NOTE 8.--STIRRUP-CUP
I may here mention, that the fashion of compotation described in the
text, was still occasionally practised in Scotland in the author's
youth. A company, after having taken leave of their host, often went to
finish the evening at the clachan or village, in 'womb of tavern.' Their
entertainer always accompanied them to take the stirrup-cup, which often
occasioned a long and late revel.
The POCULUM POTATORIUM of the valiant Baron, his Blessed Bear, has a
prototype at the fine old Castle of Glamis, so rich in memorials of
ancient times; it is a massive beaker of silver, double gilt, moulded
into the shape of a lion, and holding about an English pint of wine. The
form alludes to the family name of Strathmore, which is Lyon, and, when
exhibited, the cup must necessarily be emptied to the Earl's health.
The author ought perhaps to be ashamed of recording that he has had the
honour of swallowing the contents of the Lion; and the recollection of
the feat served to suggest the story of the Bear of Bradwardine. In the
family of Scott of Thirlestane (not Thirlestane in the Forest, but the
place of the same name in Roxburghshire) was long preserved a cup of the
same kind, in the form of a jack-boot.
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