The Highland monthly - National Library of Scotland

i8o The Highland Monthly.
sixteen members of the aristocracy of Mid-Lothian
assembled. They were roaring and singing and laughing
in a low-roofed room scarcely large enough to hold them,
was
with wooden chairs and a sanded floor, . . , There
plenty of wine, particularly claret, in rapid circulation on
the table. ... a huge bowl of whisky punch, the steam
of which was almost dripping from the roof, whilst the
odour was enough to perfume the parish. Myself and my
friends were called and made to partake, and were kindly
used, particularly by my uncle, Henry Dundas. How they
did joke and laugh ! With songs, and toasts, and disputations,
and no want of practical fun. I don't remember
anything they said. . . . but the noise and the heat
and the uproarious mirth, I think I hear them yet." A
companion picture to this will be recalled by all who are
familiar with Burns' Works in the song of " The Whistle,"
when the scene terminated more disastrously. When ladies
were of the company matters were more subdued. To
family dinner parties, I have been told by one who knew
the Border well, the ladies rode over on ponies with their
husbands, and dined in their riding habit; the dinner being
at two o'clock. Whilst on state occasions they were trans-
ported in the family coach, the matron gorgeous in satin,
and the daughters in dress and appearance resembling the
cluster of beauties represented in Orchardson's well-known
pictures, The Queen of Swords, and The Social Eddy. It
may also be mentioned that ladies going to church rode on
ponies, carrying their bonnets, silk stockings, and shoes
with them, and attired themselves in a room attached to
the stable.
Looking more narrowly, however, into the social life of
the period, I take for my guide the diaries, and day-
books,! of one who m.ixed much with the society we have
been dealing with. The entries commence at the Rebellion
of '45, and come down to the end of the last century, so that
^ Day-Book, William Ogilvie of Hartwoodmyres, residing at Kranksonie
Hall, Commissioner for the Duke of Buccleugh and Lord Napier.