Note 17 — FOOTNOTES
Reading edition
‘Ay, I kenned that,’ said he, ‘an’ thank ye kindlies; but I found, on tryin’ it, that I wesn’t strang enow for’t iv a reg’lor way; an’ forbye that, I didn’t want the laddies ti ken aboot it, lest they might call us “Hamlet,” mevvies, or “clownie,” or sic like, an’ my mother divvent like play-actin’; it was she as made my feythor give it up, sayin’ it wes nae bettor than a mugger’s[17] life, elwis wanderin’ frae one place tiv anuther, an’ nae brass iv it at aal.’