ans. A connieshure in such matters, (myself, for instance, if I may be permitted to say so,) can tell, when the fish are cooked, the particular village from whence they came. In my opinion, and in this I am backed by two-thirds of the town council of Peterhead, Findon, though it gives it name to the whole manufacture, stands but second in the quality of its fish. The haddocks are prepared in the summer time, when the weather is warm and settled, and being gutted and cleaned, are spread before the door to dry. They are then taken into the house, pierced behind one of the upper fins by an iron rod, and hung, to the tune of four or five hundred, on rods, over a furnace in the corner of the room. The furnace is heated with peat dross, of a peculiar kind;-every thing depends on this-for the purpose of smoking the fish, which operation, when they have been previously dried, is completed in about three hours. Other villages produce their yellow fish by means of a kiln, over which they are spread, and hence no hole in the fins is required. It is true, that a hole is made, to make greenhorns believe that the commoditees were produced in Findon; but catch them deceiving me by sic a device. Just you notice carefully when twa smoked haddies are brought you, the ane a native o' Findon, and the other a Boddamite. In the first, you will discover that the inside of the hole is browned, and preserves the width of the rod; whilst in the latter, the interior of the hole, is fresh and collapsed, as the minister who we will see this afternoon, expresses it. If ye ever become a dealer in Finnan haddies, keep mind o' what I have said, and you will never be at a loss to ken which is the true fish; and which is the false!" By this time, our equipage was entering Boddam, and verily the place was fair and blythsome to look upon. It is situated at the extremity of a goodly bay, sheltered behind by the hill of Sterling, and the eyes of the antiquarian are gladdened by the sight of the ruins of Boddam castle, a seat of the ancient Keith family, which stands at the top of a promentory, close to the sea. Touching this same castle, I learned a strange, and wiid legend, which, perchance, I may record when I have nothing else to do. who ushered us into his domicile-the best in the village, by the way-with as much state as if we had been crowned Kings or mitred Abbots. In the twinkling of an eye, a hillock of oatmeal cakes, and a sweet milk cheese nearly as large as a mill wheel, were placed before us, and there was added a potbellied bottle, which contained a liquid so closely resembling water in appearance, that it might have deceived a hermit who had vowed to confine his potations to that frugal fluid. In the simplicity of my heart, I quaffed a glass of this beverage, being thirsty with my drive, when to my utter amazement, I discovered that the breath was leaving my throat, and that my cheeks were moist with wondering tears! Philosophers, perchance, may be able to tell the cause of this phenomena; but I am a prudent man, and never repeat tales out of school, which the Kirk Session might make a handle of. Whilst we were eating our snack, Mr. Skate informed us that his son-in-law to be, was a strapping young fisher chap, named Peter Partan, and, as a matter of course, a native of Boddam. "We never let our bairns marry strangers," said the old man. "If ane o' our lassies took up wi' a foreigner-a shop lad o' Peterhead, for instance, she might never attempt to show her neb in the village again. Even the mother that bore her would look upon the queen as nae langer ane o' the family. The limmer would be regarded with nearly as little favor as bum-bees show to a wasp that has wandered into their byke. This is ane o' our ancient, time immemorial customs, which, like the laws o' the Medes and the Persians, alter not, for beast or body." At this point of our confabulation, Mrs. Skate made her appearance, and a fine, sonsy, motherly-looking matron she was, though somewhat of an overly fishy flavour for my inland taste! After hoping that we were making ourselves quite at hame, she inquired at her guidman, whether he knew where the scales and weights were lying. "I have to measure out the trimmings," quoth she-" for Jock's waist coat, and if that daidling creature Tammie Leslie, does not get them immediately, the bairns dress will not be ready for his sisters We were duly welcomed by Saunders Skate, wedding." When the guid wife had procured the implements which she required, I questioned Mr. Skate, touching the meaning of the speech I had heard. "You see sir,” replied my host, "that in this part o' the country, our raiment is made by tailors, who travel aboot frae house to house, according as their services are required. As a general rule, they are a thieving, cheating tribe, continually finding things where John Highlandman found the tangs-that is by the fire-side, ye ken! For this reason, it is the universal practice, when folk give out cloth, and thread, and lining to the tailors, to weigh the same. The garments being finished, the scales are again applied to, and according to their decision, the honesty o' the man o' needles is established, or his knavery made manifest! Our friend Tammie is nae waur than his brethren; but as it would never do to mak' fish o'ane and flesh o' anither, he behoves to submit to the ordeal as weel as the rest!" "And does Mr. Leslie," said I, "not rebel against the imputation thus cast upon his integrity? In the west country no tailor