PART VI.

George being one night in company with some English noblemen in

presence of the king, they began to demonstrate such a fine place

as England was, both for beautiful buildings and fruitful fields:

one gentleman said, he knew a place in England, though they should

crop the grass even with the ground at night, and lay down a crown

on it before a hundred witnesses, against to-morrow you would not

know where to find it. That may seem very strange to some, says

George, but it is no mystery to me, knowing, there would be enough

of them who saw the crown-piece laid down, ready for to come and

take it up before tomorrow. But, says George, I know a place in

the west of Scotland, where, if you’ll tether a horse at night,

against the next morning you will not see him. What a pox will

take him away? says the Englishman. Only such people, says George,

as will take away your crown-piece. O! says the English nobleman,

you know what I mean. Then, says George, you talk much of towns

you have in England, I know three towns in poor Scotland, for

properties you have none such. Pray, says the gentleman, what are

these properties? Why, says George, I know one town where there

is a hundred bone bridges in it; another town where there are

fifty draw-bridges in it; another town where, tho’ a man commits

murder, treason, or owes never so much money, he runs to that town,

and gets in below a stair, no laws nor justice can harm him. The

nobleman offered immediately to stake a hundred pounds, that there

was no such towns in Europe, besides in Scotland. They desired

George to tell but the names of those towns, for they would find

him out, and know whether lie was a liar or not. So he told their

names, and two men were sent to Scotland to see them: the first

was Duddingstone, near Edinburgh, where they came and asked for

the bone bridges there; and the people shewed them steps almost

between every door, of the sculls of sheeps-heads, which they used

as stepping-stones. The second was a little country village between

Stirling and Perth, called Auchterardoch,[206] where there is a

large strand which runs through the middle of the town, and almost

at every door there is a long stock or stone laid over the strand,

whereupon they pass to their opposite neighbours, and when a flood

came, they would lift their wooden bridges, in case they should be

taken away, and these they called their draw-bridges. The third was

a village called Cambusbarron, which they pass through from one end

to the other, but there was not a stair in it all; so they returned

to England, and told what manner of bone and draw-bridges they

were: and how there was not a stair in all that place, therefore no

man could run in below it.

As George was on the road travelling to London, the weather being

very rainy and cold, he alighted at an inn to refresh and warm

himself; but the fire-side was so surrounded with people, he could

scarce see the fire: George finding this to be the case calls to

the hostler, and orders to give his horse at the door half a peck

of oysters: You mean oats, Sir: No, no, says George, it is oysters;

and base is that horse, that will not eat oysters. The people at

the fire hearing this, all started up and ran to the door to see

the horse eating oysters: the moment they left their seats, George

took an opportunity to plant himself before the fire, with a table

and a cloth beside him. In a little they came back again, one by

one, saying, This horse will eat no oysters: Well, well, says

George, he is either too full, or too saucy; so you may bring them

in, and I will eat them myself.[207]

* * * * *

Now George being old, and highly advanced in years; finding his

natural strength and state of health daily decaying, he petitioned

king James to let him return to Scotland, for to visit his

friends, and land of his nativity; which he most willingly granted,

(not knowing his design was never to return) for George had a great

desire to resign his soul and breath in that place of the world,

where he received them; and that his body and bones might be laid

among his ancestors, which was counted a great honour in former

ages.

So accordingly George came to the parish of Buchanan, in the west

of Scotland, where he visited all his friends and relations before

his death, during which time the king sent several messages to him

to return in all the haste he could; but he absolutely refused,

telling him, that he would never see him again: which grieved the

king very much to hear him express himself in that manner. After

this, the king sent him a letter, threatening him very sharply, if

he did not appear in London in the space of twenty days, he would

send his lyon heralds with a party, who would bring him to London,

whether he would or not. Unto which, as an answer, George sent him

a famous letter of admonition, both anent the government of his

kingdoms, and the well being of his soul, which caused the king to

weep very bitterly, when he read it over, with the following verse:

My honour’d liege, and sovereign king,

Of your boasting great, I dread nothing:

On your feud or favour I’ll fairly venture:

E’er that day I’ll be where few kings will enter.

FINIS.

GLOSSARY.

A

_Ae_, _ane_, _ain_, one.

_A-bizin_, making a hissing noise, such as hot iron does in water.

_Ables_, perhaps, mayhap.

_Amry_, a cupboard or press.

_Assoilzied_, acquitted.

_A-thort_, along, across, about.

_Auld Nick_, a familiar name for the Devil.

_Aught_, possession.

B

_Babee_, a copper coin of the value of a halfpenny sterling, also

applied to the English coin. The word is derived from the

French _bas-piece_, base money; though many believed it had

its original in the fact that during the minority of James VI.

coins with the effigy of the ‘baby’ king were issued.

_Badrons_, a cat.

_Baggity_, greedy.

_Baist_, great.

_Balk_, _bauk_, crossbeam in roof of a house; _hen-bauk_, the beam

where the fowls roosted, generally above the doorway.

_Bane-kame_, a dust-comb.

_Banning_, swearing.

_Bannock_, a thick oatmeal cake; sometimes a scone.

_Bannock-stane_, a stone used for supporting the girdle on the fire.

_Bap_, a kind of scone, baked with yeast, generally lozenge-shaped.

_Barronry_, barony.

_Bear_, barley.

_Beek’d_, warmed, heated by the sun.

_Be-go_, not an uncommon exclamation; probably a chewed oath.

_Begunk_, a cheat, a deception, properly a verb, but used as a noun

at p. 61, vol ii.

_Belling_, bubbling up like soapy water.

_Beltane_, the 1st of May, when, in the olden times, fires were

lighted in honour of the god Bel, or Baal. Many superstitious

observances lingered in this country until a century ago; and

in some districts they are still celebrated in a covert way.

(_Vide_ Shaw’s _Hist. Prov. Moray_.)

_Belyve_, by and bye, in a short time.

_Besom_, a brush or broom.

_Bicker_, a cup.

_Bide_, to stay, to endure.

_Bilchy_, strong, lusty.

_Bill_, a bull.

_Bittock_, a little bit, a short distance.

_Birr_, to make a whirring noise.

_Bizing_, v. _a-bizing_.

_Bladdering_, blethering, talking.

_Blate_, bashful.

_Blawirt_, the blue bottle plant, also known as witch-bells.

_Bleds_, blaids.

_Bletchers_, bleachers.

_Blewflum_, a sham.

_Bobet_, danced.

_Bock_, to vomit.

_Boggle_, a spectre or ghost.

_Bone-comb_, a dust-comb, so called from being made of bone instead

of horn.

_Boss_, empty; also, a vacancy.

_Bottle_, a sheaf.

_Bouk_, bulk.

_Bookie_, bulky.

_Boul-horn’d_, obstinate.

_Bow_, a boll.

_Bowed_, bent.

_Bow-kail_, kail or broth made with cabbage; also, a cabbage.

_Bowster_, a bolster.

_Brattle_, to make a clattering noise.

_Bray_, to grind.

_Brewket_, or _Brucket_, black and white streaked or spotted.

_Brizel’d_, bruised.

_Brochan_, thin oatmeal porridge.

_Brocket_, v. _Brewket_.

_Brogged_, pierced.

_Broe_, soup.

_Brogue_, a trick.

_Bublie-cock_, a turkey.

_Buckie_, a spiral shell.

_Bucking_, pushing, butting, fighting.

_Buckle_, to marry.

_Buckled_, married.

_Bun_, bound.

_Bute_, behoved.

_But and ben_, the outer and inner apartments of a house.

_Bystart_, bastard.

C

_Caddled_, upturned, disordered.

_Caff-cog_, chaff-dish.

_Callan_, _Callen_, a boy, a young man.

_Caller_, fresh.

_Can’as_, canvas.

_Cannilie_, easily, gently.

_Cankerd_, cross, ill-natured.

_Cantrips_, charms, spells.

_Cap_, a wooden bowl.

_Capstride_, to cheat; originally, to drink out of one’s place in

company when the loving-cup was going round.

_Carle_, an old man.

_Carlin_, _carline_, an old woman.

_Cat and Dog_, a boy’s game. It is also known as _cat and bat_.

Jamieson suggests it was an early form of cricket. It is still

common, and in the summer season boys may be seen playing at it

in any village in Scotland.

_Chafts_, cheeks, jaws.

_Chaft-blades_, cheek or jaw bones.

_Channering_, fretting.

_Chappen_, a quart measure.

_Cheek_, side.

_Cheek for chow_, side by side.

_Chiel_, _chield_, a servant, a young man.

_Chirten and chappen_, pressing and knocking.

_Chuckies_, hens.

_Claes_, clothes.

_Clarty_, dirty.

_Clash_, idle talk, gossip.

_Clatter_, talk.

_Clawing_, scratching, rubbing.

_Cleavings_, the lower part of the human body.

_Clipock_, a name given to a sharp-tongued woman, descriptive of her

failing.

_Clout_, a cloth; also, a knock.

_Clukny_, a hen.

_Clungest_, emptiest.

_Clutes_, hoofs, feet.

_Cobletehow_, probably hot-pressed in a fanciful way.

_Cod_, a pillow.

_Cogbonie_, _cogboin_, a little wooden trough for feeding sheep or

swine.

_Colly-shangy_, uproar, disturbance.

_Corse_, a cross, market place.

_Corse-claiths_, burial clothes.

_Couper_, a seller of horses or cattle. (v. _Introduction_, vol. 1.,

p. 70.)

_Coupt_, tumbled.

_Couties_, colts.

_Cow_, to poll the head.

_Cracks_, talk, conversation.

_Creim_, a booth or shop.

_Crish_, grease.

_Crocket_, croaked.

_Cronoch_, a dirge, or death lamentation.

_Crouse_, courageous, brisk, lively.

_Crowdie_, gruel made of meal stirred in cold water.

_Curpen_, the crupper, the rump.

_Curple_, the crupper.

_Culli’d_, coaxed, cajoled.

_Cumstrarie_, perverse.

_Cupple-balk_, a rafter, v. _balk_.

_Curch_, to bend or move.

_Curr’d_, crouched.

_Curroch_, a small basket carriage.

_Cusser_, a stallion.

_Cussen_, cast.

