St. Ronan's Well Page 56

  Note III., p. 318.

  Non omnis moriar. Saint Ronan's, since this veracious history was given to the public, has revived as a sort of alias, or second title, to the very pleasant village of Inverleithen upon Tweed, where there is a medicinal spring much frequented by visitors. Prizes for some of the manly and athletic sports, common in the pastoral districts around, are competed for under the title of the Saint Ronan's Games. Nay, Meg Dods has produced herself of late from obscurity as authoress of a work on Cookery, of which, in justice to a lady who makes so distinguished a figure as this excellent dame, we insert the title-page:

  “The Cook and Housewife's Manual: A Practical System of Modern Domestic Cookery and Family Management.

  ————‘Cook, see all your sawces

  Be sharp and poynant in the palate, that they may

  Commend you: look to your roast and baked meats handsomely,

  And what new kickshaws and delicate made things.’

  Beaumont and Fletcher.

  By Mistress Margaret Dods, of the Cleikum Inn, St. Ronan's.”

  Though it is rather unconnected with our immediate subject, we cannot help adding, that Mrs. Dods has preserved the recipes of certain excellent old dishes which we would be loath should fall into oblivion in our day; and in bearing this testimony, we protest that we are no way biassed by the receipt of two bottles of excellent sauce for cold meat, which were sent to us by the said Mrs. Dods, as a mark of her respect and regard, for which we return her our unfeigned thanks, having found them capital.

  EDITOR'S NOTES.

  [A]

  p. 104. “Tietania.” A little book on the art of tying the neckcloth, in the age of Brummel and his “failures.” Copies may occasionally be found on the bookstalls. It is not in the Abbotsford Library.

  [B]

  p. 151. “I first persuaded her to quit the path of duty.” This remark of Tyrrel's is one of the many surviving traces of the original plot.

  [C]

  p. 220. “Master Stephen.” A character of Ben Jonson's already referred to—he who wished for a stool to be sad upon.

  [D]

  p. 223. “A Canon of Strasburgh.” Scott frequently refers, in accounts of the roof of the hall of Abbotsford, which he blazoned with his quarterings, to his deficiency in the sixteen necessary for a Canonry. Three shields, those connected with the Rutherfords of Hunthill, are vacant, or rather are painted with clouds.

  [E]

  p. 238. “One of Plutarch's heroes, if I mistake not.” It was not a hero of Plutarch's, but Pindar the poet, who was warned by Persephone that he had neglected to honour her by an ode.

  [F]

  p. 254. “They can scarcely say worse of me than I deserve.” In this remark of Clara's we have another trace of the original plot, involving Clara's lapse from virtue. The whole scene, with Mowbray's “You having been such as you own yourself,” was made unintelligible by Ballantyne's objection.

  [G]

  p. 300. “A corbie messenger.” It seems unlikely that the Scots had a legend like the Greek one concerning the evil “corbie” or raven messenger to Apollo about his false lady-love, but no other explanation suggests itself.

  Andrew Lang.

  December 1893.

  FB2 document info

  Document ID: 157bc98e-bbd0-4194-9708-c5bf4b1e44aa

  Document version: 1

  Document creation date: 6.11.2013

  Created using: calibre 1.9.0, FictionBook Editor Release 2.6.6 software

  Document authors :

  Walter Scott

  About

  This file was generated by Lord KiRon's FB2EPUB converter version 1.1.5.0.

  (This book might contain copyrighted material, author of the converter bears no responsibility for it's usage)

  Этот файл создан при помощи конвертера FB2EPUB версии 1.1.5.0 написанного Lord KiRon.

  (Эта книга может содержать материал который защищен авторским правом, автор конвертера не несет ответственности за его использование)

  http://www.fb2epub.net

  https://code.google.com/p/fb2epub/