would ever sew a stitch for the family who called his fair dealing in question." "Different lands different ways," returned our landlord. "The ceremony is looked upon here as being quite as much a matter o' course as the weighing o' a salmon or a pound o' candles." One night, after a hard days' work, Tammie sat down to take his supper with the household, but though the room was nearly as dark as pitch, the hard fisted Fergus would not suffer a candle to be used. This state of things did not by any means square with the tailor's ideas of comfort, and many a snuffle and snort of indignation he uttered as he discussed the oatmeal porridge which formed the staple of the banquet. At length, unable to bear the obscurity any longer, he filled his spoon to the very edge with the boiling luxury, and, instead of conveying it into his mouth, deposited the bulk thereof in the ear of the churl, at whose side he chanced to be sitting! Up started Flint with a yell which might have wakened the dead, and grasping the tailor by the throat, he demanded whether it was his intention to murder him at his own table? Leslie pretended to be overwhelmed with shame and remorse for the act of which he had been guilty. "Oh guidman," cried the cunning rogue, "that I should ever come to be charged with an attempt upon your precious and immortal life! Na, na! As I am an honest man-I mean an honest tailor-I intended to put the spoon fu' o' parritch into my mouth, but it was so dark that I mistook the way, and landed it by mistake in your worthy lug!" It is hardly necessary for me to add, that instant orders were given for the production It is fitting to mention in passing that the of a "six-in-the-pounder "—and never again above conversation took place many years ago. did Fergus Flint sit down to a nocturnal meal, Reform, among other exploits, has emancipated at least when Tammie was his guest, withthe crooked legged tribe from this degrad-out a supply of artificial light to indicate the ing slur upon their morality. That they re- relative positions of the mouths and ears of frain from cabbaging, I will not take it the company! myself to say, but assuredly their work is never now weighed in the balance to see whether it be not wanting! upon Saunders Skate told us many stories about the nimble-fingered Tammie, who was quite a character in his way, one of which I shall retail for the diversion of my readers. [N. B.-It will be remembered by the intelligent peruser of these chronicles, that after his visit to London, Mr. Peter Powhead frequently makes use of more ambitious language than he was wont to do. The editor of these priceless papers is anxious to call attention to this fact, as he would not for all the gold in the diggins, be suspected of tampering with the manuscripts of his departed, and ever-to On one occasion, Leslie was engaged to shape and sew in the house of a farmer named Fergus Flint, who was notorious for the miserly-be-lamented friend!] ness of his disposition. He grugded his family and servants the common necessaries of life, and would skin a certain animal which is often in men's heads, but seldom named, save by vulgarians, for the sake of its hide! The day wore on a pace, and the pot-bellied bottle diminished as the sun declined, a curious fact for which astronomers, perchance, may be able to account. Evaporation might have had something to do with the matter, though doubtless, some of the learned might supplement of a stick, and the buxom maidens who were his partners in the nuptial reels vowed that he was as useless at the dancing as a crippled lobster! be inclined, with some glimmering of reason, to explain it by the theory of absorption! One thing is incontrovertible, that if our landlord's stock of spirits waxed low, the spirits of his guests rose in an equal proportion, aud when the word was passed that the marriage procession was about to start, not the least merry of the throng were a brace of Bailies from Peterhead, and a certain Ayrshire barber who shall be nameless. It seems that it was the usage at Boddam for the parties about to be buckled for life to travel about two miles in order to meet the the minister, who resided at some distance. This custom was complied with, whatever the state of the weather might be, and Peggy Skate, who was that day to be made "an honest woman," observed to me, in answer to a remark which I let fall on the subject, that she would never book herself as a regularly married wife if the Rev. Mr. McSnore performed the ceremony under her father's roof-tree! I believe, that with the exception of the bedridden, and bairns in the cradle, the whole population of Boddam were standing in marching order before Saunders Skate's domicile, when we made our appearance from the same. Our approach was the signal for moving, and in three minutes the party, marshalled by an antiquated boatswain with a wooden leg, set off by twos and twos. As we neared a toll-house, dozens of merry, ringing voices shouted out, "Hurrah! there's the minister," and sure enough his reverence was discovered solacing himself with a pipe at the receipt of tribute. Here again I have to record another of the queer outlandish practices of this most original and dogmatic piscatorial community. The toll-house was invariably converted pro tempore into a chapel, when the marriage benediction fell to be enunciated. No one could tell the why or wherefore of this custom, but no one ever dreamed of questioning its propriety. Once had the Presbytery