Even beyond this long perspective, Edward might
see upon the green, to which a huge pair of folding doors opened, a
multitude of Highlanders of a yet inferior description, who,
nevertheless, were considered as guests, and had their share both of the
countenance of the entertainer and of the cheer of the day. In the
distance, and fluctuating round this extreme verge of the banquet, was a
changeful group of women, ragged boys and girls, beggars, young and old,
large greyhounds, and terriers, and pointers, and curs of low degree; all
of whom took some interest, more or less immediate, in the main action of
the piece.
This hospitality, apparently unbounded, had yet its line of economy. Some
pains had been bestowed in dressing the dishes of fish, game, etc., which
were at the upper end of the table, and immediately under the eye of the
English stranger. Lower down stood immense clumsy joints of mutton and
beef, which, but for the absence of pork, [Footnote: See Note 21.]
abhorred in the Highlands, resembled the rude festivity of the banquet of
Penelope's suitors. But the central dish was a yearling lamb, called 'a
hog in har'st,' roasted whole.
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