Tweet
CONTENTS
--------
Electric Scotland News
Electric Canadian
The Flag in the Wind
Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language
Scottish Poets in America
History of the Burgh and Parish Schools of Scotland
Chronicles of Gretna Green
Homespun
Life Jottings of an Old Edinburgh Citizen
James Ballantine
Calendar Of Documents Relating to Scotland
John Henderson
It's An Old Scottish Custom (New Complete Book)
Pictorial History of the American Civil War
An Edinburgh Eleven (New complete book)
Northern Notes and Queries (New Book)
Electric Scotland News
----------------------
I can already see that lots of information is now coming out of Scotland on the Autumn 2014 referendum for Scottish Independence.
I should say that I am generally in favour of Scotland gaining independence and that's partly because I have been educated by the Scottish Democratic Alliance (SDA) and the various papers they have put out. To me they are talking a lot of sense.
The SNP really don't seem to be informing us about what Independence really means and of course the other parties all have their own agenda.
One point I've raised is do we want to be a member of the EU after Independence. The SNP seem to think this is a good idea so I want a clear statement from them as to will we join or will we get to decide on that after Independence. It's things like this that I feel we need to know.
We have a lot of famous Scottish regiments right now but will they be retained after Independence? We already build and help construct naval ships so would this work still be available to us? What about all of our Troops that will be coming back to Britian from Germany. They were to be based at RAF Leuchers but would that still happen after Independence?
In other words there are a lot of questions that need answers.
Today I have posted up in the Electric Scotland Community a paper the SDA have released "The Future Governance of Scotland". They are keen that everyone should read it and they are asking for comments about it and want to get your views. You can read the pdf file which I added as an attachment at http://www.electricscotland.org/show...DA-Perspective
It would be really neat if everyone would read it and participate in comments about it. The upcomming referendum is going to be a huge opportunity for Scots to decide on their future and that future will likely impact in some ways on the Scots Diaspora and their families.
I'll try to keep you informed as the debate gets under way and its certainly going to be an interesting time.
-----
We're just setting up our servers with the new Telco but to avoid downtime as much as possible we've asked Network Solutions to add our new DNS IP addresses to the master file. This was meant to be done automatically but it wasn't done and we've since been trying to get them to get moving on this. So we've had to delay the transfer until that is done but we hope it will be done by the weekend and we can get things moved over.
When we finally get the move done we may be unavailable for a few hours. I understand that the way it works is that most ISP's have their own DNS server and the default it to refresh this every 24 hours thus ensuring new web sites can get found. The larger ISP's may actually upate every 3 hours or even faster. All this means is that if some of you can't get to us then your local ISP will likely be one that takes 24 hours to update their records.
So this is just a heads up about possibly being unavailable for a short period.
And we do have considerable plans for updates, upgrades and new services once the move is complete.
ABOUT THE STORIES
-----------------
Some of the stories in here are just parts of a larger story so do check out the site for the full versions. You can always find the link in our "What's New" section in our site menu and at http://www.electricscotland.com/whatsnew.htm and also http://www.electriccanadian.com/whatsnew.htm
Electric Canadian
-----------------
http://www.electriccanadian.com
Makers of Canada
I am now adding Wilmot and Tilley and have completed Wilmot with Tilley coming soon.
http://www.electriccanadian.com/make...lley/index.htm
THE FLAG IN THE WIND
--------------------
This weeks Flag was compiled by Jennifer Dunn and no surprise that she's talking about the Independence referendum.
You can read this issue at http://www.scotsindependent.org
Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language
----------------------------------------------
We've added more to this disctionary...
Scottish Language Letter I & J
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...eson/index.htm
Scottish Poets in America
-------------------------
With Biographical and Critical Notices by John D, Ross (1889)
Now added...
MacColl, Evan
I should add that after we added this poet we found some additional material about him which we've added to his page.
McCallum, Major-Gen. Donald Craig
This a new entry for this week and I decided to ocr it into text this time around. Again we've done some research on him and have added links to other resources about him.
These are all pretty amazing people and make a most interesting read.
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/poet...rica/index.htm
History of the Burgh and Parish Schools of Scotland
---------------------------------------------------
By James Grant M.A. (1876).
Added this week...
Part II - Schools after the Reformation
Chapter XV - School Buildings
Chapter XVI - Female Education
Appendix - Fees and Salaries
Index
These are the closing chapters of this book.
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/educ...urgh/index.htm
Chronicles of Gretna Green
--------------------------
By Peter Orlando Hutchinson (1844)
We've now completed the first volume and have made a start on the second volume. The chapter we have up so far are...
Chapter I.
Topography of the Country between Carlisle and Gretna
Chapter II.
Gretna Green: its Toll-gate Keeper and Marrying-houses
Chapter III.
Description of Gretna Hall, the principal Marriage-house
Chapter IV.
Lord Erskine's Marriage at Gretna
Chapter V.