essayed to interdict the usage as unseemly, and "savouring of superstition;" but the lieges of Boddam protested that if no Mess John of the establishment buckled them at the ancient spot, they would see whether the Romish Priest, or the Old Light Burgher minister would be less scrupulous. This, of course, decided the controversy, and matters were suffered to remain in statu quo! * * [We are here constrained to omit a large portion of Mr. Powhead's narrative, as slightly tainted with the prosy, and not of sufficient interest to the general reader to warrant its being transferred to our pages.] When we regained Boddam the procession It struck me that ere many minutes had shaped its course to the dwelling of the happy, elapsed, the bridegroom, Peter Partan, began but sore-footed Partan, where the first object to walk in a very feckless and hirpling manner, which attracted our attention was the mother as if he had been suddenly smitten with the of the aforesaid Partan, standing at the threshgout. On mentioning this to Bailie Grey- old, and brandishing a formidable-looking pair wawkie he at once solved the mystery. Ac- of kitchen tongs. Under any other circumcording to the outré and despotic rules of stances I would have been disposed to regard Boddam, it became incumbent upon the youth this apparition with some alarm, as indicative placed in Peter's interesting circumstances, to of belligerent intentions on the part of the new deposit a crooked sixpence in his shoe pre-made legal parent, but I had long ceased to viously to commencing his pilgrimage to the be surprised at anything, however much out shrine of Hymen. This was done to insure "luck," and its observance was looked upon as so essential that the bride, despite her bashfulness and blateness, always insisted on seeing the coin lodged in the walking gear of her intended before she permitted him to set forth. Poor Peter doubtless regarded the ceremony more honored in the breach than the observance. For the ensuing six weeks he could hardly pedestrianise without the of the way, which I witnessed in this demented region. The attitude of the ancestral Partan was perfectly in order, and in compliance with the unwritten law of Boddam! Grasping the young wife by the hand, the matron led her to the fireplace, upon which lay a few faint embers. These were carefully extinguished with the tongs above specified, and then the bride, tucking up her braws as best she might, proceeded to ignite a mass of peat and coal [Once more are we obliged to curtail the worthy barber's narrative. The particulars given of the wedding feast, of the dancing, and of the convivialities are spirited, but somewhat deficient in novelty. Suffice it to say, that the worshipful Greywawkie having been assaulted by a certain felonious personage, answering to the name of John Barleycorn, is carried up to bed in a net, and Mr. Powhead and his nephew having also suffered somewhat from the aforesaid naughty John, retire to recruit their exhausted energies on a shake down.] tolerably intelligible on paper; and touching spelling, he generally wrote words as he pronounced them. "I had nae hand in the brewin' o' dictionaries," he would sometimes observe; "and, consequently, am not bound to tak them as my rules and authorities." Having at length managed to scrape toge ther a few pounds, Mr. Greywawkie determined to see if he could not increase his capital by a speculation. At that time copper gave tokens of rising in the market, and the honest man, after serious deliberation, resolved that in this metal he would invest his savings. Accordingly he wrote to his London correspondent, requesting him to purchase, in his name, a ton of copper; and in due course of post received a reply to the effect that the order would be executed with all possible de As we were undressing, I requested Andrew spatch. "It will take some time to do the to give me some account of his brother Bailie, | needful," added Mr. Brummagem, "but due with whose pawkie sayings, and wonderful notice shall be given of its completion." exploits, particularly in the toddy consuming line, I had been much tickled during that mirthsome evening. Mr. Ballingall, though with many a weary grunt and yawn, complied, and the substance of his narrative I now proceed to rehearse for the enlightenment of posterity. THE FORTUNATE BLUNDER. Mr. Greywawkie sorely churned his brains to divine the meaning of this latter paragraph, but all in vain. By no possibility could he account for the fact that there should be any difficulty in making the investment which he had set his heart upon. From the metropolitan journals, which from time to time met his eye, he learned that whole shiploads of copper were changing hands every day, and how, therefore, there should be the delay of an hour in procuring a single ton of the commodity, fairly passed his comprehension! Gamaliel Greywawkie commenced life as a general merchant in Peterhead, with a small capital, and consequently with a small stock in trade. He dealt in groceries, hardware, candles, stationary, and draperies, and though Time wore on, but matters remained in the his shop was the first open in the morning, same bewildering position. The desiderated and the last which was closed against the pub-metal continued to rise in price, till at length lic at night, he found it a hard matter to make it reached its climax of attitude. Then it the two ends meet. The natives of Peterhead began to take a turn in the opposite