Chapter XIX: A Letter

"Has he so long held out with me untired,
And stops he now for breath?--Well--Be it so."

_Richard III._

Mowbray had no sooner left the Earl's apartment, than the latter commenced an epistle to a friend and associate, which we lay before the reader, as best calculated to illustrate the views and motives of the writer. It was addressed to Captain Jekyl, of the ---- regiment of Guards, at the Green Dragon, Harrowgate, and was of the following tenor:--

"Dear Harry,

"I have expected you here these ten days past, anxiously as ever man
was looked for; and have now to charge your absence as high treason
to your sworn allegiance. Surely you do not presume, like one of
Napoleon's new-made monarchs, to grumble for independence, as if
your greatness were of your own making, or as if I had picked you
out of the whole of St. James's coffee-house to hold my back-hand,
for your sake, forsooth, not for my own? Wherefore, lay aside all
your own proper business, be it the pursuit of dowagers, or the
plucking of pigeons, and instantly repair to this place, where I may
speedily want your assistance.--_May_ want it, said I? Why, most
negligent of friends and allies, I _have_ wanted it already, and
that when it might have done me yeoman's service. Know that I have
had an affair since I came hither--have got hurt myself, and have
nearly shot my friend; and if I had, I might have been hanged for
it, for want of Harry Jekyl to bear witness in my favour. I was so
far on my road to this place, when, not choosing, for certain
reasons, to pass through the old village, I struck by a footpath
into the woods which separate it from the new Spa, leaving my
carriage and people to go the carriage-way. I had not walked half a
mile when I heard the footsteps of some one behind, and, looking
round, what should I behold but the face in the world which I most
cordially hate and abhor--I mean that which stands on the shoulders
of my right trusty and well-beloved cousin and counsellor, Saint
Francis. He seemed as much confounded as I was at our unexpected
meeting; and it was a minute ere he found breath to demand what I
did in Scotland, contrary to my promise, as he was pleased to
express it.--I retaliated, and charged him with being here, in
contradiction to his.--He justified, and said he had only come down
upon the express information that I was upon my road to St.
Ronan's.--Now, Harry, how the devil should he have known this hadst
thou been quite faithful? for I am sure, to no ear but thine own did
I breathe a whisper of my purpose.--Next, with the insolent
assumption of superiority, which he founds on what he calls the
rectitude of his purpose, he proposed we should both withdraw from a
neighbourhood into which we could bring nothing but wretchedness.--I
have told you how difficult it is to cope with the calm and resolute
manner that the devil gifts him with on such occasions; but I was
determined he should not carry the day this time. I saw no chance
for it, however, but to put myself into a towering passion, which,
thank Heaven, I can always do on short notice.--I charged him with
having imposed formerly on my youth, and made himself judge of my
rights; and I accompanied my defiance with the strongest terms of
irony and contempt, as well as with demand of instant satisfaction.
I had my travelling pistols with me, (_et pour cause_,) and, to my
surprise, my gentleman was equally provided.--For fair play's sake,
I made him take one of my pistols--right Kuchenritters--a brace of
balls in each, but that circumstance I forgot.--I would fain have
argued the matter a little longer; but I thought at the time, and
think still, that the best arguments which he and I can exchange,
must come from the point of the sword, or the muzzle of the
pistol.--We fired nearly together, and I think both dropped--I am
sure I did, but recovered in a minute, with a damaged arm and a
scratch on the temple--it was the last which stunned me--so much for
double-loaded pistols.--My friend was invisible, and I had nothing
for it but to walk to the Spa, bleeding all the way like a calf, and
tell a raw-head-and-bloody-bone story about a footpad, which, but
for my earldom, and my gory locks, no living soul would have
believed.

