ave
abhorred pork almost as much as he did tobacco. Ben Jonson has recorded
this peculiarity, where the gipsy in a masque, examining the king's hand,
says--

You should, by this line,

Love a horse and a hound, but no part of a swine.

The Gipsies Metamorphosed.

James's own proposed banquet for the Devil was a loin of pork and a poll
of ling, with a pipe of tobacco for digestion.

NOTE 22

In the number of persons of all ranks who assembled at the same table,
though by no means to discuss the same fare, the Highland chiefs only
retained a custom which had been formerly universally observed throughout
Scotland. 'I myself,' says the traveller, Fynes Morrison, in the end of
Queen Elizabeth's reign, the scene being the Lowlands of Scotland, 'was
at a knight's house, who had many servants to attend him, that brought in
his meat with their heads covered with blue caps, the table being more
than half furnished with great platters of porridge, each having a little
piece of sodden meat. And when the table was served, the servants did sit
down with us; but the upper mess, instead of porridge, had a pullet, with
some prunes in the broth.'--Travels, p. 155.

Till within this last century the farmers, even of a respectable
condition, dined with their work-people. The difference betwixt those of
high degree was ascertained by the place of the party above or below the
salt, or sometimes by a line drawn with chalk on the dining-table. Lord
Lovat, who knew well how to feed the vanity and restrain the appetites of
his clansmen, allowed each sturdy Fraser who had the slightest
pretensions to be a Duinhewassel the full honour of the sitting, but at
the same time took care that his young kinsmen did not acquire at his
table any taste for outlandish luxuries. His lordship was always ready
with some honourable apology why foreign wines and French brandy,
delicacies which he conceived might sap the hardy habits of his cousins,
should not circulate past an assigned point on the table.

NOTE 23

In the Irish ballads relating to Fion (the Fingal of Mac-Pherson) there
occurs, as in the primitive poetry of most nations, a cycle of heroes,
each of whom has some distinguishing attribute; upon these qualities, and
the adventures of those possessing them, many proverbs are formed, which
are still current in the Highlands. Among other characters, Conan is
distinguished as in some respects a kind of Thersites, but brave and
daring even to ra