The Magistrates were closely interrogated before the House of concerning the particulars of the Porteous Mob, and the n which these functionaries made their answers, sounded rage in the ears of the Southern nobles. The Duke of Newsale having demanded to know with what kind of shot the Ford which Porteous commanded had loaded their muskets, wered naively, "Ow, just sie as ane shoots dukes and fe with" This reply was considered as a contempt of the of Lords, and the Provost would have suffered accordbut that tlie Duke of Argyle explained, that the expression, pny rendered into English, meint ducks and waterfowls. Note R. SIR WILLIAM DICK OF BRAID. This gentleman formed a striking example of the instability of prosperity. He was once the wealthiest man of his time Scotland, a merchant in an extensive line of commerce, and facer of the public revenue; insomuch that, about 1640, he ated his fortune at two hundred thousand pounds sterling. William Dick was a zealous Covenanter; and in the merable year 1641, he lent the Scottish Convention of Estates e hundred thousand merks at once, and thereby enabled to support and pay their army, which must otherwise re broken to pieces. He afterwards advanced L.20,000 for service of King Charles, during the usurpation; and having, owning the royal cause, provoked the displeasure of the party, he was fleeced of more money, ainounting in all 1165,000 sterling. Being in this manner reduced to indigence, he went to London try to recover some part of the sums which had been lent on Terament security. Ins tead of receiving any satisfaction, the Sortish Crasus was thrown into prison, in which he died, 19th ember, 1665. It is said his death was hastened by the want connecessaries. But this statement is somewhat exagge rated, if it be true, as is commonly said, that though he was not sapped with bread, he had plenty of pie-crust, thence called Sir William Dick's necessity." The changes of fortune are commemorated in a folio pam. the entitled, "The lamentable state of the deceased Sir William Dick" It contains several copperplates, one repreg Sir William on horseback, and attended with guards as Lord Provest of Edinburgh, superintending the unloading of ne of his rich argosies. A second exhibiting him as arrested, and in the hands of the bailiffs. A third presents him dead prison. The tract is esteemed highly valuable by collectors prints. The only copy I ever saw upon sale, was rated at Nate T. DOOMSTER, OR Dempster, of Court. The name of this officer is equivalent to the pronouncer of der, or sentence. In this comprehensive sense, the Judges of the Isle of Man were called Dempsters. But in Scotland the rd was long restricted to the designation of an official perwhose duty it was to recite the sentence after it had been omced by the Court, and recorded by the clerk; on which on the Dempster legalized it by the words of form, "And tha I pronounce for doom." For a length of years, the office, mentioned in the text, was held in commendam with that of the executioner; for when this odious but necessary officer of ice received his appointment, he petitioned the Court of Jastuciary to be received as their Dempster, which was granted a matter of course. The production of the executioner in open court, and in Pence of the wretched criminal, had something in it hideous disgusting to the more refined feelings of later times. But an old tradition of the Parliament House of Edinburgh may be trusted, it was the following anecdote which occasioned the hase of the Dempster's office. I chanced at one time that the office of public executioner was vacant. There was occasion for some one to act as Demp ster, and, considering the party who generally held the office, it is not wonderful that a locum tenens was hard to be found. At length, one Hume, who had been sentenced to transpor tation, for an attempt to burn his own house, was induced to consent that he would pronounce the doom on this occasion. But when brought forth to officiate, instead of repeating the doom to the criminal, Mr Hume addressed himself to their lordships in a bitter complaint of the injustice of his own sentence. It was in vain that he was interrupted, and reminded of the purpose for which he had come hither; "I ken what ye want me ye want of me weel encugh," said the fellow, to be your Dempster; but I am come to be none of your Dempster, I am come to summon you, Lord T-, and you, Lord E-, to answer at the bar of another world for the injus tice you have done me in this." In short, Hume had only made a pretext of complying with the proposal, in order to have an opportunity of reviling the Judges to their faces, or giving them, in the phrase of his country, "a sloan." He was hurried off amid the laughter of the audience, but the indecorous scene which had taken place contributed to the abolition of the office of Dempster. The sentence is now read over by the clerk of court, and the formality of pronouncing doom is altogether omitted. Note U, JOHN DUKE OF ARGYLE AND GREENWICH. This nobleman was very dear to his countrymen, who were justly proud of his military and political talents, and grateful for the ready zeal with which he asserted the rights of his native country. This was never more conspicuous than in the matter of the Porteous Mob, when the Ministers brought in a violent and vindictive bill, for declaring the Lord Provost of Edinburgh incapable of