorance, and prejudice. As no one more
+firmly believed in the power of Christianity to regenerate a fallen
+race, as faith and experience both conspired to assure him that the
+only effectual deliverance for the sinful and degraded was to be
+wrought by Christian education, and by the active agency of
+Christian instruction penetrating into the haunts of vice and the
+abodes of misery, these acquisitions he strove to secure for all
+his beloved countrymen; for these he laboured, and for these he was
+willing to spend and to be spent."</p>
+<p>That high yet just character not only shows Dean Ramsay's
+appreciation of Chalmers, but seems to show that he had already set
+him up as the model which he himself was to follow. At any rate, he
+attempted to stir up the public mind to give some worthy
+testimonial to the greatest of modern Scotsmen. A few letters
+connected with this subject I have put together. I did not think it
+necessary to collect more, since the object has been attained under
+difficulties of time and distance which might have quelled a less
+enthusiastic admirer. It is pleasant to notice the general consent
+with which we agree that no one else was so fitted to recommend the
+Chalmers memorial as Dean Ramsay.</p>
+<p>It was to do honour to my own little book that I ventured,
+without asking leave, to print the few lines which follow, from the
+great French writer, the high minister of State, the patron of
+historical letters for half-a-century in France, the Protestant
+Guizot.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>M. GUIZOT to the DEAN.</center>
+<p class="loc">Paris, ce 7 F&eacute;vrier 1870,<br>
+10 Rue Billault.</p>
+<blockquote>Sir--Je m'associerai avec un vrai et s&eacute;rieux
+plaisir &agrave; l'&eacute;rection d'une statue en l'honneur du Dr.
+Chalmers. Il n'y a point de th&eacute;ologien ni de moraliste
+Chr&eacute;tien &agrave; qui je porte une plus haute estime. Sur
+quelques unes des grandes questions qu' il a trait&eacute;es, je ne
+partage pas ses opinions; mais j'honore et j'admire
+l'&eacute;l&eacute;vation, la vigueur de sa pens&eacute;, et la
+beaut&eacute; morale de son g&eacute;nie. Je vous prie, Monsieur,
+de me compter parmi les hommes qui se f&eacute;liciteront de
+pouvoir lui rendre un solennel hommage, et je vous remercie d'avoir
+pens&eacute; &agrave; moi dans ce dessein.<br>
+<br>
+Re&ccedil;evez l'assurance de mes sentiments les plus
+distingu&eacute;s.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">GUIZOT.</p>
+<br>
+<center>Mr. E.B. Ramsay, Dean, etc.,<br>
+23 Ainslie Place, Edinburgh, North Britain.</center>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p>Some of Mr. Gladstone's letters, already printed, show that they
+were not the beginning of the correspondence between him and the
+Dean. The accident which made them acquainted will be mentioned
+afterwards (p. lxxxi.)</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>Right Hon. W.E. GLADSTONE to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">Hawarden Castle, Chester, Jan. 3, 1870.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Dean Ramsay--I send you my rather shabby
+contribution of &pound;10 to the Chalmers' Memorial. I wish it were
+more, but I am rather specially pressed at this time; and I think I
+refused Robert Bruce altogether not long ago.<br>
+<br>
+I quite understand the feeling of the Scotch aristocracy, but I
+should have thought Lothian would be apart from, as well as above
+it.<br>
+<br>
+But the number of subscriptions is the main thing, and very many
+they ought to be if Scotland is Scotland still. He was one of
+Nature's nobles. It is impossible even to dream that a base or
+unworthy thought ever found harbour for a moment in his mind.<br>
+<br>
+Is it not extraordinary to see this rain of Bishoprics upon
+<i>my</i> head? Nor (I think) is it over; the next twelvemonth
+(wherever I may be at the end of it) will, I think, probably
+produce three more.<br>
+<br>
+Bishop Temple is a fine fellow, and I hope all will now go well.
+For Manchester (this is secret) I hope to have Mr. Fraser of
+Clifton--a very notable man, in the first rank of knowledge and
+experience on the question of education. Many pressed him for
+Salisbury.<br>
+<br>
+I can truly say that every Bishop who has been appointed has been
+chosen simply as the best man to be had.<br>
+<br>
+Ah! when will you spend that month here, which I shall never cease
+to long for?--Ever affectionately yours,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">W.E. GLADSTONE.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>Rev. Dr. CANDLISH to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">52 Melville Street, 7th Dec. 1870.</p>
+<blockquote>Dear Dean Ramsay--I should have acknowledged yours of
+the 1st sooner. I cannot say that I regret the conclusion to which
+you have come, though. I would have done my best to help on the
+larger movement.... I very willingly acquiesce in the wisdom of
+your resolution to accept the position, for it is one which you may
+well accept with satisfaction and thankfulness. You have
+accomplished what I doubt if any other man could have even ventured
+to propose, at so late a period after Dr. Chalmers' death. It will
+be a historical fact, made palpable to succeeding ages, that you
+have wiped off a discredit from Scotland's church and nation, by
+securing a suitable memorial of one of her most distinguished sons,
+in the most conspicuous position the Metropolis could assign to it.
+It will be for us of the Free Church to recognise in our archives
+the high compliment paid to our illustrious leader and chief in the
+great movement of the Disruption by one of other ecclesiastical
+convictions and leanings. But we must always do that under the
+feeling that it is not in that character that you know Chalmers;
+but in the far broader aspect in which you have so happily
+celebrated him as a Christian philanthropist, a patriot, and a
+divine.<br>
+<br>
+I conclude with earnest congratulations on the complete success, as
+I regard it, of your generous proposal; and I am yours very
+truly,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">ROB. S. CANDLISH.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>Rev. Dr. DUFF to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">The Grange, 29th June.</p>
+<blockquote>Very Rev. and dear Sir--Many thanks for your kind note
+with its enclosures.<br>
+<br>
+From my sad experience in such matters, I am not at all surprised
+at the meagre number of replies to your printed circular.<br>
+<br>
+When I first learnt from the newspaper of the meeting held in your
+house, and of Dr. Guthrie's proposal, I had a strong impression
+that the latter was on far too extensive a scale--but remained
+silent, being only anxious, in a quiet way, to do what I could in
+promoting the general design.<br>
+<br>
+Having had much to do during the last forty years with the raising
+of funds for all manner of objects, in different lands, I have come
+to know something of men's tempers and dispositions in such cases,
+and under peculiar circumstances and conditions. I therefore never
+expected the &pound;20,000 scheme to succeed; unless, indeed, it
+were headed by a dozen or so at &pound;1000, or at least &pound;500
+each--a liberality not to be expected for such an object at this
+time of day.<br>
+<br>
+Your present plan, therefore, I think a wise one--viz., to
+constitute yourselves into "a statue committee," for the successful
+carrying out of your own original and very practicable
+design,--handing over any surplus funds which may remain to any
+other committee or body willing to prosecute the larger
+professorship or lectureship scheme.--I remain, very Rev. and dear
+Sir, yours very sincerely,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">ALEXANDER DUFF.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p>I am indebted for the following letters to the Rev. Dr. Lindsay
+Alexander. If I wrote only for Scotsmen, it would be unnecessary to
+speak of Dr. Alexander as holding a place which he seems to me,
+ignorant as I am of Church disputes, to owe to his own high
+personal merit, and the independence which makes him free to think
+and to write as scarcely any clergyman fettered with the supposed
+claims of sect or denomination feels himself at liberty to do. As
+our Dean got older we find him drawing more kindly to those whose
+Christianity was shown in other guise than in sectarian precision
+with some spice of persecution.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">23 Ainslie Place, Feb. 28, 1866.</p>
+<blockquote>I have found, as others have, the "Biblical Commentary"
+a very useful companion in sermon-writing. It gives you the
+Scripture parallel passages bodily, and saves the trouble of
+turning backwards and forwards to find the marginal references and
+to examine their relevancy. The work is published by Bagster, and
+he generally, I believe, gets his work pretty well done, and, so
+far as I can judge, it is judiciously selected, generally at
+least.<br>
+<br>
+Now, dear Dr. Alexander, if you would accept of the copy of this
+work which I have sent, and accept it from me, and if it should
+prove a useful companion in your homiletical labours, I should feel
+much gratified. Perhaps it may be a remembrance amongst your books,
+when years have passed away, of one in his grave who had a sincere
+regard for you, and who now signs himself, yours very
+faithfully,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">E.B. RAMSAY.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>23 Ainslie Place, Jan. 11, 1866.</center>
+<blockquote>My dear Dr. Alexander--You will not suppose me to be an
+advocate for the donkeyism of vestment ritual. But I wish you not
+to have unfavourable impressions as regard <i>our</i> concern with
+such matters. We have a canon declaratory on vestments, asserting
+the ordinary surplice, gown, hood, and stole. It is stupidly
+worded, but the meaning is obvious. I was vexed from your
+experience to hear of such foolish proceedings at Bridge of Allan,
+contrary to canon and to common sense.... The <i>green</i> part of
+the dress which caused your wonder, naturally enough, is not a
+freak of new vestments, but is a foolish way which the Glenalmond
+students have adopted of wearing the <i>hood</i>, which our Bishops
+(not without diversity of opinion) had granted for those who had
+been educated at our College. It is a hood lined with <i>green</i>
+(Scottish thistle colour), and they have a way of wearing it in a
+manner which brings the coloured part in front. Pray, pray, don't
+think of answering this; it is merely to correct an unfavourable
+impression in one whose favourable opinion I much desiderate. I
+cannot tell you the pleasure I had in your visit on Tuesday.--With
+sincere regard, yours always,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">E.B. RAMSAY.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">23 Ainslie Place, June 8, 1866.</p>
+<blockquote>Dear Dr. Alexander--I forgot to mention a circumstance
+connected with my story of to-day. I have had a communicant
+thereanent with Dr. Robert Lee. The good Dr., although fond of
+introducing Episcopalian practices, which cause great indignation
+amongst some of his brethren, does not wish it to be understood
+that he has the least tendency to become an Episcopalian himself.
+In short, he hinted to me himself that were such an idea to become
+prevalent it would materially weaken his influence with many
+followers. "It is to improve my own church, not to join yours,"
+were his words, or to that effect. In carrying out this idea he has
+a hit in his "Reformation of the Church of Scotland" against
+Episcopalians, and in the first edition he brings up Dean Ramsay
+and the unfortunate statement he had made, as a melancholy proof
+how hopeless were even the most specious of the Scottish Episcopal
+Church on the subject of toleration. I told him that so far as that
+statement went it proved nothing, that it had been wrung from me in
+an unguarded moment, and that I had for fourteen years borne
+unequivocal testimony to views which were opposite to that
+statement. He received the explanation most kindly, and offered to
+do anything I wished, but we both at length agreed that the best
+plan would be simply to omit it in the second edition, which was
+preparing and has since come out. It was omitted.<br>
+<br>
+I am, dear Dr. Alexander, with true regard, ever yours most
+sincerely,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">E.B. RAMSAY.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">23 Ainslie Place, August 26, 1867.</p>
+<blockquote>Dear Dr. Alexander--I have lately returned to
+Edinburgh, having paid a visit to my own country on Deeside. On
+Saturday I drove down to Musselburgh, and had an express object in
+calling upon you to ask how you were. But I found I had been wrong
+directed to Pinkie Burn, and that to accomplish my visit, I must
+have made a <i>d&eacute;tour</i> which would have detained me too
+long. I had an engagement waiting me, and I found my strength
+pretty well exhausted. I wish, however, to notify my
+<i>intention</i> of a visit. I have had a very severe illness since
+we met, and have not regained my former position, and do not think
+I ever shall. I was very, very close upon the gate we must all
+pass, and I believe a few hours longer of the fever's continuance
+would have closed the scene. I don't think I dread to meet death. I
+have so largely experienced the goodness of God through (now) a
+long life, and I feel so deeply, and I trust so humbly, the power
+of his grace and mercy in Christ, that, I can calmly contemplate
+the approach of the last hour. But I confess I do shrink from
+encountering an undefined period of bodily and mental imbecility;
+of being helpless, useless, a burden. I have been so distressed to
+see all this come upon our bishop, Dr. Terrot; the once clear,
+acute, <i>sharp</i>, and ready man. Oh, it is to my mind the most
+terrible affliction of our poor nature. I have known lately an
+unusual number of such cases before me, and I hope I am not
+unreasonably apprehensive as to what may come. I hope your family
+all are well, and that you are fully up to your work in all its
+forms.--I am, believe me, with much regard, very sincerely
+yours,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">E.B. RAMSAY.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">Without date.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Dr. Alexander--I feel deeply obliged by your
+kind gift to Bishop Whipple. His simple heart will be gratified
+much. I am so vexed at having mislaid two letters from him. I
+should have liked you to see and to know the bishop by seeing and
+reading them. They are <i>models</i> of simple, loving, Christian
+feeling. He went to Minnesota as to a new rough state just added to
+the United States. He took five clergymen. He has now above thirty
+and a college (for which he asked the books). He is beloved by all,
+and loves all. The Red Indians worship him. He is so considerate of
+them. They suffer from bad teeth, and on some occasions he has
+drawn 150 teeth before a prayer-meeting in the woods, from Indians
+who were suffering pain....<br>
+<br>
+I will take care Bishop Whipple shall know of your goodness. I am
+so vexed I can't find his letters.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">23 Ainslie Place, Edinburgh,<br>
+November 26, 1871.</p>
+<blockquote>Dear Dr. Alexander--You will be sorry to hear that my
+brother, Sir William, is <i>very</i> ill. This morning we had given
+up all idea of his rallying, but since that he has shown symptoms
+of a more favourable character. His state is still a very
+precarious one, and I fear much we must make up our minds to lose
+him. God's will be done! We are sure he is prepared for his change.
+He has long been a sincere believer in the great work and offices
+of the Lord Jesus, and he has followed up his profession of belief
+by liberal and judicious expenditure on benevolent objects.<br>
+<br>
+I have heard of your being in London at the Revision, and you may
+probably be there now. But when you return to Edinburgh, the
+Admiral would be most glad to see you when able to call in Ainslie
+Place. Sir William is three years younger than I, but he has had a
+more trying life. His death (should such be God's will) must be a
+great blank for me. But for me it cannot be a long one.--Hoping you
+are well, I am, with much regard, most sincerely
+yours,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">E.B. RAMSAY.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p>Very soon after the date of this letter Admiral William Ramsay
+died, who had lived with his brother the Dean in the most
+affectionate friendship for many years. Their duties and interests
+were identical. William Ramsay was known as the promoter of every
+scheme of benevolence in Edinburgh.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>Right Hon. W.E. GLADSTONE to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">Hawarden, December 7, 1871.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Dean Ramsay--It is with much grief that we have
+seen the announcement of the heavy loss you have sustained in the
+death of your brother. It was a beautiful union, which is now for
+the time dissolved. One has been taken, and the other left. The
+stronger frame has been broken, the weaker one still abides the
+buffetings of the sea of life. And I feel a very strong conviction,
+even at this sad moment, and with your advancing age, that the
+balance of your mind and character will remain unshaken through
+your habitual and entire acceptance of the will of God. I write
+then only to express my sincere regard for the dead, strong
+sympathy with the living. Such as it is, and knowing it to be pure,
+I offer it; would it were more worthy, and would that I, let me
+rather say--for my wife enters into all these feelings--that we
+were able in any way at this especial time to minister to your
+comfort.<br>
+<br>
+I fear the stroke must have come rather suddenly, but no
+dispensation could, I think, in the sense really dangerous, be
+sudden to you.<br>
+<br>
+Accept, my dear Dean, our affectionate wishes, and be assured we
+enter into the many prayers which will ascend on your behalf. Your
+devoted niece will sorely feel this, but it will be to her a new
+incentive in the performance of those loving duties to which she
+has so willingly devoted her heart and mind.--Believe me always
+your affectionate friend,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">W.E. GLADSTONE.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>Rev. D.T.K. DRUMMOND to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">Montpelier, Thursday.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Friend--I did not like to intrude on you in the
+very freshness of your home sorrow. But you know how much I loved
+and respected your brother, and how truly and heartily I sympathise
+with you. There were few in Edinburgh so much beloved as Sir
+William, and it will be long indeed ere the memory of his goodness
+shall pass away. Such men in the quiet, private, and unassuming
+walk, are often much more missed and more extensively lamented than
+men who have been more in the eye of the public, and during their
+life have had much of public observation and favour. It is trying
+for us who are far on in the pilgrimage to see one and another of
+our brothers and sisters pass away before us. I have seen
+<i>ten</i> go before me, and am the only one left; and yet it seems
+as if the old feeling of their leaving us is being exchanged for
+the brighter and happier consciousness that they are coming to meet
+us, or at least that the gathering band are BEFORE us, and looking
+our way, expecting the time when we too shall pass through the
+veil, leaning on the arm of the Beloved. I earnestly pray, my dear
+friend, for the Master's loving help and comfort to you from
+henceforth even for ever.<br>
+I cannot close this without, in a sentence, expressing my very
+great delight in reading your words regarding brotherly
+intercommunion among members of Churches who hold the same Truth,
+love the same Lord, and are bound to the same "better land." I do
+rejoice with all my heart that you have given utterance to the
+sentiments so carefully and admirably expressed by you. I go heart
+and soul with you in the large and liberal and Christ-like spirit
+of the views you propound; and feel with you that all such
+brotherly esteem and hearty and candid co-operation only makes me
+love my own church better, because such love is unmixed with the
+exclusiveness which sees nothing good save in the Communion to
+which we ourselves belong.<br>
+<br>
+Thank you most heartily for what you have written.--Ever very
+affectionately yours,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">D.T.K. DRUMMOND.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p>When the Ramsays were under the necessity of selling most of
+their property in the Mearns, the purchaser of Fasque was Mr.
+Gladstone, not yet a baronet; and, what does not always happen, the
+families of the buyer and the seller continued good friends, and
+Sir John, the great merchant, by his advice and perhaps other help,
+assisted some of the young Ramsays, who had still to push their way
+to fortune. I believe William, afterwards Admiral, was guided by
+him in the investment and management of a little money, which
+prospered, notwithstanding his innumerable bounties to the poor.
+The Dean also was obliged to Sir John Gladstone, but only for
+kindness and hospitalities.</p>
+<p>On the Ramsays going to London in the summer of 1845, the
+journal records what nice rooms they had, and how happy they were
+at Mr. Gladstone's, where they saw a good deal of their host--"a
+man who at eighty-one possesses the bodily and mental vigour of the
+prime of life." The Dean was struck with the old man's abilities.
+"Mr. Gladstone would have been successful in any undertaking or any
+pursuits--a man fitted to grapple with the highest subjects."</p>
+<p>From that period much intercourse took place between the Premier
+and our Dean. There are mutual visits between Hawarden and
+Edinburgh, and I find a good deal of correspondence between them;
+at least I find the letters on one side. The Dean preserved Mr.
+Gladstone's letters, but the counterparts are probably not
+preserved. One-sided as they are, the little packet in my hand, of
+letters from the great Statesman to the rural clergyman is not
+without interest. The correspondence has been friendly, frank and
+confidential, the writers often differing in immaterial things, but
+showing the same liberality in "Church and State;" so that we are
+not surprised to find, when the time came, that of the friends, the
+churchman approved of Irish disestablishment as heartily as the
+layman who was its author.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>Right Hon. W.E. GLADSTONE to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">10 Downing Street, Whitehall,<br>
+Jan. 20, 1869.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Dean Ramsay--I need not tell you I am no fit
+judge of your brother's claims, but I shall send your letter
+privately to the First Lord, who, I am sure, will give it an
+impartial and friendly consideration.<br>
+<br>
+Pray remember me to the Admiral, and be assured it will give me
+sincere pleasure if your wish on his behalf can be gratified.<br>
+<br>
+I write from Hawarden, but almost <i>en route</i> for London, and
+the arduous work before us.<br>
+<br>
+My mind is cheerful, and even sanguine about it.<br>
+<br>
+I wish I had some chance or hope of seeing you, and I remain
+affectionately yours,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">W.E. GLADSTONE.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<blockquote>The Bishop of Salisbury has been for days at the point
+of death. He is decidedly better, but cannot recover. Let him have
+a place in your prayers.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">Windsor Castle, June 24, 1871.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Dean Ramsay--The attraction of the Scott
+Centenary to Edinburgh is strong, and your affectionate invitation
+makes it stronger still. I do not despair of being free, and if
+free, I mean to use my freedom, so as to profit by both. At the
+same time the delays and obstructions to business have been so
+formidable that I must not as yet presume to forecast the time when
+I may be able to escape from London, and therefore I fear I must
+draw upon your indulgence to allow me some delay. The session may
+last far into August, but the stars may be more propitious.<br>
+<br>
+We are all grumbling at an unusually cold year, and the progress of
+vegetation seems to be suspended, but I trust no serious harm is
+yet done; as Louis Napoleon said, <i>tout peut se retablir</i>.<br>
+<br>
+It would indeed be delightful could I negotiate for a right to
+bring you back with me on coming southwards.<br>
+<br>
+So glad to hear a good account of your health and appearance from
+our Lord Advocate; a clever chiel, is he not?--Ever affectionately
+yours,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">W.E. GLADSTONE.</p>
+<br>
+<center>My wife sends her kind love.</center>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">10 Downing Street, Whitehall,<br>
+July 25, 1871.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Friend--From day to day my hopes of attending
+the Scott Centenary have been declining, and I regret much to say
+that they are now virtually dead. The extraordinary obstructions
+which have been offered to public business during the present
+session have now, as you will see, brought us to such a pass that
+some suggest an adjournment from August to some period in the
+autumn, to enable us to get through what we have in hand. Whether
+we do this, or whether we finish off at once, it is now, I fear,
+practically certain that there is no chance of my being free to
+leave town at the time of the Centenary.<br>
+<br>
+We paid Tennyson a visit from last Saturday to Tuesday. He is a
+sincere and ardent admirer of Scott, and heartily wishes well to
+anything which is likely to keep him before the minds of the
+on-coming generation.<br>
+<br>
+His Sussex abode is beautiful, 600 feet above the sea, with a
+splendid view. He seems to be very happy in his family.<br>
+<br>
+With regard to the Emperor of Brazil, I think any application made
+to him would come best from those officially connected with the
+celebration. At any rate, I fear it would be obtrusive on my part
+to mix in it, as I have no special relation with him, though he has
+made a most pleasing impression on me.<br>
+<br>
+I now expect to go to Balmoral in the middle of September, and
+should much wish to know whether I might visit you on my way north
+or south.--Always affectionately yours,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">W.E. GLADSTONE.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">10 Downing Street, Whitehall,<br>
+August 8, 1871.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Dean Ramsay--Do what you like with the
+inclosed. It is written at the last moment, and because you asked
+for it, by a man who was nine hours in the House yesterday, and has
+to be there nine to-day, besides a fair share of a day's work
+outside it to boot.<br>
+<br>
+I hope you received a subscription from Royal Bounty which I sent
+for Archibald's family. I can give five pounds myself also.--Ever
+your affectionate friend,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">W.E. GLADSTONE.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">11 Carlton House Terrace, S.W.,<br>
+August 8, 1871.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Dean Ramsay---I wish I could convey to you
+adequately the regret with which I find myself cut off from any
+possibility of joining in the tribute to be paid to-morrow to the
+memory of the first among the sons of Scotland. He was the idol of
+my boyhood, and though I well know that my admiration is worth
+little, it has never varied.<br>
+<br>
+In his case the feeling is towards the man as much as towards his
+works. Did we not possess a line from his pen, his life would stand
+as a true epic.<br>
+<br>
+I will not say I think him as strong in his modern politics as in
+some other points, but I find my general estimate of the great and
+heroic whole affected only in the slightest degree by this point of
+qualified misgiving.<br>
+<br>
+If he is out of fashion with some parts of some classes, it is
+their misfortune, not his. He is above fluctuations of time, for
+his place is in the Band of the Immortals.<br>
+<br>
+The end of my letter shall be better worth your having than the
+beginning. A fortnight ago I visited Tennyson, and found him
+possessed with all the sentiments about Scott which your
+celebration is meant to foster.--I remain in haste, affectionately
+yours.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">W.E. GLADSTONE.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">Hawarden Castle, Chester,<br>
+January 12, 1872.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Dean Ramsay--I was at once obliged, gratified,
+and comforted by your letter. This has been a great storm, but it
+has not rooted you up, and He whom you live to serve, evidently has
+yet more service for you to do. Those remaining in the world cannot
+be wife or brother to you, but how many there are who would if they
+could, and who will be all they can!<br>
+<br>
+The testimonies you send me are full of touching interest.<br>
+<br>
+My wife has received to-day the beautiful present of the new
+edition of your book. She will enjoy it immensely. I hope to send
+you, when I get to London, a little work called the "Mirror of
+Monks." Let not the title alarm you. It is in the manner of
+&agrave; Kempis, and is original, as well as excellent and lofty. I
+have had much Scotch reading. The "Life of Dr. Lee;" Macdonald's
+"Love, Law, and Theology;" last, not least, Lady Nairne. I am
+equally struck with her life, and her singularly beautiful songs,
+and this though she was Tory and Puritan; I am opposed to both. Her
+character brings into view a problem common to all times, but also
+I suppose special to this. I take it that if there is a religious
+body upon earth that fully and absolutely deserves the character of
+schismatical, it is your Drummond secession. Yet not only is this
+noble and holy woman in it, but even my own narrow experience has
+supplied me with other types of singular excellence and elevation
+within its pale; and the considerations hereby suggested are of
+immensely wide application.<br>
+<br>
+I trust that your Walker Cathedral will be thoroughly good, and
+that your Bishop's book is prospering.<br>
+<br>
+You will be glad to hear that the solemn thanksgiving at St. Paul's
+may be regarded as decided on, to my great satisfaction.<br>
+<br>
+If you will let me have particulars of any case such as you
+describe, I will most readily see what can be done; and now
+farewell, my dear friend.--Always affectionately
+yours,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">W.E. GLADSTONE.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p>If not quite so popular as some of the Dean's other
+correspondents, he whose letter I bring forward here stood as high
+as any man in the estimation of the better and most thinking
+classes of Scotsmen.</p>
+<p>Thomas Erskine of Linlathen, though no clergyman, had his mind
+more constantly full of divine thoughts than most priests; though
+no technical scholar perhaps, he kept up his Greek to read Plato,
+and did not think that his enjoyment of the works of high reach in
+classical times unfitted him for Bible studies, which were the
+chief object of his existence.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>THOMAS ERSKINE to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">127 George Street, 19th Oct. 1869.</p>
+<blockquote>Dear Dean--I return you many thanks for that kind
+letter. Neither you nor I can now be far from death--that commonest
+of all events, and yet the most unknown. The majority of those with
+whom you and I have been acquainted, have passed through it, but
+their experience does not help us except by calling us to prepare
+for it. <i>One</i> man indeed--the Head and Lord of men--has risen
+from the dead, thereby declaring death overcome, and inviting us
+all to share in his victory. And yet we feel that the victory over
+death cannot deliver us from fear, unless there be also a victory
+over that which makes death terrible--a victory over him that hath
+the power of death, that is the devil, or prince and principle of
+sin. And our Lord has achieved this also, for he put away sin <i>by
+the sacrifice of himself</i>; but this sacrifice can only really
+profit us when it is reproduced in us--when we, as branches of the
+true Vine, live by the sap of the root, which sap is <i>filial
+trust</i>, the only principle which can sacrifice <i>self</i>,
+because the only principle which can enable us to commit ourselves
+<i>unreservedly</i> into the hands of God for guidance and for
+disposal. We are thus <i>put right</i> by <i>trust, justified</i>
+or <i>put right</i> by faith in the loving fatherly righteous
+purpose of God towards us.<br>
+<br>
+Dear George Dundas's death has taken from me my chief social
+support in Edinburgh. I was fourteen years his senior, but I had
+known and loved him from his childhood. Our mothers were sisters,
+and thus we had the same family ties and traditions. I think of him
+now in connection with that verse, "to those who by patient
+continuance in well-doing," etc.<br>
+<br>
+And now farewell. Let us seek to live by the faith of the Son of
+God--his filial trust I suppose, which I so much need.--Ever truly
+and gratefully yours,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">T. ERSKINE.</p>
+<hr style="width: 25%;">
+<p>The three following letters hardly help on the story of the
+Dean's life, but I could not pass them when they came into my
+hands.</p>
+<p>The writer is Adam Sedgwick, the well-known Cambridge Professor
+and Philosopher. In another capacity he was still better known. He
+was tutor and vice-master of Trinity, and in his time an outside
+stranger of any education, even a half-educated Scot, dropping into
+Cambridge society, found a reception to be remembered. Take for
+choice one of their peculiar festivals--Trinity Sunday comes to my
+mind--the stranger partook of the splendid feast in that princely
+hall of Trinity, where the massive college plate was arrayed and
+the old college customs of welcome used, not from affectation, but
+kindly reverence. When the dinner was over, the large party of
+Doctors and Fellows, with hundreds of the noble youth of England,
+all in surplice, moved to the chapel, all joining with reverence in
+the august service of the church, and later, they and their guests,
+or as many as could be held, crossed to the Combination Room, where
+Sedgwick filled the chair, and led the conversation, not to glorify
+himself, not to display his own powers, which were great, but to
+let his guests know among whom they were placed--philosophers,
+first men of science, first scholars, leaders in all kinds of
+learning, meeting in a noble equality, proud to meet under his
+presidency--<i>that</i> I take to be the highest triumph of
+civilised hospitality. At the time of these letters the philosopher
+is old, but vigorous in mind, and even gay at the age of
+eighty-eight.</p>
+<p>The death of Bishop Terrot called forth the following letter
+from the venerable Professor:--</p>
+<hr style="width: 25%;">
+<center>PROFESSOR SEDGWICK to the Rev. Mr. MALCOLM.</center>
+<p class="loc">Trinity College, Cambridge, May 1, 1872.</p>
+<blockquote>Dear Mr. Malcolm--I had been previously informed of the
+death of my dear old friend, the Bishop of Edinburgh, but I am very
+grateful to you for thinking so kindly of me, and for communicating
+particulars about which I was not acquainted previously. Accept my
+expressions of true-hearted sympathy, and pray impart them to the
+surviving members of dear Bishop Terrot's family. He was an old, an
+honoured and beloved friend; God laid upon his old age an unusual
+load of the labours and sorrows of humanity, but they are over now,
+and he has reached his haven of shelter from external sorrow and
+his true and enduring home of joy and peace, in the presence of his
+Maker and Redeemer. I am very infirm, and am affected by an
+internal malady, which, through the past winter, has confined me to
+my college rooms, but I have to thank my Maker for thousands of
+little comforts to mind and body, by which I am hourly surrounded,
+and for His long-suffering in extending my probation till I have
+entered on my 88th year. My eyes are dim-sighted and irritable, so
+that I generally dictate my letters; now, however, I am using my
+own pen to express my thanks to you, in this time of your sorrow
+for the loss of one so nearly and dearly connected with your
+clerical life. My memory is not much shaken, except in recalling
+names not very familiar to me, and I think (with the painful
+exception I have alluded to) that my constitutional health is
+sound. When my friends call upon me, my deafness generally compels
+me to use an ear-trumpet, and I yesterday took it to our college
+walks, to try if I could catch the notes of the singing birds,
+which were piping all round me. But, alas! I could not hear the
+notes of the singing birds, though I did catch the harsher and
+louder notes of the rooks, which have their nests in some college
+grounds.<br>
+<br>
+May the remaining years of your life be cheered and animated by
+good abiding Christian hope.--I remain very faithfully
+yours,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">ADAM SEDGWICK.</p>
+<hr style="width: 25%;">
+<center>PROFESSOR SEDGWICK to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">Trinity College, Cambridge,<br>
+29th May 1872.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Dean--I this morning received your kind
+presentation copy of your Reminiscences, which I shall highly value
+for its own sake, and as your gift. I read little now because my
+eyes are both dim-sighted and very irritable; but your book will
+just suit me, as it is not a continuous tale, but a succession of
+tales, each of which is perfect in itself, and I hope to read it
+bit by bit without worrying my enfeebled powers of sight.<br>
+<br>
+I meant to have thanked you in an autograph, but there has been a
+sudden change in the atmosphere, which is dark, heavy and wet, and
+when there is a defect of light I am almost constrained to dictate
+my letters to my <i>factotum</i>.<br>
+<br>
+I am delighted, too, with the single sheet containing verses
+addressed to yourself. The first copy by Bishop Wordsworth appears
+to me quite admirable from the beauty and simplicity of his Latin;
+and the other copies are good in their way.<br>
+<br>
+I dare say you have seen the short verses he wrote on the death of
+his first wife. They are of Roman brevity and of exquisite
+tenderness.<br>
+<br>
+One of the very pleasant days of my life was spent in a visit to
+the small country living of Mr. Dawes of Downing, afterwards Dean
+of Hereford. Your late brother was one of the happy party. We
+returned together to Cambridge at a rattling pace, and I am not
+sure that I ever saw his face afterwards, for very soon he had a
+bilious attack which induced him to seek health in his native
+country, and, alas! he sought it in vain, for he sickened and died,
+to the deep sorrow of all his friends.--I remain, my dear Dean,
+very truly and gratefully yours,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">A. SEDGWICK.</p>
+<hr style="width: 25%;">
+<center>PROFESSOR SEDGWICK to Rev. Mr. MALCOLM.</center>
+<p class="loc">Trinity College, Cambridge,<br>
+January 18, 1873.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Mr. Malcolm--The infirmity of my sight compels
+me to dictate this letter to one who often writes for me. Such a
+bright day as this, and while the sun is shining, I could see the
+traces of my pen upon a sheet of paper; but the act of writing
+greatly fatigues me, and I dictate nearly all my letters.<br>
+<br>
+I very much value your melancholy memorial of my late dear and
+honoured friend, the late Bishop Terrot. Though the photo
+represents our late friend the bishop with his features shrouded in
+the cold fixity of death, yet it does bring back the original to
+the memory of those who knew him well, and I am greatly obliged to
+you for this memorial of one who has gone from our sight for ever,
+so far as this world is concerned. It was very kind of you to
+remember the photo.<br>
+<br>
+I did not know Bishop Cotterell intimately, but I have met him many
+times, and I think you very happy in obtaining the services of a
+man of such experience, talent, and zeal, in the good cause of
+Christian truth.<br>
+<br>
+I am now a very feeble, infirm, old man, toiling in the last
+quarter of my 88th year. I ought to be thankful that my mind,
+though feeble, remains entire: my memory is often defective, but I
+have been enabled, though with great labour to myself, and with
+many interruptions, to dictate a preface to a catalogue published
+by the university of the older fossils of our collection. They have
+kindly printed and given to me some extra copies of my preface, one
+of which I will forward to you by the book-post.<br>
+<br>
+I know it can have no interest to you, excepting, perhaps, a few
+paragraphs in the conclusion of only two or three pages.--I remain,
+my dear Mr. Malcolm, very faithfully and gratefully
+yours,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">A. SEDGWICK.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p>I have printed already more than one letter from the Rev. D.T.K.
+Drummond, from admiration of their intrinsic merit, and because I
+wish here to collect proofs that no diversity of Church rites or
+Church policy could separate our Dean from brethren whom he
+regarded perhaps as erroneous, but recognised as teaching and
+leading by the same principles of freedom, which he himself revered
+and followed.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>Rev. D.T.K. DRUMMOND to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">Montpelier, Saturday.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Friend--Very many thanks for your most touching
+note, and for the extract from your book you so kindly sent me. The
+more I look into it the more I like it, and thank God for the
+testimony you so unequivocally and fearlessly hear to the
+<i>unity</i> of the True Church of Christ of any age, however much
+the great army he made up of various sections, of diverse uniforms,
+and with special duties to perform.....<br>
+<br>
+Again thanking you very warmly, and earnestly praying for all the
+precious consolations of the Great Head of the Church to be largely
+vouchsafed to you, believe me to be always most affectionately
+yours,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">D. T. K. DRUMMOND.</p>
+<hr style="width: 25%;">
+<p>The subject of the following letter cannot be overlooked by a
+biographer of Dean Ramsay:--</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>Rev. Dr. CANDLISH to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">52 Melville Street, 18th March 1872.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Dean Ramsay--I have just read with most
+profound thankfulness and admiration your noble Christian letter in
+this day's <i>Scotsman</i>. I cannot deny myself the gratification
+of expressing my feelings to you in this feeble acknowledgment. You
+have done a signal service to the cause of our Blessed Lord and
+common Master. I am too infirm to write more fully all that is in
+my heart. You will pardon all defects, and believe me, yours very
+truly,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">ROB. S. CANDLISH.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p>The letter referred to by the distinguished divine arose out of
+what is known in the Scottish Episcopal Church as the <i>cause
+cel&egrave;bre</i> of the Bishop of Glasgow against the Bishop of
+Argyll.</p>
+<p>The Rev. Dr. Caird, of the University of Glasgow, having invited
+the Bishop of Argyll to preach to a mixed Episcopalian and
+Presbyterian congregation, using his Church's liturgy, from the
+University pulpit of Glasgow, the Bishop of Glasgow interposed to
+prevent it.</p>
+<p>The interference of the Bishop of Glasgow with his brother
+prelate of Argyll called forth a letter from Dean Ramsay, which
+appeared in the <i>Scottish Guardian</i> on 15th March 1872, and in
+the <i>Scotsman</i> three days later. In it the Dean in fact
+asserts a religious sympathy towards those who differ from him,
+comprehensive enough to include all his Protestant countrymen.</p>
+<p>"In an address to the Bishop of Glasgow, signed by sixty-two
+clergymen, it is stated that the service contemplated in the chapel
+of the University of Glasgow would be a 'lax proceeding, and
+fraught with great injury to the highest interests of the Church,'
+Accordingly the Bishop of Glasgow prohibited the service, to guard
+the Church from complicity in a measure which he considered
+subversive of her position in this country.' In other words," says
+Dean Ramsay, "we are called upon to believe that, as members of the
+Scottish Episcopal Church, it is our bounden duty to withhold every
+appearance of any religious sympathy with our Presbyterian
+fellow-countrymen and fellow-Christians. I now solemnly declare for
+myself that, had I come to the conclusion that such was the
+teaching of our Church, and such the views to which I was
+bound--viz. that her object was thus to sever man from man, and to
+maintain that the service proposed at Glasgow was really 'fraught
+with great injury to the highest interests of my Church,' because
+it would promote union and peace--the sun should not again set till
+I had given up all official connection with a Church of which the
+foundations and the principles would be so different from the
+landmarks and leading manifestations of our holy faith itself. Were
+the principles and conduct laid down in this address and in the
+answer to it fairly carried out, I cannot see any other result than
+the members of our Church considering the whole of Scotland which
+is external to our communion as a land of infidels, with whom we
+can have no spiritual connection, and whom, indeed, we could hardly
+recognise as a Christian people."</p>
+<p>The Dean's letter is chiefly remarkable as showing that age had
+not frozen his charity. It called forth many letters like that of
+Dr. Candlish, and one from the little Somersetshire society which
+he loved so well.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>JOHN SHEPPARD, Esq., Frome, to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">The Cottage, Frome, 21st March 1872.</p>
+<blockquote>Very dear and reverend Sir--I have to thank you for the
+<i>Scottish Guardian</i> which you have kindly sent me. I regret
+the divisions which appear to have arisen in your church. Whatever
+comes from your pen has special interest for me; and I am glad to
+see it (as it always has been) pleading the cause of Christian
+charity. It appears to me that the welfare of your church would
+have been promoted by acceding to the invitation,<br>
+<br>
+I think I have mentioned to you that we had lately a visit from
+good Archdeacon Sandford, which we much enjoyed. We learn with
+sorrow that since attendance at the Convocation and a stay at
+Lambeth Palace, he has been suffering great weakness and
+exhaustion, and been confined to his bed for a month. He is now
+slowly recovering; but we fear his exertions have been beyond his
+strength, and that his life must be very precarious.<br>
+<br>
+I hope your health is not more seriously impaired; but we must be
+looking more and more, dear sir, towards the home which pain and
+strife cannot enter.<br>
+<br>
+My beloved Susan is very zealous as the animals' friend, and birds
+of many sorts welcome and solicit her as their patroness. She
+desires to be most kindly remembered to you, with, my dear Dean,
+your attached old friend,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">JOHN SHEPPARD.</p>
+<blockquote><i>P.S.</i>--Susan instructs me to say for her that,
+"since reading your letter to the <i>Guardian</i>, she loves you
+more than ever, if possible." My words are cool in comparison with
+hers; and this is a curious message for an ancient husband to
+convey.<br>
+<br>
+She thinks we have not thanked you for the Bishop's Latin verses
+and the translations of them. If we have not, it is not because our
+"<i>reminiscences</i>" of you are faint or few.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>I wish to preserve a note of a dear old friend of my own, whose
+talents, perhaps I might say whose genius, was only shrouded by his
+modesty. I know that the Dean felt how gratifying it was to find
+among his congregation men of such accomplishment, such
+scholarship, as George Moir and George Dundas, and it is something
+to show that they responded very heartily to that feeling.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>GEORGE MOIR to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">Monday morning, 14 Charlotte Square.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Dean--My condition renders it frequently
+impossible to attend church, from the difficulty I have in
+remaining for any length of time. But I have been able to be
+present the last two Sundays, and I cannot refrain from saying with
+how much pleasure I listened yesterday to your discourse on
+charity. It was not unworthy of the beautiful passage which formed
+its ground-work; clear, consecutive, eloquent, and with a moral
+application of which I wish we may all avail ourselves.<br>
+<br>
+Long may you continue to advise and instruct those who are <i>to
+come after me</i>.<br>
+<br>
+I was delighted to see you looking so well, and to notice the look
+of vigour with which the discourse was delivered. Believe me ever
+most truly yours,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">GEO. MOIR.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p>In 1866 the Dean had delivered two lectures upon "Preachers and
+Preaching," but which were afterwards published in a volume called
+<i>Pulpit Table-Talk</i>. That is the subject of the following
+letter from a great master of the art:--</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>Dr. GUTHRIE to DEAN RAMSAY.</center>
+<p class="loc">Inchgrundle, Tarfside, by Brechin,<br>
+31st August 1868.</p>
+<blockquote>My dear Mr. Dean--Your Pulpit Table-Talk has been sent
+here to gratify, delight, and edify me. A most entertaining book;
+and full of wise and admirable sentiments. All ministers and
+preachers should read and digest it. Age seems to have no more
+dulling effect on you than it had on Sir David Brewster, who
+retained, after he had turned the threescore and ten, all the
+greenery, foliage, and flowers of youth--presenting at once the
+freshness of Spring, and the flowers of Summer, and the precious
+fruits of Autumn.<br>
+<br>
+May your bow long abide in strength! and the evening of your days
+be calm and peaceful, bright with the sure and certain hope of that
+better world, where, I hope, we shall meet to be for ever with the
+Lord! With the greatest respect and affectionate regards, yours
+ever,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">THOMAS GUTHRIE.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p>I cannot fix the date of the following anecdote, nor does the
+date much matter:--Some years ago a child, the son of the U.P.
+minister of Dunblane, was so dangerously ill, that a neighbouring
+lady, the wife of the Episcopal clergyman, who was much interested
+in the little boy, asked her husband if it might be permitted to
+beg the prayers of the congregation for his recovery. The clergyman
+readily assented; and when the facts came to the knowledge of Dean
+Ramsay, and that it was a suggestion of a dear friend of his, he
+sent the lady a copy of his <i>Reminiscences</i>, with a letter to
+her husband, in which he says--"I was greatly charmed with your
+account of prayers offered up for poor little Blair. Tell your Mary
+I love her more than ever. It has quite affected me, her proposing
+it." The husband is the Rev. Mr. Malcolm; the lady his wife,
+daughter of the Dean's dear friend, Bishop Terrot.</p>
+<p>But the end was approaching. In December 1872 it was noticed
+with sorrow that for the first time since the commencement of the
+Church Society (1838), of which Ramsay was really the founder, the
+Dean was absent from the annual meeting of the general committee.
+Soon it became known that his illness was more than a mere passing
+attack. During its continuance the deepest interest was manifested
+in every quarter. Each day, and "almost from hour to hour, the
+latest tidings were eagerly sought for. In many churches and in
+many families besides those of our communion, prayers were offered
+for his recovery. And when at last it became known that he had
+indeed passed away from this life, it was felt that we had lost not
+only a venerable Father of the Church, but one whose name, familiar
+as a household word, was always associated with kindly loving
+thoughts and deeds--one who was deservedly welcome wherever he
+went, and whose influence was always towards peace and goodwill."
+The Rev. Mr. Montgomery, our present Dean of Edinburgh, whose words
+I quote, truly says that "he was a Churchman by conviction, but was
+ever ready to meet, and, where occasion offered, to act with others
+upon the basis of a common humanity and common Christianity."</p>
+<blockquote>FOOTNOTES:</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor9">[9]</a>
+The margin seems to show that this page of the journal was not
+written till 1843.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_10"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor10">[10]</a> The Bishop said that the two impediments to
+profitable or amusing conversation were <i>humdrum</i> and
+<i>humbug</i>.<br>
+<br>
+On another occasion, the Bishop having expressed his doubt of the
+truth of spirit-rapping, table-turning, etc., and being pressed
+with the appeal, "Surely you must admit these are indications of
+Satanic agency," quietly answered, "It may be so, but it must be a
+mark of Satan being in a state of dotage!"</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_11"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor11">[11]</a> Alluditur ad titulum libri
+<i>Reminiscences</i>, etc.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_12"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor12">[12]</a> Here is the passage referred to by Mr.
+Dickens:--"There are persons who do not sympathise with my great
+desire to preserve and to disseminate these specimens of Scottish
+humour; indeed, I have reasons to suspect that some have been
+disposed to consider the time and attention which I have given to
+the subject as ill-bestowed, or at any rate, as somewhat unsuitable
+to one of my advanced age and sacred profession. If any persons do
+really think so, all I can say is, I do not agree with them.
+National peculiarities must ever form an interesting and improving
+study, inasmuch as it is a study of human nature; and the anecdotes
+of this volume all tend to illustrate features of the Scottish
+mind, which, as moral and religious traits of character, are deeply
+interesting. I am convinced that every one, whether clergyman or
+layman, who contributes to the innocent enjoyment of human life,
+has joined in a good work, inasmuch as he has diminished the
+inducement to <i>vicious</i> indulgence. God knows there is enough
+of sin and of sorrow in the world to make sad the heart of every
+Christian man. No one, I think, need be ashamed of his endeavours
+to cheer the darker hours of his fellow-travellers' steps through
+life, or to beguile the hearts of the weary and the heavy laden, if
+only for a time, into cheerful and amusing trains of thought. So
+far as my experience of life goes, I have never found that the
+cause of morality and religion was promoted by sternly checking the
+tendencies of our nature to relaxation and amusement. If mankind be
+too ready to enter upon pleasures which are dangerous or
+questionable, it is the part of wisdom and of prudence to supply
+them with sources of interest, the enjoyment of which are innocent
+and permissible."</blockquote>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>APPENDIX.</h2>
+<hr style="width: 25%;">
+<p>When this Memoir was only begun I was anxious to say something
+of the Dean's musical powers; and, not venturing to speak of music
+myself, I asked the Dean's sister Lady Burnett to supply my
+deficiency. In reply I had the following letter:--</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<center>22d February 1873.</center>
+<blockquote>... As a flute-player the Dean attained a proficiency
+rarely seen in an amateur, and used frequently to play the very
+difficult flute-obligatos of some of Handel's songs, which are
+considered a hard task even for professionals. Besides playing the
+flute he was thoroughly conversant with the mechanism of the organ,
+and had some knowledge of the violoncello, though he never gave
+much time to the study of that instrument. But perhaps the most
+interesting point in this part of the character of my brother was
+his ardent love for Handel's music. There was not a song or chorus
+of the great master that he was not acquainted with, and in his
+younger days he used to sing the bass music from the Messiah and
+other Oratorios with great taste and skill--his voice, a fine
+mellow baritone, being well suited to these songs. You may remember
+his lectures on Handel delivered at the Philosophical Institution
+some years ago, and how enthusiastic he was when describing the
+manifold beauties of his favourite composer, and how interested and
+eager he became when the choir sang the music he knew and loved so
+well....<br>
+<br>
+I wrote this on Saturday evening when sitting alone, thinking of
+the great loss I had sustained; the variety there was in Edward's
+character; how accomplished he was; what knowledge he had on many
+subjects; his fine taste, his gentleness and Christian piety; and
+then his strong sense of humour and fun; how amusing he was, and
+such droll things broke out every now and then! even to the very
+last so genial and social, and altogether such a man that we "ne'er
+shall look upon his like again."--Yours very
+sincerely,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">LAUDERDALE BURNETT.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>REMINISCENCES.</h2>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2>
+<h2>TO</h2>
+<h2>TWENTY-SECOND EDITION.</h2>
+<br>
+<p>In preparing another duodecimo edition of the "Reminiscences of
+Scottish Life and Character," I gladly avail myself of the
+opportunity afforded me of reproducing some of the materials which
+had been added to the octavo edition, especially that part at page
+322, etc., which advocated a modified interchange of pulpits
+between Episcopalian and Presbyterian clergymen; to add also some
+excellent Scottish stories which had been sent to me by kind
+friends. I am desirous also of repeating the correction of an error
+into which we had fallen in copying the account of a toast in the
+Highland form, which had been kindly contributed by the respected
+minister of Moulin, in the octavo edition at page 70. To Lowland
+conceptions, the whole proceeding has somewhat the appearance of a
+respectable company at once becoming insane; still it ought to be
+correct, and the printer had, by mistake, inserted a word that has
+no existence in the Gaelic language. The text reads--</p>
+<blockquote>"Lud ris! Lud ris! You again! you again!"</blockquote>
+<p>It should be</p>
+<blockquote>Sud ris! Sud ris! Yon again! yon again!</blockquote>
+<p>that is--"you cheer again."</p>
+<p>The demand for a twenty-second edition of a volume of "Scottish
+Reminiscences" embracing subjects which are necessarily of a
+limited and local character--a demand which has taken place during
+the course of little more than fifteen years since its first
+publication--proves, I think, the correctness of the idea upon
+which it was first undertaken--viz. that it should depict a phase
+of national manners which was fast passing away, and thus, in
+however humble a department, contribute something to the materials
+of history, by exhibiting social customs and habits of thought
+which at a particular era were characteristic of a race. It may
+perhaps be very fairly said that the Reminiscences came out at a
+time specially suitable to rescue these features of national life
+and character from oblivion. They had <i>begun</i> to fade away,
+and many had, to the present generation, become obsolete.</p>
+<p>To those who have not given their attention to the subject for
+the elucidation of which this volume has been written, I would
+present two specimens of the sort of materials from which they may
+expect to find these Reminiscences are compiled. They are chosen to
+indicate a style of life and manners now fast fading away, and are
+taken from a period which lies within the scope of our own
+recollections. Now, a subject like this can only be illustrated by
+a copious application of anecdotes which must show the features of
+the past. And let me premise that I make use of anecdotes not for
+the purpose of telling a good story, but solely in the way of
+<i>illustration</i>. I am quite certain that there was an
+originality, a dry and humorous mode of viewing persons and events,
+quite <i>peculiar</i> to the older Scottish characters. And I am
+equally certain, that their peculiar humour can only be exhibited
+in examples. From the late Mr. Erskine of Linlathan I received the
+following:--Mr. Erskine recollected an old housekeeper at Airth,
+who belonged to this class of character. A speech of this Mrs.
+Henderson was preserved in the family as having been made by her at
+the time of the execution of Louis XVI. in 1793. She was noticing
+the violent emotion exhibited by Mr. Bruce of Kinnaird, the
+Abyssinian traveller, at the sad event which had just taken place,
+and added, in the following quaint and caustic terms, "There's
+Kinnaird greeting as if there was nae a saunt on earth but himsel'
+and the king o' France." How utterly unlike anything that would be
+said on such an occasion by an English person in the same position
+in life!</p>
+<p>For the same purpose, let me introduce a characteristic little
+Scottish scene, which my cousin, the late Sir Thomas Burnett of
+Leys, used to describe with great humour. Sir Thomas had a tenant
+on his estate, a very shrewd clever man, whom he was sometimes in
+the habit of consulting about country matters. On one occasion he
+came over to Crathes Castle, and asked to see Sir Thomas. He was
+accordingly ushered in, accompanied by a young man of very simple
+appearance, who gazed about the room in a stupid vacant manner. The
+old man began by saying that he understood there was a farm on the
+estate to be let, and that he knew a very fine young man whom he
+wished to recommend as tenant. He said he had plenty of
+<i>siller</i>, and had studied farming on the most approved
+principles--sheep-farming in the Highlands, cattle-farming in the
+Lowlands, and so forth, and, in short, was a model farmer. When he
+had finished his statement, Sir Thomas, looking very significantly
+at his companion, addressed the old man (as he was usually
+addressed in the county by the name of his farm)--"Well, Drummy,
+and is this your friend whom you propose for the farm?" to which
+Drummy replied, "Oh fie, na. Hout! that is a kind o' a <i>Feel</i>,
+a friend (<i>i.e.</i> a relation) o' the wife's, and I just brought
+him ower wi' me to show him the place."</p>
+<p>The question of change in the "life and character" of a people,
+during the period embraced in the reminiscences of an aged
+individual, must always be a subject for deep and serious
+consideration. In the case of Scotland, such changes comprise much
+that is interesting and amusing. But they also contain much matter
+for serious thought and reflection to the lovers of their country.
+In preparing the present edition of these Reminiscences, I have
+marked out many further changes, and have marked them from a deep
+feeling of interest in the moral and religious improvement of my
+country. To my readers I say that I hope we have all learned to
+view such changes under a more serious national aspect than a mere
+question of amusement or speculation. The Christian, when he looks
+around him on society, must observe many things which, as a
+patriot, he wishes might be permanent, and he marks many things
+which, as a patriot, he wishes were obliterated. What he desires
+should be enduring in his countrymen is, that abiding attributes of
+Scottish character should be associated amongst all men with truth
+and virtue--with honour and kindly feelings--with temperance and
+self-denial--with divine faith and love--with generosity and
+benevolence. On the other hand, he desires that what may become
+questions of tradition, and, in regard to his own land,
+REMINISCENCES of Scottish life, shall be--cowardice and folly,
+deceit and fraud, the low and selfish motives to action which make
+men traitors to their God and hateful to their fellow-men.</p>
+<p>It would be worse than affectation--it would be ingratitude--to
+disclaim being deeply impressed by the favourable reception which
+has for so long a time been given to these Reminiscences at home,
+in India, in America, and in all countries where Scotchmen are to
+be found.</p>
+<p>It is not the least of the enjoyments which I have had in
+compiling these pages, to hear of the kind sympathy which they have
+called forth in other minds, and often in the minds of strangers;
+and it would be difficult for me to describe the pleasure I have
+received when told by a friend that this work had cheered him in
+the hour of depression or of sickness--that even for a few moments
+it may have beguiled the weight of corroding care and worldly
+anxiety. I have been desirous of saying a word in favour of old
+Scottish life; and with some minds, perhaps, the book may have
+promoted a more kindly feeling towards hearts and heads of bygone
+days. And certainly I can now truly say, that my highest reward--my
+greatest honour and gratification--would spring from the feeling
+that it might become a standard volume in Scottish cottage
+libraries, and that by the firesides of Scotland these pages might
+become as Household Words.</p>
+<blockquote>EDINBURGH, 23 AINSLIE PLACE. <i>St. Andrew's
+Day</i><a name="FNanchor13"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_13">[13]</a></blockquote>
+<blockquote>FOOTNOTES:</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_13"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor13">[13]</a> These words, "St. Andrew's Day," were
+deleted by the Dean; and though he lived till the 27th December, he
+did not touch the proof-sheets after the 19th November
+1872.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h1>REMINISCENCES</h1>
+<h4>OF</h4>
+<h1>SCOTTISH LIFE AND CHARACTER.</h1>
+<hr style="width: 25%;">
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_THE_FIRST."></a>CHAPTER THE FIRST.</h2>
+<h3>INTRODUCTORY.</h3>
+<br>
+<p>I wish my readers always to bear in mind that these
+Reminiscences are meant to bear upon the changes which would
+include just such a revolution as that referred to at page 15 in
+the bonnet practice of Laurencekirk. There is no pretension to any
+researches of <i>antiquarian</i> character; they are in fact
+Reminiscences which come almost within personal recognition. A kind
+friend gave me anecdotes of the past in her hundredth year. In
+early life I was myself consigned to the care of my grand-uncle,
+Sir Alexander Ramsay, residing in Yorkshire, and he was born in
+1715; so that I can go pretty far back on my own experience, and
+have thus become cognisant of many changes which might be expected
+as a consequence of such experience.</p>
+<p>I cannot imagine a better illustration of the sort of change in
+the domestic relations of life that has taken place in something
+like the time we speak of, than is shown in the following anecdote,
+which was kindly communicated to me by Professor MacGregor of the
+Free Church. I have pleasure in giving it in the Professor's own
+words:--"I happened one day to be at Panmure Castle when Lord
+Panmure (now Dalhousie) was giving a treat to a school, and was
+presented by the Monikie Free Church Deacons' Court with a Bible on
+occasion of his having cleared them finally of debt on their
+buildings. Afterwards his Lordship took me into the library, where,
+among other treasures, we found a handsome folio <i>Prayer Book</i>
+presented to his ancestor Mr. Maule of Kelly by the Episcopalian
+minister of the district, on occasion of his having, by Mr. Maule's
+help, been brought out of jail. The coincidence and contrast were
+curiously interesting."</p>
+<p>For persons to take at various intervals a retrospective view of
+life, and of the characters they have met with, seems to be a
+natural feeling of human nature; and every one is disposed at times
+to recall to memory many circumstances and many individuals which
+suggest abundant subjects for reflection. We thus find
+recollections of scenes in which we have been joyous and happy. We
+think of others with which we only associate thoughts of sorrow and
+of sadness. Amongst these varied emotions we find subjects for
+reminiscences, of which we would bury the feelings in our own
+hearts as being too sacred for communication with others. Then,
+again, there are many things of the past concerning which we
+delight to take counsel with friends and contemporaries. Some
+persons are disposed to go beyond these personal communications
+with friends, and having through life been accustomed to write down
+memoranda of their own feelings, have published them to the world.
+Many interesting works have thus been contributed to our literature
+by writers who have sent forth volumes in the form of <i>Memoirs of
+their Own Times, Personal Recollections, Remarks upon Past
+Scenes</i>, etc. etc. It is not within the scope of this work to
+examine these, nor can I specify the many communications I have
+from different persons, both at home and in our colonial
+possessions; in fact, the references in many cases have been lost
+or mislaid. But I must acknowledge, however briefly, my obligations
+to Dr. Carruthers, Inverness, and to Dr. Cook, Haddington, who have
+favoured me with valuable contributions.</p>
+<p>Now, when we come to examine the general question of memoirs
+connected with contemporary history, no work is better known in
+connection with this department of Scottish literature than the
+<i>History of his Own Times</i>, by my distinguished relative, Dr.
+Gilbert Burnett, Bishop of Salisbury. Bishop Burnett's father, Lord
+Crimond, was third son of my father's family, the Burnetts of Leys,
+in Kincardineshire. There is now at Crathes Castle, the family
+seat, a magnificent full-length portrait of the Bishop in his
+robes, as Prelate of the Garter, by Sir Godfrey Kneller. It was
+presented by himself to the head of his family. But, as one great
+object of the Bishop's history was to laud and magnify the personal
+character and public acts of William of Orange, his friend and
+patron, and as William was held in special abhorrence by the
+Jacobite party in Scotland, the Bishop holds a prominent, and, with
+many, a very odious position in Scottish Reminiscences; in fact, he
+drew upon himself and upon his memory the determined hatred and
+unrelenting hostility of adherents to the Stuart cause. They never
+failed to abuse him on all occasions, and I recollect old ladies in
+Montrose, devoted to the exiled Prince, with whom the epithet
+usually applied to the Prelate was that of "Leein' Gibby<a name=
+"FNanchor14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14">[14]</a>."</p>
+<p>Such language has happily become a "Reminiscence." Few would be
+found now to apply such an epithet to the author of the <i>History
+of his Own Times</i>, and certainly it would not be applied on the
+ground of the Jacobite principles to which he was opposed. But a
+curious additional proof of this hostility of Scottish Jacobites to
+the memory of Burnett has lately come to light. In a box of
+political papers lately found at Brechin Castle, belonging to the
+Panmure branch of the family, who, in '15, were forfeited on the
+ground of their Jacobite opinions and adherence to the cause of
+Charles Edward, there has been found a severe and bitter supposed
+<i>epitaph</i> for Bishop Burnett. By the kindness of the Earl of
+Dalhousie I was permitted to see this epitaph, and, if I chose, to
+print it in this edition. I am, however, unwilling to stain my
+pages with such an ungenerous and, indeed, I may say, so scurrilous
+a representation of the character of one who, in the just opinion
+of our Lyon King-at-Arms, himself a Burnett of the Kemnay branch,
+has characterised the Bishop of Salisbury as "true and honest, and
+far beyond the standard of his times as a Clergyman and as a
+Bishop." But the epitaph found in these Panmure papers shows
+clearly the prejudices of the age in which it was written, and in
+fact only embodies something of that spirit and of those opinions
+which we have known as still lingering in our own
+Reminiscences.</p>
+<p>If it were not on my part a degree of presumption, I might be
+inclined to consider myself in this volume a fellow-labourer with
+the late accomplished and able Mr. Robert Chambers. In a very
+limited sphere it takes a portion of the same field of
+illustration. I should consider myself to have done well if I shall
+direct any of my readers to his able volumes. Whosoever wishes to
+know what this country really was in times past, and to learn, with
+a precision beyond what is supplied by the narratives of history,
+the details of the ordinary current of our social, civil, and
+national life, must carefully study the <i>Domestic Annals of
+Scotland</i>. Never before were a nation's domestic features so
+thoroughly portrayed. Of those features the specimens of quaint
+Scottish humour still remembered are unlike anything else, but they
+are fast becoming obsolete, and my motive for this publication has
+been an endeavour to preserve marks of the past which would of
+themselves soon become obliterated, and to supply the rising
+generation with pictures of social life, faded and indistinct to
+their eyes, but the strong lines of which an older race still
+remember. By thus coming forward at a favourable moment, no doubt
+many beautiful specimens of SCOTTISH MINSTRELSY have in this manner
+been preserved from oblivion by the timely exertions of Bishop
+Percy, Ritson, Walter Scott, and others. Lord Macaulay, in his
+preface to <i>The Lays of Ancient Rome</i>, shows very powerfully
+the tendency in all that lingers in the memory to become obsolete,
+and he does not hesitate to say that "Sir Walter Scott was but
+<i>just in time</i> to save the precious relics of the minstrelsy
+of the Border."</p>
+<p>It is quite evident that those who have in Scotland come to an
+advanced age, must have found some things to have been really
+changed about them, and that on them great alterations have already
+taken place. There are some, however, which yet may be in a
+transition state; and others in which, although changes are
+threatened, still it cannot be said that the changes are begum I
+have been led to a consideration of impending alterations as likely
+to take place, by the recent appearance of two very remarkable and
+very interesting papers on subjects closely connected with great
+social Scottish questions, where a revolution of opinion may be
+expected. These are two articles in <i>Recess Studies</i> (1870), a
+volume edited by our distinguished Principal, Sir Alexander Grant.
+One essay is by Sir Alexander himself, upon the "Endowed Hospitals
+of Scotland;" the other by the Rev. Dr. Wallace of the Greyfriars,
+upon "Church Tendencies in Scotland." It would be quite irrelevant
+for me to enlarge here upon the merits of those articles. No one
+could study them attentively without being impressed with the
+ability and power displayed in them by the authors, their grasp of
+the subjects, and their fair impartial judgment upon the various
+questions which come under their notice.</p>
+<p>From these able disquisitions, and from other prognostics, it is
+quite evident that sounder principles of political economy and
+accurate experience of human life show that much of the old
+Scottish hospital system was quite wrong and must be changed.
+Changes are certainly going on, which seem to indicate that the
+very hard Presbyterian views of some points connected with Church
+matters are in transition. I have elsewhere spoken of a past
+sabbatarian strictness, and I have lately received an account of a
+strictness in observing the national fast-day, or day appointed for
+preparation in celebrating Holy Communion, which has in some
+measure passed away. The anecdote adduced the example of two
+drovers who were going on very quietly together. They had to pass
+through a district whereof one was a parishioner, and during their
+progress through it the one whistled with all his might, the other
+screwed up his mouth without emitting a single sound. When they
+came to a burn, the silent one, on then crossing the stream, gave a
+skip, and began whistling with all his might, exclaiming with great
+triumph to his companion, "I'm beyond the parish of Forfar now, and
+I'll whistle as muckle as I like." It happened to be the Forfar
+parish fast-day. But a still stricter observance was shown by a
+native of Kirkcaldy, who, when asked by his companion drover in the
+south of Scotland "why he didna whistle," quietly answered, "I
+canna, man; it's our fast-day in Kirkcaldy." I have an instance of
+a very grim assertion of extreme sabbatarian zeal. A maid-servant
+had come to a new place, and on her mistress quietly asking her on
+Sunday evening to wash up some dishes, she indignantly replied,
+"Mem, I hae dune mony sins, and hae mony sins to answer for; but,
+thank God, I hae never been sae far left to mysell as to wash up
+dishes on the Sabbath day."</p>
+<p>I hope it will not for a moment be supposed we would willingly
+throw any ridicule or discouragement on the Scottish national
+tendencies on the subject, or that we are not proud of Scotland's
+example of a sacred observance of the fourth commandment in the
+letter and the spirit. We refer now to injudicious extremes, such,
+indeed, as our Lord condemned, and which seem a fair subject for
+notice amongst Scottish peculiarities. But the philosophy of the
+question is curious. Scotland has ever made her boast of the
+simplest form of worship, and a worship free from ceremonial, more
+even than the Church of England, which is received as, in doctrine
+and ritual, the Church of the Reformation. In some respects,
+therefore, may you truly say the only standing recognised
+observance in the ceremonial part of Presbyterian worship is the
+Sabbath day--an observance which has been pushed in times past even
+beyond the extreme of a spirit of Judaism, as if the sabbatical
+ceremonial were made a substitute for all other ceremony. In this,
+as well as in other matters which we have pointed out, what changes
+have taken place, what changes are going on! It may be difficult to
+assign precise causes for such changes having taken place among us,
+and that during the lifetime of individuals now living to remember
+them. It has been a period for many changes in manners, habits, and
+forms of language, such as we have endeavoured to mark in this
+volume. The fact of such changes is indisputable, and sometimes it
+is difficult not only to assign the causes for them, but even to
+describe in what the changes themselves consist. They are gradual,
+and almost imperceptible. Scottish people lose their Scotchness;
+they leave home, and return without those expressions and
+intonations, and even peculiarity of voice and manner, which used
+to distinguish us from Southern neighbours. In all this, I fear, we
+lose our originality. It has not passed away, but with every
+generation becomes less like the real type.</p>
+<p>I would introduce here a specimen of the precise sort of changes
+to which I would refer, as an example of the reminiscences intended
+to be introduced into these pages. We have in earlier editions
+given an account of the pains taken by Lord Gardenstone to extend
+and improve his rising village of Laurencekirk; amongst other
+devices he had brought down, as settlers, a variety of artificers
+and workmen from England. With these he had introduced a
+<i>hatter</i> from Newcastle; but on taking him to church next day
+after his arrival, the poor man saw that he might decamp without
+loss of time, as he could not expect much success in his calling at
+Laurencekirk; in fact, he found Lord Gardenstone's and his own the
+only hats in the kirk--the men all wore then the flat Lowland
+bonnet. But how quickly times change! My excellent friend, Mr.
+Gibbon of Johnstone, Lord Gardenstone's own place, which is near
+Laurencekirk, tells me that at the present time <i>one</i> solitary
+Lowland bonnet lingers in the parish.</p>
+<p>Hats are said to have been first brought into Inverness by
+Duncan Forbes of Culloden, the Lord President, who died in 1747.
+Forbes is reported to have presented the provost and bailies with
+cocked hats, which they wore only on Sundays and council days.
+About 1760 a certain Deacon Young began daily to wear a hat, and
+the country people crowding round him, the Deacon used humorously
+to say, "What do you see about me, sirs? am I not a mortal man like
+yourselves?" The broad blue bonnets I speak of long continued to be
+worn in the Highland capital, and are still occasionally to be seen
+there, though generally superseded by the Glengarry bonnet and
+ordinary hat. It is a minor change, but a very decided one.</p>
+<p>The changes which have taken place, and which give rise to such
+"Reminiscences," are very numerous, and meet us at every turn in
+society. Take, for example, the case of our Highland chieftains. We
+may still retain the appellation, and talk of the chiefs of
+Clanranald, of Glengarry, etc. But how different is a chieftain of
+the present day, even from some of those of whom Sir Walter Scott
+wrote as existing so late as 1715 or 1745! Dr. Gregory (of immortal
+<i>mixture</i> memory) used to tell a story of an old Highland
+chieftain, intended to show how such Celtic potentates were, even
+in his day, still inclined to hold themselves superior to all the
+usual considerations which affected ordinary mortals. The doctor,
+after due examination, had, in his usual decided and blunt manner,
+pronounced the liver of a Highlander to be at fault, and to be the
+cause of his ill-health. His patient, who could not but consider
+this as taking a great liberty with a Highland chieftain, roared
+out--"And what the devil is it to you whether I have a liver or
+not?" But there is the case of dignity in Lowland Lairds as well as
+clan-headship in Highland Chiefs. In proof of this, I need only
+point to a practice still lingering amongst us of calling landed
+proprietors, not as Mr. So-and-so, but by the names of their
+estates. I recollect, in my early days, a number of our proprietors
+were always so designated. Thus, it was not as Mr. Carnegie, Mr.
+Douglas, Mr. Irvine, etc., but as Craigo, Tillwhilly, Drum,
+etc.</p>
+<p>An amusing application of such a territorial denominative system
+to the locality of London was narrated to me by a friend who
+witnessed it. A Scottish gentleman, who had never been in the
+metropolis, arrived fresh from the Highlands, and met a small party
+at the house of a London friend. A person was present of most
+agreeable manners, who delighted the Scotsman exceedingly. He heard
+the company frequently referring to this gentleman's residence in
+Piccadilly, to his house in Piccadilly, and so on. When addressed
+by the gentleman, he commenced his reply, anxious to pay him all
+due respect--"Indeed, Piccadilly," etc. He supposed Piccadilly must
+be his own territorial locality. Another instance of mistake,
+arising out of Scottish ignorance of London ways, was made by a
+North Briton on his first visit to the great city. He arrived at a
+hotel in Fleet Street, where many of the country coaches then put
+up. On the following morning he supposed that such a crowd as he
+encountered could only proceed from some "occasion," and must pass
+off in due time. Accordingly, a friend from Scotland found him
+standing in a doorway, as if waiting for some one. His countryman
+asked him what made him stand there. To which he answered--"Ou, I
+was just stan'ing till the kirk had scaled." The ordinary
+appearance of his native borough made the crowd of Fleet Street
+suggest to him the idea of a church crowd passing out to their
+several homes, called in Scotland a "kirk scaling." A London street
+object called forth a similar simple remark from a Scotsman. He had
+come to London on his way to India, and for a few days had time to
+amuse himself by sight-seeing before his departure. He had been
+much struck with the appearance of the mounted sentinels at the
+Horse Guards, Whitehall, and bore them in remembrance during his
+Eastern sojourn. On his return, after a period of thirty years, on
+passing the Horse Guards, he looked up to one, and seeing him, as
+he thought, unchanged as to horse, position, and accoutrements, he
+exclaimed--"Od, freend, ye hae had a lang spell on't sin' I left,"
+supposing him to be the identical sentinel he had seen before he
+sailed.</p>
+<p>It is interesting to preserve national peculiarities which are
+thus passing away from us. One great pleasure I have had in their
+collection, and that is the numerous and sympathetic communications
+I have received from Scotsmen, I may literally say from Scotsmen
+<i>in all quarters of the world</i>; sometimes communicating very
+good examples of Scottish humour, and always expressing their great
+pleasure in reading, when in distant lands and foreign scenes,
+anecdotes which reminded them of Scotland, and of their ain days of
+"auld langsyne."</p>
+<p>There is no mistaking the national attachment so strong in the
+Scottish character. Men return after long absence, in this respect,
+unchanged; whilst absent, Scotsmen <i>never</i> forget their
+Scottish home. In all varieties of lands and climates their hearts
+ever turn towards the "land o' cakes and brither Scots." Scottish
+festivals are kept with Scottish feeling on "Greenland's icy
+mountains" or "India's coral strand." I received an amusing account
+of an ebullition of this patriotic feeling from my late noble
+friend the Marquis of Lothian, who met with it when travelling in
+India. He happened to arrive at a station upon the eve of St.
+Andrew's Day, and received an invitation to join a Scottish dinner
+party in commemoration of old Scotland. There was a great deal of
+Scottish enthusiasm. There were <i>seven</i> sheep-heads (singed)
+down the table; and Lord Lothian told me that after dinner he sang
+with great applause "The Laird o' Cockpen."</p>
+<p>Another anecdote arising out of Scotsmen meeting in distant
+lands, is rather of a more serious character, and used to be told
+with exquisite humour by the late lamented Dr. Norman Macleod. A
+settler in Australia, who for a long time had heard nothing of his
+Scottish kith and kin, was delighted at the arrival of a countryman
+direct from his own part of the country. When he met with him, the
+following conversation took place between them:--<i>Q</i>. "Ye ken
+my fouk, friend; can ye tell me gin my faather's alive?"
+<i>A</i>.--"Hout, na; he's deed." <i>Q</i>.--"Deed! What did he dee
+o'? was it fever?" <i>A</i>.--"Na, it wasna fever." <i>Q</i>.--"Was
+it cholera?" <i>A</i>.--"Na." The question being pressed, the
+stranger drily said, "Sheep," and then he accompanied the ominous
+word by delicately and significantly pointing to the jugular under
+his ear. The man had been hanged for sheep-stealing!</p>
+<p>It must always be amusing for Scotsmen to meet in distant lands,
+and there to play off on each other the same dry, quaint humour
+which delighted them in their native land, and in their early days
+at home. An illustration of this remark has been communicated by a
+kind correspondent at Glasgow. Mrs. Hume, a true Scot, sends me the
+following dialogue, accompanied by a very clever etching of the
+parties, from the Melbourne <i>Punch</i>, August 17, 1871, headed
+"Too Poor,--<i>Night of Waverley Concert</i>."</p>
+<p><i>Southron</i>.--You here, Mac! you ought to have been at the
+concert, you know. Aren't you one of the 'Scots wha hae?'</p>
+<p><i>Mac</i>.--Indeed no. I'm are o' the Scots wha hae na, or I
+wadna be here the nicht.</p>
+<p>He would not have stayed at home if he had been one of the
+"Scots wha hae."</p>
+<p>I am assured that the genuineness of the following anecdote is
+unquestionable, as my informant received it from the person to whom
+it occurred. A popular Anglican Nonconformist minister was residing
+with a family in Glasgow while on a visit to that city, whither he
+had gone on a deputation from the Wesleyan Missionary Society.
+After dinner, in reply to an invitation to partake of some fine
+fruit, he mentioned to the family a curious circumstance concerning
+himself--viz. that he had never in his life tasted an apple, pear,
+grape, or indeed any kind of green fruit. This fact seemed to evoke
+considerable surprise from the company, but a cautious Scotsman, of
+a practical, matter-of-fact turn of mind, who had listened with
+much unconcern, drily remarked, "It's a peety but ye had been in
+Paradise, and there micht na hae been ony faa." I have spoken
+elsewhere of the cool matter-of-fact manner in which the awful
+questions connected with the funerals of friends are often
+approached by Scottish people, without the least intention or
+purpose of being irreverent or unfeeling. By the kindness of Mr.
+Lyon, I am enabled to give an authentic anecdote of a curious
+character, illustrative of this habit of mind, and I cannot do
+better than give it in his own words:--"An old tenant of my late
+father, George Lyon of Wester Ogil, many years ago, when on his
+deathbed, and his end near at hand, his wife thus addressed him:
+'Willie, Willie, as lang as ye can speak, tell us are ye for your
+burial-baps round or <i>square</i>?' Willie having responded to
+this inquiry, was next asked if the <i>murners</i> were to have
+<i>glooes</i> (gloves) or mittens, the former being articles with
+fingers, the latter having only a thumb-piece; and Willie, having
+also answered this question, was allowed to depart in peace."</p>
+<p>There could not be a better example of this familiar handling,
+without meaning offence, than one which has just been sent to me by
+a kind correspondent. I give her own words. "Happening to call on a
+poor neighbour, I asked after the children of a person who lived
+close by." She replied, "They're no hame yet; gaed awa to the
+English kirk to get <i>a clap</i> o' <i>the heid</i>. It was the
+day of <i>confirmation</i> for St. Paul's. This definition of the
+'outward and visible sign' would look rather odd in the catechism.
+But the poor woman said it from no disrespect; it was merely her
+way of answering my question." But remarks on serious subjects
+often go to deeper views of religious matters than might be
+expected from the position of the parties and the terms made use
+of.</p>
+<p>Of the wise and shrewd judgment of the Scottish character, as
+bearing upon religious pretensions, I have an apt example from my
+friend Dr. Norman Macleod. During one of the late revivals in
+Scotland, a small farmer went about preaching with much fluency and
+zeal the doctrine of a "full assurance" of faith, and expressed his
+belief of it for himself in such extravagant terms as few men would
+venture upon who were humble and cautious against presumption. The
+"preacher," being personally rather remarkable as a man of greedy
+and selfish views in life, excited some suspicion in the breast of
+an old sagacious countryman, a neighbour of Dr. Macleod, who asked
+him what <i>he</i> thought of John as a preacher, and of his
+doctrine. Scratching his head, as if in some doubt, he replied,
+"I'm no verra sure o' Jock. I never ken't a man <i>sae sure o'
+Heaven, and sae sweert to be gaing tae't</i>." He showed his
+sagacity, for John was soon after in prison for theft.</p>
+<p>Another story gives a good idea of the Scottish matter-of-fact
+view of things being brought to bear upon a religious question
+without meaning to be profane or irreverent. Dr. Macleod was on a
+Highland loch when a storm came on which threatened serious
+consequences. The doctor, a large powerful man, was accompanied by
+a clerical friend of diminutive size and small appearance, who
+began to speak seriously to the boatmen of their danger, and
+proposed that all present should join in prayer. "Na, na," said the
+chief boatman; "let the <i>little</i> ane gang to pray, but first
+the big ane maun tak an oar." Illustrative of the same spirit was
+the reply of a Scotsman of the genuine old school, "Boatie" of
+Deeside, of whom I have more to say, to a relative of mine. He had
+been nearly lost in a squall, and saved after great exertion, and
+was told by my aunt that he should be grateful to providence for
+his safety. The man, not meaning to be at all ungrateful, but
+viewing his preservation in the purely hard matter-of-fact light,
+quietly answered, "Weel, weel, Mrs. Russell; Providence here or
+Providence there, an I hadna worked sair mysell I had been
+drouned."</p>
+<p>Old Mr. Downie, the parish minister of Banchory, was noted, in
+my earliest days, for his quiet pithy remarks on men and things, as
+they came before him. His reply to his son, of whose social
+position he had no very exalted opinion, was of this class. Young
+Downie had come to visit his father from the West Indies, and told
+him that on his return he was to be married to a lady whose high
+qualities and position he spoke of in extravagant terms. He assured
+his father that she was "quite young, was very rich, and very
+beautiful." "Aweel, Jemmy," said the old man, very quietly and very
+slily, "I'm thinking there maun be some <i>faut</i>." Of the dry
+sarcasm we have a good example in the quiet utterance of a good
+Scottish phrase by an elder of a Free Kirk lately formed. The
+minister was an eloquent man, and had attracted one of the
+town-council, who, it was known, hardly ever entered the door of a
+church, and now came on motives of curiosity. He was talking very
+grand to some of the congregation: "Upon my word, your minister is
+a very eloquent man. Indeed, he will quite convert me." One of the
+elders, taking the word in a higher sense than the speaker
+intended, quietly replied, "Indeed, Bailie, there's <i>muckle
+need</i>."</p>
+<p>A kind correspondent sends me an illustration of this quaint
+matter-of-fact view of a question as affecting the sentiments or
+the feelings. He tells me he knew an old lady who was a stout large
+woman, and who with this state of body had many ailments, which she
+bore cheerfully and patiently. When asked one day by a friend, "How
+she was keeping," she replied, "Ou, just middling; there's <i>ower
+muckle o' me</i> to be a' weel at ae time." No Englishwoman would
+have given such an answer. The same class of character is very
+strongly marked in a story which was told by Mr. Thomas Constable,
+who has a keen appreciation of a good Scottish story, and tells it
+inimitably. He used to visit an old lady who was much attenuated by
+long illness, and on going up stairs one tremendously hot
+afternoon, the daughter was driving away the flies, which were very
+troublesome, and was saying, "Thae flies will eat up a' that
+remains o' my puir mither." The old lady opened her eyes, and the
+last words she spoke were, "What's left o' me's guid eneuch for
+them."</p>
+<p>The spirit of caution and wariness by which the Scottish
+character is supposed to be distinguished has given rise to many of
+these national anecdotes.</p>
+<p>Certainly this cautious spirit thus pervaded the opinions of the
+Scottish architect who was called upon to erect a building in
+England upon the long-lease system, so common with Anglican
+proprietors, but quite new to our Scottish friend. When he found
+the proposal was to build upon the tenure of 999 years, he quietly
+suggested, "Culd ye no mak it a <i>thousand</i>? 999 years'll be
+slippin' awa'."</p>
+<p>But of all the cautious and careful answers we ever heard of was
+one given by a carpenter to an old lady in Glasgow, for whom he was
+working, and the anecdote is well authenticated. She had offered
+him a dram, and asked him whether he would have it then or wait
+till his work was done--"Indeed, mem," he said, "there's been sic a
+power o' sudden deaths lately that I'll just tak it now." He would
+guard against contingency and secure his dram.</p>
+<p>The following is a good specimen of the same humour:--A minister
+had been preaching against covetousness and the love of money, and
+had frequently repeated how "love of money was the root of all
+evil" Two old bodies walking home from church--one said, "An' wasna
+the minister strang upo' the money?" "Nae doubt," said the other,
+rather hesitatingly; and added, "ay, but it's grand to hae the wee
+bit siller in your haund when ye gang an errand."</p>
+<p>I have still another specimen of this national, cool, and
+deliberative view of a question, which seems characteristic of the
+temperament of our good countrymen. Some time back, when it was not
+uncommon for challenges to be given and accepted for insults, or
+supposed insults, an English gentleman was entertaining a party at
+Inverness with an account of the wonders he had seen and the deeds
+he had performed in India, from whence he had lately arrived. He
+enlarged particularly upon the size of the tigers he had met with
+at different times in his travels, and by way of corroborating his
+statements, assured the company that he had shot one himself
+considerably above forty feet long. A Scottish gentleman present,
+who thought that these narratives rather exceeded a traveller's
+allowed privileges, coolly said that no doubt those were very
+remarkable tigers; but that he could assure the gentleman there
+were in that northern part of the country some wonderful animals,
+and, as an example, he cited the existence of a skate-fish captured
+off Thurso, which exceeded half-an-acre in extent. The Englishman
+saw this was intended as a sarcasm against his own story, so he
+left the room in indignation, and sent his friend, according to the
+old plan, to demand satisfaction or an apology from the gentleman,
+who had, he thought, insulted him. The narrator of the skate story
+coolly replied, "Weel, sir, gin yer freend will tak' a few feet aff
+the length o' his tiger, we'll see what can be dune about the
+breadth o' the skate." He was too cautious to commit himself to a
+rash or decided course of conduct. When the tiger was shortened, he
+would take into consideration a reduction of superficial area in
+his skate.</p>
+<p>A kind correspondent has sent me about as good a specimen of dry
+Scottish quiet humour as I know. A certain Aberdeenshire laird, who
+kept a very good poultry-yard, could not command a fresh egg for
+his breakfast, and felt much aggrieved by the want. One day,
+however, he met his grieve's wife with a nice basket, and very
+suspiciously going towards the market; on passing and speaking a
+word, he was enabled to discover that her basket was full of
+beautiful white eggs. Next time he talked with his grieve, he said
+to him, "James, I like you very well, and I think you serve me
+faithfully, but I cannot say I admire your wife." To which the cool
+reply was, "Oh, 'deed, sir, I'm no surprised at that, for I dinna
+muckle admire her mysel'."</p>
+<p>An answer very much resembling this, and as much to the point,
+was that of a gudewife on Deeside, whose daughter had just been
+married and had left her for her new home. A lady asked the mother
+very kindly about her daughter, and said she hoped she liked her
+new home and new relations. "Ou, my lady, she likes the parish weel
+eneuch, but she doesna think muckle o' her <i>man</i>!"</p>
+<p>The natives of Aberdeenshire are distinguished for the two
+qualities of being very acute in their remarks and very peculiar in
+their language. Any one may still gain a thorough knowledge of
+Aberdeen dialect and see capital examples of Aberdeen humour. I
+have been supplied with a remarkable example of this combination of
+Aberdeen shrewdness with Aberdeen dialect. In the course of the
+week after the Sunday on which several elders of an Aberdeen parish
+had been set apart for parochial offices, a knot of the
+parishioners had assembled at what was in all parishes a great
+place of resort for idle gossiping--the smiddy or blacksmith's
+workshop. The qualifications of the new elders were severely
+criticised. One of the speakers emphatically laid down that the
+minister should not have been satisfied, and had in fact made a
+most unfortunate choice. He was thus answered by another parish
+oracle--perhaps the schoolmaster, perhaps a weaver:--"Fat better
+culd the man dee nir he's dune?--he bud tae big's dyke wi' the feal
+at fit o't." He meant there was no choice of material--he could
+only take what offered.</p>
+<p>By the kindness of Dr. Begg, I have a most amusing anecdote to
+illustrate how deeply long-tried associations were mixed up with
+the habits of life in the older generation. A junior minister
+having to assist at a church in a remote part of Aberdeenshire, the
+parochial minister (one of the old school) promised his young
+friend a good glass of whisky-toddy after all was over, adding
+slily and very significantly, "and gude <i>smuggled</i> whusky."
+His Southron guest thought it incumbent to say, "Ah, minister,
+that's wrong, is it not? you know it is contrary to Act of
+Parliament." The old Aberdonian could not so easily give up his
+fine whisky to what he considered an unjust interference; so he
+quietly said, "Oh, Acts o' Parliament lose their breath before they
+get to Aberdeenshire."</p>
+<p>There is something very amusing in the idea of what may be
+called the "fitness of things," in regard to snuff-taking, which
+occurred to an honest Highlander, a genuine lover of sneeshin. At
+the door of the Blair-Athole Hotel he observed standing a
+magnificent man in full tartans, and noticed with much admiration
+the wide dimensions of his nostrils in a fine upturned nose. He
+accosted him, and, as his most complimentary act, offered him his
+mull for a pinch. The stranger drew up, and rather haughtily said:
+"I never take snuff." "Oh," said the other, "that's a peety, for
+there's grand <i>accommodation</i><a name="FNanchor15"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_15">[15]</a>!"</p>
+<p>I don't know a better example of the sly sarcasm than the
+following answer of a Scottish servant to the violent command of
+his enraged master. A well-known coarse and abusive Scottish law
+functionary, when driving out of his grounds, was shaken by his
+carriage coming in contact with a large stone at the gate. He was
+very angry, and ordered the gatekeeper to have it removed before
+his return. On driving home, however, he encountered another severe
+shock by the wheels coming in contact with the very same stone,
+which remained in the very same place. Still more irritated than
+before, in his usual coarse language he called the gatekeeper, and
+roared out: "You rascal, if you don't send that beastly stone to
+h---, I'll break your head." "Well," said the man quietly, and as
+if he had received an order which he had to execute, and without
+meaning anything irreverent, "aiblins gin it were sent to heevan
+<i>it wad be mair out o' your Lordship's way</i>."</p>
+<p>I think about as cool a Scottish "aside" as I know, was that of
+the old dealer who, when exhorting his son to practise honesty in
+his dealings, on the ground of its being the "best policy," quietly
+added, "I <i>hae tried baith</i>"</p>
+<p>In this work frequent mention is made of a class of old
+<i>ladies</i>, generally residing in small towns, who retained till
+within the memory of many now living the special characteristics I
+have referred to. Owing to local connection, I have brought forward
+those chiefly who lived in Montrose and the neighbourhood. But the
+race is extinct; you might as well look for hoops and farthingales
+in society as for such characters now. You can scarcely imagine an
+old lady, however quaint, now making use of some of the expressions
+recorded in the text, or saying, for the purpose of breaking up a
+party of which she was tired, from holding bad cards, "We'll stop
+now, bairns; I'm no enterteened;" or urging more haste in going to
+church on the plea, "Come awa, or I'll be ower late for the 'wicked
+man'"--her mode of expressing the commencement of the service.</p>
+<p>Nothing could better illustrate the quiet pawky style for which
+our countrymen have been distinguished, than the old story of the
+piper and the wolves. A Scottish piper was passing through a deep
+forest. In the evening he sat down to take his supper. He had
+hardly begun, when a number of hungry wolves, prowling about for
+food, collected round him. In self-defence, the poor man began to
+throw pieces of his victuals to them, which they greedily devoured.
+When he had disposed of all, in a fit of despair he took his pipes
+and began to play. The unusual sound terrified the wolves, which,
+one and all, took to their heels and scampered off in every
+direction: on observing which, Sandy quietly remarked, "Od, an I'd
+kenned ye liket the pipes sae weel, I'd a gien ye a spring
+<i>afore</i> supper."</p>
+<p>This imperturbable mode of looking at the events of life is
+illustrated by perhaps the <i>most</i> cautious answer on record,
+of the Scotsman who, being asked if he could play the fiddle,
+warily answered, "He couldna say, for he had never tried." But take
+other cases. For example: One tremendously hot day, during the old
+stage-coach system, I was going down to Portobello, when the
+coachman drew up to take in a gentleman who had hailed him on the
+road. He was evidently an Englishman--a fat man, and in a perfect
+state of "thaw and dissolution" from the heat and dust. He wiped
+himself, and exclaimed, as a remark addressed to the company
+generally, "D----d hot it is." No one said anything for a time,
+till a man in the corner slily remarked, "I dinna doubt, sir, but
+it may." The cautiousness against committing himself unreservedly
+to any proposition, however plausible, was quite delicious.</p>
+<p>A more determined objection to giving a categorical answer
+occurred, as I have been assured, in regard to a more profound
+question. A party travelling on a railway got into deep discussion
+on theological questions. Like Milton's spirits in Pandemonium,
+they had</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p class="i9">"Reason'd high</p>
+<p>Of providence, fore-knowledge, will, and fate--</p>
+<p>Fix'd fate, free-will, fore-knowledge absolute;</p>
+<p>And found no end, in wand'ring mazes lost."</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<p>A plain Scotsman present seemed much interested in these
+matters, and having expressed himself as not satisfied with the
+explanations which had been elicited in the course of discussion on
+a particular point regarding predestination, one of the party said
+to him that he had observed a minister, whom they all knew, in the
+adjoining compartment, and that when the train stopped at the next
+station a few minutes, he could go and ask <i>his</i> opinion. The
+good man accordingly availed himself of the opportunity to get hold
+of the minister, and lay their difficulty before him. He returned
+in time to resume his own place, and when they had started again,
+the gentleman who had advised him, finding him not much disposed to
+voluntary communication, asked if he had seen the minister. "O ay,"
+he said, "he had seen him." "And did you propose the question to
+him?" "O ay." "And what did he say?" "Oh, he just said he didna
+ken; and what was mair he didna <i>care!</i>"</p>
+<p>I have received the four following admirable anecdotes,
+illustrative of dry Scottish pawky humour, from an esteemed
+minister of the Scottish Church, the Rev. W. Mearns of Kinneff. I
+now record them nearly in the same words as his own kind
+communication. The anecdotes are as follow:--An aged minister of
+the old school, Mr. Patrick Stewart, one Sunday took to the pulpit
+a sermon without observing that the first leaf or two were so worn
+and eaten away that he couldn't decipher or announce the text. He
+was not a man, however, to be embarrassed or taken aback by a
+matter of this sort, but at once intimated the state of matters to
+the congregation,--"My brethren, I canna tell ye the text, for the
+mice hae eaten it; but we'll just begin whaur the mice left aff,
+and when I come to it I'll let you ken."</p>
+<p>In the year 1843, shortly after the Disruption, a parish
+minister had left the manse and removed to about a mile's distance.
+His pony got loose one day, and galloped down the road in the
+direction of the old glebe. The minister's man in charge ran after
+the pony in a great fuss, and when passing a large farm-steading on
+the way, cried out to the farmer, who was sauntering about, but did
+not know what had taken place--"Oh, sir, did <i>ye</i> see the
+minister's shault?" "No, no," was the answer,--"but what's
+happened?" "Ou, sir, fat do ye think? the minister's shault's
+<i>got lowse</i> frae his tether, an' I'm frichtened he's ta'en the
+road doun to the auld glebe." "Weel-a-wicht!"--was the shrewd
+clever rejoinder of the farmer, who was a keen supporter of the old
+parish church, "I wad <i>na</i> wonder at <i>that</i>. An' I'se
+warrant, gin the minister was gettin' <i>lowse</i> frae <i>his</i>
+tether, he wad jist tak the same road."</p>
+<p>An old clerical friend upon Speyside, a confirmed bachelor, on
+going up to the pulpit one Sunday to preach, found, after giving
+out the psalm, that he had forgotten his sermon. I do not know what
+his objections were to his leaving the pulpit, and going to the
+manse for his sermon, but he preferred sending his old confidential
+housekeeper for it. He accordingly stood up in the pulpit, stopped
+the singing which had commenced, and thus accosted his faithful
+domestic:--"Annie; I say, Annie, <i>we've</i> committed a mistak
+the day. Ye maun jist gang your waa's hame, and ye'll get my sermon
+oot o' my breek-pouch, an' we'll sing to the praise o' the Lord
+till ye come back again." Annie, of course, at once executed her
+important mission, and brought the sermon out of "the breek-pouch,"
+and the service, so far as we heard, was completed without further
+interruption.</p>
+<p>My dear friend, the late Rev. Dr. John Hunter, told me an
+anecdote very characteristic of the unimaginative matter-of-fact
+Scottish view of matters. One of the ministers of Edinburgh, a man
+of dry humour, had a daughter who had for some time passed the
+period of youth and of beauty. She had become an Episcopalian, an
+event which the Doctor accepted with much good-nature, and he was
+asking her one day if she did not intend to be confirmed. "Well,"
+she said, "I don't know. I understand Mr. Craig always kisses the
+candidates whom he prepares, and I could not stand that." "Indeed,
+Jeanie," said the Doctor slily, "gin Edward Craig <i>were</i> to
+gie ye a kiss, I dinna think ye would be muckle the waur."</p>
+<p>Many anecdotes characteristic of the Scottish peasant often turn
+upon words and ideas connected with Holy Scripture. This is not to
+be considered as in any sense profane or irreverent; but it arises
+from the Bible being to the peasantry of an older generation their
+library--their only book. We have constant indications of this
+almost exclusive familiarity with Scripture ideas. At the late
+ceremonial in the north, when the Archbishop of Canterbury laid the
+foundation of a Bishop's Church at Inverness, a number of persons,
+amid the general interest and kindly feeling displayed by the
+inhabitants, were viewing the procession from a hill as it passed
+along. When the clergy, to the number of sixty, came on, an old
+woman, who was watching the whole scene with some jealousy,
+exclaimed, at sight of the surplices, "There they go, the
+<i>whited</i> sepulchres!" I received another anecdote illustrative
+of the same remark from an esteemed minister of the Free Church: I
+mean of the hold which Scripture expressions have upon the minds of
+our Scottish peasantry. One of his flock was a sick nervous woman,
+who hardly ever left the house. But one fine afternoon, when she
+was left alone, she fancied she would like to get a little air in
+the field adjoining the house. Accordingly she put on a bonnet and
+wrapped herself in a huge red shawl. Creeping along the dyke-side,
+some cattle were attracted towards her, and first one and then
+another gathered round, and she took shelter in the ditch till she
+was relieved by some one coming up to her rescue. She afterwards
+described her feelings to her minister in strong language, adding,
+"And eh, sir! when I lay by the dyke, and the beasts round a'
+glowerin' at me, I thocht what Dauvid maun hae felt when he
+said--'Many bulls have compassed me; strong bulls of Bashan have
+beset me round.'"</p>
+<p>With the plainness and pungency of the old-fashioned Scottish
+language there was sometimes a coarseness of expression, which,
+although commonly repeated in the Scottish drawing-room of last
+century, could not now be tolerated. An example of a very plain and
+downright address of a laird has been recorded in the annals of
+"Forfarshire Lairdship." He had married one of the Misses Guthrie,
+who had a strong feeling towards the Presbyterian faith in which
+she had been brought up, although her husband was one of the
+zealous old school of Episcopalians. The young wife had invited her
+old friend, the parish minister, to tea, and had given him a
+splendid "<i>four hours."</i> Ere the table was cleared the laird
+came in unexpectedly, and thus expressed his indignation, not very
+delicately, at what he considered an unwarrantable exercise of
+hospitality at his cost:--"Helen Guthrie, ye'll no think to save
+yer ain saul at the expense of my meal-girnel!"</p>
+<p>The answer of an old woman under examination by the minister to
+the question from the Shorter Catechism--"What are the
+<i>decrees</i> of God?" could not have been surpassed by the
+General Assembly of the Kirk, or even the Synod of Dort--"Indeed,
+sir, He kens that best Himsell." We have an answer analogous to
+that, though not so pungent, in a catechumen of the late Dr.
+Johnston of Leith. She answered his own question, patting him on
+the shoulder--"'Deed, just tell it yersell, <i>bonny</i> doctor (he
+was a very handsome man); naebody can tell it better."</p>
+<p>To pass from the answers of "persons come to years of
+discretion"--I have elsewhere given examples of peculiar traits of
+character set forth in the answers of mere <i>children</i>, and no
+doubt a most amusing collection might be made of very juvenile
+"Scottish Reminiscences." One of these is now a very old story, and
+has long been current amongst us:--A little boy who attended a
+day-school in the neighbourhood, when he came home in the evening
+was always asked how he stood in his own class. The invariable
+answer made was, "I'm second dux," which means in Scottish
+academical language second from the top of the class. As his habits
+of application at home did not quite bear out the claim to so
+distinguished a position at school, one of the family ventured to
+ask what was the number in the class to which he was attached.
+After some hesitation he was obliged to admit: "Ou, there's jist me
+and <i>anither</i> lass." It was a very <i>practical</i> answer of
+the little girl, when asked the meaning of "darkness," as it
+occurred in Scripture reading--"Ou, just steek your een." On the
+question, What was the "pestilence that walketh in darkness"? being
+put to a class, a little boy answered, after consideration--"Ou,
+it's just <i>bugs</i>." I did not anticipate when in a former
+edition I introduced this answer, which I received from my nephew
+Sir Alexander Ramsay, that it would call forth a comment so
+interesting as one which I have received from Dr. Barber of
+Ulverston. He sends me an extract from Matthew's <i>Translation of
+the Bible</i>, which he received from Rev. L.R. Ayre, who possesses
+a copy of date 1553, from which it appears that Psalm xci. 5 was
+thus translated by Matthew, who adopted his translation from
+Coverdale and Tyndale:--"So that thou shalt not need to be afrayed
+for any bugge by nyght, nor for the arrow that flyeth by
+day<a name="FNanchor16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16">[16]</a>." Dr.
+Barber ingeniously remarks--"Is it possible the little boy's mother
+had one of these old Bibles, or is it merely a coincidence?"</p>
+<p>The innocent and unsophisticated answers of children on serious
+subjects are often very amusing. Many examples are recorded, and
+one I have received seems much to the point, and derives a good
+deal of its point from the Scottish turn of the expressions. An
+elder of the kirk having found a little boy and his sister playing
+marbles on Sunday, put his reproof in this form, not a judicious
+one for a child:--"Boy, do ye know where children go to who play
+marbles on Sabbath-day?" "Ay," said the boy, "they gang doun' to
+the field by the water below the brig." "No," roared out the elder,
+"they go to hell, and are burned." The little fellow, really
+shocked, called to his sister, "Come awa', Jeanie, here's a man
+swearing awfully."</p>
+<p>A Scotch story like that of the little boy, of which the humour
+consisted in the dry application of the terms in a sense different
+from what was intended by the speaker, was sent to me, but has got
+spoilt by passing through the press. It must be Scotch, or at
+least, is composed of Scottish materials--the Shorter Catechism and
+the bagpipes. A piper was plying his trade in the streets, and a
+strict elder of the kirk, desirous to remind him that it was a
+somewhat idle and profitless occupation, went up to him and
+proposed solemnly the first question of the Shorter Catechism,
+"What is the chief end of man?" The good piper, thinking only of
+his own business, and supposing that the question had reference to
+some pipe melody, innocently answered, "Na, I dinna ken the tune,
+but if ye'll whistle it I'll try and play it for ye."</p>
+<p>I have said before, and I would repeat the remark again and
+again, that the object of this work is <i>not</i> to string
+together mere funny stories, or to collect amusing anecdotes. We
+have seen such collections, in which many of the anecdotes are mere
+Joe Millers translated into Scotch. The purport of these pages has
+been throughout to illustrate Scottish life and character, by
+bringing forward those modes and forms of expression by which alone
+our national peculiarities can be familiarly illustrated and
+explained. Besides Scottish replies and expressions which are most
+characteristic--and in fact unique for dry humour, for quaint and
+exquisite wit--I have often referred to a consideration of dialect
+and proverbs. There can be no doubt there is a force and beauty in
+our Scottish <i>phraseology</i>, as well as a quaint humour,
+considered merely <i>as</i> phraseology, peculiar to itself. I have
+spoken of the phrase "Auld langsyne," and of other words, which may
+be compared in their Anglican and Scottish form. Take the familiar
+term common to many singing-birds. The English word linnet does
+not, to my mind, convey so much of simple beauty and of pastoral
+ideas as belong to our Scottish word LINTIE.</p>
+<p>I recollect hearing the Rev. Dr. Norman Macleod give a most
+interesting account of his visit to Canada. In the course of his
+eloquent narrative he mentioned a conversation he had with a
+Scottish emigrant, who in general terms spoke favourably and
+gratefully of his position in his adopted country. But he could not
+help making this exception when he thought of the "banks and braes
+o' bonny Doon"--"But oh, sir," he said, "there are nae
+<i>linties</i> i' the wuds." How touching the words in his own
+dialect! The North American woods, although full of birds of
+beautiful plumage, it is well known have no singing-birds.</p>
+<p>A worthy Scottish Episcopal minister one day met a townsman, a
+breeder and dealer in singing-birds. The man told him he had just
+had a child born in his family, and asked him if he would baptize
+it. He thought the minister could not resist the offer of a bird.
+"Eh, Maister Shaw," he said, "if ye'll jist do it, I hae a fine
+lintie the noo, and if ye'll do it, I'll gie ye the lintie." He
+quite thought that this would settle the matter!</p>
+<p>By these remarks I mean to express the feeling that the word
+<i>lintie</i> conveys to my mind more of tenderness and endearment
+towards the little songster than linnet. And this leads me to a
+remark (which I do not remember to have met with) that Scottish
+dialects are peculiarly rich in such terms of endearment, more so
+than the pure Anglican. Without at all pretending to exhaust the
+subject, I may cite the following as examples of the class of terms
+I speak of. Take the names for parents--"Daddie" and "Minnie;"
+names for children, "My wee bit lady" or "laddie," "My wee bit
+lamb;" of a general nature, "My ain kind dearie." "Dawtie,"
+especially used to young people, described by Jamieson a darling or
+favourite, one who is <i>dawted</i>--<i>i.e.</i> fondled or
+caressed. My "joe" expresses affection with familiarity, evidently
+derived from <i>joy</i>, an easy transition--as "My joe, Janet;"
+"John Anderson, my joe, John." Of this character is Burns's address
+to a wife, "My winsome"--<i>i.e.</i> charming, engaging--"wee
+thing;" also to a wife, "My winsome marrow"--the latter word
+signifying a dear companion, one of a pair closely allied to each
+other; also the address of Rob the Ranter to Maggie Lauder, "My
+bonnie bird." Now, we would remark, upon this abundant nomenclature
+of kindly expressions in the Scottish dialect, that it assumes an
+interesting position as taken in connection with the Scottish Life
+and <i>Character</i>, and as a set-off against a frequent short and
+<i>grumpy</i> manner. It indicates how often there must be a
+current of tenderness and affection in the Scottish heart, which is
+so frequently represented to be, like its climate, "stern and
+wild." There could not be such <i>terms</i> were the feelings they
+express unknown. I believe it often happens that in the Scottish
+character there is a vein of deep and kindly feeling lying hid
+under a short, and hard and somewhat stern manner. Hence has arisen
+the Scottish saying which is applicable to such cases--"His girn's
+waur than his bite:" his disposition is of a softer nature than his
+words and manner would often lead you to suppose.</p>
+<p>There are two admirable articles in <i>Blackwood's Magazine,</i>
+in the numbers for November and December 1870, upon this subject.
+The writer abundantly vindicates the point and humour of the
+Scottish tongue. Who can resist, for example, the epithet applied
+by Meg Merrilies to an unsuccessful probationer for admission to
+the ministry:--"a sticket stibbler"? Take the sufficiency of Holy
+Scripture as a pledge for any one's salvation:--"There's eneuch
+between the brods o' the Testament to save the biggest sinner i'
+the warld." I heard an old Scottish Episcopalian thus pithily
+describe the hasty and irreverent manner of a young
+Englishman:--"He ribbled aff the prayers like a man at the heid o'
+a regiment." A large family of young children has been termed "a
+great sma' family." It was a delicious dry rejoinder to the
+question--"Are you Mr. So-and-so?" "It's a' that's o' me"
+(<i>i.e.</i> to be had for him.) I have heard an old Scottish
+gentleman direct his servant to mend the fire by saying, "I think,
+Dauvid, we wadna be the waur o' some coals."</p>
+<p>There is a pure Scottish term, which I have always thought more
+expressive than any English word of ideas connected with manners in
+society--I mean the word to blether, or blethering, or blethers.
+Jamieson defines it to "talk nonsense." But it expresses far
+more--it expresses powerfully, to Scottish people, a person at once
+shallow, chattering, conceited, tiresome, voluble.</p>
+<p>There is a delicious servantgirlism, often expressed in an
+answer given at the door to an inquirer: "Is your master at home,
+or mistress?" as the case may be. The problem is to save the direct
+falsehood, and yet evade the visit; so the answer is--"Ay, he or
+she is at hame; but he's no <i>in</i>"</p>
+<p>The transition from Scottish <i>expressions</i> to Scottish
+Poetry is easy and natural. In fact, the most interesting feature
+now belonging to Scottish life and social habits is, to a certain
+extent, becoming with many a matter of reminiscence of <i>Poetry in
+the Scottish dialect</i>, as being the most permanent and the most
+familiar feature of Scottish characteristics. It is becoming a
+matter of history, in so far as we find that it has for some time
+ceased to be cultivated with much ardour, or to attract much
+popularity. In fact, since the time of Burns, it has been losing
+its hold on the public mind. It is a remarkable fact that neither
+Scott nor Wilson, both admirers of Burns, both copious writers of
+poetry themselves, both also so distinguished as writers of
+Scottish <i>prose</i>, should have written any poetry strictly in
+the form of pure Scottish dialect. "Jock o' Hazeldean" I hardly
+admit to be an exception. It is not Scottish. If, indeed, Sir
+Walter wrote the scrap of the beautiful ballad in the
+"Antiquary"--</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>"Now haud your tongue, baith wife and carle,</p>
+<p class="i1">And listen, great and sma',</p>
+<p>And I will sing of Glenallan's Earl,</p>
+<p class="i1">That fought at the red Harlaw"--</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<p>one cannot but regret that he had not written more of the same.
+Campbell, a poet and a Scotsman, has not attempted it. In short, we
+do not find poetry in the Scottish dialect at all <i>kept up</i> in
+Scotland. It is every year becoming more a matter of research and
+reminiscence. Nothing new is added to the old stock, and indeed it
+is surprising to see the ignorance and want of interest displayed
+by many young persons in this department of literature. How few
+read the works of Allan Ramsay, once so popular, and still so full
+of pastoral imagery! There are occasionally new editions of the
+<i>Gentle Shepherd</i>, but I suspect for a limited class of
+readers. I am assured the boys of the High School, Academy, etc.,
+do not care even for Burns. As poetry in the Scottish dialect is
+thus slipping away from the public Scottish mind, I thought it very
+suitable to a work of this character to supply a list of modern
+<i>Scottish dialect writers</i>. This I am able to provide by the
+kindness of our distinguished antiquary, Mr. David Laing--the
+fulness and correctness of whose acquirements are only equalled by
+his readiness and courtesy in communicating his information to
+others:--</p>
+<br>
+<p>SCOTTISH POETS OF THE LAST CENTURY.</p>
+<p>ALLAN RAMSAY. B. 1686. D. 1757. His <i>Gentle Shepherd</i>,
+completed in 1725, and his <i>Collected Poems</i> in 1721-1728.</p>
+<p>It cannot be said there was any want of successors, however
+obscure, following in the same track. Those chiefly deserving of
+notice were--</p>
+<p>ALEXANDER Ross of Lochlee. B. 1700. D. 1783. <i>The Fortunate
+Shepherdess</i>.</p>
+<p>ROBERT FERGUSSON. B. 1750. D. 1774. <i>Leith Races, Caller
+Oysters</i>, etc.</p>
+<p>REV. JOHN SKINNER. B. 1721. D. 1807. <i>Tullochgorum</i>.</p>
+<p>ROBERT BURNS. B. 1759. D. 1796.</p>
+<p>ALEXANDER, FOURTH DUKE OF GORDON. B. 1743. D. 1827. <i>Cauld
+Kail in Aberdeen</i>.</p>
+<p>ALEXANDER WILSON of Paisley, who latterly distinguished himself
+as an American ornithologist. B. 1766. D. 1813. <i>Watty and
+Meg</i>.</p>
+<p>HECTOR MACNEILL. B. 1746. D. 1818. <i>Will and Jean</i>.</p>
+<p>ROBERT TANNAHILL. B. 1774. D. 1810. <i>Songs</i>.</p>
+<p>JAMES HOGG. B. 1772. D. 1835.</p>
+<p>ALLAN CUNNINGHAM. B. 1784. D. 1842.</p>
+<br>
+<p>To this list we must add the names of Lady Nairne and Lady Anne
+Lindsay. To the former we are indebted for "The Land o' the Leal,"
+"The Laird o' Cockpen," and "The Auld Hoose;" to the latter for
+"Auld Robin Gray:" and our wonder is, how those who could write so
+charmingly should have written so little.</p>
+<p>I have no intention of discussing the general question of
+Scottish poetry--of defending or eulogising, or of apologising for
+anything belonging to it. There are songs in broad Scottish dialect
+of which the beauty and the power will never be lost. Words of
+Burns, Allan Ramsay, and Lady Nairne, must ever speak to hearts
+that are true to nature. I am desirous of bringing before my
+readers at this time the name of a Scottish poet, which, though in
+Mr. Laing's list, I fear is become rather a reminiscence. It is
+fifty years since his poetical pieces were published in a collected
+form. I am desirous of giving a special notice of a true-hearted
+Scotsman, and a genuine Scottish poet, under both characters. I
+look with a tender regard to the memory of the Rev. JOHN SKINNER of
+Langside. He has written little in quantity, but it is all
+charming. He was a good Christian minister. He was a man of
+learning--a man of liberal and generous feeling. In addition to all
+this, he has upon me the claim of having been a Scottish
+Episcopalian divine, and I am always rejoiced to see among learned
+men of our church sympathies with liberalism, besides what is
+patristic and theological. John Skinner's name and family are much
+mixed up with our church. 'Tullochgorum' was father of Primus John
+Skinner, and grandfather of Primus W. Skinner and of the Rev. John
+Skinner of Forfar. The youngest brother of Tullochgorum was James
+Skinner, W.S., who died at ninety-one, and was grandfather of W.
+Skinner, W.S., Edinburgh. The Rev. J. Skinner was born in Birse, a
+wild part of Aberdeenshire, 1721. His father was parochial
+schoolmaster at Gight for nearly fifty years. He worked hard under
+the care of his father, who was a good Latin scholar. He gained a
+bursary at Aberdeen, where he studied. When he left college he
+became schoolmaster at Monymusk, where he wrote some pieces that
+attracted attention, and Sir Archibald Grant took him into the
+house, and allowed him the full use of a very fine library. He made
+good use of this opportunity, and indeed became a fair scholar and
+theologian. Skinner had been brought up a Presbyterian, but at
+Monymusk found reasons for changing his views. In June 1740 he
+became tutor to the only son of Mrs. Sinclair in Shetland.
+Returning to Aberdeenshire in 1741, he completed his studies for
+the ministry, was ordained by Bishop Dunbar, and in 1742 became
+pastor of Langside. He worked for this little congregation for
+nearly sixty-five years, and they were happy and united under his
+pastoral charge. One very interesting incident took place during
+his ministry, which bears upon our general question of
+reminiscences and changes. John Skinner was in his own person an
+example of that persecution for political opinion referred to in
+Professor Macgregor's account of the large prayer-book in the
+library at Panmure. After the '45, Episcopalians were treated with
+suspicion and severity. The severe laws passed against Jacobites
+were put in force, and poor Skinner fined.</p>
+<p>However, better and more peaceful times came round, and all that
+John Skinner had undergone did not sour his temper or make him
+severe or misanthropical. As a pastor he seems to have had tact, as
+well as good temper, in the management of his flock, if we may
+judge from the following anecdote:--Talking with an obstinate
+self-confident farmer, when the conversation happened to turn on
+the subject of the motion of the earth, the farmer would not be
+convinced that the earth moved at all. "Hoot, minister," the man
+roared out; "d'ye see the earth never gaes oot o' the pairt, and it
+maun be that the sun gaes round: we a' ken he rises i' the east and
+sets i' the west." Then, as if to silence all argument, he added
+triumphantly, "As if the sun didna gae round the earth, when it is
+said in Scripture that the Lord commanded the sun to stand still!"
+Mr. Skinner, finding it was no use to argue further, quietly
+answered, "Ay, it's vera true; the sun was commanded to stand
+still, and there he stands still, for Joshua never tauld him to tak
+the road again." I have said John Skinner wrote little Scottish
+poetry, but what he wrote was rarely good. His prose works extended
+over three volumes when they were collected by his son, the Bishop
+of Aberdeen, but we have no concern with them. His poetical pieces,
+by which his name will never die in Scotland, are the "Reel of
+Tullochgorum" and the "Ewie with the Crooked Horn," charming
+Scottish songs,--one the perfection of the lively, the other of the
+pathetic. It is quite enough to say of "Tullochgorum" (by which the
+old man is now always designated), what was said of it by Robert
+Burns, as "the first of songs," and as the best Scotch song
+Scotland ever saw.</p>
+<p>I have brought in the following anecdote, exactly as it appeared
+in the <i>Scotsman</i> of October 4, 1859, because it introduces
+his name.</p>
+<p>"The late Rev. John Skinner, author of 'Annals of Scottish
+Episcopacy,' was his grandson. He was first appointed to a charge
+in Montrose, from whence he was removed to Banff, and ultimately to
+Forfar. After he had left Montrose, it reached his ears that an
+ill-natured insinuation was circulating there that he had been
+induced to leave this town by the temptation of a better income and
+of fat pork, which, it would appear, was plentiful in the locality
+of his new incumbency. Indignant at such an aspersion, he wrote a
+letter, directed to his maligners, vindicating himself sharply from
+it, which he showed to his grandfather, John Skinner of Langside,
+for his approval. The old gentleman objected to it as too lengthy,
+and proposed the following pithy substitute:--</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>"'Had Skinner been of carnal mind,</p>
+<p class="i2">As strangely ye suppose,</p>
+<p class="i1">Or had he even been fond of swine,</p>
+<p class="i2">He'd ne'er have left Montrose.'"</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<p>But there is an anecdote of John Skinner which should endear his
+memory to every generous and loving heart. On one occasion he was
+passing a small dissenting place of worship at the time when the
+congregation were engaged in singing: on passing the
+door--old-fashioned Scottish Episcopalian as he was--he reverently
+took off his hat. His companion said to him, "What! do you feel so
+much sympathy with this Anti Burgher congregation?" "No," said Mr.
+Skinner, "but I respect and love any of my fellow-Christians who
+are engaged in singing to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ." Well
+done, old Tullochgorum! thy name shall be loved and honoured by
+every true liberal-minded Scotsman.</p>
+<p>Yes! Mr. Skinner's experience of the goodness of God and of the
+power of grace, had led him to the conviction that the earnest song
+of praise, that comes from the heart of the sincere believer in
+Christ, can go up to Heaven from the humblest earthly house of
+prayer, and be received before the throne of grace as acceptably as
+the high and solemn service of the lofty cathedral,</p>
+<blockquote>"Where, from the long-drawn aisle and fretted
+vault,<br>
+The pealing anthem swells the note of praise."</blockquote>
+<p>We must firmly believe that, obsolete as the dialect of Scotland
+may become, and its words and expressions a matter of tradition and
+of reminiscence with many, still there are Scottish lines, and
+broad Scottish lines, which can never cease to hold their place in
+the affections and the admiration of innumerable hearts whom they
+have charmed. Can the choice and popular Scottish verses, endeared
+to us by so many kindly associations of the past, and by so many
+beauties and poetical graces of their own, ever lose their
+attractions for a Scottish heart? The charm of such strains can
+never die.</p>
+<p>I think one subsidiary cause for permanency in the popularity
+still belonging to particular Scottish <i>songs</i> has proceeded
+from their association with Scottish <i>music</i>. The melodies of
+Scotland can never die. In the best of these compositions there is
+a pathos and a feeling which must preserve them, however simple in
+their construction, from being vulgar or commonplace. Mendelssohn
+did not disdain taking Scottish airs as themes for the exercise of
+his profound science and his exquisite taste. It must, I think, be
+admitted that singing of Scottish songs in the perfection of their
+style--at once pathetic, graceful, and characteristic--is not so
+often met with as to remove all apprehension that ere long they may
+become matters only of reminiscence. Many accomplished musicians
+often neglect entirely the cultivation of their native melodies,
+under the idea of their being inconsistent with the elegance and
+science of high-class music. They commit a mistake. When
+judiciously and tastefully performed, it is a charming style of
+music, and will always give pleasure to the intelligent hearer. I
+have heard two young friends, who have attained great skill in
+scientific and elaborate compositions, execute the simple song of
+"Low down in the Broom," with an effect I shall not easily forget.
+Who that has heard the Countess of Essex, when Miss Stephens, sing
+"Auld Robin Gray," can ever lose the impression of her
+heart-touching notes? In the case of "Auld Robin Gray," the song
+composed by Lady Anne Lindsay, although very beautiful in itself,
+has been, I think, a good deal indebted to the air for its great
+and continued popularity. The history of that tender and
+appropriate melody is somewhat curious, and not generally known.
+The author was <i>not</i> a Scotsman. It was composed by the Rev.
+Mr. Leves, rector of Wrington in Somersetshire, either early in
+this century or just at the close of the last. Mr. Leves was fond
+of music, and composed several songs, but none ever gained any
+notice except his "Auld Robin Gray," the popularity of which has
+been marvellous. I knew the family when I lived in Somersetshire,
+and had met them in Bath. Mr. Leves composed the air for his
+daughter, Miss Bessy Leves, who was a pretty girl and a pretty
+singer.</p>
+<p>I cannot but deeply regret to think that I should in these pages
+have any ground for classing Scottish poetry and Scottish airs
+amongst "Reminiscences." It is a department of literature where, of
+course, there must be <i>selection</i>, but I am convinced it will
+repay a careful cultivation. I would recommend, as a copious and
+judicious selection of Scottish <i>tunes</i>, "The Scottish
+Minstrel," by R.A. Smith (Purdie, Edinburgh). There are the
+<i>words</i>, also, of a vast number of Scottish songs, but the
+account of their <i>authorship</i> is very defective. Then, again,
+for the fine Scottish ballads of an older period, we have two
+admirable collections--one by Mr. R. Chambers, and one by the late
+Professor Aytoun. For Scottish dialect songs of the more modern
+type, a copious collection will be found (exclusive of Burns and
+Allan Earn say) in small volumes published by David Robertson,
+Glasgow, at intervals from 1832 to 1853, under the title of
+<i>Whistlebinkie</i>.</p>
+<p>But there are more than lines of Scottish poetry which may
+become matter of reminiscence, and more than Scottish song melodies
+which may be forgotten. There are strains of Scottish PSALMODY of
+which it would be more sad to think that <i>they</i> possibly may
+have lost their charm and their hold with Scottish people. That
+such psalmody, of a peculiar Scottish class and character,
+<i>has</i> existed, no one can doubt who has knowledge or
+recollection of past days. In glens and retired passes, where those
+who fled from persecution met together--on the moors and heaths,
+where men suffering for their faith took refuge--in the humble
+worship of the cottar's fireside--were airs of sacred Scottish
+melody, which were well calculated to fan the heavenward flame
+which was kindled in lays of the "sweet Psalmist of Israel." These
+psalm-tunes are in their way as peculiar as the song-tunes we have
+referred to. Nothing can be more touching than the description by
+Burns of the domestic psalmody of his father's cottage. Mr. E.
+Chambers, in his <i>Life of Burns</i>, informs us that the poet,
+during his father's infirmity and after his death, had himself
+sometimes conducted family worship. Happy days, ere he had
+encountered the temptations of a world in which he had too often
+fallen before the solicitations of guilty passion! and then,
+beautifully does he describe the characteristic features of this
+portion of the cottars worship. How solemnly he enumerates the
+psalm-tunes usually made use of on such occasions, and
+discriminates the character of each:--</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>"They chant their artless notes in simple guise;</p>
+<p class="i1">They tune their hearts, by far the noblest aim:</p>
+<p>Perhaps DUNDEE'S wild warbling measures rise,</p>
+<p class="i1">Or plaintive MARTYRS, worthy of the name,</p>
+<p class="i1">Or noble ELGIN beets <a name=
+"FNanchor17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17">[17]</a>the heavenward flame."</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<p>He was not, alas! always disposed in after life to reverence
+these sacred melodies as he had done in his youthful days. In his
+poem of "The Holy Fair," he less reverently adduces mention of
+these sacred airs:--</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>"Now turn the Psalms o' David ower,</p>
+<p class="i1">And lilt wi' holy clangour.</p>
+<p>O' double verse come gie us four,</p>
+<p class="i1">An' skirl up the Bangor."</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<p>These tunes seem to have been strictly and exclusively national.
+In proof of such psalmody being quite national, I have been told
+that many of these tunes were composed by artisans, such as
+builders, joiners, blacksmiths, etc.</p>
+<p>Several of the psalm-tunes more peculiar to Scotland are no
+doubt of an early date. In Ravenscroft's <i>Psalms</i>, published
+with the music in four parts in 1621, he gives the names of seven
+as purely Scottish--<i>King's, Duke's, Abbey, Dunfermline, Dundee,
+Glasgow, Martyrs.</i> I was used to hear such psalmody in my early
+days in the parish church of Fettercairn, where we always attended
+during summer. It had all the simple characteristics described by
+Burns, and there was a heartiness and energy too in the
+congregation when, as he expresses it, they used to "skirl up the
+Bangor," of which the effects still hang in my recollection. At
+that time there prevailed the curious custom, when some of the
+psalms were sung, of reading out a single line, and when that was
+sung another line was read, and so throughout<a name=
+"FNanchor18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18">[18]</a>. Thus, on singing
+the 50th psalm, the first line sounded thus:--"<i>Our God shall
+come, and shall no more;"</i> when that was sung, there came the
+next startling announcement--"<i>Be silent, but speak out."</i> A
+rather unfortunate <i>juxtaposition</i> was suggested through this
+custom, which we are assured really happened in the church of
+Irvine. The precentor, after having given out the first line, and
+having observed some members of the family from the castle
+struggling to get through the crowd on a sacramental occasion,
+cried out, "Let the noble family of Eglinton pass," and then added
+the line which followed the one he had just given out rather
+mal-apropos--"<i>Nor stand in sinners' way</i>." One peculiarity I
+remember, which was, closing the strain sometimes by an interval
+less than a semitone; instead of the half-note preceding the close
+or key-note, they used to take the <i>quarter-note,</i> the effect
+of which had a peculiar gurgling sound, but I never heard it
+elsewhere. It may be said these Scottish tunes were unscientific,
+and their performance rude. It may be so, but the effect was
+striking, as I recall it through the vista of threescore years and
+ten. Great advances, no doubt, have been made in Scotland in
+congregational psalmody; organs have in some instances been
+adopted; choirs have been organised with great effort by
+choirmasters of musical taste and skill. But I hope the spirit of
+PIETY, which in past times once accompanied the old Scottish psalm,
+whether sung in the church or at home, has not departed with the
+music. Its better emotions are not, I hope, to become a
+"Reminiscence."</p>
+<p>There was no doubt sometimes a degree of noise in the psalmody
+more than was consistent with good taste, but this often proceeded
+from the earnestness of those who joined. I recollect at Banchory
+an honest fellow who sang so loud that he annoyed his
+fellow-worshippers, and the minister even rebuked him for
+"skirling" so loud. James was not quite patient under these hints,
+and declared to some of his friends that he was resolved to sing to
+the praise of God, as he said, "gin I should crack the waas o' the
+houss."</p>
+<p>Going from sacred tunes to sacred words, a good many changes
+have taken place in the little history of our own psalmody and
+hymnology. When I first came to Edinburgh, for psalms we made use
+of the mild and vapid new version of Tate and Brady;--for hymns,
+almost each congregation had its own selection--and there were
+hymn-books of Dundee, Perth, Glasgow, etc. The Established Church
+used the old rough psalter, with paraphrases by Logan, etc., and a
+few hymns added by authority of the General Assembly. There seems
+to be a pretty general tendency in the Episcopal Church to adopt at
+present the extensive collection called "Hymns Ancient and Modern,"
+containing 386 pieces. Copies of the words alone are to be procured
+for one penny, and the whole, with tunes attached, to be procured
+for 1<i>s</i>. 6<i>d</i>. The Hymns Ancient and Modern are not set
+forth with any Ecclesiastical sanction. It is supposed, however,
+that there will be a Hymnal published by the Church of England on
+authority, and if so, our Church will be likely to adopt it. The
+Established Church Hymnal Committee have lately sanctioned a very
+interesting collection of 200 pieces. The compilation has been made
+with liberality of feeling as well as with good taste. There are
+several of Neale's translations from mediaeval hymns, several from
+John Keble, and the whole concludes with the Te Deum taken
+literally from the Prayer-Book.</p>
+<p>This mention of Scottish Psalmody and Scottish Hymnology,
+whether for private or for public worship, naturally brings us to a
+very important division of our subject; I mean the general question
+of reminiscences of Scottish religious feelings and observances;
+and first in regard to Scottish clergy.</p>
+<p>My esteemed friend, Lord Neaves, who, it is well known, combines
+with his great legal knowledge and high literary acquirements a
+keen sense of the humorous, has sometimes pleasantly complained of
+my drawing so many of my specimens of Scottish humour from sayings
+and doings of Scottish ministers. They were a shrewd and observant
+race. They lived amongst their own people from year to year, and
+understood the Scottish type of character. Their retired habits and
+familiar intercourse with their parishioners gave rise to many
+quaint and racy communications. They were excellent men, well
+suited to their pastoral work, and did much good amongst their
+congregations; for it should be always remembered that a national
+church requires a sympathy and resemblance between the pastors and
+the flocks. Both will be found to change together. Nothing could be
+further from my mind in recording these stories, than the idea of
+casting ridicule upon such an order of men. My own feelings as a
+Scotsman, with all their ancestral associations, lead me to cherish
+their memory with pride and deep interest, I may appeal also to the
+fact that many contributions to this volume are voluntary offerings
+from distinguished clergymen of the Church of Scotland, as well as
+of the Free Church and of other Presbyterian communities. Indeed,
+no persons enjoy these stories more than ministers themselves. I
+recollect many years ago travelling to Perth in the old stage-coach
+days, and enjoying the society of a Scottish clergyman, who was a
+most amusing companion, and full of stories, the quaint humour of
+which accorded with his own disposition. When we had come through
+Glen Farg, my companion pointed out that we were in the parish of
+Dron. With much humour he introduced an anecdote of a brother
+minister not of a brilliant order of mind, who had terminated in
+this place a course of appointments in the Church, the names of
+which, at least, were of an ominous character for a person of
+unimaginative temperament. The worthy man had been brought up at
+the school of <i>Dunse</i>; had been made assistant at <i>Dull</i>,
+a parish near Aberfeldy, in the Presbytery of Weem; and had here
+ended his days and his clerical career as minister of
+<i>Dron</i>.</p>
+<p>There can be no doubt that the older school of national clergy
+supply many of our most amusing anecdotes; and our pages would
+suffer deplorably were all the anecdotes taken away which turn upon
+their peculiarities of dialect and demeanour. I think it will be
+found, however, that upon no class of society has there been a
+greater change during the last hundred years than on the Scottish
+clergy as a body. This, indeed, might, from many circumstances,
+have been expected. The improved facilities for locomotion have had
+effect upon the retirement and isolation of distant country
+parishes, the more liberal and extended course of study at Scottish
+colleges, the cheaper and wider diffusion of books on general
+literature, of magazines, newspapers, and reviews. Perhaps, too, we
+may add that candidates for the ministry now more generally
+originate from the higher educated classes of society. But honour
+to the memory of Scottish ministers of the days that are gone!</p>
+<p>The Scottish clergy, from having mixed so little with life, were
+often, no doubt, men of simple habits and of very childlike
+notions. The opinions and feelings which they expressed were often
+of a cast, which, amongst persons of more experience, would appear
+to be not always quite consistent with the clerical character. In
+them it arose from their having nothing <i>conventional</i> about
+them. Thus I have heard of an old bachelor clergyman whose landlady
+declared he used to express an opinion of his dinner by the grace
+which he made to follow. When he had had a good dinner which
+pleased him, and a good glass of beer with it, he poured forth the
+grace, "For the riches of thy bounty and its blessings we offer our
+thanks." When he had had poor fare and poor beer, his grace was,
+"The least of these thy mercies."</p>
+<p>Many examples of the dry, quaint humour of the class occur in
+these pages, but there could not be a finer specimen than the
+instance recorded in the "Annals of the Parish" of the account
+given by the minister of his own ordination. The ministers were all
+assembled for the occasion; prayers had been offered, discourses
+delivered, and the time for the actual ordination had come. The
+form is for the candidate to kneel down and receive his sacred
+office by the imposition of hands, <i>i.e.</i> the laying on of
+hands by the whole Presbytery. As the attendance of ministers was
+large, a number of hands were stretched forth, more than could
+quite conveniently come up to the candidate. An old minister, of
+the quiet jocose turn of mind we speak of, finding himself thus
+kept at a little distance, stretched out his walking staff and put
+it on the young man's head, with the quiet remark, "That will do!
+Timmer to timmer"--timber to timber.</p>
+<p>Their style of preaching, too was, no doubt often plain and
+homely. They had not the graces of elocution or elegance of
+diction. But many were faithful in their office, and preached
+Christ as the poor man's friend and the Saviour of the lowly and
+the suffering. I have known Scottish ministers of the old school
+get into a careless indifferent state of ministration; I have also
+known the hoary head of many a Scottish minister go down to the
+grave a crown of glory, in his day and generation more honoured
+than many which had been adorned by a mitre.</p>
+<blockquote>FOOTNOTES:</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_14"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor14">[14]</a> Lying Gilbert.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_15"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor15">[15]</a> This anecdote has been illustrated, as taken
+from these pages, by a very clever sketch of the Highlander and his
+admirer, in a curious publication at Liverpool called <i>The
+Tobacco Plant</i>, and devoted to the interests of smoking and
+snuffing.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_16"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor16">[16]</a> The truth is, in old English usage "bug"
+signifies a spectre or anything that is frightful. Thus in Henry
+VI., 3d Part, act v. sc. ii.--"For Warwick was a <i>bug</i> that
+feared us all."</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_17"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor17">[17]</a> Adds fuel to fire.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_18"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor18">[18]</a> As far as I am aware the only place in which
+it is practised at present (July 1872), is in the Free Church,
+Brodick, Arran.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_THE_SECOND."></a>CHAPTER THE SECOND.</h2>
+<h3>SCOTTISH RELIGIOUS FEELINGS AND OBSERVANCES.</h3>
+<br>
+<p>Passing from these remarks on the Scottish Clergy of a past day,
+I would treat the more extensive subject of RELIGIOUS FEELINGS and
+RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES generally with the caution and deference due
+to such a question, and I would distinctly premise that there is in
+my mind no intention of entering, in this volume, upon those great
+questions which are connected with certain church movements amongst
+us, or with national peculiarities of faith and discipline. It is
+impossible, however, to overlook entirely the fact of a gradual
+relaxation, which has gone on for some years, of the sterner
+features of the Calvinistic school of theology--at any rate, of
+keeping its theoretic peculiarities more in the background. What we
+have to notice in these pages are changes in the feelings with
+regard to religion and religious observances, which have appeared
+upon the <i>exterior</i> of society--the changes which belong to
+outward habits rather than to internal feelings. Of such changes
+many have taken place within my own experience. Scotland has ever
+borne the character of a moral and religious country; and the mass
+of the people are a more church-going race than the masses of
+English population. I am not at all prepared to say that in the
+middle and lower ranks of life our countrymen have undergone much
+change in regard to religious observances. But there can be no
+question that amongst the upper classes there are manifestations
+connected with religion now, which some years ago were not thought
+of. The attendence of <i>men</i> on public worship is of itself an
+example of the change we speak of. I am afraid that when Walter
+Scott described Monkbarns as being with difficulty "hounded out" to
+hear the sermons of good Mr. Blattergowl, he wrote from a knowledge
+of the habits of church-going then generally prevalent among
+Scottish lairds. The late Bishop Sandford told me that when he
+first came to Edinburgh--I suppose fifty years ago--few gentlemen
+attended church--very few indeed were seen at the communion--so
+much so that it was a matter of conversation when a male
+communicant, not an aged man, was observed at the table for the
+first time. Sydney Smith, when preaching in Edinburgh some forty
+years ago, seeing how almost exclusively congregations were made up
+of ladies, took for his text the verse from the Psalms, "Oh that
+men would therefore praise the Lord!" and with that touch of the
+facetious which marked everything he did, laid the emphasis on the
+word "men." Looking round the congregation and saying, "Oh that
+<i>men</i> would therefore praise the Lord!" implying that he used
+the word, not to describe the human species generally, but the male
+individuals as distinguished from the female portion. In regard to
+attendance by young men, both at church and communion, a marked
+change has taken place in my own experience. In fact, there is an
+attention excited towards church subjects, which, thirty years ago,
+would have been hardly credited. Nor is it only in connection with
+churches and church services that these changes have been brought
+forth, but an interest has been raised on the subject from Bible
+societies, missionary associations at home and abroad, schools and
+reformatory institutions, most of which, as regard active
+operation, have grown up during fifty years.</p>
+<p>Nor should I omit to mention, what I trust may be considered as
+a change belonging to religious feeling--viz., that conversation
+is now conducted without that accompaniment of those absurd and
+unmeaning oaths which were once considered an essential
+embellishment of polite discourse. I distinctly recollect an
+elderly gentleman, when describing the opinion of a refined and
+polished female upon a particular point, putting into her mouth an
+unmistakable round oath as the natural language in which people's
+sentiments and opinions would be ordinarily conveyed. This is a
+change wrought in men's feelings, which all must hail with great
+pleasure. Putting out of sight for a moment the sin of such a
+practice, and the bad influence it must have had upon all emotions
+of reverence for the name and attributes of the Divine Being, and
+the natural effect of profane swearing, to "harden a' within," we
+might marvel at the utter folly and incongruity of making swearing
+accompany every expression of anger or surprise, or of using oaths
+as mere expletives in common discourse. A quaint anecdote,
+descriptive of such senseless ebullition, I have from a friend who
+mentioned the names of parties concerned:--A late Duke of Athole
+had invited a well-known character, a writer of Perth, to come up
+and meet him at Dunkeld for the transaction of some business. The
+Duke mentioned the day and hour when he should receive the man of
+law, who accordingly came punctually at the appointed time and
+place. But the Duke had forgotten the appointment, and gone to the
+hill, from which he could not return for some hours. A Highlander
+present described the Perth writer's indignation, and his mode of
+showing it by a most elaborate course of swearing. "But whom did he
+swear at?" was the inquiry made of the narrator, who replied, "Oh,
+he didna sweer at ony thing particular, but juist stude in ta
+middle of ta road and swoor at lairge." I have from a friend also
+an anecdote which shows how entirely at one period the practice of
+swearing had become familiar even to female ears when mixed up with
+the intercourse of social life. A sister had been speaking of her
+brother as much addicted to this habit--"Oor John sweers awfu', and
+we try to correct him; but," she added in a candid and apologetic
+tone, "nae doubt it <i>is</i> a great set aff to conversation."
+There was something of rather an <i>admiring</i> character in the
+description of an outbreak of swearing by a Deeside body. He had
+been before the meeting of Justices for some offence against the
+excise laws, and had been promised some assistance and countenance
+by my cousin, the laird of Finzean, who was unfortunately addicted
+to the practice in question. The poor fellow had not got off so
+well as he had expected, and on giving an account of what took
+place to a friend, he was asked, "But did not Finzean speak for
+you?" "Na," he replied, "he didna say muckle; but oh, he damned
+bonny!"</p>
+<p>This is the place to notice a change which has taken place in
+regard to some questions of taste in the building and embellishing
+of Scottish places of worship. Some years back there was a great
+jealousy of ornament in connection with churches and church
+services, and, in fact, all such embellishments were considered as
+marks of a departure from the simplicity of old Scottish
+worship,--they were distinctive of Episcopacy as opposed to the
+severer modes of Presbyterianism. The late Sir William Forbes used
+to give an account of a conversation, indicative of this feeling,
+which he had overheard between an Edinburgh inhabitant and his
+friend from the country. They were passing St. John's, which had
+just been finished, and the countryman asked, "Whatna kirk was
+that?" "Oh," said the townsman, "that is an English chapel,"
+meaning Episcopalian. "Ay," said his friend, "there'll be a walth
+o' <i>images</i> there." But, if unable to sympathise with
+architectural church ornament and embellishment, how much less
+could they sympathise with the performance of divine service, which
+included such musical accompaniments as intoning, chanting, and
+anthems! On the first introduction of Tractarianism into Scotland,
+the full choir service had been established in an Episcopal church,
+where a noble family had adopted those views, and carried them out
+regardless of expense. The lady who had been instrumental in
+getting up these musical services was very anxious that a favourite
+female servant of the family--a Presbyterian of the old
+school--should have an opportunity of hearing them; accordingly,
+she very kindly took her down to church in the carriage, and on
+returning asked her what she thought of the music, etc. "Ou, it's
+verra bonny, verra bonny; but oh, my lady, it's an awfu' way of
+spending the Sabbath." The good woman could only look upon the
+whole thing as a musical performance. The organ was a great mark of
+distinction between Episcopalian and Presbyterian places of
+worship. I have heard of an old lady describing an Episcopalian
+clergyman, without any idea of disrespect, in these terms:--"Oh, he
+is a whistle-kirk minister." From an Australian correspondent I
+have an account of the difference between an Episcopal minister and
+a Presbyterian minister, as remarked by an old Scottish lady of his
+acquaintance. Being asked in what the difference was supposed to
+consist, after some consideration she replied, "Weel, ye see, the
+Presbyterian minister wears his sark under his coat, the Episcopal
+minister wears his sark aboon his coat." Of late years, however, a
+spirit of greater tolerance of such things has been growing up
+amongst us,--a greater tolerance, I suspect, even of organs and
+liturgies. In fact, we may say a new era has begun in Scotland as
+to church architecture and church ornaments. The use of stained
+glass in churches--forming memorial windows for the
+departed<a name="FNanchor19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19">[19]</a>, a
+free use of crosses as architectural ornaments, and restoration of
+ancient edifices, indicate a revolution of feeling regarding this
+question. Beautiful and expensive churches are rising everywhere,
+in connection with various denominations. It is not long since the
+building or repairing a new church, or the repairing and adapting
+an old church, implied in Scotland simply a production of the
+greatest possible degree of ugliness and bad taste at the least
+possible expense, and certainly never included any notion of
+ornament in the details. Now, large sums are expended on places of
+worship, without reference to creed. First-rate architects are
+employed. Fine Gothic structures are produced. The rebuilding of
+the Greyfriars' Church, the restoration of South Leith Church and
+of Glasgow Cathedral, the very bold experiment of adopting a style
+little known amongst us, the pure Lombard, in a church for Dr. W.L.
+Alexander, on George IV. Bridge, Edinburgh; the really splendid
+Free Churches, St. Mary's, in Albany Street, and the Barclay
+Church, Bruntsfield, and many similar cases, mark the spirit of the
+times regarding the application of what is beautiful in art to the
+service of religion. One might hope that changes such as these in
+the feelings, tastes, and associations, would have a beneficial
+effect in bringing the worshippers themselves into a more genial
+spirit of forbearance with each other. A friend of mine used to
+tell a story of an honest builder's views of church differences,
+which was very amusing, and quaintly professional. An English
+gentleman, who had arrived in a Scottish country town, was walking
+about to examine the various objects which presented themselves,
+and observed two rather handsome places of worship in course of
+erection nearly opposite to each other. He addressed a person, who
+happened to be the contractor for the chapels, and asked, "What was
+the difference between these two places of worship which were
+springing up so close to each other?"--meaning, of course, the
+difference of the theological tenets of the two congregations. The
+contractor, who thought only of architectural differences,
+innocently replied, "There may be a difference of sax feet in
+length, but there's no aboon a few inches in the breadth." Would
+that all our religious differences could be brought within so
+narrow a compass!</p>
+<p>The variety of churches in a certain county of Scotland once
+called forth a sly remark upon our national tendencies to religious
+division and theological disputation. An English gentleman sitting
+on the box, and observing the great number of places of worship in
+the aforesaid borough, remarked to the coachman that there must be
+a great deal of religious feeling in a town which produced so many
+houses of God.</p>
+<p>"Na," said the man quietly, "it's no religion, it's
+<i>curstness," i.e.</i> crabbedness, insinuating that acerbity of
+temper, as well as zeal, was occasionally the cause of
+congregations being multiplied.</p>
+<p>It might be a curious question to consider how far motives
+founded on mere taste or sentiment may have operated in creating an
+interest towards religion, and in making it a more prominent and
+popular question than it was in the early portion of the present
+century. There are in this country two causes which have combined
+in producing these effects:--1st. The great disruption which took
+place in the Church of Scotland no doubt called forth an attention
+to the subject which stirred up the public, and made religion at
+any rate a topic of deep interest for discussion and partizanship.
+Men's minds were not <i>allowed</i> to remain in the torpid
+condition of a past generation. 2d. The aesthetic movement in
+religion, which some years since was made in England, has, of
+course, had its influence in Scotland; and many who showed little
+concern about religion, whilst it was merely a question of
+doctrines, of precepts, and of worship, threw themselves keenly
+into the contest when it became associated with ceremonial, and
+music, and high art. New ecclesiastical associations have been
+presented to Scottish tastes and feelings. With some minds,
+attachment to the church is attachment to her Gregorian tones,
+jewelled chalices, lighted candles, embroidered altar-cloths,
+silver crosses, processions, copes, albs, and chasubles. But, from
+whatever cause it proceeds, a great change has taken place in the
+general interest excited towards ecclesiastical questions. Religion
+now has numerous associations with the ordinary current of human
+life. In times past it was kept more as a thing apart. There was a
+false delicacy which made people shrink from encountering
+appellations that were usually bestowed upon those who made a more
+prominent religious profession than the world at large.</p>
+<p>A great change has taken place in this respect with persons of
+<i>all</i> shades of religious opinions. With an increased
+attention to the <i>externals</i> of religion, we believe that in
+many points the heart has been more exercised also. Take, as an
+example, the practice of family prayer. Many excellent and pious
+households of the former generation would not venture upon the
+observance, I am afraid, because they were in dread of the sneer.
+There was a foolish application of the terms "Methodist" "saints,"
+"over-righteous," where the practice was observed. It was to take
+up a rather decided position in the neighbourhood; and I can
+testify, that less than fifty years ago a family would have been
+marked and talked of for a usage of which now throughout the
+country the <i>exception</i> is rather the unusual circumstance. A
+little anecdote from recollections in my own family will furnish a
+good illustration of a state of feeling on this point now happily
+unknown. In a northern town of the east coast, where the earliest
+recollections of my life go back, there was usually a detachment of
+a regiment, who were kindly received and welcomed to the society,
+which in the winter months was very full and very gay. There was
+the usual measure of dining, dancing, supping, card-playing, and
+gossiping, which prevailed in country towns at the time. The
+officers were of course an object of much interest to the natives,
+and their habits were much discussed. A friend was staying in the
+family who partook a good deal of the Athenian temperament--viz.
+delight in hearing and telling some new thing. On one occasion she
+burst forth in great excitement with the intelligence that "Sir
+Nathaniel Duckinfield, the officer in command of the detachment,
+had family prayers <i>every</i> morning!" A very near and dear
+relative of mine, knowing the tendency of the lady to gossip,
+pulled her up with the exclamation: "How can you repeat such
+things, Miss Ogilvy? nothing in the world but the ill-natured
+stories of Montrose!" The remark was made quite innocently, and
+unconsciously of the bitter satire it conveyed upon the feeling of
+the place. The "ill-nature" of these stories was true enough,
+because ill-nature was the motive of those who raised them; not
+because it is an ill-natured thing of itself to say of a family
+that they have household worship, but the ill-nature consisted in
+their intending to throw out a sneer and a sarcasm upon a subject
+where all such reflections are unbecoming and indecorous. It is one
+of the best proofs of change of habits and associations on this
+matter, that the anecdote, exquisite as it is for our purpose, will
+hardly be understood by many of our young friends, or, at least,
+happily has lost much of its force and pungency.</p>
+<p>These remarks apply perhaps more especially to the state of
+religious feeling amongst the upper classes of society. Though I am
+not aware of so much change in the religious habits of the Scottish
+peasantry, still the elders have yielded much from the sternness of
+David Deans; and upon the whole view of the question there have
+been many and great changes in the Scottish people during the last
+sixty years. It could hardly be otherwise, when we consider the
+increased facilities of communication between the two countries--a
+facility which extends to the introduction of English books upon
+religious subjects. The most popular and engaging works connected
+with the Church of England have now a free circulation in Scotland;
+and it is impossible that such productions as the "Christian Year,"
+for example, and many others--whether for good or bad is not now
+the question--should not produce their effects upon minds trained
+in the strictest school of Calvinistic theology. I should be
+disposed to <i>extend</i> the boundaries of this division, and to
+include under "Religious Feelings and Religious Observances" many
+anecdotes which belong perhaps rather indirectly than directly to
+the subject. There is a very interesting reminiscence, and one of a
+sacred character also, which I think will come very suitably under
+this head. When I joined the Scottish Episcopal Church, nearly
+fifty years ago, it was quite customary for members of our
+communion to ask for the blessing of their Bishop, and to ask it
+especially on any remarkable event in their life, as marriage, loss
+of friends, leaving home, returning home, etc.; and it was the
+custom amongst the old Scottish Episcopalians to give the blessing
+in a peculiar form, which had become venerable from its
+traditionary application by our bishops. I have myself received it
+from my bishop, the late good Bishop Walker, and have heard him
+pronounce it on others. But whether the custom of asking the
+bishop's blessing be past or not, the form I speak of has become a
+reminiscence, and I feel assured is not known even by some of our
+own bishops. I shall give it to my readers as I received it from
+the family of the late Bishop Walker of Edinburgh:--</p>
+<blockquote>"God Almighty bless thee with his Holy Spirit;<br>
+Guard thee in thy going out and coming in;<br>
+Keep thee ever in his faith and fear;<br>
+Free from Sin, and safe from Danger."</blockquote>
+<p>I have been much pleased with a remark of my friend, the Rev. W.
+Gillespie of the U.P. Church, Edinburgh, upon this subject. He
+writes to me as follows:--"I read with particular interest the
+paragraph on the subject of the Bishop's Blessing, for certainly
+there seems to be in these days a general disbelief in the efficacy
+of blessings, and a neglect or disregard of the practice. If the
+spirit of God is in good men, as He certainly is, then who can
+doubt the value and the efficacy of the blessing which they bestow?
+I remember being blessed by a very venerable minister, John
+Dempster of Denny, while kneeling in his study, shortly before I
+left this country to go to China, and his prayer over me then was
+surely the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man. Its effect
+upon me then and ever since will never be forgotten."</p>
+<p>I quite agree with Mr. Gillespie on the point, and think it not
+a good sign either of our religious belief or religious feeling
+that such blessings should become really a matter of reminiscence;
+for if we are taught to pray for one another, and if we are taught
+that the "prayer of the righteous availeth much," surely we ought
+to <i>bless</i> one another, and surely the blessing of those who
+are venerable in the church from their position, their age, and
+their piety, may be expected to avail as an aid and incentive to
+piety in those who in God's name are so blest. It has struck me
+that on a subject closely allied with religious feelings a great
+change has taken place in Scotland during a period of less than
+fifty years--I mean the attention paid to cemeteries as
+depositories of the mortal remains of those who have departed. In
+my early days I never recollect seeing any efforts made for the
+embellishment and adornment of our churchyards; if tolerably
+secured by fences, enough had been done. The English and Welsh
+practices of planting flowers, keeping the turf smooth and dressed
+over the graves of friends, were quite unknown. Indeed, I suspect
+such attention fifty years ago would have been thought by the
+sterner Presbyterians as somewhat savouring of superstition. The
+account given by Sir W. Scott, in "Guy Mannering," of an Edinburgh
+burial-place, was universally applicable to Scottish
+sepulchres<a name="FNanchor20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20">[20]</a>.
+A very different state of matters has grown up within the last few
+years. Cemeteries and churchyards are now as carefully ornamented
+in Scotland as in England. Shrubs, flowers, smooth turf, and
+neatly-kept gravel walks, are a pleasing accompaniment to
+head-stones, crosses, and varied forms of monumental memorials, in
+freestone, marble, and granite. Nay, more than these, not
+unfrequently do we see an imitation of French sentiment, in wreaths
+of "everlasting" placed over graves as emblems of immortality; and
+in more than one of our Edinburgh cemeteries I have seen these
+enclosed in glass cases to preserve them from the effects of wind
+and rain.</p>
+<p>In consequence of neglect, the unprotected state of churchyards
+was evident from the number of stories in circulation connected
+with the circumstance of timid and excited passengers going amongst
+the tombs of the village. The following, amongst others, has been
+communicated. The <i>locale</i> of the story is unknown, but it is
+told of a weaver who, after enjoying his potations, pursued his way
+home through the churchyard, his vision and walking somewhat
+impaired. As he proceeded he diverged from the path, and
+unexpectedly stumbled into a partially made grave. Stunned for a
+while, he lay in wonder at his descent, and after some time he got
+out, but he had not proceeded much farther when a similar calamity
+befell him. At this second fall, he was heard, in a tone of wonder
+and surprise, to utter the following exclamation, referring to what
+he considered the untenanted graves: "Ay! ir ye a' up an' awa?"</p>
+<p>The kindly feelings and interest of the pastoral relation always
+formed a very pleasing intercourse between minister and people. I
+have received from an anonymous correspondent an anecdote
+illustrative of this happy connection, for which he vouches as
+authentic:--</p>
+<p>John Brown, Burgher minister at Whitburn (son of the
+commentator, and father of the late Rev. Dr. John Brown of
+Edinburgh, and grandfather of the present accomplished M.D. of the
+same name, author of "Rab and his Friends," etc.), in the early
+part of the century was travelling on a small sheltie<a name=
+"FNanchor21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21">[21]</a> to attend the
+summer sacrament at Haddington. Between Musselburgh and Tranent he
+overtook one of his own people. "What are ye daein' here, Janet,
+and whaur ye gaun in this warm weather?" "'Deed, sir," quo' Janet,
+"I'm gaun to Haddington <i>for the occasion</i><a name=
+"FNanchor22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22">[22]</a> an' expeck to hear
+ye preach this efternoon." "Very weel, Janet, but whaur ye gaun tae
+sleep?" "I dinna ken, sir, but Providence is aye kind, an'll
+provide a bed." On Mr. Brown jogged, but kindly thought of his
+humble follower; accordingly, after service in the afternoon,
+before pronouncing the blessing, he said from the pulpit, "Whaur's
+the auld wifie that followed me frae Whitburn?" "Here I'm, sir,"
+uttered a shrill voice from a back seat. "Aweel," said Mr. Brown,
+"I have fand ye a bed; ye're to sleep wi' Johnnie Fife's lass."</p>
+<p>There was at all times amongst the older Scottish peasantry a
+bold assertion of their religious opinions, and strong expression
+of their feelings. The spirit of the Covenanters lingered amongst
+the aged people whom I remember, but which time has considerably
+softened down. We have some recent authentic instances of this
+readiness in Scotsmen to bear testimony to their principles:--</p>
+<p>A friend has informed me that the late Lord Rutherfurd often
+told with much interest of a rebuke which he received from a
+shepherd, near Bonaly, amongst the Pentlands. He had entered into
+conversation with him, and was complaining bitterly of the weather,
+which prevented him enjoying his visit to the country, and said
+hastily and unguardedly, "What a d--d mist!" and then expressed his
+wonder how or for what purpose there should have been such a thing
+created as east wind. The shepherd, a tall, grim figure, turned
+sharp round upon him. "What ails ye at the mist, sir? it weets the
+sod, it slockens the yowes, and"--adding with much solemnity--"it's
+God's wull;" and turned away with lofty indignation. Lord
+Rutherfurd used to repeat this with much candour as a fine specimen
+of a rebuke from a sincere and simple mind.</p>
+<p>There was something very striking in the homely, quaint, and
+severe expressions on religious subjects which marked the
+old-fashioned piety of persons shadowed forth in Sir Walter Scott's
+Davie Deans. We may add to the rebuke of the shepherd of Bonaly, of
+Lord Rutherfurd's remark about the east wind, his answer to Lord
+Cockburn, the proprietor of Bonaly. He was sitting on the hill-side
+with the shepherd, and observing the sheep reposing in the coldest
+situation, he observed to him, "John, if I were a sheep, I would
+lie on the other side of the hill." The shepherd answered, "Ay, my
+lord, but if ye had been a sheep ye would hae had mair sense."</p>
+<p>Of such men as this shepherd were formed the elders--a class of
+men who were marked by strong features of character, and who, in
+former times, bore a distinguished part in all church matters.</p>
+<p>The old Scottish elder was in fact quite as different a
+character from the modern elder, as the old Scottish minister was
+from the modern pastor. These good men were not disposed to hide
+their lights, and perhaps sometimes encroached a little upon the
+office of the minister. A clergyman had been remarking to one of
+his elders that he was unfortunately invited to two funerals on one
+day, and that they were fixed for the same hour. "Weel, sir,"
+answered the elder, "if ye'll tak the tane I'll tak the
+tither."</p>
+<p>Some of the elders were great humorists and originals in their
+way. An elder of the kirk at Muthill used to manifest his humour
+and originality by his mode of collecting the alms. As he went
+round with the ladle, he reminded such members of the congregation
+as seemed backward in their duty, by giving them a poke with the
+"brod," and making, in an audible whisper, such remarks as
+these--"Wife at the braid mailin, mind the puir;" "Lass wi' the
+braw plaid, mind the puir," etc., a mode of collecting which marks
+rather a bygone state of things. But on no question was the old
+Scottish disciplinarian, whether elder or not, more sure to raise
+his testimony than on anything connected with a desecration of the
+Sabbath. In this spirit was the rebuke given to an eminent
+geologist, when visiting in the Highlands:--The professor was
+walking on the hills one Sunday morning, and partly from the effect
+of habit, and partly from not adverting to the very strict notions
+of Sabbath desecration entertained in Ross-shire, had his pocket
+hammer in hand, and was thoughtlessly breaking the specimens of
+minerals he picked up by the way. Under these circumstances, he was
+met by an old man steadily pursuing his way to his church. For some
+time the patriarch observed the movements of the geologist, and at
+length, going up to him, quietly said, "Sir, ye're breaking
+something there forbye the stanes!"</p>
+<p>The same feeling, under a more fastidious form, was exhibited to
+a traveller by a Scottish peasant:--An English artist travelling
+professionally through Scotland, had occasion to remain over Sunday
+in a small town in the north. To while away the time, he walked out
+a short way in the environs, where the picturesque ruin of a castle
+met his eye. He asked a countryman who was passing to be so good as
+tell him the name of the castle. The reply was somewhat
+startling--"It's no the day to be speerin' sic things!"</p>
+<p>A manifestation of even still greater strictness on the subject
+of Sabbath desecration, I have received from a relative of the
+family in which it occurred. About fifty years ago the Hon. Mrs.
+Stewart lived in Heriot Row, who had a cook, Jeannie by name, a
+paragon of excellence. One Sunday morning when her daughter
+(afterwards Lady Elton) went into the kitchen, she was surprised to
+find a new jack (recently ordered, and which was constructed on the
+principle of going constantly without winding up) wholly paralysed
+and useless. Miss Stewart naturally inquired what accident had
+happened to the new jack, as it had stopped. The mystery was soon
+solved by Jeannie indignantly exclaiming that "she was nae gaeing
+to hae the fule thing clocking and rinning about in <i>her</i>
+kitchen a' the blessed Sabbath day."</p>
+<p>There sometimes appears to have been in our countrymen an undue
+preponderance of zeal for Sabbath observance as compared with the
+importance attached to <i>other</i> religious duties, and
+especially as compared with the virtue of sobriety. The following
+dialogue between Mr. Macnee of Glasgow, the celebrated artist, and
+an old Highland acquaintance whom he had met with unexpectedly,
+will illustrate the contrast between the severity of judgment
+passed upon treating the Sabbath with levity and the lighter
+censure attached to indulgence in whisky. Mr. Macnee begins,
+"Donald, what brought you here?" "Ou, weel, sir, it was a baad
+place yon; they were baad folk--but they're a God-fearin' set o'
+folk here!" "Well, Donald," said Mr. M., "I'm glad to hear it." "Ou
+ay, sir, 'deed are they; an' I'll gie ye an instance o't. Last
+Sabbath, just as the kirk was skailin,' there was a drover chield
+frae Dumfries comin' along the road whustlin,' an' lookin' <i>as
+happy</i> as if it was ta middle o' ta week; weel, sir, oor laads
+is a God-fearin' set o' laads, an' they were just comin' oot o' the
+kirk--'od they yokit upon him, an' a'most killed him!" Mr. M., to
+whom their zeal seemed scarcely sufficiently well directed to merit
+his approbation, then asked Donald whether it had been drunkenness
+that induced the depravity of his former neighbours? "Weel, weel,
+sir," said Donald, with some hesitation, "<i>may</i>-be; I'll no
+say but it micht." "Depend upon it," said Mr. M., "it's a bad thing
+whisky." "Weel, weel, sir," replied Donald, "I'll no say but it
+<i>may</i>;" adding in a very decided tone--"speeciallie
+<i>baad</i> whusky!"</p>
+<p>I do not know any anecdote which illustrates in a more striking
+and natural manner the strong feeling which exists in the Scottish
+mind on this subject. At a certain time, the hares in the
+neighbourhood of a Scottish burgh had, from the inclemency of the
+season or from some other cause, become emboldened more than usual
+to approach the dwelling-places of men; so much so that on one
+Sunday morning a hare was seen skipping along the street as the
+people were going to church. An old man, spying puss in this
+unusual position, significantly remarked, "Ay, yon beast kens weel
+it is the Sabbath-day;" taking it for granted that no one in the
+place would be found audacious enough to hurt the animal on a
+Sunday.</p>
+<p>Lady Macneil supplies an excellent pendant to Miss Stewart's
+story about the jack going on the Sunday. Her henwife had got some
+Dorking fowls, and on Lady M. asking if they were laying many eggs,
+she replied, with great earnestness, "Indeed my leddy, they lay
+every day, no' excepting the blessed Sabbath."</p>
+<p>There were, however, old persons at that time who were not quite
+so orthodox on the point of Sabbath observance; and of these a lady
+residing in Dumfries was known often to employ her wet Sundays in
+arranging her wardrobe. "Preserve us!" she said on one occasion,
+"anither gude Sunday! I dinna ken whan I'll get thae drawers redd
+up."</p>
+<p>In connection with the awful subject of death and all its
+concomitants, it has been often remarked that the older generation
+of Scottish people used to view the circumstances belonging to the
+decease of their nearest and dearest friends with a coolness which
+does not at first sight seem consistent with their deep and sincere
+religious impressions. Amongst the peasantry this was sometimes
+manifested in an extraordinary and startling manner. I do not
+believe that those persons had less affection for their friends
+than a corresponding class in England, but they had less awe of the
+concomitants of death, and approached them with more familiarity.
+For example, I remember long ago at Fasque, my sister-in-law
+visiting a worthy and attached old couple, of whom the husband,
+Charles Duncan, who had been gardener at Fasque for above thirty
+years was evidently dying. He was sitting on a common deal chair,
+and on my sister proposing to send down for his use an old
+arm-chair which she recollected was laid up in a garret, his wife
+exclaimed against such a needless trouble: "Hout, my leddy, what
+would he be duin' wi' an arm-chair? he's just deein' fast awa." I
+have two anecdotes, illustrative of the same state of feeling, from
+a lady of ancient Scottish family accustomed to visit her poor
+dependants on the property, and to notice their ways. She was
+calling at a decent cottage, and found the occupant busy carefully
+ironing out some linens. The lady remarked, "Those are fine linens
+you have got there, Janet." "Troth, mem," was the reply, "they're
+just the gudeman's <i>deed</i> claes, and there are nane better i'
+the parish." On another occasion, when visiting an excellent woman,
+to condole with her on the death of her nephew, with whom she had
+lived, and whose loss must have been severely felt by her, she
+remarked, "What a nice white cap you have got, Margaret." "Indeed,
+mem, ay, sae it is; for ye see the gude lad's winding sheet was
+ower lang, and I cut aff as muckle as made twa bonny mutches"
+(caps).</p>
+<p>There certainly was a quaint and familiar manner in which sacred
+and solemn subjects were referred to by the older Scottish race,
+who did not mean to be irreverent, but who no doubt appeared so to
+a more refined but not really a more religious generation.</p>
+<p>It seems to me that this plainness of speech arose in part from
+the <i>sincerity</i> of their belief in all the circumstances of
+another condition of being. They spoke of things hereafter as
+positive certainties, and viewed things invisible through the same
+medium as they viewed things present. The following is illustrative
+of such a state of mind, and I am assured of its perfect
+authenticity and literal correctness:--"Joe M'Pherson and his wife
+lived in Inverness. They had two sons, who helped their father in
+his trade of a smith. They were industrious and careful, but not
+successful. The old man had bought a house, leaving a large part of
+the price unpaid. It was the ambition of his life to pay off that
+debt, but it was too much for him, and he died in the struggle. His
+sons kept on the business with the old industry, and with better
+fortune. At last their old mother fell sick, and told her sons she
+was dying, as in truth she was. The elder son said to her, 'Mother,
+you'll soon be with my father; no doubt you'll have much to tell
+him; but dinna forget this, mother, mind ye, tell him <i>the house
+is freed</i>. He'll be glad to hear that.'"</p>
+<p>A similar feeling is manifest in the following conversation,
+which, I am assured, is authentic:--At Hawick the people used to
+wear wooden clogs, which make a <i>clanking</i> noise on the
+pavement. A dying old woman had some friends by her bedside, who
+said to her, "Weel, Jenny, ye are gaun to heeven, an' gin you
+should see oor folk, you can tell them that we're a' weel." To
+which Jenny replied, "Weel, gin I should see them I'se tell them,
+but you manna expect that I am to gang clank clanking through
+heevan looking for your folk."</p>
+<p>But of all stories of this class, I think the following deathbed
+conversation between a Scottish husband and wife is about the
+richest specimen of a dry Scottish matter-of-fact view of a very
+serious question:--An old shoemaker in Glasgow was sitting by the
+bedside of his wife, who was dying. She took him by the hand.
+"Weel, John, we're gawin to part. I hae been a gude wife to you,
+John." "Oh, just middling, just middling, Jenny," said John, not
+disposed to commit himself. "John," says she, "ye maun promise to
+bury me in the auld kirk-yard at Stra'von, beside my mither. I
+couldna rest in peace among unco folk, in the dirt and smoke o'
+Glasgow." "Weel, weel, Jenny, my woman," said John soothingly,
+"we'll just pit you in the Gorbals <i>first</i>, and gin ye dinna
+lie quiet, we'll try you sine in Stra'von."</p>
+<p>The same unimaginative and matter-of-fact view of things
+connected with the other world extended to a very youthful age, as
+in the case of a little boy who, when told of heaven, put the
+question, "An' will faather be there?" His instructress answered,
+"of course, she hoped he would be there;" to which he sturdily at
+once replied, "Then I'll no gang."</p>
+<p>We might apply these remarks in some measure to the Scottish
+pulpit ministrations of an older school, in which a minuteness of
+detail and a quaintness of expression were quite common, but which
+could not now be tolerated. I have two specimens of such antiquated
+language, supplied by correspondents, and I am assured they are
+both genuine.</p>
+<p>The first is from a St. Andrews professor, who is stated to be a
+great authority in such narratives.</p>
+<p>In one of our northern counties, a rural district had its
+harvest operations affected by continuous rains. The crops being
+much laid, wind was desired in order to restore them to a condition
+fit for the sickle. A minister, in his Sabbath services, expressed
+their want in prayer as follows:--"O Lord, we pray thee to send us
+wind; no a rantin' tantin' tearin' wind, but a noohin' (noughin?)
+soughin' winnin' wind." More expressive words than these could not
+be found in any language.</p>
+<p>The other story relates to a portion of the Presbyterian service
+on sacramental occasions, called "fencing the tables," <i>i.e.</i>
+prohibiting the approach of those who were unworthy to receive.</p>
+<p>This fencing of the tables was performed in the following
+effective manner by an old divine, whose flock transgressed the
+third commandment, not in a gross and loose manner, but in its
+minor details:--"I debar all those who use such minced oaths as
+faith! troth! losh! gosh! and lovanendie!"</p>
+<p>These men often showed a quiet vein of humour in their prayers,
+as in the case of the old minister of the Canongate, who always
+prayed, previous to the meeting of the General Assembly, that the
+Assembly might be so guided as "<i>no to do ony harm."</i></p>
+<p>A circumstance connected with Scottish church discipline has
+undergone a great change in my time--I mean the public censure from
+the pulpit, in the time of divine service, of offenders previously
+convicted before the minister and his kirk-session. This was
+performed by the guilty person standing up before the congregation
+on a raised platform, called the <i>cutty stool</i>, and receiving
+a rebuke. I never saw it done, but have heard in my part of the
+country of the discipline being enforced occasionally. Indeed, I
+recollect an instance where the rebuke was thus administered and
+received under circumstances of a touching character, and which
+made it partake of the moral sublime. The daughter of the minister
+had herself committed an offence against moral purity, such as
+usually called forth this church censure. The minister peremptorily
+refused to make her an exception to his ordinary practice. His
+child stood up in the congregation, and received, from her agonised
+father, a rebuke similar to that administered to other members of
+his congregation for a like offence. The spirit of the age became
+unfavourable to the practice. The rebuke on the cutty stool, like
+the penance in a white sheet in England, went out of use, and the
+circumstance is now a matter of "reminiscence." I have received
+some communications on the subject, which bear upon this point; and
+I subjoin the following remarks from a kind correspondent, a
+clergyman, to whom I am largely indebted, as indicating the great
+change which has taken place in this matter.</p>
+<p>"Church discipline," he writes, "was much more vigorously
+enforced in olden time than it is now. A certain couple having been
+guilty of illicit intercourse, and also within the forbidden
+degrees of consanguinity, appeared before the Presbytery of Lanark,
+and made confession in sackcloth. They were ordered to return to
+their own session, and to stand at the kirk-door, barefoot and
+barelegged, from the second bell to the last, and thereafter in the
+public place of repentance; and, at direction of the session,
+thereafter to go through the whole kirks of the presbytery, and to
+satisfy them in like manner. If such penance were now enforced for
+like offences, I believe the registration books of many parishes in
+Scotland would become more creditable in certain particulars than
+they unfortunately are at the present time."</p>
+<p>But there was a less formidable ecclesiastical censure
+occasionally given by the minister from the pulpit against lesser
+misdemeanours, which took place under his own eye, such as levity
+of conduct or <i>sleeping</i> in church. A most amusing specimen of
+such censure was once inflicted by the minister upon his own wife
+for an offence not in our day visited with so heavy a penalty. The
+clergyman had observed one of his flock asleep during his sermon.
+He paused, and called him to order. "Jeems Robson, ye are sleepin';
+I insist on your wauking when God's word is preached to ye." "Weel,
+sir, you may look at your ain seat, and ye'll see a sleeper forbye
+me," answered Jeems, pointing to the clergyman's lady in the
+minister's pew. "Then, Jeems," said the minister, "when ye see my
+wife asleep again, haud up your hand." By and by the arm was
+stretched out, and sure enough the fair lady was caught in the act.
+Her husband solemnly called upon her to stand up and receive the
+censure due to her offence. He thus addressed her:--"Mrs. B.,
+a'body kens that when I got ye for my wife, I got nae beauty; yer
+frien's ken that I got nae siller; and if I dinna get God's grace,
+I shall hae a puir bargain indeed."</p>
+<p>The quaint and original humour of the old Scottish minister came
+out occasionally in the more private services of his vocation as
+well as in church. As the whole service, whether for baptisms or
+marriages, is supplied by the clergyman officiating, there is more
+scope for scenes between the parties present than at similar
+ministrations by a prescribed form. Thus, a late minister of
+Caithness, when examining a member of his flock, who was a butcher,
+in reference to the baptism of his child, found him so deficient in
+what he considered the needful theological knowledge, that he said
+to him, "Ah, Sandy, I doubt ye're no fit to haud up the bairn."
+Sandy, conceiving that reference was made not to spiritual but to
+physical incapacity, answered indignantly, "Hout, minister, I could
+haud him up an he were a twa-year-auld stirk<a name=
+"FNanchor23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23">[23]</a>." A late humorous
+old minister, near Peebles, who had strong feelings on the subject
+of matrimonial happiness, thus prefaced the ceremony by an address
+to the parties who came to him:--"My friends, marriage is a
+blessing to a few, a curse to many, and a great uncertainty to all.
+Do ye venture?" After a pause, he repeated with great emphasis, "Do
+ye venture?" No objection being made to the venture, he then said,
+"Let's proceed."</p>
+<p>The old Scottish hearers were very particular on the subject of
+their minister's preaching old sermons; and to repeat a discourse
+which they could recollect was always made a subject of
+animadversion by those who heard it. A beadle, who was a good deal
+of a wit in his way, gave a sly hit in his pretended defence of his
+minister on the question. As they were proceeding from church, the
+minister observed the beadle had been laughing as if he had
+triumphed over some of the parishioners with whom he had been in
+conversation. On asking the cause of this, he received for answer,
+"Dod, sir, they were saying ye had preached an auld sermon to-day,
+but I tackled them, for I tauld them it was no an auld sermon, for
+the minister had preached it no sax months syne."</p>
+<p>I remember the minister of Banchory, Mr. Gregory, availed
+himself of the feelings of his people on this subject for the
+purpose of accomplishing a particular object. During the building
+of the new church the service had to be performed in a schoolroom,
+which did not nearly hold the congregation. The object was to get
+part of the parish to attend in the morning, and part in the
+afternoon. Mr. Gregory prevented those who had attended in the
+morning from returning in the afternoon by just giving them, as he
+said, "cauld kail het again."</p>
+<p>It is somewhat remarkable, however, that, notwithstanding this
+feeling in the matter of a repetition of old sermons, there was
+amongst a large class of Scottish preachers of a former day such a
+sameness of subject as really sometimes made it difficult to
+distinguish the discourse of one Sunday from amongst others. These
+were entirely doctrinal, and however they might commence, after the
+opening or introduction hearers were certain to find the preacher
+falling gradually into the old channel. The fall of man in Adam,
+his restoration in Christ, justification by faith, and the terms of
+the new covenant, formed the staple of each sermon, and without
+which it was not in fact reckoned complete as an orthodox
+exposition of Christian doctrine. Without omitting the essentials
+of Christian instruction, preachers now take a wider view of
+illustrating and explaining the gospel scheme of salvation and
+regeneration, without constant recurrence to the elemental and
+fundamental principles of the faith. From my friend Dr. Cook of
+Haddington (who it is well known has a copious stock of old Scotch
+traditionary anecdotes) I have an admirable illustration of this
+state of things as regards pulpit instruction.</p>
+<p>"Much of the preaching of the Scotch clergy," Dr. Cook observes,
+"in the last century, was almost exclusively doctrinal--the fall:
+the nature, the extent, and the application of the remedy. In the
+hands of able men, no doubt, there might be much variety of
+exposition, but with weaker or indolent men preaching extempore, or
+without notes, it too often ended in a weekly repetition of what
+had been already said. An old elder of mine, whose recollection
+might reach back from sixty to seventy years, said to me one day,
+'Now-a-days, people make a work if a minister preach the same
+sermon over again in the course of two or three years. When I was a
+boy, we would have wondered if old Mr. W---- had preached anything
+else than what we heard the Sunday before.' My old friend used to
+tell of a clergyman who had held forth on the broken covenant till
+his people longed for a change. The elders waited on him to
+intimate their wish. They were examined on their knowledge of the
+subject, found deficient, rebuked, and dismissed, but after a
+little while they returned to the charge, and the minister gave in.
+Next Lord's day he read a large portion of the history of Joseph
+and his brethren, as the subject of a lecture. He paraphrased it,
+greatly, no doubt, to the detriment of the original, but much to
+the satisfaction of his people, for it was something new. He
+finished the paraphrase, 'and now,' says he, 'my friends, we shall
+proceed to draw some lessons and inferences; and, <i>1st</i>, you
+will observe that the sacks of Joseph's brethren were <i>ripit</i>,
+and in them was found the cup; so your sacks will be ripit at the
+day of judgment, and the first thing found in them will be the
+broken covenant;' and having gained this advantage, the sermon went
+off into the usual strain, and embodied the usual heads of
+elementary dogmatic theology."</p>
+<p>In connection with this topic, I have a communication from a
+correspondent, who remarks--The story about the minister and his
+favourite theme, "the broken covenant," reminds me of one
+respecting another minister whose staple topics of discourse were
+"Justification, Adoption, and Sanctification." Into every sermon he
+preached, he managed, by hook or by crook, to force these three
+heads, so that his general method of handling every text was not so
+much <i>expositio</i> as <i>impositio</i>. He was preaching on
+these words--"Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant child?" and
+he soon brought the question into the usual formula by adding,
+Ephraim was a pleasant child--first, because he was a justified
+child; second, because he was an adopted child; and third, because
+he was a sanctified child.</p>
+<p>It should be remembered, however, that the Scottish peasantry
+themselves--I mean those of the older school--delighted in
+expositions of <i>doctrinal</i> subjects, and in fact were
+extremely jealous of any minister who departed from their high
+standard of orthodox divinity, by selecting subjects which involved
+discussions of strictly moral or <i>practical</i> questions. It was
+condemned under the epithet of <i>legal</i> preaching; in other
+words, it was supposed to preach the law as independent of the
+gospel. A worthy old clergyman having, upon the occasion of a
+communion Monday, taken a text of such a character, was thus
+commented on by an ancient dame of the congregation, who was
+previously acquainted with his style of discourse:--"If there's an
+ill text in a' the Bible, that creetur's aye sure to tak it."</p>
+<p>The great change--the great improvement, I would say--which has
+taken place during the last half-century in the feelings and
+practical relations of religion with social life is, that it has
+become more diffused through all ranks and all characters. Before
+that period many good sort of people were afraid of making their
+religious views very prominent, and were always separated from
+those who did. Persons who made a profession at all beyond the low
+standard generally adopted in society were marked out as objects of
+fear or of distrust. The anecdote at page 65 regarding the practice
+of family prayer fully proves this. Now religious people and
+religion itself are not kept aloof from the ordinary current of
+men's thoughts and actions. There is no such marked line as used to
+be drawn round persons who make a decided profession of religion.
+Christian men and women have stepped over the line, and, without
+compromising their Christian principle, are not necessarily either
+morose, uncharitable, or exclusive. The effects of the old
+separation were injurious to men's minds. Religion was with many
+associated with puritanism, with cant, and unfitness for the world.
+The difference is marked also in the style of sermons prevalent at
+the two periods. There were sermons of two descriptions--viz.,
+sermons by "<i>moderate</i>" clergy, of a purely moral or practical
+character; and sermons purely doctrinal, from those who were known
+as "evangelical" ministers. Hence arose an impression, and not
+unnaturally, on many minds, that an almost exclusive reference to
+doctrinal subjects, and a dread of upholding the law, and of
+enforcing its more minute details, were not favourable to the cause
+of moral rectitude and practical holiness of life. This was hinted
+in a sly way by a young member of the kirk to his father, a
+minister of the severe and high Calvinistic school. Old Dr.
+Lockhart of Glasgow was lamenting one day, in the presence of his
+son John, the fate of a man who had been found guilty of immoral
+practices, and the more so that he was one of his own elders.
+"Well, father," remarked his son, "you see what you've driven him
+to." In our best Scottish preaching at the present day no such
+distinction is visible.</p>
+<p>The same feeling came forth with much point and humour on an
+occasion referred to in "Carlyle's Memoirs." In a company where
+John Home and David Hume were present, much wonder was expressed
+what <i>could</i> have induced a clerk belonging to Sir William
+Forbes' bank to abscond, and embezzle &pound;900. "I know what it
+was," said Home to the historian; "for when he was taken there was
+found in his pocket a volume of your philosophical works and
+Boston's 'Fourfold State'"--a hit, 1st, at the infidel, whose
+principles would have undermined Christianity; and 2d, a hit at the
+Church, which he was compelled to leave on account of his having
+written the tragedy of Douglas.</p>
+<p>I can myself recollect an obsolete ecclesiastical custom, and
+which was always practised in the church of Fettercairn during my
+boyish days--viz., that of the minister bowing to the heritors in
+succession who occupied the front gallery seats; and I am assured
+that this bowing from the pulpit to the principal heritor or
+heritors after the blessing had been pronounced was very common in
+rural parishes till about forty years ago, and perhaps till a still
+later period. And when heritors chanced to be pretty equally
+matched, there was sometimes an unpleasant contest as to who was
+entitled to the precedence in having the <i>first</i> bow. A case
+of this kind once occurred in the parish of Lanark, which was
+carried so far as to be laid before the Presbytery; but they, not
+considering themselves "competent judges of the points of honour
+and precedency among gentlemen, and to prevent all inconveniency in
+these matters in the future, appointed the minister to forbear
+bowing to the lairds at all from the pulpit for the time to come;"
+and they also appointed four of their number "to wait upon the
+gentlemen, to deal with them, for bringing them to condescend to
+submit hereunto, for the success of the gospel and the peace of the
+parish."</p>
+<p>In connection with this subject, we may mention a ready and
+complimentary reply once made by the late Reverend Dr. Wightman of
+Kirkmahoe, on being rallied for his neglecting this usual act of
+courtesy one Sabbath in his own church. The heritor who was
+entitled to and always received this token of respect, was Mr.
+Miller, proprietor of Dalswinton. One Sabbath the Dalswinton pew
+contained a bevy of ladies, but no gentlemen, and the
+Doctor--perhaps because he was a bachelor and felt a delicacy in
+the circumstances--omitted the usual salaam in their direction. A
+few days after, meeting Miss Miller, who was widely famed for her
+beauty, and who afterwards became Countess of Mar, she rallied him,
+in presence of her companions, for not bowing to her from the
+pulpit on the previous Sunday, and requested an explanation; when
+the good Doctor immediately replied--"I beg your pardon, Miss
+Miller, but you surely know that angel-worship is not allowed in
+the Church of Scotland;" and lifting his hat, he made a low bow,
+and passed on.</p>
+<p>Scottish congregations, in some parts of the country, contain an
+element in their composition quite unknown in English churches. In
+pastoral parts of the country, it was an established practice for
+each shepherd to bring his faithful <i>collie</i> dog--at least it
+was so some years ago. In a district of Sutherland, where the
+population is very scanty, the congregations are made up one-half
+of dogs, each human member having his canine companion. These dogs
+sit out the Gaelic services and sermon with commendable patience,
+till towards the end of the last psalm, when there is a universal
+stretching and yawning, and all are prepared to scamper out,
+barking in a most excited manner whenever the blessing is
+commenced. The congregation of one of these churches determined
+that the service should close in a more decorous manner, and steps
+were taken to attain this object. Accordingly, when a stranger
+clergyman was officiating, he found the people all sitting when he
+was about to pronounce the blessing. He hesitated, and paused,
+expecting them to rise, till an old shepherd, looking up to the
+pulpit, said, "Say awa', sir; we're a' sittin' to cheat the
+dowgs."</p>
+<p>There must have been some curious specimens of Scottish humour
+brought out at the examinations or catechisings by ministers of the
+flock before the administrations of the communion. Thus, with
+reference to human nature before the fall, a man was asked, "What
+kind of man was Adam?" "Ou, just like ither fouk." The minister
+insisted on having a more special description of the first man, and
+pressed for more explanation. "Weel," said the catechumen, "he was
+just like Joe Simson the horse-couper." "How so?" asked the
+minister. "Weel, naebody got onything by him, and mony lost."</p>
+<p>A lad had come for examination previous to his receiving his
+first communion. The pastor, knowing that his young friend was not
+very profound in his theology, and not wishing to discourage him,
+or keep him from the table unless compelled to do so, began by
+asking what he thought a safe question, and what would give him
+confidence. So he took the Old Testament, and asked him, in
+reference to the Mosaic law, how many commandments there were.
