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In the Loch of the Clans in
the county of Nairn, out of which the water has been drained, appears an
oval chamber, enclosed by a stone wall; this seems to have been lined with
wood. The roof and floor were of undressed oak. The crannog had begun to
merge into the castle.
The structure in the Loch of
the Clans presents a wall twenty feet in extreme width, while the interior
chamber is eighteen feet long, sixteen broad, and ten high. These
measurements point to its existence at or before the Roman period. But the
Celts reared forts of timber long afterwards. If we except the burghs
and caers, latterly built of stone, the chief strongholds were up to
the tenth century formed of logs. Forts and great houses of timber existed
in Morayshire till the thirteenth century. Mansions and strongholds of stone
began to prevail in the eleventh century. Prior to the war of independence,
the state of architecture in Scotland and England was nearly identical.
In an interesting
publication, the Marquess of Bute has described the manor-house of the
thirteenth century as "a tower of massive strength, about three or four
storeys high, with one room on each storey; the ground floor a vaulted
cellar, the first floor a sort of general kitchen and living-room, with
stone vaulting between or above them; then the single private chamber,
appropriated to the lady of the house and her family; the whole crowned with
a high-pitched roof, covered with shingle, through which the shaft or shafts
of the chimneys pierced up into the air. The hall," adds the Marquess, "was
the main feature of houses of this period; and indeed, besides the ordinary
offices of stables, byres, store-houses, and such like, and a larder or
pantry—doubtless near the kitchen, there seem to have been only two domestic
apartments of any importance—the kitchen and the private chamber—for the use
of the family." ("The Early Days of Sir William Wallace," by John, Marquess
of Bute, Paisley, 1876, 4to, p. 31.)
The Border and other towers
of the fourteenth century were, in the lower walls, twelve feet thick. There
was a lower room or vault in which cattle were kept safe against marauding
hordes. Access to the dwelling was obtained by a ladder which was thrown
down from an entrance on the second floor; the place was otherwise
impregnable. By a circular newelled staircase within the walls were reached
the upper rooms. At all points the structure presented embrasures or narrow
loop-holes for admitting light, and, in the event of attack, for discharging
upon the assailants arrows or musketry.
Ground-floor apartments were vaulted; the upper
rooms also were occasionally arched. The doors were backed by ponderous
interlaced or cross-barred iron gates, secured by bolts, which passed into
the wall. In Norman structures, timber was unused. Slates also were absent,
the roof being constructed of stone. By means of a small opening in the
substance of the wall, proceeding from the lower storey to the hall or
family room, communication with the kitchen was maintained by rope and
pulley. The fortified
towers of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries lack ornament, being
formed solely with a view to strength. Like the latter burghs or stone
dwellings, castles were constructed with subterranean or vaulted passages.
By a vaulted passage in the Castle of Kildrummy, the horses of that fort
could, during a siege, be conveyed for water to a neighbouring loch. Every
fort had a draw-well. The well usually occupied the centre of the court; at
an earlier period it was dug under the tower, from which water was by
pulleys brought direct into the ball. Sculptured fountains were occasionally
reared; one of these, in the court of Linlithgow Palace, was especially
ornate. Some castles of
the fifteenth century were made to enclose an area of three and four acres.
The larger structures stood near the banks of lakes or rivers, and were
otherwise environed by ditch and rampart. CastelIated structures, such as
Glammis Castle, may not be identified with any particular age. From dark,
low, round-roofed vaults, thick walls, and narrow orifices in the lower
storey, they in the upper apartments, pass into the castellated style of the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In fortified structures of the fifteenth
century, are included a great hall with an arched roof; also ranges of
corridors and passages and vaults, strong, deep, and gloomy.
With the sixteenth century, Scottish native
architecture began to blend the sterner features of the French and Flemish
styles. Dwellings hitherto built of mud and timber, were reared of stone;
these varying in height from three to twelve storeys. Houses of the latter
height were placed at Edinburgh along; the lofty ridge proceeding from the
rock-fenced fortalice to Holyrood Palace. Subsequently prevailed the French
style with its princely towers, coronetted turrets, sharp Tables, dormer
windows, and richly decorated mouldings.
In the English manor-house, plastering and
whitewashing of interior stone-work were common in the thirteenth century;
in Scotland these modes were not introduced till considerably later. When
plaster was introduced the ceilings were ornamented with that white
pargetted work which is found in Moray House, also in the mansions of
Pinkie, Winton, and Glammis. These decorations usually represent scriptural
or classic subjects. Untill gypsum or plaster of Paris came to be used, the
walls of the Ball or principal chamber were covered with cloth, of which two
folds concealed doors worked in iron, which protected the entrance. On the
lower part of the walls wainscotting was adopted; in the fifteenth century
it was nearly universal. The walls in the upper parts were by Flemish
artists painted in fresco with heraldic devices, or adorned with Arras
tapestry. When in the fourteenth century Arras hangings were first imported,
they were used in royal residences solely. Deemed precious, they were borne
from one palace to another. Royal arras were of wool and silk, interwoven
with gold thread; they were embroidered with devices, which included
leopards, falcons, and eagles. During the sixteenth century and
subsequently, the principal apartments were surrounded with oak, and so long
as this style prevailed, the painted decorations of the former period were
covered with boards.
The painted Gallery of Pinkie House, 120 feet long, and lighted by a fine
oriel window, has its timber-lined walls adorned with Latin and other
inscriptions; also with paintings of classic scenes.
Towards the close of the seventeenth century,
dining-halls and reception rooms were ornamented with a covering of leather,
stamped and gilded. This material, a Spanish invention, was originally
imported; it latterly was manufactured at Edinburgh.
Painted glass, though known in the twelfth
century, was not used in domestic architecture. The window of the ancient
manor-louse admitted light and air together. With the view of promoting
ventilation, while excluding draughts, windows were ranged high on one side
of the apartment. Externally presenting a narrow aperture, they splayed
widely towards the interior. If the orifice was large enough to admit
intruders, iron bolts or stanchions were built into the, wall. Occasionally
strong shutters were attached to the outside, which, by a, simple
contrivance, could be closed and made secure. Prior to the use, of glass, a
coarse fabric resembling canvas was both in churches and private houses,
stretched across the casements. Glass casements became common in the
fourteenth century. Of small weight, they were carried from one dwelling to
another; in the portable baggage of the sovereign they were uniformly
included. When glass window frames were made stationary, the upper part only
was blazed, the lower being supplied with timber folds.
Early domestic furniture was of simple
construction. Benches and settles of solid timber were placed along the
interior walls. During the fifteenth century these were, in the better
houses, covered with arras. The dense or dais, a seat with a support for the
back, was occasionally provided with a canopy. One sort of dense, by a
process of folding, might be changed into a table. The dining-table was of
plain timber, the boards being moveable ; these were in the fifteenth
century covered with silk, but afterwards with damask.
In primitive times, the buist and
ambry stood in the principal apartment—the former a plain oaken chest,
the latter a cupboard. In the buist were stored superfluous hangings, and
the other napery of the household; the ambry contained the family jewellery.
The cupboard was pioneer of the modern sideboard; an erect open cabinet, on
its shelves rested the house-property, both in gold and silver. From the
top, under a canopy of carved oak, were suspended tapestry or arras.
There were other articles, such as the Boyne or
bowie, for storing liquor; the bossie, a large wooden dish; the mawn, a
bread basket; the bankour, or wool cushion for chairs of state; and the
dorseur, or wall-covering.
Among the officers of the royal household was a
keeper of the wardrobe. Assisted by yeomen and grooms, he bore the contents
of the wardrobe and cupboard in the royal progresses.
The bedsteads which, in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries, were used by the king and barons, were magnificent and
costly. To their large frames, richly carved by foreign artists, were
affixed hangings of embroidered silk. According to a notable tourist,
Scottish bedsteads in the sixteenth century "were like cupboards in the
wall, with doors." Blankets in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were of
fustian sheets of fine linen. Bed-pillows were covered with silk or fur or
cloth of gold. The beds were of flock, but more commonly of the skins of
animals, spread upon heath or rushes. The bed which Lord Darnley occupied at
Kirk o' Field, at the time of his death, in 1567, was of violet velvet, with
double hangings, braided with boll and silver.
Officers of the royal household and the chief
attendants on the nobles had bedsteads carried into their apartments each
evening, and from thence removed before breakfast.
