"Parliament cake" or "Parlies", a very spicy ginger shortbread, were eaten (in the same way as salty snacks with beer), with whisky, rum or brandy, during midday breaks, by the members of the original (pre-1707) Scottish Parliament, in a secret backroom ("ben the hoose"), at a tavern and shop in Bristo Street in Edinburgh's Potterrow, behind the University, run by a Mrs Flockhart, AKA "Luckie Fykie", the landlady who is thought to be the inspiration for Mrs Flockhart in Walter Scott's "Waverley". The recipe is mentioned in Christian Isobel Johnstone's "The Cook and Housewife's Manual" (also known as Meg Dod's Cookery) (1826) published under the pseudonym of "Mrs. Margaret Dods, of the Cleikum Inn, Saint Ronan's", evoking the character of Margaret Dods, the hostess of the Cleikum Inn in Walter Scott's novel "Saint Ronan's Well" (1823).It wqs immensely popular, and in which, she used characters Scott's to give commentary on preparing national specialties.