_Cutties_, spoons.

D

_Daddy_, father.

_Dadeling_, slovenly.

_Dadet_, struck, knocked.

_Daffing_, sporting, fun.

_Daft_, silly, stupid, giddy.

_Dale_, a long piece or deal of wood.

_Daly_, silly, dressed up like a doll.

_Dearth_, high price.

_Dighting_, cleaning, wiping, dressing.

_Ding_, to knock.

_Dinging_, knocking.

_Docus_, stupid, easily led.

_Dods_, ill-humour, sulks.

_Doil’d_, crazy, silly, in dotage.

_Doit_, an old Scotch coin, equal to a penny Scots, or the twelfth

part of an English penny; the word is used to signify

worthlessness or extreme poverty.

_Dorder-meat_, a bannock given to farm servants after stopping their

work, to stay their appetite until supper time; also a meal of

any kind.

_Douce_, sedate, modest, quiet.

_Douked_, ducked, as in water.

_Doup_, the bottom of anything.

_Dows_, pigeons, doves.

_Dradgey_, a funeral, also the feasting accompanying it.

_Dramack_, _Drummock_, oatmeal and cold water mixed.

_Drouket_, drenched, wet to the skin.

_Druggit_, a kind of coarse cloth.

_Drummel’d_, made muddy, troubled.

_Dubs_, pools, gutters.

_Duds_, rags.

_Duddy_, ragged.

_Dufe_, a simpleton.

_Duket_, a dovecot.

_Dunting and Dangling_, knocking and swinging.

_Dwallion_, a dwelling.

E

_Earding_, burying.

_Eerock_, a chicken.

_Elf-shot_, shot by fairies, or the disease produced by the injury,

bewitched.

_Ell_, a measure equal to three feet nine inches.

_Elshin_, a shoemaker’s awl.

_Elwand_, a wooden cloth measure, the length of an ell.

_Even_, to equal, or compare.

F

_Fair strae death_, a death in the common course of nature.

_Fairing_, a present given at a fair, a present generally.

_Fake_, a sight, vision.

_Farl_, an oatmeal cake.

_Fash_, trouble, bother.

_Fashious_, troublesome.

_Fashing_, troubling.

_Fastern’s-e’en_, the evening before the first day of Lent;

Shrove-Tuesday. Its annual return was made the occasion of many

superstitious observances.

_Fealins_, failings.

_Fecket_, an undershirt or waistcoat made of flannel or worsted.

_Feckless_, weak, poor-spirited.

_Feif-titty_, thief-sister.

_Feike_, screw, force.

_Fey_, try.

_Fied_, feed, engaged.

_Figs_, a petty oath.

_Fint_, _feint_, an interjection probably derived from the word

‘fiend.’

_Flighter_, an unsteady, high-flown person.

_Fitting_, scolding.

_Fluke_, a flounder, or flat fish of any kind.

_Flyte_, to scold.

_Forfoughen_, exhausted, fatigued.

_Forjesket_, jaded; also, disreputable.

_Fornent_, opposite, or concerning.

_Freit_, _frit_, a superstition; also, a charm against evil.

_Fule haet_, very little.

_Fundred_, foundered.

_Furich_, bustle, haste, hurry.

_Furlat_, _furlet_, four pecks, a quarter of a boll.

_Futer_, a silly, useless person.

_Fyking_, troublesome, restless.

G

_Gabbie_, dimin. of _Gab_, the mouth.

_Gaits_, goats.

_Gamon_, nonsense.

_Gate_, way, road.

_Gaun-gear_, live stock.

_Gaunting_, yawning.

_Gartan_, a garter.

_Gavel_, gable.

_Gear_, stock, possessions.

_Geid_, gave.

_Gemlet_, gimlet.

_Gigglet_, wanton.

_Gilly-gawkie_, _gilliegaukie_, a foolish woman.

_Gimmer_, a young woman.

_Girning_, fretful, petted.

_Girth_, saddle strap.

_Glaied_, _gly’d_, squint-eyed.

_Glam_, to snatch.

_Glaket_, foolish, light-headed.

_Goodman_, the master of a house.

_Goodum_, _guddame_, grandmother.

_Goodwife_, the mistress of a house.

_Gouls_, souls.

_Gourd_, gorged, swelled.

_Gowke_, the cuckoo; to _hunt the gowke_ is to go on a foolish and

fruitless errand.

_Groats_, oats with the husks taken off.

_Grunkie_, a name applied to a pig.

_Gruzling_, grunting and boring for food as a sow does with its

snout.

_Guidame_, v. _Goodum_.

_Gule-fitted_, yellow-footed.

_Gut_, the gout.

_Gutcher_, a grandfather; generally, forefathers.

_Gullie_, a large knife.

H

_Haf-gate_, half-way.

_Hag_, an old woman.

_Hagwife_, a midwife.

_Hail yerts_, whole years.

_Haining_, saving, sparing.

_Hallen_, the square space in the doorway of a country house.

_Hally-band_, the kirk session.

_Hamsheughs_, a disturbance; also, a misfortune.

_Hantle_, a considerable number.

_Harle_, a quantity; also, to draw or pull violently.

_Harn_, coarse pack-sheet.

_Harnes_, brains.

_Hate_, _haet_, a small quantity.

_Hatter_, a rash.

_Haverel_, a foolish talker.

_Heads and thraws_, lying alternately, heads and feet, like herring

in a barrel.

_Heckle_, a hook, a weaver’s comb.

_Herie_, a word used by married people towards each other,

equivalent to ‘my dear.’

_Herns_, v. _harns_.

_Heugh_, the shaft-head of a coal-pit.

_Hillocat_, _hillocket_, giddy, hair-brained.

_Hinderlets_, hind parts.

_Hirpling_, halting, walking slowly and painfully.

_Hizzy_, a girl, a huzzy.

_Hobble_, to dandle on the knee, an awkward style of walking, a

state of perplexity.

_Hodden-grey_, undyed woollen cloth.

_Hoddled_, waddled.

_Hoiting_, following, running.

_Hotchen_, swarming.

_Houdie_, _howdy_, a midwife.

_Houghed_, hamstrung.

_Hows_, hollows.

_Huggers_, stocking legs.

_Humeld_, without horns.

_Hurdies_, buttocks.

_Hurl_, noise, force.

I

_Ill-far’d_, ill-looking, ugly.

_Imock-powder_, powder made of the shells of ants’ eggs.

J

_Jamf_, _jamph_, to make sport of, to torment.

_Jimcrack_, a knock.

K

_Kail_, vegetable broth.

_Kankert_, ill-natured.

_Keb_, jump at, be glad of.

_Kebbock_, a large cheese.

_Keckle_, to cackle.

_Keek_, to look slyly, or pryingly.

_Kill-kebber_, a support for a kiln.

_Kil-logie_, an open space before a kiln fire.

_Kimmer_, a gossip, or neighbour.

_Kite_, the stomach.

_Kittle_, to tickle; also, difficult.

_Knocking-stane_, a stone mortar, on which the hulls were broken off

the barley with a mallet.

_Knoist_, a lump.

_Kuddle_, to fondle, caress.

_Kye_, cows.

L

_Laddock_, diminutive of lad.

_Lade_, a load.

_Lammas_, the 1st of August.

_Lang-gae_, the phrase, ‘before lang gae,’ signifies simply, before

long.

_Lang-lonen_, all alone.

_Laveruck_, a lark.

_Leepet_, thin, meagre.

_Lenno_, thread-gauze.

_Leuch_, laughed.

_Libby_, properly _lippie_, a quarter of a peck.

_Libbet_, castrated.

_Lift_, the sky.

_Lingle_, a shoemaker’s thread; also, a bandage.

_Lingle-tailed_, applied to a woman wearing misfitting clothes.

_Lint_, flax.

_Litster_, a dyer.

_Litted_, dyed.

_Logie_, v. _kil-logie_.

_Loup_, to jump.

_Louting_, bending.

_Lufe_, the palm of the hand.

_Lugs_, the ears.

_Lum_, a chimney.

M

_Maeslie-shanket_, probably a reference to bowed legs.

_Maggs_, a halfpenny; also a gratuity.

_Masket_, infused.

_Mauk_, a maggot.

_Mauky_, maggoty.

_Mauken_, a hare.

_Maumier_, mellower, sweeter, pleasanter.

_Mavis_, the thrush.

_Mawing_, mewing.

_Maw-turned_, sick, squeamish.

_Mense_, discretion, good manners.

_Mensefu’_, discreet, well-bred.

_Merk_, an old Scottish silver coin, equal to thirteenpence and

one-third of a penny, sterling.

_Mevis_, v. _Mavis_.

_Mill_, a snuff-box.

_Mim_, prim, demure, prudish.

_Minny_, mother.

_Mirk_, dark.

_Mow_, a heap.

_Mules_, the ‘mools,’ the grave.

N

_Neb_, a beak; in a ludicrous sense, the nose.

_Neist_, next, nearest.

_Neuk_, _nuik_, a corner.

_Nidity nod_, shaking, bobbing up and down.

_Nossack_, a good drop.

O

_O’ercome_, overplus.

_Ouk_, _oulk_, _uk_, a week.

_Oxter_, the armpit.

P

_Packshon_, bargain, agreement.

_Padock_, _puddock_, a frog.

_Paid_, _pait_, drubbed.

_Partan_, a crab.

_Peck_, a dry measure containing two gallons.

_Pickle_, a small quantity.

_Pig_, _pigg_, an earthenware vessel.

_Pillonian_, a kind of coarse blue cloth.

_Pinging_, whining, complaining.

_Piping het_, boiling hot.

_Pirn_, a reel for winding thread or yarn.

_Pisweip_, a lapwing.

_Plack_, a small copper coin, worth one-third of a penny, sterling.

_Plash_, to wet; ‘wet to plash,’ thoroughly drenched.

_Plotted_, scalded.

_Podle_, a tadpole.

_Port_, a gate, as of a town.

_Pow_, the head.

_Pownie_, a name given to a turkey-hen. See _note_ to p. 52,

vol. ii.

_Prat_, a trick.

_Prik’t_, fastened, pinned.

_Prin_, a pin.

_Prute-no_, an expression of contempt.