bearing any public office in future, for not foreseeing a disorder which no one foresaw, or interrupting the course of a riot too formidable to endure opposition. The same bill made provision for pulling down the city gates, and abolishing the city guard,-rather a Hibernian niode of enabling them better to keep the peace within burgh in future. The Duke of Argyle opposed this bill as a cruel, unjust, and fanatical proceeding, and an encroachment upon the privileges of the royal burglis of Scotland, secured to them by the treaty of Union. "In all the proceedings of that time." said his Grace, the nation of Scotland treated with the English as a free and independent people; and as that treaty, my Lords, had no other guarantee for the due performance of its articles, but the faith and honour of a British Parliament, it would be both unjust and ungenerous, should this House agree to any proceedings that have a tendency to injure it." Lord Hardwicke, in reply to the Duke of Argyle, seemed to insinuate, that his Grace had taken up the affair in a party point of view, to which the nobleman replied in the spirited language quoted in the text. Lord Hardwicke apologized. The bill was much modified, and the clauses concerning the dismantling the city, and disbanding the guard, were departed from. A fine of L.2000 was imposed on the city for the benefit of Porteous's widow. She was contented to accept threefourths of the sun, the payment of which closed the transaction. It is remarkable, that, in our day, the Magistrates of Edinburgh have had recourse to both those measures, held in such horror by their predecessors, as necessary steps for the improvement of the city. It may be here noticed, in exp.anation of another circumstance mentioned in the text, that there is a tradition in Scotland, that George II., whose irascible temper is said sometimes to have hurried him into expressing his displeasure par voie du fait, offered to the Duke of Argyle, in angry audience, some menace of this nature, on which he left the presence in high disdain, and with little ceremony. Sir Robert Walpole, having met the Duke as he retired, and learning the cause of his resentment and discomposure, endeavoured to reconcile him to what had happened by saying, "Such was his Majesty's way, and that he often took such liberties with himself without meaning any harm." This did not mend matters in MacCallummore's eyes, who replied, in great disdain, "You will please to remember, Sir Robert, the infinite distance there is betwixt you and me." Another frequent expression of passion on the part of the same monarch, is alluded to in the old Jacobite song The fire shall get both hat and wig, Note X. In taking leave of the poor maniac, the author may here observe, that the first conception of the character, though afterwards greatly altered, was taken from that of a person calling herself, and called by others, Feckless Fannie, (weak or feeble Fannie,) who always travelled with a small flock o. sheep. The following account, furnished by the persevering kindness of Mr Train, contains probably all that can now be known of her history, though many, among whom is the author, may remember having heard of Feckless Fannie, in the days of their youth. My leisure hours," says Mr Train, "for some time past have been mostly spent in searching for particulars relating to the maniac called Feckless Fannie, who travelled over all Scotland and England, between the years 1767 and 1775, and whose history is altogether so like a romance, that I have been at all possible pains to collect every particular that can be found relative to her in Galloway, or in Ayrshire. "When Feckless Fannie appeared in Ayrshire, for the first time, in the summer of 1769, she attracted much notice, from being attended by twelve or thirteen sheep, who seemed all endued with faculties so much superior to the ordinary race of animals of the same species, as to excite universal astonishment. She had for each a different name, to which it answered when called by its mistress, and would likewise obey in the most surprising manner any command she thought proper to give. When travelling, she always walked in front of her flock, and they followed her closely behind. When she lay down at night in the fields, for she would never enter into a house, they always disputed who should lie next to her, by which means she was kept warm, while she lay in the midst of them; when she attempted to rise from the ground, an old ram, whose name was Charlie, always claimed the sole right of assisting her; pushing any that stood in his way aside, until he arrived right before his mistress; he then bowed his head nearly to the ground that she might lay her hands on his horns, which were very large; he then lifted her gently from the ground by raising his head. If she chanced to leave her flock feeding, as soon as they discovered she was gone, they all began to bleat most piteously, and would continue to do so till she returned; they would then testify their joy by rubbing their sides against her petticoat, and frisking about. "Feckless Fannie was not, like most other demented creatures, fond of fine dress; on her head she wore an old slouched hat, over her shoulders an old plaid, and carried always in her hand a shepherd's crook; with any of these articles, she invariably declared she would not part for any consideration whatever. When she was