Baths were introduced by the Romans, and were
used in North Britain at an early period. They were common in the thirteenth
century. Moveable baths, with canopies and hangings, were in the sleeping
apartments of the opulent introduced two centuries later. Wash-pane stands,
surmounted by tanks, were placed in bedrooms.
Prior to the fifteenth century fire-grates were
unknown ; the smoke which issued from the fire on the hearth found egress by
a wide opening in the wall which narrowed towards the roof. Fires were in
superior dwellings formed of logs and broom. Broom was used chiefly in the
kitchen ; it was planted near the principal homesteads, and every seven
years was cut down for fuel. It was then built in stacks, each stack
containing twelve cart-loads. Feats were used in farmers' houses, also by
the poor.
Coal was first worked by the monks of New-battle, in Midlothian. To the
monks Leger de Quinci, Earl of Winchester, granted the coalfield situated
between the burn of Whytrig and the lands of Pontekyn and Inveresk. As de
Quinci was created Earl of Winchester about 1210 and died in 1219, the date
of the gift is ascertained. The coal originally showed -itself on the
surface of the sea-cliff, and the seam was followed wherever the level
allowed. The monks of Dunfermline soon afterwards worked coal in their lands
of Pinkie and Inveresk. But "black stone," as coal was at first called, was
for more than a century after its discovery burnt chiefly by the peasantry.
Admitted into the manour-house as kitchen fuel, it was, when logs became
rare, consequent on the plantations being cut down, brought into the hall.
At length the demand so increased beyond the power of inexperienced miners
to procure a steady supply that the cost became excessive, and the Privy
Council fixed the price at seven shillings per horse-load. This occurred in
1621, but consequent on resistance by the coal-owners, the provision was
modified. On the introduction of coal followed the invention of the
fire-grate. The
fire-grate was at first placed in the centre of the hearth; fireplaces of
stately proportions were subsequently constructed. These were profusely
adorned with graceful mouldings, also emblazoned with the family arias and
grotesque figures. At the fireplaces of plastered rooms were presented rich
sculptures, bordered by pillars supporting human figures extending upward to
the ceiling. The Earl of Stirling's manor-house at Stirling, in 1632,
displayed in its oak-panelled hall a massive chimney-piece profusely gilded.
The houses of the principal merchants of the seventeenth century were
ornamented with neatly carved chimney-pieces. Not infrequently were the
designs incorporated with the initials of the owner and his wife, along with
family mottoes and Scriptural maxims. Lengthy inscriptions, in prose and
verse, immediately over the fireplace, were not uncommon. An English tourist
remarked the following quaint poetical inscription over a fireplace, with
the date 1694:- "As with
the fire,
So with thy God do stand
Keep not far off,
Nor come thou too near hand."
In districts remote from the coalfields peat
fuel was procured in the marshes. The farmers of. the Abbey of Cupar were
bound to dig Feats, and to convey them to the monastery; they also stored
the abbey granaries with decayed roots and fallen branches. For "the ovens
of the monastery" the monks of Cupar cultivated a hark of broom in the
vicinity. Domestic
state was much observed. In the fifteenth century the royal household had as
chief officers the master, the steward, the treasurer, and the comptroller.
Other prominent officials were the carver, the cupbearer, the eleemosynar,
the armourer, the physician, and the apothecary. An establishment of
corresponding dignity existed in the manor-house. Each baron and knight had
squires of attendance, carvers, servers, cupbearers, henchmen and pages.
Many of these were young persons of birth, as early service under one of
higher rank was agreeable to the laws of chivalry. In his castle or keep the
Highland chief of the fifteenth century accommodated his henchman or
secretary, his bard, his spokesman, his sword-bearer, his
carrier-over-fords, the leader of his horse, his baggage-bearer, and his
principal piper. The henchman was an indispensable officer at a period when
leaders of clans disdained to use an instrument so feeble as the pen, and
were not ashamed to confess an entire ignorance of letters. Those duties
which the henchman discharged with the pen, the bard fulfilled by his voice;
he sang old ballads and composed new, each tending to induce the chief to
emulate the piety and the generosity, but more especially the gallantry of
his ancestors. The bard's office was hereditary; he was allowed a portion of
land, in the best cultivated portion of the estate.
In Galloway, the dignity of territorial magnates
was, up to the commencement of the eighteenth century, ceremoniously
maintained. In his "MS. History of an Ayrshire Manse Household," Professor
Josiah Walker remarks, that Sir Archibald Kennedy, Bart. of Culzean,
"maintained the establishment of a great hereditary chief of the elder days,
with his hall and chapel, and host of retainers."
In ancient Scotland, venison was among the upper
classes held in much regard. The hart was shot with arrows or hunted down
with a rough greyhound, known as the deerhound. When the pursuit of game had
menaced the extermination of the deer, the Act of 1367 was passed, whereby
the striking down of game—both beasts and birds—with culverings, crossbows,
and hand-bows was prohibited.
During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,
the abbot and monks of Cupar reared their own cattle, and in addition to
money and grain, received as rent from their tenants, calves, lambs, hogs,
and kids; also geese, capons, and other domestic fowls. Through their
fowlers, the monks of Cupar secured for their larder the wild-goose, the
crane or swan, the partridge, the plover, the dottrel, the curlew, the
wild-duck, the red-shank, the lapwing, and the teal. Rabbit warrens under
charge of "warrenders", were preserved everywhere. In these hares and
rabbits were secured as food for the inhabitants of towns or the better
class of yeomen. The bittern, heron, solan goose, and other coarse birds,
were allowed to the peasant and the wayfarer. Taylor, the water poet, who
visited Scotland in 1618, in describing; the food of nobles and knights whom
lie accompanied in hunting, mentions "venison, baked, sodden, roast, and
stewed; mutton, boats, kid, hares, fresh salmon, pigeons, liens, capons,
chickens, partridge, moor-cocks, heath-cocks, capercailzies, and
termagants." The capercailzie was found in Perthshire in 1651, but soon
thereafter disappeared, till restored in our own time in the Breadalbane
plantations. Fish
abounded in estuaries, lochs, and rivers. In the thirteenth century were
supplied to the royal table salmon, the royal sturgeon, the lamprey, and the
porpoise, both fresh and cured. In 1424 an Act was passed prohibiting the
slaying of salmon from the Feast of the Assumption (15th August) until the
Feast of Saint Andrew (30th November). Herrings from the western, and eels
from inland lochs were especially valued. During the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries shell-fish was much in use. At the banquet which followed the
baptism of Prince Henry at Stirling Castle in 1504 were presented herrings,
whitings, and flounders, along with oysters, buckies, limpets, partans
(lobsters), crabs, spout-fish, and clams." Prior to the fifteenth century,
colonies of fishers from Flanders effected settlements at St Andrews,
Auchmithie, Findon, and other localities on the east sea-board; also at
Cellardyke, Buckhaven, and Newhaven, on the Firth of Forth. Their
descendants retain some peculiar habits, including a reluctance to unite
with other races. Prior
to the sixteenth century, Scottish culinary utensils were rudely
constructed. At table, the nobility and gentry used knives and spoons only.
The dinner fork was not quite common at the Union of the Crowns. The
ordinary dinner knife was known as the Jockteleg, so called from its
original manufacturer, John of Liege. When in the seventeenth century knives
and forks were deemed essential to comfort, ministers and physicians carried
pocket knives and forks folded in leathern cases. After use in eating, these
were wiped with the table napkin, and replaced in the pocket. Dessert knives
and forks of silver were also made portable; gentlewomen carried them in
their reticules. At the
dawn of history the drinking vessels were of shell. In the third century
Ossian refers to potent liquor as "the strength of the shells," and as
composing "the shell of joy." He refers to "shells studded with gems." From
the ninth century till the twelfth, drinking vessels were composed of horn
and timber. The methir, a. wooden vessel from six to twelve inches high, and
containing from one to three pints, was used anciently both in Scotland. and
Ireland. Including a handle at each side, it was cut out of the solid
timber, the bottom being inserted in a groove. A silver-mounted methir is
preserved in Dunvegan Castle. Pewter drinking vessels were used in the
fourteenth century; also silver tankards. Thereafter were used goblets or
bowls, known as skales. The tassie, or cup, was common in the seventeenth
century. In the houses of bonnet lairds and tenant farmers glass vessels
were even a century ago rarely to be found. A liquor-loving border laird,
Armstrong of Sorbie, who flourished early in the eighteenth century,
facetiously remarked that "it was a better world when there were more
bottles and fewer glasses."