_Puddock_, v. _padock_.

_Pund_, a pound Scots, equivalent to one shilling and eightpence,

sterling.

_Purpey_, purple.

_Pyet_, piebald.

_Pyking_, poking.

Q

_Quean_, a young woman; sometimes used in a bad sense.

R

_Raird_, a noise, a roar.

_Raisins_, necessities.

_Rake_ (of water, or coals), as much as can be carried at one time.

_Rash-rape_, a rope made of rushes.

_Rattle-scul_, one who talks without thinking.

_Ratton_, a rat.

_Red_, _redd_, to put in order.

_Red-wood_, mad, in a violent rage.

_Reeking_, well ordered.

_Reinge_, to clear out, to rinse.

_Retour_, return, as the return journey of a coach.

_Rift_, an eructation.

_Rifting_, belching.

_Rigget_, striped.

_Rigging_, the roof of a house, the human head in a ludicrous sense.

_Ripples_, a weakness in the back and reins.

_Rippling-kame_, a flax-comb.

_Rive_, to tear.

_Rolloching_, outspoken.

_Rout_, to bellow; also, a blow.

_Rowt_, assembled.

_Royte_, a noisy animal.

_Ruddoch_, a contemptuous name for an old woman.

_Rugh_, rough.

_Runkly_, wrinkly.

_Runt_, the stalk of a vegetable, such as a cabbage.

S

_Saep_, soap.

_Sandle_, the sand-ell or sand-lance.

_Sannock Garner_, probably a familiar name for the devil.

_Saugh_, the willow.

_Scart_, to scratch or scrape.

_Scorn_, to torment, to rally.

_Scour_, to clean out.

_Scour’d_, ran quickly.

_Scride_, to scrape, as the bow on the strings of the violin.

_Sculdudery_, immorality.

_Sculls_, wicker baskets, such as are used by fishers.

_Scunnert_, disgusted.

_Scythed_, shot quickly.

_Sea-cat_, the sea-wolf or wolf-fish.

_Sea-dog_, the seal.

_Servet_, a table-napkin.

_Shap_, a cod, as a pea-cod.

_Sheavling_, distorting.

_Shern_, cattle ordure.

_Shevelin_, walking unsteadily.

_Shough_, _slough_, moss.

_Shule_, shovel.

_Shure_, sure.

_Sickerly_, firmly, surely.

_Sikes_, the phrase, ‘flay the sikes,’ means to give a good beating.

_Sinsyne_, since.

_Skail’d_, dispersed.

_Skaith_, harm.

_Skein_, a length of worsted or thread.

_Skellat_, a small bell used by town criers.

_Skelped_, struck.

_Skirl’d_, cried, screamed.

_Slag_, a small quantity.

_Slung_, a sling, a throw.

_Snishing_, snuff.

_Snoaking_, prying, smelling about like a dog.

_Soncy_, plump, well-conditioned.

_Soughing_, a rushing sound.

_Souse_, _sosse_, the fall of a soft body, to throw one’s self into

a seat.

_Soup_, a mouthful, a spoonful.

_Sowens_, flummery, made of the dust oatmeal remaining among the

seeds, steeped and soured.

_Spanged_, leaped, jumped.

_Spaul_, limb.

_Speir’d_, asked.

_Spence_, a larder, the parlour of a country house.

_Spence, to_, used to denote ‘the bedding.’

_Spout_, drink.

_Spout-fish_, the razor-fish.

_Sprittled_, speckled.

_Spruch_, spruce, smart.

_Spue_, to vomit.

_Spunkie_, Will-o’-the-Wisp.

_Squattle_, to drink greedily.

_Stark_, strong.

_Stay_, _stey_, steep, difficult.

_Steighling_, crowding, cramming.

_Sticket_, stopped; as, ‘a sticket minister,’ a man who has failed

or been stopped in his studies for the ministry.

_Stirk_, a young bull.

_Stirra_, a stout, romping boy.

_Stively_, stoutly, firmly.

_Stock_, a stalk.

_Stot_, to stagger.

_Stoup_, a deep and narrow wooden vessel for holding water.

_Sugh_, to breathe heavily.

_Sumf_, _sumph_, a stupid, silly fellow; a blockhead.

_Sunks_, a saddle.

_Supple_, the part of a flail that strikes the grain.

_Sutter_, _sutor_, a shoemaker.

_Swabing_, a beating.

_Swats_, small beer.

_Sweith_, an interjection signifying ‘be quick, make haste.’

_Syne_, after that, then.

T

_Tadder_, a tether, a hawser.

_Taupie_, _tawpie_, a foolish woman.

_Tent_, care.

_Theckit_, thatched.

_Thole_, to bear.

_Thraple_, throat.

_Tirlie-whirlie_, any ornament, a whirligig.

_Tirr’d_, unroofed.

_Tocher_, a dowry.

_Tod-lowrie_, a name given to the fox.

_Toom_, empty.

_Tost_, an application.

_Totum_, a very small person.

_Touting_, blowing, sounding.

_Toy_, a linen or woollen head-dress, which hangs down over the

shoulders.

_Trykle_, treacle.

_Tug_, a hawser.

_Tullie_, a quarrel.

_Tut_, an expression of contempt, equivalent to ‘pshaw’.

_Tyke_, a dog.

U

_Uk_, _uke_, v. _ouk_.

_Unco_, strange, unusual, very.

_Unfiery_, unsteady, infirm.

V

_Veals_, calves.

W

_Wale_, to choose.

_Wallop_, to leap; also, to beat.

_Wally_, large, fine, ample.

_Wame_, the belly, the stomach.

_Wammel_, to move awkwardly.

_Water-wag-tail_, the bird called the wag-tail, or motacilla.

_Waught_, a drink.

_Wauker_, a fuller.

_Webster_, _wabster_, a weaver.

_Whaken_, large, overflowing.

_Whalpie_, a puppy.

_Whalp_, to whelp.

_Wheen_, _whin_, a number.

_Whiltie-whaltie_, a state of palpitation; to play pit-a-pat.

_Whinge_, to whine, lament.

_Whit_, a jag or prick.

_Widdling_, waddling.

_Widdyfu’_, one who deserves to fill a _widdy_ or halter, a romp.

_Wierd_, fate.

_Winnle_, an instrument used by women for winding yarn.

_Win_, dwell, reside.

_Wirry_, to strangle, to worry.

_Wood_, _wud_, furious with rage, mad.

_Wyfe_, to whiff.

_Wyles_, caution.

_Wylie_, a kind of flannel used for vests and petticoats.

_Wyte_, blame.

Y

_Yeal_, old, barren.

_Yearning-bag_, a bag containing the stomach of a calf, used for

making milk curdle.

_Yeltow_, a chewed oath.

_Yence_, once.

_Yerdet_, buried.

_Yird_, the earth, the grave.

_Youdeth_, youth.

_Youket_, coupled, married.

_Yule_, latterly Christmas, but formerly the name given to an annual

feast in honour of Odin.

_Yule_, _youl_, to howl like a dog.

THE END.

_Printed by H. Nisbet & Co., 38 Stockwell Street, Glasgow._

FOOTNOTES:

[1] A custom not uncommon in Scotland at the present day among the

working classes. Boys, when making a bargain, wet their thumbs and

place them on each other as a token of good faith. Something of

this kind may be found in the old song:--

‘Though kith and kin and a’ should revile thee,

There’s my thumb I’ll ne’er beguile thee.’

[2] In Scotland, in the olden time, forty days were allowed to

elapse after the proclamation of the banns, during which time

objectors to the marriage might come forward. The session clerk

had placed in his hands a sum of money as security for the

solemnisation of the marriage; and one had to be found to stand as

surety that the parties would not cohabit before they obtained the

sanction of the church.

[3] The ‘providing’ has always been regarded as an important item

of the marriage arrangements. Perhaps the earliest account of the

possessions of contracting parties is to be found in the song, ‘The

Wowing of Jok and Jynny,’ supposed to have been written before the

Reformation.

[4] In modern editions of this chap-book the first part ends with

the sentence:--‘So this disturbed a’ the diversion at Jockey’s

bedding, and the sky was beginning to break in the east before the

hurly-burley was over.’

[5] The usual name for the village bellman throughout Scotland.

[6] Jockey had been guilty of an offence which, had he lived a

century earlier, might have brought about imprisonment by the civil

power, in addition to his seat on the ‘cock-stool.’ Even about the

middle of last century the penalties were severe, and the disgrace

was considered great. Feeling in the matter, however, seemed to be

more prompted by a fear of consequences than by true morality. Dr.

Rogers, in _Scotland Social and Domestic_, p. 311, thus explains

the legal position of presbyteries and kirk-sessions in regard

to such matters--‘At the Reformation, Presbyterian judicatories

proceeded to occupy the position of Consistory Courts. They took

cognisance of offences precisely similar, with the exception

of such as “speaking evil of saints” and “the non-payment of

offerings,” or those which bore direct reference to the Catholic

faith. Under the Presbyterian system, the kirk-session exercised

the functions of the Archdeacon’s Commissary, and Presbyterian

Synods and the General Assembly formed an appellate jurisdiction

similar to that which was exercised by the Archdeacons and Bishops

and the Archbishops of St. Andrews.’

[7] The stool was placed in front of the pulpit, in full view of

the congregation. In some parishes the culprits were allowed to

sit, but in most cases they had to stand.

[8] The ‘sacken sark’ had a variety of names, such as ‘the harden

gown,’ ‘the sack gown,’ ‘the harn gown,’ and ‘the linen.’ Each

parish was supposed to have one of these habits: and in 1655 the

sum of £4 4 6 Scots was expended by the kirk-session of Lesmahagow

in the purchase of one. A specimen of the ‘sacken sark’ may be seen

in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries in Edinburgh.

[9] A fine paid to the Kirk-Session, who distributed it, with the

other moneys in their possession, among the poor of the parish. See

the second part of _The History of Buckhaven_, where the culprit is

made to pay ‘four pound and a groat,’ probably Scots money, equal

to about seven shillings sterling.