interrogated why she set so much value on things seemingly so insignificant, she would sometimes relate the history of her misfortune, which was briefly as follows: "I am the only daughter of a wealthy squire in the north of England, but I loved my father's shepherd, and that has been my ruin; for my father, fearing his family would be disgraced by such an alliance, in a passion mortally wounded my lover with a shot from a pistol. I arrived just in time to receive the last blessing of the dying man, and to close his eyes in death. He bequeathed me his little all, but I only accepted these sheep to be my sole companions through life, and this hat, this plaid, and this crook, all of which I will carry until I descend into the grave.' "This is the substance of a ballad, eighty-four lines of which I copied down lately from the recitation of an old woman in this place, who says she has seen it in print, with a plate on the title page, representing Fannie with her sheep behind her. As this ballad is said to have been written by Lowe, the author of Mary's Dream, I am surprised that it has not been noticed by Cromek, in his Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song; but he perhaps thought it unworthy of a place in his collection, as there is very little merit in the composition; which want of room prevents me from transcribing at present. But if I thought you had never seen it, I would take an early opportunity of doing so. "After having made the tour of Galloway in 1769, as Fannie was wandering in the neighbourhood of Moffat, on her way to Edinburgh, where, I am informed, she was likewise well known, Old Charlie, her favourite ram, chanced to break into a kaleyard, which the proprietor observing, let loose a mastiff that hunted the poor sheep to death. This was a sad misfortune; it seemed to renew all the pangs which she formerly felt on the death of her lover. She would not part from the side of her old friend for several days, and it was with much difficulty she consented to allow him to be buried; but, still wishing to pay a tribute to his memory, she covere I his grave with moss, and fenced it round with osiers, and anually returned to the same spot, and pulled the weeds from the grave and repaired the fence. This is altogether like a romance; but I believe it is really true that she did so. The grave of Charlie is still held sacred even by the school-boys of the present day in that quarter. It is now, perhaps, the only instance of the law of Kenneth being attended to, which says, The grave where anie that is slaine lieth buried, leave untilled for seven years. Repute every grave holie so as thou be well advised, that in no wise with thy feet thou tread upon it.' Through the storms of winter, as well as in the milder seasons of the year, she continued her wandering course, nor could she be prevented from doing so, either by entreaty or promise of reward. The late Dr Fullarton of Rosemount, in the neighbourhood of Ayr, being well acquainted with her father when in England, endeavoured, in a severe season, by every means in his power, to detain her at Rosemount for a few days until the weather should become more mild; but when she found herself rested a little, and saw her sheep fed, she raised her crook, which was the signal she always gave for the sheep to follow her, and off they all marched together. "But the hour of poor Fannie's dissolution was now at hand, and the seemed anxious to arrive at the spot where she was to terminate her mortal career. She proceeded to Glasgow, and while passing through that city, a crowd of idle boys, attracted by her singular appearance, together with the novelty of seeing so many sheep obeying her command, began to torment her with their pranks, till she became so irritated that she pelter them with bricks and stones, which they returned in such a manner, that she was actually stoned to death between Glasgow and Anderston. "To the real history of this singular individual, credulity has attached several superstitious appendages. It is said, that the farmer who was the cause of Charlie's death, shortly afterwards drowned himself in a peat-hag; and that the hand, with which a butcher in Kilmarnock struck one of the other sheep, became powerless and withered to the very bone. In the summer of 1769, when she was passing by New Cumnock, a young man, whose name was William Forsyth, son of a farmer in the same parish, plagued her so much that she wished he might never see the morn; upon which he went home and hanged himself in his father's barn. And I doubt not many such stories may yet be remembered in other parts where she had been." So far Mr Train. The author can only add to this narrative, that Feckless Fannie and her little flock were well known in the pastoral districts. In attempting to introduce such a character into fiction, the author felt the risk of encountering a comparison with the Maria of Sterne; and, besides, the mechanism of the story would have been as much retarded by Feckless Fannie's flock, as the night-march of Don Quixote was delayed by Sancho's tale of the sheep that were ferried over the river. The author has only to add, that notwithstanding the preciseness of his friend Mr Train's statement, there may be some hopes that the outrage on Feckless Fannie and her little flock was not carried to extremity. There is no mention of any trial on account of it, which, had it