Poverty in relation to the Married State.—Lord Hardwicke's Marriage's Act, which put an end to Fleet Marriages, and gave birth to those of Gretna.—Disquisition on Gretna Marriages
Chapter VI.
Gretna Marriages.—Wakefield and Miss Turner
Chapter VII.
Gretna Marriages.—Wakefield and Miss Turner
Chapter VIII.
Gretna Marriages.—Wakefield and Miss Turner
In Chapter III it starts...
We will proceed to describe the edifice wherein the most notable the Prince of Capua pledged fealty to his beauteous bride. Dr. Dibdin, when peregrinating through the mazes of his northern tour, tarried a space at Gretna, either to change horses or satisfy his curiosity, as many others have also done ; and he remarks, that the gossip and his gude wife of the hostry eagerly ushered him into the room wherein were united this noble Italian and the fairest fair one, Miss Smyth, as also Mr. Sheridan and the amiable Miss Grant. These were nuptials which have been noted by other writers as being remarkable for their positive and for their relative circumstances.
In the ease of one of these weddings, this single celebration at Gretna was not held sufficient; but it was afterwards most indefatigably repeated in other places, for the purpose of making surety doubly and trebly sure. Though a marriage here performed is legally held binding to all intents, and therefore, though the knot here tied cannot well slip afterwards, still we have many instances set forth in the archives, of a repetition of the ceremony under more regular proceedings. Such repetition may be rather designed to satisfy conscience, than to satisfy law. Law is not rendered sleepless at night by the procedure ; but conscience, especially where the deed has been done clandestinely or rebelliously by disobedient children, and feels sufficiently punctured by the sole act xof disobedience, cannot sleep unless the forms of a more legitimate and approvable and moral and religious mode of union be gone through. If, however, it be held necessary to marry again in this more approvable way, why marry at all in the first instance at Gretna ? The reason is, that the performance at Gretna secures the tie in a legal sense irrevocably; and then, when Pa and Ma find that the thing is done, and cannot be witdone, and when the sinners themselves come to a like sense of this truth, they all feel that a great stigma attaches to so disreputable a practice, and will certainly hang upon them for ever, unless they devise some mode of wiping it out. What is to be done ? How can it be wiped out ? Why, forsooth, they lay their heads together, and they arrive at the determination that all parties and all conscienccs will be satisfied by the act of going to church, and by repeating the business according to the rubric.
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...chapter203.htm
You can read the other chapters at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...etna/index.htm
Homespun
--------
A Study of a Simple Folk by Annie S. Swan (1894)
This week have added...
Chapter XV. Miss Dempster's Extremity
Chapter XVI. The Marrying of Dod Aitken
Chapter XVII. Love's Young Dream
In The Marrying of Dod Aitken we learn...
THE Beild was in a ferment. Long before eight o'clock all the bairns in the place, big and wee, congregated in the road before the Morisons' door; also sundry grown folk, chiefly women, who for reasons it would take too long to explain had not been bidden to the wedding. They were on the outlook for everything, though the bride was of course the principal object of attraction. She, however, having a good inkling of what it would be, had gone over to her sister's early in the day; and while they stood in a state of expectancy awaiting her arrival, she was being put into her new silk gown by her niece and bride-maiden Jeanie, assisted by two other lassies sib to the family. And it was no very easy job, for the Kirklands dressmaker, anxious to do credit to herself and the figure of her customer, had made it on the jimp side, and they were all red in the face before they got the waist buttons in. But after it was on, and Marget had taken a long breath and assured them "it wasna the least ticht," they could not but admire the effect, and say she was the brawest bride the Beild had ever seen. She had a broad lace collar round her neck, and a long gold chain, from which she had detached her father's silver turnip, lest it would make a baggy place in her bodice ; and there was a bunch of pink cabbage roses for her neck and another one for her hair, which, when arranged by Jeanie, gave her quite a young and festive appearance.
By half-past seven she was quite ready, white gloves and all, and sat down with her lace-bordered handkerchief neatly arranged in her hand, entirely satisfied with herself. Jeanie looked as sweet as one of the new-blown roses at her belt, and the whole Morison household was in a complacent frame of mind. Leezbeth, who had been a bit touchy in the earlier part of the day, when in the thick of preparations for the supper, was now mollified, and came in, dressed herself in her wedding gown, a white rustling silk with a lilac stripe, which had been newly, done up for the occasion, and looked truly imposing.
"Are ye a' ready? Ye're face's a thocht reid, Mag. I hope your body'll no burst ower your supper. Yes, it's very nate, but gie me room. The table's set; ye'd better come an' see't afore they begin to come. There's naebody here yet."
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter16.htm
The other chapters can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...spun/index.htm
Life Jottings of an Old Edinburgh Citizen
-----------------------------------------
By Sir J. H. A. MacDonald P.C., K.C.B., Lord Justice-Clerk.
Added this week...