[10] The following paragraph concludes the second part in modern

editions:--‘Now Jockey and his mither went into the little byre

and held a private meeting, nane present but auld Bruckie and the

twa Brutes, the bits of couties, that she might give him counsel

how to behave when he appeared before Mess John, to answer for his

bastard; which concludes the third and last part.’ The ‘third and

last part’ in these editions, however, fails to carry the story to

its proper issue, and only gives a very summary account of Jockey

on the cutty-stool.

[11] Ante-nuptial fornication--‘on the terms of marriage’--was

lamentably common, but in such cases the law of the church, while

duly put in force, was considerably relaxed in its severity, if

marriage followed.

[12] The civil authorities were frequently called upon to give

effect to church censures. In the seventeenth century sentence of

excommunication practically carried with it all the pains of civil

outlawry; but in 1690 an Act of the Estates abrogated the civil

consequences of the sentence.

[13] Milled oats, or oats with the husks taken off.

[14] This is rather an original account of the rise and progress of

the black-stool: but it would be difficult to say how far history

supports it. In a chap-book printed in 1776 under the title of

‘An Account of the General Assembly’s Invention for the final

Extirpation of the Black-stool of Repentance and the Sackcloth Gown

out of the Kirk of Scotland: proposing a new and easy method of

punishing sporting ladies,’ a similar account is given of the stool.

[15] The Church rule on the point here brought out by Mess John

may be illustrated by an enactment passed by the Kirk Session of

Glasgow in 1591, which bore that those desirous of entering the

conjugal state had to repeat the ten commandments, the articles

of faith, and the Lord’s prayer. If the candidates could not

pass the examination they were declared unworthy of being joined

in marriage, and were liable to censure. A few days after this

decree had been issued, the Session prohibited a marriage until

the bridegroom had learned his task. The Presbytery of Glasgow, in

1594, prohibited a marriage because the bridegroom was ‘in greit

debt.’

[16] Suspension from church privileges for a time, until they

showed signs of repentance.

[17] The beginning of the New Year, or Yule, festivities.

[18] The ordinary mode of travelling long distances. Country women

were then good horse-women.

[19] A superstition long prevalent, and scarcely yet eradicated in

some parts of Scotland. The mother was not safe from the power of

fairies until she had been ‘kirk’t,’ and the child, until baptised,

was in danger of being carried away by them, a changeling being

substituted in its stead. Jockey’s mother seems to have had a

touch of the same superstition when she spoke of the difference

between a child and a dog--‘A dog is a brute beast, an’ a wean is a

christen’d creature.’

[20] The custom in Scotland was to have a number of the neighbours

along with the members of the family.

[21] Young women, besides providing their bridal clothes before

their marriage, frequently spun their winding sheet immediately

after that event. Flora Macdonald carried about with her,

throughout all her wanderings after her liberation in 1747, the

sheet in which Prince Charles had lain at Kingsburgh’s house in

Skye, with the intention that it should be her shroud. And so it

was.

[22] These were not the days of hearses. The common people never

thought of a carriage, and, indeed, it was only at the funerals of

the nobility that hearses were to be seen. Usually the coffin was

taken to the grave on wooden bars, called ‘spaiks,’ borne by the

mourners, who, if the journey were long, relieved each other.

[23] The eating and drinking long prevalent at funerals was

something marvellous, and on more than one occasion it is recorded

that mourners separated in confusion and ill-feeling. At the

funeral of Sir Hugh Campbell of Calder, in March, 1716, nearly

£70 sterling were spent in meat and drink alone, and when the

difference in the value of money is taken into consideration the

sum must appear large. In 1704, Lord Whitelaw, a Senator of the

College of Justice, was buried at the expense of £5189 Scots, or

£432 8s. 4d. sterling, which meant more than two years’ salary as a

judge.

[24] At births it was customary--and still is under a modified

form--to hand round ‘blythe-meat’ to all visitors.

[25] Another name for the stool of repentance.

[26] A colloquialism. The meaning is--‘You must not kiss any woman

_other than_ your own wife.’

[27] A witticism for whitings or haddocks. Dunbar has from an early

period been one of the leading ports on the east coast fishing

grounds.

[28] It would be difficult to say how the herring caught in Loch

Fyne came to be called ‘Glasgow Magistrates.’ The name is still

applied to them.

[29] One way of putting an old Scottish proverb. Henderson’s

reading of it is:--‘There ne’er was a silly Jockey but what there

was a silly Jenny.’

[30] In some modern editions the word ‘jaw’ is inserted instead of

‘jamf,’ or, as it is sometimes spelled ‘jamph.’

[31] Probably Prestonpans, famous for fishers and potters, and for

its battle-field.

[32] In Morren’s edition of this chap-book, published in Edinburgh

in the early years of the present century, the word here used

is ‘keckling,’ meaning to laugh, or, more properly, to ‘smirk.’

‘Keckling’ seems the more likely word.

[33] Another reading of the old saying--‘The deil catch the

hindmost.’

[34] This can hardly be taken literally. Possibly what is meant is

‘powsee,’ a small fresh haddock.

[35] In some later editions the description of Sawny is made more

complete by the insertion, in this place, of the following:--‘and

an auld creeshy hat, mair like a fryingpan than any thing else.’

[36] Taverns and eating-houses were frequently, in east-coast

towns, on the ‘sunk-flat,’ access to them being gained by a flight

of steps down from the foot-pavement. Several such shops may still

be seen in the old town of Edinburgh, in the vicinity of the High

Street and Canongate.

[37] The women about fishing communities differed, and do still,

from their sisters further inland, regarding house-work, or

‘husband-work.’ Matty’s opinion is a fair reflection of the ideas

of her class. A further expression is given to this feeling in _The

History of Buckhaven_, where Graham, describing the people about

whom he was writing, says:--‘They kept but little communication

with the country people, for a farmer, in those days, thought

his daughter cast awa if she married one of the fishers in

Bucky-harbour, and Witty Eppie the ale-wife wad a sworn, be go’

laddie, I wad rather see my boat and a’ my three sons upset against

the Bass, or I saw are o’ them married on a muck-a-byre’s daughter,

a wheen useles taupies that can do naething but rive at a tow rock

[spin], and cut corn; they can neither bait a hook nor red a line,

hook sandles nor gather periwinkles.’

[38] An old stocking leg, in which it was the custom of old women

to sew up whatever savings they might have been able to make, and

generally hidden away in some odd corner. Some of these ‘hoggers’

have been known to be very substantial. Even yet, now that banks

are everywhere, the simile is kept up, though the stocking leg has

fallen into disuse for banking purposes. Some persons speak about

‘laying by for a sair fit.’

[39] The beginning of the paragraph reads this way in Morren’s

edition:--‘On this Sawny paid their spout and parted.’ That seems

the more likely way of it, for later on Sawny speaks of courting

being ‘a curst wark and _costly_.’

[40] Sawny’s mother, besides showing herself well acquainted with

the wise saws of her native country, further exhibits her belief

in witchcraft. In this she was not singular. After a long crusade

against witches, the minds of the better educated classes became

somewhat enlightened on the subject, and Parliament, in 1735,

revoked the penal statutes against sorcery. Many of the ministers

regarded this act as a national sin, and said it was contrary to

the express law of God. John Wesley, it may be remembered, said

that to give up belief in witchcraft was, in effect, giving up the

Bible.

[41] Morren’s edition reads ‘milk cows’ here; while a later issue

has ‘cow’s milks.’ The only satisfactory one is Morren’s.

[42] One of a set of Scottish proverbs showing the disregard of

Scots in bygone days for all sanitary considerations. Two proverbs

having a similar bearing are--‘The clartier the cosier,’ and ‘The

mair dirt the less hurt.’

[43] In some editions the word ‘crust’ is substituted for ‘cufe.’

Certainly it is more likely.

[44] Penny weddings have been immortalised by Semple of Beltrees

in his song _The Blythsome Bridal_. Originally, pennies were

contributed by those present, and any overplus, after providing for

the wedding feast, went towards assisting the young couple in their

furnishing. Latterly, the neighbours sent in eatables of various

kinds, the bride’s friends only preparing one dish, the ‘bride’s

pie,’ the equivalent to the ‘bride’s-cake’ of modern days. As with

the cake, so with the pie, every one present received a piece.

The marriage ceremony was generally celebrated at the manse, and

the wedding festivities took place in the bride’s house. These

festivities some times lasted several days--see, for example,

Ramsay’s addition to _Christ’s Kirk on the Green_, by James I.--and

were productive of serious irregularities. Ultimately the Church

made an effort to regulate them, but with little effect.

[45] That is, by failing to pay the Kirk dues. There was the money

for the ‘cries,’ or banns, which was in itself a respectable sum,

and a variety of other payments, which made marriage an expensive

affair. The minister was given a small acknowledgment for his

services; but now-a-days it is usual, instead, to make a present of

a satin hat, a pair of gloves, a comforter, or such like.

[46] A ‘magg’ is a synonym for the cant term ‘maik,’ a halfpenny;

but in the text it is used in the sense of ‘a gratuity,’ such as

has been referred to in the previous note.

[47] Portion of an old song, long popular among the Scottish

peasantry. It bore the name of ‘For the Sake of Somebody,’ and is

believed to have suggested Burns’ song with the same title. The old

song is to be found in _The Tea-Table Miscellany_; and there the

last four lines of the first double stanza are:--

‘I am gawn to seek a wife,

I am gawn to buy a plaidy;

I have three stane of woo;

Carling, is thy daughter ready?’

[48] An indication of the derivation of the word ‘spinster.’ Kate,

like most Scotch women, had the idea that her marriage could hardly

take place until she had her ‘providing.’ There was something more

than mere sentiment about this, for owing to the hard struggle

married couples had to exist in a poor and undeveloped country,

such as Scotland then was, it was probable that the bride would

have little chance of getting such a complete set out after, as

before, marriage.

[49] Sawny seems to have been guided in his wooing by the old

Scotch proverb:--‘Happy is the wooing that’s no lang o’ doing.’

[50] In Edinburgh, during last century, there was occasionally to

be found some worthy in the ministerial profession available for

such purposes, and whose character would be fairly indicated by the

coarse but forcible language of Matty. They were, however, outwith

the pale of respectability, and were not recognised by their

clerical brethren. Such individuals were not altogether peculiar to

Scotland, but might also be found in London about the same period.