+After a little thought, he put his answer in the modest form of a
+supposition, and replied, cautiously, "Aiblins<a name=
+"FNanchor24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24">[24]</a> a hunner." The
+clergyman was vexed, and told him such ignorance was intolerable,
+that he could not proceed in examination, and that the youth must
+wait and learn more; so he went away. On returning home he met a
+friend on his way to the manse, and on learning that he too was
+going to the minister for examination, shrewdly asked him, "Weel,
+what will ye say noo if the minister speers hoo mony commandments
+there are?" "Say! why, I shall say ten to be sure." To which the
+other rejoined, with great triumph, "Ten! Try ye him wi' ten! I
+tried him wi' a hunner, and he wasna satisfeed." Another answer
+from a little girl was shrewd and reflective. The question was,
+"Why did the Israelites make a golden calf?" "They hadna as muckle
+siller as wad mak a coo."</p>
+<p>A kind correspondent has sent me, from personal knowledge, an
+admirable pendant to stones of Scottish child acuteness and shrewd
+observation. A young lady friend of his, resident in a part of
+Ayrshire rather remote from any very satisfactory administration of
+the gospel, is in the habit of collecting the children of the
+neighbourhood on Sundays at the "big hoose," for religious
+instruction. On one occasion the class had repeated the paraphrase
+of the Lord's Prayer, which contains these lines--</p>
+<blockquote>"Give us this day our daily bread, And raiment
+<i>fit</i> provide."</blockquote>
+<p>There being no question as to what "daily bread" was, the
+teacher proceeded to ask: "What do you understand by 'raiment fit,'
+or as we might say, 'fit raiment?'" For a short time the class
+remained puzzled at the question; but at last one little girl sung
+out "stockings and shune." The child knew that "fit," was Scotch
+for feet, so her natural explanation of the phrase was equivalent
+to "feet raiment," or "stockings and shune," as she termed it.</p>
+<p>On the point of changes in religious feelings there comes within
+the scope of these Reminiscences a character in Aberdeenshire,
+which has now gone out--I mean the popular and universally
+well-received Roman Catholic priest. Although we cannot say that
+Scotland is a more PROTESTANT nation than it was in past days,
+still religious differences, and strong prejudices, seem at the
+present time to draw a more decided line of separation between the
+priest and his Protestant countrymen. As examples of what is past,
+I would refer to the case of a genial Romish bishop in Ross-shire.
+It is well known that private stills were prevalent in the
+Highlands fifty or sixty years ago, and no one thought there was
+any harm in them. This good bishop, whose name I forget, was (as I
+heard the late W. Mackenzie of Muirton assure a party at Dunrobin
+Castle) several years previously a famous hand at brewing a good
+glass of whisky, and that he distributed his mountain-dew with a
+liberal and impartial hand alike to Catholic and to Protestant
+friends. Of this class, I recollect, certainly forty-five years
+ago, Priest Gordon, a genuine Aberdonian, and a man beloved by all,
+rich and poor. He was a sort of chaplain to Menzies of Pitfodels,
+and visited in all the country families round Aberdeen. I remember
+once his being at Banchory Lodge, and thus apologising to my aunt
+for going out of the room:--"I beg your pardon, Mrs. Forbes, for
+leaving you, but I maun just gae doun to the garden and say my bit
+wordies"--these "bit wordies" being in fact the portion of the
+Breviary which he was bound to recite. So easily and pleasantly
+were those matters then referred to.</p>
+<p>The following, however, is a still richer illustration, and I am
+assured it is genuine:--"Towards the end of the last century, a
+worthy Roman Catholic clergyman, well known as 'Priest Matheson,'
+and universally respected in the district, had charge of a mission
+in Aberdeenshire, and for a long time made his journeys on a
+piebald pony, the priest and his 'pyet shelty' sharing an
+affectionate recognition wherever they came. On one occasion,
+however, he made his appearance on a steed of a different
+description, and passing near a Seceding meeting-house, he
+forgathered with the minister, who, after the usual kindly
+greetings, missing the familiar pony, said, 'Ou, Priest! fat's come
+o' the auld Pyet? 'He's deid, minister.' 'Weel, he was an auld
+faithfu' servant, and ye wad nae doot gie him the offices o' the
+church?' 'Na, minister,' said his friend, not quite liking this
+allusion to his priestly offices, 'I didna dee that, for ye see he
+<i>turned Seceder afore he dee'd, an' I buried him like a
+beast</i>.' He then rode quietly away. This worthy man, however,
+could, when occasion required, rebuke with seriousness as well as
+point. Always a welcome guest at the houses of both clergy and
+gentry, he is said on one occasion to have met with a laird whose
+hospitality he had thought it proper to decline, and on being asked
+the reason for the interruption of his visits, answered, 'Ye ken,
+an' I ken; but, laird, God kens!'"</p>
+<p>One question connected with religious feeling, and the
+manifestation of religious feeling, has become a more settled point
+amongst us, since fifty years have expired. I mean the question of
+attendance by clergymen on theatrical representations. Dr. Carlyle
+had been prosecuted before the General Assembly in 1757 for being
+present at the performance of the tragedy of Douglas, written by
+his friend John Home. He was acquitted, however, and writes thus on
+the subject in his Memoirs:--</p>
+<p>"Although the clergy in Edinburgh and its neighbourhood had
+abstained from the theatre because it gave offence, yet the more
+remote clergymen, when occasionally in town, had almost universally
+attended the play-house. It is remarkable that in the year 1784,
+when the great actress Mrs. Siddons first appeared in Edinburgh,
+during the sitting of the General Assembly, that court was obliged
+to fix all its important business for the alternate days when she
+did not act, as all the younger members, clergy as well as laity,
+took their stations in the theatre on those days by three in the
+afternoon."</p>
+<p>Drs. Robertson and Blair, although they cultivated the
+acquaintance of Mrs. Siddons in private, were amongst those
+clergymen, referred to by Dr. Carlyle, who abstained from
+attendance in the theatre; but Dr. Carlyle states that they
+regretted not taking the opportunity of witnessing a display of her
+talent, and of giving their sanction to the theatre as a place of
+recreation. Dr. Carlyle evidently considered it a narrow-minded
+intolerance and bigoted fanaticism that clergymen should be
+excluded from that amusement. At a period far later than 1784, the
+same opinion prevailed in some quarters. I recollect when such
+indulgence on the part of clergymen was treated with much leniency,
+especially for Episcopalian clergy. I do not mean to say that there
+was anything like a general feeling in favour of clerical
+theatrical attendance; but there can be no question of a feeling
+far less strict than what exists in our own time. As I have said,
+thirty-six years ago some clergymen went to the theatre; and a few
+years before that, when my brothers and I were passing through
+Edinburgh, in going backwards and forwards to school, at Durham,
+with our tutor, a licentiate of the Established Church of Scotland,
+and who afterwards attained considerable eminence in the Free
+Church, we certainly went with him to the theatre there, and at
+Durham very frequently. I feel quite assured, however, that no
+clergyman could expect to retain the respect of his people or of
+the public, of whom it was known that he frequently or habitually
+attended theatrical representations. It is so understood. I had
+opportunities of conversing with the late Mr. Murray of the Theatre
+Royal, Edinburgh, and with Mr. Charles Kean, on the subject. Both
+admitted the fact, and certainly if any men of the profession
+<i>could</i> have removed the feeling from the public mind, these
+were the men to have done it.</p>
+<p>There is a phase of religious observances which has undergone a
+great change amongst us within fifty years--I mean the services and
+circumstances connected with the administration of the Holy
+Communion. When these occurred in a parish they were called
+"occasions," and the great interest excited by these sacramental
+solemnities may be gathered from "Peter's Letters," "The Annals of
+the Parish," and Burns' "Holy Fair." Such ceremonials are now
+conducted, I believe, just as the ordinary church services. Some
+years back they were considered a sort of preaching matches.
+Ministers vied with each other in order to bear away the bell in
+popularity, and hearers embraced the opportunity of exhibiting to
+one another their powers of criticism on what they heard and saw.
+In the parish of Urr in Galloway, on one sacramental occasion, some
+of the assistants invited were eminent ministers in Edinburgh; Dr.
+Scot of St. Michael's, Dumfries, was the only local one who was
+asked, and he was, in his own sphere, very popular as a preacher. A
+brother clergyman, complimenting him upon the honour of being so
+invited, the old bald-headed divine modestly replied, "Gude bless
+you, man, what can I do? They are a' han' wailed<a name=
+"FNanchor25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25">[25]</a> this time; I need
+never show face among them." "Ye're quite mista'en," was the
+soothing encouragement; "tak' your <i>Resurrection</i> (a
+well-known sermon used for such occasions by him), an I'll lay my
+lug ye'll beat every clute o' them." The Doctor did as suggested,
+and exerted himself to the utmost, and it appears he did not exert
+himself in vain. A batch of old women, on their way home after the
+conclusion of the services, were overheard discussing the merits of
+the several preachers who had that day addressed them from the
+tent. "Leeze me abune them a'," said one of the company, who had
+waxed warm in the discussion, "for yon auld clear-headed (bald)
+man, that said, 'Raphael sings an' Gabriel strikes his goolden
+harp, an' a' the angels clap their wings wi' joy.' O but it was
+gran', it just put me in min' o' our geese at Dunjarg when they
+turn their nebs to the south an' clap their wings when they see the
+rain's comin' after lang drooth."</p>
+<p>There is a subject closely allied with the religious feelings of
+a people, and that is the subject of their <i>superstitions</i>. To
+enter upon that question, in a general view, especially in
+reference to the Highlands, would not be consistent with our
+present purpose, but I am induced to mention the existence of a
+singular superstition regarding swine which existed some years ago
+among the lower orders of the east coast of Fife. I can observe, in
+my own experience, a great change to have taken place amongst
+Scotch people generally on this subject. The old aversion to the
+"unclean animal" still lingers in the Highlands, but seems in the
+Lowland districts to have yielded to a sense of its thrift and
+usefulness<a name="FNanchor26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26">[26]</a>.
+The account given by my correspondent of the Fife swinophobia is as
+follows:--</p>
+<p>Among the many superstitious notions and customs prevalent among
+the lower orders of the fishing towns on the east coast of Fife,
+till very recently, that class entertained a great horror of swine,
+and even at the very mention of the word. If that animal crossed
+their path when about to set out on a sea voyage, they considered
+it so unlucky an omen that they would not venture off. A clergyman
+of one of these fishing villages having mentioned the superstition
+to a clerical friend, and finding that he was rather incredulous on
+the subject, in order to convince him told him he would allow him
+an opportunity of testing the truth of it by allowing him to preach
+for him the following day. It was arranged that his friend was to
+read the chapter relating to the herd of swine into which the evil
+spirits were cast. Accordingly, when the first verse was read, in
+which the unclean beast was mentioned, a slight commotion was
+observable among the audience, each one of them putting his or her
+hand on any near piece of iron--a nail on the seat or book-board,
+or to the nails on their shoes. At the repetition of the word again
+and again, more commotion was visible, and the words "cauld airn"
+(cold iron) the antidote to this baneful spell, were heard issuing
+from various corners of the church. And finally, on his coming over
+the hated word again, when the whole herd ran violently down the
+bank into the sea, the alarmed parishioners, irritated beyond
+bounds, rose and all left the church in a body.</p>
+<p>It is some time now, however, since the Highlanders have begun
+to appreciate the thrift and comfort of swine-keeping and
+swine-killing. A Scottish minister had been persuaded by the laird
+to keep a pig, and the gudewife had been duly instructed in the
+mysteries of black puddings, pork chops, and pig's head. "Oh!" said
+the minister, "nae doubt there's a hantle o' miscellawneous eating
+aboot a pig."</p>
+<p>Amongst a people so deeply impressed with the great truths of
+religion, and so earnest in their religious profession, any persons
+whose principles were known to be of an <i>infidel</i> character
+would naturally be looked on with abhorrence and suspicion. There
+is a story traditionary in Edinburgh regarding David Hume, which
+illustrates this feeling in a very amusing manner, and which, I
+have heard it said, Hume himself often narrated. The philosopher
+had fallen from the path into the swamp at the back of the Castle,
+the existence of which I recollect hearing of from old persons
+forty years ago. He fairly stuck fast, and called to a woman who
+was passing, and begged her assistance. She passed on apparently
+without attending to the request; at his earnest entreaty, however,
+she came where he was, and asked him, "Are na ye Hume the Atheist?"
+"Well, well, no matter," said Hume; "Christian charity commands you
+to do good to every one." "Christian charity here, or Christian
+charity there," replied the woman, "I'll do naething for you till
+ye turn a Christian yoursell'--ye maun repeat the Lord's Prayer and
+the Creed, or faith I'll let ye grafel<a name=
+"FNanchor27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27">[27]</a> there as I fand
+ye." The historian, really afraid for his life, rehearsed the
+required formulas.</p>
+<p>Notwithstanding the high character borne for so many years by
+our countrymen as a people, and as specially attentive to all
+religious observances, still there can be no doubt that there has
+sprung up amongst the inhabitants of our crowded cities, wynds, and
+closes, a class of persons quite unknown in the old Scottish times.
+It is a great, difficulty to get them to attend divine worship at
+all, and their circumstances combine to break off all associations
+with public services. Their going to church becomes a matter of
+persuasion and of missionary labour.</p>
+<p>A lady, who is most active in visiting the houses of these
+outcasts from the means of grace, gives me an amusing instance of
+self-complacency arising from performance of the duty. She was
+visiting in the West Port, not far from the church established by
+my illustrious friend the late Dr. Chalmers. Having asked a poor
+woman if she ever attended there for divine service--"Ou ay," she
+replied; "there's a man ca'd Chalmers preaches there, and I whiles
+gang in and hear him, just to encourage him, puir body!"</p>
+<p>From the religious opinions of a people, the transition is
+natural to their political partialities. One great political change
+has passed over Scotland, which none now living can be said to have
+actually <i>witnessed</i>; but they remember those who were
+contemporaries of the anxious scenes of '45, and many of us have
+known determined and thorough Jacobites. The poetry of that
+political period still remains, but we hear only as pleasant songs
+those words and melodies which stirred the hearts and excited the
+deep enthusiasm of a past generation. Jacobite anecdotes also are
+fading from our knowledge. To many young persons they are unknown.
+Of these stories illustrative of Jacobite feelings and enthusiasm,
+many are of a character not fit for me to record. The good old
+ladies who were violent partisans of the Stuarts had little
+hesitation in referring without reserve to the future and eternal
+destiny of William of Orange. One anecdote which I had from a near
+relative of the family may be adduced in illustration of the
+powerful hold which the cause had upon the views and consciences of
+Jacobites.</p>
+<p>A former Mr. Stirling of Keir had favoured the Stuart cause, and
+had in fact attended a muster of forces at the Brig of Turk
+previous to the '15. This symptom of a rising against the
+Government occasioned some uneasiness, and the authorities were
+very active in their endeavours to discover who were the leaders of
+the movement. Keir was suspected. The miller of Keir was brought
+forward as a witness, and swore positively that the laird was
+<i>not</i> present. Now, as it was well known that he was there,
+and that the miller knew it, a neighbour asked him privately, when
+he came out of the witness-box, how he could on oath assert such a
+falsehood. The miller replied, quite undaunted, and with a feeling
+of confidence in the righteousness of his cause approaching the
+sublime--"I would rather trust my soul in God's mercy than Keir's
+head into their hands."</p>
+<p>A correspondent has sent me an account of a curious ebullition
+of Jacobite feeling and enthusiasm, now I suppose quite extinct. My
+correspondent received it himself from Alexander, fourth Duke of
+Gordon, and he had entered it in a commonplace-book when he heard
+it, in 1826.</p>
+<p>"David Tulloch, tenant in Drumbenan, under the second and third
+Dukes of Gordon, had been '<i>out</i>' in the '45--or the
+<i>fufteen, or both</i>--and was a great favourite of his
+respective landlords. One day, having attended the young Lady Susan
+Gordon (afterwards Duchess of Manchester) to the 'Chapel' at
+Huntly, David, perceiving that her ladyship had neither hassock nor
+carpet to protect her garments from the earthen floor, respectfully
+spread his plaid for the young lady to kneel upon, and the service
+proceeded; but when the prayer for the King and Royal Family was
+commenced, David, <i>sans cer&eacute;monie</i>, drew, or rather
+'twitched,' the plaid from under the knees of the astonished young
+lady, exclaiming, <i>not</i> sotto voce, 'The deil a ane shall pray
+for <i>them</i> on <i>my</i> plaid!'"</p>
+<p>I have a still more pungent demonstration against praying for
+the king, which a friend in Aberdeen assures me he received from
+the son of the gentleman who <i>heard</i> the protest. In the
+Episcopal Chapel in Aberdeen, of which Primus <i>John</i> Skinner
+was incumbent, they commenced praying in the service for George
+III. immediately on the death of Prince Charles Edward. On the
+first Sunday of the prayer being used, this gentleman's father,
+walking home with a friend whom he knew to be an old and determined
+Jacobite, said to him, "What do you think of that, Mr.----?" The
+reply was, "Indeed, the less we say aboot that prayer the better."
+But he was pushed for "further answer as to his own views and his
+own ideas on the matter," so he came out with the declaration,
+"Weel, then, I say this--they may pray the kenees<a name=
+"FNanchor28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28">[28]</a> aff their breeks
+afore I join in that prayer."</p>
+<p>The following is a characteristic Jacobite story. It must have
+happened shortly after 1745, when all manner of devices were fallen
+upon to display Jacobitism, without committing the safety of the
+Jacobite, such as having white knots on gowns; drinking, "The king,
+ye ken wha I mean;" uttering the toast "The king," with much
+apparent loyalty, and passing the glass over the water-jug,
+indicating the esoteric meaning of majesty <i>beyond</i> the
+sea,--etc. etc.; and various toasts, which were most important
+matters in those times, and were often given as tests of loyalty,
+or the reverse, according to the company in which they were given.
+Miss Carnegy of Craigo, well known and still remembered amongst the
+old Montrose ladies as an uncompromising Jacobite, had been vowing
+that she would drink King James and his son in a company of staunch
+Brunswickers, and being strongly dissuaded from any such foolish
+and dangerous attempt by some of her friends present, she answered
+them with a text of Scripture, "The tongue no man can tame--James
+<i>Third</i> and <i>Aucht</i>" and drank off her glass<a name=
+"FNanchor29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29">[29]</a>!</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_THE_THIRD."></a>CHAPTER THE THIRD.</h2>
+<h3>ON OLD SCOTTISH CONVIVIALITY.</h3>
+<br>
+<p>The next change in manners which has been effected, in the
+memory of many now living, regards the habits of conviviality, or,
+to speak more plainly, regards the banishment of <i>drunkenness</i>
+from polite society. It is indeed a most important and blessed
+change. But it is a change the full extent of which many persons
+now alive can hardly estimate. Indeed, it is scarcely possible to
+realise the scenes which took place seventy or eighty years back,
+or even less. In many houses, when a party dined, the ladies going
+away was the signal for the commencement of a system of compulsory
+conviviality. No one was allowed to shirk--no daylight--no
+heeltaps--was the wretched jargon in which were expressed the
+propriety and the duty of seeing that the glass, when filled, must
+be emptied and drained. We have heard of glasses having the bottoms
+knocked off, so that no shuffling tricks might be played with them,
+and that they could only be put down--empty.</p>
+<p>One cannot help looking back with amazement at the infatuation
+which could for a moment tolerate such a sore evil. To a man of
+sober inclinations it must have been an intolerable nuisance to
+join a dinner party at many houses, where he knew he should have to
+witness the most disgusting excesses in others, and to fight hard
+to preserve himself from a compliance with the example of those
+around him.</p>
+<p>The scenes of excess which occurred in the houses where deep
+drinking was practised must have been most revolting to sober
+persons who were unaccustomed to such conviviality; as in the case
+of a drinking Angus laird, entertaining as his guest a London
+merchant of formal manners and temperate habits. The poor man was
+driven from the table when the drinking set in hard, and stole away
+to take refuge in his bedroom. The company, however, were
+determined not to let the worthy citizen off so easily, but
+proceeded in a body, with the laird at their head, and invaded his
+privacy by exhibiting bottles and glasses at his bedside, Losing
+all patience, the wretched victim gasped out his indignation--"Sir,
+your hospitality borders upon brutality." It must have had a fatal
+influence also on many persons to whom drinking was most injurious,
+and who were yet not strong-minded enough to resist the temptations
+to excess. Poor James Boswell, who certainly required no
+<i>extraordinary</i> urging to take a glass too much, is found in
+his letters, which have recently come to light, laying the blame of
+his excesses to "falling into a habit which still prevails in
+Scotland;" and then he remarks, with censorious emphasis, on the
+"drunken manners of his countrymen." This was about 1770.</p>
+<p>A friend of mine, however, lately departed--Mr. Boswell of
+Balmuto--showed more spirit than the Londoner, when he found
+himself in a similar situation. Challenged by the host to drink,
+urged and almost forced to swallow a quantity of wine against his
+own inclination, he proposed a counter-challenge in the way of
+eating, and made the following ludicrous and original proposal to
+the company,--that two or three legs of mutton should be prepared,
+and he would then contest the point of who could devour most meat;
+and certainly it seems as reasonable to compel people to
+<i>eat</i>, as to compel them to drink, beyond the natural cravings
+of nature.</p>
+<p>The situation of ladies, too, must frequently have been very
+disagreeable--when, for instance, gentlemen came up stairs in a
+condition most unfit for female society. Indeed they were often
+compelled to fly from scenes which were most unfitting for them to
+witness. They were expected to get out of the way at the proper
+time, or when a hint was given them to do so. At Glasgow sixty
+years ago, when the time had come for the <i>bowl</i> to be
+introduced, some jovial and thirsty members of the company proposed
+as a toast, "The trade of Glasgow and <i>the outward bound!</i>"
+The hint was taken, and silks and satins moved off to the
+drawing-room.</p>
+<p>In my part of the country the traditionary stories of drinking
+prowess are quite marvellous. On Deeside there flourished a certain
+Saunders Paul (whom I remember an old man), an innkeeper at
+Banchory. He was said to have drunk whisky, glass for glass, to the
+claret of Mr. Maule and the Laird of Skene for a whole evening; and
+in those days there was a traditional story of his despatching, at
+one sitting, in company with a character celebrated for
+conviviality--one of the men employed to float rafts of timber down
+the Dee--three dozen of porter. Of this Mr. Paul it was recorded,
+that on being asked if he considered porter as a wholesome
+beverage, he replied, "Oh yes, if you don't take above a dozen."
+Saunders Paul was, as I have said, the innkeeper at Banchory: his
+friend and <i>porter</i> companion was drowned in the Dee, and when
+told that the body had been found down the stream below Crathes, he
+coolly remarked, "I am surprised at that, for I never kenn'd him
+pass the inn before without comin' in for a glass."</p>
+<p>Some relatives of mine travelling in the Highlands were amused
+by observing in a small road-side public-house a party drinking,
+whose apparatus for conviviality called forth the dry quaint humour
+which is so thoroughly Scottish. Three drovers had met together,
+and were celebrating their meeting by a liberal consumption of
+whisky; the inn could only furnish one glass without a bottom, and
+this the party passed on from one to another. A queer-looking pawky
+chield, whenever the glass came to his turn, remarked most gravely,
+"I think we wadna be the waur o' some water," taking care, however,
+never to add any of the simple element, but quietly drank off his
+glass.</p>
+<p>There was a sort of infatuation in the supposed dignity and
+manliness attached to powers of deep potation, and the fatal
+effects of drinking were spoken of in a manner both reckless and
+unfeeling. Thus, I have been assured that a well-known old laird of
+the old school expressed himself with great indignation at the
+charge brought against hard drinking that it had actually
+<i>killed</i> people. "Na, na, I never knew onybody killed wi'
+drinking, but I hae kenn'd some that dee'd in the training." A
+positive <i>&eacute;clat</i> was attached to the accomplished and
+well-trained consumer of claret or of whisky toddy, which gave an
+importance and even merit to the practice of drinking, and which
+had a most injurious effect. I am afraid some of the Pleydells of
+the old school would have looked with the most ineffable contempt
+on the degeneracy of the present generation in this respect, and
+that the temperance movement would be little short of insanity in
+their eyes; and this leads me to a remark.--In considering this
+portion of the subject, we should bear in mind a distinction. The
+change we now speak of involves more than a mere change of a custom
+or practice in social life. It is a change in men's sentiments and
+feelings on a certain great question of morals. Except we enter
+into this distinction we cannot appreciate the extent of the change
+which has really taken place in regard to intemperate habits.</p>
+<p>I have an anecdote from a descendant of Principal Robertson, of
+an address made to him, which showed the real importance attached
+to all that concerned the system of drinking in his time. The
+Principal had been invited to spend some days in a country-house,
+and the minister of the parish (a jovial character) had been asked
+to meet him. Before dinner he went up to Dr. Robertson and
+addressed him confidentially--"Doctor, I understand ye are a
+brother of my gude freend Peter Robertson of Edinburgh, therefore
+I'll gie you a piece of advice,--Bend<a name=
+"FNanchor30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30">[30]</a> weel to the
+Madeira at dinner, for here ye'll get little o't after." I have
+known persons who held that a man who could not drink must have a
+degree of feebleness and imbecility of character. But as this is an
+important point, I will adduce the higher authority of Lord
+Cockburn, and quote from him two examples, very different certainly
+in their nature, but both bearing upon the question. I refer to
+what he says of Lord Hermand:--"With Hermand drinking was a virtue;
+he had a sincere respect for drinking, indeed a high moral
+approbation, and a serious compassion for the poor wretches who
+<i>could</i> not indulge in it, and with due contempt of those who
+could but did not;" and, secondly, I refer to Lord Cockburn's pages
+for an anecdote which illustrates the perverted feeling I refer to,
+now happily no longer existing. It relates the opinion expressed by
+an old drunken writer of Selkirk (whose name is not mentioned)
+regarding his anticipation of professional success for Mr.
+Cranstoun, afterwards Lord Corehouse. Sir Walter Scott, William
+Erskine, and Cranstoun, had dined with this Selkirk writer, and
+Scott--of hardy, strong, and healthy frame--had matched the writer
+himself in the matter of whisky punch. Poor Cranstoun, of refined
+and delicate mental and bodily temperament, was a bad hand at such
+work, and was soon off the field. On the party breaking up, the
+Selkirk writer expressed his admiration of Scott, assuring him that
+<i>he</i> would rise high in the profession, and adding: "I'll tell
+ye what, Maister Walter, that lad Cranstoun may get to the tap o'
+the bar, if he can; but tak my word for't, it's no be by
+drinking."</p>
+<p>There was a sort of dogged tone of apology for excess in
+drinking, which marked the hold which the practice had gained on
+ordinary minds. Of this we have a remarkable example in the
+unwilling testimony of a witness who was examined as to the fact of
+drunkenness being charged against a minister. The person examined
+was beadle, or one of the church officials. He was asked, "Did you
+ever see the minister the worse of drink?" "I canna say I've seen
+him the waur o' drink, but nae doubt I've seen him the
+<i>better</i> o't," was the evasive answer. The question, however,
+was pushed further; and when he was urged to say if this state of
+being "the better for drink" ever extended to a condition of
+absolute helpless intoxication, the reply was: "Indeed, afore that
+cam', I was blind fou mysel', and I could see nae thing."</p>
+<p>A legal friend has told me of a celebrated circuit where Lord
+Hermand was judge, and Clephane depute-advocate. The party got
+drunk at Ayr, and so continued (although quite able for their work)
+till the business was concluded at Jedburgh. Some years after, my
+informant heard that this circuit had, at Jedburgh, acquired the
+permanent name of the "<i>daft</i> circuit."</p>
+<p>Lord Cockburn was fond of describing a circuit scene at
+Stirling, in his early days at the bar, under the presidency of his
+friend and connection Lord Hermand. After the circuit dinner, and
+when drinking had gone on for some time, young Cockburn observed
+places becoming vacant in the social circle, but no one going out
+at the door. He found that the individuals had dropped down under
+the table. He took the hint, and by this ruse retired from the
+scene. He lay quiet till the beams of the morning sun penetrated
+the apartment. The judge and some of his staunch friends coolly
+walked up stairs, washed their hands and faces, came down to
+breakfast, and went into court quite fresh and fit for work.</p>
+<p>The feeling of importance frequently attached to powers of
+drinking was formally attested by a well-known western baronet of
+convivial habits and convivial memory. He was desirous of bearing
+testimony to the probity, honour, and other high moral qualities of
+a friend whom he wished to commend. Having fully stated these
+claims to consideration and respect, he deemed it proper to notice
+also his <i>convivial</i> attainments: he added accordingly, with
+cautious approval on so important a point--"And he is a fair
+drinker<a name="FNanchor31"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_31">[31]</a>."</p>
+<p>The following anecdote is an amusing example of Scottish servant
+humour and acuteness in measuring the extent of consumption by a
+convivial party in Forfarshire. The party had met at a farmer's
+house not far from Arbroath, to celebrate the reconciliation of two
+neighbouring farmers who had long been at enmity. The host was
+pressing and hospitable; the party sat late, and consumed a vast
+amount of whisky toddy. The wife was penurious, and grudged the
+outlay. When at last, at a morning hour, the party dispersed, the
+lady, who had not slept in her anxiety, looked over the stairs and
+eagerly asked the servant girl, "How many bottles of whisky have
+they used, Betty?" The lass, who had not to pay for the whisky, but
+had been obliged to go to the well to fetch the water for the
+toddy, coolly answered, "I dinna ken, mem, but they've drucken sax
+gang o' water."</p>
+<p>We cannot imagine a better illustration of the general habits
+that prevailed in Scottish society in regard to drinking about the
+time we speak of than one which occurs in the recently-published
+"Memoirs of a Banking House," that of the late Sir William Forbes,
+Bart, of Pitsligo. The book comprises much that is interesting to
+the family, and to Scotchmen. It contains a pregnant hint as to the
+manners of polite society and business habits in those days. Of
+John Coutts, one of four brothers connected with the house, Sir
+William records how he was "more correct in his conduct than the
+others; so much so, that Sir William <i>never but once</i> saw him
+in the counting-house disguised with liquor, and incapable of
+transacting business."</p>
+<p>In the Highlands this sort of feeling extended to an almost
+incredible extent, even so much as to obscure the moral and
+religious sentiments. Of this a striking proof was afforded in a
+circumstance which took place in my own church soon after I came
+into it. One of our Gaelic clergy had so far forgotten himself as
+to appear in the church somewhat the worse of liquor. This having
+happened so often as to come to the ears of the bishop, he
+suspended him from the performance of divine service. Against this
+decision the people were a little disposed to rebel, because,
+according to their Highland notions, "a gentleman was no the waur
+for being able to tak' a gude glass o' whisky." These were the
+notions of a people in whose eyes the power of swallowing whisky
+conferred distinction, and with whom inability to take the fitting
+quantity was a mark of a mean and futile character. Sad to tell,
+the funeral rites of Highland chieftains were not supposed to have
+been duly celebrated except there was an immoderate and often fatal
+consumption of whisky. It has been related that at the last funeral
+in the Highlands, conducted according to the traditions of the
+olden times, several of the guests fell victims to the usage, and
+actually died of the excesses.</p>
+<p>This phase of old and happily almost obsolete Scottish
+intemperance at funeral solemnities must have been peculiarly
+revolting. Instances of this horrid practice being carried to a
+great extent are traditionary in every part of the country. I am
+assured of the truth of the following anecdote by a son of the
+gentleman who acted as chief mourner on the occasion:--About
+seventy years ago an old maiden lady died in Strathspey. Just
+previous to her death she sent for her grand-nephew, and said to
+him, "Wily, I'm deein', and as ye'll hae the charge o' a' I have,
+mind now that as much whisky is to be used at my funeral as there
+was at my baptism." Willy neglected to ask the old lady what the
+quantity of whisky used at the baptism was, but when the day of the
+funeral arrived believed her orders would be best fulfilled by
+allowing each guest to drink as much as he pleased. The churchyard
+where the body was to be deposited was about ten miles distant from
+where the death occurred. It was a short day in November, and when
+the funeral party came to the churchyard the shades of night had
+considerably closed in. The grave-digger, whose patience had been
+exhausted in waiting, was not in the least willing to accept of
+Captain G----'s (the chief mourner) apology for delay. After
+looking about him he put the anxious question, "But, Captain,
+whaur's Miss Ketty?" The reply was, "In her coffin, to be sure, and
+get it into the earth as fast as you can." There, however, was no
+coffin; the procession had sojourned at a country inn by the
+way--had rested the body on a dyke--started without it--and had to
+postpone the interment until next day. My correspondent very justly
+adds the remark, "What would be thought of indulgence in drinking
+habits now that could lead to such a result?"</p>
+<p>Many scenes of a similar incongruous character are still
+traditionally connected with such occasions. Within the last thirty
+years, a laird of Dundonald, a small estate in Ross-shire, died at
+Inverness. There was open house for some days, and great eating and
+drinking. Here the corpse commenced its progress toward its
+appointed home on the coast, and people followed in multitudes to
+give it a partial convoy, all of whom had to be entertained. It
+took altogether a fortnight to bury poor Dundonald, and great
+expense must have been incurred. This, however, is looked back to
+at Inverness as the last of the real grand old Highland funerals.
+Such notions of what is due to the memory of the departed have now
+become unusual if not obsolete. I myself witnessed the first
+decided change in this matter. I officiated at the funeral of the
+late Duke of Sutherland. The procession was a mile long.
+Refreshments were provided for 7000 persons; beef, bread, and beer;
+but not one glass of whisky was allowed on the property that
+day!</p>
+<p>It may, perhaps, be said that the change we speak of is not
+peculiar to Scotland; that in England the same change has been
+apparent; and that drunkenness has passed away in the higher
+circles, as a matter of course, as refinement and taste made an
+advancement in society. This is true. But there were some features
+of the question which were peculiar to Scotland, and which at one
+time rendered it less probable that intemperance would give way in
+the north. It seemed in some quarters to have taken deeper root
+amongst us. The system of pressing, or of <i>compelling</i>, guests
+to drink seemed more inveterate. Nothing can more powerfully
+illustrate the deep-rooted character of intemperate habits in
+families than an anecdote which was related to me, as coming from
+the late Mr. Mackenzie, author of the <i>Man of Feeling</i>. He had
+been involved in a regular drinking party. He was keeping as free
+from the usual excesses as he was able, and as he marked companions
+around him falling victims to the power of drink, he himself
+dropped off under the table among the slain, as a measure of
+precaution; and lying there, his attention was called to a small
+pair of hands working at his throat; on asking what it was, a voice
+replied, "Sir, I'm the lad that's to lowse the neckcloths." Here,
+then, was a family, where, on drinking occasions, it was the
+appointed duty of one of the household to attend, and, when the
+guests where becoming helpless, to untie their cravats in fear of
+apoplexy or suffocation<a name="FNanchor32"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_32">[32]</a>. We ought certainly to be grateful for the
+change which has taken place from such a system; for this change
+has made a great revolution in Scottish social life. The charm and
+the romance long attached in the minds of some of our countrymen to
+the whole system and concerns of hard drinking was indeed most
+lamentable and absurd. At tavern suppers, where, nine times out
+often, it was the express <i>object</i> of those who went to get
+drunk, such stuff as "regal purple stream," "rosy wine," "quaffing
+the goblet," "bright sparkling nectar," "chasing the rosy hours,"
+and so on, tended to keep up the delusion, and make it a monstrous
+fine thing for men to sit up drinking half the night, to have
+frightful headaches all next day, to make maudlin idiots of
+themselves as they were going home, and to become brutes amongst
+their family when they arrived. And here I may introduce the
+mention of a practice connected with the convivial habits of which
+we have been speaking, but which has for some time passed away, at
+least from private tables--I mean the absurd system of calling for
+toasts and sentiments each time the glasses were filled. During
+dinner not a drop could be touched, except in conjunction with
+others, and with each drinking to the health of each. But toasts
+came <i>after</i> dinner. I can just remember the practice in
+partial operation; and my astonishment as a mere boy, when
+accidentally dining at table and hearing my mother called upon to
+"give the company a gentleman," is one of my earliest
+reminiscences. Lord Cockburn must have remembered them well, and I
+will quote his most amusing account of the effects:--"After dinner,
+and before the ladies retired, there generally began what was
+called '<i>Rounds</i>' of toasts, when each gentleman named an
+absent lady, and each lady an absent gentleman, separately; or one
+person was required to give an absent lady, and another person was
+required to match a gentleman with that lady, and the persons named
+were toasted, generally, with allusions and jokes about the fitness
+of the union. And, worst of all, there were 'Sentiments.' These
+were short epigrammatic sentences, expressive of moral feelings and
+virtues, and were thought refined and elegant productions. A faint
+conception of their nauseousness may be formed from the following
+examples, every one of which I have heard given a thousand times,
+and which indeed I only recollect from their being favourites. The
+glasses being filled, a person was asked for his or for her
+sentiment, when this, or something similar, was committed:--'May
+the pleasures of the evening bear the reflections of the morning;'
+or, 'may the friends of our youth be the companions of our old
+age;' or, 'delicate pleasures to susceptible minds;' 'may the
+honest heart never feel distress;' 'may the hand of charity wipe
+the tear from the eye of sorrow.' The conceited, the ready, or the
+reckless, hackneyed in the art, had a knack of making new
+sentiments applicable to the passing incidents with great ease. But
+it was a dreadful oppression on the timid or the awkward. They used
+to shudder, ladies particularly; for nobody was spared when their
+turn in the <i>round</i> approached. Many a struggle and blush did
+it cost; but this seemed only to excite the tyranny of the masters
+of the craft; and compliance could never be avoided, except by more
+torture than yielding.... It is difficult for those who have been
+under a more natural system to comprehend how a sensible man, a
+respectable matron, a worthy old maid, and especially a girl, could
+be expected to go into company easily, on such conditions<a name=
+"FNanchor33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33">[33]</a>."</p>
+<p>This accompaniment of domestic drinking by a toast or
+sentiment--the practice of which is now confined to public
+entertainments--was then invariable in private parties, and was
+supposed to enliven and promote the good fellowship of the social
+circle. Thus Fergusson, in one of his poems, in describing a
+dinner, says--</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>"The grace is said; it's nae ower lang,</p>
+<p>The claret reams in bells.</p>
+<p>Quo' Deacon, 'Let the toast round gang;</p>
+<p>Come, here's our noble sels</p>
+<p class="i2">Weel met the day.'"</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<p>There was a great variety of these toasts, some of them
+exclusively Scottish. A correspondent has favoured me with a few
+reminiscences of such incentives to inebriety.</p>
+<p>The ordinary form of drinking a health was in the address,
+"Here's t' ye."</p>
+<p>Then such as the following were named by successive members of
+the company at the call of the host:--</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p><i>The land o' cakes</i> (Scotland).</p>
+<p><i>Mair freens and less need o' them.<br>
+Thumping luck and fat weans</i>.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<p><i>When we're gaun up the hill o' fortune may we ne'er meet a
+freen' coming doun.<br>
+May ne'er waur be amang us.<br>
+May the hinges o' freendship never rust, or the wings o' luve lose
+a feather.<br>
+Here's to them that lo'es us, or lenns us a lift.<br>
+Here's health to the sick, stilts to the lame; claise to the back,
+and brose to the wame.<br>
+Here's health, wealth, wit, and meal.<br>
+The deil rock them in a creel that does na' wish us a' weel.<br>
+Horny hands and weather-beaten haffets (cheeks).<br>
+The rending o' rocks and the pu'in' doun o' auld houses</i>.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<p>The above two belong to the mason craft; the first implies a
+wish for plenty of work, and health to do it; the second, to erect
+new buildings and clear away old ones.</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p><i>May the winds o' adversity ne'er blaw open our door.<br>
+May poortith ne'er throw us in the dirt, or gowd into the high
+saddle<a name="FNanchor34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34">[34]</a>.<br>
+May the mouse ne'er leave our meal-pock wi' the tear in its
+e'e.<br>
+Blythe may we a' be.<br>
+Ill may we never see.<br>
+Breeks and brochan (brose).<br>
+May we ne'er want a freend, or a drappie to gie him.<br>
+Gude een to you a', an' tak your nappy.<br>
+A willy-waught's a gude night cappy<a name=
+"FNanchor35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35">[35]</a>.<br>
+May we a' be canty an' cosy,<br>
+An' ilk hae a wife in his bosy</i>.</p>
+<p><i>A cosy but, and a canty ben,<br>
+To couthie<a name="FNanchor36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36">[36]</a>
+women and trusty men.<br>
+The ingle neuk wi' routh<a name="FNanchor37"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_37">[37]</a> o' bannoch and bairns.<br>
+Here's to him wha winna beguile ye.<br>
+Mair sense and mair siller.<br>
+Horn, corn, wool, an' yarn<a name="FNanchor38"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_38">[38]</a></i>.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<p>Sometimes certain toasts were accompanied by <i>Highland</i>
+honours. This was a very exciting, and to a stranger a somewhat
+alarming, proceeding. I recollect my astonishment the first time I
+witnessed the ceremony--the company, from sitting quietly drinking
+their wine, seemed to assume the attitude of harmless maniacs,
+allowed to amuse themselves. The moment the toast was given, and
+proposed to be drunk with Highland honours, the gentlemen all rose,
+and with one foot on their chair and another on the <i>table</i>,
+they drank the toast with Gaelic shrieks, which were awful to hear,
+the cheering being under the direction of a toast-master appointed
+to direct the proceedings. I am indebted to the kindness of the
+Rev. Duncan Campbell, the esteemed minister of Moulin, for the form
+used on such occasions. Here it is in the Gaelic and the
+Saxon:--</p>
+<blockquote>
+<table width="60%" summary="">
+<tr align="left">
+<th><i>Gaelic.</i></th>
+<th><i>Translation.</i></th>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>So!</td>
+<td>Prepare!</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Nish! Nish!</td>
+<td>Now! Now!</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Sud ris! Sud ris!</td>
+<td>Yon again! Yon again!</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Thig ris! Thig ris!</td>
+<td>At it again! At it again!</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>A on uair eile!</td>
+<td>Another time, or one cheer more!</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</blockquote>
+<p>The reader is to imagine these words uttered with yells and
+vociferations, and accompanied with frantic gestures.</p>
+<p>The system of giving toasts was so regularly established, that
+collections of them were published to add brilliancy to the festive
+board. By the kindness of the librarian, I have seen a little
+volume which is in the Signet Library of Edinburgh. It is entitled,
+"The Gentleman's New Bottle Companion," Edinburgh, printed in the
+year MDCCLXXVII. It contains various toasts and sentiments which
+the writer considered to be suitable to such occasions. Of the
+taste and decency of the companies where some of them could be made
+use of, the less said the better.</p>
+<p>I have heard also of large traditionary collections of toasts
+and sentiments, belonging to old clubs and societies, extending
+back above a century, but I have not seen any of them, and I
+believe my readers will think they have had quite enough.</p>
+<p>The favourable reaction which has taken place in regard to the
+whole system of intemperance may very fairly, in the first place,
+be referred to an improved <i>moral</i> feeling. But other causes
+have also assisted; and it is curious to observe how the different
+changes in the modes of society bear upon one another. The
+alteration in the convivial habits which we are noticing in our own
+country may be partly due to alteration of hours. The old plan of
+early dining favoured a system of suppers, and after supper was a
+great time for convivial songs and sentiments. This of course
+induced drinking to a late hour. Most drinking songs imply the
+night as the season of conviviality--thus in a popular
+madrigal:--</p>
+<blockquote>"By the gaily circling glass<br>
+We can tell how minutes pass;<br>
+By the hollow cask we're told<br>
+How the waning <i>night</i> grows old."</blockquote>
+<p>And Burns thus marks the time:--</p>
+<blockquote>"It is the moon, I ken her horn,<br>
+That's blinkin' in the lift sae hie;<br>
+She shines sae bright, to wyle us hame,<br>
+But by my sooth she'll wait a wee."</blockquote>
+<p>The young people of the present day have no idea of the state of
+matters in regard to the supper system when it was the normal
+condition of society. The late dining hours may make the social
+circle more formal, but they have been far less favourable to
+drinking propensities. After such dinners as ours are now, suppers
+are clearly out of the question. One is astonished to look back and
+recall the scenes to which were attached associations of hilarity,
+conviviality, and enjoyment. Drinking parties were protracted
+beyond the whole Sunday, having begun by a dinner on Saturday;
+imbecility and prostrate helplessness were a common result of these
+bright and jovial scenes; and by what perversion of language, or by
+what obliquity of sentiment, the notions of pleasure could be
+attached to scenes of such excess--to the nausea, the disgust of
+sated appetite, and the racking headache--it is not easy to
+explain. There were men of heads so hard, and of stomachs so
+insensible, that, like my friend Saunders Paul, they could stand
+anything in the way of drink. But to men in general, and to the
+more delicate constitutions, such a life must have been a cause of
+great misery. To a certain extent, and up to a certain point, wine
+may be a refreshment and a wholesome stimulant; nay, it is a
+medicine, and a valuable one, and as such, comes recommended on
+fitting occasions by the physician. <i>Beyond</i> this point, as
+sanctioned and approved by nature, the use of wine is only
+degradation. Well did the sacred writer call wine, when thus taken
+in excess, "a mocker." It makes all men equal, because it makes
+them all idiotic. It allures them into a vicious indulgence, and
+then mocks their folly, by depriving them of any sense they may
+ever have possessed.</p>
+<p>It has, I fear, been injurious to the cause of temperance, that
+emotions of true friendship, and the outpouring of human
+affections, should so frequently be connected with the obligation
+that the parties should <i>get drunk together</i>. Drunkenness is
+thus made to hold too close an association in men's minds with some
+of the best and finest feelings of their nature.</p>
+<blockquote>"Friend of my soul, this goblet sip,"</blockquote>
+<p>is the constant acknowledged strain of poetical friendship: our
+own Robert Burns calls upon the dear companion of his early happy
+days, with whom he had "paidl't i' the burn, frae mornin' sun till
+dine," and between whom "braid seas had roar'd sin auld lang syne,"
+to commemorate their union of heart and spirit, and to welcome
+their meeting after years of separation, by each one joining his
+pint-stoup, and by each taking a mutual "richt guid willie-waught,"
+in honour of the innocent and happy times of "auld lang syne."
+David marks his recognition of friendship by tokens of a different
+character--"We took sweet counsel together, and walked <i>in the
+house of God</i> as friends."--Ps. lv. 14.</p>
+<p>Reference has already been made to Lord Hermand's opinion of
+drinking, and to the high estimation in which he held a staunch
+drinker, according to the testimony of Lord Cockburn, There is a
+remarkable corroboration of this opinion in a current anecdote
+which is traditionary regarding the same learned judge. A case of
+some great offence was tried before him, and the counsel pleaded
+extenuation for his client in that he was <i>drunk</i> when he
+committed the offence. "Drunk!" exclaimed Lord Hermand, in great
+indignation; "if he could do such a thing when he was drunk, what
+might he not have done when he was <i>sober!</i>" evidently
+implying that the normal condition of human nature, and its most
+hopeful one, was a condition of intoxication.</p>
+<p>Of the prevalence of hard drinking in certain houses as a
+system, a remarkable proof is given at page 102. The following
+anecdote still further illustrates the subject, and corresponds
+exactly with the story of the "loosing the cravats," which was
+performed for guests in a state of helpless inebriety by one of the
+household. There had been a carousing party at Castle Grant, many
+years ago, and as the evening advanced towards morning two
+Highlanders were in attendance to carry the guests up stairs, it
+being understood that none could by any other means arrive at their
+sleeping apartments. One or two of the guests, however, whether
+from their abstinence or their superior strength of head, were
+walking up stairs, and declined the proffered assistance. The
+attendants were quite astonished, and indignantly exclaimed, "Agh,
+it's sare cheenged times at Castle Grant, when shentlemens can gang
+to bed on their ain feet."</p>
+<p>There was a practice in many Scottish houses which favoured most
+injuriously the national tendency to spirit-drinking, and that was
+a foolish and inconsiderate custom of offering a glass on all
+occasions as a mark of kindness or hospitality. I mention the
+custom only for the purpose of offering a remonstrance. It should
+never be done. Even now, I am assured, small jobs (carpenters' or
+blacksmiths', or such like) are constantly remunerated in the West
+Highlands of Scotland--and doubtless in many other parts of the
+country--not by a pecuniary payment, but by a <i>dram</i>; if the
+said dram be taken from a <i>speerit</i>-decanter out of the family
+press or cupboard, the compliment is esteemed the greater, and the
+offering doubly valued.</p>
+<p>A very amusing dialogue between a landlord and his tenant on
+this question of the dram has been sent to me. John Colquhoun, an
+aged Dumbartonshire tenant, is asked by his laird on Lochlomond
+side, to stay a minute till he <i>tastes</i>. "Now, John," says the
+laird. "Only half a glass, Camstraddale," meekly pleads John.
+"Which half?" rejoins the laird, "the upper or the lower?" John
+grins, and turns off <i>both</i>--<i>the upper and lower</i>
+too.</p>
+<p>The upper and lower portions of the glass furnish another
+drinking anecdote. A very greedy old lady employed another John
+Colquhoun to cut the grass upon the lawn, and enjoined him to cut
+it very close, adding, as a reason for the injunction, that one
+inch at the bottom was worth two at the top. Having finished his
+work much to her satisfaction, the old lady got out the
+whisky-bottle and a tapering wineglass, which she filled about half
+full; John suggested that it would be better to fill it up, slily
+adding, "Fill it up, mem, for it's no like the gress; an inch at
+the tap's worth twa at the boddom."</p>
+<p>But the most whimsical anecdote connected with the subject of
+drink, is one traditionary in the south of Scotland, regarding an
+old Gallovidian lady disclaiming more drink under the following
+circumstances:--The old generation of Galloway lairds were a
+primitive and hospitable race, but their conviviality sometimes led
+to awkward occurrences. In former days, when roads were bad and
+wheeled vehicles almost unknown, an old laird was returning from a
+supper party, with his lady mounted behind him on horseback. On
+crossing the river Urr, at a ford at a point where it joins the
+sea, the old lady dropped off, but was not missed till her husband
+reached his door, when, of course, there was an immediate search
+made. The party who were despatched in quest of her arrived just in
+time to find her remonstrating with the advancing tide, which
+trickled into her mouth, in these words, "No anither drap; neither
+het nor cauld."</p>
+<p>A lady, on one occasion, offering a dram to a porter in a rather
+small glass, said, "Take it off; it will do you no harm," on which
+the man, looking at the diminutive glass, observed, "Harm! Na, gin
+it were poushon" (poison).</p>
+<p>I would now introduce, as a perfect illustration of this portion
+of our subject, two descriptions of clergymen, well known men in
+their day, which are taken from Dr. Carlyle's work, already
+referred to. Of Dr. Alexander Webster, a clergyman, and one of his
+contemporaries, he writes thus:--"Webster, leader of the
+high-flying party, had justly obtained much respect amongst the
+clergy, and all ranks indeed, for having established the Widows'
+Fund.... His appearance of great strictness in religion, to which
+he was bred under his father, who was a very popular minister of
+the Tolbooth Church, not acting in restraint of his convivial
+humour, he was held to be excellent company even by those of
+dissolute manners; while, being a five-bottle man, he could lay
+them all under the table. This had brought on him the nickname of
+Dr. Bonum Magnum in the time of faction. But never being indecently
+the worse of liquor, and a love of claret, to any degree, not being
+reckoned in those days a sin in Scotland, all his excesses were
+pardoned."</p>
+<p>Dr. Patrick Cumming, also a clergyman and a contemporary, he
+describes in the following terms:--"Dr. Patrick Cumming was, at
+this time (1751), at the head of the moderate interest, and had his
+temper been equal to his talents, might have kept it long, for he
+had both learning and sagacity, and very agreeable conversation,
+<i>with a constitution able to bear the conviviality of the
+times.</i>"</p>
+<p>Now, of all the anecdotes and facts which I have collected, or
+of all which I have ever heard to illustrate the state of Scottish
+society in the past times, as regards its habits of intemperance,
+this assuredly surpasses them all.--Of two well-known,
+distinguished, and leading clergymen in the middle of the
+eighteenth century, one who had "obtained much respect," and "had
+the appearance of great strictness in religion," is described as an
+enormous drinker of claret; the other, an able leader of a powerful
+section in the church, is described as <i>owing</i> his influence
+to his power of meeting the conviviality of the times. Suppose for
+a moment a future biographer should write in this strain of eminent
+divines, and should apply to distinguished members of the Scottish
+Church in 1863 such description as the following:--"Dr. ---- was a
+man who took a leading part in all church affairs at this time, and
+was much looked up to by the evangelical section of the General
+Assembly; he could always carry off without difficulty his five
+bottles of claret. Dr. ---- had great influence in society, and led
+the opposite party in the General Assembly, as he could take his
+place in all companies, and drink on fair terms at the most
+convivial tables!!" Why, this seems to us so monstrous, that we can
+scarcely believe Dr. Carlyle's account of matters in his day to be
+possible.</p>
+<p>There is a story which illustrates, with terrible force, the
+power which drinking had obtained in Scottish social life. I have
+been deterred from bringing it forward, as too shocking for
+production. But as the story is pretty well known, and its truth
+vouched for on high authority, I venture to give it, as affording a
+proof that, in those days, no consideration, not even the most
+awful that affects human nature, could be made to outweigh the
+claims of a determined conviviality. It may, I think, be mentioned
+also, in the way of warning men generally against the hardening and
+demoralising effects of habitual drunkenness. The story is
+this:--At a prolonged drinking bout, one of the party remarked,
+"What gars the laird of Garskadden look sae gash<a name=
+"FNanchor39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39">[39]</a>?" "Ou," says his
+neighbour, the laird of Kilmardinny, "deil meane him! Garskadden's
+been wi' his Maker these twa hours; I saw him step awa, but I didna
+like to disturb gude company<a name="FNanchor40"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_40">[40]</a>!"</p>
+<p>Before closing this subject of excess in <i>drinking</i>, I may
+refer to another indulgence in which our countrymen are generally
+supposed to partake more largely than their neighbours:--I mean
+snuff-taking. The popular southern ideas of a Scotchman and his
+snuff-box are inseparable. Smoking does not appear to have been
+practised more in Scotland than in England, and if Scotchmen are
+sometimes intemperate in the use of snuff, it is certainly a more
+innocent excess than intemperance in whisky. I recollect, amongst
+the common people in the north, a mode of taking snuff which showed
+a determination to make the <i>most</i> of it, and which indicated
+somewhat of intemperance in the enjoyment; this was to receive it
+not through a pinch between the fingers, but through a quill or
+little bone ladle, which forced it up the nose. But, besides
+smoking and snuffing, I have a reminiscence of a <i>third</i> use
+of tobacco, which I apprehend is now quite obsolete. Some of my
+readers will be surprised when I name this forgotten luxury. It was
+called <i>plugging</i>, and consisted <i>(horresco referens</i>) in
+poking a piece of pigtail tobacco right into the nostril. I
+remember this distinctly; and now, at a distance of more than sixty
+years, I recall my utter astonishment as a boy, at seeing my
+grand-uncle, with whom I lived in early days, put a thin piece of
+tobacco fairly up his nose. I suppose the plug acted as a continued
+stimulant on the olfactory nerve, and was, in short, like taking a
+perpetual pinch of snuff.</p>
+<p>The inveterate snuff-taker, like the dram-drinker, felt severely
+the being deprived of his accustomed stimulant, as in the following
+instance:--A severe snow-storm in the Highlands, which lasted for
+several weeks, having stopped all communication betwixt
+neighbouring hamlets, the snuff-boxes were soon reduced to their
+last pinch. Borrowing and begging from all the neighbours within
+reach were first resorted to, but when these failed, all were alike
+reduced to the longing which unwillingly-abstinent snuff-takers
+alone know. The minister of the parish was amongst the unhappy
+number; the craving was so intense that study was out of the
+question, and he became quite restless. As a last resort the beadle
+was despatched, through the snow, to a neighbouring glen, in the
+hope of getting a supply; but he came back as unsuccessful as he
+went. "What's to be dune, John?" was the minister's pathetic
+inquiry. John shook his head, as much as to say that he could not
+tell; but immediately thereafter started up, as if a new idea had
+occurred to him. He came back in a few minutes, crying, "Hae!" The
+minister, too eager to be scrutinising, took a long, deep pinch,
+and then said, "Whaur did you get it?" "I soupit<a name=
+"FNanchor41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41">[41]</a> the poupit," was
+John's expressive reply. The minister's accumulated superfluous
+Sabbath snuff now came into good use.</p>
+<p>It does not appear that at this time a similar excess in
+<i>eating</i> accompanied this prevalent tendency to excess in
+drinking. Scottish tables were at that period plain and abundant,
+but epicurism or gluttony do not seem to have been handmaids to
+drunkenness. A humorous anecdote, however, of a full-eating laird,
+may well accompany those which appertain to the <i>drinking</i>
+lairds.--A lady in the north having watched the proceedings of a
+guest, who ate long and largely, she ordered the servant to take
+away, as he had at last laid down his knife and fork. To her
+surprise, however, he resumed his work, and she apologised to him,
+saying, "I thought, Mr. ----, you had done."</p>
+<p>"Oh, so I had, mem; but I just fan' a doo in the <i>redd</i> o'
+my plate." He had discovered a pigeon lurking amongst the bones and
+refuse of his plate, and could not resist finishing it.</p>
+<blockquote>FOOTNOTES:</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_19"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor19">[19]</a> Distinguished examples of these are to be
+found in the Old Greyfriars' Church, Edinburgh, and in the
+Cathedral of Glasgow; to say nothing of the beautiful specimens in
+St. John's Episcopal Church, Edinburgh.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_20"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor20">[20]</a> "This was a square enclosure in the
+Greyfriars' Churchyard, guarded on one side by a veteran angel
+without a nose, and having only one wing, who had the merit of
+having maintained his post for a century, while his comrade cherub,
+who had stood sentinel on the corresponding pedestal, lay a broken
+trunk, among the hemlock, burdock, and nettles, which grew in
+gigantic luxuriance around the walls of the
+mausoleum."</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_21"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor21">[21]</a> A Shetland pony.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_22"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor22">[22]</a> The Lord's Supper.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_23"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor23">[23]</a> Bullock.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_24"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor24">[24]</a> Perhaps.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_25"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor25">[25]</a> Carefully selected.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_26"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor26">[26]</a> I recollect an old Scottish gentleman, who
+shared this horror, asking very gravely, "Were not swine forbidden
+under the law, and cursed under the gospel?"</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_27"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor27">[27]</a> Lie in a grovelling attitude. See
+Jamieson.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_28"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor28">[28]</a> So pronounced in Aberdeen.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_29"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor29">[29]</a> Implying that there was a James Third of
+England, Eighth of Scotland.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_30"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor30">[30]</a> Old Scotch for "drink hard".</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_31"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor31">[31]</a> A friend learned in Scottish history
+suggests an ingenious remark, that this might mean more than a mere
+<i>full drinker</i>. To drink "fair," used to imply that the person
+drank in the same proportion as the company; to drink more would be
+unmannerly; to drink less might imply some unfair motive. Either
+interpretation shows the importance attached to drinking and all
+that concerned it.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_32"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor32">[32]</a> In Burt's <i>Letters from the North of
+Scotland</i>, written about 1730, similar scenes are related as
+occurring in Culloden House: as the company were disabled by drink,
+two servants in waiting took up the invalids with short poles in
+their chairs as they sat (if not fallen down), and carried them off
+to their beds.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_33"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor33">[33]</a> Lord Cockburn's <i>Memorials of his
+Time</i>, p. 37, <i>et seq</i>.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_34"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor34">[34]</a> May we never be cast down by adversity, or
+unduly elevated by prosperity.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_35"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor35">[35]</a> A toast at parting or breaking up of the
+party.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_36"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor36">[36]</a> Loving</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_37"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor37">[37]</a> Plenty</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_38"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor38">[38]</a> Toast for agricultural dinners</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_39"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor39">[39]</a> Ghastly.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_40"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor40">[40]</a> The scene is described and place mentioned
+in Dr. Strang's account of Glasgow Clubs, p. 104, 2d
+edit.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_41"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor41">[41]</a> Swept.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_THE_FOURTH."></a>CHAPTER THE FOURTH.</h2>
+<h3>ON THE OLD SCOTTISH DOMESTIC SERVANT.</h3>
+<br>
+<p>I come now to a subject on which a great change has taken place
+in this country during my own experience--viz. those peculiarities
+of intercourse which some years back marked the connection between
+masters and servants. In many Scottish houses a great familiarity
+prevailed between members of the family and the domestics. For this
+many reasons might have been assigned. Indeed, when we consider the
+simple modes of life, which discarded the ideas of ceremony or
+etiquette; the retired and uniform style of living, which afforded
+few opportunities for any change in the domestic arrangements; and
+when we add to these a free, unrestrained, unformal, and natural
+style of intercommunion, which seems rather a national
+characteristic, we need not be surprised to find in quiet Scottish
+families a sort of intercourse with old domestics which can hardly
+be looked for at a time when habits are so changed, and where much
+of the quiet eccentricity belonging to us as a national
+characteristic is almost necessarily softened down or driven out.
+Many circumstances conspired to promote familiarity with old
+domestics, which are now entirely changed. We take the case of a
+domestic coming early into service, and passing year after year in
+the same family. The servant grows up into old age and confirmed
+habits when the laird is becoming a man, a husband, father of a
+family. The domestic cannot forget the days when his master was a
+child, riding on his back, applying to him for help in difficulties
+about his fishing, his rabbits, his pony, his going to school. All
+the family know how attached he is; nobody likes to speak harshly
+to him. He is a privileged man. The faithful old servant of thirty,
+forty, or fifty years, if with a tendency to be jealous, cross, and
+interfering, becomes a great trouble. Still the relative position
+was the result of good feelings. If the familiarity sometimes
+became a nuisance, it was a wholesome nuisance, and relic of a
+simpler time gone by. But the case of the old servant, whether
+agreeable or troublesome, was often so fixed and established in the
+households of past days, that there was scarce a possibility of
+getting away from it. The well-known story of the answer of one of
+these domestic tyrants to the irritated master, who was making an
+effort to free himself from the thraldom, shows the idea
+entertained, by <i>one</i> of the parties at least, of the
+permanency of the tenure. I am assured by a friend that the true
+edition of the story was this:--An old Mr. Erskine of Dun had one
+of these retainers, under whose language and unreasonable
+assumption he had long groaned. He had almost determined to bear it
+no longer, when, walking out with his man, on crossing a field, the
+master exclaimed, "There's a hare." Andrew looked at the place, and
+coolly replied, "What a big lee, it's a cauff." The master, quite
+angry now, plainly told the old domestic that they <i>must</i>
+part. But the tried servant of forty years, not dreaming of the
+possibility of <i>his</i> dismissal, innocently asked, "Ay, sir;
+whare ye gaun? I'm sure ye're aye best at hame;" supposing that, if
+there were to be any disruption, it must be the master who would
+change the place. An example of a similar fixedness of tenure in an
+old servant was afforded in an anecdote related of an old coachman
+long in the service of a noble lady, and who gave all the trouble
+and annoyance which he conceived were the privileges of his
+position in the family. At last the lady fairly gave him notice to
+quit, and told him he must go. The only satisfaction she got was
+the quiet answer, "Na, na, my lady; I druve ye to your marriage,
+and I shall stay to drive ye to your burial." Indeed, we have heard
+of a still stronger assertion of his official position by one who
+met an order to quit his master's service by the cool reply, "Na,
+na; I'm no gangin'. If ye dinna ken whan ye've a gude servant; I
+ken whan I've a gude place."</p>
+<p>It is but fair, however, to give an anecdote in which the master
+and the servant's position was <i>reversed</i>, in regard to a wish
+for change:--An old servant of a relation of my own with an
+ungovernable temper, became at last so weary of his master's
+irascibility, that he declared he must leave, and gave as his
+reason the fits of anger which came on, and produced such great
+annoyance that he could not stand it any longer. His master,
+unwilling to lose him, tried to coax him by reminding him that the
+anger was soon off. "Ay," replied the other very shrewdly, "but
+it's nae suner aff than it's on again." I remember well an old
+servant of the old school, who had been fifty years domesticated in
+a family. Indeed I well remember the celebration of the
+half-century service completed. There were rich scenes with Sandy
+and his mistress. Let me recall you both to memory. Let me think of
+you, the kind, generous, warm-hearted mistress; a gentlewoman by
+descent and by feeling; a true friend, a sincere Christian. And let
+me think, too, of you, Sandy, an honest, faithful, and attached
+member of the family. For you were in that house rather as a humble
+friend than a servant. But out of this fifty years of attached
+service there sprang a sort of domestic relation and freedom of
+intercourse which would surprise people in these days. And yet
+Sandy knew his place. Like Corporal Trim, who, although so familiar
+and admitted to so much familiarity with my Uncle Toby, never
+failed in the respectful address--never forgot to say "your
+honour." At a dinner party Sandy was very active about changing his
+mistress's plate, and whipped it off when he saw that she had got a
+piece of rich pat&eacute; upon it. His mistress, not liking such
+rapid movements, and at the same time knowing that remonstrance was
+in vain, exclaimed, "Hout, Sandy, I'm no dune," and dabbed her fork
+into the "pattee" as it disappeared, to rescue a morsel. I remember
+her praise of English mutton was a great annoyance to the Scottish
+prejudices of Sandy. One day she was telling me of a triumph Sandy
+had upon that subject. The smell of the joint roasting had become
+very offensive through the house. The lady called out to Sandy to
+have the doors closed, and added, "That must be some horrid Scotch
+mutton you have got." To Sandy's delight, this was a leg of
+<i>English</i> mutton his mistress had expressly chosen; and, as
+she significantly told me, "Sandy never let that down upon me." On
+Deeside there existed, in my recollection, besides the Saunders
+Paul I have alluded to, a number of extraordinary acute and
+humorous Scottish characters amongst the lower classes. The native
+gentry enjoyed their humour, and hence arose a familiarity of
+intercourse which called forth many amusing scenes and quaint
+rejoinders. A celebrated character of this description bore the
+soubriquet of "Boaty," of whom I have already spoken. He had acted
+as Charon of the Dee at Banchory, and passed the boat over the
+river before there was a bridge. Boaty had many curious sayings
+recorded of him. When speaking of the gentry around, he
+characterised them according to their occupations and activity of
+habits--thus:--"As to Mr. Russell of Blackha', he just works
+himsell like a paid labourer; Mr. Duncan's a' the day fish, fish;
+but Sir Robert's a perfect gentleman--he does naething, naething."
+Boaty was a first-rate salmon-fisher himself, and was much sought
+after by amateurs who came to Banchory for the sake of the sport
+afforded by the beautiful Dee. He was, perhaps, a little spoiled,
+and presumed upon the indulgence and familiarity shown to him in
+the way of his craft--as, for example, he was in attendance with
+his boat on a sportsman who was both skilful and successful, for he
+caught salmon after salmon. Between each fish catching he solaced
+himself with a good pull from a flask, which he returned to his
+pocket, however, without offering to let Boaty have any
+participation in the refreshment. Boaty, partly a little
+professionally jealous, perhaps, at the success, and partly
+indignant at receiving less than his usual attention on such
+occasions, and seeing no prospect of amendment, deliberately pulled
+the boat to shore, shouldered the oars, rods, landing-nets, and all
+the fishing apparatus which he had provided, and set off homewards.
+His companion, far from considering his day's work to be over, and
+keen for more sport, was amazed, and peremptorily ordered him to
+come back. But all the answer made by the offended Boaty was, "Na
+na; them 'at drink by themsells may just fish by themsells."</p>
+<p>The charge these old domestics used to take of the interests of
+the family, and the cool way in which they took upon them to
+protect those interests, sometimes led to very provoking, and
+sometimes to very ludicrous, exhibitions of importance. A friend
+told me of a dinner scene illustrative of this sort of interference
+which had happened at Airth in the last generation. Mrs. Murray, of
+Abercairney, had been amongst the guests, and at dinner one of the
+family noticed that she was looking for the proper spoon to help
+herself with salt. The old servant, Thomas, was appealed to, that
+the want might be supplied. He did not notice the appeal. It was
+repeated in a more peremptory manner, "Thomas, Mrs. Murray has not
+a salt-spoon!" to which he replied most emphatically, "Last time
+Mrs. Murray dined here we <i>lost</i> a salt-spoon." An old servant
+who took a similar charge of everything that went on in the family,
+having observed that his master thought that he had drunk wine with
+every lady at table, but had overlooked one, jogged his memory with
+the question, "What ails ye at her wi' the green gown?"</p>
+<p>In my own family I know a case of a very long service, and
+where, no doubt, there was much interest and attachment; but it was
+a case where the temper had not softened under the influence of
+years, but had rather assumed that form of disposition which we
+denominate <i>crusty</i>. My grand-uncle, Sir A. Ramsay, died in
+1806, and left a domestic who had been in his service since he was
+ten years of age; and being at the time of his master's death past
+fifty or well on to sixty, he must have been more than forty years
+a servant in the family. From the retired life my grand-uncle had
+been leading, Jamie Layal had much of his own way, and, like many a
+domestic so situated, he did not like to be contradicted, and, in
+fact, could not bear to be found fault with. My uncle, who had
+succeeded to a part of my grand-uncle's property, succeeded also to
+Jamie Layal, and, from respect to his late master's memory and
+Jamie's own services, he took him into his house, intending him to
+act as house servant. However, this did not answer, and he was soon
+kept on, more with the form than the reality of any active duty,
+and took any light work that was going on about the house. In this
+capacity it was his daily task to feed a flock of turkeys which
+were growing up to maturity. On one occasion, my aunt having
+followed him in his work, and having observed such a waste of food
+that the ground was actually covered with grain which they could
+not eat, and which would soon be destroyed and lost, naturally
+remonstrated, and suggested a more reasonable and provident supply.
+But all the answer she got from the offended Jamie was a bitter
+rejoinder, "Weel, then, neist time they sall get <i>nane ava!</i>"
+On another occasion a family from a distance had called whilst my
+uncle and aunt were out of the house. Jamie came into the parlour
+to deliver the cards, or to announce that they had called. My aunt,
+somewhat vexed at not having been in the way, inquired what message
+Mr. and Mrs. Innes had left, as she had expected one. "No; no
+message." She returned to the charge, and asked again if they had
+not told him <i>anything</i> he was to repeat. Still, "No; no
+message." "But did they say nothing? Are you sure they said
+nothing?" Jamie, sadly put out and offended at being thus
+interrogated, at last burst forth, "They neither said ba nor bum,"
+and indignantly left the room, banging the door after him. A
+characteristic anecdote of one of these old domestics I have from a
+friend who was acquainted with the parties concerned. The old man
+was standing at the sideboard and attending to the demands of a
+pretty large dinner party; the calls made for various wants from
+the company became so numerous and frequent that the attendant got
+quite bewildered, and lost his patience and temper; at length he
+gave vent to his indignation in a remonstrance addressed to the
+whole company, "Cry a' thegither, that's the way to be served."</p>
+<p>I have two characteristic and dry Scottish answers, traditional
+in the Lothian family, supplied to me by the late excellent and
+highly-gifted Marquis. A Marquis of Lothian of a former generation
+observed in his walk two workmen very busy with a ladder to reach a
+bell, on which they next kept up a furious ringing. He asked what
+was the object of making such a din, to which the answer was, "Oh,
+juist, my lord to ca' the workmen together!" "Why, how many are
+there?" asked his lordship. "Ou, juist Sandy and me," was the quiet
+rejoinder. The same Lord Lothian, looking about the garden,
+directed his gardener's attention to a particular plum-tree,
+charging him to be careful of the produce of that tree, and send
+the <i>whole</i> of it in marked, as it was of a very particular
+kind. "Ou," said the gardener, "I'll dae that, my lord; there's
+juist twa o' them."</p>
+<p>These dry answers of Newbattle servants remind us of a similar
+state of communication in a Yester domestic. Lord Tweeddale was
+very fond of dogs, and on leaving Yester for London he instructed
+his head keeper, a quaint bodie, to give him a periodical report of
+the kennel, and particulars of his favourite dogs. Among the latter
+was an <i>especial</i> one, of the true Skye breed, called
+"Pickle," from which soubriquet we may form a tolerable estimate of
+his qualities.</p>
+<p>It happened one day, in or about the year 1827, that poor
+Pickle, during the absence of his master, was taken unwell; and the
+watchful guardian immediately warned the Marquis of the sad fact,
+and of the progress of the disease, which lasted three days--for
+which he sent the three following laconic despatches:--</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza"></div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<p class="i9"><i>Yester, May 1st</i>, 18--.</p>
+<p>MY LORD,</p>
+<p class="i3">Pickle's no weel.</p>
+<p class="i6">Your Lordship's humble servant, etc.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza"></div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<p class="i9"><i>Yester, May Id</i>, 18--.</p>
+<p>MY LORD,</p>
+<p class="i3">Pickle will no do.</p>
+<p class="i6">I am your Lordship's, etc.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza"></div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<p class="i9"><i>Yester, May 3d</i>, 18--.</p>
+<p>MY LORD,</p>
+<p class="i3">Pickle's dead.</p>
+<p class="i6">I am your Lordship's, etc.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<p>I have heard of an old Forfarshire lady who, knowing the habits
+of her old and spoilt servant, when she wished a note to be taken
+without loss of time, held it open and read it over to him, saying,
+"There, noo, Andrew, ye ken a' that's in't; noo dinna stop to open
+it, but just send it aff." Of another servant, when sorely tried by
+an unaccustomed bustle and hurry, a very amusing anecdote has been
+recorded. His mistress, a woman of high rank, who had been living
+in much quiet and retirement for some time, was called upon to
+entertain a large party at dinner. She consulted with Nichol, her
+faithful servant, and all the arrangements were made for the great
+event. As the company were arriving, the lady saw Nichol running
+about in great agitation, and in his shirt sleeves. She
+remonstrated, and said that as the guests were coming in he must
+put on his coat, "Indeed, my lady," was his excited reply, "indeed,
+there's sae muckle rinnin' here and rinnin' there, that I'm just
+distrackit. I hae cuist'n my coat and waistcoat, and faith I dinna
+ken how lang I can thole<a name="FNanchor42"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_42">[42]</a> my breeks." There is often a ready wit in
+this class of character, marked by their replies. I have the
+following communicated from an ear-witness:--"Weel, Peggy," said a
+man to an old family servant, "I wonder ye're aye single yet!" "Me
+marry," said she, indignantly; "I wouldna gie my single life for a'
+the double anes I ever saw!"</p>
+<p>An old woman was exhorting a servant once about her ways. "You
+serve the deevil," said she. "Me!" said the girl; "na, na, I dinna
+serve the deevil; I serve ae single lady."</p>
+<p>A baby was out with the nurse, who walked it up and down the
+garden. "Is't a laddie or a lassie?" said the gardener. "A laddie,"
+said the maid. "Weel," says he, "I'm glad o' that, for there's ower
+mony women in the world." "Hech, man," said Jess, "div ye no ken
+there's aye maist sawn o' the best crap?"</p>
+<p>The answers of servants used curiously to illustrate habits and
+manners of the time,--as the economical modes of her mistress's
+life were well touched by the lass who thus described her ways and
+domestic habits with her household: "She's vicious upo' the wark;
+but eh, she's vary mysterious o' the victualling."</p>
+<p>A country habit of making the gathering of the congregation in
+the churchyard previous to and after divine service an occasion for
+gossip and business, which I remember well, is thoroughly described
+in the following:--A lady, on hiring a servant girl in the country,
+told her, as a great indulgence, that she should have the liberty
+of attending the church every Sunday, but that she would be
+expected to return home always immediately on the conclusion of
+service. The lady, however, rather unexpectedly found a positive
+objection raised against this apparently reasonable arrangement.
+"Then I canna engage wi' ye, mem; for 'deed I wadna gie the crack
+i' the kirk-yard for a' the sermon."</p>
+<p>There is another story which shows that a greater importance
+might be attached to the crack i' the kirk-yard than was done even
+by the servant lass mentioned above. A rather rough subject,
+residing in Galloway, used to attend church regularly, as it
+appeared, for the <i>sake</i> of the crack; for on being taken to
+task for his absenting himself, he remarked, "There's nae need to
+gang to the kirk noo, for everybody gets a newspaper."</p>
+<p>The changes that many of us have lived to witness in this kind
+of intercourse between families and old servants is a part of a
+still greater change--the change in that modification of the feudal
+system, the attachment of clans. This, also, from transfers of
+property and extinction of old families in the Highlands, as well
+as from more general causes, is passing away; and it includes also
+changes in the intercourse between landed proprietors and
+cottagers, and abolition of harvest-homes, and such meetings.
+People are now more independent of each other, and service has
+become a pecuniary and not a sentimental question. The extreme
+contrast of that old-fashioned Scottish intercourse of families
+with their servants and dependants, of which I have given some
+amusing examples, is found in the modern manufactory system. There
+the service is a mere question of personal interest. One of our
+first practical engineers, and one of the first engine-makers in
+England, stated that he employed and paid handsomely on an average
+1200 workmen; but that they held so little feeling for him as their
+master, that not above half-a-dozen of the number would notice him
+when passing him, either in the works or out of work hours.
+Contrast this advanced state of dependants' indifference with the
+familiarity of domestic intercourse we have been describing!</p>
+<p>It has been suggested by my esteemed friend, Dr. W. Lindsay
+Alexander, that Scottish anecdotes deal too exclusively with the
+shrewd, quaint, and pawky <i>humour</i> of our countrymen, and have
+not sufficiently illustrated the deep pathos and strong
+loving-kindness of the "kindly Scot,"--qualities which, however
+little appreciated across the Border, abound in Scottish poetry and
+Scottish life. For example, to take the case before us of these old
+retainers, although snappy and disagreeable to the last degree in
+their replies, and often most provoking in their ways, they were
+yet deeply and sincerely attached to the family where they had so
+long been domesticated; and the servant who would reply to her
+mistress's order to mend the fire by the short answer, "The fire's
+weel eneuch," would at the same time evince much interest in all
+that might assist her in sustaining the credit of her domestic
+economy; as, for example, whispering in her ear at dinner, "Press
+the jeelies; they winna keep;" and had the hour of real trial and
+of difficulty come to the family, would have gone to the death for
+them, and shared their greatest privations. Dr. Alexander gives a
+very interesting example of kindness and affectionate attachment in
+an old Scottish domestic of his own family, whose quaint and odd
+familiarity was charming. I give it in his own words:--"When I was
+a child there was an old servant at Pinkieburn, where my early days
+were spent, who had been all her life, I may say, in the house--for
+she came to it a child, and lived, without ever leaving it, till
+she died in it, seventy-five years of age. Her feeling to her old
+master, who was just two years younger than herself, was a curious
+compound of the deference of a servant and the familiarity and
+affection of a sister. She had known him as a boy, lad, man, and
+old man, and she seemed to have a sort of notion that without her
+he must be a very helpless being indeed. 'I aye keepit the hoose
+for him, whether he was hame or awa',' was a frequent utterance of
+hers; and she never seemed to think the intrusion even of his own
+nieces, who latterly lived with him, at all legitimate. When on her
+deathbed, he hobbled to her room with difficulty, having just got
+over a severe attack of gout, to bid her farewell. I chanced to be
+present, but was too young to remember what passed, except one
+thing, which probably was rather recalled to me afterwards than
+properly recollected by me. It was her last request. 'Laird,' said
+she (for so she always called him, though his lairdship was of the
+smallest), 'will ye tell them to bury me whaur I'll lie across at
+your feet?' I have always thought this characteristic of the old
+Scotch servant, and as such I send it to you."</p>
+<p>And here I would introduce another story which struck me very
+forcibly as illustrating the union of the qualities referred to by
+Dr. Alexander. In the following narrative, how deep and tender a
+feeling is expressed in a brief dry sentence! I give Mr. Scott's
+language<a name="FNanchor43"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_43">[43]</a>:--"My brother and I were, during our High
+School vacation, some forty years ago, very much indebted to the
+kindness of a clever young carpenter employed in the machinery
+workshop of New Lanark Mills, near to which we were residing during
+our six weeks' holidays." It was he--Samuel Shaw, our dear
+companion--who first taught us to saw, and to plane, and to turn
+too; and who made us the bows and arrows in which we so much
+delighted. The vacation over, and our hearts very sore, but bound
+to Samuel Shaw for ever, our mother sought to place some pecuniary
+recompense in his hand at parting, for all the great kindness he
+had shown her boys. Samuel looked in her face, and gently moving
+her hand aside, with an affectionate look cast upon us, who were
+by, exclaimed, in a tone which had sorrow in it, "Noo, Mrs. Scott,
+<i>ye hae spoilt a'</i>." After such an appeal, it may be supposed
+no recompense, in silver or in gold, remained with Samuel Shaw.</p>
+<p>On the subject of the old Scottish domestic, I have to
+acknowledge a kind communication from Lord Kinloch, which I give in
+his Lordship's words:--"My father had been in the counting-house of
+the well-known David Dale, the founder of the Lanark Mills, and
+eminent for his benevolence. Mr. Dale, who it would appear was a
+short stout man, had a person in his employment named Matthew, who
+was permitted that familiarity with his master which was so
+characteristic of the former generation. One winter day Mr. Dale
+came into the counting-house, and complained that he had fallen on
+the ice. Matthew, who saw that his master was not much hurt,
+grinned a sarcastic smile. 'I fell all my length,' said Mr. Dale.
+'Nae great length, sir,' said Matthew. 'Indeed, Matthew, ye need
+not laugh,' said Mr. Dale; 'I have hurt the sma' o' my back.' 'I
+wunner whaur <i>that</i> is,' said Matthew." Indeed, specimens like
+Matthew, of serving-men of the former time, have latterly been fast
+going out, but I remember one or two such. A lady of my
+acquaintance had one named John in her house at Portobello. I
+remember how my modern ideas were offended by John's familiarity
+when waiting at table. "Some more wine, John," said his mistress.
+"There's some i' the bottle, mem," said John. A little after, "Mend
+the fire, John." "The fire's weel eneuch, mem," replied the
+impracticable John. Another "John" of my acquaintance was in the
+family of Mrs. Campbell of Ardnave, mother of the Princess Polignac
+and the Hon. Mrs. Archibald Macdonald. A young lady visiting in the
+family asked John at dinner for a potato. John made no response.
+The request was repeated; when John, putting his mouth to her ear,
+said, very audibly, "There's jist twa in the dish, and they maun be
+keepit for the strangers."</p>
+<p>The following was sent me by a kind correspondent--a learned
+Professor in India--as a sample of <i>squabbling</i> between
+Scottish servants. A mistress observing something peculiar in her
+maid's manner, addressed her, "Dear me, Tibbie, what are you so
+snappish about, that you go knocking the things as you dust them?"
+"Ou, mem, it's Jock." "Well, what has Jock been doing?" "Ou (with
+an indescribable, but easily imaginable toss of the head), he was
+angry at me, an' misca'd me, an' I said I was juist as the Lord had
+made me, an'----" "Well, Tibbie?" "An' he said the Lord could hae
+had little to dae whan he made me." The idea of Tibbie being the
+work of an idle moment was one, the deliciousness of which was not
+likely to be relished by the lassie.</p>
+<p>The following characteristic anecdote of a Highland servant I
+have received from the same correspondent. An English gentleman,
+travelling in the Highlands, was rather late of coming down to
+dinner. Donald was sent up stairs to intimate that all was ready.
+He speedily returned, nodding significantly, as much as to say that
+it was all right. "But, Donald," said the master, after some
+further trial of a hungry man's patience, "are ye sure ye made the
+gentleman understand?" "<i>Understand?</i>" retorted Donald (who
+had peeped into the room and found the guest engaged at his
+toilet), "I'se warrant ye he understands; he's <i>sharping</i> his
+teeth,"--not supposing the tooth-brush could be for any other
+use.</p>
+<p>There have been some very amusing instances given of the
+matter-of-fact obedience paid to orders by Highland retainers when
+made to perform the ordinary duties of domestic servants; as when
+Mr. Campbell, a Highland gentleman, visiting in a country house,
+and telling Donald to bring everything out of the bedroom, found
+all its movable articles--fender, fire-irons, etc.--piled up in the
+lobby; so literal was the poor man's sense of obedience to orders!
+And of this he gave a still more extraordinary proof during his
+sojourn in Edinburgh, by a very ludicrous exploit. When the family
+moved into a house there, Mrs. Campbell gave him very particular
+instructions regarding visitors, explaining that they were to be
+shown into the drawing-room, and no doubt used the Scotticism,
+"<i>Carry</i> any ladies that call up stairs." On the arrival of
+the first visitors, Donald was eager to show his strict attention
+to the mistress's orders. Two ladies came together, and Donald,
+seizing one in his arms, said to the other, "Bide ye there till I
+come for ye," and, in spite of her struggles and remonstrances,
+ushered the terrified visitor into Mrs. Campbell's presence in this
+unwonted fashion.</p>
+<p>Another case of <i>literal</i> obedience to orders produced a
+somewhat startling form of message. A servant of an old maiden
+lady, a patient of Dr. Poole, formerly of Edinburgh, was under
+orders to go to the doctor every morning to report the state of her
+health, how she had slept, etc., with strict injunctions
+<i>always</i> to add, "with her compliments." At length, one
+morning the girl brought this extraordinary message:--"Miss S----'s
+compliments, and she dee'd last night at aicht o'clock!"</p>
+<p>I recollect, in Montrose (that fruitful field for old Scottish
+stories!), a most na&iuml;ve reply from an honest lass, servant to
+old Mrs. <i>Captain</i> Fullerton. A party of gentlemen had dined
+with Mrs. Fullerton, and they had a turkey for dinner. Mrs. F.
+proposed that one of the legs should be <i>deviled</i>, and the
+gentlemen have it served up as a relish for their wine. Accordingly
+one of the company skilled in the mystery prepared it with pepper,
+cayenne, mustard, ketchup, etc. He gave it to Lizzy, and told her
+to take it down to the kitchen, supposing, as a matter of course,
+she would know that it was to be broiled, and brought back in due
+time. But in a little while, when it was rung for, Lizzy very
+innocently replied that she had eaten it up. As it was sent back to
+the kitchen, her only idea was that it must be for herself. But on
+surprise being expressed that she had eaten what was so highly
+peppered and seasoned, she very quaintly answered, "Ou, I liket it
+a' the better."</p>
+<p>A well-known servant of the old school was John, the servant of
+Pitfour, Mr. Ferguson, M.P., himself a most eccentric character,
+long father of the House of Commons, and a great friend of Pitt.
+John used to entertain the tenants, on Pitfour's brief visits to
+his estate, with numerous anecdotes of his master and Mr. Pitt; but
+he always prefaced them with something in the style of Cardinal
+Wolsey's <i>Ego et rex meus</i>--with "Me, and Pitt, and Pitfour,"
+went somewhere, or performed some exploit. The famous Duchess of
+Gordon once wrote a note to John (the name of this eccentric
+valet), and said, "John, put Pitfour into the carriage on Tuesday,
+and bring him up to Gordon Castle to dinner." After sufficiently
+scratching his head, and considering what he should do, he showed
+the letter to Pitfour, who smiled, and said drily, "Well, John, I
+suppose we must go."</p>
+<p>An old domestic of this class gave a capital reason to his
+<i>young</i> master for his being allowed to do as he liked:--"Ye
+needna find faut wi' me, Maister Jeems; <i>I hae been langer aboot
+the place than yersel</i>."</p>
+<p>It may seem ungracious to close this chapter with a
+communication which appears to convey an unfavourable impression of
+an old servant. But the truth is, real and attached domestic
+service does not offer its pleasures and advantages without some
+alloy of annoyance, and yet how much the solid benefits prevail
+over any occasional drawbacks!</p>
+<p>The late Rev. Mr. Leslie of St. Andrew-Lhanbryd, a parish in
+Morayshire, in describing an old servant who had been with him
+thirty years, said, "The first ten years she was an excellent
+servant; the second ten she was a good mistress; but the third ten
+she was a perfect tyrant."</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_THE_FIFTH."></a>CHAPTER THE FIFTH.</h2>
+<h3>SCOTTISH JUDGES.</h3>
+<br>
+<p>There is no class of men which stands out more prominent in the
+reminiscences of the last hundred years than that of our SCOTTISH
+JUDGES. They form, in many instances, a type or representative of
+the leading <i>peculiarities</i> of Scottish life and manners. They
+are mixed up with all our affairs, social and political. There are
+to be found in the annals of the bench rich examples of pure
+Scottish humour, the strongest peculiarity of Scottish phraseology,
+acuteness of intellect, cutting wit, eccentricity of manners, and
+abundant powers of conviviality. Their successors no longer furnish
+the same anecdotes of oddity or of intemperance. The Courts of the
+Scottish Parliament House, without lacking the learning or the law
+of those who sat there sixty years ago, lack not the refinement and
+the dignity that have long distinguished the Courts of Westminster
+Hall.</p>
+<p>Stories still exist, traditionary in society, amongst its older
+members, regarding Lords Gardenstone, Monboddo, Hermand, Newton,
+Polkemmet, Braxfield, etc. But many younger persons do not know
+them. It may be interesting to some of my readers to devote a few
+pages to the subject, and to offer some judicial gleanings<a name=
+"FNanchor44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44">[44]</a>.</p>
+<p>I have two anecdotes to show that, both in social and judicial
+life, a remarkable change must have taken place amongst the
+"fifteen." I am assured that the following scene took place at the
+<i>table</i> of Lord Polkemmet, at a dinner party in his house.
+When the covers were removed, the dinner was seen to consist of
+veal broth, a roast fillet of veal, veal cutlets, a florentine (an
+excellent old Scottish dish composed of veal), a calf's head,
+calf's foot jelly. The worthy judge could not help observing a
+surprise on the countenance of his guests, and perhaps a simper on
+some; so he broke out in explanation: "Ou ay, it's a cauf; when we
+kill a beast we just eat up ae side, and down the tither." The
+expressions he used to describe his own <i>judicial</i>
+preparations for the bench were very characteristic: "Ye see I
+first read a' the pleadings, and then, after lettin' them wamble in
+my wame wi' the toddy twa or three days, I gie my ain
+interlocutor." For a moment suppose such anecdotes to be told now
+of any of our high legal functionaries. Imagine the feelings of
+surprise that would be called forth were the present Justice-Clerk
+to adopt such imagery in describing the process of preparing
+<i>his</i> legal judgment on a difficult case in his court!</p>
+<p>In regard to the wit of the Scottish <i>bar</i>.--It is a
+subject which I do not pretend to illustrate. It would require a
+volume for itself. One anecdote, however, I cannot resist, and I
+record it as forming a striking example of the class of Scottish
+humour which, with our dialect, has lost its distinctive
+characteristics. John Clerk (afterwards a judge by the title of
+Lord Eldin) was arguing a Scotch appeal case before the House of
+Lords. His client claimed the use of a mill-stream by a
+prescriptive right. Mr. Clerk spoke broad Scotch, and argued that
+"the <i>watter</i> had rin that way for forty years. Indeed naebody
+kenn'd how long, and why should his client now be deprived of the
+watter?" etc. The chancellor, much amused at the pronunciation of
+the Scottish advocate, in a rather bantering tone asked him, "Mr.
+Clerk, do you spell water in Scotland with two t's?" Clerk, a
+little nettled at this hit at his national tongue, answered, "Na,
+my Lord, we dinna spell watter (making the word as short as he
+could) wi' twa t's, but we spell mainners (making the word as long
+as he could) wi' twa n's."</p>
+<p>John Clerk's vernacular version of the motto of the Celtic Club
+is highly characteristic of his humour and his prejudice. He had a
+strong dislike to the whole Highland race, and the motto assumed by
+the modern Celts, "Olim marte, nunc arte," Clerk translated
+"Formerly robbers, now thieves." Quite equal to Swift's celebrated
+remark on William III.'s motto--<i>Recepit, non rapuit</i>--"that
+the receiver was as bad as the thief." Very dry and pithy too was
+Clerk's legal <i>opinion</i> given to a claimant of the Annandale
+peerage, who, when pressing the employment of some obvious
+forgeries, was warned that if he persevered, nae doot he might be a
+peer, but it would be a peer o' anither <i>tree!</i></p>
+<p>The clever author of "Peter's Letters" gives an elaborate
+description of Clerk's character whilst at the bar, and speaks of
+him as "the plainest, the shrewdest, and the most sarcastic of
+men." Nor could he entirely repress these peculiarities when raised
+to the bench under the title of Lord Eldin.</p>
+<p>His defence of a young friend, who was an advocate, and had
+incurred the displeasure of the Judges, has often been repeated.
+Mr. Clerk had been called upon to offer his apologies for
+disrespect, or implied disrespect, in his manner of addressing the
+Bench. The advocate had given great offence by expressing his
+"<i>astonishment</i>" at something which had emanated from their
+Lordships, implying by it his disapproval. He got Lord Eldin, who
+was connected with him, to make an apology for him. But Clerk could
+not resist his humorous vein by very equivocally adding, "My client
+has expressed his astonishment, my Lords, at what he had met with
+here; if my young friend had known this court as long as I have, he
+would have been <i>astonished at nothing</i>."</p>
+<p>A kind Perthshire correspondent has sent me a characteristic
+anecdote, which has strong internal evidence of being genuine. When
+Clerk was raised to the Bench he presented his credentials to the
+Court, and, according to custom, was received by the presiding
+Judge--who, on this occasion, in a somewhat sarcastic tone,
+referred to the delay which had taken place in his reaching a
+position for which he had so long been qualified, and to which he
+must have long aspired. He hinted at the long absence of the Whig
+party from political power as the cause of this delay, which
+offended Clerk; and he paid it off by intimating in his pithy and
+bitter tone, which he could so well assume, that it was not of so
+much consequence--"Because," as he said, "ye see, my Lord, I was
+not juist sae sune <i>doited</i> as some o' your Lordships."</p>
+<p>The following account of his conducting a case is also highly
+characteristic. Two individuals, the one a mason, the other a
+carpenter, both residenters in West Portsburgh, formed a
+copartnery, and commenced building houses within the boundaries of
+the burgh corporation. One of the partners was a freeman, the other
+not. The corporation, considering its rights invaded by a
+non-freeman exercising privileges only accorded to one of their
+body, brought an action in the Court of Session against the
+interloper, and his partner as aiding and abetting. Mr. John Clerk,
+then an advocate, was engaged for the defendants. How the cause was
+decided matters little. What was really curious in the affair was
+the naively droll manner in which the advocate for the defence
+opened his pleading before the Lord Ordinary. "My Lord," commenced
+John, in his purest Doric, at the same time pushing up his
+spectacles to his brow and hitching his gown over his shoulders, "I
+wad hae thocht naething o't (the action), had hooses been a new
+invention, and my clients been caught ouvertly impingin' on the
+patent richts o' the inventors!"</p>
+<p>Of Lord Gardenstone (Francis Garden) I have many early
+<i>personal</i> reminiscences, as his property of Johnstone was in
+the Howe of the Mearns, not far from my early home. He was a man of
+energy, and promoted improvements in the county with skill and
+practical sagacity. His favourite scheme was to establish a
+flourishing town upon his property, and he spared no pains or
+expense in promoting the importance of his village of Laurencekirk.
+He built an excellent inn, to render it a stage for posting. He
+built and endowed an Episcopal chapel for the benefit of his
+English immigrants, in the vestry of which he placed a most
+respectable library; and he encouraged manufacturers of all kinds
+to settle in the place. Amongst others, as we have seen, came the
+hatter who found only three hats in the kirk. His lordship was much
+taken up with his hotel or inn, and for which he provided a large
+volume for receiving the written contributions of travellers who
+frequented it. It was the landlady's business to present this
+volume to the guests, and ask them to write in it during the
+evenings whatever occurred to their memory or their imagination. In
+the mornings it was a favourite amusement of Lord Gardenstone to
+look it over. I recollect Sir Walter Scott being much taken with
+this contrivance, and his asking me about it at Abbotsford. His son
+said to him, "You should establish such a book, sir, at Melrose;"
+upon which Sir W. replied, "No, Walter; I should just have to see a
+great deal of abuse of myself." On his son deprecating such a
+result, and on his observing my surprised look, he answered, "Well,
+well, I should have to read a great deal of foolish praise, which
+is much the same thing." An amusing account is given of the cause
+of Lord Gardenstone withdrawing this volume from the hotel, and of
+his determination to submit it no more to the tender mercies of the
+passing traveller. As Professor Stuart of Aberdeen was passing an
+evening at the inn, the volume was handed to him, and he wrote in
+it the following lines, in the style of the prophecies of Thomas
+the Rhymer:--</p>
+<blockquote>"Frae sma' beginnings Rome of auld<br>
+Became a great imperial city;<br>
+'Twas peopled first, as we are tauld,<br>
+By bankrupts, vagabonds, banditti.<br>
+Quoth Thamas, Then the day may come,<br>
+When Laurencekirk shall equal Rome."</blockquote>
+<p>These lines so nettled Lord Gardenstone, that the volume
+disappeared, and was never seen afterwards in the inn of
+Laurencekirk. There is another lingering reminiscence which I
+retain connected with the inn at Laurencekirk. The landlord, Mr.
+Cream, was a man well known throughout all the county, and was
+distinguished, in his later years, as one of the few men who
+continued to wear a <i>pigtail</i>. On one occasion the late Lord
+Dunmore (grandfather or great-grandfather of the present peer), who
+also still wore his queue, halted for a night at Laurencekirk. On
+the host leaving the room, where he had come to take orders for
+supper, Lord Dunmore turned to his valet and said, "Johnstone, do I
+look as like a fool in my pigtail as Billy Cream does?"--"Much
+about it, my lord," was the valet's imperturbable answer. "Then,"
+said his lordship, "cut off mine to-morrow morning when I
+dress."</p>
+<p>Lord Gardenstone seemed to have had two favourite tastes: he
+indulged in the love of pigs and the love of snuff. He took a young
+pig as a pet, and it became quite tame, and followed him about like
+a dog. At first the animal shared his bed, but when, growing up to
+advanced swinehood, it became unfit for such companionship, he had
+it to sleep in his room, in which he made a comfortable couch for
+it of his own clothes. His snuff he kept not in a box, but in a
+leathern waist-pocket made for the purpose. He took it in enormous
+quantities, and used to say that if he had a dozen noses he would
+feed them all. Lord Gardenstone died 1793.</p>
+<p>Lord Monboddo (James Burnet, Esq. of Monboddo) is another of the
+well-known members of the Scottish Bench, who combined, with many
+eccentricities of opinion and habits, great learning and a most
+amiable disposition. From his paternal property being in the county
+of Kincardine, and Lord M. being a visitor at my father's house,
+and indeed a relation or clansman, I have many early reminiscences
+of stories which I have heard of the learned judge. His
+speculations regarding the origin of the human race have, in times
+past, excited much interest and amusement. His theory was that man
+emerged from a wild and savage condition, much resembling that of
+apes; that man had then a tail like other animals, but which by
+progressive civilisation and the constant habit of <i>sitting</i>,
+had become obsolete. This theory produced many a joke from
+facetious and superficial people, who had never read any of the
+arguments of the able and elaborate work, by which the ingenious
+and learned author maintained his theory<a name=
+"FNanchor45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45">[45]</a>. Lord Kames, a
+brother judge, had his joke on it. On some occasion of their
+meeting, Lord Monboddo was for giving Lord Kames the precedency.
+Lord K. declined, and drew back, saying, "By no means, my lord; you
+must walk first, that I may <i>see your tail</i>." I recollect Lord
+Monboddo's coming to dine at Fasque caused a great excitement of
+interest and curiosity. I was in the nursery, too young to take
+part in the investigations; but my elder brothers were on the alert
+to watch his arrival, and get a glimpse of his tail. Lord M. was
+really a learned man, read Greek and Latin authors--not as a mere
+exercise of classical scholarship--but because he identified
+himself with their philosophical opinions, and would have revived
+Greek customs and modes of life. He used to give suppers after the
+manner of the ancients, and used to astonish his guests by the
+ancient cookery of Spartan broth, and of <i>mulsum</i>. He was an
+enthusiastical Platonist. On a visit to Oxford, he was received
+with great respect by the scholars of the University, who were much
+interested in meeting with one who had studied Plato as a pupil and
+follower. In accordance with the old custom at learned
+universities, Lord Monboddo was determined to address the Oxonians
+in Latin, which he spoke with much readiness. But they could not
+stand the numerous slips in prosody. Lord Monboddo shocked the ears
+of the men of Eton and of Winchester by dreadful false
+quantities--verse-making being, in Scotland, then quite neglected,
+and a matter little thought of by the learned judge.</p>
+<p>Lord Monboddo was considered an able lawyer, and on many
+occasions exhibited a very clear and correct judicial discernment
+of intricate cases. It was one of his peculiarities that he never
+sat on the bench with his brother judges, but always at the clerk's
+table. Different reasons for this practice have been given, but the
+simple fact seems to have been, that he was deaf, and heard better
+at the lower seat. His mode of travelling was on horseback. He
+scorned carriages, on the ground of its being unmanly to "sit in a
+box drawn by brutes." When he went to London he rode the whole way.
+At the same period, Mr. Barclay of Ury (father of the well-known
+Captain Barclay), when he represented Kincardineshire in
+Parliament, always <i>walked</i> to London. He was a very powerful
+man, and could walk fifty miles a day, his usual refreshment on the
+road being a bottle of port wine, poured into a bowl, and drunk off
+at a draught. I have heard that George III. was much interested at
+these performances, and said, "I ought to be proud of my Scottish
+subjects, when my judges <i>ride</i>, and my members of Parliament
+<i>walk</i> to the metropolis."</p>
+<p>On one occasion of his being in London, Lord Monboddo attended a
+trial in the Court of King's Bench. A cry was heard that the roof
+of the court-room was giving way, upon which judges, lawyers, and
+people made a rush to get to the door. Lord Monboddo viewed the
+scene from his corner with much composure. Being deaf and
+short-sighted, he knew nothing of the cause of the tumult. The
+alarm proved a false one; and on being asked why he had not
+bestirred himself to escape like the rest, he coolly answered that
+he supposed it was an <i>annual ceremony</i>, with which, as an
+alien to the English laws, he had no concern, but which he
+considered it interesting to witness as a remnant of antiquity!
+Lord Monboddo died 1799.</p>
+<p>Lord Rockville (the Hon. Alexander Gordon, third son of the Earl
+of Aberdeen) was a judge distinguished in his day by his ability
+and decorum. "He adorned the bench by the dignified manliness of
+his appearance, and polished urbanity of his manners<a name=
+"FNanchor46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46">[46]</a>." Like most
+lawyers of his time, he took his glass freely, and a whimsical
+account which he gave, before he was advanced to the bench, of his
+having fallen upon his face, after making too free with the bottle,
+was commonly current at the time. Upon his appearing late at a
+convivial club with a most rueful expression of countenance, and on
+being asked what was the matter, he exclaimed with great solemnity,
+"Gentlemen, I have just met with the most extraordinary adventure
+that ever occurred to a human being. As I was walking along the
+Grassmarket, all of a sudden <i>the street rose up and struck me on
+the face</i>." He had, however, a more serious <i>encounter</i>
+with the street after he was a judge. In 1792, his foot slipped as
+he was going to the Parliament House; he broke his leg, was taken
+home, fevered, and died.</p>
+<p>Lord Braxfield (Robert M'Queen of Braxfield) was one of the
+judges of the old school, well known in his day, and might be said
+to possess all the qualities united, by which the class were
+remarkable. He spoke the broadest Scotch. He was a sound and
+laborious lawyer. He was fond of a glass of good claret, and had a
+great fund of good Scotch humour. He rose to the dignity of
+Justice-Clerk, and, in consequence, presided at many important
+political criminal trials about the year 1793-4, such as those of
+Muir, Palmer, Skirving, Margarot, Gerrold, etc. He conducted these
+trials with much ability and great firmness, occasionally, no
+doubt, with more appearance of severity and personal prejudice than
+is usual with the judges who in later times are called on to
+preside on similar occasions. The disturbed temper of the times and
+the daring spirit of the political offenders seemed, he thought, to
+call for a bold and fearless front on the part of the judge, and
+Braxfield was the man to show it, both on the bench and in common
+life. He met, however, sometimes with a spirit as bold as his own
+from the prisoners before him. When Skirving was on trial for
+sedition, he thought Braxfield was threatening him, and by gesture
+endeavouring to intimidate him; accordingly, he boldly addressed
+the Bench:--"It is altogether unavailing for your Lordship to
+menace me, for I have long learnt not to fear the face of man." I
+have observed that he adhered to the <i>broadest</i> Scottish
+dialect. "Hae ye ony coonsel, man?" he said to Maurice Margarot
+(who, I believe, was an Englishman). "No," was the reply. "Div ye
+want to hae ony appinted?" "No," replied Margarot; "I only want an
+<i>interpreter</i> to make me understand what your Lordship says."
+A prisoner, accused of stealing some linen garments, was one day
+brought up for trial before the old judge, but was acquitted
+because the prosecutor had charged him with stealing shirts,
+whereas the articles stolen were found to be shifts-- female
+apparel. Braxfield indignantly remarked that the Crown Counsel
+should have called them by the Scottish name of <i>sarks</i>, which
+applied to both sexes.</p>
+<p>Braxfield had much humour, and enjoyed wit in others. He was
+immensely delighted at a reply by Dr. M'Cubbin, the minister of
+Bothwell. Braxfield, when Justice-Clerk, was dining at Lord
+Douglas's, and observed there was only port upon the table. In his
+usual off-hand brusque manner, he demanded of the noble host if
+"there was nae claret i' the castle." "Yes," said Lord Douglas;
+"but my butler tells me it is not good." "Let's pree't," said
+Braxfield in his favourite dialect. A bottle was produced, and
+declared by all present to be quite excellent. "Noo, minister,"
+said the old judge, addressing Dr. M'Cubbin, who was celebrated as
+a wit in his day, "as a <i>fama clamosa</i> has gone forth against
+this wine, I propose that you <i>absolve</i> it,"--playing upon the
+terms made use of in the Scottish Church Courts. "Ay, my Lord,"
+said the minister, "you are first-rate authority for a case of
+civil or criminal law, but you do not quite understand our Church
+Court practice. We never absolve <i>till after three several
+appearances</i>." The wit and the condition of absolution were
+alike relished by the judge. Lord Braxfield closed a long and
+useful life in 1799.</p>
+<p>Of Lord Hermand we have already had occasion to speak, as in
+fact his name has become in some manner identified with that
+conviviality which marked almost as a characteristic the Scottish
+Bench of his time. He gained, however, great distinction as a
+judge, and was a capital lawyer. When at the bar, Lords Newton and
+Hermand were great friends, and many were the convivial meetings
+they enjoyed together. But Lord Hermand outlived all his old
+last-century contemporaries, and formed with Lord Balgray what we
+may consider the connecting links between the past and the present
+race of Scottish lawyers.</p>
+<p>Lord Kames was a keen agricultural experimentalist, and in his
+<i>Gentleman Farmer</i> anticipated many modern improvements. He
+was, however, occasionally too sanguine. "John," said he one day to
+his old overseer, "I think we'll see the day when a man may carry
+out as much chemical manure in his waistcoat pocket as will serve
+for a whole field." "Weel," rejoined the other, "I am of opinion
+that if your lordship were to carry out the dung in your waistcoat
+pocket, ye might bring hame the crap in your greatcoat pocket."</p>
+<p>We could scarcely perhaps offer a more marked difference between
+habits <i>once</i> tolerated on the bench and those which now
+distinguish the august seat of Senators of Justice, than by
+quoting, from <i>Kay's Portraits</i>, vol. ii. p. 278, a sally of a
+Lord of Session of those days, which he played off, when sitting as
+judge, upon a young friend whom he was determined to frighten. "A
+young counsel was addressing him on some not very important point
+that had arisen in the division of a common (or commonty, according
+to law phraseology), when, having made some bold averment, the
+judge exclaimed, 'That's a lee, Jemmie,' 'My lord!' ejaculated the
+amazed barrister. 'Ay, ay, Jemmie; I see by your face ye're
+leein'.' 'Indeed, my lord, I am not.' 'Dinna tell me that; it's no
+in your memorial (brief)--awa wi' you;' and, overcome with
+astonishment and vexation, the discomfited barrister left the bar.
+The judge thereupon chuckled with infinite delight; and beckoning
+to the clerk who attended on the occasion, he said, 'Are ye no
+Rabbie H----'s man?' 'Yes, my lord.' 'Wasna Jemmie----leein'?' 'Oh
+no, my lord.' 'Ye're quite sure?' Oh yes.' 'Then just write out
+what you want, and I'll sign it; my faith, but I made Jemmie
+stare.' So the decision was dictated by the clerk, and duly signed
+by the judge, who left the bench highly diverted with the fright he
+had given his young friend." Such scenes enacted in court
+<i>now</i> would astonish the present generation, both of lawyers
+and of suitors.</p>
+<p>We should not do justice to our Scottish Reminiscences of judges
+and lawyers, if we omitted the once celebrated Court of Session
+<i>jeu d'esprit</i> called the "Diamond Beetle Case." This
+burlesque report of a judgment was written by George Cranstoun,
+advocate, who afterwards sat in court as judge under the title of
+Lord Corehouse. Cranstoun was one of the ablest lawyers of his
+time; he was a prime scholar, and a man of most refined taste and
+clear intellect. This humorous and clever production was printed in
+a former edition of these Reminiscences, and in a very flattering
+notice of the book which appeared in the <i>North British
+Review</i>, the reviewer--himself, as is well known, a
+distinguished member of the Scottish judicial bench--remarks: "We
+are glad that the whole of the 'Diamond Beetle' by Cranstoun has
+been given; for nothing can be more graphic, spirited, and
+ludicrous, than the characteristic speeches of the learned judges
+who deliver their opinions in the case of defamation." As copies of
+this very clever and jocose production are not now easily obtained,
+and as some of my younger readers may not have seen it, I have
+reprinted it in this edition. Considered in the light of a memorial
+of the bench, as it was known to a former generation, it is well
+worth preserving; for, as the editor of <i>Kay's Portraits</i> well
+observes, although it is a caricature, it is entirely without
+rancour, or any feeling of a malevolent nature towards those whom
+the author represents as giving judgment in the "Diamond Beetle"
+case. And in no way could the involved phraseology of Lord
+Bannatyne, the predilection for Latin quotation of Lord Meadowbank,
+the brisk manner of Lord Hermand, the anti-Gallic feeling of Lord
+Craig, the broad dialect of Lords Polkemmet and Balmuto, and the
+hesitating manner of Lord Methven, be more admirably
+caricatured.</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>FULL COPY OF THE FINDING OF THE COURT IN THE ONCE CELEBRATED
+"DIAMOND BEETLE CASE<a name="FNanchor47"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_47">[47]</a>."</p>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<p><i>Speeches taken at advising the Action of Defamation and
+Damages,</i> ALEXANDER CUNNINGHAM, <i>Jeweller in Edinburgh,
+against</i> JAMES EUSSELL, <i>Surgeon there</i>.</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<br>
+<p>"THE LORD PRESIDENT (Sir ILAY CAMPBELL).-- Your Lordships have
+the petition of Alexander Cunningham against Lord Bannatyne's
+interlocutor. It is a case of defamation and damages for calling
+the petitioner's <i>Diamond Beetle</i> an <i>Egyptian Louse</i>.
+You have the Lord Ordinary's distinct interlocutor, on pages 29 and
+30 of this petition:--'Having considered the Condescendence of the
+pursuer, Answers for the defender,' and so on; 'Finds, in respect
+that it is not alleged that the diamonds on the back of the Diamond
+Beetle are real diamonds, or anything but shining spots, such as
+are found on other Diamond Beetles, which likewise occur, though in
+a smaller number, on a great number of other Beetles, somewhat
+different from the Beetle libelled, and similar to which there may
+be Beetles in Egypt, with shining spots on their backs, which may
+be termed Lice there, and may be different not only from the common
+Louse, but from the Louse mentioned by Moses as one of the plagues
+of Egypt, which is admitted to be a filthy troublesome Louse, even
+worse than the said Louse, which is clearly different from the
+Louse libelled. But that the other Louse is the same with, or
+similar to, the said Beetle, which is also the same with the other
+Beetle; and although different from the said Beetle libelled, yet,
+as the said Beetle is similar to the other Beetle, and the said
+Louse to the other Louse libelled; and the other Louse to the other
+Beetle, which is the same with, or similar to, the Beetle which
+somewhat resembles the Beetle libelled; assoilzies the defender,
+and finds expenses due.'</p>
+<p>"Say away, my Lords.</p>
+<p>"LORD MEADOWBANK.--This is a very intricate and puzzling
+question, my Lord. I have formed no decided opinion; but at present
+I am rather inclined to think the interlocutor is right, though not
+upon the <i>ratio</i> assigned in it. It appears to me that there
+are two points for consideration. <i>First</i>, whether the words
+libelled amount to a <i>convicium</i> against the Beetle; and
+<i>Secondly</i>, admitting the <i>convicium</i>, whether the
+pursuer is entitled to found upon it in this action. Now, my Lords,
+if there be a <i>convicium</i> at all, it consists in the
+<i>comparatio</i> or comparison of the <i>Scaraboeus</i> or Beetle
+with the Egyptian <i>Pediculus</i> or <i>Louse</i>. My first doubt
+regards this point, but it is not at all founded on what the
+defender alleges, that there is no such animal as an Egyptian
+<i>Pediculus</i> or <i>Louse in rerum natura</i>; for though it
+does not <i>actually</i> exist, it may <i>possibly</i> exist (if
+not in <i>actio</i>, yet in <i>potentia</i>--if not in actuality,
+yet in potentiality or capacity); and whether its existence be in
+<i>esse vel posse</i>, is the same thing to this question, provided
+there be <i>termini habiles</i> for ascertaining what it would be
+if it did exist. But my doubt is here:--How am I to discover what
+are the <i>essentia</i> of any Louse, whether Egyptian or not? It
+is very easy to describe its accidents as a naturalist would do--to
+say that it belongs to the tribe of <i>Aptera</i> (or, that is, a
+yellow, little, greedy, filthy, despicable reptile), but we do not
+learn from this what the <i>proprium</i> of the animal is in a
+logical sense, and still less what its <i>differentia</i> are. Now,
+without these it is impossible to judge whether there is a
+<i>convicium</i> or not; for, in a case of this kind, which
+<i>sequitur naturam delicti</i>, we must take them <i>meliori
+sensu</i>, and presume the <i>comparatio</i> to be <i>in melioribus
+tantum</i>. And here I beg that parties, and the bar in
+general--[interrupted by Lord Hermand: <i>Your Lordship should
+address yourself to the Chair</i>]--I say, I beg it may be
+understood that I do not rest my opinion on the ground that
+<i>veritas convicii excusat</i>. I am clear that although this
+Beetle actually were an Egyptian Louse, it would accord no relevant
+defence, provided the calling it so were a <i>convicium</i>; and
+there my doubt lies.</p>
+<p>"With regard to the second point, I am satisfied that the
+<i>Scaraboeus</i> or Beetle itself has no <i>persona standi in
+judicio</i>; and therefore the pursuer cannot insist in the name of
+the <i>Scaraboeus</i>, or for his behoof. If the action lie at all,
+it must be at the instance of the pursuer himself, as the <i>verus
+dominus</i> of the <i>Scaraboeus</i>, for being calumniated through
+the <i>convicium</i> directed primarily against the animal standing
+in that relation to him. Now, abstracting from the qualification of
+an actual <i>dominium</i>, which is not alleged, I have great
+doubts whether a mere <i>convicium</i> is necessarily transmitted
+from one object to another, through the relation of a
+<i>dominium</i> subsisting between them; and if not necessarily
+transmissible, we must see the principle of its actual transmission
+here; and that has not yet been pointed out.</p>
+<p>"LORD HERMAND.--We heard a little ago, my Lord, that there is a
+difficulty in this case; but I have not been fortunate enough, for
+my part, to find out where the difficulty lies. Will any man
+presume to tell me that a Beetle is not a Beetle, and that a Louse
+is not a Louse? I never saw the petitioner's Beetle, and what's
+more I don't care whether I ever see it or not; but I suppose it's
+like other Beetles, and that's enough for me.</p>
+<p>"But, my Lord, I know the other reptile well. I have seen them,
+I have felt them, my Lord, ever since I was a child in my mother's
+arms; and my mind tells me that nothing but the deepest and
+blackest malice rankling in the human breast could have suggested
+this comparison, or led any man to form a thought so injurious and
+insulting. But, my Lord, there's more here than all that--a great
+deal more. One could have thought the defender would have gratified
+his spite to the full by comparing the Beetle to a common Louse--an
+animal sufficiently vile and abominable for the purpose of
+defamation--[<i>Shut that door there</i>]--but he adds the epithet
+<i>Egyptian</i>, and I know well what he means by that epithet. He
+means, my Lord, a Louse that has been fattened on the head of a
+<i>Gipsy or Tinker</i>, undisturbed by the comb or nail, and
+unmolested in the enjoyment of its native filth. He means a Louse
+grown to its full size, ten times larger and ten times more
+abominable than those with which <i>your Lordships and I are
+familiar</i>. The petitioner asks redress for the injury so
+atrocious and so aggravated; and, as far as my voice goes, he shall
+not ask it in vain.</p>
+<p>"LORD CRAIG.--I am of the opinion last delivered. It appears to
+me to be slanderous and calumnious to compare a Diamond Beetle to
+the filthy and mischievous animal libelled. By an Egyptian Louse I
+understand one which has been formed on the head of a native
+Egyptian--a race of men who, after degenerating for many centuries,
+have sunk at last into the abyss of depravity, in consequence of
+having been subjugated for a time by the French. I do not find that
+Turgot, or Condorcet, or the rest of the economists, ever reckoned
+the combing of the head a species of productive labour; and I
+conclude, therefore, that wherever French principles have been
+propagated, <i>Lice</i> grow to an immoderate size, especially in a
+warm climate like that of Egypt. I shall only add, that we ought to
+be sensible of the blessings we enjoy under a free and happy
+Constitution, where Lice and men live under the restraint of equal
+laws the only equality that can exist in a well-regulated
+state.</p>
+<p>"LORD POLKEMMET.--It should be observed, my Lord, that what is
+called a Beetle is a reptile very well known in this country. I
+have seen mony are o' them in Drumshorlin Muir; it is a little
+black beastie, about the size of my thoom-nail. The country-folks
+ca' them Clocks; and I believe they ca' them also
+Maggy-wi'-the-mony-feet; but they are not the least like any Louse
+that ever I saw; so that, in my opinion, though the defender may
+have made a blunder through ignorance, in comparing them, there
+does not seem to have been any <i>animus injuriandi</i>; therefore
+I am for refusing the petition, my Lords.</p>
+<p>"LORD BALMUTO.--'Am<a name="FNanchor48"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_48">[48]</a> for refusing the petition. There's more
+Lice than Beetles in Fife. They ca' them Clocks there. What they
+ca' a Beetle is a thing as lang as my arm; thick at one end and
+sma' at the other. I thought, when I read the petition, that the
+Beetle or Bittle had been the thing that the women have when they
+are washing towels or napery with--things for dadding them with;
+and I see the petitioner is a jeweller till his trade; and I
+thought he had are o' thae Beetles, and set it all round with
+diamonds; and I thought it a foolish and extravagant idea; and I
+saw no resemblance it could have to a Louse. But I find I was
+mistaken, my Lord; and I find it only a Beetle-clock the petitioner
+has; but my opinion's the same as it was before. I say, my Lords,
+'am for refusing the petition, I say--</p>
+<p>"LORD WOODHOUSELEE.--There is a case abridged in the third
+volume of the <i>Dictionary of Decisions</i>, Chalmers <i>v.</i>
+Douglas, in which it was found that <i>veritas convicii
+excusat</i>, which may be rendered not literally, but in a free and
+spirited manner, according to the most approved principles of
+translation, 'the truth of calumny affords a relevant defence.' If,
+therefore, it be the law of Scotland (which I am clearly of opinion
+it is) that the truth of the calumny affords a relevant defence,
+and if it be likewise true that the Diamond Beetle is really an
+Egyptian Louse, I am inclined to conclude (though certainly the
+case is attended with difficulty) that the defender ought to be
+assoilzied.--<i>Refuse</i>.</p>
+<p>"LORD JUSTICE-CLERK (RAE).--I am very well acquainted with the
+defender in this action, and have respect for him, and esteem him
+likewise. I know him to be a skilful and expert surgeon, and also a
+good man; and I would do a great deal to serve him or to be of use
+to him, if I had it in my power to do so. But I think on this
+occasion he has spoken rashly, and I fear foolishly and improperly.
+I hope he had no bad intention--I am sure he had not. But the
+petitioner (for whom I have likewise a great respect, because I
+knew his father, who was a very respectable baker in Edinburgh, and
+supplied my family with bread, and very good bread it was, and for
+which his accounts were regularly discharged), it seems, has a
+Clock or a Beetle, I think it is called a Diamond Beetle, which he
+is very fond of, and has a fancy for, and the defender has compared
+it to a Louse, or a Bug, or a Flea, or a worse thing of that kind,
+with a view to render it despicable or ridiculous, and the
+petitioner so likewise, as the proprietor or owner thereof. It is
+said that this is a Louse <i>in fact</i>, and that the <i>veritas
+convicii excusat</i>; and mention is made of a decision in the case
+of Chalmers <i>v.</i> Douglas. I have always had a great veneration
+for the decisions of your Lordships; and I am sure will always
+continue to have while I sit here; but that case was determined by
+a very small majority, and I have heard your Lordships mention it
+on various occasions, and you have always desiderated the propriety
+of it, and I think have departed from it in some instances. I
+remember the circumstances of the case well:--Helen Chalmers lived
+in Musselburgh, and the defender, Mrs. Douglas, lived in Fisherrow;
+and at that time there was much intercourse between the genteel
+inhabitants of Fisherrow, and Musselburgh, and Inveresk, and
+likewise Newbigging; and there were balls, or dances, or assemblies
+every fortnight, or oftener, and also sometimes I believe every
+week; and there were card-parties, assemblies once a fortnight, or
+oftener; and the young people danced there also, and others played
+at cards, and there were various refreshments, such as tea and
+coffee, and butter and bread, and I believe, but I am not sure,
+porter and negus, and likewise small beer. And it was at one of
+these assemblies that Mrs. Douglas called Mrs. Chalmers very
+improper names. And Mrs. Chalmers brought an action of defamation
+before the Commissaries, and it came by advocation into this Court,
+and your Lordships allowed a proof of the <i>veritas convicii</i>,
+and it lasted a very long time, and in the end answered no good
+purpose even to the defender herself, while it did much hurt to the
+pursuer's character. I am therefore for REFUSING such a proof in
+this case, and I think the petitioner in this case and his Beetle
+have been slandered, and the petition ought to be seen.</p>
+<p>"LORD METHVEN.--If I understand this--a--a--a--interlocutor, it
+is not said that the--a--a--a--a--Egyptian Lice are Beetles, but
+that they may be, or--a--a--a--a--resemble Beetles. I am therefore
+for sending the process to the Ordinary to ascertain the fact, as I
+think it depends upon that whether there
+be--a--a--a--a--<i>convicium</i> or not. I think also the
+petitioner should be ordained to--a--a--a--produce his Beetle, and
+the defender an Egyptian Louse or <i>Pediculus</i>, and if he has
+not one, that he should take a diligence--a--a--a--against havers
+to recover Lice of various kinds; and these may be remitted to Dr.
+Monro, or Mr. Playfair, or to some other naturalist, to report upon
+the subject.</p>
+<p>"Agreed to."</p>
+<p>This is clearly a Reminiscence of a bygone state of matters in
+the Court of Session. I think every reader in our day, of the once
+famous Beetle case, will come to the conclusion that, making all
+due allowance for the humorous embellishment of the description,
+and even for some exaggeration of caricature, it describes what was
+once a real state of matters, which, he will be sure, is real no
+more. The day of Judges of the Balmuto-Hermand-Polkemmet class has
+passed away, and is become a Scottish <i>Reminiscence</i>. Having
+thus brought before my readers some Reminiscences of past times
+from the Courts of Justice, let me advert to one which belongs to,
+or was supposed to belong to, past days of our Scottish
+universities. It is now a matter of tradition. But an idea
+prevailed, whether correctly or incorrectly, some eighty or a
+hundred years ago, that at northern colleges degrees were regularly
+sold, and those who could pay the price obtained them, without
+reference to the merits or attainments of those on whom they were
+conferred. We have heard of divers jokes being passed on those who
+were supposed to have received such academical honours, as well as
+on those who had given them. It is said Dr Samuel Johnson joined in
+this sarcastic humour. But his prejudices both against Scotland and
+Scottish literature were well known. Colman, in his amusing play of
+the "Heir at Law," makes his Dr. Pangloss ludicrously describe his
+receiving an LL.D. degree, on the grounds of his own celebrity (as
+he had never seen the college), and his paying the heads one pound
+fifteen shillings and threepence three farthings as a handsome
+compliment to them on receiving his diploma. Colman certainly had
+studied at a northern university. But he might have gone into the
+idea in fun. However this may be, an anecdote is current in the
+east of Scotland, which is illustrative of this real or supposed
+state of matters, to which we may indeed apply the Italian phrase
+that if "non vero" it is "ben trovato." The story is this:--An East
+Lothian minister, accompanied by his man, who acted as betheral of
+his parish, went over to a northern university to purchase his
+degree, and on their return home he gave strict charge to his man,
+that as now he was invested with academical honour, he was to be
+sure to say, if any one asked for the minister, "O yes, the Doctor
+is at home, or the Doctor is in the study, or the Doctor is out, as
+the case might be." The man at once acquiesced in the propriety of
+this observance on account of his master's newly-acquired dignity.
+But he quietly added, "Ay, ay, minister; an' if ony are speirs for
+me, the servants maun be sure to say, Oh, the Doctor's in the
+stable, or the Doctor's in the kitchen, or the Doctor's in the
+garden or the field." "What do you mean, Dauvid?" exclaimed his
+astonished master; "what can <i>you</i> have to do with Doctor?"
+"Weel, ye see, sir," said David, looking very knowing, "when ye got
+your degree, I thought that as I had saved a little money, I
+couldna lay it out better, as being betheral of the church, than
+tak out a degree to mysell." The story bears upon the practice,
+whether a real or a supposed one; and we may fairly say that under
+such principals as Shairp, Tulloch, Campbell, Barclay, who now
+adorn the Scottish universities, we have a guarantee that such
+reports must continue to be Reminiscence and traditional only.</p>
+<blockquote>FOOTNOTES:</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_42"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor42">[42]</a> Bear.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_43"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor43">[43]</a> Rev. R. Scott of Cranwell.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_44"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor44">[44]</a> I have derived some information from a
+curious book, "Kay's Portraits," 2 vols. The work is scarcely known
+in England, and is becoming rare in Scotland. "Nothing can be more
+valuable in the way of engraved portraits than these
+representations of the distinguished men who adorned Edinburgh in
+the latter part of the eighteenth
+century."--<i>Chambers</i>.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_45"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor45">[45]</a> Origin and Progress of
+Language.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_46"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor46">[46]</a> Douglas' Peerage, vol. i. p.
+22.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_47"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor47">[47]</a> The version I have given of this amusing
+burlesque was revised by the late Mr. Pagan, Cupar-Fife, and
+corrected from his own manuscript copy, which he had procured from
+authentic sources about forty years ago.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_48"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor48">[48]</a> His Lordship usually pronounced <i>I
+am</i>--<i>Aum</i>.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_THE_SIXTH."></a>CHAPTER THE SIXTH.</h2>
+<h3>ON HUMOUR PROCEEDING FROM SCOTTISH EXPRESSIONS,<br>
+INCLUDING SCOTTISH PROVERBS.</h3>
+<br>
+<p>We come next to Reminiscences which are chiefly connected with
+peculiarities of our Scottish LANGUAGE, whether contained in words
+or in expressions. I am quite aware that the difference between the
+anecdotes belonging to this division and to the last division
+termed "Wit and Humour" is very indistinct, and must, in fact, in
+many cases, be quite arbitrary. Much of what we enjoy most in
+Scottish stories is not on account of wit properly so called, in
+the speaker, but I should say rather from the odd and unexpected
+view which is taken of some matter, or from the quaint and original
+turn of the expression made use of, or from the simple and
+matter-of-fact reference made to circumstances which are unusual. I
+shall not, therefore, be careful to preserve any strict line of
+separation between this division and the next. Each is conversant
+with what is amusing and with what is Scotch. What we have now
+chiefly to illustrate by suitable anecdotes is peculiarities of
+Scottish language--its various humorous turns and odd
+expressions.</p>
+<p>We have now to consider stories where words and expressions,
+which are peculiarly Scotch, impart the humour and the point.
+Sometimes they are altogether incapable of being rendered in other
+language. As, for example, a parishioner in an Ayrshire village,
+meeting his pastor, who had just returned after a considerable
+absence on account of ill health, congratulated him on his
+convalescence, and added, anticipatory of the pleasure he would
+have in hearing him again, "I'm unco yuckie to hear a blaud o' your
+gab." This is an untranslatable form of saying how glad he should
+be to hear his minister's voice again speaking to him the words of
+salvation and of peace from the pulpit.</p>
+<p>The two following are good examples of that Scottish style of
+expression which has its own character. They are kindly sent by Sir
+Archibald Dunbar. The first illustrates Scottish acute discernment.
+A certain titled lady, well known around her country town for her
+long-continued and extensive charities, which are not withheld from
+those who least deserve them, had a few years since, by the
+unexpected death of her brother and of his only son, become
+possessor of a fine estate. The news soon spread in the
+neighbourhood, and a group of old women were overheard in the
+streets of Elgin discussing the fact. One of them said, "Ay, she
+may prosper, for she has baith the prayers of the good and of the
+bad."</p>
+<p>The second anecdote is a delightful illustration of Mrs.
+Hamilton's <i>Cottagers of Glenburnie</i>, and of the old-fashioned
+Scottish pride in the <i>midden</i>. About twenty years ago, under
+the apprehension of cholera, committees of the most influential
+inhabitants of the county of Moray were formed to enforce a more
+complete cleansing of its towns and villages, and to induce the
+cottagers to remove their dunghills or dung-pits from too close a
+proximity to their doors or windows. One determined woman, on the
+outskirts of the town of Forres, no doubt with her future potato
+crop in view, met the M.P. who headed one of these committees,
+thus, "Noo, Major, ye may tak our lives, but ye'll no tak our
+middens."</p>
+<p>The truth is, many of the peculiarities which marked Scottish
+society departed with the disuse of the Scottish dialect in the
+upper ranks. I recollect a familiar example of this, which I may
+well term a Reminiscence. At a party assembled in a county house,
+the Earl of Elgin (grandfather of the present Earl) came up to the
+tea-table, where Mrs. Forbes of Medwyn, one of the finest examples
+of the past Scottish <i>lady</i>, was sitting, evidently much
+engaged with her occupation. "You are fond of your tea, Mrs.
+Forbes?" The reply was quite a characteristic one, and a pure
+reminiscence of such a place and such interlocutors; "'Deed, my
+Lord, I wadna gie my tea for your yerldom."</p>
+<p>My aunt, the late Lady Burnett of Leys, was one of the class of
+Scottish ladies I have referred to;--thoroughly a good woman and a
+gentlewoman, but in dialect quite Scottish. For example, being
+shocked at the sharp Aberdonian pronunciation adopted by her
+children, instead of the broader Forfarshire model in which she had
+been brought up, she thus adverted to their manner of calling the
+<i>floor</i> of the room where they were playing: "What gars ye ca'
+it '<i>fleer</i>?' canna ye ca' it '<i>flure</i>?' But I needna
+speak; Sir Robert winna let me correc' your language."</p>
+<p>In respect of language, no doubt, a very important change has
+taken place in Scotland during the last seventy years, and which, I
+believe, influences, in a greater degree than many persons would
+imagine, the turn of thought and general modes and aspects of
+society. In losing the old racy Scottish tongue, it seems as if
+much originality of <i>character</i> was lost. I suppose at one
+time the two countries of England and Scotland were considered as
+almost speaking different languages, and I suppose also, that from
+the period of the union of the crowns the language has been
+assimilating. We see the process of assimilation going on, and ere
+long amongst persons of education and birth very little difference
+will be perceptible. With regard to that class, a great change has
+taken place in my own time. I recollect old Scottish ladies and
+gentlemen who really <i>spoke Scotch</i>. It was not, mark me,
+speaking English with an accent. No; it was downright Scotch. Every
+tone and every syllable was Scotch. For example, I recollect old
+Miss Erskine of Dun, a fine specimen of a real lady, and daughter
+of an ancient Scottish house, so speaking. Many people now would
+not understand her. She was always <i>the lady</i>, notwithstanding
+her dialect, and to none could the epithet vulgar be less
+appropriately applied. I speak of more than forty years ago, and
+yet I recollect her accost to me as well as if it were yesterday:
+"I didna ken ye were i' the toun." Taking word and accents
+together, an address how totally unlike what we now meet with in
+society. Some of the old Scottish words which we can remember are
+charming; but how strange they would sound to the ears of the
+present generation! Fancy that in walking from church, and
+discussing the sermon, a lady of rank should now express her
+opinion of it by the description of its being, "but a hummelcorn
+discourse." Many living persons can remember Angus old ladies who
+would say to their nieces and daughters, "Whatna hummeldoddie o' a
+mutch hae ye gotten?" meaning a flat and low-crowned cap. In
+speaking of the dryness of the soil on a road in Lanarkshire, a
+farmer said, "It stoors in an oor<a name="FNanchor49"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_49">[49]</a>." How would this be as tersely translated
+into English? The late Duchess of Gordon sat at dinner next an
+English gentleman who was carving, and who made it a boast that he
+was thoroughly master of the Scottish language. Her Grace turned to
+him and said, "Rax me a spaul o' that bubbly jock<a name=
+"FNanchor50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50">[50]</a>." The unfortunate
+man was completely <i>nonplussed</i>. A Scottish gentleman was
+entertaining at his house an English cousin who professed himself
+as rather knowing in the language of the north side of the Tweed.
+He asked him what he supposed to be the meaning of the expression,
+"ripin the ribs<a name="FNanchor51"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_51">[51]</a>." To which he readily answered, "Oh, it
+describes a very fat man." I profess myself an out-and-out
+Scotchman. I have strong national partialities--call them if you
+will national prejudices. I cherish a great love of old Scottish
+language. Some of our pure Scottish ballad poetry is unsurpassed in
+any language for grace and pathos. How expressive, how beautiful
+are its phrases! You can't translate them. Take an example of power
+in a Scottish expression, to describe with tenderness and feeling
+what is in human life. Take one of our most familiar phrases; as
+thus:--We meet an old friend, we talk over bygone days, and
+remember many who were dear to us both, once bright, and young, and
+gay, of whom some remain, honoured, prosperous, and happy--of whom
+some are under a cloud of misfortune or disgrace--some are broken
+in health and spirits--some sunk into the grave; we recall old
+familiar places--old companions, pleasures, and pursuits; as
+Scotchmen our hearts are touched with these remembrances of</p>
+<blockquote>AULD LANG SYNE.</blockquote>
+<p>Match me the phrase in English. You can't translate it. The
+fitness and the beauty lie in the felicity of the language. Like
+many happy expressions, it is not transferable into another tongue,
+just like the "simplex munditiis" of Horace, which describes the
+natural grace of female elegance, or the [Greek: achaexithmon
+gelasma] of &AElig;schylus, which describes the bright sparkling of
+the ocean in the sun.</p>
+<p>I think the power of Scottish dialect was happily exemplified by
+the late Dr. Adam, rector of the High School of Edinburgh, in his
+translation of the Horatian expression "desipere in loco," which he
+turned by the Scotch phrase "Weel-timed daffin';" a translation,
+however, which no one but a Scotchman could appreciate. The
+following humorous Scottish translation of an old Latin aphorism
+has been assigned to the late Dr. Hill of St. Andrews: "<i>Qui bene
+cepit dimidium facti fecit</i>" the witty Principal expressed in
+Scotch, "Weel saipet (well soaped) is half shaven."</p>
+<p>What mere <i>English</i> word could have expressed a distinction
+so well in such a case as the following? I heard once a lady in
+Edinburgh objecting to a preacher that she did not understand him.
+Another lady, his great admirer, insinuated that probably he was
+too "deep" for her to follow. But her ready answer was, "Na, na,
+he's no just deep, but he's <i>drumly</i><a name=
+"FNanchor52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52">[52]</a>"</p>
+<p>We have a testimony to the value of our Scottish language from a
+late illustrious Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, the
+force and authority of which no one will be disposed to question.
+Lord Brougham, in speaking of improvements upon the English
+language, makes these striking remarks:--</p>
+<p>"The pure and classical language of Scotland must on no account
+be regarded as a provincial dialect, any more than French was so
+regarded in the reign of Henry V., or Italian in that of the first
+Napoleon, or Greek under the Roman Empire. Nor is it to be in any
+manner of way considered as a corruption of the Saxon; on the
+contrary, it contains much of the old and genuine Saxon, with an
+intermixture from the Northern nations, as Danes and Norse, and
+some, though a small portion, from the Celtic. But in whatever way
+composed, or from whatever sources arising, it is a national
+language, used by the whole people in their early years, by many
+learned and gifted persons throughout life, and in which are
+written the laws of the Scotch, their judicial proceedings, their
+ancient history; above all, their poetry.</p>
+<p>"There can be no doubt that the English language would greatly
+gain by being enriched with a number both of words and of phrases,
+or turns of expression, now peculiar to the Scotch. It was by such
+a process that the Greek became the first of tongues, as well
+written as spoken....</p>
+<p>"Would it not afford means of enriching and improving the
+English language, if full and accurate glossaries of improved
+Scotch words and phrases--those successfully used by the best
+writers, both in prose and verse--were given, with distinct
+explanation and reference to authorities? This has been done in
+France and other countries, where some dictionaries accompany the
+English, in some cases with Scotch synonyms, in others with
+varieties of expression."--<i>Installation Address</i>, p. 63.</p>
+<p>The Scotch, as a people, from their more guarded and composed
+method of speaking, are not so liable to fall into that figure of
+speech for which our Irish neighbours are celebrated--usually
+called the Bull; some specimens, however, of that confusion of
+thought, very like a bull, have been recorded of Scottish
+interlocutors.</p>
+<p>Of this the two following examples have been sent to me by a
+kind friend.</p>
+<p>It is related of a Scottish judge (who has supplied several
+anecdotes of Scottish stories), that on going to consult a dentist,
+who, as is usual, placed him in the professional chair, and told
+his lordship that he must let him put his fingers into his mouth,
+he exclaimed, "Na! na! ye'll aiblins <i>bite me</i>."</p>
+<p>A Scottish laird, singularly enough the grandson of the learned
+judge mentioned above, when going his round to canvass for the
+county, at the time when the electors were chiefly confined to
+resident proprietors, was asked at one house where he called if he
+would not take some refreshment, hesitated, and said, "I doubt it's
+treating, and may be ca'd <i>bribery</i>."</p>
+<p>But a still more amusing specimen of this figure of speech was
+supplied by an honest Highlander, in the days of sedan chairs. For
+the benefit of my young readers I may describe the sedan chair as a
+comfortable little carriage fixed to two poles, and carried by two
+men, one behind and one before. A dowager lady of quality had gone
+out to dinner in one of these "leathern conveniences," and whilst
+she herself enjoyed the hospitality of the mansion up-stairs, her
+bearers were profusely entertained downstairs, and partook of the
+abundant refreshment offered to them. When my lady was to return,
+and had taken her place in the sedan, her bearers raised the chair,
+but she found no progress was made--she felt herself sway first to
+one side, then to the other, and soon came bump upon the ground,
+when Donald behind was heard shouting to Donald before (for the
+bearers of sedans were always Highlanders), "Let her down, Donald,
+man, <i>for she's drunk</i>."</p>
+<p>I cannot help thinking that a change of national language
+involves to some extent change of national character. Numerous
+examples of great power in Scottish Phraseology, to express the
+picturesque, the feeling, the wise, and the humorous, might be
+taken from the works of Robert Burns, Ferguson, or Allan Ramsay,
+and which lose their charms altogether when <i>unscottified</i>.
+The speaker certainly seems to take a strength and character from
+his words. We must now look for specimens of this racy and
+expressive tongue in the more retired parts of the country. It is
+no longer to be found in high places. It has disappeared from the
+social circles of our cities. I cannot, however, omit calling my
+reader's attention to a charming specimen of Scottish prose and of
+Scottish humour of our own day, contained in a little book,
+entitled "<i>Mystifications</i>" by Clementina Stirling Graham. The
+scenes described in that volume are matters of pleasing
+reminiscence, and to some of us who still remain "will recall that
+blithe and winning face, sagacious and sincere, that kindly, cheery
+voice, that rich and quiet laugh, that mingled sense and
+sensibility, which met, and still to our happiness meet, in her
+who, with all her gifts, never gratified her consciousness of these
+powers so as to give pain to any human being<a name=
+"FNanchor53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53">[53]</a>." These words,
+written more than ten years ago, might have been penned yesterday;
+and those who, like myself, have had the privilege of seeing the
+authoress presiding in her beautiful mansion of Duntrune, will not
+soon forget how happy, how gracious, and how young, old age may
+be.</p>
+<blockquote>"No fears to beat away--no strife to heal;<br>
+The past unsighed for, and the future sure."</blockquote>
+<p>In my early days the intercourse with the peasantry of
+Forfarshire, Kincardineshire, and especially Deeside, was most
+amusing--not that the things said were so much out of the common,
+as that the language in which they were conveyed was picturesque,
+and odd, and taking. And certainly it does appear to me that as the
+language grows more uniform and conventional, less marked and
+peculiar in its dialect and expressions, so does the character of
+those who speak it become so. I have a rich sample of Mid-Lothian
+Scotch from a young friend in the country, who describes the
+conversation of an old woman on the property as amusing her by such
+specimens of genuine Scottish raciness and humour. On one occasion,
+for instance, the young lady had told her humble friend that she
+was going to Ireland, and would have to undergo a sea voyage.
+"Weel, noo, ye dinna mean that! Ance I thocht to gang across to
+tither side o' the Queensferry wi' some ither folks to a fair, ye
+ken; but juist whene'er I pat my fit in the boat, the boat gae
+wallop, and my heart gae a loup, and I thocht I'd gang oot o' my
+judgment athegither; so says I, Na, na, ye gang awa by yoursells to
+tither side, and I'll bide here till sic times as ye come awa
+back." When we hear our Scottish language at home, and spoken by
+our own countrymen, we are not so much struck with any remarkable
+effects; but it takes a far more impressive character when heard
+amongst those who speak a different tongue, and when encountered in
+other lands. I recollect hearing the late Sir Robert Liston
+expressing this feeling in his own case. When our ambassador at
+Constantinople, some Scotchmen had been recommended to him for a
+purpose of private or of government business; and Sir Robert was
+always ready to do a kind thing for a countryman. He found them out
+in a barber's shop, waiting for being shaved in turn. One came in
+rather late, and seeing he had scarcely room at the end of the
+seat, addressed his countryman, "Neebour, wad ye sit a bit
+<i>wast</i>?" What strong associations must have been called up, by
+hearing in an eastern land such an expression in Scottish
+tones.</p>
+<p>We may observe here, that marking the course any person is to
+take, or the direction in which any object is to be met with, by
+the points of the compass, was a prevailing practice amongst the
+older Scottish race. There could hardly be a more ludicrous
+application of the test, than was furnished by an honest Highlander
+in describing the direction which his medicine would <i>not</i>
+take. Jean Gumming of Altyre, who, in common with her three
+sisters, was a true soeur de charit&eacute;, was one day taking her
+rounds as usual, visiting the poor sick, among whom there was a
+certain Donald MacQueen, who had been some time confined to his
+bed. Miss Gumming, after asking him how he felt, and finding that
+he was "no better," of course inquired if he had taken the medicine
+which she had sent him; "Troth no, me lady," he replied. "But why
+not, Donald?" she answered; "it was <i>very wrong</i>; how can you
+expect to get better if you do not help yourself with the remedies
+which heaven provides for you?" "<i>V</i>right or <i>V</i>rang,"
+said Donald, "it wadna gang <i>wast</i> in spite o' me." In all the
+north country, it is always said, "I'm ganging east or west," etc.,
+and it happened that Donald on his sick bed was lying east and
+west, his feet pointing to the latter direction, hence his reply to
+indicate that he could not swallow the medicine!</p>
+<p>We may fancy the amusement of the officers of a regiment in the
+West Indies, at the innocent remark of a young lad who had just
+joined from Scotland. On meeting at dinner, his salutation to his
+Colonel was, "Anither het day, Cornal," as if "het days" were in
+Barbadoes few and far between, as they were in his dear old stormy
+cloudy Scotland. Or take the case of a Scottish saying, which
+indicated at once the dialect and the economical habits of a hardy
+and struggling race. A young Scotchman, who had been some time in
+London, met his friend recently come up from the north to pursue
+his fortune in the great metropolis. On discussing matters
+connected with their new life in London, the more experienced
+visitor remarked upon the greater <i>expenses</i> there than in the
+retired Scottish town which they had left. "Ay," said the other,
+sighing over the reflection, "when ye get cheenge for a saxpence
+here, it's soon slippit awa'." I recollect a story of my father's
+which illustrates the force of dialect, although confined to the
+inflections of a single monosyllable. On riding home one evening,
+he passed a cottage or small farm-house, where there was a
+considerable assemblage of people, and an evident incipient
+merry-making for some festive occasion. On asking one of the lasses
+standing about, what it was, she answered, "Ou, it's just a wedding
+o' Jock Thamson and Janet Frazer." To the question, "Is the bride
+rich?" there was a plain quiet "Na." "Is she young?" a more
+emphatic and decided "Naa!" but to the query, "Is she bonny?" a
+most elaborate and prolonged shout of "Naaa!"</p>
+<p>It has been said that the Scottish dialect is peculiarly
+powerful in its use of <i>vowels</i>, and the following dialogue
+between a shopman and a customer has been given as a specimen. The
+conversation relates to a plaid hanging at the shop door--</p>
+<p><i>Cus</i>. (inquiring the material), Oo? (wool?)</p>
+<p><i>Shop</i>. Ay, oo (yes, of wool).</p>
+<p><i>Cus</i>. A' oo? (all wool?)</p>
+<p><i>Shop</i>. Ay, a' oo (yes, all wool).</p>
+<p><i>Cus</i>. A' ae oo? (all same wool?)</p>
+<p><i>Shop</i>. Ay a' ae oo (yes, all same wool).</p>
+<p>An amusing anecdote of a pithy and jocular reply, comprised in
+one syllable, is recorded of an eccentric legal Scottish
+functionary of the last century. An advocate, of whose professional
+qualifications he had formed rather a low estimate, was complaining
+to him of being passed over in a recent appointment to the bench,
+and expressed his sense of the injustice with which he had been
+treated. He was very indignant at his claims and merit being
+overlooked in their not choosing him for the new judge, adding with
+much acrimony, "And I can tell you they might have got a
+'waur<a name="FNanchor54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54">[54]</a>.'" To
+which, as if merely coming over the complainant's language again,
+the answer was a grave "Whaur<a name="FNanchor55"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_55">[55]</a>?" The merit of the impertinence was, that
+it sounded as if it were merely a repetition of his friend's last
+words, waur and whaur. It was as if "<i>echo</i> answered whaur?"
+As I have said, the oddity and acuteness of the speaker arose from
+the manner of expression, not from the thing said. In fact, the
+same thing said in plain English would be mere commonplace. I
+recollect being much amused with a dialogue between a late
+excellent relative of mine and his man, the chief manager of a farm
+which he had just taken, and, I suspect in a good measure manager
+of the <i>farmer</i> as well. At any rate he committed to this
+acute overseer all the practical details; and on the present
+occasion had sent him to market to dispose of a cow and a pony, a
+simple enough transaction, and with a simple enough result. The cow
+was, brought back, the pony was sold. But the man's description of
+it forms the point. "Well, John, have you sold the cow?" "Na, but I
+<i>grippit</i> a chiel for the powny!" "<i>Grippit</i>" was here
+most expressive. Indeed, this word has a significance hardly
+expressed by any English one, and used to be very prevalent to
+indicate keen and forcible tenacity of possession; thus a character
+noted for avarice or sharp looking to self-interest was termed
+"grippy." In mechanical contrivances, anything taking a close
+adherence was called having a gude <i>grip</i>. I recollect in
+boyish days, when on Deeside taking wasp-nests, an old man looking
+on was sharply stung by one, and his description was, "Ane o'
+them's grippit me fine." The following had an indescribable
+piquancy, which arose from the <i>Scotticism</i> of the terms and
+the manners. Many years ago, when accompanying a shooting party on
+the Grampians, not with a gun like the rest, but with a botanical
+box for collecting specimens of mountain plants, the party had got
+very hot, and very tired, and very cross. On the way home, whilst
+sitting down to rest, a gamekeeper sort of attendant, and a
+character in his way, said, "I wish I was in the dining-room of
+Fasque." Our good cousin the Rev. Mr. Wilson, minister of Farnel,
+who liked well a quiet shot at the grouse, rather testily replied,
+"Ye'd soon be <i>kickit</i> out o' that;" to which the other
+replied, not at all daunted, "Weel, weel, then I wadna be far frae
+the kitchen." A quaint and characteristic reply I recollect from
+another farm-servant. My eldest brother had just been constructing
+a piece of machinery which was driven by a stream of water running
+through the home farmyard. There was a thrashing machine, a
+winnowing machine, and circular saw for splitting trees into
+paling, and other contrivances of a like kind. Observing an old
+man, who had long been about the place, looking very attentively at
+all that was going on, he said, "Wonderful things people can do
+now, Robby!" "Ay," said Robby; "indeed, Sir Alexander, I'm thinking
+gin Solomon were alive noo he'd be thocht naething o'!"</p>
+<p>The two following derive their force entirely from the Scottish
+turn of the expressions. Translated into English, they would lose
+all point--at least, much of the point which they now have:--</p>
+<p>At the sale of an antiquarian gentleman's effects in
+Roxburghshire, which Sir Walter Scott happened to attend, there was
+one little article, a Roman <i>patina</i>, which occasioned a good
+deal of competition, and was eventually knocked down to the
+distinguished baronet at a high price. Sir Walter was excessively
+amused during the time of bidding to observe how much it excited
+the astonishment of an old woman, who had evidently come there to
+buy culinary utensils on a more economical principle. "If the
+parritch-pan," she at last burst out--"If the parritch-pan gangs at
+that, what will the kail-pat gang for?"</p>
+<p>An ancestor of Sir Walter Scott joined the Stuart Prince in
+1715, and, with his brother, was engaged in that unfortunate
+adventure which ended in a skirmish and captivity at Preston. It
+was the fashion of those times for all persons of the rank of
+gentlemen to wear scarlet waistcoats. A ball had struck one of the
+brothers, and carried part of this dress into his body, and in this
+condition he was taken prisoner with a number of his companions,
+and stripped, as was too often the practice in those remorseless
+wars. Thus wounded, and nearly naked, having only a shirt on, and
+an old sack about him, the ancestor of the great poet was sitting,
+along with his brother and a hundred and fifty unfortunate
+gentlemen, in a granary at Preston. The wounded man fell sick, as
+the story goes, and vomited the scarlet cloth which the ball had
+passed into the wound. "O man, Wattie," cried his brother, "if you
+have a wardrobe in your wame, I wish you would vomit me a pair o'
+breeks." But, after all, it was amongst the old ladies that the
+great abundance of choice pungent Scottish expressions, such as you
+certainly do not meet with in these days, was to be sought. In
+their position of society, education either in England, or
+education conducted by English teachers, has so spread in Scottish
+families, and intercourse with the south has been so increased,
+that all these colloquial peculiarities are fast disappearing. Some
+of the ladies of this older school felt some indignation at the
+change which they lived to see was fast going on. One of them being
+asked if an individual whom she had lately seen was "Scotch,"
+answered with some bitterness, "I canna say; ye a' speak sae
+<i>genteel</i> now that I dinna ken wha's Scotch." It was not
+uncommon to find, in young persons, examples, some years ago, of an
+attachment to the Scottish dialect, like that of the old lady. In
+the life of P. Tytler, lately published, there is an account of his
+first return to Scotland from a school in England. His family were
+delighted with his appearance, manners, and general improvement;
+but a sister did not share this pleasure unmixed, for being found
+in tears, and the remark being made, "Is he not charming?" her
+reply was, in great distress, "Oh yes, but he speaks English!"</p>
+<p>The class of old Scottish ladies, marked by so many
+peculiarities, generally lived in provincial towns, and never
+dreamt of going from home. Many had never been in London, or had
+even crossed the Tweed. But as Lord Cockburn's experience goes back
+further than mine, and as he had special opportunities of being
+acquainted with their characteristic peculiarities, I will quote
+his animated description at page 57 of his <i>Memorials</i>. "There
+was a singular race of old Scotch ladies. They were a delightful
+set--strong-headed, warm-hearted, and high-spirited--merry even in
+solitude; very resolute; indifferent about the modes and habits of
+the modern world, and adhering to their own ways, so as to stand
+out like primitive rocks above ordinary society. Their prominent
+qualities of sense, humour, affection, and spirit, were embodied in
+curious outsides, for they all dressed, and spoke, and did exactly
+as they chose. Their language, like their habits, entirely Scotch,
+but without any other vulgarity than what perfect naturalness is
+sometimes mistaken for<a name="FNanchor56"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_56">[56]</a>."</p>
+<p>This is a masterly description of a race now all but passed
+away. I have known several of them in my early days; and amongst
+them we must look for the racy Scottish peculiarities of diction
+and of expression which, with them, are also nearly gone. Lord
+Cockburn has given some illustrations of these peculiarities; and I
+have heard others, especially connected with Jacobite partialities,
+of which I say nothing, as they are in fact rather <i>strong</i>
+for such a work as this. One, however, I heard lately as coming
+from a Forfarshire old lady of this class, which bears upon the
+point of "resolute" determination referred to in the learned
+judge's description. She had been very positive in the disclaiming
+of some assertion which had been attributed to her, and on being
+asked if she had not written it, or something very like it, she
+replied, "Na, na; I never <i>write</i> onything of consequence--I
+may deny what I say, but I canna deny what I write."</p>
+<p>Mrs. Baird of Newbyth, the mother of our distinguished
+countryman the late General Sir David Baird, was always spoken of
+as a grand specimen of the class. When the news arrived from India
+of the gallant but unfortunate action of '84 against Hyder Ali, in
+which her son, then Captain Baird, was engaged, it was stated that
+he and other officers had been taken prisoners and chained together
+two and two. The friends were careful in breaking such sad
+intelligence to the mother of Captain Baird. When, however, she was
+made fully to understand the position of her son and his gallant
+companions, disdaining all weak and useless expressions of her own
+grief, and knowing well the restless and athletic habits of her
+son, all she said was, "Lord pity the chiel that's chained to our
+Davie!"</p>
+<p>It is only due to the memory of "our Davie," however, to add
+that the "chiel" to whom he was chained, had, in writing home to
+his friends, borne the highest testimony to the kindness and
+consideration of Captain Baird, which he exercised towards him in
+this uncomfortable alliance. General Baird was a first-rate
+officer, and a fine noble character. He left home for active
+service so soon (before he was fifteen) that his education had
+necessarily been very imperfect. This deficiency he had always
+himself through life deeply regretted. A military friend, and great
+admirer of Sir David, used jocularly to tell a story of him--that
+having finished the despatch which must carry home the news of his
+great action, the capture of Seringapatam, as he was preparing to
+sign it in great form, he deliberately took off his coat. "Why do
+you take off your coat?" said his friend. To which the General
+quietly answered, "Oh, it's to turn the muckle D in Dauvid."</p>
+<p>The ladies of this class had certainly no affectation in
+speaking of those who came under their displeasure, even when life
+and death were concerned. I had an anecdote illustrative of this
+characteristic in a well-known old lady of the last century, Miss
+Johnstone of Westerhall. She had been extremely indignant that, on
+the death of her brother, his widow had proposed to sell off the
+old furniture of Westerhall. She was attached to it from old
+associations, and considered the parting with it little short of
+sacrilege. The event was, however, arrested by death, or, as she
+describes the result, "The furniture was a' to be roupit, and we
+couldna persuade her. But before the sale cam on, in God's gude
+providence she just clinkit aff hersell." Of this same Miss
+Johnstone another characteristic anecdote has been preserved in the
+family. She came into possession of Hawkhill, near Edinburgh, and
+died there. When dying, a tremendous storm of rain and thunder came
+on, so as to shake the house. In her own quaint eccentric spirit,
+and with no thought of profane or light allusions, she looked up,
+and, listening to the storm, quietly remarked, in reference to her
+departure, "Ech, sirs! what a nicht for me to be fleein' through
+the air!" Of fine acute sarcasm I recollect hearing an expression
+from a <i>modern</i> sample of the class, a charming character, but
+only to a certain degree answering to the description of the
+<i>older</i> generation. Conversation turning, and with just
+indignation, on the infidel remarks which had been heard from a
+certain individual, and on his irreverent treatment of Holy
+Scripture, all that this lady condescended to say of him was, "Gey
+impudent of him, I think."</p>
+<p>A recorded reply of old Lady Perth to a French gentleman is
+quaint and characteristic. They had been discussing the respective
+merits of the cookery of each country. The Frenchman offended the
+old Scottish peeress by some disparaging remarks on Scottish
+dishes, and by highly preferring those of France. All she would
+answer was, "Weel, weel, some fowk like parritch and some like
+paddocks<a name="FNanchor57"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_57">[57]</a>."</p>
+<p>Of this older race--the ladies who were, aged, fifty years
+ago--no description could be given in bolder or stronger outline
+than that which I have quoted from Lord Cockburn. I would pretend
+to nothing more than giving a few further illustrative details from
+my own experience, which may assist the representation by adding
+some practical realities to the picture.</p>
+<p>Several of them whom I knew in my early days certainly answered
+to many of the terms made use of by his lordship. Their language
+and expressions had a zest and peculiarity which are gone, and
+which would not, I fear, do for modern life and times.</p>
+<p>I have spoken of Miss Erskine of Dun, which is near Montrose.
+She, however, resided in Edinburgh. But those I knew best had lived
+many years in the then retired society of a country town. Some were
+my own relations; and in boyish days (for they had not generally
+much patience with boys) were looked up to with considerable awe as
+very formidable personages. Their characters and modes of
+expression in many respects remarkably corresponded with Lord
+Cockburn's idea of the race. There was a dry Scottish humour which
+we fear their successors do not inherit. One of these Montrose
+ladies, Miss Nelly Fullerton, had many anecdotes told of her quaint
+ways and sayings. Walking in the street one day, slippery from
+frost, she fairly fell down. A young officer with much politeness
+came forward and picked her up, earnestly asking her at the same
+time, "I hope ma'am, you are no worse?" to which she very drily
+answered, looking at him very steadily, "'Deed, sir, I'm just as
+little the better." A few days after, she met her military
+supporter in a shop. He was a fine tall youth, upwards of six feet
+high, and by way of making some grateful recognition for his late
+polite attention, she eyed him from head to foot, and as she was of
+the opinion of the old Scotch lady who declared she "aye liked
+bonny fowk," she viewed her young friend with much satisfaction,
+but which she only evinced by the quaint remark, "Od, ye're a lang
+lad; God gie ye grace."</p>
+<p>I had from a relative or intimate friend of two sisters of this
+school, well known about Glasgow, an odd account of what it seems,
+from their own statement, had passed between them at a country
+house, where they had attended a sale by auction. As the business
+of the day went on, a dozen of silver spoons had to be disposed of;
+and before they were put up for competition, they were, according
+to the usual custom, handed round for inspection to the company.
+When returned into the hands of the auctioneer, he found only
+eleven. In great wrath, he ordered the door to be shut, that no one
+might escape, and insisted on every one present being searched to
+discover the delinquent. One of the sisters, in consternation,
+whispered to the other, "Esther, ye hae nae gotten the spune?" to
+which she replied, "Na; but I hae gotten Mrs. Siddons in my
+pocket." She had been struck by a miniature of the great actress,
+and had quietly pocketed it. The cautious reply of the sister was,
+"Then just drop her, Esther." One of the sisterhood, a connection
+of my own, had much of this dry Scottish humour. She had a lodging
+in the house of a respectable grocer; and on her niece most
+innocently asking, "if she was not very fond of her landlord," in
+reference to the excellence of her apartments and the attention he
+paid to her comfort, she demurred to the question on the score of
+its propriety, by replying, "Fond of my landlord! that would be an
+<i>unaccountable</i> fondness."</p>
+<p>An amusing account was given of an interview and conversation
+between this lady and the provost of Montrose. She had demurred at
+paying some municipal tax with which she had been charged, and the
+provost, anxious to prevent her getting into difficulty on the
+subject, kindly called to convince her of the fairness of the
+claim, and the necessity of paying it. In his explanation he
+referred back to his own bachelor days when a similar payment had
+been required from him. "I assure you, ma'am," he said, "when I was
+in your situation I was called upon in a similar way for this tax;"
+to which she replied, in quiet scorn, "In my situation! an' whan
+were ye in my situation?--an' auld maid leevin' in a flat wi' an ae
+lass." But the complaints of such imposts were urged in a very
+humorous manner by another Montrose old lady, Miss Helen Carnegy of
+Craigo; she hated paying taxes, and always pretended to
+misunderstand their nature. One day, receiving a notice of such
+payment signed by the provost (Thorn), she broke out: "I dinna
+understand thae taxes; but I just think that when Mrs. Thorn wants
+a new gown, the provost sends me a tax paper!" The good lady's
+na&iuml;ve rejection of the idea that she could be in any sense
+"fond of her landlord," already referred to, was somewhat in unison
+with a similar feeling recorded to have been expressed by the late
+Mr. Wilson, the celebrated Scottish vocalist. He was taking lessons
+from the late Mr. Finlay Dun, one of the most accomplished
+musicians of the day. Mr. Dun had just returned from Italy, and,
+impressed with admiration of the deep pathos, sentiment, and
+passion of the Italian school of music, he regretted to find in his
+pupil so lovely a voice and so much talent losing much of its
+effect for want of feeling. Anxious, therefore, to throw into his
+friend's performance something of the Italian expression, he
+proposed to bring it out by this suggestion: "Now, Mr. Wilson, just
+suppose that I am your lady love, and sing to me as you could
+imagine yourself doing were you desirous of impressing her with
+your earnestness and affection." Poor Mr. Wilson hesitated,
+blushed, and, under doubt how far such a personification even in
+his case was allowable, at last remonstrated, "Ay, Mr. Dun, ye
+forget I'm a married man!" A case has been reported of a country
+girl, however, who thought it possible there might be an excess in
+such scrupulous regard to appearances. On her marriage-day, the
+youth to whom she was about to be united said to her in a
+triumphant tone, "Weel, Jenny, haven't I been unco ceevil?"
+alluding to the fact that during their whole courtship he had never
+even given her a kiss. Her quiet reply was, "Ou, ay, man;
+<i>senselessly</i> ceevil."</p>
+<p>One of these Montrose ladies and a sister lived together; and in
+a very quiet way they were in the habit of giving little
+dinner-parties, to which occasionally they invited their gentlemen
+friends. However, gentlemen were not always to be had; and on one
+occasion, when such a difficulty had occurred, they were talking
+over the matter with a friend. The one lady seemed to consider such
+an acquisition almost essential to the having a dinner at all. The
+other, who did not see the same necessity, quietly adding, "But,
+indeed, oor Jean thinks a man <i>perfect salvation</i>."</p>
+<p>Very much of the same class of remarks was the following sly
+observation of one of the sisterhood. At a well-known tea-table in
+a country town in Forfarshire, the events of the day, grave and
+gay, had been fully discussed by the assembled sisterhood. The
+occasion was improved by an elderly spinster, as follows:--"Weel,
+weel, sirs, these are solemn events--death and marriage--but ye ken
+they're what we must a' come till." "Eh, Miss Jeany! ye have been
+lang spared," was the arch reply of a younger member.</p>
+<p>There was occasionally a pawky semi-sarcastic humour in the
+replies of some of the ladies we speak of, that was quite
+irresistible, of which I have from a friend a good illustration in
+an anecdote well known at the time. A late well-known member of the
+Scottish bar, when a youth, was somewhat of a dandy, and, I
+suppose, somewhat short and sharp in his temper. He was going to
+pay a visit in the country, and was making a great fuss about his
+preparing and putting up his habiliments. His old aunt was much
+annoyed at all this bustle, and stopped him by the somewhat
+contemptuous question, "Whar's this you're gaun, Bobby, that ye mak
+sic a grand wark about yer claes?" The young man lost temper, and
+pettishly replied, "I'm going to the devil." "'Deed, Robby, then,"
+was the quiet answer, "ye needna be sae nice, he'll juist tak' ye
+as ye are."</p>
+<p>Ladies of this class had a quiet mode of expressing themselves
+on very serious subjects, which indicated their quaint power of
+description, rather than their want of feeling. Thus, of two
+sisters, when one had died, it was supposed that she had injured
+herself by an imprudent indulgence in strawberries and cream, of
+which she had partaken in the country. A friend was condoling with
+the surviving sister, and, expressing her sorrow, had added, "I had
+hoped your sister was to live many years." To which her relative
+replied--"Leeve! hoo could she leeve? she juist felled<a name=
+"FNanchor58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58">[58]</a> hersell at Craigo
+wi' straeberries and 'ream!" However, she spoke with the same
+degree of coolness of her own decease. For when her friend was
+comforting her in illness, by the hopes that she would, after
+winter, enjoy again some of their country spring butter, she
+exclaimed, without the slightest idea of being guilty of any
+irreverence, "Spring butter! by that time I shall be buttering in
+heaven." When really dying, and when friends were round her bed she
+overheard one of them saying to another, "Her face has lost its
+colour; it grows like a sheet of paper." The quaint spirit even
+then broke out in the remark, "Then I'm sure it maun be
+<i>broon</i> paper." A very strong-minded lady of the class, and,
+in Lord Cockburn's language, "indifferent about modes and
+habits<a name="FNanchor59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59">[59]</a>,"
+had been asking from a lady the character of a cook she was about
+to hire. The lady naturally entered a little upon her moral
+qualifications, and described her as a very decent woman; the
+response to which was, "Oh, d--n her decency; can she make good
+collops?"--an answer which would somewhat surprise a lady of Moray
+Place now, if engaged in a similar discussion of a servant's
+merits.</p>
+<p>The Rev. Dr. Cook of Haddington supplies an excellent anecdote,
+of which the point is in the dry Scottish answer: An old lady of
+the Doctor's acquaintance, about seventy, sent for her medical
+attendant to consult him about a sore throat, which had troubled
+her for some days. Her medical man was ushered into her room,
+decked out with the now prevailing fashion, a mustache and flowing
+beard. The old lady, after exchanging the usual civilities,
+described her complaint to the worthy son of &AElig;sculapius.
+"Well," says he, "do you know, Mrs. Macfarlane, I used to be much
+affected with the very same kind of sore throat, but ever since I
+allowed my mustache and beard to grow, I have never been troubled
+with it." "Aweel, aweel," said the old lady drily, "that may be the
+case, but ye maun prescribe some other method for me to get quit o'
+the sair throat; for ye ken, doctor, I canna adopt <i>that</i>
+cure."</p>
+<p>Then how quaint the answer of old Mrs. Robison, widow of the
+eminent professor of natural philosophy, and who entertained an
+inveterate dislike to everything which she thought savoured of
+<i>cant</i>. She had invited a gentleman to dinner on a particular
+day, and he had accepted, with the reservation, "If I am
+spared."--"Weel, weel," said Mrs. Robison; "if ye're deed, I'll no
+expect ye."</p>
+<p>I had two grand-aunts living at Montrose at that time--two Miss
+Ramsays of Balmain. They were somewhat of the severe class---Nelly
+especially, who was an object rather of awe than of affection. She
+certainly had a very awful appearance to young apprehensions, from
+the strangeness of her headgear. Ladies of this class Lord Cockburn
+has spoken of as "having their peculiarities embodied in curious
+outsides, as they dressed, spoke, and did exactly as they chose."
+As a sample of such "curious outside and dress," my good aunt used
+to go about the house with an immense pillow strapped over her
+head--warm but formidable. These two maiden grand-aunts had invited
+their niece to pay them a visit--an aunt of mine, who had made what
+they considered a very imprudent marriage, and where considerable
+pecuniary privations were too likely to accompany the step she had
+taken. The poor niece had to bear many a taunt directed against her
+improvident union, as for example:--One day she had asked for a
+piece of tape for some work she had in hand as a young wife
+expecting to become a mother. Miss Nelly said, with much point,
+"Ay, Kitty, ye shall get a bit knittin' (<i>i.e.</i> a bit of
+tape). We hae a'thing; we're no married." It was this lady who, by
+an inadvertent use of a term, showed what was passing in her mind
+in a way which must have been quite transparent to the bystanders.
+At a supper which she was giving, she was evidently much annoyed at
+the reckless and clumsy manner in which a gentleman was operating
+upon a ham which was at table, cutting out great lumps, and
+distributing them to the company. The lady said, in a very
+querulous tone, "Oh, Mr. <i>Divot</i>, will you help Mrs. So and
+So?"--divot being a provincial term for a turf or sod cut out of
+the green, and the resemblance of it to the pieces carved out by
+the gentleman evidently having taken possession of her imagination.
+Mrs. Helen Carnegy of Craigo, already mentioned, was a thorough
+specimen of this class. She lived in Montrose, and died in 1818, at
+the advanced age of ninety-one. She was a Jacobite, and very
+aristocratic in her feelings, but on social terms with many
+burghers of Montrose, or Munross as it was called. She preserved a
+very nice distinction of addresses, suited to the different
+individuals in the town, according as she placed them in the scale
+of her consideration. She liked a party at quadrille, and sent out
+her servant every morning to invite the ladies required to make up
+the game, and her directions were graduated thus:--"Nelly, ye'll
+ging to Lady Carnegy's, and mak my compliments, and ask the
+<i>honour</i> of her ladyship's company, and that of the Miss
+Carnegys, to tea this evening; and if they canna come, ging to the
+Miss Mudies, and ask the <i>pleasure</i> of their company; and if
+they canna come, ye may ging to Miss Hunter and ask the
+<i>favour</i> of her company and if she canna come, ging to Lucky
+Spark and <i>bid her come</i>."</p>
+<p>A great confusion existed in the minds of some of those
+old-fashioned ladies on the subject of modern inventions and
+usages. A Montrose old lady protested against the use of
+steam-vessels, as counteracting the decrees of Providence in going
+against wind and tide, vehemently asserting, "I would hae naething
+to say to thae <i>im-pious</i> vessels." Another lady was equally
+discomposed by the introduction of gas, asking, with much
+earnestness, "What's to become o' the puir whales'?" deeming their
+interests materially affected by this superseding of their oil. A
+lady of this class, who had long lived in country retirement,
+coming up to Edinburgh, was, after an absence of many years, going
+along Princes Street about the time when the water-carts were
+introduced for preventing the dust, and seeing one of them passing,
+rushed from off the pavement to the driver, saying, "Man, ye're
+<i>skailin'</i> a' the water." Such being her ignorance of modern
+improvements.</p>
+<p>There used to be a point and originality in expressions made use
+of in regard to common matters, unlike what one finds now; for
+example: A country minister had been invited, with his wife, to
+dine and spend the night at the house of one of his lairds. Their
+host was very proud of one of the very large beds which had just
+come into fashion, and in the morning asked the lady how she had
+slept in it. "Oh, vary well, sir; but, indeed, I thought I'd lost
+the minister athegither."</p>
+<p>Nothing, however, in my opinion, comes up to the originality and
+point of the Montrose old maiden lady's most "exquisite reason" for
+not subscribing to the proposed fund for organising a volunteer
+corps in that town. It was at the time of expected invasion at the
+beginning of the century, and some of the town magistrates called
+upon her and solicited her subscription to raise men for the
+service of the king--"Indeed," she answered right sturdily, "I'll
+dae nae sic thing; I ne'er could raise a man <i>for mysell</i>, and
+I'm no ga'in to raise men for King George."</p>
+<p>Some curious stories are told of ladies of this class, as
+connected with the novelties and excitement of railway travelling.
+Missing their luggage, or finding that something has gone wrong
+about it, often causes very terrible distress, and might be
+amusing, were it not to the sufferer so severe a calamity. I was
+much entertained with the earnestness of this feeling, and the
+expression of it from an old Scotch lady whose box was not
+forthcoming at the station where she was to stop. When urged to be
+patient, her indignant exclamation was--"I can bear ony pairtings
+that may be ca'ed for in God's providence; but I <i>canna stan'
+pairtin' frae my claes</i>."</p>
+<p>The following anecdote from the west exhibits a curious
+confusion of ideas arising from the old-fashioned prejudice against
+Frenchmen and their language, which existed in the last generation.
+During the long French war, two old ladies in Stranraer were going
+to the kirk; the one said to the other, "Was it no a wonderfu'
+thing that the Breetish were aye victorious ower the French in
+battle?" "Not a bit," said the other old lady; "dinna ye ken the
+Breetish aye say their prayers before ga'in into battle?" The other
+replied, "But canna the French say their prayers as weel?" The
+reply was most characteristic, "Hoot! jabbering bodies, wha could
+<i>understan'</i> them?"</p>
+<p>Some of these ladies, as belonging to the old county families,
+had very high notions of their own importance, and a great idea of
+their difference from the burgher families of the town. I am
+assured of the truth of the following na&iuml;ve specimen of such
+family pride:--One of the olden maiden ladies of Montrose called
+one day on some ladies of one of the families in the neighbourhood,
+and on being questioned as to the news of the town, said, "News!
+oh, Bailie----'s eldest son is to be married." "And pray," was the
+reply, "and pray, Miss ----, an' fa' ever heard o' a merchant i'
+the toon o' Montrose <i>ha'in</i> an <i>eldest son</i>?" The good
+lady thought that any privilege of primogeniture belonged only to
+the family of <i>laird</i>.</p>
+<p>It is a dangerous experiment to try passing off ungrounded
+claims upon characters of this description. Many a clever sarcastic
+reply is on record from Scottish ladies, directed against those who
+wished to impose upon them some false sentiment. I often think of
+the remark of the outspoken ancient lady, who, when told by her
+pastor, of whose disinterestedness in his charge she was not quite
+sure, that he "had a call from his Lord and Master to go,"
+replied--"'Deed, sir, the Lord micht hae ca'ed and ca'ed to ye lang
+eneuch to Ouchtertoul (a very small stipend), and ye'd ne'er hae
+letten on that ye heard him."</p>
+<p>At the beginning of this century, when the fear of invasion was
+rife, it was proposed to mount a small battery at the water-mouth
+by subscription, and Miss Carnegy was waited on by a deputation
+from the town-council. One of them having addressed her on the
+subject, she heard him with some impatience, and when he had
+finished, she said, "Are ye ane o' the toon-cooncil." He replied,
+"I have that honour, ma'am." To which she rejoined, "Ye may hae
+that <i>profit</i>, but honour ye hae nane;" and then to the point,
+she added, "But I've been tell't that ae day's wark o' twa or three
+men wad mount the cannon, and that it may be a' dune for twenty
+shillings; now there's twa punds to ye." The councillor pocketed
+the money and withdrew. On one occasion, as she sat in an easy
+chair, having assumed the habits and privileges of age, Mr.
+Mollison, the minister of the Established Kirk, called on her to
+solicit for some charity. She did not like being asked for money,
+and, from her Jacobite principles, she certainly did not respect
+the Presbyterian Kirk. When he came in she made an inclination of
+the head, and he said, "Don't get up, madam." She replied, "Get up!
+I wadna rise out o' my chair for King George himsell, let abee a
+whig minister."</p>
+<p>This was plain speaking enough, but there is something quite
+inimitable in the matter-of-factness of the following story of an
+advertisement, which may tend to illustrate the Antiquary's remark
+to Mrs. Macleuchar, anent the starting of a coach or fly to
+Queensferry. A carrier, who plied his trade between Aberdeen and a
+village considerably to the north of it, was asked by one of the
+villagers, "Fan are ye gaen to the toon" (Aberdeen). To which he
+replied, "I'll be in on Monanday, God willin' and weather
+permitting an' on Tiseday, <i>fither or no</i>."</p>
+<p>It is a curious subject the various shades of Scottish dialect
+and Scottish expressions, commonly called Scotticisms. We mark in
+the course of fifty years how some disappear altogether; others
+become more and more rare, and of all of them we may say, I think,
+that the specimens of them are to be looked for every year more in
+the descending classes of society. What was common amongst peers,
+judges, lairds, advocates, and people of family and education, is
+now found in humbler ranks of life. There are few persons perhaps
+who have been born in Scotland, and who have lived long in
+Scotland, whom a nice southern ear might not detect as from the
+north. But far beyond such nicer shades of distinction, there are
+strong and characteristic marks of a Caledonian origin, with which
+some of us have had practical acquaintance. I possess two curious,
+and now, I believe, rather scarce, publications on the prevalent
+Scotticisms of our speaking and writing. One is entitled
+"Scotticisms designed to Correct Improprieties of Speech and
+Writing," by Dr. Beattie of Aberdeen. The other is to the same
+purpose, and is entitled, "Observations on the Scottish Dialect,"
+by the late Right Honourable Sir John Sinclair. Expressions which
+were common in their days, and used by persons of all ranks, are
+not known by the rising generation. Many amusing equivoques used to
+be current, arising from Scotch people in England applying terms
+and expressions in a manner rather surprising to southern ears.
+Thus, the story was told of a public character long associated with
+the affairs of Scotland, Henry Dundas (first Viscount Melville),
+applying to Mr. Pitt for the loan of a horse "<i>the length</i> of
+Highgate;" a very common expression in Scotland, at that time, to
+signify the distance to which the ride was to extend. Mr. Pitt
+good-humouredly wrote back to say that he was afraid he had not a
+horse in his possession <i>quite so long</i> as Mr. Dundas had
+mentioned, but he had sent the longest he had. There is a
+well-known case of mystification, caused to English ears by the use
+of Scottish terms, which took place in the House of Peers during
+the examination of the Magistrates of Edinburgh touching the
+particulars of the Porteous Mob in 1736. The Duke of Newcastle
+having asked the Provost with what kind of shot the town-guard
+commanded by Porteous had loaded their muskets, received the
+unexpected reply, "Ou, juist sic as ane shutes dukes and sic like
+fules wi'." The answer was considered as a contempt of the House of
+Lords, and the poor provost would have suffered from misconception
+of his patois, had not the Duke of Argyle (who must have been
+exceedingly amused) explained that the worthy magistrate's
+expression, when rendered into English, did not apply to Peers and
+Idiots but to <i>ducks</i> and <i>water-fowl</i>. The circumstance
+is referred to by Sir W. Scott in the notes to the Heart of
+Mid-Lothian. A similar equivoque upon the double meaning of "Deuk"
+in Scottish language supplied material for a poor woman's honest
+compliment to a benevolent Scottish nobleman. John, Duke of
+Roxburghe, was one day out riding, and at the gate of Floors he was
+accosted by an importunate old beggar woman. He gave her
+half-a-crown, which pleased her so much that she exclaimed, "Weel's
+me on your <i>guse</i> face, for Duke's ower little tae ca'
+ye."</p>
+<p>A very curious list may be made of words used in Scotland in a
+sense which would be quite unintelligible to Southerns. Such
+applications are going out, but I remember them well amongst the
+old-fashioned people of Angus and the Mearns quite common in
+conversation. I subjoin some specimens:--</p>
+<p><i>Bestial</i> signifies amongst Scottish agriculturists cattle
+generally, the whole aggregate number of beasts on the farm. Again,
+a Scottish farmer, when he speaks of his "hogs" or of buying
+"hogs," has no reference to swine, but means young sheep, i.e.
+sheep before they have lost their first fleece.</p>
+<p><i>Discreet</i> does not express the idea of a prudent or
+cautious person so much as of one who is not rude, but considerate
+of the opinions of others. Such application of the word is said to
+have been made by Dr. Chalmers to the late Henry, Bishop of Exeter.
+These two eminent individuals had met for the first time at the
+hospitable house of the late Mr. Murray, the publisher. On the
+introduction taking place, the Bishop expressed himself so warmly
+as to the pleasure it gave him to meet so distinguished and
+excellent a man as Dr. Chalmers, that the Doctor, somewhat
+surprised at such an unexpected ebullition from an English Church
+dignitary, could only reply, "Oh, I am sure your lordship is very
+'discreet<a name="FNanchor60"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_60">[60]</a>.'"</p>
+<p><i>Enterteening</i> has in olden Scottish usage the sense not of
+amusing, but interesting. I remember an honest Dandie Dinmont on a
+visit to Bath. A lady, who had taken a kind charge of him,
+accompanied him to the theatre, and in the most thrilling scene of
+Kemble's acting, what is usually termed the dagger scene in
+Macbeth, she turned to the farmer with a whisper, "Is not that
+fine?" to which the confidential reply was, "Oh, mem, its verra
+<i>enterteening!</i>" Enterteening expressing his idea of the
+effect produced.</p>
+<p><i>Pig</i>, in old-fashioned Scotch, was always used for a
+coarse earthenware jar or vessel. In the Life of the late Patrick
+Tytler, the amiable and gifted historian of Scotland, there occurs
+an amusing exemplification of the utter confusion of ideas caused
+by the use of Scottish phraseology. The family, when they went to
+London, had taken with them an old Scottish servant who had no
+notion of any terms beside her own. She came in one day greatly
+disturbed at the extremely backward state of knowledge of domestic
+affairs amongst the Londoners. She had been to so many shops and
+could not get "a great broon pig to haud the butter in."</p>
+<p>From a relative of the family I have received an account of a
+still worse confusion of ideas, caused by the inquiry of a Mrs.
