(5ar«eU Uttittccaitg ffiibrarg ffliljitc 55latorical BlihratH THE GTFT OF PRESIDENT WHITE MAINTAINED BY THE UNIVERSITY IN ACCORD- ANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF THE GIFT Cornell University Library DA 890.D88M13 History of the burgh of R"'"'';'*-?.; 3 1924 028 091 357 The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028091357 ^^■^v^ <^-^ "^ .^^ 3 V'^® Mfiiii DEVORGILLA l>v- ra(illiam MflaronU EDINBURGH, ADAM & CHARLES BLACK HISTOEY BURGH OF DUMFRIES, WITH NOTICES OF NITHSDALE, AMMDALE, AND THE WESTERN BOEDER. WILLIAM M^DOWALL, AUTHOR OP "the MAN OF THE WOODS, AND OTHER POEMS;" "THE visitor's GUIDE TO DUMFRIES," ETC. EDINBURGH: ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK, 1867. f\s^1 ozo OI.ASGOW: I'UTNTED BY HOBEET ANDERSON, Nf) QUEEN STREET. PEEFACE. When this work was commenced by the author, he did not intend it to be of more extent than seven hundred and fifty pages ; but, as he proceeded with his task, materials for it accu- mulated on his hands. Even since the early chapters were sent to press, he has been under the necessity of introducing new matter, that has swelled the volume to its present size ; and he fears that faults of omission, as well as of commission, may still be laid to his charge. Numerous Dumfriesshire "notices" have been introduced, but only when they were required to make the general narra- tive inteUigible, or to illustrate in some way the annals of its principal town: in no sense, therefore, does the work profess to be a County history. Two volumes as portly as the present one, however well composed, could scarcely do justice to such a prolific theme. The thanks of the author are due to Mr. David Laing, of the Signet Library, and the Curators of the Advocates' Library, for the obliging manner in which they facilitated his researches. All the local custodiers of documents which the author required to consult were not less considerate: and to them his grateful acknowledgments are also tendered. The numerous stores of SUMMARY OF CONTENTS. CHAPTEB I. Sketch of Dumfriesshire — Origin of the Burgh of Dumfries — Early Inhabitants of the District, II. Primitive Appearance of the Burgh — Settlement in it and the Neighbourhood of Celtic, Saxon, and Norman Families, . m. Condition of the Burgh before it was Chartered — Ecclesiastical Establishment of the Burgh and County, .... lY. Epoch of DevorgUla — Erection of a Bridge and Monastery for the Grey Friars, V. The Succession War — Dumfries placed under English Rulers, VI. Career of Wallace in the County, ..... VII. Siege of Carlaverock Castle by Edward I VIII. Incidents of the War affecting the Burgh and District, . 8 IX. Slaughter of Comyn by Bruce and Kirkpatrick, ... 9 X. Execution of Seton — Erection of Sir Christopher's Chapel — Victory of Bannockbum — Edward Baliol, aided by the English, Invades the District 10 XI. Incidents of the War in Nithsdale and Galloway — Murder of Sir Roger Kirkpatrick in Carlaverock Castle, . XII. Material and Social Condition of Dumfriesshire and its Chief Town during the Middle Ages, XIII. King Robert's Charter to the Burgh, 1395— Rise of the Trade Incorporations, ........ XIV. The Douglasses, and their connection with Dumfries — The Burgh repeatedly Plundered and Burnt by English Invaders, .......... 15 XV. Battle of Sark— Rebellion and Fall of the Douglas Family, . 16 XVI. James IV. at Dumfries — The County devastated by Lord Dacre, XVII. "The Gudemau of Ballengeich" — Johnnie Armstrong — Defeat of the Scots at Solway Moss, and Capture of Lord Maxwell, XVIII. Machinations of Henry VIII. against the Independence of Scotland — He gets the Prisoners captured at Solway Moss to favour his Designs — Lord Maxwell's Bill permitting the Bible to be Read in the Vulgar Tongue XIX. War Experiences on the Western Border — The Burgh again Partially Consumed by Fire 25 11 13 14 18 19 21 CONTENTS. caAPTER '■'^"^ XX. The " Common Good" of the Burgh— Its Leading Families at the Era of the Eeformation 235 XXI. Dawn of the Eeformation iu the District— The First Pro- testant Sermon preached in the Burgh— The Eoman Catholic Establishment of the Burgh and County, . . 251 XXII. The Burgh visited by John Knox and by Mary, Queen of Soots— Sir John Maxwell's devotedness to the Queen, . 268 XXIII. Disastrous Warfare on the Western Border— Outbreak of a Deadly Feud between the Maxwells and Johnstones, . 286 XXIV. Lord Maxwell originates a Eebel Movement in the County- Course of the Quarrel between him and the Chief of the Johnstones, ......... 301 XXV. Battle of Dryfe-Sands, and Slaughter of Lord Maxwell, . 315 XXVL John, the next Lord Maxwell, in order to Avenge his Father's Death, basely Shoots Sir James Johnstone — Maxwell is Tried for the Murder, Condemned and Executed, . . 331 XXVII. James VI. Presents a Silver Gun to the Incorporated Trades — The Competition for the Trophy — Ancient Sports and Pastimes, ......... 347 XXVIII. Rivalry between the Trades and Merchants — The Town Coimcil as Mirrored iu their Minutes, .... 364 XXIX. The Scots Eesist the Attempts made by Charles I. to Prelatize their Church — The Covenanting War Committee at Cul- lenoch and Dumfries 382 XXX. The Earl of Nithsdale takes part with the Royalists — Car- laverock and Thrieve Surrender to the Covenanters, . 399 XXXI. Proceedings of the Church Courts of Dumfries against OiTenders, ......... 414 XXXII. Trials for Witchcraft— Nine Reputed Witches Executed, . 426 XXXIII. The Burgh Suffers from Famine and Pestilence — The Bridge nearly Destroyed by a Flood, ...... 436 XXXIV. Charles II. Overthrows the Presbyterian Church — The Parish Minister of Dumfries superseded by an Episcopalian Curate — A Reign of Terror inaugurated, ..... 446 XXXV. Outbreak of the Persecuted Covenantera at Dairy — They Captiire the Government Chief at Dumfries — Defeat of the Insurgents, ........ 462 XXXVI. Incidents of the Persecution as carried on by Claverhouse, Grierson of Lag, and others — Boon Companionship of the Burgh Magistrates with the Persecutors — Richard Cameron, .......... 478 XXXVII. James Renwiok — More Incidents of the Persecution — The Burgh placed under a Roman Catholic Provost — Municipal Freedom Restored, and Presbytcrianism Ro-ostablishcd, . 495 XXXVIII. Trade aud Commerce of the Burgh — Right of Pastui-e — Xowu Council Legislation Illustrated— Doings of the Trades — Patorson and the Darien Sohcnic, ..... 519 XXXIX, Erection of the Mid-Steeplo — Anti-Union Riot in the Burgh — Contraband Traffic in the Solway, .... 537 CONTENTS. CHAPTKB XL. XLI. XLII. XLni. XLIV. XLV. XLVI. XLVII. XLVIII. XLIX. L. LI. LII. LIII. LIV. LV. LVI. LVIL LVIII. LIX. LX. VA(. The Rebellion of 1715, as affecting the Burgh and District, . Ct The Earl of Nithsdale Condemned to Death for the part taken by him in the Eebellion— He Escapes from the Tower through the agency of his Countess, . . . • 5^ The Schools of the Burgh— Bailie Paterson's Bequests— More about the Smugglers— Gipsy Life iu the District, . . 5! An Ale Duty Imposed, and Riotous Resistance made to it — Erection of the New Church— Financial Difficulties— Sale - of Barkerland— A Steeple placed on St. Michael's Church, 6: The Rebellion of 1745— Prince Charles takes Possession of Dumfries, "■ Improvements on the River— The Dock Trees Planted- Moorhead's Hospital Erected, 6i Extraordinary Contest for the Provostship— The "Pyets" and the "Crows," 6' Bread Riots in the Burgh — Erection of an Infirmary — Ruinous Results to many Burgesses of the Failure of the Ayr Bank, 6 Patrick Miller of Dalswinton and his Inventions — Renewed Dearth and Disturbances — Tithe of Breadstuffs by the Burgh Executioner — The New Bi-idge BuUt, . . .6 Bums in Dumfries, . - 7 Notice of the Poet's chief Productions whilst residing in the Burgh — His Death and Funeral, 7 Erection of the Academy — The Armstrong Bursaries — Curious Proceedings of the Craftsmen in Maintaining their Privi- leges — A new Navigation Act obtained, and the Nith Embanked, 7 Pecuniary Diffioiilties — The Burgh's Property, Income, and Charges — Sale of Kiugholm and Milldamhead — The Mor- tified Money of the Burgh, . . . . . .7 Terrific Meal Mob — The Murderer Hare in Dumfries, . . 7 The Reform Agitation, and Exciting Election Contests, . 7 Dreadful Visitation of Cholera in 1832, . ... 1 The Burgh under the Operation of the Municipal Reform Act, i The Religious Denominations of the Burgh, . . . . i Its Commerce, Manufactures, and Trade, . . . . f The Literature of the Burgh; and Brief Notices of its Distinguished Men, . . f Summary of Events from 1833 till 1867 — Progress and Present Condition of the Burgh, f Appendix, i Index, S EKRATA. Page 648, line 23, for "£200" read "£2,000." „ 688, „ 5, for "Cowheath" read "Conheath. „ 77o] „ 2, for "1,002" read "1,200." „ 866, H 5, see Appendix N. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. CHAPTEE I. BBIEF GENERAL SKETCH OE DUMEEIESSHIRE — PHYSICAL ASPECTS OE NITI DALE, ANUANDALE, ESKDALE, AND THE EUEGH OF DUMEEIBS — INQUB INTO THE ORIGIN" OE THE TOWN — ROMAN OOOUPATION OE THE DISTRICT THE SELGOV^, THE SCOTO-IRISH, THE SAXON AND NORMAN SETTLERS NITHSDALE — DEFEAT AND EXODUS OF THE BRITISH INHABITANTS DUMFRIESSHIRE. Dtjmfeiesshire, about whose cliief town this work is princ pally written, lies in an elliptical form on the north side of tl Solway Frith, its greater diameter extending about fifty mile from the mountain of Corsincon in Ayrshire to Liddel Moat : Roxburghshire; and its smaller diameter stretching from Loc Craig, on the confines of Peeblesshire, to Carlaverock Castle, ( the Solway — a distance of about thirty-two miles. It has a si shore of fully twenty-one miles, running from the mouth of tl river Nith to that of the river Sark ; and its total circumferem is one hundred and seventy-four miles, not including the esti aries of the Nith, the Lochar, the Annan, and the Sark:* i whole surface measuring 1,098 square miles. The County is separated from Kircudbrightshire for sever miles, on the south-west, by the water of Cairn, or Cluden; ar from the point where that stream ceases to become its boundai line it is cinctured by a high mountain range, which breal away westward from Cumberland into the south of Scotland- the only exception being an open part of Liddesdale, that slopt smoothly into the neighbouring shire of Roxburgh. At th exceptional point a frontier is supplied by the Liddel, an afterwards by the Liddel in conjunction with the Esk, till tl * Singer's Survey of Dumfriesshire, p. 2. A 10 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. line, coming overland westward, touches the Sark, runs with that stream to the sea, then follows the devious margin of the Sol way- till it terminates at the estuary of the Nith ; the Sark becoming in its course not simply the fringe of the County in that direc- tion, but the small, faint border-line which divides England from Scotland. Dumfriesshire comprehends the districts of Nithsdale, Annandale, and Eskdale : which natural divisions nearly agree with the ancient jurisdictions that prevailed; the first having been governed as a sheriffship, the second as a stewartry, and the third as a regality. Its population, which was 39,788 in 1755, had risen to 75,878 in 1861. There are fifty- three parishes in the Synod of Dumfries, ten of which are in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright; these ten, with seven that are in the County, making up the Presbytery of Dumfries. The Parish of Dumfries has an area of fifteen square miles: its popu- lation a hundred years ago was about 5,500 ; at the beginning of the current century it was little more than 7,000; it is now double that amount. The Nith is the chief river of the County. Coming from its cradle among the mountains east of Dalmellington, in Ayrshire, it describes a south-westerly course, watering by the way the Royal Burgh of Sanquhar, at the head of the dale, and further down the ducal village of Thornhill, around which the country opens well up — spacious plains, claiming with success ample room and verge from the highlands, that seem at points further north as if they wished to shut up the valley altogether. From an eminence westward of Thornhill the enormous mass of Drumlanrig Castle is seen, says Robert Chambers, looking down "with its innumerable windows upon the plain, like a gi-eat presiding idol"* — the embodied genius of feudalism. One of the barrier ridges northward is pierced by the narrow gloomy pass of Enterkin, through which the sister vales of Nith and Clyde keep up precarious intercourse. Lower down, at Auldgirth Bridge, near Blackwood, the mountain ranges that environ the dale approach each other more closely, then recede, till round and below Dumfries a spacious plain, like that of " Lombardy in miniature," is formed; differing chiefly from its beautiful Italian type in having a larger proportion of upland compared * Picture of Scotland, p. 235, HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 11 to its champaign country.* The Nith is swelled by numerous brooks at various stages of its course — its latest and greatest acquisition being the Cluden, a mile above Dumfries; and aboui eight miles below the Burgh the river falls into the Solwaj Frith : its entire course being forty-five miles. An upland spot, where the counties of Lanark, Peebles, and Dumfries confront each other, gives birth to three streams according to the popular rhyme, ' ' Annan, Tweed, and Clyde, AU arise from one hill-side." The Annan, after a headlong rush from its highland home, five miles above the pretty watering-place of Moffat, is joined twc miles below that town by several tributaries ; it then proceeds more leisurely in a southerly direction down the dale to whicl it gives a name, and which, narrowed at first by rocks or ridges expands into a wide fertile basin called the Howe of Annandale studded with villages and spangled by the nine lakes of Loch maben; Bruce's ancient burgh and the town of Lockerbie oc cupying conspicuous situations on its western and eastern sides Other rivulets, including the Dryfe, give increased volume t< the stream below Lochmaben ; the valley narrowing again as th( waters grow wider and deeper. When little more than a mih from its bourne in the sea, it waters the second town in Dum friesshire, the Royal Burgh of Annan; the entire course of th( river measuring nearly forty miles. The ancient stewartry o Annandale had a wider range than the valley of the Annan, a; it comprised the tracts of country that lie eastward to the Sark and westward along the Solway towards the Lochar. Dumfriesshire is separated from England for fully a mile ii extent by the Esk, which river, starting from the frontiers o Selkirkshire, takes a southern route, sweeps past the baronia town of Langholm, and after being a Scottish stream to th( extent of thirty miles, it enters Cumberland, passes by Long town, then takes a westward turn, and falls like its two siste: rivers into the Solway. The length of the Esk is nearly forb miles: part of its lower waters, meandering through the Debat able Land, constitutes a portion of the Western Border; anc * Fullarton & Co. 's Gazetteer of Scotland, vol. i. , p. 425. 12 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. often, as we shall have to notice, its waves ran red with blood to the sea, owing to its boundary position between two hostile nations. Having given these brief sketches of Nithsdale, Annandale, and Eskdale, let us point out with a little more detail the posi- tion and aspect of the County town. Snugly built on the left bank of the river, eight miles above where it loses itself in the Solway, stands the Royal Burgh of Dumfries. When viewed from the neighbouring heights, especially those on the opposite Galloway side, the town with its environments forms a charming picture. The old Burgh is seen lying nestled in the plain below, bosomed in umbrageous woods, while gentle acclivities or bolder elevations rise like the seats of an amphitheatre on every side. HiU and dale contrast finely with each other; country and town seem linked in kindly fellowship — the handicraft creations of man mingling without harshness or abrupt transition with the inimitable works of nature; while here and there may be noticed a barren track or rugged peak, varying without impairing the attractiveness of the landscape. Nithsdale, with its queenly capital, looks indeed beautiful when seen at summer tide from such a "coign of vantage" — ^the sight suggesting the appreciative words of Bums : — "How lovely, Nith, thy fruitful vales! Where spreading hawthorns gaily bloom; How sweetly wind thy sloping dales! ■ Where lambkins wanton through the broom. " A range of hills far to the north, or left, is cleft by the river; and one of the separated portions, passing eastward, terminates in the heights of Mouswald; while the other, taking a western sweep, culminates in Criffel. Within the enclosure thus formed lies the oval-shaped strath itself; and after marking its fertile fields, its "lown," sunny nooks, and its smiling groves, the eye rests with human interest on the spires and pinnacles, the tall chimneys and clustering domiciles, just below, where a "link" of the Nith is seen lying like a miniature lake — all telling that a hive of industry, busy thougli small, has its home- stead in tlieso vernal bowers.* " Visitor's Guide tci Dumfries, p. .S. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. ] The Burgh, thus pleasantly situated, lies in the latitude 55 degrees, 8 minutes, and 30 seconds, north; its longitude beii 3 degrees, 36 minutes, west. Its population at the date of tl last census, in 1861, was 12,360. Maxwelltown, separated fro it by the river, joins with it to form a Parliamentary Burg The Burghal constituency numbers 536, and the Parliamentai constituency 651. The population of the Royalty has rapid increased since 1861, and may now be reckoned at about 13,50 Such, in brief, are the aspect and size of the Burgh in 186 and after this preliminary glance at it, and the district wii which it is associated, we must withdraw from the picture f a long while. Going far back into the misty depths of the pa — ^the distant days of other years — we must endeavour to asce tain the origin of the town — see how it looked in its embr state, when its first rude buildings threw shadows on the risii beach, or were mirrored in the river's bosom; then follow i varying fortunes — mark its growth and periods of tempora: decadence — till we can reproduce the sketch just laid asid of Dumfries as it now is, and fill in a 'few details to render tl likeness more complete. No positive information has been obtained of the era ar circumstances in which the town of Dumfries was founde There are distinct traces of its existence as far back as tl eleventh century; and it may be fairly inferred that it had i origin at a period much more remote — though we fear thoi writers who hold that it flourished as a place of distinctic during the Roman occupation of North Britain, would expei ence great difficulty in establishing their hypothesis. It is n^ unlikely that the Selgovse, who inhabited Nithsdale and neig] bouring districts at that time, and who, by means of their rue but strong forts, long resisted the legions of Agricola, may hai raised some mihtary works of a defensive nature on or near tl site of Dumfries; and it is more than probable that a castle some kind formed the nucleus of the town. This is inferrt from the etymology of the name, which, according to the learnc Chalmers, is resolvable into two Gaelic terms signifjring a cast in the copse or brushwood.* ■' Caledonia, vol. iii,, p. 44. 14 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. According "to another theory, the name is a corruption of two words which mean the Friars' Hill; those who favour this idea alleging that St. Ninian, by planting a religious house near the head of what is now the Friars' Vennel, at the close of the fourth century, became the virtual founder of the Burgh;* but Ninian, so far as is known, did not originate any monastic establishments in Nithsdale or elsewhere, and was simply a missionary or evangehst on a great scale. In the list of British towns given by the ancient historian Nennius, the name Caer Peris occurs, which some modern antiquarians — without any sufficient warrant, we think — suppose to have been transmuted, by a change of dialect, into Dumfries.! Others, again, fancy that Bede alludes to the town when he states that St. Wilfred, a zealous North of England Bishop of the seventh century, held a Synod " juxta fluvium Nidd."| But, if so, it is singular that so careful a chronicler as Bede did not denote the town in more specific terms. Most likely the Nidd he speaks of is the river of that name in Yorkshire. In connection with this* question there is yet another hypo- thesis. When, in 1069, Malcolm Canmore and William the Conqueror held a conference respecting the claims of Edward Atheling to the English Crown, they met at Abernithi — a term which in the old British tongue means a port at the mouth of the Nith. § Surely, it has been argued, the town thus charac- terized must have been Dumfries; and therefore it must have existed as a port in the Kingdom of Strathclyde, if not in the older Province of Valentia. Unfortunately for this assumption, the town is situated eight or nine miles distant from the sea; and we cannot suppose that the estuary of the river was higher up in the eleventh century than it now is, whatever it may have been in the pre-historic ages. Some forgotten village called Abernithi may have, long since, looked out on the watei-s of the Solway; but that name could scarcely have been borne by the Burgh of whose origin we are in search. In the earliest charter to the town, stiU extant — that of * MS. Lecture by Rev. H. Small, Dumfries, t Paper read by Mr. Skene before the Society of Autiquaries of Scotland, on the Early Frisian Settlements in Scotland. t Bedo, Ecolcs. Hist. , lib. v. , cap. 20. § Redpath's Border History, p. 63. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 15 Robert III., dated 28th April, 1395 — the appellation given is "Burgi de Drumfreiss," a form of spelling which, with one "s" omitted, continued in vogue till about 1780. During the reign of Alexander III. and the long interregnum which followed, the form nearly resembled that of the present day — the prefix being generally Dun or Dum, rather than Drum : thus, in a contemporary representation made to the English Government respecting the slaughter of John Comyn in 1305, the locality is described as "en I'eglise de Freres meneours de la ville de Dun- fres;"* and, thirty years afterwards, we read of the appointment of an official as "Vice Comitatus de Dumfres."t Such uncouth spellings of the name as Dunfreisch, Droonfreisch, and Drum- friesche, occasionally occur in old documents; but the variations are never so great as to leave any doubt as to the town that is meant; and nearly all more or less embody the idea of a " castle in the shrubbery," | according to the etymology of Chalmers, which we accept as preferable to any other that has been sug- gested." § Whilst we are unable to identify Dumfries with any organized community of Britons during the Roman period, there can be no doubt that the district in which it lies was for several centu- ries ruled over and deemed of much importance by the invading Romans. Apart from the written testimony on the subject, many traces of their presence in Dumfriesshire are still to be found; coins, weapons, sepulchral remains, military earthworks, and roads being among the relics left by that conquering and civilizing race of their lengthened sojourn in this part of Scot- land. An interesting inquiry it would be to consider how far they intermingled with the aboriginal population, and left the * Sir Francis Palgrave's Documents and Records Illustrative of the History of Scotland, p. 335. t Eotuli Scotiae, vol. i., p. 271. t The only exception we have met with occurs in a Papal BuU issued against Bruce in 1320 for the homicide of Comyn, which is stated to have been perpe- trated in the Minorite Church of " Dynifes." § Chalmers's words are: " This celebrated prefix Dun must necessarily have been appropriated to some fortlet, or strength, according to the secondary signification of that ancient word. The phrys of the British speech, and the kindred phreas of the Scoto, signify shrubs: and the Dun-fres must conse- quently mean the castle among the shrubberies, or oopsewood. "— CaZedomo, vol. iii., p. 45. 16 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. impress of their genius on its living tide as well as on the mate- rial soil; and we may fairly hazard the supposition, that though the Eomans visited the territory of the Selgovae as enemies, they in course of time became in numerous instances friends and relatives by marriage, as well as conquerors. Thus, not only could the Dumfriesians of a later date speak of their Celtic, Cimbrian, British, Saxon, and Norman ancestors, but they might, in common with those of some other Scottish districts, have claimed blood-relationship with the masters of the world. The apostle Paul claimed rank and privilege as a Eoman citizen on account of his birth at Tarsus; and it is a curious fact that the Caledonian tribes in the south of Scotland were invested with the same rights by an edict of Antoninus Pius. In all, twenty-one British tribes occupied North Britain during the first century of the Christian era, and remained for ages afterwards the chief occupiers of the soil. Five of them, including the Selgov^, subdued by the arms and civilized by the arts of Rome, occupied the extensive range of country which stretched from, the rampart of Severus to the wall of Antonine, and was called the Province of Valentia by Theodosius, in honour of his imperial colleague Valens. These Romanized Britons of Dumfriesshire, Galloway, and the land further north, to the Frith of Forth on the east and the Frith of Clyde on the west, received freedom as well as civilization from their Italian conquerors. That the subjugated people were treated gener- ously, is proved by the circumstance that they were, as we have said, made citizens of the Empire; and, as further evidence of the same fact, they were permitted to choose their own chief governor, or pendragon — whose rule, however, was often chal- lenged by the district chiefs, though rarely interfered with by the Roman Emperors — that is to say, we suppose, when the tribute due by the province was promptly paid. Late in the fourth century, the masterful race who had exercised a beneficial influence on Valentia took fai-ewell of the country. The Empire, undermined by luxury, and hai-assed by barbarous hordes from the north of Europe, was falling to pieces; and its ruler Constantino, who for a time resided in Britain, left its shores, taking with him the flower of his army — all the forces belonging to Rome, in various parts of the HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 17 world, being needed for its defence. Then the Britons of Valentia, whom the Romans had helped to protect when assailed by the Scots from Ireland and their Caledonian neighbours in the North, found themselves in an unenviable predicament. The sixteen aboriginal tribes who had never acknowledged the Eoman yoke, and remained as baxbarous as they were brave, did not relish the idea of being shut out of the rich district that lay south of the Rampart of Severus. Impelled by acquisitiveness and a love of adventure, a portion of them, under the name of Plots, sailed down the Frith of Forth in their canoes and curraghs; whilst others of them, still more resolute, scaled the interposing wall; and soon_ the Britons found, to their dismay, that their hitherto happy district was overrun by painted savages, carrying with them fire and sword. The Picts repeatedly ravaged Valentia in all its borders, and doubtless the Nith was often stained by the blood they shed; and if, at this early period, as some of our chroniclers assert, the drum or acclivity on which Dumfries now stands was occupied by a fortress, there would, we may suppose, be many a fierce struggle for its possession. The Valentians were unable to shut out the invaders from their territory; and the latter, though powerful enough to plunder and slay, were not sufficiently organized to take com- plete possession of the land. They were wild marauding clans, held together by common instincts rather than by a regular form of government, or even the asserted supremacy of a ruling chief It is probably owing to this circumstance that the Britons of the far north, the un-Romanized Caledonians or Picts (for these are probably the same people under different names*), did not conquer the south of Scotland. Had they done so, and established their authority over the whole country, the tide of its civilization would have been rolled centuries back- wards, and Scotland could scarcely ever, in the nature of things, have occupied a high position in the scale of nations. The brave defence made by the Selgovae and their allies, combined with the disorganization of the Picts, kept Valentia from being thrown back into barbarism, and saved the sceptre of the future * Caledonia, vol. ii., p. 6. B 18 HISTORY OF DUMFEIES. kingdom for better hands — those of the Scots, a people of the same Celtic origin as the Britons, who had long been settled in Ireland, had frequently sent over to Galloway and other parts of Britain shoals of adventurers, and who eventually, after sub- duing their Pictish rivals, conquered the Britons also, and gave their rule and name to the entire country, from the Promontory of Orcas to the Wall of Antonine. We must, however, confine our attention at present to the fortunes of the primitive inhabitants of Dumfriesshire. Two of the tribes with whom they were associated, the Ottadini and Gadeni, though able to hold their own against the Picts, were subdued by the Saxons from Northumbria, who, after defeating them at the battle of Cattraeth, occupied their territory, which lay between the Tweed and Forth. Thus Valentia came to be restricted to Teviotdale, Dumfriesshire, GaUoway, Ayrshire, Eenfrewshire, Strathclyde, and parts of Stirlingshire and Dum- bartonshire. This district, still a very extensive one, was called Regnum Cambreiise, the Kingdom of Cumbria, and sometimes the Kingdom of Strathcluyd, its metropolis being Alcluyd, which the Scoto-Irish subsequently called Dunbritton, the fortress of the Britons — hence the modern name of the town, Dumbarton. For at least a century after the Scots had established their supremacy over the rest of the country, the Strathcluyd Britons maintained their independence. The Saxons and Danes some- times invaded their territory; and the former appear to have subdued a portion of it at the close of the seventh centurj', and to have partially colonized Dumfriesshire, or, as Chalmers says, to have scattered over it " a very thin settlement." * A century later, however, we find members of their royal family intermarrying with those of the Scottish monarch — a proof that the Selgovae and their kinsmen were still a powerful race. Gradually, however, their strength became reduced, and their dominions circumscribed. The nuptial alliances made with the neighbouring sovereigns proved a new source of weakness to the dispirited Britons, as they were the means of introducing amongst them so many Scots that they could scai'ccly caU the place their own. The strangers settled in great numbers throughout Galloway, and not a few of them passed from that * Caledonia, vol. iii,, p. 61. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 19 province to the left bank of the Nith, till all the southern portion of Strathcluyd seemed to be on the verge of a peaceful social revolution. The Cumbrians were almost subdued by the new comers before they fairly realized their danger; and, thoroughly jostled out of the territory which their race had colonized and occupied for many centuries before the Christian era, they arranged with Gregory, King of Scots, to leave it and seek an asylum from their British countrymen in "Wales. Whilst on their sorrowful journey southward, they were seized with home sickness — repented that they had tamely yielded up their rich heritage, and resolved to win it back or perish, rather than pine in exile. A report reached them that the King of Scots had, after their departure, disbanded his army, and was therefore defenceless — which news either originated or confirmed their determination to retrace their steps. Our historians do not exactly agree in their account of subsequent events; but they_ concur in stating that after the expatriated Britons had re-entered their territory, and plundered the new settlers to a large extent, they heard with alarm that Gregory had collected a considerable force, and was hastening to overtake them. The tidings proved to be correct. The infuriated monarch fell upon them at the place now occupied as Lochmaben : a brief but sanguinary struggle ensued, which ended in the utter rout of the Britons, Constantino their king falling among heaps of slain. His followers who escaped the battle were slaughtered in the pursuit, few of them being spared to teU the tale; but the huge tumuli, still visible at the scene of the contest,* teU of the terrible carnage in which the vengeance of Gregory was slaked, and the Kingdom of Cumbria annihilated.f After this decisive engagement, which took place in the year 890, the Britons existed no more as a separate people in Scot- land; and the government of that country began to be consoli- dated and directed by a single sovereign. It is not to be supposed, however, that the British element was, by this memorable exodus and overthrow, entirely blotted * statistical Account, vol. iii., p. 241. + Buchanan's History of Scotland, book vi., chap, xi.; and Chalmers's Cale- donia, vol. ui., p. 61. 20 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. from the population of Dumfriessliire. Many of the Cumbrians formed matrimonial alliances with the dominant Scots, and many others would probably remain in the district while the great body of their countrymen went on their forlorn expedition to Wales. "We think there is every reason to believe that the people who lived in it for eleven centuries at least, and were the first to settle in it, of which history takes notice, became nearly as much as either the Scoto-Irish or the Saxons the progenitors of the existing race; and if they are thus in one sense continuing to occupy a part of the soil, which they long exclusively held, we know that their language still survives in the names of rivers, streams, mountains, and headlands, most of which in Dumfries- shire and Galloway are British: the nomenclature of the first colonists thus remaining unchanged by the conflicts of race or the flight of ages. CHAPTER II. FICTITIOUS CELTIC GENEALOGIES OP NITHSDALE — SUPREMACY OP THE SAXONS — ^INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY — GLIMPSES OF THE "CASTLE IN THE brushwood" and its NEIGHBOURING CABINS, THE NUCLEUS OF THE FUTURE TOWS — DUNEGAL, LORD OF STRANITH— ALAN, LORD OF GALLOWAY; HIS CONNECTION WITH DUMFRIES — DEVORGILLA — SETTLEMENT OF OTHER FAMILIES IN THE DISTRICT : THE CARRUTHERSES, THE MAXWELLS, THE DOUGLASSES, THE SCOTTS, THE CRICHTONS, THE FERGUSSONS, THE GRIERSONS, THE MUERATS, THE RIDDELS, THE CHARTEBISES, THE DINNIS- TOUNS, THE DB MANDEVILLES, THE HEEISBS, THE DE MOREVILLES, THE MAITLAITDS, THE HUNTERS, THE DE ROSINDALES, THE BRUGES, THE EALIOLS, THE COMYNS, THE KIRKPATEICKS, THE CARLYLES, THE JAR- DINES, AND THE JOHNSTONES. Faint notices — not very reliable, we fear — are given by pedi- gree-makers respecting some Nithsdale families of this early time. Nuath, son of Coel Godhebog, a Cumbrian prince who flourished before 800, owned lands in Annandale and Clydesdale, it is said, which were named, after him, Caer-nuath or Carnwath. If this statement coiild be relied upon, it would be no very bold hypothesis to say that the river Nith also owes its name to the son of Godhebog. One of Nuath's descendants of the fourth generation. Loth, a Pictish king, formed a strong encampment along the base of the Tynwald hills, which bore the appellation of Barloth. The second son, GwaUon, built a chain of forts extending from Dryfesdale to the vicinity of Lochmaben, the designation of which is still preserved in the existing farm of Galloberry. GwaUon's sister, Thenelis, was the mother of the celebrated Kentigem, or St. Mungo, whose name is retained by a Dumfriesshire parish. Marken, or Marcus, brother of Loth, had a son named Kinder: to him belonged the district which now forms the parish of Newabbey, and which was at first called after him Loch-Kinder. A son of Kinder's, Yrein or Yrvin, owned lands in Eskdale, which bore his name ; and to him, it is said, the prolific family of the Irvings, who ages 22 HISTOBY OF DUMFRIES. afterwards flourished in Annandale, and often held civic rule in Dumfries, owe their origin* The long mythical line of Coel Godhebog, now brought down till the sixth century, had already yielded saints as well as princes. In or about 560 it produced a rival to Ossian, in the person of Lywarch-Hen, called by the genealogists "a great poet."t He, like Moore's young minstrel, bore both lyre and brand. He wrote poems and built fortresses, none of which survive, though the names of the latter. Castle Lywar in Eskdale and Caer Laurie in the Lothians, still linger on the tongue of tradition. Better than all, perhaps, he founded a wide-spread family, who inherit his name in its modern form, Laurie, which is still a common one in Dumfriesshire. This warrior-bard left two sons, one of whom, Lywarch-Ogg, is said to have settled down on the north shore of the Solway, within the region termed Carbantorigum by Ptolemy, and there, early in the seventh century, originated the greatest of the Nithsdale fortresses, Caer-Lywarch-Ogg, named after himself, and historically famous as the Castle of Caerlaverock. | About eighty years after the era of this potentate, the Scoto- Irish begin to exercise a complete ascendency. They have gone far to absorb both Picts and Britons, and are seen overspreading all the land south of the Forth and Clyde. "As a result," says Chalmers, " the whole of Galloway and Carrick becomes full of Scoto-Irish names of places, all imposed by the Irish colonists who settled in these countries at the end of the eighth century, and who in subsequent times gradually overspread Kyle, the upper part of Strathclyde, and even pushed into Nithsdale and Eskdale." Our Dumfries progenitors of the eighth centiiry spoke in the old British tongue, best represented by the modern * Barjarg Manuscripts. t The alleged poems of Lywarcli-Heii have been investigated lately by Mr. Thomas Wright and others. These critics reject them all as spurious save one — "A Lament for Urien" — the rest being considered by them as Welsh inventions of the twelfth century. t Grose seems half disposed to aooi-edit this statement. His words are: "Tho castle [of Caerlaverock] is said to have been originally founded in the sixth century by Lewaroh-Ogg, sou of Lovfarch-Heu, a famous British poet, and after him to have been called Caer-Lewaroh-Ogg, which in the Gaelic signified tho city or fortress of Iiovinrch-Ogg." —Ant>quitic. one of his descendants, the beautiful Eugenie Marie de Guzman, Countess of Theba, was united in marriage to the greatest living potentate. Napoleon III., Emperor of the French. Her grandfather, WUliam Kirkpatrick, went to Spain, and settled as a merchant in Malaga, where he married a Belgian lady. One of their oflfspring, Maria, was espoused by Don Cipviano Palafox, then Count of Theba, and afterwards Count do Moutijo on the death of his elder brother: they had issue two daughters, the youngest of whom is now Eugenie, Empress of the French. t Pouglas's Peerage, vol. i. , \\ 306. HISTOEY OF DUMFRIES. 43 The next head of the family, Adam, had a charter of various lands in Annandale from William de Brus, second lord of that district, who died in 1215. Gilbert, son of Adam, swore fealty to Edward I. in 1296. William, grandson of Gilbert, rose so high in the favour of his liege lord, Bruce, Earl of Carrick, that he gave him his daughter Margaret in marriage : the chief of the Carlyles thus becoming brother-in-law to the illustrious restorer of the monarchy. Their son obtained a charter from his royal uncle, of the lands of Colyn and Roucan, lying near Dumfries, in which he is designated " William Karlo, the King's sister's son." The head of this ancient house was, as we shall after- wards see, ennobled in 1470 as Lord Carlyle of Torthorwald.* Another Annandale sept, the Jardines, held lands in the parish of Applegarth, before the Celtic element in the popula- tion was overlaid by that of the Saxons. Winfredus de Jardine, the first of the name on record, flourished prior to 1153; he having been a witness to various grants, conferred, during the reign of David I., on the Abbeys of Aberbrothwick and Kelso. At what period the great family of the Johnstones settled in Annandale has not been determined. The first trace that we find of them is in the reign of Alexander III., when Hugo de Johnstone owned lands in East Lothian, which he bequeathed to his son John, who gave a portion of them to the Monastery of Soltray, about 1285, " for the safety of his soul." His descendants, Thomas, Walter, Gilbert, and John, swore fealty to Edward I. in 1296 — the last mentioned baron being termed, in the deed, " Chevalier of the County of Dumfries." It is more than likely, however, we think, that the Johnstones, as well as the Kirkpatricks, had long previously resided in Strathannand. The name is suggestive of a Saxon origin; and the idea is a natural one, that they either gave it to, or received it from, the parish of Johnstone in Annandale. f * A fresh lustre has been east upon this old Annandale family by the genius of one of its "latter day" members, Thomas Carlyle, the distinguished author. * Douglas's Peerage, vol. i, , p. 70. + The parish of Johnstone, says Chalmers, derived its name from the village; and the hamlet, from its having become, in Scoto-Saxon times, the tun, or dwelling, of some person who was distingtushed by the name of John. This place afterwards gave the surname to the family of Johnstone, who became a powerful clan in Annandale.— (7afec?oma, vol. iii., p. 179. CHAPTER III. CONDITION OF THE BUKOH BEFORE IT WAS CHARTERED — NATURE OF THE EARLY CHARTERS CONFEEEED UPON IT BY WILLIAM THE LION — RISE OF SANQUHAR, ANNAN, AND LOCHMABEN — INSTITUTION OF THE KING'S BAILIE-COUBTS IN DUMFRIES— QUAEREL OF TWO BURGESSES, RICHAED, SON OP ROBERT, AND ADAM THE MILLER, IN ST. MICHAEL'S CEMETERY — A MURDEROUS AFFRAY — SLAUGHTER OF ADAM, AND TRIAL OF RICHARD — FORMATION OF THE SHERIFFDOM — DEVELOPMENT OF ROMANISM IN THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND — THE ECCLESIASTICAL ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BURGH AND COUNTY. Now that we have supplied some information regarding the way in which the district was peopled at various epochs, and intro- duced the chief actors in the great drama of real life which soon afterwards opened in Nithsdale and Annandale, let us see how Dumfries gradually threw off its hamlet garb, and acquired that of a Royal Burgh. Before the town was chartered, it was in a condition of complete dependence on its Celtic superiors, and equally so on the feudal overlords who succeeded them in the days of William the Lion. Nearly all the inhabitants were in a state of absolute villanage, having no property in the soil, and owing any immunities they possessed to the arbitrary will of their chief, who in most matters was free to act as he pleased, though nominally responsible to the Crown. He gave them the means of subsistence, shelter, and protection; in return for which they j-endered him- military service, manual labour, and tributes in money or rural produce. With the view of increasing their scanty resources, and enabling them to bear increased exactions, trading privileges were by and by conferred upon them; and when, in the further development of the feudal system, all the land came to be legally recognized as royal property, the merchants and craftsmen obtained the exclusive rieht to traffic and labour within the town and a prescribed range of territory around it, for which favours they furnished a revenue to the Crown, derived from rents, tolls, wid customs. To William the Lion, it is believed, the Burgh was indebted for its first charters. Ho granted more than one — Chalmers HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 45 says " many"* — which were so drawn up as to indicate that he frequently resided in the town; but, unfortunately, they were either lost or destroyed during the succession warfare.! The earlier of these documents would relate chiefly, if not solely, to subjects of trade and handicraft, and be silent as to the right of self-government. Judging from the charters granted by the same monarch to other burghs, those at first conferred by him on Dum- fries merely improved the relationship in which the inhabitants stood to the King, by changing them from precarious tenants to fixed vassals, holding directly of the Crown; they acquiring thereby a right of property in their tofts or tenements, for which they paid yearly rents, independently of their personal services.^ Thus the Biirgh was a portion of the royal possessions, occupied by an aggregation of tenants, each paying his quota of maills or money tribute. At fixed periods, half-yearly or quarterly, the King's hallivi, or bailies, collected the rents from his vassals ; also the fines levied in the Burgh courts, and other impositions called exitus curi and throw off his feeble yoke. At this period the Castle of Dumfries was held by the English, Bruce having long before been forced to give it up; and, for about the eighth time since the date of the first invasion, the town and neighbouring territory changed masters. But the period for theif ultimate deliverance was drawing near. Since the victory at Loudon-hill, in May, 1307, Bruce's career was, in spite of a few temporary checks, " upwards and onwards." A great step was made towards the liberation of the south by a victorious raid made by his brother Edward into GaUoway, which province was subject to the English, not in virtue of any conquest, but because its chiefs gave a quaUfied submission to the usurping King, owing in a great degree to their hatred of Bruce. Twice the gallant Prince defeated the Gallovidians, with their English ally St. John. He then stormed, with characteristic impetuosity, the Castle of Buittle, seized several other fortlets, expelled their garrisons, native or foreign, and did not sheathe his successful sword trU the whole of Galloway had submitted to his brother, Eobert I. The province thus annexed to the Crown was given in feu to its conqueror; and in this way another heavy blow was inflicted on the Baliols and Comyns, who owned extensive estates in Galloway, f Seven years after the time when King Robert opened up a passage by fire into the Castle of Dumfries (on the fateful 10th of -February, 1305), the ring of his battle-axe on its gates again demanded admission, in language which the Southern garrison, under Henry de Bello Monte J (Lord Beaumont), could neither * Eymer's Foedera, vol. ii. t Fordun, p. 1005; Dalrymple's Annals, p. 25. J Henri de Bello Monte, Constabul Castri sui de Dumfres, vel ejus locum tenenti ibidem saltim. — Rotuli Scotits, 1311. 112 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. misunderstand nor refuse.* In reply to a similar summons, the fortress of Dalswinton also surrendered; and in due time the Castles of Lochmaben and Tibbers were wrested from the enemy.f Carlaverock, till the following year, 1313, held out against the patriot King; and, curious to relate, its Lord, Sir Eustace de Maxwell, seems to have been subsidized by Edward II., as existing records show that, on the 30th of April, 1312, the English sovereign agreed to grant him £22 yearly for keeping the stronghold.if Sir Eustace, however, saw reason to repent of the bargain that had been made; and the grant, if paid once, was not paid a second time. In about a year after the above date, he gave up the castle to his rightful King; and with its tenure the last remaining tie that bound Nithsdale to the tyrannical invaders was broken. The district became free. Annandale also received full deliverance; and on the 24th of June, 1314, the rest of Scotland was liberated, and the inde- pendence of the kingdom was triumphantly secured, by the glorious victory of Bannockburn. After a brief rest from the protracted toils of war, the King proceeded to regulate the internal affairs of the country. In doing so, he proved as wise in the cabinet as he was heroic in the field. So many forfeitures had taken place during the struggle with England, that he found himself in the position of one who has conquered a foreign territory, and is free to recognize the bravery of his followers by dividing it amongst them. With the extensive lands that had reverted to the Crown, Bruce had the means of amply rewarding the chiefs who had been true to him and their country during the contest. In Dumfriesshire nearly a total change was made in the ownership of property. The Comyns were thoroughly dis- possessed. Dalswinton Castle and Manor were given to Walter Stewart, third son of Sir John Stewart of Bonkill, who fell at the battle of Falkirk. The estate of Duncow was assigned to Sir Robert Boyd, ancestor of the Earls of Kilmarnock. Douglasdale was restored to Sir James Douglas; and there were added to his domains almost the whole of Eskdale and * Foi'dun, vol. iv., \>. IGOG. t Dalrymijlc's Auuals, p. 36 ; Rcclpath's Border History, p. 240. X Dalrymplp, p. 06. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 113 other parts of Dumfriesshire. The King's hereditary lordship of Annandale, with the Royal Castle of Lochmaben, was conferred upon Sir Thomas Randolph, in addition to the barony of Morton, inherited by him as the lineal descendant of Dunegal, Lord of Stranith.* Several minor changes were made: a charter, dated in the sixteenth year of the King's reign, conferred the lands of Kilnorduff, Torthorwald, and Roucan on Humphrey Kirkpatrick; another of the same date gave the estate of Penersax to Stephen Kirkpatrick; and by one dated Lochmaben, 4th June, 1320, Thomas, the son of Sir Roger, received the manor of Bridburgh, in recognition of his ovra and his father's services. Wherever, in other cases, there was fidelity to acknowledge, or little fault to find, the old famihes regained their former position. Even Sir Eustace Maxwell, though he had long remained in the interest of England, was liberally dealt with. He had, as we have seen, joined the patriots some time before their closing victory; and Bruce, taking this circumstance into account, and over- looking his former unfaithfulness, gave him back his lands and Castle of Carlaverock. From the date of Bannockburn till that of the King's death, a period of fifteen years, the nation enjoyed almost unbroken repose, and a prosperity that reminded the old inhabitants of the golden days of Alexander III. To no part of the country was this season of peace more acceptable than to Dumfriesshire. Some counties of Scotland suffered comparatively little from the EngHsh usurpation, on account of being remote from the enemy's usual route of march ; but the districts watered by the Esk, the Annan, and the Nith, from their frontier position, became the highway of the invading armies, and a debatable territory, on which, for fuUy twenty years, the destructive con- troversy of the sword went on with little intermission. No industrial employment could be attended to. The fields were left untiUed — few herds or flocks, and little produce of the soil, would be left after the Southern hordes had repeatedly harried the country; and how the inhabitants managed to ward off the attacks of famine, remains to us a mystery. The produce of the woods and rivers would be their chief dependence; and the * Caledonia, vol. iii., p. 64. O 114 HISTORY OF DUMFRIKS. license which war gives to plunder would be used by many in the absence of more legitimate means for procuring a Hvelihood. As episodes in the war, there would be numerous freebooting forays into Cumberland, leading to retahatory expeditions, all combining, with the war itself, to reduce society on both sides of the Border into a chaotic state. It was part of the invaders' atrocious policy to terrify the people by burning or otherwise destroying such goods as they could not carry off with them; and they sometimes, by this locust-like mode of procedure, overreached themselves. When the predatory forces of the English were at times reduced to a state of privation, the people whom they ravaged must have suffered still more severely. Municipal government in Dumfries would, in these fighting days, dwindle down to a dead letter; the town would be ruled by martial law, adminis- tered now by St. John after the English fashion — then by Wallace, Bruce, or other Scottish baron, in a milder form — then once more by the rough-handed invaders: so that the Provost and his colleagues of the Council, if such officials were chosen at all, in the terms of King William's charters, would have little say in the management of town affairs. Dumfries, in fact, would be turned into a camp: her craftsmen, during two-thirds of a generation, would be unable, except by fits and starts, as it were, to pursue the occupations which flourished in the " piping times of peace" — her merchants would have to close their premises for want of customers, or to keep out those unwel- come ones who took goods on trust, never intending to pay for them. Of all the industrial orders, the smiths alone — whose proud boast it was, that ' ' By hammer in hand All arts do stand" — would drive a prosperous trade; the others fretting in idleness, or doing military service — many of them for, and some of them against, the interests of their country. In the course of the auspicious reign which preceded these times of trouble, Dumfries was a growing to^vn, increasing in size, population, and ojJulence. But the English usurpation checked its progress. With many houses reduced to ruin — with lines of streets partially burned down — with its Castle half HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 115 dismantled, its Monastery deserted, and its external defences sadly perforated — it must, at the close of the war, have looked like the ghost of the town which the good King Alexander is said to have viewed with admiration when directing from it his enterprise against the Isle of Man. As sleep "knits up the ravelled sleeve of care," so peace fiUed up the mural breaches of the town, and rebuilt its shattered tenements; and if ever Robert Bruce, after reigning in glory for a few years, had the curiosity to visit his native district, and the place where the first blow for freedom was struck, he would rejoice in the verdant aspect of the country, no longer dyed with blood and desolated by strife, and in the revived prosperity of the town when free from the presence of " grim-visaged war." Happy were these fifteen years of repose for Scotland at large! Scarcely, however, had the ashes of the illustrious Bruce turned cold, when the wasting fires of war were once more lighted up anew. An English king (Edward III.) was the promoter of this fresh conflagration. His instruments, Edward Baliol, son of the com- petitor, and the Lords Beaumont and De Wake, whom Bruce had deprived of their lands in Scotland, on the plea that, as English subjects, they were likely to prove disloyal to his autho- rity, and who sought to regain what they had lost by the sword. Lord John de Wake claimed as his rightful inheritance that piece of territory in the south-east of Dumfriesshire, which soon afterwards became famous as "The Debatable Land." That it originally formed part of Scotland is unquestionable ; * and, indeed, a large portion of Cumberland was, for several centuries prior to the reign of Alexander II., attached to that kingdom, except for a short period, when William the Conqueror took it from the Scots and divided it among his Norman followers, granting the barony of Lydall or Liddel to a knight named De EastonviUe, from whom it descended by marriage to the De Wakes. This barony comprised the lands of Esk, Arthuret, * In a treaty between the kingdoms, of date 1249, it was stipulated, that when an inhabitant of the one charged an inhabitant of the other with the theft of cattle, the person accused was either to vindicate his character by- single combat with his accuser, or bring the stolen animals to the frontier streams of Tweed or Esk, and drive them into the waters — a clear proof that England at that time had no claim to the Debatable Land. 116 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Stubhill, Carwindlow, Speireike, Randolph, Livington, Easton, North Easton, and Breconhill, all on the eastern or Cumberland side of the River Esk; and though some modern historians have assumed that Kirkandrews was also included, we find no state- ment to that effect in Dauton, on whose authority they profess to rely. By the treaty of Northampton, signed by the English and Scottish Commissioners on the 4th of May, 1328, it was stipulated that De Beaumont should receive the lands and earldom of Buchan, claimed by him in right of his wife; and that De Wake should be re-established in his barony of Liddel. The Scottish Regent, Randolph, however, shrunk from giving effect to the agreement:* nor is it surprising that he hesitated, since both of these barons were avowedly opposed to the independence of the kingdom — had leagued themselves against it with Baliol ; and if Buchan fell into the hands of one Enghsh lord, it would afford an easy landing-place for an invading enemy; while if another were allowed to settle down on the Scottish side of the Esk, the western frontier would be deprived of its chief natural defence. Strange to say, though the triumvirate who conducted this enterprise had only a very small force, amounting at first to barely five hundred men, they succeeded in temporarily over- turning the fabric of Scottish independence, which had been built up at such a lavish outlay of blood and treasure. Landing at Kinghorn, on the Frith of Forth, they defeated the Earl of Fife, who vainly endeavoured to drive them back to their ships, or into the sea. They then, after being strongly reinforced, routed a much larger body, under the Earl of Mar, on Dupplin Moor; and, as a consequence of these and other triumphs, the pretender Baliol was crowned Deputy -King of Scotland, at Scone, on the 24th of September, 1332. The reader may well wonder at this result, brought about by such seemingly slender means, and that, too, in the short space of three weeks. It would have been impossible, if the invaders had not been greatly strcngthoued by the native Baliol party, still numerous in Scotland — or if their opponents had been faA'oured with " One hour of Wallace wight, Or woU-sluUecl Bruce, to rule the fight" — * l!.\iuer's Fccdcra, vol. iv., p. 4()1. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 117 or had Douglas not fallen a year before, in an encounter with the Saracens, when bearing his royal master's heart to the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem — or had Randolph, Regent of the king- dom during the minority of Bruce's successor, been still alive. After a brief inglorious pause, meij actuated by the spirit of these heroes appeared upon the scene to give a new current to pubUc events; and once more the tide of battle, surging in Dumfriesshire, turned again in favour of freedom. Baliol, at his coronation, came under an obligation to rule the country in the name of his patron and liege lord, Edward III.; and when passing southward, for the purpose of extending his influence, he, at Roxburgh, solemnly ratified this engagement. He knew that he had no chance of retaining the crown many months, except by support from England; and that having been assured to him, as the price of his country's independence, his mind was set at ease, and, when lying encamped on the Burgh Moor, at Annan, lapped in fancied security, he indulged in lofty aspirations, unconscious that an agency was at work that would cause them to topple over like a castle of cards. Sir Andrew Murray, of Bothwell,* who married Christopher Seton's widow, and was therefore the brother-in-law of King Robert, having been chosen Regent by the supporters of the Brucian family, proved worthy of his position at this crisis of the national cause. A thousand horsemen imder Archibald Douglas, Lord of Galloway, third brother of Sir James Douglas, John Randolph, Earl of Moray, son of the deceased Regent, and Simon Frazer, the tried friend of Bruce, were sent by Murray into Annan- dale, in order to watch the movements of Baliol. On arriving in the neighbourhood of Moffat, they were apprised by scouts that the puppet King had turned his camp into a court, and that military discipline had given way to revelry and mirth. This was welcome news to the patriots. That very afternoon, the 16th of December, they were hurrying down the dale as fast as their fleet steeds could bear them; and, as they drew near Annan, were guided to their destination by the glimmering lights, and also, perhaps, by the bacchanalian * The Regent, like the Murrays of Cockpool and of Murraythwaite, was descended from Freskin, a Flemish gentleman who settled in Linlithgowshire during the twelfth century. (Seep. 34.) 118 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. sounds that emanatod from the encampment. Stealthily cross- ing "Annan Water, wide and deep," they fell upon the enemy about midnight with the force of an avalanche. King Baliol was in bed, literally dreaming over again, it m.ay be, the visions that had delighted him in his waking hours. Shouts of defiance, screams of terror, shrieks of agony, mad cries for mercy — could these sounds be the discordant medley of a hideous dream, following in horrible contrast upon the pleasant fancies that had preceded them? The royal sleeper awoke to find his camp assailed by a merciless foe, and his followers, who had on the pre- vious day vowed to him everlasting fidelity, making but a feeble resistance — able, indeed, to offer scarcely any, as they were only half awake, and many of them naked, with neither sword nor buckler. Short and fearful was the fight; long and more terrible was the slaughter. With scarcely the rag of a royal robe to cover him from the cold, the miserable mimic of a king threw himself upon a cart horse, unfurnished with either saddle or bridle, and in this fashion galloped for bare life fifteen miles, stopping not till he reached Carlisle.* His brother Henry, Lord Walter Comyn, and many othej: persons of rank, were slain in the fray or during the flight, with many hundreds of common soldiers, the assailants losing very few of their number.! * Wyntoun, vol. ii., p. 159 ; Hume's House of Douglas, p. 80; and Eedpath's Border History, p. 302. + About a mile from Moffat, on the side of the Beattock Eoad, may be seen an antique triple memorial, termed "The Three Stan'in' Stanes," which some authorities consider were raised on the site of this battle, to commemorate the officers slain there on the English side. Such an idea is quite untenable. While Buchanan states that the patriot army rendezvoused "prope Mophetam," near Moffat, he does not say that the conflict took place in the vicinity of that village; and the Chronicle of Lanercost distinctly fixes the locality thus — "Usque ad vUlam Annaudite, que est in marchia inter regno," the town of Annan, which is on the march between the kingdoms. Besides, it is assumed in the idea that the nobles who fell were buried on the field, whereas Baliol obtained the bodies, and would doubtless cause them to be interred in conse- crated ground. " The Three Stan'in' Stanos" are probably of Druidical origin. CHAPTER XL RENEWED BITOETS AND SUCCESS OF BALIOL — HE EEWAEDS HIS PATRON, THE ENGLISH MONAUCH, BY ASSIGNING TO HIM A LARGE PORTION OP SCOTLAND — RESISTANCE AND TRIUMPH OP THE PATRIOTS UNDER MURRAY — REIGN OF DAVID II. — CARLYLE OF TORTHOEWALD IS KILLED DEFENDING THE KING AT THE BATTLE OF NEVILLE'S CROSS — INCIDENTS OF THE WARFARE IN NITHSDALE AND ANNANDALE — HARROWING DOMESTIC EPISODE : MURDER OF SIR ROGER KIEKPATRICK IN CARLAVEROCK CASTLE, BY HIS GUEST, LINDSAY — CAPTURE OF THE ASSASSIN, AND HIS TRIAL AND EXECUTION AT DUMFRIES — A BREATHING TIME OF PEACE, AND ITS BENEFICIAL RESULTS ON THE TOWN AND DISTRICT — MORE BORDER RAIDS — DUMFRIESSHIRE RAVAGED BY THE ENGLISH UNDER LORD TALBOT — THEIR CAMP ON THE SOLWAY IS SUDDENLY ATTACKED BY THE SCOTS WITH GREAT SLAUGHTER. This visitation woiold have finished Baliol, had not the English monarch set him up anew. Next March, he was again at the head of an English army, invading Scotland, and laying siege to the Castle of Berwick. While thus engaged. Sir Archibald Douglas, with three thousand men, made a diversion on the south side of the Border, and returned laden vnth booty, after ravaging the whole district to the extent of thirty miles. With the view of paying him back in kind. Sir Anthony de Lacey, of Cockermouth, led a considerable force into Dumfriesshire. They plundered the country far and wide, till the stout Castle of Lochmaben, that had often before done good service, stopped their desolating march. Pity that its keeper, the gallant " Flower of Chivalry," Sir W^iUiam Doxiglas, of Liddisdale, did not remain under its shelter, instead of sallying forth with chivalrous generosity, as he did, and giving the invaders battle in the open plain. He was taken prisoner in the engagement that ensued, together with a hundred men of rank ; and upwards of a hundred and sixty of his soldiers were left dead on the disastrous field.* Among the slain were Sir Humphrey de Bois, of Dryfesdale (supposed by Dalrymple to be the ancestor * Eedpath, p. 302. 120 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. of Hector Boece the historian), Sir Humphrey Jardine, and Sir WilHam Carlyle, of Torthorwald. Lacey, satisfied with his success, proceeded with his captives and spoil to Carlisle* — the city where the goods stolen from Dumfriesshire in those days were generally resetted. The prisoned " Flower," loaded with fetters, pined in Carlisle Castle more than two years, but, un- weakened by confinement, proved to be of the genuine thistle kind in many a subsequent encounter with the English. The patriot cause suffered another serious blow when the Regent, Sir Andrew Murray, was made prisoner, in an abortive attempt to surprise the Castle of Roxburgh; and it was almost entirely crushed when Sir Archibald Douglas, his successor in the Regency, after a wasting raid into England, recrossed the Tweed, for the purpose of relieving Berwick, attacked an inter- vening army, strongly posted on Halidon Hill, and was thoroughly defeated, with great slaughter — Douglas himself being mortally wounded, and the Earls of Lennox, Ross, Sutherland, Carrick, Monteith, and Athol being numbered among the slain. Baliol's first failure was in these ways redeemed — his disgraceful escapade at Annan was revenged — and his aspirations once more mounted to the zenith. -f" At the head of an immense force — twenty-six thousand men in number, it is said — he overran the greater part of Scotland, meeting with little opposition, and subjecting the whole of it, excepting the spots on which stood the Castles of Urquhart, Loch-Doon,Lochleven,Kildrummie,and Dumbarton. Even when this was accomplished, he remained but a nominal king. The Scots paid him an unwilUng homage: remembering Bannock- burn, they never supposed for a moment but that his puppet's part would soon be played out. The English, conscious of his indebtedness to them, became voracious in their demands. They had made him a king, and he must show his gratitude for their services, or he might find himself a crownless fugitive some day soon. He gave Lord Henry Percy Annandale and Moffatdale; and, to enable him to keep them with the strong hand, if need be, he added the Castle of Lochmaben to the grant.J In this way Randolph's lands were disposed of; and * Walsingliam, p. 1,S2. t Wyntoun, vol. ii., p. 170. :1: Rcdpath, p. 310. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 121 the estates belonging to other Brucian nobles were handed over to other English lords, or those recreant patricians who were base enough to accept a reward for assisting to destroy their nation, and to feast on the honey which the lion's carcase yielded. "More! we must have more!" was the language of the exorbitant Southrons and their King. Baliol was placed in the position of a necromancer, who, after doing many marvellous feats, and acquiring much wealth, is required, by unceasing sacrifices, to propitiate the remorseless demon to whom he is indebted for his success. It was not enough that Baliol had become the sworn vassal of Edward III., and had curtailed his own revenue by enriching that monarch's subjects; he must, over and above that deep humiliation, and these liberal largesses, give over in fee to his liege lord a goodly portion of Scottish land for annexation to England, and henceforth to be completely Anglicized. How- ever mean-spirited Baliol was, he must have been disgusted by these exactive demands. Though loath to comply with them, he durst not hazard a refusal. In a Parliament held at Newcastle on the 12th of June, 1334, he, by a solemn legal instrument, invested his royal master with the ownership of the castle, town, and county of Berwick; of the castle, town, and county of Roxburgh ; of the forts, towns, and forests of Jedburgh, Selkirk, and Ettrick; of the city, castle, and county of Edin- burgh; of the constabularies of Haddington and Linlithgow; of the town and county of Peebles; and lastly, of the town. Castle, and County of Dumfries.* This most abject and disgraceful partition of the ancient kingdom of Scotland could not actually be carried out. The "departed spirits of the mighty dead" vetoed the arrangement: Wallace and Bruce, though moulder- ing in the dust, lived in the hearts of their countrymen, and dictated the nation's protest against the base perfidy of Baliol and the insatiable cupidity of the English King. Edward III. supposed he had succeeded where an abler man (Edward I.) had failed. Having been invested in his new pos- sessions, he made arrangements for their government — appoint- ing sheriffs for each district, with Robert de Laudre as Chief Justice, and assigning to John de Bourdon the important office of * Eedpath, p. 310. V 122 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. General Chamberlain. One Peter Tilliol, of whom we know little, was made Sheriff of Dumfriesshire, and Keeper of the Castle of Dumfries.* To Edward de Bohun were given Moffatdale, Annandale, and the Castle of Lochmaben — Percy, their previous English possessor, receiving for them an equivalent; and they continued to be held by one or other of the Bohun family till the expulsion of the Southrons from the district. Scarcely had these police arrangements been effected, when Sir Andrew Murray, escaping from prison, unfurled the patriotic flag with such effect that Baliol took to flight from the country he had betrayed; and Edward III., dreading that his own tenure of it might be snapped asunder, passed with an army through Dumfries towards Glasgow, at the close of 1334 — returning, however, in a hurry, as, though he encountered no military force, hunger, and the rigour of the season, drove him back over the Border. Next year he repeated the invasion, carrying deso- lation into the country as far as Morayshire, and being forced to retire a second time by the famine he had himself created. For fully three years longer the war continued, the Scots adopting the policy, recommended by Bruce, of avoiding pitched battles, and depending chiefly on guerrilla attacks, by which they risked little and severely harassed the enemy. In the summer of 1338, Sir Andrew Murray died. He had for some time shared the Regency with Robert Stewart, who, on his death, became sole Regent. Murray had done much to keep alive the flame of Scottish patriotism; and when the manage- ment of affairs devolved entirely upon Stewart, they did not suffer 0± his hands. The Castles of Edinburgh, Stirling, Perth, and many smaller fortresses, were, one after another, wrested by him from the invaders; and the national cause looked so promisingly that, in May, 1341, the young King, David, now eighteen years of age, ventured to return from France, where he had lived an exile nine long years. On landing at Inver- bervie, in Kincardineshire, with his Queen, he was received with enthusiasm by the people, glad once more to have a sovereign amongst them, and that sovereign the son of the Bruce under * Fncdera, p. 615; also, EotiUi Scotise, vol. i., p. 271, in which the following entry occurs: — "Petrius Tilliol, do officio vice oomitatua de Dumfries, et custodia castri R. ibidem. " HISTORY OF DUMFEIES. 123 whom they had fought and conquered. The son, however, proved unworthy of the sire: his reign was discreditable to himself and disadvantageous to Scotland — the country being often humiliated, and suffering great depression, during its course. Shortly after the King's arrival, abortive efforts were made by Randolph, Earl of Moray, to rid Dumfriesshire of the English. On laying siege to Lochmaben Castle, he was repulsed, with serious loss, by Selby the governor. * A truce ensued between the Scots and English, to last till Michaelmas, 1346, during which Nithsdale and the greater portion of Annandale remained in the possession of the enemy. When the war was resumed. King David proceeded, at the head of a large army, on an ill-starred expedition into Northumberland, gaining for it on the way a delusive gleam of success by capturing the power- ful fortress which had five years before resisted the arms of Randolph. Its defender, Selby, was beheaded: a doom richly merited by him, as, during his governorship, he had been the terror of the dale. But the recovery of Lochmaben Castle, however important in itself, weighed but as a feather in the scale against the thorough defeat which awaited the Scots at Neville's Cross, near Durham. Their main centre was com- manded by David himself; near him fought Thomas Carlyle of Torthorwald, who fell slain when gallantly defending the person of the King. The victory of the English was immensely enhanced by the capture of the Scottish monarch; and when, nine years afterwards, he acquired his liberty, it was on condition that he should pay the heavy ransom of a hundred thousand merks. The King, on being restored to his throne, showed that he cherished a grateful recollection of Carlyle's services : a charter signed by him, bearing date 18th October, 1362, conveyed the lands of " Coulyn and Rowcan to our beloved cousin, Susannah Carlyle, heir of Thomas de Torthorwald, who was killed defend- ing our person at the battle of Durham, and to Robert Corrie, her spouse, belonging formerly to our cousin, William de Carlyle."t Edward Baliol, who held a leading command on the side of the victors at Neville's Cross, co-operated with them in overrunning * Redpath, p. 355. + Barjarg Manuscripts. 124 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Tweeddale, the Merse, Ettrick, Annandale, and Galloway.* Next year, at the head of twenty thousand men, he entered Dumfriesshire by the Western Border, and, taking up his abode in Carlaverock Castle, wasted Nithsdale and Carrick; while Admaro de Atheles assumed the governorship of Dumfries, and strengthened his position by occupying the neighbouring stronghold of Dalswinton. t Baliol proceeded on his destructive mission as far as Perth, where he was stopped by a messenger, announcing that the King of France had, on his own behalf and that of his Scottish allies, ratified an eight years' truce with England ; and before the armistice expired, Baliol, de.spairing of realizing the object he had aimed at, resigned his pretensions, for a money consideration, into the hands of Edward III., and vanished from public life, regretted by no one, scorned or contemned by all. With the view of making good the transfer, Edward III., in February, 1356, led an immense army into Scotland by the Eastern Marches. The Scots, still acting upon the djring counsel of Bruce, did not attempt to meet the invaders in the open field, but wasted the country rovmd about, confidently expecting that more havoc would be committed by hunger than by the sword in the ranks of the enemy. It was even so. The English found the farm-yards empty; and as their foraging parties roamed the country, they met with neither herds nor flocks. No food could be obtained for men or horses; and the Southern fleet, which was to have brought provisions seaward to Berwick, suffered from a storm, which prevented it reaching that port. Frantic with vexation and rage, Edward, more like a bandit chief than a royal commander, took insane revenge upon the famine, by resorting to the torch. He set fire to towns and villages, woods and towers, causing such a terrific conflagration, that the season was long after spoken of by the common people as " The Burnt Candlemas." He then, from the blackened ruins of Haddington, beat a precipitate retreat; his forlorn host being galled and decimated on * Wyutoiin, vol. ii., p. iOo. t It appoars from an entiy in tho Eotnii Sodtia', p. 713, that Atlioles at this time put the Castlo of l)alsv\iiiton, which liad suffered much during the war, in good repair. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 125 its homeward way by bands of Scots, that sprung up on every side. Relieved from the presence of the invaders, the patriot forces assumed the offensive. They succeeded in capturing many of the strongholds by which the English had long kept a pre- carious tenure of the country. Sir Roger Kirkpatrick stormed the Castles of Carlaverock, Dalswinton, and Durisdeer. He afterwards paid a visit to Dumfries; but the friends of Edward there seem to have decamped unceremoniously before he reached the town* — at all events, he established in it without difficulty the undisputed rule of David II., prisoner though that monarch still was, and made the rest of Nithsdale too hot for its foreign occupants; while John Stewart, eldest son of the Regent, performed a similar service towards the English in Armandale — Lochmaben Castle, however, which had once more fallen into their hands, resisting his attempts to capture it. Edward III., mortified by the failure of his expedition, and actively engaged in hostilities with France, eagerly sought for and obtained a truce with the Scots; and the year 1357 found the latter free, ruled by their rightful sovereign, returned from his captivity, and beginning to taste the sweets of tranquillity, and to experience the protection of a settled government. Lawlessness, the offspring of protracted war, had long cursed the country; but, as a proof that the sword of justice was not at this time quite rusted, even in the district where the sword of war had borne sway for ages, the following domestic episode may be narrated ;f and the illustration will perhaps be all the more acceptable, seeing that it is associated with a great historical event — the slaughter of Comyn in Dumfries. It has already been stated that Sir Roger Kirkpatrick took the Castle of Carlaverock from the English in 1356. He was the son of the baron who, in company with Lindsay, hurried into the Greyfriars' Monastery and made " siccar" the fell stroke inflicted by Bruce on the treacherous Lord of Badenoch; and, curiously enough, the son of this same Lindsay was an invited guest at Carlaverock in 1357, soon after its new keeper had begun to occupy it. Superstition traces their meeting on this * Hume's House of Douglas. + Taken chiefly from Fordun and Dalrymple. 12C HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. occasion to no accidental circumstance. Bowmaker tells us, in his " Chronicle," that whilst the body of Comyn was being watched at the midnight hour by the Minorites, according to the rites of the Church, the officiating friars fell into a dead sleep, with the exception of one aged father, who heard, with wonder and alarm, a voice, like that of a wailing child, exclaim, " How long, O Lord, shall vengeance be deferred?" The answer, pronounced in an awful tone, made the listener's ear to tingle, and his heart to thrill, as it sounded like a voice from heaven ; " Endure with patience until the anniversary of this day shaU return for the fifty-second time!" This is not history, but a priestly legend: the tragical incident, however, which ensued at Carlaverock fifty-two years after the slaughter of Comyn, is recorded by the Prior of Lochleven and other contemporary annalists, and is entitled to credence. The two sons of Bruce's colleagues met in the old Border fortress, as entertainer and guest, on or about the 24th of June, 1357. They were both promoters of the patriotic cause — they were seemingly on most friendly terms ; but, all the time, Lindsay, envying and hating his host, cherished towards him a spirit of revenge. Kirkpatrick had wooed and married a beautiful lady, whom Lindsay had loved in vain; and the latter, after the festivities were over, and "all men bowne to bed," rose from his couch, stole on tiptoe to the chamber where his unsuspect- ing victim lay in the arms of his wife, stabbed him to the heart, took horse hurriedly, and, plying whip and spur, fled precipi- tately over moss and moor, through the midnight gloom. He had thus glutted his vengeance on his successful rival; but, bewildered by the darkness, and probably tormented by remorse, he in vain tried to secure his own safety by speeding to a fai- distance from the scene of the murder. After riding all night, the blood-stained criminal was captured at break of day within three miles from the castle. His rank and position, his services to the national cause, the intercession of his powerful relatives, were insufficient to save him from the consequences of his guilt. The widowed Lady Kirkpatrick, hearing that the King was in the neighbourhood, went to him, and prayed for justice on the assassin of her husband. Forthwith the monarch formed a tribunal at Dumfries, by which Lindsay was regularly tried and HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 127 condemned, as is recorded, in pithy metrical terms, by the Prior of Lochleven: — " His wife passyd till the King Davy, And prayed him of his realte. Of lawohe that soho might servyd be. The King Davy then also fast Til Dumfris with hia curt he past, At lawche wald. Quhat was thare mare ? Tlds Lyndessay to deth he gart do there."* How delightful it must have been for the Dumfriesians to breathe their native air in peace and security, after the long storms of war, from which they had suffered more than the rest of their countrymen, had subsided ! Though the years between the accession of David and his restoration were full of trouble, his reign, after the latter event, was comparatively serene; and the country got time to recover, in a great degree, from the fearful ravages of war by which its trade and husbandry had been nearly ruined. If hostilities had been prolonged for • another generation, Scotland would have been turned into the desert which Edward I. vowed to make it, and its people been reduced by battle and famine to a mere handful. At the middle of the fourteenth century, the whole population of the country, owing to the long operation of repressing influences, would probably not exceed eight hundred thousand; and we can see reason for thinking that the town of Dumfries could not have had more than eighteen hundred inhabitants. The likelihood is that its population was nearly double that amount in the reign of Alexander III., and during the early years of the war of independence. Thirteen blessed years of peace followed King David's release from captivity; and in their course fair Nithsdale would once more blossom and rejoice, and its ancient capital grow and flourish — increasing alike in dimensions and prosperity. These happy changes were certainly not due to the sovereign. It was not by his wisdom and valour that the land was brought out of its wilderness condition. So far as Dumfriesshire is con- cerned, he was more than suspected of having secretly agreed with the English to keep it weak and dependent, by demolishing some of its main sources of strength and freedom — the Castles * Cronykil, book viii. , c. 44, 128 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. of Dumfries, Dalswinton, Morton, and Durisdeer.* Had this nefarious arrangement been carried into effect, the County would have been converted into a great hunting-field by the English Borderers, and perhaps been eventually annexed to the English kingdom. But the evils which the King's perfidy or incapacity planned or made probable were foreclosed by the firmness and patriotism of his people — favoured as their efforts were by the inability of Edward III., on account of his war with France, to prosecute his designs against Scotland. Robert Stewart, ex-Regent, in terms of the settlement made by his illustrious grandfather, Robert Bruce, succeeded to the throne on the death of David, in 1370. The peace between Scotland and England remained unbroken. It continued other seven years, extending the repose of the northern kingdom to a period of fully twenty years. Edward III. died in 1377, without realizing any of his ambitious dreams; and the EngUsh crown devolved on his grandson, Richard II., a boy of tender age, whose " baby-brow" was ill-fitted to wear " the golden round of sovereignty," which proves often a diadem of thorns to full-grown men. Soon after his ascension, negotiations for a continuation of the truce were entered into; but whilst these were pending, Alexander Ramsay, with only two score of Scots, surprised and took the strong Castle of Berwick, which the English had held for many years. The embryo treaty was therefore cast to the winds. Berwick was recaptured by Henry Percy ; and WilUam, Earl of Douglas, who had vainly tried to relieve the fortress, paid a hostile visit to Penrith, at a time when one of its great fairs was being held, plundered the husbandmen and burghers, set fire to the town itself, and returned into Dumfriesshire laden with booty. •(• These aggressive forays proved that the Scots had increased in strength and boldness during the long suspension of hostilities; and perhaps they were all the more ready to undertalie them, now that their powerful enemy was in his grave, and the feeble hand of an inexperienced youth held the English sceptre. His subjects, however, were quite ready to talce up the cartel of defiance thrown down to them by their northern neighbours; * Fordun, i., xiv., o. 18. t Buchanan's History of Scotland, book ix., ch. xliii. HISTORY OF DUMFEIES. 129 and it seemed at one time as if the war were about to take an extensive sweep, and become once more national in its character. The valour and good fortune of the Scots prevented this calamity, by restricting hostilities to the Border district, and rendering them of brief duration. For the purpose of revenging the raid against Penrith, Lord Talbot, at the head of fifteen thousand men, crossed over the Esk ; and had this formidable force succeeded in its original design, it is more than probable the victor would have been tempted to risk the hazard of a more ambitious die. All along, during the wars with England, the ford near the influx of the Esk into the Solway was the principal avenue to and from Scotland by the Western Marches, the territory further eastward being protected by Carlisle Castle, and other places of strength planted irregularly along the Border.* It was by this passage, after the tidal waters had retired, that the English army entered Scotland, and once more wakened with its war-notes the echoes of Solway shore. The invaders ravaged the lower district of Dumfriesshire, rifling farms and town at pleasure; and, mightily pleased with their work, halted at nightfall in a narrow mountain gorge or valley, for the purpose of taking rest, apportioning the spoil, and deciding on their future plans. Presumptuous and reckless, they courted the dolorous fate that awaited them. A band of five hundred Scots, made up chiefly of common serfs or varlcts, suddenly and secretly assembled, fell with the force of a thunderbolt on Lord Talbot's camp; making their descent upon it more dismally appalling by wild shouts, and the ringing of rattles used by them in scaring wild beasts from their flocks. The surprise was like that of Edward Baliol's army at Annan fifty years before, only it was on a larger scale, and had still more destructive results. The English, startled, appalled, paralyzed, were taken and slain in great numbers, as if they had been a flock of sheep doomed to the shambles. Many who were not cut down perished in the Esk, whose tide had returned, all untimely for the poor fugitives. Two * The guarding of tMs passage was made an object of great consideration by the English Government. The duty of doing so was assigned by Richard II. to Eichard Burgh; and when he resigned the office, in 1396, it was conferred on Galfrid Tilliol and Galfrid Louther. — JRotuli Scotice, vol. ii., p. 152. Q 130 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. hundred and forty were made prisoners, and only a remnant of the aggressive host escaped with life.* The exulting victors recovered the whole of the plunder, and carried off besides the valuable arms and stores which belonged to the invaders. It is not surprising that, as a sequel to this overwhelming discom- fiture, the English were glad to sign a truce for three years, on terms favourable to the Scots. * Fordun a Goodal, vol. i., p. 385; Wyntoun, vol. i., p. 309. CHAPTER XII. GLANCE AT THE MATERIAL AND SOCIAL CONDITION OF DUMrEIESSHIEB AND ITS CAPITAL DUKlNa THE MIDDLE AGES — THE PBIMITIVE FORESTS — THE NATIVE HEEDS AND PLOCKS — THE HUSBANDRY OP THE DISTRICT — WAGES, LABOUR, AND PROVISIONS — STATE OP THE HUMBLER CLASSES — HOUSE ACCOMMODATION, AND DEPBNSIVB STRUCTURES. Turn we now from the narration of events, to glance at the social and material aspect of Dumfriesshire and its capital during the middle ages, up till the period at which we have arrived ; and for much of the view we must be indebted to the learned and industrious author of "Caledonia." In the thousand years which elapsed after the invasion of Agricola, no perceptible impression seems to have been made on the original woodlands of the County. When the Scoto- Saxons settled within its vales, they found clumps of forestry in all directions ; and hence the frequent occurrence, throughout the district, of the Saxon term weald, which signifies " a woody place." Familiar instances are found in the names Ruthwald, Mouswald, Torthorwald, and Tinwald; and in the following, where the word appears in its modem form: — Locharwood, Priestwood, Kelwood, Netherwood, Meiklewood, Norwood, Blackwood, Kinmontwood, Dunskellywood, WoodhaU, Woodlands; and in others, such as Hazelshaw, Blackshaw, Cowshaw, Laneshaw, and Bonshaw, in which a synonymous word for "wood" is introduced. The oaks, firs, and birches embedded in the mosses of Nithsdale and Annandale, afford abundant evidence of the same fact ; and fine natural wood, the progeny of primitive forests, stiU fringes many of the rivers and streams. The parishes of Morton, Duris- deer, and much of the neighbourhood, were in ancient times covered with trees — the resort of the wild boar, the wolf, the stag, and other animals of the chase, to hunt which was the 132 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. favourite pastime of our ancestors. We read in the beautiful ballad, " Johnnie of Breadislee," how " Johnio busk't up his glide bend bow, His arrows ane by ane ; Aod he has gane to Durrisdeer, To hunt the dun deer down. " Of a far-stretching forest in Moffatdale, another fine old lyrical effusion, " The Lads of Wamphray," makes mention as follows : — " 'Twixt Girth -head and the Langwood en', Lived the Galliard and the Galliard's men ; But and the lads of Leverhay, That drove the Crichtons' gear away. " An ancient manuscript informs us, that near to the old Castle of Morton, which figured so much in the early history of Dum- friesshire, " there was a park built by Sir Thomas Randolph, on the face of a very great and high hill, so artificially, that, by the advantage of the hill, all wild beasts, such as deers, harts, roes, and hares, did easily leap in, but could not get out again." The Avriter quaintly adds: "And if any other cattle, such as cows, sheep, or goats, did voluntarily leap in, or were forced to do it, it is doubted if their owners were permitted to get them out again."* On the 3rd of March, 1333, Edward III. appointed John de la Forest Bailiff of the Park or Forest of Woodcockayr, in Annan- dale, an office which the Maxwells acquired afterwards, and were in the enjoyment of in the reign of James VI. Dalton Forest, on the west bank of the Annan, Loganwoodhead Forest, between the Sark and the Kirtle, Blackben-ywood Forest, in Upper Eskdale, are mentioned in official records; and we read of Robert I. and David II. granting lands in " free forest" within Dumfriesshire. The manner in which the abounding woods of the County were tenanted may be inferred from such names as WoUstane, Wolfhopo, Wolfclough, Raeburn, Raehills, Hai'tfell, Harthope, Deerburn, Hurcshaw, Todshaw, and Todhillwood. As the * MS. Account of the Prosbytory of Penpout, drawn up and transmitted to Sir Robert Sibbald, the well-known antiquarian writer, by the Eev. Mr. Black, minister of Closeburn. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 133 Scoto-Irish, like the British aborigines, whom they succeeded, delighted in woods, they were sparing in the use of the axe. The forests furnished them with shelter, food, and the means of recreation; and their rural economy was in keeping with their tastes in this respect, seeing that it consisted rather in the feeding of herds and flocks than in the cultivation of the soil. When another race — the Saxons — began to mingle on the banks of the Nith with the Scoto-Irish natives, they did not materially change the husbandry of the district, though after their appearance the plough was brought into greater request : vast herds of cattle were still seen browsing under the woodland shade; multitudes of swine battened on the mast which fell plentifully from oaken boughs; and countless "woolly people" continued bleating and nibbling in the glades. These and other domestic animals abounded greatly in the County; and no stronger proof of the prevalence of pasturage could be desired than is furnished by the fact, that when Malcolm Canmore and David I. reigned, the Crown dues in Dumfriesshire were paid in swine, cows, and cheese. The latter monarch granted to the monks of Kelso a share of the cattle and pigs he thus received from Nithsdale; but as such pajrments were found to be incon- venient, Alexander II. allowed the same fraternity a hundred shiUings instead of the "vaccarum et porcorum et coriorum" which they were wont to receive from the "Valle de Nyth." Hunting, more than farming, was the occupation of the land- owners; but the latter business was pursued with considerable success by the monks: "and as they," says Chalmers, "were the most skilful cultivators, as well as the most beneficial landlords, during the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, it is to be lamented that they did not possess in those times more extensive districts in Dumfriesshire." There was no great religious house within its bounds; but the monks of Holywood owned lands in Nithsdale, the Priory of Canonby drew rents from estates in Lower Eskdale, and the Monasteries of Melrose and Kelso were enriched by revenues drawn from the Shire, the former having extensive property in Dunscore and Upper Eskdale, and the latter lands in other districts, which were tilled by bondsmen belonging to the 134 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. brethren. From the rental of these ecclesiastical farmers we may form a pretty accurate idea of the land-rent paid at a time when acres were relatively more plentiful than gold pieces. During the thirteenth century, the monks of Kelso gave to Adam de Culenhat a lease of the tithes of the parish of Closeburn, for the yearly rent of fifty-three merks and a half; the tenant, however, being obliged, in addition to this money payment, to supply the Abbot, on his visits to the parish, with fuel, litter, hay, and grass. In the beginning of the fourteenth century, the same body of monks had forty acres of land, with a brew-house and other appendages, in Closeburn, which rented for two merks yearly; and about the same time they had for tenant of their whole lands in the Parish of Dumfries one Henry Whitewell, a burgess of the town, who paid them twelve shillings sterling annually for the same.* The monks, in some instances, as has been stated, rented their lands to freemen; "and they had thereby," says Chalmers, " the honour of beginning the modern policy of a free tenantry in Dumfriesshire;" but the great body of cultivators were bondmen attached to the glebe. The free tenants frequently enjoyed long leases, by which they were encouraged to apply greater skill and labour on their farms. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the land divisions of the Shire were the same as in England, giving rise to the carrucate, the bovate, the husbandland, and the acre. In the charters of Robert I. and David II. we read of pound-lands, merk-lands, shilling- lands, penny-lands, halfpenny-lands, and farthing-lands, from which valuations many farms derived names that some of them still retain. The author whom we have repeatedly quoted, and been guided by in this inquiry, sums up his account of ancient agriculture in the Shire, by saying, "The barons, the monks, and the tenants had inclosed fields; they had hay; they had mills of every sort; they had brew-houses; they had fish-ponds; • The value and the denomination of money, down till the reign of Robert I. , continued the same in Scotland and England ; and the Scottish money was not much depreciated for a century or more afterwards. The silver merk was value 13s. 4d. — Tytleb's Scotland, vol. ii., p. 325. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 135 they had the usual appendage of orchyards* from the prior Britons; they had salt-works on the Solway;-)" and they had ■wheel-carriages, with artificial roads: all during the early part of the thirteenth century." Throughout the entire Scoto-Saxon period, till the doleful succession war began, in 1296, the people of Dumfriesshire con- tinued to improve in all that could make them more aiSuent, civilized, and comfortable. That war not only stopped further progress, but made everything retrograde ; and the family feuds which followed ruined much that the foreign enemy had spared — each of these adverse influences operating for ages. It need scarcely be remarked, that the manners of the people were rendered ruder by the perpetual collisions of battle and the broils of faction; and that the refinement that was beginning to spring up suffered a sad blight when the atmosphere of the district breathed constantly of war. While the inhabitants were involved in all the national quarrels with England, and generally had to bear the first brunt of the fray, their proximity to "The Debatable Land" of the Border, and the turbulent ambition of their local magnates, kept them in a chronic state of warfare, even when a truce existed between the kingdoms. Other counties of Scotland enjoyed at times lengthened periods of repose; but Dumfriesshire, for several reigns prior to that of James I., had only brief, fitful seasons of rest. How, under such circumstances, could the tillage of the soil, the * The Britons along the Annan, the Nith, and the Clyde delighted in apple trees; while they loved the cider, as we know from the elegant writer of the " AveUenau." We may learn, indeed, from the names of places, how early they had orchards in Annandale, The hamlet and church of Applegarth, signifying " an orchard," had its name, in the twelfth century, from an orchard. A few miles above this, a farm has long been called Orchyard. Appletreethwaite, signifying "a small inclosure of apple trees," Appledene, or Applevale, and Appletree, are all mentioned in charters of Robert I. There were in former times several orchards at Dumfries. The monks of Holywood had a fine orchard at that monastery. There was also an orchard at the Priory of Canonby. — Caledonia, Note on p. 122, vol. iii. + There were salt-works at various places on the shores of the Solway at this period. The monks of Melrose had one at Renpatrick, or Redkirk, which they let in 1294 to the monks of Hobn-cultram, who had several of their own on the Galloway side of the Solway. In the parish of RuthweU there were many salt-works; and there was one in Carlaverock parish at a place which obtained, on that account, the name of Saltcot-knowes. — Inquisit. Special, p. 16. 136 HISTORY OF DUMFEIES. operations of trade and commerce, and the arts, which civilize and refine, get a fair chance of success 1 Here, as in other parts of the kingdom, a considerable foreign trade existed in the prosperous and peaceful reigns of Malcolm Canmore and Alexander III.; but little traces of it remained, and it must have been, in fact, all but annihilated, till Bruce ascended the throne, about which time many adventurous Flemish merchants settled in the countrj^, and gave a powerful stimulus to its commerce, which the wasting wars that succeeded seriously weakened, but did not altogether destroy. Whatever aspect the Vale of Nith may have presented in the Arcadian times of Alexander III., much of it must have worn a bleak and wasted look, only partially relieved by large stretches of luxuriant woodland verdure, and patches of yeUow grain, during the succession war, and for at least a century afterwards. In 1300, the neighbouring province of GaUoway grew vast breadths of wheat, that sufficed to sustain the EngUsh army of invasion, as well as the native inhabitants; but very little wheat was sown in Nithsdale or Annandale at that unsettled period. The cereals chiefly cultivated were oats and bere, or barley — the latter for furnishing the national beverage, ale; but often before the peasantry could make meal of the one crop and malt of the other, both were burned up — "the reaper whose name is Death" being sure of a rich harvest on such occasions. Edward I., however, usually interdicted, for his own sake, such acts of in- cendiarism; and there is an instance on record in which he gave compensation for loss of grain caused by his troops. A cavalry regiment, in returning from Galloway, on the 31st of August, 1300, having destroyed eighty acres of oats, the King compensated their owner, William de Carlyle, by a present of two hogsheads of wine,* value about £3 sterling. To the oaten diet of the com- mon people was, however, added a goodly proportion of animal food: in this latter respect, the humbler classes of Dumfriesians being better supplied, perliaps, than their descendants of the present day. It was more easy then to breed cattle and sheep profitably than to grow corn, as, on the approach of an enemy, the herds and flocks could bo driven off to the woods for safety, * Tho W.ai'ilrobe Accounts, p, 126. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 137 or penned within the lower story of a baronial keep. Fish, too, were plentiful in the rivers that ran into the Solway: the red deer which roamed the neighbouring forests furnished venison without stint for the tables of the rich; and not seldom, through favour or by stealth, that dainty article of diet found its way to the cottages of the poor. Altogether, in spite of the chronic infliction of war, the phrase of "the good old times" is, we think, not altogether inapplicable to the mediseval period in Nithsdale and Annandale. This opinion is strengthened by what is known as to the low market value of food. The wardrobe accounts of Edward I. show the current rates of cattle and produce in Dumfriesshire and Galloway at the period of his visits (1300-1308). An ox of large size could be purchased for 6s. 6d.; a fat hog for 2s. 2d. to 3s. 9d.; a quarter of wheat for 7s.; a quarter of barley for 4s. 4d.; a quarter of oats for 3s. 6d. These prices are relatively much lower, as compared with the value of labour, than prices in the present day. A labourer then could earn as much money in eight days as would buy a quarter of oats; but he would have to give now more than his wages for three weeks, in exchange for the same quantity of grain. Liquors were equally cheap — ale selling at 12s. to 18s. a butt (108 gallons) ; good wine, £1 10s. per hogshead (54 gallons) ; while there was a commoner kind — having in it, we dare say, only a small modicum of grape- juice — that was retailed at less than a penny per gallon. All the houses in town or country, except those occupied by barons, were built of wood or clay, roofed with straw or heather. " Generally," says Tytler, " we connect the ideas of poverty, privation, and discomfort with a mansion constructed of such a material [as timber]; but the idea is a modern error. At this day (1829), the mansion which Bernadotte occupied as his palace when he was crowned at Drontheim— a building of noble pro- portions, and containing very splendid apartments — is wholly built of wood, like all the houses in Norway; and, from the opulence of the Scottish burghers and merchants during the reigns of Alexander III. and David II., there seems good reason to believe that their mansions were not destitute either of the comforts, or what were then termed the elegancies of life."* * History of Scotland, vol. ii., p. 391. R 138 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. For ages afterwards, this perishable material continued to be put to the same use. Streets so formed could easily be destroyed by an enemy; but, then, they could be restored at a much less expenditure of time and labour than if stone had been em- ployed. The Dumfries of Bruce's day was a town of timber. The freestone quarries at Castledykes and Locharbriggs had been partially drawn upon, but only for building the Castle, the bridge, and the few ecclesiastical structures of which the Burgh could boast; and stone tenements for any but the middle and upper classes were rare within it till the reign of James III. About that time houses began to be erected with the ground story of stone, and a projecting upper one of wood — a style which continued long in favour with the burgesses. The Border strengths were of three classes: the large, massive fortresses of Carlaverock and Lochmaben occupying the first rank; the smaller, but still powerful. Castles of Dumfries, Mor- ton, Lochwood, Torthorwald,* Sanquhar, Durisdeer, Dalswinton, Tibbers, Closeburn, and Buittle being included in the second rank; a numerous array of keeps or fortalices forming the third, of which Amisfield and Comlongan may be deemed fair repre- sentatives. Even the humblest of these strongholds had walls varying in thickness from seven to twelve feet. Lime made of burnt shells, slightly intermixed with sand, was generally used in their erection ; and the fluid mortar, poured in hot among loose pebbles, placed between the outer and inner blocks, bound all together so as to make a wall of adamantine strength."!" The fortlets of the commoner class consisted of a * Tortliorwald is placed in the second rank, not because of its size, for that was small, but on account of its strength and accessory defences, in ■which respects it was not excelled by some of the first class fortresses. " The building," says Grose (vol. i., p. 149), " seems to have consisted solely of a tower or keep of a quadrilateral figure, 51 feet by 28, the largest sides facing the east and west. The walls were of an enormous thickness ; the ceUing vaulted. In the north- cast angle was a circular staircase. It is supposed to have been last repaired about 1 6.30 ; a stone taken from it, and fixed vip against the out-ofiices of the manse, having that date cut upon it. An ancient man now (1789) living at Lochmaben remembers the roof of this building on it. " The castle was anciently surrounded by a double ditch. The appearance of the ruin at present differs little from the picture of it given by Grose, the lapse of seventy-eight years having made scarcely any imi>ression upiiu it. + The walls of Lochmabcu Castle, as shown by its crumbling ruins, must have been from ten to twelve feet thick, and built witli ruu shell-lime. The HISTOEY OF DUMFRIES. 139 square tower, with subterranean vaults for stores and prisoners ; a ground floor for a guard-room; an upper story, where the family resided ; the whole surmounted by battlements, within which warlike operations were mainly carried on in a time of siege. A series of similar towers, with surrounding walls, moat, and ditch, went to make up a leading baronial castle. No- where in Scotland was there a more perfect specimen of castel- lated architecture to be seen, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, than that of the Maxwells, with its triangular, shield- like shape — its narrow curtained front — its gateways protected by a portcuUis — its immense machicolated towers on each angle — its deep fosse; the Solway sweeping past, at no great distance, on one side — the impenetrable swamps of Lochar helping to protect it on the other. place where it was prepared is stUl known as Limekilns. Both the outside and inside courses were of polished freestone, evidently brought from Corncockle Quarry, regularly squared. — Graham's Lockmahen, p. 73. The Castle of Sanquhar was surrounded by a double fosse. The walls are of great thickness; and masses of them have fallen from the top without being separated into pieces. This shows the immense strength of the mason work. — Dk. Simpson's History of Sanquhar, p. 23. CHAPTER XIII, THE CHARTERS OF THE BURGH — COPY OF THE CHARTER GRANTED BY ROBERT III. — OBSERVATIONS REGARDING IT — THE RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES CONFERRED BY IT AND PRECEDING CHARTERS — RISE OF THE TRADE CORPORATIONS — MANNER OF THEIR ERECTION — ST. MICHAEL CONSTITUTED PATRON OF THE TOWN — THE BURGH ARMS AND MOTTO — PLACE OF WARLIKE RENDEZVOUS ON THE LORDBURN — THE TOWN WALL — THE VARIOUS MODES OF DEFENCE ADOPTED. The original charters granted by William the Lion to the Burgh have been lost sight of for centuries, and not even a copy of any of them has been preserved. In the subjoined memoranda a list is given of the principal writs belonging to Dumfries in 1633. It is dated on the 8th May of that year. "The said day thair is taking from out of the Towns's box the perticular wryts under wrytting to be sent to Edinburgh, viz.: — Ane charter of the Friar's lands, and annual rents granted be King James to the town, daited the fourt January, 1591. Item: excerpt of sesine relating to the above, 2nd February, 1591. Item: extract of the town's original charter of this Burghe grantit be King Robert, 28th Apryll, 1395. Item: a Commis- sion for balding of tua fairs, 30 Nov., 1592. Item: the original charter of the Brig Custome grantit be James, Erie of Dowglas, to the Freirs Minories of Dumfries, 4 January, l-i52. Item: ane charter of the said custome, and of lands therein, grantit be King James to John Johnstoun in College of Lynclowden, datit 8th July, 1591." We subjoin the text of King Robert's charter: — " Robertus, Dei gratia Rex Scotorum, omnibus probis hominibus totiiis terras sure clericis et laicis, sal litem: — Soiatis quia assedavimus at ad firmam dimiasimua Prreposito, Ballivis, Burgensibus, et Commitati Burgi nostri do Druinfreiss dictum Burgum nostrum eis et eorum Huccessoribus ile nobis et lireredibus nostris, in feodo et hereditate in porpotuum tenons et habens cum omnibus et singulis libertatibus cnnimoditatibiis asiamcntis et jnstis pertinenciis suis quibuscunqne ad HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 141 dictum burgnm spectantibus, seu juste spectare valentibus quoque modo in futurum, cum primis nostris at anuis dicti Burgi, cum suis custumis et tolloniis cum curiis et curiarum exitibus ac terris Dorainicis ejusdem Burgi, cxim molendinis multuris et suis sequelis; una cum piscariis aquse de Nith ad nos pertinentibus (piscarise tamen datiB et concessse per predeoessores nostros reges Frateribus Minoribus ejusdem loci Divini caritatis intuitu duntaxat exceptse) ac cum omnibus aliis privilegiis tarn citra Burgum quam infra quibuscunque quo iisdem Burgenses nostri et Communitatas temporibus nostris et antecessorum nostrorum reges Scotise aliquo tempore hac tenus habuerunt et possederunt adeo libere et quiete plenarie integre et honorifice bene et in pace sicut aliquis Burgus infra regnum nostrum Scotise libere et quiete de nobis tenetur seu possidetur per omnes cectas melas suas antiquas et devisas suas ; Solvendo inde nobis et heredibus nostris, dicti Prepositus, Ballivi, Burgenses, et Communitas qui pro tempore, fuerint ac eorum siiccessores annuatim pro perpetuo in cameram nostrum viginti libras usualis moneta; regni nostvi, ad Festa Pentecostes et Sancti Martini in hieme proportiones equales. In cujus rei testimonium presenti cartse nostrse sigillum nostrum precepimus appari; testibus Veneralibus in Cbristo, Patribus Waltero et Matheo, Sancti Andreo et Glasguse Ecclesiarum Episcopis; Comite de Fyffe et de Menteith; fratri uno cbarissimo, Archibaldo, Comite de Dowglass, Domino Galwidise; Jacobo de Dowglass, Domiao de Dal- keith, Thoma de Erskyn, consanguineis nostris dUectis militibus; et Alexandre de Cookburne, de Langtown, custode magni nostri Sigilli. Apud Glasgow, vicessimo octavo die Aprilis, anno gratife millesimo ccc. Donagesimo quinto, et regni nostri anno sexto." [translation.] " Robert, by the grace of God King of Scots, unto all trusty men of his whole realm, clergy and laity, greeting: — "Know ye that we have granted to the Provost, Bailies, Burgesses, and Community of our Burgh of Dumfries our said Burgh, to be held by them and their successors, of us and our heirs, in feudal inheritance for ever. With all and every the liberties and privileges, the immunities and just pertinents whatsoever, appertaining to the said Burgh, or which may afterwards in any way rightly belong to it. Together with our feus and rents in the said Burgh, with their customs, tolls, courts and court revenues, markets and roads thereof, and our Lord's lands in the same Burgh. As also the thirlages, multures. 142 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. and their pertinents. Together with the fishings in the Water of Nith belonging to us, excepting only the fishing granted by our royal predecessors out of Divine charity [or love] to the Minorite Brothers of the same place, and with all other privi- leges both without and within the said Burgh wTiich our said Burgesses and Communities have at any time formerly held or possessed in our reign or that of our royal ancestors in Scotland; and that as freely, equally, fully, wholly, and favourably, in peace and comfort, as any burgh within our realm of Scotland is held or possessed from us freely and peaceably in all its old and righteous boundaries and adhesions. Upon condition that the said Provost, Bailies, Burgesses, and Community at present, and their successors for ever, shall pay into our exchequer twenty pounds current coin of our realm yearly, in equal shares, at Whitsunday and Martinmas. " In testimony whereof, we have caused our seal to be affixed to this charter before these witnesses: — The Venerable Father in Christ, Walter, Bishop of St. Andrews; Mathew, Bishop of Glasgow; Robert, Earl of Fife and Menteith; our most beloved brother, Archibald, Earl of Douglas, Lord of Galloway; James de Douglas, Lord Dalkeith, Thomas de Erskyn, our trusty cousins and knights ; and Alexander de Cockburn, of Langtown, Keeper of our Great Seal. At Glasgow, the twenty-eighth day of April, year of grace one thousand three hundred and ninety-five years, and the sixth year of our reign." A grant more comprehensive than is here conveyed can scarcely be imagined. In the first instance, the Burghal authorities get a present of the Burgh itself It once belonged to the King — was as much his own property as any other portion of the royal dominions — but now he surrenders it to its magistrates and the community whom they represent, giving along with it the revenue derivable from its land and trade, its multures and fishings; the only condition attached to the munificent grant by the roj'al donor being that its recipients shall pay him a small nominal sum per annum. Not only so : " all other privileges without and within the Burgh," provioiisly conferred upon it, are ratified by this charter. Tliose words have an extensive meaning, including, HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 143 among other things, the fundamental right of the Royal Burgh, as such, to monopolize all trade, foreign and domestic, within its jurisdiction. And as the charter does not specify in detail all the exclusive privileges given to the community, neither does it enumerate all the valuable equivalents exacted by the King. It says nothing of the liability of the burgesses to be called upon to serve in the royal host like other military tenants of the Crown — of their being obliged to maintain an effective police — • of their being subject to direct taxation on special occasions — and of their having always to pay into the State exchequer the " great custom," an impost levied by means of his Majesty's own mistomarii on all staple commodities of foreign trade. Yet we know, from other documents, that such conditions were imposed on the towns that were royally chartered; so that the privileges conferred by Eobert III. on Dumfries were paid for at a much higher rate than £20 a year. It is right to remark, however, that the Burgh could not be taxed for Government purposes till after it came to be represented in Parliament, which would be many years prior to 1395 — the claim of all the King's Burghs, to form a distinct estate in the senate of the nation, having been recognized in the days of Bruce. While the Great Chamberlain received the customs on foreign trade, for behoof of the Crown, he left what were called the "petty customs" unmeddled with: these, imposed upon articles of domestic consumption, were collected by the Burgh Cham- berlain, and, with ground-rents, fishing-rents, market dues, and court fines (" exitus curiae"), made up the municipal income, as specified in the charter. At an earlier period, as we have seen, the rulers of Royal Burghs were elected by the inhabitants at large : biit, long before the days of Robert III., the suffrage was restricted to owners of property; and doubtless the Provost and Bailies spoken of in the charter granted by him to Dumfries, were chosen by the wealthier class of burgesses — acting, however, in the name of the general community. Within the course of another century, even this quahfied form of popular election was taken away, by a statute of James III.,* which, on the plea of silencing the clamour of 6ommon simple persons at the * Acts of the Scottish Parliament, 1469, vol. ii, , p. 95. 144 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. yearly choosing of new officers, provided " that the aulde Coun- sail of the toune sail cheise the new Counsail, in sic nowmyr as accordis to the toune ; and the new Counsail, and the auld of the yeir before, sail cheise all officiaris pertenying to the toune. . . . And that ilka craft sail cheise a persone of the samyn craft, that sail have voce in the said electioune of the officiaris for that tynae; in like wise yeir be yeir." The Dumfries charter of 1395 recognizes the existence of privileges conferred on the Burgh by preceding sovereigns. Some of these would probably include nearly all the rights and immunities specified in that document. Indeed, the charter of erection, by which William I. raised it from humble village- dom to be one of the King's own burghs, must necessarily have conferred upon it rights so extensive as to render future charters rather confirmative of old grants than donative of new privileges. No reference is made in King Robert's charter to any distinction between merchants and craftsmen, because as yet the artizans had not acquired a political position in the realm. In some places they were beginning to form guilds, which incipient organizations provoked the jealous opposition of the merchants, who did not relish the idea of having their exclusive rule in the burghs endangered by a rival class. The smiths, the tailors, the tanners, and the cordwainers of Dumfries would probably be longing, like their brethren elsewhere, to obtain a share of royal favour and of municipal privilege: but as yet they were few in number, disunited, without a head, without a seat at the Council Board; and the "blue blanket" — grand banner of the incorporated trades — had not even been seen in vision by the artizans of the Burgh. But when, in course of years, the tradesmen came to be numbered by hun- dreds instead of tens, and each craft was systematically organ- ized under its own deacon, no power in the realm could long keep them unrepresented in the local parliament. Conscious of their own strength, they then determined that their officers, besides looking after the apprentices, and seeing that all fabrics operated upon wore of good stuff, should try their hand at burgh-craft, and not allow the venders of their wai-es, and the holders of the soil, to do everything according to their own will and pleasure. The deacons occupied their position in HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 145 virtue of an Act passed in 1424, which authorized them to " assay and govern all werkis made be the wurkmen, sud tliat the Kingis lieges be nocht defrauded and scathyt in tyme to cum, as thai have bene in tyme bygane, through untreu men of craftis."* They wished to get justice done to their own body, not less than to the general community; and, for some- what rudely seeking to bring about that result, they were looked upon as unsafe demagogues by the Crown. An Act of Parliament set them up; but a second Act, passed two years afterwards, to put them down, failed of its object.f The Trades were too powerful for the mercantile interest — could even some- times overawe the King: their deacons, therefore, continued in office, waxing stronger and bolder, till eventually, in Dumfries, as in the other Royal Burghs, they took their place at the Council Board, along with the merchants, as rulers of the town. At first only the principal trades acquired a right of incorporation, including self-government. This privilege was conferred upon them by the Town Council granting what were termed "Sigillum ad Causas," letters under the Burgh Seal, which protected the recipients from all rivalry, prescribed the mode of admitting members, of electing office-bearers, and of enacting bye-laws.| At one time there were at least eleven different crafts incorporated in Dumfries, namely: the smiths, the Wrights, and masons, the websters, the tailors, the shoe- makers or cordwainers, the skinners, and gauntlers or glovers, the fleshers, the lorimers or armourers, the pewterers or tinsmiths, the bonnetmakers, and the litsters or dyers; the latter four of which became defunct, or were absorbed by some of the other trades. These acquired a rnonopoly within the Burgh, not in virtue of any charter, but solely, as we have said, by the Burgh's own Seals of Cause. Probably, however, when the Trades, while stiU maintaining their individuaUty, joined in one aggregate corporation, which they did before the end of the sixteenth century, they obtained the requisite authority from the Crown • — no longer jealous of its loyal, though independent, craftsmen. § * Acts of Scottish Parliament, vol. ii., p. 8. t Ibid, vol. ii., p. 14. $ Eoyal Commissioners' Report on Municipal Corporations, p. 79. § As illustrative of the text, we quote the following curious extract from the Records of the Convention of Royal Burghs (p. 31), Stirling, 20th October, S 146 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES, In accordance with a practice that sprang up at an early period of the middle ages, Dumfries was placed under the guardianship of a spiritual patron. No saint of the Romish calendar was fixed upon for this purpose: soaring ambitiously above all canonized mortals, the rulers of the Burgh selected as their special protector the chief of the heavenly hierarchy. Till this day, the figure of St. Michael remains the heraldic symbol of the Burgh, and is to be seen on its official seal, and carved in low relief on the Provost's chair; also, in a bolder form, on the south front of the Mid Steeple, with wings out- spread, armed with a pastoral staff, treading on a writhing serpent, yet calmly surveying his tutelary charge, as if the overthrow of the foul fiend below his feet were but an ordinary affair.* The proper arms of the town were a chevron and three fleurs de lis on a shield argent, which device was visible eighty years ago above the gate of the old prison, that stood nearly opposite the Mid Steeple ; and the stone bearing it was said to have been taken from a preceding jail, that was built as far back as the beginning of the fifteenth century, t This escutcheon has been long out of use, Michael the archangel doing duty in its stead. At a very early date, as we have seen, the name of the patron saint was given to the Parish Church. The armorial shield above noticed bore the word "Aloreburn;" and the motto is engraved on the ivory head of an ebon staff put into the 1574: — "John Douglas, alledgit Provost of Haddingtoun, being ane cordinar [shoemaker] of his occupatioun, presented ane comissioun ; . . . but the saidis comissionaria all in one voice fyndis and delyveris that na craftisman has ever had, nolder aucht or suld haif, voit or comissioun amaagis thame;" and they ordered the said John Doiiglas to withdraw, and admitted "John Seyttoun bailie thereof" in his stead. * Though the patron of Dumfries is not exclusively a Eomish saint, he has always been held in the highest reverence by the Church of Rome. He is described as follows, in a document of our own day, by the Cardinal Vicar of the Pope: — " The Invincible St. Michael, Archangel, the Captain of the Celestial Phalanxes, the first Support of Divine Justice, the glorious Conqueror of the earliest revolt —that of the rebel angels — the Defender of the Church of God under the Old and tlic New Testament dispensations, the Patron of privileged souls at the tribunal of the inexorable Judge of the living and the dead — he, moreover, who is destined to confound and enchain Lucifer, in the consummation of the ages, for the eternal triumph of Jesus Christ, of his immaculate mother Mary, and his immortal Church." t Biirnside's MS. History. HISTORY OF DUMFEIES. 147 Provost's hand at the time of his election. A memorable term it is, full of high significance, suggestive of forays and broils, of invasions and sieges. Often, from the reign of Robert III. till the Rebellion of 1715 — a period of three hundred years — did this ominous word, shouted from street to street, shake the echoes of the town, calling all its male lieges, between the ages of sixteen and sixty, to arms; their familiar place of meeting being the margin of a sluggish little stream west of St. Christopher's Chapel, anciently named the Lordburn — a term which, when slightly altered, furnished a slogan to the Burgh.* Much of the ground which lay between this rivulet and the Castle was as swampy as if it had been a continuation of Lochar Moss. This marsh, especially in rainy weather, would be felt as an unpleasant neighbour by the inhabitants; but, unhealthy as it was, it helped to guard the Castle, especially at a time when the Burgh had no miural defences. Early in the fourteenth century, however, a wall was built around it, which afforded more security than the swamps, mosses, and trenches which had been pre- viously relied upon. Stone was chiefly employed in its erection, the height being generally eight feet. As, however, that was a scarce material in mediaeval times, it was, when the nature of the ground allowed, dispensed with, and a deep ditch, having an earthen bank on its townward side, formed an excellent link in the defences; while, at other intervals, both wall and ditch gave place to horizontal piles of wood, formed in breastwork fashion, between the natural loopholes of which the townspeople could securely reconnoitre the enemy, and salute him with their feathered shafts, their cross-bow bolts, or the culverin balls of a later period. The wall, starting from the Moat overlooking the Nith near the Castle, stretched almost in a straight line to St. * We have repeatedly met with the word Lordburu, as applied to the little brook in question, in old records. Mr. Bennet, in hia History {Dumfries Magazine, vol. iii., p. 11), takes a different view of the origin of the term. " The place of rendezvous was appointed," he says, "near a low, swampy piece of ground to the eastward, where, in rainy weather, a considerable quantity of water is. collected, which discharges itself into the Nith by two small rivulets or rather ditches, the one running northward, the other towards the south. These two rivulets, which, connected as they are by their common source form to appearance only one, are known by the name of Lowerburu, or rather according to the popular elision which they have undergone, Lorburn." 148 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Christopher's Chapel, forming an acute angle on the townward side of that building; it then took an oval sweep, coming round the nort*h side of the Parish Church, and terminating at the river, a little to the south of what is now called Swan's Vennel. Three huge gates strengthened the wall, and allowed communi- cation with the country lying north and east: one, called the North Port, stood near the Moat; the second, called the East Port, adjoined the Chapel; and the third, called the South Port, rose near the Church. The bridge was also fortified by means of a port; and in course of time a series of inner ports — the Vennel Port, the Lochmaben Gate, and the Southern Gate — were added to the defences of the town. Lochar Moss, which is now felt to be a noxious blot on the face of the County, was then of profitable service to Dumfries. Stretching from the shores of the Solway to the base of Tinwald Hills, it formed a natural protection which no force or artifice of an enemy could neutralize or overcome. Then it was more marshy, as well as more extensive, than it is at the present day; and woe to the rash marauders who, for the purpose of avoiding the forts which defended the more accessible way to Dumfries, tried to cross its treacherous expanse. It was rarely, indeed, that invaders from the south made such a hazardous attempt; the road usually taken by them being an indirect one round the western extremity of Tinwald Hills, which was indifferently guarded by the Towers of Torthorwald and Amis- field, or a more direct, but dangerous one, that lay between the Castles of Carlaverock and Comlongan, and between the western fringe of the morass and the Solway. By means of this vast wilderness of peat, intersected by bogs and ditches innumerable, and fringed by an array of strongholds, beginning at the shore seven miles south of Dumfries, and ending at Dalswinton, five miles to the north-west, a regular line of defence retarded, though it too often failed to repel, the English visitors to Nithsdale, on foraying or fighting bent, and quite prepared to engage in both. When an invading force, though signalled by blazing bale- fires, challenged by angry garrisons, and, it may be, confronted by opposing bands, succeeded in reaching the gates of Dumfries, and evinced an unmistakable desire to get inside, the wall HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 149 would stand inconveniently in their way. When the mural impediment was at length breached or scaled — a degradation to which it was often doomed — and the assailants had fairly entered the town, its defenders had other resources left, which they were in the habit of exhausting before they yielded to the enemy. They could, and often did, resist the advance of the intruders, by disputing with them every inch of ground; but their common practice was to retire into certain strong peels, or fortified town houses, belonging to the neighbouring gentry, where their wives and children, goods and gear, had been previ- ously placed, and there remain, whilst the enemy, perhaps, was employed in appropriating movables that lay unprotected else- where, or in setting the defenceless parts of the Burgh in a blaze. Besides these peel-houses, smaU and great, some of which rose into existence at a very early period, many of the more private houses were turned into places of defence in times of need; and some of the closes connected with the High Street were furnished with iron gates, and turrets overhead, capable of giving a stout resistance to the foe. One side of a gate of this description was visible at the head of Assembly Street so recently as 1826; and, only a few years before, a part of the superincumbent arch was also standing. In prosecuting this domestic warfare, if it may be so termed, the females of the period are said to have exhibited Amazonian strength and courage, so that they not unfrequently rivalled the actions of their parents, husbands, or lovers;* and, if we are to place fuU reliance on what is said respecting their achievements, the glowing picture given of the heroine of Saragossa will correctly represent the warhke damsels of Dumfries vi'hen defending their household shrines : — "Her lover sinks — she sheds no ill-timed tear; Her chief is slain — she fills his fatal post; Her fellows flee — she checks their base career; The foe retiiea — she heads the sallying host."+ * Their females caught the warlike spirit of the country, and appear often to have mingled in battle. Hollinshed records that, at the conflict fought near Naworth (1570) between Leonard Dacres and Lord Nunsdeu, the former had in his company many desperate women who there gave the adventure of their lives, and fought right stoutly. — Border Antiquities, p. 81. t Byron's Childe Harold. 150 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. To this mode of defence the narrowness of the streets and the numerous high houses gave peculiar facility. With brands of fire, boiling water, stones, and other weapons of promiscuous warfare, showered from doors, windows, and gate-surmounting turrets on the heads of the invaders, they were often compelled to decamp altogether, or commence operations at some more vulnerable portions of the Burgh. A picture is extant, which professes to represent Dumfries as it appeared a century or so after the date to which the preceding remarks chiefly refer. The town wall has the range already assigned to it; the Castle at the head of the Burgh, St. Michael's Church at the foot, and " Christy's" Chapel at the east, forming an angle with them, are the only objects that have a prominent bulk — no tall spire having as yet risen patrician-like above the other buildings. The Castle looks large and massive — quite a Titan, as compared with the wooden fortalice of Celtic times : a series of battlemented turrets, extending to the verge of the river, is crowned by a tall square tower looking down High Street — the whole built in the Norman style, and suggestive of colossal strength. St. Michael's Cliurch is seen occupying a site a little eastward of the present building, the only imposing feature about it being a square turret above the main entrance; the Chapel, with its painted buttresses, fine east window, two side windows, and stepped gables, presenting a more ornate appearance.* * We have heard it vaguely reported, that the original paintiug was sold at Drumlanrig Castle about fifty years ago. A sketch of it from memory, as supphed by the late Mr. John M 'Cormiok, Dumfries, an intelligent and enthu- siastic local antiquarian, has been lithographed. CHAPTER XIV. GROWTH OF THE DOCTGLASSES IN THE DISTRICT — ARCHIBALD THE GRIM — WILLIAM THE BLACK, FIRST LORD OF NITHSDALE — HIS ASSASSINATION AT DANTZIC — MORE ENGLISH RAIDS INTO DUMFRIESSHIRE — DUMFRIES AGAIN PLUNDERED AND BURNT — ARCHIBALD TYNEMAN : HIS WIDOW MARGARET BURIED IN LINCLUDEN COLLEGE — ARROGAKCE AND ASSUMPTIONS OF WILLIAM, SIXTH EARL OF DOUGLAS — HE AND HIS BROTHER DAVID ENTICED TO EDINBURGH, AND PUT TO DEATH — WILLIAM, THE EIGHTH EARL, ENDEAYOUBS, BY PLAYING THE COURTIER, TO OBTAIN THE CHIEF DIRECTION OF AFFAIRS — DUMFRIES AGAIN LAID IN ASHES — HOUSE BUILD- ING IN THE EURCH — THE EARL, AS WARDEN OF THE MARCHES, CONVENES A MEETING OP - HIS BROTHER NOBLES AT LINCLUDEN, AND WITH THEIR AID FORMS A CODE FOB THE REGULATION OF THE BOEDER WARFARE. At this period the Douglasses begin so to occupy the canvas that Nithsdale and Galloway are scarcely seen except associated with some of them. Archibald (younger brother of Brace's companion-in-arms, the good Sir James Douglas) acquired the lordship of Galloway, as a marriage dowry, with the daughter of John Comyn. When slain at Halidon Hill, as has been already stated, he left two sons — William, who succeeded his uncle Hugh as Earl of Douglas, and Archibald, surnamed the Grim, who became Lord of Galloway. William was succeeded in the earldom by his son James, the hero of Otterburn; and the latter, at his death, was heired by the Galloway chief, who in this manner effected a junction between the two branches of the family. In 1369, David II. granted to Sir Archibald Douglas that part of Galloway which lies between the Nith and the Cree. Two years afterwards the ambitious Earl, by an enforced purchase, acquired from Thomas Fleming, Lord of Wigtown, all the rest of Galloway. Alan de Dunfres, the hereditary ruler of that province, was called by Buchanan " Scotorum longe poten- tisgimus;" and now, after the lapse of a hundred and forty years, the same expression might have been truly applied to Alan's successor. Archibald Douglas, the Grim, became the 152 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. most powerful subject in Scotland: having a giant's strength, he used it like a giant — the huge Castle of Thrieve, rebuilt by him on an island in the Dee, being the chief seat of his power, and the centre of a grinding despotism that stretched over the whole district. Yet he partly made up for his cnielty and rapacity at home by his valour in the field. On the termination of the truce which followed Lord Talbot's defeat, the Lord of Galloway, with other nobles, laid siege to Lochmaben Castle. It surrendered to them on the 4th of February, 1384; the English thus losing the solitary relic in Dumfriesshire of all their sanguinary conquests. When, some time afterwards, Richard, King of England, penetrated to Edinburgh, with the view of foreclosing a threatened attack upon himself, and was so galled by guerrilla bands that he had to hurry home again, Archibald the Grim, at the head of one of them, entered England by the Esk before Richard had time to return, devastated the country as far as Newcastle, demolishing in his route the formidable Border fortresses of Wark, Ford, and CornhiU. William, surnamed the Black Douglas, a natural son of this mighty autocrat, became first Lord of Nithsdale. His bodily strength is said to have been prodigious. According to Hume of Godscroft, a single blow from him was sufficient to prostrate any one, however stout and well accoutred. So fearless was he in the field, that the exploits attributed to him by reliable historians wear an aspect of romance. He was distinguished also for his wit, sagacity, and benevolence. This paragon knight was not less fortunate than good and brave. The Black Douglas obtained in marriage Egidia, King Robert's daughter, the fairest woman of her age; getting with her fair Nithsdale as a dowry, also the sheriffship of Dumfries, the wardenship of the Western Marches, the offices of justice and chamberlain, besides an annual pension of £300 sterling, paid from the customs of certain burghs — Dumfries among the rest. Another truce having been entered into between England and Scotland after Ottcrburn, William Douglas of Nithsdale, tired of inactivity, took farewell of the beautiful Egidia, and, joining tho Tcutcinic knights of Prussia, aided them in a t:ruHade against tlio pagan nati\'es of the country. Fortune HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 153 still smiled on the adventurous Dumfriesshire baron. Many victories, due chiefly to his valour, were munificently rewarded. He was made Admiral of the Prussian fleet, Duke of Prussia, and Prince of Dantzic. But his heart was in pleasant Niths- dale, with its fair lady, who waited long and wistfully for his return. He never saw her or home again. While Egidia was counting the hours that would intervene before his arrival, he — woefully unfortunate at the last — was lying stiff and goiy, basely murdered on the Bridge of Dantzic by a band of assassins in the pay of Lord Clifford, an Englishman with whom he had had a quarrel. The memory of the hero was long preserved in Prussia, by his family escutcheon being sculptured on a gateway near the spot where his blood was shed. A brother -in -arms of Douglas, Mareschal Boucicant, went repeatedly from France to Prussia for the purpose of avenging the assassination of his friend, but was told, in answer to his challenge, " that vengeance belonged only to the Scots."* The sorrowing widow of the Black Douglas did not long survive him. Their only child, inheriting her personal charms, came to be known as the Fair Maid of Nitbsdale. This lady was married to Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, a descendant of the Norman knight St. Clair, who followed David I. into Scotland. The fruit of their ufiion, William, acquired the lordship of Nithsdale and the sheriffship of Dumfries. Archibald the Grim, dying in 1400, was succeeded by his son Archibald, sumamed Tyneman, because he " tined," or lost, more battles (Homildon among the rest) than he gained. Peace prevailed till 1415, in which year Douglas and the Earl of March made a foray into Cumberland — Penrith suffering severely, as was usual on such occasions. On their return, a large English force retaliated by a raid across the Esk into Dumfriesshire. The capital of the County had for more than a generation been exempt from the penalties of war; but this year it was doomed to suffer from both fire and sword. It appears that no effort was made to stay the march of the invaders as they approached menacingly from the south; and soon the clear waters of the Nith reflected the gleams of a fire which raged * Note by Aikman in Buchanan's History of Scotland. T 154 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. in various parts of Dumfries, and attested the triumph of the enemy* Doubtless, the town would be plundered before the torch was resorted to; and, at all events, the unwelcome visitors returned unharmed to their own land, laden with booty. What Tyneman, Lord Mawxell, and other local chiefs were about all the time, is not explained by the historians of the period. The Earl of March, who had acquired the lordship of Annandale, having fallen into disfavour mth King David, it was taken from him, and conferred upon Archibald Tyneman, who thus experienced a share of good luck to make up for his failures in the field. The King also gave Douglas his daughter Margaret in marriage; and, in reward for some brilliant exploits performed by him with the Scottish Legion in France, he was created Duke of Touraine by Charles VII. — an honour he did not long enjoy, as he was slain a few years afterwards at the battle of Verneuil, in 1424. The superiority of Galloway then devolved upon his widow. In the following year she received from her brother, James I., a confirmation of the lordship; and, taking up her residence at Thrieve, dispensed her rule with such benignity and wisdom as made her highly popular throughout the province. On the death of this amiable lady — who was at once a princess, a countess, and a duchess — about 1440, her remains were brought from Thrieve to the College of Lincluden, and there interred in a magnificent tomb that had been built into the north wall of the choir, near the altar, when that part of the edifice was erected by Archibald the Grim. The recess formed to receive the body was canopied by a spacious, richly ornamented arch, having at its apex a heart — which became the leading symbol of the house of Douglas after Sir James Douglas was slain when carrying the heart of Bruce to the Holy Sepulchre — ^with three chalices, and a mullet or stiu' accompanyhig each. On the back wall of the recess the words "A I'aido de Dieu!" were cut, and further down was engi-aved the epitaph, "Hie jacet Dna. Margareta, Regis Scotias filia, quodam Comtissa de Douglas, Dna. Gallovida3 et Vallis Annandias" — "Hero lies Lady Mar- garet, daughter of tliu King of Scotland, Countess of Douglas, and Lady of Galloway and Annandale." Sculptured on the * Hume's House of Douglas, p. 134. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 155 front of the tomb were nine shields, two of them blank, one bearing a St. Andrew's cross, one with three stars — the original coat of the house — one having a heart added to these symbols, the others being emblazoned with the arms of the family as Lords of Galloway, Annandale, and Eskdale. Finally, over the stone cover of the recess was placed a full-length sculptured figure of Lady Margaret, recumbent, the head resting on two cushions. A truly magnificent tomb it was, worthy of its royal occupant; and, though now sadly defaced, it still forms the finest feature in the beautiful remains of the College.* When James II., a boy of less than seven years of age, ascended the throne, after the murder of his father in the Blackfriars' Monastery at Perth, the administration of affairs devolved on Sir Alexander Livingstone, as Regent, and Sir WilUam Crichton, as Chancellor — the latter a direct descendant of William de Crichton, who acquired half of the barony of Sanquhar, in the thirteenth century. These two ministers, instead of faithfully discharging the onerous duties assigned to them, began a protracted duel, each seeking to circumvent the other, till their respective factions brought the country to the verge of a civil war. There was one potentate who cared for neither Regent nor Chancellor — William, who had succeeded his father, Archibald Tyneman, as sixth Earl of Douglas and Lord of Galloway; and who, had he possessed as much patriotism as influence, might have saved his country from a host of evils. Scotland at this crisis needed a man like the Good Sir James Douglas: unhappily, his present successor had none of bis disinterested virtue, but, like the Grim Baron, his grandfather, was boundless in his arrogance and ambition. When Earl WiUiam rode out, his customary following was a thousand horse. His household was conducted with regal magnificence. He affected royalty in other respects — conferring knighthood, and doing many things which right or usage restricts to the sovereign. It was no rare incident for this puissant and * Pennant, who visited the ruins in 1772, states that the figure at that time was still to be seen, though mutilated ; and he adds, the bones of the deceased " were scattered about in an indecent manner, by some wretches who broke open the repository in search of treasure." 156 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. audacious nobleman to appear with a little army of mounted adherents before the gates of Edinburgh, as if for the purpose of letting the young King see that there was a power in the land that laughed at the sovereign's will, and looked with contempt on the representatives of royalty. And this was no empty display on the part of Douglas; it was full of significance: as he not only wished to look like a king, but strove to act as unlike a subject as possible. He did not convert his strong fortress on the Dee into a palace, nor style himself William, King of the Southern Scots; but he kept up princely state in Thrieve, and publicly proclaimed that no man within Douglas- dale, Galloway, Annandale, and his other Dumfriesshire estates, should pay any heed to the authority of the Government, but take law from himself alone. Though he held no office in Dumfries, the influence of his family was paramount in the town, and its burghers must have felt themselves placed in a bewildering predicament when this ukase appeared. Their loyalty looked to Edinburgh; their fears were operated upon by Thrieve. Crichton and Livingstone, finding at length that their feuds made them weak in presence of the mighty Douglas, became friends; and a plan to get rid of him was the first fruit of their reconciliation. " All the King's horses and all the King's men" would have been insufficient to effect their object. Fraud must be resorted to, since force would be of no avail. Accordingly, the Regent and Chancellor suddenly discovered that the Earl of Douglas was King James's best friend, and the chief prop of the monarchy. Wliy was such a mirror of patriotism and chivalry a stranger to the Court which he was so well fitted to adorn ? Let our good cousin, by all means, pay a visit to Edinburgh, that the King may have an opportunity of thanking him per- sonally for his public services, and of cultivating his friendship. Such glozing language told on the heart of Douglas. It flat- tered his vanity, fostered his self-esteem, set his fancy a-castle- building. Impetuous in all his thoughts amd movements, he in an unhappy hour resolved to accept the invitation sent to him in the name of the sovereign, and set out for Edinburgh, accompanied by his brother David and a few personal friends. He was courteously received by the Regent, and introduced to the HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 157 King, who soon formed a genuine attachment to his gallant and distinguished guest. A few days elapsed, and the infamous plans of Livingstone and Crichton were fully matured. Whilst the brothers were seated with them at a banquet, several ill-favoured men, in no festal guise, presented themselves. The arms which they bore were in perfect keeping with the murderous glances directed by them against the Douglasses. " Spare them! spare them!" cried the King, as the ruffians seized the Earl and his brother. The young monarch pleaded for their lives in vain; he even, Lindsay of Pitscottie tells us, "grat verie sore," without effect, when he saw his guests bound with cords and hurried out of the hall. Never had merry feast a more mournful interruption and sequel. The next minute the sullen sounds of the headsman's axe told all within hearing that the great, proud chief of the house of Douglas was lying a mangled corpse, alongside that of his brother. The youths, whatever might have been their faults, were lovely and affectionate towards each other; and " in death they were not divided." The rapaciousness and inordinate ambition of the unfortunate Earl were forgotten by the public, in contemplation of his fate; and the popular indignation was forcibly expressed by a contemporary minstrel in the dread imprecation : " Edinburgli Castle, town, and tower, God grant thou sink for sin ! And that even for the black dinner Earl Douglas gat therein." James, uncle of the murdered youths, succeeded to the earldom; many of the estates, however, in Nithsdale and Annan- dale^ passing to Beatrice, sister of the previous Earl, on account of their being unentailed. The new chief was a Douglas in name only. Of a heavy, corpulent body, he was surnamed the Gross: of an indolent turn of mind, he manifested no resent- ment towards the men who had treacherously put his nephews to death. His successor, William, a thorough Douglas, threat- ened them openly, and used all his power and artifice to effect their overthrow. In William were concentrated much of the talent and all the characteristic pride and ambition of his family. He began well 158 HISTORY OP DUMFRIES. — restoring it to its territorial opulence by marrying his cousin Beatrice. He did not, however, like the sixth Earl, aim at an independent sovereignty, but sought to obtain the chief direc- tion of affairs, whilst remaining nominally subject to the King. Into the twelve years during which he flourished as the chief magnate of the kingdom, many important incidents, associated with Dumfriesshire and the country at large, were crowded. His secret intrigues against, and public opposition to, the Regent and the Chancellor — his dexterous attempts to ingra- tiate himself with, and become the chief minister of. King James — and the league he formed with the Earl of Crawford and the Lord of the Isles, for the purpose of gaining supreme authority by force, when other means failed — are themes which occupy a prominent place in the histories of the period. The lawlessness which prevailed on the Scottish Border, in conse- quence of its chief ruler being absorbed by these ambitious projects — the misery thus entailed on the inhabitants — the wasting English incursions it provoked — and his energetic endeavours to remove these evils, and prevent their recurrence — are matters which must have made a deep impression at the time, and have exercised no inconsiderable influence on the condition of Dumfriesshire. We learn from Hume of Godscroft,* that immediately on the accession of William to the earldom, he convened the whole of his friends and retainers at Dumfries, choosing from among them " a number of councillors, besides officers for collecting his rents and casualties, and made such other arrangements as he deemed necessary for the administration of his affairs." It has been supposed, with good reason, that, besides these ostensible objects, the crafty chief secured from the meeting a concurrence in the aspiring political schemes which he had thus early already formed: at all events, the influence of himself and followers was, throughout his career, employed in the prosecution of these unpatriotic measures, more than in furthering the well-being of the district in which, for good or evil, the Douglasses exercised an unrestricted sway for nearly a hundred and fifty years. Whilst Earl William was away in the north, playing out his perilous game of chess in real life for the possession of the * Hume o£ Godsoroft, p. 237. HISTOEY OF DUMFRIES. 