MR BATHGATE ON "OLD TIMES IN SCOTLAND."

Evening Star, Issue 3532, 18 June 1874, Page 2

MR BATHGATE ON "OLD TIMES IN SCOTLAND."

[We continue our report from yesterday’s issue.] Che sudden failure of the war-demand for a vast variety of articles was not compensated by the recovery of auy peace market, foreign or domestic j and thousands of artisans were thrown out of employment and reduced to a state of extreme want. Tneir sufferings were augmented by a rapid rise in the once of corn, the consequence of a general failure in the harvests of Europe, and conspiracy, rick burning, and seditious meetings followed. The Government ot the day was blamed for all that happened, and there were loud demands for Parliamentary retorm, in Scotland such a reform was urgently needed, tn the burghs the members were returned by delegates appointed by the town Councils. Some burghs generally were associated together, and a delegate from each met at the returning burgh and returned the candidate. It is now believed hat both the Government and the people were deceived by designing men, who turned the sufferings of the working classes to their •>wn advantage, and encouraged sedition that they might me d their own fortune by ivmg exaggerated information to tho Government. There were no newspapers, in the modern acceptation of the word. or want of news, events of a very ancient date had interest. In Peebles, lam Fleck, a j ohield, ’ as he was considered, added tq his gains by going about in the evenings and reading a. chapter at the humble firesides out of an old copy of Josephus. “Weel, Tam. what’s the news the nicht; the old grandfather, seated in his wooden arm-chair, would ask. ‘-Rad news, bad news,” replied Tam, “.Titus has begun to beseige Jerusalem. Its gauu to be a terrible business.*’ William Chambers narrates his being present at such a seance, and how the family was kept in an a ß on y for a week by the horrors nof the seige, until the fiual sack of the city wrought them up into a perfect paroxysm of terror. The want of newspapers was partially supplied by the gathering of the congregations m the kirkyard previous to and after divine service, when a good deal of gossip and busi ness took place. A lady hiring a servant girl stipulated for her return home on Sunday immediately after service. “Then I canna engadge wi’ you, mem,” she replied ; “ for ’deed 1 wadna’ gie the crack i’ the kirkyard for a’ the sermon,” In a later time a roiigh subject residing in Galloway being taken to “task for absenting himself from Church, rgiparked:—“ There’s nae need to gang to kirk boo’, for everybody gets a newspaper.” The lecturer then gave a history of the life of William Chamhers, the founder of ‘Chambers’s Journal.’ Then, having referred to the hard work and long hours of labor of our forefathers, be proceeded as follows After William resolved to call no man master, he took asmail shop in Leith Ward at a yearly rent of LlO After from three to four years existence in the Walk, higher ventures were made, and m the spring of 1823 William removed to a good shop in Broughton street. Robert had advanced to India Place, They now rose rapidly. Robert’s early effort, the publication of “The Traditions of Edinburgh,” attracted great attention, but the great hit was the projection of - (Jhamber’s Journal’ in 1832, by William. Robert, seeing its success left the editorship of the ‘ Edinburgh Advertiser’ and joined his brother in the world-re-nowned firm of W. and R. Chambers. They had then a shop in N. Hanover street. Con siderable mechanical difficulty was experienced in supplying the demand. John Johnatone, afiae old man, thehuabaud of authoress of “ Clan Albyn,” was the printer. Relays ®f men working at hand presses in various parts of the city could not overtake the work. Sets ' of stereotype plates were at'length sent' weekly to London, and after three years the 1 circulation rose to 60,000. They finally estabfished themselves in spacious premises in i High street, where, with twelve printing

machines at work, and a complete staff of able literary assistants, a whole host of printers, engravers, binders, stereotypers, and other laborers,, they issued to the world a daily stream of 50,000 sheets m various departments of literature i conductof tllat business the brothers laid down throe rules, which were inflexibly maintained ; never to take credit; never to grve a bill ; and never to discount one. It is with regret that one sees the old distinctive peculiarities passing away. Hailways, the telegraph, the cheap Press, the development of arts and manufactures—are fast assimilating the dialects of Britain into . ■ Thc old Done is vanishing into oblivion. In the beginning of the century a boy at school would scarcely understand pure English. The leading principles of the Scotch law, founded on the Roman civil law, are the same as the old French and the Continental countries. The public prosecutor of France—Procureur de Hoi -is found m the Scottish Procurator-Fiscal, and the Dean of Faculty has his analogies in France In Scotland wo seldom hear of a leg of mutton, but a gigot. The water-jug is a caraff, carafe ; gooseberries, groserts, groseule ; partridges, perfcrickv ptrd.ix ■ large-plate, ashet, assiette ; dour, obstinate, dore; douce, mild, dowse; dorty, sulky, dourere ; vizzy, to aim at, vieer ; 'aumrie, press, almorie ; and many others. The special holidays of the people are fast fading away. The English Christmas and Boxing Day are superseding the kindly hospitalities of Hogmanay, New Year’s Day. and Handsel Monday. Hogmanay was the last day of the year, when the children used to go from door to door crying out—

