The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 2

by Walter Scott

  NOTE H.--HANGMAN, OR LOCKMAN.

  _Lockman,_ so called from the small quantity of meal (Scottice, _lock_)which he was entitled to take out of every boll exposed to market in thecity. In Edinburgh, the duty has been very long commuted; but inDumfries, the finisher of the law still exercises, or did latelyexercise, his privilege, the quantity taken being regulated by a smalliron ladle, which he uses as the measure of his perquisite. Theexpression _lock,_ for a small quantity of any readily divisible drysubstance, as corn, meal, flax, or the like, is still preserved, not onlypopularly, but in a legal description, as the _lock_ and _gowpen,_ orsmall quantity and handful, payable in thirlage cases, as in townmulture.