The furniture used in the sixteenth century and
subsequently is represented in the public inventories. In the lease by
Alexander Macbroke of the abbot of Cupar's seat at Campsie Craig, dated 6th
July 1551, the lessee becomes bound, on twenty-four hours notice, to provide
for the abbot and his brethren and household, four feather beds and four
other beds, along with towels and table-linen, broom and other fuel. lie
also pledges himself to furnish "pottis, pannis, platis, dischis, and
utheris necessarys."
James Campbell of Lawers, a considerable landowner in the county of Perth,
died in 1723. His principal apartments were adorned with arras, of which the
most costly set are valued at £24 sterling; "blue and yellow hangings" in
his own chamber are estimated at £10. The hangings are described as of
"damask" and of "Musselburgh stuff." Five bedsteads with curtains are valued
at £36 each. "Seven tables big and small," with "two kitchen tables," are
unitedly valued at £7, these being of native timber. Chairs are estimated at
one guinea each; some are described as "black-coloured," others as of
"leather," others as "in kain." Chests of drawers were usually adorned with
carvings. Two chests at Lowers are together valued at £60. The silver plate
included "fifteen silver spoons, a large silver gravy spoon, a porringer
(soul) basin), two salters, six forks, six knives, two servers (salvers),
and three casters (cruet vessels). These together, deducting the
knife-handles, weighed 9lbs. 10½ ounces, which, valued at five shillings an
ounce, brought a total amount of £421, 10s. Many of the culinary articles,
also the bedroom ware, were of pewter. Mr Campbell's watch and gold seal,
together with his wife's earrings, are valued at £240. Among the articles of
napery are included thirty-five table napkins.
In Celtic times the chief and his family sat in
the great hall at a central table; their dependants, armed as if on guard,
forming a wider circle, and regaling themselves on long benches raised very
slightly above the ground. At table all were waited upon by boys and girls.
When eating was finished, the chief called for a glass of liquor, when all
drank. At these feasts women were duly Honoured, and were allowed to leave
early. During the entertainment bards repeated their compositions, using the
harp to serious airs, the pipe to those which were mirthful.
In the fourteenth century the king and barons
had two principal meals—dinner and supper. The former was served at eleven
o'clock A.M., the latter at five P.M. Queen Mary dined at noon; her husband,
Lord Darnley, when alone, dined at two. Queen Mary was supping in Holyrood
Palace on the 9th March 1566 between five and six o'clock, when in her
presence David Pizzio was assailed and slain. James VI. dined at one
o'clock. At the
commencement of the eighteenth century, the chief citizens of Edinburgh
dined at one P.M. Two o'clock was the fashionable dining hour a century ago.
From 1806 to 1820 gentlemen of rank dined at five; at six up to 1840, and
from that date till 1860, at half-past six and seven. Latterly the genteel
dining hour has been fixed in winter at half-past seven, and in summer at
eight o'clock. The present dinner hour in "good" society is half-past seven.
The gong which for a century has intimated that
dinner has been served, and its precursor in the trumpet or horn. During the
seventeenth century, when dinner was announced, the ladies proceeded from
the drawing-room together, the gentlemen in single file following them. When
all had reached the dining-room, each gentleman selected a lady as his
associate and took a seat at her right hand. An attendant then handed to
each guest a silver basin, another following with towels. The ceremony of
dipping the fingers in water was repeated when dinner had closed. In the
earlier times two persons ate together from the same plate. Anciently of
wood, the plates were afterwards of pewter, latterly earthenware became
universal. When less gentility was affected, each guest received as his
platter a barley bannock, which at the close of the entertainment he thrust
into an alms-basket which was carried round. Anciently one drinking vessel
sufficed for the more costly liquors, and it was passed from hand to hand.
James I. (1424-1437) employed a French cook, but
the cuisine at his court has not been ascertained. For some particulars as
to the mode of dining in genteel society at the latter part of the sixteenth
century, we are indebted to Moryson, the English traveller. Moryson, who
visited Scotland in 1598, remarks that the Scots "eat much red colewort and
cabbage, but little fresh meat, using to salt their mutton and geese, which
made me more wonder that they used to eat beefe without salting."
He adds, "Myself was at a knight's house, who
had many servants to attend him, that brought in his meat with their heads
covered with blew caps, the table being more than half furnished with. great
platters of porridge, each having a little piece of sodden meate. And when
the table was served, the servands did sit downe with us, but the upper
messe, instead of porridge, had a pullet with some prunes in the broth. And
I observed no art of cookery or promotion of household stuffe, but rather
rude neglect of both, though myself and my companion, sent from the
Governour of Barwick about bordering affaires, were entertained after their
best manner. . . . They vulgarly ate harth cakes of oates, but in cities
have also wheaten bread, which for the most part was bought by courtiers
gentlemen and the best sort of citizens. . . . They drink pure wines, not
with sugar as the English, yet at feasts they put comfits in the wine, after
the French manner, but they had not our vintners fraud to mix their wines."
On the 23d May 1500, the Danish gentlemen who to
this country had attended Anne, Queen of James VI., were entertained by the
magistrates of Edinburgh at a formal banquet. The feast was celebrated in a
hall in the Cowgate belonging to the Master of the Mint, and of which the
walls were hung with tapestry. But while the tables were decorated with
elegant napery and "flowers and chandlers," and there was all display of
great vessels, and the contents of the city "cupboards," the viands
consisted of "bread and meat, with four binns [casks] of beer, four gang of
ale, and four putcheons of wine."
In the seventeenth and early in the eighteenth
century a genteel dinner was constituted in this fashion :—Barley-broth was
served first; it consisted of the liquor of beef, boiled with colewort and
thickened with barley. The beef was rough-grained, since cattle were fed
only on the natural grasses. Colewort raised without manure was, when
imperfectly boiled, somewhat unpalatable. Neither milled nor scaled, pot
barley was bruised in a trough, rubbed with a coarse cloth, and partially
winnowed. All sorts of fish were in use, save salmon arid grilse, which,
deemed common, were reserved for exportation or preserving. Gabble-claw,
consisting of codfish served with horse-radish and egg-sauce, was in high
favour. Oysters and other shell-fish were welcomed. A goose and ducklings
and baked pigeons were much relished. Greatly in request was friar-chicken,
a. dish formerly common in religious houses; it consisted of chickens cut
into small portions, and boiled with eggs, parsley, and cinnamon. Equally
popular was cocky-leeky—a well-fed cock boiled with young leeks. Mutton
boiled with cauliflowers, turnips, and carrots, was held as a special
delicacy. Roasted fare was uncommon, since the only instrument used in
broiling was a spit, turned by the younger handmaiden, and occasionally by a
dog. The entertainment was followed by a haggis, marrow-bones, cheese, and
fruit. In the kitchens of Highland chiefs, venison was prepared for the
table in a fashion revolting to modern tastes. The use of fire was dispensed
with, steaks or slices being compressed between two battens of wood, so as
to force out the blood.
During dinner, liquor was used sparingly. So
long indeed as the ladies remained in the dining-hall excess was eschewed.
But there was a signal toast, on the proposing of which the, ladies
withdrew. Eighty years ago, the signal toast at Glasgow was "the trade of
Glasgow and the outward bound;" in Fife, when a Lady Balgonie was a
celebrated toast, the travesty "Lady be-gone-ye" was adopted. Few guests
remained sufficiently sober to rejoin the ladies in the drawing-room—those
who restrained drinking, and returned to their female friends, were
pronounced effeminate.
Moryson relates that on his visit to Scotland in 1598 he found that the
country people and merchants were inclined to excess, and that persons of
the better sort spent the greater part of the night in drinking "not only
wine, but even Beere."
Referring to the convivial practices of the last century, Dr John Strang
writes, "The retiring of a guest to the drawing-room was a rare occurrence
indeed and hence the poor lady of the house was generally left to sip her
tea in solitude, while her husband and friends were getting royal over their
sherbet." A century ago, post-grand ml talk was rough and unseemly, while
the songs and tales sung or spoken were utterly licentious. When the ladies
had left a public-bowl was brought in. In form and capacity this vessel
resembled the English wassail-bowl. It was in early times charged with
mulled claret, but its contents latterly consisted of whisky mixed with hot
water and sugar. Whisky was introduced in the bowl at the rate of half a
pint for each guest. The liquor was mixed with a silver spoon affixed to a
whalebone handle. The contents of the ladle corresponded with the size of
the drinking vessel, which was considerably larger than those now in use.