+Chisholm of Chisholm, who died in London in 1825, at an advanced
+age. She had come from the country to be with her daughter, and was
+a genuine Scottish lady of the old school. She wished to purchase a
+table-cloth of a cheque pattern, like the squares of a chess or
+draught board. Now a draught-board used to be called (as I
+remember) by old Scotch people a "dam<a name=
+"FNanchor61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61">[61]</a> brod<a name=
+"FNanchor62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62">[62]</a>." Accordingly,
+Mrs. Chisholm entered the shop of a linen-draper, and asked to be
+shown table-linen a <i>dam-brod pattern</i>. The shopman, although,
+taken aback by a request, as he considered it, so strongly worded,
+by a respectable old lady, brought down what he assured her was the
+largest and widest made. No; that would not do. She repeated her
+wish for a dam-brod pattern, and left the shop surprised at the
+stupidity of the London shopman not having the pattern she asked
+for.</p>
+<p><i>Silly</i> has in genuine old Scottish use reference to
+weakness of body only, and not of mind. Before knowing the use of
+the word, I remember being much astonished at a farmer of the
+Mearns telling me of the strongest-minded man in the county that he
+was "uncommon silly," not insinuating any decline of mental vigour,
+but only meaning that his bodily strength was giving way.</p>
+<p><i>Frail</i>, in like manner, expresses infirmity of body, and
+implies no charge of any laxity in moral principle; yet I have seen
+English persons looking with considerable consternation when an
+old-fashioned Scottish lady, speaking of a young and graceful
+female, lamented her being so <i>frail</i>.</p>
+<p><i>Fail</i> is another instance of different use of words. In
+Scotland it used to be quite common to say of a person whose health
+and strength had declined, that he had <i>failed</i>. To say this
+of a person connected with mercantile business has a very serious
+effect upon southern ears, as implying nothing short of bankruptcy
+and ruin. I recollect many years ago at Monmouth, my dear mother
+creating much consternation in the mind of the mayor, by saying of
+a worthy man, the principal banker in the town, whom they both
+concurred in praising, that she was "sorry to find he <i>was
+failing</i>."</p>
+<p><i>Honest</i> has in Scotch a peculiar application, irrespective
+of any integrity of moral character. It is a kindly mode of
+referring to an individual, as we would say to a stranger, "Honest
+man, would you tell me the way to ----?" or as Lord Hermand, when
+about to sentence a woman for stealing, began remonstratively,
+"Honest woman, whatever garr'd ye steal your neighbour's tub?"</p>
+<p><i>Superstitious</i>: A correspondent informs me that in some
+parts of Mid-Lothian the people constantly use the word
+"superstitious" for "bigoted;" thus, speaking of a very keen Free
+Church person, they will say, "He is awfu' supperstitious."</p>
+<p><i>Kail</i> in England simply expresses cabbage, but in Scotland
+represents the chief meal of the day. Hence the old-fashioned easy
+way of asking a friend to dinner was to ask him if he would take
+his kail with the family. In the same usage of the word, the
+Scottish proverb expresses distress and trouble in a person's
+affairs, by saying that "he has got his kail through the reek." In
+like manner haddock, in Kincardineshire and Aberdeenshire, used to
+express the same idea, as the expression is, "Will ye tak your
+haddock wi' us the day?" that fish being so plentiful and so
+excellent that it was a standing dish. There is this difference,
+however, in the local usage, that to say in Aberdeen, Will you take
+your haddock? implies an invitation to dinner; whilst in Montrose
+the same expression means an invitation to <i>supper</i>.
+Differences of pronunciation also caused great confusion and
+misunderstanding. Novels used to be pronounced no<i>vels</i>; envy
+en<i>vy</i>; a cloak was a clock, to the surprise of an English
+lady, to whom the maid said, on her leaving the house, "Mem, winna
+ye tak the <i>clock</i> wi' ye?"</p>
+<p>The names of children's diseases were a remarkable item in the
+catalogue of Scottish words:--Thus, in 1775, Mrs. Betty Muirheid
+kept a boarding-school for young ladies in the Trongate of Glasgow,
+near the Tron steeple. A girl on her arrival was asked whether she
+had had smallpox. "Yes, mem, I've had the sma'pox, the
+nirls<a name="FNanchor63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63">[63]</a>, the
+blabs<a name="FNanchor64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64">[64]</a>, the
+scaw<a name="FNanchor65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65">[65]</a>, the
+kinkhost<a name="FNanchor66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66">[66]</a>,
+and the fever, the branks<a name="FNanchor67"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_67">[67]</a> and the worm<a name=
+"FNanchor68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68">[68]</a>."</p>
+<p>There is indeed a case of Scottish pronunciation which adds to
+the force and copiousness of our language, by discriminating four
+words, which, according to English speaking, are undistinguishable
+in mere pronunciation. The words are--wright (a carpenter), to
+write (with a pen), right (the reverse of wrong), rite (a
+ceremony). The four are, however, distinguished in old-fashioned
+Scotch pronunciation thus--1, He's a wiricht; 2, to wireete; 3,
+richt; 4, rite.</p>
+<p>I can remember a peculiar Scottish phrase very commonly used,
+which now seems to have passed away. I mean the expression "to let
+on," indicating the notice or observation of something, or of some
+person.--For example, "I saw Mr. ---- at the meeting, but I never
+let on that I knew he was present." A form of expression which has
+been a great favourite in Scotland in my recollection has much gone
+out of practice--I mean the frequent use of diminutives, generally
+adopted either as terms of endearment or of contempt. Thus it was
+very common to speak of a person whom you meant rather to
+undervalue, as a <i>mannie</i>, a <i>boddie</i>, a <i>bit
+boddie</i>, or a <i>wee bit mannie</i>. The Bailie in Rob Roy, when
+he intended to represent his party as persons of no importance,
+used the expression, "We are bits o' Glasgow bodies."</p>
+<p>An admirable Scotch expression I recollect from one of the
+Montrose ladies before referred to. Her niece was asking a great
+many questions on some point concerning which her aunt had been
+giving her information, and coming over and over the ground,
+demanding an explanation how this had happened, and why something
+else was so and so. The old lady lost her patience, and at last
+burst forth: "I winna be <i>back-speired</i> noo, Pally Fullerton."
+Back-speired! how much more pithy and expressive than
+cross-examined! "He's not a man to ride the water on," expresses
+your want of confidence and of trust in the character referred to.
+Another capital expression to mark that a person has stated a point
+rather under than over the truth, is, "The less I lee," as in Guy
+Mannering, where the precentor exclaims to Mrs. MacCandlish,
+"Aweel, gudewife, then the less I lee." We have found it a very
+amusing task collecting together a number of these phrases, and
+forming them into a connected epistolary composition. We may
+imagine the sort of puzzle it would be to a young person of the
+present day--one of what we may call the new school. We will
+suppose an English young lady, or an English educated young lady,
+lately married, receiving such a letter as the following from the
+Scottish aunt of her husband. We may suppose it to be written by a
+very old lady, who, for the last fifty years has not moved from
+home, and has changed nothing of her early days. I can safely
+affirm that every word of it I have either seen written in a
+letter, or have heard in ordinary conversation:--</p>
+<p class="loc">"<i>Montrose</i>, 1858<a name=
+"FNanchor69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69">[69]</a>.</p>
+<blockquote>"My Dear Niece--I am real glad to find my <i>nevy</i>
+has made so good a choice as to have secured you for his wife; and
+I am sure this step will add much to his comfort, and we
+<i>behove</i> to rejoice at it. He will now look forward to his
+evening at home, and you will be happy when you find you never
+<i>want</i> him. It will be a great pleasure when you hear him in
+the <i>trance</i>, and wipe his feet upon the <i>bass</i>. But
+Willy is not strong, and you must look well after him. I hope you
+do not let him <i>snuff</i> so much as he did. He had a sister,
+poor thing, who died early. She was remarkably clever, and well
+read, and most intelligent, but was always uncommonly
+<i>silly</i><a name="FNanchor70"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_70">[70]</a> In the autumn of '40 she had a <i>sair
+host</i>, and was aye <i>speaking through a cold</i>, and at dinner
+never did more than to <i>sup a few family broth</i>. I am afraid
+she did not <i>change her feet</i> when she came in from the wet
+one evening. I never <i>let on</i> that I observed anything to be
+wrong; but I remember asking her to come and <i>sit upon</i> the
+fire. But she went out, and did not <i>take</i> the door with her.
+She lingered till next spring, when she had a great
+<i>income</i><a name="FNanchor71"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_71">[71]</a>, and her parents were then too poor to take
+her south, and she died. I hope you will like the lassie Eppie we
+have sent you. She is a <i>discreet</i> girl, and comes of a decent
+family. She has a sister <i>married upon</i> a Seceding minister at
+Kirkcaldy. But I hear he expects to be <i>transported</i> soon. She
+was brought up in one of the <i>hospitals</i> here. Her father had
+been a <i>souter</i> and a <i>pawky chiel</i> enough, but was
+<i>doited</i> for many years, and her mother was <i>sair
+dottled</i>. We have been greatly interested in the hospital where
+Eppie was <i>educate</i>, and intended getting up a bazaar for it,
+and would have asked you to help us, as we were most anxious to
+raise some additional funds, when one of the Bailies died and left
+it <i>feuing-stances</i> to the amount of 5000 pounds, which was
+really a great <i>mortification</i>. I am not a good <i>hand of
+write</i>, and therefore shall stop. I am very tired, and have been
+<i>gantin</i><a name="FNanchor72"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_72">[72]</a> for this half-hour, and even in
+correspondence gantin' may be <i>smittin'</i><a name=
+"FNanchor73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73">[73]</a>. The
+<i>kitchen</i><a name="FNanchor74"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_74">[74]</a> is just coming in, and I <i>feel</i> a
+<i>smell of tea</i>, so when I get my <i>four hours,</i> that will
+refresh me and set me up again.--I am, your affectionate
+aunt,</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p class="loc">ISABEL DINGWALL."</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p>This letter, then, we suppose written by a very old Forfarshire
+lady to her niece in England, and perhaps the young lady who
+received it might answer it in a style as strange to her aunt as
+her aunt's is to her, especially if she belonged to that lively
+class of our young female friends who indulge a little in
+phraseology which they have imbibed from their brothers, or male
+cousins, who have, perhaps for their amusement, encouraged them in
+its use. The answer, then, might be something like this; and
+without meaning to be severe or satirical upon our young lady
+friends, I may truly say that, though I never heard from one young
+lady <i>all</i> these fast terms, I have heard the most of them
+separately from many:--</p>
+<blockquote>"My Dear Aunty--Many thanks for your kind letter and
+its enclosure. From my not knowing Scotch, I am not quite up to the
+mark, and some of the expressions I don't <i>twig</i> at all.
+Willie is absent for a few days, but when he returns home he will
+explain it; he is quite <i>awake</i> on all such things. I am glad
+you are pleased that Willie and I are now <i>spliced</i>. I am well
+aware that you will hear me spoken of in some quarters as a
+<i>fast</i> young lady. A man here had the impudence to say that
+when he visited my husband's friends he would tell them so. I
+quietly and civilly replied, 'You be blowed!' So don't believe him.
+We get on famously at present. Willie comes home from the office
+every afternoon at five. We generally take a walk before dinner,
+and read and work if we don't go out; and I assure you we are very
+<i>jolly</i>. We don't know many people here yet. It is rather a
+<i>swell</i> neighbourhood; and if we can't get in with the
+<i>nobs</i>, depend upon it we will never take up with any society
+that is decidedly <i>snobby. I</i> daresay the girl you are sending
+will be very useful to us; our present one is an awful <i>slow
+coach</i>. In fact, the sending her to us was a regular <i>do</i>.
+But we hope some day to sport <i>buttons</i>. My father and mother
+paid us a visit last week. The <i>governor</i> is well, and,
+notwithstanding years and infirmities, comes out quite a <i>jolly
+old cove</i>. He is, indeed, if you will pardon the partiality of a
+daughter, a regular <i>brick</i>. He says he will help us if we
+can't get on, and I make no doubt will in due time <i>fork out the
+tin</i>. I am busy working a cap for you, dear aunty; it is from a
+pretty German pattern, and I think when finished will be quite a
+<i>stunner</i>. There is a shop in Regent Street where I hire
+patterns, and can get six of them for five <i>bob</i>. I then
+return them without buying them, which I think a capital
+<i>dodge</i>. I hope you will sport it for my sake at your first
+<i>tea and turn out</i>.<br>
+<br>
+"I have nothing more to say particular, but am always<br>
+<br>
+<blockquote>"Your affectionate niece,</blockquote>
+</blockquote>
+<p class="loc">"ELIZA DINGWALL."</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<blockquote>"<i>P.S.</i>--I am trying to break Willie off his
+horrid habit of taking snuff. I had rather see him take his cigar
+when we are walking. You will be told, I daresay, that I sometimes
+take a <i>weed</i> myself. It is not true, dear
+aunty."</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>Before leaving the question of change in Scottish expressions,
+it may be proper to add a few words on the subject of Scottish
+<i>dialects</i>--<i>i.e.</i>, on the differences which exist in
+different counties or localities in the Scottish tongue itself.
+These differences used to be as marked as different languages; of
+course they still exist amongst the peasantry as before. The change
+consists in their gradual vanishing from the conversation of the
+educated and refined. The dialects with which I am most conversant
+are the two which present the greatest contrast, viz. the Angus and
+the Aberdeen, or the slow and broad Scotch--the quick and sharp
+Scotch. Whilst the one talks of "Buuts and shoon," the other calls
+the same articles "beets and sheen." With the Aberdonian "what" is
+always "fat" or "fatten;" "music" is "meesic;" "brutes" are
+"breets;" "What are ye duin'?" of southern Scotch, in Aberdeen
+would be "Fat are ye deein'?" Fergusson, nearly a century ago,
+noted this peculiarity of dialect in his poem of The Leith
+Races:--</p>
+<br>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>"The Buchan bodies through the beach,</p>
+<p class="i1">Their bunch of Findrams cry;</p>
+<p>And skirl out bauld in Norland speech,</p>
+<p class="i1">Gude speldans <i>fa</i> will buy?"</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<br>
+<p>"Findon," or "Finnan haddies," are split, smoked, and partially
+dried haddocks. Fergusson, in using the word "<i>Findrams"</i>,
+which is not found in our glossaries, has been thought to be in
+error, but his accuracy has been verified singularly enough, within
+the last few days, by a worthy octogenarian Newhaven fisherman,
+bearing the characteristic name of Flucker, who remarked "that it
+was a word commonly used in his youth; and, above all," he added,
+"when Leith Races were held on the sands, he was like to be deeved
+wi' the lang-tongued hizzies skirling out, '<i>Aell a Findram
+Speldrains</i>,' and they jist ca'ed it that to get a better grip
+o't wi' their tongues."</p>
+<p>In Galloway, in 1684, Symson, afterwards an ousted Episcopalian
+minister (of Kirkinner), notes some peculiarities in the speech of
+the people in that district. "Some of the countrey people,
+especially those of the elder sort, do very often omit the letter
+'h' after 't' as ting for thing; tree for three; tatch for thatch;
+wit for with; fait for faith; mout for mouth, etc.; and also,
+contrary to some north countrey people, they oftentimes pronounce
+'w' for 'v,' as serwant for servant; and so they call the months of
+February, March, and April, the <i>ware</i> quarter, from
+<i>ver</i><a name="FNanchor75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75">[75]</a>.
+Hence their common proverb, speaking of the storms in February,
+'<i>winter never comes till ware comes</i>.'" These peculiarities
+of language have almost disappeared--the immense influx of Irish
+emigrants during late years has exercised a perceptible influence
+over the dialect of Wigtonshire.</p>
+<p>When a southerner mentioned the death of a friend to a lady of
+the granite city, she asked, "Fat dee'd he o'?" which being utterly
+incomprehensible to the person asked, another Aberdonian lady
+kindly explained the question, and put it into language which she
+supposed <i>could</i> not be mistaken, as thus, "Fat did he dee
+o'?" If there was this difference between the Aberdeen and the
+Forfar dialect, how much greater must be that difference when
+contrasted with the <i>ore rotundo</i> language of an English
+southern dignitary. Such a one being present at a school
+examination in Aberdeen wished to put some questions on Scripture
+history himself, and asked an intelligent boy, "What was the
+ultimate fate of Pharaoh?" This the boy not understanding, the
+master put the same question Aberdonic&eacute;, "Jemmy, fat was the
+hinner end o' Pharaoh?" which called forth the ready reply, "He was
+drouned i' the Red Sea." A Forfarshire parent, dissatisfied with
+his son's English pronunciation, remonstrated with him, "What for
+div' ye say <i>why</i>? why canna ye say 'what for'?"</p>
+<p>The power of Scottish phraseology, or rather of Scottish
+<i>language</i>, could not be better displayed than in the
+following Aberdonian description of London theatricals:--Mr.
+Taylor, at one time well known in London as having the management
+of the opera-house, had his father up from Aberdeen to visit him
+and see the wonders of the capital. When the old man returned home,
+his friends, anxious to know the impressions produced on his mind
+by scenes and characters so different from what he had been
+accustomed to at home, inquired what sort of business his son
+carried on? "Ou," said he (in reference to the operatic singers and
+the corps de ballet), "he just keeps a curn<a name=
+"FNanchor76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76">[76]</a> o'
+quainies<a name="FNanchor77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77">[77]</a>
+and a wheen widdyfous<a name="FNanchor78"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_78">[78]</a>, and gars them fissle<a name=
+"FNanchor79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79">[79]</a>, and loup, and mak
+murgeons<a name="FNanchor80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80">[80]</a>,
+to please the great fowk."</p>
+<p>Another ludicrous interrogatory occurred regarding the death of
+a Mr. Thomas Thomson. It appeared there were two cousins of this
+name, both corpulent men. When it was announced that Mr. Thomas
+Thomson was dead, an Aberdeen friend of the family asked, "Fatten
+Thamas Thamson?" He was informed that it was a fat Thamas Thamson,
+upon which the Aberdeen query naturally arose, "Ay, but fatten fat
+Thamas Thamson?" Another illustration of the Aberdeen dialect is
+thus given:--"The Pope o' Rome requires a bull to do his wark, but
+the Emperor o' France made a coo dee't a'"--a cow do it all--a pun
+on <i>coup d'&eacute;tat</i>. A young lady from Aberdeen had been
+on a visit to Montrose, and was disappointed at finding there a
+great lack of beaux, and balls, and concerts. This lack was not
+made up to her by the invitations which she had received to dinner
+parties. And she thus expressed her feelings on the subject in her
+native dialect, when asked how she liked Montrose: "Indeed there's
+neither men nor meesic, and fat care I for meat?" There is no male
+society and no concerts, and what do I care for dinners? The
+dialect and the local feelings of Aberdeen were said to have
+produced some amusement in London, as displayed by the lady of the
+Provost of Aberdeen when accompanying her husband going up
+officially to the capital. Some persons to whom she had been
+introduced recommended her going to the opera as one of the sights
+worthy the attention of a stranger. The good lady, full of the
+greatness of her situation as wife of the provost, and knowing the
+sensation her appearance in public occasioned when in her own city,
+and supposing that a little excitement would accompany her with the
+London public, rather declined, under the modest plea, "Fat for
+should I gang to the opera, just to creat a confeesion?" An aunt of
+mine, who knew Aberdeen well, used to tell a traditionary story of
+two Aberdonian ladies, who by their insinuations against each
+other, finely illustrated the force of the dialect then in common
+use. They had both of them been very attentive to a sick lady in
+declining health, and on her death each had felt a distrust of the
+perfect disinterestedness of the other's attention. This created
+more than a coolness between them, and the bad feeling came out on
+their passing in the street. The one insinuated her suspicions of
+unfair dealing with the property of the deceased by ejaculating, as
+the other passed her, "Henny pig<a name="FNanchor81"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_81">[81]</a> and green tea," to which the other
+retorted, in the same spirit, "Silk coat and negligee<a name=
+"FNanchor82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82">[82]</a>." Aberdonian
+pronunciation produced on one occasion a curious equivoque between
+the minister and a mother of a family with whom he was conversing
+in a pastoral way. The minister had said, "Weel, Margaret, I hope
+you're thoroughly ashamed of your <i>sins</i>" Now, in
+Aberdeenshire <i>sons</i> are pronounced sins; accordingly, to the
+minister's surprise, Margaret burst forth, "Ashamed o' ma sins! na,
+na, I'm proud o' ma sins. Indeed, gin it werena for thae cutties o'
+dauchters, I should be <i>ower</i> proud o' ma sins."</p>
+<p>Any of my readers who are not much conversant with Aberdeen
+dialect will find the following a good specimen:--A lady who
+resided in Aberdeen, being on a visit to some friends in the
+country, joined an excursion on horseback. Not being much of an
+equestrian, she was mounted upon a Highland pony as being the
+<i>canniest baste</i>. He, however, had a trick of standing still
+in crossing a stream. A burn had to be crossed--the rest of the
+party passed on, while "Paddy" remained, pretending to drink. Miss
+More, in great desperation, called out to one of her
+friends--"Bell, 'oman, turn back an gie me your bit fuppie, for the
+breet's stannin' i' the peel wi' ma."</p>
+<p>A rich specimen of Aberdeen dialect, under peculiar
+circumstances, was supplied by an Aberdonian lady who had risen in
+the world from selling fruit at a stall to be the wife of the Lord
+Provost. Driving along in her own carriage, she ordered it to stop,
+and called to her a poor woman whom she saw following her old
+occupation. After some colloquy, she dismissed her very coolly,
+remarking, "'Deed, freet's dear sin' I sauld freet in streets o'
+Aberdeen." This anecdote of reference to a good lady's more humble
+occupation than riding in her carriage may introduce a somewhat
+analogous anecdote, in which a more distinguished personage than
+the wife of the Provost of Aberdeen takes a prominent part. The
+present Archbishop of Canterbury tells the story himself, with that
+admixture of humour and of true dignity by which his Grace's manner
+is so happily distinguished. The Archbishop's father in early life
+lived much at Dollar, where, I believe, he had some legal and
+official appointment. His sons, the Archbishop and his brother,
+attended the grammar school, rather celebrated in the country; they
+ran about and played like other lads, and were known as schoolboys
+to the peasantry. In after days, when the Archbishop had arrived at
+his present place of dignity as Primate of all England, he was
+attending a great confirmation service at Croydon--the
+churchwardens, clergy, mayors, etc., of the place in attendance
+upon the Archbishop, and a great congregation of spectators. On
+going up the centre of the church, a Dollar man, who had got into
+the crowd in a side aisle, said, loud enough for the Archbishop to
+hear, "There wasna muckle o' this at Dollar, my Lord."</p>
+<p>I have not had leisure to pursue, as I had intended, a further
+consideration of SCOTTISH DIALECT, and their differences from each
+other in the north, south, east, and west of Scotland. I merely
+remark now, that the dialect of one district is considered quite
+barbarous, and laughed at by the inhabitants of another district
+where a different form of language is adopted. I have spoken of the
+essential difference between Aberdeen and Southern Scotch. An
+English gentleman had been visiting the Lord Provost of Edinburgh,
+and accompanied him to Aberdeen. His lordship of Edinburgh
+introduced his English friend to the Provost of Aberdeen, and they
+both attended a great dinner given by the latter. After grace had
+been said, the Provost kindly and hospitably addressed the company,
+Aberdonice--"Now, gentlemen, fah tee, fah tee." The Englishman
+whispered to his friend, and asked what was meant by "fah tee, fah
+tee;" to which his lordship replied--"Hout, he canna speak; he
+means fau too, fau too." Thus one Scotticism was held in terror by
+those who used a different Scotticism: as at Inverary, the wife of
+the chief writer of the place, seeking to secure her guest from the
+taint of inferior society, intimated to him, but somewhat
+confidentially, that Mrs. W. (the rival writer's wife) was quite a
+vulgar body, so much so as to ask any one leaving the room to
+"<i>snib</i> the door," instead of bidding them, as she
+triumphantly observed, "<i>sneck</i> the door."</p>
+<p>Now, to every one who follows these anecdotes of a past time, it
+must be obvious how much peculiarities of Scottish wit and humour
+depend upon the language in which they are clothed. As I have
+before remarked, much of the point depends upon the <i>broad
+Scotch</i> with which they are accompanied. As a type and
+representative of that phraseology, we would specially recommend a
+study of our Scottish proverbs. In fact, in Scottish proverbs will
+be found an epitome of the Scottish phraseology, which is peculiar
+and characteristic. I think it quite clear that there are proverbs
+exclusively Scottish, and as we find embodied in them traits of
+Scottish character, and many peculiar forms of Scottish thought and
+Scottish language, sayings of this kind, once so familiar, should
+have a place in our Scottish Reminiscences. Proverbs are literally,
+in many instances, becoming <i>reminiscences</i>. They now seem to
+belong to that older generation whom we recollect, and who used
+them in conversation freely and constantly. To strengthen an
+argument or illustrate a remark by a proverb was then a common
+practice in conversation. Their use, however, is now considered
+vulgar, and their formal application is almost prohibited by the
+rules of polite society. Lord Chesterfield denounced the practice
+of quoting proverbs as a palpable violation of all polite
+refinement in conversation. Notwithstanding all this, we
+acknowledge having much pleasure in recalling our national
+proverbial expressions. They are full of character, and we find
+amongst them important truths, expressed forcibly, wisely, and
+gracefully. The expression of Bacon has often been quoted--"The
+genius, wit, and wisdom of a nation, are discovered by their
+proverbs."</p>
+<p>All nations have their proverbs, and a vast number of books have
+been written on the subject. We find, accordingly, that collections
+have been made of proverbs considered as belonging peculiarly to
+Scotland. The collections to which I have had access are the
+following:--</p>
+<p>1. The fifth edition, by Balfour, of "Ray's Complete Collection
+of English Proverbs," in which is a separate collection of those
+which are considered Scottish Proverbs--1813. Ray professes to have
+taken these from Fergusson's work mentioned below.</p>
+<p>2. A Complete Collection of Scottish Proverbs, explained and
+made intelligible to the English reader, by James Kelly, M.A.,
+published in London 1721.</p>
+<p>3. Scottish Proverbs gathered together by David Fergusson,
+sometime minister at Dunfermline, and put <i>ordine alphabetico</i>
+when he departed this life anno 1598. Edinburgh, 1641.</p>
+<p>4. A collection of Scots Proverbs, dedicated to the Tenantry of
+Scotland, by Allan Ramsay. This collection is found in the edition
+of his Poetical Works, 3 vols. post 8vo, Edin. 1818, but is not in
+the handsome edition of 1800. London, 2 vols. 8vo.</p>
+<p>5. Scottish Proverbs, collected and arranged by Andrew
+Henderson, with an introductory Essay by W. Motherwell. Edin.
+1832.</p>
+<p>6. The Proverbial Philosophy of Scotland, an address to the
+School of Arts, by William Stirling of Keir, M.P. Stirling and
+Edin. 1855.</p>
+<p>The collection of Ray, the great English naturalist, is well
+known. The first two editions, published at Cambridge in 1670 and
+1678, were by the author; subsequent editions were by other
+editors.</p>
+<p>The work by James Kelly professes to collect Scottish proverbs
+only. It is a volume of nearly 400 pages, and contains a short
+explanation or commentary attached to each, and often parallel
+sayings from other languages<a name="FNanchor83"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_83">[83]</a>. Mr. Kelly bears ample testimony to the
+extraordinary free use made of proverbs in his time by his
+countrymen and by himself. He says that "there were current in
+society upwards of 3000 proverbs, exclusively Scottish." He adds,
+"The Scots are wonderfully given to this way of speaking, and, as
+the consequence of that, abound with proverbs, many of which are
+very expressive, quick, and home to the purpose; and, indeed, this
+humour prevails universally over the whole nation, especially among
+the better sort of the commonalty, none of whom will discourse with
+you any considerable time but he will affirm every assertion and
+observation with a Scottish proverb. To that nation I owe my birth
+and education; and to that manner of speaking I was used from my
+infancy, to such a degree that I became in some measure remarkable
+for it." This was written in 1721, and we may see from Mr. Kelly's
+account what a change has taken place in society as regards this
+mode of intercourse. Our author states that he has "omitted in his
+collection many popular proverbs which are very pat and
+expressive," and adds as his reason, that "since it does not become
+a man of manners to use them, it does not become a man of my age
+and profession to write them." What was Mr. Kelly's profession or
+what his age does not appear from any statements in this volume;
+but, judging by many proverbs which he has <i>retained</i>, those
+which consideration of years and of profession induced him to omit
+must have been bad indeed, and unbecoming for <i>any</i> age or
+<i>any</i> profession<a name="FNanchor84"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_84">[84]</a>. The third collection by Mr. Fergusson is
+mentioned by Kelly as the only one which had been made before his
+time, and that he had not met with it till he had made considerable
+progress in his own collection. The book is now extremely rare, and
+fetches a high price. By the great kindness of the learned
+librarian, I have been permitted to see the copy belonging to the
+library of the Writers to the Signet. It is the first edition, and
+very rare. A quaint little thin volume, such as delights the eyes
+of true bibliomaniacs, unpaged, and published at Edinburgh
+1641--although on the title-page the proverbs are said to have been
+collected at Mr. Fergusson's death, 1598<a name=
+"FNanchor85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85">[85]</a>. There is no
+preface or notice by the author, but an address from the printer,
+"to the merrie, judicious, and discreet reader."</p>
+<p>The proverbs, amounting to 945, are given without any comment or
+explanation. Many of them are of a very antique cast of language;
+indeed some would be to most persons quite unintelligible without a
+lexicon.</p>
+<p>The printer, in his address "to the merrie, judicious, and
+discreet reader," refers in the following quaint expressions to the
+author:--"Therefore manie in this realme that hath hard of David
+Fergusson, sometime minister at Dunfermline, and of his quick
+answers and speeches, both to great persons and others inferiours,
+and hath hard of his proverbs which hee gathered together in his
+time, and now we put downe according to the order of the alphabet;
+and manie, of all ranks of persons, being verie desirous to have
+the said proverbs, I have thought good to put them to the presse
+for thy better satisfaction.... I know that there may be some that
+will say and marvell that a minister should have taken pains to
+gather such proverbs together; but they that knew his forme of
+powerfull preaching the word, and his ordinar talking, ever almost
+using proverbiall speeches, will not finde fault with this that he
+hath done. And whereas there are some old Scottish words not in use
+now, bear with that, because if ye alter those words, the proverb
+will have no grace; and so, recommending these proverbs to thy good
+use, I bid thee farewell."</p>
+<p>I now subjoin a few of Fergusson's Proverbs, verbatim, which are
+of a more obsolete character, and have appended explanations, of
+the correctness of which, however, I am not quite confident:--</p>
+<p><i>A year a nurish<a name="FNanchor86"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_86">[86]</a>, seven year a da<a name=
+"FNanchor87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87">[87]</a></i>. Refers, I
+presume, to fulfilling the maternal office.</p>
+<p><i>Anes payit never cravit</i>. Debts once paid give no more
+trouble.</p>
+<p><i>All wald<a name="FNanchor88"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_88">[88]</a> have all, all wald forgie<a name=
+"FNanchor89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89">[89]</a></i>. Those who
+exact much should be ready to concede.</p>
+<p><i>A gangang<a name="FNanchor90"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_90">[90]</a> fit<a name="FNanchor91"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_91">[91]</a> is aye<a name="FNanchor92"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_92">[92]</a> gettin (gin<a name=
+"FNanchor93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93">[93]</a> it were but a
+thorn),</i> or, as it sometimes runs, <i>gin it were but a broken
+tae, i.e. toe</i>. A man of industry will certainly get a living;
+though the proverb is often applied to those who went abroad and
+got a mischief when they might safely have stayed at
+home--(Kelly).</p>
+<p><i>All crakes<a name="FNanchor94"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_94">[94]</a>, all bears<a name="FNanchor95"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_95">[95]</a></i>. Spoken against bullies who kept a
+great hectoring, and yet, when put to it, tamely pocket an
+affront--(Kelly).</p>
+<p><i>Bourd<a name="FNanchor96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96">[96]</a>
+not wi' bawtie<a name="FNanchor97"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_97">[97]</a> (lest he bite you</i>). Do not jest too
+familiarly with your superiors (Kelly), or with dangerous
+characters.</p>
+<p><i>Bread's house skailed never<a name="FNanchor98"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_98">[98]</a></i> While people have bread they need not
+give up housekeeping. Spoken when one has bread and wishes
+something better--(Kelly).</p>
+<p><i>Crabbit<a name="FNanchor99"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_99">[99]</a> was and cause had</i>. Spoken ironically of
+persons put out of temper without adequate cause.</p>
+<p><i>Dame, deem<a name="FNanchor100"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_100">[100]</a> warily, (ye watna<a name=
+"FNanchor101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101">[101]</a> wha
+wytes<a name="FNanchor102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102">[102]</a>
+yersell</i>).--Spoken to remind those who pass hard censures on
+others that they may themselves be censured.</p>
+<p><i>Efter lang mint<a name="FNanchor103"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_103">[103]</a> never dint<a name=
+"FNanchor104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104">[104]</a></i>. Spoken of
+long and painful labour producing little effect. Kelly's reading is
+"<i>Lang mint little dint</i>." Spoken when men threaten much and
+dare not execute--(Kelly).</p>
+<p><i>Fill fou<a name="FNanchor105"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_105">[105]</a> and hand<a name=
+"FNanchor106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106">[106]</a> fou maks a
+stark<a name="FNanchor107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107">[107]</a>
+man</i>. In Border language a <i>stark</i> man was one who takes
+and keeps boldly.</p>
+<p><i>He that crabbs<a name="FNanchor108"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_108">[108]</a> without cause should mease<a name=
+"FNanchor109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109">[109]</a> without
+mends<a name="FNanchor110"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_110">[110]</a></i>. Spoken to remind those who are angry
+without cause, that they should not be particular in requiring
+apologies from others.</p>
+<p><i>He is worth na weill that may not bide na wae</i>. He
+deserves not the sweet that will not taste the sour. He does not
+deserve prosperity who cannot meet adversity.</p>
+<p><i>Kame<a name="FNanchor111"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_111">[111]</a> sindle<a name="FNanchor112"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_112">[112]</a> kame sair</i><a name=
+"FNanchor113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113">[113]</a>. Applied to
+those who forbear for a while, but when once roused can act with
+severity.</p>
+<p><i>Kamesters<a name="FNanchor114"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_114">[114]</a> are aye creeshie<a name=
+"FNanchor115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115">[115]</a></i>. It is
+usual for men to look like their trade.</p>
+<p><i>Let alane maks mony lurden</i><a name=
+"FNanchor116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116">[116]</a>. Want of
+correction makes many a bad boy--(Kelly).</p>
+<p><i>Mony tynes<a name="FNanchor117"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_117">[117]</a> the half-mark<a name=
+"FNanchor118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118">[118]</a> whinger<a name=
+"FNanchor119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119">[119]</a> (for the halfe
+pennie whang</i>)<a name="FNanchor120"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_120">[120]</a>. Another version of penny wise and pound
+foolish.</p>
+<p><i>Na plie<a name="FNanchor121"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_121">[121]</a> is best</i>.</p>
+<p><i>Reavers<a name="FNanchor122"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_122">[122]</a> should not be rewers</i><a name=
+"FNanchor123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123">[123]</a>. Those who are
+so fond of a thing as to snap at it, should not repent when they
+have got it--(Kelly).</p>
+<p><i>Sok and seill is best</i>. The interpretation of this proverb
+is not obvious, and later writers do not appear to have adopted it
+from Fergusson. It is quite clear that sok or sock is the
+ploughshare. Seil is happiness, as in Kelly. "Seil comes not till
+sorrow be o'er;" and in Aberdeen they say, "Seil o' your face," to
+express a blessing. My reading is "the plough and happiness the
+best lot." The happiest life is the healthy country one. See Robert
+Burns' spirited song with the chorus:</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>"Up wi' my ploughman lad,</p>
+<p class="i1">And hey my merry ploughman;</p>
+<p>Of a' the trades that I do ken,</p>
+<p class="i1">Commend me to the ploughman."</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<p>A somewhat different reading of this very obscure and now indeed
+obsolete proverb has been suggested by an esteemed and learned
+friend:--"I should say rather it meant that the ploughshare, or
+country life, accompanied with good luck or fortune was best;
+<i>i.e.,</i> that industry coupled with good fortune (good seasons
+and the like) was the combination that was most to be desired.
+<i>Soel</i>, in Anglo-Saxon, as a noun, means <i>opportunity</i>,
+and then good luck, happiness, etc."</p>
+<p><i>There's mae<a name="FNanchor124"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_124">[124]</a> madines<a name="FNanchor125"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_125">[125]</a> nor makines</i><a name=
+"FNanchor126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126">[126]</a>. Girls are more
+plentiful in the world than hares.</p>
+<p><i>Ye bried<a name="FNanchor127"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_127">[127]</a> of the gouk<a name=
+"FNanchor128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128">[128]</a>, ye have not a
+rhyme<a name="FNanchor129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129">[129]</a>
+but ane</i>. Applied to persons who tire everybody by constantly
+harping on one subject.</p>
+<p>The collection by Allan Ramsay is very good, and professes to
+correct the errors of former collectors. I have now before me the
+<i>first edition</i>, Edinburgh, 1737, with the appropriate motto
+on the title-page, "That maun be true that a' men say." This
+edition contains proverbs only, the number being 2464. Some
+proverbs in this collection I do not find in others, and one
+quality it possesses in a remarkable degree--it is very Scotch. The
+language of the proverbial wisdom has the true Scottish flavour;
+not only is this the case with the proverbs themselves, but the
+dedication to the tenantry of Scotland, prefixed to the collection,
+is written in pure Scottish dialect. From this dedication I make an
+extract, which falls in with our plan of recording Scotch
+reminiscences, as Allan Ramsay there states the great value set
+upon proverbs in his day, and the great importance which he
+attaches to them as teachers of moral wisdom, and as combining
+amusement with instruction. The prose of Allan Ramsay has, too, a
+spice of his poetry in its composition. His dedication is, To the
+tenantry of Scotland, farmers of the dales, and storemasters of the
+hills--</p>
+<p>"Worthy friends--The following hoard of wise sayings and
+observations of our forefathers, which have been gathering through
+mony bygane ages, I have collected with great care, and restored to
+their proper sense....</p>
+<p>"As naething helps our happiness mair than to have the mind made
+up wi' right principles, I desire you, for the thriving and
+pleasure of you and yours, to use your een and lend your lugs to
+these guid <i>auld saws</i>, that shine wi' wail'd sense, and will
+as lang as the world wags. Gar your bairns get them by heart; let
+them have a place among your family-books, and may never a
+window-sole through the country be without them. On a spare hour,
+when the day is clear, behind a ruck, or on the green howm, draw
+the treasure frae your pouch, an' enjoy the pleasant companion. Ye
+happy herds, while your hirdsell are feeding on the flowery braes,
+you may eithly make yoursells master of the haleware. How usefou'
+will it prove to you (wha hae sae few opportunities of common
+clattering) when ye forgather wi' your friends at kirk or market,
+banquet or bridal! By your proficiency you'll be able, in the
+proverbial way, to keep up the saul of a conversation that is baith
+blyth an usefou'."</p>
+<p>Mr. Henderson's work is a compilation from those already
+mentioned. It is very copious, and the introductory essay contains
+some excellent remarks upon the wisdom and wit of Scottish
+proverbial sayings.</p>
+<p>Mr. Stirling's (now Sir W. Stirling-Maxwell's) address, like
+everything he writes, indicates a minute and profound knowledge of
+his subject, and is full of picturesque and just views of human
+nature. He attaches much importance to the teaching conveyed in
+proverbial expressions, and recommends his readers even still to
+collect such proverbial expressions as may yet linger in
+conversation, because, as he observes, "If it is not yet
+registered, it is possible that it might have died with the tongue
+from which you took it, and so have been lost for ever." "I
+believe," he adds, "the number of good old saws still floating as
+waifs and strays on the tide of popular talk to be much greater
+than might at first appear."</p>
+<p>One remark is applicable to all these collections--viz., that
+out of so large a number there are many of them on which we have
+little grounds for deciding that they are <i>exclusively</i>
+Scottish. In fact, some are mere translations of proverbs adopted
+by many nations; some of universal adoption. Thus we have--</p>
+<blockquote><i>A burnt bairn fire dreads.<br>
+Ae swallow makes nae simmer.<br>
+Faint heart ne'er wan fair lady.<br>
+Ill weeds wax weel.<br>
+Mony sma's mak a muckle.<br>
+O' twa ills chuse the least.<br>
+Set a knave to grip a knave.<br>
+Twa wits are better than ane.<br>
+There's nae fule like an auld fule.<br>
+Ye canna mak a silk purse o' a sow's lug.<br>
+Ae bird i' the hand is worth twa fleeing.<br>
+Mony cooks ne'er made gude kail</i>.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>Of numerous proverbs such as these, some may or may not be
+original in the Scottish. Sir William remarks that many of the best
+and oldest proverbs may be common to all people--may have occurred
+to all. In our national collections, therefore, some of the
+proverbs recorded may be simply translations into Scotch of what
+have been long considered the property of other nations. Still, I
+hope it is not a mere national partiality to say that many of the
+common proverbs <i>gain</i> much by such translation from other
+tongues. All that I would attempt now is, to select some of our
+more popular proverbial sayings, which many of us can remember as
+current amongst us, and were much used by the late generation in
+society, and to add a few from the collections I have named, which
+bear a very decided Scottish stamp either in turn of thought or in
+turn of language.</p>
+<p>I remember being much struck the first time I heard the
+application of that pretty Scottish saying regarding a fair bride.
+I was walking in Montrose, a day or two before her marriage, with a
+young lady, a connection of mine, who merited this description,
+when she was kindly accosted by an old friend, an honest fish-wife
+of the town, "Weel, Miss Elizabeth, hae ye gotten a' yer claes
+ready?" to which the young lady modestly answered, "Oh, Janet, my
+claes are soon got ready;" and Janet replied, in the old Scotch
+proverb, "Ay, weel, <i>a bonnie bride's sune buskit</i><a name=
+"FNanchor130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130">[130]</a>." In the old
+collection, an addition less sentimental is made to this proverb,
+<i>A short horse is sune wispit</i><a name=
+"FNanchor131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131">[131]</a>.</p>
+<p>To encourage strenuous exertions to meet difficult
+circumstances, is well expressed by <i>Setting a stout heart to a
+stey brae</i>.</p>
+<p>The mode of expressing that the worth of a handsome woman
+outweighs even her beauty, has a very Scottish character--<i>She's
+better than she's bonnie</i>. The opposite of this was expressed by
+a Highlander of his own wife, when he somewhat ungrammatically said
+of her, "<i>She's bonnier than she's better</i>."</p>
+<p>The frequent evil to harvest operations from autumnal rains and
+fogs in Scotland is well told in the saying, <i>A dry summer ne'er
+made a dear peck</i>.</p>
+<p>There can be no question as to country in the following, which
+seems to express generally that persons may have the name and
+appearance of greatness without the reality--<i>A' Stuarts are na
+sib<a name="FNanchor132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132">[132]</a> to
+the king</i>.</p>
+<p>There is an excellent Scottish version of the common proverb,
+"He that's born to be hanged will never be drowned."--<i>The water
+will never warr<a name="FNanchor133"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_133">[133]</a>, the widdie, i.e.</i> never cheat the
+gallows. This saying received a very naive practical application
+during the anxiety and alarm of a storm. One of the passengers, a
+good simple-minded minister, was sharing the alarm that was felt
+around him, until spying one of his parishioners, of whose
+ignominious end he had long felt persuaded, he exclaimed to
+himself, "Oh, we are all safe now," and accordingly accosted the
+poor man with strong assurances of the great pleasure he had in
+seeing him on board.</p>
+<p><i>It's ill getting the breeks aff the Highlandman</i> is a
+proverb that savours very strong of a Lowland Scotch origin. Having
+suffered loss at the hands of their neighbours from the hills, this
+was a mode of expressing the painful truth that there was little
+hope of obtaining redress from those who had no <i>means</i> at
+their disposal.</p>
+<p>Proverbs connected with the bagpipes I set down as legitimate
+Scotch, as thus--<i>Ye are as lang in tuning your pipes as anither
+wad play a spring</i><a name="FNanchor134"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_134">[134]</a>. You are as long of setting about a thing
+as another would be in doing it.</p>
+<p>There is a set of Scottish proverbs which we may group together
+as containing one quality in common, and that in reference to the
+Evil Spirit, and to his agency in the world. This is a reference
+often, I fear, too lightly made; but I am not conscious of anything
+deliberately profane or irreverent in the following:--</p>
+<p><i>The deil's nae sae ill as he's caa'd</i>. The most of people
+may be found to have some redeeming good point: applied in <i>Guy
+Mannering</i> by the Deacon to Gilbert Glossin, upon his intimating
+his intention to come to his shop soon for the purpose of laying in
+his winter stock of groceries.</p>
+<p>To the same effect, <i>It's a sin to lee on the deil</i>. Even
+of the worst people, <i>truth</i> at least should be spoken.</p>
+<p><i>He should hae a lang-shafted spune that sups kail wi' the
+deil.</i> He should be well guarded and well protected that has to
+do with cunning and unprincipled men.</p>
+<p><i>Lang ere the deil dee by the dyke-side.</i> Spoken when the
+improbable death of some powerful and ill-disposed person is talked
+of.</p>
+<p><i>Let ae deil ding anither</i>. Spoken when too bad persons are
+at variance over some evil work.</p>
+<p><i>The deil's bairns hae deil's luck</i>. Spoken enviously when
+ill people prosper.</p>
+<p><i>The deil's a busy bishop in his ain diocie</i>. Bad men are
+sure to be active in promoting their own bad ends. A quaint proverb
+of this class I have been told of as coming from the reminiscences
+of an old lady of quality, to recommend a courteous manner to every
+one: <i>It's aye gude to be ceevil, as the auld wife said when she
+beckit<a name="FNanchor135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135">[135]</a>
+to the deevil</i>.</p>
+<p><i>Raise nae mair deils than ye are able to lay</i>. Provoke no
+strifes which ye may be unable to appease.</p>
+<p><i>The deil's aye gude to his ain</i>. A malicious proverb,
+spoken as if those whom we disparage were deriving their success
+from bad causes.</p>
+<p><i>Ye wad do little for God an the deevil was dead</i>. A
+sarcastic mode of telling a person that fear, rather than love or
+principle, is the motive to his good conduct.</p>
+<p>In the old collection already referred to is a proverb which,
+although somewhat <i>personal</i>, is too good to omit. It is
+doubtful how it took its origin, whether as a satire against the
+decanal order in general, or against some obnoxious dean in
+particular. These are the terms of it: <i>The deil an' the dean
+begin wi' ae letter. When the deil has the dean the kirk will be
+the better.</i></p>
+<p><i>The deil's gane ower Jock Wabster</i> is a saying which I
+have been accustomed to in my part of the country from early years.
+It expresses generally misfortune or confusion, but I am not quite
+sure of the <i>exact</i> meaning, or who is represented by "Jock
+Wabster." It was a great favourite with Sir Walter Scott, who
+quotes it twice in <i>Rob Roy</i>. Allan Ramsay introduces it in
+the <i>Gentle Shepherd</i> to express the misery of married life
+when the first dream of love has passed away:--</p>
+<blockquote>"The 'Deil gaes ower Jock Wabster,' hame grows
+hell,<br>
+When Pate misca's ye waur than tongue can tell."</blockquote>
+<p>There are two very pithy Scottish proverbial expressions for
+describing the case of young women losing their chance of good
+marriages by setting their aims too high. Thus an old lady,
+speaking of her granddaughter having made what she considered a
+poor match, described her as having "<i>lookit at the moon, and
+lichtit<a name="FNanchor136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136">[136]</a>
+in the midden</i>."</p>
+<p>It is recorded again of a celebrated beauty, Becky Monteith,
+that being asked how she had not made a good marriage, she replied,
+"<i>Ye see, I wadna hae the walkers, and the riders gaed
+by.</i>"</p>
+<p><i>It's ill to wauken sleeping dogs.</i> It is a bad policy to
+rouse dangerous and mischievous people, who are for the present
+quiet.</p>
+<p><i>It is nae mair ferly<a name="FNanchor137"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_137">[137]</a> to see a woman greit than to see a goose
+go barefit.</i> A harsh and ungallant reference to the facility
+with which the softer sex can avail themselves of tears to carry a
+point.</p>
+<p><i>A Scots mist will weet an Englishman to the skin.</i> A
+proverb, evidently of Caledonian origin, arising from the frequent
+complaints made by English visitors of the heavy mists which hang
+about our hills, and which are found to annoy the southern
+traveller as it were downright rain.</p>
+<p><i>Keep your ain fish-guts to your ain sea-maws.</i> This was a
+favourite proverb with Sir Walter Scott, when he meant to express
+the policy of first considering the interests that are nearest
+home. The saying savours of the fishing population of the east
+cost.</p>
+<p><i>A Yule feast may be done at Pasch</i>. Festivities, although
+usually practised at Christmas, need not, on suitable occasions, be
+confined to any season.</p>
+<p><i>It's better to sup wi' a cutty than want a spune.</i> Cutty
+means anything short, stumpy, and not of full growth; frequently
+applied to a short-handled horn spoon. As Meg Merrilies says to the
+bewildered Dominie, "If ye dinna eat instantly, by the bread and
+salt, I'll put it down your throat wi' the <i>cutty spune</i>."</p>
+<p>"<i>Fules mak feasts and wise men eat 'em,</i> my Lord." This
+was said to a Scottish nobleman on his giving a great
+entertainment, and who readily answered, "Ay, and <i>Wise men make
+proverbs and fools repeat 'em.</i>"</p>
+<p><i>A green Yule<a name="FNanchor138"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_138">[138]</a> and a white Pays<a name=
+"FNanchor139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139">[139]</a> mak a fat
+kirk-yard.</i> A very coarse proverb, but may express a general
+truth as regards the effects of season on the human frame. Another
+of a similar character is, <i>An air<a name=
+"FNanchor140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140">[140]</a> winter maks a
+sair<a name="FNanchor141"></a><a href="#Footnote_141">[141]</a>
+winter</i>.</p>
+<p><i>Wha will bell the cat?</i> The proverb is used in reference
+to a proposal for accomplishing a difficult or dangerous task, and
+alludes to the fable of the poor mice proposing to put a bell about
+the cat's neck, that they might be apprised of his coming. The
+historical application is well known. When the nobles of Scotland
+proposed to go in a body to Stirling to take Cochrane, the
+favourite of James the Third, and hang him, the Lord Gray asked,
+"It is well said, but wha will bell the cat?" The Earl of Angus
+accepted the challenge, and effected the object. To his dying day
+he was called Archibald Bell-the-Cat.</p>
+<p><i>Ye hae tint the tongue o' the trump.</i> "Trump" is a Jew's
+harp. To lose the tongue of it is to lose what is essential to its
+sound.</p>
+<p><i>Meat and mass hinders nae man.</i> Needful food, and suitable
+religious exercises, should not be spared under greatest haste.</p>
+<p><i>Ye fand it whar the Highlandman fand the tangs</i> (i.e. at
+the fireside). A hit at our mountain neighbours, who occasionally
+took from the Lowlands--as having found--something that was never
+lost.</p>
+<p><i>His head will ne'er rive</i> (i.e. tear) <i>his father's
+bonnet</i>. A picturesque way of expressing that the son will never
+equal the influence and ability of his sire.</p>
+<p><i>His bark is waur nor his bite.</i> A good-natured apology for
+one who is good-hearted and rough in speech.</p>
+<p><i>Do as the cow of Forfar did, tak a standing drink</i>. This
+proverb relates to an occurrence which gave rise to a lawsuit and a
+whimsical legal decision. A woman in Forfar, who was brewing, set
+out her tub of beer to cool. A cow came by and drank it up. The
+owner of the cow was sued for compensation, but the bailies of
+Forfar, who tried the case, acquitted the owner of the cow, on the
+ground that the farewell drink, called in the Highlands the
+<i>dochan doris</i><a name="FNanchor142"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_142">[142]</a>, or stirrup-cup, taken by the guest
+standing by the door, was never charged; and as the cow had taken
+but a standing drink outside, it could not, according to the
+Scottish usage, be chargeable. Sir Walter Scott has humorously
+alluded to this circumstance in the notes to <i>Waverley</i>, but
+has not mentioned it as the subject of an old Scotch proverb.</p>
+<p><i>Bannocks are better nor nae kind o' bread.</i> Evidently
+Scottish. Better have oatmeal cakes to eat than be in want of
+wheaten loaves.</p>
+<p><i>Folly is a bonny dog.</i> Meaning, I suppose, that many are
+imposed upon by the false appearances and attractions of vicious
+pleasures.</p>
+<p><i>The e'ening brings a' hame</i> is an interesting saying,
+meaning, that the evening of life, or the approach of death,
+softens many of our political and religious differences. I do not
+find this proverb in the older collections, but Sir William Maxwell
+justly calls it "a beautiful proverb, which, lending itself to
+various uses, may be taken as an expression of faith in the gradual
+growth and spread of large-hearted Christian charity, the noblest
+result of our happy freedom of thought and discussion." The literal
+idea of the "e'ening bringing a' hame," has a high and illustrious
+antiquity, as in the fragment of Sappho, [Greek: 'Espere, panta
+phereis--phereis oin (or oinon) phereis aiga, phereis maeteri
+paida]--which is thus paraphrased by Lord Byron in Don Juan, iii.
+107:--</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>"O Hesperus, thou bringest all good things--</p>
+<p class="i1">Home to the weary, to the hungry cheer;</p>
+<p>To the young birds the parent's brooding wings,</p>
+<p class="i1">The welcome stall to the o'erlaboured steer, etc.</p>
+<p>Thou bring'st the child, too, to the mother's breast."</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<p>A similar graceful and moral saying inculcates an acknowledgment
+of gratitude for the past favours which we have enjoyed when we
+come to the close of the day or the close of life--</p>
+<blockquote><i>Ruse<a name="FNanchor143"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_143">[143]</a> the fair day at e'en.</i></blockquote>
+<p>But a very learned and esteemed friend has suggested another
+reading of this proverb, in accordance with the celebrated saying
+of Solon (Arist. Eth. N.I. 10): [Greek: Kata Solona chreon telos
+hozan]--Do not praise the fairness of the day <i>till</i> evening;
+do not call the life happy <i>till</i> you have seen the close; or,
+in other matters, do not boast that all is well till you have
+conducted your undertaking to a prosperous end.</p>
+<p><i>Let him tak a spring on his ain fiddle.</i> Spoken of a
+foolish and unreasonable person; as if to say, "We will for the
+present allow him to have his own way." Bailie Nicol Jarvie quotes
+the proverb with great bitterness, when he warns his opponent that
+<i>his</i> time for triumph will come ere long,--"Aweel, aweel,
+sir, you're welcome to a tune on your ain fiddle; but see if I
+dinna gar ye dance till't afore it's dune."</p>
+<p><i>The kirk is meikle, but ye may say mass in ae end o't;</i>
+or, as I have received it in another form, "If we canna preach in
+the kirk, we can sing mass in the quire." This intimates, where
+something is alleged to be too much, that you need take no more
+than what you have need for. I heard the proverb used in this sense
+by Sir Walter Scott at his own table. His son had complained of
+some quaighs which Sir Walter had produced for a dram after dinner,
+that they were too large. His answer was, "Well, Walter, as my good
+mother used to say, if the kirk is ower big, just sing mass in the
+quire." Here is another reference to kirk and quire--<i>He
+rives<a name="FNanchor144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144">[144]</a>
+the kirk to theik<a name="FNanchor145"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_145">[145]</a> the quire</i>. Spoken of unprofitable
+persons, who in the English proverb, "rob Peter to pay Paul."</p>
+<p><i>The king's errand may come the cadger's gate yet.</i> A great
+man may need the service of a very mean one.</p>
+<p><i>The maut is aboon the meal.</i> His liquor has done more for
+him than his meat. The man is drunk.</p>
+<p><i>Mak a kirk and a mill o't.</i> Turn a thing to any purpose
+you like; or rather, spoken sarcastically, Take it, and make the
+best of it.</p>
+<p><i>Like a sow playing on a trump.</i> No image could be well
+more incongruous than a pig performing on a Jew's harp.</p>
+<p><i>Mair by luck than gude guiding.</i> His success is due to his
+fortunate circumstances, rather than to his own discretion.</p>
+<p><i>He's not a man to ride the water wi'.</i> A common Scottish
+saying to express you cannot trust such an one in trying times. May
+have arisen from the districts where fords abounded, and the
+crossing them was dangerous.</p>
+<p><i>He rides on the riggin o' the kirk.</i> The rigging being the
+top of the roof, the proverb used to be applied to those who
+carried their zeal for church matters to the extreme point.</p>
+<p><i>Leal heart never lee'd,</i> well expresses that an honest
+loyal disposition will scorn, under all circumstances, to tell a
+falsehood.</p>
+<p>A common Scottish proverb, <i>Let that flee stick to the
+wa'</i>, has an obvious meaning,--"Say nothing more on that
+subject." But the derivation is not obvious<a name=
+"FNanchor146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146">[146]</a>. In like
+manner, the meaning of <i>He that will to Cupar maun to Cupar</i>,
+is clearly that if a man is obstinate, and bent upon his own
+dangerous course, he must take it. But why Cupar? and whether is it
+the Cupar of Angus or the Cupar of Fife?</p>
+<p><i>Kindness creeps where it canna gang</i> prettily expresses
+that where love can do little, it will do that little, though it
+cannot do more.</p>
+<p>In my part of the country a ridiculous addition used to be made
+to the common Scottish saying. <i>Mony a thing's made for the
+pennie</i>, i.e. Many contrivances are thought of to get money. The
+addition is, "As the old woman said when she saw a black man,"
+taking it for granted that he was an ingenious and curious piece of
+mechanism made for profit.</p>
+<p><i>Bluid is thicker than water</i> is a proverb which has a
+marked Scottish aspect, as meant to vindicate those family
+predilections to which, as a nation, we are supposed to be rather
+strongly inclined.</p>
+<p><i>There's aye water where the stirkie<a name=
+"FNanchor147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147">[147]</a> drouns.</i>
+Where certain effects are produced, there must be some causes at
+work--a proverb used to show that a universal popular suspicion as
+to an obvious effect must be laid in truth.</p>
+<p><i>Better a finger aff than aye waggin</i>'. This proverb I
+remember as a great favourite with many Scotch people. Better
+experience the worst, than have an evil always pending.</p>
+<p><i>Cadgers are aye cracking o' crook saddles</i><a name=
+"FNanchor148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148">[148]</a> has a very
+Scottish aspect, and signifies that professional men are very apt
+to talk too much of their profession.</p>
+<p>The following is purely Scotch, for in no country but Scotland
+are singed sheep heads to be met with: <i>He's like a sheep head in
+a pair o' tangs.</i></p>
+<p><i>As sure's deeth</i>. A common Scottish proverbial expression
+to signify either the truth or certainty of a fact, or to pledge
+the speaker to a performance of his promise. In the latter sense an
+amusing illustration of faith in the superior obligation of this
+asseveration to any other, is recorded in the <i>Eglinton
+Papers</i><a name="FNanchor149"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_149">[149]</a>. The Earl one day found a boy climbing up
+a tree, and called him to come down. The boy declined, because, he
+said, the Earl would thrash him. His Lordship pledged his honour
+that he would not do so. The boy replied, "I dinna ken onything
+about your honour, but if you say as sure's deeth I'll come
+doun."</p>
+<p>Proverbs are sometimes local in their application.</p>
+<p><i>The men o' the Mearns canna do mair than they may.</i> Even
+the men of Kincardineshire can only do their utmost--a proverb
+intended to be highly complimentary to the powers of the men of
+that county.</p>
+<p><i>I'll mak Cathkin's covenant wi' you, Let abee for let
+abee.</i> This is a local saying quoted often in Hamilton. The
+laird of that property had--very unlike the excellent family who
+have now possessed it for more than a century--been addicted to
+intemperance. One of his neighbours, in order to frighten him on
+his way home from his evening potations, disguised himself, on a
+very wet night, and, personating the devil, claimed a title to
+carry him off as his rightful property. Contrary to all
+expectation, however, the laird showed fight, and was about to
+commence the onslaught, when a parley was proposed, and the issue
+was, "Cathkin's covenant, Let abee for let abee."</p>
+<p><i>When the castle of Stirling gets a hat, the Carse of Corntown
+pays for that.</i> This is a local proverbial saying; the meaning
+is, that when the clouds descend so low as to envelope Stirling
+Castle, a deluge of rain may be expected in the adjacent
+country.</p>
+<p>I will conclude this notice of our proverbial reminiscences, by
+adding a cluster of Scottish proverbs, selected from an excellent
+article on the general subject in the <i>North British Review</i>
+of February 1858. The reviewer designates these as "broader in
+their mirth, and more caustic in their tone," than the moral
+proverbial expressions of the Spanish and Italian:--</p>
+<blockquote><i>A blate<a name="FNanchor150"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_150">[150]</a> cat maks a proud mouse.<br>
+Better a toom<a name="FNanchor151"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_151">[151]</a> house than an ill tenant.<br>
+Jouk<a name="FNanchor152"></a><a href="#Footnote_152">[152]</a> and
+let the jaw<a name="FNanchor153"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_153">[153]</a> gang by.<br>
+Mony ane speirs the gate<a name="FNanchor154"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_154">[154]</a> he kens fu' weel.<br>
+The tod<a name="FNanchor155"></a><a href="#Footnote_155">[155]</a>
+ne'er sped better than when he gaed his ain errand.<br>
+A wilfu' man should be unco wise.<br>
+He that has a meikle nose thinks ilka ane speaks o't.<br>
+He that teaches himsell has a fule for his maister.<br>
+It's an ill cause that the lawyer thinks shame o'.<br>
+Lippen<a name="FNanchor156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156">[156]</a>
+to me, but look to yoursell.<br>
+Mair whistle than woo, as the souter said when shearing the
+soo.<br>
+Ye gae far about seeking the nearest.<br>
+Ye'll no sell your hen on a rainy day.<br>
+Ye'll mend when ye grow better.<br>
+Ye're nae chicken for a' your cheepin'</i><a name=
+"FNanchor157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157">[157]</a>.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>I have now adduced quite sufficient specimens to convince those
+who may not have given attention to the subject, how much of
+wisdom, knowledge of life, and good feeling, are contained in these
+aphorisms which compose the mass of our Scottish proverbial
+sayings. No doubt, to many of my younger readers proverbs are
+little known, and to all they are becoming more and more matters of
+reminiscence. I am quite convinced that much of the old quaint and
+characteristic Scottish talk which we are now endeavouring to
+recall depended on a happy use of those abstracts of moral
+sentiment. And this feeling will be confirmed when we call to mind
+how often those of the old Scottish school of character, whose
+conversation we have ourselves admired, had most largely availed
+themselves of the use of its <i>proverbial</i> philosophy.</p>
+<p>I have already spoken of (p. 16) a Scottish peculiarity--viz.
+that of naming individuals from lands which have been possessed
+long by the family, or frequently from the landed estates which
+they acquire. The use of this mode of discriminating individuals in
+the Highland districts is sufficiently obvious. Where the
+inhabitants of a whole country-side are Campbells, or Frasers, or
+Gordons, nothing could be more convenient than addressing the
+individuals of each clan by the name of his estate. Indeed, some
+years ago, any other designation, as Mr. Campbell, Mr. Fraser,
+would have been resented as an indignity. Their consequence sprang
+from their possession<a name="FNanchor158"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_158">[158]</a>. But all this is fast wearing away. The
+estates of old families have often changed hands, and Highlanders
+are most unwilling to give the names of old properties to new
+proprietors. The custom, however, lingers amongst us, in the
+northern districts especially. Farms also used to give their names
+to the tenants<a name="FNanchor159"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_159">[159]</a>. I can recall an amusing instance of this
+practice belonging to my early days. The oldest recollections I
+have are connected with the name, the figure, the sayings and
+doings, of the old cow-herd at Fasque in my father's time; his name
+was Boggy, <i>i.e.</i> his ordinary appellation; his true name was
+Sandy Anderson. But he was called Boggy from the circumstance of
+having once held a wretched farm on Deeside named Boggendreep. He
+had long left it, and been unfortunate in it, but the name never
+left him,--he was Boggy to his grave. The territorial appellation
+used to be reckoned complimentary, and more respectful than Mr. or
+any higher title to which the individual might be entitled. I
+recollect, in my brother's time, at Fasque, his showing off some of
+his home stock to Mr. Williamson, the Aberdeen butcher. They came
+to a fine stot, and Sir Alexander said, with some appearance of
+boast, "I was offered twenty guineas for that ox." "Indeed,
+Fasque," said Williamson, "ye should hae steekit your neive upo'
+that."</p>
+<p>Sir Walter Scott had marked in his diary a territorial greeting
+of two proprietors which had amused him much. The laird of
+Kilspindie had met the laird of Tannachy-Tulloch, and the following
+compliments passed between them:--"Yer maist obedient hummil
+servant, Tannachy-Tulloch." To which the reply was, "Yer nain man,
+Kilspindie."</p>
+<p>In proportion as we advance towards the Highland district this
+custom of distinguishing clans or races, and marking them out
+according to the district they occupied, became more apparent.
+There was the Glengarry country, the Fraser country, the Gordon
+country, etc. etc. These names carried also with them certain moral
+features as characteristic of each division. Hence the following
+anecdote:--The morning litany of an old laird of Cultoquhey, when
+he took his morning draught at the cauld well, was in these
+terms:--"Frae the ire o' the Drummonds, the pride o' the
+Gr&aelig;mes, the greed o' the Campbells, and the wind o' the
+Murrays, guid Lord deliver us."</p>
+<p>The Duke of Athole, having learned that Cultoquhey was in the
+habit of mentioning his Grace's family in such uncomplimentary
+terms, invited the humorist to Dunkeld, for the purpose of giving
+him a hint to desist from the reference. After dinner, the Duke
+asked his guest what were the precise terms in which he was in the
+habit of alluding to his powerful neighbours. Cultoquhey repeated
+his liturgy without a moment's hesitation. "I recommend you," said
+his Grace, looking very angry, "in future to omit my name from your
+morning devotions." All he got from Cultoquhey was, "Thank ye, my
+Lord Duke," taking off his glass with the utmost sangfroid.</p>
+<blockquote>FOOTNOTES:</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_49"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor49">[49]</a> Stoor is, Scottic&eacute;, dust in motion,
+and has no English synonym; oor is hour. Sir Walter Scott is said
+to have advised an artist, in painting a battle, not to deal with
+details, but to get up a good <i>stoor</i>: then put in an arm and
+a sword here and there, and leave all the rest to the imagination
+of the spectator.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_50"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor50">[50]</a> Reach me a leg of that turkey.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_51"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor51">[51]</a> Clearing ashes out of the bars of the
+grate.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_52"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor52">[52]</a> Mentally confused. Muddy when applied to
+water.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_53"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor53">[53]</a> Preface to 4th edition of
+<i>Mystifications</i>, by Dr. John Brown.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_54"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor54">[54]</a> Worse.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_55"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor55">[55]</a> Where.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_56"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor56">[56]</a> Lord Cockburn's <i>Memorials</i>, p.
+58.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_57"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor57">[57]</a> Frogs.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_58"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor58">[58]</a> Killed.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_59"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor59">[59]</a> Miss Jenny Methven.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_60"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor60">[60]</a> "Civil," "obliging."--Jamieson.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_61"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor61">[61]</a> <i>Dam</i>, the game of
+draughts.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_62"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor62">[62]</a> <i>Brod</i>, the board.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_63"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor63">[63]</a> Measles.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_64"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor64">[64]</a> Nettle-rash.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_65"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor65">[65]</a> The itch.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_66"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor66">[66]</a> Whooping-cough.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_67"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor67">[67]</a> Mumps.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_68"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor68">[68]</a> Toothache.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_69"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor69">[69]</a> The Scotticisms are printed in
+italics.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_70"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor70">[70]</a> Delicate in health.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_71"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor71">[71]</a> Ailment.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_72"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor72">[72]</a> Yawning.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_73"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor73">[73]</a> Catching.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_74"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor74">[74]</a> Tea-urn.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_75"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor75">[75]</a> <i>Ver</i>, the spring months.--<i>e.g.</i>
+"This was in <i>ver</i> quhen wynter
+tid."--<i>Barbour</i>.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_76"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor76">[76]</a> A number.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_77"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor77">[77]</a> Young girls.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_78"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor78">[78]</a> Gallows birds.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_79"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor79">[79]</a> whistling noises.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_80"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor80">[80]</a> Distorted gestures.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_81"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor81">[81]</a> Honey jar.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_82"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor82">[82]</a> A kind of loose gown formerly
+worn.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_83"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor83">[83]</a> Amongst many acts of kindness and essential
+assistance which I have received and am constantly receiving from
+my friend Mr. Hugh James Rollo, I owe my introduction to this
+interesting Scottish volume, now, I believe, rather
+scarce.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_84"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor84">[84]</a> Kelly's book is constantly quoted by
+Jamieson, and is, indeed, an excellent work for the study of good
+old Scotch.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_85"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor85">[85]</a> This probably throws back the collection to
+about the middle of the century.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_86"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor86">[86]</a> Nurse.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_87"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor87">[87]</a> Daw, a slut.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_88"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor88">[88]</a> Would.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_89"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor89">[89]</a> Forgive.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_90"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor90">[90]</a> Going or moving.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_91"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor91">[91]</a> Foot.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_92"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor92">[92]</a> Always.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_93"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor93">[93]</a> If.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_94"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor94">[94]</a> Boasters.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_95"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor95">[95]</a> Used as cowards(?)</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_96"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor96">[96]</a> Jest.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_97"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor97">[97]</a> A dog's name.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_98"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor98">[98]</a> To skail house, to disfurnish.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_99"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor99">[99]</a> Being angry or cross.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_100"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor100">[100]</a> Judge.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_101"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor101">[101]</a> Know not.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_102"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor102">[102]</a> Blames.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_103"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor103">[103]</a> To aim at.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_104"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor104">[104]</a> A stroke.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_105"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor105">[105]</a> Full.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_106"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor106">[106]</a> Hold.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_107"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor107">[107]</a> Potent or strong.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_108"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor108">[108]</a> Is angry.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_109"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor109">[109]</a> Settle.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_110"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor110">[110]</a> Amends.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_111"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor111">[111]</a> Comb.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_112"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor112">[112]</a> Seldom.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_113"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor113">[113]</a> Painfully.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_114"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor114">[114]</a> Wool-combers.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_115"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor115">[115]</a> Greasy.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_116"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor116">[116]</a> Worthless fellow.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_117"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor117">[117]</a> Loses.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_118"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor118">[118]</a> Sixpenny.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_119"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor119">[119]</a> A sort of dagger or hanger which seems to
+have been used both at meals as a knife and in broils--<br>
+<br>
+<blockquote>"And <i>whingers</i> now in friendship bare,<br>
+&nbsp;The social meal to part and share,<br>
+&nbsp;Had found a bloody sheath."</blockquote>
+--<i>Lay of the Last Minstrel</i>.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_120"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor120">[120]</a> Thong.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_121"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor121">[121]</a> No lawsuit.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_122"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor122">[122]</a> Robbers.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_123"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor123">[123]</a> Rue, to repent.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_124"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor124">[124]</a> More.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_125"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor125">[125]</a> Maidens.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_126"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor126">[126]</a> Hares.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_127"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor127">[127]</a> Take after.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_128"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor128">[128]</a> Cuckoo.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_129"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor129">[129]</a> Note.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_130"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor130">[130]</a> Attired.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_131"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor131">[131]</a> Curried.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_132"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor132">[132]</a> Related.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_133"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor133">[133]</a> Outrun.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_134"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor134">[134]</a> Tune.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_135"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor135">[135]</a> Curtsied.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_136"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor136">[136]</a> Fallen.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_137"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor137">[137]</a> Surprise.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_138"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor138">[138]</a> Christmas.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_139"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor139">[139]</a> Pasch or Easter.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_140"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor140">[140]</a> Early.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_141"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor141">[141]</a> Severe.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_142"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor142">[142]</a> The proper orthography of this expression
+is deoch-an-doruis (or dorais). <i>Deoch</i>, a drink; <i>an</i>,
+of the; <i>doruis</i> or <i>dorais</i>, possessive case of dorus or
+doras a door.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_143"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor143">[143]</a> Praise.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_144"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor144">[144]</a> Tears.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_145"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor145">[145]</a> Thatch.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_146"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor146">[146]</a> It has been suggested, and with much
+reason, that the reference is to a fly sticking on a wet or a newly
+painted wall; this is corroborated by the addition in Rob Roy,
+"When the dirt's dry, it will rub out," which seems to point out
+the meaning and derivation of the proverb.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_147"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor147">[147]</a> A young bullock.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_148"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor148">[148]</a> Saddle for supporting
+panniers.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_149"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor149">[149]</a> Vol. i. p. 134.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_150"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor150">[150]</a> Shy.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_151"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor151">[151]</a> Empty.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_152"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor152">[152]</a> Stoop down.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_153"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor153">[153]</a> Wave.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_154"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor154">[154]</a> The way.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_155"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor155">[155]</a> Fox.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_156"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor156">[156]</a> Trust to.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_157"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor157">[157]</a> Chirping.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_158"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor158">[158]</a> Even in Forfarshire, where Carnegies
+abound, we had Craigo, Balnamoon, Pitarrow, etc.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_159"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor159">[159]</a> This custom is still in use in Galloway;
+and "Challoch," "Eschonchan," "Tonderghie," "Balsalloch," and
+"Drummorral," etc. etc., appear regularly at kirk and
+market.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_THE_SEVENTH."></a>CHAPTER THE SEVENTH.</h2>
+<h3>ON SCOTTISH STORIES OF WIT AND HUMOUR.</h3>
+<br>
+<p>The portion of our subject which we proposed under the head of
+"Reminiscences of Scottish Stories of Wit or Humour," yet remains
+to be considered. This is closely connected with the question of
+Scottish dialect and expressions; indeed, on some points hardly
+separable, as the wit, to a great extent, proceeds from the quaint
+and picturesque modes of expressing it. But here we are met by a
+difficulty. On high authority it has been declared that no such
+thing as wit exists amongst us. What has no existence can have no
+change. We cannot be said to have lost a quality which we never
+possessed. Many of my readers are no doubt familiar with what
+Sydney Smith declared on this point, and certainly on the question
+of wit he must be considered an authority. He used to say (I am
+almost ashamed to repeat it), "It requires a surgical operation to
+get a joke well into a Scotch understanding. Their only idea of
+wit, which prevails occasionally in the north, and which, under the
+name of WUT, is so infinitely distressing to people of good taste,
+is laughing immoderately at stated intervals." Strange language to
+use of a country which has produced Smollett, Burns, Scott, Galt,
+and Wilson--all remarkable for the humour diffused through their
+writings! Indeed, we may fairly ask, have they equals in this
+respect amongst English writers? Charles Lamb had the same notion,
+or, I should rather say, the same prejudice, about Scottish people
+not being accessible to wit; and he tells a story of what happened
+to himself, in corroboration of the opinion. He had been asked to a
+party, and one object of the invitation had been to meet a son of
+Burns. When he arrived, Mr. Burns had not made his appearance, and
+in the course of conversation regarding the family of the poet,
+Lamb, in his lack-a-daisical kind of manner, said, "I wish it had
+been the father instead of the son;" upon which four Scotsmen
+present with one voice exclaimed, "That's impossible, for <i>he's
+dead</i><a name="FNanchor160"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_160">[160]</a>." Now, there will be dull men and
+matter-of-fact men everywhere, who do not take a joke, or enter
+into a jocular allusion; but surely, as a general remark, this is
+far from being a natural quality of our country. Sydney Smith and
+Charles Lamb say so. But, at the risk of being considered
+presumptuous, I will say I think them entirely mistaken. I should
+say that there was, on the contrary, a strong <i>connection</i>
+between the Scottish temperament and, call it if you like, humour,
+if it is not wit. And what is the difference? My readers need not
+be afraid that they are to be led through a labyrinth of
+metaphysical distinctions between wit and humour. I have read Dr.
+Campbell's dissertation on the difference, in his Philosophy of
+Rhetoric; I have read Sydney Smith's own two lectures; but I
+confess I am not much the wiser. Professors of rhetoric, no doubt,
+must have such discussions; but when you wish to be amused by the
+thing itself, it is somewhat disappointing to be presented with
+metaphysical analysis. It is like instituting an examination of the
+glass and cork of a champagne bottle, and a chemical testing of the
+wine. In the very process the volatile and sparkling draught which
+was to delight the palate has become like ditch water, vapid and
+dead. What I mean is, that, call it wit or humour, or what you
+please, there is a school of Scottish pleasantry, amusing and
+characteristic beyond all other. Don't think of <i>analysing</i>
+its nature, or the qualities of which it is composed; enjoy its
+quaint and amusing flow of oddity and fun; as we may, for instance,
+suppose it to have flowed on that eventful night so joyously
+described by Burns:--</p>
+<blockquote>"The souter tauld his queerest stories,<br>
+The landlord's laugh was ready chorus."</blockquote>
+<p>Or we may think of the delight it gave the good Mr. Balwhidder,
+when he tells, in his Annals of the Parish, of some such story,
+that it was a "jocosity that was just a kittle to hear." When I
+speak of changes in such Scottish humour which have taken place, I
+refer to a particular sort of humour, and I speak of the sort of
+feeling that belongs to Scottish pleasantry,--which is sly, and
+cheery, and pawky. It is undoubtedly a humour that depends a good
+deal upon the vehicle in which the story is conveyed. If, as we
+have said, our quaint dialect is passing away, and our national
+eccentric points of character, we must expect to find much of the
+peculiar humour allied with them to have passed away also. In other
+departments of wit and repartee, and acute hits at men and things,
+Scotsmen (whatever Sydney Smith may have said to the contrary) are
+equal to their neighbours, and, so far as I know, may have gained
+rather than lost. But this peculiar humour of which I now speak has
+not, in our day, the scope and development which were permitted to
+it by the former generation. Where the tendency exists, the
+exercise of it is kept down by the usages and feelings of society.
+For examples of it (in its full force at any rate) we must go back
+to a race who are departed. One remark, however, has occurred to me
+in regard to the specimens we have of this kind of humour--viz.
+that they do not always proceed from the personal wit or cleverness
+of any of the individuals concerned in them. The amusement comes
+from the circumstances, from the concurrence or combination of the
+ideas, and in many cases from the mere expressions which describe
+the facts. The humour of the narrative is unquestionable, and yet
+no one has tried to be humorous. In short, it is the
+<i>Scottishness</i> that gives the zest. The same ideas differently
+expounded might have no point at all. There is, for example,
+something highly original in the notions of celestial mechanics
+entertained by an honest Scottish Fife lass regarding the theory of
+comets. Having occasion to go out after dark, and having observed
+the brilliant comet then visible (1858), she ran in with breathless
+haste to the house, calling on her fellow-servants to "Come oot and
+see a new star that hasna got its tail cuttit aff yet!" Exquisite
+astronomical speculation! Stars, like puppies, are born with tails,
+and in due time have them docked. Take an example of a story where
+there is no display of any one's wit or humour, and yet it is a
+good story, and one can't exactly say why:--An English traveller
+had gone on a fine Highland road so long, without having seen an
+indication of fellow-travellers, that he became astonished at the
+solitude of the country; and no doubt before the Highlands were so
+much frequented as they are in our time, the roads sometimes bore a
+very striking aspect of solitariness. Our traveller, at last coming
+up to an old man breaking stones, asked him if there was <i>any</i>
+traffic on this road--was it at <i>all</i> frequented? "Ay," he
+said, coolly, "it's no ill at that; there was a cadger body
+yestreen, and there's yoursell the day." No English version of the
+story could have half such amusement, or have so quaint a
+character. An answer even still more characteristic is recorded to
+have been given by a countryman to a traveller. Being doubtful of
+his way, he inquired if he were on the right road to Dunkeld. With
+some of his national inquisitiveness about strangers, the
+countryman asked his inquirer where he came from. Offended at the
+liberty, as he considered it, he sharply reminded the man that
+where he came from was nothing to him; but all the answer he got
+was the quiet rejoinder, "Indeed, it's just as little to me whar
+ye're gaen." A friend has told me of an answer highly
+characteristic of this dry and unconcerned quality which he heard
+given to a fellow-traveller. A gentleman sitting opposite to him in
+the stage-coach at Berwick complained bitterly that the cushion on
+which he sat was quite wet. On looking up to the roof he saw a hole
+through which the rain descended copiously, and at once accounted
+for the mischief. He called for the coachman, and in great wrath
+reproached him with the evil under which he suffered, and pointed
+to the hole which was the cause of it. All the satisfaction,
+however, that he got was the quiet unmoved reply, "Ay, mony a ane
+has complained o' <i>that</i> hole." Another anecdote I heard from
+a gentleman who vouched for the truth, which is just a case where
+the narrative has its humour not from the wit which is displayed
+but from that dry matter-of-fact view of things peculiar to some of
+our countrymen. The friend of my informant was walking in a street
+of Perth, when, to his horror, he saw a workman fall from a roof
+where he was mending slates, right upon the pavement. By
+extraordinary good fortune he was not killed, and on the gentleman
+going up to his assistance, and exclaiming, with much excitement,
+"God bless me, are you much hurt?" all the answer he got was the
+cool rejoinder, "On the contrary, sir." A similar matter-of fact
+answer was made by one of the old race of Montrose humorists. He
+was coming out of church, and in the press of the kirk
+<i>skailing</i>, a young man thoughtlessly trod on the old
+gentleman's toe, which was tender with corns. He hastened to
+apologise, saying, "I am very sorry, sir; I beg your pardon." The
+only acknowledgment of which was the dry answer, "And ye've as
+muckle need, sir." An old man marrying a very young wife, his
+friends rallied him on the inequality of their ages. "She will be
+near me," he replied, "to close my een." "Weel," remarked another
+of the party, "I've had twa wives, and they <i>opened my
+een</i>."</p>
+<p>One of the best specimens of cool Scottish matter-of-fact view
+of things has been supplied by a kind correspondent, who narrates
+it from his own personal recollection.</p>
+<p>The back windows of the house where he was brought up looked
+upon the Greyfriars Church that was burnt down. On the Sunday
+morning in which that event took place, as they were all preparing
+to go to church, the flames began to burst forth; the young people
+screamed from the back part of the house, "A fire! A fire!" and all
+was in a state of confusion and alarm. The housemaid was not at
+home, it being her turn for the Sunday "out." Kitty, the cook, was
+taking her place, and performing her duties. The old woman was
+always very particular on the subject of her responsibility on such
+occasions, and came panting and hobbling up stairs from the lower
+regions, and exclaimed, "Oh, what is't, what is't?" "O Kitty, look
+here, the Greyfriars Church is on fire!" "Is that a', Miss? What a
+fricht ye geed me! I thought ye said the parlour fire was out."</p>
+<p>In connection with the subject of Scottish <i>toasts</i> I am
+supplied by a first-rate Highland authority of one of the most
+graceful and crushing replies of a lady to what was intended as a
+sarcastic compliment and smart saying at her expense.</p>
+<p>About the beginning of the present century the then Campbell of
+Combie, on Loch Awe side, in Argyleshire, was a man of
+extraordinary character, and of great physical strength, and such
+swiftness of foot that it is said he could "catch the best
+<i>tup</i> on the hill." He also looked upon himself as a "pretty
+man," though in this he was singular; also, it was more than
+whispered that the laird was not remarkable for his principles of
+honesty. There also lived in the same district a Miss MacNabb of
+Bar-a'-Chaistril, a lady who, before she had passed the zenith of
+life, had never been remarkable for her beauty--the contrary even
+had passed into a proverb, while she was in her teens; but, to
+counterbalance this defect in external qualities, nature had
+endowed her with great benevolence, while she was renowned for her
+probity. One day the Laird of Combie, who piqued himself on his
+<i>bon-mots,</i> was, as frequently happened, a guest of Miss
+MacNabb's, and after dinner several toasts had gone round as usual,
+Combie rose with great solemnity and addressing the lady of the
+house requested an especial bumper, insisting on all the guests to
+fill to the brim. He then rose and said, addressing himself to Miss
+MacNabb, "I propose the old Scottish toast of 'Honest men and
+<i>bonnie</i> lassies,'" and bowing to the hostess, he resumed his
+seat. The lady returned his bow with her usual amiable smile, and
+taking up her glass, replied, "Weel, Combie, I am sure <i>we</i>
+may drink that, for it will neither apply to <i>you</i> nor
+<i>me</i>."</p>
+<p>An amusing example of a quiet cool view of a pecuniary
+transaction happened to my father whilst doing the business of the
+rent-day. He was receiving sums of money from the tenants in
+succession. After looking over a bundle of notes which he had just
+received from one of them, a well-known character, he said in
+banter, "James, the notes are not correct." To which the farmer,
+who was much of a humorist, drily answered, "I dinna ken what they
+may be <i>noo</i>; but they were a' richt afore ye had your fingers
+in amang 'em." An English farmer would hardly have spoken thus to
+his landlord. The Duke of Buccleuch told me an answer very quaintly
+Scotch, given to his grandmother by a farmer of the old school. A
+dinner was given to some tenantry of the vast estates of the
+family, in the time of Duke Henry. His Duchess (the last descendant
+of the Dukes of Montague) always appeared at table on such
+occasions, and did the honours with that mixture of dignity and of
+affable kindness for which she was so remarkable. Abundant
+hospitality was shown to all the guests. The Duchess, having
+observed one of the tenants supplied with boiled beef from a noble
+round, proposed that he should add a supply of cabbage: on his
+declining, the Duchess good-humouredly remarked, "Why, boiled beef
+and 'greens' seem so naturally to go together, I wonder you don't
+take it." To which the honest farmer objected, "Ah, but your Grace
+maun alloo it's a vary <i>windy</i> vegetable," in delicate
+allusion to the flatulent quality of the esculent. Similar to this
+was the na&iuml;ve answer of a farmer on the occasion of a
+rent-day. The lady of the house asked him if he would take some
+"rhubarb-tart," to which he innocently answered, "Thank ye, mem, I
+dinna <i>need</i> it."</p>
+<p>A Highland minister, dining with the patroness of his parish,
+ventured to say, "I'll thank your leddyship for a little more of
+that apple-tart;" "It's not apple-tart, it's rhubarb," replied the
+lady. "Rhubarb!" repeated the other, with a look of surprise and
+alarm, and immediately called out to the attendant, "Freend, I'll
+thank you for a dram."</p>
+<p>A characteristic <i>table</i> anecdote I can recall amongst
+Deeside reminiscences. My aunt, Mrs. Forbes, had entertained an
+honest Scotch farmer at Banchory Lodge; a draught of ale had been
+offered to him, which he had quickly despatched. My aunt observing
+that the glass had no head or effervescence, observed, that she
+feared it had not been a good bottle, "Oh, vera gude, maam, it's
+just some strong o' the aaple," an expression which indicates the
+beer to be somewhat sharp or pungent. It turned out to have been a
+bottle of <i>vinegar</i> decanted by mistake.</p>
+<p>An amusing instance of an old Scottish farmer being unacquainted
+with table refinements occurred at a tenant's dinner in the north.
+The servant had put down beside him a dessert spoon when he had
+been helped to pudding. This seemed quite superfluous to the honest
+man, who exclaimed, "Tak' it awa, my man; my mou's as big for
+puddin' as it is for kail."</p>
+<p>Amongst the lower orders in Scotland humour is found,
+occasionally, very rich in mere children, and I recollect a
+remarkable illustration of this early native humour occurring in a
+family in Forfarshire, where I used in former days to be very
+intimate. A wretched woman, who used to traverse the country as a
+beggar or tramp, left a poor, half-starved little girl by the
+road-side, near the house of my friends. Always ready to assist the
+unfortunate, they took charge of the child, and as she grew a
+little older they began to give her some education, and taught her
+to read. She soon made some progress in reading the Bible, and the
+native odd humour of which we speak began soon to show itself. On
+reading the passage, which began, "Then David rose," etc., the
+child stopped, and looked up knowingly, to say, "I ken wha that
+was," and on being asked what she could mean, she confidently said,
+"That's David Rowse the pleuchman." And again, reading the passage
+where the words occur, "He took Paul's girdle," the child said,
+with much confidence, "I ken what he took that for," and on being
+asked to explain, replied at once, "To bake 's bannocks on;"
+"girdle" being in the north the name for the iron plate hung over
+the fire for baking oat cakes or bannocks.</p>
+<p>To a distinguished member of the Church of Scotland I am
+indebted for an excellent story of quaint child humour, which he
+had from the lips of an old woman who related the story of
+herself:--When a girl of eight years of age she was taken by her
+grandmother to church. The parish minister was not only a long
+preacher, but, as the custom was, delivered two sermons on the
+Sabbath day without any interval, and thus saved the parishioners
+the two journeys to church. Elizabeth was sufficiently wearied
+before the close of the first discourse; but when, after singing
+and prayer, the good minister opened the Bible, read a second text,
+and prepared to give a second sermon, the young girl, being both
+tired and hungry, lost all patience, and cried out to her
+grandmother, to the no small amusement of those who were so near as
+to hear her, "Come awa, granny, and gang hame; this is a lang
+grace, and nae meat."</p>
+<p>A most amusing account of child humour used to be narrated by an
+old Mr. Campbell of Jura, who told the story of his own son. It
+seems the boy was much spoilt by indulgence. In fact, the parents
+were scarce able to refuse him anything he demanded. He was in the
+drawing-room on one occasion when dinner was announced, and on
+being ordered up to the nursery he insisted on going down to dinner
+with the company. His mother was for refusal, but the child
+persevered, and kept saying, "If I dinna gang, I'll tell thon." His
+father then, for peace sake, let him go. So he went and sat at
+table by his mother. When he found every one getting soup and
+himself omitted, he demanded soup, and repeated, "If I dinna get
+it, I'll tell thon." Well, soup was given, and various other things
+yielded to his importunities, to which he always added the usual
+threat of "telling thon." At last, when it came to wine, his mother
+stood firm, and positively refused, as "a bad thing for little
+boys," and so on. He then became more vociferous than ever about
+"telling thon;" and as still he was refused, he declared, "Now, I
+will tell thon," and at last roared out, "<i>Ma new breeks were
+made oot o' the auld curtains</i>!"</p>
+<p>The Rev. Mr. Agnew has kindly sent me an anecdote which supplies
+an example of cleverness in a Scottish boy, and which rivals, as he
+observes, the smartness of the London boy, termed by <i>Punch</i>
+the "Street boy." It has also a touch of quiet, sly Scottish
+<i>humour</i>. A gentleman, editor of a Glasgow paper, well known
+as a bon-vivant and epicure, and by no means a popular character,
+was returning one day from his office, and met near his own house a
+boy carrying a splendid salmon. The gentleman looked at it with
+longing eyes, and addressed the boy--"Where are you taking that
+salmon, my boy?" Boy--"Do you ken gin ae Mr. ---- (giving the
+gentleman's name) lives hereabout?" Mr. ---- "Yes, oh yes; his
+house is here just by." Boy (looking sly)--"Weel, it's no for him."
+Of this same Scottish <i>boy cleverness</i>, the Rev. Mr. M'Lure of
+Marykirk kindly supplies a capital specimen, in an instance which
+occurred at what is called the market, at Fettercairn, where there
+is always a hiring of servants. A boy was asked by a farmer if he
+wished to be engaged. "Ou ay," said the youth. "Wha was your last
+maister?" was the next question. "Oh, yonder him," said the boy;
+and then agreeing to wait where he was standing with some other
+servants till the inquirer should return from examination of the
+boy's late employer. The farmer returned and accosted the boy,
+"Weel, lathie, I've been speerin' about ye, an' I'm tae tak ye."
+"Ou ay," was the prompt reply, "an' I've been speerin' about <i>ye
+tae</i>, an' I'm nae gaen."</p>
+<p>We could not have had a better specimen of the cool
+self-sufficiency of these young domestics of the Scottish type than
+the following:--I heard of a boy making a very cool and determined
+exit from the house into which he had very lately been introduced.
+He had been told that he should be dismissed if he broke any of the
+china that was under his charge. On the morning of a great
+dinner-party he was entrusted (rather rashly) with a great load of
+plates, which he was to carry up-stairs from the kitchen to the
+dining-room, and which were piled up, and rested upon his two
+hands. In going up-stairs his foot slipped, and the plates were
+broken to atoms. He at once went up to the drawing-room, put his
+head in at the door, and shouted: "The plates are a' smashed, and
+I'm awa."</p>
+<p>A facetious and acute friend, who rather leans to the Sydney
+Smith view of Scottish wit, declares that all our humorous stories
+are about lairds, and lairds that are drunk. Of such stories there
+are certainly not a few. The following is one of the best belonging
+to my part of the country, and to many persons I should perhaps
+apologise for introducing it at all. The story has been told of
+various parties and localities, but no doubt the genuine laird was
+a laird of Balnamoon (pronounced in the country Bonnymoon), and
+that the locality was a wild tract of land, not far from his place,
+called Munrimmon Moor. Balnamoon had been dining out in the
+neighbourhood, where, by mistake, they had put down to him after
+dinner cherry brandy, instead of port wine, his usual beverage. The
+rich flavour and strength so pleased him that, having tasted it, he
+would have nothing else. On rising from table, therefore, the laird
+would be more affected by his drink than if he had taken his
+ordinary allowance of port. His servant Harry or Hairy was to drive
+him home in a gig, or whisky as it was called, the usual open
+carriage of the time. On crossing the moor, however, whether from
+greater exposure to the blast, or from the laird's unsteadiness of
+head, his hat and wig came off and fell upon the ground. Harry got
+out to pick them up and restore them to his master. The laird was
+satisfied with the hat, but demurred at the wig. "It's no my wig,
+Hairy, lad; it's no my wig," and refused to have anything to do
+with it. Hairy lost his patience, and, anxious to get home,
+remonstrated with his master, "Ye'd better tak it, sir, for there's
+nae <i>waile</i><a name="FNanchor161"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_161">[161]</a> o' wigs on Munrimmon Moor." The humour of
+the argument is exquisite, putting to the laird in his unreasonable
+objection the sly insinuation that in such a locality, if he did
+not take <i>this</i> wig, he was not likely to find another. Then,
+what a rich expression, "waile o' wigs." In English what is it? "A
+choice of perukes;" which is nothing comparable to the "waile o'
+wigs." I ought to mention also an amusing sequel to the story, viz.
+in what happened after the affair of the wig had been settled, and
+the laird had consented to return home. When the whisky drove up to
+the door, Hairy, sitting in front, told the servant who came "to
+tak out the laird." No laird was to be seen; and it appeared that
+he had fallen out on the moor without Hairy observing it. Of
+course, they went back, and, picking him up, brought him safe home.
+A neighbouring laird having called a few days after, and having
+referred to the accident, Balnamoon quietly added, "Indeed, I maun
+hae a lume<a name="FNanchor162"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_162">[162]</a> that'll <i>haud in</i>."</p>
+<p>The laird of Balnamoon was a truly eccentric character. He
+joined with his drinking propensities a great zeal for the
+Episcopal church, the service of which he read to his own family
+with much solemnity and earnestness of manner. Two gentlemen, one
+of them a stranger to the country, having called pretty early one
+Sunday morning, Balnamoon invited them to dinner, and as they
+accepted the invitation, they remained and joined in the forenoon
+devotional exercises conducted by Balnamoon himself. The stranger
+was much impressed with the laird's performance of the service, and
+during a walk which they took before dinner, mentioned to his
+friend how highly he esteemed the religious deportment of their
+host. The gentleman said nothing, but smiled to himself at the
+scene which he anticipated was to follow. After dinner, Balnamoon
+set himself, according to the custom of old hospitable Scottish
+hosts, to make his guests as drunk as possible. The result was,
+that the party spent the evening in a riotous debauch, and were
+carried to bed by the servants at a late hour. Next day, when they
+had taken leave and left the house, the gentleman who had
+introduced his friend asked him what he thought of their
+entertainer--"Why, really," he replied, with evident astonishment,
+"sic a speat o' praying, and sic a speat o' drinking, I never knew
+in the whole course o' my life."</p>
+<p>Lady Dalhousie, mother, I mean, of the late distinguished
+Marquis of Dalhousie, used to tell a characteristic anecdote of her
+day. But here, on mention of the name Christian, Countess of
+Dalhousie, may I pause a moment to recall the memory of one who was
+a very remarkable person. She was for many years, to me and mine, a
+sincere, and true and valuable friend. By an awful dispensation of
+God's providence her death happened <i>instantaneously</i> under my
+roof in 1839. Lady Dalhousie was eminently distinguished for a fund
+of the most varied knowledge, for a clear and powerful judgment,
+for acute observation, a kind heart, a brilliant wit. Her story was
+thus:--A Scottish judge, somewhat in the predicament of the Laird
+of Balnamoon, had dined at Coalstoun with her father Charles Brown,
+an advocate, and son of George Brown, who sat in the Supreme Court
+as a judge with the title of Lord Coalstoun. The party had been
+convivial, as we know parties of the highest legal characters often
+were in those days. When breaking up and going to the drawing-room,
+one of them, not seeing his way very clearly, stepped out of the
+dining-room window, which was open to the summer air. The ground at
+Coalstoun sloping off from the house behind, the worthy judge got a
+great fall, and rolled down the bank. He contrived, however, as
+tipsy men generally do, to regain his legs, and was able to reach
+the drawing-room. The first remark he made was an innocent
+remonstrance with his friend the host, "Od, Charlie Brown, what
+gars ye hae sic lang steps to your <i>front</i> door?"</p>
+<p>On Deeside, where many original stories had their origin, I
+recollect hearing several of an excellent and worthy, but very
+simple-minded man, the Laird of Craigmyle. On one occasion, when
+the beautiful and clever Jane, Duchess of Gordon, was scouring
+through the country, intent upon some of those electioneering
+schemes which often occupied her fertile imagination and active
+energies, she came to call at Craigmyle, and having heard that the
+laird was making bricks on the property, for the purpose of
+building a new garden wall, with her usual tact she opened the
+subject, and kindly asked, "Well, Mr. Gordon, and how do your
+bricks come on?" Good Craigmyle's thoughts were much occupied with
+a new leather portion of his dress, which had been lately
+constructed, so, looking down on his nether garments, he said in
+pure Aberdeen dialect, "Muckle obleeged to yer Grace, the breeks
+war sum ticht at first, but they are deeing weel eneuch noo."</p>
+<p>The last Laird of Macnab, before the clan finally broke up and
+emigrated to Canada, was a well-known character in the country, and
+being poor, used to ride about on a most wretched horse, which gave
+occasion to many jibes at his expense. The laird was in the
+constant habit of riding up from the country to attend the
+Musselburgh races. A young wit, by way of playing him off on the
+race-course, asked him, in a contemptuous tone, "Is that the same
+horse you had last year, laird?" "Na," said the laird, brandishing
+his whip in the interrogator's face in so emphatic a manner as to
+preclude further questioning, "na; but it's the same <i>whup</i>."
+In those days, as might be expected, people were not nice in
+expressions of their dislike of persons and measures. If there be
+not more charity in society than of old, there is certainly more
+courtesy. I have, from a friend, an anecdote illustrative of this
+remark, in regard to feelings exercised towards an unpopular laird.
+In the neighbourhood of Banff, in Forfarshire, the seat of a very
+ancient branch of the Ramsays, lived a proprietor who bore the
+appellation of Corb, from the name of his estate. This family has
+passed away, and its property merged in Banff. The laird was
+intensely disliked in the neighbourhood. Sir George Ramsay was, on
+the other hand, universally popular and respected. On one occasion,
+Sir George, in passing a morass in his own neighbourhood, had
+missed the road and fallen into a bog to an alarming depth. To his
+great relief, he saw a passenger coming along the path, which was
+at no great distance. He called loudly for his help, but the man
+took no notice. Poor Sir George felt himself sinking, and redoubled
+his cries for assistance; all at once the passenger rushed forward,
+carefully extricated him from his perilous position, and politely
+apologised for his first neglect of his appeal, adding, as his
+reason, "Indeed, Sir George, I thought it was Corb!" evidently
+meaning that <i>had</i> it been Corb, he must have taken his chance
+for him.</p>
+<p>In Lanarkshire there lived a sma' sma' laird named Hamilton, who
+was noted for his eccentricity. On one occasion, a neighbour waited
+on him, and requested his name as an accommodation to a "bit bill"
+for twenty pounds at three months' date, which led to the following
+characteristic and truly Scottish colloquy:--"Na, na, I canna do
+that." "What for no, laird? ye hae dune the same thing for ithers."
+"Ay, ay, Tammas, but there's wheels within wheels ye ken naething
+about; I canna do't." "It's a sma' affair to refuse me, laird."
+"Weel, ye see, Tammas, if I was to pit my name till't, ye wad get
+the siller frae the bank, and when the time came round, ye wadna be
+ready, and I wad hae to pay't; sae then you and me wad quarrel; sae
+we may just as weel quarrel <i>the noo</i>, as lang's the siller's
+in ma pouch." On one occasion, Hamilton having business with the
+late Duke of Hamilton at Hamilton Palace, the Duke politely asked
+him to lunch. A liveried servant waited upon them, and was most
+assiduous in his attentions to the Duke and his guest. At last our
+eccentric friend lost patience, and looking at the servant,
+addressed him thus, "What the deil for are ye dance, dancing, about
+the room that gait? can ye no draw in your chair and sit down? I'm
+sure there's <i>plenty on the table for three</i>."</p>
+<p>As a specimen of the old-fashioned Laird, now become a
+Reminiscence, who adhered pertinaciously to old Scottish usages,
+and to the old Scottish dialect, I cannot, I am sure, adduce a
+better specimen than Mr. Fergusson of Pitfour, to whose servant I
+have already referred. He was always called Pitfour, from the name
+of his property in Aberdeenshire. He must have died fifty years
+ago. He was for many years M.P. for the county of Aberdeen, and I
+have reason to believe that he made the enlightened parliamentary
+declaration which has been given to others: He said "he had often
+heard speeches in the <i>House</i>, which had changed his opinion,
+but none that had ever changed his vote." I recollect hearing of
+his dining in London sixty years ago, at the house of a Scottish
+friend, where there was a swell party, and Pitfour was introduced
+as a great northern proprietor, and county M.P. A fashionable lady
+patronised him graciously, and took great charge of him, and asked
+him about his estates. Pitfour was very dry and sparing in his
+communications, as for example, "What does your home farm chiefly
+produce, Mr. Fergusson?" Answer, "Girss." "I beg your pardon, Mr.
+Fergusson, what does your home farm produce?" All she could extract
+was, "Girss."</p>
+<p>Of another laird, whom I heard often spoken of in old times, an
+anecdote was told strongly Scottish. Our friend had much difficulty
+(as many worthy lairds have had) in meeting the claims of those two
+woeful periods of the year called with us in Scotland the "tarmes."
+He had been employing for some time as workman a stranger from the
+south on some house repairs, of the not uncommon name in England of
+Christmas. His servant early one morning called out at the laird's
+door in great excitement that "Christmas had run away, and nobody
+knew where he had gone." He coolly turned in his bed with the
+ejaculation, "I only wish he had taken Whitsunday and Martinmas
+along with him." I do not know a better illustration of quiet,
+shrewd, and acute Scottish humour than the following little story,
+which an esteemed correspondent mentions having heard from his
+father when a boy, relating to a former Duke of Athole, who had
+<i>no family of his own</i>, and whom he mentions as having
+remembered very well:--He met, one morning, one of his cottars or
+gardeners, whose wife he knew to be in the <i>hopeful way</i>.
+Asking him "how Marget was the day," the man replied that she had
+that morning given him twins. Upon which the Duke said,--"Weel,
+Donald; ye ken the Almighty never sends bairns without the meat."
+"That may be, your Grace," said Donald; "but whiles I think that
+Providence maks a mistak in thae matters, and sends the bairns to
+ae hoose and the meat to anither!" The Duke took the hint, and sent
+him a cow with calf the following morning.</p>
+<p>I have heard of an amusing scene between a laird, noted for his
+meanness, and a wandering sort of Edie Ochiltree, a well-known
+itinerant who lived by his wits and what he could pick up in his
+rounds amongst the houses through the country. The laird, having
+seen the beggar sit down near his gate to examine the contents of
+his pock or wallet, conjectured that he had come from his house,
+and so drew near to see what he had carried off. As the laird was
+keenly investigating the mendicant's spoils, his quick eye detected
+some bones on which there remained more meat than should have been
+allowed to leave his kitchen. Accordingly he pounced upon the
+bones, declaring he had been robbed, and insisted on the beggar
+returning to the house and giving back the spoil. He was, however,
+prepared for the attack, and sturdily defended his property, boldly
+asserting, "Na, na, laird, thae are no Tod-brae banes; they are
+Inch-byre banes, and nane o' your honour's"--meaning that he had
+received these bones at the house of a neighbour of a more liberal
+character. The beggar's professional discrimination between the
+merits of the bones of the two mansions, and his pertinacious
+defence of his own property, would have been most amusing to a
+bystander.</p>
+<p>I have, however, a reverse story, in which the beggar is quietly
+silenced by the proprietor. A noble lord, some generations back,
+well known for his frugal habits, had just picked up a small copper
+coin in his own avenue, and had been observed by one of the
+itinerating mendicant race, who, grudging the transfer of the piece
+into the peer's pocket, exclaimed, "O, gie't to me, my lord;" to
+which the quiet answer was, "Na, na; fin' a fardin' for yersell,
+puir body."</p>
+<p>There are always pointed anecdotes against houses wanting in a
+liberal and hospitable expenditure in Scotland. Thus, we have heard
+of a master leaving such a mansion, and taxing his servant with
+being drunk, which he had too often been after other country
+visits. On this occasion, however, he was innocent of the charge,
+for he had not the <i>opportunity</i> to transgress. So, when his
+master asserted, "Jemmy, you are drunk!" Jemmy very quietly
+answered, "Indeed, sir, I wish I wur." At another mansion,
+notorious for scanty fare, a gentleman was inquiring of the
+gardener about a dog which some time ago he had given to the laird.
+The gardener showed him a lank greyhound, on which the gentleman
+said, "No, no; the dog I gave your master was a mastiff, not a
+greyhound;" to which the gardener quietly answered, "Indeed, ony
+dog micht sune become a greyhound by stopping here."</p>
+<p>From a friend and relative, a minister of the Established Church
+of Scotland, I used to hear many characteristic stories. He had a
+curious vein of this sort of humour in himself, besides what he
+brought out from others. One of his peculiarities was a mortal
+antipathy to the whole French nation, whom he frequently abused in
+no measured terms. At the same time he had great relish of a glass
+of claret, which he considered the prince of all social beverages.
+So he usually finished off his antigallican tirades, with the
+reservation, "But the bodies brew the braw drink." He lived amongst
+his own people, and knew well the habits and peculiarities of a
+race gone by. He had many stories connected with the pastoral
+relation between minister and people, and all such stories are
+curious, not merely for their amusement, but from the illustration
+they afford us of that peculiar Scottish humour which we are now
+describing. He had himself, when a very young boy, before he came
+up to the Edinburgh High School, been at the parochial school where
+he resided, and which, like many others, at that period, had a
+considerable reputation for the skill and scholarship of the
+master. He used to describe school scenes rather different, I
+suspect, from school scenes in our day. One boy, on coming late,
+explained that the cause had been a regular pitched battle between
+his parents, with the details of which he amused his
+school-fellows; and he described the battle in vivid and Scottish
+Homeric terms: "And eh, as they faucht, and they faucht," adding,
+however, with much complacency, "but my minnie dang, she did
+tho'."</p>
+<p>There was a style of conversation and quaint modes of expression
+between ministers and their people at that time, which, I suppose,
+would seem strange to the present generation; as, for example, I
+recollect a conversation between this relative and one of his
+parishioners of this description.--It had been a very wet and
+unpromising autumn. The minister met a certain Janet of his flock,
+and accosted her very kindly. He remarked, "Bad prospect for the
+har'st (harvest), Janet, this wet." <i>Janet</i>--"Indeed, sir,
+I've seen as muckle as that there'll be nae har'st the year."
+<i>Minister</i>--"Na, Janet, deil as muckle as that't ever you
+saw."</p>
+<p>As I have said, he was a clergyman of the Established Church,
+and had many stories about ministers and people, arising out of his
+own pastoral experience, or the experience of friends and
+neighbours. He was much delighted with the not very refined rebuke
+which one of his own farmers had given to a young minister who had
+for some Sundays occupied his pulpit. The young man had dined with
+the farmer in the afternoon when services were over, and his
+appetite was so sharp, that he thought it necessary to apologise to
+his host for eating so substantial a dinner.--"You see," he said,
+"I am always very hungry after preaching." The old gentleman, not
+much admiring the youth's pulpit ministrations, having heard this
+apology two or three times, at last replied sarcastically, "Indeed,
+sir, I'm no surprised at it, considering the <i>trash</i> that
+comes aff your stamach in the morning."</p>
+<p>What I wish to keep in view is, to distinguish anecdotes which
+are amusing on account merely of the expressions used, from those
+which have real wit and humour <i>combined</i>, with the purely
+Scottish vehicle in which they are conveyed.</p>
+<p>Of this class I could not have a better specimen to commence
+with than the defence of the liturgy of his church, by John Skinner
+of Langside, of whom previous mention has been made. It is witty
+and clever.</p>
+<p>Being present at a party (I think at Lord Forbes's), where were
+also several ministers of the Establishment, the conversation over
+their wine turned, among other things, on the Prayer Book. Skinner
+took no part in it, till one minister remarked to him, "The great
+faut I hae to your prayer-book is that ye use the Lord's Prayer sae
+aften,--ye juist mak a dishclout o't." Skinner's rejoinder was,
+"Verra true! Ay, man, we mak a dishclout o't, an' we wring't, an'
+we wring't, an' we wring't, an' the bree<a name=
+"FNanchor163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163">[163]</a> o't washes a'
+the lave o' our prayers."</p>
+<p>No one, I think, could deny the wit of the two following
+rejoinders.</p>
+<p>A ruling elder of a country parish in the west of Scotland was
+well known in the district as a shrewd and ready-witted man. He
+received many a visit from persons who liked a banter, or to hear a
+good joke. Three young students gave him a call in order to have a
+little amusement at the elder's expense. On approaching him, one of
+them saluted him, "Well, Father Abraham, how are you to-day?" "You
+are wrong," said the other, "this is old Father Isaac." "Tuts,"
+said the third, "you are both mistaken; this is old Father Jacob."
+David looked at the young men, and in his own way replied, "I am
+neither old Father Abraham, nor old Father Isaac, nor old Father
+Jacob; but I am Saul the son of Kish, seeking his father's asses,
+and lo! I've found three o' them."</p>
+<p>For many years the Baptist community of Dunfermline was presided
+over by brothers David Dewar and James Inglis, the latter of whom
+has just recently gone to his reward. Brother David was a plain,
+honest, straightforward man, who never hesitated to express his
+convictions, however unpalatable they might be to others. Being
+elected a member of the Prison Board, he was called upon to give
+his vote in the choice of a chaplain from the licentiates of the
+Established Kirk. The party who had gained the confidence of the
+Board had proved rather an indifferent preacher in a charge to
+which he had previously been appointed; and on David being asked to
+signify his assent to the choice of the Board, he said, "Weel, I've
+no objections to the man, for I understand he has preached a kirk
+toom (empty) already, and if he be as successful in the jail, he'll
+maybe preach it vawcant as weel."</p>
+<p>From Mr. Inglis, clerk of the Court of Session, I have the
+following Scottish rejoinder:--</p>
+<p>"I recollect my father relating a conversation between a
+Perthshire laird and one of his tenants. The laird's eldest son was
+rather a simpleton. Laird says, 'I am going to send the young laird
+abroad,' 'What for?' asks the tenant; answered, 'To see the world;'
+tenant replies, 'But, lord-sake, laird, will no the world see
+<i>him</i>?'"</p>
+<p>An admirably humorous reply is recorded of a Scotch officer,
+well known and esteemed in his day for mirth and humour. Captain
+Innes of the Guards (usually called Jock Innes by his
+contemporaries) was with others getting ready for Flushing or some
+of those expeditions of the beginning of the great war. His
+commanding officer (Lord Huntly, my correspondent thinks)
+remonstrated about the badness of his hat, and recommended a new
+one--"Na, na! bide a wee," said Jock; "where we're gain' faith
+there'll soon be mair hats nor <i>heads</i>."</p>
+<p>I recollect being much amused with a Scottish reference of this
+kind in the heart of London. Many years ago a Scotch party had
+dined at Simpson's famous beef-steak house in the Strand. On coming
+away some of the party could not find their hats, and my uncle was
+jocularly asking the waiter, whom he knew to be a <i>Deeside</i>
+man, "Whar are our bonnets, Jeems?" To which he replied, "'Deed, I
+mind the day when I had neither hat nor bonnet."</p>
+<p>There is an odd and original way of putting a matter sometimes
+in Scotch people, which is irresistibly comic, although by the
+persons nothing comic is intended; as for example, when in 1786
+Edinburgh was illuminated on account of the recovery of George III.
+from severe illness. In a house where great preparation was going
+on for the occasion, by getting the candles fixed in tin sconces,
+an old nurse of the family, looking on, exclaimed, "Ay, it's a braw
+time for the cannel-makers when the king is sick, honest man!"</p>
+<p>Scottish farmers of the old school were a shrewd and humorous
+race, sometimes not indisposed to look with a little jealousy upon
+their younger brethren, who, on their part, perhaps, showed their
+contempt for the old-fashioned ways. I take the following example
+from the columns of the <i>Peterhead Sentinel</i>, just as it
+appeared--June 14, 1861:--</p>
+<p>"AN ANECDOTE FOR DEAN EAMSAY.--The following characteristic and
+amusing anecdote was communicated to us the other day by a
+gentleman who happened to be a party to the conversation detailed
+below. This gentleman was passing along a road not a hundred miles
+from Peterhead one day this week. Two different farms skirt the
+separate sides of the turnpike, one of which is rented by a farmer
+who cultivates his land according to the most advanced system of
+agriculture, and the other of which is farmed by a gentleman of the
+old school. Our informant met the latter worthy at the side of the
+turnpike opposite his neighbour's farm, and seeing a fine crop of
+wheat upon what appeared to be [and really was] very thin and poor
+land, asked, 'When was that wheat sown?' 'O I dinna ken,' replied
+the gentleman of the old school, with a sort of half-indifference,
+half-contempt. 'But isn't it strange that such a fine crop should
+be reared on such bad land?' asked our informant. 'O, na--nae at
+a'--deevil thank it; a gravesteen wad gie guid bree<a name=
+"FNanchor164"></a><a href="#Footnote_164">[164]</a> gin ye gied it
+plenty o' butter!'"</p>
+<p>But perhaps the best anecdote illustrative of the keen
+shrewdness of the Scottish farmer is related by Mr. Boyd<a name=
+"FNanchor165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165">[165]</a> in one of his
+charming series of papers, reprinted from <i>Fraser's Magazine</i>.
+"A friend of mine, a country parson, on first going to his parish,
+resolved to farm his glebe for himself. A neighbouring farmer
+kindly offered the parson to plough one of his fields. The farmer
+said that he would send his man John with a plough and a pair of
+horses on a certain day. 'If ye're goin' about,' said the farmer to
+the clergyman, 'John will be unco weel pleased if you speak to him,
+and say it's a fine day, or the like o' that; but dinna,' said the
+farmer, with much solemnity, 'dinna say onything to him about
+ploughin' and sawin'; for John,' he added, 'is a stupid body, but
+he has been ploughin' and sawin' a' his life, and he'll see in a
+minute that <i>ye</i> ken naething aboot ploughin' and sawin'. And
+then,' said the sagacious old farmer, with much earnestness, 'if he
+comes to think that ye ken naething aboot ploughin' and sawin',
+he'll think that ye ken naething aboot onything!'"</p>
+<p>The following is rather an original commentary, by a layman,
+upon clerical incomes:--A relative of mine going to church with a
+Forfarshire farmer, one of the old school, asked him the amount of
+the minister's stipend. He said, "Od, it's a gude ane--the maist
+part of &pound;300 a year." "Well," said my relative, "many of
+these Scotch ministers are but poorly off." "They've eneuch, sir,
+they've eneuch; if they'd mair, it would want a' their time to the
+spendin' o't."</p>
+<p>Scotch gamekeepers had often much dry quiet humour. I was much
+amused by the answer of one of those under the following
+circumstances:--An Ayrshire gentleman, who was from the first a
+very bad shot, or rather no shot at all, when out on 1st of
+September, having failed, time after time, in bringing down a
+single bird, had at last pointed out to him by his attendant
+bag-carrier a large covey, thick and close on the stubbles. "Noo,
+Mr. Jeems, let drive at them, just as they are!" Mr. Jeems did let
+drive, as advised, but not a feather remained to testify the shot.
+All flew off, safe and sound--"Hech, sir (remarks his friend), but
+ye've made thae yins <i>shift their quarters</i>."</p>
+<p>The two following anecdotes of rejoinders from Scottish
+guidwives, and for which I am indebted, as for many other kind
+communications, to the Rev. Mr. Blair of Dunblane, appear to me as
+good examples of the peculiar Scottish pithy phraseology which we
+refer to, as any that I have met with.</p>
+<p>An old lady from whom the "Great Unknown" had derived many an
+ancient tale, was waited upon one day by the author of "Waverley."
+On his endeavouring to give the authorship the go-by, the old dame
+protested, "D'ye think, sir, I dinna ken my ain groats in ither
+folk's kail<a name="FNanchor166"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_166">[166]</a>?"</p>
+<p>A conceited packman called at a farm-house in the west of
+Scotland, in order to dispose of some of his wares. The goodwife
+was offended by his southern accent, and his high talk about York,
+London, and other big places. "An' whaur come ye frae yersell?" was
+the question of the guidwife. "Ou, I am from the Border." "The
+Border--oh! I thocht that; for we aye think the <i>selvidge</i> is
+the wakest bit o' the wab!"</p>
+<p>The following is a good specimen of ready Scotch humorous reply,
+by a master to his discontented workman, and in which he turned the
+tables upon him, in his reference to Scripture. In a town of one of
+the central counties a Mr. J---- carried on, about a century ago, a
+very extensive business in the linen manufacture. Although
+<i>strikes</i> were then unknown among the labouring classes, the
+spirit from which these take their rise has no doubt at all times
+existed. Among Mr. J----'s many workmen, one had given him constant
+annoyance for years, from his discontented and argumentative
+spirit. Insisting one day on getting something or other which his
+master thought most unreasonable, and refused to give in to, he at
+last submitted, with a bad grace, saying, "You're nae better than
+<i>Pharaoh</i>, sir, forcin' puir folk to mak' bricks without
+straw." "Well, Saunders," quietly rejoined his master, "if I'm nae
+better than Pharaoh in one respect, I'll be better in another, for
+<i>I'll no hinder ye going to the wilderness whenever you
+choose</i>."</p>
+<p>Persons who are curious in Scottish stories of wit and humour
+speak much of the sayings of a certain "Laird of Logan," who was a
+well-known character in the West of Scotland. This same Laird of
+Logan was at a meeting of the heritors of Cumnock, where a proposal
+was made to erect a new churchyard wall. He met the proposition
+with the dry remark, "I never big dykes till the <i>tenants</i>
+complain." Calling one day for a gill of whisky in a public-house,
+the Laird was asked if he would take any water with the spirit.
+"Na, na," replied he, "I would rather ye would tak the water out
+o't."</p>
+<p>The laird sold a horse to an Englishman, saying, "You buy him as
+you see him; but he's an <i>honest</i> beast." The purchaser took
+him home. In a few days he stumbled and fell, to the damage of his
+own knees and his rider's head. On this the angry purchaser
+remonstrated with the laird, whose reply was, "Well, sir, I told ye
+he was an honest beast; many a time has he threatened to come down
+with me, and I kenned he would keep his word some day."</p>
+<p>At the time of the threatened invasion, the laird had been
+taunted at a meeting at Ayr with want of loyal spirit at Cumnock,
+as at that place no volunteer corps had been raised to meet the
+coming danger; Cumnock, it should be recollected, being on a high
+situation, and ten or twelve miles from the coast. "What sort of
+people are you up at Cumnock?" said an Ayr gentleman; "you have not
+a single volunteer!" "Never you heed," says Logan, very quietly;
+"if the French land at Ayr, there will soon be plenty of volunteers
+up at Cumnock."</p>
+<p>A pendant to the story of candid admission on the part of the
+minister, that the people might be <i>weary</i> after his sermon,
+has been given on the authority of the narrator, a Fife gentleman,
+ninety years of age when he told it. He had been to church at Elie,
+and listening to a young and perhaps bombastic preacher, who
+happened to be officiating for the Rev. Dr. Milligan, who was in
+church. After service, meeting the Doctor in the passage, he
+introduced the young clergyman, who, on being asked by the old man
+how he did, elevated his shirt collar, and complained of fatigue,
+and being very much "<i>tired</i>." "Tired, did ye say, my man?"
+said the old satirist, who was slightly deaf; "Lord, man! if you're
+<i>half</i> as tired as I am, I pity ye!"</p>
+<p>I have been much pleased with an offering from Carluke,
+containing two very pithy anecdotes. Mr. Rankin very kindly
+writes:--"Your 'Reminiscences' are most refreshing. I am very
+little of a story-collector, but I have recorded some of an old
+schoolmaster, who was a story-teller. As a sort of payment for the
+amusement I have derived from your book, I shall give one or
+two."</p>
+<p>He sends the two following:--</p>
+<p>"Shortly after Mr. Kay had been inducted schoolmaster of Carluke
+(1790), the bederal called at the school, verbally announcing,
+proclamation-ways, that Mrs. So-and-So's funeral would be on
+Fuirsday. 'At what hour?' asked the dominie. 'Ou, ony time atween
+ten and twa.' At two o'clock of the day fixed, Mr. Kay--quite a
+stranger to the customs of the district--arrived at the place, and
+was astonished to find a crowd of men and lads, standing here and
+there, some smoking, and all <i>arglebargling</i><a name=
+"FNanchor167"></a><a href="#Footnote_167">[167]</a> as if at the
+end of a fair. He was instantly, but mysteriously, approached, and
+touched on the arm by a red-faced bareheaded man, who seemed to be
+in authority, and was beckoned to follow. On entering the barn,
+which was seated all round, he found numbers sitting, each with the
+head bent down, and each with his hat between his knees--all
+gravity and silence. Anon a voice was heard issuing from the far
+end, and a long prayer was uttered. They had worked at this--what
+was called '<i>a service</i>'--during three previous hours, one
+party succeeding another, and many taking advantage of every
+service, which consisted of a prayer by way of grace, a glass of
+<i>white</i> wine, a glass of <i>red</i> wine, a glass of
+<i>rum</i>, and a prayer by way of thanksgiving. After the long
+invocation, bread and wine passed round. Silence prevailed. Most
+partook of both <i>rounds</i> of wine, but when the rum came, many
+nodded refusal, and by and by the nodding seemed to be universal,
+and the trays passed on so much the more quickly. A sumphish
+weather-beaten man, with a large flat blue bonnet on his knee, who
+had nodded unwittingly, and was about to lose the last chance of a
+glass of rum, raised his head, saying, amid the deep silence, 'Od,
+I daursay I <i>wull</i> tak anither glass,' and in a sort of
+vengeful, yet apologetic tone, added, 'The auld jaud yince cheated
+me wi' a cauve' (calf)."</p>
+<p>At a farmer's funeral in the country, an undertaker was in
+charge of the ceremonial, and directing how it was to proceed, when
+he noticed a little man giving orders, and, as he thought, rather
+encroaching upon the duties and privileges of his own office. He
+asked him, "And wha are ye, mi' man, that tak sae muckle on ye?"
+"Oh, dinna ye ken?" said the man, under a strong sense of his own
+importance, "I'm the corp's brither<a name=
+"FNanchor168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168">[168]</a>?"</p>
+<p>Curious scenes took place at funerals where there was, in times
+gone by, an unfortunate tendency to join with such solemnities more
+attention to festal entertainment than was becoming. A farmer, at
+the interment of his second wife, exercised a liberal hospitality
+to his friends at the inn near the church. On looking over the
+bill, the master defended the charge as moderate. But he reminded
+him, "Ye forget, man, that it's no ilka ane that brings a
+<i>second</i> funeral to your house."</p>
+<p>"Dr. Scott, minister of Carluke (1770), was a fine graceful
+kindly man, always stepping about in his bag-wig and cane in hand,
+with a kind and ready word to every one. He was officiating at a
+bridal in his parish, where there was a goodly company, had
+partaken of the good cheer, and waited till the young people were
+fairly warmed in the dance. A dissenting body had sprung up in the
+parish, which he tried to think was beneath him even to notice,
+when he could help it, yet never seemed to feel at all keenly when
+the dissenters were alluded to. One of the chief leaders of this
+body was at the bridal, and felt it to be his bounden duty to call
+upon the minister for his reasons for sanctioning by his presence
+so sinful an enjoyment. 'Weel, minister, what think ye o' this
+dancin'?' 'Why, John,' said the minister, blithely, 'I think it an
+excellent exercise for young people, and, I dare say, so do you.'
+'Ah, sir, I'm no sure about it; I see nae authority for't in the
+Scriptures.' 'Umph, indeed, John; you cannot forget David.' 'Ah,
+sir, Dauvid; gif they were a' to dance as Dauvid did, it would be a
+different thing a'thegither.' 'Hoot-o-fie, hoot-o-fie, John; would
+you have the young folk strip to the sark?'"</p>
+<p>Reference has been made to the eccentric laird of Balnamoon, his
+wig, and his "speats o' drinking and praying." A story of this
+laird is recorded, which I do think is well named, by a
+correspondent who communicates it, as a "quintessential phasis of
+dry Scotch humour," and the explanation of which would perhaps be
+thrown away upon any one who <i>needed</i> the explanation. The
+story is this:--The laird riding past a high steep bank, stopped
+opposite a hole in it, and said, "Hairy, I saw a brock gang in
+there." "Did ye?" said Hairy; "wull ye hand my horse, sir?"
+"Certainly," said the laird, and away rushed Hairy for a spade.
+After digging for half-an-hour, he came back, quite done, to the
+laird, who had regarded him musingly. "I canna find him, sir," said
+Hairy. "'Deed," said the laird, very coolly, "I wad ha' wondered if
+ye had, for it's ten years sin' I saw him gang in there."</p>
+<p>Amongst many humorous colloquies between Balnamoon and his
+servant, the following must have been very racy and very original.
+The laird, accompanied by Hairy, after a dinner party, was riding
+on his way home, through a ford, when he fell off into the water.
+"Whae's that faun?" he inquired. "'Deed," quoth Hairy, "I witna an
+it be na your honour."</p>
+<p>There is a peculiarity connected with what we have considered
+Scotch humour. It is more common for Scotsmen to associate their
+own feelings with <i>national</i> events and national history than
+for Englishmen. Take as illustrations the following, as being
+perhaps as good as any:--The Rev. Robert Scott, a Scotsman who
+forgets not Scotland in his southern vicarage, and whom I have
+named before as having sent me some good reminiscences, tells me
+that, at Inverary, some thirty years ago, he could not help
+overhearing the conversation of some Lowland cattle-dealers in the
+public room in which he was. The subject of the bravery of our navy
+being started, one of the interlocutors expressed his surprise that
+Nelson should have issued his signal at Trafalgar in the terms,
+"<i>England expects</i>," etc. He was met with the answer (which
+seemed highly satisfactory to the rest), "Ah, Nelson only said
+'<i>expects</i>' of the English; he said naething of Scotland, for
+he <i>kent</i> the <i>Scotch</i> would do theirs."</p>
+<p>I am assured the following manifestation of national feeling
+against the memory of a Scottish character actually took place
+within a few years:--Williamson (the Duke of Buccleuch's huntsman)
+was one afternoon riding home from hunting through Haddington; and
+as he passed the old Abbey, he saw an ancient woman looking through
+the iron grating in front of the burial-place of the Lauderdale
+family, holding by the bars, and grinning and dancing with rage.
+"Eh, gudewife," said Williamson, "what ails ye?" "It's the Duke o'
+Lauderdale," cried she. "Eh, if I could win at him, I wud rax the
+banes o' him."</p>
+<p>To this class belongs the following complacent Scottish remark
+upon Bannockburn. A splenetic Englishman said to a Scottish
+countryman, something of a wag, that no man of taste would think of
+remaining any time in such a country as Scotland. To which the
+canny Scot replied, "Tastes differ; I'se tak ye to a place no far
+frae Stirling, whaur thretty thousand o' your countrymen ha' been
+for five hunder years, and they've nae thocht o' leavin' yet."</p>
+<p>In a similar spirit, an honest Scotch farmer, who had sent some
+sheep to compete at a great English agricultural cattle-show, and
+was much disgusted at not getting a prize, consoled himself for the
+disappointment, by insinuating that the judges could hardly act
+quite impartially by a Scottish competitor, complacently remarking,
+"It's aye been the same since Bannockburn."</p>
+<p>Then, again, take the story told in Lockhart's Life of Sir
+Walter Scott, of the blacksmith whom Sir Walter had formerly known
+as a horse-doctor, and whom he found at a small country town south
+of the Border, practising medicine with a reckless use of "laudamy
+and calomy<a name="FNanchor169"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_169">[169]</a>," apologising at the same time for the
+mischief he might do, by the assurance that it "<i>would be lang
+before it made up for Flodden</i>." How graphically it describes
+the interest felt by Scotchmen of his rank in the incidents of
+their national history. A similar example has been recorded in
+connection with Bannockburn. Two Englishmen visited the field of
+that great battle, and a country blacksmith pointed out the
+positions of the two armies, the stone on which was fixed the
+Bruce's standard, etc. The gentlemen, pleased with the intelligence
+of their guide, on leaving pressed his acceptance of a crown-piece.
+"Na, na," replied the Scotsman, with much pride, "it has cost ye
+eneuch already." Such an example of self-denial on the part of a
+Scottish cicerone is, we fear, now rather a "reminiscence."</p>
+<p>A north country drover had, however, a more <i>tangible</i>
+opportunity of gratifying his national animosity against the
+Southron, and of which he availed himself. Returning homewards,
+after a somewhat unsuccessful journey, and not in very good humour
+with the Englishers, when passing through Carlisle he saw a notice
+stuck up, offering a reward of &pound;50 for any one who would do a
+piece of service to the community, by officiating as executioner of
+the law on a noted criminal then under sentence of death. Seeing a
+chance to make up for his bad market, and comforted with the
+assurance that he was unknown there, he undertook the office,
+executed the condemned, and got the fee. When moving off with the
+money, he was twitted at as a "mean beggarly Scot," doing for money
+what no <i>Englishman</i> would. With a grin and quiet glee, he
+only replied, "I'll hang ye a' at the price."</p>
+<p>Some Scotsmen, no doubt, have a very complacent feeling
+regarding the superiority of their countrymen, and make no
+hesitation in proclaiming their opinion. I have always admired the
+quaint expression of such belief in a case which has recently been
+reported to me. A young Englishman had taken a Scottish
+shooting-ground, and enjoyed his mountain sport so much as to
+imbibe a strong partiality for his northern residence and all its
+accompaniments. At a German watering-place he encountered, next
+year, an original character, a Scotsman of the old school, very
+national, and somewhat bigoted in his nationality: he determined to
+pass himself off to him as a genuine Scottish native; and,
+accordingly, he talked of Scotland and haggis, and sheep's head,
+and whisky; he boasted of Bannockburn, and admired Queen Mary;
+looked upon Scott and Burns as superior to all English writers; and
+staggered, although he did not convince, the old gentleman. On
+going away he took leave of his Scottish friend, and said, "Well,
+sir, next time we meet, I hope you will receive me as a real
+countryman." "Weel," he said, "I'm jest thinkin', my lad, ye're nae
+Scotsman; but I'll tell ye what ye are--ye're juist an
+<i>impruived</i> Englishman."</p>
+<p>I am afraid we must allow that Scottish people have a
+<i>leetle</i> national vanity, and may be too ready sometimes to
+press the claim of their country to an extravagantly assumed
+pre-eminence in the annals of genius and celebrities. An extreme
+case of such pretension I heard of lately, which is amusing. A
+Scotsman, in reference to the distinction awarded to Sir Walter
+Scott, on occasion of his centenary, had roundly asserted, "But
+<i>all</i> who have been eminent men were Scotsmen." An Englishman,
+offended at such assumption of national pre-eminence, asked
+indignantly, "What do you say to Shakspeare?" To which the other
+quietly replied, "Weel, his tawlent wad justifee the inference."
+This is rich, as an example of an <i>&agrave; priori</i> argument
+in favour of a man being a Scotsman.</p>
+<p>We find in the conversation of old people frequent mention of a
+class of beings well known in country parishes, now either become
+commonplace, like the rest of the world, or removed altogether, and
+shut up in poorhouses or madhouses--I mean the individuals
+frequently called parochial <i>idiots</i>; but who were rather of
+the order of naturals. They were eccentric, or somewhat crazy,
+useless, idle creatures, who used to wander about from house to
+house, and sometimes made very shrewd sarcastic remarks upon what
+was going on in the parish. I heard such a person once described as
+one who was "wanting in twopence of change for a shilling." They
+used to take great liberty of speech regarding the conduct and
+disposition of those with whom they came in contact, and many odd
+sayings which emanated from them were traditionary in country
+localities. I have a kindly feeling towards these imperfectly
+intelligent, but often perfectly cunning beings; partly, I believe,
+from recollections of early associations in boyish days with some
+of those Davy Gellatleys. I have therefore preserved several
+anecdotes with which I have been favoured, where their odd sayings
+and indications of a degree of mental activity have been recorded.
+These persons seem to have had a partiality for getting near the
+pulpit in church, and their presence there was accordingly
+sometimes annoying to the preacher and the congregation; as at
+Maybole, when Dr. Paul, now of St. Cuthbert's, was minister in
+1823, John M'Lymont, an individual of this class, had been in the
+habit of standing so close to the pulpit door as to overlook the
+Bible and pulpit board. When required, however, by the clergyman to
+keep at a greater distance, and not <i>look in upon the
+minister</i>, he got intensely angry and violent. He threatened the
+minister,--"Sir, b&aelig;by (maybe) I'll come farther;" meaning to
+intimate that perhaps he would, if much provoked, come into the
+pulpit altogether. This, indeed, actually took place on another
+occasion, and the tenure of the ministerial position was justified
+by an argument of a most amusing nature. The circumstance, I am
+assured, happened in a parish in the north. The clergyman, on
+coming into church, found the pulpit occupied by the parish
+natural. The authorities had been unable to remove him without more
+violence than was seemly, and therefore waited for the minister to
+dispossess Tam of the place he had assumed. "Come down, sir,
+immediately!" was the peremptory and indignant call; and on Tam
+being unmoved, it was repeated with still greater energy. Tam,
+however, replied, looking down confidentially from his elevation,
+"Na, na, minister! juist ye come up wi' me. This is a perverse
+generation, and faith they need us baith." It is curious to mark
+the sort of glimmering of sense, and even of discriminating
+thought, displayed by persons of this class. As an example, take a
+conversation held by this same John M'Lymont, with Dr. Paul, whom
+he met some time after. He seemed to have recovered his good
+humour, as he stopped him and said, "Sir, I would like to speer a
+question at ye on a subject that's troubling me." "Well, Johnnie,
+what is the question?" To which he replied, "Sir, is it lawful at
+ony time to tell a lee?" The minister desired to know what Johnnie
+himself thought upon the point. "Weel, sir," said he, "I'll no say
+but in every case it's wrang to tell a lee; but," added he, looking
+archly and giving a knowing wink, "I think there are <i>waur lees
+than ithers</i>" "How, Johnnie?" and then he instantly replied,
+with all the simplicity of a fool, "<i>To keep down a din, for
+instance</i>. I'll no say but a man does wrang in telling a lee to
+keep down a din, but I'm sure he does not do half sae muckle wrang
+as a man who tells a lee to kick up a deevilment o' a din." This
+opened a question not likely to occur to such a mind. Mr. Asher,
+minister of Inveraven, in Morayshire, narrated to Dr. Paul a
+curious example of want of intelligence combined with a power of
+cunning to redress a fancied wrong, shown by a poor natural of the
+parish, who had been seized with a violent inflammatory attack, and
+was in great danger. The medical attendant saw it necessary to
+bleed him, but he resisted, and would not submit to it. At last the
+case became so hopeless that they were obliged to use force, and,
+holding his hands and feet, the doctor opened a vein and drew
+blood, upon which the poor creature, struggling violently, bawled
+out, "O doctor, doctor! you'll kill me! you'll kill me! and depend
+upon it the first thing I'll do when I get to the other world will
+be to <i>report you to the board of Supervision there, and get you
+dismissed</i>." A most extraordinary sensation was once produced on
+a congregation by Rab Hamilton, a well-remembered crazy creature of
+the west country, on the occasion of his attendance at the parish
+kirk of "Auld Ayr, wham ne'er a toun surpasses," the minister of
+which, in the opinion of Rab's own minister, Mr. Peebles, had a
+tendency to Socinian doctrines. Miss Kirkwood, Bothwell, relates
+the story from the recollection of her aunt, who was present. Rab
+had put his head between some iron rails, the first intimation of
+which to the congregation was a stentorian voice crying out,
+"Murder! my heed'll hae to be cuttit aff! Holy minister!
+congregation! Oh, my heed maun be cuttit aff. It's a judgment for
+leaving my godlie Mr. Peebles at the Newton." After he had been
+extricated and quieted, when asked why he put his head there, he
+said, "It was juist to look on<a name="FNanchor170"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_170">[170]</a> wi' <i>anither woman</i>."</p>
+<p>The following anecdote of this same Rab Hamilton from a kind
+correspondent at Ayr sanctions the opinion that he must have
+occasionally said such clever things as made some think him more
+rogue than fool. Dr. Auld often showed him kindness, but being once
+addressed by him when in a hurry and out of humour, he said, "Get
+away, Rab; I have nothing for you to day." "Whaw, whew," cried Rab,
+in a half howl, half whining tone, "I dinna want onything the day,
+Maister Auld; I wanted to tell you an awsome dream I hae had. I
+dreamt I was deed." "Weel, what then?" said Dr. Auld. "Ou, I was
+carried far, far, and up, up, up, till I cam to heeven's yett,
+where I chappit, and chappit, and chappit, till at last an angel
+keekit out, and said 'Wha are ye?' 'A'm puir Rab Hamilton.' 'Whaur
+are ye frae?' 'Frae the wicked toun o' Ayr.' 'I dinna ken ony sic
+place,' said the angel. 'Oh, but A'm juist frae there,' Weel, the
+angel sends for the Apostle Peter, and Peter comes wi' his key and
+opens the yett, and says to me, 'Honest man, do you come frae the
+auld toun o' Ayr?' 'Deed do I,' says I. 'Weel,' says Peter, 'I ken
+the place, but naebody's cam frae the toun o' Ayr, no since the
+year'" so and so--mentioning the year when Dr. Auld was inducted
+into the parish. Dr. Auld could not resist giving him his answer,
+and telling him to go about his business.</p>
+<p>The pathetic complaint of one of this class, residing at a
+farm-house, has often been narrated, and forms a good illustration
+of idiot life and feelings. He was living in the greatest comfort,
+and every want provided. But, like the rest of mankind, he had his
+own trials, and his own cause for anxiety and annoyance. In this
+poor fellow's case it was the <i>great turkey-cock</i> at the farm,
+of which he stood so terribly in awe that he was afraid to come
+within a great distance of his enemy. Some of his friends, coming
+to visit him, reminded him how comfortable he was, and how grateful
+he ought to be for the great care taken of him. He admitted the
+truth of the remark generally, but still, like others, he had his
+unknown grief which sorely beset his path in life. There was a
+secret grievance which embittered his lot; and to his friend he
+thus opened his heart:--"Ae, ae, but oh, I'm sair hadden doun wi'
+the bubbly jock<a name="FNanchor171"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_171">[171]</a>."</p>
+<p>I have received two anecdotes illustrative both of the
+occasional acutenesss of mind, and of the sensitiveness of feeling
+occasionally indicated by persons thus situated. A well-known
+idiot, Jamie Fraser, belonging to the parish of Lunan, in
+Forfarshire, quite surprised people sometimes by his replies. The
+congregation of his parish church had for some time distressed the
+minister by their habit of sleeping in church. He had often
+endeavoured to impress them with a sense of the impropriety of such
+conduct, and one day Jamie was sitting in the front gallery, wide
+awake, when many were slumbering round him. The clergyman
+endeavoured to draw the attention of his hearers to his discourse
+by stating the fact, saying, "You see even Jamie Fraser, the idiot,
+does not fall asleep, as so many of you are doing." Jamie, not
+liking, perhaps, to be thus designated, coolly replied, "An I hadna
+been an idiot, I micht ha' been sleepin' too." Another of these
+imbeciles, belonging to Peebles, had been sitting at church for
+some time listening attentively to a strong representation from the
+pulpit of the guilt of deceit and falsehood in Christian
+characters. He was observed to turn red, and grow very uneasy,
+until at last, as if wincing under the supposed attack upon himself
+personally, he roared out, "Indeed, minister, there's mair leears
+in Peebles than me." As examples of this class of persons
+possessing much of the dry humour of their more sane countrymen,
+and of their facility to utter sly and ready-witted sayings, I have
+received the two following from Mr. W. Chambers:--Daft Jock Gray,
+the supposed original of David Gellatley, was one day assailed by
+the minister of a south-country parish on the subject of his
+idleness. "John," said the minister, rather pompously, "you are a
+very idle fellow; you might surely herd a few cows." "Me hird!"
+replied Jock; "I dinna ken corn frae gerss."</p>
+<p>"There was a carrier named Davie Loch who was reputed to be
+rather light of wits, but at the same time not without a sense of
+his worldly interests. His mother, finding her end approaching,
+addressed her son in the presence of a number of the neighbours.
+'The house will be Davie's and the furniture too.' 'Eh, hear her,'
+quoth Davie; 'sensible to the last, sensible to the last.' 'The
+lyin' siller'--'Eh yes; how clear she is about everything!' 'The
+lyin' siller is to be divided between my twa dauchters.' 'Steek the
+bed doors, steek the bed doors<a name="FNanchor172"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_172">[172]</a>,' interposed Davie; 'she's ravin' now;'
+and the old dying woman was shut up accordingly."</p>
+<p>In the <i>Memorials of the Montgomeries</i>, Earls of Eglinton,
+vol. i. p. 134, occurs an anecdote illustrative of the peculiar
+acuteness and quaint humour which occasionally mark the sayings of
+persons considered as imbeciles. There was a certain "Daft Will
+Speir," who was a privileged haunter of Eglinton Castle and
+grounds. He was discovered by the Earl one day taking a near cut,
+and crossing a fence in the demesne. The Earl called out, "Come
+back, sir, that's not the road." "Do you ken," said Will, "whaur
+I'm gaun?" "No," replied his lordship. "Weel, hoo the deil do ye
+ken whether this be the road or no?"</p>
+<p>This same "Daft Will Speir" was passing the minister's glebe,
+where haymaking was in progress. The minister asked Will if he
+thought the weather would keep up, as it looked rather like rain.
+"Weel," said Will, "I canna be very sure, but I'll be passin' this
+way the nicht, an' I'll ca' in and tell ye." "Well, Will," said his
+master one day to him, seeing that he had just finished his dinner,
+"have you had a good dinner to day?" (Will had been grumbling some
+time before.) "Ou, vera gude," answered Will; "but gin onybody asks
+if I got a dram after't, what will I say?" This poor creature had a
+high sense of duty. It appears he had been given the charge of the
+coal-stores at the Earl of Eglinton's. Having on one occasion been
+reprimanded for allowing the supplies to run out before further
+supplies were ordered, he was ever afterwards most careful to
+fulfil his duty. In course of time poor Will became "sick unto
+death," and the minister came to see him. Thinking him in really a
+good frame of mind, the minister asked him, in presence of the
+laird and others, if there were not one <i>great</i> thought which
+was ever to him the highest consolation in his hour of trouble. "Ou
+ay," gasped the sufferer, "Lord be thankit, a' the bunkers are
+fu'!"</p>
+<p>The following anecdote is told regarding the late Lord
+Dundrennan:--A half silly basket-woman passing down his avenue at
+Compstone one day, he met her, and said, "My good woman, there's no
+road this way." "Na, sir," she said, "I think ye're wrang there; I
+think it's a most beautifu' road."</p>
+<p>These poor creatures have invariably a great delight in
+attending funerals. In many country places hardly a funeral ever
+took place without the attendance of the parochial idiot. It seemed
+almost a necessary association; and such attendance seemed to
+constitute the great delight of those creatures. I have myself
+witnessed again and again the sort of funeral scene portrayed by
+Sir Walter Scott, who no doubt took his description from what was
+common in his day:--"The funeral pomp set forth--saulies with their
+batons and gumphions of tarnished white crape. Six starved horses,
+themselves the very emblems of mortality, well cloaked and plumed,
+lugging along the hearse with its dismal emblazonry, crept in slow
+pace towards the place of interment, preceded by Jamie Duff, an
+idiot, who, with weepers and cravat made of white paper,
+<i>attended on every funeral</i>, and followed by six mourning
+coaches filled with the company."--<i>Guy Mannering</i>.</p>
+<p>The following anecdote, supplied by Mr. Blair, is an amusing
+illustration both of the funeral propensity, and of the working of
+a defective brain, in a half-witted carle, who used to range the
+province of Galloway armed with a huge pike-staff, and who one day
+met a funeral procession a few miles from Wigtown. A long train of
+carriages, and farmers riding on horse-back, suggested the
+propriety of his bestriding his staff, and following after the
+funeral. The procession marched at a brisk pace, and on reaching
+the kirk-yard style, as each rider dismounted, "Daft Jock"
+descended from his wooden steed, besmeared with mire and
+perspiration, exclaiming, "Hech, sirs, had it no been for the
+fashion o' the thing, I micht as weel hae been on my ain feet."</p>
+<p>The withdrawal of these characters from public view, and the
+loss of importance which they once enjoyed in Scottish society,
+seem to me inexplicable. Have they ceased to exist, or are they
+removed from our sight to different scenes? The fool was, in early
+times, a very important personage in most Scottish households of
+any distinction. Indeed this had been so common as to be a public
+nuisance.</p>
+<p>It seemed that persons <i>assumed</i> the character, for we find
+a Scottish Act of Parliament, dated 19th January 1449, with this
+title:--"Act for the way-putting of <i>Fenyent</i> Fules," etc.
+(Thomson's Acts of Parliament of Scotland, vol. i.); and it enacts
+very stringent measures against such persons. They seem to have
+formed a link between the helpless idiot and the boisterous madman,
+sharing the eccentricity of the latter and the stupidity of the
+former, generally adding, however, a good deal of the
+sharp-wittedness of the <i>knave</i>. Up to the middle of the
+eighteenth century this appears to have been still an appendage to
+some families. I have before me a little publication with the
+title, "The Life and Death of Jamie Fleeman, the Laird of Udny's
+Fool. Tenth edition. Aberdeen, 1810." With portrait. Also
+twenty-sixth edition, of 1829. I should suppose this account of a
+family fool was a fair representation of a good specimen of the
+class. He was evidently of defective intellect, but at times showed
+the odd humour and quick conclusion which so often mark the
+disordered brain. I can only now give two examples taken from his
+history:--Having found a horse-shoe on the road, he met Mr.
+Craigie, the minister of St. Fergus, and showed it to him, asking,
+in pretended ignorance, what it was. "Why, Jamie," said Mr.
+Craigie, good humouredly, "anybody that was not a fool would know
+that it is a horse-shoe." "Ah!" said Jamie, with affected
+simplicity, "what it is to be wise--to ken it's no a meer's
+shoe!"</p>
+<p>On another occasion, when all the country-side were hastening to
+the Perth races, Jamie had cut across the fields and reached a
+bridge near the town, and sat down upon the parapet. He commenced
+munching away at a large portion of a leg of mutton which he had
+somehow become possessed of, and of which he was amazingly proud.
+The laird came riding past, and seeing Jamie sitting on the bridge,
+accosted him:--"Ay, Fleeman, are ye here already?" "Ou ay," quoth
+Fleeman, with an air of assumed dignity and archness not easy to
+describe, while his eye glanced significantly towards the mutton,
+"Ou ay, ye ken a body when he <i>has anything</i>."</p>
+<p>Of witty retorts by half-witted creatures of this class, I do
+not know of one more pointed than what is recorded of such a
+character who used to hang about the residence of a late Lord Fife.
+It would appear that some parts of his lordship's estates, were
+barren, and in a very unproductive condition. Under the improved
+system of agriculture and of draining, great preparations had been
+made for securing a good crop in a certain field, where Lord Fife,
+his factor, and others interested in the subject, were collected
+together. There was much discussion, and some difference of
+opinion, as to the crop with which the field had best be sown. The
+idiot retainer, who had been listening unnoticed to all that was
+said, at last cried out, "Saw't wi' factors, ma lord; they are sure
+to thrive everywhere."</p>
+<p>There was an idiot who lived long in Lauder, and seems to have
+had a great resemblance to the jester of old times. He was a
+staunch supporter of the Established Church. One day some one gave
+him a bad shilling. On Sunday he went to the Seceders'
+meeting-house, and when the ladle was taken round he put in his bad
+shilling and took out elevenpence halfpenny. Afterwards he went in
+high glee to the late Lord Lauderdale, calling out, "I've cheated
+the Seceders the day, my lord; I've cheated the Seceders."</p>
+<p>Jemmy had long harboured a dislike to the steward on the
+property, which he made manifest in the following manner:--Lord
+Lauderdale and Sir Anthony Maitland used to take him out shooting;
+and one day Lord Maitland (he was then), on having to cross the
+Leader, said, "Now, Jemmy, you shall carry me through the water,"
+which Jemmy duly did. The steward, who was shooting with them,
+expected the same service, and accordingly said, "Now, Jemmy, you
+must carry <i>me</i> over." "Vera weel," said Jemmy. He took the
+steward on his back, and when he had carefully carried him half-way
+across the river he paid off his grudge by dropping him quietly
+into the water.</p>
+<p>A daft individual used to frequent the same district, about whom
+a variety of opinions were entertained,--some people thinking him
+not so foolish as he sometimes seemed. On one occasion a person,
+wishing to test whether he knew the value of money, held out a
+sixpence and a penny, and offered him his choice. "I'll tak the wee
+ane," he said, giving as his modest reason, "I'se no be greedy." At
+another time, a miller laughing at him for his witlessness, he
+said, "Some things I ken, and some I dinna ken." On being asked
+what he knew, he said, "I ken a miller has aye a gey fat sou." "An'
+what d'ye no ken?" said the miller. "Ou," he returned, "I dinna ken
+wha's expense she's fed at."</p>
+<p>A very amusing collision of one of those penurious lairds,
+already referred to, a certain Mr. Gordon of Rothie, with a
+half-daft beggar wanderer of the name of Jock Muilton, has been
+recorded. The laird was very shabby, as usual, and, meeting Jock,
+began to banter him on the subject of his dress:--"Ye're very
+grand, Jock. Thae's fine claes ye hae gotten; whaur did ye get that
+coat?" Jock told him who had given him his coat, and then, looking
+slily at the laird, he inquired, as with great simplicity, "And
+whaur did ye get <i>yours</i>, laird?"</p>
+<p>For another admirable story of a rencontre between a penurious
+laird and the parish natural I am indebted to the <i>Scotsman</i>,
+June 16, 1871. Once on a time there was a Highland laird renowned
+for his caution in money matters, and his precise keeping of books.
+His charities were there; but that department of his bookkeeping
+was not believed to be heavy. On examination, a sum of half-a-crown
+was unexpectedly discovered in it; but this was accounted for in a
+manner creditable to his intentions, if not to his success in
+executing them. It had been given in mistake instead of a coin of a
+different denomination, to "the natural" of the parish for holding
+his shelty while he transacted business at the bank. A gleam in the
+boy's eye drew his attention to a gleam of white as the metal
+dropped into his pocket. In vain the laird assured him it was not a
+good bawbee--if he would give it up he would get another--it was
+"guid eneuch" for the like of him. And when the laird in his
+extremity swore a great oath that unless it was given up he would
+never give another halfpenny, the answer was--"Ech, laird, it wad
+be lang or ye gied me saxty."</p>
+<p>Another example of shrewd and ready humour in one of that class
+is the following:--In this case the idiot was musical, and earned a
+few stray pence by playing Scottish airs on a flute. He resided at
+Stirling, and used to hang about the door of the inn to watch the
+arrival and departure of travellers. A lady, who used to give him
+something occasionally, was just starting, and said to Jamie that
+she had only a fourpenny piece, and that he must be content with
+that, for she could not stay to get more. Jamie was not satisfied,
+and as the lady drove out, he expressed his feelings by playing
+with all his might, "O wearie o' the <i>toom pouch</i><a name=
+"FNanchor173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173">[173]</a>."</p>
+<p>The spirit in Jamie Fraser before mentioned, and which had kept
+him awake, shows itself in idiots occasionally by making them
+restless and troublesome. One of this character had annoyed the
+clergyman where he attended church by fidgeting, and by uncouth
+sounds which he uttered during divine service. Accordingly, one day
+before church began, he was cautioned against moving, or "making a
+whisht," under the penalty of being turned out. The poor creature
+sat quite still and silent, till, in a very important part of the
+sermon, he felt an inclination to cough. So he shouted out,
+"Minister, may a puir body like me noo gie a hoast<a name=
+"FNanchor174"></a><a href="#Footnote_174">[174]</a>?"</p>
+<p>I have two anecdotes of two peers, who might be said to come
+under the description of half-witted. In their case the same sort
+of dry Scotch humour came out under the cloak of mental disease.
+The first is of a Scottish nobleman of the last century who had
+been a soldier the greater part of his life, but was obliged to
+come home on account of aberration of mind, superinduced by
+hereditary propensity. Desirous of putting him under due restraint,
+and at the same time of engaging his mind in his favourite pursuit,
+his friends secured a Sergeant Briggs to be his companion, and, in
+fact, keeper. To render the sergeant acceptable as a companion they
+introduced him to the old earl as <i>Colonel</i> Briggs. Being
+asked how he liked "the colonel," the earl showed how acute he
+still was by his answer, "Oh, very well; he is a sensible man, and
+a good soldier, but he <i>smells damnably of the halbert</i>."</p>
+<p>The second anecdote relates also to a Scottish nobleman
+labouring under aberration of mind, and is, I believe, a
+traditionary one. In Scotland, some hundred years ago, madhouses
+did not exist, or were on a very limited scale; and there was often
+great difficulty in procuring suitable accommodation for patients
+who required special treatment and seclusion from the world. The
+gentleman in question had been consigned to the Canongate prison,
+and his position there was far from comfortable. An old friend
+called to see him, and asked how it had happened that he was placed
+in so unpleasant a situation. His reply was, "Sir, it was more the
+kind interest and patronage of my friends than my own merits that
+have placed me here." "But have you not remonstrated or
+complained?" asked his visitor. "I told them" said his lordship,
+"that they were a pack of infernal villains." "Did you?" said his
+friend; "that was bold language; and what did they say to that?"
+"Oh," said the peer, "I took care not to tell them till they were
+fairly out of the place, and weel up the Canongate."</p>
+<p>In Peebles there was a crazy being of this kind called "Daft
+Yedie." On one occasion he saw a gentleman, a stranger in the town,
+who had a club foot. Yedie contemplated this phenomenon with some
+interest, and, addressing the gentleman, said compassionately,
+"It's a great pity--its spoils the boot." There is a story of one
+of those half-witted creatures of a different character from the
+humorous ones already recorded; I think it is exceedingly
+affecting. The story is traditionary in a country district, and I
+am not aware of its being ever printed.</p>
+<p>A poor boy, of this class, who had evidently manifested a
+tendency towards religious and devotional feelings, asked
+permission from the clergyman to attend the Lord's Table and
+partake of the holy communion with the other members of the
+congregation (whether Episcopalian or Presbyterian I do not know).
+The clergyman demurred for some time, under the impression of his
+mind being incapable of a right and due understanding of the sacred
+ordinance. But observing the extreme earnestness of the poor boy,
+he at last gave consent, and he was allowed to come. He was much
+affected, and all the way home was heard to exclaim, "Oh! I hae
+seen the pretty man." This referred to his seeing the Lord Jesus
+whom he had approached in the sacrament. He kept repeating the
+words, and went with them on his lips to rest for the night. Not
+appearing at the usual hour for breakfast, when they went to his
+bedside they found him dead! The excitement had been too much--mind
+and body had given way--and the half-idiot of earth awoke to the
+glories and the bliss of his Redeemer's presence.</p>
+<p>Analogous with the language of the <i>defective</i> intellect is
+the language of the imperfectly formed intellect, and I have often
+thought there was something very touching and very fresh in the
+expression of feelings and notions by children. I have given
+examples before, but the following is, to my taste, a charming
+specimen:--A little boy had lived for some time with a very
+penurious uncle, who took good care that the child's health should
+not be injured by over-feeding. The uncle was one day walking out,
+the child at his side, when a friend accosted him, accompanied by a
+greyhound. While the elders were talking, the little fellow, never
+having seen a dog so slim and slight of form, clasped the creature
+round the neck with the impassioned cry, "Oh, doggie, doggie, and
+div ye live wi' your uncle tae, that ye are so thin?"</p>
+<p>In connection with funerals, I am indebted to the kindness of
+Lord Kinloch for a characteristic anecdote of cautious Scottish
+character in the west country. It was the old fashion, still
+practised in some districts, to carry the coffin to the grave on
+long poles, or "spokes," as they were commonly termed. There were
+usually two bearers abreast on each side. On a certain occasion one
+of the two said to his companion, "I'm awfu' tired wi' carryin'."
+"Do you <i>carry</i>?" was the interrogatory in reply. "Yes; what
+do you do?" "Oh," said the other, "I aye <i>lean</i>." His friend's
+fatigue was at once accounted for.</p>
+<p>I am strongly tempted to give an account of a parish functionary
+in the words of a kind correspondent from Kilmarnock, although
+communicated in the following very flattering terms:--"In common
+with every Scottish man worthy of the name, I have been delighted
+with your book, and have the ambition to add a pebble to the cairn,
+and accordingly send you a <i>bellman story</i>; it has, at least,
+the merit of being unprinted and unedited."</p>
+<p>The incumbent of Craigie parish, in this district of Ayrshire,
+had asked a Mr. Wood, tutor in the Cairnhill family, to officiate
+for him on a particular Sunday. Mr. Wood, however, between the time
+of being asked and the appointed day, got intimation of the
+dangerous illness of his father; in the hurry of setting out to see
+him, he forgot to arrange for the pulpit being filled. The bellman
+of Craigie parish, by name Matthew Dinning, and at this time about
+eighty years of age, was a very little "crined<a name=
+"FNanchor175"></a><a href="#Footnote_175">[175]</a>" old man, and
+always wore a broad Scottish blue bonnet, with a red "bob" on the
+top. The parish is a small rural one, so that Matthew knew every
+inhabitant in it, and had seen most of them grow up. On this
+particular day, after the congregation had waited for some time,
+Matthew was seen to walk very slowly up the middle of the church,
+with the large Bible and psalm-book under his arm, to mount the
+pulpit stair; and after taking his bonnet off, and smoothing down
+his forehead with his "loof," thus addressed the audience:--</p>
+<p>"My freens, there was ane Wuds tae hae preached here the day,
+but he has nayther comed himsell, nor had the ceevility tae sen' us
+the scart o' a pen. Ye'll bide here for ten meenonts, and gin
+naebody comes forrit in that time, ye can gang awa' hame. Some say
+his feyther's dead; as for that I kenna."</p>
+<p>The following is another illustration of the character of the
+old Scottish betheral. One of those worthies, who was parochial
+grave-digger, had been missing for two days or so, and the minister
+had in vain sent to discover him at most likely places. He
+bethought, at last, to make inquiry at a "public" at some distance
+from the village, and on entering the door he met his man in the
+trance, quite fou, staggering out, supporting himself with a hand
+on each wa'. To the minister's sharp rebuke and rising wrath for
+his indecent and shameful behaviour, John, a wag in his way, and
+emboldened by liquor, made answer, "'Deed, sir, sin' I ca'd at the
+manse, I hae buried an auld wife, and I've just drucken her, hough
+an' horn." Such was his candid admission of the manner in which he
+had disposed of the church fees paid for the interment.</p>
+<p>An encounter of wits between a laird and an elder:--A certain
+laird in Fife, well known for his parsimonious habits, and who,
+although his substance largely increased, did not increase his
+liberality in his weekly contribution to the church collection,
+which never exceeded the sum of one penny, one day by mistake
+dropped into the plate at the door half-a-crown; but discovering
+his error before he was seated in his pew, he hurried back, and was
+about to replace the coin by his customary penny, when the elder in
+attendance cried out, "Stop, laird; ye may put <i>in</i> what ye
+like, but ye maun tak naething <i>oot</i>!" The laird, finding his
+explanations went for nothing, at last said, "Aweel, I suppose I'll
+get credit for it in heaven." "Na, na, laird," said the elder,
+sarcastically; "ye'll only get credit for the <i>penny</i>."</p>
+<p>The following is not a bad specimen of sly <i>piper</i>
+wit:--</p>
+<p>The Rev. Mr. Johnstone of Monquhitter, a very grandiloquent
+pulpit orator in his day, accosting a travelling piper, well known
+in the district, with the question, "Well, John, how does the wind
+pay?" received from John, with a low bow, the answer, "Your
+Reverence has the advantage of me."</p>
+<p>Apropos to stories connected with ministers and pipers, there
+cannot be a better specimen than the famous one preserved by Sir
+Walter Scott, in his notes to <i>Waverley</i>, which I am tempted
+to reproduce, as possibly some of my readers may have forgotten it.
+The gudewife of the inn at Greenlaw had received four clerical
+guests into her house, a father and three sons. The father took an
+early opportunity of calling the attention of the landlady to the
+subject of his visit, and, introducing himself, commenced in rather
+a pompous manner--"Now, confess, Luckie Buchan, you never remember
+having such a party in your house before. Here am I, a placed
+minister, with my three sons, who are themselves <i>all</i> placed
+ministers." The landlady, accustomed to a good deal of deference
+and attention from the county families, not quite liking the high
+tone assumed by the minister on the occasion, and being well aware
+that all the four were reckoned very poor and uninteresting
+preachers, answered rather drily, "'Deed, minister, I canna just
+say that I ever had sic a party before in the hoose, except it were
+in the '45, when I had a piper and his three sons--<i>a</i>'
+pipers. But" (she added quietly, as if aside), "deil a spring could
+they play amang them."</p>
+<p>I have received from Rev. William Blair, A.M., U.P. minister at
+Dunblane, many kind communications. I have made a selection, which
+I now group together, and they have this character in common, that
+they are all anecdotes of ministers:--</p>
+<p>Rev. Walter Dunlop of Dumfries was well known for pithy and
+facetious replies; he was kindly known under the appellation of our
+"Watty Dunlop." On one occasion two irreverent young fellows
+determined, as they said, to "taigle<a name=
+"FNanchor176"></a><a href="#Footnote_176">[176]</a>" the minister.
+Coming up to him in the High Street of Dumfries, they accosted him
+with much solemnity--"Maister Dunlop, dae ye hear the news?" "What
+news?" "Oh, the deil's deed." "Is he?" said Mr. Dunlop, "then I
+maun pray for twa faitherless bairns." On another occasion Mr.
+Dunlop met, with characteristic humour, an attempt to play off a
+trick against him. It was known that he was to dine with a minister
+whose house was close to the church, so that his return back must
+be through the churchyard. Accordingly some idle and mischievous
+youths waited for him in the dark night, and one of them came up to
+him, dressed as a ghost, in hopes of putting him in a fright.
+Watty's cool accost speedily upset the plan:--"Weel, Maister
+Ghaist, is this a general rising, or are ye juist takin' a daunder
+frae yer grave by yersell?" I have received from a correspondent
+another specimen of Watty's acute rejoinders. Some years ago the
+celebrated Edward Irving had been lecturing at Dumfries, and a man
+who passed as a wag in that locality had been to hear him. He met
+Watty Dunlop the following day, who said, "Weel, Willie, man, an'
+what do ye think of Mr. Irving?" "Oh," said Willie, contemptuously,
+"the man's crack't." Dunlop patted him on the shoulder, with a
+quiet remark, "Willie, ye'll aften see a light peeping through a
+crack!"</p>
+<p>He was accompanying a funeral one day, when he met a man driving
+a flock of geese. The wayward disposition of the bipeds at the
+moment was too much for the driver's temper, and he indignantly
+cried out, "Deevil choke them!" Mr. Dunlop walked a little farther
+on, and passed a farm-stead, where a servant was driving out a
+number of swine, and banning them with "Deevil tak them!" Upon
+which, Mr. Dunlop stepped up to him, and said, "Ay, ay, my man;
+your gentleman'll be wi' ye i' the noo: he's juist back the road
+there a bit, choking some geese till a man."</p>
+<p>Shortly after the Disruption, Dr. Cook of St. Andrews was
+introduced to Mr. Dunlop, upon which occasion Mr. Dunlop said,
+"Weel, sir, ye've been lang Cook, Cooking them, but ye've dished
+them at last."</p>
+<p>Mr. Clark of Dalreoch, whose head was vastly disproportioned to
+his body, met Mr. Dunlop one day. "Weel, Mr. Clark, that's a great
+head o' yours." "Indeed it is, Mr. Dunlop; I could contain yours
+inside of my own." "Juist sae," quietly replied Mr. Dunlop; "I was
+e'en thinkin' it was geyan <i>toom</i><a name=
+"FNanchor177"></a><a href="#Footnote_177">[177]</a>."</p>
+<p>Mr. Dunlop happened one day to be present in a church court of a
+neighbouring presbytery. A Rev. Doctor was asked to pray, and
+declined. On the meeting adjourning, Mr. Dunlop stepped up to the
+Doctor, and asked how he did. The Doctor, never having been
+introduced, did not reply. Mr. Dunlop withdrew, and said to his
+friend, "Eh! but isna he a queer man, that Doctor, he'll neither
+speak to God nor man."</p>
+<p>The Rev. John Brown of Whitburn was riding out one day on an old
+pony, when he was accosted by a rude youth: "I say, Mr. Broon, what
+gars your horse's tail wag that way?" "Oo, juist what gars your
+tongue wag; it's fashed wi' a <i>wakeness</i>."</p>
+<p>About sixty years ago there were two ministers in Sanquhar of
+the name of Thomson, one of whom was father of the late Dr. Andrew
+Thomson of Edinburgh, the other was father of Dr. Thomson of
+Balfron. The domestic in the family of the latter was rather
+obtrusive with her secret devotions, sometimes kneeling on the
+stairs at night, and talking loud enough to be heard. On a
+communion season she was praying devoutly and exclusively for her
+minister: "Remember Mr. Tamson, no him at the Green, but oor ain
+Mr. Tamson."</p>
+<p>Rev. Mr. Leslie of Morayshire combined the duties of justice of
+peace with those of parochial clergyman. One day he was taken into
+confidence by a culprit who had been caught in the act of
+smuggling, and was threatened with a heavy fine. The culprit was a
+staunch Seceder, and owned a small farm. Mr. Leslie, with an
+old-fashioned zeal for the Established Church, said to him, "The
+king will come in the cadger's road some day. Ye wadna come to the
+parish kirk, though it were to save your life, wad ye? Come noo,
+an' I'se mak ye a' richt!" Next Sabbath the seceding smuggler
+appeared in the parish kirk, and as the paupers were receiving
+parochial allowance, Mr. Leslie slipped a shilling into the
+smuggler's hand. When the J.P. Court was held, Mr. Leslie was
+present, when a fine was proposed to be exacted from the smuggler.
+"Fine!" said Mr. Leslie; "he's mair need o' something to get duds
+to his back. He's are o' my <i>poor roll</i>; I gie'd him a
+shilling just last Sabbath."</p>
+<p>A worthy old Seceder used to ride from Gargunnock to Bucklyvie
+every Sabbath to attend the Burgher kirk. One day as he rode past
+the parish kirk of Kippen, the elder at the plate accosted him,
+"I'm sure, John, it's no like the thing to see you ridin' in sic a
+doon-pour o' rain sae far by to thae Seceders. Ye ken the mercifu'
+man is mercifu' to his beast. Could ye no step in by?" "Weel," said
+John, "I wadna care sae muckle about stablin' my beast inside, but
+it's anither thing mysel' gain' in."</p>
+<p>The Rev. Dr. George Lawson of Selkirk acted for many years as
+theological tutor to the Secession Church. One day, on entering the
+Divinity Hall, he overheard a student remark that the professor's
+wig was uncombed. That same student, on that very day, had occasion
+to preach a sermon before the Doctor, for which he received a bit
+of severe criticism, the sting of which was in its tail: "You said
+my wig wasna kaimed this mornin', my lad, but I think I've redd
+your head to you."</p>
+<p>The Rev. John Heugh of Stirling was one day admonishing one of
+his people of the sin of intemperance: "Man, John, you should never
+drink except when you're dry." "Weel, sir," quoth John, "that's
+what I'm aye doin', for I am never slocken'd."</p>
+<p>The Rev. Mr. M---- of Bathgate came up to a street-paviour one
+day, and addressed him, "Eh, John, what's this you're at?" "Oh! I'm
+mending the ways o' Bathgate!" "Ah, John, I've long been trying to
+mend the ways o' Bathgate, an' they're no weel yet." "Weel, Mr. M.,
+if you had tried my plan, and come doon to your <i>knees</i>, ye
+wad maybe hae come mair speed!"</p>
+<p>There once lived in Cupar a merchant whose store contained
+supplies of every character and description, so that he was
+commonly known by the sobriquet of Robbie A'Thing. One day a
+minister, who was well known for a servile use of MS. in the
+pulpit, called at the store, asking for a rope and pin to tether a
+young calf in the glebe. Robbie at once informed him that he could
+not furnish such articles to him. But the minister, being somewhat
+importunate, said, "Oh! I thought you were named Robbie A'Thing
+from the fact of your keeping all kinds of goods." "Weel a weel,"
+said Robbie, "I keep a'thing in my shop but calf's tether-pins and
+paper sermons for ministers to read."</p>
+<p>It was a somewhat whimsical advice, supported by whimsical
+argument, which used to be given by an old Scottish minister to
+young preachers, when they visited from home, to "sup well at the
+kail, for if they were good they were worth the supping, and if not
+they might be sure there was not much worth coming <i>after</i>
+them."</p>
+<p>A good many families in and around Dunblane rejoice in the
+patronymic of Dochart. This name, which sounds somewhat Irish, is
+derived from Loch Dochart, in Perthshire. The M'Gregors having been
+proscribed, were subjected to severe penalties, and a group of the
+clan having been hunted by their superiors, swam the stream which
+issues from Loch Dochart, and in gratitude to the river they
+afterwards assumed the family name of Dochart. A young lad of this
+name, on being sent to Glasgow College, presented a letter from his
+minister to Rev. Dr. Heugh of Glasgow. He gave his name as Dochart,
+and the name in the letter was M'Gregor. "Oh," said the Doctor, "I
+fear there is some mistake about your identity, the names don't
+agree." "Weel, sir, that's the way they spell the name in our
+country."</p>
+<p>The relative whom I have mentioned as supplying so many Scottish
+anecdotes had many stories of a parochial functionary whose
+eccentricities have, in a great measure, given way before the
+assimilating spirit of the times. I mean the old SCOTTISH BEADLE,
+or betheral, as he used to be called. Some classes of men are found
+to have that nameless but distinguishing characteristic of figure
+and aspect which marks out particular occupations and professions
+of mankind. This was so much the case in the betheral class, that
+an old lady, observing a well-known judge and advocate walking
+together in the street, remarked to a friend as they passed by,
+"Dear me, Lucy, wha are thae twa <i>beddle-looking</i> bodies?"
+They were often great originals, and, I suspect, must have been in
+past times somewhat given to convivial habits, from a remark I
+recollect of the late Baron Clerk Rattray, viz. that in his younger
+days he had hardly ever known a perfectly sober betheral. However
+this may have been, they were, as a class, remarkable for quaint
+humour, and for being shrewd observers of what was going on. I have
+heard of an occasion where the betheral made his wit furnish an
+apology for his want of sobriety. He had been sent round the parish
+by the minister to deliver notices at all the houses, of the
+catechising which was to precede the preparation for receiving the
+communion. On his return it was quite evident that he had partaken
+too largely of refreshment since he had been on his expedition. The
+minister reproached him for this improper conduct. The betheral
+pleaded the pressing <i>hospitality</i> of the parishioners. The
+clergyman did not admit the plea, and added, "Now, John, I go
+through the parish, and you don't see me return fou, as you have
+done." "Ay, minister," rejoined the betheral, with much
+complacency, "but then aiblins ye're no sae popular i' the parish
+as me."</p>
+<p>My relative used to tell of one of these officials receiving,
+with much ceremony, a brother betheral, from a neighbouring parish,
+who had come with the minister thereof for the purpose of preaching
+on some special occasion. After service, the betheral of the
+stranger clergyman felt proud of the performance of the appointed
+duty, and said in a triumphant tone to his friend, "I think oor
+minister did weel; ay, he gars the stour flee oot o' the cushion."
+To which the other rejoined, with a calm feeling of superiority,
+"Stour oot o' the cushion! hout, our minister, sin' he cam wi' us,
+has dung the guts oot o' twa Bibles." Another description I have
+heard of an energetic preacher more forcible than delicate--"Eh,
+oor minister had a great power o' watter, for he grat, and spat,
+and swat like mischeef." An obliging anonymous correspondent has
+sent me a story of a functionary of this class whose pride was
+centred not so much in the performance of the minister as of the
+precentor. He states that he remembers an old beadle of the church
+which was called "Haddo's Hole," and sometimes the "Little Kirk,"
+in Edinburgh, whose son occasionally officiated as precentor. He
+was not very well qualified for the duty, but the father had a high
+opinion of his son's vocal powers. In those days there was always
+service in the church on the Tuesday evenings; and when the father
+was asked on such occasions, "Who's to preach to-night?" his
+self-complacent reply used to be, "I divna ken wha's till preach,
+but my son's for till precent." The following is a more correct
+version of a betheral story than one which occupied this page in
+the last edition. The beadle had been asked to recommend a person
+for the same office, and his answer was, "If ye had wanted twa or
+three bits o' elder bodies, I cud hae gotten them for ye as easily
+as penny baps oot of Mr. Rowan's shop," pointing to a baker's shop
+opposite to where the colloquy took place; "or even if ye had
+wanted a minister, I might hae helpit ye to get ane; but as for a
+gude <i>beadle</i>, that's about the maist difficult thing I ken o'
+just now."</p>
+<p>Perhaps the following may seem to illustrate the self-importance
+of the betheral tribe. The Rev. Dr. Hugh Blair was one Sunday
+absent from his pulpit, and next morning meeting his beadle in the
+street he inquired how matters went in the High Church on Sabbath.
+"'Deed, I dare say no very weel," was the answer; "I wasna there
+ony mair than yoursell."</p>
+<p>Mr. Turnbull of Dundee kindly sends me an excellent anecdote of
+the "Betheral" type, which illustrates the <i>esprit de corps</i>
+of the betherelian mind. The late Dr. Robertson of Glasgow had,
+while in the parish of Mains, a quaint old church attendant of the
+name of Walter Nicoll, commonly called "Watty Nuckle," whom he
+invited to come and visit him after he had been removed to Glasgow.
+Watty accordingly ventured on the (to him) terrible journey, and
+was received by the Doctor with great kindness. The Doctor, amongst
+other sights, took him to see the Cathedral church, and showed him
+all through it, and after they were coming away the Doctor asked
+Watty what he thought of it, and if it was not better than the
+Mains church. Watty shook his head, and said, "Aweel, sir, you see
+she's bigger; but she has nae laft, and she's sair fashed wi' thae
+pillars."</p>
+<p>On the same subject of beadle peculiarities, I have received
+from Mrs. Mearns of Kineff Manse an exquisitely characteristic
+illustration of beadle <i>professional</i> habits being made to
+bear upon the tender passion:--A certain beadle had fancied the
+manse housemaid, but at a loss for an opportunity to declare
+himself, one day--a Sunday--when his duties were ended, he looked
+sheepish, and said, "Mary, wad <i>ye</i> tak a turn, Mary?" He led
+her to the churchyard, and pointing with his finger, got out, "My
+fowk lie there, Mary; wad ye like to lie there?" The <i>grave</i>
+hint was taken, and she became his wife, but does not yet lie
+<i>there</i>.</p>
+<p>Here is another good example of betheral refinement or
+philosophy.--He was carefully dressing up a grave, and adjusting
+the turf upon it. The clergyman, passing through the churchyard,
+observed, "That's beautiful sod, Jeems." "Indeed is't, minister,
+and I grudge it upon the grave o' sic a scamp."</p>
+<p>This class of functionaries were very free in their remarks upon
+the preaching of strangers, who used occasionally to occupy the
+pulpit of their church--the city betherals speaking sometimes in a
+most condescending manner of clergy from the provincial parishes.
+As, for example, a betheral of one of the large churches in
+Glasgow, criticising the sermon of a minister from the country who
+had been preaching in the city church, characterised it as "gude
+coorse country wark." A betheral of one of the churches of St.
+Giles, Edinburgh, used to call on the family of Mr. Robert
+Stevenson, engineer, who was one of the elders. On one occasion
+they asked him what had been the text on such a night, when none of
+the family had been present. The man of office, confused at the
+question, and unwilling to show anything like ignorance, poured
+forth, "Weel, ye see, the text last day was just entirely,
+sirs--yes--the text, sirs--what was it again?--ou ay, just
+entirely, ye see it was, 'What profiteth a man if he lose the
+world, and gain his own soul?'" Most of such stories are usually of
+an old standing. A more recent one has been told me of a betheral
+of a royal burgh much decayed from former importance, and governed
+by a feeble municipality of old men, who continued in office, and
+in fact constituted rather the shadow than the substance of a
+corporation. A clergyman from a distance having come to officiate
+in the parish church, the betheral, knowing the terms on which it
+was usual for the minister officiating to pray for the efficiency
+of the local magistracy, quietly cautioned the clergyman before
+service that, in regard to the town-council there, it would be
+quite out of place for him to pray that they should be a "terror to
+evil-doers," because, as he said, "the puir auld bodies could be
+nae terror to onybody." A minister of Easter Anstruther, during the
+last century, used to say of the magistrates of Wester Anstruther,
+that "instead of being a terror to evil-doers, evil-doers were a
+terror to them."</p>
+<p>The "minister's man" was a functionary well known in many
+parishes, and who often evinced much Scottish humour and original
+character. These men were (like the betheral) great critics of
+sermons, and often severe upon strangers, sometimes with a sly hit
+at their own minister. One of these, David, a well-known character,
+complimenting a young minister who had preached, told him, "Your
+introduction, sir, is aye grand; its worth a' the rest o' the
+sermon--could ye no mak it a' introduction?"</p>
+<p>David's criticisms of his master's sermons were sometimes sharp
+enough and shrewd. On one occasion, driving the minister home from
+a neighbouring church where he had been preaching, and who, as he
+thought, had acquitted himself pretty well, inquired of David what
+<i>he</i> thought of it. The subject of discourse had been the
+escape of the Israelites from Egypt. So David opened his
+criticism--"Thocht o't, sir? deed I thocht nocht o't ava. It was a
+vara imperfect discourse in ma opinion; ye did weel eneuch till ye
+took them through, but where did ye leave them? just daunerin' o'
+the sea-shore without a place to gang till. Had it no been for
+Pharaoh they had been better on the other side, where they were
+comfortably encampit, than daunerin' where ye left them. It's
+painful to hear a sermon stoppit afore it's richt ended, just as it
+is to hear ane streekit out lang after it's dune. That's ma opinion
+o' the sermon ye gied us to-day." "Very freely given, David, very
+freely given; drive on a little faster, for I think ye're daunerin'
+noo yersell."</p>
+<p>To another who had gone through a long course of parish official
+life a gentleman one day remarked--"John, ye hae been sae lang
+about the minister's hand that I dare say ye could preach a sermon
+yersell now." To which John modestly replied, "O na, sir, I couldna
+preach a sermon, but maybe I could draw an inference." "Well,
+John," said the gentleman, humouring the quiet vanity of the
+beadle, "what inference could ye draw frae this text, 'A wild ass
+snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure?'" (Jer. ii. 24). "Weel, sir,
+I wad draw this inference, he would snuff a lang time afore he
+would fatten upon't." I had an anecdote from a friend, of a reply
+from a betheral to the minister <i>in</i> church, which was quaint
+and amusing from the shrewd self-importance it indicated in his own
+acuteness. The clergyman had been annoyed during the course of his
+sermon by the restlessness and occasional whining of a dog, which
+at last began to bark outright. He looked out for the beadle, and
+directed him very peremptorily, "John, carry that dog out." John,
+looked up to the pulpit, and with a very knowing expression, said,
+"Na, na, sir; I'se just mak him gae out on his ain four legs." I
+have another story of canine misbehaviour in church. A dog was
+present during the service, and in the sermon the worthy minister
+was in the habit of speaking very loud, and, in fact, when he got
+warmed with his subject, of shouting almost at the top of his
+voice. The dog, who, in the early part, had been very quiet, became
+quite excited, as is not uncommon with some dogs when hearing a
+noise, and from whinging and whining, as the speaker's voice rose
+loud and strong, at last began to bark and howl. The minister,
+naturally much annoyed at the interruption, called upon the
+betheral to put out the dog, who at once expressed his readiness to
+obey the order, but could not resist the temptation to look up to
+the pulpit, and to say very significantly, "Ay, ay, sir; but indeed
+it was yersell began it." There is a dog story connected with
+Reminiscences of Glasgow (see <i>Chambers's Journal</i>, March
+1855), which is full of meaning. The bowls of rum-punch which so
+remarkably characterised the Glasgow dinners of last century and
+the early part of the present, it is to be feared made some of the
+congregation given to somnolency on the Sundays following. The
+members of the town-council often adopted Saturday for such
+meetings; accordingly, the Rev. Mr. Thorn, an excellent
+clergyman<a name="FNanchor178"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_178">[178]</a>, took occasion to mark this propensity
+with some acerbity. A dog had been very troublesome, and disturbed
+the congregation for some time, when the minister at last gave
+orders to the beadle, "Take out that dog; he'd wauken a Glasgow
+magistrate."</p>
+<p>The parochial gravediggers had sometimes a very familiar
+professional style of dealing with the solemn subjects connected
+with their office. Thus I have heard of a grave-digger pointing out
+a large human bone to a lady who was looking at his work, of
+digging a grave, and asking her--"D'ye ken wha's bane that is,
+mem?--that's Jenny Fraser's hench-bane;" adding with a serious
+aspect--"a weel-baned family thae Frasers."</p>
+<p>It would be impossible in these Reminiscences to omit the
+well-known and often repeated anecdote connected with an eminent
+divine of our own country, whose works take a high place in our
+theological literature. The story to which I allude was rendered
+popular throughout the kingdom some years ago, by the inimitable
+mode in which it was told, or rather acted, by the late Charles
+Matthews. But Matthews was wrong in the person of whom he related
+the humorous address. I have assurance of the parties from a
+friend, whose father, a distinguished clergyman in the Scottish
+Church at the time, had accurate knowledge of the whole
+circumstances. The late celebrated Dr. Macknight, a learned and
+profound scholar and commentator, was nevertheless, as a preacher,
+to a great degree heavy, unrelieved by fancy or imagination; an
+able writer, but a dull speaker. His colleague, Dr. Henry, well
+known as the author of a History of England, was, on the other
+hand, a man of great humour, and could not resist a joke when the
+temptation came upon him. On one occasion when coming to church,
+Dr. Macknight had been caught in a shower of rain, and entered the
+vestry soaked with wet. Every means were used to relieve him from
+his discomfort; but as the time drew on for divine service he
+became much distressed, and ejaculated over and over, "Oh, I wush
+that I was dry; do you think I'm dry? do you think I'm dry eneuch
+noo?" His jocose colleague could resist no longer, but, patting him
+on the shoulder, comforted him with the sly assurance, "Bide a wee,
+Doctor, and ye'se be <i>dry eneuch</i> when ye get into the
+pu'pit."</p>
+<p>Another quaint remark of the facetious doctor to his more formal
+colleague has been preserved by friends of the family. Dr. Henry,
+who with all his pleasantry and abilities, had himself as little
+popularity in the pulpit as his coadjutor, had been remarking to
+Dr. Macknight what a blessing it was that they were two colleagues
+in one charge, and continued dwelling on the subject so long, that
+Dr. Macknight, not quite pleased at the frequent reiteration of the
+remark, said that it certainly was a great pleasure to himself, but
+he did not see what great benefit it might be to the world. "Ah,"
+said Dr. Henry, "an it hadna been for that, there wad hae been
+<i>twa</i> toom<a name="FNanchor179"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_179">[179]</a> kirks this day." Lord Cockburn tells a
+characteristic anecdote of Dr. Henry's behaviour the last day of
+his life. I am indebted to a gentleman, himself also a
+distinguished member of the Scottish Church, for an authentic
+anecdote of this learned divine, and which occurred whilst Dr.
