A NATIONAL STIMULANT. 



255 



supposed valuable in cases of heaviness and obtuseness of 

 intellect. Is it, therefore unreasonable to presume that it 

 may have had some share in gaining for our brethren beyond 

 the Tweed that shrewdness of national character which has 

 become proverbial ? 



"The specimens which came in the reign of James I., 



CTTRINCf A HEADACHE. 



southward, did not command much respect or admiration 

 from our countrymen ; indeed they were the bulls at which 

 every satirist hurled his shafts, and blunt must have been 

 that one which did not pierce some potent folly of language 

 or manner. The town rang with anecdotes of their rags, 

 beggary, and quarrels ; ballad-singers made merry at their 

 expense, and the stage resounded with uncomplimentary 

 allusions. Indeed, in one of the most popular plays of that 

 period, the king himself was not spared, and the actors (Ben 

 Jonson among them) had very nearly lost their ears for their 

 boldness. Nor was it at least for a hundred and fifty years 

 after this period that the Scotch became noted for that enter- 

 prise and talent which now distinguish them. 



"We do not deny that the union may have developed 



