"Ledger of Andrew Halyburton" (1492-1503), ed. by Cosmo Innes.[1]
This quaint old Edinburgh merchant was stationed at Campvere as "Conservator of the Privileges of the Scottish Nation in the Netherlands," and therefore at the gateway of traffic as it passed to and fro between Scotland and the Continent.
Callandis.—James Homyll, his brother-in-law and agent in Scotland, "payit me wi' challenges" (reproaches) "and evill wordis and onsufferabyll. God keip all guid men fra sic callandis!" In a French translation of "Tam o' Shanter" the "chapman billies leave the street," of the opening scene, appears as—
"Quand les chalands abandonnent la rue."
This word, said to be Flemish rather than French, has long been familiar as callant, a lad. In the days of old "Heriot's" in Edinburgh, the foundationers were known as callants.
Chamer; Fr. chambre. The Archdeacon of St. Andrews gets "a mat to his chamer" (1499).
Corf, a basket; Fr. corbeille, Lat. corbis—"A kynkyn of olives and a corf of apill orangis."
Cramoisie, cramasie, a cloth; O.Fr. cramoisin, cramoisie, a form of crimson.
Oralog (mendyn), a watch; Fr. horloge, a clock. Bishop Elphinstone, founder of King's College, Aberdeen, has his orolog repaired and fitted with a new case in Flanders through Halyburton's agency.
Pantonis, slippers—"Blak welvot to be pantonis to the Kingis grace." Akin to patten, an iron ring that could be slipped on to the sole of shoe or clog to admit of moving dry-shod about the miry surroundings of the untidy clachan; Mod.Fr. patin is a skate. The Accounts show the older form of the word. Diez connects it with Fr. patte, a paw.
Pasch, Easter; Fr. Pâque for Pasque—"Hydis, I trow, salbe the best merchandise that comes here at Pascha, for thar is mony folkis that speris about thaim" (1502). This word had long been familiar through the Romish services of the Church.
- ↑ The "Ledger" is examined minutely in my "By-ways of History" under the title, "Scottish Trade in the Olden Time."