+Macknight was the minister of Maybole. One of his parishioners, a
+well-known humorous blacksmith of the parish, who, no doubt,
+thought that the Doctor's learned books were rather a waste of time
+and labour for a country pastor, was asked if his minister was at
+home. The Doctor was then busy bringing out his laborious and
+valuable work, his <i>Harmony of the Four Gospels</i>. "Na, he's
+gane to Edinburgh on a verra useless job." On being asked what this
+useless work might be which engaged his pastor's time and
+attention, he answered, "He's gane to mak four men agree wha ne'er
+cast oot." The good-humoured and candid answer of a learned and
+rather long-winded preacher of the old school always appeared to me
+quite charming. The good man was far from being a popular preacher,
+and yet he could not reduce his discourses below the hour and a
+half. On being asked, as a gentle hint of their possibly needless
+length, if he did not feel <i>tired</i> after preaching so long, he
+replied, "Na, na, I'm no tired;" adding, however, with much
+na&iuml;vet&eacute;, "But, Lord, how tired the fowk whiles
+are."</p>
+<p>The late good kind-hearted Dr. David Dickson was fond of telling
+a story of a Scottish termagant of the days before kirk-session
+discipline had passed away. A couple were brought before the court,
+and Janet, the wife, was charged with violent and undutiful
+conduct, and with wounding her husband by throwing a three-legged
+stool at his head. The minister rebuked her conduct, and pointed
+out its grievous character, by explaining that just as Christ was
+head of his Church, so the husband was head of the wife; and
+therefore in assaulting <i>him</i>, she had in fact injured her own
+body. "Weel," she replied, "it's come to a fine pass gin a wife
+canna kame her ain head;" "Ay, but, Janet," rejoined the minister,
+"a three-legged stool is a thief-like bane-kame to scart yer ain
+head wi'!"</p>
+<p>The following is a dry Scottish case, of a minister's wife
+quietly "kaming her husband's head." Mr. Mair, a Scotch minister,
+was rather short-tempered, and had a wife named Rebecca, whom for
+brevity's sake he addressed as "Becky." He kept a diary, and among
+other entries, this one was very frequent--"Becky and I had a
+rippet, for which I desire to be humble." A gentleman who had been
+on a visit to the minister went to Edinburgh, and told the story to
+a minister and his wife there; when the lady replied "Weel, he must
+have been an excellent man, Mr. Mair. My husband and I sometimes
+too have 'rippets,' but catch him if he's ever humble."</p>
+<p>Our object in bringing up and recording anecdotes of this kind
+is to elucidate the sort of humour we refer to, and to show it as a
+humour of <i>past</i> times. A modern clergyman could hardly adopt
+the tone and manner of the older class of ministers--men not less
+useful and beloved, on account of their odd Scottish humour, which
+indeed suited their time. Could a clergyman, for instance, now come
+off from the trying position in which we have heard of a northern
+minister being placed, and by the same way through which he
+extricated himself with much good nature and quiet sarcasm? A young
+man, sitting opposite to him in the front of the gallery, had been
+up late on the previous night, and had stuffed the cards with which
+he had been occupied into his coat pocket. Forgetting the
+circumstance, he pulled out his handkerchief, and the cards all
+flew about. The minister simply looked at him, and remarked, "Eh,
+man, your psalm-buik has been ill bund."</p>
+<p>An admirable story of a quiet pulpit rebuke is traditionary in
+Fife, and is told of Mr. Shirra, a Seceding minister of Kirkcaldy,
+a man still well remembered by some of the older generation for
+many excellent and some eccentric qualities. A young officer of a
+volunteer corps on duty in the place, very proud of his fresh
+uniform, had come to Mr. Shirra's church, and walked about as if
+looking for a seat, but in fact to show off his dress, which he saw
+was attracting attention from some of the less grave members of the
+congregation. He came to his place, however, rather quickly, on Mr.
+Shirra quietly remonstrating, "O man, will ye sit doun, and we'll
+see your new breeks when the kirk's dune." This same Mr. Shirra was
+well known from his quaint, and, as it were, parenthetical comments
+which he introduced in his reading of Scripture; as, for example,
+on reading from the 116th Psalm, "I said in my haste all men are
+liars," he quietly observed, "Indeed, Dauvid, my man, an' ye had
+been i' this parish ye might hae said it at your leisure."</p>
+<p>There was something even still more pungent in the incidental
+remark of a good man, in the course of his sermon, who had in a
+country place taken to preaching out of doors in the summer
+afternoons. He used to collect the people as they were taking air
+by the side of a stream outside the village. On one occasion he had
+unfortunately taken his place on a bank, and fixed himself on an
+<i>ants' nest</i>. The active habits of those little creatures soon
+made the position of the intruder upon their domain very
+uncomfortable; and, afraid that his audience might observe
+something of this discomfort in his manner, he apologised by the
+remark--"Brethren, though I hope I have the word of God in my
+mouth, I think the deil himself has gotten into my breeks."</p>
+<p>There was often no doubt a sharp conflict of wits when some of
+these humorist ministers came into collision with members of their
+flocks who were <i>also</i> humorists. Of this nature is the
+following anecdote, which I am assured is genuine:--A minister in
+the north was taking to task one of his hearers who was a frequent
+defaulter, and was reproaching him as a habitual absentee from
+public worship. The accused vindicated himself on the plea of a
+dislike to long sermons. "'Deed, man," said the reverend monitor, a
+little nettled at the insinuation thrown out against himself, "if
+ye dinna mend, ye may land yersell where ye'll no be troubled wi'
+mony sermons either lang or short." "Weel, aiblins sae," retorted
+John, "but <i>that</i> mayna be for want o' ministers."</p>
+<p>An answer to another clergyman, Mr. Shireff, parochial minister
+of St. Ninian's, is indicative of Scottish and really clever wit.
+One of the members of his church was John Henderson or Anderson--a
+very decent douce shoemaker--and who left the church and joined the
+Independents, who had a meeting in Stirling. Some time afterwards,
+when Mr. Shireff met John on the road, he said, "And so, John, I
+understand you have become an Independent?" "'Deed, sir," replied
+John, "that's true." "Oh, John," said the minister, "I'm sure you
+ken that a rowin' (rolling) stane gathers nae fog" (moss). "Ay,"
+said John, "that's true too; but can ye tell me what guid the fog
+does to the stane?" Mr. Shireff himself afterwards became a
+Baptist. The wit, however, was all in favour of the minister in the
+following:--</p>
+<p>Dr. Gilchrist, formerly of the East Parish of Greenock, and who
+died minister of the Canongate, Edinburgh, received an intimation
+of one of his hearers who had been exceedingly irregular in his
+attendance that he had taken seats in an Episcopal chapel. One day
+soon after, he met his former parishioner, who told him candidly
+that he had "changed his religion." "Indeed," said the Doctor
+quietly; "how's that? I ne'er heard ye had ony." It was this same
+Dr. Gilchrist who gave the well-known quiet but forcible rebuke to
+a young minister whom he considered rather conceited and fond of
+putting forward his own doings, and who was to officiate in the
+Doctor's church. He explained to him the mode in which he usually
+conducted the service, and stated that he always finished the
+prayer before the sermon with the Lord's Prayer. The young minister
+demurred at this, and asked if he "might not introduce any other
+short prayer?" "Ou ay," was the Doctor's quiet reply, "gif ye can
+gie us onything <i>better</i>."</p>
+<p>There is a story current of a sharp hit at the pretensions of a
+minister who required a little set down. The scene was on a Monday
+by a burn near Inverness. A stranger is fishing by a burn-side one
+Monday morning, when the parish minister accosts him from the other
+side of the stream thus:--"Good sport?" "Not very." "I am also an
+angler," but, pompously, "I am a <i>fisher of men</i>." "Are you
+always successful?" "Not very." "So I guessed, as I keeked into
+your creel<a name="FNanchor180"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_180">[180]</a> yesterday."</p>
+<p>At Banchory, on Deeside, some of the criticisms and remarks on
+sermons were very quaint and characteristic. My cousin had asked
+the Leys grieve what he thought of a young man's preaching, who had
+been more successful in appropriating the words than the ideas of
+Dr. Chalmers. He drily answered, "Ou, Sir Thomas, just a floorish
+o' the surface." But the same hearer bore this unequivocal
+testimony to another preacher whom he really admired. He was asked
+if he did not think the sermon long: "Na, I should nae hae thocht
+it lang an' I'd been sitting on thorns."</p>
+<p>I think the following is about as good a sample of what we call
+Scotch "pawky" as any I know:--A countryman had lost his wife and a
+favourite cow on the same day. His friends consoled him for the
+loss of the wife; and being highly respectable, several hints and
+offers were made towards getting another for him. "Ou ay," he at
+length replied; "you're a' keen aneuch to get me anither wife, but
+no yin o' ye offers to gie me anither coo."</p>
+<p>The following anecdotes, collected from different contributors,
+are fair samples of the quaint and original character of Scottish
+ways and expressions, now becoming more and more matters of
+reminiscence:--A poor man came to his minister for the purpose of
+intimating his intention of being married. As he expressed,
+however, some doubts on the subject, and seemed to hesitate, the
+minister asked him if there were any doubts about his being
+accepted. No, that was not the difficulty; but he expressed a fear
+that it might not be altogether suitable, and he asked whether, if
+he were once married, he could not (in case of unsuitability and
+unhappiness) get <i>un</i>married. The clergyman assured him that
+it was impossible; if he married, it must be for better and worse;
+that he could not go back upon the step. So thus instructed he went
+away. After a time he returned, and said he had made up his mind to
+try the experiment, and he came and was married. Ere long he came
+back very disconsolate, and declared it would not do at all; that
+he was quite miserable, and begged to be unmarried. The minister
+assured him that was out of the question, and urged him to put away
+the notion of anything so absurd. The man insisted that the
+marriage could not hold good, for the wife was "waur than the
+deevil." The minister demurred, saying that it was quite
+impossible. "'Deed, sir," said the poor man, "the Bible tells ye
+that if ye resist the deil he flees frae ye, but if ye resist her
+she flees <i>at</i> ye."</p>
+<p>A faithful minister of the gospel, being one day engaged in
+visiting some members of his flock, came to the door of a house
+where his gentle tapping could not be heard for the noise of
+contention within. After waiting a little he opened the door, and
+walked in, saying, with an authoritative voice, "I should like to
+know who is the head of this house." "Weel, sir," said the husband
+and father, "if ye sit doun a wee, we'll maybe be able to tell ye,
+for we're just trying to settle that point."</p>
+<p>I have received from my kind correspondent, Rev. Mr. Hogg of
+Kirkmahoe, the following most amusing account of a passage-at-arms
+between a minister and "minister's man," both of them of the old
+school. The minister of a parish in Dumfriesshire had a man who had
+long and faithfully served at the manse. During the minister's
+absence, a ploughing match came off in the district, and the man,
+feeling the old spirit return with the force of former days, wished
+to enter the lists, and go in for a prize, which he did, and gained
+the <i>fifth</i> prize. The minister, on his return home, and
+glancing at the local newspaper, saw the report of the match, and
+the name of his own man in the prize-list. Being of a crusty
+temper, he rang the bell in fury, and summoned John, when the
+following colloquy took place:--"John, how is this? who gave you
+leave to go to the ploughing-match?" "You were not at hame, sir."
+"Well, you should have written to me." "I didn't think it was worth
+while, sir, as we had our ain ploughing <i>forrit</i><a name=
+"FNanchor181"></a><a href="#Footnote_181">[181]</a>." "That may be;
+but why were you not higher in the prize-list? I'm ashamed of you,
+and you ought to be ashamed of yourself for being so far behind."
+John's patience had given way, and, in his haste he burst forth,
+"Indeed, I'm thinking, sir, that if ye were at a <i>preaching</i>
+match, and five-and-thirty in the field, ye wadna come in for
+<i>onything</i>, let a-be for a fift'."</p>
+<p>Stories of humorous encounters between ministers and their
+hearers are numerous, and though often seasoned with dry and
+caustic humour, they never indicate appearance of bitterness or
+ill-feeling between the parties. As an example, a clergyman thought
+his people were making rather an unconscionable objection to his
+using a MS. in delivering his sermon. They urged, "What gars ye tak
+up your bit papers to the pu'pit?" He replied that it was best, for
+really he could not remember his sermon, and must have his papers.
+"Weel, weel, minister, then dinna expect that <i>we</i> can
+remember them."</p>
+<p>Some of these encounters arise out of the old question of
+sleeping in church. For example--"I see, James, that you tak a bit
+nap in the kirk," said a minister to one of his people; "can ye no
+tak a mull with you? and when you become heavy an extra pinch would
+keep you up." "Maybe it wad," said James, "but pit you the sneeshin
+intil your sermon, minister, and maybe that'll serve the same
+purpose." As a specimen of the matter-of-fact view of religious
+questions frequently recorded of older ministers, let me adduce a
+well-authenticated account of a minister in a far up-hill parish in
+Deeside. Returning thanks one Sabbath for the excellent harvest, he
+began as usual, "O Lord, we thank thee," etc., and went on to
+mention its abundance, and its safe ingathering; but, feeling
+anxious to be quite candid and scrupulously truthful, added, "all
+except a few sma' bitties at Birse no worth o' mentioning."</p>
+<p>A Scotch preacher, a man of large stature, being sent to
+officiate one Sunday at a country parish, was accommodated at
+night, in the manse, in a very diminutive closet--the usual best
+bedroom, appropriated to strangers, being otherwise occupied. "Is
+this the bedroom?" he said, starting back in amazement. "'Deed ay,
+sir, this is the prophets' chalmer." "It maun be for the
+<i>minor</i> prophets, then," was the quiet reply.</p>
+<p>Elders of the kirk, no doubt, frequently partook of the original
+and humorous character of ministers and others, their
+contemporaries; and amusing scenes must have passed, and good
+Scotch sayings been said, where they were concerned. Dr. Chalmers
+used to repeat one of these sayings of an elder with great delight.
+The Doctor associated with the anecdote the name of Lady Glenorchy
+and the church which she endowed; but I am assured that the person
+was Lady Elizabeth Cunninghame, sister of Archibald, eleventh Earl
+of Eglinton, and wife of Sir John Cunninghame, Bart., of
+Caprington, near Kilmarnock. It seems her ladyship had, for some
+reason, taken offence at the proceedings of the Caprington
+parochial authorities, and a result of which was that she ceased
+putting her usual liberal offering into the plate at the door. This
+had gone on for some time, till one of the elders, of less
+forbearing character than the others, took his turn at the plate.
+Lady Elizabeth as usual passed by without a contribution, but made
+a formal courtsey to the elder at the plate, and sailed up the
+aisle. The good man was determined not to let her pass so easily,
+so he quickly followed her, and urged the remonstrance: "Gie us
+mair o' your siller and less o' your mainners, my lady Betty." My
+kind correspondent, Rev. Mr. Agnew, supplies me with an amusing
+pendant to this anecdote:--At a great church meeting, Dr. Chalmers
+had told this story with much effect when Lord Galloway was in the
+chair. After the meeting, Dr. Chalmers, and many who had been
+present, dined at his lordship's hospitable table. After dinner,
+when the morning meeting was discussed, Lord Galloway addressed Dr.
+Chalmers on the subject of this story and, as if not quite pleased
+at its being introduced, said, "Do you know, Doctor, the lady of
+whom you told the story of the elder is a near relation of mine?"
+Dr. Chalmers, with real or seeming simplicity, answered, "No, my
+Lord, I did not; but next time I tell the story I can mention the
+fact." As a pendant to the elder's disclaimer of "mainners" on the
+part of a lady of rank, I may add an authentic anecdote of a very
+blunt and unpolished Kincardineshire laird, expressing the same
+disclaimer of mainners on the part of a servant, but in a far
+rougher form of speech. He had been talking with a man who came to
+offer for his service as a butler. But the laird soon found he was
+far too grand a gentleman for his service, and became chafed with
+his requiring so many things as conditions of coming; till, on his
+dismissal, when the man was bowing and scraping to show how genteel
+he could be, he lost all patience, and roared out, "Get out, ye
+fule; gie us nane o' your mainners here."</p>
+<p>Of an eccentric and eloquent professor and divine of a northern
+Scottish university, there are numerous and extraordinary
+traditionary anecdotes. I have received an account of some of these
+anecdotes from the kind communication of an eminent Scottish
+clergyman, who was himself in early days his frequent hearer. The
+stories told of the strange observations and allusions which he
+introduced into his pulpit discourses almost surpass belief. For
+many reasons, they are not suitable to the nature of this
+publication, still less could they be tolerated in any pulpit
+administration now, although familiar with his contemporaries. The
+remarkable circumstance, however, connected with these
+eccentricities was, that he introduced them with the utmost
+gravity, and oftentimes, after he had delivered them, pursued his
+subject with great earnestness and eloquence, as if he had said
+nothing uncommon. One saying of the professor, however, <i>out</i>
+of the pulpit, is too good to be omitted, and may be recorded
+without violation of propriety. He happened to meet at the house of
+a lawyer, whom he considered rather a man of <i>sharp</i> practice,
+and for whom he had no great favour, two of his own parishioners.
+The lawyer jocularly and ungraciously put the question; "Doctor,
+these are members of your flock; may I ask, do you look upon them
+as white sheep or as black sheep?" "I don't know," answered the
+professor drily, "whether they are black or white sheep, but I know
+that if they are long here they are pretty sure to be fleeced."</p>
+<p>It was a pungent answer given by a Free Kirk member who had
+deserted his colours and returned to the old faith. A short time
+after the Disruption, the Free Church minister chanced to meet him
+who had then left him and returned to the Established Church. The
+minister bluntly accosted him--"Ay, man, John, an' ye've left us;
+what micht be your reason for that? Did ye think it wasna a guid
+road we was gaun?" "Ou, I daursay it was a guid eneuch road and a
+braw road; but, O minister, the tolls were unco high."</p>
+<p>The following story I received from a member of the Penicuik
+family:--Dr. Ritchie, who died minister of St. Andrews, Edinburgh,
+was, when a young man, tutor to Sir G. Clerk and his brothers.
+Whilst with them, the clergyman of the parish became unable, from
+infirmity and illness, to do his duty, and Mr. Ritchie was
+appointed interim assistant. He was an active young man, and during
+his residence in the country had become fond of fishing, and was a
+good shot. When the grouse-shooting came round, his pupils happened
+to be laid up with a fever, so Mr. Ritchie had all the shooting to
+himself. One day he walked over the moor so far that he became
+quite weary and footsore. On returning home he went into a cottage,
+where the good woman received him kindly, gave him water for his
+feet, and refreshment. In the course of conversation, he told her
+he was acting as assistant minister of the parish, and he explained
+how far he had travelled in pursuit of game, how weary he was, and
+how completely knocked up he was. "Weel, sir, I dinna doubt ye maun
+be sair travelled and tired wi' your walk." And then she added,
+with sly reference to his profession, "'Deed, sir, I'm thinkin' ye
+micht hae travelled frae Genesis to Revelation and no been sae
+forfauchten<a name="FNanchor182"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_182">[182]</a>."</p>
+<p>Scotch people in general are, like this old woman, very jealous,
+as might be expected, of ministers joining the sportsman to their
+pastoral character. A proposal for the appointment of a minister to
+a particular parish, who was known in the country as a capital
+shot, called forth a rather neat Scottish <i>pun</i>, from an old
+woman of the parish, who significantly observed, "'Deed,
+<i>Kilpaatrick</i> would hae been a mair appropriate place for
+him." <i>Paatrick</i> is Scotch for partridge.</p>
+<p>I cannot do better in regard to the three following anecdotes of
+the late Professor Gillespie of St. Andrews, than give them to my
+readers in the words with which Dr. Lindsay Alexander kindly
+communicated them to me.</p>
+<p>"In the <i>Cornhill Magazine</i> for March 1860, in an article
+on Student Life in Scotland, there is an anecdote of the late
+Professor Gillespie of St. Andrews, which is told in such a way as
+to miss the point and humour of the story. The correct version, as
+I have heard it from the professor himself, is this: Having
+employed the village carpenter to put a frame round a dial at the
+manse of Cults, where he was a minister, he received from the man a
+bill to the following effect:--'To fencing the <i>deil</i>, 5s.
+6d.' 'When I paid him,' said the professor, 'I could not help
+saying, John, this is rather more than I counted on; but I haven't
+a word to say. I get somewhere about two hundred a year for fencing
+the <i>deil</i>, and I'm afraid I don't do it half so effectually
+as you've done.'"</p>
+<p>"Whilst I am writing, another of the many stories of the learned
+and facetious professor rises in my mind. There was a worthy old
+woman at Cults whose place in church was what is commonly called
+the Lateran; a kind of small gallery at the top of the pulpit
+steps. She was a most regular attender, but as regularly fell
+asleep during sermon, of which fault the preacher had sometimes
+audible intimation. It was observed, however, that though Janet
+always slept during her own pastor's discourse, she could be
+attentive enough when she pleased, and especially was she alert
+when some young preacher occupied the pulpit. A little piqued,
+perhaps, at this, Mr. Gillespie said to her one day, 'Janet, I
+think you hardly behave very respectfully to your own minister in
+one respect.' 'Me, sir!' exclaimed Janet, 'I wad like to see ony
+man, no tae say woman, by yoursell, say that o' me! what can you
+mean, sir?' 'Weel, Janet, ye ken when I preach you're almost always
+fast asleep before I've well given out my text; but when any of
+these young men from St. Andrews preach for me, I see you never
+sleep a wink. Now, that's what I call no using me as you should
+do.' 'Hoot, sir,' was the reply, 'is that a'? I'll sune tell you
+the reason o' that. When you preach, we a' ken the word o' God's
+safe in your hands; but when thae young birkies tak it in haun, my
+certie, but it taks us a' to look after them<a name=
+"FNanchor183"></a><a href="#Footnote_183">[183]</a>.'</p>
+<p>"I am tempted to subjoin another. In the Humanity Class, one
+day, a youth who was rather fond of showing off his powers of
+language, translated Hor. Od. iii., 3, 61, 62, somewhat thus:--'The
+fortunes of Troy renascent under sorrowful omen shall be repeated
+with sad catastrophe.' 'Catastrophe!' cried the professor.
+'Catastrophe, Mr. ----, that's Greek. Give us it in plain English,
+if you please.' Thus suddenly pulled down from his high horse, the
+student effected his retreat with a rather lame and impotent
+version. 'Now,' said the professor, his little sharp eyes twinkling
+with fun, 'that brings to my recollection what once happened to a
+friend of mine, a minister in the country. Being a scholarly man he
+was sometimes betrayed into the use of words in the pulpit which
+the people were not likely to understand; but being very
+conscientious, he never detected himself in this, without pausing
+to give the meaning of the word he had used, and sometimes his
+extempore explanations of very fine words were a little like what
+we have just had from Mr. ----, rather too flat and commonplace. On
+one occasion he allowed this very word 'catastrophe' to drop from
+him, on which he immediately added, 'that, you know, my friends,
+means the <i>end</i> of a thing.' Next day, as he was riding
+through his parish, some mischievous youth succeeded in fastening a
+bunch of furze to his horse's tail--a trick which, had the animal
+been skittish, might have exposed the worthy pastor's horsemanship
+to too severe a trial, but which happily had no effect whatever on
+the sober-minded and respectable quadruped which he bestrode. On,
+therefore, he quietly jogged, utterly unconscious of the addition
+that had been made to his horse's caudal region, until, as he was
+passing some cottages, he was arrested by the shrill voice of an
+old woman exclaiming, 'Heh, sir! Heh, sir! there's a whun-buss at
+your horse's catawstrophe!'"</p>
+<p>I have several times adverted to the subject of epigrams. A
+clever impromptu of this class has been recorded as given by a
+judge's lady in reply to one made by the witty Henry Erskine at a
+dinner party at Lord Armadale's. When a bottle of claret was called
+for, port was brought in by mistake. A second time claret was sent
+for, and a second time the same mistake occurred. Henry Erskine
+addressed the host in an impromptu, which was meant as a parody on
+the well-known Scottish song, "My Jo, Janet"--</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>"Kind sir, it's for your courtesie</p>
+<p class="i1">When I come here to dine, sir,</p>
+<p>For the love ye bear to me,</p>
+<p class="i1">Gie me the claret wine, sir."</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<p>To which Mrs. Honeyman retorted--</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<div class="stanza">
+<p>"Drink the port, the claret's dear,</p>
+<p class="i1">Erskine, Erskine;</p>
+<p>Yell get fou on't, never fear,</p>
+<p class="i1">My jo, Erskine."</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+<p>Some of my younger readers may not be familiar with the epigram
+of John Home, author of the tragedy of "Douglas." The lines were
+great favourites with Sir Walter Scott, who delighted in repeating
+them. Home was very partial to claret, and could not bear port. He
+was exceedingly indignant when the Government laid a tax upon
+claret, having previously long connived at its introduction into
+Scotland under very mitigated duties. He embodied his anger in the
+following epigram:--</p>
+<blockquote>"Firm and erect the Caledonian stood,<br>
+Old was his mutton, and his claret good;<br>
+'Let him drink port,' an English statesman cried--<br>
+He drank the poison, and his spirit died."</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>There is a curious story traditionary in some families connected
+with the nobleman who is the subject of it, which, I am assured, is
+true, and further, that it has never yet appeared in print. The
+story is, therefore, a "Scottish reminiscence," and, as such,
+deserves a place here. The Earl of Lauderdale was so ill as to
+cause great alarm to his friends, and perplexity to his physicians.
+One distressing symptom was a total absence of sleep, and the
+medical men declared their opinion, that without sleep being
+induced he could not recover. His son, a queer eccentric-looking
+boy, who was considered not entirely right in his mind but somewhat
+"<i>daft</i>" and who accordingly had had little attention paid to
+his education, was sitting under the table, and cried out, "Sen'
+for that preachin' man frae Livingstone, for faither aye sleeps in
+the kirk." One of the doctors thought this hint worth attending to.
+The experiment of "getting a minister till him" succeeded, and,
+sleep coming on, he recovered. The Earl, out of gratitude for this
+benefit, took more notice of his son, paid attention to his
+education, and that boy became the Duke of Lauderdale, afterwards
+so famous or infamous in his country's history.</p>
+<p>The following very amusing anecdote, although it belongs more
+properly to the division on peculiarities of Scottish phraseology,
+I give in the words of a correspondent who received it from the
+parties with whom it originated. About twenty years ago, he was
+paying a visit to a cousin, married to a Liverpool merchant of some
+standing. The husband had lately had a visit from his aged father,
+who formerly followed the occupation of farming in Stirlingshire,
+and who had probably never been out of Scotland before in his life.
+The son, finding his father rather <i>de trop</i> in his office,
+one day persuaded him to cross the ferry over the Mersey, and
+inspect the harvesting, then in full operation, on the Cheshire
+side. On landing, he approached a young woman reaping with the
+sickle in a field of oats, when the following dialogue
+ensued:--</p>
+<p><i>Farmer</i>.--Lassie, are yer aits muckle bookit<a name=
+"FNanchor184"></a><a href="#Footnote_184">[184]</a> th' year?</p>
+<p><i>Reaper</i>.--What say'n yo?</p>
+<p><i>Farmer</i>.--I was speiring gif yer aits are muckle bookit
+th' year!</p>
+<p><i>Reaper</i> (in amazement).--I dunnot know what yo' say'n.</p>
+<p><i>Farmer</i> (in equal astonishment).--Gude--safe--us,--do ye
+no understaan gude plain
+English?--are--yer--aits--muckle--bookit?</p>
+<p>Reaper decamps to her nearest companion, saying that was a
+madman, while he shouted in great wrath, "They were naething else
+than a set o' ignorant pock-puddings."</p>
+<p>An English tourist visited Arran, and being a keen disciple of
+Izaak Walton, was arranging to have a day's good sport. Being told
+that the cleg, or horse-fly, would suit his purpose admirably for
+lure, he addressed himself to Christy, the Highland
+servant-girl:--"I say, my girl, can you get me some horse-flies?"
+Christy looked stupid, and he repeated his question. Finding that
+she did not yet comprehend him, he exclaimed, "Why, girl, did you
+never see a horse-fly?" "Naa, sir," said the girl, "but A wance saw
+a coo jump ower a preshipice."</p>
+<p>The following anecdote is highly illustrative of the thoroughly
+attached old family serving-man. A correspondent sends it as told
+to him by an old schoolfellow of Sir Walter Scott's at Fraser and
+Adam's class, High School:--</p>
+<p>One of the lairds of Abercairnie proposed <i>to go out</i>, on
+the occasion of one of the risings for the Stuarts, in the '15 or
+'45--but this was not with the will of his old serving-man, who,
+when Abercairnie was pulling on his boots, preparing to go,
+overturned a kettle of boiling water upon his legs, so as to
+disable him from joining his friends--saying, "Tak that--let them
+fecht wha like; stay ye at hame and be laird o' Abercairnie."</p>
+<p>A story illustrative of a union of polite courtesy with rough
+and violent ebullition of temper common in the old Scottish
+character, is well known in the Lothian family. William Henry,
+fourth Marquis of Lothian, had for his guest at dinner an old
+countess to whom he wished to show particular respect and
+attention<a name="FNanchor185"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_185">[185]</a>. After a very complimentary reception, he
+put on his white gloves to hand her down stairs, led her up to the
+upper end of the table, bowed, and retired to his own place. This I
+am assured was the usual custom with the chief lady guest by
+persons who themselves remember it. After all were seated, the
+Marquis addressed the lady, "Madam, may I have the honour and
+happiness of helping your ladyship to some fish?" But he got no
+answer, for the poor woman was deaf as a post, and did not hear
+him. After a pause, but still in the most courteous accents,
+"Madam, have I your ladyship's permission to send you some fish?"
+Then a little quicker, "Is your Ladyship inclined to take fish?"
+Very quick, and rather peremptory, "Madam, do ye choice fish?" At
+last the thunder burst, to everybody's consternation, with a loud
+thump on the table and stamp on the floor: "Con--found ye, will ye
+have any fish?" I am afraid the exclamation might have been even of
+a more pungent character.</p>
+<p>A correspondent has kindly enabled me to add a reminiscence and
+anecdote of a type of Scottish character now nearly extinct.--I
+mean the old Scottish <i>military</i> officer of the wars of
+Holland and the Low Countries. I give them in his own words:--"My
+father, the late Rev. Dr. Bethune, minister of Dornoch, was on
+friendly terms with a fine old soldier, the late Colonel Alexander
+Sutherland of Calmaly and Braegrudy, in Sutherlandshire, who was
+lieutenant-colonel of the 'Local Militia,' and who used
+occasionally, in his word of command, to break out with a Gaelic
+phrase to the men, much to the amusement of bystanders. He called
+his charger, a high-boned not overfed animal, Cadaver--a play upon
+accents, for he was a good classical scholar, and fond of quoting
+the Latin poets. But he had no relish nor respect for the 'Modern
+languages,' particularly for that of our French neighbours, whom he
+looked upon as 'hereditary' enemies! My father and the colonel were
+both politicians, as well as scholars. Reading a newspaper article
+in his presence one day, my father stopped short, handing the paper
+to him, and said, 'Colonel, here is a <i>French</i> quotation,
+which you can translate better than I can,' 'No, sir!' said the
+colonel, 'I never learnt the language of the scoundrels!!!' The
+colonel was known as 'Col. Sandy Sutherland,' and the men always
+called him <i>Colonel Sandy</i>. He was a splendid specimen of the
+hale veteran, with a stentorian voice, and the last queue I
+remember to have seen."</p>
+<p>A correspondent kindly sends me from Aberdeenshire a humorous
+story, very much of the same sort as that of Colonel Erskine's
+servant, who considerately suggested to his master that "maybe an
+aith might relieve him<a name="FNanchor186"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_186">[186]</a>." My correspondent heard the story from
+the late Bishop Skinner.</p>
+<p>It was among the experiences of his father, Bishop <i>John</i>
+Skinner. While making some pastoral visits in the neighbourhood of
+the town (Aberdeen), the Bishop took occasion to step into the
+cottage of two humble parishioners, a man and his wife, who
+cultivated a little croft. No one was within; but as the door was
+only on the latch, the Bishop knew that the worthy couple could not
+be far distant. He therefore stepped in the direction of the
+outhouses, and found them both in the barn winnowing corn, in the
+primitive way, with "riddles," betwixt two open doors. On the
+Bishop making his appearance, the honest man ceased his winnowing
+operations, and in the gladness of his heart stepped briskly
+forward to welcome his pastor; but in his haste he trod upon the
+rim of the riddle, which rebounded with great force against one of
+his shins. The accident made him suddenly pull up; and, instead of
+completing the reception, he stood vigorously rubbing the injured
+limb; and, not daring in such a venerable presence to give vent to
+the customary strong ejaculations, kept twisting his face into all
+sorts of grimaces. As was natural, the Bishop went forward,
+uttering the usual formulas of condolence and sympathy, the
+patient, meanwhile, continuing his rubbings and his silent but
+expressive contortions. At last Janet came to the rescue; and,
+clapping the Bishop coaxingly on the back, said, "Noo, Bishop, jist
+gang ye yir waas into the hoose, an' we'll follow fan he's had time
+to curse a fyllie, an' I'se warran' he'll seen be weel eneuch!"</p>
+<p>The following might have been added as examples of the dry
+humorous manner in which our countrymen and countrywomen sometimes
+treat matters with which they have to deal, even when serious
+ones:--</p>
+<p>An itinerant vendor of wood in Aberdeen having been asked how
+his wife was, replied, "Oh, she's fine; I hae taen her tae
+Banchory;" and on it being innocently remarked that the change of
+air would do her good, he looked up, and, with a half smile, said,
+"Hoot, she's i' the kirk-yard."</p>
+<p>The well-known aversion of the Scotch to hearing <i>read</i>
+sermons has often led to amusing occurrences. One pastor, in a
+country district, who was much respected by his people, but who,
+nevertheless, were never quite reconciled to his <i>paper</i> in
+the pulpit, found himself on one occasion in an awkward
+predicament, from this same paper question. One Sabbath afternoon,
+having exhausted both firstly and secondly, he came to the
+termination of his discourse; but, unfortunately, the manuscript
+was wanting. In vain efforts to seek the missing paper, he repeated
+"thirdly and lastly" <i>ad nauseam</i> to his hearers. At last one,
+cooler than the others, rose, and nodding to the minister,
+observed, "'Deed, sir, If I'm no mista'en, I saw 'thirdly and
+lastly' fa' ower the poopit stairs;" evidently enjoying the
+disappearance of so important a part of the obnoxious document.</p>
+<p>This prejudice was indeed some years since in Scotland quite
+inveterate. The following anecdote has been kindly sent to me from
+<i>Memoirs of Charles Young,</i> lately published by his son:--</p>
+<p>"I have a distinct recollection, one Sunday when I was living at
+Cults, and when a stranger was officiating for Dr. Gillespie,
+observing that he had not proceeded five minutes with his
+'discourse,' before there was a general commotion and stampedo. The
+exodus at last became so serious, that, conceiving something to be
+wrong, probably a fire in the manse, I caught the infection, and
+eagerly inquired of the first person I encountered in the
+churchyard what was the matter, and was told, with an expression of
+sovereign scorn and disgust--'Losh keep ye, young man! Hae ye eyes,
+and see not? Hae ye ears, and hear not? <i>The man reads!</i>"</p>
+<p>On one occasion, however, even this prejudice gave way before
+the power of the most eloquent preacher that Scotland ever heard,
+or perhaps that the world ever heard. A shrewd old Fife hearer of
+sermons had been objecting, in the usual exaggerated language,
+against reading sermons in the pulpit. A gentleman urged the case
+of Dr. Chalmers, in defence of the practice. He used his paper in
+preaching rigidly, and yet with what an effect he read! All the
+objector could reply to this was, "Ah, but it's <i>fell</i><a name=
+"FNanchor187"></a><a href="#Footnote_187">[187]</a> reading
+yon."</p>
+<p>The two following are from a correspondent who heard them told
+by the late Dr. Barclay the anatomist, well known for his own dry
+Scottish humour.</p>
+<p>A country laird, at his death, left his property in equal shares
+to his two sons, who continued to live very amicably together for
+many years. At length one said to the other, "Tam, we're gettin'
+auld now, you'll tak a wife, and when I dee you'll get my share o'
+the grund." "Na, John, you're the youngest and maist active, you'll
+tak a wife, and when I dee you'll get my share." "Od," says John,
+"Tam, that's jist the way wi' you when there's ony <i>fash or
+trouble</i>. The deevil a thing you'll do at a'."</p>
+<p>A country clergyman, who was not on the most friendly terms with
+one of his heritors who resided in Stirling, and who had annoyed
+the minister by delay in paying him his teinds (or tithe), found it
+necessary to make the laird understand that his proportion of
+stipend must be paid so soon as it became due. The payment came
+next term punctual to the time. When the messenger was introduced
+to the minister, he asked who he was, remarking that he thought he
+had seen him before. "I am the hangman of Stirling, sir." "Oh, just
+so, take a seat till I write you a receipt." It was evident that
+the laird had chosen this medium of communication with the minister
+as an affront, and to show his spite. The minister, however, turned
+the tables upon him, sending back an acknowledgment for the payment
+in these terms:--"Received from Mr. ----, by the hands of the
+hangman of Stirling, <i>his doer</i><a name=
+"FNanchor188"></a><a href="#Footnote_188">[188]</a>, the sum of,"
+etc. etc.</p>
+<p>The following story of pulpit criticism by a beadle used to be
+told, I am assured, by the late Rev. Dr. Andrew Thomson:--</p>
+<p>A clergyman in the country had a stranger preaching for him one
+day, and meeting his beadle, he said to him, "Well, Saunders, how
+did you like the sermon to-day?" "I watna, sir; it was rather ower
+plain and simple for me. I like thae sermons best that jumbles the
+joodgment and confoonds the sense. Od, sir, I never saw ane that
+could come up to yoursell at that."</p>
+<p>The epithet "canny" has frequently been applied to our
+countrymen, not in a severe or invidious spirit, but as indicating
+a due regard to personal interest and safety. In the larger edition
+of Jamieson (see edition of 1840) I find there are no fewer than
+eighteen meanings given of this word. The following extract from a
+provincial paper, which has been sent me, will furnish a good
+illustration. It is headed, the "PROPERTY QUALIFICATION," and goes
+on--"Give a chartist a large estate, and a copious supply of ready
+money, and you make a Conservative of him. He can then see the
+other side of the moon, which he could never see before. Once, a
+determined Radical in Scotland, named Davy Armstrong, left his
+native village; and many years afterwards, an old fellow grumbler
+met him, and commenced the old song. Davy shook his head. His
+friend was astonished, and soon perceived that Davy was no longer a
+grumbler, but a rank Tory. Wondering at the change, he was desirous
+of knowing the reason. Davy quietly and laconically replied--'I've
+a coo (cow) noo.'"</p>
+<p>But even still more "canny" was the eye to the main chance in an
+Aberdonian fellow-countryman, communicated in the following
+pleasant terms from a Nairn correspondent:--"I have just been
+reading your delightful 'Reminiscences,' which has brought to my
+recollection a story I used to hear my father tell. It was thus:--A
+countryman in a remote part of Aberdeenshire having got a
+newly-coined sovereign in the days when such a thing was seldom
+seen in his part of the country, went about showing it to his
+friends and neighbours for the charge of one penny each sight. Evil
+days, however, unfortunately overtook him, and he was obliged to
+part with his loved coin. Soon after, a neighbour called on him,
+and asked a sight of his sovereign, at the same time tendering a
+penny. 'Ah, man,' says he, 'it's gane; but I'll lat ye see <i>the
+cloutie it was rowt in</i> for a bawbee.'"</p>
+<p>There was something very simple-minded in the manner in which a
+parishioner announced his canny care for his supposed interests
+when he became an elder of the kirk. The story is told of a man who
+had got himself installed in the eldership, and, in consequence,
+had for some time carried round the ladle for the collections. He
+had accepted the office of elder because some wag had made him
+believe that the remuneration was sixpence each Sunday, with a boll
+of meal at New Year's Day. When the time arrived he claimed his
+meal, but was told he had been hoaxed. "It may be sae wi' the
+meal," he said coolly, "but I took care o' the saxpence
+mysell."</p>
+<p>There was a good deal both of the <i>pawky</i> and the
+<i>canny</i> in the following anecdote, which I have from an
+honoured lady of the south of Scotland:--"There was an old man who
+always rode a donkey to his work, and tethered him while he worked
+on the roads, or whatever else it might be. It was suggested to him
+by my grandfather that he was suspected of putting it in to feed in
+the fields at other people's expense. 'Eh, laird, I could never be
+tempted to do that, for my cuddy winna eat onything but nettles and
+thristles.' One day my grandfather was riding along the road, when
+he saw Andrew Leslie at work, and his donkey up to the knees in one
+of his clover fields, feeding luxuriously. 'Hollo, Andrew,' said
+he; 'I thought you told me your cuddy would eat nothing but nettles
+and thistles.' 'Ay,' said he, 'but he misbehaved the day; he nearly
+kicket me ower his head, sae I pat him in there just to
+<i>punish</i> him.'"</p>
+<p>There is a good deal of the same sort of simple character
+brought out in the two following. They were sent to me from
+Golspie, and are original, as they occurred in my correspondent's
+own experience. The one is a capital illustration of thrift, the
+other of kind feeling for the friendless, in the Highland
+character. I give the anecdotes in my correspondent's own words:--A
+little boy, some twelve years of age, came to me one day with the
+following message: "My mother wants a vomit from you, sir, and she
+bade me say if it will not be strong enough, she will send it
+back." "Oh, Mr. Begg," said a woman to me, for whom I was weighing
+two grains of calomel for a child, "dinna be so mean wi' it; it is
+for a poor faitherless bairn."</p>
+<p>The following, from a provincial paper, contains a very amusing
+recognition of a return which one of the itinerant race considered
+himself conscientiously bound to make to his clerical patron for an
+alms: "A beggar, while on his rounds one day this week, called on a
+clergyman (within two and a half miles of the Cross of Kilmarnock),
+who, obeying the biblical injunction of clothing the naked, offered
+the beggar an old top-coat. It was immediately rolled up, and the
+beggar, in going away with it under his arm, thoughtfully (!)
+remarked, 'I'll hae tae gie ye a day's <i>hearin</i>' for this
+na.'"</p>
+<p>The natural and self-complacent manner in which the following
+anecdote brings out in the Highlander an innate sense of the
+superiority of Celtic blood is highly characteristic:--A few years
+ago, when an English family were visiting in the Highlands, their
+attention was directed to a child crying; on their observing to the
+mother it was <i>cross</i>, she exclaimed--"Na, na, it's nae cross,
+for we're baith true Hieland."</p>
+<p>The late Mr. Grahame of Garsock, in Strathearn, whose grandson
+now "is laird himsel," used to tell, with great <i>unction</i>,
+some thirty years ago, a story of a neighbour of his own of a still
+earlier generation, Drummond of Keltie, who, as it seems, had
+employed an itinerant tailor instead of a metropolitan artist. On
+one occasion a new pair of inexpressibles had been made for the
+laird; they were so tight that, after waxing hot and red in the
+attempt to try them on, he <i>let out</i> rather savagely at the
+tailor, who calmly assured him, "It's the fash'n; it's jist the
+fash'n." "Eh, ye haveril, is it the fashion for them <i>no to go
+on</i>?"</p>
+<p>An English gentleman writes to me--"We have all heard much of
+Scotch caution, and I met once with an instance of it which I think
+is worth recording, and which I tell as strictly original. About
+1827, I fell into conversation, on board of a Stirling steamer,
+with a well-dressed middle-aged man, who told me he was a soldier
+of the 42d, going on leave. He began to relate the campaigns he had
+gone through, and mentioned having been at the siege of St.
+Sebastian.--'Ah! under Sir Thomas Graham?' 'Yes, sir; he commanded
+there.' 'Well,' I said, merely by way of carrying on the
+<i>crack</i>, 'and what do you think of <i>him</i>?' Instead of
+answering, he scanned me several times from head to foot, and from
+foot to head, and then said, in a tone of the most diplomatic
+caution, 'Ye'll perhaps be of the name of Grah'm yersel, sir?'
+There could hardly be a better example, either of the
+circumspection of a real canny Scot, or of the lingering influence
+of the old patriarchal feeling, by which 'A name, a word, makes
+clansmen vassals to their lord.'"</p>
+<p>Now when we linger over these old stories, we seem to live at
+another period, and in such reminiscences we converse with a
+generation different from our own. Changes are still going on
+around us. They have been going on for some time past. The changes
+are less striking as society advances, and we find fewer
+alterations for us to notice. Probably each generation will have
+less change to record than the generation that preceded; still
+every one who is tolerably advanced in life must feel that,
+comparing its beginning and its close, he has witnessed two epochs,
+and that in advanced life he looks on a different world from one
+which he can remember. To elucidate this fact has been my present
+object, and in attempting this task I cannot but feel how trifling
+and unsatisfactory my remarks must seem to many who have a more
+enlarged and minute acquaintance with Scottish life and manners
+than I have. But I shall be encouraged to hope for a favourable, or
+at least an indulgent, sentence upon these Reminiscences, if to any
+of my readers I shall have opened a fresh insight into the subject
+of social changes amongst us. Many causes have their effect upon
+the habits and customs of mankind, and of late years such causes
+have been greatly multiplied in number and activity. In many
+persons, and in some who have not altogether lost their national
+partialities, there is a general tendency to merge Scottish usages
+and Scottish expressions into the English forms, as being more
+correct and genteel. The facilities for moving, not merely from
+place to place in our own country, but from one country to another;
+the spread of knowledge and information by means of periodical
+publications and newspapers; and the incredibly low prices at which
+literary works are produced, must have great effects. Then there is
+the improved taste in art, which, together with literature, has
+been taken up by young men who, fifty, sixty, seventy years ago, or
+more, would have known no such sources of interest, or indeed who
+would have looked upon them as unmanly and effeminate. When first
+these pursuits were taken up by our Scottish young men, they
+excited in the north much amazement, and, I fear, contempt, as was
+evinced by a laird of the old school, who, the first time he saw a
+young man at the pianoforte, asked, with evident disgust, "Can the
+creature <i>sew</i> ony?" evidently putting the accomplishment of
+playing the pianoforte and the accomplishment of the needle in the
+same category.</p>
+<p>The greater facility of producing books, prints, and other
+articles which tend to the comfort and embellishment of domestic
+life, must have considerable influence upon the habits and tastes
+of a people. I have often thought how much effect might be traced
+to the single circumstance of the cheap production of pianofortes.
+An increased facility of procuring the means of acquaintance with
+good works of art and literature acts both as cause and effect. A
+growing and improved taste tends to stimulate the <i>production</i>
+of the best works of art. These, in return, foster and advance the
+power of forming a due <i>estimate</i> of art. In the higher
+department of music, for example, the cheap rate not only of
+<i>hearing</i> compositions of the first class, but of
+<i>possessing</i> the works of the most eminent composers, must
+have had influence upon thousands. The principal oratorios of
+Handel may be purchased for as many shillings each as they cost
+pounds years ago. Indeed, at that time the very names of those
+immortal works were known only to a few who were skilled to
+appreciate their high beauties. Now associations are formed for
+practising and studying the choral works of the great masters.</p>
+<p>We might indeed adduce many more causes which seem to produce
+changes of habits, tastes, and associations, amongst our people.
+For example, families do not vegetate for years in one retired spot
+as they used to do; young men are encouraged to attain
+accomplishments, and to have other sources of interest than the
+field or the bottle. Every one knows, or may know, everything that
+is going on through the whole world. There is a tendency in mankind
+to lose all that is peculiar, and in nations to part with all that
+distinguishes them from each other. We hear of wonderful changes in
+habits and customs where change seemed impossible. In India and
+Turkey even, peculiarities and prejudices are fading away under the
+influence of time. Amongst ourselves, no doubt, one circumstance
+tended greatly to call forth, and, as we may say, to
+<i>develop</i>, the peculiar Scotch humour of which we speak--and
+that was the familiarity of intercourse which took place between
+persons in different positions of life. This extended even to an
+occasional interchange of words between the minister and the
+members of his flock during time of service. I have two anecdotes
+in illustration of this fact, which I have reason to believe are
+quite authentic. In the church of Banchory on Deeside, to which I
+have referred, a former minister always preached without book, and
+being of an absent disposition, he sometimes forgot the head of
+discourse on which he was engaged, and got involved in confusion.
+On one occasion, being desirous of recalling to his memory the
+division of his subject, he called out to one of his elders, a
+farmer on the estate of Ley, "Bush (the name of his farm), Bush,
+ye're sleeping." "Na, sir, I'm no sleeping--I'm listening." "Weel,
+then, what had I begun to say?" "Oh, ye were saying so and so."
+This was enough, and supplied the minister with the thread of his
+discourse; and he went on. The other anecdote related to the parish
+of Cumbernauld, the minister of which was at the time referred to
+noted for a very disjointed and rambling style of preaching,
+without method or connection. His principal heritor was the Lord
+Elphinstone of the time, and unfortunately the minister and the
+peer were not on good terms, and always ready to annoy each other
+by sharp sayings or otherwise. The minister on one occasion had
+somewhat in this spirit called upon the beadle to "wauken my Lord
+Elphinstone," upon which Lord Elphinstone said, "I'm no sleeping,
+minister." "Indeed you were, my lord." He again disclaimed the
+sleeping. So as a test the preacher asked him, "What I had been
+saying last then?" "Oh, juist wauken Lord Elphinstone." "Ay, but
+what did I say before that?" "Indeed," retorted Lord Elphinstone,
+"I'll gie ye a guinea if ye'll tell that yersell, minister." We can
+hardly imagine the <i>possibility</i> of such scenes now taking
+place amongst us in church. It seems as if all men were gradually
+approximating to a common type or form in their manners and views
+of life; oddities are sunk, prominences are rounded off, sharp
+features are polished, and all things are becoming smooth and
+conventional. The remark, like the effect, is general, and extends
+to other countries as well as to our own. But as we have more
+recently parted with our peculiarities of dialect, oddity, and
+eccentricity, it becomes the more amusing to mark <i>our</i>
+participation in this change, because a period of fifty years shows
+here a greater contrast than the same period would show in many
+other localities.</p>
+<p>I have already referred to a custom which prevailed in all the
+rural parish churches, and which I remember in my early days at
+Fettercairn; the custom I mean, now quite obsolete, of the
+minister, after pronouncing the blessing, turning to the heritors,
+who always occupied the front seats of the gallery, and making low
+bows to each family. Another custom I recollect:--When the text had
+been given out, it was usual for the elder branches of the
+congregation to hand about their Bibles amongst the younger
+members, marking the place, and calling their attention to the
+passage. During service another handing about was frequent among
+the seniors, and that was a circulation of the sneeshin-mull or
+snuff-box. Indeed, I have heard of the same practice in an
+Episcopal church, and particularly in one case of an ordination,
+where the bishop took his pinch of snuff, and handed the mull to go
+round amongst the clergy assembled for the solemn occasion within
+the altar-rails.</p>
+<p>Amongst Scottish reminiscences which do not extend beyond our
+own recollections we may mention the disappearance of Trinity
+Church in Edinburgh, which has taken place within the last quarter
+of a century. It was founded by Mary of Gueldres, queen of James
+II. of Scotland, in 1446, and liberally endowed for a provost,
+prebendaries, choristers, etc. It was never completed, but the
+portions built--viz., choir, transept, and central tower--were
+amongst the finest specimens of later Gothic work in Scotland. The
+pious founder had placed it at the east end of what was then the
+North Loch. She chose her own church for the resting-place of her
+remains as a sanctuary of safety and repose. A railway
+parliamentary bill, however, overrides founder's intentions and
+Episcopal consecrations. Where once stood the beautiful church of
+the Holy Trinity, where once the "pealing organ" and the
+"full-voiced choir" were daily heard "in service high and anthems
+clear"--where for 400 years slept the ashes of a Scottish
+Queen--now resound the noise and turmoil of a railway station.</p>
+<p>But we have another example of the uncertainty of all earthly
+concerns, and one which supplies a Scottish reminiscence belonging
+to the last seventy years. Wilhelmina, Viscountess Glenorchy,
+during her lifetime, built and endowed a church for two ministers,
+who were provided with very handsome incomes. She died 17th July
+1786, and was buried on the 24th July, aged 44. Her interment took
+place, by her own direction, in the church she had founded,
+immediately in front of the pulpit; and she fixed upon that spot as
+a place of security and safety, where her mortal remains might rest
+in peace till the morning of the resurrection. But alas for the
+uncertainty of all earthly plans and projects for the future!--the
+iron road came on its reckless course and swept the church away.
+The site was required for the North British Railway, which passed
+directly over the spot where Lady Glenorchy had been buried. Her
+remains were accordingly disinterred 24th December 1844; and the
+trustees of the church, not having yet erected a new one, deposited
+the body of their foundress in the vaults beneath St. John's
+Episcopal Church, and after resting there for fifteen years, they
+were, in 1859, removed to the building which is now Lady
+Glenorchy's Church.</p>
+<p>In our reminiscences of many <i>changes</i> which have taken
+place during fifty years in Scottish manners, it might form an
+interesting section to record some peculiarities which
+<i>remain</i>. I mean such peculiarities as yet linger amongst us,
+and still mark a difference in some of our social habits from those
+of England. Some Scottish usages die hard, and are found still to
+supply amusement for southern visitors. To give a few examples,
+persons still persist among us in calling the head of a family, or
+the host, the <i>landlord</i>, although he never charged his guests
+a halfpenny for the hospitality he exercises. In games, golf and
+curling still continue to mark the national character--cricket was
+long an exotic amongst us. In many of our educational institutions,
+however, it seems now fairly to have taken root. We continue to
+call our reception rooms "<i>public</i> rooms," although never used
+for any but domestic purposes. Military rank is attached to ladies,
+as we speak of Mrs. Lieutenant Fraser, Mrs. Captain Scott, Mrs.
+Major Smith, Mrs. Colonel Campbell. On the occasion of a death, we
+persist in sending circular notices to all the relatives, whether
+they know of it or not--a custom which, together with men wearing
+weepers at funeral solemnities, is unknown in England<a name=
+"FNanchor189"></a><a href="#Footnote_189">[189]</a>. Announcing a
+married lady's death under her maiden name must seem strange to
+English ears--as, for example, we read of the demise of Mrs. Jane
+Dickson, spouse of Thomas Morison. Scottish cookery retains its
+ground, and hotch-potch, minced collops, sheep's head singed, and
+occasionally haggis, are still marked peculiarities of the Scottish
+table. These social differences linger amongst us. But stronger
+points are worn away; eccentricities and oddities such as existed
+once will not do now. One does not see why eccentricity should be
+more developed in one age than in another, but we cannot avoid the
+conclusion that the day for real oddities is no more. Professors of
+colleges are those in whom one least expects oddity--grave and
+learned characters; and yet such <i>have</i> been in former times.
+We can scarcely now imagine such professors as we read of in a past
+generation. Take the case of no less distinguished a person than
+Adam Smith, author of the <i>Wealth of Nations,</i> who went about
+the streets talking and laughing to himself in such a manner as to
+make the market women think he was deranged; and he told of one
+himself who ejaculated, as he passed, "Hech, sirs, and he is weel
+pat on, too!" expressing surprise that a decided lunatic, who from
+his dress appeared to be a gentleman, should be permitted to walk
+abroad unattended. Professors still have their crotchets like other
+people; but we can scarcely conceive a professor of our day coming
+out like Adam Smith, and making fishwives to pass such observations
+on his demeanour.</p>
+<p>Peculiarities in a people's phraseology may prove more than we
+are aware of, and may tend to illustrate circumstances of national
+<i>history</i>. Thus many words which would be included by
+Englishmen under the general term of Scotticisms, bear directly
+upon the question of a past intercourse with France, and prove how
+close at one time must have been the influence exercised upon
+general habits in Scotland by that intercourse. Scoto-Gallic words
+were quite differently situated from French words and phrases
+adopted in England. With us they proceeded from a real admixture of
+the two <i>peoples</i>. With us they form the ordinary common
+language of the country, and that was from a distant period moulded
+by French. In England, the educated and upper classes of late years
+<i>adopted</i> French words and phrases. With us, some of our
+French derivatives are growing obsolete as vulgar, and nearly all
+are passing from fashionable society. In England, we find the
+French-adopted words rather receiving accessions than going out of
+use.</p>
+<p>Examples of words such as we have referred to, as showing a
+French influence and admixture, are familiar to many of my readers.
+I recollect some of them in constant use amongst old-fashioned
+Scottish people, and those terms, let it be remembered, are unknown
+in England.</p>
+<p>A leg of mutton was always, with old-fashioned Scotch people, a
+gigot (Fr. gigot).</p>
+<p>The crystal jug or decanter in which water is placed upon the
+table, was a caraff (Fr. carafe).</p>
+<p>Gooseberries were groserts, or grossarts (Fr. groseille).</p>
+<p>Partridges were pertricks,--a word much more formed upon the
+French perdrix than the English partridge.</p>
+<p>The plate on which a joint or side-dish was placed upon the
+table was an ashet (Fr. assiette).</p>
+<p>In the old streets of Edinburgh, where the houses are very high,
+and where the inhabitants all live in flats, before the
+introduction of soil-pipes there was no method of disposing of the
+foul water of the household, except by throwing it out of the
+window into the street. This operation, dangerous to those outside,
+was limited to certain hours, and the well-known cry, which
+preceded the missile and warned the passenger, was gardeloo! or, as
+Smollett writes it, gardy loo (Fr. garge de l'eau).</p>
+<p>Anything troublesome or irksome used to be called,
+Scottic&egrave;, fashions (Fr. facheux, facheuse); to fash
+one's-self (Fr. se facher).</p>
+<p>The small cherry, both black and red, common in gardens, is in
+Scotland, never in England, termed gean (Fr. guigne), from Guigne,
+in Picardy.</p>
+<p>The term <i>dambrod</i>, which has already supplied materials
+for a good story, arises from adopting French terms into Scottish
+language, as dams were the pieces with which the game of draughts
+was played (Fr. dammes). Brod is board.</p>
+<p>A bedgown, or loose female upper garment, is still in many parts
+of Scotland termed a jupe (Fr. jupe).</p>
+<p>In Kincardineshire the ashes of a blacksmith's furnace had the
+peculiar name of smiddy-coom (Fr. &eacute;cume, i.e. dross).</p>
+<p>Oil, in common Scotch, used always to be ule,--as the uley pot,
+or uley cruse (Fr. huile).</p>
+<p>Many of my readers are no doubt familiar with the notice taken
+of these words by Lord Cockburn, and with the account which he
+gives of these Scottish words derived from the French, probably
+during the time of Queen Mary's minority, when French troops were
+quartered in Scotland. I subjoin a more full list, for which I am
+indebted to a correspondent, because the words still lingering
+amongst us are in themselves the best REMINISCENCES of former
+days.</p>
+<blockquote>
+<table width="80%" summary="">
+<tr align="left">
+<th>Scotch.</th>
+<th>English.</th>
+<th>French.</th>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Serviter</td>
+<td>Napkin</td>
+<td>From Serviette.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Gigot (of mutton)</td>
+<td>...</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Gigot.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Reeforts</td>
+<td>Radishes</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Raiforts.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Grosserts</td>
+<td>Gooseberries</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Groseilles.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Gardyveen</td>
+<td>Case for holding wine</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Garde-vin.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Jupe</td>
+<td>Part of a woman's dress</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Jupe.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Bonnaille</td>
+<td>A parting glass with a</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Bon aller.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;friend going on a journey</td>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Gysard</td>
+<td>Person in a fancy dress</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Guise.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Dambrod</td>
+<td>Draught-board</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Dammes.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Pantufles</td>
+<td>Slippers</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Pantoufles.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Haggis</td>
+<td>Hashed meat</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Hachis.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Gou</td>
+<td>Taste, smell</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Gout.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Hogue</td>
+<td>Tainted</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Haut gout.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Grange</td>
+<td>Granary</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Grange.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Mouter</td>
+<td>Miller's perquisite</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Mouture.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Dour</td>
+<td>Obstinate</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Dur.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Douce</td>
+<td>Mild</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Doux.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Dorty</td>
+<td>Sulky</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Duret&eacute;.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Braw</td>
+<td>Fine</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Brave.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Kimmer</td>
+<td>Gossip</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Comm&egrave;re.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Jalouse</td>
+<td>Suspect</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Jalouser.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Vizzy</td>
+<td>To aim at, to examine</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Viser.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Ruckle</td>
+<td>Heap (of stones)</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Recueil.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Gardy-loo</td>
+<td>(Notice well known in</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Gardez-l'eau.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Edinburgh)</td>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Dementit</td>
+<td>Out of patience, deranged</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Dementir.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>On my verity</td>
+<td>Assertion of truth</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Verit&eacute;.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>By my certy</td>
+<td>Assertion of truth</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Certes.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Aumrie</td>
+<td>Cupboard</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Almoire, in old</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+French.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Walise</td>
+<td>Portmanteau</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Valise.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Sucker</td>
+<td>Sugar</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sucre</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Petticoat-tails</td>
+<td>Cakes of triangular shapes</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Petits gatelles</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(gateaux).</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Ashet</td>
+<td>Meat-dish</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Assiette.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Fashious</td>
+<td>Troublesome</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Facheux.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>Prush, Madame<a name="FNanchor190"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_190">[190]</a></td>
+<td>Call to a cow to come</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Approchez,</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;forward</td>
+<td>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Madame</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</blockquote>
+<p><i>Edinburgh Street Cry:</i>--"Neeps like sucker. Whae'll buy
+neeps?" (turnips).</p>
+<br>
+<p>I dwell the more minutely on this question of Scottish words,
+from the conviction of their being so characteristic of Scottish
+humour, and being so distinctive a feature of the older Scottish
+race. Take away our Scottish phraseology, and we lose what is our
+specific distinction from England. In these expressions, too, there
+is often a tenderness and beauty as remarkable as the wit and
+humour. I have already spoken of the phrase "Auld-lang-syne," and
+of other expressions of sentiment, which may be compared in their
+Anglican and Scotch form.</p>
+<blockquote>FOOTNOTES:</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_160"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor160">[160]</a> After all, the remark may not have been so
+absurd then as it appears now. Burns had not been long dead, nor
+was he then so noted a character as he is now. The Scotsmen might
+really have supposed a Southerner unacquainted with the <i>fact</i>
+of the poet's death.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_161"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor161">[161]</a> Choice.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_162"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor162">[162]</a> A vessel.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_163"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor163">[163]</a> Juice.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_164"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor164">[164]</a> Broth.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_165"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor165">[165]</a> Rev. A.K.H. Boyd.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_166"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor166">[166]</a> I believe the lady was Mrs. Murray Keith
+of Ravelston, with whom Sir Walter had in early life much
+intercourse.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_167"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor167">[167]</a> Disputing or bandying words backwards and
+forwards.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_168"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor168">[168]</a> In Scotland the remains of the deceased
+person is called the "corp."</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_169"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor169">[169]</a> Laudanum and calomel.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_170"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor170">[170]</a> Read from the same book.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_171"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor171">[171]</a> Sorely kept under by the
+turkey-cock.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_172"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor172">[172]</a> Close the doors. The old woman was lying
+in a "box-bed." See <i>Life of Robert Chambers</i>, p.
+12.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_173"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor173">[173]</a> Empty pocket.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_174"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor174">[174]</a> A cough.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_175"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor175">[175]</a> Shrivelled.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_176"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor176">[176]</a> Confound.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_177"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor177">[177]</a> Empty.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_178"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor178">[178]</a> It was of this minister, Mr. Thom of
+Govan, that Sir Walter Scott remarked "that he had demolished all
+his own chances of a Glasgow benefice, by preaching before the town
+council from a text in Hosea, 'Ephraim's drink is
+sour.'"</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_179"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor179">[179]</a> Empty.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_180"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor180">[180]</a> Basket for fish.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_181"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor181">[181]</a> Well advanced.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_182"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor182">[182]</a> Wearied.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_183"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor183">[183]</a> I have abundant evidence to prove that a
+similar answer to that which Dr. Alexander records to have been
+made to Mr. Gillespie has been given on similar occasions by
+others.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_184"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor184">[184]</a> Oats heavy in bulk.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_185"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor185">[185]</a> This Marquis of Lothian was aide-de-camp
+to the Duke of Cumberland at the battle of Culloden, who sullied
+his character as a soldier and a nobleman by the cruelties which he
+exercised on the vanquished.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_186"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor186">[186]</a> Sir H. Moncreiff's <i>Life of Dr. J.
+Erskine</i>.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_187"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor187">[187]</a> Extraordinary.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_188"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor188">[188]</a> In Scotland it is usual to term the
+law-agent or man of business of any person his "doer."</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_189"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor189">[189]</a> And yet, even as we write, weepers seem to
+be passing into reminiscence.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_190"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor190">[190]</a> This expression was adopted apparently in
+ridicule of the French applying the word "Madame" to a
+cow.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="CONCLUSION."></a><a href=
+"#CONCLUSION.">CONCLUSION.</a></h2>
+<br>
+<p>I am very anxious to bear in mind throughout these
+Reminiscences, and to keep in view the same feeling for my
+readers--viz. that such details regarding the changes which many
+living have themselves noticed as taking place in our customs and
+habits of society in Scotland, should always suggest the question
+to the thoughtful and serious mind, Are the changes which have been
+observed for <i>good</i>? Is the world a better world than that
+which we can remember? On some important points changes have been
+noticed in the upper classes of Scottish society, which
+unquestionably <i>are</i> improvements. For example, the greater
+attention paid to observance of Sunday, and to attendance upon
+public worship,--the partial disappearance of profane swearing and
+of excess in drinking. But then the painful questions arise, Are
+such beneficial changes <i>general</i> through the whole body of
+our countrymen? may not the vices and follies of one grade of
+society have found a refuge in those that are of a lower class? may
+not new faults have taken their place where older faults have been
+abandoned? Of this we are quite sure--no lover of his country can
+fail to entertain the anxious wish, that the change we noticed in
+regard to drinking and swearing were universal, and that we had
+some evidence of its being extended through all classes of society.
+We ought certainly to feel grateful when we reflect that, in many
+instances which we have noticed, the ways and customs of society
+are much improved in common sense, in decency, in delicacy, and
+refinement. There are certain modes of life, certain expressions,
+eccentricity of conduct, coarseness of speech, books, and plays,
+which were in vogue amongst us, even fifty or sixty years ago,
+which would not be tolerated in society at the present time. We
+cannot illustrate this in a more satisfactory manner than by
+reference to the acknowledgment of a very interesting and charming
+old lady, who died so lately as 1823. In 1821, Mrs. Keith of
+Ravelstone, grandaunt of Sir Walter Scott, thus writes in returning
+to him the work of a female novelist which she had borrowed from
+him out of curiosity, and to remind her of "auld lang syne:"--"Is
+it not a very odd thing that I, an old woman of eighty and upwards,
+sitting alone, feel myself ashamed to read a book which, sixty
+years ago, I have heard read aloud for the amusement of large
+circles, consisting of the first and most creditable society in
+London?" There can be no doubt that at the time referred to by Mrs.
+Keith, Tristram Shandy<a name="FNanchor191"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_191">[191]</a>, Tom Jones, Humphrey Clinker, etc., were
+on the drawing-room tables of ladies whose grandchildren or
+great-grandchildren never saw them, or would not acknowledge it if
+they <i>had</i> seen them. But authors not inferior to Sterne,
+Fielding, or Smollett, are now popular, who, with Charles Dickens,
+can describe scenes of human life with as much force and humour,
+and yet in whose pages nothing will be found which need offend the
+taste of the most refined, or shock the feelings of the most pure.
+This is a change where there is also great improvement. It
+indicates not merely a better moral perception in authors
+themselves, but it is itself a homage to the improved spirit of the
+age. We will hope that, with an improved exterior, there is
+improvement in society <i>within</i>. If the feelings shrink from
+what is coarse in expression, we may hope that vice has, in some
+sort, lost attraction. At any rate, from what we discern around us
+we hope favourably for the general improvement of mankind, and of
+our own beloved country in particular. If Scotland, in parting with
+her rich and racy dialect, her odd and eccentric characters, is to
+lose something in quaint humour and good stories, we will hope she
+may grow and strengthen in <i>better</i> things--good as those are
+which she loses. However this may be, I feel quite assured that the
+examples which I have now given, of Scottish expressions, Scottish
+modes and habits of life, and Scottish anecdotes, which belong in a
+great measure to the past, and yet which are remembered as having a
+place in the present century, must carry conviction that great
+changes have taken place in the Scottish social circle. There were
+some things belonging to our country which we must all have desired
+should be changed. There were others which we could only see
+changed with regret and sorrow. The hardy and simple habits of
+Scotsmen of many past generations; their industry, economy, and
+integrity, which made them take so high a place in the estimation
+and the confidence of the people amongst whom they dwelt in all
+countries of the world; the intelligence and superior education of
+her mechanics and her peasantry, combined with a strict moral and
+religious demeanour, fully justified the praise of Burns when he
+described the humble though sublime piety of the "Cottar's Saturday
+Night," and we can well appreciate the testimony which he bore to
+the hallowed power and sacred influences of the devotional
+exercises of his boyhood's home, when he penned the immortal
+words:--</p>
+<blockquote>"From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur
+springs,<br>
+That makes her loved at home, revered abroad."</blockquote>
+<p>On comparing Scotland past with Scotland present, we cannot
+evade the question, Are "scenes like these"--devotional domestic
+scenes like these--become less frequent than they were? Do they
+still hold their place by the cottar's fireside, or are they
+becoming only a reminiscence of what was <i>once</i> a national
+distinction? Whatever be our religious opinions, or whatever be our
+views on questions of ecclesiastical polity and church order, no
+Scotsman who desires the happiness and honour of his country could
+avoid a deep regret at the very idea of Burns' "Cottar's Saturday
+Night" having become a thing of the past; and yet we must not
+shrink from inquiry into the true state of the case. I have asked
+the opinions of friends both of the Established and the Free
+Church, who have met my inquiries in a fair and candid spirit, and,
+from the answers I have received, have come to something like the
+following conclusion:--I believe such scenes as Burns' "Cottar's
+Saturday Night" are still to be met with in all their freshness and
+all their fervour in the dwellings of a good religious peasantry;
+but in some places the cottar population <i>itself</i> has
+undergone a great change. Two causes have combined to produce this
+effect:--An extensive system of emigration has thinned the older
+families of the soil, whilst the practice of bringing in mere
+labourers has in many districts made the old family domestic
+firesides less numerous. Then, alas! alas! we fear cottar MORALITY
+has not been such as to keep up the practice. Reports made to both
+the General Assemblies of 1871 on this question were far from being
+satisfactory. Dr. Begg, too, in his striking and able pamphlet on
+the "Ecclesiastical and Social Evils of Scotland," refers to
+"symptoms of a nation's degeneracy which seem multiplying in
+Scotland;" also to a "growing amount of heathenism and
+drunkenness."</p>
+<p>With such representations before us regarding a decline of
+domestic morality, we cannot expect to see much increase of
+domestic piety. Burns, after he had become lowered in moral
+feelings by those licentious habits and scenes into which he
+unfortunately fell after he had left his father's house, was not
+hypocrite enough to profess the same love and interest for the
+scenes of his innocent and early days. The country clergy of
+Scotland have their many difficulties against which they are to
+contend; and many obstacles which they have to meet. But let not
+the domestic piety of the lowest cottages of the land be lost sight
+of. The results of such worship are so blessed upon the inmates,
+that the practice should everywhere be urged upon their flocks by
+the clergy, and encouraged by all means in their power; and in that
+view it would, I think, be desirable to circulate short forms of
+prayer for family use. Many such have lately been published; and,
+whatever difference of opinion may be entertained as to the
+comparative merits of extempore or liturgical prayer for the public
+worship of the church, there can be no question that in many
+instances a form must be very useful, and often essential at the
+commencement, at least, of cottage worship. I have known cases
+where it has been declined on the plea of inability to conduct the
+service.</p>
+<p>There are numerous indications that, <i>on the whole</i>, a
+regard for religion and religious ordinances is not losing ground
+in Scotland. The great number of churches--and of handsome
+churches--that are springing up, indicate, by their attendance, how
+much hold the subject has upon the people. The ample funds raised
+for charitable and for missionary objects give good testimony in
+the cause; and, in regard to the immediate question before us, one
+favourable result may be reported on this subject--the practice and
+feelings of domestic piety and family worship have, at any rate,
+extended in Scotland in an <i>upward</i> direction of its social
+life. Beyond all doubt, we may say family worship is more frequent,
+as a general practice, in houses of the rich, and also in the
+houses of farmers and of superior operatives, than it was some
+years ago. The Montrose anecdote about family prayers, told at page
+64, could hardly have place now, and indeed many persons could not
+understand the point.</p>
+<p>I hope I am not blinded to the defects of my own countrymen, nor
+am I determined to resist evidence of any deterioration which may
+be proved. But I feel confident that Scotland still stands
+pre-eminent amongst the nations for moral and religious qualities.
+The nucleus of her character will bear comparison with any. We will
+cherish hope for the mental tone of our countrymen being still in
+the ascendant, and still imbued with those qualities that make a
+moral and religious people. We have reason to know that in many
+departments of business, Scottish intelligence, Scottish character,
+and Scottish services, are still decidedly at a premium in the
+market.</p>
+<p>But now, before concluding, I am desirous of recording some
+Reminiscences upon a phase of Scottish RELIGIOUS history which
+involves very important consequences, and which I would not attempt
+to discuss without serious consideration. Indeed I have sometimes
+shrunk from the discussion at all, as leading to questions of so
+delicate a nature, and as involving matters on which there are so
+many differences of opinion. I refer to the state of our divisions
+and alienations of spirit <i>on account</i> of religion.</p>
+<p>The great Disruption, which nearly equally divided the National
+Church, and which took place in 1843, is now become a matter of
+<i>reminiscence</i>. Of those nearly connected with that movement,
+some were relatives of my own, and many were friends. Unlike
+similar religious revolutions, that which caused the Free Church of
+Scotland did not turn upon any difference of opinion on matters
+either of doctrine or of ecclesiastical polity. It arose entirely
+from differences regarding the relation subsisting between the
+Church and the State, by which the Church was established and
+endowed. The great evil of all such divisions, and the real cause
+for regret, lie in the injury they inflict on the cause of
+Christian unity and Christian love, and the separation they too
+often make between those who ought to be united in spirit, and who
+have hitherto been not unfrequently actually joined for years as
+companions and friends. The tone which is adopted by publications,
+which are the organs of various party opinions amongst us, show how
+keenly disputants, once excited, will deal with each other. The
+differences consequent upon the Disruption in the Scottish Church
+called forth great bitterness of spirit and much mutual
+recrimination at the time. But it seems to me that there are
+indications of a better spirit, and that there is more tolerance
+and more forbearance on religious differences amongst Scottish
+people generally. I cannot help thinking, however, that at no
+period of our ecclesiastical annals was such language made use of,
+and even against those of the highest place and authority in the
+Church, as we have lately met with in the organs of the extreme
+Anglican Church party. It is much to be regretted that earnest and
+zealous men should have adopted such a style of discussing
+religious differences. I cannot help thinking it is injurious to
+Christian feelings of love and Christian kindness. It is really
+sometimes quite appalling. From the same quarter I must expect
+myself severe handling for some of these pages, should they fall
+into their way. We cannot but lament, however, when we find such
+language used towards each other by those who are believers in a
+common Bible, and who are followers and disciples of the same lowly
+Saviour, and indeed frequently members of the same Church. Bigotry
+and intolerance are not confined to one side or another. They break
+out often where least expected. Differences, no doubt, will always
+exist on many contested subjects, but I would earnestly pray that
+all SUCH differences, amongst ourselves at least, as those which
+injure the forbearance and gentleness of the Christian character,
+should become "Scottish Reminiscences," whether they are called
+forth by the opposition subsisting between Presbyterianism and
+Episcopacy, or whether they arise amongst Presbyterians or amongst
+Episcopalians themselves.</p>
+<p>To my apprehension Scotland has recently seen a most painful
+indication of the absence of that charity which, according to St.
+Paul, should "never fail" amongst a Christian people. The act of
+two English Prelates officiating in one of the Established churches
+has called forth a storm of indignation as loud and vehement as if
+in a heathen land they had fallen down before the image of a
+heathen deity, and worshipped in a heathen temple. Then the
+explanation which has been given by apologists for these services
+is not the least remarkable feature of the transaction. These
+ministrations have been called "Mission Services," and, in so far
+as I enter into the meaning of the phrase, I would solemnly and
+seriously protest against its being made use of in such a case.
+"<i>Mission service</i>" can only be applied to the case of a
+missionary raising his voice "<i>in partibus infidelium</i>" or, to
+say the least of it, in a land where no Christian church was
+already planted. When I think of the piety, the Christian worth,
+and high character of so many friends in the Established and other
+Presbyterian churches in Scotland, I would again repeat my solemn
+protestation against such religious intolerance, and again declare
+my conviction, that Englishmen and Scotsmen, so far from looking
+out for points of difference and grounds for separation on account
+of the principles on which their Churches are established, should
+endeavour to make the bonds of religious union as <i>close</i> as
+possible. I can scarcely express the gratification I felt on
+learning from the <i>Scotsman</i>, November 20, that such were the
+sentiments called forth by this event in the mind of one of the
+ablest and most distinguished Prelates of our day. In reference to
+the Glengarry services, the Bishop of St. Andrews (Wordsworth) has
+declared his opinion, that the "subsequent explanations of those
+services seemed to mar the good work by introducing questions of
+etiquette, where nothing should have been thought of but the simple
+performance of Christian duty by Christian ministers for the
+benefit of Christian people<a name="FNanchor192"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_192">[192]</a>."</p>
+<p>Such is the judgment expressed by the honoured and learned
+Bishop of St. Andrews, whose noble and patriotic exertions to draw
+the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians of Scotland closer together
+in bonds of religious feelings and religious worship have been
+spoken of in such terms, and such words have been applied to his
+labours in that cause, and to the administration generally of his
+own diocese, by one of the very high English Church papers, as have
+been to me a cause of deep sorrow and poignant regret.</p>
+<p>As a Scotsman by descent from Presbyterians of high moral and
+religious character, and as an Episcopalian by conscientious
+preference, I would fain see more of harmony and of confidence
+between all Scotsmen, not only as fellow-countrymen, but as
+fellow-Christians. When I first joined the Episcopal Church the
+Edinburgh Episcopal clergy were on most friendly terms with the
+leading clergy of the Established Church. Every consideration was
+shown to them by such men as Bishop Sandford, Dr. Morehead, Rev.
+Archibald Alison, Rev. Mr. Shannon, and others. There was always
+service in the Episcopal chapels on the National Church communion
+fast-days. No opposition or dislike to Episcopalian clergymen
+occupying Presbyterian pulpits was ever avowed as a great
+principle. Charles Simeon of Cambridge, and others of the Churches
+of England and Ireland, frequently so officiated, and it was
+considered as natural and suitable. The learning and high qualities
+of the Church of England's hierarchy, were, with few exceptions,
+held in profound respect. Indeed, during the last hundred years,
+and since the days when Episcopacy was attacked under the term of
+"black prelacy," I can truly say, the Episcopal order has received
+far more severe handling in Episcopal England than it has received
+in Presbyterian Scotland. I must think, that in the case of two
+churches where the grounds of <i>resemblance</i> are on points of
+spiritual importance affecting great truths and doctrines of
+salvation, and where the points of <i>difference</i> affect
+questions more of government and external order than of salvation,
+there ought to be on both parts the desire at least to draw as
+closely as they can the bonds of Christian charity and mutual
+confidence.</p>
+<p>I believe it to be very painful to Scotsmen generally, whether
+of the Established or the Episcopal Church, that the Presbyterian
+Church of Scotland should be spoken of in such terms as have lately
+been made use of. Scotsmen feel towards it as to the Church of the
+country established by law, just as the Anglican Church is
+established in England. They feel towards it as the Church whose
+ministrations are attended by our gracious Sovereign when she
+resides in the northern portion of her dominions, and in which
+public thanksgiving was offered to God in the royal presence for
+her Majesty's recovery. But more important still, they feel towards
+it as a church of which the members are behind no other communion
+in the tone and standard of their moral principle and integrity of
+conduct. They feel towards it as a church which has nobly retained
+her adherence to the principles of the Reformation, and which has
+been spared the humiliation of exhibiting any of her clergy
+nominally members of a reformed church, and, at the same time,
+virtually and at heart adherents to the opinions and practices of
+the Church of Rome. English people, in speaking of the Established
+Church of Scotland, seem to forget how much Episcopalians are mixed
+up with their Presbyterian fellow-countrymen in promoting common
+charitable and religious objects. For example, take my own
+experience: the administration of a very valuable charitable
+institution called the Paterson and Pape Fund, is vested jointly in
+the incumbent of St. John's, Edinburgh (Episcopalian), and the two
+clergymen of St. Cuthbert's (Established) Church. Even in matters
+affecting the interests of our own Church we may find ourselves
+closely connected. Take the administration of the late Miss
+Walker's will, and the carrying out her munificent bequest to our
+Church, of which I am a trustee. Of the nine trustees, two are
+Episcopalians residing in Scotland, one an Episcopalian residing in
+England, and six are Presbyterians residing in Scotland. The
+primary object of Miss Walker's settlement is to build and endow,
+for divine service, a cathedral church in Edinburgh; the edifice to
+cost not less than &pound;40,000. The income arising from the
+remainder of her property to be expended for the benefit of the
+Scottish Episcopal Church generally. A meeting of trustees was
+held, November 25, 1871, and one of the first steps unanimously
+agreed upon was to appoint the Bishop-Coadjutor of Edinburgh, who
+is a trustee, to be chairman of the meeting. There is no doubt or
+question of mutual good feeling in the work, and that our Church
+feels full and entire confidence in the fair, honourable, candid,
+and courteous conduct of the trustees to whom in this case will be
+committed weighty matters connected with her interests.</p>
+<p>At one of the congresses of the English Church it has been said,
+and well said, by Mr. B. Hope, that he and his friends of the High
+Church party would join as closely as they could with the members
+of the Romish Church who have taken common cause with Dr.
+Dollinger, "looking more to points where they agree, and not to
+points where they differ." Why should not the same rule be adopted
+towards brethren who differ from ourselves so little on points that
+are vital and eternal? The principle which I would apply to the
+circumstances, I think, may be thus stated: I would join with
+fellow-Christians in any good works or offices, either of charity
+or religion, where I could do so without compromise of my own
+principles. On such ground I do not see why we should not realise
+the idea already suggested,--viz. that of having an interchange
+between our pulpits and the pulpits of the Established and other
+Presbyterian or Independent Churches. Such ministerial interchange
+need not affect the question of <i>orders</i>, nor need it, in
+fact, touch many other questions on which differences are
+concerned.</p>
+<p>Of course this should be arranged under due regulation, and with
+full precaution taken that the questions discussed shall be
+confined to points where there is agreement, and that points of
+difference should be left quite in abeyance. Why should we, under
+proper arrangements, fail to realise so graceful an exercise of
+Christian charity? Why should we lose the many benefits favourable
+to the advancement of Christian unity amongst us? An opportunity
+for practically putting this idea into a tangible form has occurred
+from the circumstance of the new chapel in the University of
+Glasgow being opened for service, to be conducted by clergymen of
+various churches. I gladly avail myself of the opportunity of
+testifying my grateful acknowledgments for the courteous and
+generous conduct of Dr. Caird, in his efforts to put forward
+members of our Church to conduct the services of the College
+chapel, and also of expressing my admiration of the power and
+beauty of his remarks on Christian unity and on brotherly
+love<a name="FNanchor193"></a><a href=
+"#Footnote_193">[193]</a>.</p>
+<p>This is with me no new idea; no crude experiment proposed for
+the occasion. I have before me a paper which I wrote some years
+since, and which I had put into the shape of "An Address to the
+Bishops," to sanction such exchange of pulpits, hoping to get some
+of my clerical brethren to join in the object of the address. I
+feel assured much good would, under God, be the result of such
+spiritual union. If congregations would only unite in exchange of
+such friendly offices of religious instruction with each other, how
+often would persons, now strangers, become better acquainted! I
+wish the experiment could be tried, were it only to show how
+prejudices would be removed; how misunderstandings would be cleared
+away; how many better and kinder feelings would grow out of the
+closer union on religious questions! Nay, I would go farther, and
+express my full conviction, that my own Church would <i>gain</i>
+rather than lose in her interests under such a system. Men would be
+more disposed to listen with attention, and examine with candour
+the arguments we make use of in favour of our Church views. We
+should gain more of the sympathy of our countrymen who differ from
+us, by a calm expostulation than by bitter invective. Beautifully
+and wisely was it written by a sacred pen nearly three thousand
+years ago, "A soft answer turneth away wrath."</p>
+<p>I have such confidence in the excellence of my own Church, that
+I believe to bring persons into closer and kinder connection with
+our system would be the more likely way to gain their approval and
+their favourable judgment. In nothing do we lose more of the
+confidence and estimation of our fellow-countrymen than in the
+feeling of our being intolerant and exclusive in our religious
+opinions. It is curious people should not see that the arguments
+addressed in a friendly spirit must tell more powerfully than the
+arguments of one who shows his hostile feeling.</p>
+<p>With these feelings on the subject, it may be easily understood
+with what pleasure I read, in the <i>Edinburgh Courant</i> of
+November 10th, a report of what our Primus (Bishop Eden) said, at
+the entertainment which was given on the occasion of the
+consecration of St. Mary's Church, Glasgow. In speaking on the
+question of Union, the Primus said--</p>
+<blockquote>"I think I may speak for my Episcopal brethren, when I
+say that if the heads, especially of the Established Church of
+Scotland--for that is the body that has most power and
+influence--if a proposal were made by the leading men in that
+Church, in concurrence with those who hold views similar to
+themselves--a conference of the representative men of the different
+Churches--to consider in a Christian spirit what our differences
+are, and what are the points on which we are agreed, we would be
+most happy to take part in it. Such a conference might, in the
+providence of God, lead to our being drawn nearer to each other. I
+believe that then the prayer which the Bishop of St. Andrews
+offered up would he the earlier accomplished, namely, that the
+Episcopal Churches might become Reformed, and the Reformed Churches
+become Episcopal. If any proposal of this kind could be made, I
+believe we would be most ready to accept any invitation to
+consider whether the various Churches might not be drawn nearer to
+each other." (Great applause.)</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>The Coadjutor Bishop of Edinburgh in his address, after briefly
+referring to some proposals that had been made for union among the
+churches in South Africa, went on to say--</p>
+<blockquote>"I do say, as one of the Bishops of the Scottish
+Episcopal Church now, and in reference to what fell from the
+Primus, that I most heartily concur in what he said, and I cannot
+but feel that, without the slightest breach of the great
+fundamental principles of the Church of Christ, there are many
+points on which we may be at one with Christians who are not part
+of our organic body.<br>
+<br>
+"I believe the proposal made by the Primus would have the effect of
+drawing them nearer to us, and be a step forward to that
+consummation which we all desire, and which our blessed Lord
+prayed--with his last breath--'That we may all be one.'" (Great
+applause.)</blockquote>
+<br>
+<p>That two honoured Fathers of our Church, our Primus and my own
+Bishop, should have made use of such terms, and that their views
+should have been received by <i>such</i> an audience with so much
+applause, I could have offered a grateful acknowledgment upon my
+knees.</p>
+<p>But after all, perhaps, it may be said this is an utopian idea,
+which, in the present state of religious feelings and
+ecclesiastical differences, never can be realised. It were a
+sufficient answer to the charge of <i>utopianism</i> brought
+against such a proposal, to plead that it was no more than what was
+sanctioned by the teaching of God's word. In this case it does not
+seem to go beyond the requirements of holy Scripture as set forth
+in St. Paul's description of charity, and in other passages which
+clearly enjoin Christians to act towards each other in love, and to
+cultivate, so far as they can, a spirit of mutual forbearance and
+of joint action in the sacred cause of preaching the truth as it is
+in Jesus. I cannot believe that, were St. Paul on earth, he would
+sanction the present state of jealous separation amongst
+Christians. Take such separation in connection with the beautiful
+sentiment, which we read in Phil. i. 18:--"What then?
+notwithstanding every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ
+is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice."</p>
+<p>The determination to exclude preaching that is not strictly
+according to our own forms seems to me quite inconsistent with the
+general teaching of Scripture, more particularly with this
+apostolic declaration. But I would bring this question to a
+practical issue, and we shall find enough in our own experience to
+confirm the view I have taken, and to sanction the arrangement I
+propose. To bring forward co-operation in the great and vitally
+important work of preaching God's word, which has been already
+effected between persons holding on some points opinions different
+from each other, take first the case of revision of the English
+translation of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, as it has been
+resolved upon by the authorities of the great Anglican Communion.
+They have had no difficulty in finding Nonconformist scholars and
+divines whose fitness to be associated with Anglican Churchmen in
+the great work of arranging and correcting an authorised version
+has been admitted by all. Thus we have Nonconformists and English
+and Scottish Episcopalians united in adjusting the terms of the
+sacred text;--the text from which all preaching in the English
+tongue shall in future derive its authority, and by which all its
+teaching shall in future be guided and directed. There is
+<i>already</i>, however, a closer and a more practical blending of
+minds on great religious questions much differing from each other
+on lesser points. In the field of religious and devotional
+literature, many of our church differences are lost sight of.
+Episcopalian congregations are constantly in the habit of joining
+with much cordiality and earnestness in singing hymns composed by
+authors nonconformists with our Church--in fact, of adopting them
+into their church service. These compositions form a portion of
+their worship, and are employed to illustrate and enforce their own
+most earnest doctrinal views and opinions themselves. How entirely
+are such compositions as the sacramental hymn, "My God, and is thy
+table spread," by Doddridge; the hymn, "When I behold the wondrous
+cross," by Isaac Watts, associated with our Church services! Nor
+are such feelings of adoption confined to poetical compositions.
+How many prose productions by non-Episcopalian authors might be
+introduced for the delight and benefit of Christian congregations!
+How eagerly many such compositions are read by members of our
+Church! With what delight would many discourses of this class have
+been listened to had they been delivered to Episcopalian
+congregations! Where such hymns and such discourses are admissible,
+the <i>authors</i> of them might take a part in conducting psalmody
+and in occupying the pulpit for preaching to a congregation. If the
+spirits of such writers as Doddridge, Watts, and Hall, have been
+felt to permeate and to influence the hearts of others who have
+heard or read their words of holiness and peace, we may well
+suppose that God would sanction their making like impressions, in
+his own house, upon the hearts of those whom they meet there face
+to face. Might they not communicate personally what they
+communicate through the press? For example, why should not Robert
+Hall have preached his sermons on Infidelity and on the Death of
+the Princess of Wales, perhaps the two most magnificent discourses
+in the language, in an English Cathedral? Why should not the
+beautiful astronomical discourses of Thomas Chalmers have been
+delivered in St. Paul's or in St. John's, Edinburgh? For many
+years, in want of better materials, the sermons of Dr. Blair were
+more used in the Church of England, and more read in private, than
+any similar compositions. It has been for years a growing
+persuasion in my own mind that principles of Christian love and
+mutual harmony are too often sacrificed to the desire of preserving
+the exact and formal marks of church order, as the Bishop of St.
+Andrews so happily expressed it to preserve <i>etiquette</i>.
+Surely the great law of Christian love would suggest and enforce a
+union at least of spirit amongst Christian believers, who cannot
+join in the unity of the same organisation. Inability to join in
+the same form of church polity and church order need not shut the
+door to religious sympathies and religious communion, where there
+are so many points of agreement and of mutual interest. The
+experience of the past will tend to produce the conviction that
+there has too often been in our religious disputes a strong
+tendency in all Christian denominations to make the great principle
+of love, which is a principle to rule in Heaven and for eternity,
+actually subservient and subordinate to a system of ecclesiastical
+order, which, important as it is for its own purposes and objects,
+never can be more than a guide to the ministration of the Church on
+earth, and an organisation which must be in its nature confined to
+time.</p>
+<p>Wherever or whenever this feeling may be called forth, it is a
+grievous error--it is a very serious subject for our reflection,
+how far such want of sympathy and of union with those who do not
+belong immediately to our own church, must generate a feeling
+hostile to a due reception of an important article of our faith,
+termed in the Apostles' Creed the COMMUNION OF SAINTS. According to
+the description given by the judicious and learned Bishop Pearson,
+this communion or spiritual union belongs to all who are in New
+Testament language denominated SAINTS; by which he means all who,
+having been baptized in the faith, have this name by being called
+and baptized. Then he states all Christian believers to have
+communion and fellowship with these, whether living or dead. We
+should feel towards such persons (evidently, as the good Bishop
+implies, without reference to any particular church order) all
+sympathy and kindness as members of the same great spiritual family
+on earth, expectants of meeting in heaven in the presence of God
+and of the Lamb, and of joining in the worship of saints and angels
+round the throne. I have no hesitation in declaring my full
+conviction that such expectations of future communion should supply
+a very powerful and sacred motive for our cultivating all spiritual
+union in our power with all fellow-Christians, all for whom Christ
+died. It becomes a very serious subject for examination of our own
+hearts, how, by <i>refusing</i> any spiritual intercourse with
+Christians who are not strictly members of our own Church, we may
+contravene this noble doctrine of the Communion of Saints; for does
+not the bitterness with which sometimes we find all union with
+certain fellow-Christians in the Church on earth chill or check the
+feeling of a desire for union with the same in the Church above?
+Nay, is there not matter for men's earnest thought, how far the
+violent animosity displayed against the smallest approach to
+anything like spiritual communion with all Christians of a
+different Church from their own may chill the DESIRE itself for
+"meeting in the Church above?" Can hatred to meeting on earth be in
+any sense a right preliminary or preparation for desire to meet in
+Heaven? Nay, more, should we not carefully guard lest the bitter
+displays we see of religious hostility may even tend to bring men's
+minds towards a <i>disinclination</i> to meet in Heaven, of which
+the most terrible condition was thus expressed by Southey:--"Earth
+could not hold us both, nor can one heaven<a name=
+"FNanchor194"></a><a href="#Footnote_194">[194]</a>."</p>
+<p>One mark of any particular Church being a portion of Christ's
+Church on earth seems to be overlooked by some of our English
+friends, and that is a mark pointed out by our Lord himself, when
+he said, "By their FRUITS ye shall know them." By this announcement
+I would understand that besides and beyond a profession of the
+great articles of the Christian faith, I would, as a further
+criterion of a Christian church, inquire if there were many of its
+members who have been distinguished for their Christian piety,
+Christian learning, and Christian benevolence. Is all external
+communion to be interdicted with a church which has produced such
+men as we might name amongst the children of our Established and
+other Churches in Scotland? Look back upon half-a-century, and ask
+if a similar act with that of the Archbishop of York and Bishop of
+Winchester would then have created a like feeling. I can remember
+well the interest and admiration called forth by the eloquence, the
+philanthropy, and the moral fervour of Dr. Chalmers, amongst the
+High Church school of the day too--the good Archbiship Howley,
+Bishop Blomfield, Rev. Mr. Norris of Hackney, Mr. Joshua Watson,
+etc. I remember, too, the perfect ovation he received in the
+attendance of Archbishops, Bishops, Clergy, Peers, Princes, etc.,
+of the great London world, at his lectures on Establishments. We
+can hardly imagine any one saying then, "This is all very well, but
+the Church that produced this man is no part of the true Church of
+Christ, and no English prelate or clergyman could possibly take
+service in it."</p>
+<p>No one, I believe, who is acquainted with my own views and
+opinions on religious subjects would say that I look with
+indifference on those points wherein we differ from the great body
+of our fellow-countrymen. I am confident that I should not gain in
+the estimation of Presbyterians themselves by showing a cold
+indifference, or a lukewarm attachment, to the principles and
+practice of my own Church. They would see that my own convictions
+in favour of Episcopal government in the Church, and of liturgical
+services in her worship, were quite compatible with the fullest
+exercise of candour and forbearance towards the opinions of
+others--I mean on questions not essential to salvation.</p>
+<p>I believe that there are persons amongst us coming round to this
+opinion, and who are ready to believe that it is quite possible for
+Christians to exercise very friendly mutual relations in spiritual
+matters which constitute the essential articles of a common faith,
+whilst they are in practice separated on points of ecclesiastical
+order and of church government. I am old, and shall not see it; but
+I venture to hope that, under the Divine blessing, the day will
+come when to Scotsmen it will be a matter of reminiscence that
+Episcopalians, or that Presbyterians of any denomination, should
+set the interests of their own communion above the exercise of that
+charity that for a brother's faith "hopeth all things and believeth
+all things." Zeal in promoting our own Church views, and a
+determination to advance her interests and efficiency, need be no
+impediment to cultivating the most friendly feelings towards those
+who agree with us in matters which are essential to salvation and
+who, in their differences from us, are, I am bound to believe, as
+conscientious as myself. Such days will come.</p>
+<p>But now, to close my remarks on national peculiarities, with
+what I may term a <i>practical</i> and <i>personal</i> application.
+We have in our later pages adopted a more solemn and serious view
+of past reminiscences as they bear upon questions connected with a
+profession of religion. It is quite suitable then to recall the
+fact which applies individually to all our readers. We shall
+ourselves each of us one day become subject to a "reminiscence" of
+others. Indeed, the whole question at issue throughout the work
+takes for granted what we must all have observed to be a very
+favourite object with survivors--viz. that the characters of
+various persons, as they pass away, will be always spoken of, and
+freely discussed, by those who survive them. We recall the
+eccentric, and we are amused with a remembrance of their
+eccentricities. We admire the wise and dignified of the past. There
+are some who are recollected only to be detested for their
+vices--some to be pitied for their weaknesses and follies--some to
+be scorned for mean and selfish conduct. But there are others whose
+memory is embalmed in tears of grateful recollection. There are
+those whose generosity and whose kindness, whose winning sympathy
+and noble disinterested virtues are never thought upon or ever
+spoken of without calling forth a blessing. Might it not,
+therefore, be good for us often to ask ourselves how <i>we</i> are
+likely to be spoken of when the grave has closed upon the
+intercourse between us and the friends whom we leave behind? The
+thought might, at any rate, be useful as an additional motive for
+kind and generous conduct to each other. And then the inquiry would
+come home to each one in some such form as this--"Within the circle
+of my family and friends--within the hearts of those who have known
+me, and were connected with me in various social relations--what
+will be the estimate formed of me when I am gone? What will be the
+spontaneous impression produced by looking back on bygone
+intercourses in life? Will past thought of me furnish the memory of
+those who survive me with recollections that will be fond and
+pleasing?" In one word, let each one ask himself (I speak to
+countrymen and countrywomen), "Will <i>my</i> name be associated
+with gentle and happy 'REMINISCENCES OF SCOTTISH LIFE AND
+CHARACTER'?"</p>
+<blockquote>FOOTNOTES:</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_191"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor191">[191]</a> Sterne, in one of his letters, describes
+his reading Tristram Shandy to his wife and daughter--his daughter
+copying from his dictation, and Mrs. Sterne sitting by and
+listening whilst she worked. In the life of Sterne, it is recorded
+that he used to carry about in his pocket a volume of this same
+work, and read it aloud when he went into company. Admirable
+reading for the church dignitary, the prebendary of York! How well
+adapted to the hours of social intercourse with friends! How fitted
+for domestic seclusion with his family!</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_192"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor192">[192]</a> <i>Scottish Guardian</i>, vol. ii. No. ix.
+p. 305.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_193"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor193">[193]</a> "What is Religion?" a sermon by Rev. John
+Caird, D.D., Professor of Divinity in the University of Glasgow,
+and one of Her Majesty's Chaplains for Scotland. See especially
+concluding remarks.</blockquote>
+<blockquote><a name="Footnote_194"></a><a href=
+"#FNanchor194">[194]</a> See Southey's <i>Roderick</i>, book
+xxi.</blockquote>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr style="width: 35%;">
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2><a name="INDEX."></a>INDEX.</h2>
+<p>'Aaple,' bottle of beer strong o'.<br>
+Abercairney, Laird of, prevented from <i>going out</i> in '15.<br>
+Aberdeen dialect, perfect specimens of.<br>
+Aberdeen elders, opinion of.<br>
+Aberdeen provost, wife of, at the opera.<br>
+Aberdeen, two ladies of, mutual recrimination.<br>
+'A bonnie bride's sune buskit.'<br>
+Accommodation, grand, for snuff.<br>
+'Acts o' Parliament lose their breath before they get to
+Aberdeenshire.'<br>
+Adam, Dr., Latin translation of Scottish expressions.<br>
+Advice to a minister in talking to a ploughman.<br>
+'A gravesteen wad gie guid bree gin ye gied it plenty o'
+butter.'<br>
+'A hantle o' miscellawneous eating about a pig.'<br>
+Airth, housekeeper at, on king of France.<br>
+Alexander, Dr. W. Lindsay.<br>
+'And what the devil is it to you whether I have a liver or
+not?'<br>
+Anecdotes of quaint Scottish character.<br>
+Angel-worship is not allowed in the Church of Scotland.<br>
+Angler and the horse-fly.<br>
+'Anither gude Sunday! I dinna ken whan I'll get thae drawers redd
+up.'<br>
+'Anither het day, Cornal.'<br>
+'An inch at the tap is worth twa at the boddam.'<br>
+'An I hadna been an idiot I micht hae been sleepin' too.'<br>
+Annals of the parish, extracts from.<br>
+Answer to stranger asking the way.<br>
+Answers, dry, specimens of.<br>
+'A peer o' anither tree.'<br>
+Appetite, farmer's reason for minister's good appetite.<br>
+Asher, minister of Inveraven, anecdote of.<br>
+Athole, Duke of, and Cultoquhey.<br>
+Athole, Duke of, answer of his cottar.<br>
+Auction, anecdote of spoon missing.<br>
+Auld lang syne, beauty of the expression.<br>
+Auld, Rev. Dr., of Ayr, and Rab Hamilton.<br>
+Authors, older ones indecent.<br>
+'Ay, ir ye a' up an' awa?'<br>
+'Ay, she may prosper, for she has baith the prayers of the good and
+of the bad.'<br>
+<br>
+Baby, a laddie or a lassie.<br>
+Baird, Mrs., of Newbyth, remark of, as to her son in India.<br>
+Balnamoon, laird of, carriage to <i>haud in</i>.<br>
+Balnamoon, laird of, great drinker.<br>
+Balnamoon, laird of, joke with his servant.<br>
+Balnamoon, laird of, refuses his wig.<br>
+Balnamoon, praying and drinking at.<br>
+Banes, distinction of, by a beggar.<br>
+Banes, Frasers weel-baned.<br>
+Bannockburn, guide to, refusing an Englishman's five shillings.<br>
+Bannockburn, Scottish remark upon.<br>
+Baptism, minister and member of his flock.<br>
+Barclay of Ury, M. P., walk to London<br>
+Bathgate, mending the ways of<br>
+Beadle, equivocal compliment to minister's sermons<br>
+Beadle or Betheral, character of<br>
+Beast, a stumbling, at least honest<br>
+'Becky and I had a rippit, for which I desire to be humble'<br>
+Begg, Dr., on Scottish morality of the present day<br>
+Beggar, expressing his thanks to a clerical patron<br>
+Bellman of Craigie, notice from<br>
+Bestial, curious use of word<br>
+Betheral, a conceited one<br>
+Betheral criticising a clergyman<br>
+Betheral, criticism on a text<br>
+Betheral, evidence of, regarding drinking<br>
+Betheral, making love professionally<br>
+Betheral, on a dog that was noisy<br>
+Betheral, on the town bailies<br>
+Betheral, Scottish, answer to minister on being drunk<br>
+Betheral stories<br>
+Betheral taking a dog out of church<br>
+Betheral's answer to minister<br>
+Betherals, conversation of two, regarding their ministers<br>
+Blair, Rev. Dr. Hugh, and his beadle<br>
+Blessing by Scottish Bishops, form of, become a reminiscence<br>
+Blethering<br>
+Boatie, character on Deeside<br>
+Boatie of Deeside, and Providence<br>
+Books, older ones indecent<br>
+Border, <i>selvidge</i>, weakest bit of the wab<br>
+Bowing to heritors<br>
+Boy, anecdote of<br>
+Braxfield, Lord, a man of wit<br>
+Braxfield, Lord, character of, as a judge<br>
+Braxfield, Lord, conducting the trial of Muir, Palmer, and
+Skirving, etc.<br>
+Braxfield, Lord, delighted with reply of Scotch minister<br>
+Braxfield, Lord, spoke the broadest Scotch<br>
+Briggs, the sergeant, dry description of, by Scottish nobleman<br>
+Brougham, Lord, on Scottish dialect<br>
+Brown, Rev. John, and the auld wifie<br>
+Brown, Rev. John of Whitburn, answer to rude youth<br>
+Bruce, Mr., of Kinnaird, and Louis XVI. of France<br>
+Buccleuch, Duchess of, asking farmer to take cabbage<br>
+Bull, specimen of Scottish confusion of ideas<br>
+'Bulls of Bashan' applied by a lady to herself<br>
+Burnett, Dr. Gilbert, Bishop of Salisbury<br>
+Burnett, Sir Thomas, of Leys, and his tenant Drummy<br>
+Burnett, Lady, of Leys<br>
+Burns, a son of, and Charles Lamb<br>
+Burns conducted family worship<br>
+Burying-place, choice of<br>
+Bush, conversation with minister in church<br>
+Butler and Kincardineshire laird<br>
+'But my minnie dang, she did though'<br>
+'But oh, I'm sair hadden doun wi' the bubbly jock'<br>
+'But the bodies brew the braw drink'<br>
+<br>
+CAMPBELL of Combie and Miss M'Nabb, anecdote of<br>
+Campbell, Rev. Duncan, on Highland honours<br>
+Camstraddale, the Dumbartonshire laird<br>
+Canny, illustration of one of its meanings<br>
+Canterbury, Archbishop of, and the Dollar man<br>
+Carlyle, Dr., account of minister's drinking in last century<br>
+Carlyle, Dr., prosecuted by General Assembly for attending
+theatre<br>
+Carnegie, Miss Helen, of Craigo, anecdotes of<br>
+Carnegie, Miss, of Craigo, and James III. and VIII.<br>
+Carrier, a country, description of his journeys<br>
+Catastrophe, whimsical application of the word<br>
+'Cauld kail het again'<br>
+'Ceevil,' in courtship, may be carried too far<br>
+Cemeteries, treatment of, much changed<br>
+Chalmers, Dr., poor woman's reason for hearing<br>
+Chambers, Robert, <i>Domestic Annals of Scotland</i>.<br>
+Change of national language involves change of national
+character.<br>
+Changes, are they for the good of the whole community?<br>
+Changes, example of, in an old Laird seeing a man at the
+pianoforte.<br>
+Changes fast going on around us.<br>
+Changes in Scottish manners and dialect.<br>
+Changes, interesting to mark.<br>
+Changes taking place, here noticed.<br>
+Changes taking place in religious feeling.<br>
+Changes, various causes for.<br>
+Chaplain of a jail, humorous reasons for his appointment.<br>
+Children, curious answers of.<br>
+Children, very poor, examples of acuteness.<br>
+Children's diseases.<br>
+Church discipline in the Presbytery of Lanark.<br>
+Churches, a coachman's reason for their increase.<br>
+Churches, architect's idea of difference between two.<br>
+Churches, handsome structure of, more common.<br>
+Church discipline, old fashioned.<br>
+Church-going of late neglected in towns.<br>
+Church-going, Scotchmen not famous for, fifty years ago.<br>
+Churchyard, drunken weaver in.<br>
+Circuit, a drunken one.<br>
+Circuit, one described by Lord Cockburn.<br>
+Clergy, Gaelic, not judged severely on account of drinking.<br>
+Clergyman footsore in grouse-shooting.<br>
+Clergyman publicly rebuking his wife.<br>
+Clerk, John, address to presiding judge.<br>
+Clerk, John, answer to Lord Chancellor.<br>
+Clerk, John, apology for friend in Court of Session.<br>
+Cockburn, Lord, and the Bonaly shepherd.<br>
+Cockburn, Lord, on Scottish changes.<br>
+Cockburn's <i>Memorials</i>, extracts from.<br>
+Collie dogs, sagacity of.<br>
+'Come awa, Jeanie; here's a man swearin' awfully.'<br>
+'Come awa, granny, and gang hame; this is a lang grace and nae
+meat.'<br>
+'Come oot and see a new star that hasna got its tail cuttit aff
+yet.'<br>
+Confession of faith.<br>
+Confirmation, anecdotes concerning.<br>
+Constable, Thomas, anecdote of spare lady.<br>
+Conviviality, old Scottish, and forced.<br>
+Conviviality, Scotch, complaint of, by a London merchant.<br>
+Corb, and Sir George Ramsay.<br>
+Corehouse, Lord, prediction of not rising at the bar, by a Selkirk
+writer.<br>
+'Corp's brither' at a funeral.<br>
+Cottar's Saturday night, fine picture.<br>
+Country minister and his wife, large bed.<br>
+Craigie, Rev. Mr., and Jamie Fleeman.<br>
+Craigmyle, Laird of, and Duchess of Gordon.<br>
+Cranstoun, George, Lord Corehouse.<br>
+Cream, Billy, landlord of inn at Laurencekirk, and Lord
+Dunmore.<br>
+Cross, curious meaning attached to.<br>
+'Cry a'thegither, that's the way to be served.'<br>
+Cumming, Dr. Patrick, convivial clergyman.<br>
+Cumming, Miss, of Altyre, and Donald MacQueen.<br>
+Cumnock, volunteers of.<br>
+Cultoquhey, old Laird of, morning litany.<br>
+Cutty-stool, former use of.<br>
+<br>
+Daft person, his choice of money.<br>
+Dale, David, anecdotes of his servant.<br>
+Dalhousie, Lady.<br>
+Dam-brod pattern table-cloth.<br>
+Dancing, seceder's opinion of.<br>
+Darkness, what is it?<br>
+Davie, chiel that's chained to.<br>
+Davy Gellatleys, many in the country.<br>
+Death, circumstances of, coolly treated.<br>
+Death of a sister described by old lady.<br>
+Decrees of God, answer of old woman.<br>
+Degrees sold at northern universities.<br>
+Delicacy of recent authors compared with older.<br>
+Dewar, David, Baptist minister at Dunfermline.<br>
+Dialects, distinctions on Scottish.<br>
+Dialect, Scottish, real examples of.<br>
+Dialects, provosts, Aberdeen and Edinburgh.<br>
+Diamond Beetle case.<br>
+Difference between an Episcopalian and a Presbyterian minister.<br>
+Diminutives, terms of endearment.<br>
+Discreet, curious use of word.<br>
+Diseases of children, odd names for.<br>
+'Div ye no ken there's aye maist sawn o' the best crap?'<br>
+Dochart, same as Macgregor.<br>
+Dog story.<br>
+'Doggie, doggie,' address of idiot to a greyhound.<br>
+Dogs in church, anecdotes of.<br>
+Donald, Highland servant.<br>
+Donkey, apology of his master for putting him into a field.<br>
+Downie, minister of Banchory, and son's marriage.<br>
+Drams in Highlands, anecdotes of.<br>
+Dream of idiot in town of Ayr, and apostle Peter.<br>
+Drinking, apology for.<br>
+Drinking at Balnamoon.<br>
+Drinking at Castle Grant.<br>
+Drinking, challenge against, by Mr. Boswell of Balmuto.<br>
+Drinking parties of Saturday sometimes took in Sunday.<br>
+Drinking party, 'lad employed to lowse the neckcloths.'<br>
+Drinking party, quantity consumed by.<br>
+Drinking reckoned an accomplishment.<br>
+Drinking, supposed manliness attached to.<br>
+Drovers drinking in Highlands.<br>
+Drumly, happy explanation of.<br>
+Drummond of Keltie, answer to itinerant tailor.<br>
+Dunbar, Sir Archibald, account of a servant.<br>
+Dundas, Henry, and Mr. Pitt.<br>
+Dundrennan, Lord, anecdote of a silly basket-woman.<br>
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, address to Dr. Cook of St. Andrews.<br>
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, and Mr. Clarke's big head.<br>
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, man of racy humour.<br>
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, meeting flock of geese.<br>
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, on a taciturn brother.<br>
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, and mischievous youths in kirk-yard.<br>
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, answer to two young men.<br>
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, opinion of Edward Irving.<br>
+Dunmore, Lord, and Billy Cream.<br>
+'D'ye think I dinna ken my ain groats in ither folk's kail?'<br>
+<br>
+East Lothian minister and his betheral taking degrees at a northern
+college.<br>
+Economy, specimen of Scottish.<br>
+Edinburgh and Aberdeen provosts.<br>
+'E'ening brings a' hame,' expressed by Lord Byron.<br>
+Eglinton, Earl of, and little boy.<br>
+'Eh, man, your Psalm buik has been ill bund.'<br>
+'Eh, Miss Jeany! ye have been lang spared.'<br>
+Eldin, Lord (John Clerk), anecdotes of.<br>
+Election, answer of minister to question.<br>
+Elphinstone, Lord, and minister of Cumbernauld.<br>
+Endearment, Scottish terms of.<br>
+Englishman, an <i>impruived</i>.<br>
+Enterteening, curious use of word.<br>
+Episcopalian chapels, anecdote of Sir W. Forbes.<br>
+Erskine, Colonel, servant proposes an aith for his relief.<br>
+Erskine, Hon. Henry, dinner party at Lord Armadale's.<br>
+Erskine, Mr., of Dun, and his old servant.<br>
+Erskine of Dun, Miss.<br>
+Estate giving the name to proprietor.<br>
+Examinations of communicants<br>
+Expressions, old Scottish, and modern slang contrasted<br>
+Expressions, specimens of Scottish<br>
+<br>
+Factors, proposal to sow field with<br>
+'Fah tee, fah tee'<br>
+Fail, curious use of word<br>
+Family worship now more common<br>
+Family worship, remark upon<br>
+Farmer and servant boy<br>
+Farmer, answer of, when asked to take rhubarb tart<br>
+Farmer, cool answer regarding notes<br>
+Farmer on Deeside and bottle of vinegar<br>
+Farmer refusing a dessert spoon<br>
+Farmer, Scottish, conversation with English girl<br>
+Farms, giving names to the tenants<br>
+Fash as to taking a wife<br>
+Fast-day, national, strictness in observing<br>
+'Fat for should I gang to the opera just to creat a
+confeesion?'<br>
+Fencing tables, by an old minister<br>
+Fencing the <i>deil</i><br>
+Fergusson of Pitfour and London lady<br>
+Fettercairn, custom of bowing to heritors<br>
+Fife elder and penurious laird<br>
+Fife, Lord, proposal to, by an idiot<br>
+'Fin' a fardin' for yersell, puir body'<br>
+Finzean, Laird of, swearing<br>
+Fisher of men<br>
+Fit raiment, explanation of, by child<br>
+Fleeman, Jamie, anecdote of<br>
+Fleeman, Jamie, the Laird of Udny's fool, life of, published<br>
+'Floorish o' the surface,' to describe a preacher<br>
+Forbes, Mrs., of Medwyn, fond of tea<br>
+Forbes's banking-house, anecdotes of<br>
+'Formerly robbers, now thieves'<br>
+Frail, curious use of word<br>
+Fraser, Jamie, address to minister in kirk<br>
+Fraser, Jamie, idiot of Lunan<br>
+Free Church, road of, 'tolls unco high'<br>
+'Freet's dear! sin' I sauld freet in streets o' Aberdeen'<br>
+French people, a clause in their favour, by a Scottish minister<br>
+Fruit, abstinence from, by minister<br>
+Fullerton, Miss Nelly, anecdote of<br>
+Funeral, anecdote of, in Strathspey<br>
+Funeral, carrying at, or leaning<br>
+Funeral, extraordinary account of a Scottish, at Carluke<br>
+Funeral of a laird of Dundonald<br>
+Funeral, reason for a farmer taking another glass at<br>
+Funeral, reason for a person being officious at<br>
+Funeral, taking orders for, on deathbed<br>
+Funeral, the coffin forgotten at<br>
+<br>
+Galloway Lady declining drink<br>
+Gardenstone, Lord, and his book at the inn<br>
+Gardenstone, Lord, and his pet pig<br>
+Gardenstone, Lord, exertions of, for Laurencekirk<br>
+Gardenstone, Lord, keeping snuff in his waistcoat pocket<br>
+Gardenstone, Lord, personal reminiscences of<br>
+Garskadden, Laird of, 'steppit awa' at table<br>
+General Assembly, minister's prayer for<br>
+George III., sickness of, advantageous to candlemakers<br>
+Ghost appearing to Watty Dunlop<br>
+Gilchrist, Dr., answer to young minister on Lord's Prayer<br>
+Gilchrist, Dr., answer to one of his hearers, who had changed his
+religion<br>
+Gillespie, Professor, and village carpenter<br>
+Gillespie, Rev. Mr., and old woman sleeping when he preached<br>
+Glasgow Cathedral, betheral's opinion of<br>
+Glasgow lady and carpenter<br>
+Glasgow, toast after dinner, hint to the ladies<br>
+Glenorchy, Lady, and the elder at the plate at Caprington<br>
+Glenorchy, Lady, removal of her remains on account of railroad<br>
+Gordon, Duchess of<br>
+Gordon, Duchess of, and the laird of Craigmyle<br>
+Gordon, Lady Susan, and David Tulloch<br>
+Graham, Miss Clementina Stirling, <i>Mystifications</i> by<br>
+Grave, making love at<br>
+Gregory, Dr., story of Highland chief<br>
+Grieve in Aberdeenshire, opinion of own wife<br>
+Grieve, on Deeside, opinion of young man's preaching<br>
+'Gude coorse country work'<br>
+Gudewife on Deeside<br>
+Guthrie, Helen, and her husband<br>
+Guy Mannering, extract from<br>
+<br>
+HADDOCK, curious use of word<br>
+'Halbert, smells damnably of the'<br>
+Hamilton, Laird, at the palace asking the servant to sit down<br>
+Hamilton, Laird, noted for eccentricity<br>
+Hamilton, Laird, reasons for not signing a bill<br>
+Hamilton Rab, an idiot at Ayr<br>
+Hamilton, Rab, idiot, anecdotes of<br>
+Hangman, Scotch drover acting as<br>
+Harvest, returning thanks for good<br>
+Hatter at Laurencekirk<br>
+Heaven, little boy's refusal of<br>
+Heaven, old woman's idea of<br>
+'He bud tae big's dyke wi' the feal at fit o't'<br>
+He is awfu' 'supperstitious'<br>
+'He turned Seceder afore he dee'd, and I buried him like a
+beast'<br>
+'Hech, sirs, and he's weel pat on, too'<br>
+'Henny pig and green tea'<br>
+Heritor sending the hangman of Stirling to pay the minister<br>
+Heritors, bowing to<br>
+Hermand, Lord, great drinker, but first-rate lawyer<br>
+Hermand, Lord, jokes with young advocate<br>
+Hermand, Lord, opinion of drinking<br>
+Highland chairman<br>
+Highland chief, story of<br>
+Highland gentleman, first time in London<br>
+Highland honours<br>
+Highland inquisitiveness<br>
+Highlands kept up the custom of clans or races<br>
+Hill, Dr., Latin translation of Scottish expressions<br>
+His girn's waur than his bite<br>
+Holy communion, several anecdotes concerning<br>
+Home, John, author of Douglas, lines on port wine<br>
+Home, John, remark of, to David Hume<br>
+'Honest men and bonnie lassies'<br>
+'Honest woman, what garr'd ye steal your neighbour's tub?'<br>
+Honesty declared the best policy, why?<br>
+Honeyman's, Mrs., answer to Henry Erskine's impromptu lines<br>
+'Hoot! jabbering bodies, wha could understan' them?'<br>
+'Horse the length of Highgate'<br>
+Hospitals, changes in<br>
+Hot day, cool remark on<br>
+'Hout, that is a kind o' a feel'<br>
+Hume, David, refused assistance except on conditions<br>
+Hume, Mrs., 'Too poor'<br>
+Humour of Scotch language<br>
+Humour, Scottish, described in <i>Annals of the Parish</i><br>
+Humour, Scottish, description of<br>
+Hymns ancient and modern<br>
+<br>
+'I DIDNA ken ye were i' the toun'<br>
+Idiot boy and penurious uncle<br>
+Idiot boy, pathetic story of one receiving communion<br>
+Idiot in Lauder, cheating the seceders<br>
+Idiot in Peebles church<br>
+Idiot, musical one at Stirling, appropriate tune<br>
+Idiot of Lauder, and Lord Lauderdale's steward<br>
+Idiot, pathetic complaint of, regarding bubbly jock<br>
+Idiot, why not asleep in church<br>
+Idiots, Act of Parliament concerning<br>
+Idiots, fondness for attending funerals<br>
+Idiots, parish, often very shrewd<br>
+'I druve ye to your marriage, and I shall stay to drive ye to your
+burial'<br>
+'If there's an ill text in a' the Bible, that creetur's aye sure to
+tak it.'<br>
+'If you dinna ken whan ye've a gude servant, I ken whan I've a gude
+place.'<br>
+'I hae cuist'n my coat and waistcoat, and faith I dinna ken how
+lang I can thole my breeks.'<br>
+'I just fan' a doo in the <i>redd</i> o' my plate.'<br>
+'I'll hang ye a' at the price.'<br>
+'I maun hae a lume that'll haud in.'<br>
+'I'm unco yuckie to hear a blaud o' your gab.'<br>
+Inch-byre banes.<br>
+'Indeed, sir, I wish I wur.'<br>
+India, St. Andrew's day kept in, by Scotchmen.<br>
+'I never big dykes till the tenants complain.'<br>
+Innes, Jock, remark upon hats and heads.<br>
+Innkeeper's bill, reason for being moderate.<br>
+Interchange of words between minister and flock in church.<br>
+Intercourse between classes changed.<br>
+'I soopit the pu'pit.'<br>
+'It's a peety but ye had been in Paradise, and there micht na hae
+been ony faa'.'<br>
+'It's no the day to be speerin sic things.'<br>
+'I've a coo noo.'<br>
+'I was just stan'ing till the kirk had skailed.'<br>
+'I was not juist sae sune doited as some o' your Lordships.'<br>
+'I wouldna gie my single life for a' the double anes I ever
+saw.'<br>
+<br>
+Jacobite feeling.<br>
+Jacobite lady, reason for not rising from her chair.<br>
+Jacobite toasts.<br>
+Jacobite's prayer for the <i>King</i>.<br>
+Jamie Layal, old servant, anecdotes of.<br>
+Jeems Robson, ye are sleepin'.<br>
+'Jemmy, you are drunk.'<br>
+Jock, daft, attending funeral at Wigtown.<br>
+Jock Grey, supposed original of David Gellatley.<br>
+Jock Wabster, 'deil gaes ower,' a proverb.<br>
+John Brown, burgher minister, and an 'auld wifie.'<br>
+John, eccentric servant, anecdotes of.<br>
+Johnstone, Miss, of Westerhall, specimen of fine old Scotch
+lady.<br>
+Johnstone, Rev. Dr., of Leith, and old woman, on the decrees of
+God.<br>
+Johnstone, Rev. Mr., of Monquhitter, and travelling piper.<br>
+Judges, Scottish, former peculiarities as a type.<br>
+Judges, Scottish, in Kay's Portraits.<br>
+<br>
+Kail, curious use of word.<br>
+Kames, Lord, a keen agriculturist.<br>
+Kames, Lord, his joke with Lord Monboddo.<br>
+'Kaming her husband's head.'<br>
+Kay's Portraits.<br>
+Keith, Mrs., of Ravelston, her remark to Sir W. Scott on old
+books.<br>
+Kilspindie, Laird of, and Tannachy Tulloch.<br>
+Kindly feelings between minister and people.<br>
+Kirkyard crack.<br>
+Kirkyard crack superseded by newspapers.<br>
+<br>
+Ladies of Montrose, anecdotes of.<br>
+Ladies, old, of Montrose.<br>
+Lady, old maiden, of Montrose, reason for not subscribing to
+volunteer fund.<br>
+Lady, old, of Montrose, objections to steam vessels, and gas, and
+water-carts.<br>
+Lady, old Scotch, remark on loss of her box.<br>
+Lady, Scottish, Lord Cockburn's account of.<br>
+Lady's, old, answer to her doctor.<br>
+Laird, parsimonious, and fool.<br>
+Laird, parsimonious, and plate at church-door.<br>
+Laird, reason against taking his son into the world.<br>
+Laird reproaches his brother for not taking a wife.<br>
+Laird, saving, picking up a farthing.<br>
+Laird, Scottish, delighted that Christmas had run away.<br>
+Lamb, Charles, saw no wit in Scotch people.<br>
+Land, differences of, in produce.<br>
+'Lass wi' the braw plaid, mind the puir.'<br>
+Laudamy and calomy'<br>
+Lauderdale, Duke of, and Williamson the huntsman<br>
+Lauderdale, Earl of, recipe of his daft son to make him sleep<br>
+Laurencekirk, change in<br>
+Laurencekirk described in style of Thomas the Rhymer<br>
+Lawson, Rev. Dr. George, of Selkirk, and the student<br>
+Leein' Gibbie<br>
+Leslie, Rev. Mr., and the smuggler<br>
+'Let her down Donald, man, for she's drunk'<br>
+'Let the little ane gang to pray, but first the big ane maun tak'
+an oar'<br>
+'Linties' and Scottish settler in Canada<br>
+Linty offered as fee for baptism<br>
+Liston, Sir Robert, and Scotchmen at Constantinople<br>
+Loch, Davie, the carrier, at his mother's deathbed<br>
+Lockhart, Dr., of Glasgow, and his son John<br>
+Logan, Laird of, speech at meeting of heritors<br>
+'Lord be thankit, a' the bunkers are fu'!'<br>
+'Lord pity the chiel that's chained to our Davie'<br>
+Lord's prayer, John Skinner's reason for its repetition<br>
+Lothian, Lord, in India, St. Andrew's day<br>
+Lothian, Marquis of, and old countess at table<br>
+Lothian, Marquis of, and workmen<br>
+<br>
+M'Cubbin, Scotch minister, witty answer to Lord Braxfield<br>
+M'Knight, Dr., 'dry eneuch in the pulpit'<br>
+M'Knight, Dr., folk tired of his sermon<br>
+M'Knight and Henry, twa toom kirks<br>
+M'Knight, Dr., remark on his harmony of the four gospels<br>
+Macleod, Rev. Dr. Norman, and Highland boatman<br>
+Macleod, Rev. Dr. Norman, and revivals<br>
+Macleod, Rev. Dr. Norman, anecdote of an Australian told by<br>
+M'Lymont, John, the idiot, anecdotes of<br>
+Macnab, Laird of, his horse and whip<br>
+MacNabb, Miss, and Campbell of Combie<br>
+M'Pherson, Joe, and his wife.<br>
+Magistrates of Wester Anstruther, and evil-doers<br>
+'Mair o' your siller and less o' your mainners, my Lady Betty'<br>
+'Ma new breeks were made oot o' the auld curtains'<br>
+'Man, ye're skailing a' the water'<br>
+'Marriage is a blessing to a few, a curse to many, and a great
+uncertainty to all'<br>
+Marriage, old minister's address on<br>
+Mary of Gueldres, burying-place now a railway<br>
+Mastiff, where turned into a greyhound<br>
+Maul, Mr., and the Laird of Skene<br>
+'May a puir body like me noo gie a hoast?'<br>
+'Me, and Pitt, and Pitfour'<br>
+Mearns, Rev. W. of Kinneff<br>
+'Mem, winna ye tak the clock wi' ye?'<br>
+'Mending the ways o' Bathgate'<br>
+Mice consumed minister's sermon<br>
+Middens, example of attachment to<br>
+Military rank attached to ladies<br>
+Miligan, Dr., answer to a tired clergyman<br>
+Milton quoted<br>
+Minister and rhubarb tart<br>
+Minister, anecdote of little boy at school<br>
+Minister asking who was head of the house<br>
+Minister called to a new living<br>
+Minister, conversation with Janet his parishioner<br>
+Minister in the north on long sermons<br>
+Minister on a dog barking in church<br>
+Minister preaching on the water-side attacked by ants<br>
+Minister publicly censuring his daughter<br>
+Minister reading his sermon<br>
+Minister returning thanks for good harvest<br>
+Minister, Scottish, advice to young preachers<br>
+Minister, Scottish, remark to a young man, who pulled cards out of
+his pocket in church<br>
+Minister, stupid, education and placing,<br>
+Minister, with 'great power of watter,'<br>
+Minister, young, apology for good appetite after preaching,<br>
+Minister's man, account of,<br>
+Minister's man, criticisms of his master's sermon,<br>
+Ministers, Scottish, a type of Scottish character,<br>
+Minister sending for his sermon in pulpit,<br>
+Minstrelsy of Scottish Border, Sir Walter Scott just in time to
+save,<br>
+Miss Miller (Countess of Mar) and Scottish Minister,<br>
+'Miss S----'s compliments, and she dee'd last nicht at aicht
+o'clock,'<br>
+Monboddo, Lord, anecdote in Court of King's Bench,<br>
+Monboddo, Lord, theory of primitive men having tails,<br>
+Monboddo, Lord, though a judge, did not sit on the bench,<br>
+Monboddo, Lord, visit at Oxford,<br>
+Money, love of, discussion on,<br>
+Montrose bailie's <i>eldest</i> son,<br>
+Montrose, description of, by an Aberdeen lady,<br>
+Montrose lady's idea of man,<br>
+Montrose old ladies,<br>
+Montrose, provost of, conversation with an old maid,<br>
+'Mony a ane has complained o' <i>that</i> hole,'<br>
+Muilton, Jock, idiot, and a penurious Laird,<br>
+Munrimmon Moor, no choice of wigs on,<br>
+Murray, Mrs., and the salt spoon,<br>
+'My mou's as big for puddin as it is for kail,'<br>
+<i>Mystifications</i>, by Miss Clementina Stirling Graham,<br>
+<br>
+Na, different modifications of the word,<br>
+'Na, na, he's no just deep, but he's drumly,'<br>
+'Na, na, ye'll aiblins bite me,'<br>
+'Neebour, wad ye sit a bit <i>wast?</i>'<br>
+Nelson, Lord, explanation of his order,<br>
+Nichol, an old servant of Forfarshire,<br>
+'No anither drap, neither het nor cauld,<br>
+Nobleman, half-witted, in Canongate jail,<br>
+Nobleman, mad Scottish, cautious answer of,<br>
+'Noo, Major, ye may tak our lives, but ye'll no tak our
+middens,'<br>
+Nuckle, Watty, betheral, opinion,<br>
+<br>
+'Od, Charlie Brown, what gars ye hae sic lang steps to your
+<i>front</i> door?'<br>
+'Od, freend, ye hae had a lang spell on't sin' I left,'<br>
+'Od, ye're a lang lad; God gie ye grace,'<br>
+Old lady speaking of her own death,<br>
+Old sermons, preaching of,<br>
+Old woman, remarks of, on the usefulness of money,<br>
+'On the contrary, sir,'<br>
+'Ony dog micht soon become a greyhound by stopping here,'<br>
+'Oor Jean thinks a man perfect salvation,'<br>
+'Oor John swears awfu','<br>
+Organ, mark of distinction,<br>
+Organs becoming more common,<br>
+'Ou, there's jist me and <i>anither</i> lass,'<br>
+<br>
+Papers in pulpit,<br>
+Paradise and Wesleyan minister,<br>
+Parishioner, coolness of, when made an elder of the kirk,<br>
+Paul, Dr., his anecdotes of idiots,<br>
+Paul, Saunders, of Banchory, famous for drinking,<br>
+Perth, Lady, remark to a Frenchman on French cookery,<br>
+Penurious laird and Fife elder,<br>
+Pestilence that walketh in darkness--What is it?<br>
+Phraseology, Scottish, an example of pure,<br>
+Phraseology, Scottish, force of,<br>
+Piccadilly,<br>
+Pig, great broon,<br>
+Pig, Scotch minister's account of eating one,<br>
+Pinkieburn, faithful servant at,<br>
+Piper and the elder,<br>
+Piper and the wolves,<br>
+Plugging, an odious practice,<br>
+Poetry, Scottish, becoming less popular,<br>
+Poetry in Scottish dialect, list of,<br>
+Polkemmet, Lord, account of his judicial preparations,<br>
+Polkemmet, Lord, his account of killing a calf,<br>
+Pompous minister and the angler,<br>
+Pony of Free Kirk minister running off to glebe,<br>
+Poole, Dr., his patient's death announced,<br>
+'Powny, grippit a chiel for,'<br>
+Prayers before battle,<br>
+Preacher, a bombastic, reproved satirically,<br>
+Preacher, Scottish, and his small bedroom at manse where he
+visited,<br>
+Preacher, testimony to a good,<br>
+Preaching old sermons,<br>
+Precentor reading single line of psalm,<br>
+Predestination, answer of minister about,<br>
+Priest Gordon, genuine Aberdonian specimen of,<br>
+Priest Matheson,<br>
+Professor, a reverend, his answer to a lawyer,<br>
+Pronunciation, Scottish, varieties of, make four different
+meanings,<br>
+Property qualification,<br>
+Prophets' chalmer (the minor),<br>
+Proprietors, two, meeting of, described by Sir Walter Scott,<br>
+Proverbial expressions, examples of some very pithy,<br>
+Proverbial Philosophy of Scotland, by William Stirling of Keir,
+M.P.,<br>
+Proverb, Scottish, application of, by a minister in a storm,<br>
+Proverb, Scottish, expressed by Lord Byron,<br>
+Proverbs becoming <i>reminiscences</i>,<br>
+Proverbs, immense collection of, by Fergusson,<br>
+Proverbs, Scotch, some specially applicable to the Deil,<br>
+Proverbs, Scotland famous for,<br>
+Proverbs, Scottish, Allan Ramsay's dedication of,<br>
+Proverbs, Scottish, Andrew Henderson,<br>
+Proverbs, Scottish, collections of,<br>
+Proverbs, Scottish, collection of, by Allan Ramsay,<br>
+Proverbs, Scottish, Kelly's collection,<br>
+Proverbs, Scottish, much used in former times,<br>
+Proverbs, Scottish, pretty application of,<br>
+Proverbs, Scottish, specimens of, in language almost obsolete,<br>
+Providence,<br>
+Providence, mistake of, in regard to bairns,<br>
+Provost of Edinburgh in the House of Lords in 1736,<br>
+Psalmody, Scottish,<br>
+Psalmody, Scottish, improvement of,<br>
+Pure language of Scotland not to be regarded as a provincial
+dialect,<br>
+<br>
+'Raiment fit,'<br>
+Ramsay, Allan, dedication of his proverbs in prose,<br>
+Ramsay, Sir George, of Banff, and the Laird of Corb,<br>
+Ramsay, two Misses, of Balmain, anecdotes of,<br>
+'Rax me a spaul o' that bubbly jock,<br>
+Reason given by an old man for marrying a young woman,<br>
+Recess Studies,<br>
+Redd, pigeon found among,<br>
+Religion, two great changes in ideas of,<br>
+Religious feelings and religious observances,<br>
+'Remember Mr. Tamson; no him at the Green, but oor ain Mr.
+Tamson,<br>
+'Reminiscences' capable of a practical application,<br>
+'Reminiscences' have called forth communications from others,<br>
+'Reminiscences' includes stories of wit or humour,<br>
+'Reminiscences,' object and purpose of,<br>
+'Reminiscences,' recall pleasant associations,<br>
+'Ripin' the ribs,'<br>
+Road, Highland, humorously described,<br>
+Robbie A'Thing,<br>
+Robby, a young dandy, and his old aunt,<br>
+Robertson, Principal, advice to, by Scotch minister,<br>
+Robison, Mrs., answer to gentleman coming to dinner,<br>
+Rockville, Lord, character of, as a judge,<br>
+Rockville, Lord, description of street, when tipsy,<br>
+Ruling elder's answer to jokes of three young men,<br>
+Rutherfurd, Lord, and the Bonaly shepherd,<br>
+<br>
+Sabbath-day, and redding up drawers.<br>
+Sabbath-day, eggs ought not to be laid on.<br>
+Sabbath-day known by a hare.<br>
+Sabbath day, where children go who play marbles on.<br>
+Sabbath desecration, geologist in the Highlands.<br>
+Sabbath desecration, stopping the jack for.<br>
+Sandy, fine specimen of old servant.<br>
+'Sayawa', sir; we're a' sittin' to cheat the dowgs.'<br>
+Scotchman, notion of things in London.<br>
+Scotchman of the old school, judgment of, upon an Englishman.<br>
+Scotchman on losing his wife and cow.<br>
+Scotch minister and his diary regarding quarrels with wife.<br>
+Scott, Dr., minister of Carluke.<br>
+Scott, Dr., on his parishioners dancing.<br>
+Scott, Rev. Robert, his idea of Nelson's order.<br>
+Scott, Rev. R., of Cranwell, anecdote of young carpenter.<br>
+Scott, Sir Walter, and the blacksmith on the battle of Flodden.<br>
+Scott, Sir Walter, did not write poetry in Scottish dialect.<br>
+Scott, Sir Walter, his story of sale of antiques.<br>
+Scott, Sir Walter, his story of two relatives who joined the
+Pretender.<br>
+Scott, Sir Walter, just in time to save Minstrelsy of the
+Border.<br>
+Scotland, past and present.<br>
+Scotticisms, expressive, pointed, and pithy.<br>
+Scotticisms, remarks on, by Sir John Sinclair and Dr. Beattie.<br>
+Scottish architect on English leases.<br>
+Scottish boy cleverness.<br>
+Scottish conviviality, old.<br>
+Scottish cookery.<br>
+Scottish dialect, difference between Aberdeen and Southern
+Scotch.<br>
+Scottish dialect, reference of, to English.<br>
+Scottish dialect, specimens of.<br>
+Scottish economy, specimen of, in London.<br>
+Scottish elders and ministers, anecdotes of.<br>
+Scottish expressions, examples of peculiar applications.<br>
+Scottish expressions, illustrated by a letter to a young married
+lady from an old aunt.<br>
+Scottish gentleman in London.<br>
+Scottish humour and Scottish wit.<br>
+Scottish humour, specimen of, in a Fife lass.<br>
+Scottish minstrelsy.<br>
+Scottish music, charm of.<br>
+Scottish peasantry, character of.<br>
+Scottish peasantry, religious feelings of.<br>
+Scottish peasantry, religious feelings of, changed.<br>
+Scottish phraseology, articles on, in <i>Blackwood</i>.<br>
+Scottish psalm-tunes, some written by operatives.<br>
+Scottish shepherd and Lord Cockburn.<br>
+Scottish shepherd and Lord Rutherford.<br>
+Scottish songs, collections of.<br>
+Scottish stories of wit and humour.<br>
+Scottish verses, charm of.<br>
+Scottish words of French derivation.<br>
+<i>Scottishness</i> of the national humour.<br>
+Seceder, an old, would not enter parish church.<br>
+Secession Church, professor in, to a young student.<br>
+Sedan chairs.<br>
+Sermon consumed by mice.<br>
+Sermons, change of character of.<br>
+Servant and dog Pickle at Yester.<br>
+Servant, answer of, to his irascible master.<br>
+Servant, answer of, when told to go.<br>
+Servant and Lord Lothian.<br>
+Servant, Mrs. Murray, and the spoon.<br>
+Servant of Mrs. Ferguson of Pitfour.<br>
+Servant of Mrs. Fullerton of Montrose.<br>
+Servant, old, reason for doing as he liked.<br>
+Servant praying for her minister.<br>
+Servant taxed with being drunk, his answer.<br>
+Servants, domestic Scottish.<br>
+'She juist felled hersel at Graigo wi' straeberries and 'ream.'<br>
+'She's bonnier than she's better.'<br>
+'She will be near me to close my een.'<br>
+Shireff, Rev. Mr., and member of his church who had left him.<br>
+Shirra, Rev. Mr., on David saying 'All men are liars.'<br>
+Shot, a bad one, complimented on success.<br>
+Siddons, Mrs., respected by Edinburgh clergy.<br>
+Silly, curious use of the word.<br>
+Singing birds, absence of, in America.<br>
+Sins, Aberdeen mother proud of.<br>
+'<i>Sir, baby</i> I'll come farther.'<br>
+'Sit in a box drawn by brutes.'<br>
+Skinner, Bishop, and Aberdeen old couple.<br>
+Skinner, John, Jacobitism of.<br>
+Skinner, John, of Langside, his defence of prayer-book.<br>
+Skinner, Rev. John, author of several Scottish songs.<br>
+Skinner, Rev. John, lines on his grandson leaving Montrose.<br>
+Skinner, Rev. John, passing an Anti-burgher chapel.<br>
+Sleeping in church.<br>
+Sleeping in church, and snuffing.<br>
+Slockin'd, never, apology for drinking.<br>
+Smith, Adam, marked as most eccentric.<br>
+Smith, Sydney, opinion of Scottish wit.<br>
+Smuggler, case of one in church.<br>
+'Sneck the door.'<br>
+Snuff-box handed round in churches.<br>
+Snuff, grand <i>accommodation</i> for.<br>
+Snuff, pu'pit soopit for.<br>
+Snuff put into the sermon.<br>
+Snuff-taking.<br>
+Soldier, an old, of the 42d, cautious about the name of Graham.<br>
+'Some fowk like parritch, and some like paddocks.'<br>
+'Some strong o' the aaple.'<br>
+Songs, drinking.<br>
+Sovereign, when new, a curiosity.<br>
+Speat o' praying and speat o' drinking.<br>
+Speir, daft Will, and Earl of Eglinton.<br>
+Speir, daft Will, answer to master about his dinner.<br>
+Spinster, elderly, arch reply to, by a younger member.<br>
+Stipend, minister's, reasons against its being large.<br>
+Stirling of Keir, evidence in favour of, by the miller of Keir.<br>
+Stirling of Keir, lecture on proverbs.<br>
+Stra'von, wife's desire to be buried in.<br>
+Strikes, answer upon, by a master.<br>
+Stewart, Rev. Patrick, sermon consumed by mice.<br>
+Stone removed out of the way.<br>
+Stool, a three-legged, thrown at husband by wife.<br>
+Stout lady, remark of.<br>
+Stranraer, old ladies on the British victories over the French.<br>
+Sunday sometimes included in Saturday's drinking party.<br>
+Suppers once prevalent in Scotland.<br>
+Sutherland, Colonel Sandy, his dislike to the French.<br>
+Swearing by Laird of Finzean.<br>
+Swearing by Perth writer.<br>
+Swearing common in Scotland formerly.<br>
+Swine, dislike of, in Scotland.<br>
+Swinophobia, reasons for.<br>
+Smith, Sydney, remarks of, on <i>men</i> not at church.<br>
+<br>
+Tailor, apology for his clothes not fitting.<br>
+'Take out that dog; he'd wauken a Glasgow magistrate.'<br>
+Taylor, Mr., of London, description of his theatre by his father
+from Aberdeen.<br>
+Term-time offensive to Scottish lairds.<br>
+Texts, remarks upon.<br>
+'That's a lee, Jemmie.'<br>
+Theatre, clergy used to attend, in 1784.<br>
+Theatre, clerical non-attendance.<br>
+'The breet's stannin' i' the peel wi ma.'<br>
+'The deil a ane shall pray for <i>them</i> on <i>my</i> plaid.'<br>
+The fool and the miller.<br>
+'The man reads.'<br>
+'Them 'at drink by themsells may just fish by themsells.'<br>
+'There'll be a walth o' images there.'<br>
+'There's Kinnaird greetin' as if there was nae a saunt on earth but
+himself and the King o' France.<br>
+'There's nae <i>wail</i> o' wigs on Munrimmon Moor,'<br>
+'There's neither men nor meesie, and fat care I for meat?'<br>
+'They may pray the kenees aff their breeks afore I join in that
+prayer,'<br>
+'They neither said ba nor bum,'<br>
+'Thirdly and lastly' fell over the pulpit stairs,<br>
+Thomson, Thomas, described in Aberdeen dialect,<br>
+Thomson, two of the name prayed for,<br>
+Thrift, examples of, in medicine,<br>
+Tibbie, eccentric servant, anecdote of,<br>
+Tiger and 'skate, stories of,<br>
+Toasts after dinner,<br>
+Toasts, collection of, in the book 'The Gentleman's New Bottle
+Companion,'<br>
+Toasts or sentiments, specimens of,<br>
+Tourist, English, asking Scottish girl for horse-flies,<br>
+Town-Council, 'profit but not honour,'<br>
+Tractarianism, idea of, by an old Presbyterian,<br>
+'Travel from Genesis to Revelation, and not footsore,'<br>
+Traveller's story, treatment of,<br>
+'Troth, mem, they're just the gudeman's <i>deed</i> claes,'<br>
+Tulloch, David, Jacobite anecdote of, at prayers,<br>
+Turkey leg, devilled, and servant,<br>
+Tweeddale, Lord, and dog Pickle,<br>
+<br>
+Unbeliever described by Scotch lady,<br>
+<br>
+View of things, Scottish matter of fact,<br>
+Vomit, if not strong enough, to be returned,<br>
+<br>
+Washing dishes on the Sabbath day,<br>
+Waverley, old lady discovering the author of,<br>
+Waverley quoted,<br>
+Webster, Rev. Dr., a five-bottle man,<br>
+'Weel then, neist time they sail get <i>nane ava</i>,'<br>
+'We'll stop now, bairns; I'm no enterteened,'<br>
+'We never absolve <i>till after three several appearances</i>,'<br>
+West, going, ridiculous application of<br>
+'Wha' are thae twa <i>beddle-looking</i> bodies?'<br>
+'What a nicht for me to be fleein through the air,'<br>
+'What ails ye at her wi' the green gown?'<br>
+'What gars the laird of Garskadden look sae gash?'<br>
+'What is the chief end of man?'<br>
+'When ye get cheenge for a saxpence here, it's soon slippit
+awa,'<br>
+Whisky, limited blame of,<br>
+'Whited sepulchres,' applied to clergy in surplices, Inverness,<br>
+Wife, cool opinion of, by husband,<br>
+Wife, rebuke of, by minister,<br>
+Wife taken by her husband to Banchory,<br>
+Wig of professor in Secession Church,<br>
+Williamson the huntsman and Duke of Lauderdale,<br>
+'Will ye tak your haddock wi' us the day?'<br>
+Wilson, Scottish vocalist, modesty of,<br>
+Wind, Scotch minister's prayer for,<br>
+Wolves and the piper,<br>
+Wool, modifications of,<br>
+<br>
+'Ye a' speak sae <i>genteel</i> now that I dinna ken wha's
+Scotch,'<br>
+Yeddie, daft, remark on a club-foot,<br>
+'Ye should hae steekit your neive upo' that,'<br>
+'Ye've been lang Cook, Cooking them, but ye've dished them at
+last,'<br>
+Young man and cards in church,<br>
+'Your hospitality borders upon brutality,'</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr class="full" noshade>
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REMINISCENCES OF SCOTTISH LIFE AND CHARACTER***</p>
+<p>******* This file should be named 12483-h.txt or 12483-h.zip *******</p>
+<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br />
+<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/4/8/12483">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/4/8/12483</a></p>
+<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.</p>
+
+<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.</p>
+
+
+
+<pre>
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+<a href="https://gutenberg.org/license">https://gutenberg.org/license)</a>.
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's
+eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII,
+compressed (zipped), HTML and others.
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over
+the old filename and etext number.  The replaced older file is renamed.
+VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving
+new filenames and etext numbers.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">https://www.gutenberg.org</a>
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000,
+are filed in directories based on their release date.  If you want to
+download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular
+search system you may utilize the following addresses and just
+download by the etext year.
+
+<a href="https://gutenberg.org/etext06/">https://gutenberg.org/etext06</a>
+
+    (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99,
+     98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90)
+
+EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are
+filed in a different way.  The year of a release date is no longer part
+of the directory path.  The path is based on the etext number (which is
+identical to the filename).  The path to the file is made up of single
+digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename.  For
+example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at:
+
+https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234
+
+or filename 24689 would be found at:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689
+
+An alternative method of locating eBooks:
+<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL">https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL</a>
+
+*** END: FULL LICENSE ***
+</pre>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/old/12483.txt b/old/12483.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8b3559a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/12483.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,15523 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character,
+by Edward Bannerman Ramsay, et al
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character
+
+Author: Edward Bannerman Ramsay
+
+Release Date: June 1, 2004  [eBook #12483]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: US-ASCII
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REMINISCENCES OF SCOTTISH LIFE AND
+CHARACTER***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+REMINISCENCES OF SCOTTISH LIFE & CHARACTER
+
+BY THE LATE E. B. RAMSAY, LL.D., F.R.S.E.
+
+DEAN OF EDINBURGH
+
+Twenty-Second Edition, Enlarged,
+With the Author's Latest Corrections and Additions
+
+And a Memoir of Dean Ramsay
+
+By Cosmo Innes
+
+1874
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+MEMOIR OF DEAN RAMSAY
+
+PREFACE TO TWENTY-SECOND EDITION
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+INTRODUCTORY
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+SCOTTISH RELIGIOUS FEELINGS AND OBSERVANCES
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+ON OLD SCOTTISH CONVIVIALITY
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+ON THE OLD SCOTTISH DOMESTIC SERVANT
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+SCOTTISH JUDGES
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+ON HUMOUR PROCEEDING FROM SCOTTISH EXPRESSIONS,
+INCLUDING SCOTTISH PROVERBS
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+ON SCOTTISH STORIES OF WIT AND HUMOUR
+
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+INDEX
+
+
+
+
+MEMOIR OF DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+I.
+
+The friends of Dean Ramsay desiring a memorial of his life, his friendly
+publishers, and his nearest relatives, have asked me to undertake the
+work, and placed in my hands some materials giving authentic facts and
+dates, and illustrating the Dean's own views on the leading events
+of his life.
+
+I feel myself excluded from dealing with one important part of such a
+life, for I could not take upon me to speak with confidence or authority
+upon church doctrines or church government. On the other hand, for the
+_man_ I have that full sympathy which I suppose ought to exist between
+the writer and the subject of the biography.
+
+We were very old friends, natives of the same district, bred among a
+people peculiar in manners and language, a people abounding in a racy
+humour, differing from what prevails in most parts of Scotland--a
+peculiarity which it was the joy of the Dean to bring before his
+countrymen in his _Reminiscences_; and although he and I were not
+kindred of blood, his relatives and friends were very much mine, and my
+uncles and aunts were also his.
+
+Edward Bannerman Burnett, known in after life as Edward Ramsay, and
+Dean of Edinburgh, was born at Aberdeen on the last day of January 1793.
+His father, Alexander, second son of Sir Thomas Burnett, Baronet, of
+Leys, was an advocate, and sheriff of Kincardineshire, where the family
+estates lay. The sheriff was of delicate constitution, and travelled in
+the south of Europe for his health, until obliged to fly from the French
+Revolution; and at Aberdeen, the first place where he and his wife
+stopped, Edward was born. The Dean's mother was Elizabeth, the elder
+daughter of Sir Alexander Bannerman of Elsick, and she and her sister
+Mary, afterwards Mrs. Russell, were co-heirs of his estates in the
+pretty valley of the Feugh, including the whole parish of Strachan, of
+which the southern part, looking over into the _How_ of the Mearns, was
+Mrs. Burnett's portion; the northern, with the beautiful bank of Dee
+where Blackhall stands, falling to Mrs. Russell. Both sisters were
+eminently handsome. I have a tradition of the young ladies, when they
+first came from their York school to Edinburgh, being followed and gazed
+at by passengers in the streets, for their beauty; and there are many
+still living in Edinburgh who long after gazed with admiration on the
+fine old lady, the Dean's mother, bending over her embroidery frame in
+her window in Darnaway Street.
+
+Alexander Burnett and his wife Elizabeth Bannerman had a large family.
+Edward, the fourth son, when very young, was taken by his grand-uncle,
+Sir Alexander Ramsay, and sent to school near his own house at Harlsey
+in Yorkshire. Edward's first school, to which he was sent in 1801, made
+a remarkable impression upon the Dean's memory. "I believe," he says,
+"at that period (the very beginning of the century) it was about the
+most retired village in England not of a mountainous district. No
+turnpike road went through the parish. It lay in the line of no
+thoroughfare. The only inhabitants of education were the clergyman, a
+man of great simplicity of character, who had never been at the
+University, and my great-uncle, of above fourscore, and a recluse. The
+people were uneducated to an extent now unusual. Nearly all the letters
+of the village were written by my uncle's gardener, a Scotchman, who,
+having the degree of education usual with his countrymen of the
+profession, and who being very good natured, had abundant occupation for
+his evenings, and being, moreover, a prudent man, and _safe_, became the
+depository of nine-tenths of the family secrets of the inhabitants.
+Being thus ignorant generally, and few of them ever having been twenty
+miles from the place, I may consider the parish fifty years behind the
+rest of the world when I went there, so that it now furnishes
+recollection of rural people, of manners and intelligence, dating back a
+hundred years from the present time. It was indeed a very primitive
+race; and it is curious to recall the many indications afforded in that
+obscure village of unmitigated ignorance. With all this were found in
+full exercise also the more violent and vindictive passions of our
+nature. They might have the simplicity, but not the virtues, of
+Arcadia.... There were some old English customs of an interesting
+nature which lingered in the parish. For example, the old habit of
+bowing to the altar was retained by the rustics on entering church, and
+bowing respectfully to the clergyman in his place. A copy of the
+Scriptures was in the vestry _chained_ to the desk on which it lay, and
+where it had evidently been since that mode of introducing the Bible was
+practised in the time of Edward VI. The passing bell was always sounded
+on notice of the death of a parishioner, and sounded at any hour, night
+or day, immediately on the event happening. One striking custom
+prevailed at funerals. The coffin was borne through the village to the
+churchyard by six or eight bearers of the same age and sex as the
+deceased. Thus young maidens in white carried the remains of the girl
+with whom they had lately sported. Boys took their playfellow and
+companion to the churchyard. The young married woman was borne by
+matrons; the men of middle age did the same office for their
+contemporary.... The worship of the little church was, as may be
+supposed, extremely simple, and yet even there innovation and refinement
+had appeared in the musical department. The old men who used to execute
+the psalmody, with the clerk at their head, had been superseded. A
+teacher of singing had been engaged, and a choir, consisting of maidens,
+boys and men, executed various sacred pieces with the assistance of a
+bassoon and violin. I recollect in the church a practice which would
+have shocked the strict rubricians of the present day. Whenever banns of
+marriage were proclaimed, immediately after the words 'This is the
+first, second, or third time of asking,' the old clerk shouted out, 'God
+speed them weel.' In nothing was the primitive and simple character of
+the people more remarkable than in the social position of the clergy
+amongst them. The livings were all small, so that there was no
+temptation for ecclesiastics of birth and high position in society to
+come there. The clergy were in many cases clergy only on Sundays, and
+for Sunday duty. The rest of the week they were like their people;
+engaged in agriculture or horse-breeding, they lived with their
+servants, and were scarcely raised above the position of farmers. To
+show the primitive manners of many clergymen, I may mention the case of
+an usher in my school, who was also curate. He enjoyed the euphonious
+name of Caleb Longbottom. I recollect his dialect--pure Yorkshire; his
+coat a black one only on Sunday, as I suppose he was on week days
+wearing out his old blue coat which he had before going into orders.
+Lord Macaulay has been charged that in describing the humble social
+condition of the clergy in the reign of Charles II., he has greatly
+exaggerated their want of refinement and knowledge of the world; but
+really, from my recollection of my friend Mr. Longbottom and others at
+the time I speak of, in the reign of George III., I cannot think he has
+overdrawn the picture. Suppose this incident at a table in our own
+time:--My uncle lived in what is called in Yorkshire the Hall; and being
+principal proprietor in the parish, he was in fact the squire or great
+man. The clergy always dined at the hall after evening service, and I
+recollect the first day the new curate dined. The awkwardness and
+shyness of the poor man were striking, even to the eyes of a thoughtless
+schoolboy. He summoned courage to call for beer, and, according to the
+old custom, deemed it necessary to drink the health of all present
+before he put the glass to his lips. He addressed first the old
+gentleman, then the vicar, then myself, and finally, with equal
+solemnity, drank to the servants in attendance--the old butler and
+coachman, who were waiting upon the company[1]."
+
+I value these reminiscences of his Yorkshire school, written long after,
+because I think them very curious; and they show how early Edward Ramsay
+had his eyes open to characteristic features of the people.
+
+Ramsay's grand-uncle, the old Sir Alexander Ramsay, died in 1806,
+neglecting to make the provision which he had intended for his
+grand-nephew, but leaving his estates to his nephew, Edward's father,
+who then gave up his sheriffship (in which he was succeeded by Adam
+Gillies), and being a Whig and of Whig family, accepted a baronetcy from
+Mr. Fox, and made Fasque his home for the short remainder of his life.
+
+The future Dean was not fortunate in schools. On his father's succeeding
+to the family estates he quitted Harlsey indeed, but only to move to
+Durham, which left no more pleasant memories in his mind than the other,
+although there he learned to blow the flute, and indulge his strong
+musical taste. He writes of Durham school that it had fallen off
+terribly, from the increasing infirmities of the head master, and Ramsay
+was anxious to leave it, when that move came naturally by the death of
+his father[2]. Writing in his journal some time afterwards, he says,
+"What was I to do? I was determined to go into the Church, and must go
+to college. How was the intermediate period to be spent?" His first
+private tutor was the Rev. J.H. Browne, at Kegworth in Leicestershire,
+afterwards Archdeacon of Ely. "Here," says Edward, "I did learn
+something both of books and of the world. Browne was a scholar, and my
+fellow-students were gentlemen and knew something of life." He next
+lived for a time with Mr. Joynes, a clergyman, at Sandwich in Kent, and
+went from thence, in October 1811, to Cambridge.
+
+He entered as a pensioner at St. John's, and although professing to be a
+reading man, he was not eminently satisfied with the effects of the
+society into which he fell upon his habits and accomplishments. "Not,"
+he says, "that I had not really good associates, but somehow it seems
+not to have been the best and such as I might have had." Another defect
+was his not having a skilful and effective private tutor at a time when
+he felt that he stood specially in need of one. "I could not form my
+reading habits alone, and I had not sufficient help. I did enough,
+however, to show I was not an ass. I got a scholarship. I was twice in
+goodish places in the first class. I had a name for flute-playing;" and
+then, ending this retrospect, which he wrote with some disgust, he tells
+how he left Cambridge in his third year, going out B.A. with no contest
+for honours. His college vacations were spent either in London with
+college friends, or with a reading party under Wilkinson, the tutor, at
+Redcar. In gathering up his recollections, he says he saw a good deal of
+society: one summer was very musical; of another which he spent at home
+he enumerates his occupations--"botany," "music," "Deeside." Through
+all, his study was theology, but in "small doses" he says. His brother
+Marmaduke joined him on the Christmas holiday of 1816, when they worked
+together at the cryptogamics, and then went up to Cambridge
+together--Edward to renew his theological studies with the help of the
+formal lectures at the University. He spent the remainder of that season
+at Bath with friends and relatives. He speaks of the Bath society, its
+gaiety, theatricals, music--some rich clergymen giving good dinners, and
+brother Marmaduke coming for his long vacation to a farm-house two miles
+from Bath, "where we had some good botanical fun. Can it be that the
+finding a new plant put us in a state of ecstasy? How we treasured up
+specimens! How we gloried in our collections! But it has all passed
+away; no chord is touched." To some, who think of the Dean as the
+reverend, pious, grave, even melancholy man, these youthful
+reminiscences may appear unnatural, even unworthy. I must own that there
+breaks out now and then in his journal something which shows that he
+himself was not satisfied with many of these juvenile memoranda, as if
+they showed unfitting occupation and education of a young clergyman. But
+that was not their real nature. Those small studies and accomplishments
+took the place in his early training which the cricket-match or the
+boat-race now take in the school time of Young England. The Dean speaks
+somewhat contemptuously--"Here I got a smattering of astronomy," and
+again of his studies of cryptogamics and botany; but he nevertheless
+felt the full benefit of such accomplishments. His music, his passion
+for rural and especially Highland scenery, the enjoyments of society,
+the love of seeing others happy, the joining of happiness with goodness,
+made the Dean what he was in after life, and enabled him to take that
+position amongst his countrymen which a purely theological upbringing
+would not have done.
+
+But now our young cleric was to put away childish things, and to take
+upon him the duty of his high calling. He was ordained at Wells, and
+officiated for the first time as curate of Rodden, near Frome, Somerset,
+on Christmas day 1816.
+
+Rodden is a very small village, of one or two farms and some labourers'
+cottages, nestling round the little church, with a few, very few,
+outlying houses or farms. It lies among meadows on each side of the
+rivulet which runs through the village. One of the outlying houses is
+"Styles Hill," inhabited by one family of the Sheppards, all of whom
+soon became dear friends of the Dean. Another was the "Pear-tree"
+Cottage, an uninteresting red brick house, where Mr. Rogers provided a
+residence for the young curate. The incumbent of the parish, when Ramsay
+went there, was the Rev. John Methwen Rogers of Berkley, who was
+non-resident. The duties of Rodden were too small to employ his whole
+time, and in the following year (1817) Ramsay became curate also of
+Buckland Dinham, the rector of which was non-resident and lived at a
+distance, so that the curate had the sole charge of the parish. In his
+work at Buckland, Ramsay took great delight, and soon won the hearts of
+his people, although many of them were Wesleyan Methodists of the old
+type[3]. But it was not only amongst the peasantry that Ramsay was
+beloved. All the upper and middle classes in his own little parishes,
+and through the whole valley, regarded him with strong esteem and
+affection, and amongst them were persons whose character, and even whose
+little peculiarities of language, he caught and remembered. One of
+these, a retired Captain Balne, although he failed in prevailing on the
+young clergyman to take a glass of grog, his own favourite cure for all
+ailments, was pleased when the curate came to take a dish of tea with
+him and his gentle wife. Once, when Ramsay was ill, the grief in the
+parish was universal; but he used to say that the greatest proof of
+attachment was given by Captain Balne, who happened to be enjoying his
+dinner when the news of his friend's illness reached him, upon which he
+laid down his knife and fork, and declared he could not take another
+mouthful. Captain Balne had a peculiar phraseology. One phrase, in
+particular, was, "If I may be allowed the language," which came readily
+on all occasions. If he was asked "How is Mrs. Balne to-day?" the
+Captain would reply, "She is quite well, I thank you, Mr. Ramsay, if I
+may be allowed the language;" or ask him, "Have you a good crop of
+apples this year?" "Pretty middling, sir, if I may be allowed the
+language." The constant recurrence of the phrase struck Mr. Ramsay, who
+quoted it long after in his letters to his Frome friends--"I am glad to
+say my congregation at St John's continues good--if I may be allowed the
+language."
+
+Buckland is a larger village than Rodden, containing nearly 500
+inhabitants. The two places are five miles apart. Buckland is on the
+brow and slope of a steep hill, the church being on the summit, and the
+irregular street descending from it on the Frome side, with many
+cottages scattered about among orchards and meadows. So the curate of
+Buckland, living at the Pear-tree Cottage in Rodden, required a pony for
+locomotion, which he showed with some pride to his neighbours on first
+buying it. It was an iron-gray, and a sedate clerical pony enough, to
+which he gave the name of Rumplestiltskin, after one of Grimm's popular
+stories; and whenever he spoke of him or to him, he gave him his name at
+full length. The country and some of the places round Buckland are very
+interesting. On the west is one of the entrances to Vallis, a grassy
+valley bordered by limestone rocks, and trees and copse, with a
+trout-stream winding through it. There, when the labours of the day were
+done, the Sheppards and he would spend a summer afternoon sketching and
+botanising, whilst tea was prepared at a neighbouring farm.
+
+Vallis opened into several other vales, and on the heights above were
+the picturesque villages of Elm and Skells, and the ruined nunnery and
+massive old castle, the old seat of Delameres, renowned for a defence in
+the Cromwellian wars. Mr. Ramsay proposed in jest to fit up the castle
+as a dwelling, and bring all his friends to live there. Another time he
+was for fitting it up as a museum. It would make, he said, a splendid
+place for a _hortus siccus_--a "great ornament to our ponds and
+ditches[4]." The writer of these trifles excuses herself for collecting
+them, because she knew the value which is attached to the least of the
+sayings and doings of a departed friend; but we are assured, that even
+in those Arcadian regions life was not always holiday. There was some
+serious work. The curate took great pains on the future interests as
+well as the characters of his little flock.
+
+In one family he acted the part of the truest of friends--gently
+reproving the little ones when they deserved it, and ready to amuse
+when it was the time for amusement--sometimes taking them to Bath for
+the day, and making them very happy, bestowing at the same time great
+pains on their instruction--sometimes practising music with them, and
+accompanying their sonatas on his incomparable flute--recommending to
+the governess a higher style of music, leading them on gradually to the
+works of Beethoven and Mozart. By and by he gave them instructions in
+architecture; taught them, as he said, all that he had learned from
+Rickman. His teaching was minutely technical. He would assemble his
+class in a little morning room, with books before them, and a case of
+mathematical instruments, pens and pencils. His pupils wrote what he saw
+fit to dictate, and he taught them how to use the compasses. Next came
+botany, which was not a new study to his pupils. There his brothers
+assisted him. They made a joint _hortus siccus_ under his instruction.
+Edwin contributed many specimens from Scotland, and Marmaduke made a
+little collection of mosses. But they had to thank the curate for yet
+higher and better instruction. His younger pupils were not excluded from
+the most earnest conversations between him and Mr. Algar, Mr. John
+Sheppard, and some friends of the neighbouring gentlemen and clergy. In
+these conversations books were read and criticised, theological and
+other subjects, including some politics, were discussed. Ramsay was
+quizzed for Whiggish tendencies. The mistress of the house usually
+joined and set them right in politics, for she had been brought up in
+Plymouth during the French war, and had learned the old-fashioned Tory
+doctrine, and to think any other politics sinful. But all those high
+subjects of politics and religion were discussed with fitting respect;
+for that society--young and old--had a deep sense of religion, and the
+parents encouraged the younger members to visit and instruct the workmen
+and their families who were employed in the large cloth manufactories of
+the Sheppards; so that it came to pass that every man, woman, and child
+was taught or helped to teach others, for in those days very few of the
+working-people, at least in that part of England, could read at all. A
+lending library was attached to the mills. A large Sunday school was
+formed, chiefly for the children of the workpeople, and additional
+services were undertaken by the curate--a second sermon on Sundays
+besides one on Thursday evenings, where the families of the
+neighbourhood attended, and as many of the servants as could be spared.
+There, be sure, was no big talk on the primary obligation of orthodoxy,
+no attempts to proselytise. But all classes of that primitive people
+valued his preaching, and farmers and their labourers, the workmen of
+the factories, as well as their masters, took advantage of it. His
+brothers often visited him, and joined heartily in his pursuits whether
+gay or serious. It was delightful to see the three brothers so happy in
+each other's society, and helping on a worthy common object. Marmaduke,
+the Cambridge man, would talk astronomy, and William, the sailor,
+afterwards Admiral Ramsay, brought down a fine telescope, and himself
+gave them their first lesson in practical astronomy, handing over the
+instrument when he left to his brother the curate, that he might
+continue the instruction.
+
+During all these years of useful, cheerful, happy employment at Frome,
+Edward Ramsay never forgot the land of his forefathers and of his own
+youth. He sometimes visited Bath and London to hear Edward Irving
+preach, to see Kean act, to stare at old books and prints in the shop
+windows, to revel in the beauties of Kew Gardens; but every summer he
+found time for a visit to Scotland, and spent his holiday with boyish
+delight amongst the scenes and friends of his childhood.
+
+It was on one of those visits to Scotland, in the autumn of 1822, whilst
+Mr. Ramsay was spending his holidays among his friends on Deeside, that
+the managers of St. Paul's Chapel, Aberdeen, offered him the place of
+second minister to that congregation, along with Mr. Cordiner. He was
+much gratified, and would gladly have accepted the appointment. He liked
+the place--his native town; thought highly of the respectability of the
+congregation; but there was one objection, which to him was insuperable.
+The congregation had for some time been Episcopal only in name, and it
+went against Mr. Ramsay's conscience to minister in a church calling
+itself Episcopal, but without the communion or discipline of a bishop.
+He explained to the managers his objection, and thought for a time it
+might be overcome by a union with the Scotch Episcopal churches in the
+diocese. He had yet to learn the strength, of the Scotch prejudice
+against bishops; perhaps to learn that the more shadowy the grounds of
+dispute, so much the more keenly are ecclesiastical squabbles fought.
+Worthy Bishop Skinner would have been glad to have Ramsay a
+fellow-labourer in his city upon whatever conditions. Yet he could not
+contradict his younger friend's honest and temperate adherence to his
+principles and to Episcopacy. The correspondence all round, which I have
+before me, is quite decorous; but after Ramsay had stated his objection,
+and that it was insuperable, the managers wrote to him, 1st October
+1822, that "a unanimous election would follow if he accepted the
+situation under the present establishment." It would have been easy to
+divide the congregation, but this did not suit Ramsay's feelings or
+nature, and he courteously bowed to the decision of the managers, and
+returned to Frome, where his income from both curacies was L100 a
+year,--a poverty the more irksome to a man of culture and
+refined tastes.
+
+Not long after (still, I think in 1823), the Journal records--"Mrs.
+Forbes, my aunt, had just come into her accession of fortune, and
+presented me with L5000. A man may live many days in this world, and not
+meet the like gift in a like kindly spirit[5]."
+
+Of the year 1823 the Journal remarks very severe winter. "Marmaduke and
+Edwin with me at the Pear-tree[6]; a delightful tour in South Wales with
+the Sheppards and other friends most agreeable and
+good-humoured,--botany, sketching, talk, and fun. Life has few things to
+offer more enjoyable than such tours. I have found in them the happiest
+hours in my life." And then follows the wail for so "many of them
+departed; so many dear good friends; all different, but all excellent!"
+
+Marmaduke having gone as tutor to Lord Lansdowne's eldest son, Edward
+was more free to consider an offer from Edinburgh, and ultimately
+accepted the curacy of St. George's in York Place, under Mr. Shannon. He
+preached his two last sermons at Rodden and Buckland on Christmas
+day 1823.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Reminiscences_ (Second Series, 1861). Introduction.
+
+[2] May 10, 1810.
+
+[3] Some account of his dealings among the Methodists may be found in
+the _Sunday Magazine_, January 1865, edited by the Rev. Dr. Guthrie. The
+paper is titled "Reminiscences of a West of England Curacy."
+
+[4] This was a favourite quotation of Ramsay's, who was amused with the
+remark of Withering's or Woodward's botany, repeated in his letters for
+long after:--"The organ at St. John's gives universal satisfaction--a
+great ornament to our ponds and ditches."
+
+[5] Mrs. Forbes, the sister and aunt of so many Burnetts and Ramsays,
+lived the latter part of her life at Banchory Lodge, in the middle of
+that "Deeside" country, where the future Dean spent many of his happy
+holidays, and learned much of the peculiar ways of that peculiar people.
+There were no two ladies in Scotland more esteemed and beloved than the
+Dean's aunts on both sides--Mrs. Russell, his aunt and mine, living in
+widowhood at Blackhall, and Mrs. Forbes at Banchory Lodge, three miles
+apart, on the opposite banks of Dee. Mrs. Forbes died 1st February 1838.
+
+[6] His dwelling near Frome.
+
+
+
+II.
+
+The Dean was passionately fond of Deeside. Let me indulge myself in
+looking back upon that district such as he knew it, such as I remember
+it sixty years ago.
+
+The natural features of Deeside are not changed. The noble river pours
+down its brown flood as of old, hurrying from its wooded rocky
+highlands. On the prettiest part of its bank stands Crathes, the finest
+of Aberdeenshire castles, the immemorial seat of the Burnetts, where
+Edward Ramsay, himself a Burnett, was received with all the love of
+kindred, as well as the hearty respect for his sacred profession. I
+daresay Crathes was not to him quite what I remember it. But we were of
+different professions and habits. I will say nothing of the chief sport
+of Dee, its salmon-fishing. However fascinating, the rod is a silent
+companion, and wants the jovial merriment, shout and halloo, that give
+life and cheerfulness to the sport of the hunter. My recollection of
+Deeside is in its autumn decking, and shows me old Sir Robert and my
+lady, two gentle daughters and four tall stalwart sons--they might have
+sat for a group of Osbaldistones to the great painter Walter Scott. I
+will not describe the interior of the old house, partly because it was
+changing, and every change appeared to me for the worse; but no one
+would forget the old hall, where Kneller's picture of Bishop Burnett
+still looks down on his modern cousins and their hospitality. It was a
+frank and cordial hospitality, of which the genial old bishop would
+have approved. The viands were homely almost to affectation. Every day
+saw on that board a noble joint of boiled beef, not to the exclusion of
+lighter kickshaws; but the beef was indispensable, just as the _bouilli_
+still is in some provinces of France. Claret was there in plenty--too
+plentiful perhaps; but surely the "braw drink" was well bestowed, for
+with it came the droll story, the playful attack and ready retort, the
+cheerful laugh--always good humour. A dinner at Crathes was what the
+then baronet, old Sir Robert, would call the "best of good company."
+
+Another part of the house I well remember--the place, half gun-room,
+half servant's hall--where we prepared for sport in the morning, and
+brought the day's bag home at night. Prominent figures there were two
+brothers Stevenson, Willie and Jamie, known for twenty miles round as
+the "fox-hunters," known to us, after the southern sporting slang had
+been brought among us by our neighbour Captain Barclay, as
+"Pad-the-hoof" and "Flash-the-muzzle[7]" The fox-hunting was on foot,
+but let no mounted hunter sneer. The haunts of the game were continuous
+woods and bogs, hard to ride and from which no fox could be forced to
+break. "Pad-the-hoof" looked no ignoble sportsman as he cheered his
+great slow-hounds through the thicket, and his halloo rang from the
+wood of Trustach to the craigs of Ashintillie. Both were armed, but
+"Flash" took less charge of the hounds than seeing to death the fox, the
+enemy of all, including the roe, which recent plantations had raised
+into an enemy. I must say nothing on foot or wing came amiss to
+Flash-the-muzzle's gun. Hares and rabbits, not then the pest of the
+country, swelled our bag. We had a moderate number of black game, and
+the fox-hunters were somewhat astonished to find that we of the gentry
+set much store by woodcock, which bulked so little in the day's sport.
+The fox-hunter brothers had the run of the servants' hall at Crathes,
+and they were said to have consumed fabulous numbers of kitchen pokers,
+which required to be heated red-hot to give the jugs of ale of their
+evening draught the right temperature and flavour. That was a
+free-living community. The gentlemen of the house were too much
+gentlemen to stand upon their dignity, and all, from the baronet
+downwards, had the thorough appreciation of Deeside humour. It was there
+that the Dean learned his stories of "Boatie" and other worthies of the
+river-side. Boatie himself was Abernethy, the ferryman of Dee below
+Blackhall; he hauled his boat across the river by a rope made fast at
+both ends. Once, in a heavy water, the rope gave way, and Boatie in his
+little craft was whirled down the raging river and got ashore with much
+difficulty. It was after this, when boasting of his valiant exertions,
+that Mrs. Russell put him in mind of the gratitude he owed to Providence
+for his escape, and was answered as the Dean himself tells us in his
+_Reminiscences_. Another of the water-side worthies, "Saunders Paul,"
+was nominally the keeper of the public-house at Invercannie, where the
+water of Cannie falls into Dee. It was the alehouse of the country, but
+frequented much more by the gentry than by the commons. It was there
+that Mr. Maule in his young days, not yet Lord Panmure, led the riots
+and drank his claret, while Saunders capped him glass for glass with
+whisky and kept the company in a roar with Deeside stories. Old
+Saunders--I remember him like yesterday--was not a mere drunken sot or a
+Boniface of the hostelry. He had lived a long lifetime among men who did
+not care to be toadied, and there was a freedom and ready wit in the old
+man that pleased everybody who was worth pleasing. Above all, there was
+the Deeside humour which made his stories popular, and brought them to
+the ear of our Dean.
+
+That was the left side--the Crathes bank of Dee. Across the river was
+the somewhat dilapidated fortalice of Tilquhillie, the seat of an
+ancient and decayed branch of the Douglases. The last laird who dwelt
+there lived in the traditions of Deeside as own brother to the Laird of
+Ellangowan in Scott's romance. Ramsay has put him well on canvas. Who
+does not remember his dying instructions to his son and his grieve?--"Be
+ye aye stickin' in a tree, Johnny; it will be growin' when ye are
+sleepin'!" while he cautions the grieve, "Now mind that black park; it
+never gied me onything, ne'er gie onything to it."
+
+In the days when the Dean knew that Water-side the fortalice was
+uninhabited, and I think not habitable for gentlefolks; but down on the
+haugh below, and close to the river in a pretty garden-cottage, dwelt
+the old Lady Tilquhillie, with her son the sheriff of the county, George
+Douglas, whom a few Edinburgh men may yet remember as the man of wit and
+pleasure about town, the _beau_ of the Parliament House--at home a kind
+hospitable gentleman, looking down a little upon the rough humours that
+pleased his neighbours. The old lady--I think she was a Dutch woman, or
+from the Cape of Good Hope--and her old servant, Sandy M'Canch,
+furnished the Dean with many a bit of Deeside life and humour; and are
+they not written in the _Reminiscences!_
+
+Higher up the river were two houses where the Dean was much
+beloved--Banchory Lodge, his uncle General Burnett's, where also lived
+his dear aunt, the widowed Mrs. Forbes; and Blackhall, where, in the
+time I have in my mind, lived his aunt, Mrs. Russell, the widow of my
+uncle Francis Russell, a woman of many sorrows, but whose sweet voice
+and silver laugh brought joy into the house even amidst sickness and
+sorrow[8]. She had not the Deeside language, but she and her sister Lady
+Ramsay, Yorkshire women, and educated in the city of York, helped to
+give the Dean that curious northern English talk which he mixed
+pleasantly with the language of Angus and Mearns that he loved so well;
+and he inherited from the Bannermans the sweet voice, so valuable an
+inheritance to a preacher.
+
+I have gone over less than a dozen miles of the valley of the Dee, which
+was the Dean's Deeside. I think the manners and popular thought, as well
+as the language of that little district, were peculiar, and fitted to
+catch the attention of an eager student of human nature and character.
