its formative stage, its promoters were casting about for a proper motto for the magazine. Sydney Smith, then the collaborator of Jeffreys, suggested the following: "Tenui Musam meditamur Avena"-"We cultivate literature upon a little oatmeal." The motto, however, was rejected by the editor-in-chief, on the ground that it might expose the poverty of the conductors of the periodical.

There have, of course, been times before the present when the "halesome parritch" has been made the subject of ridicule, chiefly through sheer wantonness. Those who have had occasion to refer to the dictionary of Johnson are familiar with the cynical signification of the word oats afforded by the great lexicographer -"A grain which in England is generally given to horses; in Scotland it supports the people." But this definition, as

one

writer truthfully remarks, "was merely a little splutter of the doctor's pettishness and prejudice"; and Johnson himself told Boswell he only defined the word in that manner to vex the Scotch. The clever rejoinder of Lord Elibanks is also pretty. generally known: "And whaur' you find sic horses and sic men ?"

Even our own American humorist, Simeon Ford, had his inning recently at Scotland's national food. At a dinner of the Dyker Meadow Club, the mirth-provoking bonifice commented as follows: "The Scotch are famous for possessing a peculiar form of dry humor. Some say it comes from eating too much oatmeal, and that may be the reason why so many of them are scratch men. I noticed it myI noticed it myself while there. I don't think I was any more humorous than usual, but I was much drier. I was dry all the time." (No abnormal condition, surely.)

- Johnson's ridicule, however, had its effect on the people for a time, for, it is said, that they began to feel ashamed of their national diet; until chemistry stepped in and told of the qualities of the grain-richer than wheat-in muscleforming properties. An eminent physician, Dr. Frankland, has said that the same amount of work can be obtained from oatmeal costing 3d. as from butcher meat costing 3s. 6d. Here again the cynic may get in his fine work and have his fling at the alleged national propensity to penuriousness in adopting the cheaper food staple.

Then, too, Professor Norton, of Yale, has a good word to say on behalf of oatmeal. He states: "It is superior to almost any corn in those ingredients which go to the production of muscle in the body. The strong, muscular forms. of the Scottish ploughmen have long been living witnesses of the good properties of their favorite and almost only food."

The unmarried Scottish ploughman often takes his "brose" three times a day, occasionally varying his supper with porridge; and so deep-seated is this habit that many of them prefer the brose as a breakfast diet after they have left their state of single blessedness, and when the better half would willingly provide them with a change. Brose, however, is easily and quickly made. It consists of a bowlful or "capful" of oatmeal, more or less, according to the stomach capacity or state of hunger of the consumer (salted to taste) on which has been poured boiling water, the mess being stirred until it is of the consistency of putty, or a little denser. It is "served hot" and eaten with milk, with which the cream has been intermixed. Brose is a diet that "keeps the

There is a story told of a minister visiting in one of the rural districts of Scotland, who had an interest in the dietary of his parishioners. Meeting a farmer's boy one day, the following conversation. took place:

fast?

Farmer's Boy-Brose!

M. For dinner?

F. B.-Brose!!

M.-And for supper?

F. B.-Brose!!!

M.-Don't you get tired of brose? F. B. (disgustedly)-Wha wad tire o' their meat? (food.)

There is no question that much of the objection to oatmeal, or porridge, in the United States and elsewhere arises from the food being improperly cooked, through ignorance of the method of doing it right. The oatmeal is dished out oftener than not looking more like a poultice than an appetizing diet. The fact that the cooking of oatmeal requires an apprenticeship to the "art" is well set forth by Hugh Miller, the Scottish geologist, in his "Schools and Schoolmasters." Miller's experience as a cook is worth quoting. He was then an apprentice mason, following his craft in different parts of the country. He says: "The exigencies of our wild life had never brought me in contact with the cerelia; and I had now to spoil a meal or two, in each instance, ere my porridge became palatable, or my cakes crisp, or my brose free and knotty, or my brochan' (gruel) sufficiently smooth and free of knots. My master, poor man, did grumble a little at first; but there was a generous disposition in the barrack to take part rather with his ap

