It is said that the burgh of Lanark was, till very recent times, so poor that the single butcher of the town, who also exercised the calling of a weaver, in order to fill up his spare time, would never venture upon the speculation of killing a sheep till every part of the animal was ordered beforehand. When he felt disposed to engage in such an enterprise, he usually prevailed upon the minister, the provost, and the town-council, to take shares; but when no person came forward to bespeak the fourth quarter, the sheep received a respite till better times should cast up. The bellman or skellyman, as he is there called, used often to go through the streets of Lanark with advertisements such as are embodied in the following popular rhyme:—
"Bell-ell-ell!
There's a fat sheep to kill!
A leg for the provost,
Another for the priest,
The bailies and deacons,
They'll tak the neist;
And if the fourth leg we connot sell,
The sheep it maun leeve and gae back to the hill!"
PÂTÉS DE FOIES GRAS.