Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer — Complete

by Walter Scott

  NOTE 5, p. 212

  The Burnet whose taste for the evening meal of the ancients is quoted byMr. Pleydellwas the celebrated metaphysician and excellent man, LordMonboddo, whose coenae will not be soon forgotten by those who haveshared his classic hospitality. As a Scottish judge he took thedesignation of his family estate. His philosophy, as is well known, wasof a fanciful and somewhat fantastic character; but his learning wasdeep, and he was possessed of a singular power of eloquence, whichreminded the hearer of the os rotundum of the Grove or Academe.Enthusiastically partial to classical habits, his entertainments werealways given in the evening, when there was a circulation of excellentBourdeaux, in flasks garlanded with roses, which were also strewed on thetable after the manner of Horace. The best society, whether in respect ofrank or literary distinction, was always to be found in St. John'sStreet, Canongate. The conversation of the excellent old man, his high,gentleman-like, chivalrous spirit, the learning and wit with which hedefended his fanciful paradoxes, the kind and liberal spirit of hishospitality, must render these noctes coenaeque dear to all who, like theauthor (though then young), had the honour of sitting at his board.