The use of punch bowls ceased about sixty years ago; thereafter each one was
allowed to prepare his liquor in his own mode. Crystal goblets with silver
ladles, or earthenware mugs with a small crystal pestle were substituted.
To each toast a bumper was demanded; while, in
evidence that it had been drunk, every guest turned up his glass. "To drink
fair" or "without hedging" was a special commendation. Toasts were numerous.
On public and political occasions the Sovereign, the Army, and Cabinet
Ministers, also local magnates were toasted with Highland Honours. In
rendering these Honours, each guest, glass in hand, mounted his chair, and
placing his right foot on the table named the toast,—then drinking off his
glass cheered lustily. Sentimental toasts, to each of which a glass was
drained, were such as these, "May ne'er vaur be aman us," "The Land o'
Cakes," "Horn, corn, wool, and yarn," "May the honest heart never feel
distress," "May the mouse ne'er leave, the meal-pock wi' the tear in its e'e,"
"May the pleasures of the evening bear the reflections of the morning." In
some companies the ladies were privileged before retiring to share in a
species of toast-giving, which occasioned merriment. At the call of the host
one of the company named an unmarried lady; another guest named a suitor for
her, and both were toasted together.
During the seventeenth, and the earlier portion
of the eighteenth century, after-dinner drinking was protracted for eight
and ten hours. When a bachelor gave an entertainment he was expected to
continue the jollities till all his guests were helplessly intoxicated. In
1643 Henry Lord Tier, only son of Robert, first Earl of Roxburgh, died at
Perth "after ane great drink." His premature death led to the famous lawsuit
of 1808-1812, the result of which have the Dukedom of Roxburgh to Sir James
Innes. In his "Journal" Lord Cockburn relates an anecdote communicated to
him by the celebrated Henry Mackenzie. "Mackenzie," his Lordship proceeds,
"was once at a festival at Kilravock Castle, towards the close of which the
exhausted topers sank gradually back and down on their chairs till little of
them was seen above the table except their noses, and at last they
disappeared altogether and fell on the floor. Those who were too far gone to
rise lay still from necessity; while those who, like the Man of Feeling,
were glad of a pretence for escaping fell into a dose from policy. While
Mackenzie was in this state he was alarmed by feeling a hand working about
his throat, and called out. A voice answered "Dinna be feared, Sir, it's
me." "And who are you?" "A'm the lad that louses the craavats." When, at a
later period, Grant of Lurg was dining at Castle Grant, he was heard
soliloquizing on his way from the dining-room, "Oich! Oich! this is the
first time she ever dined at Castle Grant, and was able to gae up the stair
by hersel' !" At the
country mansion, when guests had come from a distance, and were expected to
tarry for the night, convivialities were protracted till early morn. On
these occasions all were borne to their bedrooms by stout attendants
retained for this service. The attendants were recompensed by vails, or
gratuities, offered by retiring guests. That each visitor might have an
opportunity of tendering a valedictory offering, the attendants waited in
the hall in single file. Vail-tendering was a costly office, and those
gentry whose rent-roll did not justify the bestowal of handsome largesses
after a feast, declined invitations and remained at home. At length the evil
increased to an extent which rendered the possibility of accepting
hospitality the privilege of only a few. A farce called "High Life below
Stairs" was, about the year 1750, produced on the boards at Edinburgh. The
scourge of satire applied to their exactions aroused the footmen to
desperation. Seventy of their number subscribed a missive addressed to the
manager of the theatre, informing him that in order to suppress the satire
they had resolved to make strong sacrifices. When the farce was again
produced they, by a noisy demonstration, interrupted the performance. But
their combination was repressed; and while already the landed gentry of a
great northern county had prohibited their servants from accepting vails the
gentlemen of Edinburgh issued similar commands. For a century vail-giving
has ceased. The last
act of manorial hospitality was enacted on the lawn. Lawns wonderfully
resembled each other. Decorations were in the Dutch fashion---plants of
holly and box being shaped into grotesque figures of men and animals. In
front of each mansion was on the lawn constructed a platform of masonry—the
loupin'-on stane. From this stone gentlemen mounted their horses, and as
they did so were supplied with the doch-an-dorius, or stirrup-cup. Drunk
from a quaich, or wooden cup, it was otherwise known as a boualay, from the
French bonne allee. The
bibulous propensities of burghal and rural magnates were a source of
constant disquietude. Ministers and elders inveighed against their
practices, as in a more formal manner did Presbyteries and Synods and other
public bodies. In 1625, the Town Council of Aberdeen ordained that no person
should, at any public or private meeting, presume to compel his neighbour at
table with him to drink more wine or beer than what he pleased, under the
penalty of forty pounds. This edict was needful, since for many years prior
to its being passed compulsory drinking was rampant. To prevent "shirking,"
or reluctance to drink, a rule obtained in Perthshire that if the glass was
not emptied the offending guest was compelled to drink to the same toast a
second time from a full glass which was presented to him. The practice was
called "Keltie's mends." Some hosts got the feet struck from their
wineglasses. Mr William Maule, of Paninure, late in the eighteenth century,
locked the door upon his guests, and then passed round bottles so
constructed that they could not stand; as these could pass only from hand to
hand drinking was continuous. Another Forfarshire laird who had followed his
guest, a London merchant, to his bedroom with a bottle and glass, was met
with the remark that his "hospitality bordered upon brutality."
Fashion imposed strong fetters. An anecdote is
related of a dinner at Foss in Perthshire, liven on a Sunday afternoon,
being protracted till the sound of the church bell on the morning of the
following Sunday awoke the party to reflection. At Cambo, Fife-shire, a
branch of the noble house of Erskine maintained a perpetual dinner party,
from which guests might retire, subsequently to return. When Colonel
Monypenny of Pitmilly was about to proceed to India to take command of his
regiment, he called at Cambo to express an adieu. Mr Erskine was at dinner;
but the Colonel, who was invited to join the party, speedily retired. On his
return from India, four years afterwards, the Colonel again waited on Mr
Erskine, who was still dining. Unconscious of his friend's long absence, he
asked the Colonel to "take his chair, and pass round the bottle." These
convivial practices, now difficult to realize, were common in rural mansions
in the days of our grandfathers.
About a century ago a, custom prevailed at
Edinburgh known as "saving the ladies." When after any fashionable assembly
the male guests had conducted their fair partners to their homes, they
returned to the supper-room. Then one of the number would drink to the
health of the lady he professed specially to admire, and in so doing empty
his glass. Another gentleman would name another lady, also drinking a bumper
in her honour. The former would reply by swallowing a second glass to his
lady, followed by the other, each combatant persisting till one of the two
fell upon the floor. Other couples followed in like fashion. These drinking
competitions were regarded with much interest by gentlewomen, who next
morning enquired as to the prowess of their champions. By the famous Henry
Erskine this degrading practice was stoutly resisted. He composed in
ridicule of it a scourging satire, which thus concluded-
"So the gay youth, at midnight's frolick hour
Stung by the truant love's all-conquering power,
Vows from damnation her he loves to save,
Or on the floor to find an early grave;
Anon; the table's feet supine to lie,
And for Miss Molly's sake to drink or die."
At every social meeting imprecation was common.
Lord Cockburn remarks, that swearing was, in his youth, deemed. "the right
and mark of a gentleman."
"The naval chaplain," he adds, "justified his
cursing the sailors, because it made them listen to him. In the army it was
universal by officers towards soldiers; and far more frequent than is now
credible by masters towards servants." The heir who swore lustily at
the feast celebrating his majority, was regarded as possessing a jocund
nature and amiable manners. "A young Scots woman," writes Dean Ramsay,
"while lamenting that her brother used oaths, added, apologetically, 'Nae
dout it is a great aff- set to conversation." A century ago, Lady Wallace,
sister of the celebrated Jane Duchess of Gordon, produced several dramas,
which contained passages so freely expressed, that they were refused the
Lord Chamberlain's license.
