Nigel: re:
Or to what group of people was it attached - rather... I'm going to have to find a source. Problem with reading through so many old books and not making reams of notes (at the moment I'm reading an 1833 Waverley Anecdotes which is anonymous, given to me for Christmas - two small volumes, looks like a first edition, suspiciously like James Hogg's work in the level of typos and errors in Latin, etc, and the constant favourable comments about James Hogg, and small criticisms of Scott!).The toast is a Border motto...Ah, that's a new one on me. Where does it come from? Whose motto is it?
Possibilities of where I got my idea of its origin/use:
a) It was the toast or motto, or greeting of one of the volunteer bands which Walter Scott was involved with - either in the Selkirk vicinity, or the Musselburgh/Lothians area earlier on
b) Or it may have been used by Burns's Crochallan Fencibles
c) It may be neither of these specific connections but something very similar - a trained band, or a volunteer militia, or a gentleman's club based on the military habit, unconnected with either Burns or Scott
Having read a lot about all three possibilities over the past few years, I'd have to dig deep through many different and rather lengthy sources to find out where.
It's certainly used in the Borders today and considered to be Border in origin.
David
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