Reminiscences of Scottish Life and CharacterTicknor and Fields, 1860 - 297 pages |
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Aberdeen Aberdeenshire Allan Ramsay amongst amusing anec anecdote answer Arbroath asked auld Banchory betheral better called canna Castlemilk character church claret clergyman convivial Corntown Cupar deil deil's dinna dinner domestic Douglas's Publications drinking Edinburgh Edmonston and Douglas's English Erskine expression father fcap feeling Forfarshire frae gentleman glass Glenorchy gude habits heard housie humour illustration Jenny Robertson John kirk laird language late looking Lord Cockburn mair manner mark maun minister Montrose mony ne'er neighbours never observed occasion old lady old Scottish old servant parish party passed peculiarities persons preach proverbs pulpit quaint recollect religious remark reminiscences replied scenes Scotch Scotland Scottish language Scottish proverbs Sir Walter Scott society speak specimens story tell there's thing thought tion told took Weel whisky woman words
Popular passages
Page 319 - Our vows, our prayers, we now present Before Thy throne of grace; God of our fathers, be the God Of their succeeding race.
Page 252 - Bold and erect the Caledonian stood; Old was his mutton, and his claret good ; Let him drink port, the English statesman cried— He drank the poison, and his spirit died.
Page 318 - And oh ! may Heaven their simple lives prevent From luxury's contagion, weak and vile ! Then, howe'er crowns and coronets be rent, A virtuous populace may rise the while, And stand a wall of fire around their much-loved Isle. O Thou! who pour'd the patriotic tide That stream'd thro...
Page 315 - From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs, That makes her loved at home, revered abroad : Princes and lords are but the breath of kings; " An honest man's the noblest work of God ;" And, certes,* in fair virtue's heavenly road, The cottage leaves the palace far behind.
Page 167 - It requires," he used to say, " a surgical operation to get a joke well into a Scotch understanding. Their only idea of wit, or rather that inferior variety of this electric talent which prevails occasionally in the North, and which, under the name of "WUT, is so infinitely distressing to people of good * taste, is laughing immoderately at stated intervals.
Page 169 - The night drave on wi' sangs and clatter; And ay the ale was growing better: The landlady and Tam grew gracious, Wi' favours, secret, sweet, and precious: The souter tauld his queerest stories; The landlord's laugh was ready chorus: The storm without might rair and rustle, Tam did na mind the storm a whistle. Care, mad to see a man sae happy, E'en drown'd himsel amang the nappy: As bees flee hame wi...
Page 156 - Hesperus ! thou bringest all good things — Home to the weary, to the hungry cheer, To the young bird the parent's brooding wings, The welcome stall to the...
Page 312 - Take back your bonny Mrs Behn ; and, if you will take my advice, put her in the fire, for I found it impossible to get through the very first novel. But is it not,' she said, * a very odd thing that I, an old woman of eighty and upwards, sitting alone, feel myself ashamed to read a book which, sixty years ago, I have heard read aloud for the amusement of large circles, consisting of the first and most creditable society in London.
Page 17 - What add mist!" and then expressed his wonder how or for what purpose there should have been such a thing created as east wind. The shepherd, a tall, grim figure, turned sharp round upon him. "What ails you at the mist, sir ; it weets the sod, it slockens the yowes, and" — adding with much solemnity — "it's God's wull;" and turned away with lofty indignation.
Page 43 - ... large known public stock of the odious commodity, so that nobody who could screw up his nerves to pronounce the words, had any occasion to strain his invention. The conceited, the ready, or the reckless, hackneyed in the art, had a knack of making new sentiments applicable to the passing accidents, with great ease. But it was a dreadful oppression on the timid or the awkward. They used to shudder, ladies particularly — for nobody was spared, when their turn in the round approached. Many a struggle...