NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

NOVELS AND TALES. VOL. III.

GUY MANNERING.

THE WHAAP.-P. 8, l. 11.

THE Hope, often pronounced Whaap, is the sheltered part or hollow of the hill. Hoff, howff, haaf, and haven, are all modifications of the same word.

EASSEL AND WESSEL.-P. 9, l. 5.

Provincial for eastward and westward.

CLECKING TIME.-P. 9, 1. 5, (foot.)

Hatching time.

THE GROANING MALT.-P. 32, 1. 19.

The groaning malt mentioned in the text was the ale brewed for the purpose of being drunk after the lady or goodwife's safe delivery. The ken-no has a more ancient source, and perhaps the custom may be derived from the secret rites of the Bona Dea. A large and rich Cheese was made by the women of the family, with great affectation of secrecy, for the refreshment of the gossips who were to attend at the canny minute. This was the ken-no, so called because its existence was se

cret (that is, presumed to be so) from all the males of the family, but especially from the husband and master. He was, accordingly, expected to conduct himself as if he knew of no such preparation, to act as if desirous to press the female guests to refreshments, and to seem surprised at their obstinate refusal. But the instant his back was turned the ken-no was produced; and after all had eaten their fill, with a proper accompaniment of the groaning malt, the remainder was divided among the gossips, each carrying a large portion home with the same affectation of great secrecy.

THE BAY.-P. 44, l. 5, (foot.)

The outline of the above description, as far as the supposed ruins are concerned, will be found somewhat to resemble the noble remains of Carlaverock Castle, six or seven miles from Dumfries, and near to Lochar

moss.

CUT BEN WHIDS, AND STOW THEM-A GENTRY COVE OF THE KEN.-P. 49, 1. 3.

Meaning,-stop your uncivil language. That is a gentleman from the house below.

SCHNAPS.-P. 49, 1. 2, (foot.)

A dram of liquor.

CARRIED OFF BY THE GIPSIES LIKE A SECOND
ADAM SMITH.-P. 81, 1. 12.

The father of Economical Philosophy was, when a child, actually carried off by gipsies, and remained some hours in their possession.

GILES BAILLIE.-P. 85, 1. 5.

This anecdote is a literal fact.

Delicacies.

SUNKETS.-P. 81, 1. 1.

HUMBLE COW.-P. 99, 1. 6, (foot.)

A cow without horns.

DEAD-THRAW.-P. 105, 1. 3.

Death-agony.

SHERIFF-DEPUTE.-P. 106, 1. 1.

The Scottish Sheriff discharges, on such occasions as that now mentioned, pretty much the same duty as the English Coroner.

THE CABARET-MUMPS'S HA'.-P. 242, 1. 1.

It is fitting to explain to the reader the locality described in this chapter. There is, or rather I should say there was, a little inn, called Mumps's Hall, that is, being interpreted, Beggar's Hotel, near to Gilsland, which had not then attained its present fame as a Spa. It was a hedge alehouse, where the Border farmers of either country often stopped to refresh themselves and their nags, in their way to and from the fairs and trysts in Cumberland, and especially those who came from or went to Scotland, through a barren and lonely district, without either road or pathway, emphatically called the Waste of Bewcastle. At the period when the adventures described in the novel are supposed to have taken place, there were many instances of attacks by freebooters on those who travelled through this wild district, and Mumps's Ha' had a bad reputation for harbouring the banditti who committed such depredations.

An old and sturdy yeoman belonging to the Scottish side, by sirname an Armstrong or Elliot, but well known

by his soubriquet of Fighting Charlie of Liddesdale, and still remembered for the courage he displayed in the frequent frays which took place on the Border fifty or sixty years since, had the following adventure in the Waste, which suggested the idea of the scene in the

text:

Charlie had been at Stagshaw-bank fair, had sold his sheep or cattle, or whatever he had brought to market, and was on his return to Liddesdale. There were then no country banks where cash could be deposited, and bills received instead, which greatly encouraged robbery in that wild country, as the objects of plunder were usually fraught with gold. The robbers, had spies in the fair, by means of whom they generally knew whose purse was best stocked, and who took a lonely and desolate road homeward,—those, in short, who were best worth robbing, and likely to be most easily robbed.

All this Charlie knew full well; but he had a pair of excellent pistols, and a dauntless heart. He stopped at Mumps's Ha', notwithstanding the evil character of the place. His horse was accommodated where it might have the necessary rest and feed of corn; and Charlie himself, a dashing fellow, grew gracious with the landlady, a buxom quean, who used all the influence in her power to induce him to stop all night. The landlord was from home, she said, and it was ill passing the Waste, as twilight must needs descend on him before he gained the Scottish side, which was reckoned the safest. But Fighting Charlie, though he suffered himself to be detained later than was prudent, did not account Mumps's Ha' a safe place to quarter in during the night. He tore himself away, therefore, from Meg's good fare and kind words, and mounted his nag, having first examined his pistols, and tried by the ramrod whether the charge remained in them.

He proceeded a mile or two, at a round trot, when, as the Waste stretched black before him, apprehensions began to awaken in his mind, partly arising out of Meg's

unusual kindness, which he could not help thinking had rather a suspicious appearance. He, therefore, resolved to reload his pistols, lest the powder had become damp; but what was his surprise when he drew the charge, to find neither powder nor ball, while each barrel had been carefully filled with tow, up to the space which the loading had occupied; and, the priming of the weapons being left untouched, nothing but actually drawing and examining the charge could have discovered the inefficiency of his arms till the fatal minute arrived when their services were required. Charlie bestowed a hearty Liddesdale curse on his landlady, and reloaded his pistols with care and accuracy, having now no doubt that he was to be waylaid and assaulted. He was not far engaged in the Waste, which was then, and is now, traversed only by such routes as are described in the text, when two or three fellows, disguised and variously armed, started from a moss-hag, while, by a glance behind him, (for, marching as the Spaniard says, with his beard on his shoulder, he reconnoitred in every direction,) Charlie instantly saw retreat was impossible, as other two stout men appeared behind him at some distance. The Borderer lost not a moment in taking his resolution, and boldly trotted against his enemies in front, who called loudly on him to stand and deliver; Charlie spurred on, and presented his pistol. "D-n your pistol," said the foremost robber; whom Charlie to his dying day protested he believed to have been the landlord of Mumps's Ha,-"D-n your pistol! I care not a curse for it.". Ay, lad," said the deep voice of Fighting Charlie, "but the tow's out now." He had no occasion to utter another word; the rogues, surprised at finding a man of redoubted courage well armed, instead of being defenceless, took to the moss in every direction, and he passed 'on his way without further molestation.

The author has heard this story told by persons who received it from Fighting Charlie himself; he has also heard that Mumps's Ha' was afterwards the scene of