+Deeside, in its wider acceptance, of course includes the great city at
+its mouth, and the picturesque mountains of Mar near the source of the
+river, where the Queen has now set her mark of favour on the land. I beg
+to distinguish Deeside--the Dean's Deeside--lying between these. The
+city of Aberdeen, with its trade and manufacture and wealth, with its
+University and schools, and some tradition of the antique metropolis,
+has established, as she had good right, habits and language of her own,
+not to be mistaken, but almost confined to her own walls. On the other
+hand, the mountains of Mar, where lie the springs of the Dee, where
+tower Lochnagar and Benmacdhui, are inhabited by a race of shepherds and
+hunters, speaking a different language, differing in manners from the
+Dean's friends, who dwelt from the Hill of Fair to Ashintillie, where
+hardly a Gaelic name occurs among the peasantry.
+
+The little cluster of mansions which I have mentioned lies, I think,
+wholly within the parish of Banchory-Ternan. Following the river down
+from that parish, the next place of any importance is the old
+manor-house of Durris, some half-dozen miles lower, and on the right
+bank of the river. It is a place of some interest to lawyers for having
+given rise to one of the leading cases on the law of entail, which
+settled points that had formerly been doubtful, all in favour of the
+strict entail. The victim in that case, ejected by the heir of entail,
+was John Innes, who had sold his property in Moray to invest the produce
+in the great barony of Durris. The new tenant, believing himself almost
+proprietor, built a comfortable house under the walls of the old castle,
+and in that house was born the writer of these notes. I do not feel
+myself severed by any disgusts from the country of my youth where I
+spent my best years, or at least the years of most enjoyment. It was
+then a wild moor, with some natural beauty, a picturesque den leading
+from the house to the noble river, wooded with native birch and scrubby
+oak, with some tall larches and magnificent horse-chestnuts, and even a
+few immemorial Spanish chestnuts planted by the old Peterboroughs, now
+all gone. Along that river bank were some of the broadest haughs with
+which I am acquainted, and some of the best salmon streams, then woods
+and sheep pastures and a dozen miles of heather hills--up to
+Cairn-monearn and Kerloach--giving the best grouse-shooting in the
+country. It is in truth a charming water-side even in the eyes of a
+critical old man, or of a tourist in search of the picturesque; but for
+a boy who lived there, shot, and fished there, while all the houses
+round were the dwellings of cousins and friends, while game was not yet
+let for hire, it was a place to win that boy's heart, and I loved it
+very heartily. We were the nearest neighbours on one side of that
+cluster of residences of the Burnetts and Douglases and Russells which I
+have tried to describe. We were all very good friends, and thus the Dean
+and I were early acquainted.
+
+I have said little of the Dean's ancestors, merely named the Burnetts
+and Bannermans. Indeed I would guard against loading my memoir of the
+Dean with anything like mere pedigree. I take no interest in his
+ancestry, except in so far as they may have given a character--so far as
+he may have inherited his personal qualities from them. I will not dwell
+then upon Alexander de Burnard, who had his charter from Robert the
+Bruce of the Deeside lands which his descendants still hold, nor even on
+the first Lairds of Leys. When the Reformation blazed over Scotland, the
+Baron of Leys and his kindred favoured and led the party that supported
+the new faith; but, even in that iconoclastic age, two of them are found
+protesting against the destruction of religious places at Aberdeen. One,
+Gilbert Burnett (he was grand-uncle of the Bishop of Sarum), enjoyed
+considerable reputation abroad for certain philosophical writings. He
+was Professor of Philosophy, first at Basle and afterwards at Montauban,
+and a general synod of the French Protestants desired that his works
+should be printed at the expense of the synod. These _Dissertationes
+Ethicae_ were accordingly published at Leyden in 1649; but his death
+prevented his other writings from being published. Two brothers of the
+same generation, Thomas and Duncan, settled in England as physicians,
+and seem to have been men of literary eminence. Pedigrees of both are to
+be found in the Herald's Visitations of Essex and Norfolk. Duncan,
+Thomas, and Gilbert, are all noticed by Sir Thomas Middleton among the
+"Learned Men and Writers of Aberdeen;" and Duncan is noted as a holy,
+good, and learned man. In the stirring times of the Covenants, Sir
+Thomas Burnett of Leys, Baronet, though an adherent of the Huntlys,
+embraced the Covenant from conscientious motives against his political
+instincts and associations. And ever afterwards we find him firm in the
+principles of the Covenant, yet advising peaceful and moderate counsels;
+and when Montrose, after his conversion to the royal cause, passed
+through Aberdeenshire, harrying the lands of the leading Covenanters, he
+supped one day at Crathes, excepted and protected Sir Thomas Burnett and
+his son-in-law, Sir William Forbes of Monymusk, in the general
+denunciation of the Puritans. We find Sir Thomas repeatedly a
+commissioner for visiting the University of Aberdeen, and in his later
+years he endowed three bursaries at King's College, his own _alma
+mater_. Jamesone has painted him with a thoughtful and refined, but
+earnest and manly face. The baronet's brother, James Burnett of
+Craigmyle, was of the same character. No less earnest and staunch than
+his brother in his adherence to his principles--he ever figures as a
+peace-maker and enemy of bloodshed. He is described by the parson of
+Rothiemay, an unsuspected testimony, as a "gentleman of great wisdom,
+and one who favoured the King though he dwelt among the Covenanters, and
+was loved and respected by all." Is it not plain that the temperance and
+moderation descended in the blood of the Burnetts?
+
+Thomas Burnett of Kemnay, grandson of Craigmyle, is known in a sphere
+where few Scotsmen had entered. He was a courtier of that remarkable
+little court of the Electress Sophia of Hanover, where he became the
+friend of the philosopher Leibnitz, correspondent of the poet Dryden,
+and his letters are full of curious gossip on the most various
+subjects--theology, philosophy, literature, including poetry and the
+small talk of the day. He was greatly employed and trusted by the
+Electress Sophia. His son George was noted as an agriculturist, and his
+grandson, Alexander Burnett of Kemnay (by a daughter of Sir Alexander
+Burnett of Leys), was long British Secretary of embassy at Berlin, and
+attended Frederick the Great in the campaigns of the Seven Years' War;
+remaining at the Prussian Court as Charge d'Affaires after Sir Andrew
+Mitchell's death.
+
+James, third son of Craigmyle the Covenanter, married a daughter of the
+family of Irvine of Monboddo, a scion of the house of Drum, and having
+so acquired that barony, he transmitted it to his descendants, of whom
+the most famous was his great-grandson, James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, a
+Judge of the Court of Session, an eminent lawyer, and a man of rare
+accomplishments, with some whimsical peculiarities. In a treatise on the
+origin and progress of language, he was the first seriously to assert
+the descent of mankind from the monkey, and that the human race were
+originally furnished with tails! That and a hundred other whimsies were
+mixed up with a great deal of learning then very rare, and with a
+philosophy that dealt in free and daring speculation, of which the world
+was not yet worthy.
+
+The first baronet of Leys, besides his brother James of Craigmyle, had
+yet another brother, Robert Burnett of Crimond, an eminent advocate,
+very learned, and of high moral and religious principle. Though his wife
+was a sister of Johnstone of Warriston, he himself, unlike his two
+brothers, was an opponent of the Covenant, for which he went into exile
+until the Restoration, when he was made a Judge of the Court of Session
+as Lord Crimond. He had three sons by the Warriston lady. His eldest,
+Sir Thomas Burnett, was physician to royalty from Charles II to Queen
+Anne. The third was Gilbert, Bishop of Salisbury, of whom it is not my
+intention to give any detailed account. His brilliant talents and great
+influence made him many friends, and even more enemies. History is
+beginning to do justice to his character without concealing his
+weaknesses. He seems to have been more honest than was the fashion
+in his time.
+
+Such is the little gathering of family history, for the accuracy of
+which I am chiefly indebted to my kind friend the Lord Lyon--himself a
+Burnett. Perhaps I should apologise for saying even the little I have
+said of the Dean's pedigree; but while I press into my service the
+country of his birth and breeding, and the local peculiarities amongst
+which his life was spent, as possibly having some influence on his
+character, I could not resist the wish to show another element, drawn
+from his ancestry, that went to the forming of that character. Was not
+our Dean a worthy representative of Puritan leaders who refused to go
+into the violence of the Covenant--of the Bishop of unreproached life,
+who read the Thirty-nine Articles with an unconcealed desire to include
+conscientious Dissenters--of many peaceful gentlemen on the banks of the
+Dee, who mixed a happy playful humour with a catholic reverence for that
+Christianity which he could recognise in other sects, though
+preferring his own?
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[7] The present generation of Burnetts think that those slang names were
+invented by Barclay, but I knew him well, and venture to doubt his
+humorous powers. In the midst of "sporting" and violent excitement he
+was serious in talk, as became the descendant of the old Quakers.
+
+[8] Mrs. Russell had lost her two sons by a strange fatality--both were
+drowned, the elder, Lockhart, while skating at Bath, about 1805-6,
+James, the younger, in crossing the river Dee in a boat rowed by
+himself in 1827.
+
+
+
+III.
+
+Edward Ramsay left Somersetshire amidst the general regrets of his
+parishioners and neighbours, and entered on his Edinburgh career 1st
+January 1824. The journal which I am now using has not hitherto spoken
+much of the differing opinions of his brother clergymen, although there
+is sometimes a clergyman noted as "very low," and elsewhere, one branded
+as a "concealed Papist." But in Edinburgh--it is vain to conceal
+it--every profession must be broken into parties. He found Edinburgh, or
+rather I should say the Episcopal Church in Edinburgh, then
+theologically divided between the Evangelicals, headed by the Rev.
+Edward Craig and the old-fashioned Churchmen, the rather moral school,
+of which Mr. Alison was the distinguished ornament. Mr. Ramsay went to
+St. George's Chapel, York Place, as Mr. Shannon's curate, in the
+beginning of 1824, and remained doing that duty for two and a half
+years. He then went to St. Paul's, Carrubber's Close, where he laboured
+for a year.
+
+In 1825 Ramsay "toiled on" with sermons and wrote a series on the
+Articles. "A great improvement," he says, "must have taken place in
+Edinburgh, for unquestionably the sermons I then got credit for we
+should all think little of now[9]." In 1826 he left Mr. Shannon's
+chapel, and took the single charge of the quaint old chapel of St.
+Paul's, Carrubber's Close. Amongst the events recorded of the year was
+the acquaintance he made by officiating at the funeral of Lady Scott,
+Sir Walter's wife. In 1827 he mentions a change, "a considerable move to
+me, which, under God, has been a good one." He closed with an offer of
+the curacy of St. John's, under Bishop Sandford, when he was
+thirty-seven years of age. In spring he was ill, and went to visit his
+old place and friends in Somerset.--"Interesting, very: received at my
+old curacy of Buckland with much joy, and on the whole enjoyed my
+visit." At Whitsunday 1827 he came home to enter on St. John's with
+Bishop Sandford, being thus half of 1827 in Carrubber's Close and half
+in St. John's. I was in Edinburgh then, and can well remember what
+general favour accompanied Mr. Ramsay in church and society. Perhaps he
+was not prepared for the vehemence of church dissensions among us. I do
+not think there was at that time so bitter war between churchmen of the
+same profession in England, but the Episcopal Church, of whatever
+section, had made great progress then in Scotland. Its fine liturgy, and
+more decorous ceremonial, had attracted some. Many of the heads of
+country families round Edinburgh have been educated in England, and many
+of them have married in England--both circumstances tending to keep up
+their attachment to the Episcopal Church; and in their houses the
+scholarly, accomplished, agreeable clergyman of the Episcopal Church was
+a welcome guest, as well as an adviser and influential friend.
+
+In summer of 1827 the journal tells us his brother Marmaduke paid him a
+visit. "We read some Italian--I got a notion of Dante."
+
+At the commencement of 1829 he enters in his journal--"This was a most
+important year indeed, the year of my marriage; and what event has been
+to me so joyful, so full of interesting recollections?" He tells that in
+the summer a visitor came to Scotland--a friend of Lady Dalhousie, and
+recommended by her to Lady Robert Kerr, at whose house they met. The
+lady was Isabella Cochrane, of the well-known Canadian family; writing
+in 1844 he says--"Fifteen years of close acquaintance with that lady
+have taught me the best commentary upon the Scripture declaration that a
+'virtuous woman is a crown to her husband.' I need not say more than
+that I believe I owe mainly to her (under Providence) my comfort,
+success and position here. But let this suffice. None but myself can
+know my full obligations." Next year begins--"As 1829 gave me a wife,
+1830 gave me a church, for on the 14th January Bishop Sandford died, and
+the whole charge was offered to me, which I undertook for three years
+without a curate--i.e. without a man-curate, for a most effective
+assistant I had in dearest Isabella, who wrote to my dictation many a
+weary hour."
+
+Except a little parcel of letters touching the negotiation with Bishop
+Skinner, and the Aberdeen congregation in 1822, I find no letters of
+Ramsay till he wrote to one of the dear old friends at Frome announcing
+a visit with his wife.
+
+     Mr. RAMSAY to Miss STUART SHEPPARD, Fromefield, Frome,
+     Somerset.
+
+     7 Albany Court, London, 9th June [1831].
+
+     My dear Stuart, I have been in such a whirl and such a
+     turmoil since I came here that I have hardly had time to
+     collect my scattered thoughts to write you a line. I have
+     seen much and heard much, but shall not attempt to give you
+     any account _now_, as I hope (please God) we shall meet ere
+     long. Mrs. Ramsay's brother-in-law, the Bishop of Nova
+     Scotia, is here--he preached the annual sermon for the
+     anniversary meeting of the Charity Children in St. Paul's. I
+     went as his chaplain, but of this more hereafter. He has been
+     very urgent upon us to protract our stay here through all
+     next week, but I have resisted his importunities, as I am
+     really desirous of taking as much time as I can at Frome. We
+     accordingly fix Tuesday for leaving London. We stay that day
+     at Windsor with a friend, come to Winchester, Romsey,
+     Salisbury, on Wednesday, and on Thursday the 16th, I hope to
+     see you all in health and comfort. Dear Stuart, I shall be
+     happy, really happy, to be amongst you once more. It is to me
+     like coming _home_. Do not wait dinner or make any
+     arrangements, because our hour of arrival is uncertain. We
+     may be detained till the evening seeing sights. Mrs. E.B.R.
+     eats nothing (literally), and I daresay your common dinner
+     may furnish _me_ with a meal. Mrs. Ramsay desires kindest
+     love; she is not looking well, and I hope, after the racket
+     here, she will improve upon Frome quiet. God bless you.--Your
+     affectionate
+
+     E.B.R.
+
+     Marked--"First visit to F.F. with wife, June 9,1831."
+
+     Mr. RAMSAY to Miss STUART SHEPPARD, Fromefield.
+
+     Woburn, Friday night, 1st July [1831].
+
+     We are sure that our very dear friends at Fromefield will be
+     interested in hearing of our progress and welfare, and as we
+     have a few extra minutes this morning, we are determined to
+     devote them to a party now living in the hearts of _all_ the
+     wanderers with whom they so lately and so grievously parted:
+     the _weather_ even _sympathised_ on Tuesday evening, and all
+     the comfort we had was in talking over individually the whole
+     Fromefield concern. My brother, who is _slow_ in making
+     friends, and shy of strangers, softened into tender
+     friendship under the influence of such kindness, and vows
+     that if he had such friends he would travel annually from
+     Edinburgh to see them. He has put one sprig of verbena from
+     Stuart in one pocket, another sprig from Jane in another
+     pocket, and a piece of painted glass from Elizabeth in
+     another pocket. How lucky it is that his dress should be so
+     abundantly supplied with the accommodation of so many
+     receptacles for reminiscences! Our next grief after leaving
+     you was the not seeing Cousin John! We were sadly
+     disappointed. We did not get into Clifton till near ten; the
+     rain would prevent his coming to meet us, and the next
+     morning we very provokingly missed each other, though Mr.
+     Ramsay consoled himself with writing a note. How much I hope
+     and trust that we are all to meet next year! We were
+     delighted with our drive from Chepstow to Ross--the Wye
+     scenery is exquisitely beautiful; we exhausted ourselves and
+     our epithets in exclamations, and the day seemed made for the
+     magnificent view from the Wynd Cliff, and then we came to
+     Tintern Abbey! How often we wished for our Chedder party--how
+     often we talked over the pleasure we would have in admiring
+     all this beauty with them, and how often, like spoiled
+     children, we wondered why all this enjoyment should not have
+     accompanied us to Monmouth! but good-night, my very dear
+     friends--I shall leave the letter in better hands for
+     finishing, I am so sleepy!!
+
+     [Mr. Ramsay]--We have seen many things of which the ingenious
+     and very learned Dr. Woodward would say that they were "great
+     ornaments to our ponds and ditches." But of this enough, and
+     more than enough. Allow me to take this opportunity of
+     expressing my satisfaction at finding how completely Mrs.
+     E.B.R enters into the friendship which has so long existed
+     between _us_, and at seeing how fully prepared she is to
+     appreciate your kindness to myself and her; in short, to find
+     that she loves you all now, as if she had known you as long
+     as I have. May we never lose sight of these feelings! We saw
+     Oxford to-day--a good thing, but in detail not equal to
+     Cambridge--in general effect far superior. Gloster pleased
+     me: the tower and cloisters surpassingly fine. People do not
+     roar enough about the steeple of St. Mary's, Oxford--it is
+     _the finest_ in England, superior I think to that of
+     Salisbury. Are you aware that there is a modern church at
+     Oxford in the pure Norman style? My visit to Frome has given
+     me (except in parting) unmixed satisfaction. I cannot say how
+     much I have been gratified, and with what pleasure I look
+     forward to a renewal. I must to bed, my eyes cannot discern
+     the place to write in, and I am sleepy. Adieu, dearest
+     friends, one and all at the Field of Frome, the Hill of
+     Styles, the cottage of Keyford, etc. I rejoice to think that
+     my good friend _Kay_ is safe. Good-night! Woburn looks
+     well--"a great ornament," etc.
+
+     Marked by Mrs. Clerk--"Written on their way from F.F.--first
+     visit."
+
+     Mr. RAMSAY to Miss BYARD, Fromefield, Frome, Somerset.
+
+     Edinburgh, Dec. 17, 1831,
+
+     My dearest Friend, They have told me that you are not well,
+     and neither time nor distance can take away the feeling of
+     regard and friendship with which I sympathise with all that
+     occurs to you. I confess myself that I was some time since
+     disposed to look on all things around me with an anxious
+     aspect; but I am beginning to see in _all events_ but a part
+     of that dispensation which is so gloriously distinguished as
+     the work of _love_, and I think that public calamity or
+     private sorrow, sickness, pain, weariness and weakness, _may_
+     all be translated into the same language, and may be arranged
+     as synonyms of the same word. Yes! piety, goodness, the
+     favour and approbation of God, are all marked out by sorrow
+     and infirmity here. Why else did the blessed Jesus tabernacle
+     here below--a man of sorrows? and why else was he acquainted
+     with grief? It might make a Christian almost drink his cup of
+     sickness and pain with _greediness_ when he remembers that he
+     is tasting the same cup as that of which his Lord drank, and
+     he might hail with rapture the outstretched arm of death and
+     suffering as about to place on his head the diadem of eternal
+     glory. I am not to flatter you--you need it not, you ask it
+     not; but, my friend, you must feel and know that you have
+     been walking with God, walking _humbly_, doing good, neither
+     trusting to false presumptions nor to your own merits. Christ
+     has been _your_ master, to Him you have looked, and, blessed
+     be God! He will never, never forsake those who trust to
+     Him,--those who are good to others for his sake,--those who
+     seek redemption through Him. Where, O ye years that are past,
+     have you gone? You have carried to the throne of grace many
+     an act of contrition, many a devout prayer, many a good deed,
+     many an offering of faith, from the friend to whom I now
+     write. Bring back, ye moments that are to come and which
+     shall be granted to her in this world, rich consolations,
+     promises of pardon, assurances of favour, all spiritual
+     blessings! Dear Miss Byard, may all these be yours in full
+     abundance. May God the Father bless you, through the Eternal
+     Spirit, for Christ's sake! This is the sincere and earnest
+     prayer of your affectionate and faithful friend, E.B.R.
+
+     In this I am joined by Isabella.
+
+     Marked--"It arrived just after her death."
+
+In his journal Mr. Ramsay speaks of Bishop Sandford with a very grateful
+recollection. To him he owed his preferment, and a "more agreeable
+charge could not well be had." He characterises him as a man of elegant
+mind and accurate scholarship, of deep piety and sincere faith. I think
+it is with some regret that he adds, the "state of the Church is much
+changed since his episcopate."
+
+His dear brother Marmaduke died in the summer of 1831, and the Dean, who
+is no exaggerator of his feelings, remarks--"This is one of the sorrows
+for which language is inadequate. Such a mind, such taste, abilities,
+and accomplishments!" Edward Ramsay felt that nothing could make up for
+the loss of his brother, but he had comfort in thinking how much his
+brother's mind had been wakened to religious inquiries. His simple notes
+in his journal are sometimes worth preserving. "July 6, 1833, was the
+finest day I ever remember." He passed it in the Highlands with
+Professor Forbes, Skenes, and other delightful friends. On the 28th he
+left for the Duke of Sutherland's funeral; afterwards he repaired to
+Leamington and Dr. Jephson, whose skill he soon found reason to admire.
+On leaving Leamington he thanks God that he has gained in health, and
+learnt also wisdom in regard to the "management of myself, and certainly
+in diet." It is not necessary to record the little tours with his wife,
+which now happened almost every season, either to Deeside or the
+Highlands or his old haunts in Somerset. On July 2, 1836, I find it
+recorded that he went with a party to hear Dr. Chalmers at the Dean
+Church, and returned all in great delight. He made a long journey that
+year to hear the great organ at Birmingham, and came home by many
+cathedrals, and yet "glad to get home."
+
+In 1838 he notes, after a Highland journey, the "Synod was this year for
+altering the canons," He notes a "white-stone visit to the Stranges,
+Ross-end Castle, with the Bells. Alas! how many things and people
+are gone."
+
+In 1839 "Lady Dalhousie, my admired friend, came to stay with us. She
+came January 19, and on the 22d died in the drawing-room in an instant!
+It was an awful visitation, and never to be forgotten."
+
+The following letter, written immediately after the calamity, is from
+the Marquis of Dalhousie, from various circumstances an object of great
+affection to the Dean, who consented to take charge of his daughters
+when he went as Governor-General to India, bestowing on them the care
+and anxious watchfulness which the young ladies returned with hearty
+affection:--
+
+     The MARQUIS OF DALHOUSIE to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Dalhousie Castle, 25th January 1839.
+
+     My dear Mr. Ramsay--I have sent John in, partly because I am
+     anxious that you should let me know how Mrs. Ramsay is
+     to-day, and partly because I cannot rest till another evening
+     without endeavouring to express to you some portion of the
+     very, very deep gratitude which I feel for all your
+     kindness--for the kindness of your every act and word, and--I
+     am just as confident--of your every thought towards us all in
+     this sad time. _God knows how truly I feel it_: and with that
+     one expression I stop; for it makes me sick to think how slow
+     and how coldly words come to clothe the feeling which I wish
+     to convey to you. Believe only this, that to my own dying day
+     I never can forget your goodness. Believe this too--that
+     since it has pleased Almighty God that my poor mother's eyes
+     should not he closed under my roof, and by my hand, I would
+     not have wished any other place for her departure than among
+     friends so kindly, loving, and so well loved.
+
+     God bless you and repay it to you, prays your ever grateful
+     and affectionate friend, DALHOUSIE.
+
+     Rev. E. B. Ramsay.
+
+February 27, 1839.--"My uncle General Burnett died; another limb of the
+older generation gone; a good and kind man; a man of the world, and not
+a clever one. Latterly he showed a considerable desire to know more
+about religion. Went with J. Sandilands to be present at the formation
+of a branch of the Church Society at Glasgow--made a regular speech!" On
+September 4th he writes--"The first day of meeting of the general
+committee for business of the Scottish Episcopal Church Society. I gave
+a large dinner. Much have I worked for this society, and done better
+things than give dinners. By the by William Ramsay [his brother the
+admiral] made a capital speech." On March 5, 1841, it is noted, Bishop
+Walker died--"a good man. His mind cast in a limited mould of strong
+prejudices; but a fair man, strictly honest in all his ways. He was not
+fitted to unravel difficulties in his episcopate, and scarcely suited to
+these times. He had been a furious opponent of the old evangelicals. A
+constant and kind friend to me. May his memory be honoured. Bishop
+Terrot elected bishop. I am very grateful to think that in all this
+business I can look with satisfaction upon everything that has been
+done by me."
+
+From this time Mr. Ramsay's thoughts were very much taken up with the
+Episcopal Church Society, and he records in his journal most of its
+meetings, and the English friends who came across the Borders to help
+them. He mentions also a Scotch Presbyterian churchman who became
+convinced of the apostolical authority of episcopacy--"an excellent
+man." Then a visit of Mr. ----, "an accomplished and able man, somewhat
+strong of the popish leaven." That was in 1842, and on the margin is
+written--"Gone over to the Church of Rome, 1845." He mentions also the
+"stupid business at Portobello and squabbles," and his going down to
+make peace. On September 4th we have some things which seemed important
+at their time--the Queen's visit to Scotland. He says, "It was a
+stirring subject for old Scotland." "This day, 4th Sept., I read prayers
+and preached before her Majesty, and also dined and sat near Prince
+Albert and the Queen. In the evening presented to the Queen and Prince
+Albert, and introduced to Sir Robert Peel." Then comes the cry--"All
+vanity of vanities!" At the end of this month the Bishop of
+London--"very agreeable"--was in Edinburgh, and the Dean accompanied him
+to Glenalmond, to see the proposed site for Trinity College. In 1843 he
+mentions the death of a friend, who, he feared, died an infidel:
+"However, I have no wish to proclaim his errors. To me he was ever kind
+and considerate. Let us leave judgment to Him who cannot err." In June
+of that year he paid a visit to England, spent Sunday at Leeds, and was
+much interested with Dr. Hook and his church. "I have considerable
+dubitation as to the expediency of making the services of our parish
+churches choral." He went on to London and Oxford, where it was long
+vacation, but he met with great kindness from the heads of University
+College and Exeter. "Magdalene is faultless."
+
+After mentioning some visitors in March 1844, he writes--"Dickens's
+Christmas Carol really a treat, a thoroughly wholesome book." On the 8th
+April he was present at the lunch given to the children of the Episcopal
+poor in the Old Town. "This, I trust, is the commencement of a scheme to
+bring some actually poor into our church. I made a speech, and, to my
+astonishment, rather a good one." After a pretty long tour in the south
+of England he comes home in August 1844, and notes a letter from the
+Bishop of London, containing the offer of the Bishopric of New
+Brunswick, in a handsome and gratifying manner. "I think I was right to
+refuse. May God forgive me if it was an improper shrinking from duty."
+October 14, 1844: "I have now brought up this record of my life's
+transactions to the present time, and my purpose is, in future
+journalising, to take the leading points, to notice subjects only,
+painful, joyful, or difficult. All my thoughts since the offer of the
+New Brunswick mitre have confirmed the correctness of my judgment."
+October 17, 1844: "I am trying to repeat the experiment of last week,
+and write my sermon over again. I see clearly that in such work we
+cannot take too much pains: dinner at Lord Medwyn's to-day--very
+pleasant--rather an exception this to dinners: how dull the routine!
+October 22: succeeded in my resolution of rewriting the whole of my
+sermon, and found the advantage; in fact, nothing in the way of public
+speaking can be done without a thorough preparation. How high parties
+are running! It has a sad effect on my mind; but my refuge must be in
+keeping off controversy and adhering to edifying and practical
+subjects." In the same month he records the death of a dear friend, whom
+he visited on his deathbed. "Nothing," he says, "could be more
+satisfactory than his state of mind;" the Dean lost a kind Christian,
+attached and delightful friend. "I was glad to be able to answer his
+scruples and fears about being an object of Christ's mercy and pardon."
+December 11, 1844, he lost his mother--"simple-minded," he says, "as a
+child. Oh! what a break of the family circle! It seems as if the last
+link which bound us together were broken, and a point vanished round
+which we could always rally. I went with Lauderdale to see the poor
+remains, so attenuated, and yet the countenance like itself, still
+beautiful, and fine features." The funeral made the Dean very sad. She
+was followed to the grave by two sons, a son-in-law, two grandsons and
+distant cousins. Mr. Alison read the service, and she was buried beside
+her old friend of fifty years--poor Mrs. Macdonald.
+
+1844: "Christmas day morning, Communion 78, in all 404; the church so
+full. I preached an old but a good sermon." He has a Christmas dinner of
+a few friends, but not much Christmas spirit, he says. In 1845, January
+12, the journal notices--"I preached my liturgy sermon, and apparently
+with much success." Some of his congregation had spoken of it as worthy
+to be printed. He saw a good deal of company in his own house, whom I do
+not think it necessary to particularise, though they were generally of
+distinction for talent or rank, or both together. He heard C. Kemble
+read Henry VIII., which "I did much enjoy. Will. Shakspeare when most
+known is most admired." On 19th January he preached a sermon, but his
+note upon it is not like the last. "I liked it, but it did not seem to
+take as I had expected. Have been much meditating this week on many
+matters, Church especially: find myself unsettled, I fear, but I think I
+have the remedy, which is to keep my attention fixed rather on practical
+than on speculative points. We cannot agree on the one; on the other we
+may, and good men do." March 2, 1845: "I confess that the Romanising
+tendencies so openly avowed in the Church of England alarm me. The
+question occurs, Is not this a necessary, or at least a natural tendency
+of High Churchism?" Speaking of meetings of his Synod, he says "it is
+wretched work, which ended, indeed, in doing nothing." One member had
+spoken with much bitterness, which he says, "thank God, I do not feel."
+3d April 1845: "We are in a nice mess about this Old Town business. Two
+different communion offices in one day in the same chapel. Is it
+possible that this could ever have been contemplated by the canon? I do
+fear the extreme and Romanising party, and they hurt us here. The Scotch
+office is supposed to identify us with them, and certainly the comments
+upon it make it speak a language very different from the English."
+
+June 19.--"Left home in the 'Engineer' coach at seven, travelled through
+to London without stop, and arrived there at one o'clock: wonderful the
+shortening of this journey; went with a party to Handel's Athalia at
+Exeter Hall; tired, fagged, and sleepy as I was, I yet felt deeply the
+power of the mighty master in this his mighty work. Yes, Handel is the
+greatest musician the world ever saw."
+
+July 18, 1845.--"Returned to London: did little more there: arrived in
+Edinburgh for Mr. Sandiland's marriage, a great stretch of friendship in
+me, for it has discomposed all our summer plans." On 15th August there
+is an entry too characteristic to be omitted:--"Have been thinking a
+great deal about the state of matters at present, and the sort of
+demeanour I should exhibit to the world. I should be very
+cautious--hardly give an opinion if conflicting statements, and
+certainly not gossip about them--certainly not speak harshly or severely
+of any. Keep my own course, work hard, and endeavour to conciliate;
+rather lean to high than low side." November 10, 1845: "at a meeting to
+hear Dr. Simpson, Mr. Macfarlane, and Norman Macleod give an account of
+their mission to North America: interesting. Macleod a real
+clever fellow."
+
+26th November 1845.--"The consecration of Dalkeith Chapel: we went out
+and stayed the day; all good and well managed: Sermon preached by Rev.
+E. B. R: approved: three bishops, twenty clergy. It is really a fine
+thing for a man to have done; a beautiful chapel; hope it won't
+be extreme."
+
+Dec. 2.--"Warden to College appointed; looks like business!"
+
+Dec. 7.--"Heard astonishing news--William appointed to the 'Terrible,
+the largest steam man-of-war in the service--in the world."
+
+Dec. 14, 1845.--"Sermon on Christ the True Light. Collection for
+Scottish Episcopal Church Society, L151."
+
+15th March 1846.--"Sermon, 'Am I your enemy because I tell you the
+truth?' Here a sad blank, for I have been very ill, and out of chapel
+two Sundays, and could not go to confirmation, and all sorts of horrors.
+I have communed a good deal with myself, and I have made up my mind to a
+conduct and demeanour in Church matters almost neutral. I positively
+will not again mix myself up in any way with party, or even take part. I
+will confine myself to St. John's and its duties. This is my
+_line_--hear what every one has to say, and keep a quiet, conciliatory,
+and even tenor. It is more striking the more I think of the different
+way in which different minds are affected by religious truth." ...
+
+April 16.--"Synod meeting and Society. I took the moderate and
+conciliatory side. Did right this time."
+
+April 29.--"Preached the Casuistry sermon. Mrs. R. made it A 20."
+
+June 1.--"Busy preparing for journey;" he leaves home for his summer
+holiday "with rather less spirit and expectation of enjoyment
+than usual."
+
+Mr. Ramsay was appointed Dean of the Diocese of Edinburgh by Bishop
+Terrot in 1846, after having previously declined, as we saw, the dignity
+of the Bishopric of New Brunswick, offered him by Sir Robert Peel. He
+afterwards refused the Bishopric of Glasgow in 1847, and the
+Coadjutor-Bishopric of Edinburgh in 1862.
+
+And now is the beginning of constantly recurring complaints of
+depression--low spirits, a "cloud upon my spirits; headache, even pain
+and violent pain." He was disappointed at not getting to see the
+"Terrible;" was low and depressed. "Went to Bath. Delighted with
+Torquay; interested at Exeter; the service there the very best. Is
+cathedral service more than a solemn concert?" Then he went by
+Beaminster to see his nephew Alexander and his family. He stayed a short
+time at Crewkerne with his niece Mrs. Sparks. "Church a fine one: To
+Frome: This visit full of interest. How kind and good! The only drawback
+is parting. We spent a week at Frome, and did enjoy it much. Much
+kindness, heartiness I should say, intelligence, and real goodness.
+Changes I found, and saw how time had told on many a face and frame. My
+dear companion was much pleased and interested in our visit.... July
+16.--Left Frome, and sorrowed at parting. Saw Sydney Herbert's gorgeous
+church at Wilton. Too much! With the exterior of Salisbury not at all
+disappointed; with the interior a little. Arrived at Farnborough by
+eight o'clock, and a most cordial welcome we had from all the inmates of
+its pretty rectory. Went back to London on Friday, and returned to
+Farnborough Saturday, and spent Sunday. July 19.--Was glad for Isabella
+to have an opportunity of seeing a Sunday in a country place in England.
+I preached twice, and we were interested. Aug. 4.--Came to York.
+Glorious! Chapter-house restored by Mr. Bell."
+
+January 1, 1851.--"Having preached on Sunday last regarding improvement
+and good resolutions, I would now do the same for myself. I have made
+some resolutions in my own mind, chiefly regarding the control and
+regulation of temper, irritability, forbearance, more composed and calm
+temperament, order, diligence, dispatch of work, etc." On January 6th
+there is a Ragged School meeting--"a long and tiresome meeting; the Duke
+of A---- speaks well; Guthrie amusing; Fox Maule good; Candlish
+clever--very."
+
+On his birthday in 1853 he writes: "I have just made two
+resolves--first, never to give way to temper, fret, ill-humour, party
+spirit, or prejudice; second, to work my best in what I may have
+still to do."
+
+There is a great deal more of the journal, but one or two additional
+extracts will show sufficiently the nature of the man, his devotion to
+his sacred duty, his gentleness, and love of peace. The High Churchman
+may think him unduly careless about forms and ceremonies; but, loving
+him very well, I yet wish to represent the Dean as he really was. Above
+all things full of charity, loving religion as he understood the
+religion of the Gospel, and not much concerned, not really deeply
+concerned, about the shape and dress in which it presented itself. He
+held, however, that the Protestant Episcopal Church, as established in
+England, as disestablished in Scotland, for he never would separate
+them, was in all its belongings the most desirable, its service the
+most decent.
+
+1858 was a sad year for the Dean. Mrs. Ramsay had been very ill, and
+sinking in strength and spirit visibly, till, on the 23d July the
+afflicted husband makes this entry:--"It pleased God to visit me with
+the deep and terrible affliction of taking away my friend, companion,
+and adviser of twenty-nine years." It was a heavy blow, and for a time
+it seemed to paralyse the Dean. This journal, never regular, becomes
+from this time quite broken.
+
+Looking back from this point, which to the Dean seemed the end of
+happiness, he could acknowledge how duty supplied the place of pleasure.
+He was grateful also for many mercies. In one respect he was singularly
+fortunate. His Bishop and he, I may say during all the time he served in
+St. John's, were cordially of the same way of thinking. Bishop Terrot
+was indeed a very different man from himself, but in the relations of
+Bishop and Dean they were very happy. The Dean wrote a little memoir of
+Bishop Terrot, which he published in the _Scottish Guardian_ (May 15,
+1872), where he prints the remarkable letter from the Bishop to himself,
+answering the question why he declined communion with Mr. Drummond, and
+ending with the sentence--"These are matters of _ecclesiastical police_
+which each local church has a right to manage in its own way, subject to
+the law of the Catholic Church, i.e. the Bible." The Dean then bore
+testimony that he had always found his Bishop an interesting companion,
+a kind friend, a faithful and judicious adviser, and he speaks highly,
+and surely not too highly, of his great intellectual powers, as well as
+of his moral qualities. I am myself a very hearty admirer of Bishop
+Terrot, and I think it not out of place to add something to our
+knowledge of him, by printing a few letters which concern him and
+his family.
+
+     COLONEL TERROT to DEAN RAMSAY.--Without date, but of the
+     year 1872.
+
+     Very Rev. and dear Sir--There is one little incorrect
+     deduction in your kind memoir, or at least a deduction which
+     may be made from what you say of my father deriving his
+     intellect from his mother---that my grandfather was inferior
+     in such respects. From deep feeling and devotion to his
+     memory, my grandmother never spoke of her husband to us, but
+     from others I have heard that he was a bright, handsome and
+     talented young man, who, with the very imperfect education
+     given at that time to officers in the army, and employed in
+     active service in America at the age of fourteen, was yet
+     distinguished for ability, especially in mathematics and
+     engineering matters, so that he was employed by those in
+     command of the siege, and was actually riding with the
+     engineer who was in charge of the sieging operations when a
+     cannon-ball struck and killed him. He was in an English
+     infantry regiment, and not in the Indian service, except that
+     the regiment was serving in India at the time. He met my
+     grandmother in the ship which took them to India. She was
+     going to a maternal uncle, Colonel Hughes, who was
+     considerably displeased on her announcing at Madras that she
+     was engaged to a poor young officer who had offered to her
+     during the voyage. But the young couple being determined, he
+     gave his consent, and continued kind to his niece, and my
+     father was born in his house, and at his father's request
+     called Hughes after him. My grandfather was twenty-five and
+     his bride eighteen at their marriage, and she was a widow
+     before she was twenty, from which time till she died at
+     eighty-five she was a widow indeed, making her son the chief
+     object of her life, living in and for him.
+
+     His uncle William, whom he succeeded at Haddington, was never
+     married, and was exceedingly attached to my father. He was a
+     singular man; in his early days very gay and handsome, and
+     living in some matters, I know not what, so incorrectly, that
+     on offering himself for holy orders, the then Bishop of
+     Durham wrote to him mentioning something he had heard, and
+     telling him if it was true he was not fitly prepared for
+     taking orders. My uncle acknowledged the accusation as far as
+     it was true, and thanked the Bishop for his letter, and
+     abstained from coming forward at that time, but took the
+     admonition so to heart that it led to an entire conversion of
+     heart and life. He then came forward in a very different
+     state to receive ordination, and was through his whole life a
+     most zealous and devoted man, a friend of Milner and
+     Wilberforce. An old lady, Mrs. Logan of Seafield, told me
+     that once when Mrs. Siddons was acting, uncle William walked
+     twenty miles to see her and persuade her not to go, and,
+     whether by arguments or eloquence, he succeeded. Though kind
+     and gentle he was a strong Calvinist, and by his zeal and
+     energy in preaching such doctrines, injured himself in a
+     worldly point of view. He was always poor, and often gave
+     away all the little he had, and lived from hand to mouth. He
+     was very much admired and beloved by ladies, which perhaps
+     prevented his marrying. He was very happy and useful among
+     the sailors, and died at his sister's, Mrs. Jackson, at
+     Woolwich. She, as Elizabeth Terrot, had been a beauty, and
+     was to the last a fine, happy, spirited, contented and joking
+     old lady, very fond of my father, to whom she left all she
+     had. She was bright, unselfish and amusing, even on her
+     deathbed incapable of despondency or gloom.
+
+     Excuse my troubling you with these details; and believe me to
+     be truly grateful for your graceful tribute to our dear
+     father. I send a few lines for your private eye, written by
+     my sister Mary, expressing what she felt on last seeing him,
+     and it expresses, too, exactly what I felt that last Good
+     Friday as he sat in that chair in which he had so long
+     suffered. I never saw him there again, With deep respect,
+     gratefully yours, S.A. TERROT.
+
+LINES by MISS MARY TERROT, now MRS. MALCOLM.
+
+
+I.
+
+Sad, silent, broken down, longing for rest,
+His noble head bent meekly on his breast,
+Bent to the bitter storm that o'er it swept;
+  I looked my last, and surely, then I thought,
+  Surely the conflict's o'er, the battle's fought;
+To see him thus, the Saviour might have wept.
+
+II.
+
+His rest was near--his everlasting rest;
+No more I saw him weary and oppressed.
+_There_ in the majesty of death he lay
+  For ever comforted: I could not weep;
+  He slept, dear father! his last blessed sleep,
+Bright in the dawn of the eternal day.
+
+III.
+
+And thou, whose hand _his_, groping, sought at last,
+The faithful hand that he might hold it fast!
+Once more, when parting on the eternal shore,
+  It may be, when thy heart and hand shall fail,
+  Entering the shadows of death's awful vale
+His hand shall grasp thine, groping then no more.
+
+     DEAN STANLEY to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     My dear Dean--Many thanks for your very interesting memoir of
+     Bishop Terrot. His remark about _humdrum_ and _humbug_ is
+     worthy of the best days of Sydney Smith, and so is a hit
+     about table-turning[10]. I once heard him preach, and still
+     remember with pleasure the unexpected delight it gave to my
+     dear mother and myself. We did not know in the least what was
+     coming, either from the man or the text, and it was
+     excellent.--Yours sincerely,
+
+     A.P. STANLEY.
+
+     Deanery, Westminster, 1872.
+
+     Right Hon. W.E. GLADSTONE to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Hawarden, May 26, 1872
+
+     My dear Friend--I have read with much interest your graceful
+     and kindly memoir of Bishop Terrot, which you were so good as
+     to send me.
+
+     He had always appeared to me as a very real and notable, and
+     therefore interesting man, though for some reason not
+     apparent a man _manque_, a man who ought to have been more
+     notable than he was. I quite understand and follow you in
+     placing him with, or rather in the class of, Whately and
+     Paley, but he fell short of the robust activity of the first,
+     and of that wonderful clearness of the other, which is actual
+     brightness.
+
+     Your account of the question of Lordship is to me new and
+     interesting. I have never called the Scottish Bishops by that
+     title. I should be content to follow the stream, but then we
+     must deal equally, and there is the case of the Anglo-Roman
+     bishop to meet, especially now that the Ecclesiastical Titles
+     Bill has been repealed; but only on Friday I addressed one of
+     the very best among them "Right Rev. Bishop M----."
+
+     You will, I am sure, allow me the license of private judgment
+     in the two expositions about the church in p. 5. You praise
+     both, but the second the more highly. To me the first seems
+     excellent, and the second, strange to say, wanting in his
+     usual clearness and consecutiveness. For having in head (1)
+     most truly said that Christ "instituted a society _and_
+     revealed a doctrine," he then proceeds as if he had quite
+     forgotten the first half of the proposition, and conceived of
+     the society only as (so to speak) embedded in the doctrine.
+     Also, I complain of his depriving you of the character of
+     [Greek: iegeus], which indeed I am rather inclined to claim
+     for myself, as "He hath made us kings and priests" ([Greek:
+     hiegeis]).
+
+     I hope you are gradually maturing the idea of your promised
+     summer expedition to the south, and that before long I shall
+     hear from you on the subject of it.
+
+     Will you remember me kindly to Miss Cochrane, and believe me,
+     ever affectionately yours,
+
+     W.E. GLADSTONE.
+
+The Dean was greatly affected by a terrible calamity, which happened in
+his house in Ainslie Place, where, in June of 1866, his niece Lucy
+Cochrane, one of his family, was burnt to death; out of many letters of
+condolence which he received at the time, I have only space to insert
+three--one from the Rev. Dr. Hannah, then head of Glenalmond College, an
+accomplished scholar, to whom our Dean was much attached, and upon whom
+he drew very freely in any questions of more recondite scholarship,
+another from the Rev. D.T.K. Drummond, and the third from the Premier:--
+
+     Rev. Dr. J. HANNAH to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Trinity College, Glenalmond, N.B.
+
+     June 15, 1866.
+
+     Dear Mr. Dean--I _must_ write one line, though I know you
+     will be overwhelmed with letters, to say how deeply
+     distressed and shocked we are at the news in this morning's
+     paper, and how profoundly we sympathize with you under this
+     fearful affliction. I thought instantly of Mr. Keble's lovely
+     poem in the Lyra Innocentium:--
+
+"Sweet maiden, for so calm a life,
+Too bitter seemed thine end."
+
+     And it applies closely, I am sure, in the consolations it
+     suggests; that
+
+"He who willed her tender frame
+Should rear the martyr's robe of flame,"
+
+     has prepared for her a garland in Heaven,
+
+"Tinged faintly with such golden light
+As crowns His martyr train."
+
+     But if blessed for her, it will be a sore trial for the
+     survivors. We feel so keenly for her poor sisters, who seem
+     to have to bear the brunt of so many sorrows. May God support
+     them and you! So prays in hearty sympathy, yours ever
+     sincerely,
+
+     J. HANNAH.
+
+     Rev. D.T.K. DRUMMOND to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     St. Fillans, Crieff, 16th June.
+
+     My dear Friend--This morning's paper brought us the sad, sad
+     intelligence of the frightful calamity which has befallen
+     your household.
+
+     My heart aches when I think of the overwhelming sorrow this
+     great affliction must bring to your kind and loving heart.
+     Long friendship and unbroken esteem must be my apology for
+     intruding on you at this early stage of your bereavement. I
+     cannot but express my deep and heart-felt sympathy with you
+     in it, and my earnest prayer that God the Holy Spirit may
+     sanctify and comfort by his own grace and presence all on
+     whom this great sorrow has fallen.
+
+     In the expression of this sympathy my dear wife cordially
+     unites with yours most affectionately and truly,
+
+     D.T.K. DRUMMOND.
+
+     Right Hon. W.E. GLADSTONE to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     11 Carlton H. Terrace,
+
+     June 16, 1866.
+
+     My dear Dean Ramsay--I cannot refrain from writing to you a
+     word of sympathy under the grievous calamity with which your
+     peaceful and united household has in the providence of God
+     been visited. I have only heard of it in a very partial
+     account to-day; but I deeply lament alike the extinction of a
+     young and promising life, the loss your affectionate heart
+     has sustained, and the circumstances of horror with which it
+     has been accompanied. I need not say how this concern extends
+     to your brother the Admiral also. I shall hope to hear of you
+     through some common friend. I cannot ask you to write, but
+     beg you to believe me always affectionately yours,
+
+     W.E. GLADSTONE.
+
+Very few of the Dean's own letters have been preserved, but the
+following will show him as a correspondent:--
+
+     DEAN RAMSAY to Dr. ALEXANDER.
+
+     23 Ainslie Place, Feb. 3, 1865
+
+     Dear Dr. Lindsay Alexander--I am not aware of having an
+     undue predominance of modesty in my nature, but really I have
+     been surprised, I may truly say much amazed, at the
+     dedication of the volume which I received this evening. Need
+     I add that, on more calmly considering the matter, I am
+     deeply gratified. From Dr. Lindsay Alexander such a
+     compliment can be no ordinary gratification. "Laudari a
+     laudatis" has always been a distinction coveted by those who
+     value the opinion of the wise and good.
+
+     I thank you most cordially for the delicacy with which you
+     refer to the "most stedfast adherence to conviction" of one
+     who has long been convinced that no differences in matter of
+     polity or forms of worship ought to violate that "unity of
+     spirit," or sever that "bond of peace," in which we should
+     ever seek to join all those whom we believe sincerely to hold
+     the truth as it is in Jesus.--I am always, with sincere
+     regard, yours truly and obliged,
+
+     E.B. RAMSAY.
+
+     DEAN RAMSAY to Mrs. CLERK, Kingston Deverell.
+
+     23 Ainslie Place,
+
+     Edinburgh, March 14, 1865.
+
+     Dearest Stuart--I take great blame and sorrow to myself for
+     having left your kind letter to me on my birthday so long
+     unanswered. It was indeed a charming letter, and how it took
+     me back to the days of "Auld lang Syne!" They were happy
+     days, and good days, and the savour of them is pleasant. Do
+     you know (you don't know) next Christmas day is forty-two
+     years since I left Frome, and forty-nine years since I went
+     to Frome? Well! they were enjoyable days, and rational days,
+     and kind-hearted days. What jokes we used to have! O dear!
+     How many are gone whom we loved and honoured! I often think
+     of my appearing at Frome, falling like a stranger from the
+     clouds, and finding myself taken to all your hearts, and made
+     like one of yourselves. Do you know Mrs. Watkins is alive and
+     clever, and that I constantly correspond with her? You
+     recollect little Mary Watkins at Berkely. She is now a
+     grandmother and has three or four grandchildren!--ay, time
+     passes on. It does. I have had a favoured course in Scotland;
+     I have been thirty-seven years in St. John's, and met only
+     with kindness and respect. I have done much for my church,
+     and that is acknowledged by every one. My Catechism is in a
+     tenth edition--my Scottish Book in an eleventh; 3000 copies
+     were sold the first week of the cheap or people's edition. I
+     meet with much attention from all denominations. A very able
+     man here, Dr. Lindsay Alexander, an Indpendent, has just
+     dedicated a book (a good one) to Dean Ramsay, with a
+     flattering dedication. But I don't expect to hold on _much_
+     longer. I feel changed, and at times not equal to much
+     exertion. It was a terrible change for me to lose my
+     companion of twenty-nine years, and I have never, of course,
+     recovered that loss. It is a great point for a person like me
+     to have three nieces, quite devoted to care of me and to make
+     me happy: cheerful, animated, and intelligent, pretty
+     also--one of them an excellent musician, and _organist_ to
+     our amateur choir for week days in the chapel. By the by we
+     have a glorious organ. How I have gone on about my miserable
+     self--quite egotistical. "If I may be allowed the language"
+     (the late Capt. Balne). But I thought you would like it.
+     Good-bye. Love to Malcolm _Kenmore_. When do your boys come?
+     Your ever loving and affectionate old friend,
+
+     E.B. RAMSAY.
+
+     DEAN RAMSAY to Mrs. CLERK.
+
+     23 Ainslie Place,
+
+     Edinburgh, 12th Feb. 1868.
+
+     Many thanks for writing about our beloved Bessie, my very
+     dear Stuart. She is indeed much endeared to all the friends,
+     and I am a friend of more than 50 years! God's will be done.
+     We have come to that age when we must know our time is
+     becoming very uncertain.
+
+     There is only one thing, dearest Stuart, that I _can_
+     say--my best wishes, best affections, best prayers, are with
+     her who now lies on a sick bed. _She_ has not to begin the
+     inquiry into the love and support of a gracious Redeemer. She
+     may say, "I know that my Redeemer liveth."
+
+     May God be merciful and gracious to support you all on this
+     deeply interesting occasion, is the earnest prayer of your
+     affectionate old friend, E. B. RAMSAY.
+
+     DEAN RAMSAY to Mrs. CLEKK.
+
+     23 Ainslie Place,
+
+     Edinburgh, 3d June 1870.
+
+     My dear Stuart--I had such a kind letter from you some time
+     ago, about visiting you, and I did not answer it--wrong,
+     very! and I am sorry I put it off. Should I come to England
+     this summer I should look on it as a _last_ visit, and would
+     make an effort to see old Frome again. Do you know it is
+     fifty-four years since I first appeared at Rodden!
+
+     I preach still, and my voice and articulation don't fail; but
+     otherwise I am changed, and walk I cannot at all. St. John's
+     goes on as usual--nice people, many, and all are very kind.
+     We have lately had the interior renewed, and some changes in
+     the arrangement, which are great improvement. It is much
+     admired, "a great ornament to our ponds and ditches,"--Dr.
+     Woodward. However, dear Stuart, I have not yet said
+     distinctly enough what I meant to say at the beginning--that
+     should I come south I would make an effort to come to
+     K. Deverell.
+
+     Miss Walker has left fully L200,000 to our church. I am at
+     present (as Dean) the only Episcopal trustee, with four
+     official trustees--all Presbyterians.
+
+     The Bishops seem the most _go-ahead_ people in the church
+     just now. New sectioning and revision of Scripture,
+     translation, all come from them: both of much importance. I
+     wish they could get rid of the so-called Athanasian Creed. I
+     cannot bear it. Nothing on earth could ever induce me to
+     repeat the first part and the last part. Love to yourself,
+     husband, and all yours.--Your affectionate
+
+     E.B. RAMSAY.
+
+     DEAN STANLEY to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Broomhall, Dunfermline,
+
+     7th August 1870.
+
+     My dear and venerable Brother Dean--It was very ungrateful of
+     me not to have thanked you before for your most kind
+     vindication of my act in Westminster Abbey. I had read your
+     letter with the greatest pleasure, and must now thank you for
+     letting me have a separate copy of it. I certainly have no
+     reason to be dissatisfied with my defenders. All the bishops
+     who have spoken on the subject (with the single exception of
+     the Bishop of Winchester) have approved the step--so I
+     believe have a vast majority of English churchmen.
+
+     How any one could expect that I should make a distinction
+     between confirmed and unconfirmed communicants, which would
+     render any administration in the abbey impossible, or that I
+     should distinguish between the different shades of orthodoxy
+     in the different nonconformist communions, I cannot conceive.
+     I am sure that I acted as a good churchman. I humbly hope
+     that I acted as He who first instituted the Sacrament of the
+     Lord's Supper would have wished.
+
+     You are very kind to have taken so much interest in my
+     essays, and what you say of the Athanasian Creed is deeply
+     instructive. You will be glad to hear--what will become
+     public in a few days--that of the 29 Royal Commissioners, 18
+     at least--including the Archbishop of Canterbury and the
+     Bishops of St. David's and Carlisle and the two Regius
+     Professors of Divinity--have declared themselves against
+     continuing the use of it.
+
+     I found your note here when we arrived last night to assist
+     at the coming of age of young Lord Elgin. We were obliged to
+     pass rapidly through Edinburgh, in order to reach this by
+     nightfall. In case I am able to come over this week to
+     Edinburgh, should I find you at home, and at what hour?
+
+     It would probably be on Thursday that I could most easily
+     come.--Yours sincerely,
+
+     A.P. STANLEY.
+
+     DEAN RAMSAY to Rev. MALCOLM CLERK,
+
+     Kingston Deverell, Warminster, Wilts.
+
+     23 Ainslie Place, Edin., Sept. 5 [1872].
+
+     My dear Malcolm Clerk--Many thanks for your remarks touching
+     the Athanasian Creed. I agree quite, and am satisfied we gain
+     nothing by retaining it, and lose much. You ask if I could
+     help to get facsimiles; I am not likely--not in my line I
+     fear. Should anything turn up I will look after it. One of
+     the propositions to which unlimited faith must be given, is
+     drawn from an analogy, which expresses the most obscure of
+     all questions in physics--i.e. the union of mind and matter,
+     the what constitutes one mortal being--all very well to use
+     in explanation or illustration, but as a positive article of
+     faith in itself, monstrous. Then the Filioque to be insisted
+     on as eternal death to deny!
+
+     People hold such views. A writer in the _Guardian_ (Mr.
+     Poyntz) maintains that God looks with more favour upon a man
+     living in SIN than upon one who has seceded ever so small
+     from orthodoxy. Something must be done, were it only to stop
+     the perpetual, as we call it in Scottish phrase,
+     _blethering_!
+
+     I am always glad to hear of your boys. My love to Stuart, and
+     same to thyself.--Thine affectionate fourscore old friend,
+
+     E.B. RAMSAY.
+
+I am preparing a twenty-second edition of _Reminiscences_. Who would
+have thought it? No man.
+
+I have not hitherto made any mention of the Dean's most popular book,
+the _Reminiscences_. I cannot write but with respect of a work in which
+he was very much interested, and where he showed his knowledge of his
+countrymen so well. As a critic, I must say that his style is peculiarly
+unepigrammatic; and yet what collector of epigrams or epigrammatic
+stories has ever done what the Dean has done for Scotland? It seems as
+if the wilful excluding of point was acceptable, otherwise how to
+explain the popularity of that book? All over the world, wherever Scotch
+men and Scotch language have made their way--and that embraces wide
+regions--the stories of the _Reminiscences_, and Dean Ramsay's name as
+its author, are known and loved as much as the most popular author of
+this generation. In accounting for the marvellous success of the little
+book, it should not be forgotten that the anecdotes are not only true to
+nature, but actually true, and that the author loved enthusiastically
+Scotland, and everything Scotch. But while there were so many things to
+endear it to the peasantry of Scotland, it was not admired by them
+alone. I insert a few letters to show what impression it made on those
+whom one would expect to find critical, if not jealous. Dickens, the
+king of story-tellers; Dr. Guthrie, the most picturesque of preachers;
+Bishop Wordsworth, Dean Stanley, themselves masters of style--how
+eagerly they received the simple stories of Scotland told
+without ornament.
+
+     BISHOP WORDSWORTH to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     The Feu House, Perth, January 12, 1872.
+
+     My dear Dean--Your kind, welcome and most elegant present
+     reached me yesterday--in bed; to which, and to my sofa, I
+     have been confined for some days by a severe attack of brow
+     ague; and being thus disabled for more serious employment, I
+     allowed my thoughts to run upon the lines which you will find
+     over leaf. Please to accept them as being _well intended_;
+     though (like many other good intentions) I am afraid they
+     give only too true evidence of the source from which they
+     come--viz., _disordered head._--Yours very sincerely,
+
+     C. WORDSWORTH,
+
+     _Bp. of St. Andrews_.
+
+Ad virum venerabilem, optimum, dilectissimum, EDVARDUM
+B. RAMSAY, S.T.P., Edinburgi Decanum, accepto
+ejus libro cui titulus _Reminiscences_, etc.; vicesimum
+jam lautiusque et amplius edito.
+
+Editio accessit vicesima! plaudite quiequid
+  Scotia festivi fert lepidique ferax!
+Non vixit frustra qui frontem utcunque severam,
+  Noverit innocuis explicuisse jocis:
+Non frustra vixit qui tot monumenta priorum
+  Salsa pia vetuit sedulitate mori:
+Non frustra vixit qui quali nos sit amore
+  Vivendum, exemplo praecipiensque docet:
+Nec merces te indigna manet: juvenesque senesque
+  Gaudebunt nomen concelebrare tuum;
+Condiet appositum dum fercula nostra salinum,
+  Praebebitque suas mensa secunda nuces;
+Dum stantis rhedae aurigam tua pagina fallet,
+  Contentum in sella taedia longa pati!
+Quid, quod et ipsa sibi devinctum Scotia nutrix
+  Te perget gremio grata fovere senem;
+Officiumque pium simili pietate rependens,
+  Saecula nulla sinet non[11] meminisse Tui.
+
+The TRANSLATION is from the pen of DEAN STANLEY:--
+
+Hail, Twentieth Edition! From Orkney to Tweed,
+  Let the wits of all Scotland come running to read.
+Not in vain hath he lived, who by innocent mirth
+  Hath lightened the frowns and the furrows of earth:
+Not in vain hath he _lived_, who will never let _die_
+  The humours of good times for ever gone by:
+Not in vain hath he _lived_, who hath laboured to give
+  In himself the best proof how by love we may _live_.
+Rejoice, our dear Dean, thy reward to behold
+  In united rejoicing of young and of old;
+Remembered, so long as our boards shall not lack
+  A bright grain of salt or a hard nut to crack;
+So long as the cabman aloft on his seat,
+  Broods deep o'er thy page as he waits in the street!
+Yea, Scotland herself, with affectionate care,
+  Shall nurse an old age so beloved and so rare;
+And still gratefully seek in her heart to enshrine
+  One more _Reminiscence_, and that shall be Thine.
+
+     From the DEAN of WESTMINSTER.
+
+     The Deanery, Westminster,
+
+     February 3, 1872.
+
+     My dear elder (I cannot say eldest so long as the Dean of
+     Winchester lives) Brother--I am very glad that you are
+     pleased with my attempt to render into English the Bishop's
+     beautiful Latinity....
+
+     Accept our best wishes for many happy returns of the day just
+     past.--Yours sincerely,
+
+     A.P. STANLEY.
+
+On the publication of the Twentieth Edition of the _Reminiscences_,
+Professor Blackie addressed to the Dean the following sonnets:--
+
+I.
+
+  Hail! wreathed in smiles, thou genial book! and hail
+  Who wove thy web of bright and various hue,
+  The wise old man, who gleaned the social tale
+  And thoughtful jest and roguish whim, that grew
+  Freely on Scotland's soil when Scotland knew
+  To be herself, nor lusted to assume
+  Smooth English ways--that they might live and bloom
+  With freshness, ever old and ever new
+  In human hearts. Thrice happy he who knows
+  With sportive light the cloudy thought to clear,
+  And round his head the playful halo throws
+  That plucks the terror from the front severe:
+  Such grace was thine, and such thy gracious part,
+Thou wise old Scottish man of large and loving heart.
+
+II.
+
+  The twentieth edition! I have looked
+  Long for my second--but it not appears;
+  Yet not the less I joy that thou hast brooked
+  Rich fruit of fair fame, and of mellow years,
+  Thou wise old man, within whose saintly veins
+  No drop of gall infects life's genial tide,
+  Whose many-chambered human heart contains
+  No room for hatred and no home for pride.
+  Happy who give with stretch of equal love
+  This hand to Heaven and that to lowly earth,
+  Wise there to worship with great souls above
+  As here to sport with children in their mirth;
+  Who own one God with kindly-reverent eyes
+In flowers that prink the earth, and stars that gem the skies.
+
+JOHN STUART BLACKIE.
+
+     CHARLES DICKENS to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Gad's Hill Place, Higham, by Rochester, Kent,
+
+     Tuesday, 29th May 1866.
+
+     My dear Sir--I am but now in the receipt of your kind letter,
+     and its accompanying book. If I had returned home sooner, I
+     should sooner have thanked you for both.
+
+     I cannot adequately express to you the gratification I have
+     derived from your assurance that I have given you pleasure.
+     In describing yourself as a stranger of whom I know nothing,
+     you do me wrong however. The book I am now proud to possess
+     as a mark of your goodwill and remembrance has for some time
+     been too well known to me to admit of the possibility of my
+     regarding its writer in any other light than as a friend in
+     the spirit; while the writer of the introductory page marked
+     viii. in the edition of last year[12] had commanded my
+     highest respect as a public benefactor and a brave soul.
+
+     I thank you, my dear Sir, most cordially, and I shall always
+     prize the words you have inscribed in this delightful volume,
+     very, very highly.--Yours faithfully and obliged,
+
+     CHARLES DICKENS.
+
+     Dr. GUTHRIE to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     1 Salisbury Road,
+
+     30th October 1872.
+
+     My dear Mr. Dean--My honoured and beloved friend, I have
+     received many sweet, tender, and Christian letters touching
+     my late serious illness, but among them all none I value
+     more, or almost so much, as your own.
+
+     May the Lord bless you for the solace and happiness it gave
+     to me and mine! How perfect the harmony in our views as to
+     the petty distinctions around which--sad and shame to think
+     of it--such fierce controversies have raged! I thank God that
+     I, like yourself, have never attached much importance to
+     these externals, and have had the fortune to be regarded as
+     rather loose on such matters. We have just, by God's grace,
+     anticipated the views and aspects they present on a deathbed.
+
+     I must tell you how you helped us to pass many a weary,
+     restless hour. After the Bible had been read to me in a low
+     monotone--when I was seeking sleep and could not find it--a
+     volume of my published sermons was tried, and sometimes very
+     successfully, as a soporific. I was familiar with them, and
+     yet they presented as much novelty as to divert my mind from
+     my troubles. And what if this failed? then came the
+     _Reminiscences_ to entertain me, and while away the long
+     hours when all hope of getting sleep's sweet oblivion
+     was given up!
+
+     So your book was one of my many mercies. But oh, how great in
+     such a time the unspeakable mercy of a full, free, present
+     salvation! In Wesley's words
+
+          "I the chief of sinners am,
+          But Jesus died for me."
+
+     I have had a bit of a back-throw, but if you could come
+     between three and four on Friday, I would rejoice to see
+     you.--Ever yours, with the greatest esteem,
+
+     THOMAS GUTHRIE.
+
+     Miss STIRLING GRAHAM to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Duntrune, 8th January 1872.
+
+     My dear Mr. Dean--I thank you very much for the gift of your
+     new edition of "Scottish Reminiscences," and most especially
+     for the last few pages on Christian union and liberality,
+     which I have read with delight.
+
+     I beg also to thank you for the flattering and acceptable
+     _testimonial_ you have bestowed on myself.--Your most
+     respectful and grateful friend,
+
+     CLEMENTINA STIRLING GRAHAM.
+
+     Rev. Dr. HANNA to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     16 Magdala Crescent, 11th January 1872.
+
+     Dear Dean Ramsay--I have been touched exceedingly by your
+     kindness in sending me a copy of the twentieth edition of the
+     _Reminiscences_.
+
+     It was a happy thought of Mr. Douglas to present it to the
+     public in such a handsome form--the one in which it will take
+     its place in every good library in the country.
+
+     I am especially delighted with the last twenty pages of this
+     edition. Very few had such a right to speak about the strange
+     commotion created by the act of the two English Bishops, and
+     the manner in which they tried to lay the storm, and still
+     fewer could have done it with such effect.
+
+     One fruit of your work is sure to abide. As long as Scotland
+     lasts, _your_ name will "be associated with gentle and happy
+     _Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character_."
+
+     Mrs. Hanna joins me in affectionate regard.--With highest
+     respect and esteem, I ever am, yours very truly,
+
+     WM. HANNA.
+
+     DEAN RAMSAY to Rev. Dr. L. ALEXANDER.
+
+     23 Ainslie Place, Edinburgh.
+
+     January 29, 1872.
+
+     My clear Dr. Alexander--Since I had the pleasure of your most
+     agreeable visit, and its accompanying conversation, I have
+     been very unwell and hardly left the house. You mentioned the
+     reference made by Dean Stanley (?) to the story of the
+     semi-idiot boy and his receiving the communion with such
+     heart-felt reality. I forgot to mention that, summer before
+     last, two American gentlemen were announced, who talked very
+     pleasantly before I found who they were--one a Baptist
+     minister at Boston, and the other a professor in a college. I
+     did not know why they had called at all until the minister
+     _let on_ that he did not like to be in Edinburgh without
+     waiting upon the author of _Reminiscences_, as the book had
+     much interested him in Scottish life, language and character,
+     before he had been a visitor on the Scottish shores. "But
+     chiefly," he added, "I wished to tell you that the day before
+     I sailed I preached in a large store to above two thousand
+     people; that from your book I had to them brought forward the
+     anecdote of the simpleton lad's deep feeling in seeing the
+     '_pretty man_' in the communion, and of his being found dead
+     next morning." To which he added, in strong American tones,
+     "I pledge _myself_ to you, sir, there was not a dry eye in
+     the whole assembly."
+
+     It is a feature of modern times how anecdotes, sayings,
+     expressions, etc., pass amongst the human race. I have
+     received from Sir Thomas Biddulph an expression of the
+     Queen's pleasure at finding pure _Scottish_ anecdotes have
+     been so popular in England. How fond she is of
+     Scotland!--With much esteem, I am very truly yours,
+
+     E.B. RAMSAY.
+
+The Dean was an enthusiastic admirer of Dr. Chalmers, and on the evening
+of March 4, 1849, he read a memoir of the life and labours of Chalmers
+at a meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. That memoir, although it
+had been to a great extent anticipated by Rev. Dr. Hanna's fine and
+copious memoir of his father-in-law, was printed in the Society
+Transactions, and afterwards went through several editions when issued
+in a separate volume.
+
+     LORD MEDWTN to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Ainslie Place, Thursday morning
+
+     My dear Mr. Ramsay--I beg to thank you most truly for your
+     very acceptable gift so kindly sent to me yesterday evening.
+     I had heard with the greatest satisfaction of the admirable
+     sketch you had read to the Royal Society of the public
+     character of the latest of our Scottish worthies--a very
+     remarkable man in many respects; one whose name must ever
+     stand in the foremost rank of Christian philanthropists; all
+     whose great and various talents and acquirements being
+     devoted with untiring energy to the one great object--the
+     temporal and eternal benefit of mankind. What I also greatly
+     admired about him was that all the great adulation he met
+     with never affected his simple-mindedness; his humility was
+     remarkable. There was the same absence of conceit or
+     assumption of any kind which also greatly distinguished his
+     great cotemporary, our friend Walter Scott; in truth, both
+     were too far elevated above other men to seek any
+     adventitious distinction. I wish our country could show more
+     men like Chalmers to hold up to imitation, or if too exalted
+     to be imitated, yet still to be proud of; and that they were
+     fortunate enough to have admirers such as you, capable of
+     recording their worth in an _eloge_, such as the public has
+     the satisfaction of receiving at your hands. Again I beg to
+     thank you for your kind remembrance of me on the present
+     occasion.--Believe me, my dear Sir, yours very truly,
+
+     J.H. FORBES.
+
+     Dr. CANDLISH to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     4 S. Charlotte Street, Tuesday, 6th March.
+
+     My dear Sir--I cannot deny myself the pleasure of expressing
+     to you the deep interest and delight with which I listened to
+     your discourse last night, so worthy, in every view, of the
+     subject, the occasion, and the audience. And while I thank
+     you most sincerely for so cordial and genial a tribute to the
+     memory of the greatest of modern Scotsmen, I venture to
+     express my hope that we may be favoured with an earlier and
+     wider publication of it than the Transactions of the Royal
+     Society will afford.--Pray excuse this intrusion, and believe
+     me, yours very truly,
+
+     ROB. S. CANDLISH.
+
+     Dean Ramsay.
+
+     I will indulge myself only with one phrase from the Dean's
+     memoir of Dr. Chalmers:--"Chalmers's greatest delight was to
+     contrive plans and schemes for raising degraded human nature
+     in the scale of moral living. The favourite object of his
+     contemplation was human nature attaining the highest
+     perfection of which it is capable, and especially as that
+     perfection was manifested in saintly individuals, in
+     characters of great acquirements, adorned with the graces of
+     Christian piety. His greatest sorrow was to contemplate
+     masses of mankind hopelessly bound to vice and misery by
+     chains of passion, ignorance, and prejudice. As no one more
+     firmly believed in the power of Christianity to regenerate a
+     fallen race, as faith and experience both conspired to assure
+     him that the only effectual deliverance for the sinful and
+     degraded was to be wrought by Christian education, and by the
+     active agency of Christian instruction penetrating into the
+     haunts of vice and the abodes of misery, these acquisitions
+     he strove to secure for all his beloved countrymen; for these
+     he laboured, and for these he was willing to spend and to
+     be spent."
+
+     That high yet just character not only shows Dean Ramsay's
+     appreciation of Chalmers, but seems to show that he had
+     already set him up as the model which he himself was to
+     follow. At any rate, he attempted to stir up the public mind
+     to give some worthy testimonial to the greatest of modern
+     Scotsmen. A few letters connected with this subject I have
+     put together. I did not think it necessary to collect more,
+     since the object has been attained under difficulties of time
+     and distance which might have quelled a less enthusiastic
+     admirer. It is pleasant to notice the general consent with
+     which we agree that no one else was so fitted to recommend
+     the Chalmers memorial as Dean Ramsay.
+
+     It was to do honour to my own little book that I ventured,
+     without asking leave, to print the few lines which follow,
+     from the great French writer, the high minister of State, the
+     patron of historical letters for half-a-century in France,
+     the Protestant Guizot.
+
+     M. GUIZOT to the DEAN.
+
+     Paris, ce 7 Fevrier 1870,
+
+     10 Rue Billault.
+
+     Sir--Je m'associerai avec un vrai et serieux plaisir a
+     l'erection d'une statue en l'honneur du Dr. Chalmers. Il n'y
+     a point de theologien ni de moraliste Chretien a qui je porte
+     une plus haute estime. Sur quelques unes des grandes
+     questions qu' il a traitees, je ne partage pas ses opinions;
+     mais j'honore et j'admire l'elevation, la vigueur de sa
+     pense, et la beaute morale de son genie. Je vous prie,
+     Monsieur, de me compter parmi les hommes qui se feliciteront
+     de pouvoir lui rendre un solennel hommage, et je vous
+     remercie d'avoir pense a moi dans ce dessein.
+
+     Recevez l'assurance de mes sentiments les plus distingues.
+
+     GUIZOT.
+
+     Mr. E.B. Ramsay, Dean, etc., 23 Ainslie Place, Edinburgh,
+     North Britain.
+
+Some of Mr. Gladstone's letters, already printed, show that they were
+not the beginning of the correspondence between him and the Dean. The
+accident which made them acquainted will be mentioned afterwards
+(p. lxxxi.)
+
+     Right Hon. W.E. GLADSTONE to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Hawarden Castle, Chester,
+
+     Jan. 3, 1870.
+
+     My dear Dean Ramsay--I send you my rather shabby contribution
+     of L10 to the Chalmers' Memorial. I wish it were more, but I
+     am rather specially pressed at this time; and I think I
+     refused Robert Bruce altogether not long ago.
+
+     I quite understand the feeling of the Scotch aristocracy,
+     but I should have thought Lothian would be apart from, as
+     well as above it.
+
+     But the number of subscriptions is the main thing, and very
+     many they ought to be if Scotland is Scotland still. He was
+     one of Nature's nobles. It is impossible even to dream that a
+     base or unworthy thought ever found harbour for a moment
+     in his mind.
+
+     Is it not extraordinary to see this rain of Bishoprics upon
+     _my_ head? Nor (I think) is it over; the next twelvemonth
+     (wherever I may be at the end of it) will, I think, probably
+     produce three more.
+
+     Bishop Temple is a fine fellow, and I hope all will now go
+     well. For Manchester (this is secret) I hope to have Mr.
+     Fraser of Clifton--a very notable man, in the first rank of
+     knowledge and experience on the question of education. Many
+     pressed him for Salisbury.
+
+     I can truly say that every Bishop who has been appointed has
+     been chosen simply as the best man to be had.
+
+     Ah! when will you spend that month here, which I shall never
+     cease to long for?--Ever affectionately yours,
+
+     W.E. GLADSTONE.
+
+     Rev. Dr. CANDLISH to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     52 Melville Street, 7th Dec. 1870.
+
+     Dear Dean Ramsay--I should have acknowledged yours of the 1st
+     sooner. I cannot say that I regret the conclusion to which
+     you have come, though. I would have done my best to help on
+     the larger movement.... I very willingly acquiesce in the
+     wisdom of your resolution to accept the position, for it is
+     one which you may well accept with satisfaction and
+     thankfulness. You have accomplished what I doubt if any other
+     man could have even ventured to propose, at so late a period
+     after Dr. Chalmers' death. It will be a historical fact, made
+     palpable to succeeding ages, that you have wiped off a
+     discredit from Scotland's church and nation, by securing a
+     suitable memorial of one of her most distinguished sons, in
+     the most conspicuous position the Metropolis could assign to
+     it. It will be for us of the Free Church to recognise in our
+     archives the high compliment paid to our illustrious leader
+     and chief in the great movement of the Disruption by one of
+     other ecclesiastical convictions and leanings. But we must
+     always do that under the feeling that it is not in that
+     character that you know Chalmers; but in the far broader
+     aspect in which you have so happily celebrated him as a
+     Christian philanthropist, a patriot, and a divine.
+
+     I conclude with earnest congratulations on the complete
+     success, as I regard it, of your generous proposal; and I am
+     yours very truly,
+
+     ROB. S. CANDLISH.
+
+     Rev. Dr. DUFF to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     The Grange, 29th June.
+
+     Very Rev. and dear Sir--Many thanks for your kind note with
+     its enclosures.
+
+     From my sad experience in such matters, I am not at all
+     surprised at the meagre number of replies to your
+     printed circular.
+
+     When I first learnt from the newspaper of the meeting held in
+     your house, and of Dr. Guthrie's proposal, I had a strong
+     impression that the latter was on far too extensive a
+     scale--but remained silent, being only anxious, in a quiet
+     way, to do what I could in promoting the general design.
+
+     Having had much to do during the last forty years with the
+     raising of funds for all manner of objects, in different
+     lands, I have come to know something of men's tempers and
+     dispositions in such cases, and under peculiar circumstances
+     and conditions. I therefore never expected the L20,000 scheme
+     to succeed; unless, indeed, it were headed by a dozen or so
+     at L1000, or at least L500 each--a liberality not to be
+     expected for such an object at this time of day.
+
+     Your present plan, therefore, I think a wise one--viz., to
+     constitute yourselves into "a statue committee," for the
+     successful carrying out of your own original and very
+     practicable design,--handing over any surplus funds which may
+     remain to any other committee or body willing to prosecute
+     the larger professorship or lectureship scheme.--I remain,
+     very Rev. and dear Sir, yours very sincerely,
+
+     ALEXANDER DUFF.
+
+I am indebted for the following letters to the Rev. Dr. Lindsay
+Alexander. If I wrote only for Scotsmen, it would be unnecessary to
+speak of Dr. Alexander as holding a place which he seems to me, ignorant
+as I am of Church disputes, to owe to his own high personal merit, and
+the independence which makes him free to think and to write as scarcely
+any clergyman fettered with the supposed claims of sect or denomination
+feels himself at liberty to do. As our Dean got older we find him
+drawing more kindly to those whose Christianity was shown in other guise
+than in sectarian precision with some spice of persecution.
+
+     23 Ainslie Place, Feb. 28, 1866.
+
+     I have found, as others have, the "Biblical Commentary" a
+     very useful companion in sermon-writing. It gives you the
+     Scripture parallel passages bodily, and saves the trouble of
+     turning backwards and forwards to find the marginal
+     references and to examine their relevancy. The work is
+     published by Bagster, and he generally, I believe, gets his
+     work pretty well done, and, so far as I can judge, it is
+     judiciously selected, generally at least.
+
+     Now, dear Dr. Alexander, if you would accept of the copy of
+     this work which I have sent, and accept it from me, and if it
+     should prove a useful companion in your homiletical labours,
+     I should feel much gratified. Perhaps it may be a remembrance
+     amongst your books, when years have passed away, of one in
+     his grave who had a sincere regard for you, and who now signs
+     himself, yours very faithfully,
+
+     E.B. RAMSAY.
+
+     23 Ainslie Place, Jan. 11, 1866.
+
+     My dear Dr. Alexander--You will not suppose me to be an
+     advocate for the donkeyism of vestment ritual. But I wish you
+     not to have unfavourable impressions as regard _our_ concern
+     with such matters. We have a canon declaratory on vestments,
+     asserting the ordinary surplice, gown, hood, and stole. It is
+     stupidly worded, but the meaning is obvious. I was vexed from
+     your experience to hear of such foolish proceedings at Bridge
+     of Allan, contrary to canon and to common sense.... The
+     _green_ part of the dress which caused your wonder, naturally
+     enough, is not a freak of new vestments, but is a foolish way
+     which the Glenalmond students have adopted of wearing the
+     _hood_, which our Bishops (not without diversity of opinion)
+     had granted for those who had been educated at our College.
+     It is a hood lined with _green_ (Scottish thistle colour),
+     and they have a way of wearing it in a manner which brings
+     the coloured part in front. Pray, pray, don't think of
+     answering this; it is merely to correct an unfavourable
+     impression in one whose favourable opinion I much desiderate.
+     I cannot tell you the pleasure I had in your visit on
+     Tuesday.--With sincere regard, yours always, E.B. RAMSAY.
+
+     23 Ainslie Place, June 8, 1866.
+
+     Dear Dr. Alexander--I forgot to mention a circumstance
+     connected with my story of to-day. I have had a communicant
+     thereanent with Dr. Robert Lee. The good Dr., although fond
+     of introducing Episcopalian practices, which cause great
+     indignation amongst some of his brethren, does not wish it to
+     be understood that he has the least tendency to become an
+     Episcopalian himself. In short, he hinted to me himself that
+     were such an idea to become prevalent it would materially
+     weaken his influence with many followers. "It is to improve
+     my own church, not to join yours," were his words, or to that
+     effect. In carrying out this idea he has a hit in his
+     "Reformation of the Church of Scotland" against
+     Episcopalians, and in the first edition he brings up Dean
+     Ramsay and the unfortunate statement he had made, as a
+     melancholy proof how hopeless were even the most specious of
+     the Scottish Episcopal Church on the subject of toleration. I
+     told him that so far as that statement went it proved
+     nothing, that it had been wrung from me in an unguarded
+     moment, and that I had for fourteen years borne unequivocal
+     testimony to views which were opposite to that statement. He
+     received the explanation most kindly, and offered to do
+     anything I wished, but we both at length agreed that the best
+     plan would be simply to omit it in the second edition, which
+     was preparing and has since come out. It was omitted.
+
+     I am, dear Dr. Alexander, with true regard, ever yours most
+     sincerely, E.B. RAMSAY.
+
+     23 Ainslie Place, August 26, 1867.
+
+     Dear Dr. Alexander--I have lately returned to Edinburgh,
+     having paid a visit to my own country on Deeside. On Saturday
+     I drove down to Musselburgh, and had an express object in
+     calling upon you to ask how you were. But I found I had been
+     wrong directed to Pinkie Burn, and that to accomplish my
+     visit, I must have made a _detour_ which would have detained
+     me too long. I had an engagement waiting me, and I found my
+     strength pretty well exhausted. I wish, however, to notify my
+     _intention_ of a visit. I have had a very severe illness
+     since we met, and have not regained my former position, and
+     do not think I ever shall. I was very, very close upon the
+     gate we must all pass, and I believe a few hours longer of
+     the fever's continuance would have closed the scene. I don't
+     think I dread to meet death. I have so largely experienced
+     the goodness of God through (now) a long life, and I feel so
+     deeply, and I trust so humbly, the power of his grace and
+     mercy in Christ, that, I can calmly contemplate the approach
+     of the last hour. But I confess I do shrink from encountering
+     an undefined period of bodily and mental imbecility; of being
+     helpless, useless, a burden. I have been so distressed to see
+     all this come upon our bishop, Dr. Terrot; the once clear,
+     acute, _sharp_, and ready man. Oh, it is to my mind the most
+     terrible affliction of our poor nature. I have known lately
+     an unusual number of such cases before me, and I hope I am
+     not unreasonably apprehensive as to what may come. I hope
+     your family all are well, and that you are fully up to your
+     work in all its forms.--I am, believe me, with much regard,
+     very sincerely yours, E.B. RAMSAY.
+
+     Without date.
+
+     My dear Dr. Alexander--I feel deeply obliged by your kind
+     gift to Bishop Whipple. His simple heart will be gratified
+     much. I am so vexed at having mislaid two letters from him. I
+     should have liked you to see and to know the bishop by seeing
+     and reading them. They are _models_ of simple, loving,
+     Christian feeling. He went to Minnesota as to a new rough
+     state just added to the United States. He took five
+     clergymen. He has now above thirty and a college (for which
+     he asked the books). He is beloved by all, and loves all. The
+     Red Indians worship him. He is so considerate of them. They
+     suffer from bad teeth, and on some occasions he has drawn 150
+     teeth before a prayer-meeting in the woods, from Indians who
+     were suffering pain....
+
+     I will take care Bishop Whipple shall know of your goodness.
+     I am so vexed I can't find his letters.
+
+     23 Ainslie Place, Edinburgh,
+
+     November 26, 1871.
+
+     Dear Dr. Alexander--You will be sorry to hear that my
+     brother, Sir William, is _very_ ill. This morning we had
+     given up all idea of his rallying, but since that he has
+     shown symptoms of a more favourable character. His state is
+     still a very precarious one, and I fear much we must make up
+     our minds to lose him. God's will be done! We are sure he is
+     prepared for his change. He has long been a sincere believer
+     in the great work and offices of the Lord Jesus, and he has
+     followed up his profession of belief by liberal and judicious
+     expenditure on benevolent objects.
+
+     I have heard of your being in London at the Revision, and you
+     may probably be there now. But when you return to Edinburgh,
+     the Admiral would be most glad to see you when able to call
+     in Ainslie Place. Sir William is three years younger than I,
+     but he has had a more trying life. His death (should such be
+     God's will) must be a great blank for me. But for me it
+     cannot be a long one.--Hoping you are well, I am, with much
+     regard, most sincerely yours, E.B. RAMSAY.
+
+Very soon after the date of this letter Admiral William Ramsay died, who
+had lived with his brother the Dean in the most affectionate friendship
+for many years. Their duties and interests were identical. William
+Ramsay was known as the promoter of every scheme of benevolence in
+Edinburgh.
+
+     Right Hon. W.E. GLADSTONE to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Hawarden, December 7, 1871.
+
+     My dear Dean Ramsay--It is with much grief that we have seen
+     the announcement of the heavy loss you have sustained in the
+     death of your brother. It was a beautiful union, which is now
+     for the time dissolved. One has been taken, and the other
+     left. The stronger frame has been broken, the weaker one
+     still abides the buffetings of the sea of life. And I feel a
+     very strong conviction, even at this sad moment, and with
+     your advancing age, that the balance of your mind and
+     character will remain unshaken through your habitual and
+     entire acceptance of the will of God. I write then only to
+     express my sincere regard for the dead, strong sympathy with
+     the living. Such as it is, and knowing it to be pure, I offer
+     it; would it were more worthy, and would that I, let me
+     rather say--for my wife enters into all these feelings--that
+     we were able in any way at this especial time to minister to
+     your comfort.
+
+     I fear the stroke must have come rather suddenly, but no
+     dispensation could, I think, in the sense really dangerous,
+     be sudden to you.
+
+     Accept, my dear Dean, our affectionate wishes, and be assured
+     we enter into the many prayers which will ascend on your
+     behalf. Your devoted niece will sorely feel this, but it will
+     be to her a new incentive in the performance of those loving
+     duties to which she has so willingly devoted her heart and
+     mind.--Believe me always your affectionate friend, W.E.
+     GLADSTONE.
+
+     Rev. D.T.K. DRUMMOND to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Montpelier, Thursday.
+
+     My dear Friend--I did not like to intrude on you in the very
+     freshness of your home sorrow. But you know how much I loved
+     and respected your brother, and how truly and heartily I
+     sympathise with you. There were few in Edinburgh so much
+     beloved as Sir William, and it will be long indeed ere the
+     memory of his goodness shall pass away. Such men in the
+     quiet, private, and unassuming walk, are often much more
+     missed and more extensively lamented than men who have been
+     more in the eye of the public, and during their life have had
+     much of public observation and favour. It is trying for us
+     who are far on in the pilgrimage to see one and another of
+     our brothers and sisters pass away before us. I have seen
+     _ten_ go before me, and am the only one left; and yet it
+     seems as if the old feeling of their leaving us is being
+     exchanged for the brighter and happier consciousness that
+     they are coming to meet us, or at least that the gathering
+     band are BEFORE us, and looking our way, expecting the time
+     when we too shall pass through the veil, leaning on the arm
+     of the Beloved. I earnestly pray, my dear friend, for the
+     Master's loving help and comfort to you from henceforth
+     even for ever.
+
+     I cannot close this without, in a sentence, expressing my
+     very great delight in reading your words regarding brotherly
+     intercommunion among members of Churches who hold the same
+     Truth, love the same Lord, and are bound to the same "better
+     land." I do rejoice with all my heart that you have given
+     utterance to the sentiments so carefully and admirably
+     expressed by you. I go heart and soul with you in the large
+     and liberal and Christ-like spirit of the views you propound;
+     and feel with you that all such brotherly esteem and hearty
+     and candid co-operation only makes me love my own church
+     better, because such love is unmixed with the exclusiveness
+     which sees nothing good save in the Communion to which we
+     ourselves belong.
+
+     Thank you most heartily for what you have written.--Ever very
+     affectionately yours, D.T.K. DRUMMOND.
+
+When the Ramsays were under the necessity of selling most of their
+property in the Mearns, the purchaser of Fasque was Mr. Gladstone, not
+yet a baronet; and, what does not always happen, the families of the
+buyer and the seller continued good friends, and Sir John, the great
+merchant, by his advice and perhaps other help, assisted some of the
+young Ramsays, who had still to push their way to fortune. I believe
+William, afterwards Admiral, was guided by him in the investment and
+management of a little money, which prospered, notwithstanding his
+innumerable bounties to the poor. The Dean also was obliged to Sir John
+Gladstone, but only for kindness and hospitalities.
+
+On the Ramsays going to London in the summer of 1845, the journal
+records what nice rooms they had, and how happy they were at Mr.
+Gladstone's, where they saw a good deal of their host--"a man who at
+eighty-one possesses the bodily and mental vigour of the prime of life."
+The Dean was struck with the old man's abilities. "Mr. Gladstone would
+have been successful in any undertaking or any pursuits--a man fitted to
+grapple with the highest subjects."
+
+From that period much intercourse took place between the Premier and our
+Dean. There are mutual visits between Hawarden and Edinburgh, and I find
+a good deal of correspondence between them; at least I find the letters
+on one side. The Dean preserved Mr. Gladstone's letters, but the
+counterparts are probably not preserved. One-sided as they are, the
+little packet in my hand, of letters from the great Statesman to the
+rural clergyman is not without interest. The correspondence has been
+friendly, frank and confidential, the writers often differing in
+immaterial things, but showing the same liberality in "Church and
+State;" so that we are not surprised to find, when the time came, that
+of the friends, the churchman approved of Irish disestablishment as
+heartily as the layman who was its author.
+
+     Right Hon. W.E. GLADSTONE to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     10 Downing Street, Whitehall, Jan. 20, 1869.
+
+     My dear Dean Ramsay--I need not tell you I am no fit judge of
+     your brother's claims, but I shall send your letter
+     privately to the First Lord, who, I am sure, will give it an
+     impartial and friendly consideration.
+
+     Pray remember me to the Admiral, and be assured it will give
+     me sincere pleasure if your wish on his behalf can be
+     gratified.
+
+     I write from Hawarden, but almost _en route_ for London, and
+     the arduous work before us.
+
+     My mind is cheerful, and even sanguine about it.
+
+     I wish I had some chance or hope of seeing you, and I remain
+     affectionately yours, W.E. GLADSTONE.
+
+The Bishop of Salisbury has been for days at the point of death. He is
+decidedly better, but cannot recover. Let him have a place in
+your prayers.
+
+     Windsor Castle, June 24, 1871.
+
+     My dear Dean Ramsay--The attraction of the Scott Centenary to
+     Edinburgh is strong, and your affectionate invitation makes
+     it stronger still. I do not despair of being free, and if
+     free, I mean to use my freedom, so as to profit by both. At
+     the same time the delays and obstructions to business have
+     been so formidable that I must not as yet presume to forecast
+     the time when I may be able to escape from London, and
+     therefore I fear I must draw upon your indulgence to allow me
+     some delay. The session may last far into August, but the
+     stars may be more propitious.
+
+     We are all grumbling at an unusually cold year, and the
+     progress of vegetation seems to be suspended, but I trust no
+     serious harm is yet done; as Louis Napoleon said, _tout peut
+     se retablir_.
+
+     It would indeed be delightful could I negotiate for a right
+     to bring you back with me on coming southwards.
+
+     So glad to hear a good account of your health and appearance
+     from our Lord Advocate; a clever chiel, is he not?--Ever
+     affectionately yours, W.E. GLADSTONE.
+
+     My wife sends her kind love.
+
+     10 Downing Street, Whitehall, July 25, 1871.
+
+     My dear Friend--From day to day my hopes of attending the
+     Scott Centenary have been declining, and I regret much to say
+     that they are now virtually dead. The extraordinary
+     obstructions which have been offered to public business
+     during the present session have now, as you will see, brought
+     us to such a pass that some suggest an adjournment from
+     August to some period in the autumn, to enable us to get
+     through what we have in hand. Whether we do this, or whether
+     we finish off at once, it is now, I fear, practically certain
+     that there is no chance of my being free to leave town at the
+     time of the Centenary.
+
+     We paid Tennyson a visit from last Saturday to Tuesday. He is
+     a sincere and ardent admirer of Scott, and heartily wishes
+     well to anything which is likely to keep him before the minds
+     of the on-coming generation.
+
+     His Sussex abode is beautiful, 600 feet above the sea, with a
+     splendid view. He seems to be very happy in his family.
+
+     With regard to the Emperor of Brazil, I think any application
+     made to him would come best from those officially connected
+     with the celebration. At any rate, I fear it would be
+     obtrusive on my part to mix in it, as I have no special
+     relation with him, though he has made a most pleasing
+     impression on me.
+
+     I now expect to go to Balmoral in the middle of September,
+     and should much wish to know whether I might visit you on my
+     way north or south.--Always affectionately yours, W.E.
+     GLADSTONE.
+
+     10 Downing Street, Whitehall, August 8, 1871.
+
+     My dear Dean Ramsay--Do what you like with the inclosed. It
+     is written at the last moment, and because you asked for it,
+     by a man who was nine hours in the House yesterday, and has
+     to be there nine to-day, besides a fair share of a day's work
+     outside it to boot.
+
+     I hope you received a subscription from Royal Bounty which I
+     sent for Archibald's family. I can give five pounds myself
+     also.--Ever your affectionate friend,
+
+     W.E. GLADSTONE.
+
+     11 Carlton House Terrace, S.W., August 8, 1871.
+
+     My dear Dean Ramsay---I wish I could convey to you adequately
+     the regret with which I find myself cut off from any
+     possibility of joining in the tribute to be paid to-morrow to
+     the memory of the first among the sons of Scotland. He was
+     the idol of my boyhood, and though I well know that my
+     admiration is worth little, it has never varied.
+
+     In his case the feeling is towards the man as much as towards
+     his works. Did we not possess a line from his pen, his life
+     would stand as a true epic.
+
+     I will not say I think him as strong in his modern politics
+     as in some other points, but I find my general estimate of
+     the great and heroic whole affected only in the slightest
+     degree by this point of qualified misgiving.
+
+     If he is out of fashion with some parts of some classes, it
+     is their misfortune, not his. He is above fluctuations of
+     time, for his place is in the Band of the Immortals.
+
+     The end of my letter shall be better worth your having than
+     the beginning. A fortnight ago I visited Tennyson, and found
+     him possessed with all the sentiments about Scott which your
+     celebration is meant to foster.--I remain in haste,
+     affectionately yours. W.E. GLADSTONE.
+
+     Hawarden Castle, Chester, January 12, 1872.
+
+     My dear Dean Ramsay--I was at once obliged, gratified, and
+     comforted by your letter. This has been a great storm, but it
+     has not rooted you up, and He whom you live to serve,
+     evidently has yet more service for you to do. Those remaining
+     in the world cannot be wife or brother to you, but how many
+     there are who would if they could, and who will be all
+     they can!
+
+     The testimonies you send me are full of touching interest.
+
+     My wife has received to-day the beautiful present of the new
+     edition of your book. She will enjoy it immensely. I hope to
+     send you, when I get to London, a little work called the
+     "Mirror of Monks." Let not the title alarm you. It is in the
+     manner of a Kempis, and is original, as well as excellent and
+     lofty. I have had much Scotch reading. The "Life of Dr. Lee;"
+     Macdonald's "Love, Law, and Theology;" last, not least, Lady
+     Nairne. I am equally struck with her life, and her singularly
+     beautiful songs, and this though she was Tory and Puritan; I
+     am opposed to both. Her character brings into view a problem
+     common to all times, but also I suppose special to this. I
+     take it that if there is a religious body upon earth that
+     fully and absolutely deserves the character of schismatical,
+     it is your Drummond secession. Yet not only is this noble and
+     holy woman in it, but even my own narrow experience has
+     supplied me with other types of singular excellence and
+     elevation within its pale; and the considerations hereby
+     suggested are of immensely wide application.
+
+     I trust that your Walker Cathedral will be thoroughly good,
+     and that your Bishop's book is prospering.
+
+     You will be glad to hear that the solemn thanksgiving at St.
+     Paul's may be regarded as decided on, to my great
+     satisfaction.
+
+     If you will let me have particulars of any case such as you
+     describe, I will most readily see what can be done; and now
+     farewell, my dear friend.--Always affectionately yours, W.E.
+     GLADSTONE.
+
+If not quite so popular as some of the Dean's other correspondents, he
+whose letter I bring forward here stood as high as any man in the
+estimation of the better and most thinking classes of Scotsmen.
+
+Thomas Erskine of Linlathen, though no clergyman, had his mind more
+constantly full of divine thoughts than most priests; though no
+technical scholar perhaps, he kept up his Greek to read Plato, and did
+not think that his enjoyment of the works of high reach in classical
+times unfitted him for Bible studies, which were the chief object of his
+existence.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+THOMAS ERSKINE to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     127 George Street, 19th Oct. 1869.
+
+     Dear Dean--I return you many thanks for that kind letter.
+     Neither you nor I can now be far from death--that commonest
+     of all events, and yet the most unknown. The majority of
+     those with whom you and I have been acquainted, have passed
+     through it, but their experience does not help us except by
+     calling us to prepare for it. _One_ man indeed--the Head and
+     Lord of men--has risen from the dead, thereby declaring death
+     overcome, and inviting us all to share in his victory. And
+     yet we feel that the victory over death cannot deliver us
+     from fear, unless there be also a victory over that which
+     makes death terrible--a victory over him that hath the power
+     of death, that is the devil, or prince and principle of sin.
+     And our Lord has achieved this also, for he put away sin _by
+     the sacrifice of himself_; but this sacrifice can only really
+     profit us when it is reproduced in us--when we, as branches
+     of the true Vine, live by the sap of the root, which sap is
+     _filial trust_, the only principle which can sacrifice
+     _self_, because the only principle which can enable us to
+     commit ourselves _unreservedly_ into the hands of God for
+     guidance and for disposal. We are thus _put right_ by _trust,
+     justified_ or _put right_ by faith in the loving fatherly
+     righteous purpose of God towards us.
+
+     Dear George Dundas's death has taken from me my chief social
+     support in Edinburgh. I was fourteen years his senior, but I
+     had known and loved him from his childhood. Our mothers were
+     sisters, and thus we had the same family ties and traditions.
+     I think of him now in connection with that verse, "to those
+     who by patient continuance in well-doing," etc.
+
+     And now farewell. Let us seek to live by the faith of the Son
+     of God--his filial trust I suppose, which I so much
+     need.--Ever truly and gratefully yours,
+
+     T. ERSKINE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The three following letters hardly help on the story of the Dean's life,
+but I could not pass them when they came into my hands.
+
+The writer is Adam Sedgwick, the well-known Cambridge Professor and
+Philosopher. In another capacity he was still better known. He was tutor
+and vice-master of Trinity, and in his time an outside stranger of any
+education, even a half-educated Scot, dropping into Cambridge society,
+found a reception to be remembered. Take for choice one of their
+peculiar festivals--Trinity Sunday comes to my mind--the stranger
+partook of the splendid feast in that princely hall of Trinity, where
+the massive college plate was arrayed and the old college customs of
+welcome used, not from affectation, but kindly reverence. When the
+dinner was over, the large party of Doctors and Fellows, with hundreds
+of the noble youth of England, all in surplice, moved to the chapel, all
+joining with reverence in the august service of the church, and later,
+they and their guests, or as many as could be held, crossed to the
+Combination Room, where Sedgwick filled the chair, and led the
+conversation, not to glorify himself, not to display his own powers,
+which were great, but to let his guests know among whom they were
+placed--philosophers, first men of science, first scholars, leaders in
+all kinds of learning, meeting in a noble equality, proud to meet under
+his presidency--_that_ I take to be the highest triumph of civilised
+hospitality. At the time of these letters the philosopher is old, but
+vigorous in mind, and even gay at the age of eighty-eight.
+
+The death of Bishop Terrot called forth the following letter from the
+venerable Professor:--
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     PROFESSOR SEDGWICK to the Rev. Mr. MALCOLM.
+
+     Trinity College, Cambridge, May 1, 1872.
+
+     Dear Mr. Malcolm--I had been previously informed of the death
+     of my dear old friend, the Bishop of Edinburgh, but I am very
+     grateful to you for thinking so kindly of me, and for
+     communicating particulars about which I was not acquainted
+     previously. Accept my expressions of true-hearted sympathy,
+     and pray impart them to the surviving members of dear Bishop
+     Terrot's family. He was an old, an honoured and beloved
+     friend; God laid upon his old age an unusual load of the
+     labours and sorrows of humanity, but they are over now, and
+     he has reached his haven of shelter from external sorrow and
+     his true and enduring home of joy and peace, in the presence
+     of his Maker and Redeemer. I am very infirm, and am affected
+     by an internal malady, which, through the past winter, has
+     confined me to my college rooms, but I have to thank my Maker
+     for thousands of little comforts to mind and body, by which
+     I am hourly surrounded, and for His long-suffering in
+     extending my probation till I have entered on my 88th year.
+     My eyes are dim-sighted and irritable, so that I generally
+     dictate my letters; now, however, I am using my own pen to
+     express my thanks to you, in this time of your sorrow for the
+     loss of one so nearly and dearly connected with your clerical
+     life. My memory is not much shaken, except in recalling names
+     not very familiar to me, and I think (with the painful
+     exception I have alluded to) that my constitutional health is
+     sound. When my friends call upon me, my deafness generally
+     compels me to use an ear-trumpet, and I yesterday took it to
+     our college walks, to try if I could catch the notes of the
+     singing birds, which were piping all round me. But, alas! I
+     could not hear the notes of the singing birds, though I did
+     catch the harsher and louder notes of the rooks, which have
+     their nests in some college grounds.
+
+     May the remaining years of your life be cheered and animated
+     by good abiding Christian hope.--I remain very faithfully
+     yours, ADAM SEDGWICK.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     PROFESSOR SEDGWICK to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Trinity College, Cambridge,
+
+     29th May 1872.
+
+     My dear Dean--I this morning received your kind presentation
+     copy of your Reminiscences, which I shall highly value for
+     its own sake, and as your gift. I read little now because my
+     eyes are both dim-sighted and very irritable; but your book
+     will just suit me, as it is not a continuous tale, but a
+     succession of tales, each of which is perfect in itself, and
+     I hope to read it bit by bit without worrying my enfeebled
+     powers of sight.
+
+     I meant to have thanked you in an autograph, but there has
+     been a sudden change in the atmosphere, which is dark, heavy
+     and wet, and when there is a defect of light I am almost
+     constrained to dictate my letters to my _factotum_.
+
+     I am delighted, too, with the single sheet containing verses
+     addressed to yourself. The first copy by Bishop Wordsworth
+     appears to me quite admirable from the beauty and simplicity
+     of his Latin; and the other copies are good in their way.
+
+     I dare say you have seen the short verses he wrote on the
+     death of his first wife. They are of Roman brevity and of
+     exquisite tenderness.
+
+     One of the very pleasant days of my life was spent in a visit
+     to the small country living of Mr. Dawes of Downing,
+     afterwards Dean of Hereford. Your late brother was one of the
+     happy party. We returned together to Cambridge at a rattling
+     pace, and I am not sure that I ever saw his face afterwards,
+     for very soon he had a bilious attack which induced him to
+     seek health in his native country, and, alas! he sought it in
+     vain, for he sickened and died, to the deep sorrow of all his
+     friends.--I remain, my dear Dean, very truly and
+     gratefully yours,
+
+     A. SEDGWICK.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     PROFESSOR SEDGWICK to Rev. Mr. MALCOLM.
+
+     Trinity College, Cambridge,
+
+     January 18, 1873.
+
+     My dear Mr. Malcolm--The infirmity of my sight compels me to
+     dictate this letter to one who often writes for me. Such a
+     bright day as this, and while the sun is shining, I could see
+     the traces of my pen upon a sheet of paper; but the act of
+     writing greatly fatigues me, and I dictate nearly all
+     my letters.
+
+     I very much value your melancholy memorial of my late dear
+     and honoured friend, the late Bishop Terrot. Though the photo
+     represents our late friend the bishop with his features
+     shrouded in the cold fixity of death, yet it does bring back
+     the original to the memory of those who knew him well, and I
+     am greatly obliged to you for this memorial of one who has
+     gone from our sight for ever, so far as this world is
+     concerned. It was very kind of you to remember the photo.
+
+     I did not know Bishop Cotterell intimately, but I have met
+     him many times, and I think you very happy in obtaining the
+     services of a man of such experience, talent, and zeal, in
+     the good cause of Christian truth.
+
+     I am now a very feeble, infirm, old man, toiling in the last
+     quarter of my 88th year. I ought to be thankful that my mind,
+     though feeble, remains entire: my memory is often defective,
+     but I have been enabled, though with great labour to myself,
+     and with many interruptions, to dictate a preface to a
+     catalogue published by the university of the older fossils of
+     our collection. They have kindly printed and given to me some
+     extra copies of my preface, one of which I will forward to
+     you by the book-post.
+
+     I know it can have no interest to you, excepting, perhaps, a
+     few paragraphs in the conclusion of only two or three
+     pages.--I remain, my dear Mr. Malcolm, very faithfully and
+     gratefully yours, A. SEDGWICK.
+
+I have printed already more than one letter from the Rev. D.T.K.
+Drummond, from admiration of their intrinsic merit, and because I wish
+here to collect proofs that no diversity of Church rites or Church
+policy could separate our Dean from brethren whom he regarded perhaps as
+erroneous, but recognised as teaching and leading by the same principles
+of freedom, which he himself revered and followed.
+
+     Rev. D.T.K. DRUMMOND to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Montpelier, Saturday.
+
+     My dear Friend--Very many thanks for your most touching note,
+     and for the extract from your book you so kindly sent me. The
+     more I look into it the more I like it, and thank God for
+     the testimony you so unequivocally and fearlessly hear to the
+     _unity_ of the True Church of Christ of any age, however much
+     the great army he made up of various sections, of diverse
+     uniforms, and with special duties to perform.....
+
+     Again thanking you very warmly, and earnestly praying for all
+     the precious consolations of the Great Head of the Church to
+     be largely vouchsafed to you, believe me to be always most
+     affectionately yours,
+
+     D. T. K. DRUMMOND.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The subject of the following letter cannot be overlooked by a biographer
+of Dean Ramsay:--
+
+     Rev. Dr. CANDLISH to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     52 Melville Street, 18th March 1872.
+
+     My dear Dean Ramsay--I have just read with most profound
+     thankfulness and admiration your noble Christian letter in
+     this day's _Scotsman_. I cannot deny myself the gratification
+     of expressing my feelings to you in this feeble
+     acknowledgment. You have done a signal service to the cause
+     of our Blessed Lord and common Master. I am too infirm to
+     write more fully all that is in my heart. You will pardon all
+     defects, and believe me, yours very truly,
+
+     ROB. S. CANDLISH.
+
+The letter referred to by the distinguished divine arose out of what is
+known in the Scottish Episcopal Church as the _cause celebre_ of the
+Bishop of Glasgow against the Bishop of Argyll.
+
+The Rev. Dr. Caird, of the University of Glasgow, having invited the
+Bishop of Argyll to preach to a mixed Episcopalian and Presbyterian
+congregation, using his Church's liturgy, from the University pulpit of
+Glasgow, the Bishop of Glasgow interposed to prevent it.
+
+The interference of the Bishop of Glasgow with his brother prelate of
+Argyll called forth a letter from Dean Ramsay, which appeared in the
+_Scottish Guardian_ on 15th March 1872, and in the _Scotsman_ three days
+later. In it the Dean in fact asserts a religious sympathy towards those
+who differ from him, comprehensive enough to include all his Protestant
+countrymen.
+
+"In an address to the Bishop of Glasgow, signed by sixty-two clergymen,
+it is stated that the service contemplated in the chapel of the
+University of Glasgow would be a 'lax proceeding, and fraught with great
+injury to the highest interests of the Church,' Accordingly the Bishop
+of Glasgow prohibited the service, to guard the Church from complicity
+in a measure which he considered subversive of her position in this
+country.' In other words," says Dean Ramsay, "we are called upon to
+believe that, as members of the Scottish Episcopal Church, it is our
+bounden duty to withhold every appearance of any religious sympathy with
+our Presbyterian fellow-countrymen and fellow-Christians. I now solemnly
+declare for myself that, had I come to the conclusion that such was the
+teaching of our Church, and such the views to which I was bound--viz.
+that her object was thus to sever man from man, and to maintain that the
+service proposed at Glasgow was really 'fraught with great injury to the
+highest interests of my Church,' because it would promote union and
+peace--the sun should not again set till I had given up all official
+connection with a Church of which the foundations and the principles
+would be so different from the landmarks and leading manifestations of
+our holy faith itself. Were the principles and conduct laid down in this
+address and in the answer to it fairly carried out, I cannot see any
+other result than the members of our Church considering the whole of
+Scotland which is external to our communion as a land of infidels, with
+whom we can have no spiritual connection, and whom, indeed, we could
+hardly recognise as a Christian people."
+
+The Dean's letter is chiefly remarkable as showing that age had not
+frozen his charity. It called forth many letters like that of Dr.
+Candlish, and one from the little Somersetshire society which he
+loved so well.
+
+     JOHN SHEPPARD, Esq., Frome, to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     The Cottage, Frome, 21st March 1872.
+
+     Very dear and reverend Sir--I have to thank you for the
+     _Scottish Guardian_ which you have kindly sent me. I regret
+     the divisions which appear to have arisen in your church.
+     Whatever comes from your pen has special interest for me; and
+     I am glad to see it (as it always has been) pleading the
+     cause of Christian charity. It appears to me that the welfare
+     of your church would have been promoted by acceding to the
+     invitation,
+
+     I think I have mentioned to you that we had lately a visit
+     from good Archdeacon Sandford, which we much enjoyed. We
+     learn with sorrow that since attendance at the Convocation
+     and a stay at Lambeth Palace, he has been suffering great
+     weakness and exhaustion, and been confined to his bed for a
+     month. He is now slowly recovering; but we fear his
+     exertions have been beyond his strength, and that his life
+     must be very precarious.
+
+     I hope your health is not more seriously impaired; but we
+     must be looking more and more, dear sir, towards the home
+     which pain and strife cannot enter.
+
+     My beloved Susan is very zealous as the animals' friend, and
+     birds of many sorts welcome and solicit her as their
+     patroness. She desires to be most kindly remembered to you,
+     with, my dear Dean, your attached old friend,
+
+     JOHN SHEPPARD.
+
+     _P.S._--Susan instructs me to say for her that, "since
+     reading your letter to the _Guardian_, she loves you more
+     than ever, if possible." My words are cool in comparison with
+     hers; and this is a curious message for an ancient husband
+     to convey.
+
+     She thinks we have not thanked you for the Bishop's Latin
+     verses and the translations of them. If we have not, it is
+     not because our "_reminiscences_" of you are faint or few.
+
+I wish to preserve a note of a dear old friend of my own, whose talents,
+perhaps I might say whose genius, was only shrouded by his modesty. I
+know that the Dean felt how gratifying it was to find among his
+congregation men of such accomplishment, such scholarship, as George
+Moir and George Dundas, and it is something to show that they responded
+very heartily to that feeling.
+
+     GEORGE MOIR to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Monday morning, 14 Charlotte Square.
+
+     My dear Dean--My condition renders it frequently impossible
+     to attend church, from the difficulty I have in remaining for
+     any length of time. But I have been able to be present the
+     last two Sundays, and I cannot refrain from saying with how
+     much pleasure I listened yesterday to your discourse on
+     charity. It was not unworthy of the beautiful passage which
+     formed its ground-work; clear, consecutive, eloquent, and
+     with a moral application of which I wish we may all avail
+     ourselves.
+
+     Long may you continue to advise and instruct those who are
+     _to come after me_.
+
+     I was delighted to see you looking so well, and to notice the
+     look of vigour with which the discourse was delivered.
+     Believe me ever most truly yours, GEO. MOIR.
+
+In 1866 the Dean had delivered two lectures upon "Preachers and
+Preaching," but which were afterwards published in a volume called
+_Pulpit Table-Talk_. That is the subject of the following letter from a
+great master of the art:--
+
+     Dr. GUTHRIE to DEAN RAMSAY.
+
+     Inchgrundle, Tarfside, by Brechin,
+
+     31st August 1868.
+
+     My dear Mr. Dean--Your Pulpit Table-Talk has been sent here
+     to gratify, delight, and edify me. A most entertaining book;
+     and full of wise and admirable sentiments. All ministers and
+     preachers should read and digest it. Age seems to have no
+     more dulling effect on you than it had on Sir David Brewster,
+     who retained, after he had turned the threescore and ten, all
+     the greenery, foliage, and flowers of youth--presenting at
+     once the freshness of Spring, and the flowers of Summer, and
+     the precious fruits of Autumn.
+
+     May your bow long abide in strength! and the evening of your
+     days be calm and peaceful, bright with the sure and certain
+     hope of that better world, where, I hope, we shall meet to be
+     for ever with the Lord! With the greatest respect and
+     affectionate regards, yours ever,
+
+     THOMAS GUTHRIE.
+
+I cannot fix the date of the following anecdote, nor does the date much
+matter:--Some years ago a child, the son of the U.P. minister of
+Dunblane, was so dangerously ill, that a neighbouring lady, the wife of
+the Episcopal clergyman, who was much interested in the little boy,
+asked her husband if it might be permitted to beg the prayers of the
+congregation for his recovery. The clergyman readily assented; and when
+the facts came to the knowledge of Dean Ramsay, and that it was a
+suggestion of a dear friend of his, he sent the lady a copy of his
+_Reminiscences_, with a letter to her husband, in which he says--"I was
+greatly charmed with your account of prayers offered up for poor little
+Blair. Tell your Mary I love her more than ever. It has quite affected
+me, her proposing it." The husband is the Rev. Mr. Malcolm; the lady his
+wife, daughter of the Dean's dear friend, Bishop Terrot.
+
+But the end was approaching. In December 1872 it was noticed with sorrow
+that for the first time since the commencement of the Church Society
+(1838), of which Ramsay was really the founder, the Dean was absent from
+the annual meeting of the general committee. Soon it became known that
+his illness was more than a mere passing attack. During its continuance
+the deepest interest was manifested in every quarter. Each day, and
+"almost from hour to hour, the latest tidings were eagerly sought for.
+In many churches and in many families besides those of our communion,
+prayers were offered for his recovery. And when at last it became known
+that he had indeed passed away from this life, it was felt that we had
+lost not only a venerable Father of the Church, but one whose name,
+familiar as a household word, was always associated with kindly loving
+thoughts and deeds--one who was deservedly welcome wherever he went, and
+whose influence was always towards peace and goodwill." The Rev. Mr.
+Montgomery, our present Dean of Edinburgh, whose words I quote, truly
+says that "he was a Churchman by conviction, but was ever ready to meet,
+and, where occasion offered, to act with others upon the basis of a
+common humanity and common Christianity."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[9] The margin seems to show that this page of the journal was not
+written till 1843.
+
+[10] The Bishop said that the two impediments to profitable or amusing
+conversation were _humdrum_ and _humbug_.
+
+On another occasion, the Bishop having expressed his doubt of the truth
+of spirit-rapping, table-turning, etc., and being pressed with the
+appeal, "Surely you must admit these are indications of Satanic agency,"
+quietly answered, "It may be so, but it must be a mark of Satan being in
+a state of dotage!"
+
+[11] Alluditur ad titulum libri _Reminiscences_, etc.
+
+[12] Here is the passage referred to by Mr. Dickens:--"There are persons
+who do not sympathise with my great desire to preserve and to
+disseminate these specimens of Scottish humour; indeed, I have reasons
+to suspect that some have been disposed to consider the time and
+attention which I have given to the subject as ill-bestowed, or at any
+rate, as somewhat unsuitable to one of my advanced age and sacred
+profession. If any persons do really think so, all I can say is, I do
+not agree with them. National peculiarities must ever form an
+interesting and improving study, inasmuch as it is a study of human
+nature; and the anecdotes of this volume all tend to illustrate features
+of the Scottish mind, which, as moral and religious traits of character,
+are deeply interesting. I am convinced that every one, whether clergyman
+or layman, who contributes to the innocent enjoyment of human life, has
+joined in a good work, inasmuch as he has diminished the inducement to
+_vicious_ indulgence. God knows there is enough of sin and of sorrow in
+the world to make sad the heart of every Christian man. No one, I think,
+need be ashamed of his endeavours to cheer the darker hours of his
+fellow-travellers' steps through life, or to beguile the hearts of the
+weary and the heavy laden, if only for a time, into cheerful and amusing
+trains of thought. So far as my experience of life goes, I have never
+found that the cause of morality and religion was promoted by sternly
+checking the tendencies of our nature to relaxation and amusement. If
+mankind be too ready to enter upon pleasures which are dangerous or
+questionable, it is the part of wisdom and of prudence to supply them
+with sources of interest, the enjoyment of which are innocent and
+permissible."
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When this Memoir was only begun I was anxious to say something of the
+Dean's musical powers; and, not venturing to speak of music myself, I
+asked the Dean's sister Lady Burnett to supply my deficiency. In reply I
+had the following letter:--
+
+     22d February 1873.
+
+     ... As a flute-player the Dean attained a proficiency rarely
+     seen in an amateur, and used frequently to play the very
+     difficult flute-obligatos of some of Handel's songs, which
+     are considered a hard task even for professionals. Besides
+     playing the flute he was thoroughly conversant with the
+     mechanism of the organ, and had some knowledge of the
+     violoncello, though he never gave much time to the study of
+     that instrument. But perhaps the most interesting point in
+     this part of the character of my brother was his ardent love
+     for Handel's music. There was not a song or chorus of the
+     great master that he was not acquainted with, and in his
+     younger days he used to sing the bass music from the Messiah
+     and other Oratorios with great taste and skill--his voice, a
+     fine mellow baritone, being well suited to these songs. You
+     may remember his lectures on Handel delivered at the
+     Philosophical Institution some years ago, and how
+     enthusiastic he was when describing the manifold beauties of
+     his favourite composer, and how interested and eager he
+     became when the choir sang the music he knew and loved
+     so well....
+
+     I wrote this on Saturday evening when sitting alone,
+     thinking of the great loss I had sustained; the variety there
+     was in Edward's character; how accomplished he was; what
+     knowledge he had on many subjects; his fine taste, his
+     gentleness and Christian piety; and then his strong sense of
+     humour and fun; how amusing he was, and such droll things
+     broke out every now and then! even to the very last so genial
+     and social, and altogether such a man that we "ne'er shall
+     look upon his like again."--Yours very sincerely, LAUDERDALE
+     BURNETT.
+
+
+
+REMINISCENCES.
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+TO
+
+TWENTY-SECOND EDITION.
+
+In preparing another duodecimo edition of the "Reminiscences of Scottish
+Life and Character," I gladly avail myself of the opportunity afforded
+me of reproducing some of the materials which had been added to the
+octavo edition, especially that part at page 322, etc., which advocated
+a modified interchange of pulpits between Episcopalian and Presbyterian
+clergymen; to add also some excellent Scottish stories which had been
+sent to me by kind friends. I am desirous also of repeating the
+correction of an error into which we had fallen in copying the account
+of a toast in the Highland form, which had been kindly contributed by
+the respected minister of Moulin, in the octavo edition at page 70. To
+Lowland conceptions, the whole proceeding has somewhat the appearance of
+a respectable company at once becoming insane; still it ought to be
+correct, and the printer had, by mistake, inserted a word that has no
+existence in the Gaelic language. The text reads--
+
+     "Lud ris! Lud ris! You again! you again!"
+
+It should be
+
+     Sud ris! Sud ris! Yon again! yon again!
+
+that is--"you cheer again."
+
+The demand for a twenty-second edition of a volume of "Scottish
+Reminiscences" embracing subjects which are necessarily of a limited and
+local character--a demand which has taken place during the course of
+little more than fifteen years since its first publication--proves, I
+think, the correctness of the idea upon which it was first
+undertaken--viz. that it should depict a phase of national manners which
+was fast passing away, and thus, in however humble a department,
+contribute something to the materials of history, by exhibiting social
+customs and habits of thought which at a particular era were
+characteristic of a race. It may perhaps be very fairly said that the
+Reminiscences came out at a time specially suitable to rescue these
+features of national life and character from oblivion. They had _begun_
+to fade away, and many had, to the present generation, become obsolete.
+
+To those who have not given their attention to the subject for the
+elucidation of which this volume has been written, I would present two
+specimens of the sort of materials from which they may expect to find
+these Reminiscences are compiled. They are chosen to indicate a style of
+life and manners now fast fading away, and are taken from a period which
+lies within the scope of our own recollections. Now, a subject like this
+can only be illustrated by a copious application of anecdotes which must
+show the features of the past. And let me premise that I make use of
+anecdotes not for the purpose of telling a good story, but solely in the
+way of _illustration_. I am quite certain that there was an originality,
+a dry and humorous mode of viewing persons and events, quite _peculiar_
+to the older Scottish characters. And I am equally certain, that their
+peculiar humour can only be exhibited in examples. From the late Mr.
+Erskine of Linlathan I received the following:--Mr. Erskine recollected
+an old housekeeper at Airth, who belonged to this class of character. A
+speech of this Mrs. Henderson was preserved in the family as having been
+made by her at the time of the execution of Louis XVI. in 1793. She was
+noticing the violent emotion exhibited by Mr. Bruce of Kinnaird, the
+Abyssinian traveller, at the sad event which had just taken place, and
+added, in the following quaint and caustic terms, "There's Kinnaird
+greeting as if there was nae a saunt on earth but himsel' and the king
+o' France." How utterly unlike anything that would be said on such an
+occasion by an English person in the same position in life!
+
+For the same purpose, let me introduce a characteristic little Scottish
+scene, which my cousin, the late Sir Thomas Burnett of Leys, used to
+describe with great humour. Sir Thomas had a tenant on his estate, a
+very shrewd clever man, whom he was sometimes in the habit of consulting
+about country matters. On one occasion he came over to Crathes Castle,
+and asked to see Sir Thomas. He was accordingly ushered in, accompanied
+by a young man of very simple appearance, who gazed about the room in a
+stupid vacant manner. The old man began by saying that he understood
+there was a farm on the estate to be let, and that he knew a very fine
+young man whom he wished to recommend as tenant. He said he had plenty
+of _siller_, and had studied farming on the most approved
+principles--sheep-farming in the Highlands, cattle-farming in the
+Lowlands, and so forth, and, in short, was a model farmer. When he had
+finished his statement, Sir Thomas, looking very significantly at his
+companion, addressed the old man (as he was usually addressed in the
+county by the name of his farm)--"Well, Drummy, and is this your friend
+whom you propose for the farm?" to which Drummy replied, "Oh fie, na.
+Hout! that is a kind o' a _Feel_, a friend (_i.e._ a relation) o' the
+wife's, and I just brought him ower wi' me to show him the place."
+
+The question of change in the "life and character" of a people, during
+the period embraced in the reminiscences of an aged individual, must
+always be a subject for deep and serious consideration. In the case of
+Scotland, such changes comprise much that is interesting and amusing.
+But they also contain much matter for serious thought and reflection to
+the lovers of their country. In preparing the present edition of these
+Reminiscences, I have marked out many further changes, and have marked
+them from a deep feeling of interest in the moral and religious
+improvement of my country. To my readers I say that I hope we have all
+learned to view such changes under a more serious national aspect than a
+mere question of amusement or speculation. The Christian, when he looks
+around him on society, must observe many things which, as a patriot, he
+wishes might be permanent, and he marks many things which, as a patriot,
+he wishes were obliterated. What he desires should be enduring in his
+countrymen is, that abiding attributes of Scottish character should be
+associated amongst all men with truth and virtue--with honour and kindly
+feelings--with temperance and self-denial--with divine faith and
+love--with generosity and benevolence. On the other hand, he desires
+that what may become questions of tradition, and, in regard to his own
+land, REMINISCENCES of Scottish life, shall be--cowardice and folly,
+deceit and fraud, the low and selfish motives to action which make men
+traitors to their God and hateful to their fellow-men.
+
+It would be worse than affectation--it would be ingratitude--to disclaim
+being deeply impressed by the favourable reception which has for so long
+a time been given to these Reminiscences at home, in India, in America,
+and in all countries where Scotchmen are to be found.
+
+It is not the least of the enjoyments which I have had in compiling
+these pages, to hear of the kind sympathy which they have called forth
+in other minds, and often in the minds of strangers; and it would be
+difficult for me to describe the pleasure I have received when told by a
+friend that this work had cheered him in the hour of depression or of
+sickness--that even for a few moments it may have beguiled the weight of
+corroding care and worldly anxiety. I have been desirous of saying a
+word in favour of old Scottish life; and with some minds, perhaps, the
+book may have promoted a more kindly feeling towards hearts and heads of
+bygone days. And certainly I can now truly say, that my highest
+reward--my greatest honour and gratification--would spring from the
+feeling that it might become a standard volume in Scottish cottage
+libraries, and that by the firesides of Scotland these pages might
+become as Household Words.
+
+     EDINBURGH, 23 AINSLIE PLACE.
+     _St. Andrew's Day_[13]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[13] These words, "St. Andrew's Day," were deleted by the Dean; and
+though he lived till the 27th December, he did not touch the
+proof-sheets after the 19th November 1872.
+
+
+
+REMINISCENCES
+
+OF
+
+SCOTTISH LIFE AND CHARACTER.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+CHAPTER THE FIRST.
+
+INTRODUCTORY.
+
+I wish my readers always to bear in mind that these Reminiscences are
+meant to bear upon the changes which would include just such a
+revolution as that referred to at page 15 in the bonnet practice of
+Laurencekirk. There is no pretension to any researches of _antiquarian_
+character; they are in fact Reminiscences which come almost within
+personal recognition. A kind friend gave me anecdotes of the past in her
+hundredth year. In early life I was myself consigned to the care of my
+grand-uncle, Sir Alexander Ramsay, residing in Yorkshire, and he was
+born in 1715; so that I can go pretty far back on my own experience, and
+have thus become cognisant of many changes which might be expected as a
+consequence of such experience.
+
+I cannot imagine a better illustration of the sort of change in the
+domestic relations of life that has taken place in something like the
+time we speak of, than is shown in the following anecdote, which was
+kindly communicated to me by Professor MacGregor of the Free Church. I
+have pleasure in giving it in the Professor's own words:--"I happened
+one day to be at Panmure Castle when Lord Panmure (now Dalhousie) was
+giving a treat to a school, and was presented by the Monikie Free Church
+Deacons' Court with a Bible on occasion of his having cleared them
+finally of debt on their buildings. Afterwards his Lordship took me into
+the library, where, among other treasures, we found a handsome folio
+_Prayer Book_ presented to his ancestor Mr. Maule of Kelly by the
+Episcopalian minister of the district, on occasion of his having, by Mr.
+Maule's help, been brought out of jail. The coincidence and contrast
+were curiously interesting."
+
+For persons to take at various intervals a retrospective view of life,
+and of the characters they have met with, seems to be a natural feeling
+of human nature; and every one is disposed at times to recall to memory
+many circumstances and many individuals which suggest abundant subjects
+for reflection. We thus find recollections of scenes in which we have
+been joyous and happy. We think of others with which we only associate
+thoughts of sorrow and of sadness. Amongst these varied emotions we find
+subjects for reminiscences, of which we would bury the feelings in our
+own hearts as being too sacred for communication with others. Then,
+again, there are many things of the past concerning which we delight to
+take counsel with friends and contemporaries. Some persons are disposed
+to go beyond these personal communications with friends, and having
+through life been accustomed to write down memoranda of their own
+feelings, have published them to the world. Many interesting works have
+thus been contributed to our literature by writers who have sent forth
+volumes in the form of _Memoirs of their Own Times, Personal
+Recollections, Remarks upon Past Scenes_, etc. etc. It is not within
+the scope of this work to examine these, nor can I specify the many
+communications I have from different persons, both at home and in our
+colonial possessions; in fact, the references in many cases have been
+lost or mislaid. But I must acknowledge, however briefly, my obligations
+to Dr. Carruthers, Inverness, and to Dr. Cook, Haddington, who have
+favoured me with valuable contributions.
+
+Now, when we come to examine the general question of memoirs connected
+with contemporary history, no work is better known in connection with
+this department of Scottish literature than the _History of his Own
+Times_, by my distinguished relative, Dr. Gilbert Burnett, Bishop of
+Salisbury. Bishop Burnett's father, Lord Crimond, was third son of my
+father's family, the Burnetts of Leys, in Kincardineshire. There is now
+at Crathes Castle, the family seat, a magnificent full-length portrait
+of the Bishop in his robes, as Prelate of the Garter, by Sir Godfrey
+Kneller. It was presented by himself to the head of his family. But, as
+one great object of the Bishop's history was to laud and magnify the
+personal character and public acts of William of Orange, his friend and
+patron, and as William was held in special abhorrence by the Jacobite
+party in Scotland, the Bishop holds a prominent, and, with many, a very
+odious position in Scottish Reminiscences; in fact, he drew upon himself
+and upon his memory the determined hatred and unrelenting hostility of
+adherents to the Stuart cause. They never failed to abuse him on all
+occasions, and I recollect old ladies in Montrose, devoted to the exiled
+Prince, with whom the epithet usually applied to the Prelate was that of
+"Leein' Gibby[14]."
+
+Such language has happily become a "Reminiscence." Few would be found
+now to apply such an epithet to the author of the _History of his Own
+Times_, and certainly it would not be applied on the ground of the
+Jacobite principles to which he was opposed. But a curious additional
+proof of this hostility of Scottish Jacobites to the memory of Burnett
+has lately come to light. In a box of political papers lately found at
+Brechin Castle, belonging to the Panmure branch of the family, who, in
+'15, were forfeited on the ground of their Jacobite opinions and
+adherence to the cause of Charles Edward, there has been found a severe
+and bitter supposed _epitaph_ for Bishop Burnett. By the kindness of the
+Earl of Dalhousie I was permitted to see this epitaph, and, if I chose,
+to print it in this edition. I am, however, unwilling to stain my pages
+with such an ungenerous and, indeed, I may say, so scurrilous a
+representation of the character of one who, in the just opinion of our
+Lyon King-at-Arms, himself a Burnett of the Kemnay branch, has
+characterised the Bishop of Salisbury as "true and honest, and far
+beyond the standard of his times as a Clergyman and as a Bishop." But
+the epitaph found in these Panmure papers shows clearly the prejudices
+of the age in which it was written, and in fact only embodies something
+of that spirit and of those opinions which we have known as still
+lingering in our own Reminiscences.
+
+If it were not on my part a degree of presumption, I might be inclined
+to consider myself in this volume a fellow-labourer with the late
+accomplished and able Mr. Robert Chambers. In a very limited sphere it
+takes a portion of the same field of illustration. I should consider
+myself to have done well if I shall direct any of my readers to his able
+volumes. Whosoever wishes to know what this country really was in times
+past, and to learn, with a precision beyond what is supplied by the
+narratives of history, the details of the ordinary current of our
+social, civil, and national life, must carefully study the _Domestic
+Annals of Scotland_. Never before were a nation's domestic features so
+thoroughly portrayed. Of those features the specimens of quaint Scottish
+humour still remembered are unlike anything else, but they are fast
+becoming obsolete, and my motive for this publication has been an
+endeavour to preserve marks of the past which would of themselves soon
+become obliterated, and to supply the rising generation with pictures of
+social life, faded and indistinct to their eyes, but the strong lines of
+which an older race still remember. By thus coming forward at a
+favourable moment, no doubt many beautiful specimens of SCOTTISH
+MINSTRELSY have in this manner been preserved from oblivion by the
+timely exertions of Bishop Percy, Ritson, Walter Scott, and others. Lord
+Macaulay, in his preface to _The Lays of Ancient Rome_, shows very
+powerfully the tendency in all that lingers in the memory to become
+obsolete, and he does not hesitate to say that "Sir Walter Scott was but
+_just in time_ to save the precious relics of the minstrelsy of
+the Border."
+
+It is quite evident that those who have in Scotland come to an advanced
+age, must have found some things to have been really changed about them,
+and that on them great alterations have already taken place. There are
+some, however, which yet may be in a transition state; and others in
+which, although changes are threatened, still it cannot be said that the
+changes are begum I have been led to a consideration of impending
+alterations as likely to take place, by the recent appearance of two
+very remarkable and very interesting papers on subjects closely
+connected with great social Scottish questions, where a revolution of
+opinion may be expected. These are two articles in _Recess Studies_
+(1870), a volume edited by our distinguished Principal, Sir Alexander
+Grant. One essay is by Sir Alexander himself, upon the "Endowed
+Hospitals of Scotland;" the other by the Rev. Dr. Wallace of the
+Greyfriars, upon "Church Tendencies in Scotland." It would be quite
+irrelevant for me to enlarge here upon the merits of those articles. No
+one could study them attentively without being impressed with the
+ability and power displayed in them by the authors, their grasp of the
+subjects, and their fair impartial judgment upon the various questions
+which come under their notice.
+
+From these able disquisitions, and from other prognostics, it is quite
+evident that sounder principles of political economy and accurate
+experience of human life show that much of the old Scottish hospital
+system was quite wrong and must be changed. Changes are certainly going
+on, which seem to indicate that the very hard Presbyterian views of some
+points connected with Church matters are in transition. I have elsewhere
+spoken of a past sabbatarian strictness, and I have lately received an
+account of a strictness in observing the national fast-day, or day
+appointed for preparation in celebrating Holy Communion, which has in
+some measure passed away. The anecdote adduced the example of two
+drovers who were going on very quietly together. They had to pass
+through a district whereof one was a parishioner, and during their
+progress through it the one whistled with all his might, the other
+screwed up his mouth without emitting a single sound. When they came to
+a burn, the silent one, on then crossing the stream, gave a skip, and
+began whistling with all his might, exclaiming with great triumph to his
+companion, "I'm beyond the parish of Forfar now, and I'll whistle as
+muckle as I like." It happened to be the Forfar parish fast-day. But a
+still stricter observance was shown by a native of Kirkcaldy, who, when
+asked by his companion drover in the south of Scotland "why he didna
+whistle," quietly answered, "I canna, man; it's our fast-day in
+Kirkcaldy." I have an instance of a very grim assertion of extreme
+sabbatarian zeal. A maid-servant had come to a new place, and on her
+mistress quietly asking her on Sunday evening to wash up some dishes,
+she indignantly replied, "Mem, I hae dune mony sins, and hae mony sins
+to answer for; but, thank God, I hae never been sae far left to mysell
+as to wash up dishes on the Sabbath day."
+
+I hope it will not for a moment be supposed we would willingly throw any
+ridicule or discouragement on the Scottish national tendencies on the
+subject, or that we are not proud of Scotland's example of a sacred
+observance of the fourth commandment in the letter and the spirit. We
+refer now to injudicious extremes, such, indeed, as our Lord condemned,
+and which seem a fair subject for notice amongst Scottish peculiarities.
+But the philosophy of the question is curious. Scotland has ever made
+her boast of the simplest form of worship, and a worship free from
+ceremonial, more even than the Church of England, which is received as,
+in doctrine and ritual, the Church of the Reformation. In some respects,
+therefore, may you truly say the only standing recognised observance in
+the ceremonial part of Presbyterian worship is the Sabbath day--an
+observance which has been pushed in times past even beyond the extreme
+of a spirit of Judaism, as if the sabbatical ceremonial were made a
+substitute for all other ceremony. In this, as well as in other matters
+which we have pointed out, what changes have taken place, what changes
+are going on! It may be difficult to assign precise causes for such
+changes having taken place among us, and that during the lifetime of
+individuals now living to remember them. It has been a period for many
+changes in manners, habits, and forms of language, such as we have
+endeavoured to mark in this volume. The fact of such changes is
+indisputable, and sometimes it is difficult not only to assign the
+causes for them, but even to describe in what the changes themselves
+consist. They are gradual, and almost imperceptible. Scottish people
+lose their Scotchness; they leave home, and return without those
+expressions and intonations, and even peculiarity of voice and manner,
+which used to distinguish us from Southern neighbours. In all this, I
+fear, we lose our originality. It has not passed away, but with every
+generation becomes less like the real type.
+
+I would introduce here a specimen of the precise sort of changes to
+which I would refer, as an example of the reminiscences intended to be
+introduced into these pages. We have in earlier editions given an
+account of the pains taken by Lord Gardenstone to extend and improve his
+rising village of Laurencekirk; amongst other devices he had brought
+down, as settlers, a variety of artificers and workmen from England.
+With these he had introduced a _hatter_ from Newcastle; but on taking
+him to church next day after his arrival, the poor man saw that he might
+decamp without loss of time, as he could not expect much success in his
+calling at Laurencekirk; in fact, he found Lord Gardenstone's and his
+own the only hats in the kirk--the men all wore then the flat Lowland
+bonnet. But how quickly times change! My excellent friend, Mr. Gibbon
+of Johnstone, Lord Gardenstone's own place, which is near Laurencekirk,
+tells me that at the present time _one_ solitary Lowland bonnet lingers
+in the parish.
+
+Hats are said to have been first brought into Inverness by Duncan Forbes
+of Culloden, the Lord President, who died in 1747. Forbes is reported to
+have presented the provost and bailies with cocked hats, which they wore
+only on Sundays and council days. About 1760 a certain Deacon Young
+began daily to wear a hat, and the country people crowding round him,
+the Deacon used humorously to say, "What do you see about me, sirs? am I
+not a mortal man like yourselves?" The broad blue bonnets I speak of
+long continued to be worn in the Highland capital, and are still
+occasionally to be seen there, though generally superseded by the
+Glengarry bonnet and ordinary hat. It is a minor change, but a very
+decided one.
+
+The changes which have taken place, and which give rise to such
+"Reminiscences," are very numerous, and meet us at every turn in
+society. Take, for example, the case of our Highland chieftains. We may
+still retain the appellation, and talk of the chiefs of Clanranald, of
+Glengarry, etc. But how different is a chieftain of the present day,
+even from some of those of whom Sir Walter Scott wrote as existing so
+late as 1715 or 1745! Dr. Gregory (of immortal _mixture_ memory) used to
+tell a story of an old Highland chieftain, intended to show how such
+Celtic potentates were, even in his day, still inclined to hold
+themselves superior to all the usual considerations which affected
+ordinary mortals. The doctor, after due examination, had, in his usual
+decided and blunt manner, pronounced the liver of a Highlander to be at
+fault, and to be the cause of his ill-health. His patient, who could not
+but consider this as taking a great liberty with a Highland chieftain,
+roared out--"And what the devil is it to you whether I have a liver or
+not?" But there is the case of dignity in Lowland Lairds as well as
+clan-headship in Highland Chiefs. In proof of this, I need only point to
+a practice still lingering amongst us of calling landed proprietors, not
+as Mr. So-and-so, but by the names of their estates. I recollect, in my
+early days, a number of our proprietors were always so designated. Thus,
+it was not as Mr. Carnegie, Mr. Douglas, Mr. Irvine, etc., but as
+Craigo, Tillwhilly, Drum, etc.
+
+An amusing application of such a territorial denominative system to the
+locality of London was narrated to me by a friend who witnessed it. A
+Scottish gentleman, who had never been in the metropolis, arrived fresh
+from the Highlands, and met a small party at the house of a London
+friend. A person was present of most agreeable manners, who delighted
+the Scotsman exceedingly. He heard the company frequently referring to
+this gentleman's residence in Piccadilly, to his house in Piccadilly,
+and so on. When addressed by the gentleman, he commenced his reply,
+anxious to pay him all due respect--"Indeed, Piccadilly," etc. He
+supposed Piccadilly must be his own territorial locality. Another
+instance of mistake, arising out of Scottish ignorance of London ways,
+was made by a North Briton on his first visit to the great city. He
+arrived at a hotel in Fleet Street, where many of the country coaches
+then put up. On the following morning he supposed that such a crowd as
+he encountered could only proceed from some "occasion," and must pass
+off in due time. Accordingly, a friend from Scotland found him standing
+in a doorway, as if waiting for some one. His countryman asked him what
+made him stand there. To which he answered--"Ou, I was just stan'ing
+till the kirk had scaled." The ordinary appearance of his native borough
+made the crowd of Fleet Street suggest to him the idea of a church crowd
+passing out to their several homes, called in Scotland a "kirk scaling."
+A London street object called forth a similar simple remark from a
+Scotsman. He had come to London on his way to India, and for a few days
+had time to amuse himself by sight-seeing before his departure. He had
+been much struck with the appearance of the mounted sentinels at the
+Horse Guards, Whitehall, and bore them in remembrance during his Eastern
+sojourn. On his return, after a period of thirty years, on passing the
+Horse Guards, he looked up to one, and seeing him, as he thought,
+unchanged as to horse, position, and accoutrements, he exclaimed--"Od,
+freend, ye hae had a lang spell on't sin' I left," supposing him to be
+the identical sentinel he had seen before he sailed.
+
+It is interesting to preserve national peculiarities which are thus
+passing away from us. One great pleasure I have had in their collection,
+and that is the numerous and sympathetic communications I have received
+from Scotsmen, I may literally say from Scotsmen _in all quarters of the
+world_; sometimes communicating very good examples of Scottish humour,
+and always expressing their great pleasure in reading, when in distant
+lands and foreign scenes, anecdotes which reminded them of Scotland, and
+of their ain days of "auld langsyne."
+
+There is no mistaking the national attachment so strong in the Scottish
+character. Men return after long absence, in this respect, unchanged;
+whilst absent, Scotsmen _never_ forget their Scottish home. In all
+varieties of lands and climates their hearts ever turn towards the "land
+o' cakes and brither Scots." Scottish festivals are kept with Scottish
+feeling on "Greenland's icy mountains" or "India's coral strand." I
+received an amusing account of an ebullition of this patriotic feeling
+from my late noble friend the Marquis of Lothian, who met with it when
+travelling in India. He happened to arrive at a station upon the eve of
+St. Andrew's Day, and received an invitation to join a Scottish dinner
+party in commemoration of old Scotland. There was a great deal of
+Scottish enthusiasm. There were _seven_ sheep-heads (singed) down the
+table; and Lord Lothian told me that after dinner he sang with great
+applause "The Laird o' Cockpen."
+
+Another anecdote arising out of Scotsmen meeting in distant lands, is
+rather of a more serious character, and used to be told with exquisite
+humour by the late lamented Dr. Norman Macleod. A settler in Australia,
+who for a long time had heard nothing of his Scottish kith and kin, was
+delighted at the arrival of a countryman direct from his own part of the
+country. When he met with him, the following conversation took place
+between them:--_Q_. "Ye ken my fouk, friend; can ye tell me gin my
+faather's alive?" _A_.--"Hout, na; he's deed." _Q_.--"Deed! What did he
+dee o'? was it fever?" _A_.--"Na, it wasna fever." _Q_.--"Was it
+cholera?" _A_.--"Na." The question being pressed, the stranger drily
+said, "Sheep," and then he accompanied the ominous word by delicately
+and significantly pointing to the jugular under his ear. The man had
+been hanged for sheep-stealing!
+
+It must always be amusing for Scotsmen to meet in distant lands, and
+there to play off on each other the same dry, quaint humour which
+delighted them in their native land, and in their early days at home. An
+illustration of this remark has been communicated by a kind
+correspondent at Glasgow. Mrs. Hume, a true Scot, sends me the following
+dialogue, accompanied by a very clever etching of the parties, from the
+Melbourne _Punch_, August 17, 1871, headed "Too Poor,--_Night of
+Waverley Concert_."
+
+_Southron_.--You here, Mac! you ought to have been at the concert, you
+know. Aren't you one of the 'Scots wha hae?'
+
+_Mac_.--Indeed no. I'm are o' the Scots wha hae na, or I wadna be here
+the nicht.
+
+He would not have stayed at home if he had been one of the "Scots wha
+hae."
+
+I am assured that the genuineness of the following anecdote is
+unquestionable, as my informant received it from the person to whom it
+occurred. A popular Anglican Nonconformist minister was residing with a
+family in Glasgow while on a visit to that city, whither he had gone on
+a deputation from the Wesleyan Missionary Society. After dinner, in
+reply to an invitation to partake of some fine fruit, he mentioned to
+the family a curious circumstance concerning himself--viz. that he had
+never in his life tasted an apple, pear, grape, or indeed any kind of
+green fruit. This fact seemed to evoke considerable surprise from the
+company, but a cautious Scotsman, of a practical, matter-of-fact turn of
+mind, who had listened with much unconcern, drily remarked, "It's a
+peety but ye had been in Paradise, and there micht na hae been ony faa."
+I have spoken elsewhere of the cool matter-of-fact manner in which the
+awful questions connected with the funerals of friends are often
+approached by Scottish people, without the least intention or purpose of
+being irreverent or unfeeling. By the kindness of Mr. Lyon, I am enabled
+to give an authentic anecdote of a curious character, illustrative of
+this habit of mind, and I cannot do better than give it in his own
+words:--"An old tenant of my late father, George Lyon of Wester Ogil,
+many years ago, when on his deathbed, and his end near at hand, his wife
+thus addressed him: 'Willie, Willie, as lang as ye can speak, tell us
+are ye for your burial-baps round or _square_?' Willie having responded
+to this inquiry, was next asked if the _murners_ were to have _glooes_
+(gloves) or mittens, the former being articles with fingers, the latter
+having only a thumb-piece; and Willie, having also answered this
+question, was allowed to depart in peace."
+
+There could not be a better example of this familiar handling, without
+meaning offence, than one which has just been sent to me by a kind
+correspondent. I give her own words. "Happening to call on a poor
+neighbour, I asked after the children of a person who lived close by."
+She replied, "They're no hame yet; gaed awa to the English kirk to get
+_a clap_ o' _the heid_. It was the day of _confirmation_ for St. Paul's.
+This definition of the 'outward and visible sign' would look rather odd
+in the catechism. But the poor woman said it from no disrespect; it was
+merely her way of answering my question." But remarks on serious
+subjects often go to deeper views of religious matters than might be
+expected from the position of the parties and the terms made use of.
+
+Of the wise and shrewd judgment of the Scottish character, as bearing
+upon religious pretensions, I have an apt example from my friend Dr.
+Norman Macleod. During one of the late revivals in Scotland, a small
+farmer went about preaching with much fluency and zeal the doctrine of a
+"full assurance" of faith, and expressed his belief of it for himself in
+such extravagant terms as few men would venture upon who were humble and
+cautious against presumption. The "preacher," being personally rather
+remarkable as a man of greedy and selfish views in life, excited some
+suspicion in the breast of an old sagacious countryman, a neighbour of
+Dr. Macleod, who asked him what _he_ thought of John as a preacher, and
+of his doctrine. Scratching his head, as if in some doubt, he replied,
+"I'm no verra sure o' Jock. I never ken't a man _sae sure o' Heaven, and
+sae sweert to be gaing tae't_." He showed his sagacity, for John was
+soon after in prison for theft.
+
+Another story gives a good idea of the Scottish matter-of-fact view of
+things being brought to bear upon a religious question without meaning
+to be profane or irreverent. Dr. Macleod was on a Highland loch when a
+storm came on which threatened serious consequences. The doctor, a large
+powerful man, was accompanied by a clerical friend of diminutive size
+and small appearance, who began to speak seriously to the boatmen of
+their danger, and proposed that all present should join in prayer. "Na,
+na," said the chief boatman; "let the _little_ ane gang to pray, but
+first the big ane maun tak an oar." Illustrative of the same spirit was
+the reply of a Scotsman of the genuine old school, "Boatie" of Deeside,
+of whom I have more to say, to a relative of mine. He had been nearly
+lost in a squall, and saved after great exertion, and was told by my
+aunt that he should be grateful to providence for his safety. The man,
+not meaning to be at all ungrateful, but viewing his preservation in
+the purely hard matter-of-fact light, quietly answered, "Weel, weel,
+Mrs. Russell; Providence here or Providence there, an I hadna worked
+sair mysell I had been drouned."
+
+Old Mr. Downie, the parish minister of Banchory, was noted, in my
+earliest days, for his quiet pithy remarks on men and things, as they
+came before him. His reply to his son, of whose social position he had
+no very exalted opinion, was of this class. Young Downie had come to
+visit his father from the West Indies, and told him that on his return
+he was to be married to a lady whose high qualities and position he
+spoke of in extravagant terms. He assured his father that she was "quite
+young, was very rich, and very beautiful." "Aweel, Jemmy," said the old
+man, very quietly and very slily, "I'm thinking there maun be some
+_faut_." Of the dry sarcasm we have a good example in the quiet
+utterance of a good Scottish phrase by an elder of a Free Kirk lately
+formed. The minister was an eloquent man, and had attracted one of the
+town-council, who, it was known, hardly ever entered the door of a
+church, and now came on motives of curiosity. He was talking very grand
+to some of the congregation: "Upon my word, your minister is a very
+eloquent man. Indeed, he will quite convert me." One of the elders,
+taking the word in a higher sense than the speaker intended, quietly
+replied, "Indeed, Bailie, there's _muckle need_."
+
+A kind correspondent sends me an illustration of this quaint
+matter-of-fact view of a question as affecting the sentiments or the
+feelings. He tells me he knew an old lady who was a stout large woman,
+and who with this state of body had many ailments, which she bore
+cheerfully and patiently. When asked one day by a friend, "How she was
+keeping," she replied, "Ou, just middling; there's _ower muckle o' me_
+to be a' weel at ae time." No Englishwoman would have given such an
+answer. The same class of character is very strongly marked in a story
+which was told by Mr. Thomas Constable, who has a keen appreciation of a
+good Scottish story, and tells it inimitably. He used to visit an old
+lady who was much attenuated by long illness, and on going up stairs one
+tremendously hot afternoon, the daughter was driving away the flies,
+which were very troublesome, and was saying, "Thae flies will eat up a'
+that remains o' my puir mither." The old lady opened her eyes, and the
+last words she spoke were, "What's left o' me's guid eneuch for them."
+
+The spirit of caution and wariness by which the Scottish character is
+supposed to be distinguished has given rise to many of these national
+anecdotes.
+
+Certainly this cautious spirit thus pervaded the opinions of the
+Scottish architect who was called upon to erect a building in England
+upon the long-lease system, so common with Anglican proprietors, but
+quite new to our Scottish friend. When he found the proposal was to
+build upon the tenure of 999 years, he quietly suggested, "Culd ye no
+mak it a _thousand_? 999 years'll be slippin' awa'."
+
+But of all the cautious and careful answers we ever heard of was one
+given by a carpenter to an old lady in Glasgow, for whom he was working,
+and the anecdote is well authenticated. She had offered him a dram, and
+asked him whether he would have it then or wait till his work was
+done--"Indeed, mem," he said, "there's been sic a power o' sudden deaths
+lately that I'll just tak it now." He would guard against contingency
+and secure his dram.
+
+The following is a good specimen of the same humour:--A minister had
+been preaching against covetousness and the love of money, and had
+frequently repeated how "love of money was the root of all evil" Two old
+bodies walking home from church--one said, "An' wasna the minister
+strang upo' the money?" "Nae doubt," said the other, rather
+hesitatingly; and added, "ay, but it's grand to hae the wee bit siller
+in your haund when ye gang an errand."
+
+I have still another specimen of this national, cool, and deliberative
+view of a question, which seems characteristic of the temperament of our
+good countrymen. Some time back, when it was not uncommon for challenges
+to be given and accepted for insults, or supposed insults, an English
+gentleman was entertaining a party at Inverness with an account of the
+wonders he had seen and the deeds he had performed in India, from whence
+he had lately arrived. He enlarged particularly upon the size of the
+tigers he had met with at different times in his travels, and by way of
+corroborating his statements, assured the company that he had shot one
+himself considerably above forty feet long. A Scottish gentleman
+present, who thought that these narratives rather exceeded a traveller's
+allowed privileges, coolly said that no doubt those were very remarkable
+tigers; but that he could assure the gentleman there were in that
+northern part of the country some wonderful animals, and, as an example,
+he cited the existence of a skate-fish captured off Thurso, which
+exceeded half-an-acre in extent. The Englishman saw this was intended as
+a sarcasm against his own story, so he left the room in indignation, and
+sent his friend, according to the old plan, to demand satisfaction or an
+apology from the gentleman, who had, he thought, insulted him. The
+narrator of the skate story coolly replied, "Weel, sir, gin yer freend
+will tak' a few feet aff the length o' his tiger, we'll see what can be
+dune about the breadth o' the skate." He was too cautious to commit
+himself to a rash or decided course of conduct. When the tiger was
+shortened, he would take into consideration a reduction of superficial
+area in his skate.
+
+A kind correspondent has sent me about as good a specimen of dry
+Scottish quiet humour as I know. A certain Aberdeenshire laird, who kept
+a very good poultry-yard, could not command a fresh egg for his
+breakfast, and felt much aggrieved by the want. One day, however, he met
+his grieve's wife with a nice basket, and very suspiciously going
+towards the market; on passing and speaking a word, he was enabled to
+discover that her basket was full of beautiful white eggs. Next time he
+talked with his grieve, he said to him, "James, I like you very well,
+and I think you serve me faithfully, but I cannot say I admire your
+wife." To which the cool reply was, "Oh, 'deed, sir, I'm no surprised at
+that, for I dinna muckle admire her mysel'."
+
+An answer very much resembling this, and as much to the point, was that
+of a gudewife on Deeside, whose daughter had just been married and had
+left her for her new home. A lady asked the mother very kindly about her
+daughter, and said she hoped she liked her new home and new relations.
+"Ou, my lady, she likes the parish weel eneuch, but she doesna think
+muckle o' her _man_!"
+
+The natives of Aberdeenshire are distinguished for the two qualities of
+being very acute in their remarks and very peculiar in their language.
+Any one may still gain a thorough knowledge of Aberdeen dialect and see
+capital examples of Aberdeen humour. I have been supplied with a
+remarkable example of this combination of Aberdeen shrewdness with
+Aberdeen dialect. In the course of the week after the Sunday on which
+several elders of an Aberdeen parish had been set apart for parochial
+offices, a knot of the parishioners had assembled at what was in all
+parishes a great place of resort for idle gossiping--the smiddy or
+blacksmith's workshop. The qualifications of the new elders were
+severely criticised. One of the speakers emphatically laid down that the
+minister should not have been satisfied, and had in fact made a most
+unfortunate choice. He was thus answered by another parish
+oracle--perhaps the schoolmaster, perhaps a weaver:--"Fat better culd
+the man dee nir he's dune?--he bud tae big's dyke wi' the feal at fit
+o't." He meant there was no choice of material--he could only take
+what offered.
+
+By the kindness of Dr. Begg, I have a most amusing anecdote to
+illustrate how deeply long-tried associations were mixed up with the
+habits of life in the older generation. A junior minister having to
+assist at a church in a remote part of Aberdeenshire, the parochial
+minister (one of the old school) promised his young friend a good glass
+of whisky-toddy after all was over, adding slily and very significantly,
+"and gude _smuggled_ whusky." His Southron guest thought it incumbent to
+say, "Ah, minister, that's wrong, is it not? you know it is contrary to
+Act of Parliament." The old Aberdonian could not so easily give up his
+fine whisky to what he considered an unjust interference; so he quietly
+said, "Oh, Acts o' Parliament lose their breath before they get to
+Aberdeenshire."
+
+There is something very amusing in the idea of what may be called the
+"fitness of things," in regard to snuff-taking, which occurred to an
+honest Highlander, a genuine lover of sneeshin. At the door of the
+Blair-Athole Hotel he observed standing a magnificent man in full
+tartans, and noticed with much admiration the wide dimensions of his
+nostrils in a fine upturned nose. He accosted him, and, as his most
+complimentary act, offered him his mull for a pinch. The stranger drew
+up, and rather haughtily said: "I never take snuff." "Oh," said the
+other, "that's a peety, for there's grand _accommodation_[15]!"
+
+I don't know a better example of the sly sarcasm than the following
+answer of a Scottish servant to the violent command of his enraged
+master. A well-known coarse and abusive Scottish law functionary, when
+driving out of his grounds, was shaken by his carriage coming in contact
+with a large stone at the gate. He was very angry, and ordered the
+gatekeeper to have it removed before his return. On driving home,
+however, he encountered another severe shock by the wheels coming in
+contact with the very same stone, which remained in the very same place.
+Still more irritated than before, in his usual coarse language he called
+the gatekeeper, and roared out: "You rascal, if you don't send that
+beastly stone to h---, I'll break your head." "Well," said the man
+quietly, and as if he had received an order which he had to execute, and
+without meaning anything irreverent, "aiblins gin it were sent to heevan
+_it wad be mair out o' your Lordship's way_."
+
+I think about as cool a Scottish "aside" as I know, was that of the old
+dealer who, when exhorting his son to practise honesty in his dealings,
+on the ground of its being the "best policy," quietly added, "I _hae
+tried baith_"
+
+In this work frequent mention is made of a class of old _ladies_,
+generally residing in small towns, who retained till within the memory
+of many now living the special characteristics I have referred to. Owing
+to local connection, I have brought forward those chiefly who lived in
+Montrose and the neighbourhood. But the race is extinct; you might as
+well look for hoops and farthingales in society as for such characters
+now. You can scarcely imagine an old lady, however quaint, now making
+use of some of the expressions recorded in the text, or saying, for the
+purpose of breaking up a party of which she was tired, from holding bad
+cards, "We'll stop now, bairns; I'm no enterteened;" or urging more
+haste in going to church on the plea, "Come awa, or I'll be ower late
+for the 'wicked man'"--her mode of expressing the commencement of
+the service.
+
+Nothing could better illustrate the quiet pawky style for which our
+countrymen have been distinguished, than the old story of the piper and
+the wolves. A Scottish piper was passing through a deep forest. In the
+evening he sat down to take his supper. He had hardly begun, when a
+number of hungry wolves, prowling about for food, collected round him.
+In self-defence, the poor man began to throw pieces of his victuals to
+them, which they greedily devoured. When he had disposed of all, in a
+fit of despair he took his pipes and began to play. The unusual sound
+terrified the wolves, which, one and all, took to their heels and
+scampered off in every direction: on observing which, Sandy quietly
+remarked, "Od, an I'd kenned ye liket the pipes sae weel, I'd a gien ye
+a spring _afore_ supper."
+
+This imperturbable mode of looking at the events of life is illustrated
+by perhaps the _most_ cautious answer on record, of the Scotsman who,
+being asked if he could play the fiddle, warily answered, "He couldna
+say, for he had never tried." But take other cases. For example: One
+tremendously hot day, during the old stage-coach system, I was going
+down to Portobello, when the coachman drew up to take in a gentleman who
+had hailed him on the road. He was evidently an Englishman--a fat man,
+and in a perfect state of "thaw and dissolution" from the heat and dust.
+He wiped himself, and exclaimed, as a remark addressed to the company
+generally, "D----d hot it is." No one said anything for a time, till a
+man in the corner slily remarked, "I dinna doubt, sir, but it may." The
+cautiousness against committing himself unreservedly to any proposition,
+however plausible, was quite delicious.
+
+A more determined objection to giving a categorical answer occurred, as
+I have been assured, in regard to a more profound question. A party
+travelling on a railway got into deep discussion on theological
+questions. Like Milton's spirits in Pandemonium, they had
+
+                         "Reason'd high
+     Of providence, fore-knowledge, will, and fate--
+     Fix'd fate, free-will, fore-knowledge absolute;
+     And found no end, in wand'ring mazes lost."
+
+A plain Scotsman present seemed much interested in these matters, and
+having expressed himself as not satisfied with the explanations which
+had been elicited in the course of discussion on a particular point
+regarding predestination, one of the party said to him that he had
+observed a minister, whom they all knew, in the adjoining compartment,
+and that when the train stopped at the next station a few minutes, he
+could go and ask _his_ opinion. The good man accordingly availed himself
+of the opportunity to get hold of the minister, and lay their difficulty
+before him. He returned in time to resume his own place, and when they
+had started again, the gentleman who had advised him, finding him not
+much disposed to voluntary communication, asked if he had seen the
+minister. "O ay," he said, "he had seen him." "And did you propose the
+question to him?" "O ay." "And what did he say?" "Oh, he just said he
+didna ken; and what was mair he didna _care!_"
+
+I have received the four following admirable anecdotes, illustrative of
+dry Scottish pawky humour, from an esteemed minister of the Scottish
+Church, the Rev. W. Mearns of Kinneff. I now record them nearly in the
+same words as his own kind communication. The anecdotes are as
+follow:--An aged minister of the old school, Mr. Patrick Stewart, one
+Sunday took to the pulpit a sermon without observing that the first leaf
+or two were so worn and eaten away that he couldn't decipher or announce
+the text. He was not a man, however, to be embarrassed or taken aback by
+a matter of this sort, but at once intimated the state of matters to the
+congregation,--"My brethren, I canna tell ye the text, for the mice hae
+eaten it; but we'll just begin whaur the mice left aff, and when I come
+to it I'll let you ken."
+
+In the year 1843, shortly after the Disruption, a parish minister had
+left the manse and removed to about a mile's distance. His pony got
+loose one day, and galloped down the road in the direction of the old
+glebe. The minister's man in charge ran after the pony in a great fuss,
+and when passing a large farm-steading on the way, cried out to the
+farmer, who was sauntering about, but did not know what had taken
+place--"Oh, sir, did _ye_ see the minister's shault?" "No, no," was the
+answer,--"but what's happened?" "Ou, sir, fat do ye think? the
+minister's shault's _got lowse_ frae his tether, an' I'm frichtened he's
+ta'en the road doun to the auld glebe." "Weel-a-wicht!"--was the shrewd
+clever rejoinder of the farmer, who was a keen supporter of the old
+parish church, "I wad _na_ wonder at _that_. An' I'se warrant, gin the
+minister was gettin' _lowse_ frae _his_ tether, he wad jist tak the
+same road."
+
+An old clerical friend upon Speyside, a confirmed bachelor, on going up
+to the pulpit one Sunday to preach, found, after giving out the psalm,
+that he had forgotten his sermon. I do not know what his objections were
+to his leaving the pulpit, and going to the manse for his sermon, but he
+preferred sending his old confidential housekeeper for it. He
+accordingly stood up in the pulpit, stopped the singing which had
+commenced, and thus accosted his faithful domestic:--"Annie; I say,
+Annie, _we've_ committed a mistak the day. Ye maun jist gang your waa's
+hame, and ye'll get my sermon oot o' my breek-pouch, an' we'll sing to
+the praise o' the Lord till ye come back again." Annie, of course, at
+once executed her important mission, and brought the sermon out of "the
+breek-pouch," and the service, so far as we heard, was completed without
+further interruption.
+
+My dear friend, the late Rev. Dr. John Hunter, told me an anecdote very
+characteristic of the unimaginative matter-of-fact Scottish view of
+matters. One of the ministers of Edinburgh, a man of dry humour, had a
+daughter who had for some time passed the period of youth and of
+beauty. She had become an Episcopalian, an event which the Doctor
+accepted with much good-nature, and he was asking her one day if she did
+not intend to be confirmed. "Well," she said, "I don't know. I
+understand Mr. Craig always kisses the candidates whom he prepares, and
+I could not stand that." "Indeed, Jeanie," said the Doctor slily, "gin
+Edward Craig _were_ to gie ye a kiss, I dinna think ye would be muckle
+the waur."
+
+Many anecdotes characteristic of the Scottish peasant often turn upon
+words and ideas connected with Holy Scripture. This is not to be
+considered as in any sense profane or irreverent; but it arises from the
+Bible being to the peasantry of an older generation their library--their
+only book. We have constant indications of this almost exclusive
+familiarity with Scripture ideas. At the late ceremonial in the north,
+when the Archbishop of Canterbury laid the foundation of a Bishop's
+Church at Inverness, a number of persons, amid the general interest and
+kindly feeling displayed by the inhabitants, were viewing the procession
+from a hill as it passed along. When the clergy, to the number of sixty,
+came on, an old woman, who was watching the whole scene with some
+jealousy, exclaimed, at sight of the surplices, "There they go, the
+_whited_ sepulchres!" I received another anecdote illustrative of the
+same remark from an esteemed minister of the Free Church: I mean of the
+hold which Scripture expressions have upon the minds of our Scottish
+peasantry. One of his flock was a sick nervous woman, who hardly ever
+left the house. But one fine afternoon, when she was left alone, she
+fancied she would like to get a little air in the field adjoining the
+house. Accordingly she put on a bonnet and wrapped herself in a huge
+red shawl. Creeping along the dyke-side, some cattle were attracted
+towards her, and first one and then another gathered round, and she took
+shelter in the ditch till she was relieved by some one coming up to her
+rescue. She afterwards described her feelings to her minister in strong
+language, adding, "And eh, sir! when I lay by the dyke, and the beasts
+round a' glowerin' at me, I thocht what Dauvid maun hae felt when he
+said--'Many bulls have compassed me; strong bulls of Bashan have beset
+me round.'"
+
+With the plainness and pungency of the old-fashioned Scottish language
+there was sometimes a coarseness of expression, which, although commonly
+repeated in the Scottish drawing-room of last century, could not now be
+tolerated. An example of a very plain and downright address of a laird
+has been recorded in the annals of "Forfarshire Lairdship." He had
+married one of the Misses Guthrie, who had a strong feeling towards the
+Presbyterian faith in which she had been brought up, although her
+husband was one of the zealous old school of Episcopalians. The young
+wife had invited her old friend, the parish minister, to tea, and had
+given him a splendid "_four hours."_ Ere the table was cleared the laird
+came in unexpectedly, and thus expressed his indignation, not very
+delicately, at what he considered an unwarrantable exercise of
+hospitality at his cost:--"Helen Guthrie, ye'll no think to save yer ain
+saul at the expense of my meal-girnel!"
+
+The answer of an old woman under examination by the minister to the
+question from the Shorter Catechism--"What are the _decrees_ of God?"
+could not have been surpassed by the General Assembly of the Kirk, or
+even the Synod of Dort--"Indeed, sir, He kens that best Himsell." We
+have an answer analogous to that, though not so pungent, in a catechumen
+of the late Dr. Johnston of Leith. She answered his own question,
+patting him on the shoulder--"'Deed, just tell it yersell, _bonny_
+doctor (he was a very handsome man); naebody can tell it better."
+
+To pass from the answers of "persons come to years of discretion"--I
+have elsewhere given examples of peculiar traits of character set forth
+in the answers of mere _children_, and no doubt a most amusing
+collection might be made of very juvenile "Scottish Reminiscences." One
+of these is now a very old story, and has long been current amongst
+us:--A little boy who attended a day-school in the neighbourhood, when
+he came home in the evening was always asked how he stood in his own
+class. The invariable answer made was, "I'm second dux," which means in
+Scottish academical language second from the top of the class. As his
+habits of application at home did not quite bear out the claim to so
+distinguished a position at school, one of the family ventured to ask
+what was the number in the class to which he was attached. After some
+hesitation he was obliged to admit: "Ou, there's jist me and _anither_
+lass." It was a very _practical_ answer of the little girl, when asked
+the meaning of "darkness," as it occurred in Scripture reading--"Ou,
+just steek your een." On the question, What was the "pestilence that
+walketh in darkness"? being put to a class, a little boy answered, after
+consideration--"Ou, it's just _bugs_." I did not anticipate when in a
+former edition I introduced this answer, which I received from my nephew
+Sir Alexander Ramsay, that it would call forth a comment so interesting
+as one which I have received from Dr. Barber of Ulverston. He sends me
+an extract from Matthew's _Translation of the Bible_, which he received
+from Rev. L.R. Ayre, who possesses a copy of date 1553, from which it
+appears that Psalm xci. 5 was thus translated by Matthew, who adopted
+his translation from Coverdale and Tyndale:--"So that thou shalt not
+need to be afrayed for any bugge by nyght, nor for the arrow that flyeth
+by day[16]." Dr. Barber ingeniously remarks--"Is it possible the little
+boy's mother had one of these old Bibles, or is it merely a
+coincidence?"
+
+The innocent and unsophisticated answers of children on serious subjects
+are often very amusing. Many examples are recorded, and one I have
+received seems much to the point, and derives a good deal of its point
+from the Scottish turn of the expressions. An elder of the kirk having
+found a little boy and his sister playing marbles on Sunday, put his
+reproof in this form, not a judicious one for a child:--"Boy, do ye know
+where children go to who play marbles on Sabbath-day?" "Ay," said the
+boy, "they gang doun' to the field by the water below the brig." "No,"
+roared out the elder, "they go to hell, and are burned." The little
+fellow, really shocked, called to his sister, "Come awa', Jeanie, here's
+a man swearing awfully."
+
+A Scotch story like that of the little boy, of which the humour
+consisted in the dry application of the terms in a sense different from
+what was intended by the speaker, was sent to me, but has got spoilt by
+passing through the press. It must be Scotch, or at least, is composed
+of Scottish materials--the Shorter Catechism and the bagpipes. A piper
+was plying his trade in the streets, and a strict elder of the kirk,
+desirous to remind him that it was a somewhat idle and profitless
+occupation, went up to him and proposed solemnly the first question of
+the Shorter Catechism, "What is the chief end of man?" The good piper,
+thinking only of his own business, and supposing that the question had
+reference to some pipe melody, innocently answered, "Na, I dinna ken the
+tune, but if ye'll whistle it I'll try and play it for ye."
+
+I have said before, and I would repeat the remark again and again, that
+the object of this work is _not_ to string together mere funny stories,
+or to collect amusing anecdotes. We have seen such collections, in which
+many of the anecdotes are mere Joe Millers translated into Scotch. The
+purport of these pages has been throughout to illustrate Scottish life
+and character, by bringing forward those modes and forms of expression
+by which alone our national peculiarities can be familiarly illustrated
+and explained. Besides Scottish replies and expressions which are most
+characteristic--and in fact unique for dry humour, for quaint and
+exquisite wit--I have often referred to a consideration of dialect and
+proverbs. There can be no doubt there is a force and beauty in our
+Scottish _phraseology_, as well as a quaint humour, considered merely
+_as_ phraseology, peculiar to itself. I have spoken of the phrase "Auld
+langsyne," and of other words, which may be compared in their Anglican
+and Scottish form. Take the familiar term common to many singing-birds.
+The English word linnet does not, to my mind, convey so much of simple
+beauty and of pastoral ideas as belong to our Scottish word LINTIE.
+
+I recollect hearing the Rev. Dr. Norman Macleod give a most interesting
+account of his visit to Canada. In the course of his eloquent narrative
+he mentioned a conversation he had with a Scottish emigrant, who in
+general terms spoke favourably and gratefully of his position in his
+adopted country. But he could not help making this exception when he
+thought of the "banks and braes o' bonny Doon"--"But oh, sir," he said,
+"there are nae _linties_ i' the wuds." How touching the words in his own
+dialect! The North American woods, although full of birds of beautiful
+plumage, it is well known have no singing-birds.
+
+A worthy Scottish Episcopal minister one day met a townsman, a breeder
+and dealer in singing-birds. The man told him he had just had a child
+born in his family, and asked him if he would baptize it. He thought the
+minister could not resist the offer of a bird. "Eh, Maister Shaw," he
+said, "if ye'll jist do it, I hae a fine lintie the noo, and if ye'll do
+it, I'll gie ye the lintie." He quite thought that this would settle
+the matter!
+
+By these remarks I mean to express the feeling that the word _lintie_
+conveys to my mind more of tenderness and endearment towards the little
+songster than linnet. And this leads me to a remark (which I do not
+remember to have met with) that Scottish dialects are peculiarly rich in
+such terms of endearment, more so than the pure Anglican. Without at all
+pretending to exhaust the subject, I may cite the following as examples
+of the class of terms I speak of. Take the names for parents--"Daddie"
+and "Minnie;" names for children, "My wee bit lady" or "laddie," "My wee
+bit lamb;" of a general nature, "My ain kind dearie." "Dawtie,"
+especially used to young people, described by Jamieson a darling or
+favourite, one who is _dawted_--_i.e._ fondled or caressed. My "joe"
+expresses affection with familiarity, evidently derived from _joy_, an
+easy transition--as "My joe, Janet;" "John Anderson, my joe, John." Of
+this character is Burns's address to a wife, "My winsome"--_i.e._
+charming, engaging--"wee thing;" also to a wife, "My winsome
+marrow"--the latter word signifying a dear companion, one of a pair
+closely allied to each other; also the address of Rob the Ranter to
+Maggie Lauder, "My bonnie bird." Now, we would remark, upon this
+abundant nomenclature of kindly expressions in the Scottish dialect,
+that it assumes an interesting position as taken in connection with the
+Scottish Life and _Character_, and as a set-off against a frequent short
+and _grumpy_ manner. It indicates how often there must be a current of
+tenderness and affection in the Scottish heart, which is so frequently
+represented to be, like its climate, "stern and wild." There could not
+be such _terms_ were the feelings they express unknown. I believe it
+often happens that in the Scottish character there is a vein of deep and
+kindly feeling lying hid under a short, and hard and somewhat stern
+manner. Hence has arisen the Scottish saying which is applicable to such
+cases--"His girn's waur than his bite:" his disposition is of a softer
+nature than his words and manner would often lead you to suppose.
+
+There are two admirable articles in _Blackwood's Magazine,_ in the
+numbers for November and December 1870, upon this subject. The writer
+abundantly vindicates the point and humour of the Scottish tongue. Who
+can resist, for example, the epithet applied by Meg Merrilies to an
+unsuccessful probationer for admission to the ministry:--"a sticket
+stibbler"? Take the sufficiency of Holy Scripture as a pledge for any
+one's salvation:--"There's eneuch between the brods o' the Testament to
+save the biggest sinner i' the warld." I heard an old Scottish
+Episcopalian thus pithily describe the hasty and irreverent manner of a
+young Englishman:--"He ribbled aff the prayers like a man at the heid o'
+a regiment." A large family of young children has been termed "a great
+sma' family." It was a delicious dry rejoinder to the question--"Are you
+Mr. So-and-so?" "It's a' that's o' me" (_i.e._ to be had for him.) I
+have heard an old Scottish gentleman direct his servant to mend the fire
+by saying, "I think, Dauvid, we wadna be the waur o' some coals."
+
+There is a pure Scottish term, which I have always thought more
+expressive than any English word of ideas connected with manners in
+society--I mean the word to blether, or blethering, or blethers.
+Jamieson defines it to "talk nonsense." But it expresses far more--it
+expresses powerfully, to Scottish people, a person at once shallow,
+chattering, conceited, tiresome, voluble.
+
+There is a delicious servantgirlism, often expressed in an answer given
+at the door to an inquirer: "Is your master at home, or mistress?" as
+the case may be. The problem is to save the direct falsehood, and yet
+evade the visit; so the answer is--"Ay, he or she is at hame; but
+he's no _in_"
+
+The transition from Scottish _expressions_ to Scottish Poetry is easy
+and natural. In fact, the most interesting feature now belonging to
+Scottish life and social habits is, to a certain extent, becoming with
+many a matter of reminiscence of _Poetry in the Scottish dialect_, as
+being the most permanent and the most familiar feature of Scottish
+characteristics. It is becoming a matter of history, in so far as we
+find that it has for some time ceased to be cultivated with much
+ardour, or to attract much popularity. In fact, since the time of
+Burns, it has been losing its hold on the public mind. It is a
+remarkable fact that neither Scott nor Wilson, both admirers of Burns,
+both copious writers of poetry themselves, both also so distinguished as
+writers of Scottish _prose_, should have written any poetry strictly in
+the form of pure Scottish dialect. "Jock o' Hazeldean" I hardly admit to
+be an exception. It is not Scottish. If, indeed, Sir Walter wrote the
+scrap of the beautiful ballad in the "Antiquary"--
+
+     "Now haud your tongue, baith wife and carle,
+       And listen, great and sma',
+     And I will sing of Glenallan's Earl,
+       That fought at the red Harlaw"--
+
+one cannot but regret that he had not written more of the same.
+Campbell, a poet and a Scotsman, has not attempted it. In short, we do
+not find poetry in the Scottish dialect at all _kept up_ in Scotland. It
+is every year becoming more a matter of research and reminiscence.
+Nothing new is added to the old stock, and indeed it is surprising to
+see the ignorance and want of interest displayed by many young persons
+in this department of literature. How few read the works of Allan
+Ramsay, once so popular, and still so full of pastoral imagery! There
+are occasionally new editions of the _Gentle Shepherd_, but I suspect
+for a limited class of readers. I am assured the boys of the High
+School, Academy, etc., do not care even for Burns. As poetry in the
+Scottish dialect is thus slipping away from the public Scottish mind, I
+thought it very suitable to a work of this character to supply a list of
+modern _Scottish dialect writers_. This I am able to provide by the
+kindness of our distinguished antiquary, Mr. David Laing--the fulness
+and correctness of whose acquirements are only equalled by his
+readiness and courtesy in communicating his information to others:--
+
+SCOTTISH POETS OF THE LAST CENTURY.
+
+ALLAN RAMSAY. B. 1686. D. 1757. His _Gentle Shepherd_, completed in
+1725, and his _Collected Poems_ in 1721-1728.
+
+It cannot be said there was any want of successors, however obscure,
+following in the same track. Those chiefly deserving of notice were--
+
+ALEXANDER Ross of Lochlee. B. 1700. D. 1783. _The Fortunate
+Shepherdess_.
+
+ROBERT FERGUSSON. B. 1750. D. 1774. _Leith Races, Caller Oysters_, etc.
+
+REV. JOHN SKINNER. B. 1721. D. 1807. _Tullochgorum_.
+
+ROBERT BURNS. B. 1759. D. 1796.
+
+ALEXANDER, FOURTH DUKE OF GORDON. B. 1743. D. 1827. _Cauld Kail in
+Aberdeen_.
+
+ALEXANDER WILSON of Paisley, who latterly distinguished himself as an
+American ornithologist. B. 1766. D. 1813. _Watty and Meg_.
+
+HECTOR MACNEILL. B. 1746. D. 1818. _Will and Jean_.
+
+ROBERT TANNAHILL. B. 1774. D. 1810. _Songs_.
+
+JAMES HOGG. B. 1772. D. 1835.
+
+ALLAN CUNNINGHAM. B. 1784. D. 1842.
+
+To this list we must add the names of Lady Nairne and Lady Anne Lindsay.
+To the former we are indebted for "The Land o' the Leal," "The Laird o'
+Cockpen," and "The Auld Hoose;" to the latter for "Auld Robin Gray:"
+and our wonder is, how those who could write so charmingly should have
+written so little.
+
+I have no intention of discussing the general question of Scottish
+poetry--of defending or eulogising, or of apologising for anything
+belonging to it. There are songs in broad Scottish dialect of which the
+beauty and the power will never be lost. Words of Burns, Allan Ramsay,
+and Lady Nairne, must ever speak to hearts that are true to nature. I am
+desirous of bringing before my readers at this time the name of a
+Scottish poet, which, though in Mr. Laing's list, I fear is become
+rather a reminiscence. It is fifty years since his poetical pieces were
+published in a collected form. I am desirous of giving a special notice
+of a true-hearted Scotsman, and a genuine Scottish poet, under both
+characters. I look with a tender regard to the memory of the Rev. JOHN
+SKINNER of Langside. He has written little in quantity, but it is all
+charming. He was a good Christian minister. He was a man of learning--a
+man of liberal and generous feeling. In addition to all this, he has
+upon me the claim of having been a Scottish Episcopalian divine, and I
+am always rejoiced to see among learned men of our church sympathies
+with liberalism, besides what is patristic and theological. John
+Skinner's name and family are much mixed up with our church.
+'Tullochgorum' was father of Primus John Skinner, and grandfather of
+Primus W. Skinner and of the Rev. John Skinner of Forfar. The youngest
+brother of Tullochgorum was James Skinner, W.S., who died at ninety-one,
+and was grandfather of W. Skinner, W.S., Edinburgh. The Rev. J. Skinner
+was born in Birse, a wild part of Aberdeenshire, 1721. His father was
+parochial schoolmaster at Gight for nearly fifty years. He worked hard
+under the care of his father, who was a good Latin scholar. He gained a
+bursary at Aberdeen, where he studied. When he left college he became
+schoolmaster at Monymusk, where he wrote some pieces that attracted
+attention, and Sir Archibald Grant took him into the house, and allowed
+him the full use of a very fine library. He made good use of this
+opportunity, and indeed became a fair scholar and theologian. Skinner
+had been brought up a Presbyterian, but at Monymusk found reasons for
+changing his views. In June 1740 he became tutor to the only son of Mrs.
+Sinclair in Shetland. Returning to Aberdeenshire in 1741, he completed
+his studies for the ministry, was ordained by Bishop Dunbar, and in 1742
+became pastor of Langside. He worked for this little congregation for
+nearly sixty-five years, and they were happy and united under his
+pastoral charge. One very interesting incident took place during his
+ministry, which bears upon our general question of reminiscences and
+changes. John Skinner was in his own person an example of that
+persecution for political opinion referred to in Professor Macgregor's
+account of the large prayer-book in the library at Panmure. After the
+'45, Episcopalians were treated with suspicion and severity. The severe
+laws passed against Jacobites were put in force, and poor Skinner fined.