direction, though, on the main, good customers enough, and slide down the mercantile scale-slowly were pestilently costive in their payments, at first, and then with a celerity which was and the ink of many an account in the hapless positively sickening to a holder. Still no spe huxter's ledger waxed dim and faint before cific tidings from the unaccountable Mr. the welcome word "settled" was endorsed at Brummagem! Now and then a curt, laconic the tail thereof! missive would arrive, that the order was still in the course of execution, but that the job was an uphill one, and required time! It may be here proper to mention, that the education of Gamaliel had not been of such an excellence as would have fitted him for a At length Gamaliel could bear the torturing University degree. On the contrary, he knew suspense no longer. He entrusted his shop nothing of the dead languages, and could not to the temporary care of an acquaintance, and read with peculiar fluency even the living set out for London, determined to find out at Anglo-Saxon tongue. As for writing, he once the worst of the matter. It was indeed thought it enough if he could make his ideas a perilous crisis in the history of his fortunes! Small as the adventure might be to a warm and you are now the largest holder of the man, upon its issue depended whether his article within the British dominions! Why, name should preserve its fragrance in the your name has been the common talk on money market, or be consigned to the rank-'Change for the last ten days! You are called ness and putridity of the bankrupt's depart-the Scottish phenomenon, and the prince of ment of the Gazette! bold speculators!" Gamaliel, completely taken aback by this most mysterious and unfathomable greeting, was unable to squeeze out a solitary word in rejoinder. His hair literally stood on end like a crop of immature pokers-his tongue clave to the roof of his mouth, even as a herring adheres to the bottom of a red-hot frying pan When the mail-coach, which was transporting the person of the more than half-frenzied Greywawkie is stopped at York, in order to allow its passengers to go through the process of sus-tentation, he entered the supper-room with his comrades, but could not manage to swallow a solitary morsel. Everything, bread, meat, and pickles seemed encrusted and im--and sinking down on the nearest chair, he pregnated with copper, and like the "Amen" of Macbeth, stuck pertinaciously in his throat! waited with fixed eyes to hear what would come next! Had the information been that he had succeeded to the Papal throne, or been elected Commander of the Faithful, his wonder could not have been increased one jot or tittle! Mr. Brummagem did not give him time to recover his self-possession, but continued to rattle on at the rate of twenty knots an hour, or thereby! As he was gulping in rabid desperation a stiff admixture of brandy and heated water, the only thing in the shape of nutriment which he could imbibe, Gamaliel heard his name pronounced by a commercial Cockney traveller, who was seated with a companion at an adjacent table. Wearied and jaded as he was, he could only make out a few words "If I might make so bold," he said, "I here and there of the conference, but these would venture to suggest that you should sell were sufficient to hasten him to the culminat-out forthwith. The market is now as bare of ing point of wonder and distraction! "Won- the article, as a Surgeon's Hall skeleton is of derful fellow that Greywawkie must be! Prodigious order! A whole ton! Why, the man must either be mad, or have the Bank of of England at his command! I must give him a call when I reach the north! Hope to book him for a few thousands!" flesh? Our grocers are clamorous for a supply, and I can hardly walk the streets without being waylaid by scores of 'em! You can make your own terms, by jingo! and I question not, could clear thousands by mid-day if you would release your hold. So think serAt this moment the horn of his Majesty's iously about it, dear Mr. Greywawkie, and mail sounded a retreat, and Greywawkie, pray consider the lamentable condition of the dashing down the price of the supper which eating community! Why, I hear that there he had never tasted, rushed out to his loco- has not been a leg of mutton boiled for nearly motive, like an opium-drugged Malay running a week, within the sound of Bow-bells !" a muck! "What in the name of Heaven do you Arrived in London, the Peterhead shop-mean?" at length managed to gasp out the keeper lost no time in secking the counting- sorely confounded Gammaliel. "Can there house of his correspondent, and, having stated his name, requested an immediate audience. The clerks, who seemed to regard him with a look of respectful wonder, speedily announced his arrival to their principal, and in a few seconds Messrs. Greywawkie and Brummagen stood face to face in the flesh ! "My dear friend!" exclaimed the Englishman, "permit me to offer you my warmest congratulations. This very morning I succeeded in accomplishing your commission, be any earthly connection between my order, and the meals of your Southern gluttons? Surely with all their brass they do not season their mutton with copper sauce?" "Not exactly, my dear fellow," was the rejoinder, "but capers, you know, are generally necessary for that favourite dish!" "Do you mean to insult me, you scoun drel?" yelled the unhappy Greywawkie, who by that time had fairly passed the Rubicon of sanity. "What have I to do with all the |