For their own convenience and that of their
guests, Highland chiefs provided hostelries, or places of entertainment, in
convenient centres. To the laird of Glenurchy, in the sixteenth century, Hew
Hay and Cristiane Stennes undertook to keep a hostelry at Cargell, "with
sufficient ale, and bread and other furnishing, at all times in readiness to
serve the country."; By religious houses, hospices were in the adjacent
towns leased on condition that strangers as well as their own members might
be lodged and. entertained. By the Cistercian Abbey of Cupar were owned two
hospices at Perth and one at Dundee. The Abbey also provided "spitals" or
houses of refreshment in isolated localities. These were leased with the
condition that food and provender were kept for man and horse. James V., in
1535, enjoined innkeepers to supply flesh, fish, bread, and ale at the usual
rates; also to provide proper stabling. During the eighteenth century,
bargain-making was negotiated chiefly in the taverns. There, too, lawyers
met their clients, and physicians advised with their patients. At Patrick
Steil's tavern in the High Street of Edinburgh, politicians assembled in
1706 to devise measures against the Union. In the public inns at Edinburgh,
gentlewomen, a century ago, accompanied their male friends to oyster
suppers. From the Thane
of Cawdor's narrative of his travelling expenses in 1591, we obtain some
particulars as to the charges at inns during the sixteenth century. For a
quart of ale the thane paid 2s.; for a quart of wine, 13s. 4d.; for a
mutchkin of whisky, 5s. A wheaten loaf cost him 8d. His bedroom per night
was charged 6s. 8d. The cook, porter, and chambermaid severally demanded 6s.
8d. for four days' attendance. For the same period of service the waiter was
paid 15s. Epicurism was
repressed. In 1551, "in order to the eschewing of dearth," it was provided
that the lieges should be restricted in diet, each according to his degree.
To an archbishop and earl were allowed eight dishes of meat; to abbots,
lords, priors, and deans, six; to barons and freeholders, four; to
burgesses, three. The prohibition of flesh during the season of Lent, though
ignored by Presbyterians, was by the Privy Council periodically renewed. On
the 12th February 1561, the Council ordained that "none of his Graces lieges
tak upon hand to cit ony flesche in ony tyme heireftir, quhill the said
xxix. day of Marche next to cum, except sik persons as ar vesit with extreme
sicknes." To the prohibition a preamble sets forth "that in the spring
of the yeir called Lentyme, all kyndis of flesche debilitattis and decayis
and growis out of seasouu that thai ar nocht than meit for eating; and als,
that be the tempestuous stormys of the last winter and utheris precedaud,
the hale gudis are sa trakit, smorit, and deit, that the prices of the
flesche ar rissin to sik extreme derth that the like has nocht bene serie
-within this realme; and gif sik derth continue it will be to the Breit
hurte of the commove weill thairof." In Mardi 1567, the Act was repeated, on
the plea that "it is convenient for the commoun weill that thai [animals] be
sparit during that tyme, to the end that thai may be mair plenteous and
bettir chaip the rest of the yeir." Inasmuch as "throw troubles past
and the insolence and delicacie of sundry folkes the law has been contempuit
and planelic violat thin diverse years bipast," the Privy Council
repeated the enactment in 1574. It was continued from 1576 to 1578, but
licenses were granted to particular families, dispensing with the
restriction. In February 1585 all licences were revoked, and decree was
given that none further should be granted without a testimonial subscribed
"be ane phisitioin and twa honest witnesses of the aibe, seikiies or
infirmitie of the persones sutar is." Proclamation was, in February
1586, made at Edinburgh, prohibiting the cooking or eating of flesh in "tyme
of Lentren, also upon Wednesdayis, Frydayis, and Satirdayis."
The prohibitory enactment was in force in 1635,
for in that year a license, subscribed by the Lords of Exchequer, was
granted to Thomas Forbes of Watertoun, and his spouse, servants, and guests,
permitting them to eat flesh in Lent, also on Wednesdays, Fridays, and
Saturdays weekly "for the space of one year."
Assemblies of the lieges for political purposes
were disallowed. But social gatherings were much in vogue. The birth of an
heir to an estate was by the tenantry and domestics, celebrated for a course
of days. When a member of the laird's family was about to leave home, he
received his foy (feu-de-joie), that is, his parents handed him a sum of
money to be expended in entertaining his friends. The majority of an heir
was a chief occasion of festivity. At a sue-cession banqueting was
limitless. One could
not be properly invested in his ancestral inheritance without the verdict of
a jury, the formalities attendant upon which were accompanied by an
entertainment. The process of sasine, that is, of giving an heir corporal
possession of his lands by the delivery to him or his representative of cird
and state, otherwise, earth and stone, was also followed by feasting. About
a year after he had got settled in his inheritance, the new landowner gave a
great dinner. This was usually accompanied by a noisy demonstration. At
Forfar, ninety years ago, succession banquets were closed by athletic
exhibitions, the stronger guests attempting to throw the others across the
table. Reckless persons would occasionally toss about the furniture and
fracture it. Among the
Caledonians the love of music amounted to a passion. A piper is represented
among the early sculptures of the abbey of Melrose. This abbey was founded
by David I., in 1136, but the sculptures belong to the fourteenth century.
To the pipers of David II. was made in 1362 a payment of forty sllillings.
James I., in his poem of "Peebles to the Play," celebrates bagpipe music in
these verses:- The
bag-pipe blew and they out-threw
Out of the townis untauld
Lord! sic ane schout was thame ainang
Quhen they were owre the wald.
With that Will Swain came sweitand out
Ane mickle miller man;
Gif I sall dance, have done, let se
Blaw up the bagpipe than."
In form, the bagpipe ranged from the small
instrument of Northumbria with its mild notes through the warlike dron of
the northern Highlands, to the higher and perfect forms of the Western
Isles. Pipers from England performed at the Scottish Court in 1480, but
native pipers were afterwards retained, both by the sovereign and the
nobles. During the eighteenth century every considerable Scottish burgh kept
a piper as one of its burghal staff. In 1800 a piper is named among the
public functionaries at Perth.
There are three hundred pibrochs or pieces of
pipe music. Schools for instructing novices in piping, styled "colleges" by
Dr Johnson, existed at Skye and Mull, and professional performers enrolled
themselves under the government of a chief, who issued rules for their
guidance. In "The
Howlat," a poem composed in 1453, twenty-three musical instruments are
named; some of these were moved by the breath, others by percussion, others
by twanging, others by the bow.
Devoted to the musical arts, James III. invited
skilful artists to his court. The lute-player was a prominent officer of his
household; he wore a livery of green. To Dr William Rogers, an English
musician, eminently proficient in his art, James gave many benefactions; he
converted the Chapel Royal at Stirling into a musical college, and
constituted him its president. He dubbed him knight, and granted him a seat
in the Privy Council: procedure which disgusted the nobles. At their hands,
in 1482, Rogers was with other royal favourites cruelly slain.
Cherishing musical tastes, James IV. endowed the
musical college erected by his father. He brought vocalists from Italy,
tabroners from France, and harpers and trumpeters from England. A lover of
melody, James V. performed exquisitely on the lute, and entertained at his
court musicians, both instrumental and vocal. Queen Mary employed a choir in
which David Rizzio was bass singer. The queen also retained at court a
company of youths who played upon the viol.
The organ or regals existed in the fourteenth
century; it is the subject of a sculpture in the abbey of Melrose. The
instrument was of two forms, the stationary and portable. The portable
instrument, styled the portative, was borne in royal progresses. Stationary
regals were placed in churches, and used in worship. Prior to the
Reformation, organs of superior construction erected in the principal
churches were played by skilful performers with liberal salaries.
The harp was in early use by the Celtic race. In
May 1490, an Irish harper received at the king's command, a bounty of
eighteen shillings. In 1496 and 1497, James Mylsone the harper, Pate the
harper, and Fowlis the harper, and the "harper with a (one) hand were
rewarded for playing at court. Two harps which formerly belonged to John
Stewart of Dalguise, Master of the Supreme Court at the Cape of Good Hope,
are now in the Museum of the Society of Scottish Antiquaries. The larger
harp is known as Clurshuch Lumnunuch, that is, the Lamont Harp; it was
brought from Argyllshire by a daughter of the family of Lamont, on her
marriage in 1464 with Robertson of Lude. It is thirty-eight inches in
length, and in width eighteen and a half inches. There are thirty-two
strings and five holes. The box, which is hollowed from one piece of wood,
is at the top thirty incites in length and four in breadth. Respecting the
other harp, there is a tradition that when Queen Mary was on a hunting
excursion in Perthshire in 1563 she presented it to Peatrix, daughter of
Gardyn of L-'anchory, whose family is now represented by Gardyn of Troup.
