One of the men drinking at Burke's pub, Crotthers, is a Scot, which explains the fact that bits of Scots and Scottish English periodically burst into the tumultuous conversation at the end of Oxen of the Sun. The first of these dialectal eruptions echoes at least two songs of Scotland's national poet Robert Burns, and probably others. Later in the chapter, a phrase from one of the two poems, "We're nae tha fou," is shouted or sung twice, as if it is becoming a kind of anthem for the inebriated crew. It means "We're not that drunk."

As drinks are handed around, someone hands Crotthers his: "Roun wi the nappy. Here, Jock braw Hielentman's your barleybree." Scots and Scottish English often use the word "roun" instead of English "round" and "around." Among examples of adverbial use the Dictionaries of the Scots Languages lists the delightful couplet, "I'll gar their wulkies gang tapsalteerie / an' birl them roun' an' roun' like a peerie." Burns often employs this form of the word: “when I came roun’ by Mauchline toun”; “I sat beside my warpin-wheel, / And aye I ca’d it roun’”; “three short years will soon wheel roun’.” The word "nappy," which means ale or liquor, appears in "Tam O'Shanter" and other Burns poems: "While we sit bousing at the nappy, / An’ getting fou and unco happy"; "Care, mad to see a man sae happy, / E'en drown'd himsel amang the nappy"; "There’s naething like the honest nappy; / Whare’ll ye e’er see men sae happy, / Or women sonsie, saft an’ sappy." 

According to Slote, Mamigonian and Turner "Jock" is a proverbial name for a Scotsman (they cite Eric Partridge), and "Hielentman" a Scottish pronunciation for Highlandman. Burns uses the word "braw" (fine, handsome) in countless poems. The person handing Crotthers his drink, then, is paying him a hearty compliment in Scottish-sounding language. But the phrase alludes specifically to a musical cantata by Burns called The Jolly Beggars (1785), one chorus of which begins, "Sing, hey my braw John Highlandman! / Sing, ho my braw John Highlandman! / There's not a lad in a' the lan' / Was match for my John Highlandman." The same sentence also clearly alludes to a shorter song called "Willie Brew'd a Peck of Maut," which is about three friends who sit around drinking Willie's beer. The three men are unco happy and they resolve to keep drinking all night: "Wha first shall rise to gang awa', / A cuckold coward loun is he; / Wha last beside his chair shall fa', / He is the king amang us three." The chorus concludes, "The cock may craw, the day may daw, / But aye we'll taste the barley bree."

After handing Crotthers his drink, either he or his admirer (it is not clear who this may be) offers a toast: "Lang may your lum reek and your kailpot boil!" "Lang," of course, means "long," as in Burns's "Auld lang syne," and "Lang may your lum reek" means "Long may your chimney smoke." It is a traditional Scottish wish for someone to live long and prosper, often accompanied at New Year's with the gift of a piece of coal. The second half of the sentence refers to kale or cabbage, often used to make broth in Scotland. The word sounds frequently in Burns's writings, most notably in the poem "There grows a bonnie brier bush in oor kail-yard." The image of a soup pot boiling on the hearth completes the picture of wished domestic bliss.

Some more Scottish-sounding speech occurs as the section goes on, as when "Closingtime" is announced and someone says, "Aweel, ye maun e'en gang yer gates": "Well, you must go on your way." There is at least one more precise echo of Robert Burns. Bannon's talk about Milly Bloom prompts someone to say, "Hauding Sara by the wame." This exactly quotes a line from "Ken ye ought o' Captain Grose?," a short poem that Burns sent with an "enclosed letter" inquiring whether his friend Grose might still be alive or not. The fourth stanza asks, "Is he to Abram's bosom gane? / Igo and ago. / Or haudin Sarah by the wame [waist]? / Iram coram dago."

But the most striking Burnsism of all is another line from the chorus of "Willie Brew'd a Peck of Maut." The chorus that ends with "barley bree" begins, "We are na fou, we're nae that fou." Fou (full) here means drunk––it is a resolution to go on drinking. Two paragraphs after the mention of "barleybree" someone shouts out, or perhaps sings, this line nearly verbatim: "We are nae fou. We're nae the fou." Three long paragraphs after that, as the men stumble out of Burke's onto the street, the phrase is sounded as a kind of marching order: "Your attention! We're nae tha fou." Since these words come right before the tongue-twister about the Leith police, it would seem that someone is jokingly warning the crew not to reel too wildly down the street.

Read More

John Hunt 2024

Oil on paper card painting by an unknown artist illustrating "Willie Brew'd a Peck o' Maut," held in the Robert Burns House, Dumfries, Scotland. Source: artuk.org.

Robert Burns's poem "Willie Brew'd a Peck o' Maut." Source: www.poemhunter.com.

2016 performance of The Jolly Beggars in the Chapel at the University of Glasgow. Source: burnsc21.glasgow.ac.uk.