Scotland/Scots > Reminiscences of a Highland parish

TACKSMEN AND TENANTS.
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cheese, finer than Stilton ; fat hens, slowly cooked
on the fire in a pot of potatoes, without their skins,
and with fresh butter—“ stoved hens,” as the
superb dish was called; and, though last, not
least, tender kid, roasted as nicely as Charles
Lamb’s cracklin’ pig. All was served up with the
utmost propriety, on a table covered with a pure
white cloth, and with all the requisites for a com¬
fortable dinner, including the champagne of elastic,
buoyant and exciting mountain air. The manners
and conversation of those men would have pleased
the best-bred gentleman. Everything was so
simple, modest, unassuming, unaffected, yet so
frank and cordial. The conversation was such as
might have been heard at the table of any intelli¬
gent man. Alas ! there is not a vestige remaining
of their homes. I know not whither they are gone,
but they have left no representatives behind. The
land in the glen is divided between sheep, shep¬
herds, and the shadows of the clouds.
There were annual festivals of the Highland
tenantry, which deeply moved every glen. These
were the Dumbarton and Falkirk “Trysts,” or
fairs for cattle and sheep. What preparations