Chapter Ten
Circus Place School-—Our games—Teacher's indiscretion—Injustices to children -Edinburgh sweetmeats—Roland's gymnastic training—Zoological Gardens- Too much apron-string— Teaching the young to take care of themselves—Discriminator in fault-finding—My first soiree
Chapter Eleven
The Edinburgh Academy—Senseless poems of line writing—Our Rectors —Classes toe large—Range of study advanced too rapidly-—False quantities—John Clerk of Edin—Dr. Gloag, best of teachers- Qualifications of teachers- -Our sports- -Sanitary arrangements
Chapter Twelve
Clerk Maxwell—Peter Guthrie Tait—Henry Smith — Cadell—Scott-Moncrieff— Batty Tuke—Balfour—Mackintosh- -Finlay—Luke—Prosperous state of Academy—Splendid gifts by former pupils- -My school confession—My tutor, Alexander Nicolson
Here is how Chapter Ten starts...
1844 - 46
IN these last pages there has been an unavoidable lapping over beyond the period of actual childhood, as some of the features of life occurring first at a very early time, were not incidents of the moment, but were carried on into more advanced boyhood. Returning now to the time when the definite advance from infancy to boyhood occurs, that step is generally marked by the transition from petticoats to trousers, but memory fails me as to the exact time at which this occurred ;n my case. I suppose it was when I first went to school at Circus Place, near St. Stephen's Church. The school has long ago appeared. It was then the day when such a thing as a playground for boys was not thought of. We had no schoolboy association together, when class hours were over, and during the short intervals of classes we had to be content to play at marbles or whip-top or spinning-top in the backyard of the house, or on the street. We also had a game called "papes"'—a boy's corruption, I suppose, of "pips." It consisted in laying a row of cherry stones along between the first and second finger, and throwing them from a short distance into a small hole made at the bottom of the garden wall opposite the school. He who got the most of the number into the hole took those of him that failed. The stones were counted by "caddels," another corruption of "quadrille," which meant four "papes." It was a good game, and the cheapest prize sport in existence. I inquire at boys about it now, and they do not know what I am talking about. Cheapness in sport, as In everything else, is not the order of the day.
There were not many stirring incidents at Circus Place, but there was one which I never can forget, as it was so marked an illustration of the want of sense that teachers sometimes show, which leads to their doing injustice without intending to be unjust. I was a poor hand at writing, as I am still, and on one occasion I had to write what was called a "specimen." When t was presented to the youthful teacher he tore it up, produced his tawse, the Scottish instrument of torture for boys) and administered six strokes, well laid on. This might have been right enough—I say nothing against it. But he immediately set me down to up to another specimen, and when I had done so, with eyes full of tears and fingers smarting and trembling from the whacking, he took up the torrn pieces of the first specimen and compared them with the second, declaring the latter to be the worse of the two. Surely that the second should be worse than the first was not surprising, being written by smarting fingers. Again he administered the same as before to my already well-bruised hand. One learns early in life not to expect to pass through it without meeting with injustice. . Every parent should warn his children that they must not expect always to be treated justly, as every parent knows, probably from his own experience, that such a tiling is not to be expected. The severest flogging I ever endured was for an offence of which I was absolutely innocent, and I barely escaped another, though threatened with the very worst if I offended again —the alleged offence being one of which Iwas not guilty. The longest period of family disgrace I ever endured was also for a supposed offence which had not been committed. Perhaps all this was good for me. I do not know. It may have taught one to be very sure before dealing with one's own.
The Edinburgh boy had for his favourite sweetmeats two particular delights, not known at that time elsewhere. Curiously enough they both took their name from the same place. It's an indication how, in the early part of the century, names connected with war came to be applied to ordinary things. They may take their place beside the name Wellington boot and the name Blucher boot. One of these sweetmeats was called "Gib," and the other was called "Rock"—the one the first syllable, and the other the last syllable of the name "Gibraltar Rock." Edinburgh Rock is a "goody" of a much later date. When I hear anyone speaking of the fort as "Gib", it recalls the "gib" of my childhood, not without misgivings that the warnings 1 got from my elders, that if I could see how it was made I would not suck at it so eagerly, and which were unwisely disregarded.
You an read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter10.htm
The other chapters can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ings/index.htm
James Ballantine
----------------
We continue our book "Gaberlunzies Wallet" and now have up...
Preface and Introduction and Chapters 1 to 8 which you can read these chapters at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...nine/index.htm
Calendar Of Documents Relating to Scotland
------------------------------------------
By Joseph Bain
Our thanks to John Henderson for compiling this for us. This week we've added...
Volume 2
Introduction
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Appendix
Volume 3
1307 to 1313
You can get to this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...bain/index.htm
John Henderson
--------------
John sent in more new poems and songs which you can get to at the foot of http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/doggerels.htm
I might add that John has contributed lots of material to the site under his own section quite apart from the many publications he's done for us in pdf format. In the menu of our site you'll see "John's Page" and that's where you can see all he's added over the years.
