ANECDOTE OF A FISHWIFE. 305 



" A Bixpence." 



" I daur say ye wull, ma bonny leddy, but ye'll no get thae 

 four fish for twa sixpences this day." 



" I'll not give more." 



"Well, mem, gude day" (making preparations to go); 

 " I'll take eighteenpence an' be dune ■vri't." 



" No ; I'll give you twopence each for them." 



And so the chaffering goes on, till ultimately the fishwife 

 will take tenpence for the lot, and this plan of asking double 

 what wOl be taken, which is common with them all and 

 sometimes succeeds with simple housewives, will be repeated 

 from door to door, till the supply be exhausted. The mode 

 of domg business with a fishwife is admirably illustrated in 

 the Antiquary. When Monkbarns bargains for " the bannock- 

 fluke " (turbot) and " the cock-padle " (the lump-sucker), Maggie 

 Mucklebackit asks four shillings and sixpence, and ends, after a 

 little negotiation and much finesse, in accepting half-a-crown 

 and a dram ; the latter commodity being worth siller just then, 

 in consequence of the stoppage of the distilleries. 



The fishwives while selling their fish will often say some- 

 thing quaint to the customer with whom they are dealing. I 

 will give one instance of this, which, though somewhat ludi- 

 crous, is characteristic, and have no doubt the words were 

 spoken from the poor woman's heart. "A fishwife who was 

 crying her ' caller cod ' in George Street, Edinburgh, was stopped 

 by a cook at the head of one of the area stairs. A cod was 

 wanted that day for the dinner of the family, but the cook 

 and the fishwife could not trade, disagreeing about the price. 

 The night had been stormy, and instead of the fishwife flying 

 into a passion, as is their general custom when bargaining for 

 their fish if opposed in getting their price, the poor woman 

 shed tears, and said to the cook, ' Tak' it or want it ; ye may 

 think it dear, but it's a' that's left to me for a faither o' four 

 bairns.' " 



Notwithstanding, however, their lying and cheating in 

 the streets during the week when seUing their fish, there are 

 no human beings in Scotland more regular in their attendance 

 at church. To go to their church on a Sunday, and see the 

 women all sitting with their smooth glossy hair and snow-white 

 caps, staring with open eyes and mouth at the minister, as he 

 exhorts them from the pulpit as to what they should do, one 

 would think them the most innocent and simple creatures ia 



