“Na, na. Ye’ll have heard tell the sayin’, ‘Remove an auld tree an’ it will wither.’”
“There’s more money to be made elsewhere, perhaps.”
“I’m no so sure o’ that. Forbye, ‘Little gear the less care.’”
“One wouldn’t find a handsomer city than this, at all events.”
“Aweel, aweel, a’body kens that. Ye’ll no so vera frequently see the bate o’ it, I’m thinkin’. Them that should ken the best say sae.”
“How many people are there here, sir?”
“Mare than three hunner an’ fifty thoosan’, I’m telt.”
“No more? It is small for its fame. Why, Glasgow must be three times as large,” I ventured, resolved to stir him up a little.
“Glesgie, is it! Think shame o’ yersel’, mon, to say the same! A grippie carlin, Glesgie! Waur than the auld wife o’ the sayin’, ‘She’ll keep her ain side o’ the hoose, and gang up an’ doon in yours.’ Ye canna nay-say me there. Gae wa’ wi’ ye!”
“But you must admit it is a great port. The receipts are enormous, I’m told.”