distraction of antiquarian research, tho' the hand of Sir Walter Scott has been tried on the subject. Of the latest representation of this little comedy we chanced to be an eyewitness, immediately after taking up our residence in Queensferry: and without reference to its historical bearing, we ventured to describe it from observation in the public prints of the day, somewhat as follows:

"The annual Saturnalia of the ancient port of passage across the Firth, of St. Margaret the Queen came off on Friday, 9th Aug., having been preceded on Thursday the 8th, according to ancient custom, by the singular perambulations of the Burry-man, i.e. a man or a lad loosely clad in flannels, stuck over with the well-known adhesive burrs of the Arctinus Bardana1 (the Burr Thistle of Burns, but in reality not a thistle but a burdock as botanists are aware). These burrs are found in considerable profusion at Blackness Point, in the vicinity of Hopetoun House. A few plants also grow in the neighbourhood of New Halls Point, and beyond the rocks of the opposite shore of North Queensferry, where we have found it on the Links near Inverkeithing, and from all these, or even more remote places are they gathered if necessary for this occasion, so essential are they deemed to the maintenance of this unique ceremony, the origin and object of which are lost in antiquity, and long ago foiled the antiquarian research of Sir Walter Scott. Tradition at present connects the custom with the erection of Queensferry into a royal borough which did not take place till the time of Charles I., and even points to the previous constitution as a burgh of regality, alleged to have originated under Malcolm Caenmohr, in which case the representation of the burgh by the Burry-man would amount to a whimsical practical pun. The custom in question can be traced back to the period of the last [Arctium Lappa? Ed.]

battle of Falkirk, for an old person of 80 now living, whose deceased mother was aged 13 at the date of the battle (1746) states that the observation has remained unaltered from then till now.

"On the day preceding the fair, the Burry-man [who requires to be either a stout man or robust lad, as weakly persons, like the man in complete steel who annually sacrifices his life to the Lord Mayor's Show in London, have been known to faint under the heat and fatigue of dressing], is indeed in his flannels. Face arms and legs all being covered so as nearly to resemble a man in chain armour from the close adhesion of the burrs and the head as well as the tops of two staves grasped with extended arms, being beautifully decked with flowers: while the victim thus accompanied is led from door to door by two attendants, who likewise assist in upholding his arms by grasping the staves. At every door in succession, a shout is raised, and the inhabitants, severally coming forth, bestow their kindly greetings and donations of money on the Burry-man who in this way collects, we believe, considerable sums to be eventually divided and spent at the fair by the youths associated in the exploit. Sometimes there are two persons thus decorated and led in procession from door to door, the one being styled the King, the other the Queen, in allusion to the passage of the royal party through the town.""

Popular opinion now is divided between explaining Burry as meaning covered with burrs, or as a corruption of "burgh," with reference to the ancient burgh of South Queensferry. The whole festival, Burry man and Fair together, is supposed to commemorate the great event in the history of the burgh, which is also recorded on the town seal, namely, the crossing of the Firth of Forth and landing at South Queensferry by Margaret, wife of Malcolm Canmore. It is at once clear that whatever

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may be true of the Fair, the Burryman procession belongs to a stage of belief much older than Queen Margaret (eleventh century). The derivation from burgh may certainly be dismissed as arising out of the connection with Queen Margaret.

For other possible derivations, we have the following: Burs, burres is Scots for fir-cones, and in this sense is still used.

Burra is the name given in Orkney and Shetland to the common kind of rush-used for feeding sheep.1

Connected with this is Bear (Lancashire), name of a door-mat made of the peeling of rushes. Perhaps formerly these mats were made of bear-skin. The rough rope mat resembles one.2

Burry, or burrie, is an old Scots word used as an epithet of a dog, meaning rough, shaggy, and generally derived from the French bourru=flockie, hairie.3

There is also a noun burris, meaning flocks or locks of wool, which is used in an Act of James VI.5

The green appearance of the Burryman and the bunches of leaves and flowers he carries are at once recognisable as signs of some nature cult connected with summer and the season of green and flowering things. Lammas has always been a very important season in Scotland, especially in country districts. It is, of course, the thanksgiving (the Loaf-mass), made from the fruits of the earth; but

2 Wright, Dialect Dict., ad loc. 4 Id.

1Jam., Dict. Scot. Lang., ad loc. 3 Jam., Dict. Scot. Lang., ad loc. 5 Miss Burne tells me that "Bur" in Shropshire means a rough unhewn stone. A "bur" wall is built of rounded unhewn stones. It is a sandstone district.

[In S.E. England generally the word 'burr' means a lump of fused brick from a kiln. (Ed.)]

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It is perhaps necessary to explain that though Lammas-day is Aug. 1, the term Lammas is used = Lammas-tide. Cf. Christmas Christmas-tide. Cf. the proverbial Lammas floods which are expected in the first half of August.