Hogmanay, trollalay. Give of your white bread and none of your grey. The whisky bottle, " The’ First Fit,” are all now of the past. Many a rankling soro was healed in families, and many a friendship cemented by the interchange of courtesy on New, Year a Day. At one time, the New Year s Hay iu large towns was attended with rioting and disorder, so that it was unsafe to walk the streets. In 1812, a police officer was killed in Edinburgh in such a brawl, and three fine young men were hanged for the crime on one gallows. This awfuj event created a great sensation, and led to the establishment of Sunday Schools in various parts of the City. An Edinburgh mob was always troublesome. You all know the story of the Porteous mob, and I recollect so late as, 1831, just before the Reform Bill passed, when the last election by the Town Council took place, Lord Provost Allan, on retiring from the Council, was, with difficulty, saved being thrown over the North Bridge by the timely arrival of troop of dragoons. Peace to those old times. We need not forget, while in the laud of our adop? tiou, our national dishes. A good haggis should still be a standard dish on St. Andrew’s Day. A singit sheep’s head is worthy of some attention - and about a sheep’s head pie a sensible person observed, there is a great deal of “confused eating.” [The lecturer compared northern with southern cookery, giving preference to the former, apparently in a truly national spirit.] Many curious social habits might be alluded to, and before I close, I must allude to the hard drinking which prevailed. Lords of Session mounted the Bench in a doubtful state, and even clergymen went home in early morning after a long carouse. One of Lord Newton’s clerks declared the best paper bis master ever wrote was after he had imbibed six bottles of claret. When he was Mr Hay, one of his clients called at four o clock to see him. He was surprised to find him at dinner, and said to the servant he understood five to he Mr Hay's dinner-hour. *' but, Sir,” said the man, “ it is his yesterday’s dinner they’re at.” Last century ladies, even, were not afraid of an oyster supper with rather strong stimulants ; and it is related of Lord Melville, the Duchess of Gordon, and several other persons of distinction, that so late’ as eighty years ago they made up an oyster-cellar party in dinburgh by way of a frolic, and levived the well-known entertainment of their youth. A writer iu the ‘Edinburgh Magazine,’ in 1817, states that in those old times “ though it was a disgrace for ladies to be seen drunk, yet it was none to be a little intoxicated in good company.” Taverns were universally frequented. “ A cauld cook and a feather” was the metaphorical mode of calling for a glass of brandy and a bunch of raisins for a noontide dram. At night everyone repaired to his club. The Cape club was a famous tradesman’s place ©f meeting. The Poker (Jlub was celebrated. There was the Rosy Club, so named from the equivoke on Pyehouse. A gill of toddy and a pie were the nightly debauch, and the members separated punctually at ten. 1 The Spendthrift Club took its name from the extravagance of the evening’s reckoning, which invariably amounted to fourpence halfpenny—being 2d’ for supper, and half a bottle of ale and a dram, which cost 2id There were the Dirty Club, the Black Wigs, the Udd Fellows (whe wrote their names upside down), the Bonnet Hands, the Town Market Club, and many others which survived throughout the first quarter of this century.' The drinking at funerals was very denp, and Lord Brougham relates a story of his grandfather’s funeral orgies which was so protracted that the coffin wag lost, and in 1846 he saw the lead coffin, on the vault being opened, battered and bulged from being tumbled down the s*eep banks of the Lament. It was on this occasion the Duke of Norfolk gave the toast—“ Friends and neighbors,’ before I give’ you the toast of the day—the memory of the deceased -I ask you to drink to the health of the family physician, Dr Harrison, the founder of the feast.” Tno epoch which was marked with such quaint features, can boast of the establishment of the * Edinburgh Review,’ by a Diuid. of literati whoso names are famous —Jeffrey, Horner, Murray, Thomson, Brougham, and Sydney Smith. Perhaps no periodical has ever had greater influence in bringing about social changes. When it started, in 1802, Parliamentary representation in Scotland had scarcely an existence—the Catholics were uuemancipated, the Test Act unrepealed, men wire hung for stealing a aGW shillings in a dwelling house, no conned allowed to a prisoner accused of a capital offence, the horrors of the slave trade tolerated, the prevailing tendencies of the age jobbery and corruption The promoters lived to see the bread cast upon the waters return after many days, and their noble efforts to purify the political atmosphere crowned with success. Amid all that may appear to us as singularities, there was in the gieat mass of the people, especially in some rural districts, a deep earnest feeling of religion. “The voice of Psalms” might be heard pealing heavenward from the wayside cot m the gleamin’ of a calm summer evening. The “Cottar’s Saturday Night” is not exaggerated. The middle and humbler g * ** Presbyterianism they inherited from the heroes of the Reformation and the Covenant. The Haldanes did much to promote independency in the beginning of the century, and the Wesleyans have not been slack in their labors. But those deneruinations have not taken deep root. The simple earnest form of the Scottish worship, with the rugged literature of Steruhold and kms > + 7 ere adapted to the spiritual wants of the people. It is refreshing to me to look back to the fading visions of the past. I ® an wish a good wish to this fair land, worthy of being apostrophised in the langua S® addressed to the mother country— • Land of the mountain and the flood— I Land of brown heath and shaggy wood— I

it is that her children, reared in a finer climate, and in more favorable eiroumstances than their grandfathers, may excel in the fervor of their genius, the exalted character of their patriotism, their attachment to learn* ing and religion, their love of honor and independence, the glorious roll of their honored countrymen, who, in every walk of life, and in every part of the world, have shed lustre on the name of a Scotsman.