-- I assure you the banquet was both
elegant and plentiful, and seasoned with a thousand sallies, that
promoted a general spirit of mirth and good humour. -- After the
desert, Mr Fraser proposed the following toasts, which I don't
pretend to explain. 'The best in Christendom.' -- 'Gibbs'
contract.' -- 'The beggar's benison,' -- 'King and kirk.' -- 'Great
Britain and Ireland.' Then, filling a bumper, and turning to me,
'Mester Malford (said he), may a' unkindness cease betwixt John
Bull and his sister Moggy.' -- The next person he singled out, was
a nobleman who had been long abroad. -- 'Ma lord (cried Fraser),
here is a bumper to a' those noblemen who have virtue enough to
spend their rents in their ain countray.' -- He afterwards
addressed himself to a member of parliament in these words: --
'Meester -- I'm sure ye'll ha' nae objection to my drinking,
disgrace and dule to ilka Scot, that sells his conscience and his
vote.' -- He discharged a third sarcasm at a person very gaily
dressed, who had risen from small beginnings, and made a
considerable fortune at play. -- Filling his glass, and calling him
by name, 'Lang life (said he), to the wylie loon that gangs a-field
with a toom poke at his lunzie, and comes hame with a
sackful of siller.
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