159 King, the English (to continue the figure) captured some of the pawns which he should have done his best to defend. A truce entered into between the kingdoms had still some years, to run, when, in 1448, the Earl of Northumberland entered Scotland by the Western Marches, and the Earl of Salisbury by the Eastern Marches, each leading a large army. The insults and injuries received from the Scottish Borderers were alleged by the invaders as an excuse for their hostile movements; but the probability is that they were prompted in a great degree by a knowledge that the country was ill-defended, owing to the absence of Douglas. Northumberland advanced to Dunbar, pillaged and then set fire to it, and returned unmolested, bur- dened with spoil. Dumfries was once more destined to pass through the fiery ordeal to which it was subjected only thirty-three years before, and from which it had several times previously suffered. Crossing the little stream, that may be looked upon in some respects as the Border Rubicon, Salisbury swept along the Solway shore, poimced down on Dumfries, and, entering it without resistance, took possession of the Castle, and began to act the part of conqueror in the old English style. Seated in the fortress, he issued orders to his men to sack the town. Forth they went, nothing loath, visiting all the principal houses, and carrying off what property they could find. This done, they set fire to the Burgh, and then, greatly enriched by their foray, recrossed the Esk into Cumberland.* House building in Dumfries must, once in every generation or so, have received a powerful stimulus from these periodical visits. It was fortunate that huge oaks abounded in the forests of Nithsdale, so that materials were always at hand with which to restore the streets destroyed by the English incendiaries. Very likely some of the fire-raisers of 1415 reapplied the torch at the bidding of Salisbury in 1448 : if so, they must have been surprised to see the town that they had half reduced to ashes larger than ever, as if the new streets had literally grown like the timber of which they were formed. The Earl of Salisbury and his men probably thought that this time, at any rate, they had ruined Dumfries: but it possessed a wonderful vitality; and ♦ Hiune of Godsoroft, p. 254 ; and Pitscottie's Chronicle. 160 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. before many years moi-e elapsed, the charred embers left by the devouring element had disappeared, and the Burgh was " itself again." , Neither the Earl of Douglas nor any of the other barons in the district, lifted a finger to save Dumfries on this occasion. James Douglas, however, brother of the Earl, soon afterwards put Alnwick into similar plight, as if the stripes inflicted on that town could mollify the wounds received by Dumfries. But of this unreasoning retaliatoi-y course of procedure the wars of the time were in a great degree made up; and it is, need we say, a leading characteristic of all wars, ancient and modern. The turbulent conduct of his own retainers, and the wasteful incursions of the English, drew Douglas home for a season, and constrained him to pay attention to his duties as Warden of the Western Marches. His predecessor, Archibald the Grim, whose power extended over all the Marches, had drawn up a code of rules for his regulation ; and the present Earl, who liked to do things on a large and imposing scale, resolved, with the assist- ance of all parties concerned, to revive and improve these laws so far as they related to his own territory. He accordingly called a meeting of the wbole lords, freeholders, and heads of Border families witbin his wardency. In ordinary circumstances, perhaps, this gathering would have taken place in the Castle of Dumfries ; but, on account, we suppose, of that building being left in a dilapidated condition by its last English occupant, the Earl of Salisbury, the little parliament was held in the religious house of Lincluden, which had become the property of the Douglasses. Since its erection by Lord Uchtred, it had experienced important changes. It was no longer a nunnery — Archibald the Grim having, about fifty years before, expelled its inmates, enlarged the building, and then converted it into an ecclesi- astical college for the benefit of his own family. The chroniclers of the change seem rather at a loss to give a good reason for it. The Grim Earl, in spite of his gross misdeeds, kept on good terms with tl lo Church ; and, with all his hardihood and cupidity, he would scarcely have ventured to suppress the convent if its character had been irro])ri)achable. One author affirms vaguely that the "insolence" of the female devotees provoked their HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 161 dismissal;* while Major boldly assumes that they must have been conspicuous for their incontinence, or "the good Earl" would never have expelled them; and, improving on this hint, Hume declares that Douglas had solely in view "an eye for religion, and a special care for the pure and sincere worship of God" — though the suspicious admission is made by the same historian, that the Earl did thereby "greatly increase his revenues, and enlarge his dominions."! From whatever cause, the Sisters of St. Benedict were forced to vacate the Abbey, to make way for a brotherhood of twelve bedesmen and a provost — for whose maintenance its opulent revenues were assigned. A magnificent church was added to the original fabric, also a domicile for the provost : so that the building in 1448 differed essentially from the original edifice, with " Its massive arches, broad and round, That rose alternate row on row, On ponderous columns, short and low, Built ere the art was known ; By pointed aisle, and shafted stalk, The arcades of an aUey'd walk To emulate in stone." t All the additions made to the Abbey of the twelfth century by Earl Douglas were in the Florid Gothic of the fourteenth century; and as, later still, some other portions were added in the Scotch Baronial style, the picturesque ruin, which still overlooks the "Meeting of the Waters" a mile above Dumfries, combines three orders of architecture, though the distinctive features of the primitive Saxon are overlaid or lost. Lincluden College was made up of buildings that enclosed a spacious court, the east side of which was occupied by the Provost's residence, looking down upon the river Cluden, and by a tall octagon tower; § the south side comprised a choir, with transepts, nave, and side aisles ; the north, a refectory and * Extraota e Chronicis, p. 207. + History of House of Douglas, p. 114. J Scott's Marmion. § The octagon tower, which formed a very prominent and interesting portion of the edifice — the more so, as the royal arms of Scotland were sculptured on its front — suddenly fell, with a tremendous crash, on Sabbath the I6th of February, 1851; and thus one fine feature of the ruins was utterly destroyed. — VisUor^s Guide to Dumfries, p. 69. U 162 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. dormitory; the western boundary being formed by a high wall, with a general entrance-gate to the interior. At the date of Earl William's visit, the choir especially must have presented a beautiful aspect. Though of small dimensions, the large size of its details, as in the case of Michael Angelo's statues, gave it a colossal effect — a peculiarity shown in the massive corbels and capitals of the vaulting shafts from which the groined arches sprang, in the moulding round the priests' door, in the still bolder crocketing of the public entrance, and in the flamboyant tracery of the windows, all fashioned on strictly geometrical principles.* Much of the inner ornamentation ministered to the pride of the family, speaking as it did, in heraldic language, of their rank and achievements ; and a gorgeous tomb, with a sculptured effigy in its recess, formed a meet monument for a countess of Galloway, the wife of a Douglas, and the daughter of a king, who, as already noticed, had been laid there not long before, to neighbour in "the narrow house" the dust of Uchtred, the lord of that ancient province. Here, then, at Lincluden, in the closing month of 1448, Earl William held his court, and took counsel of his brother nobles — all " lesser lights," compared with him as the central luminary — and of the freeholders and others who had responded to his summons. How the proud lord demeaned himself when presid- ing at the meeting, is not recorded; but we can easily conceive that his habitual haughtiness gave place to a courtesy not unknown to the members of his house when mingling with those who readily bowed to their supremacy. The Harleian Collection bears unmistakable witness to the ability and wisdom which signalized the deliberations under his guidance, embodying as it does "the ordinances of war sett doune at Lincludan College, by all the lords, freeholders, and eldest borderers of Scotland, on the 18th of December, 1448, by the commandment of Earl William of Douglasse." We learn from the document in question, that old statutes were revised, and a number of new rules drawn up, and that the code thus completed prohibited intercommuning with the enemy ; enjoined that all men were to keep by their own * Billings's Antiquities of Scotland, vol. iv. ; in which valuable work views are given of the windows as restored. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. ICS respective companies; that they were to answer to their names when the host was arrayed; that all were to fight on foot, except such as got special leave from their chief to be on horse- back; that it regulated the conditions of ransom, and prescribed the penalties incurred by desertion and other offences. The eleventh clause runs thus: "Whatever he be that brings a tray tor to the warden or his deputy, he shall have his reward, a hundred shillings; and he that puts him away fraudfuUy shall underlie the pain of death, like as the traitor should have done." The thirteenth clause is in the following terms : " Whoever he be — an host of Englishmen arriving in the coimtry, the bales being burned — that follows not the host on horse or on foot, ever till the Englishmen be passed off Scotland, and that they have sufficient witnesses thereof, all their goods shall be escheat, and their bodies at the warden's will, unless they have lawful excuse for them." Before departing, the presiding Earl, we are told, made all present swear upon the Gospels that they would, within their respective jurisdictions, observe, and cause to be obeyed, all these ordinances, and assist him in carrying them into effect. At this important conference, also, the system of signalling the approach of an enemy by balefires was brought to a per- fection unknown before. It was enacted that nine beacons should be erected in Nithsdale on the following eminences, and fired in time of need: Wardlaw, Rachochtoun, Barloch, Pittara, Malow, Corsincon, Corswel, Dowlback, and Watchfell; and that other eleven should be kept ready in Annandale — on Gallowhill, Kinnelknock, Blois, Browanhill, Barrow Skenton, Dryfesdale, Quitsoun, Cowdens, Balehill, PenchathiU, and Trailtrow. It was also arranged that on the Sheriff of Nithsdale, and the Stewards of Annandale and Kirkcudbright, should devolve the responsibility of employing proper persons to erect, maintain, and fire the beacons.* When the whole of them, in a winter's night, threw their ruddy glare on high, the effect must have * Introduction to Nicholson and Burns's History of Westmoreland and Cumberland, p. 59. The names are incorrectly given in the book from which we have quoted. We should probably read Tynron-Doon for Rachochtoun; Brownmuirhill and Barr (in Hoddam) for Browanhill and Barrow; Quhytwind, or Whitewoollen, (at Lockerbie) for Quitsoun; and Pendiclehill (in Tinwald) for PenchathiU. 164 HISTOKY OF DUMFRIES. been grand as well as startling; and hundreds of households must have been protected from pillage, and thousands of Uves been saved, by the timely alarm thus communicated. No doubt, Dumfries sometimes owed its safety to the arousing flame seen streaming up from Wardlawhill on the Solway, and responded to by the friendly light on Corsincon. It is whilst thus employed, as a local legislator, that we Hke best to look upon the eighth Earl of Douglas. Pity it is that we can rarely view him so beneficially employed. Had he attended more to such matters, and less to the promptings of lawless ambition, he would not have provoked the violent and premature death that awaited him, and his memory would have been held in more honour by his countrymen. CHAPTER XV. CUMBEKLANl) RAVAGED BY THE SCOTS — THE DOUGLAS EAID — THE ENGLISH PREPAKE TO MAKE KEPRISALS — A LARGE SOUTHERN ARMY ENTERS DUMFRIESSHIRE, AND ENCAMPS ON THE BANKS OE THE SAEK — BATTLE OF THE SARK, AND UTTER ROUT OF THE ENGLISH — INCREASING AUDACITY OF DOUGLAS — HIS IMPOSING JOURNEY TO ROME — OPPRESSIVE CONDUCT OF HIS SUBORDINATES — A FINE LEVIED ON HIS CHIEF REPRESENTATIVE — THE ROYAL COMMISSIONER TRIES TO EXACT THE FINE IN NITHSDALE BY FORCE, AND IS COMPELLED TO RETREAT — KING JAMES ENFORCES HIS AUTHORITY IN THE DISTRICT — DOUGLAS, IN RETURNING HOMEWARDS, HEARS OF THE ROYAL VISIT TO HIS DOMAINS, VOWS VENGEANCE, BUT POLITICALLY SMOTHERS HIS RESENTMENT — HE RECEIVES THE KING'S FORGIVENESS — ENTERS INTO A TREASONABLE ALLIANCE WITH OTHER LORDS — INSTANCES OF THE EARL'S CRUELTY AND TYRANNY HE IS DECOYED TO STIRLING CASTLE, CARESSED AND FETED BY KING JAMES, AND THEN BASELY STABBED BY THE ENRAGED MONARCH, BECAUSE HE REFUSES TO BREAK THE REBELLIOUS BOND INTO WHICH HE HAD ENTERED — JAMES, NINTH EARL OF DOUGLAS, REBELS AGAINST THE KING — SOME OF THE DUMFRIESSHIRE BARONS TAKE ARMS AGAINST DOUGLAS — HIS THOROUGH DEFEAT AT THE BATTLE OF ARKINHOLM — HE AND ALBANY ENTER INTO AN ALLIANCE WITH KING HENRY OF ENGLAND, AND INVADE DUMFRIESSHIRE AT THE HEAD OF AN ENGLISH ARMY — THE INVADERS ARE ROUTED AT LOCHMABEN, AND DOUGLAS IS MADE PRISONER — PALL OF THE HOUSE OF DOUGLAS. After the burning of Alnwick, a truce for seven years was agreed upon between the two kingdoms; but, owing to the commotions in both, resulting from the weakness of their respective Governments, it was soon broken, the English in this instance being the aggressors. A large body of them, under the command of the younger Percy, son of the Earl of Northum- berland, made an incursion into Annandale, burning several villages, and carrying off all the goods they could lay hands upon. Luckily, Douglas was not far distant from the post of duty and danger. Falling upon the retiring Southrons, he made them accelerate their retreat, and yield up all the spoil with which they were burdened. So far, so well; but Douglas, for reasons of his own, wished to widen the area of the war-field 166 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. in order to counteract the coalition formed against him by King James, now aged seventeen, the questionable Crichton, and Kennedy, the patriotic Bishop of St. Andrews. He therefore mustered a large army, and, under the plea of revenging a wrong for which he had already exacted a heavy penalty, entered Cumberland. Not contented with imposing upon it an ordinary amount of punishment, he acted with such merciless severity that it was reduced to the condition of a desert. Not only the barons on the English side of the Border, but the whole nation, felt aggrieved and indignant on account of this ferocious Douglas raid: forgetting how often Dumfries- shire had been gratuitously pillaged by them, and that for one complaint against the Scots, the latter could have preferred fifty against those who were loudly crying for vengeance, and busy preparing to exact it with all their might. Early in 1449, an army, that has been variously estimated at from 14,000 to 40,000, entered the County by the ordinary passage, and encamped on the banks of the Sark — the little stream that, after forming the boundary line between the kingdoms for a few miles, flows into the Solway. The force, which probably did not exceed 20,000 men in number, was commanded by the Earl of Northumberland and his son, the latter anxious to wipe out the disgrace of his defeat in the preceding year. Not encountering any opposition, the invaders Ijegan forthwith to pillage and destroy. Whilst so employed, news was brought by their scouts that a Scottish army was advancing, as if for the purpose of giving them battle — information which proved strictly correct, the force from the north being about 12,000 strong, under the leadership of Douglas's brother, George, Earl of Ormond. The conflict that ensued was, says Chalmers, " one of the greatest fought between two spirited nations, from the engagement at Homildon, in 1402, till the battle of Flodden, in 1513;"* and it certainly was the most important battle fought in Dumfriesshire since the formation of the Scottish monarchy. As the Scots drew near, the English recalled their marauding parties, and prepared for the threatened encounter. They had the advantage of choosing their own ground; and, having selected ♦ Caledonia, vol. iii., p. 89. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 167 what seemed to be a favourable spot, adjoining their tents, they calmly waited the coming onset. The centre was com- manded by the two Percys; the right by one whose valour, bodily strength, and implacable hatred of the Scots, gained for him that distinction — a warrior whom the chroniclers of the period call Magnus Redbeard; while the left, composed chiefly of Welshmen, was entrusted to Sir John Pennington.* The centre of Ormond's force was directed by himself; Herbert, the first Lord Maxwell of Carlaverock,t and Sir Adam Johnstone of Lochwood, led the right wing, in opposition to Sir John Pennington; while Wallace of Craigie, a lineal descendant of the great patriot, conducted the left against the redoubtable Magnus. Ormond, we are told, delivered a spirited address to his countrymen, based chiefly on the idea that " thrice is he armed who hath his quarrel just." He prudently said nothing about his brother's excesses, but dwelt strongly on the fact that the guilt of first breaking the truce lay with their old enemies the English. Justice was on the side of his countrymen; and they might therefore, he said, expect victory to smiie upon their efiforts. They had their homes to protect, their country's honour to maintain — considerations which ought to stimulate their valour; and then, if success crowned their bravery, they would cover themselves with glory, and purchase a lengthened peace for the district and the nation. If the leader of the invaders said anything to them, the burden of it would doubtless be revenge for the cruel Douglas raid; but he either was silent, wishing to speak by deeds, and not by words, or there was no reporter in the camp to take down his eloquent address, or chronicler to put one into his mouth worthy of the occasion. As usual, most of the Scots were armed with the national weapon — a pike or spear — the length of which was fixed by * Pitscottie. f He was twice married: first to a daughter of Sir Herbert Herries of Terreglea, by whom he had two sons, Robert, second Lord Maxwell, and Sir Edward Maxwell, from the latter of whom are descended the Maxwells of Liuwood and Monteith ; and secondly to a daughter of Sir William Seton of Seton, by whom he had, with other issue, George, ancestor of the Maxwells of Carnsalloch, and Adam, of the Maxwells of Southbar. 168 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Parliament at six ells, or eighteen feet six inches. A phalanx so armed was all but invincible. " Standing at defence," says the author of the " Journal of Somerset's Expedition," " they thrust shoulders likewise so nigh together, the fore ranks well nigh kneeling stoop low before, their fellows behind holding their pikes with both hands, and therewith in their left their bucklers, the one end of their pike against their right foot, and the other against the enemy, breast high, their followers crossing their pike's point with them forward; and thus each with other so nigh as space and place will suffer, through the whole ward, so thick, that as easily shall a bare finger pierce through the skin of an angry hedgehog as any encounter the front of their pikes." Had the Scots at Sark been on the defensive, and attacked hand to hand by the enemy, the pikes would have vindicated the truth of the national motto, as they had often done on former fields : but when Wallace of Craigie marshalled his spearmen, there was no foe within reach ; and a shower of missiles was rained down upon them from a distant eminence with irresistible effect. In this ominous way the battle was initiated, and seemed almost on the point of being decided against the Scots. Great gaps were formed in their left wing, which wavered in consequence, and appeared on the verge of being thrown into inextricable confusion — the sure prelude of a general panic and flight. It is at a crisis such as this that generalship is invaluable. Wallace possessed military genius worthy of his great ancestor: he apprehended at once the full import of the danger in which, not only his own division, but the whole army, was placed; and he was not slow in devising relief Addressing bis soldiers, he said, "Why do we stand thus, to be wounded afar off? Follow me, and let us join in hand-strokes, where true valour is only to be seen!" His men were reanimated by this appeal. They had not the passive endurance to enable them to stand much longer the arrow flights that were drinking their hearts' blood; but they had courage sufficient to assail a host, however numerous or strongly posted. The leader's words were followed by corresponding action. What avail bow and arrow to the gallant English archers. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 169 who had so nearly decided the day, now that two thousand Scottish spearmen have crossed the intervening ground, and are grappling in close quarters with their assailants! Magnus the Eedbearded stands aghast as he sees his ranks thinned and reeling. Why, when the right wing is decimated and threatened with total ruin, does no supporting force come to it from the centre? Whether it was that the nature of the ground forbade such a movement, or that Northumberland was so engaged in baffling Ormond that he had no men to spare, certain it is the leader of the English right found, to his dis- may, that it was doomed to fight and suffer unaided. If the prowess of an individual could have redeemed the fortunes of the field, the superhuman exertions made by Magnus would have accomplished that result. He could not revive the courage of his followers, nor arrest the merciless march of their assailants; but he could die in harness hke a dauntless warrior as he was. Surrounded by a few pei-sonal adherents, he kept his ground, nay, actually advanced in face of that bristling forest of spears, anxious, it is supposed, to engage in a personal combat with the Scottish chief — a fate which was not vouchsafed to him, as he feU, by some unknown hand, among heaps of slain. The overthrow of the right division of the English might not in itself have led to their entire defeat; but when that disaster was followed by the death of Magnus, and both events became known over the entire army, a sore discouragement was the result. It would seem that the fighting on other parts of the field was mere child's play, as compared with that in which the divisions led by Magnus and Wallace were engaged. The English fully anticipated that their archers would decide the battle in their favour; and being disappointed in this respect, they appear to have lost heart. At all events, they made no adequate effort, in the centre and left, to atone for the loss of the right division and its leader. They fought on doggedly, however, for a while— hopeless of success, yet loath to retire — ^tiH, pressed on all sides by the impetuous and exulting enemy, they at length gave way along their whole line. When the general retreat took place, the slaughter in their ranks was terrific. Three thousand of their number fell whilst the battle X 170 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. raged, and more than that number perished by the sword of the pursuer, or in the blood-dyed waters of the Sark, on whose banks they had the day before indulged in merry wassail. The Sark, as has been mentioned, is only a small river, but the retreating English found it swollen by the tide, and rushing fierce, like the conquering Scots, as if the latter had been in league with the Solway against the enemies of their nation. Many men of rank, including the younger Percy and Sir John Pennington, were made prisoners, together with hundreds of gentlemen and common soldiers. According to Buchanan, the spoil in money, arms, and equipments that rewarded the victors "was greater than ever had been known in any former battle;" and a tradition, stiU current in the locality, tells of fabulous heaps of gold pieces being found by fortunate rustics on the banks of the Sark, generations after their luckless owners perished by flood or field. In this memorable battle the Scots lost only six hundred men, in addition to the wounded, who may be estimated at three time^ that number. There was, however, one sad drawback to their triumph — the brave Wallace of Craigie, to whose skill it was chiefly due, having died three months afterwards of wounds he received during the heat of the conflict.* A truce was concluded, which lasted for several years ; but Dumfriesshire, though freed for a lengthened period from the presence of a foreign enemy, continued to be distracted by its own barons — and Douglas was still the chief offender. Actuated by a variety of motives, the chief of which was probably a love of display, the proud Lord, with a most imposing retinue, visited the city of Kome, proceedmg through Flanders and France into Italy. Sir John Douglas, Lord Balveny, was left to act as his procurator or representative,! a post which was no sinecure; and its difficulties were aggravated by the increased licentiousness shown by many retainers during the absence of their chief, he being the only one able to restrain them, when he chose so to act. Complaints of their tyranny and oppression were daily poured into the King's ear; and • The authorities relied on for the aooouut given of this battle are chiefly I'itscottio oud Buchanan. t Pitsoottie, folio edition, p. 34. HISTOEY OF DUMFKIES. 171 Balveny himself was murmured against, as one who encouraged rather than checked the offenders. On the procurator being summoned to appear in Edinburgh, and plead to the charges brought against him, he, imitating his haughty master, despised the citation till he was taken thither by force. He underwent a regular trial; and it having been proved to the satisfaction of his judges that certain acts of extortion had been committed by himself and others in the name of Earl Douglas, heavy fines in money were imposed as a penalty — the same to be paid out of the Earl's rents. Balveny, protesting that he durst not interfere with the revenue of his chief, prayed that the fines might be allowed to stand over till the Earl's arrival, who was expected to return in the course of a few months. This evasive proposal did not satisfy King James, who, though wishing to be lenient, was resolved not to be trifled with ; and he commissioned Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, to take means for collecting such an amount from the rents of the Douglas estates as should discharge the damages adjudged by law. Easier said than done. A king gave the order; but barons, who acted in the name and according to the spirit of one who was mightier in Galloway and Dumfriesshire than himself, treated it with scorn. The very idea of the thing was laughed at by the relatives and dependents of Douglas. To be mulcted in their own district by a royal commissioner — and that as a punishment for deeds they gloried in — was totally out of the question; and when Sinclair, "accompanied with a small number of folks," made his appearance in Nithsdale as a penal rent collector, he was received with such a storm of ridicule that he was fain to hurry northward without obtaining a plack of the damages. James, enraged by the contempt thus poured on his authority, summoned " by a herald all men whatsoever, of high or low degree, pertaining or favouring a Douglas to underly the law," and declaring all disobeyers to be rebels and traitors.* No response having been made to this comprehensive summons, the King found there was no alternative left him but to give up his sovereignty over a great part of the south of Scotland, or enforce it by the sword. He resolved to adopt the latter course; * Pitsoottie, p. 34. 172 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. and, putting himself at the head of a considerable army, he marched into Galloway to break the power which had defied him — "to beard the lion in his den — the Douglas in his hold." He encountered no opposition in the open field, the enemy he came to punish having prudently retired to their places of strength, which they defended with such valour that those who followed to assail them were "very contumeliously repulsed."* When a portion of the royalists entered Annandale, they were dealt with in a similar fashion. The fortresses of Thrieve and Lochmaben, and other lesser strongholds, displayed each a rebel flag; and the King, unable to capture them by storm, had to subject them to a regular siege, which proved in most instances successful : after which result, the royal authority was — nomin- ally at least — re-established in the district. Even in his hour of triumph, the King tempered justice with mercy. No frowning gibbet, with its human "tassel," rose to glut judicial vengeance : all he required was submission, and the money penalty originally imposed. The former was no longer refused, and the latter was promised in full, and partially paid. Well content with having humbled the haughty Douglasses, and, as he thought, taught them a lesson in loyalty, the King broke up his army, and returned to Edinburgh. It may readily be conceived, that when the news of .what had occurred in Nithsdale reached Douglas at Rome, he was over- whelmed by rage and shame. Whilst basking in the sunbeams of the Papal Court, " the observed of all observers," to have his ancestral domains despoiled and his family degraded, was indeed mortifying to his proud mind; and, as he hastened homeward, schemes of " vaulting ambition," rife with vengeance against his sovereign, would doubtless occupy his thoughts and give a colour to his dreams. But as he passed through England on his way, he learned that King James had so consolidated his regal authority that it could not be any longer safely defied, even by a Douglas. Smothering his resentment, he, on reaching the Border, sent his brother James in advance to sound the disposi- tion of the King towards him, which was found to be conciliatory. On presenting himself at Court, he was received not as an enemy, but as a friend — a treatment he did not look for, which • Pitaoottie, p. 35. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 173 soothed his wounded spirit, and made him, for the time being, one of his Majesty's most loyal subjects. The King, indeed, acted towards Douglas with an excess of tenderness, as if desirous of melting him with kindness rather than of crushing him with the rigour he had provoked. The incensed monarch and the turbulent baron became like sworn brothers to each other. " The Earl," says Pitscottie, "was received right heartfully by the King, and was remitted of all things bygone : wherefore he promised faithfully to rule all things within his bounds at the King's command and pleasure; and then he received all fortalices and strengths again out of the hands of the King's men of war; and thereafter was holden in such great estimation and favour by the King, that he was made lieutenant-general of the kingdom."* How sad to find the Earl of Douglas, a few months after- wards, intriguing personally with the King of England, and justly exciting the suspicions of the sovereign from whom he was receiving so many favours. James was naturally indignant at such conduct on the part of Douglas; but the placable monarch once more extended his forgiveness to the offending noble, though he removed him from the lord-lieutenantcy, and entrusted the administration of affairs to Sir William Crichton and the Earl of Orkney. Douglas was more offended by what ■ he had lost than gratified by what he had regained. There was an old feud between him and Crichton, which the elevation of the latter caused to fiame up afresh. Douglas hated his successful rival : and no love was lost between them ; Crichton, enjoying the royal sunshine, being in no ways disposed to help his enemy out of the shade. The ambitious and infatuated Earl had been more than suspected, half a year before, of treasonable tamperings with England: he now openly entered into a league with the Earls of Crawford, Ross, and Murray, to overthrow the King's ministers — ay, and if need be for that end, to dethrone the King himself Whilst his Majesty was highly exasperated at this combination, fresh causes of offence were given by Douglas, which called aloud for punishment; the chief of these being his treatment of Sir John Herries of Terregles and M'Lellan of Bombie, whom he put to death — hanging the former, and * Pitscottie, p. 3.5. 174 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES, beheading the latter — becaiise they were not sufficiently sub- missive to his rule. James II., now aged twenty-one, had acquired increased energy with his years. Fully prepared for the pending emer- gency, he resolved once more to try fair means with his contumacious subject; and should these fail, to crush him, and be truly king. The result is well known. Douglas, placated by a conciliatory letter from his sovereign, visited the Court at Stirling, and, after being luxuriously banqueted, was sum- moned to a private chamber by his royal master, and there required to break the covenant entered into between him and other nobles. The Earl gave an evasive answer; but the King was not to be trifled with, and pressed the question : upon which Douglas, after saying he must first consult his associates, emphatically refused to comply with the King's demand. James, losing all self-control, then exclaimed, "If thou wilt not break the bond, this shall!" plunged a dagger into the heart of Douglas, and some of the royal attendants who rushed in completed the deed of slaughter.* Thus perished, in his prime and pride, William, the eighth Earl of Douglas. Rebel- lious and tyrannical though he was, his assassination by the King is utterly indefensible, and is a dark blot on the reputation of that prince. The atrocious deed was no more premeditated by him than the slaughter of Comyn at Dumfries by his royal ancestor; but that he should have allowed himself to be betrayed by passion into the perpetration of such a crime, aggravated by the breach of his word, and of the sacred rights of hospitality, is truly deplorable. Though the eighth Earl of Douglas involved Dumfriesshire in a " sea of troubles," his death did not purchase tranquillity. James, brother of the slaughtered nobleman, and ninth Earl of Douglas, took up arms to avenge his death; and the strife which ensued involved not the district merely, but the king- * In an Edinburgh newspaper of 14th Ootoher, 1797, there ia the subjoined paragraph : — " On Thursday ae'nnight, as some masons were digging a founda- tion in Stirling Castle, in a garden adjacent to the magazine, they stnick upon a human slteleton, about eight yards from the window where the Earl of Douglas was thrown after ho was stabbed by King James II. It is thought, and tliore is little doubt but what it is his remains, as it is certain that he was buried in that garden, and but a little distance from the closet window." HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 175 dom. It continued for upwards of two years; and, during its course, it was at times uncertain whether the Stewarts or the Douglasses should reign in Scotland. The general current of the contest need not be traced; and, confining our attention chiefly to its course in Dumfriesshire, let us state that the King, about eleven months after the outbreak of the rebellion, led a large army into the country, in order to punish Douglas in the chief seat of his power and pride. Being winter, how- ever, he could not carry out his design effectually. " He burnt the corns and houses, berried the countries, and slew some spies;"* and, in spring, sent his troops back to renew the destructive warfare. Annandale became the chief theatre of hostilities. In that district Douglas, notwithstanding numerous reverses, was still lord and king: but other parts of Dumfries- shire boldly disavowed his rule; for which act of independence and loyalty they were mtich harassed by his three brothers, the Earl of Murray, the Earl of Ormond, and Lord Balveny. Highly imprudent it was for these noblemen to inflame still further in this way the resentment of barons who would rather have served both Douglas and King James, had the conduct of the former not rendered that impossible. It was a bad day for this domineering family when they arrayed against them the chiefs of a County over which they had long exercised an unrivalled sway, and many of whom were of their own kith and kin. " A house divided against itself cannot stand." On the 1st of May, 1455, the ground now occupied by the town of Langholm, in Eskdale, was the scene of an engagement which sealed the doom of the house of Douglas. The three noblemen named above led one party of the belligerents, who were confronted by the men of the County, headed by Maxwell, Johnstone, Scott, Carlyle,t and other chiefs. A brief sanguinary * Pitsoottie, p. 35. f This was "William, Lord of Torthorwald. He presented a bell to the Parish Church of Dumfries, inscribed thus: "GuOielmus de Carleil, Dom. de Torthorwald, me sicut fecit fiere in honorem Sancti Miohaelis. Ann. Dom. MCCCCXXXiii." "William de Carlyle, Lord of Torthorwald, caused me to be made in honour of St. Michael. The year of our Lord, 1433." This bell stUl survives. It hangs on the bartizan of the Mid Steeple, and was, down till about ten years ago, employed in the secular duty of warning the lieges when fires broke out in the Burgh. 176 HISTOEY OF DUMFRIES. battle resulted in the utter rout of the Douglasses. Archibald, Earl of Murray, was slain, and his head sent as a trophy to King James; Hugh, Earl of Ormond, was taken prisoner, tried for treason, and executed; and John, Lord Balveny, fled to the Earl, his brother, in England. Those who were chiefly instru- mental in freeing Dumfriesshire from the rule of this imperious family, were liberally rewarded for their services. Johnstone and Carlyle obtained a grant of the forty-pound land of Pit- tenain, in Clydesdale; Sir Walter Scott acquired the lands of Abington, Phareholm, and Glengoner, in the same district — thus making broader and deeper the basis of the noble house of Buccleuch; while the Maxwells and Beatties were not over- looked. In the following year an act of Parliament completed what the sword at Arkinholm had begun. It attainted the Douglasses — deprived them of their rank and estates by one fell swoop — their lordships of Eskdale and GaUoway becoming the property of the Crown, and Annandale, with its appendant Castle of Lochmaben, being granted by King James to his second son, Alexander, whom he created Earl of March, Lord of Annandale, and Duke of Albany. It was not, however, till the King marched with an army into Galloway, that that province acknowledged the royal authority, and the Castle of Thrieve submitted to receive a royal garrison. Another fortress of the family, Lochrutton Castle, was placed in the keeping of Herries of Terregles, son of the loyal chief whom the eighth Lord of Douglas hanged like a felon, for the crime of being loyal to his sovereign. The exiled and disin- herited Earl made repeated attempts to redeem his fortunes. In 1456 we find him undertaking a foray into Berwickshire, encountered and defeated by one of his own blood, George, Earl of Angus, descended from William, first Earl of Douglas, by his third wife, Margaret, Countess of Angus — which over- throw gave rise to a popular saying, founded on the different complexions of the two branches of the family, that " the Red Douglas had put down the Black." Before he comes again prominently on the scene, James II. is killed by the bursting of a cannon employed in the siege of Roxburgh Castle, which had been held by the English since the battle of Durham; and his son James, a boy who had just seen HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 177 seven smnmers, ascends the throne. It is not till July, 1484, twenty-four years after the latter event, that James, ninth and last Earl of Douglas, is seen engaged in another enterprise, with the view of blottinsr out the sentence written asfainst him in the records of Parliament and the book of fate. Alexander, Duke of Albany, the late King's second son, and brother of the present sovereign, had long been inflamed by guilty ambition; and, fancying that, with the help of Douglas and the King of England, he might make a successful stroke for the throne, he entered into a negotiation with the expatriated nobleman, the result of which was their joint invasion of Dumfriesshire with an Enghsh army. The arrangement was of this nature: in the event of success, Albany to become King of Scotland, acknowledging Henry of England as his superior; Douglas to receive back his rank and estates. Once more the smaller proprietors in the County saved it and the nation from ruinous disaster. Dreading the restoration of a family whom they had good reason to dislike, and devotedly loyal to the throne, they turned out in great force when summoned by the signal fires which annoanced the approach of an enemy. The Master of Maxwell, Johnstone of Johnstone, Murray of Cockpool, Crichton of Sanquhar, Carruthers of Holmains, and Charteris of Amisfield, were the principal leaders of the Dumfriesians, as they pi'oceeded in the direc- tion of Lochmaben, again to cope with their old enemies the English, and their old oppressor the Earl of Douglas. The invaders supposed that, as soon -$.3 they appeared, many of the country people, lured by hopes of pillage, would join them. In this expectation they were disappointed; but they expected, at all events, to succeed in doing a little in the way of plunder on their own account. Actuated by this motive, they prepared to make a ravenous descent on the rich wares exposed for sale in the streets of Bruce's ancient burgh during the fair held on the 22nd of July, St. Magdalen's Day. This scheme was equally abortive. The patriotic men of the County were there before them, to defend things small and great — the movables of the market — the permanent institu- tions of the kingdom; and had they not, by fighting heroically, rolled back the aggressive tide, the deluge of a destructive Y 178 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. revolution would have swept over the land, engulfing perhaps the monarchy in its waters. An obstinate conflict took place. It commenced early in the forenoon; and when the summer's sun sank, victoiy still hung in the balance. The clouds of night that gathered above failed to separate the combatants; but, long before the early dawn of another day, Albany, thoroughly beaten, was on the south side of the Border, with his back to Scotland — the remnant of his routed followers accompanying him; and Douglas was a captive.* The veteran warrior was struck from his horse towards the close of the fight, and might have been trampled to death in the tumult, had not one of his old vassals, Kirkpatrick of Ross, stepped forward and claimed him as a prisonerf The victors were liberally rewarded by their grateful sovereign — one of them. Sir Robert Grichton, being created a peer, under the title of Lord Sanquhar. It is said that Kirkpatrick, stirred by a hngering love for his former chief, offered to set him at liberty, and that Douglas despairingly declined the offer, as if impressed with the feeling that his game of guilty ambition was fully played out, and irretrievably lost. AVTien the distinguished captive was carried before King James, actuated by shame — perhaps by pride, or a mixture of both — he turned his back upon royalty; and when, instead of being sent to the scaffold, as his crimes merited, he was sentenced to confinement for life in the Monastery of Lindores, he muttered despondingly, "He who may no better, must needs turn T§onk."l In this inglorious way the proud earldom which had existed for ninety-eight years (an average of only eleven years to each possessor of the title), and the noblest branch of the lofty line of Douglas, became extinct. Some few of its members were, as we have seen, virtuous as well as brave. Its chiefs, with perhaps one exception, were intel- lectually great ; and several of them were highly accomplished, * Acts of Parliament of Scotland, vol. ii., p. 173. t Actse Domin. Conoilii, 19th January, 1484. The barony of Ross, in Mid-Annandale, was held by a branch of tlie Kirkpatricks at a very early - period. On 22nd April, 1372, William Kirkpatrick of Roas gi-anted a charter to John of Garrooh of the two-mork land of Glengys (on the west side of the water of Wamphray), and Galvilgil.— Writs qf the Carlyle Family, t I-rawthorndon, Hist., p. 150; and Hume, p. 381. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 179 considering the age in which they lived. Ambition, " the la.st infirmity of noble minds," was, however, the besetting sin of the family. Dumfriesshire, for a century, was so mixed up with their fortunes, that the history of the one during that period is almost the history of the other. Had the talents and influence of the Douglasses been always wisely directed, what a blessing they would have been to their native district and to the king- dom! We like to dwell on their indomitable valour, their military genius, their magnificent hospitality; but the tendency to yield them hero-worship is kept in check, when we reflect upon the wicked uses to which their natural gifts and power were often turned. None of the earls, except the stainless warrior who, though dead, conquered at Otterburn, was worthy of the epithet " good," which their progenitor. Sir James, acquired. Speaking of them generally, they were mighty men of war, indifferent landlords, and bad subjects. Heavy penalties some of them paid ; but punishment brought no reformation. The lessons taught by adversity were despised; and now we see the haughty house, that would not be curbed or counselled, utterly overthrown. CHAPTER XVI. PEACE WITH ENGLAND — RISK OF THE ANGUS BRANCH OF THE DOUGLASSES — THE BABONS TAKE UP ARMS AGAINST JAMES III.^ — BATTLE OF SAUCHIEBURN, AND THE PART TAKEN IN IT BY THE DUMFRIESSHIRE BORDERERS — MURDER OF THE KING — HIS SUCCESSOR, JAMES IV., HOLDS A CRIMINAL COURT AT DUMFRIES — HIS TRAIN OF MINSTRELS — HIS GAY, PLEASURE - LOVING CHARACTER — INSTANCES OF HIS JUDICIAL RIGOUR AGAINST THIEVES, OUTLAWS, AND REBELS — HIS PILGRIMAGE TO THE LADY CHAPEL AT DUM- FRIES — DEADLY FEUD BETWEEN LORD MAXWELL AND LORD SANQUHAR — DEFEAT OF THE SCOTS, AND SLAUGHTER OF THE KING, AT FLODDEN — THE COUNTY DEVASTATED BY LORD DAORB. Scarcely had the reign of James III. commencecl, than Warwick (known in England as "the king maker") is said to have come to Dumfries, and obtained an interview there, in 1462, with Mary of Gueldres, for the purpose of soliciting her consent to a marriage with his royal master, Edward IV. So it is stated by "Wyrcestre, a contemporary annalist. The match, if ever projected, did not take place; and the veiy next year Warwick appeared in the County, not as a peaceful matrimonial agent, but as a destructive soldier — the vener- able town of Lochmaben sufifering especially from his visit. Hostilities were not long continued; and on the 1st of June, 1464, they were followed by a truce, the terms of which were arranged by Warwick and the Scottish Commissioners, at Lochmaben Stane, which frequently figured in these times as a place of rendezvous and treaty.* * Lochmaljeii Stane stands ou tlie farm of Old Gretua, in the pai-isli of Gretna. It measures eight feet in height, and twenty-one in cii'cumference. It was foi-raerly uoiglilidurod by a number of smaller stones, enclosing, in oval form, half an nuro of ground— the remains, probably, of a Druidical temple. The Stano, whiuli still remains, is Bpeoifioally referred to in many old charters and other deeds, and doubtless derived its naane from the oirciunstance that it HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 181 The Angus branch of the Douglasses now hegan to flourish. When the turbulent nobles of the kingdom rebelled against their weak sovereign, Archibald, fifth Eai-1 of Angus, agreed, in the words of the well-known parable of the rats and mice, propounded by his confederate, Lord Grey, to "bell the cat;" that is, seize the King's powerful favourite, Cochrane, who, from being an architect, had been created Earl of Mar. How the cat's prototype was entrapped and hanged, and the King himself was for a while imprisoned by the rebel chiefs, we need not describe in detail. Other six years filled ivp the measure of the King's reign, which " treason, malice domestic, foreign levy" continued to embitter. When the final crisis came, and the barons, in open rebellion against their sovereign, gave him battle at Sauchieburn, Liddisdale, Annandale, and Galloway furnished a large proportion of their force; and when the royal army broke up, utterly undone, its defeat was chiefly due to the long spears from the Western Border. Thrown from his horse as he galloped off the field, the monarch, maimed, and bleeding, was borne into a neighbouring cottage. On being asked his name by its female tenant, he answered, incautiously, "I was your king this morning;" adding, "let me have a priest." The woman went out, calling wildly for a priest to shrive the suffering King. " I am a priest; lead me to him," said a straggler who presented himself Whether he was so or not has never been properly determined. According to Buchanan, the stranger was actually a priest named Borthwick, who had joined the rebel army; and certainly not one of the vengeful barons arrayed against the sovereign could have was situated within the barony of Lochmaben. The following are extracts from Pitcaim's Criminal Trials, vol. i., part i., p. 398: — "May 12, 1557. — Roger Kirkpatrick of Closebum, WiUiam Kirkpatrick of Kirkmichaell, and Thomas Kirkpatrick of f reirkerse, got remission from the Qneen for abiding from the army ordained to convene at Lochmaben Stane on February 16 last, to meet the Warden before sunrise, to push forwardt with him to the day of trew, for meeting of the Wardone of England." " May 14. — Alexander Stewart of Garleise, John Dunbar of Mochrame, John Gordoune of Barskeoche, John M'CuUoch of Torhouse, John Jardine of Apilgerth, Pi,obert Moflfet (senior and junior) of Grantoune, Thomas Moffet of Knok, Robert Johimestoune of Coittis, and John Creychtoune, tutour of Sauchare, found caution to underly the law at the next aire of Dumfreis, for abiding from the Queen's army ordained to convene at Lochmaben Stane." 182 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. acted towards him with more felonious hate. The ruffian, on finding that the illustrious sufferer's bruises were not likely to prove fatal, exclaimed, in reply to his request for absolution, "This shall presently absolve thee!" and plunged a poniard repeatedly into the King's heart. The dreadful dagger scene in which the royal victim's father was the actor, and William, Earl of Douglas, the sufferer, twenty-six years before, in the same neighbourhood, rises up to memory as we read, horror-stricken, of this parallel atrocity. The murderer of King James III. never came forward to ask from the rebellious lords a reward for his black deed: he slunk away into the congenial shadows, as if overcome by remorse — his identity and motive remaining an unravelled mystery. It must not be supposed, because many Annandale and Liddisdale men fought against the King at the battle of Sauchie, that the County generally sympathized with the rebels. John, fourth Lord Maxwell, who was rapidly becording the leading nobleman in Nithsdale, supported his sovereign on that fatal field ; yet, after the death of James, he managed to make good terms with the victorious barons, in virtue of which he was appointed to rule Dumfriesshire jointly with the Earl of Angus, till the young King, James IV., now aged fifteen years and seven months, should reach his majority in 1494. This arrangement was made by act of Parliament. It was a tribute to the rising influence of Lord Maxwell; and, as further proof of consideration shown to him by the Govern- ment, we learn from the royal treasurer's accounts, that being in arrear, as Steward of Annandale, the sum of £3745, he obtained, in 1508, a full discharge from the King on paying £1000. As James increased in years, he exhibited a rare com- bination of energy and prudence, that, together mth his captivating manners, enabled him to control in some degree, without irritating, the powerful and jealous nobles who had placed liim upon the throne. Scotland began to feel that the sceptre was swayed by a real, not a nominal, king; and as, by his marriage, in 1503, with Margaret, daughter of Henry VII. of England, the country was blessed with peace for a series of years, it enjoyed a measure of prosperity to which HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 183 it had long been a stranger. In the year after this seemingly happy nuptial alliance, the young sovereign paid a visit to Dumfries, for the purpose of holding an ayre, or criminal court, in accordance with an act passed by his first Parliament, which bore this striking preamble: "It is avisit and concludit, anent the furthputting of justice, throw all the Realme, that our Soverane Lord sal ride in proper persoune about to all his aieris."* Though the King came on a grave mission, it was not in the nature of the man to be morose or stern, even at such a period. In his train were harpers and pipers, as well as dempsters and executioners; and music, feasting, and revelry ruled the hours which the serious duties of the court left free. During his stay, the old Burgh would luxuriate in the radiant atmosphere of the royal presence — dreading neither Border banditti nor Southern marauders, so long as it remained. If ever "the divinity that doth hedge a king" is enhanced by mental grace and manly beauty, it must have been so in the case 'of our Fourth James, the most lovable, and, spite of his faults, the best, of all the Stewart line. " The monarch's form was middle size; For feat of strength or exercise, Shaped in proportion fair; And hazel was his eagle eye, And auburn of the darkest dye His short curled beard and hair. Light was his footstep in the dance, And firm his stirrup in the lists; And, oh ! he had that merry glance That seldom lady's heart resists. "+ It was in early autumn that King James arrived. On the 13th of August there was paid from the royal purse, " xiij. s. [13s.] to the pyparis of Dumfrise;" his Majesty employing "local talent" in the musical line, as well as his own staff of minstrels. After remaining in the town a day or two, making arrangements for the assize, he passed on a justiciary tour to the Western Border, taking with him an armed escort, and his customary retinue of bards, singers, and bagpipers, including a reverend personage who figures in the books of the treasury as " the cruikit Vicar of Dumfreis," who received a largesse of * Acta Pari., cap. ix., p. 1488. + Scott's Marmion. 184 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. "xiiij. s." (Us.) for singing to the King in Lochmaben town. James's passion for music and sport is iUustrated by other entries in these accounts; and they also show that he and his father-in-law stood at that time on the best of terms. The Prior of Carlisle sent a butt of Malvoisle to the Scottish monarch, the two men who carried the welcome present getting a gratuity of " Ivj. s. ;" " twa wiffis brocht aill to the King fra Sir Johne Musgrave," for which they were duly rewarded; and the same English knight sent his own hunts- men to beat cover and blow the horn when James indulged in the pleasures of the chase. On the 23rd of August the King played at cards in Bruce's burgh; and who should be his opponent but Lord Dacre, the doughty English Warden — both well content to enjoy for once a bloodless, friendly contest. James §eems to have been worsted in the game, as there is charged against him, in connection with it, the sum of "xlvj. s. viij. d." (4Gs."8d.) Happy would it have been, for Scotland and himself had he never played with English warrior in a less peaceful arena for a heavier stake. That his Majesty did not spend all his time on trifles when in Annandale and Eskdale, is sufficiently shown by such dread entries as the following: — "Aug. 17. — To the men hangit the thevis at Hullir- buss, xiij. s. [13s.]; for ain raip to hang thaim in, viij. d. [8d] Aug. :il. — To the man that hangit the theves in Canonby, he the Kingis command, xiij. s." (13s.) On the 24th of the same month, James returned, "furth of Eskdale," to the County town, remaining there twenty-three (lay.s, during the continuance of the court. He lodged with the Cunningham family; and the likelihood is, we think, that he occupied a spacious chamber belonging to them, of which we get nil inkling afterwai'ds, under the designation of the Painted Hall. The court, sitting in the Castle, presided over by "Andrea Domino Gray" as justiciar, and, doubtless, often K'''i.cGd by the presence of the King, disposed of the following, 'imong other eases, from the town or district :—" Robert '-'">'i^r,l to a family of di.stiuetion, was put to death, is not HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 185 stated, nor is the result of the trial recorded. "Gilbert Thomesone, convicted of the theftuous taking of merchandise from the merchants of Drumfreis, at the time of the Burning thereof: Item, for art and part of the theftuous taking and concealing xlv. sheep furth of Schellop: Item, of common Theft and common Reset of Theft — Hanged." Whether the burning here referred to, of which Thomesone took advantage, was accidental or the work of incendiaries, does not appear. " Adam Baty [or Beattie], convicted of art and part with the King's rebels in Eskdale — Hanged." " James Mouse,* near Loch- mabane, came in the King's will for destroying the woods of Lochmabane, Bukrig, Heichrig, Rammerskalls, and Rowekell- park. Gavin Murray, brother of the Laird of Cockpule, became surety to the King." "John Pattersoun, in Tasseholme, convicted of fishing salmon in the water of Annand during the prohibited time, was amerciated in v. 1." (£5). " William Jarding, called Braid-suerd to the King; Robert Dunwedy, son of the Laird of Dunwedy; and Gavin Johnstoune, were admitted to our sovereign lord the King's composition, for art and part of the stouthrief of four horses, price xl. 1. [£40], two candlesticks, one goblot, with sundry other goods, worth XX. 1., from Bartholomew Glendumvyne, in company with the Laird of Johnstoune and his accomplices. — Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick of Closeburne, knight, became surety for the said Robert, and Adam Johnestoune of that Ilk became surety for the said Gavin, to satisfy parties." Other minutes disclose two bloody deeds, such as were of no rare occurrence in those days of violence — the murder of the Laird of Dunwedy, or Dinwoodie, and of the Laird of Mouswald, by neighbours of their own rank. The Dinwoodies, who had been for a long time previously settled on lands called after them in Apple- garth, were at feud with the Jardines, the chief proprie- tors of that parish. Some time in 1503 &. band of armed men made sudden entrance into Dinwoodie Tower, slew * This name appears to be the same with that now known aa Mounsey. It is a singular coincidence that Dr. Mounsey, who sprang from the lowest origin in the vicinity of Lochmaben, lived to become the proprietor of the estate of Rammerscales, &o., here described.— iVoie in Kincaid's Criminal Trials, vol. i., part i. , p. 40. Z 186 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Thomas, the cliief of the clan, and then disappeared. The mysterious outrage was, naturally enough, attributed to the Jardines, but was never fairly traced home to them. John Jardine, in Sibbald-besyde, and Robert Brig, residing with Alexander Jardine of Applegarth, were specially charged with the crime. As, however, they presented " a remission from the King," when brought before Lord Grey, at Dumfrie.?, they were set at liberty — their chief engaging to reproduce them, if called upon.* Justice seems to have been also baffled in the other murder case. Thomas Bell, of Curre, or Currie, and Stephen Johnstoune, arraigned for the crime, kept out of the way; as also did their sureties, the Laird of Castlemilk, and William Purdum, portioner in Middlebie; and aU that the judge could do in the matter was to " denounce " the accused, at the horn, as rebels, and " amerciate" their sureties. During the sittings of the court the judge was paid forty shillings per day — in all, forty-six pounds. It broke up about the middle of September. On the 13th of that month, James cleared off scores mth his landlady, as recorded in the following quaint note of payment : — " To William Cunnynghame's wif in Drumfreise, for the Kingis bele chore [belly cheer], x. li." (£10). A few days before, his Majesty gave a dole to the Minorite Brethren in the Vennel, which is thus entered: — "Sep. 8. — ^To the Freris of Drumfreis, xiiij. s." (14s.) The King's sojourn, so curiously made up of work and play, being now over, he bade farewell to his loyal burgesses of Dumfries, all sorry, we doubt not, that such a sunny episode in their annals had come so soon to an end.t * " Only nine years afterwards," says Anderson, in his Manuscript History, Advocates' Library, "the Laird Dinwiddie was slayue in Edinburgh by two persons, who eachaped, by taking the Sanotuarie of Holyroodhouse. " Sir James Balfour (Annales, vol. i,, p. 235) says that this second act of assassination was committed by the Jardines. t For the proceedings at this justice ayre, and the extracts from the Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer in the reign of James IV., we are indebted to the first volume of that most valuable work to the historian, Pitcairn's Criminal Trials. Subjoined are a few more entries: — "Aug. 2. — Fortwa hidis to be jakkia to Thomas Bos well aud Watte Trumbull, minstrals, agane the raid of Hakdale, Ivj. s. To James Hog, tale-teller, to fee twa hors in Eskdale, with kingis harnos, in part payment, xxxiij. s. For foure corse bowis and ane hundroth canyais [arrows], agane the raid of Eskdale, xij. li. [£12]. Aug, 8. — HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 187 Truly a gay, genial, pleasure-loving monarch was James IV.; yet, with all his habitual mirthfulness, he was subject to fits of gloom, that usually came upon him in midsummer, and under the influence of which even his outward man sometimes underwent a strange alteration. " In offices aa strict as Lent King James's June was ever spent."* He had, as a boy, taken part with the barons when they joined in warlike array against his father; and, though scarcely a voluntary agent at that time, he wore a macerating iron belt round his waist by way of penance, to which some ounces were added annually, and every recurring anniversary of Sauchieburn found him in a bitterly penitential mood. It was on one of these occasions that the King appeared at the gates of Our Lady's Chapel in Dumfries, habited as a lowly Franciscan — the royal devotee, in his gown of coarse grey serge, appearing as unlike as possible to the jovial, care-defying prince who, a short while before, held court in Dame Canningham's Painted Hall. After making his offerings at the altar, he proceeded, staff in hand, to pay his devotions before the shrine of St. Ninian, at Whithorn, whither he often went to bewail his fancied parricidal guilt, and the unlawful indulgences for which, unlike it, he was truly responsible. t Payit for v. pair spurs to tlie King, twa paire sterap irnis, xij. riding girthis, xij. housing girthis, iiij. hors coUaris, x. liors houses, and for hors schoing, V. li. X. d. To ane man of Sir Alexander Jardinis, that come to the King with thingis [tidings] of the taking of Gib Lindesay and his complicis, xiiij. s. Aug. 13. — In Drumfrese to menstrales to fe thaim horsis to Eskdale, and syne agane to Drumfrese, xlij. s. To twa Inglise women that sang in the Kingis pailzeoune [pavilion], xxiij. s, Aug. 31. — Be the Kingis command, to Sir A. Jardine and his men for the taking of Gib Lindesay and uther twa with him, XXX. li." * Marmion. + There are some vague traditions in Dumfries regarding the visits paid to it by Jamea IV., and his son, James V.; one of these being that King James (which of them is not specified) slept all night under a huge tree that grew a little to the north-east of the town, near the present English road. The follow- ing inscription, taken from a tomb-stone in St. Michael's churchyard, is adduced in corroboration of the tale : "In memory of John M'Niel, of Royal Oak, near this town, who departed this life, April 30th, 1836; aged 101 years." The epitaph is curious in itself, as being, we believe, the only one in the same cemetery in memory of a centenarian. That any of the Jameses should have 188 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Four years after King James held his justice ayre at Dumfries, Lord Maxwell, to whom he had been so considerate, showed extreme disrespect to the royal authority, as represented by Robert, second Lord Sanquhar, Sheriff of Nithsdale. The Crichtons, like the Maxwells, had grown greatly in favour since the fall of the Douglasses. There had been long a deadly feud between the two houses, which was at this time intensified by the circumstance that Lord Sanquhar seemed to be extending his influence over Lower Nithsdale, at the expense of Lord Maxwell, who, though Steward of Annandale, did not like to see the neighbouring sheriffdom possessed by his rival. The idea that a district occupied by many of his own adherents should be legally presided over by any other than a Maxwell, was the reverse of pleasant to Lord John; that it should be placed under the sway of a Crichton, was deemed by him intolerable. " We must teach this aspiring chief a lesson — let him see who is the real master of Dumfries," muttered the wrathful Steward. Probably . Maxwell gave a readier effect to this menace because he knew that the Sheriff of Nithsdale had a charge of disloyalty hanging over his head. Lord Sanquhar held a court in the Shire town towards the close of July, 1.508. On the 30th of that month no trials were proceeded with — the "dittays" having been deserted — spent a niglit in the open air, in the vicinity of Dumfries, cannot be credited ; but James IV. might, by resting himself, when on his barefooted pilgrimage, below an umbrageous oak, have originated this tradition. The Eev. Joseph Dimoan (now of Torthorwald), who drew up the notice of Dumfries Parish, dated 1833, for the Statistical Account, says (p. 12): "A curi- ous relic of antiquity was some time ago discovered by Mr. Affleck, ironfounder, while employed in selecting some pieces of old metal to throw into the crucible. It is circular, fully two inches in diameter, and about the thickness of a penny. Upon being struck with a hammer, a crust of verdigris came off, and on one side of it was discovered, engraved, a lion rampant, in the midst of a shield bordered with Jleur de lis, and surrounded, in reversed chai-acters, by the legend, 'Jacobus Dei Gra. Rex Scotorum;' after which is a figure nearly similar to the letter S, which we conclude must have been intended to repre- sent the buckle of the belt on which the inscription is engraved. The seal, for such it is supposed to be, is formed of a compound of copper with some other metals, and is, with some plausibility, supposed to have been the privy seal of one of the kings of Scotland." Very likely this relic belonged either to Mrs. Cunningham's royal lodger or hia son, James V. ; and if to the latter, may have been dropped by him whou out on some of his nocturnal revels. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 189 the hall of justice abandoned for the Lower Sand-beds that skirt the Burgh, where the warlike vassals of the noble Sheriff stood drawn vip in battle array, prepared in some degree for the threatened onset, of which he had received timely notice. Lord Maxwell, at the head of a considerable force, and accom- panied by William Douglas of Drumlanrig, entered the town by the Annandale road from the south, and attacked the Crichton party with a fury that proved irresistible. How long the engagement continued is unknown. Sir James Balfour speaks of it as "a grate feight"* — that it was a sanguinary one is beyond any doubt. The same annalist records that "Lord Sanquhar was overthrowen, and many of his frindes killed." t Bishop Lesley, describing the issue of the affray, says: "Lord Creychton was chaissit with his company frae Drumfreis, and the Laird of Dalyell and the young Laird of Cranchlay slain, with divers uthers, quhairof thair appeared greit deidly feid and bludshed." Thoroughly routed. Lord Sanquhar was chased from the town over which he professed to hold rule in the King's name— driven for refuge to his castle among the hills; leaving his exulting rival, if not Sheriff of Nithsdale, undis- puted chief of its principal Burgh. Maxwell, however strange it may appear, was allowed to go unpunished. Whether it was that extenuating circumstances were brought forward to palliate the grossness of the outrage, or that its perpetrator was too powerful to be meddled with, he was not proceeded against judicially. " Partley be justice, and partley be agreement, the whole cause [against him] was suddenly quyeted and stanched;":]: but his chief colleagues in the affray, William Douglas of Drumlanrig, John Fergusson of Craigdarroch, with his son Thomas, and their accomplices, went through the form of a trial on the 30th of September, 1512, at Edinburgh, for the murder of Robert Crichton of Kirk- patrick (one of the Sheriff's party, and probably a near relative), and were acquitted, on the ground that the deceased Robert Crichton was "our soverane lordis rebell, and at his horne," when the conflict occurred. | The still unsettled and unsatisfactory ♦ Annals of Scotland, p. 231. t Ibid. i The Magna Assisa, or Great Assize, consisting of twenty-one lords and gentlemen, presided over by Archibald, Earl of Angus, in giving a verdict in 190 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. state of Dumfriesshire may be inferred from the circumstance, that the steward of one portion of it could, in this flagitious way, commit a murderous outrage on the sheriff of another with impunity. If peace had continued, however, and length of days been vouchsafed to the King, he would, there is no doubt, have done much more to strengthen the power of the Crown, and extend the influence of the law, than he was privileged to accomplish. Henry VIII. of England having proclaimed war against France, Scotland, as the ally of the latter, after years of comparative tranquillity, again rang with the sound of hostile preparations — James, actuated by knightly devotion to the French Queen, as well as friendship to her consort, having resolved to cross the Border with an invading army. Her Majesty, as the poet tells us, ' ' Sent him a turquoise ring and glove. And charged him, as her knight and love, For her to break a lance; And strike three strokes with Scottish brand. And march three miles on Southern land, And bid the banners of his band In English breezes dance. "* Many Dumfriesshire chiefs, including Lord Maxwell, joined the King's unfortunate expedition. It is not necessary that we should follow its fortunes, by telling again " red Flodden's dismal tale," with which every reader of British history is familiar. Flodden was indeed a "Fatal field, Where shivered was fair Scotland's spear, And broken was her shield, "f the case, counselled the King's Highness ' ' that the said aUegit crimes be na ditty ; And that Lettres be written of Discharge ; and Inhibitioun be gevin and direct to Justice and Justice-Clerk, be our Souverane Lorde, and till all utheris officiaris, that nane of thame tak in Dittay, attache, an-est or accuse the said WiUiam Douglas, or his complices forsaide, for the saide actioun, and na crime be imput to thairapoun, because it was funde obefore be the said Lordis that the said umquhile Robert, the tyme when he was slane, was our Hoveranc Lordis rebell, and at his home, and for uthir resonable cause, moving the said Lordis; except Fergy Fergussoun and Robin Fergussouu, to quham this declaratiouu and comisall sail nocht extendo, and tliaim to be punist, as is contonit iu the decret and deliverance be oertane of the said Lordis thairapoune." — PiTCAiBN, vol. i., part i., p. 79. * Maniiion. + Ibid. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 191 James fell figliting desperately, and reckless of life, on seeing the ruin he had provoked. Among the " chiefs, knights, and nobles, many a one," slain alongst with him in the disastrous battle, were John, Lord Maxwell, with his four brothers ; Robert, Lord Herries, with Andrew his brother; the two sons of the Earl of Angus; two hundred gentlemen of the Douglas name, and numerous other men of note connected with Dumfriesshire and GaUoway. In all the Border district, among high and low, there was great lamentation for friends or relatives left lifeless on the field. This memorable battle was fought on the 9th of September, 1513. Stunning and terrible was the blow which it inflicted on the Scots; but, though thus deprived of their King and chief nobility, they rapidly recovered from its effects. Surrey, the victorious leader of the English, suffered so severely in the conflict that he was unable to enter Scotland and gather in the full harvest of his triumph. At first Margaret, the widowed Queen, was made Regent, but, as she was mistrusted on account of being the sister of the English monarch, and of having hurriedly contracted a marriage with Archibald, sixth Earl of Angus, she was soon deprived of the office, which was then conferred on John, Duke of Albany. As his accession was opposed by Angus, one of the new Regent's first acts was to banish the Queen and her husband out of the country. Though no general invasion of Scotland took place, in consequence of the late defeat, the English King let loose large bands of armed men upon the devoted Border territory, which they wasted with fire and sword. One of these marauding parties, headed by Lord Dacre, entered Dumfriesshire in the spring of 1514; his motive being very different from that which drew him to Lochmaben, ten years before, to encounter, in a card-playing tourney, Scotland's chivalrous King. The leading men of the country, with hundreds of their followers, had been "wede away" in the carnage of the preceding autumn, so that the invaders met with little resistance; and they ravaged the district nearest them in a style of wanton bar- barity. Daere, in writing, on the 17th of May, an account of his destructive achievements to the English Council, says that he had laid waste Ewisdale, in which there were 140 ploughs 192 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. (plough-lands); that he had almost depopulated Lower Annan- dale and Eskdale, in which there were more than 400 ploughs; that he had wholly destroyed the town of Annan, and thirty- three other townships. He boasts that all these ploughs and townships " are now clearly wasted, and no man dw^ng in any of thorn at this day, save only in the towns of Annan, Stepel, and Wauchope." The sanguinary and remorseless Warden concludes his report by intimating that he meant to continue his service "with diligence, from time to time, to the utmost annoyance of the Scots." Had not the Steward of Annandale been mouldering in his grave, and had not his son Robert, Lord Maxwell, been young, inexperienced, and with few retainers left on his muster-roll, Dacre would not have been in a condition to make such a report. CHAPTER XVII. JAMES V. VISITS DUMrKIESSHIEE, TO OVERAWE AND PUNISH THE TUBBULBNT BORDEBEES — JOHNNIE ARMSTRONG ENTERS INTO A BOND OF MAENENT WITH LORD MAXWELL AT DUMFRIES — VISIT OF THE " GUBEMAN OF EALLENGEICH" to AMISFIELD tower — THE KING PROCEEDS TO ESKDALK — TRAGICAL FATE OF JOHNNIE ARMSTRONG — CONDITION OF THE DEBAT- ABLE LAND — BEGINNING OF THE REFORMATION — OPPOSITION GIVEN TO IT BY JAMES — ^ABORTIVE ATTEMPT OF ANGUS TO REGAIN HIS INFLUENCE BY ENGLISH AID HENRY OF ENGLAND REVIVES THE CLAIM OF HIS PREDE- CESSORS TO THE SOVEREIGNTY OF SCOTLAND — ^VILLAUOUS SCHEME OF LORD WHARTON TO CAPTURE THE KING OF SCOTS — BATTLE OF SOL WAY MOSS — ROUT OP THE SCOTS, AND CAPTURE OF LORD MAXWELL AND OTHER CHIEFS BY THE VICTORS — WHAETON'S REPORT OF THE BATTLE TO KING HENRY KING JAMES DIES OF A BROKEN HEART. DUEING the new King's minority, the Earl of Angus kept him almost as a prisoner, and ruled the country at his pleasure; but the youthful monarch having acquired his freedom by an ingenious stratagem, banished his autocratic keeper, and began to administer public affairs with extraordinary vigour. Turbulent chiefs and predatory bands kept the Border districts in (to use an expressive old term) perpetual "broilery." " These disturbers," said the King, " must be subdued, and rendered loyal and peaceable, at all hazards." For this purpose he entered Dumfriesshire at the head of a large army, letting it be known beforehand that he meant to "make the rasch biish keep the cow;" in other words, that he would put down cattle-stealing — the chronic offence of the Borders — and render all ranks, high as well as low, amenable to his rule. At this period the predatory clan of the Armstrongs occupied a large portion of the Debatable Land and its vicinity — their chief, the Laird of Mangerton, having become a feudatory of the Earl of Bothwell, when he acquired the lordship of Liddisdale, in 1491. When Lord Dacre wasted Eskdale and Lower Annandale in 1514, there is reason to suppose that he received a helping hand from the Armstrongs. The following 2 A f 194 HISTORY OF DUMFRIKS. extract from the records of the Justiciary Court shows, at all events, that a few years afterwards they had been legally proceeded against on some serious charge: — "15th May, 1517. — Respite to the Armstrongs, Tailyors, and all their kinsmen, friends, servants, and other dependants on them of the clan Liddisdale now dwelling in the Debatable Land and Woods, that will deliver to the Governor sufficient pledges to remain for good rule where they sail be assigned." This act of grace was not appreciated by the lawless tribe. "Elliots and Armstrongs ride thieves all," was still a true proverb so far as they were concerned; and the King's representative in the district, Robert, the fourth Lord Maxwell, finding the Armstrongs irrepressible by force, endeavoured to keep them in check by means of a treaty obligation. That nobleman had a special interest in the matter. He was next door neighbour to the turbulent reivers of the Debatable Land: all around that den of doughty thieves lay rich possessions inherited by his family; and the corn and oxen upon them were not a bit more secure than others in the district, because they happened to belong to the Lord Warden of the Marches. William, surnamed of Mangerton, seems to have been too tamely respectable for his position as a bandit chief; and on his brother, the renowned Johnnie Armstrong, devolved the virtual leadership of the clan. All Maxwell's overtures were therefore made to Johnnie, who, with all his love for fighting and foray, was willing, if tempting terms were offered, to turn over a new leaf In obedience to a request received from Lord Maxwell, he, late in the autumn of 1525, left his Tower of Gilnockie, on the Esk, and, in company with his son Christie, met his lordship at Dumfries.* What transpired at the inter- view is not recorded, but the result is known : a bond of marnent signed for Johnnie on the 3rd of November, 1525, "with his hand at the pen, as he could not subscribe his name;"t in which document the bold marauder swore sub- mission to the Lord Warden, on condition of receiving his protection, and obtaining a grant of the lands of Langholm, with other jicndicles in the same locality. Christie Armstrong entered into a similar bond on his own behalf — the material * The Terroglos Papers. f '^^'"'^ ! ^^'^ Barjarg MSS. HISTOKY OF DUMFRIES. 195 " consideration" in bis case being a ten-pound laud in Eskdale. Tbese bonds were not very strictly interpreted by the Arm- strongs. Perhaps they thought that all that was meant by them .was immunity to the Warden's cattle from their ravages : but if they spared these, they continued their raids elsewhere ; and when news on the subject reached King James, it was accompanied by the aggravating report that his own repre- sentative, whose special duty it was to keep the peace of the Border, was protecting the lawless, and living hand and glove with " broken men." The first act of the young monarch, on entering Dumfries- shire, was a bold one. The Maxwells had all along maintained his cause against the Douglasses — and their influence was paramount in the County; but neither the memory of past favours, nor the apprehension of converting a friend into an enemy, prevented him from doing what he felt to be his duty. Maxwell was thrown into prison; Lord Home, the Lairds of Buccleuch, Polwart, and Kerr were also placed in ward: which chiefs, says Pitscottie, deserved punishment, since, instead of restraining the thievish Border clans, as in duty bound, they had " winked at their villanies, and given them way." The King had also, if tradition is to be relied upon, a score to settle with the Laird of Amisfield. Before setting out from Stirhng, a poor widow, it is said, who had travelled al] the way from the neighbourhood of Lochmaben, laid before him a tale of cruel hardship, and claimed redress. A party of Enghshmen had penetrated to her little toft, carried off her only son, and whole stock of cattle — two cows; and when Sir John Charteris, who was Deputy- Warden of the Marches at the time, was told of the outrage, he, instead of capturing the marauders, as he could easily have done, treated the complain- ing widow with rudeness and contempt, protesting that he had something else to do than to look after her paltry concerns. The gracious monarch dismissed the petitioner with the assurance that her case would be attended to. On arriving in Nithsdale, he proceeded in disguise to Amis- field Tower, and, " tirling at the pin," apprised the porter who answered the summons that he was the bearer of an important message to his lord. " Sir John is at dinner, and cannot be 196 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. disturbed." "But, my good fellow," rejoined the King, "the English have crossed the Border in great force, and the Warden must cause the beacons to be fired;" and the porter, propitiated by a few silver groats, broke in upon bis master's revels with the tidings — only, however, to receive a curse for his intrusion. When another servant, pale with emotion, bore to Sir John a second message from the King, to the effect that the Gudeman of Ballengeich* had been long waiting at the gate, seeking admittance, but in vain, the terrified knight changed his tune, and knowing rather too late that his visitor was King James himself, he on bended knee craved pardon for his misconduct. The humbled Laird was then told in angry tones that he had something else to be sorry for and to atone — his gross neglect of the Annandale widow. " Her loss you must repay tenfold," said the indignant monarch; "and as for the poor woman's son, unless he is ransomed within ten days, you shall die for it on the gallows." As a further punishment, a large portion of the royal troops was billeted on the offending Deputy- Warden during his Majesty's sojourn in the district. After this characteristic episode, James proceeded, at the head of several thousand men, on his justiciary excursion through tlie worst parts of the country. During his progress many men of substance submitted themselves quietly to the King's will, giving security that they would appear if called upon to underlie the law, in all crimes laid to their chaige. Other offenders, whom he deemed incorrigible, were relentlessly dealt with. Over a hill situated on the north side of St. Mary's Loch runs a tract (now barely visible) that is stiU termed the King's Road, as by it James passed from the Braes of YaiTow into Ettrick.-)- An old song embodies a tradition to this effect, and a reference to the " roving " gallantry of his disposition, which "The Jolly Beggar" and other ballads of his own commemorate. " The king rade round the Merecleuch-liead, Booted and spurred, as we a' did see; Sync diued wi' a lass at Mossfeimau yett, A little below tlio Logan Lee." * Tlio name usually aaauiund Ijy James \'. when roaming, according to liis wont, through tlio country in diaguiao. f T'lianibors's Picture of Scotland, p. 163. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 197 Be the amour here hinted at true or false, there can be no doubt as to James's tragical dealings with a gentleman- reiver who lived hard by — William Cockburne, of Henderland. Cockburne was seized by James's orders, sent forthwith to Edinburgh, where he was tried, condemned, and executed — the charges against him, besides the general ones of high treason and common theft, being that he had, in company with certain Englishmen, plundered Archibald Sommerville and the lands of Glenquhome. There is a prevalent tradition that the luckless Laird of Henderland was in " red - handed " style hanged over his own castle -gate, and that his widow Marjory buried him at a spot which is still shown as his grave in Meggetdale; but the facts are that he was regularly tried as above, on the 16th of May, in the following year (1530), and beheaded in Edinburgh.* Adam Scott of Tuschelaw was taken at the same time as Cockburne, tried by the same tribunal two days afterwards, and was also convicted and beheaded : the charges against him were that he had theftuously taken " black maill " from certain parties, among others the tenants of Elsieshiels, and the poor tenants of Hopcailyow. To the luckless Laird of Gilnockie, Johnnie Armstrong, James determined to show as little mercy. If the bandit chief had resolved on eluding the King, he could easily have done so by crossing into Cumberland; or, if he had been bent on a boldly- * Both Sir Walter Scott and Robert Cb ambers, accepting the tradition, considered tbat tbe tragedy was embalmed in tbe beautiful ballad of " The Border Widow's Lament," wHcb tells how the King " broke into her bower," "slew her knight," and "left her in extremitie;" and then the mourner is made to say, with touching pathos : — " I sewed his sheet, making my maen; I watched the corpse myself alane; I watched his body, night and day — No living creature came that way. I took his body on my back. And whUes I gaed, and whiles I sate; I digg'd a grave, and laid him in. And happed him wi' the sod sae green." Pitcairu'a matter-of-fact minute (vol. i., part 1, p. 145) shows that the ballad was not inspired by the fate of Cockburne. 198 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. defiant course, he might, by entrenching himself in one of his strong keeps on the Liddel, or by retiring to the fastness of Tarras Moss, have held out for a long period against the royal army. None of these steps was pursued by him. Was Johnnie mad or infatuated when, with thirty-six of his followers, he rode within the infuriated monarch's reach? or is the tale of the old ballad true, that " the King had written a loving letter, with his ain hand sae tenderlie," promising pardon to the freebooter if he would only submit to ask for it ? " He came before the King," says Pitscottie, " with his foresaid number, richly apparelled, trusting that in respect of the free offer of his person he should obtain the King's favour. But the King seeing him and his men so gorgeous in their apparel, with so many brave men under a tyrant's commandment, frowardly turning him about, he bade take the tyrant out of his sight, saying, 'What wants that knave that a king should have?' But John Armstrong made great offers to the King — that he would sustain himself, with forty gentlemen, ever ready at his service, on their own cost, without wronging any Scottishman; secondly, that there was not a subject in England — duke, earl, or baron — but, within a certain day, he should bring him to his Majesty, either quick or dead."* To all such tempting offers the King's ear was deaf, and to every entreaty of the outlaw the King's heart was sealed. " Away, away, thou traitor Strang! Out o' my sicht soon mayest thou be! I granted never a traitor's life. And now I'll not begin with thee ! " At length Johnnie, seeing, when it was too late, that his doom was irrevocable, retorted proudly, " It is folly to seek gi-ace at a graceless face! But had I known this, I should have hved on the Borders in despite of King Harry and you both; for I know that King Harry would downweigh my best hoi-se with gold to know that I were condemned to die this day!" "God grant our men weel back again!" cried the ladies of Gilnockie and Tarras, as they looked from the turret windows when the gay cavalcade rode off to meet King James; and the words * Pitscottie, p. 146. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 199 of another ancient ballad well express the sad fidelity of their forebodings: — ' ' lang, laDg may their ladies sit, Wi' their gowd kaims in their hair, A' waiting for their ain dear lords. For them they'll see nae mair. " Neither Johnnie nor one of his goodly company was allowed to revisit the glades of Eskdale; they were led forth to instant execution, by command of the Rhadaman thine King, and hanged on growing trees at a place called Carlenrig Chapel, about ten miles above Hawick, on the high road to Langholm. Of Gilnockie, long the outlaw's principal hold, no trace is now left, the last relics of the Tower having been removed to make room for a bridge over the Esk. On the opposite bank of that river, a little further up, still stand the ruins of Hallows, or Hollas, where, according to Sir Walter Scott, Johnnie Arm- strong usually resided; but that is more than doubtful. Hollas Tower was held in fee or wardenry by Lord Maxwell; and though he granted lands in Liddisdale to the outlaw, it is nowhere mentioned that Hollas was included in the gift.* After the King had, by these tragical proceedings, done his utmost to break up the system of robbery and terrorism that prevailed on the Borders, he relented so far as to set Lord Maxwell," and the other chiefs whom he had imprisoned, at liberty. He then returned, with his army, to Edinburgh. There is every reason to suppose that his Majesty soon came to see that no very heinous crime had been committed by the Lord Warden. On the 5th of July, 1530, the latter received, as a royal gift, the escheated estates, heritable and movable, of Johnnie Armstrong — a clear proof that he had regained the favour of King James. Christie Armstrong, luckily for himself, escaped his father's fate, by avoiding an interview with royalty. On learning what had occurred, he took refuge in Cumberland, and became henceforth the sworn enemy of the Scottish monarch, and the enthusiastic ally of the English in their raids across the Border. The ballad from which we have already quoted * Manuscript Account of the Debatable Land, by Mr. Thomas Carlyle, of Waterbeck. 200 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. states, with some truth, that Johnnie Armstrong performed patriotic service in defending the frontier line between the kingdoms — he being such a terror to the Southrons, "that nane of them durst come near his hauld." On this account, perhaps, it would have been politic had the King come to terms with him; the hanging of the outlaw was, at all events, bitterly remembered by his clansmen, and for many a day cost the country dear. The reader will learn afterwards how fear- fully, when fighting under the invading banners of Dacre and Wharton, they revenged the fate of their lamented chief. In 1579, the Master of Maxwell (afterwards the celebrated Lord Herries), while acting as Deputy-Warden during his father's captivity in England, drew up a report on the Debat- able Land for the King, in which he states, that after Gil- nockie's execution the inhabitants had been reduced to twenty or thirty, but that they now numbered from 300 to 400 men- at-arms, and had during the interval built eight or nine peel- houses, so strong as to be "impregnable to any power at the disposal of the Warden." The names of these strengths are not given; but they were probably Morton or Sark, Woodhouseleys, Bomglush, Hollas, Irving or Auchenriffoch, Mumbyhool, Hall- green, and Harelaw : all of which rose up in the district during the sixteenth century, though none now remains but Hollas,* hoar and roofless — "a broth erless hermit, the last of its race." The Armstrongs at that period, and for some time afterwards, were still the principal occupiers of the Debatable Country, residing in their houses of Sark, Hollas, Hallgreen, and Hare- law, all in the parish of Canonby: the Grahams, though less numerous, mustered strongly in Kirkandrews parish, the other portion of the disputed district. These septs iisually kept on friendly terms, intermarrying frequently, and foraying together. The Grahams had also settled down on the land lying between the Lyne — then called the Levyn — and the Liddel, a notorious spot of ground, where formerly hordes of self-expatriated Arm- strongs, Elliots, Scotts, and other "broken" outlaws, rendez- voused, and were known in their day as "the traitors of the Levyn." Surrounding the Debatable Land were the Arm- strongs, in other parts of Liddisdnle and Middlebie, the Irvings • Mr. T. Carlyle's MS. yriSTORY OF DUMFRIES. 201 on Kirtle-Water, and the smaller clans of Eome and Liddel in Gretna. In his fondness for adventure, and in some other respects, James V. resembled his father very much. Under the influence of a romantic sentiment, he projected a "love chase" among the fair ladies of France — not in "the Gudeman of Ballengeich" style, but with a view to marriage. This royal " Coelebs in search of a wife," disguised as a private gentleman, and accom- panied by Lord Maxwell (for whom he entertained a fraternal affection), embarked in a ship freighted for the purpose; but, a storm arising, the vessel had to sail back, landing the disap- pointed King at Whithorn. Next year, however, he realized the object of this singular expedition in a regular way, by proceeding with a magnificent retinue to France, and marrying Magdalene, the eldest daughter of its king. The young Queen — she had only seen sixteen summers — was as delicate as she was beautiful. Within forty days after the arrival of the royal pair at Leith, on the 19th of May, 1537, the "Lily of Scotland" pined away, and died, leaving James and the country plunged in grief James V. paid another visit to Dumfriesshire in 1538, but under very altered circumstances, as, during the twelve years that had elapsed since his justiciary tour, events of vast importance had occurred to himself and to the nation. It might have been supposed that a prince of his disposition, who curbed the nobles, and took pride in being called " King of the Commons," would have encouraged the Reformation from Popery. That great revolutionary movement was already progressing rapidly throughout the kingdom; and if James had placed himself at its head, how much happier might have been his fate, and from what trials and conflicts would he have saved his country ! At one time he seemed to be on the point of dismissing his priestly counsellors, when he rated them as " a pack of jugglers," and bade them reform their own lives, instead of urging him to punish heretics;* but, unhappily, he * William Eure, a correspondent of the English Government in Scotland, writing to Lord Cromwell on the 26th January, 1540, says he learns from one of King James's Privy Councillors that he favours the Eeformatiou, and that he is "fully mynded to expell all spirituall men [priests] from having any authoritie within the reaXme." —State Papers, vol. v., p. 170. 2 B -02 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. succumbed to their views, wedded Mary of Guise, a Roman Catholic princess, instead of his cousin, the daughter of Henry VIII., whom he had half promised to espouse — Lord Max- well being in this instance the negotiator of the marriage* — sanctioned the persecution of the Reformers, and eventually placed an impassable gulf betwixt himself and them. Patrick Hamilton, the protomartyr of Scottish Protestantism, perished at the stake in 1525; soon after, three "godly men, who professed the Evangel of Christ, were called before the bishops and kirkmen, and condemned and burnt by the King's com- mission."t These were the Vicar of Dollar, Norman Galloway, and David Straiten ; others shared their fate : but all the rigour which James and his ecclesiastical advisers could put forth failed to avert the downfall of Popery. Meanwhile, the monarch's own end was rapidly approaching. For several years, though there had been no settled peace, there had been no decided hostility with the English ; but, in 1541, the latter made a predatory foray into Scotland, and when restitution was applied for. King Henry, who was now eager to hasten a rupture with his nephew, returned an unsatisfactory answer. James, in anticipation of such a result, levied an army of ten thousand men, which was placed under the cbmmand of the Earl of Huntly, that nobleman being at the same time commissioned to act as Lieutenant-General of the Borders. King James sometimes went southward for the purpose of inspecting the troops; and it was on one of these occasions, and while war between the realms was still undeclared, that Sir Thomas Wharton, the English Warden, laid an important project * A Manuscript Account of tbe Family of Maxwell (quoted in History of Galloway, vol. i. , p. 452) says that King James, in reward of Lord Mascwell's services on this and other occasions, confirmed to liim the lands of Ewisdale, Eskdale, and Wauchope, by a charter under the Great Seal. " He was," it is added, "possessed of an immense estate, and had no less than fourteen charters fi-om the King of different lands and baronies— inter 1530 et 1540." In one charter there are confirmed to him the lands of Maxwell, iu Roxburgh- Bhirc ; Carlavorock, in Dumfriesshire ; Springkell, iu Annandale, with the office of Steward thereof, and of Kirkcudbright; the lands of Gai-nseUooh, JJursguhon, and Balraacruth, iu Perthshire; Gordouston and Grenan, in Kirk- cudbright; with the lauds and baronies of Mearus and Nether Pollock, iu Renfrewshire, &c., &c. f l^itsoottie, p. 150. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 203 before his royal master. He represented to King Henry that his youthful nephew was in the habit of visiting Dumfries and its vicinity with a small retinue; and that it would be no very difficult matter to seize him during some unsuspecting moment, carry him across the Border, and become the dictator of Scotland by being the captor of its King. This scandalous proposal found great favour with the English monarch.* He wished, above all things, to get the King of Scots in his power, and was perfectly indifferent about the means that might be employed for that purpose. He had a perfect confidence, also, in Wharton — knew him to be a bold, crafty, unscrupulous soldier — the very man, in short, for carrying his o-ma vile scheme into effect. Henry commended it to the careful consideration of his "right trustie and well-beloved Counsailours, enjoining them to report upon it with all due speed." The Privy Council read and re-read the letter from Wharton in which his audacious scheme was developed; and the more they perused it, it pleased them the less. Nor did they mince matters with his Majesty — they had the honesty and courage to say that they disapproved of the base stratagem laid by the Warden for capturing the King of Scots; and to counsel its abandonment. They told Henry that they " wold have been afrayd to have thought on suche a matier touching a Kinges persone," had they not been enjoined by him to consider it; and, after pointing out the discreditable character of the device, they affirmed that it was full of difficulty and danger. Using the language of remonstrance, they said : " But, Sir, we have also wayed that matier aftre our symple wittes and judgementes, and we fynde in it many difficulties. First, we considre that the castle [Carlaverock] whereunto He [King James] resortethe is [ ] myles within the grounde of Scot- lande. We considre also that the cuntrey betwene that and Englande is so well inhabited, that it should be very difficile to conveye any suche number of men to the place where * The plot seems to have escaped the vigilance of Tytler, though, in writing his excellent History of Scotland, he drew extensively upon the State Papers of the period. Our account of it is taken from a letter of the Privy Council to King Henry, in vol. v. of the State Papers, p. 204. 204 HISTOKY OF DUMFRIES. lie sliuld be intercepted, but the same wold be discovered. We considre again that Doonfrese, con of the best townea in Scotlande, is in that parte where the entreprize shuld be doon; and the cuntrey so inhabited at their backes, that if it were doon, it wold be harde to bring Him thens, specially alyve." Then, in the event of discovery and failure, what "slaunder" would grow out of it! what " deidlie feud " would ensue! And should King James be taken, would there not be a rescue, or such tumult and deray as would put the royal life in peril ? For all these reasons, expressed or implied, the Council declared that they durst not advise the adoption of the enterprise, "but rather thinke it mete that Wharton (who hathe, we think, had a good meanyng in it) should neverthe- less surcease, and make no living creature privye to any such mater." Henry bowed reluctantly to the decision of his ministers, and sought to realize his object by tardier and less dishonourable means.* In the summer of 1542, an English force, ten thousand strong, crossed the Eastern Marches, in the direction of Jedburgh and Kelso; and who should be the leaders of it but the banished Earl of Angus and his brother George : to such debasement were they willing to stoop, in order to wreak their vengeance on King James, and recover their influence in Scotland. Huntly, hearing of their movements, interposed in time to save the threatened towns; and, at Hadden-Kig, encountered and defeated the enemy, taking prisoner many men of note, Angus himself only escaping a similar fate by despatching his captor with a dagger. On receiving the news of this disaster, Henry proclaimed war in due form, revived the obsolete claim of his predecessors to the superiority of Scotland, and sent the Surrey of Flodden, now Duke of Norfolk, across the Border, at the head of a large army. A Scottish force, encamped on Fala Muir, checked the progress of the invaders, who, after doing some mischief, withdrew comparatively unmolested. To follow thom was the first impulse of the impetuous King. Hg longed to moot the slayer of his father face to face in the hattlo-iicld; liut the chiefs whom he had with him doggedly * Stftto Papers, vol. v., pji. 204 f). HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 205 refused to cross the Border, averring that their iiiihtary service only extended to the defence of their own country, while some of them did not scruple to say, " The King is king of the priests; let him ask followers from those whose counsel he has acted upon, and not from the nobles whom he has humiliated and despised, and who have no heart to fight his battles." James could do nothing with such a contumacious host but disband it; and, having done this, he returned to Edinburgh vowing that he should on an early day cause another force to be raised, and invade England, and that if the barons opposed his resolution, Scotland would no longer hold both him and them. Before many more months elapsed, a second army was formed, chiefly through the exertions of the clergy, who sent rescripts for a military muster to all over whom they had any influence. Some of our historians allege that Robert, the fifth Lord Maxwell, was appointed general of this new force; and that Oliver Sinclair, one of the King's household servants, was only nominally associated with him in the command. Others, again, with more credibility, state that Sinclair (who was a tool of the priesthood, as well as a royal favourite), received secret letters from the King, appointing him sole leader of the invading army, enjoining him, however, to keep his commission secret till the time of action arrived. According to Buchanan, Maxwell, with the view of mollifying the King's rage against his nobles, engaged, with ten thousand men, to cross the Esk, and retaliate upon the English ; but his Majesty could not accept the offer, as he had previously committed himself to another course — one by which he designed still further to punish those who had traversed his policy. King James accompanied the army, and perhaps by his presence encouraged the idea that he would himself assume the command. He had no such intention, however, and remained at Carlaverock Castle, there to wait the result of the enterprise, and as if he feared that it would prove a failure. It would have been extremely marvellous had it prospered, as it wanted nearly eveiy element of success. The soldiers had no great relish for the expedition on which they were sent; they had no acknowledged leader; some of those barons whose 20G HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. retainers swelled the ranks, had a standing grudge against the sovereign; and when the Esk was crossed, and a cry arose, "Who is to lead us against the enemy?" and it was answered by Oliver Sinclair being raised shoulder high, and proclaimed General with sound of trumpet, secret discontent merged into open mutiny. Many scenes of tumult and disaster have been witnessed on the banks of the little Border stream, but none so wild and strange as that which now ensued. In vain the Popish lords who had approved of the invasion sought to calm the storm: discipline was gone — rank mingled with rank — hoarse cries of disapproval, interspersed with curses on the low-born caitiff insultingly thrust upon them as commander, rose like thunder from a thousand voices, till the mighty host became nothing better than a riotous mob.* Its confusion did not pass unseen by the English, a party of whom, fourteen hundred strong, led by Sir Thomas Wharton and Sir William Musgrave, sallied forth on horseback, and, seeing how matters stood, dashed headlong upon the disordered throng. Only a faint show of resistance was made by the Scots. A few of them fought single-handed, under the instinct of self-defence; but there was not even the semblance of a general engagement. To surrender without a struggle, or escape by flight, were the alternatives which the great mass adopted. To fight might have saved themselves, but it might also have secured a victory for the King's detested favourite; and, rather than bring glory to him, they covered themselves with disgrace. Upwards of a thousand yielded without strik- ing a blow; and the rest, numbering nearly nine thousand, turned their faces homeward, throwing away the weapons which they did not use, and which only encumbered their flight. Night came down upon the fugitives, adding much to their bewilderment. They recrossed the Esk with little loss, though the tide had flooded it four fathoms deep. "We are safe now," they fancied: "our own land has been reached, and there is a dark rolling sea between us and the enemy." But it is not land on which they have stumbled; it is a treacherous * In the Diurnal of Occurrenta, ji. '25, tlio disaster to the Soots at Solway Mo.ss is oxpressivoly spokon of as "anc unhappie raid, begylit be thair awne gyJing" HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 207 morass ! — and down — down — perishing ignobly in the dismal swamp — go many stout warriors, and are seen no more, till, centuries afterwards, some of them are accidentally disentombed ! Whilst the retreating; Scots were doing their utmost to cross this appalling quagmire, a party of their pursuers approached, and, by raising hideous shouts, increased their confusion. At this stage of the deplorable rout, numerous additional prisoners were taken; and it is stated by Buchanan that not a few Scots were captured by the predatory bands of the neighbourhood, and sold to the English. What proportion of the army arrived at home in safety is not recorded: the likelihood is, that the loss in killed and prisoners was nearly one-third of its whole array. Comparatively few fell by the sword; though PiLscottie must, we think, have greatly understated the number, when he says there were only twenty-five persons slain — ten Scots, and fifteen Enghsh. How many were swallowed up by the morass, was never known. Among the prisoners of rank were the Earl of Cassilis, the Lords Maxwell, Fleming, Sommerville, Oliphant, and Grey, and Oliver Sinclair, the officer of an hour, and the main cause of the disaster.* Wharton's report of this triumph to King Henry is still extant. It is a plain, soldierly document, containing no boasting, and attributing the result to good fortune and the Divine favour. " It may please your Majesty," says Wharton, " to be advertised that herewith I do send into your highness the names of the noblemen and gentlemen prisoners which I delivered at Darnton to my Lord Scroop, and the names of their takers in the same. I do send also to your Majesty the order of that fortunate service done by the power of Almighty God to your highness against your highness's enemies, and the names of such gentlemen and the numbers [of followers] with them, in that your majesty's service; together with such communication in effect as I have had with the Lord Maxwell and Oliver Synclere. I shall attend your Majesty's most noble command- * In the State Paper Office, London, there is a paper showing the resources of the prisoners. It includes the following entries: — " The Lorde Maxwell, in landes, per annum, 4000 merkes Scottishe, which is sterling 1000 merkes; and in goodes, 2000 £ Scottishe, which is sterling 500 £. Henry Maxwell, brodyr to the Lorde Maxwell, in landes, per annum, notbinge; and in goodes, uothinge," — State Papers, vol. v., p. 233. 208 HISTOEY OF DUMFRIES. inent for all the other prisoners according to my most bounden duty . . . ; and shall daily pray to Almighty God that your majesty may most long in prosprous health reign over us. At Carlisle, the 10th of December." The capture of the Warden is thus entered in the list: — "The Lord Maxwell, Admiral of Scotland, Warden of the West Marches of the same, and one of the King of Scots Privy Council. Edward Aglionby, or Geoi-ge Foster, his taker." Batill Routlege is repre- sented as having taken the Earl of Cassilis, only " John Musgrave claimeth a part for the loan of his horse to the said Routledse:" and poor " Ohver Synkeler " is stated to have been borne off and claimed by one " Willie Bell."* Such was the rout of Solway Moss, and some of its results. It constitutes one of the mo.st remarkable and disreputable incidents of Scottish history. Its evils are not all summed up in the disloyal mutiny, the mockery of a resistance, the tame surrender, the panic-flight, and the devouring bog: it crazed the brain and broke the heart of the obstinate, yet, in many respects, noble-minded King of Scots. The news of the inglorious discomfiture of his army reached him, late in the day, at Carlaverock Castle, and the royal halls echoed all night long with the lamentations which it wrung from him. He was thoroughly unmanned — prostrated — wrecked — ^by the terrible tidings; and the image of his favourite, a fugitive and a prisoner, figured prominently among the tormenting phan- toms that crowded round his couch. "Fie! fie! is Oliver fled ! Is Oliver taken !" shrieked the poor King, ever and anon, in an agony that no one could minister to, far less remove. He retired to his Palace of Falkland, only to die. When the tide * Solway Moss is about seven miles in oirciimfereuce, and lies in the Englisli portion of the Debatable Land ; the Sark flowing along its western side, and the Esk forming its boundary on the east. The battle, such as it was, must have taken place in the neighbourhood of Longtown, on the left bank of the Msk. Gilpin describes the Moss as covered with grass and rushes, presenting a dry crust and fair appearance, but shaking under the least pressure — -the bottom being unsound and semi-fluid. He states that the adventurous pas- Bcnger who sometime."!, in dry seasons, passes this pei-ilous waste to save a few miles of travel, picks his cautious way over the rushy tussocks as they appear before him — for on these the soil is comparatively Arm ; but if his foot slip, or if ho venture to desert this mark of security, it is possible he may never more be heard of. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 209 of life was ebbing rapidly, the intelligence was brought to him of the Queen's safe delivery of a child. " Is it male or female?" he asked. " A fair daughter," replied the messenger — an intimation that aggravated his sufferings, and hurried on the end, by calling to his remembrance how the Stewart race had succeeded to the Crown. " It came with a lass," said the dying monarch, bitterly, "and it will go with a lass." Then the engrossing woe of Solway Moss came back upon his mind, eliciting the old wail: " Is Oliver fled ! Is Oliver a prisoner!" Speaking little from that time henceforth, but commending himself to the mercy of Almighty God, he " turned his back unto the lords, and his face unto the wall,"* till his spirit passed away. The death of James V., at the early age of thirty years, added to the woes of Scotland. His daughter Mary was but a few days old when the melancholy event occurred, so that the country was again doomed to a long interregnum, during which angry factions contended for supremacy; and Henry VIII. and his successor strove to take advantage of the weakness thus produced — ^Dumfriesshire, as usual, suffering much from the machinations of its Southern neighbours. A new element of strife was also introduced by the Reformation; the conflict it originated in the end becoming so engrossing as to swallow up, or at least to subordinate, all other rivalries and matters of debate. Both Nithsdale and Annandale clung with some tenacity to the old creed after other districts had flung it aside ; but, as we shall see, before Mary Stuart came from France to enter upon the government of her kingdom, in 1561, the cause of Protestantism prevailed extensively over the County, though a few of its leading chiefs continued to oppose it. * Pitsoottie, p. 177. 2 C CHAPTER XVIII. HENHY VIII. SEEKS TO NEGOTIATE A MAEBIAOE BETWEEN THE PRINCE OF WALES AND THE INFANT QUEEN OF SCOTS — HE LIBERATES THE PRISONERS TAKEN AT SOLWAY MOSS, ON CONDITION THAT THEY SHALL PROMOTE THE PROJECT, AND HELP HIM, BY ITS MEANS, TO SUBJUGATE SCOTLAND — LORD MAXWELL, ON BEING RELEASED, PROCEEDS TO THE SCOTTISH COURT — HE ADVOCATES THE ENGLISH INTERESTS; AND THE CATHOLIC PARTY TRY IN VAIN TO MAKE HIM BREAK FAITH WITH KING HENHY — MAXWELL CARRIES A BILL THROUGH THE ESTATES TO PERMIT THE LIEGES TO POSSESS AND HEAD THE SCRIPTURES IN THE VULGAR TONGUE — BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF THIS MEASURE ON THE PROTESTANT CAUSE — MAXWELL RETURNS TO HIS CAPTIVITY, ACCORDING TO PROMISE.; AND, ON BEING HARD PRESSED AND THREATENED BY HBNEY, AGREES TO PURCHASE HIS FREEDOM BY THE SURRENDER OP HIS TWO CASTLES, CARLAVEROCK AND LOCHMABEN — CURIOUS ARRANGEMENTS FOR CARRYING THE SURRENDER INTO EFFECT — CARLAVEROCK OCCUPIED BY AN ENGLISH GARRISON — ITS CAPTURE BY THE REGENT ARRAN — DEATH OF LORD MAXWELL. When the news of King James's death reached his royal uncle, that scheming potentate hit upon a new device for extending his rule over Scotland. This was to unite in marriage his only son, Prince Edward (then little more than five years old), to the infant Queen of Scots. Henry gained over to his views the Scottish lords taken at Solway Moss. To them the prospect of a long captivity in England was the reverse of pleasant; and, in order to avoid it, they came under a written obligation, not simply to promote his matrimonial project, but his desire, through that means, to become the virtual master of Scotland.* They were liberated on these degrading conditions, engaging at the same time upon oath to return to their prisons if they failed in their object, or if required to do so by the King. The terms imposed on Lord Maxwell seem to have been peculiarly harsh. Henry, knowing that he could obtain no permanent hold of southern Scot- land unless the Castles of Carlaverock and Lochmaben were » Saillor's State Papers, vol. i. , pp. 69, 74, 75. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 211 garrisoned by English soldiers, pressed their prisoned owner to give them up — plied him alternately with threats and entreaties, but at first without effect; and Maxwell, without submitting to these superadded obligations, was set at liberty. He proceeded to the Court of the Regent Arran, remaining there for some months, and forming at least a nominal member of the Enghsh party, whose objects were to promote the ascend- ency of Henry and help on the Reformation, as opposed to the Catholic party under Cardinal Beaton, who aimed at maintain- ing the old corrupt faith and the old French alliance. The State Paper correspondence of the period supplies a revelation of the compulsory influences brought to bear upon Maxwell when in England — of his anxiety to escape from the life-long activity held above his head, without sacrificing his loyalty and patriotism — and of the finesse with which he tried to foil the machinations of King Henry. One of the papers, entitled, "The Confeschyon of the Lord Maxfyld," brings out the curious facts, that Maxwell was allowed to pass into Scot- land in the interests of the King, on giving his word of honour to return; that, when there, Arran and his Council strove to induce him and the Earl of Angus to take part against the English army that had crossed the Border; and that the Nithsdale chief, resisting the tempting offers made to him, remained true to his plighted word. They offered, we are told, a thousand pounds in spiritual benefices, and a pension of three thousand francs from the French King, to the Earl; and a thousand merks of benefices, and the money named for his ransom (a thousand merks sterling), to Lord Maxwell. Whereupon the latter answered, "I am the Kingis Majestyis ' prisoner, trustyng ye wyll not have me dysonneryd. But, if I do go, what are you the wekar? But here my frendis do tarry: ye may command them to do seche servys as ye wyll have them; for they be undur youer powyr."* Angus, who, false to his blood and country, was the paid agent of King Henry, decUned to be patriotic on such terms; and both of the noblemen were placed in ward, but liberated after the lapse of five weeks — Maxwell, in spite of a requisition made to him by the Regent, declaring that he would return to * State Palmers, vol. v., p. 428. 212 HISTOEY OF DUMl'EIES. England, and reasoning thus : " Ar not you Governer ? Do I not leve beliynd me all my servauntes, all my tenauntes, my landes, and my goodes: what nede you fere, whethur I go or tary?"* He appears to have advocated the marriage scheme, and in other respects to have fulfilled his promise; but Henry rated his services at little value, and gave him no credit for good faith. There was another scheme, of lasting interest, which Maxwell seems to have done his utmost to promote — the diffusion of the Holy Scriptures in the vulgar tongue. During his enforced sojourn in England, he acquired a bias towards Protestantism; and if, on his temporary return to Scotland, he had had full liberty of action, the likelihood is, that he would have fairly cast in his lot with the Reformation party, and the house of Maxwell would have been divorced from the old creed, to which in after times it clung so persistently. The period of his return was a critical one, the spring of 1543, when the ecclesiastical edifice was beginning to totter, and men of all ranks to determine whether they would aid in trying to keep it up, or lend their influence to pull it down. Lord Robert Maxwell was ranked with the most reckless of the latter class, when, on the 15th of March, he submitted to the Estates a revolutionary proposal, making it lawful for all " our Soverane Ladyis lieges to possess and read copies of the Bible in Scotch or English."! Arran, the Regent, approved of the measure, so did the Lords of the Articles. Beaton would have opposed it to the uttermost, had he been outside the prison to which Arran had consigned him; and, in his absence, Gavin Dunbar, Archbishop of Glasgow, cried it down as a pernicious device. A reference' was made to Tyndale's English version, with the view of showing that it, at all events, was free from any poisonous ingredient; and aU the answer made by the Most Reverend Father was, that Tyndale had corrupted the text by using the word " love," instead of the canonical term, "charity," in the well known passage, "Now abideth faith, hope, and love." With feeble argument, but bitter hatred, the prelates opposed Lord Maxwell's bill. It was sanctioned by Parliament in spite of them; and soon a Government proclamation, read at the Market Cross of • State rii]urs, vnl, v., pp, 420, 430. f Appcjulix G. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 213 Edinburgh, announced that it had become law. By this act the fountain of truth was unsealed, and its refreshing waters were made free, for a time at least, to all. "This was no small victory of Jesus Christ," says Knox, "fighting against the common enemies of his verity ; no small comfort to such as before were holden in such bondage, that they durst not have read the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Command- ments, nor the articles of the faith, in the vulgar tongue, but they should have been accused of heresy. Then might have been seen the Bible lying almost upon every gentleman's table. The New Testament was borne about in many men's hands. We grant that some, alas! prophaned that blessed Word; for," adds the historian, with a flash of the peculiar humour that sometimes lights up his page, " some that perchance had never read ten sentences in it, had it most common in their hand, they would chap their familiars on the cheek with it, and say, 'This hath Uen under my bed-feet these ten years!' Others would glory, ' O how oft have I been in danger for this book ! how secretly have I stolen from my wife at midnight to read upon it!' And this was done, we say, of many to make court and curry favours thereby: for all men esteemed the Governor to have been one of the most fervent Protestants that was in Europe. Albeit we say that many abused that liberty granted of God miraculously, yet thereby did the knowledge of God wonderfully increase, and God gave his Holy Spirit to simple men in great abundance : then were set forth works in our own tongue, besides those that came from England, that did disclose the pride, the tyranny, and the abuses of that Roman Antichrist."* We learn from Keith, that though the Earl of Arran took certain steps for promoting the success of Lord Maxwell's wise measure, he could not summon up sufficient courage to identify himself thoroughly with the leaders of the Protestant move- ment — the Lords of the Congregation.f Soon afterwards he fairly deserted them — "turning his tippet" (to use a phrase then in vogue), and appearing as a flaming Eomanist. From Lord Maxwell as the enlightened advocate of religious freedom, to the same nobleman the pining captive of a tyi-ant * Histnrj', p. 77. t Keith, p. ,37. 214 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. king, there is a painful transition. Before the year ended, Maxwell was again in durance, experiencing the exactive demands of the English monarch. The correspondence already specified shows that he resisted them resolutely for a lengthened period, till a threat of sending him to the Tower was tried, under which he fairly broke down. The Earl of Hertford, writing to Secretary Paget, on the 29th of July, 1545, states that the harassed prisoner was reduced to so great "a per- plexitie and hevynes, that he coulde neyther eate, drynke, nor sleepe" — that he was ready to serve as a red-cross English soldier, if required, rather than be sent southward, from which, if once there, " he knewe well he shuld never returne on lyve."* The threat was not enforced, as its mere emission served the purpose for which it was designed. It was arranged that Lord Maxwell's second son, John, who held Lochmaben Castle, should at once give it up to the English, and that, on a future day that was fixed, the Hbera- tiou of Lord Maxwell, and the surrender of his other fortress, Carlaverock, should take place contemporaneously; the eldest son, Robert, giving personal security for his father's good faith. But Robert Maxwell, instead of fulfilling the bargain, made a raid across the Border, accompanied by his uncle, John Maxwell of Cowhill; and both had the ill-luck to be captured by the enemy. The next step was to despatch Cowhill with letters from Lord Maxwell to his second son, John (afterwards the celebrated Lord Herries), soliciting the latter to repair to Carlisle, and lie in pledge for his father, and enjoining him to deliver the house of Lochmaben into his uncle's hands. The result is narrated by the Earl of Hertford, in a letter to Sir William Paget, dated Newcastle, 5th October, 1545. He refers the Secretary to an inclosure from Wharton, conveying the unpalatable information that Lord Maxwell's practices for the surrender of his houses "cometh to nothing" — his second son declining to give them up, or become hostage for his father. Not only so, Cowhill, safe on the Scottish side, a willing captive among his countrymen, refuses to come back. " So," says the wrathful Hertford, " can I judge non otherwise of the same, but that yt is n rnci-o practise and devise of the said John Maxwell * state Papers, Vdl. v., p, 479. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 215 of Cowhill, whereby, being a prysoner, and appoynted to retorne agayne into England furthwith, in case John Maxwell, sonne to the Lorde Maxwell, wold not accouiplishe the tenour of his letter, he may nowe excuse his entree, and saye that he ys taken and holden against his wille." The noble Earl proceeds to express his belief that the Scottish Lord himself is privy to all this deceit, and is selfishly bent on acquiring his liberty, and at the same time keeping his castles. In a second letter, dated a few days afterwards, addressed by Hertford to the Privy Council, he expresses more confidence in Lord Maxwell, and repeats a statement made by him, to the effect that the house of Carlaverock, being his own inheritance, and in the keeping of a priest his kinsman, he doubteth not, with the help of Lord Wharton, so to handle the matter that the said priest shall deliver the place to any one duly authorized to receive it for the King's Majesty's use; and that, this being done, should his Highness send him home, he feels assured that he will be able to put him in possession of Loch- maben also, and reduce the whole country to his obedience. Hertford consiilted with Wharton on this important business; and his report of their interview is so interesting, that we must introduce its principal passages. "To the first he [Wharton] saithe, that uppon the West Marches of Scotlande, the countrey of ytsilf being a wylde and waste grounde, there is no exployte to be don uppon that frontier nerer than Drunfreys, whiche is twentie miles within Scotlande, except that he shuld make a rode yn to overthrowe and caste downe a certen chirch and steple called the Steple of Annande, which is a thinge of litle importaunce and lesse annoyaunce to the enemye. And to go to Drunefreyes, he sayeth the countrey is so stronge of nature, and the passages thither so straight and narrowe, that he thinketh yt over harde and dangerous to be attempted with a Warden's roode. So that, by his saynge, the West Marches of Scotlande being so bareyn a countrey, and alredy wasted by the conteynenance of the warres, ther is non exployte to be don there other then aforsaide. To the seconde poynt : for Car- laverok we have also devised with the said Lord Wharton and the Lord Maxwell howe that matier may be accomplished. And after some reasonyng and communication therof, wherin 216 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. outwardly the said Lord Maxwell showeth himsilf very ernest, he hath taken uppon him that, yf he might have lycence to go to Carlisle with the said Lorde Wharton, that in case the priest that kepith the house for him woll at his sendyng comme to him to Carlisle (whereof he putteth no doubte), that then he will so handell the matier, as he doubteth not but the house shal be delyvered into the Kinges Majestes handes." Accordingly, Maxwell and Wharton proceeded to the Border city; "and," Hertford goes on to say, "because the said priest had the charge of the said house of Carlaverok commjrtted unto him by Robert Maxwell, and for that yt may be that he woll do as moche or more for Eobert Maxwell then for his father, as the Lord Maxwell himself doth also suppose, the said Robert was therefore called to this matier; and showyng himself no les desirous to serve the Kinges Majeste, both in this matier and all other wayes to his power, then his father, he hath by the devise of me wrytton to the said priest one letter, requyryng him furthwith to make his entree to Carlisle for the discharge of his band, because he is a prysoner, and the said Robert Maxwell bound for his entree whensoever he shall be called; and an other letter he hath also wrytton to be delyvered by his father to the priest at his commyng to Carlisle, whereby the priest shall perceyve that the said Robert ys bothe willing, prevye, and consenting to do in all things as his father woll devise for the delyvere of the said house of Carlaverok to the Kinges Majestie. An nowe, because you shall knowe what ys thought emonges us here to be the best waye to come by the said house, yt is devised, that ymediatly uppon the commyng of the said priest to Carlisle there shall be a convenyent nombre appoynted to go with him furthwith to Carlaverok in the night tyme, to receyve the house; and the priest shall never be out of theyr handes till the house be delyvered, wherin yff he shall make any staye or difficultie, he shall be sure to dye for it — which is also a pece of the Lorde Maxwelles owne devise." On the 28th of October,* the banner of England once more * In the Diurnal of Oocurronts, a manuscript of the sixteenth century, in possession of the late Sir J. Maxwell of PoUok, Bart., and printed by the Bannatyne Club, the following entry occurs under date 28th October, 1545 : — " The Lord Maxwell delyvert Carlaverok to the Inglishmeu, quhilk was great discomfui't to the cuutrio." HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 217 floated above the turrets of Carlaverock; au adventurous soldier, Thomas Carleton, of whom we shall afterwards hear much, being entrusted with its defence. His office was no sinecure, as we leai-n from a report sent by Wharton to the King, dated on the 28th, in which he informs his Majesty that the Lairds of Johnstone, Drumlanrig, and Lochinvar had, with the countrymen of Nithsdale, Annandale, and Galloway, beleaguered the fortress, and that he had in vain tried to relieve the garrison. Wharton, in a second letter, dated on the following day, furnishes his royal master with a curious, but not very correct, topographical sketch of the great Border stronghold and its vicinity. " It may please your Highness to understande," he says, "that the Castle of Carlaverok standdithe from your Highness citie of Carlisle 28 myllis, as the same must be passid with a powre [army], wherin er many strait passagies, amongst which one is called Lokermosse, thorowe whiche mose is maid a way with earthe, wherupon ther may pase foure men in renk, and not above; and within fyve houres, no gret nombre of folk as may cutt the same earthe and dam the passage; and if that may be dammyd, then the powre must be carried 8 mylles about. The same mosse standdith 4 mylles on this sidde Dumfreis. The powre must pase within a mylle of the town of Dumfreis : so that, albeit the Castle of Carlaverok standithe nerer Carlisle then Dumfreis, yet the passaig of the wayes, having noon other by lande thene is aforsaid, makithe the same furder from Carlisle then Dumfreis is. And if the weyther chaunce so contagious [stormy] as at this present it is in these parties, ther can no watters be passid for a day or twoo, having dyvers great rivers between Carlisle and Carlaverok." Wharton further informs the King that he had engaged a number of boats capable of holding from four to six men each, or three hundred in all; but that they "can not cume nere the lande at Carlaverok by more than a mylle, except at a hie springe and a full sea;" and the owners of the little craft did not care to venture on the troubled waters of the Solway at that time of the year. In a third communication, dated the last day of the same month, Wharton tells his Majesty that a spy from Carlaverock had informed him that the Laird of Johnstone and his col- 2 D 218 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. leagues had received a letter from the Scottish Regent, thanking them for their services against the defenders of the castle, and exhorting them to continue in good cheer, as he meant to join and reward them on the following Tuesday. Wharton also intimates that he intended, at the head of two hundred horsemen, " within three or foure nightes, to prove ane enter- prise for the comfort and relief of Thomas Carleton, and the others that servythe your Majestie in that holde." We know, rather by inference than from any direct state- ment, the result of all these machinations on the part of King Henry, and of the operations to which they gave rise. Wharton succeeded in reinforcing the garrison of Carlaverock : the castle was held by the EngUsh during the whole winter and spring; it surrendered to the Regent in May, 1546, and was eventually restored to Maxwell. That unfortunate lord did not long survive the harsh treatment given to him by the King, and the torturing abasement to which he had been brought. When set at liberty with his friends, a written instrument of protection was furnished to them, available "so long as they should serve the King truly;" and the next glimpse we get of him is in the "Diurnal,"* which states that, about the close of October, the Regent held a council with Cardinal Beaton, the bishops and abbots, where it was resolved : " That all maner of men should meet the Governour at Carlaverok, with ten days' victuall," on the 2nd of Novem- ber; that, on the army going thither, it was found to have been vacated by the English; that, on the 21st of November, the Scottish force captured Lochmaben (which had, like Carlaverock, been given up to the enemy), and set siege to Thrieve, which latter hold " was in my Lord Maxwell's handis," and "was gevin over tua or thrie dayes after, be appointment;" that Lord Maxwell was had to Dumfries, with certain Enghsh- men, as a traitor; and that the Laird of Garlies had been made Captain of Thrieve, and the Laird of Lochinvar, Captain of Lochmaben. Traitor, undoubtedly, Lord Maxwell was; but his new captors, knowing the trying circumstances in which he had been placed, showed him grt'at forbearance. He executed an instrument of • Diurnal, it. 41. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 219 protest, dated at Dumfries on the 28th of November, 1545, declaring that his surrender of his castles, and his engagements with the English, had been wrung from him under terror of his life; that he was truly loyal at heart; and that he would live and die a faithful subject of Queen Mary * All his faults were freely forgiven ; and, as a proof of the renewed confidence placed in him by the Scottish Government, he was soon after appointed Chief Justice of Nithsdale, Annandale, Kirkcudbright, and Wigtown, and received commission again as Warden of the Western Marches, on the 8rd of June, 1546.t What availed the honours thus heaped upon him? His lease of life, shortened by the sufferings he had uadergone, was about to close. On the 9th of the following month, Robert, the fifth Lord Maxwell, was numbered with the dead. The elements of his nature were "antithetically mixed," and his life was full of inconsistencies; but his services to Protestantism must be accepted as a set-off against his political faults. As the first of Scottish statesmen to recognize the right of his countrymen to read God's revealed Word in their own language, he occupies an honoured place in history. The Scottish army at Solway Moss was emphatically a Papal host; but the conquerors there did less harm to Romanism than the captives taken by them after their return to Scotland. From this point of view, the rout, which in the long run promoted the cause of the Reformation, was the reverse of disastrous; though in other respects, as we have seen, it was ruinous and disgraceful. * Terregles Papers. f Ibid. CHAPTER XIX. SCHEME OF HENKY VIII. FOK A MAKRIAGE BETWEEN HIS SON AND THE INFANT QUEEN MABY OF SCOTLAND — ITS FAILURE — MARY IS WEDDED TO THE DAUPHIN OF FRANCE — HENRY MANIFESTS HIS RESENTMENT BY SENDING RAIDING PARTIES ACROSS THE BORDER— DUMFRIES IS AGAIN PAR- TIALLY DESTROYED BY FIRE — WHARTON, THE ENGLISH LEADER, TRIES TO FOMENT A QUARREL BETWEEN THE MAXWELLS AND JOHNSTONES — DEFEAT OF ANOTHER INVADING FORCE AT ANORUM MOOR — RETALIATORY FORAY INTO CUMBERLAND — DUMFRIESSHIRE AGAIN ENTERED BY AN ENGLISH ARMY — CURIOUS CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNT OF ITS ACHIEVEMENTS — THE COUNTY TOWN OCCUPIED — KIRKCUDBRIGHT ATTACKED — IMMENSE SPOIL CARRIED OFF BY THE INVADERS IN THE SHAPE OF SHEEP, CATTLE, AND HORSES — HOW THEY WON LOCHWOOD TOWER — DESOLATE CONDITION OF NITHSDALE AND ANNANDALE — DEFEAT OF THE SCOTS AT PINKIE — DUMFRIESSHIRE ONCE MORE UNDER THE ENGLISH RULE — LIST OF ITS CHIEFS WHO SWORE FEALTY TO ENGLAND — A TRUCE BETWEEN THE KING- DOMS — PACIFIC SETTLEMENT OF THE DEBATABLE LAND. The scheme of Henry VIII. for uniting the two kingdoms under the Prince of Wales, by marrying him to the young Queen of Scots, fared no better than his former attempt to effect a matri- monial alliance between his daughter and James V. Beaton, and the Catholic party still in power, preferred wedding Mary to a French prince rather than to the son of the Pope-abjuring King of England. She was accordingly married, in Paris, on the 14th of April, 1558, to the Dauphin, who soon afterwards became King of France: but his early death left her a widow at the age of eighteen; and, on the invitation of the Scottish Parliament, she returned to her native countiy in the autumn of 1561. During Mary's absence of twelve years'the Romish Church in Scotland had been completely overthrown, the celebration of mass forbidden, under heavy penalties, the Pro- testant Confession of Faith ratified, and the Presbyterian system of ecclesiastical polity established by Parliament, though the Queen viewed these proceedings with aversion, and had steadily refused to sanction thom. HISTORY OF nUMFRIES. 221 Before noticing the collision between the Reformers and the sovereign thus provoked, we must glance at the way in which Dumfriesshire was affected by the rejection of the English alliance. During the three years in which Henry was cruelly operating upon Maxwell and the other captive lords, as already related, he was trying to accomplish his ends in Scotland by other agents and influences; and, whether he should gain or lose, he was resolved, at all events, to make the inhabitants of the Border district mourn with him that his matrimonial project had proved a failure. On the 28th of September, 1543, a council of war was held by his command at Darlington, to consider what should be done "to Scotlaude this wynter by the Westmarchers of Englande." Wharton, as a matter of course, took part in the deliberations. The proposals made by him, and concurred in by three other chiefs, Lowther, Leigh, and Aglionby, which are still extant, illustrate strikingly the savagery of Border warfare.* The style in which they proposed to " annoy" their neighbours of the north was thus explained by themselves after a devout prelude, expressing their trust in God to assist them — ^ which sounds rather incongruously. They "trust," in the first instance, to " burne, distroye, and maik waist " all the land watered by the Annan and the Milk; then to enter Eskdale, Ewisdale, Wauchopedale, and the Debatable Land, sparing none of them ; taking special note of the " towne of Anande, which is the chief towne in all Anerdaill except Dumfreis,t and all the townes, steids, beuldinges, and come" within the whole parishes of the same, and those of " Dronoke, Eeidkyrk, Gretnoo, Kyrkpatrik, Eglefleghan, Penersarkes, and Carrudders; and in Wawcopdaill, the parishing of Wacoppe; in Eskdaill, the parishinges of Stablegorton and Watsyrkett; and in Ewsdaill the Over Parish- ing and the Nether Parishing, with all the townes, steids, beuldinges, and come, within every of the said peryshings:" no one to receive immunity unless by agreeing to serve the King's Majesty of England. Detailed plans for the devastation of the Middle Marches were also submitted ; and though the * State Papers, vol. v,, pp. 344^5. f Occasionally, in very old documents, the modern spelling of the town is anticipated, or nearly so, as in this instance. -22 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Darlington programme was not carried out to the letter, it was acted upon in spirit. The winter that was to see an immense tract of Dumfriesshire and Selkirkshire turned into a howiing desert passed harmlessly away; and the wild-flowers of the next spring were just begin- ning to decorate the waysides and fields of Nithsdale, when Wharton's armed host, passing northwards, trampled them into nothingness, while hurrying on to treat human beings in the same way with as little remorse. Encountering no opposition, they were encouraged to advance further than was at first designed, and the people of Dumfries, who had suffered much at Solway Moss, saw, to their dismay, the Southern army approaching, as they were conscious of possessing no adequate means of resistance or defence. The Burgh was entered and occupied by the invaders, who seem once again to have had their own wild wasting way. No more deadly visitation had Dumfries ever before experienced. They came for the purpose of leaving tokens of their vengeful presence in the County town, and obtained their wish — no one appearing with voice and look of authority to bid the ravagers begone. Entire streets were burned or demolished; and when the barbarous enemy disappeared, a large portion of the Burgh looked (to use the expressive Eastern term) as if it had been " sown with salt," so desolate was its aspect.* Bearing with them all the valu- able movables they could seize, and driving before them many herds and flocks "lifted" from the fields around, the plunderers withdrew to carry on their depredations in other parts of the County. Wharton, as may have been inferred, was the chief agent in these ruthless incursions; and that he might pro- secute them with 'less molestation and more fatal effect, he enlisted some of the lawless tribes of Eskdale and Liddisdale, the Armstrongs, Beattisons or Beatties, Thomsons, Littles, and other " broken men," under his brigand banner, giving them an unrestricted commission to ravage and slay. With the same base ends in view, the English chief fomented a quarrel between the Maxwells and Johnstones, who, had they co-operated in defending the County, might * HaynCB, in whoao work Wharton's reports of his expedition are embodied, pp. 4.3 51. IIISTOKY OF DUMFRIES. '2:i3 have made him pay dearly for his visits. His perfidy in this respect is depicted in a letter written by himself to the Earl of Shrewsbury, on the 10th of February, 1545, in which, after mentioning that he had placed in Langholm Tower a con- siderable body of foot and a troop of fifty horse, he says he had long used a follower of Johnstone as an emissary to fan the flame of discord between the chief of the Johnstones and Lord Maxwell's son (Maxwell himself being a prisoner with the English), and that a feud between them had broken out in consequence, which the Scottish Council in vain tried to allay; that he had offered Johnstone three hundred crowns for himself, one hundred for his brother, the Abbot of Soul- seat, and one hundred for his followers, on condition of the Master of Maxwell being put into his power; that Johnstone had entered into the plot, but, unfortunately, he and his friends "were all so false" that the writer "knew not what to say" — was not sure of trusting them; but he added, that he would be "glad to annoy and entrap the Master of Maxwell, or the Laird of Johnstone, to the Kings Magestie's honour and his own poor honesty." Yet the knight who could thus coolly write himself down a knave, was about this time ennobled, under the title of Lord Wharton, by his royal master, Henry of England! He could not trust Johnstone; and we suppose the latter felt no remorse when, though pocketing the proffered bribe, he resolved to shew his antipathy towards the Maxwells in some less dishonourable way, than by betraying the heir of their house into the hands of the English. While Wharton was thus engaged in the Western Marches, Sir Ralph Evre and Sir Brian Latoun emulated his destruc- tiveness, if not his artifice, in the Eastern Marches: for which service the former received, by deed of gift from Henry, the rich counties of Merso and Teviotdale — the King forgetting that he would thereby be sure to incense the Earl of Angus, some of whose estates were included in the donation. Angus, since the period of his disgrace, had, as already hinted, favoured Henry's designs ; and his marriage with Margaret, that monarch's sister, together with a sum of money settled upon him by his royal brother-in-law, rendered him additionally devoted to the English party in Scotland. When, however, the 224 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. proud old Earl — whose attainder had been removed soon after the death of James V. — saw his patrimony ravaged, and then conferred upon an English chief, his blood boiled within him; and his services having been accepted by the Regent Arran, he rushed to arms, and, with five hundred men, encountered and utterly routed the invaders on Ancrum Moor, though they numbered five to one. Pitscottie attributes the credit of this extraordinary triumph to the Laird of Buccleuch, at whose suggestion the small Scottish force withdrew into a hollow, making the enemy suppose that they had taken flight. As was anticipated, the English advanced tumultuously, eager to annihilate the fancied fugitives; but they, "lighting on the ambush of the Scots all wearied and out of breath," met with a fierce reception, which soon issued in a disastrous repulse. The Douglas party were favoured by having the sun and wind on their side — the former darting its beams, and the latter blowing the cannons' smoke in the eyes of their opponents: " besides, the Scottish men's spears were an eU longer than the English" ones. The assailants' first line was driven back upon the second, the second upon the third, till inextricable confusion was produced, and something like a parallel to the Solway Moss catastrophe ensued, only that the slaughter of the defeated party was more extensive, and the success of the victors more due to real valour, than on that memorable occasion. Evre and Latoun, the two English leaders, with about five hundred of their followers, including many gentlemen, were slain, and the prisoners taken numbered one thousand ; the Scots, as a small set-ofF to these gains, losing only two men — ^killed by the recklessness of their own artillery.* After the battle, "the Governor, calling for the Earl of Angus, highly commended his valour, resolution, and wisdom ; and thanked Sir George Douglas, his brother, for his valiant service, assuring them that that * When Henry received news of this defeat, he a,coused Angus of black ingratitude, and threatened him with his deepest i-eseutmeut; to which the Earl characteristically replied, "What!" said he, "is my brother-in-law offended because, like a good Scotchman, I have avenged upon Ralph Evre the defaced tombs of my ancestors? They were better men than he, and I ought to have done no less ; and will the King take my life for that? Little knows King Henry the skirts of Kornetable: I can keep myself there, against all his Kngliflh liost."— Hume's IIo%tse of Dovglns, vol. ii., p. 123. HISTORY OF DUMFEIES. 225 day's service had cleared them of all aspersions of disloyalty, and love to England, laid upon them by their enemies."