London Bridge

‘January 26 [1827].--My rheumatism is almost gone. I can walk without Major Weir, which is the name Anne gives my cane, because it is so often out of the way that it is suspected, like the staff of that famous wizard, to be capable of locomotion. Went to Court, and tarried till three o'clock, after which transacted business with Mr. Gibson and Dr. Inglis as one of Miss Hume's trustees. Then was introduced to young Mr. Rennie, or he to me, by [Sir] James Hall, a genteel-looking young man, and speaks well. He was called into public notice by having, many years before, made a draught of a plan of his father's for London Bridge. It was sought for when the building was really about to take place, and the assistance which young Mr. Rennie gave to render it useful raised his character so high, that his brother and he are now in first-rate practice as civil engineers.’

In 1799, a competition to design a replacement for the existing London Bridge was held.  John Rennie, from East Linton, in Scotland won the competition.  Work began in 1824, under Rennie’s son, also John, who Walter Scott records meeting (Scott’s Journal) on January 26^th, 1827.  New London Bridge opened August 1, 1831.

According to London2012.com, thirty current olympic athletes share an August 1st birthday.  Among them, from the US (where I'm from), Asjha Jones, Jeff Larimer, and Stuart Mcnay.  And from host UK, Karen Carney. But to have their picture taken with Rennie's London Bridge, all will have to travel to Arizona.  Like the bridge it replaced, Rennie's bridge became outmoded, and was dismantled and shipped to the US in the 1970's.  London Bridge was recommissioned in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, in 1971.

Act of Proscription

‘And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the first day of August, one thousand seven hundred and forty seven, no man or boy, within that part of Great Briton called Scotland, other than shall be employed as officers and soldiers in his Majesty's forces, shall on any pretence whatsoever, wear or put on the clothes commonly called Highland Clothes (that is to say) the plaid, philibeg, or little kilt, trowse, shoulder belts, or any part whatsoever of what peculiarly belongs to the highland garb; and that no tartan, or partly-coloured plaid or stuff shall be used for great coats, or for upper coats; and if any such person shall presume, after the said first day of August, to wear or put on the aforesaid garments or any part of them, every such person so offending, being convicted thereof by the oath of one or more credible witness or witnesses before any court of justiciary, or any one or more justices of the peace for the shire or stewartry, or judge ordinary of the place where such offence shall be committed, shall suffer imprisonment, without bail, during the space of six months, and no longer; and being convicted for a second offence before a court of justiciary or at the circuits, shall be liable to be transported to any of his Majesty's plantations beyond the seas, there to remain for a space of seven years.’

On August 1, 1747, the Act of Proscription, which banned the wearing of ‘the highland dress’ in Scotland, went into effect.  The text above is from that act, which George II of England introduced.  This act was repealed in 1782 under George III of England, which made it possible for Walter Scott to orchestrate the tartan pageantry involved in the visit of George IV to Edinburgh in 1822.

Lammas

From "The Battle of Otterbourne", collected in "The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border".

It fell about the Lammas tide,

When yeomen win their hay,
The dochty Douglas 'gan to ride,
In England to take a prey.'"
...
" Out then spoke a bonny boy,
That serv'd ane o' Earl Douglas' kin—
' Methinks I see an English host,
A coming branking us upon.'

" ' If this be true, thou little foot page,
If this be true thou tells to me,
The brawest bower in Otterbourne
Shall be thy morning's fee.

" ' But if it be false, thou little boy !
But and a lie thou tells to me,
On the highest tree in Otterbourne,
Wi' my ain hands, I'll hang the hie! '
'' The boy has ta'en out his little penknife,
That hung right low down by his gare,
And he gave Lord Douglas a deadly wound,
I wot a deep wound and a sare.

" Earl Douglas to the Montgomery said,
' Take thou the vanguard of the three ;
And bury me by the braken bush,
That grows upon yon lilye lee.'"
 
Lammas, or loaf-mass day, occurs on August 1st, and is one of the four main pagan festivals of the year.  The Gule of August, as the day is also known was practiced in Lothian into the middle of the eighteenth century, a generation before Scott was born.
 
From the Book of Days, this description of Lammas Day activities: From the unenclosed state of the country, the tending of cattle then employed a great number of hands, and the cow-boys, being more than half idle, were much disposed to unite in seeking and creating amusement. In each little district, a group of them built, against Lammas-day, a tower of stones and sods in some conspicuous place. On Lammas-morning, they assembled here, bearing flags, and blowing cow-horns—breakfasted together on bread and cheese, or other provisions—then set out on a march or procession, which usually ended in a foot-race for some trifling prize. The most remarkable feature of these rustic fetes was a practice of each party trying, before or on the day, to demolish the sod fortalice of some other party near by. This, of course, led to great fights and brawls, in which blood was occasionally spilt.