Three generations

82 A YOUNG COUPLE
occasions, when the provision for the sustenance of
the body was at once more solid and more elaborate.
There were dishes with which a house -mother's
special gift was associated. She did not object to
stand sponsor for them, as in the case of the Princess
in the " Arabian Nights," whose cream tarts were spiced
with her own delicate allowance of pepper. One lady
had a reputation for home-cured rounds of beef, which
were near to bearing her name ; another was known
for her pigeon-pies, another for her tipsy-cake. My
mother pinned her faith in the matter of fame to her
hare-soup.
There was private and personal honour for indi-
vidual dishes, as there was private and personal
honour for after-supper music, given by the singer,
unaccompanied, in the seat which he or she occupied
for hours at table. Each tuneful lady or gentleman
had her or his particular song as an acknowledged
right. To have misappropriated the right established
by long usage would have been a distinct act of rude-
ness. There was no craving for novelty in the songs ;
rather a cordial welcome for old favourites : " Scots
Wha Hae," " Ye Mariners of England," " Ye Banks
and Braes," or " Allan Water," were sure to be received
with acclaim.
It may have been musical ignorance which made the
old ditties so agreeable, since only tunefulness was
asked for; there was a wonderful amount of tuneful-
ness about in these days. There was one advantage
in music as it was practised then : the singer could
sing at any time or place, as inclination prompted or
good-nature implied — in the garden, in the fields, in
the workroom, in the garret, over one of the long-
spells of needlework to which women not only duti-