Who left such a treasure of old Scottish lore more, VI. As bitter as gall, and as sharp as a zazor, And feeding on herbs as a Nebuchadnezzar,' His diet too acid, his temper too sour, We'll ransack old Banny for one volume Little Ritson came out with his two volumes more.' more. II. And first, Allan Ramsay, was eager to glean III. His ways were not ours, for he cared not a pin How much he left out, or how much he put in; The truth of the reading he thought was a bore, So this accurate age calls for one volume more. One volume more, &c. IV. Correct and sagacious, then came my Lord Hailes, And castrated Banny in one volume more. But one volume, my friends, one volume more, We'll dine on roast-beef and print one volume more. VII. The stout Gothic yeditur, next on the roll,' One volume more, &c. VIII. Since by these single champions what wonders were done, What more. One volume more, &c. IX. Ancient libels and contraband books, I assure ye, We'll print as secure from Exchequer or Jury; Then hear your Committee and let them count o'er We'll restore Banny's manhood in one volume The Chiels they intend in their three volumes more. He rail'd at the plaid and blasphemed the clay- And the Rob of Dumblane and her Bishops come more, And set Scots by the ears in his one volume more. One volume more, my friends, one volume more, Celt and Goth shall be pleased with one vol ume more. 1 In accordance with his own regimen, Mr. Ritson published a volume entitled, "An Essay on Abstinence from Animal Food as a Moral Duty. 1802." 2 See an account of the Metrical Antiquarian Researches of Pinkerton, Ritson, and Herd, &c. in the Introductory Remarks on Popular Poetry, ante, p. 544, et seq. 3 James Sibbald, editor of Scottish Poetry, &c. "The Yeditur," was the name given him by the late Lord Eldin, then Mr. John Clerk, advocate. The description of him here is very accurate. 4 David Herd, editor of Songs and Historical Ballads. 2 vols. He was called Greysteel by his intimates, from having been long in unsuccessful quest of the romance of that next; One tome miscellaneous they'll add to your store, Resolving next year to print four volumes more. Four volumes more, my friends, four volumes more; Pay down your subscriptions for four volumes more. and antiquities of Scotland. It consisted, at first, of a very few members, gradually extended to one hundred, at which number it has now made a final pause. They assume the name of the Bannatyne Club from George Bannatyne, of whom little is known beyond that prodigious effort which produced his pres ent honors, and is, perhaps, one of the most singular instances of its kind which the literature of any country exhibits. His labors as an amanuensis were undertaken during the time of pestilence, in 1568. The dread of infection had induced him to retire into solitude, and under such circumstances he had the energy to form and execute the plan of saving the literature of the whole nation; and, undisturbed by the general mourning for the dead, and general fears of the living, to devote himself to the task of collecting and recording the triumphs of human genius in the poetry of his age and country;—thus, amid the wreck of all that was mortal, employing himself in You, perhaps, may observe that one Lionel Be At a kick on their drum from the scribe of Va lerius. And, fourthly and lastly—it is my good pleasure To remain the sole source of that murderous measure. By a rout in the papers-fine place for such So stet pro ratione voluntas-be tractile, matters. I have, therefore, to make it for once my command, sir, Invade not, I say, my own dear little dactyl; course: That my gudeson shall leave the whole thing in To-morrow will see me in town for the wintermy hand, sir, course, And by no means accomplish what James says But not at your door, at the usual hour, sir, you threaten, Some banter in Blackwood to claim your dog Latin. I have various reasons of weight, on my word, sir, My own pye-house daughter's good prog to de your, sir. Ergo-peace-on your duty, your squeamishness throttle, For pronouncing a step of this sort were absurd, And we'll soothe Priscian's spleen with a canny sir. Firstly, erudite sir, 'twas against your advising preserving the lays by which mortality is at once given to others, and obtained for the writer himself. He informs us of some of the numerous difficulties he had to contend with in this self-imposed task. The volume containing his labors, deposited in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates at Edinburgh, is no less than eight hundred pages in length, and very neatly and closely written, containing nearly all the ancient poetry of Scotland now known to exist. This Caledonian association, which boasts several names of distinction, both from rank and talent, has assumed rather a broader foundation than the parent society, the Roxburghe Club in London, which, in its plan, being restricted to the reprinting of single tracts, each executed at the expense of an individual member, it follows as almost a necessary consequence, that no volume of considerable size has emanated from it, and its range has been thus far limited in point of utility. The Bannatyne, holding the same system with respect to the ordinary species of club reprints, levies, moreover, a fund among its members of about £500 a year, expressly to be applied for the editing and printing of works of acknowledged importance, and likely to be attended with expense beyond the reasonable bounds of an individual's contribution. In this way either a member of the Club, or a competent person under third bottle. A fig for all dactyls, a fig for all spondees, A fig for dry thrapples, south, north, east, and west, sir, Speates and raxes' ere five for a famishing guest, sir; its patronage, superintends a particular volume, or set of vol umes. Upon these occasions, a very moderate number of copies are thrown off for general sale; and those belonging to the Club are only distinguished from the others by being printed on the paper, and ornamented with the decorations, peculiar to the Society. In this way several useful and eminently valuable works have recently been given to the public for the first time, or at least with a degree of accuracy and authenticity which they had never before attained.