"Shortly after, when I had been installed in a sick room, I had the
mortification to learn, that my own impatience had brought all this
mischief upon me, at a moment when I had every chance of getting rid
of my friend without trouble, had I but let him go on his own
errand; for it seems he had an appointment that morning with a booby
Baronet, who is said to be a bullet-slitter, and would perhaps have
rid me of Saint Francis without any trouble or risk on my part.
Meantime, his non-appearance at this rendezvous has placed Master
Francis Tyrrel, as he chooses to call himself, in the worst odour
possible with the gentry at the Spring, who have denounced him as a
coward and no gentleman.--What to think of the business myself, I
know not; and I much want your assistance to see what can have
become of this fellow, who, like a spectre of ill omen, has so often
thwarted and baffled my best plans. My own confinement renders me
inactive, though my wound is fast healing. Dead he cannot be; for,
had he been mortally wounded, we should have heard of him somewhere
or other--he could not have vanished from the earth like a bubble of
the elements. Well and sound he cannot be; for, besides that I am
sure I saw him stagger and drop, firing his pistol as he fell, I
know him well enough to swear, that, had he not been severely
wounded, he would have first pestered me with his accursed presence
and assistance, and then walked forward with his usual composure to
settle matters with Sir Bingo Binks. No--no--Saint Francis is none
of those who leave such jobs half finished--it is but doing him
justice to say, he has the devil's courage to back his own
deliberate impertinence. But then, if wounded severely, he must be
still in this neighbourhood, and probably in concealment--this is
what I must discover, and I want your assistance in my enquiries
among the natives.--Haste hither, Harry, as ever you look for good
at my hand.

"A good player, Harry, always studies to make the best of bad
cards--and so I have endeavoured to turn my wound to some account;
and it has given me the opportunity to secure Monsieur le Frere in
my interests. You say very truly, that it is of consequence to me to
know the character of this new actor on the disordered scene of my
adventures.--Know, then, he is that most incongruous of all
monsters--a Scotch Buck--how far from being buck of the season you
may easily judge. Every point of national character is opposed to
the pretensions of this luckless race, when they attempt to take on
them a personage which is assumed with so much facility by their
brethren of the Isle of Saints. They are a shrewd people, indeed,
but so destitute of ease, grace, pliability of manners, and
insinuation of address, that they eternally seem to suffer actual
misery in their attempts to look gay and careless. Then their pride
heads them back at one turn, their poverty at another, their
pedantry at a third, their _mauvaise honte_ at a fourth; and with
so many obstacles to make them bolt off the course, it is positively
impossible they should win the plate. No, Harry, it is the grave
folk in Old England who have to fear a Caledonian invasion--they
will make no conquests in the world of fashion. Excellent bankers
the Scots may be, for they are eternally calculating how to add
interest to principal;--good soldiers, for they are, if not such
heroes as they would be thought, as brave, I suppose, as their
neighbours, and much more amenable to discipline;--lawyers they are
born; indeed every country gentleman is bred one, and their patient
and crafty disposition enables them, in other lines, to submit to
hardships which other natives could not bear, and avail themselves
of advantages which others would let pass under their noses
unavailingly. But assuredly Heaven did not form the Caledonian for
the gay world; and his efforts at ease, grace, and gaiety, resemble
only the clumsy gambols of the ass in the fable. Yet the Scot has
his sphere too, (in his own country only,) where the character which
he assumes is allowed to pass current. This Mowbray, now--this
brother-in-law of mine--might do pretty well at a Northern Meeting,
or the Leith races, where he could give five minutes to the sport of
the day, and the next half hour to county politics, or to farming;
but it is scarce necessary to tell you, Harry, that this half
fellowship will not pass on the better side of the Tweed.

