“Pack an’ thick, confidential. Paidle, to paddle, to wade; to walk with a weak action. Paidle, nail-bag. Painch, the paunch. Paitrick, a partridge; used equivocally of a wanton girl. Pang, to cram. Parishen, the parish. Parritch, porridge. Parritch-pats, porridge-pots. Pat, pot. Pat, put. Pattle, pettle, a plow-staff. Paughty, haughty. Paukie, pauky, pawkie, artful, sly. Pechan, the stomach. Pechin, panting, blowing. Penny-fee, wage in money. Penny-wheep, small beer. Pettle, v. pattle. Philibeg, the Highlander’s kilt. Phraisin, flattering, wheedling. Phrase, to flatter, to wheedle. Pickle, a few, a little. Pint (Scots), three imperial pints. Pit, put. Placads, proclamations. Plack, four pennies (Scots). Plackless, penniless. Plaiden, coarse woolen cloth. Plaister, plaster. Plenish’d, stocked. Pleugh, plew, a plow. Pliskie, a trick. Pliver, a plover. Pock, a poke, a bag, a wallet. Poind, to seize, to distrain, to impound. Poortith, poverty. Pou, to pull. Pouch, pocket. Pouk, to poke. Poupit, pulpit. Pouse, a push. Poussie, a hare (also a cat). Pouther, powther, powder. Pouts, chicks. Pow, the poll, the head. Pownie, a pony. Pow’t, pulled. Pree’d, pried (proved), tasted. Preen, a pin. Prent, print. Prie, to taste. Prief, proof. Priggin, haggling. Primsie, dim. of prim, precise. Proveses, provosts. Pu’, to pull. Puddock-stools, toadstools, mushrooms. Puir, poor. Pun’, pund, pound. Pursie, dim. of purse. Pussie, a hare. Pyet, a magpie. Pyke, to pick. Pyles, grains.”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
For a brace of young well-kept birds, prepare from half to three quarters of a pint of mushroom-buttons, or very small flaps, as for pickling. Dissolve over a gentle fire an ounce and a half of butter, throw in the mushrooms with a slight sprinkling of salt and cayenne, simmer them from eight to ten minutes, and turn them with the butter on to a plate; when they are quite cold, put the whole into the bodies of the partridges, sew them up, truss them securely, and roast them on a vertical jack with the heads downwards; or should an ordinary spit be used, tie them firmly to it, instead of passing it through them. Roast them the usual time, and serve them with brown mushroom sauce, or with gravy and bread sauce only.
Sources: The passage is from Robert Burns, Poems and Songs of Robert Burns, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Acton, Modern cookery for private families of 1845, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — forest cloth, tankard stamp.