In John's Scottish Sing-Along he's also added a new song, "The Noo" which you can get to at http://www.electricscotland.com/poet...ng/page124.htm
It's An Old Scottish Custom
---------------------------
By Neil McCallum
I've often mentioned that while hunting for something I stumble across another publication which sounds of interest and indeed this happened again this week with this book. I started reading it and to my mild astonishment found I'd read it all at one sitting. So hopefully you'll also enjoy this book which was very easy to read in pdf format and you can get to it at http://www.electricscotland.com/book...ish_custom.htm
I might add there was avery good wee map with this publication so I extracted it and added it to the page.
Pictorial History of the American Civil War
-------------------------------------------
By John Laird Wilson
As I was researching for additional information on Major-Gen. Donald Craig McCallum I found out that there was a biography of him in this publication. While looking through it I not only found additional biographies of Scots but was also struck by the very good account of the American Civil War with lots of old pictures. I thus thought I'd make this available to you as we've already got a section on the site done by Lu Hickey on the Civil War.
This can be found at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ilwar/cw59.htm
The author was also a Scot which makes it even more suitable for our site <grin>
An Edinburgh Eleven
-------------------
By James Barry, the author of Peter Pan
John Henderson found this book and sent it in for us to share. Given the author of this book I found his pen portraits an excellent read. You can get to this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/book...Barrie1892.pdf
John thought in particular you'd be interested in the chapter on Robert Louis Stevenson and so sent that in as a seperate book which you can read at http://www.electricscotland.com/book...Barrie1892.pdf
Northern Notes and Queries
--------------------------
Edited by Rev. R. W. Cornelious Hallen (1886)
This is another new book we've started on and here is the Introduction...
This magazine, Northern Notes and Queries, is intended for Archaeologists in Scotland and the northern counties of England. The want of suet a periodical has beep acknowledged. The English Notes and Queries long stood alone as a channel through which antiquarian information could be circulated, and answers obtained to queries, often of great interest. But now, though it still maintains its well-earned supremacy, there are in England twelve provincial periodicals of a similar character.
Scotland is rich in antiquities, and possesses men second to none in zeal and capacity to utilise them as exponents of history. The English counties bordering on Scotland are also closely connected with her past life.
In Scotland and the North of England there are many Societies working in a common cause, but having no common publication in which to interchange facts or theories. The Scottish History Society, now fairly started, will give a new impetus to historical inquiry. Thus the time seems favourable to the establishment of a quarterly paper which may become in time a monthly issue, and grow from sixteen pages to twice or thrice those dimensions. Its success must in the first case depend on its attaining a fair circulation for the first year, and that can only be secured by the greater number of those who receive this, the first copy, sending at once their names and subscriptions, 4s., to the Editor. The sale of such a paper over the counter is always fluctuating. In order to encourage subscribers, it is arranged that they and they only shall receive the future parts of a transcript of a very rare and interesting ms., AEconomia Rokebeiorum, never before printed in its entirety.
The first portion of this is presented with our first Number I the fourth portion will contain Tide-page, Preface, Notes, and a full Index. As this work is paged distinct from Northern Notes and Queries, it will form at the close of the year a complete and most interesting volume. If success attends our efforts we shall endeavour year by year to produce a work on the same plan, and thus we hope to secure a steadily increasing number of regular subscribers. But money is not all that is required—nay, is not the chief thing. We must ask our readers to be literary contributors also. Our first Number, while it may serve as a pattern, as far as size and matter go, is necessarily wanting in the variety which can only be secured by the co-operation of the many. We have been fortunate in obtaining notes from several talented archaeologists, but we have been thrown much on our own resources; we have done our best to present to our readers matter that has not appeared in print before, or only in an obscure way. Of course, also, our Query Column is weak, for we cannot ourselves ask questions ad nauseam, and we have as yet no readers whose curiosity we can invoke. We trust that in our September Number there will be many interesting Queries inserted, and that in January these will receive satisfactory Answers. We appeal to the reading public to support us, and would ask those who receive this our first Number to subscribe, or, if not disposed to do that, to lend or give the paper to some friend who will subscribe. We feel sure that in time such a work as this will make its way, and we shall do our utmost to select such Notes and Queries as may be most interesting and most useful to the Archaeologist, Genealogist and Historian.
A. W. CORNELIUS HALLEN
We have the first two parts up which you can read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...hern/index.htm
And finally...
A Cute Accent
Scottish businessman Neil Gibson is wondering how strong his accent is after a trip to Oklahoma where he picked up a hire car from Hertz. The nice lady behind the counter asked if he would like satellite navigation in the car.
After he agreed that it would be a good idea, she helpfully told him that he could set it to his own language, too.
And that's all for now and hope you all enjoy your weekend.
