Is a term applied to the remains of a shoulder of mutton, which, after
it has done its regular duty as a roast at dinner, makes its appearance
as a broiled bone at supper, or upon the next day.
The late Earl of B., popularly known by the name of _Old Rag_,
being indisposed in a hotel in London, the landlord came to enumerate
the good things he had in his larder, to prevail on his guest to eat
something. The earl at length, starting suddenly from his couch, and
throwing back a tartan night-gown which had covered his singularly grim
and ghastly face, replied to his host's courtesy; "Landlord, I think
I _could_ eat a morsel of a _poor man_." Boniface, surprised alike at
the extreme ugliness of Lord B.'s countenance, and the nature of the
proposal, retreated from the room, and tumbled down stairs precipitately;
having no doubt that this barbaric chief, when at home, was in the habit
of eating a joint of a tenant or vassal when his appetite was
dainty.--_Jamieson's Diet_.
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