It was thae cockle-brained callants of the present day that would be mair owerta'en with a puir quart than douce folk were with a magnum." Then there was a set of ancient brethren of the angle from Edinburgh, who visited Saint Ronan's frequently in the spring and summer, a class of guests peculiarly acceptable to Meg, who permitted them more latitude in her premises than she was known to allow to any other body.

"They were," she said, "pawky auld carles, that kend whilk side their bread was buttered upon.

Ye never kend of ony o' them ganging to the spring, as they behoved to ca' the stinking well yonder .-- Na, na--they were up in the morning--had their parritch, wi' maybe a thimblefull of brandy, and then awa up into the hills, eat their bit cauld meat on the heather, and came hame at e'en with the creel full of caller trouts, and had them to their dinner, and their quiet cogue of ale, and their drap punch, and were set singing their catches and glees, as they ca'd them, till ten o'clock, and then to bed, wi' God bless ye--and what for no ?" Thirdly, we may commemorate some ranting blades, who also came from the metropolis to visit Saint Ronan's, attracted by the humours of Meg, and still more by the excellence of her liquor, and the cheapness of her reckonings.

These were members of the Helter Skelter Club, of the Wildfire Club, and other associations formed for the express purpose of getting rid of care and sobriety.

Such dashers occasioned many a racket in Meg's house, and many a _bourasque_ in Meg's temper.