"Yet, for all I have told you, this trout was not easily tickled;
nor should I have made much of him, had he not, in the plenitude of
his northern conceit, entertained that notion of my being a good
subject of plunder, which you had contrived (blessings on your
contriving brain!) to insinuate into him by means of Wolverine. He
commenced this hopeful experiment, and, as you must have
anticipated, caught a Tartar with a vengeance. Of course, I used my
victory only so far as to secure his interest in accomplishing my
principal object; and yet, I could see my gentleman's pride was so
much injured in the course of the negotiation, that not all the
advantages which the match offered to his damned family, were able
entirely to subdue the chagrin arising from his defeat. He did gulp
it down, though, and we are friends and allies, for the present at
least--not so cordially so, however, as to induce me to trust him
with the whole of the strangely complicated tale. The circumstance
of the will it was necessary to communicate, as affording a
sufficiently strong reason for urging my suit; and this partial
disclosure enabled me for the present to dispense with farther
confidence.

"You will observe, that I stand by no means secure; and besides the
chance of my cousin's reappearance--a certain event, unless he is
worse than I dare hope for--I have perhaps to expect the fantastic
repugnance of Clara herself, or some sulky freak on her brother's
part.--In a word--and let it be such a one as conjurers raise the
devil with--Harry Jekyl, I _want_ you.

"As well knowing the nature of my friend, I can assure you that his
own interest, as well as mine, may be advanced by his coming hither
on duty. Here is a blockhead, whom I already mentioned, Sir Bingo
Binks, with whom something may be done worth _your_ while, though
scarce worth _mine_. The Baronet is a perfect buzzard, and when I
came here he was under Mowbray's training. But the awkward Scot had
plucked half-a-dozen penfeathers from his wing with so little
precaution, that the Baronet has become frightened and shy, and is
now in the act of rebelling against Mowbray, whom he both hates and
fears--the least backing from a knowing hand like you, and the bird
becomes your own, feathers and all.--Moreover,

----'by my life,
This Bingo hath a mighty pretty wife.'

A lovely woman, Harry--rather plump, and above the middle
size--quite your taste--A Juno in beauty, looking with such scorn on
her husband, whom she despises and hates, and seeming, as if she
_could_ look so differently on any one whom she might like better,
that, on my faith, 'twere sin not to give her occasion. If you
please to venture your luck, either with the knight or the lady, you
shall have fair play, and no interference--that is, provided you
appear upon this summons; for, otherwise, I may be so placed, that
the affairs of the knight and the lady may fall under my own
immediate cognizance. And so, Harry, if you wish to profit by these
hints, you had best make haste, as well for your own concerns, as to
assist me in mine.--Yours, Harry, as you behave yourself,

"ETHERINGTON."

Having finished this eloquent and instructive epistle, the young Earl demanded the attendance of his own valet Solmes, whom he charged to put it into the post-office without delay, and with his own hand.

AUTHOR'S NOTES.

Note I., p. 14.--BUILDING-FEUS IN SCOTLAND.

In Scotland a village is erected upon a species of landright, very different from the copyhold so frequent in England. Every alienation or sale of landed property must be made in the shape of a feudal conveyance, and the party who acquires it holds thereby an absolute and perfect right of property in the fief, while he discharges the stipulations of the vassal, and, above all, pays the feu-duties. The vassal or tenant of the site of the smallest cottage holds his possession as absolutely as the proprietor, of whose large estate it is perhaps scarce a perceptible portion. By dint of excellent laws, the sasines, or deeds of delivery of such fiefs, are placed on record in such order, that every burden affecting the property can be seen for payment of a very moderate fee; so that a person proposing to lend money upon it, knows exactly the nature and extent of his security.

From the nature of these landrights being so explicit and secure, the Scottish people have been led to entertain a jealousy of building-leases, of however long duration. Not long ago, a great landed proprietor took the latter mode of disposing of some ground near a thriving town in the west country. The number of years in the lease was settled at nine hundred and ninety-nine. All was agreed to, and the deeds were ordered to be drawn. But the tenant, as he walked down the avenue, began to reflect that the lease, though so very long as to be almost perpetual, nevertheless had a termination; and that after the lapse of a thousand years, lacking one, the connexion of his family and representatives with the estate would cease. He took a qualm at the thought of the loss to be sustained by his posterity a thousand years hence; and going back to the house of the gentleman who feued the ground, he demanded, and readily obtained, the additional term of fifty years to be added to the lease.