[51] In Morren’s, M‘Kenzie & Hutchison’s, and other editions, there

is here this parenthesis:--‘Ta’en ane anithers word, a kiss, and a

hoddle, at the hillock side.’

[52] The Scotsman’s grace has passed into a proverb, on account

of its inordinate length and its theological tinge. The story is

often told of the servant girl who, after leaving a family in which

she had once served, returned to stay a night with them. At supper

the grace was the same as she was wont to hear before she went

away, and she complimented her late master and host upon his ‘guid

memory.’

[53] A little wooden trough such as is used for the feeding of

sheep or swine. In an edition of this chap-book printed in Stirling

by C. Randall, in 1801, the reading is:--‘Into a little tub or

trough.’ It is the same in several later issues, but in Morren’s

edition it reads:--‘Into a little tub or cogboin.’

[54] The Scotch ‘girnel,’ to be found yet in most country houses,

especially among ‘bein’ or well-to-do people, who purchase their

meal in larger quantities than is usual in towns.

[55] The story of the chase after the ‘poor dominie’ is omitted

in Morren’s edition, but the following new matter is inserted in

its stead:--‘Tom came running home all besmear’d with blood, at

the sight whereof his father cry’d, what’s the matter Tom? To

which he made no answer: searching him, the trick was discovered

and poor Tom received a severe chastisment. Tom, to be revenged

on his father, rose in the night time and broke the fauld and let

out the cattle amongst his father’s corn, and goes to bed again,

this he did unperceived. Next morning, the neighbours observing the

cattle lying amongst the corn, came running, and told his father

how they had destroyed all his victual, for they had eat till they

had like to burst. All the time Tom lay in his bed, and his father

much vexed at his laziness, and told him that he would never have

the benefit of more schooling as his master had so many grievious

complaints against him; at which Tom rejoiced within himself as he

did not value learning, nor put it in balance with his designed

tricks; Tom then scampered away, and meeting with an egg cadger

coming to Edinburgh, desired him to alight from his horse, and he

would give him a dram at the Fallow kirk, at which, the poor man

was glad, and went in with him. Tom called for two drams and bade

the cadger drink hearty, in the mean time Tom slips out and mounts

the cadger’s horse, and puts a foot in each creel, and made the

eggs all caddle, and then he dismounted and ran; so that the poor

cadger lost his eggs, and had the drams to pay for.’

[56] In Morren’s edition this story is told in a very different

way. As has already been explained, the first and second parts

in that edition are run into one, and the following paragraph

immediately succeeds the story told in the preceding note:--‘Tom

was always playing tricks to his grandmother, as he knew she was

rich, and would part with nothing to him; he lays in wait one

night, and conceals himself in a corner until all was at rest,

Tom rises and takes the keys of a drawer, and slips out about

forty shillings, and slips off to Dalkeith on a Thursday where his

grandmother’s servant girl came that day. Tom was spending largely,

and the girl who knew that Tom had no money, came home and told

his grandmother that Tom had taken away her money, this so enraged

him, that he lashed her buttocks with his wheep in so unmerciful

a manner, that what with the smart and shame together she had not

the least inclination to sleep the remaining part of the day.’ The

narrative then proceeds:--‘Tom being grown up to the years and age

of a man,’ etc.

[57] It was customary among country folks, and is so still in some

districts of Scotland, to kill a fat animal at Martinmas of each

year, and salt it for the winter’s provision. Even people in urban

districts, though they had not a cow nor an ox, had a pig which

they had been fattening for a year, and which was then considered

ready for the sacrifice. Hence the term ‘winter mairt.’ The word

‘mairt,’ or ‘mart,’ ultimately came to denote a person who lived in

ease and prosperity.

[58] In all other editions we have seen the reading is ‘three

pounds.’

[59] This ends Number I. of the edition of _Lothian Tom_ from which

the text is here taken. It finishes at the foot of the page. The

next number has a title page similar to what is on the first, and

the narrative continues on the back of the title as if there had

been no break. The folios run right through the three numbers, the

whole chap-book occupying twenty-four pages.

[60] The old jail in the Canongate of Edinburgh is still an

object of interest. Jailers in the past occupied a very different

position from what they do now. They acted more in the capacity of

taverners than their brethren of the present day. In English plays

and novels of last century their position is fully shown; and in

the same period a similar state of matters existed in Scotland.

In Glasgow, after the erection of the Tolbooth at the Cross, in

1627, the jailer was given a yearly salary of 40 merks (£2 4s. 5½

sterling), and he was to receive from every burgess or inhabitant

of the city who should be committed to his care 2s. Scots (2d.

sterling) for entry and booking fee, and the same sum for every

twenty-four hours during which the person should be incarcerated.

Outsiders, however, had double fees to pay their host. On account

of ‘having only thiefes and lounes as prisoners,’ and getting no

profit from them, the jailer of 1661 received from the Town Council

of Glasgow a grant of £20 Scots (£1 13s. 4d. sterling). The Privy

Council Records show that in 1696 the keeper of Canongate Tolbooth

was allowed 2s. Scots per night, with one penny sterling for the

servants--in all 3d. sterling--for every recruit he kept.

[61] This clause is added in some modern undated editions:--‘and so

Tom gained his end.’

[62] In the Stirling (1801), and other editions the reading

is:--‘So the butcher got but fun for his trouble.’

[63] ‘Madam,’ in some later editions.

[64] A fair indication of the opinion Englishmen had of their

Scottish neighbours. Could any good come out of Scotland? It is

only fair to admit, however, that the contempt was not all on the

one side.

[65] The old woman, by her remark about witchcraft and her belief

in Tom’s proposal, discovers the presence of superstitions in her

mind. The belief in witchcraft was then in a transition stage. Many

people firmly believed in it; others were doubtful; while not a

few, like Tom, played the rogue on the strength of the superstition

in others. It is more than probable that the tricks of such as

Lothian Tom did more to enlighten the people than anything else.

As for the clergy, they were a hindrance, and rather fostered the

belief in witchcraft.

[66] This concludes the second number. The third number, like the

others, had a title-page, and the narrative was continued on the

back of it.

[67] The modern undated Glasgow editions end here with the

words:--‘for it is fashious to lead and heavy to carry.’ All that

goes before of this part is added to part five, so that in them

there are only five parts. In the Stirling (1801) edition, however,

the story is carried on to the end of the scene with the lawyer.

[68] It was quite a common conclusion of a law-suit for the lawyer

and his client to ‘drink a bottle’ or even get ‘fou’ together,

especially if they were on the winning side. Consultations were

generally held in some tavern in the vicinity of the court, and

the whole aspect of a case was discussed under the stimulating

influence of a ‘tappit hen.’ Sir Walter Scott in the text and

notes to _Guy Mannering_ gives a most interesting account of the

convivial habits of the Scottish bar during last century.

[69] Nearly four pages are here inserted in the edition from which

this text is taken, but they do not belong to _Lothian Tom_, but to

_Pady from Cork_. They consist of ‘Pady’s New Catechism,’ ‘Pady’s

Humble Petition,’ and ‘Pady’s Creed for Irish Believers,’ and they

will be found in their proper place in a subsequent part of this

volume.

[70] _Vide_ Introduction, vol. i. p. 45.

[71] Dogs and chapmen were proverbial enemies. The tradition

regarding the feud will be found in the answer to the

question--‘What is the reason that dogs are worse on chapmen, than

on other strange people?’--in _The Scots Piper’s Queries_.

[72] Chapmen were looked upon by the common people as characters

whose disinclination to work led them into a lazy life. Their

services to the community were acknowledged, but only under a

protest that had they not been ‘haters of hard work’ they could not

have gone into the business. This feeling, however, arose chiefly

from the popular idea, which still finds expression, that nothing

can be called work except manual labour.

[73] A most effectual weapon of defence against the physical as

well as the spiritual assaults of Satan. Sinclair, in his work

entitled _Satan’s Invisible World Discovered_, tells a most

extraordinary story of the means taken to ‘lay’ the ‘devil of

Glenluce.’

[74] The words, ‘very sick,’ are here added in Morren’s edition.

[75] The common people had strange notions about foreigners, as

this passage shows. A somewhat similar idea is given expression to

in _The History of the Haverel Wives_, where Janet speaks of Italy

as the country ‘where the auld Pape their [the priests’] father,

the de’il, the witches, brownies and fairies dwal.’

[76] There are some unimportant verbal differences between the text

here and what is to be found in Morren’s edition. At the asterisk

there is inserted:--‘thrawing my face terrible at her.’

[77] Morren has here:--‘And thou, O monsieur Lucifer, Satan

Diable,’ etc.

[78] A very fair indication of the unnecessary ceremonies gone

through by wizards and witches. Lothian Tom used some ‘enchantment’

under equally interesting circumstances. See vol. ii. p. 81.

[79] Before the introduction of the present complex Poor Law

system, each parish in Scotland, through its kirk session, gave

relief to its own poor. The strictness of the authorities passed

into a proverb. Many parishes had barrows on which the infirm poor

not belonging to them were wheeled outside the boundaries and left

to do for themselves as best they could. We have read of a case

in which relief was refused to a sickly stranger, and the village

joiner was employed to make a barrow for the person’s removal.

Before the work was done the poor unfortunate had died.

[80] In Morren’s edition there is here added:--‘and give us a

proper drubbing.’

[81] Possibly this practice--for the frequency with which it is

mentioned in this and other chap-books indicates that it was

so--may have given rise to the proverbial expression still common

in Scotland:--‘I’ll tak a sup out your cog for that,’ used when a

person wishes to convey a vague threat.

[82] The suggestion from this passage seems to be that the lads

did not sleep in the house, but in a ‘bothy’ in the vicinity. The

arrangement in many farm houses in some parts of Scotland is--and

it was much more common a century ago--that the maid servants slept

in the house, while the men were accommodated in an out-house.

During harvesting operations, shearers from a distance lived in

a wooden ‘bothy’ erected on the farm. The system was not quite

satisfactory, and often gave rise to serious irregularities.

[83] Now-a-days it may seem strange that John Cheap, after his

first night’s experience in the stye, should have cared to have

had it a second time. Travelling on Sunday, however, was a thing

not to be thought of a century ago. It was doubtful, even, if a

hen did not break the commandment by laying an egg on the Sabbath.