Alastair
--------
Electric Scotland News
Electric Canadian
The Flag in the Wind
Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language
Scottish Poets in America
History of the Burgh and Parish Schools of Scotland
Chronicles of Gretna Green
Homespun
Life Jottings of an Old Edinburgh Citizen
James Ballantine
Calendar Of Documents Relating to Scotland
John Henderson
It's An Old Scottish Custom (New Complete Book)
Pictorial History of the American Civil War
An Edinburgh Eleven (New complete book)
Northern Notes and Queries (New Book)
Electric Scotland News
----------------------
I can already see that lots of information is now coming out of Scotland on the Autumn 2014 referendum for Scottish Independence.
I should say that I am generally in favour of Scotland gaining independence and that's partly because I have been educated by the Scottish Democratic Alliance (SDA) and the various papers they have put out. To me they are talking a lot of sense.
The SNP really don't seem to be informing us about what Independence really means and of course the other parties all have their own agenda.
One point I've raised is do we want to be a member of the EU after Independence. The SNP seem to think this is a good idea so I want a clear statement from them as to will we join or will we get to decide on that after Independence. It's things like this that I feel we need to know.
We have a lot of famous Scottish regiments right now but will they be retained after Independence? We already build and help construct naval ships so would this work still be available to us? What about all of our Troops that will be coming back to Britian from Germany. They were to be based at RAF Leuchers but would that still happen after Independence?
In other words there are a lot of questions that need answers.
Today I have posted up in the Electric Scotland Community a paper the SDA have released "The Future Governance of Scotland". They are keen that everyone should read it and they are asking for comments about it and want to get your views. You can read the pdf file which I added as an attachment at http://www.electricscotland.org/show...DA-Perspective
It would be really neat if everyone would read it and participate in comments about it. The upcomming referendum is going to be a huge opportunity for Scots to decide on their future and that future will likely impact in some ways on the Scots Diaspora and their families.
I'll try to keep you informed as the debate gets under way and its certainly going to be an interesting time.
-----
We're just setting up our servers with the new Telco but to avoid downtime as much as possible we've asked Network Solutions to add our new DNS IP addresses to the master file. This was meant to be done automatically but it wasn't done and we've since been trying to get them to get moving on this. So we've had to delay the transfer until that is done but we hope it will be done by the weekend and we can get things moved over.
When we finally get the move done we may be unavailable for a few hours. I understand that the way it works is that most ISP's have their own DNS server and the default it to refresh this every 24 hours thus ensuring new web sites can get found. The larger ISP's may actually upate every 3 hours or even faster. All this means is that if some of you can't get to us then your local ISP will likely be one that takes 24 hours to update their records.
So this is just a heads up about possibly being unavailable for a short period.
And we do have considerable plans for updates, upgrades and new services once the move is complete.
ABOUT THE STORIES
-----------------
Some of the stories in here are just parts of a larger story so do check out the site for the full versions. You can always find the link in our "What's New" section in our site menu and at http://www.electricscotland.com/whatsnew.htm and also http://www.electriccanadian.com/whatsnew.htm
Electric Canadian
-----------------
http://www.electriccanadian.com
Makers of Canada
I am now adding Wilmot and Tilley and have completed Wilmot with Tilley coming soon.
http://www.electriccanadian.com/make...lley/index.htm
THE FLAG IN THE WIND
--------------------
This weeks Flag was compiled by Jennifer Dunn and no surprise that she's talking about the Independence referendum.
You can read this issue at http://www.scotsindependent.org
Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language
----------------------------------------------
We've added more to this disctionary...
Scottish Language Letter I & J
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...eson/index.htm
Scottish Poets in America
-------------------------
With Biographical and Critical Notices by John D, Ross (1889)
Now added...
MacColl, Evan
I should add that after we added this poet we found some additional material about him which we've added to his page.
McCallum, Major-Gen. Donald Craig
This a new entry for this week and I decided to ocr it into text this time around. Again we've done some research on him and have added links to other resources about him.
These are all pretty amazing people and make a most interesting read.
You can read these at http://www.electricscotland.com/poet...rica/index.htm
History of the Burgh and Parish Schools of Scotland
---------------------------------------------------
By James Grant M.A. (1876).
Added this week...
Part II - Schools after the Reformation
Chapter XV - School Buildings
Chapter XVI - Female Education
Appendix - Fees and Salaries
Index
These are the closing chapters of this book.
You can read this at http://www.electricscotland.com/educ...urgh/index.htm
Chronicles of Gretna Green
--------------------------
By Peter Orlando Hutchinson (1844)
We've now completed the first volume and have made a start on the second volume. The chapter we have up so far are...
Chapter I.
Topography of the Country between Carlisle and Gretna
Chapter II.
Gretna Green: its Toll-gate Keeper and Marrying-houses
Chapter III.
Description of Gretna Hall, the principal Marriage-house
Chapter IV.
Lord Erskine's Marriage at Gretna
Chapter V.
