Thus, the story was told of a public character long associated with the affairs of Scotland, Henry Dundas (first Viscount Melville), applying to Mr.Pitt for the loan of a horse "_the length_ of Highgate;" a very common expression in Scotland, at that time, to signify the distance to which the ride was to extend.

Mr.Pitt good-humouredly wrote back to say that he was afraid he had not a horse in his possession _quite so long_ as Mr.Dundas had mentioned, but he had sent the longest he had.

There is a well-known case of mystification, caused to English ears by the use of Scottish terms, which took place in the House of Peers during the examination of the Magistrates of Edinburgh touching the particulars of the Porteous Mob in 1736.

The Duke of Newcastle having asked the Provost with what kind of shot the town-guard commanded by Porteous had loaded their muskets, received the unexpected reply, "Ou, juist sic as ane shutes dukes and sic like fules wi'." The answer was considered as a contempt of the House of Lords, and the poor provost would have suffered from misconception of his patois, had not the Duke of Argyle (who must have been exceedingly amused) explained that the worthy magistrate's expression, when rendered into English, did not apply to Peers and Idiots but to _ducks_ and _water-fowl_.

The circumstance is referred to by Sir W.Scott in the notes to the Heart of Mid-Lothian.