t at the churchyard. In some parts of the Highlands this
superstition led to many unseemly scenes when funerals occurred on the
same day.

Those attending the funeral who were not near neighbours or relations
were given a quantity of bread and cakes to take home with them, but
relations and near neighbours returned to the house, where their wives
were collected, and were liberally treated to both meat and drink. This
was termed the _dredgy_ or _dirgy_, and to be present at this was
considered a mark of respect to the departed. This custom may be the
remnant of an ancient practice--in some sort a superstition--which
existed in Greece, where the friends of the deceased, after the funeral,
held a banquet, the fragments of which were afterwards carried to the
tomb. Upon the death of a wealthy person, when the funeral had left the
house, sums of money were divided among the poor. In Catholic times this
was done that the poor might pray for the soul of the deceased. In the
Danish _Niebellungen_ song it is stated that, at the burial of the hero
Seigfried, his wife caused upwards of thirty thousand merks of gold to
be distributed among the poor for the welfare and repose of his soul.
This custom became in this country and century in Protestant times an
occasion for the gathering of beggars and sorners from all parts. At the
funeral of George Oswald of Scotstoun, three miles from Glasgow, there
were gathered several hundreds, who were each supplied with a silver
coin and a drink of beer, and many were the blessings wished. A similar
gathering occurred at the funeral of old Mr. Bogle of Gilmourhill, near
Glasgow; but when announcement was made that nothing was to be given,
there rose a fearful howl of execration and cursing both of dead and
living from the mendacious crowd. The village of Partick in both these
cases was placed under a species of black-mail for several days by
beggars, who would hardly take any denial, and in many instances
appropriated what was not their own. I am not aware that this custom is
retained in any part of the country now.

As the funerals fifty years ago were mostly walking funerals, the coffin
being carried between two spokes, the sort of weather during the funeral
had its omens, for in these days the weather was believed to be greatly
under the control of the devil, or rather it was considered that he was
permitted to tamper with the weather. If the day was fine, this was
naturally a good omen for