Miss Gardyn married FindIa More, from whom the families of Farquharson and
Lude descend; the harp fell to the Lude family. The length of this harp is
thirty-one inches, and from front to back eighteen inches. On the box and
comb are geometrical decorations, accompanied with some fine foliagious
scroll work. On the two sides of the bow are circular spaces with figures of
animals and other ornaments. On the front of the comb are the remains of
nails which fastened decorations, and which are said to have included Queen
Mary's portrait set in jewels. The Scottish harp was at length superseded by
the violin, and the sinecure choristers of the Chapel-Royal permanently
dispensed with. A taste
for operatic music was created by the Duke of York then, as High
Commissioner in 1681-2, he kept court at Holyrood. Though his musical
demonstrations were condemned by the Church and denounced by the multitude,
they were acceptable to persons of taste, and when the excitement attending
the Revolution had allayed, a desire for the renewal of dramatic music grew
and prevailed. On the 10th January 1694, one Beck, with several associate
musicians, conducted a great concert at Edinburgh. This was followed by the
feast of St Cecilia, a concert of vocal and instrumental music held on the
22nd November 1695. On this occasion the performances included pieces by
famous Italian masters, such as Corelli and Bassani, which were executed by
first and second violins, flutes, and hautbois—the open piece giving seven
first violins, five second violins, six flutes, and two hautbois. Of thirty
performers, eleven were professional persons, the others being gentlemen
amateurs. Of the amateurs, several were expert players on the violin, flute,
and harpsichord. Among the professional musicians were persons destined to
become further associated with the national melody.
In creating a taste for music at Edinburgh,
Henry Crumbcden, a German, was much noted. William Thomson, a young
performer at St CeciIia's Feast, produced in 1725, the well known collection
of Scottish Songs with music known as Oipiaeus Caledonzius. Another
performer, Matthew M`Gibbon, had a son William, who produced in 1742 a
collection of Scottish tunes, which attained celebrity. Among other ardent
promoters of music at the beginning of the eighteenth century were Robert,
Lord Colville of Ochiltree, one Steil, landlord of the Cross Keys Tavern,
Gordon, a vocalist, and Adam Craig, whose collection of tunes for the
harpsichord or spinet, published in 1730, eminently conduced to the progress
of melody. In 1728 was formed at Edinburgh the Musical Society of St Mary's
Chapel, consisting of seventy members.
At Edinburgh in 1762 two hundred gentlemen
contributed to the erection of an assembly room, for the practice of music.
This structure, designated St Cecilia Hall, was reared at the junction of
the Cow-gate with Niddry's Wynd, a locality which was at the time a
fashionable centre. In reference to St Cecilia, Hall, Lord Cockburn writes:
"There have I myself seen most of our literary and fashionable gentlemen,
predominating with their side curls, and frills and ruffles, and silver
buckles; and our stately matrons stiffened in their hoops and gorgeous satin
and our beauties with high-heeled shoes, powdered pomatuned turned hair, and
lofty and composite head-dresses. All this was in the Cowgate, the last
retreat now-a-days of destitution and disease."
By Herodian, and other ancient writers, the
people of North Britain are described as half-naked. Their unclothed limbs
they discoloured with woad; they also painted with mineral pigments. From
the fifth century both Celts and Scandinavians made their garments of
fleeces. The art of weaving was known in the eighth century. In the reign of
David I. (1124-1153), woollen cloth was manufactured in every province.
During the fifteenth century, a desire for
superior attire prevailed generally. This induced the enactment by
Parliament in 1430 of a sumptuary law, specifying that no person under
knightly rank, or having less than two hundred merks of yearly income,
should wear clothes made of silk, or adorned with superior furs. And in 1457
the Parliament of James II. declared that "the realme is greatumlie puree
throve sumptous claithing baith of men and women;" it was consequently
enacted that "na man within burgh that lives be merchandise, bot gif he be a
person constitute in dignitie as alderman, or baillie or uthir gude worthy
men, that ar of the council of the to vile and their wives, weare claitlies
of silk nor costly scarlettis in gownes or furrings with mertrickes."
Daughters of traders were not to use crowns "with tailes unfit in length nor
furred under, Lot on the Halie-daie." Labourers and husbandmen were enjoined
to "weare on the wark daye bot gray and quhite, and on the Halic-daie bot
liclit blew, greene, and red do and their wives rieht-swa and courchies of
their awin making, and that it exceed not the price of xi pennyes the clue."
It is added, "As to the clerkes (clergymen), that vane weare gownes of
scarlet, nor furring of mertrikis, bot "if he be ane person constitute in
dignitie in cathedral or colleclge kirk, or else, that he may spende two
hundreth merkes, or great nobilesor doctoures."
During the fifteenth century and subsequently,
male attire consisted chiefly of these articles, a gown, a doublet and hose.
These, as accorded with the sumptuary laws, were fashioned in materials of
varied quality. A special gown was used on horseback, but ordinary vestments
were of two kinds—the long and short. The long gown was open in front,
reached to the feet, was fashioned with or without sleeves, and was gathered
round the waist by a girdle. In a long gown of broad cloth were comprehended
about five ells— an ell measuring thirty-seven inches — or of narrow cloth,
as in velvet, satin, or damask, from eight to fifteen ells. James V. wore a
gown of cloth of gold, which on the hood and front was adorned with 49,500
"orient pearls." Gowns were lined with ermine, also with satin and velvet;
and were edged with rich and costly trimmings. The short gown—also the gowns
used in riding, were lesser garments, the former embracing from six to nine,
and the litter from five and a half to nine ells of narrow cloth.
Like the gown, the doublet was composed of
materials suited in quality to the wearer's rank. The sovereign wore a
doublet of satin or velvet, also of leather. A close-fitting garment, the
doublet might be used without sleeves; a doublet with sleeves was trimmed
with small or narrow ribbons. Worn partially open, the doublet had under it
a silk waistcoat richly embroidered, and resting upon a stomacher of satin
or velvet. Riding, hawking, and hunting coats or doublets and jackets,
reaching to the haunches were fashioned for the king and courtiers.
Hose were a species of pantaloons, which fitted
closely to the limbs and were attached to the waistcoat by strings or laces
tipped with metal, called points. One description of hose covered the feet,
with soles attached; others reached to the ankles, others only to the knees,
where they were joined by leggings and gaiters. Hose were of varied hue, the
right and left sides presenting such contrasted colours as red and yellow,
green and red, or white and black.
In walking out a tippet or short cloak was used.
This anciently lay on the shoulders like the modern cape; it was latterly
extended till it enclosed the person. A hood was attached.
A disposition on the part of gentlemen of rank
to clothe expensively was iiot readily overcome. At his marriage in 1711, a
gentleman of fortune pail. £340 Scots for two suits, including a eight-gown
and a suit to his servant.
'fill the period of the Revolution, gentlemen in
the lowlands carried walking-swords; highland chiefs wore dirks and pistols.
In the unsettled condition of the country the custom may have been
permissible, but it was frequently attended with broils.
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
gentlemen's head-coverings consisted of caps, hats, and bonnets. Caps made
of cloth and furnished with flaps to cover the ear, were used in riding;
hats were composed of beaver. The hat-piece, a coin of James VI., produced
in 1591, represents the style of hat used at that period. Bonnets were of
scarlet or black cloth, and fitted closely to the head. The feet were
protected by sandals, called millings, made of untanned sealskin, word with
the hair-side outwards, and bound to the feet with leather thongs.
During the eighteenth century every gentleman
wore a wig, sprinkled with hair-powder. When at night he retired to rest he
placed his wig upon a block at his bedroom door, that by the man-servant it
might be powdered and dressed. In cities elderly gentlemen wore cocked hats,
the younger used velvet caps. To their individual importance some persons
invited attention by fringing their hats with gold or silver lace.