+
+However, better and more peaceful times came round, and all that John
+Skinner had undergone did not sour his temper or make him severe or
+misanthropical. As a pastor he seems to have had tact, as well as good
+temper, in the management of his flock, if we may judge from the
+following anecdote:--Talking with an obstinate self-confident farmer,
+when the conversation happened to turn on the subject of the motion of
+the earth, the farmer would not be convinced that the earth moved at
+all. "Hoot, minister," the man roared out; "d'ye see the earth never
+gaes oot o' the pairt, and it maun be that the sun gaes round: we a' ken
+he rises i' the east and sets i' the west." Then, as if to silence all
+argument, he added triumphantly, "As if the sun didna gae round the
+earth, when it is said in Scripture that the Lord commanded the sun to
+stand still!" Mr. Skinner, finding it was no use to argue further,
+quietly answered, "Ay, it's vera true; the sun was commanded to stand
+still, and there he stands still, for Joshua never tauld him to tak the
+road again." I have said John Skinner wrote little Scottish poetry, but
+what he wrote was rarely good. His prose works extended over three
+volumes when they were collected by his son, the Bishop of Aberdeen, but
+we have no concern with them. His poetical pieces, by which his name
+will never die in Scotland, are the "Reel of Tullochgorum" and the "Ewie
+with the Crooked Horn," charming Scottish songs,--one the perfection of
+the lively, the other of the pathetic. It is quite enough to say of
+"Tullochgorum" (by which the old man is now always designated), what was
+said of it by Robert Burns, as "the first of songs," and as the best
+Scotch song Scotland ever saw.
+
+I have brought in the following anecdote, exactly as it appeared in the
+_Scotsman_ of October 4, 1859, because it introduces his name.
+
+"The late Rev. John Skinner, author of 'Annals of Scottish Episcopacy,'
+was his grandson. He was first appointed to a charge in Montrose, from
+whence he was removed to Banff, and ultimately to Forfar. After he had
+left Montrose, it reached his ears that an ill-natured insinuation was
+circulating there that he had been induced to leave this town by the
+temptation of a better income and of fat pork, which, it would appear,
+was plentiful in the locality of his new incumbency. Indignant at such
+an aspersion, he wrote a letter, directed to his maligners, vindicating
+himself sharply from it, which he showed to his grandfather, John
+Skinner of Langside, for his approval. The old gentleman objected to it
+as too lengthy, and proposed the following pithy substitute:--
+
+     "'Had Skinner been of carnal mind,
+     As strangely ye suppose,
+     Or had he even been fond of swine,
+     He'd ne'er have left Montrose.'"
+
+But there is an anecdote of John Skinner which should endear his memory
+to every generous and loving heart. On one occasion he was passing a
+small dissenting place of worship at the time when the congregation were
+engaged in singing: on passing the door--old-fashioned Scottish
+Episcopalian as he was--he reverently took off his hat. His companion
+said to him, "What! do you feel so much sympathy with this Anti Burgher
+congregation?" "No," said Mr. Skinner, "but I respect and love any of my
+fellow-Christians who are engaged in singing to the glory of the Lord
+Jesus Christ." Well done, old Tullochgorum! thy name shall be loved and
+honoured by every true liberal-minded Scotsman.
+
+Yes! Mr. Skinner's experience of the goodness of God and of the power of
+grace, had led him to the conviction that the earnest song of praise,
+that comes from the heart of the sincere believer in Christ, can go up
+to Heaven from the humblest earthly house of prayer, and be received
+before the throne of grace as acceptably as the high and solemn service
+of the lofty cathedral,
+
+  "Where, from the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault,
+  The pealing anthem swells the note of praise."
+
+We must firmly believe that, obsolete as the dialect of Scotland may
+become, and its words and expressions a matter of tradition and of
+reminiscence with many, still there are Scottish lines, and broad
+Scottish lines, which can never cease to hold their place in the
+affections and the admiration of innumerable hearts whom they have
+charmed. Can the choice and popular Scottish verses, endeared to us by
+so many kindly associations of the past, and by so many beauties and
+poetical graces of their own, ever lose their attractions for a Scottish
+heart? The charm of such strains can never die.
+
+I think one subsidiary cause for permanency in the popularity still
+belonging to particular Scottish _songs_ has proceeded from their
+association with Scottish _music_. The melodies of Scotland can never
+die. In the best of these compositions there is a pathos and a feeling
+which must preserve them, however simple in their construction, from
+being vulgar or commonplace. Mendelssohn did not disdain taking Scottish
+airs as themes for the exercise of his profound science and his
+exquisite taste. It must, I think, be admitted that singing of Scottish
+songs in the perfection of their style--at once pathetic, graceful, and
+characteristic--is not so often met with as to remove all apprehension
+that ere long they may become matters only of reminiscence. Many
+accomplished musicians often neglect entirely the cultivation of their
+native melodies, under the idea of their being inconsistent with the
+elegance and science of high-class music. They commit a mistake. When
+judiciously and tastefully performed, it is a charming style of music,
+and will always give pleasure to the intelligent hearer. I have heard
+two young friends, who have attained great skill in scientific and
+elaborate compositions, execute the simple song of "Low down in the
+Broom," with an effect I shall not easily forget. Who that has heard the
+Countess of Essex, when Miss Stephens, sing "Auld Robin Gray," can ever
+lose the impression of her heart-touching notes? In the case of "Auld
+Robin Gray," the song composed by Lady Anne Lindsay, although very
+beautiful in itself, has been, I think, a good deal indebted to the air
+for its great and continued popularity. The history of that tender and
+appropriate melody is somewhat curious, and not generally known. The
+author was _not_ a Scotsman. It was composed by the Rev. Mr. Leves,
+rector of Wrington in Somersetshire, either early in this century or
+just at the close of the last. Mr. Leves was fond of music, and composed
+several songs, but none ever gained any notice except his "Auld Robin
+Gray," the popularity of which has been marvellous. I knew the family
+when I lived in Somersetshire, and had met them in Bath. Mr. Leves
+composed the air for his daughter, Miss Bessy Leves, who was a pretty
+girl and a pretty singer.
+
+I cannot but deeply regret to think that I should in these pages have
+any ground for classing Scottish poetry and Scottish airs amongst
+"Reminiscences." It is a department of literature where, of course,
+there must be _selection_, but I am convinced it will repay a careful
+cultivation. I would recommend, as a copious and judicious selection of
+Scottish _tunes_, "The Scottish Minstrel," by R.A. Smith (Purdie,
+Edinburgh). There are the _words_, also, of a vast number of Scottish
+songs, but the account of their _authorship_ is very defective. Then,
+again, for the fine Scottish ballads of an older period, we have two
+admirable collections--one by Mr. R. Chambers, and one by the late
+Professor Aytoun. For Scottish dialect songs of the more modern type, a
+copious collection will be found (exclusive of Burns and Allan Earn say)
+in small volumes published by David Robertson, Glasgow, at intervals
+from 1832 to 1853, under the title of _Whistlebinkie_.
+
+But there are more than lines of Scottish poetry which may become matter
+of reminiscence, and more than Scottish song melodies which may be
+forgotten. There are strains of Scottish PSALMODY of which it would be
+more sad to think that _they_ possibly may have lost their charm and
+their hold with Scottish people. That such psalmody, of a peculiar
+Scottish class and character, _has_ existed, no one can doubt who has
+knowledge or recollection of past days. In glens and retired passes,
+where those who fled from persecution met together--on the moors and
+heaths, where men suffering for their faith took refuge--in the humble
+worship of the cottar's fireside--were airs of sacred Scottish melody,
+which were well calculated to fan the heavenward flame which was kindled
+in lays of the "sweet Psalmist of Israel." These psalm-tunes are in
+their way as peculiar as the song-tunes we have referred to. Nothing can
+be more touching than the description by Burns of the domestic psalmody
+of his father's cottage. Mr. E. Chambers, in his _Life of Burns_,
+informs us that the poet, during his father's infirmity and after his
+death, had himself sometimes conducted family worship. Happy days, ere
+he had encountered the temptations of a world in which he had too often
+fallen before the solicitations of guilty passion! and then, beautifully
+does he describe the characteristic features of this portion of the
+cottars worship. How solemnly he enumerates the psalm-tunes usually made
+use of on such occasions, and discriminates the character of each:--
+
+     "They chant their artless notes in simple guise;
+       They tune their hearts, by far the noblest aim:
+     Perhaps DUNDEE'S wild warbling measures rise,
+       Or plaintive MARTYRS, worthy of the name,
+       Or noble ELGIN beets[17] the heavenward flame."
+
+He was not, alas! always disposed in after life to reverence these
+sacred melodies as he had done in his youthful days. In his poem of "The
+Holy Fair," he less reverently adduces mention of these sacred airs:--
+
+     "Now turn the Psalms o' David ower,
+        And lilt wi' holy clangour.
+      O' double verse come gie us four,
+        An' skirl up the Bangor."
+
+These tunes seem to have been strictly and exclusively national. In
+proof of such psalmody being quite national, I have been told that many
+of these tunes were composed by artisans, such as builders, joiners,
+blacksmiths, etc.
+
+Several of the psalm-tunes more peculiar to Scotland are no doubt of an
+early date. In Ravenscroft's _Psalms_, published with the music in four
+parts in 1621, he gives the names of seven as purely Scottish--_King's,
+Duke's, Abbey, Dunfermline, Dundee, Glasgow, Martyrs._ I was used to
+hear such psalmody in my early days in the parish church of Fettercairn,
+where we always attended during summer. It had all the simple
+characteristics described by Burns, and there was a heartiness and
+energy too in the congregation when, as he expresses it, they used to
+"skirl up the Bangor," of which the effects still hang in my
+recollection. At that time there prevailed the curious custom, when some
+of the psalms were sung, of reading out a single line, and when that was
+sung another line was read, and so throughout[18]. Thus, on singing the
+50th psalm, the first line sounded thus:--"_Our God shall come, and
+shall no more;_" when that was sung, there came the next startling
+announcement--"_Be silent, but speak out._" A rather unfortunate
+_juxtaposition_ was suggested through this custom, which we are assured
+really happened in the church of Irvine. The precentor, after having
+given out the first line, and having observed some members of the family
+from the castle struggling to get through the crowd on a sacramental
+occasion, cried out, "Let the noble family of Eglinton pass," and then
+added the line which followed the one he had just given out rather
+mal-apropos--"_Nor stand in sinners' way_." One peculiarity I remember,
+which was, closing the strain sometimes by an interval less than a
+semitone; instead of the half-note preceding the close or key-note, they
+used to take the _quarter-note,_ the effect of which had a peculiar
+gurgling sound, but I never heard it elsewhere. It may be said these
+Scottish tunes were unscientific, and their performance rude. It may be
+so, but the effect was striking, as I recall it through the vista of
+threescore years and ten. Great advances, no doubt, have been made in
+Scotland in congregational psalmody; organs have in some instances been
+adopted; choirs have been organised with great effort by choirmasters of
+musical taste and skill. But I hope the spirit of PIETY, which in past
+times once accompanied the old Scottish psalm, whether sung in the
+church or at home, has not departed with the music. Its better emotions
+are not, I hope, to become a "Reminiscence."
+
+There was no doubt sometimes a degree of noise in the psalmody more than
+was consistent with good taste, but this often proceeded from the
+earnestness of those who joined. I recollect at Banchory an honest
+fellow who sang so loud that he annoyed his fellow-worshippers, and the
+minister even rebuked him for "skirling" so loud. James was not quite
+patient under these hints, and declared to some of his friends that he
+was resolved to sing to the praise of God, as he said, "gin I should
+crack the waas o' the houss."
+
+Going from sacred tunes to sacred words, a good many changes have taken
+place in the little history of our own psalmody and hymnology. When I
+first came to Edinburgh, for psalms we made use of the mild and vapid
+new version of Tate and Brady;--for hymns, almost each congregation had
+its own selection--and there were hymn-books of Dundee, Perth, Glasgow,
+etc. The Established Church used the old rough psalter, with paraphrases
+by Logan, etc., and a few hymns added by authority of the General
+Assembly. There seems to be a pretty general tendency in the Episcopal
+Church to adopt at present the extensive collection called "Hymns
+Ancient and Modern," containing 386 pieces. Copies of the words alone
+are to be procured for one penny, and the whole, with tunes attached, to
+be procured for 1_s_. 6_d_. The Hymns Ancient and Modern are not set
+forth with any Ecclesiastical sanction. It is supposed, however, that
+there will be a Hymnal published by the Church of England on authority,
+and if so, our Church will be likely to adopt it. The Established
+Church Hymnal Committee have lately sanctioned a very interesting
+collection of 200 pieces. The compilation has been made with liberality
+of feeling as well as with good taste. There are several of Neale's
+translations from mediaeval hymns, several from John Keble, and the
+whole concludes with the Te Deum taken literally from the Prayer-Book.
+
+This mention of Scottish Psalmody and Scottish Hymnology, whether for
+private or for public worship, naturally brings us to a very important
+division of our subject; I mean the general question of reminiscences of
+Scottish religious feelings and observances; and first in regard to
+Scottish clergy.
+
+My esteemed friend, Lord Neaves, who, it is well known, combines with
+his great legal knowledge and high literary acquirements a keen sense of
+the humorous, has sometimes pleasantly complained of my drawing so many
+of my specimens of Scottish humour from sayings and doings of Scottish
+ministers. They were a shrewd and observant race. They lived amongst
+their own people from year to year, and understood the Scottish type of
+character. Their retired habits and familiar intercourse with their
+parishioners gave rise to many quaint and racy communications. They were
+excellent men, well suited to their pastoral work, and did much good
+amongst their congregations; for it should be always remembered that a
+national church requires a sympathy and resemblance between the pastors
+and the flocks. Both will be found to change together. Nothing could be
+further from my mind in recording these stories, than the idea of
+casting ridicule upon such an order of men. My own feelings as a
+Scotsman, with all their ancestral associations, lead me to cherish
+their memory with pride and deep interest, I may appeal also to the
+fact that many contributions to this volume are voluntary offerings from
+distinguished clergymen of the Church of Scotland, as well as of the
+Free Church and of other Presbyterian communities. Indeed, no persons
+enjoy these stories more than ministers themselves. I recollect many
+years ago travelling to Perth in the old stage-coach days, and enjoying
+the society of a Scottish clergyman, who was a most amusing companion,
+and full of stories, the quaint humour of which accorded with his own
+disposition. When we had come through Glen Farg, my companion pointed
+out that we were in the parish of Dron. With much humour he introduced
+an anecdote of a brother minister not of a brilliant order of mind, who
+had terminated in this place a course of appointments in the Church, the
+names of which, at least, were of an ominous character for a person of
+unimaginative temperament. The worthy man had been brought up at the
+school of _Dunse_; had been made assistant at _Dull_, a parish near
+Aberfeldy, in the Presbytery of Weem; and had here ended his days and
+his clerical career as minister of _Dron_.
+
+There can be no doubt that the older school of national clergy supply
+many of our most amusing anecdotes; and our pages would suffer
+deplorably were all the anecdotes taken away which turn upon their
+peculiarities of dialect and demeanour. I think it will be found,
+however, that upon no class of society has there been a greater change
+during the last hundred years than on the Scottish clergy as a body.
+This, indeed, might, from many circumstances, have been expected. The
+improved facilities for locomotion have had effect upon the retirement
+and isolation of distant country parishes, the more liberal and extended
+course of study at Scottish colleges, the cheaper and wider diffusion
+of books on general literature, of magazines, newspapers, and reviews.
+Perhaps, too, we may add that candidates for the ministry now more
+generally originate from the higher educated classes of society. But
+honour to the memory of Scottish ministers of the days that are gone!
+
+The Scottish clergy, from having mixed so little with life, were often,
+no doubt, men of simple habits and of very childlike notions. The
+opinions and feelings which they expressed were often of a cast, which,
+amongst persons of more experience, would appear to be not always quite
+consistent with the clerical character. In them it arose from their
+having nothing _conventional_ about them. Thus I have heard of an old
+bachelor clergyman whose landlady declared he used to express an opinion
+of his dinner by the grace which he made to follow. When he had had a
+good dinner which pleased him, and a good glass of beer with it, he
+poured forth the grace, "For the riches of thy bounty and its blessings
+we offer our thanks." When he had had poor fare and poor beer, his grace
+was, "The least of these thy mercies."
+
+Many examples of the dry, quaint humour of the class occur in these
+pages, but there could not be a finer specimen than the instance
+recorded in the "Annals of the Parish" of the account given by the
+minister of his own ordination. The ministers were all assembled for the
+occasion; prayers had been offered, discourses delivered, and the time
+for the actual ordination had come. The form is for the candidate to
+kneel down and receive his sacred office by the imposition of hands,
+_i.e._ the laying on of hands by the whole Presbytery. As the attendance
+of ministers was large, a number of hands were stretched forth, more
+than could quite conveniently come up to the candidate. An old minister,
+of the quiet jocose turn of mind we speak of, finding himself thus kept
+at a little distance, stretched out his walking staff and put it on the
+young man's head, with the quiet remark, "That will do! Timmer to
+timmer"--timber to timber.
+
+Their style of preaching, too was, no doubt often plain and homely. They
+had not the graces of elocution or elegance of diction. But many were
+faithful in their office, and preached Christ as the poor man's friend
+and the Saviour of the lowly and the suffering. I have known Scottish
+ministers of the old school get into a careless indifferent state of
+ministration; I have also known the hoary head of many a Scottish
+minister go down to the grave a crown of glory, in his day and
+generation more honoured than many which had been adorned by a mitre.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[14] Lying Gilbert.
+
+[15] This anecdote has been illustrated, as taken from these pages, by a
+very clever sketch of the Highlander and his admirer, in a curious
+publication at Liverpool called _The Tobacco Plant_, and devoted to the
+interests of smoking and snuffing.
+
+[16] The truth is, in old English usage "bug" signifies a spectre or
+anything that is frightful. Thus in Henry VI., 3d Part, act v. sc.
+ii.--"For Warwick was a _bug_ that feared us all."
+
+[17] Adds fuel to fire.
+
+[18] As far as I am aware the only place in which it is practised at
+present (July 1872), is in the Free Church, Brodick, Arran.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE SECOND.
+
+SCOTTISH RELIGIOUS FEELINGS AND OBSERVANCES.
+
+Passing from these remarks on the Scottish Clergy of a past day, I would
+treat the more extensive subject of RELIGIOUS FEELINGS and RELIGIOUS
+OBSERVANCES generally with the caution and deference due to such a
+question, and I would distinctly premise that there is in my mind no
+intention of entering, in this volume, upon those great questions which
+are connected with certain church movements amongst us, or with national
+peculiarities of faith and discipline. It is impossible, however, to
+overlook entirely the fact of a gradual relaxation, which has gone on
+for some years, of the sterner features of the Calvinistic school of
+theology--at any rate, of keeping its theoretic peculiarities more in
+the background. What we have to notice in these pages are changes in the
+feelings with regard to religion and religious observances, which have
+appeared upon the _exterior_ of society--the changes which belong to
+outward habits rather than to internal feelings. Of such changes many
+have taken place within my own experience. Scotland has ever borne the
+character of a moral and religious country; and the mass of the people
+are a more church-going race than the masses of English population. I am
+not at all prepared to say that in the middle and lower ranks of life
+our countrymen have undergone much change in regard to religious
+observances. But there can be no question that amongst the upper
+classes there are manifestations connected with religion now, which some
+years ago were not thought of. The attendence of _men_ on public worship
+is of itself an example of the change we speak of. I am afraid that when
+Walter Scott described Monkbarns as being with difficulty "hounded out"
+to hear the sermons of good Mr. Blattergowl, he wrote from a knowledge
+of the habits of church-going then generally prevalent among Scottish
+lairds. The late Bishop Sandford told me that when he first came to
+Edinburgh--I suppose fifty years ago--few gentlemen attended
+church--very few indeed were seen at the communion--so much so that it
+was a matter of conversation when a male communicant, not an aged man,
+was observed at the table for the first time. Sydney Smith, when
+preaching in Edinburgh some forty years ago, seeing how almost
+exclusively congregations were made up of ladies, took for his text the
+verse from the Psalms, "Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord!"
+and with that touch of the facetious which marked everything he did,
+laid the emphasis on the word "men." Looking round the congregation and
+saying, "Oh that _men_ would therefore praise the Lord!" implying that
+he used the word, not to describe the human species generally, but the
+male individuals as distinguished from the female portion. In regard to
+attendance by young men, both at church and communion, a marked change
+has taken place in my own experience. In fact, there is an attention
+excited towards church subjects, which, thirty years ago, would have
+been hardly credited. Nor is it only in connection with churches and
+church services that these changes have been brought forth, but an
+interest has been raised on the subject from Bible societies, missionary
+associations at home and abroad, schools and reformatory institutions,
+most of which, as regard active operation, have grown up during
+fifty years.
+
+Nor should I omit to mention, what I trust may be considered as a change
+belonging to religious feeling--viz., that conversation is now
+conducted without that accompaniment of those absurd and unmeaning oaths
+which were once considered an essential embellishment of polite
+discourse. I distinctly recollect an elderly gentleman, when describing
+the opinion of a refined and polished female upon a particular point,
+putting into her mouth an unmistakable round oath as the natural
+language in which people's sentiments and opinions would be ordinarily
+conveyed. This is a change wrought in men's feelings, which all must
+hail with great pleasure. Putting out of sight for a moment the sin of
+such a practice, and the bad influence it must have had upon all
+emotions of reverence for the name and attributes of the Divine Being,
+and the natural effect of profane swearing, to "harden a' within," we
+might marvel at the utter folly and incongruity of making swearing
+accompany every expression of anger or surprise, or of using oaths as
+mere expletives in common discourse. A quaint anecdote, descriptive of
+such senseless ebullition, I have from a friend who mentioned the names
+of parties concerned:--A late Duke of Athole had invited a well-known
+character, a writer of Perth, to come up and meet him at Dunkeld for the
+transaction of some business. The Duke mentioned the day and hour when
+he should receive the man of law, who accordingly came punctually at the
+appointed time and place. But the Duke had forgotten the appointment,
+and gone to the hill, from which he could not return for some hours. A
+Highlander present described the Perth writer's indignation, and his
+mode of showing it by a most elaborate course of swearing. "But whom did
+he swear at?" was the inquiry made of the narrator, who replied, "Oh, he
+didna sweer at ony thing particular, but juist stude in ta middle of ta
+road and swoor at lairge." I have from a friend also an anecdote which
+shows how entirely at one period the practice of swearing had become
+familiar even to female ears when mixed up with the intercourse of
+social life. A sister had been speaking of her brother as much addicted
+to this habit--"Oor John sweers awfu', and we try to correct him; but,"
+she added in a candid and apologetic tone, "nae doubt it _is_ a great
+set aff to conversation." There was something of rather an _admiring_
+character in the description of an outbreak of swearing by a Deeside
+body. He had been before the meeting of Justices for some offence
+against the excise laws, and had been promised some assistance and
+countenance by my cousin, the laird of Finzean, who was unfortunately
+addicted to the practice in question. The poor fellow had not got off so
+well as he had expected, and on giving an account of what took place to
+a friend, he was asked, "But did not Finzean speak for you?" "Na," he
+replied, "he didna say muckle; but oh, he damned bonny!"
+
+This is the place to notice a change which has taken place in regard to
+some questions of taste in the building and embellishing of Scottish
+places of worship. Some years back there was a great jealousy of
+ornament in connection with churches and church services, and, in fact,
+all such embellishments were considered as marks of a departure from the
+simplicity of old Scottish worship,--they were distinctive of Episcopacy
+as opposed to the severer modes of Presbyterianism. The late Sir William
+Forbes used to give an account of a conversation, indicative of this
+feeling, which he had overheard between an Edinburgh inhabitant and his
+friend from the country. They were passing St. John's, which had just
+been finished, and the countryman asked, "Whatna kirk was that?" "Oh,"
+said the townsman, "that is an English chapel," meaning Episcopalian.
+"Ay," said his friend, "there'll be a walth o' _images_ there." But, if
+unable to sympathise with architectural church ornament and
+embellishment, how much less could they sympathise with the performance
+of divine service, which included such musical accompaniments as
+intoning, chanting, and anthems! On the first introduction of
+Tractarianism into Scotland, the full choir service had been established
+in an Episcopal church, where a noble family had adopted those views,
+and carried them out regardless of expense. The lady who had been
+instrumental in getting up these musical services was very anxious that
+a favourite female servant of the family--a Presbyterian of the old
+school--should have an opportunity of hearing them; accordingly, she
+very kindly took her down to church in the carriage, and on returning
+asked her what she thought of the music, etc. "Ou, it's verra bonny,
+verra bonny; but oh, my lady, it's an awfu' way of spending the
+Sabbath." The good woman could only look upon the whole thing as a
+musical performance. The organ was a great mark of distinction between
+Episcopalian and Presbyterian places of worship. I have heard of an old
+lady describing an Episcopalian clergyman, without any idea of
+disrespect, in these terms:--"Oh, he is a whistle-kirk minister." From
+an Australian correspondent I have an account of the difference between
+an Episcopal minister and a Presbyterian minister, as remarked by an
+old Scottish lady of his acquaintance. Being asked in what the
+difference was supposed to consist, after some consideration she
+replied, "Weel, ye see, the Presbyterian minister wears his sark under
+his coat, the Episcopal minister wears his sark aboon his coat." Of late
+years, however, a spirit of greater tolerance of such things has been
+growing up amongst us,--a greater tolerance, I suspect, even of organs
+and liturgies. In fact, we may say a new era has begun in Scotland as to
+church architecture and church ornaments. The use of stained glass in
+churches--forming memorial windows for the departed[19], a free use of
+crosses as architectural ornaments, and restoration of ancient edifices,
+indicate a revolution of feeling regarding this question. Beautiful and
+expensive churches are rising everywhere, in connection with various
+denominations. It is not long since the building or repairing a new
+church, or the repairing and adapting an old church, implied in Scotland
+simply a production of the greatest possible degree of ugliness and bad
+taste at the least possible expense, and certainly never included any
+notion of ornament in the details. Now, large sums are expended on
+places of worship, without reference to creed. First-rate architects are
+employed. Fine Gothic structures are produced. The rebuilding of the
+Greyfriars' Church, the restoration of South Leith Church and of Glasgow
+Cathedral, the very bold experiment of adopting a style little known
+amongst us, the pure Lombard, in a church for Dr. W.L. Alexander, on
+George IV. Bridge, Edinburgh; the really splendid Free Churches, St.
+Mary's, in Albany Street, and the Barclay Church, Bruntsfield, and many
+similar cases, mark the spirit of the times regarding the application of
+what is beautiful in art to the service of religion. One might hope that
+changes such as these in the feelings, tastes, and associations, would
+have a beneficial effect in bringing the worshippers themselves into a
+more genial spirit of forbearance with each other. A friend of mine used
+to tell a story of an honest builder's views of church differences,
+which was very amusing, and quaintly professional. An English gentleman,
+who had arrived in a Scottish country town, was walking about to examine
+the various objects which presented themselves, and observed two rather
+handsome places of worship in course of erection nearly opposite to each
+other. He addressed a person, who happened to be the contractor for the
+chapels, and asked, "What was the difference between these two places of
+worship which were springing up so close to each other?"--meaning, of
+course, the difference of the theological tenets of the two
+congregations. The contractor, who thought only of architectural
+differences, innocently replied, "There may be a difference of sax feet
+in length, but there's no aboon a few inches in the breadth." Would that
+all our religious differences could be brought within so narrow
+a compass!
+
+The variety of churches in a certain county of Scotland once called
+forth a sly remark upon our national tendencies to religious division
+and theological disputation. An English gentleman sitting on the box,
+and observing the great number of places of worship in the aforesaid
+borough, remarked to the coachman that there must be a great deal of
+religious feeling in a town which produced so many houses of God.
+
+"Na," said the man quietly, "it's no religion, it's _curstness," i.e._
+crabbedness, insinuating that acerbity of temper, as well as zeal, was
+occasionally the cause of congregations being multiplied.
+
+It might be a curious question to consider how far motives founded on
+mere taste or sentiment may have operated in creating an interest
+towards religion, and in making it a more prominent and popular question
+than it was in the early portion of the present century. There are in
+this country two causes which have combined in producing these
+effects:--1st. The great disruption which took place in the Church of
+Scotland no doubt called forth an attention to the subject which stirred
+up the public, and made religion at any rate a topic of deep interest
+for discussion and partizanship. Men's minds were not _allowed_ to
+remain in the torpid condition of a past generation. 2d. The aesthetic
+movement in religion, which some years since was made in England, has,
+of course, had its influence in Scotland; and many who showed little
+concern about religion, whilst it was merely a question of doctrines, of
+precepts, and of worship, threw themselves keenly into the contest when
+it became associated with ceremonial, and music, and high art. New
+ecclesiastical associations have been presented to Scottish tastes and
+feelings. With some minds, attachment to the church is attachment to her
+Gregorian tones, jewelled chalices, lighted candles, embroidered
+altar-cloths, silver crosses, processions, copes, albs, and chasubles.
+But, from whatever cause it proceeds, a great change has taken place in
+the general interest excited towards ecclesiastical questions. Religion
+now has numerous associations with the ordinary current of human life.
+In times past it was kept more as a thing apart. There was a false
+delicacy which made people shrink from encountering appellations that
+were usually bestowed upon those who made a more prominent religious
+profession than the world at large.
+
+A great change has taken place in this respect with persons of _all_
+shades of religious opinions. With an increased attention to the
+_externals_ of religion, we believe that in many points the heart has
+been more exercised also. Take, as an example, the practice of family
+prayer. Many excellent and pious households of the former generation
+would not venture upon the observance, I am afraid, because they were in
+dread of the sneer. There was a foolish application of the terms
+"Methodist" "saints," "over-righteous," where the practice was observed.
+It was to take up a rather decided position in the neighbourhood; and I
+can testify, that less than fifty years ago a family would have been
+marked and talked of for a usage of which now throughout the country the
+_exception_ is rather the unusual circumstance. A little anecdote from
+recollections in my own family will furnish a good illustration of a
+state of feeling on this point now happily unknown. In a northern town
+of the east coast, where the earliest recollections of my life go back,
+there was usually a detachment of a regiment, who were kindly received
+and welcomed to the society, which in the winter months was very full
+and very gay. There was the usual measure of dining, dancing, supping,
+card-playing, and gossiping, which prevailed in country towns at the
+time. The officers were of course an object of much interest to the
+natives, and their habits were much discussed. A friend was staying in
+the family who partook a good deal of the Athenian temperament--viz.
+delight in hearing and telling some new thing. On one occasion she burst
+forth in great excitement with the intelligence that "Sir Nathaniel
+Duckinfield, the officer in command of the detachment, had family
+prayers _every_ morning!" A very near and dear relative of mine, knowing
+the tendency of the lady to gossip, pulled her up with the exclamation:
+"How can you repeat such things, Miss Ogilvy? nothing in the world but
+the ill-natured stories of Montrose!" The remark was made quite
+innocently, and unconsciously of the bitter satire it conveyed upon the
+feeling of the place. The "ill-nature" of these stories was true enough,
+because ill-nature was the motive of those who raised them; not because
+it is an ill-natured thing of itself to say of a family that they have
+household worship, but the ill-nature consisted in their intending to
+throw out a sneer and a sarcasm upon a subject where all such
+reflections are unbecoming and indecorous. It is one of the best proofs
+of change of habits and associations on this matter, that the anecdote,
+exquisite as it is for our purpose, will hardly be understood by many of
+our young friends, or, at least, happily has lost much of its force
+and pungency.
+
+These remarks apply perhaps more especially to the state of religious
+feeling amongst the upper classes of society. Though I am not aware of
+so much change in the religious habits of the Scottish peasantry, still
+the elders have yielded much from the sternness of David Deans; and upon
+the whole view of the question there have been many and great changes in
+the Scottish people during the last sixty years. It could hardly be
+otherwise, when we consider the increased facilities of communication
+between the two countries--a facility which extends to the introduction
+of English books upon religious subjects. The most popular and engaging
+works connected with the Church of England have now a free circulation
+in Scotland; and it is impossible that such productions as the
+"Christian Year," for example, and many others--whether for good or bad
+is not now the question--should not produce their effects upon minds
+trained in the strictest school of Calvinistic theology. I should be
+disposed to _extend_ the boundaries of this division, and to include
+under "Religious Feelings and Religious Observances" many anecdotes
+which belong perhaps rather indirectly than directly to the subject.
+There is a very interesting reminiscence, and one of a sacred character
+also, which I think will come very suitably under this head. When I
+joined the Scottish Episcopal Church, nearly fifty years ago, it was
+quite customary for members of our communion to ask for the blessing of
+their Bishop, and to ask it especially on any remarkable event in their
+life, as marriage, loss of friends, leaving home, returning home, etc.;
+and it was the custom amongst the old Scottish Episcopalians to give the
+blessing in a peculiar form, which had become venerable from its
+traditionary application by our bishops. I have myself received it from
+my bishop, the late good Bishop Walker, and have heard him pronounce it
+on others. But whether the custom of asking the bishop's blessing be
+past or not, the form I speak of has become a reminiscence, and I feel
+assured is not known even by some of our own bishops. I shall give it to
+my readers as I received it from the family of the late Bishop Walker of
+Edinburgh:--
+
+     "God Almighty bless thee with his Holy Spirit;
+     Guard thee in thy going out and coming in;
+     Keep thee ever in his faith and fear;
+     Free from Sin, and safe from Danger."
+
+I have been much pleased with a remark of my friend, the Rev. W.
+Gillespie of the U.P. Church, Edinburgh, upon this subject. He writes to
+me as follows:--"I read with particular interest the paragraph on the
+subject of the Bishop's Blessing, for certainly there seems to be in
+these days a general disbelief in the efficacy of blessings, and a
+neglect or disregard of the practice. If the spirit of God is in good
+men, as He certainly is, then who can doubt the value and the efficacy
+of the blessing which they bestow? I remember being blessed by a very
+venerable minister, John Dempster of Denny, while kneeling in his study,
+shortly before I left this country to go to China, and his prayer over
+me then was surely the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man. Its
+effect upon me then and ever since will never be forgotten."
+
+I quite agree with Mr. Gillespie on the point, and think it not a good
+sign either of our religious belief or religious feeling that such
+blessings should become really a matter of reminiscence; for if we are
+taught to pray for one another, and if we are taught that the "prayer of
+the righteous availeth much," surely we ought to _bless_ one another,
+and surely the blessing of those who are venerable in the church from
+their position, their age, and their piety, may be expected to avail as
+an aid and incentive to piety in those who in God's name are so blest.
+It has struck me that on a subject closely allied with religious
+feelings a great change has taken place in Scotland during a period of
+less than fifty years--I mean the attention paid to cemeteries as
+depositories of the mortal remains of those who have departed. In my
+early days I never recollect seeing any efforts made for the
+embellishment and adornment of our churchyards; if tolerably secured by
+fences, enough had been done. The English and Welsh practices of
+planting flowers, keeping the turf smooth and dressed over the graves
+of friends, were quite unknown. Indeed, I suspect such attention fifty
+years ago would have been thought by the sterner Presbyterians as
+somewhat savouring of superstition. The account given by Sir W. Scott,
+in "Guy Mannering," of an Edinburgh burial-place, was universally
+applicable to Scottish sepulchres[20]. A very different state of matters
+has grown up within the last few years. Cemeteries and churchyards are
+now as carefully ornamented in Scotland as in England. Shrubs, flowers,
+smooth turf, and neatly-kept gravel walks, are a pleasing accompaniment
+to head-stones, crosses, and varied forms of monumental memorials, in
+freestone, marble, and granite. Nay, more than these, not unfrequently
+do we see an imitation of French sentiment, in wreaths of "everlasting"
+placed over graves as emblems of immortality; and in more than one of
+our Edinburgh cemeteries I have seen these enclosed in glass cases to
+preserve them from the effects of wind and rain.
+
+In consequence of neglect, the unprotected state of churchyards was
+evident from the number of stories in circulation connected with the
+circumstance of timid and excited passengers going amongst the tombs of
+the village. The following, amongst others, has been communicated. The
+_locale_ of the story is unknown, but it is told of a weaver who, after
+enjoying his potations, pursued his way home through the churchyard,
+his vision and walking somewhat impaired. As he proceeded he diverged
+from the path, and unexpectedly stumbled into a partially made grave.
+Stunned for a while, he lay in wonder at his descent, and after some
+time he got out, but he had not proceeded much farther when a similar
+calamity befell him. At this second fall, he was heard, in a tone of
+wonder and surprise, to utter the following exclamation, referring to
+what he considered the untenanted graves: "Ay! ir ye a' up an' awa?"
+
+The kindly feelings and interest of the pastoral relation always formed
+a very pleasing intercourse between minister and people. I have received
+from an anonymous correspondent an anecdote illustrative of this happy
+connection, for which he vouches as authentic:--
+
+John Brown, Burgher minister at Whitburn (son of the commentator, and
+father of the late Rev. Dr. John Brown of Edinburgh, and grandfather of
+the present accomplished M.D. of the same name, author of "Rab and his
+Friends," etc.), in the early part of the century was travelling on a
+small sheltie[21] to attend the summer sacrament at Haddington. Between
+Musselburgh and Tranent he overtook one of his own people. "What are ye
+daein' here, Janet, and whaur ye gaun in this warm weather?" "'Deed,
+sir," quo' Janet, "I'm gaun to Haddington _for the occasion_[22] an'
+expeck to hear ye preach this efternoon." "Very weel, Janet, but whaur
+ye gaun tae sleep?" "I dinna ken, sir, but Providence is aye kind, an'll
+provide a bed." On Mr. Brown jogged, but kindly thought of his humble
+follower; accordingly, after service in the afternoon, before
+pronouncing the blessing, he said from the pulpit, "Whaur's the auld
+wifie that followed me frae Whitburn?" "Here I'm, sir," uttered a shrill
+voice from a back seat. "Aweel," said Mr. Brown, "I have fand ye a bed;
+ye're to sleep wi' Johnnie Fife's lass."
+
+There was at all times amongst the older Scottish peasantry a bold
+assertion of their religious opinions, and strong expression of their
+feelings. The spirit of the Covenanters lingered amongst the aged people
+whom I remember, but which time has considerably softened down. We have
+some recent authentic instances of this readiness in Scotsmen to bear
+testimony to their principles:--
+
+A friend has informed me that the late Lord Rutherfurd often told with
+much interest of a rebuke which he received from a shepherd, near
+Bonaly, amongst the Pentlands. He had entered into conversation with
+him, and was complaining bitterly of the weather, which prevented him
+enjoying his visit to the country, and said hastily and unguardedly,
+"What a d--d mist!" and then expressed his wonder how or for what
+purpose there should have been such a thing created as east wind. The
+shepherd, a tall, grim figure, turned sharp round upon him. "What ails
+ye at the mist, sir? it weets the sod, it slockens the yowes,
+and"--adding with much solemnity--"it's God's wull;" and turned away
+with lofty indignation. Lord Rutherfurd used to repeat this with much
+candour as a fine specimen of a rebuke from a sincere and simple mind.
+
+There was something very striking in the homely, quaint, and severe
+expressions on religious subjects which marked the old-fashioned piety
+of persons shadowed forth in Sir Walter Scott's Davie Deans. We may add
+to the rebuke of the shepherd of Bonaly, of Lord Rutherfurd's remark
+about the east wind, his answer to Lord Cockburn, the proprietor of
+Bonaly. He was sitting on the hill-side with the shepherd, and observing
+the sheep reposing in the coldest situation, he observed to him, "John,
+if I were a sheep, I would lie on the other side of the hill." The
+shepherd answered, "Ay, my lord, but if ye had been a sheep ye would hae
+had mair sense."
+
+Of such men as this shepherd were formed the elders--a class of men who
+were marked by strong features of character, and who, in former times,
+bore a distinguished part in all church matters.
+
+The old Scottish elder was in fact quite as different a character from
+the modern elder, as the old Scottish minister was from the modern
+pastor. These good men were not disposed to hide their lights, and
+perhaps sometimes encroached a little upon the office of the minister. A
+clergyman had been remarking to one of his elders that he was
+unfortunately invited to two funerals on one day, and that they were
+fixed for the same hour. "Weel, sir," answered the elder, "if ye'll tak
+the tane I'll tak the tither."
+
+Some of the elders were great humorists and originals in their way. An
+elder of the kirk at Muthill used to manifest his humour and originality
+by his mode of collecting the alms. As he went round with the ladle, he
+reminded such members of the congregation as seemed backward in their
+duty, by giving them a poke with the "brod," and making, in an audible
+whisper, such remarks as these--"Wife at the braid mailin, mind the
+puir;" "Lass wi' the braw plaid, mind the puir," etc., a mode of
+collecting which marks rather a bygone state of things. But on no
+question was the old Scottish disciplinarian, whether elder or not, more
+sure to raise his testimony than on anything connected with a
+desecration of the Sabbath. In this spirit was the rebuke given to an
+eminent geologist, when visiting in the Highlands:--The professor was
+walking on the hills one Sunday morning, and partly from the effect of
+habit, and partly from not adverting to the very strict notions of
+Sabbath desecration entertained in Ross-shire, had his pocket hammer in
+hand, and was thoughtlessly breaking the specimens of minerals he picked
+up by the way. Under these circumstances, he was met by an old man
+steadily pursuing his way to his church. For some time the patriarch
+observed the movements of the geologist, and at length, going up to him,
+quietly said, "Sir, ye're breaking something there forbye the stanes!"
+
+The same feeling, under a more fastidious form, was exhibited to a
+traveller by a Scottish peasant:--An English artist travelling
+professionally through Scotland, had occasion to remain over Sunday in a
+small town in the north. To while away the time, he walked out a short
+way in the environs, where the picturesque ruin of a castle met his eye.
+He asked a countryman who was passing to be so good as tell him the name
+of the castle. The reply was somewhat startling--"It's no the day to be
+speerin' sic things!"
+
+A manifestation of even still greater strictness on the subject of
+Sabbath desecration, I have received from a relative of the family in
+which it occurred. About fifty years ago the Hon. Mrs. Stewart lived in
+Heriot Row, who had a cook, Jeannie by name, a paragon of excellence.
+One Sunday morning when her daughter (afterwards Lady Elton) went into
+the kitchen, she was surprised to find a new jack (recently ordered, and
+which was constructed on the principle of going constantly without
+winding up) wholly paralysed and useless. Miss Stewart naturally
+inquired what accident had happened to the new jack, as it had stopped.
+The mystery was soon solved by Jeannie indignantly exclaiming that "she
+was nae gaeing to hae the fule thing clocking and rinning about in _her_
+kitchen a' the blessed Sabbath day."
+
+There sometimes appears to have been in our countrymen an undue
+preponderance of zeal for Sabbath observance as compared with the
+importance attached to _other_ religious duties, and especially as
+compared with the virtue of sobriety. The following dialogue between Mr.
+Macnee of Glasgow, the celebrated artist, and an old Highland
+acquaintance whom he had met with unexpectedly, will illustrate the
+contrast between the severity of judgment passed upon treating the
+Sabbath with levity and the lighter censure attached to indulgence in
+whisky. Mr. Macnee begins, "Donald, what brought you here?" "Ou, weel,
+sir, it was a baad place yon; they were baad folk--but they're a
+God-fearin' set o' folk here!" "Well, Donald," said Mr. M., "I'm glad to
+hear it." "Ou ay, sir, 'deed are they; an' I'll gie ye an instance o't.
+Last Sabbath, just as the kirk was skailin,' there was a drover chield
+frae Dumfries comin' along the road whustlin,' an' lookin' _as happy_ as
+if it was ta middle o' ta week; weel, sir, oor laads is a God-fearin'
+set o' laads, an' they were just comin' oot o' the kirk--'od they yokit
+upon him, an' a'most killed him!" Mr. M., to whom their zeal seemed
+scarcely sufficiently well directed to merit his approbation, then asked
+Donald whether it had been drunkenness that induced the depravity of his
+former neighbours? "Weel, weel, sir," said Donald, with some hesitation,
+"_may_-be; I'll no say but it micht." "Depend upon it," said Mr. M.,
+"it's a bad thing whisky." "Weel, weel, sir," replied Donald, "I'll no
+say but it _may_;" adding in a very decided tone--"speeciallie
+_baad_ whusky!"
+
+I do not know any anecdote which illustrates in a more striking and
+natural manner the strong feeling which exists in the Scottish mind on
+this subject. At a certain time, the hares in the neighbourhood of a
+Scottish burgh had, from the inclemency of the season or from some other
+cause, become emboldened more than usual to approach the dwelling-places
+of men; so much so that on one Sunday morning a hare was seen skipping
+along the street as the people were going to church. An old man, spying
+puss in this unusual position, significantly remarked, "Ay, yon beast
+kens weel it is the Sabbath-day;" taking it for granted that no one in
+the place would be found audacious enough to hurt the animal on
+a Sunday.
+
+Lady Macneil supplies an excellent pendant to Miss Stewart's story about
+the jack going on the Sunday. Her henwife had got some Dorking fowls,
+and on Lady M. asking if they were laying many eggs, she replied, with
+great earnestness, "Indeed my leddy, they lay every day, no' excepting
+the blessed Sabbath."
+
+There were, however, old persons at that time who were not quite so
+orthodox on the point of Sabbath observance; and of these a lady
+residing in Dumfries was known often to employ her wet Sundays in
+arranging her wardrobe. "Preserve us!" she said on one occasion,
+"anither gude Sunday! I dinna ken whan I'll get thae drawers redd up."
+
+In connection with the awful subject of death and all its concomitants,
+it has been often remarked that the older generation of Scottish people
+used to view the circumstances belonging to the decease of their nearest
+and dearest friends with a coolness which does not at first sight seem
+consistent with their deep and sincere religious impressions. Amongst
+the peasantry this was sometimes manifested in an extraordinary and
+startling manner. I do not believe that those persons had less affection
+for their friends than a corresponding class in England, but they had
+less awe of the concomitants of death, and approached them with more
+familiarity. For example, I remember long ago at Fasque, my
+sister-in-law visiting a worthy and attached old couple, of whom the
+husband, Charles Duncan, who had been gardener at Fasque for above
+thirty years was evidently dying. He was sitting on a common deal chair,
+and on my sister proposing to send down for his use an old arm-chair
+which she recollected was laid up in a garret, his wife exclaimed
+against such a needless trouble: "Hout, my leddy, what would he be duin'
+wi' an arm-chair? he's just deein' fast awa." I have two anecdotes,
+illustrative of the same state of feeling, from a lady of ancient
+Scottish family accustomed to visit her poor dependants on the property,
+and to notice their ways. She was calling at a decent cottage, and found
+the occupant busy carefully ironing out some linens. The lady remarked,
+"Those are fine linens you have got there, Janet." "Troth, mem," was the
+reply, "they're just the gudeman's _deed_ claes, and there are nane
+better i' the parish." On another occasion, when visiting an excellent
+woman, to condole with her on the death of her nephew, with whom she had
+lived, and whose loss must have been severely felt by her, she remarked,
+"What a nice white cap you have got, Margaret." "Indeed, mem, ay, sae it
+is; for ye see the gude lad's winding sheet was ower lang, and I cut aff
+as muckle as made twa bonny mutches" (caps).
+
+There certainly was a quaint and familiar manner in which sacred and
+solemn subjects were referred to by the older Scottish race, who did
+not mean to be irreverent, but who no doubt appeared so to a more
+refined but not really a more religious generation.
+
+It seems to me that this plainness of speech arose in part from the
+_sincerity_ of their belief in all the circumstances of another
+condition of being. They spoke of things hereafter as positive
+certainties, and viewed things invisible through the same medium as they
+viewed things present. The following is illustrative of such a state of
+mind, and I am assured of its perfect authenticity and literal
+correctness:--"Joe M'Pherson and his wife lived in Inverness. They had
+two sons, who helped their father in his trade of a smith. They were
+industrious and careful, but not successful. The old man had bought a
+house, leaving a large part of the price unpaid. It was the ambition of
+his life to pay off that debt, but it was too much for him, and he died
+in the struggle. His sons kept on the business with the old industry,
+and with better fortune. At last their old mother fell sick, and told
+her sons she was dying, as in truth she was. The elder son said to her,
+'Mother, you'll soon be with my father; no doubt you'll have much to
+tell him; but dinna forget this, mother, mind ye, tell him _the house is
+freed_. He'll be glad to hear that.'"
+
+A similar feeling is manifest in the following conversation, which, I am
+assured, is authentic:--At Hawick the people used to wear wooden clogs,
+which make a _clanking_ noise on the pavement. A dying old woman had
+some friends by her bedside, who said to her, "Weel, Jenny, ye are gaun
+to heeven, an' gin you should see oor folk, you can tell them that we're
+a' weel." To which Jenny replied, "Weel, gin I should see them I'se tell
+them, but you manna expect that I am to gang clank clanking through
+heevan looking for your folk."
+
+But of all stories of this class, I think the following deathbed
+conversation between a Scottish husband and wife is about the richest
+specimen of a dry Scottish matter-of-fact view of a very serious
+question:--An old shoemaker in Glasgow was sitting by the bedside of his
+wife, who was dying. She took him by the hand. "Weel, John, we're gawin
+to part. I hae been a gude wife to you, John." "Oh, just middling, just
+middling, Jenny," said John, not disposed to commit himself. "John,"
+says she, "ye maun promise to bury me in the auld kirk-yard at Stra'von,
+beside my mither. I couldna rest in peace among unco folk, in the dirt
+and smoke o' Glasgow." "Weel, weel, Jenny, my woman," said John
+soothingly, "we'll just pit you in the Gorbals _first_, and gin ye dinna
+lie quiet, we'll try you sine in Stra'von."
+
+The same unimaginative and matter-of-fact view of things connected with
+the other world extended to a very youthful age, as in the case of a
+little boy who, when told of heaven, put the question, "An' will faather
+be there?" His instructress answered, "of course, she hoped he would be
+there;" to which he sturdily at once replied, "Then I'll no gang."
+
+We might apply these remarks in some measure to the Scottish pulpit
+ministrations of an older school, in which a minuteness of detail and a
+quaintness of expression were quite common, but which could not now be
+tolerated. I have two specimens of such antiquated language, supplied by
+correspondents, and I am assured they are both genuine.
+
+The first is from a St. Andrews professor, who is stated to be a great
+authority in such narratives.
+
+In one of our northern counties, a rural district had its harvest
+operations affected by continuous rains. The crops being much laid, wind
+was desired in order to restore them to a condition fit for the sickle.
+A minister, in his Sabbath services, expressed their want in prayer as
+follows:--"O Lord, we pray thee to send us wind; no a rantin' tantin'
+tearin' wind, but a noohin' (noughin?) soughin' winnin' wind." More
+expressive words than these could not be found in any language.
+
+The other story relates to a portion of the Presbyterian service on
+sacramental occasions, called "fencing the tables," _i.e._ prohibiting
+the approach of those who were unworthy to receive.
+
+This fencing of the tables was performed in the following effective
+manner by an old divine, whose flock transgressed the third commandment,
+not in a gross and loose manner, but in its minor details:--"I debar all
+those who use such minced oaths as faith! troth! losh! gosh! and
+lovanendie!"
+
+These men often showed a quiet vein of humour in their prayers, as in
+the case of the old minister of the Canongate, who always prayed,
+previous to the meeting of the General Assembly, that the Assembly might
+be so guided as "_no to do ony harm."_
+
+A circumstance connected with Scottish church discipline has undergone a
+great change in my time--I mean the public censure from the pulpit, in
+the time of divine service, of offenders previously convicted before the
+minister and his kirk-session. This was performed by the guilty person
+standing up before the congregation on a raised platform, called the
+_cutty stool_, and receiving a rebuke. I never saw it done, but have
+heard in my part of the country of the discipline being enforced
+occasionally. Indeed, I recollect an instance where the rebuke was thus
+administered and received under circumstances of a touching character,
+and which made it partake of the moral sublime. The daughter of the
+minister had herself committed an offence against moral purity, such as
+usually called forth this church censure. The minister peremptorily
+refused to make her an exception to his ordinary practice. His child
+stood up in the congregation, and received, from her agonised father, a
+rebuke similar to that administered to other members of his congregation
+for a like offence. The spirit of the age became unfavourable to the
+practice. The rebuke on the cutty stool, like the penance in a white
+sheet in England, went out of use, and the circumstance is now a matter
+of "reminiscence." I have received some communications on the subject,
+which bear upon this point; and I subjoin the following remarks from a
+kind correspondent, a clergyman, to whom I am largely indebted, as
+indicating the great change which has taken place in this matter.
+
+"Church discipline," he writes, "was much more vigorously enforced in
+olden time than it is now. A certain couple having been guilty of
+illicit intercourse, and also within the forbidden degrees of
+consanguinity, appeared before the Presbytery of Lanark, and made
+confession in sackcloth. They were ordered to return to their own
+session, and to stand at the kirk-door, barefoot and barelegged, from
+the second bell to the last, and thereafter in the public place of
+repentance; and, at direction of the session, thereafter to go through
+the whole kirks of the presbytery, and to satisfy them in like manner.
+If such penance were now enforced for like offences, I believe the
+registration books of many parishes in Scotland would become more
+creditable in certain particulars than they unfortunately are at the
+present time."
+
+But there was a less formidable ecclesiastical censure occasionally
+given by the minister from the pulpit against lesser misdemeanours,
+which took place under his own eye, such as levity of conduct or
+_sleeping_ in church. A most amusing specimen of such censure was once
+inflicted by the minister upon his own wife for an offence not in our
+day visited with so heavy a penalty. The clergyman had observed one of
+his flock asleep during his sermon. He paused, and called him to order.
+"Jeems Robson, ye are sleepin'; I insist on your wauking when God's word
+is preached to ye." "Weel, sir, you may look at your ain seat, and ye'll
+see a sleeper forbye me," answered Jeems, pointing to the clergyman's
+lady in the minister's pew. "Then, Jeems," said the minister, "when ye
+see my wife asleep again, haud up your hand." By and by the arm was
+stretched out, and sure enough the fair lady was caught in the act. Her
+husband solemnly called upon her to stand up and receive the censure due
+to her offence. He thus addressed her:--"Mrs. B., a'body kens that when
+I got ye for my wife, I got nae beauty; yer frien's ken that I got nae
+siller; and if I dinna get God's grace, I shall hae a puir
+bargain indeed."
+
+The quaint and original humour of the old Scottish minister came out
+occasionally in the more private services of his vocation as well as in
+church. As the whole service, whether for baptisms or marriages, is
+supplied by the clergyman officiating, there is more scope for scenes
+between the parties present than at similar ministrations by a
+prescribed form. Thus, a late minister of Caithness, when examining a
+member of his flock, who was a butcher, in reference to the baptism of
+his child, found him so deficient in what he considered the needful
+theological knowledge, that he said to him, "Ah, Sandy, I doubt ye're
+no fit to haud up the bairn." Sandy, conceiving that reference was made
+not to spiritual but to physical incapacity, answered indignantly,
+"Hout, minister, I could haud him up an he were a twa-year-auld
+stirk[23]." A late humorous old minister, near Peebles, who had strong
+feelings on the subject of matrimonial happiness, thus prefaced the
+ceremony by an address to the parties who came to him:--"My friends,
+marriage is a blessing to a few, a curse to many, and a great
+uncertainty to all. Do ye venture?" After a pause, he repeated with
+great emphasis, "Do ye venture?" No objection being made to the venture,
+he then said, "Let's proceed."
+
+The old Scottish hearers were very particular on the subject of their
+minister's preaching old sermons; and to repeat a discourse which they
+could recollect was always made a subject of animadversion by those who
+heard it. A beadle, who was a good deal of a wit in his way, gave a sly
+hit in his pretended defence of his minister on the question. As they
+were proceeding from church, the minister observed the beadle had been
+laughing as if he had triumphed over some of the parishioners with whom
+he had been in conversation. On asking the cause of this, he received
+for answer, "Dod, sir, they were saying ye had preached an auld sermon
+to-day, but I tackled them, for I tauld them it was no an auld sermon,
+for the minister had preached it no sax months syne."
+
+I remember the minister of Banchory, Mr. Gregory, availed himself of the
+feelings of his people on this subject for the purpose of accomplishing
+a particular object. During the building of the new church the service
+had to be performed in a schoolroom, which did not nearly hold the
+congregation. The object was to get part of the parish to attend in the
+morning, and part in the afternoon. Mr. Gregory prevented those who had
+attended in the morning from returning in the afternoon by just giving
+them, as he said, "cauld kail het again."
+
+It is somewhat remarkable, however, that, notwithstanding this feeling
+in the matter of a repetition of old sermons, there was amongst a large
+class of Scottish preachers of a former day such a sameness of subject
+as really sometimes made it difficult to distinguish the discourse of
+one Sunday from amongst others. These were entirely doctrinal, and
+however they might commence, after the opening or introduction hearers
+were certain to find the preacher falling gradually into the old
+channel. The fall of man in Adam, his restoration in Christ,
+justification by faith, and the terms of the new covenant, formed the
+staple of each sermon, and without which it was not in fact reckoned
+complete as an orthodox exposition of Christian doctrine. Without
+omitting the essentials of Christian instruction, preachers now take a
+wider view of illustrating and explaining the gospel scheme of salvation
+and regeneration, without constant recurrence to the elemental and
+fundamental principles of the faith. From my friend Dr. Cook of
+Haddington (who it is well known has a copious stock of old Scotch
+traditionary anecdotes) I have an admirable illustration of this state
+of things as regards pulpit instruction.
+
+"Much of the preaching of the Scotch clergy," Dr. Cook observes, "in the
+last century, was almost exclusively doctrinal--the fall: the nature,
+the extent, and the application of the remedy. In the hands of able men,
+no doubt, there might be much variety of exposition, but with weaker or
+indolent men preaching extempore, or without notes, it too often ended
+in a weekly repetition of what had been already said. An old elder of
+mine, whose recollection might reach back from sixty to seventy years,
+said to me one day, 'Now-a-days, people make a work if a minister preach
+the same sermon over again in the course of two or three years. When I
+was a boy, we would have wondered if old Mr. W---- had preached anything
+else than what we heard the Sunday before.' My old friend used to tell
+of a clergyman who had held forth on the broken covenant till his people
+longed for a change. The elders waited on him to intimate their wish.
+They were examined on their knowledge of the subject, found deficient,
+rebuked, and dismissed, but after a little while they returned to the
+charge, and the minister gave in. Next Lord's day he read a large
+portion of the history of Joseph and his brethren, as the subject of a
+lecture. He paraphrased it, greatly, no doubt, to the detriment of the
+original, but much to the satisfaction of his people, for it was
+something new. He finished the paraphrase, 'and now,' says he, 'my
+friends, we shall proceed to draw some lessons and inferences; and,
+_1st_, you will observe that the sacks of Joseph's brethren were
+_ripit_, and in them was found the cup; so your sacks will be ripit at
+the day of judgment, and the first thing found in them will be the
+broken covenant;' and having gained this advantage, the sermon went off
+into the usual strain, and embodied the usual heads of elementary
+dogmatic theology."
+
+In connection with this topic, I have a communication from a
+correspondent, who remarks--The story about the minister and his
+favourite theme, "the broken covenant," reminds me of one respecting
+another minister whose staple topics of discourse were "Justification,
+Adoption, and Sanctification." Into every sermon he preached, he
+managed, by hook or by crook, to force these three heads, so that his
+general method of handling every text was not so much _expositio_ as
+_impositio_. He was preaching on these words--"Is Ephraim my dear son?
+Is he a pleasant child?" and he soon brought the question into the usual
+formula by adding, Ephraim was a pleasant child--first, because he was a
+justified child; second, because he was an adopted child; and third,
+because he was a sanctified child.
+
+It should be remembered, however, that the Scottish peasantry
+themselves--I mean those of the older school--delighted in expositions
+of _doctrinal_ subjects, and in fact were extremely jealous of any
+minister who departed from their high standard of orthodox divinity, by
+selecting subjects which involved discussions of strictly moral or
+_practical_ questions. It was condemned under the epithet of _legal_
+preaching; in other words, it was supposed to preach the law as
+independent of the gospel. A worthy old clergyman having, upon the
+occasion of a communion Monday, taken a text of such a character, was
+thus commented on by an ancient dame of the congregation, who was
+previously acquainted with his style of discourse:--"If there's an ill
+text in a' the Bible, that creetur's aye sure to tak it."
+
+The great change--the great improvement, I would say--which has taken
+place during the last half-century in the feelings and practical
+relations of religion with social life is, that it has become more
+diffused through all ranks and all characters. Before that period many
+good sort of people were afraid of making their religious views very
+prominent, and were always separated from those who did. Persons who
+made a profession at all beyond the low standard generally adopted in
+society were marked out as objects of fear or of distrust. The anecdote
+at page 65 regarding the practice of family prayer fully proves this.
+Now religious people and religion itself are not kept aloof from the
+ordinary current of men's thoughts and actions. There is no such marked
+line as used to be drawn round persons who make a decided profession of
+religion. Christian men and women have stepped over the line, and,
+without compromising their Christian principle, are not necessarily
+either morose, uncharitable, or exclusive. The effects of the old
+separation were injurious to men's minds. Religion was with many
+associated with puritanism, with cant, and unfitness for the world. The
+difference is marked also in the style of sermons prevalent at the two
+periods. There were sermons of two descriptions--viz., sermons by
+"_moderate_" clergy, of a purely moral or practical character; and
+sermons purely doctrinal, from those who were known as "evangelical"
+ministers. Hence arose an impression, and not unnaturally, on many
+minds, that an almost exclusive reference to doctrinal subjects, and a
+dread of upholding the law, and of enforcing its more minute details,
+were not favourable to the cause of moral rectitude and practical
+holiness of life. This was hinted in a sly way by a young member of the
+kirk to his father, a minister of the severe and high Calvinistic
+school. Old Dr. Lockhart of Glasgow was lamenting one day, in the
+presence of his son John, the fate of a man who had been found guilty of
+immoral practices, and the more so that he was one of his own elders.
+"Well, father," remarked his son, "you see what you've driven him to."
+In our best Scottish preaching at the present day no such distinction
+is visible.
+
+The same feeling came forth with much point and humour on an occasion
+referred to in "Carlyle's Memoirs." In a company where John Home and
+David Hume were present, much wonder was expressed what _could_ have
+induced a clerk belonging to Sir William Forbes' bank to abscond, and
+embezzle L900. "I know what it was," said Home to the historian; "for
+when he was taken there was found in his pocket a volume of your
+philosophical works and Boston's 'Fourfold State'"--a hit, 1st, at the
+infidel, whose principles would have undermined Christianity; and 2d, a
+hit at the Church, which he was compelled to leave on account of his
+having written the tragedy of Douglas.
+
+I can myself recollect an obsolete ecclesiastical custom, and which was
+always practised in the church of Fettercairn during my boyish
+days--viz., that of the minister bowing to the heritors in succession
+who occupied the front gallery seats; and I am assured that this bowing
+from the pulpit to the principal heritor or heritors after the blessing
+had been pronounced was very common in rural parishes till about forty
+years ago, and perhaps till a still later period. And when heritors
+chanced to be pretty equally matched, there was sometimes an unpleasant
+contest as to who was entitled to the precedence in having the _first_
+bow. A case of this kind once occurred in the parish of Lanark, which
+was carried so far as to be laid before the Presbytery; but they, not
+considering themselves "competent judges of the points of honour and
+precedency among gentlemen, and to prevent all inconveniency in these
+matters in the future, appointed the minister to forbear bowing to the
+lairds at all from the pulpit for the time to come;" and they also
+appointed four of their number "to wait upon the gentlemen, to deal with
+them, for bringing them to condescend to submit hereunto, for the
+success of the gospel and the peace of the parish."
+
+In connection with this subject, we may mention a ready and
+complimentary reply once made by the late Reverend Dr. Wightman of
+Kirkmahoe, on being rallied for his neglecting this usual act of
+courtesy one Sabbath in his own church. The heritor who was entitled to
+and always received this token of respect, was Mr. Miller, proprietor of
+Dalswinton. One Sabbath the Dalswinton pew contained a bevy of ladies,
+but no gentlemen, and the Doctor--perhaps because he was a bachelor and
+felt a delicacy in the circumstances--omitted the usual salaam in their
+direction. A few days after, meeting Miss Miller, who was widely famed
+for her beauty, and who afterwards became Countess of Mar, she rallied
+him, in presence of her companions, for not bowing to her from the
+pulpit on the previous Sunday, and requested an explanation; when the
+good Doctor immediately replied--"I beg your pardon, Miss Miller, but
+you surely know that angel-worship is not allowed in the Church of
+Scotland;" and lifting his hat, he made a low bow, and passed on.
+
+Scottish congregations, in some parts of the country, contain an element
+in their composition quite unknown in English churches. In pastoral
+parts of the country, it was an established practice for each shepherd
+to bring his faithful _collie_ dog--at least it was so some years ago.
+In a district of Sutherland, where the population is very scanty, the
+congregations are made up one-half of dogs, each human member having his
+canine companion. These dogs sit out the Gaelic services and sermon with
+commendable patience, till towards the end of the last psalm, when there
+is a universal stretching and yawning, and all are prepared to scamper
+out, barking in a most excited manner whenever the blessing is
+commenced. The congregation of one of these churches determined that the
+service should close in a more decorous manner, and steps were taken to
+attain this object. Accordingly, when a stranger clergyman was
+officiating, he found the people all sitting when he was about to
+pronounce the blessing. He hesitated, and paused, expecting them to
+rise, till an old shepherd, looking up to the pulpit, said, "Say awa',
+sir; we're a' sittin' to cheat the dowgs."
+
+There must have been some curious specimens of Scottish humour brought
+out at the examinations or catechisings by ministers of the flock before
+the administrations of the communion. Thus, with reference to human
+nature before the fall, a man was asked, "What kind of man was Adam?"
+"Ou, just like ither fouk." The minister insisted on having a more
+special description of the first man, and pressed for more explanation.
+"Weel," said the catechumen, "he was just like Joe Simson the
+horse-couper." "How so?" asked the minister. "Weel, naebody got onything
+by him, and mony lost."
+
+A lad had come for examination previous to his receiving his first
+communion. The pastor, knowing that his young friend was not very
+profound in his theology, and not wishing to discourage him, or keep him
+from the table unless compelled to do so, began by asking what he
+thought a safe question, and what would give him confidence. So he took
+the Old Testament, and asked him, in reference to the Mosaic law, how
+many commandments there were. After a little thought, he put his answer
+in the modest form of a supposition, and replied, cautiously,
+"Aiblins[24] a hunner." The clergyman was vexed, and told him such
+ignorance was intolerable, that he could not proceed in examination, and
+that the youth must wait and learn more; so he went away. On returning
+home he met a friend on his way to the manse, and on learning that he
+too was going to the minister for examination, shrewdly asked him,
+"Weel, what will ye say noo if the minister speers hoo mony commandments
+there are?" "Say! why, I shall say ten to be sure." To which the other
+rejoined, with great triumph, "Ten! Try ye him wi' ten! I tried him wi'
+a hunner, and he wasna satisfeed." Another answer from a little girl was
+shrewd and reflective. The question was, "Why did the Israelites make a
+golden calf?" "They hadna as muckle siller as wad mak a coo."
+
+A kind correspondent has sent me, from personal knowledge, an admirable
+pendant to stones of Scottish child acuteness and shrewd observation. A
+young lady friend of his, resident in a part of Ayrshire rather remote
+from any very satisfactory administration of the gospel, is in the habit
+of collecting the children of the neighbourhood on Sundays at the "big
+hoose," for religious instruction. On one occasion the class had
+repeated the paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer, which contains
+these lines--
+
+     "Give us this day our daily bread,
+      And raiment _fit_ provide."
+
+There being no question as to what "daily bread" was, the teacher
+proceeded to ask: "What do you understand by 'raiment fit,' or as we
+might say, 'fit raiment?'" For a short time the class remained puzzled
+at the question; but at last one little girl sung out "stockings and
+shune." The child knew that "fit," was Scotch for feet, so her natural
+explanation of the phrase was equivalent to "feet raiment," or
+"stockings and shune," as she termed it.
+
+On the point of changes in religious feelings there comes within the
+scope of these Reminiscences a character in Aberdeenshire, which has now
+gone out--I mean the popular and universally well-received Roman
+Catholic priest. Although we cannot say that Scotland is a more
+PROTESTANT nation than it was in past days, still religious differences,
+and strong prejudices, seem at the present time to draw a more decided
+line of separation between the priest and his Protestant countrymen. As
+examples of what is past, I would refer to the case of a genial Romish
+bishop in Ross-shire. It is well known that private stills were
+prevalent in the Highlands fifty or sixty years ago, and no one thought
+there was any harm in them. This good bishop, whose name I forget, was
+(as I heard the late W. Mackenzie of Muirton assure a party at Dunrobin
+Castle) several years previously a famous hand at brewing a good glass
+of whisky, and that he distributed his mountain-dew with a liberal and
+impartial hand alike to Catholic and to Protestant friends. Of this
+class, I recollect, certainly forty-five years ago, Priest Gordon, a
+genuine Aberdonian, and a man beloved by all, rich and poor. He was a
+sort of chaplain to Menzies of Pitfodels, and visited in all the country
+families round Aberdeen. I remember once his being at Banchory Lodge,
+and thus apologising to my aunt for going out of the room:--"I beg your
+pardon, Mrs. Forbes, for leaving you, but I maun just gae doun to the
+garden and say my bit wordies"--these "bit wordies" being in fact the
+portion of the Breviary which he was bound to recite. So easily and
+pleasantly were those matters then referred to.
+
+The following, however, is a still richer illustration, and I am assured
+it is genuine:--"Towards the end of the last century, a worthy Roman
+Catholic clergyman, well known as 'Priest Matheson,' and universally
+respected in the district, had charge of a mission in Aberdeenshire, and
+for a long time made his journeys on a piebald pony, the priest and his
+'pyet shelty' sharing an affectionate recognition wherever they came. On
+one occasion, however, he made his appearance on a steed of a different
+description, and passing near a Seceding meeting-house, he forgathered
+with the minister, who, after the usual kindly greetings, missing the
+familiar pony, said, 'Ou, Priest! fat's come o' the auld Pyet? 'He's
+deid, minister.' 'Weel, he was an auld faithfu' servant, and ye wad nae
+doot gie him the offices o' the church?' 'Na, minister,' said his
+friend, not quite liking this allusion to his priestly offices, 'I didna
+dee that, for ye see he _turned Seceder afore he dee'd, an' I buried him
+like a beast_.' He then rode quietly away. This worthy man, however,
+could, when occasion required, rebuke with seriousness as well as point.
+Always a welcome guest at the houses of both clergy and gentry, he is
+said on one occasion to have met with a laird whose hospitality he had
+thought it proper to decline, and on being asked the reason for the
+interruption of his visits, answered, 'Ye ken, an' I ken; but, laird,
+God kens!'"
+
+One question connected with religious feeling, and the manifestation of
+religious feeling, has become a more settled point amongst us, since
+fifty years have expired. I mean the question of attendance by clergymen
+on theatrical representations. Dr. Carlyle had been prosecuted before
+the General Assembly in 1757 for being present at the performance of the
+tragedy of Douglas, written by his friend John Home. He was acquitted,
+however, and writes thus on the subject in his Memoirs:--
+
+"Although the clergy in Edinburgh and its neighbourhood had abstained
+from the theatre because it gave offence, yet the more remote clergymen,
+when occasionally in town, had almost universally attended the
+play-house. It is remarkable that in the year 1784, when the great
+actress Mrs. Siddons first appeared in Edinburgh, during the sitting of
+the General Assembly, that court was obliged to fix all its important
+business for the alternate days when she did not act, as all the younger
+members, clergy as well as laity, took their stations in the theatre on
+those days by three in the afternoon."
+
+Drs. Robertson and Blair, although they cultivated the acquaintance of
+Mrs. Siddons in private, were amongst those clergymen, referred to by
+Dr. Carlyle, who abstained from attendance in the theatre; but Dr.
+Carlyle states that they regretted not taking the opportunity of
+witnessing a display of her talent, and of giving their sanction to the
+theatre as a place of recreation. Dr. Carlyle evidently considered it a
+narrow-minded intolerance and bigoted fanaticism that clergymen should
+be excluded from that amusement. At a period far later than 1784, the
+same opinion prevailed in some quarters. I recollect when such
+indulgence on the part of clergymen was treated with much leniency,
+especially for Episcopalian clergy. I do not mean to say that there was
+anything like a general feeling in favour of clerical theatrical
+attendance; but there can be no question of a feeling far less strict
+than what exists in our own time. As I have said, thirty-six years ago
+some clergymen went to the theatre; and a few years before that, when my
+brothers and I were passing through Edinburgh, in going backwards and
+forwards to school, at Durham, with our tutor, a licentiate of the
+Established Church of Scotland, and who afterwards attained considerable
+eminence in the Free Church, we certainly went with him to the theatre
+there, and at Durham very frequently. I feel quite assured, however,
+that no clergyman could expect to retain the respect of his people or of
+the public, of whom it was known that he frequently or habitually
+attended theatrical representations. It is so understood. I had
+opportunities of conversing with the late Mr. Murray of the Theatre
+Royal, Edinburgh, and with Mr. Charles Kean, on the subject. Both
+admitted the fact, and certainly if any men of the profession _could_
+have removed the feeling from the public mind, these were the men to
+have done it.
+
+There is a phase of religious observances which has undergone a great
+change amongst us within fifty years--I mean the services and
+circumstances connected with the administration of the Holy Communion.
+When these occurred in a parish they were called "occasions," and the
+great interest excited by these sacramental solemnities may be gathered
+from "Peter's Letters," "The Annals of the Parish," and Burns' "Holy
+Fair." Such ceremonials are now conducted, I believe, just as the
+ordinary church services. Some years back they were considered a sort of
+preaching matches. Ministers vied with each other in order to bear away
+the bell in popularity, and hearers embraced the opportunity of
+exhibiting to one another their powers of criticism on what they heard
+and saw. In the parish of Urr in Galloway, on one sacramental occasion,
+some of the assistants invited were eminent ministers in Edinburgh; Dr.
+Scot of St. Michael's, Dumfries, was the only local one who was asked,
+and he was, in his own sphere, very popular as a preacher. A brother
+clergyman, complimenting him upon the honour of being so invited, the
+old bald-headed divine modestly replied, "Gude bless you, man, what can
+I do? They are a' han' wailed[25] this time; I need never show face
+among them." "Ye're quite mista'en," was the soothing encouragement;
+"tak' your _Resurrection_ (a well-known sermon used for such occasions
+by him), an I'll lay my lug ye'll beat every clute o' them." The Doctor
+did as suggested, and exerted himself to the utmost, and it appears he
+did not exert himself in vain. A batch of old women, on their way home
+after the conclusion of the services, were overheard discussing the
+merits of the several preachers who had that day addressed them from the
+tent. "Leeze me abune them a'," said one of the company, who had waxed
+warm in the discussion, "for yon auld clear-headed (bald) man, that
+said, 'Raphael sings an' Gabriel strikes his goolden harp, an' a' the
+angels clap their wings wi' joy.' O but it was gran', it just put me in
+min' o' our geese at Dunjarg when they turn their nebs to the south an'
+clap their wings when they see the rain's comin' after lang drooth."
+
+There is a subject closely allied with the religious feelings of a
+people, and that is the subject of their _superstitions_. To enter upon
+that question, in a general view, especially in reference to the
+Highlands, would not be consistent with our present purpose, but I am
+induced to mention the existence of a singular superstition regarding
+swine which existed some years ago among the lower orders of the east
+coast of Fife. I can observe, in my own experience, a great change to
+have taken place amongst Scotch people generally on this subject. The
+old aversion to the "unclean animal" still lingers in the Highlands, but
+seems in the Lowland districts to have yielded to a sense of its thrift
+and usefulness[26]. The account given by my correspondent of the Fife
+swinophobia is as follows:--
+
+Among the many superstitious notions and customs prevalent among the
+lower orders of the fishing towns on the east coast of Fife, till very
+recently, that class entertained a great horror of swine, and even at
+the very mention of the word. If that animal crossed their path when
+about to set out on a sea voyage, they considered it so unlucky an omen
+that they would not venture off. A clergyman of one of these fishing
+villages having mentioned the superstition to a clerical friend, and
+finding that he was rather incredulous on the subject, in order to
+convince him told him he would allow him an opportunity of testing the
+truth of it by allowing him to preach for him the following day. It was
+arranged that his friend was to read the chapter relating to the herd of
+swine into which the evil spirits were cast. Accordingly, when the first
+verse was read, in which the unclean beast was mentioned, a slight
+commotion was observable among the audience, each one of them putting
+his or her hand on any near piece of iron--a nail on the seat or
+book-board, or to the nails on their shoes. At the repetition of the
+word again and again, more commotion was visible, and the words "cauld
+airn" (cold iron) the antidote to this baneful spell, were heard issuing
+from various corners of the church. And finally, on his coming over the
+hated word again, when the whole herd ran violently down the bank into
+the sea, the alarmed parishioners, irritated beyond bounds, rose and all
+left the church in a body.
+
+It is some time now, however, since the Highlanders have begun to
+appreciate the thrift and comfort of swine-keeping and swine-killing. A
+Scottish minister had been persuaded by the laird to keep a pig, and the
+gudewife had been duly instructed in the mysteries of black puddings,
+pork chops, and pig's head. "Oh!" said the minister, "nae doubt there's
+a hantle o' miscellawneous eating aboot a pig."
+
+Amongst a people so deeply impressed with the great truths of religion,
+and so earnest in their religious profession, any persons whose
+principles were known to be of an _infidel_ character would naturally be
+looked on with abhorrence and suspicion. There is a story traditionary
+in Edinburgh regarding David Hume, which illustrates this feeling in a
+very amusing manner, and which, I have heard it said, Hume himself often
+narrated. The philosopher had fallen from the path into the swamp at the
+back of the Castle, the existence of which I recollect hearing of from
+old persons forty years ago. He fairly stuck fast, and called to a woman
+who was passing, and begged her assistance. She passed on apparently
+without attending to the request; at his earnest entreaty, however, she
+came where he was, and asked him, "Are na ye Hume the Atheist?" "Well,
+well, no matter," said Hume; "Christian charity commands you to do good
+to every one." "Christian charity here, or Christian charity there,"
+replied the woman, "I'll do naething for you till ye turn a Christian
+yoursell'--ye maun repeat the Lord's Prayer and the Creed, or faith
+I'll let ye grafel[27] there as I fand ye." The historian, really afraid
+for his life, rehearsed the required formulas.
+
+Notwithstanding the high character borne for so many years by our
+countrymen as a people, and as specially attentive to all religious
+observances, still there can be no doubt that there has sprung up
+amongst the inhabitants of our crowded cities, wynds, and closes, a
+class of persons quite unknown in the old Scottish times. It is a great,
+difficulty to get them to attend divine worship at all, and their
+circumstances combine to break off all associations with public
+services. Their going to church becomes a matter of persuasion and of
+missionary labour.
+
+A lady, who is most active in visiting the houses of these outcasts from
+the means of grace, gives me an amusing instance of self-complacency
+arising from performance of the duty. She was visiting in the West Port,
+not far from the church established by my illustrious friend the late
+Dr. Chalmers. Having asked a poor woman if she ever attended there for
+divine service--"Ou ay," she replied; "there's a man ca'd Chalmers
+preaches there, and I whiles gang in and hear him, just to encourage
+him, puir body!"
+
+From the religious opinions of a people, the transition is natural to
+their political partialities. One great political change has passed over
+Scotland, which none now living can be said to have actually
+_witnessed_; but they remember those who were contemporaries of the
+anxious scenes of '45, and many of us have known determined and thorough
+Jacobites. The poetry of that political period still remains, but we
+hear only as pleasant songs those words and melodies which stirred the
+hearts and excited the deep enthusiasm of a past generation. Jacobite
+anecdotes also are fading from our knowledge. To many young persons they
+are unknown. Of these stories illustrative of Jacobite feelings and
+enthusiasm, many are of a character not fit for me to record. The good
+old ladies who were violent partisans of the Stuarts had little
+hesitation in referring without reserve to the future and eternal
+destiny of William of Orange. One anecdote which I had from a near
+relative of the family may be adduced in illustration of the powerful
+hold which the cause had upon the views and consciences of Jacobites.
+
+A former Mr. Stirling of Keir had favoured the Stuart cause, and had in
+fact attended a muster of forces at the Brig of Turk previous to the
+'15. This symptom of a rising against the Government occasioned some
+uneasiness, and the authorities were very active in their endeavours to
+discover who were the leaders of the movement. Keir was suspected. The
+miller of Keir was brought forward as a witness, and swore positively
+that the laird was _not_ present. Now, as it was well known that he was
+there, and that the miller knew it, a neighbour asked him privately,
+when he came out of the witness-box, how he could on oath assert such a
+falsehood. The miller replied, quite undaunted, and with a feeling of
+confidence in the righteousness of his cause approaching the sublime--"I
+would rather trust my soul in God's mercy than Keir's head into
+their hands."
+
+A correspondent has sent me an account of a curious ebullition of
+Jacobite feeling and enthusiasm, now I suppose quite extinct. My
+correspondent received it himself from Alexander, fourth Duke of Gordon,
+and he had entered it in a commonplace-book when he heard it, in 1826.
+
+"David Tulloch, tenant in Drumbenan, under the second and third Dukes
+of Gordon, had been '_out_' in the '45--or the _fufteen, or both_--and
+was a great favourite of his respective landlords. One day, having
+attended the young Lady Susan Gordon (afterwards Duchess of Manchester)
+to the 'Chapel' at Huntly, David, perceiving that her ladyship had
+neither hassock nor carpet to protect her garments from the earthen
+floor, respectfully spread his plaid for the young lady to kneel upon,
+and the service proceeded; but when the prayer for the King and Royal
+Family was commenced, David, _sans ceremonie_, drew, or rather
+'twitched,' the plaid from under the knees of the astonished young lady,
+exclaiming, _not_ sotto voce, 'The deil a ane shall pray for _them_ on
+_my_ plaid!'"
+
+I have a still more pungent demonstration against praying for the king,
+which a friend in Aberdeen assures me he received from the son of the
+gentleman who _heard_ the protest. In the Episcopal Chapel in Aberdeen,
+of which Primus _John_ Skinner was incumbent, they commenced praying in
+the service for George III. immediately on the death of Prince Charles
+Edward. On the first Sunday of the prayer being used, this gentleman's
+father, walking home with a friend whom he knew to be an old and
+determined Jacobite, said to him, "What do you think of that, Mr.----?"
+The reply was, "Indeed, the less we say aboot that prayer the better."
+But he was pushed for "further answer as to his own views and his own
+ideas on the matter," so he came out with the declaration, "Weel, then,
+I say this--they may pray the kenees[28] aff their breeks afore I join
+in that prayer."
+
+The following is a characteristic Jacobite story. It must have happened
+shortly after 1745, when all manner of devices were fallen upon to
+display Jacobitism, without committing the safety of the Jacobite, such
+as having white knots on gowns; drinking, "The king, ye ken wha I mean;"
+uttering the toast "The king," with much apparent loyalty, and passing
+the glass over the water-jug, indicating the esoteric meaning of majesty
+_beyond_ the sea,--etc. etc.; and various toasts, which were most
+important matters in those times, and were often given as tests of
+loyalty, or the reverse, according to the company in which they were
+given. Miss Carnegy of Craigo, well known and still remembered amongst
+the old Montrose ladies as an uncompromising Jacobite, had been vowing
+that she would drink King James and his son in a company of staunch
+Brunswickers, and being strongly dissuaded from any such foolish and
+dangerous attempt by some of her friends present, she answered them with
+a text of Scripture, "The tongue no man can tame--James _Third_ and
+_Aucht_" and drank off her glass[29]!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE THIRD.
+
+ON OLD SCOTTISH CONVIVIALITY.
+
+The next change in manners which has been effected, in the memory of
+many now living, regards the habits of conviviality, or, to speak more
+plainly, regards the banishment of _drunkenness_ from polite society. It
+is indeed a most important and blessed change. But it is a change the
+full extent of which many persons now alive can hardly estimate. Indeed,
+it is scarcely possible to realise the scenes which took place seventy
+or eighty years back, or even less. In many houses, when a party dined,
+the ladies going away was the signal for the commencement of a system of
+compulsory conviviality. No one was allowed to shirk--no daylight--no
+heeltaps--was the wretched jargon in which were expressed the propriety
+and the duty of seeing that the glass, when filled, must be emptied and
+drained. We have heard of glasses having the bottoms knocked off, so
+that no shuffling tricks might be played with them, and that they could
+only be put down--empty.
+
+One cannot help looking back with amazement at the infatuation which
+could for a moment tolerate such a sore evil. To a man of sober
+inclinations it must have been an intolerable nuisance to join a dinner
+party at many houses, where he knew he should have to witness the most
+disgusting excesses in others, and to fight hard to preserve himself
+from a compliance with the example of those around him.
+
+The scenes of excess which occurred in the houses where deep drinking
+was practised must have been most revolting to sober persons who were
+unaccustomed to such conviviality; as in the case of a drinking Angus
+laird, entertaining as his guest a London merchant of formal manners and
+temperate habits. The poor man was driven from the table when the
+drinking set in hard, and stole away to take refuge in his bedroom. The
+company, however, were determined not to let the worthy citizen off so
+easily, but proceeded in a body, with the laird at their head, and
+invaded his privacy by exhibiting bottles and glasses at his bedside,
+Losing all patience, the wretched victim gasped out his
+indignation--"Sir, your hospitality borders upon brutality." It must
+have had a fatal influence also on many persons to whom drinking was
+most injurious, and who were yet not strong-minded enough to resist the
+temptations to excess. Poor James Boswell, who certainly required no
+_extraordinary_ urging to take a glass too much, is found in his
+letters, which have recently come to light, laying the blame of his
+excesses to "falling into a habit which still prevails in Scotland;" and
+then he remarks, with censorious emphasis, on the "drunken manners of
+his countrymen." This was about 1770.
+
+A friend of mine, however, lately departed--Mr. Boswell of
+Balmuto--showed more spirit than the Londoner, when he found himself in
+a similar situation. Challenged by the host to drink, urged and almost
+forced to swallow a quantity of wine against his own inclination, he
+proposed a counter-challenge in the way of eating, and made the
+following ludicrous and original proposal to the company,--that two or
+three legs of mutton should be prepared, and he would then contest the
+point of who could devour most meat; and certainly it seems as
+reasonable to compel people to _eat_, as to compel them to drink, beyond
+the natural cravings of nature.
+
+The situation of ladies, too, must frequently have been very
+disagreeable--when, for instance, gentlemen came up stairs in a
+condition most unfit for female society. Indeed they were often
+compelled to fly from scenes which were most unfitting for them to
+witness. They were expected to get out of the way at the proper time, or
+when a hint was given them to do so. At Glasgow sixty years ago, when
+the time had come for the _bowl_ to be introduced, some jovial and
+thirsty members of the company proposed as a toast, "The trade of
+Glasgow and _the outward bound!_" The hint was taken, and silks and
+satins moved off to the drawing-room.
+
+In my part of the country the traditionary stories of drinking prowess
+are quite marvellous. On Deeside there flourished a certain Saunders
+Paul (whom I remember an old man), an innkeeper at Banchory. He was said
+to have drunk whisky, glass for glass, to the claret of Mr. Maule and
+the Laird of Skene for a whole evening; and in those days there was a
+traditional story of his despatching, at one sitting, in company with a
+character celebrated for conviviality--one of the men employed to float
+rafts of timber down the Dee--three dozen of porter. Of this Mr. Paul it
+was recorded, that on being asked if he considered porter as a wholesome
+beverage, he replied, "Oh yes, if you don't take above a dozen."
+Saunders Paul was, as I have said, the innkeeper at Banchory: his friend
+and _porter_ companion was drowned in the Dee, and when told that the
+body had been found down the stream below Crathes, he coolly remarked,
+"I am surprised at that, for I never kenn'd him pass the inn before
+without comin' in for a glass."
+
+Some relatives of mine travelling in the Highlands were amused by
+observing in a small road-side public-house a party drinking, whose
+apparatus for conviviality called forth the dry quaint humour which is
+so thoroughly Scottish. Three drovers had met together, and were
+celebrating their meeting by a liberal consumption of whisky; the inn
+could only furnish one glass without a bottom, and this the party passed
+on from one to another. A queer-looking pawky chield, whenever the glass
+came to his turn, remarked most gravely, "I think we wadna be the waur
+o' some water," taking care, however, never to add any of the simple
+element, but quietly drank off his glass.
+
+There was a sort of infatuation in the supposed dignity and manliness
+attached to powers of deep potation, and the fatal effects of drinking
+were spoken of in a manner both reckless and unfeeling. Thus, I have
+been assured that a well-known old laird of the old school expressed
+himself with great indignation at the charge brought against hard
+drinking that it had actually _killed_ people. "Na, na, I never knew
+onybody killed wi' drinking, but I hae kenn'd some that dee'd in the
+training." A positive _eclat_ was attached to the accomplished and
+well-trained consumer of claret or of whisky toddy, which gave an
+importance and even merit to the practice of drinking, and which had a
+most injurious effect. I am afraid some of the Pleydells of the old
+school would have looked with the most ineffable contempt on the
+degeneracy of the present generation in this respect, and that the
+temperance movement would be little short of insanity in their eyes; and
+this leads me to a remark.--In considering this portion of the subject,
+we should bear in mind a distinction. The change we now speak of
+involves more than a mere change of a custom or practice in social life.
+It is a change in men's sentiments and feelings on a certain great
+question of morals. Except we enter into this distinction we cannot
+appreciate the extent of the change which has really taken place in
+regard to intemperate habits.
+
+I have an anecdote from a descendant of Principal Robertson, of an
+address made to him, which showed the real importance attached to all
+that concerned the system of drinking in his time. The Principal had
+been invited to spend some days in a country-house, and the minister of
+the parish (a jovial character) had been asked to meet him. Before
+dinner he went up to Dr. Robertson and addressed him
+confidentially--"Doctor, I understand ye are a brother of my gude freend
+Peter Robertson of Edinburgh, therefore I'll gie you a piece of
+advice,--Bend[30] weel to the Madeira at dinner, for here ye'll get
+little o't after." I have known persons who held that a man who could
+not drink must have a degree of feebleness and imbecility of character.
+But as this is an important point, I will adduce the higher authority of
+Lord Cockburn, and quote from him two examples, very different certainly
+in their nature, but both bearing upon the question. I refer to what he
+says of Lord Hermand:--"With Hermand drinking was a virtue; he had a
+sincere respect for drinking, indeed a high moral approbation, and a
+serious compassion for the poor wretches who _could_ not indulge in it,
+and with due contempt of those who could but did not;" and, secondly, I
+refer to Lord Cockburn's pages for an anecdote which illustrates the
+perverted feeling I refer to, now happily no longer existing. It
+relates the opinion expressed by an old drunken writer of Selkirk (whose
+name is not mentioned) regarding his anticipation of professional
+success for Mr. Cranstoun, afterwards Lord Corehouse. Sir Walter Scott,
+William Erskine, and Cranstoun, had dined with this Selkirk writer, and
+Scott--of hardy, strong, and healthy frame--had matched the writer
+himself in the matter of whisky punch. Poor Cranstoun, of refined and
+delicate mental and bodily temperament, was a bad hand at such work, and
+was soon off the field. On the party breaking up, the Selkirk writer
+expressed his admiration of Scott, assuring him that _he_ would rise
+high in the profession, and adding: "I'll tell ye what, Maister Walter,
+that lad Cranstoun may get to the tap o' the bar, if he can; but tak my
+word for't, it's no be by drinking."
+
+There was a sort of dogged tone of apology for excess in drinking, which
+marked the hold which the practice had gained on ordinary minds. Of this
+we have a remarkable example in the unwilling testimony of a witness who
+was examined as to the fact of drunkenness being charged against a
+minister. The person examined was beadle, or one of the church
+officials. He was asked, "Did you ever see the minister the worse of
+drink?" "I canna say I've seen him the waur o' drink, but nae doubt I've
+seen him the _better_ o't," was the evasive answer. The question,
+however, was pushed further; and when he was urged to say if this state
+of being "the better for drink" ever extended to a condition of absolute
+helpless intoxication, the reply was: "Indeed, afore that cam', I was
+blind fou mysel', and I could see nae thing."
+
+A legal friend has told me of a celebrated circuit where Lord Hermand
+was judge, and Clephane depute-advocate. The party got drunk at Ayr, and
+so continued (although quite able for their work) till the business was
+concluded at Jedburgh. Some years after, my informant heard that this
+circuit had, at Jedburgh, acquired the permanent name of the
+"_daft_ circuit."
+
+Lord Cockburn was fond of describing a circuit scene at Stirling, in his
+early days at the bar, under the presidency of his friend and connection
+Lord Hermand. After the circuit dinner, and when drinking had gone on
+for some time, young Cockburn observed places becoming vacant in the
+social circle, but no one going out at the door. He found that the
+individuals had dropped down under the table. He took the hint, and by
+this ruse retired from the scene. He lay quiet till the beams of the
+morning sun penetrated the apartment. The judge and some of his staunch
+friends coolly walked up stairs, washed their hands and faces, came down
+to breakfast, and went into court quite fresh and fit for work.
+
+The feeling of importance frequently attached to powers of drinking was
+formally attested by a well-known western baronet of convivial habits
+and convivial memory. He was desirous of bearing testimony to the
+probity, honour, and other high moral qualities of a friend whom he
+wished to commend. Having fully stated these claims to consideration and
+respect, he deemed it proper to notice also his _convivial_ attainments:
+he added accordingly, with cautious approval on so important a
+point--"And he is a fair drinker[31]."
+
+The following anecdote is an amusing example of Scottish servant humour
+and acuteness in measuring the extent of consumption by a convivial
+party in Forfarshire. The party had met at a farmer's house not far from
+Arbroath, to celebrate the reconciliation of two neighbouring farmers
+who had long been at enmity. The host was pressing and hospitable; the
+party sat late, and consumed a vast amount of whisky toddy. The wife was
+penurious, and grudged the outlay. When at last, at a morning hour, the
+party dispersed, the lady, who had not slept in her anxiety, looked over
+the stairs and eagerly asked the servant girl, "How many bottles of
+whisky have they used, Betty?" The lass, who had not to pay for the
+whisky, but had been obliged to go to the well to fetch the water for
+the toddy, coolly answered, "I dinna ken, mem, but they've drucken sax
+gang o' water."
+
+We cannot imagine a better illustration of the general habits that
+prevailed in Scottish society in regard to drinking about the time we
+speak of than one which occurs in the recently-published "Memoirs of a
+Banking House," that of the late Sir William Forbes, Bart, of Pitsligo.
+The book comprises much that is interesting to the family, and to
+Scotchmen. It contains a pregnant hint as to the manners of polite
+society and business habits in those days. Of John Coutts, one of four
+brothers connected with the house, Sir William records how he was "more
+correct in his conduct than the others; so much so, that Sir William
+_never but once_ saw him in the counting-house disguised with liquor,
+and incapable of transacting business."
+
+In the Highlands this sort of feeling extended to an almost incredible
+extent, even so much as to obscure the moral and religious sentiments.
+Of this a striking proof was afforded in a circumstance which took place
+in my own church soon after I came into it. One of our Gaelic clergy had
+so far forgotten himself as to appear in the church somewhat the worse
+of liquor. This having happened so often as to come to the ears of the
+bishop, he suspended him from the performance of divine service. Against
+this decision the people were a little disposed to rebel, because,
+according to their Highland notions, "a gentleman was no the waur for
+being able to tak' a gude glass o' whisky." These were the notions of a
+people in whose eyes the power of swallowing whisky conferred
+distinction, and with whom inability to take the fitting quantity was a
+mark of a mean and futile character. Sad to tell, the funeral rites of
+Highland chieftains were not supposed to have been duly celebrated
+except there was an immoderate and often fatal consumption of whisky. It
+has been related that at the last funeral in the Highlands, conducted
+according to the traditions of the olden times, several of the guests
+fell victims to the usage, and actually died of the excesses.
+
+This phase of old and happily almost obsolete Scottish intemperance at
+funeral solemnities must have been peculiarly revolting. Instances of
+this horrid practice being carried to a great extent are traditionary in
+every part of the country. I am assured of the truth of the following
+anecdote by a son of the gentleman who acted as chief mourner on the
+occasion:--About seventy years ago an old maiden lady died in
+Strathspey. Just previous to her death she sent for her grand-nephew,
+and said to him, "Wily, I'm deein', and as ye'll hae the charge o' a' I
+have, mind now that as much whisky is to be used at my funeral as there
+was at my baptism." Willy neglected to ask the old lady what the
+quantity of whisky used at the baptism was, but when the day of the
+funeral arrived believed her orders would be best fulfilled by allowing
+each guest to drink as much as he pleased. The churchyard where the body
+was to be deposited was about ten miles distant from where the death
+occurred. It was a short day in November, and when the funeral party
+came to the churchyard the shades of night had considerably closed in.
+The grave-digger, whose patience had been exhausted in waiting, was not
+in the least willing to accept of Captain G----'s (the chief mourner)
+apology for delay. After looking about him he put the anxious question,
+"But, Captain, whaur's Miss Ketty?" The reply was, "In her coffin, to be
+sure, and get it into the earth as fast as you can." There, however, was
+no coffin; the procession had sojourned at a country inn by the way--had
+rested the body on a dyke--started without it--and had to postpone the
+interment until next day. My correspondent very justly adds the remark,
+"What would be thought of indulgence in drinking habits now that could
+lead to such a result?"
+
+Many scenes of a similar incongruous character are still traditionally
+connected with such occasions. Within the last thirty years, a laird of
+Dundonald, a small estate in Ross-shire, died at Inverness. There was
+open house for some days, and great eating and drinking. Here the corpse
+commenced its progress toward its appointed home on the coast, and
+people followed in multitudes to give it a partial convoy, all of whom
+had to be entertained. It took altogether a fortnight to bury poor
+Dundonald, and great expense must have been incurred. This, however, is
+looked back to at Inverness as the last of the real grand old Highland
+funerals. Such notions of what is due to the memory of the departed have
+now become unusual if not obsolete. I myself witnessed the first decided
+change in this matter. I officiated at the funeral of the late Duke of
+Sutherland. The procession was a mile long. Refreshments were provided
+for 7000 persons; beef, bread, and beer; but not one glass of whisky was
+allowed on the property that day!
+
+It may, perhaps, be said that the change we speak of is not peculiar to
+Scotland; that in England the same change has been apparent; and that
+drunkenness has passed away in the higher circles, as a matter of
+course, as refinement and taste made an advancement in society. This is
+true. But there were some features of the question which were peculiar
+to Scotland, and which at one time rendered it less probable that
+intemperance would give way in the north. It seemed in some quarters to
+have taken deeper root amongst us. The system of pressing, or of
+_compelling_, guests to drink seemed more inveterate. Nothing can more
+powerfully illustrate the deep-rooted character of intemperate habits in
+families than an anecdote which was related to me, as coming from the
+late Mr. Mackenzie, author of the _Man of Feeling_. He had been involved
+in a regular drinking party. He was keeping as free from the usual
+excesses as he was able, and as he marked companions around him falling
+victims to the power of drink, he himself dropped off under the table
+among the slain, as a measure of precaution; and lying there, his
+attention was called to a small pair of hands working at his throat; on
+asking what it was, a voice replied, "Sir, I'm the lad that's to lowse
+the neckcloths." Here, then, was a family, where, on drinking
+occasions, it was the appointed duty of one of the household to attend,
+and, when the guests where becoming helpless, to untie their cravats in
+fear of apoplexy or suffocation[32]. We ought certainly to be grateful
+for the change which has taken place from such a system; for this change
+has made a great revolution in Scottish social life. The charm and the
+romance long attached in the minds of some of our countrymen to the
+whole system and concerns of hard drinking was indeed most lamentable
+and absurd. At tavern suppers, where, nine times out often, it was the
+express _object_ of those who went to get drunk, such stuff as "regal
+purple stream," "rosy wine," "quaffing the goblet," "bright sparkling
+nectar," "chasing the rosy hours," and so on, tended to keep up the
+delusion, and make it a monstrous fine thing for men to sit up drinking
+half the night, to have frightful headaches all next day, to make
+maudlin idiots of themselves as they were going home, and to become
+brutes amongst their family when they arrived. And here I may introduce
+the mention of a practice connected with the convivial habits of which
+we have been speaking, but which has for some time passed away, at least
+from private tables--I mean the absurd system of calling for toasts and
+sentiments each time the glasses were filled. During dinner not a drop
+could be touched, except in conjunction with others, and with each
+drinking to the health of each. But toasts came _after_ dinner. I can
+just remember the practice in partial operation; and my astonishment as
+a mere boy, when accidentally dining at table and hearing my mother
+called upon to "give the company a gentleman," is one of my earliest
+reminiscences. Lord Cockburn must have remembered them well, and I will
+quote his most amusing account of the effects:--"After dinner, and
+before the ladies retired, there generally began what was called
+'_Rounds_' of toasts, when each gentleman named an absent lady, and each
+lady an absent gentleman, separately; or one person was required to give
+an absent lady, and another person was required to match a gentleman
+with that lady, and the persons named were toasted, generally, with
+allusions and jokes about the fitness of the union. And, worst of all,
+there were 'Sentiments.' These were short epigrammatic sentences,
+expressive of moral feelings and virtues, and were thought refined and
+elegant productions. A faint conception of their nauseousness may be
+formed from the following examples, every one of which I have heard
+given a thousand times, and which indeed I only recollect from their
+being favourites. The glasses being filled, a person was asked for his
+or for her sentiment, when this, or something similar, was
+committed:--'May the pleasures of the evening bear the reflections of
+the morning;' or, 'may the friends of our youth be the companions of our
+old age;' or, 'delicate pleasures to susceptible minds;' 'may the honest
+heart never feel distress;' 'may the hand of charity wipe the tear from
+the eye of sorrow.' The conceited, the ready, or the reckless, hackneyed
+in the art, had a knack of making new sentiments applicable to the
+passing incidents with great ease. But it was a dreadful oppression on
+the timid or the awkward. They used to shudder, ladies particularly; for
+nobody was spared when their turn in the _round_ approached. Many a
+struggle and blush did it cost; but this seemed only to excite the
+tyranny of the masters of the craft; and compliance could never be
+avoided, except by more torture than yielding.... It is difficult for
+those who have been under a more natural system to comprehend how a
+sensible man, a respectable matron, a worthy old maid, and especially a
+girl, could be expected to go into company easily, on such
+conditions[33]."
+
+This accompaniment of domestic drinking by a toast or sentiment--the
+practice of which is now confined to public entertainments--was then
+invariable in private parties, and was supposed to enliven and promote
+the good fellowship of the social circle. Thus Fergusson, in one of his
+poems, in describing a dinner, says--
+
+     "The grace is said; it's nae ower lang,
+      The claret reams in bells.
+      Quo' Deacon, 'Let the toast round gang;
+      Come, here's our noble sels
+         Weel met the day.'"
+
+There was a great variety of these toasts, some of them exclusively
+Scottish. A correspondent has favoured me with a few reminiscences of
+such incentives to inebriety.
+
+The ordinary form of drinking a health was in the address, "Here's t'
+ye."
+
+Then such as the following were named by successive members of the
+company at the call of the host:--
+
+     _The land o' cakes_ (Scotland).
+     _Mair freens and less need o' them.
+     Thumping luck and fat weans_.
+
+     _When we're gaun up the hill o' fortune may we ne'er
+       meet a freen' coming doun.
+     May ne'er waur be amang us.
+     May the hinges o' freendship never rust, or the wings o'
+       luve lose a feather.
+     Here's to them that lo'es us, or lenns us a lift.
+     Here's health to the sick, stilts to the lame; claise to
+       the back, and brose to the wame.
+     Here's health, wealth, wit, and meal.
+     The deil rock them in a creel that does na' wish us a'
+       weel.
+     Horny hands and weather-beaten haffets (cheeks).
+     The rending o' rocks and the pu'in' doun o' auld
+       houses_.
+
+The above two belong to the mason craft; the first implies a wish for
+plenty of work, and health to do it; the second, to erect new buildings
+and clear away old ones.
+
+     _May the winds o' adversity ne'er blaw open our door.
+     May poortith ne'er throw us in the dirt, or gowd into
+       the high saddle[34].
+     May the mouse ne'er leave our meal-pock wi' the tear
+       in its e'e.
+     Blythe may we a' be.
+     Ill may we never see.
+     Breeks and brochan (brose).
+     May we ne'er want a freend, or a drappie to gie him.
+     Gude een to you a', an' tak your nappy.
+     A willy-waught's a gude night cappy[35].
+     May we a' be canty an' cosy,
+     An' ilk hae a wife in his bosy_.
+     _A cosy but, and a canty ben,
+     To couthie[36] women and trusty men.
+     The ingle neuk wi' routh[37] o' bannoch and bairns.
+     Here's to him wha winna beguile ye.
+     Mair sense and mair siller.
+     Horn, corn, wool, an' yarn[38]_.
+
+Sometimes certain toasts were accompanied by _Highland_ honours. This
+was a very exciting, and to a stranger a somewhat alarming, proceeding.
+I recollect my astonishment the first time I witnessed the ceremony--the
+company, from sitting quietly drinking their wine, seemed to assume the
+attitude of harmless maniacs, allowed to amuse themselves. The moment
+the toast was given, and proposed to be drunk with Highland honours, the
+gentlemen all rose, and with one foot on their chair and another on the
+_table_, they drank the toast with Gaelic shrieks, which were awful to
+hear, the cheering being under the direction of a toast-master appointed
+to direct the proceedings. I am indebted to the kindness of the Rev.
+Duncan Campbell, the esteemed minister of Moulin, for the form used on
+such occasions. Here it is in the Gaelic and the Saxon:--
+
+_Gaelic._
+
+So! Nish! Nish! Sud ris! Sud ris! Thig ris! Thig ris! A on uair eile!
+
+_Translation._
+
+Prepare! Now! Now! Yon again! Yon again! At it again! At it again!
+Another time, or one cheer more!
+
+The reader is to imagine these words uttered with yells and
+vociferations, and accompanied with frantic gestures.
+
+The system of giving toasts was so regularly established, that
+collections of them were published to add brilliancy to the festive
+board. By the kindness of the librarian, I have seen a little volume
+which is in the Signet Library of Edinburgh. It is entitled, "The
+Gentleman's New Bottle Companion," Edinburgh, printed in the year
+MDCCLXXVII. It contains various toasts and sentiments which the writer
+considered to be suitable to such occasions. Of the taste and decency of
+the companies where some of them could be made use of, the less said
+the better.
+
+I have heard also of large traditionary collections of toasts and
+sentiments, belonging to old clubs and societies, extending back above a
+century, but I have not seen any of them, and I believe my readers will
+think they have had quite enough.
+
+The favourable reaction which has taken place in regard to the whole
+system of intemperance may very fairly, in the first place, be referred
+to an improved _moral_ feeling. But other causes have also assisted; and
+it is curious to observe how the different changes in the modes of
+society bear upon one another. The alteration in the convivial habits
+which we are noticing in our own country may be partly due to alteration
+of hours. The old plan of early dining favoured a system of suppers, and
+after supper was a great time for convivial songs and sentiments. This
+of course induced drinking to a late hour. Most drinking songs imply the
+night as the season of conviviality--thus in a popular madrigal:--
+
+     "By the gaily circling glass
+      We can tell how minutes pass;
+      By the hollow cask we're told
+      How the waning _night_ grows old."
+
+And Burns thus marks the time:--
+
+     "It is the moon, I ken her horn,
+     That's blinkin' in the lift sae hie;
+     She shines sae bright, to wyle us hame,
+     But by my sooth she'll wait a wee."
+
+The young people of the present day have no idea of the state of matters
+in regard to the supper system when it was the normal condition of
+society. The late dining hours may make the social circle more formal,
+but they have been far less favourable to drinking propensities. After
+such dinners as ours are now, suppers are clearly out of the question.
+One is astonished to look back and recall the scenes to which were
+attached associations of hilarity, conviviality, and enjoyment. Drinking
+parties were protracted beyond the whole Sunday, having begun by a
+dinner on Saturday; imbecility and prostrate helplessness were a common
+result of these bright and jovial scenes; and by what perversion of
+language, or by what obliquity of sentiment, the notions of pleasure
+could be attached to scenes of such excess--to the nausea, the disgust
+of sated appetite, and the racking headache--it is not easy to explain.
+There were men of heads so hard, and of stomachs so insensible, that,
+like my friend Saunders Paul, they could stand anything in the way of
+drink. But to men in general, and to the more delicate constitutions,
+such a life must have been a cause of great misery. To a certain extent,
+and up to a certain point, wine may be a refreshment and a wholesome
+stimulant; nay, it is a medicine, and a valuable one, and as such, comes
+recommended on fitting occasions by the physician. _Beyond_ this point,
+as sanctioned and approved by nature, the use of wine is only
+degradation. Well did the sacred writer call wine, when thus taken in
+excess, "a mocker." It makes all men equal, because it makes them all
+idiotic. It allures them into a vicious indulgence, and then mocks their
+folly, by depriving them of any sense they may ever have possessed.
+
+It has, I fear, been injurious to the cause of temperance, that emotions
+of true friendship, and the outpouring of human affections, should so
+frequently be connected with the obligation that the parties should _get
+drunk together_. Drunkenness is thus made to hold too close an
+association in men's minds with some of the best and finest feelings of
+their nature.
+
+     "Friend of my soul, this goblet sip,"
+
+is the constant acknowledged strain of poetical friendship: our own
+Robert Burns calls upon the dear companion of his early happy days, with
+whom he had "paidl't i' the burn, frae mornin' sun till dine," and
+between whom "braid seas had roar'd sin auld lang syne," to commemorate
+their union of heart and spirit, and to welcome their meeting after
+years of separation, by each one joining his pint-stoup, and by each
+taking a mutual "richt guid willie-waught," in honour of the innocent
+and happy times of "auld lang syne." David marks his recognition of
+friendship by tokens of a different character--"We took sweet counsel
+together, and walked _in the house of God_ as friends."--Ps. lv. 14.
+
+Reference has already been made to Lord Hermand's opinion of drinking,
+and to the high estimation in which he held a staunch drinker, according
+to the testimony of Lord Cockburn, There is a remarkable corroboration
+of this opinion in a current anecdote which is traditionary regarding
+the same learned judge. A case of some great offence was tried before
+him, and the counsel pleaded extenuation for his client in that he was
+_drunk_ when he committed the offence. "Drunk!" exclaimed Lord Hermand,
+in great indignation; "if he could do such a thing when he was drunk,
+what might he not have done when he was _sober!_" evidently implying
+that the normal condition of human nature, and its most hopeful one, was
+a condition of intoxication.
+
+Of the prevalence of hard drinking in certain houses as a system, a
+remarkable proof is given at page 102. The following anecdote still
+further illustrates the subject, and corresponds exactly with the story
+of the "loosing the cravats," which was performed for guests in a state
+of helpless inebriety by one of the household. There had been a
+carousing party at Castle Grant, many years ago, and as the evening
+advanced towards morning two Highlanders were in attendance to carry the
+guests up stairs, it being understood that none could by any other means
+arrive at their sleeping apartments. One or two of the guests, however,
+whether from their abstinence or their superior strength of head, were
+walking up stairs, and declined the proffered assistance. The attendants
+were quite astonished, and indignantly exclaimed, "Agh, it's sare
+cheenged times at Castle Grant, when shentlemens can gang to bed on
+their ain feet."
+
+There was a practice in many Scottish houses which favoured most
+injuriously the national tendency to spirit-drinking, and that was a
+foolish and inconsiderate custom of offering a glass on all occasions as
+a mark of kindness or hospitality. I mention the custom only for the
+purpose of offering a remonstrance. It should never be done. Even now, I
+am assured, small jobs (carpenters' or blacksmiths', or such like) are
+constantly remunerated in the West Highlands of Scotland--and doubtless
+in many other parts of the country--not by a pecuniary payment, but by a
+_dram_; if the said dram be taken from a _speerit_-decanter out of the
+family press or cupboard, the compliment is esteemed the greater, and
+the offering doubly valued.
+
+A very amusing dialogue between a landlord and his tenant on this
+question of the dram has been sent to me. John Colquhoun, an aged
+Dumbartonshire tenant, is asked by his laird on Lochlomond side, to stay
+a minute till he _tastes_. "Now, John," says the laird. "Only half a
+glass, Camstraddale," meekly pleads John. "Which half?" rejoins the
+laird, "the upper or the lower?" John grins, and turns off _both_--_the
+upper and lower_ too.
+
+The upper and lower portions of the glass furnish another drinking
+anecdote. A very greedy old lady employed another John Colquhoun to cut
+the grass upon the lawn, and enjoined him to cut it very close, adding,
+as a reason for the injunction, that one inch at the bottom was worth
+two at the top. Having finished his work much to her satisfaction, the
+old lady got out the whisky-bottle and a tapering wineglass, which she
+filled about half full; John suggested that it would be better to fill
+it up, slily adding, "Fill it up, mem, for it's no like the gress; an
+inch at the tap's worth twa at the boddom."
+
+But the most whimsical anecdote connected with the subject of drink, is
+one traditionary in the south of Scotland, regarding an old Gallovidian
+lady disclaiming more drink under the following circumstances:--The old
+generation of Galloway lairds were a primitive and hospitable race, but
+their conviviality sometimes led to awkward occurrences. In former days,
+when roads were bad and wheeled vehicles almost unknown, an old laird
+was returning from a supper party, with his lady mounted behind him on
+horseback. On crossing the river Urr, at a ford at a point where it
+joins the sea, the old lady dropped off, but was not missed till her
+husband reached his door, when, of course, there was an immediate search
+made. The party who were despatched in quest of her arrived just in time
+to find her remonstrating with the advancing tide, which trickled into
+her mouth, in these words, "No anither drap; neither het nor cauld."
+
+A lady, on one occasion, offering a dram to a porter in a rather small
+glass, said, "Take it off; it will do you no harm," on which the man,
+looking at the diminutive glass, observed, "Harm! Na, gin it were
+poushon" (poison).
+
+I would now introduce, as a perfect illustration of this portion of our
+subject, two descriptions of clergymen, well known men in their day,
+which are taken from Dr. Carlyle's work, already referred to. Of Dr.
+Alexander Webster, a clergyman, and one of his contemporaries, he writes
+thus:--"Webster, leader of the high-flying party, had justly obtained
+much respect amongst the clergy, and all ranks indeed, for having
+established the Widows' Fund.... His appearance of great strictness in
+religion, to which he was bred under his father, who was a very popular
+minister of the Tolbooth Church, not acting in restraint of his
+convivial humour, he was held to be excellent company even by those of
+dissolute manners; while, being a five-bottle man, he could lay them all
+under the table. This had brought on him the nickname of Dr. Bonum
+Magnum in the time of faction. But never being indecently the worse of
+liquor, and a love of claret, to any degree, not being reckoned in those
+days a sin in Scotland, all his excesses were pardoned."
+
+Dr. Patrick Cumming, also a clergyman and a contemporary, he describes
+in the following terms:--"Dr. Patrick Cumming was, at this time (1751),
+at the head of the moderate interest, and had his temper been equal to
+his talents, might have kept it long, for he had both learning and
+sagacity, and very agreeable conversation, _with a constitution able to
+bear the conviviality of the times._"
+
+Now, of all the anecdotes and facts which I have collected, or of all
+which I have ever heard to illustrate the state of Scottish society in
+the past times, as regards its habits of intemperance, this assuredly
+surpasses them all.--Of two well-known, distinguished, and leading
+clergymen in the middle of the eighteenth century, one who had "obtained
+much respect," and "had the appearance of great strictness in religion,"
+is described as an enormous drinker of claret; the other, an able leader
+of a powerful section in the church, is described as _owing_ his
+influence to his power of meeting the conviviality of the times. Suppose
+for a moment a future biographer should write in this strain of eminent
+divines, and should apply to distinguished members of the Scottish
+Church in 1863 such description as the following:--"Dr. ---- was a man
+who took a leading part in all church affairs at this time, and was much
+looked up to by the evangelical section of the General Assembly; he
+could always carry off without difficulty his five bottles of claret.
+Dr. ---- had great influence in society, and led the opposite party in
+the General Assembly, as he could take his place in all companies, and
+drink on fair terms at the most convivial tables!!" Why, this seems to
+us so monstrous, that we can scarcely believe Dr. Carlyle's account of
+matters in his day to be possible.
+
+There is a story which illustrates, with terrible force, the power
+which drinking had obtained in Scottish social life. I have been
+deterred from bringing it forward, as too shocking for production. But
+as the story is pretty well known, and its truth vouched for on high
+authority, I venture to give it, as affording a proof that, in those
+days, no consideration, not even the most awful that affects human
+nature, could be made to outweigh the claims of a determined
+conviviality. It may, I think, be mentioned also, in the way of warning
+men generally against the hardening and demoralising effects of habitual
+drunkenness. The story is this:--At a prolonged drinking bout, one of
+the party remarked, "What gars the laird of Garskadden look sae
+gash[39]?" "Ou," says his neighbour, the laird of Kilmardinny, "deil
+meane him! Garskadden's been wi' his Maker these twa hours; I saw him
+step awa, but I didna like to disturb gude company[40]!"
+
+Before closing this subject of excess in _drinking_, I may refer to
+another indulgence in which our countrymen are generally supposed to
+partake more largely than their neighbours:--I mean snuff-taking. The
+popular southern ideas of a Scotchman and his snuff-box are inseparable.
+Smoking does not appear to have been practised more in Scotland than in
+England, and if Scotchmen are sometimes intemperate in the use of snuff,
+it is certainly a more innocent excess than intemperance in whisky. I
+recollect, amongst the common people in the north, a mode of taking
+snuff which showed a determination to make the _most_ of it, and which
+indicated somewhat of intemperance in the enjoyment; this was to receive
+it not through a pinch between the fingers, but through a quill or
+little bone ladle, which forced it up the nose. But, besides smoking and
+snuffing, I have a reminiscence of a _third_ use of tobacco, which I
+apprehend is now quite obsolete. Some of my readers will be surprised
+when I name this forgotten luxury. It was called _plugging_, and
+consisted _(horresco referens_) in poking a piece of pigtail tobacco
+right into the nostril. I remember this distinctly; and now, at a
+distance of more than sixty years, I recall my utter astonishment as a
+boy, at seeing my grand-uncle, with whom I lived in early days, put a
+thin piece of tobacco fairly up his nose. I suppose the plug acted as a
+continued stimulant on the olfactory nerve, and was, in short, like
+taking a perpetual pinch of snuff.
+
+The inveterate snuff-taker, like the dram-drinker, felt severely the
+being deprived of his accustomed stimulant, as in the following
+instance:--A severe snow-storm in the Highlands, which lasted for
+several weeks, having stopped all communication betwixt neighbouring
+hamlets, the snuff-boxes were soon reduced to their last pinch.
+Borrowing and begging from all the neighbours within reach were first
+resorted to, but when these failed, all were alike reduced to the
+longing which unwillingly-abstinent snuff-takers alone know. The
+minister of the parish was amongst the unhappy number; the craving was
+so intense that study was out of the question, and he became quite
+restless. As a last resort the beadle was despatched, through the snow,
+to a neighbouring glen, in the hope of getting a supply; but he came
+back as unsuccessful as he went. "What's to be dune, John?" was the
+minister's pathetic inquiry. John shook his head, as much as to say that
+he could not tell; but immediately thereafter started up, as if a new
+idea had occurred to him. He came back in a few minutes, crying, "Hae!"
+The minister, too eager to be scrutinising, took a long, deep pinch, and
+then said, "Whaur did you get it?" "I soupit[41] the poupit," was John's
+expressive reply. The minister's accumulated superfluous Sabbath snuff
+now came into good use.
+
+It does not appear that at this time a similar excess in _eating_
+accompanied this prevalent tendency to excess in drinking. Scottish
+tables were at that period plain and abundant, but epicurism or gluttony
+do not seem to have been handmaids to drunkenness. A humorous anecdote,
+however, of a full-eating laird, may well accompany those which
+appertain to the _drinking_ lairds.--A lady in the north having watched
+the proceedings of a guest, who ate long and largely, she ordered the
+servant to take away, as he had at last laid down his knife and fork. To
+her surprise, however, he resumed his work, and she apologised to him,
+saying, "I thought, Mr. ----, you had done."
+
+"Oh, so I had, mem; but I just fan' a doo in the _redd_ o' my plate." He
+had discovered a pigeon lurking amongst the bones and refuse of his
+plate, and could not resist finishing it.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[19] Distinguished examples of these are to be found in the Old
+Greyfriars' Church, Edinburgh, and in the Cathedral of Glasgow; to say
+nothing of the beautiful specimens in St. John's Episcopal Church,
+Edinburgh.
+
+[20] "This was a square enclosure in the Greyfriars' Churchyard, guarded
+on one side by a veteran angel without a nose, and having only one wing,
+who had the merit of having maintained his post for a century, while his
+comrade cherub, who had stood sentinel on the corresponding pedestal,
+lay a broken trunk, among the hemlock, burdock, and nettles, which grew
+in gigantic luxuriance around the walls of the mausoleum."
+
+[21] A Shetland pony.
+
+[22] The Lord's Supper.
+
+[23] Bullock.
+
+[24] Perhaps.
+
+[25] Carefully selected.
+
+[26] I recollect an old Scottish gentleman, who shared this horror,
+asking very gravely, "Were not swine forbidden under the law, and cursed
+under the gospel?"
+
+[27] Lie in a grovelling attitude. See Jamieson.
+
+[28] So pronounced in Aberdeen.
+
+[29] Implying that there was a James Third of England, Eighth of
+Scotland.
+
+[30] Old Scotch for "drink hard".
+
+[31] A friend learned in Scottish history suggests an ingenious remark,
+that this might mean more than a mere _full drinker_. To drink "fair,"
+used to imply that the person drank in the same proportion as the
+company; to drink more would be unmannerly; to drink less might imply
+some unfair motive. Either interpretation shows the importance attached
+to drinking and all that concerned it.
+
+[32] In Burt's _Letters from the North of Scotland_, written about 1730,
+similar scenes are related as occurring in Culloden House: as the
+company were disabled by drink, two servants in waiting took up the
+invalids with short poles in their chairs as they sat (if not fallen
+down), and carried them off to their beds.
+
+[33] Lord Cockburn's _Memorials of his Time_, p. 37, _et seq_.
+
+[34] May we never be cast down by adversity, or unduly elevated by
+prosperity.
+
+[35] A toast at parting or breaking up of the party.
+
+[36] Loving
+
+[37] Plenty
+
+[38] Toast for agricultural dinners
+
+[39] Ghastly.
+
+[40] The scene is described and place mentioned in Dr. Strang's account
+of Glasgow Clubs, p. 104, 2d edit.
+
+[41] Swept.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE FOURTH.
+
+ON THE OLD SCOTTISH DOMESTIC SERVANT.
+
+I come now to a subject on which a great change has taken place in this
+country during my own experience--viz. those peculiarities of
+intercourse which some years back marked the connection between masters
+and servants. In many Scottish houses a great familiarity prevailed
+between members of the family and the domestics. For this many reasons
+might have been assigned. Indeed, when we consider the simple modes of
+life, which discarded the ideas of ceremony or etiquette; the retired
+and uniform style of living, which afforded few opportunities for any
+change in the domestic arrangements; and when we add to these a free,
+unrestrained, unformal, and natural style of intercommunion, which seems
+rather a national characteristic, we need not be surprised to find in
+quiet Scottish families a sort of intercourse with old domestics which
+can hardly be looked for at a time when habits are so changed, and where
+much of the quiet eccentricity belonging to us as a national
+characteristic is almost necessarily softened down or driven out. Many
+circumstances conspired to promote familiarity with old domestics, which
+are now entirely changed. We take the case of a domestic coming early
+into service, and passing year after year in the same family. The
+servant grows up into old age and confirmed habits when the laird is
+becoming a man, a husband, father of a family. The domestic cannot
+forget the days when his master was a child, riding on his back,
+applying to him for help in difficulties about his fishing, his rabbits,
+his pony, his going to school. All the family know how attached he is;
+nobody likes to speak harshly to him. He is a privileged man. The
+faithful old servant of thirty, forty, or fifty years, if with a
+tendency to be jealous, cross, and interfering, becomes a great trouble.
+Still the relative position was the result of good feelings. If the
+familiarity sometimes became a nuisance, it was a wholesome nuisance,
+and relic of a simpler time gone by. But the case of the old servant,
+whether agreeable or troublesome, was often so fixed and established in
+the households of past days, that there was scarce a possibility of
+getting away from it. The well-known story of the answer of one of these
+domestic tyrants to the irritated master, who was making an effort to
+free himself from the thraldom, shows the idea entertained, by _one_ of
+the parties at least, of the permanency of the tenure. I am assured by a
+friend that the true edition of the story was this:--An old Mr. Erskine
+of Dun had one of these retainers, under whose language and unreasonable
+assumption he had long groaned. He had almost determined to bear it no
+longer, when, walking out with his man, on crossing a field, the master
+exclaimed, "There's a hare." Andrew looked at the place, and coolly
+replied, "What a big lee, it's a cauff." The master, quite angry now,
+plainly told the old domestic that they _must_ part. But the tried
+servant of forty years, not dreaming of the possibility of _his_
+dismissal, innocently asked, "Ay, sir; whare ye gaun? I'm sure ye're aye
+best at hame;" supposing that, if there were to be any disruption, it
+must be the master who would change the place. An example of a similar
+fixedness of tenure in an old servant was afforded in an anecdote
+related of an old coachman long in the service of a noble lady, and who
+gave all the trouble and annoyance which he conceived were the
+privileges of his position in the family. At last the lady fairly gave
+him notice to quit, and told him he must go. The only satisfaction she
+got was the quiet answer, "Na, na, my lady; I druve ye to your marriage,
+and I shall stay to drive ye to your burial." Indeed, we have heard of a
+still stronger assertion of his official position by one who met an
+order to quit his master's service by the cool reply, "Na, na; I'm no
+gangin'. If ye dinna ken whan ye've a gude servant; I ken whan I've a
+gude place."
+
+It is but fair, however, to give an anecdote in which the master and the
+servant's position was _reversed_, in regard to a wish for change:--An
+old servant of a relation of my own with an ungovernable temper, became
+at last so weary of his master's irascibility, that he declared he must
+leave, and gave as his reason the fits of anger which came on, and
+produced such great annoyance that he could not stand it any longer. His
+master, unwilling to lose him, tried to coax him by reminding him that
+the anger was soon off. "Ay," replied the other very shrewdly, "but it's
+nae suner aff than it's on again." I remember well an old servant of the
+old school, who had been fifty years domesticated in a family. Indeed I
+well remember the celebration of the half-century service completed.
+There were rich scenes with Sandy and his mistress. Let me recall you
+both to memory. Let me think of you, the kind, generous, warm-hearted
+mistress; a gentlewoman by descent and by feeling; a true friend, a
+sincere Christian. And let me think, too, of you, Sandy, an honest,
+faithful, and attached member of the family. For you were in that house
+rather as a humble friend than a servant. But out of this fifty years of
+attached service there sprang a sort of domestic relation and freedom of
+intercourse which would surprise people in these days. And yet Sandy
+knew his place. Like Corporal Trim, who, although so familiar and
+admitted to so much familiarity with my Uncle Toby, never failed in the
+respectful address--never forgot to say "your honour." At a dinner party
+Sandy was very active about changing his mistress's plate, and whipped
+it off when he saw that she had got a piece of rich pate upon it. His
+mistress, not liking such rapid movements, and at the same time knowing
+that remonstrance was in vain, exclaimed, "Hout, Sandy, I'm no dune,"
+and dabbed her fork into the "pattee" as it disappeared, to rescue a
+morsel. I remember her praise of English mutton was a great annoyance to
+the Scottish prejudices of Sandy. One day she was telling me of a
+triumph Sandy had upon that subject. The smell of the joint roasting had
+become very offensive through the house. The lady called out to Sandy to
+have the doors closed, and added, "That must be some horrid Scotch
+mutton you have got." To Sandy's delight, this was a leg of _English_
+mutton his mistress had expressly chosen; and, as she significantly told
+me, "Sandy never let that down upon me." On Deeside there existed, in my
+recollection, besides the Saunders Paul I have alluded to, a number of
+extraordinary acute and humorous Scottish characters amongst the lower
+classes. The native gentry enjoyed their humour, and hence arose a
+familiarity of intercourse which called forth many amusing scenes and
+quaint rejoinders. A celebrated character of this description bore the
+soubriquet of "Boaty," of whom I have already spoken. He had acted as
+Charon of the Dee at Banchory, and passed the boat over the river before
+there was a bridge. Boaty had many curious sayings recorded of him. When
+speaking of the gentry around, he characterised them according to their
+occupations and activity of habits--thus:--"As to Mr. Russell of
+Blackha', he just works himsell like a paid labourer; Mr. Duncan's a'
+the day fish, fish; but Sir Robert's a perfect gentleman--he does
+naething, naething." Boaty was a first-rate salmon-fisher himself, and
+was much sought after by amateurs who came to Banchory for the sake of
+the sport afforded by the beautiful Dee. He was, perhaps, a little
+spoiled, and presumed upon the indulgence and familiarity shown to him
+in the way of his craft--as, for example, he was in attendance with his
+boat on a sportsman who was both skilful and successful, for he caught
+salmon after salmon. Between each fish catching he solaced himself with
+a good pull from a flask, which he returned to his pocket, however,
+without offering to let Boaty have any participation in the refreshment.
+Boaty, partly a little professionally jealous, perhaps, at the success,
+and partly indignant at receiving less than his usual attention on such
+occasions, and seeing no prospect of amendment, deliberately pulled the
+boat to shore, shouldered the oars, rods, landing-nets, and all the
+fishing apparatus which he had provided, and set off homewards. His
+companion, far from considering his day's work to be over, and keen for
+more sport, was amazed, and peremptorily ordered him to come back. But
+all the answer made by the offended Boaty was, "Na na; them 'at drink by
+themsells may just fish by themsells."
+
+The charge these old domestics used to take of the interests of the
+family, and the cool way in which they took upon them to protect those
+interests, sometimes led to very provoking, and sometimes to very
+ludicrous, exhibitions of importance. A friend told me of a dinner scene
+illustrative of this sort of interference which had happened at Airth in
+the last generation. Mrs. Murray, of Abercairney, had been amongst the
+guests, and at dinner one of the family noticed that she was looking for
+the proper spoon to help herself with salt. The old servant, Thomas, was
+appealed to, that the want might be supplied. He did not notice the
+appeal. It was repeated in a more peremptory manner, "Thomas, Mrs.
+Murray has not a salt-spoon!" to which he replied most emphatically,
+"Last time Mrs. Murray dined here we _lost_ a salt-spoon." An old
+servant who took a similar charge of everything that went on in the
+family, having observed that his master thought that he had drunk wine
+with every lady at table, but had overlooked one, jogged his memory with
+the question, "What ails ye at her wi' the green gown?"
+
+In my own family I know a case of a very long service, and where, no
+doubt, there was much interest and attachment; but it was a case where
+the temper had not softened under the influence of years, but had rather
+assumed that form of disposition which we denominate _crusty_. My
+grand-uncle, Sir A. Ramsay, died in 1806, and left a domestic who had
+been in his service since he was ten years of age; and being at the time
+of his master's death past fifty or well on to sixty, he must have been
+more than forty years a servant in the family. From the retired life my
+grand-uncle had been leading, Jamie Layal had much of his own way, and,
+like many a domestic so situated, he did not like to be contradicted,
+and, in fact, could not bear to be found fault with. My uncle, who had
+succeeded to a part of my grand-uncle's property, succeeded also to
+Jamie Layal, and, from respect to his late master's memory and Jamie's
+own services, he took him into his house, intending him to act as house
+servant. However, this did not answer, and he was soon kept on, more
+with the form than the reality of any active duty, and took any light
+work that was going on about the house. In this capacity it was his
+daily task to feed a flock of turkeys which were growing up to maturity.
+On one occasion, my aunt having followed him in his work, and having
+observed such a waste of food that the ground was actually covered with
+grain which they could not eat, and which would soon be destroyed and
+lost, naturally remonstrated, and suggested a more reasonable and
+provident supply. But all the answer she got from the offended Jamie was
+a bitter rejoinder, "Weel, then, neist time they sall get _nane ava!_"
+On another occasion a family from a distance had called whilst my uncle
+and aunt were out of the house. Jamie came into the parlour to deliver
+the cards, or to announce that they had called. My aunt, somewhat vexed
+at not having been in the way, inquired what message Mr. and Mrs. Innes
+had left, as she had expected one. "No; no message." She returned to the
+charge, and asked again if they had not told him _anything_ he was to
+repeat. Still, "No; no message." "But did they say nothing? Are you sure
+they said nothing?" Jamie, sadly put out and offended at being thus
+interrogated, at last burst forth, "They neither said ba nor bum," and
+indignantly left the room, banging the door after him. A characteristic
+anecdote of one of these old domestics I have from a friend who was
+acquainted with the parties concerned. The old man was standing at the
+sideboard and attending to the demands of a pretty large dinner party;
+the calls made for various wants from the company became so numerous and
+frequent that the attendant got quite bewildered, and lost his patience
+and temper; at length he gave vent to his indignation in a remonstrance
+addressed to the whole company, "Cry a' thegither, that's the way to
+be served."
+
+I have two characteristic and dry Scottish answers, traditional in the
+Lothian family, supplied to me by the late excellent and highly-gifted
+Marquis. A Marquis of Lothian of a former generation observed in his
+walk two workmen very busy with a ladder to reach a bell, on which they
+next kept up a furious ringing. He asked what was the object of making
+such a din, to which the answer was, "Oh, juist, my lord to ca' the
+workmen together!" "Why, how many are there?" asked his lordship. "Ou,
+juist Sandy and me," was the quiet rejoinder. The same Lord Lothian,
+looking about the garden, directed his gardener's attention to a
+particular plum-tree, charging him to be careful of the produce of that
+tree, and send the _whole_ of it in marked, as it was of a very
+particular kind. "Ou," said the gardener, "I'll dae that, my lord;
+there's juist twa o' them."
+
+These dry answers of Newbattle servants remind us of a similar state of
+communication in a Yester domestic. Lord Tweeddale was very fond of
+dogs, and on leaving Yester for London he instructed his head keeper, a
+quaint bodie, to give him a periodical report of the kennel, and
+particulars of his favourite dogs. Among the latter was an _especial_
+one, of the true Skye breed, called "Pickle," from which soubriquet we
+may form a tolerable estimate of his qualities.
+
+It happened one day, in or about the year 1827, that poor Pickle,
+during the absence of his master, was taken unwell; and the watchful
+guardian immediately warned the Marquis of the sad fact, and of the
+progress of the disease, which lasted three days--for which he sent the
+three following laconic despatches:--
+
+     _Yester, May 1st_, 18--.
+     MY LORD,
+     Pickle's no weel.
+     Your Lordship's humble servant, etc.
+
+     _Yester, May Id_, 18--.
+     MY LORD,
+     Pickle will no do.
+     I am your Lordship's, etc.
+
+     _Tester, May 3d_, 18--.
+     MY LORD,
+     Pickle's dead.
+     I am your Lordship's, etc.
+
+I have heard of an old Forfarshire lady who, knowing the habits of her
+old and spoilt servant, when she wished a note to be taken without loss
+of time, held it open and read it over to him, saying, "There, noo,
+Andrew, ye ken a' that's in't; noo dinna stop to open it, but just send
+it aff." Of another servant, when sorely tried by an unaccustomed bustle
+and hurry, a very amusing anecdote has been recorded. His mistress, a
+woman of high rank, who had been living in much quiet and retirement for
+some time, was called upon to entertain a large party at dinner. She
+consulted with Nichol, her faithful servant, and all the arrangements
+were made for the great event. As the company were arriving, the lady
+saw Nichol running about in great agitation, and in his shirt sleeves.
+She remonstrated, and said that as the guests were coming in he must
+put on his coat, "Indeed, my lady," was his excited reply, "indeed,
+there's sae muckle rinnin' here and rinnin' there, that I'm just
+distrackit. I hae cuist'n my coat and waistcoat, and faith I dinna ken
+how lang I can thole[42] my breeks." There is often a ready wit in this
+class of character, marked by their replies. I have the following
+communicated from an ear-witness:--"Weel, Peggy," said a man to an old
+family servant, "I wonder ye're aye single yet!" "Me marry," said she,
+indignantly; "I wouldna gie my single life for a' the double anes I
+ever saw!"
+
+An old woman was exhorting a servant once about her ways. "You serve the
+deevil," said she. "Me!" said the girl; "na, na, I dinna serve the
+deevil; I serve ae single lady."
+
+A baby was out with the nurse, who walked it up and down the garden.
+"Is't a laddie or a lassie?" said the gardener. "A laddie," said the
+maid. "Weel," says he, "I'm glad o' that, for there's ower mony women in
+the world." "Hech, man," said Jess, "div ye no ken there's aye maist
+sawn o' the best crap?"
+
+The answers of servants used curiously to illustrate habits and manners
+of the time,--as the economical modes of her mistress's life were well
+touched by the lass who thus described her ways and domestic habits with
+her household: "She's vicious upo' the wark; but eh, she's vary
+mysterious o' the victualling."
+
+A country habit of making the gathering of the congregation in the
+churchyard previous to and after divine service an occasion for gossip
+and business, which I remember well, is thoroughly described in the
+following:--A lady, on hiring a servant girl in the country, told her,
+as a great indulgence, that she should have the liberty of attending the
+church every Sunday, but that she would be expected to return home
+always immediately on the conclusion of service. The lady, however,
+rather unexpectedly found a positive objection raised against this
+apparently reasonable arrangement. "Then I canna engage wi' ye, mem; for
+'deed I wadna gie the crack i' the kirk-yard for a' the sermon."
+
+There is another story which shows that a greater importance might be
+attached to the crack i' the kirk-yard than was done even by the servant
+lass mentioned above. A rather rough subject, residing in Galloway, used
+to attend church regularly, as it appeared, for the _sake_ of the crack;
+for on being taken to task for his absenting himself, he remarked,
+"There's nae need to gang to the kirk noo, for everybody gets a
+newspaper."
+
+The changes that many of us have lived to witness in this kind of
+intercourse between families and old servants is a part of a still
+greater change--the change in that modification of the feudal system,
+the attachment of clans. This, also, from transfers of property and
+extinction of old families in the Highlands, as well as from more
+general causes, is passing away; and it includes also changes in the
+intercourse between landed proprietors and cottagers, and abolition of
+harvest-homes, and such meetings. People are now more independent of
+each other, and service has become a pecuniary and not a sentimental
+question. The extreme contrast of that old-fashioned Scottish
+intercourse of families with their servants and dependants, of which I
+have given some amusing examples, is found in the modern manufactory
+system. There the service is a mere question of personal interest. One
+of our first practical engineers, and one of the first engine-makers in
+England, stated that he employed and paid handsomely on an average 1200
+workmen; but that they held so little feeling for him as their master,
+that not above half-a-dozen of the number would notice him when passing
+him, either in the works or out of work hours. Contrast this advanced
+state of dependants' indifference with the familiarity of domestic
+intercourse we have been describing!
+
+It has been suggested by my esteemed friend, Dr. W. Lindsay Alexander,
+that Scottish anecdotes deal too exclusively with the shrewd, quaint,
+and pawky _humour_ of our countrymen, and have not sufficiently
+illustrated the deep pathos and strong loving-kindness of the "kindly
+Scot,"--qualities which, however little appreciated across the Border,
+abound in Scottish poetry and Scottish life. For example, to take the
+case before us of these old retainers, although snappy and disagreeable
+to the last degree in their replies, and often most provoking in their
+ways, they were yet deeply and sincerely attached to the family where
+they had so long been domesticated; and the servant who would reply to
+her mistress's order to mend the fire by the short answer, "The fire's
+weel eneuch," would at the same time evince much interest in all that
+might assist her in sustaining the credit of her domestic economy; as,
+for example, whispering in her ear at dinner, "Press the jeelies; they
+winna keep;" and had the hour of real trial and of difficulty come to
+the family, would have gone to the death for them, and shared their
+greatest privations. Dr. Alexander gives a very interesting example of
+kindness and affectionate attachment in an old Scottish domestic of his
+own family, whose quaint and odd familiarity was charming. I give it in
+his own words:--"When I was a child there was an old servant at
+Pinkieburn, where my early days were spent, who had been all her life, I
+may say, in the house--for she came to it a child, and lived, without
+ever leaving it, till she died in it, seventy-five years of age. Her
+feeling to her old master, who was just two years younger than herself,
+was a curious compound of the deference of a servant and the familiarity
+and affection of a sister. She had known him as a boy, lad, man, and old
+man, and she seemed to have a sort of notion that without her he must be
+a very helpless being indeed. 'I aye keepit the hoose for him, whether
+he was hame or awa',' was a frequent utterance of hers; and she never
+seemed to think the intrusion even of his own nieces, who latterly lived
+with him, at all legitimate. When on her deathbed, he hobbled to her
+room with difficulty, having just got over a severe attack of gout, to
+bid her farewell. I chanced to be present, but was too young to remember
+what passed, except one thing, which probably was rather recalled to me
+afterwards than properly recollected by me. It was her last request.
+'Laird,' said she (for so she always called him, though his lairdship
+was of the smallest), 'will ye tell them to bury me whaur I'll lie
+across at your feet?' I have always thought this characteristic of the
+old Scotch servant, and as such I send it to you."
+
+And here I would introduce another story which struck me very forcibly
+as illustrating the union of the qualities referred to by Dr. Alexander.
+In the following narrative, how deep and tender a feeling is expressed
+in a brief dry sentence! I give Mr. Scott's language[43]:--"My brother
+and I were, during our High School vacation, some forty years ago, very
+much indebted to the kindness of a clever young carpenter employed in
+the machinery workshop of New Lanark Mills, near to which we were
+residing during our six weeks' holidays." It was he--Samuel Shaw, our
+dear companion--who first taught us to saw, and to plane, and to turn
+too; and who made us the bows and arrows in which we so much delighted.
+The vacation over, and our hearts very sore, but bound to Samuel Shaw
+for ever, our mother sought to place some pecuniary recompense in his
+hand at parting, for all the great kindness he had shown her boys.
+Samuel looked in her face, and gently moving her hand aside, with an
+affectionate look cast upon us, who were by, exclaimed, in a tone which
+had sorrow in it, "Noo, Mrs. Scott, _ye hae spoilt a'_." After such an
+appeal, it may be supposed no recompense, in silver or in gold, remained
+with Samuel Shaw.
+
+On the subject of the old Scottish domestic, I have to acknowledge a
+kind communication from Lord Kinloch, which I give in his Lordship's
+words:--"My father had been in the counting-house of the well-known
+David Dale, the founder of the Lanark Mills, and eminent for his
+benevolence. Mr. Dale, who it would appear was a short stout man, had a
+person in his employment named Matthew, who was permitted that
+familiarity with his master which was so characteristic of the former
+generation. One winter day Mr. Dale came into the counting-house, and
+complained that he had fallen on the ice. Matthew, who saw that his
+master was not much hurt, grinned a sarcastic smile. 'I fell all my
+length,' said Mr. Dale. 'Nae great length, sir,' said Matthew. 'Indeed,
+Matthew, ye need not laugh,' said Mr. Dale; 'I have hurt the sma' o' my
+back.' 'I wunner whaur _that_ is,' said Matthew." Indeed, specimens
+like Matthew, of serving-men of the former time, have latterly been fast
+going out, but I remember one or two such. A lady of my acquaintance had
+one named John in her house at Portobello. I remember how my modern
+ideas were offended by John's familiarity when waiting at table. "Some
+more wine, John," said his mistress. "There's some i' the bottle, mem,"
+said John. A little after, "Mend the fire, John." "The fire's weel
+eneuch, mem," replied the impracticable John. Another "John" of my
+acquaintance was in the family of Mrs. Campbell of Ardnave, mother of
+the Princess Polignac and the Hon. Mrs. Archibald Macdonald. A young
+lady visiting in the family asked John at dinner for a potato. John made
+no response. The request was repeated; when John, putting his mouth to
+her ear, said, very audibly, "There's jist twa in the dish, and they
+maun be keepit for the strangers."
+
+The following was sent me by a kind correspondent--a learned Professor
+in India--as a sample of _squabbling_ between Scottish servants. A
+mistress observing something peculiar in her maid's manner, addressed
+her, "Dear me, Tibbie, what are you so snappish about, that you go
+knocking the things as you dust them?" "Ou, mem, it's Jock." "Well, what
+has Jock been doing?" "Ou (with an indescribable, but easily imaginable
+toss of the head), he was angry at me, an' misca'd me, an' I said I was
+juist as the Lord had made me, an'----" "Well, Tibbie?" "An' he said the
+Lord could hae had little to dae whan he made me." The idea of Tibbie
+being the work of an idle moment was one, the deliciousness of which was
+not likely to be relished by the lassie.
+
+The following characteristic anecdote of a Highland servant I have
+received from the same correspondent. An English gentleman, travelling
+in the Highlands, was rather late of coming down to dinner. Donald was
+sent up stairs to intimate that all was ready. He speedily returned,
+nodding significantly, as much as to say that it was all right. "But,
+Donald," said the master, after some further trial of a hungry man's
+patience, "are ye sure ye made the gentleman understand?"
+"_Understand?_" retorted Donald (who had peeped into the room and found
+the guest engaged at his toilet), "I'se warrant ye he understands; he's
+_sharping_ his teeth,"--not supposing the tooth-brush could be for any
+other use.
+
+There have been some very amusing instances given of the matter-of-fact
+obedience paid to orders by Highland retainers when made to perform the
+ordinary duties of domestic servants; as when Mr. Campbell, a Highland
+gentleman, visiting in a country house, and telling Donald to bring
+everything out of the bedroom, found all its movable articles--fender,
+fire-irons, etc.--piled up in the lobby; so literal was the poor man's
+sense of obedience to orders! And of this he gave a still more
+extraordinary proof during his sojourn in Edinburgh, by a very ludicrous
+exploit. When the family moved into a house there, Mrs. Campbell gave
+him very particular instructions regarding visitors, explaining that
+they were to be shown into the drawing-room, and no doubt used the
+Scotticism, "_Carry_ any ladies that call up stairs." On the arrival of
+the first visitors, Donald was eager to show his strict attention to the
+mistress's orders. Two ladies came together, and Donald, seizing one in
+his arms, said to the other, "Bide ye there till I come for ye," and, in
+spite of her struggles and remonstrances, ushered the terrified visitor
+into Mrs. Campbell's presence in this unwonted fashion.
+
+Another case of _literal_ obedience to orders produced a somewhat
+startling form of message. A servant of an old maiden lady, a patient of
+Dr. Poole, formerly of Edinburgh, was under orders to go to the doctor
+every morning to report the state of her health, how she had slept,
+etc., with strict injunctions _always_ to add, "with her compliments."
+At length, one morning the girl brought this extraordinary
+message:--"Miss S----'s compliments, and she dee'd last night at
+aicht o'clock!"
+
+I recollect, in Montrose (that fruitful field for old Scottish
+stories!), a most naive reply from an honest lass, servant to old Mrs.
+_Captain_ Fullerton. A party of gentlemen had dined with Mrs. Fullerton,
+and they had a turkey for dinner. Mrs. F. proposed that one of the legs
+should be _deviled_, and the gentlemen have it served up as a relish for
+their wine. Accordingly one of the company skilled in the mystery
+prepared it with pepper, cayenne, mustard, ketchup, etc. He gave it to
+Lizzy, and told her to take it down to the kitchen, supposing, as a
+matter of course, she would know that it was to be broiled, and brought
+back in due time. But in a little while, when it was rung for, Lizzy
+very innocently replied that she had eaten it up. As it was sent back to
+the kitchen, her only idea was that it must be for herself. But on
+surprise being expressed that she had eaten what was so highly peppered
+and seasoned, she very quaintly answered, "Ou, I liket it a'
+the better."
+
+A well-known servant of the old school was John, the servant of Pitfour,
+Mr. Ferguson, M.P., himself a most eccentric character, long father of
+the House of Commons, and a great friend of Pitt. John used to
+entertain the tenants, on Pitfour's brief visits to his estate, with
+numerous anecdotes of his master and Mr. Pitt; but he always prefaced
+them with something in the style of Cardinal Wolsey's _Ego et rex
+meus_--with "Me, and Pitt, and Pitfour," went somewhere, or performed
+some exploit. The famous Duchess of Gordon once wrote a note to John
+(the name of this eccentric valet), and said, "John, put Pitfour into
+the carriage on Tuesday, and bring him up to Gordon Castle to dinner."
+After sufficiently scratching his head, and considering what he should
+do, he showed the letter to Pitfour, who smiled, and said drily, "Well,
+John, I suppose we must go."
+
+An old domestic of this class gave a capital reason to his _young_
+master for his being allowed to do as he liked:--"Ye needna find faut
+wi' me, Maister Jeems; _I hae been langer aboot the place than yersel_."
+
+It may seem ungracious to close this chapter with a communication which
+appears to convey an unfavourable impression of an old servant. But the
+truth is, real and attached domestic service does not offer its
+pleasures and advantages without some alloy of annoyance, and yet how
+much the solid benefits prevail over any occasional drawbacks!
+
+The late Rev. Mr. Leslie of St. Andrew-Lhanbryd, a parish in Morayshire,
+in describing an old servant who had been with him thirty years, said,
+"The first ten years she was an excellent servant; the second ten she
+was a good mistress; but the third ten she was a perfect tyrant."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE FIFTH.
+
+SCOTTISH JUDGES.
+
+There is no class of men which stands out more prominent in the
+reminiscences of the last hundred years than that of our SCOTTISH
+JUDGES. They form, in many instances, a type or representative of the
+leading _peculiarities_ of Scottish life and manners. They are mixed up
+with all our affairs, social and political. There are to be found in the
+annals of the bench rich examples of pure Scottish humour, the strongest
+peculiarity of Scottish phraseology, acuteness of intellect, cutting
+wit, eccentricity of manners, and abundant powers of conviviality. Their
+successors no longer furnish the same anecdotes of oddity or of
+intemperance. The Courts of the Scottish Parliament House, without
+lacking the learning or the law of those who sat there sixty years ago,
+lack not the refinement and the dignity that have long distinguished the
+Courts of Westminster Hall.
+
+Stories still exist, traditionary in society, amongst its older members,
+regarding Lords Gardenstone, Monboddo, Hermand, Newton, Polkemmet,
+Braxfield, etc. But many younger persons do not know them. It may be
+interesting to some of my readers to devote a few pages to the subject,
+and to offer some judicial gleanings[44].
+
+I have two anecdotes to show that, both in social and judicial life, a
+remarkable change must have taken place amongst the "fifteen." I am
+assured that the following scene took place at the _table_ of Lord
+Polkemmet, at a dinner party in his house. When the covers were removed,
+the dinner was seen to consist of veal broth, a roast fillet of veal,
+veal cutlets, a florentine (an excellent old Scottish dish composed of
+veal), a calf's head, calf's foot jelly. The worthy judge could not help
+observing a surprise on the countenance of his guests, and perhaps a
+simper on some; so he broke out in explanation: "Ou ay, it's a cauf;
+when we kill a beast we just eat up ae side, and down the tither." The
+expressions he used to describe his own _judicial_ preparations for the
+bench were very characteristic: "Ye see I first read a' the pleadings,
+and then, after lettin' them wamble in my wame wi' the toddy twa or
+three days, I gie my ain interlocutor." For a moment suppose such
+anecdotes to be told now of any of our high legal functionaries. Imagine
+the feelings of surprise that would be called forth were the present
+Justice-Clerk to adopt such imagery in describing the process of
+preparing _his_ legal judgment on a difficult case in his court!
+
+In regard to the wit of the Scottish _bar_.--It is a subject which I do
+not pretend to illustrate. It would require a volume for itself. One
+anecdote, however, I cannot resist, and I record it as forming a
+striking example of the class of Scottish humour which, with our
+dialect, has lost its distinctive characteristics. John Clerk
+(afterwards a judge by the title of Lord Eldin) was arguing a Scotch
+appeal case before the House of Lords. His client claimed the use of a
+mill-stream by a prescriptive right. Mr. Clerk spoke broad Scotch, and
+argued that "the _watter_ had rin that way for forty years. Indeed
+naebody kenn'd how long, and why should his client now be deprived of
+the watter?" etc. The chancellor, much amused at the pronunciation of
+the Scottish advocate, in a rather bantering tone asked him, "Mr. Clerk,
+do you spell water in Scotland with two t's?" Clerk, a little nettled at
+this hit at his national tongue, answered, "Na, my Lord, we dinna spell
+watter (making the word as short as he could) wi' twa t's, but we spell
+mainners (making the word as long as he could) wi' twa n's."
+
+John Clerk's vernacular version of the motto of the Celtic Club is
+highly characteristic of his humour and his prejudice. He had a strong
+dislike to the whole Highland race, and the motto assumed by the modern
+Celts, "Olim marte, nunc arte," Clerk translated "Formerly robbers, now
+thieves." Quite equal to Swift's celebrated remark on William III.'s
+motto--_Recepit, non rapuit_--"that the receiver was as bad as the
+thief." Very dry and pithy too was Clerk's legal _opinion_ given to a
+claimant of the Annandale peerage, who, when pressing the employment of
+some obvious forgeries, was warned that if he persevered, nae doot he
+might be a peer, but it would be a peer o' anither _tree!_
+
+The clever author of "Peter's Letters" gives an elaborate description of
+Clerk's character whilst at the bar, and speaks of him as "the plainest,
+the shrewdest, and the most sarcastic of men." Nor could he entirely
+repress these peculiarities when raised to the bench under the title of
+Lord Eldin.
+
+His defence of a young friend, who was an advocate, and had incurred
+the displeasure of the Judges, has often been repeated. Mr. Clerk had
+been called upon to offer his apologies for disrespect, or implied
+disrespect, in his manner of addressing the Bench. The advocate had
+given great offence by expressing his "_astonishment_" at something
+which had emanated from their Lordships, implying by it his disapproval.
+He got Lord Eldin, who was connected with him, to make an apology for
+him. But Clerk could not resist his humorous vein by very equivocally
+adding, "My client has expressed his astonishment, my Lords, at what he
+had met with here; if my young friend had known this court as long as I
+have, he would have been _astonished at nothing_."
+
+A kind Perthshire correspondent has sent me a characteristic anecdote,
+which has strong internal evidence of being genuine. When Clerk was
+raised to the Bench he presented his credentials to the Court, and,
+according to custom, was received by the presiding Judge--who, on this
+occasion, in a somewhat sarcastic tone, referred to the delay which had
+taken place in his reaching a position for which he had so long been
+qualified, and to which he must have long aspired. He hinted at the long
+absence of the Whig party from political power as the cause of this
+delay, which offended Clerk; and he paid it off by intimating in his
+pithy and bitter tone, which he could so well assume, that it was not of
+so much consequence--"Because," as he said, "ye see, my Lord, I was not
+juist sae sune _doited_ as some o' your Lordships."
+
+The following account of his conducting a case is also highly
+characteristic. Two individuals, the one a mason, the other a carpenter,
+both residenters in West Portsburgh, formed a copartnery, and commenced
+building houses within the boundaries of the burgh corporation. One of
+the partners was a freeman, the other not. The corporation, considering
+its rights invaded by a non-freeman exercising privileges only accorded
+to one of their body, brought an action in the Court of Session against
+the interloper, and his partner as aiding and abetting. Mr. John Clerk,
+then an advocate, was engaged for the defendants. How the cause was
+decided matters little. What was really curious in the affair was the
+naively droll manner in which the advocate for the defence opened his
+pleading before the Lord Ordinary. "My Lord," commenced John, in his
+purest Doric, at the same time pushing up his spectacles to his brow and
+hitching his gown over his shoulders, "I wad hae thocht naething o't
+(the action), had hooses been a new invention, and my clients been
+caught ouvertly impingin' on the patent richts o' the inventors!"
+
+Of Lord Gardenstone (Francis Garden) I have many early _personal_
+reminiscences, as his property of Johnstone was in the Howe of the
+Mearns, not far from my early home. He was a man of energy, and promoted
+improvements in the county with skill and practical sagacity. His
+favourite scheme was to establish a flourishing town upon his property,
+and he spared no pains or expense in promoting the importance of his
+village of Laurencekirk. He built an excellent inn, to render it a stage
+for posting. He built and endowed an Episcopal chapel for the benefit of
+his English immigrants, in the vestry of which he placed a most
+respectable library; and he encouraged manufacturers of all kinds to
+settle in the place. Amongst others, as we have seen, came the hatter
+who found only three hats in the kirk. His lordship was much taken up
+with his hotel or inn, and for which he provided a large volume for
+receiving the written contributions of travellers who frequented it. It
+was the landlady's business to present this volume to the guests, and
+ask them to write in it during the evenings whatever occurred to their
+memory or their imagination. In the mornings it was a favourite
+amusement of Lord Gardenstone to look it over. I recollect Sir Walter
+Scott being much taken with this contrivance, and his asking me about it
+at Abbotsford. His son said to him, "You should establish such a book,
+sir, at Melrose;" upon which Sir W. replied, "No, Walter; I should just
+have to see a great deal of abuse of myself." On his son deprecating
+such a result, and on his observing my surprised look, he answered,
+"Well, well, I should have to read a great deal of foolish praise, which
+is much the same thing." An amusing account is given of the cause of
+Lord Gardenstone withdrawing this volume from the hotel, and of his
+determination to submit it no more to the tender mercies of the passing
+traveller. As Professor Stuart of Aberdeen was passing an evening at the
+inn, the volume was handed to him, and he wrote in it the following
+lines, in the style of the prophecies of Thomas the Rhymer:--
+
+     "Frae sma' beginnings Rome of auld
+      Became a great imperial city;
+      'Twas peopled first, as we are tauld,
+      By bankrupts, vagabonds, banditti.
+      Quoth Thamas, Then the day may come,
+      When Laurencekirk shall equal Rome."
+
+These lines so nettled Lord Gardenstone, that the volume disappeared,
+and was never seen afterwards in the inn of Laurencekirk. There is
+another lingering reminiscence which I retain connected with the inn at
+Laurencekirk. The landlord, Mr. Cream, was a man well known throughout
+all the county, and was distinguished, in his later years, as one of the
+few men who continued to wear a _pigtail_. On one occasion the late Lord
+Dunmore (grandfather or great-grandfather of the present peer), who also
+still wore his queue, halted for a night at Laurencekirk. On the host
+leaving the room, where he had come to take orders for supper, Lord
+Dunmore turned to his valet and said, "Johnstone, do I look as like a
+fool in my pigtail as Billy Cream does?"--"Much about it, my lord," was
+the valet's imperturbable answer. "Then," said his lordship, "cut off
+mine to-morrow morning when I dress."
+
+Lord Gardenstone seemed to have had two favourite tastes: he indulged in
+the love of pigs and the love of snuff. He took a young pig as a pet,
+and it became quite tame, and followed him about like a dog. At first
+the animal shared his bed, but when, growing up to advanced swinehood,
+it became unfit for such companionship, he had it to sleep in his room,
+in which he made a comfortable couch for it of his own clothes. His
+snuff he kept not in a box, but in a leathern waist-pocket made for the
+purpose. He took it in enormous quantities, and used to say that if he
+had a dozen noses he would feed them all. Lord Gardenstone died 1793.
+
+Lord Monboddo (James Burnet, Esq. of Monboddo) is another of the
+well-known members of the Scottish Bench, who combined, with many
+eccentricities of opinion and habits, great learning and a most amiable
+disposition. From his paternal property being in the county of
+Kincardine, and Lord M. being a visitor at my father's house, and
+indeed a relation or clansman, I have many early reminiscences of
+stories which I have heard of the learned judge. His speculations
+regarding the origin of the human race have, in times past, excited much
+interest and amusement. His theory was that man emerged from a wild and
+savage condition, much resembling that of apes; that man had then a tail
+like other animals, but which by progressive civilisation and the
+constant habit of _sitting_, had become obsolete. This theory produced
+many a joke from facetious and superficial people, who had never read
+any of the arguments of the able and elaborate work, by which the
+ingenious and learned author maintained his theory[45]. Lord Kames, a
+brother judge, had his joke on it. On some occasion of their meeting,
+Lord Monboddo was for giving Lord Kames the precedency. Lord K.
+declined, and drew back, saying, "By no means, my lord; you must walk
+first, that I may _see your tail_." I recollect Lord Monboddo's coming
+to dine at Fasque caused a great excitement of interest and curiosity. I
+was in the nursery, too young to take part in the investigations; but my
+elder brothers were on the alert to watch his arrival, and get a glimpse
+of his tail. Lord M. was really a learned man, read Greek and Latin
+authors--not as a mere exercise of classical scholarship--but because he
+identified himself with their philosophical opinions, and would have
+revived Greek customs and modes of life. He used to give suppers after
+the manner of the ancients, and used to astonish his guests by the
+ancient cookery of Spartan broth, and of _mulsum_. He was an
+enthusiastical Platonist. On a visit to Oxford, he was received with
+great respect by the scholars of the University, who were much
+interested in meeting with one who had studied Plato as a pupil and
+follower. In accordance with the old custom at learned universities,
+Lord Monboddo was determined to address the Oxonians in Latin, which he
+spoke with much readiness. But they could not stand the numerous slips
+in prosody. Lord Monboddo shocked the ears of the men of Eton and of
+Winchester by dreadful false quantities--verse-making being, in
+Scotland, then quite neglected, and a matter little thought of by the
+learned judge.
+
+Lord Monboddo was considered an able lawyer, and on many occasions
+exhibited a very clear and correct judicial discernment of intricate
+cases. It was one of his peculiarities that he never sat on the bench
+with his brother judges, but always at the clerk's table. Different
+reasons for this practice have been given, but the simple fact seems to
+have been, that he was deaf, and heard better at the lower seat. His
+mode of travelling was on horseback. He scorned carriages, on the ground
+of its being unmanly to "sit in a box drawn by brutes." When he went to
+London he rode the whole way. At the same period, Mr. Barclay of Ury
+(father of the well-known Captain Barclay), when he represented
+Kincardineshire in Parliament, always _walked_ to London. He was a very
+powerful man, and could walk fifty miles a day, his usual refreshment on
+the road being a bottle of port wine, poured into a bowl, and drunk off
+at a draught. I have heard that George III. was much interested at these
+performances, and said, "I ought to be proud of my Scottish subjects,
+when my judges _ride_, and my members of Parliament _walk_ to the
+metropolis."
+
+On one occasion of his being in London, Lord Monboddo attended a trial
+in the Court of King's Bench. A cry was heard that the roof of the
+court-room was giving way, upon which judges, lawyers, and people made
+a rush to get to the door. Lord Monboddo viewed the scene from his
+corner with much composure. Being deaf and short-sighted, he knew
+nothing of the cause of the tumult. The alarm proved a false one; and on
+being asked why he had not bestirred himself to escape like the rest, he
+coolly answered that he supposed it was an _annual ceremony_, with
+which, as an alien to the English laws, he had no concern, but which he
+considered it interesting to witness as a remnant of antiquity! Lord
+Monboddo died 1799.
+
+Lord Rockville (the Hon. Alexander Gordon, third son of the Earl of
+Aberdeen) was a judge distinguished in his day by his ability and
+decorum. "He adorned the bench by the dignified manliness of his
+appearance, and polished urbanity of his manners[46]." Like most lawyers
+of his time, he took his glass freely, and a whimsical account which he
+gave, before he was advanced to the bench, of his having fallen upon his
+face, after making too free with the bottle, was commonly current at the
+time. Upon his appearing late at a convivial club with a most rueful
+expression of countenance, and on being asked what was the matter, he
+exclaimed with great solemnity, "Gentlemen, I have just met with the
+most extraordinary adventure that ever occurred to a human being. As I
+was walking along the Grassmarket, all of a sudden _the street rose up
+and struck me on the face_." He had, however, a more serious _encounter_
+with the street after he was a judge. In 1792, his foot slipped as he
+was going to the Parliament House; he broke his leg, was taken home,
+fevered, and died.
+
+Lord Braxfield (Robert M'Queen of Braxfield) was one of the judges of
+the old school, well known in his day, and might be said to possess all
+the qualities united, by which the class were remarkable. He spoke the
+broadest Scotch. He was a sound and laborious lawyer. He was fond of a
+glass of good claret, and had a great fund of good Scotch humour. He
+rose to the dignity of Justice-Clerk, and, in consequence, presided at
+many important political criminal trials about the year 1793-4, such as
+those of Muir, Palmer, Skirving, Margarot, Gerrold, etc. He conducted
+these trials with much ability and great firmness, occasionally, no
+doubt, with more appearance of severity and personal prejudice than is
+usual with the judges who in later times are called on to preside on
+similar occasions. The disturbed temper of the times and the daring
+spirit of the political offenders seemed, he thought, to call for a bold
+and fearless front on the part of the judge, and Braxfield was the man
+to show it, both on the bench and in common life. He met, however,
+sometimes with a spirit as bold as his own from the prisoners before
+him. When Skirving was on trial for sedition, he thought Braxfield was
+threatening him, and by gesture endeavouring to intimidate him;
+accordingly, he boldly addressed the Bench:--"It is altogether
+unavailing for your Lordship to menace me, for I have long learnt not to
+fear the face of man." I have observed that he adhered to the _broadest_
+Scottish dialect. "Hae ye ony coonsel, man?" he said to Maurice Margarot
+(who, I believe, was an Englishman). "No," was the reply. "Div ye want
+to hae ony appinted?" "No," replied Margarot; "I only want an
+_interpreter_ to make me understand what your Lordship says." A
+prisoner, accused of stealing some linen garments, was one day brought
+up for trial before the old judge, but was acquitted because the
+prosecutor had charged him with stealing shirts, whereas the articles
+stolen were found to be shifts--female apparel. Braxfield indignantly
+remarked that the Crown Counsel should have called them by the Scottish
+name of _sarks_, which applied to both sexes.
+
+Braxfield had much humour, and enjoyed wit in others. He was immensely
+delighted at a reply by Dr. M'Cubbin, the minister of Bothwell.
+Braxfield, when Justice-Clerk, was dining at Lord Douglas's, and
+observed there was only port upon the table. In his usual off-hand
+brusque manner, he demanded of the noble host if "there was nae claret
+i' the castle." "Yes," said Lord Douglas; "but my butler tells me it is
+not good." "Let's pree't," said Braxfield in his favourite dialect. A
+bottle was produced, and declared by all present to be quite excellent.
+"Noo, minister," said the old judge, addressing Dr. M'Cubbin, who was
+celebrated as a wit in his day, "as a _fama clamosa_ has gone forth
+against this wine, I propose that you _absolve_ it,"--playing upon the
+terms made use of in the Scottish Church Courts. "Ay, my Lord," said the
+minister, "you are first-rate authority for a case of civil or criminal
+law, but you do not quite understand our Church Court practice. We never
+absolve _till after three several appearances_." The wit and the
+condition of absolution were alike relished by the judge. Lord Braxfield
+closed a long and useful life in 1799.
+
+Of Lord Hermand we have already had occasion to speak, as in fact his
+name has become in some manner identified with that conviviality which
+marked almost as a characteristic the Scottish Bench of his time. He
+gained, however, great distinction as a judge, and was a capital lawyer.
+When at the bar, Lords Newton and Hermand were great friends, and many
+were the convivial meetings they enjoyed together. But Lord Hermand
+outlived all his old last-century contemporaries, and formed with Lord
+Balgray what we may consider the connecting links between the past and
+the present race of Scottish lawyers.
+
+Lord Kames was a keen agricultural experimentalist, and in his
+_Gentleman Farmer_ anticipated many modern improvements. He was,
+however, occasionally too sanguine. "John," said he one day to his old
+overseer, "I think we'll see the day when a man may carry out as much
+chemical manure in his waistcoat pocket as will serve for a whole
+field." "Weel," rejoined the other, "I am of opinion that if your
+lordship were to carry out the dung in your waistcoat pocket, ye might
+bring hame the crap in your greatcoat pocket."
+
+We could scarcely perhaps offer a more marked difference between habits
+_once_ tolerated on the bench and those which now distinguish the august
+seat of Senators of Justice, than by quoting, from _Kay's Portraits_,
+vol. ii. p. 278, a sally of a Lord of Session of those days, which he
+played off, when sitting as judge, upon a young friend whom he was
+determined to frighten. "A young counsel was addressing him on some not
+very important point that had arisen in the division of a common (or
+commonty, according to law phraseology), when, having made some bold
+averment, the judge exclaimed, 'That's a lee, Jemmie,' 'My lord!'
+ejaculated the amazed barrister. 'Ay, ay, Jemmie; I see by your face
+ye're leein'.' 'Indeed, my lord, I am not.' 'Dinna tell me that; it's no
+in your memorial (brief)--awa wi' you;' and, overcome with astonishment
+and vexation, the discomfited barrister left the bar. The judge
+thereupon chuckled with infinite delight; and beckoning to the clerk
+who attended on the occasion, he said, 'Are ye no Rabbie H----'s man?'
+'Yes, my lord.' 'Wasna Jemmie----leein'?' 'Oh no, my lord.' 'Ye're quite
+sure?' Oh yes.' 'Then just write out what you want, and I'll sign it; my
+faith, but I made Jemmie stare.' So the decision was dictated by the
+clerk, and duly signed by the judge, who left the bench highly diverted
+with the fright he had given his young friend." Such scenes enacted in
+court _now_ would astonish the present generation, both of lawyers and
+of suitors.
+
+We should not do justice to our Scottish Reminiscences of judges and
+lawyers, if we omitted the once celebrated Court of Session _jeu
+d'esprit_ called the "Diamond Beetle Case." This burlesque report of a
+judgment was written by George Cranstoun, advocate, who afterwards sat
+in court as judge under the title of Lord Corehouse. Cranstoun was one
+of the ablest lawyers of his time; he was a prime scholar, and a man of
+most refined taste and clear intellect. This humorous and clever
+production was printed in a former edition of these Reminiscences, and
+in a very flattering notice of the book which appeared in the _North
+British Review_, the reviewer--himself, as is well known, a
+distinguished member of the Scottish judicial bench--remarks: "We are
+glad that the whole of the 'Diamond Beetle' by Cranstoun has been given;
+for nothing can be more graphic, spirited, and ludicrous, than the
+characteristic speeches of the learned judges who deliver their opinions
+in the case of defamation." As copies of this very clever and jocose
+production are not now easily obtained, and as some of my younger
+readers may not have seen it, I have reprinted it in this edition.
+Considered in the light of a memorial of the bench, as it was known to
+a former generation, it is well worth preserving; for, as the editor of
+_Kay's Portraits_ well observes, although it is a caricature, it is
+entirely without rancour, or any feeling of a malevolent nature towards
+those whom the author represents as giving judgment in the "Diamond
+Beetle" case. And in no way could the involved phraseology of Lord
+Bannatyne, the predilection for Latin quotation of Lord Meadowbank, the
+brisk manner of Lord Hermand, the anti-Gallic feeling of Lord Craig, the
+broad dialect of Lords Polkemmet and Balmuto, and the hesitating manner
+of Lord Methven, be more admirably caricatured.
+
+     FULL COPY OF THE FINDING OF THE COURT IN
+        THE ONCE CELEBRATED "DIAMOND BEETLE
+        CASE[47]."
+
+     _Speeches taken at advising the Action of Defamation and
+        Damages,_ ALEXANDER CUNNINGHAM, _Jeweller in
+        Edinburgh, against_ JAMES EUSSELL, _Surgeon there_.
+
+     "THE LORD PRESIDENT (Sir ILAY CAMPBELL).--Your Lordships
+     have the petition of Alexander Cunningham against Lord
+     Bannatyne's interlocutor. It is a case of defamation and
+     damages for calling the petitioner's _Diamond Beetle_ an
+     _Egyptian Louse_. You have the Lord Ordinary's distinct
+     interlocutor, on pages 29 and 30 of this petition:--'Having
+     considered the Condescendence of the pursuer, Answers for the
+     defender,' and so on; 'Finds, in respect that it is not
+     alleged that the diamonds on the back of the Diamond Beetle
+     are real diamonds, or anything but shining spots, such as are
+     found on other Diamond Beetles, which likewise occur, though
+     in a smaller number, on a great number of other Beetles,
+     somewhat different from the Beetle libelled, and similar to
+     which there may be Beetles in Egypt, with shining spots on
+     their backs, which may be termed Lice there, and may be
+     different not only from the common Louse, but from the Louse
+     mentioned by Moses as one of the plagues of Egypt, which is
+     admitted to be a filthy troublesome Louse, even worse than
+     the said Louse, which is clearly different from the Louse
+     libelled. But that the other Louse is the same with, or
+     similar to, the said Beetle, which is also the same with the
+     other Beetle; and although different from the said Beetle
+     libelled, yet, as the said Beetle is similar to the other
+     Beetle, and the said Louse to the other Louse libelled; and
+     the other Louse to the other Beetle, which is the same with,
+     or similar to, the Beetle which somewhat resembles the Beetle
+     libelled; assoilzies the defender, and finds expenses due.'
+
+     "Say away, my Lords.
+
+     "LORD MEADOWBANK.--This is a very intricate and puzzling
+     question, my Lord. I have formed no decided opinion; but at
+     present I am rather inclined to think the interlocutor is
+     right, though not upon the _ratio_ assigned in it. It appears
+     to me that there are two points for consideration. _First_,
+     whether the words libelled amount to a _convicium_ against
+     the Beetle; and _Secondly_, admitting the _convicium_,
+     whether the pursuer is entitled to found upon it in this
+     action. Now, my Lords, if there be a _convicium_ at all, it
+     consists in the _comparatio_ or comparison of the
+     _Scaraboeus_ or Beetle with the Egyptian _Pediculus_ or
+     _Louse_. My first doubt regards this point, but it is not at
+     all founded on what the defender alleges, that there is no
+     such animal as an Egyptian _Pediculus_ or _Louse in rerum
+     natura_; for though it does not _actually_ exist, it may
+     _possibly_ exist (if not in _actio_, yet in _potentia_--if
+     not in actuality, yet in potentiality or capacity); and
+     whether its existence be in _esse vel posse_, is the same
+     thing to this question, provided there be _termini habiles_
+     for ascertaining what it would be if it did exist. But my
+     doubt is here:--How am I to discover what are the _essentia_
+     of any Louse, whether Egyptian or not? It is very easy to
+     describe its accidents as a naturalist would do--to say that
+     it belongs to the tribe of _Aptera_ (or, that is, a yellow,
+     little, greedy, filthy, despicable reptile), but we do not
+     learn from this what the _proprium_ of the animal is in a
+     logical sense, and still less what its _differentia_ are.
+     Now, without these it is impossible to judge whether there is
+     a _convicium_ or not; for, in a case of this kind, which
+     _sequitur naturam delicti_, we must take them _meliori
+     sensu_, and presume the _comparatio_ to be _in melioribus
+     tantum_. And here I beg that parties, and the bar in
+     general--[interrupted by Lord Hermand: _Your Lordship should
+     address yourself to the Chair_]--I say, I beg it may be
+     understood that I do not rest my opinion on the ground that
+     _veritas convicii excusat_. I am clear that although this
+     Beetle actually were an Egyptian Louse, it would accord no
+     relevant defence, provided the calling it so were a
+     _convicium_; and there my doubt lies.
+
+     "With regard to the second point, I am satisfied that the
+     _Scaraboeus_ or Beetle itself has no _persona standi in
+     judicio_; and therefore the pursuer cannot insist in the name
+     of the _Scaraboeus_, or for his behoof. If the action lie at
+     all, it must be at the instance of the pursuer himself, as
+     the _verus dominus_ of the _Scaraboeus_, for being
+     calumniated through the _convicium_ directed primarily
+     against the animal standing in that relation to him. Now,
+     abstracting from the qualification of an actual _dominium_,
+     which is not alleged, I have great doubts whether a mere
+     _convicium_ is necessarily transmitted from one object to
+     another, through the relation of a _dominium_ subsisting
+     between them; and if not necessarily transmissible, we must
+     see the principle of its actual transmission here; and that
+     has not yet been pointed out.
+
+     "LORD HERMAND.--We heard a little ago, my Lord, that there is
+     a difficulty in this case; but I have not been fortunate
+     enough, for my part, to find out where the difficulty lies.
+     Will any man presume to tell me that a Beetle is not a
+     Beetle, and that a Louse is not a Louse? I never saw the
+     petitioner's Beetle, and what's more I don't care whether I
+     ever see it or not; but I suppose it's like other Beetles,
+     and that's enough for me.
+
+     "But, my Lord, I know the other reptile well. I have seen
+     them, I have felt them, my Lord, ever since I was a child in
+     my mother's arms; and my mind tells me that nothing but the
+     deepest and blackest malice rankling in the human breast
+     could have suggested this comparison, or led any man to form
+     a thought so injurious and insulting. But, my Lord, there's
+     more here than all that--a great deal more. One could have
+     thought the defender would have gratified his spite to the
+     full by comparing the Beetle to a common Louse--an animal
+     sufficiently vile and abominable for the purpose of
+     defamation--[_Shut that door there_]--but he adds the epithet
+     _Egyptian_, and I know well what he means by that epithet. He
+     means, my Lord, a Louse that has been fattened on the head of
+     a _Gipsy or Tinker_, undisturbed by the comb or nail, and
+     unmolested in the enjoyment of its native filth. He means a
+     Louse grown to its full size, ten times larger and ten times
+     more abominable than those with which _your Lordships and I
+     are familiar_. The petitioner asks redress for the injury so
+     atrocious and so aggravated; and, as far as my voice goes, he
+     shall not ask it in vain.
+
+     "LORD CRAIG.--I am of the opinion last delivered. It appears
+     to me to be slanderous and calumnious to compare a Diamond
+     Beetle to the filthy and mischievous animal libelled. By an
+     Egyptian Louse I understand one which has been formed on the
+     head of a native Egyptian--a race of men who, after
+     degenerating for many centuries, have sunk at last into the
+     abyss of depravity, in consequence of having been subjugated
+     for a time by the French. I do not find that Turgot, or
+     Condorcet, or the rest of the economists, ever reckoned the
+     combing of the head a species of productive labour; and I
+     conclude, therefore, that wherever French principles have
+     been propagated, _Lice_ grow to an immoderate size,
+     especially in a warm climate like that of Egypt. I shall only
+     add, that we ought to be sensible of the blessings we enjoy
+     under a free and happy Constitution, where Lice and men live
+     under the restraint of equal laws the only equality that can
+     exist in a well-regulated state.
+
+     "LORD POLKEMMET.--It should be observed, my Lord, that what
+     is called a Beetle is a reptile very well known in this
+     country. I have seen mony are o' them in Drumshorlin Muir; it
+     is a little black beastie, about the size of my thoom-nail.
+     The country-folks ca' them Clocks; and I believe they ca'
+     them also Maggy-wi'-the-mony-feet; but they are not the least
+     like any Louse that ever I saw; so that, in my opinion,
+     though the defender may have made a blunder through
+     ignorance, in comparing them, there does not seem to have
+     been any _animus injuriandi_; therefore I am for refusing the
+     petition, my Lords.
+
+     "LORD BALMUTO.--'Am[48] for refusing the petition. There's
+     more Lice than Beetles in Fife. They ca' them Clocks there.
+     What they ca' a Beetle is a thing as lang as my arm; thick at
+     one end and sma' at the other. I thought, when I read the
+     petition, that the Beetle or Bittle had been the thing that
+     the women have when they are washing towels or napery
+     with--things for dadding them with; and I see the petitioner
+     is a jeweller till his trade; and I thought he had are o'
+     thae Beetles, and set it all round with diamonds; and I
+     thought it a foolish and extravagant idea; and I saw no
+     resemblance it could have to a Louse. But I find I was
+     mistaken, my Lord; and I find it only a Beetle-clock the
+     petitioner has; but my opinion's the same as it was before. I
+     say, my Lords, 'am for refusing the petition, I say--
+
+     "LORD WOODHOUSELEE.--There is a case abridged in the third
+     volume of the _Dictionary of Decisions_, Chalmers _v._
+     Douglas, in which it was found that _veritas convicii
+     excusat_, which may be rendered not literally, but in a free
+     and spirited manner, according to the most approved
+     principles of translation, 'the truth of calumny affords a
+     relevant defence.' If, therefore, it be the law of Scotland
+     (which I am clearly of opinion it is) that the truth of the
+     calumny affords a relevant defence, and if it be likewise
+     true that the Diamond Beetle is really an Egyptian Louse, I
+     am inclined to conclude (though certainly the case is
+     attended with difficulty) that the defender ought to be
+     assoilzied.--_Refuse_.
+
+     "LORD JUSTICE-CLERK (RAE).--I am very well acquainted with
+     the defender in this action, and have respect for him, and
+     esteem him likewise. I know him to be a skilful and expert
+     surgeon, and also a good man; and I would do a great deal to
+     serve him or to be of use to him, if I had it in my power to
+     do so. But I think on this occasion he has spoken rashly, and
+     I fear foolishly and improperly. I hope he had no bad
+     intention--I am sure he had not. But the petitioner (for whom
+     I have likewise a great respect, because I knew his father,
+     who was a very respectable baker in Edinburgh, and supplied
+     my family with bread, and very good bread it was, and for
+     which his accounts were regularly discharged), it seems, has
+     a Clock or a Beetle, I think it is called a Diamond Beetle,
+     which he is very fond of, and has a fancy for, and the
+     defender has compared it to a Louse, or a Bug, or a Flea, or
+     a worse thing of that kind, with a view to render it
+     despicable or ridiculous, and the petitioner so likewise, as
+     the proprietor or owner thereof. It is said that this is a
+     Louse _in fact_, and that the _veritas convicii excusat_; and
+     mention is made of a decision in the case of Chalmers _v._
+     Douglas. I have always had a great veneration for the
+     decisions of your Lordships; and I am sure will always
+     continue to have while I sit here; but that case was
+     determined by a very small majority, and I have heard your
+     Lordships mention it on various occasions, and you have
+     always desiderated the propriety of it, and I think have
+     departed from it in some instances. I remember the
+     circumstances of the case well:--Helen Chalmers lived in
+     Musselburgh, and the defender, Mrs. Douglas, lived in
+     Fisherrow; and at that time there was much intercourse
+     between the genteel inhabitants of Fisherrow, and
+     Musselburgh, and Inveresk, and likewise Newbigging; and there
+     were balls, or dances, or assemblies every fortnight, or
+     oftener, and also sometimes I believe every week; and there
+     were card-parties, assemblies once a fortnight, or oftener;
+     and the young people danced there also, and others played at
+     cards, and there were various refreshments, such as tea and
+     coffee, and butter and bread, and I believe, but I am not
+     sure, porter and negus, and likewise small beer. And it was
+     at one of these assemblies that Mrs. Douglas called Mrs.