Dean Ramsay tells the story of a Highlander who gave the following

instance in support of the ‘God-fearin’’ character of the people of

the village in which he resided:--‘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 muddle o’

the week; well, sir, our laads is a God-fearin’ set o’ laads, an’

they were just comin’ out o’ the kirk--’od they yokit upon him, an’

a’most killed him.’ A similar fate might have befallen John Cheap

had he travelled for a change of lodgings. Certainly he would have

been taken before the Session and rebuked.

[84] The Covenanters had their great stronghold in the West of

Scotland, especially down Ayrshire way, and the ‘Westland Whig’ was

regarded as a man of extra strictness in religious ordinances.

[85] Our Lord’s miracle of the casting out the legion of the devils

from the man amongst the tombs, and their subsequent entrance

into a herd of swine, seems to have made a strong impression on

the Scottish mind. John Cheap’s remarks on the subject are fairly

representative of the ideas of many country people in Scotland even

of the present day.

[86] A proverbial expression. Allan Ramsay’s version of it

is:--‘Better belly burst than good meat spill.’

[87] This and other references in the course of the present

narrative point to an extensive trade in human hair; and show that

the country lasses were not averse to gaining a little money by

parting with their flowing tresses.

[88] Disrespect for all sanitary considerations was for centuries

an unfortunate feature in Scotland, and was the main cause of

the frequent plagues--or ‘visitations’ as they were piously

termed--which depopulated the country and crippled its resources.

Refuse of all sorts was thrown into the ‘midden-dub’ in front of

the door of each house. In the Trongate of Glasgow, in 1655, the

gutters had become so blocked up that the inhabitants had to place

stepping stones in them before they could obtain access to their

houses. In Edinburgh, a century later, ashes, foul water, etc.,

were thrown over the windows at night, the only warning the belated

pedestrian received being the melodious _Gardez l’eau_; and happy

was he if he escaped.

[89] An official who went about to see that the orders of the

‘birley-court’ were obeyed. This court consisted of certain parties

in the barony who looked after local affairs, and were, in fact, a

sort of local authority or town council.

[90] The ‘evil eye’ was a most terrible thing, according to

Scottish superstition; and a variety of ‘freits’ or charms were had

recourse to as shields against it. In the _Justiciary Records_, of

1661, it is stated that Beatrix Leslie entered the house of one

Agnes Young ‘in ane great fury and anger, and pluckt away a pock

belonging to her, which the said Agnes had in keiping, without

speaking ane word to her, bot gieving her ane _terrible look_;

and that same verry night, the said William Young [her husband]

awakened out of his sleep, in a great affrightment and sweat,

crying out, that she with a number of catts wer devouring him.’

Many similar instances are on record. Of course they were simply

due to perverted imagination.

[91] John Cheap seems here to have been credited with possession

of the ‘evil eye,’ while he was really only guilty of a very

questionable practical joke.

[92] That is, his mother gave him a good _thrashing_ for it.

[93] In the edition here followed, the heading is ‘Fun upon Fun,’

but the one given above is more distinctive, while its use is

sanctioned by the precedent of 1820 edition. The edition of 1816

has--‘The Comical and Merry Tricks of Leper the Taylor.’

[94] The custom of the common people, when the ‘goodman’ required a

suit, was to have a tailor working in the house for a day or two,

during which time he had his board and lodging, with a small money

payment. Sometimes a week’s work might be given the tailor in this

way, when the ‘callans,’ as well as their father, were in need of

new clothes. When the goodwife and her daughters were similarly

situated, the dressmaker was brought in on the same principle. This

custom is not yet dead; though it is fast disappearing.

[95] In a modern Glasgow edition the reading here is:--‘In her own

bedroom.’ That, however, seems to be a suggestion of a later time.

The probability is that the reference is to a press-bed enclosed in

front with wood, with a door which was closed during the day-time.

Round these beds were shelves.

[96] Under the old system of apprenticeship the master had a

fatherly care over his apprentice in addition to the obligation to

learn him his trade.

[97] In some of the later editions of this chap-book the reading

here is:--‘Wonderful fire! Wonderful fire!’ This is probably a

misprint, the old fashioned ‘s’ beginning the word ‘sirs’ in the

older editions having caused confusion.

[98] An apt illustration of the relations of the clergy of that

period towards the common superstitions.

[99] In this case the feeling of the relatives was satisfied by the

death--or supposed death--having been ‘fair o’erseen’ ‘before good

neighbours;’ the want of which caused Jockey, the hero of _Jockey

and Maggy_, considerable anxiety. See note on that chap-book.

[100] Old women, whose privilege it was, in respect of their age,

to perform such duties.

[101] A peculiar Scotticism meaning that the face of the corpse

bore a pleasant expression. On such a melancholy occasion as

a funeral in Scotland, an Englishman would hear many remarks

which would surprise him, possibly, shock him, by their seeming

irreverence. No such feeling, however, has any place in the mind of

the native. The expression, ‘the corpse’s sister,’ to be found in

the text in this page, may be taken as an instance.

[102] A funeral pall. The kirk session frequently provided one for

the use of the parish.

[103] Ray, in his _Itinerary through Scotland_, gives the following

form of announcement as having been commonly made by the ‘deid

bellman’ in Scotland in the sixteenth century:--‘Beloued broothrin

and susters, I lat you to wot that thir is an fauthful broothir

lautlie departed awt of this present warld, awt thi plesuir of

almoughti Good; his naum is Volli Voodcok, third son to Jimmoy

Voodcok a cordinger; he ligs at thi sesct door vithin the nord

gawt, close on the nawthuer rawnd, and I wod ya gang to hus burying

on Thursdau before twa a clock.’

[104] The second part, in the edition followed here, has a separate

title-page, containing the same matter as the first, altering, of

course, the number of the part.

[105] Another illustration of the expression used as a safeguard

against the power of witches, warlocks, and all that race, when

speaking of them. See notes to _John Cheap_ and _The History of

Haverel Wives_, in the present volume.

[106] This seems to be the only story in any edition of _Leper the

Taylor_ that has come under our notice to which the following lines

from an elegy on Peter Duthie, a chapman worthy who lived between

1721 and 1812, could possibly bear any reference:--

‘Nae mair will Pate e’er travel round

* * * * *

Nor tell how _Leper_ threw the cat

Into auld Janet’s boiling pat.’

[107] The presence of cattle in the houses of the common people,

or small farmers, was too often seen, but this is just a further

instance of the disrespect for sanitary matters evinced by the

Scots before the present century. A great change has taken place

within the last eighty or a hundred years.

[108] Sunday observance has long been, and still is, a remarkable

feature of the Scottish national life. In former times the utmost

care was taken that there should be no Sabbath breaking. The old

Jewish idea of a ‘Sabbath-day’s’ journey was kept to the letter,

and no one was allowed to walk on the streets except going to or

coming from the church. Any person found taking a walk ran the risk

of being taken to the guard-house by the ‘civileers,’ who were

inquisitors appointed conjointly by the Town Council and the kirk

session. The average Scotsman would rather let his crops go to ruin

than take them in on a fine Sabbath.

[109] In the 1816 edition, here followed throughout, the chap-book

begins--‘This taylor;’ but in the 1820 edition the opening sentence

runs thus:--‘Leper in his life-time,’ etc. That reading has been

taken here as it makes a better beginning than the other.

[110] The English edition has a very different reading, as

follows:--‘A farthing Roll, half a pint of Ale, and a pipe of

Tobacco.’

[111] The word ‘nearest’ is given instead of ‘former’ in the other

editions.

[112] ‘Half,’ in the English edition.

[113] ‘Sixty-two,’ in the English edition.

[114] ‘Three-half-pennys’ in the English edition.

[115] A reference to a similar event is made in R. Braithwaite’s

_Penitent Pilgrim_, 1641, reprinted by Pickering, of London, in

1853. At p. 109 of the reprint the following passage will be

found:--‘Nay, hast thou not seen the very corpse of thy departed

brother arrested, and uncharitably stayed; who, though he had paid

his debt to nature, yet must receive no burial till his corpse

has discharged his debt to his creditor? and hast thou sought to

satisfy his hard-hearted creditor that those due funeral rites

might be performed to thy brother?’

[116] Romans ix. 27.

[117] In the English edition the reading here is:--‘and had the

above mentioned Legacy, so went weeping home for the loss of so

good a Master.’

[118] ‘Simon Suckegg,’ and ‘Mrs. Lucy Longstitch’ in the English

edition.

[119] ‘Like a first rate beau in the fashion,’ in the edition of

1820.

[120] Whether the chap-book was written by Dougal Graham or not,

certainly no one can claim for him the authorship of these lines.

They were written by Allan Ramsay on Lady Somerville’s Book of

Scots Sangs. The complete inscription is thus given in Fullarton’s

edition of the works of the poet, vol. iii. p. 13:--

‘Gae canty book, and win a name;

Nae lyrics e’er shall ding thee:

Hope large esteem, and lasting fame,

If Somervilla sing thee.

If she thy sinless faults forgive,

Which her sweet voice can cover,

Thou shalt, in spite of critics live,

Still grateful to each lover.’

[121] Monday, the 29th March, 1652, when an eclipse of the sun took

place, there being complete darkness for about eight minutes. Law,

in his _Memorials_, says:--‘The like, as thought by astrologers,

was not since the darkness at our Lord’s Passion. The country

people, tilling, loosed their ploughs, and thought it had been the

latter day.... The birds clapped to the ground.’ According to the

Burgh Records of Peebles, the people began to pray to God. This was

how the day came to be named ‘the mirk Munonday.’

[122] Historically a true description of the manner in which the

Sabbath day was observed immediately before the Reformation. Janet,

however, must surely have been speaking more from tradition than

personal knowledge.

[123] The popular, but mistaken, notion of the _mercheta mulierum_.

Cosmo Innes, in his _Lectures on Scottish Legal Antiquities_, pp.

52-53, gives what seems to be the true meaning:--‘Mercheta is the

older form of the _maritagium_ or marriage-tax, in the charters of

Robert I., and not only the servile class, but the free tenants

also paid a _maritagium_ on the marriage of their daughters....

