10 Transactions. 



the shortbread is a form of the unleavened bread of tlie middle 

 ages that has still Hngereil in the South of Scotland long after 

 leavened bread had been adopted in the large cities '.' Perhaps the 

 members of the Society can contribute materials to a right answer 

 to these questions. 



Eev. R. W. Weir said he had been brought up on the East 

 Coast, amongst people who often talked about old church customs ; 

 and he thought if they had ever themselves witnessed a dispensa- 

 tion of the Communion with shortbread, or had heard of others 

 having done so, they would have certainly mentioned it some time 

 or other in his hearing. Dr Sprott, in his book, said it was a cus- 

 tom that prevailed in Dumfriesshire and Galloway, and that the 

 explanation of it was that shortbread was unleavened bread. He 

 had heard of it frequently since he came to the district ; and he 

 knew that in Buittle it was still used. As to the theory of un- 

 leavened bread, he thought it very doubtful. He supposed that 

 in this district there would be two kinds of bread, the oatbread for 

 general use, and the shortbread for company use, and that at the 

 Communion they naturally took the best kind of bread they knew 

 of. In the minutes of the Dumfries Kirk-Session he had seen no 

 notice of a change in the matter of providing the bread ; the 

 change, he supposed, would be made without any decree on the 

 part of the Kirk-Session. Similar changes had taken place in 

 regard to the wine. He found in old days that in Dumfries and 

 elsewhere it had always been claret that was used at the Com- 

 munion ; but there came a time when claret ceased to be so 

 popular in Scotland, and port took its place. Then port was intro- 

 duced as the Communion wine. 



Mr Andson had never seen in Arbroath, his native town, 

 shortbread employed, but he had heard it spoken of as used in 

 former times at the Communion. He was not sure about its 

 being unleavened bread. He thought Mr Weir's impression was 

 the correct one, that it was the finest kind of bread. 



Mr Thomson, in answer to a question by Mr Weir, said that 

 he had never heard of shortbread having been used at the Com- 

 munion among the Cameronians. 



