BY-WAYS OF SCOTTISH HISTORY.

Hokitika Guardian, 9 March 1920, Page 4

BY-WAYS OF SCOTTISH HISTORY.

M. Louis A. Barbe, an Officer of the Academic Francaise. is an assiduous explorer of the by-ways of the Scottish past, and “Sidelights on the History, Industries, and Social Rife of Scotland” embodies the fruits of his research. This contains all manner of quaint and out-of-the-way information which M. Barbe has rescued from ancient records. Few, for instance, are aware of the part that artillery played in the battle of Flodden Field. James had quite a formidable equipment; some of his guns were so heavy that they required thirty-six oxen to drag them and their drivers collected handsome sums as “drink-silver.” But l when they reached Flodden Field James deliberately threw away a splendid opportunity. The master gunner came to him, and, falling on his knees, asked for permission to destroy the bridge which the English were crossing. In that way the Scotch could dispose of half the English army, while the other half remained impotent on the other side. But the King answered “like one reft of his wit, saying ‘I shall hang thee, quarter thee, and draw thee if thou shoot one shot this day. I am determined that I will have them all before me on a plain field, and see then what they can do all against me.’ ” Magnificent perhaps, hut not war, and the King paid dearly 'for his folly.

History repeats itself. In the middle of the 16th century there was great scarcity of food in Scotland, and the Scottish Parliament sought to regulate supplies by price fixing and rationing. An elaborate scale Was drawn, up, grading each man’s diet by his social position. Thus, earls and archbishops migli, have for dinner eight courses, and no more; lords and deans, whose appetites were apparently presumed to be smaller, were limited to six, while a mere burgess had to stave off the pangs of hunger as best he could with three courses. The statutory price for a rabbit was twelve-pence, that of a hare two-pence, while fame geese had to be sold at sixteen-pence. Later on “meatless days” were ordained, and “the' licentious eating of flesh” more than' fdur times' a week was prohibited unless' on a certificate from a doctor of minister of religion. There is an interesting chapter on the history of coal-mining' in Scotland, which was apparently the -first country in Europe to work coal. Ori the Continent people seeni to have been quite unacquainted .with its properties which were a standing cause of amazement to travellers. Early in the 15th century Aeneas Silvius, an Italian visiting Scotland, described how he had seen poor persons who “almost in a state of nakedness begged at the church door and departed with joy in their faces on receiving stories as alms.” And by wajr of . explanation , for the benefit of those who might reasonably suspect him, of romancing he adds, “this stone, by raison either of some sulphurous or some fatty matter, which it contained was burned instead of wood.” It was the, practice for the miners to bind themselves to their employers for a term of years, during which their condition .was little better than that of slaves. To prevent drunkenness and debauchery in which they were alleged to indulge at certain times of the year, it was enacted that they should work six days a week while miners combining “to leave off working in order to distress or injure tlio proprietor, or in order to compel him to increase their wages,” were punished by being made to serve two years beyond the time when they would have been entitled to their free- t dom.” One wonders how such a state • of affairs would appeal to the independent gentlemen of to-day who agitate i for a 30-hour week and have adopted f i Lord Jellicoe’s maxim of striking hard and often.