ication of such a territorial denominative system to the
locality of London was narrated to me by a friend who witnessed it. A
Scottish gentleman, who had never been in the metropolis, arrived fresh
from the Highlands, and met a small party at the house of a London
friend. A person was present of most agreeable manners, who delighted
the Scotsman exceedingly. He heard the company frequently referring to
this gentleman's residence in Piccadilly, to his house in Piccadilly,
and so on. When addressed by the gentleman, he commenced his reply,
anxious to pay him all due respect--"Indeed, Piccadilly," etc. He
supposed Piccadilly must be his own territorial locality. Another
instance of mistake, arising out of Scottish ignorance of London ways,
was made by a North Briton on his first visit to the great city. He
arrived at a hotel in Fleet Street, where many of the country coaches
then put up. On the following morning he supposed that such a crowd as
he encountered could only proceed from some "occasion," and must pass
off in due time. Accordingly, a friend from Scotland found him standing
in a doorway, as if waiting for some one. His countryman asked him what
made him stand there. To which he answered--"Ou, I was just stan'ing
till the kirk had scaled." The ordinary appearance of his native borough
made the crowd of Fleet Street suggest to him the idea of a church crowd
passing out to their several homes, called in Scotland a "kirk scaling."
A London street object called forth a similar simple remark from a
Scotsman. He had come to London on his way to India, and for a few days
had time to amuse himself by sight-seeing before his departure. He had
been much struck with the appearance of the mounted sentinels at the
Horse Guards, Whitehall, and bore them in remembrance during his Eastern
sojourn. On his return, after a period of thirty years, on passing the
Horse Guards, he looked up to one, and seeing him, as he thought,
unchanged as to horse, position, and accoutrements, he exclaimed--"Od,
freend, ye hae had a lang spell on't sin' I left," supposing him to be
the identical sentinel he had seen before he sailed.

It is interesting to preserve national peculiarities which are thus
passing away from us. One great pleasure I have had in their collection,
and that is the numerous and sympathetic communications I have received
from Scotsmen, I may literally say from Scotsmen _in all quarters of the
world_; sometimes communicating ve