+     Chalmers very improper names. And Mrs. Chalmers brought an
+     action of defamation before the Commissaries, and it came by
+     advocation into this Court, and your Lordships allowed a
+     proof of the _veritas convicii_, and it lasted a very long
+     time, and in the end answered no good purpose even to the
+     defender herself, while it did much hurt to the pursuer's
+     character. I am therefore for REFUSING such a proof in this
+     case, and I think the petitioner in this case and his Beetle
+     have been slandered, and the petition ought to be seen.
+
+     "LORD METHVEN.--If I understand this--a--a--a--interlocutor,
+     it is not said that the--a--a--a--a--Egyptian Lice are
+     Beetles, but that they may be, or--a--a--a--a--resemble
+     Beetles. I am therefore for sending the process to the
+     Ordinary to ascertain the fact, as I think it depends upon
+     that whether there be--a--a--a--a--_convicium_ or not. I
+     think also the petitioner should be ordained
+     to--a--a--a--produce his Beetle, and the defender an Egyptian
+     Louse or _Pediculus_, and if he has not one, that he should
+     take a diligence--a--a--a--against havers to recover Lice of
+     various kinds; and these may be remitted to Dr. Monro, or Mr.
+     Playfair, or to some other naturalist, to report upon
+     the subject.
+
+     "Agreed to."
+
+     This is clearly a Reminiscence of a bygone state of matters
+     in the Court of Session. I think every reader in our day, of
+     the once famous Beetle case, will come to the conclusion
+     that, making all due allowance for the humorous embellishment
+     of the description, and even for some exaggeration of
+     caricature, it describes what was once a real state of
+     matters, which, he will be sure, is real no more. The day of
+     Judges of the Balmuto-Hermand-Polkemmet class has passed
+     away, and is become a Scottish _Reminiscence_. Having thus
+     brought before my readers some Reminiscences of past times
+     from the Courts of Justice, let me advert to one which
+     belongs to, or was supposed to belong to, past days of our
+     Scottish universities. It is now a matter of tradition. But
+     an idea prevailed, whether correctly or incorrectly, some
+     eighty or a hundred years ago, that at northern colleges
+     degrees were regularly sold, and those who could pay the
+     price obtained them, without reference to the merits or
+     attainments of those on whom they were conferred. We have
+     heard of divers jokes being passed on those who were supposed
+     to have received such academical honours, as well as on those
+     who had given them. It is said Dr Samuel Johnson joined in
+     this sarcastic humour. But his prejudices both against
+     Scotland and Scottish literature were well known. Colman, in
+     his amusing play of the "Heir at Law," makes his Dr. Pangloss
+     ludicrously describe his receiving an LL.D. degree, on the
+     grounds of his own celebrity (as he had never seen the
+     college), and his paying the heads one pound fifteen
+     shillings and threepence three farthings as a handsome
+     compliment to them on receiving his diploma. Colman certainly
+     had studied at a northern university. But he might have gone
+     into the idea in fun. However this may be, an anecdote is
+     current in the east of Scotland, which is illustrative of
+     this real or supposed state of matters, to which we may
+     indeed apply the Italian phrase that if "non vero" it is "ben
+     trovato." The story is this:--An East Lothian minister,
+     accompanied by his man, who acted as betheral of his parish,
+     went over to a northern university to purchase his degree,
+     and on their return home he gave strict charge to his man,
+     that as now he was invested with academical honour, he was to
+     be sure to say, if any one asked for the minister, "O yes,
+     the Doctor is at home, or the Doctor is in the study, or the
+     Doctor is out, as the case might be." The man at once
+     acquiesced in the propriety of this observance on account of
+     his master's newly-acquired dignity. But he quietly added,
+     "Ay, ay, minister; an' if ony are speirs for me, the servants
+     maun be sure to say, Oh, the Doctor's in the stable, or the
+     Doctor's in the kitchen, or the Doctor's in the garden or the
+     field." "What do you mean, Dauvid?" exclaimed his astonished
+     master; "what can _you_ have to do with Doctor?" "Weel, ye
+     see, sir," said David, looking very knowing, "when ye got
+     your degree, I thought that as I had saved a little money, I
+     couldna lay it out better, as being betheral of the church,
+     than tak out a degree to mysell." The story bears upon the
+     practice, whether a real or a supposed one; and we may fairly
+     say that under such principals as Shairp, Tulloch, Campbell,
+     Barclay, who now adorn the Scottish universities, we have a
+     guarantee that such reports must continue to be Reminiscence
+     and traditional only.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[42] Bear.
+
+[43] Rev. R. Scott of Cranwell.
+
+[44] I have derived some information from a curious book, "Kay's
+Portraits," 2 vols. The work is scarcely known in England, and is
+becoming rare in Scotland. "Nothing can be more valuable in the way of
+engraved portraits than these representations of the distinguished men
+who adorned Edinburgh in the latter part of the eighteenth
+century."--_Chambers_.
+
+[45] Origin and Progress of Language.
+
+[46] Douglas' Peerage, vol. i. p. 22.
+
+[47] The version I have given of this amusing burlesque was revised by
+the late Mr. Pagan, Cupar-Fife, and corrected from his own manuscript
+copy, which he had procured from authentic sources about forty
+years ago.
+
+[48] His Lordship usually pronounced _I am_--_Aum_.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE SIXTH.
+
+ON HUMOUR PROCEEDING FROM SCOTTISH EXPRESSIONS, INCLUDING SCOTTISH
+PROVERBS.
+
+We come next to Reminiscences which are chiefly connected with
+peculiarities of our Scottish LANGUAGE, whether contained in words or in
+expressions. I am quite aware that the difference between the anecdotes
+belonging to this division and to the last division termed "Wit and
+Humour" is very indistinct, and must, in fact, in many cases, be quite
+arbitrary. Much of what we enjoy most in Scottish stories is not on
+account of wit properly so called, in the speaker, but I should say
+rather from the odd and unexpected view which is taken of some matter,
+or from the quaint and original turn of the expression made use of, or
+from the simple and matter-of-fact reference made to circumstances which
+are unusual. I shall not, therefore, be careful to preserve any strict
+line of separation between this division and the next. Each is
+conversant with what is amusing and with what is Scotch. What we have
+now chiefly to illustrate by suitable anecdotes is peculiarities of
+Scottish language--its various humorous turns and odd expressions.
+
+We have now to consider stories where words and expressions, which are
+peculiarly Scotch, impart the humour and the point. Sometimes they are
+altogether incapable of being rendered in other language. As, for
+example, a parishioner in an Ayrshire village, meeting his pastor, who
+had just returned after a considerable absence on account of ill
+health, congratulated him on his convalescence, and added, anticipatory
+of the pleasure he would have in hearing him again, "I'm unco yuckie to
+hear a blaud o' your gab." This is an untranslatable form of saying how
+glad he should be to hear his minister's voice again speaking to him the
+words of salvation and of peace from the pulpit.
+
+The two following are good examples of that Scottish style of expression
+which has its own character. They are kindly sent by Sir Archibald
+Dunbar. The first illustrates Scottish acute discernment. A certain
+titled lady, well known around her country town for her long-continued
+and extensive charities, which are not withheld from those who least
+deserve them, had a few years since, by the unexpected death of her
+brother and of his only son, become possessor of a fine estate. The news
+soon spread in the neighbourhood, and a group of old women were
+overheard in the streets of Elgin discussing the fact. One of them said,
+"Ay, she may prosper, for she has baith the prayers of the good and
+of the bad."
+
+The second anecdote is a delightful illustration of Mrs. Hamilton's
+_Cottagers of Glenburnie_, and of the old-fashioned Scottish pride in
+the _midden_. About twenty years ago, under the apprehension of cholera,
+committees of the most influential inhabitants of the county of Moray
+were formed to enforce a more complete cleansing of its towns and
+villages, and to induce the cottagers to remove their dunghills or
+dung-pits from too close a proximity to their doors or windows. One
+determined woman, on the outskirts of the town of Forres, no doubt with
+her future potato crop in view, met the M.P. who headed one of these
+committees, thus, "Noo, Major, ye may tak our lives, but ye'll no tak
+our middens."
+
+The truth is, many of the peculiarities which marked Scottish society
+departed with the disuse of the Scottish dialect in the upper ranks. I
+recollect a familiar example of this, which I may well term a
+Reminiscence. At a party assembled in a county house, the Earl of Elgin
+(grandfather of the present Earl) came up to the tea-table, where Mrs.
+Forbes of Medwyn, one of the finest examples of the past Scottish
+_lady_, was sitting, evidently much engaged with her occupation. "You
+are fond of your tea, Mrs. Forbes?" The reply was quite a characteristic
+one, and a pure reminiscence of such a place and such interlocutors;
+"'Deed, my Lord, I wadna gie my tea for your yerldom."
+
+My aunt, the late Lady Burnett of Leys, was one of the class of Scottish
+ladies I have referred to;--thoroughly a good woman and a gentlewoman,
+but in dialect quite Scottish. For example, being shocked at the sharp
+Aberdonian pronunciation adopted by her children, instead of the broader
+Forfarshire model in which she had been brought up, she thus adverted to
+their manner of calling the _floor_ of the room where they were playing:
+"What gars ye ca' it '_fleer_?' canna ye ca' it '_flure_?' But I needna
+speak; Sir Robert winna let me correc' your language."
+
+In respect of language, no doubt, a very important change has taken
+place in Scotland during the last seventy years, and which, I believe,
+influences, in a greater degree than many persons would imagine, the
+turn of thought and general modes and aspects of society. In losing the
+old racy Scottish tongue, it seems as if much originality of _character_
+was lost. I suppose at one time the two countries of England and
+Scotland were considered as almost speaking different languages, and I
+suppose also, that from the period of the union of the crowns the
+language has been assimilating. We see the process of assimilation going
+on, and ere long amongst persons of education and birth very little
+difference will be perceptible. With regard to that class, a great
+change has taken place in my own time. I recollect old Scottish ladies
+and gentlemen who really _spoke Scotch_. It was not, mark me, speaking
+English with an accent. No; it was downright Scotch. Every tone and
+every syllable was Scotch. For example, I recollect old Miss Erskine of
+Dun, a fine specimen of a real lady, and daughter of an ancient Scottish
+house, so speaking. Many people now would not understand her. She was
+always _the lady_, notwithstanding her dialect, and to none could the
+epithet vulgar be less appropriately applied. I speak of more than forty
+years ago, and yet I recollect her accost to me as well as if it were
+yesterday: "I didna ken ye were i' the toun." Taking word and accents
+together, an address how totally unlike what we now meet with in
+society. Some of the old Scottish words which we can remember are
+charming; but how strange they would sound to the ears of the present
+generation! Fancy that in walking from church, and discussing the
+sermon, a lady of rank should now express her opinion of it by the
+description of its being, "but a hummelcorn discourse." Many living
+persons can remember Angus old ladies who would say to their nieces and
+daughters, "Whatna hummeldoddie o' a mutch hae ye gotten?" meaning a
+flat and low-crowned cap. In speaking of the dryness of the soil on a
+road in Lanarkshire, a farmer said, "It stoors in an oor[49]." How would
+this be as tersely translated into English? The late Duchess of Gordon
+sat at dinner next an English gentleman who was carving, and who made it
+a boast that he was thoroughly master of the Scottish language. Her
+Grace turned to him and said, "Rax me a spaul o' that bubbly jock[50]."
+The unfortunate man was completely _nonplussed_. A Scottish gentleman
+was entertaining at his house an English cousin who professed himself as
+rather knowing in the language of the north side of the Tweed. He asked
+him what he supposed to be the meaning of the expression, "ripin the
+ribs[51]." To which he readily answered, "Oh, it describes a very fat
+man." I profess myself an out-and-out Scotchman. I have strong national
+partialities--call them if you will national prejudices. I cherish a
+great love of old Scottish language. Some of our pure Scottish ballad
+poetry is unsurpassed in any language for grace and pathos. How
+expressive, how beautiful are its phrases! You can't translate them.
+Take an example of power in a Scottish expression, to describe with
+tenderness and feeling what is in human life. Take one of our most
+familiar phrases; as thus:--We meet an old friend, we talk over bygone
+days, and remember many who were dear to us both, once bright, and
+young, and gay, of whom some remain, honoured, prosperous, and happy--of
+whom some are under a cloud of misfortune or disgrace--some are broken
+in health and spirits--some sunk into the grave; we recall old familiar
+places--old companions, pleasures, and pursuits; as Scotchmen our
+hearts are touched with these remembrances of
+
+     AULD LANG SYNE.
+
+Match me the phrase in English. You can't translate it. The fitness and
+the beauty lie in the felicity of the language. Like many happy
+expressions, it is not transferable into another tongue, just like the
+"simplex munditiis" of Horace, which describes the natural grace of
+female elegance, or the [Greek: achaexithmon gelasma] of AEschylus, which
+describes the bright sparkling of the ocean in the sun.
+
+I think the power of Scottish dialect was happily exemplified by the
+late Dr. Adam, rector of the High School of Edinburgh, in his
+translation of the Horatian expression "desipere in loco," which he
+turned by the Scotch phrase "Weel-timed daffin';" a translation,
+however, which no one but a Scotchman could appreciate. The following
+humorous Scottish translation of an old Latin aphorism has been assigned
+to the late Dr. Hill of St. Andrews: "_Qui bene cepit dimidium facti
+fecit_" the witty Principal expressed in Scotch, "Weel saipet (well
+soaped) is half shaven."
+
+What mere _English_ word could have expressed a distinction so well in
+such a case as the following? I heard once a lady in Edinburgh objecting
+to a preacher that she did not understand him. Another lady, his great
+admirer, insinuated that probably he was too "deep" for her to follow.
+But her ready answer was, "Na, na, he's no just deep, but he's
+_drumly_[52]"
+
+We have a testimony to the value of our Scottish language from a late
+illustrious Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, the force and
+authority of which no one will be disposed to question. Lord Brougham,
+in speaking of improvements upon the English language, makes these
+striking remarks:--
+
+"The pure and classical language of Scotland must on no account be
+regarded as a provincial dialect, any more than French was so regarded
+in the reign of Henry V., or Italian in that of the first Napoleon, or
+Greek under the Roman Empire. Nor is it to be in any manner of way
+considered as a corruption of the Saxon; on the contrary, it contains
+much of the old and genuine Saxon, with an intermixture from the
+Northern nations, as Danes and Norse, and some, though a small portion,
+from the Celtic. But in whatever way composed, or from whatever sources
+arising, it is a national language, used by the whole people in their
+early years, by many learned and gifted persons throughout life, and in
+which are written the laws of the Scotch, their judicial proceedings,
+their ancient history; above all, their poetry.
+
+"There can be no doubt that the English language would greatly gain by
+being enriched with a number both of words and of phrases, or turns of
+expression, now peculiar to the Scotch. It was by such a process that
+the Greek became the first of tongues, as well written as spoken....
+
+"Would it not afford means of enriching and improving the English
+language, if full and accurate glossaries of improved Scotch words and
+phrases--those successfully used by the best writers, both in prose and
+verse--were given, with distinct explanation and reference to
+authorities? This has been done in France and other countries, where
+some dictionaries accompany the English, in some cases with Scotch
+synonyms, in others with varieties of expression."--_Installation
+Address_, p. 63.
+
+The Scotch, as a people, from their more guarded and composed method of
+speaking, are not so liable to fall into that figure of speech for which
+our Irish neighbours are celebrated--usually called the Bull; some
+specimens, however, of that confusion of thought, very like a bull, have
+been recorded of Scottish interlocutors.
+
+Of this the two following examples have been sent to me by a kind
+friend.
+
+It is related of a Scottish judge (who has supplied several anecdotes of
+Scottish stories), that on going to consult a dentist, who, as is usual,
+placed him in the professional chair, and told his lordship that he must
+let him put his fingers into his mouth, he exclaimed, "Na! na! ye'll
+aiblins _bite me_."
+
+A Scottish laird, singularly enough the grandson of the learned judge
+mentioned above, when going his round to canvass for the county, at the
+time when the electors were chiefly confined to resident proprietors,
+was asked at one house where he called if he would not take some
+refreshment, hesitated, and said, "I doubt it's treating, and may be
+ca'd _bribery_."
+
+But a still more amusing specimen of this figure of speech was supplied
+by an honest Highlander, in the days of sedan chairs. For the benefit of
+my young readers I may describe the sedan chair as a comfortable little
+carriage fixed to two poles, and carried by two men, one behind and one
+before. A dowager lady of quality had gone out to dinner in one of these
+"leathern conveniences," and whilst she herself enjoyed the hospitality
+of the mansion up-stairs, her bearers were profusely entertained
+downstairs, and partook of the abundant refreshment offered to them.
+When my lady was to return, and had taken her place in the sedan, her
+bearers raised the chair, but she found no progress was made--she felt
+herself sway first to one side, then to the other, and soon came bump
+upon the ground, when Donald behind was heard shouting to Donald before
+(for the bearers of sedans were always Highlanders), "Let her down,
+Donald, man, _for she's drunk_."
+
+I cannot help thinking that a change of national language involves to
+some extent change of national character. Numerous examples of great
+power in Scottish Phraseology, to express the picturesque, the feeling,
+the wise, and the humorous, might be taken from the works of Robert
+Burns, Ferguson, or Allan Ramsay, and which lose their charms altogether
+when _unscottified_. The speaker certainly seems to take a strength and
+character from his words. We must now look for specimens of this racy
+and expressive tongue in the more retired parts of the country. It is no
+longer to be found in high places. It has disappeared from the social
+circles of our cities. I cannot, however, omit calling my reader's
+attention to a charming specimen of Scottish prose and of Scottish
+humour of our own day, contained in a little book, entitled
+"_Mystifications_" by Clementina Stirling Graham. The scenes described
+in that volume are matters of pleasing reminiscence, and to some of us
+who still remain "will recall that blithe and winning face, sagacious
+and sincere, that kindly, cheery voice, that rich and quiet laugh, that
+mingled sense and sensibility, which met, and still to our happiness
+meet, in her who, with all her gifts, never gratified her consciousness
+of these powers so as to give pain to any human being[53]." These
+words, written more than ten years ago, might have been penned
+yesterday; and those who, like myself, have had the privilege of seeing
+the authoress presiding in her beautiful mansion of Duntrune, will not
+soon forget how happy, how gracious, and how young, old age may be.
+
+     "No fears to beat away--no strife to heal;
+     The past unsighed for, and the future sure."
+
+In my early days the intercourse with the peasantry of Forfarshire,
+Kincardineshire, and especially Deeside, was most amusing--not that the
+things said were so much out of the common, as that the language in
+which they were conveyed was picturesque, and odd, and taking. And
+certainly it does appear to me that as the language grows more uniform
+and conventional, less marked and peculiar in its dialect and
+expressions, so does the character of those who speak it become so. I
+have a rich sample of Mid-Lothian Scotch from a young friend in the
+country, who describes the conversation of an old woman on the property
+as amusing her by such specimens of genuine Scottish raciness and
+humour. On one occasion, for instance, the young lady had told her
+humble friend that she was going to Ireland, and would have to undergo a
+sea voyage. "Weel, noo, ye dinna mean that! Ance I thocht to gang across
+to tither side o' the Queensferry wi' some ither folks to a fair, ye
+ken; but juist whene'er I pat my fit in the boat, the boat gae wallop,
+and my heart gae a loup, and I thocht I'd gang oot o' my judgment
+athegither; so says I, Na, na, ye gang awa by yoursells to tither side,
+and I'll bide here till sic times as ye come awa back." When we hear
+our Scottish language at home, and spoken by our own countrymen, we are
+not so much struck with any remarkable effects; but it takes a far more
+impressive character when heard amongst those who speak a different
+tongue, and when encountered in other lands. I recollect hearing the
+late Sir Robert Liston expressing this feeling in his own case. When our
+ambassador at Constantinople, some Scotchmen had been recommended to him
+for a purpose of private or of government business; and Sir Robert was
+always ready to do a kind thing for a countryman. He found them out in a
+barber's shop, waiting for being shaved in turn. One came in rather
+late, and seeing he had scarcely room at the end of the seat, addressed
+his countryman, "Neebour, wad ye sit a bit _wast_?" What strong
+associations must have been called up, by hearing in an eastern land
+such an expression in Scottish tones.
+
+We may observe here, that marking the course any person is to take, or
+the direction in which any object is to be met with, by the points of
+the compass, was a prevailing practice amongst the older Scottish race.
+There could hardly be a more ludicrous application of the test, than was
+furnished by an honest Highlander in describing the direction which his
+medicine would _not_ take. Jean Gumming of Altyre, who, in common with
+her three sisters, was a true soeur de charite, was one day taking her
+rounds as usual, visiting the poor sick, among whom there was a certain
+Donald MacQueen, who had been some time confined to his bed. Miss
+Gumming, after asking him how he felt, and finding that he was "no
+better," of course inquired if he had taken the medicine which she had
+sent him; "Troth no, me lady," he replied. "But why not, Donald?" she
+answered; "it was _very wrong_; how can you expect to get better if you
+do not help yourself with the remedies which heaven provides for you?"
+"_V_right or _V_rang," said Donald, "it wadna gang _wast_ in spite o'
+me." In all the north country, it is always said, "I'm ganging east or
+west," etc., and it happened that Donald on his sick bed was lying east
+and west, his feet pointing to the latter direction, hence his reply to
+indicate that he could not swallow the medicine!
+
+We may fancy the amusement of the officers of a regiment in the West
+Indies, at the innocent remark of a young lad who had just joined from
+Scotland. On meeting at dinner, his salutation to his Colonel was,
+"Anither het day, Cornal," as if "het days" were in Barbadoes few and
+far between, as they were in his dear old stormy cloudy Scotland. Or
+take the case of a Scottish saying, which indicated at once the dialect
+and the economical habits of a hardy and struggling race. A young
+Scotchman, who had been some time in London, met his friend recently
+come up from the north to pursue his fortune in the great metropolis. On
+discussing matters connected with their new life in London, the more
+experienced visitor remarked upon the greater _expenses_ there than in
+the retired Scottish town which they had left. "Ay," said the other,
+sighing over the reflection, "when ye get cheenge for a saxpence here,
+it's soon slippit awa'." I recollect a story of my father's which
+illustrates the force of dialect, although confined to the inflections
+of a single monosyllable. On riding home one evening, he passed a
+cottage or small farm-house, where there was a considerable assemblage
+of people, and an evident incipient merry-making for some festive
+occasion. On asking one of the lasses standing about, what it was, she
+answered, "Ou, it's just a wedding o' Jock Thamson and Janet Frazer." To
+the question, "Is the bride rich?" there was a plain quiet "Na." "Is she
+young?" a more emphatic and decided "Naa!" but to the query, "Is she
+bonny?" a most elaborate and prolonged shout of "Naaa!"
+
+It has been said that the Scottish dialect is peculiarly powerful in its
+use of _vowels_, and the following dialogue between a shopman and a
+customer has been given as a specimen. The conversation relates to a
+plaid hanging at the shop door--
+
+_Cus_. (inquiring the material), Oo? (wool?)
+
+_Shop_. Ay, oo (yes, of wool).
+
+_Cus_. A' oo? (all wool?)
+
+_Shop_. Ay, a' oo (yes, all wool).
+
+_Cus_. A' ae oo? (all same wool?)
+
+_Shop_. Ay a' ae oo (yes, all same wool).
+
+An amusing anecdote of a pithy and jocular reply, comprised in one
+syllable, is recorded of an eccentric legal Scottish functionary of the
+last century. An advocate, of whose professional qualifications he had
+formed rather a low estimate, was complaining to him of being passed
+over in a recent appointment to the bench, and expressed his sense of
+the injustice with which he had been treated. He was very indignant at
+his claims and merit being overlooked in their not choosing him for the
+new judge, adding with much acrimony, "And I can tell you they might
+have got a 'waur[54].'" To which, as if merely coming over the
+complainant's language again, the answer was a grave "Whaur[55]?" The
+merit of the impertinence was, that it sounded as if it were merely a
+repetition of his friend's last words, waur and whaur. It was as if
+"_echo_ answered whaur?" As I have said, the oddity and acuteness of
+the speaker arose from the manner of expression, not from the thing
+said. In fact, the same thing said in plain English would be mere
+commonplace. I recollect being much amused with a dialogue between a
+late excellent relative of mine and his man, the chief manager of a farm
+which he had just taken, and, I suspect in a good measure manager of the
+_farmer_ as well. At any rate he committed to this acute overseer all
+the practical details; and on the present occasion had sent him to
+market to dispose of a cow and a pony, a simple enough transaction, and
+with a simple enough result. The cow was, brought back, the pony was
+sold. But the man's description of it forms the point. "Well, John, have
+you sold the cow?" "Na, but I _grippit_ a chiel for the powny!"
+"_Grippit_" was here most expressive. Indeed, this word has a
+significance hardly expressed by any English one, and used to be very
+prevalent to indicate keen and forcible tenacity of possession; thus a
+character noted for avarice or sharp looking to self-interest was termed
+"grippy." In mechanical contrivances, anything taking a close adherence
+was called having a gude _grip_. I recollect in boyish days, when on
+Deeside taking wasp-nests, an old man looking on was sharply stung by
+one, and his description was, "Ane o' them's grippit me fine." The
+following had an indescribable piquancy, which arose from the
+_Scotticism_ of the terms and the manners. Many years ago, when
+accompanying a shooting party on the Grampians, not with a gun like the
+rest, but with a botanical box for collecting specimens of mountain
+plants, the party had got very hot, and very tired, and very cross. On
+the way home, whilst sitting down to rest, a gamekeeper sort of
+attendant, and a character in his way, said, "I wish I was in the
+dining-room of Fasque." Our good cousin the Rev. Mr. Wilson, minister
+of Farnel, who liked well a quiet shot at the grouse, rather testily
+replied, "Ye'd soon be _kickit_ out o' that;" to which the other
+replied, not at all daunted, "Weel, weel, then I wadna be far frae the
+kitchen." A quaint and characteristic reply I recollect from another
+farm-servant. My eldest brother had just been constructing a piece of
+machinery which was driven by a stream of water running through the home
+farmyard. There was a thrashing machine, a winnowing machine, and
+circular saw for splitting trees into paling, and other contrivances of
+a like kind. Observing an old man, who had long been about the place,
+looking very attentively at all that was going on, he said, "Wonderful
+things people can do now, Robby!" "Ay," said Robby; "indeed, Sir
+Alexander, I'm thinking gin Solomon were alive noo he'd be thocht
+naething o'!"
+
+The two following derive their force entirely from the Scottish turn of
+the expressions. Translated into English, they would lose all point--at
+least, much of the point which they now have:--
+
+At the sale of an antiquarian gentleman's effects in Roxburghshire,
+which Sir Walter Scott happened to attend, there was one little article,
+a Roman _patina_, which occasioned a good deal of competition, and was
+eventually knocked down to the distinguished baronet at a high price.
+Sir Walter was excessively amused during the time of bidding to observe
+how much it excited the astonishment of an old woman, who had evidently
+come there to buy culinary utensils on a more economical principle. "If
+the parritch-pan," she at last burst out--"If the parritch-pan gangs at
+that, what will the kail-pat gang for?"
+
+An ancestor of Sir Walter Scott joined the Stuart Prince in 1715, and,
+with his brother, was engaged in that unfortunate adventure which ended
+in a skirmish and captivity at Preston. It was the fashion of those
+times for all persons of the rank of gentlemen to wear scarlet
+waistcoats. A ball had struck one of the brothers, and carried part of
+this dress into his body, and in this condition he was taken prisoner
+with a number of his companions, and stripped, as was too often the
+practice in those remorseless wars. Thus wounded, and nearly naked,
+having only a shirt on, and an old sack about him, the ancestor of the
+great poet was sitting, along with his brother and a hundred and fifty
+unfortunate gentlemen, in a granary at Preston. The wounded man fell
+sick, as the story goes, and vomited the scarlet cloth which the ball
+had passed into the wound. "O man, Wattie," cried his brother, "if you
+have a wardrobe in your wame, I wish you would vomit me a pair o'
+breeks." But, after all, it was amongst the old ladies that the great
+abundance of choice pungent Scottish expressions, such as you certainly
+do not meet with in these days, was to be sought. In their position of
+society, education either in England, or education conducted by English
+teachers, has so spread in Scottish families, and intercourse with the
+south has been so increased, that all these colloquial peculiarities are
+fast disappearing. Some of the ladies of this older school felt some
+indignation at the change which they lived to see was fast going on. One
+of them being asked if an individual whom she had lately seen was
+"Scotch," answered with some bitterness, "I canna say; ye a' speak sae
+_genteel_ now that I dinna ken wha's Scotch." It was not uncommon to
+find, in young persons, examples, some years ago, of an attachment to
+the Scottish dialect, like that of the old lady. In the life of P.
+Tytler, lately published, there is an account of his first return to
+Scotland from a school in England. His family were delighted with his
+appearance, manners, and general improvement; but a sister did not share
+this pleasure unmixed, for being found in tears, and the remark being
+made, "Is he not charming?" her reply was, in great distress, "Oh yes,
+but he speaks English!"
+
+The class of old Scottish ladies, marked by so many peculiarities,
+generally lived in provincial towns, and never dreamt of going from
+home. Many had never been in London, or had even crossed the Tweed. But
+as Lord Cockburn's experience goes back further than mine, and as he had
+special opportunities of being acquainted with their characteristic
+peculiarities, I will quote his animated description at page 57 of his
+_Memorials_. "There was a singular race of old Scotch ladies. They were
+a delightful set--strong-headed, warm-hearted, and high-spirited--merry
+even in solitude; very resolute; indifferent about the modes and habits
+of the modern world, and adhering to their own ways, so as to stand out
+like primitive rocks above ordinary society. Their prominent qualities
+of sense, humour, affection, and spirit, were embodied in curious
+outsides, for they all dressed, and spoke, and did exactly as they
+chose. Their language, like their habits, entirely Scotch, but without
+any other vulgarity than what perfect naturalness is sometimes
+mistaken for[56]."
+
+This is a masterly description of a race now all but passed away. I have
+known several of them in my early days; and amongst them we must look
+for the racy Scottish peculiarities of diction and of expression which,
+with them, are also nearly gone. Lord Cockburn has given some
+illustrations of these peculiarities; and I have heard others,
+especially connected with Jacobite partialities, of which I say nothing,
+as they are in fact rather _strong_ for such a work as this. One,
+however, I heard lately as coming from a Forfarshire old lady of this
+class, which bears upon the point of "resolute" determination referred
+to in the learned judge's description. She had been very positive in the
+disclaiming of some assertion which had been attributed to her, and on
+being asked if she had not written it, or something very like it, she
+replied, "Na, na; I never _write_ onything of consequence--I may deny
+what I say, but I canna deny what I write."
+
+Mrs. Baird of Newbyth, the mother of our distinguished countryman the
+late General Sir David Baird, was always spoken of as a grand specimen
+of the class. When the news arrived from India of the gallant but
+unfortunate action of '84 against Hyder Ali, in which her son, then
+Captain Baird, was engaged, it was stated that he and other officers had
+been taken prisoners and chained together two and two. The friends were
+careful in breaking such sad intelligence to the mother of Captain
+Baird. When, however, she was made fully to understand the position of
+her son and his gallant companions, disdaining all weak and useless
+expressions of her own grief, and knowing well the restless and athletic
+habits of her son, all she said was, "Lord pity the chiel that's chained
+to our Davie!"
+
+It is only due to the memory of "our Davie," however, to add that the
+"chiel" to whom he was chained, had, in writing home to his friends,
+borne the highest testimony to the kindness and consideration of Captain
+Baird, which he exercised towards him in this uncomfortable alliance.
+General Baird was a first-rate officer, and a fine noble character. He
+left home for active service so soon (before he was fifteen) that his
+education had necessarily been very imperfect. This deficiency he had
+always himself through life deeply regretted. A military friend, and
+great admirer of Sir David, used jocularly to tell a story of him--that
+having finished the despatch which must carry home the news of his great
+action, the capture of Seringapatam, as he was preparing to sign it in
+great form, he deliberately took off his coat. "Why do you take off your
+coat?" said his friend. To which the General quietly answered, "Oh, it's
+to turn the muckle D in Dauvid."
+
+The ladies of this class had certainly no affectation in speaking of
+those who came under their displeasure, even when life and death were
+concerned. I had an anecdote illustrative of this characteristic in a
+well-known old lady of the last century, Miss Johnstone of Westerhall.
+She had been extremely indignant that, on the death of her brother, his
+widow had proposed to sell off the old furniture of Westerhall. She was
+attached to it from old associations, and considered the parting with it
+little short of sacrilege. The event was, however, arrested by death,
+or, as she describes the result, "The furniture was a' to be roupit, and
+we couldna persuade her. But before the sale cam on, in God's gude
+providence she just clinkit aff hersell." Of this same Miss Johnstone
+another characteristic anecdote has been preserved in the family. She
+came into possession of Hawkhill, near Edinburgh, and died there. When
+dying, a tremendous storm of rain and thunder came on, so as to shake
+the house. In her own quaint eccentric spirit, and with no thought of
+profane or light allusions, she looked up, and, listening to the storm,
+quietly remarked, in reference to her departure, "Ech, sirs! what a
+nicht for me to be fleein' through the air!" Of fine acute sarcasm I
+recollect hearing an expression from a _modern_ sample of the class, a
+charming character, but only to a certain degree answering to the
+description of the _older_ generation. Conversation turning, and with
+just indignation, on the infidel remarks which had been heard from a
+certain individual, and on his irreverent treatment of Holy Scripture,
+all that this lady condescended to say of him was, "Gey impudent of
+him, I think."
+
+A recorded reply of old Lady Perth to a French gentleman is quaint and
+characteristic. They had been discussing the respective merits of the
+cookery of each country. The Frenchman offended the old Scottish peeress
+by some disparaging remarks on Scottish dishes, and by highly preferring
+those of France. All she would answer was, "Weel, weel, some fowk like
+parritch and some like paddocks[57]."
+
+Of this older race--the ladies who were, aged, fifty years ago--no
+description could be given in bolder or stronger outline than that which
+I have quoted from Lord Cockburn. I would pretend to nothing more than
+giving a few further illustrative details from my own experience, which
+may assist the representation by adding some practical realities to
+the picture.
+
+Several of them whom I knew in my early days certainly answered to many
+of the terms made use of by his lordship. Their language and expressions
+had a zest and peculiarity which are gone, and which would not, I fear,
+do for modern life and times.
+
+I have spoken of Miss Erskine of Dun, which is near Montrose. She,
+however, resided in Edinburgh. But those I knew best had lived many
+years in the then retired society of a country town. Some were my own
+relations; and in boyish days (for they had not generally much patience
+with boys) were looked up to with considerable awe as very formidable
+personages. Their characters and modes of expression in many respects
+remarkably corresponded with Lord Cockburn's idea of the race. There was
+a dry Scottish humour which we fear their successors do not inherit. One
+of these Montrose ladies, Miss Nelly Fullerton, had many anecdotes told
+of her quaint ways and sayings. Walking in the street one day, slippery
+from frost, she fairly fell down. A young officer with much politeness
+came forward and picked her up, earnestly asking her at the same time,
+"I hope ma'am, you are no worse?" to which she very drily answered,
+looking at him very steadily, "'Deed, sir, I'm just as little the
+better." A few days after, she met her military supporter in a shop. He
+was a fine tall youth, upwards of six feet high, and by way of making
+some grateful recognition for his late polite attention, she eyed him
+from head to foot, and as she was of the opinion of the old Scotch lady
+who declared she "aye liked bonny fowk," she viewed her young friend
+with much satisfaction, but which she only evinced by the quaint remark,
+"Od, ye're a lang lad; God gie ye grace."
+
+I had from a relative or intimate friend of two sisters of this school,
+well known about Glasgow, an odd account of what it seems, from their
+own statement, had passed between them at a country house, where they
+had attended a sale by auction. As the business of the day went on, a
+dozen of silver spoons had to be disposed of; and before they were put
+up for competition, they were, according to the usual custom, handed
+round for inspection to the company. When returned into the hands of
+the auctioneer, he found only eleven. In great wrath, he ordered the
+door to be shut, that no one might escape, and insisted on every one
+present being searched to discover the delinquent. One of the sisters,
+in consternation, whispered to the other, "Esther, ye hae nae gotten the
+spune?" to which she replied, "Na; but I hae gotten Mrs. Siddons in my
+pocket." She had been struck by a miniature of the great actress, and
+had quietly pocketed it. The cautious reply of the sister was, "Then
+just drop her, Esther." One of the sisterhood, a connection of my own,
+had much of this dry Scottish humour. She had a lodging in the house of
+a respectable grocer; and on her niece most innocently asking, "if she
+was not very fond of her landlord," in reference to the excellence of
+her apartments and the attention he paid to her comfort, she demurred to
+the question on the score of its propriety, by replying, "Fond of my
+landlord! that would be an _unaccountable_ fondness."
+
+An amusing account was given of an interview and conversation between
+this lady and the provost of Montrose. She had demurred at paying some
+municipal tax with which she had been charged, and the provost, anxious
+to prevent her getting into difficulty on the subject, kindly called to
+convince her of the fairness of the claim, and the necessity of paying
+it. In his explanation he referred back to his own bachelor days when a
+similar payment had been required from him. "I assure you, ma'am," he
+said, "when I was in your situation I was called upon in a similar way
+for this tax;" to which she replied, in quiet scorn, "In my situation!
+an' whan were ye in my situation?--an' auld maid leevin' in a flat wi'
+an ae lass." But the complaints of such imposts were urged in a very
+humorous manner by another Montrose old lady, Miss Helen Carnegy of
+Craigo; she hated paying taxes, and always pretended to misunderstand
+their nature. One day, receiving a notice of such payment signed by the
+provost (Thorn), she broke out: "I dinna understand thae taxes; but I
+just think that when Mrs. Thorn wants a new gown, the provost sends me a
+tax paper!" The good lady's naive rejection of the idea that she could
+be in any sense "fond of her landlord," already referred to, was
+somewhat in unison with a similar feeling recorded to have been
+expressed by the late Mr. Wilson, the celebrated Scottish vocalist. He
+was taking lessons from the late Mr. Finlay Dun, one of the most
+accomplished musicians of the day. Mr. Dun had just returned from Italy,
+and, impressed with admiration of the deep pathos, sentiment, and
+passion of the Italian school of music, he regretted to find in his
+pupil so lovely a voice and so much talent losing much of its effect for
+want of feeling. Anxious, therefore, to throw into his friend's
+performance something of the Italian expression, he proposed to bring it
+out by this suggestion: "Now, Mr. Wilson, just suppose that I am your
+lady love, and sing to me as you could imagine yourself doing were you
+desirous of impressing her with your earnestness and affection." Poor
+Mr. Wilson hesitated, blushed, and, under doubt how far such a
+personification even in his case was allowable, at last remonstrated,
+"Ay, Mr. Dun, ye forget I'm a married man!" A case has been reported of
+a country girl, however, who thought it possible there might be an
+excess in such scrupulous regard to appearances. On her marriage-day,
+the youth to whom she was about to be united said to her in a triumphant
+tone, "Weel, Jenny, haven't I been unco ceevil?" alluding to the fact
+that during their whole courtship he had never even given her a kiss.
+Her quiet reply was, "Ou, ay, man; _senselessly_ ceevil."
+
+One of these Montrose ladies and a sister lived together; and in a very
+quiet way they were in the habit of giving little dinner-parties, to
+which occasionally they invited their gentlemen friends. However,
+gentlemen were not always to be had; and on one occasion, when such a
+difficulty had occurred, they were talking over the matter with a
+friend. The one lady seemed to consider such an acquisition almost
+essential to the having a dinner at all. The other, who did not see the
+same necessity, quietly adding, "But, indeed, oor Jean thinks a man
+_perfect salvation_."
+
+Very much of the same class of remarks was the following sly observation
+of one of the sisterhood. At a well-known tea-table in a country town in
+Forfarshire, the events of the day, grave and gay, had been fully
+discussed by the assembled sisterhood. The occasion was improved by an
+elderly spinster, as follows:--"Weel, weel, sirs, these are solemn
+events--death and marriage--but ye ken they're what we must a' come
+till." "Eh, Miss Jeany! ye have been lang spared," was the arch reply of
+a younger member.
+
+There was occasionally a pawky semi-sarcastic humour in the replies of
+some of the ladies we speak of, that was quite irresistible, of which I
+have from a friend a good illustration in an anecdote well known at the
+time. A late well-known member of the Scottish bar, when a youth, was
+somewhat of a dandy, and, I suppose, somewhat short and sharp in his
+temper. He was going to pay a visit in the country, and was making a
+great fuss about his preparing and putting up his habiliments. His old
+aunt was much annoyed at all this bustle, and stopped him by the
+somewhat contemptuous question, "Whar's this you're gaun, Bobby, that
+ye mak sic a grand wark about yer claes?" The young man lost temper, and
+pettishly replied, "I'm going to the devil." "'Deed, Robby, then," was
+the quiet answer, "ye needna be sae nice, he'll juist tak' ye as
+ye are."
+
+Ladies of this class had a quiet mode of expressing themselves on very
+serious subjects, which indicated their quaint power of description,
+rather than their want of feeling. Thus, of two sisters, when one had
+died, it was supposed that she had injured herself by an imprudent
+indulgence in strawberries and cream, of which she had partaken in the
+country. A friend was condoling with the surviving sister, and,
+expressing her sorrow, had added, "I had hoped your sister was to live
+many years." To which her relative replied--"Leeve! hoo could she leeve?
+she juist felled[58] hersell at Craigo wi' straeberries and 'ream!"
+However, she spoke with the same degree of coolness of her own decease.
+For when her friend was comforting her in illness, by the hopes that she
+would, after winter, enjoy again some of their country spring butter,
+she exclaimed, without the slightest idea of being guilty of any
+irreverence, "Spring butter! by that time I shall be buttering in
+heaven." When really dying, and when friends were round her bed she
+overheard one of them saying to another, "Her face has lost its colour;
+it grows like a sheet of paper." The quaint spirit even then broke out
+in the remark, "Then I'm sure it maun be _broon_ paper." A very
+strong-minded lady of the class, and, in Lord Cockburn's language,
+"indifferent about modes and habits[59]," had been asking from a lady
+the character of a cook she was about to hire. The lady naturally
+entered a little upon her moral qualifications, and described her as a
+very decent woman; the response to which was, "Oh, d--n her decency; can
+she make good collops?"--an answer which would somewhat surprise a lady
+of Moray Place now, if engaged in a similar discussion of a
+servant's merits.
+
+The Rev. Dr. Cook of Haddington supplies an excellent anecdote, of which
+the point is in the dry Scottish answer: An old lady of the Doctor's
+acquaintance, about seventy, sent for her medical attendant to consult
+him about a sore throat, which had troubled her for some days. Her
+medical man was ushered into her room, decked out with the now
+prevailing fashion, a mustache and flowing beard. The old lady, after
+exchanging the usual civilities, described her complaint to the worthy
+son of AEsculapius. "Well," says he, "do you know, Mrs. Macfarlane, I
+used to be much affected with the very same kind of sore throat, but
+ever since I allowed my mustache and beard to grow, I have never been
+troubled with it." "Aweel, aweel," said the old lady drily, "that may be
+the case, but ye maun prescribe some other method for me to get quit o'
+the sair throat; for ye ken, doctor, I canna adopt _that_ cure."
+
+Then how quaint the answer of old Mrs. Robison, widow of the eminent
+professor of natural philosophy, and who entertained an inveterate
+dislike to everything which she thought savoured of _cant_. She had
+invited a gentleman to dinner on a particular day, and he had accepted,
+with the reservation, "If I am spared."--"Weel, weel," said Mrs.
+Robison; "if ye're deed, I'll no expect ye."
+
+I had two grand-aunts living at Montrose at that time--two Miss Ramsays
+of Balmain. They were somewhat of the severe class---Nelly especially,
+who was an object rather of awe than of affection. She certainly had a
+very awful appearance to young apprehensions, from the strangeness of
+her headgear. Ladies of this class Lord Cockburn has spoken of as
+"having their peculiarities embodied in curious outsides, as they
+dressed, spoke, and did exactly as they chose." As a sample of such
+"curious outside and dress," my good aunt used to go about the house
+with an immense pillow strapped over her head--warm but formidable.
+These two maiden grand-aunts had invited their niece to pay them a
+visit--an aunt of mine, who had made what they considered a very
+imprudent marriage, and where considerable pecuniary privations were too
+likely to accompany the step she had taken. The poor niece had to bear
+many a taunt directed against her improvident union, as for
+example:--One day she had asked for a piece of tape for some work she
+had in hand as a young wife expecting to become a mother. Miss Nelly
+said, with much point, "Ay, Kitty, ye shall get a bit knittin' (_i.e._ a
+bit of tape). We hae a'thing; we're no married." It was this lady who,
+by an inadvertent use of a term, showed what was passing in her mind in
+a way which must have been quite transparent to the bystanders. At a
+supper which she was giving, she was evidently much annoyed at the
+reckless and clumsy manner in which a gentleman was operating upon a ham
+which was at table, cutting out great lumps, and distributing them to
+the company. The lady said, in a very querulous tone, "Oh, Mr. _Divot_,
+will you help Mrs. So and So?"--divot being a provincial term for a turf
+or sod cut out of the green, and the resemblance of it to the pieces
+carved out by the gentleman evidently having taken possession of her
+imagination. Mrs. Helen Carnegy of Craigo, already mentioned, was a
+thorough specimen of this class. She lived in Montrose, and died in
+1818, at the advanced age of ninety-one. She was a Jacobite, and very
+aristocratic in her feelings, but on social terms with many burghers of
+Montrose, or Munross as it was called. She preserved a very nice
+distinction of addresses, suited to the different individuals in the
+town, according as she placed them in the scale of her consideration.
+She liked a party at quadrille, and sent out her servant every morning
+to invite the ladies required to make up the game, and her directions
+were graduated thus:--"Nelly, ye'll ging to Lady Carnegy's, and mak my
+compliments, and ask the _honour_ of her ladyship's company, and that of
+the Miss Carnegys, to tea this evening; and if they canna come, ging to
+the Miss Mudies, and ask the _pleasure_ of their company; and if they
+canna come, ye may ging to Miss Hunter and ask the _favour_ of her
+company and if she canna come, ging to Lucky Spark and _bid her come_."
+
+A great confusion existed in the minds of some of those old-fashioned
+ladies on the subject of modern inventions and usages. A Montrose old
+lady protested against the use of steam-vessels, as counteracting the
+decrees of Providence in going against wind and tide, vehemently
+asserting, "I would hae naething to say to thae _im-pious_ vessels."
+Another lady was equally discomposed by the introduction of gas, asking,
+with much earnestness, "What's to become o' the puir whales'?" deeming
+their interests materially affected by this superseding of their oil. A
+lady of this class, who had long lived in country retirement, coming up
+to Edinburgh, was, after an absence of many years, going along Princes
+Street about the time when the water-carts were introduced for
+preventing the dust, and seeing one of them passing, rushed from off the
+pavement to the driver, saying, "Man, ye're _skailin'_ a' the water."
+Such being her ignorance of modern improvements.
+
+There used to be a point and originality in expressions made use of in
+regard to common matters, unlike what one finds now; for example: A
+country minister had been invited, with his wife, to dine and spend the
+night at the house of one of his lairds. Their host was very proud of
+one of the very large beds which had just come into fashion, and in the
+morning asked the lady how she had slept in it. "Oh, vary well, sir;
+but, indeed, I thought I'd lost the minister athegither."
+
+Nothing, however, in my opinion, comes up to the originality and point
+of the Montrose old maiden lady's most "exquisite reason" for not
+subscribing to the proposed fund for organising a volunteer corps in
+that town. It was at the time of expected invasion at the beginning of
+the century, and some of the town magistrates called upon her and
+solicited her subscription to raise men for the service of the
+king--"Indeed," she answered right sturdily, "I'll dae nae sic thing; I
+ne'er could raise a man _for mysell_, and I'm no ga'in to raise men for
+King George."
+
+Some curious stories are told of ladies of this class, as connected with
+the novelties and excitement of railway travelling. Missing their
+luggage, or finding that something has gone wrong about it, often causes
+very terrible distress, and might be amusing, were it not to the
+sufferer so severe a calamity. I was much entertained with the
+earnestness of this feeling, and the expression of it from an old Scotch
+lady whose box was not forthcoming at the station where she was to
+stop. When urged to be patient, her indignant exclamation was--"I can
+bear ony pairtings that may be ca'ed for in God's providence; but I
+_canna stan' pairtin' frae my claes_."
+
+The following anecdote from the west exhibits a curious confusion of
+ideas arising from the old-fashioned prejudice against Frenchmen and
+their language, which existed in the last generation. During the long
+French war, two old ladies in Stranraer were going to the kirk; the one
+said to the other, "Was it no a wonderfu' thing that the Breetish were
+aye victorious ower the French in battle?" "Not a bit," said the other
+old lady; "dinna ye ken the Breetish aye say their prayers before ga'in
+into battle?" The other replied, "But canna the French say their prayers
+as weel?" The reply was most characteristic, "Hoot! jabbering bodies,
+wha could _understan'_ them?"
+
+Some of these ladies, as belonging to the old county families, had very
+high notions of their own importance, and a great idea of their
+difference from the burgher families of the town. I am assured of the
+truth of the following naive specimen of such family pride:--One of the
+olden maiden ladies of Montrose called one day on some ladies of one of
+the families in the neighbourhood, and on being questioned as to the
+news of the town, said, "News! oh, Bailie----'s eldest son is to be
+married." "And pray," was the reply, "and pray, Miss ----, an' fa' ever
+heard o' a merchant i' the toon o' Montrose _ha'in_ an _eldest son_?"
+The good lady thought that any privilege of primogeniture belonged only
+to the family of _laird_.
+
+It is a dangerous experiment to try passing off ungrounded claims upon
+characters of this description. Many a clever sarcastic reply is on
+record from Scottish ladies, directed against those who wished to
+impose upon them some false sentiment. I often think of the remark of
+the outspoken ancient lady, who, when told by her pastor, of whose
+disinterestedness in his charge she was not quite sure, that he "had a
+call from his Lord and Master to go," replied--"'Deed, sir, the Lord
+micht hae ca'ed and ca'ed to ye lang eneuch to Ouchtertoul (a very small
+stipend), and ye'd ne'er hae letten on that ye heard him."
+
+At the beginning of this century, when the fear of invasion was rife, it
+was proposed to mount a small battery at the water-mouth by
+subscription, and Miss Carnegy was waited on by a deputation from the
+town-council. One of them having addressed her on the subject, she heard
+him with some impatience, and when he had finished, she said, "Are ye
+ane o' the toon-cooncil." He replied, "I have that honour, ma'am." To
+which she rejoined, "Ye may hae that _profit_, but honour ye hae nane;"
+and then to the point, she added, "But I've been tell't that ae day's
+wark o' twa or three men wad mount the cannon, and that it may be a'
+dune for twenty shillings; now there's twa punds to ye." The councillor
+pocketed the money and withdrew. On one occasion, as she sat in an easy
+chair, having assumed the habits and privileges of age, Mr. Mollison,
+the minister of the Established Kirk, called on her to solicit for some
+charity. She did not like being asked for money, and, from her Jacobite
+principles, she certainly did not respect the Presbyterian Kirk. When he
+came in she made an inclination of the head, and he said, "Don't get up,
+madam." She replied, "Get up! I wadna rise out o' my chair for King
+George himsell, let abee a whig minister."
+
+This was plain speaking enough, but there is something quite inimitable
+in the matter-of-factness of the following story of an advertisement,
+which may tend to illustrate the Antiquary's remark to Mrs. Macleuchar,
+anent the starting of a coach or fly to Queensferry. A carrier, who
+plied his trade between Aberdeen and a village considerably to the north
+of it, was asked by one of the villagers, "Fan are ye gaen to the toon"
+(Aberdeen). To which he replied, "I'll be in on Monanday, God willin'
+and weather permitting an' on Tiseday, _fither or no_."
+
+It is a curious subject the various shades of Scottish dialect and
+Scottish expressions, commonly called Scotticisms. We mark in the course
+of fifty years how some disappear altogether; others become more and
+more rare, and of all of them we may say, I think, that the specimens of
+them are to be looked for every year more in the descending classes of
+society. What was common amongst peers, judges, lairds, advocates, and
+people of family and education, is now found in humbler ranks of life.
+There are few persons perhaps who have been born in Scotland, and who
+have lived long in Scotland, whom a nice southern ear might not detect
+as from the north. But far beyond such nicer shades of distinction,
+there are strong and characteristic marks of a Caledonian origin, with
+which some of us have had practical acquaintance. I possess two curious,
+and now, I believe, rather scarce, publications on the prevalent
+Scotticisms of our speaking and writing. One is entitled "Scotticisms
+designed to Correct Improprieties of Speech and Writing," by Dr. Beattie
+of Aberdeen. The other is to the same purpose, and is entitled,
+"Observations on the Scottish Dialect," by the late Right Honourable Sir
+John Sinclair. Expressions which were common in their days, and used by
+persons of all ranks, are not known by the rising generation. Many
+amusing equivoques used to be current, arising from Scotch people in
+England applying terms and expressions in a manner rather surprising to
+southern ears. Thus, the story was told of a public character long
+associated with the affairs of Scotland, Henry Dundas (first Viscount
+Melville), applying to Mr. Pitt for the loan of a horse "_the length_ of
+Highgate;" a very common expression in Scotland, at that time, to
+signify the distance to which the ride was to extend. Mr. Pitt
+good-humouredly wrote back to say that he was afraid he had not a horse
+in his possession _quite so long_ as Mr. Dundas had mentioned, but he
+had sent the longest he had. There is a well-known case of
+mystification, caused to English ears by the use of Scottish terms,
+which took place in the House of Peers during the examination of the
+Magistrates of Edinburgh touching the particulars of the Porteous Mob in
+1736. The Duke of Newcastle having asked the Provost with what kind of
+shot the town-guard commanded by Porteous had loaded their muskets,
+received the unexpected reply, "Ou, juist sic as ane shutes dukes and
+sic like fules wi'." The answer was considered as a contempt of the
+House of Lords, and the poor provost would have suffered from
+misconception of his patois, had not the Duke of Argyle (who must have
+been exceedingly amused) explained that the worthy magistrate's
+expression, when rendered into English, did not apply to Peers and
+Idiots but to _ducks_ and _water-fowl_. The circumstance is referred to
+by Sir W. Scott in the notes to the Heart of Mid-Lothian. A similar
+equivoque upon the double meaning of "Deuk" in Scottish language
+supplied material for a poor woman's honest compliment to a benevolent
+Scottish nobleman. John, Duke of Roxburghe, was one day out riding, and
+at the gate of Floors he was accosted by an importunate old beggar
+woman. He gave her half-a-crown, which pleased her so much that she
+exclaimed, "Weel's me on your _guse_ face, for Duke's ower little
+tae ca' ye."
+
+A very curious list may be made of words used in Scotland in a sense
+which would be quite unintelligible to Southerns. Such applications are
+going out, but I remember them well amongst the old-fashioned people of
+Angus and the Mearns quite common in conversation. I subjoin some
+specimens:--
+
+_Bestial_ signifies amongst Scottish agriculturists cattle generally,
+the whole aggregate number of beasts on the farm. Again, a Scottish
+farmer, when he speaks of his "hogs" or of buying "hogs," has no
+reference to swine, but means young sheep, i.e. sheep before they have
+lost their first fleece.
+
+_Discreet_ does not express the idea of a prudent or cautious person so
+much as of one who is not rude, but considerate of the opinions of
+others. Such application of the word is said to have been made by Dr.
+Chalmers to the late Henry, Bishop of Exeter. These two eminent
+individuals had met for the first time at the hospitable house of the
+late Mr. Murray, the publisher. On the introduction taking place, the
+Bishop expressed himself so warmly as to the pleasure it gave him to
+meet so distinguished and excellent a man as Dr. Chalmers, that the
+Doctor, somewhat surprised at such an unexpected ebullition from an
+English Church dignitary, could only reply, "Oh, I am sure your lordship
+is very 'discreet[60].'"
+
+_Enterteening_ has in olden Scottish usage the sense not of amusing, but
+interesting. I remember an honest Dandie Dinmont on a visit to Bath. A
+lady, who had taken a kind charge of him, accompanied him to the
+theatre, and in the most thrilling scene of Kemble's acting, what is
+usually termed the dagger scene in Macbeth, she turned to the farmer
+with a whisper, "Is not that fine?" to which the confidential reply was,
+"Oh, mem, its verra _enterteening!_" Enterteening expressing his idea of
+the effect produced.
+
+_Pig_, in old-fashioned Scotch, was always used for a coarse earthenware
+jar or vessel. In the Life of the late Patrick Tytler, the amiable and
+gifted historian of Scotland, there occurs an amusing exemplification of
+the utter confusion of ideas caused by the use of Scottish phraseology.
+The family, when they went to London, had taken with them an old
+Scottish servant who had no notion of any terms beside her own. She came
+in one day greatly disturbed at the extremely backward state of
+knowledge of domestic affairs amongst the Londoners. She had been to so
+many shops and could not get "a great broon pig to haud the butter in."
+
+From a relative of the family I have received an account of a still
+worse confusion of ideas, caused by the inquiry of a Mrs. Chisholm of
+Chisholm, who died in London in 1825, at an advanced age. She had come
+from the country to be with her daughter, and was a genuine Scottish
+lady of the old school. She wished to purchase a table-cloth of a cheque
+pattern, like the squares of a chess or draught board. Now a
+draught-board used to be called (as I remember) by old Scotch people a
+"dam[61] brod[62]." Accordingly, Mrs. Chisholm entered the shop of a
+linen-draper, and asked to be shown table-linen a _dam-brod pattern_.
+The shopman, although, taken aback by a request, as he considered it,
+so strongly worded, by a respectable old lady, brought down what he
+assured her was the largest and widest made. No; that would not do. She
+repeated her wish for a dam-brod pattern, and left the shop surprised at
+the stupidity of the London shopman not having the pattern she
+asked for.
+
+_Silly_ has in genuine old Scottish use reference to weakness of body
+only, and not of mind. Before knowing the use of the word, I remember
+being much astonished at a farmer of the Mearns telling me of the
+strongest-minded man in the county that he was "uncommon silly," not
+insinuating any decline of mental vigour, but only meaning that his
+bodily strength was giving way.
+
+_Frail_, in like manner, expresses infirmity of body, and implies no
+charge of any laxity in moral principle; yet I have seen English persons
+looking with considerable consternation when an old-fashioned Scottish
+lady, speaking of a young and graceful female, lamented her being
+so _frail_.
+
+_Fail_ is another instance of different use of words. In Scotland it
+used to be quite common to say of a person whose health and strength had
+declined, that he had _failed_. To say this of a person connected with
+mercantile business has a very serious effect upon southern ears, as
+implying nothing short of bankruptcy and ruin. I recollect many years
+ago at Monmouth, my dear mother creating much consternation in the mind
+of the mayor, by saying of a worthy man, the principal banker in the
+town, whom they both concurred in praising, that she was "sorry to find
+he _was failing_."
+
+_Honest_ has in Scotch a peculiar application, irrespective of any
+integrity of moral character. It is a kindly mode of referring to an
+individual, as we would say to a stranger, "Honest man, would you tell
+me the way to ----?" or as Lord Hermand, when about to sentence a woman
+for stealing, began remonstratively, "Honest woman, whatever garr'd ye
+steal your neighbour's tub?"
+
+_Superstitious_: A correspondent informs me that in some parts of
+Mid-Lothian the people constantly use the word "superstitious" for
+"bigoted;" thus, speaking of a very keen Free Church person, they will
+say, "He is awfu' supperstitious."
+
+_Kail_ in England simply expresses cabbage, but in Scotland represents
+the chief meal of the day. Hence the old-fashioned easy way of asking a
+friend to dinner was to ask him if he would take his kail with the
+family. In the same usage of the word, the Scottish proverb expresses
+distress and trouble in a person's affairs, by saying that "he has got
+his kail through the reek." In like manner haddock, in Kincardineshire
+and Aberdeenshire, used to express the same idea, as the expression is,
+"Will ye tak your haddock wi' us the day?" that fish being so plentiful
+and so excellent that it was a standing dish. There is this difference,
+however, in the local usage, that to say in Aberdeen, Will you take your
+haddock? implies an invitation to dinner; whilst in Montrose the same
+expression means an invitation to _supper_. Differences of pronunciation
+also caused great confusion and misunderstanding. Novels used to be
+pronounced no_vels_; envy en_vy_; a cloak was a clock, to the surprise
+of an English lady, to whom the maid said, on her leaving the house,
+"Mem, winna ye tak the _clock_ wi' ye?"
+
+The names of children's diseases were a remarkable item in the catalogue
+of Scottish words:--Thus, in 1775, Mrs. Betty Muirheid kept a
+boarding-school for young ladies in the Trongate of Glasgow, near the
+Tron steeple. A girl on her arrival was asked whether she had had
+smallpox. "Yes, mem, I've had the sma'pox, the nirls[63], the blabs[64],
+the scaw[65], the kinkhost[66], and the fever, the branks[67] and the
+worm[68]."
+
+There is indeed a case of Scottish pronunciation which adds to the force
+and copiousness of our language, by discriminating four words, which,
+according to English speaking, are undistinguishable in mere
+pronunciation. The words are--wright (a carpenter), to write (with a
+pen), right (the reverse of wrong), rite (a ceremony). The four are,
+however, distinguished in old-fashioned Scotch pronunciation thus--1,
+He's a wiricht; 2, to wireete; 3, richt; 4, rite.
+
+I can remember a peculiar Scottish phrase very commonly used, which now
+seems to have passed away. I mean the expression "to let on," indicating
+the notice or observation of something, or of some person.--For example,
+"I saw Mr. ---- at the meeting, but I never let on that I knew he was
+present." A form of expression which has been a great favourite in
+Scotland in my recollection has much gone out of practice--I mean the
+frequent use of diminutives, generally adopted either as terms of
+endearment or of contempt. Thus it was very common to speak of a person
+whom you meant rather to undervalue, as a _mannie_, a _boddie_, a _bit
+boddie_, or a _wee bit mannie_. The Bailie in Rob Roy, when he intended
+to represent his party as persons of no importance, used the expression,
+"We are bits o' Glasgow bodies."
+
+An admirable Scotch expression I recollect from one of the Montrose
+ladies before referred to. Her niece was asking a great many questions
+on some point concerning which her aunt had been giving her
+information, and coming over and over the ground, demanding an
+explanation how this had happened, and why something else was so and so.
+The old lady lost her patience, and at last burst forth: "I winna be
+_back-speired_ noo, Pally Fullerton." Back-speired! how much more pithy
+and expressive than cross-examined! "He's not a man to ride the water
+on," expresses your want of confidence and of trust in the character
+referred to. Another capital expression to mark that a person has stated
+a point rather under than over the truth, is, "The less I lee," as in
+Guy Mannering, where the precentor exclaims to Mrs. MacCandlish, "Aweel,
+gudewife, then the less I lee." We have found it a very amusing task
+collecting together a number of these phrases, and forming them into a
+connected epistolary composition. We may imagine the sort of puzzle it
+would be to a young person of the present day--one of what we may call
+the new school. We will suppose an English young lady, or an English
+educated young lady, lately married, receiving such a letter as the
+following from the Scottish aunt of her husband. We may suppose it to be
+written by a very old lady, who, for the last fifty years has not moved
+from home, and has changed nothing of her early days. I can safely
+affirm that every word of it I have either seen written in a letter, or
+have heard in ordinary conversation:--
+
+     "_Montrose_, 1858[69].
+
+     "My Dear Niece--I am real glad to find my _nevy_ has made so
+     good a choice as to have secured you for his wife; and I am
+     sure this step will add much to his comfort, and we _behove_
+     to rejoice at it. He will now look forward to his evening at
+     home, and you will be happy when you find you never _want_
+     him. It will be a great pleasure when you hear him in the
+     _trance_, and wipe his feet upon the _bass_. But Willy is not
+     strong, and you must look well after him. I hope you do not
+     let him _snuff_ so much as he did. He had a sister, poor
+     thing, who died early. She was remarkably clever, and well
+     read, and most intelligent, but was always uncommonly
+     _silly_[70] In the autumn of '40 she had a _sair host_, and
+     was aye _speaking through a cold_, and at dinner never did
+     more than to _sup a few family broth_. I am afraid she did
+     not _change her feet_ when she came in from the wet one
+     evening. I never _let on_ that I observed anything to be
+     wrong; but I remember asking her to come and _sit upon_ the
+     fire. But she went out, and did not _take_ the door with her.
+     She lingered till next spring, when she had a great
+     _income_[71], and her parents were then too poor to take her
+     south, and she died. I hope you will like the lassie Eppie we
+     have sent you. She is a _discreet_ girl, and comes of a
+     decent family. She has a sister _married upon_ a Seceding
+     minister at Kirkcaldy. But I hear he expects to be
+     _transported_ soon. She was brought up in one of the
+     _hospitals_ here. Her father had been a _souter_ and a _pawky
+     chiel_ enough, but was _doited_ for many years, and her
+     mother was _sair dottled_. We have been greatly interested in
+     the hospital where Eppie was _educate_, and intended getting
+     up a bazaar for it, and would have asked you to help us, as
+     we were most anxious to raise some additional funds, when one
+     of the Bailies died and left it _feuing-stances_ to the
+     amount of 5000 pounds, which was really a great
+     _mortification_. I am not a good _hand of write_, and
+     therefore shall stop. I am very tired, and have been
+     _gantin_[72] for this half-hour, and even in correspondence
+     gantin' may be _smittin'_[73]. The _kitchen_[74] is just
+     coming in, and I _feel_ a _smell of tea_, so when I get my
+     _four hours,_ that will refresh me and set me up again.--I
+     am, your affectionate aunt, ISABEL DINGWALL."
+
+This letter, then, we suppose written by a very old Forfarshire lady to
+her niece in England, and perhaps the young lady who received it might
+answer it in a style as strange to her aunt as her aunt's is to her,
+especially if she belonged to that lively class of our young female
+friends who indulge a little in phraseology which they have imbibed from
+their brothers, or male cousins, who have, perhaps for their amusement,
+encouraged them in its use. The answer, then, might be something like
+this; and without meaning to be severe or satirical upon our young lady
+friends, I may truly say that, though I never heard from one young lady
+_all_ these fast terms, I have heard the most of them separately
+from many:--
+
+     "My Dear Aunty--Many thanks for your kind letter and its
+     enclosure. From my not knowing Scotch, I am not quite up to
+     the mark, and some of the expressions I don't _twig_ at all.
+     Willie is absent for a few days, but when he returns home he
+     will explain it; he is quite _awake_ on all such things. I am
+     glad you are pleased that Willie and I are now _spliced_. I
+     am well aware that you will hear me spoken of in some
+     quarters as a _fast_ young lady. A man here had the impudence
+     to say that when he visited my husband's friends he would
+     tell them so. I quietly and civilly replied, 'You be blowed!'
+     So don't believe him. We get on famously at present. Willie
+     comes home from the office every afternoon at five. We
+     generally take a walk before dinner, and read and work if we
+     don't go out; and I assure you we are very _jolly_. We don't
+     know many people here yet. It is rather a _swell_
+     neighbourhood; and if we can't get in with the _nobs_, depend
+     upon it we will never take up with any society that is
+     decidedly _snobby. I_ daresay the girl you are sending will
+     be very useful to us; our present one is an awful _slow
+     coach_. In fact, the sending her to us was a regular _do_.
+     But we hope some day to sport _buttons_. My father and mother
+     paid us a visit last week. The _governor_ is well, and,
+     notwithstanding years and infirmities, comes out quite a
+     _jolly old cove_. He is, indeed, if you will pardon the
+     partiality of a daughter, a regular _brick_. He says he will
+     help us if we can't get on, and I make no doubt will in due
+     time _fork out the tin_. I am busy working a cap for you,
+     dear aunty; it is from a pretty German pattern, and I think
+     when finished will be quite a _stunner_. There is a shop in
+     Regent Street where I hire patterns, and can get six of them
+     for five _bob_. I then return them without buying them, which
+     I think a capital _dodge_. I hope you will sport it for my
+     sake at your first _tea and turn out_.
+
+     "I have nothing more to say particular, but am always
+
+     "Your affectionate niece,
+
+     "ELIZA DINGWALL."
+
+     "_P.S._--I am trying to break Willie off his horrid habit of
+     taking snuff. I had rather see him take his cigar when we are
+     walking. You will be told, I daresay, that I sometimes take a
+     _weed_ myself. It is not true, dear aunty."
+
+Before leaving the question of change in Scottish expressions, it may
+be proper to add a few words on the subject of Scottish
+_dialects_--_i.e._, on the differences which exist in different counties
+or localities in the Scottish tongue itself. These differences used to
+be as marked as different languages; of course they still exist amongst
+the peasantry as before. The change consists in their gradual vanishing
+from the conversation of the educated and refined. The dialects with
+which I am most conversant are the two which present the greatest
+contrast, viz. the Angus and the Aberdeen, or the slow and broad
+Scotch--the quick and sharp Scotch. Whilst the one talks of "Buuts and
+shoon," the other calls the same articles "beets and sheen." With the
+Aberdonian "what" is always "fat" or "fatten;" "music" is "meesic;"
+"brutes" are "breets;" "What are ye duin'?" of southern Scotch, in
+Aberdeen would be "Fat are ye deein'?" Fergusson, nearly a century ago,
+noted this peculiarity of dialect in his poem of The Leith Races:--
+
+     "The Buchan bodies through the beach,
+        Their bunch of Findrams cry;
+      And skirl out bauld in Norland speech,
+        Gude speldans _fa_ will buy?"
+
+"Findon," or "Finnan haddies," are split, smoked, and partially dried
+haddocks. Fergusson, in using the word "_Findrams"_, which is not found
+in our glossaries, has been thought to be in error, but his accuracy has
+been verified singularly enough, within the last few days, by a worthy
+octogenarian Newhaven fisherman, bearing the characteristic name of
+Flucker, who remarked "that it was a word commonly used in his youth;
+and, above all," he added, "when Leith Races were held on the sands, he
+was like to be deeved wi' the lang-tongued hizzies skirling out, '_Aell
+a Findram Speldrains_,' and they jist ca'ed it that to get a better grip
+o't wi' their tongues."
+
+In Galloway, in 1684, Symson, afterwards an ousted Episcopalian minister
+(of Kirkinner), notes some peculiarities in the speech of the people in
+that district. "Some of the countrey people, especially those of the
+elder sort, do very often omit the letter 'h' after 't' as ting for
+thing; tree for three; tatch for thatch; wit for with; fait for faith;
+mout for mouth, etc.; and also, contrary to some north countrey people,
+they oftentimes pronounce 'w' for 'v,' as serwant for servant; and so
+they call the months of February, March, and April, the _ware_ quarter,
+from _ver_[75]. Hence their common proverb, speaking of the storms in
+February, '_winter never comes till ware comes_.'" These peculiarities
+of language have almost disappeared--the immense influx of Irish
+emigrants during late years has exercised a perceptible influence over
+the dialect of Wigtonshire.
+
+When a southerner mentioned the death of a friend to a lady of the
+granite city, she asked, "Fat dee'd he o'?" which being utterly
+incomprehensible to the person asked, another Aberdonian lady kindly
+explained the question, and put it into language which she supposed
+_could_ not be mistaken, as thus, "Fat did he dee o'?" If there was this
+difference between the Aberdeen and the Forfar dialect, how much greater
+must be that difference when contrasted with the _ore rotundo_ language
+of an English southern dignitary. Such a one being present at a school
+examination in Aberdeen wished to put some questions on Scripture
+history himself, and asked an intelligent boy, "What was the ultimate
+fate of Pharaoh?" This the boy not understanding, the master put the
+same question Aberdonice, "Jemmy, fat was the hinner end o' Pharaoh?"
+which called forth the ready reply, "He was drouned i' the Red Sea." A
+Forfarshire parent, dissatisfied with his son's English pronunciation,
+remonstrated with him, "What for div' ye say _why_? why canna ye say
+'what for'?"
+
+The power of Scottish phraseology, or rather of Scottish _language_,
+could not be better displayed than in the following Aberdonian
+description of London theatricals:--Mr. Taylor, at one time well known
+in London as having the management of the opera-house, had his father up
+from Aberdeen to visit him and see the wonders of the capital. When the
+old man returned home, his friends, anxious to know the impressions
+produced on his mind by scenes and characters so different from what he
+had been accustomed to at home, inquired what sort of business his son
+carried on? "Ou," said he (in reference to the operatic singers and the
+corps de ballet), "he just keeps a curn[76] o' quainies[77] and a wheen
+widdyfous[78], and gars them fissle[79], and loup, and mak murgeons[80],
+to please the great fowk."
+
+Another ludicrous interrogatory occurred regarding the death of a Mr.
+Thomas Thomson. It appeared there were two cousins of this name, both
+corpulent men. When it was announced that Mr. Thomas Thomson was dead,
+an Aberdeen friend of the family asked, "Fatten Thamas Thamson?" He was
+informed that it was a fat Thamas Thamson, upon which the Aberdeen query
+naturally arose, "Ay, but fatten fat Thamas Thamson?" Another
+illustration of the Aberdeen dialect is thus given:--"The Pope o' Rome
+requires a bull to do his wark, but the Emperor o' France made a coo
+dee't a'"--a cow do it all--a pun on _coup d'etat_. A young lady from
+Aberdeen had been on a visit to Montrose, and was disappointed at
+finding there a great lack of beaux, and balls, and concerts. This lack
+was not made up to her by the invitations which she had received to
+dinner parties. And she thus expressed her feelings on the subject in
+her native dialect, when asked how she liked Montrose: "Indeed there's
+neither men nor meesic, and fat care I for meat?" There is no male
+society and no concerts, and what do I care for dinners? The dialect and
+the local feelings of Aberdeen were said to have produced some amusement
+in London, as displayed by the lady of the Provost of Aberdeen when
+accompanying her husband going up officially to the capital. Some
+persons to whom she had been introduced recommended her going to the
+opera as one of the sights worthy the attention of a stranger. The good
+lady, full of the greatness of her situation as wife of the provost, and
+knowing the sensation her appearance in public occasioned when in her
+own city, and supposing that a little excitement would accompany her
+with the London public, rather declined, under the modest plea, "Fat for
+should I gang to the opera, just to creat a confeesion?" An aunt of
+mine, who knew Aberdeen well, used to tell a traditionary story of two
+Aberdonian ladies, who by their insinuations against each other, finely
+illustrated the force of the dialect then in common use. They had both
+of them been very attentive to a sick lady in declining health, and on
+her death each had felt a distrust of the perfect disinterestedness of
+the other's attention. This created more than a coolness between them,
+and the bad feeling came out on their passing in the street. The one
+insinuated her suspicions of unfair dealing with the property of the
+deceased by ejaculating, as the other passed her, "Henny pig[81] and
+green tea," to which the other retorted, in the same spirit, "Silk coat
+and negligee[82]." Aberdonian pronunciation produced on one occasion a
+curious equivoque between the minister and a mother of a family with
+whom he was conversing in a pastoral way. The minister had said, "Weel,
+Margaret, I hope you're thoroughly ashamed of your _sins_" Now, in
+Aberdeenshire _sons_ are pronounced sins; accordingly, to the minister's
+surprise, Margaret burst forth, "Ashamed o' ma sins! na, na, I'm proud
+o' ma sins. Indeed, gin it werena for thae cutties o' dauchters, I
+should be _ower_ proud o' ma sins."
+
+Any of my readers who are not much conversant with Aberdeen dialect will
+find the following a good specimen:--A lady who resided in Aberdeen,
+being on a visit to some friends in the country, joined an excursion on
+horseback. Not being much of an equestrian, she was mounted upon a
+Highland pony as being the _canniest baste_. He, however, had a trick of
+standing still in crossing a stream. A burn had to be crossed--the rest
+of the party passed on, while "Paddy" remained, pretending to drink.
+Miss More, in great desperation, called out to one of her
+friends--"Bell, 'oman, turn back an gie me your bit fuppie, for the
+breet's stannin' i' the peel wi' ma."
+
+A rich specimen of Aberdeen dialect, under peculiar circumstances, was
+supplied by an Aberdonian lady who had risen in the world from selling
+fruit at a stall to be the wife of the Lord Provost. Driving along in
+her own carriage, she ordered it to stop, and called to her a poor
+woman whom she saw following her old occupation. After some colloquy,
+she dismissed her very coolly, remarking, "'Deed, freet's dear sin' I
+sauld freet in streets o' Aberdeen." This anecdote of reference to a
+good lady's more humble occupation than riding in her carriage may
+introduce a somewhat analogous anecdote, in which a more distinguished
+personage than the wife of the Provost of Aberdeen takes a prominent
+part. The present Archbishop of Canterbury tells the story himself, with
+that admixture of humour and of true dignity by which his Grace's manner
+is so happily distinguished. The Archbishop's father in early life lived
+much at Dollar, where, I believe, he had some legal and official
+appointment. His sons, the Archbishop and his brother, attended the
+grammar school, rather celebrated in the country; they ran about and
+played like other lads, and were known as schoolboys to the peasantry.
+In after days, when the Archbishop had arrived at his present place of
+dignity as Primate of all England, he was attending a great confirmation
+service at Croydon--the churchwardens, clergy, mayors, etc., of the
+place in attendance upon the Archbishop, and a great congregation of
+spectators. On going up the centre of the church, a Dollar man, who had
+got into the crowd in a side aisle, said, loud enough for the Archbishop
+to hear, "There wasna muckle o' this at Dollar, my Lord."
+
+I have not had leisure to pursue, as I had intended, a further
+consideration of SCOTTISH DIALECT, and their differences from each other
+in the north, south, east, and west of Scotland. I merely remark now,
+that the dialect of one district is considered quite barbarous, and
+laughed at by the inhabitants of another district where a different form
+of language is adopted. I have spoken of the essential difference
+between Aberdeen and Southern Scotch. An English gentleman had been
+visiting the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, and accompanied him to Aberdeen.
+His lordship of Edinburgh introduced his English friend to the Provost
+of Aberdeen, and they both attended a great dinner given by the latter.
+After grace had been said, the Provost kindly and hospitably addressed
+the company, Aberdonice--"Now, gentlemen, fah tee, fah tee." The
+Englishman whispered to his friend, and asked what was meant by "fah
+tee, fah tee;" to which his lordship replied--"Hout, he canna speak; he
+means fau too, fau too." Thus one Scotticism was held in terror by those
+who used a different Scotticism: as at Inverary, the wife of the chief
+writer of the place, seeking to secure her guest from the taint of
+inferior society, intimated to him, but somewhat confidentially, that
+Mrs. W. (the rival writer's wife) was quite a vulgar body, so much so as
+to ask any one leaving the room to "_snib_ the door," instead of bidding
+them, as she triumphantly observed, "_sneck_ the door."
+
+Now, to every one who follows these anecdotes of a past time, it must be
+obvious how much peculiarities of Scottish wit and humour depend upon
+the language in which they are clothed. As I have before remarked, much
+of the point depends upon the _broad Scotch_ with which they are
+accompanied. As a type and representative of that phraseology, we would
+specially recommend a study of our Scottish proverbs. In fact, in
+Scottish proverbs will be found an epitome of the Scottish phraseology,
+which is peculiar and characteristic. I think it quite clear that there
+are proverbs exclusively Scottish, and as we find embodied in them
+traits of Scottish character, and many peculiar forms of Scottish
+thought and Scottish language, sayings of this kind, once so familiar,
+should have a place in our Scottish Reminiscences. Proverbs are
+literally, in many instances, becoming _reminiscences_. They now seem to
+belong to that older generation whom we recollect, and who used them in
+conversation freely and constantly. To strengthen an argument or
+illustrate a remark by a proverb was then a common practice in
+conversation. Their use, however, is now considered vulgar, and their
+formal application is almost prohibited by the rules of polite society.
+Lord Chesterfield denounced the practice of quoting proverbs as a
+palpable violation of all polite refinement in conversation.
+Notwithstanding all this, we acknowledge having much pleasure in
+recalling our national proverbial expressions. They are full of
+character, and we find amongst them important truths, expressed
+forcibly, wisely, and gracefully. The expression of Bacon has often been
+quoted--"The genius, wit, and wisdom of a nation, are discovered by
+their proverbs."
+
+All nations have their proverbs, and a vast number of books have been
+written on the subject. We find, accordingly, that collections have been
+made of proverbs considered as belonging peculiarly to Scotland. The
+collections to which I have had access are the following:--
+
+1. The fifth edition, by Balfour, of "Ray's Complete Collection of
+English Proverbs," in which is a separate collection of those which are
+considered Scottish Proverbs--1813. Ray professes to have taken these
+from Fergusson's work mentioned below.
+
+2. A Complete Collection of Scottish Proverbs, explained and made
+intelligible to the English reader, by James Kelly, M.A., published in
+London 1721.
+
+3. Scottish Proverbs gathered together by David Fergusson, sometime
+minister at Dunfermline, and put _ordine alphabetico_ when he departed
+this life anno 1598. Edinburgh, 1641.
+
+4. A collection of Scots Proverbs, dedicated to the Tenantry of
+Scotland, by Allan Ramsay. This collection is found in the edition of
+his Poetical Works, 3 vols. post 8vo, Edin. 1818, but is not in the
+handsome edition of 1800. London, 2 vols. 8vo.
+
+5. Scottish Proverbs, collected and arranged by Andrew Henderson, with
+an introductory Essay by W. Motherwell. Edin. 1832.
+
+6. The Proverbial Philosophy of Scotland, an address to the School of
+Arts, by William Stirling of Keir, M.P. Stirling and Edin. 1855.
+
+The collection of Ray, the great English naturalist, is well known. The
+first two editions, published at Cambridge in 1670 and 1678, were by the
+author; subsequent editions were by other editors.
+
+The work by James Kelly professes to collect Scottish proverbs only. It
+is a volume of nearly 400 pages, and contains a short explanation or
+commentary attached to each, and often parallel sayings from other
+languages[83]. Mr. Kelly bears ample testimony to the extraordinary free
+use made of proverbs in his time by his countrymen and by himself. He
+says that "there were current in society upwards of 3000 proverbs,
+exclusively Scottish." He adds, "The Scots are wonderfully given to this
+way of speaking, and, as the consequence of that, abound with proverbs,
+many of which are very expressive, quick, and home to the purpose; and,
+indeed, this humour prevails universally over the whole nation,
+especially among the better sort of the commonalty, none of whom will
+discourse with you any considerable time but he will affirm every
+assertion and observation with a Scottish proverb. To that nation I owe
+my birth and education; and to that manner of speaking I was used from
+my infancy, to such a degree that I became in some measure remarkable
+for it." This was written in 1721, and we may see from Mr. Kelly's
+account what a change has taken place in society as regards this mode of
+intercourse. Our author states that he has "omitted in his collection
+many popular proverbs which are very pat and expressive," and adds as
+his reason, that "since it does not become a man of manners to use them,
+it does not become a man of my age and profession to write them." What
+was Mr. Kelly's profession or what his age does not appear from any
+statements in this volume; but, judging by many proverbs which he has
+_retained_, those which consideration of years and of profession induced
+him to omit must have been bad indeed, and unbecoming for _any_ age or
+_any_ profession[84]. The third collection by Mr. Fergusson is mentioned
+by Kelly as the only one which had been made before his time, and that
+he had not met with it till he had made considerable progress in his own
+collection. The book is now extremely rare, and fetches a high price. By
+the great kindness of the learned librarian, I have been permitted to
+see the copy belonging to the library of the Writers to the Signet. It
+is the first edition, and very rare. A quaint little thin volume, such
+as delights the eyes of true bibliomaniacs, unpaged, and published at
+Edinburgh 1641--although on the title-page the proverbs are said to have
+been collected at Mr. Fergusson's death, 1598[85]. There is no preface
+or notice by the author, but an address from the printer, "to the
+merrie, judicious, and discreet reader."
+
+The proverbs, amounting to 945, are given without any comment or
+explanation. Many of them are of a very antique cast of language; indeed
+some would be to most persons quite unintelligible without a lexicon.
+
+The printer, in his address "to the merrie, judicious, and discreet
+reader," refers in the following quaint expressions to the
+author:--"Therefore manie in this realme that hath hard of David
+Fergusson, sometime minister at Dunfermline, and of his quick answers
+and speeches, both to great persons and others inferiours, and hath hard
+of his proverbs which hee gathered together in his time, and now we put
+downe according to the order of the alphabet; and manie, of all ranks of
+persons, being verie desirous to have the said proverbs, I have thought
+good to put them to the presse for thy better satisfaction.... I know
+that there may be some that will say and marvell that a minister should
+have taken pains to gather such proverbs together; but they that knew
+his forme of powerfull preaching the word, and his ordinar talking, ever
+almost using proverbiall speeches, will not finde fault with this that
+he hath done. And whereas there are some old Scottish words not in use
+now, bear with that, because if ye alter those words, the proverb will
+have no grace; and so, recommending these proverbs to thy good use, I
+bid thee farewell."
+
+I now subjoin a few of Fergusson's Proverbs, verbatim, which are of a
+more obsolete character, and have appended explanations, of the
+correctness of which, however, I am not quite confident:--
+
+_A year a nurish[86], seven year a da[87]_. Refers, I presume, to
+fulfilling the maternal office.
+
+_Anes payit never cravit_. Debts once paid give no more trouble.
+
+_All wald[88] have all, all wald forgie[89]_. Those who exact much
+should be ready to concede.
+
+_A gangang[90] fit[91] is aye[92] gettin (gin[93] it were but a thorn),_
+or, as it sometimes runs, _gin it were but a broken tae, i.e. toe_. A
+man of industry will certainly get a living; though the proverb is often
+applied to those who went abroad and got a mischief when they might
+safely have stayed at home--(Kelly).
+
+_All crakes[94], all bears[95]_. Spoken against bullies who kept a great
+hectoring, and yet, when put to it, tamely pocket an affront--(Kelly).
+
+_Bourd[96] not wi' bawtie[97] (lest he bite you_). Do not jest too
+familiarly with your superiors (Kelly), or with dangerous characters.
+
+_Bread's house skailed never[98]_ While people have bread they need not
+give up housekeeping. Spoken when one has bread and wishes something
+better--(Kelly).
+
+_Crabbit[99] was and cause had_. Spoken ironically of persons put out of
+temper without adequate cause.
+
+_Dame, deem[100] warily, (ye watna[101] wha wytes[102]
+yersell_).--Spoken to remind those who pass hard censures on others
+that they may themselves be censured.
+
+_Efter lang mint[103] never dint[104]_. Spoken of long and painful
+labour producing little effect. Kelly's reading is "_Lang mint little
+dint_." Spoken when men threaten much and dare not execute--(Kelly).
+
+_Fill fou[105] and hand[106] fou maks a stark[107] man_. In Border
+language a _stark_ man was one who takes and keeps boldly.
+
+_He that crabbs[108] without cause should mease[109] without
+mends[110]_. Spoken to remind those who are angry without cause, that
+they should not be particular in requiring apologies from others.
+
+_He is worth na weill that may not bide na wae_. He deserves not the
+sweet that will not taste the sour. He does not deserve prosperity who
+cannot meet adversity.
+
+_Kame[111] sindle[112] kame sair_[113]. Applied to those who forbear for
+a while, but when once roused can act with severity.
+
+_Kamesters[114] are aye creeshie[115]_. It is usual for men to look like
+their trade.
+
+_Let alane maks mony lurden_[116]. Want of correction makes many a bad
+boy--(Kelly).
+
+_Mony tynes[117] the half-mark[118] whinger[119] (for the halfe pennie
+whang_)[120]. Another version of penny wise and pound foolish.
+
+_Na plie[121] is best_.
+
+_Reavers[122] should not be rewers_[123]. Those who are so fond of a
+thing as to snap at it, should not repent when they have got
+it--(Kelly).
+
+_Sok and seill is best_. The interpretation of this proverb is not
+obvious, and later writers do not appear to have adopted it from
+Fergusson. It is quite clear that sok or sock is the ploughshare. Seil
+is happiness, as in Kelly. "Seil comes not till sorrow be o'er;" and in
+Aberdeen they say, "Seil o' your face," to express a blessing. My
+reading is "the plough and happiness the best lot." The happiest life is
+the healthy country one. See Robert Burns' spirited song with
+the chorus:
+
+     "Up wi' my ploughman lad,
+       And hey my merry ploughman;
+     Of a' the trades that I do ken,
+       Commend me to the ploughman."
+
+A somewhat different reading of this very obscure and now indeed
+obsolete proverb has been suggested by an esteemed and learned
+friend:--"I should say rather it meant that the ploughshare, or country
+life, accompanied with good luck or fortune was best; _i.e.,_ that
+industry coupled with good fortune (good seasons and the like) was the
+combination that was most to be desired. _Soel_, in Anglo-Saxon, as a
+noun, means _opportunity_, and then good luck, happiness, etc."
+
+_There's mae[124] madines[125] nor makines_[126]. Girls are more
+plentiful in the world than hares.
+
+_Ye bried[127] of the gouk[128], ye have not a rhyme[129] but ane_.
+Applied to persons who tire everybody by constantly harping on
+one subject.
+
+The collection by Allan Ramsay is very good, and professes to correct
+the errors of former collectors. I have now before me the _first
+edition_, Edinburgh, 1737, with the appropriate motto on the title-page,
+"That maun be true that a' men say." This edition contains proverbs
+only, the number being 2464. Some proverbs in this collection I do not
+find in others, and one quality it possesses in a remarkable degree--it
+is very Scotch. The language of the proverbial wisdom has the true
+Scottish flavour; not only is this the case with the proverbs
+themselves, but the dedication to the tenantry of Scotland, prefixed to
+the collection, is written in pure Scottish dialect. From this
+dedication I make an extract, which falls in with our plan of recording
+Scotch reminiscences, as Allan Ramsay there states the great value set
+upon proverbs in his day, and the great importance which he attaches to
+them as teachers of moral wisdom, and as combining amusement with
+instruction. The prose of Allan Ramsay has, too, a spice of his poetry
+in its composition. His dedication is, To the tenantry of Scotland,
+farmers of the dales, and storemasters of the hills--
+
+"Worthy friends--The following hoard of wise sayings and observations of
+our forefathers, which have been gathering through mony bygane ages, I
+have collected with great care, and restored to their proper sense....
+
+"As naething helps our happiness mair than to have the mind made up wi'
+right principles, I desire you, for the thriving and pleasure of you and
+yours, to use your een and lend your lugs to these guid _auld saws_,
+that shine wi' wail'd sense, and will as lang as the world wags. Gar
+your bairns get them by heart; let them have a place among your
+family-books, and may never a window-sole through the country be without
+them. On a spare hour, when the day is clear, behind a ruck, or on the
+green howm, draw the treasure frae your pouch, an' enjoy the pleasant
+companion. Ye happy herds, while your hirdsell are feeding on the
+flowery braes, you may eithly make yoursells master of the haleware. How
+usefou' will it prove to you (wha hae sae few opportunities of common
+clattering) when ye forgather wi' your friends at kirk or market,
+banquet or bridal! By your proficiency you'll be able, in the proverbial
+way, to keep up the saul of a conversation that is baith blyth
+an usefou'."
+
+Mr. Henderson's work is a compilation from those already mentioned. It
+is very copious, and the introductory essay contains some excellent
+remarks upon the wisdom and wit of Scottish proverbial sayings.
+
+Mr. Stirling's (now Sir W. Stirling-Maxwell's) address, like everything
+he writes, indicates a minute and profound knowledge of his subject, and
+is full of picturesque and just views of human nature. He attaches much
+importance to the teaching conveyed in proverbial expressions, and
+recommends his readers even still to collect such proverbial expressions
+as may yet linger in conversation, because, as he observes, "If it is
+not yet registered, it is possible that it might have died with the
+tongue from which you took it, and so have been lost for ever." "I
+believe," he adds, "the number of good old saws still floating as waifs
+and strays on the tide of popular talk to be much greater than might at
+first appear."
+
+One remark is applicable to all these collections--viz., that out of so
+large a number there are many of them on which we have little grounds
+for deciding that they are _exclusively_ Scottish. In fact, some are
+mere translations of proverbs adopted by many nations; some of universal
+adoption. Thus we have--
+
+     _A burnt bairn fire dreads.
+     Ae swallow makes nae simmer.
+     Faint heart ne'er wan fair lady.
+     Ill weeds wax weel.
+     Mony sma's mak a muckle.
+     O' twa ills chuse the least.
+     Set a knave to grip a knave.
+     Twa wits are better than ane.
+     There's nae fule like an auld fule.
+     Ye canna mak a silk purse o' a sow's lug.
+     Ae bird i' the hand is worth twa fleeing.
+     Mony cooks ne'er made gude kail_.
+
+Of numerous proverbs such as these, some may or may not be original in
+the Scottish. Sir William remarks that many of the best and oldest
+proverbs may be common to all people--may have occurred to all. In our
+national collections, therefore, some of the proverbs recorded may be
+simply translations into Scotch of what have been long considered the
+property of other nations. Still, I hope it is not a mere national
+partiality to say that many of the common proverbs _gain_ much by such
+translation from other tongues. All that I would attempt now is, to
+select some of our more popular proverbial sayings, which many of us can
+remember as current amongst us, and were much used by the late
+generation in society, and to add a few from the collections I have
+named, which bear a very decided Scottish stamp either in turn of
+thought or in turn of language.
+
+I remember being much struck the first time I heard the application of
+that pretty Scottish saying regarding a fair bride. I was walking in
+Montrose, a day or two before her marriage, with a young lady, a
+connection of mine, who merited this description, when she was kindly
+accosted by an old friend, an honest fish-wife of the town, "Weel, Miss
+Elizabeth, hae ye gotten a' yer claes ready?" to which the young lady
+modestly answered, "Oh, Janet, my claes are soon got ready;" and Janet
+replied, in the old Scotch proverb, "Ay, weel, _a bonnie bride's sune
+buskit_[130]." In the old collection, an addition less sentimental is
+made to this proverb, _A short horse is sune wispit_[131].
+
+To encourage strenuous exertions to meet difficult circumstances, is
+well expressed by _Setting a stout heart to a stey brae_.
+
+The mode of expressing that the worth of a handsome woman outweighs even
+her beauty, has a very Scottish character--_She's better than she's
+bonnie_. The opposite of this was expressed by a Highlander of his own
+wife, when he somewhat ungrammatically said of her, "_She's bonnier than
+she's better_."
+
+The frequent evil to harvest operations from autumnal rains and fogs in
+Scotland is well told in the saying, _A dry summer ne'er made a
+dear peck_.
+
+There can be no question as to country in the following, which seems to
+express generally that persons may have the name and appearance of
+greatness without the reality--_A' Stuarts are na sib[132] to the king_.
+
+There is an excellent Scottish version of the common proverb, "He that's
+born to be hanged will never be drowned."--_The water will never
+warr[133], the widdie, i.e._ never cheat the gallows. This saying
+received a very naive practical application during the anxiety and
+alarm of a storm. One of the passengers, a good simple-minded minister,
+was sharing the alarm that was felt around him, until spying one of his
+parishioners, of whose ignominious end he had long felt persuaded, he
+exclaimed to himself, "Oh, we are all safe now," and accordingly
+accosted the poor man with strong assurances of the great pleasure he
+had in seeing him on board.
+
+_It's ill getting the breeks aff the Highlandman_ is a proverb that
+savours very strong of a Lowland Scotch origin. Having suffered loss at
+the hands of their neighbours from the hills, this was a mode of
+expressing the painful truth that there was little hope of obtaining
+redress from those who had no _means_ at their disposal.
+
+Proverbs connected with the bagpipes I set down as legitimate Scotch, as
+thus--_Ye are as lang in tuning your pipes as anither wad play a
+spring_[134]. You are as long of setting about a thing as another would
+be in doing it.
+
+There is a set of Scottish proverbs which we may group together as
+containing one quality in common, and that in reference to the Evil
+Spirit, and to his agency in the world. This is a reference often, I
+fear, too lightly made; but I am not conscious of anything deliberately
+profane or irreverent in the following:--
+
+_The deil's nae sae ill as he's caa'd_. The most of people may be found
+to have some redeeming good point: applied in _Guy Mannering_ by the
+Deacon to Gilbert Glossin, upon his intimating his intention to come to
+his shop soon for the purpose of laying in his winter stock of
+groceries.
+
+To the same effect, _It's a sin to lee on the deil_. Even of the worst
+people, _truth_ at least should be spoken.
+
+_He should hae a lang-shafted spune that sups kail wi' the deil._ He
+should be well guarded and well protected that has to do with cunning
+and unprincipled men.
+
+_Lang ere the deil dee by the dyke-side._ Spoken when the improbable
+death of some powerful and ill-disposed person is talked of.
+
+_Let ae deil ding anither_. Spoken when too bad persons are at variance
+over some evil work.
+
+_The deil's bairns hae deil's luck_. Spoken enviously when ill people
+prosper.
+
+_The deil's a busy bishop in his ain diocie_. Bad men are sure to be
+active in promoting their own bad ends. A quaint proverb of this class I
+have been told of as coming from the reminiscences of an old lady of
+quality, to recommend a courteous manner to every one: _It's aye gude to
+be ceevil, as the auld wife said when she beckit[135] to the deevil_.
+
+_Raise nae mair deils than ye are able to lay_. Provoke no strifes which
+ye may be unable to appease.
+
+_The deil's aye gude to his ain_. A malicious proverb, spoken as if
+those whom we disparage were deriving their success from bad causes.
+
+_Ye wad do little for God an the deevil was dead_. A sarcastic mode of
+telling a person that fear, rather than love or principle, is the motive
+to his good conduct.
+
+In the old collection already referred to is a proverb which, although
+somewhat _personal_, is too good to omit. It is doubtful how it took its
+origin, whether as a satire against the decanal order in general, or
+against some obnoxious dean in particular. These are the terms of it:
+_The deil an' the dean begin wi' ae letter. When the deil has the dean
+the kirk will be the better._
+
+_The deil's gane ower Jock Wabster_ is a saying which I have been
+accustomed to in my part of the country from early years. It expresses
+generally misfortune or confusion, but I am not quite sure of the
+_exact_ meaning, or who is represented by "Jock Wabster." It was a great
+favourite with Sir Walter Scott, who quotes it twice in _Rob Roy_. Allan
+Ramsay introduces it in the _Gentle Shepherd_ to express the misery of
+married life when the first dream of love has passed away:--
+
+     "The 'Deil gaes ower Jock Wabster,' hame grows hell,
+     When Pate misca's ye waur than tongue can tell."
+
+There are two very pithy Scottish proverbial expressions for describing
+the case of young women losing their chance of good marriages by setting
+their aims too high. Thus an old lady, speaking of her granddaughter
+having made what she considered a poor match, described her as having
+"_lookit at the moon, and lichtit[136] in the midden_."
+
+It is recorded again of a celebrated beauty, Becky Monteith, that being
+asked how she had not made a good marriage, she replied, "_Ye see, I
+wadna hae the walkers, and the riders gaed by._"
+
+_It's ill to wauken sleeping dogs._ It is a bad policy to rouse
+dangerous and mischievous people, who are for the present quiet.
+
+_It is nae mair ferly[137] to see a woman greit than to see a goose go
+barefit._ A harsh and ungallant reference to the facility with which the
+softer sex can avail themselves of tears to carry a point.
+
+_A Scots mist will weet an Englishman to the skin._ A proverb,
+evidently of Caledonian origin, arising from the frequent complaints
+made by English visitors of the heavy mists which hang about our hills,
+and which are found to annoy the southern traveller as it were
+downright rain.
+
+_Keep your ain fish-guts to your ain sea-maws._ This was a favourite
+proverb with Sir Walter Scott, when he meant to express the policy of
+first considering the interests that are nearest home. The saying
+savours of the fishing population of the east cost.
+
+_A Yule feast may be done at Pasch_. Festivities, although usually
+practised at Christmas, need not, on suitable occasions, be confined to
+any season.
+
+_It's better to sup wi' a cutty than want a spune._ Cutty means anything
+short, stumpy, and not of full growth; frequently applied to a
+short-handled horn spoon. As Meg Merrilies says to the bewildered
+Dominie, "If ye dinna eat instantly, by the bread and salt, I'll put it
+down your throat wi' the _cutty spune_."
+
+"_Fules mak feasts and wise men eat 'em,_ my Lord." This was said to a
+Scottish nobleman on his giving a great entertainment, and who readily
+answered, "Ay, and _Wise men make proverbs and fools repeat 'em._"
+
+_A green Yule[138] and a white Pays[139] mak a fat kirk-yard._ A very
+coarse proverb, but may express a general truth as regards the effects
+of season on the human frame. Another of a similar character is, _An
+air[140] winter maks a sair[141] winter_.
+
+_Wha will bell the cat?_ The proverb is used in reference to a proposal
+for accomplishing a difficult or dangerous task, and alludes to the
+fable of the poor mice proposing to put a bell about the cat's neck,
+that they might be apprised of his coming. The historical application is
+well known. When the nobles of Scotland proposed to go in a body to
+Stirling to take Cochrane, the favourite of James the Third, and hang
+him, the Lord Gray asked, "It is well said, but wha will bell the cat?"
+The Earl of Angus accepted the challenge, and effected the object. To
+his dying day he was called Archibald Bell-the-Cat.
+
+_Ye hae tint the tongue o' the trump._ "Trump" is a Jew's harp. To lose
+the tongue of it is to lose what is essential to its sound.
+
+_Meat and mass hinders nae man._ Needful food, and suitable religious
+exercises, should not be spared under greatest haste.
+
+_Ye fand it whar the Highlandman fand the tangs_ (i.e. at the fireside).
+A hit at our mountain neighbours, who occasionally took from the
+Lowlands--as having found--something that was never lost.
+
+_His head will ne'er rive_ (i.e. tear) _his father's bonnet_. A
+picturesque way of expressing that the son will never equal the
+influence and ability of his sire.
+
+_His bark is waur nor his bite._ A good-natured apology for one who is
+good-hearted and rough in speech.
+
+_Do as the cow of Forfar did, tak a standing drink_. This proverb
+relates to an occurrence which gave rise to a lawsuit and a whimsical
+legal decision. A woman in Forfar, who was brewing, set out her tub of
+beer to cool. A cow came by and drank it up. The owner of the cow was
+sued for compensation, but the bailies of Forfar, who tried the case,
+acquitted the owner of the cow, on the ground that the farewell drink,
+called in the Highlands the _dochan doris_[142], or stirrup-cup, taken
+by the guest standing by the door, was never charged; and as the cow
+had taken but a standing drink outside, it could not, according to the
+Scottish usage, be chargeable. Sir Walter Scott has humorously alluded
+to this circumstance in the notes to _Waverley_, but has not mentioned
+it as the subject of an old Scotch proverb.
+
+_Bannocks are better nor nae kind o' bread._ Evidently Scottish. Better
+have oatmeal cakes to eat than be in want of wheaten loaves.
+
+_Folly is a bonny dog._ Meaning, I suppose, that many are imposed upon
+by the false appearances and attractions of vicious pleasures.
+
+_The e'ening brings a' hame_ is an interesting saying, meaning, that the
+evening of life, or the approach of death, softens many of our political
+and religious differences. I do not find this proverb in the older
+collections, but Sir William Maxwell justly calls it "a beautiful
+proverb, which, lending itself to various uses, may be taken as an
+expression of faith in the gradual growth and spread of large-hearted
+Christian charity, the noblest result of our happy freedom of thought
+and discussion." The literal idea of the "e'ening bringing a' hame," has
+a high and illustrious antiquity, as in the fragment of Sappho, [Greek:
+'Espere, panta phereis--phereis oin (or oinon) phereis aiga, phereis
+maeteri paida]--which is thus paraphrased by Lord Byron in Don Juan,
+iii. 107:--
+
+     "O Hesperus, thou bringest all good things--
+       Home to the weary, to the hungry cheer;
+     To the young birds the parent's brooding wings,
+       The welcome stall to the o'erlaboured steer, etc.
+     Thou bring'st the child, too, to the mother's breast."
+
+A similar graceful and moral saying inculcates an acknowledgment of
+gratitude for the past favours which we have enjoyed when we come to
+the close of the day or the close of life--
+
+     _Ruse[143] the fair day at e'en._
+
+But a very learned and esteemed friend has suggested another reading of
+this proverb, in accordance with the celebrated saying of Solon (Arist.
+Eth. N.I. 10): [Greek: Kata Solona chreon telos hozan]--Do not praise
+the fairness of the day _till_ evening; do not call the life happy
+_till_ you have seen the close; or, in other matters, do not boast that
+all is well till you have conducted your undertaking to a
+prosperous end.
+
+_Let him tak a spring on his ain fiddle._ Spoken of a foolish and
+unreasonable person; as if to say, "We will for the present allow him to
+have his own way." Bailie Nicol Jarvie quotes the proverb with great
+bitterness, when he warns his opponent that _his_ time for triumph will
+come ere long,--"Aweel, aweel, sir, you're welcome to a tune on your ain
+fiddle; but see if I dinna gar ye dance till't afore it's dune."
+
+_The kirk is meikle, but ye may say mass in ae end o't;_ or, as I have
+received it in another form, "If we canna preach in the kirk, we can
+sing mass in the quire." This intimates, where something is alleged to
+be too much, that you need take no more than what you have need for. I
+heard the proverb used in this sense by Sir Walter Scott at his own
+table. His son had complained of some quaighs which Sir Walter had
+produced for a dram after dinner, that they were too large. His answer
+was, "Well, Walter, as my good mother used to say, if the kirk is ower
+big, just sing mass in the quire." Here is another reference to kirk and
+quire--_He rives[144] the kirk to theik[145] the quire_. Spoken of
+unprofitable persons, who in the English proverb, "rob Peter to
+pay Paul."
+
+_The king's errand may come the cadger's gate yet._ A great man may need
+the service of a very mean one.
+
+_The maut is aboon the meal._ His liquor has done more for him than his
+meat. The man is drunk.
+
+_Mak a kirk and a mill o't._ Turn a thing to any purpose you like; or
+rather, spoken sarcastically, Take it, and make the best of it.
+
+_Like a sow playing on a trump._ No image could be well more incongruous
+than a pig performing on a Jew's harp.
+
+_Mair by luck than gude guiding._ His success is due to his fortunate
+circumstances, rather than to his own discretion.
+
+_He's not a man to ride the water wi'._ A common Scottish saying to
+express you cannot trust such an one in trying times. May have arisen
+from the districts where fords abounded, and the crossing them was
+dangerous.
+
+_He rides on the riggin o' the kirk._ The rigging being the top of the
+roof, the proverb used to be applied to those who carried their zeal for
+church matters to the extreme point.
+
+_Leal heart never lee'd,_ well expresses that an honest loyal
+disposition will scorn, under all circumstances, to tell a falsehood.
+
+A common Scottish proverb, _Let that flee stick to the wa'_, has an
+obvious meaning,--"Say nothing more on that subject." But the derivation
+is not obvious[146]. In like manner, the meaning of _He that will to
+Cupar maun to Cupar_, is clearly that if a man is obstinate, and bent
+upon his own dangerous course, he must take it. But why Cupar? and
+whether is it the Cupar of Angus or the Cupar of Fife?
+
+_Kindness creeps where it canna gang_ prettily expresses that where love
+can do little, it will do that little, though it cannot do more.
+
+In my part of the country a ridiculous addition used to be made to the
+common Scottish saying. _Mony a thing's made for the pennie_, i.e. Many
+contrivances are thought of to get money. The addition is, "As the old
+woman said when she saw a black man," taking it for granted that he was
+an ingenious and curious piece of mechanism made for profit.
+
+_Bluid is thicker than water_ is a proverb which has a marked Scottish
+aspect, as meant to vindicate those family predilections to which, as a
+nation, we are supposed to be rather strongly inclined.
+
+_There's aye water where the stirkie[147] drouns._ Where certain effects
+are produced, there must be some causes at work--a proverb used to show
+that a universal popular suspicion as to an obvious effect must be
+laid in truth.
+
+_Better a finger aff than aye waggin_'. This proverb I remember as a
+great favourite with many Scotch people. Better experience the worst,
+than have an evil always pending.
+
+_Cadgers are aye cracking o' crook saddles_[148] has a very Scottish
+aspect, and signifies that professional men are very apt to talk too
+much of their profession.
+
+The following is purely Scotch, for in no country but Scotland are
+singed sheep heads to be met with: _He's like a sheep head in a pair
+o' tangs._
+
+_As sure's deeth_. A common Scottish proverbial expression to signify
+either the truth or certainty of a fact, or to pledge the speaker to a
+performance of his promise. In the latter sense an amusing illustration
+of faith in the superior obligation of this asseveration to any other,
+is recorded in the _Eglinton Papers_[149]. The Earl one day found a boy
+climbing up a tree, and called him to come down. The boy declined,
+because, he said, the Earl would thrash him. His Lordship pledged his
+honour that he would not do so. The boy replied, "I dinna ken onything
+about your honour, but if you say as sure's deeth I'll come doun."
+
+Proverbs are sometimes local in their application.
+
+_The men o' the Mearns canna do mair than they may._ Even the men of
+Kincardineshire can only do their utmost--a proverb intended to be
+highly complimentary to the powers of the men of that county.
+
+_I'll mak Cathkin's covenant wi' you, Let abee for let abee._ This is a
+local saying quoted often in Hamilton. The laird of that property
+had--very unlike the excellent family who have now possessed it for more
+than a century--been addicted to intemperance. One of his neighbours, in
+order to frighten him on his way home from his evening potations,
+disguised himself, on a very wet night, and, personating the devil,
+claimed a title to carry him off as his rightful property. Contrary to
+all expectation, however, the laird showed fight, and was about to
+commence the onslaught, when a parley was proposed, and the issue was,
+"Cathkin's covenant, Let abee for let abee."
+
+_When the castle of Stirling gets a hat, the Carse of Corntown pays for
+that._ This is a local proverbial saying; the meaning is, that when the
+clouds descend so low as to envelope Stirling Castle, a deluge of rain
+may be expected in the adjacent country.
+
+I will conclude this notice of our proverbial reminiscences, by adding a
+cluster of Scottish proverbs, selected from an excellent article on the
+general subject in the _North British Review_ of February 1858. The
+reviewer designates these as "broader in their mirth, and more caustic
+in their tone," than the moral proverbial expressions of the Spanish and
+Italian:--
+
+     _A blate[150] cat maks a proud mouse.
+     Better a toom[151] house than an ill tenant.
+     Jouk[152] and let the jaw[153] gang by.
+     Mony ane speirs the gate[154] he kens fu' weel.
+     The tod[155] ne'er sped better than when he gaed his ain errand.
+     A wilfu' man should be unco wise.
+     He that has a meikle nose thinks ilka ane speaks o't.
+     He that teaches himsell has a fule for his maister.
+     It's an ill cause that the lawyer thinks shame o'.
+     Lippen[156] to me, but look to yoursell.
+     Mair whistle than woo, as the souter said when shearing the soo.
+     Ye gae far about seeking the nearest.
+     Ye'll no sell your hen on a rainy day.
+     Ye'll mend when ye grow better.
+     Ye're nae chicken for a' your cheepin'_[157].
+
+I have now adduced quite sufficient specimens to convince those who may
+not have given attention to the subject, how much of wisdom, knowledge
+of life, and good feeling, are contained in these aphorisms which
+compose the mass of our Scottish proverbial sayings. No doubt, to many
+of my younger readers proverbs are little known, and to all they are
+becoming more and more matters of reminiscence. I am quite convinced
+that much of the old quaint and characteristic Scottish talk which we
+are now endeavouring to recall depended on a happy use of those
+abstracts of moral sentiment. And this feeling will be confirmed when we
+call to mind how often those of the old Scottish school of character,
+whose conversation we have ourselves admired, had most largely availed
+themselves of the use of its _proverbial_ philosophy.
+
+I have already spoken of (p. 16) a Scottish peculiarity--viz. that of
+naming individuals from lands which have been possessed long by the
+family, or frequently from the landed estates which they acquire. The
+use of this mode of discriminating individuals in the Highland districts
+is sufficiently obvious. Where the inhabitants of a whole country-side
+are Campbells, or Frasers, or Gordons, nothing could be more convenient
+than addressing the individuals of each clan by the name of his estate.
+Indeed, some years ago, any other designation, as Mr. Campbell, Mr.
+Fraser, would have been resented as an indignity. Their consequence
+sprang from their possession[158]. But all this is fast wearing away.
+The estates of old families have often changed hands, and Highlanders
+are most unwilling to give the names of old properties to new
+proprietors. The custom, however, lingers amongst us, in the northern
+districts especially. Farms also used to give their names to the
+tenants[159]. I can recall an amusing instance of this practice
+belonging to my early days. The oldest recollections I have are
+connected with the name, the figure, the sayings and doings, of the old
+cow-herd at Fasque in my father's time; his name was Boggy, _i.e._ his
+ordinary appellation; his true name was Sandy Anderson. But he was
+called Boggy from the circumstance of having once held a wretched farm
+on Deeside named Boggendreep. He had long left it, and been unfortunate
+in it, but the name never left him,--he was Boggy to his grave. The
+territorial appellation used to be reckoned complimentary, and more
+respectful than Mr. or any higher title to which the individual might be
+entitled. I recollect, in my brother's time, at Fasque, his showing off
+some of his home stock to Mr. Williamson, the Aberdeen butcher. They
+came to a fine stot, and Sir Alexander said, with some appearance of
+boast, "I was offered twenty guineas for that ox." "Indeed, Fasque,"
+said Williamson, "ye should hae steekit your neive upo' that."
+
+Sir Walter Scott had marked in his diary a territorial greeting of two
+proprietors which had amused him much. The laird of Kilspindie had met
+the laird of Tannachy-Tulloch, and the following compliments passed
+between them:--"Yer maist obedient hummil servant, Tannachy-Tulloch." To
+which the reply was, "Yer nain man, Kilspindie."
+
+In proportion as we advance towards the Highland district this custom of
+distinguishing clans or races, and marking them out according to the
+district they occupied, became more apparent. There was the Glengarry
+country, the Fraser country, the Gordon country, etc. etc. These names
+carried also with them certain moral features as characteristic of each
+division. Hence the following anecdote:--The morning litany of an old
+laird of Cultoquhey, when he took his morning draught at the cauld well,
+was in these terms:--"Frae the ire o' the Drummonds, the pride o' the
+Graemes, the greed o' the Campbells, and the wind o' the Murrays, guid
+Lord deliver us."
+
+The Duke of Athole, having learned that Cultoquhey was in the habit of
+mentioning his Grace's family in such uncomplimentary terms, invited the
+humorist to Dunkeld, for the purpose of giving him a hint to desist from
+the reference. After dinner, the Duke asked his guest what were the
+precise terms in which he was in the habit of alluding to his powerful
+neighbours. Cultoquhey repeated his liturgy without a moment's
+hesitation. "I recommend you," said his Grace, looking very angry, "in
+future to omit my name from your morning devotions." All he got from
+Cultoquhey was, "Thank ye, my Lord Duke," taking off his glass with the
+utmost sangfroid.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[49] Stoor is, Scottice, dust in motion, and has no English synonym; oor
+is hour. Sir Walter Scott is said to have advised an artist, in painting
+a battle, not to deal with details, but to get up a good _stoor_: then
+put in an arm and a sword here and there, and leave all the rest to the
+imagination of the spectator.
+
+[50] Reach me a leg of that turkey.
+
+[51] Clearing ashes out of the bars of the grate.
+
+[52] Mentally confused. Muddy when applied to water.
+
+[53] Preface to 4th edition of _Mystifications_, by Dr. John Brown.
+
+[54] Worse.
+
+[55] Where.
+
+[56] Lord Cockburn's _Memorials_, p. 58.
+
+[57] Frogs.
+
+[58] Killed.
+
+[59] Miss Jenny Methven.
+
+[60] "Civil," "obliging."--Jamieson.
+
+[61] _Dam_, the game of draughts.
+
+[62] _Brod_, the board.
+
+[63] Measles.
+
+[64] Nettle-rash.
+
+[65] The itch.
+
+[66] Whooping-cough.
+
+[67] Mumps.
+
+[68] Toothache.
+
+[69] The Scotticisms are printed in italics.
+
+[70] Delicate in health.
+
+[71] Ailment.
+
+[72] Yawning.
+
+[73] Catching.
+
+[74] Tea-urn
+
+[75] _Ver_, the spring months.--_e.g._ "This was in _ver_ quhen wynter
+tid."--_Barbour_.
+
+[76] A number.
+
+[77] Young girls.
+
+[78] Gallows birds.
+
+[79] whistling noises.
+
+[80] Distorted gestures.
+
+[81] Honey jar.
+
+[82] A kind of loose gown formerly worn.
+
+[83] Amongst many acts of kindness and essential assistance which I have
+received and am constantly receiving from my friend Mr. Hugh James
+Rollo, I owe my introduction to this interesting Scottish volume, now, I
+believe, rather scarce.
+
+[84] Kelly's book is constantly quoted by Jamieson, and is, indeed, an
+excellent work for the study of good old Scotch.
+
+[85] This probably throws back the collection to about the middle of the
+century.
+
+[86] Nurse.
+
+[87] Daw, a slut.
+
+[88] Would.
+
+[89] Forgive.
+
+[90] Going or moving.
+
+[91] Foot.
+
+[92] Always.
+
+[93] If.
+
+[94] Boasters.
+
+[95] Used as cowards(?)
+
+[96] Jest.
+
+[97] A dog's name.
+
+[98] To skail house, to disfurnish.
+
+[99] Being angry or cross.
+
+[100] Judge.
+
+[101] Know not.
+
+[102] Blames.
+
+[103] To aim at.
+
+[104] A stroke.
+
+[105] Full.
+
+[106] Hold.
+
+[107] Potent or strong.
+
+[108] Is angry.
+
+[109] Settle.
+
+[110] Amends.
+
+[111] Comb.
+
+[112] Seldom.
+
+[113] Painfully.
+
+[114] Wool-combers.
+
+[115] Greasy.
+
+[116] Worthless fellow.
+
+[117] Loses.
+
+[118] Sixpenny.
+
+[119] A sort of dagger or hanger which seems to have been used both at
+meals as a knife and in broils--
+
+     "And _whingers_ now in friendship bare,
+      The social meal to part and share,
+      Had found a bloody sheath."
+
+--_Lay of the Last Minstrel_.
+
+[120] Thong.
+
+[121] No lawsuit.
+
+[122] Robbers.
+
+[123] Rue, to repent.
+
+[124] More.
+
+[125] Maidens.
+
+[126] Hares.
+
+[127] Take after.
+
+[128] Cuckoo.
+
+[129] Note.
+
+[130] Attired.
+
+[131] Curried.
+
+[132] Related.
+
+[133] Outrun.
+
+[134] Tune.
+
+[135] Curtsied.
+
+[136] Fallen.
+
+[137] Surprise.
+
+[138] Christmas.
+
+[139] Pasch or Easter.
+
+[140] Early.
+
+[141] Severe.
+
+[142] The proper orthography of this expression is deoch-an-doruis (or
+dorais). _Deoch_, a drink; _an_, of the; _doruis_ or _dorais_,
+possessive case of dorus or doras a door.
+
+[143] Praise.
+
+[144] Tears.
+
+[145] Thatch.
+
+[146] It has been suggested, and with much reason, that the reference is
+to a fly sticking on a wet or a newly painted wall; this is corroborated
+by the addition in Rob Roy, "When the dirt's dry, it will rub out,"
+which seems to point out the meaning and derivation of the proverb.
+
+[147] A young bullock.
+
+[148] Saddle for supporting panniers.
+
+[149] Vol. i. p. 134.
+
+[150] Shy.
+
+[151] Empty.
+
+[152] Stoop down.
+
+[153] Wave.
+
+[154] The way.
+
+[155] Fox.
+
+[156] Trust to.
+
+[157] Chirping.
+
+[158] Even in Forfarshire, where Carnegies abound, we had Craigo,
+Balnamoon, Pitarrow, etc.
+
+[159] This custom is still in use in Galloway; and "Challoch,"
+"Eschonchan," "Tonderghie," "Balsalloch," and "Drummorral," etc. etc.,
+appear regularly at kirk and market.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE SEVENTH.
+
+ON SCOTTISH STORIES OF WIT AND HUMOUR.
+
+The portion of our subject which we proposed under the head of
+"Reminiscences of Scottish Stories of Wit or Humour," yet remains to be
+considered. This is closely connected with the question of Scottish
+dialect and expressions; indeed, on some points hardly separable, as the
+wit, to a great extent, proceeds from the quaint and picturesque modes
+of expressing it. But here we are met by a difficulty. On high authority
+it has been declared that no such thing as wit exists amongst us. What
+has no existence can have no change. We cannot be said to have lost a
+quality which we never possessed. Many of my readers are no doubt
+familiar with what Sydney Smith declared on this point, and certainly on
+the question of wit he must be considered an authority. He used to say
+(I am almost ashamed to repeat it), "It requires a surgical operation to
+get a joke well into a Scotch understanding. Their only idea of wit,
+which prevails occasionally in the north, and which, under the name of
+WUT, is so infinitely distressing to people of good taste, is laughing
+immoderately at stated intervals." Strange language to use of a country
+which has produced Smollett, Burns, Scott, Galt, and Wilson--all
+remarkable for the humour diffused through their writings! Indeed, we
+may fairly ask, have they equals in this respect amongst English
+writers? Charles Lamb had the same notion, or, I should rather say, the
+same prejudice, about Scottish people not being accessible to wit; and
+he tells a story of what happened to himself, in corroboration of the
+opinion. He had been asked to a party, and one object of the invitation
+had been to meet a son of Burns. When he arrived, Mr. Burns had not made
+his appearance, and in the course of conversation regarding the family
+of the poet, Lamb, in his lack-a-daisical kind of manner, said, "I wish
+it had been the father instead of the son;" upon which four Scotsmen
+present with one voice exclaimed, "That's impossible, for _he's
+dead_[160]." Now, there will be dull men and matter-of-fact men
+everywhere, who do not take a joke, or enter into a jocular allusion;
+but surely, as a general remark, this is far from being a natural
+quality of our country. Sydney Smith and Charles Lamb say so. But, at
+the risk of being considered presumptuous, I will say I think them
+entirely mistaken. I should say that there was, on the contrary, a
+strong _connection_ between the Scottish temperament and, call it if you
+like, humour, if it is not wit. And what is the difference? My readers
+need not be afraid that they are to be led through a labyrinth of
+metaphysical distinctions between wit and humour. I have read Dr.
+Campbell's dissertation on the difference, in his Philosophy of
+Rhetoric; I have read Sydney Smith's own two lectures; but I confess I
+am not much the wiser. Professors of rhetoric, no doubt, must have such
+discussions; but when you wish to be amused by the thing itself, it is
+somewhat disappointing to be presented with metaphysical analysis. It is
+like instituting an examination of the glass and cork of a champagne
+bottle, and a chemical testing of the wine. In the very process the
+volatile and sparkling draught which was to delight the palate has
+become like ditch water, vapid and dead. What I mean is, that, call it
+wit or humour, or what you please, there is a school of Scottish
+pleasantry, amusing and characteristic beyond all other. Don't think of
+_analysing_ its nature, or the qualities of which it is composed; enjoy
+its quaint and amusing flow of oddity and fun; as we may, for instance,
+suppose it to have flowed on that eventful night so joyously described
+by Burns:--
+
+     "The souter tauld his queerest stories,
+     The landlord's laugh was ready chorus."
+
+Or we may think of the delight it gave the good Mr. Balwhidder, when he
+tells, in his Annals of the Parish, of some such story, that it was a
+"jocosity that was just a kittle to hear." When I speak of changes in
+such Scottish humour which have taken place, I refer to a particular
+sort of humour, and I speak of the sort of feeling that belongs to
+Scottish pleasantry,--which is sly, and cheery, and pawky. It is
+undoubtedly a humour that depends a good deal upon the vehicle in which
+the story is conveyed. If, as we have said, our quaint dialect is
+passing away, and our national eccentric points of character, we must
+expect to find much of the peculiar humour allied with them to have
+passed away also. In other departments of wit and repartee, and acute
+hits at men and things, Scotsmen (whatever Sydney Smith may have said to
+the contrary) are equal to their neighbours, and, so far as I know, may
+have gained rather than lost. But this peculiar humour of which I now
+speak has not, in our day, the scope and development which were
+permitted to it by the former generation. Where the tendency exists, the
+exercise of it is kept down by the usages and feelings of society. For
+examples of it (in its full force at any rate) we must go back to a race
+who are departed. One remark, however, has occurred to me in regard to
+the specimens we have of this kind of humour--viz. that they do not
+always proceed from the personal wit or cleverness of any of the
+individuals concerned in them. The amusement comes from the
+circumstances, from the concurrence or combination of the ideas, and in
+many cases from the mere expressions which describe the facts. The
+humour of the narrative is unquestionable, and yet no one has tried to
+be humorous. In short, it is the _Scottishness_ that gives the zest. The
+same ideas differently expounded might have no point at all. There is,
+for example, something highly original in the notions of celestial
+mechanics entertained by an honest Scottish Fife lass regarding the
+theory of comets. Having occasion to go out after dark, and having
+observed the brilliant comet then visible (1858), she ran in with
+breathless haste to the house, calling on her fellow-servants to "Come
+oot and see a new star that hasna got its tail cuttit aff yet!"
+Exquisite astronomical speculation! Stars, like puppies, are born with
+tails, and in due time have them docked. Take an example of a story
+where there is no display of any one's wit or humour, and yet it is a
+good story, and one can't exactly say why:--An English traveller had
+gone on a fine Highland road so long, without having seen an indication
+of fellow-travellers, that he became astonished at the solitude of the
+country; and no doubt before the Highlands were so much frequented as
+they are in our time, the roads sometimes bore a very striking aspect of
+solitariness. Our traveller, at last coming up to an old man breaking
+stones, asked him if there was _any_ traffic on this road--was it at
+_all_ frequented? "Ay," he said, coolly, "it's no ill at that; there was
+a cadger body yestreen, and there's yoursell the day." No English
+version of the story could have half such amusement, or have so quaint a
+character. An answer even still more characteristic is recorded to have
+been given by a countryman to a traveller. Being doubtful of his way, he
+inquired if he were on the right road to Dunkeld. With some of his
+national inquisitiveness about strangers, the countryman asked his
+inquirer where he came from. Offended at the liberty, as he considered
+it, he sharply reminded the man that where he came from was nothing to
+him; but all the answer he got was the quiet rejoinder, "Indeed, it's
+just as little to me whar ye're gaen." A friend has told me of an answer
+highly characteristic of this dry and unconcerned quality which he heard
+given to a fellow-traveller. A gentleman sitting opposite to him in the
+stage-coach at Berwick complained bitterly that the cushion on which he
+sat was quite wet. On looking up to the roof he saw a hole through which
+the rain descended copiously, and at once accounted for the mischief. He
+called for the coachman, and in great wrath reproached him with the evil
+under which he suffered, and pointed to the hole which was the cause of
+it. All the satisfaction, however, that he got was the quiet unmoved
+reply, "Ay, mony a ane has complained o' _that_ hole." Another anecdote
+I heard from a gentleman who vouched for the truth, which is just a case
+where the narrative has its humour not from the wit which is displayed
+but from that dry matter-of-fact view of things peculiar to some of our
+countrymen. The friend of my informant was walking in a street of Perth,
+when, to his horror, he saw a workman fall from a roof where he was
+mending slates, right upon the pavement. By extraordinary good fortune
+he was not killed, and on the gentleman going up to his assistance, and
+exclaiming, with much excitement, "God bless me, are you much hurt?" all
+the answer he got was the cool rejoinder, "On the contrary, sir." A
+similar matter-of fact answer was made by one of the old race of
+Montrose humorists. He was coming out of church, and in the press of the
+kirk _skailing_, a young man thoughtlessly trod on the old gentleman's
+toe, which was tender with corns. He hastened to apologise, saying, "I
+am very sorry, sir; I beg your pardon." The only acknowledgment of which
+was the dry answer, "And ye've as muckle need, sir." An old man marrying
+a very young wife, his friends rallied him on the inequality of their
+ages. "She will be near me," he replied, "to close my een." "Weel,"
+remarked another of the party, "I've had twa wives, and they _opened
+my een_."
+
+One of the best specimens of cool Scottish matter-of-fact view of things
+has been supplied by a kind correspondent, who narrates it from his own
+personal recollection.
+
+The back windows of the house where he was brought up looked upon the
+Greyfriars Church that was burnt down. On the Sunday morning in which
+that event took place, as they were all preparing to go to church, the
+flames began to burst forth; the young people screamed from the back
+part of the house, "A fire! A fire!" and all was in a state of confusion
+and alarm. The housemaid was not at home, it being her turn for the
+Sunday "out." Kitty, the cook, was taking her place, and performing her
+duties. The old woman was always very particular on the subject of her
+responsibility on such occasions, and came panting and hobbling up
+stairs from the lower regions, and exclaimed, "Oh, what is't, what
+is't?" "O Kitty, look here, the Greyfriars Church is on fire!" "Is that
+a', Miss? What a fricht ye geed me! I thought ye said the parlour
+fire was out."
+
+In connection with the subject of Scottish _toasts_ I am supplied by a
+first-rate Highland authority of one of the most graceful and crushing
+replies of a lady to what was intended as a sarcastic compliment and
+smart saying at her expense.
+
+About the beginning of the present century the then Campbell of Combie,
+on Loch Awe side, in Argyleshire, was a man of extraordinary character,
+and of great physical strength, and such swiftness of foot that it is
+said he could "catch the best _tup_ on the hill." He also looked upon
+himself as a "pretty man," though in this he was singular; also, it was
+more than whispered that the laird was not remarkable for his principles
+of honesty. There also lived in the same district a Miss MacNabb of
+Bar-a'-Chaistril, a lady who, before she had passed the zenith of life,
+had never been remarkable for her beauty--the contrary even had passed
+into a proverb, while she was in her teens; but, to counterbalance this
+defect in external qualities, nature had endowed her with great
+benevolence, while she was renowned for her probity. One day the Laird
+of Combie, who piqued himself on his _bon-mots,_ was, as frequently
+happened, a guest of Miss MacNabb's, and after dinner several toasts had
+gone round as usual, Combie rose with great solemnity and addressing the
+lady of the house requested an especial bumper, insisting on all the
+guests to fill to the brim. He then rose and said, addressing himself to
+Miss MacNabb, "I propose the old Scottish toast of 'Honest men and
+_bonnie_ lassies,'" and bowing to the hostess, he resumed his seat. The
+lady returned his bow with her usual amiable smile, and taking up her
+glass, replied, "Weel, Combie, I am sure _we_ may drink that, for it
+will neither apply to _you_ nor _me_."
+
+An amusing example of a quiet cool view of a pecuniary transaction
+happened to my father whilst doing the business of the rent-day. He was
+receiving sums of money from the tenants in succession. After looking
+over a bundle of notes which he had just received from one of them, a
+well-known character, he said in banter, "James, the notes are not
+correct." To which the farmer, who was much of a humorist, drily
+answered, "I dinna ken what they may be _noo_; but they were a' richt
+afore ye had your fingers in amang 'em." An English farmer would hardly
+have spoken thus to his landlord. The Duke of Buccleuch told me an
+answer very quaintly Scotch, given to his grandmother by a farmer of the
+old school. A dinner was given to some tenantry of the vast estates of
+the family, in the time of Duke Henry. His Duchess (the last descendant
+of the Dukes of Montague) always appeared at table on such occasions,
+and did the honours with that mixture of dignity and of affable kindness
+for which she was so remarkable. Abundant hospitality was shown to all
+the guests. The Duchess, having observed one of the tenants supplied
+with boiled beef from a noble round, proposed that he should add a
+supply of cabbage: on his declining, the Duchess good-humouredly
+remarked, "Why, boiled beef and 'greens' seem so naturally to go
+together, I wonder you don't take it." To which the honest farmer
+objected, "Ah, but your Grace maun alloo it's a vary _windy_ vegetable,"
+in delicate allusion to the flatulent quality of the esculent. Similar
+to this was the naive answer of a farmer on the occasion of a rent-day.
+The lady of the house asked him if he would take some "rhubarb-tart," to
+which he innocently answered, "Thank ye, mem, I dinna _need_ it."
+
+A Highland minister, dining with the patroness of his parish, ventured
+to say, "I'll thank your leddyship for a little more of that
+apple-tart;" "It's not apple-tart, it's rhubarb," replied the lady.
+"Rhubarb!" repeated the other, with a look of surprise and alarm, and
+immediately called out to the attendant, "Freend, I'll thank you for
+a dram."
+
+A characteristic _table_ anecdote I can recall amongst Deeside
+reminiscences. My aunt, Mrs. Forbes, had entertained an honest Scotch
+farmer at Banchory Lodge; a draught of ale had been offered to him,
+which he had quickly despatched. My aunt observing that the glass had no
+head or effervescence, observed, that she feared it had not been a good
+bottle, "Oh, vera gude, maam, it's just some strong o' the aaple," an
+expression which indicates the beer to be somewhat sharp or pungent. It
+turned out to have been a bottle of _vinegar_ decanted by mistake.
+
+An amusing instance of an old Scottish farmer being unacquainted with
+table refinements occurred at a tenant's dinner in the north. The
+servant had put down beside him a dessert spoon when he had been helped
+to pudding. This seemed quite superfluous to the honest man, who
+exclaimed, "Tak' it awa, my man; my mou's as big for puddin' as it is
+for kail."
+
+Amongst the lower orders in Scotland humour is found, occasionally,
+very rich in mere children, and I recollect a remarkable illustration of
+this early native humour occurring in a family in Forfarshire, where I
+used in former days to be very intimate. A wretched woman, who used to
+traverse the country as a beggar or tramp, left a poor, half-starved
+little girl by the road-side, near the house of my friends. Always ready
+to assist the unfortunate, they took charge of the child, and as she
+grew a little older they began to give her some education, and taught
+her to read. She soon made some progress in reading the Bible, and the
+native odd humour of which we speak began soon to show itself. On
+reading the passage, which began, "Then David rose," etc., the child
+stopped, and looked up knowingly, to say, "I ken wha that was," and on
+being asked what she could mean, she confidently said, "That's David
+Rowse the pleuchman." And again, reading the passage where the words
+occur, "He took Paul's girdle," the child said, with much confidence, "I
+ken what he took that for," and on being asked to explain, replied at
+once, "To bake 's bannocks on;" "girdle" being in the north the name for
+the iron plate hung over the fire for baking oat cakes or bannocks.
+
+To a distinguished member of the Church of Scotland I am indebted for an
+excellent story of quaint child humour, which he had from the lips of an
+old woman who related the story of herself:--When a girl of eight years
+of age she was taken by her grandmother to church. The parish minister
+was not only a long preacher, but, as the custom was, delivered two
+sermons on the Sabbath day without any interval, and thus saved the
+parishioners the two journeys to church. Elizabeth was sufficiently
+wearied before the close of the first discourse; but when, after singing
+and prayer, the good minister opened the Bible, read a second text, and
+prepared to give a second sermon, the young girl, being both tired and
+hungry, lost all patience, and cried out to her grandmother, to the no
+small amusement of those who were so near as to hear her, "Come awa,
+granny, and gang hame; this is a lang grace, and nae meat."
+
+A most amusing account of child humour used to be narrated by an old Mr.
+Campbell of Jura, who told the story of his own son. It seems the boy
+was much spoilt by indulgence. In fact, the parents were scarce able to
+refuse him anything he demanded. He was in the drawing-room on one
+occasion when dinner was announced, and on being ordered up to the
+nursery he insisted on going down to dinner with the company. His mother
+was for refusal, but the child persevered, and kept saying, "If I dinna
+gang, I'll tell thon." His father then, for peace sake, let him go. So
+he went and sat at table by his mother. When he found every one getting
+soup and himself omitted, he demanded soup, and repeated, "If I dinna
+get it, I'll tell thon." Well, soup was given, and various other things
+yielded to his importunities, to which he always added the usual threat
+of "telling thon." At last, when it came to wine, his mother stood firm,
+and positively refused, as "a bad thing for little boys," and so on. He
+then became more vociferous than ever about "telling thon;" and as still
+he was refused, he declared, "Now, I will tell thon," and at last roared
+out, "_Ma new breeks were made oot o' the auld curtains_!"
+
+The Rev. Mr. Agnew has kindly sent me an anecdote which supplies an
+example of cleverness in a Scottish boy, and which rivals, as he
+observes, the smartness of the London boy, termed by _Punch_ the "Street
+boy." It has also a touch of quiet, sly Scottish _humour_. A gentleman,
+editor of a Glasgow paper, well known as a bon-vivant and epicure, and
+by no means a popular character, was returning one day from his office,
+and met near his own house a boy carrying a splendid salmon. The
+gentleman looked at it with longing eyes, and addressed the boy--"Where
+are you taking that salmon, my boy?" Boy--"Do you ken gin ae Mr. ----
+(giving the gentleman's name) lives hereabout?" Mr. ---- "Yes, oh yes;
+his house is here just by." Boy (looking sly)--"Weel, it's no for him."
+Of this same Scottish _boy cleverness_, the Rev. Mr. M'Lure of Marykirk
+kindly supplies a capital specimen, in an instance which occurred at
+what is called the market, at Fettercairn, where there is always a
+hiring of servants. A boy was asked by a farmer if he wished to be
+engaged. "Ou ay," said the youth. "Wha was your last maister?" was the
+next question. "Oh, yonder him," said the boy; and then agreeing to wait
+where he was standing with some other servants till the inquirer should
+return from examination of the boy's late employer. The farmer returned
+and accosted the boy, "Weel, lathie, I've been speerin' about ye, an'
+I'm tae tak ye." "Ou ay," was the prompt reply, "an' I've been speerin'
+about _ye tae_, an' I'm nae gaen."
+
+We could not have had a better specimen of the cool self-sufficiency of
+these young domestics of the Scottish type than the following:--I heard
+of a boy making a very cool and determined exit from the house into
+which he had very lately been introduced. He had been told that he
+should be dismissed if he broke any of the china that was under his
+charge. On the morning of a great dinner-party he was entrusted (rather
+rashly) with a great load of plates, which he was to carry up-stairs
+from the kitchen to the dining-room, and which were piled up, and
+rested upon his two hands. In going up-stairs his foot slipped, and the
+plates were broken to atoms. He at once went up to the drawing-room, put
+his head in at the door, and shouted: "The plates are a' smashed,
+and I'm awa."
+
+A facetious and acute friend, who rather leans to the Sydney Smith view
+of Scottish wit, declares that all our humorous stories are about
+lairds, and lairds that are drunk. Of such stories there are certainly
+not a few. The following is one of the best belonging to my part of the
+country, and to many persons I should perhaps apologise for introducing
+it at all. The story has been told of various parties and localities,
+but no doubt the genuine laird was a laird of Balnamoon (pronounced in
+the country Bonnymoon), and that the locality was a wild tract of land,
+not far from his place, called Munrimmon Moor. Balnamoon had been dining
+out in the neighbourhood, where, by mistake, they had put down to him
+after dinner cherry brandy, instead of port wine, his usual beverage.
+The rich flavour and strength so pleased him that, having tasted it, he
+would have nothing else. On rising from table, therefore, the laird
+would be more affected by his drink than if he had taken his ordinary
+allowance of port. His servant Harry or Hairy was to drive him home in a
+gig, or whisky as it was called, the usual open carriage of the time. On
+crossing the moor, however, whether from greater exposure to the blast,
+or from the laird's unsteadiness of head, his hat and wig came off and
+fell upon the ground. Harry got out to pick them up and restore them to
+his master. The laird was satisfied with the hat, but demurred at the
+wig. "It's no my wig, Hairy, lad; it's no my wig," and refused to have
+anything to do with it. Hairy lost his patience, and, anxious to get
+home, remonstrated with his master, "Ye'd better tak it, sir, for
+there's nae _waile_[161] o' wigs on Munrimmon Moor." The humour of the
+argument is exquisite, putting to the laird in his unreasonable
+objection the sly insinuation that in such a locality, if he did not
+take _this_ wig, he was not likely to find another. Then, what a rich
+expression, "waile o' wigs." In English what is it? "A choice of
+perukes;" which is nothing comparable to the "waile o' wigs." I ought to
+mention also an amusing sequel to the story, viz. in what happened after
+the affair of the wig had been settled, and the laird had consented to
+return home. When the whisky drove up to the door, Hairy, sitting in
+front, told the servant who came "to tak out the laird." No laird was to
+be seen; and it appeared that he had fallen out on the moor without
+Hairy observing it. Of course, they went back, and, picking him up,
+brought him safe home. A neighbouring laird having called a few days
+after, and having referred to the accident, Balnamoon quietly added,
+"Indeed, I maun hae a lume[162] that'll _haud in_."
+
+The laird of Balnamoon was a truly eccentric character. He joined with
+his drinking propensities a great zeal for the Episcopal church, the
+service of which he read to his own family with much solemnity and
+earnestness of manner. Two gentlemen, one of them a stranger to the
+country, having called pretty early one Sunday morning, Balnamoon
+invited them to dinner, and as they accepted the invitation, they
+remained and joined in the forenoon devotional exercises conducted by
+Balnamoon himself. The stranger was much impressed with the laird's
+performance of the service, and during a walk which they took before
+dinner, mentioned to his friend how highly he esteemed the religious
+deportment of their host. The gentleman said nothing, but smiled to
+himself at the scene which he anticipated was to follow. After dinner,
+Balnamoon set himself, according to the custom of old hospitable
+Scottish hosts, to make his guests as drunk as possible. The result was,
+that the party spent the evening in a riotous debauch, and were carried
+to bed by the servants at a late hour. Next day, when they had taken
+leave and left the house, the gentleman who had introduced his friend
+asked him what he thought of their entertainer--"Why, really," he
+replied, with evident astonishment, "sic a speat o' praying, and sic a
+speat o' drinking, I never knew in the whole course o' my life."
+
+Lady Dalhousie, mother, I mean, of the late distinguished Marquis of
+Dalhousie, used to tell a characteristic anecdote of her day. But here,
+on mention of the name Christian, Countess of Dalhousie, may I pause a
+moment to recall the memory of one who was a very remarkable person. She
+was for many years, to me and mine, a sincere, and true and valuable
+friend. By an awful dispensation of God's providence her death happened
+_instantaneously_ under my roof in 1839. Lady Dalhousie was eminently
+distinguished for a fund of the most varied knowledge, for a clear and
+powerful judgment, for acute observation, a kind heart, a brilliant wit.
+Her story was thus:--A Scottish judge, somewhat in the predicament of
+the Laird of Balnamoon, had dined at Coalstoun with her father Charles
+Brown, an advocate, and son of George Brown, who sat in the Supreme
+Court as a judge with the title of Lord Coalstoun. The party had been
+convivial, as we know parties of the highest legal characters often
+were in those days. When breaking up and going to the drawing-room, one
+of them, not seeing his way very clearly, stepped out of the dining-room
+window, which was open to the summer air. The ground at Coalstoun
+sloping off from the house behind, the worthy judge got a great fall,
+and rolled down the bank. He contrived, however, as tipsy men generally
+do, to regain his legs, and was able to reach the drawing-room. The
+first remark he made was an innocent remonstrance with his friend the
+host, "Od, Charlie Brown, what gars ye hae sic lang steps to your
+_front_ door?"
+
+On Deeside, where many original stories had their origin, I recollect
+hearing several of an excellent and worthy, but very simple-minded man,
+the Laird of Craigmyle. On one occasion, when the beautiful and clever
+Jane, Duchess of Gordon, was scouring through the country, intent upon
+some of those electioneering schemes which often occupied her fertile
+imagination and active energies, she came to call at Craigmyle, and
+having heard that the laird was making bricks on the property, for the
+purpose of building a new garden wall, with her usual tact she opened
+the subject, and kindly asked, "Well, Mr. Gordon, and how do your bricks
+come on?" Good Craigmyle's thoughts were much occupied with a new
+leather portion of his dress, which had been lately constructed, so,
+looking down on his nether garments, he said in pure Aberdeen dialect,
+"Muckle obleeged to yer Grace, the breeks war sum ticht at first, but
+they are deeing weel eneuch noo."
+
+The last Laird of Macnab, before the clan finally broke up and emigrated
+to Canada, was a well-known character in the country, and being poor,
+used to ride about on a most wretched horse, which gave occasion to
+many jibes at his expense. The laird was in the constant habit of riding
+up from the country to attend the Musselburgh races. A young wit, by way
+of playing him off on the race-course, asked him, in a contemptuous
+tone, "Is that the same horse you had last year, laird?" "Na," said the
+laird, brandishing his whip in the interrogator's face in so emphatic a
+manner as to preclude further questioning, "na; but it's the same
+_whup_." In those days, as might be expected, people were not nice in
+expressions of their dislike of persons and measures. If there be not
+more charity in society than of old, there is certainly more courtesy. I
+have, from a friend, an anecdote illustrative of this remark, in regard
+to feelings exercised towards an unpopular laird. In the neighbourhood
+of Banff, in Forfarshire, the seat of a very ancient branch of the
+Ramsays, lived a proprietor who bore the appellation of Corb, from the
+name of his estate. This family has passed away, and its property merged
+in Banff. The laird was intensely disliked in the neighbourhood. Sir
+George Ramsay was, on the other hand, universally popular and respected.
+On one occasion, Sir George, in passing a morass in his own
+neighbourhood, had missed the road and fallen into a bog to an alarming
+depth. To his great relief, he saw a passenger coming along the path,
+which was at no great distance. He called loudly for his help, but the
+man took no notice. Poor Sir George felt himself sinking, and redoubled
+his cries for assistance; all at once the passenger rushed forward,
+carefully extricated him from his perilous position, and politely
+apologised for his first neglect of his appeal, adding, as his reason,
+"Indeed, Sir George, I thought it was Corb!" evidently meaning that
+_had_ it been Corb, he must have taken his chance for him.
+
+In Lanarkshire there lived a sma' sma' laird named Hamilton, who was
+noted for his eccentricity. On one occasion, a neighbour waited on him,
+and requested his name as an accommodation to a "bit bill" for twenty
+pounds at three months' date, which led to the following characteristic
+and truly Scottish colloquy:--"Na, na, I canna do that." "What for no,
+laird? ye hae dune the same thing for ithers." "Ay, ay, Tammas, but
+there's wheels within wheels ye ken naething about; I canna do't." "It's
+a sma' affair to refuse me, laird." "Weel, ye see, Tammas, if I was to
+pit my name till't, ye wad get the siller frae the bank, and when the
+time came round, ye wadna be ready, and I wad hae to pay't; sae then you
+and me wad quarrel; sae we may just as weel quarrel _the noo_, as lang's
+the siller's in ma pouch." On one occasion, Hamilton having business
+with the late Duke of Hamilton at Hamilton Palace, the Duke politely
+asked him to lunch. A liveried servant waited upon them, and was most
+assiduous in his attentions to the Duke and his guest. At last our
+eccentric friend lost patience, and looking at the servant, addressed
+him thus, "What the deil for are ye dance, dancing, about the room that
+gait? can ye no draw in your chair and sit down? I'm sure there's
+_plenty on the table for three_."
+
+As a specimen of the old-fashioned Laird, now become a Reminiscence, who
+adhered pertinaciously to old Scottish usages, and to the old Scottish
+dialect, I cannot, I am sure, adduce a better specimen than Mr.
+Fergusson of Pitfour, to whose servant I have already referred. He was
+always called Pitfour, from the name of his property in Aberdeenshire.
+He must have died fifty years ago. He was for many years M.P. for the
+county of Aberdeen, and I have reason to believe that he made the
+enlightened parliamentary declaration which has been given to others: He
+said "he had often heard speeches in the _House_, which had changed his
+opinion, but none that had ever changed his vote." I recollect hearing
+of his dining in London sixty years ago, at the house of a Scottish
+friend, where there was a swell party, and Pitfour was introduced as a
+great northern proprietor, and county M.P. A fashionable lady patronised
+him graciously, and took great charge of him, and asked him about his
+estates. Pitfour was very dry and sparing in his communications, as for
+example, "What does your home farm chiefly produce, Mr. Fergusson?"
+Answer, "Girss." "I beg your pardon, Mr. Fergusson, what does your home
+farm produce?" All she could extract was, "Girss."
+
+Of another laird, whom I heard often spoken of in old times, an anecdote
+was told strongly Scottish. Our friend had much difficulty (as many
+worthy lairds have had) in meeting the claims of those two woeful
+periods of the year called with us in Scotland the "tarmes." He had been
+employing for some time as workman a stranger from the south on some
+house repairs, of the not uncommon name in England of Christmas. His
+servant early one morning called out at the laird's door in great
+excitement that "Christmas had run away, and nobody knew where he had
+gone." He coolly turned in his bed with the ejaculation, "I only wish he
+had taken Whitsunday and Martinmas along with him." I do not know a
+better illustration of quiet, shrewd, and acute Scottish humour than the
+following little story, which an esteemed correspondent mentions having
+heard from his father when a boy, relating to a former Duke of Athole,
+who had _no family of his own_, and whom he mentions as having
+remembered very well:--He met, one morning, one of his cottars or
+gardeners, whose wife he knew to be in the _hopeful way_. Asking him
+"how Marget was the day," the man replied that she had that morning
+given him twins. Upon which the Duke said,--"Weel, Donald; ye ken the
+Almighty never sends bairns without the meat." "That may be, your
+Grace," said Donald; "but whiles I think that Providence maks a mistak
+in thae matters, and sends the bairns to ae hoose and the meat to
+anither!" The Duke took the hint, and sent him a cow with calf the
+following morning.
+
+I have heard of an amusing scene between a laird, noted for his
+meanness, and a wandering sort of Edie Ochiltree, a well-known itinerant
+who lived by his wits and what he could pick up in his rounds amongst
+the houses through the country. The laird, having seen the beggar sit
+down near his gate to examine the contents of his pock or wallet,
+conjectured that he had come from his house, and so drew near to see
+what he had carried off. As the laird was keenly investigating the
+mendicant's spoils, his quick eye detected some bones on which there
+remained more meat than should have been allowed to leave his kitchen.
+Accordingly he pounced upon the bones, declaring he had been robbed, and
+insisted on the beggar returning to the house and giving back the spoil.
+He was, however, prepared for the attack, and sturdily defended his
+property, boldly asserting, "Na, na, laird, thae are no Tod-brae banes;
+they are Inch-byre banes, and nane o' your honour's"--meaning that he
+had received these bones at the house of a neighbour of a more liberal
+character. The beggar's professional discrimination between the merits
+of the bones of the two mansions, and his pertinacious defence of his
+own property, would have been most amusing to a bystander.
+
+I have, however, a reverse story, in which the beggar is quietly
+silenced by the proprietor. A noble lord, some generations back, well
+known for his frugal habits, had just picked up a small copper coin in
+his own avenue, and had been observed by one of the itinerating
+mendicant race, who, grudging the transfer of the piece into the peer's
+pocket, exclaimed, "O, gie't to me, my lord;" to which the quiet answer
+was, "Na, na; fin' a fardin' for yersell, puir body."
+
+There are always pointed anecdotes against houses wanting in a liberal
+and hospitable expenditure in Scotland. Thus, we have heard of a master
+leaving such a mansion, and taxing his servant with being drunk, which
+he had too often been after other country visits. On this occasion,
+however, he was innocent of the charge, for he had not the _opportunity_
+to transgress. So, when his master asserted, "Jemmy, you are drunk!"
+Jemmy very quietly answered, "Indeed, sir, I wish I wur." At another
+mansion, notorious for scanty fare, a gentleman was inquiring of the
+gardener about a dog which some time ago he had given to the laird. The
+gardener showed him a lank greyhound, on which the gentleman said, "No,
+no; the dog I gave your master was a mastiff, not a greyhound;" to which
+the gardener quietly answered, "Indeed, ony dog micht sune become a
+greyhound by stopping here."
+
+From a friend and relative, a minister of the Established Church of
+Scotland, I used to hear many characteristic stories. He had a curious
+vein of this sort of humour in himself, besides what he brought out from
+others. One of his peculiarities was a mortal antipathy to the whole
+French nation, whom he frequently abused in no measured terms. At the
+same time he had great relish of a glass of claret, which he considered
+the prince of all social beverages. So he usually finished off his
+antigallican tirades, with the reservation, "But the bodies brew the
+braw drink." He lived amongst his own people, and knew well the habits
+and peculiarities of a race gone by. He had many stories connected with
+the pastoral relation between minister and people, and all such stories
+are curious, not merely for their amusement, but from the illustration
+they afford us of that peculiar Scottish humour which we are now
+describing. He had himself, when a very young boy, before he came up to
+the Edinburgh High School, been at the parochial school where he
+resided, and which, like many others, at that period, had a considerable
+reputation for the skill and scholarship of the master. He used to
+describe school scenes rather different, I suspect, from school scenes
+in our day. One boy, on coming late, explained that the cause had been a
+regular pitched battle between his parents, with the details of which he
+amused his school-fellows; and he described the battle in vivid and
+Scottish Homeric terms: "And eh, as they faucht, and they faucht,"
+adding, however, with much complacency, "but my minnie dang, she
+did tho'."
+
+There was a style of conversation and quaint modes of expression between
+ministers and their people at that time, which, I suppose, would seem
+strange to the present generation; as, for example, I recollect a
+conversation between this relative and one of his parishioners of this
+description.--It had been a very wet and unpromising autumn. The
+minister met a certain Janet of his flock, and accosted her very kindly.
+He remarked, "Bad prospect for the har'st (harvest), Janet, this wet."
+_Janet_--"Indeed, sir, I've seen as muckle as that there'll be nae
+har'st the year." _Minister_--"Na, Janet, deil as muckle as that't
+ever you saw."
+
+As I have said, he was a clergyman of the Established Church, and had
+many stories about ministers and people, arising out of his own pastoral
+experience, or the experience of friends and neighbours. He was much
+delighted with the not very refined rebuke which one of his own farmers
+had given to a young minister who had for some Sundays occupied his
+pulpit. The young man had dined with the farmer in the afternoon when
+services were over, and his appetite was so sharp, that he thought it
+necessary to apologise to his host for eating so substantial a
+dinner.--"You see," he said, "I am always very hungry after preaching."
+The old gentleman, not much admiring the youth's pulpit ministrations,
+having heard this apology two or three times, at last replied
+sarcastically, "Indeed, sir, I'm no surprised at it, considering the
+_trash_ that comes aff your stamach in the morning."
+
+What I wish to keep in view is, to distinguish anecdotes which are
+amusing on account merely of the expressions used, from those which have
+real wit and humour _combined_, with the purely Scottish vehicle in
+which they are conveyed.
+
+Of this class I could not have a better specimen to commence with than
+the defence of the liturgy of his church, by John Skinner of Langside,
+of whom previous mention has been made. It is witty and clever.
+
+Being present at a party (I think at Lord Forbes's), where were also
+several ministers of the Establishment, the conversation over their wine
+turned, among other things, on the Prayer Book. Skinner took no part in
+it, till one minister remarked to him, "The great faut I hae to your
+prayer-book is that ye use the Lord's Prayer sae aften,--ye juist mak a
+dishclout o't." Skinner's rejoinder was, "Verra true! Ay, man, we mak a
+dishclout o't, an' we wring't, an' we wring't, an' we wring't, an' the
+bree[163] o't washes a' the lave o' our prayers."
+
+No one, I think, could deny the wit of the two following rejoinders.
+
+A ruling elder of a country parish in the west of Scotland was well
+known in the district as a shrewd and ready-witted man. He received many
+a visit from persons who liked a banter, or to hear a good joke. Three
+young students gave him a call in order to have a little amusement at
+the elder's expense. On approaching him, one of them saluted him, "Well,
+Father Abraham, how are you to-day?" "You are wrong," said the other,
+"this is old Father Isaac." "Tuts," said the third, "you are both
+mistaken; this is old Father Jacob." David looked at the young men, and
+in his own way replied, "I am neither old Father Abraham, nor old Father
+Isaac, nor old Father Jacob; but I am Saul the son of Kish, seeking his
+father's asses, and lo! I've found three o' them."
+
+For many years the Baptist community of Dunfermline was presided over by
+brothers David Dewar and James Inglis, the latter of whom has just
+recently gone to his reward. Brother David was a plain, honest,
+straightforward man, who never hesitated to express his convictions,
+however unpalatable they might be to others. Being elected a member of
+the Prison Board, he was called upon to give his vote in the choice of a
+chaplain from the licentiates of the Established Kirk. The party who had
+gained the confidence of the Board had proved rather an indifferent
+preacher in a charge to which he had previously been appointed; and on
+David being asked to signify his assent to the choice of the Board, he
+said, "Weel, I've no objections to the man, for I understand he has
+preached a kirk toom (empty) already, and if he be as successful in the
+jail, he'll maybe preach it vawcant as weel."
+
+From Mr. Inglis, clerk of the Court of Session, I have the following
+Scottish rejoinder:--
+
+"I recollect my father relating a conversation between a Perthshire
+laird and one of his tenants. The laird's eldest son was rather a
+simpleton. Laird says, 'I am going to send the young laird abroad,'
+'What for?' asks the tenant; answered, 'To see the world;' tenant
+replies, 'But, lord-sake, laird, will no the world see _him_?'"
+
+An admirably humorous reply is recorded of a Scotch officer, well known
+and esteemed in his day for mirth and humour. Captain Innes of the
+Guards (usually called Jock Innes by his contemporaries) was with others
+getting ready for Flushing or some of those expeditions of the beginning
+of the great war. His commanding officer (Lord Huntly, my correspondent
+thinks) remonstrated about the badness of his hat, and recommended a new
+one--"Na, na! bide a wee," said Jock; "where we're gain' faith there'll
+soon be mair hats nor _heads_."
+
+I recollect being much amused with a Scottish reference of this kind in
+the heart of London. Many years ago a Scotch party had dined at
+Simpson's famous beef-steak house in the Strand. On coming away some of
+the party could not find their hats, and my uncle was jocularly asking
+the waiter, whom he knew to be a _Deeside_ man, "Whar are our bonnets,
+Jeems?" To which he replied, "'Deed, I mind the day when I had neither
+hat nor bonnet."
+
+There is an odd and original way of putting a matter sometimes in Scotch
+people, which is irresistibly comic, although by the persons nothing
+comic is intended; as for example, when in 1786 Edinburgh was
+illuminated on account of the recovery of George III. from severe
+illness. In a house where great preparation was going on for the
+occasion, by getting the candles fixed in tin sconces, an old nurse of
+the family, looking on, exclaimed, "Ay, it's a braw time for the
+cannel-makers when the king is sick, honest man!"
+
+Scottish farmers of the old school were a shrewd and humorous race,
+sometimes not indisposed to look with a little jealousy upon their
+younger brethren, who, on their part, perhaps, showed their contempt for
+the old-fashioned ways. I take the following example from the columns of
+the _Peterhead Sentinel_, just as it appeared--June 14, 1861:--
+
+"AN ANECDOTE FOR DEAN EAMSAY.--The following characteristic and amusing
+anecdote was communicated to us the other day by a gentleman who
+happened to be a party to the conversation detailed below. This
+gentleman was passing along a road not a hundred miles from Peterhead
+one day this week. Two different farms skirt the separate sides of the
+turnpike, one of which is rented by a farmer who cultivates his land
+according to the most advanced system of agriculture, and the other of
+which is farmed by a gentleman of the old school. Our informant met the
+latter worthy at the side of the turnpike opposite his neighbour's farm,
+and seeing a fine crop of wheat upon what appeared to be [and really
+was] very thin and poor land, asked, 'When was that wheat sown?' 'O I
+dinna ken,' replied the gentleman of the old school, with a sort of
+half-indifference, half-contempt. 'But isn't it strange that such a fine
+crop should be reared on such bad land?' asked our informant. 'O,
+na--nae at a'--deevil thank it; a gravesteen wad gie guid bree[164] gin
+ye gied it plenty o' butter!'"
+
+But perhaps the best anecdote illustrative of the keen shrewdness of the
+Scottish farmer is related by Mr. Boyd[165] in one of his charming
+series of papers, reprinted from _Fraser's Magazine_. "A friend of mine,
+a country parson, on first going to his parish, resolved to farm his
+glebe for himself. A neighbouring farmer kindly offered the parson to
+plough one of his fields. The farmer said that he would send his man
+John with a plough and a pair of horses on a certain day. 'If ye're
+goin' about,' said the farmer to the clergyman, 'John will be unco weel
+pleased if you speak to him, and say it's a fine day, or the like o'
+that; but dinna,' said the farmer, with much solemnity, 'dinna say
+onything to him about ploughin' and sawin'; for John,' he added, 'is a
+stupid body, but he has been ploughin' and sawin' a' his life, and he'll
+see in a minute that _ye_ ken naething aboot ploughin' and sawin'. And
+then,' said the sagacious old farmer, with much earnestness, 'if he
+comes to think that ye ken naething aboot ploughin' and sawin', he'll
+think that ye ken naething aboot onything!'"
+
+The following is rather an original commentary, by a layman, upon
+clerical incomes:--A relative of mine going to church with a Forfarshire
+farmer, one of the old school, asked him the amount of the minister's
+stipend. He said, "Od, it's a gude ane--the maist part of L300 a year."
+"Well," said my relative, "many of these Scotch ministers are but poorly
+off." "They've eneuch, sir, they've eneuch; if they'd mair, it would
+want a' their time to the spendin' o't."
+
+Scotch gamekeepers had often much dry quiet humour. I was much amused by
+the answer of one of those under the following circumstances:--An
+Ayrshire gentleman, who was from the first a very bad shot, or rather no
+shot at all, when out on 1st of September, having failed, time after
+time, in bringing down a single bird, had at last pointed out to him by
+his attendant bag-carrier a large covey, thick and close on the
+stubbles. "Noo, Mr. Jeems, let drive at them, just as they are!" Mr.
+Jeems did let drive, as advised, but not a feather remained to testify
+the shot. All flew off, safe and sound--"Hech, sir (remarks his friend),
+but ye've made thae yins _shift their quarters_."
+
+The two following anecdotes of rejoinders from Scottish guidwives, and
+for which I am indebted, as for many other kind communications, to the
+Rev. Mr. Blair of Dunblane, appear to me as good examples of the
+peculiar Scottish pithy phraseology which we refer to, as any that I
+have met with.
+
+An old lady from whom the "Great Unknown" had derived many an ancient
+tale, was waited upon one day by the author of "Waverley." On his
+endeavouring to give the authorship the go-by, the old dame protested,
+"D'ye think, sir, I dinna ken my ain groats in ither folk's kail[166]?"
+
+A conceited packman called at a farm-house in the west of Scotland, in
+order to dispose of some of his wares. The goodwife was offended by his
+southern accent, and his high talk about York, London, and other big
+places. "An' whaur come ye frae yersell?" was the question of the
+guidwife. "Ou, I am from the Border." "The Border--oh! I thocht that;
+for we aye think the _selvidge_ is the wakest bit o' the wab!"
+
+The following is a good specimen of ready Scotch humorous reply, by a
+master to his discontented workman, and in which he turned the tables
+upon him, in his reference to Scripture. In a town of one of the central
+counties a Mr. J---- carried on, about a century ago, a very extensive
+business in the linen manufacture. Although _strikes_ were then unknown
+among the labouring classes, the spirit from which these take their rise
+has no doubt at all times existed. Among Mr. J----'s many workmen, one
+had given him constant annoyance for years, from his discontented and
+argumentative spirit. Insisting one day on getting something or other
+which his master thought most unreasonable, and refused to give in to,
+he at last submitted, with a bad grace, saying, "You're nae better than
+_Pharaoh_, sir, forcin' puir folk to mak' bricks without straw." "Well,
+Saunders," quietly rejoined his master, "if I'm nae better than Pharaoh
+in one respect, I'll be better in another, for _I'll no hinder ye going
+to the wilderness whenever you choose_."
+
+Persons who are curious in Scottish stories of wit and humour speak much
+of the sayings of a certain "Laird of Logan," who was a well-known
+character in the West of Scotland. This same Laird of Logan was at a
+meeting of the heritors of Cumnock, where a proposal was made to erect a
+new churchyard wall. He met the proposition with the dry remark, "I
+never big dykes till the _tenants_ complain." Calling one day for a gill
+of whisky in a public-house, the Laird was asked if he would take any
+water with the spirit. "Na, na," replied he, "I would rather ye would
+tak the water out o't."
+
+The laird sold a horse to an Englishman, saying, "You buy him as you
+see him; but he's an _honest_ beast." The purchaser took him home. In a
+few days he stumbled and fell, to the damage of his own knees and his
+rider's head. On this the angry purchaser remonstrated with the laird,
+whose reply was, "Well, sir, I told ye he was an honest beast; many a
+time has he threatened to come down with me, and I kenned he would keep
+his word some day."
+
+At the time of the threatened invasion, the laird had been taunted at a
+meeting at Ayr with want of loyal spirit at Cumnock, as at that place no
+volunteer corps had been raised to meet the coming danger; Cumnock, it
+should be recollected, being on a high situation, and ten or twelve
+miles from the coast. "What sort of people are you up at Cumnock?" said
+an Ayr gentleman; "you have not a single volunteer!" "Never you heed,"
+says Logan, very quietly; "if the French land at Ayr, there will soon be
+plenty of volunteers up at Cumnock."
+
+A pendant to the story of candid admission on the part of the minister,
+that the people might be _weary_ after his sermon, has been given on the
+authority of the narrator, a Fife gentleman, ninety years of age when he
+told it. He had been to church at Elie, and listening to a young and
+perhaps bombastic preacher, who happened to be officiating for the Rev.
+Dr. Milligan, who was in church. After service, meeting the Doctor in
+the passage, he introduced the young clergyman, who, on being asked by
+the old man how he did, elevated his shirt collar, and complained of
+fatigue, and being very much "_tired_." "Tired, did ye say, my man?"
+said the old satirist, who was slightly deaf; "Lord, man! if you're
+_half_ as tired as I am, I pity ye!"
+
+I have been much pleased with an offering from Carluke, containing two
+very pithy anecdotes. Mr. Rankin very kindly writes:--"Your
+'Reminiscences' are most refreshing. I am very little of a
+story-collector, but I have recorded some of an old schoolmaster, who
+was a story-teller. As a sort of payment for the amusement I have
+derived from your book, I shall give one or two."
+
+He sends the two following:--
+
+"Shortly after Mr. Kay had been inducted schoolmaster of Carluke (1790),
+the bederal called at the school, verbally announcing,
+proclamation-ways, that Mrs. So-and-So's funeral would be on Fuirsday.
+'At what hour?' asked the dominie. 'Ou, ony time atween ten and twa.' At
+two o'clock of the day fixed, Mr. Kay--quite a stranger to the customs
+of the district--arrived at the place, and was astonished to find a
+crowd of men and lads, standing here and there, some smoking, and all
+_arglebargling_[167] as if at the end of a fair. He was instantly, but
+mysteriously, approached, and touched on the arm by a red-faced
+bareheaded man, who seemed to be in authority, and was beckoned to
+follow. On entering the barn, which was seated all round, he found
+numbers sitting, each with the head bent down, and each with his hat
+between his knees--all gravity and silence. Anon a voice was heard
+issuing from the far end, and a long prayer was uttered. They had worked
+at this--what was called '_a service_'--during three previous hours, one
+party succeeding another, and many taking advantage of every service,
+which consisted of a prayer by way of grace, a glass of _white_ wine, a
+glass of _red_ wine, a glass of _rum_, and a prayer by way of
+thanksgiving. After the long invocation, bread and wine passed round.
+Silence prevailed. Most partook of both _rounds_ of wine, but when the
+rum came, many nodded refusal, and by and by the nodding seemed to be
+universal, and the trays passed on so much the more quickly. A sumphish
+weather-beaten man, with a large flat blue bonnet on his knee, who had
+nodded unwittingly, and was about to lose the last chance of a glass of
+rum, raised his head, saying, amid the deep silence, 'Od, I daursay I
+_wull_ tak anither glass,' and in a sort of vengeful, yet apologetic
+tone, added, 'The auld jaud yince cheated me wi' a cauve' (calf)."
+
+At a farmer's funeral in the country, an undertaker was in charge of the
+ceremonial, and directing how it was to proceed, when he noticed a
+little man giving orders, and, as he thought, rather encroaching upon
+the duties and privileges of his own office. He asked him, "And wha are
+ye, mi' man, that tak sae muckle on ye?" "Oh, dinna ye ken?" said the
+man, under a strong sense of his own importance, "I'm the corp's
+brither[168]?"
+
+Curious scenes took place at funerals where there was, in times gone by,
+an unfortunate tendency to join with such solemnities more attention to
+festal entertainment than was becoming. A farmer, at the interment of
+his second wife, exercised a liberal hospitality to his friends at the
+inn near the church. On looking over the bill, the master defended the
+charge as moderate. But he reminded him, "Ye forget, man, that it's no
+ilka ane that brings a _second_ funeral to your house."
+
+"Dr. Scott, minister of Carluke (1770), was a fine graceful kindly man,
+always stepping about in his bag-wig and cane in hand, with a kind and
+ready word to every one. He was officiating at a bridal in his parish,
+where there was a goodly company, had partaken of the good cheer, and
+waited till the young people were fairly warmed in the dance. A
+dissenting body had sprung up in the parish, which he tried to think was
+beneath him even to notice, when he could help it, yet never seemed to
+feel at all keenly when the dissenters were alluded to. One of the chief
+leaders of this body was at the bridal, and felt it to be his bounden
+duty to call upon the minister for his reasons for sanctioning by his
+presence so sinful an enjoyment. 'Weel, minister, what think ye o' this
+dancin'?' 'Why, John,' said the minister, blithely, 'I think it an
+excellent exercise for young people, and, I dare say, so do you.' 'Ah,
+sir, I'm no sure about it; I see nae authority for't in the Scriptures.'
+'Umph, indeed, John; you cannot forget David.' 'Ah, sir, Dauvid; gif
+they were a' to dance as Dauvid did, it would be a different thing
+a'thegither.' 'Hoot-o-fie, hoot-o-fie, John; would you have the young
+folk strip to the sark?'"
+
+Reference has been made to the eccentric laird of Balnamoon, his wig,
+and his "speats o' drinking and praying." A story of this laird is
+recorded, which I do think is well named, by a correspondent who
+communicates it, as a "quintessential phasis of dry Scotch humour," and
+the explanation of which would perhaps be thrown away upon any one who
+_needed_ the explanation. The story is this:--The laird riding past a
+high steep bank, stopped opposite a hole in it, and said, "Hairy, I saw
+a brock gang in there." "Did ye?" said Hairy; "wull ye hand my horse,
+sir?" "Certainly," said the laird, and away rushed Hairy for a spade.
+After digging for half-an-hour, he came back, quite done, to the laird,
+who had regarded him musingly. "I canna find him, sir," said Hairy.
+"'Deed," said the laird, very coolly, "I wad ha' wondered if ye had, for
+it's ten years sin' I saw him gang in there."
+
+Amongst many humorous colloquies between Balnamoon and his servant, the
+following must have been very racy and very original. The laird,
+accompanied by Hairy, after a dinner party, was riding on his way home,
+through a ford, when he fell off into the water. "Whae's that faun?" he
+inquired. "'Deed," quoth Hairy, "I witna an it be na your honour."
+
+There is a peculiarity connected with what we have considered Scotch
+humour. It is more common for Scotsmen to associate their own feelings
+with _national_ events and national history than for Englishmen. Take as
+illustrations the following, as being perhaps as good as any:--The Rev.
+Robert Scott, a Scotsman who forgets not Scotland in his southern
+vicarage, and whom I have named before as having sent me some good
+reminiscences, tells me that, at Inverary, some thirty years ago, he
+could not help overhearing the conversation of some Lowland
+cattle-dealers in the public room in which he was. The subject of the
+bravery of our navy being started, one of the interlocutors expressed
+his surprise that Nelson should have issued his signal at Trafalgar in
+the terms, "_England expects_," etc. He was met with the answer (which
+seemed highly satisfactory to the rest), "Ah, Nelson only said
+'_expects_' of the English; he said naething of Scotland, for he _kent_
+the _Scotch_ would do theirs."
+
+I am assured the following manifestation of national feeling against the
+memory of a Scottish character actually took place within a few
+years:--Williamson (the Duke of Buccleuch's huntsman) was one afternoon
+riding home from hunting through Haddington; and as he passed the old
+Abbey, he saw an ancient woman looking through the iron grating in front
+of the burial-place of the Lauderdale family, holding by the bars, and
+grinning and dancing with rage. "Eh, gudewife," said Williamson, "what
+ails ye?" "It's the Duke o' Lauderdale," cried she. "Eh, if I could win
+at him, I wud rax the banes o' him."
+
+To this class belongs the following complacent Scottish remark upon
+Bannockburn. A splenetic Englishman said to a Scottish countryman,
+something of a wag, that no man of taste would think of remaining any
+time in such a country as Scotland. To which the canny Scot replied,
+"Tastes differ; I'se tak ye to a place no far frae Stirling, whaur
+thretty thousand o' your countrymen ha' been for five hunder years, and
+they've nae thocht o' leavin' yet."
+
+In a similar spirit, an honest Scotch farmer, who had sent some sheep to
+compete at a great English agricultural cattle-show, and was much
+disgusted at not getting a prize, consoled himself for the
+disappointment, by insinuating that the judges could hardly act quite
+impartially by a Scottish competitor, complacently remarking, "It's aye
+been the same since Bannockburn."
+
+Then, again, take the story told in Lockhart's Life of Sir Walter Scott,
+of the blacksmith whom Sir Walter had formerly known as a horse-doctor,
+and whom he found at a small country town south of the Border,
+practising medicine with a reckless use of "laudamy and calomy[169],"
+apologising at the same time for the mischief he might do, by the
+assurance that it "_would be lang before it made up for Flodden_." How
+graphically it describes the interest felt by Scotchmen of his rank in
+the incidents of their national history. A similar example has been
+recorded in connection with Bannockburn. Two Englishmen visited the
+field of that great battle, and a country blacksmith pointed out the
+positions of the two armies, the stone on which was fixed the Bruce's
+standard, etc. The gentlemen, pleased with the intelligence of their
+guide, on leaving pressed his acceptance of a crown-piece. "Na, na,"
+replied the Scotsman, with much pride, "it has cost ye eneuch already."
+Such an example of self-denial on the part of a Scottish cicerone is, we
+fear, now rather a "reminiscence."
+
+A north country drover had, however, a more _tangible_ opportunity of
+gratifying his national animosity against the Southron, and of which he
+availed himself. Returning homewards, after a somewhat unsuccessful
+journey, and not in very good humour with the Englishers, when passing
+through Carlisle he saw a notice stuck up, offering a reward of L50 for
+any one who would do a piece of service to the community, by officiating
+as executioner of the law on a noted criminal then under sentence of
+death. Seeing a chance to make up for his bad market, and comforted with
+the assurance that he was unknown there, he undertook the office,
+executed the condemned, and got the fee. When moving off with the money,
+he was twitted at as a "mean beggarly Scot," doing for money what no
+_Englishman_ would. With a grin and quiet glee, he only replied, "I'll
+hang ye a' at the price."
+
+Some Scotsmen, no doubt, have a very complacent feeling regarding the
+superiority of their countrymen, and make no hesitation in proclaiming
+their opinion. I have always admired the quaint expression of such
+belief in a case which has recently been reported to me. A young
+Englishman had taken a Scottish shooting-ground, and enjoyed his
+mountain sport so much as to imbibe a strong partiality for his northern
+residence and all its accompaniments. At a German watering-place he
+encountered, next year, an original character, a Scotsman of the old
+school, very national, and somewhat bigoted in his nationality: he
+determined to pass himself off to him as a genuine Scottish native; and,
+accordingly, he talked of Scotland and haggis, and sheep's head, and
+whisky; he boasted of Bannockburn, and admired Queen Mary; looked upon
+Scott and Burns as superior to all English writers; and staggered,
+although he did not convince, the old gentleman. On going away he took
+leave of his Scottish friend, and said, "Well, sir, next time we meet, I
+hope you will receive me as a real countryman." "Weel," he said, "I'm
+jest thinkin', my lad, ye're nae Scotsman; but I'll tell ye what ye
+are--ye're juist an _impruived_ Englishman."
+
+I am afraid we must allow that Scottish people have a _leetle_ national
+vanity, and may be too ready sometimes to press the claim of their
+country to an extravagantly assumed pre-eminence in the annals of genius
+and celebrities. An extreme case of such pretension I heard of lately,
+which is amusing. A Scotsman, in reference to the distinction awarded to
+Sir Walter Scott, on occasion of his centenary, had roundly asserted,
+"But _all_ who have been eminent men were Scotsmen." An Englishman,
+offended at such assumption of national pre-eminence, asked indignantly,
+"What do you say to Shakspeare?" To which the other quietly replied,
+"Weel, his tawlent wad justifee the inference." This is rich, as an
+example of an _a priori_ argument in favour of a man being a Scotsman.
+
+We find in the conversation of old people frequent mention of a class
+of beings well known in country parishes, now either become commonplace,
+like the rest of the world, or removed altogether, and shut up in
+poorhouses or madhouses--I mean the individuals frequently called
+parochial _idiots_; but who were rather of the order of naturals. They
+were eccentric, or somewhat crazy, useless, idle creatures, who used to
+wander about from house to house, and sometimes made very shrewd
+sarcastic remarks upon what was going on in the parish. I heard such a
+person once described as one who was "wanting in twopence of change for
+a shilling." They used to take great liberty of speech regarding the
+conduct and disposition of those with whom they came in contact, and
+many odd sayings which emanated from them were traditionary in country
+localities. I have a kindly feeling towards these imperfectly
+intelligent, but often perfectly cunning beings; partly, I believe, from
+recollections of early associations in boyish days with some of those
+Davy Gellatleys. I have therefore preserved several anecdotes with which
+I have been favoured, where their odd sayings and indications of a
+degree of mental activity have been recorded. These persons seem to have
+had a partiality for getting near the pulpit in church, and their
+presence there was accordingly sometimes annoying to the preacher and
+the congregation; as at Maybole, when Dr. Paul, now of St. Cuthbert's,
+was minister in 1823, John M'Lymont, an individual of this class, had
+been in the habit of standing so close to the pulpit door as to overlook
+the Bible and pulpit board. When required, however, by the clergyman to
+keep at a greater distance, and not _look in upon the minister_, he got
+intensely angry and violent. He threatened the minister,--"Sir, baeby
+(maybe) I'll come farther;" meaning to intimate that perhaps he would,
+if much provoked, come into the pulpit altogether. This, indeed,
+actually took place on another occasion, and the tenure of the
+ministerial position was justified by an argument of a most amusing
+nature. The circumstance, I am assured, happened in a parish in the
+north. The clergyman, on coming into church, found the pulpit occupied
+by the parish natural. The authorities had been unable to remove him
+without more violence than was seemly, and therefore waited for the
+minister to dispossess Tam of the place he had assumed. "Come down, sir,
+immediately!" was the peremptory and indignant call; and on Tam being
+unmoved, it was repeated with still greater energy. Tam, however,
+replied, looking down confidentially from his elevation, "Na, na,
+minister! juist ye come up wi' me. This is a perverse generation, and
+faith they need us baith." It is curious to mark the sort of glimmering
+of sense, and even of discriminating thought, displayed by persons of
+this class. As an example, take a conversation held by this same John
+M'Lymont, with Dr. Paul, whom he met some time after. He seemed to have
+recovered his good humour, as he stopped him and said, "Sir, I would
+like to speer a question at ye on a subject that's troubling me." "Well,
+Johnnie, what is the question?" To which he replied, "Sir, is it lawful
+at ony time to tell a lee?" The minister desired to know what Johnnie
+himself thought upon the point. "Weel, sir," said he, "I'll no say but
+in every case it's wrang to tell a lee; but," added he, looking archly
+and giving a knowing wink, "I think there are _waur lees than ithers_"
+"How, Johnnie?" and then he instantly replied, with all the simplicity
+of a fool, "_To keep down a din, for instance_. I'll no say but a man
+does wrang in telling a lee to keep down a din, but I'm sure he does not
+do half sae muckle wrang as a man who tells a lee to kick up a
+deevilment o' a din." This opened a question not likely to occur to such
+a mind. Mr. Asher, minister of Inveraven, in Morayshire, narrated to Dr.
+Paul a curious example of want of intelligence combined with a power of
+cunning to redress a fancied wrong, shown by a poor natural of the
+parish, who had been seized with a violent inflammatory attack, and was
+in great danger. The medical attendant saw it necessary to bleed him,
+but he resisted, and would not submit to it. At last the case became so
+hopeless that they were obliged to use force, and, holding his hands and
+feet, the doctor opened a vein and drew blood, upon which the poor
+creature, struggling violently, bawled out, "O doctor, doctor! you'll
+kill me! you'll kill me! and depend upon it the first thing I'll do when
+I get to the other world will be to _report you to the board of
+Supervision there, and get you dismissed_." A most extraordinary
+sensation was once produced on a congregation by Rab Hamilton, a
+well-remembered crazy creature of the west country, on the occasion of
+his attendance at the parish kirk of "Auld Ayr, wham ne'er a toun
+surpasses," the minister of which, in the opinion of Rab's own minister,
+Mr. Peebles, had a tendency to Socinian doctrines. Miss Kirkwood,
+Bothwell, relates the story from the recollection of her aunt, who was
+present. Rab had put his head between some iron rails, the first
+intimation of which to the congregation was a stentorian voice crying
+out, "Murder! my heed'll hae to be cuttit aff! Holy minister!