Tartan, or chequered woollen cloth, was worn by
the Celtic tribes; it was variegated in conformity with the breacan or
chequer of the several clans or tribes. The name is derived from the French
tiretaine or tirtaine, signifying cheap cloth. Bishop Laing of Glasgow,
treasurer of James III., had in 1471 all account for tartan to be used by
the King, and for double tartan for the Queen's use. The fabric was used at
the court of James V., and six tartan plaids were purchased for Queen Mary
in 1562 at the cost of eighteen pounds.
Black clothes were worn only at funerals. The
street coat was of blue or gray, or a sort of dingy brown; the waistcoat of
a gaudy buff or striped. Shirt ruffles were universal, and were
conspicuously displayed. A white cravat enclosed the neck. Drab breeches
with white stockings, and shoes with large buckles or loots with tops,
enveloped and adorned the limbs. A watch-pocket was placed in the waistband
of the breeches, and to his watch chain or ribbon every gentleman appended
his watch key and a large seal. The dignified citizen as he walked abroad
strived to maintain an erect position, while in his right hand he grasped a
long staff, which he moved forward as if groping his way. In moist weather
were worn scarlet cloaks. At the close of the eighteenth century the staff
was substituted by the gold-headed cane.
During the last century a gentleman's
evening-dress was most imposing. Under a blue or brown coat was worn a vest
of white satin. The breeches were of dark silk, joined under the knees by
black silk stockings. Wig and whiskers were turned by the curling irons, and
sprinkled with fragrant hairpowder.
When Magnus Olafsen, King of Norway, returned
from ravaging the western coasts on the death of Malcolm III., he on his
return, according to the Sagas, adopted the costume of the islanders, with
short krilles and upper wraps, whereby he was called Barelegs.
To our correspondent, Colonel Ross of Cromarty,
we are indebted for a correct description of the Highland dress. The Colonel
proceeds:--"Their ancient dress was the breacan feile or kilted plaid. This
consisted of from seven to twelve yards of tartan sewn up the middle so as
to form a plaid of double width varying from four to six yards long, by two
yards in width. Highland looms did not fabricate tartan wider than one yard.
A portion of this length was laid on the ground with the belt under it; the
lower and middle portion being then plaited so as to form a kilt, leaving a
flap at each side. The Highlander now lay down upon it, crossed the right
flap, and next placed the left flap over it, and buckled his belt. When he
got up, the upper part of the plaid which formed a sort of double kilt was
fastened with a brooch on his left shoulder, and part of the plaid on the
right side was tucked under the belt. To the waist-belt was attached the
sporran, usually made of leather with a brass or silver mouth-piece, so
constructed that persons unacquainted with the secret could not open it. The
ancient sporran did not hang loose, but the waist-belt was passed through
two rings on the mouth-piece which made it fast to the dirk and one or two
pistols were also worn on the waist-belt. By undoing the waist-belt the
plaid was made to form a blanket, in which the Highlander could at night
envelop himself. The plaid was frequently worn by chiefs. The feile beg, or
little kilt, was invented by Thomas Rawlinson, an Englishman, who came to
Glengarry about the year 1770. Rawlinson had the lower part of the breacun
feile cut off, and the plaits sewn, thus forming the modern kilt."
In illusion to the Highland dress, Taylor, the
water-poet, writing in 1618, thus expresses himself:—"They wear shoes with
one sole; stockings which they call short hose, made of a warm stuff of
divers colours, which they call tartan. As for breeches, many of them (nor
their forefathers) never wore any, but a jerkin of the same stuff that their
hose is of, their garters being bands, or wreaths of hay or straw, with a
plaid about their shoulders, which is a mantle of divers colours of much
finer and lighter stuff than the hose, with flat blue caps on their head
[and], a handkerchief knit with two knots about their neck. Their weapons
are long bows and forked arrows, swords and targets, harquebusses, muskets,
durks, and Lochaber axes." The modern Highlander wore a plume, and stuck in
his hose a knife and fork. Except as a military uniform, the Highland dress
was proscribed in 1746. The Aberdeen Journal of 1750 informs us that Robert
Pirie, servant to the minister of Cabrach, was brought into the city, and
imprisoned for wearing the philibeg.
In earlier times females of the upper class wore
white woollen robes, and jackets without sleeves. On public occasions they
were clothed in a party-coloured saque or plaid of fine texture, and wore on
their necks chains of gold.
During the fifteenth century, [To the preface of
the first printed volume of "The Accounts of the Lord high Treasurer," drawn
up by Mr Thomas Dickson, Curator of the Historical Department of the General
Register House, we are indebted for many particulars respecting male and
female attire during the fifteenth century.] female attire consisted of a
kirtle, a stomacher, and gown and tippet. The kirtle, a close-fitting
garment, enveloped the body from neck to heel. Over the kirtle and enclosing
the breast, was the stomacher, composed of satin or velvet, and lined with
fur. The gown was a loose garment, open in front, and exhibiting the
stomacher and kirtle. The tippet was a species of collar, of fur-lined
satin, which enclosed the neck, and rested upon the shoulders. The
head-dress or turrutis, consisted of artificial hair, contrived so as to
resemble two horns, from which descended the kerchief or veil.
At the commencement of the eighteenth century,
Scottish gentlewomen wore distended skirts. A lady born in 1714, whose
reminiscences cast some light on the manners of her period, writes:—"Hoops
were constantly worn four-and-half yards wide, which required much silk to
cover them; and gold and silver were much used for trimming, never less than
three rows round the petticoat; so that though the silk was slight the price
was increased by the trimming." Robert Ker, an intrepid cynic, who had his
home at Lasswade, near Edinburgh, issued in 1719 a publication entitled "A
short and true description of the great incumbrances and damages that city
and country is like to sustain by women's girded tails, if it be not
speedily prevented, with a dedication to those that wear them." In this
publication the satirist sets forth that "bordered by metallic cooperage,
men walked the streets under hazard of breaking their shin bones." In order
to accommodate the fashion he facetiously calls for alteration in churches,
coaches and staircases, and expresses his belief that John Knox would have
condemned a practice which, on account of their wives and daughters,
religious teachers hesitated to impugn. Respecting the wide-skirt style of
dress, Allan Ramsay took a milder view. He writes:—
"If Nelly's hoop be twice as wide,
As her two pretty limbs can stride
What then? Will any man of sense
Take umbrage or the least offence?"
During the eighteenth century gentlewomen wore
gowns with long waists, had high-heeled and sharp pointed shoes, and used
hair-powder. Upon their foreheads they drew down their front locks, and
applied to their faces small patches. When at Edinburgh a gentlewoman
appeared on the street in undress, she wore a mask or enveloped her head and
shoulders iii a plaid of black silk. Green paper fails Dearly two feet long,
and attached to their waists by a ribbon, gentlewomen used in place of
parasols, which were yet unknown. Elderly spinsters wore white aprons, and
in walking out were attended by their handmaidens, clad in close-fitting
short-sleeved gowns, and white mutches, but without shoes. The usual
head-dress was of Flanders lace, adorned with ribbons. Every lady earned in
her reticule a small snuff-mull, which in talking she exchanged with her
friends. No unusual gift from a gentleman to the object of his affections,
was a mull adorned with devices emblematical of constancy.
At the beginning of the present century, gowns
in the long-waist fashion disappeared, extremely short waists being
substituted. This mode continued till about the year 1830, when the former
style was revived. Hoops, long abandoned, were again in requisition. Bonnets
of large size were worn, and the hair dressed in curls in front, was on the
top gathered in a roll, and there secured by a high comb.
Scottish gentlewomen assumed a deportment suited
to the times. For about a century after the Reformation ladies of the upper
circles avoided frivolity, and by domestic industry proved an example to
their maidens. Subsequent to the Restoration female habits changed, and
ladies were found who encouraged domestic gambling and loose talk, — even
using oaths. They commenced the day by drinking a cup of Malvoisie;
thereafter breakfasting on a pair of plovers or partridges, with a libation
of sack. At five or six o'clock they supped, enjoying to their repast a cup
of FIemish wine, and were entertained while eating by the sound of music
from the lute or organ. A century ago the gentlewomen of Edinburgh field
conversational sallies in the oyster cellars. On this subject Major Topham,
in 1774, writes thus:— "When the door opened, I bad the pleasure of being
ushered in, not to one lady, as I expected, but to a large and brilliant
company of both sexes, most of whom I had the honour of being acquainted
with. The large table, round which they were seated, was covered with dishes
full of oysters and pots of porter. For a long time I could not suppose that
this was the only entertainment we were to have, and I sat waiting in
expectation of a repast that was never to make its appearance. This I soon
found verified, as the table was cleared and glasses introduced. The ladies
were now asked whether they would choose brandy or rum punch? I thought this
question an odd one, but I was soon informed by the gentleman who sat next
me that no wide was sold here; but that punch was quite `the thing.' The
ladies, who always love what is best, fixed upon brandy punch, and a large
bowl was immediately introduced. The conversation had hitherto been insipid,
and at intervals; it now became general and lively. The women, who, to do
them justice, are much more entertaining than their neighbours in England,
discovered a great deal of vivacity and fondness for repartee. A thousand
things were hazarded, and met with applause; to which the oddity of the
scene gave propriety; and which could have been produced in no other price.