* In the following year we find Johnstone and the Master of Maxwell friends once more, and, in company with Gordon of Lochinvar, leading a successful expedition across the Western Border; while, with the view of protecting the Scottish side, its two principal fortresses, Carlaverock and Lochmaben, were strengthened by the direction of the Government. But neither the victory in Teviotdale, nor the retaliatory raids made by the chiefs of Dumfriesshire, nor yet the increased attention paid to its defences, served to keep the English in check ; as, early in 1547, they succeeded in overrunning a large portion of the County. Sir Thomas Carleton, of Carleton Hall, Cumberland, who com- manded the invading force under the orders of Lord Wharton (and with whose name, as Captain of Carlaverock in 1545, the reader is already familiar), has left a manuscript account of his predatory mission, from which we gather many particulars of it, interesting in themselves, and richly illustrative of the fighting times on the Border, and from which, therefore, we borrow extensively in the following narrative. Carleton tells us that, in February, 1547, he made "a road into Teviotdale, and got a great booty of goods." Lacking proper shelter in the sore weather for both men and horses, they pushed into Canonby; and after lying there "a good space" proceeded to Dumfries — the lieges of which town submitted themselves to him, and "became the king's majesty's subjects of England." " The morrow after coming to Dumfries," he goes on to say, " I went into the Moot-hale [Moat-hiU, probably, on the north side of the town], and making a proclamation in the King of England's name, that all manner of men should come in and make oath to the king's majesty, every man at his peril, they all came and swore; whereof I made a book [list of names], and sent it to the Lord Wharton. And so I continued about ten days : and so making proclamation that whoso should come in and make oath and lay in pledges to serve the king's majesty of England, he should have our aid and maintenance, and who would not, we should be on him with fire and sword, many of * Pitscottie, p. 186. 2 E 226 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. the lairds of Nithsdale and Galloway came in and laid in pledges." "The town of Kircobree," to its credit be it mentioned, set the proclamation at naught, so that Carleton was moved by Lord Wharton to give it " a preiffe [proof, threat] to bum it." " And so we rode thither one night, and coming a little after sun-rising, they who saw us coming barred their gates and kept their dikes : for the town is diked on both sides, with a gate to the water-ward, and a gate in the over end of the feU-wari* There we lighted on foot, and gave the town a sharp onset and assault, and slew [wounded] one honest man in the town with an arrow, in so much that one wife came to the ditch and called for one that would take her husband and save his life. Anthon Armstrong, being ready, said, ' Fetch him to me, and Til warrant his life.' The woman ran into the town and fetched her husband, and brought him through the dike, and deHvered him to the said Anthon, who brought him into England and ransomed him." The invaders, however, did not get aU their own way. M'Lellan, the tutor of Bombie, coming to reheve the town, " impeached them with a company of men ;" " and so," continues the English reiver, "we drew from the town, and gave Bombye the onset ; where was slain of our part Clement Taylor, of theirs three, and divers taken, and the rest fled." Though the outside defenders of " Kircobree" seem to have been scattered, its assailants did not persevere with the siege. In retiring, they " seized about 2000 sheep, 200 kye and oxen, and forty or fifty horses, mares, and colts, and brought the same towards Dumfries." Whilst thus employed, a force of " Galloway folks, from beyond the water of Dee," came in sight, bent on recovering the booty, and prepared to cross the interposing river at Forehead Ford. "So," says Carleton, "we left our sheep, and put our worst horsemen before the nowte and nags, and sent thirty of the best horse to prealce at the Scots, if they should come over the water, and to abide with the standard in their relief: which the Scots perceiving, stayed, and came not over. So that we passed quietly that night to Dumfries, leaving the goods in safety with a good watch." Next morning a curious scene occurred. The party repaired to the plaou where the plunder had been stored, a mile beyond HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 227 Dumfries, in order to divide it; "and some claimed this cow, and some that nagg," while, " above all, one man of the Laird of Empsfielde came amongst the goods, and would needs take one cow, saying that he would be stopped by no man, insomuch that one Thomas Taylor, called Tom-with-the-Bow, being charged with the keeping of the goods, struck the said Scotsman on the head with his bow, so that the blood ran down over his shoulders. Going to his master there, and trying out, his master went with him to the Master Maxwell [afterwards Lord Herries]. The Master Maxwell came, with a great rout after him, and brought the man with the bloody head to me, saying, with an earnest countenance, ' Is this, think ye, well; both to take our goods, and thus to shed our blood?' I, considering the Master at that present to be two for one, thought best to use him and the rest of the Scots with good words, and gentle and fair speeches, for they were determined, even there, to have given us an onset, and to have taken the goods from us, and to have made that their quarrel. So that I persuaded him and the rest to stay themselves; and for the man that hurt the other man, he should be punished, to the example of all others to commit the like, giving him that gave the stroke sharp words before them; and [commanding that] the goods should all be stayed, and none dealt till the next morrow, and then every man to come that had any claim, and, upon proof, that it should be redressed: and thus willed every man quietly, for that time, to depart." It seems to us marvellous in the extreme, that the Master of Maxwell, instead of being cozened in this fashion by the pawkie Southern leader, did not at once try to settle the question at issue between them by sword and spear. The EngUsh influence must have been indeed overpoweringly great in the district, to have made its chiefs and their retainers so spiritless and submissive. Carleton, fearing that the Scots might be ashamed of their own apathy, and might try to catch him at a disadvantage, made ready for war. On returning to Dumfries, "about one of the clock in the afternoon," he gave "every one of the garrison secret warning to put on their jacks, and bridle and saddle their horses," and ordered them to join him immediately 228 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. at the Bridgend. They having obeyed his commands, he sent forty-two men for the goods, with instructions to meet him at a ford a mile above the town — Martinton Ford, probably. At that point the booty was conveyed across the river, and taken forthwith to Lochmaben, where it was quietly divided that night. The party then returned to Canonby, Carleton con- cluding this part of his narrative by complacently remarking, "And thus with wiles we beguiled the Soots." He has evidently been a smart, clever, unscrupulous moss-trooping chief, not' overstocked with modesty, and prone to swagger in his speech. The way in which he won Lochwood Tower is so graphically recorded by him that we must give the history of the achieve- ment in nearly his own words. The ruins of this old castle, once the chief seat of the Johnstone family, are still to be seen in the north end of the parish of Johnstone. It was buUt in the fourteenth century, and from the thickness of its walls, its insulated situation, surrounded by almost impassable marshes, it must have been difficult to take by storm or siege. Carleton, before telling how he captured it by stratagem, says : " Considering Canonby to be far from the enemy (for even at that time all Annerdale, Liddesdale, and a great part both of Nidsdale and Gal way, were willing to serve the King's Majesty of England, saving the Laird of Drumlanricke, who never came in, nor submitted himself, and with him continued Alexander Carlel, Laird of Bridekirk, and his son, the young laird), I thought it good to practise some way we might get some hold or castle, where we might lie near the enemy. .... Thus practising, Sander Armstrong, son to HI- Will Ann- strong, came to me and told me he had a man called John Lynton, who was born in the head of Annerdale, near to the Loughwood (being the Laird Johnstone's chief house), and the said laird and his brother (being the Abbot of Salside) were taken prisoners not long before, and were remaining in Eng- land. It was a fair large tower, able to lodge all our company safely, with a barnekin, hall, kitchen, and stables, all within the barnckin, and was but kept with two or three fellows and as many wenches." Lynton's opinion was that tlip fortress might be captured; and with this end in view the whole English troop set off. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 229 arriving in the vicinity of it an hour before sunrise. Most of ' the men lurked outside the wall; while, according to previous arrangement, about a dozen climbed over it, "stole close into the house within the barnekin, and took the wenches, and kept them secure in the house till day-light." So far the plot had proved successful; and now for its full development. "Two men and a wench" were in the tower, and, at dawn, one of the former, rising in his shirt, went to the tower-head, and seeing no one astir, he bade the woman who lay in the tower to get up and open the tower door, and call up them that lay beneath. " She so doing, and opening the iron door and a wooden door without it, our men within the barnekin brake a little too soon to the door; for the wench, perceiving them, leaped back into the tower, and had gotten almost the wood door to, but we got hold of it, that she could not get it close to. So the skirmish rose; and we over the barnekin, and broke open the wood door, and she being troubled with the wood door, left the iron one open: and so we entered and wan the Loghwood." A most valuable capture it proved, as the castle was well stocked with salted beef, malt, butter, and cheese. Leaving Armstrong in charge, Carleton rode off to Carlisle, and reported his success to Lord Wharton, who constituted him keeper of Lochwood. At his lordship's instance, he then proceeded to Moffat, and made a proclamation there similar to the one issued at Dumfries; intimating also, that "whoso did others wrong, either by theft, oppression, or otherwise, that he should order it amongst them, and refer all weighty causes to his Lordship and his council." "So," proceeds the writer, " I continued there for some time, in the service of his majesty, as captain of that house, and governor and steward of Annerdale, under the Lord Wharton. In which time we rode daily and nightly upon the King's majesty's enemies; and amongst others, soon after our coming and remaining there, I called certain of the best horsed men of the garrison, declaring to them I had a purpose offered by a Scotsman, which would be our guide, and that was to burn Lamington, which we did wholly, took prisoners, and won much goods, both malt, sheep, horse, and insight, and brought the same to me in the head of Annerdale, and there distributed it, 230 HISTORY OF DUMFKIES. giving every man an oath to bring in all his winnings of that journey; wherein, truly, the men offended so much their own conscience, every man layning [concealing] things, which afterwards I speired out, that, after that time, my conscience would never suffer me to minister an oath for this, but that which should be speired or known to be brought, and every man to have share accordingly." This miniature Csesar, the congenial chronicler of his own doughty deeds, closes his record in the following terms: — "After that I made a road in by Crawfurth Castle and the head of Clyde, where we seigfed a great vastil [bastile] house of James Douglas ; which they held till the men and cattle were all devoured with smoke and fire : and so we returned to the Loughwood, at which place we remained very quietly, and, in a manner, in as civil order for hunting and pastime as if we had been at home in our own houses. For every man within Annerdale, being within twelve or sixteen miles of the Lough- wood, would have resorted to me to seek reformation for any injury committed or done within the said compass, which I omitted not, but immediately after the plaint either rode myself, and took the party complained of, or sent for him, and punished or redressed as the cause deserved. And the country was then in good quietness: Annerdale, Nidsdale, and a great part of Galloway, all to the "Water of Dee, were come in and entered pledges;" and "Kircobree," vanquished at last, "came in and entered pledges also." In the summer of this year (1547) — a disastrous one to Dumfriesshire — Robert, Lord Maxwell, son of the chief who was captured at Sol way Moss, proceeded to the Court of the Regent Arran at Edinburgh, to ask for aid against the enemy. He stated that the fields of Nithsdale and Annandale were as so many wildernesses; that the fortresses of the district were in the hands of the English ; that the cultivators of the soil, expelled from their paternal roofs, had been reduced to beggary — all which miseries they endured rather than renounce their allegiance; but that if no steps were taken for their relief, they would bo forced to swear fealty to the King of England, and that otlicrs, fearing similar misfortunes, would be in danger of doing the same. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 231 The Regent, moved by these representations, led a small force into Dumfriesshire, and captured the Tower of Langholm, which the Armstrongs had, three years before, treacherously taken when its owner. Lord Maxwell, was a prisoner in Eng- land, and had delivered it to Lord Dacre. Arran was preparing to attack other garrisons, when he was under the necessity of returning with his troops to join a French auxiliary force that had landed in the Forth, for the purpose of besieging the Castle of St. Andrews — then held by the conspirators who, in the preceding year, assassinated the tyrannical Cardinal Beaton. Scarcely had the foreign allies departed, after accomplishing their task, than the Duke of Somerset, who had been appointed Protector on the death of Henry VIII., entered Scotland by the Eastern Marches, at the head of fourteen thousand soldiers, gave battle to the Scots under Arran, on the field of Pinkie, and defeated them with great slaughter. At the same time. Lord Wharton appeared in Dumfriesshire with a powerful force, and carried on the work of subjugation which his lieutenant, Sir Thomas Carleton, had already half accomplished. The invaders set fire to the town of Annan; but the inhabitants garrisoned the church, and from its tower, which had been strongly fortified, proved "very noisome" to the enemy, who took it with difficulty, and sixty-two of its brave defenders, and then blew it up with gunpowder.* Castlemilk surrendered to their arms; but Lochmaben and Carlaverock defied the assaults of the English, as they had frequently done before.t The successive raids made this year by the enemy, coupled with the disastrous defeat at Pinkie, resulted in rendering the Shire all but completely submissive; and it probably suffered as much as during any year since the Southrons began to menace the independence of Scotland. A record has been preserved of the chiefs of Dumfriesshire and East Galloway, with their followers, who swore fealty to England at this dismal period. It is here subjoined: — William Johnstone, the Laird's brother, with one hundred and ten followers; Johnstone of Coites, with one hundred and sixty-two; Johnstone of Lochmaben, with sixty-seven; Johnstone of Malinshaw, sixty-five; Johnstone of * Patten's Account of the Expedition, p. 95. + Ayscu's History, p. 321. 232 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Crackburns, sixty-four; the Johnstones of Dry fesdale forty-six; the Johnstones of Craigyland, thirty-seven ; Gavin Johnstone, with thirty-one; Jardino of Applegarth, two hundred and forty-two; the Laird of Kirkmichael, two hundred and twenty- two ; Patrick Murray, two hundred and three; the Laird of Ross, one hundred and sixty-five; the Laird of Amisfield, one hundred and sixty-three ; the Laird of Holmains, one hundred and sixty- two ; the Laird of Wamphray, one hundred and two; the Laird of Tinwald, one hundred and two; the Laird of Dunwoodie, forty-four; Lord Carlyle, one hundred and one; Irving of Coveshaw, one hundred and two; Jeflfray Irving,' ninety-three ; the Irvings of Pennersacs, forty ; Irving of Rob^ gill, thirty-four; "Wat Irving, twenty; the Lairds of Newby and Gretna, one hundred and twenty-two ; the Laird of Gillenby, thirty; Sir John Lawson, thirty-two; the Bells of Tintells,' two hundred and twenty-two; the Bells of Toftints, one hun- dred and forty-two; the Romes of Torduff, thirty-two; the Moffats, twenty-four; the town of Annan, thirty-three. The chiefs of Nithsdale mentioned in the catalogue were the Master of Maxwell, one thousand and more; Edward Maxwell of Brackenside (afterwards of Hills), and the Vicar of Carlaverock, throe hundred and ten; Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, four hundred and three; Grierson of Lag, two hundred and two; the Laird of Cowhill, ninety-one ; the Laird of Cransfield, twenty-seven; Edward Crichton, ten; the town of Dumfries, two hundred and one. In E.skdale, the Beattisons and Thomsons, one hundred and sixty-six; and in Eskdale and Liddisdale, the Armstrongs, three hundred. Another list of a different kind, and extending over a longer period, probahly, is preserved in the " Talbot Papers." It pro- fe.'ises to give " the names of such Scottish pledges and prisoners as were taken since the war began in these West Mai-ches; with an cHtinuito of thoir values and estimations, and where they wore licsunved at tlio finst:" it being explained that "nertheless rai?s'*' °^ *'"^ '" ""' ''''""^' P"^* oxcliansed and let home upon Maxw,'.n '""' """"'■^'«°-" -A- fow extracts'nre subjoined:— "Robert himsolf ro"°^' ^'"'"'' ^«x\ve]|, an ancient baron, of gi-eat lands, Keiitleman of 'loo'' "'' ^^*' "^ ^'^''^islej the Laird Johnstone, a marks sterling or above, for whom the King's HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 233 Majesty has paid 100 merks in part payment, for ransom to his taker, and remains himself in Pontefract Castle; the Laird of Cockpole, a gentleman of £100 lands sterling, or thereabouts, himself remains with Sir William Ingleby; John Maxwell, the Lord's brother, who answers for all upon his brother's lands, having at that time no lands, and now, by marriage, fair lands, his pledge Hugh Maxwell, his nephew, for one thousand men and more; the Abbot of Newabbey [Gilbert Brown] of 200 merks sterling in right of his house, his pledge Richard Brown and Robert Brown, his cousins, for one hundred and forty-one men; the Laird of Closebm-n, £100 sterling, and more, his pledge Thomas Kirkpatrick, his cousin, for four hundred and three men; the town of Dumfreis, a fair market town, pledge for it, Cuthbert Murray, worth little or nothing, for two hundred and twenty-one men." If the Duke of Somerset had followed up his victory at Pinkie, he might have imperilled the independence of Scotland; but as pressing business, involving his own influence at Court, recalled him to London, the country, which he had half sub- dued, gradually recovered its courage and freedom. Dumfries- shire was nominally under English rule for a year or more after the date of the battle. In 1548 and 1549, it was the theatre of several conflicts, caused by the chiefs having risen up against Lord Wharton's authority. On the 24th of. March in the following year, they, and their countrymen generally, partici- pated in the benefits of a treaty entered into between France and England with Scotland, whereby hostilities -were brought to a close, and a welcome peace was secured, which continued unbroken by the English for nearly ten years. Robert, Lord Maxwell, was one of the Commissioners who formed this treaty, which was signed at Norham in June, 1551.* It comprehended in its provisions the settlement of the famous Debatable Land, which, as already explained, formed part of Scotland originally,! but had, in the course of the .Border warfare, been often occupied by England, and had * Eymer's Fosdera, p. 265. + "The tract," says Chalmers (vol. iii., p. 98), "certainly belonged to Soot- land, as many charters of the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries evince with full conviction." He refers to Rymer, pp. 245, 289, 337, in cor- roboration of the statement. 2 F 234 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. at length become a sort of neutral territory, claimed by both kingdoms, really possessed by neither, and ruled by laws of its own : that is to say, when these were not set aside by the sword. In times of peace, the subjects of both countries pastured their herds on its untilled fields during the day time, but were required to remove them before sunset at their own peril; and when they did foolishly run the risk of leaving their cattle exposed during the night watches, the likelihood was that they would be carried off before morning by Clym of the Cleugh, Hobbie Noble, or some other reiver of the same stamp; and in that case no redress was obtainable by the owners. The tract lay along the Scottish side of the Esk and Liddel, was bounded on the west by the Sark, and was eight miles long and four broad. After several conferences between the commissioners of both nations, assisted by an envoy from France, a division of the Debatable Land was resolved upon; according to which, it was intersected by a line drawn from the Sark on the west to the Esk on the east — the northern portion, or parish of Canonby, being assigned to Scotland; the southern, or parish of Kirkandrews, to England. By this arrangement, a tract of country that was fruitful of violence and strife, but in other respects little better tban a waste, was brought under culture; and the little stone pillars put up to form the line of partition, looked like the literal pale of civilization, within which the territory and its turbulent popu- lation had at length been brought. The treaty of Norham struck at one of the main sources of th'e warfare that had desolated the Border districts for more than two hundred and fifty years; and whilst its beneficial efi'ects were felt by both England and Scotland at large, it was more especially a boon to Cumberland and Dumfriesshire, both of which had often reason to regret their indissoluble connection with the Debatable Land. CHAPTER XX. THE "common good" OF THE EUKGH — THE DIFJEEBNT CLASSES OE ITS POPULATION — NOTICES OF ITS LEADING FAMILIES AT THE ERA OF THE EEFORMATION : THE M'BEAIES, THE CORSANES, THE IKVINGS, THE LAUKIES, THE ROMES, THE CUNNINGHAMS, THE SHARPES, THE HALLIDAYS, THE DIN- WOODIES, THE FLEMINGS, THE BELLS, THE GRAHAMS, AND THE KENNEDYS — THE POSITION TAKEN UP TOWARDS THE REFORMATION BY THE CHIEF BARONS OF THE COUNTY— FREQUENT INTERMARRIAGE OF COUNTY FAMILIES. Up till this period, Dumfries retained possession of all, or nearly all, its ancient landed patrimony, extending over a large portion of the Parish. The income arising from it, and the tolls and customs levied by the Council, must have been quite sufficient to keep the Burghal machinery in operation, without resorting, except on rare occasions, to a personal impost on the lieges. There ie too much reason to suppose, that before the death of James IV., practices were introduced which destroyed this happy equilibrium between income and outlay, and eventually left to the Burgh only a small portion of its territorial inherit- ance. The lands granted at various periods by the Crown were to be held for all time coming; they were, in point of law, strictly inalienable; and it was only, at all events, when the King, as overlord, sanctioned the sale or perpetual lease of any of the lands, that such proceedings were allowable. So wisely jealous was the Government lest the "res universitatis" (the "common good" arising to Royal Burghs from rents and customs), should be tampered with, that the Great Chamberlain of the nation was required to make periodical inquests into their management. Once a year at least that official, or his deputy, held a sort of exchequer court at Dumfries, at which the magistrates made " count and reckoning" with him of their " intromissions." A salutary check to maladministration was thus supplied; but in the reign of James I. the office of the Great Chamber- 236 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. lain was superseded by that of the High Treasurer, who seems never to have exercised any efficient supervision over the revenue of Burghs-Royal. Even before this change, Parliament deemed it necessary to "statute and ordaine that the commoun gud of all our Soverane Lordis burrowis be observit and kepit to the common gude of the toun, and to be spendit in com- moun and necessare thingis of the burgh, be the avise of the Consale of the toun for the tyme, and dekkynis of crafts quare thai ar — and attour that the rentis of burrowis, as landis, fishingis, fermes, myllis, and utheris yerely revenuis be nocht set bot for thrie yeris allenerly." * Freed from a strict Govern- ment inspection, the magistrates of burghs became, in some instances, careless or culpable stewards of the trusts committed to them; and when, in 1503, Parliament passed an Act per- mitting the King to give permanent tenures of Crown property in lieu of short leases, and barons and freeholders to do the same thing, a vicious precedent was introduced, which the rulers of towns were eager to follow ; and they were soon allowed to do so — Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and several other Royal Burghs, obtaining, in the first instance, special licenses from the sovereign for converting their common property into heritable estates, given in feu-farm, in return for what ere long became little more than a nominal quit-rent. From this period "may be dated the commencement of that system of mal- administration which, with greater or less rapidity, ultimately tended to the destruction of the far greater portion of the common good of Burghs-Royal." f When James IV. was in Dumfries, however, the deteriorating process had scarcely, if at all, begun; and this circumstance, in conjunction with others of a favourable kind, leads us to the inference tliat, during his reign, the Burgh reached its feudal meridian. In after times it acquired increased municipal privi- leges, more trade, more population; but it never was so richly endowed with territorial wealth. Under the same sovereign, also, the Trades, who had hitherto been subordinated to the merchants, took high social rank in the town; and it maybe safely inferred, acquired a direct representation in the Council, * Acts of vScottish Parliament, 1491, vol. ii., p. 227. f Rcjiort of Municipal Commissioners, p. 2.'). HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 2S7 though the precise period at which the deacons became mem- bers of that body cannot be ascertained. When the reign of James V. is reached, we can speak in more precise terms than hitherto regarding the constituents of society in Dumfries. Seven different grades are distinctly visible: — 1. The patrician class, possessing land in the neigh- _ bourhood, obtaining for payment, or by favour, the freedom of the Burgh, in order that they may share the honour and patronage that arise from the direction of its affairs. 2. The merchant burgesses, consisting of men actually engaged in business, who may, or may not, be also landed proprietors. 3. The master craftsmen, trying, not without success, to hold their heads as high, and wear their furred gowns as jauntily, as the merchants. 4. The ecclesiastics, consisting of the dean and his clergy, the vicar, the parish priest, the Minorite Friars, and other churchmen, regular or secalar, making altogether a numerous body. 5. The artizans and mechanics, who work 'for wages. 6. The yeomen, or free farmers. And, 7. The cotters — "hewers of wood and drawers of water" — rapidly casting away their serfdom, though some of them are still in a state of absolute slavery. The earliest provosts of the Burgh were, in all likelihood, cadets of the Douglasses, Maxwells, Kirkpatricks, Carlyles, Johnstones, and other families who owned land and held rule in the district. In the early half of the sixteenth century, when the Burgh was becoming increasingly independent, some of its own sons — ^merchants as well as lairds — took a leading part in the management of its affairs. Among the first of these were the M'Brairs. Of Celtic origin, we find them at an early period settled in Dalton, Mid-Annadale ; and it is as the M'Brairs of Almagill, in that parish, that they first appear in the records of the Burgh. A retour, dated 19th December, 1573, warrants the supposition that they occupied Almagill at least a hundred years before that date,* as in it Archibald M'Brair, Provost of Dumfries, is entered as heir " to his great * We find the following minute in Pitoairn (vol. i., p. 39), of a case tried at Dumfries, August 15tli, 1504: — " Eobert Grersoune, in Dumfreis, produced a precept of remission for art and part of the cruel slaughter of Sir John M'Brair, chaplain, in the town of Di'umfreis. — William DouglM of Drumlanrig hecame surety to satisfy parties." (See ante, p. 184. ) 238 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. grandfather, William M'Brayre of Almagill, in the 100s. land of Almagill, in Meikle Dalton, and the three husbandlands in the town of Little Dalton called Hallidayhall."* When the Convention of Royal Burghs met at Edinburgh, on the 4th of April, 1552, John M'Brair, Provost of Dumfries (probably the father of Archibald), appeared as Commissioner for the town. Provost Archibald M'Brair and Bailie James Rig were its representatives in the Convention of October, 1570. On the 5th of January, 1561, John M'Brair, by obtaining a charter of The Mains, which constituted part of the church lands of Dumfries, acquired a still stronger footing for his family in the town; though they do not appear to have given to it any chief magistrates after 1577. How, before the lapse of another hundred years, this family had increased in opulence, may be inferred from the following list of the lands belonging to Robert M'Brair on the 10th of January, 1666: — The five-pound land of Over and Nether Almagill, with the two husbandland of Hallidayhill; the one-merk land of Cluserd; the five-merk land of Little and Meikle Cloaks; two merks of the four-merk land of Corsenloch (parishes of Urr and Col vend) ; the five-pound land of Nether Rickhorne; the half-merk land of Glenshalloch ; the twenty-shilling land of Auchrinnies; the two-merk land of Little Rickhorse ; the forty-pound land of Over and Nether Wood, and Longholm, holding of the Crown ; part of the twenty- pound land of Rigside, with mill and salmon fishing; the lands of Spitalfield, with the salmon fishing formerly belonging to the Friars Minors of Dumfries, holding of the Crown; the lands of Castledykes, holding of the Crown; four acres of land lying between the Doocot (or Dovecot) of Castledykes, on the south of the Burgh of Dumfries, Sinclair's tenement on the north, King's High Street on the east, and the river Nith on the west; and two merks of the fifteen merks of the Kirkland of Drumfries, feu of the King. We find Herbert Raining Commissioner for Dumfries in the Convention of 1578, Mathew Dickson and John Marschell its * Tlio parish of Dalton, prior to tlio Reformation, was divided into Meikle Dalton and Little Dalton; but, since their union in 1633, the Church of Meikle Dalton in used by the parishioners of the united parishes as their place of worship. — Slatwlical Account of Dwnifriesshire, p. 371. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 239 Commissioners in 1582, and Symon Johnnestown its Commis- sioner in 1584 — all these being familiar household names at this early period* In the Convention of 1585, Dumfries was represented by no fewer than four members, "Alexander Maxwell of Newlaw, Provost, Maister Homer Maxwell and Herbert Ranying, tua of the Baillies — James Rig, thair Con- burges." Bailie Homer Maxwell was also Commissary of Dum- fries, and held the lands of Speddoch, which originally belonged to the Monastery of Holy wood. The Corsanes, or Corsons, a more ancient family than the M'Brairs, emulated them as municipal rulers. They claim to be descended from the patrician Corsini, and say their first ancestor in Scotland came from Italy to superintend the erection of Sweetheart Abbey and Devorgilla's bridge over the Nith. Some time before 1400, Sir Alexander Corsane was witness to a charter granted by Archibald the Grim, Earl of Douglas, to Sir John Stewart, of the lands of Collie. In 1408, Dominus Thomas Corsanus, perpetual Vicar of Dumfries, granted a charter for certain church lands within the royalty. The Corsanes took the designation of Glen, till, in the reign of James IV., the barony so called passed with Marion, sole child of Sir Robert Corsane, to her husband Sir Robert Gordon, who thereupon styled himself of Glen, but afterwards of Lochinvar, on the death of his elder brother at the battle of Flodden. From Gordon of Lochinvar and his wife Marion sprung the barons of that ilk, and the Viscounts of Kenmure. Sir John Corsane, next heir male of Glen, settled at Dum- fries, the head of a far-descending line, which for eighteen generations presented an unbroken array of heirs male, all bear- ing the name of John — pedigree occurrences that are perhaps without a parallel. John Corsane, the twelfth in descent from Sir John, was Provost of Dumfries, and its Parliamentary representative in the critical year 1621. He married Janet, daughter of the seventh Lord Maxwell (slain at Dryfe-Sands), by whom he had several children, one of whom was wedded * At this session of the Convention of Burghs, four of the members (one of whom was the Commissioner for Dumfries), were nuable to write, and had to sign the minutes "mth our handis at the pen led be the notaris underwritten at our commandis, because we can uocht wryte ourselves." — Secords of the Convention. 240 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. to Stephen Laurie of Maxwelton. This Provost Corsane was one of the richest'commoners in Scotland. Besides his country- estates, the chief of which was Meikleknox, he is said to have owned a third part of his native town; and at one time, not very far back, many of its old houses bore the family arms: the head of a pagan piojrced by three darts, with warriors as supporters, and the motto — "Prsemium virtutis gloria." His life seems to have been inspired by that noble sentiment. He died in 1629, in his seventy-sixth year, and was buried near the entrance-gate of St. Michael's Cemetery, at a place where eleven of his ancestors had been laid before him. His eldest son, John Corsane of Meikleknox, by whom he was succeeded, married Margaret, daughter and co-heiress of Kobert Maxwell of Dinwoody, obtaining with her the lands of Bamdennoch. He was also Provost of the Burgh, and, as we shall see, took an active part in the popular struggle against the aggressions of Charles I. The ruins of a once magnificent monument erected by him over his father's dust, remain to attest his filial love, and the lines upon it were meant to inform the meditative stranger that an honoured Dumfries worthy sleeps below ; but time has so defaced the inscription that it is quite illegible. A somewhat faulty copy of the epitaph, however, is preserved in the late Mr. W. F. H. Arundell's Manuscripts, and which, as conjecturally restored, runs thus : — Ter tria fatales et bis tria lustra sorores, Dimidiumque aavo oontribuere tuo, Ter tria oiviles humeros oircumdari fasces Lustra dedit Sophia gratia digua tua. Ter tribus ao binis tandem prognatus eodem, Et cum Corsanis contumularis Avis. These lines may be thus translated; — The fateful sisters assigned thrice three and twice three lustres and a half [year] to thy lifetime [i. e., seventy-five and a half years]. Regard due to thy wisdom, caused thy shoulders to wear the badges of civic authority for thrice three lustres [forty-five years]. Sprung at length from thrice three and two [eleven] progenitors of [the] Corsane [family], thou also art buried with them in the same place.* * We submitted the inscription to several good Latinists, among others to Rector Caii-ns of the Dumfries Academy, whose emendations are embodied in the text, and given in italics. To his kindness we are also indebted for the English version of the epitaph. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 241 John Corsane of Meikleknox, who died in 1777, was the last of the male line. Agnes, a daughter, was married to Mr. Peter Rae, minister of Kirkconnel, in Upper Nithsdale. They had twelve children; the eldest of whom, Robert, was, at his mother's re- quest, to assume the name and arms of Corsane of Meikleknox when he came of age, but all the children died minors. In this way the stem of this ancient house was unexpectedly broken. The Corsans of Dalwhat, parish of Glencairn, were a branch of the family. The name Corson, often written Carson, is still common in Dumfries; and about a hundred and sixty years after the death of Provost Corsane of Meikleknox (in 1671), James Corson, a probable descendant, was Provost of the Burgh. The genealogical tree of Coel Godhebog, already noticed, gives, as one of its goodly branches in the fifth century, the prolific Annandale family of Irving. Another account transplants them from Orkney to Eskdale, in the middle of the eleventh century. There were two gentlemen of the name in Bruce's royal house- hold, with whom he had become acquainted, probably, when ruling his hereditary lordship on the banks of the Annan. One of them, WiUiam de Irwyn, who acted as the King's secretary; and the other, Roger de Irwyn, who seems to have officiated as his chamberlain.* An Irving, possibly the former of these two, in Aberdeenshire, t His descendant, Sir Alexander Iruinge, of received from the same gracious monarch the lands of Drum, Drum, was among the slain warriors for whom "The coronach was cried on Benachie, And doun the Don an' a', * The Accounts of the Chamberlain of Scotland, for 1329-1331, include several entries in which their names occur; e. g. : — " Et clerico Eotulorum pro feodo sac, viz., WiUielmo de Irwyn, quamdiu fuerit in dicto officio capienti per annum vigiuti libras de terminia Pentecostes et Sancta Martini hujus com- poti £20." "Idem onerat se de 348 ulnis tele liuel et 3 quarteriis recept. superius per emptionem. De quibua Rogero de Irwyn, 311 ulnis de quibua respondebit. " + Dr. C. Irving, in a MS. account of the family, saya, that Bruce, flying one stormy night from the English, came to Bonshaw Tower, where he was hospitably entertained. He took a younger son of the family, Sir William, of Woodhouse, to be his secretary and companion. As a reward for his services, the King, when settled on the throne, conferred upon him the lands and the forest of Drum, and the pricking bay-tree or holly, for his armorial bearings, with the motto, "Sub sola, suo umbra virescens." {See a valuable little work, Walks in Annandale, originally published in the Annan Observer.) 2 G 242 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Wheu Hieland and Lawland mournfu' were For tlie sair field o' Harlaw."* The representative of the family in the reign of Charles I. espoused the cause of that sovereign, and when lying under sentence of death by the Covenanters, was opportunely rescued by Montrose.t In Bonshaw Tower, on the classic banks of the Kirtle, resided the acknowledged head of this great Border clan. Other off- shoots of the family having as their domiciles, Cove, Robgill, Woodhouse, and Stapleton — the ruins of which give a romantic interest to a district that is dowered with rich natural beauty, and ever vernal in the minstrel's magic verse — Kirkcormel Lee.+ The Irvings of Bonshaw signalized themselves on many * Balfour's Annals, vol. i., p. 147. The battle was fought on the 25th of July, 1411. Irving was buried on the field ; and a heap of stones raised over the spot was long known by the name of Drum's Cairn.— Kenkedy's Annals of Aberdeen, vol. i., p. 51. + This cavalier is the hero of the favourite old ballad, " The Laird of Drnm," written on his marrying, as his second wife, a damsel of humble birth, named Margaret Coutts, an alliance which gave sore offence to some of his kindred. The taunt of one of them, and the Laird's rejoinder, are well worth quoting from the baUad : — ' ' Then up bespak his brother John, Says, ' Ye've done us meikle wrang, ; Ye've married ane far below our degree, A mock to a' our kin, O ! ' " ' Now haud your tongue, my brother John, What needs it thee offend, ? I've mamed a wife to work and win. And ye've married ane to spend, !'" t The reference here, it need scarcely be explained, is to the old ballad of "Fair Helen of Kirkconnel," supposed to have been an Irving, and who, in attempting to save her lover, Adam Fleming, was inadvertently shot dead by his envious rival. The entire ballad is exquisite; and poetry has produced scarcely anything more pathetic than the closing verses in which Fleming waUs forth his sorrow : — "Oh Helen fair ! Helen chaste ! ' If I were with thee, I wore blest. Where thou lies low, and takes thy rest, On fair Kirkcouuel Leo. "I wish I were where Helen lies ! Night and day on me she cries ; And I am weary of tho skies, For lior sake that died for me." HISTORY OF DUMFEIES. 243 occasions by their valour and patriotism. Like most Scottish families, they suffered at Flodden — Christopher, their chief, with his son, falling on that dismal field ; while his grandson, " Black Christie," of Robgill and Annan, perished in the pitiful catastrophe — for battle it cannot be called — of Sol way Moss. A grandson of the latter, also named Christopher, became closely connected with two other distinguished Border houses, by marrying, in 1566, Margaret, sister of Sir James Johnstone, the victor of Dryfe-Sands, and whose mother was one of the Scotts of Buccleuch. Soon after that period the Irvings begin to be noticeable in Nithsdale; and we -must now somewhat abruptly leave the chief stem, to see how one of the branches fared in Dumfries. It flourished exceedingly. Francis Irving, on returning to the Burgh from France, where he was educated, married the heiress of Provost Herbert Raining, already mentioned as Com- missioner for Dumfries in the Convention of 1578, acquiring with her a rich fortune of lands and houses. We find him sitting as Member for the Burgh in the Parliament of 1617, and high in favour at Court, receiving from King James VI. • bailiary jurisdiction over some Crown property in the County; still, however, carrying on his business, that of a merchant, in which capacity he was the first to form a trade connection with Bordeaux for the purpose of importing French wines into the Burgh.* This merchant prince of the olden time frequentlj'' occupied the chief magistrate's chair; and when, in the early autumn of an honoured life, he breathed his last, his remains were laid close by the mouldering dust of the Corsanes — an imposing monument, like theirs, being raised in due time to commemorate his worth. f The tomb, which was renovated about thirty years ago, has several Latin inscriptions, the chief of which may be freely rendered as follows: — "A grateful spouse and pious children have dedicated to Francis Irving, Consul [or Provost], a very dear husband and a prudent father, this monument, which is far inferior to his worth. He died, 6th November, 1633, aged 68." "Ane epitaphe," in the * Family Tree of the Irvings, compiled by Mr. J. C. Grade, f Like the Corsane monument, it is built into the churchyard wall,, and forms the fifth monument from the entrance-gate. 244 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. vernacular tongue, on the lower part of the structure, is in these terms: — " King James at first me balive named, Dumfreis oft siuce me provest clamed, God hast for me ane crowne reserved; For king and countrie have I served. " For more than a century afterwards, municipal honours flowed upon the Dumfries branch of the Irvings, some of them being also called, like their founder, to represent the Burgh in Parliament. John, his eldest son, did so in 1630 and 1639, and was repeatedly elected Provost. He left two sons, John and Thomas, both of whom filled the latter office; and Thomas also sat in Parliament for the Burgh. According to the same doubtful pedigree which traces the descent of the Irving family from a Cumbrian prince, Lywarch- Hen, another of the race was the progenitor of the Lauries, one of whom, Stephen, was a flourishing Dumfries merchant before James VI. became king. Prior to 1611 he espoused Marion, daughter of Provost Corsane, proprietor of Meikleknox, getting with her a handsome marriage portion. About the same time he obtained a charter from John, Lord Herries, of the ten-merk land and barony of Redcastle, parish of Urr. His wealth enabled him afterwards to purchase, from Sir Robert Gordon of Lochinvar, Bithbought, Shancastle, and Maxwell- ton, for which estates he received a royal charter, dated 3rd November, 1611. Stephen Laurie, now a man of many acres, took the designation of Maxwelton, leaving at his death the lands and title to his eldest son, John, married in 1630 to Agnes, daughter of Sir Robert Grierson of Lag. The next head of the house, Robert, was created a baronet on the 27th of March, 1685. He was twice married, and had, by his second wife, three sons and four daughters. The birth of one of the latter is thus entered in the family register by her father: — "At the pleasure of the Almighty God, my daughter, Anna Laurie, was borne upon the 16th day of December, 1682 years, about six o'clock in the morning; and was baptized by Mr. Geo." [Hunter, minister of Glencairn].* The minute is worth quoting hero, seeing that the little stranger, whose entry into life * Barjarg Mamiscripts. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 245 it announces, grew up to be the most beautiful Dumfriesian lady of the day, and the heroine of a song which has rendered her charms immortal: — "Her brow is like the snaw -drift, Her neck ia like the swan, Her face it is the fairest That e'er the sun shone on^ That e'er the sun shone on; And dark blue ia her e'e ! And for bonnie Annie Laurie I'd lay me down and die. " The well-known lyric of which these lines form a part, was composed by Mr. Douglas of Fingland, an ardent admirer of "Bonnie Annie;" she did not reciprocate his affection, however, but preferred his rival, Alexander Ferguson of Craigdarroch, to whom she was eventually united in marriage.* While the Irvings held rule on Kirtle Water and the western fringe of the Debatable Land, they were neighboured in Gretna by the small clan of the Romes, some of whom settled in the County town during Archibald M'Brair's burghal reign, if not before, acquiring a good position in it, as it proved by the frequent appearance of their names in the sederunts of the Council. We find traces of them soon afterwards as landed proprietors. A retour of 1638, represents John, son of John Rome, of Dal- swinton-holm, as enjoying the multures of the thirty-six pound land of Dalgonar, including the lands of Milligantown. In a general inquest in 1674, Robert appears as heir to his father, John Rome of Dalswinton; so that the estate which the Red Comyn owned had, after the lapse of four hundred years, fallen into the hands of this Annandale family. The lands of Cluden were acquired by them at a later period; and the first Provost of Dumfries chosen after the Revolution, belonged to the family. Long before Flodden was fought, the Cunninghams (of whose origin something was said in a preceding chapter) ranked among the Corinthian piUars of the Burgh. The lucrative * One of the Fergusons of Isle married a sister of Annie Laurie. He was buried in the family vault in Dunscore Churchyard; and probably the old tombstone there having upon it the inscription: — "Here lyes entombit ane honest and verteus mane, Alexander Fergusone," was placed above his remains His wife would doubtless be laid in the same grave. We have not been able to ascertain where Bonnie Annie was buried. 246 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. oflBce of town-clerk was frequently held by members of the family; and the returns of property, in 1506 and 1510, show that one of them, William, must have been in the receipt of considerable house rents. The family mansion, situated on part of what is now Queensberry Square, was the wonder of the town, on account of its "Painted Hall:" a capacious chamber which seems to have been lent by them for public purposes, and which acquired a historical interest, as in it Protestantism was first preached to a Dumfries audience, and James VI. gave to it the prestige of the royal presence on a memorable occasion; while there is good ground for supposing that that King's grandfather, the fourth James, lodged in it during his memorable visit to the Burgh in 1504 A few more prominent names require still to be mentioned. Among the merchant Burgesses of Dumfries, at the opening of the seventeenth century, were Ebenezer Gilchrist, of Celtic origin, the name signifying, in that language, " a servant of Christ;" John Coupland, belonging to a family who claim descent from the Yorkshire warrior by whom David II. was captured at Neville's Cross; George Grierson and Bailie William Carlyle, both members of old local houses — the latter, by marrying Isabella Kirkpatrick, about 1630, adding another nuptial alliance to the many ties of that nature by which their "forbears" were made one. Other marriage contracts, of which a record lies before us, furnish forth both old names and new : — Thomas M'Burnie, merchant, on wedding Isabel, eldest daughter of Bailie Edward Edgar and Agnes Carlyle, his spouse, got with her a tocher of 1000 merks. This was on the 2ud of January, 1663; and, on the 24th of August, 1697, Agnes, the first fruit of the union, gave her hand to James Grierson of Dalgonar, the tocher given with her being simply the remission of 2000 merks out of 5500 owing by the bridegroom to the father of the bride. On the 21st of September, 1667, John, son of George Sharpe, also a merchant in the Burgh, espoused Elizabeth, eldest daughter of John Hairstens of Craigs. The happy swain in this instance was Commissai-y Clerk of Dum- fries, which office was held a short time before by James, son of John Halliday, advocate, cadets of an Annandale clan, who gloried in recognizing as their founder the chief of whom HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 247 Wallace spoke so fondly: "Tom Halliday, my sister's son so dear!" At least four other families, from the same district, had at this time representatives among the lairds and merchants of Dumfries : the Dinwoodies, long settled in the parish of Apple- garth, descended, it is supposed, from AUeyn Dinwithie, whose name appears in the Ragman Roll; the Corries, who took their name from the old parish of Corrie (a Celtic compound, meaning " a narrow glen"), where they first appeared as vassals of Robert Bruce; the Flemings, sons of enterprising traders from Flanders, who gave their name to a Dumfriesshire parish, Kirkpatrick- Fleming — where, on the left bank of the Kirtle, rose Redhall, their ancient baronial hold; and the Bells, whose chief occupied Blacket House, on the right bank of the same stream, and who at one time mustered so strongly in the neighbouring parish, that "the Bells of Middlebie" became a proverbial expression ^in the County.* A few Grahams from the east bank of the Esk, descendants, it is thought, of a brave knight. Sir John Graham, named Bright Sword, were to be found in Dumfries at this period ; also some members of a celebrated Celtic family, the Kennedys, who look upon Roland de Carrick as their founder, and whose great grandson, Sir John Kennedy of Dunure, was the first to assume that name instead of Carrick. f * These two last named families are both intimately associated ■with the tragical story of Fair Helen of Kirkconnel Lee, already referred to. Two neighbours, one named Adam Fleming, and the other supposed to have been a Bell of Blacket House, sought her hand, and she gave the preference to Fleming. The disappointed suitor, meditating vengeance on his favoured rival, traced the lovers to their usiial nocturnal tryst on the banks of the Kirtle, and, by the light of the moon, aimed his carabine at Fleming, and iired. Fair Helen threw herself before her lover in order to save him, received in her breast the fatal bullet, and died in his arms. A desperate combat followed between the two men, in which Bell was "hacked in pieces sma'. " Poor Fleming fled to foreign lands, seeking in vain for the peace of mind he had lost for ever ; and then, following the impulse of his heart — ' ' that I were where Helen lies ! Night and day on me she cries " — returned home and died upon her tomb; and now the ashes of the lovers mingle together in the churchyard of Kirkcoimel. f Nisbet (System of Heraldry, vol. i., p. 161) considers that the old Celtic thanes of Carrick, which was originally a part of Galloway, were ancestors of 248 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. It appears from these details that Annandale and the Western Border contributed much more to the population of Dumfries than Nitlisdale; and it is interesting to observe, that all the household names we have enumerated, except M'Brair* and Rome, are still more or less common in the Burgh— a remark which also applies to those of Turner, Lawson, Stewart, Mundell, Blacklock, Carruthers, Waugh, Clark, Paterson, Nicholson, Scott, Beck Welsh, Thomson, Henrison or Henderson, Menzies, Dick- son, Anderson, Lindsay, Gordon, Affleck, Ramsay, Forsyth, Goldie, Moffat, Simpson, Farish, Gibson, Crosbie, Pagan, Tait, Muirhead, Dalyell, Neilson, Gass, Weir, Glover, Coltart, Black, Reid, Wilson, Graik, Lorimer, Shortridge, Newall, Rigg, Barbour, Spense, Martin, Milligan, M'Kie, M'George, and M'Kinnell, which names, like the others, frequently appear in the ancient burgess rolls, showing that most of their owners have had "a local habitation" in the capital of Nithsdale for at least three hundred years, t the Kennedys. So far back as the eighth century, Kennedy, father of Brian Boru, was Prince of Connaught; and, in 850, Kennethe was Thane of Carrick. The earldom of CassUlis (now Ailsa), in Ayrshire, is held by this family. The Rev. Alexander Kennedy, minister of Straiten, Ayrshire, bom in 1663, acquired the estate of Knockgray, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright. His great great granddaughter, Anne, married, 10th September, 1781, John Clark, Esq., of Nunland, also in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright; and their eldest son. Colonel Alexander Clark Kennedy, succeeded in 1835 to the estate of Knockgray. An honourable augmentation was grsinted to his arms, in commemoration of his having, when in command of the centre squadron of the Royal Dragoons at Waterloo, captured the eagle and colours of the 105th Regiment of French infantry with his own hand. (Scottish Nation, vol. ii., p. 609.) His sou. Colonel John Clark Kennedy of Knockgray, born in Dumfries, also a distin- guished officer, unsuccessfully contested the representation of the Dumfries Burghs with Mr. WiUiam Ewart, in 1865. * The name Robert M'Brair appears in the list of burgesses for 1708, after which we lose trace of the family. t Most of the local names mentioned in this chapter occur in the Setours, or Town Council Minutes, at dates extending from 1506, downwai-ds till the middle of the following century. The reader will recognise modern localities in the old names of places in the second of the two extracts that we subjoin: "1506. Wra. Cuuyngham, 9 mork land 20s., et ]'2 do.; 3 tenements in bur^o de Dumfries, val. 48,, dc terr de Lnrdburn, ac itiam 4s.; di orto infra terri- torium dicti burgi." To this valuation return the foUowiug are witnesses :— "Dom. Fergviais Barbour, vie do Trawero [Troqucor], Hug Rig, Gul. Maxwell, David Wolsclio, John Lorymare, John Rig, Thos. Cuuyngham, Thos. Stewart^ HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 249 These statements will enable the reader to see by whom the town was ruled, and its public opinion guided, during the Reformation period, and for a century afterwards. Let us now explain what part the old leading County families took in the conflict of creeds which had long been raging. Many of them remained neutral, or kept the Romanist side ; yet a considerable number cast in their lot with the Reforming party. Lord Maxwell's two sons, as well as himself, the Earls of Angus and Glencairn, the Laird of Johnstone, the Laird of Closeburn, the Laird of Amisfield (son of the knight whose memorable visit from the " Gudeman of Ballengeich" is narrated in a previous chapter), and James, chief of the Drumlanrig Douglasses, pro- moted the Protestant movement from motives of policy or religion, or a mixture of , both — the last-named nobleman manifesting special zeal on its behalf. He was descended from William, son of the hero of Otterburn, who, by receiving the barony of Drumlanrig, in the parish of Durisdeer, from his father, acquired the designation of Dominus de Drumlanrig. In 1470 his direct descendant, James, married the eldest daughter of Sir David Scott of Branxholm, ancestor of the Dukes of Buccleuch and Queensberry. William, the son of James, fell at Flodden, leaving two sons, the younger of whom, Robert, was Provost of Lincluden College— the last who held that lucrative appointment ; the elder, James, being the noble- man under notice, and who signalized himself in endeavouring, with Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch, to rescue King James V. from the grasp of Angus in 1526. James Douglas of Drum- lanrig was knighted by the Regent Arran, and subscribed the Presbyterian Book of Discipline in 1561, remaining ever after- wards true to his profession. Sir Cuthbert Murray of Cockpool was also a decided Reformer; his mother's family, the Jardines of Applegarth, adopted the Reformed doctrines; so did the Griersons of Lag; and all these houses were matrimonially Herb. Patriokson, burgos de Drumf." Also, " Dom. Tho. Makbraiie, Gilbert Bek, et Jolin Tumour, capillanis apud Drumf. 1510. William Cunyngham and his wyfe, de tenementi diet burg [in the said burgh of Dumfries], 12a. ; de tenementi in diet burg, in le Sewtergait, 10s. ; de tenementi in capiti diet burg. , 6s. 8d. ; de tenementi in Lochmabingait, 8s. ; de alio tenementi, 4s. ; de orrio et orto prope le Mildam, et le Clerkhill, lOs." Testified to, among others, by " Dom. Jon Walker." 2 H 250 HISTORY OF DUMFEIES. ■ T, X i. + -nnno-lasses — the eldest surviving Td tLir daughter having been marned to the heir of Lag.* . Many of the leading families of the County were allied by internmmage • this and succeeding centuries; and it not unfrequently happened that those famUiea who were thus united took opposite sides in the wars that sprang up. The mother of Stewart of Garlies, who, as is afterwards shown, initiated the Re- formation in Dumfries, belonged to the Catholic house of Herries. The marriage contract, dated 12th February, 1550, sets forth that "James Hamilton, Duke of Chatelherault, taking burden on him for John, his second son, as his tutor and administrator, on the one part, and Katherine Herries, with consent of James Kennedy o£ Blairquhan, her guidsire, on the other, hath contracted her to be mai-ried to Alexander Stewart, son and heir apparent of Alexander Stewart of Garlies, and is bound to pay 2300 merks of tocher with her; and grants to her, in conjunct fee with the said spouses, the £20 land of Dalswinton, and the £30 land of Bishoptown and Ballaghuyre." After the lapse of another generation, Barbara Stewart, the fruit of this marriage, was wedded by a Kirkpatrick, in terms of the following nuptial contract: — " Contract of marriage between John, heir apparent to Thomas Kirkpatrick of Alisland, and Barbara Stewart, wherein Alexander Stewart of Garlies [the Reformer], her brother, and Dame Katherine Herries, her mother, burden themselves with her tocher, 7000 merks from Alexander, and 400 from her mother on the one part; and on the other part, Thomas, the bridegroom's father, engages to maintain them in his house, and to gi\o them 100 merks yearly to buy clothes." Dated at Kirkcudbright, 3rd May, 1581; and attested by WiUiam Maxwell, Master of Herries, Roger Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, Roger Grierson of Lag, Robert Herries of Mabie, Gavin Dunbar of Baldoon, and others. The bride's mother and the bride- groom's father were both unable to write. Illustrations of the general statement could readily be multiplied. Michael, fourth Lord Carlyle, married Janet, daughter of Francis Charteris of Amisfield; their eldest son, William, married Janet, daughter of Johnstone of Johnstone; their second son, Michael, married Grisel, daughter of John, fom-th Lord Maxwell; John Laurie of Maxwelton married Agnes, daughter of Sir Robert Grierson of Lag; a second daughter became the wife of Alexander Ferguson of Isle ; while a third was wedded to James Grierson of Capenoch. CHAPTER XXI. DAWN OP THE EEPORMATIOJJ IN GALLOWAY AND DUMPBIBSSHIEE — GOEDON OF AIEDS, ITS MEST MISSIONAEY — ONE OF HIS DISCIPLES, STEWAET OF GAKLIES AND DALSWINTON, INVITES THE GOSPELLEE HAELOW TO DUM- FRIES HIS FIRST SERMON THERE, IN THE PAINTED HALL — CONSTEENA- TION OF THE PRIESTS — THE DEAN OF NITHSD4LE ENDEAVOURS, WITHOUT EFFECT, TO GET HAELOW APPREHENDED BY THE MAGISTRATES — PROGRESS OF PROTESTANTISM IN THE COUNTY AND BURGH — REVIEW OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC ESTABLISHMENT : THE ABBEY OF HOLYWOOD, THE PRIORY OF CANONBY, FEIAES' CARSE, LINCI.UDEN COLLEGE, ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH, THE GEEYFEIARS' MONASTERY, THE VICARAGE OF DUMFRIES, ST. CHRIS- TOPHER'S CHAPEL, NEWABBEY, THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS AND THEIR LANDS, THE KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN AND THEIR HOSPITALS. Till 1543, the date of Lord Robert Maxwell's Act, no one throughout the kingdom could read an English or Scottish version of the Scriptures without serious risk. Long before that year, however, the old wood of Airds, in Kirkcudbright- shire, was often rendered vocal by the Word of life, read, in the viilgar tongue, to a secret, sympathizing audience, by Alexander Gordon of Airds, a man of rare excellence, who may be fairly reckoned the pioneer of the Reformation in Galloway and Dumfriesshire. He was the third son of Sir Alexander Gordon of Auchenreach. Having gone across the Border on matters of business, he happened to fall in with some of Wickliffe's followers; and, becoming attached to one of them, he engaged him to act as tutor in the family. Returning, thoroughly embued with Reformation principles, accompanied by a Wickliffite, and possessing a copy of Wick- liffe's Testament, he became forthwith a zealous missionary of Protestantism. Gordon was of gigantic size and strength, and was the father of an immense family; and on these accounts, as well as from the pious supervision held by him over his household and 252 HISTOllY OF DUMFRIES. numerous dependants, the epithet of " The Patriarch," by which he was popularly known, was exceedingly appropriate. When, after the Regent Arran's apostacy, the Beaton party got the upper hand, and enacted stringent laws for the observance of holidays, the stalwart Laird of Airds set them and their laws at defiance. According to one of these statutes, every beast of burden made to labour at such seasons was liable to for- feiture. By way of practical protest against it, the Patriarch (who had a spice of humour in his composition) gave a large festive entertainment on Christmas Day ; and, yoking ten strapping sons in a plough, he held it himself, whilst his youngest boy acted js "caller;" and thus, in the presence of his astonished friends, and not a few emissaries of the Church, he tilled a ridge of the land of Airds, daring either layman or shaveling to distrain his team.* His woodland congregations for studying the New Testament were held in a less open and defiant style. Among those who frequented them was Gordon's near kinsman, Alexander Stewart, younger of Garlies, the lineal descendant of the patriotic Sir Thomas Stewart, whom Bruce rewarded with the barony of Dalswinton. Young Stewart spent some time in England as pledge for his father, the Laird of Garlies, oue of the prisoners taken at Solway Moss ; and, probably when there, adopted those religious views which the teachings of the Patriarch confirmed. The pupil soon emulated his master in the ardour with which he disseminated the doctrines of the Eeformation. The estate of Dalswinton still belonged to the family : being thus territorially associated with Dumfries, he resolved to make that town the scene of his proselytizing labours. The inhabitants were by no means ignorant of, or unconcerned about, the great revolution that was going on in the ecclesiastical world. Some of the leading men had been induced, by the preaching of the Lollards in Kyle, a neighbour- ing district, to embrace Protestantism; the secret converts to it numbering, among others, several members of the Cunning- ham family, in accordance with the example set by their noble relative, the Earl of Glencairn. The Burgh was therefore, to some extent, ripo for Stewart's evangelizing experiment. That * Sir Anrlrpw Agnow's Hi'iorlitnry Sheriffs of Galtowny, p. 154. HISTORY OP DUMFRIES. 253 it might have a greater chance of success, he invited William Harlow, a lay preacher belonging to Edinburgh (who had been forced to flee from that city by the priests), to visit Dumfries. Knox, writing many years afterwards, characterized him as " a simple man, whose condition, although it excel not, yet, for his whole and diligent plainness in doctrine, is he, to this day, worthy of praise, and remains a fruitful member within the Church of Scotland."* Harlow accepted the invitation, and, humble tailor though he was, became the Burgh's first Pro- testant missionary. A document is in existence f which enables us to record the precise hour in which Harlow first denounced the mass as rank idolatry, proclaimed salvation through simple faith in the cruci- fied Redeemer, and sounded the knell of Popery in one of its strongest citadels. This took place at early morning watch, "nine houris afore noon," on the 23rd of October, 1558 — the light of the coming day symbolizing, as it were, the dawn of the pure faith which the speaker heralded. Harlow, passing to the manor-house of Garlies, began his mission there; and then, at three o'clock on the morning of the above day, " preached in the fore-hall of Robert Cunninghame, within the burgh of Dunfrese," one of his hearers being his patron and coadjutor, Mr. Stewart. What unpardonable audacity! for a mere layman — a poor, vulgar maker of material garments — a heretic pro- scribed and vile — thus to lift up his testimony against " Holy Mother Church," and speak of her penances, pilgrimages, and peculiar dogmas, as no better than "filthy rags!" But the "pestilent rebel" was watched by indignant officials, sacred and secular: the Dean of Nithsdale invoked the inter- vention of the civil authorities; and one Archibald Menzies, a legal emissary, with a good scent for heresy, and anxious for a job, hearing of what had occurred, "past incontinent to the presence of the said Alexander Stewart of Garlies, and the said Harlo, within the said burgh of Dunfrese, and required him of quhais authoritie, and quha gaif him commissioun to preach, he beand ane lait-man [layman], and the Quenis rebel, and * History of the Reformation, p. 117. + Niem. Glasg. in Colleg. Scot., Paris, F. 159. See Keith's History of the Affairs of Church and State in Scotland, vol. i,, Appendix, p, 90. 254 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. excommunicate, and wes lejDelled furth of other partis for the said causis." The answer given was bold, and to the point: "I will avow him," said Garlics, " and will mantain and defend him against you and all other kirkmen that will putt at him." Whereupon the officer, through the agency of "David Makgee, notarms publicvs," protested by a written deed, "quhilk instrument," we are told, " wes tain in the lodging place of the said laird of Garlies, before thir witnesses: Schir* Patrick Wallace, curat of Dumfres; Schir Jhone Ireland, parson of Rewll [Ruth well]; Schir Herbert Paterson, Schir Oles Wilson, chaplains; Robert Maxwell, Williame Maxwell, Herbert Maxwell, Jhone Frude, John Menzies, Mark Rewll, and utheris." With the view of obliterating the impression made by Harlow, "Schir" Patrick Wallace preached a sermon in St. Michael's, "for the Weill and instruction of his parishioners;" and then the pertinacious " Maister Archibald Menzies," anxious to do his part in the matter effectually, "past to the presence of David Cunninghame and James Rig, baillies of the burgh of Dumfres," and representing that Harlow had been put to the horn at the instance of the Queen's Grace, " for sic enormi- ties and contemptions " as he had committed in divers parts " against the privilege of Haly Kirk and Acts of ParHament," he required them, in the sovereign's name, to seize the offender, and " putt him in sure hald." To their credit be it recorded, the magistrates said nay to the solicitation. One of them, it may be inferred from his name, was related to the owner of the hall in which Harlow preached — a noted historical hall, let us not forget to say — the very Painted Chamber in which the Sixth James was afterwards entertained; and whether it was that they decidedly favoured Protestantism, or simply wished to remain neutral, they declined to interfere, even when the man of law threatened them with pains and penalties, and " asked * This courtesy title of "Sir" was formerly prefixed to the name of all curates and such priests as had taken the academic degree of Bachelor of Arts. .Justice Shallow, in the " Meriy Wives of Windsor," when addressing Hugh Evans, a churchman, says: " Sir Hugh, persuade me not, I will make a Star Chamber matter of it: if he were twenty Sir John Falstaffs, he shall not abuse Robert Shallow, esquire, master parson." HISTORY OF DUMFEIES. 255 instruments," which were " maid and ta'en in the parioch-kirk," to that effect. Harlow, therefore, in spite of the enraged Dean of Nithsdale, his curate " Schir" Patrick, and the mortified '•' Maister" Menzies, and encouraged by the bountiful heir of Garlies, continued his services in Dumfries undisturbed, pre- paring the field for other labourers, who soon sprang up.* In the catastrophe that ensued, down went the deaneries of Nithsdale and Annandale; the religious houses of the County, great and small, were suppressed; the ritual of Rome vanished from public view — the revolution which these words suggest being effected with Httle violence, and no bloodshed. The oldest monastic establishment in Dumfriesshire was that of Holywood. The Abbey, which occupied the south-east corner of the present churchyard of that parish, was in the form of a cross, a spacious arch supporting its oaken roof The upper part of the edifice was used as the parish church till 1779, when the remains were absorbed in the existing place of worship; and, hung up in it, the old Abbey bells (though consecrated more than seven hundred years ago), still ring in with dulcet peal the seasons of religious service, f To the Abbey were attached many lands in Nithsdale and East Galloway, its monks enjoying a jurisdiction over the whole. Its rental in 1544 amounted to £700 Scots; nineteen chalders, fourteen bolls, and three firlots of meal; nine bolls and three firlots of bere ; and one chalder of malt. | At the Reformation its revenue was reduced to less than £400 Scots; and in 1587 * In the following spring, Harlow prosecuted Ms evangelizing labours in Perthshire, for which he was prosecuted by the Government, as the following extract from Pitcairn's Criminal Trials (vol. i., p. 407) will show: — "May 10, 1559. — Frier John Christesoune and William Harlow denounced rebels, as fugitive, &c. ; and their cautioners, John Erskine of Dune and Patrick Murray of Tibbermuir, were amerciated, for their not entering to underly the law for their usurping the authority of the Church, in taking at their own hands the ministry thereof, as above, within the burgh of Perth, and other places adjoin- ing, within the shire of Perth. " t The Statistical Account (p. 559) bears testimony to the excellent tone of these venerable bells, and states that an inscription on one of them gives as the date of consecration by John Wrick, the year 1154. The late incumbent of the parish, Dr. Kirkwood, who wrote the account in 1837, states that the charter seal of the Abbot, dated 1264, was at that time in his possession. J Keith, vol. i., Appendix, p. 185. 256 HISTORY OF DUMFEIES. the remains of the property was vested in the Crown. Thirty years afterwards, an Act of Parhament was passed annulling this arrangement as to the temporalities of the Abbey and its spiritual jurisdiction (extending over the parish churches of Holywood, Dunscore, Penpont, Tynron, and Kirkconnel, with their parsonages, vicarages, tithes, and glebes), in order that King James VI. might grant the whole to John Murray of Loch- maben as a free barony, to be called the barony of Holywood, for a nominal yearly rent of £20 Scots, he, moreover, engaging to pay the stipends, to uphold the churches, and supply " the Elements of breade and wyne for the celebratioun of the com- munione within" the same.* Murray was a great favourite of the King, and had previously acquired from him the barony of Lochmaben, with other property in Dumfriesshire. Thomas Campbell, the last Abbot of Holywood, faithful to the fortunes of Queen Mary, furnished her with assistance after she had escaped from Lochleven Castle, for which he suffered forfeiture in 1568. t At a very early date, the parish church of Dunscore belonged to the Abbey of Holywood — gifted to the brethren, it is sup- posed, by Edgar, grandson of Dunegal, the Lord of Stranith. A portion of land in the parish was conferred by Edgar's daughter, Affrica, on another fraternity, the Monks of Melrose, who in * Acts of Scot. Pari., vol. iv., pp. 575-6. f One of the greatest mathematicians of the middle ages, Joannes a Sacro Bosca, threw a lustre over this monastic establishment, he having been an inmate of it in his early years. " He was born," says Dr. George Mackenzie, ' ' in Nithsdale. Having finished the course of his studies, he entered into holy orders, and was made a canon regular of the Order of St. Augustine, in the famous Monastery of Holywood, from whence he has his name of Joannes a Sacro Bosca. After he had staid for some years in this Monastery, he went over to Paris, where he was admitted a member of that University on the 5th of June, 1221. He was, in a few years, made Professor of Mathematics, which he taught for several years with gi-eat applause." — Lives and Cliaractcr of the Most Eminent Writers of the Scots Nation (Edin., 1708), vol. i., p. 167. The same author sums up his notice of Joamies by saying, ' ' He is acknowledged by all not only to have been the most learned mathematician of his age, but the noble restorer of those sciences then sunk into desuetude; and his works have been ever since, and will still be, esteemed by all learned men ; and some of the most eminent mathematicians of the last age, as Gemmas Frisius, Petrus Ramus, Elias Venotus, and Christophorus Clavius, have thought their labour not ill bestowed in illustrating them with their commentaries. " (Vol. i. , p. 168. ) Joannes died in 12.'ifi. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 257 course of time claimed the church also.* The Abbot of Dercongal, resenting this assumption, appealed -to William, Bishop of Glasgow, and received a decision in his favour; that prelate, when at Kirkmahoe in June, 1257, ruling that Melrose had no business with the church, and could only of right tithe its own lands in Dunscore.f These lands, however, were at one period very extensive, and included the classical soil of Friars' Carse, held, too, by a direct descendant of the renowned Sir Roger Kirkpatrick, and who took his title from the farm in Dunscore, long afterwards tenanted by Robert Burns. A commission given by Cardinal Antonius, dated at Rome on the 13th of September, 14C5, confirmed a charter from the* Monastery of Melrose to John Kirkpatrick of AUisland of the thirty-six-poimd land of Dalgonar, including "Killieligs, Bessiewalla, Over and Nether Bairdwell, Dunpaterstoun, Over and Nether Laggan, Over and Nether Dunscoir, Ryddingins, Edgarstoune, MuUiganstoun, Culroy, and Ferdin, together with the lands of Friars Kars." This commission, addressed to certain dignitaries of the Scottish Church, proceeded on the curious narrative that Andrew the Abbot, and the brethren of Melrose, in augmentation of their rental, and for certain sums of money paid to them by the said John, had granted to him and his lawful heirs male, bearing the name of Kirk- patrick, whom failing, to his nearest heirs female, without division, the said lands to be holden in feu farm of the said Convent of Melrose, he paying " 46 merks, 6^ lib. sterling," or 110 ounces of pure silver, at least eleven pence fine, and doubling the same the first year of his entry thereto ; the said John and his heirs becoming bound to entertain each year the abbot, convent, and company with their horses — once in summer during three days and three nights, and once in winter for the same space — in their dwelling of Friars' Kars, furnishing them with meat and drink and all other necessaries. As Kirkpatrick's landlords were proverbial for their jollity, the expense of these periodical visits would amount to a heavy rent in itself " The monks of Melrose made gude kale, On Fridays when they fasted; And wanted neither beef nor ale As lang's their neighbour's lastit." * Chartulary of Melrose, Nos. 103-^5. f Il>'d. No. 107. 2l 258 HISTOKY OF DUMFRIES. But lest their bargain with him should seem a stingy one, they threw into it the bailiery of the thirty-six-pound land of Dalgonar, with all the privileges and profits thereof, including power to hold bailie courts; he paying for the office the nominal sum, annually, of one penny Scots* For a while after the Eeformation, the property in Dunscore that belonged to Melrose was still administered by the commendator of the Abbey, Michael Balfour by name — that officer having, in August, 1565, granted a charter to Thomas Kirkpatrick of Allisland and Friars' Carse of a 24s. 6d. land; also, the tack of the teinds or tithes in the Over part of the parish, the latter for twenty pounds Scots a year. Next in importance, though not quite so ancient as the Abbey of Holywood, was the Priory of Canonby, in Eskdale, erected, as we have seen, by Turgot de Rosindale, and granted by him, with adjacent territory, to the monks of Jedburgh. t In Bagimont's Roll, J Canonby was taxed £6 13s. 4d. Scots. Its prior sat in the great Parliament held at Brigham in March, 1290;. and, together with his canons, swore fealty to Edward I. at Berwick, in August, 1296. In 1341, the brotherhood received from Edward III. a writ of protection; but that did not hinder them from being frequently harassed, and their possessions plundered, in the Border wars; and both the priory and church are said to have been demolished after the rout of the Scottish army at Solway- Moss, in 1542. § The establishment was vested in the King by the Annexation Act of 1587; and it and the Abbey of Jedburgh, with which it was associated, were, in 1606, granted by the Legislature to Alexander, Earl of Home, he obtaining as perti- nents of the priory, the patronage, teinds, and tithes of the churches of Canonby and Wauchope. Eventually the priory, * No. 824, Ant. Soc, Edin. + The revenue of Jedburgh Abbey, including the Priories of Canonby and Reatennent, Angusshire, waa £1274 10a. Scota, beaidea meal and bere.— Keith, p. 185. t A roll showing the value of all benefices, named after a Papal Legate who caused it to be made, that the revenue might yield ita due amount of taxation to the Court of Kome. § Some vestiges of the convent are atill (1836) to be seen at Halgreen, about half a milo to the east of the parish church. — Statiatkal Account, p. 490. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 259 with its property, passed from the family of Home to that of Buccleuch.* We have already seen how Lincluden Abbey was converted into a collegiate church by Archibald, Earl of Douglas. Its revenue was much increased by the liberality of his son's wife, Margaret, daughter of Robert III., who founded in it a chap- lainry, and endowed it with the lands of Eastwood, Barsculie,, Carberland, Dumnuck, and the domains of Southwick and Barns, f Many of the Provosts of the college, soaring beyond its sphere, held high positions in the State. Elese, the first Provost, was succeeded by Alexander Cairns, who became Chancellor to the Duke of Touraine; the next was John Cameron, a great favourite at Court, who died in 1446, previously to which the provostry devolved on John M'Gilhauck, rector of Partoun. The next name on the roU is that of Halyburton, whose arms, carved on the south wall of the church, bespeak his high rank. Winchester, who was made Bishop of Moray in 1436 ; Methven, who became a Secretary of State and a diplo- matic agent ; and Lindsay, who was Keeper of the Privy Seal and ambassador to England, come next in order : these in their turn being followed, says Chalmers, "by other respectable men who evinced by their acceptance, the importance, and perhaps the profit, which were then annexed to the office of Provost of Lincluden." | At the period of the Reformation, this lucrative provostry was held by Robert Douglas, second son of Sir William Douglas of Drumlanrig. He was appointed to it in September, 1547; and, on his death, after enjoying the benefice for more than fifty years, he was succeeded in it by his elder brother, James Douglas, who obtained, however, only a portion of the collegiate property, including " all and haill the Salmond fischeing in the water of Nethe."§ The major part was granted, in 1617, to Sir Robert Gordon of Lochinvar, and to Sir John Murray of Lochmaben, the lucky knight who, as groom of the royal bedchamber, had gained the love and favour of King James; they becoming bound to pay the feu mails to Douglas during his life, and afterwards to the * Inquiait. Speoiales, pp. 212, 242. f Caledonia, vol. iii,, p. 308. t Caledonia, vol. iii., pp. 308-9. § Acts of Scot. Pari., vol. iv., p. 570. 260 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Crown, How rich the College of Lincluden was, may be inferred from the enumeration of its estates in the Act con- ferring them in equal shares on Gordon and Murray. In that document they are designated as " all and haill the five- merk land of Little Dryburgh; the five-merk land of Drumjarg; the five-merk land of Ernephillane; the five-merk land of Ernecraig; the five-merk land of Blairony; the five-merk land of Meikle Dryburgh; the five-merk land of Chapmantoun; the five-merk land of Blankerne; the five-merk land of Emmingzie; the five-merk laud of Crocemichell ; the five-merk land of Garrantoun; the two-and-a-half-merk land of Blackpark; the fifteen-shilling land of Staikfurd [now Nithside]; the forty- shilling land of Newtoun; the one-merk lalid of Clunye and Skellingholme; the six-merk land of Terrauchtie; the six-merk land of Drumganis; the five-merk land of Troqueer; the one- merk land of Stotholme; the five-merk land of Nuneland; the five-merk land of Cruxstanis [Curristanes] ; the six-merk land of Holme [now Goldielea]; the twenty-shilling land of Marieholme; and the four-merk land of Nuneholme:"* these comprising some of the most fertile arable farms, meadows, and grazing grounds that are to be found in the vicinity of Dumfries. By the slaughter of Comyn, the Greyfriars' Monastery of the Burgh lost its previous high repute : it was believed to have been desecrated by the blood shed before its high altar, and to have shared in the awful curse pronounced by Pope John on the perpetrator of the murderous deed; yet the provost and chapter continued to occupy it till the beginning of the sixteenth century. Charters to houses in its neighbourhood, given by them in 1497, are said to have been seen and read at a comparatively recent period.f After the Reformation, the magistrates and community of Dumfries obtained a grant, dated 23rd April, 1569, of the whole lands, possessions, and revenues of the Monastery. Many of the inhabitants of the town worshipped within its church, till, scared from it by Bruce's outrage, they were led to frequent the undefiled sanc- tuary of St. Michael's Werk — the old parish church, situated at the southern extremity of the Burgh. Soon the little edifice * Acts of Scot. Pari., vol, iv., pp. .'571-4. f Buruside's MS. History. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 261 became overcrowded, and an addition was made to it : to defray the expense of which, every person admitted a burgess or free- man of Dumfries was required to pay five merks; and when a sufficient fund for the building was thus realized, the rest of the money was spent in purchasing wine and spice for performing, with congenial hilarity, the festival plays of Eobin Hood and Little John — a custom that was kept up for a century afterwards.* By an Act of Parliament passed in 1555, the obligation to devote the burgess money to such purposes was discharged. At a very early period, the Church establishment in Dumfries was intimately associated with the Abbey of Kelso. In the thirteenth century, the Abbot of that great house entered into an agreement with the Dean of Nithsdale, in virtue of which he received certain charters respecting the benefice, and gave to the Dean all the places of worship in the Burgh, on condition that that dignitary should pay twenty merks of silver yearly to the Abbey, t A rectory, dependent on Kelso, was established with this sum, but served by a vicar, who was allowed for his maintenance only the tithes of a few acres attached to the vicarage — the tax on which was fixed at four pounds in Bagimont's Roll. As already noticed, a tuneful churchman, who possessed a merry soul though physically deformed, held the office in 1504 — "the crukit Vicar of Dumfreise, that sang to the King in Lochma- bane be the Kingis command." The last vicar was Thomas Maxwell, who dying in 1602, the tithes and lands were inherited by his daughter, Elizabeth — their annual value being £10 6s. 8d. The Greyfriars' Monastery in the Vennel did not long outlive the last of its inmates. + When, about the middle of the six- * Bumside's MS. History. f Chart. Kelso, No. 322. X Tlie name of John Scot of Duns, usually termed Duns Scotus, is, according to Mackenzie, the learned author already quoted, closely associated with this religious house. He was born at the town of Dunse in 1274; and, "having learned his granunar, our historians say that two Franciscan Friars falling acquainted with him, and finding him to be a youth of wonderful parts, took him alongst with them to Dumfries, where they induced him to enter into their order." (Vol. i., p. 215.) Spottiswoode gives a similar statement ; but some English writers are of opinion that it was not at Dumfries, but Newcastle, 262 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. teenth century, the Castle of Dumfries needed repair, materials for that purpose were quarried out of Devorgilla's edifice. The church portion of it, however, seems to have been left untouched, as Arthur Johnston,* the distinguished poet and phj'sician, who died in 1641, wrote a sonnet in its praise. Viewing it with intense admiration on account of its close association with the deliverance of his country from a hateful despotism, he gave expression to the sentiment in a piece of elegant Latin verse, " In laudem Dumfriesii," stating that in this town might be seen a building to which Diana's temples and anything else that Greece deemed more worthy of honour must give place, for here the valiant Bruce smote the traitor Comyn ; and closing with the glowing apostrophe : — ' ' Scotia ! Diunf risii reliquia altaria prsef er, Hio tibi libertas avirea parta fuit. " Scotland ! Prefer the shrines of Dumfries to all others in the land, because there golden liberty was born to thee." f Part of the south wall of the Monastery, including two dilapidated arched windows, was still standing about sixty years ago in front of Comyn's Court at the Port of the Vennel; but now no relic remains of a house which superstition looked upon as accursed, and patriotism viewed with worshipful reverence, except the huge fire-place of the refectory where the food of the friars was cooked, which once turned out where Scotus became a Franciscan Friar. He afterwards studied at Oxford, went to Paris in 1301, where, as President of the Theological CoUege, he soon became the greatest scholastic luminary of his age, acquiring the title of "the Subtle Doctor," on account of his marvellous powers of disputation, and drawing crowds of students to the University (thirty thousand it is said, but that must be an exaggeration) by the depth and brilliancy of his intellect. He died at Cologne in ] 308, at the early age of forty -three. * Dr. Arthur Johnston belonged to a family long settled in Aberdeenshire. The first of them was Stiven de Johnston, who lived in the reigu of David II., and is said to have been the eldest brother of the Laird of Johnstone in Annan- dale. Being addicted to learning, he vrithdrew from the ti-oubles of his own district to Aberdeenshire, where he found congenial employment as Secretary to the Earl of Mar. By his marriage with Margaret, daughter and heu'ess of Sir Andrew Garioch, he got the lands of Caskieben, &c., also those of Kinburn, which ho called after his own name; and from him are descended all the Johustones of the north. — Scottish Nation, vol. ii., p. 375. + Appendix H. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 263 dinners for a king, and which is now doing service in the kitchen of a tavern* — remaining a tough piece of masonry after passing through six centuries of smoke and flame.f Long after the desertion of the Greyfriars' Church, the missal service was continued in Sir Christopher's Chapel. Sir Richard Maitland states, in his account of the Seton family, that he had heard mass in the building, and that the latter was standing undecayed in 1.552. In the course of a few subsequent years its doors would be closed and its endowment be secularized. For more than a century the little chapel, when falling into ruins, looked forlorn yet picturesque, till nearly all that remained of it was carried away for defensive purposes during the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715. It has been conjectured that the eminence on which it was built, and which was the scene of Seton's judicial murder, was the Tyburn of the Burgh: a supposition which receives support from a discovery of numerous human remains when, in 1837, the foundation was excavated of the edifice that now crowns the " Crystal Mount" — St. Mary's Church. Oq that occasion, upwards of seventy skulls were dug up. Were any of these deserted " domes of thought" tenanted by the doughty warrior who, by saving Bruce at Methven, saved his country, and proved his patriotism in the more terrible ordeal of the scaffold ? Or were they only " the chambers desolate " of ordinary malefactors, or miserable suicides — for it was long the custom to bury here, also, those who violated the canon against self-slaughter ? I The questions must remain unanswered. Undoubted relics of the sacred building by which Seton's memory was enshrined were, however, picked up whilst the present church was being founded; and these have been tastefully set up within an enclosure on the south side of the church. They constituted * The "Grey Horse" public house. Friars' Vermel. + An old house wMcli, down till 1863, formed the west comer of Irish Street, tad a fragment of the original gate built into its gable. J In a paper by Mr. James Starke, on Sir Christoplier's Chapel, he says : " There is no reason to doubt but that the patriot Seton suflFered.at the com- mon place of execution at that day. ... It was the Tyburn of Dumfries, and here also, as tainted and polluted ground, all suicides were buried." — Transactions of Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society, vol. ii., p. 44. 264 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. part of the beautiful east window, noticed by us in a former chapter, and bear the following inscription: — "These stones, the relics of the ancient chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, erected by King Robert Bruce, in memory of Sir Christopher or Chrystal Seatoun, are here placed by Major James Adair, 1840."* Newabbey, the greatest religious establishment, founded in the district by Devorgilla, was munificently endowed: the churches of Newabbey, Kirkpatrick-Durham, Crossmichael, Buittle, and Kirkcolm, belonged to it, together with the baronies of Loch- kinderloch and Lochpatrick, and other landed property; all of which lapsed to the Crown in 1587, till, in 1624, the lands, valued at £212 10s. lO^d. sterling, yearly, were erected into a temporal barony, in favour of Sir Robert Spottiswood. After- wards, in Queen Anne's reign, the barony was burdened with a mortification, payable from the lands of Drum, to support the second minister of Dumfries, amounting, with several decreets of locality, to £141 4s. 8Jd. What remains of the building — a nave, with aisles, choir, and transepts, an aisle on the east side, and a central square tower, rising ninety-two feet high, over the intersection of the nave with the aisles — furnishes still a vivid idea of Sweetheart Abbey in the olden time. In addition to the monastic brotherhoods already noticed, two orders of religious knights acquired a. settlement in Dumfriesshire — the Templars or Red Friars, and the Knights of St. John. The former, instituted by Baldwin II., King of Jerusalem, took their name from a residence he gave to them near the Temple of that city; the founders of the latter were certain devout Neapolitan merchants, who, trading to the Holy Land, obtained leave to build a church and monastery in Jerusalem, for the reception of pilgrims, to which buildings were added, in 1104, a larger church, with an hospital for the sick, dedicated to St. John: hence the name of the order, and * This inscription is erroneous. The chapel, as we have seen, was built by Lady iSeton, and only endowed by her royal brother; and it was not dedicated to the Virgin, but, as the charter distinctly states, was ' ' erected in honour of the Holy Rood." Major Adair, who was a member of the lurk-session of St. Mary's, merits thanks for collecting and authenticating these relies of this interesting historical edifice. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 205 the designation of Knights Hospitallers, by which they are also well known.* Portions of the property that belonged to the Templars in the County bore their name long after they fell into other ■ hands at or before the date of the Reformation. Thus we read in old records of the temple-lands of Ingleston in Glencairn ; the temple-land in Durisdeer; the five-pound temple-land of CarnsaUoch; the temple-land lying beside the Glen of Lag; the temple-lands of Dalgarno; the temple-lands, two in number, near Lochmaben; the temple-lands, also two, beside Lincluden College; the temple-land of Torthorvvald; the temple-land of Carruthers, in the old parish so named; the temple-land of Muirfad, near Moffat; and there is a village, in the vicinity of Lochmaben, called Templand, built on ground that was once owned by this opulent fraternity. In the particular register of sasines kept at Dumfries, sasine was registered on the 16th of April, 1636, in favour of Adam Johnstone, brother of Archibald Johnstone of Elshiesliields, in the temple-land of Reidhall; and the forty-shilling land called Templands, both in the stewartry of Annandale. The same register contains an entry of sasine, dated 21st May, 1636, in favour of John John- stone of Vicarland, and Adam, his son, of the temple-land * Wien tlie Templars were formed into an order, the Abb^ de Verlot, in his History of the Knights of St. John, states that ' ' St. Bernard ordered them, instead of prayers and oifices, to say, OTery day, a certain number of pater- nosters, which would make one imagine that those warriors, at that time, knew not how to read." One of the statutes required that the knights should not eat flesh above three times a week. The holy abbot, with regard to their military service, declared that each Templar might have an esquire, or serving brother -at -arms, and three saddle horses; but he forbade all gilding and superfluous ornaments in their equipage. He ordered that their habits should be white; and, as a mark of their profession, Pope Eugene III. added after- wards a red cross placed over the heart." (Vol. i., pp. 56-7.) De Verlot records that the idea of making the monastic inmates of St. John's Hospital into a military order, was first mooted by Raimond Dupuy, and characterizes it as " the most noble, and withal extraordinary design, that ever entered into the mind of a monk, tied down by his profession to the service of the poor and sick." They were divided into three classes — I. G-entlemen used to arms. 2. Priests and chaplains. 3. Men neither of noble families, nor ecclesiastics, who were termed frSres sei-oans (" serving brethren"). The habit consisted of a black robe, with a pointed mantle of the same colour (called a manteau d bee), upon which was sewn a pointed cowl, and the left side of which displayed an eight-pointed cross of white linen. (Vol. i., pp. 43-t-5.) 2 K 266 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. termed the Chapol of Kirkbride, in Kirkpatrick ; and an instrument is recorded whereby the five -pound Carnsalloch temple-land, already mentioned, which belonged to William Maxwell of Carnsalloch, was conveyed to Adam Shortrig, eldest son of John Shortrig, the precept being dated at " The End of the Bridge,"* 21st of December, 1619. At Becktoun, Dryfesdale, may still be seen the vestiges of a small religious house that belonged to the order, together with the Chapel-lands, by which it was endowed, t The Hospitallers had not so much landed property in the Shire as their fellow knights, but they seem to have possessed a larger number of foundations. One of their principal houses was a preceptory, at Kirkstyle, about ten miles from Dumfries, in the parish of Ruthwell, the ancient burial-ground of which exhibited, up till a recent period, several memorials of their presence, in the shape of sculptured stones, each containing an ornamented cross, having a sword on the right, a figure resembling the coulter and sock of a plough on the left; but no names of the knights " long gone to dust, and whose swords are rust," over whom the stones were originally laid, t One of their establishments stood rather more than a mile south- east of Dumfries, on an estate which bore, in consequence, the name of Spitalfield, till it was bought by the late Mr. John Brown, merchant, Liverpool, who called it Brownhall. On the opposite side of the Kelton Road lies Ladyfield, with its ancient orchard and well, which may have been a pendicle of the Hospital ; and we are inclined to think that "Our Lady's Chapel," at which King James IV. paid his devotions when visiting Dumfries, was situated on Ladyfield. Above the town of Annan, on the west bank of the river, * Or Bridge-end, the name borne by MaxweUton before it was erected into a burgh of barony. t Inquisit. Speciales, p. 291. J "These memoriala of the dead," says Dr. Henry Duncan, in his Account of the Parish of Ruthwell, written in 1834, "were found by the present incumbent [himself] lying in the parish burying-ground, whence he removed them; and they now form part of the wall of a summer house attached to the front wall which separates the gardeu from the churchyard." In the same garden is placed the celebrated Runic Cross, for the preservation of which memorable monument of Anglo-Saxon times we are also indebted to Dr. Duncan. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 267 there was another hospital belonging to the knights of St. John, from which two adjacent hamlets, Howspital and Spital- ridding, acquired their designation ; and they had a second one in Annandale, at Trailtrow, the cure of which was granted by James IV. to Edward Maxwell, with the land revenues of the same, vacant by the decease of Sir Robert M'Gilhance, the last master of the Hospital.* Their largest hospital in the County, however, grew up under the shadow of Sanquhar Castle, on the northern bank of the Nith. Many ages after all traces of it disappeared, the plough turned up numerous relics of its inmates, the mouldering memorials of a brotherhood who were men of note in their day, though they are now all but forgotten throughout the district — a fate which they share in common with their more distinguished fraters, the military monks of the Temple, t Both orders fell into decay long before the Papal establish- ment, of which they formed ^ singular feature, ceased to flourish; and when abolished at the Reformation, their remain- ing property was secularized; Ross of Rosile obtaining a considerable share of it; Murray of Cockpool getting what belonged to the Hospitallers in the parish of Ruthwell; Lord Herries their house and lands at Trailtrow ;| while, as already mentioned, the Spitalfield of Dumfries was acquired before 1666 by the M'Brairs of Almagill. * Privy Seal Register, vol. iv., p. 211. f Tlie masters of both orders in DumfriessMre having submitted to Edward I. in 1296, were coniirnied in their possessions by precepts addressed to the Sheriff by the King.— Rymer, pp. 724-5. t Inquisit. Speciales, p. 291; and Caledonia, vol. iii., p. 154. CHAPTER XXII. JOHN KNOX VISITa DUMFBIES — ELECTION OP A SUPEKINTENDBNT OVEB THE CONGKEGATIONS OP THE DISTRICT — QUEEN MARY'S CONVERSATION WITH KNOX ON THE SUBJECT — SLOW PROGRESS OF PROTESTANTISM IN THE BURGH — SIR JOHN MAXWELL MARRIES THE ELDEST DAUGHTER OF LORD WILLIAM HERRIES — HE IS VISITED AT TERREGLES BY THE QUEEN — PROFESSES PROTESTANTISM — MAXWELL AND KNOX CO-OPERATE ON ITS BEHALF — RUPTURE BETWEEN THEM — THE QUEEN GAINS MAXWELL OVER TO HER INTERESTS — HE ATTEMPTS, WITHOUT SUCCESS, TO EFFECT A RECONCILIATION BETWEEN THE PROTESTANT LORDS A2<"D HER MAJESTY — MANIFESTO ISSUED BY THE LORDS AT DUMFRIES — MA_RY VISITS THE TOWN AFTER THEIR DEPARTURE — SHE UPBRAIDS MAXWELL FOR KEEPING ON FRIENDLY TERMS WITH HER ENEMIES — MAXWELL FINALLY BREAKS WITH THEM, OBTAINS THE QUBEN'S FULL CONFIDENCE, AND IS CREATED LORD HERRIES — AN ANTI-REGENT RIOT IN DUMFBIES — ESCAPE OF MARY FROM LOCHLEVEN CASTLE — HER DEFEAT AT LANGSIDE SHE IS CONDUCTED FROM THE FIELD BY LORD HERRIES TO TERREGLES, AND THEN FLEES FOR REFUGE TO ENGLAND. Four years after the memorable visit of Harlow to Dumfries, the intrepid Knox arrived in the Burgh, in order to preside at the election of a superintendent, or moderator, over the various congregations formed in the district. Reference to the Reformer's mission is made in the following minute of the fifth General Assembly, as given by Calderwood ; — "For the planting of kirks in the sherifFdomes of Dumfries, Galloway, and Nithis- daill, and the rest of the West daills: the Assemblie nominat in lites for the superintendentship, Mr. Alexander Gordon, entituled Bishop of Galloway, and Mr. Robert Pont, minister of Dunkell; ordained edicts to be sett forth for the admission upon the first Lord's day of Aprile, and appointed the Superin- tendent of Glasgow, Mr. Knox, minister of Edinburgh, Mr. Robert Hamilton, minister of Ochiltree and Mauchlin, and other learned men, to be present at the inauguration of the person elected ; the place of admission to be the pai-ish kirk of Druiulrics." Gordon, one of tlie candidates, had occupied HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 269 many different sees under the old Papal system. He was first Bishop of Caithness, then of Glasgow, then of the Isles, then of Galloway, and was sometimes known as Bishop of Athens, which title he had received from the Pope on being deprived of the see of Glasgow. He was an able man, bnt full of duplicity; and in trying to curry favour with each of the two great religious parties, he lost the confidence of both. Pont, on the other hand, was an earnest, straightforward Presbyterian divine, and intellectually well fitted for the high position to which he aspired.* A few weeks before the election, Knox, as is related in his own " History," f had an interview with Queen Mary, at which, curiously enough, she introduced this subject. Having met her Majesty by appointment, when out on a hawking expedition near West Kinross, she, after a reference to other matters, said, " I understand that ye are appointed to go to Dumfries, for the election of a superintendent to be established in those countries." " Yes," said the Reformer; " those quarters have great need of such a one, and some of the gentlemen there so require." "But I fear," said she, "that the Bishop of Athens would be superintendent." "He is one, madam," answered Knox, " that is put in election." " If ye knew him," said she, " as well as I do, ye would never promote him to that office, nor yet to any other within your kirk." " What he hath been, madam," said Knox, "I never knew, nor yet will I enquire; * Robert Pont, bom at Culross about 1524, was a learned and accomplished divine. In July, 1574, he was, with others, appointed by the General Assembly to revise all books that were printed and published. About the same time, he drew up the Calendar, and framed the rules for understanding it, for Arbuthnot and Bassandyne's edition of the Bible. He had also a considerable share in the preparation of the Second Book of Discipline. He was elected no fewer than five times Moderator of the General Assembly; and enjoyed the rare distinction, for a clergyman, of having been appointed a Senator of the College of Justice- an office which he only accepted after receiving permission from the Assembly. Mr. Pont published several works, among others, "A newe Treatise of the right reckoning of Yeares and ages of the World, and men's lives, and of the estate of the past decaying age thereof, this 1600 yeare of Christ (erroneously caUed a yeare of jubUee), which is from the Creation the 5548 yeare. Contain- ing sundrie singularities, worthie of observation, concerning courses of times, and revolutions of the Heaven and reformations of Kalendars, and prognostica- tions, &c., &o. Edin. 1599, 4to. Latine, 1619, 4to." f Knox's History, p. 282. 270 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. for, in time of darkness, what could we do, but grope and go wrong, even as darkness carried us ? but, if he fear not God now, he deceives many more than me; and yet, madam, I am assured God will not suffer his Church to be so far deceived, as that an unworthy man shall be elected, where free election is, and the Spirit of God is earnestly called upon to decide betwixt the two." " Well," rejoined her Majesty, " do as ye will; but that man is a dangerous man." " And therein," adds the historian, " was not the Queen deceived ; for he had corrupted most part of the gentlemen, not only to nominate him, but also to elect him: which being perceived by the said John [Knox], he delayed the election, and left it with the Master of Maxwell. Mr. Robert Pont was put in election (with the foresaid bishop), to the end that his doctrine and conversation might be the better tried of those that had not known him before, and so was this bishop frustrate of his purpose for that present; and yet was he at that time the man that was most familiar with the said John in his house and at table." The election of the superintendent devolved upon the minis- ters settled in the district. They, after hearing the two candidates preach, and testing them in other respects — and doubtless giving due weight to the counsel of Knox and Lord Herries — chose Mr. Pont, who in virtue of his office bore a rule slightly resembling that of a bishop over Galloway and Carrick, as \yell as Dumfriesshire. He resided in Dumfries, but was seldom long at home, as he had to devote most of his time to the visitation of his diocese — building up new congregations, supplying them with pastors (or, when these could not be obtained, with readers) ; trying the life, diligence, and behaviom- of the ministers, the order of their churches, and the manners of the people ; seeing how the poor were provided for, how the youth were instructed; giving admonition where called for; and, finally, taking note of all heinous crimes, that the same might be considered by the censures of the Church.* This office, to which so many onerous duties were attached, was but of temporary duration, as when the fabric of Presbyterianism had been fairly erected it was not required. After Mr. Pont had for some time done pioneering work in Dumfriesshire, the • Spottiswoodo, vol. i. , \i. 343. HISTORY OP DUMFRIES. 271 General Assembly of the Church found matters ripe enough for the erection of four Presbyteries in the County— those of Dum- fries, Penpont, Lochmaben, and Annan — and for forming them into a provincial Synod. The presence and exertions of Knox in Dumfries did much to extend the congregation there which Harlow had originated, and also to consoUdate its Presbytery, which, in the course of a short period, came to occupy nearly the same sphere as the abolished Deanery of Nithsdale. That Protestantism had made httle advance in Dumfries fifteen years after the Presbyterian form of it had been ratified by Parliament, is shown by the following extract from the minutes of the General Assembly, dated 6th August, 1575. "Mr. Peter Watsone, Commissiouner of Nithisdale, compleaned that the toun of Dumfreis at Christmasse-day last by- past, seeing that naither he nor the reader would naither teache nor read upon these days, brought a reader of their own with tabret and whisseU, and caused him to read the prayers, which exercise they used aU the days of Yuile. The Assemblie thought good this complaint should be intimated to my Lord Regent's grace." Thus we see that the inhabitants tenaciously adhered to the old "Yule" ceremonies, and observed them in spite of the Presbyterian Commissioner's example and remonstrance. We infer from another quotation that, after the lapse of thirteen years more. Popery, though losing ground, had still a powerful hold of the town. In 1588 a General Assembly was convened for the special purpose of "repressing Jesuits and other Papists" who had come to subvert the established religion, to which Assembly the subjoined report was given in : — " In the South, about Dumfreis, Mr. John Durie, Jesuit, corrupting and practising too and fro under the name of Mr. William Laing, who with his complices had masse within the toun of Dumifreis before Pasche and Yuile last was; the Lord Hereis, the Laird* of Kilquhomate, the Goodman* of Dumrushe, Mr. Homer Max- well, commissar, John Mackgie, commissar clerk, Johne Bryce, merchant, John Rig, notar, Paul Thomsone, My Ladie Hereis, * The distinction formerly recognized between these two designations was this: the laird was a Crown vassal or baron, the goodman (orgudemau) was one who held land of a baron, and was often also called a fenar. 272 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. elder and younger, my Ladie Morton, the Lady .... the Lady Tweddail, Papists, apostats, interteaners, and professed favourers of Jesuits. Item, there is a certaine woman that doeth no less hurt in Dumfreis than the Jesuits, called Katherine Hairsteins.* No resorting to heare the Worde there [in Dum- fries]; no discipline; holie dayes keeped by [in opposition to] plain commandement and controlling of the deacons of the crafts; all superstitious ryotousness at Yuile and Pasche, &c.;t no kirks planted there." As previously stated, during the absence of Queen Mary in France, the Romish Church in Scotland v?as overthrown, and the Protestant religion, under a Presbyterian form, set up in its stead. It was the misfortune of Mary that she did not accept the new state of matters; and it was the madness of bigotry for her to attempt, as she did, to unmake the Reformation. Her return, in 1561, was hailed with enthusiasm by all parties. She was the most beautiful woman of her age; and there was at least room for hope that she would prove prudent and virtuous. " May God save that sweet face !" was the universal cry, as the Queen rode in procession to the Parliament; but the aspirations and wishes breathed regarding her were mourn- fully disappointed. Ten years elapsed, bringing with them numerous important events, most of them detrimental to the Queen — some of them involving on her part gross indiscretion, if not dreadful guilt — and ending in her deathward flight to the shores of England. Her marriage with Darnley, in opposition to the wish of her Protestant lords and of Queen Elizabeth — her further alienation from them when she joined the league formed by the Emperor of Germany and the Kings of France and Spain to extirpate the Protestant religion — the murder of her husband, and her marriage soon after with Bothwell, who was more than suspected of having planned the horrible deed — her enforced surrender to the Lords of the Congregation — her imprisonment in Lochleven Castle — her escape — her exertions to resume the power of which she had been deprived, and their thorough failure at Langside — are tlio leading incidents between Mary's joyous landing at the pier of Leith and her disastrous defeat by the Lords of tlie Congregation. * Probably one of the Uraigs family. f Wodrow's Histuiy ot the Kirk. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 273 How far Dumfries and the men of the town and district were associated with the fortunes of Queen Mary, we have now to show. Of all the hapless Queen's adherents none was more faithful, and few were more conspicuous, than Sir John Max- well, called of Terregles because of his marriage with Lady Agnes, eldest daughter of William, Lord Herries; called also the Master of Maxwell because he was the nearest male heir of Sir John, son of Robert, the fifth Lord Maxwell; but best known in history as Lord Herries. For several years prior to 1553, he was Warden of the Western Marches. At that date he resigned the office, on the ground that he had " becum under deidhe feid with divris clans" of the Border, who impaired his influence. He took part in framing the Treaty of Norham, and other treaties with the English, in 1561 and 1563;* and was, on account of his talents, not less than his position, employed in many other acts of a national character. In right of his marriage, he became possessed of one-third of Terregles and Kirkgunzeon; and he subsequently acquired the other portions of these baronies which had belonged to the sisters of his wife. Having ability, wealth, and high rank, it was of great consequence to the Queen that he should become attached to her interests. On the 20th of August, 1563, Mary visited Dumfries for the first time. As she was accompanied by her Council, it has been thought that the peace negotiations then going on with England occasioned her journey to the south. But she felt more interest in the chief negotiator of the treaty than in the treaty itself — was less desirous of securing peace with the English than gaining the favour of the Maxwell family, whose late chief had been lost to her service, but whose present virtual head might stiU be won over, though he, too, had been holding dangerous dalliance with Protestantism, and disloyal communion with her foes. Before returning to Edinburgh, Mary paid a complimentary visit to the Maxwells, in order, it may be conceived, to secure this object. Secretary Lethingtonf * Keith, Appendix, p. 95. t The Maitlands of Lethington and of Eccles, in Dumfriesshire, are branches of the same family, both being descended from the Norman knight, Eichard de Mantelent, by his wife, the heiress of Eklis. (See ante, p. 37.) Secretary 2. h 274 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. having laid before the Queen certain correspondence between himself and the English Warden on the ostensible business that had drawn her to Dumfries, she broke up the Council, and proceeded to Terregies, where she spent the remainder of the day and the night, to the high gratification of her hosts, pleased and flattered with having an opportunity to entertain the highest lady in the land, the most accomplished woman of her time — the queen of beauty, not less than the Queen of Scots. Five years afterwards, Mary Stuart spent a second night under the roof of Terregies Tower in very different circum- stances: radiant, cheerful, buoyant, ready to believe that the few clouds that were gathering on her track would break up and usher in a golden future ; downcast, frenzied, despairing — a wandering fugitive, with but a solitary meteor to twinkle on the gloom — a false meteor, leading only to a lingering captivity and a cruel death: under such contrasted conditions did the old Nithsdale fortress, on these two occasions, furnish hospitality to Queen Mary of Scotland.* What impression she made on Sir John Maxwell during her first visit, is not recorded. If she succeeded in shaking his resolution to join the Protestant Lords, she would look upon that as a great point gained. At first Maxwell openly favoured the Reformers. The Act of Council deposing Mary of Guise from the Regency, dated October 23rd, 1559, bears his signature f as one of the Protestant Lords; his name appears attached to the First Book of Discipline in January, 1561; J and, as we shall after- wards see, he joined Murray and his colleagues when they took up arms against the Queen, in the summer of 1565, for marrying Darnley, and thus, as they said, bringing Protest- Lethington was also closely related to tlie Setou family, his graudmotlier having been Martha, daughter of George, Lord Seton, the latter of whom was descended from Sir Alexander Seton, the brother of Sir Christopher, who was executed at Dumfries in 1306. * Queen Mary and her Privy Comicil were at Dumfries on 20th August, 1563. . . . Mary, in all likelihood, visited the toMai in coimeotiou with the business [the treaty of 1563] ; and, to pay a compliment to the Maxwell family, she stopt at Terregies : and the Queen's room was lately shown there, till that part of the house was demolished. — Burnsidk's MS. History. t Keith, p. 106. J daderM'ood, p. 30. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 276 antism into peril. Certain it is that Sir John Maxwell's antecedents were of such a nature as to justify Knox, when he expected to find in him a powerful ally for the overthrow of Popery. The Reformer in his " History" states that, in 1562, he passed from Ayr to Nithsdale and Galloway, and had a conference on divers matters with "the Master of Maxwell; a man of great judgment and experience."* They soon afterwards differed, however, on the question of deference to the Queen; and thence- forth they pursued opposite courses. In the following year the Bishop of St. Andrews, the Prior of Whithorn, and others, celebrated mass. On this account " some priests in the West- land were apprehended : intimation made unto others — as to the Abbot of Crossraquel, the Parsou of Sanquhair, and such — • that they should neither complain to the Queen nor Council, but should execute the punishment that God hath appointed to idolaters in his law, by such means as they might, wherever they should be apprehended." The Queen stormed at such freedom of speech, but she could not amend it; and thereupon sent for Knox, in the hope that he would be induced by her blandishments, or overawed by her power, to be less intolerant of the mass. The conference took place at Lochleven; and there, we are told, "she dealt with him earnestly two hours before supper, that he would be the instrument to persuade the people, and principally the gentlemen of the west, not to put hand to punish any man for the using of themselves in their religions as pleased them. The other, perceiving her craft, willed her Majesty to punish malefactors according to the laws ; and he durst promise quietness upon the part of all them that professed the Lord Jesus within Scotland ; but if her Majesty thought to elude the laws, he said he feared some would let the Papists understand that without punishment they should not be suffered so manifestly to offend God's majesty." With bold, outspoken words like these, Knox defended the course taken by himself and colleagues; and the Queen, in no gentle mood, abruptly closed the interview. Next morning, two messengers from her Majesty ordered him again into the royal presence ; and, according to request, he met her near West * Knox's History, p. 174. 276 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES, Kinross, where she had gone on a hawking expedition. As if the exhilarating pastime had exercised a soothing influence on the Queen, she exhibited quite a friendly temper, gossipped pleasantly with Knox on secular affairs, gave him good advice regarding the settlement of a superintendent at Dumfries, as already noticed, and while still bent on carrying out her own ends, seemed equally anxious to avoid an open rupture with her unconquerable subject. Mary closed this her second inter- view with the Reformer by saying, "And now, as touching our reasoning yesternight, I promise to do as ye required. I shall cause to summon all offenders, and ye shall know that I shall minister justice."* Soothing words! — lightly said, and soon broken! In the autumn of the same year, whilst the Queen lay at Stirling, mass was celebrated with great pomp in the royal chapel at Holyrood House, Edinburgh. The ministers of the Reformed faith were scandalized by this daring violation of the law; and two of them, Andrew Armstrong and Patrick Cranston, hurrying to the place, protested against the proceed- ings. Cranston, finding the altar covered, and the priest preparing to go on with the ceremony, cried out, "The Queen's Majesty is not here; how, then, dare you be so malapert as openly to do against the law?" Nothing further was done or said; but, on the report of the ministers' interference being conveyed to the Queen, they were required by her to find surety to underlie the law " for forethought felony," by " violent invasion" of the royal palace, and "spoliation of the same." Knox, in a letter dated Edinburgh, 8th October, 1563, sum- moned the brethren to meet him in that city on the 24th of the same month, in order to make common cause with the two ministers who were that day to be tried. At a Cabinet Council, held afterwards, the Reformer's letter was declared to be treasonable — an announcement which pleased the Queen not a little, as she expected thereby to get him fairly under her control. How this matter terminated for ever the intimacy between the Reformer and the Lord of Nithsdale, is thus narrated by Knox liimself: — " Tlio Master of Maxwell ouve unto the said * Kiiox'h History, p. *J8'2. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 277 John, as it were, a discharge of the familiarity which before was great betwixt them, unless that he would satisfy the Queen at her own will. The answer of John Knox was, that he knew of no offence done by him to the Queen's Majesty, and therefore he knew not what satisfaction to make. ' No offence!' said he; 'have you not written letters desiring the brethren from all parts to conveen to Andrew Armstrong and Patrick Cranston?' 'That I grant,' said the other; 'but therein I acknowledge no offence done by me.' 'No offence!' said he, 'to convocate the Queen's lieges!' 'Not for a just cause,' said the other; 'for greater things were reputed no offence within these two years.' ' The time,' said he, 'is now otherwise; for then our sovereign was absent, and now she is present.' 'It is neither the absence nor the presence of the Queen,' said he, ' that rules my conscience, but God plainly speaking in his Word. What was lawful to me the last year, is yet lawful; because my God is unchangeable.' ' Well,' said the Master, ' I have given you my counsel, do as you list; but I think you shall repent it, if you bow not unto the Queen.' ' I understand not,' said Knox, ' what you mean ; I never made myself an adverse paxty unto the Queen's Majesty, except in the point of religion, and thereunto I think you will not desire me to bow.' 'Well,' said he, ' you are wise enough, but you will not find that men will bear with you in times to come, as they have done in times by-past.' 'If God stand my friend,' said the other, 'as I am assured he of his mercy will, so long as I depend upon his promise and prefer his glory to my life and worldly profit, I little regard how men behave themselves towards me; neither yet know I whereinto any one man hath borne with me in times by-past, unless it be that out of my mouth they have heard the word of God, which in time to come, if they refuse, my heart will be perfect, and for a season I will lament; but the incommodity will be their own.' " And after these words (hereimto the Laird of Lochinvar was witness) they departed; but unto this day, the seventeenth day of December, 1571, yea, never in this life, met they in such familiarity as before."* The Queen married Lord Darnley on the 27th of July, 1565; • Knox's History, pp. 289-90. 278 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. and in the following month the Duke of Hamilton, the Earls of Argyle, Murray, Glencairn, and Rothes, Lords Boyd and Ochiltree, and the rest of the Protestant chiefs, resolved upon a warlike demonstration, for the purpose of averting the perils which they expected to arise from this inauspicious union. At the head of a, thousand horsemen, they proceeded to Edin- burgh; but meeting there with less encouragement than they looked for, they went to Lanark, and thence to Hamilton, where they were joined by the Master of Maxwell and the Laird of Drumlanrig. Maxwell at this time appears to have had the confidence of both parties, though his devotedness to the Queen was gradually increasing at the expense of his Protestantism, and lessening his attachment to his former colleagues. After an interview with them, he informed her Majesty, by letter, that, on being required by the Lords to pay them a visit, he could not refuse, as being in the vicinity on his way homeward at the time; th;.t he had counselled them to disband their army; and that they had resolved to pass to Dumfries, where they would take his advice into consideration, and apprise her Majesty of the result. Accordingly, the Lords went with their army to Dumfries, where, says Knox, they were " entertained most honourably" by the Master of Maxwell, "for he had the govern- ment of all that country."* Maxwell laboured zealously to effect a reconciliation between them and the Queen. They saw, however, that the great cause for which they had struggled was at stake — that if they winked at the Romish practices of the Court, at the favour shown by their Majesties to all who promoted Popery, and the discouragement given by them to the Protestant cause, the Reformation might by such an insidious system of warfare be rooted out, even if it were not assailed by main force; and so they would make no concessions. " Abolish the mass, eradicate idolatry, maintain the true religion as by law established, and govern tlie realm by the advice of its true nobility ; and we shall disperse our troops, aiid ■submit ourselves foi- trial." Such was the burden of the mani- festo issued by the Protestant Lords at Dumfries; and it was accompanied l)y a remonstrance against the royal marriage, * Knox's Hiatory, p. :i2-l. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 279 which would be viewed by their Majesties as its bitterest ingredient. Calderwood's quaint account of the matter is worthy of being quoted. " They proclaimed," he says, " a declaration of their grievances at Drumfreisse, the nineteenth of September. In this declaration they reported that the Queen, after arrival, craved one quiet masse to her own house- hold only; and how they hoped that by process of time she might be converted, and therefore passed it over with silence, but to the great grief of their consciences; for from thence it proceeded, that all that resorted to her chappell royall were unpunished; from saying it proceeded to singing, and from her chappell to all the corners of the countrey."* Maxwell failed in his efforts to propitiate the nobles, and at the same time he incurred the displeasure of the Queen. She imagined that he could not be on such intimate terms with them and be true to her. In great wrath she summoned him, as well as the remonstrant Lords, to her presence, and when he obeyed the citation, which they despised, she commanded him " to give over the house of Lochmaben, and the Castle which he had in keeping for the Queen." f No one knew Mary's impulsiveness of character better than Sir John Maxwell: he bowed to the storm, assured that it would soon blow over; and he managed to retain both his fortresses, and to regain the confidence of the royal lady, who, after scolding him in the heat of passion, felt as if she had rated him too severely, and then trusted him more than ever. J Meanwhile, the Queen made preparations with the view of overcoming the Lords of the Congregation by force. On the 8th of October, accompanied by the King, she proceeded from Edinburgh in the direction of Dumfries, "the whole body of the realm" following her, says Pitscottie; in other words, an army of three thousand men, accoutred with jack and spear, and rendered additionally threatening by being supplied with * Calderwood, pp. 39, 40. + The King and Queen having reposed themselves a short space at Dumfries, and visited the Castle of Lochmaben, which had been in the keeping of Sir John Maxwell (formerly one of the rebels, but at this time, on his humble sub- mission, received into favour), they returned forthwith into Ediaburgh.— Keith, p. 316. t Knox's History, p. 324. 280 HISTOEY OF DUMFRIES. "certain carted pieces" of cannon * — war-engines that were only then beginning to come into general use. They passed the first night, after leaving the capital, at Lanark, the second at Crawford; and next day Douglas of Drumlanrig and Gordon of Lochinvarf joined the royal host. Some of the Lords clung long to the belief that Maxwell, who had not yet openly declared for the Queen, would at the last hour join their ranks; and it may easily be imagined that, whilst waiting in mingled hope and fear at Dumfries, they would send pressing mes- sengers to Terregies House, urging its lord to join them with his retainers. Disappointed of help from that direction, they evacuated the town and proceeded to Carlisle. ^^^len Mary arrived in Dumfries, on the 11th, she found nothing but friends. Maxwell presented himself amongst them, and received not only forgiveness, but favour, at the hands of his sovereign; and, in proof of his loyalty, he voluntarily placed the Castles of Dumfries and Carlaverock at her dis- posal. Though long a waverer, intriguing with the Protestant party, as if irresolute whether to swim with or resist the prevailing current, we find him steadfastly true to the Queen's fortunes ever after his interview with her at Dumfries, in the autumn of 1565, and doing what he could to roll back the tide of the Reformation. From that date, also, Mary's doubts of him seem to have vanished; but as he was viewed with suspicion by some of her counsellors, he was formally put upon his trial. The result was made known by the Queen and her husband on the 1st of January, 1566J — a proclamation issued by them, stating that, after an examination by the Lords of Council into all the accusations brought against Maxwell, they had granted him full pardon and exoneration, believing the things laid at his door "to be perfectly untrue, and founded upon pai-ticulai- malice;" and "that as regards some of the charges, they under- stood right perfectly the plain contrary." " So far from his having been a traitrous evil doer, he has been," said the royal pair, "and is, our true servant, and our good justiciar; and, in exocu- * I'itscottie, p. 217. t Both Douglas and Gordon were Protestants, and, though for a time gained over to the Queen's side, they eventually took an active pai-t in promoting the Uefnrmation. :|: Keith, |>. .'t'il. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 281 tion of our service, has taken great travail and pains; bearing a weighty charge in the common service of this our realm many years by-past, and execute the laws upon many and noteable offenders, defending our good subjects from such enormities and oppressions as is laid to his charge; nor has received no augmentation of any reversion, as is unjustly alleged, nor no gold from England; neither has, nor will, discover our secrets to them, nor others, to the hurt of us his sovereign, this our realm, nor subjects." Reference is made to some specific charges in the following passage : — " For that he accumpanyeit in Dumfreis of late ane number of oure subjectis quhilk now ar rebellis, and past into Ingland ; for that we under.stand that he was nevir of mynd to ayd thame against us; and also be his continowal humane labouring to us for thame ; and also that he wald on na wayis tak pairt nor assist with Ingland; nor pass with thame into that realme; nor as we knaw wes nevir of counsal, nor privy to no particularis we half to lay to thair charge befoir cuming to oure toun of Dumfreis."* Sir John Maxwell, now become quite a favourite at Court, was present at the baptism of the young Prince (afterwards James VI.), on the 15th of December, 1566; and it is said that on this auspicious occasion he was first honoured by his royal mistress with the title of Lord Herries,t — his lady being heiress to that estate. He thus became the fourth Lord Herries, and was the first of the Maxwell family that bore the title. When Mary, three days after the murder of the King, intimated her resolution to bestow her hand upon Bothwell, Lord Harries (according to Sir James Melville) fell upon his knees before the Queen, and entreated her not to ruin her reputation, peace of mind, and prospects, by such a disgraceful union, j But this is an incredible statement, seeing that his lordship, after serving on the jury that acquitted Bothwell, joined with other noblemen in subscribing a bond approving * Privy Council Records, lat January, 1565. t This statement ia countenauced by the circumstance, that a short time before the baptism, his name appears on the Sederunt of the Privy Council as " Joannes MaxweU de TerregHs, miles;" and, five months after the cere- mony, it is entered on the Ust of jurors who tried Bothwell, as " Johue Maxwell, Lord Hereis. " J Melville's Memoirs, p. 156. 2 M 282 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. of the marriage, and engaging to promote the same by their "votes, counsel, fortificatioun, and assistance in word and deid;"* and that he was present as one of the witnesses to the nuptial ceremony. At the Parliament held in December, after Bothwell had been ostracized, Mary immured in Lochleven Castle, and her natural brother, Murray, been made Regent, the critical condi- tion of the country came to be discussed. Lord Herries took part in the debate ; and a report of his demeanour, furnished by Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, represents him as being wonder- fully reconciled to the new state of afifairs, and making a notable harangue " to persuade the union of the whole realm in one mind." "Wherein he did not spare to set forth solemnly the great praise that part of this nobility did deserve which in the beginning took meanes for punishment of the Earl Bothwell; as also seeing the Queen's inordinate affection to that wicked man, and that she could not be induced by their persuasion to leave him, that in sequestring her person within Lochleven, they did the duty of noblemen. That their honour- able doings, which had not spared to hazard their lives and lands, to avenge their native country from the slanderous reports that were spoken of it among other nations, had well deserved that all their brethren should join with them in so good a cause. That he, and they in whose names he did speak, would willingly, and without any compulsion, enter themselves in the same yoke, and put their lives and lands in the like hazard for maintenance of our cause; and if the Queen herself [Elizabeth] were in Scotland, accompanied with 20,000 men, they will be of the same mind, and fight in our quarrel" — that is, in behalf of Protestantism. " So plausible an oration," continues the English ambassador, "and more advantageous for our party, none of ourselv(?.s could have made. He did not forget to term my Lord Regent by the name of Regent [til ore was no mention at all of the Eai-l of Murray], and to call him Grace at every word when his speeches were directed to him, accompanying all his words with low courtesies, after hia manner." t Quite the picture of a courtier; true, we doubt * Kuith, p. 381. Tho original dooumout is in tho Oottou Library, f State Paper Office. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 283 not, in its main features, though touched up a little to heighten the general effect, and the better to please the royal lady for whose special behoof it was sketched. Lord Herries was, in spite of these artful declarations, still a partizan of the deposed Queen, and plotting with others for her deliverance; and much of the antipathy shown by the people of Dumfries to the Regent Murray may be traced to his influence in the town. Both the inhabitants and their magistrates sympathized strongly with Queen Mary; and when, about the end of August, a herald made his appearance at the Market Cross in High Street, to proclaim Murray Regent in the name of the young King, he narrowly escaped falling a victim to the indignation of the populace. Assembling in great force, they broke through the guards, and tore the dignified official from his elevated position before he had time to say a word. This violent conduct on the part of the Dumfriesians called forth a rebuke from the Government, and also a warning of what would befal the Burgh in the event of the outrage being repeated. As is shown in the books of the Town Council, of date 3rd September, 1567, the magistrates were enjoined to protect the sheriff and sheriff- officers in executing the Regent's letters, and that under the terrible penalty of "losing their freedom for ever." This threat, bad enough in itself, was aggravated by an injunction to elect, at next Michaelmas, such persons only " as were affectionat to our sovereignis service and obedience;" and by an order to remove from office all factious persons entertaining opposite sentiments.* What effect this edict had is not recorded; but, as we shall afterwards see, the inhabitants of the town soon became thoroughly leavened by Protestant doctrines, and eventually gave a cordial support to the cause of the Reformation. On the 2nd of May, 1568, Mary escaped from Lochleven. Once more personally free, she might yet hope to reign. With the view of making that hope good, six thousand men, all too few for its realization, flocked to the royal standard Lord Herries, Lord Maxwell, Edward Maxwell, Abbot of Dundrennan, and Gordon, Bishop of Galloway, signing a bond, with others, to do battle to the uttermost on her behalf * Bumside's MS. History. 284 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. With such a force, Mary resolved to risk an engagement with the Eegent Murray's army; and, on the 13th of the same month, the eventful conflict took place near Glasgow, the Queen, with anxious eye, marking its varied movements from a neighbouring height. Both Lord Herries and Lord Maxwell were present; and it is said that the former, while taking an active part in the fight, wounded one of the Protestant leaders, Lord Ochiltree, in the neck. Neither individual gallantry, nor the ardent bravery of the royalist rank and file, proved of any avail. The Eegent had a good position to begin with, and in virtue of that advantage, and superior generalship, he succeeded in breaking up the Queen's vanguard; and though this disaster was more than half redeemed by her " stubborn spearmen," it was the forerunner of a universal rout — of utter ruin to her unhappy cause. On seeing the issue of the fight, Mary, accompanied by Lord Herries and a few other faithful followers, set ofif at full gallop, never drawing bridle till two score miles or more had been placed between her and the deadly field of Langside. Galloway had furnished a large proportion of her army, and thither fled the royal fugitive, threading the wild recesses of the Glenkens, pausing for a brief space on an eminence (since named Queenshill, for that reason), and there, for the first time on her dolorous ride, partaking of refreshment — a simple crust of bread, moistened with water from a neighbouring spring.* Kest the poor lady much needs; but, with mind distraught by terror, she cannot, dare not stay, even in the deep shadow of these friendly bowers. Crossing a wooden bridge that spanned the river Dee, about a mile above the village of Tongland, she tarries in a wayside cottagef till the bridge is broken down to retard the pursuing foe, whom her troubled fancy sees hard upon her tract. Then away to the strong mansion of Corra : it belongs to her faithful Herries, and here she may venture to remain for the night — the dark night of * The Queen's Well is still pointed out near Tongland Bridge, t The walls of the cottage long remained on the fai-m of Culdoaoh. They were called Dun's Wa's— Dun being probably the name of the individual who tenanted the house when it was entered by the Queen, —//wtorj/ of OaUoicay, vol. ii,, p. 507. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 285 a dismal day — one of the saddest in her whole sorrowful history. Tradition tells us that Queen Mary "slept" at Corra on the night of the 13th; but we fear that this is not true in a literal sense, and that the precious "balm of hurt minds" neither closed her wearied eyes nor calmed the throbbings of her harassed brain. To Terregles next morning; but even in that powerful hold of her chief protector, Mary Stuart cannot think of remaining long. On Scottish ground, so rife with angry rebels, she may not abide : she will not trust herself to any fortress, however strong — to any sanctuary, however sacred, within their reach ; and so, hurrying from Terregles on the morning of the 15th, she proceeds to Dundrennan Abbey, of which Edward Maxwell, third son of Lord Herries, is superior, and spends her last night in Scotland under its hallowed roof* Vainly do Herries and her other steadfast friends implore her, on their knees, to keep out of Queen Elizabeth's reach — to stay for awhile at Dundrennan, from which, if need be, she could take ship for France. Frenzied, and half despairing, she does not heed their entreaties, but sets sail for England: there to find a worse prison than had held her in her own country, and from which the grim headsman was to deliver her after the lapse of nineteen lingering years, f * There is at Terregles House a most interesting souvenir of Queen Mary — the remains of the bed occupied by her on her visits, and which the tradition of the Maxwell family especially associates with the last night spent by her under their roof. The remains consist of a wooden scroll, some eight feet long and one foot broad; a flat cloth roof or canopy, which must originally have been supported by a timber framework ; and a head-piece, measuring six feet by five, which must have hung from the roof inside till it touched the pillow which was pressed, on the sorrowful night referred to, by the head of the royal fugitive. The stuff is of serge, padded with wool, still white and fresh, and covered outside with satin that was once white, but is now no longer so, and very lavishly embroidered with needle-work — the design, a graceful-looking floral one, and which, under happier circumstances, must have looked charming in the eyes of the fair occupant of the couch. A small missal is also to be seen at Terregles which belonged to Queen Mary. t Mary could have reached Terregles by a much shorter route had she gone direct from Langside into Upper Nithsdale, but she appears to have been undecided at first what course to pursue. We know from a letter written by her to Queen Elizabeth, dated Workington, I7th May, 1568, that after the battle "she hasted first to Dumbarton;" she then adds, "but soon changing my course, God, of his infinite goodness, preserved me to fly into your country. " CHAPTER XXIII. QUEEN MAEY IMPRISONED IN ENGLAND — LORD HBKEIES REMONSTRATES, WITHOUT EFFECT, AGAINST THE TREATMENT GIVEN TO HER — WARLIKE MEASDKES TAKEN BY HIM AND THE DUKE OF CHATELHEEAULT ON MART'S BEHALF— THE LAST DAYS OF LORD HEERIES — AN ENGLISH ARMY, UNDER LORD SOEOPE, ENTERS DUMFRIESSHIRE IN ORDER TO PUNISH THE QUEEN'S ADHERENTS — UNSUCCESSFUL EFFORTS MADE TO ARREST ITS MARCH — SCROPE DEFEATS THE DUMFRIESIANS, AND BURNS THE TOWN — HE DEMOLISHES THE CASTLES OF DUMFRIES, CARLAVEROCK, AND OTHER FORTRESSES — JOHN, THE EIGHTH LORD MAXWELL, INCURS THE HATRED OF THE REGENT MORTON, BY CLAIMING THE EARLDOM OF THAT NAME — OUTBREAK OF A FEUD BETWEEN THE MAXWELLS AND JOHN STONES — COMTEST BETWEEN THEM FOR THE PEOVOSTSHIP OF DUMFRIES — DESTRUC- TIVE PROGRESS OF THE FEUD — AERAN, THE NEW REGENT, ENDEAVOURS TO CRUSH LORD MAXWELL — MAXWELL AND OTHER BARONS, AT THE HEAD OF A DUMFRIESSHIRE FORCE, SURPRISE AND OVERTHROW THE REGENT — AN AMNESTY GIVEN TO MAXWELL FOR ALL PAST OFFENCES — AN ACT OF GRACE PASSED IN FAVOUR OF THE BUROH — TRAGICAL FATE OF AEEAN — MAXWELL AGAIN FALLS INTO DISFAVOUR WITH THE GOVERNMENT, BY CELEBRATING MASS IN LINOLUDEN COLLEGE. In a small fishing-boat, with about twenty attendants, the hapless Queen sailed from a creek in the parish of Revwick (since called Port Mary) to the Cumberland coast, on the 16th of May, landing at the place which received from her the name of Maryport : thence she was conducted by the local authorities, with many tokens of respect, to Carlisle. From that city Mary penned several letters to Elizabeth, soliciting her protection and assistance. On the 5th of July she wTote to her sister sovereign : " I am come to make my moan to you, the which being heard, I would declare unto you mine inno- cency, and then require your aid." In the same letter the Queen, sighing in heart for the presence of a true friend, said, " In meantime, I beseech you to send to me my Lord Herries, for I can't be without him." A few days afterwards Mai-y was removed, in spite of her complaints and remonstrances, to Lord Scrope's castle at Bolton, on the borders of Yorkshire, where HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 287 she could only with difficulty maintain correspondence with her friends in Scotland, and from which she had no chance of making her escape. A remarkable letter from Lord Herries, addressed by him on the Queen's behalf to Lord Scrope and Sir Francis Knollys, is preserved in the State Paper Office, in which he inveighs strongly against the detention of his royal mistress, and exposes the duplicity of Elizabeth. The following charac- teristic passage is well worth quoting: — "Now, my Lords," he argues, "gif the Queen's Majesty of that realm [England], upon quhais promise and honour my maistress came there, as I have said, will leave all the French writings, and French phrases of writings, quhilks amongis them is over meikle on baith the sides unfit, and plainly, according to the auld true custom of England and Scotland — quherein be a word promist truth was observ'd — promise in the name of the eternal God, and upon the high honour of that nobill and princely blude of the Kings of England, quhereof she is descendit, and pre- sently wears the diadem, that she will put my mistress in her awin country, and caitse her as Queen thereof, in her authority and strength, to be obeyit; and to do the same will appoint an certain day (within two months at the farthest), as we under- stand this to be our weil [for our welfare] sua will we, or the mai-st part of us, all follow upon it, leaving the Frenchmen and their evil phrases togidder. And therefore, and for the true perpetual friendship of that realm [England] will con- dition, and for our part, with the grace of Almighty God, keep sic heads and conditions of agreement, as noble and wise men can condescend upon for the weill of this haill island." The letter concludes in these terms: — "This is plainly written, and I desire your lordships' plain answer; for in truth and plain- ness langest continues gud friendship, quhilk in this matter, I pray God, may lang continue, and have your lordships in his keeping. Off Dumfreis, the 3d day of September, 1568. Your lordships at my power to command leifully. — Herris." A short time before the date of that letter, the writer of it was forfeited in Parliament; but the Regent, from motives of policy, caused the execution of the sentence to be delayed. Lord Herries continued to be a prominent character till the 288 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. day of his death. Proceeding to London, in the autumn of 1568, he there, with earnestness and ability, pleaded the cause of the Queen of Scots. Soon afterwards he went to advocate her interests at the French Court, and returned with Arran, Duke of Chatelherault, to assist the latter in making good his commission from the Queen to be Lieutenant-General of the kingdom, in opposition to the Regent Murray. Hostilities were averted at an interview between the rival claimants; the Duke agreeing to acknowledge King James, on condition that the sentence of forfeiture should be removed from those who had supported Queen Mary. With the view of cementing the friendship thus somewhat hastily formed, Arran and Herries were entertained at a splendid banquet by the Regent ia presence of King James; but in the course of a few days, Murray's suspicions being aroused against them, they were both, by his order, committed to Edinburgh Castle; from which, however, they were soon released, on the barbarous assassination of Murray, in January, 1570. Some months after- wards, Lord Herries joined with the Duke of Chatelherault, the Earl of Hamilton, and others, in a last attempt to promote the cause of Queen Mary by force of arms. To give a show of legality to their proceedings, the Duke summoned a meeting of the Estates. Only a very partial response was given to this citation; but, of six burghs which sent commissioners, Dumfries was one. This small Parliament (according to the author of the Diurnal)* sat in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, and sustained a supplication, tabled in the Queen's name, setting forth that she still claimed the crown, her surrender of it having been extorted by force. On the failure of this movement, Herries, in the summer of 1571, laboured to effect a reconciliation between the contending parties, and with such success, that a convention for this purpose was signed by the chiefs on both sides, early in the following year. Lord Herries, towards the close of life, embraced the Pro- testant faith, which he was so nearly doing at the outset of his public career; and he was honoured with the confidence of King James. He died suddenly, at Edinburgh, on Sabbath the 20th of January, 1582, under the following circumstances, * Diurnal, p. 220. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 289 as related by Calderwood :* — When at dinner, he remarked thtit he found himself so weak that he durst not trust himself to go to the afternoon's preaching. He then went out, with the intent of going " to an upper chamber in William Fowler's lodging, to see the boys bicker." On the way, he " fell down by little and little," exclaiming feebly, to a woman that followed him, "Hold me; for I am not weale:" after which he expired, four years before the execution of the unfortunate Queen, to whose cause, so long as it was in the least degree hopeful, his services had been devoted. John, fourth Lord Herries, was one of the ablest Scotchmen of his day; and while on some occasions he was vacillating and inconsistent, his character exhibited many points of excellence which we cannot but admire. In 1570, Dumfriesshire, owing to the support given by some of its leading men to the cause of Mary, was ravaged by an armed force, sent by her rival Elizabeth, under Lord Scrope. John, eighth Lord Maxwell, nephew of Lord Herries, Lord Carlyle, and several other chiefs, mustered their followers, in order to resist the invaders, and were opportunely joined by a large body of burgesses from Dumfries, who, responding to their gathering cry of "A Loreburn!" appeared armed at the usual place of rendezvous, headed by the magistrates of the town. Scrope was enjoined not to injure the tenants or friends of Drumlanrig, " as he favoured the King's faction, and the Queen's Majesty of England." The allied, force of military retainers and warlike merchants and tradesmen, appears to have exhibited a creditable amount of prowess. Repeated attacks were made by them upon the enemy's cavalry with varying results; but, inferior in number and equipments, they were eventually repulsed, with the loss of some prisoners, including the bailies of the Burgh. Lord Scrope forwarded an account of the affair t to the English Government, under date Carlisle, 21st April, 1570, the substance of which we subjoin. After announcing that he had entered Scotland, and encamped at " Heclefeagham. " [Eccle- fechan] he states that Simon Musgrave had, at his instance, "burned the towns of Hoddame, Maynes, Troltrow, Revel, Calpoole, Blackshaw, Sherrington, Bankend, Lowgher, Lougher- * Appendix to octavo edition, vol. viii. , p. icii!. f Cabala, p. 164, 2 N 290 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. wood and Hecklefeugham ;" that the said Simon Musgrave and his company having come to Old Cockpool, " there was the Lord Maxwell with his forces, and the inhabitants of Drumfriese assembled, who skirmished with the couriers, and compelled them to retire; thereupon the said Simon marched into Blackshaw, where the Lord Maxwell was, and, with a hundred horsemen, did give the charge to Maxwell, and made him flee, in which flight there were a hundred prisoners taken, whereof the principal was the aldermen of Drumfriese, and sixteen of the burgesses. The chase was followed within one mile of Dumfriese. After which the said Simon returned to Blackshaw, and burnt it, and seized a great number of cattle;" and as he was proceeding to inflict a fiery visit of the same kind on "Bankend, Lowgher, and Lougherwood," Lords Maxwell and Carlyle, and " the Lairds of Holmends, Closebume, Lagg, Hempsfield, Cowhill, and Tenoll [Tinwald], at the head of four hundred horsemen and six hundred foot- men, charged Musgrave's forces very sore, forcing them to alight, and draw their company to a strong place, and to abide the charge of their enemies ; and so they remained till the said Simon came to them, and alighted, and put his company in order, and set his horses between his company and the sea, and so stood in order to receive the enemy: and in this sort continued, charging and receiving their charges, the space of three hours. I being at Cembretreys [Cummertrees], sent my band of horsemen with my brother Edward, and a hundred and fifty foot with Mr. Audley and Mr. Herbert, to their relief." Thus reinforced, Musgrave compelled the Scots to flee, and captured a hundred of them, including some petty lairds — Maxwell, Carlyle, Johnstone, and the other chiefs only escaping "by the strengthe of the Laird of Cockpool's house, and a great wood and morass near adjoining." The writer states in a postscript, that though, according to orders, Drumlanrig's tenants had been spared, " they were as cruel against us as any others;" and he closes with the ominous intimation that he had applied for five hundred men, with whom to march against Dumfries, "and lie in that town and burn and spoil it; for the open receipt of her Majesty's rebels is there manifesto." HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 291 Scrope, on being joined by a fresh body of soldiers, under the Earl of Sussex, executed his mission mercilessly. The sweep of his vengeance took in a wider field than was at first intended; but it fell always with double force on the estates of Lords Maxwell and Herries, Murray of Cockpool, and such other noblemen as were noted for their attachment to Queen Mary. Dumfries suffered terribly : it had audaciously har- boured "the English Queen's rebels;" and did it not deserve, on that account, to be razed to its foundations? The English leaders thought the town merited no forbearance, and they showed it none. Its desolated Castle, its flaming houses, leaving but "the blackness of ashes" to mark where the populous streets once stood, proved how well the marauders had done their work. Similar evidences of their destructive expedition were visible in ma,ny parts of the surrounding country: its results being summed up in the dry formal report made by Scrope to the English Government, setting forth that he had " took and cast doun the Castles of Carlaverock, Hoddam, Dumfries, Tinwald,* Cowhill,t and sundry other gentlemen's houses, dependers on the house of Maxwell, and, having burnt the toun of Dumfries, returned with great spoil into England." James Douglas, fourth Earl of Morton, became Regent in 1572 ;t and he having, with the aid of an English force, reduced Queen Mary's only remaining stronghold, Edinburgh Castle, the civil war was brought to a close, and Dumfriesshire was for a season relieved from the presence of a foreign enemy. Soon afterwards, however, a deadly feud broke out between * The old place of Tinwald, situated in what was formerly a part of Lochar Moss, and a seat of a branch of the Maxwell family, seems to have been well fitted for a place of defence. Till within a few years, part of the old budding remained. It is now ( 1834) entirely demolished, and the materials have been removed. — Statistical Account, p. 44. t CowhiU Tower, says Grose (vol. i., p. 146) stood upon an eminence commanding a charming prospect of the Vale of Nitb, from Friars' Carse to Dumfries: it had long been the seat of the Maxwells, cadets of the noble family of Nithsdale. In the year 1570, the old castle being burned by the English, this tower was built in 1579. Grose took a sketch of the second tower, and a few weeks afterwards it was taken down by George .Johnstone, Esq. of Conheath, who had purchased it from the previous proprietor in order that he might erect a stately mansion on its site. + He was the second son of Sir George Douglas of Pittendriech, younger brother of Archibald, sixth Earl of Angus. 292 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. its two leading families, tlio Maxwells and Johnstones, origi- nated by a circumstance connected with the personal history of the eighth Lord Maxwell. In right of his mother, he was heir to one-third of the earldom of Morton;* he had acquired right to another third from Margaret, her elder sister, with consent of her husband, the Duke of Chatelherault; and he was also heir apparent of the youngest and only other sister, who died childless. Lord Maxwell considered, therefore, that he had the best claim to the earldom — that certain entails executed upon the estates by the Regent were illegal; and he insisted on both the title and property being made over to him. A contemporary historian states that the Regent, as if conscious that he had no legal right to call himself Earl of Morton, "pressed by all means that Lord Maxwell should renounce his title thereto." The latter refused; and the Regent, instead of submitting the qiiestion at issue to Parlia- ment, consigned his rival to the Castle of Edinburgh, and then to the Castle of Blackness, in the latter of which he lay for several months, till he was liberated in March, 1573. As Maxwell continued to urge his claim to be recognized as Earl of Morton, he was further punished for his pertinacity, by being deprived of the wardenship of the Western Marches: an office of great trust and profit, and which for ages had been held by members .of the Maxwell family.f This degrad- * lu the Scottish Nation, vol. iii., p. 208, it i.5 stated that the title was taken from the lands of Mortoune, in the parish of East-Calder, Mid-Lothian ; but it is far more probable that it was derived from the old Castle of Morton (once the seat of Dunegal), in the parish of that name, both of which were conferred on the Black Douglas when he married the Princess Egidia. The ■nTitcr of the article "Morton," in the Statistical Account, says: — "Douglas, Earl of Morton, was proprietor of the whole parish, with the exception of the Mains of Morton, lying north-west of the castle, which belonged to James Douglas, Laird of Morton. The last of this family was Captain Jaraes Douglas, who died at Baitford, Penpont, about the beginning of last century. Tlie Earl of Morton sold his whole property and interest in this pai-isli to Sir WiUiain Douglas of Cashoggle, who erected a house a little south of Thornhill, where he sometimes resided; but the Earl of Quoensbcrry ha'V'iug obtained from Cashoggle all his lands, as well as the lauds of Morton Mains from the other family, and being lord of the regality of Hawick, he obtained authority to translate that regality to ThornliiU iu IGIO, and called it No%\' Dnlgaruook." (Page 9.5.) f "The Rcott.i.'ili Wiirdcns were allnwed liy tho ('rinvu foviii^e and provisions HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 293 ing blow fell with double effect, as the ofBce, when taken from Maxwell, was conferred upon the head of a rival house — the Laird of Johnstone. On the execution and attainder of the Regent Morton, in 1581, the wardenship was restored to Maxwell; and, as repre- sentative of his mother, he obtained a charter of the coveted earldom. Thus raised in rank, he rose at the same time rapidly into favour at Court, till, as a result of the treasonable Raid of Ruthven, he had to flee with the Duke of Lennox, against whose influence it was directed. Towards the close of 1581, we find him accompanying the Duke in an aggres- sive movement against the capital, which, however, was not persevered in. Eventually the attainder passed on the deceased Regent was rescinded by royal letter, under the Great Seal, and the heir of entail, Archibald, Earl of Angus (grandson of Bell-the-Cat), thus succeeded to the old title of Earl of Morton; and thus the Scottish peerage exhibited the curious anomaly of having two noblemen possessing the same title; for though Maxwell had been concerned in treasonable proceedings, he was Earl of Morton still, in virtue of the patent granted to him in 1581. Soon a new embroglio arose, in which Lord Maxwell was involved through the cupidity of Captain James Stewart, who, upon the downfall of the Regent, received a grant of his estates, was created Earl of Arran, and obtained the chief direction of affairs — all through the unmerited favour of the King. The lands of PoUok and Maxwellhaugh, in Lanark- shire, which belonged to the Nithsdale baron, lay temptingly near those just acquired by the lucky adventurer, who, on that account, took a fancy for them, which he hastily assumed Maxwell would be ready to indulge. .But Maxwell would not part with his patrimony, even when offered an equivalent for it: a decision which offended Arran's pride, as well as disap- pointed his acquisitiveness. In revengeful mood, therefore, he for their retinue, which consisted of a guard of horsemen, by which they were constantly attended. These were levied from the royal domains on the Border. They had also a portion of the 'unlaws' or fines and forfeits imposed in the Warden Courts; and no doubt had otJier modes of converting their authority to their own advantage, besides the opportunities their situation afforded them of extending their power 3jnAi\i&\\(inQ.e."— Border Antiquilies, Introduction by Sir Walter Scott, p. 90. 294 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. resolved to break the power of Maxwell, since he could not bend him to his wishes. As one step towards this result, the Regent endeavoured to weaken the Maxwell interest in Dumfries. The Provost- ship was held by an uncle of the Nithsdale chief, Maxwell of Newlaw;* and with the view of getting it taken out of his hands, the Laird of Johnstone was brought forward as a rival claimant for the office ; he being selected not simply on account of his local connection with the Burgh, but also because Lady Johnstone was a favourite at the Court, t Accordingly, the whole machinery of the Government, short of absolute force, was set in operation to secure the return of Arran's proUg^ at the Michaelmas election of 1584. In due time a royal rescript was received by the merchant councillors and deacons of incorporations, who formed the electoral body, exhorting them to discard Maxwell, and choose Johnstone as their municipal chief. What effect this arbitrary edict would have had upon the Town Council, had it been left to influence them, it is impossible to say, as the Pro- vost of the Burgh took effectual means to render it a dead letter, and secure his re-election in defiance of the Laird of Lochwood, the Earl of Arran, and the Court. When Johnstone, with a few retainers, appeared on the day of election in the vicinity of the town, he was kept from entering it by a powerful body of the Maxwells, drawn up in battle array under the leadership of their lord ; and after the crestfallen Annandale laird had departed without the " blushing honours" he had aspired to, Newlaw was once more chosen Provost of Dumfries.^ Arran was not slow to support the complaints made by Johnstone regarding the conduct of his rival; and between them a new charge was trumped up against the Lord of Nithsdale, the nature of which he learned by a precept issued in the King's name, accusing him of intromitting with and protecting the predatory Armstrongs. By way of sequel, a sentence of outlawry was pronounced upon Lord Maxwell; and a commission was given to tlie Laird of * Not Maxwell of Newbio, ag stated by Chalmcra and sonic other historians, t Spottiswoode, vol. ii., ]i. ;!'.';"). :|: Ibid., vol. ii., p. 326. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 295 Johnstone to pursue him with fire and sword, as a contu- macious rebel who deserved no mercy — to assist in which congenial work a band of mercenaries, under the notorious Captain Lammie, was sent into Dumfriesshire by the Earl of Arran. Maxwell was composed of sterner stuff than to be daunted by these preparations. Mustering his followers, he made ready to return at least blow for blow. A detachment of them, under his natural brother, Robert Maxwell of Castlemilk, encountered the Government soldiers at the head of Nithsdale, and thoroughly defeated them — killing Lammie, and taking Cranston, another officer, prisoner.* The war, thus initiated, raged for months over the County. It geemed as if it would only end in the ruin of one or both of the great families thus relentlessly pitted against each other. When the Regent Morton tossed the warden- ship, like a tennis-ball, from Maxwell to Johnstone, he little knew what a bone of contention it would prove ; but the Earl of Airan seems to have been quite conscious, when he introduced new elements of discord between them, that a fearful collision would be the consequence ; and he undoubtedly expected that it would prove fatal to the man ac^ainst whom he had formed an inveterate dislike. Max- well, however, had not the worst of it in this the first stage of the deadly struggle. Some of his houses were burned, and some of his estates were devasted by the Johnstone party; but he retaliated by setting Loch wood f in a blaze — " that Dame Johnstone might have light to set her hood by," as with savage humour he remarked — and also by laying waste many roods of fertile land belong- * Spottiswoode, vol. ii., p. 326. + The immense strength of this castle, and its position among impassable bogs and marshes, have already been noticed. A remark has been attributed to James VI. respecting Lochwood, to the eifect that the man who built it, "though he might have the outward appearance of an honest man, must have been a knave at heart." We can scarcely think that our British Solomon ever uttered such a foolish saying. Lochwood was erected in a warlike and turbu- lent age; and if made impregnable, was on that account an evidence of the wisdom,' and not the knavery, of its builder. Soon after being burned by Max- well it was repaired; and it was inhabited tOl three years after the death of the first Marquis of Annandale, in 1721, when it was deserted by the family, and allowed to fall into decay. 296 pirsTOEY OF Dumfries. ing to his rival; and, worst of all, by taking him prisoner at the close of a fierce skirmish between the parties. A compromise was afterwards effected, in virtue of which Johnstone was set at liberty, though he died soon after from illness occasioned by his confinement, and a breath- ing time of peace was then agreed to by the combatants. Arran, thus baulked in his design, resolved on accomplishing it by a more direct way. Having, at a convention of the Estates, succeeded in obtaining a vote of £20,000 for the sole purpose of levying war against Lord Maxwell, a proclamation was forthwith issued, requiring all the King's loyal subjects on the southern side of the Forth to meet him in fighting array and march into Nithsdale. A deadly pestilence, which broke out at Edinburgh, decimated the royal army, and saved Maxwell and Dumfriesshire from the threatened attack.* Seeing that the Nithsdale chief was marked out for ruin by the King's minion, it is not sm"prising when a league was formed, by Angus and other fugitives, against Arran, that it was joined by Maxwell. The associated lords aimed at nothing less than the expulsion of the royal favourite by force. With this object in view, they raised a large body of men, to meet whom there was a new muster of Government troops, who, however, were prevented from proceeding southward by the representations of the English ambassador, whose policy it was to keep Arran in check. Maxwell and his allies, however, boldly took the initiative. They made a hurried march to Stirling, witli two thousand followers; beset the castle, in which the Court at that time resided, before daybreak on the 2nd of November, 1585, and took the fortress after a two days' siege. This act, not less patriotic than daring, was accomplished chiefly by the men of Nithsdale. It was productive of important results. Though Arran secured his personal safety by flight, he was deprived of his title and estates, and his pernicious domination was thoroughly overthrown. At a Parliament held a few days afterwards, an act was passed granting to Lord Maxwell, his servants and friends, entire indemnity for all their irreo-ular or unlawful doings in the realm, since April 15C9; and * S|i(ittisvvo(HU', vol. ii., p. 320. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 297 through his means special provision was made for giving the town of Dumfries the full benefits of the pacification. Of the men named in the amnesty, about six hundred were from Maxwell's estates in Nithsdale and Galloway; about the same number from his estates in Eskdale, Ewisdale, and Wauchopedale — mostly Beatties, Littles, and Armstrongs; three hundred and forty from Lower Annandale — chiefly Bells, Car- rutherses, and Irvings; and about three hundred and fifty better organized soldiers, in three companies of infantry, and two troops of cavalry — one being furnished by Nithsdale and Galloway, under John Maxwell of Newlaw, Provost of Dumfries, the other by Annandale, under George Carruthers of Holmains, and Charles Carruthers, his son. The Act referred to " in favour of the towne of Dumfreis," sets forth "that the King's Majesty, with the advice of the Three Estates of the present Parliament, understanding that his trustie cousin and counsellor, John, Earl of Morton, Lord Max- well, with his haill kin, friends, and servants, during the time of the feid and trubles betwixit him and Sir John Johnstone of Dunskellie, knight, maid their special repair into the towne of Drumfreis, stuffit and gamissit with men of armes, victual, and all uther fumitor neidfuU for thair defense, quherento the inhabitants of the said Burgh might not oppose thame selfifis in consideratioun of the said noble Lordis frendis dwelling- round about, and within the said Burgh." This wordy preamble is followed by a provision absolving the armed intruders and - their successors from the legal consequences of any blame that might be thrown upon them by the Burgh; and also extending pardon to such of the inhabitants as had resetted, intercom- muned with, or otherwise assisted them. Intimation is then made that the King out of his " special favour and clemencie " extends to "his lovittes, the Provest and Baillieis, Counsal, and Comonitie of the said Burgh, the lyk benefite, favour, and guid-will" that are contained in the Acts of abolition and general pacification, granted to Angus, Morton, and their colleagues; the Act closing thus:— "And furder declairis the electioun of Johnne Maxwell, of Newlaw, Provest of the said Burgh, to be guid and sufficient in its selff", and to stand for him, and his successors, sua long as the saide 2o 298 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Johnne Maxwell sal be authoriset be common election or consent of the inhabitants thairof; discharging quhmsumevir utheris rychtis, and securitie maid at any time bypast, or to be maid to any other persoun of the samyne to the contrair."* Stewart, no longer either earl or captain, took refuge in the wilds of Western Ayrshire, where he lived secretly for many years, till, in 1596, lured by the delusive hope of regaining the King's favour, he passed to the neighbourhood of Dumfries on his way to Court. He was, it is said, encouraged to take this rash step by a "spaewife" whom he consulted. "Low as ye are now, and high as ye aince were, yere head will be raised higher yet," was the oracular response on which he acted; but he was warned by some one who did not affect the possession of superior wisdom, to beware of the Douglasses — whose leader, Morton, he had brought to the block — and more especially to avoid the dead Eegent's nephew, James Douglas of Torthor- wald.t To this warning Stewart returned a reply that would have been foolish anywhere, and became the very essence of folly when uttered— as it was— almost beneath the shadow of the old keep occupied by Morton's kinsman: "Fear the Doug- lasses who may, I shall not go out of my road for any of their blood and name." Yes; but Torthorwald will go out of his way, in order that he may take revenge on the man who could thus add impotent contempt to foul wrong. Accompanied by three retainers, Douglas, hurrying after the discarded favourite, slew him with a spear; and the weird woman's promise was "kept to the ear, but broken to the hope," when, soon after- wards, Stewart's gory head, elevated on a lance, was dis- played, like a grisly ensign of death, from the battlements of Torthorwald. The chief actor in this tragedy suffered for it after the lapse of twelve years. Captain William Stewai't, encountering Douglas on the High Street of Edinburgh, in 1608, ran him through the body in revenge for the slaugliter of his uncle, the ex-Eegent. if * Acta of Scot. Pari., vol. iii., pp. 398-9. t The barony of Torthorwald had been acquired a short time previously by a branch of the Angus Douglasses. t M''oiid's Peerage, vol. i., p. |'j;i. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 299 As has already been mentioned, the progress of the Reforma- tion in Dumfries was impeded by the Maxwells. They still clung to the old faith; and in 1584 the fifth Lord Herries was accused of openly defying the law, by causing mass to be publicly celebrated in the town, and compelling the Protestant ministers to leave its bounds.* His kinsman. Lord Maxwell, on the Christmas which followed the receipt of the royal amnesty, also signified his adherence to Romanism in the same illegal way. About this time the Castle of Dumfries was beginning to rise anew, by his order, out of the ruins in which it had been left by Lord Scrope fifteen years before; and it was probably at the chapel attached to it that he summoned a meeting of followers and ecclesiastics, for the purpose of making a defiant display of his religion. A gather- ing of this kind at all events was held in Dumfries on the 24th of December, 1585 ; and, after those composing it had been arranged as a procession, they marched to the neighbouring College of Lincluden, going doubtless by the Causeway Ford over the Nith, nearly opposite to the Castle, j On arriving at the College, mass was performed in the ancient fane with unusual splendour and effect. + For six himdred years Lin- cluden, first as an abbey and next as a collegiate institution, had been the scene of such religious rites; but the choral swell with which the venerable walls rung on this occasion, was as the dying requiem of the ancient faith — mass never having been since said or sung in the house of Uchtred. It threatened at * Spottiswoode, vol. ii., p. 381. + Naturally the river is still shallow at this place — a bed of sand stretching from the right or Nithside hank till within a few yards of the Dumfries side. When, early in the spring of 1867, the Caul below the old bridge was ruptured by the breaking up of ice, the water was reduced to such a small volume that the tract of the ford was distinctly traceable. In ancient times the ford led to the Castle, and also along the left shore or Tipper Sand Beds to the foot of the Vennel, and to the bridge. The ford was made passable on foot, when the river was of moderate size, and was fenced from assadiug floods by stakes of wood. Hence the name Stakeford. It is called Chapel-rack Ford in some documents of last century's date. J Calderwood's version of the matter (page 225) is in the following terms:— "The Lord Maxwell was committed to ward in the beginning of the year 1586, for having masse openly in the Kirk of Gleucluden at the Christmas before. " 300 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. first to cost Lord Maxwell a heavy price. He was summoned to appear before the King in Council, to answer for the daring offence of celebrating mass contrary to the statute ; and on his proceeding to Edinburgh, he was consigned to the Castle, where he lay for several months: but he was set at liberty without being subjected to any formal trial — the King probably not wishing to press with severity one who had done the State some service, and from whom he expected future favours. CHAPTER XXIV. (iENKALOGICAL SKETCH OF THE JOHNSTONES — THE HEAD OF THE HOUSE KNIGHTED, IN 1590, AS SIR JAMBS JOHNSTONE OF DUNSKELLIE — CLAN RELATIONSHIP OF HIS DEPENDANTS —EXTENSIVE RAMIFICATIONS OF THE FAMILY — MAXWELL EXPATRIATED BY THE KING — HE CO-OPERATES WITH THE SPANIARDS IN THEIR SCHEME FOR THE CONQUEST OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND, AND ORIGINATES A REBEL MOVEMENT IN DUMFRIESSHIRE — DUMFRIES ATTACKED BY A ROYAL FORCE, LED BY THE KINO— FLIGHT AND CAPTURE OF MAXWELL— HE CONTINUES, THOUGH A PRISONER, TO CORRE- SPOND WITH THE CATHOLIC POWERS — MAXWELL OF NEWLAW DEPRIVED OF THE PROVOSTSHIP OF DUMFRIES BY THE KINO — MURDER OF THE EX- PROVOST — SIR JAMES JOHNSTONE IMPRISONED ON A CHARGE OF REBELLION — LORD MAXWELL GAINS HIS MAJESTY'S FAVOUR, AND SUBSCRIBES THE CONFESSION OF FAITH, THOUGH SUSPECTED OF BEING STILL A CATHOLIC — COMMISSIONERS SENT BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO OPERATE ON LORDS HERKIES AND MAXWELL — JOHNSTONE IS DEPRIVED OF THE WARDENSHIP, AND THE OFFICE IS CONFERRED ON MAXWELL — A PEACE PATCHED UP BETWEEN THEM — THEY SOLEMNLY AGREE TO FORGET THE PAST, AND REMAIN FRIENDS FOR THE FUTURE — THE BOND OF PEACE IS RUPTURED BY A RAID OF THE WAMPHRAY JOHNSTONES INTO NITHSDALE. When James heard of his mother's execution early in 1587, he consulted with Lord Maxwell and other Border chiefs as to the propriety of avenging her death by a destructive raid against the Southrons ; but the King's wrath very soon evapo- rated, and the only foray undertaken by him into England was a pacific one, in 1603, when he went southwards to receive the English crown as Queen Elizabeth's heir. Prior to that event James laboured diligently to secure the tranquillity of Dumfries- shire : for this purpose he caused its " Capulets and Montagues" to enter into assurances of peace with each other, and to promise to submit their disputes to the consideration of his Council, instead of bringing them to "the dread arbitrament of the sword." The death of Johnstone, in 1586, greatly promoted the success of these pacific measures, and the civil war in the County was suspended for about a year; but only to be renewed on a larger scale, and with more disastrous consequences. 302 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. The origin of the Johnstone family has already been taken notice of* John de Johnstone, who submitted to Edward I. in 1296, is supposed to have been the father of a chief of the same name who witnessed a charter of the barony of Com- longan and other contiguous lands, bequeathed, in 1332, by Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, to his nephew William. Prior to the latter date the family had acquired large posses- sions in the County, and were beginning to acquire more than a local repute by their prowess in the field. Gilbert, the next chief, was succeeded by his son, Sir John de Johnstone, who made a distinguished figure in the reign of Robert II.: he was one of the guardians of the Western Marches in 1371, and often exerted himself with good effect against the English Borderers, especially in 1378, as is recorded by Wyntoun in the following passage : — " When at the wattyr of Sulway Schyr Jhou of Jlionyatown, on a day Of Inglia men wen cnst a gret dele : He bare him at that tyme sa weUe, That he and the Lord of Gordowne, Had a sowerane guid renown. Of ony that was of thar degre. For full thai war of gret bownte." The grandson of this valorous knight. Sir Adam Johnstone, contributed by his gallantry to the Scottish triumph at Sark ; and the latter was succeeded by Sir John Johnstone, who, by marrying Mary, eldest daughter of John, the fourth Lord Maxwell, effected an alliance between the two houses that were shortly afterwards to be arrayed against each other in deadly hate. We find James, the fruit of this marriage, and next chief of the clan, actively engaged in repelling the invasion of Scotland by the Earl of Douglas and the Duke of Albany in 1484. His heir, Adam Johnstone, died in 1508, and was succeeded by James, whose eldest son and heir, John, signalized himself at the battle of Pinkie. Two or three additional links of the genealogical chain — John, James, John, son, grandson, and great grandson of the Pinkie wan'ior — bring us to the immediate progenitor of the doughty chief who received the wardenship in 1579, contested the provost- • N'iilo p. '13. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 803 ship of Dumfries in 1584, and, after long warring with the Maxwells, was quietly "gathered to his fathers" in 1586, leav- ing his lands, and also the heritage of an implacable feud, to his eldest son, James, born to him by his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch. In 1580, the young chief of the Johnstones obtained a letter of provision, under the Great Seal, assigning to him the revenues of the suppressed Abbey of Holywood; he was served heir to his deceased father in 1588; and when, two years afterwards, the newly-married consort of the King, Anne of Denmark, was crowned, he received the honour of knight- hood — a coveted distinction that had been enjoyed by several of his ancestors — the style assigned to him being Sir James Johnstone of Dunskellie, now called Cove, where he had a castle, which he occasionally occupied. By the middle of the fourteenth century, an immense number of families bearing the Johnstone name were to be found in Annandale, all counting kinship with the Lord of "Lochwood's lofty towers:" their relation towards him being in every respect more like that borne by Highland clansmen to their chief than the feudal vassalage of Norman origin that generally prevailed throughout the Lowlands. As illustrative at once of the numerical extent of this great Border sept, and of the close relationship in which its members stood to each other, we quote, in an abridged form, an agreement entered into by them- on the 14th of November, 1555: — "Bond by Gavin Johnstone ; Ninian Johnstone in Fingland ; David Johnstone in Stagwood ; John Johnstone in Langside ; David Johnstone in Banks ; John Johnstone in Vilehol ; Adam Johnstone, son to Vilehol ; David Johnstone in Rayhills ; Adam Johnstone his brother ; Mathew Johnstone of the Thrid ; William Johnstone in Kirkhill ; William Johnstone in Brume- well ; John Johnstone his brother ; John Johnstone in Banks ; George Graym ; Fergus the Graym ; James Grahame in Grahame of Badoch ; James Graham of Bordland ; Andrew Johnstone in Fuldoun ; David Johnstone his brother ; Edward Johnstone ; Thomas Johnstone ; John Johnstone ; Mark John- stone of Fairholm ; Herbert Johnstone in Castlehill ; and Robert Johnstone, obHging them by the faith and troth of their 304 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. bodies, if it happened any Johnstone pertaining to them, when they are pledged for man-tenant or servant, to comit stouthreif, fire, slaughter, oppression, or any crime, to seik the person that committed the crime and deliver him up to the Laird of John- stone to be punished for his demerits; and if they can not apprehend him they obliged them to herry and put them [out] of the country, and to satisfy and redress the complainers with their own goods and gier."* Among the branches of the family, a distinguished position was occupied by the Johnstones of Dryfesdale or Lockerbie, whose head resided in a fortalice at the town of that name, now used as a police station, which was well defended by deep lochs on three sides. " Their lands (which, up till the beginning of last century, extended to Annan Water, taking in Roberthill, Shillahill, and Tarmuir) had been always chiefly occupied by people of their own name and kindred : the 'Johnstones of Driesdale' being enrolled about 1550 to bring to the field forty-six fighting men."t In April, 1587, Dumfries was visited by King James at the head of a considerable force, his inducements for doing so being complaints by the General Assembly regarding the attempts made in 1584, by Lord Herries, to revive Romanism, and renewed disturbances on the Border, which were laid at the door of Lord MaxweU.| Herries, on hearing of these proceed- ings, repaired to Edinburgh and offered himself for trial. The charges against him could not be substantiated; but he was * Annandale Papers, t Mr. Charles Stewart of Hillside, who, in a little work entitled " Rides, Drives, and Walks about Moffat," and in various communications to the local newspapers, has supplied much valuable information regarding the Johnstones, and Annandale in ancient times. "Lockerbie," says Mr. Stewart, "seems to have been one of the Saxon towu.=i (clustering round the dwelling of tlie laird) which are still numerous in England, though there are scarcely any in this country now to be seen excepting Torthorwald. It would seem to have been, in 1G17, in nearly the same form of street as it is now. The houses were chiefly occupied by little farmers, who possessed amongst tliem in Ruurigg 300 or 400 acres of surrounding arable land — their cattle grazing on the extensive com- mon of 1500 acres of moor to the westwai'ds. Most of them had also avocations as the handicraftsmen and little traders of the district The town was, as now, the central resort of t)u) adjacent valleys and dales; and, being on tlie highroad to the English border, tlio fairs had been long established by royal charter." t Spnttiswoode, vol. ii., p. 381. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 305 lound to have proved remiss in his office of Warden, to which he had been appointed on the death of the Laird of Johnstone. On promising amendment in this latter respect, and engaging to obey any summons that might be sent to him by the Assembly, he was allowed to return to Terregles.* Lord Maxwell's followers were so reduced in number by the recent feuds, that he durst not face the royal troops as his combative nature prompted. He was unable even to stand out for terms; and, withdrawing from the neighbourhood, left these to be made for him by Lord Herries, Sir John Gordon, and other friends, who gave bonds on his behalf, that he would leave the realm beyond seas in a month; that, in the meantime, he should not trouble the country ; that, when abroad, he should do nothing to injure the Protestantism or the peace of Scotland; and, lastly, that he should not return without his Majesty's license to that effect. Behold, then, the unruly Border baron bidding adieu to his native Nithsdale, and seeking refuge in a distant land. It would have been better for him and Dumfriesshire if he had continued an exile, and closed life's discordant day by a twilight of peace, even though his dust had been left sleeping in a foreign soil. To Spain he directed his course, but found no rest there. Perhaps he did not seek repose; "for quiet to quick bosoms is a hell." The Spaniards were busy fitting out their " Invincible Armada," by which they had akeady, in imagination, conquered Britain, the chief bulwark of Protest- antism, and annihilated the Reformation; and the expatriated Scottish lord, influenced by aspirations which so accorded with his own devotedness to Popery, resolved to assist the meditated expedition, by returning to his native country, and making a diversion in its favour. With this evil end in view, Maxwell landed at Kirkcudbright in April, 1588, where he was joined by several of the nobility, and a large body of his own retainers. Lord Herries, dis- approving of this rash and unpatriotic movement on the part of his kinsman, took counsel with the King regarding the course to be pursued in such an untoward crisis. " Summon the traitor to appear' before us," said his sapient Majesty. A * Spottiswoode, vol. ii,, p. 381. 2 P 306 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. royal precept to that effect was issued forthwith, which Maxwell treated with contempt ; and in a trice afterwards Dumfriesshire was in the throes of a rebellion. The Castles of Dumfries, Carlaverock, Lochmaben, and others in the Maxwell interest were garrisoned — the flags from their turrets fluttering a defiance to the King, which their booming guns proclaimed in a fiercer tone. Their resistance was merely nominal, how- ever, except that which was given by Lochmaben. So serious did matters seem, that King James once more proceeded to Dumfries, in order to encourage, by his presence, the royal troops commissioned to cope with the insurrection. When about to enter the Burgh, they were resisted at the gates by a large party of burgesses; and Maxwell, who was in the Castle at the time, and had concluded that it would be unable to sustain a siege, withdrew from it, whilst his friendly townsmen kept the assailants in check.* Hurrying on horseback to Kirkcudbright, he there embarked on board a vessel in the Dee. Soon another ship hove in sight, freighted from the port of Ayr by Sir William SteAvart, and which the fugitive lord learned, when too late, had come to capture him. After a rapid chase from Kirkcudbright, along the Carrick shore to Crossraguel, Maxwell's vessel was run down, and himself put under arrest. Meanwhile, though the Castles of Dumfries and Carlaverock no longer frowned rebelliously upon the royal troops, the fortress of Lochmaben, which was commanded by David Max- well, brother of the Laird of Cowhill, held out against them bravely. They laid regular siege to it, but the walls were so stout and well defended that it made no progress. The King- had only small pieces of ordnance, which made little impres- sion on the stubborn stronghold. Heavier cannon, hoAvever, having been borrowed by him fi'om the English Warden, a hot bombardment was proceeded with, which, after continuing two days, caused the garrison to capitulate. Its valiant com- mander, David Maxwell, and five of his leading men, Avere hanged before the castle gate — an act of severity which con- * Spottiewoode accounts for the resistfiiioe given to the royal forces, by saying that the burgesses were not aware that the King was personally present. (Vol, ii., p. 283.) HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 307 trasts strangely with the forbearance shown towards the chief rebel and originator of all the mischief, who, after being brought by his captor, Stewart, to Dumfries, was sent to Edinburgh Castle, where he suffered but a brief and lenient imprisonment. According to Calderwood, the plot thus crushed was first made known to the King by Queen Elizabeth, some of whose officers had intercepted letters sent by the Earl of Huntly, Lord Max- well, and Lord Claude Hamilton to King Ferdinand of Spain, in which their plans were divulged. Even after Lord Maxwell was put in ward, a written intercourse was kept up by his party with Ferdinand and the Duke of Parma, by means of a priest named Bruce, belonging to the household of that nobleman. Bruce, in a letter to the Duke, makes the following reference to the imprisoned conspirator : — " The Earle of Mortoun, alias Lord Maxwell, to whom I have given consolation by writ in prison, bath instantly prayed me also in writ, to remember his most affectioned service to your Highness, finding himself greatly honoured with the care it pleased you to have of him. By the grace of God he is no more in danger of his life by way of justice, it not being possible for his enemies to prove against him anything which they had supposed in his accu- sation ; as also the King's affection not so far alienated from him as it hath been heretofore ; and in case they would annoy him, or that it were presently requisite for the weel of our cause to deliver him, we have ever moyen to get him out of prison, and abide nought in the meane time, but the King's will toward his libertie ; only to avoid all persute, that they would make, if we delivered him extraordinarlie. When they offered him, in the King's name, his libertie, if he would subscrite the Confession of the Hereticks' Faith, he answered — He would not do it for the King's crown, nor for an hundredth thousand lives, if he had them to lose; and hath offered to confound the Ministers by publick disputa- tion. I shall solicit the lords his friends to procure of the King his libertie very soon: for he importeth the well of our cause more than any' of the rest, by reason of his forces which are neer England, and the principal town of Scotland, and the ordinar residence of our King; as also he is the 308 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. lord most resolute, constant, and of greatest execution of any of the Catholicks."* King James, having re-established his authority, returned in triumph to Dumfries, the inhabitants of which gave him but a cold welcome — relishing his visit all the less because he summarily dismissed from the provostship Maxwell of Newlaw, brother of Lord Herries, who had incurred his dis- pleasiire by opposing the entrance of the royal troops. The subsequent fate of the ex-Provost was tragical in the extreme: he having been waylaid and slain by a party of Johnstones and Grahams, because his father, the late Lord Herries, had treated them with rigour when Warden of the Marches. Whilst his Majesty was at Dumfries, he also presided over a justiciary court held for the trial of Lord Maxwell's followers, and other offenders. After making an imposing royal pro- gress through part of the Border district, and, in token of his ire against treason, and other forms of lawlessness, burning the Towers of Langholm, f Castlemilk,| and Mor- ton, the King proceeded to Edinburgh, leaving John, Lord Hamilton, to act as his lieutenant over the whole Borders, with the assistance of Lord Herries, and other Dumfriesshire barons. It was now Johnstone's turn to exhibit disloyalty. When Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell,§ with the view of obtaining pre-eminent power in the State, made a bold attempt to * Calderwood, pp. 236-37. + The Tower of Langholm, which still survives as a ruin, was a small square keep that belonged to Johnnie Armstrong, and was, after his execution, acquired by the Maxwells. t Castlemilk, in the parish of St. Mimgo, was built by one of the Bruces, and came into the family of Stewart by the mai-riage of Walter, the High Steward, with one of King Robert's daughters. The Maxwells eventually acquired it by marriage. A house of the same name, built in 1796, occupies its site; and a stately new mansion has just been erected near it, by the pro- prietor of the estate. It belongs, with the estate, to Eobert Jai'dine, Esq., M.P. for Aahburton. § Ho was the eldest son of John Stewart, Prior of Coldingham, natiu'al son of .James V.; his mother Ijeing Lady Jane Hepburn, sister of the infamous Earl of Bothwoll who stands charged with the murder of Daruley, and who after- wards married Ivi.s widow, tho Queen of Scots. Francis Stewart received the title from James IV. in l.'i/H. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 309 seize the King's person, he had for one of his accomplices the Annandale chief— for which disloyal act the latter, like Lord Maxwell, was imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle. Maxwell was liberated, by an act of grace, on the day of the royal marriage, 12th September, 1589; and Johnstone managed to break out of his prison, and, with the stigma of rebel still attached to his name, returned to Lochwood. Again the King visited Dum- friesshire, for the purpose of overawing such of the Border clans as had given assistance to Both well, or had in other respects poured contempt on his authority. His Majesty did not find the gates of the Shire town barred against him on this occasion. The burgesses opened them readily to his Majesty, giving him a hearty welcome; for the Superior of the town was now a favourite at Court, and had renounced his rebellious designs, and, nominally at least, his Eomanist opinions. James issued a proclamation from Dumfries, offer- ing pardon to all who would repudiate Bothwell, and engage to keep the peace. These merciful conditions were accepted by many, though not by Sir James Johnstone; and when his Majesty left the County it was still far from being thoroughly tranquillized. Whether from motives of policy or conviction, Lord Maxwell subscribed the Confession of Faith on the 26th of January, 1593, before the Presbytery of Edinburgh, the signature used by him being that of " Morton," the earldom of which he still claimed. There is good reason to suppose that he continued a Eomanist at heart; and, at all events, his profession of Protestantism, and his practice in after life, were often broadly at variance. When, in 1601, the General Assembly saw reason to bewail a great defection from the zeal and purity of the true religion, they attributed it in some measure to the want of a sufficient number of pastors " in places that are of chiefest importance, as the town of Dumfries,"* near to which Lord Herries resided. Arrangements were made by the Assembly to settle additional ministers in the most destitute localities ; also to bring their influence to bear upon the Popish lords by means of personal visitation — Mr. David Lindsey and Mr. John Hall being the clergymen appointed to operate on Lord Herries.f * Calderwood, p. 453. + Ibid. 310 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. In the Assembly of the following year, these two visiting commissioners reported that they had been unable to hold a conference with his lordship on account of the shortness of his stay in Edinburgh. The whole question was then entered upon anew; and it was resolved by the Assembly that certain noblemen's houses and families should be temporarily supplied with pastors or chaplains, able not only to instruct and confirm them in the Protestant faith, " but also to procure that their families be not corrupted with the companie and resorting of professed Papists, Jesuits, and other seminarie priests."* For these purposes Mr. Robert Wallace was appointed to wait upon Lord Herries, and Mr. Henry Blyth on Lord Maxwell.! It is curious to note the instructions given to these clerical visitors. The Assembly, bent on subduing the nobles who stood in the way of their good work, enjoined their representatives to use an amount of moral pressure which is inconsistent with modern ideas on the subject, and the nature of which may be inferred from the subjoined quotation: — "Ye shall addresse your selves with all convenient diligence, and necessarie furniture, to enter in their companie and families, there to remain with them for the space of three moneths continuallie; during which time your principal care shall be, by public doctrine, by reading and interpretation of the Scriptures ordinarily at their tables, and by conference at all meet occasions, to instruct them in the whole grounds of true religion and godliness ; specially in the heeds controverted; and confirme them therein. Take pains to catechize their families ordinarily every day once or twice at the least, or so often as may bring them to some reasonable measure of knowledge, and feeling of religion, before the expiring of the time prescribed for your remaining there; and let this action begin and end with prayer." j At the same Assembly, visitors were set apart for enquiring into the "life, doctrine, qualification, and conversation" of all the ministers; and in this capacity John Knox§ proceeded to Nithsdalc and Annandale, taking with him Mr. Patrick Shaw ' Caldorwood, p. 459. f Ibid. J Ibid., p. 4C0. § Ibid., 11. 4GI. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 311 and Mr. John Smith as colleagues. No report from the visitors has fallen under our notice ; and we are left to conjecture as to the way in which Mr. Wallace fared when he went on his proselytizing mission to Lord Herries ; and whether or not Mr. Blyth succeeded in re-estabhshing the Protestantism of Lord Maxwell. We suspect that in both instances failure was the result. The King had begun to look coldly on Presbyterianism ; he was preparing to graft upon it a strange prelatic shoot, and to hamper, in many respects the action of the Assembly — thus retarding the Reformed cause, and encouraging both its avowed and secret enemies. It was scarcely to be expected that the nobles who had opposed it all along, or had only nominally embraced it, would under such circumstances change their creed or their policy. On the 2nd of February, 1593, Lord Maxwell and Angus, the new Earl of Morton, came to an unseemly issue on the question of precedency, in St. Giles's Church, Edinburgh; and just as they were about to draw swords within the sacred edifice, the Lord Provost interfered and caused the combative barons to be sent guarded to their lodgings in the city. Soon after this bloodless incident, Maxwell returned to Dum- friesshire, never more to leave it in hfe. Sir James Johnstone having by his recent rebellious acts forfeited the wardenry of the Western Marches, that office was again given to the Lord of Nithsdale ; and thus armed he proceeded to the Border for the purpose of allaying its turbulence. Probably the King meant him to adopt stringent measures towards the Johnstones; but when it seemed as if the strife between the families was about to be renewed, a peace was patched up between them through the mediation of mutual friends. The rival chiefs were thereby induced ■ not only to give up their antagonism, but to enter into an alliance offensive and defensive with relation to the wily chief of Drumlanrig, who was, for sufficient reasons, distrusted by both. This agreement, duly signed by the con- tracting parties, is still preserved among the Annandale papers. In accordance with it, John, Earl of Morton, Lord Maxwell, and Sir James Johnstone of Dunskellie agreeing for themselves, and taking biurden upon them for their next kin, friends, tenants, and servants, "oblige them by the faith and troth of their 312 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. bodies that they nor their foresaids intromit or agree with Sir James Douglas of Druralanrig, nor his kin, friends, tenants, and servants, without the special advice and consent of the other had thereto ; and that both their assurance, and assurance with the said Sir James Douglas, should be done in one day; and in case any of them had an action of law against him, to concur, fortifie, and assist [each] other to the intensist of their power; and should take a true, upright, and aefold part with others while the feid were agreid or reconciled." This contract is dated the 13th of March, 1592, only twenty- one months previous to the battle of Dryfe-Sands; and there is another more general one of a still later date — April 1st of that year— in which Maxwell and Johnstone come under a solemn obligation for themselves and friends to " freely remit and forgive all rancours of mind, grudge, malice, and feids that had passed, or fallen furth between them in any time bygone."* A noble resolution, truly! which, if faithfully carried out, would have had a happy effect on the rival houses, and given a slight foretaste of the millenium to the County. Unfortunately their bond of union was feeble as a thread of flax, their friendship transitory as a wintry sunbeam on snow-clad hills, their inter- change of kindly words delusive — "The torrent's smoothneas ere it dash below." The Johnstones had become hand and glove with the Lord Warden! They would therefore be able, so far as he was concerned, to enter upon predatory pursuits with impunity, if they only left unharmed the dependants of the house of Maxwell. So thinking, a party of the Annandale men, headed by William Johnstone of Wamphray, surnamed the Galliard, sweeping into Upper Nithsdale, ravaged the lands of Lord Sanquhar ; but all the rich " hereship" acquired by them was no equivalent for the loss they sustained, as their tnisty leader, captured by the Crichtons, was, without remorse, con- verted by his captors into a "tassel" for the gallows tree, though the poor fellow, in view of such an ignominious doom, prayed hard for mercy, and tried to win by bribe wliat he could not • Amiandivle raiiuT-s. HISTORY OP DUMFRIES. 313 gain from pity. "0 ! Simmy, Simmy!"— so he pleaded to his chief captor, Simon of the Side— "01 Simmy, Simmy, now let me gang, And I'll ne'er mair a Criohton wrang; 0! Simmy, Simmy, now let me be, And a peck o' gowd I'U gie to thee." William Johnstone of Kirkhill, on whom the leadership of the "lads of Wamphray" now devolved, mustered them in great force in order to levy more spoil, and exact what was even sweeter to a Borderer than any amount of stouthrief— revenge. " Back tae Nithsdale they hae gane, And awa the Crichtons' nowt hae taen; And when they cam to the WeUpath-head, The Crichtons bade them ' 'Light and lead.' " That is to say, dismount and give battle, the very thing that Kirkhill Willie wanted, and which he promised to supply the Crichtons with to their hearts' content. " Then out spoke WiUie of the KirkhUl, 'Of fighting, lads, ye'se hae your fill;' And from his horse WUlie he lap, And a burnished brand in hia hand he gat. "Out through the Crichtons WOlie he ran. And dang them down, baith horse and man. 0, but the Johnstones were wondrous rude, When th& Biddes burn* ran three days blude. " In returning homewards, the exulting victors left other un- pleasant memories of their foray on the lands of Drumlanrig, Closebum, and Lag ; and if the ballad from which we have quoted is to be relied upon, they — quite in character — ^wound up their saturnalia by a jovial carouse in a tavern at the head of Evan Water : — " As they cam in at Evan-head, At Pjcklaw Holm they spread abread. 'Drive on, my lads, it will be late; We'll hae a pint at Wamphray gate.' " And there Willie of Kirkhill, proud, exultant, elated with * Biddes Bum, a brook which waters a mountainous tract lying between Nithsdale and Annandale, near the head of the Evan. 2 Q 314 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. success, and (shall we say?) "glorious" with the " barley bree," thus complimented his gallant followers : — "Where'er I gang, or where'er I ride, The lads of Wamphray are on my side; And of a' the lads that I do ken, The Wamphray lad's the king of men."* * Sir Walter Scott seems to have attached no small amount of historical value to the ballad from which these verses are taken — " The Lads of Wamphray;" and we have quoted from it as it is true to the spirit, if not to the letter,, and the incidents tend to illustrate the character of the Border raids. CHAPTER XXV. THB LORD -WARDEN IS APPEALED TO BY THE SUEFEKERS FROM THE JOHNSTONE RAID — THE PROCESSION OP "THE BLOODY SHIRTS" — THB KING COMMANDS HIS WARDEN TO GIVE REDRESS TO THE PETITIONERS — ^MAXWELL PRO- CEEDS FOR THIS PURPOSE WITH A POWERFITL FORCE INTO ANNANDALE — A RECONNOITRING PARTY SENT BY HIM, WHEN ENCOUNTERED BY THE JOHNSTONES, TAKES REFUGE IN LOCHMABEN CHURCH — FIRE IS APPLIED TO THE CHURCH, AND THB PARTY SURRENDERS — BATTLE OF DRYFE-SANDS — DEFEAT OF THE NITHSDALB MEN — SLAUGHTER OF LORD MAXWELL — MODERN ASPECT OF THE BATTLE-FIELD — LORD HERRIBS MADE WARDEN OF THB MARCHES — HE ATTACKS THE J0HNST0NE3 AT LOCKERBIE, AND IS REPULSED — JOHNSTONE PARDONED — APPOINTED WARDEN, AND AGAIN DISGRACED KING JAMES VISITS DUMFRIES, AND HOLDS A COURT OF REDRESS IN THE BURGH — LORD MAXWELL MEDITATES VENGEANCE ON JOHNSTONE FOR THE SLAUGHTER OF HIS FATHER — THE KINO INTERPOSES, BANISHES HIM FROM THE DISTRICT, AND EXACTS LETTERS FROM HIM, IN ■WHICH HE AGREES TO BE RECONCILED TO HIS ENEMY — MAXWELL BREAKS THROUGH HIS ENGAGEMENT, RECEIVES THE KING'S FORGIVENESS, AGAIN OFFENDS, AND IS CONSIGNED TO EDINBURGH CASTLE — ESCAPES FROM IT BY STRATAGEM, AND RETURNS TO DUMFRIESSHIRE. The sufferers from this rapacious incursion naturally com- plained of it to the Warden, and asked for redress at his hands — a request which placed him in an awkward dilemma. He did not wish to revive his old feud with the Johnstones ; and perhaps he also believed that they had some right to reckon on his forbearance, though there was no express compact to that effect between them. Two influences, however, combined to make him resolve on warlike measures, though he was person- ally inclined to peace. The proprietors who had been pillaged, and were impatient for revenge, offered to enter into bonds of man-rent with him to maintain his quarrels against all and sundry, provided he would exercise his authority as Warden to punish the Johnstones: and the King about the same time issued a special commission to him, by which he was enjoined to execute justice on the guilty clan; James having been in- 316 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. duced to take this step by a singular deputation fromNithsdale, consisting, says Calderwood, of "certain poor women with fifteen bloody shirts," who presented themselves in the streets of Edinburgh on Monday, the 23rd of July, and in presence of the Court prayed for justice on those who, at the instance of the Laird of Johnstone, had cruelly murdered their husbands, sons, and servants. As their petition did not receive that prompt attention which they expected, a procession of the bloody shirts was resolved on; and these were carried through the streets " by pioneers," whilst a sympathizing crowd cried out for vengeance upon the King and Council,* till they at length paid attention to the widows' prayer. Lord Maxwell saw in the offer of the Nithsdale gentlemen a means of increasing his "following," and strengthening the power of his family ; and when to this temptation was added the positive command of his sovereign, he hesitated no longer, and forthwith took the field against his hereditary enemy- Perhaps we do the noble lord no injustice when we suspect that the prospect of wreaking vengeance on the ancient foes of his house had some infiuence also in determining his conduct. Johnstone on his part was not idle. On seeing sure indica- tions of a pending storm.t he prepared to meet it by an alliance with his maternal relatives the Scotts of Eskdale and Teviotdale, five hundred of whom came to his aid under the leadership of Sir Gideon Murray of Elibank, who bore the banner of the Buccleuch in the temporary absence of that chieftain abroad. The Elliots of Liddesdale, the Grahames of the Debatable Land, and other Border tribes, also allied themselves to Johnstone; and, as we learn from the Privy Council Records, " divers Englishmen, tressounablie brocht within this realme," swelled his ranks. Maxwell, as a matter of form, summoned Johnstone to sur- render in the King's name, and submit to be tried on the charges brought against him. The citation being treated with scorn, * Calderwood. t According to Spottiswoode, tlie bond of agreement between Maxwell and the Nithsdale gentlemen, " being negligently kept, fell into the hands of one Johnstone of Cummertrees, and was by him carried to the Laird of Johnstone," who thus got timely notice of the combination outovcd into against him. (Vol. ii., p. 446.) HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 317 war was inevitable ; and, considering that it was a county con- flict, the forces brought into the field were numerous on both sides. No fewer than two thousand men followed the royal banner, as displayed by the Lord Warden, into Annandale; and nearly as many of the Johnstone party went forth to meet them. Sometimes the fate of kingdoms has been decided by smaller armies than those marshalled against each other by these rival chiefs. The Nithsdale men would probably assemble at the usual place of wappenschaw — the meadow watered by the Lordburn, eastward of Dumfries — and be thence led round the head of Lochar Moss towards Lochmaben. A popular modern ballad,* written on the battle that ensued, gives what is at best a doubtful list of the different companies that made up Lord Maxwell's army. Two churchmen — the Abbot of Newabbey and the Vicar of Carlaverock — are represented as leading a hundred men each into the field; but some years prior to the date of the conflict they had both been forfeited, and the days of fighting ecclesiastics had been brought to an end. The other contingents are given as follows: — Crichton, Drumlanrig, and Dalziel, fivescore each; Dalswinton and Cowhill, eighty-nine each; Kirkpatrick, Carnsalloch, and Breckenside, " full four- score" each; Charteris, sixty; Lag, fifty-four; while, we are told, " The town Dumfries two hundred sent, All picked aud chosen every one ; With them their Provost, Maxwell, went, A bold, intrepid, daring man. ' ' Lord Maxwell's own dependants rose Eight hundred warriors, truly bred ; Kirkconnell doth the reckoning close. An hundred valiant youths he led." It was in the dead of the year, " when dark December glooms the day," that this goodly bannered host moved from the County town — its leader, as a matter of precaution, sending a reconnoitring company on. before, under the command of Captain Oliphant. The ill-fated troop went to watch the * The Battle of Dryfe-Sands, by WiUiam M'Vitie, of which a neat edition, with notes, has been recently published by Mr. D. Halliday, bookseUer, Lockerbie. 318 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. enemy's movements, but was too rash, and regardless of its own. When in the neighbourhood of Bruce's ancient burgh, a numerous body of the Johnstones, led by James Johnstone of Kirkton, rushed suddenly upon Oliphant's men and put many of them to the sword, the Captain himself falling in the fray. The rest fled for safety to the parish church;* but it afforded them no protection. Fire was ruthlessly applied to the sacred building; and as the roof was formed of straw, which fed the destructive flames, the edifice soon became literally too hot to hold the refugees, and they were forced to surrender. Thus the war opened in a manner that foreboded evil to the men of " Nithsdale. Maxwell, hgwever, on hearing of the dis- aster, hurried forward, hoping soon to eclipse it by a brilliant victory. Late on the 6th of December, 1593, he crossed the Lochmaben hills with his army, encamping for the night on the Skipmyre heights, below which, at a considerable distance, flowed the Dryfe — a river so called from the driving rush of its waters when swelled by rain. Crossing it next forenoon, the Maxwells found themselves faced by the Johnstones, the latter of whom were strongly posted on an elevated piece of ground, which now forms part of the parish glebe. This ridge is about forty feet high at its north end, and slopes gradually away southward: the Dryfe flowing at that time much further westward than at present, and leaving room on its left bank for the evolutions of the combatants. Sir James Johnstone possessed no small amount of military skill; and by disposing his men on this acclivity, he was able to force the Maxwells into an engagement on ground which the latter would never of their own choice have taken up. Their position was quite exposed, and they must either fight under serious disadvantages or commence a humiliating retreat — an alternative which they never thought of resorting to. Johnstone further strengthened himself and encouraged his men by some adroit preliminary manoeuvring, which Maxwell, relying mainly on sheer force, failed to counter- * This church was a Gothic building, and dedicated to Mary Magdalene. After standing in a ruinous condition for some years, it was taken down in 1818; and during the process, the key of the old fabric waa found, and after- w.'inl.M sent to the Antiquarinu Scii^ictiV of Edinburgh. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 319 act. Had the hostile ranks closed on equal terms, and in a trial of strength alone, the likelihood is that Maxwell's high hopes would have been realized; but from the manner in which he was situated, and the mode of warfare chosen by the opposing army, he was never able to bring above the half of his men into action. Johnstone initiated the fighting by "sending forth some prickers to ride and make provocation." On went the horsemen thus commissioned, flaunting their pennons in the faces of their foemen, hurling at them stinging epithets, if not material missiles, challenging them to corrje on if they dared, shouting the Johnstones' war-cry, "Ready, aye ready!" as if to reproach the unreadiness of their opponents, and then riding back unharmed to their own ranks. To be bearded in this fashion was more than flesh and blood of the Maxwell stamp could bear ; and when the tor- mentors returned, repeated their exasperating conduct, and then exultingly retired, the Warden — enraged at a time when coolness was specially needed — sent a large detachment after them, who rushed forth impetuously, crying, " Wardlaw ! Wardlaw!" varied by "I bid you bide, Wardlaw!"* — -the well- known slogan of the Nithsdale chief This was the very movement which Johnstone had wished to provoke. The retreating horsemen never thought of turning rein in a vain attempt to resist the torrent let loose upon them. Getting out of the way as rapidly as possible, they allowed it to be met by those who were standing ready to roll it back, and who did so. The Nithsdale detachment was received by a much larger body, and broken up; and its fragments, faUing back, communicated to the main army of the Maxwells a share of its own confusion. This was the crisis of the battle. As yet there had been nothing but skirmishing, and little bloodshed; and if the Warden's army had stood firm when the Johnstones, in full force, charged down upon them, the fortunes of the day might still have been redeemed. As soon as the Annandale men left the heights, they gave up all the advantages of their position — only, however, to improve the advantage given by the panic into which the Maxwells were * Wardlaw is the name of a hill in the immediate vicinity of Carlaverock Castle. 320 HISTOEY OF DUMFRIES. thrown. The latter never recovered from the disorder caused by the repulse of their assailing troops; and when, consequent upon that mishap, they were visited with a general assault, they, after a brief but desperate resistance, gave way on all sides. The Lairds of Lag, Closeburn, and Dmmlanrig escaped by the fleetness of their steeds; but there is no historical evidence that the charge represented as brought against them by Lord Maxwell's son, in the old ballad, was well founded: — " Adieu ! Drumlanrig, false wert aye, And Cloaebiim in a band! The Laird of Lag frae my father that fled When the Johnstone struck oflf his hand. They were three brethren in a band — Joy may they never see! Their treacherous art and cowardly heart Has twined my love and me. " Lord Maxwell was less fortunate than his brother barons. When resistance was useless, he retreated with the relics of his army from the field — each of the fugitives going his own separate way, but most of them proceeding in the direction of Lockerbie, the victors following hard upon their track, and ruthlessly slay- ing all whom they overtook. On the Holm of Dryfe, about half a mile below the old churchyard of the parish, were to be seen, till recently, two large bushes, called " Maxwell's Thorns," which commemorated this sanguinary battle and its sorrowful episode — the death of the defeated nobleman. To the spot where these venerable trees " scented the dewy air," came the Lord of Nithsdale when the fight was over and hope was gone, no way eager to survive his disgrace, and easily overtaken by a young Annandale trooper — the sanguinary hero of Biddes Burn — who had resolved to capture, maim, or kill the enemy of his clan. Some days before the battle. Maxwell, it is said, had offered a ten-pound land (that is, land entered in the cess-book at that yearly amount) to any one who should bring him the head or hand of Johnstone; which caused his antagonist to reta- liate by announcing that, though he had not a ten-pound land to give, he would bestow a farm of half that value on the man who should bring hira the head or hand of Maxwell. Stimu- lated by this tempting ofl'or, and also, perhaps, by hatred towards the NithKchilt! men, which all the blood shed at Biddes HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 321 Burn had failed to slake, William Johnstone of Kirkhill hurried after the fugitive lord, and struck him from his horse.* Accord- ing to a report mentioned by Spottiswoode, the unfortunate baron held out his hand, and claimed to be taken prisoner, even as he had in similar circumstances spared the life of the Laird of Johnstone ; and, instead of his plea being heeded, the supplicating hand was cut off, and then he was slain outright. Tradition, on the contrary, states that Willie of Kirkhill, after obtaining the ghastly sign-manual which attested his claim to receive a five-pound land from his chief, rode away, and that the wife of James Johnstone of Kirkton discovered Maxwell lying wounded, and beat him to death — a story which we repro- duce, though it seems to us highly improbable. Soon after the battle, it is said. Dame Johnstone issued forth from Kirkton Tower, with a few female attendants, for the purpose of seeking her husband, and also of giving relief to those who might have been left wounded on the field. Locking the gates with her own hand, and having the heavy keys suspended to her girdle, she soon reached the precincts of the fatal spot, and there, in the dim gloaming, discovered the hapless warrior lying ble.eding and faint under an old fir-tree. On bending down to inquire his name and condition, the sufferer gasped out, " I am the Lord Maxwell; succour me, or I die!" and caught his visitor convul- sively by her garment. Thus appealed to, the Dame, cruelly dour, as if she had not had a drop of "weeping blood" in her bosom, swung the ponderous keys by the cord which fastened them, and brought them down sheer on the head of the prostrate suppliant. Blow after blow of this kind, till the chieftain's brains were knocked out, formed the sole answer given by this fiend in lady's likeness to his cry for mercy; and she strode away from the mangled carcase mightily satisfied with her evening's work. But this Annandale monster is, we beUeve, a mere creation of the fancy; and we notice the legend only to say that it is unworthy of credit. The likelihood is that Willie of Kirkhill, taking a lesson from the Kirkpatrick motto, made sure of his reward by cutting off the head as well as the hand of the prostrate warrior. Slain he was at all events; and the body of the brave lord, lying gory and mutilated on the * Spottiswoode, vol. ii., p. 446. 2 K 322 HISTOKY OF DUMFRIES. banks of Dryfe, was a pitiful sight, had it been seen by eyes susceptible of pity : a chief of high descent, the head of a noble house, the representative of royalty, and, in spite of his tm-bulent temper, possessing many personal claims to respect and affection — being, as Spottiswoode says,* "of great spirit, humane, courteous, and learned" — to be thus ruthlessly slaughtered and mutilated in his manhood's prime, was indeed tragical, and strikingly illustrative of the fury too often engendered by the Border feuds.f His followers suffered to a fearful extent. Never before had the Johnston es obtained such an opportunity of smiting their hereditary foes. Comparatively few of the Maxwells fell in the battle, but hundreds of them were cut off in the flight; and many who escaped with life were cruelly wounded, especially by slashes in the face — called, proverbially, " Lockerbie licks" — marks of which they bore till their dying day. The fugitives were pursued as far as the Gotterby ford of the river Annan, in which numbers sank, and swelled the roll of victims. Altogether, not fewer than seven hundred of the Maxwell party perished in this disastrous battle of Dryfe-Sands, the bloodiest of an internecine kind ever fought on the Border Fells. When visiting the scene of this conflict on a late occasion, we in fancy summoned forth the opposing squadrons, and watched them closing in deadly combat. Johnstone, skilled in strategy, coolly keeping his vantage ground; the Maxwells, provoked to advance when their sole chance of safety lay in remaining still, advancing, climbing the ridge under the bewildering dazzle of a meridian sun ; the terrific counter-charge as the men of Annandale, rolling down like an avalanche, broke the enemy's battalions, and turned their temporary confusion into a ruinous panic-rout; the luckless Lord of Nithsdale hurrying from the field, overtaken and mercilessly slaughtered; the other fugitives, not caring to climb the hills over which they had travelled on the previous day in hope and joy, wending their darkling, * Spottiswoode, vol, ii., p. 447. t Sir Walter Scott, in Tales of a Grandfather (p. 153, royal octavo edition), Bpeaks of Maxwell as being an elderly groy-haired man — agreeing in this respect with most other historians ; but Maxwell, as wo leai-n from the family pedigree atTerregles, was born in )55H, and was consequently only forty yeai's of age at the time of his death. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. . 323 dolorous way to the south-west, and thus, as it were, rushing into the heart of the enemy's land to be mutilated or perish — all these scenes and incidents crowded vividly on our mental vision, till we forgot the glory of the natural scenery watered by the Dryfe, in the exciting reminiscences of a struggle which made its stream run red. We sought unsuccessfully for the Maxwell Thorns — those interesting memorials of the chief's violent death, and of the bloody field. Not a trace of them is now to be seen, they having been swept away by the river when in flood upwards of twenty years ago. A fragment of one of them was transplanted to a place not far distant, beyond the water's sweep; but this vestige of the monumental bushes .has also disappeared.* When news was brought to King James of the despite done to his authority by the defeat and slaughter of his representa- tive in Dumfriesshire, he was much incensed; and had he not been detained in the north by engrossing State affairs, he would have taken active measures personally to chastise the Annan- dale chief Johnstone was forthwith "put to the horn," and proscribed as a rebel; and it was announced that those who iatercommuned with or harboured him would be deemed traitors to the King's majesty. But Johnstone had discomfited the royal host, had abased and slain his proud rival, the King's lieutenant, and did not care a pin's fee for the King's proclamation. James might be monarch of Scotland, and obeyed as such by barons who had not coped with him: but the head of the Johnstones was king in his native dale; and to think of outlawing him there, or isolating him from his kins- folk, was simply ridiculous. Nevertheless, for nearly two years after the conflict at Dryfe- Sands, Dumfriesshire enjoyed a considerable amount of repose; and it was not till an attempt was made, in the autumn of 1595, to seize some of the refractory Johnstones, that the peace of the County was again broken. On the death of Maxwell, * Another vegetable memorial of the conflict may still be seen in the neigh- bouring parish of Applegarth— "The Albie Thorn," planted about half a mile distant from the locality of the battle, to denote the place where Bell of Albie, a follower of the Johnstones, fell while in pursuit of the discomfited fugitives.. — Statistical Account, p. 183. 324 HISTORY OF DUMFKIES. Lord lierries was appointed Warden of the Western Marches. He was enjoined by the King to meet with other barons in Dumfries, for the purpose of restoring quiet; and but for the steps taken by them, the banks of Nith would, in all probability, have suffered from an Annandale raid. Having maintained order in Nithsdale for many months, the new Lord Warden thought he would endeavour to tranquillize the district over which Sir James Johnstone held lawless sway. With this good object in view, Herries summoned a meeting of Maxwells in the Shire town; and as the fighting men of the clan had been much reduced by the late defeat, the Nether Pollok branch of the family furnished a welcome contingent for the meditated expedition. At the head of three hundred followers, Herries proceeded from Dumfries to Lockerbie, and daringly laid hold of several offenders belonging to the domi- nant clan. Other Johnstones — true to their family motto — mustered in great force, rushed to the rescue of their friends, and, after a sanguinary engagement, drove the invaders from the dale. What to do with Sir James Johnstone now, was a perplexing question, which the King, after being puzzled with for a while, tried to solve by the singular expedient of constituting him Warden in room of Lord Herries. When the turbulent baron found himself, in April, 1596, invested with that high office, he must have been filled with wonder. It was indeed strange that he should have been made keeper of the King's peace who had broken it so often; but it was in noways strange that he felt awkward in his new office, and gained no credit for the way in which he discharged its duties. The gossipping chronicler, Birrel, records in his diary,* under date July 13, 1597, "an feight or combat betuix the Laird of Drumlanrick and the Laird of Johnestoun, and their assist ers;" and afterwards the latter fell into such disgrace that, we are told, on May 27, 1598, "the Laird of Johnestoun his pictor [was] hung at the Crosso [of Edinburgh], with his held dounwart, and declarit anc niinisworno man; and upon the T) of Juriij ho and his coniplici's wcr put to the home, and pronuncit reboUis at the Crosse, bu opin proclamation." * Diary iif liobort Birrel, burgeas of Edinlmrgli, HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 325 According to the same authority, Johnstone soon recovered from his fall, he having been, on July 2, 1600, "restorit to hes honours, at the Crosse of Edinburgh, be the proclamatione of a herald and four trumpettis." We may infer that the wardenship was again conferred upon him. For a year or more previous to the latter date, that perilous office was held by Sir John Carmichael, who was cruelly murdered by a party of "broken men" whilst going to open a court at Lochmaben — his death affording another instance of Border lawlessness at this period. In November, 1597, James found himself under the necessity of going down to the Western Border to act as his own warden. Early in the month he arrived at Dumfries, firmly bent on repressing the turbulence of the district. " A resolution," says Moysie,* " not to return therefra till that turn was effectuale, as indeed his Majesty did meikle to it." In order to secure this object, the King established a Court of Redress in the Burgh, made up of " aucht special honest gentlemen of the County, least suspect, maist neutral and indifferent, and the best inclined to justice," with " twa or three of his Majesty's Council appointit to be present with them." A large military force attended upon the sovereign, without which his judicial efforts would have been unavailing; the individuals he had to cope with caring nothing about the majesty of the law, and totally unconscious of the "divinity that doth hedge a king." The court and its royal president had a busy four weeks of it. During that time they, after trial, "hangit fourteen or fifteen limmers, and notorious thieves;" whilst from every branch of the offending septs they seized one or two leaders, as hostages "that the haill stouths and reifs committed by them, or any of their particular branch, should be redressed, and that they and all theirs should abstene from sic insolency in time coming, under pain of hanging." These live "pledges" were not, it appears, put into the ordinary pledge-house, but distributed, to the number of thirty-six, over houses rented for the purpose, where they were required to pay rather less than twopence sterling each for their maintenance daily. In this way the * Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, by David Moysie (MS.), as quoted in Chambers's Domestic Annals. 326 HISTORY or DUMFEIES. King to some extent redressed the wrongs which Johnstone had overlooked; and on returning to Edinburgh, he carried with him the hostages, as a security that the Johnstones, Armstrongs, Bells, Irvings, and others whom they represented, should continue at peace. He also constituted Lord Ochiltree his lieutenant; and that nobleman remained at Dumfries several months, doing his best, by a judicious distribution of rewards and punishments, to pacify the Shire. " In the course of that period," says Moysie, " he hangit and slew three score of the most notable thieves, and kept the country in great quietness and guid order." But the young Lord of Nithsdale had no desire to live at amity with the Johnstones, so long as his father's death remained unavenged. He cherished a feeling of vindictive hatred against their chief, which the King (who had, as we have said, again taken the latter into favour) tried in vain by threats and entreaties to allay. In order to keep the incipient strife in check, his Majesty commanded Lord Maxwell to withdraw into Clydesdale. After remaining there, however, a year or more, he returned in the summer of 1601, without the royal permission, for the avowed purpose of compassing the ruin of his rival ; and, as an earnest of his purpose, he made a destructive incursion into Annandale, which lighted up anew the flames of war. The disorders thus created brought the King again into Dumfries- shire. Probably if he had banished both Johnstone and Max- well, and taken security that they would remain " furth of the realm," he might have secured the repose of the County. James adopted no such resolute measures. In his usual feeble way, he ordered Lord Maxwell to betake himself again to the banks of Clyde, and, before doing so, to grant " lettere of slanes," dated 11th June, 1605, on behalf of his hated rival; according to which Maxwell "for himself, and taking burden for all others concerned, in favour of Sir James Johnstone of Dun- skellie, knight, his kin, friends, servants, and dependants, whereby he remits and forgives all hatred, rancour, mutual grudge, and quarrel which he had against him for the slaughter of John, Lord Maxwell, his father, and all other slaughters, mutilations, and insolencies which followed thereon."" The * iVnuandalc Paiiors. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 327 " mutilations" here specified refer, doubtless, to the " Lockerbie licks" received by the men of Nithsdale after their defeat at Dryfe-Sands. So soon as his Majesty's back was turned, and in spite of the meek, forgiving spirit breathed in this docu- ment, the obdurate young nobleman reappeared in Dumfries — reappeared to concoct new plots and stir up fresh broils. Edinburgh Castle, to which Maxwell was next consigned as a sort of reformatory prison, wrought no improvement upon him, and, indeed, could not cage him long. Escaping in January, 1603, he was proclaimed an outlaw. For some time neither the Government officers nor the chroniclers of the period could trace his whereabouts, till at length the latter discovered him, near the close of 1607, suddenly restored, like the hero of a pantomime, to the free enjoyment of his rank and estates; and we do not learn from them that he was ever called upon to " underly the law" for his numerous offences. At the above period, says Chalmers,* "a contest arose between Lord Maxwell and the Earl of Morton [Angus] about their several jurisdictions in Eskdale; and both parties called out their people to decide their preten- sions — ^not in the forum, but the field. The Privy Council, "which in some measure now governed Scotland, commanded the contending parties to dismiss their forces, and not approach the scene of their controversy; but Maxwell contemned the order [as might have been looked for], and challenged his antagonist to single combat. For these contempts Maxwell was committed to Edinburgh Castle (which seems never to have been a safe State-prison), and from which Maxwell again effected his escape. But he only escaped to engage in a more fatal outrage." This last sentence introduces us to a new act in the dreadful Border tragedy, which, originating mainly in the capricious disposal of the Western wardenship, culminated at Dryfe-Sands, and did not terminate till the two principal remaining actors in it, the chiefs of the rival clans, feU dead upon the stage; one treacherously shot by the other, and the assassin publicly executed for his crime. It was by a combination of violence and stratagem that the noble prisoner effected his escape. On the 4th of December, in accordance with arrangements made between himself and his * Caledonia, vol. iii., p. 113. 328 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. fellow-captives, Sir James M'Connell and Robert Maxwell of Dinwoodie, or the Four, he gave an entertainment to them and the keepers of the castle; which the latter, who must have been a set of jolly, easy-minded varlets, patronized to such an extent that they became intoxicated. Lord Maxwell, artfully pandering to the vanity of the inebriates, requested to see which of them wore the best weapon. Their swords being produced, he handed one to each of his friends and took one himself: but instead of comparing the arms, they hurried off with them ; and when the astonished wardens reeled to the door to seize the fugitives, they found it locked. A few minutes before, Maxwell had sent his servant to Struthers, the porter, to facilitate their passage through the inner gate. The servant easily enough obtained leave to pass, but when Struthers wished to close the gate again the former put his back to the wicket, upon which the three men coming up glided out, the porter receiving a cut in the hand from Lord Maxwell, as he tried to arrest their progress. M'Connell, having his irons on, was unable on that account to surmount the outer wall, which the other two prisoners readily scaled, and secured their freedom. How wroth King James was on account of Maxwell's forcible breach of ward, is shown by a letter which his Majesty addressed to his Privy Council, on the 14th of December, 1607, the substance of which we subjoin; — "The leatt escheap of the Lord Maxwell, furth of our Castell of Edinburgh," says his Majesty, " haveing gevein to us moir nor just cans of discontentment at his foly, We have thocht meitt heirby to direct you how to proceid aganes him. And first, we will this Proclamatioun, herewith sent, to be publeissed at all placeis neidfuU; and that you hairefter tak ordour fore tryale of all reseattares and suppleares, and cans the extreametie of the law to be prosequit aganes thame. And also you sail, upon ressait heirof, presentlie send chairges of tressoune for the rendering of his castellis and houssis, and you sail put garesounes and keipars in everio one of the same to be interteined upon the rentis belonging to the houssis, unto such tyme as We doctak farder order thairwith. And als, our will is, that you give particular dircctioune to suche as sail ressavo the Castell of Loclimabene, that they niak delyverie of the same to our rycht (rustic coisiiig and couusallovr, the Erll HISTORY OF DUMFIUES. 329 of Dunbar, or to ony other qahome the said Erll of Dunbar sail direct, with our uther Warrand for ressaveing thairof. Further- more, you sail cause chairge the principallis of the said Lord Maxwell, his name and followairis, being ony way men of mark, to find cautione and suertie, under gritt pecuniall panes, that they sail noway resailt, supplie, nor intercommune with him. You sail in lyk maner geve speciall ordour to our garisoune, under the Lord of Scone's command, and als to that uther under Sir Wm. Cranstoune's chairge, that they mak specialle searche for the said Lord Maxwell, his taking and apprehending. And heirofF, willing you to be cairfull, and to omit nothing that may haisten ane exempler puneishment upon him, for his prowd contempt." In the course of a short time after the receipt of this letter, one of the Privy Councillors, Sir Thomas Hamilton, in name of the whole, addressed a letter to the King, setting forth that it had been represented to them that, unless the crimes for which Lord Maxwell and Sir James M'Connell had been imprisoned were treasonable, their breach of ward could not import treason. "As to the Lord Maxwell," he said, "I have heard of his raising of fyre at Dalfibbill, when he slew Willie Johnestoun, callit of Eschieschielles, and ane uther Johnestoun;" but he added cir- cixmspectly, "because he has sensyne had the honour to be admitted to your Royall presence, I wald not presume to summond him for that fact, while first I sould knaw your Majestei's mynde thairanent; the knaulege whairof sail lead me to proceid or desist." The royal reply to this request for instructions has not been preserved. That it was of an unrelenting nature, may be fairly inferred from the letter subsequently sent to the Council by the King, dated at the Palace of Whitehall, 2nd February, 1608, and which (omitting some unimportant passages) runs thus: — " We ar informed that, notwithstanding of the treassonable fact committit be the Lord Maxwell in eschaiping fourth of our Castell of Edinburghe, and in forceing and hurting of the keipares and poirtaris of the same, and of our speciall commandis and Pro- clamatiounes, send doune for his taking and apprehending, that nevertheles in plane contempt of our authoritie, that he oppinley travellis throuche the countrie accompaneid with no fewer than 2 s 330 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. twentie horse, and hes mead his repaire at syndrie tymes to our burgh of Drumfreis; quhiche insolence is no way tolerabill, and skairse excussabill on your pairtis, that ony of our declarit tratouris sould assume to themeselffis so mutche libertie without controlment. And thairfoir our pleasour and will is, that upon ressait heiroff, you direct that our Gaird, under the command of the Lord of Scoone, to repair to the burghe of Dumfreis, and thare, with that Gaird under Sir William Cranstoune's chairge, to make a present diligent searche for the said Lord Maxwell, and either to apprehend him or put him out of thoise boundis. Thairwith also the Baillies of Drumfreis wold be chairgit to com- peir befoir you, and if you can trj' any thing of their knawledge of the said Lord Maxwellis being in thair toune. We ar to will you to inflict ane exemplare puneishment upone thame, baith by fynning and wairding. And als, you are to proceid in rigoure, according to the warrant of our lawis, aganes all reseattares and accompaniaris of the said Lord, that so others may be affrayed from coming withiu the compass of the lyk contempe." CHAPTER XXVI, MAX^TI:LL PLANS A MEETING BETWEEN JOHNSTONE AND HIMSELE — THE INTERVIEW DESOKIBED — ITS TRAGICAL TERMINATION — MAXWELL SHOOTS JOHNSTONE, AND THEN TAKES TO PLIGHT — THE HUE AND CRY RAISED AGAINST THE ASSASSIN — HE BIDS HIS NATIVE LAND " GOOD NIGHT" — LEGAL PROCEEDINGS ARE COMMENCED AGAINST HIM IN HIS ABSENCE — HE IS SENTENCED TO DEATH — ATTER SOME YEARS OF EXILE, HE RETURNS TO NITHSDALB, IS PURSUED, SEEKS REFUGE IN THE NORTH OF SCOILANB, AND IS BETRAYED BY HIS OWN KINSFOLK TO THE GOVERNMENT — MAXWELL PLEADS FOE HIS LIFE WITHOUT EFFECT^HIS EXECUTION. It was when Lord Maxwell was in the harassing and perilous circuDj stances indicated by the correspondence given in the preceding chapter, that a memorable meeting was brought about between him and the man who had occasioned the slaughter of his father at Dryfe-Sands. An opinion prevails that Maxwell made the overtures that led to it, and that he planned the interview to secure an opportunity of gratifying his desire for vengeance. While it appears to us very evident that he cherished this murderous intent, and longed for a chance of carrying it into effect, it seems not the less true that Johnstone of his own accord, and for objects of his own, took steps to secure a meeting with Maxwell. Sir Robert Maxwell of Spottes, or Orchardtoun, declared in his deposition on the subject before the Privy Council, that "the Laird of Johnstoun desyrit the deponar (being in his house of Lochwood for the tyme) to speik the Lord Maxwell quhen he fand the opportunitie, to sie iff the deponar could mak a [all] good in the materis betuix them." Sir Robert, however, declined the mission, assigning as his reasons that the matter was too weighty for him to take in hand : " that the Lord was a pereUous man to haif ado with," and that Maxwell "haid evir a mislyking of him becaus he (the deponar) maryed Johnstone's sister." Accordingly, Maxwell of Spottes did not, in the name of his 332 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. brother-in-law, bring the subject before Lord Maxwell; but he stated further in his deposition, that at the instance of Maxwell he met with the latter, who besought his advice and influence with the view of securing a pardon from the King; upon which " the deponar" told Maxwell "that he sould keipe him quiet, and do no thing quhilk micht offend the Kingis Majestic farder nor he had done; and that he (the deponar) wald move the noblemen, who were his friendis at Court and Counsell, to report the best of him to his Majestie and Counsell." A question from Sir Robert Maxwell as to the relations in which his lordship stood towards his neighbouring barons, turned the*conversation on the Laird of Johnstone — Lord Maxwell asking "quhat he micht look for att his handis in tyme comeing?" Sir Robert appears to have evaded this question, and ultimately it was arranged that his lordship should write out the heads of an agreement between himself and Johnstone. At parting, " the deponar said to my Lord : ' If this be a mater that your lordship thinks in your hairte ye can tak up and remett to the Laird, I mil very willinglie travell in the mater, and do the best I can; otherwise, I desire nocht to mell [meddle] in it.' " Honest-looking and plausible was Maxwell's reply, to the effect that, " if he saw ony willingnes in the Laird to do dewtie to him, he wald willinglie pas it over, and if he resavit ane ressonnable answer of the Laird, he wald be content to meete with him, at ony convenient place ; and promest that he sould keepc honnestlie, for his pairt, and these that were with him, providing it war keepit quiet for boitli their weillis." We learn from the rest of the deposition that the articles of agreement drawn up by Lord Maxwell had a suspicious misti- ness about them; that at a second audience given by him to the Laird of Spottes, the latter inquired as to their true meaning, and was answered by his lordship that he was " not a good wreater," and would not again put his wishes upon paper, but that all ho required was that Sir James Johnstone should show he had " not bene a dealer aganis him in tyme bii^ane," and "what lie micht look for at his handis in t^'me comeing;" that Sir Roljort, liearing liis relative's written answer to this verbal message, met Maxwell a third time hi the forest bowers, beside the Ahl)ey of ITolywood; tliat the latter read the reply, and HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 333 was "Weill content thairwitli;" and that then "the deponar" arranged for an interview, as agreed to by Johnstone, the same to take place upon the following Wednesday afternoon, between three and four o'clock, near the House of Beal, his lordship to be accompanied only by one attendant — Robert Maxwell of the Tower — Johnstone also to have but one companion, and " the deponar" to be present as a sort of umpire between the princi- pals. Finally, Sir Robert states that, as a security that this "tryst" should be truly kept, and that neither Maxwell nor his man should be guilty of foul play, received " my Lordis faithfull promeis, with my Lordis hand strekit in the deponaris hands," that all their proceedings in the matter should be faithful and honest, even should his projected agreement with Johnstone prove a failure. If this " deponar" is to be received as a trustworthy witness, the Annandale chief was desirous of being reconciled to the son of the nobleman whose death he had occasioned, and was willing to secure that end by pleading for him with the King; while, on the other hand, the son seemed ready to forgive the slaughter of his sire, provided he should, through his good offices, regain the royal favour. If, however, they mutually desired to meet with each other, there is room for suspecting that the motives of one of the parties — Maxwell — were very different from those he professed to entertain. The result, we think, proves clearly that, under the guise of peace and forgiveness, he cherished implacable hatred; that he intended the interview to have a fatal issue to the enemy of his house; and that the circum- stances associated with it were artfully contrived beforehand, for the purpose of making the foul murder look like an untoward accident, or, at worst, an unpremeditated case of manslaughter. So much by way of prologue : let us now endeavour to reproduce the scene itself On the afternoon of April 6, 1608, William Johnstone of Lockerbie visited his chief at Lochwood, by whom he was cordially welcomed. " Cousin," said the Laird, " ye must this day do a greater turn for me than ever I asked at your hands before. I am to meet with the Lord Maxwell, and ye shall go with me: push forward, then, to Little Lochwood, where I will join you presentlie; but let no one ken where ye are riding to, or on 334 HISTOKY OF DUMFRIES. what errand ye are bound." William Johnstone does as requii-ed; and, whilst on the road, is overtaken by two men on horseback — one of whom proved to be Sir Robert Maxwell of Spottes, and the other Sir James Johnstone (whom he had left "a few minutes before), but whom he did not at first recognize, as he was differently apparelled than usual, and, for " secrecie of the tryst," was riding upon an old nag, only fit for bearing a hind of low degree. After brief converse, the three went on together, and ere long descried in the far distance the Lord of Nithsdale, attended by Charles Maxwell, "hoofing" on horse- back to meet them. Whereupon Maxwell of Spottes, bidding his companions bide where they are until he returned to them, or gave them a sign to advance, rides forward — meets Lord Maxwell — remonstrates with him that he is accompanied by such an ill-conditioned individual as Charlie Maxwell, instead of Maxwell of the Tower, and is told by his lordship that he will be answerable for his relative's good faith; and he renews his own. promise (suspiciously protesting too much) that, so far as both are concerned, there will be nothing but fair play. The good-natured, well-meaning mediator, though only half assured, resolves to risk the interview. Tying a napkin on his riding-switch, he displays it as a signal; and, thus summoned, the Laird of Johnstone and his kinsman advance. Johnstone, though informed that Maxwell has with him an unlooked-for companion, seems well content, and to be troubled with no mis- givings. "Ye need have no fear of the Lord Maxwell himself, at any rate," said Sir Eobert, "for I have taken his oath and promise, upon his faith and honour, that he will meet fairlie and pait fairlie, whether a paction is made between ye or not; and," added the good knight, " I must take from you the same oath and pledge." These are freely given; and ere five minutes more elapse, the rival chiefs meet at a place called Auchmanhill — exchange friendly greeting's — ride slowly on, accompanied by their mutual friend, who, with characteristic prudence, keeps between them as they (both directing their speech to him) begin to talk about their long fierce feuds, aud the propriety of forgetting them henceforth; though one of the parties, while indulging in honied words, is brimful of bitter hatred, and HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 335 bent ou shedding blood before that pacific period shall come to pass. Whilst the principals are thus engaged, the two subordinates wait near each other, as instructed by Sir Eobert Maxwell, and the following dialogue ensues between them : — " Gif I had known of this tryst," said Charles Maxwell in a querulous tone, " the Lord Maxwell naither could or should have brought me here." To which remark his companion replies: "I hope in God, Charlie, ye do not rue of coming here for so good an object! for thir twa noblemen have been lang at variance, and I hope now they shall agree, and be gude friends." To which the other, working himself into a rage, retorts: "Agree! impossible ! The Laird of Johnstone is not able to mak amends for the great skaith and injury he has done to the house of Maxwell!" "But," said Johnstone, soothingly, "our chief can come in his lordship's will, and do all he is able to satisfy him and his friends." "Not so," said the other, waxing more furious, or, at all events, getting seemingly into a tempest of passion; " and as for this tryst, it is only made for our prejudice; and that man" — pointing to Dunskellie — "has sought his wraik, and we should never have met you; for ye are all traitors! — all traitors !" Most provoking language this; but Johnstone, knowing how all-important it is to avoid a quarrel at such a critical period, patiently protests that he would not enter into any altercation that day. "But," he added, his Border blood warming at the insulting language addressed to him, "send your man to me in a day or twa, and I shall satisfy you." No answer in words is returned to this remark : Charlie replies to it with a pistol shot. Johnstone raises his pistol to return the fire, but it flashes in the pan; and then, at the pitch of his voice, he shouts, "Murder! treason!" Sir James Johnstone, hearing the alarming cry, turns round to ride back; so does Lord Maxwell; the latter at the same time drawing a pistol, and preparing to take aim at Sir James. "Fie, my Lord!" cries Sir Eobert Maxwell, in terror, " mak not yourself a traitor and me both." "Upbraid me not," answers his Lordship, "I am wyteless!" Yet he follows the unsuspecting Laird of Johnstone — fires — the shot takes fatal effect— for a minute or more the dying 336 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. man retains liis seat— then the weak old nag below him flounders — its girths give way — prone to the earth falls the ill-fated chief, treacherously slain in the flower of his age- life's sands ebbing rapidly away. His faithful friend vainly endeavours to get him borne off on his own powerful steed. While thus employed, Charles Maxwell, with superfluous malignity, fires another pistol at the bleeding victim, who, after dolefully exclaiming, "I am deceived!" and fervently praying, "Lord have mercy on me! — Christ have mercy on me!" breathes his last, and is beyond the reach of the fiendish hate that plotted his ruin, and the help of the strong human love which his kinsman manifests by ineffectual sobs and tears ! "Come away! let us be off!" cried Lord Maxwell, when the butchery was completed. " My lord," remonstrated his demoniac emissary, "will ye ride away and leave this bludie thief, Johnstone of Lockerbie, behind ?" "What wreck of him !" quoth his lordship, "since the other has had enough!" and with these words both rode away from the dismal scene, and soon disappeared. Such is the picture obtained of this fearful tragedy from the legal depositions made by those who -s^itnessed it, and who had no motive for depicting it otherwise than correctly. It may be received as perfectly authentic, and it is sufficiently horrible without the aggravations given to it by Shawfield, whose manuscript account of the murder closes as follows: — " Sir James, hearing the shott and his man's words, turning about to see what was past, immediately shot him behind his back with ane pistoU chairgit with two poysonit bullets, at which shott the said Sir James fell from his horse. Miixwell, not being content therewith, raid about him ane lang tyme, and pursued him farder, vowing to use him more cruelly and treacherouslie than he had done; for which it is known suffi- ciently what followed." We have never seen any evidence to support the allegation that Maxwell used poisoned bullets in order to render his shot more deadly; but the "dittay," or indictment, charged him with having done so, the words used being " humeruvi duabiis glaudUms phimheis rcnctatii:" Maxwell and his colleague in crime were allowed to ride away without being called to account by the two friends of the HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. .S37 uiui\lei-ed iioblemaii, which remis«ness on their part may be accounted for by supposing that they were in some measure deprived of their self-possession by the suddenness of the attack, and were but indifferently armed. Sir James Johnstone, thus barbarously slaughtered, was a brave, accomplished knight — "full of ^nsdom and courage," says Spottiswoode; and his death was " severely lamented," and the manner of it " detested by all honest men." The murder of Dunskellie created a most painful sensation throughout Annandale: it excited the indignation of the Government; and the whole machinery of the law as it theji existed, local and general, was set in operation in order to bring the criminal to justice. The kinsmen of the deceased clamoured for the life of Maxwell; and it was felt by the King and his Councillors that the measure of his cup was now filled, and that he must be severely — mercilessly dealt with. He had committed a crime of the highest magnitude (that of treasonable murder, as slaughter under trust was then termed), and must be called to expiate it with his life. He was sought for in Nithsdale and on the Border, without success; a hue and cry for him was raised throughout the realm, with the same result. He durst not stay in any nook or corner of broad Scotland; and, uttering his " Good-night 1" as attributed to him by the old balladist from whose lines we have already quoted, he sought for refuge in France. The supposed feelings of the fugitive are so beautifully expressed by the minstrel, that we make no excuse for again borrowing from his verse : — ' ' Adieu ! madame, my mother dear. But and my sisters three ; Adieu ! fair Eobert of Orchardstane ! My heart is wae for thee ; Adieu ! the Uly and the rose, The primrose fair to see; Adieu ! my lady and only joy ! For I may not stay with thee. " Though I hae slain the Lord Johnstone, What care I for their feid ? My noble mind their wrath disdains : He was my father's deid. Both night and day I laboured oft Of him avenged to be ; 2 T 338 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. But now I've got what lang I sought, And I may not stay with thee. " Adieu ! Dumfries, my proper place, But and Carlaverock fair ; Adieu ! my Castle of the Thrieve, Wi' a' my buildings there : Adieu ! Lochmahen's gates sae fair. The Langholm-holm where birks there be ; Adieu ! my lady and only joy ! For I may not stay with thee. ' ' ' Lord of the land,' that ladyc said, ' wad ye go wi' me Unto my brother's stately tower, Where safest ye may be ! There Hamiltons and Douglas baith Shall rise to succour thee.' ' Thanks for thy kindness, fair my dame. But I may not stay with thee.' " No ! Maxwell durst not trust for safety even to the princely Hamiltons (a daughter of whose house he had married), nor to the doughty Douglasses, to whom he was also related; and so — " The wind was fail-, the ship was clear, The good Lord went away ; The most part of his friends were there To give him a fair convey. They drank the wine, they did na spare, Even in that gude Lord's sight — Sae now he's o'er the floods sae gray, And Lord Maxwell has taeu his good-night." Meanwhile, legal proceedings were instituted against him; the relatives of the murdered knight pressing on the trial with pardonahle eagerness. In accordance with a precept from King James, dated Greenwich, June 6th, 1609, a Pai'lia- mentary Commission sat at Edinburgh, on the i-ith of the same month, to try the case — Sir Thomas Hamilton of Bynnie, the King's Advocate, condiicting the prosecution. The indict- ment was in the form of a Summons of Treason and Forfeiture, drawn up in the Latin language, which set foi-th the several points of "dittay" laid to his charge, and was prefaced by an announcement to the effect that the summons had been found relevant by the Lords of the Articles, and Lord Maxwell been thric'c, called at the Tolbooth Wynd to answer it, but that he HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 339 did not " compear;" that thereupon the Advocate had been allowed to establish his case against the said Lord; and that for this purpose the depositions of the witnesses examined in the case before the Lords of the Articles and the Lords of Secret Council were read over, as also the Acts of Parliament bearing on the case, and the "Lettre of Horning aganis the said Lord Maxwell, for nocht compeirance befoir the Lordis of Secret Counsaill, to ansuer befoir thame for his breking of waird furth of the Castell of Edinburcht, for the burning made be him at Dalfeble, and for slaughter of the Laird of Johnestoun ; that lykwayes the said Advocat producit in presence of the said Lord Commissionar and haill estaitts, Lettres of Relaxatioun, beirand the said Johne, Lord Maxwell, to be relaxit be James Dowglas, Messinger, fra the process of aU horningis at the Mercatt Crosses of Lochmaben and Dumfreise, upon the xv. day of March, 1609 years, and at the Mercat Croce of Edinbur', be Johne Moneur, Messinger, upon the xxiii. day of Marche, the yeir of God above writtin." It is then stated that the summons having again been read on June 24th, in presence of the Commissioner and the Estates, and Lord Maxwell having again failed to appear in answer to it, his Majesty's Advocate desired the Estates to declare if the reasons of the summons were relevant; and they, having found that they were so, and having again heard the evidence, at his instance gave a verdict, finding that — "The said Johne, Lord Maxwell, committit and did open and manifest Tressoun, in all the pointis, articlis, and maner, contenit in the said Summondis: and thairfoir it wes geven for dome, be the mouth of David Lyndsay, Dempster of Parliament, in manner and forme as folio wss: Sentence. — This Court of Parliament schawes for law, the said JoHNE, Lord Maxwell, to have committit and done all the foirsaidis crymes of Treassoun and Lesemajestie, be him self and others of his causing, command, assistance, and ratihabitioun, aganis oure said Soverane Lord and his authoritie; and that he is and wes giltie and pairtaker, airt and pairt, of the samin crymes of Treassoun; all in maner at lenth contenit in the ressounes of the said summondis : And thairfoir Decernis and Declairis, that the said Johne, Lord Maxwell, aucht and sould underly and suffer the paynis competent to the saidis 340 HISTOllV OF DUMFRIES. crymes of Treassoun and Lesemajestie, to witt the tynsall and confiscatioun of his lyfe, and all his guidis, moveable and immoveable, landis, tenementis, dignities, offices, richtis, and all utheris thingis belanging to him; and all the saidis landis, rowmes, and all gudis moveable and unmoveable, digniteis, offices, richtis, tmd all utheris belanging and pertening to the said Johne, Lord Maxwell, and quhilkis may ony way belang and pertene to him, to be confiscatt, to pertene to the said Soverane Lord, and to remane with his Majestie for evir in propertie." Such are the terms of the sweeping judgment passed upon the Nithsdale chief; the grim official who pronounced it finishing as usual with the emphatic words, "And this I give for doom !" Years passed away; and the expatriated lord began to cherish a hope that the lapse of time had deadened the John- stones' desire for vengeance, and that he might venture back to Scotland, and his crime be overlooked, if not forgiven. He had bidden his native land "good-night;" but he shrunk from the idea of continuing a perpetual exile, and seeing Nithsdale no more. He thought, with the emigrant in the song, that though the sun shone fair in France, it had not the same sweet "blink" as in his own coiintry. Minghng with regret for his guilt and its results (remorse would perhaps be too strong a term), and dread of judicial punishment, came overpowering thoughts of home — a yearning that would not be said nay — to revisit the hills and dales among which he first drew breath. Yielding to its influence, he, in 1612, returned to Scotland. The news of his arrival could not be kept a secret; and whilst lurking in the Border district, he was hunted like a wild animal by his old enemies, and was making ready to embark for Sweden, when George, Earl of Caithness, offered him an asyhim in the North. Thither the wearied Lord Maxwell went, dreading no harm, as the Countess was a cousin of his own. By a singular retribu- tion, he who had slaughtered the Laird of Johnstone under trust, was, while under trust, betrayed by his own near relative to the Government. For the purpose of currying favour with the King, the Earl of Caithness, who had by fair promises lured Maxwell to Castle Sinclair, basely gave him up to the officers of the law; and from that day forth he and death were brought face to face. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 341 A short time afterwards, the Lords of the Privy Council addressed a letter to his Majesty, asking him how they were to deal with their prisoner. It is dated 28th April, 1613, and is in the following terms : — " Most Gracious Soverane, — According to your Majestie's directioun we [did] wryte for the Laird of Johnnstoun his moder and goode dame, to understand of thame gif they wald persest in the persute of that petitioun, exhibite unto your Majestie in their names, whairby they craved justice to be execute upon the forfeeted Lord Maxwell for the slauchter of the laite Laird of Johnnstoun ? They come all to this burgh, and the Laird of Johnnston with his moder and tutour presentit tham selfEs before us and declairit that thay wald insist in that persute and prosequutioun of that mater according to tennour of thair petitioun. The Auld Lady Johnnstoun, through seiknes and inabihtie of hir persone, being unable to compeir before us, haveing with grite difficultie come to this burgh for this same errand, we directit and send the Bishop of Caithnes, the Lord Kildrymmie, and Lord Prevey Seale to hir, to understand thir will and pleasoure in this mater; unto quhome scho declairit, that scho come heir purposelie for that mater, and that scho wald insist according to the tennour of the petitioun ; sua that now thair restis no farder bot youre Majestei's will and pleasoure to be declairit, quhat farder youre Majestie will half to be done; wherein, althought the conclusione of your Majestei's lettre beiris that we sould proceid to the administratioun of justice, yitt in respect of a word cassin in the preface of the lettre, beirin that your Majestie had not as yitt gevin a direct ansuer to their petitioun, we half presumed first to acquent your Majestie afoir we proceid ony farder; and whatevir it sail pleis your Majestie to direct in this mater sail be immediatlie and without delay execute. Thair was a petitioun gevin in this day unto us be Robert Maxwell, brother to the said laite Lord, with some offeris to the pairtie; bot becaus the mater concernit not us, we wald not mell tharin; alwyse, we half heirwith send the same to your Majestie, to be considderit of as your Majestie sail thinke goode." In the petition or suppHcation of Lord Maxwell's brother, here referred to, the Lords of the Council are entreated to use their endeavours to get certain offers made by Maxwell to the 342 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Laird of Johnstone and his relatives laid properly before them. Some of the ministers of Edinburgh had been solicited to undertake this duty, but they declined; the bishops were then applied to, with the same result: neither presbyters nor prelates wishing to be troubled with the case of the condemned man, unless authorized to interfere in it by the Council; "Sa that now," his brother wrote, "thair restis no menis quhairby the offeris may cum to the pairteis handis except your lordships will athir appoint sum persones to present the same, or other- wayis that your lordships wald convene the pairtie before your lordships, that the same in your lordships' audiens may [be] red and delyverit to thame. Theirfoir I maist humblie beseik your lordships to half consideratioun of the premisses, and that your lordships wald gif directioun to sum of the ministrie of this burgh to present the said offeris, or otherwayes that your lordships wald call the pairtie in your presence to the effect foirsaid." The " Offiers of Submission by Lord Maxwell for the settle- ment of all differences between him and the surviving relatives of Sir James Johnstone of that Ilk, Knight," which no one of note would agree to lay before the proper parties, and which never were brought under their consideration, were set forth in the subjoined letter: — " Thir offeris following ar maid be me, Johnne, sumtyme Lord Maxwell, for my selff, and in name of my kyn and friendis, to . . . now Laird John- stoun, and his Tutouris and Curatouris, Dame Sara Maxwell, Ladie Johnstoun, younger for the tyme, his mother, Dame Margarret Scott, Ladie Johnstoun, elder, his guddame, and to thair kyn and freindes for the unhappy slauchter of umquhile Schir James Johnstoun of that Ilk, Knyte, commit tit be me. " In the FIRST, I humblie confes my oftens to God, the Kingis Majestie, and to the foirsaidis persones, for the said unhappie slauchtir, and declairis my selff to be maist penitent thairfou-; craveing first, mercie at the Almichty God for the same, nixt favour and grace of the Kingis Majestie, my soverane lord, and forgifnes of the great offens done to the foirsaidis persones; testifeing be my solemne aith, upon my salvatioun and con- dempnatioun, that the foirsaid unhappie slauchter was nawayis committit be me upone foirthocht, fellonie, or sett purpois. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 343 bot upone meir accident: Lyk as for cleiring thairof, I am con- tent to purge my selff be my greit aith in publict, quhair it pleissis the parteis to appoint and do quhat farder homage sail be thocht expedient. ^'Secondlie: I am content, not onlie for my selfif, but for my haill kyn and friendis, to forgiff the slauchter of umquhile Jolmne Lord Maxwell, my fathir, committit be the said umquhile Laird of Johnnestoun and his complices, and to mak all persones quha wes ather gyltie, culpabill, or airt and pairt of the said slauchter, in securitie thairfoir, sua that thai nor nane of thame sail nevir be trublit for the same be me nor be nane of my kyn and friendis, directly nor indirectly, in tyme cuming; and for that effect, sail mak sik forme of securitie as sail agrie with reasoun. " Thiedlie : Becaus . . . Johnstoun, dochter to the said umquhile Sir James, wes by the suddant and unhappie slauchter of hir said umquhile father, left unprovydit of ane sufficient tocher, and for the better avoyding of all inmitie that may arryse betuix the houssis of Maxwell and Johnstoun, and for mair suir establisching of friendschip amangis thame in tym cuming, I am content to marie and tak to my wyffe the said . . . without ony tochir.* "FOURTHLIE: I desyre that the Laird of Johnstoun may be mareit to Dame . . .f Maxwell, eldest dochtir to Johne, Lord Hereis, and sister dochtir to me, quha is a person of lyke aige with the Laird of Johnstone. Lyk as I sail be obleist to pay to the said Laird of Johnstoun, in name of tochir with my said sister dochtir, twentie thowsand merk Scottis; and quhat farder sail be thocht expedient, be the sicht of freindis. " Ftiftlie, and last : I am content, for the farder satisfactioun of the house of Johnstoun, to be Banischit his Majestei's dominions for the space of sevin yeiris, and farder at the will and plesour of the Laird of Johnstoun. " Thir Offeris to be augmentit at the sicht and discretioun of * Lord Maxwell was at this time a widower; Lady Maxwell— heart-broken, it may be — having died when he was in exile. t The blanks in all these instances occur in the origiaal; Lord Maxwell having, it would seem, been ignorant of the Christian names of the parties he wrote about. 34-t HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. newtrall freindis, to be cliosyn to that effect. Under protes- tatioun alwayis, that thir offerris befoir wryttin maid unto the pairtie, be nawayis offensive to the King's Majestie, nor to his hienes Counsall." It is to be regretted that Lord Maxwell's declaration, that the death of Sir James Johnstone was accidental, is not supported by a particle of evidence. Had it been so, or had his crime assumed any aspect short of deliberate murder, the Government vt^ould gladly, we doubt not, have commuted the sentence in spite of the Johnstone family. The matrimonial offers made by the doomed lord would be amusing, were not the accom- panying circumstances so sad. It seems clear to us that the simple references in his lordship's " Submission," under the second head, to the slaughter of his father, ought finally to dis- pose of the outrageous legend which represents Dame Johnstone of Kirkton as having beaten the suppliant's father to death with a key at Dryfe-Sand.s. If the lady had really acted such a diabolical part, it would certainly have been pleaded by Lord Maxwell as in some degree a set-off to his own "unhappie" deed. This document must have been penned by Maxwell when in prison; and on the 18th of May, less than a fortnight after- wards, the magistrates of Edinburgh visited him there, to say that his appeal for mediation and mercy had been disregarded, and that upon the following Friday, the 21st, he must be prepared to die. Their authority to this effect was given by the Privy Council, in the subjoined minute: — "Maij 18, 1613. — Ane Warrant past and exped to the Provest and Balyies of Edinburghe, to tak the lait Lord Maxwell to thair raercat croce, upon xxj. of this instant, and thair to cans strik his head from his body. The delay of tua dayis wes thocht meit to be grantit, to the effect that he micht have leaser to be resolved; and that the ministeris micht have tyme to confer with him for his better resolutioun." The prisoner received the dread announcement with composure, professed to the magistrates his willingness to abide the pleasure of God and the King, and then requested liberty for such of his friends as he named to visit him, which was readily granted. "Hi' had," says the writer of the Don- mylno MSS., "divov.su confrrcncos with .sindviu of them, in inSTORV OF DUMFRIES. 345 presence of aae of the Balyies, but refnised to ressave ony assistance or comfort from the rainisteris, professing him selff not to be of thair religioun, bot ana Catholik Eomane." When the fatal day arrived, we learn from the same author, that, whilst the unfortunate nobleman was being conveyed to the scaffold, he declared that as he had justly deserved to die, so he was ready patiently to meet his fate, asking mercy of God for his sins, and anxiously wishing that his Majesty might be graciously pleased to accept his life's blood as a sufficient atonement for his offences, and not punish his house further, but be pleased to restore his brother Robert to the rank and place that had been forfeited by himself On arriving at the place of execution, he prayed that he might receive forgiveness from the Laird of Johnstone, his mother, and other relatives; acknowledging "the wrong and harme done to them, with protestatioun that it was without dishonour or infamie (for the worldlie pairt of it^for so wer these his wordis reported to me)." He also craved pardon of PoUok, Calderwood, and other friends present, bewailing that, though he ought to have pro- moted their honour and safety, he had brought to them nothing but discredit and harm. Then, drawing near to the block, he kneeled in prayer, turned to take leave of his friends, and the oflScials had his eyes covered with a handkerchief; and offering his head to the axe, the weapon fell, and all was over in a moment.* Thus ignominiously perished the ninth Lord Maxwell. He merited his awful doom; but it was deplored by a host of mourners, many of whom looked upon his crime as a legitimate piece of feudal revenge. In the halls of Carlaverock and Ter- regles, in the Burghal residences of Dumfries, and throughout all the borders of Nithsdale, there was much lamentation and woe on account of his cruel and untimely end. His own kins- men and people did not view him in the light of a malefactor brought to justice: they pitied him as one who had been more unfortunate than guilty. He was their chief, the representative of an ancient and honoured house, who, whatever might have been his faults to others, had done nothing to forfeit their * The chief authority drawn upon for the incidents of this chapter is Pitcairn's Criminal Trials. 2 u 346 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. affection; and how could they do otherwise than sorrow for his fate? The execution of Lord Maxwell was, however, followed by beneficial consequences. " It put a final end," as Sir Walter Scott remarks, "to 'the foul debate' betwixt the Maxwells and Johnstones, in the course of which each family lost two chief- tains: one dying of a broken heart, one in the field of battle, one by assassination, and one by the sword of the executioner." It also tended to the pacification of Dumfriesshire. As Dryfe- Sands was the deadliest party conflict ever waged in the County, so it was the last by which its tranquillity was dis- turbed. Four years after Lord Maxwell suffered at Edinburgh, the forfeiture included in his sentence was reversed; and as he left no issue, his estates and honours devolved on his younger brother, Robert. In 1620, Robert, Lord Maxwell, was created Earl of Nithsdale — a new peerage conferred upon him in lieu of that of Morton, which, as we have seen, was given to his father in 1581, but afterwards restored to the Douglasses. It is deemed probable that the Nithsdale earldom was obtained through the influence of the Duke of Buckingham, as Robert Lord Maxwell's wife, Elizabeth Beaumont, was cousin to the Countess of Bucking- ham, mother of the Duke.* * The Maxwells of PoUok, Preface, p. 12. CHAPTER XXVII. JAMES VI. PAYS A VISIT TO HIS NATIVE KINGDOM — STAYS AT DUMFRIES ON HIS JOURNEY SOUTHWARD — HE PRESENTS THE INCOEPORATED TRADES WITH A SILVER GUN — HIS MAJESTY ATTENDS SERVICE IN ST. MICHAEL'S " CHURCH, BISHOP COWPER OFFICIATING AS THE PREACHER — DESCRIPTION OF THE SILVER GUN — JOHN MAYNE'S POEM ON THE SUBJECT — QUOTA- TIONS FROM THE POEM TO ILLUSTRATE THE TRADES' COMPETITION FOR THE TROPHY — OTHER ANCIENT PASTIMES NOTICED: THE RIDING OF THE MARCHES, HORSE-EACING, PAGEANTRY OF THE MUCKMEN — ADMINISTRATION OF THE CRIMINAL LAW IN THE BURGH AND DISTRICT. When King James VI. had been fourteen years settled in the southern portion of his dominions, he, according to his own statement, felt " a salmon-like instinct" attracting him to the land of his birth; but, as events proved, there was something also of a shark -like design against Presbyterianism that drew him thither — the chief object of his journey being, says Miss Aiken, " the establishment of the ecclesiastical system of England on the ruins of that haughty Presbjrtery which continued to hold out an example of such encouragement to the pretensions of the English Puritans.* Wishing to dazzle the eyes of his Caledonian subjects, he set out for the North, accompanied by a splendid train of courtiers, headed by Buckingham, the dashing and handsome Duke, whom he doated on, and used to address familiarly as " Steenie." Afterwards, however, a large proportion of the King's lavish expenses had to be defrayed by a tax of 200,000 pounds Scots, levied in equal proportion on " the Spiritual Estates, the Barons, and the Burghs" of his poor ancient kingdom.! James travelled by the east coast to Edinburgh, reaching it on the 18th of May, 1617; and in returning by the west, he passed down Nithsdale with his retinue, in the closing week of next July. His Majesty was at Sanquhar on the 31st of that month, and passed the following * Memoirs of tlie Court of King James the First (of England), by Lucy Aiken, vol. ii., p. 59. t Acts of the Scot. Pari., vol. iv., p. 558. 348 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. day in the old Tower of Drumlanrig, as the guest of Sir William Douglas, first Earl of Queen sherry,* the nobleman who, some years afterwards, built the present magnificent Castle of Drum- lanrig. It is said that, when in the neighbourhood, James paid a visit to John, sixth Lord Herries, the grandson of his mother's friend, at the house which gave her temporary shelter after her flight from Langside. His Majesty spent the night of the 2nd of August in Lincluden College, which at that time, as we have seen, belonged to the Laird of Drumlanrig; and he would no doubt occupy rooms in the high, secular part of the building, that stands nearest the river Cluden. Next day, th« 3rd, the lieges of his good town of Dumfries were honoured by his presence, and he was attended thither by the gentry of the district; the probability being also that Duke " Steenie" — " the glass of fashion, and the mould of form" — gave a crowning lustre to the royal train. On the King's last previous visit to the County, it was distracted by civil war : he now found it at peace, occupied with the pursuits of industry. Then he appeared in the Shire town brandishing the sword of Justice — figura- tively, we mean, for his Majesty shrank instinctively from the sight of bare steel ;t now he had no controversy to settle with its leading men, and he wore the gracious smiles of a paternal monarch. So recently as 1608, he had complained to his Privy Council of the audacious way in which the proscribed traitor, Lord Maxwell, had been countenanced in the Burgh, and he had ordered its bailies to be taken to task on that account; but in 1617 he has no faults to find with, and nothing but favours to confer on, the magistrates and people. How to give a fitting reception to the grand party, must have been rather perplexing to the local authorities. The gentleman then at the head of the Burgh— Provost WeirJ — conferred on * Sir William Douglas was the eldest eon of Sir James Douglas of Drumlan- rig, grandson of the baron of the same name who actively promoted the cause of the Reformation. Sir AVilliam had three brothers ; Sir James Donglas of Mouswald, David Douglas of Airdoch, aud George Douglas of Penziere. t In the Fortunes of Nigel, chapter fifth, James is made to say of himself : " I am accounted as brave as maist folks, and yet I profess to ye I could never look on a bare blade without blinking and winking. " t So says tradition; but we have not been able to learn from aaiy document the name of the Provost in 1617. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 349 the subject not only with his Council and the town-clerk— Cuthbert Cunningham— but also with the Burgh's Parliamentary representative, Francis Irving, and the Commissary, James Halliday; all of whom, after "laying their heads together," adopted a programme for the occasion, which included a presentation from the ladies of the district, and a festive enter- tainment from the gentlemen of the town. The first part of the proceedings must have made an effective scene, performed, as it was, in the open air. King James, though now venerable with age, and though rather odd- looking in his bulky dagger-proof coat of gi'een velvet and scarlet braguette to match, would, of course, be the principal figure; but the Duke of Buckingham, stately and graceful in the picturesque attire that will ever live in the canvas of Vandyke, would receive a large share of notice, and be beyond the reach of rivaliy from any of the local magnates that were present. So popular, however, was the member for the Burgh, that he would be sure, on making his appearance, to receive an ovation from the assembled crowd ; and when, following him and introduced by him, a bevy of fair matrons graced the scene, hooded, ruffed, and farthingaled, as became ladies of their condition, the excitement would reach its highest pitch, and be expressed in such cheers as might sound rather boisterously in the sensitive ears of the King. The preliminary greetings over, out stepped Dame Irving (the fair daughter of ex-Provost Raining, and wife of the member) to perform the leading part assigned to her in the ceremony. Making due obeisance to his Majesty, she prayed him to accept a broad, massive gold coin, from an Italian mint, as a token of love and welcome from his leal subjects, the ladies of the Burgh.* How James demeaned himself is not recorded; but it may easily be supposed, that with all his natural warmth, and all the awkward gallantry of which he was capable, he would accept the offering, and tender his grateful thanks in the expressive Doric, which — Latin perhaps excepted — came most readily to his tongue. After this out-of-doors display, the King was banqueted in great style. , The dinner given to him by the Council and the * Manuscript Account of the Irvings of Gribton. 350 HISTOEY OF DUMFRIES. Trades, took place, as our readers already know, in the Painted Chamber of the town-clerk's mansion — the only room probably in the Burgh adapted for it, the halls of the Castle being still in bad repair. The Provost would, of course, preside; and if he had the good-natured but exactive King on his right, and the fastidious royal favourite on his left, his social powers, whatever they were, would be severely taxed ; but the jovial cheer on the table would by and by soften the starch of etiquette, harmonize all ranks, and make the convener of the Incorporated Seven feel that he was somebody, even when sacred majesty was present, and keep the dean and the deacons from being quite annihilated by Buckingham the magnificent. Indeed, the men of the Trades had good reason to be proud that day. It had been whispered beforehand that his Majesty meant to bestow upon them a tangible mark of his regard. They were to be presented with a miniature piece of cannon, all made of silver — a metal far more relatively precious in those times than it is now, seeing that three ounces of it were equal in value to one ounce of gold; and the token, besides its intrinsic worth, would let the civilized world see how the puissant King of the British Isles delighted to honour his faithful craftsmen of Dum- fries. If there were present at the banquet any true-blue Presbyterians, who detested the system of chants and surplices, oT liturgies and genuflexions, which his Majesty had thrust upon the Kirk, they would be prudently silent on the subject, and allow the praise of royalty to flow round as freely as the wines in which the King's health was toasted. It is said, on what authority we know not, that the harmony of the party was sadly broken in upon by James himself Some strange little fishes — vendaces, from Lochmaben* — were set before him, with the intimation that they were a delicacy peculiar to the neighbourhood, which it was hoped would prove acceptable to the royal palate. James, thinking they emitted a peculiar smell, and that they had a suspicious appearance, viewed them with as much horror almost as was felt bj' his ancestor * The vendaco is a beautiful fish, slightly resembling the parr. It is usually five or six inches in length, and wheu taken out of the water it has a bright silvery appearance, with a faint shade of blue along the back and pai-t of the sides. It is nowhere found in Sentland except in the Castle Loch of Lochmaben. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 351 Macbeth when the ghost of Banquo glided in to disturb the feast at Glammis. Starting to his feet, he shouted "Treason!" and it was not till the offending dish was removed that he resumed his seat and his equanimity. The story is an improb- able one; and we must conclude, in spite of it, that the Dumfries dinner to King James passed off not only without disturbance, but with complete success. That greater effect might be given to the presentation of the gun, the ceremony was performed on the outside stair or bal- cony of the hall, in sight of the general community. The crowd below would, we may be sure, include all the journeymen and apprentices specially interested in the proceedings, as well as such of the freemen as were not at the feast; making altogether, perhaps, not fewer than four hundred persons connected with the crafts. "We wonder if worthy Mr. Thomas Ramsay, minister of St. Michael's, was there to invoke a blessing on the ceremony. He was, we suspect, too little of a courtier, and too fierce an anti-Prelatist to be honoured with a commission to that effect ; and it is more likely that time-serving William Cowper, Bishop of Galloway, would officiate. We can easily fancy the sort of oration made by our British Solomon before handing his gift — the now far-famed Silver Gun- — to the convener. In a speech rich with pithy, vernacular sentences, racy of the Scottish soil — which would be relished by the populace, and elicit from them ringing acclamations^— and well garnished with Latin phrases to astonish the burgesses with his learning, he would express his regard for the good Burgh, and his interest in its industrial welfare. He woiild descant upon the Trades as the bone and sinew of the State, speak of the Dumfries incor- porations as a portion of the body politic which well merited his paternal favour; and ask them to accept his present as a proof that they were highly prized by the King; he telling them, at the same time, that whilst pursuing the arts of peace, it was necessary that they should be prepared for war ; and that for this purpose he desired them to keep up their wappenschaws, and to improve their skill as marksmen by shooting for the token at a target yearly with harquebuse or culverin. Alas ! that the precise words of the royal oration, and those of the eloquent or any other speeches made by the chief of the 352 HISTORY OF, DUMFRIES. Trades and the Provost of the Burgh in acknowledging the gift, have proved as transitory as the cheers that greeted them. It is to be regretted also that another address of which tradition speaks— a doggerel efifusion in which the common people sang the wisdom, virtue, and liberality of King James, and expressed their own devotedness to his sacred person — has also perished, all save a small scrap which makes us wish for more, the symphonious chorus of the poem : — "Leal and true subjects we ever will be, Hal-il-lu-ah! hal-il-lu-ee!" King James spent part of two days in the Burgh. Before bidding a final farewell to it, he attended rehgious services in St. Michael's Church, on the 4th of August, which were con- ducted in the piebald transition form which then prevailed. No liturgy was used; but Bishop Cowper, who had recently received consecration at the hands of an English prelate, officiated as the preacher; and, says Spottiswoode, his discourse was so full of melting allusions to the King's departure, that it " made the hearers burst into tears." His Majesty arrived at Carlisle on the same day, and thence proceeded by easy stages to the English metropolis. The little "war engine" presented by King James to the Trades was about ten inches in length, and mounted on a wheeled carriage, also of silver. In some unaccountable way, the accompaniments of the tube disappeared at a remote period; and about fifty years since a butt was added to the tube, which altered the piece from a cannon to a musket — a change which improved its appearance, but lessened its archaeological value.* Parliament had some years before enacted "that wappenschawings be kepit throw all the realme at twa tymes in the yeir — that is to say, the xx. of July and the tent of * On the gun is engraved the following modern inscription: — " Presented by King James VI. of Scotland to the Seven Incorporated Trades of Dumfries, MDXCviii." It was not till long after that period that James entertained a friendly feeling towards the Burgh or the Trades. The date is evidently incorrect. James would rather have bombarded Dumfries with real cannon, than have presented it with a mimic one, in 1598. There is every reason to suppose that Dr. Burnside and other chroniclers whom we have followed, were right in giving 1GI7 as the date of the prcaontation. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 353 October;"* and the gift of the Silver Gun was accompanied by the condition that it was to be competed for in connection with or as a sequel to these military musters. A piece of meadow land skirted by the river, situated about half a mile below the town, called Kingholm, was the customary arena for the competition.f Could the scene when the shooting was first inaugurated— probably on the 20th of July, 1618 — be reproduced, it would be richly illustrative of a time when the usages of war and peace were strangely intermingled. The little trinket was an emblem of both, having been presented to men who lived by the labour of their hands, in order that they might become more qualified to defend their homes and country, if endangered by foreign enemy or internecine assailant. Each fair banner displayed by the freemen — as, numbering two hundred or more, and ofiicered by their deacons and convener, they marched down to the verdant arena — spoke, in plain or heraldic terms, of peaceful industry; but the craftsmen wore weapons of war, offensive and defensive, according to an Act which required that all persons not noble, and having less than three hundred merks yearly, should be provided with brigandines, jacks, steel bonnets, sleeves of plate, pikes six ells long, culverins, halberds, or two-handed swords : provosts and bailies within burghs to see the Act carried into effect. On this occasion that most primitive of fire-arms — the clumsy culverin — would, to the exclusion of all other weapons, be shouldered by the freemen; but following them, like so many feudal retainers, would come "a plump of spears," consisting of their journeymen, partially harnessed, but wearing only pikes or swords, none but members of the master class being permitted to compete with guns for the trophy. The Provost, bailies, and merchant burgesses would take a prominent, but still only secondary part in the procession, as the Trades were rather jealous of them, and especially careful that their convener should reign unrivalled "cock of the walk," whenever it was * Acts of Scot. Pari., vol. iii., p. 91. + It lias been supposed that King James gave not only the Silver Gun, but the ground on which it was to be competed for ; but we have seen no evidence to that effect. The Holm was probably granted to the town by one of his ancestors, and took its name of Kingholm from that circumstance. 2 X 354 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. graced by the Silver Gun, or when the blue banner of the United Incorporations led the way. The locality of the contest and its surroundings were sufficiently picturesque. The Nith took a bolder sweep west- ward at Kingholm than it does now; and, overlooking the broad meadow, there rose from its rocky basement " a stem old tower of other days" — Comyn's Castle— confronting which stood, as it yet stands, a still more ancient object, the mote of Troqueer. Both of them would probably be occupied by spectators of the competition ; and we may be sure that it would attract to the Holm itself crowds of people from town and country. The Stewartry hills curving from the west, with huge Criffel on the south, would form a fitting framework for the pleasant low-ground picture; and if the sun shone auspiciously from an azure sky during that notable summer day, and if at the same time, the "Wliite Horses of the Solway" — as the crested tide from the Frith is poetically termed — hurried past Kingholm, their cool breath would refresh the rival marksmen, and they would give additional animation and beauty to the scene. Refreshing influences of a more substantial kind would be drawn upon. Many a bicker of ale and cup of claret would be drained, both by competitors and onlookers, in order to fortify the inner man, and to toast the royal donor of the prize, and the champion shot who bore it away for the first time. A proud man he would be; but his name remains unrecorded, just the same as the names of the awkward rank and file who never so much as hit the target. A truce to such vague conceptions. Instead of pui-suing them further, let us pass over an intermediate period of a hundred and sixty years, and obtain from an eye-witness of the martial pastime all its salient features, as depicted in expressive verse.* At the comparatively modern date of 1776, the shooting for the Silver Gun had become less warlike and utilitarian, and more thoroughly recreative in its character. Those engaged in it knew about defensive armour only by tradition, and the fire-arms they bore had never figured in actual warfare. The contest, divested of all its sterner features, had become a festive carnival, that was enjoyed by people of .every rank; and the period of its occurrence was therefore a red- • The Sillor C!\m, a poem by .TciUn Mayne. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 355 letter day in the Dumfriesian calendar. Here is the arousing opening stanza of the poem : — " For loyal feats and trophies won, Dumfries shall live till time be done. Ae simmer's morning, wi' the svm. The Seven Trades there Forgathered, for their Siller Gun To shoot auce mair." The smiths or hammermen headed the procession; then came the squaremen, the weavers, the tailors, the cordwainers or sons of Crispin, and the tanners; the flashers or butchers bringing up the rear. After the muster, " the different bands file off in parties to the Sands," where they are reviewed ; and then we are humorously told: ' ' But ne'er for uniform or air Was sic a group reviewed elsewhere ! The short, the tall; fat gouk and spare; Syde coats and dookit; Wigs, queues, and clubs, and curly hair; Round hats and cockit!" And, as the aspect of the men is grotesquely diversified, so is that of their arms, which are of all sorts and sizes, while ' ' Maist feck, though oiled to mak them glimmer, Hadna been shot for mony a simmer; And Fame, the story -telling kimmer. Jocosely hints That some o' them had bits o' timmer Instead o' flints ! " As the motley but imposing army moves on. And, Frae the Friars' Vennel, through and through, Care seemed to have bid Dumfries adieu." ' As through the town the banners fly, Frae windows low, frae windows high, A' that could find a neuk to spy Were leaning o'er; The streets, stair-heads, and carts forbye Were a' uproar ! ' Frae rank to rank, while thousands hustle, In front, like waving corn, they rustle; Where, dangling like a baby's whistle. The Siller Gun, The royal cause of a' this bustle, Gleamed in the sun ! " 35G HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. The place of meeting is, on this occasion, not Kingholm, but a field overlooked by the Maid en -bower Craigs, situated about a mile southward of Dumfries, where the competition was occa- sionally held. Here a gay scene is presented — tents tastefully bedecked occupying a portion of the ground, and merry groups standing around waiting the appearance of the procession, whose approach is announced long before by the music of its band, and the cheers of the accompanying populace : ' ' ' Out owre the hills and far awa, ' The pipers played; And, roaring like a water-ia,'. The crowd huzzaed. " Soon the sports of the day begin, and then, " Wi' mony a dunder, Auld guns were brattling aflf like thunder. ' ' Wide o' the mark, as if to scare us. The bullets ripped the swaird like harrows ; And, frightening a' the craws and sparrows About the place, Ramrods were fleeing as thick as arrows At Chevy Chase ! ' ' Yet still, as through the tents we steer, Unmoved the festive groups appear: Lads oxter lasses without fear. Or dance like wud; Blithe, when the guus gaed aff sae queer, To hear the thud!" The poet, after noticing the crowd of charmed spectators, and signalizing the men of mark amongst them, thus proceeds: — " Hail! kindred spirits, ane and a', Men of account, without a flaw, Pushing your fortunes far awa. Or, fu' o' glee, Rejoicing at our wappenschaw, Dumfries, with thee ! " How beautiful, on yonder green, The tents wi' dancing pairs between ! lu front, though banners intervene, And guns are rattling, There's nought but happiness, I ween, In a' this battling ! HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 357 ' ' For milea, by people overrun, The air resounds wi' mirth and fun, Frae grave to gay, frae sire to son. And great to sma'. The shooting for the Siller Gun Delights them a' !" At length one of the competitors — " a tailor slee" — puts a bullet through the centre of the target, gains the prize, and soon, " Wi' loud applause frae men and women. His fame spread like a spate wide foaming." The homeward march is then made : " And as the troops drew near the town, With a' the ensigns o' renown. The magistrates paraded down. And a' the gentry; And love and friendship vied to crown Their joyous entry ! ' ' Like rosea on a castle wa'. The leddies smiled upon them a'; Frae the Auld Kirk to the Trades' Ha' And New Kirk Steeple, Ye might have walked a mile or twa On heads o' people !" As darkness comes on, the indoor festivities are proceeded with, and the streets sparkle with fire-works: — ' ' Ding, ding, ding, dong, the bells ring in; The minstrels screw their meniest pin; The magistrates, wi' loyal din, Tak aff their cankers; And boys their annual pranks begin Wi' squibs and crackers ! " The toasts in the Trades' Hall almost trip each other, they follow so rapidly in honour of the King, "And names of whilk the country boasts, And may be proud: " The Johnstones, Lords of Annandale; The Douglasses and Murrays hale; The Maxwells, famed through Nith's sweet vale; Kilpatricks too; And him of a' that's gude the wale. The great Buccleugh ! " 358 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. We take leave of the "Siller Gun" and its laureate, John Mayne, by quoting and echoing part of his concluding address : — " Out cloeiDg strain shall be: May Scotland, happy, brave, and free, Aye flourish like the green bay tree ! And may Dumfries, In a' her levelry and glee, Blend love and peace ! " This was the chief pastime of the Dumfriesians after the suppression of the Robin Hood pageant on saints' days at the Reformation, which was "the darling May-game both in England and Scotland" for centuries; and for keeping up of which, as we have already noticed, every person, when made a burgess or freeman of Dumfries, was required to pay a trifling sum. In the seventeenth century, the custom of Riding the Marches ranked next to the Silver Gun competition, as a popular recreation. Every first of October, the magistrates, Town Council, incorporated Trades, and other burgesses, assembled at the Market Cross or White Sands, and, having been duly marshalled, proceeded with banners and music along the far- stretching line which enclosed the property of the Burgh. Their course was first to the Castle, then down Friars' Vennel, and along the Green Sands to the Moat at the head of the town. As a matter of course, the cavalcade was accompanied by a crowd of juveniles, who at this stage were treated to a scramble for apples, the town- officers throwing among them the tempting fruit,* The marchers then passed through the grounds of Langlands and Lochend to the north side of St. Christopher's Chapel, and thence to the village of Stoop, at the race-ground, near which a race was engaged in for a saddle and pair of spurs. Thence they went eastwards and southwards, betwixt the town's property and the estates of Craigs and Netherwood, stopping at Kelton-well, at which point the superiority of the Burgh terminates. Here, after being re- freshed with something stronger than the produce of the said well, the officials heard the roll of heritors read over by the town-clerk, a note being taken of all absentees, who were * In the accounts for 1G41, the following entries occur: — "To Patrick Crawfurd and .Ion Jonstown, for paper and wryting the Town-i-oll at the incrtcho.1 I'yiling, I'ia.; for ano |H'k of apples that day, £\ 4s." HISTORY OP DUMFRIES. 