and so I could show that I had made my porridge, like leaven, quite according to rule. And as for my 'brochan,' I succeeded in proving that I had actually failed to satisfy, though I made two kinds of it at once in the same pot. I preferred this viand when of a thicker consistency than usual, whereas my master liked it thin enough to be drunk out of the bowl; but as it was I who had the making of it, I used more instead of less meal than ordinary, and, unluckily, in my first experiment, mixed up the meal in a very small bowl. It became a dense, dough-like mass; and on emptying it into the pot, instead of incorporating with the boiling water, it sank in a solid cake to the bottom. In vain I stirred and manipulated and kept up the fire. The stubborn mass refused to separate or dilute, and at length burned brown against the bottom of the pot a hue which the gruel-like fluid which floated over also assumed; and at length, in utter despair of securing aught approaching to an average consistency for the whole, and hearing my master's foot at the door, I took the pot from off the fire, and dished up for supper a portion of the thinner mixture which it contained, and which, in at least color, not a little resembled chocolate. The poor man ladled the stuff in utter dismay. 'Od, laddie,' he said, 'what ca' ye this? Ca' ye this brochan?' 'Onything ye like, master,' I replied, 'but there are two kinds.

in the pot, and it will go hard if none of them please you!" And continues the eminent geologist and author, "Experience, however, that does so much for all, did a little for me. I at length became a tolerably fair plain cook, and a not very

bad baker."

The great secret of making good porridge is found in the "standing recipe" of the barrack, stated by Hugh Miller. The water, salted to taste, should be allowed to boil before the oatmeal is added. The

latter should be shaken slowly through the fingers and the mess stirred continuously. As Miller says, "the cook should continue stirring the mess, and adding meal, until from its first wild ebullitions in full boil, it becomes silent over the fire," and the time of cooking should not be less than thirty minutes. Then will be obtained oatmeal having that nutty flavor, palatable, digestible, and strengthening; but too rarely found in American homes

and hostelries.

The Scotch prefer the finely cut oats

to the rolled or flaked kinds in preparing

their food.

And although the "real thing" in Scotch oats is obtainable in the United States, the meal seems to be more or less adversely affected by the sea voyage.

Some of the dishes in which oatmeal is used in Scotland, other than those already specified, are haggis; hasty pudding (oatmeal mixed with butter or lard and salt, boiled "dry" and hastily over a hot fire); various kinds of brose-nettle, turnip, cabbage-made from the liquor after boiling these vegetable substances; Athol brose, the last-named having a little whisky as one of the ingredients. All halesome and hunger-dispelling, on which Auld Scotia's children wax strong in body, as well as in mind.

THE HOUSE OF BLACKWOOD.

The publishing house of William Blackwood was established one hundred years ago last month at 64 South Bridge, Edinburgh, opposite the college. The one hundredth anniversary of the famous firm has not been permitted to pass unnoticed. James Milne, in The Book Monthly, of London, prints an interesting history of the firm. The three great British publishers of the first half of the nineteenth

century were born within a year or two of each other, Archibald Constable in 1774, William Blackwood in 1776, and

John Murray in 1778. Blackwood, before he began business on his own account, was a booksellers' clerk, and had laid in a special stock of knowledge of old books. His collection of old and rare books soon became noted. McCrie's "Life of Knox," Hogg's "Queen's Wake," and Scott's "Black Dwarf," were published by Blackwood before he started Blackwood's Magazine, in 1817. James Hogg was certainly concerned in the es

tablishment of this venture.

But William Blackwood was its editor from the first.

In 1830 William Blackwood removed to the present quarters of the firm, in George street, Edinburgh. In 1834 he died. Four of his sons were associated in the business with him. In 1861, however, when Major William Blackwood died, John Blackwood was left in sole charge of the property. He established the London branch. In his consulship Mrs. Oliphant's long connection with the house began. The firm also published most of George Eliot's works. John Blackwood died in 1879, and William Blackwood, a son of John's brother, the Major, has since been the head of the firm. Mrs. Oliphant's book about the Blackwoods, "The Annals of a Publishing House," was her last work.-New York Times, July 16th.