usly said, "It won't do, my lord; it won't
do! But, whenever you or your guests will honour my poor hall of Stang
Hill Tower with your presence at this hour, I promise you no worse
fare than now set before you, the best and fattest salt herrings that
the Forth can produce, and the strongest mountain dew. To this I beg
that your lordship and your honoured friends may do ample justice."

It is needless to say that Lord Hopetoun never dined again at Stang
Hill Tower but some time after, when Dundas was on his death-bed, he
advised his son to make the best terms he could with Lord Hopetoun,
remarking, "He will, sooner or later, have our little property." An
exchange was made highly advantageous to the Dundas family, the estate
of Aithrey being made over to them.[18]

A curious and humorous narrative is told of General Dalzell, a noted
persecutor of the Covenanters. In the course of his Continental
service he had been brought into the immediate circle of the German
Court, and one day had the honour to be a guest at a splendid Imperial
banquet, where, as a part of his state, the German Emperor was waited
on by the great feudal dignitaries of the empire, one of whom was the
Duke of Modena, the head of the illustrious house of Este. After his
appointment by Charles II. as Commander-in-Chief in Scotland, he was
invited by the Duke of York--afterwards James II., and then residing
at Holyrood--to dine with him and the Duchess, Princess May of Modena.
But as this was, we are told, what might be called a family dinner,
the Duchess demurred to the General being admitted to such an honour,
whereupon he naively replied that this was not his first introduction
to the house of Este, for that he had known her Royal Highness's
father, the Duke of Modena, and that he had stood behind his chair,
while he sat by the Emperor's side.

There was another kind of banquet, in which it has been remarked the
defunct had the principal honours, having the same ceremonious respect
paid to his waxen image as though he were alive. Thus we are reminded
how the famous Henrietta, Duchess of Marlborough demonstrated her
appreciation for Congreve in a most extraordinary manner. Report goes
that she had his figure made in wax, talked to it as if it had been
alive, placed it at the table with her, took every care that it was
supplied with different sorts of meat, and, in short, the same
formalities were, throughout, scrupulously observed in these weird and
st