Note 134 — CONVIVIALIA.
Reading edition
The principal oyster-parties, in old times, took place in Lucky Middlemass’s tavern in the Cowgate (where the south pier of the [South] bridge now stands), which was the resort of Fergusson and his fellow-wits—as witness his own verse:
‘When big as burns the gutters rin, If ye ha’e catched a droukit skin, To Luckie Middlemist’s loup in, And sit fu’ snug, Owre oysters and a dram o’ gin, Or haddock lug.’
At these fashionable parties, the ladies would sometimes have the oyster-women to dance in the ball-room, though they were known to be of the worst character. This went under the convenient name of frolic.