The general ease with which they conducted themselves, the innocent freedom
of their manners, and their unaffected good-nature, all conspired to make us
forget that we were regaling in a cellar; and was a convincing proof that,
lot local customs operate as they may, a truly polite woman is everywhere
the same.... When the company were tired of conversation, they began to
dance reels, their favourite dance, which they performed with great agility
and perseverance."
Sir John Carr, who published
his "Caledonian Sketches" in 1809, found that the ladies of Edinburgh walked
at a late hour in Queen Street, "especially in moonlight." Frivolous and
inconsiderate in their demeanour, Scottish gentlewomen unwittingly led their
attendants into most mischievous habits. In the Hebrides at the close of
last century every maidservant received from the hands of her mistress a
morning drain, or glass of whisky. The usage prevailed elsewhere, with the
very worst results. Writing in 1805, Mr Robert Forsyth, in his "Beauties of
Scotland," remarks that "a woman of low rank is scarcely to be found,
whatever her character in other respects may be, who does not at forty-five
years of age become less or more addicted to the use of spirituous liquors."
From the reign of Charles II. to the close of
the eighteenth century, the majority of Scottish gentlewomen exhibited a
haughty demeanour and chilling reserve. The Duchess of Buccleuch, widow of
the Duke of Monmouth, who died in 1732, claimed royal honours. Under a
canopy, she was served by pages upon their knees. At her banquets she
expected her guests to eat standing. When Elizabeth Cunning, the celebrated
beauty, was wife of James, sixth Duke of Hamilton, she and the Duke walked
to dinner together before their company; they then sat together at the head
of the table, and both eating from the same plate, drank wine only with
those who held not lower rank than that of an earl. When the Duchess became
wife of John, fifth Duke of Argyle, she indulged the satisfaction of
ignoring at her own table James Boswell, when along with Dr Samuel Johnson,
he was in October 1773, entertained by her husband at Inverary. Boswell's
apology for her has often been quoted. He said that in "punishment being
inflicted by so dignified a beauty, he had the consolation which a plan
would feel who is strangled by a silken cord."
Even in rural districts, where society was
scanty, and visitors were few, matrons of fashion seldom smiled, and were
never betrayal into a laugh. They instructed their daughters to repel the
advances of every suitor whom they met in society, or if any were to be
favoured, to receive their attentions coldly and with indifference. When
admirers of their daughters sought to become agreeable they were
discountenanced, and when acceptable suitors intimated that they had won
their daughters' consent and asked their blessing, it was granted with an
intimation that they were likely to repent their choice.
From the vanity and arrogance of high-bred
dances in former tinges, it is pleasing to notify an interesting exception.
Susanna Kennedy, daughter of Sir Archibald Kennedy of Culzean, born in 1690,
became in 1709 third wife of Alexander, ninth Earl of Eglinton. Six feet in
height, with a handsome figure, and a countenance and complexion of l)ew
itching loveliness, she was recognised as the most charming woman of her
time. By George II. she was described, even when her children were grown up,
as the most beautiful lady in his dominions. Yet much as she was admired in
society of the highest rank, she preferred the intercourse of men of
letters. To Allan Ramsay's request that he might be allowed to dedicate to
her his "Gentle Shepherd," she cordially acceded, while long afterwards she
accorded to Dr Samuel Johnson and James Boswell during their tour a gracious
and honourable reception. The travellers visited her at Auchans on the 1st
November 1773. Boswell chronicles the event in these terms:— "Dr Johnson was
delighted with his reception. . . . In the course of our conversation it
came out that Lady Eglinton was married the year before Dr Johnson was born,
upon which she graciously said to him that she might have been his mother,
and that she now adopted him. When we were going away, she embraced him,
saying, My dear son, farewell." In their political principles the
lexicographer and the countess were at one. In his "Journey," Dr Johnson
praises her vivacity, and remarks that "at the age of eighty-four she had
little reason to accuse time of depredations on her beauty." Two years after
their interview, she entrusted Boswell with this message, "Tell Mr Johnson
that I love him exceedingly." Professor Josiah Walker, the friend and
biographer of the poet Burns, was in childhood privileged with her
ladyship's favour. His father was minister of Dundonald, the parish in which
Auchans, her jointure-house, was situated. From the Professor's MS. we have
the following:—"At Auchans, notwithstanding her repugnance to Protestant
doctrine, more especially to Presbytery, she thankfully accepted weekly
visits from the parish minister, also from members of his family. But,"
proceeds the Professor, "I soon superseded them all in her affection. In my
eleventh year, after an imperfect recovery from an attack of measles, my
health was thought so delicate that I was forbidden all outside exercise.
When the Countess heard of this, she, with her usual overflow of kindness,
said that she would take me out every day for a drive in her close carriage.
Accordingly, at six every evening throughout the summer, she arrived at the
manse, whose inmates were not a little elated, at a time when carriages were
so few, to see the most splendid of all stop daily at their bate, and my
little heart swelled with pride in feeling myself the cause of the high
honour thus publicly conferred on them. Of the carriage itself I must say a
word. It had been given by George III. to Earl Alexander, who was a
favourite Lord of his Bed-chamber, and by the latter from his earnest desire
to gratify his mother, had been transferred to her. . . . As the Countess
drank tea at an earlier hour than that at which this refreshment was taken
at the manse, she, lest I should miss it, kindly brought with her a large
basin of tea, covered with a soft biscuit, and matte me consume, these
provisions during our drive. Sometimes she brought me strawberries, or some
other nice substitute, and as we become attached to pets by feeding them, I
had the pleasure of seeing her become warmly attached to one. My prattle
entertained her; and it was an incontestable proof of her benevolence that
at the age of eighty-three she could exert herself, as she always did, to
keep a child, and a child of such inferior rank, in constant .amusement and
enjoyment." The Professor proceeds to describe how, that up to the acre of
ninety-one, when she passed away peacefully, this remarkable specimen of
female gentility continued to exhibit towards him the same affectionate
solicitude which she had extended in his childhood. He adds, "If I have any
elevation of spirit, if I have escaped any vulgarities of thought or
feeling, if I have learnt to put its proper value on the precious
combination of high rank and virtue, I am indebted chiefly to the many hours
I passed at the residence of this admirable woman."
The lofty demeanour which characterized gentle
women, who conformed to fashion, was in the pride of certain noblemen of
high rank fully reciprocated. In the reign of Charles II. the Duke of
Lauderdale caused at Ham House a raised recess to be constructed at the
upper part of a gallery, where, seated in chairs of state, lie and his
duchess received visitors. John James, ninth Earl of Abercorn, was extremely
proud, In the manner of his period, he sat without touching his chair back;
and it was said of him that he made the tour of Europe without touching the
back of his carriage. In his privately printed volume of "Scotch Stories,"
Captain Alexander Sinclair has recorded several anecdotes in connection with
"the proud" Duke of Hamilton. Tracing descent from the Scottish royal house,
through a daughter of James II., his grace conceived himself entitled to
rank as a prince of the blood. "Passionately fond of art," writes Sir
Archibald Alison, "he constructed, at the expense of upwards of £30,000, a
mausoleum in Hamilton Park, to which he removed the remains of a long line
of ancestors from the adjacent churchyard. He possessed himself of an
Egyptian alabaster sarcophagus, covered with hieroglyphics, which he
acquired when travelling in Upper Egypt. This he designed for his own
coffin, and as it had been made for a female, he, after making trial of it
by extending himself in it in various attitudes, left directions that, if
necessary, the breast bone should be sawn through, so that his body might be
doubled up, without injuring the exquisite piece of sculpture." |
