40f' Vieiu of the Situation of Farmers, t^cl Nor.' 



when I obferved Mrs eye me amufing myfelf with endea- 

 vouring to difcover, from the cypher, to which of the neigh- 

 bours the extra fpoons belonged ; for I knew well Ihe had not 

 received more than hnlf a dozen at her marriage. 



\Vhen the miftrcfs lay in, the whole neighbourhood was in- 

 ftaMtjy jcquiiinted by m if^ngers defpatched in every direction. 

 The compliment was returned by frequent inquiries after her's 

 and the chdd's health, till her month was up. A couple of 

 lines in the newfpapers has fuperfeded this good old cuftom ; and 

 the large punch-bov«'I, that made its appearance only at Chrift- 

 mas, ftands now in feme old cupboard, ufelefs and forgotten. 



I have not mentioned any article upon which there has been a 

 greater change than their pock'-'t and tavern ex pence. In the days 

 of Po^/Jy Johnjlon^ the farmer, Vv'hen he went to H iddington mar- 

 ket, did p.ot dine, but, when he cnme away, took a bottle of ilir- 

 rup ale with fome burgher frier.d i and Forty's Court, now Fair- 

 bairn's coach-yard, uft-d to be ramnieJ quite full of horf-i^s that 

 got nothing to eat, as (till tnkes place at GifTord fair. Baron 

 8coughall at Broomhouf-i departed from the general prad^ice. 

 He annually gave Mr F;ll at Dunbar a cart load of peas-ftraw 

 for a four gall.ms bottle of bramly, and a ftable to put his horfe 

 into when he came to town. The Baron was an arch wag: the 

 bargain was made (imply for a bottle : he went himfelf for the 

 fir(t year's, with a four jjalloTis bottle fixed in a wheel-barrow, 

 Mr Fall faw he was taken in, bat humoured the Baron's joke, 

 ;ind continued the annual p lym^-nt {o long as he lived- Ordina- 

 ries at Haddington, at 4d. a head, were fir (I eilabiiihed by Wil- 

 lie Grieve and Baillie 8hortl?^fs. Thefe were foon eclipfed by 

 IS. 6d. or 2S. clubs at M*Cai:'s and Gairdner's, which are now, 

 in their turn, fucceeded by others, at Sang's, Gordon's, Fair- 

 bairn's, and Whitehead's, where, for three or four (hillings, a 

 plentiful dinner may be enjoyed, with a moderate pordon of 

 iiquorj and a good-humoured converfation. 



Sixty years ago, my old friend F****'^* W*****, who was 

 no fcrub, uicd to go to LeflTudden fair, and brcakfalt on bag- 

 gies and cold roaft lamh, fpending no more than eightpence up- 

 on the journey. Ir would not now pay the turnpikes, D**** 

 S****** ufed to walk i 12 miles to and from Campfie, without 

 fpending more than twentypence, unlefs when he met wich an 

 old fchoolfel!o-.v, and had a debauch with him at Edinburgh. 



^*#** .|-****#* ^^5 amongft the firft to go to London, merely 

 -Vom curiofity. He travelled iji the fecond pod-chaife with L*** 

 f-******'s fervant, his Lordfhip and his miftrefs being in the 

 r,r{}^ |***=4^»s return was rather abrupt, and earlier than his 



friends 