Poverty in relation to the Married State.—Lord Hardwicke's Marriage's Act, which put an end to Fleet Marriages, and gave birth to those of Gretna.—Disquisition on Gretna Marriages
Chapter VI.
Gretna Marriages.—Wakefield and Miss Turner
Chapter VII.
Gretna Marriages.—Wakefield and Miss Turner
Chapter VIII.
Gretna Marriages.—Wakefield and Miss Turner
In Chapter III it starts...
We will proceed to describe the edifice wherein the most notable the Prince of Capua pledged fealty to his beauteous bride. Dr. Dibdin, when peregrinating through the mazes of his northern tour, tarried a space at Gretna, either to change horses or satisfy his curiosity, as many others have also done ; and he remarks, that the gossip and his gude wife of the hostry eagerly ushered him into the room wherein were united this noble Italian and the fairest fair one, Miss Smyth, as also Mr. Sheridan and the amiable Miss Grant. These were nuptials which have been noted by other writers as being remarkable for their positive and for their relative circumstances.
In the ease of one of these weddings, this single celebration at Gretna was not held sufficient; but it was afterwards most indefatigably repeated in other places, for the purpose of making surety doubly and trebly sure. Though a marriage here performed is legally held binding to all intents, and therefore, though the knot here tied cannot well slip afterwards, still we have many instances set forth in the archives, of a repetition of the ceremony under more regular proceedings. Such repetition may be rather designed to satisfy conscience, than to satisfy law. Law is not rendered sleepless at night by the procedure ; but conscience, especially where the deed has been done clandestinely or rebelliously by disobedient children, and feels sufficiently punctured by the sole act xof disobedience, cannot sleep unless the forms of a more legitimate and approvable and moral and religious mode of union be gone through. If, however, it be held necessary to marry again in this more approvable way, why marry at all in the first instance at Gretna ? The reason is, that the performance at Gretna secures the tie in a legal sense irrevocably; and then, when Pa and Ma find that the thing is done, and cannot be witdone, and when the sinners themselves come to a like sense of this truth, they all feel that a great stigma attaches to so disreputable a practice, and will certainly hang upon them for ever, unless they devise some mode of wiping it out. What is to be done ? How can it be wiped out ? Why, forsooth, they lay their heads together, and they arrive at the determination that all parties and all conscienccs will be satisfied by the act of going to church, and by repeating the business according to the rubric.
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...chapter203.htm
You can read the other chapters at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...etna/index.htm
Homespun
--------
A Study of a Simple Folk by Annie S. Swan (1894)
This week have added...
Chapter XV. Miss Dempster's Extremity
Chapter XVI. The Marrying of Dod Aitken
Chapter XVII. Love's Young Dream
In The Marrying of Dod Aitken we learn...
THE Beild was in a ferment. Long before eight o'clock all the bairns in the place, big and wee, congregated in the road before the Morisons' door; also sundry grown folk, chiefly women, who for reasons it would take too long to explain had not been bidden to the wedding. They were on the outlook for everything, though the bride was of course the principal object of attraction. She, however, having a good inkling of what it would be, had gone over to her sister's early in the day; and while they stood in a state of expectancy awaiting her arrival, she was being put into her new silk gown by her niece and bride-maiden Jeanie, assisted by two other lassies sib to the family. And it was no very easy job, for the Kirklands dressmaker, anxious to do credit to herself and the figure of her customer, had made it on the jimp side, and they were all red in the face before they got the waist buttons in. But after it was on, and Marget had taken a long breath and assured them "it wasna the least ticht," they could not but admire the effect, and say she was the brawest bride the Beild had ever seen. She had a broad lace collar round her neck, and a long gold chain, from which she had detached her father's silver turnip, lest it would make a baggy place in her bodice ; and there was a bunch of pink cabbage roses for her neck and another one for her hair, which, when arranged by Jeanie, gave her quite a young and festive appearance.
By half-past seven she was quite ready, white gloves and all, and sat down with her lace-bordered handkerchief neatly arranged in her hand, entirely satisfied with herself. Jeanie looked as sweet as one of the new-blown roses at her belt, and the whole Morison household was in a complacent frame of mind. Leezbeth, who had been a bit touchy in the earlier part of the day, when in the thick of preparations for the supper, was now mollified, and came in, dressed herself in her wedding gown, a white rustling silk with a lilac stripe, which had been newly, done up for the occasion, and looked truly imposing.
"Are ye a' ready? Ye're face's a thocht reid, Mag. I hope your body'll no burst ower your supper. Yes, it's very nate, but gie me room. The table's set; ye'd better come an' see't afore they begin to come. There's naebody here yet."
You can read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter16.htm
The other chapters can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...spun/index.htm
Life Jottings of an Old Edinburgh Citizen
-----------------------------------------
By Sir J. H. A. MacDonald P.C., K.C.B., Lord Justice-Clerk.
Added this week...