Note II., p. 90.--DARK LADYE.

The Dark Ladye is one of those tantalizing fragments, in which Mr. Coleridge has shown us what exquisite powers of poetry he has suffered to remain uncultivated. Let us be thankful for what we have received, however. The unfashioned ore, drawn from so rich a mine, is worth all to which art can add its highest decorations, when drawn from less abundant sources. The verses beginning the poem which are published separately, are said to have soothed the last hours of Mr. Fox. They are the stanzas entitled LOVE.

Note III., p. 252.--MAGO-PICO.

This satire, very popular even in Scotland, at least with one party, was composed at the expense of a reverend presbyterian divine, of whom many stories are preserved, being Mr. Pyet, the Mago-Pico of the Tale, minister of Dunbar. The work is now little known in Scotland, and not at all in England, though written with much strong and coarse humour, resembling the style of Arbuthnot. It was composed by Mr. Haliburton, a military chaplain. The distresses attending Mago-Pico's bachelor life, are thus stated:--

"At the same time I desire you will only figure out to yourself his
situation during his celibacy in the ministerial charge--a house
lying all heaps upon heaps; his bed ill-made, swarming with fleas,
and very cold on the winter nights; his sheep's-head not to be eaten
for wool and hair, his broth singed, his bread mouldy, his lamb and
pig all scouthered, his house neither washed nor plastered; his
black stockings darned with white worsted above the shoes; his
butter made into cat's harns; his cheese one heap of mites and
maggots, and full of large avenues for rats and mice to play at
hide-and-seek and make their nests in. Frequent were the admonitions
he had given his maid-servants on this score, and every now and then
he was turning them off; but still the last was the worst, and in
the meanwhile the poor man was the sufferer. At any rate, therefore,
matrimony must turn to his account, though his wife should prove to
be nothing but a creature of the feminine gender, with a tongue in
her head, and ten fingers on her hands, to clear out the papers of
the housemaid, not to mention the convenience of a man's having it
in his power lawfully to beget sons and daughters in his own
house."--_Memoirs of Mago-Pico. Second edition. Edinburgh_, 1761, p.
19.

EDITOR'S NOTES.

[I-A] p. 1. "David M'Pherson's map." In his "Geographical History," London, 4to, 1796.

[I-B] p. 11. "Jenny Dods ... at Howgate." Scott admitted to Erskine that the name of "Dods" was borrowed from this slatternly heroine.

[I-C] p. 33. "He was nae Roman, but only a Cuddie, or Culdee." Some Scottish Protestants took pride in believing that their Kirk descended from Culdees, who were not of the Roman Communion. The Culdees have given rise to a world of dispute, and he would be a bold man who pretended to understand their exact position. The name seems to be _Cele De_, "servant [gillie] of God." They were not Columban monks, but fill a gap between the expulsion of the Columbans by the Picts, and the Anglicising and Romanising of the Scottish Church by St. Margaret and her sons. Originally solitary ascetics, they clustered into groups, and, if we are to believe their supplanters at St. Andrews, the Canons Regular, they were married men, and used church property for family profit. Their mass they celebrated with a rite of their own, in their little church. They were gradually merged in, and overpowered at St. Andrews, for example, by the Canons Regular, and are last heard of in prosecuting a claim to elect the Bishop, at the time of Edward the First's interference with Scottish affairs. The points on which they differed from Roman practice would probably have seemed very insignificant to such a theologian as Meg Dods.

[I-D] p. 47. "Fortunio, in the fairy-tale." The gifted companions of Fortunio, Keen-eye, Keen-ear, and so forth, are very old stock characters in Märchen: their first known appearance is in the saga of Jason and the Fleece of Gold.

