1839-40. A VISIT TO PENICUTK. 219 



duality. As I had the arm and the society of Dr. John Niven, 

 the use of his pony whenever I wished, the society of his aunt, 

 sisters, and nieces, over and above his good uncle, the trust- 

 worthy servants, and the old and young dogs, it would have 

 been my own fault if I had not evolved from these elements 

 both profit and amusement ; and seeing I was a guest (however 

 unworthy) whom they all ' delighted to honour/ from Miss 

 Abernethy to the old servant, who came to shake hands with 

 me, and congratulate me on my doctorate, you may imagine 

 that an accommodating passivity would have served to secure 

 my happiness. As it was, what with a grand tea-party of auld 

 Scotch farmer folks from the hills, whose conversation was sin- 

 gularly broad and racy, and startling, too, after a southern 

 absence, it completely knocked out of my ears every English 

 accent I had got hold of. Oh, to have had H. G. there, listening 

 to the strange Babylonish dialect of old and young ; how his 

 ears would have tingled had he heard a song of Gala (pro- 

 nounced Gaulay) Water, or another of a fox stealing a goose, 

 which ended in one line, with the detail of the goose being car- 

 ried to foxdom, and ' the young ones pyked the banes o'. What 

 with pony rides, still more, what with country walks through 

 the grounds around with the young ladies, from whom I always 

 chose my kind, accomplished, and lady-like friend, Miss Niven, 

 as my companion, ' time, as he passed us, had a dove's wing, 

 unsoiled and swift, and of a silken sound ;' and at night we 

 nestled round a fire, and I read the last number of ' Mckleb/ 

 aloud, or we played at whist, or chatted together ; and so the 

 time wore swiftly away, helped to a swifter conclusion by the 

 occurrence of a fair on the Friday, where, if there were no very 

 huge shows or Thespian booths, there was the ancient merry- 

 go-round, and a game which is called, in the elegant language 

 of Penicuik, the Eoly-Poly, a game like nine-pins, superintended 

 by most blackguard-looking fellows, where sturdy ploughmen 

 played for cakes of gingerbread. The evening was ended by a 

 grand dance in the barn or Gardener's Lodge, where by the pay- 

 ment of a penny you obtained the right to stand on the floor, 

 and by the possession of good looks, good manners, or enticing- 

 speech, the claim to the rosy hand of some Pamela, radiant with 