Chapter Ten
Circus Place School-—Our games—Teacher's indiscretion—Injustices to children -Edinburgh sweetmeats—Roland's gymnastic training—Zoological Gardens- Too much apron-string— Teaching the young to take care of themselves—Discriminator in fault-finding—My first soiree
Chapter Eleven
The Edinburgh Academy—Senseless poems of line writing—Our Rectors —Classes toe large—Range of study advanced too rapidly-—False quantities—John Clerk of Edin—Dr. Gloag, best of teachers- Qualifications of teachers- -Our sports- -Sanitary arrangements
Chapter Twelve
Clerk Maxwell—Peter Guthrie Tait—Henry Smith — Cadell—Scott-Moncrieff— Batty Tuke—Balfour—Mackintosh- -Finlay—Luke—Prosperous state of Academy—Splendid gifts by former pupils- -My school confession—My tutor, Alexander Nicolson
Here is how Chapter Ten starts...
1844 - 46
IN these last pages there has been an unavoidable lapping over beyond the period of actual childhood, as some of the features of life occurring first at a very early time, were not incidents of the moment, but were carried on into more advanced boyhood. Returning now to the time when the definite advance from infancy to boyhood occurs, that step is generally marked by the transition from petticoats to trousers, but memory fails me as to the exact time at which this occurred ;n my case. I suppose it was when I first went to school at Circus Place, near St. Stephen's Church. The school has long ago appeared. It was then the day when such a thing as a playground for boys was not thought of. We had no schoolboy association together, when class hours were over, and during the short intervals of classes we had to be content to play at marbles or whip-top or spinning-top in the backyard of the house, or on the street. We also had a game called "papes"'—a boy's corruption, I suppose, of "pips." It consisted in laying a row of cherry stones along between the first and second finger, and throwing them from a short distance into a small hole made at the bottom of the garden wall opposite the school. He who got the most of the number into the hole took those of him that failed. The stones were counted by "caddels," another corruption of "quadrille," which meant four "papes." It was a good game, and the cheapest prize sport in existence. I inquire at boys about it now, and they do not know what I am talking about. Cheapness in sport, as In everything else, is not the order of the day.
There were not many stirring incidents at Circus Place, but there was one which I never can forget, as it was so marked an illustration of the want of sense that teachers sometimes show, which leads to their doing injustice without intending to be unjust. I was a poor hand at writing, as I am still, and on one occasion I had to write what was called a "specimen." When t was presented to the youthful teacher he tore it up, produced his tawse, the Scottish instrument of torture for boys) and administered six strokes, well laid on. This might have been right enough—I say nothing against it. But he immediately set me down to up to another specimen, and when I had done so, with eyes full of tears and fingers smarting and trembling from the whacking, he took up the torrn pieces of the first specimen and compared them with the second, declaring the latter to be the worse of the two. Surely that the second should be worse than the first was not surprising, being written by smarting fingers. Again he administered the same as before to my already well-bruised hand. One learns early in life not to expect to pass through it without meeting with injustice. . Every parent should warn his children that they must not expect always to be treated justly, as every parent knows, probably from his own experience, that such a tiling is not to be expected. The severest flogging I ever endured was for an offence of which I was absolutely innocent, and I barely escaped another, though threatened with the very worst if I offended again —the alleged offence being one of which Iwas not guilty. The longest period of family disgrace I ever endured was also for a supposed offence which had not been committed. Perhaps all this was good for me. I do not know. It may have taught one to be very sure before dealing with one's own.
The Edinburgh boy had for his favourite sweetmeats two particular delights, not known at that time elsewhere. Curiously enough they both took their name from the same place. It's an indication how, in the early part of the century, names connected with war came to be applied to ordinary things. They may take their place beside the name Wellington boot and the name Blucher boot. One of these sweetmeats was called "Gib," and the other was called "Rock"—the one the first syllable, and the other the last syllable of the name "Gibraltar Rock." Edinburgh Rock is a "goody" of a much later date. When I hear anyone speaking of the fort as "Gib", it recalls the "gib" of my childhood, not without misgivings that the warnings 1 got from my elders, that if I could see how it was made I would not suck at it so eagerly, and which were unwisely disregarded.
You an read the rest of this chapter at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist.../chapter10.htm
The other chapters can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ings/index.htm
James Ballantine
----------------
We continue our book "Gaberlunzies Wallet" and now have up...
Preface and Introduction and Chapters 1 to 8 which you can read these chapters at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...nine/index.htm
Calendar Of Documents Relating to Scotland
------------------------------------------
By Joseph Bain
Our thanks to John Henderson for compiling this for us. This week we've added...
Volume 2
Introduction
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Appendix
Volume 3
1307 to 1313
You can get to this at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...bain/index.htm
John Henderson
--------------
John sent in more new poems and songs which you can get to at the foot of http://www.electricscotland.com/poetry/doggerels.htm
I might add that John has contributed lots of material to the site under his own section quite apart from the many publications he's done for us in pdf format. In the menu of our site you'll see "John's Page" and that's where you can see all he's added over the years.
