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Article TRAITS OF THE SCOTCH CHARACTER. ← Page 2 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Traits Of The Scotch Character.
No turnspit-dog gets up into his wheel with more reluctance than £ sit down to write ; yet no dog ever loved the roast meat he turns better than I do him I now address Yet what shall I say now I am entered ? Shall I tire you with a description pf this unfruitful country , where I must lead you over their hills , all brown with heath , 'or their vallies , scarce able to feed a rabbit
?—Man alone seems to be the only creature who has arrived to the natural size in this poor soil . Every part ofthe country presents the same dismal landscape : no grove nor brook lend their music to cheer the stranger , or make the inhabitants forget their poverty : — yet , with all these disadvantages to call him down to humility , a Scotchman is one of the proudest things alive . —The Poor have pride read
ever y to relieve them : if mankind should happen to despise them , they are masters' of their own admiration—and that they can plentifully bestow on themselves , From theirpi-ide and poverty , as f take it , results an advantage the country enjoys , namely , the gentlemen are much better bred than amongst us . No such character here as our fox-hunters ; and th
. ey have expressed great surprise when I informed them that some men an Ireland , of IOOQI . a year , spend their whole lives in running after a hare , drinking' to be drank , and getting every girl , that will let them , with child . •Truly if such a being , equipped iu his ' huntingdress ^ came among a circle of Scotch gentry , they would ' behold him with the same astonishment that a countryman would King George horseback
on . The men here have generally high cheek-bones , are lean and swarth y ; forid of action , dancing ' in particular . Though ¦ now 1 mention dancing , let me say something of their balls , which are very frequent here . When a stranger enters the dancing-hail , he sees one end ofthe dancing-room taken up with the ladies , who sit dismally in a groupe by themselves ; in the other end stand their pensive
partners that are to be ; but no more intercourse beween the sexes , than there is between two countries at war . The ladies , indeed , may ogle ,, and the gentlemen sigh ; but an embargo is laid on any closer commerce . At length , to interrupt hostilities , the Ladydirectress , or Intendant , or what you will , pitches on a gentleman and lady to walk a minuet , which they perform with a formality , that approaches despondence . After five or six cdunle have thus
walked the gauntlet , all stand up to country-dances , each gentleman furnished with a partner from the aforesaid Lady-directress ; so they dance much and say nothing , and thus concludes our assembly . v I told a Scotch gentleman , that such profound silence resembled the ancient procession of the Roman matrons in honour of Ceres : and the Scotch gentleman told me ( and faith , 1 believe , he was right ) that I
was a very great pedant for my pains . Now I amcome to the ladies ; and to shew that I love Scotland , and every thing that belongs to so charming ' a country , I insist on it , and wjll give him leave to break my head that denies it , tliat the Scotch ladies are ten thousand times handsomer and finer than the Irish : to be sure , ROW , ' I see your sisters , Betty and Peggy , vastly surprized at my paitality '; but tell them flatly , I do not value them , or their fine skins , oj- eyes , or good sense , or , apotatoe ; for 1 say it , and
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Traits Of The Scotch Character.
No turnspit-dog gets up into his wheel with more reluctance than £ sit down to write ; yet no dog ever loved the roast meat he turns better than I do him I now address Yet what shall I say now I am entered ? Shall I tire you with a description pf this unfruitful country , where I must lead you over their hills , all brown with heath , 'or their vallies , scarce able to feed a rabbit
?—Man alone seems to be the only creature who has arrived to the natural size in this poor soil . Every part ofthe country presents the same dismal landscape : no grove nor brook lend their music to cheer the stranger , or make the inhabitants forget their poverty : — yet , with all these disadvantages to call him down to humility , a Scotchman is one of the proudest things alive . —The Poor have pride read
ever y to relieve them : if mankind should happen to despise them , they are masters' of their own admiration—and that they can plentifully bestow on themselves , From theirpi-ide and poverty , as f take it , results an advantage the country enjoys , namely , the gentlemen are much better bred than amongst us . No such character here as our fox-hunters ; and th
. ey have expressed great surprise when I informed them that some men an Ireland , of IOOQI . a year , spend their whole lives in running after a hare , drinking' to be drank , and getting every girl , that will let them , with child . •Truly if such a being , equipped iu his ' huntingdress ^ came among a circle of Scotch gentry , they would ' behold him with the same astonishment that a countryman would King George horseback
on . The men here have generally high cheek-bones , are lean and swarth y ; forid of action , dancing ' in particular . Though ¦ now 1 mention dancing , let me say something of their balls , which are very frequent here . When a stranger enters the dancing-hail , he sees one end ofthe dancing-room taken up with the ladies , who sit dismally in a groupe by themselves ; in the other end stand their pensive
partners that are to be ; but no more intercourse beween the sexes , than there is between two countries at war . The ladies , indeed , may ogle ,, and the gentlemen sigh ; but an embargo is laid on any closer commerce . At length , to interrupt hostilities , the Ladydirectress , or Intendant , or what you will , pitches on a gentleman and lady to walk a minuet , which they perform with a formality , that approaches despondence . After five or six cdunle have thus
walked the gauntlet , all stand up to country-dances , each gentleman furnished with a partner from the aforesaid Lady-directress ; so they dance much and say nothing , and thus concludes our assembly . v I told a Scotch gentleman , that such profound silence resembled the ancient procession of the Roman matrons in honour of Ceres : and the Scotch gentleman told me ( and faith , 1 believe , he was right ) that I
was a very great pedant for my pains . Now I amcome to the ladies ; and to shew that I love Scotland , and every thing that belongs to so charming ' a country , I insist on it , and wjll give him leave to break my head that denies it , tliat the Scotch ladies are ten thousand times handsomer and finer than the Irish : to be sure , ROW , ' I see your sisters , Betty and Peggy , vastly surprized at my paitality '; but tell them flatly , I do not value them , or their fine skins , oj- eyes , or good sense , or , apotatoe ; for 1 say it , and