lay in the roadside, and was still in existence not a century ago. "O' my
saul," cried he, "that meikle stane would build a bra' chappin block for my
Lord Provost. Stop! there be letters thereon: unto what purport?" Several
voices recited the inscription:--

"_Turn me o're, an I'le tel thee plaine._"

"Then turn it ower," said the monarch, and a long and laborious toil
brought to light the following satisfactory intelligence:--

"_Hot porritch makes hard cake soft,_
_So torne me o'er againe._"

"My saul," said the king, "ye shall gang roun' to yere place again: these
country gowks mauna ken the riddle without the labour." As a natural
consequence, Sir Richard Hoghton's "great companie" would require a
correspondingly great quantity of provisions; and the tradition in the
locality is, that the subsequent poverty of the family was owing to the
enormous expenses incurred under this head; the following characteristic
anecdote being usually cited in confirmation of the current opinion. During
one of the hunting excursions the king is said to have left his attendants
for a short time, in order to examine a numerous herd of horned cattle then
grazing in what are now termed the "Bullock Pastures," most of which had
probably been provided for the occasion. A day or two afterwards, being
hunting in the same locality, he made inquiry respecting the cattle, and
was told, in no good-humoured way, by a herdsman unacquainted with his
person, that they were all gone to feast the beastly king and his
gluttonous company. "By my saul," exclaimed the king, as he left the
herdsman, "then 'tis e'en time for me to gang too:" and accordingly, on the
following morning, he set out for Lathom House.