Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer — Complete by Walter Scott (good books to read in english .TXT) 📗

ink were brought; he began to dictate the appeal case, and continued at his task till four o’clock the next morning. By next day’s post the solicitor sent the case to London, a chef-d’oeuvre of its kind; and in which, my informant assured me, it was not necessary on revisal to correct five words. I am not, therefore, conscious of having overstepped accuracy in describing the manner in which Scottish lawyers of the old time occasionally united the worship of Bacchus with that of Themis. My informant was Alexander Keith, Esq., grandfather to my friend, the present Sir Alexander Keith of Ravelstone, and apprentice at the time to the writer who conducted the cause.

NOTE 4, p. 180

We must again have recourse to the contribution to Blackwood’s Magazine, April 1817:--

‘To the admirers of good eating, gipsy cookery seems to have little to recommend it. I can assure you, however, that the cook of a nobleman of high distinction, a person who never reads even a novel without an eye to the enlargement of the culinary science, has added to the “Almanach des Gourmands” a certain Potage a la Meg Merrilies de Derndeugh, consisting of game and poultry of all kinds, stewed with vegetables into a soup, which rivals in savour and richness the gallant messes of Camacho’s wedding; and which the Baron of Bradwardine would certainly have reckoned among the epulae lautiores.’

The artist alluded to in this passage is Mons. Florence, cook to Henry and Charles, late Dukes of Buccleuch, and of high distinction in his profession.

NOTE 5, p. 212

The Burnet whose taste for the evening meal of the ancients is quoted by Mr. Pleydellwas the celebrated metaphysician and excellent man, Lord Monboddo, whose coenae will not be soon forgotten by those who have shared his classic hospitality. As a Scottish judge he took the designation of his family estate. His philosophy, as is well known, was of a fanciful and somewhat fantastic character; but his learning was deep, and he was possessed of a singular power of eloquence, which reminded the hearer of the os rotundum of the Grove or Academe. Enthusiastically partial to classical habits, his entertainments were always given in the evening, when there was a circulation of excellent Bourdeaux, in flasks garlanded with roses, which were also strewed on the table after the manner of Horace. The best society, whether in respect of rank or literary distinction, was always to be found in St. John’s Street, Canongate. The conversation of the excellent old man, his high, gentleman-like, chivalrous spirit, the learning and wit with which he defended his fanciful paradoxes, the kind and liberal spirit of his hospitality, must render these noctes coenaeque dear to all who, like the author (though then young), had the honour of sitting at his board.

NOTE 6, p. 215

It is probably true, as observed by Counsellor Pleydell, that a lawyer’s anxiety about his case, supposing him to have been some time in practice, will seldom disturb his rest or digestion. Clients will, however, sometimes fondly entertain a different opinion. I was told by an excellent judge, now no more, of a country gentleman who, addressing his leading counsel, my informer, then an advocate in great practice, on the morning of the day on which the case was to be pleaded, said, with singular bonhomie, ‘Weel, my Lord (the counsel was Lord Advocate), the awful day is come at last. I have nae been able to sleep a wink for thinking of it; nor, I daresay, your Lordship either.’

NOTE 7, p. 235

Whistling, among the tenantry of a large estate, is when an individual gives such information to the proprietor or his managers as to occasion the rent of his neighbour’s farms being raised, which, for obvious reasons, is held a very unpopular practice.

NOTE 8, p. 286

This hard word is placed in the mouth of one of the aged tenants. In the old feudal tenures the herezeld constituted the best horse or other animal on the vassals’ lands, become the right of the superior. The only remnant of this custom is what is called the sasine, or a fee of certain estimated value, paid to the sheriff of the county, who gives possession to the vassals of the crown.

NOTE 9, p. 301

This mode of securing prisoners was universally practised in Scotland after condemnation. When a man received sentence of death he was put upon THE GAD, as it was called, that is, secured to the bar of iron in the manner mentioned in the text. The practice subsisted in Edinburgh till the old jail was taken down some years since, and perhaps may be still in use.