Some learning has been brought to show that, on the Continent,

this tax--_mercheta mulierum_--represented an ancient seignorial

right--the _jus primae noctis_. I have not looked carefully into

the French authorities; but I think there is no evidence of a

custom so odious existing in England; and in Scotland, I venture

to say that there is nothing to ground a suspicion of such a

right. The merchet of women with us was simply the tax paid by the

different classes of bondmen and tenants and vassals, when they

gave their daughters in marriage, and thus deprived the lord of

their services, to which he was entitled _jure sanguinis_.’ The

reader may also find the matter very learnedly discussed in the

appendix to Lord Hailes’ _Annals of Scotland_. It need only be

remarked that prelates, being spiritual peers, and holding lands

from the Crown on the same footing as their brethren of the civil

estate, were entitled like them to levy the _maritagium_.

[124] See text and first note on p. 94 of the present volume.

[125] A reference to Episcopacy.

[126] This paragraph in itself contains an almost complete

commentary on the superstition of which it treats. According to the

legend of Thomas the Rhymer the devil levied tribute from the king

of Fairy-land.

[127] A scriptural veneration for old age was long a characteristic

of the common people of Scotland; but this remark betrays one of

the tenets of the belief in witchcraft hardly consistent with the

outward profession of the people. In a curious and interesting

work, entitled the _History of the Devil_, the author says:--‘I

think it was a mean, low-priced business for Satan to take up with;

below the very Devil: below his dignity as an angelic, though

condemned creature; below him even as a Devil, to go to talk to a

parcel of ugly, deformed, spightful, malicious old women; to give

them power to do mischief, who never had a will, after they entered

into the state of old womanhood, to do anything else.’

[128] Another illustration of the ignorance of the common people of

the time about foreigners, or the manners of life among the upper

classes. This is not exaggerated, and could find parallels from

more recent times. Janet’s answer is more enlightened, but she is

shown all through the narrative as a well-informed woman.

[129] Any one who wishes to see compressed within one volume

an account of the opinions of the human race all through time

regarding Satan, will find it in _The History of the Devil, Ancient

and Modern_, already mentioned. The second part of the work deals

more particularly to the line of thought suggested by Janet. An

edition of the work, published in London in 1793, lies before us;

and the following verse on the title-page, referring in a slight

degree to the remark in the text, may be quoted:--

‘Bad as he is, the Devil may be abus’d,

Be falsely charged, and causelessly accused:

When Men, unwilling to be blamed alone,

Shift off those crimes on him which are their own.’

[130] It would be difficult to find so much folk-lore compressed

into so few lines. The passage is a valuable representation of the

popular belief.

[131] Illustrations of the use of the advice here given may be

found in a note to _John Cheap the Chapman_, at p. 104 of this

volume.

[132] See first note on p. 95 of the present volume.

[133] In the Edinburgh reprint of 1820, all after the word

‘Paepery’ in this paragraph is left out here. After Janet’s reply,

beginning--‘But Maggy, an ye be a mind to marry,’ etc, it is

inserted as a separate speech by Margaret, all between ‘Paepery’

and ‘O woman, but a man,’ etc., being omitted altogether, the

paragraph opening with the last quoted words.

[134] The ‘duket,’ or dove-cot, would be one of those large stone

structures only occasionally to be found in Scotland now.

[135] In the edition of this chap-book, published in 1807, by J.

& M. Robertson, Saltmarket, Glasgow, there is here a break in the

narrative, and the following paragraph, with its accompanying

heading, is inserted:--

‘_Janet’s Advice to Maggy concerning Marriage._

‘While these two old Haverels were thus discussing together at

their rocks, amongst other things Maggy told Janet, that although

she was now above a hundred years of age, she had a great desire

for a husband, but that she would be obliged to use some methods

and enticements to make the young men fall in love wi’ her. Upon

which, Janet gave her the following witty advice.’

The dialogue then proceeds as given in the edition re-produced in

these pages. The interpolation here quoted seems to be by a hand

other than that of the author, for it in some respects goes back

upon Maggy’s previous statements, and makes an unnatural break in

the dialogue.

[136] In an undated edition of the _Haverel Wives_, published by J.

Morren, of the Cowgate, Edinburgh, the story is here brought to a

close with the following lines:--

‘When Maggy and Janet had fairly done,

With their clashes from their tongue

They went and birl’d their baubees,

They clash’d and told all downright lies.

Now Janet and Maggy did agree,

Never to drink one drop of tea

But stout brown ale and wiskky bare,

And they shook hands and came away.’

This ending, however, is hardly so consistent as the one given in

the text.

[137] All that follows in this paragraph is left out in the

Edinburgh reprint.

[138] A nick-name to the wife’s daughter that no man will marry,

because stuff’d full of laziness, self-conceit and stinking pride;

or if she be married, she’ll ly like stinking butter on his stomach

while she lives.--_Original Note._

[139] This paragraph is thus abridged in an edition published in

1824--‘4thly, concluding with an advice to young men and women.’

[140] A common name for a cow.

[141] A literal description of whale-bone stays.

[142] ‘Witless wanton waster,’ in 1820 reprint.

[143] The fabulous story of Fortunatus was known to every hind in

the country through chap-books editions of his adventures.

[144] In the 1824 edition all that comes between the words ‘cannot

help’ and ‘until they disdain now to ride upon pads,’ as in the

text above, is omitted. The reading in that edition is:--‘The last

prevailing evil that I see, all men may hear, but none strive to

help; women now disdain to ride on pads, as of old,’ etc.

[145] Probably Carlisle.

[146] Scotch people have always had the idea that the use of

carriages was a sign of effeminacy. Innovations tending towards

ease and luxury in any direction were discountenanced; and the

story is told of an old Highland chieftain who was highly mortified

when he found that his son, on an expedition with the clan, used a

stone for a pillow when sleeping on the hills. The use of a pillow

of any kind seemed to him a symptom of declension.

[147] The Scots generally consider their native dialect as

different from the English. They acknowledge a common origin, but

argue for a different development. A look over the glossary at the

end will give the reader some idea of the material divergences that

have arisen in the growth of the Anglo-Saxon tongue in England and

Scotland.

[148] In the 1824 edition, all between this and the paragraph

beginning, ‘Another grievance of the female offenders,’ is left out.

[149] The rest of this paragraph in the 1824 edition reads:--‘I

mean the flyers, who have got more silver than sense, more

haughtiness than gold, and value themselves as treasure

incomprehensible, their whole body as if set about with precious

stones, and the solemnity, or their marriage, is like a peace after

a bloody war.’

[150] There has always been in Scotland a tendency to make the

celebration of a marriage the occasion of great festivity. The

Church for a time tried to keep this within proper bounds, and

generally allowed an expense of six shillings Scots (six pence

sterling) for each guest. This was, however, often exceeded, and

the parties had to answer to the Kirk Session for doing so. Even

elders of the Kirk, when their daughters were being married,

sometimes overstepped the limit, and had to make their repentance

for it.

[151] This paragraph ends as follows in the 1824 edition:--‘as the

skimings of a pot of green kail, and the poor husband has to return

at ten o’clock to his fore-noon’s wark, without his breakfast,

hanging his head like a brewer’s horse at the ale-house door.’

[152] The 1824 edition ends here, with the sentence:--‘That such a

wife may be the lot of every young lad, is the earnest prayer of

Grannie M‘Nab.’

[153] In Morren’s edition the order of the first three stories is

different. In it the second story as above is first, the third

second, and the first third.

[154] This ‘joke’ is left out in Morren’s edition; and the story

about the drover, to be found at p. 161, is inserted before the one

of the three merry companions.

[155] Perhaps other three miles. The Scottish ‘bittock’ is rather

an elastic expression.

[156] Although the Scots have always been more or less of a

military nation, the common people have generally had a sort of

pitying contempt for mercenary soldiery, as opposed to the old

feudal system of raising an army. It would be difficult to account

for this feeling, but it is still the fact that even now service

in the army is regarded as the last resource of a respectable

tradesman or countryman.

[157] ‘Brucket’ in Morren’s edition.

[158] ‘Danger,’ according to Morren.

[159] This biographical preface was, according to Motherwell, given

in an edition published in Glasgow in 1779, probably after Graham’s

death.

[160] In Morren’s edition the following lines precede the title:--

‘This Catechism deserves no Creed,

It’s only for boys who will not read

On wiser books them to instruct!

Let droll John their fancy cook.’

[161] Properly Milngavie, in the neighbourhood of Glasgow. The

common pronunciation of the word is phonetically given as ‘Milguy’

in Morren’s edition. In the modern Glasgow copies the spelling is

‘Mullgay.’

[162] ‘Or the Hottentot gibberish,’ is added in the modern Glasgow

editions.

[163] Randall’s and Morren’s editions end here, the former with the

lines quoted in p. 168 as preceding the title of Morren’s edition.

What follows in the text appears in undated editions published in

Glasgow within the last fifty years.

[164] Suggested, apparently, by Proverbs, vi. 26.

[165] Red-headed.

[166] ‘In his teeth,’ according to a modern undated edition.

[167] _I.e._, off the Mull of Galloway.

[168] A custom which has not yet fallen into disuetude in Irish

communities. The popular idea of the use of these articles is

simply that the brogues are for the accommodation of the dead man

on his journey heaven-wards; the candle to light him on the way;

the ‘good hard-headed old hammer’ to raise St. Peter, the venerable

porter at the celestial gate; and the money is to pay for tolls. To

many persons this explanation may smack somewhat of irreverence,

but we are not aware of any more satisfactory explanation of the

custom. Divested of its ‘bulls,’ the narrative of Teague is a fair

outline of the proceedings at an Irish funeral.

[169] _i.e._ or a devil in its stead.

[170] The text up till this point has been published separately

under the title of ‘The Miseries of Poor Simple Innocent Silly

Tam.’ The ‘Misfortunes’ are not given in that chap-book. In all the

other editions of _Simple John_ which have come under the notice of

the editor, each of the ‘misfortunes’ is given a separate numerical

title, as ‘Misfortune I.,’ etc.