[I-E] p. 169. "The sportsman's sense of his own cruelty." In the reminiscences of Captain Basil Hall, published by Lockhart, he mentions that Scott himself had a dislike of shooting, from a sentiment as to the cruelty of the sport. "I was never quite at ease when I had knocked down my blackcock, and going to pick him up he cast back his dying eye with a look of reproach. I don't affect to be more squeamish than my neighbours, but I am not ashamed to say that no practice ever reconciled me fully to the cruelty of the affair. At all events, now that I can do as I like without fear of ridicule, I take more pleasure in seeing the birds fly past me unharmed." (Lockhart, vii. 331.)

[I-F] p. 240. "Tintock." A hill on the Upper Tweed, celebrated in local rhyme as--

On Tintock tap there is a mist,
And in the mist there is a kist,
And in the kist there is a cap,
And in the cap there is a drap.
Tak' up the cap, drink out the drap,
And set it down on Tintock tap.

[I-G] p. 245. "Donald Cargill." See Editor's Notes to "Redgauntlet." Howie of Lochgoin says Cargill was executed in Edinburgh, not at Queensferry, as stated here.

ANDREW LANG _December 1893._

GLOSSARY.

A', all

"A. B. Memorial," a legal statement which does not give the names of the parties concerned.

Abee, alone.

Ae, one.

Aff, off.

Afterhend, afterwards.

Ain, own.

Airn, iron.

Ajee, awry.

Amaist, almost.

Andrew Ferrara, a sword.

Ane, one.

Assoilzie, to acquit.

Asteer, astir.

Atween, between.

Aught, possession; to own, to possess.

Auld, old. "Auld lang syne," the days of long ago.

Aw, all.

Awa, away.

Awing, owing, or bill.

Awmry, a cupboard.

Bairn, a child.

Baith, both.

Ballant, a ballad.

Bane, a bone.

Bangster, a victor

Bawbee, a halfpenny.

Bee--"to hae a bee in one's bonnet," to be harebrained.

Beltane, a festival on the first of May, hence Whitsuntide.

"Bent, to take the," to provide for one's safety, to flee country.

Bide, to stay, to remain; to bear, to endure.

Bigg, to build.

Bind, one's ability or power.

Bink, a plate-rack.

Birl, to turn, to toss.

"Blaw in my lug," a flatterer.

Blude, bluid, blood.

Bodle, a small copper coin.

Bogle, a scarecrow.

Bombazine, the silk and worsted stuff of which a lawyer's gown was made.

Bonnet-laird, a small proprietor or freeholder who farms his own land.

"Bow Street runners," London detectives.

Braw, brave, fine.

Bruick, possessed.

"By ordinar," out of the common run.

Ca', to call. Ca'd, called.

Callant, a lad.

Caller, fresh.

Canna, cannot.

Cantle, the crown of the head.

Canty, lively, cheerful.

Capillaire, a syrup made from maidenhair fern.

Cappie, a kind of beer.

Carle, a fellow.

Carline, a witch.

Carvy, carraway.

Cauld, cold.

Cheek-haffit, side of the cheek.

Chucky, a pebble.

Claithes, clothes.

Claver, gossip.

Claw, to beat.

Cleck, clack or hatch.

Cleeket, cleiket, caught, ensnared, taken.

Clink, to chime, to rhyme.

Clouted, patched, and so strengthened.

Cock-a-leeky, cockie-leekie, soup made of a cock boiled with leeks.

Cock-bree, cock-broth.

Cockernonnie, a top-knot.

Cogue, a wooden measure.

Condiddling, appropriating.

Courie, cowry, a shell used as money in parts of Southern Asia and Africa.

Coventry. To send one to Coventry is to refuse to have anything to do with him socially, not even to speak to him.

Cowt, a colt.

Craig, a rock.

Crap, a wig of rough short hair.

Craw, a crow.

Cuitle, to wheedle.

Cumbers, drawbacks, vexations.

Cutty, a jade.

Daffing, frolicking.

Daft, crazy.

Daur, to dare.

"Day, the," to-day.

Decerniture, a decree of the court.

Deil, the devil. "Deil's buckie," devil's imp.

Deleerit, distracted.

