Roast meat was formerly seldom seen among farmers in Scotland; and is
even now rare, compared with its use among the same class in England.
Less than half a century ago, a _mart_ was regularly bought or fattened
by the most respectable farmers, and even by many citizens. This was a
cow or ox killed and salted at Martinmas for winter provision; a custom
which, though not uncommon in England, perhaps, one hundred years ago,
has certainly not been followed, except in remote and sequestered
districts, or by very old-fashioned farmers within that period.
* * * * *
Falstaff's "Buck-Basket" has puzzled the commentators; but Dr. Jamieson
thus explains it:--_Bouk_ is the Scotch word for a lye used to steep
foul linen in, before it is washed in water; the buckbasket, therefore,
is the basket employed to carry clothes, after they have been bouked, to
the washing-place.
* * * * *