Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/231

 12 s. ix. SEPT. s, 1921.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 185 standard. And in Fawkirk Church yard is to be seen an Horizontal Monumt built over ye grave to rxin in favour ot Scotld so far as to impute ye loss of their 40,000 men and more, not to want of courage but to ye squabble yt happened abt y e comand in yt action : for whilst Graham and Wallace and* ye Steward of Bute did each for ymselves set up for ye comand yt day Graham carried it agst 'em both, but they were so ill natur'd as to carry off out of ye Lines of Battle all yt depended on y m, and had a cruel revenge on Graham by seeing him and all his men overpower'd by ye numbers of ye English, whilst they, instead of coming to his relief f m y e Hill above ye Town, took opportunity to slip off before ye Rout began. I may call ye through* three stories high for as ye inscription of ye 1st stone grew unlegible a 2nd was laid over it and over yt a 3d w c h is very legible, ye Inscription being but lately renew'd. Had it been Scots 'tw'd have been unintelligible 1 fancy in 431 years time but it is Standard Roman, consists of abt 6 or 8 long and stout verses and amongst other comon things yt one wd expect upon ye occasion he's call'd a Vallae fidus Achates but without any hint of a reflection on Wallace for deserting him : so whether ye tradition above mention' d be true or not I know not. Abt a mile before we came to Fawkirk we alighted to take ye Diameter of Arther's Oven as ye country people call it from ye resemblance it bears to an overgrown oven (but why Arther's I cd not learn). 'Tis not a Pyramid, as Gordon calls it, but in ye shape of a Cupola wth its base upon ye ground, and very much resembles w* Architects call a Rotonda : it has but one door and is open a top. Ye Diameter of ye Circle taken at ye base is abt 6 yards wthin y e Wall and ye Wall for abt 2 yards fm ye Base continues about a yard thick and grows thiner as ye Arch or Alcove is to be form'd ; all ye stones are through-stones (as our masons call 'em) smooth ashler and laid one upon another wthout any cement so nicely hewn yt you canot see thro' betwixt 'em any where. It seem'd to be between 7 and 8 yards high (perpendicular), no ornamt is supposed to have ever stood on y e Top : a Gentlemn in y e neighbourhood has a strong Iron gate (bars crossing at right angles) just now in bis possession, yt came off ye Top of it and was laid over ye round hole : some have taken ys rotonda for a Temple of Terminus because 'twas near Antonius's wall but I think it should have stood nearer yn 1,000 paces to ye wall, if not in ye wall itself, if 'twas design'd for yt. And a Clergyman not far fm it, is for publishing a piece wherein he'll prove it to be one of ye Druid's Courts of Judicature however no Roman building : there being several of ye same sort in ye Highlands, where 'tis evident ye Romans never came. Wt occurr'd after our leaving Falkirk I must defer till another opportunity, for my LT swells to such an immoderate size yt I must omit ye acct of Ld Hoptoun's fine House and Gardens bt-twixt Lithgow and Edingburgh, and of Eding- burgh, and all we saw there, and shall draw towards a conclusion wth a remark on Scotch Vanity. A ' English Dialect Dictionary.' i Spirit of Ostentation seems to be ye charac- i teristic of ye whole people : several instances I I shall give but a Dozen. The first and best j known is ye pompous appellation of Laird given I to any man tho' so inconsiderably descended j provided he have but an estate of 40 shilling ! (40 pund Scots) a year he can call his own. The , next is their preposterous affectation of grandeur yt he might attend wth a Cloak wn his Master I made his publick appearance in a Town, yet we met several wth Sword and Pistols before and a Cranky Cloak-bag behind ; and one fellow I particularly wth a sword and Tye Wig coming j fm ye market wth a wallet under him and a ! Scotch Halter ty'd to ye ring of his saddle. A further specimen of their vanity is their way of rating an estate : for enquiring ye value of j Drumlanrig I was told it was abt 2 thousd a year, I and wondering yt there was not a better house upon it ask'd how far it extended ; ye man I ask'd off shew'd me ye extent of it pray yn says I wt do you compute by ? by marks Sr co' he and 'twas wth some reluctance yt he own'd ye mark to be but 13d and (their mark keeping ye same proportion to their 20 peny pund as ours does to ye pound sterling). The High road is either ye King's Highway or ye Coach road, tho' perhaps a coach has not been seen on it since he yt calls it so can remember. Shd I impute ye great Civility of ye People of all conditions to ye same spirit of ostentation and a desire of purchasing esteem you wd call me ungratefull ; since yt civility yt prov'd so very usefull to us ought by us to be imputed to a better principle. But j I fancy their being conscious how low ye character I of their Country is in ye esteem of ye rest of Europe, makes ym labour in ye minutest as well as most important instances to retrieve their Characters. The very appearance my Apothe- i cary made at Edinburgh was only less yn Dr. I Burton's us't to be in Oxford, and it was matter j dress'd out in a genteel Tye-wig, a silk stocking j wth a bold point, a clouded Kane, and a silver i buckle of ye neetest cut, and attended by a ! footman : but my concern lessen'd wn I found it ! was no more yn an Apothecary, who was no j undoubtedly learns more by hearing questions put and cases stated, yn ours do in Engld by beating of Mortars and making up rects behind i ye counter only. And Dr Congleton seem'd very well pleas' d to have ye price of his Bark I and a Bolus wch came up to | a Crown, dubl'd j for his waiting on me 3 times. I had not dwelt so long upon ys but for ye sake of bringing in ye case of ye apprentice, to give ye Scots worthy praise for their method of Educa- tion in that particular : and I will take ye liberty to say, wthout apprehension of affronting Oxford or Cambridge, who need not be conscious to 'emselves of any defect in theirs, yt I believe ye method of education as to all their particulars in ye College at Glasgow to be as just and as
 * Through, a flat tombstone. Vide Wright's
 * might be given of it, but in pity to my reader
 * in their appearance : for tho' we did not see
 * ye servt riding on ye same horse wth his Master
 * (a sight I suppose, only to be seen in private
 * roads betwixt a Laird's Place and a great town)
 * Sr Thomas Maxwell's Estate a little South of
 * of concern to me, wn Gold run low, to find ye
 * man I sent for to consult abt an ounce of Bark
 * Licentiate attended by his Apprentice, who