by Walter Scott
NOTES TO VOLUME 2
NOTE 1, p. 93
The roads of Liddesdale, in Dandie Dinmont's days, could not be said toexist, and the district was only accessible through a succession oftremendous morasses. About thirty years ago the author himself was thefirst person who ever drove a little open carriage into these wilds,the excellent roads by which they are now traversed being then in someprogress. The people stared with no small wonder at a sight which manyof them had never witnessed in their lives before.
NOTE 2, p. 102
The Tappit Hen contained three quarts of claret--
Weel she loed a Hawick gill, And leugh to see a tappit hen.
I have seen one of these formidable stoups at Provost Haswell's, atJedburgh, in the days of yore It was a pewter measure, the claret beingin ancient days served from the tap, and had the figure of a hen uponthe lid. In later times the name was given to a glass bottle of thesame dimensions. These are rare apparitions among the degenerate topersof modern days.
NOTE 3, p. 102
The account given by Mr. Pleydell of his sitting down in the midst of arevel to draw an appeal case was taken from a story told me by an agedgentleman of the elder President Dundas of Amiston (father of theyounger President and of Lord Melville). It had been thought verydesirable, while that distinguished lawyer was king's counsel, that hisassistance should be obtained in drawing an appeal case, which, asoccasion for such writings then rarely occurred, was held to be matterof great nicety. The solicitor employed for the appellant, attended bymy informant acting as his clerk, went to the Lord Advocate's chambersin the Fishmarket Close, as I think. It was Saturday at noon, the Courtwas just dismissed, the Lord Advocate had changed his dress and bootedhimself, and his servant and horses were at the foot of the close tocarry him to Arniston. It was scarcely possible to get him to listen toa word respecting business. The wily agent, however, on pretence ofasking one or two questions, which would not detain him half an hour,drew his Lordship, who was no less an eminent ban vivant than a lawyerof unequalled talent, to take a whet at a celebrated tavern, when thelearned counsel became gradually involved in a spirited discussion ofthe law points of the case. At length it occurred to him that he mightas well ride to Arniston in the cool of the evening. The horses weredirected to be put in the stable, but not to be unsaddled. Dinner wasordered, the law was laid aside for a time, and the bottle circulatedvery freely. At nine o'clock at night, after he had been honouringBacchus for so many hours, the Lord Advocate ordered his horses to beunsaddled; paper, pen, and ink were brought; he began to dictate theappeal case, and continued at his task till four o'clock the nextmorning. By next day's post the solicitor sent the case to London, achef-d'oeuvre of its kind; and in which, my informant assured me, itwas not necessary on revisal to correct five words. I am not,therefore, conscious of having overstepped accuracy in describing themanner in which Scottish lawyers of the old time occasionally unitedthe worship of Bacchus with that of Themis. My informant was AlexanderKeith, Esq., grandfather to my friend, the present Sir Alexander Keithof Ravelstone, and apprentice at the time to the writer who conductedthe cause.
NOTE 4, p. 180
We must again have recourse to the contribution to Blackwood'sMagazine, April 1817:--
'To the admirers of good eating, gipsy cookery seems to have little torecommend it. I can assure you, however, that the cook of a nobleman ofhigh distinction, a person who never reads even a novel without an eyeto the enlargement of the culinary science, has added to the "Almanachdes Gourmands" a certain Potage a la Meg Merrilies de Derndeugh,consisting of game and poultry of all kinds, stewed with vegetablesinto a soup, which rivals in savour and richness the gallant messes ofCamacho's wedding; and which the Baron of Bradwardine would certainlyhave reckoned among the epulae lautiores.'
The artist alluded to in this passage is Mons. Florence, cook to Henryand Charles, late Dukes of Buccleuch, and of high distinction in hisprofession.
NOTE 5, p. 212
The Burnet whose taste for the evening meal of the ancients is quotedby Mr. Pleydellwas the celebrated metaphysician and excellent man, LordMonboddo, whose coenae will not be soon forgotten by those who haveshared his classic hospitality. As a Scottish judge he took thedesignation of his family estate. His philosophy, as is well known, wasof a fanciful and somewhat fantastic character; but his learning wasdeep, and he was possessed of a singular power of eloquence, whichreminded the hearer of the os rotundum of the Grove or Academe.Enthusiastically partial to classical habits, his entertainments werealways given in the evening, when there was a circulation of excellentBourdeaux, in flasks garlanded with roses, which were also strewed onthe table after the manner of Horace. The best society, whether inrespect 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 withwhich he defended his fanciful paradoxes, the kind and liberal spiritof his hospitality, must render these noctes coenaeque dear to all who,like the author (though then young), had the honour of sitting at hisboard.
NOTE 6, p. 215
It is probably true, as observed by Counsellor Pleydell, that alawyer's anxiety about his case, supposing him to have been some timein practice, will seldom disturb his rest or digestion. Clients will,however, sometimes fondly entertain a different opinion. I was told byan excellent judge, now no more, of a country gentleman who, addressinghis 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 forthinking of it; nor, I daresay, your Lordship either.'
NOTE 7, p. 235
Whistling, among the tenantry of a large estate, is when an individualgives such information to the proprietor or his managers as to occasionthe rent of his neighbour's farms being raised, which, for obviousreasons, is held a very unpopular practice.
NOTE 8, p. 286
This hard word is placed in the mouth of one of the aged tenants. Inthe old feudal tenures the herezeld constituted the best horse or otheranimal on the vassals' lands, become the right of the superior. Theonly remnant of this custom is what is called the sasine, or a fee ofcertain estimated value, paid to the sheriff of the county, who givespossession to the vassals of the crown.
NOTE 9, p. 301
This mode of securing prisoners was universally practised in Scotlandafter condemnation. When a man received sentence of death he was putupon THE GAD, as it was called, that is, secured to the bar of iron inthe manner mentioned in the text. The practice subsisted in Edinburghtill the old jail was taken down some years since, and perhaps may bestill in use.
