[46] A ‘magg’ is a synonym for the cant term ‘maik,’ a halfpenny; but in the text it is used in the sense of ‘a gratuity,’ such as has been referred to in the previous note.
[47] Portion of an old song, long popular among the Scottish peasantry. It bore the name of ‘For the Sake of Somebody,’ and is believed to have suggested Burns’ song with the same title. The old song is to be found in _The Tea-Table Miscellany_; and there the last four lines of the first double stanza are:--
‘I am gawn to seek a wife, I am gawn to buy a plaidy; I have three stane of woo; Carling, is thy daughter ready?’
[48] An indication of the derivation of the word ‘spinster.’ Kate, like most Scotch women, had the idea that her marriage could hardly take place until she had her ‘providing.’ There was something more than mere sentiment about this, for owing to the hard struggle married couples had to exist in a poor and undeveloped country, such as Scotland then was, it was probable that the bride would have little chance of getting such a complete set out after, as before, marriage.
[49] Sawny seems to have been guided in his wooing by the old Scotch proverb:--‘Happy is the wooing that’s no lang o’ doing.’
[50] In Edinburgh, during last century, there was occasionally to be found some worthy in the ministerial profession available for such purposes, and whose character would be fairly indicated by the coarse but forcible language of Matty. They were, however, outwith the pale of respectability, and were not recognised by their clerical brethren. Such individuals were not altogether peculiar to Scotland, but might also be found in London about the same period.
[51] In Morren’s, M‘Kenzie & Hutchison’s, and other editions, there is here this parenthesis:--‘Ta’en ane anithers word, a kiss, and a hoddle, at the hillock side.’
[52] The Scotsman’s grace has passed into a proverb, on account of its inordinate length and its theological tinge. The story is often told of the servant girl who, after leaving a family in which she had once served, returned to stay a night with them. At supper the grace was the same as she was wont to hear before she went away, and she complimented her late master and host upon his ‘guid memory.’