In John's Scottish Sing-Along he's also added a new song, "The Noo" which you can get to at http://www.electricscotland.com/poet...ng/page124.htm
It's An Old Scottish Custom
---------------------------
By Neil McCallum
I've often mentioned that while hunting for something I stumble across another publication which sounds of interest and indeed this happened again this week with this book. I started reading it and to my mild astonishment found I'd read it all at one sitting. So hopefully you'll also enjoy this book which was very easy to read in pdf format and you can get to it at http://www.electricscotland.com/book...ish_custom.htm
I might add there was avery good wee map with this publication so I extracted it and added it to the page.
Pictorial History of the American Civil War
-------------------------------------------
By John Laird Wilson
As I was researching for additional information on Major-Gen. Donald Craig McCallum I found out that there was a biography of him in this publication. While looking through it I not only found additional biographies of Scots but was also struck by the very good account of the American Civil War with lots of old pictures. I thus thought I'd make this available to you as we've already got a section on the site done by Lu Hickey on the Civil War.
This can be found at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ilwar/cw59.htm
The author was also a Scot which makes it even more suitable for our site <grin>
An Edinburgh Eleven
-------------------
By James Barry, the author of Peter Pan
John Henderson found this book and sent it in for us to share. Given the author of this book I found his pen portraits an excellent read. You can get to this book at http://www.electricscotland.com/book...Barrie1892.pdf
John thought in particular you'd be interested in the chapter on Robert Louis Stevenson and so sent that in as a seperate book which you can read at http://www.electricscotland.com/book...Barrie1892.pdf
Northern Notes and Queries
--------------------------
Edited by Rev. R. W. Cornelious Hallen (1886)
This is another new book we've started on and here is the Introduction...
This magazine, Northern Notes and Queries, is intended for Archaeologists in Scotland and the northern counties of England. The want of suet a periodical has beep acknowledged. The English Notes and Queries long stood alone as a channel through which antiquarian information could be circulated, and answers obtained to queries, often of great interest. But now, though it still maintains its well-earned supremacy, there are in England twelve provincial periodicals of a similar character.
Scotland is rich in antiquities, and possesses men second to none in zeal and capacity to utilise them as exponents of history. The English counties bordering on Scotland are also closely connected with her past life.
In Scotland and the North of England there are many Societies working in a common cause, but having no common publication in which to interchange facts or theories. The Scottish History Society, now fairly started, will give a new impetus to historical inquiry. Thus the time seems favourable to the establishment of a quarterly paper which may become in time a monthly issue, and grow from sixteen pages to twice or thrice those dimensions. Its success must in the first case depend on its attaining a fair circulation for the first year, and that can only be secured by the greater number of those who receive this, the first copy, sending at once their names and subscriptions, 4s., to the Editor. The sale of such a paper over the counter is always fluctuating. In order to encourage subscribers, it is arranged that they and they only shall receive the future parts of a transcript of a very rare and interesting ms., AEconomia Rokebeiorum, never before printed in its entirety.
The first portion of this is presented with our first Number I the fourth portion will contain Tide-page, Preface, Notes, and a full Index. As this work is paged distinct from Northern Notes and Queries, it will form at the close of the year a complete and most interesting volume. If success attends our efforts we shall endeavour year by year to produce a work on the same plan, and thus we hope to secure a steadily increasing number of regular subscribers. But money is not all that is required—nay, is not the chief thing. We must ask our readers to be literary contributors also. Our first Number, while it may serve as a pattern, as far as size and matter go, is necessarily wanting in the variety which can only be secured by the co-operation of the many. We have been fortunate in obtaining notes from several talented archaeologists, but we have been thrown much on our own resources; we have done our best to present to our readers matter that has not appeared in print before, or only in an obscure way. Of course, also, our Query Column is weak, for we cannot ourselves ask questions ad nauseam, and we have as yet no readers whose curiosity we can invoke. We trust that in our September Number there will be many interesting Queries inserted, and that in January these will receive satisfactory Answers. We appeal to the reading public to support us, and would ask those who receive this our first Number to subscribe, or, if not disposed to do that, to lend or give the paper to some friend who will subscribe. We feel sure that in time such a work as this will make its way, and we shall do our utmost to select such Notes and Queries as may be most interesting and most useful to the Archaeologist, Genealogist and Historian.
A. W. CORNELIUS HALLEN
We have the first two parts up which you can read at http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...hern/index.htm
And finally...
A Cute Accent
Scottish businessman Neil Gibson is wondering how strong his accent is after a trip to Oklahoma where he picked up a hire car from Hertz. The nice lady behind the counter asked if he would like satellite navigation in the car.
After he agreed that it would be a good idea, she helpfully told him that he could set it to his own language, too.
And that's all for now and hope you all enjoy your weekend.
Alastair