359 liable to a fine for not being present at the ceremony. This over, the procession returned to town. The Ridiag of the Marches is a usage of the past, though it has been performed several times during the present century. Horse-racing was an established sport at Dumfries from a remote period. When Regent Morton, towards the close of 1575, held a criminal court in the Burgh, for the trial of some offending Borderers, he, according to an old chronicle,* judi- ciously reheved his grave duties by lighter pursuits. "Many gentlemen of England," we are told, " came thither to behold the Regent's Court, where there was great provocation made for the running of horses. By chance my Lord Hamilton had there a horse sae weel bridled, and sae speedy, that, although he was of meaner stature than other horses that essayit their speed, he overran them all a great way upon Solway Sands, whereby he obtained praise both of England and Scotland at that time." . In a Town Council minute dated the loth of April, 1662, the treasurer is ordered by the magistrates to provide a silver bell, four ounces in weight, as a prize to be run for, every second Tuesday of May, by the work-horses of the Burgh, " according to the auncient custome ;" the regulations being, that whenever the bell was borne avray by one rider and one horse three consecutive years, it was " to appertain unto the wooner thereof for evir." About two years afterwards the Council offered " a Silver Cup of ffourty unce weght or therby," to be run for at the ordinary course vathin the Burgh, by the horses of such noblemen and gentlemen in the County as were duly entered for the race. Then it was the custom, every first Monday in May, for the day-labourers and servants of heritors to parade the town on horseback, armed with swords and dirks, and bedizened with sashes and ribbons; next to proceed to Dalskairth, or other neighbouring wood; and, each furnished with boughs of the sacred birch, to return to the race-ground, and ran for a silver " muck-bell" belonging to the Burgh, the winner receiving five merks by way of substantial reward, in addition to the honour of being the nominal owner of the prize for a year. * Historic of King James the Sext, quoted in Chambers's Domestic Annals. 360 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Even as the Trades had their convener and the Councillors their provost, so this more humble fraternity had a chief entitled the Lord of the Muckmen, who was annually appointed to that dignity by popular suffrage. In 1688, John Maxvcell, the person who then occupied that high office, conceiving him- self ill supported by his vassals, complained to the Council on the subject. "It is verie weel knoun unto your honours," said his lordship, " that it is the ancient custome for your petitioner, or any being in the office for the tyme, to ryde with his men accompanying him with their best apparel everie fyrst Monday of May yeirlie, and that the Council grant them power and warrand to poynd such of the inhabitants who meanlie refuse, and are found to be deficient, at that solemnitie." After this pompous prologue. Lord Maxwell descends to absolute bathos when he reminds the authorities " that it is the use and custome to grant precept upon their treasurer for as much money as will drink their honours' good health." The prayer of his petition is a sweeping one, as he asks that each defaulter shall be " poynded to the value of six shillings Scots," and that a trifle for the indispensable toast may be duly forthcoming. The Council, with mingled liberality and prudence, ordained the treasurer to give the supplicant half-a-crown, and to redeem the muck-bell for five merks, that it might be run for that year, but declined to punish offenders in the mode proposed by the petitioner. Even at that early date, the pageant was beginning to lose its hold on the populace; and in May, 1716, the Council passed an Act to abolish it altogether. The preamble states that the sport had been accompanied by "severall irregulari- ties and misdemeanours, to the scandal of the place and dishonour of God." They therefore, " by a plurality of votes, prohibit the riding of the muckmen in all time coming; and, in order to the entire extinguishing of this custom, they appoint the treasurer to sell the muck-bell for the best advantage." Horse -racing has fallen into disrepute, there having been none in the town or neighbourhood — that is to say, on a large scale — during the last five-and-twenty years; and though the work-horse competition, which was old two hundred years ago, was brought down by the Burgh carters till our own day, it too has disappeared. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 3t)l So much for the pastimes of the seventeenth century. Let us now say something on quite a different subject, the administra- tion of the criminal law. In the early part of the seventeenth century, the periodical justiciary courts held at Dumfries had a very extensive jurisdiction — cases coming before them from the sheriffdoms of Berwick, Roxburgh, Selkirk, Peebles, and Dum- fries, and the stewartries of Annandale and Kirkcudbright. A glance at the proceedings during part of a single session will show the kind of crimes most prevalent at that time in these districts, and how they were dealt with by the court. On the 21st of May, 1622, the justiciary court was opened at the Burgh by •' Walter, Erie of Buccleuche ; Lord Scott of Whit- chesters and Eskdaill; Sir Andrew Ker of Oxnam, knight. Master of Jebrut; Sir Williame Setoune of Killismure, knyt. ; and Sir John Murray of Philliphaugh, kt., commissioners ap- poyntit by our Souvrane Lord, under his Majesties Greit Seale for that effect ; Gilbert Watt, notar-public dark ; Wm. Cornwath ; Robert Scott; Messrs. Steven Young, officer, and John Douglas, dempster." A good deal of time is taken up with the fencing of the court, and other preliminary forms, after which sundry men of substance step forward, and give bond for the good behaviour of certain law-breakers, or their surrender for trial if called upon : for example, John Jardine of Applegarth becomes surety for William Carruthers, brother of Holmends, that " he, his wyf, bairnes, their tennents, nor servands," shall not trouble, molest, nor injure John Ga.sk in Kirkstyle of Rewell, " his wyf, bairnes, servands, men tennents, cornes, cattle, guidis, nor geir uther wayes," and that he shall keep the peace, under the pain of five hundred merks; while, on the other hand, Launcelot Murray, in Arbigland, bailie to the Laird of Cockpule, gives security to the same amount that Carruthers, his family and property, will receive no harm at the hands of Gask. Next day the serious business begins — George Riddick, in Dumfries, as Procurator- Fiscal, bringing before the court no fewer than seventeen panels, or prisoners, "remitted to the tryell of ane assyze" consisting of the following gentlemen: — "John Lindsay of Auchinskeoche ; Gawine Johnstoune in Midlegill ; Robert Herris of Killilour; Thomas Dunbar, brother to Harbart 2 Y 362 HISTOKY OF DUMFRIES. Huntar in Halywood; Jolm Thomsoune in Kirkland of Tarre- gillis; Thomas Wricht in Carruquhane; William Glendinning of Laggane; David Neilsoune of Barnecaillie ; William Veitch of Skar; Eobert Scott, laitt bailie of Hawick; Robert Scott, Westport in Hawick; John Dickiesoune, provest of PeibUs; William Eliott, laitt provest of Peiblis; James Keine, late bailie of Selkirk, and William Scott, callit of the Pillaris, late bailie ther." This jury, it will be observed, is composed in equal proportions of landed proprietors, tenant farmers, and Burghal gentry; and curiously enough, as showing the preva- lence of " cattle-lifting," the chronic offence of the period, nearly all the cases brought before them are of that char- acter. The stealing of " ane kow" from Blacketrig ; of " twa fatt scheip fra Andro Little in Rig;" of "twa yews from Newland;" of "four rouch unclippit scheip fra Jon Makgill in Kirkconnell;" of "fyftein wedderis pertaining to Bailie Nicol- soune in Parkburne;" of " ane meir of four yeir auld furth of the lands of Hershaw;" of "seven ky and oxen furth of Yarrow- heid;" of " threttene cheises, ilk ane ten pounds wecht;" of " ane sack of fustiane fra James Lyndsay and his brother, pedleris and merchands, furth of their packs ;" of " certane ' claithes perteneing to Jon Lytle, callit the King, furth of his house in Annane:" such are the kind of cases that come up. In each instance the accused are " clengit," or cleansed — that is to say, acquitted — by the jury; and a similar verdict is returned in the subjoined case, which is given in greater detail, as a fair specimen of the rest. George Colthart, servitor to JafiBray Irwing, " is accusit for airt and pairt of the steilling of ane stott of thrie yeir auld, perteneing to Jon Bell, in Butter-daillis; and for airt and pairt of the steilling of six ky and oxen fra Robert Mundell, in Tinwald, and William Makmorrane, the first therof, in October, 1620 years; and for the steilling of twa ky per- teneing to umqule Adam Corsane, merchant burgess of Dumfreis, furth of the landes of Cocklekis; and for the receting, manteneing, and intercommuning with Ritchie Irwine, in Wodhous, and Jaffray Irwine of Rabgill, fugitives and outlawes." Witnesses are examined; the evidence is considered by the assize; the chancellor, Mr. John Lindsay, pronounces words pleasant to the oar of the panel — " Clengit and acquite of HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 363 the haill;" and away he goes out of court rejoicing. A small proportion of the trials terminate differently. Two brothers, named Irwing, acquitted on one of the preceding charges, are again brought to the bar, accused of having, so far back as 1616, stolen forty pounds Scots from a chest belonging to David Irwin, at Stapleton. One of them, Gilbert, gets "clean" off; the other, George, is "fylitt" — stained, convicted: and the dempster begins to realize the fact — pleasant or otherwise — that he will yet have something to do; something very serious he sees it will be, when the same two criminals, again indicted for the "stouthrief " of twelve sheep belonging to James Irwing of Wysbie, are " fylitt thairof " Other capital convictions follow, providing work, not simply for the dempster, but for the executioner: — Adam Henrie, who had made too free with the cattle of Yarrow-heid; Walter Lytle, who had harried a hirsel at Elven Water "perteneing to the Ladye Johnstoune," and " burned Andro Lytle his house in Bombie;" "Bauld Jok Armestrang," who had tithed the flocks of Hairlawmill; and Thomas Moffat, in Hightae, who had borrowed without leave four hundred merks from the coffers of Bailie WUsonne, Lochmaben — are all found guilty; and, together with the two Irwings, are " ilk of thame adjudgit and condampnit to be taken to the place of execution in Dumfreis, and ther to be hangit be the held, ay and quhill thay be deid, as was pronouncit in judgement be the. mouth of the said Jon Douglas, dempstar" — all except Bauld Jok, who, as his offence (stealing five sheep) was of a lighter hue than the crimes of his fellow-convicts, is sentenced to the less ignominious doom of drowning till " he be deid in the wattir of Nith."* * The record of these cases was first published in a supplement to the Annals of Hawick, in which work it is stated that the original manuscript had ' ' slumbered apparently unnoticed for more than two centuries amongst the archives of the burgh of Hawick," having probably found its way thither " in consequence of Mr. Gibbert Watt, town-clerk of Hawick for at least twenty years prior to 1658, having also been clerk of circuit." It is further explained "that no similar record of so early a date has been preserved in the General Register House at Edinburgh, " ■ CHAPTER XXVIII. MORE PARTICULARS ABOUT THE TRADES — THE MANITFACTURK OF WOOL — PROBABLE POPULATION OF THE BURGH AT THE TIME OF KINO JAMES'S VISIT — CONSTITUTION OF THE TOWN COUNCIL— RIVALRY BETWEEN THE MERCHANT AND DEACON COUNCILLORS — EXCLUSIVE PRIVILEGES AND EXTENSIVE POWER OF THE MUNICIPALITY — INQUISITORIAL REGULATIONS FOB THE FABRICATION AND SALE OF WARES — STRINGENT "LIQUOR laws" IN BYGONE TIMES — TAVERN SPENDINGS BY THE MAGISTRATES AND COUNCILLORS — SINGULAR EDICTS REGARDING MARRIAGES, BAPTISMS, AND EDUCATION^INFLUENCB OF CALVIN UPON SCOTLAND. At the time of King James's visit, the town was in a prosperous state. It had grown considerably in size, and its trade had greatly increased, since the Union of the Crowns, and the settlement of the Debatable Land. The existence in it of such a variety of crafts — each of sufficient importance to be made a corporate body, and to be invested with peculiar privileges — is in itself an evidence of the Burgh's advancement. Not only were there settled in it such indispensable trades as smiths, masons, wrights, weavers, tailors, shoemakers, and butchers, but others more suggestive of luxury and refinement — glovers, furriers, and dyers. All these, as has been already explained, were combined into one aggregate corporation before the close of the sixteenth century; and early in the seventeenth century they occuj)ied such a good position as to merit special recognition by the King. Long before the latter period, Dumfries had become the seat of a flourishing cloth manufacture, which gave employment to innumerable distaffs througliout the district,* Spinning wool into yarn was at that time, and ages afterwards, the chief * Galloway was one of the priuoipal wool distiicts of Scotland; ami [in 1600] much of its produce was sent to the Burgh of Dumfries, to bo made into broad- cloth, for the mauufactiire of which this town had obtained much celebrity. — History 0/ (lallowoy, vol. ii., p. 6. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 365 indoor occupation of females in town and country; and the highest ladies in the land, like the Roman matrons of old, took delight in the labours of the wheel. From the home-spun article thus produced, the websters of the Burgh wove a substantial cloth, which, as " hoddin-gray,"* garmented common folks; or, when of a finer sort, and dyed a patrician blue by the litsters, became a fit attire for the lairdly and mercantile classes, or others of high degree. This fabric was the chief staple of the Burgh, and much money must have been turned over yearly by the regular shopkeepers who dealt in it — not to speak of what was done by plebeian stallingers, who exposed it in their street craimes,-|" or by pedlars, who carried it on their own backs, or by pack-horses, to all the country round ; and who, when crossing the Sark with their burdens, became the forerunners of the famou.s " Scotch travellers," in the South, of a later day. When the Silver Gun was presented, the freemen of the Trades, or masters, numbered, according to a rough calculation, about one hundred and eighty; and supposing their journeymen and apprentices to have been of the same numerical extent, the operative body, as a whole, would be three hundred and sixty strong. A hundred and seventy years afterwards, the Trades formed a tenth part of the inhabitants ; and assuming them to have stood in the same proportion in 1617, the Burgh at that date would have a population of three thousand six hundred souls, with probably four hundred additional beyond the royalty, in the landward part of the Parish. For a long period the incorporations had no building of their own, so that their annual meetings to choose office-bearers were held in the open air, at Kingholm, on the Upper Sand Beds, in "Adam Anderson's orchard neuk," or under such shelter as the ruined Castle, or St. Christopher's Chapel, could afford. The oldest Trade minute extant, except one, records an election by the weavers in the following terms: — "At Dumfreis, * Hoddin, "homely," a corruption of "home-done." " What though on hamely fare we dine. Wear hoddin-gray, an' a' that?" — Burns. t Eventually "craimers," by an Act of Council dated 20th August, 1656, ■were prohibited from selling any staple ware. 366 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. the twentie-nynt day of Septtember, the year of God 1655 years, the whilk day conveint at the back of the Castell-yeard, James Ferguson e, deacon; Thomas Patterson, tresserer; Robert Gibson, WiUiam Mackburny, Richard Dun, John Kennan, William Grier, Thomas Gibson, masters; Rodger "Wardloa, officer — with the consent of the hale traid were ellectit for ane year to come."* The minutes of the shoemakers go back to the 23rd of October, 1657; and as an entry of that date gives the list of the entire freemen then belonging to the trade, it is worthy of being subjoined. It runs thus: — "The whilk day the whole body of the shoemaker trade of the burgh of Drumfreis and Bridgend having convenid with the deacons, masters, and box- master of the said trade at the Chrystall Chappie, having finished their former buik, have fund it expedient that the names of all the freimen be insert in this buik, viz. : — John Maxwell, deacon ; John Scott, lait deacon ; Robert Neilson, treasurer; William Paterson, Thomas Hayning, Andro Grierson, John Dickson at Goatheid, and John Dickson at Porthole, masters; James Wright, officer; Thomas Kirkpatrick, Henry Grierson, John Freemont (elder), John Wright, Thomas Dick- son, James Heron, James Smith, James Hayning, John Braid- foot, John Freemont (younger), William Swan, James Mason, John Batie, Archbald Edingtoun, Adam Newall, WiUiam Henrison, Robert Urie, and William M'Kinnell, freimen in Drumfreis, and indwellers there, and thereupon the said deacon, masters, and haill body of the said trade have received articles. R. Bartane, clerk. And further the same day they thocht it expedient to insert in this buik the names of their freimen dwelling at Bridgend, viz. : — Edam Kirkpatrick, Robert M'Kill, John Welsh, David Welsh, William Crosbie, John Denholm, James Wilson, John Lewis, William Irving, Thomas Williamson (elder), Thomas Williamson (younger), and Thomas Lewis. R. Bartane, clerk." f * The oldest records the measuremGiit by the deacon of the weavers, and other office-bearers, of some webs, in the ooixrso of their ofBoial duty — date, "the twalt day of Agust, 1G54. " The Mimite-book of the Weavers, from whicli we have quoted, is in the possession of Mr. David Dunbar, Dumfries. t Minute-book of the Shoemakers, in the possession of a surviving freeman, Mr. Williamson, Dumfries. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 367 Such is the roll of these primitive Crispinites, thirty-nine in all, the fathers of the craft in Dumfries and Maxwellton. By 1790 the freemen shoemakers had increased to a hundred and ten ; and in 1833, when the corporation was about to break up, they numbered a hundred. No such list has been preserved of any of the other trades. In 1703 the master weavers were twenty in number; in 1790 they had increased to forty-two, and in 1833 had diminished to thirty. When the Trades acquired a right to be specially represented in the Town Council, seven members were assigned to them, consisting of the deacons of each, one of whom was also convener of the United Incorporation : as such, he was reckoned the third in municipal rank, the Provost and the oldest bailie alone taking precedence of the deacon-convener. The entire Council, down till the passing of the Burgh Reform Act in 1833, con- sisted of these seven deacons, twelve merchant councillors, and the members of the bench — a provost, three bailies, a dean, and a treasurer. As recorded in their charters or seals of cause at the period of the Union, in 1707, the Trades ranked thus : — (1) The gows or smiths ; (2) the wrights and masons, generally termed squaremen, and with whom were also associ- ated cabinet-makers, painters, glaziers, coopers, and slaters; (3) the websters, or weavers; (4) the tailors; (5) the shoemakers, or cordwainers; (6) the skinners and gauntlers or glovers, and furriers; and (7) the fleshers. The deacons were freely chosen by their respective freemen; but the other members of the Burghal parliament, though once chosen by their constituents, were self-elected at the time we have now reached: or, more strictly speaking, the annual vacancies that occurred in the merchant part of the body .were filled up by the remaining councillors, so that the inhabitants at large had no direct voice in the election. ■ The Trades appointed their deacons annually; but the legitimate usage was to continue them in office two years,* so that the latter were also biennial members * Towards tlie close of the seventeentli century, howeyer, the practice crept in of re-electing the deacons much more frequently. In 1684, John Dickon was chosen deacon of the shoemakers for the ninth time consecutively. An Act was passed on the 7th December, 1685, prohibiting deacons from continuing in office more than three years at a time. 3G8 HISTOEY OF DUMFRIES. of Council. A week before the annual election of magistrates, four new merchant councillors were chosen, who, with four additional votes, called " led votes, or voices," exercised by the trade members, swelled the number of voters at an election to thirty-three. At one time, as already explained, there were four other trades incorporated in the Burgh — the lorimers or armourers, the pewterers or tinsmiths, the bonnet-makers, and the litsters or dyers — all of which became defunct, or were merged into the remaining seven; the dead, vanished corporations, however, still speaking in virtue of these " led voices," uttered on their behalf When the Provost, bailies, dean, and treasurer were chosen, these supplementary votes lay dormant for another year; and as, a week after the annual election, the Council was purged by the ejection of four merchant members, it was thereby reduced to its legal numerical strength of twenty-five.* In 1627 a prison was erected on the site of the old Deanery, an apartment of which was occupied as the Burgh Court and Council Ciiamber. This " Tolbooth" stood on the east side of High Street, a little more southerly than the present Mid-Steeple. In two important respects the merchants differed from, and were inferior to, the Trades: they had no head or chief, and were not properly incorporated. Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aber- deen, and Perth possessed merchant guilds, presided over by a dean; but though Dumfries numbered an official of the same name in its list of magistrates, he had no more authority over the merchants than was exercised by the other occupants of the bench. To the dean of Dumfries was entrusted the duty of regulating weights and measures, and taking other securities for fair dealing between buyers and sellers; but be acted in this and other respects simply as a magistrate, and not as having any special connection with the mercantile community. The merchants, fully aware of the disadvantages under which they laboured for want of being organized, endeavoured, in * Some irrogulaiities as regards the purging of the Council appear to have taken plaou, ho as to romlor necessary au Act, dated 14th September, 1724, which fixed the 22ik1 Soptorabur as the day for electing four merchant councillors, and the 'iiicl of October as the day for putting off four old merchant councillors; and the 2'Jth of September us the day for electing the magistrates. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 369 1660, to get a bill for their incorporation passed by the Council. The attempt aroused the jealousy of the deacons, who supposed that what was meant for a gain to the shopkeeping interest would prove a loss to the sons of labour. No sooner was the obnoxious bill introduced, on the 30th of December of that year, than up rose the chief of the deacons, and the convener of the Trades, William M'Kinnell by name, and stoutly protested against the measure. After doing so, he and his brother crafts- men in the Council rose in wrath to leave the meeting; where- upon Provost Irving bade the officer keep the door "steekit," and let no one out till the close of the proceedings. Deacon John Taylor, however, exclaimed defiantly, " Wha daur keep us in!" and the uncompromising Seven rushed out of the chamber, Bailie James Muirhead " taking instruments," and setting forth that " the haill merchants of the Counsall hes thought fitt, and hes voted that this burgh be a gild burgh, if they can get it conveniently and honorably done." At the next meeting of Council, Convener M'Kinnell followed up the opposition by protesting, in name of his constituents, that all the business done by the Council, between the last day of December, 1660, and the 5th of January, 1661, was "null and of nane effect, and sail have no binding power." In the course of a month or so, however, the irate men of the Trades became more placable, and the merchants having made some concessions, a resolution in favour of the Guild Bill was adopted unanimously, the deacons stipulating that the guild be formed on the Edinburgh and Glasgow pattern, " and that the gildrie may not prejudge them of the benefit of a former act of Counsall granted in their favour in the year 1648;" the merchants, on the other hand, requiring that both the constitution and rules of the projected body shall be referred to the Convention of Burghs.* From some cause or other, however, the guild movement did not prosper: it may have been defeated by the renewed opposition of the Trades, and, at all events, till this day the Dumfries merchants have never been incorporated. The Town Council, constituted in the manner we have described, possessed an extraordinary amount of power in * Town Council Minutes. 2Z 370 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. ancient times. The minute-books of their proceedings, which go back more than two hundred years, illustrate at once the manners of the people and the policy of their rulers — both of which, in the seventeenth century, differed materially from what they are at the present day. Dumfries, like every other Royal Burgh, possessed exclusive privileges, on the enforcement of which it was thought its very existence depended. Maintain these, and the town would prosper; relax them, and beggary — ruin would be the result. No stranger could settle within the Burgh unless leave was asked and obtained ; and no one, even after being allowed this liberty, could open a shop for the sale of wares, or work as a tradesman, till he had become, by purchase or favour, a burgess, in the one case, or both a burgess and a freeman, in the other. The Council was the chief fountain of all this power and honour; and after the merchants and operatives, native or " fremmit," had safely passed through these preliminary ordeals, and had begun to practise their respective callings, they were tantalized by a set of inquisitorial rules and orders, all, however distasteful, being reckoned advantageous to the trade and general interests of the town. Our forefathers must have often winced under the lash of such over-legislation ; but they comforted themselves with the thought, that the system under which they bought, and sold, and laboured, pro- tected them from being swamped by a flood of rivals, and was a very good thing in spite of its defects. It mattered not whether the article fabricated or sold was food or drink, light or fuel, raw clothing material or finished garment, each and all had to be vended or fashioned under certain specified conditions, the breach of which was punished by fine, imprisonment, and, in extreme cases, by forfeiture of burgess-ship, or banishment from the Burgh. Sometimes the Council would speculate largely in meal or fish: thus, on the 22nd of May, 16G0, they accepted of "ane bai'gane of 40 boUes meill, meid to them be William Craik, at 20s. 6d. [Scots] a peck;" and about the same period they fined a cooper from Glasgow in tea merks because he had the hardihood to sell herrings within the Burgh to private individuals, before first offering them to the honourable the Corporation. Fore- stalling the market and selling goods in private houses were HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 371 deemed serious offences, and as such severely punished. A delinquent who disposed of his salmon anywhere save at the Fish Cross was liable to a fine of ten merks, and to the loss of his fish. So recently as November, 1717, we find the dean seizing a daring Annandale man because he "pactioned for thepryce" of several bundles of lint with private people — dragging him before the Council, and getting him amerced in five shillings sterling; and in the following year an Act was passed discharging the inhabitants " from buying up any fowls or eggs till first the same be brought by the owners thereof to the mercat-place, viz., the Fisherow;" the penalty for infringement being forty shilHngs Scots, and the confiscation of the articles. Then, it was a common thing to fix arbitrarily the market value of goods; our ancestors knowing nothing, apparently, respecting the laws of supply and demand. Cloth had to be measured in a certain specified way, as well as sold at a stated price. On the 12th of November, 1658, the Council "ordained" that all Scotch and English candles within the Burgh "shall be sold at ffour shilling six pennies Scotts ilk pund Scotts weight, and the half pund at eight-and-twentie pennies," under a penalty of five merks; and at the same sitting it was decreed that no person should sell tallow outside the town, " nor transport it furth thereof," under a fine to the same amount, and the confiscation of the tallow. To bring grist to their own mills exclusively was a ruling object of the Coimcil. On the 24th of January, 1645, a person was fined in five merks for getting his malt or here ground elsewhere, and had to give besides double multure* to the miller; and on the following 25th of June an edict was issued confiscating all malt that should be brought ready ground into the town. Ale was the national liquor of the humbler classes during the seventeenth century, whisky being then unknown. None were allowed to brew or sell liquor unless they were burgesses, and had received a license (for which only a nominal sum was charged) from the magistrates; and, by an Act passed in 1689, innkeepers were also required to possess accommodation for quartering "four footmen and two horsemen in meat, drink, * Multure. " 1 Nov., 1687.— The tacksman of the mills allowed to take half a peck of ilk ten pecks of malt as multure."— Town Council Minutes. 372 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. and bedding." Those who brewed the drink sold it also, in what were sometimes called change-houses. Then, as now, we need scarcely say, "the barley-bree" was the cause of much mischief, though we see no reason to suppose that the Dumfriesians of two hundred years ago were addicted to intemperance: we are disposed to conclude that they were the reverse, as few names of bacchanalians are noticeable in the criminal records of the Burgh. The public-houses at that time were subjected to a rigorous inspection, two councillors being appointed to do this duty in each of the four wards — the Townhead quarter, the Cross quarter, the Lochmabengate quarter, and the Kirkgate quarter; and, however wonderful it may seem, it is nevertheless true, that our Burghal legislators (who, with all their ignorance of free trade, did many wise things) actually anticipated and outrivalled Mr. Forbes Mackenzie, by limiting the hours in which it was lawful to sell intoxicating liquors in Dumfries. In accord- ance with this legislation, the brewers, before obtaining leave to brew and sell liquor, were required to make a declaration as follows : — " That no vitious or scandelous personnes shall be harboured or resett in our houses, and that we nor any of our families sail be found drunk, and that we sail resett no drunken personnes whatsoever, and that we sail not sell drink to any persone or personnes within our houses on the Sabbath, and sell nor resett nor give drink to any personnes after nine o'clock at nyght; and that if we sail be at any tyme found contravenors of these presents, we sail pay for the first fault five merks, for the second ten merks, and for the third fault to be depryvit of the libertie of brewing." Wine, chiefly brought from France, was then, as at present, the favourite beverage of the upper classes. In 1661, it appears the supply had become very short; and the Council, according to their stereotyped notions in matters of trade, ordered all vintners within the Burgh " to sell their French wyne for fyve groats a pynt, under the penaltie of ten marks Scotts money." A resolution to this effect was carried, but not till " Thomas Irving, eldest baillye" — who lived in advance of his colleagues — had protested against the folly of "setting pryce upon any forraine wair," The treasurer's accounts relating to the middle of the seven- HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 373 teenth century sliow that the Burgh authorities were often very liberal in their "spendings" for liquor at the public cost* At one time — and probably the practice was long maintained — they had a tavern of their own, kept by Dame Agnes M'Kill, who ran up a regular score against them, which amounted annually to a good round sum. It was customary, too, for the Provost to keep a well-stored wine cellar and a hospitable board — the "little bill" due for which by the town amounted to £797 Scots, from the 29th of March, 1670, till the 6th of October, 1673. Not content with treating themselves and others on great public occasions, the magistrates and councillors fortified themselves for their routine duties by frequent potations. On the anniver- sary of the King's birth-day, at the yearly elections, at the letting of the Burgh revenues, at the allotment of the pastures, and when any notable person was made a burgess, they "pushed about the jorum" in no stinted style; but then, in addition to such allowable libations, we find in the books such entries as the following: — "10 Jan., 1669. — Item: Before the magistrates went to church, a gill of brandie and a choppin of ail, the Provest and Bailie Cowpland being present, 2s. lOd. 11 Jan. — Item: Due by them, a choppin of seek and a pynt of aill, befoir they went to the Councill, the Proveist, Baillie Cowpland, Bailie Newall, and the tua Deacon M'Kinnels being present, £1 Is. 8d." Again:—" 12 Feb., 1672.— Two pynts of aill befoir the magistrates went to the kirk, 3s. 4d. 13 Feb. — Mair ane choppin of wyne and ane qwart of aill before the magistrates went to the Counsell. 28 Feb. — Mair three pynts of aill befoir the baillies went to the court, 5s." "Leeze me on drink!" was the favourite congratulatory motto of these Burghal magnates; and how they did act upon it to propitiate their lordly patrons, as well as to "moistify their own leather," is seen in such charges as these : — " 23 July, 1672. — "With William of Terregles and Springkell when they came from my Lord Maxwell anent the Bridgend Mercat, seven * It may be useful here to state that, since about the close of the fourteenth century, Scots money had become so depreciated that its value, as compared with sterling or English, was as one to twelve. One shiUiug Scots, after that period, was just equal to one penny sterling ; and one pound Scots, to one shilling and eightpence sterling. One merk Scots was equivalent to ISJd. sterling. 374 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. pynts of wine, and 4 shillings for tobacco and pypes, £7 4s. 30th July.— Sent for to the Castle by the Provest, Bailie Stephan [Irving] Bailie Cowpland, and the Conveiner, with iny Lord Maxwell, four pynts of wyne, and a glasse, is £4 6s. Nov. 11. — The Pro., B. Steph., B. Coupland, the Conveiner, Deacon Crosbie, and Deacon Herron, with William of Terregles, Maeby, Carnsallocli, Newlaw, and the gentlemen of the pairty, when they were made burgesses, fyftein pynts of wyne, tua pynts of ale, and one gill of brandy, £15 5s. lOd. Ap. 5, 1669. — Drunken in companie with the Erll of Nithsdaill, my Lord and Master of Maxwell, the Lairds of Mabie and Cowhill, younger, and severall iither gentlemen, the Proveist and thrie Bailies being present, £7 4s. Item, in that same companie for fj^ve pynts of aill, and for tobacco and pypes, 10s. 4d. 10 May, 1672. — Ane pynt of wyne sent for by Bailie Stephan to the Castle, with my Lord Nithsdale, £1 ; that day sent for by the Provest to the Castle, with the Earl of Nithsdale and Lord Maxwell, ane pynt of wine, £1. May 25. — With the Earl of Nithsdale, Lord Maxwell, Gribton, and other gentlemen, when Capt. Wachope was made burgess, the Provest and Bailie Stephan present, ten pynts wine, and vi. sh. for aill, tobacco, and pypes, £10 12s. We may fittingly follow up these bacchanalian jottings with an entry or two about the magisterial feasts. When the fires of persecution were raging in the district in 1664, the rulers of the Burgh, heedless of the sufferers outside, dined luxuriously, like Dives, on the election day. They spent £6 2s. for " six pynts of wyn, four pynts of ail, and tobacco and pypes" on the preceding evening, the charges for the banquet itself being as subjoined: — "October 3, the day of the election. — Threttie- two pynts and one chopin of wyne, £28 16s. ; three muchkins of seek, £1 16s.; six quarts of extraordinar ail, £1; tobacco and pypes, £1 16s.; ordinary, forty-thrie men at two tables, at 12 sh. ilk man, £25 16s.; after tables, threttie at 6 shs., 3 18s." — the whole account amounting to £69 4s. The charge for the dinner in 1667 is less extravagant: — " 46 men dinner is £27 12s.; 15 later meat men, £4 10s.; 14 pynts of wyne, £14; brandie, £1 5s.; aill extraordinar, £1 lO.s. ; tobacco and pypes, 18s.:" in all, £49 15,s. HISTORY OF DTIMFMES. 375 A case of assault, which occurred towards the close of 1670, and made a great noise at the time, arose, probably, out of one of these convivial gatherings. No wonder that it occasioned much excitement. The sufferer was the greatest ofBcial person- age in the Burgh: his assailant, a scion of the house of Douglas. Under what precise circumstances _the Laird of Kilhead "laid violent hands" upon Provost John Irving, cannot be ascertained; but it is recorded, that on the 9th of December in the above year, the Council, all in one voice, reprobated the outrage committed on their chief, and ordered letters to be sent to the Earl of Annandale and the offender's father. Lord Drumlanrig, craving redress, with the intimation, that if it were withheld they would "pursue for a legal reparation before the Lords of his Majesty's Privie Counseil." Well advised by his friends, Sir James Douglas of Kilhead, accompanied by Robert, Lord MaxweU, presented himself at Provost Irving's house, where, in expectation of his visit, were assembled the Provost ; the three bailies, Stephen Irving, Martin Irving, and Francis Irving; the late bailies, John Cowpland, John Corbet, and James Kennan; the deacon-convener, Thomas Anderson; the treasurer, Thomas Richardson; and the deacon of the smiths, William M'Kinnell. In presence of this representative meeting, Kilhead, going — figuratively — down on his knees, before the offended majesty of the Burgh, "acknowledged his lait inscuradge towards the said John Irving, Provost, and humbly craved the said Provost, and the haill incorporation, pardon therefor; and declared that quhat he did was not of any prejudice against him or the town, but that, on the contrair, he loved and respectit him and the hail toun; and faithfully promised, that he should be so far from wronging of any inhabitant of this burgh quhsoevir, heirefter, that he should be a friend to them, in all tyme comeing, to the utmost of his power." A most handsome apology, which, we need scarcely say, the Council at their next meeting accepted ; and thus a difficulty which might, if mismanaged at the beginning, have ruptured the friendly connection that existed between the Burgh and the Drumlanrig family, was amicably disposed of When Mrs. M'Kill, at whose house these Burghal entertain- ments were held, furnished her quarterly bill against the 376 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Council, she also supplied the treasurer with a note of her own expenses, some items of which are curious and instructive. When the websters came to warp her sheets of home-spun, she treated them to three pints of ale, charge 3s. 8d. The landlady had a little farm, which grew not only barley and oats, but wheat; and when the wheat was reaped, an extra dinner, including "ane legg of mutton," at 10s. (tenpence sterling), was provided for the occasion. Then, for "aill at the shearing of the wheat" there was a charge of 13s. 6d. ; "for the sheirers for sheiring the wheat, lis.;" "the man that mowed the beir" received 4s. ; and among the other entries at the harvest season we find charges " for aine sheip's held and ane legg of mutton, 8s. 8d. ;" for three chickens, 5s. [rather more than three half-pence farthing sterling each] ; and for herring at the inning of the wheat on the 10th day of September [old style] 9d." We learn from other charges that in those days a peck of meal cost Is. 2d. sterling, a pound of butter 4Jd. sterling, and a dozen of eggs fully a penny farthing. Mrs. M'Kill's daughter or maid-servant, Marion, was supplied with a pair of shoes, the cost of which is set down at £1 2s. Scots; that is to say. Is. lOd. sterling — no inconsiderable sum, being equivalent to the third part of a labourer's weekly hire two centuries ago. So multifarious and heavy were the duties of the Council, that meetings were held every Monday ; and the member who was a quarter of an hour late was fined 12s. Scots; while if he did not show face at all the fine was increased to 20s., unless the absentee was protected by " an excuse intimated to and accepted by a magistrate." A small annual allowance, called a "pension," was enjoyed by the chief office-bearers. In 1639, there was paid to John Corsane, Provost, £66 13s. 4d.; £40 to each of the three bailies, and to the dean and treasurer. Much of the business done at the table was deemed sacred; and woe to the reckless representative who dared to make it patent to the vulgar public! — an Act dated 3rd December, 1674, providing that "any councillor divulging any secrets moved or spoken in council shall be fined in 40 lib., and put out of the Council with disgrace." One of the Council's wise enactments was passed on the 10th HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 377 of June, 1667, when they resolved to give effect to a permissive law adopted by the Convention of Burghs, in favour of making uniform all the weights and measures used in the town — the weights to be according to the Lanark standard; the firlot according to the Linlithgow standard; the ell-wand, rule, and foot measure to be furnished by the Edinburgh Dean of Guild; and a measure called a gauge, or jug, to be made after the Stirling model. Another Act, of a more recent date? prohibits butchers from "blowing and scoreing meat," and from offering for sale " dead kids, lambs, or spoyled meat," under pain of forfeiting two pounds Scots, and the meat besides. If at any harvest season some poor people desired to earn "a penny-fee" in reaping com at a distance, they might be hindered by such an edict as the following, which bears date 29th July, 1661 : — " It is ordaint that no persone or persones, residenters within this burghe, goe to Lowthian to shear, under the payne of [blank], as also that they nevir be resett within this burghe; and that the peats and turves now in their howses sail be takine out, and put in the tolbooth for the use of prisoners; and that all resetters of them at their home-comeing pay ten punds Scots." Sometimes the Council interfered with the Trades in a manner that must have been peculiarly repugnant to the craftsmen. Thus, on the 10th of September, 1662, a bailie was appointed to attend the election of the deacons, to tender the oath of allegiance to each freeman, to debar from voting those who refused to be sworn, and to imprison all who, in defiance of his interdict, exercised their suffrage. Not only did the Council exercise a despotic oversight of secular affairs, but they co-operated with the Church courts in efforts to enforce morahty, and at least an outward observance of religious ordinances. Thus, on the 14th March, 1664, they passed an Act intended to check the practices indulged in by many of going abroad, walking idly from house to house, and gossipping out of doors on the Sabbath day — the penalty imposed for each of such offences being a fine of twelve shillings Scots, to be paid to the kirk treasurer for the use of the poor; and on the same day the Council, understanding that there were "many idle persones quho habitually curse and sweir, both publicly in the oppin markittis and streitts, and in aill-houses and inns," 3 A 378 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. resolved to amerce each offender six shillings Scots — such fines to be also applied for the benefit of the poor. The ubiquitous power of the Burghal parliament was specially felt in social matters: it was manifested at births and marriages, and only terminated with the grave. If a young couple wished their wedding to be signalized by imposing festivities, they had first to consider whether they might not have to pay too dearly for the indulgence. At one time, it would seem, it was customary in Dumfries to have large, costly, and protracted marriage entertainments, which provoked the Council to launch forth an edict, on the 6th of July, 1657, restricting the attendance at and expense of such convivial meetings — the former being limited to twenty-four persons, the latter to eight pounds Scots, " and that under the payne of twenty pounds, whereof the one half is to be payt by the bridegroom, and the other half by the inkeiper quher the brydle is kept." Then, if the same or any other married pair desired to make a hospitable or ostentatious display at the baptism of their first-born, they had to bear in mind a ukase, also passed at the above sitting, restricting the attendance at the sacred rite to twelve individuals, under a penalty of ten merks, toties quoties. The reader, after these statements, will be quite prepared to learn that the subject of education did not escape the Argus eyes of the Council. Honour to them that they, at such an early period, set up a grammar school in the Burgh; but that they should have sought to maintain it, and crush all rival seminaries, by the means revealed in their minutes of March 14th, 1660, is not at all to their credit. The record of that date states, in effect, that the Council, considering the prejudice the town sustains by the inhabitants detaining their children from the Burgh school, and sending them to other " pettie schooles" in the town or neighbourhood, ordain "that all the inhabitants put their children, especially lads, to the High School," between the present time and the 21st of May next, " and that under the penalty of ffy ve merkss, to be payit by ilk persoun faillyen for ilk manchyld they sail abstract fi-ae the said schoole" — the same penalty to be paid by those who have children come of due age, with means to educate them, who do not put them to the Burgh school; while, further to secure a HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 379 monopoly to that favoured establishment, the " pottie" dominies ■who attempted to break it down by teaching any of the pupils reserved for it, were also made liable to a fine of five merks for each offence. These false views in political economy were not by any means peculiar to Dumfries or to Scotland — they were characteristic of the age; and when the magistrates of the town undertook the censorship of morals, they only carried into effect principles that were pretty generally recognized at the time, though the influ- ence of Calvin on Scotland, through her great reformer, Knox, gave them more prominence there than in other States — Geneva, perhaps, excepted. Calvin's ideal was that of a Christian commonwealth : " Christian in the details as well as in the general spirit of its laws, and considering itself responsible before God for all the actions of the citizens." He wished faith to occupy in the State the place which we in modern days assign to it in the individual; and consequently he wished the State " to force the individual to do, in virtue of the common faith, all that the same individual, supposing him to be a true Christian, would do in virtue of his individual faith."* It was because views of this kind, communicated from Geneva, where they were practically realized, pervaded the Scottish mind, that the magistrates, great and small, felt themselves bound to take cognizance of sins against the Decalogue, as well as trans- gressions of the civil law. Then, while our town councils seemed sometimes to be encroaching upon clerical rights and duties, presbyteries and kirk sessions often invaded the magisterial domain by exacting pecuniary penalties for spiritual offences. But on this topic, and others allied to it, we shall have more to say in a subsequent chapter. * Bungener's Calvin, p. 108. The same writer, in describing the influence of Geneva on Scotland, throngh Knox, says: — "Knox, on leaving Geneva, felt as a new man; and Scotland, on seeing Knox again, felt as if he had been breathed upon by a new breath of doctrine and of Ufe. Let us leave to abler men to study how the genius of Scotland, personified by Knox, entered into communion so intimate with the genius of Calvin. Let us simply state what was, and what is. For three centuries Scotland has manifested it with noonday clearness. She has been proud and happy to be connected, through Knox, with a greater than Knox; and this gratitude, deeper now, perhaps, than at any other period, is not less glorious to Scotland than to Calvin." (Pp. 279-80.) 380 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Other functions exercised by the Council remain still to be noticed — those of a judicial kind. They shared with the magistrates the right to try all cases, civil or criminal, brought before the Burgh court. We never read in the old minute- books of the Provost and bailies administering the law: it was the Council, inclusive of them, who dealt out justice on all persons charged with intemperance, slander, theft, assault, forgery, or other crimes which did not involve a capital sentence or transportation. The Burgh seems to have been itself a sheriffdom; and very jealous its authorities were lest their jurisdiction should be encroached upon by the County officials. On the 11th of July, 1662, the Council sentenced Thomas Johnstone, the turnkey of the Tolbooth, and William Douglas, a town's officer, to be imprisoned eight days each " for taking a country man to the Shirref-depute to be judged who commitit a batterie" in the Burgh. The same feeling is still more forcibly shown in the following minute, dated 5th September, 1663 : — "The Counsel, considering the great abuse of their authoritie by Elizabeth Gibson, relict of Thomas Crawford, by writing an address to the Shereff-deput of Nithsdaill for repairing a. wrong done by one of our burgesses to her, whereby she has endeavoured to move the Shereff-depute to encrotch upon the privileges of this burgh contraire to the bound fidelitie of a burgess' wife; therefore the magistrates and Counsel discharges hir of aney privilege or libertie she can pretend to of freedom of trade within this burgh." Minor offences were punished in the Burgh court by slight fines, or exposure on the pillorie or in the stocks, and those of a more serious nature by heavy fines,* lengthened imprisonments, scourgings, or banishment from the town ; and often two or more of these punishments were con- joined in the sentences passed on incorrigible delinquents. A few illustrative instances will suffice. On the 29th of January, 1668, a woman, whose "raucle tongue" had been too roughly used against a neighbour, was ordained to be " put upon the trone with great letters of * lu 16C6 the Council fixed the fine for a simple assault at £5 Scots, and for assault to the effusion of blood, at £25. In 1676 it was enacted, that "the first that votes in the Clouucil to give doun [reduce] a fine, was to pay the fine hiitiHelf." -I'vim Coiinril Minutes. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 381 ' Scandal!' on her held." On the 9th of July, 1670, a "servitor" to Yorstoun, having, when "most scandalously drunk," abused the magistrates by "scandalous speitches," was sobered by being " set upon the Mercat-cross" for four hours, and afterwards "cast into the Theivis Hole" for eight-and-forty hours. A man who had counterfeited "the subscription and hand-wryte of Major Thomas Carruthers," in a letter purporting to have been sent by that gentleman to George Maxwell of Munches, was, on the 4th of August, 1662, condemned to be imprisoned till the following Wednesday (market-day); then to be placed on the pillory, with the forged letter, and a label "making mention of his trespasse," pinned to his breast ; and finally to be conveyed beyond the Burgh roods by the common executioner, with the intimation that there would be a rod in pickle for him should he venture to return. We close with the following curious case of " red- handed " justice, administered in accordance with the well- known principle of Scottish law, by which summary punishment might be inflicted on criminals "taken in the act." On the 12th of June, 1663, an individual was ordained "to be convoyed out of the town be the hand of the hangman, and nevir to return therein, and a bauk [drum] to be bait at his heills; nane to resett him in their howses under the pain of ten merks, he being taken reid-hand steiling malt out of the sack standing in the mylne." CHAPTER XXIX. KINO JAMES'S BPrOETS TO PKELATIZE THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND — HAMILTON MADE BISHOP OF GALLOWAY — WILLIAM COWPBE, HIS SUOCESSOE — JOHN WELSH OPPOSES THE KOYAL PROJECTS, AND IS PUNISHED WITH TRANSPORTA- TION — CHARLES I. ADOPTS HIS FATHER'S CHURCH POLICY, AND ENFORCES IT WITH A HIGHER HAND — HE ENDEAVOURS TO IMPOSE A LITURGY ON THE SCOTTISH CHURCH — VIOLENT OPPOSITION GIVEN TO THE SERVICE-BOOK IN EDINBURGH — THE FOUR TABLES FORMED, AND THE NATIONAL COVENANT SIGNED — WAR INEVITABLE— THE COVENANTERS RAISE AN ARMY, AND MAKE OTHER PROVISIONS FOE THE PENDING CONFLICT — DUMFRIES SENDS REPRE- SENTATIVES TO THE FOUR TABLES, WITH INSTRUCTIONS TO SET THEIR FACES AGAINST ALL PRELATICAL INNOVATIONS— AN INDEPENDENT GENERAL ASSEMBLY EXCOMMUNICATES THE PRELATES, AND RESUSCITATES PEESBY- TERIANISM — A COVENANTING WAR COMMITTEE SITS AT CULLENOCH, AlTD SOMETIMES AT DUMFRIES — MEANS EMPLOYED BY THE COMMITTEE TO RAISE AND MAINTAIN TROOPS— THE NATURE OF THE CRISIS NECESSITATES SEVERE MEASURES — THE EARL OF NITHSDALB AND OTHER SYMPATHIZEES WITH THE KING TRY TO THWAET THE COMMITTEE — NON-COVENANTERS STRIN- GENTLY DEALT WITH — "THE SINEWS OF WAR" URGENTLY DEMANDED — FORCED LOANS OP MONEY AND THE PRECIOUS METALS RESORTED TO — CURIOUS CONTRIBUTIONS OF GOLD AND SILVER WORK TO THE COVENANTING TREASURY — THE SOUTH REGIMENT RAISED IN NITHSDALE AND GALLOWAY IS BILLETED AT DUMFRIES. Reference has already been made to King James's treatment of the Church of Scotland, by which its Presbyterian character was subverted; and on this subject it is necessary that we should give a few more details. He was made to believe, by the Anglican clergy, that if the Scottish Establishment were assimilated to theirs, the process would help on his own favourite scheme for the legislative union of the two kingdoms. That he might with more safety carry out his plans, he refused to summon a General Assembly; but the representatives of nine Presbyteries met at Aberdeen, in 1605, and constituted themselves into an Assembly, in the name of the great Head of the Cliurcli. The loader of this contumacious movement was the ceh^liratcd John Welsh, whose father, of the same name, HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 388 was Laird of Colliston, and other estates in Dunscore and Holywood.* Being of a romantic, adventurous disposition, Welsh, when a mere boy, left his father's house, and lived for a while a vagrant, lawless life, with a band of Border robbers. His "wild oats" were soon sown out; and the repentant prodigal, presenting himself at the door of his aunt, Mrs. Forsyth, who resided in Dumfries, was received by her with motherly tender- ness, and through her good offices he was reconciled to his father. Wlien at Dumfries, he is said to have attended the grammar school which, soon after the Reformation, was set up in the Burgh, and the first teacher of which, Ninian Dalyell, was deposed by the General Assembly, for having read the Roman Catechism to his scholars. In 1592 we find young Welsh (he was just twenty-two) settled down as a devoted Christian minister in the parish of Kirkcudbright; and in 1598 we see him entering the controversial lists against Gilbert Brown, Commendator of Sweetheart Abbey, and that with such success as to elicit a hearty eulogium from the King, who, besides praising Welsh's defence of Protestantism, rated Brown as "a foolish reasoner." If James could only bring over to his views this profound and brilliant Nithsdale divine, the battle he had with Presbytery would be more than half gained. Welsh scorned to accept the high preferment with which his Majesty sought to bribe him: he paid more regard to his own integrity than to royal favour — ^preferred the perilous wilder- ness of Presbyterianism to all the treasures of the Prelatical Egypt; and so we find him, in 1605, bearding Majesty, and courting persecution, if not death, at Aberdeen. Welsh and five of his colleagues were actually convicted of a capital crime, their offence being treated as treason by the Crown officers; but the sentence was commuted to transportation.f * The Welshes were settled at a very early period in Nithsdale. Nicholas Welsh was Abbot of Holywood in 1488; Dean William Welsh was Vicar of Tynron in 1530: soon after the latter date, Dean Eobert Welsh was vicar of the same parish; and John Welsh was Vicar of Dunscore, and he took oflBce in the Reformed Church in 1560.— Young's Life of John Welsh. t Welsh spent about sixteen years of exile in France, where he gained the favour of Louis XIII., who allowed him to exercise his vocation as a preacher. On his health failing, he was permitted to return to England in 1622; but King James would on no account allow him to cross the Border when he 384 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. James having got rid of these and other obstructives, pro- ceeded to augment the power and influence of the Scottish bishops. They were invested by him with paramount authority over the ministers : superintending settlements and fixing stipends as they pleased. Gavin Hamilton was made Bishop of Glasgow in 1606. Since the see was occupied by a Romish prelate, thirty years before, its revenues had been reduced by alienations, annuities, and pensions to a beggarly pittance ; but the considerate King dowered it with the neighbouring Abba- cies of Dundrennan and Tongland, the Priory of Whithorn, and the Monastery of Glenluce, with all their churches, lands, and rents, so that Bishop Hamilton became no mean dignitary of the new Episcopal Kirk. A jovial, indolent, pleasure-loving, care-defying prelate he was. "When," says Calderwood, "Mr. Gilbert Power, a brother of the ministry in Galloway, modestly refused a carouse offered by him, he abused him in presence of other ministers, plucking his hat from his head in his furie, and casting it upon the ground. He dispensed with the marriage of a gentleman in Galloway, named Niven Agnew of Mais, having his first wife alive ; notwithstanding that the brethren of the ministry in open synod opponed unto it, as a perUlous preparative, tending to the overthrow of discipline in that rude diocie, and to open a door to adulterers."* After his death, in 1616, William Cowper, minister of Perth, who had in other days denounced the Episcopal system, was promoted to the bishopric, after which, says the author whom we have just quoted, he ceased to reside in Galloway, but dwelt "in the foot of the Cannongate, that he might be near to the Chappel Royal, where he preached as Dean, neglecting his diocie, where he ought to have preached as a bishop, if his office had been lawful."! Calderwood, it ought to be noticed, is especially wished to get the benefit of his native air — his Majesty declaring that he would never be able to establish Prelacy in Scotland if Mr. Welsh revisited that country. James even debarred him from preaching in Loudon, till informed that he could not long survive; and when the preacher at length obtained access to a pulpit, he discoursed with his wonted fire and eloquence, but, on retiring to his house, expired within two hours afterwai'da. "And so," says Calderwood, " endit his dayes with the deserved name of an holy man, a painfull and powerfuU preaohour, and a coiiataut sufferer for the trueth.'' • Calderwood, p. 648. t Ibid. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 385 cynical and severe when handling the bishops ; and if his pic- ture of the Galloway ones be not overdrawn, it is little wonder that Prelacy made slow progress in the diocese. Besides their jurisdiction in the Stewartry and Wigtownshire, they bore rule over the ministers of Dumfries, Gloseburn, Trailflat annexed to Tinwald, Drumgree annexed to Johnstone, Staplegordon annexed to Langholm, all in Dumfriesshire. When Episcopacy was abolished at the Revolution, the net revenue of the see amounted to £5,634 15s. Scots, a larger income than that of any other Scottish bishopric, and only exceeded by the two primacies of St. Andrews and Glasgow. In 1610, the royal plot against Presbyterianism was further developed, by the erection of the prelates into two Courts of High Commission, with well nigh absolute powers over the ministers and members of the Church. They were invested with authority to try all persons accused of heretical opinions or immoral practices, and to punish them, on conviction, by fines, imprisonment, and excommunication • — a power which they usually exercised in a most inquisitorial spirit, and so as, on mere pretences, to harass unmercifully the anti-Episcopal pastors of the Church. The Earls of Cassilis and Wigtown, the Bishop of Galloway, James Halliday, Commissary of the town of Dumfries, and Thomas Ramsay, minister there, offici- ated as members of the Commission for the southern division of Scotland;* but from what we know of Mr. Ramsay, he would have no relish for the work assigned to him. Calderwood truly says: — "This Commission put the King in possession of that which he had long hunted for, to wit, absolute power to use the bodies and goods of his subjects at pleasure, without form or processe of the common law. So our bishops were fit instru- ments to overthrow the liberties both of kirk and couutrey." The King ventured to summon an Assembly in the same year, confidently anticipating that it would give full effect to his new device. It met at Glasgow on the 8th of June; the Presbytery of Dumfries being represented in it by Messrs. Thomas Ramsay, Robert Hunter, Robert Henrison, and Simeon Johnston; and that of Kirkcudbright by Bishop Hamilton, and Messrs. William Hamilton, Robert Glendinning, and James Donaldson. His * Calderwood, p. 617. 3b 386 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Majesty was correct in supposing that the Assembly would prove subservient to his devices. Kesolutions were passed by it declaring the Assembly at Aberdeen to be null, establishing the Courts of High Commission, and adopting other disgraceful measures — there being but seven dissentients, of whom the minister of Dumfries was one.* Chiefly for the purpose of completing his victory over Pres- byterianism. King James, as we have seen, visited Edinburgh in 1617. To the General Assembly, then sitting, he bluntly declared: "The bishops must rule the ministers, and I rule both;" and the Assembly of the following summer was suflfi- ciently obsequious to adopt, with forty-five dissentients, the Five Articles of Faith, which enforced — (1) Kneeling at the communion; (2) private communion; (3) private baptism; (4) confirmation of children; and (5) observance of festivals. When James died, in 1625, he was succeeded by his son, Charles I., who had imbibed all his father's extravagant ideas of the royal prerogative, and who proceeded to act upon them with a recklessness that soon evoked the opposition of bis subjects in both kingdoms. Scottish Presbyterianism was so diametrically at variance with that passive obedience which Charles deemed his birthright, and with that ecclesiastical system of which he was a bigoted votary, that he resolved, if pos- sible, to render Prelacy paramount in his northern dominions, and thus complete the fabric begun by his predecessor. After a few preliminary steps, he commissioned Robert, Earl of Nithsdale, to hold a Convention of Estates, in order to obtain from them an Act restoring to the Crown all the titles and church lands that had been shared among the nobility, or been otherwise disposed of during the two preceding reigns — the infatuated monarch desiring, by means of this wealth, to build up the Scottish hierarchy in a style of imposing magnificence. In vain, how- ever, did Nithsdale press this self-sacrificing project on the assembled barons. They resisted it with such fii-mness, that it was hopelessly abandoned. Though bafiled in this endeavour, Charles continued to prosecute his darling scheme; and, with Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, as his willing instrument, ho resolved to impose a ♦ Caldorwood, p. 632. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 387 liturgy on the Church — the hazardous experiment to be tried first in Edinburgh, it being supposed that, as many of its inhabitants were dependent upon the Court, it would have the best chance of success there ; and that if it really succeeded, the country at large would follow the example of the capital. How the fine-laid scheme of the King and Prelate was thwarted — annihilated, by a humble Presbyterian matron — the immortal Jenny Geddes — is known to every one. " Villain ! dost thou say mass at my hig!" were the words, and a "cutty stool" was the weapon, with which the audacious innovation was indignantly challenged and repelled. The violent opposition given in Edinburgh to the Service-book met with general approval, and elicited a kindred feeling in all quarters. In order to direct it with concentrated force against the King's obnoxious measures, a meeting was held in the metropolis, comprising influential men from all parts of Scotland ; a petition for redress, emanating from it, was replied to by a royal letter, arrogantly commanding the petitioners to leave the city within twenty-four hours; and the latter, finding that they need look for no concessions, formed a National Committee, or provisional government, to protect their rights, consisting of members elected from the various classes of noblemen, gentlemen, clergy- men, and burgesses. Thus the Four Tables were originated, after which their constituents returned to their own homes. The signing of the National Covenant, on the 28th of February, 1638, was the next great stage of the patriotic movement. Such a burst of enthusiasm was thereby elicited as had not been witnessed in the land for centuries. The monarch must have been infatuated, when he saw but heeded not the warning lesson which it gave. The prelates looked on in terror and dismay; and one of them, the Archbishop of St. Andrews, expressed their sentiments when he exclaimed despairingly, "All that we have been doing for thirty years is now scattered to the winds!" The King, with the view of averting the threatened storm, sent the Marquis of Hamilton to Scotland, authorizing him to make some important concessions. These had no effect upon the Covenanters, who continued to pursue their schemes with unrelenting vigour. They invited their friends, employed 388 ' HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. in military service abroad, to return home and assist them in the struggle that was full surely approaching; and they instituted extensive measures for procuring the munitions of war. Provision for the extension and better maintenance of the Presbyterian Church, as opposed to the Prelatical Establish- ment, was also made. Among the ministers settled at this time were Mr. James Hamilton, over the Dumfries congregation, and Mr. John M'Lellan, over that of Kirkcudbright; whilst the distinguished Samuel Rutherford, who had been deposed and banished from Anwoth at the instance of Sydserff, Bishop of Galloway, for preaching against the Five Articles, returned to his old parishioners, by whom he was welcomed with gratitude and joy. Hamilton was sent back to Scotland, armed with new instructions of a conciliatory kind; and thinking, by one crowning act, to satisfy the malcontents, he summoned a General Assembly, which met, according to appointment, at Glasgow, on the 21st of November, 1638. No more impolitic step could have been taken by the Eoyal Commissioner, as the Assembly afforded the Tables the legal machinery iot carrying out their schemes; and the members who composed that venerable body proved willing agents in the woik. The Dumfries Presbytery was represented at this ever- memorable Assembly by Mr. William Macgeorge, of Carlaverock, by Mr. Alexander Train, of Lochrutton, ministers; and by Mr. John Irving, ex-Provost of Dumfries, and Mr. John Charteris, younger of Amisfield, elders. The Burgh also sent its own members to the special parliament of the Tables : these were, William Faries and John Copland, whose instructions, dated the 7th of July, 1638, ran thus: — "You are constituted our comissionaris to attend at Edinburgh, or whatsumevir other place shall be fund expedient, until the several dyattis do ces, for receiving such answer or answcris as shall cum from his Majestie, the Lordis of Privie Counsell, or any uther his Majesties Comissionaris, off our former supplicationis and com- plents against the Service Bulk; Bulk of Canons, the Comissione, and other innovations and grivancis, particulaxlie expresit and generally conteint in our former supplications; and the Prelatis, our pairtics [enemies], as the nutlioris and coiitryveris thereoff; and U> give in now ronionstrances, and to prefer new petitions HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 389 to his Majestie, conforme to the laitt Covenant sworne and subscryved be us; and to treat, resolve, and consult upon such offerturis and expedienteis as may conduce for furthering the contentis of the said supplicationis and Covenant; and for eschewing any prejudicial! to the same; and to concurre be all laufull means with the Comissioniris of the nobilitie, barones, ministeris, and remanent burrowis, in all laufull means fund be comon consent to conduce to such good issues."* These thorough-going instructions were signed by Provost John Corsane and ten Councillors, who promised, in the name of the community, to " abyde, fulfill, and underly" whatever " the said Comissionaris shall laufullie doe" in the business assigned to them. The Tables and the General Assembly vied with each other in giving effect to the declared will of the country against the King. So sweeping were the measures mooted in the Assembly that the Royal Commissioner stood aghast, and then in his sovereign's name ordered the sittings to terminate. He dissolved the Assembly with all due form, but the refractory members decUned to separate; and when he left the court they coolly proceeded vsdth the business before them; and by a succession of acts excommunicated the two archbishops and six bishops, annulled the Five Articles and the Service-book, and raised Presbyterianism up anew on the ruins of the Episcopal Establishment. The special charge against Bishop Sydserff was that of being but a half-disguised Papist. The Provost of Dumfries, in giving evidence against the accused prelate, deponed : — " That when he was in their towne on the Sabbath day, they expected his comeing to the kirk, and layd cushions for him; yet he came not, but went to an excommunicat Papist's house, and stayed all day." None of the dignitaries were present — no one had a word to say in their defence; and their downfall was the theme of general congTatulation out of doors. The Assembly which had been so destructive to the Episcopate, made many important arrangements for the better development of the resuscitated Presbyterian system, and was altogether an extraordinary one — the reflex and exponent of the Scottish ecclesiastical mind at a most critical time. Much ingenuity and * Burgh Kecords. 390 HISTOKY OF DUMFRIES. labour had for years been expended in building up the Pre- latical Establishment; but- it was inveterately disliked by the people over whom it was set, and it needed nothing more than the breath of their representatives to blow it down. At the close of the solemn proceedings, Alexander Henderson, the moderator, was well entitled to exclaim, as he did, " We have now cast down the walls of Jericho: let him that rebuildeth beware of the curse of Thiol the Bethelite!" Charles, unhappily, sought to reconstruct the shattered eccle- siastical edifice, and to lay stone after stone on the arbitrary political structure he wished to build up: both schemes signally failed, and involved his own ruin. War — with the Scots first, then with the English, terminating at last with the entire defeat of the royal troops at Naseby, by Cromwell, on the 12th of June, 1645 — brought matters to an end: for a while the military genius of Montrose cast a halo of splendour and success over the desperate fortunes of the King, and when that disappeared they were left in utter darkness. Among the myriads who flocked to the Greyfriars' Church- yard, Edinburgh, to subscribe the National Covenant, were many persons of all ranks from Nithsdale; and soon copies of the document, sent down to the district, were signed there so unanimously and heartily that its inhabitants became insepa- rably mixed up with the terrible " fifty years' struggle" which Scottish Presbyterianism underwent before its rights were won. The subscribers of the Covenant expressed, by their so doing, their resolution "to adhere to and defend the true religion;" " to labour, by all means lawful, to recover the purity and liberty of the gospel as it was established and possessed" before the late innovations were made ; " to resist all these contrary errors and corruptions" to the utmost of the power that God had put into their hands, while life continued ; " to support the King's person and authority" in the defence and maintenance "of the foresaid true religion, liberties, and laws of the kingdom;" and, finally, that they would never, directly or indirectly, suffer themselves to be divided or withdrawn, " by whatsoever sugges- tion, combination, allurement, or terror," from this " blessed and loyal conjunction." Within a few months after the memorable day when the HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 391 Earl of Sutherland affixed his name, the first upon the roll of this famous bond, the people, as a whole, had signed it — the Covenant had become thoroughly nationalized; and forthwith the War Committee of the Tables commenced to levy an army for its defence, which, on being formed, was placed under the command of Alexander Leslie, afterwards Earl of Leven, who had seen much hard service in Holland and Sweden, and risen from obscurity to be the favourite field-marshal of Gustavus Adolphus. A large force was needed; and eventually thirty thousand men were enrolled, ready to follow the Covenanting flag to victory or death. Immense difficulties had to be encoun- tered before such a body of soldiers could be secured, disciplined, and placed on a permanent footing; and of these we obtain a striking idea from a work recently published, the " Minute- book kept by the War Committee of the Covenanters in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright,"* the original of which has been carefully preserved in the charter-chest of Cardonesis. As this Committee exercised jurisdiction over a part of Nithsdale, as it sometimes held meetings in Dumfries, and as the principal member of it, Thomas, second Lord Kirkcudbright, was appointed colonel of the South Regiment, which was raised on both sides of the Nith, it will be proper for us to take special notice of its proceedings. The Committee usually sat at the village of Laurieston, then called CuUenoch. In its first minute, dated 27th June, 1640, it was resolved that a troop of eighty horsemen, demanded from the Stewartry and Wigtownshire, should be drawn in due proportion from each parish; "and that ilk horseman have for arms, at the leist, ane steill cape and sworde, ane paire of pistolles, and ane lance;" for furnishing of which each trooper was to be allowed twenty rix-dollars. At another sederunt, ten days afterwards, the captains of the regiment were assigned their different quota of soldiers; and various arrangements were made for their maintenance, by rates on land and voluntary contributions of money and goods. Gradually the free-will offerings became exhausted, and forced loans, as well as fines on non-Covenanters, were resorted to. The Committee, taking their instructions from, and acting in the spirit of, the Tables * Published by J. Nicholson, Kirkcudbright, 1855. 392 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES, in Edinburgh, relied in the first instance on the patriotism and religions zeal of friends; and then on exactions drawn from doubtful, apathetic, or niggardly individuals, or from those who were the declared opponents of the Covenant. The two latter classes were stringently dealt with. Friends and foes were required to give of their substance to support the national cause; and those who from any motive desired to remain aloof from the movement were soon made to feel that no neutrality would be allowed — that they who were not for the Covenant would be treated as enemies to it, and be forced to uphold it, if not by personal service, at least by their money and their goods. A great crisis had come; and the men who ventured their all in trying to bring out of it a new state of things, were sometimes not too particular as to the means they employed for accomplishing their object. They were terribly in earnest; they realized the tremendous issues bound up in the conflict on which they had entered; they saw that failure would be ruin, not simply to themselves, but to their country and the sacred cause of which they were the champions — that success would secure political freedom and the full recognition of the rights of conscience : and so feeling and thinking, they could not be expected to deal very tenderly with wavering adherents, much less with those "malignants" who either openly opposed them or covertly endeavoured to thwart their plans, and bring back the deluge of prelatic and regal despotism from which they had been so recently delivered. By the arbitrary measures of the King and his advisers, Scotland had been turned into a camp; and its occupants could not, in the nature of things, be expected to regulate their pro- ceedings by the rules of ordinary life. Peace and its amenities were gone; and the Covenanters were shut up to the necessity of adopting means that were in themselves harsh, but which the exigencies of their attitude rendered just. They would have been very well content if his Majesty had permitted them to worship God in their own way; but since he insisted on them doing it in a way which they detested and deemed unscripturaJ, he, and not they, were responsible for the evils which ai'ose out of their resistance to his tyranny. We learn from the Stewartry minute-book that in caeh of the midland and southern counties HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 393 a War Committee, composed of influential men, was formed, which, in subordination to the Committee of Estates in Edin- burgh, held military occupation of their respective localities. The chief duty of these Committees was to prepare armed levies for the pending struggle; but in doing so they had to assume and exercise a dictatorship over secular and ecclesi- astical matters; and even occasionally to act as judicial tribunals. On the 2nd of December, 1640, the Kirkcudbright Committee found, by a warrant sent from the metropolis, that they were empowered "to sit upon civil affaires;" and they accordingly resolved that all parties "having controversies betwixt thame shall upon laufuU pursute have justice" — a determination which they sought to carry into effect by giving judgment in divers cases recorded in their minutes; though they never thought of superseding the usual officials when they were willing to officiate. "Treulie," say the Committee of Estates, in giving instructions on this subject to their representatives at Kirkcudbright, " it were incumbent to you, in respect to the generall calamatie throw want of justice, to advert particularlie that justice be administrate, and necessar and trew debtes satisfied, and gif your ordinar judges be deficient, being desyrit be you to doe justice, it is your pairt, in caicess of necessitie, to bring the pairties befoir you, and sie order and credit keepit within your boundes sae far as you are able." All other matters, however, as we have hinted, were subor- dinated to those of war. " Give us recruits — men to fight their country's battles, and means with which to maintain them!" was the constant cry from Edinburgh. How urgently and eloquently it is enforced in the following message, dated the 30th of June ! — " Because barrones and gentilmen of good soirt are the greatest and maist pouerfull pairt of the kingdome, by quhas valure the kingdome hath ever been defendit, we do maist earnestlie requyre and expect that everie barron and gentilman of good soirt shall come to the armie in thair own persones, or at leist thair ablest sone, brother, or freind. And, that all noblemen, gentlemen, and uthers may be encouraged to come out as volunteires in sua good ane cawse, for mantainance of religione and preservatioun of the libertie of this antient and 3 c 394 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. never conqueirit kingdome, which we are all sworne to mantain; it is earnestlie desyrit that all hrave cavalieres wiU tak the business to hart, and considder that now or never is the tyme to gaine honour and eternal reputatioun, and to saive or lose thair countrie." Following up this spirited exhortation, the Committee at Cullenoch, on the 13th of July, expressed an opinion that one or more commissioners should be appointed for each parish in the Stewartry "to uplift the sogers, both the foote and horss, mantainance and armes;" and they ordained "the said commissioners to plunder any persone that shall happen no to mak thankfull peyment of the sogers pey, and that the parochinares assist the commissioners for doeing thairof" Some of these officials, after being nominated, either refused to act or performed their work carelessly, which insubordination and neglect the Committee could not tolerate. On the 1st of September, William Lindsay, commissioner for Colvend and South wick; John Charteris (of the Amisfield family), com- missioner for Terregles; the Laird of Dal'skairth and John Brown, commissioners for Troqueer; Hugh Maxwell, in Torrorie, commissioner for Kirkbean; and David Cannan, commissioner for Buittle, were cited "to compeir befoir the Committee of Estaites, at Edinburgh, the viij. day of September instant; thair to ansuer for thair neglect for not out-putting of the troupe and baggage horss." At this very time, as we shall afterwards see, the Earl of Nithsdale was in arms against the Covenanters, and maintaining the King's cause in his castles of Carlaverock and Thrieve; he having been prompted to do so by an autograph letter from his Majesty, which required "Nithisdaille" to look to himself, for that longer than " the 13th of the next month [March, 1640] I will not warrant yovi that ye heare of a breache betwixt me and my Covenanting Rebelles."* He was looked upon by Charles as the leader of the royalist party in the dis- trict; and, in vindication of this opinion, Nithsdale not only called out his followers, but exercised his influence, which was still strong, over many families in the district, to secure their active support, and, failing that, their neutrality. It was he chiefly who sot agoing the strong undercurrent which the War * The origiiiftl lettov ia still pvd.srrvoil at Torreglcs House. HISTOEY OF DUMFRIES. 395 Committee in Kirkcudbright and Dumfries encountered in various quarters, and of which the contumacy of the above- named commissioners was an illustrative display. It was further manifested by refusals to sign the Covenant, by evasions of the rate levied to support the army, and by desertions from its ranks. On the 30th of September, John Halliday of Fauldbey, David Halliday of Marguillian, John M'Ghie in Barubord, and James M'Connel of Creoch, threw themselves upon the pleasure of the Committee, " for not subscribing of the Generall Bond;" and the Committee, at the same sitting, ordained " David M-'MoUan, in St. John's Clauchan, for his contempt to his captaine, minister, and elderes, in not going forth to the armie, being enrolled, to pey presentlie fourtie punds, and to stay in ward, in the toUbuithe of Kirkcudbryt, until the day of the rendevouez at Milnetown of Urr, and then to march with the rest of the runawayes ; and gif the said fyne of fourtie punds be not peyit befoir he march, in that caice he shall pey ane hundred merks of fyne." The Committee sat at Durnfries on the 29th of December, and determined the cases of several deserters, some of whom were excused on account of sickness. The following minute records part of the business : — " The quhilk day the Committee, finding that severall of the captaines of the parochess have been negligent of the charge committed to thame, and in especiall that of the inbringing of the runawayes, Thairfore ordaines John Reddick of Dalbeattie, captaine of the parochen of Urr; John M'Cellane of Auchengule, and John Cutlar of Orrdand, captaines of the parochen of Rerrick, betwixt and the last of this instant, to inbring thair- runawayes, and delyver thame to the captaines here at Dram- fries; and for ilk man they failzie to produce, to pey xl. merks money attour the production." We subjoin another suggestive minute of the Committee's proceedings, when sitting at Kirkcudbright, on the 1st of January, 1641: — "The whilk day, anent the supplicatione presented be Johne Murray of Broughtone, in the name of Robert Maxwell of Gulnachtrie, and Mary Lindsay of Rascattell, schawing that they bothe, to the dishonour of God and evil example of uthers, did kythe thamesellffes enemies to the gude caus in hand, in verba et facto, which did proceed from ane 396 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. oath raschlie given be thame to thair maister, the Erie of Nithisdaill; are now maist willing to give obedience to the law of God and man, and hes beene supplicating the presbiterie to reseve thame in to the bosom of Christe's Kirk againe; desyering, in the meantyme, that the said Committie would cans thair Commissar-Depute desist in proceeding against thame, or with intromissione with thair goodes and geir, as the said supplicatione beirs. The quhilk being heard, sein, and considderit, doeth ordain the said Laird of Broughtone cautioner that thair haile gudes and geir shall be furthcummane for the use of the publict, and the said commissar to desist with anie intromissione thairwith." In spite of numerous hindrances, the Kirkcudbright Com- mittee managed to raise something like their full complement of soldiers. When reports to that effect were sent to Edinburgh, down came pressing demands for money, articles of silver, and clothing. " You have, as faitful servants of the Kirk, provided the men, but your duty is only half done till you provide for their maintenance also ; you must collect ' the haile tenth and twentieth penny' of the lands valuation; 'the rentes and gudes of all Papists, anti-Covenanters, pretendit bischops, recusants, and uther unfreindes ;' you must in addition borrow money, silver plate, and jewels; and furnish uniforms and boots and shoes for your own division of the national army." Messages of this purport were ever and anon received by the little junto sitting at Cullenoch, Kirkcudbright, or Dumfries ; and dutiful attention was paid to the same. Whilst the people in general co-operated cheerfully with the Committee, paying their rates, and lending their money and goods for the support of a cause which was dear to them as life itself, there were, as we have said, a considerable proportion of recusants, from whom contri- butions had to be wrung, as if, instead of being required to draw their purses, they had been asked to part with their teeth. Every day, Sabbath excepted, might be seen sitting in the Tolbooth or Town Hall of Dumfries or Kirkcudbright, from ten o'clock till two, half n. dozen " substanteious" burgesses, appointed by the Presbytery and sanctioned by the Committee " to ros.saive any lent monie, or silver or gold worke quhilk shall be delyvorit to thame" — the lenders receiving tickets of HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 397 acknowledgment entitling them to obtain security from the Estates, that after the troubles were over, if not sooner, they would be paid at the rate of three pounds per ounce of Scots silver work, three pounds two shillings per ounce of English silver work, and twenty-eight pounds per ounce for articles of gold. If individuals known to be wealthy come with their goods or gear of their own accord, all the better; if not, a list is made out of such, and they are cited to appear before the Committee and explain why they have not responded to the call made upon their liberality. When the defaulters " com- peir" they perhaps plead poverty or debt, or promise to be speedily forthcoming with the sums required of them. Thus, we find such statements as the following made upon oath: — " Johne Greggane, eldir in Newabbay, hes only jc. [one hundred] merks monie of the realm ;" "Johne Broune, eldir at Bridgend of Dumfries, about xj"'' [eleven score] merks;" " Johne Broune, younger thair, hes iijc. [three hundred] merks, which he is awand to creditors;" "Johne M'Dowall in Kirkmabreck, nihil; and John Cutlarin Dundrennan, nihil." Then, as showing how productive the demand for wares made of the precious metals proved, we have such articles as these dropped into the Covenanting treasury: — "Twa silver piecess, ane paire long wyres, nyne silver spoones, broken and haile," weighing over twenty ounces, and containing three ounces of "evill silver," which were rejected ; " four silver spoones, ane pair belt heides, ane pair silver weires, and foure uther litle peices of silver, broken and haille," weight eleven oimces, fifteen drops; "ane gilt coupe, Inglis worke," weight five ounces, fourteen drops; " ane silver peice, Scots worke, ane gilt silver saltfat, with xiiij. silver spoones," weight two pounds nine ounces; "delyverit by John Charters of Barnecleuche [formerly a stout recusant] sex silver spoones, Scots work," ten ounces in weight; "delyverit by the Lady Cardyness, in name of her husband, ane silver coupe, ane stak of ane fann and sax silver spoones," weight fifteen ounces fifteen drops. On the first of September, 1640, James Gordon of Lochinkit was taken to task " for conceiling of the monie in prejudice of the publict, and lending of the sameyn to ane uther partie;" Gris.sell Gordone, spouse to the deceased minister of UiT, was ordained "to present her silver worke, viz.: — The 398 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. twa piecess that was bought by the paroche of Urr for the use of the kirk, and sex silver spoones, pertaining to the aires of said minister;" and a widow, whose name is mentioned, is required "to present her bairnes silver worke, and that notwith- standing" any reasons adduced to the contrary. If moneyed men failed to appear before the Committee or collectors when summoned, they were heavily fined; and if repeated warnings and penalties proved ineffectual, a portion of their property was poinded and sold for the public service. When the South Regiment was fairly raised in Nithsdale and Galloway, it was billeted on the Burgh of Dumfries: its presence, we suppose, being required there to keep the Maxwell influence in check. But the inhabitants, though good Cove- nanters, considered, reasonably enough, that the burden of providing quarters for the troops should be divided; and they having represented their grievance to the Committee of Estates, that body, in a letter dated the lOth of December, 1640, enjoined Lord Kirkcudbright to make three divisions of the army, placing one at Dumfries, one at Kirkcudbright, and one within Lord Johnstone's division (probably Annandale), unless he could manage to pay the town of Dumfries " tymelie satis- factione" for the undue draught made upon its resources. "But," said the Committee, in continuation, "if the regiment could be keipit togither, we wold rather wish it, quhilk cannot be unless your lordship caus hasten the uplifting and peyment of all that is dew within your divisione, suche as the tenth and twentieth penny, anti-covenanters' and papists' rentes, and uther dews to the publict, conforme to the generall instruc- tiones, and cause the samen to be delyverit to the commissar at Dumfries, for the use of the said regiment." It is peremp- torily stated in a postcript, that "if money cum not into the commissar, for the use of the regiment, beforre the xxth of this instant, they cannot indure longer delay, and thej' have orders to devyde, efter that tyme, in caice bet\vixt and tliat they get not a supplie." CHAPTER XXX. THE EARL OF NITHSDALE FORTIFIES HIS CASTLES IK THE INTERESTS OF THE KING — DESCRIPTION OF CARLAVEROOK AS RECONSTRUCTED, AND THRIEVE BOTH OF THE CASTLES SURRENDER TO LIEUTENANT-GENERAL HOME, WITH CONSENT OF THE KING — TERMS OF THEIR CAPITULATION — THE "plenishing" of CARLAVEROOK: ITS RICH FURNISHINGS AND EXTENSIVE LIBRARY BOTH STRONGHOLDS PARTIALLY DEMOLISHED — PROVOST CORSANE SUSPECTED OF INTRIGUING WITH THE ROYALISTS — METEORIC CAREER OF MONTROSE— HE OCCUPIES DUMFRIES — CALLENDAR APPEARS IN THE VICINITY OF THE TOWN WITH A COVENANTING FORCE, AND MONTROSE RETIRES INTO NORTHUMBERLAND — HE COMPLAINS OF HAVING BEEN DECEIVED BY HARTFELL AND OTHER DUMFRIESSHIRE BARONS — HIS BRILLIANT ACHIEVE- MENTS IN THE HIGHLANDS — HIS BRIEF DICTATORSHIP, AND UTTER OVERTHROW AT PHILIPHAUGH — DEATH OF CROMWELL, AND RESTORATION OF CHARLES II. Meanwhile, as we have said, the Earl of Nithsdale was fortifying his strongholds, and preparing to make a bold stand in the district on behalf of King Charles. He could do nothing for the royal cause in Dumfries, as the inhabitants were opposed to it; and its places of strength, even if they had been held by him, were of little value in a military sense. The Castle, though partially repaired, still bore evidence of the rougli handling given to it by Lord Sorope in 1570. Thirteen years afterwards, a second fortress, on a small scale, was built east- ward of the ancient Market Cross, and north of the present Queensberry Monument. In contrast to the old decayed Castle, it was called the New Wark. It was a dull, heavy pile, com- posed of two stories above the street level, with a bartizan running along the top to protect the garrison, and strong vaults underground, in which the movable property of the inhabitants was stowed away in periods of danger. The New Wark was often of good service when raiding moss-troopers from the Border paid hostile visits to the Burgh; but a party of Covenanters, armed with cannon, would have made short work with its defences. 400 HISTORY OF DUMFKIES. Carlaverock and Thrieve, however, were still strong; and into each of these castles Lord Nithsdale threw a portion of his retainers, with sufficient warlike stores and provisions to fit them for a lengthened siege. When Cambden, in 1607, saw Carlaverock, it was, he tells us, "a weak house of the Maxwells," Lords Sussex and Scrope having all but ruined it. In the course of a few years it rose into a state of greater magnificence than ever; the first Earl of Nithsdale employing the best architectural and engineering skill to make it at once a palatial residence and a first-class fortress. The triangular form, with a round tower at each corner, was retained. The moats were deepened, so as to make the Solway waters, near which it stood, more available for defensive purposes. A massive gateway, pierced by a narrow curtain, and having a tower on each side, formed a colossal front. Over the arch of the gate was sculptured the Nithsdale crest — a stag attired proper, lodged before a holly-bush, with a shield resting on its fore legs, bearing the Maxwell saltier, and the motto below, "I bid ye fair." This escutcheon was surrounded by other heraldic decorations: the well-known double-headed eagle of the Maxwells occupied the sinister chief corner; in the dexter corner was displayed the royal arms of Scotland; a band between six crosslets in the dexter corner of the base marked the relationship which subsisted between the Maxwells and Douglas, Earl of Mar; and the sinister corner of the base told their connection with the Stewarts of Dalswinton, a daughter of whose house was mother of the first Lord Maxwell. Entered by the gateway was a spacious triangular court, the east side of which, three stories high, constituted the family residence; and so florid was its outside, and so rich its furnish- ings, that it might have become the abode of royalty. On the pediments of the lower story were engraved the Nithsdale arms, with the initials of Robert, the first Eai-1, and his wife Elizabeth. A heart-shaped shield, Avith the plain Maxwell saltier, was carved above the first window; a shield, with the two-headed eagle, charged with a smaller shield and saltier, surmounted by a coronet, rose above the second staircase window: the third window was similarly adorned, excepting that it wanted the supporters; and the fourth bore the familiar HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 401 holly-bush, with its usual occupant the stag. Above the first court door^a huge eagle, defensive-like, spread its wings, having below it a shield, and on each side a rose. Two guardian chenibs supported a shield over the first window of the second story, the shield displaying a double-headed eagle, charged as before, and having under it the mask of a human head, with hands drawing the jaws apart in such a way as to give a most grotesque expression to the face. A tree, carved above the right-hand side of the second window of the second story, bore, as emblematic fruit, a tiny shield, with the Maxwell saltier and coronet, their owner being indicated by the initials R.E.N. cut below. From a second tree, on the other side of the window, hung similar fruitage, only that the initials were E. C. N., those of the noble Countess of Nithsdale. The lavish ornariaentation of this part of the castle was crowned by a series of classical groups, placed over the three third-story windows, the subjects of which were taken from " Ovid's Metamorphoses." Such was the strong and beautiful house which constituted the forlorn hope of royalty in Nithsdale: not strong enough to resist the war-engines which were soon arrayed against it; too beautiful to be marred by the baptism of their relentless fire. The Estates in Edinburgh were duly apprised of Maxwell's hostile preparations; and as the South Regiment, under Lord Kirkcudbright, was yet in an undisciplined condition, they sent down a body of troops under an experienced officer — Lieutenant- Colonel John Home — to lay siege to both Carlaverock and Thrieve, so as to keep them from becoming rallying points for the royalists. Colonel Home's contingent formed a portion of the Scottish army sent southward under General Leslie in the autumn of 1640; and whilst Leslie passed with his "blue bonnets over the Border," to co-operate with the Parliamentary forces in England, Home invested Thrieve and Carlaverock, and thus took one of the initiatory steps of the great civil war which convulsed the island for eleven years. Thrieve, as has been already shown, was the chief castle of the Douglasses in Galloway. On their downfall, it became the property of the Crown; and by a royal grant, dated September 9th, 1524, this fortress, and that of Lochmaben, with all their 3 D 402 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. perquisites and appendages, and aU the King's lands at Dun- cow, Dumfriesshire, and the office of Steward of Kirkcudbright, were given to Robert, Lord Maxwell, and the longest survivor of his sons, for a period of nineteen years. The Maxwells continued to be keepers of Thrieve till the forfeiture of the last Earl of Nithsdale, in 1715. When Colonel Home laid siege to Thrieve, it consisted of a colossal square tower, buttressed by round turrets at each corner, the whole surrounded by a stout envelope, with curtains for cannon, and occupying an islet of sixteen Scotch acres in the river Dee. Its surviving relics still attest its ancient stabiUty and importance. The garrison consisted of eighty men, and that of Carlaverock of a hundred, besides officers. Nithsdale held both castles bravely for thirteen weeks; but finding that he was hard pressed, and likely to be overcome, he sent a communica- tion from Carlaverock, apprising the King of the straits to which he was reduced, and of the alternative which awaited him of accepting certain terms offered by the besiegers, or being soon forced to surrender at discretion, if not relieved. His Majesty, in reply, sent a letter suitably addressed, which ran thus: — " Charles R — Right trusty and right well beloved cosen and councellor, we greet you well. Whereas you have represented unto us by your letter of the 12th of September, that those who have besieged you so long in the Castle of Carlaverock have now offered you honourable conditions to come out; and forasmuch as our affairs permit not to relieve you so soon as we had determined, and as seemss your necessities require, and being withal most willing to free your person from further danger, and to ease you of the trouble and toyle you have sustained by so long a siege, we do hereby (graciously con- descending unto your humble request) give you leave to embrace and accept the aforesaid conditions, for the safety and preservation of your person and estate, ha\ing withal a regard to our honour, so far as the necessity of your present condition will permit; and we shall still, n.s we have done hithertoo, continue our graciou.s esteem of you. Given at our Court at York, this 15th day of September, in the sixteenth year of our reign, 1640." 'I'lii.s v(iy,i,l epistle was followed by another, addressed as HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 4()3 before, and written later on the same day, in these terms: — " Charles R.— Right trusty and well beloved cousen and coun- sellor, we greet you well. Understanding by this bearer, that altho you were agreed with those that have beleaguered you in Carlaverock upon honourable terms, for your coming forth, and rendering thereof, yet that those conditions are not valid untill such time that they be ratified by those that have made themselves members of the great Committee in Edinburgh, and fearing that your enemies there will not give way to your coming forth on such good terms, we are therefore graciously pleased, and by these presents do permit and give you leave to take such conditions as you can get, whereby the lives and liberties of yourself, your family, and those that are with you, may be preserved: and in case they should urge the surrending of our Castle of Thrieve, which hitherto you have so well defended (and we wish you were able to do so still), our gracious pleasure is that you do rather quit the same unto them; which, if so the necessity require you, to do so on the best and most honourable terms you can, rather than hazard the safety of your own person, and those with you; and in such case this shall be your warrant and discharge. Given at our Court at York, the 15th day of September, in the sixteenth year of our reign, 1640." In accordance with the permission thus granted, both fort- resses were surrendered to the Covenanting ofHcer, after the annexed form of capitulation had been signed by him and Nithsdale : — "At Dumfries, the 1st day of October, 1640: The qlk day pns. of the Committee of Nithsdale, residing at Dumfries, com- peared Lieutenant- Colonel Home, and gave in and produced the articles of capitulation past betwixt Robert, Earl of Nithsdale, and the said Lieutenant-Colonel at the Castle of Carlaverock, the 26th day of September last by past, and desired the said articles to be insert and registrate in the bukes of the said committee, and that the extract throf might be patent to any party havand interest, and the principal articles redilevered to him, qlk the said committee thought reasonable; of the qlk articles the tenor follows, viz. : — Articles condescended upon betwixt the Earl of Nithsdale and Lieutenant-Colonel Home, 404 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. the 26th day of September, 1640, at the Castle of Carlaverock. For the first article, it is condescended on that for my Lord, his friends and followers, that there shall no other course be taken with him and them in their religions than with others of his or their professions. Whereas it is desired be my Lord that he, his friends and followers, be no farther troubled in their persons, houses, and estates, house-guides therein, then according to the common course of the kingdom; it is agreed unto, that no other course shall be taken with him and his foresaids, then with others of his and their professions. Whereas, it is desired he and they may sorte out with bag and baggage, trunks, household stuff, belonging, on their hon- our and credit, to his Lordship and them, wt. safe conduct to the Langholm, or any other place within Nithsdale, is granted. Whereas it is desired be my Lord that guides intromitt with belonging to his Lordship's friends and followers, restitution thereof be made; it is agreed to what course shall be taken with others of his and thr condition shall be taken with him and them. It is condescended upon be my Lord, takend the burden on him for himself, his friends and followers, that he nor they sail not, in any time coming, tack arms in prejudice of this kingdom, nor shall have any intelligence with any prejudice thereof, upon their honour and credit. It is conde- scended on be my Lord and his friends and followers, that they sail contribute and do every thing lying incumbent on them, according to the general course of the kingdom. Lastly, it is condescended on be my Lord, his friends and followers, that he and they sail deliver up the house and fortalice of Carlaverock to Lieutenant -Colonel Home, wt the cannon, superplus of ammunition, and other provisions; and that he shall remove himself, officers, and whole garrison and followers, out of the said castle and fortalice; and this his Lordship obleist himself and his to perform, upon his honour and credit, betwixt this and the 29th day of September instant, 1640. Sic subscribitvr: Nithsdale. — JoN Home." The "bag and bag^nge, trunks and household stuff," "left in the house of Carlaverock at my Lord's depai'ture," were worth bargaining about. Fortunately the list of them made at the time, and duly attrshc>(l by witnes.'^o.'i, lias bei'u preserved, as HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 405 it affords us a singularly interesting peep into a seventeenth- century nobleman's household. The Earl of Nithsdale was addicted to literary and scientific pursuits, and on this account was popularly called " The Philosopher :" that a large stock of books should therefore figure in the catalogue, is less surprising. There were lavish furnishings for the mind, as well as sumptuous upholstery, luxurious apparel, and rich dainties for the palate. The library is stated to have "stood my Lord two hundred pound sterling," an immense sum (equal to a thousand pounds of our present money) to be spent on books at that period. In one cellar were four barrels of the wine which Falstaff favoured; in another, three hogsheads of claret. We read that in my lord's chamber there was " a bed furnished with damask, and laid over with gold lace;" that there was in my lady's chamber " a burd and a falling bed." Musical instruments and pictures enter into the list : but all else of a material kind was cast into the shade by the number and magnificence of the " household plenishings," which included five beds, two of silk and three of cloth, every bed supplied with five coverings, massive silk fringes of half a quarter deep, " and ane counterpoint of the same stuff, all laid with braid silk lace and a small fringe about; with chairs and stools answerable, laid with lace and fringe; with feather bed and bolster, blankets and rug, pillars and bedsteads of timber answerable; every bed estimate to be worth an hundred and ten pounds sterling." Then, we read of ten smaller beds, value fifteen pounds sterling; of "seventy- other beds for servants, consisting of feather bed, bolster, rug, blankets, and estimate to be seven pound sterling a-piece;" of two open trunks, " full of Hollond shirts and phillabers, . . . damask table-cloths, and gallons of towels;" forty pair of sheets or thereby, and " seventy stand of neprey" — every pair of sheets consisting of seven ells of cloth, at six shillings per ell, and amounting to five pounds two shillings sterling per pair. Among the weapons mentioned were twenty-two pikes, thirteen lances, twenty-eight muskets, twenty-eight bandoleers, and a pair of two-handed swords.* Nithsdale became bound, as we have seen, that neither he nor his friends and followers should, for the time to come, take * The complete list is given by Grose. 406 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. ..in nreiudice of this kingdom," which phraseology, up arms m PJ^ ^^.j^,, desigued to prevent them from though loo^'r^^J^^'j^^ Covenant in future; but it had no such ff *^v ^and'when the Earl afterwards complained that Colonel H°me "had suffered his followers to spoil me ane coach, the furniture of quhilk stood me fifty pound sterling," and had in many other respects broken the articles of capitulation, Home could plead as his reason that his lordship and party had, in the first instance, broken their parole, by once more identifying themselves with King Charles. The Committee of Estates, on learning Nithsdale's conduct, caused the chief fortress of the inveterate " malignant" to be partially demolished; and the injury thus done to its ancient walls has never been repaired, though, even in its present ruined state, it presents the choicest existing specimen of castellated architecture in Scotland.* "The howse of the Thrieve," as it is termed in the documents of the period, was similarly dealt with. At a meeting of the Stewartry War Committee, held within its ancient walls on the 19t]i of October, 1640, it was resolved, in accordance with a warrant from Edinburgh, "that the sklait roofe of the hows and batlement thairof be taken downe, with the lofting thairof, dores and windowes of the samen, and to stop the vault of the said hows." This destructive duty was assigned to the Laird of Balmaghie, who was also empowered to dispose of the timber, stones, and iron work removed from the fortress for the use of the public; "his necessar charges and expenses" beini,' deducted from the proceeds of the sale.f On this sub- ject, the captor of the castle addressed the following note to Ensign Gibb, whom he had left in charge of it: — "I did heir, at the Committie at Edinburgh, that they had written to the Committie nf Galloway, answering to their letter, that they had fund the Thrieve to bo unprofeitable, giving orderes that they should flig]it [dismantle] the samen. If they have dosojcril. you to cum out that they might flight the samen, «'ii),tr the w.uiand, and takiug the coppie thairof, signed under 'i.itri/,',(,.,7tnV""' ''"""""*'""""'* "f <"'ul..u-oi-..ok at this time are popularly oaHt,],,, ' ' " '■'"""■,.|l: l„,t, ,u,ii|,i„- lu- nor a Turitan foi'ce ever attacked the + M,„„(,,..|„,oU „f t,u, W,u- (Vrnmittoo. ,,. 67. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 407 thrie or foure of thair hands. In doing heirof, cum out with your gareson. Thir presents shall be to you sufficient warand. —Home. At Dumfries, the 17 October, 1640." And so the castle was given up to the Committee, and "flighted" by their orders; William M'Clellan, of Barscoib, who had, "use for certaine friestane for building," being, it seems, the chief purchaser of the spoils. A few days after the date of the above letter, orders were received by Home from the Estates " to march up with the South Raigement to the army with all convenient dilligence." At this period John Corsane of Meikleknox was Provost of the Burgh. On the 3rd of December, 1640, he appeared before the Kirkcudbright War Committee, and presented a commission from Colonel Home to the following effect: — "These are to give full power, commission e, and warrand to Mr John Corsane, provest of Drumfries, to resaive from the commissares or col- lectores of the tenth and twentieth pennies and rentes of our friends and bischopes within Galloway, all such soumes of money as they have in readiness for the use of the South Regement; with power to him to give acceptances and dis- charges of his receipt thairof, quhilk shall be as valid and sufficient to the foirsaid collectore§ as I had given thame discharges myself; and whereanent I obleis me to renew thame discharges myselfe, upon sight of the Provest's discharge, be thir presents, wrytten be me, Mr. Cuthbert Cunnynghame, and sub- scribed with my hand at Drumfries, the last November, J^VI" and fourtie yeires, befoir thir witnesses, Roger Kirkpatrick, bailie of Drumfries, and the said Mr. Cuthbert Cunynghame. — Home." Provost Corsane did much to promote the popular movement. He was a decided Covenanter, but was anxious at the same time to get a reconciliation effected between the contending parties. The nephew of Lord Nithsdale, and allied by marriage with another branch of the Maxwell family,* he was naturally averse to the prolongation of the war; and, on account of some pacific overtures made by him, and other acts disapproved of by the uncompromising Parliament which sat in 1644, he was fined in ten thousand merks. The Burgh was represented in this Parhament by George * See ante, p. 240. 408 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Johnstone, and the County by Sir Robert Grierson of Lag and James Douglas of Mouswald. On the 2nd of July (to quote frona the proceedings), " the House ordained commissions and letters of intercomuning to be directed against them that are fugitives, and were cited to the Committee of Drumfreis in the rebellione of the South." On the 22nd of July, the House took up the case of "Robert, Earl of Nidisdaill, and his deputies, who are Steuarts of Kirkcudbright;" and inasmuch as the Earl was found to have been guilty of " rebellione," he was deprived of his stewardship, and the office was conferred on Lord Kirkcudbright. The Scottish Covenanters were now in full alliance with the English Puritans under Cromwell. -A bond of civil as well as of religious union between the three kingdoms — the Solemn League and Covenant — was signed on the 26th of September, 1643, in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster. As a result of this alliance, Leslie, Earl of Leven, on entering England, joined his forces to the Parliamentary army at York. The organiza- tion effected by means of the War Committees was enlarged in order to meet the increased demands made upon Scotland by the widening battle-field. As illustrative of the extent to which the landed interest of Dumfriesshire was identified with the Covenanting cause, we may quote the list of the Committee for Nithsdale and Annandale in 1644: — "The Earl of Queens- berry; the Earl of Annandale; the Earl of HartfeU; Lord Dalyell; the Laird of Lag; the Laird of Closeburn; the Laird of Amisfield; Maister John Douglas of Penziere; James Douglas of Morton ; Thomas Fergusone of Caitloch ; John Crichton of Crawfurdston; John Laurie of Maxwellton; John Wilson of Craigleme; John Hunter of Ballagan; John Douglas of Stane- house; James Grierson of Dalgonar; Archibald Johnstone of Clochrie; the Laird of Tindell; John Dalrymple of Waterside; the Laird of Applegirth ; the Laird of Mouswald ; James John- ston e of Corheid; Andrew Johnstone of Lockerbie; Archibald Douglas of Dornok; the Laird of Wamfra; Francis Scot of Cairtertown; Mathew Wilson in Greenhill; John Kennedy of Halleithis ; Robert Johnstone of Newtoun ; the Laird of Drumcrieffe [Mtirray] ; George Johnstone of Poldean ; and John Johnstone, called Viccarland." In the preceding year, HISTORY OF DUMFKIBS. 409 Corsane of Meikleknox was not only on the Committee for the Burgh, but he was the convener or chairman of the whole body; but his name, for an obvious reason, does not appear in the list in 1644, the Burgh members being given in it as follows: — " John Irwin, late Provost of Dumfries ; B-oger Kirkpatrick, bailie there ; John Johnstone, baihe there ; Bobert Bichardson, there; John Maccleane, there" — Bailie Johnstone, convener.* At the period now reached, James Graham, fifth Earl and first Marquis of Montrose, comes prominently upon the stage. He is seen first as a devoted champion of the Covenant. When Leslie's troops entered England, Montrose was the first man to cross the Tweed ; and encountering the vanguard of the English army, he put it to the rout at Newburn on the Tyne. Soon afterwards, his jealousy .of Argyle extinguished his devotedness to the Covenant; and the outbreak of the civil war found him opposed to his old colleagues, and fighting in defence of the monarchy. The Marquis of Hamilton, the King's minister for Scotland, having fallen into disgrace, Graham was called to occupy his place as lieutenant-general of the kingdom. In an interview with his Majesty at Oxford, he divulged a daring scheme that he had planned on behalf of the royal cause : it was to do battle against the Leaguers in Scotland, with the view of crushing the Covenant in the land of its birth, leaving Bupert and his cavaliers to cope with Cromwell in England, In this manner, he argued, the force of the Covenanting arms would be drawn away from the King. upon himself. " But the garrisons and passes of Scotland were in the possession of the Covenanters. He requested, therefore, an order upon the Marquis of Newcastle — now opposed to Leven in the north of England — for a detachment of his troops, or at least a sufficient escort force to enable him to cross the Borders. Even with these slender resources, he undertook to reach the Highlands of Scotland, and to make such head there as would ere long encourage the loyalists of that kingdom to rally round the standard."! Charles having sanctioned the bold design, Mon- trose proceeded northwards, bearing instructions from his royal master, by which he hoped to obtain the nucleus of an army. He was accompanied by the Earl of Nithsdale, and also, * Acts of Scot. Pari., vol. vi., p. 132. t Napier's Life and Times of Montrose, vol. ii., p. 386. 3e 410 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. however strange it may appear, by James Johnstone, Earl of Hartfell (son of the knight slaughtered by Nithsdale's brother), and by James Murray, Earl of Annandale, both of whom were at the very period members of the Dumfriesshire War Committee; and afterwards another recreant. Sir John Charteris of Amis- field, joined the royal army with a contingent of followers. Montrose obtained only a small, ill-disciplined force from the Marquis of Newcastle; but, putting himself at its head, he pushed into Cumberland, crossed the Western Border, and on the 14th of April, 1644, startled the Covenanting lieges of Dumfries by entering the town with the royal banner displayed — no one attempting to arrest his progress. When the South Regiment left the district, it was comparatively undefended, and the War Committee had been weakened by defections; but for which circumstances, the champion of despotic rule could not have found such a ready entrance into Dumfries. A zealous RoyaUst, too — Sir James Maxwell — was Provost :* a fact which in itself proves that a reaction had taken place to some extent against the Covenant in the Burgh. The inhabitants generally were still steadfast in their adherence to it. They could give no effective opposition to the King's troops; but they received them coldly, and, indeed, so discouragingly, that Montrose profited nothing by his march across the Border. Right or wrong, he attributed his failure to bad faith on the part of professed friends, rather than to the opposition of open enemies. If he had received the support which he anticipated, he would have made Dumfries a starting point for his meditated expedition into the Highlands; but in a disappointed mood he resolved on retiring to Carlisle — a determination that he carried into effect all the more hurriedly, on learning that the Earl of Callendar, from whom he expected assistance, bad gone over to the other side, and was advancing against him at the head of seven thousand men. Before Montrose was many miles out of Dumfries, the blue banner of the Covenant took the place lately occupied by the royal flag, and was doubtless hailed with enthusiasm by the inhabitants. Callendar's troops continued for some time in the town, whilst those of Montrose ravaged Northumberland and Durham, and eventually captured Morpeth * Spalding, vol. ii., p. 221. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 411 Castle, in spite of a stout resistance offered by its garrison, under Captain M'CuUoch. That officer, in afterwards giving an account of the affair to a Parliamentary committee in Edinburgh, repeated the views expressed to him by Montrose as to the double-dealing of Lord Hartfell. When parleying with Montrose, before submitting to him, M'CuUoch inquired " the reason of his incoming to Dum- fries, and invasion of this kingdom:" upon which the Marquis " declared to the deponer that he had assurance from the Earl of Hartfell of his assistance, and raising of the country in his favour; but the said Hartfell deceived him, having promised, from day to day, to draw up his men, and yet did nothing but proved the traitor; and further, he said he thought to have betrayed him by drawing him to his house." When, some time afterwards, Lord Ogilvie was captured by the Covenanters, certain documents were found upon him which he had received from Montrose for presentation to the King. In one of these he used the following strong language with reference to his treatment by the Border barons : — " You are to inform his Majesty," he says, " of all the particulars that stumbled his service — as of the carriage of Hartfell, Annan dale, Roxburgh, and Traquair, who refused his Majesty's commission, and debauched our officers, doing all that in them lay to discoun- tenance the service, and all who were engaged in it. Your Lordship is seriously to represent the notable miscarriage of the Earls of Crawford and Nithsdale; how often they crossed the business, and went about to abuse us who had undertaken it, to the great scandal and prejudice of the service." A curious game would seem to have been played, by Hartfell and Annan- dale identifying themselves with the Leaguers, and at the same time professing loyalty to the Crown. They appear to have been false to both; but Nithsdale had given such evidence of his devotedness to the King as should have placed him above suspicion. Montrose, after reducing Morpeth Castle, was required to unite his forces with those of Prince Rupert. Before he could do so, however, the battle of Marston Moor was won by the valour of Cromwell and the skill of Leshe. The royal cause was thus overthrown in England, and the plans formed by Montrose on 412 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. its behalf were hopelessly shattered. Disguised as a groom, and accompanied by only two friends, the hero, brooding over new schemes, hastened to the Highlands, there to give them birth and development. By sheer military genius, he, before many weeks elapsed, raised the fortunes of his royal master from the dust of abasement to the summit of a splendid, but short-lived, success. But at the very period when he was vanquishing the Covenanters at Tippermuir and the Bridge of Dee, the anti- Koyalists were carrying all before them in the north of England. Callendar, now that the enemy he had been sent to waylay was out of the road, left Dumfries, effected a junction with the Earl of Leven; and to their united forces Newcastle capitulated in October. Among the prisoners were the Earl of Crawford, its commander, and Lord Maxwell, the Earl of Nithsdale's eldest son, who were carried to Edinburgh, and incarcerated in its tolbooth, where they and other captives lay till they were liberated by the irresistible Montrose, who, following up five previous victories, routed the Covenanters at Kilsyth, and became not only master of the capital, but virtually dictator of the kingdom. The dictatorship, however, was so brief that it must have seemed to Montrose himself, in retrospect, but a dazzUng dream. On the 12th of September he experienced the stern reality of a defeat, at PhUiphaugh, by the Earl of Leven, which all but annihilated his followers, and destroyed the vision of a restored monarchy, which he had built up on the basis of his six great triumphs. Not a few Nithsdale and Galloway men fought under LesUe on this famous field, and, among others, a regiment of infantry raised at his own expense by Lord Kirkcudbright, and headed by that jealous anti-Royalist. Some Dumfriesians were also present on the other side, under the Earl of Hartfell, who, though at first mistrusted by Montrose, proved his devotedness to Chai-les at Philiphaugh. When the royal troops were dispei-sed, the Em'1, in company with other fugitives, lost his way, was seized by the country people of tlie neighbourhood, sent to Edinburgh, and sentenced to death by the Scottish Parliament, but had liis life spared through tlie interposition of the Marquis of Argyle. Mdiiiiciso himself escaped to the Highlands, then took refuge ill llanihur|r; and, rotniiiing to Scotland in I (!.")(), for tlic pur- HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 413 pose of renewing the war, fell into an ambuscade, was captured, and executed in Edinburgh on the 21st of May, about sixteen months after the beheading of the King, whom he had served with incomparable gallantry and devotedness. Then followed the ineffectual attempts of the late King's son, Charles II., to restore the monarchy which Cromwell had set aside. The Scots, aggiieved by its abrogation, and deeply resenting the execution of the King, though he had treated them shamefully, proclaimed Charles a few days after that dread event; and he having subscribed the National Covenant and the Solemn League and Covenant, a Scottish army, under General David Leslie, prepared to do battle for his cause. Its defeat at Dunbar, and again at Worcester, left Cromwell " master of the situation," and the Commonwealth without an open enemy. On the death of the Protector, in 1658, he was succeeded by his son Richard, whose feeble rule only contimied for a few months; and in 1660 Charles was recalled from his exile — he having first, with his usual facility for promise-making, made the "Declaration of Breda," in which he offered indemnity for the past, and hberty of conscience for the future. CHAPTER XXXI. A COLLEAGUE TO THE PARISH MINISTER APPOINTED — ACTINGS OF THE SESSION AND PRESBYTERY TOWARDS OFFENDERS — PUNISHMENT FOR SWEARING, BLASPHEMY, SLANDER, TERMAGANCY, SABBATH-BEEAKINO, AND OTHER TRANSGRESSIONS — ROMAN CATHOLICS AND COVENANT-BREAKERS SEVERELY TREATBD^THE PARISH MINISTER TRIES TO SEIZE A MASS PRIEST; ESCAPE OF THE PRIEST, AND A BONFIRE MADE OF HIS VESTMENTS AND PICTTTEES — MORE "POPISH TRASH" CONFISCATED AND BURNT — THE PRIVY COUNCIL SCANDALIZED BY THE CONTINUED ADHERENCE OF THE MAXWELL FAMILY TO THE ROMISH FAITH — PROCEEDINGS OF THE COUNCIL IN OTHER CASES OP CONTUMACY — LORD AND LADY HERRIES, THE COUNTESS OF NITHSDALE, AND OTHERS THEIR CO-RELIGIONISTS EXCOMMUNICATED BY THE SYNOD fiF DUMFRIES. It has been repeatedly observed, that the Reformation made at first slow progress in Dumfries. By the beginning of the seventeenth century, however, Protestantism was greatly in the ascendant, nearly all the inhabitants professing it, and only a few, chiefly of the upper ranks, adhering to the proscribed faith. Not only had the Dumfriesians become Protestant, but, as we have seen, intensely Presbyterian, and, as such, hating Episco- palianism nearly as much as Popery. Detesting the Prelatical measures which Charles I. tried to thrust upon the country, they rejoiced when the public voice and the General Assembly put the Service-book and its accompaniments under ban. After the Presbyterian form of religion had been established, the old Roman Catholic place of worship — St. Michael's — was constituted the parish church of Dumfries: Mr. Hugh Fullerton was it.s first minister, Mr. Thomas Ramsay its second minister, Mr. James Hamilton was the third, and Mr. Hugh Henderson (settled in 1648) was the fourtli. It was not till 1657 that the officiating minister had a colleague appointed to him, so that for nearly a hundred years after tlio Reformation the spiritual oversight of the Burgh and Pari.sh devolved upon one incumbent; HISTOfiY OF DUMFRIES. 415 but, as we shall afterwards see, he was supported by a large and active staff of laymen. In the year above named the Town Council consulted the inhabitants on the propriety of obtaining the services of a second minister; and at a meeting on the 26th of September, they " having before thair eyes the glorie of God, the propaga- tioune of the gospell, and the putting downe of sin and iniquitie in this place, and considering that it is impossible for ony one minyster to dyscharge all the dewties of the ministrie to this populous and numerous congreggatioune," they " with consent of the hail comunalitie," and the requirements of the Presbytery and Synod, " resolvit iinanimouslie with all diligens to set about the calling of ane helper and coUeigue" to the incumbent, Mr. Hill. At the same sitting the Council granted a thousand merks Scots as annual stipends to the assistant, and by their signatures to the minute gave legal effect to the agreement it embodied. An entry in the Session record, dated 19th July, 1646, shows, that oh that day several elders and deacons were ordained; and about this period there appear to have been twenty-one elders and eighteen deacons officiating in the burghal, and ten of both in the landward part of the Parish. These lay office-bearers were specially entrusted with the exercise of church discipline : for this purpose they took strict cognizance of Sabbath-breakers, profane swearers, drunkards, and transgressors of the seventh commandment; and so many cases occurred that meetings of Session were held every Monday and Friday afternoon, at which they were disposed of We may think that they and the ministers of the time often overstretched their authority, and interfered with matters which they ought not to have meddled* with. Undoubtedly, they were at times guilty of intolerance; but there is abundant evidence to show that they honestly acted out their convictions, and, according to the light given to them, endeavoured to restrain iniquity^ and render the people of the Paiish God- fearing and moral. In this work, as we have said, the church courts were actively assisted by the civil magistrates; and, between both, the inhabitants were in danger of suffering from too much law — though we must not overlook the circumstance, 416 HISTOBY OF DUMFRIES. that the long wars which roughened society, and the laxity pre- vailins in the pre-Befoitnation period, had left their traces upon the people so that a severity approaching to despotism was per- haps needed to keep them in check. At all events, the rulers, clerical and municipal, felt themselves called upon to put down vice with a high hand ; and the means they adopted for this purpose are strikingly illustrative of the spirit of the times. Some specimens of the actings of the Town Council in matters religious as well as secular have already been given. Let us now look at the Session and Presbytery in the mirror of their own minutes. At a meeting of the Session on the 19th of October, 1654, elders were ordered "to attend the four parts of the burgh ilka Wednesday, from twa till sax," bailies being elders excepted, "in respect of the great affairs that occur to them on market days;" and these ecclesiastical con- stables, when going their rounds, were enjoined to take note of all persons " found drunk or scandalous," and, " if they have ane officer with them," to take such offenders into custody, " there to remain during the bailie's pleasure." The power to impose civil penalties was possessed and exercised by the Session: they could fine and imprison, as well as excommunicate. Any one brought before the Session, found guilty of swearing or blaspheming in the streets, might be mulcted in two shilhngs, or sent to jaU for twenty-four hours. Adultery was sometimes punished by the forfeiture of two or more ddlars; but two persons who had sinned in this way were, on the 15th of October, 1635, ordained "to sit seven Sundays in sackcloth, and to stand the first and last Sabbath at the church door barefooted;" and a third, on another occasion, for a similar offence, was adjudged to pay one dollar, and wear the gorgets on Sabbath, between the second and latter bell, with "ane paper upon her head," announcing the nature of her guilt. On the 2nd of February, 1654, a man caught playing at cards on a Saturday, was required to pay twelve shillings to the iSuKsioii troiLsurcr. Persons guilty of slander were made to Htand at the kirk-.stile on Sabbatli, with the branks upon their mouths muzzling the unruly member; eallei-s of bad names wort. f Burgli Records. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 443 no interest; and that ane Act of Parliament be extended in favour of both parties, giving them right to the said Custome and Imposition, as the same has been in use to be uplifted, according to the division above written. In witness qhereof, the Earl of Queensberry and Commissioners for the Shyre, and the Provost of Dunfries for tlie Burgh, has subscribit thir presents at Edinburgh, the 15th Sepr., 1681. Sic subr., Queensberry. W. Craik, for the Burgh."* This agreement, with other documents bearing on the ques- tion, having been laid before the Duke of Athole, as Lord High Commissioner, and the Lords of the Articles, they recommended Parliament to sanction the same. The result appears in the following minute: — "Edinburgh, I7th Septr., 1681. — His Royal Highness, His Majestie's High Commissioner, and Estates of Parliament, haveing considered the within written petition and report forsaid, doe approve of the said report, and appoint ane act to be extended conforme thereto. Sic subr., Athole,- Jpd. par."t An Act of Parliament, in accordance with this recommenda- tion, was forthwith passed, which, whilst it put a veto upon an unauthorized assumption on the part of the Burgh, placed its rightful claims to the bridge custom on an unassailable basis.:}: The houses, at the period we speak of, were rude and poorly furnished; but stone had in a great degree superseded timber for their construction, and it was chiefly obtained from a quarry belonging to the town, situated in what is now a beautiful garden at Castledykes, and from which the burgesses were at liberty to take, for a trifling charge, as much material as they required. There must have been few masons settled in the Burgh in 1665, since the Town Council, that year, were under the necessity of sending for a quarrier to Carlaverock to "wyn" stones for them before they could erect a new meal market § which they had resolved to build, and which in due time arose * Burgh Records. t Ibid. t Appendix I. § On the 20th of June, 1662, the Town Council ordained that the Commis- sioner to Parliament should be reimbursed for the expenses incurred by him " in getting a warrand from the Parliament to build ane meal mercat;" and they resolved to impose "four lib. Scots on everie sack of meal" sent into it for sale. 444 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES, Oil a site north of the Tolbootli. There would, however, be no difficulty in getting any smaller public structures or private houses erected by resident workmen. A fish cross, which cost just £39 17s. 2d. Scots, was built, in or about 1640, by Herbert Anderson — a native mason, we infer from his name. His charge amounted to £13 6s. 8d.; and among other items in the account there are £3 10s. to Henry Logan, quarrier, for " 70 draught of stanes, some of them great lang stanes;" and £5 5s. to Thomas Crocket and George Blunt, carters, for leading the same from the quarry to the Cross. Glass for windows was a rare luxury, restricted to ecclesiastical houses and the mansions of the affluent. The Council, in 1666, contracted with a Glasgow glazier to supply glass for St. Michael's Church at the rate of six shillings Scots per foot ; and inasmuch as there was " no glassier in this countrie," they encouraged him to com- mence business amongst them by making him a freeman of the Burgh.* Postal communication of a regular kind was begun in the district in 1642. That year a rebellion raged in Ireland; and the English Parliament, wishing to keep up a closer intercourse with the troops sent to cope with it, arranged with commis- sioners from Scotland to establish a line of posts between Edinburgh and Portpatrick, and between Portpatrick and Carlisle. To Robert Glencorse, merchant in Dumfries, was assigned the duty of making the necessary arrangements — Robert himself having the good luck to be installed as the first postmaster of the Burgh, his charge extending twelve Scots miles to the town of Annan. The other appointments were : " Mark Loch, betwix Carlisle and Annan, twelve mile ; Andrew M'Min, betwix Dumfries and Steps of Orr, twelve mile; Ninian Mure, betwix the Steps of Orr and Gatehouse of Fleet, twelf mile ; George Bell, from thence to the Pethhouse, eleven mile ; John Baillie, from thence to the Kirk of Glenluce, thirteen mile; and John M'Kaig, from that to the Port, ten mile." These persons were looked upon as " the only ones fit for that employment, as being innkeepers and of approved }ione,sty."t Up till J6U4, however, there was no direct postal connection ♦ 'I'own ('(inncil Miniitcm. f Privy Council Keconls. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 445 between Dumfries and the capital ; the inconvenience arising from which being much felt, a committee of the magistrates was appointed, in December of that year, "to establish a constant foot-poast to go weikly betwixt this and Edinburgh, to appoynt his selarie, and consider quhat sail be payit for the post of lettres."* We thus see that, even in the stormy period of the Persecution, the material interests of the town were not altogether retrogressive — a circumstance that may partly be attributed to the favourable harvest seasons which marked the reign of Charles II., and to which the Jacobites afterwards made a boastful reference: — ' ' When I see the corn growin' green on the rigs, And a gallows set up to hang the Whigs." * Town Council Minutes. CHAPTER XXXIV. INGRATITUDE AND TREACHERY OF CHARLES II.— HE OVERTHROWS THE PRES- BYTERIAN CHURCH, RE-ESTABLISHES EPISCOPACY, AND PROSCRIBES THE COVENANTS — DOINGS OF THE DRUNKEN PARLIAMENT — ADDRESS OF THE DUMFRIES PRESBYTERY TO THE KING ON HIS RESTORATION — THE STATUS OF THE PRESBYTERY DESTROYED — THE COVENANTING ELEMENT PURGED FROM THE TOWN COUNCIL — EXODUS OP FOUR HUNDRED NON-CONFORMING MINIS- TERS FROM THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH — HUGH HENDERSON, THE PARISH MINISTER OF DUMFRIES, RESIGNS HIS CHARGE — POPULAR DISLIKE OF AND OPPOSITION TO GEORGE CHALMERS, HIS SUCCESSOR — BESSIE HARPER REPUDI- ATES HIS MINISTRY, AND IS PUNISHED FOR IT BY THE TOWN COUNCIL — HEAVY PENALTIES IMPOSED FOR NON-ATTENDANCE AT CHURCH — THE TOWN COUNCIL CELEBRATE THE ANNIVERSARY OF "HIS MAJESTIE'S WONDERFULL RESTORA- TIONB" — MILITARY PRECAUTIONS AGAINST DISTURBANCES — RISE OF ARMED CONVENTICLES — INCREASE OF COERCIVE MEASURES — DUMFRIESSHIRE AND OTHER DISAFFECTED DISTRICTS PLACED UNDER THE RULE OF SIB JAMES TURNER— PERSECUTION OF MR. BLACKADDER, MINISTER OF TROQUEER — RIOT IN IRONGRAY AT THE SETTLEMENT OF A CURATE. Before the monarchy had been many months restored, both England and Scotland began to see that the event which they had hailed with enthusiasm ought rather to have been mourned over and deplored. Charles had learned no wisdom from ad- versity: he returned from exile hardened in his selfishness, debauched in his morals — resolved, in the teeth of his pro- mises, to set up an absolute political sovereignty, and to claim unqualified supremacy in spiritual affairs. The Scottish Presbyterians had done him good service, for which he owed them gratitude and support : but he hated the views they held in regard to the royal power and the rights of the Church; and he could not brook their doctrines so sternly exactive, and which were a standing remonstrance against the immoralities which his personal example and encouragement had brought in like a flood. His agents for enforcing passive obedience and overturning HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 447 Presbyterianism were the Earl of Middleton, whom he ap- pointed King's Commissioner, and James Sharpe, who was made Archbishop of St. Andrews — the chief dignitary of the Epis- copate which was introduced as soon as the old system was subverted. A packed Parliament, opened at Edinburgh in January, 1661, accomplished what Charles I. had for years attempted without success. In a series of sweeping decrees they annulled and overthrew those venerable institutions and wholesome enactments which their royal master and most of themselves had sworn to maintain inviolate. They conferred on the King the right of nominating to all civil offices; of summoning conventions, parliaments, and public assemblies; and of putting a veto on the renewal of the National Cove- nants. They passed an Act which, in its preamble, states that " the ordering and disposal of the external government and policy of the Church doth properly belong unto his Majesty as an inherent right of the Crown, in virtue of his royal preroga- tive and supremacy in causes ecclesiastical;" and the measure itself restored the "state of bishops" to "their ancient places and undoubted privileges in Parliament, and to all their other accustomed dignities, privileges, and jurisdictions." They next condemned and rescinded "all Acts of Parliament or Council which might be interpreted to have given any church power, jurisdiction, or government, to the office-bearers of the Church, other than that which acknowledgeth a dependence upon, and subordination to, the sovereign power of the King as supreme;" and, by way of corollary to these tyrannical decrees, the Covenanted Reformation, and all that was done for its accom- plishment from 1638 to 1650, were declared to be treasonable and rebellious, the Covenants were cancelled "as in themselves unlawful oaths," and all such leagues or bonds were denounced as illegal. This Convention of the Estates has come to be known as the Drunken Parliament: a fitting name for it, whether we look to the personal conduct of its members — not a few of whom, Middleton included, caroused and legislated at the same time — or to their measures, which were wild with the frenzy of intemperance. And these bacchanalian senators— sad to say!— shed blood as well as wine. Lest the murmurs that arose 448 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. against their iniquitous proceedings should find vent in open mutiny, the supporters of the Covenant were fined, imprisoned, and some of its chiefs put to death — the great Argyle being the principal victim. Dumfries rejoiced, with all Scotland, "when the King came back to his own again." The Town Council voted congratu- latory addresses ; and the Kirk Session set apart a day of thanksgiving, in that "the Lord hath re.stored the King to his throne," and "taken power out of the hand of the sectary," and that the Word of God "is yet standing, in defiance of all the opposition it hath met with." On the 31st of October, 1660, the Presbytery of Dumfries took into consideration a letter sent by Charles to the metropolitan Presbytery, professing the most devoted affection for the Scottish Church, and his resolu- tion to maintain and defend it. Regarding this royal epistle the Presbytery sent a communication as follows: — "We cannot but count our selves obleged to glorify the Lord our God, who hath put such pious resolutions in the heart of our King, as to discountenance and suppress profanity, and maintain Presby- terial government in this kingdom, as it is established by law, without violation, and to protect and encourage the ministers of the gospel in the due and faithful exercise of their ministry. As for our pairts, we resolve, by the grace of God, to watch in our stations, with Christian sobriety and faithfulness, and to promote his Majestie's just authority and greatness within our bounds, being strictly bound thereto by our constant engage- ment, and shall make conscience, privately and publicly, to pray for the preservation of his Majestie's person; and, as his Majestie's letter bears, we do also resolve to protect and pre- serve the gov' of this Church of Scotland, as it is settled by law, without violation, and government of his kingdom, that his heart may be enlarged as the sand of the sea shore, and filled with all royal endowments and graces for the advance- ment of religion and righteousness, that we may live a peaceable and quiet life, in all godliness and honesty, ^Wm. Hay, Moderator."* So wrcite tlio reverend fathers, in the simplicity of their licarts. Soon afterwards the ukase of the sovereign, in whose " rro.il)yter\' Rooorrls, HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 449 good faith they had placed firm reliance, destroyed their legal status as a spiritual court, and made them personally liable to persecution unless they abjured the principles which he, in common with themselves, had sworn to uphold. The Town Council records bear ample evidence at this time of the terrible reaction brought about by a bad king and his ready satellites. What a change! Dumfries was emphati- cally an independent and covenanted Burgh; but now we begin to find in the minutes uncouth signatures endorsing a slavish oath of allegiance, and an entire repudiation of the National Covenant, the Solemn League, and. all treaties or bonds of a similar import. On the 2nd of October, 1660, according to annual custom, four merchants were elected councillors, in room of the same number who retired ; and seven tradesmen, deacons of their respective corporations, were also added to the Council, in place of the deacons who had gone out of office. Thus partially made up anew, the Council elected magistrates for the ensuing year; and, significant of the revolution at headquarters. Provost Robert Graham, who had acted as such during nearly the whole of the Protectorate, was passed over, though anxious for a new lease of power, and John Irving,* treasurer, who was considered to be more acceptable to Middleton, was placed in the civic chair. But not only was it necessary that the chief magistrate should be of the Government pattern — the members of Council must also be made conformable to it. Accordingly, on the 16th of April, the Council took into consideration a letter they had received from the subservient Convention of Burghs, intended to instruct them in the mode of purging the corpora- tion, so as that it should come to be made up exclusively of ultra-Royalists. It is gratifying to find that the people of the town had some true and stanch representatives in the local parliament, who refused to take the oath and to subscribe the declaration. Out, however, they had to go; and no very great difficulty seems to have been experienced in supplying the place of these doughty Whigs by phant burgesses, who, like the * The Irvinga of Bonshaw and Drum took the Royalist and anti-Presbyterian side in the reigns of Charles I. and II. ; and their relatives in Dumfries did the same. 3k 450 HISTOEY OF DUMFRIES. Vicar of Bray, were ready to make any concessions for the sake of office. On the following day (I7th April) the clerk was instructed to answer the letter from the Convention; and in so doing he set forth the steps that had been taken to obey the require- ments of that body. We thus learn that, at the first meeting of the Council on the subject, "the said oath and acknowledge- ment being read, was by some few accepted, and by the most part refused;" that at a second meeting, held next day, "some of the refusers did then, upon better consideration, give obedience ;" that at a third meeting, on the third day, " some few more did take the oath and sign the acknowledgement foresaid," but that two bailies and divers councillors continued contumacious, the former of whom had since been superseded, and the vacancies filled up; and that eventually the Council had been completed in a satisfactory way, all the members "having asserted his Majestie's prerogative under their hand," and complied with the other conditions of office.* The men of the Trades, too, who loved the Covenant, and detested the new order of things, murmured loudly, and threatened to be trouble- some. Foremost among the malcontents were certain smiths or hammermen, and glovers,t who, when others of their number chose Conformist deacons, held meetings, and elected chiefs of their own stamp ; and it seemed as if the latter would at one time have taken their places in the Town Council by force. Forthwith, Stephen Irving, one of the new bailies, and another magistrate, were despatched to Edinburgh to apprise the Privy Council of this audacious procedure. Armed with instructions, the nature of which may be guessed at, the bailies returned ; and in the course of a few weeks afterwards three of the clamorous hammermen publicly confessed they had sinned in ignorance, that they were sorry for their fault, prayed for forgiveness, and engaged to be more circumspect in future, t We hear no more of the smiths' opposition ; and we suppose * Town Council Minutes. + It will be seen that a member of this corporation — James Galium — took a leading part in the armed outbreak which soon afterwards occurred against the fjovernmcnt. :|: Town Council Minutes. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 451 both they and their fellow-craftsmen, the glovers, were subdued, if not converted. At a Privy Council meeting held in Glasgow on the 1st of October, 1662, a blow was struck which destroyed all the few faint remaining vestiges of religious liberty in Scotland. That body, by way of supplementing the deeds of the Drunken ParUament, passed a resolution requiring all the ministers who had been ordained from the year 1649, to take out a presenta- tion from the patrons, and receive collation from the bishops ; in other words, to renounce Presbyterianism and accept Epis- copacy — extrusion from their parishes to be the penalty of non-compliance. Four hundred — fully one-third of the entire clergy of the Church of Scotland — gave up their churches, manses, and stipends, rather than submit to this outrageous mandate: braved the winter's blast, the prospects of want, of persecution — which many of them, alas! had to endure to the death — rather than purchase immunity and ease by sacrificing their Christian rights. The lapse of less than twenty years had brought with it a state of affairs that contrasted sadly with the time when the Covenant had its potent war committees and its triumphant armies: after the defeat at Dunbar, the latter never recovered their prestige; and Presbytery, long robustly militant, now appears as a hunted wanderer, weak and weaponless, sorrowful and forlorn. "By the 1st of November, 1662, in the five western counties, through Mid-Lothian and Fife, in the dales of the Nith and Annan, and Esk; in the uplands of the Tweed and the Teviot; in short, through all the Lowlands, wherever there was religious feeling, the darkness of night and the silence of death fell upon the churches." * At this time, Mr. Hugh Henderson, formerly of Dairy, was still the parish minister of Dumfries. He had laboured faith- fully in the town and district fourteen years, and was deservedly beloved by the people of his charge. What of that ? He was a devoted, uncompromising Presbyterian; it was morally impossible for him to renounce his convictions and accept a system which he loathed : no alternative remained to him, therefore, but to bid a tearful farewell to his flock. There is a trace of rough pathos in the reference made to this subject in the Town Council * DocMs's Fifty Yeara' Struggle, p. 125. 452 HISTORY OI' DUMFRIES. books. That body, though submissive to the Government, were attached to the minister, who had, in happier times, been the people's devoted spiritual guide ; and the affection they bore to him is breathed in the record — the usual dry conventional style of the minutes being in this instance departed from. We subjoin the entry very slightly modernized: — "11th October, 1662. — The Council considdering that the Erll of Middletoun, his Matie's [Majesty's] Commissioner for the part of this king- dome, hath dischargit Mr. Hugh Henderson from preaching within this brugh, thairfoir they have enacted that thai presentlie at their removing from the tolbooth, all in one body, and with one hart and desyre, to goe deall with and earnestlie to beseatch the said Mr, Hugh Henderson, that he would give satisfactioune unto the said Lord Commissioner in his grace's desyres, that they be not frustrat of his ministrie; and to declair their grief and sorrow for the loss of a minister to quhom they are so affectionatt, in cais of his refuisall." The entreaties of the Council were of no avail: Mr. Henderson left Dumfries,* and was succeeded in his ministerial office by Mr. George Chalmers, who proved anything but acceptable to the inhabitants. Mr. Henderson had made himself so obnoxious to the Privy Council that they levelled a special Act against him, which would have taken effect even if he had not been included within the sweep of the more general measure. According to Wodrow, the ministers of the Dumfries Presbyteries extruded * At this time there wp,s no manse for the parish minister ; but a house was rented by the Burgh for his use, as shown by the following document: — "Acompt with Mr. Hew Henderson for the yeirly rent of his house from the tearme of Martinmas, 1648, which was his entrie to Dumfrise uutiU this cnsewing tearme of Whitsunday, 1658, being in all the space of nine yeirs and ane half, in which yeirs he possessed ane house belonging to Mr. John Corsan, for the space of foure yeirs and an half, 100 marks yeirly, the rent ^viU be for that apace 450 marks. Also, he possessed an Iiouae belonginge to John Newall for fy ve yearis come Whitsunday of the said space, at 80 marks yeirly — 4(10 marks. Suma for the said space of 9 yearis 850 mai-ks. Paid him as fallows; — Bo William Walls, treasurer, for ane year, 100 mai'ks ; out of the tytho (1048), 100 marks; Bo Patrick "S'ouuge, be oi-der of the Counsel, 100 marks; He Baillie Cunningliame, lie John Newall, be order of the Counsel, 100 miii-kH ; Bond (^r.iutod to Mr. Hew, 'J70 marks:" in all 676 merks, leaving a lialanec of 17'! merks, which was paid to the liiiuister, he signing the discharge. — Burgh lifroriU. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 453 alongst with him, or soon afterwards, for non-compliance with the Glasgow Act, were George Campbell of Dumfries (who was married to a daughter of Mr. Henderson's, and was ordained as his colleague in 1658),* John Campbell of Torthorwald, William Shaw of Garran, William Hay of Holywood, Robert Archibald of Dunscore, John Welsh of Irongray, Robert Paton of Terregles, John Blackadder of Troqueer, Anthony Murray of Kirkbean, William Mein of Lochrutton, Alexander Smith of Colvend, and Gabriel Semple of Kirkpatrick-Durham. A few ministers — William Macgeorge of Carlaverock, Francis Irving of Kirkmahoe, George Gladstones of Urr, and James Maxwell of Kirkgunzeon — received the modified punishment of being restricted to their respective parishes; and we only read of two belonging to the Presbytery who absolutely conformed, namely, Ninian Paterson, whose charge is not given, and John Brown of Tinwald. f In due course, Mr. George Chalmers commenced his ministry in St. Michael's : though, when he introduced the Service-book, no wrathful Jenny Geddes started up to oppose the innovation, the pews — chairs, rather, there being nothing but movable seats in the church at that time — were half deserted ; and one Bessie Harper expressed a pretty general feeling when she reproached two individuals whom she saw going to the preach- ing, by saying, " It seems the word of God which they have heard formerlie had taken little ruit in their hearts, seeing they were going to heir one that preaches against the trew word of God." Rash words these, though possibly very truthful; and the same outspoken dame was heard to declare defiantly, "that though the magistrats of Drumfreis would hurle her upon a cairt, she should nevir heir one sermone of this present * Among the Burgh records there is the following letter from Mr. Campbell — about the last receipt he wrote for his stipends in Dumfries :— " I, Mr. George CampbeU, minister of Drumfrise, grants me to have received f ra James Kennan, merchant burgess of the said Burgh, in name of the magistrats, Toune Counsell, and communitie, the sum of five hundredth and fourtie merks Scots money for my proportion of stipend and manse money, for the terme of Martinmas fiftie- nine ; and I doe by these presents discharge the saide magistrats, Toune Counsell, and Communitie of the said sum, &c. In witness quhereof I have subscribed these presents with my hand at Drumfrise, the 20 of April, 1660 years. — Geo: Campbell." t Wodrow, vol. i., p. 326. 454 HISTORY Oli" DUMFRIES. minister." For these treasonable statements the poor woman was tried by the Town Council, on the 10th of November, and, on conviction, fined in twenty pounds Scots, with the alter- native of lying in prison till the money was paid, or of banishing herself perpetually from the Burgh.* Next day the town drummer startled the lieges by announc- ing in the streets, that inasmuch as divers persons continued to de.spise the order of the Council to attend service on the Lord's day, " to the great skandell of the gospell and breache of the Sabbath," it is now enacted that every master and mistress of a family within the Burgh, being in health, who shall wilfully absent themselves from the kirk on Sabbath shall be fined for each day's absence in forty shillings Scots, and each servant who shall go out of the town on that day shall be fined in six shillings Scots.f There is a good deal of the Pharisee, as well as of the persecutor, in this intimation: the Burgh authorities, at the bidding of Middleton, supersede the popular Presbyterian preacher by a time-serving Prelatist, and yet hypocritically profess to be actuated by a holy zeal for Sabbath observance, and a jealous regard for the honour of the Gospel, when they threaten those with vengeance who refrain from hearing a minister who is repugnant to them, and from taking part in a service which they utterly, and from conscientious motives, detest. In another more telling way still, some of the good Cove- nanters of the Burgh testified against the tyranny of the times. Parents who had children to be baptized carried them to " the secret places of the hills," or the solitary glens, where the outed ministers were hiding, that the sacred ceremony might be performed in Nature's own temple, and according to the simple ritual of the Presbyterian Church. Such conduct being deemed intolerable by Provost Irving and his colleagues, they resolved, if possible, to put it down. Again the town-crier lifted up his voice to announce in the market-place that the inhabitants must not only attend the curate's ministry, but that he, and he alone, was the recognized administrator of the sacraments, and that those who poured contempt upon him by getting their infants baptized in the country, would be subject * Town Council Minutes, t IWd. . HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 455 to a heavy penalty, varying from ten pounds Scots, on such as were worth less than five hundred merks yearly, to one hundred merks payable by rich offenders.* In the year 1662, the fines levied for nonconformity in the County amounted to £164,200 Scots,! John Laurie of M^axwel- ton suffering to the extent of £3,600 ; from James Muirhead, merchant, Dumfries, was exacted no less a sum than £1,000 ; Eobert Wallace, merchant there, had to pay £600 ; James Moffat, merchant there, £300 ; John Ewart, John Gilchrist, and John Copland, all burgesses, £360 each; James Callum, glover, £300; and John Short and John Maitland, also members of this un- compromising craft, were mulcted in £240 each for (figuratively) throwing down the glove to Middleton, the dictator. The imposition of Prelacy in this high-handed fashion, as a result of King Charles's recall, was a bitter draught to the Dumfriesians ; and, to give it a greater infusion of gall, they were forced to go through the farce of rendering public thanks for the altered state of affairs. On the 25th of May, 1663, the Council met brimming with loyalty, and on sanctimonious deeds intent. The minute informs us that they called to mind that the twenty-ninth of May was approaching, the eventful day which Parliament had ordered to be set apart for thanks and praise, "in commemoratioune of his Majestie's wonderfull resto- ratione, by God's blyssing, to his crown and kingdomes;" and that, therefore, not simply in obedience to the Act, " but from ther awin trew sense of God's mercie therein, they do ordain and command all the inhabitants of this Burgh" to attend the magistrates, at eight o'clock on the morning of the 29th, on the Upper Sandbed, " and thereafter accompany the said magistrats unto the kirk of this burgh, and ther to heir sermone ; with certificatioune to all such as sail not give punctuall obedience to this Act, they sail pay ten merkes of fyne unforgevin.''^ About this period it would seem as if the authorities, afraid of disturbances, had taken special means to have such burgesses as they could fairly trust, better armed than usual. A partial list has been preserved of " the guns and partizans belonging to the town," on the 22nd of September, 1662, which contains * Town Council Minutes. t Wodrow, vol. i., p. 273. t Town Council Minutes. 456 HISTORY OF DUMFEIES. . the names of seventy-three persons, with the figure 1 attached to each, the document closing thus : — "The Counsell ordaines Thomas Irving, bailie, to goe along with Jon Mertine, treasurer, to the houses of all the persons of the list above written, who dwell betwixt the Kirkgate port and Castlegaitt, on the west syde of the towne, and to delyver to each person, or leave at their houses, ane firelock-gun; and appoynt Stephan Irving, bailie [the indefatigable Stephen], to goe throw with the said treasurer the rest of the town, and to leave one of the said pieces at everie one of the houses according to the said list, and • to intimate unto them they are to pay 8 Kb. 10 sh. to the treasurer for ilk piece of them, to be payit within fyftein days under the pein of imprisonment."* It may be inferred, from subsequent events, that, in spite of the edicts against nonconformity, not a few influential burgesses of the town, and farmers in the landward part of the Parish, systematically absented themselves from St. Michael's Church, and were subjected to fines and imprisonment on that account. Passive resistance of a similar kind was extensively practised throughout the south and west of Scotland; and the stringent measures taken by the Government to overcome it, increased the disaffection, till the country seemed to be on the brink of insurrection. Armed conventicles now began to spring up; and, for the purpose of crushing them and enforcing implicit sub- mission on the people, the standing army — raised to 3,000 infantry, and eight troops of cavalry — was sent into the insubor- dinate districts, with orders to maintain itself by fines, and free quarters exacted from Nonconformists. To Sir Thomas Dalziel of Binns — a fierce, unscrupulous savage — was assigned the chief command of this coercive host; and he found a congenial sub- ordinate in Sir James Turner, an unprincipled soldier of fortune who had once professed zeal for the Covenant, and now readily placed his sword at the disposal of the Government, t As time * Burgh Records, f His approaohlng visit to Dumfries was intimated to the Town Council on the 6th of Juno, 1666, on which day the Provost produced a letter "fraSir James Turner for provyding quarter for himself and his officers and souldiers, quho are to be heir about the first of July nixt.-" upon which the Council appointed a committee " to ili-.aw and lift of the brewara and other's fitting for ther quarters." HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. ■t57 rolled on it brought new rigours; and by 1666 the reign of terror instituted by the Privy Council had reached a stage of refinement and perfection not previously attained. The Earl of Lauderdale had succeeded Middleton as King's Commissioner. His chief colleague in the administration was Archbishop Sharpe: the one was the complement of the other; and between both, a despotism in all civil and religious matters was set up such as Scotland had never suffered from before. A secret, irresponsible tribunal, called the Court of High Com- mission, was formed by them and their minions, on the model of the Spanish Inquisition, which set aside all forms of justice; acted independently of accusers, witnesses, and defenders ; impoverished rich offenders by merciless exactions; filled the prisons with poorer recusants, whilst its armed emissaries scoured the country for the double purpose of keeping the Court in work, and of foreclosing, if possible, the threatened outbreak of popular vengeance. Ayrshire, Dumfriesshire, and Galloway formed the district as- signed to Sir James Turner, in which to carry out the measures of the Court. No arbitrary junto could have had a-fitter or more faithful servant. To do him justice, he does not seem to have been gratuitously cruel. If suspected persons quietly conformed, he did not punish them to excess; but woe to the wilful, obstinate deserters from the parish churches, and fre^ quenters of conventicles! In such cases he was utterly ruthless — his plea being, that as a soldier he was bound in duty to obey orders. He found the intruded curates useful assistants. Mr. Chalmers, of Dumfries, and others similarly situated, sup- plied to Sir James the names of non-attenders on their ministry, who, when found, were fined forthwith ; and if they could not pay the money, they were sent to jail, or if they would not, some of his soldiers were quartered upon them till their contumacy was overcome. The following minute, dated 5th September, 1670, shows the part taken by the town authorities in this coercive work: — "The Counsall being informed that there is a company of foot and a partie of hors appoynted to quarter in this burgh, which is occasioned by several inhabitants who doe not frequent the ordinances, it is therefoir enacted that such as are able and have never as yitt come to the churche of this 3 L 458 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. burgh to hear the service of the minister, shall have sex foot soldiers quartered upon them, or two hora." The case of Mr. John Blackadder, minister of Troqueer — a parish that is separated from Dumfries by the river Nith — ^may be noticed as an example of the way in which the Glasgow Act was enforced by Turner and his men. They were not satisfied with ejecting him from his parish, but wished to subject him to fine or imprisonment; and he, aware of their designs, rode to Caitloch in Glencaim, for the purpose of securing a safe residence for himself and family beyond the bounds of the Presbytery. Next day (Sabbath), a party of soldiers crossed the bridge, and, proceeding to Troqueer manse, behaved with characteristic insolence to Mrs. Blackadder and her children. One of them, a boy,* told the story of the troopers' unwelcome visit in the following simple words: — "A party of the King's life-guard of horse, called Blew-benders, came from Dumfries to Troqueer to search for and apprehend my father, but found him not; for what occasion I know not — whether he stayed beyond the set day for transporting himself and numerous family of small children ten miles from his parish church, or because he was of the number of those who refused to observe the 29th of May. So soon as the above party entered the close, and came into the house, with cursing, swearing, and damning, we that were the children were frightened out of our little wits, and ran up stairs, and I among them; who, when I heard them all roaring in the room below, like so many breathing devils, I had the childish ctiriosity to get down upon my belly and peep through a hole in the floor above them, to see what monsters of creatures they were; and it seems they were monsters indeed for cruelty, for one of them perceiving what I was doing, immediately drew his sword, and forced it up with all his force where I was peeping, so that the mai'k of the point was scarce an inch from the hole, though no thanks to the murdering ruffian who designed to run it through my eye. Immediately after, we were forced to pack up bag and baggatch, and to remove to Glencairn, ten miles from Troqueer. We who were the children were put into cadgers' creels, where one of ns cried out, coming tlirow the Bridgend of Dumfries, 'Im * Afterwards Dr. Blnokadilcr, a clistinguished physician. HISTOEY OF DUMFRIES. 459 banisht! I'm bauisht!' One happened to ask, 'Who has banisht ye, my bairn?' He answered, 'Byte-the-sheephas baniaht me.'" Even when removed from his parish, the outed clergyman got no rest for the sole of his foot. Byte-the-sheep Turner tracked Blackadder with the stealthiness of a ravening wolf; but, on entering the family fold in Glencairn, he again missed the object of his search, the minister having gone that very day to seek a place of securer refuge elsewhere.* He was eventually captured, however, and died on the Bass, after five years' imprisonment, in December, 1685. In the same year as the soldiers' raid upon Troqueer manse (1663), the settlement of Mr. Bernard Sanderson as curate of IrongTay caused a great deal of commotion in the latter parish. The people could not bear the idea of seeing their devoted pastor, Mr. Welsh, superseded by one of whom they knew nothing, except that he was the nominee of the arbitrary Privy Council, and a Prelatist. To Mr. John Wishart was assigned the duty of introducing the new minister, but the parishioners refused to receive either of them, and on Sanderson again applying for admission, he brought with him a retinue of soldiers, thinking thereby to overawe any opposition that might be offered. When the party drew near the church, they received a rough gTeeting from a shower of stones thrown over the churchyard wall by a crowd of women, led on to the crusade by a humble heroine, named Margaret Smith. They had laid in beforehand a large store of missiles, and used them with such effect that the minister and his men, armed though the latter were, faltered in their resolution to force an entrance; and fairly gave up the attempt when they saw other irate parishioners of the rougher sex flourishing swords, and heard one of them, as he set his back to the door of the sacred edifice, daring them for their lives to settle a curate in Irongray that day. The occurrence of this popular tumult, and of a similar one at Kirkcudbright about the same time, so enraged the Privy Council, that they appointed a commission, consisting of the Earls of Linlithgow, Galloway, and Annandale, Lord Drumlan- rig, and Sir John Wauchope of Niddry, to proceed to the * Criohton's Life of Blackadder, pp. 130-2. 400 HlSTOllY OF DUMFRIES. south, and take the requisite steps for bringing the offenders to jtisticc. The commissioners sat at Dumfries when inquiring into the Irongray case, and on the 30th of May, 1663, reported upon it in these terms : — " In pursuance of the commission as to the trial of the abuse lately at Irongray, we caused cite before us "William Arnot of Littlepark, George Rome of Beoch, and several other persons said to be concerned therein; and after we had examined witnesses, we found that there had been several unlawful convocations of the people of that place, for the opposing of the admission of Mr. Bernard Sanderson to be preacher at the said parish, especially against the serving of his edict, and thereby hindering Mr. John Wisheart to preach, who was to have admitted the said Mr. Bernard. By the said depositions, we find that the said William Arnot did keep several meetings before the tumult; and that when he was desired and required by the messengers who went to serve the edict, to assist to hold the women of them, he declared he neither could nor would do it, that he drew his sword, and set his back to the kirk door, and said, ' Let me see who will place a minister here this day!' Therefore we find him guilty of the said tumult, and ordain him to be sent into Edinburgh under a guard. We find George Rome of Beoch accessory, as being present upon the place, and not concurring for compescing of the tumult, and ordain him to go to prison until he find caution, under five thousand merks, to appear before the Council when called. And as to the rest of the persons, we find there hath been a great convocation and tumult of women ; but by reason there is no special probation of any persons particulai-ly miscarrying, more than these being there present at the tumult, we thought fit to ordain the whole party of horse and foot to be quartered upon the said parish of Irongray, upon free quarters, until Monday next ; and that the whole heritors of the said parish give bond, upon the penalty of one hundred pounds sterling, for their future loyal good behaviour: And recommendod to the Sheriff of Nidsdale to apprehend and try some who had not compeared, and report to the Parliament or Council, betwixt and the 28th of June." The Council found no difficulty in convicting Arnot: he was fined in the sum of five thousand merks, and commanded, HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 401 " betwixt and the 25th of October next to come, to make public acknowledgement of his offences two several Sabbaths, at the Kirk of IrongTay, before that congregation." Arnot, it appears, was but a small farmer of limited means, who would have been ruined by the exaction of such a sum ; and on his making a representation to that effect to the Lords, and declar- ing that he was a loyal subject, and had previously suffered loss under the usurpation, they mitigated the fine one thousand merks. There is no reference in the above report to the Irongray heroine. Blackadder tells us, however, that " the said Margaret was brought prisoner to Edinburgh, and banished to Barbadoes. But when before the managers, she told her tale so innocently, that they saw not fit to execute the sentence." CHAPTER XXXV. COVENANTING OUTBREAK AT DALRY — THE INSURGENTS RENDEZVOUS AT IRONGRAY CHURCH, AND THEN MARCH TO DUMPRIES — THEY OCCUPY THE TOWN, AND MAKE SIR JAMES TURNER PRISONER — THEY CONVENE AT THE MARKET CROSS, AND EXPLAIN THE REASONS OF THEIR MOVE- MENT — ONE OF THE BAILIES PROCEEDS TO EDINBURGH WITH THE ALARMING NEWS THAT A REBELLION IS RAGING, AND THAT THE CHIEF TOWN IN THE SOUTH IS AT THE MERCY OF THE ENEMY — THE INSURGENTS PROCEED WESTWARDS — TURNER'S DESCRIPTION OF THEIR APPEARANCE AND EQUIP- MENTS — THEY MOVE TOWARDS THE CAPITAL — BATTLE OF THE PENTLANDS, AND DEFEAT OP THE COVENANTERS BY SIR THOMAS DALZIEL — JUDICIAL VENGEANCE — TWO FUGITIVES FROM THE FATAL FIELD SENTENCED TO DEATH AT AYR, AND EXECUTED AT DUMFRIES— MEMOBIAL STONES OF THE MARTYRS IN ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCHYARD — THE INDULGENCE — MILITARY PREPARATIONS OF THE COUNTY — THE CASTLE OF DUMFRIES GARRISONED. When such explosive materials as these existed, it required but a trifling incident to fire the train. In November, 1666, the flames of insurrection broke forth in Galloway under such unpremeditated circumstances as vpe are about to describe. On the 13th of that month, a party of Turner's soldiers, stationed at St. John's Clachan of Dairy, in the hilly region of Glenkens, confiscated a patch of corn belonging to a poor old man named Grier, and threatened him with personal maltreatment unless he paid the balance of church fines -with which he was chai'ged. At this juncture, f(tUr Covenanting refugees entered the village in search olf food — one of them Mr. M'Lellan of Barscobe, who had been subjected to much persecution for conscience' sake. They felt much sympathy for their fellow-sufferer, but, smother- ing their feelings, withdrew to a small change-house,* where, * The houso in which thoy sat is still staiidiug, but was partially rebuilt a few years ago; it was called Midtovvn. Joliu Goi-don then occupied it as a kind of tavern. Mr. Train says: "My friend, Mr. John M'Culloch of New Galloway, kindly procured from the proprietor for me one of the old rafters, of whioli I intend to make some articles of rertii." — Histoi-y of Galloway, vol. ii,, p. 158. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 463 soon after, tidings reached them that the soldiers, carrying their menaces into effect, had stripped Grier naked in his own house, with the intention of subjecting him to torture, by setting him on a red-hot gridiron. The four wanderers could remain patient no longer: hurrying to the old man's house, they remonstrated with the soldiers, who told them to mind their own business, and not to interfere, or it might be worse for them. After a brief altercation, several country people entered, and began to remove the band- ages with which Grier's arms were fastened. The soldiers then drew their swords, and wounded two of them; upon which one of the latter retaliated by firing a pistol, loaded with a piece of tobacco pipe for bullet. A general fight, of short duration, ensued, terminating in the defeat of the troopers, who were all made prisoners and disarmed. What to do next became a matter for serious consideration. There was another party of ten or twelve soldiers at the neighbouring village of Balma- clellan; and, lest they should resort to reprisals, some of the country people set off early next morning, and made the whole of the soldiers captive, except one man, who offered resistance, and was kiUed. The outbreak was carried to its second stage, for the purpose of securing the safety of those accidentally led to engage in it: but if they now dispersed, they would certainly be pirrsued by the merciless soldiery belonging to the rest of Turner's force; and if they should succeed in escaping, the district would be subjected to such vengeful devastation as was fearful to contemplate. These reflections induced M'Lellan and his comrades to unfurl boldly the flag of insurrection. They were joined by another gentleman of the district, Mr. Neilson of Corsack, by Mr. Alexander Robertson, son of an outed minister, by Mr. Andrew Gray, an Edinburgh merchant, who happened to be in the district at the time; and these, the leaders of the movement, easily succeeded in raising a considerable force, the rural population all round being ripe for insurrection. A council of war was held, at which a march on Dumfries, for the purpose of surprising Sir James Turner, was resolved upon ; the place of rendezvous being fixed at Irongray Church, about six miles distant from the town. "With wonderful secrecy and despatch, due notices were given and acted upon; and on 464 I-IISTOUY OF DUMFRIES. the day after the casual skirmish at Dairy, a force of two hundred infantry and fifty horsemen mustered at the appointed place ; the blue banner of the Covenant, the ensign of rebellion against the Government — rather, we should say, of righteous resistance to a tyrannical faction — flying above their small but resolute ranks. Gray — who seems to have been a fussy, preten- tious gentleman, without any real regard for the cause with which he was prominently mixed up — was appointed leader of the little host. Starting from Irongray Church soon after sun- rise on the 15th, they marched quietly on their appointed way, reaching the Bridgend of Dumfries about ten o'clock in the morning. Sir James Turner has sometimes been spoken of as a model soldier: yet though rumours of the insurrection had reached him, he appears to have made no preparations for meeting it, even when it was rolling to his very door; and, strange to say, though in the midst of a warlike people, who bore him no good- will, he had not, on this critical occasion, a solitary sentinel posted at the entrance of the town from Galloway. Accordingly, when Captain Gray and his men reached the place where the populous burgh of Maxwelton now stands, they were agreeably surprised at finding the bridge unguarded, and the road to the headquarters of the renegade "malignant" open before them. Matters being in such a favourable train, it was thought best to allow the foot soldiers to remain outside, while a party of the horse rode across to pay the compliments of the morning to Sir James. Corsack and Robertson were entrusted with this delicate and perilous duty. Followed by several others, about half-past eight o'clock they crossed the bridge, passed up Friars' Vennel, and then down to Turner's lodgings, in Bailie Finnie's house. High Street. Aroused too late by the ring of the horses' hoofs upon the pavement, he rose in great alarm, ran in his night-dress* to the window, and, seeing an armed band below, exclaimed, " Quarters ! gentlemen, quarters! and there whall be no resistance!" "Quarters you shall have," said Corsack, " on the word of a gentleman, if you surrender at once without resistance." " Quarters he shall have none!" said Gray, who now came up; and, suiting the action to * Sii' Jamos Turner's Memoirs, p. 148. HISTORY OF DUMFEIES. 465 the words, he presented a carabine at Turner; and had not Corsack, who was the real leader of the enterprise, interposed, the unscrupulous agent of the Government would have been instantly sent to his account. One soldier only, as at Balma- clellan, resisted, and died of the wounds he received; all the others giving themselves quietly up, according to the example and orders of their commander. According to Turner's own statement, no more than thirteen of his men were in town at the time, the rest being quartered in the country on persons who " refused to give obedience to church ordinances." " Some few of my sogers," he adds, " were taken in their lodgings. They [the insurgents] looked for Master Chalmers, the Parson of Drumfries, but found him not, yet did they bring away his horse."* There was great rejoicing in Dumfries on account of this overthrow of the tyrant captain and his troop. " He had," says Gabriel Semple, " been reigning [there] like a king, and, lifted up in pride, with insolence and cruelty over the poor people;" and it is no wonder that, to signalize his degradation, they, as the same authority informs us, "set him on a low beast, without his vest-raiment, and carried him through the town in a despicable manner." It says much for the forbearance of the insurgents and the people of the Burgh, that Sir James Turner received no worse treatment than was involved in this pardon- able exhibition of him in his new character. They then held a meeting at the Cross, where the leaders explained and vindi- cated their conduct; and to show that it was not the monarchy, nor the King, but hiS'^despotic ministers, against whom they had taken up arms, they expressed aloud their devoted attachment to his Majesty's person — a sentiment that was readily responded to with cheers by the listening crowd. The Town Council of Dumfries had seen with horror the capture of the Government troops and the occupation of the Burgh by an insurgent band; and they too convened a meeting, differing very much in character, however, from the exuberant one outside. To think that their loyal town had been the scene of such a scandalous insult to the dominant powers, and that their sycophantic selves might be implicated in the * Sir J. Turner's Memoirs, p. 149. 3 M 466 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. disgrace and its consequences! The very idea of such an affront upon the State, and such a stain upon their own escutcheon, was intolerable. Dismal faces and troubled shakings of the head were seen, lugubrious regrets and sad misgivings were expressed, at this conclave of the Burgh magnates; and, before it broke up, it was resolved to send Bailie Stephen Irving to Edinburgh,* for the double purpose of acquainting the Privy Council with what had occurred, and putting the best possible face on their own connection with it. Late on the following evening (the 16th) the magistrates announced to Lauderdale and his colleagues that a Covenanting rebellion had broken out, headed by Neilson of Corsack, M'Lellan of Barscobe, M'Cartney of Blaiket, Alexander Kobertson, son of a conventicle preacher, and the notorious Nonconformist, James Galium, glover in Dumfries; that Dumfries was in the hands of the triumphant insurgents, greatly to the sorrow of its loyal lieges and their rulers; and that, in order to crush the audacious- traitors, decisive measures would have to be promptly resolved upon. This was astounding intelligence indeed: alarm was the first emotion that prevailed among the Privy Councillors ; rage followed; then incontrollable fury, that found vent in a resolu- tion, which was speedily put in force, to exact a fearful measure of revenge. Meanwhile the insurgents, now numbering three hundred, marched from Dumfries to the Church of Glencairn, situated at a distance of fifteen miles on the west bank of the Nith; and on the 16th they re-entered Dairy, still carrying with them their prisoners. Here, as we learn from Turner himself, Hugh Henderson, the outed minister of Dumfries, in the spirit of genuine Christian charity, returned good for evil to the man by whom he had been harshly maltreated. Mr. Henderson had taken refuge in the neighbourhood, and hearing of what had occurred, got permission from Gray to entertain Sir James at dinner, and even pleaded, though without success, that he should be set at liberty. "Though he and I," says Turner, "be of different persitasions, yet I will say that he entertained me with very reall kindnes."t A beautiful trait of character is thus pre- * Town Council Miuutos; and Wodrow, vol. ii., p. 19. t Memoira, p. 152. HISTORY OF DUMFEIES. 467 sented, which those who take delight in disparaging the Nonconformist clergy of this period would do well to study. At Dairy, we also learn from Turner, Captain Gray, the "By-ends" of the movement, gave his men the slip: "for the day before he had sent away the money and other baggage, which he had got from me; and thinking he had sped well enough, resolved to retire himself before the fire grew hotter." When the Edinburgh Covenanters heard of the rising at Dairy, many deemed it premature; but the general opinion was, that since it had occurred it ought to be supported. Not a few of them accordingly made common cause with their insurgent brethren; and among other men of note who joined them in the west country were Lieutenant-Colonel Wallace, who had earned distinction in the civil wars; Maxwell of Monreith in Galloway; John Welsh,* the outed minister of Irongray; and two other preachers also well known — William Veitch, afterwards minister of Dumfries, and Hugh M'Kail of Ochiltree. The somewhat irregular host was properly organized; Colonel Wallace was appointed commander; and a resolution was adopted to march towards the capital, with the view of calling out their friends there in greater force, and, if possible, of making a powerful demonstration against the Government. Continuing their jour- ney during a protracted storm, they passed through Cumnock and Muirkirk, arriving at Douglas on the 24th of November, where a councU was held, at which it was conclusively resolved to proceed with the enterprise at all hazards. At Douglas another question was debated : whether the persecuting chief, delivered by Providence into their hands, should not be put to death. The propriety and duty of thus dealing with Turner were vehemently insisted upon by the more violent of the leaders; whilst Corsack and others contended as stoutly that his hfe ought to be spared. Sir James, as we learn from his own account of the matter, had a narrow escape. " That night," he says, "a councell or committee was keepd, where it was concluded that nixt morning, the Covenant should be renewd and swome. And the question was, whether imme- diatlie after they should put me to death; they who were for it * Grandson of the still more celebrated John Welsh, who took a leading part in opposing the Prelatioal encroachments of James VI. 468 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. pretended ane article of the Covenant obliged them to bring all irialignants to condigne punishment. Bot it was resolved that I sould not dy so soone, bot endeavors sould be used to gaine me. All this was told me by one of my intelligencers before two of the clocke nixt morning. Yet I have heard since, that it was formallie put to the vote whether I sould die presentlie, or be delayed, and that delay was carried in the councell by one vote onlie." Even after the insurgent army had been pelted by the elements, it made a creditable appear- ance in the eyes of Turner, military martinet though he was, and by no means anxious to present a flattering picture of his captors. " The horsemen," he tells us, "were armed for most part with sword and pistoU, some onlie with suords ; the foot with musket, pike, sith, forke, and suord; and some with staves, great and long. There [at Douglas] I saw two of their troops skirmish against other two (for in foure troopes their cavallerie was divided), which I confess they did handsomelie to my great admiration. I wondered at the agilitie of both horse and rider, and to see them keepe troope so well, and how they had comd to tliat great perfection in so short a time." He closes his verdict by saying : " I never saw lustier fellows than these foot were, or better marchers; for though I was appointed to stay iu the car, and notwithstanding these inconveniences [of darkness and tempest], yet I saw few or none of them straggle." * It is not necessary that we should follow the various steps of these bold, devoted men. Their enterprise was one of the most daring of that adventurous day. Forlorn and desperate it proved; but had they received even a moderate degree of support from their suffering fellow-countrymen, the issue might have been more favourable, and " from Fate's dark book a leaf been torn." For their unpremeditated outbreak the country was not prepared. Arrived at Lanark, numerous recruits joined them, swelling their ranks to two thousand men or more: but when the vicinity of Edinbiu-gh was reached, they had to lament numerous desertions; and, what was worse, they found the gates of the city barred against them, and no friends hurrying from it to hail their approach. In tliis dilemma they learned that General Dalziol was following rapidly on their * Momoira, p. 107. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 469 track ; and in the dead of night, faint with hunger and fatigue, heart-sore with disappointment, the wandering host, retreating to the Pentland hills, encamped on the elevated table-land of RulUon Green, there to "dree" what fortune had in store for them. Defeat, death by the sword and on the scaffold, were in the cup. The insurgents did not now amount to more than nine hundred, and they had suifered much in condition as well as in numbers, being, as a contemporary described them, " piti- fully bad appointed — neither saddle nor bridle, pistol or sword, amongst the ten men of them ; baggage-horses, some whereof not worth forty shillings. . . . They are mighty weary with marching."* They were encountered on the 28th of November by Dalziel, at the head of three thousand soldiers, and, after a gallant resistance, in which they thoroughly repelled several headlong charges, were put to the rout, fifty of them falling on the unequal field, and about one hundred and thirty surrender- ing as prisoners, on receiving a promise that their lives would be spared. But the scaffold was set up, and Sharpe resolved that it should not be cheated out of its anticipated victims. The insurgents who spared Sir James Turner's life had no such mercy meted out to them. Twenty were adjudged to death at Edinburgh: and "all of them," says Mein, "died adhering to the Covenant, declaring they never intended in the least any rebellion ; and all of them prayed most fervently for his Majesty's interest, and against his enemies." Amongst the sufferers were the heroic Mr. Neilson of Corsack, and the pious and accom- plished Hugh M'KaU, who died on the scaffold in the true spirit of martyrs; and their constancy and devotedness were emulated by " a cloud of witnesses," executed on account of their being connected, some of them very remotely, with the Pentland rising. No fewer than thirty-five were hanged or shot in various parts of the country, in addition to those executed in Edinburgh; a large proportion of them being natives of Niths- dale or Galloway, as many rude memorials, scattered over our moorlands, hill-sides, and churchyards, still attest. On the 30th of December, 1666, the obsequious Town Council of Dumfries met for the purpose of receiving orders * Robert Mein's (postmaster of Edinburgh) report to Government, quoted in the Fifty Years' Struggle, p. 166. 470 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. for the disposal of two poor fugitives from Pentland, who, on returning to their native district, had been tracked, caught, and tried at the instance of the Government. It need scarcely be added, that they were convicted and doomed to death. A justiciary court — or rather a military tribunal, presided over by Lieutenant-Gen eral Drummond — had been held at Ayr, where these two prisoners, with ten others, were capitally sentenced;* and as they had been captured within the jurisdiction of the Dumfries magistrates, to them was assigned the duty of carrying the sentence into effect. The orders from the court enjoined the authorities "to sie their sentence for hanging the persounes, and affixing of the heides and right armes of Jon Grier in Ffour-merk-land, and William Welsch in Carsfaime, upon the eminenest pairts of this Burgh;" and this mandate having been communicated by the magistrates to the Council, the latter " condescendit that the bridge-port is the fittest place quhereupon that the heids and armes should be affixed; and therfoir appoynted them to be affixed on that place." f Mar- tyred the two men were, as a matter of course; and we can find no trace of the Dumfries authorities being troubled with any " compunctious visitings" on the subject, though we doubt not the inhabitants generally pitied and honoured these poor victims of oppression. And when, in pursuance of their sentence, their heads and right arms were pilloried on the bridge, the ^ory spectacle would be viewed by many a tearful eye, and elicit many a burst of indignation. When the severed relics of the sufferers had wasted for several weeks in the wintry air, a rumour reached the authori- ties that a design had been formed for removing them. How the honourable gentlemen must have been shocked by this report! They intended the bridge-port exhibition to tell with salutary terror on the people far and near, to teach them that the exercise of free thought, and resistance to "the powers that be," were treasons rightly involving death, and that there was no safety for the subject, except in entire submission to the decrees of the Privy Council; and yet, in daring contempt of these lessons, the silent teachers of their truthfulness were • Town Council Minutes; also, Wodrow, vol. ii., p. 53. t Town Council Minutes. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 471 threatened with removal ! Lest the menace should be carried into effect, the Town Council directed application to be made to the Earl of Lauderdale, to allow the martyrs' heads and arms to be transferred to the top of the tolbooth, for their better secu- rity, and thus to disappoint the " disloyall persounes," who, it was feared, would " take them away under cloudes of night, to the prejudice of this burgh." * Prejudice of the Burgh, indeed ! Alas for the time when the honour or credit of the town was thought to be bound up in the safe retention of those ghastly mementoes of the tyrant's persecuting rage ! When other and happier days came round, the real feehng of the townspeople towards the two sufferers expressed itself in the erection of memorial stones over their honoured remains in St. Michael's churchyard; and till this day an interest is felt in the humble tombs of Welsh and Grier, or Grierson, which vies in depth with that awakened by the proud mausoleum reared beside them, above the dust of the national poet — the poet who, in one of his best moods, after reading a narrative of the Persecution in Galloway, penned the well-known lines : — " The Solemn League and Covenant Cost Scotland Mood, cost Scotland tears ; But it sealed freedom's sacred cause : If tliou'rt a slave, indulge thy sneers !" On the 9th of May, 1668, a royal proclamation was issued for the apprehension of about one hundred outstanding "rebels," sixteen of whom belonged to the Shire of Dumfries. The name of Mr. James Galium, glover, appears upon the list. He seems to have been a devoted, consistent, and courageous Covenanter. How terribly he suffered for conscience' sake, is shown in the following affecting extract from Wodrow's "History:" — "James CaUum, merchant in Dumfries, was forfeited some time after Pentland, but his being there was never proven; he was indeed present, being dwelling in the town, at the taking of Sir James Turner; but no other guilt was ever made out against him, but mere nonconformity. In the years 1662 and 1663, for refusing to hear the curates, he paid, for a year's space, forty pence every Monday for himself and wife. He underwent much trouble, * Town Council Minutes. 472 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. and several imprisonments, for his Parliament-fine — five hun- dred merks — and paid the half of it, and fifteen pounds sterling riding-money, and more by far than the other half in expenses, and clerk's fees to get his discharge. Sir James Turner, before Pentland, exacted considerable sums of money from him. When he was declared rebel, most unjustly, after Pentland, he left the kingdom, and was seven years in the East Indies. At his return he was taken by Claverhouse, and imprisoned at Dum- fries fourteen months, and at Edinburgh a year and a half; after which he was banished to Carolina, where he died. When the accounts of this came home, his wife and daughters at Dumfries were attacked for nonconformity, and spoiled of any thing they had, and forced to wander up and down in the hills and mountains for three years and a half"* At the close of the same disastrous year (1668) the inhabi- tants of the Burgh were required by the Council to subscribe a statement, declaring that they "deteste and abhor the rebeUioune laitly broken out in Galloway and in other places in the West;" that they will not, in any way whatever, assist or intercommune with those concerned in it ; and that they were ready to venture their "lives and fortounes against thes traitors, for suppressing their horrid traysone and rebellioune." Every one was required to sign this declaration, it being intimated that refusers would be looked upon as sympathizers with the insurrection, and as such be proceeded against according to law.f When the insurrectionary outbreak had been thoroughly suppressed, and the vengeance of the Government been sated, Lauderdale, under the influence of what seemed to be a con- ciliatory whim, cashiered Sir James Turner, Sir William Banna- tyne, and other military tools, who had become odious to the common people, and sought to propitiate the Presbyterian ministers by getting the Privy Council to pass the Indulgence, in virtue of which those who still refused to receive collation from the bishops might be reinstated in their manses and glebes, with a royal annuity instead of stipends, on condition that they would restrict their preaching to their own parishes, and submit to State control in other ecclesiastical matters. There is every nvoson to believe that these proposals were " Wodrow, vol. ii., p. 79. + Town Council Minutes. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES, 473 devised for the purpose of dividing the Covenanters, and thus weakening them, and for forming part of a plan by which Scot- land was to be kept quiet, whilst preparations were being made by the Duke of York, Charles's brother and heir, to re-establish Roman Catholicism in both kingdoms, should a favourable opportunity for doing so arise. Many ministers accepted the Indulgence : between those who scorned it and the Government a wider gulf than ever was formed; and Lauderdale found, in their rejection of the measure, a motive and a pretext for increased severity towards the frequenters of conventicles. During the lull produced by his temporary moderation, he hastened on the formation of a militia in Scotland, in order that he might foreclose other rebellious outbreaks, and be ready in time of need to give the despotic Romanizing party of England a helping hand. We find numerous traces in the Dumfries County Records of the steps taken at this period to raise the quota of men required from the Shire and its various towns, and otherwise provide for the maintenance of the military despotism wielded by Lauder- dale and his colleagues. The chief agents in the business were the Commissioners of Excise, as county gentlemen when acting in their corporate capacity were then styled. A meeting of the Dumfriesshire Commissioners was held at Thornhill on January 28th, 1668, at which two Acts of the Privy Council were read and adopted, regulating the way the parishes, twelve miles round the County town, were to provide hay and straw for a troop of fifty horse stationed there. The sujDply for each horse was fixed at sixteen pounds of hay or eighteen pounds of straw in 'the twenty-four hours; and it was provided that "in case the country people will not sell the same, the Commissioners were to constrain* them." At another meeting, held in Dumfries on the 24th of September following, the Earl of Annandale read his Majesty's instruction regarding the establishment of a militia regiment in the County, consisting of eight hundred foot and eighty-eight horse (afterwards reduced to seven hundred foot and seventy-seven horse), of which he had been appointed colonel, and Drumlanrig lieutenant-colonel. These instructions were chiefly as follows: — All the commissioned * Minutes of the Commissioners. 3N 474 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. officers were to be nominated by the colonel and lieutenant- colonel, and were to Bign the declaration against the Covenants; the colours, drums, and trumpets were to be provided at the expense of the Shire; the foot were to be armed with muskets having a bore for sixteen balls to the pound, " which may be had of Alex, and Robt. Mills, merchants in Lithgow, at eight merks a piece," and with pikes fifteen feet long, "which may be had in the country, good and cheap, made by Alex. Hay, the king's bow-maker in the Cannon-gate;" two-thirds of the men in each company were to be musketeers, the rest pikesmen; the horsemen were to be sufficiently mounted and armed with swords and pistols at the expense of the heritors; and those soldiers who removed from their parishes without leave of their officers were to be fined or imprisoned, or both. Much difficulty was experienced in getting some of the parishes to co-operate. Though each minister, with " three discreet men " to assist him, was ordered to make up a roll of all the foncible men in his parish, and though afterwards a committee of Commissioners was appointed for a like purpose in each Presbytery, the lists produced were manifestly defective: till at length, on the 30th of December, the baffled Commissioners resolved to apply for special assistance to the Privy Council; which having been given, the rolls were rendered rather more complete. To deter- mine the proportion of men to be raised by the burghs, was the next duty of the Commissioners. They met for this purpose on the 22nd of April, 1669, and resolved that Dumfries should be required to provide forty men, Sanquhar and Annan four each, and Lochmaben three; leaving the rest to be raised in the rural districts, at the rate of one man for each three hundred merks of rent.* By the Parliament of 1672, increased measures of repression were directed against conventicles. More soldiers were there- fore needed ; and accordingly, on the 20th of March of that year, the Dumfriesshire Commissioners of Excise received a letter from the Privy Council enjoining the heritoi-s of the County and the magistrates of its burghs to raise forty-one men, as their proportion of 1000 i-equired to be levied in the kingdom for his Majesty's service. A committee, with Robert, * MiuutoB i)f the Commiissioiiei's. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 475 Lord Maxwell, as preses, was appointed to put the matter into shape; who reported next day that the Burgh of Dumfries would have to " outreik " and provide two men, also " the twentieth part of a third man," for assisting the burghs of Annan, Sanquhar, and Lochmaben, who were to raise said third man on receiving such fractional support; and that the remaining thirty-eight soldiers were to be provided by the Coimty at the rate of fifty merks for each. The report was approved of; and at a subsequent meeting the Commissioners resolved that there should be expended on each man £24 Scots, to furnish him with a good blue cloth coat, well lined with sufficient white stuff or serge, a pair of double-soled shoes, a pair of stockings, a black hat, two shirts, two cravats, an "honest" pair of breeches, and an inner coat: a goodly outfit, certainly, for forty shillings sterling — money going a far way at this period of our history. It was also arranged that the men were to meet on the 21st of April at Locharbridge-hill, a common place for military gatherings, and then march to the town of Leith.* As time rolled slowly on, the hills around Dumfries became more than ever the haunt of the persecuted Covenanters; and the Government, instead of sending away troops from it, felt the necessity of placing a large force in the town. The Commissioners, on the 5th of August, 1675, were honoured with a visit from the Earl of Queensberry, Lord Chancellor of Scotland, who, being also one of themselves, attended to assist in the discussion of the following letter, subscribed by him and fourteen other members of the Privy Council: — "We have emitted an act appointing garrisones to be in divers places, particularly -at the Castle of Dumfries, in which there is to be fifty foot and twelve horsemen, who are ordered against the 6th of August to be at the said place. We have ordered you to convene any three or four of the Commissioners of Excise of the Shire of Drumfreis, and have appoynted you and your depute, with the said Commissioners, and Captain Dalziel, who has the command of said garrisone, to sight the said Castle of Drumfries, and see the same be made ready to receive the garrisone against the said day; also that you and * Minutes of the Commissioners. 476 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES, the said Commissioners cause furnish the said garrison with bedding, potts, pans, coal, and candle, as is ordinar; and sett prices upon the hay, straw, and corne for the horse; and caus carry in, and delyvcr to the soldiers and the garrisone, such quantities as shall be necessary for the horses, upon payment of the said prices. We expect your ready obedience, and ordain you to return an account of your dilligence between and the 10th of Aug. next."* The order thus given to " sight" the old Castle, enables us to get a slight glimpse of its condition in the middle of the seven- teenth century. It was all but demolished, as we have seen, by the Earl of Sussex and Lord Scrope, in 1570; with the consola- tory qualifications, however, that the defective stories contained "dales lying there to repair them," and that the vaults and first story over them would supply ample accommodation for a greater garrison than the one for which quarters were required. A misunderstanding arose as to the sources from which the soldiers were to be maintained, whereby the preparations for their reception were delayed; and the Privy Council, losing temper, sent letters of horning to the tantalized Commissioners, ordering them to proceed at once, and draw upon the revenue of the Excise for the support of the troops. Thereupon the Commissioners, on the 14th of September, ordered their col- lector to supply, for the garrison, 499 ells of plaiding for thuty- one beds, at 5s. Scots per ell; coverlets uniform, at £82 19s.; "harden" uniform, at £84; for every eight soldiers a five-quart pot, at £4 each ; six pans, two quarts each ; three quart stoups, and six cups; thirty load of peats weekly, at 2s. per load; and seven lbs. of candle weekly, at 5s. per lb. A report was received at the same meeting, to the effect that £80 Scots would make the roof water-tight; and the business was finished by a resolu- tion " advising the collector, with the magistrates of Dumfries," to see the horsemen sufficiently provided with corn, hay, and straw, at the ordinary rates. In all these warlike preparations the gentlemen of the Shire were well assisted by the Burgh authorities ; the latter of whom, in June, 16C7, gave directions to store up " ponder and loid" in the Castle; to place "all the guncs and partizanos" there ; "that thair be 24 men and a * Miinitos of tlio Commissioners. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 4-77 captaine upon the gaird every night thair, according to the order and row sett doun be the provest and baillies; as also that the toun ports be with all expeditioun put up, and that thair be four scoir or a hundredth pykes maid for the toune's uyseis." CHAPTER XXXVI. A NEW OUTBREAK THKBATBNBD — INCREASING SEVERITY OE THE PRIVY COUNCIL — GRAHAM OF OLAVERHOUSB: SKETCH OF HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER; HE IS SENT INTO DUMFRIESSHIRE; HIS ACTIVITY IN SEIZING COVENANTERS, AND IN SUPPRESSING CONVENTICLES — GRIERSON OF LAG — DOINGS OF CLAVBEHOUSE IN DUMFRIES AND NEIGHBOURHOOD, AS EBPORTBD BY HIMSELF — FIELD-PEEACHINGS IN THE DISTRICT: A REMARK- ABLE ONE ON SKEOCH HILL DESCRIBED — CLAVBRHOUSE COMPLAINS TO HIS SUPERIOR OFFICER THAT THE PRISON OF DUMFRIES HAS BEEN TURNED INTO A CONVENTICLE — BOON COMPANIONSHIP OF THE EUH-GH RULERS WITH THE PERSECUTORS — CAROUSING OF THE BAILIES WITH NISBETT, WINDBAM, STRAUCHAN, LAUDER, AND LIVINGSTONE — KING'S BIRTH-DAY REJOICINGS IN THE TOWN — ROUT OF CLAVERHOUSB AT DRUMCLOG — DEFEAT OF THE COVENANTEES AT EOTHWELL BRIDGE — CAKEER AND DEATH OF RICHARD CAMERON — CLAVBRHOUSE PAYS A SECOND VISIT TO THE DISTRICT. The Indulgence was naeant by its projectors to be a bone of contention and a snare to the Presbyterians. It proved to be so, inasmuch as it separated the clergy into two antagonistic parties — the indulged and the non-indulged. The people for the most part adhered, and that with more steadfastness than ever, to those ministers who declined to purchase ease and comparative comfort, by sacrificing an iota of what they deemed to be the imprescriptible rights of the Church. Conventicles, in house and field, as a consequence, increased; and to crush them, and punish their frequenters, the whole machinery of a merciless Government was set in operation. Among the many other means adopted for these ends,. landlords were required to enter into bonds pledging themselves that neither their families, domestic tenants, nor the servants of their tenants, nor any one residing on their land, should attend the ministry of the proscribed preachers, or in any way give them countenance. "We cannot possibly come under such stipula- tions," [ilcailuii a body of the proprietors before the Privy HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 479 Council. "By the Lord Jehovah! you must and shall!" retorted Lauderdale, as the savage significantly bared his arms above the elbows; and, to assist him in making his threat good, eight thousand armed Highlanders were let loose upon the fertile districts of the south and west. This locust-like host ravaged the country for three months; and on being recalled, the other soldiers raised by the Government took their place, emulating them in rapacity, surpassing them in the art of hunting down the wandering occupants of the hills and glens. An additional pretext for violence was unhappily supplied by the assassination of Sharpe on the 3rd of May, 1679 — the deed of a few zealots, for which the Covenanters generally ought not to have been held responsible. The blame of it was, how- ever, thrown upon the whole party; and a testing question was based upon it, which increased the inquisitorial resources of the military. If, when a suspected individual was asked, " Do you consider the killing of Archbishop Sharpe murder?" a negative answer was given, or no answer at all, he was dragged to prison, or summarily despatched. At length the patience of the persecuted sufferers gave way, and they resolved once more to give armed resistance to their rulers. On the 29th of May in the same year, the anniversary of the Restoration, a band of eighty armed Covenanters entered Rutherglen, extinguished the bonfires lighted in honour of royalty, burned the Acts of Council by which Episcopacy was established, and finished their demonstration by afiixing to the Market Cross of the town a written document repudiating and condemning all the tyrannical doings of the Government in Scotland during the existing King's reign. These daring acts were correctly looked upon by the Privy Council as a declaration of war; and they, nothing loath, com- missioned John Graham of Claverhouse to take up the gauntlet on their behalf, feeling assured that he would make short work with the rebels. Claverhouse had already proved his fitness for such a task. After serving some time with distinction in the Dutch army, he returned to his native country, at the age of thirty-five, to become policeman-general over the disaffected districts, and gain transitory rewards and deathless infamy, by punishing the bodies of his poor fellow-countrymen when ho 480 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. failed by threat and fine to enslave their souls. The Council soon saw that he was admirably adapted for their purposes; he was so cool, self-reliant, unscrupulous, and cruel. An impres- sion to the same effect is conveyed by the two authentic portraits that have been preserved of the notorious cavalier: one representing him when quite a youth, and comparatively unknown; the other when in the prime of manhood, and raised to the peerage as Viscount Dundee. An unmistakable dourncss is visible in the first of these likenesses: the curl of the upper lip — the mouth compressed — the nostrils distended — the troubled, anxious, almost sorrowful, expression thrown over the face — impress the beholder unfavourably, in spite of the regularity and graceful outline of the features. This portrait gives us the idea that he must have been cold, reserved, proud, and pitiless before the age of puberty was reached. The youth is "Bonnie Dundee" in embryo — handsome, yet sinister and unattractive ; and the impression conveyed by the other picture, though in some degree different, is of the same general kind. The countenance is rather softer, if anything, and is equally sad and haughty; the lower part of the face, however, having become heavy without any trace of that effeminacy of which Sir Walter Scott speaks, except in the mouth, which is small as compared with the colossal nose, indicative of the possessors energy and power. Scott's mental sketch of the man may he fittingly subjoined: — "Profound in politics, and imbued, of course, with that disregard for individual rights which its in- trigues usually generate, this leader was cool and collected in danger, fierce and ardent in pursuing success, careless of facing death himself, and ruthless in inflicting it upon others."* This is, on the whole, a fair outline of Graham's character, as indi- cated by his portraits, and as exemplified during his ten years of military misrule over the west and south of Scotland. In a letter dated Moffat, December 2Sth, 1678, Claverhouse thus announced his arrival in Dumfriesshire to his commander- in-chief, the Earl of Linlithgow ; — "My Lord, — I came here last night with the troop, and am just going to mai-ch for Dumfries, where I resolve to quarter the whole troop. I have not heard anything of tlie dragoons, though it is now about nine o'clock, * Gill MortiUity, cliiij). xii. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 481 and they should have been here last night, according to your lordship's orders. I suppose they must have taken some other route. I am informed since I came that this County has been very loose. On Tuesday was eight days, and Sunday, there were great field-conventicles just by here, with great contempt of the regular clergy; who complain extremely that I have no orders to apprehend anybody for past demeanours. And besides that, all the particular orders I have being contained in that order of quartering, every place where we quarter must see them, which makes them fear the less. I am informed that the most convenient posts for quartering the dragoons will be Moffat, Lochmaben, and Annan; whereby the whole County will be kept in awe. Besides that, my lord, they tell me that the end of the bridge of Dumfries is in Galloway, and that they may hold conventicles at our nose, [and] we dare not dissipate them, seeing our orders confine us to Dumfries and Annandale. Such an insult as that would not please me; and, on the other hand, I am unwilling to exceed orders: so that I expect from your Lordship orders how to carry in such cases." * The impatient trooper, as we learn from another of his letters, was soon at work. Before his arrival, some of the Dumfries Covenanters and others occasionally met for worship during winter in a large building on the Galloway side of the Nith ; and he having received ample license to act in the Stewartry as well as in Dumfriesshire, arranged with the Steward for the demolition of the meeting-house ; with what success, is reported by him in the following terms : — " I must acknow- ledge," he says, by way of prelude, " that till now, in any service that I have been in, I never inquired farther in the laws than the orders of my superior officers." " After," he proceeds to say, "I had sent the Council's orders to the Stewart-Depute, he appointed Friday last, the third of January, for the demolishing the meeting-house, and that I should bring with me only one squad of my troop. He brought with him four score of country- men, all fanatics, for they would not lay to their hands till we forced them. Everybody gave out that house for a byre; but when they saw that there was no quarter for it, and that we * We are indebted for this and other letters of Claverhouse to Mark Napier's Memoirs of Viscount Dundee. 3 o 482 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. were come on the place, nobody had the impudence to deny it to have been built a-purpose for meeting, and that upon the expense of the common purse of the disaffected. It was a good large house, about sixty foot of length, and betwixt twenty and thirty broad. It had only one door, two windows on every side, and one in every end. They had put up stakes alongst every side, and a hek and manger in one of the ends, to make it pass for a byre; but that was done lately, after that they had heard that it was taken notice of for a meeting-house. The Stewart- Depute performed his part punctually enough. The walls were thrown down, and timber burnt. So perished the charity of many ladies." The Steward who co-operated with Claverhouse in this mighty achievement was none other than Sir Robert Grierson of Lag, who held the office during the minority of the Earl of Nithsdale, the hereditary Steward of Kirkcudbrightshire. This was the first occasion of their meeting with each other, and they henceforth became fast friends, united by a community of tastes and pursuits; though, to do Claverhouse justice, he was in his personal habits far above the sensual and besotted Laird of Lag. Sir Robert succeeded to the family estates on the death of his cousin, in 1667; he was created a Nova Scotia baronet in 1685, and was united in marriage to Lady Henrietta Douglas, sister of William, first Duke of Queensberry. His participation in the overthrow of the conventicle house, just noticed, was but the prelude to a long series of outrageous measures taken by him against the proscribed Presbyterians, and for which his name has been branded with infamy scarcely less foul than that which attaches to " The Bloody Claverse." In another letter, dated Dumfries, February 7th, 1679, Claverhouse reported to his commander his diligence in "seizing" disaffected persons, and otherwise carrying out his mission. He had forwarded a list of them to his lordship; had ridden to Annan to instruct his emissary. Captain Inglis, in the business; had then hurried to Moffat, where he "gave Lieutenant Cleland orders to seize on three;" sent an express to Inglis, "that he might seize on other three;" appointed them "Wednesday, at six o'clock at night, to march;" returned to Dumfries, found twenty dragoons going on relief, but "sent HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 483 them to seize on Holmains, Dormont, and Denby" (all Non- conformists of the Annandale family of Carruthers) — they got only Dormont, the other two having, it is reported, "gone to Edinburgh to give satisfaction to the Council," but if they remained in the country he should " endeavour to find them;" sent a corporal for the two Welshes, who found them both; sent another to "seize" on Dalskairth, but found him not in his own house — made search for him in Dumfries, without success; sent the third brigadier "to seek the wabster," who brought his brother instead, and, "though he maybe cannot preach like his brother, thought it would be no great fault to give him the trouble to go with the rest;" and, finally, "have sent the prisoners away this day with a guard of twenty," commanded by Corporal Crawford. This comprehensive communication, in which the bustling, energetic, indefatigable character of the writer is well illus- trated, concludes with an expression of his wish that Lord Linlithgow would forward instructions regarding the fining of certain parties on the rolls who had not yet been disposed of Thus, "Seize! seize! seize!" was, morning, noon, and night, the cry of this predatory captain; the objects of his seizures being the God-fearing burgesses, yeomen, and peasantry of Scotland, as if they had been noxious vermin whom it was a duty to extirpate. More tokens of his wolfish desire to seize victims are shown in a fourth letter, written by him from Dumfries on the 24th of February: — "I obeyed the orders," he says, "about seizing persons in GaUoway, that very night I received it, as far as it was possible; that is to say, all that was within forty miles, which is most that can be ridden in one night; and, of six made search for, I found only two, which are John Livingstone, bailie of Kirkcudbright, and John Black, treasurer there. The other two bailies were fled, and their wives lying above the clothes in the bed, and great candles lighted, waiting for the coming of the party; and told them they knew of their corning, and had as good intelligence as they themselves; and that if the other two were seized on, it was their own faults, that would not contribute for intelligence. . . . The names of the other two I made search for were Cassin Carry and the 484 HISTOKY OF DUMFRIES. Lady Laurieston, but found them not. There is almost nobody- lays in their bed that knows themselves any ways guilty within forty miles of us ; and within a few days I shall be upon them, three score of miles at one bout, for seizing on the others contained in the order." Before Claverhouse "came down like a wolf on the fold," conventicles could be held with less risk in the vicinity of Dumfries. Great gatherings for worship frequently took place in the elevated and secluded districts of Terregles, Dunscore, and Irongray. No fewer than seventeen out of the nineteen ministers forming the Presbytery of Dumfries, refused to take the oath of supremacy in 1662; and, after being driven from their parishes, several of them continued to preach, in temples of Nature's own construction, to hearers who followed them thither, even as the flocks of Eastern lands follow wherever the faithful shepherd leads. Among these outed clergy the most distinguished, if not the most devoted, was John Welsh of Irongray, who, it will be remembered, took part in the Pent- land rising. Preach he would, and did almost daily, in fearless defiance of the persecutors, who would fain have gagged him in the Bass, or silenced him in the grave. Skeoch-hill, which rears its rugged crest in the moorlands of Irongray, about eight miles from Dumfries, is especially associated with the ministrations of Welsh; as, in a spacious recess half way up the eminence, on a Sabbath day in the summer of 1678, he preached and dispensed the Lord's supper to more than three thousand persons. This place was selected for the services because of its peculiar adaptation for them, as well as its seclusion. With materials already on the spot, a table for the elements, and sitting accommodation were furnished; and the country people still point out, with reverential interest, the rows, four in number, of large, flat, oblong whinstones on which the eml)lematic bread and wine were laid, and the boulders round about that served as scats for the communicants. Towards the close of the services an alarm was raised, by sentinels posted on neighbouring heights, that the military were in sight. Mr. Blackadder, formerly of Troqueer, who preached the closing discourse, paused for a few minutes, and no doubt a feeling of anxiety crept over the women and HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 485 children present, but none of the worshippers offered to leave the scene of danger; and prompt preparations were made by Alexander Gordon of Earlston,* and other military gentlemen, to repel force by force. A resort to arms was fortunately not required; the troopers, who, according to Black adder, consisted simply of "servitors" belonging to the Earl of Nithsdale-t" and Sir Robert Dalzell of Glenae, discreetly riding away in peace, and allowing the exercises to be closed without further disturb- ance. Consecrated by no ordinary rites are these Communion Stones of Irongray; hallowed memorials are they of a heroic witnessing time — meet monuments of John Welsh and its other worthies, tried and true. Had Claverhouse been in Dumfries when this gigantic conventicle was held, he would scarcely have shrunk from attacking it; and he would at all events have done his best to seize some of the "fellows," "rogues," and "villains" — as he was accustomed to call the Covenanters — who had ventured to be present. Yet, in spite of his sleepless vigilance and his merci- less system of repression, the hill-side congregations were never entirely put down; and, wonderful to relate, after he had been about four months in Dumfries, the very prison of the town was turned into a treasonable Presbyterian meeting-house, " under his very nose." This "great abuse" was attributed by Captain Graham to the laxity of the magistrates, to whom he pays an ironical compliment, which they could not have merited had they not been of a different stamp than their predecessors in the time of Sir James Turner. Claverhouse thus complained to his superior officer on the subject : — " There is here in prison a minister, was taken above a year ago by my Lord Nithsdale, and by the well-affected magistrates of this [town], has had the liberty of an open prison; and more conventicles have been kept by him there, than has been in any one house in the kingdom. This is a great abuse; and if the magistrates be not punished, at least the man ought not to be suffered any longer here, for that prison is more frequented than the * Descended from Alexander Gordon of Airds, the pioneer of the Reforma- tion in Dumfriesshire and Galloway. + This was John, seventh Lord Herries, who, upon the death of Robert, second Earl of Nithsdale, without issue, succeeded to the earldom in 1678. 486 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. kirk. If your lordship think fit, he may be sent in with the rest." It will be recollected that John Irving was chosen chief magistrate in 1660. For thirteen years afterwards, he and another member of the Irving family had a monopoly of the provostship; but, in 1674, Williani Craik of Duchrae, a moderate Presbyterian, was called to that office, and continued in it till 1678, when David Bishop, a gentleman of similar views, suc- ceeded him for a short period, Mr. Craik again becoming provost in 1679, when Claverhouse visited the town. From such a man as Duchrae the Covenanters would receive something more than toleration: hence the remonstrance of Claverhouse against the indulgence shown to them by "the well-affected magistrates" 0? Dumfries. Though the Burgh authorities in 1679 were suspected of disloyalty by Claverhouse, some of their predecessors kept on good terms with his persecuting colleagues and subordinates. The Provost, Bailies, and Convener had frequent convivial meetings with the officers, who with whetted swords and on fleet-limbed steeds scoured the neighbouring district; and it is most melancholy to reflect, that sometimes the very men who were one day boozing merrily over the blood-red wine in Dum- fries with its burghal rulers, were the next busily employed in slaughtering their innocent countrymen, on the hills and moors around. In the treasurer's accounts, under date 9th Januarj', 1669, when John Irving was still Provost, the following entry occurs:— "Dew by the magistrates in company with Sir Robert Dalzell, Patrick Nisbett, Robert Moorhead, and Birkhill, with severall uther gentlemen, the haiU magistrats being present with severall of the counseil at the admitting of the said Patrick Nisbett, burges, twelf pynts of seek, quhereoff ther was 4 unce of sugyar to ilk pynt of eleven of the said pyntes, and the uther but [without] sugyar, with twa shortbreid, and 3 sh. for tobacco and pypes, £28 15."* This Nisbot, thus feasted and honoured, became soon after a notorious persecutor, as the gravestones erected at Fenwick and elsewhere, over his martyred victims, still attest.! Wo quoto one other illustrative entry from the same record. * Burgh Trcttsurm-'a AccouiitM. ■]■ Cloud of Witnesses, p. 427. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 487 Mistress Rome, who kept the town's tavern in 1687, charged the subjoined account against the Council that year: — "Spent with Lieutenant -Golonell Windram, Gaptaine Strauchane, Captain Bruce, Leivetenant Lauder, Leivetenant Livingstone, six pynts of wyne, with tobacco and pypes, £6 9s. 4d." Here is a pretty batch of blood-stained bacchanalians — convened, perhaps, to arrange over their cups for some fresh raid against the children of the Covenant. Of many cruel deeds Livingstone and Lauder were guilty; and the above tavern-score contrasts curiously with the rude elegy in St. Michael's churchyard over the remains of James Kirko, who was shot dead on the Dumfries Sands in June, 1685, at the bidding of one of the convivialists : — ' ' By bloody Bruce and wretched Wright I lost my life, in great despite; Shot dead without due time to try And iit me for eternity: A witness of prelatic rage As ever was in any age." The remaining two of the same party, Windram and Strachan, met just two years before, under very different circumstances: the scene not a cozy Dumfries change-house, but the wild beach of Blednoch Bay; their object not to quaff the flowing bowl, but to drovsm two feeble women, a hoary matron and a girl of tender years, beneath the ravenous ocean tide, Lag and David Graham assisting them in their murderous work.* Had magis- trates of the Craik or Corsane stamp ruled the Burgh at this period, they would have scorned to sit at the same board with such infamous men as these. During all these "troublous times," too, the anniversary of the tyrant King's birth and restoration (both of which fell on the 29th of May) was celebrated in jovial style by the very loyal magnates of the Burgh. Fancy can catch the echo of their fulsome toasts, and the flash of their festal fires, in such prosaic business entries as the following: — "29th May, 1672. — At the bonfyre at the Croce, nyne quarts of wyne, £18; item, at the bonfyre before the provest's gate, 3 quarts, £6 ; It., at * The reader will at once see that the reference here is to the martyrdom of Mafrgaret Maclachlan and Margaret 'Wilsoii, in the water of Blednoch, near Wigtown, on the 11th of May, 1685. 488 HISTORY OF DUMFIUES. the treasurer's direction to the peit leaders, and spent in his company, 9s. ; the night after the bonfyres, with CamseUoch, Alexander Dowglas of Penzerie, Mr. Jon Crichton, and the clerk, three chopins of wyne; and that night, with Mr. Cairn- cross [the curate], Mr. Mair and his wife, thrie chopins of wyne; and Is. 8d. for tobacco and pypes, is, together, £3 Is. 8d.* 29th May, 1678. — Payed for 2 duzon and a half of glassis broken at the crosse, at 6 pence a peic, £9; paid to the offichers that day 4s.; for ringing the bell,J.2s." Claverhouse, as has been stated, was summoned by the Privy Council to take action against the Covenanters of Lanarkshire, when, on the 29th of May, 1679, they published their defiant Declaration at Rutherglen. In that very month, a measure that had been carried by Sharpe in the Council, a few days before his death, received the royal assent, which gave power not only to judges, but to the officers of all the forces " to proceed against all such who go with any arms to those field meetings, as traitors" — in other words, to put them to death without further warrant. Possessed of such ample powers, and placed at the head of a strong military force, Graham entered the revolted districts of the West, and had just begun his destructive work, when he learned that pre- parations had been made for holding a conventicle on a great scale, in the neighbourhood of Loudon hill. Hurry- ing forward from Glasgow with a troop of horse, and two companies of dragoons, he found the male worshippers of the assembly, to the number of a hundred and fifty foot, aj-med with halberds, forks, and such like rude weapons, fifty musketeers, and fifty horse, drawn up in battle array, ready to repel force by force. Claverhouse, eager for the fray, and confident that he would scatter the insurgents like chaflf, attacked them with characteristic impetuosity. How he must have been chafed, when the "fanatics" he had despised, after steadily returning the fire of his troops, crossed an intervening swamp, and fell with such resistless force upon them, that they reeled, broke, and fled I This Covenanting victory was won on Sabbath, the 1st of Juno' but, a short fortnight afterwards, the Royalists, at Both- • Tavern and other oharges, as given in the Town Treasurer's Books. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 489 well Bridge, under the Duke of Monmouth,* far more than made up for their defeat at Drumclog. In the one instance, proof was given of what a few brave men, firmly united, can do ; in the other, numbers, courage, and enthusiasm availed nothing in ranks already divided by jealousy and dissension. The chief bone of contention with the Covenanters in the latter case was the Indulgence — that artfully concocted measure, which proved of more service to the Royalist commander than a reinforcement of three thousand men. Welsh was the chief of the moderate party; and among others at the battle, belong- ing to the district, were M'CleUan of Barscobe, Gabriel Semple, and Alexander Gordon, younger of Earlstou.f The elder Mr. Gordon, ignorant of the defeat of the insurgents, was hastening to join them, when he was seized by a party of Royalist dragoons, and by them put to death. In all, four hundred Covenanters fell on the field ; twelve hundred were made prisoners, of whom only a few, thanks to Monmouth's clemency, were sent to the scaffold, and the rest were banished to Barbadoes. Terrible and crushing though the fight was, its remote results were perhaps even more disastrous — it being made ever afterwards, till the Revolution, an ensnaring test and a new pretext for spohation and violence. Hitherto the suffering Presbyterians had made no open war against King Charles; but in the summer of 1680 the famous " Queensferry Paper," prepared by Donald Cargill, was exten- sively signed; the subscribers thereby declaring their rejection of the King, and those associated with him, because they had " altered and destroyed the Lord's established religion, over- turned the fundamental laws of the kingdom, and changed the civil government of this land, which was by a king and free parliament, into tyranny." They further, in conclusion, entered into a bond for the mutual defence of their natural, civil, and religious rights — a bond never to be broken " till," they declared heroically and hopefully, "we shall overcome, or send them down under debate to posterity, that they may begin where we end." * He was the King's natural sod, and had previously married the heiress of Buccleuch. f The house of Earlstou stands on the banks of the Ken, at a short distance above the village of Dairy, with the wood of Airds in its immediate vicinity. 3p 490 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Cargill, enfeebled by age, was unfitted to embody this bold manifesto in deeds; that was done by the young Joshua of the movement, Richard Cameron, when, on the following 22nd of June (anniversary of the defeat at Bothwell), the remarkable Declaration penned by him was published by his brother and a few adherents in the burgh of Sanquhar — meet place for such a testimony against the tyrant King, since it was, says Dr. Simpson, the "centre of a spacious martyr field, every parish around it except one having been the scene of a Christian martyrdom." On the morning of that day a band of twenty armed horsemen descended from their haunt among the neighbouring hills, rode leisurely down the principal street of the town; and having reached the Market Cross, they there, in the hearing of the inhabitants, solemnly pronounced the doom of dethronement on Charles Stuart. With all due formality and the iitmost deliberation, they performed an act which made them amenable to torture and death. It was the deed of a daring — we shall not say a desperate body of men, impelled by conscience to proclaim openly — on the house-tops, as it were — what they thought of the despotic monarch and his deeds. They saw wickedness rampant in the high places of the land — the representative of Scotland's royal house proving a recreant to the trust reposed in him, trampling on the spiritual rights of the people, and in matters civil setting the very leges regnandi at nought. On account of these things, they said, the land mourned; and they deemed it part of God's controversy with them that they had not disowned the perjured King long ago. But, though meriting such treatment, his power was stiU unbroken : he was surrounded by a strong army which protected him, by a clique of crafty statesmen who confirmed him in his course, and by a mob of servile courtiers who regaled the royal nostrils with the incense of adulation. " Come what may, and hold silent who list, we must and will publish the truth of this cruel King, protest against his misdeeds, and proclaim in the face of heaven that he has forfeited his claim to the throne and to our allegiance." So saying, and under the influence of such sentiments, the little Camoronian l)nnd issiiod their manifesto, declaring that Charles HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 491 Stuart, who had " been reigning, or rather tyrannizing, on the throne of Britain these years bygone," had forfeited " all right, title to, or interest in the crown of Scotland," and proclaiming war against the " tyrant and usurper, and all the men of his practises, and against all such as have strengthened him, sided with, or anywise acknowledged any other in like usurpation and tyranny." There was high moral sublimity in the uttering of this document. Brimful of treason it might be deemed by the upholders of the Government; but a few years afterwards the sentiments it embodied became the gospel of a new political dispensation, and were transformed into fact when, in 1688, WilHam, Prince of Orange, acted out the bold, true words of his forerunner, Richard Cameron. The men who had thus bravely spoken at the Market Cross of Sanquhar, knew well also how bravely to do and die. Returning to the hUls once more, they rejoined their comrades; and the party, learning that soon after Bruce of Earlshall, with a troop of horse, was searching for them, resolved to make what resistance they could. The Cameronian force, numbering some sixty-three, men, was attacked by Bruce at Ayrsmoss, near Cumnock, overpowered by superior numbers, and killed or scattered; the heroic founder of the sect, and author of the Declaration, falling among the slain. During the occurrence of these aggravated troubles, the resources of the country were exhaustively drawn upon to uphold the military instruments of the dragonnade. Dum- friesshire, as one of the chief seats of the disaffected, had to bear a heavy share of the burden. Extracts have already been given from the minutes of the County Commissioners, showing that the task imposed upon them, at an earlier stage of the Persecution, was both difficult and exorbitant; we subjoin a few additional notices to the same effect dated after Bothwell Bridge. On the 26th of October, 1679, the Com- missioners gave force to an Act of the Privy Council ordaining the Sheriffdom of Wigtown and Stewartry of Kirkcudbright to pay locality to the forces under the command of the Earl of Linlithgow, conform to their valuation with Dumfriesshire; and they found, from a list given in by the Laird of Earlshall, Lieutenant to Claverhouse, and Mr. Dalmahoy, quartermaster 492 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. to the King's guard of horse, that they had to provide locality for sevenscore and ten horse, whereof the one half was the King's guard aforesaid. On the 25th of June in the following year, the Commissioners ordained "forty-eight horses to be provided out of the Parish of Dumfries and Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, with graith for the carriage of the baggage, &c., of his Majesty's force through this country." On the 3rd January, 1681, a letter from the Privy Council was considered, ordering a garrison of thirty horse to be furnished with all due requisites at the Castle of Dumfries. The magistrates of the Burgh were accordingly recommended "to sight the stables and assist in provyding what may be useful, and to furnish the hie rooms of the Castle with beds and dales, and cans the windows to be fitted up with divots." A few weeks afterwards the collector and clerk were appointed to proportion upon the several parishes in the Sheriffdom of Nithsdale, Stewartry of Annandale, and Five Kirks of Eskdale, "ane month's locality for sixty horses, more or fewer, as shall happen to be in the garrison." On the 27th of January, Claverhouse was again sent by the Privy Council with a troop of guards " to punish all disorders, disturbance of the peace, and church irregularities in Kirkcud- bright, Annandale, Wigton, and Dumfries." That he might carry on his murderous work under some colour of law, he was made Sheriff of Wigtownshire in room of Sir Andrew Agnew of Lochnaw, a devoted Covenanter, who had been deprived of his office because he refused to subscribe the subservient oath called the Test, which had been framed by the Parliament of the pre- ceding year. The letters written by "Sheriff" Graham to the Marquis of Queensberry, the King's Commissioner in Scotland, breathe relentless hostility towards the scattered Presbyterians, and show his determination to put them down as a party at all risks, and without a scruple of remorse; though, of course, it would be absurd to expect to find in them minute particulars regarding his modes of action, or a list of those who perished through his means by weariness, hunger, exposure to the elements, or by the bullets of his dragoons. Of that black catalogue there is no transcript in the letters of the persecutor or full copy in tho books of the Privy Council; though doubtless HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 493 "the recording angel" has taken a note of their sufferings, and history, aided by tradition, has to some extent embalmed their names and given them to imperishable honour. Claverhouse wrote as follows from New Galloway a few weeks after the beginning of his raid: — "The country hereabouts is in great dread. Upon our march yesterday most men were fled, not knowing against whom we designed. . . . My humble opinion is, that it should be unlawful for the donators to compound with anybody for behoof of the rebel till once he have made his peace. For I would have all footing in this country taken from them that will stand out. And for securing the rents to the donators and the Crown, it is absolutely necessary there be a fixed garrison in Kenmure, instead of Dumfries; for without it, I am now fully convinced, we can never secure the peace of this country, nor hunt these rogues from their haunts. ... I sent yesterday two parties in search of those men your lordship gave me a list of — one of them to a burial in the Glencairn, the other to the fair at Thomhill. Neither of them are yet returned : but Stenhouse tells me that the party at the burial miscarried ; that he pointed out to them one of the men, and they took another for him, though I had chosen a man to command the party that was born thereabout. They shall not stay in this country, but I shall have them." At first Claverhouse occupied the mansion belonging to Sir John Dalrymple of Stair, and a humbler dwelling in Kirkcud- bright possessed by Sir Robert Maxwell ; he afterwards, as is indicated by the above letter, made Kenmure Castle his head- quarters. " My Lady [Kenmure] told me," he said, in reporting to Queensberry on the subject, " if the King would bestow two or three hundred pounds to repair the house, she would be very well pleased his soldiers came to live in it." Accordingly, on the 1st of November, after Claverhouse had warned the noble owner of the Castle to "make it raid and void," he took up his residence there, and it became thenceforth the chief citadel of the infamous sheriffship exercised by him in Galloway and Nithsdale. His principal colleagues were Colonel James Douglas, brother of the Duke of Queensberry, Sir Robert Grierson of Lag, Sir Robert Dalziel, Sir Robert Laurie of Maxwelton, Sir James 494 HISTOBY OF DUMFRIES. Johnstone of Westerhall, Captain Inglis, and Captain Bruce; all of whom, by their activity and zeal against the Covenanters, proved that they were worthy of the persecuting commissions entrusted to them. It is right to add, however, that Colonel Douglas afterwards forsook his party, and served with distinc- tion under William III. ; and that he is said to have bitterly lamented the cruelties of which he had been the agent. CHAPTEK XXXVII. JAMES KEN"WICK BECOMES LEADER Or THE OAMBRONIANS — THEY ARE PBRSE- OUTED "WITH ADDITIONAL RIGOUR — INCIDENTS OF "THE KILLING TIME" — MERCILESS PROCEEDINGS OP CLAVERHOUSE, COLONEL DOUGLAS, LAG, AND OTHERS — CAPTURE AND EXECUTION OF RBNWICK — ROMANIZING POLICY OF JAMES VII. — THE MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS OF DUMFRIES INTER- FERED WITH BY THE GOVERNMENT — MAXWELL OF BAENCLEUGH, A ROMAN CATHOLIC, MADE PROVOST, IN VIRTUE OF A PRIVY COUNCIL EDICT — BAILIES, DEACONS, AND MERCHANT COUNCILLORS, APPOINTED IN THE SAME ARBITRARY WAY — THE REVOLUTION: ITS RESULTS IN DUMFRIES — PROVOST MAXWELL SUDDENLY DISAPPEARS — MUNICIPAL FREEDOM RESTORED TO THE BURGH — A REACTIONARY MOVEMENT PROMPTLY PUT DOWN, FOR WHICH THE TOWN AUTHORITIES ARE THANKED BY THE GOVERNMENT — THE PRINCE OF ORANGE PROCLAIMED KING OF SOOTS AT THE MARKET CROSS CLAVERHOUSE SLAIN AT KILLIECRANKIE — PRESBYTERIANISM RE- ESTABLISHED MR. WILLIAM VEITCH SETTLED IN ST. MICHAEL'S AS SUCCESSOR TO MR. GEORGE CAMPBELL. Befoee giving any further particulars of the Persecution carried on by their means, we must notice briefly the career of one against whom much of its fury was directed, and who about this time came prominently forward as the leader of the Came- ronians — James Renwick. Since the slaughter of Cameron in 1680, and the martyrdom of Cargill in the following year, the extreme party among the Presbyterians had been without a head — had no stated ministers, indeed, and were very imperfectly organized. Renwick, whilst quite a youth, adopted their views, and identified himself with their fortunes. When nineteen years of age, he witnessed the martyrdom of Cargill; which so stirred his whole moral nature, that he devoted himself heart and soul to the cause for which the aged martyr suffered. The Cameronian party, appreciating his fervour, piety, and talent, offered to send him to the University of Groningen, in Holland, to complete his training for the ministry — a proposal which he cheerfully accepted. Leaving his native village of Minnyhive, 496 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. in Nithsdale, he proceeded to the university; and, after a six months' course of theological study, and being presbyterially ordained, he returned to the south of Scotland the accepted pastor, the recognized chief, of the wandering Covenanters. In a paper called the " Informatory Vindication," he explained the views and position of the United Societies; and in 1683 followed this up by the emission of a boldly defiant document styled "An Apologetical Declaration," in which they, after the manner of Richard Cameron's Sanquhar manifesto, abjured Charles Stuart as a cruel tyrant, and intimated their resolution to continue in the exercise of their Christian rights, and, if attacked, to repel force by force. Whilst the publication of this paper nerved the courage of the Covenanters, it at the same time intensified the fury of their enemies. Before it was many weeks old, the Privy Council passed an Act ordaining that any person who owned, or would not disown it, was to be immediately put to death, though unarmed; the only qualifications to this exterminating edict being, that it was to be enforced by the military in presence of two witnesses. On the 30th of December, 1684, a Government proclamation was issued having a still wider sweep — command- ing, as it did, all the inhabitants of the country to swear that they abhorred, renounced, and disowned the Apologetical Declaration. The Abjuration Oath, thus first prescribed, soon acquired an infamous notoriety, and gave rise to much suffering in the west and south of Scotland, where it was ensnaringly tendered as the touchstone of loyalty to people of all ranks. Under Renwick's leadership, the witnesses for "God's cove- nanted work of Reformation" had their courage renewed and their faithfulness confirmed : field-preaching, which had been for a season given up, was revived ; and though no conventicles were held on a very large scale, as in former years, the hiUs and valleys of Upper Nithsdale and Galloway became at times once more vocal with the song of praise ascending from bands of worshippers, who thus foiled, in these solitudes remote, "a tyrant's and a bigot's bloody laws," and prepared, sword in hand, if need be, to act upon the bold menace expressed in tliL'ir Declaration. A few illustrative details of the Persecution that set in HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 497 against them with redoubled fury, may now be given, the dates being chiefly 1684 and 1685, "wherein," says Patrick Walker, " eighty-two of the Lord's suffering people were suddenly and cruelly murdered in desert places;" so that these two years came to be called emphatically " the killing time." First let us record a few more of Sheriff Graham's own achievements : — "His commission at this time," says Dr. Simpson, "was to scour Nithsdale, from New Cumnock to Sanquhar, in quest of all disaffected persons, and to search every nook and ravine, and hunt unsparingly on both sides of the Nith. ... As it regarded the populace, no exemptions were to be made — the peasantry, man, woman, and children, were to be driven like a flock of sheep before the soldiers to a given place, and there to be interrogated, and treated every one as the commander should dictate." When Claverhouse, by such means as these, ferreted out his victims, he usually made short work with them. Take the Test, abjure the Covenants, agree to all the other conditions of abject mental slavery prescribed by the Privy Council, and safety, except in the case of old opposers of the Government, was secured; but let the dastardly terms be rejected, then Heaven might have mercy on such as heroically repudiated them, but Claverhouse and his troopers had none. On the 18th of December, 1684, he surprised six refugees wandering destitute on the banks of Dee, at Auchinday, in the parish of Girthon. Four of them, Robert Fergusson, John M'Michan, Robert Stewart (son to Major Stewart of Ardoch), and John Grierson, were, after brief warning, left lifeless on the sward. Three of the bodies were carried away by their friends and buried at Dairy, -v^hich so irritated Claverhouse, that the gory remains were disinterred by his orders, and lay exposed for several days, after which they were recommitted to the grave. The two other captives, William Hunter and Robert Smith, were carried to Kirkcudbright, condemned after the sem- blance of a trial, hanged, and then beheaded. In the same year, whilst three of the wanderers were returning from a conventicle held in the parish of Carsphairn, they were encountered by Graham and his men, and shot without ceremony. The martyrs — Joseph Wilson, John Jamieson, and John Humphrey — were buried in the neighbouring moorland of Crossgellioch ; and 3 Q 498 HISTOBY OF DUMFRIES. about twelve years ago, when the foundation of a monument erected over the resting-place of the sufferers was being ex- cavated, their bodies, says Dr. Simpson, were found embalmed in the moss, " shrouded in their hosen, in their coats, and in their bonnets, exactly as they fell." In the same year Claverhouse apprehended Thomas Harkness of Mitchelslacks, Andrew Clark, Leadhills, and Samuel M'Ewan, Glencairn. Not only were these men stanch Nonconformists, but they were charged with having assisted in rescuing a party of Covenanters when being conveyed to Edinburgh by the military through Enterkin pass. Harkness and his companions, exhausted by protracted wanderings, were caught sleeping on a hillside in the parish of Closebum, and " brought into Edinburgh," says Wodrow, "about one of the clock, and the same day they were sentenced and executed about five." Before suffering martyrdom, they emitted a joint testimony, declaring that they owned all authority that is allowed by the written Word of God, sealed by Christ's blood, and disowned Popery and all other false doctrine; adding, that they blessed the Lord, who enabled them to bear Avitness on his behalf, being content to lay down their lives with " cheerfulness, boldness, and courage," and that if they had had a hundred lives " they would willingly quit with them all for the truth of Christ." James Harkness, brother to Thomas, and of the same heroic spirit, was also taken by Claverhouse, and capitally sentenced; but he succeeded, with twenty-five fellow-prisoners, in escaping from Canongate Jail, Edinburgh, and lived to a good old age, enjoying the sweets of the Revolution Settlement at his farm-house of Locherben.* * He was interred beside not a few of his kindred in the romantic churchyard of Dalgarno. Over his remains was placed a tombstone, thus inscribed : — "Here lyes the body of James Harkness, in Looherben, who died Cth Dec, 1723, aged 72 years. ' ' Belo this stone this dust doth ly Wlio endured 28 years, persecuted by tyi-auny. Did him pursue, echo and cry. Through many a lonesome place. At last by Clavers he was tauo, and sentenced for to die; But (Idd who for his soul took care did him from prison bring, Because no other cause they had but that he would not give up With Clirist liis glorious King, HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 499 Among the barbarous acts chargeable against Colonel James Douglas are the following, perpetrated in 1685: — Five Cove- nanters, named respectively, John Gibson, Robert Grierson, Robert Mitchell, James Bennoch, and John Edgar, having taken refuge in a cave at Ingleston, in the parish of Glencairn, Niths- dale, were betrayed to Douglas by one Andrew Watson, dragged forth, and, without being left a breathing time for prayer, shot dead. In the same summary style he treated John Hunter at Corehead, Moffatdale ; Thomas Richard, a veteran of seventy years, at Cumnock; and Andrew Macquhan, who was seized in bed when sick of a fever, and despatched at New Galloway. Of Lag's persecuting achievements, Wodrow and the author of the " Cloud of Witnesses" preserve numerous instances. In 1685 he captured and shot, under cloud of night, George Short and David Halliday of Glenap, in the parish of Troquholm. In the same year, when scouring the parish of Tongland with a party of dragoons, he surprised another David HaUiday, portioner of Mayfield, Andrew M'Crabit, James Clement, Robert Lennox of Irlintown, and John Bell of Whiteside, all of whom he put to death. When the last-named prisoner pleaded for a moment's respite, in order that he might commend himself and fellow-sufferers to God, Lag, it is said, exclaimed, in his usual irreverent way, "What the devil have you been doing so many years in these hills? Have you not prayed enough already?" and so saying, gave the fatal order which laid them lifeless at his feet. The records of the time show that Captain Bruce was as ruthless a tool of the Privy Council as any member of it could have wished. In the same sanguinary year he surprised, at Lochenkit, parish of Kirkpatrick-Durham, six men, and instantly killed four of them, viz., John Gordon, William And swear allegiance to that beast — the Duke of York, I mean: In spite of all their hottest rage, a natural death did die. In fuU assurance of his rest with Christ eternally." Mr. Christopher Harkness, commissary clerk of Dumfries, is a lineal descend- ant of the Harknesses of Mitchelslacks. His nephew, Mr. Thomas Harkness, is tenant of that farm; and it has been possessed by the family of Harkness for two centuries or more. 500 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Stewart, John Wallace, and William Heron; the other two, Edward Gordon and Alexander M'Cubbin, after being allowed a day's grace, were, at the instance of Lag, hanged upon a growing tree near Irongray Church, and buried at the place of execution. About the same time, James Kirko, of Sundaywell, Danscore,* while lurking in the parish of Kier, was betrayed by one James Wright into the hands of Bruce ; who, as has been already incidentally noticed, carried his prisoner to Dumfries, detained him there one night, brought him forth next morning to the White-sands, and added one more to the list of martyred victims whose dust lies in St. Michael's churchyard waiting the resurrection day. Many Nonconformists died in captivity or in exile, who were as truly martyrs as if they had perished at the stake. A refusal to attend the curate or take the Test was, in countless instances, followed by an imprisonment which terminated only with life itself For such " crimes" as these Bailie Muirhead of Dumfries was consigned to the prison at Leith, feU iU there, and died; James Glover, while skulking among the woods of Tinwald, was shot at, wounded, and carried to Dumfries in a dying state, and breathed his last in the Edinburgh tolbooth ; Andrew Hunter, a burgess of Dumfries, old and decrepit, was immured in the town prison, and experienced the same fate — ^the poor sufferer praying in vain that he might get home, where he would be better attended to; a home of another kind awaited him. More pitiful still was the fate of those Nonconformists who perished in the vile, noisome pit at Dunnottar Castle, which is still known as " The Whigs' Vault." Among the hundreds of both sexes there confined during the sweltering summer months of 1685, were twenty-nine men and women, who had previously been lodged in the Dumfries jail; two of the latter having first been scourged through the town by the common hangman, " merely because they would swear no oaths, and refused to * There are two old square towers still standiug iii the upper part of Gleueslin, and on opposite sides of the gleu, at a point where it contracts to a narrow pass. The names of these towers are Bogrie and Sundaywell, aiid both of them anciently belonged to district families of the name of Kirk, or Kirko. That of Sundaywell is still inhabited as a fai'm-house. There is a stone over the door bearing the initials I. K., and opposite S. W., meaning John Kirk of Sun- daywell. Under the initials is the date 1651. — Slati/fUcal Account, pp. 341-2. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 501 engage to hear the curate of their parish."* A devout matron of Dumfries, Euphraim Threiplaud by name, was also of the number. She was the widow of George Macbirnie, a merchant of the Burgh, who, " after he had been tossed since Middleton's Parliament, with finings, coufinings, wanderings, and imprison- ments, contracted a sickness whereof he died in 1681."t Because Mrs. Macbirnie would not specify the conventicles she attended, name the officiating preachers, and promise to hear the curates, she was fined in a very heavy sum, and being unable to pay it, was sent to "the thief's hole" at Dumfries, from which, though unable to leave her pallet from sickness, she was dragged, with her fellow-prisoners, and despatched to Dunnottar, where she lay for three months. She was fortunate enough to escape transportation, "by a mistake of her name in the clerk;" and, after an additional imprisonment of six months at Leith, she was liberated on giving bond to appear when called upon. " However," says Wodrow, " the Sheriff-Depute kept possession of her goods, and threatened her person if she returned to Dumfries." The tragedy of " The Whigs' Vault" at Dunnottar, has, not without good cause, been compared to that of the Black Hole of Calcutta. John Stock, a burgess of Dumfries, perished in the vault, and several others were suffocated by its nosious atmosphere, who drew their first breath in the same town, before the air of Nithsdale had become morally con- taminated by a tyrant King and his minions. James Carran, John Renwick, and Andrew M'LeUan, all householders in Dumfries, were, among a multitude of other Covenanters — the flower of the country in every sense — cast out of it as if they had been vile human weeds, and died prematurely in exile. J Whilst the sword of persecution was being wielded with increasing fury, the wretched King who had allowed it to be unsheathed died in the midst of his revels, not without suspicion of having been poisoned. In his closing moments he received the last rites of the Romish Church — ^thus avowing a * Wodrow, vol iv., p. 289. t Ibid., p. 326. I It must not be supposed that we accept as beyond challenge aU the instances of persecution recorded by Wodrow : he seems at times to have been too credulous; but, after making every reasonable deduction on this acooimt, there still remain a vast number of well-authenticated cases, of which those specified by us are merely a sample. 502 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. faith which he had long secretly cherished. He was succeeded, as James the Seventh, by his brother the Duke of York; who was not only an avowed and bigoted member of the Papal Church, but had never concealed his wish to establish it, and undo the Reformation throughout the British dominions. For a brief space after his accession, the Covenanters enjoyed a breathing time: anon the butcheries were renewed; and when the punishment of death was commuted for transportation to the American colonies, the sufferers were savagely marked to prevent their returning — the men having their ears lopped off, and the women being branded on the cheek. On the 30th of June, 1685, the Earl of Argyle was beheaded at Edinburgh, after the failure of an attempt made by him to defeat by force the despotic and Romanizing policy of the King — the martyred nobleman testifying on the scaffold that he died a Protestant, and " not only a Protestant, but with a heart-hatred of Popery, Prelacy, and all superstition whatever." Other victims followed; and their blood was not altogether shed in vain — proving, as it did, " the seed of freedom's tree," that still had its roots fixed in the British soil, and was destined, ere many more years elapsed, to flourish in unprecedented vigour. James, encouraged by the overthrow of Argjde's attempt, and the suppression of a similar movement made in England by Monmouth, developed his measures with increasing boldness. That he might advance his Roman Catholic subjects to offices of power, he, under the colour of a universal act of clemency, set aside certain political disqualifications, the repeal of which incidentally benefited the Covenanters. Afterwards, early in 1687, he by direct means endeavoured to conciliate them: first, by a permission to assemble for worship in private houses during the royal pleasure; then, by allowing all Presbyterians to worship in their own churches, by repealing all the laws against them, leaving only those that prohibited field-preaching in full force. Many ministers accepted this toleration; and, favoured by it, the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr met in August of the same year, after a long interval, to resume their deliberations. The young Nithsdalo hero, Renwick, with many of his brethren, rejected these indulgences, because they emanated HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 503 from an impure source, were clogged with dishonourable condi- tions, and were meant as part of the price with which the sovereign sought to purchase the establishment of Popery. He protested against them as a mockery and a snare ; and the Government answered by offering a large reward to any one who should seize him, dead or alive. Bearing still unflinchingly the banner of the Covenant, his conscience would not permit him to make any compromise that might stain its unspotted blue; and thus, defending the ensign of the Church, separating himself from its pliant friends, defying its implacable enemies, bearding the power of the deceitful King, he became exposed to perils innumerable. " Thirteen times during the one year (1687) had the troops made the strictest search for him throughout the whole country, prying into every cellar, and tearing off the thatch and puUing down the ceilings of the houses. He had to travel in disguise by the most unfrequented paths, chased like a partridge on the mountains; and to him the mist was a pro- tecting garment, and the dead hour of midnight the guardian of his footsteps. He lived in rude and remote cottages, in shepherds' huts on the tops of the hills, in bosky forests, in caves and in rocks. Wherever he was, he had watches stationed all round to give the alarm. He preached with a fleet horse standing beside him, saddled and bridled, on which he could mount in a moment, and leave far behind him all the troopers in Scotland."* Renwick eluded their vigilance, whilst he continued preach- ing and testifying in his native district ; but when visiting Edinburgh, in January, 1688, on business connected with a protest against the indulgences, which he had forwarded to the General Assembly, then sitting, he was apprehended in the house of a Cameronian friend, where he lodged, tried on charges of disowning the King, refusing to pay the cess, condemning the toleration, maintaining the right of self- defence, and holding conventicles; and having been found guilty on his own confession, was adjudged to death. Before his execution, whilst he lay in prison bands, strenuous efforts were made to induce him to recant — he was even tempted with the offer of life, if he would only renounce the principles for * Dodds'8 Fifty Years' Struggle, p. 371. 504 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. which he had been condemned; but he resisted the insidious tempters who visited his cell, with the same courage that enabled him to tread the hills of Closeburn, or the moors of Kyle, with the step of a freeman, when to do so was counted treason. On the day fixed for his execution (the 17th of February) the Privy Council, fearing, if he made a speech from the scaffold, that it would dangerously excite the populace, enjoined him by a messenger to refrain from so doing, and intimating that if he offered to speak the drums would be set abeating. With characteristic resolution, he repudiated this last attempt at dictation by his persecutors; and though, when he delivered his farewell address, the roll of the drums rose harsh and high, a few broken sentences of it were caught by the eager ears of his followers, "and treasured up as the precious fragments of a distinguished martyr's dying testimony." "I leave my testi- mony," he said, "approving the preaching of the Gospel in the fields, and the defending of the same by arms. I adjoin my testimony to all that hath been sealed by blood, shed either on scaffolds, fields, or seas, for the cause of Christ. I leave my testimony against Popery, Prelacy, Erastianism; against all profanity, and every thing contrary to sound doctrine; particu- larly against all usurpations made in Christ's right, who is the Prince of the kings of the earth, who alone must bear the glory of ruling his own kingdom, the Church; and, in pai-ticular, against the absolute power usurped by this usurper, that belongs to no mortal, but is the incommunicable prerogative of Jehovah; and against this toleration flowing from that absolute power." Under such circumstances died the pious, gifted, and heroic James Renwick, just as he had completed his twenty-sixth year. Nine months afterwards he would, if alive, have been hailed as a noble champion of national freedom. Pity, in one sense, that William of Orange ,did not arrive in February instead of November, for then the scaffold would have been cheated of its last Covenanted victim; but the illustrious sufferer laid down his life cheerfully, and, as he himself declared, was ready to give ten luindrod lives if ho had possessed them, in the maintenance of the glorious cause for which he died. In order tliat the King's scheme for subverting Protestantism HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 505 might be promoted, the oath by which officials professed their adherence to it was set aside; and thus the door was opened for the admission of Roman Catholics to places of trust and power. By means of this device, Dumfries — Presbyterian and Cove- nanting though most of its inhabitants were — came to be furnished with a Romanist chief magistrate. Mr. John Coup- land was Provost of the Burgh for the three years ending Michaelmas, 1683; at which term, James, Lord Drumlanrig, was chosen as his successor, and continued in office three years, though he was never present at the deliberations of the Council, and seems to have been little more than the nominal ruler of the town. In 1686 no new magistrates were appointed. Before the preliminary steps for the annual election could be taken, a prohibitory letter was received by the authorities from the Lord Chancellor of Scotland.* It was addressed on the back, " For the Provost and Baylies of the Brugh of Dumfreise, or any of them to whom this shall be first addressed, to be communicat to the Town Councill — in heast;" and ran thus: — "Affectionat freinds. Whereas his sacred Majestie hes by his royell Letter daited at the Court of Windsor, the twenty day of September instant, signified that all elections in royall burrows be suspendit untiU his royall pleasure be known theranent: you are ther for in pursuance therof heirby expresslie prohibited and discharged, as you will answear at j^oure perill, to elect any new magistrats or counsell within your burgh for this yeir: and you and the present counsell are by his Majesties authoritie heir by authorised to con tin ew and exist as magistrats and counsell untill his Majestie shall signifie his further pleasure. Signed at command and in name of his Majestie's Privie Counsell — By — Your affectionat freind, Edinburgh, the 16th Perth, cancelL, September, 1686. I P. D. In accordance with this arbitrary exercise of the royal pre- , rogative, Lord Drumlanrig and the other syndics of the town continued at the head of affairs for another year; and when 1687 arrived, his Majesty thought he might safely venture to stretch it a great way further, by nominating as Provost a distant relative of the powerful Nithsdale family, and who like its head * Burgh Records. 3 R 50(j HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. was devoted to liis interests, and a decided Romanist. The Council having met on the 6th of January in the above year, John Maxwell of Bamcleugh, Irongray,* appeared, and pre- sented two Acts of the Privy Council dated the 16th of December, 1686, in one of which he was nominated by them ♦ So many families of distinction in Galloway and DumfriesBhire are connected by blood or marriage with the Maxwells of Bamcleugh, that the following genealogical note may be deemed interesting. Thomas Maxwell, merchant burgess in Dumfries at the end of the sixteenth century, was a younger son of Maxwell of Kirkcounell, and thus a cadet of the Carlaverock Maxwells (see ante, p. 31). Thomas married Agnes Rig, whose father was a notary in Dum- fries. John, their son and heir, married, in 1637, Agnes Irving, daughter of John Irving (descended from the Bonshaw Irvings, probably), on the 7th of July, 1638. He obtained from George Rome of Irongray a wadsett right of the lands of Bamcleugh and others. Agnes Irving survived her husband, and married secondly Robert Maxwell of CamsaUoch. It was the only son of the last-men- tioned John who became Provost of Dumfries under the curious circumstances described in the text. Provost Maxwell married Margaret, daughter of John Irving (Provost of Dumfries in 1661-2-3^, and 5, and again in 1668-9-70-1-2, and 3), by Elizabeth Crichton, his wife, who was daughter of Sir Robert Crichtou of RyehiU, a brother of the Earl of Dumfries. James Maxwell, eldest son of the Provost, married Janet Carruthers, a widow, whose first husband was Alexander Johnstone. He married secondly, Mary, daughter of Dr. James WeUwood, a distinguished member of the College of Physicians, London, and whose father, of the same name, was parish minister of Tundergarth. By his secoud wife, James had Barbara Maxwell, who married James Johnstone, brother of Thomas Johnstone of Clauohrie, a cadet of the WesterhaU family, Annandale. Wellwood Johnstone, born in 1747, youngest and only surviving son of James Johnstone and Barbara Wellwood, succeeded in 1776 as Wellwood Maxwell of Bamcleugh, on the death of James Maxwell of Bamcleugh, son of Wellwood's grandfather by the first marriage. Wellwood Maxwell (or Johnstone) married Catherine, daughter of John Maxwell of Terraughtie. He died in 1833, leaving five sons, John, WeUwood, Alexander, William, and George, and three daugh- ters, Agnes, Mary, and Catherine. John, the eldest, born in 1784, married, in 1815, his cousin, Clementina Herries Maxwell, heiress of Munches, and died in 1843, leaving a son, Wellwood Herries Maxwell, bom in 1817, now of Munches, and convener of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. He married, in 1844, Jane Home, eldest daughter of Sir William Jardine, Bart., the eminent naturaUst, and chief of the ancient family of Applegai-th. Wellwood, Alexander, and George carried on business together as merchants in Liverpool. The latter, who was proprietor of Glonlee, and unsuccessfully contested the representation of the Stewartry in 1857, died in 1858. The two othei- brothera, Wellwood Maxwell of the Grove, and Alexander Maxwell of Glengaber, after amassing a fortune, spent tho autumn of their honoui-able and useful lives together at the (jirovi^ and died within a few months of each other during the currency of the prcHC'ut year (1867). Wilhmii, a Liverpool merchant, and Catherine, now Mrs. Davis, still mirvivo. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 507 as Provost of Dumfries, and the existing bailies, dean, trea- surer, and councillors were authorized to continue officiating as such for the ensuing year. The other Act was in the following terms: — "Whereas the Lords of his Majestie's Privy Counsell have by their act of the date heirof, pursueant to a letter direct to them from the King's most excellent Majestie, nominat and appointed the magistrats and other counsellors therein men- tioned for the Brugh of Drumfreis, and particularly John Maxwell of Barncleugh to be proveist thereof, with the dispen-. satione after mentioned ; therefore the said Lords doe heirby require and command the said John Maxwell to be entered and admitted proveist of the said Brugh without taking the Test, or any other oath, prescribed by law, except the oath de fideli administratione, conforme to his Majestie's said letter." Mr. Maxwell had for some time previously to this appointment been town-clerk of Dumfries, and appears to have occupied a highly respectable position in both Burgh and County. It need scarcely be said that the commands of the Privy Council respect- ing his appointment were implicitly obeyed. Barncleugh, as he was usually called, remained Provost for the current year; and soon after it expired another edict came down from Edinburgh authorizing his reappointment, and embodying such other orders as rendered the whole members of the burghal senate nominees of the Romanizing Court. This tyrannical missive is so richly illustrative of King James's general policy at this time, as well as so interesting locally, that we must introduce it verbatim. The Town Council having met on the 22nd of February, 1688, received and resolved to give effect to the following letter, dated the 9th of that month: — "The Lords of his Majestie's Privie Counsell, in pursuance of his Majestie's royall commands, signified to them in a letter dated at Court of Whitehall, the tenth day of November last, Heirby nominate and appoynt the persones underwrit to be Magistrats and Counsell of the Brugh of Drumfreis during this current year, they being such whom his Majestie judges most loyall and ready to promote his service, and most forward to support the good and interest of the said brugh, viz.: — John Maxwell of Barncleugh, to be proveist thereof; John Irving (son to the deceast John Irving, late proveist), Walter Newall, and John Rome, baillies ; Andrew 508 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Coupland, dean of gild, and James Dalzell to continue treasurer; and Gavin Carlyle, merchant, Richarde Gibsone, merchant, John Leith, merchant, and John Shillingtoune, merchant, to be new counsellors ; and the deacons of crafts to he John Corsbie, present deacon of the squairemen, and deacon convener, John Dicksone, deacon of the shoemakers, John Mairtine, deacon of the fHeshers, Thomas Dicksone, deacon of the weavers, William Blacklock, deacon of taylers, Walter Newall, deacon of the smiths, and James Lawsone, deacon of the glovers — all which persones are heirby authorized to con- tinue in their respective offices iintill Michaelmas next to come, in the year 1688 ; and appoynts the twentie-twa day of Ffebruary instant ffor their entrance and admittance. And recommends to the Shereff-Principal of Drumfreis, or his depute, or any of them, to be present and to sie his Majestie's pleasoure afoiresaid regularly and efi'ectually put in executione." Before "Michaelmas next" had come and gone, however, the King's fortunes had reached a perilous stage. When, in the summer of this eventful year, he caused six bishops of the Church of England to be sent to the Tower, because they refused to allow a crowning Act of Indulgence to Papists to be read in their churches, the storm that had been long gathering reached a crisis. The nation was still Protestant at heart; and now, thoroughly aroused by the infatuated conduct of the bigoted King, turned for relief to his nephew and son-in-law, William, Prince of Orange, already distinguished as the protector of the Reformed faith against Louis XIV. of France. Responding to the expressed wish of the country, William landed at Torbay on the 5th of November, with about 14,000 men; and, as has been well said, " his march through the English counties was more like a military promenade or triumphal procession, than an invasion in which the crown of three kingdoms was to be won." King James, after leaving London in dismay, departed in a fishing-smack from the land that had literally cast him out, and to which he never returned. Ren wick denounced his reign !is a usurpation; and it was now so regarded by all save the sect he had pampered, and the minions he had promoted. Many of the latter, sharing his alarm, followed him in his flight. His Commissioner in Scotland, the Eai'l of Perth, never for once HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 509 thought of making a bold stroke on behalf of his royal master; but fled, like his officials in London, when startled from their propriety by the hurried tramp of the troops from Holland. To the honour of the populace, no bloody saturnalia were indulged in when the power of the detested Privy Council was broken, and they and their satellites, the Episcopal clergy, were left defenceless. The people of Scotland, who had suffered from a cruel oppression for twenty-eight years, rejoiced when the day of deliverance came, but resorted to no violent acts of retaliation or vengeance, well content when they saw the last of their persecutors — when the Test and the Abjuration Oath, the thumb-screw and the bootikin, the hangman's rope and the headsman's axe, and all the vile system of mental and physical torture from which they had suffered, vanished with the men who had planned and carried them mercilessly into effect. The great lords of the Court decamped like the King, and so did the smaller magnates whom, in his zeal for Romanism, he had invested with civic rule. Before Michaelmas day, 1688, came round, in Dumfries the cry arose, "Where is the Provost?" He had disappeared suddenly, and no one could tell his where- abouts. Little did he imagine at midsummer of that year, that before many months elapsed, he would be degraded from office, a fugitive and an exile. It seemed really at one time as if the Papal Church had acquired its old predominance in the town : its chief magistrate, and some of his subordinates, were devoted members of it, and basking under the radiance of the house of Nithsdale, as well as of the royal favour, they thought "their bow would long abide in its strength;" and that, by and by, mass would be said in St. Michael's, and Protestantism be fairly sent to the wall. The better to consolidate his power. Provost Maxwell left his residence in the country, and commenced housekeeping in Dum- fries on a grand scale — lavish hospitality then, even more than now, being deemed a valuable auxiliary to municipal government. The members of the Corporation appreciated his liberality so much, that on the 5th of April, 1688, when the political sky was yet untroubled, they adopted a grateful resolution on the subject, as embodied in the following minute: — "The Counsell taking to their consideratione the expense and trouble of John 510 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Maxwell of Barncleugh, their present proveist, in comeing with his family from the country to dwell in this brugh, not only in taking of a lodgeing, and other incident charges, bot in taking in of wines to his house, to sustaine the inevitable charge of his office; and it being customary in other burrowes of note, to lay in provisione of wynes yearly to their proveist, out of their common good ; thairfore, and for his incuradgment to dwell within this brugh, the Counsell have thought fitt to allow, and doe heirby allow to him of cellarie for this present yeir, and yeirly in tyme comeing, during his Majestie's will to continue him in the said office, the soume of ffyve hundred merkes Scotts money, with ane tierce of Ffrench wyne yearly, provyde- ing alwayes, the common good of the brugh be so manadged be him that it shall not be burdened with any accompt of incident charges, or accompts of spending be him within brugh, except at extraordinar occasiones, to be approven or not by the Counsell."* Jovial doings are indicated by this extract from the minutes of Council: but brief though merry was the burghal reign of Barncleugh. News of Prince William's landing having reached the town, a sympathizing crowd of the inhabitants gathered in the market place on the evening of the I7th of December, and proceeded noisily through some of the streets. We cannot tell whether or not they threatened the magistrates, or passed revolutionary resolutions: they must, however, in some highly significant way have shown their antipathy to the juhng powers, and their sympathy with the Prince's movement, since Provost Maxwell no more ventured to appear at the Council Board, and the Bailies had to organize an armed force for the purpose of preserving the peace of the town. Again, on the 25th of December (Christmas-day), the populace made a fierce Anti-Romanist demonstration. " They collected," says Burn- side, " from the religious houses in the neighbourhood all the remains of Popish vestments and imagery they could lay their hands upon ; they tore down the carved work from the upper story of the Castle of Dumfries, wherein mass had been celebrated, and burnt all together, with effigies of the Pope, at the Market Cross." t Before the month closed, the Revolution was received * Town Council Mimitos. f The Now Cliuroli of Dumfries was built upon tlio site of the Castle, and HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 511 by the nation as an accomplished fact; and Dumfries, like other parts of Scotland, was once more in the enjoyment of religious and municipal freedom — exempt at once from the scourge of the Persecution and the Papal incubus. The first evidence of this happy change is supplied by a minute of the Town Council, dated 26th December, from which we learn that on that day a letter was received by the civic body from Lord Athole, President of the reconstructed Privy Council, restoring to the burghal representatives of Dumfries the right to elect their own magistrates. We subjoin the substance of this important communication: — "Gentlemen, — His Majestie's Privy Council understanding that, in the late nominations of magistrats and counsell for your brugh. Papists have been imployed in offices of power and trust among you, which may occasion fears and jealousies, to the indangering of the peace and quiet, and the Counsell being willing to remove any ground of such fears, have thought fitt heirby to authorize the magistrats and Town Counsell who were in before any such nominatione, and were legally chosen by your predecessores, to meit and choose magistrats and Counsell for the ensuing year, conforms to the custom e and constitution of your brugh: for dosing whereof this shall be to you, and all who may be heirin concerned, a sufficient warrant."* In accordance with these instructions, the Council, on the following day, by " a plurality of votes," chose the Presbyterian Laird of Duchrae,t Mr. William partly out of its remains. In 1866 the churcli -n-aa taken down to make room for a more imposing ecclesiastical structure ; and during this process some relics were picked up, the most interesting of which was a bronze image of the Saviour, four and a half inches in length, very artistically executed. The position of the figure, with the expression of the face, shew that it must have been attached to a cross, and have formed, with its wooden appendage, such a crucifix as is used by E,oman Catholic worshippers. The arms were wanting, and they were probably fractured by the forcible removal of the image from the cross. The Kkelihood is that it formed part of the furnishings of an upper chamber of the Castle that was used as a chapel, dedicated to St. Bride, when the fortress belonged to the Maxwell family, and that it was torn down during the wrecking of the chapel as described above. * Town Council Minutes, "t- Katification or William Ceaik or Akbiqland, 1681. — "Our sovereign lord affirmes and confirms the charter made and granted by his majestic under the great scale at Whitehall, the eight day of .June, 1666, in favor of his majes- tie's lovit William Craik, Provost of Dumfries ... all and haOl the lands of 512 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Craik, who had ruled over tVie Burgh before, as Provost, and they superseded six members by appoiuting other six in whom they had more confidence. The radical change thus effected in the government of the town, caused considerable commotion among the Romanist party. For the "care and diligence shown' by the authorities in preventing threatened disturbances," they received a letter of thanks from the Privy Council, which communication closed in these terms : — We " doe aprove of your procedure in this affair, and look upon it as good and acceptable service at such a dangerous juncture as this, and alowes you to detaine as prisoners in your tolbuith thos persones apprehended be you on this account, except the Laird of Bam- cleugh, your late proveist, who is to be sent hither prisoner by the gentry of your shire, by order of the Laird of Lag,* and others who have the Counsell's former commands anent him; and the Counsell doe heirby give order and warrant to Lag and Closeburn, or any two of your Toune counsell, to sight what is in the said Barncleugh's cloak-bag, found with him, for his disguise, and to delyver to him such papers therein as properly belong to himselfe ; and such as pertaine to your toune, to you ; and such as belong to the public, to be sent, under your sealls, to the clerke of counsell. Your cair and diligence for the future, to prevent troubles and to keip peace amongst your- selves, and keiping your toune in a conditione of defence for the Protestant religion and security of the kingdom, is expected, ther being ane frie electione allowed you by the counsell, in whose name this is signified to you by your humble servant, Athole." t Duohraw, extending to ane Ten-ponnd land of old extent, containing and comprehending the particular lands under written, viz. r the lands of Tornor- roch, Rone, Drumglass, the two Duohraws, Clone, Barbech, Uroch, Uliack. The Mainea, the two Craigs, Drumbreck, with the milne of Duohraw, milne lauds, multura, &c., togither with the fishing in the water of Die, belonging to the said lands, all lying within the paroohis of Balmaghie and Stewartree of Kirk- cudbright and Sheriffdome of Dumfries." — Acts of Scot. Pari,, vol. viii., p. 393. * We thus SCO that Sir Robert Orierson managed, in spite of his past misdeeds, to gain favour from the Revolution Government; which may be accounted for by tho circumstance that he was brother-in-law to the abler but almost equally pliant Queensberry, as well as by the necessities of the new AdmiuiHtration. ■(■ Tiiwii (jouncil Minutes. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. , 513 We thus see that the missing ex-Provost, who was objected to solely on account of his religion, was found at last; and the records show that, after being for awhile imprisoned in Dumfries, he was sent to Edinburgh — where, we doubt not, he was leniently dealt with, like other greater offenders. On the 9th of January, 1689, the new Town Council met under the presidency of Provost Craik, and gave orders that the Prince of Orange should be proclaimed King at the Market Cross. This ceremony, however, was not performed till the 24th of April, in order, probably, that due time might be given for rendering it imposing. A minute of the preceding day states that the Council had fixed "the morrow, betwixt thrie and four o'clock in the afternoon, for proclaiming King William and Queen Mary, King and Queen of Scotland, with all solemnities used in such caises, conforme and in obedience to the melt- ing of the Estates, their proclamatione published thereanent; and appoynts intimatione to be made throu the toune be touk of drum, to the effect the inhabitants may appear in the Sand- beds at the bating of the drum, in their best arms." The trea- surer's accounts show that "10 pound 6 unce of powdere," value £8 6s. Scots, was burnt on the joyous occasion; that whilst the cannons fired salutes, a bonfire made of "9 gritt loads of peitts," costing £1 16s., sent forth a ruddy blaze; and that the health of the new sovereigns was toasted at the Cross in six " pynts of ale," ordered by Bailie Irving:* indoors, doubtless, the same toast would be honoured in more patrician liquor. Whilst these events were transpiring, Graham of Claverhouse, no longer hunting Covenanting game on the hills of Dumfries- shire and Galloway, hurried to the Highlands with the view of upholding the desperate fortunes of King James. Compli- mented with a coronet by th§ royal fugitive, who had really ceased to be the "fountain of honour," Claverhouse entered upon his chivalrous enterprise, and for the first time in his career appeared as a hero. " He waved his proud arm, and tlie trumpeta were blown, The kettle-drums clashed, and the horsemen rode on ; Till on Eavelstone crags, and on Clermiston lea. Died away the wild war-note of Bonnie Dundee." * Burgh Treasurer's Accounts. 3 s 514 HISTOllY OF DUMFRIES. But the cause he sought to maintain was rotten at the core. King James was doomed; and the days of the doughty cavalier on whom he placed his chief reliance were numbered. Though victory smiled on the royal flag at Killicrankie, it was with a faint, dismal, deceptive smile, in view of the dead Dundee —all gory and cold as ever lay John Brown on the sward of Muirkirk, or any of his other victims in the glens of Nithsdale. The fall of Viscount Dundee, on the 17th of June, 1689, the failure of his followers before Dunkeld, and the decisive defeat of James at the battle of tVie Boyne in the following year, destroyed all the remaining hopes of the Stuart dynasty; and the dis- crowned monarch, deeply mortified by the failure of his schemes and the overthrow of his house and throne, retired to France. Mr. Richard Brown, the Prelatical curate of St. Michael's, who succeeded Mr. Alexander Cairncroce* in 1684, disappeared about the same time as the Papistical Provost; and on the 15th of August, a month after the battle of Killicrankie, the Presbyterian form of church government was once more, after an interval of twenty-six years, brought into full operation in Dumfries. A meeting of Session was held that day, attended by Mr. George Campbell, reponed as minister of the parish, John Irving of Drumcoltran (afterwards Provost of the Burgh), and John Shortridge (formerly deacon of the glovers), elders; assisted by Mr. Robert Paton, minister of Terregles, who had that day preached in St. Michael's Church. The Session having been duly constituted by prayer, proceeded to consider what could be done in the way of constituting ruling elders and deacons, so as to fill up the blanks created during the persecuting times. A lamentation was made "that hithertoo there was little access by reason of many letts and impediments in the way, and that difficulties not a few did continue." " Nevertheless," continues the record, " seeing endeavoui-s should be essayed, there was ane list offered of persons fit for these employs; and forasmuch as some of these had been in the time of the late violent trials and troubles, hurried into a sad compliance with illicit engagements, who in the judgement of * Mr. Cairncrouo, who wna aovouteeu years parsou of Dumfries, was, on the reooinmoiulation of tlio Duho of Quoonsbony, promoted to the see of Brechin in August, 1684, and to tlio bishoprio of Glasgow at the close of the same year. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 515 charity are looked upon as much grieved for, and dissatisfied with themselves for that, and judged to be no less fit, but more than many others, it was enquired what was fit to be done for such."* This question having been fully debated, it was unanimously agreed that the persons referred to should be desired to signify before the minister and one or two elders, their sorrowful sense of their conduct, and that other likely individuals not similarly involved, should be requested to attend next meeting of the Court. Accordingly, on the following day, several elders and deacons, after professing penitence for having taken the Test, were received into the Session. Others were afterwards admitted; so that by the 30th of the month the elders numbered thirteen, and the deacons twelve. For some time before the Revolution, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Paton, and Mr. Francis Irving, the faithful remnant of the Dumfries Presbytery, met occasionally to exercise a stealthy jurisdiction over the district; and when King James, for his own purposes, put a grain or two of toleration into his govern- ment, these ministers, officiating more openly and systematically, supplied pastors not only to several parishes within the bounds, but to Canonby, Borgue, Glencaim, and others, Mr. Campbell at the same time preaching occasionally to the faithful remnant of his flock in a small meeting-house situated in the East Barn- raw, now called Lorebum Street.! Before 1690 commenced, not only the Session, but the Presbytery and Synod of Dumfries, were reconstructed; and the Parish and County were placed once more, by the authority of Parliament, under that ecclesi- astical system which the greater portion of their inhabitants had openly or secretly adhered to during all the protracted troubles of the Persecution. The delight of the Dumfriesians in getting back their old minister, Mr. Campbell, must have been very great; but his venerable father-in-law and colleague, Mr. Henderson, never preached to them again after parting from them in 1662, and he died an exile from the Parish before Presbyterianism was restored. In October, 1690, Mr. Campbell again took * Session Records. + Raw, or row, was synonymous with "street." The High Street was the Mid- raw, Chapel Street was RaUenraw, and now Lorebum Street was East Barnraw. 516 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. farewell of his flock, but this time under different circum- stances, the General Assembly having appointed him Professor of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh — "a situation," says M'Crie, " which he was extremely averse to, but for which he was eminently qualified by the 'learning and modesty' ascribed to him, even by the avowed detractors of the Presbyterian ministers of that period." Considerable difficulty was experienced in finding a suitable successor at Dumfries for this good man and gifted preacher, and it was not till nearly four years afterwards that one was obtained, in the person of the celebrated Mr. William Veitch. When only twenty-six years of age, Veitch, as stated in his memoirs, was " prevailed with, by Mr. John Welsh, minister of Irongray, and others, who came to his house at the WesthUls of Dunsyre, to join with that party who were so oppressed by the inhuman cruelties and excessive robberies of Sir James Turner and the forces he commanded, lying at Dumfries, for their non-compliance with abjured Prelacy, so. that they were necessitated to endeavour their own relief if possible."* Though not present when the persecutor was captured, he thoroughly identified himself with the insurgents, took part in the battle of Pentlands, and narrowly escaped from that disastrous field. When, towards nightfall, the Covenanting ranks were broken, he " fell in," to use his own words, " with a whole troop of the enemy, who turned his horse violently in the dark and carried him along with them, not knowing but that he was one of their own." "But," he goes on to say, " as they fell down the hill in pursuit of the enemy, he held upwards till he got to the outside of them, and the moon rising clear, which made him fear he would presently be discovered, he saw no other way of escape but to venture up the hill, which he did, being well mounted; which, when the enemy perceived, they cried out, ' Ho ! this is one of .the rogues that has commanded them !' Several pursued him up the hill a little, and shot at him sundry times, but their horses sunk, and were not able to ascend the hill; so that he escaped, and came that night to a laird's house in Dunsyre Common, within a mile of his own dwelling."! * M'('rio'a Mi^moirs of William Voik'h, pp. 23-4. f Ibid., p. 44. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 517 Mr. Veitch, after continuing in hiding for several days, fled to the north of England, where he resided many years, minis- tering to various attached congregations, when such a liberty was allowed him. In 1678, when Prelacy was rampant, he was apprehended at Stanton, near Morpeth, on a magistrate's warrant, charged with being " a preacher or teacher to the Nonconformists in the Church of England," and with being an outlawed rebel fugitive from Scotland. Dragged before the Scottish Privy Council, he was subjected to a searching interro- gation by Archbishop Sharpe ; and, as the Council failed to make him criminate himself, and they had no evidence of his having been engaged in the Pentland rising, he was sent back to prison. "The next news was a letter from the King to turn him over to the criminal court, and there to intimate an old illegal sentence- of death unto him;" but, owing to an opportune change in his Majesty's counsellors, and much influence being used on his behalf, the sentence was commuted to the lenient one of banishment from Scotland for life, in virtue of which he was left at liberty to rejoin his old friends in Northumberland. At the Revolution, this uncompromising champion of the Covenant, who had suffered so much for his principles, obtained welcome repose. Several calls from vacant parishes having been addressed to him, he accepted one from Peebles, where he remained for four years, though, strangely enough, objections to his settlement there were made at the instigation of the Duke of Queensberry, on account of his being compromised in the Pentland affair; and before these were finally disposed of he received competing calls from Edinburgh and Dumfries, the latter of which, in accordance with the decision of the Assembly, he accepted in September, 1694 Mr. Veitch, as he himself narrates, was at first disinclined to accept the charge demitted by Mr. Campbell, and only did so after preach- ing repeatedly at Dumfries, and " acquainting himself with the people;" "and," he adds, "this was a great encouragement, that after several conferences with some leading persons in the town, wherein he told them, among other differences, needless here to be mentioned, that except they would free him of the drawing of the tithes (with which he had got on the finger-ends 518 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. at Peebles, and ' burnt bairns fire dread'), and take a tack thereof from him, as long as he should continue minister of the place, he could not settle among them. They at length, consulting among themselves, complied with this, and so he set them a tack of them ,so long a.s he was to continue their minister, at the rate that they had often told him the tithes were worth, viz., twenty-two hundred merks per annum, out of which he is obliged, by charter from the King, to pay the second minister four hundred merks per annum."* In the following year Mr. Veitch concurred with his Session and the magistrates in giving a call to Mr. Kobert Paton, minister of Carlaverock, who was admitted as his colleague in February, 1696. It is pleasant to contemplate the venerable man, after all his troubles and trials, ministering in comfort to his Dumfries congregation, and looked up to with respect throughout the parish. He had been of some service to Mr. Gilbert Elliot, afterwards Lord Minto, when that young lawyer was in a humble condition, for which favour his lordship had afterwards an opportunity of showing his gratitude; and when the old friends met in Dumfries, which they often did, their conversation was sure to turn on the perils of the Persecution, contrasted with the peace of the present times. On one of these occasions. Lord Minto facetiously remarked, "Ah! Wilhe, Willie ! had it not been for me, the pyets wad hae been pyking your pate on the Netherbow Port!" and Mr. Veitch's happy response was, "Ah! Gibbie, Gibbie! had it no been for me, ye would have been writing papers for a plack the page!" In 1709, his constitution, though vigorous, gave way, so that he had to obtain successive assistants; one of whom, Mr. Patrick Linn, was ordained on the 19th of May, 1715, as the second minister of Dumfries, Mr. Paton being recognized as occupying the first charge. Mr. Veitch demitted his charge on the same day, on account of his increasing infirmities, though he still retained a right to preach occasionally. His faithful partner, to whom he had been married fifty-eight years, died in May, 1 722 ; and next day he breathed his last, at the ripe age of eighty-two. " Memoirs, p. I'.ll. CHAPTER XXXVIII. RELATIVE POSITION OF DUMPRIBS AMONG THE KOYAL BUKOHS — DETAILED ACCOUNT OF ITS TRADE AND COMMERCE IN THE LAST DECADE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY — PROVISION FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF THE POOR — RISE OF BRIDGEND (MAXWBLLTOWN) — BURGHS OF BARONY NOTICED — LANDED PROPERTY OF THE BURGH — RIGHT OF THE HOUSEHOLDERS TO PASTURE CATTLE ON ITS COMMONS — PRIMITIVE CONDITION OF THE DOCK MEADOW — FRESH ILLUSTRATIONS OF TOWN COUNCIL LEGISLATION — PRO- CEEDINGS OF THE INCORPORATED TRADES — THE DARIEN SCHEME, AND ITS FOUNDER WILLIAM PATERSON : MUNIFICENT SUPPORT GIVEN TO IT BY THE BURGH AND DISTRICT. From a very early period, down till the Union with England, the Burgh, or rather its Council, as an electoral college, sent a Commissioner to the Estates, or Parliament, the Provost being often appointed as such. The name of the Burgh usually appears as the fifteenth on the Parliamentary roll, a place that indi- cated the period of its erection rather than its rank. An Act passed in 1701 in favour of Dumbarton, reserves the right of the members of Ayr, Irving, Renfrew, Dumfries, and several other burghs, to ride, sit, and vote, and take prece- dency in all national meetings before the representative of the said burgh. In the reigns of the Jameses, and for a century afterwards, Dumfries had a much higher relative position than that which it now occupies. Chalmers, writing in 1823, observes, that "Dumfries has gradually changed its place of precedence, as it has increased in people and prosioerity. Accord- ing to the tax roll of 1771, it stood the seventh on the scale of assessment of sixty-six Royal Burghs, there being only six higher, and no fewer than fifty-nine lower." By a reference to the tax roll of earlier years, we find that the town occupied a still higher grade than the author of " Caledonia" assigns to it. In the roll of 1695, Edinburgh stands first, and is rated at £35 Scots; Glasgow follows far behind, at a rating of £15, 520 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. which, however, rose ten years afterwards to £20; Aberdeen ranks next, at £6 10s.; Dundee follows, at £5 6s. 8d.; then comes Montrose, at £2 8s.; and next Dumfries, at £1 IBs. 4d. In 1705 the tax on Montrose had fallen to £1 13s. 8d., and that of Dumfries remained stationary, making it, in the last- mentioned year, the fifth of the Royal Burghs, as tested by taxable wealth. The rate on Lochmaben in 1695 was 3s., on Annan 2s., and on Sanquhar Is. The oldest tax roll extant, dated 21st February, 1578, makes Dumfries the eighth Royal Burgh : at that period its proportion of the general assessment was £1 7s. 6d. A high degree of prosperity was enjoyed by the Burgh during the reign of James IV. : and though it was more populous at the date of the Revolution, it was relatively poorer, the various troubles through which it passed in the interval having operated discouragingly on its trade and commerce;* while its landed patrimony had become much reduced through improvidence or neglect, and its fishings on the Nith, conferred by royal grant after the Reformation, had passed into private hands. We have no means of knowing what amount of revenue the Burgh derived from feus and leases before its common good began to be tampered with, about the beginning of the sixteenth century; but it must have been considerable as compared with the expenditure, and we know that, before the lapse of another hundred years, it had become very much reduced. Had that not been the case, the "re-edification" of the bridge in 1629 would not have been a very exhaustive effort; and a more favourable report could have be'en given of the public finances than the authorities were able to furnish to certain repre- sentatives from the Convention of Royal Burghs, who in 1692 visited the town to obtain information upon the subject. Provost Rome, Bailie Johnston, Bailie Irving, and Mr. Menzies, town-clerk cave in a statement to the deputies which was the reverse of cheering. " To the best of their knowledge," the common good was worth yearly " 2,666 lib. 13s. 4 as is shown by an item in the Treasurer's account : — " To Mr. Moffat, architect, and Dean Johnston, 24 lbs. [Scots] to bear their expenses in their journey to visit Glasgow steeple." According to another entry in the same account, dated 10th April, 1704, Mr. Moffat was paid £104 Scots " for drawing the steeple scheme, and in name of gratification for his coming to Dumfries." For some reason or other he backed out of his engagement with the Committee; and they, in January, 1705, " considering how long the designed building is retarded for want of an architect," resolved "to send for one Tobias Bachup, a master builder now at Abercorn,* who is said to be of good skill."t What Moffat left at an incipient stage, Bachup cordially agreed to complete — he coming to the Burgh for that purpose in the following month. Whilst the Committee were put to some little trouble in this matter, they had many other difficulties to surmount. There was no adequate timber, as in ancient times, in the vicinity of the town; and the first impulse of the Committee was to freight a vessel and send it for that material to " Noroway o'er the faem." Then there was no available lime lying nearer than Annandale; and though there were plenty of stones in the town's quarry at the foot of the Dock, men able to excavate and use them were exceedingly scarce in the district. The erection of a fabric that was to cost 19,000 merks (£1,041 13s. 4d. sterling), was such an extraordinary enterprise for a small town of that day, like Dumfries, that the Committee were often at their wits' end ; * Bachup was then engaged in building a house at Abercorn House; but he resided in Alloa, his native town. f Minute-book of the Steeple Committee. This book, consisting of nearly sixty pages of beautiful manuscript, is preserved in the Record Room of the Town HaU. 540 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. and they must have spent a vast amount of time and energy, and lost many a night's sleep, whilst engaged with their her- culean task. At one of their sederunts, Provost Coupland reported " that he and Bailie Corbet, when they were at Edin- bursfh, had made search for a free Danish or Swedish bottom for fraughting for timber to Norway, and after dilligent search, they found that there can be none gotten at a easy rate." * A resolution to search for the article in this country was therefore come to; and, after an exploratory raid, trees of sufficient size were discovered at Garlieswood, in the Stewartry, which the pro- prietor was willing to dispose of How to bring the Galloway oaks to the banks of the Nith — " Bimam Wood to Dunsinane" — -was the next difficulty. The forest was some nules inland; so that the trees, after being felled, had to be transported by horses over wretched roads to the Dee, and then conveyed in a flat boat or gabbart, and in rafts, down Kirkcudbright Bay into the Solway, and thence up the Nith to Kelton or the Dock, where horse-power was again needed to take them to Dumfries. These processes were extremely perplexing, laborious, and expensive to our ancestors; and when the Committee had, by means of them, laid in a considerable stock of timber, they were very glad to come to such terms with the new architect as roUed upon him a large share of their burden — he agreeing, at their urgent request, to supply all the remaining materials, as well as to erect the building. A sub-committee having met with Mr. Bachup on the 14th of February, 1705,. reported to the "Grand Committee" the result of their interview as follows: — "That with great difficulty they had brought him to offer to furnish all materialls necessar for the said fabrick, and to construct the same conform to the scheme drawn, and the alterations of the dimensions which the Committee had made, so as the same may be complete both in mason and wright work, and in the doors, windows, roof, and other parts thereof, against Martinmas, 1707, and to carry the work on as followes, viz. : to build the first stories to the jests, in the first year (the work being to be begun in May nixt), and to cover the roof of the Council-house, and carry up the steeple as high the nixt yeai", and to complete tlie Htcuplo, and all the other work, and ridd the ground betwixt " Stt'Cjilo Committei''s Miimtos. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 541 and Martinmas, 1707 years, and then to deliver the keys, at that term, to the toun; and that for the sum of nineteen thou- sand merks Scots, with a complement to his wife, and another to himself, by and attour five hundred merks, which he refers to the toun's will, whither they will give it to him at perfecting the work or not." * All the terms having been duly settled and signed, the foundation-stone of the steeple buildings was laid on the 30th of May; and Mr. Bachup having brought a large body of masons from a distance, and vanquished all remaining obstacles as to the supply of materials, he finished his under- taking at the appointed time, and to the satisfaction of his employers. It was at first intended that the stair at the south end of the Council-house should be fenced with a stone wall ; but, instead of that, it was supplied with a rail of wrought-iron (forged by an Edinburgh artificer), the existing remains of which prove it to have been a magnificent piece of workmanship. In order that the lieges might be duly apprised of the time of day, a clock for the spire was commissioned from Mr. John Ban- croft, Stockport, which cost £21 sterling, the four dial plates for the same having been painted by Mr. John Chandley, Cheedle, at an expense of £11; these sums being exclusive of the personal charges incurred by the contractors in visiting the town. Then, by way of furnishing a voice to the Burgh in seasons of festivity and triumph, and to announce the time for church-going, three bells were cast for the steeple by Mr. George Barclay of Edin- burgh : one eight hundred pounds weight, another of five hundred pounds, and the third of three hundred pounds; the whole costing £1,698 14s. 6d. Scots, including the expense of " tagging, tongueing, transporting, and hanging of the said three bells."t When all these items are taken into account, it appears very obvious that the cost of the Trou Steeple (as it was first called), the Council Chamber, and the rest of the buildings,, with their furnishings, would much more than exhaust the original fund of 20,000 merks; and the probability is that the entire expense was not less than £1,500 sterling. To Inigo Jones the credit of designing the Mid-Steeple is * Steeple Committee's Minutes. f Ibid. 542 HISTOEY OF DUMFRIES. usually attributed ; but that, it now appears, must be shared between Mr. John Moffat and Mr. Tobias Bachup, the former having supplied the first sketch, the latter modifying it less or more before translating it into stone, lime, and timber. That Bachup had much more to do with the building than mason- work and superintendence, is evident from the terms in whidh he is spoken of by the Committee; these being, "Mr. Tobias Bachup, our architect," "builder and architect of the fabric and desyned steeple," "architect and builder of the steeple and Council-house."* Some other works of considerable importance were carried on contemporaneously with the steeple. When the century com- menced the banks and braes on both sides of the river appeared very much as Nature had formed them. In Bridgend there was not a house further down than' the one belonging to James ■ Birkmyre; there were no mills nor road in that direction, ^e only regular roads from the village being those leading to the parish church of Troqaeer, Terregles House, and Lincluden College. Dumfries terminated a little below St. Michael's Church; and, save the excavations at the Castledykes quarry, and the road which swept round the west of Lochar Moss to England, there were few traces of man's handiwork in the southern vicinity of the Burgh. The Dock, the lands of Castle- dykes and Kingholm, all lay in pasture — their virgin soil unpierced by plough or spade, and unprovided with either road or fence. A portion of Castledykes, at the period to which we refer, was private property, but it having been acquired by the Burgh about 1707, a road was constructed from the foot of St. Michael Street to Kingholm, for the special use of carters doing business at the quarry or with the shipping; and at the same * We have been favoured by an Alloa gentleman with the following note ; — ' ' It appears that the architect's father, Thomas Bachup, was mason to the Earl of Mar in the end of the seventeenth century. John Crawford, our local antiquary, has a curious document in his possession, a contract between John, Earl of Mar, and Thomas Bachup, 'masone in Alloway, for building a new arch at the Bridge of Tullibody, mending the pier and the calsie,' 18th January, 1697. The deed is sigueil by Tobias Bachup as a witness. There is an old house in K irkgate here, which was built by Tobias. It has a sculptured stone on tho front dated 1G95, with the initials of himself and wife, ' T. B.' and ' M. L.' His wife, In whom he was manied in 1684, was named Margaret Lindsay." HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 543 time an enclosure was formed ou the east aud south sides of the Burgh roods, the river itself being deemed a suflficient boundary on the west. A fai-ther innovation was made when, in 1712, forty-two acres of Kingholm gi-ass were converted by the plough into arable land, the same being let to John M'Nish, deacon of the weavers, for three years, at rather more than 10s. sterling an acre yearly. Two hoi-ses and eight oxen bought by the Council for this " clod-compelling" duty were resold — one horse for £3, the other for £3 10s., the cattle for £2 10s. each. More than double this rent was obtained in 1749, when the enclosed land at Kingholm was let on a nineteen years' lease. In the same year, the braes of Castledykes were also let for nineteen years to one Robert Andei-son, gardener. He became bound by the conditions of his tack to tm-n one half of the ground into a garden, the other half into an orchard, and to enclose the whole with a feal dyke and ditch at his own expense. As the ground was just about an acre in extent, it must have been reckoned of good quaUty, since the stipulated annual rent was £1 os. sterling, a high rate for land at the period in question. The Dock and " land belonging thereto and inclosed there- with," was let on a seven years' lease, at £23 sterUng annually, in 1756. Their appearance then, so different fi-om what it now is, is pai-tly indicated by the ai-ticles of the lease. The tacks- man was required to apply a sufficiency of manure or sea-sleitch to the high gi-ound, to ft-ee it fi-om brambles and thistles; to lay it down with here or barley ; to sow it with white clover and rve-grass during the fifth yeai- of his lease, or soon after: to abst;un from ploughing up the ground afterwards, and to keep aU the dykes and ditches in good repair : the ma^strates reserving to themselves the right of improving the bank of the Dock next the water, by sloping and planting it with willows ; to keep clean the sewer from the pound-fold along the back of the Dock into the water, and reserving also a passage from the houses at Cats'-Strand to the river, for the use of the tenants. "When Dumfries was stiU but a veiy insignificant place, it possessed a grain mill, that being an indispensable adjunct of all towns great and small in ancient times. We read of Stake- ■"'44 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. ford Mill, opposite the Castle, on the Galloway side, whic belonged to the barony of Drumsleet; of a mill on th Upper Sandbeds; of two horse-mills in the same locality and of a mill south of the Burgh, the water motive power ( which gave its name to the property of Milldamhead. Fror 1685 till 1707, the main dependence of the Burgh seems t have been on the horse-mills; but these having gone out c gear, the Council were led, in the following way, to erect other on quite a new site. For the purpose of correcting the tendenc of the Nith to encroach on the Dumfries side, a small supple mentary bed was cut in the opposite bank, through which ; large flow of water was diverted. Thus a division was made ii the river, a little below -the bridge; one stream, the main one continuing with an eastward bias to pursue nearly the old path and the other narrow one passing over the newly formed channel for a hundred yards pr more, and then mingling with the larger body. As by this operation a water-course suitable for a mill was incidentally supplied, the Council, with the consent of a public meeting of the community, held on the 2ud of March, 1705, resolved to utilize it for that purpose. Accordingly, a contract was signed with Mr. Mathew Frew, who agreed, for three thousand merks and an adequate supplj' of stone, to build, " on the other syde of the water, ane sufficient miln, capable of grinding malt, meall, flour, and all other sorts of grain, with a sufficient caul and other pertinents." Ground for a road through the fields, or rather brae-side, lying between the bridge and the new building, was purchased by the Council; and in a short time kilns were erected, and a few dwelling-houses for millers and others sprang up in the neighbourhood — Bridgend thus obtaining an addition to its size, and new elements of progress, from which it received a lasting benefit. On the 27th of October, 1707, the new water-mill was let, in a completed form, for the first time, alongst with the existing one at Mill-hole, and two smaller branches of revenue, the whole bringing a rent of two thousand four hundred and fifty merks. A barley mill and a wht;at mill wero afterwards added, the latter in 1742. Such is tlio origin of the town mills, which, three in number, still yield a considerable amount of revenue to the Burgh — the HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 545 rent in. 1865-6 being £300, with an addition of £35 for a wauk- mill, built some time prior to 1790, and £19 for granaries.* The construction of the caul was opposed by Mr. Maxwell of Carnsalloch, and other fishery proprietors in the higher reaches of the Nith; they contending that it would prevent salmon from running up the river as formerly, and that it was clearly at variance with the existing law regarding cruives and similar obstructions. These objections were pleaded without effect in the Supreme Court. It was represented on the part of the magistrates that the town had formerly a mill a little above the bridge, the dam for which was on the opposite or Galloway side, and so easily sanded up, that it was of little service; wherefore the magistrates, taking advantage of the cutting already referred to, built a new mill on the Galloway side, and placed the dam dyke in such a position that it could not be sanded up by floods. This, it was argued, the magistrates had a perfect right to do. They were heritors on both sides of the river; the alveus of the water was therefore their property, though others claimed the fishing : and they could not be stopped from building their own dam dyke through their own water, upon the pretext of the erection being prejudicial to those who claimed the fishings above. The pleas-in-law for the town were : (1) Because mill-dam dykes are no prejudice to fishes going over, they being " not a foot and a half above the ebbest water." (2) The water being theirs, they may build as they please, though some accidental prejudice to a neighbour may arise; such as the building of a house may * A return, prepared by the Town Clianiberlain, Mr. James H. M'Gowan, of the rents and profits of the mills and granaries, and the cost of maintaining the same and the caul' for twenty years, ending 15th September, 1866, shows the following results: — A total annual revenue, varying from £343 lis., which it was in 1848-9 (the year of the second cholera visitation) to £499 3s., which it was in 1859-60; and a net yearly profit, rising from £119 lis. Id., to £446 I3s. 4d. An explanatory note is appended in these terms : — " In addition to the miUs and granaries, the [contiguous] property at WUliesdale, belonging to the Burgh, includes the MUlgreen, with the house thereon, and three gardens, the rents of which are not included in the above retiim. The public burdens cannot be easily divided, and the amount given above (an annual average of £35), is chargeable on the whole property. I estimate the propor- tion of those chargeable on the MiUgreen and gardens at £4, which being added to the surplus each year, will make the total profits on the mills, granaries, and caul, during the last twenty years, £6,000, or an average of £300 per annum. " All these sums are, of course, in English money. 3 Y 54G HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. stop a neighbour's lights, and yet will not hinder the building. And (3) in the present case, the town had the like dam dyke for- merly, and this shall be of the same height ; and as the former dyke had a mid- stream open nightly by the space of six foot, so shall this, though no law requires the same, that being only in cruives and wears, which are of a huge height and thickness. And the town does not understand what argument can be brought from cruives and wears applicable to the mill-dam dyke, wherein there is no cruive made nor designed, nor any novum opus, but only the former, which was failing, renewed, and with a greater ease to the fishing." It was urged, on behalf of the town, also, that the caul being pitched in much deeper water than the former dyke, and having a mid-sluice kept open nightly, shoals of fish would pass through with the utmost freedom. A curious supplementary statement was made, as follows: — " The great drought which hinders the going of burn-mills, and the stop put to the building of this mill, puts the town and inhabitants to a great hardship for want of the grinding of meal and malt; and besides this. Dr. Johnston having doled to the poor of the town 600 lib. sterl., which poor are infeft in thir milns for payment of their annual rent, which, if stopped, their provision fails, and the town must sustain the burden of them, which they cannot otherwise defray, and the inhabitants above measure straitned through their not getting their corn and malt grinded, they being thirled to the miln ; and besides, there is no going miln near to the town, they being all standing by reason of the drought." The objectors failed to do more than stop the works for a short time; and when they were all finished they gave a picturesqueness to the river which it did not formerly possess.* * "The Caul," says a writer iu the Dunifrksshire Monthly Magazine, "is generally recollected very forcibly by the wandering natives of our good town, and often forms an important subject of conversation when two or three of them chance to meet. Perhaps an infusion of our national predilection for the romantic in sound as well as show may mingle with the home-recoUections of the Dumfrioaian. We remember meeting, in a little town near London, with a woman 'bred ami born in the Back-barnraws,' who, after some general conversation about Dumfries, turned of a sudden to the Caul, ' I never sit doun by myeol',' said she, ' especially o' an afternoon, when the bairns are out, but I hear the sough o' the (^aul as plain iu my ears as when I was bleaohiu' claea on the island.' " HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 547 It used to flow rather tamely past the town; but now, partially separated, a verdant peninsula — the Mill-green — rising up between the divisions, and a miniature cascade formed by the Caul crossing it angularly below the venerable bridge, it presents a view that is ever varying and never otherwise than attractive ; and the sound of the broken water, whether mur- muring "softly or swelled to tempest-pitch, is like music in the ear of all the genuine sons and daughters of St. Michael. The papers from which we have quoted bring out a fact which must be new to most of our readers, that the Sandbeds mill was kept in motion by means of a caul erected above Devorgilla's bridge. There is a prevailing belief in Dumfries that the town mills, prior to the erection of those built on the opposite bank, stood below the bridge, near the head of the Whitesands; but in the preceding pleas put forth for the Burgh (a copy of which lies before us in a printed form), the explicit statement is made that the town of Dumfries had "formerly a miln a little above their bridge, whereof the dam dyke or water-caul was upon the other side;" and we have been unable to find in any document the faintest trace of a mill having ever existed below the old bridge on the Dumfries side.* * In the action that arose out of the erection of the mills and caul, it was stated that "the stoups for the dam dyke were fixed in an rock that goes throw the water, being the very same rock whereupon the bridge is founded;" but for all that it has on at least four occasions been partially swept away, as if it had been built upon sand. An account of the first catastrophe of this kind, and how it was dealt with, is given in the subjoined Council minutes. 24th December, 1742. — "The magistrats and Council finding that there is a great breach in the caall of the mUn-dam, in the Water of Nith, and that it will be necessary to have the same repaired as soon as possible, they appoint a com- mittee of the magistrats, dean, and treasurer," with others, "to provide materials and employ workmen to repair and make up the said breach." 27th December, 1742. — The magistrates, in name of the committee, report "that they had viewed the breach, and had considered several proposals for repairing thereof ; and, as the most probable, had taken in a proposal from John Baxter, Wright, whereby he proposes to take up all the stones washen ofi' from the caall that can be recovered, and to make up the said breach lately made therein by the frost and ice sufficiently, so as to continue in good order till Lambas next ; and to make and put in a suflScient frame of timber, fourteen foot long, for the guUet door to open and shutt upon, within fourteen days after this day inclu- sive, for ten pounds sterling — the town furnishing and laying down on the Sands what more stones shall be needful from the quarry, and furnishing, timber for the frame; which being considered by the Council," they unani- 548 HISTOEY OF DUMFRIES, During the period in which these public works were bein constructed, the Commissioners appointed by England and Scol land to frame a treaty of incorporation between the countriei were holding their deliberations; and the object of them wa viewed with dislike by many persons in Dumfries, as well as b the people of North Britain generally. Queen Anne, who sue ceeded to the throne on the death of William in 1702, appointei James, second Duke of Queensberry,* the leading nobleman ii Dumfriesshire, to be her High Commissioner in Scotland fo promoting the Union; but all his influence in the County an( its chief town failed to make them pronounce on its behalf. The Presbyterian ministers there, and generally, were afrai( that the Union would be the means of advancing Prelacy, if no of endangering the very existence of the Established Church and on patriotic as well as religious grounds it was vehementlj moualy accepted the proposal. In 1800, in 1820, and lastly on the morninj of the 24th of January, 1867, portions of the Caul gave way; the destructive agent having been each time the same, namely, huge masses of ice pressing against the dyke after being loosened by a thaw. * This distinguished nobleman was born in 1662 at Sanquhar Castle, which, with the barony of Sanqular, was purchased from the Crichtons by Sir W. Douglas of Drumlanrig in 1630. For his services in carrying the Union move- ment to a successful issue he received a pension of £3,000 a year, the entire patronage of Scotland was conferred upon him, and he was created a Britisl peer,. with the title of Duke of Dover, Marquis of Beverley, and Earl of Ripon. The Duke died in his forty-ninth year, just four years after he had realized the great object of his ambition. His wife, Mary, fourth daughter of Charles Boyle, Lord Clifford, predeceased him in 1709. They were buried in the famUj vault in Durisdeer churchyard, and a magnificent mausoleiuu, containing marble figures of the deceased, was raised over their remains. The contents of the vault, when examined in 1836, were, in addition to the dust of the Duke and Duchess, that of Isabella Douglas, wife of William, the first Duke ; that of Lord George Douglas, son of the latter nobleman; of Charles, the thijrd Duke; of his wife, Catherine Hyde, daughter of Henry, Earl of Clarendon, celebrated for hei beauty and wit by Pope and Swift, and who was the bountiful patroness oi Gay, who said of her, ' ' Yonder I see the cheerful Duchess stand, For friendship, zeal, and blithesome humours known;" of Charles, Earl of Drumlanrig, yoimger son of the thiixJ Duke ; of Elizabeth Hope, Dowagor Countess of Drumlaurig ; of Henry, Lord Drumlanrig ; and of Elizabeth, daughter of the Union Duke. All these remains are in lead coffins. There is one also in which the bones of the early chiefs of the house are stated to have been placed; and there are also several other cofiins without any inscriptions to indicate their contents. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 549 opposed by a majority of the nation. On the 3rd of October, 1706, the Scottish Parliament sat down to discuss the articles of the projected Union, as previously agreed to in London ; and the General Assembly as representing the Church, and the Con- vention of Royal Burghs in name of the general community, sent in petitions against the measure — the petition in the latter case having been carried by a large majority, with whom voted the Burgh's Commissioner. The representative of the Presbytery in the Supreme Ecclesiastical Court took a similar course, as instructed to this effect: — "That in a calm and regular way ye move that the Commission [of Assembly] use what method they think fit for them -in the capacity of Church judicature, for the preventing the passing of that article of the giving up of our Parliament: That ye do nothing in the Commission that may be accounted a compliance with the passing such an Act. If any such thing be likely to be con- ducted by the Commission that may be accounted such a compHance, or any other way endanger the present Church Establishment to the claim of right, and all Acts of Parliament made thereanent, ye shall in our name protest against it." These instructions were given by the Presbytery on the 29th of October; and on the 20th of next month a more emphatic testimony on behalf of the independence of the nation was uttered at the Market Cross of the Burgh. The demonstration originated with the followers of Cameron, the remnant of the extreme Covenanting party, the successors of those who, in the same month exactly forty years before, captured the persecutor Turner, and celebrated their triumph over him at the Cross.* Matters were moving quietly within the town. There was a powerful feeling of discontent against the incorporating alliance with England ; but it had not been openly, or at all events violently, expressed. The merchants were selling their wares as usual, the workmen following their ordinary avocations; and whilst the masons of Mr. Bachup were busy at the bartizan of the Mid-Steeple, they would, from their elevated position, be among the first to notice the incoming, at twelve o'clock, of a * After the Eevolution, the party was divided; a portion rendering substan- tial services to Government; others, like Sir R. Hamilton, maintaining a kind of passive resistance. 550 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. somewhat tumultuous crowd, including a force of nearly three hundred armed men. The latter had assembled in the neigh- bourhood of the town to arrange their mode of procedure ; and as they entered within its precincts, numbers of the populace, aware of their object, joined heartily in the movement. Near noonday this formidable band — made up partly of resolute, high- minded, well-organized men, and partly of the Burgh mob — appeared menacingly in High Street, and, making their way to the Cross unopposed by the authorities, many of whom sympa- thized, with them, they in a calm deliberate manner proceeded with their work; and so exciting was it, that every other sort of work was abandoned in the town, even the great enterprise of the Steeple making no further progress on that eventful day. "We must have a fire kindled!" said the leaders; and forth- with plenty of materials were supplied — -the workmen at the adjoining building contributing, we may be sure, odd bits of the Garlieswood timber to swell the rising blaze. In order to foreclose any attempt at interruption, a double guard of horse and foot was placed in martial order round the anti-Union ring, outside of which stood the applauding populace. As the flames rose bright and high from — shall we say ? — ^the altar of the ' Market Cross, one of the men stepped forward — the officiating priest of the ceremony — and, producing a copy of the detested Articles of the Union, announced to all present that he was about to commit them to the devouring element, in token that the measure to which they referred merited destruction. The paper was accordingly tossed into the angry fire, all the people by their acclamations saying Amen ! to the deed, and cheering to the echo when the charred document was exhibited for a moment on the point of a pike and returned to the flames. Scarcely had it been consumed, when another leader of the party, holding up a roll, intimated that there were inscribed on it the names of those Commissioners who, by signing the Treaty, had sold their country; " and thus," added he, throwing it amongst the ashes of the other document, "may all the traitors perish!" Something still remained to be done, in order to make the demonstration complete; and this was the uttering of a declaration explaining and vindicating the conduct of the party. It was boldly and eloquently drawn. After a recital of HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 551 some of the evils supposed to be involved in the measure, the protesters against it went on to say: — " But if the subscribers of the foresaid Treaty and Union, with their associates in Parlia- ment, shall presume to carry on the said Union by a supream power, over the belly of the generality of this nation, then and in that case, as we judge that the consent of the generality of the same can only divest them of their sacred and civil liberties, purchased and maintained by our ancestors with their blood, so we protest, whatever ratification of the foresaid Union may pass in Parliament, contrar to our fundamental laws, liberties, and privileges concerning Church and State, may not be binding upon the nation, now nor at any time to come: And particularly we protest against the approbation of the first article of the said Union, before the privileges of this nation, contained in the other articles, had been adjusted and secured; and so we earnestly require that the representatives in Parliament, who are for our nation's privileges, would give timeous warning to all the comers of the kingdom, that we and our posterity become not tributary and bond-slaves to our neighbours, without acquitting ourselves as becomes men and Christians ; and we are confident that the soldiers now in martial power have so much of the spirits of Scotsmen that they are not ambitious to be disposed of at the pleasure of another nation." * The originators of the movement having in this way fulfilled their mission, withdrew, and soon disappeared. They came mysteriously, unexpectedly ; and till this day the names of even the leaders among them remain unknown. Highly exaggerated accounts of their doings reached Edinburgh. It was reported there that 5,000 armed men had entered Dumfries; that 7,000 * A broadsheet printed copy of this spirited protest lies before us, with which we were favoured by Mr. David Laing, and which bears intrinsic evidence of having been printed at the time. It is headed thus : — "An Account of the Burning of the Articles of the Union at Dumfries. These are to notify to all concerned what are our reasons for and designs in the burning of the printed articles of the proposed Union with England, with the names of the Soots Commissioners subscribers thereof; together with the minuts of the whole treaty betvpixt them and the English Commissioners thereanent. " A note at the end says: — "A copy hereof was left affixed oh the Cross, as the testimony of the South part of this nation against the proposed Union as moulded in the printed articles thereof. This we desire to be printed and kept in record ad futuram rei memoriam," 052 HISTORY OF DUMFHIES. others had assembled on the neighbouring hills to support them ; and that unless strong measures were promptly taken, there might soon be a dangerous anti-Union outbreak in the south of Scotland. The subject was brought before Parliament by the Duke of Queensberry on the 29th of November, in connection with other disturbances of a similar kind. His Grace, according to the minutes of the sederunt, stated that the Secret Council, at their last meeting, had under their considera- tion several accounts of irregular and tumultuary meetings, by some people of the common and meanest degree, in arms, and of abuses committed by them at Glasgow, Stewartry of Kirk- cudbright, and Dumfries, and several places of Lanarkshire; and that there were papers dropt, inviting people to take up arms, and to provide ammunition and provisions, in order to their marching to disturb the Parliament: all which he was directed by the Right Honourable the Lords of her Majesty's Secret Council to lay before the Parliament, to the effect proper methods might be resolved for preventing the evil consequences of such practices.* His Grace then presented a letter from the magistrates of Dumfries to her Majesty's advocate, " bearing an account of the abuses and tumultuary meetings in that place, with a declaration emitted by those who met, which was affixt on the mercat cross of Dumfries:" both of which were read. Whereupon a draft of a proclamation to be emitted by the Parliament, " against all tumultuary and irregular meetings and convocations of the lieges," was presented and read; and after some discussion, it was objected " that it did not appear that there was a particular information of any tumultuary meetings or irregular convocations in any other part of the shire of Lanark than at Glasgow." Her Majesty's High Commissioner was thereupon pleased to notify " that he had information not only from Glasgow and Dumfries, but also from several places in Lanarkshire, of tumultuary and irregular meetings of men under arms, and of their giving out and publishing their design of marching to disturb the Parliament." Eventually, the draft of the proclamation, on being verbally amended, was carried by a majority, t * Dofoo's History of the Union, p. 98. t Ibid., p. 9!); and Acts o{ Soot. Pari., vol xi., p. 343. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 553 Defoe, commenting upon this minute, says: — "It is observable that even in the House there appeared some who were very- loth to have these rabbles discouraged and discountenanced; and though I could give more particular instances of it, yet this of objecting against the certainty of the accounts is a clear proof of it: whereas the matter of fact was that the Lord Commissioner had real and direct information of this affair of Dumfries, and of private emissaries gone abroad to excite the people to take arms; and the respective meetings of these agents or emissaries in the county of Lanark, and elsewhere, are more than sufficient to justify the precautions mentioned in the minute."* The proclamation thus passed by Parliament was issued in name of the Queen. The various statutes against the raising of tiunults and the holding of disorderly meetings having been recited in the preamble, her Majesty proceeded to say: — "Yet, nevertheless. We and our Estates of Parliament are certainly informed that in several comers of the realm, and particularly in our burgh of Glasgow, and other places within the sheriffdom of Lanark, and in our Burgh of Dumfries, and other places adjacent, people have presumed, in manifest contempt of the foresaid laws, to assemble themselves in open defiance of our Government, and with manifest design to overturn the same, by insulting the magistrates, attacking and assaulting the houses of our peaceable subjects, continuing openly in arms, and marching in formed bodies through the country, and into our burghs, and insolently burning, in the face of the sun and presence of the magistrates, the articles of treaty betwixt our two kingdoms, entered into by the authority of Parliament; and such crimes and insolencies being no ways to be tolerated in any well- governed nation, but, on the contrary, ought to be condignly punished conform to the laws above mentioned." Orders are then given in the proclamation to all persons so assembling to disperse; and certification is made that all who should hence- forth " be guUty, actors, abettors or assistants, in convocating or assembling in arms, or those who shall convocate and commit these practices above-mentioned, shall be treated and pursued as open traitors." " Finally, our Lyon King-at-arms," and his ♦ Defoe's History of the Union, p. 384. 3 z 554 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. brother heralds, with the sheriffs of counties, were charged t' pass "to the mercat -cross of Edinburgh, and the mercat-crosse of Dumfries, Lanark, and Glasgow, and other places needful, am there make publication hereof, by open proclamation of th premises, that none pretend ignorance." This document reflects, as in a mirror, the alarm created h exaggerated reports of the anti-Union movements. No wonde that a powerful minority in Parliament opposed its adoption misrepresenting, as it does, the design of the protesters, anc accusing them of attacking private property, as if they had beei a band of highwaymen, instead of being enthusiastic patriots whose only error was that they adopted a somewhat boisterous and tumultuous mode of discharging what they beheved to be s national and religious duty. Mr. Kobert Johnston of Kelton Provost of Dumfries in 1692-3-4-6, who sat for the Burgh in this Parliament, might have stated — and possibly did so — that the men who entered the town on the 20th of November, and his constituents who joined them, had no wish whatever to overturn the Throne, and that they neither pillaged the peaceable in- habitants nor insulted the magistrates. According to Defoe, the proclamation provoked the Glasgow populace, and " made them more furious than before ;" but " generally it had a very good effect." The subject was again brought under the notice oi Parliament on the 30th of November, a printed paper having been then given in, entitled, " An Account of the Burning ol the Articles of Union at Dumfries," as "read and affixt at the mercat-cross thereof, by the tumult assembled on that occasion." It was then moved, " That inquiry shall be made who has been the printer and ingiver of the said scurrilous paper, and that the print be burnt by the hand of the hangman."* This motion was carried, and, in accordance with it, the Union- denouncing manifesto was publicly burned at the Market Cross of Edinburgh ; but the daring printer of the document — luckily for him — managed to elude the vigilance of the Government. The opposers of the Union out of doors were represented by a resolute minority in Parliament, led by the Duke of Athole and Lord Belhaven; and when a motion was brought forward affirming the principle of the measure, it was, after much * Acts of Scot. Pari., v,il. xi., p. 344. HISTOEY OF DUMFRIES. 555 opposition, carried by a majority of thirty-three votes. It need scarcely be explained that, in this the last Scottish Parliament, Lords and Commons deliberated as usual together; so that by one testing division the opinion of both Estates was at any time readily ascertained. On this occasion there voted for the Union forty-six lords, including the Duke of Queensberry, the Earls of Galloway and Stair; thirty-seven barons, including WiUiam MaxweU of Cardoness ; and thirty-three burgh mem- bers. Twenty-one lords, among whom were the Marquis of Annandale and the Earls of Wigtown and Selkirk, voted on the other side; also, thirty-three barons, including Alexander Fergusson of Isle, and John Sharpe of Hoddam, and twenty- nine burgesses, of whom Provost Johnston of Dumfries was one. When the die was cast, and turned up in favour of the measure, the Duke of Athole tabled a spirited protest against it, which was signed by the minority. The constitutional opposition given by Lords and Commoners, and the tumultuous displays which manifested the feehngs of the populace, proved equally unavailing to stay the progress of the measure. Its passage through the House, too, was facilitated by bribery; several peers and burgesses, who stoutly opposed it at first, having been bought over or silenced by English gold. Provost Johnston was not one of these recreants ; what influence he possessed was given against the Act all along; and, in accord- ance with his wish, it was inscribed on his tombstone that, as the Parhamentary representative of Dumfries, he asserted the liberties of Scotland and opposed the Union: — "Scoticas libertatis assertor, Unioni fortiter opposuit." * It was probably by a local press that the proclamation pub- lished at the Cross against that measure was printed. We know that, at all events, a few years later, a " History of the Rebellion of 1715" was printed at Dumfries by Eobert Rae; the book, a small quarto, forming a very good specimen of the typography of the period. There was no newspaper in Scotland till the Cale- donian Mercury started, in 1660; and previously to that date letters containing the current news and town gossip of the day * Tte monument is in St. Miohael's cliurchyard. It is of a tabular form, with an upright slab or headpiece (the latter comparatively modern) screwed on to it. 556 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. were written in Edinburgh, copies of them finding their way to the leading provincial towns, and thus keeping their inhabitants conversant with public affairs. So early as 1696 the people of Dumfries enjoyed the luxury of a newspaper; but then it was only at the rate of one copy weekly, which the Town Council with laudable enterprise commissioned for the edification of the lieges, the cost of each tiny sheet being no less than 4s. 2|d. sterling. In the year above named, a complaint was made to the authorities that the weekly news-letter received from Edinburgh was frequently borrowed by neighbouring gentle- men, so that those for whom it was purchased lost the use of it; whereupon the Council ordered that "it should not be sent abroad out of the town, in all tyme coming," but that the same was "to ly in the clerk's ofiice, there to be keeped by him for the use and benefite of this burgh;" it being, however, poUtely intimated that if any country gentlemen desired to take dupli- cates of the letters, they were to be allowed to do so. Some years later the Council acquired a news-room or coffee-house of their own — in the same building, we understand, that is similarly occupied at the present time. The range of which this edifice formed a part, was planted down on the east side of High Street, encroaching upon it — just as the Mid-Steeple, farther up, encroached upon the west side. The ground floors of the news- room, which are now occupied as shops, were at one time used as an Exchange, having been built with open piazzas for that purpose.* By 1755, however, the Council, imder the pressure of monetary difficulties, had given up this news-room luxury. The house itself was sold by them to Mr. George Lowthian (son of Prince Charles's landlord); and he was informed that they had discontinued the newspapers, so that he might, if he thought fit, provide others for the room at his own charge. Though the Union was viewed with marked displeasure, it soon exercised a stimulating influence on the commerce of Scotland; and of this benefit the port of Dumfries obtained its due share. A large legitimate trade sprung up with the * Manuscript (!uido to Dumfries, by the lato Mr. JoLn Anderson, bookseller. A woll-writton production, upon which wo might have draAvn more largely, had not the MS. boon unfortunately lost sight of, and only turned up when it was ton laid to bo niado available by us to any great extent. HISTORY OF DUMFEIES. 557 American colonies, which, added to that akeady carried on with the north of Europe, contributed much to the prosperity of the town. A considerable addition was made to the officers of Excise and Customs; this being needed, however, not simply for the regulation of the lawful traffic, but to check smuggling, which, owing to the heavy duties imposed on various articles, had become a flourishing occupation along the coast of the Solway. The Custom-house officers of the port, with their regular quota of tide-waiters and boatmen, numbered fifteen in 1710: too few for the duties imposed upon them, as a large portion of the Galloway coast, including the port of Kirkcud- bright, was now under their care. At this time Dumfries owned only two or three vessels; but the crafts engaged in the contraband trade — yawls, luggers, and wherries — which the Government officers had to cope with, were numerous, active, and defiant. The Isle of Man was their chief home or place of rendezvous ; tobacco, brandy, rum, and wine were their principal cargo — to run which, under cover of night, or even in the glare of day, into some familiar creek, for their expectant customers, was their constant aim. To purchase a truss of the Virginian weed, or a keg of stimulating liquor, at a cheap rate, from these adventurous Manxmen, was looked upon as a light offence by the country people; nay, many of them were active partners in the business, ready to reset or carry the cargo into the interior, and to with- stand the King's officers when the latter audaciously stepped in to seize the prize. Collisions of this kind are frequently noticed in the reports sent by the collector at Dumfries, M'Dowall of Logan, to his superiors in Edinburgh. Writing on the 16th of April, 1711, he relates, that two small boats having been seen hovering on the coast, all the officers were ordered to be on the look-out; that tracks on the sands at Ruthwell led to a search in that parish, resulting in the seizure of a secreted cask of brandy, which the tide-waiters, five in number, were ordered to bring to, the Custom-house next morning ; and that, when they were ready to set out with it, upwards of a hundred women broke the doors and windows of the place where it was kept, and carried off the liquor. "We humbly lay before your honours," continues the collector, " the necessity of prosecuting 558 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. such abuses, as well for the security of the revenue as th- protection of the officers, who are so discouraged that they dari not, without the hazard of their lives, go about their duty;" anc he adds, that the Ruthwell folks are " such friends to th( running," that they will not, for any money, give lodgiugi ariqongst them to a revenue ofScer.* A^till more serious smuggling affray occurred in the following mon^ft, a few miles further down the coast. A waiter namec Young, hearing of some suspicious circumstances, hurried earlj in the morning to Glenhowan. There he learned from a fisher man that a notorious native smuggler, Morrow of Hidwood, hac "come home" from the Isle of Man. Accompanied by th( parish constable, he proceeded to Morrow's house, found in it i large pack, and two trusses of leaf tobacco, and was just pre- paring to return with the precious spoil, when a "multitude o: women" pounced, vulture-like, upon the captors. The wrathful amazons first dispossessed the constable of the pack which he carried; and whilst they were running away with it, Young leaving the trusses to the care of his companion, foolishly set off in pursuit. The consequences may be readily guessed at He might as well have sought to make a troop of wolves giv( np their prey, as these Glenhowan termagants surrender theirs The bold, rash man of the revenue was soundly beaten by them and lodged as a captive in the smuggler's stronghold, Hidwooc House, till they had secured the whole of the tobacco; aftei which, sore in mind as well as in body, he was set at liberty On reporting himself at headquarters, he was sent back to th( scene with a force of ten men. They searched all the houses fields, and gardens — discovered at length a pack of tobacco in i dry ditch near " the town of Bankend" — were hieing homewardf with it, when, lo! another "monstrous regiment of women,' armed with clubs and pitchforks, waylaid the party. Young thinking to terrify his assailants, shouted out that they woulc be punished with the utmost rigour for resisting the Queen's officers. " Punish us with those who deforced you at Arbiglanc and Rival!" (Ruthwell), was the scornful reply. After a smar( conflict, the women wore put to the rout, and the men carriec their capture to Dumfries without further disturbance.! ' CHistom-liouBc Eecoiils. f Ibid. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 5 5 9 In the report of this affair forwarded to Edinburgh, much emphasis was laid on the impunity with which the law was defied, and its representatives maltreated; and an urgent request was made for the prosecution of the offenders, and for a troop of dragoons to assist the revenue officers in the execution of their duty. Som^ of the women were tried at the Circuit Co.tirt of Justiciary in Dumfries on a charge of rioting and deforcing the officers; but the witnesses in the case intentionally neutr^ized their own testimony, by professing to entertain malice against the prisoners, and so the latter escaped punishment.* Occa- sionally the Customs' warehouses were broken into by marauding parties, and their contents carried off. A gang of this kind, towards the close of 1711, assaulted the officer in charge at Kirkcudbright and rifled his premises; another, about the same time, effected an entrance into the warehouse at Dumfries by means of false keys, and made away with five hundredweights of tobacco ; whilst, some years later, a crowd composed of smugglers and their friends mobbed the magistrates and collector there, in order that they might intercept four confiscated casks of brandy that had been forwarded from Annan. If the legal commerce in tobacco and brandy bore any thing like a due proportion to the contraband trade in these articles, the importations of them must have been immense. The seizures alone might have gone far to supply the wants of the district, unless our forefathers' propensities for smoking and drinking were inordinate. We read of the collector getting hold of thirty-four rolls of leaf tobacco and a rundlet of brandy in one house, and of a hundredweight of the former commodity in another; of five hundredweights rewarding the officer's search in a third locality; of five tuns of brandy being pounced upon at Heston; of a hundred quarter-hogsheads of the same liquor being seized in Balcary Bay, and of four big casks of it and twelve hogsheads of wine being captured at Annan — such seizures as these being matters of weekly occurrence, and strikingly illustrative of the extent to which the "running" business was carried on. Mr. Crosbie, Provost of Dumfries, and one of its leading merchants, owned in 1712 a vessel named the "James," which * Custom-house Records. 560 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. brought regular cargoes of tobacco from Virginia and Marylar and sometimes tar, timber, or other products from the Balti and we find him in the summer of 1719 importing nearly 57,0( hundredweights of tobacco in another ship, the " Kirkconnel There is every reason to believe that about this latter perio and for long afterwards, from 1,000 to 1,200 hundredweigh of this, the great staple of the Dumfries trade, paid duty the port every year. The monthly return of the Custon revenue dated 21st November, 1717 — the earliest we ha been able to discover — amounts to £116 6s. lOd. on all artich In that year the staff of officers was composed of a collectc Walter Murray, at an annual salary of £50; a deputy-collectc at £25; a comptroller, at £40; a deputy-comptroller, at £2 a land surveyor, at £40; a land waiter and searcher, at £2 an overseer of boatmen, at £30; ten tidesmen and four boa men, at £15 each: the whole numbering twenty-one, an maintained at a yearly expense of £440.* * Cuatom-liouse Records. CHAPTER XL. THE REBELLION OF 1715 — JACOBITE GATHERING AT LOCHMABBN — LOYAL MOVEMENTS AND MEETINGS IN THE DISTRICT — PREPARATIONS MADE FOR DEFENDING DUMFRIES — VISCOUNT KENMUKE, AND WILLIAM, EARL OF NITHSDALE, ESPOUSE THE PRETENDER'S CAUSE — ESTIMATE OF THE EARL'S CHAEACTER FROM HIS PORTRAIT AT TERREGLES — THE BURGH MENACED BY THE INSURGENTS — LOYAL REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVE FROM NEIGHBOURING TOWNS^THB PRETENDER PROCLAIMED BY THE INSURGENTS AT LOCHMAEEN — A LUDICROUS INCIDENT HASTENS THEIR DEPARTURE FROM THAT BURGH. We have now reached that eventful period of British history when the first attempt was made by the exiled royal family to recover the throne from which James VII. was driven, under the circumstances described in a previous chapter. The Earl of Mar, resenting his dismissal from office by George I., readily undertook the leadership of a movement designed to " bring the auld Stuarts back again;" and, having retired to his estates, he convened a meeting of such Highland chiefs and Lowland lords as were supposed to be favourable to the undertaking. To this gathering, held on the 26th of August, 1715, under the pretext of a great hunting match, the chivalrous house of Maxwell sent its chief; there repaired to it also "the bonniest lord that ever Galloway saw;" and, in presence of the assembled thanes, the standard of the Pretender — the flag of insurrection — was planted " on the braes of Mar." Some time before this daring step was taken, several provincial meetings of Jacobites had been held, for the purpose of manifesting their views, and ascertaining the state of public feeling regard- ing them. One of these is thus described by Rae, in his "History of the Rebellion:"* — "Upon Saturday, the 29th of * " The History of the late Rebellion ; Eaia'd against Hia Majesty King George by the Friends of the Popish Pretender. Drumfries : Printed by Robert Rae, and sold by him, and by Mr. John Martin, in the Parliament Closs, Edinburgh, &c. mdccxviii." The author, the Rev. Peter Rae, was 4 A 562 I-IISTOKY OF DUMFRIES. May, 1714 [the anniversary of the Restoration], there was a great confluence of gentlemen and country people at Loch- maben, on the occasion of a horse-race there. Two plates, which were the prizes, had peculiar devices : the one had a woman with balances in her hand, the emblem of justice, and over the head was Justitia, and at a little distance Suum cuique. The other had several men, with their heads downwards, in a tumb- ling posture; and one eminent person, erected above the rest, with that Scripture, Ezek. xxi. 27, ' I wiU overturn, overturn, overturn it : and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.' After the race, the Popish and Jacobite gentry, such as Frances Maxwell of Tinwald, John Maxwell, his brother, Eobert Johnston of Wamphray, Robert Carruthers of Rammerscales, the Master of Burleigh (who is under sentence of death for murder, and made his escape out of the tolbooth of Edinburgh a little before he was to have been execute), with several others I could name, went to the Cross, where, in a very solemn manner, before hundreds of witnesses, with drum beating and colours display' d, they did upon their knees drink their King's health," the Master of Burleigh prefacing the toast by invoking perdition on the heads of those who refused to drink it.* The same historian states that, in the year before, there was a similar demonstration, though less defiant, in the same burgh ; and laments that these warning presages were left unheeded by the Government.! On the other hand, several noblemen and gentlemen in the minister of Kirkoonnell, in Upper Nithsdale. He published Several treatises in divinity, and was deemed a good scholar and philosopher, as well as an able divine. His brother, who printed the volume, was at that time the only typographer in the south of Scotland. * Eae's History, pp. 49-50. ■)• The gathering at Lochmaben was celebrated by a Jacobite minstrel in the following spirited strains : — " As I came by Lochmaben-gate, It's there I saw the Johnstones riding ; Away they go, and they feared no foe, With their drums a-beatiug, colours flying. All the lads of Annandalo Came thei-e, their gallant chiefs to follow : Bi-avo Burleigh, Ford, and Rammerscales, With Wintoii and the gallant RoUo. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 563 south and west, fearing that the success of the Pretender— who was, like his father, a Eoman Catholic— would, among other evils, lead to the re-establishment of Popery, and an arbitrary form of government, adopted various precautionary measures in view of the threatened outbreak. They met at Dalmellington on the 18th of March, 1714, and passed resolutions to the effect that a general correspondence be entered into among the well- " I asked a man what meant tlie fray : ' Good sir,' said he, ' you seem a stranger; This is the twenty-ninth of May — Far better had you shun the danger. These are rebels to the Throne — Reason have we all to know it; Popish knaves and dogs each one ! — Pray, pass on, or you shall rue it.' " I looked the traitor in the face. Drew out my sword and ettled at him : ' Deil send a' the Whiggish race ' Downward to the dad that gat 'em !' Right sair he gloomed, but naething said, "While my heart was like to scunner : Cowards are they born and bred, Ilka whiugeing, praying sinner. ' ' My bonnet on my sword I bare, And fast I spurred by knight and lady ; And thrice I waved it in the air. Where a' our lads stood ranked and ready. ' Long live King James ! ' aloud I cried, ' Our nation's King, our nation's glory ! ' ' Long live King James ! ' they all replied— ' Welcome, welcome, gallant Tory ! ' " Then I shook hands wi' lord and knight, And mony a braw and buskined lady ; But lang I'll mind Lochmaben-gate, And a' our lads for battle ready. And when I gang by Looharbriggs, And o'er the moor at e'en or morrow, 111 send a curse unto the Whigs That wrought us a' this dool and sorrow." Hogg, after quoting Rae's account of the demonstrations at Lochmabeu, says : — ' ' Mr. Rae does not mention that the Lords Winton and Rollo were present there at either of the meetings. I find, however, from another part of his history, that they were both in Annandale that year first mentioned, else the elated ballad-monger would not have included them." — Jacobite Relics, vol. i., p. 294. 564 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. affected nobility, gentry, and citizens "within the shires o Clydesdale, Kenfrew, Ayr, Galloway, Nithsdale, and the Stewart ries and bailiaries thereof;" that meetings be held in each a these districts, for furtherance of the common object; that eacl district shall be invited to send representatives to genera quarterly meetings, the first of which was fixed to be held a Dalmellington ; that intercourse by letter or otherwise be kepi up with their friends in Great Britain and Ireland ; and that " i be earnestly recommended to each of the said particular meet ings to fall upon such prudent and expeditious methods to pu their people in a defensive posture, in such a manner as the^ shall see most proper and conform to law."* Sir Thoma; Kirkpatrick of Closeburn (descended from a long line o heroes), Mr. Alexander Fergusson of Craigdarroch (whost father fell fighting against Claverhouse at Killiecrankie), anc other influential men in Nithsdale, took an active part ii this defensive movement; the magistrates of Dumfries anc the ministers of the Presbytery gave to it their cordial co- operation ; money for the purchase of arms and ammunitior was liberally contributed in the district; and the people of eact parish were placed under military drill, and accustomed to the use of fire-arms ; so that, when the rebellion actually broke out the Dumfriesians and their neighbours were in a fit conditioi to cope with it. We have seen how resolutely the inhabitants of the Burgh anc their rulers opposed the Union; and if their sentiments on tha subject had not been kept in check by a counter feehng, the] would perhaps have encouraged rather than opposed the preten sions of Prince James. But their antipathy to the Union wa; feeble as compai-ed with their sense of the wrongs done towardi them by the Stuart race, and their zeal for Protestantism Claverhouse and Lag foreclosed the success of any attemp that might be made in Nithsdale or Galloway to restore th( exiled family; and it is not too much to say, that the blood; Persecution instituted by Charles II. foredoomed tlie Rebellioi raised by his nephew to a hopeless failure. Had it not beei for that circum.stanco, tlio descendant of Scotland's ancien kings would have met with a better reception from it; * Rao's History, y. 4'i. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 505 inhabitants generally, when he claimed their allegiance, and his enterprise would have had a greater chance of success. The magistrates of Dumfries having, on the 23rd of July, 1715, been apprised, by letters from London, of the Pretender's design to land in Scotland, communicated this intelligence to the Council, and forthwith means were taken to mature the defences of the Burgh. It was deemed probable that the debarkation would take place on the shores of Lochryan, or, nearer still, at the harbour of Kirkcudbright; and that after- wards an attempt would be made to seize Dumfries, as the chief town of the district. Hence the necessity for proceeding promptly with protective measures on a large scale. The various trained bands were drawn out; strong guards were posted at the four ports; and seven companies, corresponding in number to the Incorporated Trades, were formed, composed of sixty effective men each, the Provost ofificiating as commander- in-chief of this municipal force. It was carefully trained almost daily; "and," says Rae, "for the more effectual training of the younger sort, a company of bachelors was formed out of the rest, who assumed the title of the Company of Loyal Bachelors." * Stimulated by the example of Dumfries, and the sense of a common danger, many County gentlemen, ministers of the district, and others, made extensive arrangements to protect themselves, and defeat the machinations of the enemy. Towards the end of July, Major James Aikman arrived in the district from Edinburgh, commissioned to superintend and promote the military preparations. On the 10th of August, in company with Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, Mr. Gordon of Earlston, and others, he reviewed the fencible men of Upper Nithsdale, at a general rendezvous on Marjory-muir. Pro- ceeding to Closeburn, he assisted at a meeting held there representing some parishes in Lower Nithsdale, at which it was resolved that a volunteer company should be formed in each parish ; and that, when the period for action arrived, Sanquhar should be the place of rendezvous for the western shires. In accordance with a resolution come to at the Braemar gathering, on the 26th of August, the Jacobite chiefs held a * Eae's History, pp. 182-3. 566 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. second meeting at the same place, on the 6th of September, with about two thousand followers, and proclaimed the Pre- tender, King of Scotland, England, France, and Ireland. On marching to Dunkeld, they were largely enforced by the people of the district, by two thousand clansmen under the Marquis of TuUibardine, by fourteen hundred from the braes of Athole, and by five hundred sent by the Earl of Breadalbane. Mar himself mustered no fewer than three thousand additional followers; and the insurgent army, thus swelled to about eight thousand men, boldly pushed down to Perth, which city they occupied without resistance, the Earl of Rothes not finding himself able to offer them any effectual opposition. Whilst the Prince's friends in the North were thus employed, William, fifth Earl of Nithsdale,* and William, sixth Viscount of Kenmure, raised his standard in the Border counties, to co-operate with the Jacobite forces under Forster and Derwentwater in England. Maxwell, on account of his great local influence, and the services rendered by his family to the Stuarts, would have been placed at the head of the rebel movement in the South had it not been that he was a devoted Romanist, whom it would have been imprudent to appoint to that office. And, in truth, if we may judge from the portrait of Earl William at Terregles House, as painted by Sir Godfrey KneUer, he was not designed by nature for such a warlike enterprise. The armour in which the figure is attired is out of keeping with the face, which is that of a peace-loving, ardent, warm-hearted man. There is no trace of wile or craft in the countenance; the brow is well-developed; the nose of such size and breadth as betokens mental strength, but it has no lines of combative- ness; and when the noble lord was led into the rebellious fray, it must have been from no love of fighting, but from chivalrous enthusiasm, mingling with a sober sense of duty. The eyes are so prominent, that he must have been a fluent speaker; and wit — perhaps poetry^is visible in the full, rounded lips. Altogether, if our inferences be correct, he would have been more in his element * On the death of the second Earl of Nithsdale, in 16G7, without issue, his title and estates devolved upon John, soveuth Lord Herries. The son of the latter was the fourth earl, and had, by Lady Lucy Douglas, his wife, William, the fifth Earl, and a daughter. Lady Mary Maxwell, Countess of Traquair. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 567 at home, or in the social circle, or shining at the Court of his sovereign, than in the camp or battle-field. The Protestant Lord Kenmure, who was raised to the chief command, was of a more warlike temperament. He was, how- ever, but indifferently conversant with military affairs — had, indeed, received no soldierly training — a sad want for one in his position; but he had all the indomitable bravery of his race — " There ne'er was a coward of Kenmure's blood, Nor yet of Gordon's line!" — was "prudent withal, and possessed sufficient intellectual capacity for the perilous and onerous trust assigned to him. When, after bidding a last adieu to his lady, he endeavoured to mount his favourite charger, the horse, usually docile, repeatedly bafHed his efforts. Disconcerted by this inauspicious omen, a gentle voice reassured him with the words, "Go on, my lord! go on! you are in a good cause ! Remember, faint heart never won fair lady!" Having at length leaped into the saddle, the noble Viscount rode off, never to return — never to hear again the voice which, with more than trumpet's power, stirred his blood — as he hastened to encounter the enemies of his Prince, and, alas ! meet with " dusty death," in its most repulsive form, upon the scaffold. Mar expected to receive a supply of both men and arms from France; but in this he was disappointed: and it soon became obvious that if James VIII. was ever to be more than a nominal "king, he would owe his success solely to " native swords, and native ranks." With the view of preventing Mar from marching into the Lowlands, and also, if possible, of extinguishing the EebeUion at its birth-place, the Duke of Argyle, the Royahst commander-in-chief, formed a camp at Stirling, and summoned the friends of King George throughout the country to meet him there. Letters to this effect were sent by his Grace to the well- affected burghs, including Dumfries; and also to particular individuals on whose services he thought he could depend. The zealous and influential Laird of Craigdarroch, who was looked upon as the leading loyalist in Nithsdale, received from Argyle a communication dated Edinburgh, 16th September, 1715, announcing the outbreak of the insurrection, and stating that 5U8 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. the writer recognized the necessity of raising volunteer force to assist the King's army in coping with it:—" Your Lord Lieu tenant not being yet come down," proceeds the Duke, " to givi orders for drawing out such other of the well-affected people a should be thought necessary, and I being convinced of you zeal and good inclinations to serve our King and country, an( looking upon you as my particular friend, I apply to you on thi occasion, and desire you would forthwith come to Stirling, witl what number of well-arm'd men you can get together to joii the King's regular forces. This wiH be of infinite service t' his Majesty, and will not fail to be acknowledged as such."* If Argyle had suspected the existence of serious danger ii the South, he would not have summoned Mr. Fergusson ti Stirling; and that gentleman not thinking that his service would soon be pressingly required at home, proceeded to Keir moss, Penpont, with about sixty well-armed recruits, raised ii the parishes of Glencaim and Tynron. At that place he mei with many from neighbouring parishes, assembled in arms under Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick, James Grierson of Capenoch John Dalrymple of Waterside, Thomas Hunter of Bateford Provost Crosbie of Dumfries, and other gentlemen, including several ministers. After patriotic addresses from Mr. Fergussoi and Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick, many more volunteers wen obtained for the King's army; and Mr. Crosbie announced tha Dumfries was enlisting a hundred men, who would be ready t( set out with him in a few days for Stirling. Next day, Craig darroch, accompanied by Mr. Hunter of Bateford, Mr. M'Gachai of Dalquhat, and by Mr. Simon Kiddell, Mr. John Pollock, an( Mr. James Hunter, ministers of Tynron, Glencairn, and Dor nock respectively, marched with his men towards the roya camp. The company he brought to Stirling proved a valuabl acquisition to Argyle ; but hearing soon afterwards of thi Jacobite movement in Dumfriesshire, Mr. Fergusson, at thi Duke's instance, retraced his steps, that he might defend thi King's interests in his native County. By the beginning of October, matters began to wear a ver serious aspect. Mar had put his army in motion; and th rebels under Kenmure, after being reinforced from England * Rao'a History, pp. 230-31. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 569 were hovering menacingly in Cumberland, as if tliey intended to attack Dumfries. As yet, there had been no serious fighting — nothing approaching to a trial of strength ; but that, to all appearance, could not be long deferred, as Argyle was fully alive to the necessity of confronting the rebel chief before he could effect a junction with his friends in the South. In view of the pending struggle, the militia of several shires were called out, and formed with the volunteers a large force, apart altogether from the regular army at Stirling. At this time the lord-lieuten- ancy of Dumfriesshire was held by the head of an old Border house — William Johnstone, first Marquis of Annandale;* and he had as deputies, to act with him during the crisis, the repre- sentatives of other ancient families — -Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, Fergusson of Craigdarroch, Johnstone of Corehead, Grierson of Capenoch, Maxwell of Dalswinton, and Johnstone of Broadholm. The fi.rst decisive step taken by the Marquis was to call a meeting of the " fencible men" of the County, which accordingly took place on Locharbridge-hill : a great wappenschaw it was, numerically large, and pervaded by the iitmost enthusiasm. On Saturday the 8th of October, when the people of the * Wlen, by the death, in 1685, of James Murray, Earl of Annandale, that title became extinct, it was revived for the purpose of being conferred on James Johnstone of Lochvrood, the second Earl of Hartfell (who, as we have seen, fought under Montrose). His son "William was the second Johnstone who bore the title of Earl of Annandale. In I70I he was created Marquis of Annandale. By his wife Sophia, heiress of John Fairholm, of CraigiehaU, Linlithgowshire, he had James, second Marquis of Annandale, two other sons, who died unmarried, and two daughters, the eldest of whom married Charles Hope, afterwards created Earl of Hopetoun. William, the first Marquis, had, by Charlotte van Lore, only child of John Vanden Bempde, of Pall Mall, London, his second wife, George, third Marquis of Annandale, and John, who died young. "James, the second Marquis of Annandale," says the " Scottish Nation, " ' ' resided much abroad, and dying unmarried at Naples, 2Ist February, 1730, was buried in Westminster Abbey. The estate of CraigiehaU went to his nephew, the Honourable Charles Hope ; and his titles and the other estates to his half brother, George, third Marquis of Annandale, bom 29th May, 1720. The loss of his brother. Lord John, in 1742, occasioned a depression of spirits which finally deranged his mind. He died 24th April, 1792, when the title of Marquis of Annandale became dormant— claimed by Sir Frederic John William Johnstone of Westerhall, Baronet, and by Mr. Goodinge Johnstone. It is imderstood that the titles of Earl of Annandale and Hartfell devolved upon James, third Earl of Hopetoun, who, however, did not assume them, but took the name of Johnstone in addition to that of Hope." The earldom, was also claimed by Mr. Hope Johnstone of Annandale. 4 B 570 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Burgh were at worship in St. Michael's Church — it being th( preparation day for the communion Sabbath — they were some what disturbed by seeing a messenger entering and handing i packet to Mr. Gilchrist, one of the bailies, which induced th( latter to withdraw. The communication was well fitted t< excite the alarm of the congregation, had they known it! nature; as it informed the magistrate of a Jacobite plot t( seize the town next day, during the celebration, of the sacra- ment. Baihe Gilchrist consulted with the Provost on th« subject; and they, concluding that the letter — which was datec from Locharbridge, and professed to be written by a loya countryman — was a forgery, and that its author wished to create a false alarm, took no action upon it, except to double tht guards. The writer was perfectly honest, however, in so far as he indicated the approach of danger; and on Monday (th« 10th) another warning communication was received by the magistrates from certain parishioners of Tinwald and Torthor- wald, who had assembled at Locharbridge with arms, and who offered their instant services to defend the town. Provost Crosbie, unwilling to cause any undue excitement among the inhabitants, stated in answer that the parties might retire home for the night, though they might hold themselves in readiness to come to Dumfries when called upon. A third warning was received on the following day — one which could not be disregarded, coming, as it did, in the form of the following letter, from the Lord Justice-Clerk, addressed to the Provost: — "Edinburgh, October 8th, 1715. — Sir, — Havmg good information that there is a design framed of rising ir rebellion in the southern parts against his Majesty and the Government, I send this express to advise you thereof, that yoi may be upon your guard : For by what I can rely upon, theii first attempt is to be suddenly upon your town. I heartilj wish you may escape their intended visite. — I am, sir, youi well-wisher and humble servant, — Ad: Cockburn." Most fortunate it was that the Provost never had been abl( to go, as he intended, with a hundred men to Stirling, seeing that there was now so much need for his directing heac and their stout arms at home. Though slow to apprehenc peril, ho had all along zealously promoted defensive measures HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 571 and he acted with unhesitating promptitude when the real juncture arrived. He forthwith called a meeting of the Town Council and other influential burgesses, laid before them the letter he had received, and pointed out the imminency of the danger with which they were menaced, and the necessity of obtaining aid from a distance to enable them to ward it off. The Provost's representations received unanimous approval; and as a general meeting of the fencible men of the Stewartry was being held that very day at Leaths-moor, a deputation was forthwith sent to it from Dumfries soliciting assistance. Before the application was made, the gathering was partially dispersed ; but the deputy-lieutenants and other gentlemen, about fifty in allj proceeded to the town that night, and expresses were despatched to various quarters, which had the effect of bringing to it next day numerous volunteers from both Nithsdale and Galloway. As showing the promptitude with which the appeal of the Dumfriesians was responded to, it is worthy of notice that Captain Hugh FuUerton, Provost of Kirkcudbright, Mr. Samuel Ewart, and Sergeant Currie, set out from thence with a company of foot on the morning of the 12th of October, and arrived at their destination that night, though twenty-eight miles of bad road lay between the two towns; whilst Abrahm Creighton of Gareland, Provost of Sanquhar — who was later in receiving a notice of how matters stood — hearing a vague rumour on the 14th that the enemy had invested Dumfries, called out a company of foot, mounted them on country horses, and arrived at their head without drawing bridle — the distance in this case being also twenty-eight miles. Among others who appeared at the Locharbridge rendezvous, was Sir James Johnstone of Westerhall, with a body of militia. He had also provided a large supply of arms, seventeen stand of which, temporarily left by him at Broadchapel, near Lochmaben, were seized and carried off by a party of rebels, headed by none other than Viscount Kenmure himself: so that it was no unfounded report which represented the Jacobite chief as being in the district, bent on mischief The exulting captors of this unlooked-for and most welcome prize, after being reinforced by some friends at Mid-Annandale, hurried northward to Moffat, which they made their headquarters for a short while; and where 572 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. they were, that same night, joined by the Earl of Winton, with a party of gentlemen and their followers from the Lothians. On the 11th of this memorable month, when all strangers appearing in the town were viewed with suspicion, the notorious Simon, Lord Lovat, who had been out of the kingdom for several years, arrived with a few friends, and was immediately apprehended. He declared that the Marquis of Annandale would be ready to assure them of his loyalty; and one of the magistrates. Bailie Currie, having gone to Lochwood to consult the Marquis in the matter, returned with the request that Lord Lovat should be detained till he saw him at Dumfries. Mr. Currie also bore an order from the Lord-Lieutenant requiring the magistrates to repair with an escort to his residence next day and conduct him to the Burgh; as his lordship had been put to peril by Winton's party, and had also narrowly escaped being intercepted by the rebels under Kenmure when on their way through Upper Annandale. Mr. Currie having delivered his message, the town-crier proceeded through the principal streets at eleven o'clock that night, and in the usual way warned such burgesses and residents as possessed horses, to appear mounted and with their best arms at next beat of drum. All that night through, great excitement prevailed; few of the inhabitants closed their eyes; the windows looking into the leading thoroughfares were illuminated, for the double purpose of supplying light for the warlike muster, and affording a greater sense of security;* and when, about an hour after midnight, the roll of the drum again reverberated through the town, followed by the neighing of steeds, the ring of their hoofs upon the pavement, as they hastened to the Market Cross, the jangling of arms, and the less discordant calls of the bugle, those of the lieges who did not know precisely how matters stood might well be excused for believing that the dreaded enemy had, favoured by the darkness, stolen a hurried march upon the town: and, sure enough, the rebels had moved from Moffat soon after that terrible midnight hour, for the purpose of attacking Dumfries, and would have carried thrir resolution into effect had not discretion got the better lA' llieir valour. * I!n(!'s Itistovy, p. '2't\. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 573 The magistrates, putting themselves at the head of the troop summoned under such exciting circumstances, proceeded to Loch wood, returning next forenoon • with the Lord-Lieutenant, who allowed Lord Lovat to depart for the North on being satisfied of his steady loyalty to King George. They came back in good time to have received the rebels under Kenmure, if the latter had carried their designs into execution. By two o'clock the enemy were within a mile and a half of the town, exulting in the idea that they would soon be masters of it. They just numbered one hundred and fifty-three — all horsemen; and must have been kept in complete ignorance of the Dumfries preparations, or they would never have moved out of Moffat with so slender a force on such an undertaking. Hastening along, they would certainly have fallen into the snare they were preparing for others, had they not learned from a sure source that the Burgh, half full of armed men, was ready to give any assailant, however powerful, a hot reception. With this unwelcome news they were furnished in the following way. One afternoon a half-witted rustic named James Robson pre- sented himself at the rebel camp with the curious intimation that he had come to make a present of his broad blue bonnet to Lord Kenmure. Another similar head-piece is celebrated in song as acquiring renown on account of its wearer : — " It "was na the bonnet, but the head that was in it. Made a' the warld talk o' Rab Roryson's bonnet." But in this case it was really the bonnet, and not its owner — " Daft Jamie " — ^that was of any consequence to Kenmure ; and the noble Viscount surmising as much, at once dissected the homely present made to him, and found within its lining a letter from Lord Nithsdale urging him to be off, as Dumfries was armed to the teeth. The bearer of the warning note, unconscious of the service he was performing, had been bribed to perform it by the Terregles people. How provoking the intelligence he brought to the Jacobite leader and his friends, dissipating, as it did, their dream of conquest like a column of mist ! So far from their being on the point of seizing the chief town of the South, they were in deadly danger of being cap- tured themselves. 574 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Some of the more adventurous of the party were for makin a stand, in the expectation that many friends would flock t their aid, and that, when thus reinforced, they might after a make a bold dash at Dumfries with some likelihood of succesi Viscount Kenmure, however, who best knew the feeling of th town, and fully realized the consequences of failure, paid n heed to such foolish counsels ; and declared emphatically tha he feared too truly the place was defended by gallant gentlemer and that he would therefore defer his intended visit to il Thereupon he ordered his force to wheel about and retire t Lochmaben. Whilst going to that burgh they captured Bailii Paterson, Mr. Johnston, postmaster, and Mr. Hunter, siu-geoB who had been sent from Dumfries to reconnoitre them. Th( prisoners were civilly treated, and set at liberty on the Burg] agreeing to liberate three of their friends who had been seize( as suspected Jacobites. When it was known in Dumfries that the rebels were so neai at hand, the entrances were barricaded, earth-work entrench- ments were formed, the guards were strengthened, and the trained bands were called out; and had the enemy numbered thousands instead of scores, they would have encountered £ stout resistance. Just when the inhabitants expected that the threatened onset would be made, word was brought that th« rebels had called a halt, and then that they had beat a retreat "Let us follow and give thetn battle!" was the general cry " Not so," said the wary Lord-Lieutenant; and so excessivelj cautious was he, that when a party of gentlemen, headed bj Lord Lovat, asked leave to set out and surprise the enemy nexl day at Lochmaben, he refused his consent, declaring that undei existing circumstances a defensive policy was the best. Fearing that the people's anxiety for aggressive measures might prompt them to some rash movement, he summoned to his residence the ministers, who had much influence with them, and there pointed out the hazards that would be run if in a premature encounter the rebels should be victorious. "Thej would then," he said, " readily get possession of Dumfries, and might justly give out that they were masters of the south oi Scotland — an announcement that would encourage their friends nil around to join them, and a force would be raised that HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 575 might endanger the Government. If/' continued his lordship, speaking in a style worthy of his ancestry, "the people will only be patient till things are in proper order, I shall go forth at their head, and venture my life and lands in assisting them to defend our religion, our country, and our king." He closed by intreating his clerical hearers to impress these sentiments on the inhabitants. He had an opportunity of doing so himself when reviewing them at the Moat a few days afterwards; and so effective was his address, that it was greeted with a round of hearty cheers.* Probably the Lord-Lieutenant was not aware at the time of the numerical weakness of the rebels, or he would really have attempted to capture them in their retreat — no very rash venture : failure would not, as he fancied, have involved the loss of the town; and success would have been a death-blow to the Pretender's cause in Dumfriesshire. Though the Earl of Nithsdale was fully committed to it, comparatively few of his dependants took part in the Rebellion, and many of them enrolled themselves as loyal volunteers. Soon after the arrival of the Lord-Lieutenant, he took steps to overawe the Maxwell tenantry in Carlaverock parish — a large proportion of whom were Roman Catholics, and therefore deemed more likely to favour Prince James. Mr. John Sommerville, minister of the parish, was ordered to remove the Back-bridge of the Isle, in order to cut off the communication between the tenants and the rebels in Galloway and the Western Border; and Mr. Patrick Linn, one of the Dumfries ministers, w€is empowered to co-operate with his brother clergymen in maintaining a guard at Bankend, near to where Carlaverock parish joins that of Dumfries. " As my Lord Niths- dale's tenants in Carlaverock," says Rae, " so likewise his other tenants in Troqueer, Terregles, and Kirkgunzeon, with those of the Viscount of Kenmure and Earl of Carnwath, were in arms at Dumfries, and manifested a great deal of zeal against the Rebellion; nor were there any with these noblemen in the Rebellion but two or three domestic servants with each. And this I thought just to make known to the candid reader, to wipe off a calumny cast upon these people by a late historian [Mr, Patten] who was also a rebel, who speaking of the chiefs in * Kae's History, pp. 253^. 576 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Scotland, and what men they could raise, says: — 'The Earl of Nithsdale, 300 men, with their chief, against the Government; the Earl of Carnwath, 300 men, most with their chief, against the Government, and in the Rebellion :' and the same he affirms of the Viscount Kenmure."* When Lord Kenmure, with his small party of followers, reached Lochmaben, on the evening of Thursday the 13th, he caused the Pretender to be proclaimed at the Market Cross of the burgh. On the approach of the unwelcome visitors, the inhabitants placed their cattle in a fold to make room for their horses, which arrangement led to a ludicrous episode. The cattle, not liking their unwonted quarters, broke through the enclosure, and some of them strayed into a. townsman's yard during the dusk of the following morning. "Help!" cried the owner of the invaded territory, at the top of his voice, " Help! Help! Help!" This was simply a summons to his dog, which bore that name ; but the terriiiod sentries, interpreting the word differently, sounded an alarm — their belief being that the Dumfries loyalists had entered Lochmaben. In the utmost consternation, the rebels — many of them only half-dressed — prepared to evacuate the town; and it was some time before the mistake was discovered, and order restored. Rae, who has probably exaggerated this incident, seems to have relished it vastly. Some of the terrified troopers, he tells us, " cut up their boots, in haste to get them on;" others, who could not get their horses in an instant, left them that they might flee on foot; and some, who managed to mount their chargers, "almost dropt off for fear."-f- Next day, at Ecclefechan, the rebels were nearly thrown into another panic, by the sudden arrival of a party of fifteen horsemen. These, however, proved to be friends, not assailants ; their leader, Sir Patrick Maxwell of Springkell,+ * History, pp. 256-7. t Ibid., p. 254. t The Maxwells of Spriugkell are a branch of the Auldliouse family, of which Maxwell of Pollok is the senior representative. George Maxwell of Auldhouse had by his first wife cue son, whose sou succeeded to the Pollok estates. By his second wife, .Taue, daughter of William Muir of Glanderstone, he had, among other issue, a son, William, who acquired in 1609 the barony of Kirk- connel (scene of Fair Helen's tragical fate), and Sprinkell, in Annandale. His Hcin, Patrick, it was wlio joined the rebel army in 1715. Patrick was created a Niirty to pay tho half of tlio foes to the King's advocate Mid t'lc. c|,„u„ of Justiciary for deserting tlio diet." The' Provost went to Edin- '""■«!., ,111(1 Hu,.,.,.(«I,.,I iji liis iiussion of getting tho diet deserted at an outlay of £» '-«■- /'nmj,/,/,f III, Alit. w. R. M'DiARMiD on the Established Churches of I'linifrieil, p)i. 'Jl ■> l->'^lT'"M.'l'r,!;.,","""' ^™'''l" '"'•*" J 715, boon purchased from Lord Nithsdale HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Gl7 horning might be raised on the same," so that the undertakers and their cautioners might be compelled to implement their obligations. On the 5th of the following July, a petition on the subject was presented to the Convention of Royal Burghs by the Commissioner from Dumfries, setting forth that the Burgh had contracted with sundry of its own inhabitants for building a new church at a cost of £1,550; that though the town had advanced nearly the whole of that money, yet the work was far from being finished ; that " by a modest computa- tion" it would cost above £400 additional to complete the church; and that it appeared to the Council the contractors had erroneously estimated sundry of the articles. On these grounds the Convention were asked to appoint a committee of their number to view the works, examine the accounts, " assist with the best advice, and grant such rele^fe to the undertakers as was necessary for finishing" the same. In accordance with this prayer a committee was appointed, consisting of the Com- missioners from Sanquhar, Annan, and Lochmaben. To these gentlemen was also entrusted the duty of " answer- ing the ends" of another petition from Dumfries, which repre- sented "the very great burthens of debts" the town was suffering from, with the probability of their being increased, " especially by the apparent danger of three arches of our bridge that were likely to fall;" that several portions of the commons lay unim- proved, and, by reason of their remoteness, were very liable to be trespassed upon by neighbouring heritors and tenants; and prayed that the Convention would allow the Burgh to feu or let long leases of the land at the sight of a committee of their number, in order that a fund might be raised towards liquidat- ing the debts of the town. Through the agency of this committee, the matters at issue between the Council and the contractors were adjusted. Some slight deductions were made from the sum originally bargained for, on account of deficient work; new charges were allowed for additional work ; and when the balance was struck, the town had to pay a supplementary account of £335, which brought the entire cost of the churcTi, including site, up to £1,970, or about £470 more than the cost of the Mid-Steeple, with, its accom- panying buildings. After all, the original design was never 4h G18 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. fully carried out. The spire was scrimped of its fair propor- tions, and had a squat, stunted appearance, that contrasted badly with the handsome square tower on which it was placed. The New Church, as the building was named, was opened for worship on the 5th of September, 1727; arrangements for the settlement in it of Mr. Robert Paton, the colleague of Mr. Patrick Linn in St. Michael's Church, having first been completed between the Council and the Presbytery. That reverend body met at Torthorwald Manse, and came to a deliverance on the subject, the principal points of which were as follows -.—The Presbytery find, from many years' experience, that the old church of Dumfries is not large enough to accommodate the whole parish; that the town has now built a new church for the greater and better accommodation of the inhabitants, and that they at this time are not in a condition to ' make suitable provision for a third minister; that the Presbytery therefore judge, in present circumstances, "it will be for the glory of God, the greater interest of the Gospel in the place and corner, and to the further usefuUness as well as comfort and satisfaction of their reverend bretherine the ministers of Dumfries, that each of them preach and dispence all other Gospell ordinances in a separate church;" and seeing that this whole affair has been remitted to the Presbytery, they therefore, from a sincere desire to promote the foresaid ends, hereby ordain that the Reverend Robert Paton, and his successors in office, shall preach and dispense ordinances in the new church, and have pastoral care over that part of the town that lies "from the bridge to Hoddam's stone house, including that and the whole closs adjoining on the one side, and from the Townhead to the end of Lochmaben-gate, including the west part of that street, on the other side with the Mid-raw, containing about one thousand three hundred and thirty-four examinable persons, from ten years old and upwards." They likewise appoint the Reverend Patrick Linn, and his successors in office, to preach and dispense ordinances in the old church, and have under his pastoral supcrintciidence "the whole country paiish, with that part of the town which lyes next to the said church, extending to tl)o end of Loclunabon-gate on the east side, and to Hoddam's lodgiuir on' the otlior side, containing about six hundred and HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 619 ninety-five examinable persons, from ten years old and upwards, in that part of the town beside the landward parish." For pur- poses of discipline, the Presbytery judge it expedient that there be only one session ; that the same shall meet every Thursday, or any other day on which the weekly sermon is preached, and which is required to be in the two churches alternately. The Presbytery also proposed "that the town shall pay or give bond to Mr. Paton for the sum of one hundred pounds sterling yearly, in regard that he has in his old age undertaken a separate charge, reserving to him also what he already possesses in teinds, glebe, and manse;* and that the town shall become bound to allow Mr. Linn also the sum of one hundred pounds per annum." These and other conditions were agreed to by the Council, who, in their minute of approval, pointed out in more detail the sources from which the stipends for St. Michael's Church were derived; it being there stated that Mr. Linn was to receive sis hundred merks over and above his previous income of one thousand two hundred merks, derived from the teinds payable to the Crown out of the Parish, and the rents formerly payable to the bishop out of the parish of Newabbey; the whole amounting to eighteen hundred merks, or fully one hundred pounds sterling. Thus the town obtained the addi- tional church that it needed so much; and in the course of a few years afterwards, as we shall see, chapels or meeting-houses for other religious communities than the Established Church, began to rise up. Many of the stones in the new structure had rather a singular fortune: at first they formed part of the Friary; then of the old fortress; and last of all, they were retransferred for a religious purpose, by being embodied in the walls of the new place of worship.f * A curious little document lying before us furnishes an "Inventory of Household Plenishing pertaining to the Town of Drumfries, and left in the Manse thereof, for the use of Mr. Robert Paton, Minister of the GospeU of the said Burgh, to be made forthcoming to the said Burgh be him, his airs and executors." It is drawn up by Mr. Paton himself, as foUows:— "Imprimis, ane old Dutch cupboard in the high hall; Item, four bedsteads; it., four graits; it., ane large cupboard in the kitchen; it., ane kitchen table there, and sheKs for peuthery." The minister acknowledges his obligation to produce the articles if called upon, by appending his signature to the list. f When, in 1866, the New Church was taken down, many stones were discovered that had evidently belonged to the Castle, and some which, it is 620 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Mr. Paton, who died in 1738, was succeeded by Mr. John Scott of Holy wood; and he, at his death, in 1770, was suc- ceeded by Dr. Andrew Hunter. The latter was appointed professor of divinity in the University of Edinburgh in 1780; and the vacancy thus occasioned was filled up by Dr. "William Burnside, whose manuscript history of Dumfries has been frequently quoted from in these pages. Dr. Burnside was made first minister of the Parish, by his translation to St. Michael's, in 1794. His successor in the New Church was Dr. Alexander Scott, who also, ten years afterwards, succeeded him in St. Michael's. In 1806, Dr. Thomas T. Duncan of Applegarth became minister of the New Church, continuing so tiU his death, in 1858. Mr. Andrew Gray (now of St John's, Glas- gow), Mr. Malcolm C. Taylor (now of Crathie), and Mr. Donald M'Leod, have since successively been incumbents of the New Church, which is now (September, 1867) about to be rendered vacant by the translation of the latter clergyman to Montrose. supposed, had formed part of the Monastery. From an interesting paper regarding them, read to the Dumfries and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society by Mr. Barbour, architect, we borrow the following notice of the Castle stones: — "A number of rope mouldings; two oiirved and moulded stones that have formed part of the corbelling of a corner turret; portions of steps of a wheeling stair; several pieces of a fine string-course corbelling, consisting of three cavettoes, one over the other, and having ovolo dentils in each oavetto. There is a part of a very beautiful tapering pinnacle, probably from the top of a door-piece; the stone has a rope bead on each corner, a semicircular hollow on .each side, and fiUets between the hollows and beads. There is one large block corbel, such as is usually foimd under the parapets. There are portions of two stones that seem to have formed part of a coat of arms; on one of them is a naked figure, with the head broken off, and there is a broken line extending from the hand across the shoulder, which seems to indi- cate a club. From the boldness and richness of the few details of the Caatle that have come down to us, I think it may be safely inferred that, grand as the remaining baronial buildings of Scotland are, the Castle of Dumfi-ies has not been below the average in its imposing appearauoe and ornamental character. The upper parts of the waUs have been corbeUed out so as to overhang the lower portions, and the corbellings have been enriched with mouldings and dentils. Tho corbellings, after running horizontally, have suddenly talien a perpendicular course for a sliort distance, and then returned again to the horizontal Lai-ge lopo mouldings havo boon interwoven with tho building, aud probably followed liorizontal and perpendicular courses liko the corbellings; and circular turrets have pmjt'ctoJ from tho oornora, resting on corbellings and projecting their cone-shaped rniifH above tlio main building, thereby giving an uTogularity and picturesqueness to Uio fiutlino ill harmony witli tho broken line of the mouldings." HISTOEY OF DUMFRIES. 621 A few years after the remains of the Castle had been absorbed in the building of the New Church, the more modern stronghold, that stood north-east of the Market Cross — the New Wark — was partially demolished, on account of its dangerously ruinous condition. In 1737 it was, for the same reason, still further reduced; what remained of the roof, the entire gables, and other portions, having been taken down at that date by the order of the Town Council. Only about one half of the edifice was left after these repeated assaults; and much of that, incor- porated with a range of dwelling-houses, remained till 1840, when it was removed with them, in order that Queensberry Square might be rendered more spacious and salubrious. The Committee appointed by the Convention of Burghs, in 1726, did little to help the town out of its financial difficulties. These increased, till absolute bankruptcy stared its rulers in the face. Year after year the expenditure had gone on increas- ing; the new buildings erected, and the general improvements made, being far too costly for the resources of the Burgh. In 1731, the desperate device was resorted to of selling a portion of the Burgh lands ; but even after that had been done, a Committee of the Council reported, in 1735, that the debts amounted to £3,807 lis. sterling, the interest of which was £120 7s. OJd. ; that the yearly salaries, ministers' stipends, and other annual disbursements, with the interest on the debt, amounted to £770 10s. 6|d. ; that the revenue arising from grass maill rents, customs, multures, seats in the New Church, feu duties, and miscellaneous sources, with a sum of £112 lis. 6d. due by the deceased Robert Johnston of Kelton, amounted to only £552 12s. 4d. yearly; so that there was an annual balance on the wrong side of £217 18s. 2Jd., and no provision made for liquidating the debt. Still further, the Committee reported that the pubUc school-house was in a very ruinous condition ; that sundry arches of the bridge were very much decayed; that the navigation of the river was in a miserable state; and that heavy annual charges would have to be incurred for repairing the churches, mill, caul, pavements, bridges, and other public works. Truly a disheartening report. The Committee did not give way to despondency, however, but unfolded another scheme for G22 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. relieving the town from its embarrassment. They proposed that Parliament should be asked to allow the town to continue the duty on ale — which was at first granted for nineteen years — and to iinpose certain other duties and customs, so as to bring the income to something like an equality with the outlay. This proposal was adopted, and carried into effect. A bill in accordance with it was prepared, and Provost Corrie and' Mr. John Goldie of Craigmuie, who were commissioned to watch over the measure in London, had the satisfaction of being able to report to the Council, in May, 1737, that it had been sanctioned by the Legislature. Their report may be quoted from, as it is instructive and curious. They set out on horseback for the English metropolis — a momentous journey at that period — on the 21st of February, arrived on the 4th of March, and remained there five weeks, facilitating as best they could the passage of the bill. William Kirkpatrick, Esq., member for the Dumfries Burghs, " did exert himself in a most active manner, not only in obtaining dispatch in the Houses, but also in getting it done at the most frugal charge, in which he was exposed to charges out of his own pocket." All the members of this neighbourhood cheerfully assisted him, as did Mr. Erskine, the SoUcitor-General, the latter gentleman having been especially of service "in prevailing with my Lord Findlater to take on him the management" of the bill in the House of Peers. They left London on the 8th of May, and reached home on the 16th; bringing with them, as the best proof of their success, a copy of the bill, now clothed with the authority of law.* The Act took effect on the 24th of June, 1737, and was to remain in operation for twenty-five years, and until the end of the next session of Parliament, Though needed to extricate * Tho entire expense of their mission was £215 18s. 6cl., which sum was made up of tho following, among other items :- detaining fee paid to WiHiam Murray, Esq., couusollor-at-law, £2 2s.; paid to John Crawford for the fees of Parliament, and his own foes "soliciting the affair," £143 14s. 4d.; to the clork of tho committees, £11 2s. 2d.; expense of their journey to London witli a servant, £0 12s. 11 J d.; expense of their horses, five weeks in London, CH 1,3b. Cd.; expense of barbers there, ISs.; charges for their lodgings, fire, and candlcH, :C2 ISs.; for their spoiidings, £28 19s. lOd.; expense of their journey bniiic, £7 1m. lid. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 023 the Burgh from its difficulties, its influence upon trade must have been discouraging. It imposed a duty of eightpence sterling on every ton of "goods, wares, merchandise, or other commodities," brought into the port or exported from it, with the exception of coals, lime, and limestone; and a duty of threepence per ton on every vessel from foreign parts, and of three-halfpence per ton on every vessel from Great Britain and Ireland, entering the port. It also renewed th6 duty on ale for the same period. The latter impost proved much more pro- ductive than the one on general goods and shipping. During the first year the entire dues, after deducting the charge for collection, amounted to about £214 sterling, four-fifths of which were yielded by the ale duty; and by this welcome addition, increasing with the trade of the port, the financial difficulties of the Burgh were considerably reduced. It appears that the Burgh's application to the Convention, for liberty to feu out a portion of its landed patrimony, was granted. A beginning was made with Barkerland — a fertile tract comprising about a hundred and fifty acres, lying south- east of the town, and which had belonged to it from time immemorial. On the 11th of February, 1731, two sections of this estate were disposed of — one to Bailies Bell and Ewart, for £150 premium, or grassum, and an annual feu of £5 10s.; and the other to Bailie John Johnstone for £50 premium and a feu of £1 10s. The money thus acquired and the ordinary revenue were insufficient to meet the requirements of the Council; and their language was still like that of the thriftless Lord of Linne : — ' ' My gold is gone — my money is spent ; My land now take it unto tliee : Give me the gold, good Join o' Scales, And tHne for aye my land shall be." Acquisitive men like John o' Scales were standing by ready to take advantage of the straits of the town to enrich themselves; and as regards the further slices of Barkerland obtained by each, the words of the same baUad were still applicable : — " Then John he did to record draw. And John he gave him a god's pennie ; But for every pound that John agreed. The land, I wis, was weel worth three." 024 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Af ain the disinheriting sales were proceeded with. Commissary Goldie and ilr. Hj-nd purchased, on the 10th of January, 1738, a lot for £60 premium and an animal feu of £2, with 8s. of teind or tithe; on the same day, Mr. Thomas Kirkpatrick acquired another for £74 premium, an annual feu of £2 3s. 4d., and 8s. 8d. teind; and a third lot became the property of Mr. George Gorrl ^n for £32 premiTun, feu 2.53., and teind 5s. There was -till a ^Xrdiy fragment of the estate left. " Shall we keep it, or let it i'O with the re?t?" "We cannot afford to keep it. Who bi li : :t the last k,ts of Barkerland?" Bailie Francis John- stonte c; i. en tr.e following 6th of February, he paying for his pjrdjiL £>4 premiTun, feu £2 -5s., teind 6s. — ^the feu including th.fe L-xiie e-x-pie'l by the herd* who, in happier days, looked after the cattle of the burgesses as they grazed on the surroxmd- iiL^- meadow; Mr. Thomas Kirkpatrick acquired a second section f >r £31, fea £2 6s. 8d., teind 7s. ; and Mr. Eobert Corsane of Meiklenox had a third section knocked down to him for £35 premimn, feu £2 13s. 4d., teind 8s. All the lots that we have specified were sold by public auction — clogged with this condi- tion, however, that none but resident burgesses or heritors were allowed to make an offer. A few good patches — cuttings and canine? left over when the large lots were squared off — stiU remained; and these, with several roods that did not form part of Barkerland, were acquired privately by Bailie Francis John- stene, price £56, fen £1 10s., teind 4s.; by Mr. Robert Corsane, price £3 l:>s. lOd., fen .5s. Sd., teind 10^; and by Mr. George G^-nion. price £25. feu £1 5s.. teind 2s. 6d. The amount received kr the whole of Barkerland was £590 13s. lOd. of premium, £22 14s. of feu duty, and £2 lOs. O.^d. of teind— a small sum ii.lrtil: when the feus are capitalized, at thirty yeai-s' purchase, and added to the premiums, the aggregate is less than £8 10s. per acre. By these sacrifices the Council obtained at least teni}X.rary re'Uef Upwards of a thousand acres still remained to tlie Burgh, a great proportion of which lay in moss and With the view, wo suppose, of putting St. Michael's Church on a footing of equality with its younger sister fabric, its patr..ns resolved, in 1740, to place a spire on the tower attached • Tlio pr.aiTit mansion of FranMold ocoiiiiies tlio site of the herd's house. HISTOEY OF DUMFRIES. 625 to it; and on its being ascertained that the walls of the tower were too weak to bear the proposed superstructure, the bolder and better proposal for an entirely new steeple was eventually- adopted. At first a contract for the erection of a tower eighteen feet square on the site of the old one was entered into; and that having been finished, an agreement was made, in 1742, with Alexander AfHeck and Thomas Tweddle, masons in the Burgh, to build upon the tower, for £100, " a stone spire fifty feet high, with an iron spire of nine feet, surmounted by a weather-cock, the cock and other ornaments on the top of the spire to be exactly such as on the New Church." The cost of these erections appears to have been exclusively defrayed by public subscriptions, Lord John Johnstone, the repentant Jacobite, generously contributing £31 10s., or, as nearly as we can learn, about a sixth part of the whole. When the steeple, which is a very handsome and stately one, was completed, it made the little building below look more insignificant than it had ever done; it was, besides, getting rather debilitated; and so, after sundry ineffectual attempts to put it into a decent state of repair, the Council determined to rebuild the Church. On the 3rd of September, 1744, Provost Ewart, in name of a committee appointed to contract with tradesmen for the purpose, reported that they had entered into a contract wdth the two craftsmen aforesaid, Alexander Affleck, deacon-convener of the Trades, and Thomas Tweddle, mason, as principals, and Wilham Eeid, blacksmith, as cautioner for them, " to take down the old walls of the church to the foundation, and twa east-most pillars thereof to the floor, dig a new foundation for the out walls, four feet deep from the surface of the earth and four feet wide, and to erect and build the whole stone and mason work of the said church of new, sixty feet wide and sixty- seven feet long, betwixt and the first day of July next to come," according to the plan produced, the contractors providing all materials necessary for the said work except centres and scaffold- ing; "for which the committee, in name of, and having full power and commission from, the Council, and taking burden on them for the heritors of the country parish," became bound to pay to the said contractors the sum of £185 3s. lOd. sterling. As also, that the committee had agreed with James Harley, 4i G26 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Wright, as principal, and Thomas Tweddle, Alexander Affleck, and William Wood, wrights, as his fiautioners, "for the whole carpenter work of the roofs and windows of the said church, to be finished after the walls and arches are built, the contractor to provide all timber and rails that are required, and deals for scaffolding to the masons, for which the committee become obliged to pay to him the sum of £186 sterling." This report was approved of by the Council; and they recommended the committee to provide lead for the gutters and spouts, slates for the roof, glass for the windows, locks, bolts, and bands for the doors, as these articles were not included in the previous contracts. At the same meeting the Council took into con- sideration an Act of the Presbytery, in which the cost of the Church was estimated at £402 3s. lljd.; and the country heritors were required to pay, as their proportion of that sum, £130, on being assigned a fifth part of the area for their accommodation. The Council agreeing to this arrangement, passed a resolution requesting the Presbytery to assess the heritors, according to their valued rents, in the foresaid amount; and the Council, in the event of all the conditions being com- plied with, bound themselves, their successors in office, and the community, " to keep up the fabrick Of the said church, when rebuilt, in sufficient repair, for all time coming, upon the town's expense, except in the case of rebuilding the same, if by decay or otherwise it shall become necessary to be rebuilt." A portion of the gallery, amounting to two thirds of its whole extent, was assigned to the Seven Incorporated Trades, on their agreeing to fit up the same, and contribute £80 towards the erection of the Church. Whilst the operations were being proceeded with in the following year, the town was taken possession of by the High- land army under Prince Charles; and there is a tradition that the building was placed in serious peril by a party of the rebel clansmen. Whilst wandering up and down in search of plunder, or to gratify curiosity, they passed unceremoniously within the precincts of the sacred edifice; and, on being chased by the workmen, they snapped their pistols among some straw, by which the wood- work was set on fire, and then decamped. Fortunately the flames were extinguished before much damage HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 627 had been done; though, it is said, the mischievous Celts with- drew in the belief that they had ruined the fabric. As the old materials were extensively used, and as no site had to be purchased, the modern St. Michael's Church cost much less than the New Church, though it is a more imposing structure; and the steeple — a Gothic spire on a Roman tower — has a beauty which the stunted steeple of the latter building could not boast of. On the death of Mr. Linn, in 1731, Mr. Robert Wight became minister of St. Michael's Church. He was succeeded by Dr. Thomas Mutter in 1764; and the latter was succeeded by Dr. William Burnside. Dr. Alexander Scott was the next pastor of the Church, his induction taking place in 1806. He had as successor Dr. Robert Wallace, who died in 1864. Early in the following year, Mr. John Duncan of Abbotshall was appointed to the charge; and on his translation to Schoonie, Dr. James Fraser, formerly of Glasgow, became his successor; but Dr. Fraser died six months afterwards, causing a vacancy in St. Michael's, which at this date (September, 1867) has not yet been filled up. CHAPTER XLIV. REBELLION OP 1745 — PERSONAL INFLUENCE OF THE YOUNG PRETENDER, CHARLES EDWARD — REBEL VICTORY AT PRESTONPANS, AND OCCUPATION OF EDINBURGH — THE DUMFRIES TOWN COUNCIL UNDERTAKE DEFENSIVE MEASURES — A PARTY OF THE INHABITANTS CAPTURE SOME REBEL WAR STORES AND WEAPONS AT EOCLEPECHAN — CONDITION OF THE BURGH DURING THE INSURRECTION — THE STRENGTH OF THE REBELS UNDERRATED, AND NO ADEQUATE MEANS TAKEN TO RESIST THEIR THREATENED VISIT — A CONTRIBUTION IN MONEY EXACTED BY THE PRETENDER — RETURN OF HIS ARMY FROM ENGLAND — ABORTIVE ATTEMPTS TO WITHSTAND ITS ADVANCE INTO DUMFRIESSHIRE — LORD ELOHO, AT THE HEAD OF FIVE HUNDRED HIGHLANDERS, OCCUPIES THE TOWN — MELANCHOLY MEETING OP THE LEADING BURGESSES IN THE PRESBYTERY HOUSE — THEY TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION A DEMAND MADE UPON THEM BY THE REBELS FOR MONEY AND SHOES — ARRIVAL OP THE PRETENDER AND HIS STAFF — GOSSIP ABOUT THE REBEL OCCUPATION OF THE BURGH — MEANS USED BY THE AUTHORITIES TO RAISE THE TRIBUTE — THE PRETENDER RECEIVES STARTLING INTELLIGENCE, AND PREPARES TO QUIT THE TOWN — HIS HURRIED DEPARTURE CAUSED BY A FALSE ALARM — A TAX IMPOSED BY THE TOWN COUNCIL TO PAY OFF THE LOANS THAT HAD BEEN CONTRACTED — VALUATION OF THE BURGH — COMPENSATION MONEY RECEI\"ED FROM THE GOVERNMENT — CLOSE OF THE REBELLION. The year 1745 is a memorable one in the history of Scotland, on account of the attempt then made by Chai-les Edward, son of the Chevalier de St. George, to recover the crown of his ancestors. In the flush of youth, in the glow of ardent hope — spurred by ambition, and sustained by an idea that the claims of his family were sanctioned by heaven, and must eventually be admitted by the nation — Charles, who had vainly waited for assistance from France, landed at Moidart, luverness-shire, on the 25th of July, relying for success on his own resources and the pecuniary ns.sistaiice of sonic private friends. He was attoiuliul by the Mai(|uis of Tullibardine (ovitlawed for his share ill the insurrection of 1715); Sir Thomas Sheridan, the Prince's tutor; Sir John MacDonald, an officer in the Spanish service; HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 629 Francis Strictland, an English gentleman ; iEneas MacDonald, a banker in Paris; Kelly, who had been implicated in what was called the Bishop of Rochester's plot; and Buchanan, who had been intrusted with the duty of summoning Charles to proceed from Rome to Paris when the movement was resolved upon. These "Seven Men of Moidart " did not constitute a very influential company; and if their chief had been a common- place individual, the enterprise would, at its very first start, have proved a failure. But Charles Edward had a graceful appearance and engaging manners. With a fine oval face, the individual features of which indicated a rare combination of martial energy, lofty enthusiasm, and courtly polish, he exer- cised a personal influence which few, on whom the charm fell, were able to resist. No wonder that the Jacobites likened him to Bruce, and fancied they saw the figure and countenance of the hero-king reproduced in " the young Clievalier." But for this marvellous power of impressment possessed by the Prince, he could never have invested his desperate undertaking with the rosy hue of success; and when it did end ruinously, he could never have come to be mirrored in that beautiful minstrelsy of his country, which "breathes and burns" with " Bonnie Prince Charlie," and is the best evidence of the interest he awakened amongst his followers. Abstract Jacobitism doubtless did much for him; but it was chiefly because that principle was so attractively represented in its youthful champion, that the Rebellion of 1745 was not nipped in the bud. A few clansmen joined Charles soon after his arrival at Moidart; but many who fully sympathized with his movement, waited to see what the leading man in all the Highlands, Cameron of Lochiel, intended to do. He went to Charles, for the purpose of counselling him to abandon his rash under-, taking. " If such is your purpose," said his brother, Cameron of Fassefern, " write to the Prince your opinion; but do not trust yourself within the fascination of his presence." Lochiel, however, ventured on an interview with the Prince, and left him with the resolution to take part in his fortunes, even though ruin should be the result. His decision to that effect aroused the North; "for," says Scott, "it was generally under- stood at the time that there was not a chief in the Highlands C30 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. who would have risen, if Lochiel had maintained his pacific pi pose."* On the 19th of August the Jacobite flag was unfurl in the lone vale of Glenfinnan; and before a month elapsed, was waving in triumph over the proud towers of Holyro Palace — the Government commander, Sir John Cope, havi hurried off to Inverness, in an erratic search for the rebels, the time when they marched southward and took unmolest possession of the capital. Cope, transporting his force by s from Aberdeen to Dunbar, marched towards the city, and t Highland troops having gone out to meet him, a battle ensu on the 20th of September, at Prestonpans, which terminated the utter rout of the royal army. By this victory Char] became virtual master of the whole of Scotland, except t Castles of Edinburgh and Stirling, and a few unimporta Highland forts. "To England! in the flush of our triumph, ai before the enemy has time to recover from the stunning bk we have struck!" was the bold resolution of the Prince. "N so, your Royal Highness," remonstrated his Council; "stay he and keep Court, and revel for awhile in the halls of yoi ancestors ; " and Charles, holding " silken dalliance" for upwari of a month in old Holyrood, instead of at once hurryii forward, as his first impulse prompted, did not start on his sad romantic expedition to South Britain till the 31st of Octobi by which time the friends of the Government had recovered some degree from their alarm, and had made ample arrang ments to counteract the invaders. Early in September, messengers were sent by the magistrat of Dumfries to Edinburgh and Glasgow, for the purpose obtaining reliable information regarding the rebel movemer and about the same period, Mr. John Goldie,t Commissai'v ai Sheriff-Depute of Dumfriesshire, entered into a corresponden on the subject with Dr. John Waugh, chancellor of the dioce of Carlisle, the latter of whom communicated the reports he th received of the insurrection to i\ clerical dignitary in Londc and also, it is belioved, to the Govcrnmont, By ineaii.^ of the * Tiile,? of n Gi-audfatlier, roynJ octiivo ed., p. 383. t The iirst of tlie GoHica, or Uowdios, -nlio settled in Seotland, were car] iriaimfacturers from Flanders. The Oolilios of Marbrack and of Stenhouse, th descendants, became allied to some of the loading gentry of Dumfriesshire. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. G31 own expresses and copies of the Udinburgh Evening Gourant, which had superseded the manuscript news-letters, the magis- trates obtained intelligence from the North three or four times a week; and it appears the Gourant had a correspondent in the Burgh or neighbourhood who sent to it despatches from the South. The following paragraph appeared in its impression of 10th September: — -"There are letters from Dumfries yesterday- morning, dated the 7th instant, advising that there is not the least stir, but every thing is as quiet and peaceable as usual ; that the Erskinites (friends of the Earl of Mar) have been stocking themselves with arms, and got a standard made for them : and as these letters mention nothing of any cannonading being heard on the coast there, 'tis believed the story told with respect thereto must be groundless." Mr. Goldie, writing to Dr. Waugh on the 12th of September, gives the origin of the above alarming report. "The firing mentioned," he says, "was heard on our coast on Sunday was se'enight; but, upon the most diligent enquiry, it came from a West India ship belonging to the sugar-house at Whitehaven, which that day came into port. However, from this letter and others, it was firmly believed at Edinburgh that an engagement had happened on the coast of Galloway, and it was even given out that General Keith was landed with an army at Wigtown : so easy is it to alarm at such a conjuncture."* The Government naturally fancied that the rising in the Highlands would be followed by a corresponding movement among the Jacobite families of Nithsdale and Galloway; but though vague rumours to that effect, like the one just quoted, •reached Edinburgh and London, they were groundless. Charles received few recruits from the district, owing in a great measure to the sad impressions left upon it by the former insurrection; and the only gentleman of note belonging to it who espoused his cause was James Maxwell of Kirkconnell, a lineal descen- dant of Aymer, second son of Sir Herbert Maxwell, brother of the first Lord Maxwell, who in the middle of the fifteenth * Carlisle in 1745, by George Gill Mounsey. A highly interesting work, embodying, among other curious matter about the Rebellion, the correspondence of Mr. Goldie and Dr. Waugh regarding it. 032 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. century married the heiress of Kirkconnell * What rank M. well bore in the rebel army is not known; but he was reckoE one of the best swordsmen of his day, and had all the brav« of his distinguished race. He was, besides, an accomplish man of letters, wielding the pen with nearly as much ease a power as the sword. A tangible proof of his literary accjuiremei lies in the charter chest at Kirkconnell — a manuscript accoi of the Prince's expedition, drawn up by the author in France, which country he fled after the battle of Culloden. t The inaction manifested by the Pretender's friends Nithsdale imparted to his enemies in Dumfries a carel sense of security, of which they had some reason to repent, considerable display of energy, however, was at first manifesi by the Burgh authorities. Having met in the Council-hoi on the 2nd of September, Provost George Bell presiding, tl discussed the alarming news received from Edinburgh, a adopted certain resolutions on the subject, as set forth in t following minute: — "The said day the magistrates and Coun ' See ante, p. 31. t Ho was son of William Maxwell of Kirkconnell, who died in 1746. W] the old man heard that his son was out with Prince Charles, he said was glad to hear of it, and that if his life was sacrificed it would be in a g cause. This work was printed by the Maitland Club in 1841, under the 1 of a " Narrative of Charles, Prince of Wales's, Expedition to Scotland in year I74o, by James Maxwell of Kirkconnell, edited by Walter Buchanan." editor says truly that "the nan-ative is composed with a remarkable degre precision and taste — insomuch as rather to appear the production of a pract liUiirateur than the work of a private gentleman." (Preface, pp. 5, 6.) In 1 James Maxwell left the Court of St. Germain's, where he resided for se\ years, and returned to Kirkconnell. The modern part of that mansion (a learn from Mr. Maxwell Witham) was built by him in 1750 and tlie tolloi year. He sold the estate of Carnsalloch, a few miles above Dumfries, or left bank of the Nith, which he had acquii-ed by his mother, to Mi\ Alexa Jiihnston, grandfather of its present owner, Major-Geueral Johnston, and purcliased the estate of Mabie. He married, in 17">S, Mary, youngest dauj (jf Tliomas Kiddell of Swinbourno Castle, and died four ycai-s afterwivrds, /ifty-four; leaving three sous, the soonud of whom, William, settled in I fnoH, and became oue of the ablust pliysicians of his dny. He was on intii tcriiiH with Burns, and attondod him on his doath-bod. James, the eldes' of til Jacobite oilrorr, wna servo.! heir to his father in 1704. By his se T a;,',!""'°*''^' ''"'"K'''"'' of William AVitham, Esq.. solicitor, London, gran '-!_ Wdhau, Witham of OlilVo, A'orUshirc, he left one chUd, Dorothy 1 ,.ros„rt ; "''," """■■■'y''- '"' I'-^l-*. l'">- oonsin Robert M,ixwell Witham, I'roBont i:.„i,notnr of KirkconnoU. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 633 being informed that there is a considerable insurrection in the North and Highlands of Scotland against the present Govern- ment and our happy constitution, and considering the defence- less condition of this Burgh and adjacent country, in case any attempt should be made to disturb the peace and quiet thereof, and that the town's arms are not only reduced to a small num- ber, but many of them much decayed and insufficient, they appoint a committee of the magistrates (Provost Crosbie, Provost Ewart, Mr. Clark, Bailie James Gilchrist, Mr. Carruthers, Mr. Fergusson, the Dean and Treasurer, and two deacons, whereof five a quorum), to examine the arms of the town's magazine, and cause mend and repair such of them as are decayed and in- sufficient; and to make search through the Burgh, and take an account of what arms are in the hands of any of the inhabitants, see what condition the same are in, and to have such as are decayed or out of order repaired and made fit for service ; and to cause the clerk keep an account of such arms as are found amongst the inhabitants, and of the names of the persons who hath them, and the condition they are in; and also to concur with the well-affected gentlemen of the County in all proper measures for the defence of the Government and our happy constitution in Church and State, and to take aU proper measures that can contribute to the safety and preservation thereof"* It was unfortunate that these resolutions were not acted upon, as the Council knew by their own messengers that the rebels were preparing to march southward. "By our best accounts they will go by Dumfries, which I'll be extremely sorry for," wrote the Provost of Glasgow, on the 14th, to Provost Bell; - yet little or nothing was done to prepare for the threatened visitation — the blame of this neglect, however, resting as much on the Government as on the local authorities. About the close of the same month (September), one of the magistrates sent to the Gentleman's Magazine an interesting statement regarding the condition of the town as affected by the rebel movement " at Dumfries and in this County." He says: — "We took an exact account of the effective men and arms, • that they might be in readiness to rise upon the first warning; * Town Council Minutea. 4 K 634 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES, and writing to Edinburgh, were answered by the people in power there, that they were glad to hear of the steadiness and loyalty of the people, but had received no instructions from the Government: which when they did, we should be acquainted with. So far as I can judge, the same spirit which you took notice of in 1715 was, with proper encouragement and support, ready to have been exerted at this time; numbers being still alive, in all the places you mention, who ventured themselves and their all in the same cause. But would you know the truth of the matter? This unhappy affair was represented stiU as a trifle; and the rebels as a contemptible mob that would soon be subdued. Every body was so over prudent, that nobody would take upon him to head us without a warrant from the King or Regency." The writer, after describing the Royalist defeat at Preston, . went on to say : — " The rebels were now absolutely masters of Scotland: our hands were, at the beginning, tied up; and they might, when they pleased, have cut all our throats. All this country is now enraged or discouraged; and the more so, as they must remain idle spectators of their country's ruin, without having it in their power to prevent it, or help themselves. All our towns are laid under heavy contributions. There is no law, no trade, no money; and we arc now at the mercy of those who measure all right by the length of their sword. And yet the people remain iinmoved, and are no way determined by this rash adventurer; regarding as nothing all his successes, promises, threatenings, and boastings." The picture here drawn of Dumfries contrasts unfavourably with the condition of the town in 1715, when its bold, waxlike attitude did much to foil the schemes of the first Pretender. A new generation had risen up, less conversant with the art of war — with a diminished sense also, perhaps, of the evils of arbitrary rule; and the Duke of Perth, when within half a day's march of the Burgh, was certainly viewed with far less appre- hension than Viscount Kenmure when he menaced it thirty years before. Hence the comparatively feeble exertions made in 1745 to put the town into a proper state of defence, and to give the rebels a hot reception, should they come that way. The mural defences liad fallen into neglect, and no adequate HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 635 steps were taken to repair them ; there was no mustering of the able-bodied inhabitants — no influx of volunteers from the vicinity; the militia was not called out: the town was therefore left an easy prey to the enemy, who but for this circumstance would scarcely have been tempted to seize or plunder it. Under such circumstances, it evinced no audacity on the part of the insurgents that they, when yet at a far distance from the town, demanded from it a money contribution. Immediately after the battle of Prestonpans, Provost Bell received an unwelcome message to that effect from Prince Charles. The letter embodying it (dated Holyrood House, 26th September, 1745, and written by the Prince's secretary) ran thus: — "Sir, — You are hereby ordered, upon the receipt of this, to repair to the secretary's office in the Palace of Holyrood House, there to have the contribution to be paid by the town of Dumfries for his Highness's use ascertained, which shall be done according and in proportion to the duties of excise arising out of the said town of Dumfries; for the payment of which said contribution the said duty shall be assigned. This you are ordered upon pain of rebellion forthwith to obey. By his Highness's command. — J. C. Murray." Mr. Goldie, writing on the 1st of October to Dr. Waugh, says: — "Letters are sent by common Edinburgh cadys from the new Secretary of State to all the provosts of burghs in this comer of Scotland, requiring them to repair to the Secretary's office immediately, to settle the contributions to be paid by the several burghs, under the pain of rebellion. This is carrying matters with a very high hand. But what can be done? To comply or refuse are equally hazardous. Are the mighty promises of making us a free and happy people to be thus fulfilled ? I believe the demand will not be complied with till it be renewed with an armed force. How will the English like our Scotts way of levying money? You got once a king from us, will you long for such another? If a party [of the rebels] come here, your humble servant must retire. They know us all by head-mark; and it is not unlikely but, on second thoughts, two or three of us may come your way." * * Carlisle in 1745, p. 30. Dr. Waugh had previously invited Mr. Goldie to take refuge in Carlisle in the event of the rebels visiting Dumfries. 636 HISTOllY OF DUMVEIES. The Dumfries Town Council, in hopes that "something might turn up" for their protection, treated the rebel missive with neglect, till a second summons from Holyrood compelled them to meet for its consideration — ^with what result is shown in the following minute : — " The said day (October 21) the magistrates and Council considering the present commotions and confusions in this kingdom, and that it is incumbent on them to take the best and prudentest measure for the honour, safety, and benefit of this place, with respect to a contribution demanded from this Burgh, they appoint a committee of the magistrates — Dean and Treasurer, Provost Crosbie, Provost Ewart, Bailie James Gilchrist, Mr. Fergusson, Mr. Corson, the Convener, and two deacons, whereof five a quorum — to concert and advise with the most considerable inhabitants of the place the properest measures to be taken by^ the town in the present circumstance of afifairs, and to report their opinion from time to time to the Council when they shall see it necessary." * A marginal note, afterwards written in the record, explains what the minute only hints at, that it was " the rebels" who called for this tribute — the obnoxious term being probably omitted at the time in accordance with the very prudent policy adopted by the authorities. The "honour" of the old Whig Burgh, which they professed to have in view, should have led them to send a cartel of defiance in reply to the Jacobite demand for money; though, every thing considered, they best secured the "safety" of the place by returning a compliant answer. A refusal to pay the contribution might have provoked a vengeful visit from the Prince, which they had no sufficient means to ward off; and the vain bravado of the Council might have had for its sequel the town laid waste. When the rebel army reached Duddingston, on its way to the South, it was separated into two divisions. One, commanded by the Prince in person, proceeded towards the eastern border, and on the 8th of November occupied the village of Brampton, in order to check Marshall Wade, in the event of that officer advancing from Newcastle to protect Carlisle. The other divi- sion, under the Duke of Perth, took the western route to the latter city. * Town Council Minutes, HISTOBY OF DUMFRIES. 637 The enemy's progress was carefully watched by the agents of the magistrates and Mr. Goldie, and faithfully reported to Dr. Waugh. The latter, writing to his London friend on the 2nd of November, says: — " The Provost of Dumfries writes last night ' that a gentleman of that town was just arrived from Edinburgh, who came out last Thursday about twelve o'clock at noon, and brings advices that the baggage, artillery, ammunition, &c., were upon waggons and carts going to Dalkeith, and that the whole army were in motion and preparing to march southward; that they gave out they were to go by Kelso, and were resolved to meet Marshall Wade and give him battle.'" Two days after- wards, Dr. Waugh received a note from Provost Bell, inclosing a communication from a Dumfries merchant, to the following effect: — "Two gentlemen who can be depended on, in riding between Moffat and the Crook, on Saturday, 2nd November, after five at night, met a countryman about three miles from the Crook, who said he was going to Annandale. Upon asking the news of him, he told them he had come from Peebles, and that before he came away the Provost had got a message sent him by the rebels to prepare meat, drink, and lodging for 1,800 men. . . . The other returned to Dumfries, who relates that on Sabbath the 3rd, at ten o'clock forenoon, he was overtaken at Moffat by another man riding express from Peebles, of whom his friend had taken the opportunity of writing a letter that he might call upon him at Moffat; and there that express told him he left Peebles about two o'clock, Sabbath morning, and that the above-mentioned 1,800 men, with 150 carts with baggage, ammunition, &c., were come there on Saturday night, and a little before he left the town a larger body came up, which he was informed were to the number of 4,000 men, and of this an express was immediately sent to General Wade from Moffat." We close our obligations to this interesting correspondence by copying the subjoined note : — " The Provost of DuTnfries to Dr. Waugh. "DuMTKLES, 5th November, 1745, 8 at night. " This moment I have advice by an express from Moffat, that a quartermaster belonging to the Highlanders came there about one of the clock this day, to secure quarters for 4,000 foot and jit ^.^\g^.„.^ i&l- 638 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 600 horse, and the messenger says he saw them within half a mile of the town before he came away. We expect them, or part of them, this way to-morrow. I beg you will dispatch expresses to Penrith, Kendal, Lancaster, and Whitehaven; and am most respectfully your most obedient servant." The rebels, however, did not pass from Moffat to Dumfries — the doom of the Burgh was delayed. Carlisle was the game they had in view; and that city, strongly walled and thoroughly warned though it was, fell into their hands like a bird into the net of the fowler. The Duke of Perth's division marched down the vale of Annan towards the Border city. So bad were the roads that the baggage waggons could scarcely keep up with the men, and a portion of the stores were ■ on this account left by them at the village of Ecclefechan. Intelligence to this effect having reached Dumfries, a party of the loyal inhabitants resolved upon an anti-rebel raid. Hurrying to the village — a distance of sixteen miles — they surprised the soldiers left in charge of the baggage, seized the articles of which it was composed, and returned with them in triumph. Among the spoils were numerous pikes and scythe-blades used by the Highlanders at Prestonpans, some of which — rusty relics of the time — are still preserved within the Mid-Steeple of the Burgh. Carlisle Castle, utterly neglected by the Government, and garrisoned chiefly by the Cumberland and Westmoreland militia — which had "a leaning towards the Stuarts, or at least an indifference towards the House of Hanover " * — made no defence. It surrendered with the city to the Duke of Perth, on the 15th of November; who, on entering to take possession of his prize next day, solemnly proclaimed King James — the mayor and other officers, in their robes, and bearing the city sword and mace, giving their attendance. The keys of Carlisle were presented to the Prince at Brompton by the mayor and corporation on bended knee; and on the 18th, Charles Edward made his entry into the city, mounted on a white charger and preceded by not fewer than a hundred pipers. Stimulated by so many triumphs, Prince Charles set out on the 21st at the head of his army in the direction of London, * rai-lislo ill 174,5, p. 98. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 039 fully impressed with the idea that he would have little diffi- culty in becoming master of the English metropolis. After the lapse of a fortnight, the bright dream of Charles Edward had well-nigh vanished. The Highland host reached Derby, and then, like the waters of an ebbing tide, retired northward — no auxiliary streams having flowed in to carry it on to the seat of Government* The Prince confidently expected that his ranks would be greatly swelled on his southward journey, and that succours would also reach him from France. He was disappointed as regards both; and with three armies marching to oppose him, and his own officers unwilling under such adverse conditions to proceed, he was constrained to retrace his steps, and to admit that the crown which beckoned hira onward was but a delusive phantom, like the air-drawn dagger of Macbeth. There is stUl extant a journal, kept by the Rev. George Duncan, at this time minister of Lochrutton, near Dumfries, which contains several curious references to the Rebellion. The following entry is given, dated Monday, 16th December: — "News came to Dumfries that the rebels were flying before the Duke of Cumberland; and orders were sent by him to the northern counties to arm, in order to catch the fugitives. On this the several parishes of the Presbytery were ordered to arm." In obedience to this command, the parishioners of Lochrutton tendered their services to the magistrates of Dumfries; and twelve of them, it is stated, "went with other volunteers to guard Annan bridge," the patriotic minister going with them to animate their zeal; but, being induced to return to his pastoral duties by the authorities of the town, the retreating rebels reached Carlisle on the 19th of December; and, with the view of withstanding them at the various passes into Scotland, and giving time for the Government troops to overtake them, armed parties were sent out from several parishes. These volunteers proved quite incompetent for the perilous task assigned to them, which could only have been done, with any chance of success, by veteran soldiers. A large party from * The army, according to Maxwell, was never in better spirits than at Derby: it was only the urgent representations of Lord George Murray that induced the Prince to order a retreat. — Narrative, p. 73. 