Such uninterrupted
exercise, co-operating with the keen air from the sea, must,
without all doubt, keep the appetite always on edge, and steel
the constitution against all the common attacks of distemper.
The Leith races gave occasion to another entertainment of a very
singular nature -- There is at Edinburgh a society or corporation
of errand-boys, called cawdies, who ply in the streets at night
with paper lanthorns, and are very serviceable in carrying
messages -- These fellows, though shabby in their appearance, and
rudely familiar in their address, are wonderfully acute, and so
noted for fidelity, that there is no instance of [a] cawdy's
having betrayed his trust -- Such is their intelligence, that they
know, not only every individual of the place, but also every
stranger, by that time he has been four and twenty hours in
Edinburgh; and no transaction, even the most private, can escape
their notice. They are particularly famous for their dexterity in
executing one of the functions of Mercury; though, for my own
part, I never employed them in this department of business -- Had I
occasion for any service of this nature, my own man, Archy
M'Alpine, is as well qualified as e'er a cawdie in Edinburgh; and
I am much mistaken, if he has not been heretofore of their
fraternity.
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