GLOSSARY ‘A, he, I. a’, all. abide, endure. ablins, aiblins, perhaps. abune, above. ae, one. aff, off. afore, before. a-guisarding, masquerading. ahint, behind. aik, an oak. ails, hinders, prevents. ain, own. amang, among. an, if. ance, once. ane, one. anent, about. aneuch, enough. auld, old. auld threep, a superstitious notion. avise, advise, deliberate. awa’, away. aweel, well. awfu’, awful. awmous, alms. aye, ever. bairn, a child. baith, both. ballant, a ballad. banes, bones. bannock, a flat round or oval cake. barken, stiffen, dry to a crust. barrow-trams, the shafts of a hand barrow. baulks, ridges. berling, a galley. bield, a shelter, a house. biggit, built. billie, a brother, a companion. bing out and tour, go out and watch. binna, be not. birk, a birch tree. bit, a little. bittle, beat with a bat. bittock, a little bit. Black Peter, a portmanteau. blate, shy, bashful. blawn, blown. blear, obscure. blude, bluid, blood. blunker, a cloth printer. blythe, glad. boddle, a copper coin worth one third of a penny. bogle, a goblin, a spectre. bonnet, a cap. bonnie, bonny, pretty, fine. bonspiel, a match game at curling. bottle-head, beetle-head, stupid fellow. bow, a boll. bowster, a bolster. braw, fine. brigg, a bridge. brock, a badger, a dirty fellow. brod, a church collection plate. buckkar, a smuggling lugger. bully-huff, a bully, a braggart. burn, a brook. bye, besides. ca’, call. cake-house, a house of entertainment. callant, a stripling. cam, came. canny, lucky, cautious. cantle, a fragment. canty, cheerful. capons, castrated cocks. carle, a churl, an old man. cast, lot, fate. chapping-stick, a stick to strike with. cheerer, spirits and hot water. chield, a young man. chumlay, a chimney. clanjamfray, rabble. clashes, lies, scandal. claught, clutched, caught. clecking, hatching. clodded, threw heavily. close, a lane, a narrow passage. clour, a heavy blow. cloyed a dud, stolen a rag. collieshangie, an uproar. come o’ will, a child of love. cottar, cottage. cramp-ring, shackles, fetters. cranking, creaking. craw, crow. creel, a basket. cuddy, an ass. cusp, an entrance to a house. cusser, a courser, a stallion. daft, mad, foolish. darkmans, night. daurna, dare not. day-dawing, dawn. dead-thraw, death-agony. death-ruckle, death-rattle. deil-be-lickit, nothing, naught. dike, a wall, a ditch. dinging, slamming. dingle, a dell, a hollow. dizzen, a dozen. doo, a dove. dooket, dukit, a dovecot. doun, down. douse the glim, put out the light. dow, list, wish. drap, a drop. drumming, driving. dub, a puddle. duds, clothes. eassel, provincial for eastward. een, eyes. endlang, along. eneugh, enough. evening, putting on the same level. faem, foam. fair-strae, natural. fambles, hands. fash, trouble. fauld, a fold. fause, false. feared, afraid. fearsome, frightful. feck, a quantity. feckless, feeble. fell, a skin. fernseed, gather the, make invisible. fie, mad, foredoomed. fient a bit, never a bit fient a haet, not the least. fire-raising, setting fire. firlot, a quarter of a boll. fit, a foot. flesh, fleesh, a fleece. flick, cut. flit, remove. fond, glad to. forbears, ancestors. forbye, besides. foumart, a polecat. fowk, people. frae, from. frummagem’d, throttled, hanged. fu’, full. fule-body, a foolish person. gae, go. gaed, went. gane, gone. gang, go. gang-there-out, wandering. gangrel, vagrant. gar, make. gate, gait, way. gaun, going. gay, gey, very. gelding, a castrated horse. gentle or semple, high born or common people. gie, give. gliffing, a surprise, an instant. glower, glare. gowan, a field daisy. gowd, gold. gowpen, a double handful. greet, weep. grieve, an overseer. grippet, grasped, caught. grunds, grounds. gude, guid, good. gudeman, master of a house. gyre-carlings, witches. ha’, hall. hadden, held, gone. hae, have.