64<0 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Annandale took up a position on the Scotch side of the Esk, big with the ambition of pitching the Highlanders headlong into that river as they attempted to cross it. But when the plaided warriors appeared on the opposite bank, and the battle- notes of the pibroch rose loud and defiant, the raw volunteers wheeled round and vanished; only one officer, afterwards minister of Middlebie, remaining to fire a solitary random shot by way of testimony against the rebels. The dozen doughty defenders of Annan bridge evinced the same discretion, as, on learning the flight of their brethren, they hurried home to Lochrutton — the minister's own man being one of the first to flee; and no sooner did he reach his master's kitchen, than he dropped down on a long settle, and fainted away. The Highlanders crossed the Esk at Longtown, onfe hundred men abreast. There were at once two thousand of them in the river; and so swoUen was it at the time that nothing of them was visible but their bonneted heads and shoulders. Holding each other by their coat necks, they stemmed the impetuous current, losing not a man in the passage; and as soon as the opposite bank was reached, the pipes struck merrily up, and they danced till they were dry again. About 2,000, under Lord George Murray, the Marquis of Tullibardine, Lord Ogilvie, and Lord Nairn, then proceeded northwards by Ecclefechan; and the main body, 4,000 strong, with the Prince, the Duke of Perth, Lord Elcho, Lord Pitsligo, Lochiel, and Keppoch, marched towards Dumfries in a more westerly route. On Friday (the 20th), Lord Elcho rode forward at the head of 500 men— "all plaided and plumed in their tartan array" — along the old Annan road, but wearied with their protracted travel; and when, towards dusk, they entered Dumfries by St. Michael Street, they met with neither check nor challenge, though a partial muster of the County militia had been made whilst the rebels were in England. The rest of the division, commanded by Prince Charles, halted midway at Annan all night, joining their comrades early on the following day. Such house accom- modation as could be obtained was taken advantage of by the strangers; but most of them, winter though it was, camped down in the fields to the south of what is now called Shakespeare Street. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES, 641 Behold, then, the ancient Burgh once more under a military despotism ! It proved of brief duration, but it was grinding and oppressive; and doubtless many of those who suffered from it regretted, when too late, that more had not been done to pre- vent the calamity. On the evening of Saturday the 21st of December, the rulers and other leading men of the town met in the Presbytery-house attached to the New Church, for the pur- pose of considering the renewed demand made upon them for money. They could not assemble in the Council Chamber, for that was occupied by a band of Highlanders. Provost Bell was not present to preside over them, he having been seized as a hostage that the Burgh would keep good faith with its captors. A sad meeting it must have been; which conviction is inten- sified as we read the following record of its proceedings : — " The said day Bailie Graham and Bailie Carruthers represented to the Council and community of this Burgh called to attend the meeting, that Mr. John Hay represented he had commission from his B/Oyal Highness Prince Charles, called by him Regent of Scotland, now in this Burgh with a powerful army, to demand of the said Burgh a contribution of two thousand pounds ster- ling, to be paid to-morrow against eight o'clock at night, and to deliver to him, for the use of their army, one thousand pair of shoes, together with all their arms, public and private, that are to be found in town, against the same time, and that as they would redeem their houses and families from destruction and ruin ; which certification was by the said Mr. Hay frequently repeated to the said magistrates, and who would not allow them any longer time for paying in the said contribution, and delivering the said shoes and arms, than as above; Which being considered by the said magistrates and Council, with advice and consent of the community called to attend this meeting, they, the said magistrates and Council, with advice and consent foresaid, unanimously grant warrant to, and appoint the bailies and the convener, the dean, and treasurer, or any one or two of them, to borrow the said sum of two thousand pounds sterling, in whole or in parcils, wherever it can be had, to be lodged in the treasurer's hands for paying the said two thousand pounds sterling; and also to purchase and procure the said number of shoes, and to take up the foresaid arms, for answering the 4l 642 HISTOEY OF DUMFRIES. foresaid demand; and to grant bills and bonds for the said money and shoes to any person or persons who shall lend and provide the same, bearing interest from the time of borrowing and until payment. And the magistrates and Council hereby bind and oblige them and the other magistrates of this Burgh, and their successors in office, and the community of the said Burgh for the time being, to free and relieve the said obligants, and every of them, and their heirs, executors, and successors, of the said bills and securities so to be granted to them : the which sums are to be assessed and proportioned upon and amongst the merchants, heritors, craftsmen, and other inhabitants of and in this Burgh as shall afterwards be judged proper." Charles, on entering Dumfries, accompanied by the Duke of Perth, Lord Elcho, Lord Pitsligo, the French ambassador, and the chiefs of Lochiel, Clanranald, Glengarry, and Keppoch, forth- with assumed the absolute sovereignty of the place. In the Lochrutton journal, under the date of Sabbath, December 22nd, occurs the following entry: — "A melancholy day — the rebels in Drumfries — about 4,000 — with the Pretender's son at their head — in great rage at the town for carrying off their baggage from Annandale, and for raising volunteers, and calling out the militia of the country in defence of the Government — demanded £2,000 sterling of contributions, . . . and that they convey their carts, with their carriages after them, to their head- quarters. They were most rude in the town — pillaged some shops — pulled shoes off gentlemen's feet in the streets. In most of the churches for some miles about Drumfries, no sermon. God be blessed! we had public worship. I lectured 1 Sam. iv.; Mr. John Scott, minister of Drumfries (there being no sermon there), preached. Much confusion in all the neigh- bouring parishes— rebels robbing people's stables — pillaging some houses. They came to the border of our parish, but, God be thanked! came no further, and we suffered no loose usage." At that time the Blue Bell Inn — a house still standing near the foot of High Street, on the west side— was the chief place of public entertainment in the Burgh; and the tenement now occupied as the Commercial Hotel* was one of its principal * At present teimiitod by Mr. William Clai-k. Prince Charles's room ia No. 6. Two now stories were added to the house a few years ago. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 643 mansions. Charles took possession of both for his own special use, residing chiefly in the former, and holding high state in the- latter on one or two particular occasions. The apartment in which he held his levees, and indulged in other courtly cere- monies, was not unworthy of such distinction. Preserved as much as possible in its original condition, its ample dimensions (twenty feet square), and its walls enriched with gilded mouldings and grooved pilasters, still give to it somethiil^ of a palatial aspect. What a striking picture that hall must have presented when occupied by the leaders of the rebel movement — the dauntless Clanranald, the lofty Lochiel, the impetuous Lord Elcho, the prudent Duke of Perth; the other chiefs with less distiuctive features, but all men of mark; and the central figure, easily recognized as a prince even in such a patrician circle, but wearing a pensive air, all unlike the sunny radiance which lighted up his handsome face when he commenced his journey to the South. In the two months that have elapsed he has become visibly graver and older, less buoyant, more exactive and imperious. He has learned during the interval that the " right divine" on which he leaned is but a feeble reed^that his race has no hold of the English heart — ^that many of the Scots who once cried " God bless him !" deserted his cause as soon as he left their country — that on his return to it his foes have multi- plied — and that before he can be much more than the nominal Regent of Scotland, he will have to enter upon a fiery conflict, which may after all fail miserably. It need not be wondered at that Charles Edward looks sad— gloomy, even, at times — as, sitting in council with his friends at Dumfries during these memorable days in December, 1745, he receives despatches announcing dangerous Hanoverian movements in the North, or messengers who tell him that Wade or Cumberland is following rapidly on his track. We feel persuaded that much of the Prince's ill-treatment of Dumfries is due to the morbid influence of his own mishaps. He stood in great want, too, of money and stores; so that necessity combined with other causes to render his temporary rule over the Burgh exactive and severe. Not only was a heavy pecuniary contribution levied on the inhabitants, and a large supply of foot-gear called for, but much horse furniture, many stands of arms, nine casks of gun- 644 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. powder, and the funds possessed by the Government officials, were appropriated by the rebels. Private property did not altogether escape their vindictive- ness or cupidity, though there is every reason to believe that the Prince desired it to be respected by his followers. " The Provost of Dumfries," says Sir Walter Scott in his "Tales of a Grandfather, " " a gentleman of family named Corsane,* who had shown himself a stanch adherent of the Government, was menaced with the destruction of his house and property. It is not very long since the late Mrs. M'Culloch of Ardwell, daughter of Provost Corsane, told your grandfather that she remembered well, when a child of six years old, being taken out of her father's house, as if it was to be instantly burned. Too young to be sensible of the danger, she asked the Highland officer who held her in his arms to show her the Pretender; which the good-natured Gael did, under condition that little Miss Corsane was in future to call him the Prince. Neither did they carry their threats into execution against the Provost or his mansion." Mr. Robert Chambers furnishes some pleasant gossip regard- ing the Jacobite occupation of the Burgh. "Within the last three years," he says, " an aged female lived in Edinburgh who recollected the occupation of Dumfries by the Highland army, being then seventeen years of age. She lived opposite to the Prince's lodging, and frequently saw him. In her father's house several of the men were quartered; and it was her recollection that they greatly lamented the course which they had taken, and feared the issue of the expedition. The proprietor of the house occupied by the Prince was a Mr. Richard Lowthian, a Non-juror, and proprietor of Stafifold Hall, in Cumberland. Though well-affected to the Prince's cause, he judged it pru- dent not to appear in his company; and yet neither did he wish to offend him by the appearance of deliberately going out of his way. The expedient he adopted in this dilemma was one highly characteristic of the time. He got himself filled so exceedingly drunk, that his being kept back from the company of the guest was only a matter of decency. His Mr. Corsane was only ox-provost at this period, the chief magistrate being, as already montioued, Mr. George Bell. a.Loj.\jixL yjc uvair jxiiho. wife, who could not well be taxed with treason, did the honours of the house without scruple; and some other Jacobite ladies, particularly those of the attainted house of Carnwath, came forward to grace his Court. When the writer was at Dumfries in 1838, he saw in the possession of a private family one of a set of table napkins of the most beautiful damask, resembling the finest satin, which the ladies Dalzell had taken to grace the table of the Prince, and which tliey had kept ever after, with a care due to the most precious relics."* As noticed by the minister of Lochrutton, there were no public religious services in Dumfries on the Sunday of the occu- pation. Instead of worship and rest, there was the turbulent license of military rule; the stirring bugle call, the harsh notes of the bagpipe, for the music of the Sabbath bells. The douce burgesses, instead of proceeding churchward as usual, sat within their dwellings in fear and trembling; few of them caring to encounter the tartaned strangers, who, scattered in parties here and there, made the streets look singularly foreign yet picturesque. Not a few unwelcome domiciliary visits were paid by the unceremonious mountaineers. Some of them prowled stealthily about, enriching themselves at the expense of the Lowland Whigs, whom they deemed fair game; but we have no means of knowing to what precise extent this pillaging system was carried on. Less unwelcome, though far from agreeable, were the calls made that day on the inhabitants by the com- mittee appointed to borrow the heavy sum exacted by the rebels. BaiHes Carruthers and Graham, with their colleagues, to whom this business was assigned, must have spent a wearisome * There is a set of similar articles — perhaps the very same — in the museum of the Crichton Institution, Dumfries. A plate with a red floral design, which formed part of a dinner service used by the Prince at the Blue Bell Inn, is now in the possession of Mr. Robert Gillies, engraver, Dumfries. It belonged to his father-in-law, the late Mr. John M'Cormick, a great enthusiast in local antiquities. We know of a third genuine reUc of Prince Charlie. After leaving Dumfries for Upper Nithsdale, the Prince, with two Highland officers, entered the house of Dr. John Trotter, Bumfoot, Tynron, and called for refreshments. A bottle of brandy was produced, and Charles, without waiting for glasses, poured part of the liquor into a china bowl, and drank; after which he handed it to his officers, who did the same. The bowl — a handsome one, of real Oriental manufacture — is preserved in the family as a prized memento of the Prince's visit. 646 HISTOEY OF DUMFRIES. Sabbath in carrying it through. Landed proprietors, professional gentlemen, merchants, and tradesmen, were appealed to by the committee; and lest the townspeople should not contribute liberally enough to this forced loan, applications were made to rich persons at a distance for aid to the Burgh in this perplexing juncture of its affairs. Many large subscriptions were obtained. Thus, we read in the list that William Gordon, of Campbeltown, contributed £356 7s. 9d.; Joseph Corrie, town clerk, Dumfries, £218; John Johnston, provost of Annan, £100; James Hoggan, in Cumlon- gan, £100 12s.; William M'William, in Greenhead, Carlaverock, £80; John Milligan, merchant, Kirkcudbright, £80; and Sir Kobert Laurie of Maxwelton, £40. But the aggregate was in a great measure made up of smaller sums; Charles Kirk- patrick & Sons, merchants, giving £17 10s.; John Ewart, late provost of Dumfries, giving £8 2s.; James Aiken, convener of the Trades, £2 2s.; Adam Marchbanks, deacon of the weavers, £1 ; Charles Mercer, mathematician, £1 ; WiUiam Reid, deacon of the smiths, 10s. 6d. ; down to 5s., the mite of a poor widow named Agnes Lewars.* Of the £2,000 demanded, £1,195 was obtained by the appointed time — eight o'clock at night — in hard cash, for which bills were granted to the lenders by the Burgh authorities, and other men of substance. The rest of the money was not subscribed for, or at least remained unpaid till after the lapse of several days. It was no easy task to borrow such a large sum, on a short notice, in a town that could boast of little wealth, even though the district around was also drawn upon; and to supply a thousand pair of shoes in twenty-four hours was found to be impossible. We know that, forty-five years afterwards, there were in Dumfries exactly 236 men and boys engaged in King Crispin's craft; and probably they numbered about 200 in 1745, of whom not more than a fourth would have establishments of their own. All these were visited by the collecting committee; and after having emptied them, and added to the new articles all the old shoes that could otherwise be obtained, it was found that the entire stock at the hour of call numbered only 255 pairs, or little more than a quarter of the supply demanded by the rebels. Late at night * For a full list of the cODtributors, see Appendix M. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 647 the committee reported to the Prince, through the medium of his secretary, the measure of success that had attended their exertions, and received orders to complete the contribution of money and shoes with the utmost speed. Still later the miniature Court at Mr. Lowthian's was convulsed by the receipt of startling inteUigence. Towards midnight, and whilst Charles and his counsellors were still busily engaged in State affairs, a messenger called in breathless haste and insisted on seeing the Prince. As he was known to be a friend, he was admitted to an interview with the Pretender in a separate room.* When Charles soon after rejoined his chiefs, he was observed to be more than usually dejected. It was evident to them that he had received unpleasant news of some kind; and their worst apprehensions were realized when he announced that the son of the Elector of Hanover was hurrying down upon them at the head of a great army, and might reach Dumfries before day- break. There was no rest in the rebel Court or camp that night. Long ere the sun rose in the following morning, the drum beat to arms; and whether the Highlanders or the townspeople were most terrified by the discordant summons, it would be difficult to say; but when the cause became known, the alarm of the latter gave way to exultation. They had suffered much from the Pretender's visit — were deHghted at the idea of being- relieved from it soon; and when he did disappear, they never thought of singing the Jacobite strain, " Will ye no come back again?" Off next day went the Prince and his entire army, carrying with them, as hostages for the balance of the contri- bution, Mr. Andrew Crosbie of Holm, formerly provost of the Burgh, and Mr. Walter Riddell of Glenriddell, one of its merchant councillors. The alarm which hastened their departure was quite unfounded. A devoted Dumfries Jacobite, named M'Ghie, a painter by trade, hearing that the Duke of Cumberland had laid siege to Carlisle, went, with the approval of some sympathi2dng friends, towards that city, in order to watch the movements of the royal army. He set off for that purpose on the morning of the memorable Sabbath to which frequent reference has been made; and, wearied with hovering all day * This is No. 7 of the Commercial Hotel 648 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. on the road, he had just sat down to supper in a public-house at Annan — which stands nearly midway between Dumfries and Carlisle — when a practical humourist, who guessed the nature of his secret mission, announced with rueful visage that the Whig Duke had captured Carlisle, crossed the Esk, and was in full march after the rebels. Big with the burden of this fictitious tale, Mr. M'Ghie galloped to Dumfries, a distance, by the circuitous road then in use, of about seventeen miles, never resting for a minute till he had communicated the alarming tidings to the Prince, as already stated. The Highland host proceeded up Nithsdale towards the west country; the Pretender and his principal officers resting on the night of Monday, the 23rd, in Drumlanrig Castle. Three full-length portraits — those of King "William, Queen Mary, and Queen Anne, that still adorn the staircase of that ducal mansion — bear disfiguring tokens of the visit; some of the party, in order to manifest their hatred to the royal family, having stabbed their dirks through the pictures. The two gentlemen carried away captive by them from Dumfries did not effect their escape when a short distance from the town, as has been frequently stated. On the contrary, they were taken to Glasgow, and only set at liberty after they had paid down, in full tale, £8 15s., the balance that remained of the £200 levied upon the Burgh. Once more the Town Council assembled in peace and freedom in their own hall, imder the presidency of Provost Bell, all well pleased to get rid of the rapacious strangers; though sorry at the same time that a disagreeable duty had devolved upon them in consequence of the rebel visit — namely, to devise means for paying back the sums that had been borrowed. The first business meeting after the precipitate flight of the Jacobite army was held on the 27th of January, 1746; at which the Provost, after reporting the steps taken to raise the money, explained " that the foresaid sum of £2,000 sterling had been paid at Glasgow by Andrew Crosbie, late provost, and Walter Riddell, merchant, who were taken hostages for the same, conform to a discharge thereof, under the hand and seal of John Murray, secretary, dated the fii-st day of January, just now produced." The Provost also tabled a receipt signed HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 649 " Andrew Lumsden, acknowledging the delivery to the latter of the 255 pairs of shoes exacted from the town;"* and he gave information also regarding the arms that had been delivered up, and the forage that had been furnished, at the call of the insurgents. These statements having been duly considered by the meet- ing, it was resolved that an assessment should be levied to pay off the debt that had been incurred. The stentmasters appointed to undertake this laborious duty gave in to a subse- quent meeting a valuable return, which supplies us with reliable information regarding the wealth of the town at this period of its history. According to the instructions given to them, they " took up an account of the rents of the tenements and buildings in the Burgh, the yearly value of such parts as are possessed by the heritors themselves, also the value of all goods, household plenishing, corns, wares, merchandise, and other perishable effects in the possession of the inhabitants," bodily clothing excepted; and they reported the value of the houses and public buildings to be £34,483 4s.; of the goods to be £28,130 19s. 9d.— in all, £62,514 3s. 9d.: so that the latter sum represents the pecuniary worth of Dumfries at the date of the Rebellion. For the purpose of letting the burden fall with diminished weight on the poorer classes, some of the wealthy heritors generously volunteered to pay an extra rate amounting to £11,134 13s. 4d., which raised the aggregate to £73,748 I7s. Id. — the amount on which the assessment was to be levied. The stentmasters found that, after allowing £159 lis. Id. for the shoes and forage and the expense of the collection, a rate of three per cent, would cover £2,159 lis. Id., the entire sum due; and, accordingly, a cess was imposed of three pounds on every hundred — a grievous exaction, which many of the people did not submit to without grumbling, and which was not finally paid without gi'eat difficulty and till after the lapse of nearly two years. It has been computed that the loss incurred by the town on account of Charles Edward's visit amounted to not less than £4,000. A claim for reimbursement made by the town was favourably entertained through the exertions of the Duke of Queensberry * Town Council Minutes. 4 M 650 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. and Sir James Johnstone, member for the Dumfries district of burghs. His Grace, in a letter to the Provost, dated London, April 14th, 1750, intimated that the Government had agreed to allow the sum of £2,848 5s. lid. to cover 'the money tribute and the other ex&ctions. " Not thinking it adviseable," he says, "to trust the warrant to the common post, I propose to put it into Sir James Johnstone's hands, who will set out from hence in a day or two, and I daresay will take care to deliver it safe, as I can vouch for his having been all along extreamly anxious for the procuring it." The royal warrant here referred to was duly received. It was addressed to the Barons of the Exchequer, the preamble being as follows: — "George R — Trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well. Whereas, the Commis- sioners of our Treasury have laid before us a petition of the Provost, Bailies, Dean of Guild, and Treasurer of Drumfries, on behalf of themselves and the community of the said town, representing unto us that during the late Rebellion they were at great expense in providing arms and raising and subsisting men for the said town, as also in raising recruits for the marching regiments who served in the battles of Falkirk and CuUoden, and were also obliged upon the return of the rebel army from England to pay a contribution of two thousand pounds sterling, and to deliver to the rebels two hundred and fifty-five pair of shoes; which said contribution money, with the other expenses before-mentioned, do amount in the whole to the Sum of two thousand eight hundred and forty-eight pounds five shillings and eleven pence (after deducting one hundred and thirty-three pounds six shillings and eight pence for interest money which we have disallowed) : and therefore the said magistrates and community have most humbly be- sought us to take their case into our royal consideration, and grant them such relief as we shall think proper." His Majesty, after stating that he considers it just and reasonable that the claim should be conceded, authorizes the Barons to pay the specified sum out of "tlio monies arising from the estates of the late Lord Elcho," forfeited to the Crown by his having been guilty of high treason. The Duke of Quoonsberry, in acknowledging a letter of thanks soTit to him by the Provost for his good service on this HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 651 occasion, disclaimed all merit on account of it; expressed his satisfaction with the result, and added: "I shall always rejoice at every event tending to the prosperity of Drumfries, and will never fail to use my endeavours, upon all occasions, to promote it" — a profession that was no hollow one on the part of " the good Duke," as he was deservedly called by the people of the Burgh. The compensation money thus obtained was in due course distributed among those of the inhabitants on whom the three per cent, assessment had been levied; the chief duty of doing so devolving on the town clerk, Mr. Malcolm.* After occupying Glasgow, the rebels retired into StirHngshire, beat the Royalists on Falkirk moor, and then retreated, even in their hour of triumph. Whatever glimpses of good fortune might at times smile upon their flag, the gloom of irretrievable defeat was "casting its shadow before;" and, like the wounded stag, they retired to their Highland coverts only to die. A cruel Nemesis, in the person of the Duke of Cumberland, was at hand,-}- commissioned to pour out the vials of wrath on the forlorn Prince and his Highland followers, because the tyranny of his fathers had alienated the nation from the House of Stuart. The rebels could vanquish the incompetent Hawley at Falkirk, but they could not expect to cope successfaUy with the royal Duke, at the head of a force which nearly quadrupled their own; and so they hastened northward, depressed though resolute, as if conscious of their approaching doom. On Drum- mossie Moor, near Culloden, they were brought to bay and utterly defeated. One body of Highlanders retired in good order, their pipes * Mr. Malcolm built, at the foot o£ High Street, a house that was at the time perhaps the best mansion in the Burgh. It now belongs to and is occu- pied by one of his successors in office, Mr. William Martin, the present town clerk. Extract from Council minute, 23rd July, 1753: — "A petition was received from Mr. Archibald Malcolm, setting forth that he wished to remove several old thatched houses at the foot of Southgate-brae, of which he was proprietor, in order to build upon it a double house for his own residence." + On the 3rd of March, the Town Council of Dumfries having learned that the Duke had entered North Britain "to command his Majesty's forces," appointed a committee of their number to repair to Edinburgh and ' ' congratu- late his Royal Highness upon his arrival in Scotland, and at the same time to express the loyalty and afifection of this Burgh to his Majesty's person and Government, and our present happy estabbshment. " „v or DUMFRIES- 052 ^^^^ ^^e Stuart standard; the rest slaving. ^^^ ''^'"'^'"ftlT fearful carnage; and the Prince, only ^oro trolcon "? J gone, withdrew from the fatal field. Well vjhon aU ^'^^^J'c tniivBtrel tune his harp to a doleful air, and migV^t tbe ^^^^^^^Jopbe in congenial strains like these:— .. TUore waB no liwjk o{ bravery there— no spare of blood or breath; For one to two our ioes we dared, for freedom or for deaflt The InttornesB of grief U pa«t, of terror and dismay; The die was risked aud foully cast, upon Culloden day." ■No fewer than 1,200 rehels were slain or wounded on the field and in the pursuit; the Royalists behavmg with a wanton brutality, that sullied the glory of their triumph Charies Edward was accompanied from the scene of his thorough over- throw by the Duke of Perth, Lord Elcho, and a few horeemea Crossing the Water of Nairn, he retired to the house of a gentleman in Stratharick, where, after a conference with Simon, Lord Lovat, he bade a final adieu to the wreck of his brave army, and then took refiige from his merciless pursuers in the Western Islands and among the mountains of the mamland. For five months the unfortunate Prince roamed about a hunted fugitive — tlic price of £30,000 set upon his head— incurring innumerable dangers and hardships, and bearing alibis adverse fortune with a fortitude, and even good humour, that were truly heroic On the 20th of September he succeeded in effecting Jiis escape to France; but he was never in a position to attempt the revival of the Stuart cause. Prostrated on Drummossie Moor, it experienced no resurrection; and, however much we may admire the joung Pretender's gallantry, and feel pity for his fate, it was doubtless well for the countiy that his enter- prise faii.il, and that, .i.s a consequence, the House of Hanover "■a.s fixed more secui-ely on the throne tlian before. CHAPTER XLV. IMPEOVEMENTS ON THE RIVER — OLBNCAPLE QUAY AUD VILLAGE FORMED — KINGHOLM QUAY CONSTRUCTED — INCREASE OP TRADE — SMUGGLING — THE DOCK TREES PLANTED — MOORHEAD's HOSPITAL BUILT AND ENDOWED — AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENTS — ANCIENT VALUE OP LAND IN DUMFRIES- SHIRE — THE QUEENSEERRY FAMILY — THE SCOTTS OF BUCCLEUCH, AND THEIB INTRODUCTION INTO THE COUNTY — BUKGHAL IMPROVEMENTS, AND PECUNIARY DIFFICULTIES — A FRESH LEASE OF THE ALE DUTY ACT OETATNED. Though Dumfries was greatly put about, and severely dealt with by the rebels, it soon recovered its equanimity. Except for the diflSculty experienced in connection with their exactions, we find no impress of their visit in the records of the following year. How to improve the navigation, and thereby foster the rising trade of the port, was a question that engaged much of the Council's attention in 1746. About the beginning of the century, buoys had been placed in the lower reaches of the river, and something was done to remove obstructions from its channel; but it had no harbour worthy of the name. In order to supply this felt want, a committee was appointed in March, who presented a report in the following month, from which it appeared that the chief merchants and shipmasters had, at a conference held with them, expressed their opinion that the best site for the proposed harbour was at Glencaple Burnfoot, in the parish of Carlaverock; also that ground, measuring six acres, " for building warehouses upon, and other conveniences," had been laid out there by Mr. Mercer, mathematician, accord- ing to a plan produced; and that, on the committee offering to purchase the land from its proprietor, William Maxwell of Nithsdale, that gentleman " had frankly agreed to make a compliment" of it to the Burgh. A second committee were named to carry this proposal into effect, the instructions given to them being that they should cause a search to be made for a C54 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. stone quarry near Glencaple, in order that building materials might be conveniently obtained, should make other requisite provisions for constructing the harbour, and should confer with the merchants in town who were not members of Council, as to the best mode of defraying the cost of the operations. The quay appears to have been completed in the course of the following year. Soon afterwards, houses began to rise up on the hillside overlooking it, and originating the pretty little village of Glencaple, which contains at present about six hundred inhabitants. In the summer of 1749, a beacon, to direct the course of vessels passing from the Solway into the Nith, was erected on Southerness Point; its dimensions being fourteen feet square at the base, two feet and a half thick in the shaft, and thirty feet high. As the Nithsdale family had shown their continued interest in the welfare of the Burgh by the free grant to it of land for the harbour, and also by allowing a search to be made for building-stones in the neighbourhood, the Council reciprocated this kindly feeling, by enacting that all goods passing the bridge for the use of Mr. Maxwell and his successors, should be exempt from duty, a regulation that is still in force. Another smaller quay was commenced at Kingholm, about a mile below the town, before Glencaple quay was finished. Both were appointed as places of discharge towards the close of 1746 ; and on the 15th May, 1747, Glencaple quay was first turned to practical account, by having a cargo of Maryland tobacco landed there by the good ship " Success," the property of ex-Provost Crosbie, merchant. With greater facilities for trade, the exports as well as the imports increased: salt, made from sea-sleich, on the Ruthwell shore, had long figured as an article of commerce ; and freights of wood, linen cloth, and of leather, from tanneries established in the town, were subsequently added. Smuggling grew in a ratio with the legitimate traffic of the port. It seems to have reached its climax in 1752. During that year it became so systematic and audacious, that the revenue authorities in London were led to make special inquiries regarding it; and the statement returned in answer rovoalod a very unsatisfactory ccjndition of affairs. " We luive reason to believe," said the HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 655 Dumfries collector, "that the representation [made by the Board] is so far true, that considerable quantities of foreign spirits, wine, tea, and other goods, have been run in our district for many years past, in open boats, from the Isle of Man; that the smugglers run these goods in fleets of boats, ten or twelve at a time, each of which carries twenty-seven or twenty-eight small casks; that they come in upon the coast at spring-tides, in the night-time, and disperse to different places; that their carriers and assistants are attending upon the shore to receive their cargoes ; that they have slings of ropes fitted for the carriage of two casks upon each horse, and in a few minutes after the boats land, receive their carriage and ride off, and before dayhght hide the goods many miles distant from the shore, and no doubt convey the greatest part of them into England." Busy rumour represented to the London Board that the contraband articles were transmitted South from the Solway coast by "great gangs of smugglers armed and disguised;" but the local officer, whilst admitting that the lawless deeds above detailed were of habitual occurrence, doubted the existence of these disguised desperadoes: so that they may be looked upon as somewhat mythical; and, indeed, the running fraternity were so favoured by the country folks that they scarcely required either to mask themselves or their operations. WhOst increased attention was being paid to the river, its "braes" opposite the Castledykes quarry were partially em- banked, and the Dock acquired a heritage of sylvan beauty with which it is still enriched. The Town Council having, for "the good and ornament" of the meadow, wisely resolved to plant a portion of it with trees, were supplied with a number of choice young limes for this purpose from their ducal patron's grounds at Drumlanrig — his Grace sending down his own gardener, John Clark, to see the precious saplings properly rooted in their new home. This important aesthetic operation was performed in the autumn of 1748. The trees numbered at first eighty or more; and though now reduced to thirty-five, they constitute a double woodland row of imposing aspect, for which the inhabitants entertain a feeling of reverence bordering on that cherished by our Druidical ancestors for their groves of oak. About ninety years afterwards, upwards of a hundred C36 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. young trees were planted, by which the lime-shaded walk was gracefully continued in single file to the foot of the Dock. Scarcely had the trees from Drumlanrig got accustomed to their fresh soil, than the walls of a new public building began to peer down upon them from the adjoining Kirkgate, and to form an interesting feature of that ancient thoroughfare. This was Moorhead's Hospital, designed as a domestic retreat for decayed burgesses and destitute orphans, natives of the town. On the 27th of November, 1739, James Moorhead, tenant of Castle- dykes, and merchant in Dumfries, executed a deed of mortifica- tion, by which he bequeathed £150 for this object. By a second deed, of the same date, he joined with his brother- german William Moorhead, merchant in Carlisle, in mortifying for it £400 — the proportion of this sum contributed by the latter being £100; and, according to the terms of the settlement, the £400 was not payable till the first term of Whitsunday or Martinmas after the decease of the longest liver of the two. William, the survivor, having died towards the close of 1745, the sum (with interest, £79 Os. 3d.) became due at Whitsunday, 1747. The other smaller sum was not available till the 18th of June, 1752, by which time the interest on it had swelled the amount to £232 10s. These figures brought the bequests for the Hospital up to the handsome sum of £711 10s. 3d.; and with it the administrators of the trust, consisting of the Town Council, the two parish ministers, Mr. Robert Wight, Mr. John Scott, and the Kirk Session, were enabled to carry it into fuU effect. Some old tenements opposite St. Michael's Church were purchased and cleared away in order that a suitable site might be obtained. A contract was entered into with James Harley, "late deacon of the squaremen in Dumfries," according to which he agreed to erect the building for £564, and it was duly completed and opened in the summer of 1753. A small balance of £52 remained after all expenses had been paid. The funds of the charity were enriched by a donation of £300 from "the good Duke," and it was further endowed by the legitimate application of various sums mortified for behoof of the Dumfries poor, so that an annual revenue sufiicient to maintain from forty to fifty inmates was secured. The benevolent brothers to whom the town is indebted for HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Co7 this excellent institution intended that it should to some extent be a workhouse in the modern sense of that term. Accordingly, the third rule drawn up by the directors, " relating to the behaviour of the poor," required "that all who shall be employed in any labour shall repair to such rooms in the house as are appointed for that purpose; and such poor as are capable of working out of the house" shall be permitted by the master to do so, he allowing them in each case a penny for every shilling of their earnings; and by a resolution of the directors of the Hospital in 1756,* the sum of £60 was drawn from its funds, to be laid out in buying lint for im- proving the poorer sort of people in the town and parish of Drumfries to spin into yam." For a long period the house has been exclusively a charitable asylum for old people who had seen better days, and for orphan children who receive in it maintenance, education, and guardianship. Its directors have long since ceased to take oversight of the ordinary poor; but by means of legacies left by Mr. Hunter, Mr. Raining, and Mrs. Archibald, they allow small out-door pensions to some twenty-six elderly widows whose dwellings have been left com- fortless — perhaps desolate — by the death of their natural pro- tectors. The annual expenditure of the Hospital has sometimes exceeded £600; latterly, including the annuities, it has been limited to about £400. Moorhead's Hospital is a plain, homely building: the interest attached to it arises from the unobtrusive benefactions of which it is the source, and which give to it in our eyes more than architectural beauty. Honoured in the Burgh through all time be the memory of its liberal-hearted founders ! Soon after the second Rebellion, increased attention was paid to tillage by the farmers of Nithsdale. Fields were enclosed — waste lands were reclaimed; shell-marl and lime lent their fertilizing influence to the soil-— the culture of the potato was commenced, and afterwards of the turnip ; the former supplying a cheap article of diet for all classes, and rendering dearths less frequent; the latter furnishing food for stock, and permitting the cattle trade of the locality to be developed. On the Ayr bank being opened, in 1760, not a few landed proprietors around Dumfries were enabled by its aid to carry out extensive 4 N 658 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. improvements. When intelligence, enterprise, and capital are jointly devoted to a given purpose, they are not easily baffled. Employed upon the husbandry of the district, great results were accomplished, which added to its productive value and sceiuc beauty. In the year just named the great military road was formed from the County town through Galloway to Portpatrick; and about twelve years later another leading artery of traffic was opened up — the road from Gretna, by Ecclefechan, Lockerbie, and Moffat, into Peebleshire. Thus, whilst Dumfries was being improved externally, the "Valley in which it rises was growing in rural wealth, and new channels were constructed for its increasing trade. During the reign of Cromwell, the rents of Dumfriesshire were computed at 238,031 merks, or £13,223 18s. 4d. A hundred years afterwards, the value of the land was threefold that amount at least; in 1795 it had risen to 800 per cent, since 1656 ; in 1808 this augmented sum was doubled, and the lands of the County were yielding sixteen times the rent drawn from them at the time of the Protectorate.* A small property in Dunscore, that was purchased in 1756 for £142, yielded a rent of £160 fifty years afterwards; the large estate of Netherwood, which brought only £4,000 in 1740, was sold for £30,000 in 1790; and, generally speaking, the rents of other land around Dumfries experienced a nearly corresponding advance during the half century which followed the introduction of the improve- ments that have been referred to. Though the Maxwells suffered severely for their loyalty to the House of Stuart, they still continued to be the leading proprietors of Lower Nithsdale. John, Lord Maxwell, came into possession of the family estate on the death of his father, the expatriated Jacobite chief, in 1744. He died in 1776, and his sole surviving child. Lady Winifred, having manied William Haggerston Constable of Everingham, an English stem was grafted on the stock of this ancient and honoured Scottish house. The Johnstones, Douglasses, Murrays, Jardines, Kirk- patricks, Griersons, and Herrieses, wore still, as in the old * Forty-two Scotch acrca of " ploughable land '" belonging to Dumfries at Kingholni were let at an annual rent of £22 sterling in 1712; sixty acres of the same estate brought a rent of £150 in 1817, anil were sold in 1827 for £6,300. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 659 fighting times, large landholders in the County. Its principal proprietor at this period, was Charles, third Duke of Queens- berry. In 1706, his father, " the Union Duke," resigned into the hands of the Queen his titles of Duke of Queensberry, Marquis of Dumfriesshire, Earl of Drumlanrig and Sanquhar, Viscount of Nith, Torthorwald, and Eoss, and Lord Douglas of Kinmount, Middlebie, and Dornock, for a new patent, granting those titles to him and his heirs of entail, male or female, succeeding to the estate of Queensberry, with this proviso, that such heirs of entail should be descended from William, the first Earl. In this resignation, the titles of Marquis, and Earl of Queensberry, Viscount of Drumlanrig, Lord Douglas of Hawick and Tibbers, were not included, so that their descent to his heirs male was not affected by the change. His third son, Charles, who succeeded him in 1711, died, after a long life of active benevolence, on the 22nd of October, 1778, in his eightieth year. He possessed the largest and the most valuable estate in Dumfriesshire, extending to above 150,000 acres, lying chiefly in the upper part of Nithsdale, and, as we have seen, did much to promote the interests of the County town, where he was exceedingly popular. At the request of the magistrates, he sat for his portrait in 1769; and the picture, which represents a mild, pleasant, portly face, in keeping with his character of goodness, graces the Town Hall in company with the portraits of Wilham and Mary. A neat Doric pillar, erected in Queensberry Square, commemorates the virtues of this nobleman, and testifies to the merited respect in which his character was held by the inhabitants of the County. As he lost his sons — two in number — during his lifetime, certain British titles conferred upon him, and his Scottish earldom of Solway, became extinct; whilst the dukedom of Queensberry, with very large estates, both in England and Scotland, devolved on his cousin William, Earl of March, who died unmarried so recently as 1810.* In him terminated the * This nobleman was, in Ms "hot youth," a great patron of the turf. In 1756 he rode a match in person, dressed in his own running stable livery, and won the stakes. In maturer life he abandoned horse-racing, and betook himself to recreations in literature, natural history, and the fine arts. A collection of shells made by him was the finest at the time in Britain. 6G0 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. male line of William, first Duke of Queensberry; and in virtue of the patent issued in 1706, and of an entail executed by the second Duke, the titles of Duke of Queensberry, Marquis of Dumfriesshire, Earl of Drumlanrig and Sanquhar, Viscount of Nith, Torthorwald, and Ross, Lord Douglas of Kinmount, Middle- bie, and Dornock, with the barony of Drumlanrig, and other extensive property in the County, devolved on Henry, third Duke of Buccleuch, the heir of line of the Queensberry family, who was thenceforward designated Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry.* In this way the famous old Border family of the Scotts became the leading one in Dumfriesshire; their yearly rental amounting to £74,271 in 1863; while that of the original Queensberry family.f represented by the descendants ' This nobleman, who died in 1811, was succeeded by his eldest son, Charles William Henry. He died in 1814, leaving, by his Duchess, Harriet Katherine Townshead, youngest daughter of Viscount Sydney, two sons, Walter Francis, Earl of Dalkeith, who succeeded him, Lord John Douglas Scott, who died in 1860, and six daughters. Walter Francis Montague Douglas Scott, the nobleman who now worthily wears the united dukedoms of Buccleuch and Queensberry, with numerous other titles, was born on the 25th November, 1806; married, 13th August, 1829, Lady Charlotte Thynue, youngest daughter of the second Marquis of Bath, and has issue, William Henry Walter, Earl of Dalkeith, Lord-Lieutenant of Dumfriesshire and M.P. for Edinburghshire; Lord Henry John, M.P. for Selkirkshire; Lord Walter Charles; Lord Charles Thomas; Lady Victoria Alexandrina, married to Lord Schomberg-Kerr in 1865; Lady Margaret Elizabeth; and Lady Mary Charlotte. t Sir Charles Douglas, who succeeded as fifth Marquis of Queensberry, was descended from Sir William Douglas of Kelhead, second son of the first Earl of Queensberry. He was succeeded by his third eldest surviving son, Sir James Douglas, who by his wife Catherine, daughter of the second Earl of Queens- berry, had a son, Sir William, the third baronet. The latter was in turn succeeded by his eldest son. Sir John, who was chosen as the member for Dumfriesshire in 1741. His eldest son. Sir William, who became the fifth baronet, was at one time representative of the Dumfries burghs. By his wife, the daughter and coheir of William Johnstone of Lookei-bie, he had five sous and three daughters— the eldest of whom. Sir Charles, as stated in the text, became fifth Marquis of Queensberry. He married Carohne Montague, third daughter of Henry, Duke of Buccleuch and Queousbei-ry, by whom he had five daughters. He w<\s succeeded by his brother John, who married Sarah, daughter of James Sliolto Douglas. Their son, Archibald William, was, as Viscount Drumlanrig, elected M.P. for Dumfriesshire in 1847. He married the daughter of Major-Goneral Sii- William IJobert Clayton, Baronet, and had iuHuo, four sons and two daughters. Soon after becoming seventh Marquis of Quoonsbcrry, ho was killed by the accidental disoliarge of his gun, at Kin- mount, on the 6th of Angust, 1858. His oldest son, John Sholto Douglas, HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. C61 of Sir Chaxles Douglas of Kelhead, amounted, in the same year, only to £12,229. For awhile the burghal authorities were much engaged with the erection of the Hospital, and in getting it put into good working order. Afterwards we find them busy opening up a new line of street, leading from Lochmaben-gate to the Townhead; widening the way at that entrance to the Burgh, expanding a narrow passage — Calvert's Vennel — running from High Street to the river's edge, now called Bank Street; building a salt market in it; and adopting means for improving the lighting of the principal thoroughfares. These operations increased the debt upon the town; and how to make the income cover the expenditure was a sort of chronic difficulty, which often drove the Town Council to their wits' end. In order to get rid of its pressure for a season, borrowing money at a heavy rate of interest was often resorted to; and Mr. Richard Lowthian, formerly noticed as Prince Charlie's host, was the millionaire to whom the Council frequently applied in time of need. In 1752 they became his debtor in £2,000 at one sweep; and soon after- wards they had, as already noticed, to adopt the retrograde course of selling a public establishment — the coffee-house or news-room in High Street, which was bought by that gentle- man's son. To aggravate matters, the Act imposing a duty on ale and tonnage wgs about to expire. The authorities could scarcely get on with the aid thus afforded them: were it to stop, their credit would be in danger of stopping too. A resolution was therefore formed to obtain, if possible, the renewal of the Act. Entrusted with a mission of this nature, Mr. Mackenzie, town clerk, proceeded in February, 1762, to London — not on horseback, like his predecessors on a similar errand a quarter of a century before, but in a chaise; and after an absence of less than six weeks, he returned, in the same kind of conveyance, with the agreeable announcement that a biU for continuing the duties other twenty-five years had received the royal assent. The bill of 1737 cost, exclusive of personal charges, the sum of £157; that of 1762, £270; the latter amount including £56 as fees for bom 20th July, 1844, succeeded him, as the eighth Marquis of Queensberry; and married, in 1866, Sybil, second daughter of Alfred Montgomery, third son of Sir Henry Conynham Montgomery, Bart. 662 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. the second reading in the House of Commons. In the former case the personal expenses of Provost Corrie and Mr. Goldie, his colleague, were under £14, while those of Mr. Mackenzie were nearly £37; his chaise hire and charges on the road absorbing about one half of that sum. So well satisfied were the Town Council with that gentleman's good management in the matter, that they voted him a "gratification" of ten guineas, which, however, he declined to take; and the Council, not to be outdone in generosity, constrained him to accept a set of silver tea-spoons. This fact, trifling in itself, is only noticed as intro- ductory to a remark that the Council books, at this period and during a rougher age, give abundant evidence that the Shylock style of driving a hard bargain, or adhering stubbornly to the letter of an exactive bond, was not the practice of our ancestors. CHAPTER XLVI. STRIFE BETWEEN THE TKADES AlfD MEROHANT COUNCILLORS REGARDING THE PROVOSTSHIP — THE RIVAL CANDIDATES, CORBET AND GRAHAM — "WAR OF CLASSES; THE RICH INHABITANTS FAVGITBING CORBET, THE DEMOCRACY DOING BATTLE FOR GRAHAM — PARTY NAMES ASSUMED : THE ' ' PYETS AND THE CKOWS" — TUMULT IN THE COUNCIL AND RIOT IN THE STREETS — THE COUNCIL CHAMBER STORMED BY THE DEMOCRATIC PYETS, AND THE ELECTION OF CORBET FORCIBLY PREVENTED — THE TRADES CHOOSE GRAHAM AS CHIEF MAGISTRATE — CORBET ELECTED AT A SECOND MEETING BY HIS OWN PARTY — CHURCHING OP THE RIVAL PROVOSTS, AND EXTRAORDINARY FACTION FIGHT — TRIAL AND PUNISHMENT OF THE LEADING RIOTERS. Before the Ale-duty Act was reimposed, and whilst some of the schemes previously specified were in progress, a civil broil broke out, by which the public mind was for weeks, if not months, painfully absorbed. It arose partly out of a long- standing jealousy that existed between the merchants and the Trades, and partly out of the rivalry of two claimants for the provostship; and it found full vent at the election of the magistrates in 1759. The first faint symptoms of the coming storm were descried when, on the 29th of September, 1758, Baihe James Corbet was chosen Provost by "a plurality of votes" only. The merchant councillors supported him because he was favourable to their pretensions; whilst the minority, consisting chiefly of craftsmen, had set their affections on John Graham of Kinharvie, whom, though he was not ostensibly a candidate, they would fain have placed in the civic chair. On the following 2nd of October, the Council met for the purpose of voting out of their body, " according to the sett and constitution of the Burgh," four merchant members, in lieu of four voted in prior to the magisterial election. Before the business of the day was fairly begun, John Jardine, deacon - convener of the Trades, rose, and in due form protested against the proceedings, and withdrew, followed by all the other 664 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. deacons, save the deacon of the glovers, Nicholas Dickson. The gauntlet of defiance was thus thrown down; but the Provost's adherents, taking the matter quite coolly, went on to purge the Council as if nothing out of the way had occurred — the gentle- men unanimously " voted off " being Gilbert Paterson, William M'Murdo, William Burnet, late bailies, and Alexander M'Courtie, late treasurer. The real "tug of war" commenced on the 22nd of September, 1759, at which time four new councillors fell to be chosen. Each party tried eagerly to gain thereby an accession of power; the merchants being anxious to increase, or at all events maintain, their supremacy, the deacons to render their minority more potential — to transform it into a positive majority was scarcely hoped for, though they were warmly supported by the popular voice. After the usual preliminaries, ex-Provost Crosbie protested, for himself and all others who should concur with him, that his voting at the election of new councillors that day was no homologation of the claims of any whose election at Michaelmas last remained under dispute. He thereupon took instruments in the clerk's hands — ex-Provost Graham, Convener Jardine, and Deacons Patoun, Walker, Gibson, John- ston, and Howat adhering to the protest. This interruption over. Provost Corbet proposed that the meeting should choose William Carruthers and James Bell, merchants, Gilbert Gordon, collector of Excise, and Dr. Alexander Gordon. Deacon Howat proposed the election of other four — William Kirkpatrick, James Clark, James Jardine, and James M'Whirter, all merchants; but all, it is presumed, more favourable to the Trades than the nominees of the Provost. The former were elected by a majority of sixteen votes to eight. Utterly beaten in the Council-house, the craftsmen looked for assistance out of doors. They accordingly made much of the Dumfriesian democracy, who readily made common cause with them against the patrician merchants and their chief. A battle of classes had begun — those in the upper ranks of life enlisting on the Provost's side, those in the lower strata declaring for that of John Graham and the deacons; and at this ripe stage o{ the conflict, the former party, by a play on their leader's name, wore dubbed "C'orbies," whilst tlieir opponents rejoiced in HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 665 the name of "Pyets:" so termed, we suppose, because of the antipathy cherished by these birds — the crows and magpies — towards each other. On the 29th, seven days after this fresh triumph of the Corbies, the streets of the ancient Burgh presented an animated aspect. It was Michaelmas day — the day of the annual election; and in view of this event flocks of Pyets fluttered eagerly about anticipating a fray, longing to leave the impress of their claws and beaks on the rival faction, who for the most part, however, kept prudently within the shelter of their household nests. The Mid-Steeple clock strikes the hour of three in the afternoon; and unless the election be immediately proceeded with, the legal period for it will expire, and the Burgh be disfranchised. At last the Provost and some of his party are seen hurrying, as fast as the throng wUl permit, from the George Tavern in Southgate Brae towards the place of meeting. Guarded by the ofiicers, they pass on unharmed, receiving nothing worse than hootings and mock huzzas from the crowd; but three or four recreant tradesmen, who after- wards try to sUp up to the Council-house, are recognized, hustled, mobbed; whilst, on the other hand, the Pyet voters are greeted with hearty cheers. As the business proceeds, the crowd in the vicinity grows denser, and seems increasingly bent on mischief. So deafening is the din, that the town clerk, Joseph Corrie, is heard with difficulty by the burghal senators as he reads the Parliamentary enactment bearing on the business, which finishes with the following stringent provision:^ — " It is hereby enacted and declared, that it shall not be in the power of the magistrates and Council of this Burgh at any time hereafter to alter or procure any alteration hereof; and that no person or persons shall vote for or endeavour the repealing or alteration of this present Act, directly or indirectly, in time coming, under the penalty of two hundred pounds Scots money, to be paid by each contravener toties quoties." This document having been read, Graham, chief of the Pyet clan, arises and protests that by their assembling, sitting, and voting in this Council, they do not homologate the rights of any voter, disputed at the last election, or rendered since disputable; and he insists, therefore, that the clerks shall take notice, for 4 o 666 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. ■whom John Dickson, George Gordon, Andrew Wright, and William Bell record their votes; to which protest ex-Provost Crosbie, ex-Bailie Lawson, Convener Jardine, and the other deacons, adhere. The buzz of excitement caused by this combative display increases as ex-Bailie Paterson follows it up by insisting and protesting that the four merchant councillors illegally voted off on the 2nd of October, and who were there present, should have their names entered on the roll. Provost Corbet thereupon protests in his turn that these gentlemen had been lawfully removed from the Council; that they cannot be allowed to vote; that if they will insist on going through the form of offering their suffrages, their votes could be marked on a separate paper, but that on no account could they be inserted in the record. The excitement waxes warmer within — the clamour increases without; the crowd is pressing menacingly up stairs, and it is with difficulty that the halberdiers keep it from surging by and swamping the Council hall. At this critical stage the Provost receives an intimation, which he reads, to the effect that Thomas Nairn, hammerman; James Harley, wright; Nicholas Dickson, glover; and Charles Edgar, weaver, whilst on tbeir way with protests to the meeting, had been "obstructed or prevented by a mob of common people, assembled in a tumultuous manner." "Let the Riot Act be read, and the rabblement be dispersed!" cry several of the Corbie councillors. The first suggestion is acted upon. From the Council-house window, Mr. Corrie reads the said Act; Bailie Hepburn, more venturesome, performs the same duty in the street: still the mob does not move; the intercepted tradesmen cannot push through. It is well for themselves that they at last give up the vain effort and vanish. "Gentlemen, let us proceed with the election!" cries the presiding magistrate; and accordingly the clerks begin by calling over the names of the voters, omitting by order the names of the four outed councillors belonging to the Pyet clan. Next the new merchant councillors and the Trades' representatives qualify; after which ex-Provost Crosbie, resuming the wordy warfare, denounces the Act of Election previously read, and gives expression to views which the conservative Coi-bies cannot but deem wild and revolutionary. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 667 " By this Act," says the honourable gentleman, " a material change has been made in the municipal constitution, at variance with the sett of the Burgh, without the consent of the com- munity, and that has never even received the sanction of the Convention of Burghs. I protest against it on these grounds, and because it contains a most arbitrary and direct infringe- ment of the liberty of succeeding Councils, in that clause which enacts that it shall be unalterable, and guards against the repealing of it by penalties upon councillors who should take steps for so doing. This clause renders the whole Act null; but," continues the Pyet leader, waxing warmer as he goes on, " not only this Act, but many particulars in the sett of the Burgh, need to be corrected. In particular, a rotation ought to be estabUshed in the merchant part of the councillors, in order to preserve the Uberty of the place, and to establish peace amongst the people. The enormous power of naming proxies for absent merchants, now vested in the chief magistrate,, ought to be removed, that the freedom of elections may not thereby be brought into peril. A proper method ought also to be thought upon of naming proxies for absent tradesmen who, in the present working of the sett, lose their votes; though the sett requires that the number of tradesmen should be eleven at all the steps of the election. Many other matters need amend- ment. For all these reasons, I move that a day be appointed for a general meeting of the community under the authority of this Council, where all those who claim a right to vote, as well disputed as disputable, may be present; said meeting to take place about the end of October next, for the purpose of revising the sett, and ordering ane application to the Convention of Burghs for the recording either a new sett, or such an amend- ment of the existing one as shall be thought necessary." All the members of the Pyet party concur in the motion; and, as a matter of course, the Provost sets his face as a flint against it. He affirms that it has taken him. by surprise; and that, as the observations by which it was introduced were equally unexpected, he is not prepared to answer them seriatim. " This, however, I am prepared to say," he continues, " that the Act of Council condemned by Mr. Crosbie, and which has been long in observance without being objected to, is calculated to 668 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. answer very salutary purposes in the government of this Burgh ; and that the sett of it, as approven by the Convention, needs no amendment." To this anti-reform declaration all the merchant councillors adhere, except Mr. Graham and Bailie Lawson. The Pyets are outvoted; and the mutinous mob, as if conscious of the defeat and yearning to avenge it, besieges the hall-door, and presses against it in battering-ram fashion, spite of the protecting pikesmen and halberdiers. "Quick! gentlemen, or the rabble will be in upon us!" cries the Provost, now in visible terror. The Act against bribery and corruption is hurriedly read; the Act anent magisterial elections is hurriedly signed — some of the signatures, as we now see them, wearing a tremu- lous aspect, as if fear-shaken hands had formed them, though that of "James Corbet" is boldly written in big characters, and that of "John Graham" looks scholarly and refined. Whether to open the door, with the doubtful expectation of pacifying the populace, or to keep it closed, becomes a question. At the instance of the Provost, a vote is taken on the subject; and it is carried by a plurality that the door shall remain shut during the proceedings. Remain shut! Comparatively easy it is to pass a resolution to that effect, but how, ye sapient magis- trates and merchant councillors! is it to be enforced in defiance of such an angry multitude ? It cannot be done. The patrician Crows, with all their legal potency, are not a match for the democratic Magpies, who, swarming at the top of the stair, fiercely demand admission, and in order to enforce their own summons, disarm the sentinel-officers, by main strength break down the stout barrier that keeps them outside, and the next minute are occupants of the hall, and masters of the situation. Then ensues a scene of indescribable confusion. The mob leaders have a method in their madness, however, and that is to foreclose the election rather than see the man of their choice defeated. "Graham for Provost!" is their wai'-cry, as they rush in, seize several obnoxious Corbies and send them out well guarded, and prepare to proceed with a mock election of their own. In vain the Provost and his remaining friends remonstrate with tlic crowd. Coaxing and threatening ai'e alike unavailing: as well might tlicy bid a Lammas flood not to flow over the Caul, as comiiiaiid the intruders to withdraw and allow the HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 669 lawful business to go on. The Provost finding this to be the case, and fearing that he might be called to suffer personal violence, formally protests against the conduct of the mob, quits the chair, and retires with such of his colleagues as have not been placed in durance vile — glad to get away scathless — and leaving the place of authority in the undisturbed possession of the exulting Pyets. Such is a faint sketch of this notable election riot, in its earlier phases, as revealed by the records.* Other outrages followed the incidents we have narrated; and next day — Sabbath though it was — saw the conflict renewed in a fiercer and more systematic form. It must have been about five o'clock in the afternoon when Provost Corbet and his friends beat a rapid jetreat from the hall, to reunite at a later hour in their favourite place of rendezvous, the George Hotel. No sooner were they gone, than the rioters shut up certain electors whom they saw fit to detain; and having thus in divers ways purged the Council, they with little ceremony, but with acclamations that shook the building, and found a hearty echo outside, joined with the deacons in recognizing John Graham of Kinharvie as Provost of Dumfries. Whether Mr. Graham was present or not does not appear; but that he was a party to the proceedings admits of little doubt. Daylight faded, twilight deepened into darkness, but still the insurgents occupied the Council-house and crowded High Street; and it was not till twelve o'clock, when Michaelmas day was done, that they liberated their captives and dispersed ; retiring to their homes big with the fond idea that if they had not legally secured a chief magistrate of their own, they had at least rendered the election of the rival candidate impracticable, seeing that the set period for doing so had now expired. Whilst the Pyets, well pleased but exhausted with their exciting work and protracted vigils, were separating at midnight, the Crows were preparing to hold a secret parliament in the George. Thither their chief had gone, on being ejected from the Council Chamber. Such of his adherents stealthily joined him as had not been made prisoners by the mob, and the captives * The Miniites of Council supply the chief incidents naiTated in this chapter. 670 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. liberated at twelve o'clock furnished a large and welcome accession to the party. Though some of their friends, including the senior town clerk, Mr. Corrie (abducted during the day), were unwillingly absent, those present — nineteen in all — con- ceived themselves numerous enough for going on with the election that had been so rudely interrupted. The Provost having taken the chair, availed himself of his arbitrary privilege (sanctioned by custom), to nominate proxies for the absent merchant councillors of the Pyet feather — Graham, Crosbie, and Lawson; the substitutes named being birds of the requisite dusky hue. Not so much as a solitary deacon was there to represent the Trades element in the corporation, yet the election was pushed forward; the apologetic minute of the meeting explaining, that though the deacons and their led votes were absent, they had been convened in the Council-house, " and it not being safe to make any open declaration in face of the mob that the councillors were retiring to this house, nor even to acquaint the said deacons of it, in respect it appeared from the beginning and throughout that the same was raised and made by the Trades," and that, moreover, as the custom or sett of the Burgh did not require votes for absent Trades' members, to name such was unnecessary. What followed may be fittingly told in the language of the minute just quoted from. The preliminary steps having been gone through, "the electors now present proceeded to the election of magistrates and office- bearers; and the Provost having proposed the persons following to go out in the leet for provost — to wit, Provost James Corbet and Bailie Hepburn, for both of whom he gave his own vote — the roll was called and the votes of the other electors marked, by which it appeared the whole electors unanimously voted the said Provost James Corbet and Bailie Hepburn to go out in the leet; and these gentlemen having removed, the roll of the other electors except themselves two was called over, and the votes marked, by which it appeared that the whole electors remaining unanimously voted the said James Corbet to be Provo.st; and he and Bailie Hepburn being called in, they each of thorn gave their votes for the said Provost James Corbet; and thnroforc the magistrates, ronucillors, and electors, have HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. G71 unanimously elected the said James Corbet to be Provost for the year ensuing; and he accordingly accepted of the said office, and gave his oath de fideli administratione officii." The other vacancies having been filled up, the proceedings terminated between three and four o'clock on the Sabbath morning. Was ever municipal election conducted before under such extraordinary circumstances? The voters meeting like con- spirators, secretly, in a tavern, after the midnight hour, during a season that.ought, for a double reason, to have been devoted to rest. If the rioters who stormed the Council-house during the day had dreamed of this nocturnal gathering, there would have been more crows to pluck than one — the entire Corbie's nest at the George would have received a rough harrying at their hands. When, after day-dawn, the news of the secret conclave and its doings was circulated through the town, much indig- nation was felt by the Trades and the lower classes who sympathized with them. They felt that they had been deceived — out-gen eraled ; and they made ready to exact revenge. " John Graham is our Provost!" they said; " and we shall complete his election by kirking him in due form, in spite of all that has been done by the cowardly Corbies!" In these days the churching of the new magistrates was looked upon as an indispensable sequel to the election; and the merchant party also proposed in this way to give a sacred and pubUc impress to their hole-and-corner proceedings. When each of the rival factions made arrangements of this nature, a colhsion was almost sure to arise. So it turned out: the advent of the Sabbath did not hinder the merchant councillors from voting their favourite into the civic chair; and when that day's sun reached the meridian, the business of the early morning led to an unhallowed riot. When the bells rang for worship, one party — the Corbies — marched to the New Church, with their Provost guarded by the Burgh officers; whilst the other — the Pyets — ^proceeded with their chief to St. Michael's, the Trades forming nearly as strong a muster as if they had been going to compete for the Silver Gun. Leaving the former to hear the discourse of Mr. Wight, and the latter that of Mr. Linn — both doubtless appropriate and pithy — let us look at G72 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. ■what was meanwhile going on outside, near the heart of the town. In front of the crumhling New Wark, and resting against its walls, stood the Cheese Cross, where on market days the damsels of the district were wont to dispose of their dairy produce. On this occasion it was occupied by many of the wives and other female friends of the Burgh tradesmen, who from its elevated platform waited to see the Pyet procession returning from church. Tradition affirms that they were well supplied with whisky-punch, for the purpose of toasting the health of Provost Graham when he made his appearance, and drinking confusion to the Crows; but this may possibly be only a bit of scandal, originated by some spiteful dame connected with the other side. Prominent among the group on the Cheese Cross stood Judith Kerr, a stalwart randy, noticeable by her impatient gestures as much as by her amazonian height. "I wonder if the buirdly Pyets are coming yet," she said, addressing a cronie, as one o'clock struck. "Run a bit down the Hie Gate, woman Jean, and see if there are onie signs o' the bonnie yellow pikes glistening i' the Southergate Brae; for I'm weary o' waiting on the lads." The same gossiping report already quoted from adds to this authentic speech words designed as a stimulant to Jean's speed: "Haste ye noo, woman; for, between ourselves, I'm turning unco drouthy." The messenger ran as desired, and soon returned with the tidings that the Pyets were appearing. "And so are the Corbies!" cried a voice from the crowd. The parties met opposite to the New Wark, and stood for a minute frowning defiance at each other, both " willing to wound, but yet afraid to strike." No one offered to move till the spell of inactivity was broken by James Dickson, a brewer, whose bold signature appears in the books as a supporter of Provost Corbie. As if actuated by a destructive impulse, he stopped from the ranks of his party, borrowed an axe from an officer at its head, and attacked — not the rival force, b\it certain articles of creature comfort, bread, cheese — shall we add, bottled punch? — with wliich a corner of the Cross was garnished. Tlio irato brewer, with one fell swoop, made a sad mess of the refreshments; some of the women-folks shrieking wildly when HISTOEY OF DUMFRIES. 673 they saw the produce of their aumries treated in this destructive fashion. Not so Judith Kerr. That heroic female was above such weakness; and instead of weeping, wailing, and wringing of hands, she girded herself to carry on the war that had been so recklessly begun by the Corbie faction. Indignant at the rude assault — especially wroth at seeing the good whisky-punch spilt, says the tradition, which persistently associates the shedding of strong waters with blood on this memorable day — she seized- Dickson by the nape of the neck, took the halberd from his feckless grasp, and gave him a push which made him embrace mother earth; telling him, with grim humour, as he floundered downwards, to drink the liquor where he had brewed it. Turn- ing to the craftsmen, who seemed about to second her efforts, she bade them stand by, and not to meddle with the Corbies, for that the women were full match for such a crew. The Pyets, however, advanced on their opponents; whilst the latter, inferior in both numbers and courage, and unable to get up or down the street for a surrounding mob, rushed through the portals of the New Wark, and then tried to close its oaken door upon their pursuers. Thereupon a gigantic skinner from the Mill-hole, named William Trumell, by setting his shoulder between the door and the wall, thwarted this device, and a terrific scene ensued. The chief belligerents, cooped into a comparatively narrow space, pushed and struggled and fought with each other like the wild tenants of a menagerie; and at the height of the hurly-burly the rotten flooring gave way, and down went Pyets and Corbies, sweating, bleeding, roaring, and raging, into the noisome vaults below. Whilst this chaotic strife, and some minor affrays outside the Wark, were going on, a sound contrasting strongly with the din of battle, and one more in accordance with the sacred day, arose from the bartizan of the building. A number of children had been placed there by their parents, under the charge of two peaceful burgesses, one of whom, Paul Russell by name, occasionally officiated as a precentor. When the fighting commenced, with the view of engaging the attention of his juvenile charge, he gave out for singing the hundred and fortieth psalm — probably choosing it as embodying a pointed rebuke to the ungodly combatants, though we dare say the respected "letter-gae of holy rhyme" 4p (i74 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. did not desire to see the following apposite passage of the same in any sense fulfilled: — " As for the head and chief of those About that compass me, Ev'n by the mischief of their lips Let thou them cover'd be. Let burning coals upon them fall, Them throw in fiery flame. And in deep pits, that they no more May rise out of the same." Such solemn verses sang the little children from the top of the New Wark as the warring factions fought below, and, falling into its deep pits, continued the struggle. It at length terminated in the utter abasement of the merchant party. The Pyets, as has been already stated, were more numerous than their opponents; and, on being strongly reinforced, they succeeded in caging nearly the whole of the Corbies in the vaults to which they had made an unwilling descent. There, with aching bones and moody thoughts, they lay till long after midnight, when their wearied guards dropped off or relaxed their vigilance, and the captives effected their escape. What deeds of daring were performed during the conflict by Judith Kerr, are not recorded; but it may be safely inferred that she would not rest satisfied without consigning some more councillors to the kennel. Neither is it known precisely what befel the rival chiefs; though there is reason to believe that they suffered no personal violence, but escaped homewards, whilst their infuriated adherents fought out the fray. Months elapsed before the town regained its composure, and magisterial government was fairly re-established. The law authorities of Edinburgh held that the election of Mr. Corbet, though irregular, was a valid one; but the craftsmen offered a passive, many of the democracy an active, resistance to his rule. On the 2nd of October following, the councillors were summoned to meet in the usual place, for the purpose of purging the roll. Once more a violent mob interposed. It was known beforehand that the favourite of the populace, with his principal friends, was to be victimized by the domi- nant party, "Not if we can help it!" screamed the indignant Pyets, who crowded the Council-house, allowed ingress to birds HISTOKY OF DUMFRIES. G75 of their own feather only, and dared the Corbie senators to enter at their peril. The latter, anxious to prevent a repetition of the Michaelmas riot, prudently retired, and, assembling at the house of Mr. Corrie, town clerk, voted off the Council John Graham, Andrew Crosbie, Hugh Lawson, and Andrew "Wright — an act dictated, some will say, by bitter vindictive- ness; others, by the natural instinct of self-defence. It was not tiU the 9th of January — about fourteen weeks after the secret election at the George — that the magistrates and their merchant followers durst show face in the Council Chamber; and when they did convene there on that day, not a solitary deacon was present to give them countenance. In the minute of the business occur the following significant entries : — " The Provost represented that Andrew Black, work- man, who was employed to light the lamps, was some time ago threatened by certain persons concerned in the mobs and riots which have of late prevailed, and was put in fear of his life, whereby he was obliged to desist; and the Council, considering it is very necessary the lamps should be still lighted through the remaining part of the winter season, do therefore recommend to the magistrates to cause light the lamps accordingly." " The Provost represented that the town's officers have been stripped of the town's livery-clothes, and their halberts broke and destroyed by the mob since Michaelmas last; which being considered by the Council, they grant warrant to the magistrates to cause buy and make new liveiy-clothes for the ofiicers, and to cause make new halberts; and to draw precepts upon the treasurer for the expenses thereof" Provost Corbet retired from office at the ensuing Michaelmas term. On that day the representatives of the Trades were present for the first time since his appointment, and took part with the merchant councillors in electing his successors. For going out on the leet as such, Mr. Corbet named Robert Maxwell of Portrack, and Ebenezer Hepburn; while Convener Gibson, true to the Pyet cause, proposed John Graham and Andrew Crosbie ; and when it was objected that these gentlemen were not members of Council, he contended that they had been voted out of it by persons who had no legal qualification so to do. The stanch convener was, however, overruled — Mr. Maxwell was chosen Provost by a majority of 676 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. eleven votes;' and with his election the fierce, protracted conflict between the Pyets and the Corbies was brought to a close. The judicial issue of the strife still requires to be told. A solemn, tragical one it is; being, unlike the aflfair itself, unre- lieved by any features of revelry or frolic. The scene is the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh, where, on the first of December, 1759, twelve men are placed at the bar, "indicted by the King's Advocate for the crimes of riot and tumult at Dumfries, with a view to obstruct the election of Magistrates and Councillors last Michaelmas day, and to quash the authority of the magistrates then chosen." * The prisoners are not of the sort usually seen in such a humiliating position : they are for the most part decent, respectable-looking tradesmen, who will bear a fair physiognomical comparison with the fifteen jurymen on whose judgment their fate will depend, after the witnesses for and against them have been examined, the pleadings on both sides have been finished, and the Lord Justice-Clerk has summed up the evidence and laid down the law bearing upon the case. At the bar stand John Smith, deacon of the weavers ; Thomas Gibson, deacon of the tailors; John Paton, deacon of the weavers; eight other craftsmen, and one merchant, William Kirkpatrick, the latter one of the four Pyet burgesses who on the eventful twenty-second of September were proposed to fill up the vacancies in the Council, and were rejected by Mr. Corbet's party. Three more Dumfriesians figure on the indictment — Joseph Dyet and James Hodge, tailors, and James Johnston, smith; but, failing to appear when called upon, they are fugi- tated — that is to say, outlawed. Before the tedious preliminaries are over, and the case is fairly entered upon, dayUght fades; candles are introduced; and all through the night, whose gloom they only half dispel, the fierce municipal contest is fought over again verbally; and the clock of St. Giles' sounds the hour of five in the morning, before the judges pause, and the jury retire to consider their verdict. At two o'clock in the afternoon they gave it in, finding all the panels guilty except Deacon Paton, whom they unanimously acquit. Counsel arc hcai'd on the import of the verdict, the relevancy of whicli is so ingeniously questioned that the judges • .Scots Mngazino, vol, xxii., pp. 667-8. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 677 adjourn the proceedings, and give no decision lill the Court resumes on the 15th, when all the cobwebs of casuistry spun by the learned advocates for the defence are ruthlessly blown aside; and the verdict being held good, sentence is pro- noixnced. Poor Deacon Smith is adjudged to banishment for life; John Gordon, tailor, is transported for fourteen years, and WilUam Ewart, shoemaker, for seven: all to be kept in the tolbooth of Edinburgh till an opportunity offer for sending them to his Majesty's plantations in America; "with certification, that if after being delivered over for transportation they return to or be found in Scotland — Smith during life, or Gordon or Ewart within the respective periods specified in their sentence — each of them, as often as he shall so return, shall be whipped and retr an sported; and Gordon shall remain abroad fourteen years, and Ewart seven years, from the time of their being respectively last delivered over for trial." Seven are sen- tenced to be carried back to the Edinburgh tolbooth, there to remain — William Macnish, tailor, three months; Thomas Gibson, flesher, two months, and tiU he pay a fine of five hundred merks; William Wood, gardener, George Bell, nailer, and John Rae, tailor, six weeks; James Thomson, smith, and Charles Sturgeon, shoemaker, one month. A fine of nine hundred merks is imposed on William Kirkpatrick, merchant; and all except the three persons to be banished are required to find bail for their good behaviour for two years — Kirkpatrick and Gibson in nine hundred merks each, and the rest in three hundred merks each. Kjirkpatrick, finding bail in Court, is set at liberty; the others being carried away by the ofiicers, we see them no more: and the curtain drops on the last sad scene of this extraordinary municipal contest. CHAPTER XLVII BEKAX) RIOTS IN THE BURGH — A HAIDINO PARTY FOILED — THE MILITARY CALLED OUT WITH TATAL RESULTS — MORE TOWN IMPROVEMENTS: A NEW SLAUGHTER-HOUSE AND BUTCHER MARKET CONSTRUCTED — QUEENSBERRY SQUARE SORMED — THE MILLS REBUILT — ERECTION OF THE INEIRMARY, AND STATISTICAL INFORMATION RESPECTING IT— DISASTROUS EFFECTS OF THE FAILURE OF THE AYR BANK IN THE TOWN — RETROSPECT OF THE PRECEDING EIGHTY YEARS. More rioting! Has the quarrel between the Pyets and the Corbies broken out afresh, that bands of angry men are gather- ing in the High Street, and frantic-looking women are moving to and fro, instead of minding their household affairs? The groups merge into one great turbulent throng, and, actuated by a common impulse, and swelled by contributions from Bridgend, move at twilight towards the mills on the Galloway side of the Nith, as if they had serious work to do in that direction. It is no municipal question, no party conflict, that is generating such a commotion. A terrible dearth of food is experienced in the Burgh; meal has been at a famine price for weeks; the patience with which hunger was borne for a long time has given way; and the prevailing maxim with the populace is now that of the freebooter — that ' ' They should take who have the power, And they should keep who can. " Not that indiscriminate pillage is the main design of the mad rabble : to prevent the exportation of grain and meal is what they chiefly wish. This is why they surround the mills, and what is expressed in hundreds of hoai-se voices; the plundering which ensues being but the natural sequel to long suffering, and the tempting opportunity for removing it that i^now enjoyed. The rioters are so powerful and fierce, that the legal authorities scarcely attuniiit to copo with them; and by the midnight of HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 679 this dreadful day, the mills, granaries, and many private stores, have fallen into the undisputed possession of the mob. At this grave juncture, Provost Dickson, after consulting with his brother magistrates, resolved on applpng for aid to the chief of the law establishment in the metropolis. A communi- cation to that effect was sent off, addressed to the Burgh's agent, " John Davidson, Esq., at his house in Castlehill, Edin- burgh," with a note to that gentleman as follows:* — " Sir, the enclosed Letter to the Lord Justice-Clerk contains an information of a mobb that has happened here to prevent the exportation of meal from this part of the country to the west parts of Scotland, which the peace officers of the law have not been able to quell; ' and application is made to his Lordship for a military aid, and his authority and counsel on this unhappy occasion — and as dispatch and much secresy and prudence are necessary, we have thought it best to give you the trouble of managing the matter; and I beg you will immediately make the application to his Lordship, for which we shall gratefully acknowledge. — We are, Sir, your most obedt. servt,, — Jno. Dickson, Provost. Dnimfries, 23 Fabry., 1771, Saturday night." It is obvious from this application, and the legal proceedings which arose out of the riot, that it must have been of a very alarming character indeed. The indictment served upon its captured leaders, charged them with holding "unlawful and tumultuous assemblies," with committing "masterful invasions, depredations, assaults, riots, batteries, and other criminal acts;" but as they were not accused of having withstood the military when sent from Edinburgh at the request of the magistrates, it may be safely inferred that peace was restored, and the law ren- dered paramount without much difficulty. One William Johnston, and several others, were tried at the circuit court of the Burgh in the following August, for the above crimes, perpetrated with others their associates, " during the night between the 22nd and 23rd days of February that year, in or about Dumfries and the village of Bridgend." A somewhat indefinite verdict was returned by the jury, they finding the libel not proved as to several of the panels; but as to the rest, finding it proved " that there were mobs at the time and places libelled, and that * The original is in the hands of Mr. David Laing. 680 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. certain of the panels (whose names they specified) "were guilty art and part of the crimes libelled." The High Court of Justiciary, on being appealed to, were of opinion, though the verdict was not so distinct and accurate as it should have been, that execution should pass upon it; and therefore they sentenced two of the prisoners to be transported, and the rest to be imprisoned, some for a longer, some for a shorter term."* A few years after this riotous outbreak, some of its leading features were reproduced, with the addition of others still more tragical. Another dearth, with its train of suffering and repin- ing, visits the Burgh; and it is again caused or intensified by the grain dealers and farmers exporting their stuff rather than sell it to the townspeople at a lower price. The "masterful invasions and depredations" of 1771 are repeated, only they are this time directed against vessels in the river, and the yellow corn growing upon its banks. A party of the marauders, hurry- ing down the Dock, lay violent hands on some farmers who are sending their produce out of port. Not a single sack can be got on board ; and the ships have to sail away minus their expected cargo, whilst the frightened ruralists beat a rapid retreat, leaving their precious stuff in the possession of the crowd. Another party of them openly resolve upon a plunder- ing expedition to Laghall, a farm on the Galloway side of the Nith. Fortunately the announcement reaches the ears of one Janet Watson, "a servitrix" at the very farm that is threatened with such an unwelcome visit. Off at once she sets down the Dumfries bank, crosses the river, which was very shallow at the time opposite Mavis Grove, hurries to Laghall, neai- by, and raises the hue and cry with such effect, that before the pre- daceous rioters arrive such a guard is mustered at the farm that the former, resolute though they are, never venture within fighting range, and, fairly out-geueraled by the faithful Janet, beat a retreat back to the Burgh — only, however, to become more unruly there. Days elapse, and the mob becomes increasingly mischievous and threatening, till the tiiilitary have to bo called out; and in a moment of indiscretion, the cliiof magistrate bids them fire. * For a ri^port of this appeal case, soo Maclaurin's Arguments and Decisions iu Ilonmrkalili! ("'aaoa Imtuiv tlio High Court of Justiciary, pp. 541-551, HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 681 Most of the soldiers elevate their pieces when doing so; and but for this humane movement, the results would have been dreadful. As it is, a stray shot takes effect on a fine young man not connected with the rioters, who falls lifeless on the street. Truly a tragical finale to these protracted bread riots; and the wonder is that those engaged in them did not exact summary vengeance when they saw the poor youth's blood reddening the pavement. On the day of his burial, the whole trading population turned out; so that from Townhead to St. Michael's Gate nothing was seen but a mass of mourners, with countenances expressive of grief and indignation. The funeral procession had to pass the offending Provost's shop (the first south of the King's Arms Hotel, in High Street)* while proceed- ing to the churchyard; and the pall-bearers, acting according to a previous arrangement, advanced to the door of the premises, in order, by way of testimony, to lay the coffin for a minute or two on the counter. But, before this could be done, those inside closed the door with such critical haste, that it struck the coffin: and the bearers, unable to gain admission, knocked solemnly with it three times on the door, and then departed. Though sometimes interrupted by disturbances such as these, and always straitened by inadequate resources, the Town Council kept the external improvement of the Burgh steadily in view. To enable them to meet liabilities and carry on public works, they, in 1770, opened a cash account, to the extent of £1,000, in the Dumfries branch of Douglas, Heron, and Company's Bank. Having such a command of funds, they effected many salutary changes. One of the principal undertakings entered upon at this time was the erection of a new butcher market and slaughter-house, on a site between the back street called East Barnraws and the Loreburn; this being associated with another scheme scarcely less important, the opening up of a market square by the removal of the existing flesh market and slaughtering place, together with part of the ruins of the New Wark ranging beside them along the east side of High Street. All that remained of that ancient structure was purchased from Mr. Patrick Heron of Heron, at an expense of £90, and nothing more was left standing of it except the north wall; the inhabi- * At present occupied by Messrs. Lawson & Shaw, clothiers. 4 Q 682 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. tants being, it is said, thankful to see such a memorial of the late unhallowed scenes put out of the way. All these operations, together with the opening of a street named the Wide Entry, or King Street, leading from the new sqiiare to the new flesh market, were completed in 1770, at an expense of more than £700, about £114 of which was raised by public subscription. For the market an annual rent of from £40 to £50 was obtained, in the form of rates on the sheep and cattle slaughtered and exposed in it for sale. In the year preceding, the grain mills were rebuilt, after a design by the celebrated engineer, Mr. Smeaton, at a cost of £633. Among the minor works effected at this busy period was the enlarge- ment of the Council-house. It was rickety with age, as well as restricted in its accommodation; and the authorities were spurred on to its reconstruction from a rather singular circum- stance. In 176.9, the portrait of their patron, the Duke of Queensberry — for which he had sat, at their request, to an artist in London — arrived in due course ; but, like the Vicar of Wakefield's grand family picture, it was so large that the low-ceilinged house could not take it in ; so that the councillors were laid under a renewed obligation to amplify their hall, which they did accordingly. As a more striking illustration than any yet given, perhaps, of their enterprise at this time, it may be mentioned, that, anticipating the great sanitary enter- prise of our own day, they patronized a scheme for supplying the town with water, to be distributed from a tank in pipes, by means of the new machinery at the mills — a most laudable project, which proved abortive owing to no fault of theirs. A hospital or infirmary for the sick poor was still awanting; and to secure that desideratum a committee was formed, presided over by Charles, Duke of Queensberry, and with Sir William Maxwell, Bart., of Springkell, vice-president. The Town Council cordially granted an acre of the High Dock as a site for the proposed building, for an annual feu duty of £5, which the Council allows as a yearly subscription, so that no ground-rent burdens the establishment. With due masonic pomp, the foundation stone was laid on the 11th of July, 1777, by the worthy vice-president, who had from the beginning zeal- ously promoted the pliilantliropic luidertaking. The Infirmary, HISTORY OF DUMFRIES: 683 a neat, plain structnre of three stories, was completed at an expense of £823; and a score of patients, or more, who had been attended to in a temporary hospital, were at the close of 1778 transferred to the new house — the first of a long line of inmates that have been ministered to within its walls. No fewer than 330 patients were treated during 1789-90; and the demand for admission was such that a wing had to be added to the building, the expense of which was £458. That year the subscriptions amounted to £229, the total receipts to £387 — figures which furnished proof that the institution was much needed, and heartily appreciated. As time rolled on, bringing an increase of population to the district, with a proportional increase of sick and poor, many more patients pleaded yearly for admission into this mansion — hospitable in the truest sense; and additional wards were obtained by the construction of a second wing in 1809, at a cost of £600.* On the 13th of May, 1807, a charter from the Crown incorporated the contributors into a body pohtic, under the name of the Governors of the Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary — the governors con- sisting of benefactors to the extent of twenty guineas or more, paid within two years, who thereby become governors for life; subscribers of not less than one guinea annually, and the two physicians, the two surgeons, and the treasurer for the time being. For the first fifteen years the medical officers were paid nothing for their services, except a small allowance of five shil- lings a day granted by the Government for military patients, when troops used to be billeted in the Burgh. That allowance having ceased in 1821, a salary was given to the gtaff; the amount of which at present is £20 to each of the physicians, and £25 to each of the surgeons. A house surgeon, who is termed clerk and apothecary, receives £40 a year, besides board and lodging. The number of patients, from the opening of the house till * From a period soon after tlie opening till 1839, a ward was set apart for insane patients — an arrangement only excusable because there was no lunatic asylum in the County. By the completion of the Crichton Institution, in that year, due provision was made for the proper treatment of sufferers from mental disease; and the Infirmary was freed from a class of patients to whom it could offer little better than sefilusion and restraint, according to the old mad-house system— now, happily, exploded. 684 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 1826, cannot be ascertained, but 9,320 were under treatment; and if the proportion of admissions, which each year was about a twelfth, be deducted, the result — 8,544i — indicates the number of inmates during that period. From 1826 till 1859, the admissions were 14,070: total of both periods, 22,614 — a yearly average in the first period of 170, in the second of 426. These figures are exclusive bf 1,026 soldiers admitted prior to 1826, and a few militiamen since. From 1836 till 1866, the average admissions yearly ranged from 371 to 614, and the patients under treatment from 405 to 650; the highest of these numbers applying to 1847, the saddest year in the annals of the institu- tion. There are, in addition, many out-patients, who visit the Infirmary for medical or surgical treatment. Prior to 1846, they sometimes numbered fully 2,000 yearly; but of late the average has not been more than 1,350. From an elaborate calculation, we learn that medical cases in the house last twenty- three days on an average, with a mortality of 10 per cent. ; and that the average period of the surgical cases is tliirty days, with a mortality of 1;| per cent. : the rate in both together averaging about 7 per cent. For the year ending 11th 'November, 1865, the death-rate was only 6'2.* ' The Infirmary is supported by donations, legacies, and church collections, in addition to annual subscriptions. During the first ten years, the subscriptions averaged £177; and in the ten years ending 1826 they rose to an average of £324. Usually the expenditure has been in excess of the annual income. In the decade ending 1836, the yearly outlay was £889, and the in- come £927; in the next decade, the average outlay was £1,037, and the income £811; and in the next, the average outlay was £1,153, and the income £869. The balance is made good by draughts upon the fund formed from donations and legacies, which have been truly munificent; and but for which the doors of the institution must have been long since closed, or its use- fulness been very seriously impairod.f * For tlio aako of comparison, wo give tho mortality in the other principal infirmaries of Scotland iu 18G5 :— Gi-couock, 15 '578; Glasgow, 11 '669; Edin- burgh, 11-35; Dundee, 8 97; Torth, 8-33; Faisley, 8 '152; Aberdeen, 7-994 — My/Uy-ninlh lleport of the Dumfriea and Qalloway Royal Injii-viary, p. 7- ■y For many of these facts and statistics wo ai-o indebted to a well-written HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 685 The Infirmary contains one hundred beds, which are never all occupied at a time ; and as the existing accommodation is more ample than the demand for it, no applicant for admission is rejected, provided he is recommended by one of the governors, and his complaint is not incurable. Most of the patients, as might be supposed, belong to the district; but Ireland and the north of England furnish a large proportion; and occasionally some poor foreigner, fallen down far away from his birth-place, finds a second home in the house, and, set up there anew by kindly treatment, resumes his journey grateful and rejoicing. The liberaHty of the directors in this respect is beyond all praise. As a whole, the Infirmary is excellently managed: it is a blessing to the poor, and a credit to the district. Whilst prosecuting improvements, and raising or helping to raise new public buildings, the Council, prudently mindful of the old ones, caused them to be insured to the extent of £4,600, in the Sun Fire Office, London.* This prudential step was well and speedily rewarded, as the grain mills were accidentally burned to the ground on the night of the 31st of October, 1780; and the managers of the insurance office, after a process of arbi- tration, paid the town £1,530, which, with the value of the blackened materials, and such machinery as was rescued from the flames, went far to make up the loss that had been sustained. manuscript history of the Infirmary, by Philip Forsyth, Esq. , of Nithside, a gentleman who takes a great interest in the establishment, and ofSoiated for many years as chairman of its weekly committee. * The policies, as still preserved, show what these edifices were, and furnish an idea of their pecuniary worth. Schedule 1 consisted of the Council Cham- ber, town clerk's ofiice adjoining, and two upper rooms, occupied as a public school, in which Dr. Dinwiddle taught arithmetic and mathematics: the build- ings, aU under one roof, were insured for £300. 2. The grammar and writing schools, with the lodging above, occupied, among others, by Dr. George Chap- man, the grammar school master — insurance, £500. 3. The Presbytery house, insured for £100. 4. The new salt market, and room above the same, also insured for £100. 5. The English school, and sheriff clerk's office under it, insured for £200. 6. The new flesh market and slaughter-house — insurance, £700. 7. The guard-room, weigh-house, court-house above these, and rooms in the upper story, all in the Mid-Steeple buildings — insurance, £400. 8. The town's proportion — one-haK — of the minister's manse, £200. 9. The Mill- hole mill, now used as a snuff-miU, insured for £100. 10. The town's mills, on the Galloway side, as rebuilt in 1769, insured for £2,000 — the building, £700, and the machinery, £1,300. 686 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. Masons and millwrights soon made the spectral ruins give way to a more commodious erection; and, before a twelvemonth passed by, the plash of the wheels churning water into foam, and grinding husky grain into stuff for life-sustaining bread, rose as pleasantly on the ear as if no sad catastrophe had occurred. But for the existence of Douglas, Heron, and Company's Bank, some of the town improvements noticed in this chapter could not have been carried out, and would scarcely have been undertaken. The bank itself had a brief, brilliant, meteor-like duration, going down in little more than two years, carrying with it to ruin not a few families connected with the town and district. It was not without reason that Burns characterised it as "a villainous bubble." Originated in November, 1769, by the Honourable Archibald Douglas and Mr. Patrick Heron (the gentleman already named as owner of the New Wark), it soon acquired popularity and patronage, on account of its imposing list of shareholders, and its accommodating mode of doing busi- ness. Long and liberal credits were given; the directors being seemingly more anxious about the number than the commercial status of their customers. And the former had, among them- selves, several needy adventurers, who had neither money nor respectability to lose; some who had both, but were destitute of knowledge and prudence: so that, between the knaves and fools of the directory, the original capital of £150,000 could not but melt away with fearful speed, and all the exhaustive calls that came to be made upon the proprietors failed to keep the concern afloat. At Ayr, its headquarters, a speculative mania sprang up, resulting in the production of several mercantile companies — airy nothings in a double sense, formed by partners of the bank out of its cash account, who thus traded with themselves, under the names of Whiteside and Co., Maclure and MacCree, and such like. To complicate matters, these shadowy firms transacted business with each other. The Bank of Eng- land, with its millions of bullion, could not have borne up long against such gross recklessness. When, early in 1772, a storm from without gathered round Douglas, Heron, and Company's establishment, it had no resistive force, having been already exhausted from within. Their own notes came showering in upon them, representative of crushing HISTORY OF DUMPEIES. ' G87 debts which they could not meet nor stave off. The local crisis ■was intensified by the occurrence of a general monetary panic. Anything — everything, to save the doomed ship. The desperate device of selling redeemable annuities was tried among other measures, only to sink it deeper in a sea of ruin; and in June it went down. The assets of the bank, including debts and bills of exchange, amounted to £1,237,043 7s. Id., the liabiHties considerably exceeding that sum; for though there were debts due to the extent of £700,000, the larger half of this sum had been contracted, in the way already explained, by the directors themselves. A committee appointed to wind up the company's affairs, found it necessary to make a fresh call of £1,400 per share upon such partners as still remained solvent; and, from the report given in, it appeared that, after allowing for all assets, the balance against the bank was £366,000, involving a loss of £2j600 on each share, exclusive of interest. How seriously Dumfries suffered from the collapse of this gigantic bubble company may be inferred from the many names of the burgesses belonging to the town, and of proprietors intimately connected with it, that appear in the share list. On consulting it we find that Ebenezer Hepburn, the Provost, is down for £500; that Edward Maxwell, merchant, is a sub- scriber to double that amount; that Gilbert Paterson, James M'Whirter, David Forbes, William Hunter, John Wilson, John Graham, junior, all merchants; Thomas Stothart, writer; and Ebenezer Wilson, bookseller, are in the list for £500 each. There are four subscribers to the extent of £2,000, including the Burgh's patron, Charles, Duke of Queensberry, and Archibald Douglas of Douglas. Henry, Duke of Buccleuch, is in the list for £1,000. The ancient family of Craigdarroch sustained a severe shock, by being involved to the amount of £1,500 ; and Andrew Crosbie of Holm,* who subscribed £1,000, lost by the * Andrew Crosbie, advocate (sou of Provost Crosbie, Dumfries), was a suc- cessful lawyer, and justly looked upon as one of the most eloquent pleaders of his time, at tlie Scottish bar. As many of the incidents in " Guy Mannering" occurred in Dumfriesshire, it was aU the more natural in Scott to take the ablest lawyer of the County as the prototype of the learned, witty, and benevolent advocate who had the EDangowan family and Dandie Diumont for his clients. In these respects the character of Mr. Crosbie corresponded pretty closely with that of Paulus Pleydell, Esq., in the romance. 688 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. disaster all the fortune he had gained by his eloquent pleadings as an advocate. Among the remaining Dumfriesshire partners were Patrick Heron of Heron, one of the projectors, £1,000; William Douglas of Kelhead, £1,000; Robert Maxwell of Cargen, £1,000; John Dickson of Cowheath, £500; Captain William Maxwell of Dalswinton, £500 ; Gilbert Gordon of Halleaths, £500; Dr. William Graham of Mossknow, £500; John Car- ruthers of Holmains, £500; William Hay of Crawfordston, £500; and Sir Robert Laurie of Maxwelton, £500. Dumfriesshire- furnished nearly one third of the original shareholders, and one fourth of the capital; and when the ruinous calls that were made upon them, enforced by diligence and homings, are taken into account, it is not surprising that sad memories of the Ayr Bank still linger in the district. The first eighty years of the eighteenth century were thus, as we have seen, fruitful of great events in Dumfries; and during that time the aspect of the place experienced a greater change than in any period of corresponding length before or since. Here, in old St. Michael's burying ground, among the dust of these generations, sleep the relics of some whose lease of fourscore years began with the century. Before they laid them down to die, what curious tales would they tell their grandchildren of what had passed before their eyes in youth, and age : the burning of the articles of Union at the Market Gross; the desperate conflicts between the " runners" of tobacco and the enforcers of the revenue; the troubles of the '15, when the town was turned into a military camp ; the unwelcome visit of Prince Charlie, with his reiving Highlanders, in the '45 ; the brewera' anti-exciseman riot; the other internecine feuds of the Burgh, crowned by the never-to-be-forgotten conflict between the Pyets and the Crows; and the fell bank catastrophe, which ruined many families, and broke some sufferers' hearts. When these patriarchs were boys, the town consisted of the High Street, the East Barnraws and the West Bai-nraws running parallel with it for a short way on each side ; Kirkgate, by which tlio leading thoroughfare was continued southward to the gates of St. Michael's; the Friars' Vennel, running at a right angle from it to the Nith ; aud Lochmaben-gate and Townhoad Street diverging from it in other directions. Theii illSTORY OF DTJMFEIES. 689 the river wandered pretty freely according to its owu sweet will, there being no banks eastward to restrain its revels; the Dock meadow, habitually visited by Lammas floods and Solway tides, lay a comparative waste, partially fringed with willows, but wearing no woodland crown. There was no harbour worthy of the name; no place of refuge for the aged or orphan poor; no asylum for the sick; only one church; and not a solitary steeple. They had seen a narrow lane widened to secure a second con- venient approach to the river; St. Michael Street prolonged far past the Church; the commencement of Queensberry Street, an intermediate one between High Street and the East Barn- raws; the expansion of the suburbs; the formation of extensive roads; the construction of a new market-place, Queensberry Square; the arborial decoration of the Dock; the embankment of the wayward Nith; the erection of a caul over it below the bridge, of the grain mills on its right bank, and of Glencaple Quay on its left bank, nine miles further down. They had witnessed, moreover, the building of the Mid-Steeple, always associated in their recollection with a terrific anti-Union riot; the building of the New or Castle Church ; the rebuilding and spiring of St. Michael's place of worship, at a time redolent of tartan kilts and Gaelic gibberish-^the figure of a " pretty" youth mingling in the maze — with sinister faces that long afterwards terrified them when asleep; the erection of a home in which decayed burgesses and destitute children received the merited hospitality of the town; the opening of a house in which pale disease put on the hue of health, and "death, which comes to all," was rendered less dismal to the poor and destitute; and the comple- tion of several other great undertakings, designed for purposes of utility or ornament. And if any of these octogenarians had survived another decade, they would have seen many additional improvements projected and carried into effect. 4 R CHAPTER XLVIII. PEOVOST STAIO — HIS INFLUENCE AND SERVICES — A POLICE ACT OBTAINED — PATRICK MILLER OF DALSWINTON, A BITROESS AND COUNCILLOR OF DUMFRIES — HIS INVENTION OF THE PADDLE-WHEEL, AifD APPLICATION TO IT OF STEAM AS A MOTIVE POWER— RENEWED DEARTH AND DISTURBANCES — THE COUNCIL PROVIDE MEAL, AND DISTRIBUTE IT AMONO THE INHABITANTS — TITHE OF BREADSTUFFS LEVIED BY THE HANGMAN — THE TRIBUTE OBJECTED TO BY THE FARMERS, AND VIOLENTLY RESISTED BY THE POPULACE — OPINION OF COUNSEL AS TO ITS LEGALITY— BUILDING OP A NEW BRIDGE PROJECTED — THE WORK PROCEEDED WITH — DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED AND OVERCOME — FREEMASONRY IN DUMFRIES. At Michaelmas, 1783, a gentleman was elevated to the provost- ship, who, for more than a generation afterwards, took a leading part in public affairs — Mr. David Staig. If, during much of that time, any one deserved to be termed the king of the town, it was he. It is related of a member of Council, who, being rather deaf, could not well hear the discussions, that he habitu- ally asked, before a vote came to be taken, " What does Provost Staig say ? I say the same as Provost Staig." And to many councillors besides this openly subservient one, Mr. Staig's word was law. He had a fair share of natural abilities; was shrewd, inventive, enterprising, politic, fond of power, not insensible to flattery; was, withal, warm-hearted and virtuous — using his influence, so far as his judgment went, for the advancement of the public weal. For upwards of forty yeai's he represented the Bank of Scotland in the Burgh — and was thus a monetary potentate, with a host of most obedient subjects; and but for the electoral law, that prohibited one man from being chief magistrate longer than one year, or two at most together, imder a penalty of a tliousand pounds Scots, he might have reigned as provost for lifu. The first important undortii.ldng with which his name is HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 691 closely associated, was a measure to provide for the paving, cleansing, lighting, and watching of the Burgh, for which there had long been a felt necessity. It received from Mr. Staig a hearty advocacy; and when the Council agreed to apply to Parliament in the matter, he and Mr. Aitken, town clerk, were sent to London for that purpose; and also to obtain, if possible, another renewal of the duty on ale and tonnage, which was about to expire, and which had become more than ever a necessary item of the revenue. Thanks to the energy of the deputation, and the valuable assistance rendered by William, Duke of Queensberry, Sir James Johnston of Westerhall, member for the Burghs, and Lord Kinnaird, an Act of Parliament for the joint objects aimed at was obtained — the police portions^ of it taking effect from 1788.* In the rank and file of the merchant councillors, there was a man of a far higher stamp than the civic chief. His name first appears associated with town matters in the following minute: — "29th September, 1789. — The said day, Patrick Miller, Esq., of Dalswinton, one of the four new merchant councillors, before being sworn in, was admitted a burgess in the usual manner, and accepted and gave his oath of burgess- ship in the ordinary way, and promised to keep a sufficient gun and sword for the defence of the town when called for; and the Council, for good services done and to be done by the said Patrick Miller, remit the burgess composition payable by him." Well might the members of Council pay this compli- m.ent to their illustrious colleague, "for good services done." He had already, by improving his estate of Dalswinton, a few miles from Dumfries, set a noble example to the agriculturists of the district; and had, just a few months before, launched on a lake formed by him out of a noxious swamp, the first paddle- propeUed vessel ever made — the product of his mechanical * The Act was a very costly affair. Exclusive of personal charges, the expense was £421 12s.; contrasting seriously -with the outlay for the Ale Act, in 1737, which was only £157, and for its renewal, £270, in 1762. Besides, Mr. Aitken was paid £26 53. for drawing the bill, and for loss of time in going to London; which, with the expenses incurred when staying there seven weeks, and for travelling, increased the entire charge against the town" to £550— one third of which was charged pn the police rate to be henceforth levied, one third on the ale duty, and the remaining third on the tonnage. 692 HISTOEY OF DUMFRIES. genius, and the pioneer of those magnificent steamers that have revolutionized the commerce of the world.* In the spring of 1796, the Burgh once again suffered from a dearth of food, and consequent disturbances. For several seasons before, the harvest was deficient; and, in consequence, oatmeal, the staple of the district, rose from about its usual price of Is. lOd. a stone to 2s. 6d. — a large sum at a time when labourers earned barely Is. a day, and few tradesmen so much as 2s. Even in ordinary years, it was customary for the Town Council to store up grain or meal, when they could get a good bargain, in order to retail it at or below prime cost to the inhabitants; and when a pinch came, or was threatened, the Council used special diligence to obtain supplies. On the 2nd of February, 1795, the Council, at the instance of Mr. Staig, laid in 10,000 stones of meal, he liberally advancing the purchase-money. Before the year closed, this large supply was exhausted; the renewed scarcity was rendered less endurable by * Attempts have been made in our own day to rob Mr. Miller of his claim to be considered the originator of steam navigation; but that he not only invented the paddle-wheel, but was the first to propose the application of steam to it as a motive power, has, wo think, been proved satisfactorily. As early as February, 1787, Mr. Miller published a pamplilet, in which, after describing his proposed mode of propelling ships, he said: "I have reason to believe that the power of the steam-engine may be applied to work wheels so as to give them a quicker motion, and consequently to increase that of the ship. In the course of this summer I intend to luake the experiment ; and the result, if favourable, shall be communicated to the public." During that year Mr. James Taylor, for whom the credit has been claimed of suggesting the appli- cation of steam to the wheels instead of manual power, was engaged as tutor at Dalswinton ; and when Mr. MUler's invention was put to a practical test, in October, 1788, Mr. Taylor furnished the subjoined notice of the great event to the Dumfries Journal : — ' ' The following is the result of an experiment no leas curious than new. On the 14th instant, a boat was put in motion by a steam- engine upon Mr. Miller's (of Dalswinton) piece of water at that place. For some time past, his attention has been turned to the application of the steam- engine to the purposes of navigation. Ho has now accomplished and evidently shown to the world the practicability of this, by executing it on a small scale : a vessel twenty-five feet long and seven broad, was on the above date driven with two wheels by a small engine. It answered Mr. Millei''s expectations fully, and afforded groat pleasure to the spoctatora prosout. The engine used is Mr. Symington's now patent engine." In this and other instances, Mr. Taylor gave Mr. Miller the undivided honour of the invention ; and it seems sudioiontly clear that Mr. Symington's connection with it was simply that of a practical mechanic. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 693 the rigour of a December day: a resolution was therefore adopted to purchase no fewer than 16,000 additional stones of meal. Mr. Staig once more furnished means for so doing; and a public subscription was opened towards the expense of selling out the meal, and paying the interest on the money advanced for its purchase. Whilst these patriotic arrangements were being made by the Council, the lower classes, either ignorant or mistrustful of them, and suffering the pains of a protracted scarcity, rose to riot and pillage in almost the same manner as is described in a preceding chapter. The alarming saturnalia began on Saturday, the 12th of March, 1796, became increas- ingly violent on Sabbath the 13th, and were with difficulty suppressed in the evening of the latter day. On Mondaiy, the 14th, the Council met with the Sheriff-Substitute of the County and several justices, to devise means for allaying the prevailing excitement, and to prevent further breaches of the peace. Among other steps taken by them for these purposes, they issued a printed notice of the following tenor: — " Disturbances of a very serious nature having taken place within this Burgh and the neighbourhood, about the want of meal, the Sheriff- Substitute of this Shire, sundry justices of the peace for the County, and also the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, and the magistrates and Town Council of Dumfries, think it necessary to give this public intimation, that a very large quantity of meal is now purchased by the town for the supply of the inhabitants until a new crop comes in, and that it will be sold out as the necessities of the community require. Notice is also given, that if, after this intimation, the tumults which have already taken place are persevered in, the civil power will think it incumbent on it to call in the assistance of the military, to repel such outrages; and it is earnestly requested, that all heads of families keep within doors their servants and children." The authorities, on the following day, issued an address to farmers, " requesting, in the most anxious manner, that such of them as have quantities of meal to spare, will, without loss of time, send the same into the town of Dumfries to be sold in the market place;" a word of caution being added to the inhabitants "not to impede, hinder, or molest farmers or dealers from bringing their meal to market." 694 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. At a conference which the Provost held some time previously with the members of "The Practical Farming Society of the Shire of Dumfries and Stewartry of Kirkcudbright," they had signified their readiness to supply the Burgh " with meal suffi- cient for the consumpt thereof, at the market and selling price," only objections had been taken to the mode in which certain dues were levied at the market. No sooner were the sacks of meal, pease, beans, and potatoes set down there for sale, than in came the Calcraft of the day armed with a capacious iron ladle, which he dipped into each sack, and. depositing what was drawn from them in a wallet of his own, walked off: thus in a legal but repulsive manner tithing the staff of life in part payment of his services as the dread minister of death to evil doers. Many abortive attempts had been made by farmers and grain-dealers to get rid of these exactions; and on one occasion, in 1781, when the executioner, Roger Wilson, was about to levy his dues, he was violently opposed by a dealer named Johnston, who refused to let the detested ladle of the detested functionary pollute his meal-bag, and was sent to jail in consequence — from which, however, he was soon liberated, as he threatened to pro- secute the magistrates for wrongous imprisonment. There being a likelihood that this opposition would be followed up by others, the Council asked advice on the whole matter from the distinguished advocate, Mr. Andrew Crosbie of Holm (the Pleydell of " Guy Mannering," as we have already explained). In the memorial laid before him, the following among other statements were made: — "The town have a common executioner or hangman, who executes not only the sentences pronounced by the magistrates of the Burgh, and of the King's judges on their circuits, but also the sentences of the sheriff, and of the justices of the peace at their quarter-sessions. The town has been in use to pay his house rent, and a salary over and abova Roger Wilson, the present executioner, has since he was admitted received from the town £6 of salary, and £1 13s. 4d. for a house rent. Over and above this salary and rent, he and his prede- cessors have boon in use of levying and receiving weekly — to wit, each market day, being Wednesday — the full of an iron ladle out of each sack of meal, pease, beans, and potatoes, and the same as to flouuiiors, . . . Nm- is it known how the custom HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 695 came to be introduced, whether there ever was any agreement thereanent betwixt the town and County; but certain it is, that sbch custom or tax has been levied past the memory of the oldest people without quarrel or dispute till Wednesday." The resistance given by Johnston to the tax is stated, and the memorialists then proceed to say: — "As there appears a fixed resolution and conspiracy to resist and forcibly obstruct the levy of this usual custom, and as it is of some importance, being, according to the executioner's own account, worth upwards of £13 yearly, the magistrates and Council request the advice of counsel how to act in the business." In answer to this memorial and queries annexed to it, Mr. Crosbie expressed his belief that an officer of the law can acquire right to duties "established by custom upon no other title than that of his office;" and that therefore the Dumfries executioner had a clear right to the market dues "that have been levied by himself and predecessors in office from time immemorial." He, however, though approving of what had been done to Johnston, counselled a more formal course of procedure towards future delinquents, adding: "If the officers, when assisting the hangman in his exactions, are deforced, the deforcers may be committed to prison and tried criminally by the magistrates for the deforcement." The opinion thus obtained was acted upon with good effect; but the question continued in an unsettled state till, at the juncture which arose in 1796, Provost Staig, with characteristic sagacity, proposed to surrender the obnoxious tribute; and the Council concurring, it was forthwith abolished. In lieu of the dues, Joseph Tait, the then executioner and the last functionary of his kind placed on the regular staff of the Burgh officials, was allowed £2 a year in addition to his former salary. At the close of March, the meal purchased by the town was sold to labourers at 2s. 6d. per stone, and to the higher classes at 3s.; by midsummer it fell to 2s.; and before the season's crop was gathered in, it rose to 2s. 4d. and 2s. 6d. But we do not read of any further food riots occurring; and it may be fairly inferred that peace, with comparative plenty, was enjoyed by the Burgh during many after years. It was acknowledged on all hands that Mr. Staig was " the pilot who weathered the storm " at this tumultuous G96 HISTORY OF DUMFEIES. period. The County magistrates concurred with those of the town in thanking him for "his cool and steady conduct" whilst the tempest raged; and a massive silver ^pergne, value £80 was voted to him by the Council as a token of their gratitude for this and other valuable services rendered by him to the Burgh. The closing years of the century were distinguished by some- thing better than bread riots — more especially the building of a handsome bridge over the Nith. As the traffic of the town year after year increased, the old bridge, on which much of it was thrown, became the less able to bear the burden. The venerable pile had withstood the flood below, and borne its living tide of passengers, for fully five hundred years. It required and deserved rest and relief; and the Burgh and the district needed more accommodation than its narrow thorough- fare supplied. Not only the Burgh of Dumfries, but the County, and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, went heartily into the movement for a new bridge as soon as the subject was fairly mooted, in 1790. A committee of thirteen gentlemen, made up of representatives from each, managed the undertaking. The contractors engaged by them — Mr. Thomas Boyd, architect, who furnished the design, and Mr. William Stewart, mason — ^became bound to build the bridge for £3,735 ; but owing to alterations in the plan, and unlooked-for difficulty in founding one of the piers, a much greater outlay was incurred. Besides, in order to make a suitable access at each end, land and houses had to be purchased at a dear rate, by which the expense was still further swelled; so that the enterprise came to be a very serious one in a pecuniary sense. The Burgh, the Covmty, and the Stewartry contributed £1,000 each to the fund; the Government, after many pressing representations, gave a similar sirni; indi- vidual subscriptions being relied upon to make up the rest. In presence of vast crowds stationed on both banks of the river, and on the old bridge, the foundation stone of the fabric was laid with masonic honours.* • Tho stone bore a Latin inBoription, of which wo append a translation: — "By the will of Almighty OoJ, in tho reign of tho most august prince George III., and in a most flourishing period of tho British empire, the foundation stone of tho bridge over Nith, to bo built for public convenience, and at the joint expense HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 697 For awhile the work went smoothly onward; but when, at the close of 1792, preparations were made for founding the abut- ment nearest Dumfries, it was discovered that the rock, which was easily reached on the Galloway or west side, sloped away to such a depth on the east as to be virtually inaccessible. With the view of getting a solid resting-place for the abutment, a proposal was made to place it eight or ten feet further west, at the risk of spoiling the symmetry of the bridge, by contracting its three mid arches to that extent. On a day in July, 1793, when the Nith was low, a final trial was made: thirty men working at three ordinary pumps, and twelve at a chain pump, whilst the contractors drove down an iron rod in search of the coveted sandstone. The water, as if jealous of the operations, would and did rush in, spite of all the pumping, which proved as ineffectual to keep it out as were the webs of silken cloth and twine to save the Scotch king's ship from the destructive tide.* In the words of the committee's report, " the water came pouring in on all sides so fast, that the workmen had much difficulty in emptying it; and it appeared that the further they went down, the greater quantity of water came in." Though the rod was driven down nineteen feet four inches below the surface of low water, " there appeared no certainty of reaching the freestone rock, and the quantity of water that issued from the gravel on all sides continued to increase." In these per- plexing circumstances, Mr. Staig, at the committee's request, took means for obtaining the opinion of a skilful engineer, Mr. John Richardson, Edinburgh, on an ingenious device contrived by themselves for founding the abutment. Wooden piles to of the County and town of Dumfries and Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, was laid (amidst the acclamations of a numerous concourse of spectators) by Alexander Fergusson of Craigdarroch, Esq. , grand master of the mason lodges constituted in the southern district of Scotland, accompanied by a respectable body of the order, on the 19th August, of the Christian era, 1791 — from the institution of masonry, 5791. May the undertaking be fortunate and prosperous, and merit the approbation of posterity. " * " They fetchfed a web o' the silken claith, Anither o' the twine. And they wapped them into the gude ship's side; But aye the sea came in." Sir Patrick Spens. 4s 698 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. support the masonry were at one time thought of. It was ascertained that the third pier eastward of the old bridge was based on timber, and why not this abutment of the new? A timber foundation was ascertained to be as impracticable as one on stone; and the plan proposed by the committee having been sanctioned by the engineer, was acted upon and found to answer. It was of this nature : — The pier or landstool was commenced thirteen feet and a half below the surface of low water mark, with a course of stones in the front, each six feet long, two feet broad, and fourteen inches thick, the ends projecting fully a foot from the face of the pier. Behind this row another was placed; the stones of the same breadth and thickness, but only five feet in length. Thus a foundation was laid, eleven feet broad at the base, on which stones lessening gradually in size were built, till the requisite thickness was obtained when the masonry reached the surface. The advantage secured by this process was, that the stones were laid in the gravel in such a way as to be level at the upper end with one another, whilst each kept its own quantity of water at bay; the whole being well pointed vriith mortar, so as to prevent the insidious element from impairing the solidity of the mass. The pier, after about a month's labour, was successfully finished on the 3rd of August, 1793, and the whole bridge was satisfactorily completed in the autumn of the following year. In connection with the bridge, a new street had to be formed between it and the old bridge, and an embanked roadway — the precursor of Buccleuch Street — had to be made in the direction of the New Church ; so that the whole character of this pai't of the town was revolutionized. When the expense of these and other works was added to that of the bridge, it was found that the sum amounted to £6,356 19s. 6d.; the cost of the bridge itself, and of the approaches to it, being £4,588 3s. 6d. To meet this large outlay, there was the £4,000 formerly mentioned, contributed in equal proportions by the town, the County, the Stewartry, and the Government, and £2,006 subscribed by sundry noblemen and gentlemen; leaving a trifling balance, which was cleared away by additional subscriptions. By the erection of the now bridge, a low, flat, unoccupied bank of the Nith was transformed into an elevated site for stately houses, HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 699 and a beginning made to the most fashionable part of the Burgh ; and it may safely be said, that no previous undertaking since the middle ages so altered and improved the aspect of the town, not to speak of the direct advantages which it secured. Both the Infirmary and the new bridge were, as we have seen, founded with masonic pomp and display. Freemasonry was first represented in the district by the Kilwinning Lodge, Dumfries, chartered on the 7th of February, 1750 — twenty-two years before the Infirmary was founded. The Journeymen Lodge, Dumfries, followed; date of erection, 10th December, 1754. In course of time this lodge almost lost its distinctive character, by the admission of members who could neither hew nor build; and eventually the latter swarmed off to form the Operative Lodge — those who remained receiving a new charter as the Thistle Lodge, on the 7th of February, 1776. Another lodge was erected in Dumfries, in April, 1775, under the name of St. Michael. So numerous did the brethren of the "mystic tie" soon become in Dumfriesshire, that it was constituted into a "district," or province, in 1756. Its first president or grand master was Mr. Andrew Crosbie (Pleydell); its second, Mr. Alexander Fergusson of Craigdarroch, "so famous for wit, worth, and law," and the triumphant hero of the "whistle" symposium at Friars' Carse; its third, Mr. William Campbell of Fairfield; its fourth, Mr. Francis Sharpe of Hoddam; its fifth. Major William Miller, younger of Dais win ton, and son- in-law to Provost Staig; its sixth, Mr. John Babington of Summerville, near Dumfries ; its seventh, Mr. . Stewart of Nateby Hall; while its eighth and present "P.G.M." is Mr. Lauderdale Maitland of Eccles, one of whose ancestors was the Norman knight Ekhs, already introduced to our readers. There are at present three masonic lodges in the Burgh: the Thistle, the Operative, and the St. Michael. The Kilwinning has been long dormant, if not extinct; and so have two other old Dumfries lodges — the St. Andrew, and the Union. Altogether, the Dumfries brethren in active membership number at present about a hundred — the greater proportion of these belonging to the Thistle Lodge. CHAPTER XLIX. BURNS IN DUMrRlBS — SKETCH OF THE POET AH HE FIRST APPEAEED IN THE BURGH — MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE INHABITANTS AT THAT PERIOD: THEIR POLISH, CONVIVIALITY, AND TORYISM — BUKNS'S CONNECTION WITH THE DOMFRIES PUBLIC LIBRARY — HE GETS HIMSELF INTO TROUBLE ON ACCOUNT OF HIS POLITICS — HE FALLS INTO DISFAVOUR — HIS PECUNIARY CIRCUMSTANCES Vl^HEN AN INHABITANT OF THE TOWN. Towards the close of 1791, Dumfries could number among its citizens a man who had already made some noise in the world, and who came to be recognized as one of Scotland's most illustrious sons. His figure was remarkable ; so that even a cursory observer must have at once seen that it was the outward framework of an extraordinary individual. Five feet ten in height, firmly built, symmetrical, with more of the roughness of a rustic than the polish of a fine gentleman, there was a something in his bearing that bespoke conscious pre-eminence ; and the impress thus communicated was confirmed by his swarthy countenance, every lineament of which indicated mental wealth and power: the brow broad and high; the eyes like orbs of flame; the nose well formed, though a professional physiog- nomist would have said that it was deficient in force; the mouth impassioned, majestic, tender, as if the social affections and poetic muse had combined to take possession of it ; and the full, rounded, dimpled chin, which made the manly face look more soft and lovable. When this new denizen of the Burgh was followed from his humble dwelling in Bank Street to some favourite friendly circle where the news of the day or other less fugitive topics were discussed, his superiority became more apparent. Then eye and tongue exercised an irresistible sway: the one flashing with emotional warmth and the light of genius — now scathing with its indignant glances, anou beaming with benignity and love; the other tipped with the fire of HISTORY OP DUMFRIES. 701 natural eloquence, reasoning abstrusely, declaiming finely, dis- coursing delightfully, satirizing mercilessly, or setting the table in a roar with verses thrown off at red heat to annihilate an unworthy sentiment, or cover some unlucky opponent with ridicule. Need it be said that these remarks apply to Eobert Burns ? His first appearance in Dumfries was on the 4th of June, 1787, two months after the second edition of his poems had been published. He came, on invitation, to be made an honorary burgess; neither the givers nor the receiver of the privilege dreaming, at that date, that he was destined to become an inhabitant of the town. All honour to the Council that they thus promptly recognized the genius of the poet. Provost William Clark, shaking hands with the newly-made burgess, and wishing him joy, when he presented himself in the veritable blue coat and yellow vest that Nasmyth has rendered familiar, would make a. good subject for a painter able to realize the characteristics of such a scene. The biurgess ticket granted to the illustrious stranger bore the following inscription: — -"The said day, 4th June, 1787, Mr. Robert Bums, Ayrshire, was admitted burgess of this Burgh, with liberty to exercise and enjoy the whole immunities and privileges thereof as freely as any other does, may, or can enjoy; who being present, accepted the same, and gave his oath of burgess-ship to his Majesty and the Burgh in common form." Whilst tenant of Ellisland, a farm about six miles distant from Dumfries, Bums became, by frequent visits to it, familiarly known to the inhabitants. Soon after Martinmas, 1791, accom- panied by Bonnie Jean, he took up a permanent residence in the Burgh, and there spent the remainder of his checkered life; so that Dumfries became henceforth inseparably associated with his latest years. He had just seen thirty-one summers when he entered upon the occupancy of three small apartments of a second floor on the north side of Bank Street (then called the Wee Vennel). After residing there about eighteen months he removed to a self-contained one-story house of a higher grade in MiU Street, which became the scene of his untimely death, in July, 1796. What varying scenes of weal and woe, of social enjoyments, 702 HISTORY OF DUMFEIES. of literary triumphs, of worldly misery and moral loss, were crowded within the Dumfries experiences of the illustrious poet! There he suffered his severest pangs, and also accomplished many of his proudest achievements. If the night watches heard at times his sorrowful plaint, and the air of the place trembled for a moment with his latest sigh, it long burned and breathed with the immortal products of his lyre; and when the striking figure we have faintly sketched lay paralyzed by death, its dust was borne to old St. Michael's, and the tomb of the national bard became a priceless heritage to the town for ever. Dr. Burnside says of his parishioners, at the time when Bums became one of them : — "In their private manners they are social and polite; and the town, together with the neighbourhood a few miles around it, furnishes a society amongst whom a person with a moderate income may spend his days with as much enjoyment, perhaps, as in any part of the kingdom whatever." Other evidence tends to show that the society of the Burgh was more intellectual than that of most other towns of the same size in Scotland. Soon after Bums came to reside in it, various circumstances combined to make it more than at any former period, perhaps, a gay and fashionable place of resort. A theatre was opened, which received liberal patronage from the upper classes of the neighbourhood; several regiments were at intervals stationed in the Burgh, the officers of which helped to give an aristocratic tone to its society; and the annual races in October always drew a concourse of nobles, squires, and ladies fair to the County town. The Theatre was opened for the first time on the evening of Saturday the 29th of September, 1792, under the management of Mr. Williamson, from the Theatre-Eoyal, Haymarket, London, assisted by Mr. Sutherland, from the theatre of Aberdeen; "when," says the Dumfries Weekly Journal* "the united ele- gance and accommodation of the house reflected equal honour on the liberality and taste of the proprietors, and design and execution of the artists, and conspired with the abilities of the performers in giving universal satisfaction to a crowded and * The Journal was owned and edited by Provost Jackson ; and it is to his grandson, Mr. Robert Comrio of Largs, that wo arc indebted for the passages quoted from it. HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. 703 polite audience. In a word, it is allowed by persons of the first taste and opportunities, that this is the handsomest provincial theatre in Scotland." It is added that Mr. Boyd was the architect of the building, and that the scenery was from the pencil of Nasmyth. How the rein was given to fashionable dissipation and animal enjoyment, during the racing season, in these exuberant days, is graphically described by the Journal. " The entertainments of the hunting, races, balls, and assemblies, by the Caledonian and the Dumfries and Galloway Hunts, being now over (October 30th, 1792), we embrace the earliest opportunity of informing the public that they have been conducted with the utmost propriety and regularity, and, we believe, have given general satisfaction. The sports of the field in the morning were equal to the wishes of the gentlemen of the chase; the diversions of the turf through the day afforded the highest satisfaction, not only to those immediately interested, but to thousands of spec- tators; and the performances of the stage in the evening gave high entertainment to crowds of genteel people collected at the Theatre. Lady Hopetoun's box on Thursday evening, being the play asked by the Caledonian Hunt, exhibited an assemblage of nobility rarely to be seen in one box in the theatres of the metropolis. Besides, the noblemen and gentle- men of the Caledonian Hunt had drawn together almost all the genteel families in the three southern counties of Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, and Wigtown; and we believe it may be safely affirmed that there never was on any occasion such an assem- blage of people distinguished for their rank, fortune, and elegance of manners, seen in this place, or perhaps in any provincial town in Scotland. Besides the daily entertainments at the ordinaries, there was a ball and supper given by each of the Caledonian and Dumfries Hunts, which for the number and distinguished rank of the company, the splendour of the dresses, the elegance and sumptuousness of the entertainments, the richness and variety of the wines, exceeded every thing of the kind ever seen here." Lest it should be thought that the local journalist, from a feeling of partiality, should be overcolouring the picture, let us see how it looked in the eyes of a comparative stranger. It so 704 HISTORY OF DUMFRIES. happened that Robert Heron, the topographical writer and historian, visited Dumfries in the very week of these festivities, and put upon record his impressions of the Burgh.* " It is perhaps," he says, " a place of higher gaiety and elegance than any other town in Scotland of the same size. The proportion of the inhabitants who are descended of respectable families, and have received a liberal education, is greater here than in any other town in this part of the island. These give, by consequence, a more elevated and polished tone to the manners and general character of this city. The manner of Hving which prevails here, is rather showy than luxurious. To be esteemed genteel, not to sit down to a board overloaded with victuals, is the first wish of every one." After sketching at greater length, in the same style, the normal condition of the Burgh, he goes on to describe its holiday aspect. " Both the Dumfries and Galloway and the Caledonian Hunts," he says, "were assembled here at this time. Every inn and ale- house was crowded with guests. In the mornings the streets presented one busy scene of hair-dressers, milliners' apprentices, grooms and valets, carriages driving and bustling backwards and forwards. In the forenoon almost every soul, old and young, high and low, master and servant, hastened out to follow the hounds or view the races. At the return of the crowd they were all equally intent, with the same bustle and the same ardent animation, on the important concerns of appetite. The bottle, the song, the dance, and the card table, endeared the evening and gave social converse power to detain and to charm till the return of morn. Dumfries of itself could not afford ministers of pleasure enough for so great an occasion. There were waiters, pimps, chairmen, hair-dressers, and ladies — the priests and priestesses from all those- more favouritoj haunts where Pleasure ordinarily holds her court. Not only ajl the ga3'er part of the neighbouring gentry were on this occasion assembled in Dum- fries; but the members of the CaledoniauS&iunt had repaired hither from Edinburgh, from England, and from the more dis- tant counties of Scotland. The gay of the one sex naturally