Diet-loaf, a kind of spongecake.

Dinna, don't.

Doited, dotard.

Donnart, stupid.

Dookit, ducked.

Douce, quiet, sensible.

Dought, was able.

Doun, down.

Dowcot, a dovecot.

Drap, a drop.

Drappie, a drop of spirits.

Dree'd, endured.

Drogs, drugs.

Dung, knocked, beaten.

Ee, the eye

Een, eyes.

Eneugh, enough.

Fa'an, fallen.

Fash, trouble.

Fashious, troublesome.

Faut, fault.

Feck, part, the greater part.

Feckless, spiritless.

Fend, defence.

Fern-seed. Certain kinds were supposed to render invisible those who carried it on their person.

Feuar, one who holds lands in feu--_i.e._, on lease.

File, foul.

Flee, a fly.

Fleeching, flattering.

Flesher, a butcher.

Flichtering, fluttering, fussing.

Flight--"hail flight," the whole lot.

Flyting, scolding.

Follies, ornaments, laces, &c.

Forbears, ancestors.

Forby, besides.

Fou, full.

Fouest, fullest.

Frae, from.

Fu', full.

Fule, a fool.

Gaed, went.

Gaen, gone.

Galliard, sprightly.

Gane, gone.

Gang, go.

Ganging, going.

Gar, to force, to make.

Gate, way, direction.

Gaun, going.

Geisen'd, leaking.

Gie, give.

Gill-flirt, a giddy flirt.

Girning, crabbed, ill-tempered.

Gled, a kite.

Gnostic, knowing, sharp.

Gomeril, an ass, a fool.

Goupin, a double handful.

Gowd, gold.

Gowk, a fool.

Gree, to agree.

Grosert, a gooseberry.

Gude, good.

Gudes, possessions, property.

Gully, a large knife.

Ha', a hall.

Hae, have.

Hail, haill, whole.

Harns, brains.

Haud, hold. "Neither to haud nor to bind," a proverbial phrase expressive of violent excitement.

Haugh, low-lying flat ground, properly on the border of a river, and such as is sometimes overflowed.

Haverils, foolish chatterers.

Heather-tap, a tuft or bunch of heather.

Hellicate, giddy, wild.

Hempie, roguish, romping.

Het, hot.

Holm, the level low ground on the banks of a river.

Hooly, softly, slowly.

Hotch, to jerk oneself along in a sitting posture.

Hottle, an hotel.

"Hout fie! hout awa!" expressions of dissatisfaction.

Howff, a favourite resort.

Howk, to dig.

Hurley-hacket, a badly hung carriage.

Huzzie, a jade.

Ilk, ilka, each, every.

I'se, I shall.

Jaugs, saddle bags.

Jer-falcon, a species of hawk.

Jirbling, emptying liquids from vessel to vessel.

Kale, broth.

Ken, to know.

Ken'd, knew.

Kitchen-fee, dripping.

Kittle, to tickle, to manage.

Kittled, were born.

Knap, to break in two; also, to speak after the manner of the English.

Kouscousou, a Moorish dish of various compounds.

Laird, a squire, lord of the manor.

Lamer, amber.

Landlouper, a charlatan, an adventurer.

Lang, long.

Lave, the remainder.

Lawing, a tavern reckoning.

Lea-rig, unploughed land or hill-side.

Lee, a lie.

Leeving, living.

"Let abee," let alone.

Lick, to beat, to overcome.

Linking, walking arm in arm.

Linkit, linked.

"Link out," to pay down smartly.

Lippen, to trust.

Loon, a fellow, a person.

Loot, allowed.

Loup, leap.

Lug, the ear.

Mailing, a farm.

Mair, more.

Maist, most.

Mansworn, perjured.

Mask, to brew.

Maun, must. Maunna, must not.

Mawkin, a hare.

Mazareen, mazarin, a deep blue colour.

Meith, a mark.

Mell, to maul, to meddle with.

"Minced collops," meat cut up very fine.

