Though the barons and churchmen among the Scots had no taste for the high-spiced wines so much relished by the English, yet in the viands which graced their festivities, particularly those who held lands in England, there appeared to have been little or no alteration. On great occasions, the seal, the porpoise, and the wild boar, though now banished from the table, never failed to make their appearance. Venison pasties, game, poultry, and baked meats of all descriptions, with fish in endless variety, were common at the tables of the great. Shell-fish, particularly oysters, were much in demand among the ecclesiastics. This is evident from the quantity of shells which are still to be found in digging about the ruins of religious establishments. The frequent recurrence of those periods when food of an opposite description was forbidden, sufficiently accounts for this profusion. Among the culinary preparations that were peculiar to Scotland, one known by the name of _Mìr-Mòr_, was held in the highest estimation. This savoury dish always had a place at the royal table; and so much was it a favourite, that in the traditionary songs of the Gaëlic bards, it is mentioned as a viand fit only for a hero, and represented by them to be given as such by Fingal to his friend _Goll Mac-mhairn_, in addition to his _beath fir_, or “champion’s meal,” which he received sitting at the right hand of the royal donor. Of this highly-prized _morceau friand_, minced meat, marrow and herbs, were the principal ingredients; and in this composition it is not difficult to trace the origin of the “Haggies,” a dish still considered national among the Scots. Were it a fair criterion to estimate the strength and importance of a country by the princely revenues of its church establishment, Scotland, in the thirteenth century, might be considered as holding a very respectable rank among the nations of Europe. The deference which the Roman Pontiffs, on various occasions, paid to the Kings of Scotland, while it displayed their anxiety to preserve, by conciliatory conduct, the spiritual supremacy in the kingdom, also shows that the national or patriotic feelings of the Scottish ecclesiastics were stronger than those ties which connected them with the See of Rome; for, by their well-timed support of the royal authority, the thunders of the Vatican, so terrible in other countries, rolled harmlessly over without distracting the state; and the King was often enabled to contest, and bring to a favourable termination, those differences which arose between him and the Pope, with whose legates he frequently assumed very high ground, not only forbidding them his presence, but even refusing them a safe conduct through his dominions.