occurred in the manner stated, would have certainly taken place; and the author has understood that it was on the Border she was last seen, about the skirts of the Cheviot hills, but without her little flock. This exploit seems to have been one in which Patrick Walker prided himself not a little; and there is reason to fear, that that excellent person would have highly resented the attempt to associate another with him, in the slaughter of a King's Life-Guardsman. Indeed, he would have had the more right to be offended at losing any share of the glory, since the party against Gordon was already three to one, besides having the advantage of fire-arms. The manner in which he vindicates his claim to the exploit, without committing himself by a direct statement of it, is not a little amusing. It is as follows:"I shall give a brief and true account of that man's death, which I did not design to do while I was upon the stage: I resolve, indeed, (if it be the Lord's will,) to leave a more full account of that and many other remarkable steps of the Lord's dispensations towards me through my life. It was then com monly said, that Francis Gordon was a volunteer out of wickedness of principles, and could not stay with the troop, but was still raging and ranging to catch hiding suffering people. Meldrum and Airly's troops, lying at Lanark upon the first day of March, 1682, Mr Gordon and another wicked comrade, with their two servants and four horses, came to Kilcaigow, two miles from Lanark, searching for William Caigow and others, under hiding. "Mr Gordon, rambling throw the town, offered to abuse the women. At night, they came a mile further to the Easter Seat, to Robert Muir's, he being also under hiding. Gordon' comrade and the two servants went to bed, but he could sleep none, roaring all night for women. When day came, he took only his sword in his hand, and came to Moss-platt, and some new men (who had been in the fields all night) seeing him, they fled, and he pursued. James Wilson, Thomas Young, and myself, having been in a meeting all night, were lying down in the morning. We were alarmed, thinking there were many more than one; he pursued hard, and overtook us Thomas Young said, Sir, what do ye pursue us for?" he said, he was come to send us to hell. James Wilson said, that shall not be, for we will defend ourselves." He said, tha either he or we should go to it now." He run his sword fur ously throw James Wilson's coat. James fired upon him, but missed him. All this time he cried, Damn his soul! He got a shot in his head out of a pocket pistol, rather fit for diverting a boy than killing such a furious, mad, brisk man, which, not withstanding, killed him dead. The foresaid William Caigos and Robert Muir came to us. We searched him for papers, 1a long scroll of sufferers' names, either to kill or take. al in pieces. He had also some Popish books and money, with one dollar, which a poor man took off d: all which we put in his pocket again. Thus, he miles from Lanark, and near a mile from his comrade, is own death, and got it. And for as much as we ondemned for this, I could never see how any one den us that allows of self-defence, which the laws od and nature allow to every creature. For my own art never smote me for this. When I saw his blood sad that all the blood of the Lord's stated and avowed Scotland had been in his veins. Having such a clear pportunity, I would have rejoiced to have seen it all vita gush. I have many times wondered at the td the indulged, lukewarm ministers and professors m, who made more noise of murder, when one of had been killed even in our own defence, than dm being murdered by them. None of these men parish should make his appearance. This ceremonial was so sacred in the eyes of a parish beadle in the Isle of Bute, that the kirk bell being out of order, he is said to have mounted the steeple every Sunday, to imitate with his voice the succes sive summonses which its mouth of metal used to send forth. The first part of this imitative harmony was simply the repetition of the words Bell bell, bell bell, two or three times, in a manner as much resembling the sound as throat of flesh could imitate throat of iron. Bellum! bellum! was sounded forth in a more urgent manner; but he never sent forth the third and conclusive peal, the varied tone of which is called in Scotland the ringing-in, until the two principal heritors of the parish approached, when the chime ran thus: Bellum Bellellum, Bernera and Knockdow's coming! Bellum Bellellum, Bernera and Knockdow's coming! e challenged for this but myself. Thomas Young Thereby intimating, that service was instantly to proceed. red at Mauchline, but was not challenged for et Muir was banished; James Wilson outlived the ; William Caigow died in the Canongate Tolbooth, iz of 1685. Mr Wodrow is misinformed; who be suffered unto death." Note BB. RATCLIFFE. There seems an anachronism in the history of this person. Ratcliffe, among other escapes from justice, was released by the Porteous mob when under sentence of death; and he was again under the same predicament when the Highlanders made a similar jail-delivery in 1715. He was too sincere a whig to embrace liberation at the hands of the Jacobites, and in reward was made one of the keepers of the Tolbooth. So at least runs constant tradition. END OF THE NOTES TO THE HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN. |