Mind, to remember.

Muckle, much.

Muir, a moor.

Multiplepoinding, a method of settling rival claims to the same fund.

Multure, the miller's fee for grinding grain.

Murgeons, mouths, distorted gestures.

Mutch, a woman's cap.

Mutchkin, a measure equal to an English pint.

Na, nae, no, not.

Naig, a nag.

Neist, next.

Odd-come-shortlies, chance times not far off.

Ony, any.

Or, before. "Or they wan hame," before they get home.

Ower, over.

Owerta'en, overtaken.

Palinode, in Scotch libel cases a formal recantation exacted in addition to damages.

Parritch, porridge.

Pat, put.

Pawky, shrewd.

Pice, an Indian coin.

Plack, a small copper coin = 1/3_d._

Pock, a poke, a bag.

Poney, £25.

Pootry, poultry.

Pow, the head.

Pownie, a pony.

Prieve, proof, legal probation.

Puir, poor.

Pyot, a magpie.

Quaigh, a whisky measure.

Raff, a worthless fellow, a nobody.

Rattan, a cane or walking-stick.

Rax, to stretch.

Redd, to tidy. "An ill-red-up house," an untidy house.

Reekie, smoky.

Reise-sac, a travelling-bag.

Rin, run.

Rouleau, a roll of coined money.

Row, roll.

Sae, so.

Sair, sore.

"Salam alicum!" The usual Mohammedan greeting, meaning, Peace be with you!

Sall, shall.

Sasine, a mode of investiture in lands, according to ancient Scottish law.

Saumon, salmon.

Sax, six.

Scart, scratch.

Scate-rumple, skate-tail.

"Scauff and raff," tag-rag and bobtail.

Sclate, slate.

Scouthered, slightly toasted or singed.

Seeven, seven.

Shave, a slice.

Shool, a shovel.

Shouther, the shoulder.

Sib, related by blood.

Sic, such.

Siller, money.

Skeely, skilful.

Skylarked, tricked.

Slaister, a mess.

Sloan, a rebuff.

Smoor, to smother.

Snap, a small biscuit.

Sneck-drawing, crafty.

Snooded, bound up with a snood or fillet for the hair.

Sorn, to spunge, to live upon.

Sort, to arrange, to manage.

Sough, a sigh. "To keep a calm sough," to keep a quiet tongue.

Speer, to inquire.

Steer, stir.

Steered, disturbed.

Streekit, stretched (applied to a corpse).

Suld, should.

Syllabub, a curd made of wins or cider with milk or cream.

Synd, to rinse.

Syne, since, ago.

Tailzie, a bond of entail.

Tane, the one.

Tappet-hen, a large measure of claret holding three magnums or Scots pints.

Tauld, told.

Taupie, tawpie, an awkward girl, a tomboy.

Thae, these, those.

Thrawn, thwarted or twisted.

Threepit, averred, persisted.

Till't, to it.

Tither, the other.

Toom, empty.

Topping, excellent.

Trankums, flimsy ornaments, laces, &c.

Trewed, believed.

Twa, two.

Twal, twelve.

Unco, very, particular, uncommon.

Vilipend, to slight, to undervalue.

Wad, would.

Wadna, would not.

Wae, woful, sad.

Walth, wealth.

Wame-fou, bellyful.

"Wan to," reached.

Warld, world.

Waur, worse.

Weel, well.

Weird, destiny.

Wha, who.

"What for no?" why not?

Wheen, a few.

Whiles, sometimes.

Whilk, which.

Whully-whaing, flattery.

Wi', with.

Winna, will not.

Wud, mad. "Ance wud and aye waur," increasing in insanity--applied to one who, being in a passion, still waxes more furious.

Wull, will.

Wuss, wish.

Yanking, smart, active.

Yont, beyond.

ST. RONAN'S WELL.

A merry place, 'tis said, in days of yore;
But something ails it now,--the place is cursed.

WORDSWORTH.

ST. RONAN'S WELL.