[171] The inhabitants of Buck-haven have always been acknowledged

to be a peculiar people. An account of their origin is to the

effect that they are the descendants of the crew of a ship from the

Netherlands, which stranded on the coast of Fifeshire in reign of

James IV. The village of Buckie, mentioned in the text, is on the

Moray Firth, in the parish of Ruthven, county of Banff.

[172] This paragraph is omitted in the modern and Randall’s

editions. The narrative in them begins with the next paragraph.

[173] In Randall’s and the modern edition this paragraph

begins:--‘Again, these people are said to have descended from one

Tom, and his two sons,’ etc.

[174] ‘Other hand,’ instead of ‘fishers of Bucky-harbour,’ in

abridged editions.

[175] The sentence reads thus in abridged editions:--‘The Lord o’

the manor decided all disputable points, and wise Willie,’ etc.

[176] The word ‘mancoes’ is substituted for ‘mutches’ in the two

abridged editions. They seem to have the same significance.

[177] The people of Buckhaven seem to have been free from the old

superstition regarding the horse-shoe charm. A horse-shoe nailed to

a stable door kept the four-footed inmates free from the power of

‘uncanny’ beings. The custom still lingers in the country, but it

is due more to use and wont than any active belief in its virtues.

[178] A similar circumstance is related in the _History of John

Cheap the Chapman_. See text and note at p. 93, vol. ii.

[179] Christening was looked upon by the people of Scotland as

almost necessary to salvation. That doctrine held by a large

section of the Christian church, was here largely mingled with

superstition, and the powers of evil were thought to have a malign

influence on the body and soul of an unchristened person. The

popular ideas on the subject may be found fairly well brought out

at p. 34 of the present volume.

[180] ‘Herd laddies,’ in the two abridged editions: but ‘ill-bred

laddies’ in Morren’s edition.

[181] All this part, with the exception of the paragraph given in a

subsequent note, is omitted in the two abridged editions.

[182] See note at p. 102 of the present volume. ‘My Lord,’ as

feudal superior would have the appointment in his gift, in the same

way as, prior to the year 1636, the prelates of Glasgow, had the

power of presentation to the Provostship of the city.

[183] Probably a stupid synonym for crutches.

[184] In the olden times the lord and lady moved out and in among

their people, and took an active interest in their every day

concerns. This intercourse was generally productive of good, and

the relationship between a superior and his vassals or tenants was

of the most pleasant kind.

[185] This and other names in the chap-book give examples of the

need there was in a community, consisting really of one large

family, with the same surname common to almost all, for nicknames

to distinguish between several persons who also bore the same

Christian name. A more interesting account of such a circumstance

is given by Cosmo Innes, in his work on _Some Scottish Surnames_.

[186] The coarse language here used is in no way an exaggerated

account of what may have actually occurred at the period with

which the author is dealing. Great laxity of morals and of speech

prevailed; but vice, it must also be stated, came more to the

surface than now. The people were uncultivated, and did not seek to

cast a veil of prudery over their failings, however much these were

to be reprobated. Swearing was then considered fashionable among

the ladies of England: what could be expected from the peasantry of

Scotland?

[187] Belief in dreams and omens was almost universal, and was

fostered by the chap dream-books, whose modern successors may be

found in _Napoleon’s Book of fate_, etc.

[188] The foregoing paragraph was thus given in the abridged

editions:--‘There was a custom in Bucky harbour, when they got a

hearty drink, that they went down to dance among the boats, two

or three of the oldest went into a boat to see the rest dance,

and when they admitted a burgher, there was always a dance. One

day they admitted gly’d Rob, who was a warlock, and made them all

stop their dancing, for which he was carried before wise Willie to

answer for that, for which he was banished to the isle of May, to

carry coals to the Light House.’

[189] Willy Thomson must have been guilty of some serious offence,

when he was condemned to slavery. In comparatively recent times

actual property in the persons who worked in coal-mines in Scotland

was to be found, and the old records bear ample testimony to the

existence of serfdom, and to the punishment of subjection to

slavery being considered a part of the judicial system of the

country.

[190] The third of May, when many superstitious observances were

made. The first of May was Beltane, and has been traced to the

fire-worship of the ancient Caledonians. Rood-day superstitions,

however, were of more recent origin. Great precautions were taken

against the power of witches and fairies, and if these should be

neglected ill-luck would follow. Jamieson, in his _Dictionary of

the Scottish Language_, under the word ‘Rude-day,’ gives a most

interesting account of the ceremonies gone through on the yearly

return of the festival.

[191] The ‘mauken,’ or hare seems to have occupied a most

important position in the folk-lore of all countries, but notably

of Scotland. Sir Walter Scott, in his work on _Demonology and

Witchcraft_, tells how Isobel Gowdie, one of the witches of

Auldern, disguised herself as a hare and after being hunted by

hounds for some time, took refuge in a house where she found

opportunity to say the disenchanting rhyme:--

‘Hare, Hare, God send thee care!

I am in a hare’s likeness now;

But I shall be woman even now--

Hare, hare, God send thee care:’

That is her own story. A most valuable and interesting article,

on ‘The Hare in Folk-Lore’ was contributed to a recent number of

the _Folk-Lore Journal_ by Mr. William George Black, F.S.A. Scot.,

and should be consulted by those who wish to know more about this

subject.

[192] The statement contained in the text gives an excellent

account of what was believed to be the attributes of the

water-kelpie. In many old ballads references, such as the

following, may be found:--

‘The bonnie gray mare did sweat for fear,

For she heard the water-kelpie roaring.’

[193] Frequent reference has been made to the supposed power

of fairies over unchristened children and their mothers.

‘Changelings’ were greatly feared. If a child developed a strong

and uncontrollable temper there arose a suspicion that it was a

‘changeling,’ the meaning being that the fairies had slipped away

the mother’s own child and substituted a little fiend in human

form in its stead. It was believed that the best way to set the

suspicion at rest was to submit the little unfortunate to the test

of the fire. We have not, however, noticed any case where the test

was actually carried out.

[194] The ‘mauken’s fit’ was particularly feared by the fishers on

the east-coast of Scotland. Very recently, and it may be so still,

it was sufficient to raise the ire of a fisher woman to wish she

had a hare’s foot in her creel. The wish was regarded as equivalent

to a malediction.

[195] That is, a maker of shallow baskets such as are used by

fishers for carrying their fish.

[196] ‘Maids of honour,’ instead of ‘Maries,’ in the more

recent editions. Jamieson, under the word ‘Maries,’ says:--‘The

designation given to the maids of honour in Scotland.... This Queen

[Mary Stuart] had four maids of honour, all of the name of _Mary_.

There were Mary Livingston, Mary Fleming--Seaton, and--Beaton.

Hence it has been supposed, that the name passed into a general

denomination for female attendants.... From analogy, I am much

inclined to think that the term is far more ancient than the

period referred to. For we learn from Lye [_Dictionarium Saxonico

et Gothico-Latinum_], that the O. E. [Old English] called the

queen’s maids, the _Queen’s Meys_. Hence it is highly probable that

our term _Marie_ is an official designation, and allied to Isl.

[Icelandic] _maer_, a maid, a virgin.... Thus the _Queen’s Maries_,

a phrase still common among the vulgar, may be exactly synonymous

with the _Queen’s Maids_.’

[197] This story is not given in Randall’s edition; but it has been

inserted here from the Falkirk 1799 edition. A similar story is

told of ‘Tom Tram,’ an English chap-book hero, and of Sancho Panza,

in _Don Quixote_.

[198] In the later editions the dispute is said to have arisen

about ‘education,’ not ‘religion,’ and it is stated of George that

‘he blanked the bishop remarkably.’ While this story undoubtedly

presents an exaggerated picture of the educational virtues of

Scotland, it must be remembered that owing to the system of

parochial schools instituted by Knox the lower classes in Scotland

had facilities for instruction, especially in the classics, which

the otherwise more favoured English people did not possess.

[199] A similar story will be found in Bacon’s _Apothegms_. See

_Essays and Historical Works_, Bohn’s edition, p. 189.

[200] Properly ‘Kinbot.’ The law or custom is much older than the

reign of James VI., as the story here indicates. Jamieson derives

the word from Anglo-Saxon _cin_, kindred, and _bot_, compensation.

The present editor, in his _History of Glasgow_, p. 114, gives an

account of an interesting case which occurred in Glasgow in the

sixteenth century.

[201] ‘One hundred crowns,’ in the later editions.

[202] This story, and the one immediately following it, are not in

Randall’s edition, but have been inserted from the 1799 Falkirk

edition.

[203] Also to be found among Bacon’s _Apothegms_, Bohn’s edition,

p. 168.

[204] This and the preceding story are from the Falkirk edition.

[205] This story has been inserted from the Falkirk edition. It is

not in the one by Randall.

[206] Auchterarder.

[207] From the Falkirk edition.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

Footnote [118] is referenced twice from page 130.

Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been

corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within

the text and consultation of external sources.

Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,

and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained. The spelling

of all Scottish dialect words has been left unchanged.

Pg 16: ‘but but yet nane’ replaced by ‘but yet nane’.

Pg 43: ‘their’s nae fear’ replaced by ‘there’s nae fear’.

Pg 55: ‘Sawney but ye’ replaced by ‘Sawny but ye’.

Pg 60: ‘the’re well paid’ replaced by ‘they’re well paid’.

Pg 68: ‘his mastre had’ replaced by ‘his master had’.

Pg 82: ‘lad to Louthan’ replaced by ‘lad to Louthian’.

Pg 117: ‘heal and fiar’ replaced by ‘heal and fair’.

Pg 157: ‘but kep-jogging’ replaced by ‘but kept jogging’.

Pg 159: ‘now and than’ replaced by ‘now and then’.

Pg 161: ‘ther is nothing’ replaced by ‘there is nothing’.

Pg 186: ‘your potates home’ replaced by ‘your potatoes home’.

Pg 187: ‘to Port Partrick’ replaced by ‘to Port Patrick’.

Pg 204: Footnote [169] was an embedded sidenote in the original text.

Pg 242: ‘was falsefied’ replaced by ‘was falsified’.

Pg 247: ‘swore a rap’ replaced by ‘swore a rape’.

Pg 255: ‘to do, do, knowing’ replaced by ‘to do, knowing’.