singular bonhomie, 'Weel, my Lord (the counsel was Lord Advocate), the
awful day is come at last. I have nae been able to sleep a wink for
thinking of it; nor, I daresay, your Lordship either.'

NOTE 7, p. 235

Whistling, among the tenantry of a large estate, is when an individual
gives such information to the proprietor or his managers as to occasion
the rent of his neighbour's farms being raised, which, for obvious
reasons, is held a very unpopular practice.

NOTE 8, p. 286

This hard word is placed in the mouth of one of the aged tenants. In the
old feudal tenures the herezeld constituted the best horse or other
animal on the vassals' lands, become the right of the superior. The only
remnant of this custom is what is called the sasine, or a fee of certain
estimated value, paid to the sheriff of the county, who gives possession
to the vassals of the crown.

NOTE 9, p. 301

This mode of securing prisoners was universally practised in Scotland
after condemnation. When a man received sentence of death he was put upon
THE GAD, as it was called, that is, secured to the bar of iron in the
manner mentioned in the text. The practice subsisted in Edinburgh till
the old jail was taken down some years since, and perhaps may be still in
use.

GLOSSARY

'A, he, I.
a', all.
abide, endure.
ablins, aiblins, perhaps.
abune, above.
ae, one.
aff, off.
afore, before.
a-guisarding, masquerading.
ahint, behind.
aik, an oak.
ails, hinders, prevents.
ain, own.
amang, among.
an, if.
ance, once.
ane, one.
anent, about.
aneuch, enough.
auld, old.
auld threep, a superstitious notion.
avise, advise, deliberate.
awa', away.
aweel, well.
awfu', awful.
awmous, alms.
aye, ever. bairn, a child.
baith, both.
ballant, a ballad.
banes, bones.
bannock, a flat round or oval cake.
barken, stiffen, dry to a crust.
barrow-trams, the shafts of a hand barrow.
baulks, ridges.
berling, a galley.
bield, a shelter, a house.
biggit, built.
billie, a brother, a companion.
bing out and tour, go out and watch.
binna, be not.
birk, a birch tree.
bit, a little.
bittle, beat with a bat.
bittock, a little bit.
Black Peter, a portmanteau.
blate, shy, bashful.
blawn, blown.
blear, obscure.
blude, bluid, blood.
blunker, a cloth printer.
blythe, glad.
boddle, a copper coin worth one third of a penny.
bogle, a goblin, a spectre.
bonnet, a cap.
bon