-Abridged from the Quarterly Review-ART. Pitcairn's Ancient Criminal Trials. February, 1831. 1 There is an excellent story (but to long for quotation) in the Memoire of the Somervilles (vol. i. p. 240) about an old Lord of that family, who, when he wished preparations to be made for high feasting at his Castle of Cowthally, used to send on a billet inscribed with this laconic phrase, "Speates and rates," i. e. spits and ranges. Upon one occasion, Lady Somerville (being newly married, and not yet skilled in her husband's hieroglyphics) read the mandates as spears and jacks, and sent forth 200 armed horsemen, whose appearance on the moors greatly alarmed Lord Somerville and bis guest, who happened to be no less a person than King James III-See SCOTT's Miscellaneous Prose, vol. xxii. p. 312. Of yore, in old England, it was not thought good That from under one hood, you last night show'd us twenty! Stand forth, arch deceiver, and tell us in truth, A work-shop in your person,-saw, chisel, and screw! Above all, are you one individual? I know But I think you're a troop-an assemblage-a mob, And that I, as the Sheriff, should take up the job; And instead of rehearsing your wonders in verse, Must read you the Riot-Act, and bid you disperse. ABBOTSFORD, 23d April, 1 Fatsman was one of Mr. James Ballantyne's many aliases. Another (to which Constable mostly adhered) was Mr. "Basketfill"-an allusion to the celebrated printer Baskerville. 2" When Monsieur Alexandre, the celebrated ventrilequist, was in Scotland, in 1824, he paid a visit to Abbotsford, where he entertained his distinguished host, and the other visitors, with his unrivalled imitations. Next morning, when he was about to depart, Sir Walter felt a good deal embarrassed as to the sort of acknowledgment he should offer; but at length, resolving that it would probably be most agreeable to the young foreigner to be paid in professional coin, if in any, he stepped aside for a few minutes, and on returning, presented him with this epigram. The reader need hardly be reminded that Sir Walter Scott held the office of Sheriff of the county of Selkirk."-Scotch newspaper, 1830. The lines, with this date, appeared in the Edinburgh An- "After the play, the following humorous address (ascribed to an eminent literary character) was spoken with infinite effect by Mr. Mackay in the character of Meg Dodds."-Edinburgh Weekly Journal, 9th June, 1824. Enter MEG DODDS, encircled by a crowd of unruly boys, whom a town's-officer is driving off. THAT'S right, friend-drive the gaitlings back, I've seen the day they would been scaur'd, But whar's the gude Tolbooth® gane now? Whar's the auld Claught,' wi' red and blue? Whar's Jamie Laing? and whar's John Doo?" And whar's the Weigh-house?" Deil hae't I see but what is new, Except the Playhouse! Yoursells are changed frae head to heel, There's some that gar the causeway reel With clashing hufe and rattling wheel, And horses canterin', Wha's fathers daunder'd hame as weel Wi' lass and lantern. 4 James Laing was one of the Depute-Clerks of the city of Edinburgh, and in his official connection with the Police and the Council-Chamber, his name was a constant terror to evl doers. He died in February, 1806. The Watch-hole. The Tolbooth of Edinburgh, The Heart of Mid-Lothian, was pulled down in 1817. 7 The ancient Town Guard. The reduced remnant of this body of police was finally disbanded in 1817. 8 John Doo, or Dhu-a terrific-looking and high-spirited member of the Town Guard, and of whom there is a print by Kay, etched in 1784. • The Weigh-House, situated at the head of the West Bow, Lawnmarket, and which had long been looked upon as an encumbrance to the street, was demolished in order to make way for the royal procession to the Castle, which took place on the 22d of August, 1822. 1 Fortune's Tavern-a house on the west side of the Old Stamp-office Close, High Street, and which was, in the early part of the last century, the mansion of the Earl of Eglintoun. --The Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the day held his levees and dinners in this tavern. 2 Hunter's--another once much-frequented tavern, in Writer's Court, Royal Exchange. Weel, sirs, gude'en, and have a care, As sure as ever ye sit there, She'll tell the Bailie Epilogue." 1824. THE sages for authority, pray look A third wanes fast, since Mary fill'd the throne. Shall sympathy with Mary's woes be lost? wrought, In vain did fate bestow a double dower appeared in full dress, and nobody was admitted who had not a white neckcloth-then considered an indispensable insignium of a gentleman. 4 Mr. William Murray became manager of the Edinburgh Theatre in 1815. 5 "I recovered the above with some difficulty. I believe it was never spoken, but written for some play, afterwards withdrawn, in which Mrs. H. Siddons was to have spoken it in the character of Queen Mary."-Extrect from e. I etter of Sir 3 Bayle's Tavern and Coffeehouse, originally on the North |