+congregation! Oh, my heed maun be cuttit aff. It's a judgment for
+leaving my godlie Mr. Peebles at the Newton." After he had been
+extricated and quieted, when asked why he put his head there, he said,
+"It was juist to look on[170] wi' _anither woman_."
+
+The following anecdote of this same Rab Hamilton from a kind
+correspondent at Ayr sanctions the opinion that he must have
+occasionally said such clever things as made some think him more rogue
+than fool. Dr. Auld often showed him kindness, but being once addressed
+by him when in a hurry and out of humour, he said, "Get away, Rab; I
+have nothing for you to day." "Whaw, whew," cried Rab, in a half howl,
+half whining tone, "I dinna want onything the day, Maister Auld; I
+wanted to tell you an awsome dream I hae had. I dreamt I was deed."
+"Weel, what then?" said Dr. Auld. "Ou, I was carried far, far, and up,
+up, up, till I cam to heeven's yett, where I chappit, and chappit, and
+chappit, till at last an angel keekit out, and said 'Wha are ye?' 'A'm
+puir Rab Hamilton.' 'Whaur are ye frae?' 'Frae the wicked toun o' Ayr.'
+'I dinna ken ony sic place,' said the angel. 'Oh, but A'm juist frae
+there,' Weel, the angel sends for the Apostle Peter, and Peter comes wi'
+his key and opens the yett, and says to me, 'Honest man, do you come
+frae the auld toun o' Ayr?' 'Deed do I,' says I. 'Weel,' says Peter, 'I
+ken the place, but naebody's cam frae the toun o' Ayr, no since the
+year'" so and so--mentioning the year when Dr. Auld was inducted into
+the parish. Dr. Auld could not resist giving him his answer, and telling
+him to go about his business.
+
+The pathetic complaint of one of this class, residing at a farm-house,
+has often been narrated, and forms a good illustration of idiot life and
+feelings. He was living in the greatest comfort, and every want
+provided. But, like the rest of mankind, he had his own trials, and his
+own cause for anxiety and annoyance. In this poor fellow's case it was
+the _great turkey-cock_ at the farm, of which he stood so terribly in
+awe that he was afraid to come within a great distance of his enemy.
+Some of his friends, coming to visit him, reminded him how comfortable
+he was, and how grateful he ought to be for the great care taken of him.
+He admitted the truth of the remark generally, but still, like others,
+he had his unknown grief which sorely beset his path in life. There was
+a secret grievance which embittered his lot; and to his friend he thus
+opened his heart:--"Ae, ae, but oh, I'm sair hadden doun wi' the bubbly
+jock[171]."
+
+I have received two anecdotes illustrative both of the occasional
+acutenesss of mind, and of the sensitiveness of feeling occasionally
+indicated by persons thus situated. A well-known idiot, Jamie Fraser,
+belonging to the parish of Lunan, in Forfarshire, quite surprised people
+sometimes by his replies. The congregation of his parish church had for
+some time distressed the minister by their habit of sleeping in church.
+He had often endeavoured to impress them with a sense of the impropriety
+of such conduct, and one day Jamie was sitting in the front gallery,
+wide awake, when many were slumbering round him. The clergyman
+endeavoured to draw the attention of his hearers to his discourse by
+stating the fact, saying, "You see even Jamie Fraser, the idiot, does
+not fall asleep, as so many of you are doing." Jamie, not liking,
+perhaps, to be thus designated, coolly replied, "An I hadna been an
+idiot, I micht ha' been sleepin' too." Another of these imbeciles,
+belonging to Peebles, had been sitting at church for some time listening
+attentively to a strong representation from the pulpit of the guilt of
+deceit and falsehood in Christian characters. He was observed to turn
+red, and grow very uneasy, until at last, as if wincing under the
+supposed attack upon himself personally, he roared out, "Indeed,
+minister, there's mair leears in Peebles than me." As examples of this
+class of persons possessing much of the dry humour of their more sane
+countrymen, and of their facility to utter sly and ready-witted sayings,
+I have received the two following from Mr. W. Chambers:--Daft Jock Gray,
+the supposed original of David Gellatley, was one day assailed by the
+minister of a south-country parish on the subject of his idleness.
+"John," said the minister, rather pompously, "you are a very idle
+fellow; you might surely herd a few cows." "Me hird!" replied Jock; "I
+dinna ken corn frae gerss."
+
+"There was a carrier named Davie Loch who was reputed to be rather light
+of wits, but at the same time not without a sense of his worldly
+interests. His mother, finding her end approaching, addressed her son in
+the presence of a number of the neighbours. 'The house will be Davie's
+and the furniture too.' 'Eh, hear her,' quoth Davie; 'sensible to the
+last, sensible to the last.' 'The lyin' siller'--'Eh yes; how clear she
+is about everything!' 'The lyin' siller is to be divided between my twa
+dauchters.' 'Steek the bed doors, steek the bed doors[172],' interposed
+Davie; 'she's ravin' now;' and the old dying woman was shut up
+accordingly."
+
+In the _Memorials of the Montgomeries_, Earls of Eglinton, vol. i. p.
+134, occurs an anecdote illustrative of the peculiar acuteness and
+quaint humour which occasionally mark the sayings of persons considered
+as imbeciles. There was a certain "Daft Will Speir," who was a
+privileged haunter of Eglinton Castle and grounds. He was discovered by
+the Earl one day taking a near cut, and crossing a fence in the demesne.
+The Earl called out, "Come back, sir, that's not the road." "Do you
+ken," said Will, "whaur I'm gaun?" "No," replied his lordship. "Weel,
+hoo the deil do ye ken whether this be the road or no?"
+
+This same "Daft Will Speir" was passing the minister's glebe, where
+haymaking was in progress. The minister asked Will if he thought the
+weather would keep up, as it looked rather like rain. "Weel," said Will,
+"I canna be very sure, but I'll be passin' this way the nicht, an' I'll
+ca' in and tell ye." "Well, Will," said his master one day to him,
+seeing that he had just finished his dinner, "have you had a good dinner
+to day?" (Will had been grumbling some time before.) "Ou, vera gude,"
+answered Will; "but gin onybody asks if I got a dram after't, what will
+I say?" This poor creature had a high sense of duty. It appears he had
+been given the charge of the coal-stores at the Earl of Eglinton's.
+Having on one occasion been reprimanded for allowing the supplies to run
+out before further supplies were ordered, he was ever afterwards most
+careful to fulfil his duty. In course of time poor Will became "sick
+unto death," and the minister came to see him. Thinking him in really a
+good frame of mind, the minister asked him, in presence of the laird and
+others, if there were not one _great_ thought which was ever to him the
+highest consolation in his hour of trouble. "Ou ay," gasped the
+sufferer, "Lord be thankit, a' the bunkers are fu'!"
+
+The following anecdote is told regarding the late Lord Dundrennan:--A
+half silly basket-woman passing down his avenue at Compstone one day,
+he met her, and said, "My good woman, there's no road this way." "Na,
+sir," she said, "I think ye're wrang there; I think it's a most
+beautifu' road."
+
+These poor creatures have invariably a great delight in attending
+funerals. In many country places hardly a funeral ever took place
+without the attendance of the parochial idiot. It seemed almost a
+necessary association; and such attendance seemed to constitute the
+great delight of those creatures. I have myself witnessed again and
+again the sort of funeral scene portrayed by Sir Walter Scott, who no
+doubt took his description from what was common in his day:--"The
+funeral pomp set forth--saulies with their batons and gumphions of
+tarnished white crape. Six starved horses, themselves the very emblems
+of mortality, well cloaked and plumed, lugging along the hearse with its
+dismal emblazonry, crept in slow pace towards the place of interment,
+preceded by Jamie Duff, an idiot, who, with weepers and cravat made of
+white paper, _attended on every funeral_, and followed by six mourning
+coaches filled with the company."--_Guy Mannering_.
+
+The following anecdote, supplied by Mr. Blair, is an amusing
+illustration both of the funeral propensity, and of the working of a
+defective brain, in a half-witted carle, who used to range the province
+of Galloway armed with a huge pike-staff, and who one day met a funeral
+procession a few miles from Wigtown. A long train of carriages, and
+farmers riding on horse-back, suggested the propriety of his bestriding
+his staff, and following after the funeral. The procession marched at a
+brisk pace, and on reaching the kirk-yard style, as each rider
+dismounted, "Daft Jock" descended from his wooden steed, besmeared with
+mire and perspiration, exclaiming, "Hech, sirs, had it no been for the
+fashion o' the thing, I micht as weel hae been on my ain feet."
+
+The withdrawal of these characters from public view, and the loss of
+importance which they once enjoyed in Scottish society, seem to me
+inexplicable. Have they ceased to exist, or are they removed from our
+sight to different scenes? The fool was, in early times, a very
+important personage in most Scottish households of any distinction.
+Indeed this had been so common as to be a public nuisance.
+
+It seemed that persons _assumed_ the character, for we find a Scottish
+Act of Parliament, dated 19th January 1449, with this title:--"Act for
+the way-putting of _Fenyent_ Fules," etc. (Thomson's Acts of Parliament
+of Scotland, vol. i.); and it enacts very stringent measures against
+such persons. They seem to have formed a link between the helpless idiot
+and the boisterous madman, sharing the eccentricity of the latter and
+the stupidity of the former, generally adding, however, a good deal of
+the sharp-wittedness of the _knave_. Up to the middle of the eighteenth
+century this appears to have been still an appendage to some families. I
+have before me a little publication with the title, "The Life and Death
+of Jamie Fleeman, the Laird of Udny's Fool. Tenth edition. Aberdeen,
+1810." With portrait. Also twenty-sixth edition, of 1829. I should
+suppose this account of a family fool was a fair representation of a
+good specimen of the class. He was evidently of defective intellect, but
+at times showed the odd humour and quick conclusion which so often mark
+the disordered brain. I can only now give two examples taken from his
+history:--Having found a horse-shoe on the road, he met Mr. Craigie, the
+minister of St. Fergus, and showed it to him, asking, in pretended
+ignorance, what it was. "Why, Jamie," said Mr. Craigie, good
+humouredly, "anybody that was not a fool would know that it is a
+horse-shoe." "Ah!" said Jamie, with affected simplicity, "what it is to
+be wise--to ken it's no a meer's shoe!"
+
+On another occasion, when all the country-side were hastening to the
+Perth races, Jamie had cut across the fields and reached a bridge near
+the town, and sat down upon the parapet. He commenced munching away at a
+large portion of a leg of mutton which he had somehow become possessed
+of, and of which he was amazingly proud. The laird came riding past, and
+seeing Jamie sitting on the bridge, accosted him:--"Ay, Fleeman, are ye
+here already?" "Ou ay," quoth Fleeman, with an air of assumed dignity
+and archness not easy to describe, while his eye glanced significantly
+towards the mutton, "Ou ay, ye ken a body when he _has anything_."
+
+Of witty retorts by half-witted creatures of this class, I do not know
+of one more pointed than what is recorded of such a character who used
+to hang about the residence of a late Lord Fife. It would appear that
+some parts of his lordship's estates, were barren, and in a very
+unproductive condition. Under the improved system of agriculture and of
+draining, great preparations had been made for securing a good crop in a
+certain field, where Lord Fife, his factor, and others interested in the
+subject, were collected together. There was much discussion, and some
+difference of opinion, as to the crop with which the field had best be
+sown. The idiot retainer, who had been listening unnoticed to all that
+was said, at last cried out, "Saw't wi' factors, ma lord; they are sure
+to thrive everywhere."
+
+There was an idiot who lived long in Lauder, and seems to have had a
+great resemblance to the jester of old times. He was a staunch
+supporter of the Established Church. One day some one gave him a bad
+shilling. On Sunday he went to the Seceders' meeting-house, and when the
+ladle was taken round he put in his bad shilling and took out
+elevenpence halfpenny. Afterwards he went in high glee to the late Lord
+Lauderdale, calling out, "I've cheated the Seceders the day, my lord;
+I've cheated the Seceders."
+
+Jemmy had long harboured a dislike to the steward on the property, which
+he made manifest in the following manner:--Lord Lauderdale and Sir
+Anthony Maitland used to take him out shooting; and one day Lord
+Maitland (he was then), on having to cross the Leader, said, "Now,
+Jemmy, you shall carry me through the water," which Jemmy duly did. The
+steward, who was shooting with them, expected the same service, and
+accordingly said, "Now, Jemmy, you must carry _me_ over." "Vera weel,"
+said Jemmy. He took the steward on his back, and when he had carefully
+carried him half-way across the river he paid off his grudge by dropping
+him quietly into the water.
+
+A daft individual used to frequent the same district, about whom a
+variety of opinions were entertained,--some people thinking him not so
+foolish as he sometimes seemed. On one occasion a person, wishing to
+test whether he knew the value of money, held out a sixpence and a
+penny, and offered him his choice. "I'll tak the wee ane," he said,
+giving as his modest reason, "I'se no be greedy." At another time, a
+miller laughing at him for his witlessness, he said, "Some things I ken,
+and some I dinna ken." On being asked what he knew, he said, "I ken a
+miller has aye a gey fat sou." "An' what d'ye no ken?" said the miller.
+"Ou," he returned, "I dinna ken wha's expense she's fed at."
+
+A very amusing collision of one of those penurious lairds, already
+referred to, a certain Mr. Gordon of Rothie, with a half-daft beggar
+wanderer of the name of Jock Muilton, has been recorded. The laird was
+very shabby, as usual, and, meeting Jock, began to banter him on the
+subject of his dress:--"Ye're very grand, Jock. Thae's fine claes ye hae
+gotten; whaur did ye get that coat?" Jock told him who had given him his
+coat, and then, looking slily at the laird, he inquired, as with great
+simplicity, "And whaur did ye get _yours_, laird?"
+
+For another admirable story of a rencontre between a penurious laird and
+the parish natural I am indebted to the _Scotsman_, June 16, 1871. Once
+on a time there was a Highland laird renowned for his caution in money
+matters, and his precise keeping of books. His charities were there; but
+that department of his bookkeeping was not believed to be heavy. On
+examination, a sum of half-a-crown was unexpectedly discovered in it;
+but this was accounted for in a manner creditable to his intentions, if
+not to his success in executing them. It had been given in mistake
+instead of a coin of a different denomination, to "the natural" of the
+parish for holding his shelty while he transacted business at the bank.
+A gleam in the boy's eye drew his attention to a gleam of white as the
+metal dropped into his pocket. In vain the laird assured him it was not
+a good bawbee--if he would give it up he would get another--it was "guid
+eneuch" for the like of him. And when the laird in his extremity swore a
+great oath that unless it was given up he would never give another
+halfpenny, the answer was--"Ech, laird, it wad be lang or ye gied
+me saxty."
+
+Another example of shrewd and ready humour in one of that class is the
+following:--In this case the idiot was musical, and earned a few stray
+pence by playing Scottish airs on a flute. He resided at Stirling, and
+used to hang about the door of the inn to watch the arrival and
+departure of travellers. A lady, who used to give him something
+occasionally, was just starting, and said to Jamie that she had only a
+fourpenny piece, and that he must be content with that, for she could
+not stay to get more. Jamie was not satisfied, and as the lady drove
+out, he expressed his feelings by playing with all his might, "O wearie
+o' the _toom pouch_[173]."
+
+The spirit in Jamie Fraser before mentioned, and which had kept him
+awake, shows itself in idiots occasionally by making them restless and
+troublesome. One of this character had annoyed the clergyman where he
+attended church by fidgeting, and by uncouth sounds which he uttered
+during divine service. Accordingly, one day before church began, he was
+cautioned against moving, or "making a whisht," under the penalty of
+being turned out. The poor creature sat quite still and silent, till, in
+a very important part of the sermon, he felt an inclination to cough. So
+he shouted out, "Minister, may a puir body like me noo gie a
+hoast[174]?"
+
+I have two anecdotes of two peers, who might be said to come under the
+description of half-witted. In their case the same sort of dry Scotch
+humour came out under the cloak of mental disease. The first is of a
+Scottish nobleman of the last century who had been a soldier the greater
+part of his life, but was obliged to come home on account of aberration
+of mind, superinduced by hereditary propensity. Desirous of putting him
+under due restraint, and at the same time of engaging his mind in his
+favourite pursuit, his friends secured a Sergeant Briggs to be his
+companion, and, in fact, keeper. To render the sergeant acceptable as a
+companion they introduced him to the old earl as _Colonel_ Briggs. Being
+asked how he liked "the colonel," the earl showed how acute he still was
+by his answer, "Oh, very well; he is a sensible man, and a good soldier,
+but he _smells damnably of the halbert_."
+
+The second anecdote relates also to a Scottish nobleman labouring under
+aberration of mind, and is, I believe, a traditionary one. In Scotland,
+some hundred years ago, madhouses did not exist, or were on a very
+limited scale; and there was often great difficulty in procuring
+suitable accommodation for patients who required special treatment and
+seclusion from the world. The gentleman in question had been consigned
+to the Canongate prison, and his position there was far from
+comfortable. An old friend called to see him, and asked how it had
+happened that he was placed in so unpleasant a situation. His reply was,
+"Sir, it was more the kind interest and patronage of my friends than my
+own merits that have placed me here." "But have you not remonstrated or
+complained?" asked his visitor. "I told them" said his lordship, "that
+they were a pack of infernal villains." "Did you?" said his friend;
+"that was bold language; and what did they say to that?" "Oh," said the
+peer, "I took care not to tell them till they were fairly out of the
+place, and weel up the Canongate."
+
+In Peebles there was a crazy being of this kind called "Daft Yedie." On
+one occasion he saw a gentleman, a stranger in the town, who had a club
+foot. Yedie contemplated this phenomenon with some interest, and,
+addressing the gentleman, said compassionately, "It's a great pity--its
+spoils the boot." There is a story of one of those half-witted creatures
+of a different character from the humorous ones already recorded; I
+think it is exceedingly affecting. The story is traditionary in a
+country district, and I am not aware of its being ever printed.
+
+A poor boy, of this class, who had evidently manifested a tendency
+towards religious and devotional feelings, asked permission from the
+clergyman to attend the Lord's Table and partake of the holy communion
+with the other members of the congregation (whether Episcopalian or
+Presbyterian I do not know). The clergyman demurred for some time, under
+the impression of his mind being incapable of a right and due
+understanding of the sacred ordinance. But observing the extreme
+earnestness of the poor boy, he at last gave consent, and he was allowed
+to come. He was much affected, and all the way home was heard to
+exclaim, "Oh! I hae seen the pretty man." This referred to his seeing
+the Lord Jesus whom he had approached in the sacrament. He kept
+repeating the words, and went with them on his lips to rest for the
+night. Not appearing at the usual hour for breakfast, when they went to
+his bedside they found him dead! The excitement had been too much--mind
+and body had given way--and the half-idiot of earth awoke to the glories
+and the bliss of his Redeemer's presence.
+
+Analogous with the language of the _defective_ intellect is the language
+of the imperfectly formed intellect, and I have often thought there was
+something very touching and very fresh in the expression of feelings and
+notions by children. I have given examples before, but the following is,
+to my taste, a charming specimen:--A little boy had lived for some time
+with a very penurious uncle, who took good care that the child's health
+should not be injured by over-feeding. The uncle was one day walking
+out, the child at his side, when a friend accosted him, accompanied by a
+greyhound. While the elders were talking, the little fellow, never
+having seen a dog so slim and slight of form, clasped the creature round
+the neck with the impassioned cry, "Oh, doggie, doggie, and div ye live
+wi' your uncle tae, that ye are so thin?"
+
+In connection with funerals, I am indebted to the kindness of Lord
+Kinloch for a characteristic anecdote of cautious Scottish character in
+the west country. It was the old fashion, still practised in some
+districts, to carry the coffin to the grave on long poles, or "spokes,"
+as they were commonly termed. There were usually two bearers abreast on
+each side. On a certain occasion one of the two said to his companion,
+"I'm awfu' tired wi' carryin'." "Do you _carry_?" was the interrogatory
+in reply. "Yes; what do you do?" "Oh," said the other, "I aye _lean_."
+His friend's fatigue was at once accounted for.
+
+I am strongly tempted to give an account of a parish functionary in the
+words of a kind correspondent from Kilmarnock, although communicated in
+the following very flattering terms:--"In common with every Scottish man
+worthy of the name, I have been delighted with your book, and have the
+ambition to add a pebble to the cairn, and accordingly send you a
+_bellman story_; it has, at least, the merit of being unprinted and
+unedited."
+
+The incumbent of Craigie parish, in this district of Ayrshire, had asked
+a Mr. Wood, tutor in the Cairnhill family, to officiate for him on a
+particular Sunday. Mr. Wood, however, between the time of being asked
+and the appointed day, got intimation of the dangerous illness of his
+father; in the hurry of setting out to see him, he forgot to arrange for
+the pulpit being filled. The bellman of Craigie parish, by name Matthew
+Dinning, and at this time about eighty years of age, was a very little
+"crined[175]" old man, and always wore a broad Scottish blue bonnet,
+with a red "bob" on the top. The parish is a small rural one, so that
+Matthew knew every inhabitant in it, and had seen most of them grow up.
+On this particular day, after the congregation had waited for some time,
+Matthew was seen to walk very slowly up the middle of the church, with
+the large Bible and psalm-book under his arm, to mount the pulpit stair;
+and after taking his bonnet off, and smoothing down his forehead with
+his "loof," thus addressed the audience:--
+
+"My freens, there was ane Wuds tae hae preached here the day, but he has
+nayther comed himsell, nor had the ceevility tae sen' us the scart o' a
+pen. Ye'll bide here for ten meenonts, and gin naebody comes forrit in
+that time, ye can gang awa' hame. Some say his feyther's dead; as for
+that I kenna."
+
+The following is another illustration of the character of the old
+Scottish betheral. One of those worthies, who was parochial
+grave-digger, had been missing for two days or so, and the minister had
+in vain sent to discover him at most likely places. He bethought, at
+last, to make inquiry at a "public" at some distance from the village,
+and on entering the door he met his man in the trance, quite fou,
+staggering out, supporting himself with a hand on each wa'. To the
+minister's sharp rebuke and rising wrath for his indecent and shameful
+behaviour, John, a wag in his way, and emboldened by liquor, made
+answer, "'Deed, sir, sin' I ca'd at the manse, I hae buried an auld
+wife, and I've just drucken her, hough an' horn." Such was his candid
+admission of the manner in which he had disposed of the church fees paid
+for the interment.
+
+An encounter of wits between a laird and an elder:--A certain laird in
+Fife, well known for his parsimonious habits, and who, although his
+substance largely increased, did not increase his liberality in his
+weekly contribution to the church collection, which never exceeded the
+sum of one penny, one day by mistake dropped into the plate at the door
+half-a-crown; but discovering his error before he was seated in his pew,
+he hurried back, and was about to replace the coin by his customary
+penny, when the elder in attendance cried out, "Stop, laird; ye may put
+_in_ what ye like, but ye maun tak naething _oot_!" The laird, finding
+his explanations went for nothing, at last said, "Aweel, I suppose I'll
+get credit for it in heaven." "Na, na, laird," said the elder,
+sarcastically; "ye'll only get credit for the _penny_."
+
+The following is not a bad specimen of sly _piper_ wit:--
+
+The Rev. Mr. Johnstone of Monquhitter, a very grandiloquent pulpit
+orator in his day, accosting a travelling piper, well known in the
+district, with the question, "Well, John, how does the wind pay?"
+received from John, with a low bow, the answer, "Your Reverence has the
+advantage of me."
+
+Apropos to stories connected with ministers and pipers, there cannot be
+a better specimen than the famous one preserved by Sir Walter Scott, in
+his notes to _Waverley_, which I am tempted to reproduce, as possibly
+some of my readers may have forgotten it. The gudewife of the inn at
+Greenlaw had received four clerical guests into her house, a father and
+three sons. The father took an early opportunity of calling the
+attention of the landlady to the subject of his visit, and, introducing
+himself, commenced in rather a pompous manner--"Now, confess, Luckie
+Buchan, you never remember having such a party in your house before.
+Here am I, a placed minister, with my three sons, who are themselves
+_all_ placed ministers." The landlady, accustomed to a good deal of
+deference and attention from the county families, not quite liking the
+high tone assumed by the minister on the occasion, and being well aware
+that all the four were reckoned very poor and uninteresting preachers,
+answered rather drily, "'Deed, minister, I canna just say that I ever
+had sic a party before in the hoose, except it were in the '45, when I
+had a piper and his three sons--_a_' pipers. But" (she added quietly, as
+if aside), "deil a spring could they play amang them."
+
+I have received from Rev. William Blair, A.M., U.P. minister at
+Dunblane, many kind communications. I have made a selection, which I now
+group together, and they have this character in common, that they are
+all anecdotes of ministers:--
+
+Rev. Walter Dunlop of Dumfries was well known for pithy and facetious
+replies; he was kindly known under the appellation of our "Watty
+Dunlop." On one occasion two irreverent young fellows determined, as
+they said, to "taigle[176]" the minister. Coming up to him in the High
+Street of Dumfries, they accosted him with much solemnity--"Maister
+Dunlop, dae ye hear the news?" "What news?" "Oh, the deil's deed." "Is
+he?" said Mr. Dunlop, "then I maun pray for twa faitherless bairns." On
+another occasion Mr. Dunlop met, with characteristic humour, an attempt
+to play off a trick against him. It was known that he was to dine with a
+minister whose house was close to the church, so that his return back
+must be through the churchyard. Accordingly some idle and mischievous
+youths waited for him in the dark night, and one of them came up to him,
+dressed as a ghost, in hopes of putting him in a fright. Watty's cool
+accost speedily upset the plan:--"Weel, Maister Ghaist, is this a
+general rising, or are ye juist takin' a daunder frae yer grave by
+yersell?" I have received from a correspondent another specimen of
+Watty's acute rejoinders. Some years ago the celebrated Edward Irving
+had been lecturing at Dumfries, and a man who passed as a wag in that
+locality had been to hear him. He met Watty Dunlop the following day,
+who said, "Weel, Willie, man, an' what do ye think of Mr. Irving?" "Oh,"
+said Willie, contemptuously, "the man's crack't." Dunlop patted him on
+the shoulder, with a quiet remark, "Willie, ye'll aften see a light
+peeping through a crack!"
+
+He was accompanying a funeral one day, when he met a man driving a flock
+of geese. The wayward disposition of the bipeds at the moment was too
+much for the driver's temper, and he indignantly cried out, "Deevil
+choke them!" Mr. Dunlop walked a little farther on, and passed a
+farm-stead, where a servant was driving out a number of swine, and
+banning them with "Deevil tak them!" Upon which, Mr. Dunlop stepped up
+to him, and said, "Ay, ay, my man; your gentleman'll be wi' ye i' the
+noo: he's juist back the road there a bit, choking some geese till
+a man."
+
+Shortly after the Disruption, Dr. Cook of St. Andrews was introduced to
+Mr. Dunlop, upon which occasion Mr. Dunlop said, "Weel, sir, ye've been
+lang Cook, Cooking them, but ye've dished them at last."
+
+Mr. Clark of Dalreoch, whose head was vastly disproportioned to his
+body, met Mr. Dunlop one day. "Weel, Mr. Clark, that's a great head o'
+yours." "Indeed it is, Mr. Dunlop; I could contain yours inside of my
+own." "Juist sae," quietly replied Mr. Dunlop; "I was e'en thinkin' it
+was geyan _toom_[177]."
+
+Mr. Dunlop happened one day to be present in a church court of a
+neighbouring presbytery. A Rev. Doctor was asked to pray, and declined.
+On the meeting adjourning, Mr. Dunlop stepped up to the Doctor, and
+asked how he did. The Doctor, never having been introduced, did not
+reply. Mr. Dunlop withdrew, and said to his friend, "Eh! but isna he a
+queer man, that Doctor, he'll neither speak to God nor man."
+
+The Rev. John Brown of Whitburn was riding out one day on an old pony,
+when he was accosted by a rude youth: "I say, Mr. Broon, what gars your
+horse's tail wag that way?" "Oo, juist what gars your tongue wag; it's
+fashed wi' a _wakeness_."
+
+About sixty years ago there were two ministers in Sanquhar of the name
+of Thomson, one of whom was father of the late Dr. Andrew Thomson of
+Edinburgh, the other was father of Dr. Thomson of Balfron. The domestic
+in the family of the latter was rather obtrusive with her secret
+devotions, sometimes kneeling on the stairs at night, and talking loud
+enough to be heard. On a communion season she was praying devoutly and
+exclusively for her minister: "Remember Mr. Tamson, no him at the Green,
+but oor ain Mr. Tamson."
+
+Rev. Mr. Leslie of Morayshire combined the duties of justice of peace
+with those of parochial clergyman. One day he was taken into confidence
+by a culprit who had been caught in the act of smuggling, and was
+threatened with a heavy fine. The culprit was a staunch Seceder, and
+owned a small farm. Mr. Leslie, with an old-fashioned zeal for the
+Established Church, said to him, "The king will come in the cadger's
+road some day. Ye wadna come to the parish kirk, though it were to save
+your life, wad ye? Come noo, an' I'se mak ye a' richt!" Next Sabbath the
+seceding smuggler appeared in the parish kirk, and as the paupers were
+receiving parochial allowance, Mr. Leslie slipped a shilling into the
+smuggler's hand. When the J.P. Court was held, Mr. Leslie was present,
+when a fine was proposed to be exacted from the smuggler. "Fine!" said
+Mr. Leslie; "he's mair need o' something to get duds to his back. He's
+are o' my _poor roll_; I gie'd him a shilling just last Sabbath."
+
+A worthy old Seceder used to ride from Gargunnock to Bucklyvie every
+Sabbath to attend the Burgher kirk. One day as he rode past the parish
+kirk of Kippen, the elder at the plate accosted him, "I'm sure, John,
+it's no like the thing to see you ridin' in sic a doon-pour o' rain sae
+far by to thae Seceders. Ye ken the mercifu' man is mercifu' to his
+beast. Could ye no step in by?" "Weel," said John, "I wadna care sae
+muckle about stablin' my beast inside, but it's anither thing mysel'
+gain' in."
+
+The Rev. Dr. George Lawson of Selkirk acted for many years as
+theological tutor to the Secession Church. One day, on entering the
+Divinity Hall, he overheard a student remark that the professor's wig
+was uncombed. That same student, on that very day, had occasion to
+preach a sermon before the Doctor, for which he received a bit of severe
+criticism, the sting of which was in its tail: "You said my wig wasna
+kaimed this mornin', my lad, but I think I've redd your head to you."
+
+The Rev. John Heugh of Stirling was one day admonishing one of his
+people of the sin of intemperance: "Man, John, you should never drink
+except when you're dry." "Weel, sir," quoth John, "that's what I'm aye
+doin', for I am never slocken'd."
+
+The Rev. Mr. M---- of Bathgate came up to a street-paviour one day, and
+addressed him, "Eh, John, what's this you're at?" "Oh! I'm mending the
+ways o' Bathgate!" "Ah, John, I've long been trying to mend the ways o'
+Bathgate, an' they're no weel yet." "Weel, Mr. M., if you had tried my
+plan, and come doon to your _knees_, ye wad maybe hae come mair speed!"
+
+There once lived in Cupar a merchant whose store contained supplies of
+every character and description, so that he was commonly known by the
+sobriquet of Robbie A'Thing. One day a minister, who was well known for
+a servile use of MS. in the pulpit, called at the store, asking for a
+rope and pin to tether a young calf in the glebe. Robbie at once
+informed him that he could not furnish such articles to him. But the
+minister, being somewhat importunate, said, "Oh! I thought you were
+named Robbie A'Thing from the fact of your keeping all kinds of goods."
+"Weel a weel," said Robbie, "I keep a'thing in my shop but calf's
+tether-pins and paper sermons for ministers to read."
+
+It was a somewhat whimsical advice, supported by whimsical argument,
+which used to be given by an old Scottish minister to young preachers,
+when they visited from home, to "sup well at the kail, for if they were
+good they were worth the supping, and if not they might be sure there
+was not much worth coming _after_ them."
+
+A good many families in and around Dunblane rejoice in the patronymic of
+Dochart. This name, which sounds somewhat Irish, is derived from Loch
+Dochart, in Perthshire. The M'Gregors having been proscribed, were
+subjected to severe penalties, and a group of the clan having been
+hunted by their superiors, swam the stream which issues from Loch
+Dochart, and in gratitude to the river they afterwards assumed the
+family name of Dochart. A young lad of this name, on being sent to
+Glasgow College, presented a letter from his minister to Rev. Dr. Heugh
+of Glasgow. He gave his name as Dochart, and the name in the letter was
+M'Gregor. "Oh," said the Doctor, "I fear there is some mistake about
+your identity, the names don't agree." "Weel, sir, that's the way they
+spell the name in our country."
+
+The relative whom I have mentioned as supplying so many Scottish
+anecdotes had many stories of a parochial functionary whose
+eccentricities have, in a great measure, given way before the
+assimilating spirit of the times. I mean the old SCOTTISH BEADLE, or
+betheral, as he used to be called. Some classes of men are found to have
+that nameless but distinguishing characteristic of figure and aspect
+which marks out particular occupations and professions of mankind. This
+was so much the case in the betheral class, that an old lady, observing
+a well-known judge and advocate walking together in the street, remarked
+to a friend as they passed by, "Dear me, Lucy, wha are thae twa
+_beddle-looking_ bodies?" They were often great originals, and, I
+suspect, must have been in past times somewhat given to convivial
+habits, from a remark I recollect of the late Baron Clerk Rattray, viz.
+that in his younger days he had hardly ever known a perfectly sober
+betheral. However this may have been, they were, as a class, remarkable
+for quaint humour, and for being shrewd observers of what was going on.
+I have heard of an occasion where the betheral made his wit furnish an
+apology for his want of sobriety. He had been sent round the parish by
+the minister to deliver notices at all the houses, of the catechising
+which was to precede the preparation for receiving the communion. On his
+return it was quite evident that he had partaken too largely of
+refreshment since he had been on his expedition. The minister reproached
+him for this improper conduct. The betheral pleaded the pressing
+_hospitality_ of the parishioners. The clergyman did not admit the plea,
+and added, "Now, John, I go through the parish, and you don't see me
+return fou, as you have done." "Ay, minister," rejoined the betheral,
+with much complacency, "but then aiblins ye're no sae popular i' the
+parish as me."
+
+My relative used to tell of one of these officials receiving, with much
+ceremony, a brother betheral, from a neighbouring parish, who had come
+with the minister thereof for the purpose of preaching on some special
+occasion. After service, the betheral of the stranger clergyman felt
+proud of the performance of the appointed duty, and said in a triumphant
+tone to his friend, "I think oor minister did weel; ay, he gars the
+stour flee oot o' the cushion." To which the other rejoined, with a calm
+feeling of superiority, "Stour oot o' the cushion! hout, our minister,
+sin' he cam wi' us, has dung the guts oot o' twa Bibles." Another
+description I have heard of an energetic preacher more forcible than
+delicate--"Eh, oor minister had a great power o' watter, for he grat,
+and spat, and swat like mischeef." An obliging anonymous correspondent
+has sent me a story of a functionary of this class whose pride was
+centred not so much in the performance of the minister as of the
+precentor. He states that he remembers an old beadle of the church which
+was called "Haddo's Hole," and sometimes the "Little Kirk," in
+Edinburgh, whose son occasionally officiated as precentor. He was not
+very well qualified for the duty, but the father had a high opinion of
+his son's vocal powers. In those days there was always service in the
+church on the Tuesday evenings; and when the father was asked on such
+occasions, "Who's to preach to-night?" his self-complacent reply used to
+be, "I divna ken wha's till preach, but my son's for till precent." The
+following is a more correct version of a betheral story than one which
+occupied this page in the last edition. The beadle had been asked to
+recommend a person for the same office, and his answer was, "If ye had
+wanted twa or three bits o' elder bodies, I cud hae gotten them for ye
+as easily as penny baps oot of Mr. Rowan's shop," pointing to a baker's
+shop opposite to where the colloquy took place; "or even if ye had
+wanted a minister, I might hae helpit ye to get ane; but as for a gude
+_beadle_, that's about the maist difficult thing I ken o' just now."
+
+Perhaps the following may seem to illustrate the self-importance of the
+betheral tribe. The Rev. Dr. Hugh Blair was one Sunday absent from his
+pulpit, and next morning meeting his beadle in the street he inquired
+how matters went in the High Church on Sabbath. "'Deed, I dare say no
+very weel," was the answer; "I wasna there ony mair than yoursell."
+
+Mr. Turnbull of Dundee kindly sends me an excellent anecdote of the
+"Betheral" type, which illustrates the _esprit de corps_ of the
+betherelian mind. The late Dr. Robertson of Glasgow had, while in the
+parish of Mains, a quaint old church attendant of the name of Walter
+Nicoll, commonly called "Watty Nuckle," whom he invited to come and
+visit him after he had been removed to Glasgow. Watty accordingly
+ventured on the (to him) terrible journey, and was received by the
+Doctor with great kindness. The Doctor, amongst other sights, took him
+to see the Cathedral church, and showed him all through it, and after
+they were coming away the Doctor asked Watty what he thought of it, and
+if it was not better than the Mains church. Watty shook his head, and
+said, "Aweel, sir, you see she's bigger; but she has nae laft, and she's
+sair fashed wi' thae pillars."
+
+On the same subject of beadle peculiarities, I have received from Mrs.
+Mearns of Kineff Manse an exquisitely characteristic illustration of
+beadle _professional_ habits being made to bear upon the tender
+passion:--A certain beadle had fancied the manse housemaid, but at a
+loss for an opportunity to declare himself, one day--a Sunday--when his
+duties were ended, he looked sheepish, and said, "Mary, wad _ye_ tak a
+turn, Mary?" He led her to the churchyard, and pointing with his finger,
+got out, "My fowk lie there, Mary; wad ye like to lie there?" The
+_grave_ hint was taken, and she became his wife, but does not yet
+lie _there_.
+
+Here is another good example of betheral refinement or philosophy.--He
+was carefully dressing up a grave, and adjusting the turf upon it. The
+clergyman, passing through the churchyard, observed, "That's beautiful
+sod, Jeems." "Indeed is't, minister, and I grudge it upon the grave o'
+sic a scamp."
+
+This class of functionaries were very free in their remarks upon the
+preaching of strangers, who used occasionally to occupy the pulpit of
+their church--the city betherals speaking sometimes in a most
+condescending manner of clergy from the provincial parishes. As, for
+example, a betheral of one of the large churches in Glasgow, criticising
+the sermon of a minister from the country who had been preaching in the
+city church, characterised it as "gude coorse country wark." A betheral
+of one of the churches of St. Giles, Edinburgh, used to call on the
+family of Mr. Robert Stevenson, engineer, who was one of the elders. On
+one occasion they asked him what had been the text on such a night, when
+none of the family had been present. The man of office, confused at the
+question, and unwilling to show anything like ignorance, poured forth,
+"Weel, ye see, the text last day was just entirely, sirs--yes--the text,
+sirs--what was it again?--ou ay, just entirely, ye see it was, 'What
+profiteth a man if he lose the world, and gain his own soul?'" Most of
+such stories are usually of an old standing. A more recent one has been
+told me of a betheral of a royal burgh much decayed from former
+importance, and governed by a feeble municipality of old men, who
+continued in office, and in fact constituted rather the shadow than the
+substance of a corporation. A clergyman from a distance having come to
+officiate in the parish church, the betheral, knowing the terms on which
+it was usual for the minister officiating to pray for the efficiency of
+the local magistracy, quietly cautioned the clergyman before service
+that, in regard to the town-council there, it would be quite out of
+place for him to pray that they should be a "terror to evil-doers,"
+because, as he said, "the puir auld bodies could be nae terror to
+onybody." A minister of Easter Anstruther, during the last century, used
+to say of the magistrates of Wester Anstruther, that "instead of being a
+terror to evil-doers, evil-doers were a terror to them."
+
+The "minister's man" was a functionary well known in many parishes, and
+who often evinced much Scottish humour and original character. These men
+were (like the betheral) great critics of sermons, and often severe upon
+strangers, sometimes with a sly hit at their own minister. One of these,
+David, a well-known character, complimenting a young minister who had
+preached, told him, "Your introduction, sir, is aye grand; its worth a'
+the rest o' the sermon--could ye no mak it a' introduction?"
+
+David's criticisms of his master's sermons were sometimes sharp enough
+and shrewd. On one occasion, driving the minister home from a
+neighbouring church where he had been preaching, and who, as he thought,
+had acquitted himself pretty well, inquired of David what _he_ thought
+of it. The subject of discourse had been the escape of the Israelites
+from Egypt. So David opened his criticism--"Thocht o't, sir? deed I
+thocht nocht o't ava. It was a vara imperfect discourse in ma opinion;
+ye did weel eneuch till ye took them through, but where did ye leave
+them? just daunerin' o' the sea-shore without a place to gang till. Had
+it no been for Pharaoh they had been better on the other side, where
+they were comfortably encampit, than daunerin' where ye left them. It's
+painful to hear a sermon stoppit afore it's richt ended, just as it is
+to hear ane streekit out lang after it's dune. That's ma opinion o' the
+sermon ye gied us to-day." "Very freely given, David, very freely given;
+drive on a little faster, for I think ye're daunerin' noo yersell."
+
+To another who had gone through a long course of parish official life a
+gentleman one day remarked--"John, ye hae been sae lang about the
+minister's hand that I dare say ye could preach a sermon yersell now."
+To which John modestly replied, "O na, sir, I couldna preach a sermon,
+but maybe I could draw an inference." "Well, John," said the gentleman,
+humouring the quiet vanity of the beadle, "what inference could ye draw
+frae this text, 'A wild ass snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure?'"
+(Jer. ii. 24). "Weel, sir, I wad draw this inference, he would snuff a
+lang time afore he would fatten upon't." I had an anecdote from a
+friend, of a reply from a betheral to the minister _in_ church, which
+was quaint and amusing from the shrewd self-importance it indicated in
+his own acuteness. The clergyman had been annoyed during the course of
+his sermon by the restlessness and occasional whining of a dog, which at
+last began to bark outright. He looked out for the beadle, and directed
+him very peremptorily, "John, carry that dog out." John, looked up to
+the pulpit, and with a very knowing expression, said, "Na, na, sir; I'se
+just mak him gae out on his ain four legs." I have another story of
+canine misbehaviour in church. A dog was present during the service, and
+in the sermon the worthy minister was in the habit of speaking very
+loud, and, in fact, when he got warmed with his subject, of shouting
+almost at the top of his voice. The dog, who, in the early part, had
+been very quiet, became quite excited, as is not uncommon with some dogs
+when hearing a noise, and from whinging and whining, as the speaker's
+voice rose loud and strong, at last began to bark and howl. The
+minister, naturally much annoyed at the interruption, called upon the
+betheral to put out the dog, who at once expressed his readiness to obey
+the order, but could not resist the temptation to look up to the pulpit,
+and to say very significantly, "Ay, ay, sir; but indeed it was yersell
+began it." There is a dog story connected with Reminiscences of Glasgow
+(see _Chambers's Journal_, March 1855), which is full of meaning. The
+bowls of rum-punch which so remarkably characterised the Glasgow dinners
+of last century and the early part of the present, it is to be feared
+made some of the congregation given to somnolency on the Sundays
+following. The members of the town-council often adopted Saturday for
+such meetings; accordingly, the Rev. Mr. Thorn, an excellent
+clergyman[178], took occasion to mark this propensity with some
+acerbity. A dog had been very troublesome, and disturbed the
+congregation for some time, when the minister at last gave orders to the
+beadle, "Take out that dog; he'd wauken a Glasgow magistrate."
+
+The parochial gravediggers had sometimes a very familiar professional
+style of dealing with the solemn subjects connected with their office.
+Thus I have heard of a grave-digger pointing out a large human bone to a
+lady who was looking at his work, of digging a grave, and asking
+her--"D'ye ken wha's bane that is, mem?--that's Jenny Fraser's
+hench-bane;" adding with a serious aspect--"a weel-baned family
+thae Frasers."
+
+It would be impossible in these Reminiscences to omit the well-known and
+often repeated anecdote connected with an eminent divine of our own
+country, whose works take a high place in our theological literature.
+The story to which I allude was rendered popular throughout the kingdom
+some years ago, by the inimitable mode in which it was told, or rather
+acted, by the late Charles Matthews. But Matthews was wrong in the
+person of whom he related the humorous address. I have assurance of the
+parties from a friend, whose father, a distinguished clergyman in the
+Scottish Church at the time, had accurate knowledge of the whole
+circumstances. The late celebrated Dr. Macknight, a learned and profound
+scholar and commentator, was nevertheless, as a preacher, to a great
+degree heavy, unrelieved by fancy or imagination; an able writer, but a
+dull speaker. His colleague, Dr. Henry, well known as the author of a
+History of England, was, on the other hand, a man of great humour, and
+could not resist a joke when the temptation came upon him. On one
+occasion when coming to church, Dr. Macknight had been caught in a
+shower of rain, and entered the vestry soaked with wet. Every means were
+used to relieve him from his discomfort; but as the time drew on for
+divine service he became much distressed, and ejaculated over and over,
+"Oh, I wush that I was dry; do you think I'm dry? do you think I'm dry
+eneuch noo?" His jocose colleague could resist no longer, but, patting
+him on the shoulder, comforted him with the sly assurance, "Bide a wee,
+Doctor, and ye'se be _dry eneuch_ when ye get into the pu'pit."
+
+Another quaint remark of the facetious doctor to his more formal
+colleague has been preserved by friends of the family. Dr. Henry, who
+with all his pleasantry and abilities, had himself as little popularity
+in the pulpit as his coadjutor, had been remarking to Dr. Macknight what
+a blessing it was that they were two colleagues in one charge, and
+continued dwelling on the subject so long, that Dr. Macknight, not quite
+pleased at the frequent reiteration of the remark, said that it
+certainly was a great pleasure to himself, but he did not see what great
+benefit it might be to the world. "Ah," said Dr. Henry, "an it hadna
+been for that, there wad hae been _twa_ toom[179] kirks this day." Lord
+Cockburn tells a characteristic anecdote of Dr. Henry's behaviour the
+last day of his life. I am indebted to a gentleman, himself also a
+distinguished member of the Scottish Church, for an authentic anecdote
+of this learned divine, and which occurred whilst Dr. Macknight was the
+minister of Maybole. One of his parishioners, a well-known humorous
+blacksmith of the parish, who, no doubt, thought that the Doctor's
+learned books were rather a waste of time and labour for a country
+pastor, was asked if his minister was at home. The Doctor was then busy
+bringing out his laborious and valuable work, his _Harmony of the Four
+Gospels_. "Na, he's gane to Edinburgh on a verra useless job." On being
+asked what this useless work might be which engaged his pastor's time
+and attention, he answered, "He's gane to mak four men agree wha ne'er
+cast oot." The good-humoured and candid answer of a learned and rather
+long-winded preacher of the old school always appeared to me quite
+charming. The good man was far from being a popular preacher, and yet he
+could not reduce his discourses below the hour and a half. On being
+asked, as a gentle hint of their possibly needless length, if he did not
+feel _tired_ after preaching so long, he replied, "Na, na, I'm no
+tired;" adding, however, with much naivete, "But, Lord, how tired the
+fowk whiles are."
+
+The late good kind-hearted Dr. David Dickson was fond of telling a story
+of a Scottish termagant of the days before kirk-session discipline had
+passed away. A couple were brought before the court, and Janet, the
+wife, was charged with violent and undutiful conduct, and with wounding
+her husband by throwing a three-legged stool at his head. The minister
+rebuked her conduct, and pointed out its grievous character, by
+explaining that just as Christ was head of his Church, so the husband
+was head of the wife; and therefore in assaulting _him_, she had in fact
+injured her own body. "Weel," she replied, "it's come to a fine pass gin
+a wife canna kame her ain head;" "Ay, but, Janet," rejoined the
+minister, "a three-legged stool is a thief-like bane-kame to scart yer
+ain head wi'!"
+
+The following is a dry Scottish case, of a minister's wife quietly
+"kaming her husband's head." Mr. Mair, a Scotch minister, was rather
+short-tempered, and had a wife named Rebecca, whom for brevity's sake he
+addressed as "Becky." He kept a diary, and among other entries, this one
+was very frequent--"Becky and I had a rippet, for which I desire to be
+humble." A gentleman who had been on a visit to the minister went to
+Edinburgh, and told the story to a minister and his wife there; when the
+lady replied "Weel, he must have been an excellent man, Mr. Mair. My
+husband and I sometimes too have 'rippets,' but catch him if he's
+ever humble."
+
+Our object in bringing up and recording anecdotes of this kind is to
+elucidate the sort of humour we refer to, and to show it as a humour of
+_past_ times. A modern clergyman could hardly adopt the tone and manner
+of the older class of ministers--men not less useful and beloved, on
+account of their odd Scottish humour, which indeed suited their time.
+Could a clergyman, for instance, now come off from the trying position
+in which we have heard of a northern minister being placed, and by the
+same way through which he extricated himself with much good nature and
+quiet sarcasm? A young man, sitting opposite to him in the front of the
+gallery, had been up late on the previous night, and had stuffed the
+cards with which he had been occupied into his coat pocket. Forgetting
+the circumstance, he pulled out his handkerchief, and the cards all flew
+about. The minister simply looked at him, and remarked, "Eh, man, your
+psalm-buik has been ill bund."
+
+An admirable story of a quiet pulpit rebuke is traditionary in Fife, and
+is told of Mr. Shirra, a Seceding minister of Kirkcaldy, a man still
+well remembered by some of the older generation for many excellent and
+some eccentric qualities. A young officer of a volunteer corps on duty
+in the place, very proud of his fresh uniform, had come to Mr. Shirra's
+church, and walked about as if looking for a seat, but in fact to show
+off his dress, which he saw was attracting attention from some of the
+less grave members of the congregation. He came to his place, however,
+rather quickly, on Mr. Shirra quietly remonstrating, "O man, will ye sit
+doun, and we'll see your new breeks when the kirk's dune." This same Mr.
+Shirra was well known from his quaint, and, as it were, parenthetical
+comments which he introduced in his reading of Scripture; as, for
+example, on reading from the 116th Psalm, "I said in my haste all men
+are liars," he quietly observed, "Indeed, Dauvid, my man, an' ye had
+been i' this parish ye might hae said it at your leisure."
+
+There was something even still more pungent in the incidental remark of
+a good man, in the course of his sermon, who had in a country place
+taken to preaching out of doors in the summer afternoons. He used to
+collect the people as they were taking air by the side of a stream
+outside the village. On one occasion he had unfortunately taken his
+place on a bank, and fixed himself on an _ants' nest_. The active habits
+of those little creatures soon made the position of the intruder upon
+their domain very uncomfortable; and, afraid that his audience might
+observe something of this discomfort in his manner, he apologised by the
+remark--"Brethren, though I hope I have the word of God in my mouth, I
+think the deil himself has gotten into my breeks."
+
+There was often no doubt a sharp conflict of wits when some of these
+humorist ministers came into collision with members of their flocks who
+were _also_ humorists. Of this nature is the following anecdote, which I
+am assured is genuine:--A minister in the north was taking to task one
+of his hearers who was a frequent defaulter, and was reproaching him as
+a habitual absentee from public worship. The accused vindicated himself
+on the plea of a dislike to long sermons. "'Deed, man," said the
+reverend monitor, a little nettled at the insinuation thrown out against
+himself, "if ye dinna mend, ye may land yersell where ye'll no be
+troubled wi' mony sermons either lang or short." "Weel, aiblins sae,"
+retorted John, "but _that_ mayna be for want o' ministers."
+
+An answer to another clergyman, Mr. Shireff, parochial minister of St.
+Ninian's, is indicative of Scottish and really clever wit. One of the
+members of his church was John Henderson or Anderson--a very decent
+douce shoemaker--and who left the church and joined the Independents,
+who had a meeting in Stirling. Some time afterwards, when Mr. Shireff
+met John on the road, he said, "And so, John, I understand you have
+become an Independent?" "'Deed, sir," replied John, "that's true." "Oh,
+John," said the minister, "I'm sure you ken that a rowin' (rolling)
+stane gathers nae fog" (moss). "Ay," said John, "that's true too; but
+can ye tell me what guid the fog does to the stane?" Mr. Shireff himself
+afterwards became a Baptist. The wit, however, was all in favour of the
+minister in the following:--
+
+Dr. Gilchrist, formerly of the East Parish of Greenock, and who died
+minister of the Canongate, Edinburgh, received an intimation of one of
+his hearers who had been exceedingly irregular in his attendance that he
+had taken seats in an Episcopal chapel. One day soon after, he met his
+former parishioner, who told him candidly that he had "changed his
+religion." "Indeed," said the Doctor quietly; "how's that? I ne'er heard
+ye had ony." It was this same Dr. Gilchrist who gave the well-known
+quiet but forcible rebuke to a young minister whom he considered rather
+conceited and fond of putting forward his own doings, and who was to
+officiate in the Doctor's church. He explained to him the mode in which
+he usually conducted the service, and stated that he always finished the
+prayer before the sermon with the Lord's Prayer. The young minister
+demurred at this, and asked if he "might not introduce any other short
+prayer?" "Ou ay," was the Doctor's quiet reply, "gif ye can gie us
+onything _better_."
+
+There is a story current of a sharp hit at the pretensions of a minister
+who required a little set down. The scene was on a Monday by a burn near
+Inverness. A stranger is fishing by a burn-side one Monday morning, when
+the parish minister accosts him from the other side of the stream
+thus:--"Good sport?" "Not very." "I am also an angler," but, pompously,
+"I am a _fisher of men_." "Are you always successful?" "Not very." "So I
+guessed, as I keeked into your creel[180] yesterday."
+
+At Banchory, on Deeside, some of the criticisms and remarks on sermons
+were very quaint and characteristic. My cousin had asked the Leys grieve
+what he thought of a young man's preaching, who had been more successful
+in appropriating the words than the ideas of Dr. Chalmers. He drily
+answered, "Ou, Sir Thomas, just a floorish o' the surface." But the same
+hearer bore this unequivocal testimony to another preacher whom he
+really admired. He was asked if he did not think the sermon long: "Na, I
+should nae hae thocht it lang an' I'd been sitting on thorns."
+
+I think the following is about as good a sample of what we call Scotch
+"pawky" as any I know:--A countryman had lost his wife and a favourite
+cow on the same day. His friends consoled him for the loss of the wife;
+and being highly respectable, several hints and offers were made
+towards getting another for him. "Ou ay," he at length replied; "you're
+a' keen aneuch to get me anither wife, but no yin o' ye offers to gie me
+anither coo."
+
+The following anecdotes, collected from different contributors, are fair
+samples of the quaint and original character of Scottish ways and
+expressions, now becoming more and more matters of reminiscence:--A poor
+man came to his minister for the purpose of intimating his intention of
+being married. As he expressed, however, some doubts on the subject, and
+seemed to hesitate, the minister asked him if there were any doubts
+about his being accepted. No, that was not the difficulty; but he
+expressed a fear that it might not be altogether suitable, and he asked
+whether, if he were once married, he could not (in case of unsuitability
+and unhappiness) get _un_married. The clergyman assured him that it was
+impossible; if he married, it must be for better and worse; that he
+could not go back upon the step. So thus instructed he went away. After
+a time he returned, and said he had made up his mind to try the
+experiment, and he came and was married. Ere long he came back very
+disconsolate, and declared it would not do at all; that he was quite
+miserable, and begged to be unmarried. The minister assured him that was
+out of the question, and urged him to put away the notion of anything so
+absurd. The man insisted that the marriage could not hold good, for the
+wife was "waur than the deevil." The minister demurred, saying that it
+was quite impossible. "'Deed, sir," said the poor man, "the Bible tells
+ye that if ye resist the deil he flees frae ye, but if ye resist her she
+flees _at_ ye."
+
+A faithful minister of the gospel, being one day engaged in visiting
+some members of his flock, came to the door of a house where his gentle
+tapping could not be heard for the noise of contention within. After
+waiting a little he opened the door, and walked in, saying, with an
+authoritative voice, "I should like to know who is the head of this
+house." "Weel, sir," said the husband and father, "if ye sit doun a wee,
+we'll maybe be able to tell ye, for we're just trying to settle
+that point."
+
+I have received from my kind correspondent, Rev. Mr. Hogg of Kirkmahoe,
+the following most amusing account of a passage-at-arms between a
+minister and "minister's man," both of them of the old school. The
+minister of a parish in Dumfriesshire had a man who had long and
+faithfully served at the manse. During the minister's absence, a
+ploughing match came off in the district, and the man, feeling the old
+spirit return with the force of former days, wished to enter the lists,
+and go in for a prize, which he did, and gained the _fifth_ prize. The
+minister, on his return home, and glancing at the local newspaper, saw
+the report of the match, and the name of his own man in the prize-list.
+Being of a crusty temper, he rang the bell in fury, and summoned John,
+when the following colloquy took place:--"John, how is this? who gave
+you leave to go to the ploughing-match?" "You were not at hame, sir."
+"Well, you should have written to me." "I didn't think it was worth
+while, sir, as we had our ain ploughing _forrit_[181]." "That may be;
+but why were you not higher in the prize-list? I'm ashamed of you, and
+you ought to be ashamed of yourself for being so far behind." John's
+patience had given way, and, in his haste he burst forth, "Indeed, I'm
+thinking, sir, that if ye were at a _preaching_ match, and
+five-and-thirty in the field, ye wadna come in for _onything_, let a-be
+for a fift'."
+
+Stories of humorous encounters between ministers and their hearers are
+numerous, and though often seasoned with dry and caustic humour, they
+never indicate appearance of bitterness or ill-feeling between the
+parties. As an example, a clergyman thought his people were making
+rather an unconscionable objection to his using a MS. in delivering his
+sermon. They urged, "What gars ye tak up your bit papers to the pu'pit?"
+He replied that it was best, for really he could not remember his
+sermon, and must have his papers. "Weel, weel, minister, then dinna
+expect that _we_ can remember them."
+
+Some of these encounters arise out of the old question of sleeping in
+church. For example--"I see, James, that you tak a bit nap in the kirk,"
+said a minister to one of his people; "can ye no tak a mull with you?
+and when you become heavy an extra pinch would keep you up." "Maybe it
+wad," said James, "but pit you the sneeshin intil your sermon, minister,
+and maybe that'll serve the same purpose." As a specimen of the
+matter-of-fact view of religious questions frequently recorded of older
+ministers, let me adduce a well-authenticated account of a minister in a
+far up-hill parish in Deeside. Returning thanks one Sabbath for the
+excellent harvest, he began as usual, "O Lord, we thank thee," etc., and
+went on to mention its abundance, and its safe ingathering; but, feeling
+anxious to be quite candid and scrupulously truthful, added, "all except
+a few sma' bitties at Birse no worth o' mentioning."
+
+A Scotch preacher, a man of large stature, being sent to officiate one
+Sunday at a country parish, was accommodated at night, in the manse, in
+a very diminutive closet--the usual best bedroom, appropriated to
+strangers, being otherwise occupied. "Is this the bedroom?" he said,
+starting back in amazement. "'Deed ay, sir, this is the prophets'
+chalmer." "It maun be for the _minor_ prophets, then," was the
+quiet reply.
+
+Elders of the kirk, no doubt, frequently partook of the original and
+humorous character of ministers and others, their contemporaries; and
+amusing scenes must have passed, and good Scotch sayings been said,
+where they were concerned. Dr. Chalmers used to repeat one of these
+sayings of an elder with great delight. The Doctor associated with the
+anecdote the name of Lady Glenorchy and the church which she endowed;
+but I am assured that the person was Lady Elizabeth Cunninghame, sister
+of Archibald, eleventh Earl of Eglinton, and wife of Sir John
+Cunninghame, Bart., of Caprington, near Kilmarnock. It seems her
+ladyship had, for some reason, taken offence at the proceedings of the
+Caprington parochial authorities, and a result of which was that she
+ceased putting her usual liberal offering into the plate at the door.
+This had gone on for some time, till one of the elders, of less
+forbearing character than the others, took his turn at the plate. Lady
+Elizabeth as usual passed by without a contribution, but made a formal
+courtsey to the elder at the plate, and sailed up the aisle. The good
+man was determined not to let her pass so easily, so he quickly followed
+her, and urged the remonstrance: "Gie us mair o' your siller and less o'
+your mainners, my lady Betty." My kind correspondent, Rev. Mr. Agnew,
+supplies me with an amusing pendant to this anecdote:--At a great church
+meeting, Dr. Chalmers had told this story with much effect when Lord
+Galloway was in the chair. After the meeting, Dr. Chalmers, and many
+who had been present, dined at his lordship's hospitable table. After
+dinner, when the morning meeting was discussed, Lord Galloway addressed
+Dr. Chalmers on the subject of this story and, as if not quite pleased
+at its being introduced, said, "Do you know, Doctor, the lady of whom
+you told the story of the elder is a near relation of mine?" Dr.
+Chalmers, with real or seeming simplicity, answered, "No, my Lord, I did
+not; but next time I tell the story I can mention the fact." As a
+pendant to the elder's disclaimer of "mainners" on the part of a lady of
+rank, I may add an authentic anecdote of a very blunt and unpolished
+Kincardineshire laird, expressing the same disclaimer of mainners on the
+part of a servant, but in a far rougher form of speech. He had been
+talking with a man who came to offer for his service as a butler. But
+the laird soon found he was far too grand a gentleman for his service,
+and became chafed with his requiring so many things as conditions of
+coming; till, on his dismissal, when the man was bowing and scraping to
+show how genteel he could be, he lost all patience, and roared out, "Get
+out, ye fule; gie us nane o' your mainners here."
+
+Of an eccentric and eloquent professor and divine of a northern Scottish
+university, there are numerous and extraordinary traditionary anecdotes.
+I have received an account of some of these anecdotes from the kind
+communication of an eminent Scottish clergyman, who was himself in early
+days his frequent hearer. The stories told of the strange observations
+and allusions which he introduced into his pulpit discourses almost
+surpass belief. For many reasons, they are not suitable to the nature of
+this publication, still less could they be tolerated in any pulpit
+administration now, although familiar with his contemporaries. The
+remarkable circumstance, however, connected with these eccentricities
+was, that he introduced them with the utmost gravity, and oftentimes,
+after he had delivered them, pursued his subject with great earnestness
+and eloquence, as if he had said nothing uncommon. One saying of the
+professor, however, _out_ of the pulpit, is too good to be omitted, and
+may be recorded without violation of propriety. He happened to meet at
+the house of a lawyer, whom he considered rather a man of _sharp_
+practice, and for whom he had no great favour, two of his own
+parishioners. The lawyer jocularly and ungraciously put the question;
+"Doctor, these are members of your flock; may I ask, do you look upon
+them as white sheep or as black sheep?" "I don't know," answered the
+professor drily, "whether they are black or white sheep, but I know that
+if they are long here they are pretty sure to be fleeced."
+
+It was a pungent answer given by a Free Kirk member who had deserted his
+colours and returned to the old faith. A short time after the
+Disruption, the Free Church minister chanced to meet him who had then
+left him and returned to the Established Church. The minister bluntly
+accosted him--"Ay, man, John, an' ye've left us; what micht be your
+reason for that? Did ye think it wasna a guid road we was gaun?" "Ou, I
+daursay it was a guid eneuch road and a braw road; but, O minister, the
+tolls were unco high."
+
+The following story I received from a member of the Penicuik
+family:--Dr. Ritchie, who died minister of St. Andrews, Edinburgh, was,
+when a young man, tutor to Sir G. Clerk and his brothers. Whilst with
+them, the clergyman of the parish became unable, from infirmity and
+illness, to do his duty, and Mr. Ritchie was appointed interim
+assistant. He was an active young man, and during his residence in the
+country had become fond of fishing, and was a good shot. When the
+grouse-shooting came round, his pupils happened to be laid up with a
+fever, so Mr. Ritchie had all the shooting to himself. One day he walked
+over the moor so far that he became quite weary and footsore. On
+returning home he went into a cottage, where the good woman received him
+kindly, gave him water for his feet, and refreshment. In the course of
+conversation, he told her he was acting as assistant minister of the
+parish, and he explained how far he had travelled in pursuit of game,
+how weary he was, and how completely knocked up he was. "Weel, sir, I
+dinna doubt ye maun be sair travelled and tired wi' your walk." And then
+she added, with sly reference to his profession, "'Deed, sir, I'm
+thinkin' ye micht hae travelled frae Genesis to Revelation and no been
+sae forfauchten[182]."
+
+Scotch people in general are, like this old woman, very jealous, as
+might be expected, of ministers joining the sportsman to their pastoral
+character. A proposal for the appointment of a minister to a particular
+parish, who was known in the country as a capital shot, called forth a
+rather neat Scottish _pun_, from an old woman of the parish, who
+significantly observed, "'Deed, _Kilpaatrick_ would hae been a mair
+appropriate place for him." _Paatrick_ is Scotch for partridge.
+
+I cannot do better in regard to the three following anecdotes of the
+late Professor Gillespie of St. Andrews, than give them to my readers in
+the words with which Dr. Lindsay Alexander kindly communicated them
+to me.
+
+"In the _Cornhill Magazine_ for March 1860, in an article on Student
+Life in Scotland, there is an anecdote of the late Professor Gillespie
+of St. Andrews, which is told in such a way as to miss the point and
+humour of the story. The correct version, as I have heard it from the
+professor himself, is this: Having employed the village carpenter to put
+a frame round a dial at the manse of Cults, where he was a minister, he
+received from the man a bill to the following effect:--'To fencing the
+_deil_, 5s. 6d.' 'When I paid him,' said the professor, 'I could not
+help saying, John, this is rather more than I counted on; but I haven't
+a word to say. I get somewhere about two hundred a year for fencing the
+_deil_, and I'm afraid I don't do it half so effectually as
+you've done.'"
+
+"Whilst I am writing, another of the many stories of the learned and
+facetious professor rises in my mind. There was a worthy old woman at
+Cults whose place in church was what is commonly called the Lateran; a
+kind of small gallery at the top of the pulpit steps. She was a most
+regular attender, but as regularly fell asleep during sermon, of which
+fault the preacher had sometimes audible intimation. It was observed,
+however, that though Janet always slept during her own pastor's
+discourse, she could be attentive enough when she pleased, and
+especially was she alert when some young preacher occupied the pulpit. A
+little piqued, perhaps, at this, Mr. Gillespie said to her one day,
+'Janet, I think you hardly behave very respectfully to your own minister
+in one respect.' 'Me, sir!' exclaimed Janet, 'I wad like to see ony man,
+no tae say woman, by yoursell, say that o' me! what can you mean, sir?'
+'Weel, Janet, ye ken when I preach you're almost always fast asleep
+before I've well given out my text; but when any of these young men from
+St. Andrews preach for me, I see you never sleep a wink. Now, that's
+what I call no using me as you should do.' 'Hoot, sir,' was the reply,
+'is that a'? I'll sune tell you the reason o' that. When you preach, we
+a' ken the word o' God's safe in your hands; but when thae young birkies
+tak it in haun, my certie, but it taks us a' to look after them[183].'
+
+"I am tempted to subjoin another. In the Humanity Class, one day, a
+youth who was rather fond of showing off his powers of language,
+translated Hor. Od. iii., 3, 61, 62, somewhat thus:--'The fortunes of
+Troy renascent under sorrowful omen shall be repeated with sad
+catastrophe.' 'Catastrophe!' cried the professor. 'Catastrophe, Mr.
+----, that's Greek. Give us it in plain English, if you please.' Thus
+suddenly pulled down from his high horse, the student effected his
+retreat with a rather lame and impotent version. 'Now,' said the
+professor, his little sharp eyes twinkling with fun, 'that brings to my
+recollection what once happened to a friend of mine, a minister in the
+country. Being a scholarly man he was sometimes betrayed into the use of
+words in the pulpit which the people were not likely to understand; but
+being very conscientious, he never detected himself in this, without
+pausing to give the meaning of the word he had used, and sometimes his
+extempore explanations of very fine words were a little like what we
+have just had from Mr. ----, rather too flat and commonplace. On one
+occasion he allowed this very word 'catastrophe' to drop from him, on
+which he immediately added, 'that, you know, my friends, means the _end_
+of a thing.' Next day, as he was riding through his parish, some
+mischievous youth succeeded in fastening a bunch of furze to his
+horse's tail--a trick which, had the animal been skittish, might have
+exposed the worthy pastor's horsemanship to too severe a trial, but
+which happily had no effect whatever on the sober-minded and respectable
+quadruped which he bestrode. On, therefore, he quietly jogged, utterly
+unconscious of the addition that had been made to his horse's caudal
+region, until, as he was passing some cottages, he was arrested by the
+shrill voice of an old woman exclaiming, 'Heh, sir! Heh, sir! there's a
+whun-buss at your horse's catawstrophe!'"
+
+I have several times adverted to the subject of epigrams. A clever
+impromptu of this class has been recorded as given by a judge's lady in
+reply to one made by the witty Henry Erskine at a dinner party at Lord
+Armadale's. When a bottle of claret was called for, port was brought in
+by mistake. A second time claret was sent for, and a second time the
+same mistake occurred. Henry Erskine addressed the host in an impromptu,
+which was meant as a parody on the well-known Scottish song, "My
+Jo, Janet"--
+
+     "Kind sir, it's for your courtesie
+       When I come here to dine, sir,
+     For the love ye bear to me,
+       Gie me the claret wine, sir."
+
+To which Mrs. Honeyman retorted--
+
+     "Drink the port, the claret's dear,
+       Erskine, Erskine;
+     Yell get fou on't, never fear,
+       My jo, Erskine."
+
+Some of my younger readers may not be familiar with the epigram of John
+Home, author of the tragedy of "Douglas." The lines were great
+favourites with Sir Walter Scott, who delighted in repeating them. Home
+was very partial to claret, and could not bear port. He was exceedingly
+indignant when the Government laid a tax upon claret, having previously
+long connived at its introduction into Scotland under very mitigated
+duties. He embodied his anger in the following epigram:--
+
+     "Firm and erect the Caledonian stood,
+     Old was his mutton, and his claret good;
+     'Let him drink port,' an English statesman cried--
+     He drank the poison, and his spirit died."
+
+There is a curious story traditionary in some families connected with
+the nobleman who is the subject of it, which, I am assured, is true, and
+further, that it has never yet appeared in print. The story is,
+therefore, a "Scottish reminiscence," and, as such, deserves a place
+here. The Earl of Lauderdale was so ill as to cause great alarm to his
+friends, and perplexity to his physicians. One distressing symptom was a
+total absence of sleep, and the medical men declared their opinion, that
+without sleep being induced he could not recover. His son, a queer
+eccentric-looking boy, who was considered not entirely right in his mind
+but somewhat "_daft_" and who accordingly had had little attention paid
+to his education, was sitting under the table, and cried out, "Sen' for
+that preachin' man frae Livingstone, for faither aye sleeps in the
+kirk." One of the doctors thought this hint worth attending to. The
+experiment of "getting a minister till him" succeeded, and, sleep coming
+on, he recovered. The Earl, out of gratitude for this benefit, took more
+notice of his son, paid attention to his education, and that boy became
+the Duke of Lauderdale, afterwards so famous or infamous in his
+country's history.
+
+The following very amusing anecdote, although it belongs more properly
+to the division on peculiarities of Scottish phraseology, I give in the
+words of a correspondent who received it from the parties with whom it
+originated. About twenty years ago, he was paying a visit to a cousin,
+married to a Liverpool merchant of some standing. The husband had lately
+had a visit from his aged father, who formerly followed the occupation
+of farming in Stirlingshire, and who had probably never been out of
+Scotland before in his life. The son, finding his father rather _de
+trop_ in his office, one day persuaded him to cross the ferry over the
+Mersey, and inspect the harvesting, then in full operation, on the
+Cheshire side. On landing, he approached a young woman reaping with the
+sickle in a field of oats, when the following dialogue ensued:--
+
+_Farmer_.--Lassie, are yer aits muckle bookit[184] th' year?
+
+_Reaper_.--What say'n yo?
+
+_Farmer_.--I was speiring gif yer aits are muckle bookit th' year!
+
+_Reaper_ (in amazement).--I dunnot know what yo' say'n.
+
+_Farmer_ (in equal astonishment).--Gude--safe--us,--do ye no understaan
+gude plain English?--are--yer--aits--muckle--bookit?
+
+Reaper decamps to her nearest companion, saying that was a madman, while
+he shouted in great wrath, "They were naething else than a set o'
+ignorant pock-puddings."
+
+An English tourist visited Arran, and being a keen disciple of Izaak
+Walton, was arranging to have a day's good sport. Being told that the
+cleg, or horse-fly, would suit his purpose admirably for lure, he
+addressed himself to Christy, the Highland servant-girl:--"I say, my
+girl, can you get me some horse-flies?" Christy looked stupid, and he
+repeated his question. Finding that she did not yet comprehend him, he
+exclaimed, "Why, girl, did you never see a horse-fly?" "Naa, sir," said
+the girl, "but A wance saw a coo jump ower a preshipice."
+
+The following anecdote is highly illustrative of the thoroughly attached
+old family serving-man. A correspondent sends it as told to him by an
+old schoolfellow of Sir Walter Scott's at Fraser and Adam's class,
+High School:--
+
+One of the lairds of Abercairnie proposed _to go out_, on the occasion
+of one of the risings for the Stuarts, in the '15 or '45--but this was
+not with the will of his old serving-man, who, when Abercairnie was
+pulling on his boots, preparing to go, overturned a kettle of boiling
+water upon his legs, so as to disable him from joining his
+friends--saying, "Tak that--let them fecht wha like; stay ye at hame and
+be laird o' Abercairnie."
+
+A story illustrative of a union of polite courtesy with rough and
+violent ebullition of temper common in the old Scottish character, is
+well known in the Lothian family. William Henry, fourth Marquis of
+Lothian, had for his guest at dinner an old countess to whom he wished
+to show particular respect and attention[185]. After a very
+complimentary reception, he put on his white gloves to hand her down
+stairs, led her up to the upper end of the table, bowed, and retired to
+his own place. This I am assured was the usual custom with the chief
+lady guest by persons who themselves remember it. After all were seated,
+the Marquis addressed the lady, "Madam, may I have the honour and
+happiness of helping your ladyship to some fish?" But he got no answer,
+for the poor woman was deaf as a post, and did not hear him. After a
+pause, but still in the most courteous accents, "Madam, have I your
+ladyship's permission to send you some fish?" Then a little quicker, "Is
+your Ladyship inclined to take fish?" Very quick, and rather peremptory,
+"Madam, do ye choice fish?" At last the thunder burst, to everybody's
+consternation, with a loud thump on the table and stamp on the floor:
+"Con--found ye, will ye have any fish?" I am afraid the exclamation
+might have been even of a more pungent character.
+
+A correspondent has kindly enabled me to add a reminiscence and anecdote
+of a type of Scottish character now nearly extinct.--I mean the old
+Scottish _military_ officer of the wars of Holland and the Low
+Countries. I give them in his own words:--"My father, the late Rev. Dr.
+Bethune, minister of Dornoch, was on friendly terms with a fine old
+soldier, the late Colonel Alexander Sutherland of Calmaly and Braegrudy,
+in Sutherlandshire, who was lieutenant-colonel of the 'Local Militia,'
+and who used occasionally, in his word of command, to break out with a
+Gaelic phrase to the men, much to the amusement of bystanders. He called
+his charger, a high-boned not overfed animal, Cadaver--a play upon
+accents, for he was a good classical scholar, and fond of quoting the
+Latin poets. But he had no relish nor respect for the 'Modern
+languages,' particularly for that of our French neighbours, whom he
+looked upon as 'hereditary' enemies! My father and the colonel were both
+politicians, as well as scholars. Reading a newspaper article in his
+presence one day, my father stopped short, handing the paper to him, and
+said, 'Colonel, here is a _French_ quotation, which you can translate
+better than I can,' 'No, sir!' said the colonel, 'I never learnt the
+language of the scoundrels!!!' The colonel was known as 'Col. Sandy
+Sutherland,' and the men always called him _Colonel Sandy_. He was a
+splendid specimen of the hale veteran, with a stentorian voice, and the
+last queue I remember to have seen."
+
+A correspondent kindly sends me from Aberdeenshire a humorous story,
+very much of the same sort as that of Colonel Erskine's servant, who
+considerately suggested to his master that "maybe an aith might relieve
+him[186]." My correspondent heard the story from the late
+Bishop Skinner.
+
+It was among the experiences of his father, Bishop _John_ Skinner. While
+making some pastoral visits in the neighbourhood of the town (Aberdeen),
+the Bishop took occasion to step into the cottage of two humble
+parishioners, a man and his wife, who cultivated a little croft. No one
+was within; but as the door was only on the latch, the Bishop knew that
+the worthy couple could not be far distant. He therefore stepped in the
+direction of the outhouses, and found them both in the barn winnowing
+corn, in the primitive way, with "riddles," betwixt two open doors. On
+the Bishop making his appearance, the honest man ceased his winnowing
+operations, and in the gladness of his heart stepped briskly forward to
+welcome his pastor; but in his haste he trod upon the rim of the riddle,
+which rebounded with great force against one of his shins. The accident
+made him suddenly pull up; and, instead of completing the reception, he
+stood vigorously rubbing the injured limb; and, not daring in such a
+venerable presence to give vent to the customary strong ejaculations,
+kept twisting his face into all sorts of grimaces. As was natural, the
+Bishop went forward, uttering the usual formulas of condolence and
+sympathy, the patient, meanwhile, continuing his rubbings and his silent
+but expressive contortions. At last Janet came to the rescue; and,
+clapping the Bishop coaxingly on the back, said, "Noo, Bishop, jist gang
+ye yir waas into the hoose, an' we'll follow fan he's had time to curse
+a fyllie, an' I'se warran' he'll seen be weel eneuch!"
+
+The following might have been added as examples of the dry humorous
+manner in which our countrymen and countrywomen sometimes treat matters
+with which they have to deal, even when serious ones:--
+
+An itinerant vendor of wood in Aberdeen having been asked how his wife
+was, replied, "Oh, she's fine; I hae taen her tae Banchory;" and on it
+being innocently remarked that the change of air would do her good, he
+looked up, and, with a half smile, said, "Hoot, she's i' the kirk-yard."
+
+The well-known aversion of the Scotch to hearing _read_ sermons has
+often led to amusing occurrences. One pastor, in a country district, who
+was much respected by his people, but who, nevertheless, were never
+quite reconciled to his _paper_ in the pulpit, found himself on one
+occasion in an awkward predicament, from this same paper question. One
+Sabbath afternoon, having exhausted both firstly and secondly, he came
+to the termination of his discourse; but, unfortunately, the manuscript
+was wanting. In vain efforts to seek the missing paper, he repeated
+"thirdly and lastly" _ad nauseam_ to his hearers. At last one, cooler
+than the others, rose, and nodding to the minister, observed, "'Deed,
+sir, If I'm no mista'en, I saw 'thirdly and lastly' fa' ower the poopit
+stairs;" evidently enjoying the disappearance of so important a part of
+the obnoxious document.
+
+This prejudice was indeed some years since in Scotland quite inveterate.
+The following anecdote has been kindly sent to me from _Memoirs of
+Charles Young,_ lately published by his son:--
+
+"I have a distinct recollection, one Sunday when I was living at Cults,
+and when a stranger was officiating for Dr. Gillespie, observing that he
+had not proceeded five minutes with his 'discourse,' before there was a
+general commotion and stampedo. The exodus at last became so serious,
+that, conceiving something to be wrong, probably a fire in the manse, I
+caught the infection, and eagerly inquired of the first person I
+encountered in the churchyard what was the matter, and was told, with an
+expression of sovereign scorn and disgust--'Losh keep ye, young man! Hae
+ye eyes, and see not? Hae ye ears, and hear not? _The man reads!_"
+
+On one occasion, however, even this prejudice gave way before the power
+of the most eloquent preacher that Scotland ever heard, or perhaps that
+the world ever heard. A shrewd old Fife hearer of sermons had been
+objecting, in the usual exaggerated language, against reading sermons in
+the pulpit. A gentleman urged the case of Dr. Chalmers, in defence of
+the practice. He used his paper in preaching rigidly, and yet with what
+an effect he read! All the objector could reply to this was, "Ah, but
+it's _fell_[187] reading yon."
+
+The two following are from a correspondent who heard them told by the
+late Dr. Barclay the anatomist, well known for his own dry
+Scottish humour.
+
+A country laird, at his death, left his property in equal shares to his
+two sons, who continued to live very amicably together for many years.
+At length one said to the other, "Tam, we're gettin' auld now, you'll
+tak a wife, and when I dee you'll get my share o' the grund." "Na, John,
+you're the youngest and maist active, you'll tak a wife, and when I dee
+you'll get my share." "Od," says John, "Tam, that's jist the way wi' you
+when there's ony _fash or trouble_. The deevil a thing you'll do at a'."
+
+A country clergyman, who was not on the most friendly terms with one of
+his heritors who resided in Stirling, and who had annoyed the minister
+by delay in paying him his teinds (or tithe), found it necessary to make
+the laird understand that his proportion of stipend must be paid so soon
+as it became due. The payment came next term punctual to the time. When
+the messenger was introduced to the minister, he asked who he was,
+remarking that he thought he had seen him before. "I am the hangman of
+Stirling, sir." "Oh, just so, take a seat till I write you a receipt."
+It was evident that the laird had chosen this medium of communication
+with the minister as an affront, and to show his spite. The minister,
+however, turned the tables upon him, sending back an acknowledgment for
+the payment in these terms:--"Received from Mr. ----, by the hands of
+the hangman of Stirling, _his doer_[188], the sum of," etc. etc.
+
+The following story of pulpit criticism by a beadle used to be told, I
+am assured, by the late Rev. Dr. Andrew Thomson:--
+
+A clergyman in the country had a stranger preaching for him one day, and
+meeting his beadle, he said to him, "Well, Saunders, how did you like
+the sermon to-day?" "I watna, sir; it was rather ower plain and simple
+for me. I like thae sermons best that jumbles the joodgment and
+confoonds the sense. Od, sir, I never saw ane that could come up to
+yoursell at that."
+
+The epithet "canny" has frequently been applied to our countrymen, not
+in a severe or invidious spirit, but as indicating a due regard to
+personal interest and safety. In the larger edition of Jamieson (see
+edition of 1840) I find there are no fewer than eighteen meanings given
+of this word. The following extract from a provincial paper, which has
+been sent me, will furnish a good illustration. It is headed, the
+"PROPERTY QUALIFICATION," and goes on--"Give a chartist a large estate,
+and a copious supply of ready money, and you make a Conservative of him.
+He can then see the other side of the moon, which he could never see
+before. Once, a determined Radical in Scotland, named Davy Armstrong,
+left his native village; and many years afterwards, an old fellow
+grumbler met him, and commenced the old song. Davy shook his head. His
+friend was astonished, and soon perceived that Davy was no longer a
+grumbler, but a rank Tory. Wondering at the change, he was desirous of
+knowing the reason. Davy quietly and laconically replied--'I've a coo
+(cow) noo.'"
+
+But even still more "canny" was the eye to the main chance in an
+Aberdonian fellow-countryman, communicated in the following pleasant
+terms from a Nairn correspondent:--"I have just been reading your
+delightful 'Reminiscences,' which has brought to my recollection a story
+I used to hear my father tell. It was thus:--A countryman in a remote
+part of Aberdeenshire having got a newly-coined sovereign in the days
+when such a thing was seldom seen in his part of the country, went about
+showing it to his friends and neighbours for the charge of one penny
+each sight. Evil days, however, unfortunately overtook him, and he was
+obliged to part with his loved coin. Soon after, a neighbour called on
+him, and asked a sight of his sovereign, at the same time tendering a
+penny. 'Ah, man,' says he, 'it's gane; but I'll lat ye see _the cloutie
+it was rowt in_ for a bawbee.'"
+
+There was something very simple-minded in the manner in which a
+parishioner announced his canny care for his supposed interests when he
+became an elder of the kirk. The story is told of a man who had got
+himself installed in the eldership, and, in consequence, had for some
+time carried round the ladle for the collections. He had accepted the
+office of elder because some wag had made him believe that the
+remuneration was sixpence each Sunday, with a boll of meal at New Year's
+Day. When the time arrived he claimed his meal, but was told he had been
+hoaxed. "It may be sae wi' the meal," he said coolly, "but I took care
+o' the saxpence mysell."
+
+There was a good deal both of the _pawky_ and the _canny_ in the
+following anecdote, which I have from an honoured lady of the south of
+Scotland:--"There was an old man who always rode a donkey to his work,
+and tethered him while he worked on the roads, or whatever else it might
+be. It was suggested to him by my grandfather that he was suspected of
+putting it in to feed in the fields at other people's expense. 'Eh,
+laird, I could never be tempted to do that, for my cuddy winna eat
+onything but nettles and thristles.' One day my grandfather was riding
+along the road, when he saw Andrew Leslie at work, and his donkey up to
+the knees in one of his clover fields, feeding luxuriously. 'Hollo,
+Andrew,' said he; 'I thought you told me your cuddy would eat nothing
+but nettles and thistles.' 'Ay,' said he, 'but he misbehaved the day; he
+nearly kicket me ower his head, sae I pat him in there just to
+_punish_ him.'"
+
+There is a good deal of the same sort of simple character brought out in
+the two following. They were sent to me from Golspie, and are original,
+as they occurred in my correspondent's own experience. The one is a
+capital illustration of thrift, the other of kind feeling for the
+friendless, in the Highland character. I give the anecdotes in my
+correspondent's own words:--A little boy, some twelve years of age, came
+to me one day with the following message: "My mother wants a vomit from
+you, sir, and she bade me say if it will not be strong enough, she will
+send it back." "Oh, Mr. Begg," said a woman to me, for whom I was
+weighing two grains of calomel for a child, "dinna be so mean wi' it; it
+is for a poor faitherless bairn."
+
+The following, from a provincial paper, contains a very amusing
+recognition of a return which one of the itinerant race considered
+himself conscientiously bound to make to his clerical patron for an
+alms: "A beggar, while on his rounds one day this week, called on a
+clergyman (within two and a half miles of the Cross of Kilmarnock), who,
+obeying the biblical injunction of clothing the naked, offered the
+beggar an old top-coat. It was immediately rolled up, and the beggar, in
+going away with it under his arm, thoughtfully (!) remarked, 'I'll hae
+tae gie ye a day's _hearin_' for this na.'"
+
+The natural and self-complacent manner in which the following anecdote
+brings out in the Highlander an innate sense of the superiority of
+Celtic blood is highly characteristic:--A few years ago, when an English
+family were visiting in the Highlands, their attention was directed to a
+child crying; on their observing to the mother it was _cross_, she
+exclaimed--"Na, na, it's nae cross, for we're baith true Hieland."
+
+The late Mr. Grahame of Garsock, in Strathearn, whose grandson now "is
+laird himsel," used to tell, with great _unction_, some thirty years
+ago, a story of a neighbour of his own of a still earlier generation,
+Drummond of Keltie, who, as it seems, had employed an itinerant tailor
+instead of a metropolitan artist. On one occasion a new pair of
+inexpressibles had been made for the laird; they were so tight that,
+after waxing hot and red in the attempt to try them on, he _let out_
+rather savagely at the tailor, who calmly assured him, "It's the fash'n;
+it's jist the fash'n." "Eh, ye haveril, is it the fashion for them _no
+to go on_?"
+
+An English gentleman writes to me--"We have all heard much of Scotch
+caution, and I met once with an instance of it which I think is worth
+recording, and which I tell as strictly original. About 1827, I fell
+into conversation, on board of a Stirling steamer, with a well-dressed
+middle-aged man, who told me he was a soldier of the 42d, going on
+leave. He began to relate the campaigns he had gone through, and
+mentioned having been at the siege of St. Sebastian.--'Ah! under Sir
+Thomas Graham?' 'Yes, sir; he commanded there.' 'Well,' I said, merely
+by way of carrying on the _crack_, 'and what do you think of _him_?'
+Instead of answering, he scanned me several times from head to foot,
+and from foot to head, and then said, in a tone of the most diplomatic
+caution, 'Ye'll perhaps be of the name of Grah'm yersel, sir?' There
+could hardly be a better example, either of the circumspection of a real
+canny Scot, or of the lingering influence of the old patriarchal
+feeling, by which 'A name, a word, makes clansmen vassals to
+their lord.'"
+
+Now when we linger over these old stories, we seem to live at another
+period, and in such reminiscences we converse with a generation
+different from our own. Changes are still going on around us. They have
+been going on for some time past. The changes are less striking as
+society advances, and we find fewer alterations for us to notice.
+Probably each generation will have less change to record than the
+generation that preceded; still every one who is tolerably advanced in
+life must feel that, comparing its beginning and its close, he has
+witnessed two epochs, and that in advanced life he looks on a different
+world from one which he can remember. To elucidate this fact has been my
+present object, and in attempting this task I cannot but feel how
+trifling and unsatisfactory my remarks must seem to many who have a more
+enlarged and minute acquaintance with Scottish life and manners than I
+have. But I shall be encouraged to hope for a favourable, or at least an
+indulgent, sentence upon these Reminiscences, if to any of my readers I
+shall have opened a fresh insight into the subject of social changes
+amongst us. Many causes have their effect upon the habits and customs of
+mankind, and of late years such causes have been greatly multiplied in
+number and activity. In many persons, and in some who have not
+altogether lost their national partialities, there is a general
+tendency to merge Scottish usages and Scottish expressions into the
+English forms, as being more correct and genteel. The facilities for
+moving, not merely from place to place in our own country, but from one
+country to another; the spread of knowledge and information by means of
+periodical publications and newspapers; and the incredibly low prices at
+which literary works are produced, must have great effects. Then there
+is the improved taste in art, which, together with literature, has been
+taken up by young men who, fifty, sixty, seventy years ago, or more,
+would have known no such sources of interest, or indeed who would have
+looked upon them as unmanly and effeminate. When first these pursuits
+were taken up by our Scottish young men, they excited in the north much
+amazement, and, I fear, contempt, as was evinced by a laird of the old
+school, who, the first time he saw a young man at the pianoforte, asked,
+with evident disgust, "Can the creature _sew_ ony?" evidently putting
+the accomplishment of playing the pianoforte and the accomplishment of
+the needle in the same category.
+
+The greater facility of producing books, prints, and other articles
+which tend to the comfort and embellishment of domestic life, must have
+considerable influence upon the habits and tastes of a people. I have
+often thought how much effect might be traced to the single circumstance
+of the cheap production of pianofortes. An increased facility of
+procuring the means of acquaintance with good works of art and
+literature acts both as cause and effect. A growing and improved taste
+tends to stimulate the _production_ of the best works of art. These, in
+return, foster and advance the power of forming a due _estimate_ of art.
+In the higher department of music, for example, the cheap rate not only
+of _hearing_ compositions of the first class, but of _possessing_ the
+works of the most eminent composers, must have had influence upon
+thousands. The principal oratorios of Handel may be purchased for as
+many shillings each as they cost pounds years ago. Indeed, at that time
+the very names of those immortal works were known only to a few who were
+skilled to appreciate their high beauties. Now associations are formed
+for practising and studying the choral works of the great masters.
+
+We might indeed adduce many more causes which seem to produce changes of
+habits, tastes, and associations, amongst our people. For example,
+families do not vegetate for years in one retired spot as they used to
+do; young men are encouraged to attain accomplishments, and to have
+other sources of interest than the field or the bottle. Every one knows,
+or may know, everything that is going on through the whole world. There
+is a tendency in mankind to lose all that is peculiar, and in nations to
+part with all that distinguishes them from each other. We hear of
+wonderful changes in habits and customs where change seemed impossible.
+In India and Turkey even, peculiarities and prejudices are fading away
+under the influence of time. Amongst ourselves, no doubt, one
+circumstance tended greatly to call forth, and, as we may say, to
+_develop_, the peculiar Scotch humour of which we speak--and that was
+the familiarity of intercourse which took place between persons in
+different positions of life. This extended even to an occasional
+interchange of words between the minister and the members of his flock
+during time of service. I have two anecdotes in illustration of this
+fact, which I have reason to believe are quite authentic. In the church
+of Banchory on Deeside, to which I have referred, a former minister
+always preached without book, and being of an absent disposition, he
+sometimes forgot the head of discourse on which he was engaged, and got
+involved in confusion. On one occasion, being desirous of recalling to
+his memory the division of his subject, he called out to one of his
+elders, a farmer on the estate of Ley, "Bush (the name of his farm),
+Bush, ye're sleeping." "Na, sir, I'm no sleeping--I'm listening." "Weel,
+then, what had I begun to say?" "Oh, ye were saying so and so." This was
+enough, and supplied the minister with the thread of his discourse; and
+he went on. The other anecdote related to the parish of Cumbernauld, the
+minister of which was at the time referred to noted for a very
+disjointed and rambling style of preaching, without method or
+connection. His principal heritor was the Lord Elphinstone of the time,
+and unfortunately the minister and the peer were not on good terms, and
+always ready to annoy each other by sharp sayings or otherwise. The
+minister on one occasion had somewhat in this spirit called upon the
+beadle to "wauken my Lord Elphinstone," upon which Lord Elphinstone
+said, "I'm no sleeping, minister." "Indeed you were, my lord." He again
+disclaimed the sleeping. So as a test the preacher asked him, "What I
+had been saying last then?" "Oh, juist wauken Lord Elphinstone." "Ay,
+but what did I say before that?" "Indeed," retorted Lord Elphinstone,
+"I'll gie ye a guinea if ye'll tell that yersell, minister." We can
+hardly imagine the _possibility_ of such scenes now taking place amongst
+us in church. It seems as if all men were gradually approximating to a
+common type or form in their manners and views of life; oddities are
+sunk, prominences are rounded off, sharp features are polished, and all
+things are becoming smooth and conventional. The remark, like the
+effect, is general, and extends to other countries as well as to our
+own. But as we have more recently parted with our peculiarities of
+dialect, oddity, and eccentricity, it becomes the more amusing to mark
+_our_ participation in this change, because a period of fifty years
+shows here a greater contrast than the same period would show in many
+other localities.
+
+I have already referred to a custom which prevailed in all the rural
+parish churches, and which I remember in my early days at Fettercairn;
+the custom I mean, now quite obsolete, of the minister, after
+pronouncing the blessing, turning to the heritors, who always occupied
+the front seats of the gallery, and making low bows to each family.
+Another custom I recollect:--When the text had been given out, it was
+usual for the elder branches of the congregation to hand about their
+Bibles amongst the younger members, marking the place, and calling their
+attention to the passage. During service another handing about was
+frequent among the seniors, and that was a circulation of the
+sneeshin-mull or snuff-box. Indeed, I have heard of the same practice in
+an Episcopal church, and particularly in one case of an ordination,
+where the bishop took his pinch of snuff, and handed the mull to go
+round amongst the clergy assembled for the solemn occasion within the
+altar-rails.
+
+Amongst Scottish reminiscences which do not extend beyond our own
+recollections we may mention the disappearance of Trinity Church in
+Edinburgh, which has taken place within the last quarter of a century.
+It was founded by Mary of Gueldres, queen of James II. of Scotland, in
+1446, and liberally endowed for a provost, prebendaries, choristers,
+etc. It was never completed, but the portions built--viz., choir,
+transept, and central tower--were amongst the finest specimens of later
+Gothic work in Scotland. The pious founder had placed it at the east end
+of what was then the North Loch. She chose her own church for the
+resting-place of her remains as a sanctuary of safety and repose. A
+railway parliamentary bill, however, overrides founder's intentions and
+Episcopal consecrations. Where once stood the beautiful church of the
+Holy Trinity, where once the "pealing organ" and the "full-voiced choir"
+were daily heard "in service high and anthems clear"--where for 400
+years slept the ashes of a Scottish Queen--now resound the noise and
+turmoil of a railway station.
+
+But we have another example of the uncertainty of all earthly concerns,
+and one which supplies a Scottish reminiscence belonging to the last
+seventy years. Wilhelmina, Viscountess Glenorchy, during her lifetime,
+built and endowed a church for two ministers, who were provided with
+very handsome incomes. She died 17th July 1786, and was buried on the
+24th July, aged 44. Her interment took place, by her own direction, in
+the church she had founded, immediately in front of the pulpit; and she
+fixed upon that spot as a place of security and safety, where her mortal
+remains might rest in peace till the morning of the resurrection. But
+alas for the uncertainty of all earthly plans and projects for the
+future!--the iron road came on its reckless course and swept the church
+away. The site was required for the North British Railway, which passed
+directly over the spot where Lady Glenorchy had been buried. Her remains
+were accordingly disinterred 24th December 1844; and the trustees of the
+church, not having yet erected a new one, deposited the body of their
+foundress in the vaults beneath St. John's Episcopal Church, and after
+resting there for fifteen years, they were, in 1859, removed to the
+building which is now Lady Glenorchy's Church.
+
+In our reminiscences of many _changes_ which have taken place during
+fifty years in Scottish manners, it might form an interesting section to
+record some peculiarities which _remain_. I mean such peculiarities as
+yet linger amongst us, and still mark a difference in some of our social
+habits from those of England. Some Scottish usages die hard, and are
+found still to supply amusement for southern visitors. To give a few
+examples, persons still persist among us in calling the head of a
+family, or the host, the _landlord_, although he never charged his
+guests a halfpenny for the hospitality he exercises. In games, golf and
+curling still continue to mark the national character--cricket was long
+an exotic amongst us. In many of our educational institutions, however,
+it seems now fairly to have taken root. We continue to call our
+reception rooms "_public_ rooms," although never used for any but
+domestic purposes. Military rank is attached to ladies, as we speak of
+Mrs. Lieutenant Fraser, Mrs. Captain Scott, Mrs. Major Smith, Mrs.
+Colonel Campbell. On the occasion of a death, we persist in sending
+circular notices to all the relatives, whether they know of it or not--a
+custom which, together with men wearing weepers at funeral solemnities,
+is unknown in England[189]. Announcing a married lady's death under her
+maiden name must seem strange to English ears--as, for example, we read
+of the demise of Mrs. Jane Dickson, spouse of Thomas Morison. Scottish
+cookery retains its ground, and hotch-potch, minced collops, sheep's
+head singed, and occasionally haggis, are still marked peculiarities of
+the Scottish table. These social differences linger amongst us. But
+stronger points are worn away; eccentricities and oddities such as
+existed once will not do now. One does not see why eccentricity should
+be more developed in one age than in another, but we cannot avoid the
+conclusion that the day for real oddities is no more. Professors of
+colleges are those in whom one least expects oddity--grave and learned
+characters; and yet such _have_ been in former times. We can scarcely
+now imagine such professors as we read of in a past generation. Take the
+case of no less distinguished a person than Adam Smith, author of the
+_Wealth of Nations,_ who went about the streets talking and laughing to
+himself in such a manner as to make the market women think he was
+deranged; and he told of one himself who ejaculated, as he passed,
+"Hech, sirs, and he is weel pat on, too!" expressing surprise that a
+decided lunatic, who from his dress appeared to be a gentleman, should
+be permitted to walk abroad unattended. Professors still have their
+crotchets like other people; but we can scarcely conceive a professor of
+our day coming out like Adam Smith, and making fishwives to pass such
+observations on his demeanour.
+
+Peculiarities in a people's phraseology may prove more than we are aware
+of, and may tend to illustrate circumstances of national _history_. Thus
+many words which would be included by Englishmen under the general term
+of Scotticisms, bear directly upon the question of a past intercourse
+with France, and prove how close at one time must have been the
+influence exercised upon general habits in Scotland by that intercourse.
+Scoto-Gallic words were quite differently situated from French words and
+phrases adopted in England. With us they proceeded from a real
+admixture of the two _peoples_. With us they form the ordinary common
+language of the country, and that was from a distant period moulded by
+French. In England, the educated and upper classes of late years
+_adopted_ French words and phrases. With us, some of our French
+derivatives are growing obsolete as vulgar, and nearly all are passing
+from fashionable society. In England, we find the French-adopted words
+rather receiving accessions than going out of use.
+
+Examples of words such as we have referred to, as showing a French
+influence and admixture, are familiar to many of my readers. I recollect
+some of them in constant use amongst old-fashioned Scottish people, and
+those terms, let it be remembered, are unknown in England.
+
+A leg of mutton was always, with old-fashioned Scotch people, a gigot
+(Fr. gigot).
+
+The crystal jug or decanter in which water is placed upon the table, was
+a caraff (Fr. carafe).
+
+Gooseberries were groserts, or grossarts (Fr. groseille).
+
+Partridges were pertricks,--a word much more formed upon the French
+perdrix than the English partridge.
+
+The plate on which a joint or side-dish was placed upon the table was an
+ashet (Fr. assiette).
+
+In the old streets of Edinburgh, where the houses are very high, and
+where the inhabitants all live in flats, before the introduction of
+soil-pipes there was no method of disposing of the foul water of the
+household, except by throwing it out of the window into the street. This
+operation, dangerous to those outside, was limited to certain hours, and
+the well-known cry, which preceded the missile and warned the
+passenger, was gardeloo! or, as Smollett writes it, gardy loo (Fr. garge
+de l'eau).
+
+Anything troublesome or irksome used to be called, Scottice, fashions
+(Fr. facheux, facheuse); to fash one's-self (Fr. se facher).
+
+The small cherry, both black and red, common in gardens, is in Scotland,
+never in England, termed gean (Fr. guigne), from Guigne, in Picardy.
+
+The term _dambrod_, which has already supplied materials for a good
+story, arises from adopting French terms into Scottish language, as dams
+were the pieces with which the game of draughts was played (Fr. dammes).
+Brod is board.
+
+A bedgown, or loose female upper garment, is still in many parts of
+Scotland termed a jupe (Fr. jupe).
+
+In Kincardineshire the ashes of a blacksmith's furnace had the peculiar
+name of smiddy-coom (Fr. ecume, i.e. dross).
+
+Oil, in common Scotch, used always to be ule,--as the uley pot, or uley
+cruse (Fr. huile).
+
+Many of my readers are no doubt familiar with the notice taken of these
+words by Lord Cockburn, and with the account which he gives of these
+Scottish words derived from the French, probably during the time of
+Queen Mary's minority, when French troops were quartered in Scotland. I
+subjoin a more full list, for which I am indebted to a correspondent,
+because the words still lingering amongst us are in themselves the best
+REMINISCENCES of former days.
+
+ Scotch.           English.                  French.
+Serviter           Napkin                  From Serviette.
+Gigot (of mutton)      ...                   "  Gigot.
+Reeforts           Radishes                  "  Raiforts.
+Grosserts          Gooseberries              "  Groseilles.
+Gardyveen          Case for holding wine     "  Garde-vin.
+Jupe             Part of a woman's dress     "  Jupe.
+Bonnaille        A parting glass with a      "  Bon aller.
+                   friend going on a journey
+Gysard           Person in a fancy dress     "  Guise.
+Dambrod          Draught-board               "  Dammes.
+Pantufles        Slippers                    "  Pantoufles.
+Haggis           Hashed meat                 "  Hachis.
+Gou              Taste, smell                "  Gout.
+Hogue            Tainted                     "  Haut gout.
+Grange           Granary                     "  Grange.
+Mouter           Miller's perquisite         "  Mouture.
+Dour             Obstinate                   "  Dur.
+Douce            Mild                        "  Doux.
+Dorty            Sulky                       "  Durete.
+Braw             Fine                        "  Brave.
+Kimmer           Gossip                      "  Commere.
+Jalouse          Suspect                     "  Jalouser.
+Vizzy            To aim at, to examine       "  Viser.
+Ruckle           Heap (of stones)            "  Recueil.
+Gardy-loo        (Notice well known in       "  Gardez-l'eau.
+                   Edinburgh)
+Dementit         Out of patience, deranged   "  Dementir.
+On my verity     Assertion of truth          "  Verite.
+By my certy      Assertion of truth          "  Certes.
+Aumrie           Cupboard                    "  Almoire, in old
+                                                  French.
+Walise           Portmanteau                 "  Valise.
+Sucker           Sugar                       "  Sucre
+
+_Edinburgh Street Cry:_--"Neeps like sucker. Whae'll buy neeps?"
+(turnips).
+
+Petticoat-tails    Cakes of triangular shapes   " Petits gatelles
+                                                 (gateaux).
+Ashet              Meat-dish                    " Assiette.
+Fashious           Troublesome                  " Facheux.
+Prush, Madame[190] Call to a cow to come        " Approchez,
+                     forward                        Madame
+
+I dwell the more minutely on this question of Scottish words, from the
+conviction of their being so characteristic of Scottish humour, and
+being so distinctive a feature of the older Scottish race. Take away our
+Scottish phraseology, and we lose what is our specific distinction from
+England. In these expressions, too, there is often a tenderness and
+beauty as remarkable as the wit and humour. I have already spoken of the
+phrase "Auld-lang-syne," and of other expressions of sentiment, which
+may be compared in their Anglican and Scotch form.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[160] After all, the remark may not have been so absurd then as it
+appears now. Burns had not been long dead, nor was he then so noted a
+character as he is now. The Scotsmen might really have supposed a
+Southerner unacquainted with the _fact_ of the poet's death.
+
+[161] Choice.
+
+[162] A vessel.
+
+[163] Juice.
+
+[164] Broth.
+
+[165] Rev. A.K.H. Boyd.
+
+[166] I believe the lady was Mrs. Murray Keith of Ravelston, with whom
+Sir Walter had in early life much intercourse.
+
+[167] Disputing or bandying words backwards and forwards.
+
+[168] In Scotland the remains of the deceased person is called the
+"corp."
+
+[169] Laudanum and calomel.
+
+[170] Read from the same book.
+
+[171] Sorely kept under by the turkey-cock.
+
+[172] Close the doors. The old woman was lying in a "box-bed." See _Life
+of Robert Chambers_, p. 12.
+
+[173] Empty pocket.
+
+[174] A cough.
+
+[175] Shrivelled.
+
+[176] Confound.
+
+[177] Empty.
+
+[178] It was of this minister, Mr. Thom of Govan, that Sir Walter Scott
+remarked "that he had demolished all his own chances of a Glasgow
+benefice, by preaching before the town council from a text in Hosea,
+'Ephraim's drink is sour.'"
+
+[179] Empty.
+
+[180] Basket for fish.
+
+[181] Well advanced.
+
+[182] Wearied.
+
+[183] I have abundant evidence to prove that a similar answer to that
+which Dr. Alexander records to have been made to Mr. Gillespie has been
+given on similar occasions by others.
+
+[184] Oats heavy in bulk.
+
+[185] This Marquis of Lothian was aide-de-camp to the Duke of Cumberland
+at the battle of Culloden, who sullied his character as a soldier and a
+nobleman by the cruelties which he exercised on the vanquished.
+
+[186] Sir H. Moncreiff's _Life of Dr. J. Erskine_.
+
+[187] Extraordinary.
+
+[188] In Scotland it is usual to term the law-agent or man of business
+of any person his "doer."
+
+[189] And yet, even as we write, weepers seem to be passing into
+reminiscence.
+
+[190] This expression was adopted apparently in ridicule of the French
+applying the word "Madame" to a cow.
+
+
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+I am very anxious to bear in mind throughout these Reminiscences, and to
+keep in view the same feeling for my readers--viz. that such details
+regarding the changes which many living have themselves noticed as
+taking place in our customs and habits of society in Scotland, should
+always suggest the question to the thoughtful and serious mind, Are the
+changes which have been observed for _good_? Is the world a better world
+than that which we can remember? On some important points changes have
+been noticed in the upper classes of Scottish society, which
+unquestionably _are_ improvements. For example, the greater attention
+paid to observance of Sunday, and to attendance upon public
+worship,--the partial disappearance of profane swearing and of excess in
+drinking. But then the painful questions arise, Are such beneficial
+changes _general_ through the whole body of our countrymen? may not the
+vices and follies of one grade of society have found a refuge in those
+that are of a lower class? may not new faults have taken their place
+where older faults have been abandoned? Of this we are quite sure--no
+lover of his country can fail to entertain the anxious wish, that the
+change we noticed in regard to drinking and swearing were universal, and
+that we had some evidence of its being extended through all classes of
+society. We ought certainly to feel grateful when we reflect that, in
+many instances which we have noticed, the ways and customs of society
+are much improved in common sense, in decency, in delicacy, and
+refinement. There are certain modes of life, certain expressions,
+eccentricity of conduct, coarseness of speech, books, and plays, which
+were in vogue amongst us, even fifty or sixty years ago, which would not
+be tolerated in society at the present time. We cannot illustrate this
+in a more satisfactory manner than by reference to the acknowledgment of
+a very interesting and charming old lady, who died so lately as 1823. In
+1821, Mrs. Keith of Ravelstone, grandaunt of Sir Walter Scott, thus
+writes in returning to him the work of a female novelist which she had
+borrowed from him out of curiosity, and to remind her of "auld lang
+syne:"--"Is it not a very odd thing that I, an old woman of eighty and
+upwards, sitting alone, feel myself ashamed to read a book which, sixty
+years ago, I have heard read aloud for the amusement of large circles,
+consisting of the first and most creditable society in London?" There
+can be no doubt that at the time referred to by Mrs. Keith, Tristram
+Shandy[191], Tom Jones, Humphrey Clinker, etc., were on the drawing-room
+tables of ladies whose grandchildren or great-grandchildren never saw
+them, or would not acknowledge it if they _had_ seen them. But authors
+not inferior to Sterne, Fielding, or Smollett, are now popular, who,
+with Charles Dickens, can describe scenes of human life with as much
+force and humour, and yet in whose pages nothing will be found which
+need offend the taste of the most refined, or shock the feelings of the
+most pure. This is a change where there is also great improvement. It
+indicates not merely a better moral perception in authors themselves,
+but it is itself a homage to the improved spirit of the age. We will
+hope that, with an improved exterior, there is improvement in society
+_within_. If the feelings shrink from what is coarse in expression, we
+may hope that vice has, in some sort, lost attraction. At any rate, from
+what we discern around us we hope favourably for the general improvement
+of mankind, and of our own beloved country in particular. If Scotland,
+in parting with her rich and racy dialect, her odd and eccentric
+characters, is to lose something in quaint humour and good stories, we
+will hope she may grow and strengthen in _better_ things--good as those
+are which she loses. However this may be, I feel quite assured that the
+examples which I have now given, of Scottish expressions, Scottish modes
+and habits of life, and Scottish anecdotes, which belong in a great
+measure to the past, and yet which are remembered as having a place in
+the present century, must carry conviction that great changes have taken
+place in the Scottish social circle. There were some things belonging to
+our country which we must all have desired should be changed. There were
+others which we could only see changed with regret and sorrow. The hardy
+and simple habits of Scotsmen of many past generations; their industry,
+economy, and integrity, which made them take so high a place in the
+estimation and the confidence of the people amongst whom they dwelt in
+all countries of the world; the intelligence and superior education of
+her mechanics and her peasantry, combined with a strict moral and
+religious demeanour, fully justified the praise of Burns when he
+described the humble though sublime piety of the "Cottar's Saturday
+Night," and we can well appreciate the testimony which he bore to the
+hallowed power and sacred influences of the devotional exercises of his
+boyhood's home, when he penned the immortal words:--
+
+     "From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs,
+     That makes her loved at home, revered abroad."
+
+On comparing Scotland past with Scotland present, we cannot evade the
+question, Are "scenes like these"--devotional domestic scenes like
+these--become less frequent than they were? Do they still hold their
+place by the cottar's fireside, or are they becoming only a reminiscence
+of what was _once_ a national distinction? Whatever be our religious
+opinions, or whatever be our views on questions of ecclesiastical polity
+and church order, no Scotsman who desires the happiness and honour of
+his country could avoid a deep regret at the very idea of Burns'
+"Cottar's Saturday Night" having become a thing of the past; and yet we
+must not shrink from inquiry into the true state of the case. I have
+asked the opinions of friends both of the Established and the Free
+Church, who have met my inquiries in a fair and candid spirit, and, from
+the answers I have received, have come to something like the following
+conclusion:--I believe such scenes as Burns' "Cottar's Saturday Night"
+are still to be met with in all their freshness and all their fervour in
+the dwellings of a good religious peasantry; but in some places the
+cottar population _itself_ has undergone a great change. Two causes have
+combined to produce this effect:--An extensive system of emigration has
+thinned the older families of the soil, whilst the practice of bringing
+in mere labourers has in many districts made the old family domestic
+firesides less numerous. Then, alas! alas! we fear cottar MORALITY has
+not been such as to keep up the practice. Reports made to both the
+General Assemblies of 1871 on this question were far from being
+satisfactory. Dr. Begg, too, in his striking and able pamphlet on the
+"Ecclesiastical and Social Evils of Scotland," refers to "symptoms of a
+nation's degeneracy which seem multiplying in Scotland;" also to a
+"growing amount of heathenism and drunkenness."
+
+With such representations before us regarding a decline of domestic
+morality, we cannot expect to see much increase of domestic piety.
+Burns, after he had become lowered in moral feelings by those licentious
+habits and scenes into which he unfortunately fell after he had left his
+father's house, was not hypocrite enough to profess the same love and
+interest for the scenes of his innocent and early days. The country
+clergy of Scotland have their many difficulties against which they are
+to contend; and many obstacles which they have to meet. But let not the
+domestic piety of the lowest cottages of the land be lost sight of. The
+results of such worship are so blessed upon the inmates, that the
+practice should everywhere be urged upon their flocks by the clergy, and
+encouraged by all means in their power; and in that view it would, I
+think, be desirable to circulate short forms of prayer for family use.
+Many such have lately been published; and, whatever difference of
+opinion may be entertained as to the comparative merits of extempore or
+liturgical prayer for the public worship of the church, there can be no
+question that in many instances a form must be very useful, and often
+essential at the commencement, at least, of cottage worship. I have
+known cases where it has been declined on the plea of inability to
+conduct the service.
+
+There are numerous indications that, _on the whole_, a regard for
+religion and religious ordinances is not losing ground in Scotland. The
+great number of churches--and of handsome churches--that are springing
+up, indicate, by their attendance, how much hold the subject has upon
+the people. The ample funds raised for charitable and for missionary
+objects give good testimony in the cause; and, in regard to the
+immediate question before us, one favourable result may be reported on
+this subject--the practice and feelings of domestic piety and family
+worship have, at any rate, extended in Scotland in an _upward_ direction
+of its social life. Beyond all doubt, we may say family worship is more
+frequent, as a general practice, in houses of the rich, and also in the
+houses of farmers and of superior operatives, than it was some years
+ago. The Montrose anecdote about family prayers, told at page 64, could
+hardly have place now, and indeed many persons could not understand
+the point.
+
+I hope I am not blinded to the defects of my own countrymen, nor am I
+determined to resist evidence of any deterioration which may be proved.
+But I feel confident that Scotland still stands pre-eminent amongst the
+nations for moral and religious qualities. The nucleus of her character
+will bear comparison with any. We will cherish hope for the mental tone
+of our countrymen being still in the ascendant, and still imbued with
+those qualities that make a moral and religious people. We have reason
+to know that in many departments of business, Scottish intelligence,
+Scottish character, and Scottish services, are still decidedly at a
+premium in the market.
+
+But now, before concluding, I am desirous of recording some
+Reminiscences upon a phase of Scottish RELIGIOUS history which involves
+very important consequences, and which I would not attempt to discuss
+without serious consideration. Indeed I have sometimes shrunk from the
+discussion at all, as leading to questions of so delicate a nature, and
+as involving matters on which there are so many differences of opinion.
+I refer to the state of our divisions and alienations of spirit _on
+account_ of religion.
+
+The great Disruption, which nearly equally divided the National Church,
+and which took place in 1843, is now become a matter of _reminiscence_.
+Of those nearly connected with that movement, some were relatives of my
+own, and many were friends. Unlike similar religious revolutions, that
+which caused the Free Church of Scotland did not turn upon any
+difference of opinion on matters either of doctrine or of ecclesiastical
+polity. It arose entirely from differences regarding the relation
+subsisting between the Church and the State, by which the Church was
+established and endowed. The great evil of all such divisions, and the
+real cause for regret, lie in the injury they inflict on the cause of
+Christian unity and Christian love, and the separation they too often
+make between those who ought to be united in spirit, and who have
+hitherto been not unfrequently actually joined for years as companions
+and friends. The tone which is adopted by publications, which are the
+organs of various party opinions amongst us, show how keenly disputants,
+once excited, will deal with each other. The differences consequent upon
+the Disruption in the Scottish Church called forth great bitterness of
+spirit and much mutual recrimination at the time. But it seems to me
+that there are indications of a better spirit, and that there is more
+tolerance and more forbearance on religious differences amongst Scottish
+people generally. I cannot help thinking, however, that at no period of
+our ecclesiastical annals was such language made use of, and even
+against those of the highest place and authority in the Church, as we
+have lately met with in the organs of the extreme Anglican Church party.
+It is much to be regretted that earnest and zealous men should have
+adopted such a style of discussing religious differences. I cannot help
+thinking it is injurious to Christian feelings of love and Christian
+kindness. It is really sometimes quite appalling. From the same quarter
+I must expect myself severe handling for some of these pages, should
+they fall into their way. We cannot but lament, however, when we find
+such language used towards each other by those who are believers in a
+common Bible, and who are followers and disciples of the same lowly
+Saviour, and indeed frequently members of the same Church. Bigotry and
+intolerance are not confined to one side or another. They break out
+often where least expected. Differences, no doubt, will always exist on
+many contested subjects, but I would earnestly pray that all SUCH
+differences, amongst ourselves at least, as those which injure the
+forbearance and gentleness of the Christian character, should become
+"Scottish Reminiscences," whether they are called forth by the
+opposition subsisting between Presbyterianism and Episcopacy, or whether
+they arise amongst Presbyterians or amongst Episcopalians themselves.
+
+To my apprehension Scotland has recently seen a most painful indication
+of the absence of that charity which, according to St. Paul, should
+"never fail" amongst a Christian people. The act of two English
+Prelates officiating in one of the Established churches has called forth
+a storm of indignation as loud and vehement as if in a heathen land they
+had fallen down before the image of a heathen deity, and worshipped in a
+heathen temple. Then the explanation which has been given by apologists
+for these services is not the least remarkable feature of the
+transaction. These ministrations have been called "Mission Services,"
+and, in so far as I enter into the meaning of the phrase, I would
+solemnly and seriously protest against its being made use of in such a
+case. "_Mission service_" can only be applied to the case of a
+missionary raising his voice "_in partibus infidelium_" or, to say the
+least of it, in a land where no Christian church was already planted.
+When I think of the piety, the Christian worth, and high character of so
+many friends in the Established and other Presbyterian churches in
+Scotland, I would again repeat my solemn protestation against such
+religious intolerance, and again declare my conviction, that Englishmen
+and Scotsmen, so far from looking out for points of difference and
+grounds for separation on account of the principles on which their
+Churches are established, should endeavour to make the bonds of
+religious union as _close_ as possible. I can scarcely express the
+gratification I felt on learning from the _Scotsman_, November 20, that
+such were the sentiments called forth by this event in the mind of one
+of the ablest and most distinguished Prelates of our day. In reference
+to the Glengarry services, the Bishop of St. Andrews (Wordsworth) has
+declared his opinion, that the "subsequent explanations of those
+services seemed to mar the good work by introducing questions of
+etiquette, where nothing should have been thought of but the simple
+performance of Christian duty by Christian ministers for the benefit of
+Christian people[192]."
+
+Such is the judgment expressed by the honoured and learned Bishop of St.
+Andrews, whose noble and patriotic exertions to draw the Episcopalians
+and the Presbyterians of Scotland closer together in bonds of religious
+feelings and religious worship have been spoken of in such terms, and
+such words have been applied to his labours in that cause, and to the
+administration generally of his own diocese, by one of the very high
+English Church papers, as have been to me a cause of deep sorrow and
+poignant regret.
+
+As a Scotsman by descent from Presbyterians of high moral and religious
+character, and as an Episcopalian by conscientious preference, I would
+fain see more of harmony and of confidence between all Scotsmen, not
+only as fellow-countrymen, but as fellow-Christians. When I first joined
+the Episcopal Church the Edinburgh Episcopal clergy were on most
+friendly terms with the leading clergy of the Established Church. Every
+consideration was shown to them by such men as Bishop Sandford, Dr.
+Morehead, Rev. Archibald Alison, Rev. Mr. Shannon, and others. There was
+always service in the Episcopal chapels on the National Church communion
+fast-days. No opposition or dislike to Episcopalian clergymen occupying
+Presbyterian pulpits was ever avowed as a great principle. Charles
+Simeon of Cambridge, and others of the Churches of England and Ireland,
+frequently so officiated, and it was considered as natural and suitable.
+The learning and high qualities of the Church of England's hierarchy,
+were, with few exceptions, held in profound respect. Indeed, during the
+last hundred years, and since the days when Episcopacy was attacked
+under the term of "black prelacy," I can truly say, the Episcopal order
+has received far more severe handling in Episcopal England than it has
+received in Presbyterian Scotland. I must think, that in the case of two
+churches where the grounds of _resemblance_ are on points of spiritual
+importance affecting great truths and doctrines of salvation, and where
+the points of _difference_ affect questions more of government and
+external order than of salvation, there ought to be on both parts the
+desire at least to draw as closely as they can the bonds of Christian
+charity and mutual confidence.
+
+I believe it to be very painful to Scotsmen generally, whether of the
+Established or the Episcopal Church, that the Presbyterian Church of
+Scotland should be spoken of in such terms as have lately been made use
+of. Scotsmen feel towards it as to the Church of the country established
+by law, just as the Anglican Church is established in England. They feel
+towards it as the Church whose ministrations are attended by our
+gracious Sovereign when she resides in the northern portion of her
+dominions, and in which public thanksgiving was offered to God in the
+royal presence for her Majesty's recovery. But more important still,
+they feel towards it as a church of which the members are behind no
+other communion in the tone and standard of their moral principle and
+integrity of conduct. They feel towards it as a church which has nobly
+retained her adherence to the principles of the Reformation, and which
+has been spared the humiliation of exhibiting any of her clergy
+nominally members of a reformed church, and, at the same time, virtually
+and at heart adherents to the opinions and practices of the Church of
+Rome. English people, in speaking of the Established Church of
+Scotland, seem to forget how much Episcopalians are mixed up with their
+Presbyterian fellow-countrymen in promoting common charitable and
+religious objects. For example, take my own experience: the
+administration of a very valuable charitable institution called the
+Paterson and Pape Fund, is vested jointly in the incumbent of St.
+John's, Edinburgh (Episcopalian), and the two clergymen of St.
+Cuthbert's (Established) Church. Even in matters affecting the interests
+of our own Church we may find ourselves closely connected. Take the
+administration of the late Miss Walker's will, and the carrying out her
+munificent bequest to our Church, of which I am a trustee. Of the nine
+trustees, two are Episcopalians residing in Scotland, one an
+Episcopalian residing in England, and six are Presbyterians residing in
+Scotland. The primary object of Miss Walker's settlement is to build and
+endow, for divine service, a cathedral church in Edinburgh; the edifice
+to cost not less than L40,000. The income arising from the remainder of
+her property to be expended for the benefit of the Scottish Episcopal
+Church generally. A meeting of trustees was held, November 25, 1871, and
+one of the first steps unanimously agreed upon was to appoint the
+Bishop-Coadjutor of Edinburgh, who is a trustee, to be chairman of the
+meeting. There is no doubt or question of mutual good feeling in the
+work, and that our Church feels full and entire confidence in the fair,
+honourable, candid, and courteous conduct of the trustees to whom in
+this case will be committed weighty matters connected with her
+interests.
+
+At one of the congresses of the English Church it has been said, and
+well said, by Mr. B. Hope, that he and his friends of the High Church
+party would join as closely as they could with the members of the
+Romish Church who have taken common cause with Dr. Dollinger, "looking
+more to points where they agree, and not to points where they differ."
+Why should not the same rule be adopted towards brethren who differ from
+ourselves so little on points that are vital and eternal? The principle
+which I would apply to the circumstances, I think, may be thus stated: I
+would join with fellow-Christians in any good works or offices, either
+of charity or religion, where I could do so without compromise of my own
+principles. On such ground I do not see why we should not realise the
+idea already suggested,--viz. that of having an interchange between our
+pulpits and the pulpits of the Established and other Presbyterian or
+Independent Churches. Such ministerial interchange need not affect the
+question of _orders_, nor need it, in fact, touch many other questions
+on which differences are concerned.
+
+Of course this should be arranged under due regulation, and with full
+precaution taken that the questions discussed shall be confined to
+points where there is agreement, and that points of difference should be
+left quite in abeyance. Why should we, under proper arrangements, fail
+to realise so graceful an exercise of Christian charity? Why should we
+lose the many benefits favourable to the advancement of Christian unity
+amongst us? An opportunity for practically putting this idea into a
+tangible form has occurred from the circumstance of the new chapel in
+the University of Glasgow being opened for service, to be conducted by
+clergymen of various churches. I gladly avail myself of the opportunity
+of testifying my grateful acknowledgments for the courteous and generous
+conduct of Dr. Caird, in his efforts to put forward members of our
+Church to conduct the services of the College chapel, and also of
+expressing my admiration of the power and beauty of his remarks on
+Christian unity and on brotherly love[193].
+
+This is with me no new idea; no crude experiment proposed for the
+occasion. I have before me a paper which I wrote some years since, and
+which I had put into the shape of "An Address to the Bishops," to
+sanction such exchange of pulpits, hoping to get some of my clerical
+brethren to join in the object of the address. I feel assured much good
+would, under God, be the result of such spiritual union. If
+congregations would only unite in exchange of such friendly offices of
+religious instruction with each other, how often would persons, now
+strangers, become better acquainted! I wish the experiment could be
+tried, were it only to show how prejudices would be removed; how
+misunderstandings would be cleared away; how many better and kinder
+feelings would grow out of the closer union on religious questions! Nay,
+I would go farther, and express my full conviction, that my own Church
+would _gain_ rather than lose in her interests under such a system. Men
+would be more disposed to listen with attention, and examine with
+candour the arguments we make use of in favour of our Church views. We
+should gain more of the sympathy of our countrymen who differ from us,
+by a calm expostulation than by bitter invective. Beautifully and wisely
+was it written by a sacred pen nearly three thousand years ago, "A soft
+answer turneth away wrath."
+
+I have such confidence in the excellence of my own Church, that I
+believe to bring persons into closer and kinder connection with our
+system would be the more likely way to gain their approval and their
+favourable judgment. In nothing do we lose more of the confidence and
+estimation of our fellow-countrymen than in the feeling of our being
+intolerant and exclusive in our religious opinions. It is curious people
+should not see that the arguments addressed in a friendly spirit must
+tell more powerfully than the arguments of one who shows his
+hostile feeling.
+
+With these feelings on the subject, it may be easily understood with
+what pleasure I read, in the _Edinburgh Courant_ of November 10th, a
+report of what our Primus (Bishop Eden) said, at the entertainment which
+was given on the occasion of the consecration of St. Mary's Church,
+Glasgow. In speaking on the question of Union, the Primus said--
+
+     "I think I may speak for my Episcopal brethren, when I say
+     that if the heads, especially of the Established Church of
+     Scotland--for that is the body that has most power and
+     influence--if a proposal were made by the leading men in that
+     Church, in concurrence with those who hold views similar to
+     themselves--a conference of the representative men of the
+     different Churches--to consider in a Christian spirit what
+     our differences are, and what are the points on which we are
+     agreed, we would be most happy to take part in it. Such a
+     conference might, in the providence of God, lead to our being
+     drawn nearer to each other. I believe that then the prayer
+     which the Bishop of St. Andrews offered up would he the
+     earlier accomplished, namely, that the Episcopal Churches
+     might become Reformed, and the Reformed Churches become
+     Episcopal. If any proposal of this kind could be made, I
+     believe we would be most ready to accept any invitation to
+     consider whether the various Churches might not be drawn
+     nearer to each other." (Great applause.)
+
+The Coadjutor Bishop of Edinburgh in his address, after briefly
+referring to some proposals that had been made for union among the
+churches in South Africa, went on to say--
+
+     "I do say, as one of the Bishops of the Scottish Episcopal
+     Church now, and in reference to what fell from the Primus,
+     that I most heartily concur in what he said, and I cannot but
+     feel that, without the slightest breach of the great
+     fundamental principles of the Church of Christ, there are
+     many points on which we may be at one with Christians who are
+     not part of our organic body.
+
+     "I believe the proposal made by the Primus would have the
+     effect of drawing them nearer to us, and be a step forward to
+     that consummation which we all desire, and which our blessed
+     Lord prayed--with his last breath--'That we may all be one.'"
+     (Great applause.)
+
+That two honoured Fathers of our Church, our Primus and my own Bishop,
+should have made use of such terms, and that their views should have
+been received by _such_ an audience with so much applause, I could have
+offered a grateful acknowledgment upon my knees.
+
+But after all, perhaps, it may be said this is an utopian idea, which,
+in the present state of religious feelings and ecclesiastical
+differences, never can be realised. It were a sufficient answer to the
+charge of _utopianism_ brought against such a proposal, to plead that it
+was no more than what was sanctioned by the teaching of God's word. In
+this case it does not seem to go beyond the requirements of holy
+Scripture as set forth in St. Paul's description of charity, and in
+other passages which clearly enjoin Christians to act towards each other
+in love, and to cultivate, so far as they can, a spirit of mutual
+forbearance and of joint action in the sacred cause of preaching the
+truth as it is in Jesus. I cannot believe that, were St. Paul on earth,
+he would sanction the present state of jealous separation amongst
+Christians. Take such separation in connection with the beautiful
+sentiment, which we read in Phil. i. 18:--"What then? notwithstanding
+every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I
+therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice."
+
+The determination to exclude preaching that is not strictly according to
+our own forms seems to me quite inconsistent with the general teaching
+of Scripture, more particularly with this apostolic declaration. But I
+would bring this question to a practical issue, and we shall find enough
+in our own experience to confirm the view I have taken, and to sanction
+the arrangement I propose. To bring forward co-operation in the great
+and vitally important work of preaching God's word, which has been
+already effected between persons holding on some points opinions
+different from each other, take first the case of revision of the
+English translation of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, as it has
+been resolved upon by the authorities of the great Anglican Communion.
+They have had no difficulty in finding Nonconformist scholars and
+divines whose fitness to be associated with Anglican Churchmen in the
+great work of arranging and correcting an authorised version has been
+admitted by all. Thus we have Nonconformists and English and Scottish
+Episcopalians united in adjusting the terms of the sacred text;--the
+text from which all preaching in the English tongue shall in future
+derive its authority, and by which all its teaching shall in future be
+guided and directed. There is _already_, however, a closer and a more
+practical blending of minds on great religious questions much differing
+from each other on lesser points. In the field of religious and
+devotional literature, many of our church differences are lost sight of.
+Episcopalian congregations are constantly in the habit of joining with
+much cordiality and earnestness in singing hymns composed by authors
+nonconformists with our Church--in fact, of adopting them into their
+church service. These compositions form a portion of their worship, and
+are employed to illustrate and enforce their own most earnest doctrinal
+views and opinions themselves. How entirely are such compositions as the
+sacramental hymn, "My God, and is thy table spread," by Doddridge; the
+hymn, "When I behold the wondrous cross," by Isaac Watts, associated
+with our Church services! Nor are such feelings of adoption confined to
+poetical compositions. How many prose productions by non-Episcopalian
+authors might be introduced for the delight and benefit of Christian
+congregations! How eagerly many such compositions are read by members of
+our Church! With what delight would many discourses of this class have
+been listened to had they been delivered to Episcopalian congregations!
+Where such hymns and such discourses are admissible, the _authors_ of
+them might take a part in conducting psalmody and in occupying the
+pulpit for preaching to a congregation. If the spirits of such writers
+as Doddridge, Watts, and Hall, have been felt to permeate and to
+influence the hearts of others who have heard or read their words of
+holiness and peace, we may well suppose that God would sanction their
+making like impressions, in his own house, upon the hearts of those whom
+they meet there face to face. Might they not communicate personally what
+they communicate through the press? For example, why should not Robert
+Hall have preached his sermons on Infidelity and on the Death of the
+Princess of Wales, perhaps the two most magnificent discourses in the
+language, in an English Cathedral? Why should not the beautiful
+astronomical discourses of Thomas Chalmers have been delivered in St.
+Paul's or in St. John's, Edinburgh? For many years, in want of better
+materials, the sermons of Dr. Blair were more used in the Church of
+England, and more read in private, than any similar compositions. It has
+been for years a growing persuasion in my own mind that principles of
+Christian love and mutual harmony are too often sacrificed to the desire
+of preserving the exact and formal marks of church order, as the Bishop
+of St. Andrews so happily expressed it to preserve _etiquette_. Surely
+the great law of Christian love would suggest and enforce a union at
+least of spirit amongst Christian believers, who cannot join in the
+unity of the same organisation. Inability to join in the same form of
+church polity and church order need not shut the door to religious
+sympathies and religious communion, where there are so many points of
+agreement and of mutual interest. The experience of the past will tend
+to produce the conviction that there has too often been in our religious
+disputes a strong tendency in all Christian denominations to make the
+great principle of love, which is a principle to rule in Heaven and for
+eternity, actually subservient and subordinate to a system of
+ecclesiastical order, which, important as it is for its own purposes and
+objects, never can be more than a guide to the ministration of the
+Church on earth, and an organisation which must be in its nature
+confined to time.
+
+Wherever or whenever this feeling may be called forth, it is a grievous
+error--it is a very serious subject for our reflection, how far such
+want of sympathy and of union with those who do not belong immediately
+to our own church, must generate a feeling hostile to a due reception of
+an important article of our faith, termed in the Apostles' Creed the
+COMMUNION OF SAINTS. According to the description given by the judicious
+and learned Bishop Pearson, this communion or spiritual union belongs to
+all who are in New Testament language denominated SAINTS; by which he
+means all who, having been baptized in the faith, have this name by
+being called and baptized. Then he states all Christian believers to
+have communion and fellowship with these, whether living or dead. We
+should feel towards such persons (evidently, as the good Bishop implies,
+without reference to any particular church order) all sympathy and
+kindness as members of the same great spiritual family on earth,
+expectants of meeting in heaven in the presence of God and of the Lamb,
+and of joining in the worship of saints and angels round the throne. I
+have no hesitation in declaring my full conviction that such
+expectations of future communion should supply a very powerful and
+sacred motive for our cultivating all spiritual union in our power with
+all fellow-Christians, all for whom Christ died. It becomes a very
+serious subject for examination of our own hearts, how, by _refusing_
+any spiritual intercourse with Christians who are not strictly members
+of our own Church, we may contravene this noble doctrine of the
+Communion of Saints; for does not the bitterness with which sometimes we
+find all union with certain fellow-Christians in the Church on earth
+chill or check the feeling of a desire for union with the same in the
+Church above? Nay, is there not matter for men's earnest thought, how
+far the violent animosity displayed against the smallest approach to
+anything like spiritual communion with all Christians of a different
+Church from their own may chill the DESIRE itself for "meeting in the
+Church above?" Can hatred to meeting on earth be in any sense a right
+preliminary or preparation for desire to meet in Heaven? Nay, more,
+should we not carefully guard lest the bitter displays we see of
+religious hostility may even tend to bring men's minds towards a
+_disinclination_ to meet in Heaven, of which the most terrible condition
+was thus expressed by Southey:--"Earth could not hold us both, nor can
+one heaven[194]."
+
+One mark of any particular Church being a portion of Christ's Church on
+earth seems to be overlooked by some of our English friends, and that is
+a mark pointed out by our Lord himself, when he said, "By their FRUITS
+ye shall know them." By this announcement I would understand that
+besides and beyond a profession of the great articles of the Christian
+faith, I would, as a further criterion of a Christian church, inquire if
+there were many of its members who have been distinguished for their
+Christian piety, Christian learning, and Christian benevolence. Is all
+external communion to be interdicted with a church which has produced
+such men as we might name amongst the children of our Established and
+other Churches in Scotland? Look back upon half-a-century, and ask if a
+similar act with that of the Archbishop of York and Bishop of Winchester
+would then have created a like feeling. I can remember well the interest
+and admiration called forth by the eloquence, the philanthropy, and the
+moral fervour of Dr. Chalmers, amongst the High Church school of the day
+too--the good Archbiship Howley, Bishop Blomfield, Rev. Mr. Norris of
+Hackney, Mr. Joshua Watson, etc. I remember, too, the perfect ovation he
+received in the attendance of Archbishops, Bishops, Clergy, Peers,
+Princes, etc., of the great London world, at his lectures on
+Establishments. We can hardly imagine any one saying then, "This is all
+very well, but the Church that produced this man is no part of the true
+Church of Christ, and no English prelate or clergyman could possibly
+take service in it."
+
+No one, I believe, who is acquainted with my own views and opinions on
+religious subjects would say that I look with indifference on those
+points wherein we differ from the great body of our fellow-countrymen. I
+am confident that I should not gain in the estimation of Presbyterians
+themselves by showing a cold indifference, or a lukewarm attachment, to
+the principles and practice of my own Church. They would see that my own
+convictions in favour of Episcopal government in the Church, and of
+liturgical services in her worship, were quite compatible with the
+fullest exercise of candour and forbearance towards the opinions of
+others--I mean on questions not essential to salvation.
+
+I believe that there are persons amongst us coming round to this
+opinion, and who are ready to believe that it is quite possible for
+Christians to exercise very friendly mutual relations in spiritual
+matters which constitute the essential articles of a common faith,
+whilst they are in practice separated on points of ecclesiastical order
+and of church government. I am old, and shall not see it; but I venture
+to hope that, under the Divine blessing, the day will come when to
+Scotsmen it will be a matter of reminiscence that Episcopalians, or that
+Presbyterians of any denomination, should set the interests of their own
+communion above the exercise of that charity that for a brother's faith
+"hopeth all things and believeth all things." Zeal in promoting our own
+Church views, and a determination to advance her interests and
+efficiency, need be no impediment to cultivating the most friendly
+feelings towards those who agree with us in matters which are essential
+to salvation and who, in their differences from us, are, I am bound to
+believe, as conscientious as myself. Such days will come.
+
+But now, to close my remarks on national peculiarities, with what I may
+term a _practical_ and _personal_ application. We have in our later
+pages adopted a more solemn and serious view of past reminiscences as
+they bear upon questions connected with a profession of religion. It is
+quite suitable then to recall the fact which applies individually to all
+our readers. We shall ourselves each of us one day become subject to a
+"reminiscence" of others. Indeed, the whole question at issue throughout
+the work takes for granted what we must all have observed to be a very
+favourite object with survivors--viz. that the characters of various
+persons, as they pass away, will be always spoken of, and freely
+discussed, by those who survive them. We recall the eccentric, and we
+are amused with a remembrance of their eccentricities. We admire the
+wise and dignified of the past. There are some who are recollected only
+to be detested for their vices--some to be pitied for their weaknesses
+and follies--some to be scorned for mean and selfish conduct. But there
+are others whose memory is embalmed in tears of grateful recollection.
+There are those whose generosity and whose kindness, whose winning
+sympathy and noble disinterested virtues are never thought upon or ever
+spoken of without calling forth a blessing. Might it not, therefore, be
+good for us often to ask ourselves how _we_ are likely to be spoken of
+when the grave has closed upon the intercourse between us and the
+friends whom we leave behind? The thought might, at any rate, be useful
+as an additional motive for kind and generous conduct to each other. And
+then the inquiry would come home to each one in some such form as
+this--"Within the circle of my family and friends--within the hearts of
+those who have known me, and were connected with me in various social
+relations--what will be the estimate formed of me when I am gone? What
+will be the spontaneous impression produced by looking back on bygone
+intercourses in life? Will past thought of me furnish the memory of
+those who survive me with recollections that will be fond and pleasing?"
+In one word, let each one ask himself (I speak to countrymen and
+countrywomen), "Will _my_ name be associated with gentle and happy
+'REMINISCENCES OF SCOTTISH LIFE AND CHARACTER'?"
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[191] Sterne, in one of his letters, describes his reading Tristram
+Shandy to his wife and daughter--his daughter copying from his
+dictation, and Mrs. Sterne sitting by and listening whilst she worked.
+In the life of Sterne, it is recorded that he used to carry about in his
+pocket a volume of this same work, and read it aloud when he went into
+company. Admirable reading for the church dignitary, the prebendary of
+York! How well adapted to the hours of social intercourse with friends!
+How fitted for domestic seclusion with his family!
+
+[192] _Scottish Guardian_, vol. ii. No. ix. p. 305.
+
+[193] "What is Religion?" a sermon by Rev. John Caird, D.D., Professor
+of Divinity in the University of Glasgow, and one of Her Majesty's
+Chaplains for Scotland. See especially concluding remarks.
+
+[194] See Southey's _Roderick_, book xxi.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+'Aaple,' bottle of beer strong o'.
+Abercairney, Laird of, prevented from _going out_ in '15.
+Aberdeen dialect, perfect specimens of.
+Aberdeen elders, opinion of.
+Aberdeen provost, wife of, at the opera.
+Aberdeen, two ladies of, mutual recrimination.
+'A bonnie bride's sune buskit.'
+Accommodation, grand, for snuff.
+'Acts o' Parliament lose their breath
+    before they get to Aberdeenshire.'
+Adam, Dr., Latin translation of Scottish expressions.
+Advice to a minister in talking to a ploughman.
+'A gravesteen wad gie guid bree gin ye gied it plenty o' butter.'
+'A hantle o' miscellawneous eating about a pig.'
+Airth, housekeeper at, on king of France.
+Alexander, Dr. W. Lindsay.
+'And what the devil is it to you whether I have a liver or not?'
+Anecdotes of quaint Scottish character.
+Angel-worship is not allowed in the Church of Scotland.
+Angler and the horse-fly.
+'Anither gude Sunday! I dinna ken
+    whan I'll get thae drawers redd up.'
+'Anither het day, Cornal.'
+'An inch at the tap is worth twa at the boddam.'
+'An I hadna been an idiot I micht hae been sleepin' too.'
+Annals of the parish, extracts from.
+Answer to stranger asking the way.
+Answers, dry, specimens of.
+'A peer o' anither tree.'
+Appetite, farmer's reason for minister's good appetite.
+Asher, minister of Inveraven, anecdote of.
+Athole, Duke of, and Cultoquhey.
+Athole, Duke of, answer of his cottar.
+Auction, anecdote of spoon missing.
+Auld lang syne, beauty of the expression.
+Auld, Rev. Dr., of Ayr, and Rab Hamilton.
+Authors, older ones indecent.
+'Ay, ir ye a' up an' awa?'
+'Ay, she may prosper, for she has baith the prayers of the good and
+     of the bad.'
+
+Baby, a laddie or a lassie.
+Baird, Mrs., of Newbyth, remark of, as to her son in India.
+Balnamoon, laird of, carriage to _haud in_.
+Balnamoon, laird of, great drinker.
+Balnamoon, laird of, joke with his servant.
+Balnamoon, laird of, refuses his wig.
+Balnamoon, praying and drinking at.
+Banes, distinction of, by a beggar.
+Banes, Frasers weel-baned.
+Bannockburn, guide to, refusing an Englishman's five shillings.
+Bannockburn, Scottish remark upon.
+Baptism, minister and member of his flock.
+Barclay of Ury, M. P., walk to London
+Bathgate, mending the ways of
+Beadle, equivocal compliment to minister's sermons
+Beadle or Betheral, character of
+Beast, a stumbling, at least honest
+'Becky and I had a rippit, for which I desire to be humble'
+Begg, Dr., on Scottish morality of the present day
+Beggar, expressing his thanks to a clerical patron
+Bellman of Craigie, notice from
+Bestial, curious use of word
+Betheral, a conceited one
+Betheral criticising a clergyman
+Betheral, criticism on a text
+Betheral, evidence of, regarding drinking
+Betheral, making love professionally
+Betheral, on a dog that was noisy
+Betheral, on the town bailies
+Betheral, Scottish, answer to minister on being drunk
+Betheral stories
+Betheral taking a dog out of church
+Betheral's answer to minister
+Betherals, conversation of two, regarding their ministers
+Blair, Rev. Dr. Hugh, and his beadle
+Blessing by Scottish Bishops, form of, become a reminiscence
+Blethering
+Boatie, character on Deeside
+Boatie of Deeside, and Providence
+Books, older ones indecent
+Border, _selvidge_, weakest bit of the wab
+Bowing to heritors
+Boy, anecdote of
+Braxfield, Lord, a man of wit
+Braxfield, Lord, character of, as a judge
+Braxfield, Lord, conducting the trial of Muir, Palmer, and Skirving, etc.
+Braxfield, Lord, delighted with reply of Scotch minister
+Braxfield, Lord, spoke the broadest Scotch
+Briggs, the sergeant, dry description of, by Scottish nobleman
+Brougham, Lord, on Scottish dialect
+Brown, Rev. John, and the auld wifie
+Brown, Rev. John of Whitburn, answer to rude youth
+Bruce, Mr., of Kinnaird, and Louis XVI. of France
+Buccleuch, Duchess of, asking farmer to take cabbage
+Bull, specimen of Scottish confusion of ideas
+'Bulls of Bashan' applied by a lady to herself
+Burnett, Dr. Gilbert, Bishop of Salisbury
+Burnett, Sir Thomas, of Leys, and his tenant Drummy
+Burnett, Lady, of Leys
+Burns, a son of, and Charles Lamb
+Burns conducted family worship
+Burying-place, choice of
+Bush, conversation with minister in church
+Butler and Kincardineshire laird
+'But my minnie dang, she did though'
+'But oh, I'm sair hadden doun wi' the bubbly jock'
+'But the bodies brew the braw drink'
+
+CAMPBELL of Combie and Miss M'Nabb, anecdote of
+Campbell, Rev. Duncan, on Highland honours
+Camstraddale, the Dumbartonshire laird
+Canny, illustration of one of its meanings
+Canterbury, Archbishop of, and the Dollar man
+Carlyle, Dr., account of minister's drinking in last century
+Carlyle, Dr., prosecuted by General Assembly for attending theatre
+Carnegie, Miss Helen, of Craigo, anecdotes of
+Carnegie, Miss, of Craigo, and James III. and VIII.
+Carrier, a country, description of his journeys
+Catastrophe, whimsical application of the word
+'Cauld kail het again'
+'Ceevil,' in courtship, may be carried too far
+Cemeteries, treatment of, much changed
+Chalmers, Dr., poor woman's reason for hearing
+Chambers, Robert, _Domestic Annals of Scotland_.
+Change of national language involves change of national character.
+Changes, are they for the good of the whole community?
+Changes, example of, in an old Laird seeing a man at the pianoforte.
+Changes fast going on around us.
+Changes in Scottish manners and dialect.
+Changes, interesting to mark.
+Changes taking place, here noticed.
+Changes taking place in religious feeling.
+Changes, various causes for.
+Chaplain of a jail, humorous reasons for his appointment.
+Children, curious answers of.
+Children, very poor, examples of acuteness.
+Children's diseases.
+Church discipline in the Presbytery of Lanark.
+Churches, a coachman's reason for their increase.
+Churches, architect's idea of difference between two.
+Churches, handsome structure of, more common.
+Church discipline, old fashioned.
+Church-going of late neglected in towns.
+Church-going, Scotchmen not famous for, fifty years ago.
+Churchyard, drunken weaver in.
+Circuit, a drunken one.
+Circuit, one described by Lord Cockburn.
+Clergy, Gaelic, not judged severely on account of drinking.
+Clergyman footsore in grouse-shooting.
+Clergyman publicly rebuking his wife.
+Clerk, John, address to presiding judge.
+Clerk, John, answer to Lord Chancellor.
+Clerk, John, apology for friend in Court of Session.
+Cockburn, Lord, and the Bonaly shepherd.
+Cockburn, Lord, on Scottish changes.
+Cockburn's _Memorials_, extracts from.
+Collie dogs, sagacity of.
+'Come awa, Jeanie; here's a man swearin' awfully.'
+'Come awa, granny, and gang hame;
+   this is a lang grace and nae meat.'
+'Come oot and see a new star that
+   hasna got its tail cuttit aff yet.'
+Confession of faith.
+Confirmation, anecdotes concerning.
+Constable, Thomas, anecdote of spare lady.
+Conviviality, old Scottish, and forced.
+Conviviality, Scotch, complaint of, by a London merchant.
+Corb, and Sir George Ramsay.
+Corehouse, Lord, prediction of not rising at the bar, by a Selkirk
+  writer.
+'Corp's brither' at a funeral.
+Cottar's Saturday night, fine picture.
+Country minister and his wife, large bed.
+Craigie, Rev. Mr., and Jamie Fleeman.
+Craigmyle, Laird of, and Duchess of Gordon.
+Cranstoun, George, Lord Corehouse.
+Cream, Billy, landlord of inn at Laurencekirk, and Lord Dunmore.
+Cross, curious meaning attached to.
+'Cry a'thegither, that's the way to be served.'
+Cumming, Dr. Patrick, convivial clergyman.
+Cumming, Miss, of Altyre, and Donald MacQueen.
+Cumnock, volunteers of.
+Cultoquhey, old Laird of, morning litany.
+Cutty-stool, former use of.
+
+Daft person, his choice of money.
+Dale, David, anecdotes of his servant.
+Dalhousie, Lady.
+Dam-brod pattern table-cloth.
+Dancing, seceder's opinion of.
+Darkness, what is it?
+Davie, chiel that's chained to.
+Davy Gellatleys, many in the country.
+Death, circumstances of, coolly treated.
+Death of a sister described by old lady.
+Decrees of God, answer of old woman.
+Degrees sold at northern universities.
+Delicacy of recent authors compared with older.
+Dewar, David, Baptist minister at Dunfermline.
+Dialects, distinctions on Scottish.
+Dialect, Scottish, real examples of.
+Dialects, provosts, Aberdeen and Edinburgh.
+Diamond Beetle case.
+Difference between an Episcopalian and a Presbyterian minister.
+Diminutives, terms of endearment.
+Discreet, curious use of word.
+Diseases of children, odd names for.
+'Div ye no ken there's aye maist sawn o' the best crap?'
+Dochart, same as Macgregor.
+Dog story.
+'Doggie, doggie,' address of idiot to a greyhound.
+Dogs in church, anecdotes of.
+Donald, Highland servant.
+Donkey, apology of his master for putting him into a field.
+Downie, minister of Banchory, and son's marriage.
+Drams in Highlands, anecdotes of.
+Dream of idiot in town of Ayr, and apostle Peter.
+Drinking, apology for.
+Drinking at Balnamoon.
+Drinking at Castle Grant.
+Drinking, challenge against, by Mr. Boswell of Balmuto.
+Drinking parties of Saturday sometimes took in Sunday.
+Drinking party, 'lad employed to lowse the neckcloths.'
+Drinking party, quantity consumed by.
+Drinking reckoned an accomplishment.
+Drinking, supposed manliness attached to.
+Drovers drinking in Highlands.
+Drumly, happy explanation of.
+Drummond of Keltie, answer to itinerant tailor.
+Dunbar, Sir Archibald, account of a servant.
+Dundas, Henry, and Mr. Pitt.
+Dundrennan, Lord, anecdote of a silly basket-woman.
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, address to Dr. Cook of St. Andrews.
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, and Mr. Clarke's big head.
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, man of racy humour.
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, meeting flock of geese.
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, on a taciturn brother.
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, and mischievous youths in kirk-yard.
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, answer to two young men.
+Dunlop, Rev. Walter, opinion of Edward Irving.
+Dunmore, Lord, and Billy Cream.
+'D'ye think I dinna ken my ain groats in ither folk's kail?'
+
+East Lothian minister and his betheral taking degrees at a northern
+  college.
+Economy, specimen of Scottish.
+Edinburgh and Aberdeen provosts.
+'E'ening brings a' hame,' expressed by Lord Byron.
+Eglinton, Earl of, and little boy.
+'Eh, man, your Psalm buik has been ill bund.'
+'Eh, Miss Jeany! ye have been lang spared.'
+Eldin, Lord (John Clerk), anecdotes of.
+Election, answer of minister to question.
+Elphinstone, Lord, and minister of Cumbernauld.
+Endearment, Scottish terms of.
+Englishman, an _impruived_.
+Enterteening, curious use of word.
+Episcopalian chapels, anecdote of Sir W. Forbes.
+Erskine, Colonel, servant proposes an aith for his relief.
+Erskine, Hon. Henry, dinner party at Lord Armadale's.
+Erskine, Mr., of Dun, and his old servant.
+Erskine of Dun, Miss.
+Estate giving the name to proprietor.
+Examinations of communicants
+Expressions, old Scottish, and modern slang contrasted
+Expressions, specimens of Scottish
+
+Factors, proposal to sow field with
+'Fah tee, fah tee'
+Fail, curious use of word
+Family worship now more common
+Family worship, remark upon
+Farmer and servant boy
+Farmer, answer of, when asked to take rhubarb tart
+Farmer, cool answer regarding notes
+Farmer on Deeside and bottle of vinegar
+Farmer refusing a dessert spoon
+Farmer, Scottish, conversation with English girl
+Farms, giving names to the tenants
+Fash as to taking a wife
+Fast-day, national, strictness in observing
+'Fat for should I gang to the opera just to creat a confeesion?'
+Fencing tables, by an old minister
+Fencing the _deil_
+Fergusson of Pitfour and London lady
+Fettercairn, custom of bowing to heritors
+Fife elder and penurious laird
+Fife, Lord, proposal to, by an idiot
+'Fin' a fardin' for yersell, puir body'
+Finzean, Laird of, swearing
+Fisher of men
+Fit raiment, explanation of, by child
+Fleeman, Jamie, anecdote of
+Fleeman, Jamie, the Laird of Udny's fool, life of, published
+'Floorish o' the surface,' to describe a preacher
+Forbes, Mrs., of Medwyn, fond of tea
+Forbes's banking-house, anecdotes of
+'Formerly robbers, now thieves'
+Frail, curious use of word
+Fraser, Jamie, address to minister in kirk
+Fraser, Jamie, idiot of Lunan
+Free Church, road of, 'tolls unco high'
+'Freet's dear! sin' I sauld freet in streets o' Aberdeen'
+French people, a clause in their favour, by a Scottish minister
+Fruit, abstinence from, by minister
+Fullerton, Miss Nelly, anecdote of
+Funeral, anecdote of, in Strathspey
+Funeral, carrying at, or leaning
+Funeral, extraordinary account of a Scottish, at Carluke
+Funeral of a laird of Dundonald
+Funeral, reason for a farmer taking another glass at
+Funeral, reason for a person being officious at
+Funeral, taking orders for, on deathbed
+Funeral, the coffin forgotten at
+
+Galloway Lady declining drink
+Gardenstone, Lord, and his book at the inn
+Gardenstone, Lord, and his pet pig
+Gardenstone, Lord, exertions of, for Laurencekirk
+Gardenstone, Lord, keeping snuff in his waistcoat pocket
+Gardenstone, Lord, personal reminiscences of
+Garskadden, Laird of, 'steppit awa' at table
+General Assembly, minister's prayer for
+George III., sickness of, advantageous to candlemakers
+Ghost appearing to Watty Dunlop
+Gilchrist, Dr., answer to young minister on Lord's Prayer
+Gilchrist, Dr., answer to one of his hearers, who had changed his
+  religion
+Gillespie, Professor, and village carpenter
+Gillespie, Rev. Mr., and old woman sleeping when he preached
+Glasgow Cathedral, betheral's opinion of
+Glasgow lady and carpenter
+Glasgow, toast after dinner, hint to the ladies
+Glenorchy, Lady, and the elder at the plate at Caprington
+Glenorchy, Lady, removal of her remains on account of railroad
+Gordon, Duchess of
+Gordon, Duchess of, and the laird of Craigmyle
+Gordon, Lady Susan, and David Tulloch
+Graham, Miss Clementina Stirling, _Mystifications_ by
+Grave, making love at
+Gregory, Dr., story of Highland chief
+Grieve in Aberdeenshire, opinion of own wife
+Grieve, on Deeside, opinion of young man's preaching
+'Gude coorse country work'
+Gudewife on Deeside
+Guthrie, Helen, and her husband
+Guy Mannering, extract from
+
+HADDOCK, curious use of word
+'Halbert, smells damnably of the'
+Hamilton, Laird, at the palace asking the servant to sit down
+Hamilton, Laird, noted for eccentricity
+Hamilton, Laird, reasons for not signing a bill
+Hamilton Rab, an idiot at Ayr
+Hamilton, Rab, idiot, anecdotes of
+Hangman, Scotch drover acting as
+Harvest, returning thanks for good
+Hatter at Laurencekirk
+Heaven, little boy's refusal of
+Heaven, old woman's idea of
+'He bud tae big's dyke wi' the feal at fit o't'
+He is awfu' 'supperstitious'
+'He turned Seceder afore he dee'd, and I buried him like a beast'
+'Hech, sirs, and he's weel pat on, too'
+'Henny pig and green tea'
+Heritor sending the hangman of Stirling to pay the minister
+Heritors, bowing to
+Hermand, Lord, great drinker, but first-rate lawyer
+Hermand, Lord, jokes with young advocate
+Hermand, Lord, opinion of drinking
+Highland chairman
+Highland chief, story of
+Highland gentleman, first time in London
+Highland honours
+Highland inquisitiveness
+Highlands kept up the custom of clans or races
+Hill, Dr., Latin translation of Scottish expressions
+His girn's waur than his bite
+Holy communion, several anecdotes concerning
+Home, John, author of Douglas, lines on port wine
+Home, John, remark of, to David Hume
+'Honest men and bonnie lassies'
+'Honest woman, what garr'd ye steal your neighbour's tub?'
+Honesty declared the best policy, why?
+Honeyman's, Mrs., answer to Henry Erskine's impromptu lines
+'Hoot! jabbering bodies, wha could understan' them?'
+'Horse the length of Highgate'
+Hospitals, changes in
+Hot day, cool remark on
+'Hout, that is a kind o' a feel'
+Hume, David, refused assistance except on conditions
+Hume, Mrs., 'Too poor'
+Humour of Scotch language
+Humour, Scottish, described in _Annals of the Parish_
+Humour, Scottish, description of
+Hymns ancient and modern
+
+'I DIDNA ken ye were i' the toun'
+Idiot boy and penurious uncle
+Idiot boy, pathetic story of one receiving communion
+Idiot in Lauder, cheating the seceders
+Idiot in Peebles church
+Idiot, musical one at Stirling, appropriate tune
+Idiot of Lauder, and Lord Lauderdale's steward
+Idiot, pathetic complaint of, regarding bubbly jock
+Idiot, why not asleep in church
+Idiots, Act of Parliament concerning
+Idiots, fondness for attending funerals
+Idiots, parish, often very shrewd
+'I druve ye to your marriage, and I shall stay to drive ye to your burial'
+'If there's an ill text in a' the Bible,
+   that creetur's aye sure to tak it.'
+'If you dinna ken whan ye've a gude
+   servant, I ken whan I've a gude place.'
+'I hae cuist'n my coat and waistcoat,
+   and faith I dinna ken how lang I
+   can thole my breeks.'
+'I just fan' a doo in the _redd_ o' my plate.'
+'I'll hang ye a' at the price.'
+'I maun hae a lume that'll haud in.'
+'I'm unco yuckie to hear a blaud o' your gab.'
+Inch-byre banes.
+'Indeed, sir, I wish I wur.'
+India, St. Andrew's day kept in, by Scotchmen.
+'I never big dykes till the tenants complain.'
+Innes, Jock, remark upon hats and heads.
+Innkeeper's bill, reason for being moderate.
+Interchange of words between minister and flock in church.
+Intercourse between classes changed.
+'I soopit the pu'pit.'
+'It's a peety but ye had been in Paradise,
+   and there micht na hae been ony faa'.'
+'It's no the day to be speerin sic things.'
+'I've a coo noo.'
+'I was just stan'ing till the kirk had skailed.'
+'I was not juist sae sune doited as some o' your Lordships.'
+'I wouldna gie my single life for a'
+   the double anes I ever saw.'
+
+Jacobite feeling.
+Jacobite lady, reason for not rising from her chair.
+Jacobite toasts.
+Jacobite's prayer for the _King_.
+Jamie Layal, old servant, anecdotes of.
+Jeems Robson, ye are sleepin'.
+'Jemmy, you are drunk.'
+Jock, daft, attending funeral at Wigtown.
+Jock Grey, supposed original of David Gellatley.
+Jock Wabster, 'deil gaes ower,' a proverb.
+John Brown, burgher minister, and an 'auld wifie.'
+John, eccentric servant, anecdotes of.
+Johnstone, Miss, of Westerhall, specimen of fine old Scotch lady.
+Johnstone, Rev. Dr., of Leith, and old woman, on the decrees of God.
+Johnstone, Rev. Mr., of Monquhitter, and travelling piper.
+Judges, Scottish, former peculiarities as a type.
+Judges, Scottish, in Kay's Portraits.
+
+Kail, curious use of word.
+Kames, Lord, a keen agriculturist.
+Kames, Lord, his joke with Lord Monboddo.
+'Kaming her husband's head.'
+Kay's Portraits.
+Keith, Mrs., of Ravelston, her remark to Sir W. Scott on old books.
+Kilspindie, Laird of, and Tannachy Tulloch.
+Kindly feelings between minister and people.
+Kirkyard crack.
+Kirkyard crack superseded by newspapers.
+
+Ladies of Montrose, anecdotes of.
+Ladies, old, of Montrose.
+Lady, old maiden, of Montrose, reason
+   for not subscribing to volunteer fund.
+Lady, old, of Montrose, objections to
+   steam vessels, and gas, and water-carts.
+Lady, old Scotch, remark on loss of her box.
+Lady, Scottish, Lord Cockburn's account of.
+Lady's, old, answer to her doctor.
+Laird, parsimonious, and fool.
+Laird, parsimonious, and plate at church-door.
+Laird, reason against taking his son into the world.
+Laird reproaches his brother for not taking a wife.
+Laird, saving, picking up a farthing.
+Laird, Scottish, delighted that Christmas had run away.
+Lamb, Charles, saw no wit in Scotch people.
+Land, differences of, in produce.
+'Lass wi' the braw plaid, mind the puir.'
+Laudamy and calomy'
+Lauderdale, Duke of, and Williamson
+  the huntsman
+Lauderdale, Earl of, recipe of his daft
+  son to make him sleep
+Laurencekirk, change in
+Laurencekirk described in style of
+  Thomas the Rhymer
+Lawson, Rev. Dr. George, of Selkirk,
+  and the student
+Leein' Gibbie
+Leslie, Rev. Mr., and the smuggler
+'Let her down Donald, man, for she's
+  drunk'
+'Let the little ane gang to pray, but
+  first the big ane maun tak' an oar'
+'Linties' and Scottish settler in
+  Canada
+Linty offered as fee for baptism
+Liston, Sir Robert, and Scotchmen
+  at Constantinople
+Loch, Davie, the carrier, at his
+  mother's deathbed
+Lockhart, Dr., of Glasgow, and his son
+  John
+Logan, Laird of, speech at meeting of
+  heritors
+'Lord be thankit, a' the bunkers are
+  fu'!'
+'Lord pity the chiel that's chained to
+  our Davie'
+Lord's prayer, John Skinner's reason
+  for its repetition
+Lothian, Lord, in India, St. Andrew's
+  day
+Lothian, Marquis of, and old countess
+  at table
+Lothian, Marquis of, and workmen
+
+M'Cubbin, Scotch minister, witty
+  answer to Lord Braxfield
+M'Knight, Dr., 'dry eneuch in the
+  pulpit'
+M'Knight, Dr., folk tired of his sermon
+M'Knight and Henry, twa toom kirks
+M'Knight, Dr., remark on his harmony
+  of the four gospels
+Macleod, Rev. Dr. Norman, and Highland
+  boatman
+Macleod, Rev. Dr. Norman, and revivals
+Macleod, Rev. Dr. Norman, anecdote
+  of an Australian told by
+M'Lymont, John, the idiot, anecdotes
+  of
+Macnab, Laird of, his horse and whip
+MacNabb, Miss, and Campbell of Combie
+M'Pherson, Joe, and his wife.
+Magistrates of Wester Anstruther,
+  and evil-doers
+'Mair o' your siller and less o' your
+  mainners, my Lady Betty'
+'Ma new breeks were made oot o' the
+  auld curtains'
+'Man, ye're skailing a' the water'
+'Marriage is a blessing to a few, a
+  curse to many, and a great uncertainty
+  to all'
+Marriage, old minister's address on
+Mary of Gueldres, burying-place now
+  a railway
+Mastiff, where turned into a greyhound
+Maul, Mr., and the Laird of Skene
+'May a puir body like me noo gie a
+  hoast?'
+'Me, and Pitt, and Pitfour'
+Mearns, Rev. W. of Kinneff
+'Mem, winna ye tak the clock wi' ye?'
+'Mending the ways o' Bathgate'
+Mice consumed minister's sermon
+Middens, example of attachment to
+Military rank attached to ladies
+Miligan, Dr., answer to a tired clergyman
+Milton quoted
+Minister and rhubarb tart
+Minister, anecdote of little boy at
+  school
+Minister asking who was head of the
+  house
+Minister called to a new living
+Minister, conversation with Janet his
+  parishioner
+Minister in the north on long sermons
+Minister on a dog barking in church
+Minister preaching on the water-side
+  attacked by ants
+Minister publicly censuring his
+  daughter
+Minister reading his sermon
+Minister returning thanks for good
+  harvest
+Minister, Scottish, advice to young
+  preachers
+Minister, Scottish, remark to a young
+  man, who pulled cards out of his
+  pocket in church
+Minister, stupid, education and placing,
+Minister, with 'great power of watter,'
+Minister, young, apology for good appetite after preaching,
+Minister's man, account of,
+Minister's man, criticisms of his master's sermon,
+Ministers, Scottish, a type of Scottish character,
+Minister sending for his sermon in pulpit,
+Minstrelsy of Scottish Border, Sir Walter Scott just in time to save,
+Miss Miller (Countess of Mar) and Scottish Minister,
+'Miss S----'s compliments, and she dee'd last nicht at aicht o'clock,'
+Monboddo, Lord, anecdote in Court of King's Bench,
+Monboddo, Lord, theory of primitive men having tails,
+Monboddo, Lord, though a judge, did not sit on the bench,
+Monboddo, Lord, visit at Oxford,
+Money, love of, discussion on,
+Montrose bailie's _eldest_ son,
+Montrose, description of, by an Aberdeen lady,
+Montrose lady's idea of man,
+Montrose old ladies,
+Montrose, provost of, conversation with an old maid,
+'Mony a ane has complained o' _that_ hole,'
+Muilton, Jock, idiot, and a penurious Laird,
+Munrimmon Moor, no choice of wigs on,
+Murray, Mrs., and the salt spoon,
+'My mou's as big for puddin as it is for kail,'
+_Mystifications_, by Miss Clementina Stirling Graham,
+
+Na, different modifications of the word,
+'Na, na, he's no just deep, but he's drumly,'
+'Na, na, ye'll aiblins bite me,'
+'Neebour, wad ye sit a bit _wast?_'
+Nelson, Lord, explanation of his order,
+Nichol, an old servant of Forfarshire,
+'No anither drap, neither het nor cauld,
+Nobleman, half-witted, in Canongate jail,
+Nobleman, mad Scottish, cautious answer of,
+'Noo, Major, ye may tak our lives, but ye'll no tak our middens,'
+Nuckle, Watty, betheral, opinion,
+
+'Od, Charlie Brown, what gars ye hae sic lang steps to your _front_ door?'
+'Od, freend, ye hae had a lang spell on't sin' I left,'
+'Od, ye're a lang lad; God gie ye grace,'
+Old lady speaking of her own death,
+Old sermons, preaching of,
+Old woman, remarks of, on the usefulness of money,
+'On the contrary, sir,'
+'Ony dog micht soon become a greyhound by stopping here,'
+'Oor Jean thinks a man perfect salvation,'
+'Oor John swears awfu','
+Organ, mark of distinction,
+Organs becoming more common,
+'Ou, there's jist me and _anither_ lass,'
+
+Papers in pulpit,
+Paradise and Wesleyan minister,
+Parishioner, coolness of, when made an elder of the kirk,
+Paul, Dr., his anecdotes of idiots,
+Paul, Saunders, of Banchory, famous for drinking,
+Perth, Lady, remark to a Frenchman on French cookery,
+Penurious laird and Fife elder,
+Pestilence that walketh in darkness--What is it?
+Phraseology, Scottish, an example of pure,
+Phraseology, Scottish, force of,
+Piccadilly,
+Pig, great broon,
+Pig, Scotch minister's account of eating one,
+Pinkieburn, faithful servant at,
+Piper and the elder,
+Piper and the wolves,
+Plugging, an odious practice,
+Poetry, Scottish, becoming less popular,
+Poetry in Scottish dialect, list of,
+Polkemmet, Lord, account of his judicial preparations,
+Polkemmet, Lord, his account of killing a calf,
+Pompous minister and the angler,
+Pony of Free Kirk minister running off to glebe,
+Poole, Dr., his patient's death announced,
+'Powny, grippit a chiel for,'
+Prayers before battle,
+Preacher, a bombastic, reproved satirically,
+Preacher, Scottish, and his small bedroom at manse where he visited,
+Preacher, testimony to a good,
+Preaching old sermons,
+Precentor reading single line of psalm,
+Predestination, answer of minister about,
+Priest Gordon, genuine Aberdonian specimen of,
+Priest Matheson,
+Professor, a reverend, his answer to a lawyer,
+Pronunciation, Scottish, varieties of, make four different meanings,
+Property qualification,
+Prophets' chalmer (the minor),
+Proprietors, two, meeting of, described by Sir Walter Scott,
+Proverbial expressions, examples of some very pithy,
+Proverbial Philosophy of Scotland, by William Stirling of Keir, M.P.,
+Proverb, Scottish, application of, by a minister in a storm,
+Proverb, Scottish, expressed by Lord Byron,
+Proverbs becoming _reminiscences_,
+Proverbs, immense collection of, by Fergusson,
+Proverbs, Scotch, some specially applicable to the Deil,
+Proverbs, Scotland famous for,
+Proverbs, Scottish, Allan Ramsay's dedication of,
+Proverbs, Scottish, Andrew Henderson,
+Proverbs, Scottish, collections of,
+Proverbs, Scottish, collection of, by Allan Ramsay,
+Proverbs, Scottish, Kelly's collection,
+Proverbs, Scottish, much used in former times,
+Proverbs, Scottish, pretty application of,
+Proverbs, Scottish, specimens of, in language almost obsolete,
+Providence,
+Providence, mistake of, in regard to bairns,
+Provost of Edinburgh in the House of Lords in 1736,
+Psalmody, Scottish,
+Psalmody, Scottish, improvement of,
+Pure language of Scotland not to be regarded as a provincial dialect,
+
+'Raiment fit,'
+Ramsay, Allan, dedication of his proverbs in prose,
+Ramsay, Sir George, of Banff, and the Laird of Corb,
+Ramsay, two Misses, of Balmain, anecdotes of,
+'Rax me a spaul o' that bubbly jock,
+Reason given by an old man for marrying a young woman,
+Recess Studies,
+Redd, pigeon found among,
+Religion, two great changes in ideas of,
+Religious feelings and religious observances,
+'Remember Mr. Tamson; no him at the Green, but oor ain Mr. Tamson,
+'Reminiscences' capable of a practical application,
+'Reminiscences' have called forth communications from others,
+'Reminiscences' includes stories of wit or humour,
+'Reminiscences,' object and purpose of,
+'Reminiscences,' recall pleasant associations,
+'Ripin' the ribs,'
+Road, Highland, humorously described,
+Robbie A'Thing,
+Robby, a young dandy, and his old aunt,
+Robertson, Principal, advice to, by Scotch minister,
+Robison, Mrs., answer to gentleman coming to dinner,
+Rockville, Lord, character of, as a judge,
+Rockville, Lord, description of street, when tipsy,
+Ruling elder's answer to jokes of three young men,
+Rutherfurd, Lord, and the Bonaly shepherd,
+
+Sabbath-day, and redding up drawers.
+Sabbath-day, eggs ought not to be laid on.
+Sabbath-day known by a hare.
+Sabbath day, where children go who play marbles on.
+Sabbath desecration, geologist in the Highlands.
+Sabbath desecration, stopping the jack for.
+Sandy, fine specimen of old servant.
+'Sayawa', sir; we're a' sittin' to cheat the dowgs.'
+Scotchman, notion of things in London.
+Scotchman of the old school, judgment of, upon an Englishman.
+Scotchman on losing his wife and cow.
+Scotch minister and his diary regarding quarrels with wife.
+Scott, Dr., minister of Carluke.
+Scott, Dr., on his parishioners dancing.
+Scott, Rev. Robert, his idea of Nelson's order.
+Scott, Rev. R., of Cranwell, anecdote of young carpenter.
+Scott, Sir Walter, and the blacksmith on the battle of Flodden.
+Scott, Sir Walter, did not write poetry in Scottish dialect.
+Scott, Sir Walter, his story of sale of antiques.
+Scott, Sir Walter, his story of two relatives who joined the Pretender.
+Scott, Sir Walter, just in time to save Minstrelsy of the Border.
+Scotland, past and present.
+Scotticisms, expressive, pointed, and pithy.
+Scotticisms, remarks on, by Sir John Sinclair and Dr. Beattie.
+Scottish architect on English leases.
+Scottish boy cleverness.
+Scottish conviviality, old.
+Scottish cookery.
+Scottish dialect, difference between Aberdeen and Southern Scotch.
+Scottish dialect, reference of, to English.
+Scottish dialect, specimens of.
+Scottish economy, specimen of, in London.
+Scottish elders and ministers, anecdotes of.
+Scottish expressions, examples of peculiar applications.
+Scottish expressions, illustrated by a letter to a young married lady
+  from an old aunt.
+Scottish gentleman in London.
+Scottish humour and Scottish wit.
+Scottish humour, specimen of, in a Fife lass.
+Scottish minstrelsy.
+Scottish music, charm of.
+Scottish peasantry, character of.
+Scottish peasantry, religious feelings of.
+Scottish peasantry, religious feelings of, changed.
+Scottish phraseology, articles on, in _Blackwood_.
+Scottish psalm-tunes, some written by operatives.
+Scottish shepherd and Lord Cockburn.
+Scottish shepherd and Lord Rutherford.
+Scottish songs, collections of.
+Scottish stories of wit and humour.
+Scottish verses, charm of.
+Scottish words of French derivation.
+_Scottishness_ of the national humour.
+Seceder, an old, would not enter parish church.
+Secession Church, professor in, to a young student.
+Sedan chairs.
+Sermon consumed by mice.
+Sermons, change of character of.
+Servant and dog Pickle at Yester.
+Servant, answer of, to his irascible master.
+Servant, answer of, when told to go.
+Servant and Lord Lothian.
+Servant, Mrs. Murray, and the spoon.
+Servant of Mrs. Ferguson of Pitfour.
+Servant of Mrs. Fullerton of Montrose.
+Servant, old, reason for doing as he liked.
+Servant praying for her minister.
+Servant taxed with being drunk, his answer.
+Servants, domestic Scottish.
+'She juist felled hersel at Graigo wi' straeberries and 'ream.'
+'She's bonnier than she's better.'
+'She will be near me to close my een.'
+Shireff, Rev. Mr., and member of his church who had left him.
+Shirra, Rev. Mr., on David saying 'All men are liars.'
+Shot, a bad one, complimented on success.
+Siddons, Mrs., respected by Edinburgh clergy.
+Silly, curious use of the word.
+Singing birds, absence of, in America.
+Sins, Aberdeen mother proud of.
+'_Sir, baby_ I'll come farther.'
+'Sit in a box drawn by brutes.'
+Skinner, Bishop, and Aberdeen old couple.
+Skinner, John, Jacobitism of.
+Skinner, John, of Langside, his defence of prayer-book.
+Skinner, Rev. John, author of several Scottish songs.
+Skinner, Rev. John, lines on his grandson leaving Montrose.
+Skinner, Rev. John, passing an Anti-burgher chapel.
+Sleeping in church.
+Sleeping in church, and snuffing.
+Slockin'd, never, apology for drinking.
+Smith, Adam, marked as most eccentric.
+Smith, Sydney, opinion of Scottish wit.
+Smuggler, case of one in church.
+'Sneck the door.'
+Snuff-box handed round in churches.
+Snuff, grand _accommodation_ for.
+Snuff, pu'pit soopit for.
+Snuff put into the sermon.
+Snuff-taking.
+Soldier, an old, of the 42d, cautious about the name of Graham.
+'Some fowk like parritch, and some like paddocks.'
+'Some strong o' the aaple.'
+Songs, drinking.
+Sovereign, when new, a curiosity.
+Speat o' praying and speat o' drinking.
+Speir, daft Will, and Earl of Eglinton.
+Speir, daft Will, answer to master about his dinner.
+Spinster, elderly, arch reply to, by a younger member.
+Stipend, minister's, reasons against its being large.
+Stirling of Keir, evidence in favour of, by the miller of Keir.
+Stirling of Keir, lecture on proverbs.
+Stra'von, wife's desire to be buried in.
+Strikes, answer upon, by a master.
+Stewart, Rev. Patrick, sermon consumed by mice.
+Stone removed out of the way.
+Stool, a three-legged, thrown at husband by wife.
+Stout lady, remark of.
+Stranraer, old ladies on the British victories over the French.
+Sunday sometimes included in Saturday's drinking party.
+Suppers once prevalent in Scotland.
+Sutherland, Colonel Sandy, his dislike to the French.
+Swearing by Laird of Finzean.
+Swearing by Perth writer.
+Swearing common in Scotland formerly.
+Swine, dislike of, in Scotland.
+Swinophobia, reasons for.
+Smith, Sydney, remarks of, on _men_ not at church.
+
+Tailor, apology for his clothes not fitting.
+'Take out that dog; he'd wauken a Glasgow magistrate.'
+Taylor, Mr., of London, description of his theatre by his father from
+  Aberdeen.
+Term-time offensive to Scottish lairds.
+Texts, remarks upon.
+'That's a lee, Jemmie.'
+Theatre, clergy used to attend, in 1784.
+Theatre, clerical non-attendance.
+'The breet's stannin' i' the peel wi ma.'
+'The deil a ane shall pray for _them_ on _my_ plaid.'
+The fool and the miller.
+'The man reads.'
+'Them 'at drink by themsells may just fish by themsells.'
+'There'll be a walth o' images there.'
+'There's Kinnaird greetin' as if there was nae a saunt on earth but
+  himself and the King o' France.
+'There's nae _wail_ o' wigs on Munrimmon Moor,'
+'There's neither men nor meesie, and fat care I for meat?'
+'They may pray the kenees aff their breeks afore I join in that prayer,'
+'They neither said ba nor bum,'
+'Thirdly and lastly' fell over the pulpit stairs,
+Thomson, Thomas, described in Aberdeen dialect,
+Thomson, two of the name prayed for,
+Thrift, examples of, in medicine,
+Tibbie, eccentric servant, anecdote of,
+Tiger and 'skate, stories of,
+Toasts after dinner,
+Toasts, collection of, in the book 'The Gentleman's New Bottle Companion,'
+Toasts or sentiments, specimens of,
+Tourist, English, asking Scottish girl for horse-flies,
+Town-Council, 'profit but not honour,'
+Tractarianism, idea of, by an old Presbyterian,
+'Travel from Genesis to Revelation, and not footsore,'
+Traveller's story, treatment of,
+'Troth, mem, they're just the gudeman's _deed_ claes,'
+Tulloch, David, Jacobite anecdote of, at prayers,
+Turkey leg, devilled, and servant,
+Tweeddale, Lord, and dog Pickle,
+
+Unbeliever described by Scotch lady,
+
+View of things, Scottish matter of fact,
+Vomit, if not strong enough, to be returned,
+
+Washing dishes on the Sabbath day,
+Waverley, old lady discovering the author of,
+Waverley quoted,
+Webster, Rev. Dr., a five-bottle man,
+'Weel then, neist time they sail get _nane ava_,'
+'We'll stop now, bairns; I'm no enterteened,'
+'We never absolve _till after three several appearances_,'
+West, going, ridiculous application of
+'Wha' are thae twa _beddle-looking_ bodies?'
+'What a nicht for me to be fleein through the air,'
+'What ails ye at her wi' the green gown?'
+'What gars the laird of Garskadden look sae gash?'
+'What is the chief end of man?'
+'When ye get cheenge for a saxpence here, it's soon slippit awa,'
+Whisky, limited blame of,
+'Whited sepulchres,' applied to clergy in surplices, Inverness,
+Wife, cool opinion of, by husband,
+Wife, rebuke of, by minister,
+Wife taken by her husband to Banchory,
+Wig of professor in Secession Church,
+Williamson the huntsman and Duke of Lauderdale,
+'Will ye tak your haddock wi' us the day?'
+Wilson, Scottish vocalist, modesty of,
+Wind, Scotch minister's prayer for,
+Wolves and the piper,
+Wool, modifications of,
+
+'Ye a' speak sae _genteel_ now that I dinna ken wha's Scotch,'
+Yeddie, daft, remark on a club-foot,
+'Ye should hae steekit your neive upo' that,'
+'Ye've been lang Cook, Cooking them, but ye've dished them at last,'
+Young man and cards in church,
+'Your hospitality borders upon brutality,'
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REMINISCENCES OF SCOTTISH LIFE AND
+CHARACTER***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 12483.txt or 12483.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/4/8/12483
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's
+eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII,
+compressed (zipped), HTML and others.
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over
+the old filename and etext number.  The replaced older file is renamed.
+VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving
+new filenames and etext numbers.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000,
+are filed in directories based on their release date.  If you want to
+download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular
+search system you may utilize the following addresses and just
+download by the etext year.
+
+https://gutenberg.org/etext06
+
+    (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99,
+     98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90)
+
+EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are
+filed in a different way.  The year of a release date is no longer part
+of the directory path.  The path is based on the etext number (which is
+identical to the filename).  The path to the file is made up of single
+digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename.  For
+example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at:
+
+https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234
+
+or filename 24689 would be found at:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689
+
+An alternative method of locating eBooks:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL
+
+*** END: FULL LICENSE ***
diff --git a/old/12483.zip b/old/12483.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d068e3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/12483.zip